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!