The Misadventures of Jeremy

09-28-06

Here we go. First off, my school had Undokai which translates to "Exercise Cup" and basically means that the kids do various races and play various games on the track for an entire day. I got to run in the teacher's relay (which got its butt severely kicked by the students) which was fun. After Undokai (undo = exercise, kai = cup), there is a celebration for the teachers called Nomukai. Nomu means "drink" or "to drink", so it should be pretty easy to imagine what goes on there. Basically the whole staff goes to a restaurant and pays a set fee per person for an all you can eat and drink night. It was good fun. When we left, I felt really bad because there was a whole bunch of food still sitting on the table. I could have taken it home and eaten for a week. Oh well.
My teaching is going well. My students are really funny and energetic for the most part. I don't take myself too seriously, so I think they know they can take advantage of that. In my homeroom class, I am always asked to yell "_____ loves everything about ______" (fill in names of students) (for your reference it is, "_____ wa _____ no koto wo aishiteru). I do actually do work too. I don't just mess with students. But when I'm working, the students get to mess with me. I've been asked such questions as, "Have you been to maid clubs?" (restaurants where the waitresses apparently dress up in skimpy maid outfits) and, "Do you like Elmo?" which was promptly changed by other students into, "Do you like ero hon?" (Do you like erotic books?).
That was all in Jr High, but I also taught in Elementary School (ES). In ES I like to play a game called "Fruit Basket". Basically you tell each kid that they are one of four fruits. They make a circle with their chairs and one person stands in the middle. They say "I like..." and then call out a fruit after which the kids who are that fruit have to switch seats. Whoever is left standing has to choose the next fruit. This can easily go on for half an hour without becoming boring. The best part is that many classes make students perform a punishment if they get stuck in the middle 3 times. In one class, the students would start chanting something about a cat when someone got stuck in the middle for the third time. Then that student would have to strike a pose like a cat and then 'meow'. Most were hilarious.
What else has happened? Hmmm....Oh yeah. Rain, rain and then more rain. One day I walked outside with my computer to try to find some internet and as soon as I got to the edge of an overhang, it began to pour rain.
The rain messes with me in other ways too. Most recently, I ate it big time on my bike because of the rain. I basically wanted to slide my bike around the corner to my apartment. I always forget that there is a metal drainage grate there, so my bike tires don't get any traction (even when it's dry). Anyway, I get my bike up to about 15mph and start my turn. Whoops. Instead of turning, my front tire slides perfectly straight along the extra slippery metal grate. I squeeze my brakes, but the rain took care of those as well. At that moment I had 2 choices: keep going forward and crash into a parked car or go head over handlebars into a gravel lot. I chose the latter rather than the former and proceeded to Superman slide my hands across the gravel lot. Not exactly the best way to end your ride home, but oh well. At least I was at my apartment so I was able to dig the gravel out of my hands almost right away. I had to use a pin and a razor to get some of it out. Fun stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it if you like your hands (the picture is after a weeks worth of healing).
Let's see....I believe I mentioned golf with the principal of my school and his wife on the 14th. Turns out that's not happening. It's gonna be on the 9th of October now. And one of their friends gave me a set of golf clubs. In Japan, sometimes it's hard to tell if someone is giving you something or if they're letting you borrow something. I wasn't sure until I noticed that the bag had a name plaque on it with my name on it. Someone went out of their way to get a plaque made with my name on it. That's crazy. I'm really lucky that I met them and that I live so close to them.

Back to being poor. I've figured out how to eat for under $1 per meal (not counting school lunches which you pretty much have to eat if you want to work at a school in Japan [approx. $2.00]). And I'm getting all of my necessary vitamins and nutrients. That being said, my meals are pretty much the same every day (except for school lunches). Oh well. Variety is an essential spice of life unless you can't even afford spices. Then the only thing essential for life is food.

Wow. This is a really long post. I wonder who will have the patience to read through my ramblings. To finish this off, I thought I'd make a list of things that I've forgot, remembered, lost, or gained. Here it is.

Forgot
I forgot my favorite belt, my favorite pair of jeans, Japanese textbooks to study Japanese, Japanese language practice cd's, my favorite sweater that I made before I left, a fullsize backpack, and all the Japanese I learned in college.

Remembered
I remembered to bring 3 black dress shirts (which are pretty much useless because black isn't an appropriate color to wear in Japan because it's associated with the Yakuza and assassings apparently), my failure of a tie that has horses and pink horseshoes on it, and my computer aka "the most expensive stereo I've ever owned".

Lost
I've lost respect for many people I've met in my company and many foreigners I've had the displeasure of meeting, the respect of most English speaking people I've met (they may not respect me, but they find me funny), the misconception that everyone in Japan is small (I am probably the 4th tallest person at my Jr High with 1 teacher and 2 students taller than me. There are many students [around 15] who are almost as tall as me too), and contact with almost everyone back home.

Gained
I've gained a reputation for not knowing most Japanese but being really good with all of the bad words, a reputation as the guy who has no problem messing with the students, the sleeping habits of a 90 year old (up at 6:00, down at 9:00), an apartment with the best that the 105yen store has to offer, respect for my school (because they're the opposite of half the stuff I was told a Japanese school would be like), one to two shirt sizes (I'm a Large in Japan), the knowledge that Roppongi should translate as "place for jerk foreigners", and that you should never ask students to teach you Japanese because they only teach you words that are completely useless (like snowman, stilts, jumprope, pumpkin, goldfish and necktie [which is nekutai aka a phononym of necktie]).