Ringo!

すげぇー！すげぇー！すげぇー！すげぇー！すげぇー！

I love fresh fruit in the summer and it's a treat to receive some in the winter. Lately I have been sticking to a rotating diet of potato, Japanese pumpkin (kabocha), and sweet potato (satsumo). I received a big box of apples from my old host family in Koriyama. It's sort of hard to wrap my Albertan mind around, but December is prime season for Fukushima's famous apples. I sometimes buy fuji apples here, but to get my own personal box full was so kind. Now I can have an apple a day for a while. And being Japanese fruit, each one is perfect and tasty; never sour. Luckily, I have enough to share some of this beautiful bounty. I am very happy!

昨日私はりんごを食べた。ふくしまのりんごはとてめおいしかった。私はうれいしいです。土屋先生たち、どもうありがとうございます。クママ、これから私はりんごをたくさん食べたいです。

Busy

Things are quite busy at the office. I can't really identify what is making it so busy. It doesn't seem like it is any one thing. One element could be getting everything in order for my big trip south over the winter holiday but it also seems like there is a constant stream of people through the office that need my attention. I know some teachers will be coming in for a meeting pretty soon so this will be my only update. Home for a quick dinner and then off to badminton tonight until 10 PM. I have my doubts this pace will slow until after the New Year.

News News News

Nothing too earth shattering passed into my existence today. Got lots done yesterday, so today was open to read and write and nap—my favorite. Also, it finally snowed enough overnight that I believe we will not see it gone until Spring. Still it turned out to be a very nice day. Very sunny. And I took my time shoveling my driveway. Some of my students walked by who were in high spirits after making snowmen in a small nearby park.

Two recent articles in the Japanese press caught my interest. The stories revolve around the now disgraced governors of Miyazaki-ken and Wakayama-ken, prefectures located in Kyushu and Kansai respectively. The pattern of both stories is strikingly similar and illustrates a problem I have with modern politics. Both stores have unfolded in parallel since September with various mid-level bureaucrats, attached to the governors’ office, being arrested for big-rigging. I don’t have the time to detail Japan’s long established history of bid-rigging, which was once considered a normal business practice, and was only challenged with the arrival of overseas competition that wanted a fair free market. (The irony is not lost on me that if people want a fair free market they are labeled as socialists, but governments see large corporations asking for fair free markets and regulation as something needing response quickly.)

Not all bid-rigging has been completely stamped out and it has continued in isolated, but blatant, cases. However, it’s not the big-rigging that concerns me, nor are the backdoor deals the element I think have international implications. Since September, the National Police Academy has been weekly charging people in both administrations. For months, the governors have steadfast denied any involvement; mustering all matter of perceived prejudices, conspiracies theories and claims of stupidity to their defense. Of course, since this all started, nothing in those prefectures really got done because the governors were in full damage control mode. Last week, both stepped down and were quickly charged for taking bribes. Up to this point, the stories were only background noise to my normal news viewing habits. However, it was quickly revealed by the police that both ex-governors admitted to the charges. This is what makes my blood boil. They lied for months to the public with a straight face. (And not some noble lie in the name of national security.) They stated daily their innocence, all the while being guilty as sin, and as soon as they were out of power, admitted fully to the crimes. This is the point I perceived applying to most politicians: How is it modern politicians lie so easily to the public that employs them? When did this become acceptable?

Also, I had a very good run this morning. A solid 40 minutes at a good pace. The track was more crowded than I expected. Instead of just me, as is usual, three other people were walking laps. I was aiming for 45 minutes. Normally I do 40 minutes of jogging and then 5 minutes of sprints, making 45, but with that much traffic on the track I was libel to bowl someone over. So I decided I would try a quick pace today. Everything felt good and was working smoothly. My body has felt punished all the way since September so I am hoping that is now behind me and I can stay healthy for my brother’s visit and badminton tournament in February.

Friday's post

I had a short day at school today. One activity was worth mentioning. The grade one and twos were told to think of want they wanted to become, job wise, in the future (though the Japanese is a bit more vague, asking, "what do you want to be?", the topic was clear from what we had been discussing earlier). Though the activity was very simple, just inserting the selection into the line of a song and gesturing, it was wild to watch what gestures kids associated with what job. The classic example was the nurse, whom a grade two girl believed only did data collection, typing away on a computer. There was also a carpenter that dramatially lost a finger. All the kids' jobs and gestures had the teachers in stitches. And then there was one grade two that was set on becoming a cheetah. When his first turn came, he ran around the classroom on all fours, and with his second, attacked and devoured an imaginary prey with great fervor.

Inconsistent in his Inconsistency

For the second day in a row I faced a day that ended up being not what I had expected. I arrived at school only to be told there were no English teachers and class was cancelled. I have dealt with any personal misgivings about not being told what’s going on because it would drive me crazy. But this time there was even a little bit of a fake out because the teachers and I had previously discussed today’s class.

Left with spare time, I participated in the grade four Japanese language class where kanji characters and grammar are studied. I hoped to pick up some teaching tips and understand the Japanese education system better and maybe some kanji would rub off on me as well. Lately I have been surprised at the level of my reading comprehension and with the help of a kind group of grade fours, I quickly had my kanji assignment finished. I knew my work was sub-par—foreigners brains aren’t trained to write in square boxes—but after a short deliberation the group decided the work itself warranted “Very Good” to be scrawled across the top (though I had to spell it for them). I know this is one piece of paper that is going directly on to my fridge when I get home.

After returning to the office far earlier than normal and explaining—without seeming resentful or angry—how I was forgotten, it was pointed out if I left right now I could join the Mochi making presentation at the kindergarten. So off I went to that. I had done it all before but it was interesting company none-the-less. I’m just happy now that my Japanese is good enough and the kids know me better that I can actually offer to help. We all ate lunch in the main room so all the wee-preschool sized tables and wee-preschool sized chairs had to be brought in. There students only had to do two things, carry over their chair and table. It was funny to watch because you might as well have tried to use trained monkeys to do the job. Sure the kids can are smart and can use logic but they have the attention span of a meth-addict. Eventually the room was set up and we could enjoy the lunch of the mochi we made earlier. And as in all things in life, it was far easier to clean up and put away than set-up (unless you are talking about a university kegger party).

Soba Surprise

I really should get a job writing for a newspaper where the editor creates the headlines because I can only seem to come up with strange, uninspired titles. Anyways, the title of today's post says it all. Got to schools today only to be told I didn't have class. At first I thought that I had mistakenly come to the wrong school. My Japanese lacking all nuance, what was actually meant was that while I was expected at school today, all my classes were cancelled and no one told me. There was some discussion between students as to whether we should call the event a "Soba festival" or a "grand Soba meeting." I settled in this post on "making soba".

The Soba we used for the noodles was previously grown and harvested by the students themselves in a plot at the back of the school. I have made soba before so it wasn't earth shattering. It was fun to participate with children that are so alive. They react to everything like it's new and exciting. I got to re-live how I might have reacted to making soba in grade three.

Many community member helped. Generally it was obasans (grandmothers) who arrived. They take soba making - not quite as an art - but very seriously. You can easily tell they are not teachers. For one, they were leaving kids out and they will get bored; you have to keep them engaged by constantly given them new tasks. Secondly, when the did give them tasks, they just left them to it - a recipe for disaster - they will need guidance. Leave a grade two to mix something and you don't know what you will come back to. Lastly, safety, this was left to the teachers in the room to tell the kids not to hold the knife that way, tie up those laces, etc. You have to think of everything or else someone will lose an eye.

The Obasan's - I can't really think of them as grandmas and "obasan" is an honourific - were really great. They generally fall into three groups: those that want nothing to do with foreigners; those that have seen everything and could careless who I am, thus treating me like I am two, in an enduring way though; and lastly, those who are keenly interested in learning about where I am from and what I am doing. They are very funny ladies who are very nice if you take an interest in what they are doing. I had an interesting conversation about what makes a good soba broth with two of my students' grandmas. I'm not sure if half of what I wanted to got across did, but I learned many good tips on making a soba broth (special soy sauce, o-sake, dashi, etc).

There would have been pictures but again, I woke up thinking this would be a normal day; I didn't think to check if my camera had it' battery. And yes, the soba was delicious.

Turkey Dinner.

This update is late in coming but details an interesting dinner I had with friends, Hosono-sensei and Kuguchi-sensei. Hosono-sensei was under the impression I was underfed and craving turkey; neither of which is exactly true nor deniable on my part so I happily went out for dinner Friday night. We had to travel all the way too Shihoro (one town over from Shikaoi) to a restaurant that specialized in turkey dishes. Shihoro’s claim to fame, by the way, is that it is home to a giant Calabee potato chip factory. This is not so surprising in light of the number of potatoes they pull out of the ground here every year.

The meal was impressive and memorable because it focused on Japanese style cooking; there was no opportunity for mash potatoes, dressing or seconds at the meal. The meal was served in several small healthily courses all centered on the theme ingredient. Turkey sukiyaki, turkey karage, turkey yakitori, turkey soup, turkey sausage. Of course, one can never really go wrong with fried turkey but there was one course gave me pause; raw turkey sashimi. Even though I was assured by the proprietor it was of the highest quality, there are many more taboos I will break before eating raw turkey (or chicken). A strange reaction I know—as was an ethereal conversation that followed about what type of fish sashimi it resembled—but the thought of eating it makes me turn green.

Hokkaido is renown for its bountiful agricultural produce and I was surprised to learn the turkey used was from Honshu and China. In a common story from Hokkaido, all of the highest quality goods are sent to Tokyo to be used in restaurants there leaving the rest of the country to use imports—abet high quality imports. It is as if Tokyo is some sort of luxury high-end black hole.

Small update.

I've decided later to add what the teacher and the grade two were negotiating about in the previous post because it really is quite funny when I think about it. The grade two was demanding to be taught English while seated under a large table in the back of the classroom. I was somewhat okay with the idea because nothing else was really going to get done after she was already seated there. I would have also been the person voted to go under and drag her out in a display I wasn't quite comfortable with (at least until having a good lunch first). So two teachers met there match in the art of negotiating instead.

December Friday

Just sitting at the office after a harrowing day at school. Had a troublesome grade two to deal with and because the class only has two students it causes quite an uproar as one can imagine. I gave up and considered the last half of the class a wash but a new young teacher decided negotiation with a seven year old was the better option. Which it is not, in my opinion. In my 3/4 split, five kids had colds, which one can imagine in a class with only eight students becomes like pushing a big heavy rock uphill. Sometimes the super energy all children have overcame the flu, but then the next moment they were walking in a race. Yikes. Hopefully everything will be back to normal next week. Also found a Christmas orange on my desk when I got back to the office. That made me happy. But, being around sick kids all day, I will have to be sure to completely disinfect myself up to my elbows before I eat it.