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.