Well, there's not a whole lot to go into this post. I have a brief story, and then I will unload some basic pictures that, until now, I have failed to take. First, the story: last weekend, I spent a night out in the city. I just got my paycheck (we are paid once a month, so this is a really big deal) and I was ready to blow some of it. It started in a bar where many JETs were participating in a pub quiz. I arrived too late because I was at work until about 6, talking to students and helping them correct essays in preparation for college entrance examinations. This is an interesting note: American students fear the SATs but have some succor in knowing that the score is not the only factor in their ability to attend college. Imagine if the SATs were, in fact, the only thing that mattered. You are now a Japanese high school student. They take one test, and if I'm not mistaken, they only get one shot at it, and this is done for each school they apply to. To be fair, the test is more comprehensive than the SATs and is designed by individual schools. So, there is an interview involved that is similar to ours; but the thought of everything falling on one day is daunting. Anyway, I was sipping on a nice, stupidly priced Belgian beer and spectating the pub quiz before another JET and I decided to head out for some karaoke with a pair of Japanese women who teach English. On the way to the place, one of the women decided to make me try on her hat, which was one of those fuzzy round semi-orbs that plops over your head and has two fuzzy balls hanging from it. I don't have a picture yet. Everyone thought, for some reason, that it looked good on me. So in the street, we began the Japanese pasttime of a cell phone photo shoot. In keeping with my personality, I failed to smile for any pictures and instead made weird, pretending-to-be-but-completely-aware-that-its-not-sexy faces. Despite the hat and faces, I would contest that I was pretty well-dressed. So, potentially because of that and definitely because of the nature of the scene, two foreigners posing with Japanese women for pictures, another Japanese couple approached.
"Will you take a picture with me?" the boy asked in perfect Japanese.
"Yes," I answered in perfect Japanese.
We took two pictures. Several other people now started crowding around, asking who I was and if I was some celebrity. I did not have the presence of mind to say yes, so the moment quickly dissipated. That was my first ever feeling of celebrity, and I dealt with it gracefully. Now, back to daily life. Here's some pictures of the school that I go to four days a week.
1: A view of my desk while it is covered with exams to be graded.
2: The view from my desk, looking at the door to the principal's office and the communal sink to the left of it where teachers brush their teeth after lunch.
3: The teachers' office at a very empty moment.
4: This is the "Seminar House", a building with a small teachers' office and a couple study rooms for after school.
5: The main building where my desk and most of the second and third grader classes are.
6: The entrance gate to the school grounds.
7: My beast of a moped, Shannon.
8: The parking shelter for the first and second grade students' mopeds. I used to park Shannon here. You cannot run your moped on school grounds, probably because of the noise. So, it is a bit of a hassle to walk it all the way to the shelter. However, I now have a special spot reserved for me right next to the main building. And by special spot, I mean a spot that was made solely because we need more room in the shelter for incoming students.
9: They also need to keep their bicycles dry; this is where they do it.
10: Rakes against a bush; see next picture.
11: It's warm enough for some things to start blooming. Also, on the right, you can vaguely make out a sign saying "2-4". This is a class number; each class is assigned a part of school grounds to maintain during cleaning time, which is after lunch.
12: A hallway on the third floor of the main building where third graders have their class. "Third graders" means "third year high school students". Posted outside of each classroom is a room number sign. The visible one is for the first class of third grade. The classes stick together all through the day and stay in the same room. The teachers move to them, in much the opposite fashion of that in America.
13: A typical classroom. Typical in that it is incredibly quiet. These kids are horribly silent sometimes.
Later, America!
3 comments:
Until the description for photo 12, I was a bit concerned about the safety of all those 7-year-olds driving mopeds to school.
Perhaps you should ask the other teachers not to spit so loudly... and to stop smearing their feces on your desk drawers and the cabinets.
The feces! I never noticed that horrible rust in person; I saw it today when I uploaded the picture. It looks foul. Thanks for the comment, lolz.
Do you have the same helmet as everyone else?
Post a Comment