oh, and I suppose my stressed mood is also due to the fact that I stayed up until after 1am on Sunday finishing Harry Potter year 5. It was excellent... I just couldn't put it down!! Now I'd like to find a section that I can have the students work on for class. The Japanese version won't be out for a while yet, so it would freak them out to be able to read a section.

This week everything is crazy busy again... predictable since last week was light. Tonight I have my adult English class and I haven't finished planning. Tomorrow I have four classes, one of which will be part of PTA day where the parents are invited to attend class. No pressure or anything. It has been difficult planning a class for the first graders, who officially don't really know how to say much at all (unofficially are very quickly forgetting piles of Elementary school English that we don't let them use) while keeping their parents in mind. The teacher I'm teaching it with would like the parents to be able to participate. That probably means we'll have about 60 people walking around saying "My name is.... Do you play tennis?" about this time tomorrow. I'm looking forward to finishing the day tomorrow.

On the side, we're also finishing up last minute planning for climbing Mt. Fuji this weekend. I climbed it when I was here the first time, but Danielle, Jaclyn, Sara, and Tom haven't so I'm tagging along. Actually, this time should be even "better" since Tom and I are going to attempt the entire mountain as opposed to starting at the 5th station (of 10) like 99% of the climbers do. It will be a long Saturday... hopefully it doesn't rain. Although, the saying here is "A wise man climbs Fuji once in his lifetime, a fool climbs it twice" (or something similar)... so maybe it would be better to hope for rain!

And here's just one more glimpse into the rapidily changing sociology of Japan... you picture temples, sushi, sumo and perfect rock gardens?? Well-- this article reflects another glimpse of today's Japanese culture. One I both appreciate and discourage as much as possible. (also just one more statement of just how out in the boondocks I really live!!!) Here's the link.

I've been sucked deep into Harry Potter Year 5 thanks to Amazon.co.jp. Last night I looked down to see I was on page number 258 (meaning I'd already read about 75 pages and figured it was way too late to get to 300. Another half hour I was there and an hour past when I'd been intending to sleep. So far very intriguing.. but I've discovered I don't remember major details from previous books. I may need to track down some Harry Potter Cliff Notes or maybe just e-mail Natalie. Or I will just keep reading and see how far I get!

TGIF here... one thing I've learned about being a teacher is that Fridays are hell. I've always looked forward to Fridays, being that they are the end of the week and a light of hope before the weekend. However, walking into a classroom with a foreign language immersion lesson on a Friday afternoon... well there are pretty good odds I will be using my top volume levels. Ahh.... I won't get into the ugliness of it, lets just say I am half way there with one of my notoriously worst classes to get through before I'm home free. I don't know quite whether to go in hoping for the best or just expect that anything is better than nothing... these kids are not only tough, but I have already been warned that their homeroom teacher was absent this morning so they're pre-rowdy. Send in the clown....

Today has been a pretty funny day, so far...

I had a first grade class this morning and we spent the entire class practicing English numbers by playing a crazy version of Concentration. You know.. clap, clap, then you say your number followed by someone else's number? That's how it starts then if someone messes up, that person loses their place and goes to the last number's spot (for our circles-we'd split the class- it was 20) Then everyone else moves up one number. Its a nice twist on the game because each time, everyone's numbers change. The kids were pretty quick at it though they really struggle with anything in the teens. They also insisted I play with instead of just referee-ing... and I was probably the worst player. The kids called my number so rarely that by the time they did I had forgotten my number or was just too thrown off to answer before breaking the rhythem.

The next class was with the second graders. It was Mr. Matsuo's class and it was his turn to plan. The current spot in the text has a dialogue where a boy asks the foreign teacher if she can read a letter he received from the U.S. for him. They are supposed to practice the phrases "May I ask you a favor?" and "Could you please ________?". Mr. Matsuo asked me (last minute as usual) if I had any English letters we could use for class.. and if not, could I write some? I panicked for a second before remembering the stack of postcards from home I have in my bottom drawer. Jack pot! Mr. Matsuo was thrilled, he picked out two that were both hard to read (because of the handwriting) and had phrases and vocabulary that the students could understand. Then we used one of them in a skit to start class. For some odd reason, his charater just couldn't figure out what little Kent was trying to say to his Grandpa & "Grama". At the end of the skit he asked me to write the postcard message on the board in my own beautiful handwriting. Then I stood back and giggled as he translated young Kent's message to Grandma & Grandpa. He also asked me how old Kent is. I had to think about that one... I guessed from the writing that he'd written it when he was about 8 or 9... and laughed because if I gave his real age the kids would have been appalled! Anyway.. Kent, an entire classroom of Japanese junior high school students just read and re-read and translated your postcard from when you visited Mount Saint Hellens!! He copied both of them onto a worksheet and had the kids try to figure out what they said. Then they had to use the phrases to ask me about the parts they couldn't decipher. It was a really interesting lesson and the kids were pretty psyched about the actual postcards (the other was to G & G from Earl & Ruth). Thanks for the postcards, Grandma!!

Then later in the day, I got talked into joining the other teachers in a free health check. One big difference in trips to the doctor here versus there is a simple lack of things like walls and privacy. Let me tell you... it is a very funky moment when you are walking across a room with your colleagues and each of you has a cup of pee in hand. We all walked from one station to the next nodding and giving joking encouragement... got my eyes and ears checked, my blood drawn, my chest listened to, my pee examined, a chest x-ray taken, my height, weight, and blood pressure recorded, even had a picture of my eyeball taken and then some weird grand finale in an air conditioned van where they stuck electrodes to my chest and put clips like battery starters to my ankles and wrists! That one a bit nerve racking! But I survived and I guess one day I might find out whether I passed or not.

Final note: yesterday after school I had my first cherry tomato right off the plant and it was positively, absolutely one of the most delicious things I've eaten. Even though my plants are all too close together, my sunflowers have almost all died, my watermelon plant is yellow, my eggplants are stunted, and my yard looks like a disaster zone, I think being able to make and take care of my own gardens may end up one of the most rewarding things I'll do this summer!!

The coolest little drum group from Ghana played a concert at our school this morning. A Japanese taiko, Japanese drumming, group played first, and they were pretty awesome, too. It reminded me that I need to get tickets for Kodo's Earth Celebration on Sado Island. Kodo is the premeire Japanese taiko group and they hold a festival weekend in August out on Sado (their home base when they aren't touring). I love taiko, and it would be seriously cool to see them play live. So I'm on it now... hopefully they haven't sold out. Anyhow, after the taiko the group from Ghana played, danced and sang. They rocked... and it was such a nice change of pace. It was refreshing to watch other people with a non-Japanese concept of body posture and self-expression. They had us all laughing and dancing. I was sad that it was only an hour.

I have tons of things to write... all the time... I just wish I could have them instantly processed into this journal the minute I think of it. Unfortunately, they haven't thought that one up for me yet.

I have been insanely busy as of late. Pretty impressive considering that in the last month.. I've only been at school for four days. After getting back to school last Thursday, I had two full days of classes, then we had this Monday off, again! No, I didn't infect the school with SARS somehow. Saturday was the area sports championships day. All of the students who are on a sports team here at school (and their coaches.. the coaches are the teachers) spent the day competing with the five or so other schools in our area. The students not playing were here at school in study halls and working on things with their (non-athletic) clubs. Jaclyn, Danielle, and I hit the road and attempted to see as many games as possible.

We saw the girls volleyball in Azusagawa, first. Coincidently, Misato (my school) was matched against Horigane (Danielle's school). It was so much fun to cheer for the two teams. Our team came out really strong right away, but then let Horigane beat them in the first game. Fortunately, they came back and won the next two... so Misato won and Horigane was done. Two interesting notes: they play to 25 points here, and they are allowed 4 hits. Strange, eh?

Next we headed back to Misato to watch some kendo. Kendo is a Japanese martial art practiced with full armor: a face mask, hard torso shield, and arm guards. The opposing individuals swipe at each other with bamboo swords. And they yell... loudly and like they're going to kill their opponent. That's about all I know about kendo.. but it was cool to watch and the kids were impressed that we were there.

Third we drove out to Toyoshina to watch the guys and girls tennis teams. It was starting to rain.. and both Misato teams were getting their butts kicked, so we didn't stay too long. We all thought it was odd that each team picks their uniform style and color totally randomly... the schools don't seem to stick to any sort of school color scheme like back home (here the volleyball team was in black/gray, the tennis ladies were bright orange, the tennis guys were black/gray, the girls basketball wore royal blue/white, and the boys were in red/white!).

Finally, we watched the Misato girls basketball team just clobber Danielle's Horigane team. We couldn't quite believe we were looking in the right spot when we saw the score as we arrived: 91-0 (Misato). Just as we began to look around for another scoreboard... Misato scored and the numbers changed to 93-0. The final score ended up being 186 to ZERO. When in the final minutes the Horigane girls got the ball across the center line (heading towards a shot) for the first time in the game... everyone watching (regardless of school affiliation) just started screaming. Alas, they never scored. And their psychotic AET, Danielle, nearly jumped over the edge of the balcony she was screaming so hard!

My students were all really psyched to see me at the games, and it was fun to see them outside of school. We were exhausted afterwards.. but it was definitely a good afternoon of entertainment.

On Sunday, the three of us spent hours in Jaclyn and my gardens. We planted (I bought some basil and lavendar to replace the seeds that never grew and some extra flowers and flower seeds) and hauled rocks all day. I'm still trying to get my yard to look a bit more normal.. or just a bit less embarrassing. Motivation came earlier last week when my neighbor peeked over his fence and mentioned that "they" (meaning the other neighbors but he's about the only one who ever sees my yard) "couldn't complain" (about my yard) because "they" knew it is the Board of Education's responsibility, and not mine. Yah!!! I wish he'd just go ahead and complain, maybe then I could get some help with it (background: my yard is a disaster... a JET 5 years ago or so created a massive patio and garden, then everyone after her ignored it... so what's left is a jungle of weeds with a rock mound in the middle... kind of like an overgown cemetary. Everyone is constantly telling me how beautiful it used to be and how the community helped her build it in one day, but to date.. no one has offered a hand in cleaning it up. And apparently no one helped out when it was going to hell from neglect. So that's my mission). Anyhow... Danielle attacked the rock mound (Tom actually started doing it about a week ago).. and we just destroyed it. Now it just looks like someone dropped a dirt bomb on my sideyard, then dumped a pile of rocks on top of that. I'm sure its something of an improvement?? Perhaps not... anyway, I'm still working on it.

My veggies are all going strong. I have several cucumbers, a pile of growing, green tomatoes, and lots of happy bean plants (no beans yet thought). Unfortunately, the Board of Ed. decided to come spray weed killer last week (maybe someone complained?) only an hour before it started raining out... so the spray leached into my wanted plants... killing half of my cucumbers, most of my sunflowers, and perhaps my watermelon and a pepper plant. Gah. Some help!

Now I'm back at school. I've had loads of classes in the last two days...I can't hardly see straight between planning lessons, reading & responding to journals.. and making small talk or playing games with all the students who hang out in the English office between class and after school. Ontop of that... Jaclyn and I had our first adult English class of the season last night. They asked us to do an intense "serious" course, with textbooks and homework. Now, I will be the first one to admit, loudly, that I AM NOT A REAL TEACHER!!! That's right folks, no training here... Anyhow.. there are some serious expectations that the two of us need to meet for the next 7 classes (now only 6) and I was sweating bullets before we started class last night. The best part is that my text book is 75% in Japanese!! You would think the teacher would be the person who'd understand the text best, wouldn't you? Not here. I think class went all right, so far no one's asked for a refund. I figure that the worst that can happen is that they won't ask me to do it again... and that would be FINE with me. My new mantra these days seems to be "You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to be perfect...." and somehow it's helping. But don't expect perfection,... because you're not getting it!!

ps. If you go to Brook's website (see the left for the address).. and check out his second picture page, there are pictures of my family from when I was home. Even one of the illusive Tom!

Wow- time really flies when you're quarantined!! Sorry, sorry... I hope someone out there is still reading this... Ok- I am finally back at school. Its been three weeks. I was a bit afraid that the students would have either forgotten who the heck I am or thought I'd gone home permanently. On arriving at school, I was delighted when they actually seemed happy to see me! ;) Today has been a fun day- I taught three classes, all of them major listening excercises as I told the story of my stay in the States and the students attempted to understand my English and psychotic (and not the least bit artistic) chalkboard drawings. Want to hear it?

Ok picture this: the kids each have a map of the US with the states labeled. To start, I wrote my date of departure to the States on the board and a huge arrow to my lopsided outline of the contiguous US, landing on the general location of North Carolina. I asked them all to look for North Carolina on their maps and to color it in. Then I explained that in NC I saw my friend (much pantomiming: Oh hi!! Long time no see!! How ARE you?, etc. with the other teacher), and she got married (insert cute stick figure drawing of Beth and Joe with a heart between them and a white veil on Beth's head.. also imagine a fast pace wedding march hummed by yours truly in the background.. also just to make sure they understood, I whipped my ring off my right hand and shoved it onto my left ring finger and repeated "got married- so now.... LIKE THIS!"). I think they got it. I also passed around a postcard of NC (thanks Beth.. good thinking on the gift basket...!)

NEXT (I say)... I drew another arrow from NC to In-di-an-a and asked them to find that on their maps and color it in. (the first graders already had Illinois colored in because i used the maps for my own intro at the begining of the school year... so it was easier to say; "next to Illinois!"). I then explained that my mother, my father, my grandfather, and my dog (makes 'em giggle) all live in Indiana (complete with matching stick figure family). I proceeded to add that I also saw my brother, my other grandfather, and my grandmother... 6 (count aloud here) people!! "I was very busy".

THEN (says me)... I went to a car- race! I drew a floppy oval and colored cars then as I drew arrows around the circle track I made the appropriate "zoom, zoom" sound effects. It was great. They thought I was loony. Then I told them that the cars go around 500 times and they were astounded! And just as they were really getting into the story about the race (How many cars? How big is the track? etc...) I told them how I slept through half of it! (they laughed at me). I also passed around some Indy 500 brochures I'd picked up at a rest stop in Indiana. Ok.. you still with me? yes, they were.. so

LAST: I drew a third arrow from Indy to Min-ne-so-ta and asked them to color it! (they were getting a bit overwhelmed and I was starting to sweat). I explained that I went to visit my college friends and we ate lots of food. ;) I passed around three MN postcards. Then I told them that I'd gone shopping (key word for many of them). I told them how cheaply I'd been able to buy a CD, a book, a hat, and shoes... they were really impressed! I didn't even attempt to explain the Mall of America...

FINALLY (sigh): I drew an arrow from MN back to Japan, wrote the date and that it had taken over 13 hours to get home. What a trip!! I kind of impressed myself.

After I finished, I got a break because it was the students' turn to ask me questions. I picked up a couple of comic books at Borders there and told them if they asked a question (1st graders asked in Japanese and the other teacher translated) they could check out the comics.. it was more incentive than I'd even imagined! They think they're totally awesome! Some of the questions: What did you eat in America? (Answer: lots of fruit, watermelon, pasta, chili, fish, and grandma's cookies!), How old are your mother and father? (I told them... but maybe I won't tell you), How old is your dog? (don't know why they were curious), Was your friend beautiful at her wedding? (of course!), What did you eat at the wedding? (it was a buffet but I had pasta, salad, fruit, and cookies!!). and so on... they were really funny.

So that's been my first day back. And my trip... for those of you (I'm so sorry) who I missed (so sorry!).

Did you still want to hear about my quarantine? I might have to take a break before I rewind. I will try to get to it later, though. I promise!

Well, day 1 back in Misato was nearly perfect. sigh. You really can't beat a mandatory quarantine for relaxation after vacation! That's right: for those of you very, very few people I didn't see while I was in the states.. for the next T minus 6 days (out of ten required) I am to stay at home to make sure I don't develop a case of SARS and infect the students. This may be the only time I am granted a "vacation from my vacation" so I'm going to enjoy every minute of it (while occasionally rolling my eyes at the irrationality of the whole deal... but that's my school's problem- not mine). Actually, I may end up at school again as early as tomorrow if the powers that be decide to back down, but so far I haven't gotten the all clear. I spent the first three days of my quarantine at a conference in Tokyo for JETs who've recontracted (are staying another year).. infecting all of them so they can in turn infect their students. The conference was actually interesting, for the most part, really unique for JET conferences.

Jaclyn and I got back home late yesterday afternoon, and after restocking the fridge, unpacking and doing some laundry, I crashed before 10pm (very before) with the intent of sleeping in or at least sleeping until my school woke me up to ask me to work. Unfortunately, I woke up early.. I'd forgotten how early the sun comes up and how much light gets through my paper screened- windows (like all of it)! Anyhow, the school didn't call but I still was awake and moving before 8am. I bummed around and did some gardening this morning, waiting for the phone to ring. While I was gone, I worried that my garden would die... but the opposite has occured. I now live in the Misato branch of the African jungle. I couldn't even see my two little gardens from my windows! The rose tree has exploded, and the crack grass is beyond out of control. Fortunately, so are my veggies! I have a handful of very green tomatoes of various sizes, several pickle sized cucumbers, and two-foot climbing bean plants. The bean plants are pretty funny.. they have little vines sprouting out the tips and they have wound themselves around the neighboring weeds. Maybe they'll start weeding for me? Everything else is looking really healthy... except my damn herbs! I guess I give up. I will have to plant something else in their place and hope they don't take over when I'm not paying attention.

After Jaclyn got home from school (still no call from mine), we took off for the nearby bike trail to rollerblade. After hauling mine back from Indy (through Mpls and Tokyo) I was anxious to actually enjoy them! I'm still amazed of the existance of this trail. Its a couple miles north of me and extends all the way to Matsumoto. I used it last fall when training for the Misato half-marathon, but since I've been such a delinquent runner, this was my first time on it since then. I've only rarely seen people use it so its perfect for blading. I've also never, ever seen a single person in Japan on rollerblades... so we got some fun looks this afternoon. There really isn't any place safe enough for it, except for trails... but this is also the first trail I've ever seen. I didn't think I'd be rollerblading in Japan! The view was truly spectacular- lots of wildflowers, bright green rice fields, and the mountains (of course, the mountains!). Summer hasn't quite hit yet, so it was also a very pleasant temperature which I made sure to appreciate.

After cooling down by watering my plants and showering, I fixed up some soba for dinner. Soba is one kind of delicious (take note, Brook!) Japanese noodle. Nagano is famous for their soba noodles, though you can eat soba anywhere in Japan. It is a thin buckwheat noodle... which doesn't mean a lot to me, but they are about the size and shape of spagetti, only they're square (the noodles are cut, instead of squirted) and brown. They are typically (though not always) served cold with a cup of cold sauce mixed with green onions to dip into. This makes them a fabulous summer dish... perfectly combined with a bottle of Heineken tonight. Yum. ahh... I miss you all and had a fabulous time, but its good to be home!