Sensei and Sensibility
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Summer in Ikuno
Well, things here are sure not like back home. Summers in Vancouver were all about hanging with friends on the local watering hole`s patio, long walks on the beach at sunset, BBQ`s, and camping and hiking. Or maybe things here are more like that than I know, minus the friends.
Imagine being a part of the TV show "Survivor", but instead of the last survivor being able to go home, she would have to sit around the game area and wait for the next crew of contestants. I am that last survivor now. Everyone around me has gone home - these people who I spent a good 12 months getting to know. Now, it is a whole new game. The crew of replacements comes in the next couple of weeks, and I will have to forge friendships from scratch again. I am worried because we will be in different places mentally. I will have to help show them the ropes and answer their questions and watch them get super excited talking about the perils of squat toilets. I will be having many conversations with them which I will swear that I have heard before. The rules will be different now. Will the sole survivor of the last game be able to survive with the new players around? Or will she have to forge ahead, searching for other survivors to commiserate with? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, I will be reliving my countryside childhood vis a vis my students. There is something so familiar about the way they splash around in the pool together. The way I see them riding their bicycles down the street and hanging around outside their homes eating ice cream and watermelon. I already join them playing volleyball in the mornings - tomorrow, I will hop in the pool too. For now, I don`t feel exactly like I am in the present. Instead, I am in a nostalgic dream. I will stay here for a while, for what is summer for, if not to rediscover one`s childhood? In any case, it is comforting to know that children are the same the world over...at least in the summer.
 Sabine . 11:02 PM . Comments
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Forgive me Father for I have Sinned.
It has been over two months since my last journal entry. For that I am sorry! I used to wonder why my sister, Inga, would go AWOL for months at a time. She is an elementary school teacher. Now, I understand. For some odd reason, I have been so incredibly busy at work that I don`t even know or care which country I am living in. It all started in the middle of May.
I was called to a meeting with my elementary schools. It seemed that the Japanese Government had upped the alotted time for English instruction at the elementary school level. They were passing this responsibility over to me. I did the math for them - showing them that I was only one person, and could not possibly teach 25 classes a week (that means teaching every class, every day - some days having to visit three schools and only having 5 minutes in between to drive there), and do all the preparation work, and then teach in the evening - until 10pm - my adult classes, and study Japanese, and cook dinner, and....
I heard the swift intake of air come from between the lips and teeth of my teachers: "But Sabine, you are the only ALT we have. In two years, the three elementary schools will become one, so we cannot get a new ALT. We don`t have any other teachers who can do it, and it must be done." My response was that that was fine, but then they would have to reduce my workload at my Junior High.
Another swift intake of air. "Sabine sensei, the Japanese Government has set minimums for how much time the students are to spend with the ALT. We cannot change it. We know that you are working harder than any other teacher, but it is only for a few years." Ahem. I think they could sense my unhappiness, as they called neighbouring towns to see if they could borrow other ALT`s. No luck. So, for the past two months, I have been working from 8am until or 8 or 10pm every day. When I was not teaching, I was driving, or cooking, or making flashcards, or planning lessons, or going to meetings or just trying to figure out where I had to be and when! I was clinging to the hope of the summer vacation. During summer, teachers here still work, albeit only for 6 hours a day.
Don`t get me wrong, I still managed to have fun. I will put you up to speed with what has been going on, but it all seems like a blur. Please give me a moment to consult my calendar...
May 19-21 - We went to Tokyo on our school trip. It was loads of fun! First, we took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. On the bus, I learned many new card games and got to bond with my students. Upon arriving at our destination, we headed to our first point of interest - the Japanese Government houses (The Diet Buildings). It was a long, dry tour - imagine doing the Parliament Hill tour but in a different language. Our next stop was much more exciting - we went to see the punks at a part of Tokyo called Harajuku. This one stretch of Tokyo was so varied and diverse that it made me want to cry out from an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. We only had 30 minutes, so I grabbed a coffee and people watched for a bit. The punks here go all out - look at the photos for proof! Then it was off to the baseball game - the Tokyo Giants versus the Yokohama Bay Stars (Giants won). Baseball is super popular here, especially after the Seattle Mariners` Ichiro made a name for Japan overseas. The crowds are incredibly quiet though - only sanctioned noisemakers are used - 5 bucks apiece. I had to get one for my nephew... Back at the Hotel, I had to walk up and down the corridor to make sure the students were sleeping. I went to bed at 2am and was up at 6.
Day 2 - A group of us went to watch Sumo Wrestlers practise at their Stable (that`s what it`s called). The stable master sat back and chain-smoked and barked out orders, while giant men with fat and muscle quivering shoved each other around the ring. They were both breathing and sweating profusely, and a number of times I thought there was an earthquake, only to realize that one of them had just fallen. Really, I can`t describe the experience, and I am so sad that photos weren`t allowed! If you go to a proper sumo Bassho (competition), you will see that there is a lot of standing and strutting around and squatting and very little action. When they practise, there is continual action though - there were about 15 men there each taking their turns in rapid succession. The smell of dust and sweat trapped beneath their sumo outfits (which look like diapers!) filled the air. Heaving breaths were taken by the large men, making me think that they would have a heart attack any second. Continual slapping of gelatinous thighs punctured the thuds of their elephant-like footfalls. It was an experience like no other.
Then we were off to go shopping in Akihabara - the electronics district. I thought the technology would be more fabulous, but soon discovered that each store sold exactly the same things for the same price. Still, it was Japanese capitalism at its best!
Next, we went to Tokyo Disney Sea - imagine Disneyland with an ocean theme. There, I wandered through the jungles of the Amazon basin, the shoreline of the Arabian Coast, the canals of Venice. I pretended that I was a pirate on the seven seas, and then took a journey 20 000 leagues under the sea. OK, so the decor was spectacular, but the rides were only so-so. The Indiana Jones ride was definitely the best - a true adventure and worth the long wait. Melanie, who was also there with her school, and I couldn`t stop laughing as Indiana himself would pop out at us, screaming to get out of the way and barking out orders. The absurdity was that it was a Harrison Ford wax model - replete with blond, tousled hair. He was screaming at us in Japanese though, and it just didn`t sound quite...right.
That night, my friend who lives nearby met me at the hotel. We devoured the dessert buffet and gossiped until the wee, small hours of the morning.
The next day, we went to Tokyo Tower. It is meant to look like the Eiffel Tower, but to be higher. It somehow did not have the Eiffel Tower`s charm though... Here we witnessed a small irony - there were busloads of American tourists who were ignoring Melanie and I and grabbing our students, in their cute, sailor-like uniforms, for photos. Our students looked at us with panic and expressions which asked the question: "Do all foreigners do this?" All Melanie and I could do, after a year of being in the town paper and on the news, after a year of being accosted by anyone and everyone because we looked so different, was laugh. To ourselves, though, it was a small coup. At the end of this long day, we took the shinkansen home.
It was an amazing trip, but super busy. I was absolutely amazed at how much was packed into so few hours! All I wanted to do was sleep and find some peace and quiet. It wasn`t destined to happen, as the next day was the start of the Conference for Renewing ALT`s in Kobe (this would make it 6 different beds I slept in that week...)
May 22nd-24th - The Conference
Everyone was in a partying mood. I only wanted to sit in the hotel bar with a drink. Since I live pretty close to it, Kobe is no longer exciting for me, but there were lots of ALT`s there from the whole of Western and Southern Japan. The town was braced for the invasion of a few thousand foreigners, no doubt they saw this as a prelude to the upcoming World Cup Soccer event. Luckily, I managed to hook up with a friend of mine from Vancouver and his buddies - they all live in Kagoshima (the southernmost part of the main islands of Japan), and they also wanted to do quieter things. So we ate at Sizzler, and went to the nearby amusement park to ride the ferris wheel, play video games, and get instant sticker/photos taken. Then it was off to Karaoke. The days were filled with countless workshops and such - all interesting to my ears, but boring on this forum. They were mostly about goal setting for our second years, teaching internationalization, teaching to different levels and that kind of thing. I was busy with meetings into the night - with Habitat for Humanity about my upcoming Nepal Trip, and with the Peer Support Group so that I can continue my counselling skills (I do one telephone shift a month - like my work at the Vancouver Crisis Centre, but much less involved). Then I got to make use of the penthouse bar/lounge - Maeva and I went up for drinks and to listen to the authentic lounge singer - a Japanese man with fabulous Elvis-English who made us laugh at his sheer effort to recreate a Chicago feel. The last day of meetings ended at lunch time, so Maeva and I went for Indian food and to watch "The Lord of the Rings". We headed off for home - I didn`t rest easily though - I had to go back to Kobe (2 hours away) to stage manage a variety show for charity. It took me all day to appease the performers, hang and focus the lights, and run the show. Exhausted after striking the show, we stumbled at midnight to find some dinner at an Izakaya (Izakaya`s serve simple, fast food in small portions and usually are open late - the most popular fare here is Yakitori - skewered cooked chicken). The others went out dancing after that - I crawled back to the theatre to sleep.
The next day, I discovered something amazing. I may not fit into the women`s pants here (c`mon - the largest they have is a size 4 or 6 if you are lucky - but none of them make provisions for hips), but I discovered that the men`s pants had the perfect waist:hip ratio for me. I found a great and inexpensive store where they hemmed them for free - I made them into capris for work! The business of the week was getting to me, so I then decided to stumble home and crash in bed. In one week, I had slept in 6 different beds, I had stage managed a show, been to a conference, and had a trip to Tokyo. Now, I only wanted to sleep!
The next weekend was the HAJET (Hyogo Associaton of JET teachers) annual camping trip to Hamasaka on the north coast. I was organizing it, but to be honest, my steam was running out. Luckily, it wasn`t that hard. While we set up tents and served refreshments, everyone gathered ont he beach to play some American Football and Hackey Sac. We then barbecued everything in sight (Japanese-style BBQ: just throw everything - vegetable or animal - on the BBQ and dip it into a delicious sauce). Someone then backed their car up to the beach and cranked the stereo and we turned it into a dance party. Hamasaka is pretty rural - not much bigger than Ikuno. There are a lot of bored young people there. We kept noticing the same cars driving by and slowing, and when we looked in, we saw that they were full of these young people - so we invited them to join us. The Tequila bottle was brought out, and lemons were cut up, and body shots were done. Things degenerated into a drunken mess shortly thereafter, and I climbed off to my tent. A note about the tent - `cause I am so proud. Self-professed outdoor guru Ken had said that this tent was impossible to put up. The boys gave it a try and determined that the poles were too short and gave up. Enter Sara (the blonde one from Oregon) and I - we found new poles (a little too long) and managed to erect the tent perfectly! HAH!
The next day, after splashing around in the water for a few hours, we decided to take off, hangovers in tow, for an onsen. Onsen town, the Disneyland of onsen, was located nearby. There were "ooh"s and "aaah"s from the members of our group who had never left Kobe. We boiled an egg in the hot water, strolled the narrow streets and took an onsen - and everyone was duly impressed. Score: 2 for the country life (the beach and Onsen town), zero for the city (heh, heh).
The next weekend was all about cleaning up after the war - my apartment was upside down from neglect. Time waits for no dust particle...
The weekend after that, there were private lessons to teach, potluck dinners to go to, and preparations to be made for Canada Day parties (the great Canadian food and beer search!)
Then Sara N (the curly-haired one from Oregon), Maeva and I went to Matsue - a lovely castle town on the north coast about three hours away, to visit some friends. The family we stayed with was so generous and fun - it was a great time. We ate soba, took a boat tour of the castle moat, visited a foreigner`s residence (a writer at the turn of the century by the name of Lafcadio Hearn), explored the castle, ate one of the best steaks of my life, played "Dance Dance Revolution" - an aerobics class cum video game, we went to a shrine which is famous for bringing lovers together (or tearing them apart), and we went to the Tiffany museum and English Garden. We saw tons of gorgeous artifacts and stained glass, ate grilled chicken on focaccia (!!), and bought Bernard Callebaud chocolate (!!!!!!!!!!!!!). The drive was so beautiful along the stormy north coast - the sea was speckled with surfers, and at night, the twinkling lights of the squid fishing boats shimmered on the ocean. Note about these - squid are attracted to bright lights on the water - they swim up to the surface and are netted. They eat a lot of squid here, so the ocean is full of these boats - it makes it really hard to tell where the ocean ends and the night sky begins!
Soon after this trip I got really, really sick. The husband of the family we stayed with in Matsue was an ear/nose/throat doctor. I think I may have received a present from his office, as I developped a bad ear/nose/throat infection not three days after our visit! I had to miss the Sayonara party in Kobe for the departing ALT`s. I was sad at this, but also a bit relieved - I needed to slow down and relax a bit! I did manage to make it to the International Potluck Cooking Party that was being thrown by my Japanese class. I made banana flambe and my mom`s German-style potato salad (they go nuts over it even here!), and I got to sample food made by the Indonesians, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others in my class - it was soooo yummy!!!
Now, we are in July, and as you can see, I haven`t had much free time yet - I have had one weekend to clean, and another when I was sick -in between, I have attended pottery classes, aerobics classes, Japanese classes, and I have taught my Adult English class and done my radio show. I am still teaching around 24 classes a week too! My mom would tell me that I am burning the candle at three of its two ends...
We celebrated Canada day on June 30th - Melanie and Maeva had a barbecue and a party in their town. I went, but couldn`t stay late, as I was still sick. Still, it was great fun to let off some fire crackers and sing our national anthem in English and French!
The first weekend in July brought a huge and powerful typhoon with it. In the morning, I got to watch the trees across the river break off and crash through the forest. I shut my typhoon shutters and got ready for our Tajima (north Hyogo) Sayonara Party waaay up north in Toyooka city, a booming metropolis of maybe 50 000 people. I couldn`t drink, because it was about an hour and a half drive away, but managed to disco into the wee small hours of the night regardless. A bad mistake, as the next day was the Tajima International Sports Festival. Groggily, on Sunday, I found my way into my running shoes and competed in a number of events. I managed to place second in the 100m race! Finally, I am competing against people with the same leg length as me!!! It was fun, but exhausting!!!
This week at school they had a special surprise for me - we were getting a new student, direct from Vienna, Austria. I had to log extra hours in to teach some basic German to people, to translate German to Japanese, and to make welcome signs and such in German and Japanese. There were a number of problems with this, and I soon regretted identifying myself as being German (hey - it was the World Cup - they made it all the way to the last game - I was proud!). Japan has pretty low immigration and multiculturalism. They could not grasp the fact that even though I identified myself as being German-Canadian, I couldn`t really speak German anymore. I haven`t spoken much German since I was 15! Sure, it is all stored up in my brain and such, but I was finding myself speaking words which I knew were foreign to me - but my mind could not identify what language I was speaking. I was mixing up my German, French, and Japanese, and my grammar structure and spelling was all over the place. Needless to say, the student also spoke in a distinctly Austrian dialect which did not help things. I was teaching the class that `January` was `Januar` in German, and the student was insisting it was `Janner`. I felt like someone had spiked my morning coffee with acid or something... In the end, we managed to communicate in German and it all worked out. Now, I am supposed to do a demonstration lesson for other ALT`s to show what our students feel like being taught English the way they are - but instead of using English, I am supposed to use German. Don`t worry, I`ve already gone on Amazon.ca to order some books - I have to start studying ASAP...
July 13th weekend - Dancing in Osaka
My friends were all surprised that I had not yet been to Osaka. Well, this isn`t quite true - I had driven through it on the expressway and been to the train station and to the airport. So we planned a big dancing weekend to say good -bye to our little gang here - they are all leaving to go home soon! We stayed at the Hotel Kansai - a cheesy, raunchy hotel straight from a B-video in the part of town known for harboring aged hookers. But, it was cheap... We ate dinner and danced the night away - we ended up at a Canadian-owned bar which even had a hot-dog stand outside (serving Maple-Leaf wieners!). The next day was all about shopping. If ever you come to Osaka, be sure to check out Shinsaibashi (America mura) to see the impression the Japanese have of American life. There you will find lots of Nigerians working at stores which sell "hip-hop" clothes. Dotombori is the restaurant district which centres around the canal - it is all about the flashing lights and neon signs and looks like something from a futuristic movie. We had so much fun - it was so nice ot get out and shake my booty - dancing is the best medicine for anything, of that I am convinced! The shopping in Osaka is pretty great too!!! :)
July 21st - Naoki, a friend of mine, plays the congas in a Cuban Salsa band in Osaka. They are going to be doing a concert in Toyooka (north of me) at the end of August. Today, they were teaching Salsa dancing classes up there in preparation. I am in love with latin dance, and although I haven`t done much of it, I managed to survive without braking anyone else`s feet. We actually got to do it with partners and it was awesome - they were really good teachers! After the 2 hour class, I headed up to the beach to watch the sunset. It was an awesome and reflective time, and it really helped me to define the transition from the school year to the summer. You see, even though it is summer vacation, I still have to teach. I am helping coach volleyball (I can barely move after 6 hours of spiking and jumping practice these past two days!). I am kitten-sitting for a friend who has gone home (Kenchan is adorable, but spazzy and he attacks everything that moves. I think he needs to be neutered...) I am teaching extra English classes for our students who are going on the exchange to Canada, and I am co-leading the conference (the Junior High ALT section) for the incoming teachers. I am also trying so hard not to be sad that most of the friends I made this year are leaving. But that, as they say on the riverbank, is another story.
I truly do apologize for not writing more, but I hope that you will be able to get a picture of just how busy things have been here for me, from this journal entry. You now can write comments to the journal articles I write - just click on the little comments button that comes after them. And dear goodness, please try to e-mail me! I am going to be alone here most of the summer and must admit that it will be hard!!
:)
Sabine
Sabine . 12:31 AM . Comments
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