long time no post. suffice it to say, i'm having a lot of problems getting the internet set up at my apartment.
i wrote the following late last week at home. i'm borrowing my neighbor's computer to post it.man, where do i even start?
let's try to proceed in an organized fashion, shall we?
my apartment:i live in shiroi city teacher's housing (kyouin juutaku). the complex was built in the seventies and hasn't had many updates since. consequently it's fairly unpopular with the japanese teachers, to the point that more than half the complex is unoccupied. the apartments below, above, and to my left are all empty. the apartment to my right is occupied by my predecessor, who will be gone very soon. the place isn't so bad though, and you really can't beat the price. it's small, of course, but livable.
how about a tour?:
first, open the industrial cookie monster blue metal door and step into the entryway. take off your shoes and put them in or next to the shoe cabinet. step forward into the hallway. turn left. to your right is a small sink with a very low medicine cabinet and mirror. if you are my height (5'9") your belly is in the center of the mirror and your held is entirely cut off. straight ahead of you is the washing machine. thanks to some disorganization in the Chiba JET program, i got it for free. there is no dryer here; they don't use them. to your left are two doors. one is the shower room and the other is the toilet room.
about the shower: it's heated with gas. first you turn on the gas at the hose. next, turn on the water faucet. (as needed, turn another knob to move the water from bathtub to shower hose or vice versa. turn a different knob to adjust the shower pressure.) turn yet another knob to the "light" position to light the gas, hold for at least ten seconds, cross your fingers, turn all the way, and hopefully you have successfully created a hot shower. if not, try lighting the gas again until it works. now use your toe to fiddle with another knob at the base of the unit to change the temperature. it won't stay in place -- don't even try. also, don't bother putting the shower hose on the mount up top. the water will spray far over your head and may hit the overhead light. obviously the person who installed the mirror did not install the showerhead mount.
okay, let's return to that hallway where you came in. straight in front of you is the kitchen. there is a two-person table in the corner straight ahead (gotta love ikea), a medium-sized (for japan) pink fridge to your immediate left, and on your far left a gas range with two burners and a broiler, a stainless (er, not entirely stainless) steel countertop, a sink, and somewhat limited cabinet space. japanese apartments do not come with appliances; i had to purchase both the fridge and range.
we have one room left: the multipurpose japanese room. it's separated from the kitchen by sliding doors. the room is six tatami mats big, which makes it about 9' x 12'. on the long wall is a large closet and an alcove. in the alcove is a bookshelf (ikea) and a tv, tv stand, and vcr (thanks again to the JET program). in the main room itself is a small couch that came out of the back of sam & greg's car (hooray!), an end table, and a coffee table/kotatsu* (hooray again, sam & greg!). the futon stays in the closet when not in use.
last but not least is the balcony. this isn't a place to put pretty plants and sit with a cup of coffee and perhaps a cigarette while enjoying the view (of the neighbors' windows). remember how i mentioned that they don't use dryers here? the balcony's main function is a place to hang laundry. its secondary function is to serve as a place to put your stinky trash or overflowing recycling when you are waiting for garbage day, because if you put it in the trash receptacle in the parking lot, the crows will come, the neighbors will complain, and you will look bad.
so, that's my apartment. since there's not much to do in the mcminnvillish city of shiroi, i spend a lot of time here. perhaps justifies the above overly long description.
continuing on,
my job:i work at three schools. most days i am at oyamaguchi junior high. on wednesdays i alternate between oyamaguchi elementary school and shiroi dai san (#3) elementary school.
oyamaguchi junior high:during my first week of work the students spent all day, every day, preparing for their annual sports festival (undokai). that meant no classes, which meant not much for me to do. one of my three JTEs (JTE: Japanese Teacher of English) gave me a few tasks, but i spent most of the week studying japanese, reading books about japan, and making an effort to appear more interested than i actually was in the aforementioned sports festival preparations. i tried helping with some weeding, which went well at first, but eventually i was told to stop because my lower back was exposed. sigh.
during the second week, i had 2-3 classes per day (excluding wednesday, which i spent at elementary school). nearly all of the lessons were self-introductions. i have 11 classes total, so i will see most of my classes only once a week. for future lessons i will mostly be the "human tape recorder" they warned us about in training. in other words, i will be reading dialogues and vocabulary to the students so they can hear native pronunciation. the JTEs are making some effort to involve me in the class, but at this level it's difficult because so much of the class is spent explaining things in japanese. consequently it seems i'll be spending a lot of time just standing around. observing english class actually seems like it will be pretty good for my japanese, considering all the translating that happens there.
shiroi #3 elementary:i've only had one day at each elementary school so far. they break each period into halves, so i normally have between six and ten twenty minute lessons, plus lunch with the students. my first lessons at shiroi #3 were self-introductions to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. they know almost no english, so i mostly just drew on the board and showed them pictures. "look, a cat," "my friend," and so on. then we sang the hello song. (hello / hello / hello how are you? / i'm fine / i'm fine / i hope that you are too.) and to wrap things up i had them guess my age. 23 was everyone's first guess. ha!
i think things went well, but it's hard to say for sure. it was my first time teaching anything ever, so it's a bit of a blur.
my next day at this school will be self-introductions to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. i'm worried the older students will be bored with the hello song, so maybe i'll try to come up with a good game.
oyamaguchi elementary:the teacher in charge of me at oyamaguchi elementary is awesome. she helps with lesson planning and making materials, and speaks japanese very carefully and clearly. team teaching with her is really easy. unfortunately that will only happen for twenty minutes a month.
at this school we're skipping self-introductions and going straight into lessons. first set of lessons was: 1st graders: fruit; 2nd graders: fruits and vegetables. we played bingo, which went spectacularly in some classes and terribly in others, mostly depending on whether the JTE was able/willing to give the students directions and maintain control of the class.
my next day at oyamaguchi elementary will be tough. i will have four different grades (3rd through 6th) and four completely different lesson plans (days of the week, months/birthdays, time, and foreign countries). the other ALTs (ALT: Assistant Language Teacher) in shiroi have told me they often collapse on the floor and sleep for several hours when they return from elementary school on wednesdays. not only is elementary school exhausting, but it also requires a lot of planning. fortunately it's also more rewarding than junior high. it' s pretty fun having the kids treat you like a rock star, and junior high kids are too mature for that.
daily life:most days i work from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. it takes about twenty five minutes to bike to school. if it rains hard i take the train, which entails a ten minute walk to the station, a short train ride, and a then a twenty minute walk to school. this is all about to change though: my predecessor is giving me his car. he's moving to a more urban area where he won't need it and would have to pay for a parking space, and he got it for free, so he's decided to pass it on again. it's old enough (early nineties) that he can't really resell it here. the shaken (inspection/registration) will have to be paid in february, and will probably cost around $900. at that point i will either bite the bullet and pay for it, or try to give the car to someone else.
why did i decide to get a car?
a) it's cheaper than i expected. insurance will run me about $850/year and gas doesn't cost much more here than it does at home. and the car itself will be free.
b) the train line here is expensive. if i want to go to the nearest mall / shopping center, i have to either bike 6 kilometers there and 6 kilometers back or pay 370 yen (~$3.50) each way.
c) biking is scary. some of the bike paths are narrow and/or very bumpy, and most areas don't have street lights. biking in the dark, even with a bike light, makes me very nervous. also, i crashed my bike in the rain on september 1st. the injury was pretty minor, but it scared me. it felt like a scene in a movie: my nylons were torn in several places, my thigh scraped, and blood was dripping down my hand and onto the rainy street. my friends and i assessed the wound and decided it wouldn't make any sense to try to get stitches because too much skin was missing -- there was nothing to sew together. for the first few days i could hardly use my hand at all, and my pinky and ring fingers were very swollen. two weeks later it's much, much better. my pinky feels a little stiff, and the scab is less than half it's original size.
d) i've always wanted a honda civic.
e) my parents are coming to visit and it will be cheaper to see a lot of the places we want to visit by car than it would be if we were paying trainfare for three people.
f) trains don't go everywhere.
what else? i don't go out much. i usually cook at home. sometimes i'll eat with one or more of the other ALTs. i've been doing a lot of reading, studying, crocheting, watching movies, and sleeping. it's quiet, which is exactly what i was looking for. i have a lot of time to think. admittedly, i get a little sad and homesick sometimes, but for the most part i'm enjoying this solitude. i was concerned that living in a building with other ALTs was going to mean i spent all my time with foreigners, but actually the amount of time we spend together is just about right. enough to keep me from being too lonely.
more later. when i get the internet. someday.
*kotatsu: picture a table with a heater built into the underside of it. the table top is removable so you can put a blanket between it and the heating unit. this blanket covers the open areas around the legs to keep the heat from escaping. you can also put a second blanket over the [tamami mat] floor to minimize heat loss from below. for some people, the kotatsu is the only heating unit they use in the winter.
