TT (=To Tokyo, according to Kotomi)

Tomorrow the 8th graders are taking a field trip. To Tokyo. Groups of 4 or 5 kids will scatter, unsupervised, for 4 hours, in one of the largest cities in the world. Sure, they each have an itinerary and a guide book and a rented cell phone to contact a teacher in case of emergency...but they're going to Tokyo!! This is incredible to my American teacher mind. Tokyo's only about 2 hours away, so you'd think they'd have all been there lots of times...that this is old news to them. But today Fukuyama Sensei tells me that they have to be taught how to buy subway tickets. Apparently they aren't all that adept at navigating their way in Tokyo. Do field trips like this happen in America? I don't think so.....but I'm always comparing to teaching in elementary school-- where kids aren't even allowed to go to the bathroom unsupervised during a field trip where they're all contained on the same floor of a small museum where there are 5 supervising adults for every 20 kids-- and what I can remember from my own jr. high days. Despite my disbelief surrounding this whole experience, I'm confident that all 158 of the students will complete their assignments and show up at the designated place and time. No one will be hurt or separated from their group or using the cell phone to call the teachers and tell on anyone. How does this work? Why can't this work in America? Lots of factors, I suppose...

$90 field trip to Tokyo-- every teacher should sign their class up!

Yesterday I went shopping in Tokyo.

Yesterday I went shopping in Tokyo.
I bought Tide and a big* box of cereal.
HA! ;D I know these are not what people typically think of when they hear the phrase "shopping in Tokyo", but I can't think of anything I could have bought that would have made me happier than these two essentials.
I was there with my friend James...in the international grocery store we laughed about how excited we were to find such basic items as laundry detergent we can identify and cleaning products whose labels we can read. Here they really are rare luxuries found only in select places. We were in the uppity Roppongi district where the grocery store was full of people (ambassadors and such) wearing diamonds like they were going to a gala, and the parking lot was full of BMWs and Audis.

*By "big" I mean a box of cereal that would be considered "normal" size at home, but here is exorbitant compared to the "normal" size Japanese cereal** boxes that last me about 4 days.

**Note of Interest: You know how the cereal boxes at home usually have serving suggestions like, "add strawberries" or "sprinkle on top of yogurt"? Well, in Japan the serving suggestions show pictures of the cereal drizzled with salad dressing and mixed with lettuce and tomatoes.

Let's catch up!

So I'm about 4 months late with sharing these writings, though there has been much to say. Some of these stories I'm sure you won't believe. I wouldn't, if they weren't my own. About a week or so ago, James, one of the other JET English teachers in my city, commented that if he had heard any of our ("our" means Dave, Lesley, Chris, Matt, Mischa, James, and me) stories before coming here, he totally wouldn't have believed them. He'd have thought, "No way! They're exaggerating!" We all agreed. Even now we are stunned at the absurdity and resulting comedy of SO many of the situations that occur in our daily lives! Others of these entries are just my observations of and reflections on life here. Though perhaps not as entertaining, I hope you will still find them interesting. 始めましょうか？ Hajimemashyoka? (Shall we begin?)

July 28, 2008
I'm in Tokyo. Apparently I live in this country all of a sudden.