Robin Red

EDIT: I've gotten a good question in the comments which I'd like to answer here. I had intended to answer it in the entry proper, but was in a rush to post it before I went home (...because the last four days or so have been as overprogrammed as my high school and college lives.. seriously, directly from one class/activity to the next, and a little time for homework at the end).

So! Robin is a "rental," or so they call it here. It's more like a lease situation, because it's a rent-by-month instead of the way we rent-a-car for a few days in the US. She's around 150 a month, which includes insurance and all the maintenance, which honestly does wonders for my peace of mind. I was bad enough at stressing over English-speaking Jill, so I'm glad to hear that whenever Robin has any issues, all I have to do is bring her to her home and they'll handle it. They've also told me they will install a CD player soon, and snow tires in the winter.

And, even though she's a K-car, she's 4-wheel-drive. People have commented "you can drive her off-road!" ... sure. But then, I took my 96 Geo Prism off road, too. So..

Got a car. ^_^

On September 8th, actually. Bright red and shiny-new-looking, at least compared to what I’m used to.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the woodland creature beast that Jill became this summer. I miss her, even. But Robin Red has a different kind of charm which I’m still, admittedly, figuring out.

Pretty!

Yes, in Japan we drive on the left side of the road, which still freaks me out from time to time. And we sit in the right side of the car. Which is even weirder.

People in Japan back into their parking spots A LOT. I did it this time because of the direction I happened to be going when I got home.

Robin is a K-car, which means she has a scooter engine, basically.. not much power. Good brakes though.

But, what a car is, is freedom. And I intend to enjoy mine. I’m one of only a few JETs currently legally allowed to drive…

omg

I’ve got some sweet entries lined up and half done, about Sports Day and about elementary school.. but right now I’d just like to note that I am currently eating breakfast before my first day of middle school classes.
I don’t think I could truly have felt prepared.. still, I’m freaked out and hoping for the best. My first day happens to be working with the one teacher I haven’t really talked to much this whole month. I have no idea how he’ll be in the classroom.
Frankly, I have no idea how the other two are in class either. There will be four classes, all of around 14 students today (they split the class in half for English, or maybe just for JET days?)… so keeping them in line shouldn’t be an issue.
Okay. I could have prepared better. I could have printed out all the handouts already. And I could have located and tested a projector.
I can do it without the projector.. I just have a much sweeter and larger photo collection when I can include digital shots.
But there’s probably no way we’ll have time for my “activity” if we include all my digital stuff, so… maybe the projector thing won’t work out, and that’ll be okay too.
In conclusion, omg omg omg.

Every day is field day

Well if I haven't been just swamped with nonessential work!

Still, "Sports Day" is Sunday, so perhaps after that, things will settle into some kind of routine. I want to write about elementary school, and also about sports day practice. Unfortunately, things like sports day practice are taking ALL of my time and requiring me to go stand outside for hours on end.

Yes, I remembered to bring sunscreen. Today, anyway. I've totally given up on dressing professional for work and have traded in my skirt and blouse for a t-shirt, yoga pants, and one of my various hats.

After things like sports day practice, which is the opposite of sitting at my desk with free time to lesson-plan, study Japanese, read teaching theory, blog, etc., all I want to do is go home and lie around. But I still have to do those elementary plans, and eikaiwa (Salamander) too! And get ready for my first middle school lesson.. which has yet to occur. It's due up on the 16th. After that, I should be teaching about four classes a day (out of six possible time periods), so I'll find a kind of rhythm.


So if you're expecting a letter, a phone call, a skype date.. keep expecting. It should be better soon. So I tell myself.

In the meantime, I got a car, and am making decisions like, should I go home for Christmas, or to Thailand? Can I do either of those with friends on their way to visit ME? Should I go to Tokyo, Kyoto, or Korea for September break? Should I stay a second year?

All this, and more.. while I stand in the hot sunshine wishing for Sunday.

Real Japanese Karaoke?

Immediately preceding “morning on the mountain” was karaoke night, in which participated almost all the JETs of Shiso, including our two departing (my predecessor Lara, and Ryan’s pred George), our two new high school JETs, and lacking only the guy who is assigned to the most remote of the junior high schools in town.

It was everything you could want it to be.

We were at it for four hours. All screaming along at the top of our lungs.

 

 

Aside from the fact that we did DSB faaaar too early, this night was the best karaoke experience I have ever had.

 

 

In Japan, karaoke generally happens in a little room you rent with your friends for some period of time. You can input your selections electronically and they play through the system in your room. You only have to hear the songs you and your friends want, and you don’t have to embarrass yourself in front of strangers. These people clearly invented this system a certain way for a reason.

I was proud to note that we were about on par with the rooms I passed on the way to the bathroom, all of them filled with real Japanese people doing real Japanese karaoke. Just because we were singing in English, we were no less loud and no more on key.

Inside my Domicile

In a recent letter, my friend asked why I hadn’t yet put up any photos of the interior of my house. The reasons are simple:
1. I hadn’t really thought about it yet.
2. It’s a work in progress. I don’t have much aside from what Lara left for me.
3. It’s really hard to get a telling angle on anything. Even when Lara sent me photos, I was completely unable to picture the place until I got here and saw it myself.
So I figured I’d go one better. I took a VIDEO TOUR for you!
Let’s watch!

Part two!

And, since my camera was flashing red numbers at me which turned out to be the memory card filling up (for the first time in its history?), here is PART THREE!
Let’s watch more!

Myst and the morning on the mountain

Because of a few photos I’d posted to my facebook profile, one of my friends made the comment that I’d moved to Myst.

In fact, sometimes it feels just like that. As I put together understanding, bit by bit, of my workplace, I begin to discover the many ways that my predecessor Lara left so many clues to help me figure things out.

I feel sort of like she’s Atrus, and has strategically placed information around that only makes sense after certain events have occurred. I don’t know what half of the stuff under my desk is for until I get to elementary school and am suddenly using it.

There are print copies of nearly all her lessons for both elementary and middle school. I put together my first 5th and 6th grade lesson from the notes of her last lessons, her first lesson, and the first lesson of the school year, in April.

As for the Myst pictures, those were from my “morning on the mountain,” the last day before Lara, my predecessor left this town. It was a nice, reflective way to spend a Saturday morning (two weeks ago).

 This is the track that takes you up to the top. It looks like a roller coaster, but don’t get excited. It’s the slowest roller coaster of all time.

Ferns, mountainside.

 

Our town from above.

 

  Contemplation.

 

The mountaintop structure, which is sufficiently Myst-like, and which, seen from far below, prompted Lara to wonder, what exactly is that, and how do we get to it? Leading to this lovely morning.

 

My predecessor and I seem to be alike in a lot of ways. Even our personalities mesh. I wonder if I was hired for her position for that very reason? Or if it’s just coincidence.

Yesterday, I did not drink coffee

It’s probably a good thing I didn’t, too. Let’s talk about yesterday, Wednesday, September 1st.

I woke up extra early because it was going to be Opening Ceremony Day at school, which meant some kind of official assembly in the gym at which I was to read my introduction speech while a student read a translation line by line. For such an occasion, I had to class it up.

So I made my hair look extra nice, and put on nicer clothes than usual (since the day I wore just shorts and a t-shirt because I participated in Judo, I’ve kept to a fairly casual style). I checked my email while I ate breakfast, and received one upsetting missive that happened to get my kind of flustered. I got my stuff together, and got ready to head out to the bus stop. As I was getting ready to go, I thought, oh yeah, I should also take my new water bottle I just bought yesterday!

So I got the water filter pitcher out of the fridge and filled the bottle, which I set on the counter. Then I thought, I should also refill this pitcher, before I put it back in the fridge. Then I turned. Knocking the full, wide-mouthed, uncapped water bottle onto the floor, and sloshing the open pitcher all over myself. Ef.

So I grabbed the little towels hanging around the kitchen area, but it was quite clear that was not going to be enough. I got my bath towel too and began sopping up the freezing water, trying to decide whether the amount of water on my clothes merited changing. I opened the front window just in time to see the bus roll by, and I even saw my compatriot Ryan on board looking in the direction of my house.

It’s a good thing there’s another bus in 20 minutes, I thought grimly as I finished cleaning up. The 7:43 bus is the one the BOE showed me to take my first day, but I started taking the one at 7:23 because it gets me to school at about 7:50, instead of 8:10. At 8am every morning there is a teacher’s meeting in the staff room. It’s over at about 8:10, and I like to be there, despite being unable to understand more than 4% of what is said. So far.

So I got my stuff, got out the door, and took the later bus. As the bus trundled along, meeting more traffic than I am used to, it dawned on me that I knew the following things about the assembly:

1. It was to be that day.

2. I was to give a speech.

3. My speech was in the morning.

At this point, I have no idea what time anything starts, nor when I am supposed to actually be delivering words to the gathered students. The traffic is bad, maybe because it is the first real day of school (maybe because it is later in the morning), and the area where the road goes closest to the river is still one lane, and will be for a while yet. When I hear the high-schoolers behind me asking each other what time it is, I begin to get nervous. To make matters even more awesome, I am still obsessing about that email.

I decided to be a good employee and phone it in. I called my contact JTE and told him where I was, and that I was on the later bus. He didn’t seem concerned at all, and told me my speech wasn’t until about 9. Ah. I can relax. I try to focus on my school and the day ahead.

Things went okay for most of the rest of the day. I’d been excited for a while about the day’s special teachers’ lunch, which was a huge and classy bento setup. I took off my watch because a little metal piece on it is liable to catch on things and I didn’t want to hurt the ribbons or embroidery on the skirt I was wearing. When I later tried to pick it up, it fell apart in my hand. When I tried to shove the pieces back together by force, it cut me under my index fingernail.

I managed a reply to the email. I started a powerpoint presentation version of my self-intro, which was a convenient excuse to go through my photos, both on facebook and in my Italy folders. I dwadled on gchat and was generally unproductive.

On the bus home, the side of my leg itched for no apparent reason, and with no apparent insect bite. I considered the possibility that it was just a skin reaction to stress, because I’ve had random itching on my leg before when the going got tough. Sort of.. bumps form, but it’s not really red-toned.

“Maybe you have bedbugs,” Ryan suggested.

Shut the hell up, Ryan.

~

Once I got home, I took steps to make up the day’s series of events. I went for a jog, which was really nice. The breeze was like silk, as cheesy as that is, and so were my running shorts (possibly because they may have been part of the load I accidentally washed with two kinds of fabric softener instead of detergent and fabric softener—hey, I can’t read, okay?!). I ended up finding a bamboo forest area where I mistook a water gulch for a path and sat and listened to the peculiar sound of wind through bamboo forest. Same leaf-sounds, whole new kind of “clunk” here and there.

I put some rice on and took a bath in my square tub, then made a semblance of stuffed mini bell peppers (I had cooked some beef and onions on a previous night and stowed them for this) and settled in to watch Pirates of the Caribbean III, since I had seen I on Saturday (inspired, of course, by the middle school band), and II on Sunday (I skipped Monday because that is Japanese language class night). And so was my evening relaxing and good.