Today was my first day of classes.  It was a positive experience. As a whole, the kids at Mino Junior High are very happy and open.

Teaching with Tamezane Sensei and Kubota Sensei, was also great. They are very effective teachers who foster a very relaxed atmosphere in the classroom.

1B:

• Greeting
• A short self introduction for myself
• Textbook exercises
• My “What time do you ~” exercise

The exercise was too hard. Some kids could almost do it, and actually some very well. Most cannot learn a grammar point and immediately apply it the way we did in college. Maybe the activity should be simple.

The class has a couple very active students who liven the class. Without them the atmosphere may not be so good.

2B:

• Came after 15 minutes test review
• Greeting
• My introduction
• Worksheet

Even the small pictures in my introduction were OK. Hobbies are a hard subject to discuss simply: slow down. I messed up the dogs part of my intro; use “do you like dogs?” Kid’s liked to choose which dog was their favorite.

The score: Casey – 17, Molly – 3, Sam – 10

The class is active and open. Some individuals who have approached me outside of class seemed removed. I also may alienate kids be asking who also plays the sports that I play. If I do ask this question, I should follow up with questions that allow everyone to share their hobby, whatever they may be.

Some students prefer to draw; let them. I can still force them to communicate, merely by asking about their drawings – and the drawings are pretty cool anyway. Other students will study their textbook, rather than participate.

Some people call me Brian, which is nothing new.

As for student impressions, some notes:

• This student is a little slow. Great kid, usually willing to participate.
• Tired. Can be motivated (boredom is probably a front)
• Smart. Willing to have a good time
• Goofy, nice kid, picked on a lot. A mix of Ryan and I, I think.
• Obnoxious, but friendly. Probably great to have in a class
• Nice kid, but kind of pushy. He’s a wrestler, which explains everything
• Round. Damn good at ping pong. Carries presence, not afraid to speak
• Seems to be a quiet popular kid – Not terribly interested in English
• Popular, but not a leader. Not afraid to speak.
• Leader, not interested in academics, but ridiculously bright
• Not so good at English, but active, and has a clear presence. Kind of like a young Brian.
• The loud one in the back. Great for class atmosphere. Fun.
• Super bright, great at English, not too nervous.
• Fears me. Shy.
• Wrestler, reminds me of Rob Rafferty
• Smart. Serious, but not too serious.
• Super Smart. Goof, reminds me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. I don’t know if he works hard, but he improves like he does. Update: Father said he doesn’t study, he just watches a fish tank at home.
• Handwriting looks like Ryan’s… maybe a little better .
• Writes name in cursive.
• Puts descenders on the baseline.

First Earthquake.

I’ve been reading the news a lot lately, and it seems to me that America is going completely insane. The right thinks the left is insane and the left things the right is insane. From this I gather that left and right are both nuts. Or half of our country saw gullible written in the clouds.

We don’t even try to debate, we just accuse each other of being morons, and I think we’re both right, for totally different reasons. Our nation’s political scene is despicable:

A: Let’s go swimming!
B: No!
A: Yes! Don’t you want to go?
B: I do, but I wanted to pick the activity.
A: That’s stupid!
B: Your stupid! You don’t understand anything!
A: We’ll I’m going to swim by myself!
B: Good. I hope you drown.

I hope we get to line seven of that dialogue sooner rather than later.

I’m not sorry if this offends anyone.

My new friend Shin works in a steel factory, twelve hours a day, five days a week. On weekends, he travels to Mino to stay with his Mother-in-law, my neighbor. He’s 26, married, and has three kids. Two boys (one and five years old) and a girl (three years old).

He is what modern American suburbia has, in my mind, tried to avoid for their youth. I’m no exception, I think I’d feel stifled. I wonder what he does for fun, or even what he’s thinking about. His life seems simultaneously hellish and fairy tale-like. It’s a type of life I fear, but he’s happy. Maybe a little burned out, you can’t have three kids and a grueling job and not be. But still, he’s happy.

Shin’s family is central to his life, which is common among Japanese (at least out in Shikoku).  Japanese people will go to great lengths to regularly be with family. The hour and a half drive that Shin makes every weekend is actually normal, my coworker Masahiro does it too.

In the short time I’ve spent here, I’ve begun to understand why this is the case.  The concept of family in Japan is limited to the household. For example, during a broken conversation with an elderly couple, I asked the question “how many people are in your family”. “Just us” they replied, but follow up questions revealed they do have children, and their description was short: “They left”.

This measure of family becomes a problem in places like Shikoku where there are no jobs. Job seekers find jobs in the only place they can, usually the city. As a result, people in their 20s and 30s drive long distances to their hometowns on a weekly basis.

Shin weathers his job during the week, and spends weekends with family here, in the town of Mino. And in Mino, sometimes it seems the only twenty something around is me. So far, I see Shin every weekend, usually when he comes outside with a cigarette. I’m not sure yet if he comes out to smoke, or if he just wants to talk. Either way, I play with his kids and talk to him about nonsense. He knows a decent amount of English, so where my Japanese fails he can fill in the gaps.

While eating out with him and his family, I learned that he had wanted to become an engineer. He claims, poor intellect, but in the time I’ve spent with him, he seems anything but slow. At first, I wondered: why doesn’t he try to get the job he wants? The answer, has always been hard for me to grasp on an emotional level, but my interaction with his family soothes my fears of becoming a family man. Or maybe I’m just growing up.

(After writing this, it occurs to me that this weekly travel to be with family, may not really be strange at all. I just haven’t yet been exposed to it in America.)

Yesterday, Tamezane Sensei and I finished the paperwork for my car, a Subaru Impreza. I saw it for the first time two weeks ago. It’s a silver car painted in battle scars. I imagine it’s seen all the minor collisions I hope to avoid.

There is an enormous gash on the left side, probably from a tussle with a brick wall. While making turns, it screeches and bucks. Apparently, the rear wheels don’t point the same direction, but the mechanic said it’s ‘OK’.

As rough as my new car is, and minus the bucking the exterior really is ok, I’m not complaining; it was free and runs like a champ. It exudes masculinity, or incompetence (No offense BP!), despite the bright green steering wheel or the yellow poof on the mirror. This car is definitely a he, and since I think cars require names, just as boats do, he’ll have a name within days. It’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship, assuming I don’t total him.

In an effort to advance our relationship, I’ve placed Grandpa’s panda clip on the sun visor. For those who’ve never seen it, half the panda is sun bleached purple. The other half has never seen the sun; it has clutched the passenger sun visor, in two cars, for eighteen years. And there it remains. Only now it sports a fresh, black fur coat in a totally backwards car.

My Subaru Impreza

As far as my driving goes, it doesn’t. I have turned onto the right side of the road at least four times in the six kilometers I’ve driven. But there’s good news: most roads are only one lane, which means I`m supposed to stare into oncoming traffic.

I drive like an imbecile, but it doesn’t seem dangerous. Drivers in Japan are tame. People bow inside their car if you wait for them, and the maximum speed limit is 50kph (31mph). There are even stickers to mark young and elderly drivers, which leads me to the question: why don’t I have one?

I don’t know, but if I did, I’d put it on the front.

Dancing Fool, Watching Fool. You may as well dance.

I have some to write on this subject but it’s late so for now, just pictures.

Tokushima City Awa Odori:

 

Miyoshi Awa Odori (More interesting I think):

 

Pictures from Mino! Finally!

 

Below is an email I sent home to a few people:

I found a way to bypass the filters at work. , and, to say the least, it’s been some experience. I’m living in a rural town called Mino on the island of Shikoku.  I’m all alone out here and actually been enjoying myself. It’s an emotional roller coaster ride, and there are times when I feel pretty low, but in general I’ve been feeling good.

After the Tokyo orientation the JETs from Tokushima prefecture were flown to Shikoku together. I was wearing a suit for the third day in a row, not happy about it and sweating like a pig.  I could have been sweating more than that, it was pretty unbearable.  I was wearing an undershirt a dirty long-sleeve button down, tie, and sport jacket after exiting an air conditioned plane to a 90 degree day.  This was the first time I met my coworker, Tamezane Sensei. Fantastic.

Her English has gotten better in the past two weeks, but that day it wasn`t very good and my Japanese was certainly worse.  The other JETs seemed to be getting along great with their new colleagues whether they spoke Japanese or not, but Tamezane Sensei and I struggled to find anything to talk about. Making me wonder whether I had made a HUGE mistake by coming here.

The rest of that day was a mixture of being carted around to get a thousand forms filled out and to meet people that I can no longer remember the faces, let alone names of anymore.  At one point, in the process of trying to get my foreigner id, Tamezane Sensei looked nearly as confused as I felt.  I don`t remember what I asked her, but she replied, `It`s okay, just keep smiling.` So I did.

That day ended with me, having a few unreadable super-important forms, seeing but not introducing myself to the teaching staff, and having an overwhelming sense of fear.  At my house which was and is still is decorated with bright pinks, yellows, and blues, I laid on my kitchen floor, petrified.  I wrote a little bit in that notebook you gave me Dan, I haven`t reread it yet, but I`m sure it contains some pretty negative thoughts.

The next morning was my first day of work.  I took a picture of myself that summed up my feeling at that moment, and I`ll send it when I get the chance.  I was ready, but boy was I nervous.  When I arrived (by bike) to the school I passed by the school athletic field just out front.  All of the kids were ridiculously excited to see me, yelling the only English greetings they know.  Most of my anxiety was relieved after having interacted with a few students. Meeting the teaching staff went well, producing relatively small sweat stains on my shirt. I don`t remember what I did the first day, but I got home and I was estatic.