Christmas insanity

It's been a tradition of mine to bake chocolate chip cookies (with red and green M&M's for a festive touch) for presents since high school. (Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the recipe.)

Back home with a regular big oven that can bake something like 50 cookies at once, it only took me about an 1.5hr to make around 100 cookies, but here in Japan all I've got is a regular toaster oven and a two-tier toaster oven. I can only make about 25 cookies in one shot so it takes me about 2.5hr to make a batch of about 70-100 cookies.

Still, that's an improvement from my first two years in Japan when I only had a regular toaster oven and it took me 3hr to make a single batch. (If I make multiple batches at once, the time savings are even more noticeable.)

Since this is my last year on JET I decided to be super ambitious and to give cookies to pretty much all of the schools I've visited regularly this year (thankfully there aren't so many--2 junior highs, and 4 elementary schools) as well as my Board of Education, Japanese dance teacher, and taiko group members.

The breakdown:
Tue. Dec. 6- 2.5hr for 67 cookies
Sun. Dec. 11 - 6hr for 281 cookies
Mon. Dec. 12 - 4hr for 189 cookies
Mon. Dec. 19 - 2.5hr for 89 cookies
Total = 15hr over 4 days for 626 cookies

It was an insane amount of work, especially since I also had the JLPT (where I flunked the N1 spectacularly) and English Day (two days of activities from 9am~4pm with 60 elementary 5th and 6th graders and junior high school students) in December.


But it was totally worth it. Some of my highlights from giving out cookies were:

1) at an elementary school, the student I was sitting next to during lunch noticed that I didn't have any cookies for myself and asked "Sensei, hitokuchi wa doudesuka?" (Sensei, would you like a bite of my cookie?). Of course I declined since I had had plenty sampling each batch to make sure they were OK, but it was soooo sweet of the student to offer. ^_^

2) at Kirita, after I gave out the cookies to the 3rd years, one of the students commented that they looked forward to the cookies all year (ichinenkan no tanoshimi--or something along those lines). And another student asked me for the recipe. =D

There's really nothing better than the feeling that you've brightened up someone's day even just a little.

Small joys

Lately there's been a lot of stuff going on and it's been taking a lot of energy just to get through the day. I feel like I'm getting by on fumes.

But this week I've had some reminders of why I need to really cherish all of my remaining time at schools:

On Monday I went to a junior high school (that isn't my base school) and taught the third years. To get back to the teachers' room, I passed by the second year classrooms and got a number of cheerful "Hello's". And in the midst of the "hellos," I heard one boy saying "Poo. Poo." At first I didn't realize that he was talking to me, but then I heard him say (in Japanese) to some friends, "Do you know what "poo" means in Japanese?"

And I realized it was a student I had taught when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school!! At that time, he asked me how to say "unko" in English and I told him without even thinking. After that he didn't even say "hello" to me, but always just said "poo" whenever I saw him. The ALT who visited that elementary school fairly regularly the following year (my second year in Towada) told me that the student continued the tradition with him.

So back to Monday.

When I realized what he was saying and who he was, I turned around (there were a bunch of boys so I couldn't pick him out) and called out (in Japanese): "You still remember that?!" The guys all laughed and I continued on to the teachers' room. Then at the end of the day the same boy passed me and again he greeted me with "Poo! Poo!" rather than the standard "hello."

I should probably feel guilty for teaching him the word, but, well, I find it pretty funny and almost touching that he still remembers something that I unthinkingly taught him so long ago. ^_^

(I've got to admit that even after that experience, I still--even up to now--tell students almost whatever word they ask me to teach them in English. I've taught "diarrhea" and "pawn shop" among many other words.Obviously I don't teach them anything completely inappropriate, however.)

Then another nice moment came today, when a former student of mine and sister of a current student at Kirita came into the school to wait for her mother to finish having a discussion with one of the teachers. Since I was free, I hung out with her in the multi-purpose room and helped her with her (high school) English homework.

It wasn't anything special--mostly I was just reading out the textbook sentences that she needed to write in her notebook--but it was really great to be able to spend time with a former student.

Oh, and I guess another "small joy"--although not school related--is that the July JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) results finally arrived today and somehow I managed to pass the N2. (The test has five levels, with N5 being the lowest level and N1 being the highest. So N2 is the second most difficult level.)

Actually, I'm not all that happy about it because I truly believe it was pure fluke that I passed. (Just look at my scores!) I didn't study at all for the test and I had signed up for it with the idea that by spectacularly failing this time around I would become motivated to study properly for the December test.

(And when I say I didn't study, I mean it quite literally. Not counting stuff like reading manga and watching dramas/movies in Japanese, I'd say I probably spent maybe 5-10 hours--and that's a generous estimate--specifically studying for the test from the time I registered til the day I wrote it. I've probably spent more time studying Japanese in the past week or two than I did before the test!)

So I really didn't actually deserve to pass. All the result tells me is that I'm a pretty decent guesser. Well, that and my listening is fine--that was the only section that I had confidence in, and I aced that part.

And it actually leaves me with a dilemma since I had never even considered that I would actually pass and so I bought the test application form planning on taking the N2 again in December. But since I did manage to pass, I now need to decide whether I will attempt the N1 or if I'll just try to sell my form to someone else.

Given that I barely passed the N2 (20/60 for the Vocabulary/Grammar section!), it would really be a waste of money to try the N1, particularly given that I'm going to be super busy until about the beginning of November and won't have time to do the hardcore studying that would be required if I seriously wanted to pass.

And given that my contract will end (and I'll have to go back to Canada) at the beginning of August, I don't think that failing the N1 in December would particularly motivate me to try to pass it in July because I know that I'll be way to busy with my departure preparations around that time.

But it seems like kind of a waste to not at least give it a shot while I'm still in Japan. Plus writing the test is a great excuse for taking a road trip to Morioka with everyone. (And since December is so busy, I don't think I'd go on the road trip if I wasn't writing the test.)

So yeah, I don't really know what I want to do. And I still don't actually feel particularly happy about passing the test since it wasn't something I accomplished by my own efforts/skill but simply through dumb luck/fluke. If it wouldn't be a waste of money, I'd almost like to write the test again (even though I've already passed once).

A good thing?

A friend of mine always says that being busy is a good thing. But I think this might be too much of "a good thing:"

Friday's schedule:
- elementary school 1: periods 2-4 (6th gr. classes) & lunch
- elementary school 2: periods 5-6 (2/3/4 & 5/6 split classes)
- junior high school: after school speech coaching (~30min)
- Japanese dance practice (~1hr)
- Towada Fall Festival Kirita taiko practice (1.5~2hr)

AND it's forecast to go up to 29 degrees tomorrow. @_@ Thank goodness I don't have any particular plans for Saturday, otherwise I think I just might die.

Tired =_=

It has a been a very long week of Sports Festival preparations.

Apart from Monday (when I was at the Board of Education and not at school), I stayed late every day (Thursday I left Kirita around 6:30pm and Tuesday I was actually at school until 8:00pm! @_@ ) and on top of that I worked both Saturday (7:55am-4:45pm) and Sunday (7:55am-3:30pm).

Then today I had daikyu (a substitute holiday since I attended the Sports Festival on Sunday) today, but I spent pretty much the entire afternoon preparing the script for the play that Towada and other nearby ALTs will be performing in Japanese at the June 5th Towada Association for International Relations party.

It's all stuff that I chose to and enjoy doing, but it's still tiring. (Going to school on Saturday for the Sports Festival practice/preparations, for example was completely voluntary--i.e. I won't get daikyu or even mileage reimbursement.)

There's so much that I want to do, but I just don't have the energy to be running around non-stop for days and weeks on end anymore. Even though in retrospect they often feel like "wasted time", I think the days that I can sleep in and then lounge around the house doing absolutely nothing are becoming more and more important to my sense of well-being.

*sigh* It's times like this that make me feel really old.

Bittersweet joys of teaching

Graduation is looming.

I had my final classes at one elementary school on February 18. After lunch all the students lined up in the hallway and three of the boys stood in front of me. They did a sports festival-like cheer: "Hurray, hurray, M~sensei..." and ended it with a "Thank you very much" from all the students.

Then I received a present from each class as I walked down the hall--high-fiving the students as I went--and headed towards the staircase (to leave). The last class even made an arch (with their arms) for me to walk under/through.

A group of students even followed me down the stairs and all the way to the teacher's office! I was walking backwards for a while so I could shake hands with them. ^_^

I was completely surprised and very nearly moved to tears. Then when I got home and looked at the presents--an album with a class photo on the front and messages from each student. It was humbling to realize that I've been so very blessed as to be able to teach such appreciative students and to work with such thoughtful teachers.

Then today was my final 給食 (kyuushoku = school lunch) with the graduating students at Kirita. Everything felt perfectly normal as we were eating, but as I was leaving, I could feel the beginning of tears welling in my eyes as I turned to give my habitual "See you!"

At least this year watching the students practice for the graduation ceremony hasn't made me teary-eyed. (Last year seeing them practicing their entrance was enough to get the waterworks started...) Still, I'm definitely expecting to need tissues and a handkerchief for the actual ceremony, to say nothing of the party afterward.

If last year was the group I was most emotionally involved with (because I worried so much about them and whether or not they'd be able to pass the exams for their first choice high schools), this year's class is probably the group I've spent the most time talking with. In class, outside of class, during extra English, they asked me random questions and talked to me (in both English and Japanese) more than any other class in my memories of Kirita.

One of my best and most recent memories is playing with them in the gym during lunch break. All the other students were on a trip to go ice skating in Misawa (the third years couldn't go because they needed to study for their entrance exams, plus if someone got injured before the test it'd be bad), so they had the gym to themselves. Most other grades would play basketball or something, but not this group: they played tag! I usually do work in the teachers' office during lunch, but I'm really glad I decided to go see what they were up to that day.

Even though I say this every year, I always truly mean it: I love my students and I'm really going to miss them once they've graduated. Still, there's no greater happiness for a teacher than to see students grow and continue on their life journeys...

Oh, and on a side note, after a weekend (from Friday night right through to Sunday) where I only left the house twice--to buy groceries on Saturday and to eat dinner on Sunday--I've finally finished this year's graduation sock monkeys! (I started working on them at the beginning of February, but until Friday I only had six done...)

~2500yen
+ 30hours
= 14 sock monkeys!!

Completed with two days to spare before the graduation ceremony!!

q(^-^q)(p^-^)p q(^-^q)(p^-^)p q(^-^q)(p^-^)p
(This is my happy dance!)

年末年始 End of 2010, Beginning of 2011

The end of 2010 was super busy for me (hence the lack of updates here). I spent most of my free time in December making/wrapping Christmas treats.

I went a little crazy this year and ordered four 1.5kg bags of Holiday M&Ms off of eBay. Somehow I didn't realize exactly how much 1.5kg actually amounted to--see, last year I used 2-3 bags of M&Ms for Christmas cookies, but after I saw the 1.5kg bags, I realized that I had probably used 750g bags before!! So yeah, 6kg of Christmas M&Ms was about four times as much as I actually needed!

So this year, on top of giving cookies to the Board of Education and students and teachers at the small schools (schools/classes with less than 30 students) I visit regularly, I also ended up giving Christmas presents to the entire sixth grade at the only large elementary school I've visited regularly this year (~120 students in total). I put some Holiday M&Ms in a small bag with some Japanese cookies/candies to make it fill up nicely.

The second last week of school (Dec. 11-17) in particular was crazy. I spent practically the entire weekend baking cookies, and then all of my spare time after work, dance practice and taiko wrapping everything! But even though it made me insanely busy/tired, it was totally worth it!

Money spent on Christmas cookies/treats: ~$200
Time spent baking/wrapping: ~20hr
Spreading Christmas cheer: PRICELESS

(Ok, cheesy, I know, but so true! I really look forward to making Christmas cookies every year!)

Then we had our office trip to Hakodate. It was my third time there so the sightseeing wasn't so important to me as the food!! I had いくら・ほたて・とろサーモン丼 (salmon roe, scallop and toro salmon rice), いかすみソフト (squid ink soft serve ice cream) and かにまん (crab meat steamed bun) all within the first 2-3 hours upon arrival!

A co-worker also had the Lucky Pierrot (a local Hakodate burger chain) 函館山バーガーHakodate Yama Burger. It's a massive burger roughly three and a half to four times the size of a regular burger and costs 1100yen. There are only 20 burgers available per day at each shop. My co-worker happened to get the very last one of the day at the shop near the station! (Apparently someone tried to order one after we ordered and was told that they were sold out.)

Other than eating, we did actually manage to see some Hakodate sights: the night view from Mt. Hakodate, the (daily) lighting ceremony for the giant Christmas tree (from Halifax!) at the Bay Area, and Goryoukaku.

December 23rd I flew back to Canada. That night we (my parents and I) had dinner at Canyon Creek (steak!) and then hit up the Chapters to get my Christmas present: a Kobo eReader!!

Christmas Eve was the church's English service. A bunch of us hung out at Ollie & Cheese's place afterward. The next morning (Christmas day) my parents and I had to be out of the house by 4:30am to catch our flight to San Francisco. My brother joined us there the next day (Boxing Day).

Some highlights from the trip:

Sea lions at Pier 39 (Fisherman's Wharf)

Mint Bliss sundae @ Ghirardelli Square

Lombard Street, "The World's Crookedest"

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Park Japanese Tea Park

Boudin Bakery's turtle-shaped sourdough

On our last night we were also able to meet up with my aunt, uncle, cousin and her family for dinner at Park Chow. It was my first time meeting my cousin's husband and daughters since I was in Japan when they came to Toronto for a visit. Another cousin who is studying in a nearby university also dropped by our hotel room later that evening for a visit. It really was a family trip in more than one sense of the word! ^_^

We got back to Canada on the night of the 29th. The 30th I met up with Steph and Lisa and we went to Hubert and Angela's for dinner (Ceci was there too, of course)! It was my first time at their new place and meeting Caleb--such a cutie! And I was surprised at how social/talkative he is! Steph and Lisa taught us a fun game--a cross of pictionary and broken telephone--and we nearly died laughing over some of the results...

Basically every starts off with a piece of paper and writes a sentence or phrase (movie title, song lyrics, etc. are fine). Then everyone passes the paper to the next person who draws a picture of the sentence/phrase and folds the paper down so the text isn't visible to the next person. The next person looks at the picture and writes a sentence/phrase based on the picture and folds the paper down so the picture isn't visible to the next person. And so it continues until you get the sentence you originally wrote back.

(The above are from our very first round, I believe.)

The 31st was brunch at Cora's with Steph and Lisa.

Then I headed downtown to hang out with Liz and Clara until Alan came home and Huston, Ivy and Elizabeth came over and we all had dinner together.

After that I headed to Syv and Justin's for the countdown. Jen and I slept over and Syv made us pancakes and eggs (and smoked salmon!) for breakfast New Year's morning.

My parents picked me up and I spent the rest of New Year's Day reading and sleeping. The second was breakfast with the girls at Cora's (again!) before service. After church I headed downtown to have lunch (steak crepe--yum!) and hang out with Carly.

The third was the BSGE hot pot!! We actually did a good job with buying the food this time and didn't have too much leftover. We also played the pictionary-telephone game--again, with hilarious results.

My final day of vacation  (Jan.4) was another do-nothing-day at home, but in the evening we had a family dinner (i.e. Nate came to Mississauga) at Pho, of all places. (Mostly because I had overeaten throughout the holidays and really wasn't up for a big meal.)

All in all I had a pretty good end of 2010 and start of 2011.
^_^

More "fun" with English

Here are some other recent gems from English class:

From a third year dialogue activity. There are two pictures: 1) Ken is reading a comic book with his notebook open in front of him and his English textbook on the desk; 2) his mother comes in with cake; the comic book is peeking out from his now closed notebook and Ken is holding his English textbook upside down.

Students had to choose from a selection of responses to fill in [correct answers here]. Then students had to write original sentences to finish the skit:

Ken: Just a minute.
Mother: Here's some cake. Are you studying hard?
Ken: [Yes, of course.]
Mother: Really? What subject are you studying?
Ken: [I'm studying Japanese... I mean, English.]
Mother: What's that in your notebook?

Ken: Oh my god!
Mother: You are [a] bad boy and fool!

Ken: This is my friend.
Mother: I'm sad to hear that.

=D I was particularly impressed with the originality of the latter ("I'm sad to hear that").

Then, today the second grade students got their Unit 5 tests back. For one of the questions they had to write original sentences using the pattern: "I think that [friend's name] likes [something]." I'm not sure if these answers (emphases are mine) are so much funny as mildly disturbing....

I think that [friend's name] likes little boys.
I think that [friend's name] likes little girls.

@_@;;

That was unexpected...

Students never cease to surprise/amuse me. Two original sentences from today's classes at Kirita:

"My favorite place was the [hotel] bathroom."

The second years went on a school trip to Tokyo last week. In today's English class they wrote about the experience using a fill-in-the-blank style worksheet. The student originally only had "bathroom" written, but made it more specific at my prompting.^_~  (The student did eventually replace "bathroom" with the more appropriate "Gekidanshikigekijo," a.k.a. Shiki Theatre.)

"Tuesday, November sixteenth, cloudy

You nooooooob!!"

Before class each day, a different student is in charge or writing the day, date and weather on the board (in English, of course). The third year students often draw pictures nearby (Doraemon, poop, etc.) but today "You noooooob!!" was written in very small writing under the weather. It turned out that the student had picked it up while playing an online game. =P

I was pleased that the student was able to understand when I explained the term using English appropriate for a third-year--something along the lines of: "A noob is a new person. It usually means a new person who doesn't understand the rules or can't play the game well."

Character education

Recently I actually had to stop a class to address student behavior--a very rare occasion.

Having overheard--quite coincidentally--the teachers discussing the issue during the recess break before I taught the class, I was thankfully more aware of the classroom dynamics than I might otherwise have been and also was somewhat mentally prepared to deal with the situation that arose.

A student was consistently louder than the other students and they (the other students) found it very irritating. Their feelings were quite obvious as most of them were holding their hands over their ears when that student spoke too loudly for their liking (which was most of the time, apparently).

Usually I'm fairly loud and energetic when doing the "teaching words" portion of a class (i.e. I say words/phrases/sentences and the students repeat them), but, being conscious of the class atmosphere, this time when I did my "three times fast" repetition (e.g. "Apple. Apple. Apple, apple, apple!"), I purposely said it in a whisper. I was trying to gently hint to that student to lower his volume and also trying to defuse some of the tension with the other students.

Unfortunately the student only lowered his voice for the three times fast portion and went back to being noticeably louder than everyone for everything else. Some of the other students, frustrated/irritated, started saying "urusai!" (meaning "you're loud/noisy!" with a "shut up!" connotation) to the student. I let it pass once or twice, but then it wasn't just one or two students saying it once to let off steam, it was multiple students saying it repeatedly.

So I stopped the lesson and said something along the lines of (all in Japanese):

You know, if you always hear the people around you saying "urusai, urusai," you may stop wanting to speak. So please think about how your words make people feel and maybe ask in a nicer way, like "Could you please speak a little more quietly."

Also, I think it's great to be excited about English and to speak in a genki way, but it's also important to pay attention to the feelings of the people around you. Please look around and maybe contain your excitement a little if you see that it's bothering the people around you.

After that the atmosphere got a little better. The student did speak a little less loudly--sometimes. And the other students refrained from angrily saying "urusai"--for the most part.

I'm sure it will take quite a bit more time for the class dynamics to settle down, but judging from the looks on the students' faces while I was speaking, I think that they were at least really listening to what I was saying. And I can only hope that they were able to understand what I was trying to tell them.

My intention wasn't to scold them. I wanted to encourage them to think more about each other's feelings and to show more consideration and kindness to each other.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to talk with the teacher who was in the classroom at the time that I was giving the talk. I would've liked to have heard her opinion as to whether or not what I said was appropriate/beneficial in that situation.

(I also regret that I probably wasn't able to express my feelings as clearly as I wanted to--in general I'm not good at expressing myself when put on the spot, and my Japanese also still isn't up to par... )

I'll be at the school again this week, so we'll see how the atmosphere in the class is... I really hope I won't have to give a similar talk again...

Fight & make up

Just before the beginning of one of my classes today, two male students got into a bit of a tussle at the back of the classroom.

Since that particular class is mostly boys, they often horse around so I didn't realize they were fighting for real until just before/right around the time my JTE rushed back there to break things up.

I don't know the particulars, but it seems like there was some sort of mutual misunderstanding--and seemingly with some sort of build-up from earlier--that just escalated. It wasn't the conflict itself that really struck me, however, but the aftermath/resolution.

After my JTE heard both of them out (this was at the back of the classroom while the rest of the students were diligently doing questions from their workbooks with me supervising/helping), both of the boys started crying.

And it wasn't because they were hurt. They were crying because they were upset/remorseful about the fight. (When their homeroom teacher talked to them about it, both of them said they felt that they had been in the wrong.) Even after their injuries (minor) had been tended to, apologies had been made, and class had resumed, both of them were still sniffling for a fair period of time.

It sounds a bit odd to say this, but I've got to admit that I thought it was rather cute/admirable. I mean, I've had elementary students come to me crying while apologizing for tearing the corner of one of my flashcards (I didn't even notice, but their teacher obviously did and made sure they apologized properly), but it was a bit of a surprise for me to see such reactions from junior high students (and they aren't first years either).

I guess it impresses me to see teenagers display that kind of sincerity/pure heartedness. And it makes me glad to know that they haven't become "too cool" to openly express their feelings--especially in apologizing.

And I thought my JTE's response to the situation was also quite admirable. Once things had settled down and we were ready to start class, she briefly talked to everyone about the importance of talking things out to avoid misunderstandings, as well as the importance of being careful with words (because they can hurt and once said, they can't be taken back) and apologizing and making up after conflicts.

Such basic, simple things, really.

If only more people made greater efforts to do these simple things, I think the world would be a much better place.

Graduations

I love the ceremony and solemnity of Japanese graduation ceremonies. It never fails to impress me how smooth and well-orchestrated everything is. (As it should be considering how long they spend practicing beforehand! But that's another story...)

Apart from the Kirita graduation ceremony, I also went to two elementary school ceremonies this year. The first one was at a large school, with 113 students graduating. With that many students, I was really impressed at how in sync they were as the picked up their graduation certificates, moved their chairs to face the audience instead of the stage, and then sat down again--pretty much all in unison.

The other nice thing about elementary graduation ceremonies is that they have a sort of choral reading combined with their song presentations. It's hard to explain, but it's kind of like a conversation between the graduating students and their underclassmen. A few students stand up at a time and one by one they say phrases/sentences recollecting memories from their six years at the school, or giving words of advice to their underclassmen/upperclassmen. For some lines all of the students say it together--like "arigatou gozaimashita" or "sayonara" ("thank you," "goodbye").

And occassionally intermixed with that are songs. At the larger school, one of the songs even had a part for the teachers to sing! Since I was sitting with the teachers and the lyrics were printed in the program, I did my best to sing along, too.

Even though I didn't spend nearly as much time with the elementary school kids as I did with my Kirita students (usually I only saw them once a month), the elementary school ceremonies were nonetheless moving at parts. (Or maybe I'm just turning into a sap?) I found it quite touching how all the students really put their hearts into the choral readings/songs.

And at the second elementary graduation I attended--at a small school this time--I was really moved by the 感謝の言葉 (kansha no kotoba--words of thanks). Since there were only 10 graduating students, they had enough time to include messages of thanks from all of the students to their parents. Each student stood in front of their parent(s) and one by one they read aloud thank you messages.

Seeing the parents (and sometimes the students themselves as well) sniffling and wiping away tears, I couldn't help but get a little watery-eyed as well. (I was already feeling a bit teary just from listening to the messages, but I'm also a sympathetic crier--when I see people crying, my eyes water, too.) Of course, that day just happened to be the day that I completely forgot to put any tissues or a handkerchief in my bag (whereas I had both for the Sanbongi graduation and didn't use either), so it was a bit of an effort to hold my sniffling back.

At most schools they have some sort of send off--or at least the students go off somewhere for an after party, but the students at the small school had their lunch/party in the school gym, so instead of just seeing them off, I went up to the classroom to say my farewells. I was really happy that I also got a chance to take a photo with all of them (and the fifth graders as well, since it was a split 5/6 class). ^__^ They were definitely one of my favourite classes of all time to teach. (You can probably guess why just from looking at the photo.)

TMI

I have a bad habit of giving too much information to students when they ask me personal questions.

Recently, I was at an elementary school and talking with some 6th grade girls during lunch break. Since it was at a school and with a grade I've taught regularly this past year, they felt comfortable enough to ask more than the usual "Do you have a boyfriend?" question.

For example, they asked about if I'd had been hugged by a guy before, kissed before, when my first kiss was, whether I was living with anyone, if I had plans for marriage in the near future, and the kicker: if I'd ever had sex. @_@;;

I was so surprised by the last question I simply blurted out the truth: an appalled "NO!" (したことないよ!). It's not that I'm a prude or anything (or so I hope), but it's just that I was shocked that sixth graders would even ask such a question.

Since my answer was "no", I don't think it was such a problem that I answered them honestly, but still, I immediately realized that I shouldn't have answered that question at all and probably many of the earlier ones as well. ("Give an inch and they'll take a mile," right?) I mean, it wasn't a big deal to me, but I don't want them getting the mistaken impression it's OK to ask ALTs overly personal (失礼な) questions simply because we're ALTs. It's a matter of maintaining boundaries.

Part of the problem for me is that I feel like the line between "teacher" and "playmate" is quite blurred for ALTs. And because the line is blurred, I tend to treat my students here more like "my WAY kids"--the teens in the church youth group where I served as a counselor--than like the students I taught when I was working as a teacher in Mississauga.

I mean, part of the role of a youth group counselor is to be open about your life with the kids so they can see how God is working in it. And I think the kids get more out of our interactions with them when they feel like they know us and vice-versa. Conversely, in my first (and only) semester working as a teacher at a high school, I was very conscious of maintaining a professional distance and made it a point not to share much personal information because I knew it would be easy to fall into the trap of trying to be "friends" with my students...

Another thing that put me off my guard, I guess, was that I was with elementary students. It's probably not a very accurate image, but I feel like with the ES kids it's more "innocent" curiosity so I don't think twice about answering questions that I probably wouldn't answer coming from JHS students. [Ah, that reminds me, one of the girls asked me "What does it feel like to "like" someone?" which I thought was really cute. But I digress...]

Anyway, apart from recognizing that I need to be a bit more vigilant in establishing/maintaining personal/professional boundaries with students, the conversation also made me realize that growing up in a Christian environment and being a Christian really does actually set you apart from the prevailing culture.

To me it's quite natural to think that sex is something to be saved for marriage. But when I stop and think about it, that's really quite an uncommon value/ideal/belief to hold in today's society.

It's really a shame that I didn't think to say something about that to the students when I answered their question. I would've liked to have at least made them aware that some people actually choose to remain and/or believe in staying chaste until marriage--and that it's not necessarily just something resulting from a lack of interest/opportunity.

When the Sane Go Marching In

I'm really not a pronunciation Nazi, but after spending a good portion of sixth period today listening to the students practicing their songs for the Culture Festival, I was ready to tear my hair out.

As you can guess, one of the songs they are performing is "When the Saints Go Marching In." But somehow it was never actually "saints" but "sane," "scene" or occasionally even "sea". @_@ If this was at a school that only had ALT visits once in a while I could totally understand, but I've been going to this school three times a week for the past two years and two months! Why not ask me--even just once--for the proper pronunciation?

I really wanted to say something, but didn't really feel that it was my place to do so. (I get along well enough with the music teacher, but we're not close enough for me to feel comfortable "correcting" him.) *sigh* Oh well. Their pronunciation for everything else is pretty good, so I really shouldn't dwell on that one word.

Peanut butter cookies

Who knew they were so easy to make? With rampant peanut allergies in Canada, I would never even think of bringing peanut butter cookies to school/work, much less suggest making them in school!I don't know if it's just Towada or Japan in general, but I have yet to meet a Japanese person with a peanut allergy.

So anyway, I was scheduled to help out today with English club at one of my favourite elementary schools, Sanbongi ES. Since I was at the school on Monday, I had a chance to talk with the teacher in charge, Kawaguchi-sensei about the club activities. She was planning on doing a cooking class and wanted to know easy "Canadian" (/American) snack recipes.

Off the top of my head I could only think of "ants on a log," s'mores, and shakes. Since the club members are all female, Kawaguchi-sensei vetoed the "ants on a log" but went for the s'mores and shakes. I told her I'd let her know if I thought of anything else.

On Tuesday, inspiration struck: peanut butter cookies!! I'd never made them before, but I remembered seeing the recipe on Kraft Peanut Butter jars and thinking how ridiculously easy they sounded.

Well, I looked up the recipe online at Kraft Canada and discovered that it really is super easy:

"Super-Easy Peanut Butter Cookies"

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter (~260g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
1 egg (you can also use just the egg white, if you prefer)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Mix all ingredients until well blended.
2. Roll into ~24 balls and place on baking sheets. Flatten with fork.
3. Bake for ~20min. or until lightly browned. Cool 5min. on baking sheet before transferring to wire rack.

At the same time I found a recipe for peanut butter quares:

"3-Step Peanut Butter Squares"

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter (~260g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
1 egg (you can also use just the egg white, if you prefer)
~56g (2oz.) chopped chocolate


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Mix all ingredients until well blended.
2. Spread into 20cm (8-inch) square baking pan; sprinkle with chocolate.
3. Bake 20min. Cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.

I sent both recipes to Kawaguchi-sensei and she said we would use the recipe, but I wasn't sure which one she meant. Since, as I said, I've never actually made peanut butter cookies before, I decided to do a test bake on Wednesday night (i.e. the day before we'd be making it at the school).

I made the squares first, but unfortunately I didn't bake it quite long enough/didn't allow it to cool completely before cutting, so it ended up a somewhat crumbly mess. Edible, but only half of the squares actually retained a square-like shape. ^^;;

Thankfully the cookies were pretty much fool-proof. I was a bit worried because I only found 240g jars of peanut butter at the Jusco, so I reduced the amount of sugar a bit as well to compensate (I didn't bother trying to do a fraction of an egg--although I did try out using just the egg white as Bryan suggested), but they turned out fine. Well, I did overcook the last batch slightly because I had stopped paying careful attention by that point, but they weren't burnt or anything.

I brought the cookies to the office today and gave them out to the hard-workers--i.e. the people who were there after 5:30pm, which is when I went in!  The squares were too ugly for me to give away, so I kept them for self-consumption. (And ended up eating all of the messed up/crumbled pieces after dinner tonight. @_@;;)

Anyway, I was glad that I had practiced making the cookies the day before because I was in charge of the cookie group at the English club while Kawaguchi-sensei took care of the shakes and another teacher helped with the s'mores. Usually when I bake I'm very careful about measuring properly and sticking to the recipe, but having experienced the...flexibility...of the recipe, I was totally fine with eyeballing the peanut butter amount (Kawaguchi-sensei had purchased a 340g jar). I did bring my own measuring cup for the sugar, though, so we didn't have to guess with that.

Unfortunately we weren't able to finish the cookies in time for the students to eat them with the shakes and s'mores, but they were done in time for the students to take them home as they were leaving, so it worked out OK. 
So yeah, if you ever get asked to come up with a recipe for (North) American food for elementary kids, I recommend peanut butter cookies! Not only are they tasty, but everyone is always surprised that it's a cookie recipe with only three ingredients, and no flour!

S'mores are also easy and fun. Plus there's a bit more "culture"you can explain: 1) they're usually camping snacks; and 2) the name comes from "some more". If you've never made s'mores at home, again, the recipe is simple:

S'mores

Ingredients:
graham crackers
marshmallows
chocolate (squares or chocolate chips)

Directions:
1. Place graham crackers on a microwaveable plate.
2. Top crackers with marshmallows and microwave on high for ~30s. (Be careful to avoid burning the marshallows!)
3. Remove from microwave and put chocolate on top of the marshmallows. Top with another graham cracker and enjoy while hot!

And here's a basic shake recipe:

Fruit Shakes

Ingredients:
banana(s) and/or strawberries and/or other fruits
milk/yogurt
ice

Directions:
1. Add ingredients to taste and blend in blender. Serve & enjoy!

I HATE screwing up!

ARGHHHHHH!!!

I can't believe how stupid I was! I got my lesson plan for Friday a week ago and looked at it numerous times but didn't notice until 11pm tonight that they scheduled me for a 6th period class when I'm supposed to leave right after lunch tomorrow!!! (All of the Towada BOE ALTs are heading off to Aomori for the JET Leavers' Party.)

@_@

I can't believe I screwed up so badly! I was even looking at the lesson plan at school today and still didn't clue in! What an idiot... Now I've got to gear myself up for apologizing profusely tomorrow...

Honoured guest

As much as I love being considered "part of the family" at Kirita, sometimes it's nice to get "honoured guest" treatment. This Monday I happened to be teaching at Ofukanai (it's been about a year since my last visit!). I thought it was strange that they would want an ALT after the big JHS bunka sai (culture festival) weekend, but it turned out that they hadn't actually had their culture day yet.

Anyway, one of the activities for the ninensei to practice "if" clauses was to write the ALT (me) a fax to tell me about some news and to solicit a response of some sort (e.g. "Kumi broke her arm. If you are free, please come to the hospital with me."). It was good timing for such an activity since most students were able to tell me about the school festival and invite me to come. Even though they didn't actually give me the faxes (they handed them in to their teacher, of course), since I was duly informed about it, I decided I'd try to go if I could.

I found out from the JTE that the school festival would start at 9am. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of thinking the schedule would be similar to Kirita's (starting at 9am, but nothing really happening until the food things opened at 10am and performances, etc. going on in the afternoon), so I planned to go around 10am. Due to a very slow start to the morning, however, I ended up arriving around 10:45am.

As it turned out, I missed English speech recitations (well, I'd already heard them anyway!), sharing from the sannensei about the homestay in Canada (from when they were ninensei), and a music presentation by the sannensei. ^^;; Luckily I was in time to catch a good portion of the koma odori (horse dance).

At any rate, I got a very warm welcome when I entered the school. They gave me free food tickets (tempura udon and umeboshi onigiri) and when I went into the gym for the performance, they asked me to sit up front next to kocho-sensei! After the performance, kocho-sensei thanked me for coming and told me (all in impecable English) to please enjoy the festival.

I got quite a number of cheerful "hello's" from students and teachers. While I was looking at the stuff in the ichinensei classroom, I got...I guess you could say "accosted" by several (Horanai) elementary school students whom I'd taught a few times recently. They pretty much took (dragged =P) me around the rest of the day.

One girl, Miki, gave me one of her takoyaki. I shared my udon with the boy, Sho (?) since he didn't have any food tickets on him. Miki's father bought all of us frankfurters (on sticks!).

Apart from having more fun seeing the festival with people, it worked out well that I ended up hanging out with the Horanai students since they really enjoyed playing with my camera. As a result, I ended up actually getting photos of myself at the festival!

Originally I was planning on just dropping by for an hour or so, but I saw on the program that there'd be a choral competition in the afternoon (starting at 2pm) so I ended up staying until the end of the festival. All in all, I had a good time. If the festival turns out to be a different day from Kirita's again next year (assuming I'm still here), I think I'll try to visit again (making sure to come right from the start, though)!

For more pictures of the festival, see my Facebook album.

I've also updated/added some other photo albums:
Updated: Random Food (1 photo)
Updated: Japanese Kit Kat (1 photo)
New: Just Desserts