A southern hoedown in northern Japan

Howdy, y'all!

You're prolly thinkin' that a hoedown in Japan is about as scarce as hen's teeth. And I reckon you'd be right!

But we done made it happen over yonder at Greg's house in Fudai. About twenty or so English-speakin' friends of mine from this neck of the woods went hog wild -- dancin', eatin', hootin' and a hollerin'.

We kicked off the shindig after dusk on Saturday.

We had all kinds of tasty vittles: taters, BBQ chicken, corn bread, and other fixin's. Thanks to my ma, we even had southern style tablewear. Don't that just beat all!?

Of course it ain't a hoedown without the dancin'...

Yeehaw! Julian and his pals, visitin' all the way from Californ-I-A!

Hatsumi and Megumi are like two peas in a pod.

Carryin' on...

"Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!?"

Dixie chicks. :)

So we were all havin' a mighty fine time, and then things got a 'lil out of hand. You see, Greg got his feathers ruffled because Jarlath kept leavin' the front door ajar. "Were you born in a barn!?!?" yelled Greg (who's a 'lil too big for his britches, if ya ask me.) "I'm gonna tan your hide!!" And then...

Greg just flew off the handle! He's meaner than a snake!

But Sheriff Jarlath ain't no bump on a log. He went after Greg whole hog and put him back in his place. You don't mess with the sheriff.

With justice done, it was back to fun! How 'bout a game of Twister. Just for..err..kicks.

Later that night, we moseyed out to the beach and sat 'round the fire.

Oliver grinnin' like a possum eating persimmons. :)

Cowboy Ebun tendin' to the fire.

(Part of) the gang.

With the exception of the brawl* between Greg and Sheriff Jarlath, I reckon everything went fine and dandy! Yeeeehaw!

* = totally made up :)

What day is it today?

That's not supposed to be a trick question.

It's just a question that I always ask my students (all five of them) at Yamane Jr. High School.

Yuya writing the date on the blackboard.

At the beginning of both classes I teach at Yamane every Wednesday, I start by asking the students the day, date, time and weather.

After that, they have a few minutes to take an English word quiz. Several words are written in Japanese, and they must write what the word is in English.

Kana taking the san-nensei (3rd grade = 9th grade in the American system) English quiz.

Then after the quiz, we spend time having English conversation since the two classes at Yamane are so small. I ask them questions like, "What did you do last weekend?" The remainder of the time is spent reading and teaching from the textbook.

At Okawame Jr. High school, we spend a majority of the class time using the textbook. Mr. Otsuki often makes worksheets to go along with the lessons in the book.

Mr. Otsuki writing the paragraph from the textbook on the blackboard.

He explains the meaning in Japanese by writing it in a different color above the English.

I assist Mr. Otsuki by saying the new vocab words aloud and having the students repeat after me. Sometimes, each student has to come up to me and read a passage from the book, and I sign off on it.

In addition to teaching 7th, 8th and 9th grades at Okawame, I also teach one special needs student, Junichi. With Junichi, Mr. Takahashi and I look for ways to make studying English exciting and fun. This past Tuesday, we started out class by having ice cream! (Doesn't get much more fun than that!)

Miniature banana splits. :) Yum.

I don't have any pictures from Misaki Jr. High, but that's the school I go to every Thursday. Unlike at Yamane and Okawame, where I don't have much say in the lesson, Mr. Nakano at Misaki has me plan the lessons with him before class. We do a combination of teaching from the textbook and playing games. I like to come up with games that go along with what we teach from the book.

So teaching at each junior high school is a different experience. But at all three, I really like the teachers I work with and the students I teach.

ABC's and 123's

It's about time that I give a classroom report. :)

So today I'll write about what I'm doing in my elementary schools, and next time I'll fill you in on what I've been teaching at my three junior high schools.

As a reminder, I go to a different elementary school every Monday and Friday. It's a great way to start and end each week. The word I use to best describe my elementary students is genki, げんき, which is Japanese for energetic! They love English class, but what's not to love about singing songs and playing games!?

San-nensei (third grade) class at Taiyama Elementary School.

The main classroom teacher plans the English lesson, so I don't really have a say in what I help teach. I'm sent a lesson plan ahead of time for me to review before I go to the school. But half the time, the plan is in Japanese, so I just wing it when I'm in the classroom. Whatever works. :)

At the bigger schools -- like Osanai E.S. and Kuji E.S. -- I teach all of the 5th and 6th grade classes only. But at smaller schools -- such as Ube E.S. and Taiyama E.S. -- I teach all the grades, first through sixth.

For the older elementary grades, we follow a book, and I usually teach them how to do a basic self introduction. Animal names, food, sports, body parts and clothes are also common topics for elementary school students. For the younger students, I often teach the alphabet and numbers in English.

Last week we taught numbers and body parts in a fun way. I would say, "I'm a monster with six eyes." Then the kids would draw six eyes on their monster....

Like this. :)

Here are a couple of pictures of students making monster creations...

Nice work. Eye like it!

The third grade students displaying their works of art...

I loved how each monster looked different!

In the first and second grade classes at Taiyama Elementary School last week, I also did a lesson on numbers. We played "number basket," a variation of "fruit basket," in which the kids each had a number and had to run to a different seat when their number was called.

Cute. :)

Group picture at the end of class.

When I go to an elementary school, it's usually for the entire day (8:30 - 3:30), and I have five or six classes! I'm sometimes worn out by the end of school, but it's fun.

So that's my elementary report. In other news, I'm happy to report that my back is back to feeling fine. Hooray!

Since I didn't climb the mountain...

I've had a relaxing weekend in Ninohe instead. :)

When I first came to Japan, I heard about the "Tomb of Christ" that's here. I've been intrigued ever since.

The "tomb" is about 45 minutes away from Ninohe, and had the opportunity to go check it out yesterday.

Here's the supposed story of Christ -- and his Japanese brother, Isukiri -- that's beside the tomb...

And here's what I think of that story...

Not buying it. Very interesting though.

Today (Sunday) I went to a festival at one Jarlath's schools. I was extremely impressed by the artistic talent of his students. Here's one of the ninensei high school (11th grade) girls next to her painting...

It's hard to see, but the detail of the squirrel on the right side is amazing!

In addition to lots of artwork and crafts on display, there was a tea ceremony, palm reading, food for sale, and a room full of balloons...

I wish I could say that I made this balloon hat, but I didn't.

Well, peace out for now!

"She'll be comin' round the mountain..." ???

Well. Despite preparing for the past couple of months for the big mountain climb, it's looking highly doubtful that I'll climb Mt. Iwate on Saturday. *shaking head and frowning*

Two reasons:

#1. The typhoon. There's no need to worry because I'm in good hands here, and everything really is okay, I promise. But it's been extremely windy and rainy ("torrential downpours" is an accurate description), non-stop all day long, and the school day was even shortened because of it. I felt like I was going to blow away when I stepped outside this morning, and my umbrella comically turned upside-down into a bowl shape. I was immediately drenched. According to Yamadate, the weather is going to get even worse tonight, but tomorrow will be a "fine day." We'll see.

The mountain climb this weekend hasn't been officially cancelled (yet), but I'm thinking that even if it's not raining on Saturday, the conditions of Mt. Iwate will be muddy and probably pretty dangerous.

#2 My back hurts. Again, everything is fine ("diajoubu," as we say here), but I was in a bicycle accident on Tuesday. I was riding my bike down the sidewalk on my way to school, when a car suddenly appeared from a side street right in front of me. I almost hit smack into the car, but veered right and hit a pole instead. I flew off the bike, landing on the pavement with a thud. I was really lucky that I didn't break anything and could immediately get up and move just fine, but I do have a few bruises and there's still a bit of pain in my back. I went to a chiropractor for the first time ever yesterday, and while the massage felt good, I feel like it didn't help much. I know for sure that climbing a mountain with a backpack on would definitely not help.

The lady in the car who almost hit me felt very bad about what happened, and even offered to pay to fix my smashed-up bike, which is incredibly nice of her. After the incident, she drove me to my apartment so I could get my car and drive to school. I even made it on time!

So yeah, even though I had this personal challenge/promise to myself to conquer Mt. Iwate, I unfortunately have to cancel.

Or, a more appropriate choice of words...I have to take a rain check.

"Rice, rice, baby..."

Hooray for having yet another good Japanese cultural experience!

I enjoyed working in a rice field yesterday along with lots of other folks, and learning about harvesting rice.

We went to a special field in Aomori prefecture, where they plant different colors of rice to make pictures. Check it out...

So cool!

I learned that usually harvesting is done by machine, so it was special for Japanese people, too, to participate in manual harvesting as it was done in the past. There were lots of people waiting around for the event to start...

The rice harvesting "professionals" in their official uniform -- bright floral suit, rubber boots, gloves, and hat with white scarf wrapped around it. :)

When we first arrived, we were greeted by city officials, had a brief orientation, then headed to the field. Here's a video, which I think is the best way to get a feel for what the day was like...

And now here are some pictures...

My firstborn "baby" -- what a little bundle of joy. :)

These little ladies in the bright suits worked like machines! They meant business.

Foreigners (plus Kohei), unite!

Work it, Liz!

After chopping down the stocks and bundling them together, the last step was to tie them to a post to dry.

Harriet and Stephanie at work.

After spending a couple of hours out in the field, we ate lunch. You guessed it...rice balls! Only appropriate since I really did have a ball harvesting rice. :)

* * *

Click here to read my latest entry in "Keep Shining." (about another outdoor activity I did over the weekend)

Mochi makin' and koto playin'

First, let me explain the words "mochi" and "koto" since they are Japanese.

Mochi: a type of sweet that I think is best described as...dough filled with bean paste. Sounds amazing, I know. If you bite into one thinking that it's chocolate, you're sure to be highly disappointed and might even think that mochi is nasty. Trust me. Writing from experience here. BUT if you sink your teeth into it knowing what you're getting yourself into, it's really not so bad.

Koto: a traditional Japanese harp, as I mentioned last time.

As part of the homestay weekend, twelve other foreigners and I made mochi, played kotos, and did some other cultural activities when we weren't with our host families.

The first thing we did as a group was go to an onsen. (As a reminder, that's a Japanese public bath.) Nothing like bathing with a bunch of gals you've only just met to break the ice! I don't have any pictures of the onsen for obvious reasons, but this onsen was unusual because the water was a lime Kool-Aid green color due to sulfur. And the hallway smelled like eggs.

After eating egg salad sandwiches for lunch (not kidding!), we made mochi.

Super cute ladies who made the dough and helped us with mochi makin'.

Kiera (from Scotland) towered over this precious little lady.

After molding the dough, it was time to paint the mochi.

There were a few different molds to choose from: a kappa (a legendary creature of Japan -- pictured on the bottom and top of the tray), a flower, and a peach!

Guess which one I chose...

Just peachy. :)

We spent the afternoon playing with some cutie pie kids, and I didn't realize at the time that we'd end up in the next day's newspaper!...

After meeting up with our host families Saturday evening, we watched a koto concert together. Here's a little video from that:



After the concert, I sang "Sakura" along with one of the ladies and then tried playing the instrument...



Our last cultural activity of the weekend was doing shodo. (Japanese calligraphy)

This is the kanji for "friend." ("tomodachi" in Japanese) I painted my name in katakana down the left side.

Emily-san displays her masterpiece.

So in addition to a fantastic homestay experience, I really enjoyed trying some different Japanese activities over the weekend.

Well, sayonara for now...