Video of the week!

All Is Full Of Love by Bjork. Minimal colouring, beautifully shot, and some android lovin'.

SNOW! Sort of.

Yesterday morning, Takebe had its first snow of the season. Sort of. There was about an inch of snow on the rooftops, and a few little patches in the fields, as well as a nice little clump on my bike.

My school likes to dope me up

...with caffiene. Today at Takeeda elementary, I enjoyed not one, but five caffienated drinks; tea upon arrival; cocoa with the special ed class; coffee at recess; bottled milk with coffee-flavouring at lunch time; and another coffee after the last period.
No wonder I'm buzzing like a hummingbird. Bzzzzzzzing!

Video of the week!

1998: "Thunderbirds are Coming Out" by Australia's hooded techno goons TISM. A nice twist on the usual dull performance video; one of these bands actually went on to greater success than TISM themselves, even scoring a hit single! Shocking! Guess which one?

Absolutely gorgeous.

This has nothing to do with anything, but this video montage of footage from the David Attenborough series Planet Earth, set to a song by Sigur Ros, is lovely. Enjoy.

Glasses first, clothes second.

Whilst getting dressed after a swim at the pool this evening, I saw what I thought was a bit of twig or apple stem on the bench next to me. I reached down to put it in a bin.
It was not plant matter.
It was squishy.
It was a booger.

Glasses first, clothes second.

Thursday.

I've started going to the local indoor pool for a spot of much-needed exercise and escape from the winter chill. Like most things in Japan, the swimming pool is a sanitized little happyland, where everything that could conceiveably be different from its Australian equivalent is different.
My first trip on Tuesday was taught me all this and more.
First of all, after enquiring about opening hours and establishing that yes, I could swim right now, I motioned to pay, but the office lady pointed me to a vending machine a few feet away. I buy my ticket, give it to her, and go in. Somehow I think that that vending machine was a few thousand dollars poorly spent.
The pool itself is very shallow (1m all over) and very warm (31 degrees!) As I would at home, I bring my towel and glasses into the pool area. I notice a single chair in the entire hall. I claim said chair for my towel and glasses. I also realize that everyone wears those annoying locker-key-on-a-wristband things whilst swimming. I wear shorts, but soon notice that everyone wears proper swimmers, like speedo-shorts. When I take a breather after a lap, I see a lifeguard running towards me in a panic. He reaches me and thrusts a rental swimming cap in my hands. So apparently, swimming with an uncovered head is forbidden in Japan. Can’t risk any renegade hairs getting in the water!
There’s a class of elementary school kids in the pool whilst I’m swimming. As I leave, I put on my glasses; suddenly, they gasp; “It’s him!” “Robahto-sensei!” “Robahto-sensei!” No hello, no konbanwa, just the yelling of my name. Nothing out of the ordinary, then. I wonder for a moment why they didn’t notice me earlier, but then again, with a cap to cover my non-black hair, goggles to cover my non-Asian eyes, and stripped of my teacher’s uniform (unironed shirt and trousers), there’s not much to go by.
On a completely different topic, I am stuck (once again) wondering what to do with tomorrow’s kid’s eikaiwa. I had had a few good lessons in a row, working on the alphabet, phonics, and beginning reading, but last week two new students came unexpectedly. A brother and sister, five and six years old. So now I have to cater to one kid who’s still at kindy, and others who could skip the first term of junior high English. It sounds mean, but I would rather these new kids (or their mum) decided the class was too difficult and they didn’t come again. Furthermore, the class is now up to 15 students, and I am still not allowed to split them into two classes based on age. Back to Karuta, I suppose.

A Comparison of Grades

Today's elementary school lesson was more or less the same for every grade: make a Christmas card, and write the message in English.
I provided hiragana/romaji charts (for figuring out how to write names in English) and some clipart-style pictures of Christmassy things as a starting point for drawings. The results were as follows:

1st /2nd grade: they haven't learned the alphabet yet, so the teachers did all the writing. Pictures were restricted to trees, presents and snowmen, but they were original. One girl said, "Dad might not understand it, so can I write the Japanese above the English?" Most cards addressed to the teachers. One girl asked a teacher to write the English on another piece of paper, so she could copy it onto the card by herself.

3rd/4th grade: I'd planned for them to write only their names, but they actually wrote the whole thing by themselves. Cards mostly addressed to other classmates. Drew pictures of the same things that I provided (plus a few reindeer) but they were original drawings.

5th grade: Wrote the whole thing, but found it difficult. All the pictures were copies of the examples I provided. One girl covered her card with Winnie the Pooh stickers. Addressed to people other than classmates or teachers.

6th grade: Wrote the whole thing, very easy for some, very hard for others. Girls did excellent drawings and designs, including some nicer lettering than I can imagine. Boys mostly drew simple trees and presents. Addressed to classmates and family; some wrote "to my family."

Interesting variation over the years, no?

Woohoo!

After the Big Rain of 2006.





Oh my beloved little bridge, how I miss thee. The Big Rain the night before the end of term took thee away, and since July, I have had to commute via the blue arch bridge with all the students, instead of enjoying your wooden, rickety delights. My daily commute has been that little bit less enjoyable since your demise.
However.
My bridge is being rebuilt!!! HALLELUJAH!