Japan: Me am real good engrish teechr!

Did I neglect to mention...

2007-04-09T14:06:00.000+09:00

I have gotten married!! It was just the technical marraige (paper marraige) here in Japan, but we're now legally married. Be having a ceremony later on after we return to US. In any case, life is wonderful when you're married to your soul mate. And the time is drawing near that we will move to the US and begin life there. This is a short post, but maybe that's because I'm too busy enjoying my life. ;)

PS Well, as long as I'm here, I might point out that I saw a Japanese crane yesterday. Quite a rare find actually, as there are only about 800 left in the world. Really beautiful. Elegant creature. I can understand why the crane has such a large role in Japanese culture. I caught some bad pictures of the crane as well. Maybe I'll post the best one on here when I get it off of the card.

Problems with Hotmail...

2007-02-22T15:22:00.000+09:00

This post is unrelated to Japan, teaching, and my life here, but it's something that has been bothering me. I posted almost the same post as this as comments on Ejovi Nuwere's blog (www.ejovi.net) but I wanted to post it here, too.

Has anyone noticed that features have suddenly been disappearing from hotmail?

Like the ability to arrange your mail by something other than from newest mail to oldest. You used to be able to click on the: "From, Subject, Date, Size" links and arrange it in either of the 2 possible directions. (like oldest to newest versusu newest to oldest, or names A-Z versun Z-A) Now they aren't links. You can't change the order. It is just from most recent to least recent.

And "Junk mail" used to give you a little number by it on parenthesis with the number of new messages. (ie: Junk E-Mail(3) ) If there was no number then you didn't need to check. This is important because messages in there are automatically deleted after a short period. Well, the number isn't there anymore... and I've missed checking it because it didn't say that it had any junk mail. (and I had mail in there that I wanted to recieve.) The number isn't there for "Inbox" either anymore, but I always check that.

Not only this, but there used to be a drop down menu that allowed you to chose which page of your inbox you wanted to go to. Like, page 23 of 55. Since we now have over 1GB of space it is likely that we'll have many pages of e-mails. Well this feature is also gone. So now the only way to get to page 23 is to click the forward arrow 22 times. :(

That's all I've noticed thus far, but it's happened fairly recently because I've been using these features until very recently. With these features gone, hotmail has truly become unusable. My guess is that thay want to squeeze everyone out so they can make them switch to their new Live Mail Hotmail whatever... (Windows Live Hotmail, is it now?) But the fact that they would go this far to do it is really infuriating. Now I have no choice but to join live mail (which I've heard many bad things about) or find a new mail account which means a new e-mail and telling all of my contacts that I have a new mail address...

it really is unusable; the other day I needed very desperately to find info in an e-mail from about 3 months back. Well, I new who it was from, but I couldn't arrange my mail by name. And I could guess about the page it would be on, but I still had to click 20 or 30 times to get to that page. And when I e-mailed the site and submitted my info which got me a reply e-mail with my password or username or whatever, this e-mail ended up in my junk mail which I never checked because it had no notification that there were unread messages there. Only when I had requested the info again and was getting desperate did I venture into the Junk Mail folder and find the e-mail. (incidently, it was there along with the RSS feed e-mail for Ejovi's site, which never used to be junk...) Hotmail... grrr...

My life is a Happy Ending

2007-02-06T15:25:00.000+09:00

Been a while again. Seems that I'm becoming good at lying online. I post about how I will be posting very often from now on and then I don't post for 3 months. Well, this time I'll not say anything of the sort and maybe I'll just happen to post more things in the near future.
One of... no, THE biggest reason for my break from posting is because I had a specific post that I wanted to write, but I wasn't sure if I should write it yet because I didn't want to post this big news online until I'd properly informed everyone close to me. That being:

I'm getting married.

Yeah, it's true! If you've been reading my blog for a little while you might remember when I wrote that I had found my soul mate. I didn't go all out and write fuzzy wuzzy stories of how perfect we were for each other and how fate had brought us together... but those stories would have been true. And thus we're engaged. Both of us are absolutely thrilled. It's one of those things that I was starting to question; you see the romantic comedies and read novels where true love occurs, but then you wonder if it's just a fantasy. I mean, we're here on Earth for the basic purpose of making children and living a happy life with our family, but this can be done without true love. (Don't read too deeply into the "we are on Earth for the purpose of..." bit, I'm generalizing, of course.) But it would not be outlandish to consider that the real key to a good marriage is to just find someone who you find attractive and date them long enough to find that you can stand being around each other all the time, and then you marry them. Well, I'm not saying that it'd be wonderful, just logical and functional, which --- really --- is more than we can say about some love-marraiges. BUT, the point that I'm trying to make here is NOT that true love doesn't exist. I had begun to ponder that possibility in a little corner of my mind... But I was so completely wrong. When you meet that one person who just completes you, who just gets you and matches you and makes you a better person... well, if and when that happens to you, you will know at that time that true love is real. Yeah, I do realize that I'm spouting cliches and telling you about true love when I've not even been married for any short amount of time yet, but the thing is... well you know how some people say that "you just know"? Those people are right. I've dated a number of women and felt like it was something special, but when I began seeing the woman who I am engaged to marry, it was completely different; it all just clicked. And I'm a logical fellow. Being one, I wouldn't let myself fall victim to the first feeling that said "this is the woman who I'm going to marry." Or the second. Or the third. Or the throbbbing of my heart, or the pain of seeing her go. It was just infatuation... or a romanticism created by the media... or I just wanted it to be... these are the possibilities I considered. So I waited and tried as hard as I could to find problems with her. I looked for problems with us. Having served boyfriend in several long term relationships I had seen how any small problem can grow and fissure over time into a deal breaker. For instance, if you are of a different religion with your partner it might seem as no problem on the first date, but when you have dated 2 years and you have to decide which church to go to or one of you wants not to go to church and then you start questioning how the other person can think the way they do... Or one person has a small habit that annoys the other. No problem at the beginning but then over time it develops into fights and arguments and comes up in the most inexplicable conversations... Anyway, I'm just saying that I picked apart our relationship in every possible way to find the flaw which was absolutly certainly definitely there somewhere.

...only that it wasn't.

So. We. Will. Be. Married.
My life is a romance.
My life is a Happy Ending.

I know, I know. I've gone and written about things which cannot be expressed in words. Gone and gotten mushy. Written about feelings and love and scary things that shouldn't be spoken of with a serious face except between two lovers. I've gone and said things that can't be tested and can't be proven. And I've said it with a straight face and meant every word.

I love my fiancee.
I'm getting married.
Just thought you'd like to know. :)

~Sven~

Living in a glass house is not unique to me...

2006-11-09T16:20:00.000+09:00

I (and other ALTs who I converse with) often feel like they treat us like children here. Like, because we are foreigners they try to control all aspects of our life to keep us from getting into trouble and, as such, they demand knowledge of all aspects of their life. For instance, ALTs who I know have been told that they cannot drive their personal car to Sapporo (Hokkaido's main city). This is a car that the ALT purchased with his/her own money and is fully funding as far as insurance, maintenance, etc. The ALT does not use this car for work. The ALT isn't going to Sapporo for work. It has nothing to do with the Board of Education... but, when the ALT happened to mention that he was going to go to Sapporo on the weekend (a 2 or 3 hour drive) they forbid it. This is your job. They can't do this! But they do. And other stranger things that you think they should not be involved with. But recently I found out that it is not just us foreigners who are being treated like children. We definitely are treated more like children, but normal Japanese employees must also expose their entire personal life to their employers. When you work somewhere they make you get a physical exam every so often. This is not for drugs (in US we might get a drug test to work somewhere). This is just for your normal health. And your work gets all of your information from your physical, and all your coworkers chat about it. If the doctor decides you are overweight (no, not me, if you know me you're laughing now) then all your coworkers are telling you to lay off the potato chips or to jog more. It's not like a support group, it's more like organized teasing. (and by the way, the "overweight" limit in Japan is quite low compared to that of US) It is so invasive.
I have a friend who everyone at the school says is overweight. (seems fine to me...) But, the thing is, they talk about it all the time. Apparently the doctor said he is overweight, so they are always teasing him about eating fattening things and exercise. And he just confirms them. "Yes, I am fat. I'm a bad person. I should lose weight." I am always shocked by that. Here it is normal.
I have a friend. Joe Japaneseman. (no, that really isn't his/her real name.) Joe is an English teacher. He was taking the test to get his teaching license. But he is a temporary English teacher at one of the schools until he gets it. (temporary is still like years.) He takes the test, and another teacher I know in the same position takes the test at the same time. This other teacher is far less qualified, but still manages to pass. Joe does not pass. He doesn't/won't ever get to hear the reason. But there is one strong probability, which is basically what he's figuring is the reason. He was speeding this year and got caught. Got a ticket. Because of the point system here and the absurdly low speed limits he actually lost his license, but just had to attend a seminar and pay a fine to get it back right away. (the low speed limits are because they don't change in the summer and the winter. They are just set for winter speeds all the time.) Yeah, this wasn't a good thing that he did, but it has nothing to do with his job, right? It didn't occur near the/a school. It wasn't during work hours. He wasn't on a work errand. But the principal of his school was informed and they had to inform the test committee of this information. And this is very possibly what caused him to fail the test! It seems to me like the ticket was his own private affair and unrelated to work unless he was in a work car or driving the principal somewhere. I don't know. If I got a ticket in US I wouldn't expect my boss to be told. I wouldn't tell him/her. If I did happen to mention it they would just take that as conversation, they wouldn't lower my pay or job status for it. (Joe's pay was lowered for that ticket, by the way.)
Well, it's a glass house. It's like everyone wants to know everything and then everything about the way you run your own life must be done as they say or you will get punished/demoted/fired for it.
Now, this all having been said, it's just a cultural difference and Japanese people are used to it. (although some of them might complain about the system, but some Americans might do the same, eh?) And I'm happily living here and enjoying my life. I can deal with all the probing into my personal life, my medical problems, the activities I engage in on the weekends, being careful not to say anything that they might disapprove of. It's like so much paperwork, you get through it very careful to read the fine print and then you can achieve what you want. It's just their culture. Not the same as mine. The point at which it will start to bother me is when I get my pay deducted for something unrelated to work or am banned from traveling to Sapporo in my own car. But for now my particular BOE is fairly good about those things (although they have gotten more strict recently with the change of my boss to a new guy).
Still here. Still alive. Still having a blast. If you have an opinion. (Agreeing or disagreeing.) post a reply, or start a board on the messageboard (if it warrants that much discussion). Thanks for reading. Hope my English hasn't deteriorated too much in all this time. :)

Spare me my life!

2006-09-29T16:27:00.000+09:00

Here is a hillarious video to prepare any of you Japanese people for life in America, should you decide to travel or live there. ;) I must have been out of the US for too long... looks like it's become a pretty scary place. Better brush up on my English... "Spare me my wallet... I mean Spare me my life!" This is harder than I thought...

New feature "ebuddy"

2006-09-29T15:44:00.000+09:00

I have now successfully added a messaging signin box to my blog, courtesy of ebuddy. In the right-hand side bar right below the "Links of Interest" you will see a login box. Click on the icon for MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger, or AOL messenger (AIM) and type your ID and password as you normally would. Now you can sign on from any computer anywhere without needing the privelages or time to install another messaging program on the computer that you happen to be at. For those of us like me, that will be especially useful when we are at "work" at the BOE when classes are cancelled or something. Nothing to do, but we don't have any permissions on the computer so we can't even switch the default printer. Now we can sign in and IM our families back home or the other JETs in other cities in Japan who are also being underutilized. ;) Hope someone else finds this useful! Enjoy!

Kamihikouki

2006-09-29T11:37:00.000+09:00

How to make a cylindrical paper airplane. An animated flip book that I made. ;)
I often teach the kids how to make this paper airplane at my elementary schools. That way I can work in words like: paper, airplane, fold, triangle, half, hamburger, hotdog, old mountain man, dog, river, mountain, disney land... yeah, maybe you don't see the connection... you'll just have to come to my class and see. Oh, and by the way, the plane does fly. It flies very well. :) Enjoy!

Graduate School... the next step!

2006-09-21T11:49:00.000+09:00

I've been working here in Japan for 1 year and I will be continuing for another year until July of 2007. At that time I wish to return to the US and enter into graduate school. Thus, I am now in the process of applying for such schools. My undergraduate field was Zoology, with a Genetics minor. For grad school I will be studying Virology. (viruses) May sound boring to most, but to me it is like the coolest thing on Earth. I love genetics, in all actuallity, and my work in the Wheat Genetics Lab at my university was the most rewarding thing that I've ever done. The problem that I find with genetics, or rather, the annoying little thing, is that you can never look at the full picture in full detail. The human genome is so long that it took years and years just to sequence it all. There is no way that you could try and process it all individually without some magical supercomuter from the future. The wheat genome is a number of times larger than the human genome! So you work on one process that is regulated by one group of proteins on a specific section of the genome. But then you find that there are other proteins at work in this process (as there always are) and you have to talk to someone else who is an expert on those proteins from some far away segment of DNA. And so on... and so forth... Of course, it works, you get the picture figured out, but it would be so much more satisfying if you could look at the bigger picture without burning out all of your brain cells.

But virus (viruses) are cool! They are so simple and yet do so much. And their genome is short!! I mean really short!! This means that you can know all of the proteins formed from what parts of the genome and etc. and you just need to put the pieces together and figure out what is happening. I mean, yes, it is a little more complicated than that, and viruses work with the body, so some other proteins from the body can come in and interact with them in some vital part of the process. But still... viruses are just cool! So cool! And so, because I think they are cool, I want to work with them. I may be crazy to find viruses so fascinating, but that doesn't really bother me. ;) I think you're crazy for not finding them fascinating!

New feature "Subscribe"

2006-09-21T11:37:00.000+09:00

You may have (or more likely did not) noticed that there is a new box on the right-hand side of this page that asks for you to "Subscribe" by entering your e-mail. I just figured that it was easier than having to check this page every so often; and if I stop posting for a little while then you aren't checking the blog for no reason. All you do is put in your e-mail and click subscribe. It will not share your e-mail with companies. You will not get spam from it. You will only get an e-mail when I make a new post on my Blog. And, as you know, I don' make a hundred posts a day, so you don't have to worry about cluttering your inbox. But basically this is a service for your convenience. If you think it would be convenient, sign up, if not, don't. Ok? Ok. I will be making an effort to post on my blog regularly once again. So lets enjoying blogging! (Engrish is fun!) ;)
~Sven~

Japanese Racism, or is it?

2006-09-21T10:14:00.000+09:00

Recently I heard that the Hokkaido Speech competition disqualified a prospective contestant (a junior high school student) simply because one of the student's parents was originally from the Philippines. Thus arises the discussion:

Having lived here as a foreigner, it would be a lie to say that there is not a lot of "racism" in Japan. In fact, if we were living by US politically correct standards, most of the people I know would be racists. But I don't mean this in a derogatory way. The Japanese culture has far less diversity than that of the US. And although the "foreigner" population has been steadily increasing recently, most Japanese consider Japan to be a homogeneous population. "We are Japanese people, anyone else is gaikokujin." (Foreigner, literally: outsider, outside country person.) So anyone who doesn't look "Japanese" is a foreigner, no matter what length of time they have lived in the country. Again, this is a cultural difference, I want to point out that this is not a country of Hitlers and they don't hate all foreigners and sit at home and burn voodoo dolls of us. But, they are often very underexposed to the idea of racism or diversity in a culture. Par example:

In one of my elementary schools there is a child who has a parent from Sweden. And, thus, he has blond hair and looks like a stereotypical European kid. The thing is that he has lived in Japan his entire life. He can only speak Japanese. He is a Japanese person in as much as I am an American. (for those of you who don't know, my mother is originally from Sri Lanka) But! In his class all of the students talk about him as the Swedish person. When I came to teach them they said, "We've got a Swedish person in our class, go talk English to him!!" "Oh, he's Swedish, talk to him!" "Oh, is gaikokujin like you!" And various chants of the sort. I was appalled. I mean, these were not teasing or bullying. If anything he was like a celebrity because he was their very own foreigner. But, that was it. This was completely normal. No one even considered it strange. It was just fact. To the students and even the teachers. He is a foreigner, we are Japanese. He's cooler because he is a foreigner and lets make him talk to the other foreigner. And the funny thing is that when they dragged me over to him and made him talk to me, he couldn't speak a word of English. As expected from a normal Japanese elementary school student. In fact, one of the fully Japanese girls spoke much better than him.

It's kind of sad. If you look at it from a Japanese viewpoint, it is just kids and not meant in any aggressive or demeaning way. But this kid will live his whole life like this, on the outside.
Do you know how I am introduced in class? As a "half". If is actually the same in Japanese: "haafu". And here in Japan that is not a derogatory term. So I don't begrudge them, but I do flinch a little every time I hear it. That kid was later explained to be as being a half. And anytime I explain my background, they say things like, "Oh, you're not a real American, you're a half." This is said with perfectly straight faces by perfectly friendly and well meaning people. So I ignore the word half, but explain that in America we have a lot of cultural diversity and that I am, in fact, an American.

Needless to say, any of those ultra sensitive about their race or profiling based on skin color or appearance should avoid the land of the rising sun if they don't want to spoil their day. Or maybe they should visit. It might help to show how much advancements have been made in your respective country, although no country has it perfect yet as far as I know.

Anyway, back to the story of the Speech contest. There may be some actual validity in the reasoning behind this banning of "halfs". That being, that if they have an English speaking parent and they speak both languages, then they will have a huge advantage in the contest. But, of course, there is no way to measure that. The kid at my elementary would have been disqualified, and he was no better than any other Japanese kid. But again, they can't exactly go to every house and check, so they is a tricky question... How do you make it fair? I keep trying to think what we would do in the US. Say a Spanish speaking contest. I kind of think that the contest would not ban anyone as long as their first language was English. Or maybe as long as they could not claim Spanish as a spoken language. This would be somewhat based on person to person honesty, although your teacher has to sign you up. And in the end there would happen to be some people who were basically fluent and the rest of us might feel like it was a little unfair. But, still... I can't help feeling that what is happening here is not quite the best way to handle it. I mean, we will be excluding students simply based on race. And basically it's based on their parents' race. So... Well, what do you think? Post a reply on my blog. Let me know.

I just want to point out that I love Japan and I'm enjoying my stay greatly. The people are great and friendly. My intention is not to badmouth Japan, it is simply to ask questions and spread awareness about Japanese culture. No culture, no country is perfect. My country has tons of problems of it's own. But I live here now, so I'm focusing on these problems. Happy Blogging! :)

2006-08-22T14:14:00.000+09:00

Man! I've been negligent!! It sure has been a long time since my last post... And a number of things has happened since then. Here's a few highlights:

I finally got a car. It's a small car, Daihatsu Charade. Cute, and cozy with a big enough engine. It was dirt cheap and it has one more year of shakken. (Shakken is a car inspection that you have to get every 2 years or so, it can cost over a thousand dollars, so I wanted a car that already had been checked for a year or two.)

I also got my real drivers license here in Japan. Before, I'd been using an International Driving permit, but that was only good until this July, so I had to take the driving test. Also, since I am from US, I need to take the written and driving test here, which is hard for foreigners to pass, and (the driving portion) administered all in Japanese. But, I was lucky!! I passed my first go.

We had summer break at the schools. That doesn't mean much, because it lasts only 3 weeks and I still have to work. Plus the kids still have club activities and tutoring, so they don't get a break either...

But, my summer break was enjoyable, because my family came to visit me here in Japan!! My mother, father, and younger sister came to Furano and stayed at my house for the first 2 weeks of Summer break. (during which time, I used my payed leave.) We had a really good time and everyone in my town wanted to meet them and have dinner with them, etc. We also stayed 3 days in Sapporo where they met one of the other things that has happened since I last posted... *** correction, it happened before my last post, I just noticed that***

That being: My girlfriend. I've actually been friends with her through the musical since about December, but... now we are not just friends. She's really wonderful. I actually believe that I've found my soul mate. Anyway, I won't go on about her, suffice it to say that she is the same age as me, she is Japanese (but speaks good English), and she lives in Sapporo. And that I thought enough of our relationship that I introduced her to my parents on probably their only trip to Japan. She got along really well with my family, we all had a great time.

...so, maybe that can explain in short my laziness in blogging. :) But, if not, I'm sure I could think up some other excuses... er, valid possible causes for my posting vacation. :) I'll be around. Posting... yes, posting... shortly...

...feeling a bit sleepy right now. :)

2006-07-03T15:26:00.000+09:00

It's been a while since I've last posted anything on here. I guess when you're too busy enjoying an exciting life in a foreign land such as mine, you are too busy at times to write it all down.
Summer has finally come. I've been hiking/climbing (not sure what to call it) mountains around here already. Last week I climbed Fupushi mountain; Fupushi means: FU = wind PU = no/don't/not (negative) SHI = die, so it is something like: Windy-don't-die mountain. ;) Just love these Japanese names. Then on Monday I climbed Genshigahara nearby with one of my junior high schools. That was really fun, but the day's temperatures did reach about 29 deg C which is about 84 deg F. So we were a bit hot by the end.
Classes have been fun. Recently, I've done a mini-unit that is really fun. I have a good friend from college living in Madagascar and working with the Peace Corps. So when this idea struck me and she kindly obliged to write and send a short letter (in an e-mail) written (and addressed)to my students. I showed my students pictures and tell them about Madagascar and her job, and they/we read the letter. Then they write a reply to her which I will send (and for the lower grades, translate into English if they couldn't write much all in English) these letters. Hopefully they will even be able to receive a reply back from Madagascar.
This weekend (yesterday...) I went to Lake Toya for a Hajet (Hokkaido Association of JETs) meeting. The actual meeting part is fairly short and it is just a nice weekend party to hang out with other ALTs from Hokkaido. We're just a big bunch of friends, and we were camping at the lake for the meeting, so it was extremely enjoyable. Toya lake is, however, pretty far from here (Furano), so I only arrived back home last night at 12:45am. As a result, feeling a bit sleepy right now. :)

3... 2... 1... musical!

2006-05-11T13:47:00.000+09:00

This weekend will be the first performance of the HAJET musical "Guys and Dolls" in Iwamizawa. Hopefully everything runs smoothly. We've been working very hard to put this all together. Now for the fruits of our labor. :)

Guys and Dolls comes to Hokkaido!

2006-04-28T10:09:00.000+09:00

I haven't mentioned it much on the blog, but many of you may have heard that I will be performing in an upcoming musical production here in Hokkaido. A bunch of us (mostly all ALTs-foreigners) from around Hokkaido are putting on our own production of "Guys and Dolls". We're called, Hokkaido Players (well the Japanese is more like: Hokkaido Playaz) and we've been working on this since about November of last year. And the performances start the week after next at three diffent locations around Hokkaido. We've been in the papers quite a few times now, and have been spreading the word via posters, friends, and our own mouths, so we should have a pretty good turnout. Of course, most of the audience will be Japanese, so we have added Japanese into the script in enough places (by our wonderful director) that anyone should be able to understand it. For example, something happens and then two random characters stroll in and say: "Oh, that thing just happened." in Japanese. Those of you who do know about this have been pestering me for pics from the practices, and stuff, so I have decided to partially oblige you.
Scott is the husband of one of the dolls acting in the play, and serves as the musical photographer, which he is very apt at. The three links below are to his site where photos he has taken are posted for our viewing.

Guys and Dolls: Muroran

Guys and Dolls: Shihoro

Guys and Dolls: Niikappu

The first on is from our Mururan rehearsal, second from our Shihoro rehearsal, third is from our Niikappu rehearsal. I haven't viewed all of these pics yet, so I must warn you that there could possibly be wierd or inappropriate photos or something, but they're most likely not of me. ;) I've added a link on the sidebar to Scott's Blog, but I'll also post it here, check it out, he posts lots of wonderful pics of Hokkaido, and is likely to also post interesting pics and stories about the musical on there.

World Scott

Do you ever get that creeping feeling... conspiracy theories

2006-04-04T15:30:00.000+09:00

Earlier today I finished teaching the first class of the third year nursing college English class. The other ALT (assistant Language Teacher) has been sick, so I prepared it alone, although he did pull himself from his sick-bed to attend the class, if mainly for moral support. (Since he'd been sick and hadn't been involved in any of the plans (or I hadn't made plans including him, because he probably wouldn't be there).) Anyway, that class went well and maybe I'll tell you about it some other time. But right now I want to focus on events following the class.

I should go back to last week, when I was informed about 20 minutes beforehand, about a ceremony for teachers leaving schools in the Furano school district. You see, in Japan teachers rotate to different schools after a certain number of years at one school. They have no choice in this, although it is usually catered to being near enough to their family that they can have a practical commute. Sometimes, however it causes entire families to be moved across the prefecture. In any case, I could tell you some interesting and possibly horrifying tales about the transfers made in the Furano school district, but I will try to save that tangent for another post.

So I was told about this entering teacher event right beforehand, and thus, was dressed informally, although no one even mentioned a dress code at that time. (But had I known in advance I would have suspected it. Like a spider-sense or those psychics who just know not to go into the dark room with the ancient runes that mean 'cursed', and I would have dressed up, or asked if I should dress up.) Well, as it turned out, I was the only person there without a suit. The one slob in the corner, the foreigner who doesn't care about the traditions of personal appearance and conformity that Japan holds dear. But I had no choice. The entire process involved sitting and listening, bowing at the right times, sometimes replying to a "Konnichiwa" with the same phrase, and standing and sitting at the appropriate times. Nothing too difficult, even if I was the nail waiting to be hammered down. I guess I can classify that as internationalization. However, if I do that then I might be setting a bad example for the rest of the English speaking foreigners in the world. But it really can't be helped. When I tell 'normals' about this sort of thing they always say something to the effect that I should ask them about upcoming events and prepare accordingly. When I say 'normals', I am referring to those people who are not currently aliens in this foreign country. People who think the solution is that simple. Those of us here would never reply with such an answer. Such an answer would likely evoke laughter if not reproach. The thing is that I/we/those of us here usually are asking on a constant basis, and yet, we are told nothing! "Is anything going on tomorrow?" "No, nothing special." --NEXT DAY-- "Good morning!" "Oh, please give a speech/attend this event/judge this contest today." And asking every five minutes tends to upset them. They get offended that you've spoiled their game and they can't keep things from you anymore.

Really, I've considered the possibility. Maybe they do it on purpose, it is their little game that they all talk about in the smoking room. They place wagers on our reactions and try to come up with the most surprising and immediate thing that we are the least prepared for and spring it on us.

Case in point: Well, after that event I asked about future events. No, none, of course not. That was the middle of last week. Today is Tuesday. Seems like anything occurring today would have been mentioned. Especially since there was actually mention of an event this Friday which is not to do with the Board of Education, but with the nursing college, and which requires formal dress. As I mentioned, I taught at the nursing college today. The class is 30 students who are about my age with not-so-great English skills and it lasts for 3 hours. I spent a lot of time preparing for it last week. So when I finished the class and stopped at home for lunch I was expecting that I could eat it in piece and then return to work for a relaxing finish to the day. School is out, so we just stay at the Board of Education and study Japanese or check e-mail or something... unless some secret event materializes. The other ALT has been sick --- is still sick --- and just came to class to be there if I needed help, so he is going to return home and be sick as is his unfortunate state. So he calls our boss and tells him this, as well as that we just got out so I wouldn't be back till I had eaten lunch. My boss (real nice guy, which makes it impossible to refuse and ask him why the heck he hasn't mentioned this earlier) tells him that today is the ceremony for the teachers entering schools in the Furano school district. Sound familiar? It's the same as the one last week except it's for the new teachers, many of whom are the same people from the last ceremony who just switched to another school in the same district. The contents of the ceremony are also about identical. The seating arrangement is even the same. And, guess what?!? He asked Bob(other ALT, not his real name) to tell me to make sure I could come back in time to attend. He also said to dress a bit nice. Now, I got that second-hand from Bob, but I can be pretty sure what my boss said, however there is a variance between what he says and what he means. No, scratch that. He means what he says, but the variance lies between what he says and what the truth, or what I should actually do, is. I decide to play it safe. I eat a real quick (and small) lunch and dress up in a suit and tie. I figure that this thing sounds similar to the thing from last week, so I'd better be prepared as such. Now, my boss' meaning was a shirt with a collar, and maybe a tie if I could manage it, but I want to be prepared. I don't remember ever being a boyscout, but that is a universal motto that should be included in the ALT manual. (It probably is, but I mean it should be given it's own page and printed in big bold letters with a note after it that says, "No, I mean seriously! Never let your guard down. They are just waiting for you to!")

Good play Sven, you sure called that one! I arrive as quick as I can and everyone is surprised to see me in a suit. Oh, you look so nice, how did you know to where a suit? We certainly didn't tell you! (Someone must've lost a bet there.) But, after being told how dashing and dapper I look by those in the office --- and also that the pin on my suit looks like a special Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) pin and that that is good, for some reason --- I go down to the second floor for the actual ceremony. ...this isn't going to be so bad. Just another long boring ceremony like last time. I just have to watch the times to bow and stand and sit, etc, and I will be okay. Ah, how naive we all appear in hindsight.

As I am entering and one of the guys is like, "Oh, Sven, you have to make a speech." Ha ha ha... You'd better be kidding me... I laugh, he does too, it's a funny joke, there's not really a speech. And all in Japanese... hahah... with no prep time... haha.. ha... ha.. ?!? Yes, he was joking, but the joke was that he said I have to give a big speech, but the truth is I have to give a small speech, not a full long one like the superintendent!! (Yes, I must speak all in Japanese, of course) SO... I am sitting very proper and bowing and nodding, standing and sitting when everyone else does. When, about half-way through the ceremony, as I have just gotten something to say lined up and proofread in my head, my boss (who is sitting next to me) leans over. He writes on his sheet of paper and shows it to me: "Please mention about 'Bob' in your speech." ?!? What does that mean? How much am I speaking? I don't even know when I will speak or for how long. I thought this was going to be quick!!! Obviously, I can't ask him what he means because we're in the middle of the ceremony. I get about 10 minutes of time and demolish the aforementioned priorly thought-up speech. Then I use whatever I can fathom that he might want me to say about the other ALT --- that he exists, that he isn't here today, that he's sick, that he has an older sister and comes from Australia and likes to eat sweets... --- as I've just gotten this second composition together in my mind, he changes the writing to, "Please tell about 'Bob'," as if this greatly clarifies his meaning. Yeah, thanks, I got that part, I was wondering if you wanted me to tell them about the state of the war in Iraq and the price of tea in China while I'm at it. so.............. I got it together, short and sweet, and to the point. "I'm the Furano city ALT, Sven Nelson. There is another ALT named Bob but he is not here today because he is ill. I look forward to working with you all..." Or something similar to that, in Japanese, of course. Best I could come up with on the spot in Japanese. Everyone had a good chuckle at my quick explanation that there also happened to exist another ALT named Bob Smith who was currently not here because he is sick. (Which seemed like a strange and out of place thing to say, which is probably why my boss made me say it, rather than saying it himself!!) But that's okay. That's what I'm here for. And at least this time I saw the same people again in almost the same situation, but showed them that I am capable of dressing nicely and also of saying that "My name is Sven" in Japanese. (Anyone who doesn't speak to you everyday in Japanese automatically assumes that you can't speak a word of it. Even those who you've talked to before often forget this and are thouroughly amazed when you introduce yourself/order food/ask where the toilet is, in Japanese.) Now the only thing I need to do is figure out how to anonymously get in on the betting so that maybe I could make out off of my failings as well as everyone else. Or maybe I would try and give myself support by betting in my favor. ...yeah, sure.

Oh, I thought I'd just mention that, of course, there is no real betting on, or purposeful misleading, going on with me or any other ALTs and their contracting organizations to the purpose of making us look stupid or creating another laugh about what the foreigner did. These are all just common mistakes of life that could be avoided by simply communicating with your friendly and helpful Japanese advisor. Certainly nothing to take seriously... And that is Sven's official stand on the matter, should anyone important who might suspect I know the truth happen to ask.
***shhh! If they find out I know I'll never anonymously get in on the betting. ***

Check out Sven's "Nice Stick" wink wink

2006-03-20T18:34:00.000+09:00

This picture really requires no explanation. The Japanese also says "Nice Stick". I might add (yes, I'm being 100% truthful) that this bread roll is cream filled...
Where else but Japan.

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Update: I have eaten some of my "Nice Stick" and I must correct myself, it is BUTTER filled, not cream filled. No, it's not like garlic bread, and no, it's not meant to be eaten after warming. You are just supposed to like eating bread with a thick center filling of cold butter. The bread itself is sweet. This is supposed to be like a dessert or like whatever food group a donut is in US. ;) Yum-yum! ...

How to enjoy sushi!

2006-03-20T18:16:00.000+09:00

How to enjoy sushi

This is extremely amusing. Some of what the video says is even true, but taken to an extreme, but you may want to play it safe and assume that most of it is false (because most of it is... or is it? hehehe). I strongly suggest that you watch it. If you are someone living in Japan or who knows a bit about Japanese culture or language, this will be especially funny to you, because you will more easily catch some of the jokes. Enjoy!

JAPAN

2006-03-15T15:20:00.000+09:00

I have been here in Japan for almost 8 months. My Japanese ability has significantly increased, as has my understanding of the Japanese culture and people. Plus, I've been having a great time. Following Japan, I plan on returning to the US to study Virology in graduate school, and I should be getting started on that soon, but... Well, I could never forgive myself if I didn't take this chance to improve my Japanese just that much more that another year would make. By which I mean to say: I will be staying in Japan for another year. Much of my family is strongly against this (although they try to be supportive) and they will miss me a lot. It was not an easy decision; however, I will not have this chance again, so I am taking it now. I am so close to being able to converse at the level that I want in Japanese (well, I want to be fluent, but...) so I must try to reach just a little bit higher. Thanks for your support and frequent viewing of my site. It will remain up (and hopefully updated more frequently) this coming year. If you have any comments/questions about me staying a) there is a post on the message board, or b) e-mail me. :)

Snow Village

2006-03-09T11:15:00.000+09:00

Here are some photos of the magnificent Furano Winter Village. This building/structure is made entirely out of snow/ice with the incorporated gondola here and there. The doors are actually made of wood, but mounted in ice, and the entire structure connects on one end of a hall to a small portable type building that is probably heated or something. I took these pictures a while back, in January, but I think the structure is still there now, and I believe the bar is serving currently. The drinks are served in ice glasses any you can drink on the ice counter while sitting on the ice stools. This Snow Village is located just at the bottom of the Kitanomine side ski hill. No more to write for now, but here are a few more pictures. Enjoy:)
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OK, the date is Monday the 13th of March. I have returned to write a little more and fix the spacing of the pictures (a little). This structure, the snow village, is really quite cool. Inside it has certain places where there are holes in the ceiling or this places to let in light. The ceiling has things carved into it also. There are little "windows" where the ice is thin, and the window sills are used for drinks, or some artistic design. The barstools are wood-topped (so your butt doesn't freeze) but made out of ice/snow. There is even a TV set up in there. There is a bench with a wooden seat and ice supports that faces a snow/ice carved TV cove. The TV, is obviously not constructed out of ice, but it sits in there and looks just like it belongs.

Outside the bar area there is a smaller alcove that it like a giant gazebo with gondola cars in each side of the hexagonal structure. These were cute little places to sit for a while. The inside also had some artwork displayed at the time that I was there, so that is in some of the pictures.

ohisashiburi

2006-03-02T16:14:00.000+09:00

It means "long time no see". And it certainly has been a while since I've posted anything or updated even the colors of my site. There are various very exciting and mysterious explanations for this; however these explanations are mostly just fantasies about battling pirates on a flying microwave for the sake of saving the world from the entire and utter disruption that might have been caused when the last unicorn finally went extinct and became the shiny new hook on such a buccaneer's hand. The truth is slightly less exciting. I've been busy. Oh, and as a secondary clause, my internet at home has been totally sporadic and I haven't been able to call my parents (for any length greater than 3-40 seconds) because of it. Of course, I have internet access at work where I can update the blog page (but not any of the other pages). But... as I mentioned, I've been busy. Most days I've been working on things for classes and etcetera till well past 5:00pm (my work day is technically over at 4:30pm). So I've had little time to keep you guys updated. It is also often true that I'm not sure if anyone looks at the page anymore, but since I do have at least one person who wishes for an update, an update I am writing. And soon maybe even some more pictures (one step at a time). Unfortunately, as I am writing this it is 4:32pm. I will depart soon for home and today I will have NO internet, because I had to disconnect my internet ADSL router and give it to the company so that they can give me a new one. I will post further updates with actual content, like: what I've been doing all this time, how the play is going, the story about how I was almost an interpreter for the Snowboarding World Cup contestants but had to turn it down, and much more. For now I am going home. If you have anything specific you want me to write about, post a reply, or a message on the message board. But don't worry, I've got lots of non-specific things to talk about. It's just finding the time type them and put them on the site. :)

NEW: Message Board Forum Discussion

2006-02-02T14:57:00.000+09:00

I've added a message board to the site. Follow the link and you can have discussions with me and others interested in Japan related information. Currently posting is open to everyone, even non-members of the board, but if you feel like it become a member and there may be some added benefits. (like being able to create your own poles) I'd like to get this message board going, so please post something. You can even start your own threads with a discussion of any topic you want. (by the way, please don't use anyone else's full name/address/social security number in your posts) Follow this link: http://teacherinjapan.proboards54.com/index.cgi

Your friendly neighborhood gaijin or How are YOU?!?

2006-01-24T10:25:00.000+09:00

Thought I'd stick up another picture today. Here's the gondola from the kitanomine side of the ski hill. The gondola seats about 6 people and gives you a great view of Furano and the ski hill. This is also where we wait when we are participating as ski hosts.
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Unrelated to the picture: If you ever see a Japanese person --- and there appear to be many in the world --- go up to them and say "How are you?" (exactly those words); you will almost inevitably get a quick response of, "I'm fine thank you, and you?" It can even happen if they initiated the conversation.
Japanese person A (fluent in English): Oh, hi Mr. B, how've you been?
Mr. B (non-Japanese): Oh, fine. How are you?
Japanese person A: (reflexively) I'm fine thank you, and you?
Mr. B: Um... I just told you I was fine...
Because the majority of the English they learn is through "chanting" (same in Japanese: chant-o) the answer is reflexive. It doesn't matter if their father just died or they were just hit by a car. Ask them, "How are you?" and you'll quickly be answered "Fine thank you, and you?"
At some point classes tend to go something like this:
Teacher: (in a loud chanting voice) HOW ARE YOU!
Class: (in unison) I'M FINE THANK YOU, AND YOU!
Teacher: (in Japanese) louder! (Eng.) HOW ARE YOU!
Class: I'M FINE THANK YOU, AND YOU!!
Notice that it's not even a question anymore, it's a set phrase in the chant. You run into problems when you get two of the students practicing English together.
Student A: How are you?
Student B: I'm fine thank you, and you?
A: I'm fine thank you, and you?
B: I'm fine thank you and you?
A: I'm fine thank you, and you.....

I have actually observed this happening. It can go on for a minute or two before they even realize that they've become caught in a loop. Certainly this sort of problem is to be expected WITH ROBOTS!!! But not with real living breathing students!!! And they can be the best English speaker or the worst, the results are almost guaranteed. There are English teachers who I know to whom I can speak for hours in full unabbreviated English at full speed; yet when I see them and say those magic words, "I'm fine thank you, and you?" complete with the slight head tilt and the pause expectantly for my immediate and automatic reply of the same phrase.

BUT... but... the worst part of it all is when you, the friendly neighborhood gaijin (foreigner) with all of your expert knowledge of your own native language which you've spoken since birth (or a little thereafter)... when you catch yourself doing it too!!!
Me: How are you, Student A?
Student A: I'm fine thank you, and you?
Me: I'm fine thank you, and you? ...ah! waitaminu...
Student A (before I can correct myself): I'm fine thank you, and you?
Me: *crying because of my lost ability to speak in my native tongue*

So my question to you is: How are you?!?

A picture is worth...

2006-01-20T13:59:00.000+09:00

Taken on the way back from the ski hill. This is Furano.

My Palace

2006-01-20T13:46:00.000+09:00

This is where I live. This building had 4 apartments, I am the top right apartment. It's not huge, but by Japan standards it really is quite large. Also, because it's only me living here, it feels quite large. The apartments next to me and below me have entire families living in them.

Hey look! There's Sven.

2006-01-15T12:41:00.000+09:00

Up at the ski hill, kitanomine side! The picture is looking down away from the ski hill. Right around the ski hill there are a whole bunch of hotels. This area is called kitanomine, hence the name of this side of the ski hill. Skiing is a huge tourism thing in Furano. In the summer we have lavendar fields, in the winter we have a great ski hill. So, there are lots of interesting places and people at these hotels tend to speak a bit of English or something. Some of the hotels like the one behind me imitate a European style, while others try to attract tourists by being traditionally Japanese-style. Since I live here I've never stayed at any of these hotels.