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.