Sun. Sept. 14, Mon. Sept. 15 – Galileo’s guesthouse and Monday afternoon karaoke

On Sunday, I really wanted to check out Vitamin G’s (aka my Filipino brother from another mother) matsuri (“festival”) in Ishikawa. I randomly texted H. for a ride there, and mentioned that we had some JET friends in common. (H. has been dubbed the “King of Fukushima” lol). He kindly drove myself and some other JETs, so that was grrrrrreat!

G’s lovely abode is tucked away from plain view, so we first saw his gravel driveway with a small trailer on the left. We kept joking that it was his guesthouse, and I think I have a picture of it somewhere…
The matsuri itself was a lot of fun. We first sat with a bunch of his townsfolk who were sitting on blue tarps. They offered us food like miso soup, and beverages of choice. Everyone was dressed up for the occasion, with men wearing dark blue coats, and white bottoms. (Some of them made it into a no-pants party. Awkward?) The high school girls were in all-white attire with a pink scarf, while the dudes For most of the matsuri, we followed G. and his group who were busy carrying a mikoshi. (Mikoshi)…. A sumptuous dinner capped off the festivities. We sat around low tables, and feasted over sushi. Mmm.
That night, I think we crammed six people into G’s little living room. I had one of those “Whoa, I’m in Japan!” moments as we squished several futons into place.
The next morning, we were supposed to start heading back home after banana pancakes. But we ended up getting lunch at a nearby restaurant. As we were homeward-bound, we all decided to join Heather-sensei and Grant for mid-afternoon drinks in Nihonmatsu. This brilliant idea led to two-hour karaoke, which then extended to three hours. Yet another hilarious experience I could not fathom back home.

Sat. Sept. 13 – Hurly-burly-curly’s birthday!

Walking through tall grasses in the middle of nowhere in Fukushima City, I looked at used car after used car in Nana’s (an amazingly helpful dude who sells cars) grassy parking area. I was looking for an automatic kei-car with at least two years’ worth of shaken. (Shaken is some sort of biannual vehicle inspection deal).
He had tons of cars, but most of them were standard. So, my decision was pretty easy. I settled on a small silver k-car with a bright blue interior. It also has a cassette deck, which will let me play my iPod. Sweet! The price was a little steep given my salary, but my parents spoiled me with extra cash money before I got here… thanks a million, Mom and Dad!! I’ll pay you back some how ☺ I’ll need to find another job when I get home, though…
That night, we had a little dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant in Fukushima to celebrate S’s birthday. (S. is an English teacher from nearby Otama Village. She’s hilarious, and always says very English things such as: “That’s ace!” I love it). Anyways, the view overlooked the eki-mae (front of the train station), making it interesting to watch people go about their business. We then moved onto karaoke, which as you know… I love karaoke!! Hitting up nomihodai (all-you-can drink) at both the restaurant and karaoke proved to be a swell idea.

Mon. Sept. 8 to Fri. Sept. 12 – What it’s like to be a human tape recorder

Back home, I stumbled into tons of people who told me the cons of being an assistant language teacher.
In essence, I sometimes feel like a mascot of all things foreign. I am used in many classes only for my natural Canadian accent, in that the English class mantra often involves: “Please repeat after Gemma-sensei…” Oh, and I’m also allowed to do greetings and warm-up games. In a 50-minute class, I talk for about 10-15 minutes on a good day. Well, one of my JTEs does give me a greater talking role in class. We like doing skits with the day’s language target! That's always fun.
I’m so glad that I didn’t invest hundreds of dollars in taking that intensive TESOL course before coming here, because I don’t really have to prepare anything. There have been a couple instances where I’ve had to come up with worksheets for my students. But other than that, I can come into class unprepared. I’ve offered to create activities and games, but I’m often greeted with a “Oh, maybe?!” I’ll become more assertive as time goes on. And seriously, isn't there an 80-20 rule? That's totally out of the window. I’d like to get some actual teaching experience before I leave Japan…
Although I’m outlining the boring parts of this job, I really do enjoy my city and school life. The kids always greet me with a friendly “Hello!” in the hallways. And during recess, I make an effort to hang out with them. They are super kawaii (cute) and genki, so that’s what helps get me excited every morning. Even on my daily seven-minute walk to work, I see many of my students hurriedly making their way to school on their bikes. One of my outgoing san-nensei boys (third-year student) likes beaming with pride as he shouts a hearty “GOOD MORNING!” to me.
There was one day this weekend we had a pantomime theater crew perform in our gymnasium. It was pretty hilarious when they asked for students and one teacher (who looks like a bear! But he’s actually quite nice) to come up on stage. They had to act our “Romeo and Juliet,” which ripped the kids into pieces.