Brian's Japan Adventure

October 24^th, 2007

The Hiroshima Chicken Dance 

Travel to the Kindergarten went smoothly. I was a very nice and cool day, and even the non-air-conditioned kindergarten was reasonably comfortable (coulda’ been better!), When I arrived, everyone was working. All the classes seemed to be down to only one teacher, and the extra teachers were all working outside. One old lady that usually works with the 2-3 year olds was on her knees cutting down a tree. The lady who handles the paperwork for my comings and goings was doing something garden-related in the back of the school, and the only time I saw her she had on coveralls, long gardening gloves and a big floppy sun hat. Even Mr. Principal was at it, digging in the garden to install a new picket fence. Wow. Busy busy busy! I don’t think you could get many teachers in the USA, much less the principal himself, to dig a garden and cut down trees. I guess that’s the difference between having teachers unions and not having teachers unions. (Note for the future inquisition: The previous statement is a neutral observation about unions. I leave it to the reader to guess my thoughts on unions). 

Things were so busy in fact, that Mr. Principal didn’t come with me to classes this time. He didn’t even come in to welcome me. The teacher for that class came and told me to get at it, so for the next 35 minutes, the 5 year olds and I did flashcards. Without the usual audience, I livened it up a bit, doing animal noises and impersonations along with the flashcards. Yes, I ran around the room flapping my arms clucking like a chicken; No, there are no pictures, so don’t ask. The kids loved it. I then moved on to the 2-3 year olds, and we did circles, squares, and triangles, and then moved on to counting fruit. Nothing new there, but they love it anyway. Just as I was finishing this group, Mr. Principal showed up, and it was time to move on to the 4 year olds. I did the same thing with the flashcards as with the 5 year old group, just a little simpler. Yes, I included the animal noises too. I did not, however, run around the room “bawking” like a chicken with Mr. Principal there. Toward the end of class, we went through the cards figuring out which animals had tails and which didn’t. Lastly, I looked for my tail, and circled around a few times looking for it. They thought that was just hilarious. Too bad I don’t have a big fake tail, or I’d take it along next time just for shock value. Classes done, I walked downstairs with Mr. Principal and asked “next week what?” to which he replied “Same thing.”  Ooooh. The kids are still enjoying it, but I think they know all this stuff by now. He’s the boss though. 

I Have No Class… At Least Next Week. 

A then it was off to the community center. The advanced class was no problem; they never are. One of them brought in an article about the George Bush and the Dalai Lama, and we talked about Tibet for nearly an hour. They were surprised to hear that I knew all about it and that I could even explain some of the historical points to them. I didn’t tell them that 98% of Americans probably have no idea about that story. 

At one point in the class, one f the students mentioned what they were planning to do for next week’s holiday. Huh? There’s a holiday next week? When?  Then they tell me that every time there are five Wednesdays in a month, the community center closes, so there will be no class next week. I’m not quite sure I believe this story, so on the break I emailed Mrs. Y to check on what I should do next week. 

Watashi no jisho wa arimasen 

Also during this class, I ask another of the students about their electronic dictionary. I seem to bring the subject up regularly, so one of the students (yes, the one from the museum) asked if I wanted her to go with me to the store and shop for a dictionary. “YES!” I just about screamed. So when the class was done, we walked a couple of blocks to a big store called Yamada that had more dictionaries than I’ve ever seen.; dozens of models.  The first question is simple; do any of these come with English instructions? She asks the manager who says no, none of them do. That’s a problem right there because these things are very complicated and have tons of features. I can’t even guess what all the buttons do. We price a few of the ones that look promising and I grabbed some literature (in Japanese of course) and we left. At least now I know it’s going to be more difficult than I had every thought. Maybe I won’t get one. I’ll do more research over the weekend. And since you were wondering, “Watshi no jisho wa arimasen” means “I have no dictionary.” 

Returning from the store, I did the Internet in the community center computer room and downloaded a BUNCH of Halloween materials that I may or may not be able to use this coming Saturday. Maybe I can even use some of it on Tuesday; those students seemed interested in Halloween too.  I haven’t had time to look at it very closely yet, but there is a lot of material there. 

Then it was time for the old ladies group. The old man, the newcomer to the group, told me he was going to take November off to do some traveling, and I told him I expected many good stories upon his return.  I’ve actually come to almost rely on him; it’s quite common for one of the ladies to say something that I can’t follow, and he translates it. I realize this is not how it’s supposed to be done, but it works pretty well, and things will be different next time. I do intend to keep things on track and not let this become a “ladies social gathering” again. The old man helped get things on track, and I am going to keep it there. I’m just not sure where the track leads. 

And then it was over, and it was time to come home. The Shinkansen is usually about half full when I get on in the evenings, and by the time we reach Okayama, it’s usually me and maybe one other person in the entire train car. It’s like my own personal bullet train. Too bad that it’s too dark for pictures. Upon arriving home, I clean up and quickly skim the reading for Thursday’s class with K-Sensei. I usually read his short articles the night before and give it a little thought before tearing them apart Thursday morning. I didn’t give it too much thought, because I ended up going to sleep on the couch. Wednesdays are long days!!!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Japan, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.