Rick

For those of you who don't know, Rick is currently in Iraq. It was sad to see him go but Hannah Jane is pretty resilient and seems to be doing OK (thank goodness for Skype!) I can't say much about the assignment for security reasons but all accounts tell me he's safe and sound. In fact, he's getting in a lot of flying which he likes. I'll let him chime in if he wants/has time, but in the meantime, thought I'd share some of his photos of him flying this summer before he left. Enjoy!





Rick in gear while in flight (really, it's him..see below..)


















See? (I think this is before they must have taken off....)









Neat shot of the other squadron planes from Rick's cockpit (don't think I'm breaching any security measures with this one!)

Another pilot (no, this isn't Japan!)

Pictures!!


Thought I'd try and post some pictures of our life recently. Sorry we've been absent so long, but we've been without a camera for a few months! Here's some things we've been up to......enjoy!






Me and a few of the American moms after we put on a Halloween skit at Hannah Jane's school. After introducing ourselves in Japanese (and saying whose mom we were ("Watashi wa Hannah Jane no haha (mother, no kidding) desu!") we described, in Japanese, who we were....an amusing account as you might imagine from the costumes above...(I'm "Aka zin-something" by the way....Little Red Riding Hood)

Hannah Jane at her favorite restaurant in town, "Two Turtle Sushi." The restaurant serves endless sushi on a carousel that goes around the restaurant (see metal track above her food) which you can pick from, or you can order from the electronic menu (thankfully has an english version) which arrives by an electronic "Shinksen" (bullet) train -- right to your table! (we're at the counter here) She loves tuna sushi rolls, the "hot pot" shell soup you see here (a hot egg/custardy thing with shellfish and squid in it..her favorite!) and the real serious sushi with eggs and stuff that most American I know won't touch (including me) She loves to pop the eggs in her mouth! (The fried things by the way are chicken nuggets I thought she'd like...she wouldn't touch them. The raw squid, however, was another matter) "Two Turtle Sushi" by the way is the American's name for the restaurant, (since we can't read the kanji names for things, we make up our own names which "sticks"-- the Japanese find it hilarious) -- the name comes from the two "turtle-looking" creatures on the sign. Tell any Japanese this and they'll burst out laughing (covering their mouth doing so). Turns out the cutsie looking "turtle" creatures are "Kappa" (the actual name of the restaurant) -- which are thought to be "water nymphs" (according to most japanese I ask about this) that inhabit the rivers north of here, and ...here's the kicker...eat children. Why the restaurant--a kind of sushi Bob's Big Boy, very family oriented-- is named for some creatures that would eat a healthy portion of its clientele is beyond me.

The school bazaar's theme this year was "the Inside of the Body" -- yes, this is exactly what you think this is! While the first floor of the school had goods, foods and crafts for sale, the second floor was a demonstration of what the kids have been doing...in this case (in Hannah Jane's words which I didn't believe until I saw it), "making poop." This room contained a, granted fun, exhibit on the body's digestive system. You walked into a giant mouth, and traveled down the esophagus, into a paper-strewn stomach (kind of ball-pit Playland style) -- so the kids would roll around in the balled up newspaper and throw it around while getting "digested." Then they'd walk out into a coiled "maze" which turned out to the be the intestinal tract. And finally, as the food turned brown and blobby as you walked down the tract you crawled through this tube which is just what it looks like...a butt. That's Hannah Jane down there, in her formal school uniform, crawling through the butt. This cutsie display on how poop gets made was no surprise actually after the summer "homework" we had which asked us to track our child's poop. We got a fun calendar for the 6-week summer break in which we were to put fun little cutsie stickers and drawings to track what we did throughout the break, and how much often they pooped. The "poop" sticker was by far the most popular sticker and actually had Hannah Jane looking forward to the act. No, it wasn't a shiny, sparkly, puffy sticker that American kids seem to get excited about, but an actual pile of poop -- complete with eyes and smiling mouth. Happy poop! (It wasn't until we returned to school that they asked us to track "non-happy" poops.. when our child has hard, runny or no poops) That's about all I can (or should) say about that.....



Here's Hannah Jane at her recital rehearsal (she's the one in the bunny ears. OK, just kidding-- she's the only Gaijin in the photo...)
This is one of four costumes she'll wear during the recital. I'm just glad we got to borrow them instead of buy them!








And here's another bunny. Hannah Jane picked her costume based on the dance recital she's about to do. We saw the original one in September (of the bunny dance, above) and had to be a bunny for Halloween. She was ecstatic to learn she would be wearing the actual ballet costume that inspired her Halloween costume. Now if she can just keep up with her classmates who've been doing the dance since April!











Our jack-o-lantern.......Happy Halloween!

That's about all for now. Will try to post more pictures now that we have a camera again. Thanks for tuning in!

Teaching. Or, "How to order a Big Mac"

I'm teaching!!

In June I was lucky enough to get a job at a Japanese elementary school as an "Assistant English Teacher. My employer then is the Misawa City Board of Education and thus, the Japanese government. So my colleagues are Japanese and the teachers I "assist" to, pretty-much non-English speaking. Which makes it VERY interesting in the classroom. Oh I don't fault them -- they still know more English then I know Japanese--it's just interesting sometime stumbling through a lesson.

Sample lesson:

Sensei (teacher): "japanese japanese japanese......RUH -GAH SENSEI(that'd be me)....japanese japanese japanese...(turning to me): "Dozo" [please (proceed with the lesson that I just outlined for you in japanese) ]

At this point I turn to my lesson plan which they've handed me just that morning which is 90% in kanji. I see 4-5 words I recognize: "Red, Blue, Green, etc..." I grasp, "Oh, they want me to teach colors today!"

I then stumble through the rest of the lesson which involves flashcards with phonics...("RRRRRrrr!!! Like a lion...grrrrrrrrr!!! "), songs about happy rainbows and such that I've never heard of but am expected to teach, and games that I'm suppose to know how to play.

Like I said, it's pretty interesting but always fun and educational. In between my six classes a day I study japanese at my desk and listen in the teacher's office to the conversation going on around me for words I recognize.

Fun/funny things I've learned/seen so far:

- When someone leaves the office for the day, you say, "Oh-scareh sameh deshta" which roughly translates, "You have worked hard today. Thank you for your hard work." I say this as opposed to the other saying which I can't quite wrap my brain (or lips) around: it essentially translates to, "I am leaving now -- I am very sorry to be leaving before you..." So not American.

Some other not-so American things:
- when the chimes (not bell) ring to end the day of school, and we're still in the middle of a lesson, not a student will blink. All students -- first grade through sixth--keep doing whatever we're doing without a single recognition that school is over. Class and thus school will regularly run 10-15 minutes over -a fact more annoying to me I think than the students!
- hugs (and hits) are par for the course. Unlike American culture, it's perfectly acceptable for a teacher to show praise and encouragement through hugs and other affectionate signs. They're also allowed to give corporal punishment to a kid who gets out of line -- something I've witnessed a number of times. All I've got to say is, though I'm not a teacher (meaning I've never taught in the states), whatever they're doing -- it works!

There's so much to say about this job that it could pretty much take up the rest of this blog (that is when I write!) There's the T-shirts the kids wear with the "Japlish" sayings on them (weird by funny sayings made up of english words thrown together because they look good and seem like they say something):
-"Lover mate" (on a 6 year old)
-"Sunny day rainbow beach"
-(a sports-looking jersey): "Team 9 college"

I'll have to start writing them down after I see them -- they're too bizarre to remember later!

ANyway, I'm enjoying it and it keeps me somewhat busy (I'm currently working 2 days a week which is pretty much the max they want someone teaching apparently)

Here is an earlier post I drafted and never published about getting hired....

I got a job as an assistant english teacher at a Japanese elementary school, teaching "basic" english skills. One of my first lessons was how to order at a "hamburger shop" -- a thinly disguised lesson on what to say at a McDonald's. This is one of many cultural lessons I've gotten since beginning the job over a month ago.

My friend got me the job interview which consisted of me showing up with a brief resume in hand (brief because I'd never taught before which my friend assured me was irrelevant) and me being told what my schedule would be (and oh, "sign here"....). A day later I was sitting in a sixth grade japanese class "observing", which turned out to be a lesson in how I should conduct class. Turns out my friend was right in that they really don't want us to "teach" but to strictly follow a lesson plan (which is handed to me every morning, written in Japanese it turns out, but more on that later). So I'm basically, we jest, a talking monkey -- which I'm fine with! I can be, the talking monkey.

BEfore I officially started, however, I was instructed to meet the coordinator at the Misawa Board of Education floor at City Hall where I had what was an official hiring ceremony -- complete with several suit-clad city officials, a certificate, and a short speech in Japanese (translated into again, exactly 2 english sentences). Following a few low bows and then a short session where I received a book of lesson plans and a set of rules to follow (don't correct the teacher in front of the class, etc), I was officially hired. A week later I had my first day of teaching.

I walk into the teachers office, rows of large metal desks grouped together not unlike a news room, and sit down at my designated desk, and receive my morning green tea from the secretary. I then get my schedule for the day, thankfully in English, and the lesson plans (unfortunately not in English) Usually the lesson plan contains about 5% English, but usually they're the clues as to the day's lesson: "Large french fries please." (sadly, I'm not making this up) Then when I get to class, the teacher usually can guide me through what he/she wants me to do. Often though there's a bit of confusion as I stumble around the teacher's lesson, which usually ends up with the teacher spouting out frustrated japanese at the silly gaijin (foreigner) trying to lead a game, or sing a song, she's never heard of.

It's a job that's both fun and funny, and I hope to be better at writing about it. Thanks for tuning in!

"Big Girl School"

Last Saturday we attended the opening ceremony for Hannah Jane's Japanese kindergarten. We were told to wear business attire which meant suits for both fathers and mothers. The mothers all had matching jacket and skirt outfits on, which had I not left mine in storage in Kettering, Ohio, I couldn't quite fathom putting on anyway. First, it's KINDERGARTEN -- she's three. Second, I knew that as soon as we walked into the door we'd be required to take off our "outdoor shoes" and put on slippers -- something I just couldn't see doing in a skirt. But this didn't stop the Japanese -- every mother was dressed from head to toe, complete with pearls and corsages, and on their feet were fuzzy house slipper-looking shoes. One American mom wore her fun teddy bear slippers -- I liked her. Anyway, here are a few photos to give you an idea.......

Here's Hannah Jane being led to her seat for the ceremony, which lasted well over an hour. The best part was that about 1% of it was in english-- not that it should be, but it just made it longer not understanding a word. The ceremony began with introductions, including those of the students. When the student's name was called out (in Japanese of course) they were suppose to shout out "Hai!" to let them know "Yes, I am here!" I wish I had a photo of her when it was called but it would have showed many of her Japanese classmates staring at her, and her staring at the pretty flowers on the stage. We don't blame her though -- we barely recognized her name: "Ru-GAH, Hanahjane Chan!"
The class introductions were followed by the same two officials that spoke at her orientation (also conducted in business attire) -- the Chairman of education for the prefecture, and Encho Sensei. Here she is, whipping the students into shaped:
Then the whole staff was introduced with talks from some, followed by performances from both the older girls and boys of the school:















Then a mother who I guess was representative of the entering students got up and gave a short speech and presented Encho Sensei and the Chairman with some papers -- not sure what that was all about. Then, straight out of Bill Murray's "Lost in Translation" movie, one of the sensei's got up and talked for about ten minutes, and then changing over to English, said exactly two sentences, conveying, "Welcome." The ceremony ended shortly after that and we went upstairs to Hannah Jane's classroom to retrieve her. Here she is showing Daddy(in suit and slippers)her cubby:
The stuff you see in her cubby by the way is a whole other blog. Here's just a photo of all the stuff I had to get or purchase through the school beforehand:














The stuff on the left we purchased through the school; the stuff on the right I hunted for for weeks. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has to have her name -- in Japanese-- on it: every 'pastel" (a very messy and somewhat non-washable crayon), every semi-permanent marker, every clay tool (which I don't even know how to use myself). There was even a set of paints (also not all that washable) and yes, that shiny sharp pokey thing near the bottom is a pair of adult scissors! I kept thinking, as I was labeling and sewing on her name a few hundred times, that the Japanese really do have more faith in their kids at a younger age than we do...a good thing?!?! I'll let you know, after washing her smock and uniform a few hundred times.
Speaking of, here's the formal uniform and backpack (all which cost more than I pay for my own clothes....):
The backpack just carries her attendance book and her bento lunch set. She carries a separate bag -- one of the dozen or so we had to buy beforehand--that holds her sports uniform (which she changes into when she gets to school), the smock that goes over the sports uniform, preventing it from getting too dirty, a separate bag with her indoor shoes, another bag with a plain cup in it, and another bag with a separate cup and toothbrush in it. At the beginning of the year I also sent her with a separate bag with a change of clothes in ("in case of wetness" as the manual says), and her class cap. This 'year's" cap is purple, signifying she's in the "Sumuri" or "violet" class of the Nensho or 3-year-old "grade." I guess it's an easy way for the sensei's to sort them all out, especially outdoors. There are 45 students in Nensho alone!

Back to the backpack and the bentos, we are also encouraged as Americans to make Japanese style bento lunches on the days we send the whole lunch instead of just rice (the school supplies the rest most days). I have just begun, but I found it's true that Hannah Jane will eat anything and everything, if it's in a cute shape of some sort:














The one on the left is a hot dog, and the little animal shapes are made of rice and "furikake" --flakes of seaweed and fish and and bunch of other stuff you can't imagine a toddler eating but Hannah Jane's use to. The one on the right is just plain on bologne and cheese on tortillas, with cut-out cucumbers and carrots. Not a scrap comes back (and the senseis do not throw away anything -- it costs them to dispose!) The bento sets by the way are all separately sold of course, down to the bag that it must all be toted in. Here you can see in both a separate container for the little wash cloth they use to clean their hands before eating (which I wet down in the morning while making steamed rice!) This cloth is separate from the cloth or hankerchief they carry everyday in their smock pocket to dry their hands after washing up. If you come to visit, you too might want to bring your own. You won't find many paper towels in public restrooms--Japanese don't do napkins or paper towels in restaurants and bathrooms...they carry them in their purses or pockets!

Well that's about it for now on "Daichi Youichen", otherwise known to us as "Big Girl School." Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday Hannah Jane Chan!

Hannah Jane's school has a birthday party for all the kids birthdays for that month all in one day. Held on a Saturday (during school hours, no doubt), Rick and I could both go and catch a little video footage (below). After parading the birthday children around the room to the sound of game-show-y music while the other students clapped, the Sensei's led all the birthday children up on stage to stand one-by-one under a little birthday arch and be clapped for. After some song and dances, the children each spoke, telling everyone their names, how old they were, and what they wanted for themselves (a japanese version of "what you want to be when you grow up") Here's what Hannah Jane said:

In case your Japanese is rusty, what she said, according to the English-speaking Japanese mother next to me who assured me Hannah Jane spoke pretty clearly was this: "[When I grow up]...I want to be a pink frog."

After translating this for me, the Japanese mother says to me, "REALLY?! She wants to be a frog?!?"

Now while I'd like to think this answer may have been inspired by Disney's movie "The Princess and the Frog" which she'd just seen, I'm guessing not. But who cares, while I may not have understood a word she said, (and while not being the loftiest goal to have) I'm just happy she said something in Japanese.

Happy Hinamatsuri!

March 3: Hinamatsuri, or "Girl's Festival"Today is Hinamatsuri, or "Doll's" or "Girl's Festival". Here you see our gift from a Japanese friend of a display of the dolls (ordered correctly) that are brought out in Japanese homes with young girls that celebrate their development and bring peace and happiness. Some say they are to "hope for an early marriage" (which leaving the display out AFTER March 3 is suppose to result in Hannah Jane having the unfortunate destiny of getting married "later".....(????) (basically, it can ward against evil spirts.....aaaaaaand being a spinster in life.) You see these displays all over the place, including in her school where today the students put on a Hinamatsuri production. The older (4 and 5) girls dressed in elaborate kimono dress and did several dances for the parents and teachers:

There were several dances like this by the different girls in the class. And then there was Hannah Jane's class, which for some reason, with granted little understanding on our part, performed a skit about being....a Bento box. And our daughter played the exciting roll of...

an Ebi, or SHRIMP (panko fried, at that)

(that's the fried shrimp on her head. Some of the other featured rolls were that of Broccoli, Carrots, and "Tamago" or egg.) I have yet to figure out what this has to do with 'Girl's Day' but I'll be sure to ask my Japanese friends and report back. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading...

"Turning Japanese"

TOP TEN REASONS HANNAH JANE'S "TURNING JAPANESE":

10) Flushes toilet before using the potty, as well as after (It's considered polite to flush before, during and after going)

9) Claims her teddy bears slippers are her "potty slippers"

8) Knows how to use a Japanese toilet

7) Likes and asks for food many American adults might simply find "icky", including seaweed and squid.

6) Likes and asks for her "ohashi" (chopsticks) to eat icky food.

5) Puts her hand over her mouth when she laughs (Japanese women do this)

4) Has her own onsen basket

3) Asks for "fishy crackers" at snacktime, not the "Goldfish" variety but a Japanese rice cracker covered in dried squid, fish, or scallop bits (which smells as appetizing as it sounds)

2) Takes off shoes when she walks into a restaurant. Good if you're at any restaurant in Misawa, Japan, bad if you're at "Applebees" in Charlottesville, Virginia.

1) Says the Japanese "grace" before eating, "Itadikimas" (E-tah-dee-kee-mas) or as she says it, "Icky Ducky Moss!"

Kindergarten orientation

So last Saturday we had the interesting experience of attending orientation for Hannah Jane's school. She's been in what's considered a cross between day-care and preschool, and now at the ripe age of three, (which she'll be in March) she will officially begin Japanese kindergarten. And let me tell you, from what we saw at orientation, it ain't nothin' like kindergarten in the States!

Our first clue that this would be a whole different experience was the Japanese school marm who lectured us (in angry-sounding Japanese) for a half hour of so, on the importance of maintaining communication with your child ("communication" was in fact the only word we recognized. The whole extent of the lecture was later revealed to me, in broken English, by my translator). Sitting there in tiny kindergarten seats, dressed in business attire and sitting bolt-upright so as to be respectful, we watched as she mimed a fight between two imaginary students, slapping herself over and over and mimicking crying in between. Thinking that we should all let her know that we understand (which of course I didn't, my own translator sitting beside me, puzzled), I started to laugh at her antics in places, only to find the other Japanese parents sitting solemnly, listening. I quickly realized that this was the respectful thing to do, and instead straightened my spine even further, putting on my most serious straight face. After she finished, and we all gave her respectful long bows (from our seats, nonetheless), a man spoke who identified himself to be the chairman of "something something and education" in the whole Amori prefecture -- the giant county-like region in which we reside. So imagine the superintendent or head of the board of education from Albemarle and Madison counties coming to lecture to you at your child's preschool orientation. After a few solemn words which included his lengthy credentials, we were then instructed to proceed upstairs for uniform-fitting and interviews. YES, INTERVIEWS. With both the chairman and the school marm (who turned out to be the encho sensei or principal). So after wrestling with Hannah Jane to fit her properly into these expensive uniforms, we were expected to corral our now hungry/tired toddler into sitting up straight in a wooden chair, across from these two officials, and answer their questions in a respectful manner. Mind you she's TWO. So Rick talked to her just before we went in, and she was able to successfully answer their questions: "My name's Hannah Jane" and "I'm two" (struggling to hold up her index and pinky fingers). So the first 30 seconds of the interview went well -- and then it went downhill. The chairman asked her these questions in English and then turned to our translator to discuss something in Japanese, leaving Hannah Jane to wriggle and wiggle in her chair, ignoring my pleas to sit still. After a few minutes of this during which time she took her "inside shoe" off and made like she was winding up to hurl it at the school marm who was going on still in now concerned-sounding Japanese, I switched tactics from increasing threats ("you are in BIG trouble when you get home!") to rewards ("I'll give you candy!!") This worked. She ceased squirming, looked up at me and stated out right, "I want some candy." I winced, hoping encho sensei didn't understand her, as she was concluding her discussion with our translator. Oh, I forgot to mention that before the Japanese-only discussion started between our translator and the two officials, they asked us, through our translator, what we wanted for our child at this point. As in, what we want for her in life. Right now. At the ripe age of two. While we stumbled trying to put together a respectable-sounding answer our translator could work with (some nonsense ramblings about socialization and getting along with others, none of which I think got translated all that well by the look on hers and their puzzled faces) I thought to myself, "what I want for her right now is to put the poop in the potty so she can attend this friggin' school!" Later, another parent told me the correct answer was "What we want for our child is to learn the Japanese way," a reply that elicited respectable "Aahh!"s and nods from the officials. DUH!! Oh well. They did indeed slide a piece of paper across the table when the interview was done, a certificate that allowed us to pay them ungodly amounts of money in uniform and tuition fees so that our child could attend school there. Confused but happy, we walked outside the interview room where our translator struggled to diplomatically relate what they discussed in Japanese during the interview. It seems they were concerned that Rick and I are old (41 though our translator wrote 42), and that this somehow means we might be babying our child. Well, all I have to say is if we are, this school will straighten her right out!

So she's going full-time now to her "normal" class (the daycare/preschool) now and will begin the transition class on February 1st. Then they'll break for 2-3 weeks in March and start a new school year on April 1, along with all the other Japanese schools. At that time we'll attend an "opening ceremony" which is traditional for most schools and many businesses, when we'll wear our business attire again, officials will address the school (telling the children how important it is to study and work hard, and probably something about health and exercise too) and then she'll begin full-on Japanese kindergarten. She goes for 5-6 hours a day Monday through Friday (no nap), and for a few hours every other Saturday (we have no choice in the matter -- if we want to keep her in the program, she has to attend normal school hours). She'll wear a uniform to school and carry a standard backpack, and when she gets to school, it turns out, she takes OFF this uniform we've paid oodles of money for, and puts on the school's "sports" uniform. For reasons it's unclear to me, she cannot GO to school in this sports attire, it must instead remain at school so that she can change into it. And as the children change themselves all together, they must wear undershirts "for modesty" (which I find funny because they also all go to the bathroom together, boys and girls, and being Japanese, they've also all probably been to onsen already where little boys run around naked in the women's bath and vice versa...nakedness everywhere!) I'm guessing the wearing of the uniform to and from school has to do with the "show" that seems to permeate Japanese culture. In onsen you take a seated shower in front of the other bathers as it is important that everyone see you scrub yourself thoroughly before stepping into the bath. At restaurants you receive a wet cloth at your place setting which allows you to clean your hands in front of your fellow diners. The uniform she'll wear to school I guess is representative of the school and shows others it's a serious school (though its attendants are 2-5 year-olds who would otherwise be making macaroni pictures back in the states). I'll be sure to post some pictures of both outfits once they arrive.

So that's where we are with school. Stay tuned to see if she gets kicked out the first week for throwing her "inside shoe" ......