I have not been diligent in my writing duties in the last two weeks or so. But rest assured I have been diligent in my other duties as a teacher and as a temporary-daughter, as a tourist, as a foreigner, as a student. My days have been so full of wonderful wonderful experiences- my sports class boys (always brimming with energy and eager to try to be hilarious), THE OCEAN, road trips with my host family, excursions to remote beaches, swimming, eating jagaimo (potato) ice cream, meeting my friend from high school Yuka and her mom, wandering around empty streets during lunch time, chatting with silly, giddy junior high girls, chats with my host mom in the car when she picks me up, taking pictures of the dragons mounted to the houses of the residents of Okinawa, and on and on and on.
I have only been here for three weeks, and will only be here for one more, but Okinawa is probably one of the lovliest places I have ever been. And while its natural beauty will provide stiff competition to any "romantic get-away" or "exotic island" you might ever run across, I use the word lovely not for aesthetic purposes but rather to describe the people that live here. Now, when I envision Tokyo, I see gray, dark, cold, empty buildings all around with thousands of tired and jaded individuals forcing their way through to reach where they are going. When I envision Okinawa in my mind, I see simple concrete buildings bursting with plants and flowers of all colors, I see the ocean, people with smiles on their faces slowly making their way. I feel that Okinawa is such a warm-hearted place, if a place can be that, and have found a happiness here that I did not even know was absent from Tokyo. Tokyo is a wonderful place and has many things that Okinawa does not, but Okinawa embodies a lifestyle and a sense of peace and happiness that I think Tokyo never can.
All shameless gushing aside, to put it simply I am so so happy in Okinawa and am trying to make the next seven days count for all that I can make them.
2/28/11
2/11/11
An update on how my new and wonderful life in Okinawa is!
I'll start with school, as that's really the main reason why I am here and is what consumes most of my day. After a delicious breakfast at the sweet hour of six-thirty in the morning, I don my teacher clothes (a shout-out to my parents: The skirt we bought at target the night before I left is coming in extremely handy--- thank-you!!!!!!) and Okaasan drives Miyu and I to school so we arrive there at 8:15. Class starts at nine but all the middle school and high school students (except for hs seniors) have to be in their homerooms for a mandatory self-study period. I go to the sixth floor, where the high school international studies department is held. When classes start, I have been going to various teacher's rooms and helping out or sort of conducting class using my own self-introduction as a chance for the students to listen to english from a native speaker. But, I must say, in regards to the english classes, I sometimes end up using as much or more Japanese than English. I was surprised- In my experiences in high school and in college, all of my foreign languages were conducted at LEAST 80% in the foreign language itself, an even higher percentage in college. But in the classes I have been sitting in on, probably 80% or more is conducted in Japanese, to explain grammar etc. Most of the students aren't very good at English, but when I think back to my high school spanish classes, most of us weren't very good at spanish either! I find it difficult though because I find myself wanting to use Japanese to speak with students and teachers- it is much easier to get to know them this way. But on the other hand, a big reason why I am at the school is because I am a native english speaker and can help the students by speaking in English with them, so I feel guilty for using too much Japanese. It's also difficult because while I am a teacher, I really am only two years older than many of the students, so I find myself wanting to relate to them on a more personal level. However, I am also only two years younger than some of the other American teachers here, so I'm trying to find my balance. But I think I'm just about there, so that's good!
I also am getting to know a lot of students who either have been to Cotter or are going year in just a few weeks. Yesterday I held a preparation session for the students who are going this time. There are nine of them, and four of them I have been getting to know pretty well. It was really fun putting the slides together and thinking about how students from Japan might see Cotter, trying to anticipate the questions they might have. There will be two more of these sessions in the coming weeks, so I'll have to keep brainstorming! It is really interesting what the Japanese students find "exotic" about Cotter high school in little Winona, MN.
I will also be teaching nine or ten english classes in the weeks to come- one next week and then the rest in the weeks after. The only one I feel a little nervous about is the english class for the students who are a part of the athletic school (they want to pursue athletics after high school). The class is huge- maybe sixty students, and fifty are boys! They are really fun, but I will be teaching by myself and I am a little worried how to keep every one's attention for an hour. Time to get creative!
Also regarding school, graduation for the seniors is this Sunday. The Japanese school system runs from April until March, so pretty different from the school calendar in America. It has been interesting to get to know all of the third years- their classroom is right next to where my office is, and since this is their last week they haven't really had classes, so I have been able to talk to them a lot. Really friendly and engaging students. But also talking to them I am reminded of the bitter-sweet feeling of graduating high school. Yesterday the seniors and juniors of the international studies department had a session together in which the seniors passed on their sage wisdom to the juniors. By the time we were done almost everyone in the room was crying- juniors, seniors, teachers! The students have become close and naturally graduating is a very emotional experience. But they all have very exciting futures ahead of them!
Life with my family has been wonderful. I usually get home around seven or eight and Miyu, Okaasan, and myself have dinner together. Otousan is usually home around seven, but this week has been a bit busy with work so he's usually eaten separately. But simply the fact that usually he is home for dinner is very different from my Tokyo family's situation- Kenichi-san always coming home at nine or ten, long after Machico-san and Kojirou have gone to sleep. Today Okaasan and Otousan took me on a little driving excursion into the northern part of Okinawa. We started driving out of Naha and our first stop was to an area where we could look out onto the military base. While I was aware that there was a base in Naha, I had no idea how large it was! It is really massive- we saw lots of buildings, fields, airplanes, jets, etc.. The base is a very controversial issue in Okinawa among the Okinawan people, for obvious reasons. I am not sure how I feel about it- as an American having grown up in a time when relations between America and Japan are peaceful and now living in Japan, it's a very complicated situation for me to think about, so I won't write about it yet. I'm still thinking! But anyway, the base was good to see and gain a little more perspective on.
Afterwards, we continued north until we stopped at a beautiful beach surrounded by tall cliffs. Unfortunately it was a bit rainy and cold, and the wind was extremely strong (although apparently this is normal), but it was still so so so so beautiful! I have never seen the ocean as beautiful as here in Okinawa. After this we stopped for lunch at an Okinawan soba (buckwheat noodles- but Okinawan soba is different and I'm not sure what the ingredients are) at a tiny restaurant in a very rural area. Tres bien! After this we drove up a mountain to see the sakura- cherry tree blossoms. Sakura in Okinawa is much earlier than Tokyo, where the season is middle of March. It was so beautiful- especially the pink blossoms in contrast with the grey sky and green trees. There was a little stall that sold sakura (cherry) ice cream, so we stopped for some. We told the woman working that we just wanted one small scoop as we'd just had lunch, but apparently she liked us and decided we needed more, so I ended up with three scoops of ice cream in my cone, each a different flavor!
Finally, we headed to a famous aquarium where we saw probably the biggest fish I've ever seen in person! It was really beautiful. We even braved the wind and the cold to see the dolphin show outside. Apparently afterwards we had fish on the brain, because on the way home we stopped for dinner at a sushi restaurant! I didn't realize until half-way through the meal how funny that was! But the sushi was delicious, so I was happy!
Now I am home and am getting ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow is saturday and Miyu and I have to go to school to practice for the graduation ceremony on Sunday. Then I am meeting a friend from high school, Yuka, afterwards. Yuka was a one year exchange student from Okishyo high school when I was sixteen. I haven't seen her since, but we've kept in touch and I am really looking forward to seeing her again! Should be a fun day!
I'll start with school, as that's really the main reason why I am here and is what consumes most of my day. After a delicious breakfast at the sweet hour of six-thirty in the morning, I don my teacher clothes (a shout-out to my parents: The skirt we bought at target the night before I left is coming in extremely handy--- thank-you!!!!!!) and Okaasan drives Miyu and I to school so we arrive there at 8:15. Class starts at nine but all the middle school and high school students (except for hs seniors) have to be in their homerooms for a mandatory self-study period. I go to the sixth floor, where the high school international studies department is held. When classes start, I have been going to various teacher's rooms and helping out or sort of conducting class using my own self-introduction as a chance for the students to listen to english from a native speaker. But, I must say, in regards to the english classes, I sometimes end up using as much or more Japanese than English. I was surprised- In my experiences in high school and in college, all of my foreign languages were conducted at LEAST 80% in the foreign language itself, an even higher percentage in college. But in the classes I have been sitting in on, probably 80% or more is conducted in Japanese, to explain grammar etc. Most of the students aren't very good at English, but when I think back to my high school spanish classes, most of us weren't very good at spanish either! I find it difficult though because I find myself wanting to use Japanese to speak with students and teachers- it is much easier to get to know them this way. But on the other hand, a big reason why I am at the school is because I am a native english speaker and can help the students by speaking in English with them, so I feel guilty for using too much Japanese. It's also difficult because while I am a teacher, I really am only two years older than many of the students, so I find myself wanting to relate to them on a more personal level. However, I am also only two years younger than some of the other American teachers here, so I'm trying to find my balance. But I think I'm just about there, so that's good!
I also am getting to know a lot of students who either have been to Cotter or are going year in just a few weeks. Yesterday I held a preparation session for the students who are going this time. There are nine of them, and four of them I have been getting to know pretty well. It was really fun putting the slides together and thinking about how students from Japan might see Cotter, trying to anticipate the questions they might have. There will be two more of these sessions in the coming weeks, so I'll have to keep brainstorming! It is really interesting what the Japanese students find "exotic" about Cotter high school in little Winona, MN.
I will also be teaching nine or ten english classes in the weeks to come- one next week and then the rest in the weeks after. The only one I feel a little nervous about is the english class for the students who are a part of the athletic school (they want to pursue athletics after high school). The class is huge- maybe sixty students, and fifty are boys! They are really fun, but I will be teaching by myself and I am a little worried how to keep every one's attention for an hour. Time to get creative!
Also regarding school, graduation for the seniors is this Sunday. The Japanese school system runs from April until March, so pretty different from the school calendar in America. It has been interesting to get to know all of the third years- their classroom is right next to where my office is, and since this is their last week they haven't really had classes, so I have been able to talk to them a lot. Really friendly and engaging students. But also talking to them I am reminded of the bitter-sweet feeling of graduating high school. Yesterday the seniors and juniors of the international studies department had a session together in which the seniors passed on their sage wisdom to the juniors. By the time we were done almost everyone in the room was crying- juniors, seniors, teachers! The students have become close and naturally graduating is a very emotional experience. But they all have very exciting futures ahead of them!
Life with my family has been wonderful. I usually get home around seven or eight and Miyu, Okaasan, and myself have dinner together. Otousan is usually home around seven, but this week has been a bit busy with work so he's usually eaten separately. But simply the fact that usually he is home for dinner is very different from my Tokyo family's situation- Kenichi-san always coming home at nine or ten, long after Machico-san and Kojirou have gone to sleep. Today Okaasan and Otousan took me on a little driving excursion into the northern part of Okinawa. We started driving out of Naha and our first stop was to an area where we could look out onto the military base. While I was aware that there was a base in Naha, I had no idea how large it was! It is really massive- we saw lots of buildings, fields, airplanes, jets, etc.. The base is a very controversial issue in Okinawa among the Okinawan people, for obvious reasons. I am not sure how I feel about it- as an American having grown up in a time when relations between America and Japan are peaceful and now living in Japan, it's a very complicated situation for me to think about, so I won't write about it yet. I'm still thinking! But anyway, the base was good to see and gain a little more perspective on.
Afterwards, we continued north until we stopped at a beautiful beach surrounded by tall cliffs. Unfortunately it was a bit rainy and cold, and the wind was extremely strong (although apparently this is normal), but it was still so so so so beautiful! I have never seen the ocean as beautiful as here in Okinawa. After this we stopped for lunch at an Okinawan soba (buckwheat noodles- but Okinawan soba is different and I'm not sure what the ingredients are) at a tiny restaurant in a very rural area. Tres bien! After this we drove up a mountain to see the sakura- cherry tree blossoms. Sakura in Okinawa is much earlier than Tokyo, where the season is middle of March. It was so beautiful- especially the pink blossoms in contrast with the grey sky and green trees. There was a little stall that sold sakura (cherry) ice cream, so we stopped for some. We told the woman working that we just wanted one small scoop as we'd just had lunch, but apparently she liked us and decided we needed more, so I ended up with three scoops of ice cream in my cone, each a different flavor!
Finally, we headed to a famous aquarium where we saw probably the biggest fish I've ever seen in person! It was really beautiful. We even braved the wind and the cold to see the dolphin show outside. Apparently afterwards we had fish on the brain, because on the way home we stopped for dinner at a sushi restaurant! I didn't realize until half-way through the meal how funny that was! But the sushi was delicious, so I was happy!
Now I am home and am getting ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow is saturday and Miyu and I have to go to school to practice for the graduation ceremony on Sunday. Then I am meeting a friend from high school, Yuka, afterwards. Yuka was a one year exchange student from Okishyo high school when I was sixteen. I haven't seen her since, but we've kept in touch and I am really looking forward to seeing her again! Should be a fun day!
2/7/11
沖縄 (Okinawa)
I am in Okinawa! And it is so wonderful- I can't even describe the feelings that emulated from my body when I stepped off of the plane into sunny, probably 70 degree weather with an amazing amazing view of the ocean!
Before I got there though, I had to tie things up for a while with the Tokyo host fam. Really, the last few weeks with them have been really great, especially being able to bond with my host mom Machico-san. She made me a special dinner the night before we left of olive bread and pasta, and then the day I left my host dad and brother drove me to the station! This was very nice as otherwise I would have to walk about twenty minutes with my luggage (although this wouldn't have been too bad as I borrowed a small suitcase from my friend, so I didn't have to lug the big one out..). It was very unexpected, but I really appreciated the gesture. My tokyo family is so wonderful- it was a little bit sad leaving, even though I know I will be back for another five months of fun.
Arriving in Okinawa I was able to meet my new host parents, and two faculty at Okishyo (the school I am working at in Okinawa) who have been in close contact with me creating this whole internship. The first is Uza sensei, a teacher who accompanies the Okishyo students who come to Cotter high shcool (my high school) every year. My parents actually met him last year, and that was how I was able to be connected. The other person is Aika san, a former student who graduated in 2004 and went on to study in Washington state for her undergraduate. The two of them basically made it possible for me to come to Okinawa, take part in school life, and live with a host family. It was so wonderful to meet them at the airport!
My Okinawa host family is so wonderful!!! I don't actually know my host mom and dad's names because right away they asked me to call them Okaasan (mom) and Otousan (dad), which I find comforting actually. They are about fifty or fifty-five years old and have one daughter, Miyu, who studied in Iowa last year for the school year. She is a junior this year and her english is really good! Her parents are great- funny, kind, feisty, and very laid back. They don't speak much english, so all of our conversations are in Japanese, which I am happy about. I feel really comfortable speaking in Japanese now, so I am thankful for a chance to be able to keep the ball rolling in that department. They are in many ways a more "typical" Japanese family- Otousan owns his own business, Okaasan stays home and works around the house and goes walking and meets up with her friends for lunch. She watches dramas, loves Korean dramas especially and when she found out I could speak a little Korean gave me a high-five and started spewing out random words she had learned. She is very matriarchal and very protective of her daughter, but not at all in an overbearing way. They expect me to live in the same way as their high school daughter (come home at a reasonable hour (sober), call for rides to be picked up, take a lunch to school that my host mom makes me, eat breakfast as a family (at 6:30!!!!), give my laundry to Okaasan to wash, etc..). Basically less freedom than in Tokyo but I really like it this way. I mean first of all I only know one other person in all of Okinawa, so it's not like I have a raging social life I wish to maintain. Also, it feels good to be a daughter again. My Tokyo host family is young, so I am not really a daughter to them, more like a little sister or good friend. Also, they are more hip and not so traditional when it comes to gender roles, so it is interesting and frankly a little refreshing to be in this family with a doting mother and "manly" father. They are so nice to me and continuously tell me how good my japanese is- apparently they were really afraid I wouldn't be able to speak really at all, so they were happy to see I could competently engage in conversation! Also they have a dog- really I don't usually care for animals of any kind (harsh, I know but true. I blame it on my parents for never letting me have a pet.), but this dog, Cami, is so sweet! She never ever barks, doesn't smell, and is really cute! I can't believe I'm saying this but, I like her!
Today was my first day at Okishyo. Started at eight-fifteen- Met with Aika san and together we went over my schedule and then headed to a weekly teacher's meeting where I had to stand in front of probably 100 teachers and introduce myself in Japanese. Kind of scary, but everyone was really kind and supportive. After she gave me a tour of the school, a massive building made of concrete that is about six stories high and has, between the junior and senior high schools, about 4000 students. The high school is divided up into different "schools", or majors that help students prepare for the type of college they wish to enter into. The school I was involved with was the international school, the school that emphasises English language study for students who want to study abroad in the future. I got to meet the other American teachers (4 of 5 are from MN and went to St. Bensenglish yet, so I ended up speaking mostly in Japanese, which blew their minds. Apparently there aren't many Americans in Okinawa who can comfortably converse? But the funniest class by far wasn't an international "school" class, rather an English class for a school that focuses on athletics. Imagine me walking into a classroom of about fifty fifteen year-old boys. They were pretty ridiculous, but also really funny!
The best part of today was just getting to meet all of the teachers and staff and then to be able to talk to the students. I had some free time so I would just hang out in the office and talk with students in Japanese and English. The seniors are actually graduating this coming weekend (Japan's school system starts in April and finishes in March every year), so they are done with class and just killing time, so I had lots of interesting conversations with them.
Tomorrow I am going with my sister Miyu and her friends after school to go to a famous shopping street. She needs to buy small gifts for her friends who are graduating- I am so excited! It is really interesting to get to see how the inside of a Japanese school system works. In many ways definitely different from an American school. I feel I've written a lot tonight so I'll save my school analysis for another time when I have had more time in the school to absorb everything.
Before I got there though, I had to tie things up for a while with the Tokyo host fam. Really, the last few weeks with them have been really great, especially being able to bond with my host mom Machico-san. She made me a special dinner the night before we left of olive bread and pasta, and then the day I left my host dad and brother drove me to the station! This was very nice as otherwise I would have to walk about twenty minutes with my luggage (although this wouldn't have been too bad as I borrowed a small suitcase from my friend, so I didn't have to lug the big one out..). It was very unexpected, but I really appreciated the gesture. My tokyo family is so wonderful- it was a little bit sad leaving, even though I know I will be back for another five months of fun.
Arriving in Okinawa I was able to meet my new host parents, and two faculty at Okishyo (the school I am working at in Okinawa) who have been in close contact with me creating this whole internship. The first is Uza sensei, a teacher who accompanies the Okishyo students who come to Cotter high shcool (my high school) every year. My parents actually met him last year, and that was how I was able to be connected. The other person is Aika san, a former student who graduated in 2004 and went on to study in Washington state for her undergraduate. The two of them basically made it possible for me to come to Okinawa, take part in school life, and live with a host family. It was so wonderful to meet them at the airport!
My Okinawa host family is so wonderful!!! I don't actually know my host mom and dad's names because right away they asked me to call them Okaasan (mom) and Otousan (dad), which I find comforting actually. They are about fifty or fifty-five years old and have one daughter, Miyu, who studied in Iowa last year for the school year. She is a junior this year and her english is really good! Her parents are great- funny, kind, feisty, and very laid back. They don't speak much english, so all of our conversations are in Japanese, which I am happy about. I feel really comfortable speaking in Japanese now, so I am thankful for a chance to be able to keep the ball rolling in that department. They are in many ways a more "typical" Japanese family- Otousan owns his own business, Okaasan stays home and works around the house and goes walking and meets up with her friends for lunch. She watches dramas, loves Korean dramas especially and when she found out I could speak a little Korean gave me a high-five and started spewing out random words she had learned. She is very matriarchal and very protective of her daughter, but not at all in an overbearing way. They expect me to live in the same way as their high school daughter (come home at a reasonable hour (sober), call for rides to be picked up, take a lunch to school that my host mom makes me, eat breakfast as a family (at 6:30!!!!), give my laundry to Okaasan to wash, etc..). Basically less freedom than in Tokyo but I really like it this way. I mean first of all I only know one other person in all of Okinawa, so it's not like I have a raging social life I wish to maintain. Also, it feels good to be a daughter again. My Tokyo host family is young, so I am not really a daughter to them, more like a little sister or good friend. Also, they are more hip and not so traditional when it comes to gender roles, so it is interesting and frankly a little refreshing to be in this family with a doting mother and "manly" father. They are so nice to me and continuously tell me how good my japanese is- apparently they were really afraid I wouldn't be able to speak really at all, so they were happy to see I could competently engage in conversation! Also they have a dog- really I don't usually care for animals of any kind (harsh, I know but true. I blame it on my parents for never letting me have a pet.), but this dog, Cami, is so sweet! She never ever barks, doesn't smell, and is really cute! I can't believe I'm saying this but, I like her!
Today was my first day at Okishyo. Started at eight-fifteen- Met with Aika san and together we went over my schedule and then headed to a weekly teacher's meeting where I had to stand in front of probably 100 teachers and introduce myself in Japanese. Kind of scary, but everyone was really kind and supportive. After she gave me a tour of the school, a massive building made of concrete that is about six stories high and has, between the junior and senior high schools, about 4000 students. The high school is divided up into different "schools", or majors that help students prepare for the type of college they wish to enter into. The school I was involved with was the international school, the school that emphasises English language study for students who want to study abroad in the future. I got to meet the other American teachers (4 of 5 are from MN and went to St. Bensenglish yet, so I ended up speaking mostly in Japanese, which blew their minds. Apparently there aren't many Americans in Okinawa who can comfortably converse? But the funniest class by far wasn't an international "school" class, rather an English class for a school that focuses on athletics. Imagine me walking into a classroom of about fifty fifteen year-old boys. They were pretty ridiculous, but also really funny!
The best part of today was just getting to meet all of the teachers and staff and then to be able to talk to the students. I had some free time so I would just hang out in the office and talk with students in Japanese and English. The seniors are actually graduating this coming weekend (Japan's school system starts in April and finishes in March every year), so they are done with class and just killing time, so I had lots of interesting conversations with them.
Tomorrow I am going with my sister Miyu and her friends after school to go to a famous shopping street. She needs to buy small gifts for her friends who are graduating- I am so excited! It is really interesting to get to see how the inside of a Japanese school system works. In many ways definitely different from an American school. I feel I've written a lot tonight so I'll save my school analysis for another time when I have had more time in the school to absorb everything.
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