"What are you thankful for?"

After doing a lesson about holidays and events with one of my 2nd year classes, I did a fill-in-the-blank reading exercise and ended with something kinda fun.  

Yup, that's right... hand turkeys!  

Ok, ok... so this activity is generally reserved for elementary school students, I know, but I thought it would be kind of fun to incorporate some drawing and cultural activity into our writing and English practice.  I definitely think the kids enjoyed it, too.  Check it out:

This  girl was most grateful for rugby, her boyfriend (he plays rugby), her friends and her family.

This boy is obviously really into baseball.  I thought the "globe" comment was pretty cute (v & b can be confusing)

Turkeys aren't common in Japan and my kids didn't all understand that the gobbler (or red part under the neck) wasn't a beard. Some of them changed it into a mohawk. Then, to take it one step further, this kid also asked me what you would call a "yanki" in English. Well, yanki is the word for a certain stereotype of person.  I would call it a hick or redneck, but they are often cigarette-wielding, Louis Vuitton-toting 13 year-old kids... so I went with punk. And the student went with "punk turkey".  Pretty funny! 

The other baseball boy that sits next to the boy above also drew a yanki turkey. Notice the gobbler on its head and cigarette (I almost missed that part...).  

Last but not least, I liked the little pictures on this girl's turkey, especially the one of her homeroom teacher (on her pointer finger).  During class, the student asked me if I knew who the picture was of.  When I said I didn't, she made the hair longer (since her homeroom teacher's hair goes past her waist). A plus for accuracy. This one also got the gobbler in the right spot, too (not sure if the small, blue turkey to the left was practice, though?).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!

So I am apparently not even missing a turkey at home this year. My brother’s vegan and we don’t have an extended family to cook for, so my parents and bro are doing everything BUT turkey. One of my coworkers (that lived in America for 5 years) was sort of worried about me being homesick since I am missing such an important family-centered holiday, but we’re not that traditional and I'm doing OK.  Knowing that I'll get the traditional meal (ok, or just the bird) here does help, though!

I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming, but my "quiet week" has also literally been anything but.  It's been such a whirlwind!  Read on for details...

Monday was a holiday (spent in Okayama), but on Tuesday, a professor from the Osaka Women’s University came to two of my classes.  Both the principal and vice principal sat in on one, too. The classes went well, my colleague (who invited the professor) seemed pleased, and afterwards, I had a nice talk with the guest.  He really wanted me to come to visit his university's campus and attend one of his lectures sometime (after learning we had similar interests, he even invited me to join their study trip to Bangladesh).  His English was amazing and his brother used to live in Minnesota (worked as a doctor at the Mayo Clinic), so I did want to talk more, but I unfortunately couldn’t stay too long because I had Japanese class in Kobe and had to leave school (almost 2 hour commute!).  Maybe I'll actually attend a lecture sometime when things are going slow at work...hmm.  

On Wednesday, I had three interview tests in the morning and then bolted over to the local Junior High to teach a grammar class there (like a reverse open high school –-> showing the kids what high school classes are like). The coworker that accompanied me called it a "catering lesson" since we were catering in a class instead of them having to leave their school to see us. I thought that was a clever way to put it.

Anyways, I was such a spinning top all day that I am sure the beginning of the class looked more like a Horse-and-Pony-Show than an actual academic lesson, with my coworker and I running and joking around for the first 10 minutes. The junior high teacher seemed a little scared or intimidated by me/us, but the kids liked it and a huge group of them wanted talk and see more of my prizes (mostly pennies from America) after the lesson. 

My coworker had driven both of us to school and had to get back for a lesson shortly after we finished, but I was having fun talking to the kids (interesting how much you can say about pennies...), so I decided to stay for a bit longer on my own and just walk back to our high school. 

Well, after talking to the kids, I said my goodbyes, did my bows and was on my way out, when the principal stopped me and asked me to come to his office.  We had tea and talked for a bit (pretty standard), but I thought it was a little bizarre when the man proceeded to give me one of his homemade business cards (homemade meishi…えええ？！), wrote his personal contact information on it and wanted to hang out on the weekend.  I had club activities so I actually had to leave soon after that comment, but I wasn't exactly sure what to think of that one.

In hindsight, as educational as it was for me to visit another school (especially another level altogether), I have to say the whole experience was just a little weird.  Junior high students are obviously going to be different from high school-age kids in Japan (particularly because they're still a lot more talkative in class), but in the end, the "catering lesson" really made me think about and appreciate the work situation I have had over the last two years.  It's definitely a good fit.

Yesterday was just more testing at school and I gave a lecture about Singapore this morning (to the second years going there in January), but otherwise I have been spending all my other free time during the day writing tests (almost finished with number three!).  I'm trying to study for my test next week in the evenings, too, but, yeah, that's about all there is to tell.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful day and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone in America.  I am definitely grateful for all of the beautiful people I know who read this (miss you guys) and for all of the opportunities and chances I have been given in my life!  Cheers.

In Minnesota, the Re-Count begins...

It's definitely been an interesting couples of weeks watching my home state's senatorial election unfold over the international media channels, especially now that we are going to a re-count. And while I am generally reluctant to post anything revealing my personal politics online (ok, there have been a few exceptions to that recently...), I've been getting regular updates from the Franken team and I thought some of you might find it interesting to see what information Franken's camp is sending out to their supporters.

Here's the most recent email:

Dear Friend,

At recount sites across the state, the hand count of 2.9 million ballots has begun. And, thanks to our team, we have over 2,000 trained volunteer observers, we're ready to make sure that every vote is properly counted.

In the end, politicians don't decide who wins elections - the voters do. And our job now is to make sure that the voters' voice is clearly heard. To do that, we've kept our people-powered machine up and running. And that's expensive. But you helped to build this campaign and get it off the ground, and I know I can count on you to help bring it in for a landing.

I know it's been a long campaign - but we've got important work to do. This week in Washington, DC, I met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and, in addition to briefing him on what's going on here in Minnesota, we talked about the exciting legislative agenda our caucus has planned. I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work for the people of Minnesota.

But first, we need to count all the votes. This might take a few weeks, but I'm cautiously optimistic that at the end of the recount, we'll be on top. And I'm absolutely confident that, with your help, we'll ensure that every voter's voice is heard.

Your contribution - whether it's $25, $50, $100, or more - will help us to keep our campaign going strong until every vote is counted.

Thank you for everything,

The Weekend Review: Okayama Shiraishi Island

Wow, what a difference a night’s sleep can make! It’s Tuesday morning, but the first day back at work after a long weekend. I went to bed a bit cranky and totally exhausted last night, but just getting a full night’s sleep last night and waking up to some sunshine has made me feel a lot better. I still need to plan my junior high school lesson this morning, do my homework for class tonight, maybe practice for my test next week and have a few classes, but even a busy morning doesn’t feel so bad.
Three-day Weekend
The weekend away was fun. The rolling hills in Okayama were splashed with fall colors and we had beautiful weather for at least two of the three days of our little journey, but after not really having a weekend the week before and getting back from Tokyo during the middle of the week, I went into the weekend tired and came out exhausted. We saw a lot of really cool stuff, including this really pretty town that the area’s samurai used to use as a holding/storage facility for the rice for the whole province, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I wasn’t so sleepy (which I’m only just realizing now). There were three other foreign boys and two Japanese girls with me, and I didn’t really have to plan anything – really just go along and enjoy it – but I think it was just all the running around and being sick for the last three weeks...I hit my limit :-P
So because we knew we were leaving early on Saturday morning, Friday night was pretty low-key. I had Japanese class in Kobe as usual and then came back with Caoimhe and hung out at the apartment with Tu, Caoimhe and Dave.
On Saturday morning, I somehow managed to get up, shower, pack and get to the train in about 20 minutes in order to make it to Himeji and meet the rest of the group on our way to Okayama (how am I always in a rush?!), but we all made it, and the rest of the trip to the island cabin went smoothly. As I mentioned, there were six of us on this trip and the first night, we traveled to the Kasaoka area on the Seto Inland sea to visit the Okayama International Villa on Shiraishi Island. When we arrived, we found a brilliant little resort-looking cabin (definitely as nice as the other Villas), but this time we were sharing the complex with an American family that’s living in Kobe and their friends (another family who were spending the night at a local Japanese Inn, but hanging out during the day).

Shiraishi Island Villa
Now Shiraishi is the Villa everyone raves about, and it was cool, but I wouldn’t say it was my favorite. It’d probably be a totally different experience if you stayed longer, could take advantage of the beach (in the summer) and didn’t share the house with little children, but for me, the one real catch to the island cabin is that - while it is beautiful - it can get pretty cold (inside and out... even with space heaters).

That being said, it was still a good time. During the day on the first day, we had a nice time just hanging out at the cabin, walking to the small, local grocery shop and then making nabe (Japanese stew with meat and veggies), playing cards and essentially entertaining the kids until the other family went to bed. On Saturday, I thought I'd take a little nap, going to bed way earlier than expected (not a surprising backfire), but it was a relaxing & sorta quiet evening before that.

On Sunday morning, I wasn’t really sleeping well and was up early, so I decided to just get out of bed and take advantage of the location by catching the sunrise from a local mountaintop. Even though it's late November, the leaves were still showing beautiful shades of red and yellow, so between that and just the view of the surrounding sea and small islands, I felt a little spoiled (like this is why I live in Japan!).
I wasn't gone too long on my first hike, but the views were spectacular and it was pretty warm out, so the rest of the group did the same trail with me after breakfast before catching an 11:30 ferry back to the mainland.

Kurashiki
Our next big stop after the island was supposed to be Okayama City, but the boys were planned the trip cleverly scheduled in a pit stop at a historic little city called Kurashiki, famous for it's white walls and historical significance (the rice storage town I mentioned earlier). When we got off the train, I was pretty shocked to discover the town also had a Danish-themed amusement park (or Tivoli, Danish for Amusement park), seemingly based on the giant TIVOLI park in central Copenhagen, but I really only had a brief moment of reminiscing (ahh, fake European buildings) before being distracted by the charm and elegance of the rest of the (real) town itself.
We only spent a few hours in Kurashiki, but it was just fun to walk down the streets and admire the old-fashioned buildings and canals. The trees made the ambiance all the more romantic and the small, tourist town feel (and town layout) reminded me a lot of Kinosaki. I probably won’t get back this year, but the town is worth a stop. I didn't really do my homework before we went, but I'll throw links to some of the stuff we saw at the bottom of the post, too, since there's actually a bit to do there (like visiting the first Western-style art museum in Japan!).

Okayama City
Sunday night was spent in Okayama, just doing izakaya food (local fish - yum!) for dinner and hanging out together in one of our rooms at the hotel. We were going to go for a long bike ride on Monday, but got rained out. It was a bit of a bummer (especially since I know one of the guys had been looking forward to that ride for a really long time), but I think we did alright with visiting the Japanese garden next to Okayama Castle (one of the three most beautiful in Japan and - again - fall colors in full force), walking around the town and looking in different bizenyaki (pottery) shops. I wasn’t the only one who was tired by this point, too, so while I would have done the long bike ride and probably would have liked it, the laid back afternoon was not the worst compromise.

Anyways, yeah, I'm a pretty lucky girl for getting to do all this, yes, but it left me totally exhausted and I think I need to enforce some personal time this week. Tests start soon, so hopefully I'll have some time coming up. But for now... gotta get my lesson plan done. Glorious weekend and I’m finally better (no coughing!!), so I hope everyone else was also able to enjoy theirs, too. Adios!

Links:
白石島 http://www.pref.okayama.jp/kikaku/chishin/ritou/16shiraishijima/index.html
岡山市 http://www.city.okayama.okayama.jp/kankou/index.html
☆missed the Taiko dram performance at Okayama Castle, but they have events all the time...
吉備路 http://www.optic.or.jp/kanko/edu_travel/spot/kibiji.html
☆Kibiji Bike Road (and it's only 1,000 yen... next time!)
自転車倉敷 http://www.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/kankou/

Chasing Fortun - A Story About Following your Roots

I liked this little story, from the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper:

Norway: Chasing Fortun
Story and photos by ERIC DREGNI, Star Tribune

During a year's stay in Norway, my wife, Katy, and I marveled at the beauty of the country: the crystal waters ringed by dense green foliage and the mountains that rise up nearly vertically from fjords and finally give way to rock cliffs topped with whipped cream-like snowcaps. My great-grandfather Ellef Drægni came from a town 127 miles up a branch of one of those picturesque fjords, the Sognefjord, which itself stretches like a crooked finger inland north of Bergen. Why, we wondered, would anyone leave?

To answer that question -- and to see just what was left behind -- Katy and I and our new Norwegian-born son boarded a boat at Bergen and began the journey along the coast and up the Sognefjord to Fortun, my great-grandfather's town. Fortun, ironically, means "fortune" in English. During the 19th century (when there was little good fortune), the fjord, like much of Norway, was cut off from the rest of Europe's industry and opulence, and people along it struggled to survive on preserved fish and porridge.

Our boat -- and, later, the car we drove on the last leg of the trip -- passed red and yellow wooden houses wedged on a tiny ribbon of shoreline. Occasionally, large houses stuck out halfway up the mountain with only steep paths leading to the front doors. Local legend tells of people who live high up on the fjelds who tie their kids to a leash so they don't fall off the cliff at the edge of their yard. The townspeople of one village boast that some of the houses can be reached only by ladder. When the taxman comes, people lift the ladders to avoid tax increases.

•••

When we were just about at Fortun, I recognized a modern mountain lodge, which I'd seen in an article, run by a Drægni. We stopped in and asked the 40-year-old blond guy at the reception if he knew the Drægni who owns the lodge.

"That's me; I'm Ole Berger Drægni," he responded.

I had found a long-lost relative! I pulled him outside so we could get our photo taken together and commented how much we looked alike with our blue eyes and blond hair -- ignoring the fact that he stood a head taller than me.

My great-grandfather Ellef was one of the "dark Norwegians," and the family myth was that a long-lost grandmother, a damsel in distress, was captured by Vikings on a raid of Lisbon, Portugal.

"Didn't you know that the Spanish Armada was stranded off of Bergen?" Ole Berger asked. "They say it was either after a battle with the British and they came to hide in the Sognefjord, or that they just got lost. Many of the sailors liked Norway so much that they stayed."

I was pleased that our long-lost relatives were not only Vikings, but Conquistadors who laid down their warring ways and fell for some stunning Norwegian lasses and lutefisk.

Over wild blueberry pie and aggressive black coffee, Ole Berger Drægni unrolled an old map of the Drægni farm in Fortun and showed us where everyone had lived. "This was the main farmhouse where my relatives lived and still do. Your great-great grandfather must have been a husmann [tenant farmer] and lived in the house of the people who went to America. It flooded and was ruined." In other words, Ellef's family worked for his, and Ellef's father took the name of the farm: Drægni. Ole Berger looked me in the eye: "I definitely think we're not related."

He told us the blueberry pie was on the house as we shirked out the door.

•••

The town of Fortun is wedged at the end of the fjord with mountain walls on three sides and waterfalls plunging off cliffs like misty wedding veils. The sun peeked over the precipice to spread its rays on the fertile valley. This one view of the fjord is more dramatic than any sight in Minnesota. Why would anyone leave? And if they did, wouldn't they miss this beauty?

We checked into our hotel. In the lobby, a self-assured older woman with blond-gray hair and a hand-knit sweater unexpectedly announced, "God dag, I'm Ingeborg. Your father's cousin, Magne Drægni from Bodø, called and asked me to meet you here." She would show us around town.

I told her about our uncomfortable meeting with Ole Berger Drægni, but she assured us, "You are probably family one way or another. Everyone here is related somehow." She explained that last names were like addresses in the Sognefjord. I looked up "Drægni" in a Norwegian dictionary and found it means the not-quite-exotic "tree dragger" or "muscle spasm."

She told us about the famous Drægni marmalade and fruit juice ad campaign that reads "Alle spyr etter Drægni saft." In the dialect of the Sognefjord, that translates as "Everyone asks for Drægni juice." But in regular bokmål Norwegian it means, "Everyone vomits after Drægni juice."

While Ingeborg drove us to her house, she explained that Ellef probably had left because he couldn't get any land and would have been a tenant farmer, living and working on the land of the rich Drægni family and paying them most of his earnings. (Not until 1928 did Norway abolish the tenant farmer system, and the farmers could claim the land on which they lived.)

I asked Ingeborg what her family grew on her farm. "Grass. We grow grass." In typical Norwegian fashion, she downplayed their beautiful berries and healthy farm animals. Making a living off this little bit of land was nearly impossible in my great-grandfather's time because of the relatively large population, which has dwindled from 2,000 to 200. "You can't eat beauty," Ingeborg said.

Although the mountains were stunning, I found the vertical cliffs claustrophobic. Ingeborg thought this was ironic because she had heard that many Norwegians who went to North Dakota and Minnesota got very sick there. "They had some illness -- how do you say -- homesick? They were depressed and needed mountains to live." Ingeborg explained that Norwegians have an expression to explain this phenomenon, "å være på vidda" (to be in the high plains), which means to be crazy, lost or simply in the wrong place.

I told Ingeborg that I had heard that my great-grandfather's house had flooded. "That was just one of them," she said, and Katy and I were excited that perhaps another of his houses was still intact somewhere. Ingeborg continued, "Another house he lived in had a big rock fall on it from the mountain and crush it."

I looked up at the cliffs and realized that beauty comes at a price. As we sat on her porch, Ingeborg pointed to a massive boulder in a field. "That rock came down last summer into our raspberry patch." The boulder was more than 12 feet high. "There is no way to move it, so we just farm around it," Ingeborg said.

My great-grandfather probably was wise to escape Norway while he could, before he was crushed or washed away by the river in his sleep. Ingeborg wasn't concerned. "Any place you live has its dangers," she said.

Ingeborg brought out photo albums and a postcard Ellef sent to his mother, whom he never saw again once he left Norway. Finally I could dig deeper into Ellef's mind and learn about his great adventure, leaving the Sognefjord alone at 18. The postcard just said the weather in Minnesota was a bit chilly, but he was doing fine.

Oh, well, we basked in the gentle sunshine beaming over the cliffs. Although Ingeborg said you couldn't eat the beauty of the place, you could taste the fresh raspberries as big as golf balls, covered in heavy cream. "These are the small ones," Ingeborg said with typical Norwegian understatement. We sat on her patio and paged through the purple-velvet-covered photo books as we listened to the water streaming off the top of the mountain to the creek hundreds of feet below. And hoped no rocks were falling.

Eric Dregni is an assistant professor of English at Concordia University St. Paul. His latest book, "In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream," was released in October.

Picture of the Day: Harujuku Girls

Here's something kind of funny to leave you with for the weekend.

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Cozplay store we visited in Shinjuku last weekend, but I snuck a few from the dressing room (sadly without the bonnet or any shoes)...

The hair doesn't match, but what do ya think? Do I make an OK Harujuku Girl? Haha. (I actually considered getting the dress until I realized it was over $200!)

Disclipline Unraveling.

Discipline
Woah, it doesn’t happen that often but one girl is getting just screamed at in the teacher’s room right now. I don’t know what happened, but it always leaves sort of an awkward vibe among the rest of the staff, especially since you can hardly talk over the screaming (probably meant to humiliate the girl and teach her a lesson). The girl is look at her homeroom teacher, obviously trying not to cry and mostly just looking down while other teachers shyly stand up to see who is getting yelled at. The few other students in the staff room right now (it’s currently lunch time) scooted out, knowing the severity of this conversation was something they didn’t want anything to do with.

Wow, I remember when this happened my first year and the other foreigners (working in public schools) and I would discuss how we handle it, mostly agreeing that it’s best to keep your head down and eyes the other way when it comes to discipline in the schools here. It still shocks me after over two years, though.

Whatever happened with this girl must have been pretty bad, though. I am guessing something along the lines of stealing, drinking or cheating. Our staff room is literally set up like a police precinct and laid out like an organizational chart, with the highest ranking people in the middle (or toward the windows) and the rest branching out from there. The girl has now been sent to the Vice Principal, who sits next to the window in the very center of the long staff room. Our VP barely talks and he’s now screaming at the girl, a second-year (so about 16 years old), along with the guy that does the schedules. Yikes.

Grading
On the topic of surprising cultural differences, I finished writing my first year OC final today which brought up one of the other really big difference that comes up with the structure of school systems in the East and West: grading. As teachers, write our tests with an aim of a 70 – 75% average. I was horrified when the average on my first test was about 65%, but have come a long way since then, learning that that is actually a good score in Japan. A 60% does not mean fail here. Half of whatever the average is (just a straight cut along the percentages) is fail. So you can get 25% and still be OK if nobody else studied either… you get the idea, so let’s just attribute it to a group-oriented society mentality (all for one – pass – or one for all – in failing... or something like that).

So my first year tests are generally about 30 or 40 points and always include four sections: some kind of visual/monologue section (menu, schedule, map, etc), a dialog, a monologue (telephone message, self intro, etc) and a short, 5-question dictation. Well, this round, we spent a lot of time (literally two full lessons) working with money, so I thought it was fitting that

We have talked about the different places people use dollars, looked at real dollars that I’ve brought back from home and other places, learned different slang words used for dollars, practiced calculating the difference between dollars and yen, done math problems with dollars, done a dialog with dollars, played the Price is Right with dollars (where they watched the actual show, had to write a price on the board and then all had to read their guess as a group) and even played a giant, team-version of Monopoly, where they were buying things with dollars. These kids have had some experience with how the whole dollar thing works, right?

So I hand out my exam (the teacher I wrote about earlier seemed relieved) and everything looks good, except one of my coworkers comes over to raise a concern on behalf of the other staff members. They really like the test, but they talked about it and think we should change the last line of my dictation, “Ten Dollars and fifty cents / $10.50” (Ten, fifty is also acceptable). I am open to changing and appreciate feedback, but I didn’t think it was a hard question so I just asked why they thought we should change it. Then the teacher told me it wasn’t fair because some of the “smart kids” will know to use a dollar sign while others will think they need to write it out, and we needed it to be more even. After a few minutes, I asked if we could just compromise by reminding the kids ahead of time (maybe during the interview tests?) that

The bell just range and the sound of voices is starting to return to the staff room now that the girl is done being yelled at. I know people don’t talk about this stuff often (why would you? It’s not a pleasant cultural difference and doesn’t happen that often so there’s no need to dwell), but I’m shaken up a bit everytime it happens. I hope the student is OK, too. I asked a coworker and I guess she was just in trouble because she got caught eating her lunch before the chime (bell) rang. Wow. I guess it goes to show there’s some truth to that old Japanese phrase. When the nail sticks up...

Panablog

I just followed a link on Yahoo (about Ken Griffy Jr. becoming a US Cultural Ambassador, of all things) to a blog about this couple, Greg and Kim, who are living and working in Panama.

Now, there are a million travel and expat blogs out there (many of which happen to be owned by people I know, admire and/or am inspired by), but I had some fun looking through this couple's happenings and thought I would throw up a recommendation.

I will issue a little disclaimer that I haven't been through this whole blog and I am sure some of it is a little ridiculous (like the part about Jodi's tushy), but it's an interesting read nonetheless. Even though Panama is obviously quite different from Japan, there really are some similarities in the expat lifestyle; those that derive from just being Americans (or from the West) and living in and discovering a new culture. It might be worth checking out if you have some free time or need something to do... and whether you are reading this from Minnesota, Oslo or somewhere in Japan.

If the above link doesn't work, you can try this one: http://panablog.typepad.com/, but I hope you enjoy.

Ignoring the Bully?

I just watched the video accompanying this article and found this a little insane.  At the same time I also saw clips from the same G20 Summit earlier today, showing Bush greeting each foreign ambassador one-by-one.  He could have just gone through that line of introductions and doing it again was redundant here? 

Bush fan or not, we all know the man's approval rating is low.  Still, I have my doubts that these representatives would refuse his handshake and can't decide if this is deceptive journalism or just really embarrassing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/20/world-leaders-dont-shake_n_145141.html.

Runway Reporter Covers Christchurch

Sorry folks, I know I need to be publishing my blog posts a little faster here (it's more like a diary that I release all at once these days), but got a little something sweet to share with you.

My friend from New Zealand was telling me about this great fashion-related website she reads called Runway Reporter. They sometimes do spotlights on different travel destinations and the same girl just sent me a link to the latest article... which happens to be about Christchurch, NZ (where I'm going for two weeks next month)!

I'm reeeaaally excited for this upcoming trip and Christchurch looks pretty cool, so thought you might want to see a little bit about the city, too.  Another friend recommended the french town and some nearby sights, and all of it just looks like eye candy right now, but I am honestly just looking forward to having a holiday, the beautiful landscapes & escaping the winter for a bit... with some good company :) 

Anyways, hope you enjoy the newsletter if you do check it out (note - you need a flashplayer to get the picture slideshow to work): http://www.runwayreporter.co.nz/runway-recommends/destinations.aspx.  Cheers.

Writing Finals & Cultural Issues (?)

I am so glad we have a long weekend coming up, and I’m really looking forward to going back to the foreigner cabins in Okayama. This time we’re going to the island villa, which is supposed to be the nicest, too. No swimming, but more than one person has raved about the scenery and facilities. I did get a late invitation to a Thanksgiving dinner with an American family that I am a little bummed about having to turn down, but we still have a (potluck) Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house next week and I fully expect biking & exploring in Okayama to be just as nice for the upcoming three-day. Just crossing my fingers that it doesn’t rain!

Today is going alright (only one class and it was a fun one), but I’m supposed to be writing tests right now and I’m starting to get a little distracted by some frustrations I have with one of my coworkers. I know I don't write about things like this here (again, mostly because they don't really happen too often and I don't think this is a forum for complaints, etc), but I also feel like it's worth explaining a situation I think is more common than people realize (possibly in the hope of getting some feedback from someone else who has dealt with this)... ok, or maybe to just vent, too.

Basically, the problem is that I don't think one of my coworkers in the English department understands my English and the misunderstandings and situations it leads to are really getting to me. I'll tell you a little more about it, but the issue today is generally based on the tests that are due next week.


So a few weeks ago, a different coworker and I discussed the upcoming final exams and decided that I would write a certain final for the first-year English courses. Great, easy, done. We agreed upon a due date (just the date that tests are due for all teachers), and that was that for a few weeks. I guess I simply didn't think about it for a while because we were still in classes, I had other things going on, my lessons are all test-oriented anyways (so writing the test would be easy) and, well, I've done this a few times over now and am confident in my understanding of the process.

The one catch to this structure, however, is that I actually share a lot of classes, and this specific class that I am writing the test for has a few other teachers. So, out of courtesy and to keep everyone informed, I voluntarily approached my coworkers to tell them what I was planning to test on and to let them know that my personal deadline for finishing the test is Friday (so they'd know they could see the test a bit before the real deadline).


That was yesterday. Now, the problem is that one of of the coworkers I told about the test keeps asking me over and over again if I have finished the test yet, which is not due until next week and I don't turn into her anyways. This woman has seriously asked me about it several times already today and she seems so nervous (almost shaky) when she talks to me sometimes that it sort of throws me off guard a bit. The last time she asked, I told her I was working on something else and would have it done tomorrow (like I told her)... but I got sort of a blank stare back.


Hmm. Ok. I think this woman just really wants to see a written copy of the test (or anything, really) because her reading skills are much better than her listening skills in English and she didn’t understand what I was saying about the deadline (like maybe she possibly thinks I was telling her that I had a deadline that I wanted her to help me with?). She does speak English (and can teach the grammar, I suppose), but it's an issue when she can't handle a one-on-one conversation, even at a slower rate, because these small situations are taking place far too often. I think it's more of a confidence thing (her getting stressed out or overwhelmed about talking to me) than anything... but how to make it better?

I've tried to talk to this colleague more (mostly about none-worl-related-things) to improve our relationship, I print out articles in English that I like and think she would also enjoy and I have said we should go out to lunch, but it's taken me a long time to realize that maybe this really is just a language barrier issue (in terms of natural vs. textbook use). It just happens all the time and I really feel that it's a little ridiculous (especially since it's involved more important matters than just a test deadline... like an application for something not getting turned in once).

I can communicate in Japanese, but I would never in a hundred years consider myself qualified to teach it at my current level. In Japan, all you need to do is be able to read, write and decipher English grammar well to be at a (very) basic teaching level, so while most English educators far surpass these basics in English education, it is possible for some to get less opportunity to harvest speaking and listening skills if they are more focused on the grammar points (that matter for tests, etc). Even after years and years of teaching, some English teachers in Japan may not speak English that well. This can especially apply to the ability to nurture natural speaking skills or use English at a natural pace. That's why Japan has invested so, so, so much money in having foreigners like me come here (to work in schools and government offices)... BUT...



Wow, I feel like I've just revealed a dirty little secret. Whew... I know things will get better, but maybe the lingering cough is making me impatient or cranky. Definitely time for that long weekend!

ANYWAYS, we have a short day due to a seminar on Human Rights this afternoon so I’m going to spend the rest of the day correcting, making tests and working on an article. Lots of computer time, but kind of relaxing.

I think I've blogged enoughf or the day, but hope you’re having a wonderful day (or - as one friend just wrote to me: “I hope your days are filled with chocolate-covered sunshine”) wherever you are and more updates soon.

The Weekend Review - Part II: Mon, Tues...

Monday & Tuesday Opinin Exchange

I didn't really have much to do on Monday, except attend meetings and take notes, but I was up early because one of the other presentation groups was working on their powerpoint and rehearsing for their meeting in my hotel room. Even though I was woken up pretty early, I would say I got lucky with the hotel this time (really liked the girls I was with and we have similar sleeping schedules). Monday night was an enkai (sort of like a work party) at an Indian restaurant near the office we were at. Dinner was good, but I opted not to go to thenijikai/nachschpiel/after-party because I wasn't feeling too well. It was a fun night, though, and I enjoyed talking to some of the Program Coordinators (foreigners that work as advisors at the government headquaters for the Council of Local Authorities and International Relations - ha - that's a mouthful!), especially because they had some really interesting stories. Meeting some of the guys from the Ministry of International Communication - the people that run the consulates and embassies abroad - was also cool, as they were a little more open and outgoing and had just come back from assignments in other places so were interested in hearing about what we were doing with internationalization in their country.

On Tuesday, I was up early to get breakfast and talk to the other person on my team about our topic, studying Japanese before coming to Japan. She had finished the Japanese powerpoint and was doing the presentation in Japanese, so all I really needed to do was read in English, field questions and answer follow-up things, so it was sort of a breeze (especially with our topic), so I would say things went well. I also presented my short notes on an alumni report from the day before, but I'm a pretty fast typer (can type faster than I talk) so it was easy taking notes off of a transcript (rather than reading notes that I had taken and are already summarized).

In retrospect...

I feel sort of lucky to be part of this process and think it's beneficial to learn about what I've spent the last two years of my life doing from a different angle. I spend a lot of time working on this volunteer organization (I know one woman on our council that puts in 45 hours a week... and it's volunteer!), but I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, too.

I think I've explained it a few times, but the process proceding these meetings (that sounds funny...) was also a good opportunity for me to learn about what people like me are doing around the country and it re-enforces that there are a lot of really amazing people who care out there, too, that are working to make this a better place for other.

The meetings with the government themselves actually started with months of preparations, with the ministries giving our organization a list of topics to look into (and then we come up with a few more topics), us conducting national surveys to get data on these topics and then - as a last step - preparing a report on the data (submitted beforehand) and presenting it in a presentation in Japanese (and a powerpoint in English). It might sound like a lot (OK, and could have been if you - say - had to translate a report), but it was over a couple of months, my topic was sort of easier because the girl I was working with worked on a similar report last year and thus did a lot of the work and I don't really think reading questions or taking notes is hard. So it was a lot of fun.

This post is monsterous at this point, so I won't go on too much longer, but this OE, the topics we presented were:

1. the Team-Teaching Report (do we use the Handbook the give us & does TT work?),

2. the JET Alumni Report (the ministries were SHOCKED that not all JETs have jobs when they leave),

3. a General Activities Report (update on what AJET - both national and local chapters - are doing and some activities that JETs do in the community),

4. the Handover Procedures Report (some JETs get tons of info & some get none - how can we help this... trust me... a lot of good came from this topic!!), and

5. Pre-Departure Japanese Study Materials Report (ie - the Japanese for JETs and Japanese CIRs books we got before departure... what are the books missing, do JETs use them & how can we improve them?).

Pretty cool :) I'm actually looking forward to starting it all over again in March.

The Weekend Review - Part I: OE in Tokyo

What a weekend! It's Wednesday today, but my first day at work this week. Even though I've been in Tokyo since Saturday morning, however, I've been really busy and I can't believe the week is almost. Overall, the trip to Tokyo was fantastic and I felt like we had a really productive Opinion Exchange (between my volunteer organizations and CLAIR, MEXT, MOFA & MIC, several government ministries and the Council for Local Authorities).

Viva las TOKYO

I essentially left for Tokyo on Friday, as I didn't go back to my apartment after leaving for work on Friday morning. I didn't actually have that much to do at school on Friday because most of my students were giving presentations but I was also still coughing a lot so it was a good thing. On Friday evening, I went to Japanese class and then met some friends to hang out, watched Japanese Comedy (a DVD of a group from Osaka called Downtown) for a bit and then stayed near Osaka since I was leaving so early on Saturday.

Class actually went really well on Friday, too, which makes me kinda bummed that we will break for a few months soon. I think I just like being in an environment with other Japanese language students who are around the same level, but really want to practice. A lot of people in my class, who are mostly around my age or older (well, with the exception of the four AFS high school exchange students from Cambodia, Germany and China) and you can tell some of them are putting more time into their studies right now as they prepare for the upcoming Japanese Proficiency Test. I’m not taking it this year, but most people are taking Level 3 with some taking level 2.
On Saturday morning, I was up and out the door a little later than I would have liked (I knew it was going to happen and printed off later train times anyways, haha), but once I was out it was a smooth trip. I just went straight to the Shin-Osaka Shinkansen Station, bought my tickets out of a machine (about $130 each way) and three hours later, I was in Tokyo.

H&M m-A-n-I-a!

I was meeting the rest of the national committee (for my volunteer org) at our hotel in an area called Aoyama around 12:30, but since I arrived early, I decided to stop at Ginza on the way to check out the new Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) store. I know H&M isn’t that exciting when you have it at home (they’re everywhere in Europe), but it’s been a while since I’ve been to one and I wanted to check out the store here for personal (or maybe nostalgic?) reasons.

When I arrived in Ginza, I asked the station attendant if he knew where H&M was, and was honestly a little shocked when the guy pulled out a map FOR H&M (again, this was a public subway attendant). Once I got outside and walked half a block, I understood why - the line to get in the door was over three blocks long! H&M opened in Japan (Harujuku area of Tokyo) last month, the Ginza store opened last week, a Japanese designer is currently doing a line for the chain, but I don't think I expected that much of a frenzy. I thought about coming back (especially since I only had an hour until my meeting started), but decided to try the line and was pleased when I realized how quick it was moving. Once I made it inside, though, things were almost a little worse because it was so packed. I had a laptop bag, my purse and a small suitcase with me, but people were literally manuevering between clothing racks in concert-like (shoulder-to-shoulder) crowds. I checked out every floor, tried on a few things and bought a cute top and some earrings before leaving, but I was sweating by the time I left... just from being mushed between the crowds for so long.

Let the Meetings Begin

One I arrived at my designated station, I started off for the hotel, but gave up on the scavenger hunt and just took a cab when the paper bag I was carrying (full of papers, snacks and stuff) ripped. Unfortunately, the one time I was early for a meeting, everyone else was late, so I had some time to hang out, settle into the conference room and catch up with the others in our conference room before our meetings started. The first day was pretty much just information about what we've been up to and working on, what's going on in our parts of Japan (since most of us are regional representatives and have one other liaison post) and then just information on what our meetings that weekend would be like. The second day was all the rest (run throughs of our presentations and powerpoints), but we did surprisingly well - for us - of keeping on time, especially considering we started an hour and a half late.

Food and On-the-Side FUN!

The highlight of going to Tokyo, though - both this trip and on most trips there - was definitely the eats! On the first night, we finished our meetings and all headed over to this amazing little Israeli place in Egota called Shamim. For about $20, we got all-you-can-eat kebabs and salads (with a coupon for free desert or coffee)... and most of us literally did eat all we could. We were talking the whole time, but I must have had at least 4 full pitas and literally felt ill afterwards because I was in so much pain from overeating.

On Sunday night, we had the evening to ourselves to prepare for our Monday/Tuesday meetings or go out, so I ended up going to Shinjuku with a group of friends. About half of the group headed over to the Dubliner for Irish dinner and the rest of us went searching for a good Thai place. Sinjuku is actually really close to where all of us stayed this summer when we helped run an orientation for new foreigners coming to Japan (near the Keio Plaza... I only did a week, but pretty much everyone else was there for two weeks), so we were generally familiar with the neighbor hood and ended up at a place my friend Caroline knew about. I am not sure what the name was, but it was definitely the best Thai food I've had outside of Thailand. After dinner (still very happy after my green curry and fresh spring rolls), we saw off our friend Goran - who had to be back at work in Kobe on Monday morning - at the station and decided to go explore some festival stalls we had seen down one block. Along the way, we stumbled into a cozplay (costume play - like Harujuku Girls) emporium and spent some time trying on the dresses. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I did get some shots of me in one doll-dress (sans hat and shoes)... I might have bought it (to wear home as a joke?) if it wasn't over $200 for the dress alone!

When we were finished playing dress-up and made it down to the stalls, we soon discovered that there was actually a giant harvest festival taking place at one of the local shrines. For the next two hours, we just wandered around, looking at all the stalls (and trying food from quite a few of them, too) and talking to people inside the temple area. One woman was really excited to show us her dogs (she had named the black one Obama, which seemed a little racist, but I was encouraged by her enthusiasm to talk about the election in America with us) and the guy outside of the traveling "freak show" let me touch a bag full of snakes. I think some (or all of them) might have been small cobras, but I didn't stick around long enough to talk.

After the festival, we decided to walk over to the Park Hyatt, which is one of the highest hotels in Tokyo and was located in the neighborhood, to grab a night cap and see the view. The Park Hyatt is included in the book "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" for it's breathtaking views of the skylines (my friend Megs sent me the Japan pages a while ago), but it's also famous for being featured in the movie Lost in Translation. We were worried how much the drinks were going to cost and realized when we got to the top floor bar that we'd have to cab home to the hotel, but it really wasn't as expensive as you'd expect and the cab ride was almost the same price as the subway. In addition, the atmosphere was really relaxing, far less formal than you would exect, and the view of the Tokyo skyline was a treat. It was a little hazy on the night we were there, but even so, there were a lot of skyscrapers, blinking red lights and large bright clouds over where the major train stations were located. We also ran into a few Semester At Sea (college-aged American) girls who were in Tokyo for a night while their ship was docked in Japan and asked us for advice on where to go clubbing when they saw my friends and I in the bathroom. It was cute to hear about their adventures in Asia so far and reminded me a little bit of studying abroad when I was in college, but their reactions to everything also made me realize how comfy I've gotten here. And I hope they took our advice and didn't head towards the sleezy clubs other poeple had refered them to!

Obama's Victory Speech... på norsk!

Here's a little something for all of you "Nordy Nerds" out there... Click here to view a copy of Barack Obama's victory speech (November 4, 2008 in Grant Park) in Norwegian. Talen kan ogsaa leses her: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article2754944.ece.

From a language perspective - and whatever your political views - there is a lot of good vocabulary about politics, American political parties, interest groups, current issues, and the USA in the speech. Hope you enjoy :)

"I dette avgjørende øyeblikk er forandring kommet til Amerika"

Japanese World

I feel like today has been "super Japanese" day, but, luckily, it's also been a really laid back one.

Show & Tell Speeches - IS 1

We started off the day (first period) with student presentations. I hate making the kids memorize everything (it's common here and my Japanese colleagues do it a lot), but I will admit that my students gave probably some of the best speeches of any class I have ever seen today... precisely because they did just that. Memorizing their speeches really gave my second years a chance to think less about their notecards or the content (they should have been doing that at home) and more about presentation (gestures, eye contact, etc). This 2nd year class, in particular, was doing a "show and tell" activity talking about their most treasured posessions and I also had a lot of fun just learning more about my kids' hobbies and interests. One girl played her trumpet (I was amazed), another talked about the rules of Rugby and one of the boys who usually acts a little "too cool for school" (no pun intended, haha) gushed about how cute his family's dog is. Loved it.

Unicef Lectures with IS2

My next class was all in Japanese, just observing another teaching using props and and a video that we borrowed from Unicef. The students seemed really into the topic and learning about Development, though. I did use a little English at the end when I narrarated some of the interviews in the video (showcasing child labor in places like India, Mexico City and even in the US), but I also found it kind of funny that when I wrote my name on my copies of the handouts, I instinctively used the Japanese version (ﾌﾞﾚﾝﾀﾞ) and not my normal "Brenda". Weird.

Handling Bank Matters hitori de...

During lunch, I finally made reservations for my first few nights in Australia (trip is about a month away!), talked to the new nurse (who lives in my building) for a little while and then headed to the bank to exchange money and apply for an international ATM card. 

Thankfully the tellers working at the local branch of my bank, SMBC, are used to me now, but I was a little surprised that I was able to fill out the forms to get an international ATM all on my own... and complete the process all in Japanese.  I'm definitely used to being babied in these situations in Japan (especially when it comes to forms and official things), but that experience sort of showed me that I really can do it on my own.  

I think it also gave me the confidence to try to get my Japanese license on my own, too. I know it's been over two years since I arrived, which is more than enough time to make this kind of language progress, but sometimes you just have to celebrate the small things.

Anyways, I should go. I have Japanese class tonight (sticking with the theme) and have to leave really early in the morning for Tokyo but I wanted to write about this stuff because you have to celebrate the small stuff to enjoy the ride. 

I'll hopefully udpate you during the weekend, but if I can't (I plan to be busy)... hope you have a good weekend and more later.  - bu ren da ;)

Kalamata Greece

I wrote about this a few weeks ago, but I am starting the process to get my dual citizenship with Greece (which also entitles me to an EU passport).  As part of this process, I have also been reading more about the place where my family is from and still lives, the Peloponnese region, or more specifically, the city of Kalamata.  

Now, I knew Kalamata was famous for olives (my family actually owns an olive farm and once a vinyard - our name means "wine maker"), but what I didn't know is that Kalamata itself actually comes from kala ommata, or beautiful eyes.

OK, so I can see you thinking "um, and...?" or that this post is starting to go a little too "random" in the way my posts sometimes do, but I swear there's a point.  You see, while my mother has the thick, curly black hair and olive skin, I ended up with my dad's light brown hair from the Scottish side. The one thing that I do always get comments on in Greece (and in other travels about my Greek heritage), however, is my eyes. Apparently this trait -that I share with my mom, brother and at least one cousin in Greece - is my one, visual connection to this heritage.  

I just thought the origin of our Greek hometown's name was a funny coincidence...

αντίο!

Back at Schools... but with Meds

Whew. I've had a really full morning of OC classes, but my colleague is covering for my third year class right now so I can just hang out in the staff room. Well, I have things to do, so it's not so much "hanging out"... but the break is good.

I ended up going home sick yesterday and stopping at the ENT on the way back afterall. I didn't have to wait very long to see the doctor, and I think I actually understood most of what he was asking and saying to me. I explained my symptoms in Japanese, and when I told him my ears hurt and it was affecting my hearing, he made me take a hearing test, and I understood what the nurse said then, too. It sucked to be there, but the language barrier was a little easier than I remember. Anyways, my hearing was fine, so I got four different kinds of antibiotics for my cold and was told to come back in a week if the meds didn't work (got more than four days supply this time!).

When I got home, I pretty much made lunch right away (so I could take my meds) and then went straight to bed, getting in almost four hours of sleep before Japanese class. I was feeling well enough to go, so I didn't cancel that, but also made sure I got to bed at a reasonable time afterwards.

I just got a message from a friend of mine working at an import company in Osaka. He just found out that he gets December 30th to January 4th off (winter holidays - News Years is the biggest holiday of the year here, and should be spent with family), BUT also that the entire company is expected to spend the 29th cleaning the office. I thought it was extreme that my students have to clean the whole school (even the outsides of the windows... in and the winter), but I guess it really is training them for the real world. Glad I don't have to do it (just supervise when the kids do it and pitch-in here and there)... and I'm also glad I think my vacation time works out a bit better than my friend's this year. I'll only take 6 days of vacation time for 19 days off. Not bad!

OK, I'm rambling so I'll stop this post here.  Hoping these meds will kick in soon :-p

CHANGE is in the Air

Here's a fun little speech from the local "Super English School" (magnet program), written by a 3rd year Japanese student. どうぞ:

CHANGE

He realizes the "American Dream". Who is he? He is the first Black president of the United States of America. He is Mr. Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

Even though he is a black person, he ran in the presidential election of the United States. He often said the word "CHANGE" in his speeches. What will he change? He'll change his country, the world and himself.

All of the presidents before him were white and although racial discrimination still exists he ran for election. To do this maybe takes a lot of courage like we couldn't imagaine. He might not have won because someone may have tried to kill him, they might still. He must live in such fear and uneasiness. But he brings CHANGE, he'll make big CHANGEs for himself and for his country......

Please find CHANGE by yourself. Please CHNAGE while you are a student. Please make CHANGE starting with the little things. CHANGE like Mr. Obama. Don't worry, we can do it.

Good News - Tokyo Marathon in March!

I'm in!

> Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 18:55:23 +0900

> From: tokyomarathon2009

> Subject: TOKYO MARATHON 2009>

> Dear Ms. BRENDA MCKINNEY. [ID - 1589]

>

> Congratulations! You have been selected to run the Tokyo Marathon 2009.

> To secure your place, simply access the URL below to arrange payment

> of the entry fee no later than 28 November 2008.（Japan time）

> Payment confirmation will be sent in December.

> Note that places can only be allotted after we are in receipt

> of the relevant fee

Going Home Sick

Well, it's Tuesday, but I feel like this is going to be a long week. I was up most of the night coughing, so I'm just going to teach one first year class now (gotta get them all done or we can't include this lesson on the test) and skip the rest of my schedule to go home and rest. I probably shouldn't even have come in. One kid has the flu (so the outbreak has begun) and I've gotten two comments on the bags under my eyes today, but then again, yappari (pretty typical for me).

I really don't want to go to the hospital (which you go to whether you have a cold or a broken arm here!), but one of my coworkers convinced me that I should probably at least talk to a doc, so I might stop at the Ear, Nose & Throat place in Harimacho on the way home. I've been there before and think I can handle it without a translator. There's also no way I'm biking there once I hit my apartment so I might as well go on the way and get it over with. It's gotten bitterly cold in the last few days, so while this is a lingering (head) cold, I am also just wondering if my body is adjusting to the drastic change in temperature (yes, I'm from Minnesota... but we are always in the heat and have shoes on at all times) or if it really could be allergies. Either way (and whether the doc can identify with or not)... bring on the antibiotics.

I also had sort of a moment this morning when I signed a form officially stating that I will be leaving Japan this summer. I have the option to re-contract for another year, but I know it's time to go. I never even thought I would be here this long. Glad I did stay and I know I will miss it here, but I know I am also ready to end this chapter of my life after three years.

I need to get going to class (and then home and/or to the doc) so I'll post another update later. Blah... hope you guys are feeling better than me, though... and 居つけて(to all of you in Japan!)。

Fall Is Here!

The leaves are changing and the weather is cooling down (again).  With the change in the season, a lot of people have taken ill (pesky little colds), but overall, things seems to be going smoothly (if not quickly) as fall schedules fill up and we all look forward to the upcoming winter holidays.

Today was a pretty busy day for my new school, but it went well.  Due to a business trip next week, two three-day weekends, the 2nd year class trip to Malaysia and winter exams, I will really only have one more class with these kids before next year.  Pretty crazy, especially when I am starting to get to know them a bit and have some fun in class.  As I mentioned, there is a nasty cold going around.  For some reason, illness seems to linger a bit longer in this country, too, so I wasn't surprised  

Alright, I think I need to get to bed.  I also think we just had a minor earthquake.  The crazy thing is that I could hear a strange sound (low rumble for two seconds), then everything shook for a second, then it was over.  Oh man, I don't think I could ever get completely used to this, but thank goodness I got over the fear of these things a while ago.  Goodnight!

Life Imitating Art♥Imitating Life

I don't know why I am posting this here, but I have an embarassing confession to make. I have always sort of had a nerdy, secret crush on Josh from the West Wing (was the Chief of Staff for most of the show).

Well, I was just surfing around the news sites and it looks like the guy Josh's character was based on, a Mr. Rahm Emanuel, is probably going to be the next real White House Chief of Staff under President Obama. Not that that means anything to anyone, but I just have to say... things are getting out of control...

Thursday...

I've had a really busy week at work this week. Monday was a holiday (pretty much spent at home), but Tuesday and Wednesday were full days with classes in the morning (new lessons in all of them) and Open High School (a day for junior high school students interested in applying to our school to see what it's like) in the afternoons. I did a lesson about sounds with two of my coworkers for the JHS kids (mostly me leading & included making a rap at the end), which went well, and we also held a special English Club meeting yesterday for two girls that wanted to see what it was like. I still haven't been feeling well, but the American meds I'm taking are helping with the congestion, at least.

The Election

Despite all of this going on, however, the real news that was on my mind all day yesterday (and this week) was not about what was going on here, but what was going on in my home country, in the United States of America. Even though I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I was literally checking CNN.com any chance I got all day on Wednesday (between classes), updating my coworkers on the election status as the numbers changed.

Then, around 11 in the morning, my computer screen updated itself and suddenly CNN was reporting that Obama had almost 300 electorial votes - he had won!

I was so excited I stood up and announced announced the results to the coworkers sitting around me. A few of them came over to see the poll numbers on my computer for themselves. I had to explain the system a little bit (how the real winner is decided by the College, not by the popular vote), but everyone was pretty excited. In hindsight, looking back at that moment, I might even say I wad potentially in shock. It was definitely a big moment and I was fighting back the tears, while the rapidly incoming news stories confirmed Obama as our new president. I checked my phone and I had already gotten a few text messages from other excited foreigners in Japan (not all of them American) and Facebook was on fire with status updates, mostly happy about the election results, but some very upset, too.

As much as I would have loved to get out and celebrate the news, I still had a few classes ahead of me so I tried to subdue some of the excitement and finish off the day. I actually ended up being at school pretty late with club and correcting notebooks, so when I finally got home around 7, I just made dinner and watched several speeches and newscasts before falling asleep for the night. I will admit that Obama's speech moved me to tears, that I was also curious about Michelle's dress when I saw it (petty, I know,but I found it funny that it was all over the news this morning) and I was moved by the graciousness and nobility of McCain's speech.

Feedback

Now that things have settled down a bit and the news has settled in, I've tried discussing the election with some of my students and my coworkers. A lot of them seem excited, some don't seem to care (about politics?), although - so far - I haven't run into anyone that was upset by the news. It could be a Japanese "not disturbing the wa (peace)" thing, but if they do follow foreign politics, nobody is telling me they thought McCain should have been elected instead.

I did talk to one coworker for a long time on the way to the train station last night and he was telling me that while people are happy about Obama this time, they were actually also glad that Al Gore lost eight years ago. He was apparently introducing some sort of environmental program that would have raised taxes in Japan pretty drasticallyif it had passed, so many people didn't like him (or the associated Democratic party...). He might have said more, but my Japanese wasn't good enough to understand all of it.

Anyways, that negative association with the US Democratic party seems to have passed, at least for now, but I really think people are mainly just curious to see what happens. I'm sure some positive news from the (recently suffering) Japanese Stock exchange (due to expectations from the election results?) probably helps, but - then again - it's also probably somewhat biased to only be talking to teachers and parents in a semi-rural community, who have potentially different opinions from those in, say, the business sector. But, hey, that's what I've got...

Coverage

Well, Obama, Japan (which has selling Obama regalia for a while now and cashing in on the name-coincidence since the primaries) has definitely been getting a lot of coverage as far as Japan's reaction goes, but I think overall, the expat community was mostly excited and a lot of Japanese people didn't follow. One of my coworkers did tell me her 10 -year-old daughter had to do a presentation for her 4th grade class yesterday and decided to discuss the election, however. Some of the kids apparently knew a bit about the election, too, meaning their parents have probably been talking about it...even though they had no idea it was this week. As far as celebrations went in this area, though; I wasn't downtown (in Kobe or Osaka), so I can't tell you what the scene was like there, but I'm guessing it was about the same as any other day.

Most of the headlines today are already changing to more forward-looking pieces about how Obama will cope with key issues (the economy, especially) and how it may affect the current state of our nation, but I don't remember seeing this much international coverage in past elections, however. It's pretty amazing.

I need to get back to work. I'm trying to plough through some notebooks before the mountains build up again (and so I can get home to get some rest instead of working on them... still feeling "blah"), but this is definitely an exciting week.

Whale Wars

Check out this trailer for a new Animal Planet show called Whale Wars. The premise is that a group of people (from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) are trying to deter Japanese ships from whale hunting, while simultaneously dismantling larger-scale plans for the Japanese to commence in full-scale commercial whaling.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Japanese whaling, but the official Japanese stance/defense is that they hunt the whales in the name of research, and they are very obviously not pleased with the (non-violent) intrusion when the Sea Shepherd crew shows up to confront them. Hmm. I will add that I've seen whale sashimi here in Japan more than once, but I guess you can form your own opinions and morals about this topic. For now, it looks like a good show, if nothing less:



The show premiers on November 7.

The World Wakes...

Check out this article for more reactions to Obama's victory from around the world!

Most of us in Japan have been at work since the news was announced (there's a 14 hour time difference between Chicago and Osaka so we got the news just before lunch on Wednesday), but my cell phone received an influx of emails (texts) when the news was first announced, not to mention all the Facebook activity I shared with you before.

There's definitely a feeling of excitement from both Americans and other foreign nationals living in Japan.

History in the Making - The Reaction to OBAMA's win!

Within 10 minutes of the announcement that Obama had won enough electoral votes to secure the US presidency, people around the world were already voicing their opinion, obviously following along with as much anticipation as myself.

Check out some of the status updates from my friends on Facebook (again... this is only 10 minutes in). Also note that names have been conceiled for privacy (no, I don't really know that many Jacks and Jills):

Jill wonders where Conservatives escape to? North Korea has both aggressive foreign policy and protectionist ideals.

Jill is rockin' the obama vote !! yay !!

Jack hopes that Obama follows thru with his idea of putting together a BCS Playoff in College football. that would be GREAT!

Jack is still tired, but managed to do a little jog for Obama in spite of it all!

Jill is rockin' the obama vote !! yay !!

Jill says 'let the change begin'.

Jack is expecting the next four years under your candidate to be blamed on George Bush like usual.

Jack is Laughing because he knows nothing will change. Bring on the Tax Raise!

Jill is bouncing off the ceiling, shouting for joy: YES!!!

Jill went to the bathroom to have a wee bit of a victory cry.

Jack : Holy Wow.

Jill congratulates Obama.

Jack BBC news: Projected Electoral Vote for McCain: 155, Obama: 333. McCain's concession speech said it pretty well.

Jill ..Obama is the new president of the Unites States of America.

Jill is ecstatic!!! Why is she at work? She wants to celebrate!

Jill is excited to be watching history being made, but hoping Obama reconsiders his position on free trade w/Colombia. :-(.

Jill is now allowed to return to the States.

Jack is watching CNN and congratulating all Americans!

Jill is no longer proud to be an American and is very disappointed in her fellow Americans.
One of 17 Comments:
- We paid for it with Carter and now we will pay for it with Obama. Palin is the future of this party and she will win in 2012. We live and die as a country, even if we have to feel the pain from the lazy stains in this country. The hard working make this country work and will keep doing so.

Jill is wow, I'm just so happy.

Jill is really sick, but doesn't really care right now because the election is OVER!!! Way to (ba)ROCK the VOTE!

Jack BBC news: Projected Electoral Vote for McCain: 145, Obama: 333. McCain's concession speech is saying it pretty well.

Jack is SO HAPPY, EXCITED and RELIEVED.

Jack is :))))))))) and yes i do have a double chinned smile..

Jill vi vant vi vant vi vant!!!!

Jill says YES WE CAN!!! So proud. So hopeful.

Jill is jumping up and down in joy!!!!

Jill [DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE BARACK IS COOKING?!]

Jill is so excited that my dad AND Obama won!

Jack this week is awesome and it's only Tuesday. Happy Dance!!

Jill is going on holiday to celebrate the election success!

Jill is BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!! OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jill shouts yahooo! (and opens a bottle of champagne!)

Jack blue homes!

Jill screamed happiness in the staff room when the election results came in and got a staff room full of heads turning. YES!

Jack wishes he was back in Chicago right now for this wonderful, historic evening in American history. Yes he did.

Jack is excited about Obama and Congress, hopeful about Franken and Prop 8, and looking forward to checking out B-schools in San Francisco tomorrow!

Jack feels like he should write something about the election. But my face was already blue three days ago! ;).

Jill is happy and relieved.

Jack BBC news: Projected Electoral Vote for McCain: 155, Obama: 338. Lets see what Obama has to say about the night..

Jill is America is back on track!

Jill is grateful for her Norwegian citizenship. Norway here I come!!!

Jill is a happy camper right now.

Jack is glad it's a Democratic government again.

Jack is not excited to board this Jimmy Carteresque express train to economic ruin.

And the reactions are multiplying and being updated by the minute...

The Palin Trail... Becoming the Gov

I had such a great Halloween weekend! I'm still not feeling well and am heading to bed soon, but thought I would share just a few pictures before I do.

It might be a few days before I get the pictures I took developed (used a disp. camera), so here's a few from friends to just give you a peek of how the costume turned out...

Pic 1) You know you're serious when you cut your hair for a costume (Deyi cut my bangs with her hair razor, based on this pic of Palin). I think the bigger hair did work a little better:

Pic 2) Getting into character:

Pic 3) A few nights before Halloween, some friends helped me make Palin 2012 Election stickers and a t-shirt. It was a pretty fun night... here's election headquarters:

Pic 4) Me as Palin with John McCain (showing off my Palin '12 election t-shirt underneath the coat) on our way to a Halloween party in Osaka. Note the small $150,000 price tag on the left pocket of my jacket...haha:

Pic 5) And the Maverick team with Obama, of course: