IrishOboe

Monday (Nov. 28) was a fairly normal day at school as far as I can remember. I did a Thanksgiving lesson for ICC (English club) since it didn’t seem like the Japanese knew much about the holiday. It seems strange that people would study English so much and never talk about basic cultural things like holidays. What Spanish student in America doesn’t know about Cinco de Mayo? But I digress. I tried a new technique that I learned at the mid-year conference and I learned more about how to prepare the materials. ICC is often been my guinea pig. There were only five students this time because exams are coming up and people are busy, but come to think of it, five students is what I started out with and we’ve grown to thirteen plus! I also showed them how to make paper chain people and they already knew how to make paper snow flakes. (More)

As you will read in this post, I spent a long time putting pictures up on Shutterfly. I have now put everything up, so knock yourselves out! There are some really great ones and I put new pictures in old albums, too. I tried to label things well, but let me know if something is confusing! Sunday (Nov. 27th) I again got up around 8am and wrote an update and worked on putting pictures up on Shutterfly. That made me miss people so I called Downingtown and talked to many family members. Somehow all that took until nearly 1pm. I had to skip lunch because I had to be in Kofu for a tour of Kofu castle in English. The train schedule was such that I had to leave quite early so I decided to use the time to bike to Kofu since it was such a beautiful day. I thought it’d take about an hour, but it only took 25 minutes! Really, it’s not that much slower than the train. That’s good to know, though I don’t think it’d be so nice at night. (More)

Saturday (Nov. 26th) I woke up naturally a bit before 8am, which always makes me happy! Sadly, I once again tried to go shopping on a Saturday morning, thinking that at least by 9am the main grocery stores would be open – wrong! Nothing opens until 10am . . . So, I came back home and wrote about rice cutting then went again and had a successful shopping trip. Around noon Yuko picked me up to go meet with the lady in Kofu who I think knows American Sign Language (ASL). When we walked in the building I saw a group of men signing and I wanted to talk to them so badly! It’s been about six months since I’ve signed with anyone (I don’t really count my meeting with the two deaf at the festival because we didn’t know the same sign language and were mostly communicating with gestures). We found Emi and sure enough, she knew ASL! (More)

I believe I left you on Friday September 30th on my way to Fujiyoshida. I said I had an interesting bus ride then left the update after I’d arrived at Fujiyoshida station. I caught the train to Mike’s and was very happy that I managed to go the right way and get off at the right place and get the right ticket and everything. I even found the right apartment building and hallway. My only mistake was trying the door one floor below him. I got in around 10:30pm and he was still at a school enkai (party). I ate my dinner of yakisoba that I’d gotten at the 7-11 and did some internet and studied Japanese and then decided to go to bed even though Mike wasn’t in yet. I went to sleep around midnight and he came home shortly after. He’s also discovered how the Japanese like to continue their partying from place to place. It worked out fine, though, since we didn’t have to be on the field until 9am. I slept well and the next day was warm and sunny. We went with Kim and Sterling (nearby neighbors, Kim’s a JET and Sterling is with Kim) and were set to work right away. I should explain that the family we were helping has acted as Mom and Pop for Fujiyoshida JETs for a while. They extended their welcome to me and it was a pleasure to spend the day with them. We started by hanging the already cut and bundled rice. (More)

I only had one class on Tuesday (Nov. 22nd) because the other class had been moved to Saturday. I had walked to school that day because my back bike tire finally stopped pretending to hold any air. Luckily I was somehow prepared for this situation and had checked it early enough for me to have enough time to walk to school. It takes about an hour and it’s a rather pleasant walk. After school I helped Yuko with one of her extra classes and ended up staying the whole hour. I love being with the kids and I wish I could just pop into more classes and spend less time planning for just a few. Since I stayed late to help Yuko she gave me a ride home. I was able to get to the bike shop and he replaced the gasket in both tires and wouldn’t let me pay anything. I think that 3000 yen bike seat was a good investment. ;) What a difference it made! It’s so much easier to ride now, though now my back brakes scrape against the tire more than they did before . . . (More)

So, the Kyoto trip started at 6:40 Sunday morning (Nov. 20th) when we got on the tour bus in Kofu station. We made frequent stops and got into Kyoto around 2pm. We went to a few shrines and temples, and the fall leaves were beautiful. I got more signatures for my temple book and I like the fact that I can get a souvenir from so many places without taking up much space. I have the names of the places in Kanji so I won’t write them here. We had an hour to rest at the hotel before dinner so Yuko and I took a walk. The hotel overlooked the oldest temple in Kyoto, which was an impressive expanse of buildings. I don’t know why, but somehow it was more impressive since it was more of an inspiring size than the other shrines. Maybe it’s my American mindset of bigger is better, but bigger is certainly more awe-inspiring. (More)

Thursday, Nov. 17th I went out to dinner after school with Megan Walton, a JET (not a first year) who lives in a nearby town. We went to Denny’s. Yes, that’s right. Japan has Denny’s, but they don’t serve what Denny’s does back home. It’s mostly Japanese food, though I did get a nice chocolate sundae! (More)

Hello all! I am going to Kyoto this weekend with Yuko and I thought I'd ask if there was anything anyone wanted in particular from there. I'm hoping to get the good origami that Helen requested there. Much of the artistic stuff particular to Japan is hard to get in Yamanashi, so if you have a specific request, please feel free to let me know. For those who are keeping track, I'll actually be gone Sunday and Monday since I have to work this Saturday and we have Monday off to make up for it. I know everyone will be busy with Thanksgiving stuff, though. I'll be missing you a lot! I do have plans to have two dinners with friends on different days, so I won't be alone, but I'll sure miss Boggle, Quiddler, whacking my cousins with noddles, making pies, kissing my nephew, sleeping on those great couches . . . There's nothing like being away to make you love your home! Very much love, Janet

This week was a great week at work in terms of classes. We’re working on a project for this term’s exam rather than preparing for a written test (a strange tradition for an Oral Communication class). Students are writing a dialogue with a partner, the topic and content solely of their choosing (though I gave plenty of examples to help the less creative). During class the Japanese teacher and I go around helping kids translate their dialogues into English. I think it was a brilliant trick of mine to tell them to write a dialogue in Japanese then translate it. They were free to write about what was interesting to them; then they had a real interest in learning how to express those ideas in English. It’s been a lot of fun and the students have really opened up to me. The least promising students have done very creative work and almost all of them work hard in class. Who says you can’t give freedom to high school kids for a full 50 minutes? (More)

As I said before I had 1½ hours to pack and get ready for the trip after judging the speech contest. I had seriously considered canceling the trip since I wasn’t feeling well. I knew if I rested over the weekend I’d get better and if I went on a trip I’d get worse, but they had booked a pension for us and it would have stuck Kinko with a big bill so since they didn’t mind my cold I decided to go. I even had a little time for dinner and I made it to Kofu 20min before the bus for Fujiyoshida. I decided that was enough time to treat my sore throat to a shake at Mos Burger, but since it took 20min for them to get to making my shake I nearly left without it. Anyway, the trip was almost uneventful but the same school boys who were hitting on me during a previous trip came on again. I didn’t recognize them at first since the main boy had on a sick mask. (In case you don’t know everyone here wears a sick mask if they’re not feeling well. That includes sunburn and other random illnesses. I’m not sure, but it seems more to be a way to get sympathy and get out of working on the student’s part.) So I foolishly returned his greeting with a bright smile before I recognized him. Luckily, his English failed him and his only bold move was to touch my shoulder. I was grateful that I was wearing a baggy sweater. . . (More)

This is a post that is a comment on Jon’s post on Daley Ponderings where he talks about how men often show “affection” by making fun of each other in public.

I've found that women also engage in this type of affection, though certainly they are more able to show affection in other ways to those they care about. I’m guilty of it myself. Sarcasm is a hard habit to break. In general, I've found that people use this ironic approach to giving complements when they feel it is too awkward to say how they really feel. In other words, we are afraid of the mushy and the intimate, especially in public. (I cannot speak for how men talk to each other one on one.) (More)

Monday, November 11 we had the ICC (English club) Halloween party. I brought in baking stuff and things for making spiced apple cider and we had a fun, if not crazy, time making Halloween cutouts and decorating them. The students did a great job of decorating, but they did a terrible job of licking their fingers after shaping the cookies. Maybe that’s why the Japanese are so thin. Of course, none of them had ever baked cookies before, so that could make a difference, too. They have plenty of cookies and junk food, they just don’t make it themselves. I got home a few hours later than usual because of the party and spent the evening packing for the next few days I’d be away for . . . (More)

Lift Up Your Hearts!, IrishOboe, Sursum Corda, and SalemsAttic have a new home: Lime Daley! This is no bad reflection on our previous host, TLC Web Enterprises, which always treated us well, but we are excited about the change. How many other people can call up tech support and get excellent service, knowledgeable assistance...and the sound of their grandchild/nephew in the background?

In addition to setting us up on the Lime Daley server, Jon upgraded our blog software version, so there are some changes. Probably the first thing you noticed is how much faster the pages load. Note also the nifty search box to the right, and the fact that posts can now be assigned more than one category. One downside of the fact that the new version uses caching: sometimes you will need to reload the page (reload, refresh, depending on what your browser calls it) to be sure you are seeing the most up to date posts.

The transition went amazingly smoothly, thanks to Jon's prompt and diligent efforts, but we're still working out some minor details as I get accustomed to the new system, so please let me know if you notice any problems.

So...IrishOboe is back in business—please feel free to post and comment once again.