February 15th, 2006

Today has been one of my stranger days (almost surreal if I want to be overly dramatic about it). So let me start from the beginning.

I got up this morning to go to my Kandogawa class (its Wednesday, so I go in the mornings). It is very nice outside and a whole 11 degrees celcius (thats around 51 or 52 in Farenheit). So I decided to go without my jacket today (I really dont like jackets, they just get in the way). That was my first mistake.

I swear to you, no less than 10 Japanese women freaked out that I wasnt wearing a jacket. "Arent you cold?" "You seem cold." "Are you cold?" "Im cold." Gah! It was almost ridiculous how many people made a big deal about the fact that I wasnt wearing a coat today. It was nice outside, a little cool but not cold without my jacket. I ended up just pulling a face and saying "samukunai!" which means (Im not cold!). I was nicer than it sounds, I promise. They just laughed in there Japanese fasion and said "sou...wakaii desu..." which means "ah, you are young..." Bah. It was very strange though and a little embarassing. I will wear my coat until May now though. I dont want to go through that weirdness again.

So class was pretty horrible today. I got upset with my hellions several times. I had to read a book to them and they were just bad. Even the girls were talking while I was reading. So I stopped several times and fussed at them for talking while I was trying to read. I tried to get them to write their names in the American style so I would know what their given names where and they just laughed and kept talking. I played a song and they wouldnt do the gestures until I turned around and started yelling at them. I made them do the song twice though because they were being awful. I ended up leaving early because they were bad. I told them that, but I know they didnt understand. I just hope they understood I was mad by my tone of voice.

So anyways, that was that. Sadly, thats nothing really out of the ordinary. As we were leaving Yamamoto-san asked me if I was going to go to Enya Elementary school for the Super English meeting. I tried to dance out of it but eventually she cornered me and told me she would meet me at the front of my building and we would bike to Enya. So of course, I went. We biked there and that was kinda nice. It wasnt that far. I think I now know a short-cut so thats good. Anyways, I get there and there are just TONS of people there. This little Super English meeting is a lot more than a little Super English thing. So anyways, I start getting introduced to a lot of Japanese teachers. None of them really want to talk to me because they are embarassed by their bad english (their english isnt bad but they think it is). Its weird, I made people shy and embarassed because I was a native speaker and thus much better at English. Im not really sure, but it was weird.

Anyways, I had to observe a Super English lesson. There were five classes and we walked up and down the classes and peaked in to see how the lessons went. There were so many people crammed in the hall that it was hard to see sometimes. Anyways, so Im walking back and forth with Yamamoto-san and trying to pay attention. Unfortunately, it was all a little boring because they didnt let me just watch ONE class...I had to go see them all at like 5 minute intervals. There werent just Super English teachers there either,there were teaching from every school in Izumo and probably other schools around Shimane. It was a demonstration of what Super English is I think. It was very awkward for me because of all the people, I was the ONLY foreigner and native english speaker. Not only that, but I distracted the kids just by my presence. Its a very strange feeling.

Anyways, so Im walking up and down and bored out of my mind when I see people looking down the hall and then the source of their curious looks is pointed out to me. My darling husband is standing in teh middle of the hall being taqken to me. Strange! Who would have thought we would run into each other. No other ALTs were there but he was. But that was good. I got to talk to him. Together, we caused a bigger stir with the kids though. It finally occurred to them that I was Chris's wife. I was glad to see him, its just weird to cross paths with him when we are both working.

So I walked up and down with him for a little while and then suddenly it was over. All the classes were closing up shop. Mihara-san disappeared so Chris couldnt ask her what he was supposed to be doing (he was confused, they just told him to come to Enya so he did, they never told him what to do). My teachers came to me and told me I could go home. Then Yamamoto-san told me that she wanted me to meet her husband, but she would return. I didnt understand so I just nodded and then someone else got my attention (there are some ladies who want to meet with me for coffee and some other ladies who want to have a tea party with me so I was in demand to talk to for a little while). Suddenly, she was gone. I thought she meant she was going to go get her husband and then return with him later. So I wandered around with Chris until about 15 minutes later when I realized that Yamamoto san had already left. In Japanese, they have a word for 'to return' and they use it when they say 'I am going home', they just say 'Im returning.' Well, they translate it that way when they speak English so I had gotten confused. She wanted me to go with her to meet her husband before she 'returned'. So I think I insulted her. Poo...I will have to clear things up tomorrow. I wanted to meet her husband too.

And then, to make matters worse, when I was following Chris around who was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do, we ran into a lady who was one of the teachers. Otani-sensei is apparently a nationally reknowned English teacher. She was very excited to meet me. She said she had many things that she wanted to ask me about after the meeting. That was my first mental "uh-oh...". I wasnt invited to the meeting, I wasnt supposed to go. So anyways, she chatters to me about how excited the kids where to see me. That I looked like a doll or something. I dont know, its embarassing how complimentary they are. I never know what to say. ANYWAYS, so we get to the meeting and I feel I can just slip in since Im confused on what Im supposed to do and everyone just left who wasnt invited to the meeting. Anyways, turns out, I cant go to the meeting so I have to leave quickly as Chris and Otani-sensei disappear into the meeting room. She just looked confused. I think I might have offended her. Chris says he will explain if he gets a chance. I just talked to him and he said that he wasnt supposed to be at the meeting either. What a giant ball of confusion! That whole meeting was just confused and they never ever told either of us what was going on.

A very strange day indeed. But I met several people who want to visit with me. So thats good. Anyways, that was today.

Just so you know, I did post a valentine's entry yesterday, in case you missed it. And if you want to know what happened with the Valentine's? Well...the kids were shitheads and just stupid abotu them. Making fun of me for getting names wrong and that sort of thing. Oh well. Stupid kids. Just like 15 more days or so. Maybe 20, I dont really know.