After moving half way around the world to one of the most volcanically active countries, to a town that is in sight of one of the most famous volcanoes in the world, it end up being my parents, and not me that is caught up in volcano chaos. This year was the first year that my father left Europe, to go on holiday to Egypt. He’s not a fan of flying at the best of times but I think it unlikely that he’ll leave Europe again after the adventure they had.
Unfortunately my Mum fell ill the day before they were due to fly back, which didn’t really help matters. They arrived at Cairo airport to find all UK flights cancelled. After some umming and arring they bought flights to Rome for the next day. It’s not exactly close to Sheffield but at least it's the same landmass and there are trains all the way, albeit already booked up ones. Once they arrived in Rome they befriended some Geordies who they shared a cab all the way to Caen (the north of France) with. My Dad offered them language help, which avoided them ending up in Canne, in return the Geordies provided iphone facilities; ferry bookings, tracking down someone’s number in Portsmouth etc.. They then stayed the night at Ian’s (Another Geordie) in Portsmouth and got the train through London to Sheffield the next day. So it would seem Geordies saved the day. While all this chaos was unfolding my sister was attending a chocolate course in Oxfordshire meaning information on the parents whereabouts and health was sporadic and slow. So I was a little worried about all that this week.
In the world of teaching, one of the classes this week involved the kids writing a profile on me, which I was asked to help them with and correct. This involved me correcting a girl’s work from ‘ He is cool than me’ to ‘ He is cooler than me’. Which may seem egotistical and self obsessed but it was what she was trying to write and she needs to learn.
Matsumura-sensei asked me to mark the papers after and I decided to write down some of my favourite corrections.
‘He is the best food’
‘He is like music’
‘He is like tempura’
‘He isn’t girlfriend’
‘Peter is the best tempura Japanese food’
‘My first impressions of him is that he has a long nose and he is tall’
(I was tempted to inform this girl that commenting on the size of a persons nose may not be seen as a compliment in the West. Nemoto-sensei assured me that this was a compliment.)
‘I will good soccer play. I want to go to Akihabara and England’
(I think he might just make it to Akihabara some day. There are trains that leave the station for Tokyo several times an hour after all.)
I spoke to a Filipino student, this week, who I hold the deepest sympathy for. She’s been in Japan for about a year and came here with no siblings, no previous experience of the Japanese language. She doesn’t seem to be unhappy or anything but it must be really really hard for her. It turns out her Mum remarried a Japanese man and her father lives on Manhattan. Her English is way ahead of the others (even if she did copy a load from Wikipedia about Sheffield) but her Japanese is, understandably behind. I hope I can help her out a bit with the English and get her to continually improve. She’s also proving to be a useful tool as a translator when talking to the kids.
Other than that I’ve just been having a really good time with the other gaijins out here. I had a trip to Mito for a friend Sam’s Bday, which was awesome. We went to some of the most gorgeous gardens in Japan and I tried plum wine, for the first time at the karaoke (which seemed to be unusually populated by Texans). I waded in the Pacific the next day as Sam surfed and lost his pants. He seemed to be suffering from hyperthermia after, so I’m glad I just waded and kept my pants on.
I had a bit of a drunken Saturday at the Pig yesterday. They had DJs, some guy on a guitar performing and an MC. Somehow I ended up centre stage for a couple of songs, which was fun. I’m so lucky to have something like the pig on my doorstep. Rowena, another Brit from Oxford/Manchester and my closest friend in KSRZ, got some great Polaroids of the night.
Monday evenings at Rowena’s is becoming to be something of tradition. Great food, great company and its nice to be able to speak English at the end of the day. It also gives me an excuse to visit the local patisserie, which is always welcome. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s instalment.
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Thursday, 15 April 2010
I'm a real gaijin now
Finally getting to do some teaching this week has been fun. Not surprisingly the kids don’t know much about the UK, beyond Manchester United and David Beckham. I’ve been repeating a variation on the theme of a self-introduction. My favourite bit of the lesson, however, is the Q&A, where I am interrogated by all manner of inane and insane questions. Frequent questions are: ‘Do you have a wife?’ ,‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ and ‘How tall are you?’ which was worded as ‘How many centimetres are there in your beight?’ today.
Other favourites include:
'Do you like beatles?' to which I reply 'yes they're a good band'. 'No do you like beatles (gestures insects with hands)?'. 'Erm I suppose so'.
'Do you like the Backstreet Boys? I like the Backstreet Boys'. [I thought this one might be sarcastic trick but was actually asked by a very serious 2nd grade boy]
‘Which do you like more cat or dog?’
‘What blood type are you?’- Apparently this is a big deal in Japan
On my first day at one of the elementary school the lady looking after me, was the nicest person I’ve met since I arrived here. She must have read up on my profile before I arrived because she had specially baked some English style scones for me. Not only that but she also made a cup of black tea, that was ready for me, when I arrived in the staff room for break. I’ll have to bring some omiyage next week, especially after mentioning Anne’s shop in the presentations. Whenever I repeated my thank yous, she would point out what an English Gentleman I was too. She may be something of an Anglophile. She has visited the UK three times. Which is many for a Japanese person and especially for someone her age (around 50). Her English was slow but very clear and often she would say the Japanese slowly beforehand, which is really helpful to me as I am beginning to learn bits. She was very modest about her level of English too but then all Japanese people are modest about their English. No matter what level.
Today I went to City Hall, where I picked up my gaijin card. Making me a fully fledged member (even as an outsider) of Japanese society. I will have to carry my gaijin card around with me wherever I go and if I’m stopped by the police without it I could face a hefty fine, imprisonment or deportation. I’m not sure if this is a cultural throw back of the 18th century, closed state Japan, where foreigners could face execution for trespassing on Japanese soil, or maybe its just the backlash against the Americans after the occupation but either way it seems archaic and unnecessary. Its just another indication of what a monolithic society Japan is. There has been so little immigration here over the years.
I’m really happy how everything has finally come together. I applied for this job about a year ago now and I’ve been building up to it for a while. At the back of my head there were a lot of doubts about can I survive the culture shock? How will I find the language? Will I just end up alienated and depressed? can I cope with teaching? and will any of these cause me to retreat back home early? However, a month in and none of the doubts are relevant anymore, which is a relief. It was always going to be a bit of a mammoth task, relocating to Japan, but I’ve finally done it. I think this calls for a celebration. I’m heading to Ibaraki this weekend for a Birthday. Sounds like a plan.
Other favourites include:
'Do you like beatles?' to which I reply 'yes they're a good band'. 'No do you like beatles (gestures insects with hands)?'. 'Erm I suppose so'.
'Do you like the Backstreet Boys? I like the Backstreet Boys'. [I thought this one might be sarcastic trick but was actually asked by a very serious 2nd grade boy]
‘Which do you like more cat or dog?’
‘What blood type are you?’- Apparently this is a big deal in Japan
On my first day at one of the elementary school the lady looking after me, was the nicest person I’ve met since I arrived here. She must have read up on my profile before I arrived because she had specially baked some English style scones for me. Not only that but she also made a cup of black tea, that was ready for me, when I arrived in the staff room for break. I’ll have to bring some omiyage next week, especially after mentioning Anne’s shop in the presentations. Whenever I repeated my thank yous, she would point out what an English Gentleman I was too. She may be something of an Anglophile. She has visited the UK three times. Which is many for a Japanese person and especially for someone her age (around 50). Her English was slow but very clear and often she would say the Japanese slowly beforehand, which is really helpful to me as I am beginning to learn bits. She was very modest about her level of English too but then all Japanese people are modest about their English. No matter what level.
Today I went to City Hall, where I picked up my gaijin card. Making me a fully fledged member (even as an outsider) of Japanese society. I will have to carry my gaijin card around with me wherever I go and if I’m stopped by the police without it I could face a hefty fine, imprisonment or deportation. I’m not sure if this is a cultural throw back of the 18th century, closed state Japan, where foreigners could face execution for trespassing on Japanese soil, or maybe its just the backlash against the Americans after the occupation but either way it seems archaic and unnecessary. Its just another indication of what a monolithic society Japan is. There has been so little immigration here over the years.
I’m really happy how everything has finally come together. I applied for this job about a year ago now and I’ve been building up to it for a while. At the back of my head there were a lot of doubts about can I survive the culture shock? How will I find the language? Will I just end up alienated and depressed? can I cope with teaching? and will any of these cause me to retreat back home early? However, a month in and none of the doubts are relevant anymore, which is a relief. It was always going to be a bit of a mammoth task, relocating to Japan, but I’ve finally done it. I think this calls for a celebration. I’m heading to Ibaraki this weekend for a Birthday. Sounds like a plan.
Friday, 9 April 2010
My first week of school
So this was my first week at school and what a week it’s been. I was told that the week would probably involve a lot of waiting around the staff room, being asked to prepare for the 15 minute introduction that I’ll be giving to the students as my first lesson. I was told that there would be a lot of setting up and packing away for the opening ceremony and that although the teachers would refuse my help at first, actually they would really like me to get involved. These all turned out to be very accurate predictions.
I was lucky enough to attend two opening ceremonies in both my junior high schools. Opening ceremonies seem to be a bowerthon battle between the new students, the PTA (which they strangely call the PTA) and the staff. I’m not really sure of all the rules, as it was all in Japanese but even I had to go up to the front and help the staff team by bowing to all the new kids and parents. Its all very well organised and the kids march in alphabetically (counter alphabetically if you’re a girl) bow, stand up, bow and sit down. Then a register is called and one by one they shout ‘ はい‘ and then bow and sit down again. Who knows who won the bowing battle but it was good enough show for all the parents to want to take pictures after.
On the second ceremony I attended I got to witness a traditional Japanese drumming performance. That was quite fun but not as entertaining as trying to sight read the school song in Japanese. I can read music and I can read hiragana but both of them at the same time at speed isn’t what you would call music. It was fun having a go though.
At one point one of the teachers asked me what the equivalent to an opening ceremony in England was. I said we didn’t have one, which he seemed strangely surprised at. ‘But what do you do to welcome the new students?’.
We don’t have an opening ceremony in England because it basically comprised of a hell of a lot of bowing (You can’t shake each others hands for the same length of time), the national anthem (which everyone in England hates), the school song (I don’t think I actually had a school song) and a glorified register. Now we do do the register bit in England but it would be a bit lame to invite the parents and the rest of the school to witness a register, right?
Other than that, I have been constantly hounded by students shouting ‘HELLO!’ or ‘ピーター!’ and waving. When I try to develop even the most basic conversation they usually back down and claim to not speak any English. I am an object of amusement and fascination to the kids. Sometimes its as if they’ve not seen a white person before, and some of them have probably seen very few. At one point, when I went out to view the Baseball club girls were hanging out of windows on the 1st floor and shouting my name. Soon after the boys stopped their baseball and shouted some sort of salute, then all bowed towards me. I bowed back. There were even some girls that stopped their game of tennis after this and peaked around the corner to stare and wave.
So that’s school so far but I am yet to start doing any real teaching/ work. Which on the one hand is a little frustrating but on the other getting paid a full weeks wage for a bit of bowing, waving and colouring in isn’t too bad.
I was lucky enough to attend two opening ceremonies in both my junior high schools. Opening ceremonies seem to be a bowerthon battle between the new students, the PTA (which they strangely call the PTA) and the staff. I’m not really sure of all the rules, as it was all in Japanese but even I had to go up to the front and help the staff team by bowing to all the new kids and parents. Its all very well organised and the kids march in alphabetically (counter alphabetically if you’re a girl) bow, stand up, bow and sit down. Then a register is called and one by one they shout ‘ はい‘ and then bow and sit down again. Who knows who won the bowing battle but it was good enough show for all the parents to want to take pictures after.
On the second ceremony I attended I got to witness a traditional Japanese drumming performance. That was quite fun but not as entertaining as trying to sight read the school song in Japanese. I can read music and I can read hiragana but both of them at the same time at speed isn’t what you would call music. It was fun having a go though.
At one point one of the teachers asked me what the equivalent to an opening ceremony in England was. I said we didn’t have one, which he seemed strangely surprised at. ‘But what do you do to welcome the new students?’.
We don’t have an opening ceremony in England because it basically comprised of a hell of a lot of bowing (You can’t shake each others hands for the same length of time), the national anthem (which everyone in England hates), the school song (I don’t think I actually had a school song) and a glorified register. Now we do do the register bit in England but it would be a bit lame to invite the parents and the rest of the school to witness a register, right?
Other than that, I have been constantly hounded by students shouting ‘HELLO!’ or ‘ピーター!’ and waving. When I try to develop even the most basic conversation they usually back down and claim to not speak any English. I am an object of amusement and fascination to the kids. Sometimes its as if they’ve not seen a white person before, and some of them have probably seen very few. At one point, when I went out to view the Baseball club girls were hanging out of windows on the 1st floor and shouting my name. Soon after the boys stopped their baseball and shouted some sort of salute, then all bowed towards me. I bowed back. There were even some girls that stopped their game of tennis after this and peaked around the corner to stare and wave.
So that’s school so far but I am yet to start doing any real teaching/ work. Which on the one hand is a little frustrating but on the other getting paid a full weeks wage for a bit of bowing, waving and colouring in isn’t too bad.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Konichiwa!
This is the first of what I hope to be a weekly blog update on my progress in Japan. It should save hundreds of duplicate emails to friends on what I’ve been up to.
I’ve been here two weeks so far so let me give you a little run down on what I’ve been up to and my first impressions.
I have yet to set foot in a classroom and teach but that will all change tomorrow when I embark on my first day at Kaneda Junior High School. On my first week I spent several days at orientation in a hotel in Narita. This provided a valuable opportunity to make friends with other English speakers teaching in Japan. The lectures and activities did seem a little mediocre but I’m not sure that many of us were capable of much more academic, on account of our severe jetlag.
The Japanese have been very helpful, when one of the ICs was driving us to the Post Office, she asked for directions and before we knew it there were 3 old Japanese men queuing up to give her directions. Many people are willing to go to quite some lengths to help but it doesn’t detract from the fact that only a small portion of the population speaks any English. This can be frustrating at times but I’m hoping it will propel me into learning Japanese quicker.
I’m really glad that I managed to crack the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets before I came out. It puts me at an advantage over a few of the other ALTs that, like me, have no academic background in Japanese. Although I did a fair bit of work before I arrived, I’ve not really studied much Japanese here yet. I’m hoping that once I have a routine I’ll be able to incorporate some time for study during the week.
I’m quite schizophrenic about the cuisine here. On the one hand I love the variation and its exotic charm but on the other it is impossible to be a vegetarian, which I had anticipated. So far I am avoiding meat but tolerating it in small quantities, which I think is about the best I can do without treading on too many peoples toes. Its also odd getting used to the price of food. Eating out can be quite cheap but then some fruit and veg can be extortionate.
The exotic flora and fauna are a constant source of amusement. There are some beautiful little white stork-like birds that inhabit the paddy fields near me and I also caught sight of the most enormous and elegant bird of prey. It might have been an eagle, I don’t know. Whatever it was it was larger than a kite and certainly isn’t native to Britain. I’ve heard there are wild monkeys in the forests not far from me, in the hills. I’d love to head in and catch sight of them at some point. What’s funny is seeing all these new creatures next to others that are banal and familiar, like pigeons and sparrows.
Kisarazu was a really great location to be placed. Its an industrial town (which they call a city) on the Bay of Tokyo that is a little run down since the bubble burst and the Aqualine was built (a combined tunnel and bridge that crosses the bay to Tokyo and is the longest tunnel for vehicles in the world). It's mild grottyness is really a blessing as it keeps the rent down. While the Aqualine didn’t do the town’s economy much good, it does grant me excellent access to Tokyo. Something that so few of the hundred or so people I was training with in Narita have.
I’m also really lucky that there’s a decent gaijin bar nearby. There’s a place called The Pig that’s in staggering distance and where other English-speaking foreigners come to drink, and some travel a fair distance. The staff there are really friendly and so are the clientele. Kazuki, the owner of the bar, also seems to be quite into British music, which I like.
So far I’ve been into Tokyo 3 times but I hope that once payday comes through and my finances are little more regular, I’ll be spending every weekend over the other side of the Bay. Or at least I hope to become very familiar with Tokyo. There’s still so much of quintessential Tokyo that I haven’t seen. So far the only ground I’ve covered is a wander around Akiharbara, a night out in Shibuya and a glimpse of Harijuku and Yoyogi park.
One of my favourite places to go, so far is the ¥100 shop. Not only is it 100 times better than our £1 shops but its even cheaper currently being about 60-70p. The quality of the products is vastly superior and even the cheap tack is so much more appealing because its Japanese. I’ve bought a really nice tea set from there, a really useful map of my prefecture and Japan and there are endless random snacks you can get. I even went out of my way to visit the 7 story ¥100 shop in Funabashi. It was well worth the trek. Can’t wait to take guests there. They’ll just fill up their cases with the stuff.
I've survived and enjoyed the first two weeks. Now lets see what it's like working here.
I’ve been here two weeks so far so let me give you a little run down on what I’ve been up to and my first impressions.
I have yet to set foot in a classroom and teach but that will all change tomorrow when I embark on my first day at Kaneda Junior High School. On my first week I spent several days at orientation in a hotel in Narita. This provided a valuable opportunity to make friends with other English speakers teaching in Japan. The lectures and activities did seem a little mediocre but I’m not sure that many of us were capable of much more academic, on account of our severe jetlag.
The Japanese have been very helpful, when one of the ICs was driving us to the Post Office, she asked for directions and before we knew it there were 3 old Japanese men queuing up to give her directions. Many people are willing to go to quite some lengths to help but it doesn’t detract from the fact that only a small portion of the population speaks any English. This can be frustrating at times but I’m hoping it will propel me into learning Japanese quicker.
I’m really glad that I managed to crack the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets before I came out. It puts me at an advantage over a few of the other ALTs that, like me, have no academic background in Japanese. Although I did a fair bit of work before I arrived, I’ve not really studied much Japanese here yet. I’m hoping that once I have a routine I’ll be able to incorporate some time for study during the week.
I’m quite schizophrenic about the cuisine here. On the one hand I love the variation and its exotic charm but on the other it is impossible to be a vegetarian, which I had anticipated. So far I am avoiding meat but tolerating it in small quantities, which I think is about the best I can do without treading on too many peoples toes. Its also odd getting used to the price of food. Eating out can be quite cheap but then some fruit and veg can be extortionate.
The exotic flora and fauna are a constant source of amusement. There are some beautiful little white stork-like birds that inhabit the paddy fields near me and I also caught sight of the most enormous and elegant bird of prey. It might have been an eagle, I don’t know. Whatever it was it was larger than a kite and certainly isn’t native to Britain. I’ve heard there are wild monkeys in the forests not far from me, in the hills. I’d love to head in and catch sight of them at some point. What’s funny is seeing all these new creatures next to others that are banal and familiar, like pigeons and sparrows.
Kisarazu was a really great location to be placed. Its an industrial town (which they call a city) on the Bay of Tokyo that is a little run down since the bubble burst and the Aqualine was built (a combined tunnel and bridge that crosses the bay to Tokyo and is the longest tunnel for vehicles in the world). It's mild grottyness is really a blessing as it keeps the rent down. While the Aqualine didn’t do the town’s economy much good, it does grant me excellent access to Tokyo. Something that so few of the hundred or so people I was training with in Narita have.
I’m also really lucky that there’s a decent gaijin bar nearby. There’s a place called The Pig that’s in staggering distance and where other English-speaking foreigners come to drink, and some travel a fair distance. The staff there are really friendly and so are the clientele. Kazuki, the owner of the bar, also seems to be quite into British music, which I like.
So far I’ve been into Tokyo 3 times but I hope that once payday comes through and my finances are little more regular, I’ll be spending every weekend over the other side of the Bay. Or at least I hope to become very familiar with Tokyo. There’s still so much of quintessential Tokyo that I haven’t seen. So far the only ground I’ve covered is a wander around Akiharbara, a night out in Shibuya and a glimpse of Harijuku and Yoyogi park.
One of my favourite places to go, so far is the ¥100 shop. Not only is it 100 times better than our £1 shops but its even cheaper currently being about 60-70p. The quality of the products is vastly superior and even the cheap tack is so much more appealing because its Japanese. I’ve bought a really nice tea set from there, a really useful map of my prefecture and Japan and there are endless random snacks you can get. I even went out of my way to visit the 7 story ¥100 shop in Funabashi. It was well worth the trek. Can’t wait to take guests there. They’ll just fill up their cases with the stuff.
I've survived and enjoyed the first two weeks. Now lets see what it's like working here.
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