Since today was a holiday from school, (I can just hear my dad’s voice “What?! ANOTHER HOLIDAY?!?” Yes, dad. Another holiday.) I thought I’d take advantage of the free time and catch up on my blog posts.
So I left off the last post right at the end of the always exciting, but ever-exhausting, school festival. Since that time, school has been running as normal with classes, club activities, grading, and regular day-to-day operations. The first regular week of school was interesting since it didn’t actually consist of traditional teaching. Instead, the focus of every single class was on my jiko shokai which is the Japanese version of the self-introduction. The jiko shokai is very important in Japanese culture, whether you are being formally introduced to the principal, saying a quick greeting to the security guard, or using an entire class period to establish a rapport with the students. Since I was the new ALT this year, both Michael and our JTEs stepped back and let me take over the classroom for 50 minutes and expound on me, my life, and (of course) the South!
Now, the very first class that I led with my jiko shokai was nerve-wracking as all get out. Do they understand what I’m saying? Do they care? Am I boring them? Am I sweating through my blouse? *
*It was in the mid- to upper-90s during that time and the use of A/C is seen more as a suggestion than a reality here. More on that later.
I used a PowerPoint slideshow peppered with mini-quizzes, challenges, etc. for the bulk of my presentation followed by a giant Jeopardy game. It seemed to go over pretty well with the first class and I calmed down exponentially after that. (However, I have decided that no matter what culture, high school students everywhere are masters of the “bored death stare”). While I started off incredibly nervous in the first class, I ended up having to give the same presentation to another 10 classes. I honestly didn’t realize how quickly I would get sick and tired of telling my life story, but apparently this is common since 99% of the other ALTs I have talked to have said the same thing. Anyway, by the last class I was so comfortable with the set up that all the nerves were gone but it was also becoming difficult to maintain super high levels of enthusiasm when you’ve told the same joke over and over again. Thank goodness for the weekend and a chance to recharge the ole’ batteries.
Will and I decided to get out of town for the weekend and meet up with some friends in the northern part of the prefecture. We hopped the train right after school on Friday and slowly made our way up the coast stopping here and there to grab lunch with some buddies and to let Will check out some cars he was thinking of buying. While it was interesting to check out the car market with him, I’m still leaning towards not getting a vehicle for the time being. I’ve fallen absolutely in love with walking and biking everywhere in town and then hitching an occasional train/car ride with people if we need to go farther afield. With winter coming, however, who knows? After living in Atlanta for the majority of my life, I’m enjoying being car-less while I can.
We finally made it up to Awara, one of the northernmost areas of Fukui, on the exact opposite side of the prefecture for Will and I. We were joined by some other ALT friends from the surrounding cities and we all crashed at our friend’s house in the area who was gracious enough to put up with us all weekend. After a night of 100 yen sushi (on conveyer belts of course) we visited Steph’s middle school which was throwing it’s annual Sports Day. My school’s Sports Day isn’t until June so it was great being able to watch all the students run around and compete for the highest score.
Despite it being a long day, we were able to reserve enough energy to head over next door to Mikuni for the big fireworks display scheduled for that night. We took the small, local train over and slowly ate our way through the numerous food carts lining the streets. One thing I will say is that Japan has food stalls down to a science. A delicious science.
Sharon and I got separated from the others at this point but we managed to find the big group of ALTs that had staked out a place on the beach. Since it had been such a beautiful day we were shocked to feel the first couple of raindrops hit our faces and then groaned when the sky completely opened up and drenched us. They didn’t cancel the fireworks but it never stopped raining either. So there we were, all huddled under towels, blankets, and umbrellas, feeling the water slowly seep into the seat of our pants. But we were there together and the fireworks were fabulous – c’est la vie!
The next day dawned a glorious blue and we relished in it by sleeping in. Once we finally crawled out of our blankets, we met up with one of Steph’s neighbors and a seasoned ALT, Erin, and made our way to Kanazu Forest of Creation which is an art gallery/studio/restaurant/park. It was so beautiful and probably one of my favorite places so far. We grabbed lunch and strolled the grounds a bit before heading over to a delightful coffee shop in the area. There we found the Holy Grail of all finds – a book dedicated to all the coffee shops in the whole of Fukui. I jotted down many notes and cannot wait to hunt down these treasures!
Unfortunately, our weekend was already coming to a close and everyone needed to head back to their respective homes to start preparing for the next school day. Although it takes a couple of hours via rail to get back down to Obama, I love the rocking of the train car and watching the scenery roll gently by. The last hour was a solitary one since Laura and Sharon had already gotten off at their stops and Will was staying longer in Awara. I always enjoy that last hour, however, since it allows me to sit silently, read, listen to music, or just stare out the window. It’s quite calming and just the thing I need before another hectic work week. Until next time!
roamingpeach 