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.
This is so cool Gillian!! It's interesting that you get to experience 2 host families. And teaching?? That's going to be an incredible experience. You're going to be pro by the time you get home to the U.S.
ReplyDelete