Ready, Test, Go!

Today was the last lesson of my motorcycle career.

To give you the summary, obtaining a license in Japan consists of proceeding through two levels of lessons. The first tier, regularly eight lessons, consists of just getting comfortable with the bike, riding, balance, etc. Tier two, nine lessons with lots of simulator work, takes those basics and works on refinement of basic motoring skills. It also teaches the rider a lot about the safety of riding a motorcycle, something I cannot stress enough, considering that being on the road with large automobiles is surely fraught with some danger (and having fallen off the bike once, later realizing that if the guy behind me doesn't stop soon enough, it's over).

So it's test time. But only on Monday and Thursday mornings. I had today (Monday) off as a comp day for the sports festival this past weekend. If only I was ready today... So now I'll have to ask at least one of my co-teachers, and hopefully only one since I'll be passing, for pretty much a full day off.

I'll show up at the driving school at 8:30 and check in. They'll tell me (and any others taking the test that day) what course we're driving. We'll get an explanation of the course, the testing points, conditions for "not continuing" as I like to put it nicely, etc. Then, we'll take our turns. Starting with a half lap to get used to the balance of the bike we'll be riding that day, we'll continue past the starting point and start the test. 70 / 100 is passing. Minor infractions (doing the balance beam too quickly, taking a turn incorrectly, forgetting to verify before turning) are 5 points off. Other things (like coming off the balance beam too early) are instant "not continues."

I had a little nervousness today, just thinking about the test. Hopefully, that helps to dull the shakes I'll have come test time. But I felt good, and my instructor today was really awesome. I hope I have someone as confident and cool as him grading me. I'm not saying he'll be less strict, but...hmm, what am I saying then?

Anyway, I'm taking my test next. And then I'm buying a bike. And you can bet I'll be posting pictures of that thing when the time comes.

In other news...

I'm voting for Obama and Biden.

If they lose...(update to come later)

Role-play

In today's 3rd grade junior high school class, we did a bit of role-playing focusing on today's grammar point, "I asked ~ to ~." Here's what one pair of boys came up with.

A: Hey, S-kun. Good morning.
B: Hi, T-kun.
A: How are you?
B: I'm hungry. How about you?
A: I'm sad.
B: Really, why?
A: Yesterday, I asked Mr. Takayuki to go to Mt. Tamatsuji.
B: What did he say?
A: He said, "I'm sorry, I can't go. I've got a date with your wife."
B: WHAT?!
*Japanese Teacher of English almost dies laughing*

Hahaha, I love my kids.

Step 1: Reduce

I decided today that there is too much material "shit" in my life.

Looking around my apartment, I found item upon item that I haven't used recently, enough to be kept around, or at all within that past year of my life here in Higashi.

So starting Monday (the first of my two comped days for the sports day we've got coming up tomorrow), I'm going to go through each room and remove the unnecessary things from my life. Consider it a decimation of the household, though I'd be happy to remove more than 10% of all the things I own.

In the end, I hope to be able to glance around my apartment, viewing all 12 tatami mats in their uncluttered glory, looking at my large kitchen without seeing bags of "saved" things that I'll use at some other point, breathing a sigh of relief at the sense of peace that is going to envelop me as I head from physical attachment to vacated space.

That being taken care of, I'll have to take care of the ant problem next.

Taking My Own Advice

There's a mantra that I use in every class I teach. Actually, I seem to use it a lot outside of class as well. It's something I believe that all people should try to do. Yet when I look at the things I do myself, I find that I'm often forgetting to take my own advice. The mantra?

"Don't worry." ki ni shinai de

When we're playing a game (elementary) or doing an activity (junior high) in class, I try to tell the kids over and over, "Don't worry about making mistakes. If you talk and make a mistake, I'll correct you. If you write and make a mistake, I'll help revise it. But if you never say or write anything in the first place, I'll never know what you're thinking." I try to use myself as an example. I remind them that I make mistakes in Japanese all the time, sometimes embarrassingly so. But I still speak it. I'd have a very hard time otherwise.

Outside of the classroom, in a more adult setting, I often hear myself uttering "don't worry" to friends. Perhaps they're just having a shitty day, or something's going down at work that's ticking them off, or maybe they're having issues with another person, or even themselves. And it's really easy, sometimes, to get into a spiral of increasing desperation. I've done it many times. Something goes a little wrong, I start to think of how much worse it can get, and while it hardly ever turns out that way, having put myself in that negative frame of mind, I can't get out of my train-wreck thought process so easily.

So why not take my own advice? Don't worry.

Two nights ago, I was a little low because I was thinking about Thursday's four elementary lessons, a few of which I felt a little under prepared for (my own fault). So I started to worry. What if they don't go well? What if the kids are in bad moods or not feeling energetic? What if they turn into a gang of little angry people, and kancho me to death?

Turns out, everything is fine. The kids are happy enough just to see me walk into the room, because they know it's going to be an interesting and fun 45 minutes.

Today was also a great example. After getting an awesome activity recommendation from Sam last night, I used it in today's 6th grade class. It was a hit! It's called "Bilingual Challenge." The goal is to make it around the circle, clapping a rhythm (think Queen's "We Are the Champions"), chanting things like numbers, weekdays, or months (something sequential), alternating between English and Japanese. So the first kid might say, "ichi," and the second kid has to say, "two," and so on. The kids were into it and even when mistakes happened and we had to start the chant over, they were laughing about it. There was no pressure; it was all in good fun. And now that they know it, we're going to try "months" on my next visit in a couple weeks.

So I'm deciding to take a little more of my own uttered advice and to listen to a more experienced (and did I mention amazing?) teacher.

I'm not going to worry.

Move Along

Today, I learned an interesting thing about the Japanese school system.

At my small school (where five of the nine grades only have one student), there is a girl who barely ever comes to school; she is the only one in her class as well. This week alone, she was present for about 6 of the total 28 periods held. It doesn't really affect me, but I noticed it when the three English classes we had scheduled were canceled due to her absence (I just end up studying when this happens).

So I asked my Japanese Teacher of English (JTE), "what's going on with K-chan?" My JTE explained that K-chan often doesn't come to school because she isn't feeling well. What kind of illness? Headaches (which I confer, given sufficient intensity, can be debilitating), stemming from what my JTE thinks is a psychological/emotional disorder. My JTE is not a professional psychologist, but I think after working with kids for long enough, one is able to obtain an idea of the problems some children might face. So I trust her words.

"So JTE-sensei, how many classes is a student allowed to miss before having to retake a school year?" The surprising answer: they won't have to [retake the school year].

My JTE told me that, at least through the end of junior high school (that's 9th grade here in Japan), students are invariably advanced despite any lackings in their performance, attendance, behavior, etc. I was a little shocked. Why not really shocked? Because like I said, it doesn't really affect me as I have no vested, long-term interest in Japan's school system (if I start raising a family here, I'll change my view). I'm just amazed that a national school system would push kids through the educational system they're required to participate in, bringing them to the ripe old age of 15, where they, not having been fully educated because of their frequent absence from school, are no longer required to attend school.

The case of K-chan is particularly worrying, however, because of her apparent dislike and problems with the Japanese writing system. Consisting mainly of a character system with around 2,000 characters in "general use" (meaning most used in daily life), I can't help but think this girl is going to grow up illiterate in her own country. Imagine, that you only learn 2 letters of the English alphabet a year, starting in first grade (kindergarten would make the math work better, but just pretend) with the most used letters coming first. But somewhere along the way, you stop studying, stop caring, and then you stop going to school after only having the chance to learn 20 of them. What about the other 6 that you never learned? And what about the last few years where you didn't really want to learn new letters anyway? Imagine just not knowing.

So I'm reminded of a line from the original Star Wars, you know, the good one, where Obi-wan Kenobi convinces the Stormtroopers to let them pass without consequence, the final lines of the sequence being, "Move along. Move along."

High school, says my JTE, is another story. They'll boot you out in no time.

PS - and for the nerd in all of us, this is just awesome.

Gone Batty

Some weeks ago, when Sam visited Okinawa, and joined Kerri and I on a tour of the place, we went to Okinawa World. Part of the tour included a walk through a tropical garden of sorts. It was mainly a collection of fruit-bearing trees (there's got to be a term for this, right?) laid out for a nice walk after the underground cave exhibit. I took note of a few of the trees, mainly because of the distinct shape of the fruits.

A few days ago at school, someone brought a plate into the teachers' room and implored us all to have a bite of the fruit that it bore. I asked what it was. "gu-ah-ba," the person replied. Ah, so that's explains the bat living in my tree.

And so, I have discovered that I have a treasure in my back yard.

I got home today, and with the typhoon-influenced winds pushing hard through my village, a fruit from the tree right outside my door had fallen to the ground. I went to pick it up, took a look at it, gave it a whiff, and sure enough, it's "gu-ah-ba." Guava. I have a guava tree in my yard. I am super-excited!

Why? Well, not only is it a little awesomeness of the rural lifestyle that I've come to inhabit, but it's also a sign that good things can be grown in this yard of mine. I started a compost pile some months back, but the complete lack of rain has made things very hard and compact lately. And the tree I started to eliminate, in just a few weeks time, has made a startling comeback (though a friend recommended cutting it all down, drilling into the stump, and pouring gasoline into the hole; not sure if I want to try lighting it, too, for fun's sake). So I've got a lot of work ahead of me if I want to actually turn this yard into a decent place to grow things. Right now, the wild grass and weeds are owning it.

But think of the possibilities! I'm going to take a few of the less fortunate fruits, the ones rotting on the concrete nearby, for example, and try to plant them in a place where they'll prosper. So while I'll have to settle for one guava tree, who knows what my predecessors to be will have in store for them.

And just to reassure you, these guava taste really good.

Okinawan History

I have been bouncing around a few blogs lately regarding the upcoming US Presidential election. Ugh. Anyway, I stumbled upon a very interesting site related to the history of Okinawa before, during, and after World War II.

I found this tidbit in one of the first few links:

I have the honor to enclose copy of a self-explanatory memorandum for General MacArthur, September 20, 1947, containing the gist of a conversation with Mr. Hidenari Terasaki, an adviser to the Emperor, who called at this Office at his own request.

It will be noted that the Emperor of Japan hopes that the United States will continue the military occupation of Okinawa and other islands of the Ryukyus, a hope which undoubtedly is largely based upon self-interest. The Emperor also envisages a continuation of United States military occupation of these islands through the medium of a long-term lease. In his opinion, the Japanese people would thereby be convinced that the United States has no ulterior motives and would welcome United States occupation for military purposes.

My interest is so piqued by this short memo. I'm afraid I may be laying off the studying until I've read the entire site.

Check it out for yourself, too at Nirai Kanai.

Dey say dere's a tah-phoon a-coming...

If the reports of the approaching typhoon (and accompanying speculations of those reports) going around are to be trusted, then there is a chance the flight I booked for this weekend, to fly up and see Sam, may never take off.

I will be blunt in saying that if this happens, I will f'ing lose it. It would clearly be just another example of Nature's bias against, and inability to exact any sort of fair treatment toward, me.

The next chance I would have to get up to Mie-ken, let alone for a three-day weekend, would not be for at least the next three weeks. This is due solely to upcoming "sports days" at each of my schools. Though I won't do anything of any importance at these events, I go. It's ok. I get a free bento and I don't have to really do anything (and I get the comp days, too). But I'll be honest in saying that I'd be a much more willing participant/specatator/supporter/anything you want me to be, really, if I get on that plane Friday.

PS - keep track of my daily stress level by checking out the Japan Meteorological Agency's typhoon forecast.

Save a Tree, Save the World, Two Sticks at a Time

Inspired by Dave

Back on Track

Yeah, damn right! That's the hope anyway, to get back into a good rhythm. Summer break was immensely restful and very fun, and Brent's visit made it all the more the awesome experience (especially for him I'm sure). Five weeks flew by and some of what I have to show for it is a reduced bank account, sore body parts from my bike fall, and a pretty good tan.

And now it's time to get back to the life I chose to start almost two years ago.

I can believe it. I wanted to say I can't believe it - meaning how fast the time has gone - but then I realized that everyone says that. Why don't you believe it? Perhaps a better way of phrasing it would be, "I have been unaware of the large period of time that has passed, and am treating it as if it were a much smaller period of time, and upon reconciling the two, I realize that what I feel I experienced and what I actually experienced are two very different senses of passed time. I can't believe it."

Anyway, diatribe concluded, today is Tuesday, the second day of the second term of the Japanese school year, also the second day of school of my second year as ALT on the JET Programme.

It went really well! While the JHS kids are stuck in morning tests, the elementary kids are in full energy mode. I doubt they sat around all summer, but when I remember back to my life as a student, by the end of summer break, I was so ready to get back to school, to see my friends, to wrap paper grocery bags around my textbooks, to sit in the hallway and goof around, to just have something to DO!

And such a desire remains as an adult. I enjoyed my time off, the days spent lazing around the apartment, putting everything in order, reducing clutter, cleaning, catching up on my laundry, etc. If it weren't for my trip up to mainland to visit Sam and meet Kerri, and for the two weeks Brent spent here, I think I'd have gone out of my mind. Perhaps that's not exactly the case; I would have been studying Japanese, doing more exercise, and taking more photos. But you get the idea. Time off is great, as long as when it ends, and we have something to go back to doing.

This week, I'm back to doing. I picked up my Japanese studies again and am happy that I still remember what I spent the past six months learning. Exercise (running, leg training) is on hold as I wait for my left knee (or a ligament or tendon therein) to stop bothering me, though swimming has proved to be beneficial. Karate is also on hold. Bike lessons have pretty much been bumped to the weekends (7 lessons to go, the final being my practical test, which I'm going to ace!).

There is one more piece of awesome news. But I'm not going to type it here just yet. If you didn't hear it from me before you (eventually) read it here, my apologies. But I don't think you'll hold it against me.