Filed under: Happenings, JET, Uncategorized | Tags: japan, jet life, weather
For the past week or so, my Yahoo mail account weather has been showing grey skies/rain/snow mix. Fortuantely this has only happened half of the time. Although my Yahoo Mail says the weather forcast is for Iida, in reality it’s Okaya’s forcast. This is like getting the weather for Jefferson City, MO, by looking at Moberly, or maybe Kirksville. Generally true, but since the location is due North by an hour or so, the temperatures always a bit warmer here and the nasty weather doesn’t always apply (especially with the mountain factor). Anyway, this morning I woke up extremely late to the sound of rain splashing off car tires and made a grab for my umbrella. A good amount of rain has been coming down, but it’s nice that the rain is happening in February, an already drab and semi-cold month, instead of nice April. It must be because of this lack of rain in late March/early April that Cherry blossom viewing is not only so popular but do-able, with less potentially damaging rain to hit the blossoms and nicer weather to sit around and look at the flowers.
People around here are saying that it usually snows around this time of year, but I haven’t seen any snow since I came back in January. An unseasonably warm winter? Global warming? Or is it just me… am I so hot that I’ve warmed Japan by enough degrees to turn snow to ice? Ha ha, I hope it’s #3.
Filed under: Info, JET, Japan commentary, Japanese Cultural Notes, Working in a Japanese High School | Tags: gift giving, gift giving in Japan, japan, starbucks, tea
One aspect of Japanese culture that might be a little difficult for foreigners without Asian grandmas to grasp is the gift giving culture that exists around here. You should bring something, but there’s a few things to consider, such as will the person(s) like it, will it be useful, will it just sit around and collect dust…
From my experience food, such as cookies or other snacks is the best gift to bring because it’s something that can be shared, and is also not to expensive, to heavy for your suitcase and is not breakable. One of the former ALTs came to Iida to visit a few weeks agoand brought biscotti from Canada, a tastey gift that was gobbled up within a day. The teachers loved it. Foreign but familiar, and great with coffee.
I’m starting to think, however, that an even better gift is some type of beverage. When I came back from America, I brought a Christmas tea sampler for the two larger teacher offices I work with. (around 12 people+ each) First of all, giving a gift to a large office is kinda weird because you’ll never be able to present it in front of everyone, and it’s harder to tell if anyone enjoyed it. It was easy to see the tea was enjoyed; aside from the few teachers who told me personally they loved the tea, I’ve been able to see the tea bags slowly disappear over the past month. (Whether longevity of the gift really matters or not, I don’t know, but it seems to be nicer) The teachers told me that special fruity and spice teas are hard to find in Japan, a country full of green and black tea, so samplers with these speciality kinds are extra loved. In comparison, the sampler I brought when I first came in August had a few of these kinds but also black tea and other normal Japanese kinds so although it was fancier (and more expensive) it wasn’t as appreciated. I’m trying to remember was was in the Christmas sampler: apple spice, gingerbread tea, “moose munch,” hazelnut, some type of peach, etc. Anyway, foreign but familiar, I’m convienced that tea is a winner with the office.
Another winner for ruralish Japan: STARBUCKS COFFEE. Oh my God, the teachers in my office LOVED the Starbucks coffee. Usually Japanese adults seem pretty calm and don’t show as much emotion, so it was a shock to see some strong reactions. Since I don’t have my own coffee pot and see no point in getting one because there’s always coffee in the office, I gave the International Studies office teachers the bag of ground Starbucks coffee my mom sent me to share. I didn’t realize this, but since there are only two Starbucks in Nagano Prefecture – one in Nagano City and one in Matsumoto, Starbucks coffee is not only extra tastey and special but a symbol of big city life. I don’t know how overpriced that bag was but if you want something small to bring the office, bring some coffee. It will be used. It will be loved. Anway, it’s been great to come to work and have Starbucks coffee waiting in the office for me. And since I work in a small office (3 regular teachers + me), it should last a while longer.
Note: the Rocky Mountain hot cocoa mix I brought doesn’t seem to be going over as well. Now that it’s out of the cubbord and near the coffee pot it’s slowly being used, but probably just be one other teacher and myself. Not all drinks are winners.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So I just learned that the earliest date the Yahoo Broadband people can come to our new house and install the new internet line is March 3rd. So, I moved our moving date to Sunday March 1st. That way we’ll only have to go a day without Internet instead of over a week. Internet is very important to both Ryan and I. I can’t imagine going for almost 10 days without it, especially with my online classes going on. (Besides, the Internet is my #1 source of entertainment.)
In other news, Ryan and I are going to see Monkey Majik live on the 25th!!! They’re coming to Iida for a one-night concert event! We’re so psyched! We own at least three of their CDs and listen to their music just about every day. If you haven’t heard of Monkey Majik, they are a band consisting of some Canadian and Japanese guys. One of the Canadians used to be on the JET Program, which is the same English teaching program as me. The Canadian guys are fluent in Japanese and sing in both languages. Here’s a few of my favorite songs, check them out on Youtube:
Change
Sora wa Maru de
Today the train coming into town was relatively quiet. Aside from the special needs guy who always runs around and pretends to be a train conductor (to the dismay of the train staff), there were hardly any students on the train, and the few there hardly made a sound. From an outside perspective, this day might have seemed a little strange, but to a Japanese outsider, they probably could have at least guessed what was going on. If I wouldn’t had been forced to be part of this process, I wouldn’t have had a clue.. but I did.
Today is enterance exam day for Junior High School Students. In order to get into the high school of their choice, they must take the exam. On this day, the high schoolers are not allowed on school grounds. I assume they’re off at home sleeping, reading comic books, or maybe studying.
At Sakuramachi station, where I usually get off, I met four junior high students who were walking in the same direction as me. I asked if they were taking Fuetsu’s enterance exam and they replied “yes!” I proceeded to quiz them a bit, as well as just talk to them. They asked me a few questions such as, where I’m from. I noticed one girl was especialy good at answering my questions. Well, I hope they all make it.
After getting to school, I wandered around a bit but it seems as though recording my voice for the test was the only thing I was suppose to do. I have a few things to get done today, aside from updating my blog, and will get to them.
One of the jokes about being a foreign teacher is that you’re actually a human tape player. I try not to be such a thing and make effort to initiate projects, do activities, as well as other things that make me human. However, for the Junior High School International Studies enterance examination, the school has to create this exam from the ground up and needs a fluent tape recording of all the questions for the listening portion of the test. This meant that on Monday I got to sit in the cramped broadcast room with Nathan and have our voices recorded and rerecorded for the test. It wasn’t fun, especially since at the time I was beginning to develop a sore throat and cold. We got it over with and will find out sometime today if our recording passes the principal’s inspection… Hopefully we don’t have to rerererecord…
