Thanksgiving in Japan

We had our mid-year seminar (yes, it's only been 3 months) on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday a bunch of us went out for dinner. Thanksgiving, if you didn't know, is a purely North American (America/Canada) tradition, so we substituted KFC for roast turkey.

I was thankful for "the falling dollar, and the fact that I'm paid in yen."

Summitting the Big Mountain

On September 27th (yeah, this post is a bit late) I hiked up Daisen. 大"Dai" in Japanese, meaning "Big," and 山"Sen," meaning "Mountain." Last month I hiked up Big Mountain.

Daisen is over 1,700m tall. This sign came about halfway up.

I spent most of the hike in the company of this group--there were many adults, but they can't hang with the youth.

Two JETs, three exchange students. (The one on the right was the ostensible reason for the climb--homestay families and people associated with her high school hiked up the mountain to "welcome" her. Some welcome, eh?)

The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Clear skies, warm (but not hot) day...my co-teacher (who invited me and Josh, the other JET) said that there are maybe a dozen days this good in a given year.

The mountain trail faces the Sea of Japan, so for much of the way up there's a clear view of the water through the breaks in the trees (not to mention the several lookouts).

Trees thinning--approaching the summit...

...and here it is. There's even a summit shack, complete with a vendor (does he stock by helicopter, or does somebody haul cases up a 1,200m hike?).

The requisite picture with the elevation sign.

The way down had some beautiful sunlight-through-the-clouds effects, which I attempted to capture and embellish with photoshop.

The way down also had some steep declines. It never seems as bad going up...

Back at the bottom. Later, Daisen.

My Students

(Tell Me Why) Ain't Nothin' but a Mistake...

We did a class week before last with my elective English course where we learned the lyrics to "I Want it that Way," that singular hit by that stellar quintet, the Backstreet Boys. The whole class stemmed from a previous class where, during introductions, one of my students told me she likes "Listening to music."
"What groups do you like?"
"Oh...Backstreet Boys--"
"Oh! Me too!"

My co-teacher, overhearing the conversation, suggested that since we were both such big fans (my student, by the way, is 13. She was 4 or 5 when the song first hit the charts, and even younger when BSB first stepped on the scene) that we should learn a song for class.

Right. So, as an introduction I played the music video for the class on my laptop. Which was all well and good until partway through. One of my students gasps and points at the screen--"Ah, Matt-sensei!"

Who was she pointing at?

Howie.

"Were you a backstreet boy?"
"No."
"Did you quit so you could teach?"
"No."
"And cut your hair after, too?"
"No. Well, I did cut my hair, but. No."
Of course, my stunning rendition of the song, rehearsed through many years of ultimate time-out songs with Dartmouth's Pain Train, did little to convince them otherwise.

Last week in (regular) class, we were doing a phone conversation (students come up with their own skits to act out, with two people making plans to meet somewhere). One of the transcripts looked something like this:

"Hello?"
"Hello. This is ____. Can I speak to ____?"
"Sure, just one moment."
...
"Hi! I'd love to"
"Tell me why"
"I want it that way"
"OK, see you there"
"OK, bye"

If it weren't so patently ridiculous, it would've been great. Or maybe it's great BECAUSE it's patently ridiculous?

The Elementary Schools, or: I Dominate 1st Graders in Dodge Ball

I visit 3 elementaries on Friday each week (this is why I need a car for work--there's no bus or train schedule flexible enough to accommodate me there). I <3 the elementary schools. My goodness, kids are just wonderfully full of energy (I'm well aware that they can wear on you, but hey, I only see each class once per week--energy stays high there). It's almost enough to make me reconsider pediatrics as a medical specialty. It's a lot more fun than the rest of my week--I'm super busy with all the school visits, but every class is basically a short lead-in (introducing new vocabulary, etc) to playing games in some form or another. Best part is, I get to play too!

When I was first starting, I had a free period at one of the schools and I was invited to join the first graders (yes, first graders) for gym. We played amoeba tag first (I was "it" to start--I'm not sure what was worse, not being able to catch any of them to start or being slowed down by them so much when I finally did get one and had to drag 'em around to get more), and then we played dodge ball.

I know what you're thinking--it must've been a slaughterfest--but I played left-handed so it was merely a massacre instead. Kids got a big kick out of it, though.
"Matt-sensei, sugoi!" (Matt, you're awesome!)

I've also been playing with the kids a fair bit at lunchtimes--I eat with one of the classes each Friday--which has left me rather sweaty for a few of my afternoon classes. Whoops.