Ugh Kim! The human race IS a beautiful kind caring species. I see that EVERYWHERE here. In Japan there's this unity, where everyone is looking out for each other. I witness it everyday. I FEEL IT. In the states I felt it too. But only with my hippie family. hehe. Honestly its sad that a lot of Americans will never know what I'm talking about. When I discovered that music scene the music obviously drew me in first. But the people I met were what glued me there. I've never met so many open, kind hearted, groups of people. No ones there to judge anyone probably because none of these people are insecure enough to feel the need for judgement. Just have fun. Dance. Listen to music. Camp. Get back to life without technology. Go back to our innate roots. I love it. I feel homesick already knowing I won't be apart of that for a long time. : ( But in Japan its different. You don't need to go to music festivals to be amongst it. (And don't get me wrong I'm not saying these are the ONLY people in America like that. In my experiences though I have never been with such an abundance of people like this anywhere else.) This whole country is built on the idea of community and well being. Its not a self centered nation at all. I thought that maybe all these people were being nice to me and wanting to help because I'm white at first. But nope. I look around and everyone just genuinely cares about everyone else. It's REALLY refreshing to see that such a large population of people can live like this. Is that how New Zealand felt too?
Day 1 (Tuesday)
I wake up at 7am. Make breakfast: eggs, croissant, and orange juice and tea. Sit down to eat it while I’m skyping with a friend. I noticed while I was cooking the eggs that their yolks are darker than I remember eggs from back home being. I kind of just try to ignore this little detail because it makes me uncomfortable to really wonder why the yolks are so dark. I start to eat. These eggs taste ummm not bad. But different? Different in a worse way though. Maybe it’s because I was being frugal and got the cheaper ones? Hmmmm. I suck it up and eat them. I’m going to need the energy for my first day of school! -__- I get dressed put my coat on. Find my gloves that have big frogs on them because I want the kids to be able to see them and hopefully warm up to me. These gloves were passed down to me from Lauren or Lindsey… we got them REALLY cheap at this pacsun outlet in the Dolphin Mall. Seriously that outlet used to sell pacsun clothes for like $1-$10. Anyways these gloves kind of look like they could be puppet type things and I've just been trying to put myself in 3-6 year olds shoes. I try to think about what would help them warm up to me. Feathers and frogs? Seems like a good start. I start my little walk to English Plus.
It was rainy this day. But not Florida rainy where you’re guaranteed a good soaking. Just drizzly. I see the mountains still but they’re really smokey. Have I talked about the mountains yet? They’re all around me and they're massive. They’re beautiful. A couple of them are snow topped. Mt. Fuji is definitely snow COVERED. But I hardly saw Mt. Fuji my first couple days because it was so smokey. Showa and Minami are in a basin surrounded by the Japanese Alps. Actually Yamanashi (which is like the U.S equivalent of a ‘state’ I want to say) where Showa, Minami and a couple other cities are all in this basin. But any direction you look you see these massive mountains. Remember I temporarily live in Showa which is closer to the middle of the basin, farther away from the mountains. The Kindergarten (and my ACTUAL apartment which is located directly next to the Kindergarten
The first car arrives. A Japanese woman with a cute short haircut and a TINY TINY little girl. One of the smallest at the kindergarten actually, hop out. The little girl is wearing a protective mask over her face. You know the ones that people in America wore when everyone was scared they'd get the swine flu? Actually in the mall, outside of the airport, at the city hall I had seen these masks scattered. I thought that some people here were just super paranoid about getting sick. Come to find out its considered polite if you yourself are feeling ill to wear them. To protect everyone around you from maybe catching what you have. I can't stop looking and smiling at this little girl. SHE'S TINY. I wave and say good morning to both of them. The little girl hides behind her mom while her mom is trying to encourage her to say good morning back to me. More cars arrive. There's about 15 kids I want to say that I ride the bus with. All of these little kids are escorted by their moms. I think two of them their dads. A lot of these kids are dressed pretty stylish actually, not like frilly american little girls, but dressed as miniature fashionistas. Their hair however gives them away with little kid barrettes and pom poms. But perfectly done, you can tell their mothers strategically place every hair in the right place. All of these little kids shy away from me when I say hello. But not the moms. The moms are all extremely interested in me and are trying their darndest to get their kids to say hello back. Most of the kids are at their moms butts trying to clime in it looks like. haha cmon guys. Look at these frogggies! The moms realize their attempts are futile and decide to just gather around me to get to know their new teacher. It seems like half of them know pretty good English and the other half knows bits and pieces. One of the mom is asking when I got here, how I like it. Where i'm from. Florida? You must be freezing! You're not used to the cold. I explain that I went to school in North Florida ((WHATUPTALLAHASSEEEEEE)) and that it actually got pretty cold there. No not this cold, but pretty close. They're interested in my major. They're interested in me. I in them. They welcome me to Japan and hope I enjoy my stay. I've said to all the little kids good morning and if they didn't jump immediately under their mothers jacket they would fidget around uncomfortably and barely whisper a good morning back. Shoot. I hope this isnt harder than I thought. One boy however (I can't remember his name because its a longer one... but he reminds me of a little sumo wrestler because his mom put his hair up like one) says good morning back to me all tough and proud. I say "How are you today?" and he replies in a sing-song way "I'm fine thanks! How about you?" this makes me chuckle the way he does this patty motion with his hands as he says it. "I'm great" He grabs his little brother (Ooh-boo-ki) who looks exactly like him just two inches shorter and pushes him toward me. These brothers are 5 and 6. His little brother is giggling furiously but doesn't protest his brothers pushing. I follow lead. How are YOU today? Same deal, singsong patting "I'm fine thanks! How about you?" I realize this must be something the school teaches them. I turn to this little girl curiously looking at me to the right. Do the same thing. Really really shyly and quietly she does their little response. I see kids peeking out through their moms jackets. The moms are all talking and paying no attention to their little butt buddies. The little boy who warmed up to me first is play fighting with a couple boys and his brother to my left. I try asking some other kids how they're feeling. I get a blatant ignoring, turning their body completely away from me. I get another shy response. And one who looks at me blankly. I look back, "Are you sad today?" A smile cracks and she nods her head. "ohhhh ok. Are you mad? ANGRY?" Nod nod. Then I ask her again. She responds full on. Ok, I just have to coax them a little bit. The bus comes. The bus driver helps all the kids on and fastens their seatbelts. Theirs an old asain woman who is doing the same. I'm standing outside the bus waiting for all the kids to get on and the two helpers to do their thing. I get on the bus these seats are REALLY small. A bus designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners. This will be a cramped fit. I ask the first little girl I see sitting by herself, "Can I sit next to you?" She nods excitedly. I'm about to sit down when I hear "Elise Sensei" I turn around and its the bus driver pointing to a big seat at the back of the bus for me. Oh thank god. That'll feel much better. I wave goodbye to my new little friend and take my seat.
The bus ride from Showa to Minami is a pretty one. Getting closer to the mountains. Japan has these little drainage rivers that creep around the roads, underneath and to the side. They don't have drainage things like this in FL. Nothing special I guess to some, but I still find them pretty cool. I'm watching this eratic path its making. Watching some of these really cool shops go by. Trying to make mental note to come back to some of them. Find out what they're housing. Then we go over this really beautiful bridge. Moderately sized, this bridge seems massive compared to the quaint little stream flowing beneath it. But the stream is in a pretty deep rocky revean, and that's what the bridge is really going over, not worried about the little water flow beneath it. This is the prettiest thing on my bus ride. The bridge and the rocky revean and the mountains peeking out even bigger all around.
We're about to make it to school. The kids all start going into their friends back pocket of their book bags to pull out these id tags that are attached to the inside of their back pockets. All helping each other out so their friends don't have to take off their book bags to get their own ID tags out. I follow suit and take out the little boys and girls in front of me. We all get off the bus and Melony is waiting at the Kindergartn's gate.
She opens the gate and starts welcoming each kid inside. Each with their own personalized greeting "How was you're bus ride Rei?" All the while she's grabbing their ID tags and is swiping it over this metal plate right in front of the gate. This confirms each kids attendance. Puts the id back in the back pocket (each kids bookbag is identical, the school must provide them) Next kid, greet, swipe, put away. Next kid. Next. I wait at the end of the line. One of the older boys is playing karate with the bus driver. He's cracking himself up as the bus driver pretends that the boy is beating him up. I'm the last one left and Melony lights up. Welcome welcome let me show you around!
I enter and take off my shoes. All wood floors. And matching wood shelving. Halfway up the wall wood paneling. A lot of wood, but it looks nice. She brings me into the teachers lounge where I see Nalette! We say hi to eachother. Nalette's cutting out pictures of what looks like animals to be colored in. I meet the principal. I can't pronounce her name because it has two r's in it. And r's here are pronounced with like a dr type of noise that we don't use in the states. It involves flicking your tongue to the top of your mouth, a kind of roll. I can't do it. They watch me practice for a second and say it will come. For now I can call her Echo (Etch-oh) (I could be spelling a lot of these japanese words I'm talking about wrong. : / bare with me) which means principal. She gives me a warm greeting and then goes back to what she was doing on her computer. She owns E.P. and B.B.K. I put my stuff down in the little locker room when Melony starts to show me around.
Starting with the Kitchen (Kids get cooking lessons daily. This school is insane, the amount of stuff the kids do! Honestly they're lucky little boogers.) The kitchens pretty cute having all kid sized appliances for them to learn on. Four seperate little stations for four separate little groups so they aren't all crowded among one station. They're two bilingual teachers in here discussing what I only assume is their lesson plans. When Melony introduces me to them. Yoko and Midori. They laugh and talk to each other in Japanese. Melony says "ugh, they're just talking about how cute you are." "Don't be jealous Melony!" "I'm not..... I'm just getting old..." she makes a frowny face. And I smile and assure her she's not getting old. I don't really understand why EVERYONE says this past the age of like 23. I always think its ridiculous. Really? You think childhood and then our teens our are only shot at being young? You've got like 60 some years of old age ahead of you after 23? It doesn't make sense. I'm going to be young till I'm old. I'm going to be young till I'm 60/70. Honestly. Hold me to it. Anyway. I very sincerely thank them for this compliment when they see my feathers. They're both REALLY interested in them. Actually this kind of relieves me, because up till this point on Tuesday morning no ones mentioned them, and I'm not 100% sure what people are thinking about them. I explain how they're put in and how they act just like hair for five months. They think this is the coolest. haha I think they're the coolest too.
Anyway Melony steers me away. She takes me into the Forest kids classroom (Forest kids are the oldest kids at the kindergarten. They're all about to graduate in like 10 days to move onto elementary school) The classroom looks pretty typical for a childs classroom, brightly colored educational posters lining the walls, toys neatly put away into their wooden shelving, gluesticks, crayons the whole shpeal. Next room is a really big play area. Theres a little stage on the right for kids to put on little performances, maybe even ceremonies are held here. And Melony points out this loft to my left that the kids can climb up to. Its like 10 feet up, and a fire pole goes to the ground. A black teacher from Jamaica is introduced to me.Tuere. She actually works at E.P. with me in the afternoons training me but in the mornings she'll come to B.B.K. to help out. She looks at my feathers eyebrow raised. I laugh and say they're feathers. She looks at me wide eyed and says "I see." Next is the Star kids classroom (Star kids are the next age group lower down from Forest. They're all five now because its the end of the year, but they start in Star as four year olds.) Then the Sky and Ocean classrooms. Sky and Ocean are the youngest. They come into the school as 3 year olds. Some of them knowing no english when they start out, some of them have been going to the infant english classes held at E.P. for 0-2 year olds so they know the basics. I'm going to be teaching either the Sky or the Ocean class. Not sure which one yet. Right now its the end of the school year so most of the kids especially the forest kids are pretty good with English. I can hold conversations with all of them. That's basically it except for a little library consisting of half Japanese childrens books and half English. I'll probably start reading these little Japanese books when I get enough of the characters down.
It's a very nice facility and it's all very new (4 years old).
Now Melony takes me into the Kitchen to explain exactly what I'll be doing this month. Sitting in on the Sky and Ocean classes switching off. Watching becky (from Michigan) and Rachel (from california). Taking note. Asking questions. Pretty easy stuff. She explains to me that my job is to play with these kids. Talking to them in English non-stop. I think that's partly why I got this job. Rewinding to the beginning of December when I was interviewing with Melony on the phone. I had been waiting for this day since Early september when I read about the school. It stuck out to me among the JET program. Among all these other adds seeking english teachers. This school was the one. It was asking for people Adventurous and healthy. Playful and creative. It offered housing and things like a company car. I didn't want to get another teaching job. I wanted this one. Lauren and my mom kept urging me to put my newly designed resume other places.... but I kept just hoping on this one. (I know I know I know... don't put alll your eggs in one basket, but I'm glad I did. I really love this job) Anyway going back to that interview. I made sure that everything I gave them was kick ass before hand. Because I could take time and prepare each one carefully. I know myself and how nerves make me EXTREMELY awkward. I jumble words. I say things that I later think "REALLY ELISE? THATS WHAT YOU SAID?" I had to make sure everything else was amazing because I knew I was lacking on one of the most important areas. During that interview she was asking about my nanny experience. What role i played in those kids lives. I replied (thank god) "I felt like I was a playmate and a leader to them." And this is what Melony wanted to hear. This is what B.B.K. is all about. Learning English through play. This is what my job will be for the next two years. She lets me go to my first hour of the morning. Which for the Sky and Ocean kids is Recess outside. The Forest and Star kids are doing English writing and reading activities in their classrooms.
I go outside where I see kids running around all of the place. There's a little trike path where there are four kids riding around the track really fast. Kids running up and down this hill to my left with a built through tunnel going underneath it. A little jungle gym type wooden structure where kids are playing and then a dirt/ sand box where kids are playing with shovels and buckets and sifters. I introduce myself to Becky and Rachel who are both pretty bubbly at the moment talking and playing with different groups of kids. Rachel playing in the sanddirt and Becky running after a group of giggling kids saying "I'm going to get you!" I watch and decide to mimic. Theres a boy and girl riding trikes past me and I say "I'm going to gettttt you!" and start chasing them. I'm not getting a giggly response though like Becky. I'm getting these looks of terror and little yelps. I think this is a bad idea and decide to stop. The little girl turns around and says "NO THANK YOU!" I smile. Ok new stranger. Calm yourself. These kids don't know you and don't want you to godzilla after them. Ok so I climb up the jungle gym. Kids scatter away from me. UGh. I feel like a monster. Where are my frog gloves? Look kids I'm smiling not biting. I sit down next to two little girls playing in the dirt. I see one of them has a lot of mud in a pie tin. I see on her little name tag that her name is Karen! Perfect I know that name. "Karen, are you making a mud pie?" "NO." She says this pretty angrily and turns away. Rachel calls over to me "Elise Sensei, it's pronounced kah-ren. Not Care-in. She did that to me the first time I met her too." "Ah ha! Thanks rachel Sensei. ; )" The other little girl turns to me. "Kah-Ren. And I'm Sue-zoo-neh" she says pointing to herself. She then grabs my hand and leads me to a boy next to her. "Soh-dah" I say it. She nods. Next kid. I pronounce it wrong. She says it more slowly watching me try. Close. One more time. She gets excited that I say it correctly. This little girl is one of the most adorable ones there. She's teeny tiny like the first girl I saw with her mom. She comforts me because she doesn't wince when I try to talk to her. She's only four but she seems to know I was having a hard time and wanted to help me. She did. If it weren't for her I might have given up after Kah-ren. haha. Recess ends and I follow rachel into her class. The next hour we do things to teach the children english. I'm going to skip over anything curriculum based because I signed a paper saying I wouldn't discuss their methods with other schools.... and whatnot. I don't know... don't really want to step on any legality issues.
After this hour the kids all split up into thirds for mixed age group activities. A third of the star kids, mixed with a third of the Forest with a third of the sky and ocean. One group goes to cooking, another to adventure play, another group to crafts. Today my schedule says cooking. So I go to cooking. Each of the four tables has some younger and older kids each delegated jobs that are age appropriate to them. The youngest washing the vegetables. The oldest cutting them up and cooking them. The oldest at 6 are already really good at cooking. The star kid in mine and Melony's group is concentrating really hard on her Tofu/ mochi mixture. Melony points this out to me. She tells me that this little girl is usually very talkative but loves to cook. Whenever its her turn to cook for the week she's silent. Watching and learning. VERY CUTE. I ask her if she enjoys cooking. She looks up at me and nods. Once everythings done (this meal they prepared was called chirashi sushi which wasnt actually sushi but a shrimp/rice/vegetable/beef mixed dish. Really delicious. I'm learning how to cook with the kids. No more gross mushroom soup for me. We also had a miso soup and a green-vegetable-type salad and Mochi for dessert. Lauren/Lindsey/Ryan/Drew.... not the ice cream. But the actual Mochi outerlayer type stuff) we all sit down with our group of kids we helped cook. And before we eat Melony explains we do this pray-type thing. Its not praying because remember, I'm in japan. These kids are all Buddhist and Shinto-ists? Is that how you say that? Well they follow both the Buddhist religion and the Shinto religion. So Melony says to all the kids "Look at what we're eating today kids. Beef and shrimp. Lets all take a second to think and be thankful for the cow and shrimp that gave their lives for us." All the kids are really thinking about this. None of them find this funny, or silly. They all look like they're trying their hardest to be thankful. Now put your hands together. And in unison everyone says "Lets eat" everyone eats. Its delicious. I love every bite. When we're serving the kids their portions we ask them "What do you want today a lot or a little?" They're taught to only get what they can eat so they dont waste. They can get little portions of each and go back for seconds or thirds or fourths or however much. But they just don't want them to get a big plate and then force them to eat all thats on the plate... because thats not healthy for these 40-50 pound kids. After lunch the older kids help dry the dishes that the schools industrial dishwasher washed. And its my break time.
I'm two miles up and am not used to this elevation. On top of that I'm battling with some pretty serious jet lag. Melony tells me to go up to the teachers loft and pass out. Which I gladly do.
Becky takes a walk to the convenient store on her daily brake. She asks if I'd want a coffee when I wake up. Yes please. My treat! No no no I scrummage through my yen coins and give her some money. Thank you for the offer though. I go pass out and wake up to this really delicious chocolate milk tasting coffee. Then its time for me to jump on a bus to E.P. for my last two classes. I train with Tuere and Marioko her bilingual teacher who is another sweetheart. I love Tuere too. She's got some Jamaican attitude and is really cool. She asks if I have any questions and I dont. I go home for the day. First day done.
Day two (Wednesday):
I get on the bus, the littlest boy in the school You-ee-toe is strapped in waving goodbye to his mom outside the bus. Shes talking to another mom not paying any attention. He starts to make a panicked noise waving as frantically as his little hand will go. Still no sign of a wave from his mom. Another louder panicked yelp. wave wave wave. Nothing. Finally the bus starts up and all the moms stop their conversations to look into the bus at their respective sons and daughters and wave. You-ee-toe stops struggling against his seatbelt and sits back relaxed waving with a giant smile. You-ee-toes mom doing the same back. We're off.
The bus has a big acorn on a zip line. Whenever the bus starts it zips across to the back of the bus. When it stops it zips back to the front. I like watching this but this kids have all seen it numerous times and take no notice. When it comes to the back I stand up and throw it back to the front. This makes the kids turn around looking at me in wonder. Happy. I'm wearing this Elmo shirt I have today. I see some of the little girls in the front of the bus recognize the character. Their faces light up and whisper/point it out to their friends. I'm also wearing duck gloves. Haha the moms all got a kick out of that. I quacked at a lot of their kids grabbing and tickling their tummies. The kids got a kick out of it too I guess.
At recess today a lot of the little boys are playing "marathon" haha which is a game that they made up where they run non-stop around the playground. Is this a game boys? Or are you just training for a marathon? I run around a little bit with them. Push some kids on trikes. Still getting really timid responses. I go back to the dirt. All these kids like to fill the buckets and tins and say they're making cake. Chocolate cake mostly. Ummm I grew up with castles kids. Where are your castles? I start playing with a little boy. Yu. I show him how to pack the dirt into a bucket. I get all the wet dirt. Repeat "Pat pat pat with your shovel" He coppies me. He says the same thing. I turn it over and remove the bucket to a perfectly shaped mound. This surprises him. He REALLY likes it. I get thin long cups for us to fill. He keeps getting the dry dirt to put in. I keep trying to explain to him that the dry dirt won't stand. It will just fall. He doesn't understand. I show him, filling a cup completely with dry dirt and watching it fall to a shapeless pile. He kind of understands but really likes the dry dirt. He shovels up a scoop of the dry dirt and tells me deliberately how to say it in Japanese. This little boy is trying to teach me. I keep repeating it and he looks proud. We end up making a little castle and he really like it. I walk out of the dirt box to find some decorations. I find a little wooden door. Some stepping stones. Cat tails to stick out of each tower. Yu sees what I just got. Starts gathering more cat tails. He comes up to me and says here and hands them to me. I show him how to stick them in the towers. Other little kids slowly notice our castle. They're telling me they like it. They go off and start trying to make their own. Mine and Yu's castle taking the cake by the end of recess, complete with little weed yellow, blue, and pink flowers planted all round it.
Lesson time. I sit in on a class with Yu-ee-toe in it. Becky tells them that today's a special day since Elise Sensei is here and they all need to be REAL well behaved (though I still haven't seen anyone at this school act out? Angel child phenomena for sure.) to show me what future Star kids look like. They all sit up really straight. They all can't wait to move up to be in the Star class. They sing one of their English songs they sing together. Yu-ee-toe screaming the lyrics loudest. This really makes me crack up because he is smaller than the other kids by inches and inches and he's literally screaming these lyrics as loud as his little voice will go. Becky looks at me like "adorable right?" At one point in this time a couple kids are talking and Becky starts to count down from 5. By 3 they are all sitting up straight like angels. She turns to me laughing and says "I've never had to count to 1. I don't even have a plan to what I'd do next if I did get down to 1."
Then I'm off to adventure play with Becky. Today we play a game called cat and mouse. I remember this game from when I was little. I REALLY liked it at that age. They've never played it before. There's a group of kids called the houses. They link hands in a circle protecting the kids inside the circle (the mice) from the one Cat (Becky) on the outside. Becky tries to brake through the circle to get all the mice but the houses are strong not budging. She acts extremely exaggerated like a cat flicking her tail. Licking her paw cleaning herself. Pretending she's not trying to get in. The kids are enamored by this. They giggle. Can't get enough. It's funny to watch even for me. Becky and the kids interacting. She breaks through the circle and the mice scatter. Running up the hill some hiding in the tunnel. The houses trap her inside the circle. There are these two twin girls holding hands. Both with curly hair, the only asains I've seen with curly hair like theirs. Becky tickles one of the twins making them let go. She runs after the mice who are terrified. They're running back to the house circle for safety like their lives truly depended on it. (I remember Markells mom playing a game called monster with us in middle school at her birthday party sleep overs. All of us girls would get this same terrified feeling running around her dark house as if her mom was really going to hurt us if she caught us. We couldn't get enough of it though. Always begging for more. I don't remember what age we finally grew out of it. Probably sometime in high school. When we all drifted to different groups. Grew apart.) Anyway this game continues for a while. One of the little girls falls in the rocks running away from Becky and starts crying. Becky runs over to her lifts her up kissing her cheek. Then whispers in her ear and points at something on the ground. The girl immediately stops crying. Becky puts her down, she skips back to the safety of the house. Becky says to me that there was a heart shaped pile of rocks on the ground. Pointed it out. The girl said pretty and forgot about being hurt altogether. hehehehe. The game ends and we still have ten more minutes before lunch so Becky lets the kid have some free play. She talks to me for a little while. Yu tugs my shirt to get my attention. I pick him up and hug him real tight. Put him back down. Continue talking to Becky. Shes a belly dancer. I talk to her about hooping. We talk about our little crazes. A rock whizzes by my head I turn around to Yu throwing rocks at me. I say "NO Yu, we don't throw rocks." And Becky says it again even firmer. I'm just a little happy to have a kid want my attention since at this point I'm still getting so much bashfulness. Kids are afraid to even look at me. So after we tell him thats wrong I go see what he wants since he clearly wants me to talk to him. He pulls me to the little shed where all the sand caslte toys are and starts to pull out the buckets. He wants to build another castle. I smile at him and tell him we don't have enough time. But tomorrow we'll do more.
Lunch time. If the kids aren't cooking theres a food service that delivers a lot of food for them all to eat. Since its my first week Melony told me to bring my own lunches and try little bits of the food services food to see if I like it. If I do sign up for it. So I go make one of my corndogs and an avacado tomato salad and sit down at the little girl table. They all look at my food thats different then everyone elses. And whisper to each other frantically. I start eating my corndog... which is a pretty fine tasting corndog. As far as those dogs go. I make faces at the girls. Theyre all laughing. I'm talking to the little girls about their food. About their barrettes. One has a pirate in her hair. The little girl on my right is talking super fast Japanese to me nonstop. I have to remind her I only know english. She doesn't know how to say what she was telling me in Japanese in English so she just starts humming. I pat her on the head softly. I just wanted her to know that I liked her attempt. Becky starts talking to me about the little kids. I look at little Suzenne sitting two tables over and tell Becky about her kindness yesterday. Becky puts her hands to her heart sharing the sweetness. Awww. She tells me that she really is the sweetest little girl. The little boy with his hair like a sumo wrestler has a huge crush on her. Becky tells me that he goes around protecting her. If any of the kids pick on her, he goes up to them holding their shirts in his little fist telling them to go apologize. Becky told me that during one of the adventure games they played Red Rover. He ran up to Suzenne grabbed her hand. Telling her to hold on tight. Don't worry, I'll protect you.
Becky and I go to the playroom. Kids are running and screaming like crazy. SUPER HYPER after lunch. She calls their attention and asks them all to spin in spot. She does to. They keep going. I see the fire pole. Decide to try to shimmy up it. I do. All the way to the top. I'm really shocked by my strength and so are the kids on the floor looking up at me. I slide down. Becky tells them to stop spinning and try to run. Kids are falling down all around me. Becky points out one little boy who has balance issues as it is. She tells me to watch him. And we giggle as he's stumbling all over the place. She tells all the kids to spin again. I pick up the nearest little girl and spin her by the hands, her feet flailing out behind her. She can't get enough of it. I put her down and shes ecstatic. Two little boys are at my sides asking me to do it to them I pick up one do it for a minute. Put him down pick up the other. Starting to get dizzy. I put him down. All the kids have stopped listening to Becky and have formed a line. Oh noooo. I'm still trying to get all these kids to like me. I don't have the heart to tell them I'm tired and dizzy. Alright.... here goes nothing. I start at the beginning of the line. Spin. Stop put down. Spin, stop, put down. The next kid I'm REALLY dizzy and fall. The little boy falls cracking up too. Oh good. He's laughing not crying. At this I tell them I can't do anymore. And Becky says its time for break anyway.
Nap time. ; ) I wake up and have girl talk with Rachel and Becky about boys in our lives. hehe. Becky and Rachel invite me to Tokyo with them this weekend. I get really excited. Rachel's boyfriend lives there and I can stay with them. Becky's getting her belly button pierced. I say I might want to too. When in Japan right?
Back to E.P. I start getting the hang of these lessons. Again not going to go into detail here with their lessons. But these kids are pretty adorable too. Marioko shows me around E.P. and introduces me to their staff. I meet Diana and Carolina from New Jersey. They seem like a lot of fun. We exchange numbers. We walk by a group of Japanese middle schoolers talking to one of the girls in the office. They're all giggling at me and telling me how cute I am (Let me just tell you this past week EVERYONE I meet is calling me cute. Teachers, parents, students. Its really nice, but I'm starting to get really embarrassed and dont like this extra attention.) And they start pointing at my feathers asking me what they were. Telling me they loved them. I move close so they can see and touch. Tell them they're pheasant feathers. Diana speaks up. "They're feathers?! I was staring at them trying to figure out what they are! I love them! So unique." I tell them that salons in the states are just starting to put them in peoples hair. I think they might get big. Well I hope that they get big, because I think that would be an awesome fad to look back on the 2010's. Diana agrees in thinking they'll get popular. We'll see. The little teens say goodbye to me.
Time for me to go. I go home exhausted.
Day 3: Thursday
oh man I really wanted to keep being as descriptive but I'm getting tired of writing. I wish I had broke this up better throughout the week. Well Thursday was really cold, recess had to be held inside the playroom and some of the classes. All of the classes joined in this playtime not just Sky and Ocean. I was playing with little dinosour figurines with yu and mami and mirei and a couple other kids. I would grab the shark figuring and do the jaws soundtrack song as I would slowly creep up on them with it. This got A LOT of the kids to warm up to me really fast. I took off my scarf, getting warm after chasing them all around. I decided to run after them with the scarf giving them a little lee way and then looping the scarf over them yanking them back to me. Oh the laughter I heard this morning. I was on a roll. I kept getting more and more inventive of what I would do to interact with all these kids and they were eating every bit of it up. If only it was this easy to get people my own age laughing. I'd be like Tina Fey by now. This whole time I'm playing with these kids Megumi is playing cards with kids in the corner of the room. And one of the little boys has been slipping cards down my back the whole time. I finally notice when he tries to put a dinosaur back there. I fish the dinosaur out feeling like fifteen cards sliding around, some stuck in my bra. I sweep him up saying your in trouble. Super manning him around the room. The little girls all gather around and stroke my feathers. Little boys join in too. I wiggle some of the long ones in their faces. Telling them "gentle. Don't pull" Terrified one of them will get aggressive at the drop of a hat and yank one out. I'm quite attached to all of them now....
In the big play room Melony pulled out some little kid play set thing for the kids to pretend it was a kitchen in the "Bambi cafe". The play set was the kitchen and also the cash register. Their were tables set up with Menues. Nalette was sitting at one of the tables with some kids. I sit down next to them pick up a menu. A server comes up right away. I point to the pizza saying I want one. "Oh no, we're out." Ohh ok. "Then this spaghetti please" "Nope out of that too." oh ok. "Ummm A hamburger?" "No." "Wow this restaurant has great service but no food." Nalette laughs.... "you should have been here earlier. Someone gave me a menu and then told me we're closed" This day was a lot of fun. It was non stop play and I have pretty much stopped getting the scared/shy looks. I shimmied up that fire pole a ton just because I could. Encouraging the kids that could to do it too. At lunch one of the little boys told Megumi I'm a forest because of my feathers. I really liked that. I'm a forest. I have to tell Becky and Rachel that I'm going to be tight on money this month so I can't go to tokyo yet. They completely understand and reassure me that they go a lot. Diana and Carolina asked me to hangout too... so at least I'm not going to be planless.
At E.P. feeling confident from the successful day I had earlier, I was doing really good with the lessons. At one point when we were going over the colors with one of the classes a boy got the answer right. And a little girl two seats over said something in Japanese. Tuere and Marioko start laughing. Tuere tells me that she said "He's so cool." and explains that this little girl has a big crush on him. So cute. I like these little puppy love stories.
I need to go to the supermarket again after work. Tuere has the company car and offers to drop me off. We talk about japan so far. I tell her all the things I love about it and she agrees. Her contract is about to be up, thats why shes training me. But she's loved her stay and says that these people are amazing. I ask her if she's ventured to Tokyo by herslf. She doesn't understand what I'm asking. I tell her that my sisters and mom were worried about me going by myself to the big city (yeah I know seems kind of silly since I went 8,000 miles away by myself... I'm a big girl guys. ; ) I just want to know if there's validity in their worry. She laughs. She says "Elise, you're in Japan. this is one of the safest country in the world. People have lost their wallets here full of money. And they get them returned to them. Cash intact." What a foreign concept.
She drops me off and I go in again. Past the wallets. Past all the other stuff I dont need. I notice this time that this supermarket actually has escalators going up and down. Its three stories. I go through this time faster. I get some veggies and pass by an woman with a beautiful daughter whose staring at me smiling. She looks like shes early teens. I look back and wave. Most people here avoid eye contact so its nice when people aren't so shy and look. I stop in the cookies craving some good ol american dessert. I stop. Theres cookies called "White Elise" I'm laughing and taking my camera out. I really can't believe it (I'll post a picture of them). When I here a "Hello" behind me. I turn around and its a white guy. I say "Hello! You understand English!" "yes I do!" His names Andy and hes from Canada. His wife and daughter are the ones I passed in the vegetables. His daughter must have told him that there's another foreigner here. He sought me out to see who I was, how I was doing? Did I need any help? I tell him I just moved here saturday to teach. He asks where. I tell him. He smiles and says his son went there! He asks me to tell Encho hi. I talk to him in front of his adorable little family for a second. It was really kind. Then we part. He says best of luck. I grab a couple more things to leave.
Checkout for the second time. I go straight to the kiosks this time feeling like an ol pro. When I realize something. Last time I was here the kind lady checking me out gave me grocery bags. This time the other woman didn't. I'm standing at the kiosk a little confused looking at the other kiosks. Everyone has eco bags. Thats cool. I should get one. I go to a cashier for now though and ask for a bag. Pointing to my stuff. She says three yen and goes back to helping her customer. ohhhhh huh. The other woman just gave them to me? That was nice of her. I go to my purse and grab a ten yen coin and turn back to the woman I just asked who's completely ignoring me. ugh the lines are WAYY longer now. But whatever lesson learned. I go back in line. Standing in line I notice the eco friendly bags for sale I go examine them around 10$. I know I can find them cheaper at the 100 yen stores they have here so I go back to my cart and wait in line.
As I leave the store to walk home andy's wife walks up to me in the parking lot. She tells me that they saw me struggling with the bags : / and that they had an extra they wanted to give me, motioning to her car. I tell her thats extremely kind but she doesn't have to do that. She insists. I walk with her to her van where Andy, their son, and daughter are sitting. And she gives me a brand new still in the package bag. I thank her profusely when she offers me a ride. I'm sooo not used to this never ending kindness. Seriously everywhere I go. I tell her its fine I live REALLY close but thank you. Then Andy from the front seat chimes in. He asks where I live... I tell him right next to Hotel Fiesta (BAHAHAHHA I told this to Tuere too when she asked me and she laughed and asked me if I knew what it was. I said.... "A hotel?" And she said that in Japan they have these "love hotels" they're specifically for people to go to gettt it on. She said they're common because the living spaces here are smaller than in america, so people will go there instead of doing it in their own houses. I'm guessing maybe because they don't want their kids to here? Hahah.) Anyway Andy says thats right on the way home for them. Again they insist. They take me home talking about my new experiences. They drop me off hoping I have a good two years. I tell them I hope to run into them again. I really do. They gave me a warm family feeling I kind of miss.
Day Four: Friday
I wake up sore pretty much everywhere. My back from my thin bed (I need to go get a new one from a teacher who is about to throw one out), my arms from me stupidly shimmying up that pole any chance I could get, my legs are covered in bruises one in particular is also a huge bump. I feel like a little kid again. Where the heck did I get these bruises? From running around like a maniac on those wooden floors, with my socks sliding me onto the floor multiple times? On top of my aching body I have pretty bad cramps. Ughhh I don't want to get up. I skype with a friend. ; ) that cheers me up. Eat breakfast.
Today is my first field trip. I'm going with the forest kids (its their last field trip before they graduate to elementary school. We go to the park. I'm done writing details. Just trust that I had an awesome time. I'll post pictures but the Japanese playgrounds have similar things to ours but they also have some really fun additions. I was running around amongst the little ones. Blending in as a kid except I'm like 3 feet taller and am white. Freeze tag. Slide chains. It was a good day. At lunch Melony made the kids stop and think about their moms or dads waking up and preparing their lunches for them. She told them to have gracious harts toward our parents for being so kind. I look around and all the kids are concentrating really hard on thanking their parents. It melts my heart. I know I know I'm SUCH a cheeseball... But I know I am. I'm not ashamed. This makes me think of my own parents and how thankful I am for them. All the preparations they did for me to go on this trip. How they're watching my dog for me. ugh I love the two of them so. This little girl next to me opens her lunch box and is so excited to see a hello kitty sandwich. HAHA its awesome looking I'll post a picture of that too. After the field trip though I can honestly say I slept REALLY good that night. After a long week of transforming back into a kid. I feel like I have. I love it. The kids love me now and I them. I'm sad to see the forest kids graduate already when i just met all of them. : / But I know that my new Sky/Ocean students are going to be even smaller than the ones that are about to be Stars. I know that I'll make new bonds. I love this job.
That brings me to this weekend. Saturday I got to skype with my sisters for the first time since I'd got there. I said hi to my parents and Linus. They told me how he's stopped crying by the door for me... (that crybaby of mine. hahah wittle wittle winus) but if they let him out the front door he goes straight to my car smelling all around it. This makes me cry (like mama like son I guess). I miss him so. I just don't like thinking about him thinking I've abandoned him. : ( boooooooooo. Skype with some friends. Then I go explore. I hooped and took pictures. Rode my bike not scared of finding my way back because I know landmarks. I know how to navigate my way back. I found a really pretty park not too far from my house. Families were all out. Playing soccer, walking hand in hand. Playing at the playground. I rode over a really pretty little bridge listening to music going as fast as I could go.
That night Megumi, Diana, Carolina, and I went to the arcade. Diana and Carolina had to work the next morning so they didnt want to go "out-out" this time. Don't picture an american arcade for little kids either. This thing was futuristic as hell and aimed for older teens and up. Diana and Carolina love Dance dance revolution! Brings me back to the day. DDR isnt a big fad here anymore so they only have one machine in this arcade with two dance pads. I jump on thinking I'll be just as good as I was in high school. Wrong I was able to keep up at times but other times my feet wouldn't keep up with my head. They felt like bricks were attached to the bottoms. I jump off and watch Diana and Carolina who are really good. hahah. its funny. Watching them. Megumi and I cheering them on. We gathered a little crowd of Japanese guys watching us. I really like the way Japanese guys dress. They all have such style. It's nice. But its funny, my friend Juan told me in the states not to resent white guy co-workers because Japanese girls will come up to them flirting all the time, when Japanese guys are painfully shy toward american girls. Its so weird. He was right on. These guys wanted to join in on our fun. Our laughter. I saw them laughing to themselves but they would pretend to watch like a guy playing a drumming game next to us. They would check me out and then look away if I looked toward them. Cultural differences. Megumi didn't even want to try, we went and played so many games. They had MarioKart arcade style which I had never seen. I had a gooood night with some new girl friends. mmmm.
I'm done for the night. I'm going to go cook myself a seared tuna steak (yummm tunas my favorite and its SOOO much cheaper here than in the states) and rice and miso soup. I'm glad I caught up. I'm not going to leave such big gaps between posts anymore. Or I'll have to be less detailed. Its daunting all this writing... and I'm not used to it. I'm not going to lie... homesickness has definitely set in.. I don't get it I'm happy here but I wish I was there too. I just want the world in my hands.
Japan sounds awesome. Sounds like you haven't even had a chance to catch your breath!
ReplyDeleteIt's Nikki. I'm going to tell my mom to bring Leo to your parents house so they can both be together... without us :( I miss all three of you. Elise, Linus and Leo.
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ReplyDeleteIt is awesome Aaron! I caught my breath yesterday when I wrote this. I made sure I had a relaxing day to myself before starting this week.
ReplyDeleteNikki, Linus and Leo are the epitome of perfect pets in my eyes. Such cute little boys we have. <3 Miss you too. Hope your theatre tour is going great though.