Summer winding down

School in Japan will start again September 3rd. I took the rest of my summer holiday and managed to get a 6 day weekend. Right now, I'm sitting in a Nagasaki Hotel (Hotel Belleview) currently involved in a JET conference for all first years. Unfortunately, no pictures are available yet, as I forgot to bring the adapter for my Sony stick, but I can still describe what's been happening this last week.

Me with the group conversation class

Joe with the group conversation class.

Wednesday night was my first adult conversation class at the community center. The class itself is led by Joe, but Nathanial and I came to help out. This group was very eager to learn and wanted to talk to us as much as possible. We had 9 people attend the class.Our first activity was filling out a questionnaire describing who they were, what did they like, etc, etc. Most of them were housewives, but there were a couple of people from the BOE and some retired folk. To break the ice, I went first going through the questionnaire, writing my name on the board, drawing a map of the states, and pointing out where I live. Nathanial went after, followed by Joe. After seeing the 3 teachers go, we started going around the table. It was very interesting to hear what they were saying, and surprised with what they knew. After that, we tested to see if they understood the lesson. We went around and had them ask us the questions and in turn, we asked them something. All in all, it was very productive, and most importantly, fun.

Grill master Joe
Celebrating pay day

In all honesty, Thursday and Friday were pretty boring. Yuasa sensei did pick Nathanial and I from our apartments to the BOE for our Alien Registration card. It's sort of the equivalent of a green card in the states. After getting our cards, we drove Nathanial to Arikawa port to see him off to Sasebo. I needed to get my bank card from the post office (they've been trying to deliver it to my house during school hours for about a week) so Yuasa sensei took the time to drive me there. That night (Thursday), Joe, Andrea and myself celebrated our first paycheck and ate out at a Korean Yakitori place. It was a little pricey, but celebrations don't come cheap.

My Lego Keitai

On Friday, I took my new gaijin card and asked Urahama sensei to help me get a keitai (cell phone). He agreed to, and drove me to the nearest DoCoMo store. I couldn't tell you what happened, all I know is that I wanted something cheap, but unlimited text messaging. So now I own a cool cell phone that looks like a lego block. That night, I went over Joe's place to crash because the upcoming weekend was my trip to Nagasaki.

The weekend was another great one. Saturday morning, I go to watch a festival where Joe had to sumo wrestle his elementary/jr high kids. They asked me if I wanted to have a go, but I turned it down. One gaijin monkey to amuse them is enough for a morning. The event lasted about 3 hours and was about noon when we finished. After a good morning of laughing at Joe, we headed to where Yolanda (my new filipino friend) works.

On a previous blog, I mentioned that she works at a ramen shop. The ramen shop is run by an old lady who Joe refers to as "Mama". They served us the specialty ramen sereved only at that shop. It was perfect! They also fed us some tofu over scrambled eggs thing, which was good, but tofu doesn't work well for me. They also fed us some crazy japanese pizza and sweet corn. Not bad for $5.

View of Arikawa as we headed out
Enjoying a coke
Enjoying a beer
Random view from the top deck

After lunch, we packed our things and headed to Arikawa ferry port. Getting to the Goto Islands from Nagasaki using the speed boats cost me $61. However, the slow car ferry from here to Sasebo was only $18. I really enjoyed the ferry, even though it takes 3 hours to cross. There are no seats on this ferry, just 4 sections of carpet area. The idea is that you lay down during your voyage and go to sleep. They had pillows and blankets if you needed it. You also were allowed to go to the top deck to enjoy the view. I spent about an hour on the top deck taking in the sites, and watching the flying fish zoom across the water. I spent the remaining time down below to take a nap.

Joe and Jeff standing in front of the longest commercial strip in the world

Mario Pachinko

We landed in Sasebo where I met one of Joe's acquaintances, Jeff. He's a 2nd year ALT who met Joe through the re-contract orientation. Jeff showed us around town, including one of his favorite ramen places. We were greeted by a cute hostess as she led us to the counter. I was surprised that they had an English menu for us. I learned that Sasebo has a US naval base, so I saw plenty of Americans walking around. Sasebo has a 1km long strip of nothing but shops. It's one of its many tourist spots, and thus was bustling with Americans. I saw everything from shoes to cars for sale on that strip. After a good walk through it, we took a taxi to his apartment and got ready for the next day's activity, Sky Jamboree 07.

Sunday morning began with Jeff making us pancakes and French toast. It’s nice to eat something from home from time to time, instead of rushing out to catch my bus. After a fulfilling breakfast, we headed to the Sasebo station to catch a bus to Nagasaki City. The bus ride itself is about an hour and a half. We arrived in Nagasaki and my eyes opened to a bustling city. The buildings weren’t as high as Tokyo, but busy nonetheless. We worked up a good appetite after the long drive and found an Indian restaurant close to the station. This restaurant had a view of the kitchen where we can observe the chefs making any and everything. I had myself some pilaf, chicken curry, and some other stuff. Even though I asked for mild, I found myself drinking glass after glass of water. Basically once the waitress went back to the kitchen after filling up my glass, I was ready for another. After lunch we finally headed towards the concert.

Mountain in the background is where the concert took place

Sky Jamboree in full swing

People everywhere

We followed signs and crew members to buses who would take us up the mountain where the concert was taking place. We arrived around noon and the concert was in full swing. From what I learned from Jeff, these are very popular Japanese bands, with a couple known internationally. We met up with Jeff’s friend Alex, who’s another ALT. At first, we hung out in the back checking the merchandise and complaining about the heat. As the day wore on, we started headed towards the front near the stage. There was a band called The Big Crusaders who started playing, and all of us started to go wild. We started moshing and dancing with the crowd. I think they were surprised to see Americans at the concert, and were happy to involve us in the craziness. Everyone was so nice and happy! At first I thought I wouldn’t have any fun, but this was one of the most fun things I’ve ever been involved in. I was soaked in sweat by the time we left.

The station after the ride home from the concert

From the 2nd floor of Nagasaki station

Picture with fellow concert people

The bus ride back down the mountain gave us time to point out parts of the concert, as well as talking with the fellow passengers about where we were from. It was around 7:30pm when we got back down the mountain and started to part ways. Alex had to go somewhere so we said our goodbyes at the station. Jeff had to catch a bus home so we left him at the bus station. Joe and I wandered around for a bookstore that had a map of the United States. Unfortunately, the store worker at the particular bookstore told us that all the foreigners bought all of them. When we walked out of the bookstore, Jeff came back telling us he missed his bus by 2 minutes. The next one would be at 9pm. We decided since we had some time that we’d get something to eat. We walked into Nagasaki station and ate a Chinese restaurant. Around 8:45 we started headed back to the bus station to see Jeff off. While we were waiting, a few girls approached us and we talked about the concert. After some conversation we managed to get a picture taken with them.

Naruto Movie

Evangelion Movie

When Jeff took off, Joe and I decided to catch a movie, since there isn’t a cinema on the islands. The movie we watched was Rush Hour 3. It was pretty funny, but I don’t think it was as good as the other two. In the movie theatre I saw American movie posters in Japanese. I guess I should’ve anticipated it, but it just captivated me to see their titles in katakana. A couple movies did catch my interest, the new Naruto and Evangelion movies. Those will never be released in the states. During the previews for Rush Hour, I saw a clip from evangelion. I’ll never understand that series. One thing I thought was funny was that when you bought a ticket, you had to pick a seat at the register. Even though there were maybe 15 people in the theatre, you still had assigned seating.

Elevator to exit the movie theatre

After the movie, we headed back to the hotel to drop off stuff and check out where my orientation would be held. He also showed me nearby places to see when I have time after orientation on Tuesday. About an hour later we headed back to the hotel where he decided to crash on my floor. All in all, it was a great weekend.

Buffet for orientation

Monday rolls around and it’s my first day of Nagasaki orientation. Joe leaves at 9am for a train to Hiroshima where he’ll “meander” around the city. My orientation place is a 5 minute walk from the hotel. It had some good information, but nothing really new. The information given was all in “in this situation” situation. So to me, it wasn’t really useful because it wasn’t my situation. I did come out with a few ideas on how to go about with lessons and what is expected of me. After a long day of workshops, we all headed to a buffet and ate dinner. All of this leads to tonight where I’m sitting in my hotel room after a full night of eating and drinking. Right now, there’s an after party get together. I decided not to go, I’m tired and I wanted to get some rest for the long trip back home tomorrow.

A little preview of what’s to come. Tomorrow I start my day at 9 pm. However, I’m probably going to wake up around 7 to catch the breakfast. The orientation ends at noon, but my boat doesn’t arrive until 5pm. I think I’m going to use the time to get my re-entry permit and probably check out the Nagasaki Museum.

Hello My Name is Carlo, I come from Michigan.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

This was the theme of my day today. The 21^st marks the day when students come in to meet their new homeroom assignments and to do a little summer cleaning before the year starts. This also marks the day when new teachers are introduced. When the day started, I stressed over the fact I had to introduce myself. However, I found it to be not as bad as I thought.

The day started normally for me at Uonome Jr. High school. I jumped on the empty bus at 7:40am and headed down to school. If I haven’t mentioned it before, the bus drives right by the high school where I saw students in droves shuffling in for the first day back (out of club) from summer vacation. It was a rather warm morning, reaching 80 around 7:45am and eventually topping off in the mid 90s. Today was also the first day teachers started coming back from Obon vacation, so the teacher’s room was full. The Kyoto sensei did the morning announcements, talking about the day’s activities and which clubs met. I didn’t catch most of it except for the part saying that they’re sending me with the BOE to meet the other schools. Around 9:40am, Urahama sensei came to pick me up to go to my first school, Uonome Elementary.

At this elementary school, I saw a sign welcoming me to the school. We were first met by the Kyoto sensei. I met this woman before at the school Perron race on my first day. She led us to the Kocho sensei’s room. The man knew a little English and was pretty funny. He talked about how excited the children were and looked forward to working with me. They then started to talk to each other while I sat there enjoying my tea. He then made an announcement for the staff to meet in the room and introduced me. I did a short version of my jiko shokai for the staff and they returned the favor by introducing themselves. Ten minutes later, we headed toward the gym where I would introduce myself to the student body. They had me stand on the stage while the Kocho sensei did a small introduction and then handed me the mic and I did my full version of my jiko shokai. It went better than I thought, the kids actually nodded, telling me they understood my butchered Japanese. After that, they applauded until the Kocho sensei and I left the gym. Urahama sensei drove me back to Uonome Jr. High where I would do the jiko shokai again.

My self introduction at “Uocho” was fairly easy. I’ve met some of the children already through club and this was nothing more than a formality. However, I did get some ooo’s when I told them about my black belt in Taekwondo. Maybe I can start a Taekwondo club here, who knows. The procedure was exactly the same. After that, I came back to my desk and one of the teachers, Abe sensei, was going around collecting orders for Houka Houke Te (A Japanese version of fast food). I ordered the chicken katsu, and was that ever delicious.

Around 1pm, another BOE staff member picked me up (Side note: All the new ALTs were doing their self introduction today, so Urahama sensei and Yuasa sensei were running all over the island), Maruki san. The next school I visited was Kita-uonome jhs, or how the staff pronounced it, Kitachu (Pokemon has taken over this island). I didn’t get a chance to do a self introduction at this school, just the principal and the staff. I didn’t spend very long there, maybe 30 mintues at most. I was very pleased with the sign they made for me when I arrived.

The next school I went to is my farthest school. While Kita Uonome was about 20 minutes from Uonome Jhs (which is 10 minutes by car from my house), Tsuwazaki was about 30 minutes from Kitachu. Getting there was very interesting. Lots of winding roads by the cliff, it reminded me of Carbon Canyon. There were many places with no rails so if your car slipped, you’re finished. There were also lots of smaller roads where only 1 car could pass. I have no idea how the 2 way traffic would work. However, the view was incredible throughout the entire trip. The main roads are basically running on the edges of the island. This school was on the north side. The geography of the island made it so you can see the east and west side of the island at the same time. Maruki san pointed out that to the west, you could see China and to the east you can see Nagasaki. When we arrived, I came to learn that there were only 4 teachers, and the 2 principals. At the time they were all working on moving something, so I couldn’t even do a proper introduction. I just told them my age and where I came from. For the entire time driving there, I spent maybe 2 minutes talking with the staff. We left because they were very busy moving stuff around. I guess I’ll meet the kids in a couple months.

To the west, you see China

To the east you see Nagasaki

Random shot of the view driving to the elementary school

Shot of the road that supposed to be able to handle 2 way traffic

We had some time to kill before heading to the next school so he took me to a clear area where I could see the entire island. At this random place, there was a toilet out in the middle of nowhere. Can you imagine seeing that after miles and miles of nothing but small roads and forest? I found it quite amusing.

The next school was Kitauonome elementary. The building was on top of another hill, so it took about 5 mins by car to get from the base to the parking lot. This school is the biggest in terms of student body, 150 kids. After the introduction to the Kocho sensei and staff, I met with the English teachers and had a meeting for the first day of school. At this meeting we discussed what the lesson plan was going to be. They told me they wanted to do an introduction game where the kids would have questions and they would ask me in English. When I answered them, I signed the question they asked. I also would have a self introduction game where I would go around the room saying

A: “Hello, how are you?”
B: “I’m fine, thank you, and you?”
A: “I’m fine too” “What’s your name”…..

You get the idea.

They also asked me to bring some stuff from home like maps, pictures and flags. So I have to find those before September 5.

After the meeting, they gave me a tour around school. The building has teaching facilities on 3 floors. There was a fourth floor, but I never got to see it. I think it was for storage or something like that. I spent an hour at that school before I was taken by one of the staff members back to Uonome Jr. High school to grab my gear and then to the BOE.

At the BOE, I met up with Laura who was enjoying a coffee and some snack. Yuasa sensei then told me that they were planning to have a game of mini-volleyball on the 1^st. The BOE was already divided into 3 teams. I’m on team A, with all Japanese people. The other ALTs were distributed amongst the other 2 teams. 10 minutes later, Nathanial showed up and Urahama sensei drove us to meet the mayor of the island.

A shot with the Mayor (far right) and vice mayor (far left)

The Kamigoto yukaba is right in front of my house, so it was familiar territory. We first met the vice mayor before meeting the mayor himself. We did our self introductions in keigo while some press guy was taking pictures. He mentioned something about taking great pride in teaching the kids and use this as an opportunity to create awareness of the islands. He then mentioned about telling all our friends to come here. After that I asked to take a picture with him. It turned out great because I got both mayors to join.

That was it for self introductions, I still have to meet student bodies for 3 of my schools, but I’ll tackle that problem when I get there. After the mayor trip, Urahama sensei took us to the internet shop where we met Joe. I thought I would get internet, but it was just another meeting to get the service opened on my line. However, Kawaguchi sensei came over that night to tell me that he already called the internet provider and got the ball rolling for me. It seemed that internet will be ready on the 30^th after 5pm, if all goes well. So it’s still a good week before I can get connected at home.

Weekend!

Sunday, August 19, 2007

A view of from the pier

Shots from random heats

Nathanial's kids coming in first

This past weekend was another busy one. My Saturday started around 10am when Nathanial and I decided to walk over to Andrea’s town and see the Urahama festival. We got to the pier around 10:30am just in time to watch the Perron races (boat races). The weather was already starting to get really hot and my dark green shirt wasn’t helping. As we were baking in the sun, Nathanial’s students showed themselves. They were competing in the race to represent their school. Unfortunately, none of my schools were in the race. However, I did see a couple students as well as my JTE for Uonome Jr. High.

None of the other ALTs were there; I guess there were some communication problems on when the boat races were. We stayed to watch the placing ceremony where there mayor of the town gave a small speech of congratulations. All the teams were given bottled water and the placing teams received trophies and certificates. Nathanial’s students received 2^nd place. After the ceremony, we left to go see Andrea, who lives about 7 minutes from the pier. When we arrived, she told us that Laura was supposed to meet us at the pier. We also gave a call to Joe to tell him to meet us there as well. After about 30 minutes of vegetating in front of the air conditioner, we headed back to the pier.

When we got there, we found some shade in a small park nearby. It was about noon when we decided to go to the small restaurant across the street. This restaurant had a wide variety of food being offered. I ended up getting a pork cutlet set, Nathanial grabbing himself some ramen, and Andrea trying the curry. We sat by the window to watch for our other companions to eventually arrive. Laura came about 20 minutes after we started eating, with Joe following about 10 mins later.

Finally, the ALTs have gathered together. After our lunch, we decided to go to the beach near Joe’s place. Joe’s house is a 30 minute walk from the restaurant. I think I lost 10 lbs from sweating walking there. The walk isn’t so bad, but the weather kills me. The girls had to go back to Andrea’s place to get changed and drop off valuables, while the guys headed to Joe’s house to drop our valuables.

The beach was nothing more than a reward after baking in the heat all morning. We were waiting for the Urahama festival to get under way and had a couple hours to kill. The beach water was warm that day, even in the deeper area. Around 4:30 we started headed back to the festival. At this time Laura had to take a bus home to meet her previous engagements.

Kindergarten group

3rd grade girls

3rd grade boys

5th grade girls

5th grade boys

A dance school team

A community team

Group solo (If that made sense)

Another community team

My predecessor Vicky

The high school dance team (They called it color guard)

High school boys

Photo op of the dance team

The "everybody who wants to join" dance team

The professional dance team

The festival at the end of the dancing

When we got back, the festival was in full swing. There were girls in kimonos and booths full of games and food. The main event was the dance show. Groups from all over the island took part, from kindergarteners to dance school groups. All ages were covered, and everybody had a great time. I really enjoyed the costumes they had. The last dancers were professional hip hop dancers in LA Lakers wear. We found it funny that the music selection was full of unedited rap songs while the children sat in the front rows. I saw a bunch of my students there, all coming up to me saying “hello sensei” while bowing. I met up with a bunch of my boys and talked about what they’ve been doing in the festival. I also met my JTE teacher again. His wife and daughter were involved in the dance. Victoria was also there dancing. It seemed like the entire island was involved in some way at this festival.

Dinner at Yolanda's house (the one doing the peace sign)

We left around 8:00 to go have dinner with Joe’s friend Yolanda. Yolanda is a Filipino who works at a Udon restaurant in Joe’s town. Her cooking was the best! She also invited her other Filipino friend Meliza. They were both pleased to find out that I was Filipino and promptly started talking to me in tagalong. Both of them had excellent English and reminded me of Tita Norma and Tita Ester. They seemed to be very interested in where we came from and our Japanese abilities. They also mentioned that they were happy to meet other Filipinos because it’s so rare for them to pop up on the island. From what I understood, they’re both married to Japanese soldiers. Meliza has a 13 yr old daughter who was born here in Japan. Actually, we met up with the daughter at the festival. It was mind blowing to see a Filipino who couldn’t speak much English, but spoke fluent Japanese. It was truly a cultural broadening experience. They asked me to name some Filipino dishes I knew. I told them a bunch, but I loved lumpia. They laughed and told me that next time they’ll cook Filipino food for me. I’m very glad I met them, I’m sure I’ll end up eating dinner there again.

Normal behavior at George's

A great way to end a fun day.

After a very fulfilling dinner, the ALTs headed back to Georges where we just drank a few and talked to the other Japanese patrons.

So all in all, this was another good weekend. Hopefully this coming week will have me talking to all the teachers who took vacation the week before. Clubs are starting to meet, so I’m looking forward to getting involved with them.