Frustration and conversations with the Japanese Culture

Well lets just say communicating with people or doing things in Japan isn't always roses and sunshine. It can be very frustrating to spend 45 minutes trying to play enough charades to figure out what each side wants. My interactions seem to happen more often than other teachers because I'm so clueless.

On the Bus:
 When you get on the bus you need to take a ticket and then pay when you get off the bus. There is a change machine right there that looks like you are supposed to drop your money into it. Wrongo! You are supposed to drop exact change with your ticket into this big bucket looking thing. Lets just say, I screwed up the timing for the stops for the rest of the route trying to figure it all out as people were waiting behind me.


At the ATM:
Generally taking money out of the ATM is kind of like playing the lottery the first couple times. Its all in Japanese. Basically you press buttons till you magically get to the amount that you want. If you do it wrong your card shoots back at you and you dont get your money. Its like a fun game especially when Japanese people are breathing down your neck waiting to take money out.

Also, today I found out one of the buttons lowers the amount you can take out at the ATM. It basically looks to me like I'm taking money out but really the amount I put sets the limit; not what I want to withdraw. In my trip to the ATM last week I set my limit for $100 (I'm roughly converting for the ignorant here;)). I wanted to take out $900 yesterday but it kept shooting my card back at me with some receipt I couldn't read. Went to the bank today and found out the button I pressed is not the withdraw button.

With food:

This is my most frequent mistake. I will generally buy something thinking its one thing and it turns out to be something completely unexpected. Yesterday, I opened up this package of dinner rolls I bought only to find out it was some sort of hamsteak. With further taste and smell investigation, it definitely wasn't ham. All I know is that it definitely wasnt a dinner roll and it smelled like the Boardwalk in Grand Haven after they get done cleaning their catch for the day.

At restaurants I will order something and they ask a question and its like 5 minute stand-off. I'm thinkin can't she just give me this thing exactly like it is in the picture and shes thinking why does this guy have no clue what he's ordering? I spent 40 minutes Sunday trying to order a dessert Sunday. By the time I got it I didnt even want it.

Teaching high school:

High School has been an interesting challenge for me because generally, my third grade students have a higher level of english comprehension than the older kids. At first, it feels like I am just performing on stage to them and they give me blank stares. Conversations can also turn awkward when you have to explain things you assume they understand. In explaining a story to students, I started talking about why farms smell so bad. I said there is lots of cow manure. Of course, they dont understand what manure is. After beating around the bush, I finally explain with actions a cow is pooping and grass grows from it. They all gave me the weirdest looks haha.

Interactions are not always so bad though. The first Sunday I came back a bunch of us walked through a part and were stormed by about 10 middle school girls that said "hello." We told them we were from America and they started to clap and cheer. It was great.  During a picnic a nice old Japanese woman shared this big piece of cheese they grilled and asked where we were from. We ended up having a conversation about Jack Bauer and Michael Scott.

There's definitely a lot of give and take with life in country you don't quite understand but I'll take the experience any time.

Why I have the teacher's dream job

With all the negativity for teachers in the media and the bleak outlook across the US. I can't express enough how truly blessed I am to be working at MeySen Academy. I know many friends thought I was crazy for going back to this job after all those earthquakes but when a school really takes care of you both as a professional teacher and as a person its hard to not want to come back to them.What jobs can you think of that would drive you up to a military base on their own dime and also pay for your stay in a hotel if needed after the earthquakes.

Since being back, I have started taking Japanese lessons at the international center. It was here that I really noticed how well I had it. During orientation they talked about the services they provided and people were giving testimonials about what they had to do in the earthquake. So many were with little to no food, and were cramped into shelters with hundreds to thousands of people they didn't know. Some of these people came over just like me to teach and work. In the few days I was in Sendai after the earthquake, I never had to worry about where I'd sleep or if I would eat. We had it so well given the circumstances.


I know many people are graduating and looking into the teaching field and starting to look internationally. Though every job has its own issues I want to share why i think I have a teachers dream job:

• We have 3 hours of planning time and  teach 2 hours a day
• Daily lesson plans can be very generic and generally are pretty easy to get into a routine of
• Your curriculum maps are done for you. There are no real committees to be on outside of your grade level meetings once in a while. 
• The school is tuition based and there is very little out of pocket cost for supplies
• The School is beautiful. There are constantly people cleaning something. They even have people rake the stones in the playground to make it look nice every day. 
• It is literally the best playground I have ever seen and you are expected to play with your kids at recess
• Many of your coworkers seem more like family than just someone you work with. We basically live in our own English speaking world 6 days a week. 
• The kids are generally great. You always have your kids that like to mess around but generally come from a stable background.
• The school takes care of all the Japanese paperwork and has an assistant that can translate and take you to doctors, immigration, etc. 
• The immersion program is adding a new grade every year for the next 2 years so they are guaranteed to need more teachers. Also, many American teachers only come for a year or two so there are always jobs need to be filled. It provides great job security for someone wanting to stay here.
• The salary and incentives are very comparable to some tenured US teaching jobs. 

I could go on in so many different directions. Of course, there are draw backs such as moving to a new country, earthquakes, etc. Things can also get mundane and stressful at others just like any other job. Its also tough to be away from family and friends especially missing out on events you cant afford to make it home for (like a best friends wedding). I didn't mean for this to be a recruiting tool but if your interested let me know.

A walk through MeySen

The steps from the immersion building parking lot to playground area.

The kindergarten playground

My office is in the immersion building at the bottom of the hill and my classroom is at the top of the hill. This is the start of the walk.

More

The view from the top of the hill. You can barely see the building my office is in. Its no fun forgetting something.

The building my classroom is in.

Double Slides

our own Animal Barn.

Monkey bars shaped like a plan and a Kangaroo

The top of the longest slide i have ever seen.

The bottom of the longest slide I have ever seen

Jungle gym in the forest

I've been so busy lately that I've really been neglecting this blog. I hope to make another post soon. Here or some photos of what my campus actually looks like. Definitely the coolest playground I've ever seen at a school.

Miss everyone back home! Hard to believe its been almost a month since ive been back.

Photos of my school and classroom

Its been great having my own classroom and to finally feel like I have a real job. This past week we had some time off to go exploring and I also finally got time to get into my room alone and try to actually figure out where things are. The interesting thing about my room is that I share the room with a Japanese kindergarten teacher so I have to clear out all of my stuff on a daily basis.  Also, she does not speak much English so trying to cooperate with each other takes an interesting turn. Both 3rd and 4th grade classrooms were moved to the older buildings where regular friends club meets (kids that come twice a week). Because of this, I have to lug my stuff from my office in the Immersion building to my classroom up the hill, going to have legs of steel by the end of the year.

The immersion building where most other Immersion teachers have classes and where my office is.

Sadly, not part of our school but a picture I took in Akiu on a day off. It was so beautiful I had to add it.

The building for my classroom

This is where they all take their outside shoes off and put inside shoes on. Also lots of cool fish tanks. Sadly, there were

My classroom

The door to my classroom: It says Tsubaki I think. Its some kind of flower.

How many schools do you know have a nice fireplace in between classrooms.

my board

The one bulletin board I get.

My classroom space.

 Its been great so far. Yesterday, we had an open house even though I only taught 3 days. The parents seemed very nice but it is difficult holding conversations because some of my students speak better English than their parents.

Home in Sendai: Back to Relative Normal

After being delayed a day in Chicago, I finally got back to Sendai Thursday night around 11PM. In all honesty, it really felt like I never left. I got to my cleaned apartment (thanks Aaron!) and passed right out. Before, I flew over I made many comparisons to the first time I flew to Japan. I got in about the same time, I even flew together with the same person I got here with the first time. The first time I came, I literally had no clue what I was in for. I had very little concept of what Japan would actually look like, sound like, smell like. I had no idea what my apartment would feel like. In coming back, I had an image in my head of what Tokyo airport would look like, riding in the car for 5 hours back to Sendai, and my apartment layout. It was all very familiar to me. It felt like home.

Friday, we had a national holiday (I can't keep up with them) so our school had a bbq. It was a great way to see all my friends that were already back altogether. Everyone was very excited to eat hamburgers on the grill. Sadly for me, the last thing I ate in the U.S. was a burger so I wasn't exactly craving them. Also, we got the chance to live it up in the beautiful weather playing some kickball and ulitmate frisbee. It was just a great day back.

Saturday, was the first day I got the chance to teach my students. A kindergarten teacher was teaching them after her day was over while I was gone. I'm sure she's thrilled to give them back! I was happy to take them. Its truly a powerful feeling to have your own classroom of students that call you their teacher. Its something that so many people don't have the privilege of understanding (especially when you read about the cuts to education across the US). The day went pretty smoothly though I kind of felt like a substitute teacher in my own class because I had no clue where anything was. I think I'm going to really like my job.

These experiences bring me to why I chose to come back to Sendai. Most people in the U.S. and some in Japan would say you'd be crazy to go to Sendai after looking at all the news and everything. The truth of it all was that I did have a sense of fear about everything especially having been on both sides of the issue. I was home for a decent earthquake they had in April and felt the panic that is brought on by the news. The truth of the matter is that when its my time to go, it just is. A million different scenarios could happen. This doesn't mean I should just hide in my house for the rest of my life.

I think fear is healthy. Fear is what makes me not drive into on coming traffic when turning right over here. Fear makes you think about things and even keeps your mind more focused on what could happen so you are prepared. Fear is different from panic. Panic is hysteria that keeps you from doing what you would naturally do under a sound mind. Though I am afraid of more earthquakes, it does not put me at a sense of panic that would keep me from coming back to the experience I set off on a few months ago.

When I left for Misawa, I purposely left a lot of my clothes. There was a feeling that I would be heading home when I went but I chose to leave things because it gave me a reason to come back. Its kind of like the ex-girlfriend that leaves her favorite hairbrush at her boyfriends in hopes she can come back for it to rekindle that magic. Well I have come back to rekindle the magic. This time last year, I had no clue I would ever set foot on Japanese soil in a million years. Now, I can't imagine life without this experience.

Though I enjoyed my time at home and glad I could come home to see so many family members and friends, I am glad I'm back home here in Sendai.


*Though we are starting to get back to normal there is still a lot of relief effort that needs to be done. I know so many people in the U.S. have lost so much in the recent weeks of storms but please take some time to visit our site and see what relief effort is still going on and what needs to be done. Earthquakes are still a several times a day occurrence here. Though we have the luxury to just roll our eyes to most of them now. Many people are not so lucky. Visit here

My Desk

Kickball Game on a beautiful day off

Of course one of the first things I had to do coming back was Karaoke. I posted a video taken on my facebook if you can stomach it hah.

This a picture at the store right behind my apartment. It took a lot of damage in the earthquake and only recently reopened with many blue tarps covering sections of the store.

This where we made that ordering mistake the night before the earthquake and ordered all that food. It is slated to be torn down.