ketchup

it seems that i'm always apologizing for not posting enough. i feel as if my avid readership (hi, mom) wants me to post more than i have been, and i probably should. every day something remarkable happens!

example: on december 6th, st. nicholas day, i decided to give my essay class a little lesson about the holiday. i ducked out at lunch to buy bags of chocolate, and during class told them about our tradition of putting candy in shoes. i then had a hilariously staged/awkward conversation with my sensei, saying things like "toooooooo baaad people in japan don't celebrate it. maybe st. nick stopped off, though!" it was so painfully obvious and funny!

oh, i should have mentioned: this class is held in a carpeted classroom, which means that everyone must take off their slippers before entering. there are shelves outside for the slippers, so before i headed into class (i always come after their quiz), i found 40 pairs of shoes innoculously waiting for me. i stuffed a chocolate in each shoe, and saw a rogue student wandering in the hallway. she saw me, looked puzzled, and i hissed, HIMITSU! (secret). she looked scared and scampered away. oh well!

anyways, after class, the students slid open the door to put their shoes back on. i was packing up my stuff, and almost dropped my computer due to the bloodcurdling screams from the hallway! the students went completely bonkers and just kept screaming and screaming and clutching their chocolates like they were winning lottery tickets. amidst tearful shrieks of "SANK YOU, SANK YOU, RIRIII!!!" i made my way back to the teacher's room with a very happy (and bemused) heart!

the next day, i was really dragging in the morning. i slogged into school, and opened up my slipper cubby, only to find this:

my shoes, filled with candies, and a note that says "4 U from St. Nick." i die.

that week was the week of my epic haircut, as well as a fun christmas party in miyazaki city culture plaza with a bunch of fellow jetters and japanesers. the next day, some fellow jetlings were kind enough to host a christmas luncheon at their home, which featured turkey, stuffing, irish stew (mm, wonder who made that?), pizza, and pecan pie, among other deliciosities.

last week was largely colored by my rehearsals with tanaka sensei, the music teacher, for the bonnenkai (year-forgetting drinking party). we were to sing "amazing grace," and "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer"....in japanese. i was slightly worried about this, then really worried when i found out that i would have to wear a "seckusi santa kurasu" outfit.

but last tuesday, i forgot my troubles by dancing the night away with tracey at the infamous hip-hop class. besides looking totally goofy in my bootleg dance gear, it was a blast! a butt blast. i was sore for days after!

and on wednesday, i was lucky enough to go to a christmas party at japanese mama's house, complete with a way-too-civilized japanese gift exchange, some bomb tomato soup packed with sausage, seafood, veggies, and various grains, and a round of karaoke. since there were only four of us (all women), it was super laid-back and pleasant!

thursday was a nobeoka international christmas party at the community center, which meant tons of homemade food, christmas games, lots of broken japanglish, and me waltzing out with some new friends and a box of heating pads. yippy-eye-oh-kai-ay!

friday, it was time for the bonnenkai. it was at a toity-toity joint down the road from me, and featured some very fancy food! unfortunately, i hadn't drunk enough beer by the time tanaka sensei and i performed, so i was pretty nervous. however, the "seckusi" outfit ended up going down to my knees, and i sang decently enough, despite voice shakes. it was an early night that night, seeing as i got home at 9pm, but the next day i hit the train tracks and got into saito!

stay tuned for details on sunday's airshow. for now, i must be off to maintain a facade of productivity at work, and to leave you with these touching and hilarious messages first year students wrote on their worksheets.

sorry that it's sideways! "Thank you for your teaching! You are a distinguished teacher." O RLY?

totoro. saying "I love Lili teacher." however, my favorite is the bottom: "I can't good at use English sorry."

and who could forget the memorable worksheets in which students said they wanted to go see the movie "Hally Pooter"? i don't think i'll ever forget.

stuffed full of bento and holiday cheer,
lilly

and a little bit of regret

today, students had to practice reading about saturn and its rings during one of my classes. it's a blurb in the textbook.

i walked around, listening to them practice. i stood by a pair that wasn't practicing, and asked them to read. one of them whipped out his dictionary, and found the word "relationship." he struggled, but said, "if...we read...this...no...life...relationship."

it made me sad because it was true. saturn's rings, described in english, have nothing to do with anything in the normal japanese person's life. i wanted to tell him that practicing reading english in any form was probably useful, but i knew he wouldn't understand.

when i was in high school, i remember staunchly hating the subjects i thought were irrelevant to me (chemistry, geometry, very poorly taught AP spanish), the ones i predicted i would never think about or use after i had finished the course. i resented being forced to learn something that i would later purposefully forget.

as much as it might contradict my position here, i don't think students should have to learn subjects they really don't want to learn and don't need in order to function as adults. call me a dreamer, but ideally, students should be given a language choice. i think it's wrong that students must learn english, and that they have zero alternatives. if i had to learn japanese for six years, as an inescapable part of my curriculum, i would hate it. i am amazed by the students who love english and say that they want to learn more! i just hope that for some, my ridonkulous, smiling gai-jin mug will make them a tiny bit interested in learning how to communicate with an english speaker.

at least i know they know how to say the necessary things, demonstrated today:
random boy in the hallway, to me: "hi riri. i am gay. he is my boyfriend" (points to another boy)

me: "what is a good thing about nobeoka?"
male student: "many cool boy."

me: "who brought Jesus presents?"
multiple students: "SANTA!"

me, after making a mistake: "oops, sorry!!"
entire class: "CUTE-O CUTE-O!"

me, jokingly, to a student who went on a class trip: "where's my omiyage?" (present)
student: "no."

giggly,
liliy (students' spelling)

a smattering of engrish for your pleasure!

it speaks for itself:

"I will only smile, loaf, eat, and sleep."

"I want to live in the 1980s. There were many girl huntings after disco."

"I think that friendlyship is the most important life lesson I have learned in high school."

"I thought that to wash clothes is always necessary. If I could not everyday use washing machine, I would be dead. Moreover, when I start to live alone, if I have no money, thus I have no food to eat, I would drink a lot of water to relieve my hunger. I can do because I was be strong when I live in Australia. "

"I am thankful for friends because they are foolish and interesting."

"I am thankful for cloud because he is strong."

"I am thankful for my family because I was boned by my family." (i think he meant born. at least i hope so)

"I want to go to France. Because food is delicoius. I want to go by death."

"I will tell you about a animated cartoon I like. It is Tom & Jerry. Tom is a cat, Jerry is a mouth."

"I like song by Bump of Chicken" (N.B. - after a little wikipedia research, i was shocked to find out that "bump of chicken" is actually a real japanese band.)

and of course, the stuff that melts my heart:
"I'm really sorry that I was late x( Lily <3 Thank you for checking our essay every week. I think it's too hard to read x( I respect you! I love you! Talk again."

"I like Chopin's "With Love in My Heart." It is healed when listening to this music."

but, i have to save the best for last. the crowning jewel! and i'm sorry for the inappropriateness. it's just too good.

"I am good at blowing the flute.
Because I enjoy blowing it.
I began blowing it when I was a junior high school student.
At first, I could not blow it well, and I didn't like it.
But I practiced it every day.
One day, my junior high school music teacher said "You are good at blowing." I was glad.
Now, I like it."

the teacher part though.

jokes,
lilly

isogashiiiii, ne?

(busy, right?)

yes, i am! but in the best possible ways. my days at work are jampacked with hilarious engrish and students so cute that my heart liquifies. oh, and teachers that provide endless amusement!

so i should have blawbbed about this weeks ago, when it happened, but here's a condensed version. three weeks ago, the students were taking exams, and the teachers didn't have much to do. therefore, one afternoon that week, my supervisor informed me that the sensei would be convening in the gym for "sports activities." i immediately felt as if a lead ball had been dropped into my stomach. as you probably already know, for me, sports = suicide.

i changed into my bootleg athletic gear (black sweats circa 2005, crumbling helenes shirt), and warmed up with my fellow sensei in the gym. they all were wearing adidas/nike/puma/tracksuits that probably cost a few days' pay. hopefully they found my shabbiness endearing, and not disgusting!

as we stretched, i asked my supa what the sport would be. she answered, "volleyball!" and the lead ball in my stomach tripled in size. i've literally never successfully hit a volleyball in my life. it always feels like my wrist bones are shattering!

i decided to give it my best, however...and incidentally, i had nothing to worry about. rather than using a standard volleyball, one of the sensei emerged from the equipment room with a soft, squishy ball approximately the size of a beach ball. i had to choke down my relieved laughs! it was nearly impossible to not hit the ball, yet many of the sensei made absolute lovable fools of themselves (myself included). we played for a few hours, and it was some of the best fun i've ever had at work.

after we finished with volleyball, i teamed up with the principal, of all people, to play badminton doubles with two other sensei. awesomely, one of our opponents (who doesn't speak english) scored, and then taunted me, going, "cummon cummon cummon!" while wiggling his hands around. i then scored, and smirked, "come on come on come on!" right back, causing uproarious laughter all around.

despite the footloose feel of the afternoon, of course there had to be some formality, as well. after each finished game, we all bowed to each other. then, before leaving, the principal gave a five minute speech to all of us, presumably about the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship. sidenote: in any given event, there are always very serious speeches to be made. i've had to give some on the fly, too!

alright, now that i've properly blogged about that milestone (the milestone being me enjoying sports and feeling a sense of belonging at school!), back to blog catch up. last tuesday was quite a day. i had to teach the first-year international humanities class, as usual, but the normal JTE wasn't there.

i figured it would be fine, and since the lesson was very easy (shopping/bargaining), i decided to have the students make little skits in groups. the lesson started off well, with review and dialogue practice, but once the kiddles split into groups, it all went to crap.

they wouldn't do the work, despite the JTE and me asking about their progress, telling them to properly prepare, etc. then, when i selected what i thought was the most prepared group to demonstrate, they stood in front and laughed and refused to speak, because they hadn't done the work. at the point, i was really frustrated, and sad, and angry, because it should have been a fun and easy lesson, but had bombed.

so, without smiling (i literally am ALWAYS smiling and laughing at school, cause i want the kids to feel encouraged and not be scared of making mistakes), i rather sternly told the students that they had to silently study the rest of the period (15 minutes).

they looked like i had just killed their parents. it was like some sort of misery grenade had just detonated in the classroom. it was deathly silent, and as i walked around the room as they pretended to study (i could tell they were just tensely anticipating that i would scream at them), i struggled to not let the tears welling up in my eyes to fall. one of my favorite students beckoned me over, and wrote in his notebook, "lily why this activity? why quiet?" since we're always playing speaking games in that class.

in retrospect, i'm shocked i didn't burst out crying right then and there! the bell rang, and the students still looked so ashamed, that i felt i had to tell them what was up. i said, "i want english to be fun! but we have to work together. i don't like silent studying." they all looked blank, and then i said, "don't be sad! i'm not angry! okay?" and they said, "okay!" and seemed happier.

i, however, felt more terrible than i ever had in japan. it was definitely an overreaction, but it had to come at some point: the "what am i doing here, i'm a fraud and not a real teacher, i'm too young for this and no one at school can see or understand how foreign i feel" bathroom freakout sesh. i highly doubt that i'm the only JET who has ever experienced this, and i'll probably go through it again.

it's okay though...it passed! i knew when i agreed to come that sometimes the going would get rough (and honestly, a lesson mishap is not that rough, it was more of an accumulation of dormant doubts i'd been having that happened to be awakened and unleashed by the classroom disaster). by that evening, i was feeling massively better--and for good reason!

my dear japanese friend satomi had invited me for dinner that night, and she and her friend yuri came to pick me up. they're both around 30, but look and seem my age. i enjoyed being able to relax and soak up their kawaii-ness on the way to satomi's.

her parents had prepared us an amazing feast of sushi, fried chicken, and nabe (stew) made with korean duk, supremely soft and chewy rice cakes. it was like chewing on the fattest, doughiest, most comforting noodle you could ever imagine. divine!

for dessert, we had dried persimmons and remarkably good supermarket panna cotta. even though we were stuffed, yuri (who happens to be a yoga teacher) insisted we do some stretching on the tatami. we stretched for about a half hour or so, then the gals drove me home. i was laden with gifts from satomi's family. they had recently come back from a trip to korea, so i got a bookmark, cosmetics, korean cakes, as well as a huge bag of oranges from their backyard tree. i was so glad i'd brought a little gift of hershey's for them, but it still wasn't enough. it's never enough!

so, here's the deal: i'm going to skip describing a few days, which i'll come back to later, to tell you about the haircut experience i had last night.

i was pretty nervous about getting a haircut, mostly because i knew that there would be a lot of japanese involved and that i wouldn't be able to communicate through anything but janky pictures on my dejikame (dig camera). true enough. but tracey was there, and the whole thing was so funny and overall pleasant that i can't wait to go back!

we went to one of nobeoka's most popular salons. a very kakui (cool) guy greeted us, took down our info, and then whisked us away to get shampooed. he offered me various oil head massages, but i declined (hopefully politely enough!). then, after very carefully wrapping a towel and cape around my neck, he pressed a button and my chair began to gracefully tilt backwards towards the sink, until i was lying almost flat.

simultaneously, as he held my head up, a platform projected into the sink, so that my head had a rest. dude. ultimate comfort. normally at the hairdresser's, i hate the shampoo bit because my neck cramps up so much. this was pure luxury! to top it all off, hilariously, the dude softly placed a tissue over my entire face (so i didn't have to look at him? so shampoo bubbles wouldn't float into my eyes? who knows?!) before commencing the wash.

he sweetly murmured all of his actions right before doing them. it was in japanese, so i'm assuming that's what was going on. maybe he confessing his undying love! all i know is that i heard "murmur murmur japanese," then he rinsed my hair with water. "blah blah japanese," and he was shampooing me, etc.

he shampooed the crap out of me. he shampooed me for probably five full minutes. i could tell the shampoo was turning into that frothy, soft, thick foam that you have to squeeze out of your hair in giant glops. sure enough, he said something in japanese, then wrangled all of the froth out of my hair. more japanese, and he rinsed, and conditioned. more japanese, and he put my seat back up, tied up my hair, and ushered me over to a styling chair. he then combed my hair like no one has ever combed my hair before. it was strangely full of tenderness. i loved it!

another guy actually did the cut for me. i showed him what i wanted, we exchanged some very confused japanese, and i resolved to just be happy with whatever i got. 45 minutes later, as he took a razor to my locks and i saw heaps of my hair falling around me like molting feathers, i was thrilled and terrified. who knew what the outcome would be??

...as it turns out, the outcome was bomb. i love it! it's a very japanesey cut, and i have about half the thickness of hair i had before, which i really like. to top it all off, the shebang only cost 3000 yen. steal!

feels a bit narcissistic, but i'm excited about it!

ehhhhhhh???

i almost look authentically japanese in this! look at that expert lip pouting and puppy-dog eyeballing!

wondering how japanesey i'll be by the time i leave,
riri

it's crunch time

it's been two weeks since i've regaled you with my wildly exciting life (jokes)...all i can say is GOMENNASAI!

i'm gonna hop, skip, and jump all around for this blobbin, so please bear with me!

two weeks ago, november 25, thursday (aka thanksgiving): i had much to be thankful for. since i had a meeting for the omiya high school english camp in miyazaki city at 2pm, i got the whole day off of work for my "business trip." i slept in, made my usual scrumptious pot-o-kohii (coffee), and hit the train tracks midday with tracey. we got much accomplished, sorting out our re-entry permits in the city (6,000 yen, EHHHH?!) before attending the meeting. the meeting was business as usual, though perhaps a bit derailed to to our good-spirited ALT shenanigans. i came home to enjoy the delightfully massive box of see's candy my lovely parents had sent me, play some piano, and feel only a slight twinge of sadness to not be at home.

the next day was by far the busiest day i've ever had at school. i was running on a nonstop rush of adrenaline, hyperactive homesickness, panic at the amount of work left to do, and excitement at being able to skype with my family during their thanksgiving dinner. my work day began with a short conversation with them, then i woefully had to turn down the volume on my computer so that i could attempt to finish correcting the essays i was supposed to have done for 6th period (usually i have a week to correct that class's essays. that week, i only had had three days due to the holiday and my business trip).

in addition to frantically trying to finish the essays while sneaking jealous peeks at my family's festivities, i also had 5 classes that day. normally, on any given day i have between 1-3 classes. in the morning, in between classes, students came to wave hello to the craig/insalata crew, but unfortunately the video quality was really bad. also, when i came back from my second period class, i was floored to discover multiple teachers half-yelling through my computer to my family.

and i had thought i was too old to be embarrassed by my parents. nevertheless, i think participants on both sides of the world enjoyed it. i did, too, though i caught myself trying to quell rising tears throughout the day. no need to pretend i'm stronger than i am!

all of the excitement went straight to my head, and destroyed any focus i might have normally had. during my 1-5 class, where we were practicing restaurant dialogue, i saw one of my favorite (shhh! shouldn't have faves!) students in the back wiggling his arm around to the amusement of another of my faves in the back. senbo, the first kid, saw me looking at him. i made a "wtf are you doing" face at him from the front, and proceeded to continue my tape-recorder-esque duties. the next time i looked up, he was flailing his arm back at forth at me, his hand flopping about crazily, with a huge grin on his face.

it was so uncontrollably funny to me. i choked down a laugh, and continued reading aloud in a very small, strained, hilarious-sounding voice. i was dying as i tried to conceal my laughter, and he and his friend knew it. they both continued to flail at me, as i turned redder and redder and my voice became more and more high-pitched. finally, i let out a pathetic titter. by now, the class (and my fellow sensei) had caught on that i was totally losing it. after letting out my little burst of giggles, i apologized profusely to my JTE. she smiled good-naturedly, and asked that i tell her who was making me laugh. i didn't want to rat, so i just said it was my fault and apologized again. she correctly guessed, though, and asked the boys in japanese if they "liked" me. they both got super sheepish and didn't wave at me for the rest of class, but after class, when i laughingly scolded them, they looked very pleased.

(sidenote: today, senbo tried doing it again, but i maintained and shook my head at him with a "that's a no no" smile. i didn't want to, but i knew that i had to nip that in the bud before i laughed my way out of my job, lolz!)

after school, there was still no rest for my near-vibrating limbs; i tore up the road on my jitensha (bike) so that i could hastily shower, pack, and catch a 6:14 express train to miyazaki city. i made it without any scuffles, and collapsed into the train seat with a still-palpitating heart and shallow breaths. i tried to relax during the ride, but could not help feeling an unending sense of exhilaration from the day's craziness. some one-sided nostril breathing helped (thanks for that tip, high school drama teacher!), and i eventually managed to calm down enough to feel only mildly ecstastic (oxy moron alert) about the night's promises.

i was picked up by mashuu and crew (tristan and steph) at the station, and we went to aeon mall for dinner at "baqet" (all you can eat bread bar...money) with micah, another ALT. after gorging on some nourishing, buttery, warm bread rolls, we hit the cinema for none other than HARRY POTTER.

i was not only excited to see the movie, but also interested in seeing how japanese theater-goers differed from american audiences. overall, there weren't many differences to speak of, other than a pleasant lack of audience noise during the movie (other than crying at the end. my gosh, everyone around us was sniffling like it was going out of style!).

mashuu and i crashed at micah's for the night, because the next morning we had to hit the bus station at the buttcrack of dawn to catch our bus to FUKUOKA!

slept and played iphone scrabble with mashuu on the bus. was exactly on time getting back to the bus at the second rest stop, only to have the driver angrily jab at his watch as he ushered us back on. hung my head in shame, and discreetly noshed on a hot, dripping, pork-wrapped rice ball in my seat. felt better.

got into fukuoka at noonish, and met up with some other JETs before tracey and mr. scott macklin of USC arrived. it was so good, and strange, to see a face from back home. i feel like i have an utterly separate life here--a mundo falso, as jennifer and i call it! so it was a bit surreal to be hanging out with scott, but in the best way!

he and tracey and i hit up canal city, a huge shopping center in fukuoka, then got some delicious tonkatsu (pork cutlet) ramen, and frolicked about in tenjin, a bustling part of fukuoka. please see for yourself!

the katakana says "chikin ramen," aka chicken ramen. the bus chicks look quite happy to be eaten!

i wonder if the kfc chicks are as happy! here's colonel. he's in a santa costume because its japanese tradition to get fried chicken, particularly kfc, on christmas day. i do not know why.

fukuoka ladies!

that night, after checking into our hostel, our huge group of jetlings went to a yakiniku dinner, aka where you cook your own (limitless) meats at your table and drink limitless drinks. excellent craic, to steal the irish word! afterwords, buzzing quite a bit (elbow nudge), we headed to "the dark room," a rock n' rollish bar. we got a little bit lost along the way, but stumbled upon a pretty little winter wonderland.

japan does lights like we do back home...every time i see them, it cheers my heart! what i'd give for a walk-through of vatican gulch right about now...

anyways, it ended up being a late night, but the next morning i was pumped like a bike tire for SUMO! it was one of the things i wanted to see most in japan, and it did not disappoint. not only could we bring our own food and drink into the stadium, but we had little boxes to sit/lie in instead of seats. i moved boxes a couple of times to socialize with different jets, and was just tickled pink by the whole day. we were there for about five hours.

i'll spare you the whole history of sumo, and just let the pictures/brief movie speak for themselves. main points: yes, their ample buttcheeks hang out. the opponents squat and eye each other before attacking, but usually get up mid-stare and go to their respective corners to stretch, wipe down, smack themselves, and throw salt around. they attack each other when they mutually feel the time is right. women aren't allowed in the ring (must bite my tongue). some guy sweeps the ring between matches. the matches last less than a minute, usually. look!

so that was sumo, in a nutshell. the next day (monday), mashuu and i tramped around, and found some beautiful city sights. temples (my favorite!) abounded.

we saw some nuns at this temple. i really wanted to talk to them, but my shyness got the best of me.

another temple, with buddhas.

autumn in japan is beautiful.

so contemplative. so corny.

while walking through one of the three temples we saw that day, i mused aloud to mashuu that i really like the open spaces of temples. it seems that a lot of emphasis is put on nature and outdoor beauty, with gardens, foliage, fountains and rock gardens. of course, i like western churches as well, but the atmosphere feels so much more open and free.

after seeing three temples, we wandered over to a large park and lake on a quieter side of the city. it was a tad chilly outside, but the sun was peeking through the clouds and the scenery was quite pleasant!

we had wanted to go to the museum by the park, but it was closed on mondays. instead, we subwayed to canal city for some yakisoba/takoyaki lunch (greasy, scrumptious soba noodles with a side of batter-covered, grilled octopus balls) and some shopping. i ended up only getting a pair of earrings, but it was fun to look!


even made some creepy mannequin friends. after a quick gelato pitstop, we bused it back to miyazaki city, and i took a train home to nobeoka, clocking in around midnight, fully spent and craving my big fat western bed like i never had before. had such a nice sleep that night.

the next morning, i felt refreshed and ready to jump back into school. stay tuned for next time, when i will tell you about my nuclear meltdown at school, english camp, more engrish boo boos, and christmas joy!

blogged out, and wishing dear mama a happy tanjoubi from nihon,
riri