We hit Hiroshima, now one of our favourite places here in Japan, for the long weekend. Photos and travelogue are up.
In yet another instalment of my 'Favourite Ads in Japan', here's a MasterCard ad that's playing at the moment.
At one of my schools, I teach popura class every Thursday afternoon. Popura is the mentally handicapped kids, and they can be both a joy and a terror to teach.
They're exceedingly friendly and incredibly cheerful. They love each activity, like it's the most fantastically fun activity they've ever done in their lives. Comedians would love going in front of an audience like this.
At the same time, I dread teaching it. I make up the activities, and I need to make sure that the activities are suitable for their level. That's harder than it appears - especially since there's a fairly wide range of intellectual capabilities among the kids. One has full Down's Syndrome, while another seems like a normal kid, just a little louder than average.
I always come out of the class feeling buoyant - their enthusiasm is very catching - and utterly depressed - it's such a shame to know that these kids will never be 'normal'. Not that that would worry them. I don't think they even know there is a difference; just that some kids go to their class, while others go to other classes.
They love bingo with a passion, though. They check their own board, then their neighbour's board, and if he hasn't marked off the square, then they jump right in and let him know that he missed it. Each bingo, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, is an achievement worth sharing with the rest of the class. I think it's the best game they've ever played.
In most of the JET pamphlets and handouts, they make mention of the fact that "Cockroaches in Japan are everywhere, most certainly in your apartment." Being from the south of Australia, we were a little concerned, especially Kathleen, who hates most insects with a passion. Our predecessor assured us that a cockroach had not so much as poked its little antenna inside our front door, and that there was nothing to worry about.
Last night, we saw our first cockroach. It scuttled out a foot from under the fridge, and sat nervously scanning the air. It never saw Kathleen's ugg boot as it crunched the life from its allegedly indestructible carcass!
We got back late Sunday night from an amazing trip to Nagano. We've got a busy series of weekends coming up: Hiroshima and Nikko which will see the digital camera get a real work out.
I'm back at Narusedai for the start of the new academic year. Talk about a warm welcome - this is the first year an ALT has returned to teach for a second year there, so in February they would ask me what my intentions were, to reassure them I was coming back. Of course, it's all out of my hands. The Tokyo Board of Education (BOE) in Machida has changed the company providing ALTs every year for the past four years, so this year was a major surprise to everyone.
Anyway, I'm back, the teachers are happy, the kids are happy, I'm ecstatic (cos my principal, vice principal, teachers and kids are so damn fantastic), it's just a massive circle of joy. I have a new desk, in sight of the door to the staff room where I can keep and eye on who's coming and going, I have a new chair, which doesn't have two dud wheels, new power outlets hang suspended from the ceiling, so my chair doesn't wheel over an extension cord whenever I move it.
My male English teacher came up to me this morning. "Andrew, you know the song Dancing Girl, it's by the group, aah, Abba?"
Dancing Queen? Yes, I know it.
The teacher nodded. "Yes, yes, that's it. I want to do a play for the kids. We will use this song, Dancing Queen, as the background. Do you know aerobics?"
With a deep sense of foreboding - although it's not much, I have a little bit of cred with the students, on account of being Australian, and I felt that this would be a critical moment in determining whether said cred would be with me at the end of the month - I nodded.
"We will do aerobics with the students, using this song. For example," and here, he gave some example actions. "Stand up, sit down, sleep, jump!"
Aerobics. Dancing Queen. Uh oh.
This site falls under the "only really makes sense if you've been to Japan" category. Finally (and I know you've been waiting), you can find out "Which Member of SMAP Are You?"
While we're on the topic of SMAP, you can catch up with the latest antics of Kusanagi, Shingo, and Goro at Live Journal. Please don't write and tell me it's not funny. It is - you just need to be here to fully appreciate it.
It was a pretty action packed weekend - on Saturday we went to watch the Yokohama Baystars ("We love grooovy... Yokohama") actually win a game for once! Well, since it was raining we left at the end of the 3rd innings, with them up 8-1 against Yakult. By all accounts, that is the start of a flogging, and although they didn't lose, they gave it a try... Saturday night was a birthday party for Shirelle at her place, where I managed to whack my head four times on her doorways. Sunday we went to Tokyo, for the Earthquake Simulation centre. Read on for the story.
What would you do if George Dubya was your boss?
On Sunday, we have elections in our district. All week, vans have been driving around the roads in Kamoi, blaring out slogans from loudspeakers attached to the roof. On Sunday, the local candidate stood in the carpark at Kamoi station, presumably announcing his policy. I say presumably because I don't know enough Japanese to know what he was saying.
One thing I did hear, as soon as we showed up, was "America dai suke!" (I like America!). I'd better start wearing my Australia t-shirt, just so other Japanese people don't think I'm a Yank.
The really funny bit was the candidate's entourage - five young women, all wearing those white gloves favoured by taxi drivers and office ladies throughout Japan, all waving at the people standing around the station. It was a little surreal to say the least.
This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.
We got back from Australia yesterday, after 27 hours of travelling time. We were planning to go to Matt and Kim's engagement party, but we were totally stuffed and couldn't summon the effort. It didn't help that it was a horrible day yesterday - wet, cold and miserable.
The change in the weather in the three weeks that we were away is amazing. It's at least 7 degrees warmer during the day, and we no longer freeze when we get up in the morning. We have experienced both the sweltering summer and the freezing winter!
Kathleen and a few (female) friends headed to Kawasaki yesterday for the annual Fertility Festival.
I, however, headed to the Tokyo suburb of Takadanobaba for the Astroboy parade.
Luckily, we haven't had any ill-effects from the SARS epidemic. Some Japanese people are quite worried about it.
You may notice a few slight, subtle changes around here.
We've been away for the past three weeks in Hobart, and a few days in Sydney. The weather was fantastic, and it was a nice break.
