All Genkied Out

Yesterday I began doing my self-introduction to the students of Higashiyama Jr. High. I have pictures that I show using my laptop and a projector, and I play a game of tic-tac-toe with questions about myself and my family (what is my pet's name, is my brother older or younger - that sort of thing). The English teachers here all seemed to be impressed and keep asking if I've ever taught before, but I AM EXHAUSTED!! I don't know how much longer I can continue being genki (up, energetic). I'm also getting tired of talking about myself. Maybe next week I'll tell them that I went to school at Hogwarts and have a lion named kitty-chan as a pet.

In other news, yesterday's lunch made a half-hearted attempt to kill me and didn't quite succeed. The meal consisted of breaded chicken, steamed vegetables, a weird corn/veggie soup thing and a huge stick of brown bread. (Brown bread here is basically white bread dyed brown, and it all tastes like wonder bread.) The thing is, lunch came with a single fork and no knife. So to eat the chicken you had to skewer it with your fork and rip chunks out of it, and either slurp the soup or eat it with a fork. I admit, I missed the rice.

I feel as though I'm starting to settle in. I've made some really good friends here - although all the new and old ALTs get along really, really well and we have some pretty good times together - and I'm liking being on a schedule again. Some of the young, female teachers at my school took me out to an izakaya for a welcome dinner, I start Japanese lessons next week, and tonight I'm going to my first Kenbu class - that's samurai dancing with a sword and fan. Pretty cool stuff, and I'm really, really excited. I won't have internet access at my apartment for another month, but I have a keitai(cell phone) and friends with cars. That's really, really important :-)

And just so I don't continue this trend of posts that are all text and no pictures, here are some shots from last weekend. On the Friday night my friend and I went to a reggae party (yes, a reggae party) and had a blast, and then on Sat. a bunch of us from Takayama met up with some other Hida region ALTs and went to the little village/town of Maze to visit an onsen and to watch their amazing fireworks festival. I don't have a picture of the onsen (hot spring/spa), but it had 15 separate pools/stations, including a hot pool, a cold pool, scented pools, a sleeping pool, stream rooms , jet showers, inside pools, outside pools and steam boxes where only your head stuck out. It rocked. The boys went to their side, the girls went to ours and we stayed for 1.5 hours. Then, while we de-pruned we ate yummy festival food and then watched the gorgeous fireworks display.

The little mountain town of Maze

Festival Food! Flavoured 'ice', a festival favourite and very pretty to look at

People and more people

Fireworks. We were perched precariously on the edge of a high wall which itself was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff, but we had an amazing view. The fireworks themselves were spectacular: they were enormous, colourful and made the most spectacular noise.

More fireworks...

And after a full day of onsens and fireworks a few of us went down to The River by Kiyomi, lit a fire and toasted marshmallows. But, this being Japan, we had to toast small, strawberry filled marshmallows using chopsticks over a fire built mainly with more chopsticks and cardboard. We managed :-)

The School Lunch Is Out To Kill Me!!!

Today is the second day of school. The students are writing tests all day so there are no classes. There is still, however, school lunch.

Lunch works differently over here, or at least it does in Jr. High. At 12:30 4th period ends and there is 15 min 'Lunch Preparation' time. Everyone, including the teachers, eats the school lunch. I am no exception. And, because I am the resident ALT I get to eat with the students, a new class each week. This week it's class 1B.

Each class has designated 'lunch kids' (they may have official names for them, but until I find out what those are I'm calling them 'lunch kids'). They don huge aprons, face masks and kerchiefs, and they dole out the food, which is brought up to the front of the class. Quite frankly, they look scary: like evil nurses in miniature. Actually, forget the 'lunch kids', they're Evil Lunch Nurses.

See! This is the sign that hangs outside the room where the Evil Lunch Nurses pick up the lunches. It's an Evil Lunch Nurse, out to get you! (sorry about the picture quality: I took it with my cell phone)

Today the lunch consisted of: white rice, vegetable pickles, a bowl of miso soup with fried tofu and vegetables, teriaki salmon, and a quaint glass bottle of milk. Since I'm lactose intolerant, I didn't have to drink the milk and was given strict instructions to tell anyone who asked that I was allergic to the stuff. The rest of it was ok and since I didn't eat breakfast, I rather enjoyed it. Until about 30 mins later. All I will say is that the school lunch tried to kill me, and very nearly succeeded.

Another thing: I was all prepared to chat up the kids, trade japanese for english etc. But the kids don't talk! Barely a word was said. Now, this may be because by the time the Evil Lunch Nurses have finished serving everyone, the students only have about 10 mins to eat. Or maybe it was because I was there. But it was still rather creepy.

I don't know what I'm going to do about lunch tomorrow.

School has officially started

The Higashiyama Jr.High official opening ceremony was held yesterday. I cycled to work in my charcoal grey suit and immediately regreted doing so. Duh. I got to school just in time for my very first staff meeting. A bell was rung, everyone stood up, bowed and said 'ohayo gozaimasu', which means 'good morning', and then a whole lot was said in Japanese. I understood a few words here and there, and when I was being talked about. The other teachers really find my mixed Japanese/Irish heritage interesting, and I can understand enough Japanese to know when it's being brought up in conversation. Anyhow, they made me get up in front of everyone, introduce myself briefly in English and then in Japanese, and then I got to sit down again. I tripped on my too-long pant legs while walking up to the front of the staff room. Great first impression. (actually, I was kind of embarrased about my pant legs -- which are too long because I had them hemmed for heels -- but then realized that all the other female teacher's pant legs were also too long. Yes, I could have re-hemmed them, but my laziness has allowed me to kind of fit-in. hah!).

At 9:15 the entire school filed into the gymnasium for the official welcome ceremony; I wish I had brought my camera (but I didn't, so no pictures). The students, who had been coming to school all through the summer break wearing their school gym clothes, were now wearing their real school uniforms. I was not disappointed in the least - they were everything Japanese school uniforms are supposed to be! The boys wear white dress shirts and grey pants, and the girls wear white and navy sailor dresses. Their shoes are colour-coded to correspondwith the grade they're in. They lined up outside, and then jogged-in purposefully to form lines. Once everyone was in there was a lot of bowing, more japanese, and then the school song was sung. Wow, what an experience. I was expecting a pitiful, half-hearted, warbly sort of thing with the staff cringing and the students looking uncomfortable. Instead, three 3rd year boys (the equivalent to about grade 9) got up on the stage and took turns yelling at the ceiling, their hands clasped behind their backs, bobbing up and down while leaning backwards. Then the rest of the student population got up and did the same thing. In two-part harmony. While yelling. And bobbing up and down in that backwards sort-of fashion. IT WAS BIZARRE!!! But very, very cool. And the staff seemed to approve. Then, after a lot of talking, I heard the kocho-sensei(principal) start talking about me again. And it was my turn to get up on stage.

Duh-duh-duhhhhhh.

Now, I generally don't have a problem speaking in front of people, and I had been asked to prepare a short speech in simple English. So I did. However, earlier that morning one of the English teachers asked that I write it out -- so that she could translate it into Japanese. For me. I got the translation about 15 mins before the ceremony started and practiced furiously. I got up on stage and stumbled through it; out of the corner of my eye I could see the other English teachers giggling amongst themselves. In the end, I think I got most of the pronounciation correct, and if anything it strengthened my resolve to learn Japanese. And I'm sure the kids got a good laugh.

Later that evening I went out for dinner with a friend, and then for drinks at a really, really cool bar/lounge thing with a huge collection of vinyl and a really good sound system. And all was well with the world.

A Tour and a River

Last Friday the Jr.High/Elementary ALTs in Takayama received a tour of the old section of the city, courtesy of about 40 Jr.High/Elementary school students. They were pretty cute and a few of them spoke English quite well.

The girl on the left is Mimi. She looks all cute and innocent, but she came up to Norikura last weekend for English World, and was pretty merciless when it came to our game of Capture the Flag (she made me a prisoner!). In the background you can see some of the preserved 'traditional houses' that Takayama is famous for.

This is a mechanical puppet that lives outside of a restaurant. Everytime he lifts his box a new meal appears: it's hard to see, but in this picture he's currently advertising Hida beef, a regional specialty.

Tasting miso in a miso shop. They also sold huge bottles of shoyu (soy sauce).


But the highlight of last weekend was definitely The River. It's exactly what is sounds like, a lovely stretch of river about 15 mins outside of Takayama, with a swimming hole and waterfalls and large rocks to stretch out on and soak up the sun. It's actually one of many 'secret river' locations, but all are referred to as The River by us ALTs.

By 'ethnic' chili we assumed they meant Mexican

Oh, and how could I forget: that evening the owner of a local English coversation school threw a party. We drank lots of beer, ate lots of food and chatted with many Japanese people (many of whom were incredibly impressed that they sold Kewpie mayo in Canada - you know, the stuff that comes in the sqeezable bottles with the red cap. Angela knows what I'm talking about!!)

And of course, karaoke afterwards

Gujo Bon Odori Matsuri

Just got back from a 3 day 'English World' summer camp up Mt. Norikura. There were 11 ALTs, 5 of us newly arrived last week, 65 elementary school kids, and a huge amount of energy and excitement (mostly on behalf of the students). No other parents or teachers were present. This is not something that could have happened back at home! It could have been a total disaster, but I'm happy to say that things went smoothly. We taught them names of bugs, how to make lemonade stands, and how to play capture the flag; we had a 'crazy olympics' tournament, a world passport game where they had to run around the Norikura compound and complete tasks for stamps, and at the end we introduced them to pinatas. The kids had a blast and the ALTs also had a great time (especially after they went to bed). The lack of supervision wasn't a problem at all. The kids woke up on time, bathed themselves and put themselves to bed, were always in the right places at the right times -- which was more than could be said for us ALTs -- and were darlings at meal time. They took reasonable portions and ate more salad and rice than french fries! What sort of kids do that??? Maybe the Japanese put something in the water... That being said, it was bloody exhausting. Having to be genki all the time really takes it out of you. However, I was also introduced to Japanese public baths. Yes, you get to get soapy with a room full of other naked women, but then you get to slip into a pool of blissfully hot water and soak the day away. (and afterwards pay a visit to the beer/chuhai vending machine down the hall).

I don't have any pictures, but I do have pictures of my visit last weekend to the Bon Matsuri at the town of Gujo Hachiman. Obon (or just Bon) is a holiday that celebrates the spirits of one's ancestors. People take time off from work and return to their home towns. Bon Odori is the dancing that takes place during the matsuri (festival); it is slow and repetative, and people take part in great numbers. Everyone comes out to dance, from the very young to the very old, and people wear their yukata (summer kimono) and wooden sandals. Last Sunday, several of us ALTs from Takayama met up with some ALTs from Gero and went to Gujo. The Gujo festival is famous because they celebrate for 31 nights, and for four nights in August the dancing goes on until dawn. We joined in and after a bit of practice and a lot of stumbling managed to catch on. You wouldn't think that slow, repetative dancing in large circles would be very interesting, but it becomes quite medetative. We had a great time, sampled some delicious festival food, and afterwards found a lovely little stream to cool our feet in. Gujo is a beautiful little town and I would love to go back one day.

The busy food vendor strip

The musicians were in the middle of four main streets and people formed enormous circles in each of the four streets

The musicians again

Dancers

More dancers

Festival food includes anything and everything deep fried, beer and roasted fish on a stick

And here's mine! It was quite salty and tasty, but they don't clean the fish they just shove a stick down it's throat and throw it over the coals. That means it is better to simply munch away and not look inside...

In addition to food there are the games and contests. And what's a matsuri without the perennial favourite "Hook an eel and then take it home in a platic bag" game. Fun times.

And finally, the perfect way to relax after a hard night of dancing.

All work, and some play

So the next day after arriving in Takayama, we were immediately thrown into the deep end and had to participate in a 2-day English Workshop for students, Elementary to Highschool. We also got to meet the rest of the Takayama ALTs, and some others from the surrounding area. I was hot, tired and still pretty jet-lagged, but it was a great experience and was actually fun. The first day I got to sit-in on the Highschool student's cooking with gaijin class. :-) Yum. I got to 'talk' with teenagers and sample: Hoba sushi (seasoned rice wrapped up in a hoba leaf), miso soup with pork and burdock, daifuku (sticky rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste), okinomiyaki (a savoury pancake cooked with vegetables and spread with a tangy sauce), and grilled mochi (sticky rice cakes) coated with shoyu (soy sauce). It was a great way to spend the afternoon! I wish I had pictures... The next day I helped do a little excercise where we pretended that various groups of students were stranded on a desert island and needed to name 10 items they would want. Charades, over acting and overall ridiculousness ensued. Finally, in the afternoon the students 'travelled' around the world visiting various countries and then had to answer simple questions about said country. Myself and another Japanese English teacher -- who had spent some time in Thunder Bay -- represented Canada. We talked about Niagara falls, the maple leaf, the Canadian anthem and bilingualism. I had my passport with me and was able to show the kids how everything is written in both English and French. They either really were impressed or just pretended to be.

Some of students during the opening ceremony

On the Friday night some of the new and old Takayama ALTs, plus some Japanese friends, got together for drinks and Karaoke. Enough said, here are some pictures:

Wow, we rocked!

To Takayama

So, on the Wednesday morning everyone got up, said our final goodbyes, and departed for our various placements. I met up with the GifuPrefectural group, and by 9am we were on the bus to the Tokyo train station to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train).

The Gifu group waiting for the train.
The Shinkansen! Bear with me here, the next several pictures will be for my Dad :-)
The Gifu group on the train. We travelled about1.5 hours or so, and got off in the city of Gifu where we were met by our supervisors. Everyone said goodbye and hello, and we were off! Oh, and yes, the bullet train is extremely fast, devoid of any bumps or jolts, and makes your ears pop like crazy.
Myself, and three other new ALTs - Katie, Ryan and Dan - were driven up to Takayama by our supervisor, Hikage-san, and another woman from the Board of Education whose name I've forgotten.
On the way up, we stopped at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. It was pretty damn cool, and cheap! Fun, delicious and colourful. Oishi.
Driving up into the mountains
First we stopped off at what looked like a magazine/stationary shop and ordered our hankos (official stamps that people here use in liu of written signatures). Then were were taken to the Board of Education to meet various officials, and had to do our introductions in Japanese. I was happy with the results of mine :-) Then the four of us were each taken to our schools for more intruductions, and suddenly very little English was being spoken. Charades became all important. I met my Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) and one of the English teachers, Hori-san, and they took me to my apartment on the nothern edge of town. As I mentioned before, it's absolutely lovely. I'm not going to post any pictures until I've have things in order, but here are the views from balcony: Looking north
Looking south - on a clear day you can see more of the mountains

That evening several of the new and current ALTs were going to the Takayama fireworks festival, but since I didn't have a phone and nobody really new where my apartment was, nobody knew how to find me. So after doing some grocery shopping and buying onigiri (rice balls) from a combini (convenience store), I decided to explore and found the festival myself. It wasn't exactly difficult ;-)

What you can't see in this picture are the people holding on to the fireworks on the ground. Pretty crazy!
Again, it's hard to see, but this is a shot of a Taiko drummer in front of an enormous Tori gate on one of the main bridges.

Tokyo 2: Toilets and more toilets

So, a week ago back in Tokyo...















We arrived at Tokyo Narita International Airport. You can't tell from this picture, but from the moment we emerged from customs there were dozens and dozens of volunteers helping us out and showing us where to go. After being in transit for most of the day, it was greatly appreciated.




















My very first Japanese-style toilet! Piece of cake! (but now I realize why you always take off your shoes before walking inside a Japanese house - you just don't know where a person's shoes have been, or what they've been standing on)















On the road from the airport to the Keio Plaza Hotel. We did drive by Tokyo Disney, although this is just some random ferriswheel. Dad? You up for Tokyo Disney? They have Pirates of the Caribbean!




















Our first night in Shinjuku, Andrew, Leanne and I stumbled around looking for a place to eat. This picture doesn't do the sensory overload justice. We eventually found a little shop that sold Udon, ordered some and tucked in. Oishi.




















After eating with some other new ALTs from Winnipeg, we walked around some more and stopped by an arcade. This is a super fun and super cute Taiko drum game, which can also be seen in Lost in Translation. You go, Andrew!















This was my room at the Keio Plaza, which I shared with another ALT from Toronto named Kaleelah. It was spacious and beautiful: we were spoiled.




















The bathroom had a cool 'non-fog' section of mirror.




















It also had a heated toilet with various functions (though it didn't recommend 'America Town')




















The view from my hotel window.















Monday morning was the official welcome ceremony (or something like that). All the new JETs were brought together by prefecture and we listened to speeches. This picture doesn't show the size of the room nor the number of people involved (there were a lot).
















Me and Chris, both of us looking professional in our suits.
















The lovely Ms.Galina(na-na). Grammy, you'll notice I'm wearing my 'Terumi' pendant :-)




















Tokyo street shot















I believe this is Shinjuku station

On the Monday night we were invited to a reception at the Canadian Embassy, a big, grey building with lots of granite and which screamed 'CANADA' !! Unfortunately it was rather disappointing: they served us sandwiches, Lays potato chips and Canada Dry gingerale, and nothing interesting happened. Luckily, however, the spectacular sunset and gorgeous washrooms made up for the lack of civic excitment. I don't have any pictures of the washrooms (Galina! email me), but I do have some of the sunset.




















What's a Canadian embassy without an inukshuk? This guys gets a great view of Tokyo.















Wow, purple sky. Thank you pollution!















Oooooh...















Aaaaaw... Even though we're jetlagged, we're still hott. That would be me, Galina, Audrey, Mia and Leanne.















We managed to brave the subway system, and eventually get back to the Keio Plaza.















That's right Kevin, Huzzah!















Finally, before heading off to bed, Galina and I made the trek up to the 47th floor, and took some pictures of the surrounding night-time lights of Tokyo. Mine didn't turn out so well, but you get the idea.