Right now I'm enjoying two of my favorite things about Japan: かぼちゃ 天ぷらとこたつ (kabocha tempura and my kotatsu). :) Life is good, ne? Kabocha is Japanese pumpkin, and a kotatsu is a table w/ heating underneath (this is a necessity, due to the nationwide absence of residential central heating).
Two really great-- no-- three...no! FOUR really great things happened today! :)
One: had a super fun and understandable conversation (IN ENGLISH!) with Donhyon and Kazuyuki after 3rd period today.
Two: Hiromi gave me a thumbs up and a smile when she came out of Kochyoo Sensei's office this afternoon; that means she passed her most recent h.s. entrance exam. sweet happiness.
Three: INTERJECTION-- I just thought of two more! Man, this day has been great! ...in so many simple ways. -- Okay, three: I ran into Takaki, Ryotaro, Yuuto, Ryo, and Tsuyoshi as I was going into Bunshindo (DVD rental and book store) after school today. When I pulled up on my bike, Ryo and Takaki's eyes got big with disbelief! ;) LOL! (It always cracks me up that kids are so surprised to see teachers outside of school.) Takaki shouted (as usual), "MYAAA!" and Ryo said, "aaah, Mya chan!" Aaaaw, he called me "chan". :) This means he likes me and thinks of me as a friend more than a teacher. [In America, as a teacher, I wasn't supposed to be "friends" w/ students...but here I don't have to manage classroom behavior, so I don't have to maintain those same strict boundaries. I'm allowed to be "friends" w/ students, and actually, I think my role here is closer to friend (i.e. someone students speak to (in English)) than to teacher.] To hear "Mya chan" from him was heartwarming.
Four: Yoshii Sensei asked me, "How are you?" BEFORE I asked him. This is phenomenal. For a Japanese teacher, other than those who teach English or who previously lived in America, to ask me how I'm doing without me first soliciting them for this info is unheard of. I was so happy! I'm sure my smile spread across the width of the stairwell where we were passing each other. When I asked him in return, he said, "Fine", but then paused, and I said, "Really?" ;D At dinner w/ a few of the other young teachers on Friday night, one of them asked me, "Do you think the teachers at Ohrui Chu are friendly to you?" Um, aah...what should I say?? Ehhh to..."I think they're nice...but not friendly. Tatoeba, Tamura Sensei brings me bread regularly, and Okada Sensei bought me peach tea and a kanji reader...so they're really nice to me. But on a daily basis they don't greet me. If I don't ask how they are, they'll NEVER ask me first." [I will soon post a letter I wrote to the teachers (not for them to see, just for me to express) regarding this a few months ago.] I explained that in America everyone asks, "How are you?" If you work with someone you don't even like that much, you will still ask, "How are you?" But here, people don't ask that...so I don't think they're friendly. "Or maybe Japanese people are friendly in a different way."-- Now I'm just being polite and open-minded. Yoshii Sensei said (in Japanese), 'Okay from now on I will ask you!' He also brought up and we discussed how Japanese people think the right answer to the question, "How are you?" is "I'm fine. Thank you. And you?" (more on this later!!! I'm overwhelmed at trying to tackle this subject in print, so I've left it yet untouched.) He said that when I ask him how he is he says, "Fine, thank you." but that sometimes he's NOT fine. To this I replied-- with a little bit of sadness in my heart-- "I know!" I told him that he can say other things...like "I'm tired", "I'm great", and I taught him the phrase "I'm stressed out!" Today he followed up his "fine" by saying he wasn't stressed out. よかった。
Five: I received a "Congratulations!" (on your wedding) card today. :) How charmingly pleasant. And unexpected. It was from "Shirley" (spoken in a loud, high-pitched voice...with the last syllable elongated and pronounced "ay"), the tea lady. Her real name is Nakazato San. She wears rose-colored glasses, literally. And today I noticed that the sticker w/ the prescription strength on it is still on one of the lenses. She speaks to me in fluent Japanese, and for some reason expects-- and seems to fully believe-- that I can understand. I'm amazed...I have no idea why she thinks this. I mean, she barely pauses for a breath when I repeat unknown words questioningly and open my dictionary to search for them. I only look up about every 11th word I don't know...because she is on a roll, and she is not stopping for me to understand her. I think she thinks I'm fluent or something...or, I don't know. (But I'm not.) Anyways, today she gave me the wedding congratulations card as a thank you card. I'm sure she doesn't even know what the word "Congratulations" is...she-- like everyone here-- just likes to see English in print...and she thinks the houses on the front of the card are kirei (pretty), not realizing that the one in the middle with the cross on top is a wedding chapel. I loved, LOVED receiving this card! She got one of the English teachers to help her, and she carefully penned, "Dear Mya San, Thank you very much for your Christmas card. I'm keeping it. Yukie Nakazato" And she told me that she was so happy to receive my Christmas card and that she showed it to her husband. Really, this one interaction and card could have made my month...yet it came bundled with so many other wonderful moments today.
Lastly for today-- Six: I ate shark for lunch today. It was school lunch.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Reminder: God answers prayers.
This first week back has been super busy, and I've been exhausted, and it wasn't possible to get done everything that I needed to....but I felt like the things I was doing-- planning a meaningful and engaging Christmas lesson for the 2nd graders, writing Christmas cards for the teachers, going to Japanese class-- were really important and that I shouldn't just not do them even though what I really wanted to do was sleep. This morning I woke up overwhelmed at the day...trying to mentally process how I could possibly finish all I needed to for school today. As I was hurrying to finish as many Christmas cards as possible before I absolutely had to leave my apartment to get to school on time to make copies and give out "omiyage" (souvenirs you are pretty much required to bring back from any trip; this time I brought the single serving cups of vanilla coffee creamer), I prayed that God would somehow give me more time to finish everything. When I got to school and saw my schedule for today, there were two free periods. I wasn't supposed to have any! I was supposed to teach every period today, but for some reason the two 4th grade classes were cancelled and ONE of the 6th grade classes was cancelled (to have ONE class in a grade level cancelled is REALLY unusual). I ended up with an open second period, which was just before the two classes when I would teach about Christmas....which is one of the things I needed more time to prepare for. And I ended up with an open sixth period....which was after all my lessons were done today, so I could focus on finishing up the teachers' Christmas cards. SO GREAT! God answered my prayer. Amazing! It was an encouraging and joyFUL reminder that God is doing stuff and I'm just supposed to work with Him-- not do the work on my own. right.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
today at the copier
oh gosh-- there are a million stories i wanted to tell in order to "catch up" to life now. but it's not realistic at this point, so i'm just gonna tell current stories and fill in the others when i have free time.
today. today was the first day that some of my students-- 9th graders-- found out the results of their first entrance exams for high school. ugh! i was worried about them while i was home on break-- knowing that by the time i arrived back, some of them would have already taken their first exam-- which to them is (seemingly) the most crucial moment of their lives. the stress!!! they must study like crazy, CRAZY to get into a good high school so they can get into a good college so they can get a job at a good company and be secure for the rest of their lives. (this is what they think. i think this is what they think.) aaah! they're 14 and 15! they're kids, but the stress and pressure they feel FAR surpasses their years. (sigh) it makes me really sad. i asked many of them, yesterday and today, if they'd taken their first exam yet, and if so, how it went. almost everyone said the exams were very difficult. one of the top students (well, i think he's a top student...because he speaks english very well, and i figure english must be the toughest subject they have) told me that he didn't pass his exam. i was really shocked. i didn't know what to say...he was obviously really disheartened. i asked Sutou Sensei-- the 9th grade english teacher-- about it later, and she said he didn't even know the test results yet, that he must have just been worried that he didn't pass, so he said he didn't. i was relieved, yet even more stunned...that his discouraged response wasn't even based on fact, just his intense fear of not passing. Sutou Sensei thinks he'll pass; i really REALLY hope so. man, i am overwhelmed FOR these kids. the fatalistic mindset of "pass these exams, or fail life" seems pretty prevalently held. it just so happened-- to my great delight, yet coinciding discomfort-- that i needed to make copies (at the copy machine near Kochoo Sensei's (principal) office door) this afternoon at the same time that students were going in one-by-one to receive their results...i got to watch their faces as they emerged from his office. some were beaming smiles. others were stunned...faces pink with embarassment. some hung their heads. Shiro saw me looking through the window from the copier into the hall, and when i raised my eyebrows at him to ask, "so...???" he gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. :) YESSSS!!!! i was sooo thrilled! Achi exchanged happy bows (the verb: bow, rhyming with cow; not something girls wear in their hair) with a couple teachers who happened to be in the hall when he passed by. i was happy, and not at all surprised. i think he'd pass any test he took. Kouki talked with Sutou Sensei and Suzuki Sensei in the hall for quite awhile. his face was serious, and so were theirs. were they giving him advice?-- i wondered. options for what to do now?-- now that he likely didn't pass his first exam. i was really thankful that i needed to be at the copier at that time, because otherwise i would have just been sitting at my desk staring longingly through the window, wishing i had a better view of what was going on. it was like a roller coaster ride. exciting and terrifying. i mean, my heart sank when i saw those faces of defeat. i love these kids. i so want them to know the peace of Jesus deep in their hearts and to know that their worth and identity really aren't at all about whether the test results are 良かった (yokatta) or だめです (dame desu).
today. today was the first day that some of my students-- 9th graders-- found out the results of their first entrance exams for high school. ugh! i was worried about them while i was home on break-- knowing that by the time i arrived back, some of them would have already taken their first exam-- which to them is (seemingly) the most crucial moment of their lives. the stress!!! they must study like crazy, CRAZY to get into a good high school so they can get into a good college so they can get a job at a good company and be secure for the rest of their lives. (this is what they think. i think this is what they think.) aaah! they're 14 and 15! they're kids, but the stress and pressure they feel FAR surpasses their years. (sigh) it makes me really sad. i asked many of them, yesterday and today, if they'd taken their first exam yet, and if so, how it went. almost everyone said the exams were very difficult. one of the top students (well, i think he's a top student...because he speaks english very well, and i figure english must be the toughest subject they have) told me that he didn't pass his exam. i was really shocked. i didn't know what to say...he was obviously really disheartened. i asked Sutou Sensei-- the 9th grade english teacher-- about it later, and she said he didn't even know the test results yet, that he must have just been worried that he didn't pass, so he said he didn't. i was relieved, yet even more stunned...that his discouraged response wasn't even based on fact, just his intense fear of not passing. Sutou Sensei thinks he'll pass; i really REALLY hope so. man, i am overwhelmed FOR these kids. the fatalistic mindset of "pass these exams, or fail life" seems pretty prevalently held. it just so happened-- to my great delight, yet coinciding discomfort-- that i needed to make copies (at the copy machine near Kochoo Sensei's (principal) office door) this afternoon at the same time that students were going in one-by-one to receive their results...i got to watch their faces as they emerged from his office. some were beaming smiles. others were stunned...faces pink with embarassment. some hung their heads. Shiro saw me looking through the window from the copier into the hall, and when i raised my eyebrows at him to ask, "so...???" he gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. :) YESSSS!!!! i was sooo thrilled! Achi exchanged happy bows (the verb: bow, rhyming with cow; not something girls wear in their hair) with a couple teachers who happened to be in the hall when he passed by. i was happy, and not at all surprised. i think he'd pass any test he took. Kouki talked with Sutou Sensei and Suzuki Sensei in the hall for quite awhile. his face was serious, and so were theirs. were they giving him advice?-- i wondered. options for what to do now?-- now that he likely didn't pass his first exam. i was really thankful that i needed to be at the copier at that time, because otherwise i would have just been sitting at my desk staring longingly through the window, wishing i had a better view of what was going on. it was like a roller coaster ride. exciting and terrifying. i mean, my heart sank when i saw those faces of defeat. i love these kids. i so want them to know the peace of Jesus deep in their hearts and to know that their worth and identity really aren't at all about whether the test results are 良かった (yokatta) or だめです (dame desu).
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