Christmas Party, Japanese Style

Today was full of Christmas celebrations! First, Shoya and Komachi came over for their last lesson of the year. We studied some Christmas words and then had a little gift exchange. Shoya was so proud when he gave the presents to me, he said "Tawnee teacher, here are hand-made presents for you". (Great English, huh? yeah...they have a good teacher!) I was so impressed with his English that I completely over-looked the gift. They were magnets, Shoya made the Christmas Tree and Komachi made the Star!

THEN, I left for a party that Tori told me about. She and Isaac used to attend a Christmas party for a woman who has an English school in her apartment. Her name is Rumi. She teaches students from 6 years old to 16 years old. Every year she has a party with games and singing for the kids and likes to have a native speaker there to encourage the kids to use their English ability.

At first I was really hesitant and a bit shy with the party (especially when I walked in she handed me an itinerary to follow, and you HAVE to stick to the schedule here!). She was all about the games, but apparently they played the same ones every year! So I tried to come up with something different this year. So, we played 'pin the nose on Rudolph', candy toss, Christmas memory and we used her Christmas BINGO (it will never cease to amaze me how much Japanese students - of ALL ages - LOVE BINGO!). The kids prepared letters to Santa (which they read), recorder performances and sang songs. To be honest, it really didn't look like they were having much fun at all, so I decided to step in and get over my "shyness". I started acting goofy and the kids started to relax.

I started talking to Rumi's son, sorry his name escapes me right now, who has been to Seattle several times for a language emersion program that they have for foreign students. He is now studying chemistry at Wakayama University, where he is in an English conversation class. There were 3 other boys in high school that were there, again, no names.
I found out that one of them was actually born in Ohio!! Of all places in the ENTIRE world to be born, and he was born in BORING old Akron, Ohio. His father is a professor at some university and was completing a research study at the University of Akron. He was bi-lingual until he was 5 years old, then moved back to Japan...and has since forgotten EVERYTHING! Thus the reason he is going to Rumi's English school. All of the high school boys are attending extra English school so that they can prepare for the famous "ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS" for university entrance. Rather than focusing on learning English for the purpose of communication, they teach it for reading, writing and comprehension; so that they can pass a test. It's pretty sad. As much as they study, they should be able to live in an English speaking country and be perfect communicators!

After the party, we (junior high and high school students) went to Rumi's apartment and sat in her 'classroom' and talked for a while. They got to ask me questions and I asked them questions too! It was a great time to get to know one another. Before I knew it, it was 10:30pm! And the students were still there! Apparently that's a common thing because the students juggle cram school (which is extra school which usually focuses on math....for the entrance exam), some sort of sports club activity, English school and regular school work. They hardly have time to sleep! As a matter of fact, Akron boy left the party at 8:15pm to go to cram school, but then came back about 10pm just to chat some more with me! He was really sweet He's the one in the brown jacket!

All in all, it was a busy day, but it was so nice to be goofy with the kids and have a good time with them. I look forward to going back someday for another party!!

Check out some pics:

Eye Can't See!!!

UGH!! On Tuesday night I woke up in the middle of the night because my eye was hurting SOOOO badly. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I could only see out of one eye. The other was swollen shut! I was horrified. I finally realized that I had fallen asleep in my contacts and needed to get them out. It took almost an hour to get it out of the infected eye....it hurt so bad! :o( I went to school and told my interpreters that I really needed to go to the doctor. Now keep in mind I have 2 interpreters that I can utilize, and they are allowed to take me during school time if need be. The first one I asked said that she couldn't do it because she and her boyfriend wanted to go to dinner (lame excuse) and the other one...well, she had been having some stomach problems for a few days and was going to the doctor herself. So she couldn't take me, but at least she offered to take me the next day (Thursday).

So, for 2 days my eye was blood shot and my students kept making comments about my glasses (because they had never seen me wear them before). Keiko ended up taking me to this really hip little eye clinic {I love Japan because you get to go to specialists for every problem that you have, not just a general practitioner, but a real specialist, I have like 3 medical cards: ENT, eye doctor and pulmonary doc - I had a bad case of strep throat where I landed a nice hospital stay with a IV antibiotics...UGH}. The office is literally right in front of the local train station! I have passed it so many times and never realized it. Imagine that!

Many of you who know me well, know that I am very amuzed by some of the silliest things. Well this night was no different. The parking garage was amazing. It was like a ferris wheel, but with cars on it! Here's how it works:
1.) you pull into the garage onto a track that is similar to those at a drive-thru car wash
2.) you get a tag from the attendant
3.) you leave, as you are leaving, your car is sent around and around for the next available spot for the next person
4.) once you are ready to leave, you give your ticket to the attendant and they spin the cars around until yours comes to the exit area
5.) you get in and reverse onto a BIG circle
6.) then the circle spins you around so that you can pull out of the lot without having to reverse into on-coming traffic (this was fun...I felt like I was on a ride!)
Check out this video....it's pretty short, and is someone's personal video, but it shows what it's all about!


While at the doctor's office, I got the normal vision, glaucoma and look into your eyeball exam. However, the strangest thing. We are used to the normal machine that optometrists use to check our vision, however, here in Japan I had to wear a pair of glasses that look like the ones that Where's Waldo wears. Then the technichian manually changed the lenses as I took the exam. The exam was altogether different as well. The exam consisted of him standing in various places while holding a letter card (with the letter C on it) in different positions. Needless to say, Keiko was surprised with how BLIND I am! Then, the entire exam chart consisted of the letter C in various positions. I had to show the position of the 'C' with my hand. It was interesting!

FINALLY, we were able to see the doctor. He called me into a room, which scared me a bit because there wasn't a door, just a door-length black curtain. Inside it was very dark. He used his little machine to look into my eye and take some pictures of my iris and pupils. But he also wanted to take a look under my eyelid, so WITHOUT TELLING ME, he just grabbed my already hurting eyelid and flipped it up so the underneath of my eyelid was exposed. Talk about pain...I wanted to scream. And Keiko let out a yelp! I tried to be brave and take the pain....it was over pretty quickly. Then, to my surprise I heard, "well Ta-oo-nee san, you have a condition called conjunctivitis and a scratch on your lens". He spoke ENGLISH!! I was FLOORED! The monitor was HUGE, so my eye was GINORMOUS! He complimented me on my eye color (since all he sees here in Japan is BROWN) and called in a few other folks to look at it! That's one thing I AM thankful that my daddy gave me, a decent eye color! SO, the final diagnosis was given and 2 different eye drops. The bad news, no contacts for about a week. But I am glad to report....I can see now! But I am sick and tired of these darn glasses! Thank God for contacts!

People, Pampers and Pasta!!

Can't go wrong with that combination! On Thursday, December 14th a few friends (Sarah, Lara and Mercedes)and I decided to have a surprise "baby shower" for our friend Tori. Tori is a friend that lives in the same city as I do. I have gone to dinner with her and her husband, Isaac, several times and have a great time with them. They are wonderful people and I really enjoy spending time with them....it's ALWAYS great to speak English at "normal speed" every once in a while! Tori is originally from Georgia and Isaac is from Utah. They met while attending Bringham Young University in HAWAII!!! (How lucky were they to live there??) Anyhoo, Tori is 8 months pregnant, and of course, aside from her husband, no family is here in Japan. So Sarah, Lara, Mercedes and I stepped up to the plate and threw one for her!!

The previous weekend Mercedes and I went shopping all over Wakayama City looking for the perfect gift. We ultimately settled on practical items that Tori will need (diapers, wipes, bottles, bottle sanitizers, bottle brushes, etc.). We found a great bottle package that was actually in a SUPER-SIZED plastic bottle that doubles as a bank for the baby! It was great.

We ended up going to one of the restaurants that Tori and I frequent (quite a bit) called Cannery Row. It is an Italian place that has pastas, pizzas and an all-you-can-eat salad bar that is fabulous! We all ate until our bellies hurt! It was so good! Then, between dinner and dessert, we decided to tell Tori that this was a Girls Night Out SLASH Baby Shower and gave her her presents. She was truly shocked and very appreciative. It was well worth the traveling back and forth across the city looking for gifts...I must say though, that I ALWAYS enjoy browsing Toys R Us!! We managed to have our dessert and then talk for about an hour afterwards! It was really great to hang out with the girls, especially before we all head out on our holiday vacations to England, Ne Caledonia, China, India, Thailand and Cambodia! We are such world travelers! I think that the next time we meet will have to be for lunch, because I am sure that we will have SOOO many things to talk about....and hopefully by then akachan (baby in Japanese) will be here to meet us!


Mercedes, Mama Tori, Sarah and Lara (I took the pic!)

Where am I going??

First of all, I know it's been a while since I last posted. I am sorry....but I WARNED you that I was not good with keeping up with things like this! Anyhoo...let's get to it!

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Many of you have been asking me WHY ARE YOU GOING TO INDIA? And WHERE ARE YOU GOING? Well....let me fill you in. I am going to India because after my volunteer trip to VietNam last year, I feel very strongly about continuing to volunteer and help in any way that I can. A good friend of mine, Lauren, went on the same trip last year and had an amazing experience. The Indian culture has always been intriguing to me, so this opportunity seemed like the PERFECT way to combine it all! I will be joining an organization called Building Communities in India (a name created by a teacher in another ken here in Japan, who voluntarily started this mission last year and is continuing it this winter and spring). It is in conjunction with the Association of Relief Volunteers organization in India.

The adventure starts in Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, and continues onto a city that sits near the shores of the Bay of Bengal (the Indian Ocean) called Kavali. While in Kavali, I will have the privilage to assist other volunteers in constructing homes for families who have been devistated by earthquakes and tsunamis in the area. This is a very poor village and many people are unable to afford the cost of rebuilding their homes. While in Kavali, I will help pour founations and construct homes. Assist in a festival called Children's Day where we will keep the kids occupied while volunteers try to complete as many houses as they can. (If you know me, you know that I am DEFINITELY looking forward to that!) And once the trip concludes, I will head to the famous city of Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Then off to Delhi to do some touristy things.

However, prior to arriving in India, I will make a pit stop in Beijing, China for a few days. The stopover was free with my ticket to India, so I figured it was the perfect time to see the "Great Wall". I'll be meeting up with a friend, Elisha - whom I met on the JET Program last year, for some touring.

I am unbelievably excited and cannot wait to go on my trip. I am so lucky to have this opportunity and only hope that I am able to do my part in showing the people of India that I really do care. I'll do my best to blog while I am on my trip, but I can't promise that I will have access to a computer long enough to blog! But I will be keeping in touch the best I can.....but in case I don't get a chance, I want to wish you all:

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and safe travels to all of you who will be galavanting around the world for the holidays. I'll be in touch!

Christmas Cards!!

In preparation for my trip to India, I had all 10 of my classes make "Hello from Japan" cards for the children in India. However, with Christmas and New Year being so close, they decided to make them into holiday cards! I don't even know if they actually celebrate Christmas or New Year.....but I guess it's the thought that counts anyways...right? I was completely amazed with some of their craftmanship. One girl made the smallest paper crane that I have ever seen and suspended it between a hole that she cut out of her card (the pink on in the picture). Others drew their favorite comic book characters, and took the cards home and personalized them with pictures and stickers. They are so beautiful that I don't even want to give them away! But what in the world would I do with almost 300 cards (not all of my crabby students turned theirs in)?? Here's a pic of a few of them!

Visa for China

Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Happy 6th Birthday Jakey!
I knew that I was supposed to meet Yoshie at the train station at 8:47am to head to Osaka. No problem, seeing as though I am at school AROUND 8am. Well, I was so warm in my blankies that I didn't want to get up. SO when I looked at the clock and noticed it was 8:00, I had to rush around and get ready because I had about a 20-minute bike ride to the station! LUCKILY, I made it on time.

UGH! That's all I can say! As you all know, I will be leaving in 12 days for China and India. I have been pretty pro-active about getting things together for India, but have been slackin a bit with China. Why, you ask? Weeeeeellllllllll.....because unlike every other consulate in the world, China requires you to deliver your passport and application to their consulate in person. Other consulates usually let you send it (via registered mail) to them and they will send it back to you the same way. The problem???? China's consulate hours are 9am - 12pm Monday - Thursday. Not exactly convenient for a teacher that works 5 days a week 8:20am - 5:00pm! LUCKILY, with this week being testing week, I was able to get away without question. AND, since Yoshie is often bored these days, she offered to help me find the Consulate of China in Osaka City since it was in a pretty unfamiliar part of the town. I was glad to have company!! It's always a good time when she's around.

When arrived in Osaka I immediately noticed a bakery that Jenny and I searched high and low for one day. It is called Choco Cro. Basically it is a croissant that has been wrapped around a pice of chocolate and cooked. They are DELICIOUS. So I convinced Yoshie to take a break and try one. It was just as good as I remembered! I also got to try a new flavor today....hazlenut choco...........mmmmm!!! After our "breakfast" we took the subway to the consulate. When we walked out of the exit, I noticed a really handsome Japanese policeman, I noticed Yoshie took a fancy to him as well!! ;o) We ended up asking him the exact directions to the building, it was really close! Once we arrived, they asked to see my foreigners card before I could enter. I walked over to the line for visas (being proactive, I already had the application filled out, the picture cut to size, a copy of my flight itinerary, copy of my foreigners card and my passport). I gave all of my info to the lady and she said, "here..... bring this back on Monday, December 11th and you can get your passport back. Bye bye." That was it! It took literally 2 minutes to give her my things and that was it. No questions, no explanations NOTHIN! It was such a complete waste of time. I spent SO much more time on the train than I did in there. And the worst part, I have to go BACK on Monday to pick up my visa and pay....I couldn't even pay today! ARG!

The good thing was that gave Yoshie and I time to bum around Osaka. We went to a pretty popular place for shopping called Nanba, or as we pronounce it Namba. She took me to a famous street (can't remember the name of it) where they sell EVERYTHING under the sun that is necessary for a restaurant. Pots, pans, stoves, utensils, plates, cups, bowls, chopticks, grills, bottles, registers, receipts, you name it....it was there! It was fascinating to see. Especially since many of the items (bowls, cups, trays, sake sets) were hand-crafted in Japan. Check out some pics!

They even had fake food to make the dishes look more appealing!!

One of the most interesting stores was the Sakai City knife store. Sakai City is very near Osaka City. It is very well known for it's brand of knives (which, to sushi chefs a good knife is EVERYTHING when cutting fish). They were beautifully crafted and ranged from 6,000yen (about $55) t0 60,000yen (about $550) for ONE knife! Here is a pic of the main display in front of the store! There was an emplyoee who was demonstrating just how sharp the knives were in the back of the store. It was soooooo small that the three people who were watching him, were completely blocking the view. So I didn't get to see it. But I did get a chance to browse through numerous stores....it was great!

The best find of the day was a ladel....made with a bamboo stick and a seashell. I tried to take a picture of it, but the owner yelled at me. The seond best find was a bird that was actually a toothpick grabber!

After walking all around the Namba area, we wound up at a famous bookstore called Junkudo. They have an AMAZING selection of English books (for about triple their cost in America). I was able to find one thing I was looking for...a birthday present for my Godson, Jakey. There is a very popular comic book here called Doraemon. The kids here LOVE this blue cat from the future. I have always wanted to read the comics so that I know what the story is with this cat! The other day on the bus with my student, she told me about how he had no ears.....which I never noticed, because a mouse ate them. So now he doesn't like mice! Interesting. Anyhoo, I found an English version of the 1st book, some pencils and an eraser of Doraemon and thought it would be the perfect gift! After the bookstore, we headed to a quaint little cafe for lunch where I was lucky enough to find a bagel sandwhich....and I cherished every bite! It tasted almost as good as my daddy's egg sandwiches! (It had eggs, ham, cheese and tomato.)

After lunch we journied back to Wakayama. When Yoshie and I parted ways, I pulled out the Doraemon book and started reading........I now know why the book is so addicting. I hope Jakey will enjoy it! Other than that, I'm off to bed now....have to prepare myself for the mountain of exams that is waiting for me when I get to school in the morning. UGH!! Just the thought is giving me a headache! Oh and by the way....I stopped at the 100yen store and got me a new pair of gloves and a scarf!! Now I'll be warm for sure! (^o^)

Listening Exams......

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
This week is testing week. My poor students have 4 days full of nothing but exams (about 3 a day). They are able to leave school after they complete their exams, which also means I can leave early too! I have to prepare a listening exam for 2 different grade levels. Over the course of a few months, I teach them random things (for example 2nd year Junior High learned about how to order food in a restaurant, Halloween vocabulary and homonyms; 1st year Junior high learned about time, hard and soft 'th' sound, wh- questions and prepositions) and then I have to test their comprehension. So it is my job to make a listening exam. Once I have created the exams, the 2 teachers I work with review it, to make sure it is easy enough for the students, and then we have to record it onto a tape for the day of the actual exam (with the Japanese teacher so they can translate what they have to do). All in all, it takes about 4 days to prepare for an exam....it's grueling. Once the exams have been taken, then it's pure OVERWHELMINGNESS (if that's even a word). I have to grade about 400 exams! It usually spills over into my weekend, since they have to be graded by the next class session - and I have a class on Mondays, so I'll be layin' low again!

Today, was the longest day I've ever had trying to record a listening exam. Keiko (Nakamura Sensei, whom I teach 1st year junior high communication class with, and she teaches 2nd year JH English grammar everyday), is one of the busiest people I know. She had to make an exam for the grammar class and the communication class. It is a LOT of work, and most of the time she is in a daze due to lack of sleep, or should I say lack of time in the day! I had to wait for her to finish her other work before we could record the exam. Time kept passing by and teachers kept going home early, since most of the students were able to leave between 11am and 12pm. Once we finally got into the room where we usually record, we found 2 students (a high school boy and girl) sleeping together on the floor (and yes....I mean REALLY sleeping). Since I work in a private school, these students hardly have time to breathe....let alone sleep. Many of them tell me that they are lucky if they get to bed by 1am! THen many of them are up at 5:30am to start their 2 hour plus, trek to school. Needless to say, they were embarrassed. Apparently they belonged to the debate club and fell asleep while practicing. So, they just went into the next room and continued to sleep before they had to leave for cram school (which is basically like night school for extra learning.....it's all about the university entrance exam in this country)! We started recording and were almost done when I noticed that the tape started screeching. First we thought it was the recorder.....but it still kept happening....then, the unimagineable....it was the TAPE! We were 5 minutes shy of finishing a 40-minute exam when we realized we would have to re-record the whole thing. It was terrible. What was even worse was, we had a part of the exam where we had to use a bell to stand in for a blank: . We had already given it back to the teacher we borrowed it from. When I went to ask for it again, guess what......she was GONE!! Along with almost all of the other teachers (of about 30 teachers in my room, there were about 5 still left). Then, we began to panic. We spent a good 20 minutes searching for another way to make the noise and came up with a sound on my own cell phone! It worked beautifully! FINALLY.....after a 2 and a half hour recording session, our exam was done....but our jobs were far from over.

Now that the tape was made, we still had to make 4 copies of it so that all 5 classes can take the exam at the same time! THEN, we had to make copies of the exams and answer sheets for all of the classes (as with EVERYTHING else in this country, there were many steps involved). It was already 5:30pm once we started the copying. Keiko insisted that I go home, but I felt terrible leaving her there to copy all of the tapes by herself....but she won in the end. I left at 6:30pm and headed home.

While I was on the bus, one of my students (which by the way was able to leave school at 11:00am mind you) was just leaving. She is one of the students who loves to talk to me, so we were chatting about very general things....how many brothers and sisters do you have? Which Sesame Street character do you like? (they are OBSESSED with ALL cartoony characters in this country), it's cold, i'm hungry, i don't like studying, etc. She is also the student, Junko is her name, that gave me a gift for Halloween. It was an Elmo sweat rag (as I call it, really it is a face washcloth), and some candy. She asked me if I liked it, and to her surprise, I pulled the rag out of my bag and showed her that I actually use it! She was very pleased! Our conversation came to an end when we reached my bus stop. We said our good-byes and I walked home. On the way home I always pass an English school started by the only other foreigner I've ever seen near my apartment, named Ralph. He is a REALLY TALL, black guy. He's 42, on his 4th marriage (which he said will definitely last this time since she was Japanee...not a nice thing to say) and he once asked me to help him out with lessons at his school. However, as soon as he found out I couldn't speak English, he took back his offer....jerk! Anyhoo...he always waves when he sees me or starts small talk if he's outside. Tonight, he started a conversation about....surprise surprise....the weather and how cold it was. Let me just say this....YES JAPAN....IT IS WINTER TIME AND IT'S GONNA BE COLD!! He told me the strangest thing. He started by saying hey, I've been meaning to tell you something, thinking it would be something profound, I stopped walking and turned toward him. He said, with a very straight face. "You should get a leather coat, it will keep you warm." I stood there trying to comprehend what he just said, I thought I might have misunderstood, but no, he continued with, "leather is very warm". Of all the kooky things to say, that won the prize for the day. I just decided to ignore it and continued on my way. Once I got home, I was too tired to even make dinner....so I had cereal, turned on the TV and within 30minutes, was passed out on my comfy chair while watching "Man on Fire". Guess I was pretty tired!! I had to wake up eventually, because it is NOT comfortable falling asleep on that chair....PLUS, had to call M-O-M and wish her a Happy Birthday!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm actually gonna play hooky from school. I have to head to Osaka to get my visa for China...that's a long story, so I'll save it for tomorrow.