i am too hot to blog...

let a summer of moaning about the heat commence.

it's hot.

today there was no rain. which was nice. i got laundry done. go me.


but it was hot. and teaching in the heat isn't fun.

the classes were of the friday standard i've come to expect.

i was sweaty.

i played a colour touch game with a couple of the classes. they insisted on clinging to me when it was time to touch blue.

i sweated even more (but not enough to become child-repellent)


yeah. today was hot.

i want to go to bed because i'm tired. but it's too hot.


crap.

peace.

cheery.

hello.

i'm cheery today, not entirely sure why. i'm enjoying it.

today i had some really good classes, ate lunch with what i can only think to describe as an exchange student who spoke practically perfect english. he's half chinese, half japanese and speaks english with an american accent - this kid is either gonna be super messed up or could possibly take over the world. that decision is up to him... he has promised to write me a letter (very cool) and i asked him to take questions from the class - he was a little embarrassed to translate some of them, i think they were asking naughty questions... i told him not to worry. cool kid.

one of my teachers gave me kanji worksheets today - i was amazed that i actually knew a couple! so was he... he tried to hide his utter disbelief but i caught him... it's really sweet and kind of the teachers i work with to take such an active interest in my progress. i have to up my game and work harder, so as not to disappoint them! they're appreciating the fact that i'm gently rambling away in the background and they are very graciously humouring me when it comes to me occasionally just blurting something out in japanese and then smiling excitedly. i am five years old.

yesterday, one of my mountain school teachers told me that the whole school (five of them) look forward to me coming because i "make english time fun time!" i'm glad. because i love going there. we had typhoon-type weather at the start of this week but thankfully after a rocky night nothing really came of it: i was told to wait for a phone call before going to school... i was so glad that the schools here weren't closed: tuesday is my favourite day of the week and i would've been quite disappointed if i didn't get to go...

also, last night, i went to the adult eikaiwa (english conversation class) for the first time last night and met the folks there. they were all really nice and enthusiastic and welcoming. looking forward to hopefully taking over the class in the summer. it'd be nice and hopefully it'll help with my japanese...

i feel like i'm rambling a little here, just wandering from thought to thought. but you can't stop me, so i'll continue.

today i had an electrician come over and check the apartment. he also fixed my bathroom fan which hasn't worked since i got here. to be honest, i've just tested it and it seems to be pretty redundant... it barely does anything. still, it'll hopefully help in the constant war i'm waging on damp and mould. =) any ally is welcome. i made the electrician a coffee (the universal way of making friends) and we had a stilted japanese/english conversation. i love the look on peoples faces when i tell them i'm not from america. we talked about the weather, about schools and i think he talked about electricity for a bit (i picked out the word for electricity amongst the rapid-fire japanese) i smiled and nodded a lot. it was lovely. i think i made a friend.

anyways, i think i've recapped enough for now. gotta go get bits and pieces sorted now. might buy a fan today. starting to wilt a little in the heat now...

peace.

ps. my friend Mune made a rather awesome video of the rice planting i went to a couple of weeks ago. here's a link to it: linkety-link-link. even if you've already watched it, you should watch it again. it's very good. =)

pps. i've been playing about with the layout of the blog. expect it to change a lot until i find something i like. apologies.

rainy day...

hello.

just a short update today. no reason really.

i'm on a fidgety mood today, maybe because the weather is pretty rubbish and i can't do too much. i'm a trapped animal right now. my house is clean and most of my prep-work and paperwork is done for next week. so, what to do now?

last night i went to a friends for home-made sushi which was pretty cool. i tried goya for the first time (it's an okinawan vegetable, translated as bitter melon) and it was ok: looked like a knobbly cucumber and tasted the way a hedgerow smells after you've cut it. doesn't sound to appetising but i promised to try everything that i could so i went for it. not as bad as expected but not something i could eat huge amounts of...

i had a board of education observation randomly sprung on me during the week and it went well! when i say sprung on me, i really mean it. i was about halfway through my lesson (it was at one of my mountain schools where i'm pretty much told "the topic today is X. go get em tiger!") and these official looking folk wandered into the class. rather proud of the fact i took it in my stride and just went with it. the BOE officials looked happy enough and one of the teachers told me they enjoyed the lesson so all is good in the mountains it would seem.

i don't know if i'd have preferred a little notice or if this way was better? this way, i didn't have the time to get nervous and really, until it was over, i didn't have much of a clue what was actually happening. i guess that made it easier just to get on with my lesson as usual, not having to worry about what was happening or how i was being evaluated/judged. i just hope the positive, enthusiastic comments were genuine and that the BOE folk were indeed happy with me...

on friday one of my usual teachers was absent and i taught that class under the supervision of the head teacher.

in the schools here the "management structure" is: principal, vice-principal and head-teacher. my understanding of their roles is: principal deals with visitors to the school, vice-principal deals with the managerial running of the school and head teacher deals with kids and classes. only the head teacher teaches classes (at least at the schools i work in) while the other two are purely administrators.

the head teacher at this school is a good guy, he always has time for a quick chat with me which is nice because i still sometimes feel slightly displaced at that school. anyways, he was super impressed with the lesson i gave, he remarked that the kids at this particular school aren't as enthusiastic as some others (which is totally true) so he was impressed at the level of engagement and involvement that i managed to create. i didn't tell him that today was the first day that the classes at his school seemed to pay even the slightest bit of interest in what i was doing. i was too busy enjoying it and praying that it continues...

he was also curious about the nicknames i've given some of the kids. i explained that if a particular kid gets particularly involved in an activity, i tend to nickname them after that activity to (hopefully) inspire a little bit of camaraderie. in this class there was green! and monkey girl. not as mean as they sound, trust me. the kids who have nicknames respond well to them and i would certainly stop if they didn't seem to enjoy it...

at another of my schools, one of the kids couldn't quite grasp where i'm from and kept shouting "america!" when asked which country i come from. so now, when i teach his class, he is known as "americaaaa!" and he loves it. so does the teacher. i had lunch with his sister last week and she sidled up to me and elbowed me in the knee (she's a teeny tiny second grader) and in a really low voice said "americaaaa!" made me smile so it did.

so yeah, i really have nothing much else to say. guess i should go figure out how to waste the rest of today...

peace.

the day where i planted rice yo!

hello!

i did promise i'd be back with something resembling a post, rather than just the dirty cop-out that was the last one... i mean, seriously, i know that no-one was satisfied... least of all me. i've been trying to establish a routine and a factor of that routine is regular blog updates. i'm getting there, slowly it would seem. i'm ok with that.

life is for living, right?

well... today, i went rice planting! the event was arranged by the lovely mamy (i'm not sure if she runs the kobayashi international centre or if she's just heavily involved?) and hosted by the extremely welcoming and hospitable tommy (think "really difficult japanese name" say "tommy")

i picked up miki at 8am (on a sunday!) and we headed off to kobayashi to meet up with mamy and a couple of the alts who work there (jono and ellen).

we headed off into the countryside (of which there is an abundance around these parts) to meet up with everyone else. i estimate there was about 20 of us? anyways. a fun day was planned for us and thankfully, a fun day was had by all!

we started off with some cold ocha and then had a welcome circle (apparently these are wicked popular here) where we each introduced ourselves and said a little something about our hopes or expectations for today! i managed to butcher the japanese language sufficiently for everyone to smile (i think i introduced myself informally, which seemed to go over ok. when theres like 213489 different levels of formality based on the person you're talking to, you can expect to miss the mark now and then) gave the circle a hearty "ganbatte!" and we were on our way to the rice field.

it was big. like. a big rice field. with no rice in it. and a group of really clean people standing at the edge. nervously.

however, it should be noted that our field wasn't as big as the field next to it which had already been planted... small mercies, eh?

now, i think a few folk know this about me, maybe not... i'm slightly mysophobic and fairly OCD when it comes to my hands and their state of cleanliness... today was a challenge. asides from the massive cultural exchange and immersion, today was about facing a fear. i mean, c'mon, i've emigrated 5000 miles out of my comfort zone... what's a little dirt? O_o

the first plunge was the hardest. let me tell you that much.

we were all lined up in the field, pretty much knee high in muck and dirty brown water. there were twigs that felt like snakes. i hope they were twigs. there were these white spiders skating on the water. to be honest, i have no idea how i enjoyed myself so much today - i've just described what hell will be like for me...

we were given a planting demonstration and set to task. off we went, this little row of muddy workers, shoving three stems of rice into the murky water. it was systematic and routine and uniform which is probably what kept me sane through the most of it.

i was working between two older japanese people - i don't speak japanese and they don't speak english. we got on like a house on fire. my towel kept dunking into the water, i almost lost my balance (a lot) and i smiled through the whole thing. they became my friends. i know this because they made sure i got plenty of melon to munch on after lunch. there were knowing nods, we were rice field comrades and even though we couldn't tell each other, we really loved each other. i'd take a rice bomb for those folk.

after we were hosed down (i'm not kidding, two of the little kids who were there decided that rice planting was for losers, old folk and stupid foreigners who don't know better decided to frolic in the field, head to toe mud. it was awesome if you can stomach that sort of thing)  we headed back for entertainment and hard-earned food!

there was traditional samurai dancing (very cool) and we made mochi from scratch which was ace - you pound rice with hammers until it turns into a rubbery jelly, you wrap it around red bean paste and eat! delicious! i helped pound the rice for a bit (after tommy cautiously asked me not to hit him with the mallet - he was responsible for turning the rice as it gets mashed up)

we then had a massive lunch, like seriously these japanese folk can eat. there was easily enough food for three times the amount of people. we ate and we ate. and we ate. then, it was dessert. we had ice cream with home made mulberry preserve, ice cream with green plum jam and two different kinds of melon.

melons, as i've told a few folk, are super expensive here so i was a bit shocked to see so much melon offered up to us. i was plied with the stuff by my comrades and forced, yes forced, to eat three slices. i asked a few of my friends and we think there was about £100 worth of melon on the table. easily.

so, full and tired and still a little muddy round the edges, we headed for home (after the goodbye circle - see "welcome circle" above and do it in reverse. i may have butchered the japanese language earlier but this time i gutted it and made sure it was dead. they still smiled. my work there was done)

we were treated to some omiyage (gifts/souvenirs) of the day: rice which had been harvested from the field we'd just re-planted, some flower bulbs (which i gave to miki to give to her father as i don't have a garden), mochi we had made and a map/pamphlet thing of the local area which is now proudly on my wall. i feel very lucky. very lucky indeed.

now, i'm tired and sunburnt (i covered everywhere but my legs in sunblock... i'm from scotland, we share a latitude with russia, this sunshine all the time thing is new to me but i'm learning) and ready for bed.

a good day.

peace.

photos of the day.

proof that i got my hands dirty.

i helped make that happen.

obasan (old lady) hands. they're mine, but its amazing what hard work will do.

samurai dancing. our host, tommy, is on the right.

so cool.

mochi making. the photographer guy lived in nyc for years and was really lovely.

mochi all stuffed with bean paste and ready for us to devour.

miki-chan pounding the mochi into submission.

enjoying the rice violence a little too much...

mamy-san turning her hands to rice violence.

pretty flowers.

lunch. oishii ne?

close-up lunch.

two different kinds of melon. talk about feasting like kings. tasted so good.

my spoils: a bag of rice which came from the field we just replanted, some of the mochi i made and a map of the area. i'm a very lucky boy.

lazy

i'm lazy.

here's a video until i can post a real blog...

peace.

kushimaaaaaa

word.

i’ve clearly been a little remiss this week but hey-ho… the nature of life for me now is to simply go with the flow. if i have the time, i’ll do it, if not… there’s always some other time.

lots to talk about, an entire week of stuff to be exact. but for now this post is about last saturday where i headed down south to hang out with some friends down there.

i hummed and i hawed about what to do – i’d been invited to drive down south from ebino to a place called kushima by some friends to spend the weekend camping and barbequing on the beach. my nature for some time has been to politely decline, to shy away. couldn’t tell you why i’ve been that way, it’s just always been my way. i’d promised myself (and various others) that this would change once i moved to japan. it had to, i couldn’t possibly live anything resembling a happy life if i did otherwise.

i’m slowly getting there with saying “yes!”

going to kushima with my new friends was the biggest step (maybe after going off the map a few weeks ago down in kirishima/kagoshima, that was pretty intense for me…) and i’m ever so glad i did.

the drive is about 4hrs (if you take the long road which i did…) but it’s a beautiful drive down so there was no complaining from me! after getting lost in shibushi (the city next to kushima) trying to find ben and rosa, i eventually met up with them about 35mins after i was meant to (yes friends, i’m learning the art of lateness and the fact that it’s ok).

we stocked up on supplied and headed off to the beach, a secluded stretch of golden sand. through fields and forests we went, my first time “off road” driving which was pretty epic. i did good, other than reversing into a bush slightly then driving into another one in my attempt to park up next to the beach… =D

we set the tents up – ben and rosa have a palace of a tent, it was epic. =)

we then got a call of from ben and another of the southern kyushu ALTs: their car had ended up straddling the road with both sets of wheels lodged in ditches. so, we hiked up our skirts (metaphorically, we were all wearing shorts) and headed out into the dark rice paddies to the rescue. between 7 of us, we lifted the car and set it back on the road. that’s how we roll down here. =)

the fire pit was lit, each of us sacrificing any scrap paper or car trash we had (glad to know i’m not the only one who has a trash car) to get the fire going. after we got it going, we chucked an animal load of meat on the grill and the feasting began.

full of meat, cookies and chicken wings (kindly prepared by another of the ALTs – oishi (delicious) to the max!) and booze, we had a flaming bamboo spear chucking contest. i was bolivia (the theme being south american countries) and i kicked ass – those years of frustrated javelin hurling during gym class at high school clearly paid off. < fat kid rage for the win >

the next day, we cleared up and hit a sushi joint: my first time at a conveyor belt sushi place. i passed out and slipped into a food coma it was so good. i asked for the bill in japanese (with coaching from the lovely ben and rosa) and all was good. the food was divine: aubergine in miso, shrimp and mayonnaise, shitake tempura, green tea on tap… i was in my element, stacking up various coloured plates and just being chilled. after eating here, my default position is to nap but instead, we talked about period costume dramas on the bbc and how we all had a shared affection for the gillian anderson led verision of dickens’ “bleak house”. like-minded company indeed – with complimentary senses of humour for good measure.

we then headed into shibushi and went exploring the international woods there. lovely place, really beautiful and with cracking views of the ocean. =) only downside was discovering that i was sharing the toilet with a massive brown huntsman spider (this thing was the size of a tea saucer, i kid you not…) but i coped marvellously and all was well. zooming about the forest roads was pretty fun, especially as none of us had much of an idea which way was the right way to go: but in an adventure, there’s no such thing as “the right way” so all was well.

ben and rosa put me on a different road home, via miyakonojo and the miyazaki expressway which * should have * cut about two hours of the drive home… unfortunately, i’m a new-ish driver who has never deviated from the tracks that my car was on back home. i got sensationally, beautifully lost. i drove in circles in downtown miyakonojo (it’s the second largest city in my prefecture) for a bit then found the expressway which i took in the wrong direction… i’ve been slowly getting my sense of direction back (back home, i’m practically a human compass) and i knew that i was heading in the wrong direction… i turned off the expressway at the first exit i came to and drove around the unfamiliar countryside, hoping for the best as my phone had died and i had no map…

i drove through a place called tano and figured out that i was heading north. i followed the road and eventually started to recognise stuff. needless to say, instead of cutting two hours off a four hour drive it took me over five hours to get home and i loved every beautifully confused minute. =D

i got home, had a wash and crashed out. just in time for school on monday… beautiful.

peace out. 

Also, a link to a video of kushima beach (mostly for my Dad cause he'll love it, but you're all free to watch... Dad, you click on the blue writing and the computer will do the rest ^_^)

some pictures of the weekend.

my favourite picture of the weekend. 

view from the beach out to the island.

and again.

golden sands... my bed for the night 

view of (another) island. potentially our next adventure.

the port at shibushi, taken from the heights of the international wood.

ferris wheel in shibushi.

adventure island again.

view.

so beautiful.

globe from the international wood.

three day feast of words

word.

today was pretty epic. but that’s not where we’ll start this post, oh no… we need to go back to tuesday to really have a clear idea of how good this week has been. i’m purposely avoiding monday because it wasn't fun. not even a little bit.

but i’m not talking about the bad because it doesn't register with me, it’s all about the good here. oh yes!

tuesday

ok. so. tuesday is when i teach at “favourite school” aka “the happiest most fulfilling place i’ve ever worked. ever.” =) i found out that my classes were cancelled which made me sad. but… the classes were cancelled for their undokai (sports day festival thing) and i got to go. * result *

there were games and races and children using other children as bridges. i pretended that there was lava (i do live on the side of a volcano so this isn’t hugely unimaginable) and all but one of the children were immune to the lava. so they made a wee bridge for that one kid. these kids are troopers and they make me smile a lot.

i was on the white team and i helped secure a win in one of the events: we were throwing beanbags into a basket atop a pole. my height made up for my general sporting incompetence and lack of hand-eye coordination.

the undokai wrapped up with lunch on the grass with two schools (“favourite school” and it’s Junior High School counterpart). * satisfied *

wednesday

i taught at “second favourite school”. in 12 different languages.

15 minutes of my lesson was in english.

then about 10 minutes of french.

then 10 minutes of mangled russian.

then greek, welsh, italian, portuguese, german, korean, chinese, spanish and some japanese for good measure.

it went over well. =)

thursday aka today

today i was almost late. i slithered under the pole and made it just in time. lesson learned: go to bed earlier and get up earlier. instant no lateness. =)

taught some classes. they didn't bomb but they could have gone better. these classes are reaching the end of a section in the curriculum which leads me to think they’re getting a bit bored with repeating, reusing and regurgitating the same sets of vocabulary. had two free periods before lunch where i was planning to revise for the test i had later in the day (more on this later…) but no, there was to be no revision for me…

the free periods were there for a special reason: this school (it hasn’t really warranted a nickname yet but i think it’ll eventually get one…) had some special guests! oh yes, i was treated to a brass band performance. they were really good. however, i was to earn this amazing little treat…

the leader of the brass group (there were two trumpets, a french horn, a trombone, a tuba and a drummer) was engaging the children in a little bit of witty banter, from which i gleaned (it was all in japanese of course): japanese people don’t really have the glottal stop needed to make “ch” noises like in loch. which makes singing Frere Jacques a little difficult. he had the kids attempting to make “ccccchhhh” noises with little success.

it gets interesting when one of my japanese teachers decides to tell the guy that i’m scottish and speak french –  two of the languages/dialects which make extensive use of “cccchhh”.

i may have ended up on-stage, leading an entire elementary school in a what i’d like to think was a rousing rendition of Frere Jacques in french…

as my wee granny would say: “it could only happen to you gavin…” =D

the japanese teachers and i were then hauled up on stage to perform the actions to a japanese version of “DoReMi” from Sound of Music. i belted out the song in english, much to the amusement of everyone.

a good day? you betcha!

it doesn't end there however.

off to “mountain school II” i go, to continue the adventure.

i mentioned a test earlier. i’ve been studying hiragana whenever i can during my free time at school – which has piqued the interest of any japanese person who happens to wander past my desk. “mountain school II” have taken a keen interest in my advancement, to the point that they’ve been quizzing me and getting me to complete worksheets etc. super sweet of them, to take an interest like that. today had been designated as the day where i should have fully completed my learning and revision and they felt i should be ready to be tested on all 46 hiragana.

i get to “mountain school II” and teach. lesson goes really well, kids smiling. none of them died of boredom, one came close to choking from overexcitement. all good.

lesson over, i head back to the teachers room only to be grabbed and dragged into an empty classroom with one wee desk in it (“mountain school II” have more students than “mountain school I” but they still have a lot of empty rooms). on this solitary wee desk is a test paper and a pencil.

20 minutes later…

i’m back in the teachers room, kyotou-sensei (vice-principal of the school) is rabidly marking my test paper, my palms are sweaty. this test is basically for five year olds. i’m a 25 year old with two degrees… the embarrassment would be visible from space if i cocked this up.

100%

i am showered with gifts (in the form of approx. 30 little cakes) and presented with a certificate they made on the computer. my certificate is on the wall in the teachers room, a testament to the fact that when i’ve just been sitting at a desk i’ve been doing something productive.

only friday left in the week, unsure of how it’ll go. i haven’t taught at this school a great deal and it’s weird not to have a feel for the classes or the teachers yet. it’s also frustrating that i’ve been doing my self-introduction lesson after being here for a few months. things will improve once i get into the swing of things, i’m sure of it…

i’ll leave you with some lyrics which have been floating in my head for the past few weeks (temporarily knocked out of my head by the Sound of Music medley today…):

It was the winter of '86, all the fields had frozen over

So we moved to Arizona to save our only son

And now he's turned into a man, though he thinks just like his mother

He believes we're all just lovers, he sees hope in everyone

And even though she moved away, we always get calls from our daughter

She has eyes just like her father's, they are blue when skies are gray

And just like him she never stops, never takes the day for granted

Works for everything that's handed to her, never once complained*

these lyrics make me think of my family. i don’t know why. i get a wee lump in my throat when i listen to the song, a good lump though. missing things and missing people is healthy, i’m enjoying it.

absence makes the heart grow fonder…

*the song is “the gambler” by fun.     listen to it.