. . : : Japan takes the QUEEN : : . .

at bowling I was telling JTE3 about Japan's extensive use of "Let's". She had no idea of what I was talking about. So I explained to her that Japan probably uses "let's" more than most English speaking countries. I told her that it's here so much that I find myself using it in lesson or when I make worksheets....Let's enjoy learning English!...Let's Culture!...Let's Bowling!...Let's make friends!...Let's Shopping...and so on. [another over used English phrase in Japan].

And as if I wasn't already famous enough in Mutsu...I will be on the radio tomorrow. One of the CIR (Coordinators of International Relations) just called me to see if I would be on the radio show tomorrow. Yatta! All on these new experiences...right here in lil' ole Mutsu!

Let's enjoy Takeyah on the radio!!!!!!!!!

Today was "Let's Bowling" night with the teachers at my school. I an attempt to more than watch movies every weekend, I have attended the bowling nights. I like bowling and hanging with the teachers...after bowling with them a couple of times, I am convinced that the only really why they don' designate me as the durei is b/c I am a foreigner. I don't think they have the foggiest idea of what the word slave/durei might mean to me. I am always sure that my score is the lowest and I just embrace that part of me. The person who bowls the lowest score. I even won a Doraemon stuffed toy from one of the MANY vending machines at the bowling alley. People seemed very impressed with that, so I guess I found something to impress them with at the bowling alley...if not bowling, then my skills at obtaining stuffed animals from vending machines.

I was ssssssssssoooooooooooooooooo tired at work today. After 5th period/2:35PM, it was over. I was fighting to stay awake. That was strange b/c I went to yoga and went to bed when I came home last night. I was well-rested, but I guess that wasn't enough. I also exerted a much larger bit of mental energy today too. I usually do not ever play the role of anything close to disciplinarian in the class, but today it was more annoying than frustrating. I had to ask the students over an over again...speak up...use English please...speak louder...do you understand?...use English please...... does anyone have the answer...use English please...please practice with your partner...use English please....at one point I had to break out an ask the students what class we were in. I don't know what was up with the students, but today it seemed like all four of my classes really forgot that you go to English class to study English. So I gave a sermonette in each of my classes. When I get serious, I know the students can tell what I am saying, even when they don't understand. It was good reinforcement though b/c JTE1 said to me after class, "It's okay...they need to get serious sometimes."

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES:
When I went out to dinner last weekend with my teacher friends, I was able to experience a lot of foods that I hadn't seen before. I was good b/c in most cases, I would never really experience Japan cuisine b/c of my diet (which then allow me not to go out much). So I took my notes on things that I wanted to look up when I got home. There were a couple things that I made guesses but not I can confirm that fish sperm and testicles were on the plates of my colleagues last weekend and they were tearing it/them up.... Something told me I was right about that...and I was!

See that's why I am happy that the J food I can eat is "temple food"....shojin ryori....monk food....food with no animal products....b/c this sistah is not trying to order anything that has testicles attached to it (physically or literally)....

I now have a brand new song to add to my karaoke selections..... "Cartoon Heroes" by Aqua. JTE1 used it today for a listening activity and it was hot. I was/am a bit surprised that I like it, but it will definitely work for karaoke. My favorite part is the first time the dude says Frame by frame, to the extreme It's great.

Speaking of Danish people, music and shoes...well maybe not. But my left foot began hurting today. I think it's because of my inside shoes that I bought here in J. I have to stand and each in them and I guess they aren't giving me much support. I think I will get some Danskos to use as inside shoes while I'm in J.

JTE3 and another teacher-friend left a little while ago. I did henna art on their feet. They said "You could make money doing this!"...so next month (if I can get the henna) I WILL be having a henna party okay! Let me find out that this can be a side gig to make a couple extra YEN.

I came home today to see that some of the snow was cleared out of our yard! Yatta! I mea, it still looks like a snow forest, but now there's only a 2" sheet of ice with about a half foot of snow. It's snowing now though, so I will be getting up early(-er) to clean off the snow, so I can make it on time for work....oyasumi ....peace

There was another foot of snow on my car this morning when I went out to go to work. So it took me longer to clean it off, so I left my house a few minutes later. On the two lane bridge, there are people walking in the lanes b/c there are no sidewalks (and if there are sidewalks, they're not shovelled). So it took me longer to get over the bridge. I got to school as the bell rang. At that point I still had to take off my coat, change shoes and go upstairs to teh teachers room. So I was late for school! I have been adjusting my time and it has worked out well for months, now I have to add extra time for if tehre is 2 or 3 feet of snow on my car!

[A Message for You]
As flu prevails throughout our school,
classes in the afternoon will be cancelled.
We hope you won't be infected with a cold
You can go back to Tanabu Senior high school
and stay there until P.M. 4:00
(We're sorry you can't go home, because
you are on duty today)



That is a note I received after 3rd period at the tech school today. Initailly one JTE there told me that I could go home, but then I got this note :( I was hoping that this would be the one day that, like many other ALTs, I could go home early. But no! I had to go back to THS and sit there for 3.5 hours doing nothing b/c I was on duty.

Yesterday, 100 students were out with the flu and today the number were about the same. THAT is madness....I think, the first step in helping the problem is : Make the students wear winter coats! If tehy were dressed warm enough, maybe they won't get so sick. Another way is: The tecahers who are sick and have to wear masks to work...STAY home. You are only spreading more and more germs by coming to work!

Between going to the tech HS and my regular HS, I had to clean my car off 3 times today. By 4 o'clock, I had reached my threshold, so I opted to stay in for the eveing. Nihongo class would not see me today.

12:29AM...I'm in my room...in my apt...i am seeing my breath, in my room, in my apt...I'm going to bed...its like I'm camping out everyday.....

The drinking party was great! I had a good time. They really made an attempt to get food that I could eat...eeehhhh...I ended up eating about 3 of the 8 dishes, but the effort was really appreciated. I ate before I went anyway :) My supervisor (earlier in the day realized that I had a slight cold-esque thing going on so he) volunteered to rush me to the hospital, in true Japanese style...that was sweet.

After the drinking party, I was asked to attend the ni-jikai (2nd party), so I went. We met up with some other teachers at a bar not too far from my house. It was cool aqnd when I got there, I found that one of my eikaiwa students worked there too! What a great surprise!....Another great surprise is that they have Shy Perfect/Sattelite TV...YATTA! So I caught a glimpse of music videos and they were showing a documentary on Jimi Hendrix...so I plan on going there again, even if it is to see what they are showing on sattelite TV...hey it's cheaper than renting a movie from Heiando (sometimes)

When a person ordered a drink, whoever wanted to sample, could sample (except for me..I opted out b/c I didn't want to spread germs), but there was one teacher who, everytime the sample came around to him, he just drank like half of it and claimed it for himself ...LOL...he did that like 3 times...after the first time I kept saying sampuru dake, sampuru dake [sample only, sample only], but it didn't mean anything. I left the ni-jikai early (with JTE3) and I decided to walk home, since my house was only two blocks away. To my surprise, I got home and I wasn't even cold or frostbitten or anything like that...i only had to use the bathroom....how about that...

now it's 11:50 PM and my neighbor is outside shovelling/pushing around snow...maybe I should have someone send me a bag of salt and have me show some folx some miracles...

Is it possible that by just being at school, I have gotten sicker? I haven't been sick in years prior to coming to Japan. My whole feeling about things are...if you have to wear a mask over your face...don't come to work and don't remove your mask to try to talk to me.

We have some test-taking folx up in the mix. Every week, someone is taking some kind of TOIEC/TOEFL nani, nani test. From teachers to students. I am trying to figure out what these tests actually test. And what abilities or qualifications do they certify that the test taker has.

Onto other things...I am at school listening to Beyonce's Crazy in Love courtesy of JTE1. He went to Aomori City this weekend (for what else...to take a TOIEC exam) and bought a new double CD set called Woman 5. It has a whole bunch of female artists on it...India.Arie, Vanessa Carlton, Ashanti, Erykah Badu, Beyonce, Faith, Sade...the list goes on. So he left it here and told me I could listen to it if I wanted :)

I slept in most of the day on Sunday, so I am well-rested now. My head is bothering me a bit but I am relaxing since I have to do English club today and go to the drinking party later.

I actually went out yesterday...twice...ask and yee shall receive...well last week, I was talking to the teacher that sits next to me at the the technical highschool. We chat every now and then, when I go to visit. Since my desk is right by the door where people seem to ALWAYS leave it open, it's quite brisk, so she lets me borrow her blanket for my legs...but anyway. In an effort to work towards my put into action on Jan 17, I asked her where she lives and what she does on weekends. She told em the usual...going out to eat, going out to drink, karaoke...the only options in this area. She asked what do I do and I told her karaoke and sometimes I go to Aomori City. So after a discussion about why I don't eat out nani, nani,.., she said let's go out on Saturday at 12PM, and she would bring her friend who likes to practice English. That was cool, b/c that was more than I expected. I just wanted to find out what the options were from a younger perspective. That was Tuesday...

In the meantime on Friday evening, I came down with some that seemed like a cross between teh flu and a cold. With every cough, there were pains in my head. The coughs were only like everynow an dthen, so I couldn't figure out what it was. I took some goldenseal to see if it would help a bit...it did...but the headaches still continued.

So she (from tech hs) called me on Friday and said that she came down with something, so only her friend would be able to come...cool...so we met for lunch at Gusto/Gasuto. It was good. We talked about different things and I ate more than I thought I would (salad AND pasta)...yatta!

So earlier this week, I asked JTE3 what she was doing this weekend and she said working...what else is knew around these parts. So I said cool, "if you want to hang out let me know". I know she like to hang with me and talk, so I figure I would let her know that it's cool to call me if you plan on going out. So after my lunch outing from earlier JTE3 called me, while I was bundled up in bed, trying to stay warm from being out earlier. We went out, with 2 other teachers from the HS, and had a great time. Of course, drinking was part of our outing, so in true HS style, one of the teacher's father's picked us all up and dropped us off at the restaurant (in Japan there is ZERO, nil, NO, 0, tolerance for drinking and driving, even a little communion offering would get you in trouble. At night time, the taxis make mad money taking people back and forth between the bars and their houses. If you drive to the bar/restaurant, they even will come to pick you up with two drivers so one can drive your car to your house while the taxi driver drives you home!)

I had a great time, talking about all types of stuff. I definitely got to use a lot of Japanese b/c only JTE3 spoke English. Even with my head pounding throughout the night when the arnica wore off, it was fun! Yatta!

I still don't feel great, but I am just trying to stay warm. For some reason last night, I was sweatinglike nobody's business, so IF I had a flu, hopefully it sweated out. My headaches have subsided, but only one phrase by a dear friend can describe how I feel right now "blargh..."

:)

In response to a friend's question....

Re: Re-contracting? I would like to stay. I like where I am. I don't have any friends close to me. I don't have any Japanese friends. I have become an even better teacher than when I came. I haven't really had a chance to experience Japanese culture. It would be nice to be closer to a "real" city. I like the trees. I like the quiet. I like warm places. It's cold here. I have to finish school. I miss my family and friends at my other home in the US. I plan on goiing back to the US in July no matter what I decide. My Japanese oral communications hasn't improved as much as I would have liked....these are all reasons why I would stay or go. I won't really know until I have to decide.

I got this site through another Aomori JET's site. I liked it a lot. I also really liked his photographs a lot....got to get my digi cam.... he also has a very nice short movie called "Statement of Agreement"...that me feel a certain typa way....

I am on a mission to get at least some vegan cookies cake or icecream for my EARTHday...so this is part of what I wrote to Sticky Fingers bakery in DC

Dear Sticky Fingers Representative,

. . . So today, I decided to e-mail and see if I could get some vegan treats sent to me. To my surprise, you now have delivery available! My question now is...Can you deliver to Japan? If so, what would be the shipping costs? . . . I am excited about the idea of eating my vegan sweets (and blowin! the minds of all of the people here who do not believe that vegan can be tasty). When I lived in DC, I bought lots of cookies to make some converts, so I hope you can help me with my missionary work here in Japan :)

Peace and blessings...

my supervisor told me that Mr. Ringleader of Trouble from yesterday is missing now...

NOTE: As far as I know it's not missing, like side-of-a-milk-carton missing...it's probably more like, the I-skipped-school-today missing

I just finished having a brief discussion with the JTE that will organize the trip to the sister-city high school in October with the current 1 first year students (who will be 2nd years in April). He asked me to help him with the planning a while ago. So today I asked him about when we were going to meet to discuss it. He said that the plan has been decided. It is up to him to decide along with the teacher at the sister-city high school principal. Then he says It's going to be the same as last year b/c I don't know anything about [the city] or travelling, so it is easier to leave it the same. I am down with 'if it ain't broke don't fix it, but come one. You are leaving the schedule teh same, b/c you are afraid of doing something new. He even said to me, in the same conversation, that the trip itinerary was a bit boring (and it was his first time doing it). So if we are adults and we find it boring, I KNOW the students will find it boring too...he agreed. I am not interested in planning the itinerary but as I told him, 'I am sure that a new site/museum/attraction has been built in the last 10 years since the program was initially started, so you might want to take a look at the schedule. See if the students who went this year would have liked to see some aother attractions in the area...and even better, ask the people who live in the sister-city'.

We definitely have work to do....

one of my adult students just called me...they got the dates wrong about the eikaiwa class....they thought it was today...but it begins next week...well at least I know that I have 6 students already.

It is almost optional for the 3rd year students to attend school during the 3rd semester (the current one), so I only have to teach 4 classes per week. Before this semester, I taught a lot more classes b/c all of the extra ones that I voluntarily taught, with the exception of one or two, were san nan-sei classes. I am definitely not bored b/c I use my extra time to read articles and information about ESL, think of ways to improve our classes, catch up on e-mail, and plan my travels.

The above leaves me with a day like today when I only teach 4 and 5th period. Fourth period today was Oral Communications. There are only 5 boys in the class and most of them get on my nerves. One of them, b/c he intenetionally acts like an ass in class, and a couple of the others b/c they insist on following his lead. So I remember HS, so there is always a trouble maker, but these are going to be the same punks who will be crying on the study abroad tape about Oh, I wish I had studied English more...I'm going to miss PA....ra, rah RAH...wah, wah, WAH... Especially with the sole troublemakers, we all know that the only reason why you are here is b/c you signed up for the English Intensive course b/c you couldn't pass the regular entrance exam with a high score (except the rig leader,surprisingly, he chose the Englis course)...so chill out. Why waste the time of the students who actually want to learn English. We basically wasted a good 15-min of class time either trying a) to get him to open his book, b) to get him to practice with his partner or c) to talk over one or two of the boy students who insist on talking to each other also there are 5 people in between. When they act out, it just changes the whole vibe of the class and then the students aren't motivated anymore

On top of that, after mentioning my concerns to my supervisor and JTE2, I find out that the students can, not come to school, not do ANY work, can disrupt the class, can FAIL and they still go on the study abroad trip....even when they don't deserve it. There is not type of accountability/responsibilityh mechanism in place to "make" the students behave. But it makes sense though, especially since I found out that the scores for the first year class in English average around 73. They are considered high scores....Quite frankly, that's bad business, b/c I can see that not everyone does the work or participates in class, but everyone gets around the same grade...boooo...

After lunch, 5th period...same students as before but now I am teaching the General English/Reading Class...same issues as the other class with the same students...this time, he is intentionally being annoying by talking over 5 people the entire time (of course, only to boys...b/c at 16, they are still afraid to speak to girls even during practice convo) so he could talk to his boys and reading all of the sentences out loud, as requested, but out of order....grr.....there was even a point when everyONE in the class was doing work, with their heads in their books and he was just sitting there, head sticking straight up trying to figure out what kind of trouble he could cause. I just looked at him and shook my head...he kept looking back at me, then I gave him the "mama eye"...then he put his head down. The boys have gotten worse over time, so much that instead of one trouble maker, we have two solid ones and 3 more good students that get distracted easily (all boys, of course)

The day balanced out though. And at the end, I got special recognition during the short home room for giving special tactics to the 1-6 class during the super jump rope competition....so there...

I just got off the phone with two of my favorite sistahs...yeah! It was really great talking to them...right on time. Catching up on news from home and within...

I felt a whole lot better when I spoke to the president director of internal affairs and to my girls...i love my peoples....*smiling*

I just got out of class and thestudents came out of the lesson with more than they came in. I like when classes turn out that way...completely successful. It does happen too often with this particular class, b/c JTE2 is really not a very good teacher of English. To avaoid getting frustrated, I usually contribute when I am asked to and I add my ideas only during the lesson planning phase. Most the cases when the class is successful are when I am the main instructor and he is not. The downfall of this is that JTE2 always seems to create distractions while I am teaching or the studenst are working. Instead of helping out, he is fiddling with something...playing with the microphones, turning on all of the heaters, talking to students [in Japanese], translating everything I say [therefore the students do not listen to me] or something...quite annoying...grrrrr....

friends... i have been in the house all day and NOW at 6:31PM, i am on a mission to make some friends. i have some real friends that i have met through JET but they all live 1+ away from me. the one that lives the closest has a mate here and is a snowboarding fiend which means...no hangin' out for the kid :( i actually enjoy being by myself, but sometimes it's nice to have someone to talk to, at least as an option

aside from that, i just saw how they gather sea salt, that's interesting..i also saw how they make those beautiful designs on the baskets and other decorative items...i don't know how much they cost, but they're definitely worth it...whatever it is

off to return the movies that i borrowed...one of them, a brit film called Secrets and Lies was pretty good

I attempted a movie night last night, but the movie I rented was in French. Not a problem except that I don't know French nor do I read Japanese fast enough to follow subtitles. I just let it play. I figured that I would be able to get the general ideas even if I didn't understand what they were saying.

So I am attempting a movie night again tonight. I decided to not do, what folx living in the US would call, "foreign films"...I went with J foreign films, which means (in general) ...American movies (some Korean and Chinese too). Should be fun!

GRANOLA MONOLOGUES
I don't think that soy sauce gets enough props in the US. Maybe it's b/c, unless you are a cook like that, we usually get it in water-down packets with Chinese (American) take-out. Since I have been in J, I have definitely gained an appreciation for soy sauce and HAVE to have it when I stir-fry....YAY! SOY SAUCE!

I am also going to attempt to get a vegan cake and ice-cream for my EARTHday...which is a month away...we'll see how it goes. I told my English club girls that we would have and English club EARTHday party in Feb, since half of their date of births are in Jan/Feb/Mar...

Today teh students wrote down their New Year's resolutions and presented them to the class. Some of them were kind of "cookie-cutter" resolution and others interesting...the most interesting ones were:


I want to lose weight


I want to be a pretty girl




Disturbing to me b/c 90% of the students are my size or smaller and all of them are pretty..yet they want to lose weight, etc... while correcting some student's English, I even found myself trying to counter that type of language, but it didn't really help. There is nothing wrong with staying health or wanting to be attractive AND I don't think that my standard of beauty is the prevailing standard, but still....This is not different from girls in the US or anywhere else in the world, so it is bothering me the same way. I know it has to be tough growing up in a society that clearly puts you second or last in everything...boo!....

Today was my first day back at school. I missed the students and teaching. My ichi nensei students greeted me with hugs...those are my girls ;) I only got tired around 2PM...which was pretty good. I stayed up late trying to burn some mixed CDs for my san nensei students, but Media Player was giving me trouble. I now know that I should use some other type of software to burn CDs.

EveryONE loved my henna artwork. Most of the people except one JTE had never heard of it and thought it was a permanent tatoo (of course, the girls were vocal..the boys just looked secretly). JTE3 said that she wants to get some done :O something small on her foot. I brought some henna back, so I may end up having a little henna party at my house within the next week or so. It will be fun!

Speaking of party... JTE2 told me that the English teachers are having a drinking party on the 26th of this month. "Drinking party" were the words that he used. Imagine that ... a drinking party on a Monday evening. I really shouldn't be surprised by now, the Japanese do not play when it comes to drinking! It should be fun!

It snowed all day. Nothing major though ... mostly flurrying. After work it began snowing a bit more, so I headed to the supermarket to get some food. Natural instincts kicking in...like anything around here would shut down b/c of snow. LOL

I'm home....the road back home was cool. I left Singapore at 6AM and I got to my house a 10PM. I flew into Narita Airport, then I took the train to Tokyo Train Station, then to Hachinohe Station, then to Noheji Station and finally arriving at Shimokita Station here in Mutsu.

I was able to get some rest on the train, so I am not too tired. Off to bed, I have to go to work in the morning...

I am in Changi Airport (Singapore) right now. I will be boarding in a bout an hour or so to head back home (to J)...home...that's interesting. I got here early expecting to relax in this fly airport, but security decided to unpack BOTH of my bags completely and show everyone all of my intimate apparel too..... boo.....

I am in Singapore right now just relaxing for the day. The order for the day is pedicures and henna and then the Night Safari later on tonight. It's hard to believe that tomorrow morning, 6AM, Japan will take the queen again. My whole trip was 20 days and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 20 days, 8 hotels/hostels, a lot of sightseeing, a lot of walking, mad backpacking, and smidge of shopping and I am on my way back to J. I miss Japan (minus the cold weather).

I now have 8 countries under my belt and the world to go....

I ended up staying Bangkok a couple days longer than expected, but now I am in Malaysia. I got here early last evening after about 20 hours on the train and 5 hours on the bus. Malaysia is cool...small mahem..the place where we are staying are fumigating today. I found that out when I got here last night, along with my discovery of their BED BUGS too! Not cool at all. It was too late to go elsewhere, so I had to pull the same move as in Ghana. Stay up as much as I could then sleep sitting up in a wooden kitchen table chair! I am not tired yet, but I'll see what the rest of the days brings.....

in BK now...not Brooklyn, Bangkok. It seems cool so far. I got here at 4AM after taking the "VIP" bus from Krabi yesterday afternoon. I met up with some cool people on the bus ride, so we decided to stay the same hotel. It is a good location (in the historic district) and cose to all of thsites where I want to visit.

Tomorrow I plan on doing a little bit of shopping at the weekend market, where I want to buy a large fan. I left the two that I bought on the so-called "VIP" bus. They rushed us off so quickly, I forget to get them from the overhead bin :( They were really nice too! Oh well, nothing I can do about it now....

I am treating myself to a spa for the new year

Yesterday was a new day that ended an old year. I have been blessed to see the sun rise and set on an old year, literally. I have been (even more) blessed to see the sun rise in the new year, 2004!

I am in Koh Lanta, Thailand right now, getting ready to head up to Bangkok!

SIDE NOTE: I am not going to post as much as I initially plnned b/c the dude at the internet place feels like he has to read eveything that I pull up on the screen from over my shoulder.