"Yaritai!" said the short ones

I just got done with the small elementary class of 1^st  ("sheep") and 2^nd (horses) graders (epithets based solely on their Chinese zodiac animals). They are consistently one of my best groups, and I am not even sure why. They’re like, thirsty for knowledge.. when they connect the dots to make a picture in the numbers game, they want to know the English name of the animal they’ve outlined so they can write it on the paper at the top (I just realized that this is a big deal when I saw that the 3^rd grade has only just begun to learn romaji, writing with roman letters). They want to study.. they play the study games hard, and really do remember a lot.

I mean, maybe it’s that I tried to teach the older kids more stuff, and thus they learned each thing less well, but the youngest group here has numbers nailed to the wall more than anyone. They could count to a hundred before the 4^th grade… well, the 4^th grade is up around like 50 as of today. They see the fly swatters sticking out of my bag and insist that they wanna do that!

The fly swatters are for board karuta. Basically, first the kids have to get the ABCs on the board in order (at which this group is A-number-one champ, of course). This is generally done with a lot of shouting, because everyone will be holding one or two letters. So the kids will get ready, and I say “go!” and start the timer (usually I only time older kids.. but once again…).. they all scream “A!” like their lives hang in the balance, then start yelling the name of whatever kid is holding A, in case he/she doesn’t know already. This progresses through the alphabet in one minute and 44 seconds. (Today I had them match the lowercase letters too. This took 1 minute and 42 seconds.)

Once the letters are on the board, we can play with the fly swatters. Initially, I had taught them a bunch of words, one for each letter. Like APPLE and BAG and CAT, etc. Today we had gone over animals, weird ones too, so I kicked it off with “starfish!” The hope was that eventually they would associate the sound with the letter, rather than just that one word.. so I used the associated words for board karuta for a while, then occasionally would throw in other words that started with those letters. 

They cleared the whole board today; I was calling words I don’t think even their teachers have ever heard. I couldn’t think of anything for A but “anteater” at the time. V was “vixen.” But I think they’ve learned the sound idea. Hell yes, first and second graders.

The thing that impresses me most, and also probably works so well, is the way they fling themselves so wholeheartedly at everything I present. I don’t even really have to try that hard to entertain them. Anything will be fun. And anything will be absorbed, too. They’re like a little army of 14 sponges.

I mean, I’m fully aware that they’re not all the same. The “YARITAI!” engine is driven by a few key second graders, and there are some who are still blanking totally on English Ball (we throw a ball around and they say one English word before passing it to someone else), and I do hear a few mooouuu wakaran!s from time to time. But the energy and sheer knowledge of the class is staggering, especially for a group I hardly thought too much of while trying to plan.

What I mean by that is, I designed 5^th and 6^th grade lessons to be efficient and as effective as possible. To learn what I wanted them to learn, or what the curriculum had in store. But I planned downward, and by the time I got to the youngest of them, I was like “well I’m already bringing numbers cards, maybe we can play some kind of number game…” and sometimes I went so far in numb-minded I’ve-been-planning-under-duress to simply write “Number game, 15 minutes” and leave the details for future EmLem to handle.

Lucky for me, everything with this class is a pretty big hit. Though, they’re the only ones who’ve run me to the end of a plan (repeatedly) and had me blinking at the clock on which was left 15 more minutes of classtime. I’ve wised up a bit.. I now just keep a bagful of tricks, and if all else fails, there’s always ABC board.

a chance to catch your breath and calm your nerves

I attended the Chinese New Year celebration in Kobe’s Chinatown about a month ago. There was a list of performances and events, and I heck, I enjoy a good nikuman as much as a bit more than the next guy, not to mention the fact that I'm pretty taken with calendars and season changes and measurements and all that.

This year's lunar new year actually coincided with the Japanese celebration Setsubun, which is what I call "halfway back." This is when the sun is halfway back from the solstice in the direction of equinox. So basically, a holiday based on solar calendar lined up with a holiday based on the lunar calendar. I think that's pretty cool, and maybe like a good omen or something.

Lion Dance, Jan. 30th 2011

From 2011_01_30

There were events in Kobe on the Sunday before the 3rd, as well as all weekend following. I went to the "dragon and lion" parades on the early Sunday. It was a cold day, and snow started to fall halfway through the dance. I have a particular connection to the lions, because I think they are shishi. 

They also had blinking eyes and spent some time munching on the crowd by way of bestowing good luck!

From 2011_01_30

I may have written of this before, but they resemble a creature that visited me a in a dream more than ten years ago (before I knew anything about them, really). I later read about the imagery of Shishi and found it to be really close to the behavior of the one in my dream.

Baby!

From 2011_02_05

Shishi generally appear in pairs at the gates of things. They are related to the Shisa of Okinawa, but end up a little different in appearance. Shisa pairs will have one with an open mouth (a) and one with a closed mouth (m). Shishi pairs will have different things under their paws. The female (I think.. this is just coming from memory) will have a cub under her foot, while the male will have a ball. The underfoot cub is not being crushed or killed, but rather pushed, that it will become stronger. The Shishi is a rough parent but a fierce protector; in my dream, she threw me against a stone shrine wall, insisted she was "just fuckin' with ya," and promised to look after me for good. I like seeing Shishi and Shisa alike because they're pretty cool symbols.

From 2011_01_30

From 2011_01_30

One of the luckiest icons, though, is the dragon. Dragons are often seen paired with phoenixes in royal iconography. I saw two different dragons parade in the Motomachi area of Kobe on that Sunday (the 30th of January).

From 2011_01_30

On the following Saturday, Nankinmachi (Kobe's Chinatown) was totally packed. I managed to find my friends eventually, and after watching some acrobatics from afar (which, by the way, were astonishing.. this blue-spandex-clad guy did not so much as tremble while he slowly lifted his body through all manner of contortions high above the crowd on stacked wooden chairs!), we decided to get out of the cold and have a drink and a snack. Snacks on the street are excellent in Nankinmachi, but they only warm your hands for the thirty seconds it takes to consume them.

From 2011_02_05

 

Along the way, we passed a little tent where people were lined up to go offer prayers or wishes and light large sticks of incense (joss sticks) and be greeted by creepily made-up pigs and other characters. I made up my mind instantly that I wanted to do it, and once we had hung out in a pub for a while, I started to proclaim that we should all "get blest!" .. eventually we left in time to see the dragon dance, but I got separated from the group and ended up the only one in line. The others went on to get good seats for viewing the dragon dance.

I waited a little in line, and then when it was my turn, I went up to make my wish(?) and get my picture taken with the brightly clad attendants. I handed my camera to the camera guy and went up to the little temporary shrine. After I had bowed and concentrated on my intentions, I turned to get my photo snapped so I could put the incense in the burner area and go find my friends. But they held me back. Wait a moment, the dragon has to come through.

Can you find our heroine in this picture?

From 2011_02_05

Logistically, the way it was set up, the backstage area was behind the little pagoda-con-shrine, and the stage was right in front of it. People going onstage have to pass the entrance of the shrine. So the dragon was coming through. I was quite pleased. It also happened to be a familiar dragonly face that appeared for this. Double awesome. I signalled the guy holding my camera to take pictures of what was happening, and the dragon dance began.

From 2011_02_05

But that dragon didn't just pass by the entrance of the shrine. It stopped in front of it. Then put its head in there with me. Twice. I had no idea that was going to happen, and I could not have orchestrated that had I tried, but basically I got blessed by a Chinese dragon at the New Year celebration. I think it's a pretty good omen, don't you?

From 2011_02_05

I received an astrology guide to this year from one of my adult students. It's all in Japanese, so I can't really understand most of it, but I did eventually find that according to that, too, it's supposed to be a very good year for me.

It's the year of the Rabbit, the Yin Metal Rabbit to be exact. From what I've heard, rabbit years are always kind of chances to catch your breath after the hectic intensity of the Tiger (but, I guess, before the Dragon which follows?). I thought this was great because even before I knew this, I had made decisions about 2011 that led in this direction. My New Year's Resolution not to do less, but to at least not do more is part of it. I chose to stay in Japan and just plod along for another year, because honestly, the amount of adventure I have and have had lately is enough. I'd become tired of worrying about the future and just wanted to hang out, watch the snow, learn more Japanese, get better at Shorinji, get better at my job, publish more Hyogo Times, and take more calls on PSG. I wanted, this year, to get a handle on all the things I have going on, without needing to go bigger or better.

So if it's a memorable year, if it's an exceptional year, it'll be the little things, maybe. I don't see it as a year of big glittery changes or explosive joys. I see it more like the quiet happiness of having cleaned out the closet. Even when you can't see it, it's satisfying to know it's clean, and that you did it.

Metal sounds a bit sharp and tangy.. but yin is the softer side, the darker side, the restful side. So maybe "relax" is the tall order of the year, and maybe I've gotten a whole lot of good omens suggesting that, despite the difficulty of really doing that, I might just get myself there this year.

The whole move back to America and start a new life (aaagain) thing can wait for the strength of the Yang Water Dragon..!

Step

Well after the flurry of activity yesterday, today seems like a regular old weekend! I’m at small elementary again, and of course it’s a picture-perfect day of moderate temperatures (it got genuinely warm for a moment there, but alas) and bright sunshine on the gardens and mountainsides.

Yesterday, I wrote my essay for Shorinji Kempo, first typed, then by hand on the paper they had given me. This after I rushed to finish my Tokyo Orientation Assistant application form, but before I sent out the March issue of the Hyogo Times for publication (which I did after going to Shorinji to practice and turn in my essay, test form, and okane). All of which was after teaching five classes to 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th grades.

When I list it out like that, it seems like a lot! Okay, so it was a lot.

I’m almost ready to start studying Japanese again (especially after writing a presentation on “Independent Japanese Study for JETs” for Tokyo Orientation..), and I peer hopefully toward the end of the semester (and school year) at least in terms of hanging out at my desk, re-making those ABC letters that are absolutely falling apart now (kids are rough on things). I’m still sad that the Cats are leaving, but it’s the way of things. My VP asked me to explain “beloved ruffians” as used in my farewell note to graduates in the school newsletter and I had to think for a long moment. If I knew an easier phrase to convey that, I would have used it, I think.

Right now, I feel sleepy and out of it.. I think this is because I am sitting next to the heater, which lulls you with warmth and drugs you with carbon monoxide.. whee!

I’m going to start writing about Hokkaido soon, but unlike other trips, I’m going to write it by theme instead of chronologically. I might give a brief overview of the timeline up front, though, just because I am obsessed with time (no, it’s true.. my apartment is blanketed in calendars and clocks, and I did my Rome report on the Fasti.. part of why I want to write my novel is because I am interested in the way that culture will measure the seasons into their religious calendar..!).

So until then, yoroshiku, and check out the latest HT here.

Just another Saturday

It's Saturday just after noon, and I'm sitting here sipping a beer (Suntory The Premiun Malt's), snacking on moyashi (bean sprouts) and strawberries, and calling it a form of lunch while the pot of water boils on the stove for the laundry and I swish my straightened hair into and out of my face just for fun. Later I'll cook up some bacon for another snack/rest of lunch and hang the laundry outside to dry in the sunshine.

It's so warm that I've got the windows open and my hands aren't even bluing up.

At the store just now, I ran into one of my students who hardly recognized me. And don't get me wrong, I love my wavy hair.. I consider the color and consistency to kind of be part or representative of my personality; but I look older with it straightened (I just got it cut, so the guy just kind of does stuff to it), and tonight there is a sort of goth-Valentine party that I'm attending, so in those kind of situations I like to look a little like someone else.

The hairstylist did ask me again about doing a straight perm, and although I almost never consider changing my hair in such a way (color it, never, perm it, what for?), I had thought about his earlier question about it and to be honest, it might be fun to try. To me, I look like a stranger in straight hair, but I wonder what it would be like to get used to something like that..! And if I were ever in my life going to do it, June in Japan would be the time. That's the month where it rains every day, and no matter how I cut, dry, style, or attempt to tame this hair of mine, it refuses to do anything but explode upward in a frizzstorm of wild curling chaos. Oh but curls are so nice, you say, especially big loops like yours! Yeah, you haven't seen Japan in June. Neither mousse nor dryer has any say.

June was a rough month last year anyway, because every day rain means every day grey, and after a while, that crap wears you out.

Last February, if I recall correctly, was a little bit of a bear too. What's different this year?

Well for one thing, it's warmer now. And I'm not fool enough to think the cold is over, but I do believe the worst is over. I also believe that unlike last year, spring will come in March, not freaking May. Not that that makes a difference in either February. The other thing is Jermaine and how much better my life is without him. I mean, it's not something I think about every day, even, but when I do, I'm so glad to be going through a winter without that mess.

Jermaineless, I was able to go skiing last weekend with Adina. There's a snow park just about an hour up the road. Even then it had been warm for a couple of days, and by the afternoon, the snow was a bit slushy. It was only my second time skiing (and my ass has the bruise to prove it), but I really had a good time doing it. Back when we went to Takarazuka, we also stopped at the outlets for a total of like 45 minutes. I managed to find a good deal on some ski wear which I was buying both for ski trips and for Hokkaido. I got a pretty awesome teal jacket and some khaki-colored snow pants (which made me feel pretty invincible up in Hokkaido). The whole set had at some point been priced at around $600, but of course I would never have paid that much for these wonderful clothes, even if it is the brand that all the popular girls wear (Roxy). I just wanted ski clothes that would last me approximately forever.

While I was at the store, having accomplished the other goals I'd set for the morning (and all before noon! Hurrah!), I decided that I wanted a beer. The problem is that since Hokkaido, I've been more of a beer snob than before. We had some truly good brew up in Otaru that made me realize I'd been settling for the local nama all this time. So I bought two, with the intention of tasting them on a new quest to discover what beer that is widely available here I might like best.

The other news I have to report is, last night Rob came out to Shorinji class. It was excellent to be in a class for the first time with someone who speaks English, and also who is a black belt (and not just a shodan, either!). I was asked to do all my required test techniques on him, and learned a great deal from it. One thing that was totally different was.. Rob is tall. Every other person I have worked with has been approximately my own height (Japanese dudes) or way smaller (the kids). Fighting Rob was kinda scary (in that he's-not-actually-gonna-hurt-me kind of way.. you can always trust black belts' sense of control a lot better than any lower rank). Afterward, I asked him if he had any advice for me and he said "You really need to relax."

Excellent. Not "make sure you do this hand thing" or "kick harder," but "slow down." Which is of course, for me, perhaps the single hardest thing to do. Let go, stop freaking out, stop trying so damn hard. This is not a new suggestion to me, of course, but it is an important one. I try too hard sometimes. He said if I go to fast, even if I am doing something correctly, I might get marked down for it. Plus, doing a technique right will work even if it's done slowly. If you rush it, you can cheat it. Gaaah.

But it was a good class, and I feel like a good little karateka, or kempoka, or whatever I am. And you know what? Life is pretty good.

It's Saturday, bright and clear and warm, and as I pulled out of the parking lot, I sipped my strawberry milk. Yep, that's good.

Randomness Roundup

There is so much to do. so much going on, that I think I may be losing it.

But it has been a pleasant way to go.

I really do want to write about Hokkaido.. I haven't even looked at the photos I did manage to offload from my camera. It really was amazing. I really do have things to share, about Japan, and my adventures.

But right now, my mind is kind of in this loop. Let me tell you what that's like:

I keep listening to the Zed soundtrack, like kind of obsessively. I like driving just so I can listen to it. I drove to work today (partly because I didn't want to rush for the bus). I've just now remembered that I can leave the CD in the car and still listen to the music in my house because I have the CD on my hard drive. Score! I keep listening to it because there's something in it that is driving forward the ideas for that novel I haven't actually started-- and taking notes for it doesn't count because that file got corrupted and whoosh-- there they went, just the other day!

I have been totally entranced by the vocal talents of that CD's lead male singer, whose beautiful voice (srsly, find one of his Zed songs, or get me to send you something) intimidated me as it inspired, until I pulled out the CD booklet and looked him up. Surely, I thought, he must be a foreign starlet of some kind, maybe a minor opera star from like, Italy, or something.

Um, no, he's totally from Huntsville, Alabama, and can be found at his website. Whatever, he's still making me want to write my novel.

WHICH is so poorly timed, because really, I have a lot to do. I'm trying to put the Hyogo Times out again, on time again, and this month has been pretty short! And I have to plan my summer strategy.. like, am I going to go to the US, and exactly when will I hope to do that? I have to plan that by the 4th of March, and fill out the forms for Tokyo Orientation (so I can go volunteer there rather than sit around in the nice hot dusty inaka). I also have to fill out the response forms for the Shorinji Kempo meeting happening in Okayama, also by the 4th. And I mean, it's not a huge thing, but forms in all Japanese just get pushed off to the side because, jeez, who wants to deal with all that right this moment?

Oh and speaking of the 4th, heh, that is my Shorinji Kempo testing date. A while back, I set my status as something like "In my day, we had to walk to school in the snow, uphill both ways, with a hot potato in my pocket to keep my hands warm, and then I ate if for lunch, AND I LIKED IT!" This was based on many things, one of which was that I was in fact carrying something to work to keep my hands warm, then consuming it after arrival (it was a cup of milk tea). The other was a sense of badassery brought on by reading about someone else's martial arts test which lasted three hours.

Three hours! Well. In MY day, karate tests lasted six, and they were outside, with the ants! And the deer poo! Under the hot Georgia sun!

But. They were also conducted in my first language and I trained for, like, ever before I even considered it. My teachers wouldn't let me test unless I was a sure-fire pass (barring, I don't know, passing out or whatever). Because you don't test to pass. You test to experience that six-hour-outdoor-extravaganza!

Anyway, until today I have been a little majorly stressed about that little thing, and it's rough when something you do for fun or to blow off steam becomes another of your stressors! But tonight for some reason, it was going okay. I figure, there's a good chance that something will happen at the test for which I am not at all prepared, and I will just have to go with the flow. Because no matter how shikkarily I try to prepare, there's always something, around here, always something. (I tried to get "lemon" in kanji on my gi, but it was too difficult for the embroidery machines..! So it'll be in katakana)

And of course, graduation coming up. I might be writing letters.. to all those damn cats. Because I don't see how I can just write congratulatory cards to the ones I like. That would be, like, unfair. Unfair as the way some of them talk to me, and some of them try in class, and some of them study.. and some don't.

I'm also beginning a prefectural events/news round up. Not prefectural. NATIONAL. By prefecture. Which means signing up for every info letter available (which I have not yet done) and combing them for interesting tidbits to post on a central location. Yeah. I broke my New Year's resolution for this.

And then, finals are happening, which means more elementary school than ever, the planning for which is my biggest official time consumer.. which is okay when at the middle school I have no classes. But I do, for some reason, despite finals coming, I have a lot of classes. There has not been a day with less than four classes in over a week.. it's been averaging around five (I hear from others that their periods of classlessness have already begun)!

And what the hell, the laundry still wants doing, and the dishes want washing? Don't I have someone to do this stuff for me? Menial tasks like clearing up or driving to the store, or vacuuming?!

Spring break is coming! Do you have your tickets? I think I'll just take the train south until I run out of money. Just kidding.. I'm going south to see my high school friend Manderines in her brand newly acquired home and job in Kyushu. Might stop along the way in Kita-Kyushu.. the.. birthplace.. of.. Yoshukai.

Send Derg!

Neko-gumi

I'm wearing "Festive-Funereal" to school today. I don't think I've done that before. I wore it to enkais and LNFs and Prisms, though. Basically it serves well at any function that is both a celebration and an ending. So, graduation parties are a good example. Anything that is a loss, but much more than a loss.

Today is my last class with the Cats.

And yeah it's like that. I think that the teachers were more impressed, overall, with the Dogs class that went before them. But if I am honest, I was too new when I struggled to get to know them. I was terrified of the Dogs, and their class, at that time. But the Cats have been special to me, at least, despite (because of?) their rougher edges, their less bright-shiny aspect. I feel a lot more connected with them. Also, my favorite students (so far) are all Cats.

My speech kids, my Sequim girls, "my" this or "my" that. I am a proud person, and I have adopted them to be proud of. I am thrilled, at least for those I know, and I believe in them, I think they have good hearts that will go a long way.

And I'll miss them. I love the old class president (also my speech boy). He has been, and I mean this, a joy to have in class. I am not sure I really understood that phrase that appeared on my report cards until this class came along. I would look at the schedule board and think, yes I have a bunch of class today, but I get to have him, or Kumi, or Maho, or Keisuke. I liked going to their classes, I hoped the random selection process of daily conversation would land on them, because I wanted to see what they would do or say when it did.

They have been bright sparks, fueling my curiousity and sometimes even hope.. every JET has those days where they think (realize?) that their job doesn't reeeally have all that much impact. But with a Kumi in your class, it isn't so. (I think my speech boy would shine with or without me, but I like to just sit back and spectate on that for some of them.. I like that I can understand a lot more of what gets said now).

The truth is, I love them, and I hate to lose them, even though I am happy for their futures. Some of them got into even better schools than I expected. They are really going places, even getting out of this small town.

So it's good. But, it's sad too. I'm reading them this, although we won't have time to translate all of it for them.

And I'm still so busy with getting ready for my Shorinji Kempo test (aaah!!! OMFG), trying to put out the March issue of Hyogo Times, along with a huge pile of elementary classes (stupid final exams in middle school)... That I don't have time to do what I would like to do. Which is sit here contemplatively; or go take a walk. Or just go hang out with them, watch them cut up.

Winter Vacation: Kluang

M and I referred to Kluang as "the Shiso of Malaysia," and it became more and more apparent that this was the case the longer we stayed there.

In the bigger cities in Japan, it's not too hard to get around or make yourself understood in English. Many people speak it, if only a little. You need know no Japanese to get around in Tokyo. You can manage Kobe and Osaka, too, as well as lots of other big cities with a bit of willingness to look around for the English there. But if you get out in the countryside (liiiike Shiso?), fewer and fewer people really speak English. This isn't a problem for us in Japan, because we either know some Japanese or know people who do.. but Miriam and I would have only the phrases outlined in the guidebook, and no knowledge whatever.

Happily, Zul and his mother met us at the bus station, dissolving instantly our worries about not knowing either a, where we were in town, or b, how we would get in touch with them. They took us to dinner and we spent the evening enjoying their company.

Delicious!

From Winter Vacation Part IV: Kluang to KL

We went back to their wide, airy home where we looked at some photos of childhood Zul before getting caught up in a Malaysian movie (Adnan Sempit) which was excellently bilingual (with subtitles switching between Malay and English at the screen bottom). The movie was a good illustration of the way people around us were often talking in Malaysia. It also made more apparent the way that English is kind of a class marker. The movie's protagonist is not good at English, but the high-born object of his affections (his boss) certainly is, and a Malaysian dude who has been spending time in London is threatening to steal her away. The movie was really fun, all the more so because Zul explained the points we would have otherwise missed, having not been steeped in Malaysian (popular) culture ourselves. Things like the meaning of the word sempit (narrow-minded), the culture of the motorbiking ruffians, etc. I don't know if you can find this movie in your local rental shop, and I of course would never advocate illegal downloading just so you might enjoy it, so...


The next morning, we went to breakfast at Zul's favorite coffee shop, Kluang Rail Coffee. It is an establishment of some renown, and that was where we first tried kaya (coconut jam). Our various breads came slathered in it, with slabs of butter wedged in too. It was heavenly. Zul's mom taught us how to properly open the soft-boiled eggs (after his attempt failed), and I also tried the cham, a brew of coffee grounds and tea leaves together.

Kluang Rail Coffee: also delicious!

From Winter Vacation Part IV: Kluang to KL

Then we went to the post office and to a market area to shop for souveneirs. Most of the goods we brought back for friends (and selves), we got in the market at Kluang. Zul's mom even bargained with the shopkeepers for us, pulling the (already in ringgits) price down further.

Dragonfruit in the market outside where we got souvenirs. And yes, delicious.

From Winter Vacation Part IV: Kluang to KL

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant reported (by Zul) to have been the favorite of the old king.What stands out in my mind there, and in all of Kluang really, is the bougainvillea growing everywhere I looked. The restaurant had a picture of the old king up on the wall, and had the feel of a very classy, high-style hangout from a long time ago. Made me think of rich people in old movies.

You can see the old king in the background!

From Winter Vacation Part IV: Kluang to KL

Bougainvillea!

From Winter Vacation Part IV: Kluang to KL

After this, we needed to go catch our bus to KL, so we loaded up the car, exchanged hugs and promises to write, and M and I got one last look at Malaysian suburbia through the windows of the car.

The bus rolled north through tamed-jungle looking miles of ..maybe rubber trees? I don't really know. On our way to meet Anis in the capital, and our last stop!