During my desperate unemployed days, I was answering ads for focus groups and random little things like that. Paul's friend, Nikki, knew I had just returned from teaching abroad and teaches English at a night school in Corona, Queens. She was going to be gone during Thanksgiving week, so she asked me back in October if I would sub for her adult night class on Tuesday before Thanksgiving at a local community center.
Of course, I said yes since it was a two hour gig that didn't seem too difficult, and it sounded like a fun way to pass an evening. Of course, I didn't think I would be working a full time job AND a part time job, so I was pretty screwed. Thankfully the class started at 6pm and I get off work at 5, so I had JUST enough time to get on the 7 train and ride the hour out to the primarily Hispanic neighborhood in Corona. Before then, I never really knew where Corona was (isn't that a beer?) and realized afterwards that even Simon and Garfunkel sang about Corona!
Goodbye to Rosie, the queen of Corona,
Seein' me and Julio down by the schoolyard
Armed with vague directions and a loose lesson plan, I walked down from the elevated train tracks and found myself standing between 41st Avenue and 41st Avenue, looking for the "grocery store with lots of signs and the stairs that go up next to it". I was confused enough about the two streets with the same name and couldn't figure out which direction to go when I felt a heavy wet drop on my head.
I realized that I had been standing under a huge tree full of burbling pigeons and the ground around me was pickled with white pigeon poop! Argh!!! what luck!! I finally saw a set of stairs wedged in between a McDonald's (that would've been a great landmark) and a deli with a bunch of signs written in English and Spanish (ahhh, the "grocery store"). I ran up the stairs as the 6:00 bells started ringing and burst into the little community room. There were about 6 or 7 people already there and they turned around to see me rush in, wiping bird poop out of my hair.
I broke the ice by telling them the bird poop story and we all got a good laugh. The community center was kind of run down and old but seemed adequate and safe. I set my bag down next to a table that looked like it was covered with wet mylar balloons or something and wrote my name on the whiteboard. Nobody really called me "Laurie" the whole night anyway- I was always referred to as "Teacher".
Anyway, although this was an adult English class, their level was not much different from my Japanese high school students. The class is pretty dry- we were teaching them the basics of English grammar, practicing the "subject, verb, object" pattern of sentence structure, but there were a few students who just blew me away. The class is offered free to the community for recent immigrants and I was amazed to see how motivated they were to be participating. They were wedged into those little desks with the built-in armrests and everyone was eager to call out answers. It looked like many people had just come from work- at one point, a dude walked in wearing a sombrero and a guitar slung over his shoulder. Couldn't figure out if he came in from a gig on the subway or a restaurant or something?!?
The director stopped the class about a half hour before the class was to end to announce that there was going to be a turkey raffle because it was Thanksgiving week! He pointed to the table of "mylar balloons" (oh, didn't I feel stupid- I have never seen a whole frozen turkey) and said that we were all going to get a chance to win one of the turkeys! He passed around these raffle tickets and insisted on giving me one but I resisted, feeling that I wasn't really a part of this community... Then the whole class got in and insisted that I join because I was the teacher and I had come all the way out there to teach their class. So I gave in and took a ticket. Then they had me pick the first winning ticket out of a bag. The trepidation and excitement on everyone's faces was contagious- I practiced my Spanish and read out the numbers... As I read out the last number, one of the guys shouted in and everyone cheered and clapped.
I passed the bag to him and told him to choose the next winner, and so it went for the next 4 turkeys. But, the crazy thing was, I WON one of them! I really felt bad because at that point, I was like, hey, it's just me, and these people all have families and aren't doing that well- I feel terrible. When they had picked all the winners, the director snapped a bunch of photos of us, and then steered us to the table of frozen turkeys. He handed the largest turkey to me, "the Teacher" but I put my foot down. If I was to join in this raffle, I would get the smallest turkey because I live alone and don't deserve a huge turkey. They conceded and so that's how I ended up carrying a 12 pound frozen turkey on the train home that night. Maybe what they say about getting pooped on is true... maybe it is good luck!!
Showing posts with label school anecdotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school anecdotes. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Pepper
Throughout the year, I have seen this painting several times at various school functions, art shows, etc.
And each time I saw it, I just stared at it in amazement... I loved the colors and looseness and finally asked about it in March.
Turns out that one of my favorite 3rd year students had painted it! I told my teacher to tell Nozomi that I loved the painting and would be interested in buying it to bring back to NY with me. Well, graduation came and went, and my teacher got married- and both of them left Miyazu for the big city of Kyoto.
A few weeks ago, I went down to Kyoto and had lunch with that one teacher to catch up. To my surprise, she brought the painting! Apparently she had told Nozomi that I really loved it and wanted to buy it, but she refused to sell it, repeating that she wasn't good enough to sell her work yet! Her payment was that I picked hers out of all the other students' work!!!
I am constantly amazed by Japanese generosity and humbleness.
And each time I saw it, I just stared at it in amazement... I loved the colors and looseness and finally asked about it in March.
Turns out that one of my favorite 3rd year students had painted it! I told my teacher to tell Nozomi that I loved the painting and would be interested in buying it to bring back to NY with me. Well, graduation came and went, and my teacher got married- and both of them left Miyazu for the big city of Kyoto.
A few weeks ago, I went down to Kyoto and had lunch with that one teacher to catch up. To my surprise, she brought the painting! Apparently she had told Nozomi that I really loved it and wanted to buy it, but she refused to sell it, repeating that she wasn't good enough to sell her work yet! Her payment was that I picked hers out of all the other students' work!!!
I am constantly amazed by Japanese generosity and humbleness.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Toilet humor
The other day, I went to use the restroom ("toilet") at school. The women's faculty restroom is on the 1st floor, and even though it is farther away from the office, I use it because it has the only "western" toilet in the school (along with 3 "eastern style" ones. All the "eahttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=31329864&postID=8475796422240394985stern" toilets are basically holes in the ground (or like urinals on the ground which you have to straddle) and I still haven't gotten used to them.
The Japanese have this belief that doors to the toilets should ALWAYS be closed- maybe it's because toiletes should not be in plain view or whatever... When I told them that the doors to our bathrooms are usually left open in our own homes, (but of course, closed in public places) I was given these looks of shock and horror. However, I explained that most of the time in American homes, our toilets are in the same room with the sink and tub/shower, and we keep the doors open for ventilation and also to show that there is no one using the bathroom.
Curiously enough, when I go into the faculty restroom, the door to the western toilet is closed, but the doors to the hole in the floor toilet are always open. Like those are a good view?!?
Anyway, back to the story. So the other day, I went to use the restroom. I came in, and turned on the lights as usual. I put my hand towel on the shelf above the sink (no paper towels in this country) and went to the "Western" toilet, where, of course, the door was closed. Out of habit, I knocked on the door (even though it was obvious that no one was in there since it was dark in there when I came in) and then opened the door.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! To my surprise, one of the young office secretaries was in there! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!! I was horrified!!! She was horrified!!! We were both frantic. I'll spare the details but basically I just slammed the door shut and ran into one of the other stalls. I could hear her speaking in Japanese, flustered and muttering and I was like "sumimasen-ing" and "gomenasai-ing" while trying to get out of there as soon as possible.
OH MY GOD. But then, afterwards, I realized- hey- I gave MANY warnings that I was coming in... First, I turned on the lights, then I knocked on the door, and this girl didn't even lock the door to her stall! So was I in the wrong? I suppose not, but just the horror of opening the door on someone was a bit traumatizing. I'm sure it was probably more traumatizing for her though.
Anyway. Funny anecdote to tide you over until I finally update from my recent travels!
The Japanese have this belief that doors to the toilets should ALWAYS be closed- maybe it's because toiletes should not be in plain view or whatever... When I told them that the doors to our bathrooms are usually left open in our own homes, (but of course, closed in public places) I was given these looks of shock and horror. However, I explained that most of the time in American homes, our toilets are in the same room with the sink and tub/shower, and we keep the doors open for ventilation and also to show that there is no one using the bathroom.
Curiously enough, when I go into the faculty restroom, the door to the western toilet is closed, but the doors to the hole in the floor toilet are always open. Like those are a good view?!?
Anyway, back to the story. So the other day, I went to use the restroom. I came in, and turned on the lights as usual. I put my hand towel on the shelf above the sink (no paper towels in this country) and went to the "Western" toilet, where, of course, the door was closed. Out of habit, I knocked on the door (even though it was obvious that no one was in there since it was dark in there when I came in) and then opened the door.
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! To my surprise, one of the young office secretaries was in there! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!! I was horrified!!! She was horrified!!! We were both frantic. I'll spare the details but basically I just slammed the door shut and ran into one of the other stalls. I could hear her speaking in Japanese, flustered and muttering and I was like "sumimasen-ing" and "gomenasai-ing" while trying to get out of there as soon as possible.
OH MY GOD. But then, afterwards, I realized- hey- I gave MANY warnings that I was coming in... First, I turned on the lights, then I knocked on the door, and this girl didn't even lock the door to her stall! So was I in the wrong? I suppose not, but just the horror of opening the door on someone was a bit traumatizing. I'm sure it was probably more traumatizing for her though.
Anyway. Funny anecdote to tide you over until I finally update from my recent travels!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Muggy
So this afternoon around 3pm, there was a short siren in the teacher's staff room, and all of a sudden everyone jumped out of their desks making all this commotion. They were running around, pulling up the blinds, shutting windows, and chatting excitedly.
I thought we had a school evacuation or that it was going to start pouring at any second or something. Finally a teacher explained to me that the school just turned on the air conditioning system! Even though the weather has been in the 70s and 80s everyday for the last few weeks (some days it's so muggy that our papers curl up on our desks), the Japanese have exact dates when things can or cannot happen.
For example, Japanese swimming season is only from like July 20th until August 15th or something- if you go in 1 day early or 1 day late, you are either politely asked to not do it, or you just get horrified stares.
Or, the "heating" season that they have in schools... The kerosene fueled portable heaters are brought into the classrooms and staff rooms only from a certain date to another date (like December 15th until March 15th) even if it's incredibly cold before or after that. What killed me is that one day in March, I was walking around the school and noticed like 10 of the portable heaters grouped at the end of a hallway, all turned on. I asked a teacher what was going on, and he said that they obviously can't store the heaters with the kerosene gas in them so they just fire them up and leave them on until they run out. WHAT?!?!? How about bringing them into the classrooms a little earlier and keeping them a little later so that the people who NEED them during the awful bitter winter could use them?!?
Today's air conditioning is just a "test" though.
Officially, they are not allowed to turn on the air conditioning until July 1st.
Ooooooh.... I'm teling.
I thought we had a school evacuation or that it was going to start pouring at any second or something. Finally a teacher explained to me that the school just turned on the air conditioning system! Even though the weather has been in the 70s and 80s everyday for the last few weeks (some days it's so muggy that our papers curl up on our desks), the Japanese have exact dates when things can or cannot happen.
For example, Japanese swimming season is only from like July 20th until August 15th or something- if you go in 1 day early or 1 day late, you are either politely asked to not do it, or you just get horrified stares.
Or, the "heating" season that they have in schools... The kerosene fueled portable heaters are brought into the classrooms and staff rooms only from a certain date to another date (like December 15th until March 15th) even if it's incredibly cold before or after that. What killed me is that one day in March, I was walking around the school and noticed like 10 of the portable heaters grouped at the end of a hallway, all turned on. I asked a teacher what was going on, and he said that they obviously can't store the heaters with the kerosene gas in them so they just fire them up and leave them on until they run out. WHAT?!?!? How about bringing them into the classrooms a little earlier and keeping them a little later so that the people who NEED them during the awful bitter winter could use them?!?
Today's air conditioning is just a "test" though.
Officially, they are not allowed to turn on the air conditioning until July 1st.
Ooooooh.... I'm teling.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Quit "bugging" me!!!
Current situation: Warm and rainy, about 22C (72F)- it's rainy season now.
Rice fields are lush and green, frogs are croaking, flowers and vegetable gardens are in full bloom- as are all the other creatures of our animal kingdom.
So, I am REALLY a "city girl", but now that I live in the countryside, I have to refer to myself as an "inaka-ette" ("inaka" means "country-side" in Japanese and the French suffix "-ette" gives a more refined sound than just "girl"). I wish I could be comfortable lying on the grass without worrying about ants crawling up my skirt or getting squeamish about insects and rodents.... But no. I am a total pansy.
My apartment is full of moths, flies, mosquitos, crunchy delicate-ish black insects these days.... i'm killing at least 30-40 a night. Last night I sprayed insecticie all over my window screens and the edges of the window where they slide past eachother. Guess what happened? All the tiny little insects that could get in between the window and screen flew in, and got STUCK to the insecticided glass. So now I have like hundreds of dead insects stuck to my windows.
On the other hand, I have found several lizards crawling around on my windows, and I'm told that they are good luck- they are known as "protectors of homes"- I couldn't imagine how many more bugs there would be if I didn't have these little saviors around.
Apparently, I don't know how to open and close windows properly. Jun came over yesterday and told me that I either have to keep the windows ABSOLUTELY closed and locked OR they must be ALL the way open so that the edges of the window frames are butt up against each other to close the gap between the glass and frame... OH!!!! Well, that might help.
At least I'm not Jannie- she had a 1 metre long snake slithering around her school yesterday. And these creatures were found IN her house....
The "mukade" - a scary and poisonous centipede- was found only a few centimeters away from Jannie's hand crawling down her stairs!!
And these "koorogis" are harmless crickets... ugh!!
Semi-related rant....
I showed up at school the other day and got to my desk- there's a big purse on my chair, like one you'd put a laptop in, and there's a form on my desk from my supervisor to fill out. The paper, and my desk was covered with like 40 tiny dead insects!!!
I asked my JTE who sits next to me what the hell was going on, and she explained that at night, the insects fly into the teachers room because of the lights, and then they just hover around the lights and then fall and die on top of our desks. She was like, yeah, we have to wipe off our desks every morning. (Um, what?!?!? Is this efficient?!?)
So, i wiped off my desk, stamped the forms, and then saw my supevisor coming by, I assumed, to pick up her purse off my chair. She walked by and said good morning to me, and reminded me to stamp the form, and walked back to her office... So, I finally aske the JTE about the purse on my chair since I still haven't sat down, and she's like, "OH! That purse? Oh, that's mine! Sorry!!!"
What the hell?!? She's seriously got some issues. Paul said I should fill her purse with dead flies.
Rice fields are lush and green, frogs are croaking, flowers and vegetable gardens are in full bloom- as are all the other creatures of our animal kingdom.
So, I am REALLY a "city girl", but now that I live in the countryside, I have to refer to myself as an "inaka-ette" ("inaka" means "country-side" in Japanese and the French suffix "-ette" gives a more refined sound than just "girl"). I wish I could be comfortable lying on the grass without worrying about ants crawling up my skirt or getting squeamish about insects and rodents.... But no. I am a total pansy.
My apartment is full of moths, flies, mosquitos, crunchy delicate-ish black insects these days.... i'm killing at least 30-40 a night. Last night I sprayed insecticie all over my window screens and the edges of the window where they slide past eachother. Guess what happened? All the tiny little insects that could get in between the window and screen flew in, and got STUCK to the insecticided glass. So now I have like hundreds of dead insects stuck to my windows.
On the other hand, I have found several lizards crawling around on my windows, and I'm told that they are good luck- they are known as "protectors of homes"- I couldn't imagine how many more bugs there would be if I didn't have these little saviors around.
Apparently, I don't know how to open and close windows properly. Jun came over yesterday and told me that I either have to keep the windows ABSOLUTELY closed and locked OR they must be ALL the way open so that the edges of the window frames are butt up against each other to close the gap between the glass and frame... OH!!!! Well, that might help.
At least I'm not Jannie- she had a 1 metre long snake slithering around her school yesterday. And these creatures were found IN her house....
The "mukade" - a scary and poisonous centipede- was found only a few centimeters away from Jannie's hand crawling down her stairs!!
And these "koorogis" are harmless crickets... ugh!!
Semi-related rant....
I showed up at school the other day and got to my desk- there's a big purse on my chair, like one you'd put a laptop in, and there's a form on my desk from my supervisor to fill out. The paper, and my desk was covered with like 40 tiny dead insects!!!
I asked my JTE who sits next to me what the hell was going on, and she explained that at night, the insects fly into the teachers room because of the lights, and then they just hover around the lights and then fall and die on top of our desks. She was like, yeah, we have to wipe off our desks every morning. (Um, what?!?!? Is this efficient?!?)
So, i wiped off my desk, stamped the forms, and then saw my supevisor coming by, I assumed, to pick up her purse off my chair. She walked by and said good morning to me, and reminded me to stamp the form, and walked back to her office... So, I finally aske the JTE about the purse on my chair since I still haven't sat down, and she's like, "OH! That purse? Oh, that's mine! Sorry!!!"
What the hell?!? She's seriously got some issues. Paul said I should fill her purse with dead flies.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Grrrr.... Rainy rant!!!
It was hard to get out of bed this morning without the sunshine pouring into my bedroom like it normally does. Instead, it was dark and gloomy outside, threatening rain at any second. Finally dragged myself to my computer to check the forecast for this morning and breathed a sigh of relief that it wouldn't rain until about 3pm. The air was heavy and I opened the windows for some fresh air.
Got ready for work (school) while listening to NPR, made an uplifting breakfast of a fried egg over cheese w/ tomatoes on a toasted English muffin with my daily double espresso. (Am I in Japan or New York?!?) Yummy, put me in better spirits.
Was finally ready and packing up my bag when it suddently started to POUR outside... huge fat raindrops, a real downpour. Stupid weather forecast. Then I smelled a stench like rotten eggs. i thought.... oh god... my eggs went bad. Oh no!!! and i just ate the whole thing- but it didn't taste bad... what?!?
I went over to shut my window and there HE was. The toilet waste tank vacuum guy. Right, it's the end of the month. He was vacuuming away at the in-ground tank at my neighbor's house. I guess mine was next. No mask or anything. Maybe gloves, I didn't care to check. I slammed my window shut, took a deep breath and ran out of my house.
CRAP. Forgot to pick up my keys to lock my door.
Ran back in, took a deep breath, grabbed my keys.
CRAP. Forgot my umbrella.
Ran back and grabbed the umbrella. Deep breath. Ran back out.
Ran down the stairs. Oh god! Frantically fumbling to open the umbrella while balancing my laptop bag and purse on my forearms. Couldn't BREATHE!!!
Took a breath, almost threw up from the smell. (Note to self... breathe through the mouth!!)
Breathed through my mouth... the thought grossed me out so much that I almost passed out. Practically hyperventilating now. Ran past the waste truck and jumped over its miles of pulsating tubes from the vacuum and half ran/walked to school.
My pants I JUST picked up from the dry cleaner yesterday were falling off my hips so the hems were dragging on the ground while I was walking. (Have I really lost that much weight?) Was trying to balance the umbrella to shield my laptop bag and purse while simultaneously pulling up my pants and now my socks had wriggled down below my ankles! What?!? Had to stop in the middle of the street to adjust the socks, yank up the pants, readjust the heavy bags, and reorient the umbrella to the rain. Finally made it to school as the bell rang, with dirty muddy hems and wet socks.
And now, it's stopped raining.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
My First Baseball Game
Saturday, May 19th... a cold, dreary, rainy day.
It was the annual sports tournament (baseball, volleyball, basketball, tennis, etc.) between all the high schools of the Tango area. I, along with most of the Miyazu students and staff not participating in other sports, was ordered to go to watch the baseball game between Miyazu and Kaiyo High Schools.
Tanaka-sensei & I had to stand in the cold rain on the side of the main road ("highway"?) making sure the students were "safe" as they biked their way to the city baseball grounds- tucked away uphill, through a dark narrow tunnel, in some remote location. They were soaked and exhausted as huge trucks and heavy winds nearly blew them off the road. (If we're being "forced" to go this game, WHY don't we have schoolbuses taking us there?!?) "The officials" were going to decide 5 minutes before the game started whether or not it would be canceled due to rain (and then the students would have to bike BACK in the rain). After a half hour of this torture, we finally got in the warm car and drove up to the grounds, passing the miserable students. The game was ON and an announcement was made for "severly wet" students to go home if they wished. NONE went home.
Anyway, the game was fantastic. I sat and cheered on the Miyazu side-the team members who weren't playing in that game were in the stands with us, wearing their practice uniforms and cheering, singing, chanting in unison for their fellow players. It was awesome- they had a different song and chant for each player and play. There were stolen bases and bunts, homeruns and lots of sliding on the muddy field. Miyazu's baseball team was perfectly coordinated, great pitching, throws, and catches. Kaiyo, on the other hand, was terrified of the ball (catching or hitting). They didn't wake up until the 6th inning, but the game was finally called in the 7th inning- Miyazu, 10: Kaiyo, 2.
This makes me really excited to go see a Yankees (or Mets) game when I get back to New York!!!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
"What do you do during your free time?"
So, I'm correcting my students' handouts from our lesson on "hobbies and free time"...
They had to interview each other and ask what they were doing each day of the week, and then had to invite eachother to join them. Then, they had to write a complete sentence summarizing what they were doing each day.
I had given them a box with all these choices like: Go shopping, hang out with friends, study, play baseball, listen to music, sleep, etc.
Here's how one of the dialogs went:
Eri: Hi Risa, what are you doing on Friday?
Risa: I'm going to the beach. What are you doing?
Eri: I'm sleeping. Do you want to join me?
Risa: Sure, sounds great!
Complete sentence: "On Friday, I'm sleeping with Eri."
Uh, maybe "sleep" shouldn't have been one of the options! ha ha!!
They had to interview each other and ask what they were doing each day of the week, and then had to invite eachother to join them. Then, they had to write a complete sentence summarizing what they were doing each day.
I had given them a box with all these choices like: Go shopping, hang out with friends, study, play baseball, listen to music, sleep, etc.
Here's how one of the dialogs went:
Eri: Hi Risa, what are you doing on Friday?
Risa: I'm going to the beach. What are you doing?
Eri: I'm sleeping. Do you want to join me?
Risa: Sure, sounds great!
Complete sentence: "On Friday, I'm sleeping with Eri."
Uh, maybe "sleep" shouldn't have been one of the options! ha ha!!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
good news, bad news
I always hated that question: "Do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news first?" I mean, do you want to dilute the "good" with the "bad", or sweeten the "bad" with the "good"?
Either way, you just don't want the bad news at all. But, I suppose that's what life does to you... forces you to make lemonade out of lemons, or however that saying goes.
Well, today, I heard some bad news which made me so incredibly sad and question how horrible awful things can happen to good people and then I heard a really cute heartwarming anecdote that made me feel all happy and love life again.
Since the bad news involves the personal life of a very close friend back home, I don't want to share too many details... However, it has really made me value my life, my friends, and those who I love, above all. We may work as hard as we can in the hopes of securing that raise, that promotion, that financially stable future, but if we don't enjoy life now, we may not be able to.
The news of an extremely rare but very serious cancer striking a friend of mine, the same age as me, really shocked me. It shows how vulnerable we all are, and how cancer blindly attacks us all... it doesn't judge how good a person's character is. I wish with all of my heart and soul that my friend will be able to recover, and live a long and healthy life with his wife and family.
The heartwarming story that cheered me up came from my friend Bryn. Back in February, I had visited his junior high school on an "open day" and met some of his students. I really got along with two of them in particular, and since then, they have (through Bryn) repeatedly, almost on a daily basis, asked for me to hang out, have ice cream, play, etc. Unfortunately, with my busy work schedule & traveling and the students' insane homework / sports obligations, we still haven't had a chance to meet up.
Today, in their lessons, they were learning prepositions such as "by the door", "on top of my head", "next to...", etc. and then they had to make up their own sentences. So, the two of them made some that went something like this:
S: "Oh, Laurie!"
K: "Laurie? Where is Laurie?"
S: "Laurie is... on my heart!"
This is the same student who (again, through Bryn) insisted on sending me a text message after he had found out about my grandmother's passing: "Laurie's obaasan (grandmother) go to heaven. I'm sad too. Please be happy again soon Laurie."
These are the most adorable 12 (?) year olds I have ever met, and I wish I could take them back to New York with me. It's innocent stories like this that make me smile and believe that there is hope in our future.
Either way, you just don't want the bad news at all. But, I suppose that's what life does to you... forces you to make lemonade out of lemons, or however that saying goes.
Well, today, I heard some bad news which made me so incredibly sad and question how horrible awful things can happen to good people and then I heard a really cute heartwarming anecdote that made me feel all happy and love life again.
Since the bad news involves the personal life of a very close friend back home, I don't want to share too many details... However, it has really made me value my life, my friends, and those who I love, above all. We may work as hard as we can in the hopes of securing that raise, that promotion, that financially stable future, but if we don't enjoy life now, we may not be able to.
The news of an extremely rare but very serious cancer striking a friend of mine, the same age as me, really shocked me. It shows how vulnerable we all are, and how cancer blindly attacks us all... it doesn't judge how good a person's character is. I wish with all of my heart and soul that my friend will be able to recover, and live a long and healthy life with his wife and family.
The heartwarming story that cheered me up came from my friend Bryn. Back in February, I had visited his junior high school on an "open day" and met some of his students. I really got along with two of them in particular, and since then, they have (through Bryn) repeatedly, almost on a daily basis, asked for me to hang out, have ice cream, play, etc. Unfortunately, with my busy work schedule & traveling and the students' insane homework / sports obligations, we still haven't had a chance to meet up.
Today, in their lessons, they were learning prepositions such as "by the door", "on top of my head", "next to...", etc. and then they had to make up their own sentences. So, the two of them made some that went something like this:
S: "Oh, Laurie!"
K: "Laurie? Where is Laurie?"
S: "Laurie is... on my heart!"
This is the same student who (again, through Bryn) insisted on sending me a text message after he had found out about my grandmother's passing: "Laurie's obaasan (grandmother) go to heaven. I'm sad too. Please be happy again soon Laurie."
These are the most adorable 12 (?) year olds I have ever met, and I wish I could take them back to New York with me. It's innocent stories like this that make me smile and believe that there is hope in our future.
Monday, April 23, 2007
The Great Fall of 2007
Wow.... I thought that maybe I had finally broken my curse since I didn't have a "Fall of 2006".
For those who haven't known me that long, I have had a "Great Fall" for each year since the late 90's, ranging from slipping on a wet sidewalk and bringing garbage cans down with me (2000) to balancing precariously on a cable car in SF and ending up doing a very desperate pole dance to regain my balance (2002) to tripping over the railroad tracks and then having the train doors pull off my fingernail in order to try to keep them from closing on me when I was late for work one morning (1999).....
Read the book when I've finally finished it "I'm Not Japanese and Other Short Stories" for the rest of the "Great Falls".
Anyway, for today's mortifying fall....
I FELL OFF MY BIKE THIS MORNING.
IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL ENTRANCE.
RIGHT WHEN ALL THE STUDENTS WERE WALKING BY.
THERE WERE SOME THAT JUST STOOD THERE IN SHOCK.
THE BOYS LAUGHED AND SHOUTED "RO- RII!!!!".
2 GIRLS RAN OVER AND HELPED ME UP.
I SCRATCHED UP MY BEAUTIFUL BRAND NEW (EXPENSIVE) BLACK PATENT SHOES FROM HONG KONG.
I HAD TO GO TO THE SCHOOL NURSE TO GET MY HAND BANDAGED UP AND EXPLAIN MY STORY.
I don't know how fast word will travel around school... (I'm not sure but I have a feeling this is the type of stuff that students will snicker about behind my back, but hopefully this wil be one of those Japanese things where it's so bad that they just don't talk about). It was definitely a "hazukashii" moment.... I may have just negated any "coolness" factors I have strived so hard to attain.
Jason- you were supposed to adjust my bike seat back down to its original level!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'M DOOMED.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
American students don't sleep?!?!
This is kind of an old story but it's still funny. A few weeks ago, I visited Bryn's junior high school on their "open day" (basically for parents to come to school and observe the students & teachers). I went because I wanted to see the level of the English being taught in the 3rd year classes since many of them would be my first year students during the new school year, and also because Bryn has raved about how fun and great his students are.
So, I went, and it was surprisingly one of the more fun days I had in Japan. We just walked around the school, observed a few of the English classes, ate lunch and hung out with the students, watched them during cleaning time (in Japan, the students do all the cleaning, not the janitors!) and warming up for their after school sports. By association, I was immediately "cool" for hanging out with Bryn, and some of his 1st year boys really took to me, which I found very flattering since high schoolers are "too cool" to latch on, much less talk to you (well, for me, that is- I think foreign guys seem to get more of the swooning attention of high school girls).
Anyway, to get to the point- I was talking to one of the English teachers after the lesson and he was extremely apologetic about how awful his English was and how boring I must have been in his class (oh so Japanese)... so I kept reassuring him how impressed I was with his fantastic English.
So he then asks me: "Is it true that in America, students don't sleep?"
Of course, I'm taken a little off guard, and I'm thinking that maybe he's finding similarities between American and Japanese students? So, I respond with something like, "Well, I suppose they don't sleep a lot, but yeah, they do sleep!"
Japanese teacher: "But I heard that you don't!"
Me: "Maybe some students don't, I suppose. I guess it just depends! If you have a lot of homework or a job and stuff, then you just sleep less."
JT: "So how often do they sleep then?"
Me: (What?!?) "Umm, like 8 hours?"
JT: "8 HOURS?!?!?"
Me: "OK, well, maybe 6 or 7? It depends!"
JT: "Wait, they do that (he points to a student sweeping the floor) for 7 hours?!?"
Me: "OHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! SWEEP!!! I thought you said sleep!"
And then I think back on the conversation and how weird and hilarious it must have sounded from me to be saying that students in America SWEEP for 8 hours!!! ahhh well. This time it was an accent thing, I think, and not my failing hearing....
The embarrassing thing was that this was RIGHT after I had insisted on how great his English was! eek!
So, I went, and it was surprisingly one of the more fun days I had in Japan. We just walked around the school, observed a few of the English classes, ate lunch and hung out with the students, watched them during cleaning time (in Japan, the students do all the cleaning, not the janitors!) and warming up for their after school sports. By association, I was immediately "cool" for hanging out with Bryn, and some of his 1st year boys really took to me, which I found very flattering since high schoolers are "too cool" to latch on, much less talk to you (well, for me, that is- I think foreign guys seem to get more of the swooning attention of high school girls).
Anyway, to get to the point- I was talking to one of the English teachers after the lesson and he was extremely apologetic about how awful his English was and how boring I must have been in his class (oh so Japanese)... so I kept reassuring him how impressed I was with his fantastic English.
So he then asks me: "Is it true that in America, students don't sleep?"
Of course, I'm taken a little off guard, and I'm thinking that maybe he's finding similarities between American and Japanese students? So, I respond with something like, "Well, I suppose they don't sleep a lot, but yeah, they do sleep!"
Japanese teacher: "But I heard that you don't!"
Me: "Maybe some students don't, I suppose. I guess it just depends! If you have a lot of homework or a job and stuff, then you just sleep less."
JT: "So how often do they sleep then?"
Me: (What?!?) "Umm, like 8 hours?"
JT: "8 HOURS?!?!?"
Me: "OK, well, maybe 6 or 7? It depends!"
JT: "Wait, they do that (he points to a student sweeping the floor) for 7 hours?!?"
Me: "OHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! SWEEP!!! I thought you said sleep!"
And then I think back on the conversation and how weird and hilarious it must have sounded from me to be saying that students in America SWEEP for 8 hours!!! ahhh well. This time it was an accent thing, I think, and not my failing hearing....
The embarrassing thing was that this was RIGHT after I had insisted on how great his English was! eek!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
it's been awhile....
Sorry for the delay in updating.... I finally downloaded the pictures from the last month. I've been trying to keep busy since Paul left! (sniff, sniff)
So, to share a bit of a day in the life.....
Friday, I had the randomest day, or a day of "firsts", I suppose.
I went to the library for the first time (the nice librarian begged me
to visit during the bon enkai before Christmas). Checked out some children's storybook to practice reading my hiragana. I filled out the "library card" and she stamped the little card, and put into the pocket on the front cover- wow, what a flashback!
Then, found out the ichi-nenseis had some sort of New Years game ("Hyaku ni Ishu"?). They were supposed to have memorized 100 traditional Japanese poems- and the first 3 lines of the poems were being read, but only the last few lines of the poems were on the cards. They were sitting in groups on the gym floor and grabbing the cards as the poems were being read by teachers. I walked in and had a card shoved at me. The teachers were like- "OOOh, Rori! This will be so fun! READ THIS!!!" It was all in kanji and hiragana, and the students were so busy concentrating that they didn't know I was up next. When they heard this awful gaijin voice reading (er, struggling with) Japanese, they all bolted up an were like WTF????!!! But I think it gave the students some comfort that it is difficult for me to read Japanese, just as it is hard for them to read English...
So, after that, I got back to the staffroom and was inquiring about some information and they were like, yeah, you should have received that in your mailbox. MAILBOX???!!?? what mailbox? uh, so 6 months after I've been here, I find out that I have a mailbox in the staffroom... right, so there was stuff from last August in there- but luckily most of the stuff wasn't really important. It was frustrating- like what? could someone have mentioned that when I got there? or after it's packed and overflowing, someone could probably realize that I probably had NEVER checked my mail?
Later on, when i was in the faculty restroom all these teachers rushed in
and started taking off their stockings! They were like "Take off your
stockings and come with us! Hurry!" so i did, thinking... WTF.... ok, here goes another Japanese experience.... so we all marched into the nurse's office where there were already a bunch of teachers, men and women, barefoot in the dead of winter, all waiting in line to stick their feet into this contraption where they jellied up one foot with "conductivity jelly" and stuck it into this machine which measured our... calcium level? bone density? i think. it was pretty hilarious... and soooo random.
Then, went to dinner at my favorite izakaya with Bryn, Jannie, and Jun. Another delicious meal and then for the first time, went to the only bar in lwataki, a snack/karaoke bar. The older woman who runs the place is probably the most stylish, energetic, funky woman this side of Tokyo. She welcomed us (well, Bryn, the regular) with screams and open arms, continually filled and refilled our glasses and plates, and shoved the karaoke book/mic at us. All of the other patrons were older Japanese locals who were all singing old Japanese songs- all of which Bryn creepily knew. We decided to pull an oldie-but-goodie and give them a rendition of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". I must admit we livened up the place a bit. The decor of this place was mid-80s modern- plastic-y silvery gray wall panels, black ceilings, chrome accents, pink corduroy-ish velour-ish sectional sofas, and rounded black little barstools. So eerie. I was looking for a framed Patrick Nagel to complete the scene.
oh... a day in the life.
So, to share a bit of a day in the life.....
Friday, I had the randomest day, or a day of "firsts", I suppose.
I went to the library for the first time (the nice librarian begged me
to visit during the bon enkai before Christmas). Checked out some children's storybook to practice reading my hiragana. I filled out the "library card" and she stamped the little card, and put into the pocket on the front cover- wow, what a flashback!
Then, found out the ichi-nenseis had some sort of New Years game ("Hyaku ni Ishu"?). They were supposed to have memorized 100 traditional Japanese poems- and the first 3 lines of the poems were being read, but only the last few lines of the poems were on the cards. They were sitting in groups on the gym floor and grabbing the cards as the poems were being read by teachers. I walked in and had a card shoved at me. The teachers were like- "OOOh, Rori! This will be so fun! READ THIS!!!" It was all in kanji and hiragana, and the students were so busy concentrating that they didn't know I was up next. When they heard this awful gaijin voice reading (er, struggling with) Japanese, they all bolted up an were like WTF????!!! But I think it gave the students some comfort that it is difficult for me to read Japanese, just as it is hard for them to read English...
So, after that, I got back to the staffroom and was inquiring about some information and they were like, yeah, you should have received that in your mailbox. MAILBOX???!!?? what mailbox? uh, so 6 months after I've been here, I find out that I have a mailbox in the staffroom... right, so there was stuff from last August in there- but luckily most of the stuff wasn't really important. It was frustrating- like what? could someone have mentioned that when I got there? or after it's packed and overflowing, someone could probably realize that I probably had NEVER checked my mail?
Later on, when i was in the faculty restroom all these teachers rushed in
and started taking off their stockings! They were like "Take off your
stockings and come with us! Hurry!" so i did, thinking... WTF.... ok, here goes another Japanese experience.... so we all marched into the nurse's office where there were already a bunch of teachers, men and women, barefoot in the dead of winter, all waiting in line to stick their feet into this contraption where they jellied up one foot with "conductivity jelly" and stuck it into this machine which measured our... calcium level? bone density? i think. it was pretty hilarious... and soooo random.
Then, went to dinner at my favorite izakaya with Bryn, Jannie, and Jun. Another delicious meal and then for the first time, went to the only bar in lwataki, a snack/karaoke bar. The older woman who runs the place is probably the most stylish, energetic, funky woman this side of Tokyo. She welcomed us (well, Bryn, the regular) with screams and open arms, continually filled and refilled our glasses and plates, and shoved the karaoke book/mic at us. All of the other patrons were older Japanese locals who were all singing old Japanese songs- all of which Bryn creepily knew. We decided to pull an oldie-but-goodie and give them a rendition of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". I must admit we livened up the place a bit. The decor of this place was mid-80s modern- plastic-y silvery gray wall panels, black ceilings, chrome accents, pink corduroy-ish velour-ish sectional sofas, and rounded black little barstools. So eerie. I was looking for a framed Patrick Nagel to complete the scene.
oh... a day in the life.
Friday, September 22, 2006
ESPRESSO!!!!
Pauly sent me my beloved wonderful lovely stunning worn-in decade-old cherished Italian stovetop double espresso maker!!! and freshly ground Porto Rico Importing Co. espresso beans!!! I really thought I could wean myself off coffee and enjoy the healthy benefits of green tea.... but after smelling that wonderful strong aroma, and then tasting it.... well... I'll never be able to stop. Sorry mom and dad- I may have to just stop in Italy "on the way" back home so that I can get a year's supply of good cappuccinos and espressos in me to make up for lost time. Am I still pretty hyper after 14 hours? Maybe.
Paul also sent me a box of animal crackers which I shared with my ICC students. I made each one of them tell me the animal they got (in English) and one poor girl got a "hippopotamus". Of course I made her say it a few times and THEN told her that in America, we just call them "hippos". Hee hee hee.
Paul also sent me a box of animal crackers which I shared with my ICC students. I made each one of them tell me the animal they got (in English) and one poor girl got a "hippopotamus". Of course I made her say it a few times and THEN told her that in America, we just call them "hippos". Hee hee hee.
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