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.