It's All Right

The story of the house guest continues.

So I drove home with Mick-sensei to find his wife (who doesn't speak English) cooking dinner. I knew enough to say, "Ojamashimasu!" (literally: I'm invading your home) and to take off my shoes at the door, but that's about it. I had trouble speaking Japanese because I was so rusty and nervous. Fortunately, of all the teachers at my school, Mick-sensei is probably the best casual conversationalist in English and was supportive of my Japanese without being fazed by my English. I got the sense that he kind of wanted me there because he likes English speakers, so I tried not to feel bad about imposing.

As an anecdote, Mick-sensei is known as "the scary teacher" by the students because he's tall (as tall as I am), has a square jaw, and white hair. So, walking in with that information didn't help my mind.

We watched some television and there was a lot of quiet, but I learned that Mick-sensei's cowboy-like voice comes from living in Australia for two years! I told him I could hear it in his accent and I think he liked that, since he really loved Australia and tries to visit often. And really, I think his accent is wonderful, it's punctuated by copious "y'know"s and it's so fun to hear a nonnative speaker use an accent other than American.

Dinner was a smorgasbord with greens, fried chicken, rice, fried squid legs, orange and potato salad, boiled yams, fish paste and green beans in soy sauce. Though the description isn't appetizing, I think the fish paste was my favorite, it was really delicious! The yams were a non-American consistency, so I didn't really like those. Mick-sensei spared me the nattou he was eating. For breakfast we had homemade walnut bread and blueberry jam, yogurt, and more greens and potato salad. Breakfast, I decided, was half American, half Japanese lol and it definitely turned me on to blueberry jam, which is in fridge right now. After he ranted about how unhealthy American food generally is in comparison to Japanese food, Mick-sensei asked me what my favorite dish from my mother's kitchen was. I was sure to say that it was kraut bierrock, not cake or meatloaf lol

So I had both my first Japanese meals and my first time in a Japanese home. It was a little tough going, what with the showering at night thing, toilet in a different room from the bathtub/primary sink, sleeping on a futon mat, and hoping I wasn't screwing up. And what of table manners? At any rate, I survived and Mick-sensei claimed I didn't make any troublesome mistakes, though he reminded me that in Japan we leave the bathroom door closed at all times and not just when someone is inside, that it's customary to soak in the bath to relax after a shower, to brush my teeth in the tub room sink and not the toilet room sink, and that it's polite to finish each grain of rice. He taught me a lot and if I hadn't stayed over at his house I wouldn't have learned anything about Japanese homes for a few weeks because I would have escaped straight to the American safety net of my own space.

I think the experience endeared us to each other, which I'm told is good because he has a history of loving or hating ALTs in our school. From what I understand, he is also a powerful alley because he's a hardass lol All's well that ends well, I guess! I'll give him an extra souvenir when he gets back from his time off. They treated me really well and on such short notice!

The Sun Rose at School

The next day there was a little bit of sunshine and my city was a whole new city. The dismal place I'd seen the day before was actually lively and large and Japanese. (Though this is kind of foreboding because it's usually cloudy here and winter is very long, which means I could be in for a depressing year).

I wasn't sure if the houses looked more colorful than U.S. houses because they were different or because they actually were. Eventually I decided they were, because their roofs are often in reds and blues and greens instead of the Midwestern U.S. black/grey/brown. The city is also speckled with land masses on the horizon that are bigger than hills but smaller than mountains, and covered in green and houses and other beautiful things.

Mick-sensei took me to school and we met my predecessor, who was a bit out of sorts at the time for personal reasons, but is actually a fabulous person whom I've been living with for the last week. She's done a lot to get me set up, a lot that she had no responsibility to do whatsoever, and most importantly it's been pleasant because her and her husband are a lot of fun. I don't mind them living with me and I'll really miss them when they leave next week. While it'll be nice to get settled in and change things around to my liking, I'm afraid I'll be kind of lonely.

Anyway, that morning she took me around school, introduced me to some students and some teachers, and showed me some rooms. She also took the time to point out the kanji on the classrooms and help me figure them out (in case you don't speak Japanese, there IS a method to the madness, I assure you). I knew the ocean was near the school, but what I didn't realize that it's practically in the back yard!

I was also surprised to find that even though the students were on break, there were one or two of them in most of the classrooms studying. I'm assuming most of the people studying were seniors preparing for their entrance exams to university in January, though there were also all sorts of kids participating in school clubs. Apparently Japanese schools are almost 24 hour hubs where kids spend their time and do almost everything imaginable. School is really more like a youth civic center where classes are taught, rather than a 7am-3pm place like an American high school. I also learned that a lot of responsibilities of American parents, including discipline, actually fall into the responsibilities of the teachers in Japan. If a kid gets in trouble with the police, they all the school, not the parents. An interesting difference! It makes sense with Japanese society though. The shared responsibility really is quite refreshing.

I'm really excited to get involved in some of these school groups though. We saw basketball, tea ceremony, calligraphy, archery, judo, track, baseball, art club, choir, and all sorts of other traditional Japanese and non-traditional clubs alike. I might add that the choir is goose-bumpingly good.

I had a headache by the end of the morning from all the smiling and learning and meeting new people, but I think that's a good thing, right? I also got to see the amazing amount of energy my pred has and how she uses that with the kids to great results. I was privy to an impromptu song and dance rendition when she taught the song, "macho man," to the basketball team. I'm going to have to genki myself up a little bit to match her!