my day.
overslept.
actually it would be more correct to say that i hit the snooze way too many times thinking that i'm somehow owed an hour of extra sleep for staying after school for 2 extra hours.
show up to work 30 minutes late. Empty school. Nearly. 1st graders are the only students in attendance. 2nd and 3rd graders are at work sites, 2nd graders have been at them since Monday, 3rd graders only today and Friday. Have a meeting with JTE for 2nd period class with 1st graders. We're entering dangerous territory--3rd person singular "s" addition to the verbs. It is the most common mistake and the more frustrating for the fact that if students don't have this down by 3rd grade, what chance do they have with past perfect construction?

So. Plan to actively pursue education of fresh minds. Recently I realized that when i took foreign language in high school the classes were every day and in the German classroom. Therefore everyday we got to see the posters with common rules on the walls. The more you see those rules, the better they sink in, i think. Since in Japanese classrooms it is the teachers that move and not the students, having permanent subject posters like that is impossible. So I asked if we could have students glue inside their files a cut out with the explanation of how the "s" gets added on to the 3rd person singular verbs. He went for it! Yipee. The inside of their file covers are going to be filled by end of school year!
Class over, I stay around and chat with a couple of the kids. Back in the teachers' office, I savor the coolness of the aircon--the only one in the school. Few minutes of kanji study are followed by a completion of a Sudoku puzzle--I've renewed my interest in these puzzles after finding a book of them under others while cleaning the shelves behind my desk.
Next, time on the internet, chat with my sister and bring Facebook up to date. Then i realize i should be going to the BOE to talk with my supervisor about my wanting to get the AC in my car looked at. I call, he's on holiday today, they say the superintendant will be back in 15 minutes. I leave school in 20, get to BOE and am told the superintendent went to lunch already. It's 11:30am. I mention that I want to go to a repair shop in Kunigami to have AC fixed. While one BOE lady looks up the phone number the other remembers that this shop will not do AC work and I have to go elsewhere. Men in the accounting division are asked and there are now 3 people trying to figure out where to send me. They map out a place near Nago, and I think i know what they mean (the subject of how maps are drawn here should be fully explored at a later date). The new concern is whether I will be able to get a loaner car from the shop. The phone call is made and it is found out that no loaners are available at that shop or another one like it in Nago. What to do? The discussions that follow are mostly beyond my comprehension. I just politely stand off to the side as the issue is hashed out. I am next told that there is a place in Tsuha (the northern most village of Ogimi-son) that I should go to. Another map is drawn, and this time I know exactly where I'm going as the car place appears to be right next to a new soba shop I've eaten at several times already. I thank everyone profusely and go back to school for lunch.
Lunch time. One of the dishes is tiny salted fish mixed in with caramelized peanuts. But we also got a watermelon today! Hurray! And it's delicious! I eat three pieces as there are extra. Yum.

After lunch, drive to the car place but warn two people at school prior to my going that the shop might be calling them if I don't understand something important. Drive to shop, thinking that I'd pay 500$ to fix the AC as opposed to the previously self-imposed limit of 300$. Limit upgrade due to the intensity of the heat during drive over. Get to the shop. One of the workers immediately points me towards Nago as soon as I say, "koolah" but I insist that I was meant to come here and he goes to ask. A minute later I step outside the comfortably air conditioned tiny office to find another man pulling up in a small white car. When he steps out he attempts to explain to me the details of the situation. I gather that I'm getting a loaner from them, but they will actually take my car to Nago to get it looked at. It dawns on me that the man back at the office arranged this with the owner of this shop who is possibly a friend if not a relation. Sooo. I have no idea when I'll see my car again, how much it'll cost me or anything else for that matter. But I do get to drive a tiny air conditioned car for a couple of days, and that's all right with me.
A year ago I would find this to be extremely frustrating and nerve wracking. I am much calmer about these situations now. Am not exactly sure why that is. Perhaps it's due to the fact that nothing really has gone wrong for me here yet. This will be the first thing, eh? Watch me shell out a grand for AC repairs next week! But if I do, it better work like new.

At school I do more sudoku, study more kanji, read a grossly entertaining book called, "Stiff" about human cadavers and their adventures in the land of research.
I can't leave.
I am waiting for the story contest students and so have to stay at school past my contract time. One of them shows up a little after 5:30pm. We have a quick practice; she is nearly ready. I call a couple of teachers and some 1st grade basketball girls to listen to her tell the story. She does it beautifully and in well under 5 minutes. I'm relieved and we both go home.

Quick, improvised dinner of stir-fried wild rice, tuna, green onion, and leafy frozen veggies. At around 7:30pm I'm at eisa practice. Tonight we get to put in orders for pants and shoes. I try on the L size baseball pants and they fit. I sometimes wish i was back in a country where I was Medium size. We go through the songs three times and at the end of the 2nd round i enthusiastically hit my thumb instead of the drum. AGAA!

After eisa practice, i watch some women from the village practice a hari boat dance inside the gym and feel a part of a community. Sort of. Still sometimes just an outsider looking in.

Have an exciting weekend coming up, starting with a carefree Friday. No students will be at the school at all, and I'm staying at home in the morning 'cause only 4 people will actually be at work. I will have to go in around 4pm to wait around for the story contest students again. But thankfully tomorrow is the last day, and Saturday we get to show off our students and stories. Goodluck to all! :)
I'll let ya all know how it goes.

love
-e

5:45am. near Ogimi, looking north.

the test scores are in and they are pitiful. students took their midterm tests yesterday and today, and i graded all the English ones, because i could. the part where i could actually read their japanese and grade it was exciting, the part where the class averages where in the low 60's was depressing. 2nd and 3rd graders' scores made me want to cry but grading 1st graders today was the highlight of my week so far. they're well into high 70's and 80's and 3 or 4 scored above 90. i know you must think that it's a bit sad to be excited about 2 or 3 high scores but after seeing test after test of below 60, i was nearly beside myself writing those numbers on their test sheets.
two reasons for low test scores: the absolute certainty that all students will pass through junior high school no matter what their scores are on the test and second is that the language is taught in a completely illogical manner and there is too much information and not enough time to process. sub reason: the teaching enthusiasm of a certain person has transferred to the learning enthusiasm of most students. 1st graders so far seem immune. The 1st grade textbook is actually a bit better than the ones we used in previous years and also they had 5 years of Gabrielle's brilliant teaching in elementary school. It also helps the class averages that most students are either good learners or well above average. In other classes there are handful of students with obvious learning disabilities who get lost behind when the textbook tempo picks up at the end of 1st grade.
i would love to be able to say that the reason 1st graders are doing so well right now is due to my inspired assistance. perhaps in parts, i could attribute it to it, but certainly not all. the fact that we introduced phonics differently this year and have tried teaching reading a bit differently might have contributed to it, but i don't have any data other than these tests to support it.
i am happy to say that on the listening portion of the tests, in all grades, students scored high. So i guess i'm doing something right. oh well. we'll keep persevering.

in other news. the mosquitoes are out in full force! I am being eaten alive at home and out. Last night went to eisa practice, thinking it was going to be indoors like on previous tuesdays, but the weather had cleared up right before practice time and we were out on the field--in full range of the mosquito population. most ladies were itching and i learned the word for "itchy" and won't forget it now.

Eisa is turning out to be a lot of fun. The dances are a bit complicated, but have gotten a hang of most of them. Am having trouble with transitions from one song to another, but that's probably 'cause we haven't practiced the full set of songs with transitions. Yesterday, they added the cheers, and so i now can rightfully scream "ha ee ya!" in response to the "ee ya sa sa" of the big drum dancers. and of course, this will actually make sense to only a handful of you, so i just gotta say to the rest of you, try to make it to the Ogimi festival this August 10 and 11th when i'll hopefully be performing the eisa with the group.

and it's looking like the rainy days are finally behind us. although, i say that now, and watch it pour down again this weekend. enough rain already!!

love
-e

i hadn't actually realized it's been a while since i posted. guess i been busy. doing what, though, you might ask. well. a few things. for one, growing a year older and a year closer to the overbearing number 30. But since i've met several wonderful and youthful 30 year olds since being on Oki, i'm not so fearful of the number.
but still 29 for now.
so i shall mention that my birthday has been quite a successful one this year. it just keeps on giving. the actual bday was on a tuesday but my first and very enthusiastic birthday song was sung on a monday by high school students. This happened because i didn't have school on monday and drove south to spend time with Kel and Yas. While driving down, Kel asked if i wanted to stop by her high school and maybe even visit one of her classes. I agreed. Been curious about an Okinawa high school for a while. all those stories of make-up sessions in class, cell phones, short skirts, Yonkee boys, etc. So i was in quite a surprise when i walked through the halls of Kelly's school. They're all respectful, tidy, smiley individuals who were very enthusiastic about seeing a new foreign face in the halls. and the class i visited blew me away. Kelly had them ask me questions and one of the first i got, said with perfect grammar mind you was, "why do you have so many pockets," this was in regards to the cool skirt i was wearing that does have a large amount of pockets. Next questions came shyly and some under coercing from Kelly but they were impressive when they came. I got asked about my hobbies and sports i liked, but also about the reasons my family moved from Kazakhstan to USA and why i wanted to come to Okinawa to teach. A really inquisitive bunch of high school seniors. And propped by Kelly, they all burst into a rendition of a birthday song when i was asked the appropriate question. Fantastic! I had a great time in the class and walking around during break. It was fun seeing what a high school is really like. It was very intimidating, realizing that there were 1200 students at the school and several teacher offices full of staff that taught them. Quite a shock to the system after my 108 youngsters.
So yeah. that was the first birthday present. I've also gotten a 1440 page book, a giant watermelon, a website with a message just for me, a package of random goodies, two bright red shisas, numerous messages on the Facebook wall, and of course, the best birthday surprise ever from two beautiful women i'm lucky to call friends.

and the rest of the post will be in pics, 'cause i'm starting to get tired.

Ogimi boys in the final game against Nago Junior HS. They're number 1 in the north, and will play in the all Okinawa tournament at the end of July. Go Ogimi!
The cheering section at a baseball game. The card at the bottom shows the name of a player at the plate. During a cheer his name is yelled several times.
Ogimi baseball team taking a bow to the cheering section after winning their first game. They unfortunately lost the next one.
A beautiful tree in Yomitan. The school went on a field trip to learn about the experience of Okinawans during the Battle of Okinawa. We started in Yomitan at a cave site where numerous Okinawans hid and later committed suicide. The students listening to the guide tell them the sad story of the ChibiChiri cave site.
At the Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum students have a chance to read personal accounts of survivors of Battle of Okinawa. This was a very bloody battle, and most of the blood was spilled by the Okinawans caught up in the fighting.
The view from the top floor of the Peace Museum.
That's me being super excited about a surprise birthday cake on the evening of my birthday.
And here are two lovely ladies responsible for the best surprise ever! Kelly and Yasemine snuck into my place, blew up baloons, taped up photos, lit candles and hid in the livingroom for me to find them. I was keeled over and speechless for several minutes. Naughty monkeys!

snippets from last two weeks

on the way to school in the morning i now get to see some of my students waiting for the school bus at the bus stops. if we make eye contact, i wave and they wave back.
i started going to school a half hour earlier to practice for the story contest with one of the students. she's been busy after school practicing for a basketball tournament and mornings seem to be a good time to have a story session. sometimes she's late, though. and starting next week tuesday her morning "job" at school will be to stand with 3 or 4 other students and greet everyone as they come in to school. she'll have to do it for a week.
actually, because i usually don't get to school until 8:15am i don't get to see all sorts of things that happen before classes start. there are students who come in early to practice sports, and some are there to water the plants in the morning and to do a bit of clean up around the entrance. and of course, the greeters, whom i always miss because at 8:15am as i walk into school, students rush to their homerooms for a morning meeting. So i've been enjoying coming in early and seeing a new side of my students and school.

at first being back from home was really odd. and sort of difficult. my trip was so short but so wonderful that all i wanted was just to be back there still, surprising the dog with my presence every morning. but alas, i was back at school, thrown into a busy, ever changing schedule, and the first couple of days were tough. but it's back to normal, and the trip home feels like a dream that i had to reluctantly leave when i woke up on a school day morning.

tomorrow two student teachers start at the school. one is for English, the other is for Home Economics, i think. i really don't understand how they schedule these students teaching stints. they're only 3 weeks long, but during those three weeks the school will be super busy. we're having the biggest inter JHS sports tournament this weekend, which could be the last one for 3rd graders if they don't win in their respective team sport. Our school has girl and boy basketball teams, girls' soft tennis team and a boys baseball team. I think a couple of students will be competing in karate as well, but we don't have a formal team at school--they practice at private dojos. So we get a friday and a following monday off because we'll all be expected to be at the tournaments' various sights this weekend to cheer on the students. Also the following Wednesday all the students are going on a field trip to two places in Okinawa to learn about WWII and the peace movement. So lots of interruptions, during which the two young and scared student teachers will have to attempt to practice their budding teaching skills. seems ridiculous to me. but at the same time, very japanese.

this past weekend was filled with all sorts of cultural and learning activities. On Friday, the school was visited by a singer/songwriter who performed for the students and the community. She's Okinawan and in late 20's and suffered from an illness i didn't quite understand which, i think, resulted in her losing vision in one eye. not sure exactly how it happened, but she wears a patch over her right eye. She battled through a serious depression after it happened but with the help of her friends and music was able to pull through. She seriously got into singing and song writing to help her through and has been performing since 2003. She plays the guitar and has a lovely and strong voice. Her music is Alanis Morrissete influenced and not bad at all. I enjoyed her singing.

But i had to leave the concert a half hour early because i got invited to join a few friends in watching a performance by a troupe from India at another village community center. Craig saw them perform on his island of Izena the previous night and said they were worth seeing, so we invited a few people and went to see it. The performance included classical and traditional dancing, singing, drumming and even a martial arts dance with swords. It was great to have our very own Indian expert in Juhi, who explained the story behind one of the more beautiful dances which involved a Krishna flirting with cow shepherdesses. The evening's event also included several performances of Okinawan traditional dance and music. This troupe from North Eastern region of India has been traveling Japan for a month and has another month of daily performances ahead of them. Their performances are a part of the Japan-India Friendship Year 2007. This is to commemorate a cultural, historical and more recently business connections between the two countries. There are numerous events taking place all over Japan and India to commemorate it. I'm really glad we got to see it. It's really great to see a live cultural performance, and i seem to appreciate those very rare opportunities more here.
Here are the students setting up their chairs before the performance on Friday. They bring their own chairs from the classroom. Each chair has their name sticker on the back, unless of course they scraped it off at some point. And then i don't know how they figure out whose is whose.
The singer/songwriter performs at the school on a Friday afternoon.
Prior to the performance at the Nakijin Community Center, the dancers and musicians are introduced to the audience.
The shepherdess dance. When they came out in their stunning costumes, the "awe" in the audience was audible. They were gorgeous and graceful. The best dance of the evening.
Krishna flirting with the main shepherdess. Their love, as Juhi told us, has been deified in Indian mythology. A beautiful, classical dance.

Craig has an interesting story about the performers' visit to his island, and i hope he shares it on his blog. so watch for that.

I also wanted to mention two movies i recently watched, Libertine and Stage Beauty. I watched Libertine first last week, and i had no idea that the two movies took place during the same time period. Each movie's focus was the theater life during the reign of Charles II in England in the 1660's. And the two movies couldn't have been more different in their portrayal of the times. I enjoyed both movies and the stories they told. The differences in how they told the stories of the time made me think in how we look at history of centuries past. We can have a story of depravity and excess be shrouded in dark colors and not shy away from gruesome and highly sexual imagery that prevailed then, or we can have a story of love taking place in the same period where stepping into a pile of horse dung represents the discomfort of life, and the ending stops on an uplifting love moment instead on the image of a death of a syphilitic man. Of course, both films bend history to their liking in order to promulgate their stories.
Would films two hundred years from now be able to romanticize the tragedy of our times? Will there be films two hundred years from now is probably a better question, eh?

and on that note, i'd like to end this blog, so i can get back to watching the 4th season of the Simpsons. The true cultural genius of our times. :)

love
-e

Congratulations Dr. Kats!!!

i went home for five days. a short but wonderful trip. i went to see my sister graduate from Marquette's School of Dentistry. Got back last night, drove home and called in sick today for work because was a bit dizzy and out of it this morning. Still am a bit. so here are some pics to make the posting easier for me, but more interesting for you. :)


Anna and Sofya at Anna's studio apartment with one of her newest pieces.
Have you ever heard of hurling? Well, if you haven't, then you'd be like me. A good friend joined the league in Milwaukee which is apparently the largest league outside of Ireland where the game is from. I went to see his practice to see what it looked like. It looks difficult, streneous, but fun.
Molly at the dog park. It was truly warm and sunny one day in Milwaukee while i was there. Molly and I enjoyed a stroll in the park.
Sofya at the brand new (to me) Bayshore mall. The newly redone mall was opened in the winter time. It's done like a mini-city with stores lining streets, each building architecturally different. but the large building behind Sofya is mostly condos and offices.
Prior to the hooding ceremony on Saturay night, Sofya and grandmas.
Walking into the church for the hooding ceremony. The ceremony was held at a cathedral on 12th street in Milwaukee across from Marquette university. Marquette is a Jesuit university.
Sofya is honored for her top grades with several other classmates.
2007 Marquette School of Dentistry graduates. Congratulations!
with the happy family after the hooding ceremony which official inducted Sofya into the dentistry profession.
On Sunday morning at the graduation luncheon, Katie and Sofya show off their hoods. The lilac color is for the profession of dentistry. Blue and gold are Marquette's colors.
Sofya poses with one of the cards my students made for her.
Early monday morning we had breakfast with grandmas before my sisters drove me to the Chicago airport.
One of the reasons i love being home is the comfort of being with my family. This photo reminds me of that. Grandma Nina fortune tells on the coffee grounds every time we have turkish coffee. She's lovely when she does and i look forward to it every time.

i wanted to do a photo blog, so forgive me for not doing what i wanted to do even though you had no idea i wanted to do it.

i thought it'd be the easiest way to share with you about what's been happening lately. mostly about the Golden week weekends, so perhaps i'll add them in a few days.

the first weekend i was meant to participate in an adventure to an uninhabited island off Izena island with several wacky and determined friends. i backed out and spent the weekend in the north. it was a good decision, although i do regret not exploring the village that has been abandoned on that island for 50 years or so. heard it was creepy but very interesting as most of the buildings were quite old.

saturday it rained all day and i wasn't quite up for anything more than going for a walk in the neighborhood. The lovely turk stayed with me friday night and it was wonderful to catch up with her and hear all about her trip home during spring break. She brought me a great gift--an actual turkish "chevz", a russian name for a turkish coffee cooker. Sunday the weather was lovely, sunny and bright, and i went to the Shioya village to watch the trim runs. My students were helping out and all the village officials were there and i walked around Shioya after and took some pics from spots i haven't been to before. On saturday, boys and girls basketball teams played in a tournament between northern junior high schools. The girls, unfortunately, didn't get through the firs two rounds, but the boys team did. Sunday afternoon, i drove to a junior high school in Nago and watched the Ogimi boys' team play for the 1st place. They were fantastic and won easily. That was very exciting. The teachers who left Ogimi in March were there to cheer them on, which was great to see. And the cheering squads of both schools were unstoppable. The entire baseball team of the opposing school was up in the rafters doing cheers along side their girls' basketball team. So even though our team beat theirs, i think their cheering squad easily overtook ours.

Later that day Kelly came up with her visiting friend. First we went to see a movie at Schwab, called Number 23 with Jim Carrey. Kelly once again went to a movie with me without knowing much about it and i couldn't remember anything about this one to tell her, except that i wanted to see it based on the previews and it seemed intense. It was that and also slightly convoluted and a bit predictable, but film noirish (is that a word?) in parts and creepy. I enjoyed it. Kelly didn't. She will never go to movies with me again, i fear. After the movie we hung out at mine, drinking wine and playing games and mentioning the Number 23 every once in a while to bring back fond memories of the film.
On Monday I spent time with Gabrielle and later on David and Andy came up after their "lost" adventure and we walked around my village and they told me all the stories from their trip. quite hilarious. During our walk, we stumbled upon a tiny place that at first looked like a shop, but turned out to be a small museum with a collection of items and photos from Kijoka's history and culture. The owner collects items that have to do with the local folklore, specifically the tree sprite creature, bunagaya. This red headed tiny being is more commonly known as kijimuna on Okinawa and can be sited in their home, the gajumaru tree.
Here's a link to a more detailed explanation of kijimuna Kijimuna inkblot art

The next weekend David, Ben, Juhi and i ventured to Kume island. This island has been on Juhi's "most wanted" list for a long time, nearly as long as she's been on Okinawa. The 4 hour ferry ride brought us to the beautiful and quite big Kume jima. We rented a car and camped near the beach. It was a wonderful weekend and i have photos up on Fotki and facebook.

There's a spot on Kume island that is known as the ghost road. Juhi had some "google translated pages" about certain places on Kume and they were mostly gibberish that made for funny reading. The ghost road was essentially described as a place where the ghost spirits can create optical illusions to confuse people. On this road, in a certain spot, if one were to put the car in neutral the car would move forward even though it appeared to be climbing up. It took us a while to find the road in the first place because of the rain and the dusk and the fact that Kume government has seemingly decided to let their tourists strain their eyesight at tiny, nearly rubbed off signs posted right at the corner of the turn off for an attraction. Having found the road, i put the car in neutral in several spots without any success of involving the ghosts in our faiths. We gave up but when the road took a dip, i decided to put it in neutral and let it roll down the hill. I took my foot off the pedals and the car rolled downhill and then, as it came to a slight incline, it kept rolling. I excitedly pointed out the fact that the car was still in neutral and my foot was still nowhere near the pedals. We decided, that because i first went down a hill and then up, i might have had enough momentum to continue upwards. So i reversed the car to a spot about halfway on the decline, stopped, put the car in neutral and took off my foot. The car slowly rolled down and then up the incline. For a moment, we thought it wouldn't roll much further but it kept going reaching the top. Spooky! But mostly an optical illusion. Ben claims that he figured it out. Ask him about it. :)

So am back in school and it's nearly lunch time. Wanted to quickly rant about the lack of a coffee shop concept in Japan. or maybe it's just Okinawa, though i doubt it. A giant, three story building was being renovated for the last two months in the middle of Nago. The signage proclaimed the coming of an internet cafe, billiards, and darts. I was excitedly anticipating its opening because from the road it looked like that along the side of the regular cubical reading spots, there would be comfy couches and chairs set up by the large windows. Finally! i thought, A place where i can sit and read with a cup of tea or coffee in Nago. I have been very much missing a coffee shop atmosphere that i've grown fond of in Milwaukee. The place opened on the 27th and i went on the 28th. As i parked, i saw through the windows a couple of people reading on the cream colored, comfy looking couches. I grabbed my book and headed in. A guy approached me with a shiny, explanation pamphlet. I said i wanted to read, he asked if i wanted a cubicle or to sit by the window. I motioned to the windows. He took me to the counter and i asked about getting a coffee. He pointed to a menu list, except it didn't list the types of coffees the place had, instead it listed durations of time, locations and the price. So to sit on the couches for half an hour costs 200Yen (roughly 1.5$) and a drink from a coffeematic machine is free. I think my look of disbelief must have confused the guy further and he kept pointing at the price list, which by this point, i had perfectly understood--NO COFFEE SHOP FOR ELINA!

bleh.

today is Goya day. Because it's the 5th month, May, which is called Gogatsu in Japanese. and the 8th day of that month, which can be read as "ya" sometimes. So 5/8 is "goya" day. Clever. We're having goya tempura for lunch along with fishy smelling spaghetti and baked potatoes topped with bacon and a small side of a an egg salad with some green looking things. nope. not the healthiest of lunches. and no dessert! :(

Yesterday i was at the local shop in Kijoka and over heard a couple of old ladies chatting inside. By overheard, i don't mean, i understood them because there was no way i could. They were speaking the Okinawan language, Uchinaguchi. I've heard people refer to it as a dialect of Japanese but have also read somewhere that people outside of Japan and Okinawa consider it a distinctly separate language. Since i haven't done much research into the area, i can't confirm either way. But i can tell you that the language the ladies were speaking was NOT japanese. It didn't even really sound like it. It actually resembled Chinese to me. Uchinaguchi or the Ryukyu language is also referred to as hogen and i have learned a few words, but not very many. Some of my friends who interact more with the locals know quite a few words and older Okinawans appreciate people learning their language. Sadly, though, the language may die out in a couple of generations as young people don't speak it and their parents don't speak it well or frequently. Hogen varies from village to village as we discovered while trying to compare our knowledge of it. Andy knew words that David didn't but they also knew differently sounding words for the same things. Ben told me that even villages located relatively close to each other, like the 3 villages of Higashi-son, will have hogen words unique to them. Interesting. Maybe one of these days i'll look a bit more into it.

and in other news.
am going home next week for my sister's graduation from the Marquette School of Dentistry. It is definitely an unexpected visit and will be a short one, but i felt that it had to happen and so am going. The next few days will be slightly more strained for me because i'm just really wanting to see my family already!

love
-e

meant to write about this a while ago. but what with the old laptop/new laptop transition and believe it or not, being very busy at school, only just sat down to write it.
what i wanted to mention was a curious thing that happened a few times while my mom was here and that was confirmed somewhat during the first monday morning teacher meeting a couple of weeks ago.
having mom here made me look at my life through an outsider's perspective. but not just where i live and the customs and culture i'm surrounded by, but my own actions and perceptions and how they've been modified by living here. mom thought it was odd that i would cover my mouth sometimes when chewing and attempting to talk, but even though i'm conscious of when it happens i can't always help bringing my hand to my mouth to cover it after putting something bigger than a niblet in my mouth. the women do it a lot and i guess i've picked it up. mom also noted that whenever i can, i hand things over to people with both hands.
she didn't mention it but i noticed how odd it was to have my mom extend her hand everytime she was introduced instead of bowing. something about her forwardness was uncomfortable for me, and it could only be because i've already been accultured to certain ways of interaction here that anything out of the ordinary really sticks out to me, even though it's a part of my primary culture.
Craig mentioned in a comment that i must be becoming Japanese if i'm starting to talk about appreciating simple and natural things. that's very possible. i guess after the period of culture shock comes the period of acculturation.
and here's a perfect example. during the spring break, the teachers' desks got shifted around, as they usually do during this time of transition from one staff to another, from old school year to new. so my desk got moved closer to the computer, but it's now also closer to the head teacher's desk and vice principal desk and farther from the office lady's desk where it was the last two arrangements.
at the monday morning meetings teachers sit in the spots that somewhat directly coordinate to their desk location. so i used to sit at the very end next to the office lady and the accountant. and it seemed like a reasonable position. i sit in that spot for lunch as well. my position in the school is very clearly defined. i think i've mentioned the hierarchy system that exists within the school and not just mine. so. at the very first meeting of the new school year i go to my usual spot and the office lady motions for me to go sit next to the head teacher, at the head of the table. it would certainly make sense according to the system of how everyone else is seated but i felt extremely out of place there. i was all of a sudden sitting across from one of the senior teachers, diagonally from the principal, next to the head teacher and the vice principal.
and i honestly thought that it had to be wrong, and i shouldn't be there. a part of me knows that thinking that way is a bit screwed up, but a part of me still believes i should be at the other end of the table. and there ya have it. i'm turning Japanese.

and it has been extremely busy at school for me. but a lot of fun as well. several changes to how we teach have been implemented since the start of the year and they're working out smoothly so far and i'm happy, but also busy. and the story contest practice started and the two students are putting in serious effort in already, which makes the job so much easier.

but Golden Week is coming up and we'll all be taking a bit of a break thanx to the great Japanese system of forced vacation through public holidays. this weekend will be a camping trip, and then work tuesday and wednesday, and then nothing planned for the other 4 day weekend.
looking forward to it.

oh. and the macbook rocks!
and i've just uploaded the photos to the April Fotki folder. they're from a trip to Iheya from a week and a half ago.

love

yeah! i've finally figured out a way to let the silly computer at school let me into blogger again. the whole logging in automatically with my google ID is making this comp too edgy and tired.

but i won't post much right now, as i have a couple of things to take care of at school before i hop off to pay bills (it's pay day, yipee) and then play with my new Mac notebook at home. that's right! i ordered a mac laptop upon several recommendations and my own research and have just received it yesterday, two days after making a call to a nice young man in Tokyo who spoke nearly flawless english and seemed to have developed a crush on me, 'cause he asked me to call him "anytime" and then called me himself a couple of times to double check some things. very cute.
the fun part will be setting up the internet connection on it as it's been more than a year since i did it on my previous laptop and even then i had the help of the vice principal. will attempt on my own and then will call in the cavalry when i fail.

so if all goes well, i'll post a fresh blog this weekend on my verynew, white, and slick notebook from my apartment.

fingers crossed.

while you're here, though, click on the link for Doc's blog. He's got a curious map posted from Google and also a couple of worthwhile articles to read.

laters
-e

there are so many things to discuss.
the new 1st graders that rushed into the school on monday, scared and eager and bewildered. the new teachers that came in two weeks ago but whom i haven't had a chance to really meet because i've been busy with mom's visit. they seem like wonderful people: serious, diligent, ready to take charge of this mass of bumbling youth that is Ogimi JHS. there's the total shut down of my laptop that could be mentioned: it was its time to be sure, but it's sad nonetheless that i didn't properly get to say goodbye and take away all that i really wanted from it. nearly 7 years is a long time for a laptop. it did its job.
there's also the fact that i will get to teach my own english elective class this year, once a week for two periods on thursdays. 12 students signed up, 6 boys and 6 girls, and the first class is next week and i'm already quite nervous about it because now that it's a regular class (though it was advertised as a replacement of the after school english club i had last school year) i now feel i need to map out a strategy, a curriculum to improve these kids' knowledge of English. but first, i suppose i should meet them and see what they want to do. A couple of the students who signed up were a surprise; they are lower lever and i only expected students with English skills to join, but i guess they were enticed by the mention of movie watching and manga reading and perhaps their friends suckered them into it. fools! ha ha. they'll be learning and they don't even know it!

all the above things are good to talk about. and i've had lots of thoughts about all of them the last week when i was attempting to sit down at the comp at school and start a blog. i kept being rejected--the blogger page wouldn't load at school and then my comp. crashed and so i had to wait until today to sit down and write. took a day off today and am now on Schwab (that's a base) at the library. i didn't actually took a day off to write a blog. that would be rather excessive. nope. took a day off to lick my wound about not seeing my favorite band play tonight and monday on mainland Japan. after two months of internal dancing to the future possibility of Gogol Bordello live on stage in front of me, i was neatly brought down by a short e-mail from the band announcing their canceled dates for Australia and Japan. the crash inside me might be likened to a vacuum. oh no, i am so lacking for words now that i can't even describe a complete lack of space and depth as a feeling. regardless. i had to return my air tickets but decided to keep one of the three days of vacation i was going to take for the trip. so today i woke up around 11am thinking that in another reality i'd be in my car right now, on the way to a friend's place to park it, going to the airport and tonight i'd be in a blissful state of dance to the best live band ever. i hope me, in the other reality, appreciates it.

speaking of appreciation. that's what i actually really want to talk about. appreciation of insignificant things. of things that are primarily on the periphery of our daily vision as we move through busy lives filled with concerns over medical insurance, job pay, vacation days, new wardrobes.. always moving, always rushing, always on the lookout for the better, the bigger, the more stable, the more complete, the more acceptable.
i haven't been doing that for a little over a year now and i would highly recommend it. and i don't want to speak of it as if i'm better and i've decided on something profound while the masses out there are in an unenlightened world that needs to be shattered for them in order for them to see the truth that i have found. far from it. i know nothing of truth. i just now what touches me, and i have known for a while, but it's harder to focus in america. it's harder to slow down and pay attention to yourself there. i guess i had to come here.
this is all very personal and so i'm putting up a disclaimer....this is not about you. this about me.

Igor just posted an article that i took to heart. it's an article about a musician who is considered to be the best in the world, who plays one of the finest if not the finest violin in the world and who have some dubbed genius though he would quickly defend himself from that title. it's an article about Joshua Bell playing at one of the busiest metro station in Washington DC, performing some of the most brilliant and divinely inspired pieces of music and out of over a thousand people only a handful taking note.
it made me think of my friends and my sisters who are attempting to create things in this life that are to them beautiful, that might be considered inspirational and unique and people in their lives nagging at them for not following the "right path" in life. what is that path that they or i must chose? what is the path that is acceptable, that is productive, that is promising of fulfillment? why must it be determined by the external forces and not the internal needs? why do we have to conform and resign ourselves? because the money isn't right? is that it?

i'm a bit angry and sad and i hope it comes through, because i never am on this podium i've chosen to be mine. i have never considered this blog space to be an opening into me, only into my life. but that's me, isn't it? my life that i live here. the fact that the clouds in this place make me inexplicably happy. the fact that the positioning of shisas on the rooftops is a good thing to chat about on a sunny day. the fact that i can expect every weekend to be thought provoking and new even if i spend it alone.

it's going to be hard to leave this place. this place where i'm finding peace. there are things i struggle with daily: my laziness about Japanese, my weight, my occasional insistence on seclusion..but those are the things that are helping me grow here as well. i have less than a year and a half. i'm in the 2nd half of this Okinawa experience. i'll try to be more appreciative of the life people lead here, of their culture, of their stories, and of mine as well.

also, and this should have been first and foremost, i just learned about the death of Kurt Vonnegut...it's been an emotional afternoon.

here are the links to the article from Washington Post about Joshua Bell and Kurt Vonnegut's obituary.
Pearls Before Breakfast
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 84; Keen Observer of Humankind

hope you take the time.

love
-e

am tired. mom's in town and we have been busy ever since she landed wednesday night.
she has been to my school and visited a class during which the kids managed to ask her a few questions and involved her in a game they played. she ate school lunch which also happened to be her first japanese food. she has been officially welcomed by my BOE with a party at a local restaurant. My supervisor presented her with a present and flowers and speeches were made. On saturday she was a great help to me during the Okinawa JET Gumball Rally, which turned out to be a great success. 6 teams participated and gathered lots of hilarious photos and surprising objects as well as the ones required by the list. I hope the photos turn up somewhere in the future and i can copy them and post them. During the race mom and i went to the Urasoe Art Museum and saw an exhibition of Asian fiber art recommended by Brett. The exhibition was small but wonderful. I have never seen fiber art so formally presented and it was quite intriguing. The museum itself, however, is not so impressive with a small permanent collection of Okinawan lacquer ware. After the gumball rally finished a few of us went out to dinner at an izakaya and then it was karaoke time. Mom was a brave soul and stayed up 'til 3am with us and sang a few songs, including the only russian selection available, TATU's "Ya soshla s uma."
This morning was cloudy and rainy and my plans to take mom to her first Okinawan castle were ruined. But we had a great day, nonetheless. First lunch with the wonderful and stylish, Ms. Wiebe at DFS and then a stop at Cape Manzamo in Onna village on the way back home.
Back in Ogimi we stopped at home to pick up some russian sweets mom brought and went to the Sunday night adult class i teach. The members of the class decided to welcome my mom with a potluck dinner, so we gathered at Kei-san's house and mom was treated to beautiful food and wonderful company. I think she enjoyed herself. i know i did.

so that's the start. mom will be here for another 12 days and we hope to make the most of it without tiring ourselves out too much. no more staying up 'til 3:30am unless we can sleep in after.

i'll try to update but most likely won't have much time to....so check back in a couple of weeks.

love
-e

apparently this thing called Facebook is a bit addictive. Fun, too. I like the layout way better than Myspace, and I only got on to Myspace at first so that i could read Ms. Kitty's enlightening blogs. But now i'm settled there but don't quite feel at home. Facebook is another story. Most of my friends on Okinawa are on it and a few people from back home as well. It's a fun way to connect during the day. Just another format for communication. E-mails no longer do it for us. They imply time consuming lengthy responses. But Facebook or other formats like it, provide a space for quick messaging, short replies, witty comments, and pokes. It's easier to let someone know that you're paying attention to them without having to go into details about your life as well. Someone should write a thesis about the ever changing communication patterns of the 21st century and how tons of kids out there can't even imagine a world without the 2 second responses.
So here for your enjoyment is my Facebook badge. Don't know if i'll keep it here for long.

A week before my mother visits the island and it's very exciting to be waiting for her to come here. A couple of welcome parties have already been planned for her and i have a little surprise in the works as well. Should be a good time; hope i don't get sick before she gets here though.
Three teachers and at least 10 students are absent today due to influenza. 'tis the season for it, but some suspect that the students brought it from mainland when a couple of them went there on an exchange trip along with several elementary kids. Influenza ain't pretty here; i remember being sick last year and losing my voice; so crossing my fingers and trying to peel oranges to keep away from the illness.

The days are quiet now at school. The 3rd graders graduated on Saturday and are now free to roam the village streets until the start of their 1st high school year. The ceremony was wonderful: lots of emotions, some singing, presenting of awards and lots of speeches. One student received an award for not being late or absent for all 9 years of school (elementary and Jr. H.S.) and a couple of students haven't been absent or late during the 3 year Jr. H.S. carrier and 9 or so have not been absent or late during their entire 3rd year. I thought those were interesting awards to give out. I'd personally think the girl who hadn't been absent for 9 years is a bit of a loser, but i'm a teacher now and am not allowed to think those thoughts.

I took some pics around the school the day before graduation and on Saturday as well. During the ceremony, however, a 1st grader asked to use my camera and i thought i'd get interesting pics that way, but unfortunately all i got was extremely zoomed-in and blurry photos of crying 3rd graders. Lesson learned--take my own pics from now on.
During this graduation, i felt a bit more emotionally attached to the kids than last year. I felt that i knew most of them very well--some have been in my English club, with four of them i practiced for speech and story contests, a few boys would always attempt to converse with me between classes....so i actually came close to tears when one of the twins, the class leader this year, was giving a thank you speech and broke down half way. I didn't understand all of it, but it was easy to understand the emotion. So now they're gone, but not really. Most of them were in school yesterday because the H.S. test results came out and they were here congratulating each other on having gotten in. A few students didn't get in. I was only surprised that it happened to one of them, a girl who attempted to get into Nago H.S. So her homeroom teacher and principal were on the phone for a part of the day, her mother was here chatting with teachers about what's to be done, and i think she's going to attempt again for Nago H.S. and if not, will go to the high school in Ogimi, Hentona.

With 3rd graders gone, i have a bit more time on my hands and have been studying Japanese and planning for mom's trip and also thinking of ways to improve our classroom techniques for next year. Have a couple of ideas that hopefully will get implemented and the students should benefit from it. We're also starting the process of choosing next school year's participants for story and speech contests. I hope a few kids try out next week so that we can pick the best ones. I have a feeling, though, that if 4 try out, we'll be lucky. So now i have to start thinking of stories for them to do next year. The story contest is in June, so we'll only have 2 months once the kids and stories are picked and i'm done traveling by mid-April.

In other news, on Tuesday Ben, Rodger, David and i as well as 3 other adult students had a karate test for the next belt. It was a bit nerve wracking. We had to do 5 skills and then three katas: two mandatory and one of our choosing. But the test went fine; the Sensei seemed pleased with us and even commented on the individual things he thought were good about our performances. We should know next week if we passed and are ready for orange belts.

I've been a bit sluggish with running, but ran twice this week and hoping for a 3rd time on Friday. I seem to think that if i make my attempt at running the Shioya run public then there will be more people i'll be lying to if i don't actually do it because i'm an extremely lazy person when allowed to be. So there you are. The run is on the 29th. It's 9.5km and i'm hoping to do it with Kelly and Yasemine. So here's to doing something i've been swearing up and down i would never do....
things change, eh?

cheers

Поздравляю всех женьшин, девушек, мам, бабушек, внучек и особенно сестер С Международным Женским Днём!!!

The above is to wish all women a Happy International Women's Day!

and now, because every women is a piece of art--depends on the day of course, if it's the serene Mona Lisa or eccentric Frida Kalo but a piece of art nonetheless--here's a test to find your own, daily piece of art. and today....

I am Best Described By...

San Giorgio Maggiore, TwilightBy Claude Monet

Famous Work of Art Are You?

and also, because i found it hillarious, here's a test to see if you're a dumb american--or are not American and to shame them all know more about US history.

though, not more than me it turns out, because...

I am a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed.Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

a good monday

my mp3 player is on full shuffle. something i don't think i've attempted before. i've shuffled folders before but recently been on a kick of listening to albums or folders straight through. so two days ago i put it on random play and it's been great. it just went from Reservoir Dogs soundtrack to a song by Vissotsky i haven't heard in ages to Radiohead's Lucky. random is right and i'm liking it.
but that's not why today is good. it helps having the music though as i write about the reasons.

i don't share details often; i give out snippets and stories and sometimes observations, but to have a full day deserve a blog is a rarity mostly because i'm too lazy to write everything down.
so today started out with me snoozing for nearly an hour. i meant to get up at 6am--am starting to do this whole "running in Okinawa" thing that has suckered in a bunch of JETs i know. of course, i don't foresee myself running marathons, but it would be nice to run the 10km in my village. but at 6am it was too cold and too dark and i was not convinced that it was a good time for me to get up. so i postponed the waking 'til 7:15 and told myself i'd run after school.
on the way to school was thinking of how lame a couple of my classes might be a) because one of them will be a repeat of a hair pulling experience from Friday, albeit this class is way genkier and so the repeat at least promised to be livelier and b) because you all know my feelings about my co-worker and some days i'm more pessimistic about the prospects of working with him than others.
but the clouds were gorgeous, the sun was climbing and making the blue of the sea sparkle and so i was disinclined to be truly down as i pulled into the school's parking lot.

i walk into the teacher's office, smile and "ohayo gozaimasu" whoever happens to be in my line of sight and go to my desk on which a faxed note from my JTE greets me and my day is immediately not what i expected.
the note says to expect a two hour delay and to teach at least one, mayhap all three classes on my own because he might be late for 2nd and 4th period and during 5th period he'd like to finish up the "checking of files" and so he'll be present but i'll do "activities" and entertain 1st graders.

am a bit upset at first because it's not what i expected my day to be, and then i give myself a good mental thrashing because my day just went from me being potentially frustrated in the classroom to me being able to lead the classroom and thus control my level of frustration. and so i get into the planning; i refuse with 3 weeks of school left and us being behind in the textbook in 1st and 2nd grade (3rd graders are already finished but in the most hurried fashion towards the end) to play games during classes. So i plan out how to move the classes forward and yet not having to "teach grammar." For 2nd graders it involves some silly acting out on my part and some writing of dialogues on theirs and for 1st graders it involves an introduction to "can you" grammar through a bingo game i found months earlier on a KitaKyushu JETs' website.

my coworker comes back before my 2nd class of the day and wants to join me just to hang out and make sure there's no behavior problems. i somehow manage to convince him that he need not bother because i feel that the lesson i have planned for this class relies greatly on the fact that i'm on my own with no Japanese backing and them having to do a lot of guessing. During the 1st graders' lesson he does join in to hand back some papers and files and then i'm on my own with him at the back of the room. The kids are unclear about the bingo instructions and instead of prolonging their torture of having to figure out what the highly animated Elina is trying to say, i turn to him and he prodes the kids with hints in Japanese to figuring out the game, and i appreciated that instead of a full out translation. progress!

so three classes with prep between them and i'm done around 2:35 and i haven't had time to study japanese yet, but had three good classes and hang around a bit after the 1st graders' class and chatted about Donald and Daisy Duck.
and with this "i can do things" mood i get into writing down new kanji to study for the week and it's a bit after 4pm when i go home ... and oh my! go for a run. well. it's a half walk/half run deal but i'm happy about it.
after the run, a salad with tofu for dinner, then some reading time and up the stairs to Gabrielle's at 6:30 for our Monday night yoga session. Tonight i had a really good session--broke a sweat and everything and with Gabrielle's assistance attempted a headstand, though am nowhere close to doing it on my own.

at 9pm back to my apartment and reading for about an hour before i decided to write it all down because i'm feeling good about today and about where i'm at right now and that's not always the case but i don't ever feel like describing the days when i'm down and it's gray and all my plans have been rained out by weather or mood. but i think it's good to remember the good days in detail, 'cause they're possible and possible to replicate. so here's hoping i have another good one tomorrow and wish one for you as well.

PS. am reading a great book right now thanx to Shelley. It's called "Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist" by William R. Maples, Ph.D. and Michael Browning. It's been a while since i've read anything related to my original field and even though it's a bit gory at times, it's nice recognizing some of the terminology and feeling a connection when a Marshalltown trowel is mentioned. And according to this book the belief that human hair and nails keep growing a while after death is a myth. Good to know.

Grooving to James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing" as i'm finalizing this post. How appropriate.

listening to the soundtrack from the film, Marie Antoinette that i picked up in Taipei. I saw the movie before the trip and enjoyed it. It was certainly ambitious and didn't always deliver but it was great visual fun and i thought Kirsten Dunst's performance was wonderful. I also enjoyed the music, so when i saw the soundtrack at a music store , i bought it budget be damned. Also picked up Pink Martini's Hang on Little Tomato album which is a french import and seems to be disliked by the windows player on my computer. Only plays it for a short time. figures.

so yeah. went to Taiwan for 6 days and had a wonderful time. Went by myself and don't really regret that decision. It would have been a different kind of fun with a friend or two--Taipei is a great town with lots of options for entertainment, but i had a good time on my own, more subdued but relaxing and reflective.
I put up all the pics on the fotki site with short explanations for most of them, so check that out if you want a visual story of the trip. Of course not everything i saw and did is on the photos. I had a great time meeting people at the hostel and during my trip to Taroko National Park, and those things can't be transcribed through photos. Not my photos anyways. :)

I spent the first 3 days in Taipei, and then very early Sunday morning took a train to Hualien, a city on the east coast of Taiwan, south of Taipei. My goal was to go to the Taroko National Park from there, which was another hour by bus. I didn't have a clear plan for my trip to Taroko, but it all worked out splendidly. I took a bus about half way into Taroko NP and stayed over night in Tiansiang, a small village in the forested hills of the gorge. I walked south from Tiansiang on both days to explore the sights. On the first day it was cloudy and a bit chilly towards the evening and i didn't make it as far as i wanted to, but i did meet a fellow walker and we made it back to Tiansiang and had dinner together and enjoyed a great show of native taiwanese dancing.
The next day brought sunshine and with the pack on my back i walked south following the same road as the day before hoping to catch a bus when i got too tired and after i had walked the trail called The Tunnel of Nine turns. After the trail and about 11km later, i missed the bus and was seriously considering hitching when a car pulled over and the driver motioned for me to get in if i was going their way. I stuffed myself and bag into the back seat with two grown children of a husband and wife in front and their two cute dogs (pic on Fotki). The university age kids spoke broken but decent English and the father chimed in a bit as well. We had a great ride all the way back to the Hualian train station, which was my destination and since they were staying the night in Hualian they offered to drop me there. But not only that, the kids walked with me to a local specialty shop and helped me pick out sweets to bring back as omiyage(gifts) to my school, BOE, English class, etc. It was one of the kindest gestures i've experienced in a long time.
So that's just one little story from a great trip, which also included lots of stinky tofu, night markets, late night hostel chats, wrong metro stops, and more stinky tofu. So perhaps if you're curious, you can ask me about it in person sometime, but now i'd like to tell you a bit about my job since i don't seem to have done that in a while.

I came back late night on the 13th and i had promised my English club students a Valentine's Day fondue during our club meeting the next day, so on the way home had to stop by a store and pick up all the delicious ingredients. First, we made Valentine's cards and the girls went all out with decorations. Then i melted 4 chocolate bars and we dug in with strawberries, marshmallows, bananas, apples, dried pineapples and apricots, cookies and sprinkles to top it all off. Delectable! I've never had a chocolate fondue, or any fondue for that matter, and it was quite fun.

Classes are their usual mixed bag of fun. But since the 3rd graders have their high school tests coming up in a month, we have to finish up the textbook in a hurry and so we're skipping over a few things, but there's no new grammar, so apparently it's all right. We are doing something we haven't done before--we're attempting to have students write down their opinions based on a debate lesson in their textbooks. The debate is "school lunch" vs "boxed lunch". So we had both classes vote and in one class only one student and myself voted for "school lunches" and in the other class about 2/3 of the students voted for it. So i had students divide into groups and write down three reasons for their opinion and hopefully during the next lesson we can have them take up positions on opposite sides of the room and read out their reasons. But I do have to share two that made me chuckle. One was, "Boxed lunches are better because they are made with mother's love." and i didn't edit it. there's one very high level student in that group. and the second one was, "Boxed lunches are better because school lunch is cooker DEATH." i think they meant to be negative towards the lunch ladies. ha ha. thought it was funny.

in other news, the boys basketball team won first place in a tournament between northern schools at the end of January and the PTA threw a party tonight for the teachers, team members, and themselves. It was nice and made me want to check out more sports events, it's just unfortunate that they usually start early in the morning on Saturdays.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my English club students for an afternoon of karaoke fun as a going away party for them. They'll leave the school in mid March and i'm going to miss them a great deal. I made real connections with these girls and other students in the 3rd grade classes. Sometimes i don't feel like going to school because i know what the teaching experience is like, but when i'm in the classroom with them or greet them in the hallways, or have random conversations about "corn candy" and "landmines," i feel that i'm a part of their lives and a part of the school and they care that i'm there, and that feels great and i have a better day.

and on that sentimental note, i bid you adieu.

cheers

PS here's an excerpt from my journaling in Taiwan:
Oh yeah. Before i forget. had a revelation of sorts about being in an Asian country. It's like constantly being yanked from a state of comprehension to a [state of] complete lack of bearing in a present situation. There are so mnay signs in English, western companies, recognizable brands. The eye moves along the varied surface of the new surroundings and is instantly attracted to anything that holds familiartiy, from a sign for a dentist office to McD's to an upscale store front and then once those have given the brain a moment of clarity next come all those things that make the connection between seeing and understanding arduous to establish in best circumstances. Usually the connection is established via numerous clouded links and assumption or not at all, as is the case with most signs in the [chinese and japanese] hieroglyphs. I constantly go from understanding a feeling of loss. It's tiring. Funny though, that anything Japanese related [and sounding] brings me comfort here in Taiwan. Perhaps because i've already settled with those misunderstandings.

Ein's my favorite, but i suppose i'm more like Jet-san

Which Cowboy Bebop Cast Member are You?

You are Jet Black! You have done the best you could and it still seems as if that's not gonna be good enough. Deep down your friends make it all worthwhile.
Take this quiz!



Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

on wednesday i went to play volleyaball with the young women of Ogimi. i invited myself through a friend because i've been wanting to get more involved with the locals but haven't been getting around to it. the women's club plays on wednesdays from 8 to 10pm at the Ogimi elementary school's gym. Some members are high school students and others are 20something women that live and work in Ogimi village. This week they were practicing with the men's team because at the end of February they have a tournament and so apparently are getting more serious with their practices. I haven't played volleyball in a very very long time, but apparently still remembered how to hit the ball and was able to serve over the net every time. Two high school girls and me were put on the men's side, and at first i was fairly nervous, but as we started playing i realized that no one was extraordinarily good and everyone made mistakes. We played 8 on 8 and there was lots of confusion sometimes, but it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. Everyone was in good spirits and joking with each other and the game wasn't taken that seriously and we all had a good time. So even though my forearms now are bruised and hurting, i'll be joining in on the volleyball practice again in the future.

Just found out that the 3rd grade student who won 2nd place at the all Okinawa Story contest last year will be presenting his story on Sunday at Shioya elementary. No one told me and he hasn't approached me for practice. Hmmm. I guess i'll have to get a hold of him today and practice. We have school on Sunday and then in the afternoon we'll be going to observe classes at Shioya elementary. Gabrielle will be teaching a 5th grade class so i plan on observing that.

This week and last have been rather odd for me. My co-worker has been brought down with a serious flu. He has taken two sick days and a couple of afternoons last week and hasn't been to school at all this week and actually might not come back until thursday of next week. I have been teaching on my own and that has been lots of fun, but when it was found out that he'll be gone all this week and through next, it was decided that from today (friday) through next week other teachers will take over the scheduled English classes. Teaching on my own has been going really well with almost all classes, especially the 3rd graders. But i have hit a wall in a way. I can't move in the textbook because i can't explain grammar properly and playing games every day for two weeks is tiring and stops benefiting the students after a while. So I taught through thursday this week and had to resign to the fact that other teachers will have to take over. But now feel rather guilty as they have more classes to teach and i have nothing to do. It's odd. But now have time to sit down and write up a lengthy blog, and that's a positive, right?

So, we have classes from sunday through thursday this week, and friday is a day off as a substitute for working on sunday. Sunday classes will be short because of the afternoon visit to the elementary school and Monday classes will be short because the lunch ladies are taking a day off since all 4 of the elementary schools will have a day off, which means no lunch for junior high school students and so they can't be kept at school past 1pm. Anytime i think i've gotten used to the flexibility of scheduling and the bendy logic behind it, something like this will come up just to reassure me that the japanese education system has lots of tricks up its sleeve and they'll do most anything to avoid actual serious academic pursuit. ok. that was slightly exaggerating but not by much. This week thursday i will be missing out on one of the funnest concerts that take place during a JHS school year, in my opinion--the 3rd graders goodbye concert. It was supposed to be on wednesday and so when i planned by trip to Taiwan i knew i couldn't miss out on it and didn't take the wed. off, instead took the thursday and the following tuesday (february 12th, monday is a national holiday)...but at some point during the crazy school year, the event scheduled was rearranged and the concert moved to thursday and i will be missing it! am not happy a bit about it.

and so it is that time of the year. the hectic time for 3rd grade homeroom teachers when they have to make sure that all their charges' paperwork and high school applications are in order and ready to be sent off to high schools of choice. JHS students who want to go to high school have to take an entrance test in math, science, japanese, social studies, and english. the tests are tough and those who want to make it into their high schools of choice have been studying since before winter vacation. some students can bypass the testing process by attempting the early addmissions option. Some high schools that are generally tougher to get into, allow a few students to be recommended for attendance. So homeroom teachers and administration send glowing records of recommendation and student's records. The high schools look them over and decide whether to grant the student an interview. All the students from Ogimi who applied for the early admissions got to the interview stage. I coached two of them for the English portion of Koyo HS's interview. I am happy to say that they both got in. Actually out of 7 students who went throught the interview process only one was denied automatic admission. She now has to take a test like the rest of her regular admission classmates. When it was announced that 6 other students made it, the yelling and cheering was near ear splitting. It was quite exciting for all. And i felt that i had a part in it. These students i have known for a year and a half. Some of them i have worked with more than other, like Yuu who was in the story contest and is now slated to attend Koyo high school in hopes of becoming a journalist some day. It's exciting being a part of shaping a young life.

oh yeah. the weather. almost forgot to mention how cold it's been.
the temperature may only be at 10C but the wind and lack of central heating are doubling the effect of the cold. Yesterday i was unprepared for the cold and shivered all day. Today i have three layers on, including a thermal undershirt, and so am doing better. Two pairs of socks are also helping. The sun is shining but it's deceptive. Nothing warm about it today. I wish i brought a pair of fingerless gloves for easy typing. I tried typing with gloves on yesterday but it's a slow and mistakes riddled process. I hope you appreciate that this blog has been typed up with nearly frozen fingers.
ha ha

and so i come to the end of the blog, and i still haven't shared with you the saddest news from the last two weeks.
Some of my dearest friends on the island are not recontracting for another year. For a few it was unexpected and others have known for a long time that it would be the case. But we have nearly half a year left on the island together and we shall make the best of it yet! Plus, i don't believe that when they leave it'll be the last time i see them. Knowing people all over the world is only a plus, right? :)

love
-e

how appropriate. :)

You Are Not a Cook

You know cooking isn't for you, and you wouldn't even consider trying to make a homecooked meal.And this is a very good thing. You've saved all your friends and family from unintentional food poisoning!

Are You A Good Cook?

And Now For Something Completely Different...

i promised a "reasons for staying" blog and perhaps it's coming, but right now, i wanted to share with you an article i wrote for the Okinawa YAK. I hope it makes the next issue, but our editor is rather strict and my culinary exploits might not be considered YAK material. :)

meh. am sure he'll print it.

but first, in other food related news! On January 4th, a trusted health TV program in Japan (AruAru Daijiten) that has been on the air for 10 years broadcast a story proclaiming that the health benifits of natto (fermented soy beans) have been linked to weight loss. They introduced two people who have lost weight after eating natto every day for two weeks. The Japanese trust their TV, and this program is very popular and they showed data to prove their statements, so this caused a natto buying frenzy all over Japan! Stores ran out of stock. Manufacturers ran out of stock and had to issue public apologies in newspapers! And of course prices of natto went up. Whereas before a small pack of natto was 100 yen, in less than two weeks it went up to 140 and then 170yen. Pretty spectacular, eh? But not anything surprising. But wait! Here's the kicker! It was just found out (the story hit the newspapers today) that the TV show fabricated their data about the benefits of natto they proclaimed! They LIED and everyone literaly bought it!

i did a quick search and this is all i can find right now in English to summarize the story. Also, click on the "100 natto-related searches" link to get more scoop on both natto and the story.

and now, here's my article for the YAK.

Cooking for Clueless

To be in Japan is to enjoy its food. I have been gladly doing that for the last year and a half. Yet, one of my goals while living here has been to improve my abilities in the kitchen. So slowly, I have been pushing myself and trying to overcome my unexplainable anxieties when it comes to cooking. I am constantly afraid of screwing it up and so I don’t attempt it to begin with. But that’s no way to be, and so I bought a couple of books, and a few essential Japanese ingredients, and have been mixing it up in my most unfriendly to cooking kitchen. I don’t understand why Japanese kitchens lack counter space, but adapting is what we’re here to do, so I do and so far no major disasters.

I’ll share a couple of recipes with you and also some definitions of commonly used Japanese ingredients. Most of these things are coming from two great books I picked up from amazon.co.jp:

Bento Boxes: Japanese meals on the go by Maomi Kijima. I like this one because it’s written using simple instructions perfect for me, has lots of step by step photos, and uses actual Japanese ingredients that I can buy at a local veggie stand or grocery store. Am so going to miss that when I move back home and the book becomes obsolete there.

A dictionary of Japanese Food by Richard Hosking. This one is great if you constantly ask what it’s in your kyuushoku (school food) and then can’t find a translation in your trusty Japanese-English dictionary for it. It’s not a recipe book. It gives definitions for lots of ingredients found in Japanese cooking and gives the names in romaji, hiragana and kanji for easy look up at a grocery store. But of course, if you don’t want to buy one, just give me a shout, and I’ll look it up.

I would recommend buying several ingredients that appear in most of the recipes I have found. They are mirin(みりん）, cooking sake, and of course, soy sauce. Mirin is sweet cooking rice wine. It gives a sweet flavor to food and is great for glazes. You can substitute with 1tbsp sake and a teaspoon of sugar. Sake tones down raw tastes and strong smells and improves flavor.

So without further ado, here’s a couple of things I have been testing out in my kitchen.

Sanma teriyaki. This recipe in my book is for mackerel but I thought I’d try it on the slightly cheaper sanma. Sanma is pacific saury, a fish I have never heard of before coming here. It has made several appearances in my school’s kyuうshoku, so I thought I’d try it at home. FYI, both sanma and mackerel are fatty fish.

For this recipe you’ll need flour, soy sauce, mirin, sake, oil, salt and pepper.

I used two sanma fish and cut each one up at an angle into 4 pieces.

Then I combined 4 Tbsp of soy, 4 tsp of sake and 4 tsp of mirin in a bowl.

After sprinkling salt and pepper on each piece, I dredged them in flour. Heated oil in a frying pan and then briefly cooked each piece of fish. By the time I set down the last piece, the first piece was ready to be flipped. They cook super quick, so don’t walk away. After turning the fish on all sides, add the mixture of sauces to the pan and cook over medium to high heat. The mixture will turn quickly into a glaze, so let each piece soak up the glaze for a bit on all sides. And that’s it!

Boro Boro Jushi This is a simple Okinawa dish that I learned from the home economics teacher at my school. For this you’ll need rice and whatever veggies you want to use. Jushi is mixed rice that I’m sure you’ve had for kyuushoku or as onigiri. It usually has thinly sliced carrots, mushrooms, seaweed, sesame seeds and is brown in color. This boro boro variation I am told is Chinese in origin and looks more like risotto because a lot of water is used to make it.

So for one cup of rice, you’ll use three cups of water. This is not cooked in a rice cooker but in a regular pan. Cut up really small whatever veggies you like and are taking up space in your fridge. I am told that this dish is usually made when there are a few leftover veggies that might spoil if not used, and so they’re all chopped up and thrown in. Carrots, shitake mushrooms, konbu (a type of seaweed), and anything else you like should be chopped up and combined with rice. Tiny shrimp would probably work well, but I haven’t tried that. Then add the water and either soy sauce or miso paste and salt and pepper and any other spices you like. Don’t use both soy and miso, however. After the water boils, let simmer for about 30 minutes. Done!

And as a final addition to this YAK, I thought I’d type up an explanation of how to make curry using the solid curry bricks sold in all the grocery stores. I bought a box of “Golden curry” because that’s the mix the chefs at a restaurant I worked at used as a base, but couldn’t bring myself to try and cook with it because I couldn’t read the instructions and I’m not big on experimenting with food when my dinner depends on it.

So I finally asked for an explanation and here it is.

On the back of the box I bought it suggested 200 grams of meat, one carrot, one large potato, an onion, and something called “sarada.” I used chicken, three small potatoes, and also added frozen broccoli and frozen sliced peppers. Cauliflower would be great as well.

So chop up all the veggies. You can fry up the onions before using them, as most Japanese do if you, like them, don’t care for a strong onion flavor in your curry. I don’t mind, so I used them raw. First bring water to a boil. The box suggested 700ml, I used a bit more because of all the veggies I added. When the water is boiling add the meat. Once the meat is cooked, add all the veggies. Reduce the flame to medium. Once the potatoes and carrots are soft, add curry brick. Might help to cut it up into bits before throwing it in. Mix it in as much as you can and then just let it simmer for another 5 or 7 minutes. Mix again and you’ve got curry!

When I made it, I added a bit too much water so watch out for that unless you like the curry more soupy.

Enjoy!

In the next article, I’ll hope to share a recipe for a soup and maybe something with udon.

Those are the goals for my own experiments in the kitchen, so if they work out they’ll make an appearance. Wish me luck!