Love in the Windy City

Hello everyone, time for my weekly update.

This concludes my first week teaching without the (constant) assistance of my substitute teacher, Kashima, who I miss and needs to add me on facebook yesterday. However, she did leave a trail of post-it notes that have saved me on many occasions. She is great.

And in her place, I have Sarah and Ai keeping me sane and on top of things. They are flipping awesome people and I cannot thank them enough.

So at the end of last week, I was pretty frustrated because I felt as if I was dangling over a fire that no one told me would be hot. And like that woman who sued McDonald's for her coffee being hot, I should've known that teaching would not be easy the first week. Hell, I could barely remember names the first week, let alone lesson plans. But at some point on Thursday, it started to click. I stopped trying to follow the prescribed teaching manuals and started using my own ingenuity. And this week, teaching was actually starting to become fun. So today, although it was a long day, was punctuated with some great moments.

For Valentine's Day, I decided to buy candy for all of my students, the other teachers, and the manager. After wrapping it all up last night, I went to school holding a bag full of goods for the wolves. My first student, I was warned, was a terror. I was prepared for the worst.

During the lesson I noticed he drew on everything I gave him. If 1+1=2, don't give him something I didn't want him to draw on. Right? Instead of giving him the cards with the pictures on them, I let him draw the animals we studied today on the board. And he actually is quite the little artist. So now I know what to do to keep him on my side. The class after that was with one of my favourite students, Hiroe. Today we talked about heroes. Not the show mind you, but personal heroes and heroines, not the drugs mind you. She told me about her husband and I talked about my parents and we had fun getting to know each other even better. Last night I found out another student is engaged, so all of the grammar we studied related to weddings. The more I get to know them, the better I can tailor the lessons I plan to keep them wanting to come to class.

At 4, I had a lesson I wasn't quite prepared for, so I ran to the dollar store (100 yen store) and bought paint pens and construction paper and we made stuffed Valentine's hearts to give to their parents as a warm-up activity. I did this activity with my other under 18 year old students and we all had fun, before we moved on to the lesson of course. I ended up making about 4 hearts by the end of the night, two I have posted as pictures if you are interested.

So that was my VDay. What did you do?


Finally, I have to admit something: I have a small obsession with Japanese toilets. I know that sounds silly, but they fascinate me. The one in my apartment makes me smile every time I flush the toilet and the lid in the toilet becomes a sink. So cool!



But the one I was warned about I call the squatter. I've attached a picture so you can see what all the fuss is about. Now in this particular restroom there are standard toilets (with electronically-controlled bidets), but this one in the corner makes me fearful for that one day I have no choice but to "pop a squat" to quote my 6th grade teacher Angela Thomas.



Sayonara.

Wendell

Stuff about stuff, and stuff like that.

Ohayo gozaimasu.

This is day three of my contract here in Japan and the day could not be any prettier. I am in Hamamatsu, finally, after concluding a two-day training session in Nagoya, about 40 minutes north by shinkansen. Shinkansen is the fastest line of railroad networks in the world. The trains are called nozomi, but you’ve probably heard of them as “bullet trains.” I really wanted to take pictures from the train, but I wasn’t in the mood to be touristy.

Okay, let me recap my first few days in Japan. While it still hasn’t hit me in a profound way, I am consciously aware that I am in Japan, and that I really am taller than 80% of the population. In Nagoya, it wasn’t such a big deal for an American and an Englishman (my trainer Bruce) to walk around speaking English. But last night I finally moved to my apartment in Hamamatsu, and the kids were not shy about staring at us. It must have been a strange sight to see three Americans, two of them black, and a Scotsman pushing a shopping cart to the train station (long story) but it was cool feeling like a local celebrity. Hamamatsu has nothing on Nagoya when it comes to size. Nagoya is a huge city, fourth largest in Japan I believe, and the architecture is ridiculous. I will get more pictures later when I go back up to see a Kabuki performance so stay tuned. However, the downtown part of Hamamatsu, which is a few minutes away from my school by bus or train, is also very pleasing to the eye. Again, this will have to be a verbal post as I just moved here late last night.

Japan is the most efficient country in the world. This may not be a complete fact, but from what I’ve seen I am very impressed. First of all, many things in the public sector (malls, hotels, grocery stores) are done by motion detection sensors. Why is this ecologically sound? Think about how much air is wasted by doors being left open; how much water we waste flushing toilets and leaving water in the sink running. I posted one picture of a Japanese sink with the soap dispenser, the water, and the hand dryer all in the bowl of the sink. The toilet in my bathroom, well toilet-room since it is separate, has a small sink on the lid of the toilet. When I flush, water flows from the sink, to let me wash my hands, to the toilet bowl and it fills up for the next use. That combines two functions into one saving so many liters of water. Not to mention, there’s a little air freshener that is activated by the running water. You cannot get any more efficient than that.

One question/comment I get a lot is about my weight management and diet. While I have run across one very disgusting dinner, from a vending machine mind you, almost everything I’ve eaten here was delightful. For example, I had what is called Okonomiyaki. The literal translation of this dish is “cook whatever you like.” Basically, it is a batter made up of Japanese yams, cabbage, flour, water, and whatever regional ingredients. You pick your filling (I chose ika, which is squid for those you who don’t get the ika fries from Tsunami) and it is fried right in front of you. It is best described as an omelet, but not by appearance. It was astounding.

Things I don’t like: I don’t like having to pay bills back in America, specifically my phone bill. I cannot use the damn thing at all, except as a $55 a month alarm clock. Ay. However, I am in love with my new apartment. There is so much opportunity to turn this place into “the” hangout. I have a small loft which is so much more spacious than I thought. It will house a hookah lounge, if you will. Of course most of this won’t happen until my first paycheck, but it will be flipping sweet. My first visitor just dropped by. It was a courier bringing a new set of sheets and futons (of which I already had, which further means I now have a guest bed!). I have found out easily why people can live here for years not knowing Japanese. Conversations here are short, choppy, and while the Japanese are number one in customer service, they are quick to the point. He asked me if I was Uwenderu (which is the closest way to pronounce my name here) in Japanese and pointed to where I needed to sign, said arigato gozaimasu and rode off. No conversation necessary.

Today will be my first day of teaching. Kashima, from the Bronx, has been teaching my lessons in my absence. I will start working with her to begin teaching my new students. My work day is really light today, only three classes I believe. I am pretty excited to get started. I also met Sarah, another American from Massachusetts, and Mike the Scotsman last night who are both pretty cool. I am glad that I get on so well with the teachers in my school, and I cannot wait to meet the last teacher, Ai, the Japanese native English teacher. After February, it’ll just be Sarah and Ai and I think we will have a wonderful time together. That was a funny sentence to real aloud because Ai’s name is pronounced “Ay.”

Anyway, I need to take a nice long soak in my small, but deep bathtub. I am trying to fight some congestion that I first felt on the plane. I love you all and I want to hear how you are doing. Hit me up by e-mail or on Skype.