出発！！

Tomorrow at 10pm our Shinkansen leaves headed to Kyoto!

Yesterday I met Vaso, Steve, and Mike for lunch. We went to some ramen place that was really good but a tad on the expensive side. I covered Mike and Steve's meal because I owed them money >_< Afterwards we went to the travel center to figure out what kind of costs we were looking at to travel. I asked about the Seishun 18 ticket and found out that it cannot be upgraded to Shinkansen travel. The normal local train pass however can be upgraded. It looks like that is what we will go with. Also, just out of curiosity, Steve asked how much it was to travel by plane from Fukuoka back to Tokyo. Turns out that a ticket only costs the equivalent of $130 compared to the Shinkansen cast of $250++! Looks like we will be doing that.

Before buying tickets Vaso needed to call his parents to tell them to put more money in his account because he would be traveling. We went to a convenience store and he bought a phone card. We also got tea because it came with a free phone strap! Vaso called his parents (took forever by the way.) By this time I was supposed to meet a friend an hour ago! Mike and Steve left us to deal with travel ourselves. Vaso and I went back to the travel center only to find that they close at 3pm on Saturday. Guess we will have to take everything into our own hands. At the local computer lab, we went to the website that the travel center uses and booked our plane tickets back to Tokyo once our trip is over. Ironic because we havn't even bought departure tickets yet!

Finally I got away from Vaso and made it back to Baba at 4pm. Junko yelled at me for being 2 hours late (I told her I would meet at 2pm!) We got together and decided our plans for the day. After going over our options, I decided that we should go to Kudanshita to look at the Sakura flowers. We hopped on the Tozai and headed over there. The first thing I noticed was that the station was packed with people. It was moreso than normal because everyone seemed to be going to the same exit. We also went to that exit. As soon as hitting ground level, the Sakura trees appeared. They were large and abundant. It was the first time that I had seen Sakura in those numbers. I saw a few single trees around my neighborhood and Waseda, but there were hundreds of trees all grouped together here. After taking a few pictures we got in line for the walkway. Kudanshita has a large moat, and on both sides of the moat there are tons of Sakura trees lining the walkways. We walked and walked and walked. Junko said that the flowers this year were very "white". They are supposed to be a light pink color. Looking at flowers in the distance, one can see a pink hue, but up close the flowers look very white in the sunlight. It was interesting. The moat also had rowboat rentals for couples to go around the moat. The line was super long so we passed on that one.

Before leaving Kudanshita the sun had set and lights started turning on. The Sakura looked beautiful in the light. Across the street from the viewing was a large gathering area with food and games. We split a potato-butter dish as a snack which turned out just to be a baked potato with tons of butter and mayo on it. It has been a while since I ate that anyways. There was not much more of interest in Kudanshita so we headed to the station

We headed off towards Ueno park to check out the trees there. Ueno park is a hoppin' place during this time of year. People lay out sheets, tarps, or cardboard on the ground for sitting places. They stay all day to look at the Sakura and drink sake. Just by walking down the Sakura lane in Ueno, I could smell the alcohol. It was pretty disgusting. Ueno Sakura viewing was much shorter than Kudanshita for a couple of reasons. There were tons of people and most of the trees were not lit up by lights. Around this time I was getting hungry again so I took Junko to the nearby rotating sushi restaurant. It was the same one that Shoko introduced me too my first time in Ueno. Suprisingly, she ate more than I did, if only one plate. At this, we headed back to the station to go home. It was a fun day. She told me not to be late again >_<

Today I met with Vaso to finalize our plans and buy tickets. We bought a 7 day local train ticket from Tokyo to Hakata, then a Shinkansen ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto. We will probably stay a couple days in Kyoto as Vaso and I both have friends there. His friend is providing us with a free place to stay, and my friend (Ayane-chan) is going to introduce us to Kyoto (via car!!!) The local train pass was only about $100 and the shinkansen upgrade was another $40. We ran some various errands around Baba and Shinjuku. Vaso picked up a duffle bag for the trip. We screwed around till 6pm when we could get the money back for our teiki from Don. Afterwards we hit up this English book store called the Blue Pelican. I found the Heisig kanji flashcards for $18! They are normally $70. I was originally going to make my own, but 2000 blank flashcards are more expensive than $18! Kanji numbers 1000-1100 are missing, but I think I can deal with that. I also picked up a guide for the level 2 Japanese Proficiency Test. It should prove useful this semester. I should check out that store more often. They have a bunch of Japanese material for cheap.

Well I gotta get packing for tomorrow! Once again I will not have internet until I get back on the 8th. If anything important comes up, give me an email on my phone!

Classes

I finally registered for classes this morning. As I mentioned before, none of the classes looked very interesting. I ended up choosing my classes based on three questions in this order.
1: Will the class transfer back home? (yes)
2: Does the class have a good time slot? (morning)
3: Does the class have a paper to write? (no)

Based on these, I had two different options of classes to take. I need 8 credits total of elective classes. I narrowed down two 4 credit classes and two 2 credit classes. I ended up choosing "Sociology of Japanese Culture and Society" worth 2 credits, "Religions of East Asia II" worth 2 credits, and "Tokyo: Anthropological Fieldwork and Documentary Filmmaking" worth 4. If I decide the classes are worth anything after the first day, I will have a really laid back and friendly schedule. Class from 9 to noon on Tues Wed, and class from 9 to 2:30 on Thurs Fri. This gives me a 3 day weekend and all afternoon to do whatever extracurricular activities I feel like. I am really looking forward to getting a language partner (or two) this semester to make new friends and speak Japanese more. I also want to join a club of some sort or another (calligraphy, igo, shogi, gaming....) A 3 day weekend is also perfect for making travel plans outside of Tokyo.

Gotta get to campus soon to ask about traveling. Jon out

Revolves Around Money

Tokyo is way too expensive. Everything interesting to do cost way to much money. Do I wanna go to a bar and drink with friends? Sure it would be a good time, but I am not spending $6 for a beer or a shot of something. Today for instance, I went with Mike and Steve to play some darts after eating dinner. Alright, so you pay per person per game right? That's how any sane person would run an amusement place right? Well that is one third of the cost of playing darts at whatever messed up place we went to. First of all you have to pay per hour for being in the facility. Fine, then the darts are free right? Nope, another 100 yen per person per game at the board. Fine I'll deal with it, 100 yen isn't than bad. No it doesn't stop there, halfway through the first game one of the staff guys comes around and says we have to buy a drink. Are you serious? I did not see any sign outside that said only people 20 and over (the drinking age in Japan) can enter. It is not a bar. We were not informed at the front desk that we would be forced to buy something or asked to leave. We just wanted to play some darts! I hate Tokyo.

So anyway, aside from that it was a decent day. I went with Aaron to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It is the showroom for all of Miyazaki's movies and other pieces of work. There was a bunch of cool stuff. We watched a short flick that can only be seen at the museum. There was a room with projectors everywhere, little and small, projecting images and moving pictures on various different things. There was also a little exhibit about the evolution of movies from past to present. There were a few rooms devoted to the children's story of the 3 bears, ones that replicated Miyazaki's actual film studio, a giant cat bus, gift shop, and various other cool trinkets. The only problem was you are not allowed to take pictures inside the place. Ugh. Well I took a ton of pics of the outside of the museum. The weird thing was, Aaron booked tickets through a tour group instead of just getting tickets to the museum. We had to go to Hamamatsucho and wait for everyone else to gather. Then we traveled together all the way back through Shinjuku to Mitaka. What a waste! The other people on the trip were all foreigners, which didn't bug me at first, but the way over was really weird. Everyone was in Japan on vacation for a couple days, a week, little longer, but none of them actually were staying in Japan. I was also the only one that could communicate anything in Japanese. I had a nice talk with the tour guide. Speaking of tour guides, she was really nice but didn't really do anything. She took us to the museum and let us go free for a couple hours. Then we headed back together. Not much of a tour. The museum was really cool though and I would like to go back.

I met up with Steve afterwards and had Yasube. The only thing I missed in Niigata is the food from Tokyo. Sure the food is excellent in Niigata, but I didn't have too much of a choice of what to eat. Afterwards Mike said that he got back from China this morning. I called him up and we decided to go play darts. Mike and Steve both had a lot to say about China. From what they said, it is a really dirty place and the people are really against foreign people, moreso than Japanese. I kind of don't want to visit anymore.

Caught Up

I finally got caught up with all my email, pictures, blog, news-sites, and music sites. It seems that the only thing left to do is register for classes. I need to do that by tomorrow at the latest. What should I take!?? I don't even know. I guess I will choose 2 classes that fit well into my schedule... And require no big papers or a lot of work. Blarg!

I am planning a trip with Vaso to travel Japan starting on Monday. We just decided to go last night at midnight. 3 days is enough to plan a week long trip across Japan right? We are still young and able to do things like that. Leaving Tokyo isn't a problem, we are just looking for the most cost effective way to do it. Shinkansen is the simplest, but we are still trying to figure out how the ticket system works. There is this special deal in the spring (青春１８券) that is really cheap and we may or may not be able to upgrade to the Shinkansen. Gonna go to the travel center at Wasada tomorrow and ask.

Yesterday I met up with Kyle, Louvie, and Michael for same Smash Bros Brawl. Kyle brought his Wii to campus and I hijacked a room in bulding 22 for us. It was a huge room with two plasma tv's and two projectors. We plugged it in and played for almost 3 hours straight. It was a great welcoming party for me back in Tokyo. At around 7, a security guard came around and said that we were not supposed to be there >_< He said the place closes at 6, (which is BS because we are tuition paying students and have rights to use the facilities) and we had to leave. We did for fear of getting in trouble. Nothing came of it though. We split ways and headed home.

Tokyo Sucks

Last night I got the first good sleep I have had in a long time. I don't know if it was because I stayed up till 3 in the morning organizing pictures, or if the bed is just better than my Niigata one. It is most certainly softer, but not to the extend of my American bed. Maybe it was the fact that my room was not freezing cold the entire night. Tokyo is at least 5 degrees warmer than Niigata.

Today I met up with Vaso for lunch. At this time I spoke the first words of English since I left Tokyo in early February. It was really weird being able my native language at last. We went to the local Japanese Curry place on Waseda-dori. There we spent a couple hours reminiscing about our spring breaks. I didn't keep in contact with anyone. We then walked around campus for a while tyeing up some loose ends. Hopefully I will be able to get more involved on campus this semester. We ran into Kyle and Michael in front of Okuma statue and proceeded to talk for another hour or so about our experiences. We eventually decided to head home.

So after being in the country for almost 2 months, it is really weird being back in Tokyo. At this point I have pretty much decided that if I ever live in Japan, it will not be Tokyo. Why you might ask. Well it is actually pretty simple. Tokyo is just like every other big city in the world and has the same problems. Sure it has the most efficient transportation system in the world. Sure anything you want to do you can. Sure there are tons of sweet places to explore. This is all just on the surface though. When I first got to Japan, just like everyone else, there was this big curtain over my eyes covering up the real deal. "Everything is so new and pretty and better than America!!" I originally thought. I look around now and see millions of people cramming onto trains with not one person talking. There are probably 200+ people standing around me and the car is dead quiet. I try to talk to the person standing next to me and get no response. Every day someone kills themselves by jumping in front of a train. I walk down the street and see trash everywhere. All these people with no one smiling. It is like everyone is a robot. I also don't ever see anybody under the age of 10. Ugh so much to think about.

I wanna go back to Niigata!

The Niigata Chronicles

From now on, March 25th will officially be known as: "The Niigata Chronicles"

I finally made it back to Tokyo. This is probably going to be the first blog entries you guys all read, so take note before diving into The Niigata Chronicles. First of all, I am planning to read through each blog entry in the near future (aka. whenever I have free time not studying) and fix errors, insert pictures, and so forth. So if you guys can all wait until I give the signal, in a future blog entry, please do. I promise it will be worth the wait. It will probably be 10+ hours to get all my pictures up and even more time to sort through them all. I wanted to get the blog entries up asap in the case of my computer dieing or something along those lines. Second, because I was so busy in Niigata with work, I have some big gaps in my blog. I don't know if it will be possible to fix (for lack of memory) but I will try. Third, during the middle of my stay I was pretty gung-ho about writing in Japanese, ignore these parts (or try google translate) if you cannot read it. Finally,

So today I finally returned to Tokyo. After getting off the Shinkansen I hauled my luggage all the way through Shinjuku and made it home. I was welcomed by my host mother and father smiling. It is just not the same as the Hirai family! I had a cup of coffee with my host father and a good long talk about Niigata. He had to go to his dance lessons which meant I finally had free time to myself. I ran up to my room and unpacked as much as I could. I did a load of laundry before leaving the house.

Today was the Waseda graduation ceremony, which I would have attended had I been given earlier notice. All of my friends were there, but I was too late for the ceremony. I any case, I aquired the new syllabus of classes in order to select the interesting (or least work required) classes. I was also given a harsh talking to about the independent study which I have so far failed to plan out. No internet access in Niigata may have not been such a good thing.

Next I went shopping. I picked up some hair dye, a cage and soil for my newly bought beetle larva, and various odds and ends that I found useful living in Niigata that I did not already own. Back at the house I had a long dinner with my family. They of course wanted to hear all about Niigata.

After dinner I finished unpacking, moved my beetle into his new home, and got out the hair dye. I still want to go blond! This time the dye was half failure half good. It appears that I need 2 bottles of dye at the moment for my length of hair. The top of my head is the color I want, but the rest of my hair is streaked with blond from combing the dye through. I might pick up another bottle tomorrow and see if I can't get the rest of my hair to change color. And now for the sleep!

March 25 – On the Shinkansen

Well I am finally returning to Tokyo. It is a sad day indeed. I had to wake up bright and early at 6:30 in order to catch the Train. I departed from Tsubamesanjyo station and am headed to Tokyo at the moment. Once there I have a bunch of shopping to do. It will be a busy day to say the least. I am definitely not looking forward to returning to my Tokyo host family. It feels way too much like a dorm room than an actual family. All well, such is life.

Monday was my last day at the Hoikuen. We had a small going away party where the kids asked me some questions about school and each said a final farewell. Now I am not a very emotional person, but I could have cried. It was so sad! Everyone gave me a final high five and a hug to send me off. The sensei’s also gave their thanks and I managed to get a hug from some of them too. For the rest of the day I attended each of the classrooms for a little bit, finally ending up back with Taiyo san.

That night I went with Hirai sensei and bought my Shinkansen ticket to Tokyo. The train I wanted to ride was fully booked so I had to get a seat on the train an hour earlier. Ugh. Finally as a farewell party, Hirai sensei took me to the local steakhouse. It was the first time I had eaten steak since leaving America. It was sooooo delicious.

March 23 – The End Is Nearing

I am definitely not looking forward to returning to Tokyo. I only have one more full day before departure. Sad times indeed. Thursday was the start of spring. Believe it or not, in Japan it is considered a holiday and most people get the day off. There were 7 kids at the Hoikuen. I took it slow in the morning by watching TV and playing Dragon Quest. I finally finished it. This marks the 2nd game that I have beaten in Japanese. A good feeling that I can understand “most” of what is said. In the afternoon I took a walk with Rusty, the dog. He was overjoyed at being able to get outside of the house. We took a stroll down the street and around the block, passing by the Hoikuen and rounding back home. It was the first time I had walked anywhere since leaving Tokyo. It was refreshing to say the least. The rest of the day I really didn’t do anything. Hirai sensei came to get me at 7pm or so. We went to dinner with Taeko sensei and Masako sensei at the nearby Italian restaurant. It was fun, but I really didn’t have anything to add to the conversation. It was mostly about the Hoikuen. Japanese people spend way too much time working and thinking about work!

Friday I woke up late again. When I finally got around, I walked to the Hoikuen. I ended up spending the day with Mirai san because they were playing outside when I arrived. I have decided that I love nice weather. That afternoon I had a meeting with Hirai san to decide the rest of my plans in Niigata. I decided to return to Tokyo on Tuesday because 1. School is starting soon and 2. I need to register for classes. It is really depressing knowing that I will be returning so soon even though I was supposed to return on the 5th of March. Whoops. At the Gakuen we also played outside. I said farewell to the kids and received a picture frame that everyone had written on. I don’t want to go home!!! That night I went out with Hirai san and met one of her close friends, Wakai sensei. Wakai sensei was my drinking partner for the night. We got really drunk and had some good conversations (or so I think). She is a 3rd grade sensei at a nearby grade school. Before eating, Wakai sensei gave Hirai san advice about the Hoikuen-Sai two weeks ago. She pointed out all the things that were great, and things that need improved. I even got the chance to give my opinion. Upon returning home, I learned about a very interesting service that Japan offers. It is a taxi service that drives you and your car home safely when you are too drunk to drive yourself. It is a two man operation where one person drives your car and the other follows and tracks the mileage. I have no idea how much it is compared to a taxi, but after factoring in the gas that it would take to pick up your car the next day, it is probably pretty similar.

Saturday I walked to the Hoikuen once again. It was my first time to attend on a weekend. About half the kids are absent on the weekend. I spent a lot of time in the break room reading children’s stories and talking to whoever happened to be there at the time. During nap time, I got to help move new shelves into all the rooms. They are remodeling the rooms before the next year’s kids come. The new shelves really help make more space in the rooms, or so it seems. The toy boxes and books finally have a nice place to set. Once the kids woke up, I spent time playing with Taiyo and Aozora san the rest of the day. That night I hopped on a bus headed to the farewell and welcome party.

The end of the school year is drawing close, and we had a party to celebrate. One sensei is retiring and two new sensei’s are starting at the beginning of April. I having no nice clothes, felt way underdressed. Al l of the girls had really nice clothes on, completely different from when I see them day to day with their orange aprons. We started the party by going over the finances for the year and then thanking all the people that helped throughout the year. Next the retiring sensei, new sensei’s, and I were called up to the stage for our thanks. We all received flowers presented by the person closest to each of us. I was given them by none other than Masako sensei with her words of thanks. I will miss seeing her face everyday. Finally, we got started with a “Kanpai!” and a buffet of food. Almost immediately the “Japan culture shock” started in. It is custom for women to pour drinks for the men. Now me being the only male sensei along with the few other helpers, were constantly being told to drink. Before going to gather food for myself, I had downed more than a few glasses of beer. It was interesting to see everyone up and talking. The standing people all had a bottle of beer in their hand walking around and pouring people drinks. When there was someone they wanted to talk to, first they poured your drink, then talked for a bit, then headed off to someone else. I was visited by all of the sensei’s at least one time during the night. The food was nothing less than spectacular. There was nigiri sushi, pasta, salad, and some Chinese dishes. I stuffed myself with as much as I could when there was nobody behind me trying to pour me a drink. It was a really fun time compared to the other formal parties I have attended.

Once dinner ended we headed to karaoke for the afterparty. The bus that I had ridden earlier was much more full this time around as people could not drive themselves to the karaoke box. We had two rooms reserved for the afterparty, a huge room for the older generation and a smaller room for the young’ins. There were 13+ people in the young room and it should have been a really good time, but almost nobody would sing. What is this? Are they scared of singing bad or something? Sure I was really restrained the first time I went to karaoke, but now I will sing anything whether I know it or not. Shiori sensei and I sang most of the time. We begged and begged the others to sing something, and most of them sang at least 1 song. The failure this time was Masako sensei. She is the most talkative person in the room in my opinion, always taking charge and telling people what to do, but we could not get her to even speak into the microphone. We sang for around 2 hours before returning home. Once again we returned with the taxi service previously used.

Today I could not get anyone to go out and have fun with me. Masako sensei said she would previously, but pretty much flat out refused at the party when questioned. Elena sensei also refused, saying that I would probably have a private farewell party with the Hirai family. Gah! In any case, I woke up still feeling drunk, but that was soon fixed after downing a couple of glasses of water. Dehydration is the reason you get hangovers you know. I was glad that Tamaki had returned from Tokyo last night because it had been lonely the past week without her and Umi. She said that she had a fight with Hirai san this morning. I didn’t question further. So once again I had no plans for the day. How does this always happen? Tokyo or Niigata, in both places I cannot for the life of me make plans with any of my Japanese friends. They are always so damn busy with work. I was once again asked what I wanted to do for the day. I yet have no idea what there is to do in Niigata short of young people things (bowling, game center, karaoke, etc.) I replied saying that I wanted to do something outside. Hirai san then decided plans for me, I really love her for that.

We picked up Hirai san’s friend so it wouldn’t be so quiet in the car and headed off to Fukushima prefecture. It is the neighboring prefecture by Niigata and is about a 2 hour car ride from Gosen. Before heading out I picked up the weekly Shonen Jump for some reading material. It turned out to be more interesting than I thought. A new manga called “Double Arts” debuted and looks like it will turn into an interesting series. Anyhow, we finally arrived at our destination a couple hours later. It is the female equivalent of the Daibutsu (Giant Budda Statue). A 57 meter tall white statue of a woman holding a baby stood in front of a magnificent hillside. We took a tour bus around the place looking at the sights. It is still really early in Spring, so most of the flowers were not blooming. There were however a few starting to pop up out of the soil. The highlight of the tour was a short stop at a red bridge spanning a small pond. There were tons of Koi swimming around that we summoned by clapping our hands. For a 100 yen donation you can buy food to give them. I could not believe how many fish there were fighting for a little morsel of food. They swarmed like a pack of ravage beasts, swimming over one another and even up onto the rocks to have a chance at getting some food. At the end of the tour we were dropped off in front of the giant statue. After getting my picture taken we headed inside. It was amazingly cold inside the statue. The metal walls trapped in the coldness. I braved the temperature and started my climb to the top of the statue. There is a 256 long spiral staircase leading up to the chest of the statue. Along the way there are little windows which you could open and look out. It was really cool because the windows are set facing in different directions. The wind made different sounds depending on which window you opened. Also, there were tons of little gold statues leading up the staircase, each with a name written on it. Presumably, these are the people that donated to the making of the statue, but I could be wrong. Upon reaching the top, I came across a small shrine set up. Even though I had no money on me to donate, I prayed anyways.

On the return trip home we visited a bunch of towns looking for a good place to eat. The return trip must have taken at least an hour longer because of this. Eventually we ended up returning to Muramatsu and eating at the “Suisha” udon restaurant which I had been to before. Not bad for my last Sunday in Niigata.

Today I realized the one thing that I miss the most from America, driving. It really isn’t a problem in Tokyo because the trains can get you anywhere you want to go, but in Gosen everyone drives. I want to drive too but I am not allowed to! The rules and code of conduct are slightly different than in America, not to mention driving on the opposite side of the road. For instance, there is no turning left on a red light, you have to stop before crossing train tracks, and there are super tiny two way streets that are so small two cars cannot pass each other. Oh I miss my car!

March 19 – Ensoku

Monday and Tuesday I spent most of my time at the Gakuen outside playing with the kids. Remember that big dangerous sledding hill behind the Kodomoen? Well if you walk all the way up the hill you soon arrive at the “Mountain Amusement Park”. It is a huge open area full of paths, trees, and various playground equipment. The school owns the entire area! I spent time playing tag and hide and seek with the girls. With the boys we went on a few nature hikes searching for bugs and animals. I wish we had a playground like that when I was growing up. I also am jealous of how dangerous the playground equipment is. Everything is made of metal and since it has been outside for ages, there is rust and holes in spots. There is also none of that rubber padding like in our modern playgrounds. It is all grass, dirt, and rocks. The sensei’s even encourage stuff that I remember being yelled at for! We had a contest to see who could jump the furthest off the swingset for example. Also at the very top of the mountain there is a fairly large dirt race track where we practiced riding the mini-bike around. The gakuen is a lot more fun now that we can play outside! In other news, we just started cleaning up at the end of the day yesterday. Needless to say, I decided not to go to the Gakuen today.

At the Hoikuen, I went on an excursion with Taiyo san, Masako sensei, Taeko sensei, the delegated photographer, and the yellow bus driver. We left bright and early at 10am and arrived at the Niigata museum a little before 11. The museum is exactly like the ones I remember going to as a kid. There are all sorts of exhibits from dinosaurs and other extinct animals to space and robot exhibits. The kids all really enjoyed it. We first dropped off all our luggage at the rest area. The kids all brought thermos’s and backpacks filled with delicious boxed lunches. Since it was not lunch time yet, we decided to explore the floor until it was time to eat. This floor had a bunch of pre-historic stuffed animals such as dinosaurs, birds, and insects. The place was filled with buttons to press and screens to watch. The main plan was to choose a room, then let the kids run free doing whatever they felt like doing. It turned more into the three sensei’s (Taeko, Masako, and I) looking at the things we were interested in, while the kids clinged to each of us. It was difficult trying to look after all of them at once, so I decided to wander by myself and whoever decided to follow could hear my words of wisdom. At noon we sat down to watch the dinosaur show. It is an automated robotic show with two projectors showing a movie, and having models of dinosaurs move and act out the story. The Tyranosauras was pretty scary.

After the show we returned to the break area to eat lunch. Taeko sensei brought lunch for the adults. I had a conbini sandwich, chips, and onigiri. The kids had amazing looking boxed lunches. They were all homemade and consisted of every delicious food I could think of. Aoi chan had onigiri in the shape of picachu, while Maru chan had yaki-tamago in the shape of a bunny. Their mother must have spent a ton of time making these lunches! I remember my lunches being peanut butter and honey sandwich with pretzels and some sort of treat. I ate my store bought food and waited for everyone else to finish.

After lunch we explored the rest of the museum. We could not see it all because of time constraints, but I got to see a good portion of it. The robot room had some very real dogs and cats that you could touch. There was also a show that we were not able to see. In the same room we pushed buttons on various machines and played some games on the nearby computers. I really wanted to do the flight simulator, but it was being worked on the whole day. We also went outside for a little bit, but almost everything was closed. A giant castle sat in the middle with a train, car, and plane surrounding it. There was a windmill measuring the current wind velocity, a giant pipe that you could yell through, and two big half ovals that reflected sound waves to the opposing one. We took a group picture in front of the train before heading back inside. At the end of the day we went to this room where you could get your picture taken and have it printed out much like puri-kura found in all the arcades. We spent a good deal of time there (perhaps too much) but everyone got their picture taken. Masako sensei refused to have her picture taken with me… She said that she didn’t look good in her glasses. Gah!

We headed back to the break area and everyone grabbed their stuff before heading out. On the bus ride back the kids slept in their tiny seats. I being cramped and uncomfortable, spent the entire time staring out the window and at the kids. When I got back I took a break and attempted to sleep. When that failed, I noticed Tomomi Sensei and Elena sensei yet again doing menial tasks without talking. I figured what the hell, and asked them to dinner. We decided on ramen. Once the kids woke up from their nap, I was told to help with the bus duties. This meant that I had to sit on the bus again for another hour and a half while we dropped kids off one by one at their houses. I went with Yumiko sensei on the yellow bus.

That night when work was over, I went to eat dinner with the two new sensei’s. Immediately after exiting the Hoikuen, they started talking like normal people. They said that they were really nervous being around the other sensei’s because they were new, and that they felt like they were always in the way. I found out that they both went to the same high school, but really didn’t know each other until arriving at the daycare. They also both went to a 2 year college in order to become a sensei. I learned that it is mandatory for becoming a teacher. Weird because other teachers such as Masako sensei didn’t go to college at all before starting at the daycare. On the way to the ramen shop, Elena sensei mentioned that she had a dream recently involving her falling in love with a foreigner. Upon further questioning, she said she wants to marry a foreigner because she felt she could be more close to him. She said Japanese people work way too much to have a really close relationship. Interesting. We ate together and soon headed home. I wanted to go do something else, but they said they were tired from working all day. Understandable considering it is still their first week. Too bad I have to go back to school soon. They could become really good friends if I just had more time in Niigata!

March 17 – Gakuen-Sai

Saturday was the Gakuen-Sai celebrating all the students being at the daycare for the past year. I woke up bright and early at 8am to get ready. I ate breakfast and then attempted to put on the new clothes that I bought. Sadly Tamaki had to leave at 8:30 so she was not around to help out. I managed to get everything in place by the time 9am rolled around when Hirai Sensei came to get me. She about died laughing at the fool I made of myself. Too bad she won’t be around to see the real show at the Gakuen. She then suggested that we get something for my hair to make it look more girly. The original idea was to buy something, but Hirai Sensei then decided that a simple ribbon would work and we headed to the Hoikuen. Great, now I’ll be forced to show everyone what a fool I am. We walked in and just as expected, I got laughs from the sensei’s and screams from the children. Let me explain a bit, when I first got to the Hoikuen, the most asked questions were “how old are you?” “where are you from?” and “are you a boy or a girl?” This just sealed the deal that the children didn’t know what sex I am. Crazy eh?

Hirai Sensei tied 2 ribbons in my hair (I had pigtails btw) and we were off. Upon arrival at the Gakuen I was well received. Everyone said I was super cute and that the girl look “fit” me. Well I suppose the long hair really does it. For about an hour I helped set up tables and get the goods ready for sale (toys, bugs, and food.) By that time most of the people had seen me. I am sure some of the adults who had not met me before thought I was a girl. I get that a lot. The acts started and I sat down with the other members of the dance group (3 other sensei’s and 10 kids, all girls.) The first act was a jump rope show from the 1st year girls. The next act was our dance. It was pretty nerve racking as I was directly in the center. It was even worse that I only knew about half the dance at that point. It made me feel a little better that the other sensei’s knew even less. Overall, our act went pretty well in my opinion. I didn’t make any mistakes past not knowing some of the moves. At the end we had to introduce ourselves in front of the crowd. I just had to mention that I was not a girl to the crowd. That got some laughs.

The rest of the acts were fun. There was a comedy one, a couple piano acts, and finally double dutch. Isao sensei had been practicing with the boys every day for the past 3 weeks or so preparing. They did surprisingly well all things considered. Much better than their practices that I watched / participated in. They even got some of the parents involved to show how difficult it is. They all failed miserably.

Once the acts were all over, I took up my post in the candy shop with Ilia sensei. At first nobody would buy things from me (for fear of me not knowing what money was? Or what the candy was?) but once Ilia sensei went to help the game station, they had to talk to me. I was really surprised at how different the Gakuen-sai was compared to the Hoikuen-Sai. The kids being just that much older really makes a difference. They all came on their own with their own money to purchase food and play games. 1 year really makes a big difference. It was really hectic running the candy shop all by myself. The kids seemed to come in big groups with breaks in between. Weird. Eventually I was able to get away and get some ramen for lunch. I also got to browse the other shop, which consisted of beetles. Isao sensei is a big geek when it comes to living animals of any kind. He breeds beetles and sells them to the kids at incredibly low prices. I ended up buying a rather large grub for 300 yen. It is still sitting in my room crawling around its container. I wonder if it will live to see adulthood back in Tokyo…

Anyway, the Gakuen-Sai went on and on until 3pm. At that time I got to help clean everything up. Putting everything away was much worse than putting things out (mostly because I knew where things went and therefore had to do more work.) We put all the tables away and took everything out of the gym. We left the rooms as they were because pictures still needed to be taken of the kids and their dinosaurs / tamagochi’s. Finally I was able to go home and get some much needed rest. That night I got to meet Sono, Hirai Sensei’s 3rd daughter from Tokyo. She is really short, but has the same personality as the other daughters.

On Sunday I slept in until around 10am. It was the first time in a while that I was able to sleep in. It felt so good. It was a slow morning, but eventually we all got around to go to the Bijin Hot Springs. It was the first time I have gone to the hot springs in the afternoon. It was surprisingly crowded. I would assume that nighttime would be the busiest time, but I have been proven wrong. We all went to the respective baths. This was also the first time that I was caught up in conversation with one of the other bath-goers. You really meet some interesting people in public places. Up in the relaxation room, I had a few beers and cold soba for lunch. As soon as I finished, I was forced to get up and leave. It was also the first time that we had a schedule to keep after the Onsen.

We returned home where everyone changed into nice clothes for our trip to a temple. I recently learned that when someone dies, you go to worship them on the 3rd, 7th, and 13th years afterwards. I also learned that the wooden posts that you see in Japanese graveyards are given at these 3 times. Once all 3 posts have been collected, then the person’s soul can rest in peace. We went to the temple and entered inside. Once there we visited a room with a bunch of plaques behind glass. Each one represented a member of the temple who had passed away in the past 13 years. Toshihiro’s father passed away 7 years ago to the date. His little box was lit up with candles. We then had tea with the priest and his wife. It was a very interesting ritual. Next the real worship started. The priest came out to the main room and lit some incense. He then started chanting prayers, hitting this really loud bell, and hitting a drum. It was really interesting. I could not understand anything he said. It sounded like he was speaking in a different language. Finally, Toshihiro received the wooden post for the 7th year and we went out to the graveyard out back. He lit incense and a cigarette and placed it on the tombstone. He then placed the wooden post on the stand and everyone took turns praying.

After the temple we went out to eat. Apparently it is also a ritual to eat and drink really well after going to worship the dead. There was so much food that I could not have possibly eaten it all. I also went through who knows how many little bottles of sake with the person sitting beside me (sorry I don’t remember your name!) I returned home very drunk with Toshihiro and soon went to bed.

Today was a normal day at the daycare but with 2 new faces. There are 2 new sensei’s in training to start in April. It was weird that they were not actually observing the other sensei’s, but instead doing menial tasks such as cleaning and making decorations. I went along with my business until after lunch. During break-time I attempted to talk with them, but they were way too nervous to come up with anything other than simple responses. It was the first time that I felt I could express myself better than native speakers of Japanese. No matter how hard I tried I could not get any sort of conversation going. School, interests, kids, how boring Gosenshi is, nothing worked.I hope to get another chance to talk with them in a less “stressful” setting.

March 14 – Gakuen-Sai Preparations

This week has been pretty hectic at the Gakuen. The Hoikuen-Sai ended last Sunday so it has been really calm there. Every night I have returned by 7pm (or 9pm if I ate with Hirai Sensei). At the Gakuen I have been working hard with the other Sensei’s to make decorations. I have mostly been working in the dinosaur room. The boys all created dinosaurs out of various items such as boxes, toilet paper rolls, and water bottles. They then cover them with newspaper followed by paper mache. For decorations, I helped make trees, rocks, the river, patch up the walls, and fix badly done decorations made by the kids. I have not had too much free time recently. Neither have the kids actually. They have been working hard on their performances for tomorrow as well. Speaking of which, I will be appearing with the girls and two other Sensei’s. I will also be playing the role of a girl (or so I hope). I went with Tamaki this morning to buy a skirt, top, and stockings specifically for tomorrow. I now have a full out 女ぽい outfit. We will see how it works out tomorrow. It will be interesting to say the least. I will be sure to take lots of pictures.

March 13 – 10 days

It has been 10 days since I have written anything at all. It’s really bad because now I have lots of things to talk about but no time to write about it all. Oh memory 10 years from now, please be able to remember this stuff! I have a good reason for the first 3 days, I really do. I caught a cold (fever?) last Wednesday (5th) and was sick for 3 entire days. I didn’t leave the house. That Wednesday I woke up and had a terrible headache. It hurt more than any headache that I can remember. I had trouble walking down the stairs because my head was pounding so hard. The weird thing was, that seemed to be the only thing that hurt. I had no runny nose, no cough, and no sore throat (well the sore throat was fixed after a couple glasses of water). I asked for the thermometer and found that my temperature was a spanking 38 degrees celsius. I am not sure what that is in farenheight, but I think normal body temperature is around 36 degrees. In any case, Tamaki took me to the local health clinic. It was the first time since I got to Japan that I got to use my National Health Insurance card. I hope never to need it again. We had to have waited for 2 hours or so. My head pounded the entire time and I was not able to sleep on the small tatami mat area they had behind the chairs. When they finally called me, Tamaki had me go alone, saying I would be able to understand them. What? Complex medical terms at my Japanese level? No way! I thought to myself. The nurse asked me some simple questions: height, what hurt, etc. She then took my blood pressure and my weight. Twice. She must not have believed that I weigh 80kg. Yeah… I need to work on that, can’t quite believe it myself. I then got to wait again for the real doctor to look at me. He took out his stethoscope and listened to my breathing, or whatever they do. He also asked a few questions. I feel like my Japanese has really improved because almost unconsciously I understood 95% of what he said. He even explained that I didn’t have influenza but if I got a runny nose I should come in again. He then too this really long and thin ear-wax pick looking thing and put it in my nose. Tears flowed to my eyes it was so far up there. I found out later it was to test what I had. Back in the waiting room I waited again for what seemed like eternity, when finally the people at the desk called me up. They gave me a prescription sheet and Tamaki paid for my visit. It was less than $20. The Japanese health system felt much like the American health system. I feel like that is exactly what I would go through had I gone to the Bryan Medical Group.

Then came the medicine.

I received a grand total of 6, yes SIX different things. There were four different pills, a round pink, two round white, and an orange/white capsule. Next there was this white powder which I learned to hate. You open up the little pack and empty it onto your tongue, then take some big gulps of water. The powder tastes horrible and ends up getting everywhere in your mouth and some back in the cup. Ugh, the nature of powder! Finally there was this *ehem* anally inserted cylindrical looking thing which I received 3 of. Tamaki said that it was for dropping the fever drastically. Wednesday night my fever was up to 40 degrees. Tamaki said that I should use the insertion pill. I did, it was not pleasant, but at that point my headache had still not gotten better, and I was ready to do anything in order to just go to sleep. The pills and stuff were really weak. I am unsure if they did anything at all, but I took them anyway after every meal as prescribed. Needless to say, I finally got decent at swallowing pills. I slept on and off for 3 days straight. During my waking hours I played Dragon Quest as I was not able to focus enough to straight up study.

Finally on Saturday (8th) I got to get out of the house. At noon Mieko (a girl I previously met at an outing with my host father Feb 12) and her friend Chika-chan came to pick me up. We then switched cars at the local supermarket and added a friend, Hiru-kun. I was told to call everyone by their chan/kun nicknames, even though only they use them. All 3 of them were high school friends and all 10 years my elder. It was still a really fun day. We first went to eat at this restaurant named “Kazan” which means “volcano” where they specialize in “ishi-yaki ramen”. It is a really interesting way of making ramen. There is a stone pot which is put over a flame until it gets really hot. Next the cooked ramen and veggies are put in to sizzle. The broth is prepared separately and brought out to the table. You pour the broth into the pot where it soon starts to bubble (because the pot is so hot) and cook everything together. To eat it you have to scoop out portions into another, smaller bowl so it cools down enough to eat. It was a good meal. Everyone had ishi-yaki except for Hiru-kun, who had tsukemen. He said he couldn’t eat things that hot.

Next we went to the bowling alley and played 2 games. Like usual I won the first game with 128, but out of the blue I came from 3rd place and won the second game as well with 127. I still hold my claim that I do worse as I play more games. Chika-chan was not happy because we had a bowl off in the 10th frame and I managed to get a strike and the extra roll to beat her. Upon returning our shoes and things, we each received a coupon for 20 free tokens at the arcade. We went to the arcade and decided on one of those games that pushes tokens off the edge via a moving platform. Chika-chan and I played one for a good 20 minutes before finally losing all of our tokens. We must have had about 100 or so at our top point. It was then that I decided that an arcade really would be a good place to have a date. Those token games are all geared towards 2 people playing together. In fact all of the games are now that I think about it. It’s just that anyone can play the token games I guess. It really doesn’t take much skill. We then wandered around the UFO (claw) games. The first one that Chika-chan played, she won this “corn-caramel” candy. I kid you not, it was like taffy, and tasted like corn. Everyone thought that it was the worst candy ever. Go Hokkaido sweets! Everyone got separated for a bit, and when we finally got everyone together again, I was given a small plush banana from Chika-chan as a keepsake. Weird, but cute.

I was then taken to this really cool shop. It is an old collectables place that had everything ranging from old video games to cards and figures. It was there that I learned that Chika-chan is a big gamer. I mentioned that I was currently playing Dragon Quest 4 and she was able to name some of the characters and a vague plot line. We took a trip down the Super Famicom aisle and reminisced about our childhoods of playing all the games that hung on the racks. The other two just kinda shrugged and went about looking by themselves. Outside I bought a Gashapon where I got a little Shy Guy for my bookbag.

I thought we were going to go home when we pulled into a sports center. It is kinda like a game center, but all sports related. We did the batting cages, pitching challenge, basketball, air hockey, and ping-pong. The also had pool and a driving range, but we did not get that far. They also had arcade games that were sports related. It was my first time to do a batting cage, and I got pretty owned. The first 5 balls or so I couldn’t hit. The rest I hit, but not gracefully. They bounced off the ground or popped way up in the air. I could not got a good hit at 70km/hr. Maybe I needed a little faster speed or a better batting stance or something. Mika-chan beat me at air hockey *cries*, but I creamed Hiru-kun so it’s all good. At the end of our games we went to the counter and got prizes. They consisted of candy and these shrimp flavored roll things. Japanese of course.

It was a really good day. I made some new friends who I may or may not ever see again, but it was a lot of fun.

Sunday was the Hoikuen-Sai or big festival. When I arrived, there were already a lot of parents and kids browsing the rooms. I was instantly put to work in helping with the stage work. The gym was packed from front to back, and I helped make paths for the kids through the crowd. Taiyo san’s skit involved running around the audience and we had to make sure everyone was out of the way. The show ran smoothly. Afterwards was the Bazaar which meant the gym turned into a restaurant. I was originally going to be a waiter, but there were already too many. Instead I helped sell candy at the side stand. The festival was a lot of fun and most definitely worth staying for.

３月３日 - 働きすぎたじゃない？

今日は９時から１０時の仕事だった。すごいね。先生達はもっと早いかもしれない。もちろんジョン先生はすごく眠い。働きすぎた！休憩も取らなかった。取ればよかったな～。

今回はみらい組だった。２歳の子供はいつも元気を出して、泣いて、すぐ眠くなる。普通に２０人子供と４人先生がいる。

あんこが入っているドリンクを飲んだ。美味しいでも不味いでもないのにもう一度食ってない。
学園でかざりを作った。リッボンと紙花をはってめんどくさい。

March 2 – Ayane Woes

I met a new person at the Gakuen last week named Ayane. She is Encho Sensei’s daughter, goes to Kyoto University, 20 years old, studying Pharmacy, and is really cute. I finally got to go out with her on Wednesday for Okonomiyaki. It was then that I found out she is going back to Kyoto on the 4th. Talk about a lost opportunity. I immediately took a liking to her after talking for an hour or so over some dinner. I went out with her again on Friday with her father. That was an interesting experience. Nazaki san was trying his best to speak English, but failing miserably. Ayane and I couldn’t stop laughing at the Japanese / English mixing. We had Yakitori at the local Yakitori place in Muramatsu. Nazaki san and I drank quite a bit and had some pretty good conversations about Japan-America relations, Japanese foods, and eventually girls. He asked me if I liked Japanese or American girls better, then what ages I prefer, then if I liked his daughter (all in English btw). At that I turned to Ayane and said “yes”. She chuckled. It would be awesome if we could meet again, but I don’t think that is going to happen. Ayane was busy all weekend with shopping and hometown friends. Tomorrow she is working all day then hanging out with a friend from grade school. Then the day after tomorrow she is leaving. Sigh. At least I will have a friend in Kyoto when I visit in the spring.

In any case, I had a pretty relaxing weekend despite the fact that my mind was elsewhere. I went with Yasuko san and her friend to the Nagaoka Museum of History. It was more interesting than I was expecting. They had a special exhibit of artifacts from the Island of Niigata (the name escapes me). This included arrowheads, pots, plates, bones, rocks, and pretty much everything you would find at a Native American Exhibit. The main museum included a really cool 1950’s replica of a city in Niigata. The snow piled up to the 2nd floor where shops had a second entrance. It was really cool. There was also some Native Japanese scenes which depicted life in the BC ages. It had models of people, houses, animals, which once again resembled Native Americans. I was told that this museum was the biggest one in Niigata, and only had things that came from Niigata. It was more interesting than your regular history museum. For lunch we went to a place that specializes in crabs. I had tempura crab legs which were amazing. It was my first experience with crab food. That night we went to an onsen about 10 kilometers away from home. It was called “Bijin no Yu” which literally means “beautiful person’s water”. The onsen was much like the previous one that we went to. I spent most of my time in the outdoor springs this time because one it was my first time and two it was snowing! Hot springs and snow just screams Kimochii!

Today we went to Murakami to see the preparations for the Hina Matsuri. I am told that this matsuri is to celebrate the well being of women. The holiday for men is in May. For this Matsuri shops put out displays depicting people from the Edo period. Each doll represents something special (Hit up Wikipedia for more details). Yasuko said that Murakami is famous for Cows, rice, and sake, all of which I was able to try. For the first time since I arrived in Japan I was able to eat 100% real steak. It was the most delicious thing I have had in a long while. Yasuko bought some traditional rice sweets to eat back at home. They are like Onigiri, but wrapped in corn husks. The rice is half mocha-a-rized as well. Very interesting. Finally, we went to a traditional sake shop down the street. What separates this from a normal sake shop is that you can sit down and drink right there in the shop. I had a beer with my father while he talked to the shopkeeper. That was a first. Before heading home we stopped once again at an onsen. I did not realize it at the time, but Nagaoka is pretty close to the Japan Sea. The onsen used water from the sea and had an overlook of the sea. It was not as fancy as the previous ones, but got the job done well. I took a nap on the way home.

２月２８日 - DVORAKと日本語が欲しい！！！

何でWINDOWS？最初にできなかったでしょう？LINUXはいつもできるじゃ。Get with the program！とにかく今日はちょっとつまらないけど楽しい。いつも楽しいね。保育園で今日もたくさん写真を撮った。よかったなああ。電池は消えなかった。子供の皆は写真を撮りたいって。それからtons of写真を撮った。欲しかったのに撮りすぎたかも。全部の組を邪魔した。最後はたいよう組に行った。そこで折り紙の作り方を教えってあげた。むらしまたろうという伝説のために魚の形を作った。その後映画の時間のあいだにtie-dye紙みたいなものを作った。でっかい紙を自分で折って、色んな色のPaint にDipして、乾いた。結果はどうかな～

学園で特別なことをしなかった。早く戻った。子供とお宅まで連れって行って保育園に到着した。ババールをもう一度見た。子供達の迎いが終わった、先生達とTake Outラーメンを食べた。今日は三回目だった。その後お茶とコーヒーを買ってきた。正子先生と小川先生とうらしまたろうの部屋をdecorateした。正子先生がいいな～と思った。大学に行かなかったのに。何でもやってみるのはいいな～

２月２７日 - やっと戻った

今日は普通の日だった。保育園で写真屋をちょっとした。電池が消えたまでたくさん写真を撮った。子供達はもう一度発表会の練習をした。今回は老人の前にできた。子供も服がほとんど終わった。ぼうしだけじゃなくて、スカートとかケープなど着た。可愛かった！！今日も初めてみらい組と一緒に昼食を食べた。２歳のに静かに食べた。びっくり！ゆみこ先生は子供が多分恥ずかしいって。ゆみこ先生も僕の卵の上にカッツウップでハートを作った。恋人かな～。子供達はしの使い方を習ったばかりから、スポーンで食べた。

学園でなざき先生の娘さんを探しに行くのが期待したけど、あやねさんは教室に来た。よかった！ご飯のことを聞いた。デートをやっとできた。６時にもんじゃ村というレストランを食べに行った。あやねさんは運転できるばかりだからゆっくり進んだ。日本で２０歳から運転できる。あやねさんは１月に２０歳になった。彼女はマイタイプだった。コンピュータが好きし、大学生だし、可愛いし。もう一度会いたいけど３月４日京都に帰るそうだった。あああ！時間が足りない！

２月２７日 - やっと戻った

今日は普通の日だった。保育園で写真屋をちょっとした。電池が消えたまでたくさん写真を撮った。子供達はもう一度発表会の練習をした。今回は老人の前にできた。子供も服がほとんど終わった。ぼうしだけじゃなくて、スカートとかケープなど着た。可愛かった！！今日も初めてみらい組と一緒に昼食を食べた。２歳のに静かに食べた。びっくり！ゆみこ先生は子供が多分恥ずかしいって。ゆみこ先生も僕の卵の上にカッツウップでハートを作った。恋人かな～。子供達はしの使い方を習ったばかりから、スポーンで食べた。

学園でなざき先生の娘さんを探しに行くのが期待したけど、あやねさんは教室に来た。よかった！ご飯のことを聞いた。デートをやっとできた。６時にもんじゃ村というレストランを食べに行った。あやねさんは運転できるばかりだからゆっくり進んだ。日本で２０歳から運転できる。あやねさんは１月に２０歳になった。彼女はマイタイプだった。コンピュータが好きし、大学生だし、可愛いし。もう一度会いたいけど３月４日京都に帰るそうだった。あああ！時間が足りない！

２月２６日 - 三日酔い？風邪？

土曜からいま（火曜）仕事行かなかった。日曜はお疲れ会ので午前三時ぐらい眠った。たくさんお酒を飲んだりカラオケで歌ったり眠いになったね。それで月曜は休みを取った。五時間しか寝なかった。すごく眠かった。一日中ゲームをやったり勉強したりなどだ。ゆっくりしたのに火曜も元気じゃなかった。もう一度同じことをした。体重温度は３６．２℃。普通だった。それにしても風邪そうだった。少し席がでって、鼻水も、おなかも痛かった。残念だがもう一度なにもしなかった。

Feb 25 – Rough weekend

Well not really rough, but very tiring to say the least. On Saturday I was planning on going out with Masako Sensei, but she had to work. I was also planning on having lunch with Nakabanashi San, but she also had to work. Finally, I wanted to go out with Encho-Sensei’s daughter who is in town over spring break, but I don’t have any way to contact her. I ended up spending the day with Tamaki and Umi again. We went out to lunch at a spaghetti place which was really delicious. I have not had Italian food in what seemed like ages. We did some shopping afterwards for dinner and food for Umi. It was a pretty slow day. I also finally broke my resolution at the beginning of Spring Break of not playing my DS or PSP during my free time. I started up Dragon Quest 4 on the DS. Hey it’s in Japanese with kanji that I have to look up every once in a while. Good Japanese practice right? Right?

Yesterday I woke up at the early hour of 7:30 to help with the Midori Gakuen Sai. This involved working behind the stage making sure all of the children’s acts went smoothly. Encho-Sensei’s daughter was there so you can guess where I working at. We helped move the instruments on and off the stage, move the props, help the kids dress, and finally watched the acts. The auditorium was packed full of parents and video cameras. All things considered, the show went very smoothly. The kids all preformed well given that they were scared of performing in front of so many people. The show also began and ended on time, which was good for us because we had to pack up all the stuff after it ended. Upon returning home, I spent time relaxing until nightfall.

That night was the after-party with some of the sensei’s. Itadaki, Isao, Ilia, and 4 girl sensei’s attended. It was quite the party. We went to an Izakaya called Murasaki (村さ来), which does not mean “purple” like I originally thought, but literally “come to village”. We drank, talked, partied, drank more, and had a good time. Around 10:30 we decided to go to the karaoke place next door. Isao and Itadaki stayed at the restaurant and continued to drink. Karaoke was lots of fun. When I sang an English song everyone was floored. “本物だ！！” They screamed. Yeah, I am the real deal. We sang until 2 in the morning. It was quite a night.

Today I woke up feeling pretty well, but upon further inspection, I was dead tired. I went to the hoikuen for an hour and decided that I needed to rest today. I didn’t want to, but it is for the best. I don’t have a hangover or anything, but I am just not Genki today. Tomorrow should be a good day. I will have dinner with someone tomorrow, I already decided that.

２月２２日 - 金曜日だ

このごろ時間は早すぐて進んでいる。もう金曜だな～。今朝やっと土曜の予定を決めたけど正子先生はまだ連絡しなかった。今日は彼女の休日だからしゃべることができなかった。残念だね。まだ待ってる。

２月２１日 - ミニバイク

今朝起きたとのどがかわいていた。どしてかわからない。環さんはかぜと思ったんだけど、すぐ元気になった。もう一度１０時に到着した。今日は子供達の最後の発表だった。全員は遊戯室で練習した。俺はグランマ先生にスタートとエンドの時間を書かさせた。学園際のために案内紙の時間をできることだ。０歳から６歳の子供達はよくできた。実はびっくりした。若い子供がよくできる。

もうすぐ昼食になった。大きなパンと２つの汁を食べた。普通の学校食べ物かなああ～昼寝時間の前に僕はももたろうを読んで上げた。横から読むのは難しいのに今回のほうが上手と思う。太陽たちは「もう一度読んで」と言った。うれしい！次はアトムという映画を見た。日本でアトムはすごい人気だ。半分を見ていさお先生と小学生が来た。初めて１５人が一緒に保育園に入った。正子先生は子供が知っていたのであいさつをさせた。

学園でいさお先生はミニバイクを出した。昨日バイクについて言ってたけどそのときあまりわからなかった。本当のバイクだ！ちっちゃいけど楽しかった。乗っているとき大人はピエロみたいだった。写真を撮った。子供一年生が大好きだったのにゆっくりゆっくり運転した。俺はフロアをしてゆっくりした。重い人はバイクを遅く続けた。

今日も歌を覚えるのが始まった。グリーングリーンという曲を歌って、もう２つの忘れちゃった曲を歌って、雪遊びした。俺のそりをこわれちゃった。すべるのは速過ぎたのでそりが半分切った。

２月２０日 - ２回目

今日保育園の到着はちょっと遅かった。環ちゃんとうみくん寝坊した。環さんは朝４時まで武蔵という本を読んだって。それで眠そうだった。俺は自分で朝ご飯を作るはずだと思うんだったけどシリアルを注ぐ間に環さんとうみくんが来た。よかったな～。牛乳しか見つけられなかった。

１０時ぐらい保育園を到着した。早くアップルティを飲んで太陽組に行った。子供達は俺が来るとうれしくなった。もう一度練習が始まった。大きなかぶという曲を聞きながら踊った。今回オレは見ただけ。太陽組たちは一人ずつ「おじいさんとろりん」を読んだ。上手に話せるのに読むことより。俺は一つのことのほうが上手だ。
今疲れたからやめる。今日新しいことがなかったし

２月１９日 - 始まるぞ

今日私は平井先生に日本語で日記を書かせる。今から毎日日本語で日記を書くことにした。いい練習だと思う。前に書きたかった、でもたくさん時間とか頭能力などがかかるからやめた。今回一生懸命書く！
今日は９：３０に保育園に到着した。最初に「ももたろう」という子供の本を読んだ。上手じゃないと思ったでもたえこ先生と平井先生は英語より私のほうが読んだ。明日から１つずつの物語をよむことにした。後ひらい先生にきびだんごをもらった。いった先生達は「一つください」と言わせた。

太陽組に行きたかった。子供達は違う考えがあった。遊戯室で青空さんの隣に座って、太陽さんの発表練習を見た。太陽さんはまさこ先生が手伝わなかったのによくできた。その後、青空組さん達は教室に僕を連れって行かさせた。仕方ないな～。そこで遊んでいた。

まず色んな曲を一緒に歌った。歌詞が知らないのに踊っていつも頑張る。その後水の生き物の絵を塗った。床で大きな魚が書いてある紙を置いた、一人ずつ一匹を塗った。これは超汚かった。くつとくつしたを脱いで、足跡を残した。

ご飯はスパゲッティーだった。今まで一番おいしい保育園の食べ物。みんなはおかわりをとった。休むじかんの間に太陽組にいくことを期待したけど、いさお先生は早く迎えに来た。

小学校に子供を迎えにいって、学園に行った。縄跳びをしたり、遊園地コースを作ったり、サッカーをやったりした。雪遊びで壊れているそりを使ってよく転んだ。雪から守るズボンをはかないで滑った。ジーンズは濡れたので教室に戻ってから、ずっとヒーターのとなりで立っていた。立ちながらちゃんと「ドラゴンボール」という漫画を読んだ。

保育園に戻って来た。まさこ先生と話した。すぐ一緒にどこかに行くことができるといいんだが。

Feb 18 – Normal

It was a normal day at the daycare today. Nothing special happened. I was with the Taiyo kids again and I recently found out the reason. Apparently Masako Sensei has taken a liking to me. I jumped on this opportunity and asked her if she wanted to go somewhere this week. The problem was I didn’t have any specific destination in mind. We didn’t decide on anything, but she was definitely interested. Well perhaps tomorrow we will figure something out.

At the Gakuen I finished up my dinosaur. I wrote a description which was rejected by the sensei’s. I would like to think that it was too advanced for a 3rd grade student, but I was told that it sounded odd the way I stated it. Gah! Stupid textbook Japanese! I rewrote it and it was approved. I have been so out of practice writing Japanese I kept confusing letters and leaving letters out. Bad Jon, Bad! It was nice to see that my Kanji was still in good shape though.

Feb 17 – Nagaoka

Today the entire family went to Nagaoka (or somewhere in that general area). Tamaki, Umi, Father, Mother, and I all crammed into the Jeep and headed off at 10 in the morning. It took about an hour and a half to get there. I had no idea what to expect. Hirai sensei said that we were going to visit the Japan sea (again) and the fish market place too. Those were only a little bit of the trip though. The majority of our time was spent at an onsen (hot springs) right by the ocean. It was only my 2nd time to go to an onsen before, the first being on my summer trip 2 years ago. I had a little bit of an idea of what to expect, but this place exceeded my expectations in every way.

The place had all sorts of things besides just the hot springs, ranging from facial care to massages. I did not partake in any of them, but I am sure you could easily spend an entire weekend just relaxing within the comforts of this one building. They also provided rooms for overnight stays. We found a large tatami mat room on the 2nd floor with tables and cushions for lounging. This was the mainstay for our trip. We sat right next to the window and had a great view of the Japan Sea and the nearest television. First up was food which was more of an afterthought than anything. There was a restaurant on the first floor, and a snack bar on the second. I picked out various snacks for everyone (yaki-soba, fried chicken balls, makizushi, frankforts, etc.) It was quite a feast.

Tamaki left for the onsen first with father and I followed close behind. Hirai sensei was left alone with poor little Umi. I hope they got along all right! The onsen was similar to the previous one I went to, but much much nicer. There are lockers to put your clothes, a bathroom like area to fix up yourself after the onsen, and the onsen itself. Just watch out for all the naked guys around (or girls in the other case). The onsen consisted of 3 different rooms: indoor, outdoor, and steam room. The outdoor onsen was pretty crowded and small, but you could gaze out at the Japan Sea from there. I did not get in it, but it looked nice. The indoor onsen was filled with steam. It was rather hard to see where you were going at first. There were the typical Japanese wash stations, a place to soak your feet, hot water, super hot water, water from the sea, bubbly water, and water jet pools. I was very impressed with the amount of space and selection.

Let’s just say the onsen was fantastic. I spent at least an hour in there relaxing with my host father. Upon returning to our spot on the second floor, I was instantly elected babysitter until Tamaki’s return. Once again I got a lot of weird stares and blank faces as I played with Umi, muttering things in Japanese to him. Aside from getting into all of the food, he was surprisingly well behaved. Upon Tamaki’s arrival, she, Hirai, and Umi went to the onsen, leaving Papa and I all by ourselves. I took this opportunity to get a little shut eye…

After the onsen we went to the fish market and bought food for dinner and such. On the way home I stared out the window the entire trip thinking about my experiences thus far in Japan.

Feb 16 – Niigata City

Today I went with Tamaki and Umi to Niigata City. It is the biggest city in Niigata prefecture and about an hour away from Muramatsu (The place where I am living). I got to spend some more quality time with Tamaki on the car ride there and back. It was then that I realized that I am now living in a place very close to home. Muramatsu is a really small town with almost nothing to do. The nearest big city is an hour away. On top of that, most of the people living there are of the same race. Very nostalgic.

So in the city I got to help take care of Umi by pushing the stroller, holding him, and giving him water. I got a lot of looks from people walking past us. First they looked at me, then at Umi, then back at me, with a puzzled look on their faces. It must have looked like I was the baby’s father and Tamaki was the mother. Another interesting thing to note is that I did not see another foreigner on our entire trip. It felt so weird to be the minority.

We first visited the Japan Sea which completes my trip across Japan. I came from one side near Tokyo, all the way to the other. The waves were huge today. They had to be at least 4 meters, possibly more. It was the biggest waves I have ever seen. Next Tamaki took me to a home-made ice cream shop. I had a double chocolate and caramel cone. Delicious. After desert we headed out to get some ramen for lunch. I found out that Nozomi and Hiro are currently living in Niigata City because we had lunch with them. It was the first time I had ramen with kimchi in it. Very interesting indeed. It made the ramen nice and spicy, which is exactly how I like my food. Nozomi and Hiro left Masa with Hiro’s parents to look after him, but wanted to head home right after we ate to look after him. Tamaki said that they were always like that, not wanting to leave Masa with anyone else to look after dim. Tamaki and I grabbed some coffee and then headed to the rainbow tower. The tower is like the sky ride at cedar point. A circular viewing platform rises into the air allowing you to see the entire city. The tower is colored all the colors of the rainbow, which gives it its name.

Before heading back we did some shopping for dinner. Tamaki made sukiyaki which was absolutely delicious. It was the first time I ate meat since I got here (besides yaki-niki for breakfast one day, talk about weird!) I got the pleasure of looking after Umi for a couple of hours while Tamaki was out and about.

Feb 15 – Again

Pretty tired once again. Probably because I am staying up so late and waking up so early. Today was a good day in the Taiyo-gumi with Masako sensei again. Sadly I did not get to make any plans with any of the sensei’s this weekend. The people I asked were busy… Maybe next time.

Feb 14 – Tired

I am tired today so refer to Feb 13 to see what I did today. Everything was the same except I was with the Aozora-Gumi. Masako sensei was on vacation so I also got to hang out with the Taiyo kids as well. Interesting thing that happened today, Tamaki and Umi came back home. We had take out ramen for dinner and got to talk about lots of stuff from computers to Tamaki’s ex-husband. Interesting stuff.

Feb 13 – Genki!

Today I got to hang out with the Genki-Gumi kids. They are the 3 year olds and there are a whopping 27 of them. It There are usually two sensei’s working in that room. With me it made 3. I got to watch them practice a dance for the upcoming gaku-sai festival. Then we got to sing various songs of which I knew none of the lyrics. I did my best under the circumstances, a couple of the songs I had heard before, so I at least knew the melody. The kids sang and did motions to go along with the words. I passed by just by mimicking the motions of the other sensei’s beside me. One of the things about 3 year olds is that they do not yet know how to control their voices. Their singing was less of a melody, and more of a contest of who could sing the loudest. It was lots of fun! Then instead of doing the normal activities, we had some free play time in the gym. I got to throw kick-balls back and forth at various kids, as well as chase them around the room with them yelling in terror. Oh how I miss having recess! When it was nap time, I slipped back to the teachers lounge and enjoyed some tea with the other sensei’s. I once again got to explain that America is not any scarier than Japan and everyone does not have a gun. Seriously, where do all these stereotypes come from? In any case, I had a nice hour long talk with the various teachers who took their break time and felt like sitting across the table from me.

Right on time at 2:30, Isao Sensei showed up and we headed to the Gakuen. When I arrived there were not any kids there yet so I asked what I should do to make myself of use. Bad idea. I ended up mopping the entire first floor of the gakuen. This included the gym, hallway, and 2 rooms with lots of tables in them. By the time I finished I was ready to lie down and take some rest, but the kids had already arrived. We went outside to play in the fresh powdery snow right off the bat. Sledding didn’t work to well for me or Isao sensei as we sunk right to the bottom of the snow causing the sled to stop. The kids had no problem though. We got to use a teeny tiny snowboard to try and kill ourselves instead. Isao sensei could actually make it most of the way down the hill without falling. It sure impressed me! Back inside I played some soccer and basketball with Ilia Sensei and the kids. Fun times fun times.

Feb 12 – Back in School at Last

Today Hirai Sensei took the morning off. This meant that I did not have to go to the Hoikuen. I still wanted to go, but figured that there is still plenty of time. Plus my legs really hurt from all the physical activity yesterday. Hirai sensei really gives a lot of freedom when it comes to going to school or not. It is all up to me whether or not I want to make good use of my time here or not. In any case, I spent the morning once again studying kanji and grammar. Hey at least I am getting work done here!

At around 1pm I got to go to the Gakuen and play with the kids there. We played with jump ropes, did some tumbling (cartwheels, sumersaults, etc.), worked on out dinosaurs, and made paper airplanes. The latter being the most fun. Eria sensei was amazed at how long my airplane could stay in the air. It is the one I have been making for as long as I can remember.

For dinner I went with my host father to the Nakabanashi residence. I had no idea what to expect. As soon as we entered the home, I entered “formal speech” mode. We had dinner with a bunch of my father’s friends who were obviously my superior. One of the other adults there was using really formal language, so I figured I should follow suit. Regardless of what they think, at least I try! After a few beers and some food, I was finally saved by little Ta-kun. He is one of the kids at the Hoikuen. As soon as he saw me, he blurted out “Jon sensei!!” and quickly invited me to play. Finally I could get to where I belong, with the kids. This led to me being called simple “sensei” for the rest of the night. I don’t know if nobody knew my name, or if they thought I should be held at a higher position than them. In any case, it was really weird.

We ended up braving the cold and going to a temple down the street with Ta-kun’s mother and some other people. It was really cold, but a good experience. I got to do all the rituals of praying and such, and got to do Omikuji as well. This time I got a super lucky fortune! Things must be looking up for the Niigata trip!

Back at the house, I was able to spend time with all the kids. There was one girl (Naimi I think her name was) who was very interested in speaking English with me. I guess they don’t call me “sensei” for nothing! This room was much less tense than the one with all the old men. I had a good time chatting with everyone until it was time to go. We had to be taken home by someone else because I cannot drive in Japan, and my host father had way too much to drink. Well you can’t win ‘em all.

Feb 11 – Skiing again

Once again I lazy’d around the house all morning. I had a traditional Japanese breakfast consisting of fish, rice, and pumpkin. For lunch Hirai sensei made father and myself soumen, which is white noodles that are dipped into a special sauce. It is a lot like cold soba, but Hirai sensei said that she likes the taste of soumen better. I got a lot of kanji studying done this morning. I have reached 150 in Heisig, which is pretty good for a weeks work. If someone told me that I could learn 150 kanji in a week when I first started studying Japanese, I would have told them they are crazy and not listened to a word they said. Just to think that we only learned 100 or so in the entire first year of Japanese is astonishing. It really is a slow start!

At around 2pm I was told to get ready to go to Mikawa ski resort again. I was not expecting this, but it makes sense once I thought about it. Nozomi and her husband want to take me skiing when they get back, but they are really good (so says Hirai sensei) and I am still a beginner. We also took Otousan’s sister along so Hirai sensei would have someone to talk to.

This time at the Ski resort I tried skiing again. I figured that snowboarding is still above my head with the whole being able to go both directions deal. The first time going down the mountain I crashed and my ski’s went flying. It was the first and only time they actually came off my feet. Once at the bottom I went over to the ski lift only to find that my ticket was gone. Great, a 2000 yen lift ticket lost in one go down the mountain. I waited by the lift to see if anyone would come down with it. After about 10 minutes I went over to Hirai sensei and fessed up. I felt really bad when she bought me a new ticket.

I went back up to the top keeping a look out for my long lost ticket. I crashed right under the lift cars so I looked intently for my ticket. About half way up I spotted it lying facedown in the snow. The back of the ticket is white so nobody must have seen it. At this point I just wished the lift would go faster! At the top I prepared to head slowly down the slope in order to find and grab my ticket. Just then a snowboarder flew by my and his ticket flew off his arm. I am not sure if he dropped it on purpose or not, but I inched my way down and grabbed it. To my surprise it was an all day ticket giving access to all the lifts from sunrise to sundown. I shoved it in my pocket and continued my way down. Sure enough, my ticket was still lying in the snow when I reached it. I stopped by it (well fell really) and grabbed it too. The real question was what to do with the all day ticket…

I asked the guy running the lift about it and he said that nobody had asked about it. So there I was, two lift tickets with 9 uses left on each of them, and an all day pass, what luck! The lift guy took the all day pass and let me go for free up the lift the rest of the day. I had to have went up 7 or 8 times before the park closed. I got really good at weaving back and forth, controlling my speed, and generally just getting much much better at skiing. On my last attempt I made it all the way down without falling or stopping, and kept most of my speed from the top. It was a good experience. The guy at the ski rental place said that it was really amazing how fast I learned how to ski. There are $100 classes that teach the same stuff that I learned in only a few attempts down the mountain.

We returned home and had curry for dinner. Once again, I love Hirai Sensei!

Feb 10 – Free Day

I got to stay home all morning today. It was nice and relaxing to be able to sleep in and lazy around the house. During the morning I did some Kanji studying which quickly turned into me talking to Nozomi about how the Heisig book works. You only study the meaning of each Kanji as opposed to all other books where you study everything together, compounds, readings, etc. Afterwards I got to show her pictures of my family and adventures thus far in Japan. I just realized how much I have done already! It is really amazing!

Hirai Sensei came home at about 4:30pm from the Hoikuen. She was planning on coming home much earlier, but due to a problem with one of the parents, was forced to stay longer. Hirai Sensei took me out shopping and then to dinner. We went to a shoe store where she bought me indoor shoes for the Gakuen and Hoikuen. They do not have slippers for kids to wear, but instead everyone must provide their own shoes that are only for use indoors. It is a good alternative to slippers because they do not fall off, therefore allowing aerobic activities and such.

Hirai Sensei took me to a place called Yamamoto which is famous for their Kama-meshi. Kama-meshi is a special type of food that is prepared individually in a hot pot and served with various tsukemono. It is a little like Donburi, but there is a much larger variety. The rice inside is also cooked inside the pot with the other items instead of being prepared separately. This restaurant is famous for using water from the mountain to make its Kama-meshi. I thought the food was excellent. Before, during, and after eating I got to talk to Hirai sensei about all sorts of things ranging from if the landing on the moon actually happened to Japan’s current problems with the economy and such. Once we got home she helped me read through some articles in the newspaper, one in particular about a recent shooting at a college in the US.

For the next 3 days I will be alone with Hirai sensei and her husband. Tamaki and Umi-kun went to visit their father until Wednesday. Nozomi, Hiro, and Masa-kun returned home for the next few weeks. I hope I get to see Nozomi again before I go back to Tokyo. I still need to get pictures with all of them!

Feb 9 – Weekend

Today was the start of my weekend. Nozomi’s husband Hiro came over to visit today. I am really bad at asking for details, so I don’t know how long he is staying or where he is currently living. I am assuming that he is just visiting for the weekend as it is a 3 day weekend today. Nozomi is a lot like Mandy in my opinion. She likes to pick on me in the same way Mandy does and acts very similar to her. It makes the house feel more homely with Nozomi around.

Hiro took us all to an Udon restaurant down the street for lunch. It was excellent. I had the Nabe-Yaki Udon, but Hirai Sensei’s Curry Udon looked the best. It was delicious in any case. For desert we had parfait’s which were massive.

They took me to a ski-resort today. The original plan was to go to the Nihon Sea (the sea between Japan and China), but Hirai Sensei decided this would be better. At first we were going to go to the same place that I went yesterday with the kids. Nozomi called them up and found out that they do not offer equipment rentals meaning that we couldn’t go. Instead we went to a different place that was a little further away. It is called Mikawa-Onsen and is a gorgeous mountain. There was a ski-lift with chairs that went half way up the mountain, then all the way up. They charge you per ride, so if you want to go all the way up, it will be 2 tickets. There is also a beginner and hard course.

I got some boots and ski’s and headed out. It was rough going because I had a lot of trouble walking up the mountain in ski’s. I stayed near the bottom of the hill, practicing balancing and turning. Each time I walked a little bit further up the mountain. Finally, I got on the lift that led to the easy hill. Since I had never ridden a ski lift before, I had the guy working at it explain to me the proper way to get on and off. It is pretty simple if you can control where you are going on ski’s. At the top I almost ran into some girls putting their snowboards on, talk about talent. I got over to where the hill started and let me just say that I was a little scared. I watched some people go ahead of me, taking careful note of their techniques for going down the mountain.

When I gained the courage, I went for it. Zoom down the mountain I went! It was much faster than I expected. I noticed that it was easier to turn when going at this speed as compared to the bottom of the mountain. I was able to successfully weave back and forth to keep my speed under control, but ran into some trouble at the bottom. I must have gained too much speed by the end of my trip because at the bottom I fell and went sliding. I must say that it was not bad for my first try going down a mountain. I watched people at the other place yesterday and they could not for the life of them stay on their feet. My reasoning is that I can water-ski and wakeboard pretty well, so that must transfer over to snow-skiing.

I went one more time down the mountain. This time was much better than the last, but I still fell at the end, about in the same place. The second time I was more aware of my surroundings and worked on my turning technique. It went much much smoother. At this point, it was getting late and we had to start heading back to the house. Nozomi and Hirai Sensei said they would take me again in the future, and join me next time. Maybe I can also get some of the other sensei’s to come with me as well…

Feb 8, 2008 – Snow

Today I was forced to wake up early to go to school. Instead of going to the Hoku-en for the morning, I was invited to go sledding with the gaku-en kids. Isao Sensei was supposed to pick me up from the Hoku-en at 9 am, therefore I got up nice and early and made it there right on time. Usao Sensei being the great guy that he is arrived at 9:45, go figure.

We went to the Gaku-en and picked up all the kids in a total of 3 busses, and headed to the sledding hill. Along the way the kids asked me all sorts of questions ranging from why my eyes are blue to if I am married to Hirai Sensei. Kids say the darndest things don’t they?

The sledding hill was a mini-ski resort consisting of 3 hills. The left one was really steep and closed for some reason. The middle one had the ski-lift running and had a few skiers and amateur snowboarders on it. The hill we went to was the left one, specifically for sledding. I was surprised how steep the hill was. My first attempt went just fine, but on my second I had so much speed that I flipped the sled and went rolling quite a ways down the hill. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun.

A lot of the kids wanted to go sledding with me specifically. I think it was partly because I helped carried their sleds up the hill… All in all, it was an awesome day! Sledding with the kids was a ton of fun, but made me want to go skiing or snowboarding on the other hills. I have never done it before. Maybe I can get one of the Sensei’s to go with me.

Speaking of Sensei’s, we had dinner with all of them at the Hokuen. I got to see that every single one of them is a woman. Weird.

Feb 7, 2008 9:30pm – Early to Bed

I think I am getting more used to the work at the daycare. I was not nearly as tired and as a result was in a much better mood for the kids. Today I got to teach the kids some of the finer points of American pokemon. By that I mean that I got to have names of various pokemon shouted out followed by the question “do you know what this one is?” Half of the time the answer was “yes”, and the other half “no”. It is exactly proportional to the names pokemon that are the same in both languages. After lunch we watched “Pikachu’s Summer Vacation” together, and every time a new pokemon appeared on screen, I was told to tell everyone what the name was in English. This quickly turned into me saying the names in Japanese-english because they had no idea what I was talking about otherwise. I also got to teach them the days of the week and months in the year. It was interesting to say the least.

At the Gaku-en I first did more calligraphy. I have learned that I draw my lines really straight which gives my characters no detail or depth. Luckily the other sensei’s are there to help me. When the other kids arrived I got to start work on my very own dinosaur. I don’t know the name of the think I am making, but it appeared in a dinosaur book so it must be legitimate. When it started snowing most of the kids headed outside to the sledding hill again. I went down the hill with a few of the kids before quickly finding myself the target of many, many snowballs. A group of about 7 girls all started following me, throwing snow at me, and screaming really loud when I retaliated. I showed a couple of them who was boss by dragging them into the snow with me.

Back inside I got to play freeze tag with the same group of girls. I found out that kids run really fast for their age. The only reason I could catch them was the fact that I have much longer arms then they do. We played in the gym until it was time for them to go home. Once most of the kids had left, I got to be the “human car”. Hauling kids around on my shoulders and back running all over inside the building. Finally, I got to have my chance at that unicycle again. I have pretty much decided that I will learn to ride it before the month is up. When people ask me “Hey how was Niigata?” I can respond with “Well I learned to ride a unicycle!”

Tomorrow it looks like we are going skiing with the kids. I need to wake up much earlier than normal, but I am sure it will be worth it.

Feb 6, 2008 10:30pm – So Tired…

Today was my first full day at the daycare. I spent the day with the 4 year olds in the Aozora-Gumi (literally “Blue Sky room”). The kids absolutely love hanging onto me and using me as a chair. It is really interesting because they do not do that with the other teachers. Probably because my Japanese is not good enough to discipline them. I leave that to the other teachers. I am really amazed at how well the kids follow rules. Sure there are the troublemakers who will not do anything according to the teachers discretion, but for the most part they only need to be told once not to do something and then they follow that rule for the rest of the day.

I got to experience music time, lunch time, and nap time today. The kids all had these piano’s that worked like accordions. You blow into a tube and press the keys to make noise. The harder you blow the louder the sound is. I was surprised at how well they could play them. The entire pre-school practiced a couple of songs and I was blown away by how well they did. I do not remember being able to play any instrument that well as a child.

Lunch time was just like the school lunches that I learned to hate. It was the same crappy food (although Japanese style). I got to help dish out the soup while the other sensei I was working with handed out rice, salad, and this egg / meat / vegetable dish. Then at nap time, I got to help put the kids to sleep. Some of them were really stubborn and refusing to shut up, even when the real teachers yelled at them. Nap time is one of the few things I remember from daycare and I know I did the same thing.

I went over to the daycare after all the kids were asleep. There I got to help make paper flowers, a cardboard dinosaur, and even got to practice my calligraphy. The kids said my calligraphy was really good, but I think it was just because I was writing kanji that they do not know yet. I personally think it is terrible. Hirai sensei took me home eventually.

Along the way we picked up food for dinner and a cake. Today is Tamaki’s birthday so we had an excellent dinner and cake afterwards. Also on the way home we got to pick up my drunk host father from the local sushi place. Apparently he hangs out there a lot as he and the sushi guy are best friends. It was good for me too because my host father also bought sushi for dinner. I must say that it was the best sushi I have ever had!

Feb 5, 2008 11:00pm – Did I Make the Right Choice?

I finally arrived in Niigata for my spring practicum, but that is not where I am going to start my story. You shall see why in a minute. I woke up this morning expecting my clothes to be dry. I had done my laundry the day before in hopes of going to Niigata with clean clothes. Nothing could be further from them being dry. I planned on leaving the heater on all night so that they would dry, but for some reason, the plug came out of the outlet just far enough to keep from functioning. This left me with wet clothes that I needed to pack in the morning. Let me just say that I was not happy. Once got everything packed into my suitcase I headed downstairs to get breakfast. It was the same ‘ol food. I will be glad to get some traditional Japanese breakfast food for a month. I said my goodbyes to my host family and headed off.

I somehow managed to cram myself and my suitcase into the rush hour trains in order to catch my Shinkansen. I rode the train called “MAXとき” which literally means “MAX TIME”. It was a two story train complete with all the amenities. I was a little worried at first because I got on the train by myself. Michiyo Sensei had told me that she might not make it to Tokyo station, and just would meet me half way. It was two stops before she got on the train with me. It was a really nice ride to Niigata. Being on the second floor of the train, I could easily see all the landscape that was zooming by. I also got the chance to talk to Michiyo Sensei intimately for a couple of hours. We talked of all things ranging from the study abroad programs to my experiences to her experiences. Michiyo also graduated from Waseda and studied abroad for a year in Michigan. She was not interested in English at the time, but it became very useful for her later on. When she got back she worked in Roppongi (the big tourist spot) until she graduated. Then she slowly worked her way up to being the head of the study abroad programs at Waseda.

Another interesting story is how the Niigata program had started. The Resident Director 3 years ago had been working with Hirai Sensei at the kindergarten / daycare for a couple of years way back when. That person ended up visiting Niigata while she was the RD and everything worked out perfectly for a program. Hirai Sensei was willing to host students and help them get involved in the daycare. I am only the 3rd person to come to Niigata for the Spring Practicum meaning it is still relatively new.

Anyway, the Shinkansen went through a looooooong tunnel. It had to have been 30 minutes or longer which is really saying something because Shinkansen’s can travel upwards of 150mph. When we emerged from the tunnel there was snow everywhere. It looked to be over 3 feet deep judging from where the roads were. I thought to myself that this was going to be an awesome experience. Once getting off the Shinkansen, we transferred to a local train. Michiyo had planned it out so we did not have to wait long. Out in the country, trains only come once an hour sometimes longer, meaning you have to plan ahead. The trains also did not have automatic doors. You had to open them by hand. They do seal shut when the train starts moving however. We were on the train for another 1.5 hours, making one transfer along the way, before arriving in Gosen-shi. This town really is in the middle of nowhere. We had to take a taxi from the station to the daycare.

Gosen-shi is a really interesting town. From the looks of it, it has all the amenities of Tokyo. There is the local convenience store, grocery store, karaoke place, arcade, and even pachinko. The surrounding area is all rice fields. It made me sad to see that most of the snow had gone away since our exit from the mountain. I feel like I am back in Bryan, Ohio except for the fact that everyone is Japanese.
The first thing we did was meet Hirai sensei at the kindergarten. She gave us a tour of the new building which was just finished last year. I got to have my first experience with a ton of kids introducing themselves and asking a million questions in the span of about 5 seconds. The other Sensei’s helped me out of that jam. Speaking of other sensei’s, my official name is now Jon-Sensei. It sounds really weird being called a teacher because I have absolutely no experience teaching at all. This place is where I will be spending my mornings (approximately 8am to noon). It is staffed by a group of 8 girls ranging from 20 to 30 years old plus Hirai Sensei. I will be the only boy teacher at the kindergarten. Things just keep getting weirder all the time…

Next Hirai Sensei took Michiyo and I to the other, older daycare. This is where kids either stay all day, or come to after school is over to wait for their parents. They are anywhere from 1st to 4th grade level students. The layout consists of kids doing their homework in as little time as possible, then having as much fun in as possible by running around screaming, laughing, etc. At this place, there are 2 guys working there and 2 girls. At least there is someone to sort of relate to. The main Sensei is a really cool guy who has an interest in pretty much everything. I took an immediate liking to him. Finally, Hirai Sensei took Michiyo back to the station so she could get to Tokyo in time for the night train. It is so tough being the coordinator of everything! I meanwhile chose by my own free will to stay at the daycare with Usao Sensei. He gave me lots of pointers and advice for dealing with all the kids.

Finally I got to get down and dirty with the daycare. We started off by looking over nothing other than math homework, making sure the kids knew what they were doing. I forgot how bad my addition and subtraction is without a calculator. Once that was over, it was free time for the rest of the day. So many things happened that it is hard to describe or remember them all. Eventually I went outside with a group of the kids and Usao Sensei to go sledding. It has been ages since I have been sledding! I went sledding with as many as 3 kids at a time because you know, the heavier you are, the faster you can go down the hill! I had a blast with the kids.

After sledding it was snack time and pokemon time. They watch pokemon on tv every day at a set time. I was pretty astonished about how little I actually know about that show. I played the games, but had no idea the words that were coming out of all those kid mouths. At some point I made it to the gymnasium area where some sweet stuff was going down. There were kids jumping rope, playing kickball, and most surprisingly, riding unicycles. Yeah you heard me, unicycles. They all seemed really good too. I tried my hand at it, immediately fell on the floor, and got laughed at. Hey it’s all in good fun right?

When the kids were getting ready to go home, I had to do a little self introduction followed by a question and answer session. Luckily most of the questions were really easy such as “how old are you” and “what is your favorite food / game / pokemon / etc”. I stayed to play with the kids that were still left after the majority went home. Finally, Usao Sensei took me back to the kindergarten and Hirai sensei.
At around 6pm Hirai Sensei took me home. I am just going to come out and say it, they spoil me a lot! My room not only has a heater, but a heated rug, heated blankets, and a kotatsu to beat! A kotatsu is a Japanese style table (really low to the floor) that has a blanket hanging on all sides. You put your legs underneath the blanket and keep toasty warm. I also just recently figured out that it doubles as a dryer for my still wet clothes. I threw them under the kotatsu when I arrived and soon found that everything was dry!

We had an amazing dinner of curry rice, oden, sashimi, salad, and ice cream. The family consists of Hirai sensei and her husband of age 60, two daughters ages 31 and 34, and their two kids both 1 year old respectively. It is much like my family back in Tokyo, minus the kids. I have already decided that I do not want to go back to Tokyo after my stay here.

I am really excited about this practicum. It has just fully hit me that I will be living here for an entire month all by myself. It is the same amount of time as my first visit to Japan, and under similar conditions. I am going to be living with this host family for the next month whom I just met today. Every day I will be going to the daycare to play with kids. At the daycare the other teacher barely know any English which is fine by me. Another great thing is that there is nobody else to relate to. I am stranded here all by myself away from civilization. The closest person to me is probably my host sister Nozomi, who studied abroad in Ohio for a bit. All things aside, this will be one of the best experiences of my life.