funniest picture of me ever

so normally i wouldn't post drunk pictures of me, but this picture by far takes the cake. this kodak moment is brought to you by jayne/lurch/david south or whatever we're calling him today.


this almost looks like a Homer moment:


(to jayne: despite your skills, i should still go over there and CUT you for taking pictures of helplessly inebriated people =P)

10 hours and counting...

i'm officially 10 hours away from the start of my winter vacation.... Thailand and Cambodia, here I come!!

Please forgive the hiatus in my blog for the next two weeks. i will hopefully be enjoying warm weather before reluctantly trekking back to the bitter cold here in Tsushima.

Hope you all have an awesome Christmas and New Year's! Don't get too drunk!

*muah!*

--ev

my first snow

so this is winter.

this morning, i woke up to the sun shining over the exact spot that i rest my head at night. figuring it was sunny outside, i thought about how one of my teachers told me on thursday that it was supposed to snow today. yeah right.

an hour later, i finally dragged myself out of my bed, and doing my morning routine, opened my curtains briefly to see what the weather was like. and lo and behold -- it's snowing!!!

if it's one thing i've heard just under a billion times since arriving in tsushima, it's 1) "It's cold here in winter," and 2) "The snow doesn't pack down in Tsushima," or some roundabout way of saying that snow melts pretty quickly, so you dont really get to play in the snow.

as soon as i saw it was snowing, i called my closest neighbor, Jayne/David South, probably woke him up, and yelled out, "Look outside your window!!!" Both of us being Californians, we've been mutually looking forward to seeing snow fall. while i have technically seen snow fall, it's never snowed where I live. looks like things have just changed.

the weather today truly is bizarre though. it's either lightly snowing, or it's sunny. i can't explain it. right now, i'm looking out my window and seeing a greyish cloud, outlined by the sun, and in the background, a very blue sky. i just dont know what to make out of the sky here. usually, back in the bay area, i could wake up in the morning, look at the clouds, and figure whether or not it would rain that day. but here, i can't tell anything at all.

in a stroke of retardation, i thought it'd be a good day to do laundry. so i did. except with the on and off snow, i can't hang my clothes up outside, so i've been hanging them up in my bedroom with the window and sliding glass door open. i finally couldn't stand how cold my room is, so i've shut all the windows, and resigned to the fact that it's going to take the next few days to dry my clothes. blargh.

i'm now officially four days away from my trip to Thailand. according to weather reports, it's something like the mid 80sF in Thailand (~29C), while it's been about highs around 14C over the last week. while i look forward to going to where it'll be pleasantly warm, i'm NOT looking forward to when we come back and are greeted by the blistering cold here. *sniffle* at least it'll be a glorious 2 weeks in beautifully warm weather.

and i officially can't type my hands are so cold.... must... warm.. them... now....

insane christmas lights

highlight of my day, and proof that i'm easily amused:

Christmas Lights

i laughed so hard i was crying already when i was only 5 seconds into the video, and it's 3 minutes long. that's 3 minutes of nonstop crying, pointing, clapping, and enjoyment. it's THAT amazing. watch it! it's enjoy! =P

a classroom no-no

a few days ago i was teaching my third and fourth graders in an elementary school how to say their birthdays in English. After gauging their ability level, it seemed all 10 of them were able to say their birthdays for the most part, so i went around the circle and asked them to answer "When is your birthday?" out loud.

when it was this one boy's turn, he just stared at me in fright, and couldn't seem to say anything. so i tried to break it down for him, saw the slip of paper i asked everyone to write their birthdays on, and tried to help him pronounce his month and date. he just sort of murmured "uhh... uuuh.." without forming any real words. after about 15 seconds, i decided that i should move on and went on to the next person.

as i went down the line, i had the typical reaction that almost all my students have. that is, if there's an adult around who can help them, they won't try to think about what to say first. they will immediately look to the adult for help.

just my luck, the principal was watching all my classes that day, so she was speaking into each student's ear when it was their turn. it normally wouldn't bother me that there was an adult helping them out because that means less of me using my voice (which is really the only valuable thing i have to offer all my schools), but the fact that she was the kind of adult that because she thinks she has such a grand mastery of English and the children dont, that she assumes that the children need her help. i honestly believe that if given a moment, these kids can produce what i'm asking. literally, if the child didn't start responding within half a second, the principal would start feeding them what to say. and it reallllly started to bug me. the kids just look to the principal, she tells them slowly what to say, their turn is over, and the child can happily forget what i've been working the last 40 minutes to teach them. splendid.

call it tough love, but i think if you put someone on the spot, they'll remember those moments better. if you ask someone to achieve something in front of the class and they do it successfully, it'll stick. kids and adults alike will relive it over and over again and they'll remember what they did. in the same way, i believe that if these kids can try and say their birthdays just once in front of the class, just so they can hear their own voice speak in english apart from their voices drowned among their classmates when asked to respond as a mass, and they accomplish that feat, that it'll stick and at least they'll be that more likely to remember what they learned.

what probably bothers me most are the kids who don't try. i know these kids are only 9 years old, but that's not an excuse to not try. the kids who look immediately to that adult behind them... those are the ones that break my heart. i believe they can do it. i wish they'd have a little more confidence in themselves.

anyway, back to my earlier reference about the boy who didn't say anything on his turn to say his birthday. after class, i talk to my English teacher/correspondent at that school, who's the Special Ed teacher there. he told me in english that that boy, "He can't speak Japanese."

well, that changes things a little. he looked full japanese to me too. maybe he just moved here.

and then he goes on to correct himself in japanese. it wasn't that the kid couldn't speak japanese. it's that he can't speak. at all. my first encounter with a mute. i still dont know much about that kid's situation, but i'm really curious how teachers know if he's learning anything without feedback...

anyway, the teacher apologized for not pointing out his 2 special ed kids and warning me ahead of time not to put them on the spot like that. i apologized for being a jerk, and took a mental note to be careful the next time i return.

but this kid got me thinking. the other special ed kid was one of the people who immediately looked to the principal for help. that's fine. she's a special ed kid. hence, she needs more help. but what are the normal kids' excuses? if you're a capable human being, act that way. how am i supposed to know who's special ed or not if everyone acts the same damn way? what distinguishes the normal from the special needs kids? they're not all helpless. i know they're not. kids, here is my bottom line: if you're capable, then try. you may actually learn something in the process.

rant over.

Minikui

So i totally forgot about this, but my roommate from university wrote this song for our japanese class presentation back during sophomore year. the tune and lyrics were all written by her, and if you understand a little bit of japanese, you'd probably find it a riot. during finals spring quarter of senior year, i finished on the first day, so i had tons of time to kill since everyone around me was cramming. sooo, i decided to make a music video for her song.

enjoy!

Click here to see the video!

"Killing Me Slowly"

due very much to the influences of my fellow islanders, i have finally reworded my first song!

granted, i didn't reword the ramblings at the beginning of the song, and i think i added an extra verse, but you'll get the idea and i *think* you'll forgive me ;D Enjoy!


Killing Me Slowly

(To the tune of The Fugees – Killing Me Softly)

I heard it snowed a little

I heard it was minus 5

And so I went back home and laid in bed for a while

And then I heard the rain come

No stranger to my ears

Trapped in my home and it's winter

Watching my day just go by

Killing me slowly with this cold

Killing me slowly with this cold

Longing for Western insulation

Killing me slowly with this cold

I felt a little dizzy

From my kerosene high

And so I got up and sat under my warm kotatsu

I prayed my walls were thicker

But coldness kept right on

Trapped in my home and it's winter

Inhaling kerosene fumes

Killing me slowly with this cold

Killing me slowly with this cold

Praying for summer to come soon

Killing me slowly with this cold

And as I cooked my dinner

My hands were over the fire

And weak person I am I washed dishes with hot water

With my big ugly jacket

I try to beat the cold but I'm

Trapped in my home and it's winter

Lacking feeling in my toes

Killing me slowly with this cold

Killing me slowly with this cold

Seeing my breath as I sing this

Killing me slowly with this cold

cold feet

i sometimes wonder if i'll have 10 functional toes and 10 functional fingers by the time i return to the States.

the weather here is pret-ty harsh. because i'm cheap and determined to un-wimp myself, whenever i use my sink, it's always cold water running. and by cold water, i mean water that feels like there's been 10 ice cubes floating around in a single glass of water cold. there's really no point in refrigerating water; i can achieve the same coldness by just drinking my tap water.

if i wanted to use hot water, i'd have to flip a switch that turns on the hot water for both my sink and shower. but if i'm only going to wash off my hands really fast, and it takes several minutes for the water to heat up, i may as well just use the cold water.

the other day, for the first time ever, i washed my dishes here with HOT water, and it was glorious. i can't begin to tell you how long it's been since i've done that. for once, as i rinsed off my dishes, i saw steam rising up and disappearing... one of the most beautiful things i've seen in a long, long time. tragically, my hands were so cold that i couldn't even appreciate the hot water. my hands and feet get so cold sometimes that it takes super hot water for me to even begin feeling anything. this is in fact the system i use to judge whether something i've reheated is hot enough. if i can tell that the plate is going to burn my hand if i hold it too long (because it's hot enough to tickle my nerves past the layers of frozen-over epidermis), it's ready. sad, no?

luckily, there are remedies to the cold. there's my wonderful kotatsu (which i'm baking under, despite it being sunny yet cold outside, and 1:30 in the afternoon), kerosene heaters (which make me feel like i should wear a gas mask), and although out of the way, an onsen (hot spring/public bath) about a 20 min drive away, which i'll hopefully hit up later today. but until then, i'm comfy sitting where i am =)

feeding the OTHER addiction

just when i thought my chocolate addiction was taking off, someone has tossed a stone in my bowl of soup to stir things up.

being a friday afternoon, i:m at my BOE as usual. when i walked into the bat cave, what:s that thing sitting on my desk? none other than my very own, brand spanking new laminator! my boss then came into my office and said that i could take it home if i wanted to.

alas, my days of dragging oversized laminating sheets to school and back are over.

with the advent of this laminator (it:s a nice one too; the kind all my schools have), i kinda feel obligated now to use it like crazy. they went through all the trouble of getting it for me when i asked like my third week here... my people rock =)

if you have suggestions for stuff to laminate, or want me to laminate anything for you, just lemme know, k? =P

super parking garages

as usual, i was watching my daily 10 minutes of tv in the morning. today they talked about new-age parking lots, and i have to give them credit -- they sound pretty cool.

first, it's valet. duh.

second, it's 1000 yen to start, and 300 yen per 30 minutes.

let's say you're shopping in the mall. you buy something. you buy a lot of stuff let's say. carrying it around the rest of the afternoon is going to be a pain, yes? instead of carrying it around, your bags can be passed along to the parking service, and one of the valets will bring your bags to your car for you. this is included in the price of your parking.

next, say you buy cake or something that requires refrigeration. they will keep your items in a fridge until you're ready to leave.

as you're paying for parking at a machine, if you have kids, a clown will sneak up on you out of nowhere to entertain your kids for you.

when you're ready to leave, you walk up to one of these stations that has a large barcode (hard to describe.. not the skinny bar, fat bar types you see in the States, but instead, it's square and looks like some sort of decorder with all these black blobs). some phones (like my kick-ass one) have built-in barcode readers. soo, hold up your phone to the barcode, tell your phone to read it, and on your phone, you'll see a map pop up of that parking lot, telling you how to get to your car. nuts.

apparently, they have the garage also divided into female and male drivers. the female spots are slightly wider than the male ones, because apparently, we don't know how to pull out of a parking spot (i slightly took offense at that one).

at the end of the segment, the commentators said something to the effect of "with the advent of these parking garages, i guess we'll see less fathers at the mall." haha... stupid, but i think it's a fair statement.

the whole time i sat there watching this, i couldn't stop shaking my head, partly because i thought, "this is soooo japanese." partly because i was fascinated that they seemed to have thought of everything. and partly because a little part of me was dying inside, wondering how japanese people can think it's ingenious to come up with the ultimate parking garage, and still fail to realize that hey, insulation in your home ain't a bad idea after all.

quality day of engrish

i went to two elementary schools today, and for some reason, i kept seeing quality engrish, which i just have to share...

- at my first school, we were doing a Christmas lesson, which included flash cards, memory, and BINGO. it took a while for the kids to fill out a 3x3 BINGO card, especially since some were trying to be fancy and write out the words in English as opposed to hiragana. words to choose from included Santa Claus, bell, angel, wreath, socks (it was written on her card, and i felt bad about correcting the teacher...), tree, cake, star, and present. as i peered over one girl's shoulder, i nearly died laughing: she had written "wrath."

- at my second school, one of the teachers handed me today's lesson plan, which was apparently food themed. as i scanned the list of words that i would be teaching, something caught my eye that totally threw me off. look at this list, and you tell me what doesn't fit =P :

• tomato potato lettuce cabbage carrot onion cucumber
• bread bum rice
• flour egg

I still have no idea what it was supposed to be.

- during lunch with the 4th and 5th graders at my second school, i was looking around the room at my students, when i noticed a large boy with an English sweatshirt on. written in Oakland A's script was the single word, Sturdy.

- on my way home, i walked by a bicycle with something written on the seat. when i looked closely, it read: Hip UP Saddle.

gotta love my island =D

japanese middle schoolers and uniformity

if you're wildly opposed to generalizations and stereotypes, then please read no further.

despite being in a very neutral mood right now, i feel the need to share my thoughts on japanese middle schoolers, and my occasional frustrations with them.

but first, think back to your days in middle school and high school. if you semi-cared about what the teacher was talking about, what would you do? you'd nod, right? or squint a little if you didn't know what was up? or if the teacher asked a question, and you weren't positive your answer was right, but you wanted to take a chance anyway and be heard, you'd raise your hand and answer the question, right?

that's what i feel class should be like. you pay attention, send the teacher signals that you're understanding what's going on or not, and on occasion, dare to be different, raise your hand, and try answering the teacher's question. at least that's what i feel classes in the States are like.

but not in japan. at least not in junior high school. maybe it's just because i'm teaching the foreign language class that i get so many blank stares and non-moving bodies aimed in my general direction. it's so frustrating to know that most likely half or more of the class knows the answer to my question, but no one dares to speak up.

which brings me to the point of this rant: uniformity is [in this case] bad.

let me explain a bit more. seeing how i'm constantly jumping around from school to school and classes ranging from 1st grade in elementary school to 9th grade in high school, i've gotten a little sample of what classroom atmospheres in japan can be like. from the time japanese kids are in their beginning years of elementary school, they're taught to be a part of the whole. to be one in a unified mass.

there are 3 things i can think of off the top of my head that i feel are unique to the japanese student experience. the first is cleaning. everyday, every school will have a "cleaning time" where every student and teacher has to clean a certain part of the school, from wiping windows, sweeping or mopping floors, emptying garbage... everything but scrubbing toilets. everyone has to work together to clean the school; hence, everyone's role is equally important.

secondly, there's the recent development of kyuushoku (給食）, which is the school lunch that's served in the classrooms. each student helps in the picking up of the class's food, delivering it to the classroom, serving food, cleaning off desks if necessary, bringing trays of food to each person's desk, and bringing dirty dishes and utensils back to the distribution point where they picked up the food to begin with. so no cafeteria; you eat in your classroom with your classmates and homeroom teacher. again, everyone has to work together to pass out food and clean up. plus, you can't start eating until everyone's ready. you start and end your meal together with unified chanting of set phrases.

thirdly, in at least middle schools here, you don't move around from classroom to classroom for every subject. instead, your teacher comes to you. soo, your classroom is your home. you and your classmates have the same schedule. you take the same classes, move around as a flock, eat together, breathe together, work together; everything but sleep together (that's not meant to be dirty).

with that said, back to my point. uniformity is sometimes bad. why? at least from my perspective from the front of the classroom, it looks like if everyone doesn't know the answer together, no one can know the answer individually. this is a grave overstatement, i know, but i sometimes get that feeling from some of my schools.

similarly, i was in one of my second year classes the other day, and i asked them, "What to you want to be?" and to say one more thing in addition to what you chose, but they all lacked creativity in their answers. They dont quite get yet that in a foreign language class, you can make up stuff. lie like crazy. have wild answers. that's what makes a foreign language class fun. I was trying to give them examples like, "I want to be a baseball player so i can be famous," and "I want to be a cat so i can sleep all day." instead, they bit off the example i put on the board (I want to be a nurse so i can help people), and was getting answers like "i want to be a taxi driver so i can help people," and "i want to be a police officer so i can help people." frustrating i tell you.

i just think back to one of my first days of class with one of my junior highs. i was doing my intro, and said, "this is my mother. what is 'mother?'"

*silence*

moments like that just made me want to HULK SMASH! them all. you're telling me a room full of 3rd years who've studied English for 3 years didn't know the word "mother?" i'd think we have more serious issues than learning to speak up.

days where students either dont know how or dont try to make crazy/amusing statements, or even try to break away from the mold on the board and experiment with the new grammar point, make me long for the days when i was in a language class. i can understand if you haven't a clue what's going on and don't raise your hand, but kids, look alive sometimes. nod. or blinker faster. give me a little hope. dare to be different once in a blue moon. individuality isn't such a bad thing. a little confidence sometimes doesn't hurt.

A 短歌 (tanka)* for the Jimny

Suzuki Jimny
Piece of crap finally gone
No more feeling bad.
Situation just dragged on.
Thank you Ushijima-san!**


*A tanka is a type of poem that goes 5-7-5-7-7. In other words, two lines longer than a haiku.
**Ushijima-san is the mutual friend who found a buyer for me

ridiculously good day

He’s finally out of my life. After 3 months of seeing him multiple times every single day, he’s finally gone. Thank god.

Who’s this mystery person I speak of? None other than Jimny. My Suzuki Jimny I should say. The big hunk of metal i bought off of my predecessor. Through some miracle, a mutual friend managed to find someone who would buy my car, and tonight, my friend and the buyer came over. There were issues starting it up (the battery was shot), but after replacing it with a new one, the engine FINALLY started. The man got in the car, drove it off the driveway in front of my home, and now it is finally out of my life. What a wonderful day =)

Even though i sold it for much less than i bought it for, at this point, seeing that car angers me so much that i would pay someone to get it out of my sight. The money i’m getting feels more like a bonus than anything else at the moment.

Also due to some freak happening of nature, the weather was beautiful today. For the first time in what feels like a month, i woke up from the SUN filling my room. It’s been freezing and super windy for the last few weeks, and seeing sun on a weekend nonetheless is quite miraculous.

Bored with nothing to do, David and i went furniture window-shopping. I think i may have found a cabinet for all the plates my predecessor bought (and i suspect never used). It was awesome though. David, being a 6’2” hairy white guy, and me being a 5’4” undercover gaijin, the lady who runs the store totally thought we were married (lol) and that i was japanese with exceptionally good English. David also being a goofball, would not stop with all the married-couple-looking-for-furniture-for-their-new-home jokes. Needless to say, i was dying of laughter the whole time. Just about the best joke he came up with was this:

Me: (pointing at a wooden baby high chair) What baby needs an excessive wooden chair like this?
David: Our baby does.

Indeed, it’s been a good day. And now i’m off to make some yakisoba. Mmmm mm!

--Evelyn

quintessential island songs

as karaoke is one of the few pastimes on this island that's readily available (and by available, i mean a 30 second walk from my front door), my friends and i have had multiple excursions just singing the night away. and till now, i've noticed that there are usually one or two songs that always show up, and they're always one of the only japanese songs any of us will attempt. and after having them both stuck in my head the last week or so, i thought i'd share them with the rest of you. if you ever want to impress people who've lived on an island in japan (yes, i know, all of japan is an island), sing these songs for them ;D

島唄
THE BOOM

　　でいごの花が咲き　風を呼び嵐がきた

　　でいごが咲き乱れ　風を呼び嵐がきた
　　繰り返す悲しみは　島渡る波の様
　　ウージの森で　あなたと出逢い　　　　（※ウージはさとうきび）
　　ウージの下で　千代(ﾁﾖ)にさよなら
　　島唄よ風に乗り　鳥とともに海を渡れ
　　島唄よ風に乗り　届けておくれ
　　私の涙

　　でいごの花も散り　さざ波がゆれるだけ
　　ささやかな幸せは　うたかたの波の花
　　ウージの森で　歌った友よ
　　ウージの下で　八千代(ﾔﾁﾖ)の別れ
　　島唄よ風に乗り　鳥とともに海を渡れ
　　島唄よ風に乗り　届けておくれ
　　私の愛を

　　海よ宇宙よ　神よ命よ
　　このまま永久(ﾄﾜ)に　夕凪を

　　島唄よ風に乗り　鳥とともに海を渡れ
　　島唄よ風に乗り　届けておくれ
　　私の涙

　　島唄よ風に乗り　鳥とともに海を渡れ
　　島唄よ風に乗り　届けておくれ
　　私の愛を

　　ララ　ララララ　ラララララ　・・・・・

(taken from http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/momose/mu_title/shimauta.htm)



島人ぬ宝　（しまんちゅぬたから）
BEGIN

　僕が生まれたこの島の空を
　僕はどれくらい知っているんだろう

　輝く星も 流れる雲も
　名前を聞かれてもわからない

　でも誰より 誰よりも知っている
　悲しい時も 嬉しい時も
　何度も見上げていたこの空を

　教科書に書いてある事だけじゃわからない
　大切な物がきっとここにあるはずさ
　それが島人ぬ宝

　僕がうまれたこの島の海を
　僕はどれくらい知ってるんだろう

　汚れてくサンゴも 減って行く魚も
　どうしたらいいのかわからない

　でも誰より 誰よりも知っている
　砂にまみれて 波にゆられて
　少しずつ変わってゆくこの海を

　テレビでは映せないラジオでも流せない
　大切な物がきっとここにあるはずさ
　それが島人ぬ宝

　僕が生まれたこの島の唄を
　僕はどれくらい知ってるんだろう

　トゥバラーマも デンサー節も
　言葉の意味さえわからない

　でも誰より 誰よりも知っている
　祝いの夜も 祭りの朝も
　何処からか聞えてくるこの唄を

　いつの日かこの島を離れてくその日まで
　大切な物をもっと深く知っていたい
　それが島人ぬ宝　それが島人ぬ宝
　それが島人ぬ宝

　　　　　　※　「島人」の読みは“しまんちゅ”

(taken from http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/momose/mu_title/shimancyunu_takara.htm)

good day

despite the wet and cold weather, i:m having an unusually good day. yes, i:m typing from work. i have to retreat to the bat cave every friday afternoon, and since i have nothing to do, i thought i:d tell you about the good mood that i:m in.

first of all, i:d like to point out what a weird week i:m having. last week was my birthday, and that meant seeing a lot of my fellow foreingers. since they have to venture all the way down the island, they tend to stick around and hang out the following day. that meant seeing english-speakers all weekend.

i had work mon-wed and thanks to Labour Thanksgiving Day, i had thursday off. but here:s the funky thing: i had to go back to work on friday (now). so thursday felt like saturday, but all of a sudden the next day was work. and today feels like a thursday since i:m in such a good mood, but lo and behold, it:s suddenly the real weekend. yeah, i have no sense of what day of the week it is right now.

i had a really hard time motivating myself to come to work today, but i:m super glad i did. i went to my second largest elementary school today, and since i had the 1st, 2nd, and 6th graders on monday, today was the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. all of my students were so well behaved today.. it was awesome. i actually had a fun time teaching today. not that i never have fun, so much as it:s rare that i come out of a day of teaching and still feel good about all my classes. a good day indeed.

for lunch, i ate with the 4th graders, and it was the class with all the girls i hung out with at the school picnic i went to. those girls are hilarious. after lunch, they figured out how ticklish i am, so several of the girls in the class and i started dying as we ran at each other trying to out-tickle one another. wow, if i were a guy, that:d sound so wrong, but anyway, i was laughing like a maniac and so were they. good times. times like these make me really happy i decided to take a chance and come to japan to teach.

my good day comes with interesting timing too. last night i saw the majority of the ALTs on the island, and we all started talking about recontracting. up till now, i:ve been thinking that i:ll most likely stay for a second year, but after talking to alicia, for the first time, i started thinking, maybe it:s not a good idea to stay. at our mid-year conference, the pref. advisor was saying how not knowing what you:re doing the rest of your life is not a good reason to recontract. that and procrastinating from entering the real world back home is a bad reason.

honestly, i dont know waht i want to do with the rest of my life. i still tell people that i want to go into nursing, but i:m just not sure. i like the thought of helping people, and being able to translate for people on occasion. but the nightmare stories i hear of getting crappy work to do... that deters me. friends have suggested being a physical therapist or physician:s assistant before too. i definitely dont want to be a doctor, and thats about the only thing i know for sure. will staying here an extra year make a big difference in the grand scope of my life?

my main goal while being in japan is to learn japanese, and i feel like in the 3 months that i:ve been here, i haven:t learned much... yet. now that i:m settled in and getting my nerd on, i foresee myself really sitting down and starting to study again (my brain is hungry...). gut instinct says that two years of living here will improve my japanese tremendously. maybe even become fluent. i:m tired of packing up my life and moving every year. it:d be nice to know that all the work i:m putting into making my apartment my home has long term benefits. it:d also be nice to know what i:m doing next year as opposed to always starting my augusts/septembers at square one. decisions decisions.

sorry for the rant... i have until january to decide, so until then, i:m probably going to have this conversation with myself countless times. for those of you who know what you want to do with the rest of your life, i applaud you. one of the consequences of being the youngest of 3 kids: too much flexibility. necessary when one is younger and needs to niche pick, but only leads to indecision later.

...and now my brain feels like mush.

hope everyone back home is enjoying thanksgiving dinner! go to bed early and prepare yourselves for black friday. oh, how i miss getting up at 5am the day after thanksgiving to road trip with my siblings down to gilroy to shop. sorry i:m breaking tradition this year, guys. have fun! be thankful!

--Evelyn

feeding the addiction

hands down highlight of my day: coming home to a care package filled with 3 POUNDS worth of Plain M&Ms, an assortment of gummi rings, and a tube of Blistex (har har...).

thank you sooo much Harrington!!! o(^ ^)o

--Evelyn

PS. I've been shivering allllll day.... *sniffle*

realizations

today has been a day of random realizations and for me, rude awakenings. maybe that's an exaggeration. it's suddenly hit me that..

1) this is the first november in at least 17 years that i haven't been enrolled in school. isn't that crazy?

2) i can't stand trying to be tough and resist the cold anymore. i finally gave in and set up my kotatsu (basically a coffee table with a built in heater) in desperation. my masochistic goal was to make it to december without using it, but i'm sick of cold feet, so i finally took out the kotatsu blankets and plugged it in. and it is sooooo nice. november 21st. not bad. close enough to december, right?

3) today is at least the 4th or 5th time i've felt like i'm borderline losing my voice since starting to teach. today was particularly bad in that i really wouldn't have made it through my 3 classes had i not been chugging water and sucking on cough drops the whole time. at the rate that i'm going, i'll sound like hole-in-her-neck-from-years-of-smoking Debbie by the time i return home. whenever that is.

4) i am not invincible after all.

quote of the day

during lunch with my 2nd graders at one of my junior high schools (in Tsutsu, my southernmost school), i asked everyone something and got one of THE most randomest responses ever:

Me: So were all of you born in Tsutsu?
*pause*
Boy: I love you?

birthday surprises

i had last night, which can only be described as one of the best birthdays EVER. the only other one that can compare was the time my drawmates and i all went to San Francisco, and at the end of the day, 3 more of my friends magically appeared and we all went to see The Lion King on stage. All sorts of great memories.

Yesterday was equally as shocking. So on Wednesday, i talked to Sujin, the Korean CIR from Pusan. She said she had something to show me on Friday, but that it'd be around 8pm. I figured we'd eat dinner together or something along those lines first.

After going to my junior high in the morning, from 2pm onwards i'm usually at my BOE on friday afternoons. i sat there and didn't do much of anything, but since i was in my bat cave by myself, it didn't really matter (the office is in the new shopping mall building, and since the outer room is small, my and Aaron's desk has been left in the backroom which i've deemed the Bat Cave). Around 3:40, Ueda-san (the young guy that works for Aaron's city at my BOE) comes into the batcave holding a tray with a cup of coffee and a plate with just a plastic yellow fork.

Thinking, why is HE serving ME coffee? He disappears out the door, and 2 seconds later reappears with a box that obviously contains pastries. After thanking him like crazy, i asked if anyone else in the front room wanted any cake, and he said, "There's a lot of people there that can't eat sweets, so go ahead."

After he left again, i was in that room by myself. I looked around, saw a bunch of boxes and stacks of paper laying around, and thought, "Somehow, i can't bring myself to eat this by myself. I think that would be the saddess caking-eating i've ever done." So i didn't. i decided to wait until after dinner to eat it with Sujin and hopefully Jayne (David's new and more appropriate name after a character from Firefly) and Aaron.

Determined to call home, i spent about an hour after coming home trying to setup Skype, and i would highly recommend it! Talked to my parents for about 15 minutes and it cost less than 40 cents! Excellent, excellent.

Afterwards, i gave Sujin a call, and finally decided on eating okonomiyaki at my place before going to the thing at 8. I had promised her when i went to her place for dinner, that the next time we ate it would be okonomiyaki since i'm a big fan. So, i went out, bought some materials for the okonomiyaki, made a salad, and called her over. They turned out huge and took a while to heat up, but we both thought they came out well =)

Then, it was off to whatever she was going to show me. Now keep in mind, Sujin is the type of person who is genuinely SUPER nice, very accomodating, very responsible, and honest. Which is why when we ended up in front of Roxy's (a burger joint in town), she said, "I have to talk to the old guy here really fast," i believed her. I followed her in since i know the waitress there, and as i step inside, i look off to the right where our gaijin troop usually sits, and see a blond head of hair.

"That's odd..."

As i walk in further, i realize, "Wait! i know that blonde head! Whoa, David North is here too--- wait..."

And then i realize that EVERYONE is there. Even the way northerners came down!! Everyone but Oliver was there (to be expected). I was soo touched.... speechless in fact. Aaron had apparently contacted everyone and told them not to say Happy Birthday to me all day unless they had to, that way i'd think they'd all forgotten (which i did...), and had organized the surprise party. Surprised indeed.

The wonderful and excessive people they all are, they got me presents!! Honestly, i take birthdays as a time to spend with people that mean a lot to me, and it's more about being surrounded by good friends and good company than about cake and presents. Maybe i think that way because my parents never got me anything; they feed, clothe, and shelter me. They always believed that was enough, and i totally agree.

But yes, my islanders = AMAZING. Panda slippers that look super warm from Sujin, candy and a compiled CD from Master Lees (a mixed tape, dare i say =P [sorry, Avenue Q reference...]), my favorite Japanese omiyage of all time called Hakata Torimon (below)

and a head-bobbing toy (see below)

that i've wanted for a while because it's soo adorable and sooo soothing from Rob (i've named it Bob.... ingenious, no?!), and last but not least, the most impressive thing of all from Aaron: a Hanshin Tigers Akahoshi 53 jersey!!!

So i can't find a picture of it at the moment, but it's basically the above jersey with a 53 on the front, and AKAHOSHI 53 on the back. Seriously, this is going to be a family heirloom. You laugh, but i'm serious. Literally, back in April or whenever it was, i told several people, when i go to Japan, i'm going to get this jersey, i'm going to wear it all the games i go to, and this WILL be a family heirloom. Yes i'm crazy. Yes i love this team to pieces. Yes, i love Akahoshi. No, i dont know why.

While we were still at Roxy's, all of a sudden the lights dimmed down, and the owner came out with a huge ice cream sunday with a paper Happy Birthday tiara, candle, and sparklers coming out of it. Quite awesome (and delicious!).

After Roxy's, we swung by the Coco's (the ONLY convenience store on the island), and then it was off to karaoke. Lots of fun songs were sung; quite a few japanese songs too. i completely butchered "Eternally" by Utada, but it was the only song slow enough for me to read. And speaking of trip down memory lane, i sang Waterfalls by TLC, and not even the radio version, but the real one with Left-Eye's rap in the middle. Somehow, it's become my thing that i HAVE to rap a song before a night of karaoking is done. Though honestly, i'm running out of songs that i know.... I'll gladly take suggestions though =)

By the time karaoke was over, it was 1:15ish, and deciding to be random, the Davids, Rob, Aaron and i went to get Aaron's car then went for a joy ride. We went up to Kamizaka, which is a lookout point over the ria in Mitsushima. Since Aaron has a kei car (small), and since there were 5 of us, needless to say, it was quite a cozy ride. But i must say, it was one of the most hilarious and enjoyable joy rides i've had in a long, long time. Being 1:30 in the morning, it was pretty dark out, and seeing how Tsushima only has windy, narrow, mountainous roads, deer and ten coming out at night to play only make driving all the more scary. Many, many good memories made.

As was my whole evening. From okonomiyaki to a surprise party to karaoke to joy-riding, all very, very memorable and fun. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, and especially to my islanders for the trek down south and the amazing love and joy you've brought to this poor soul on a cold November day. Thank you!!!

--Evelyn

Hmm...I still have yet to eat my cake...

this and that

I’m not sure why, but lately, i’ve been in super weird moods. For example, yesterday, i got super angry at the world. Well, more specifically, angry at my predecessor. Long story short, she sold me a car for $500 before i arrived in Tsushima. I get here, realize it’s a piece of crap, can’t drive it because it’s manual with no power steering, figure i’m a danger to myself and everyone on the road if i use it, so i went out and got myself a leased car (it’s a wonderful Honda Life. I call her Snow White o(^ ^)o ). After getting my leased car, i tried selling it, didn’t work out because the car’s shaken (government mandated car inspection once every two years) runs out in December, it’s an old car, and would probably cost more to keep up than to just scrap it. In other words, i bought i car i can’t use and can’t sell. Thus, i have to scrap it. Damn her.

This car issue is just about the only thing that has repeatedly stressed me out since getting here. I seriously believe that once i get rid of it, as in it’s no longer parked outside my home and reminds me each time i come in and out that i have to do something about it, that quality of life will go up a notch. I will be happier. More importantly, i won’t feel guilty and stressed out. Let this be a lesson to all of us: NEVER buy a car you’ve never seen or test driven before, no matter HOW CHEAP you think it is. There, i’ve said it.

Moving on.

As of last week, i’d honestly say that my japanese hadn’t improved much since getting to Tsushima, largely because i’ve been really lazy about studying or reading newspapers and the like. I have no idea why, but the last 2 or 3 days, i’ve been on a Japanese-geek-high, and have been studying day in and day out. More importantly, i’ve been stopping random teachers and office workers to teach me Tsushima-ben and Nagasaki-ben (ben = dialect). Maybe this is just me, but i feel like when i know what to listen for, i’m much more likely to hear it.

2 examples.

First, before going to Kyoto last year to study abroad, during one of our orientations, we were given a short list of Kansai-ben that we were likely to hear often. And indeed, after i studied that list, my comprehension of random conversations between my host family members or just people in general, went up significantly.

Second, i could totally be remembering this incorrectly, but when i took Developmental Psych freshman year, i think i heard this one experiment where they sat kids in front of the tv, and every now and then, they’d insert a voice randomly speaking German. What did the kid’s brain waves look like? You’d think that because they’re hearing something foreign, their brain activity would be all over the place, but actually, when the German came on, their brains didn’t react at all, and when their native language came on again, brain activity resumed.

In the same way, i honestly believe that once i know what to listen for, i’ll be able to understand what’s going on around me. Equipped with my short list of local dialect words, i actually have noticed, “Hey, that person just said ----!! That means ----!!” Exciting for me indeed. Maybe now my taxi drivers wont have to repeat themselves about 15 times before i register what they’re saying to me. Or maybe they can, i dont know, learn to ENUNCIATE. Wouldn’t that be splendid? =P

In other news, i have officially chosen a favorite [Japanese] comedian (second, of course, only to Dave Chapelle). His name is Jinnai Tomonori, and his skits are like crack. Once you start watching them, you can’t stop. He speaks a ton of Kansai-ben, but his timing is so on key that even if you dont really understand what’s being said (like me), you’ll still think it’s a riot (like me). Here are some of my favorite acts:

Alibis Through Sound: http://youtube.com/watch?v=F5fyU-8hNgs&mode=related&search=

Lost and Found: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-Z3HtVUGsYI

Quiz Show: http://youtube.com/watch?v=etgZ9uC75ls&mode=related&search=

Counting Sheep: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yqz6ePoWyoA

Tetris: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9bXyZTF2TH0&mode=related&search=


And speaking of the devil, i found out yesterday morning during my daily 10 minutes of tv-watching, that he just got engaged. Yay for him! Funny people deserve to be happy.

Finally, i think i’ve found a new pastime on this island. And no, it’s not more laminating. It’s putting puzzles together! Rob has a room and table perfect for puzzle assembly, so last weekend he, David North, and I started on a 1000 piece puzzle of Himeji Castle. I think i’m going to hate sky blue after this, but it’s all good.

And with that, i’m off to enjoy the rest of my birthday o(^ ^)o Darn, no more shocking people by saying, “I’m 21.” Oh well, i had my fun!..... Wow, i’m spending my year being 22 on an island off of South Korea... I wonder what this year has in store =)

--Evelyn

pissed

i hope my predecessor dies a slow and horrible death.

my addictions

Since coming to Tsushima, i have inadvertently developed two addictions. The first is not too hard to guess: chocolate.

Now, most things in Japan are not sweet enough to me. Sadly enough, to my Korean friend, Japanese sweets are too sweet, which i can only assume means that when Korean people eat American sweets, they feel like they're going to go diabetic. ANYWAY, i managed to make it through my first month here without buying chocolate. But one random day at the grocery store, i decided to reward myself with a bar of DARS, and since then, it's been all downhill.

While nothing will ever compare to Plain M&Ms, a good ol' Crunch bar, or one of those fun size Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars you get during Halloween, I have managed to find a suitable replacement. And the winner is.... Morinaga Milk Chocolate! I discovered this based solely on chance. Fate made it only 78 yen. Fate made it mine.

But today i discovered an even more brilliant chocolate product. What is it? you ask. LOOK!

Literally! LOOK Cafe a la Mode is THE BOMB. So get this: there are 12 pieces of chocolate inside. BUT, there are 4 different flavors, so each piece is already separated and its own entity. The four flavors in this package are Espresso, Caramel Latte, Cafe Latte, and Almond Latte. MMMM MM! Espresso realllly hits the spot. And this lucky find was only 75 yen!

On to addiction number 2. So, if you know me well, i'm really into making stuff with paper, right? Well, seeing how I'm now a pseudo-teacher, that occasionally means making materials for my students. Particularly flash cards and games. So what do i do to make sure my materials survive being used over and over again? That's right. I laminate them! Every school i go to has lamintor, but not necessarily laminating sheets. SO, so long as i have my own sheets, i can use their laminator all i want. Sooo, the other day when i was shopping at a home improvement store, i stumbled upon cheap laminating sheets. 100 sheets of A3 film for only 1700yen! Japan has a weird paper system, so A3 is the size of two A4 sheets, A4 being slighty longer and skinnier than Letter-sized paper in the States. Bottom line: huge sheets of film. Cheap. Plentiful. Ability to laminate to my hearts content =)

I now look forward to making cards and the like. i used to worry over how long they would last, but with the advent of my beautiful laminating sheets, i can screw up a billion times and still not feel bad. Yay to making stuff with paper!

And now that you've probably started shaking your head at me and started thinking, "Oh, Ev," in your head, i'm going to stop rambling about chocolate and laminators. Even though they are both some of the most AWESOMEST things ever made by man ;D

--Evelyn

Halloween Part II

So within the span of 2.5 weeks, i had 5 Halloween parties. The first was at Nishi Elementary school in Fiona's neck of the woods. The second was at Izuhara's new mall geared towards the children of my town. Third was in Mitsushima (the neighboring town) geared towards the chidlren of that town and planned mainly by Aaron. Fourth: my special strong-English-program elementary school (both Lurch and i went). Fifth: one of my small elementary schools threw a party anyway despite it being 5 days after Halloween..

The following are from the Mitsushima party. Let's enjoying!

The Mario Brothers!

Look! it's me and Death from Bill and Ted's Bogus Adventures!!

Our Iki brethren. Iki is the next island over from us, and 5 ALTs came over for what seems to now be an annual tradition.

The entire English-teaching foreinger crew for miles! Here's all 9 of us ALTs in Tsushima plus Patrick (the former JET who loved Tsushima so much that he came back. he makes very rare appearances, so this is a rare moment indeed). Our 5 Iki peeps are also here.

The three pinata's that Lurch and I made. Note to you all: don't use layers upon layers upone layers of newspaper. The pinata will never open that way. Also, don't stuff the pinatas with jelly cups (like those small lychee jellies). It WILL make a mess when it falls. Bachelors #1 and 3 went to the special English school, while the middle one went to my 5th party with me.

....and i can barely keep my eyes open. Time for bed!

school picnic pictures

pictures from my school picnic:

The lunches of the 4 girls who adopted me for the day, and my lunch. Guess which one wasn't made by her loving Japanese mother?

My lunch buddies! My favorite is Rika, the one on the right. She's going to break so many hearts someday.


Magori-sensei, who has exceptionally good English for an elementary school teacher, got ambushed by a ton of students and got absolutely caked in those flower buds i was describing. See how evil little kids can be?

Me and my posse! Aren't they adorable???!!

the phantom taxi driver

within my first week of being in Tsushima, my supervisor had taken me around to each of the 4 taxi companies that i was told to use throughout the year. i was told i can use whichever i want, switch off every week or whatever i felt like.

here are my following four first impressions:

Company #1: I walk into the headquarters/tiny office, where i see 4 or 5 friendly, jovial guys. plus one super cute young guy. Score: very high. i think i'm going to like this company.

Company #2: In their tiny office are a few middle aged men. seem friendly enough. no one that seems like an evil jerk or anything. Score: neutral.

Company #3: I walk into their tiny office, and as my boss is introducing me, i take a look around at the 5 or so guys in there. Literally, each man has a cigarette in his hand, the room reeks of chain smokers, and they all look like sleaze to me. Score: I hate smokers. Thus, i'm NOT a fan of this company.

Company #4: No office that i see. just a line of taxis with their drivers sleeping inside their cars waiting for the Bat Signal. Score: one notch above neutral since the guy that my boss was talking to seemed genuinely nice and cool.

Now, if you recall what i said about company #1, there was a cute guy in the office who i saw for not even a split second, but from the glance that i got, i thought he looked pretty young. Company #1 being my favorite from the start, i use them the most frequently since 1) almost all the drivers are really friendly and i genuinely have good conversations with them, and 2) i get carsick in their cars the least out of the 4 companies. Out of all the riding i do around town, i'd say i use that company about 60% of the time. When you combine that with the 3 months that i've been here, you'd think that i'd ridden with each of the drivers at that company at least once.

By last month, i'd given up hope that i saw a cute guy, much less a young one. But the day of the Halloween party in Izuhara, i swear, i saw that guy driving people around, and literally was in histeria telling my fellow foreigners that "That's the guy i saw!!! I think that's my cute guy!!" Of course, no one else saw who i was pointing to. Taking into account how blind i am, i could have made him up that time too for all i knew.

That is, until today. FINALLY. FINALLY, finally, my day arrived. Or i should say, he arrived. After three months of thinking that i'm insane and not only blind, but delusional, my cute taxi driver came to pick me up. And he's indeed young. 27 to be exact (yes, yes people. i'm still 21...). And for that half hour i got to stare at the back of his head and his left ear, i was on a school girl high. Good morning indeed!

Actually, i had an exceptionally good day. First was finally meeting my phantom taxi driver, then i nearly made a hole-in-one during "Grand Golf" at my elementary school as we were playing with the old people who live in the surrounding area (my ball hit the wiring surrounding the goal. if that wire wasn't there, it would have gone in), ate some kick-ass cake during lunch with the old people, and finally filled my heaters with kerosene so they actually, you know, HEAT my home now. Literally, when i got my upstairs heater filled and plugged it in to try it out, when that first blast of warm air shot out, i literally had a smile from ear to ear, shouted out with glee, and belted out an evil cackle as i celebrated the victory of owning a beautiful heater.

hmm... looking back at how much i've gone on during this entry about my disappearing taxi driver, really, i have no intention of doing anything about it. he's way out of reach, and to be completely honest, there's someone else on my mind that i'd rather see for 10 seconds in person than sit 3 hours everyday 8 inches away from my already-divorced-once-phantom driver. but alas, even he's more out of reach, and i mean that in both the literal and poetic sense. *sigh* sometimes it truly pains me to realize how much of a child i am living in an adult's world.

at any rate, i'm going to post pictures now. enjoy!

--Evelyn

random updates

Nothing truly exciting has been happening lately, but to briefly update you all on what's been going on in my life:

- i FINALLY finished reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. This is seriously the first book i've read for fun since The Da Vinci Code a few years back. That plus the fact that reading nothing but Bio and Chem textbooks for the last few years has caused my ability to read for long periods of time to go down (as in i can read something for about 10 minutes before i being to majorly pass out). An accomplishment: I think so!

- I went on a death walk with one of my schools. Actually, they called it an 遠足（えんそく）, which translates to a picnic or school field trip. Normally, you think, "oh picnic! how fun!" Let me explain why i wasn't. First, the elementary school i was with is perched on a very steep hill. AND, there's a super narrow busy road that leads to it from downtown/where i live. With that said, we had to walk from the school to across from the city office, which is pretty close to where i live. Rather than walking that narrow busy road with 100+ kids, we took a side street where no cars usually go, but adds about 20 more minutes of walking. That leg of our trip (from the school to the city office-ish) took over an hour. Plus there were some crazy steep hills.

After visiting the museum that is across from the city office (where i was falling asleep from Japanese listening overload), we continued walking to a park. Except that park is perched on yet another extremely steep hill. That leg of the trip had to have been at least another 50 minute walk, majority uphill. *screaming*

The actual time spent at that park was pretty fun. During the walk, these 3 4th grade girls befriended me, and their friends befriended me at the park. Those girls are now my favorite students at that school (picture of us coming soon).

Granted, since we walked to the park, we had to walk back to school too. That walk was about another hour. All in all, we had spent about 3 hours or less at the park, and the rest of the "picnic" marching ourselves from place to place. That just may be the last time i get fooled into going on a japanese "school picnic"!!

- I started to play the koto! It's the japanese piano i suppose you can say. It's long, has 13 strings, and sounds very asian. I asked one of my junior high teachers to teach me as i know she really likes playing it. Literally, she taught me how to play in 20 minutes, and at the end of the 20 minutes, i was already playing my second song. It was shockingly easy to learn, although mastering technique is another story. Even though i can't practice very often, it'll be a cool random thing i can go back to the States being able to do.

- I also started playing badminton again. Considering it's been 4 years since i've played, and when i was at the peak of my playing in high school i majorly sucked, I'd say 4 years hasn't changed much. However, not that i dont have the pressure of games that'll count for my school or my peers judging me, i feel a lot more relaxed as i play in Tsushima (although it's SUPER intimidating that everyone that plays has been doing it every week for the last several years and everyone is SUPER good).

- I'm finally done with my Halloween parties! 5 parties in all this year, which is 5 more than i usually have. Pictures of those coming soon too.

- Tomorrow i'm headed out to Nagasaki for our mid-year conference (even though i've only been here for 3 months). This probably would have been an excellent time to go traveling around Kyushu as the trip is paid for by the city, but i really am not in the mood to travel. Plus, there's nowhere particularly thrilling that i'm really gungho about seeing. I'd rather pocket the extra money they're giving me and apply it towards my winter vacation (which is still yet to be determined).

Time to pack!

--evelyn

on top of spaghetti

That's right. That "On Top of Spaghetti." I'm talking about none other than that famed children's song we all sang when we were children. i dont know about you, but i never reallly learned the words to that song. in fact, i dont think i learned any children's songs to completion when i was little, nor did i learn any nursery rhymes. last year i was mercilessly mocked numerous times by people i knew (you know who you are you evil people! =P) because i couldn't say any nursery rhymes correctly.

Today i was scouring the net for flash cards when i chanced upon a site with children's songs and lyrics. It just so happened to have "On Top of Spaghetti" on there. Just before opening up the page, i thought, "Hmm... do i know this song? Doesn't it go something like:

'On Top of Spaghetti!
Da da da da daaa...
I lost my poor meatball,
da da da da daaa...'"

And that's about all I knew of the song. Now that i've read all the lyrics, i have to say that it makes soooo much more sense now, and it is officially the highlight of my day. It's such a cute song!! So cute that i'm posting it here for everyone to relive the magic once more!

On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese.
I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed.
It rolled off of the table, and on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball, it out of the door.
It rolled in the garden, and under a bush,
And then my poor meatball, was nothing but mush!
That mush was as tasty, as tasty could be,
And early next summer, it grew into a tree.
The tree was all covered, with beautiful moss,
It grew lovely meatballs, and tomato sauce.
So if you eat spaghetti, all covered with cheese,
Hold on to your meatballs, and don’t ever sneeze!!!

SUCH a cute song!! o( ＾-＾)o

my address

i just realized that i never put my mailing address on my blog like i thought i did, so here it is!

Evelyn Chin
598 Nakamura, Izuhara-machi
Tsushima-shi, Nagasaki-ken
JAPAN 817-0013

T　817-0013
長崎県対馬市厳原町中村５９８
エベリン・チン

(If anyone can tell me what that "T" looking symbol that goes before the zip code is called, or better yet, how to type it out on my computer when typing in japanese, i'd be eternally grateful)

Halloween Part I

So last Friday was the first of 4 major Halloween parties I'll be attending over a two week span. 8 out of the 9 of us ALTs went to an elementary school in Mine (pronounced meeh-nay, not "mine"), which is probably the most rural (ruralest?) out of the 6 towns in Tsushima. It was a lot more fun than i thought it would be, considering it was mainly planned by japanese people, but still had games resembling what i thought an American Halloween party should have. Wow, my English is going down the toilet.

ANYWAY, i unfortunately dont have pictures of that day, but i do of the following day. Saturday was the Izuhara Halloween Party at the new shopping mall. This party was advertised through my two largest elementary schools, and rumor has it that about 180 children were there. The lady with perhaps the best english on the island organized it (her name is Midori and was my predecessor's best friend). She asked me to recruit ALTs for the event. Little did she know that I'd be able to get all 9 of us here! That's right, all 9 of us got together for the first time EVER. It was quite glorious.

Just to back track a little, a few weeks ago, my town also had a big festival at the local shrine. There is where we met Japanese Hip-Hop Style for the first time. Lurch (David South) was accosted by this guy who was dressed all ghetto with this huge necklace hanging low (which upon closer inspection was this 2"x3" Jesus head), who said upon their first meeting, "[pointing at himself] Japanese Hip-Hop Style!" And ever since, the name stuck. We have no idea what his real name is, but the nickname is fitting. Now, wherever Lurch goes, he runs into him (the second night of the festival they ran into each other again, and that time he pointed at himself and said, "Japanese Reggae Style!") And of all the places, he happens to stroll into the 3rd floor of the new building where our Halloween party had just ended, and that was it. We had to take a picture of him:

Japanese Hip-Hop Style (left) and friends

Lurch and his buds

This one dude was particularly fascinated at the sight of a bunch of oddly-clad foreigners, so he posed for my picture:

Mr. Japanese Hip-Hop Style wannabe

All 9 of us together for the first time ever!! Who would have thought.. "Halloween: brings people together."

As my party was in the morning, we all had the afternoon to chill and do nothing. So we all went to Aaron's place and took a nap. Afterwards, Master Lees and I went to visit one of my JTEs at his home, as he had randomly met David last year. That was my first home invite since coming to Tsushima, and i have to admit, it felt nice to be in a Japanese home again.

Due to our inability to say no, my JTE (Matsumura-sensei), his wife, and daughter ended up coming to dinner with our gaijin crew. That night, since everyone was in Izuhara, i called out the Korean CIR (Coordinator for International Relations... basically, the Korean<->Japanese translator hired through the JET Program who works at the City Office). That was my first time seeing Sujin outside of work (i met her my first day at the City Office, and was shocked to find out there even was a CIR in Tsushima. Until Saturday, i was the only ALT who had met her. Most of the others didn't even know she existed).

Everyone at dinner: me, Rob, Sujin, Fiona, Alicia, Lurch, Yuko (Matsumura's daughter), Aaron, Sylvia, Mrs. Matsumura, and Matsumura-sensei.

Education being one of the steadiest jobs in Tsushima, everyone is somehow connected with someone else whether you're in school, your family member is a teacher, or you just know people at other schools. Check this out. In this picture is Aaron, Mrs. Matsumura (who is the school nurse at one of Aaron's schools), Yuko (the daughter, and one of Lurch's students at the local high school), Matsumura (one of my JTEs), Master Lees (who randomly met Matsumura through Lurch's predecessor), and me.

Times like these my island feels a little too small.

Despite the variety in personalities and people we had going on that night, i got the general feeling that everyone had a good time. Yuko spoke incredibly good English. And she's only a second year in high school! Shocking really. Sujin is from Pusan, and even though she's the Korean/Japanese expert, she could still form whole sentences in English, which after teaching nothing but students with no motivation to learn English or students too young to even know what English is, was absolutely remarkable. Now that i think about it, we had a pretty international night going on. Sweetness.

This Saturday is Halloween Party #3, and our neighboring islanders on Iki (about 2 hrs away by ferry) will be making special guest appearances. Should be a blast! Party #4 is on Tuesday at my special English-focused elementary schools. Hope it turns out well. Will keep you all posted on what happens!

Oyasumi!

--Evelyn

PS. if you're bored, check this out: California Love

my last month (w/pics!)

it's recently come to my attention that i haven't put up pictures in a month. sooo, here's a pictoral view of my last month:

At a festival in Rob's town in the north. David North, David South (aka Lurch), and Rob pounding themselves some tasty mochi

"Tsushima.... BYAHHH!!" -- the official Tsushima ALT cheer. If you like Dave Chapelle and Howard Dean, you'll know what I'm talking about (YouTube it if you don't get it). Here: Sylvia, Rob, David North, Lurch, Aaron, me



Watazumi Shrine in Toyotama (little over an hour away by car). This is one of the places that Tsushima frequently puts on its postcards.


At my enkai with my huge junior high. Here: me, Lurch, our JTE (Katsumi-sensei), and her two adorable kids. Katsumi-sensei is seriously super cool and super nice.


Same enkai. About a third or fourth of the teachers are in this picture. This is the party that supposedly started the whole, "Evelyn is a drunkard" rumor. Really though, I've stopped caring.


One of my favorite Tsushima pictures yet. Lurch and I decided to go to the beach one day, and i took this picture there. This beach was empty save for this one fisherman. It was a gorgeous day, tons of clouds in the sky.... you do the math.


Yup, this is my home.


"Hi! My name is Evelyn and I'm 21 years old. I like okonomiyaki, learning Japanese, and long walks on the beach..." o(^-^)o


Another typical postcard picture. Rice paddies in Mine (about 1.5 hours away). Very charming place.


A hike up to Shimizu Castle (the bottom is about a 7 minute walk from my home) will get you this view. You're looking at Izuhara -- apparently the "city" part of Tsushima. The area pictured here is about a 10 minute walk down THE road (there is basically one main road in Tsushima, and 4 of the 9 ALTs live on it, including myself)


Hachimangu Jinja Festival. The kickin'-est festival around for about 2 days. Seemingly everyone within a 3o minute radius of here descended upon Izuhara to see it. Oh yes -- this shrine is LITERALLY a minute walk from my home if even that.


The main attraction of the festival: Umeboshi (supposedly an up and coming duo)...


...and we foreigners got a picture with them! My junior high boys: eat your hearts out!


While in Fukuoka last weekend (first weekend of October), we were strolling along in a shopping center, when --- wtf -- are those flamingoes?!! This almost ties the live giant shrimp arcade game in randomness.


One of our mainland visit goals: DRINK. Here's Lurch, me, and Ryo (a fellow Nagasaki Pref. ALT) about to down tequila shots. If you look carefully, the smile on my face is more out of terror than it is excitement. This is also the drink that completely finished me off that evening (a Cassis Orange, beer, Fuzzy Navel, and tequila shot equal a recipe for my Asian glow and sleepiness)


What drinking party wouldn't be complete with foreigners singing awful karaoke? Here: the Nepalese waitress, Aaron, Ryo, and a sobering-up me


This past weekend: hiking/climbing Mount Mitake (Mitake Mountain?...). Here: David North looking like he's Paul Bunyan =P


2.5 hours later: at the summit!


Our victorious group at the top: Aaron (in the tree), Lurch, Sylvia, me, and David North


Later that day: the closest we've gotten to an all ALT get-together. Clockwise: Sylvia, Alicia, Fiona, Lurch, Oliver, David North, Aaron, me (Rob, of all the weekends you had to go to Fukuoka!!)

taro is evil

thinking it would be neat to make something new for dinner, i decided to try the little taro balls that one of my teachers bought me yesterday at an unmanned veggie booths. another teacher told me how to prepare them, so i thought i was all good to go.

as i was about to peel these taro balls, i recalled my mother telling me years ago that taro is a skin irritant, and that i should wear gloves when peeling them. recalling, however, that the taro that we was referring to was not only humongous, but a different color from that of the taro balls that i got yesterday. i then concluded that these taro balls should be okay to peel without gloves.

i got through peeling all the taro i cared to eat, but it wasn't until about a minute after peeling my last taro ball that the furious itching started. both of my hands seriously felt like they were on fire. just think the hottest pepper you've eaten plus 10 mosquito bites within a very small area on your skin. that's how much these taro itches itched.

i got so desperate for a remedy that i proceeded to call every person i knew, gaijin and japanese people alike, asking for any ways to relieve the excruiating pain. i hit a point where i seriously just wanted to bawl my eyes out. it hurt THAT much.

luckily, the majority of the painful itching was over within a half hour of the onset of itching. let this be a lesson to all to always wear gloves when peeling taro!! because taro is evil!!!

on numbers, a bag, a proposal, and the country

now past the one month mark of teaching, i'm finally beginning to teach real classes instead of just doing my self-introduction day in and day out. at my junior highs, i'm finally beginning to team-teach with my teachers, and actually contribute something, no matter now small, to whatever the students are learning. at some of my elementary schools, the good ones, teachers are all ready with the materials i'll need to teach for the day, so i basically just show up, take a quick look at what they have lying on my desk, and 5 minutes later, i'm teaching a class. at the remaining schools, i have complete autonomy over what i teach, which brings me to the my last two days.

yesterday i was at my super huge elementary school, and it was my first time teaching the entire day. for 6 out of 6 periods, i went through each grade and taught them numbers, which i've now come to conclude: it's hard to count in english. today i went to two schools. my first school (which i'm in love with) is about 35 kids, while my afternoon school was my smallest (4 kids). i taught the morning school numbers, and at my second school, after an hour of doing origami, the everyone decided to just end school for the day so i didn't even teach anything (haha).

as these classes were my first real planned out classes teaching real material, one is bound to run into some problems. my first three classes yesterday were all failures. i wont bore you with why, but they were. by the end of 3rd period, i seriously began to think i was in way over my head, that teaching wasn't for me, that having to teach 60-80 students in one class is just psychotic and sadistic, etc. however, i changed things around for my 4th period, and it went absolutely beautifully, as did the rest of my classes yesterday. today, all my classes went beautifully too, which is why i'm writing in such a happy mood right now =)

there are some thoughts that have popped into my head over these past two days, that i just have to share:

On Numbers

- numbers are hard to learn. who thought it was smart to call 11 "eleven" and 12 "twelve"? and why did the genius who named numbers call it fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, but shaft fifteen from being "fiveteen"? never thought about that, did you?

- on the same topic, kids will consistently say "fiveteen" instead of "fifteen." can't say i really blame them.

- they also keep calling 12 "twenty." at first i thought that was random, but it makes sense. both start with "twe-", and if i were japanese and had the option of trying to say "twelve" or "twenty," hell yeah "twenty" is easier to say.

- for some reason, kids like to call 7 and 17 nine and nineteen. that's a puzzle to me.

- somehow, eight and eighteen got lost when being taught in japanese english classes. consistently between yesterday and today, i've witnessed every class be unable to count seven-eight-nine and seventeen-eighteen-nineteen. in EVERY class, kids ALWAYS somehow forget that eight and eighteen succeed seven and seventeen. they ALWAYS skip from seventeen to nineteen. the younger grades consistently skip from seven to nine. how is that possible? what is it about the number 8? isn't it supposed to be lucky?... this topic absolutely fascinates me.

The Bag

yesterday, after my 3 straight failed classes, i was pretty down in the dumps (not to mention exhausted), when 2 fifth graders came up to me at the beginning of 4th period. they were giggling and super smiley as they approached.

Girl: "Evelyn-sensei?"
Me: "Yes?"
Girl: [Holds out a colorful, girly-looking bag] "I made this for you. Please use it!"
Me: [in complete shock] "Really???!! You made this?? And for me??!"
Girl: [Smiles and nods]

Upon further inspection of the bag, it was actually pretty well made, complete with a pocket inside for holding more stuff. it's only about a foot by a foot, but it's soooo sweet of her. when i opened up a bag, there was a note inside with "Evelyn-sensei" spelled out of construction-paper- punched-out-flowers in japanese. At the bottom, they wrote, "Kore kara mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu" which I have no idea how to even begin translating, but basically means, "I'll be counting on you," or "I look forward to working with you" maybe. two girls signed the note, so i'm guessing one made the bag and the other cut out my name.

at any rate, that put be in a great mood. i mean, who sits and home and decides, "i'm going to make a bag for my undercover gaijin english teacher"?? really, these kids never stop surprising me.

The Proposal

today during lunch, i was eating with the 3rd and 4th graders when all the 6th graders suddenly appeared right outside the 3rd/4th grade classroom. one boy stutters something at me, and all the students inside and outside the classroom, as well as the 2 teachers in the classroom with me, all burst out laughing. completed stumped, i look to my advisor (i guess my supervisor) at that school, who was eating in the room at the time, and he says to me, "Joke, joke," all while shaking his head.

10 seconds later, that same boy appears at the door, and asks me if i can spare 10 seconds. sure why not. he walks up to me and says, "Evelyn-sensei. Ore to ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke-kekkon [bunch of sounds i couldn't make out]?" Again, everyone starts laughing. my advisor then says, "Proposal. Marriage proposal."

Gosh, i'm so popular. only 21 and i already got my first marriage proposal!

just to complete the cycle of harassment, i went up to that kid (a 6th grader) during lunch while he was drawing something at his desk. when he looked up at me, i said to him, "Ja, kekkon shimasu!" which means, "Sure, let's get married!" How i wish you could have all see the look of shock and horror in his face (lol).

The Country

my second school today was my smallest school as i mentioned before. if you've been reading closely, you'll remember that this is the place where i had quite a bit of country-culture-shock (see what i'm referring to here). today was no exception.

so what do kids in the country do to pass the time? like i mentioned some posts ago, they apparently love to catch bugs with nets. charming, no? today, i discovered something else they love to do that you can't help but think, "wow, that's such a countryside thing to do... would city kids ever think of doing that?"

since everyone decided to end school early, we walked the 1st graders down the road to meet their grandmothers to take them home. i went along because i wanted to score some 100 yen vegetables. however, the 4th and 6th graders weren't allowed to go home yet, so they went walking with me and the only teacher at school that day (only my advisor, Matsumura, and the tea lady were at school today.. the other 2 teachers were on a business trip).

after leaving the 1st graders with their grandmothers, the four of us walked around to the nearby stalls to buy veggies. as we headed back to the school, i heard the kids giggling and thought i felt something lightly touching my back, but i decided that i was just being paranoid. a few minutes later, i see akihito (the 4th grade boy) run past me with a whole bunch of flower buds stuck to his back. at that point, i started laughing uncontrollably.

the whole way back to the school, the kids kept picking these flower buds (which weren't sharp, but circular and pointy enough to get caught on clothing easily), and sequentially chuck them at one another, me, and Mr. Matsumura, trying to get them stuck on one another's clothing. just think of one of those games from way back in the day where two people are playing each other, each has a frisbee shaped disc on their hand that has a ton of velcro on one side, and the ball being tossed from person to person is wrapped up in the complimentary velcro material. the frisbee = everyone's clothing. the velcro ball = the flower buds. the objective = get as many flower buds stuck to each other's clothing as possible without him or her realizing it.

i laughed sooo much on that walk back, and it didn't help that i had five bags of vegetables in my arms. at one point, i tossed three buds at once at akihito and managed to get all of them to stick to his back and the back of his arm. oh yes -- i rock at this game =)

so next time you're in the wilderness or admist a bunch of rice fields and you're bored, now you know a way to pass the time!

--evelyn