Weekdays: Working and Surfing

Teaching II

Teaching at junior high is pretty great. Partly because it’s easy; I don’t really need to prepare much for class. I generally do the greeting (how are you, the weather, day, date), have them repeat vocabulary or dialogues, perform skits with the teacher, and wander around the class and provide help / make corrections on worksheets. There's also plenty of just standing in the back. Last week, I pretended I was a McDonalds cashier and the 2nd year (8th grade) students would have to come up and order from me, for a grade. The first years have a song of the month they start class with, this time it’s ‘Hello Goodbye’ by the Beatles which I still haven’t gotten sick of. However, I am quite worried about having to sing the Backstreet Boys 25 times. Actually I’m looking for songs that won’t drive me crazy to show to the teacher right now. Little luck so far, maybe a few Motown songs that would work.

The Office
Ahh, office life. It’s just like the show, kind of. Public schools familiar to me in the US, teachers are found in their rooms. Here, the kids stay in the same room and the teachers move, thus the teacher’s office is the center of teacher operations and most of the teacher’s time is spent there.

I have my own desk that also happens to have good neighbors. On my left is the student teacher who lived in Canada and speaks great English which is always nice. To my right is the P.E. teacher who’s my age, very cool guy, isn’t afraid to try speaking English even with making mistakes. Across from me is Shinohara-sensei, though I heard she’s retiring soon. She doesn’t speak any English but we get along really well. The two English teachers I work with (remember I’m an assistant teacher) couldn’t be better as well. There are about 25 employees in the office, and I know about half of them somewhat well. It’s a pretty friendly atmosphere, occasionally facilitated by nomi-kai’s, or drinking parties. Even with the language barrier, we have our office jokes, sometimes play pranks; my stuffed lion toy is always in some new position fighting the imitation snake (which has scared quite a few when placed in desks). Going over the lunch for the day which usually is new and surprising to me, is always good for a laugh, too.

When anyone arrives for the day, first the arriver, and then the rest of the office say “O-ha-yoo go-zai-maaaaaaahsss” (good morning (polite)) and when I leave I must say “O-sa-ki ni shi-tsu-rey-shi-masu” which means “I’m sorry for leaving first”, they reply with “thanks for giving it your best”. It’s my first taste of office life and it definitely makes work a happier place.

I’ve also started to say “eto”, (ayy-to) and “ano” a little, which is the Japanese version of “ummmm”. I definitely say “aaayyyyyy” which means “what????” Or “wowww” and is surprisingly very common. I also throw in lots of aahhhh’s and oooohhh’s. I’m sure I’ve gotten much better at communicating without words.

A way to avoid complex verbal thanking is the bow. I like bowing, it’s a bit like a head nod, which, come on, we’ve all done before. It’s done all the time here, fortunately it is rare that it turns into the bow-athon, where one person bows, the other returns it, and on and on and on, trying to be the last to show gratitude, and so on. Even in vehicular interactions, the hand wave is replaced by the bow.

Surfing Part IV

It feels like half of the last two weeks have had overhead swell and offshore wind. It’s been pretty unreal. Usually I get out of school and head right to the beach, with only an hour before the sun starts setting. The sunsets have been gorgeous, its colors bleeding the whitewater pink or orange. Lately, I’ve been staying in past sunset, until the moon shines brightly in the deep blue sky. The other day we saw a blood red full moon rise just after the sun set. As I get out, scores of bats scour the beach. Then I ride my bike back against the prevailing offshore winds, sometimes consciously trying to avoid breathing through my mouth as I am often hit by moths or mosquitoes.

The full moon's kinda a big deal here. I went to the local McDonalds for the first time and had a limited edition Moon Watching Burger. We also had an honorary school lunch for the full moon, with this egg/meat thing resembling a moon and special candies.