Kyle's World

As is the case every Monday for the past 13 months, today I found myself at the Elementary school teaching grades 1 and 2. Now at first, Elementary school kind of freaked me out. It was a source of stress for me, then I gradually warmed up to it as I ironed out my teaching technique. But I still think I love Junior High School more. There's still a little bit of the "damn, tomorrow is Elementary school" feeling. But I realised that it's no longer the teaching that gives me a weird feeling, after all the kids are all cute and great kids. They all seem to try hard whenever I come to class. On a side note, a grade 1 kid started to cry when he was eliminated from winning a prize I brought to class today. Am I that mean a teacher to make the kid cry? Or was the prize so desirable? Who knew, a pencil and eraser could launch you into the upper echelon on popularity...Anyway, I realised that no matter how much I thought I was part of their world before, I'm just a hired gun for Mondays, and not an actual Elementary school teacher. During the morning meetings, they announce that the ALT has come. All of a sudden, I have no name. And today, they were passing around a sheet for who would attend the drinking party. Right in front of me, they asked teachers "are you coming?" but of course they didn't ask me. An invite would have been nice, even though I would have turned them down. Hawaii seems way better than drinking with a bunch of co-workers who feel indifference to you...

Yes, autumn has come (although it is still technically summer). The days are getting shorter, the breeze is getting cooler (what am I saying, it's still 30 scorching hot degrees here) and the Japanese farmers have turned into pyros. The Japanese seem to light anything on fire, at any time, anywhere. It's not uncommon to drive around my town and see several unguarded fires burning on the sides of roads. There's a smokey haze in my town, and everything smells like smoke too. That's ok, cuz it reminds me of when I go camping. The countdown is on for my next vacation. Yes, that's right: only 7 more days till I'm sitting on the beaches of Hawaii. Cue Hawaii 5-0 music now...I managed to escape work for a week, and managed to get my parents to meet me down there despite my dad's admission that he "won't do anymore travelling this year". It'll be my first jaunt onto Western soil in a good 13 months; each passing day my shopping list grows larger and larger. I can't forgo this opportunity to stock up on various goodies, especially clothes (distinct lack of XX sizes), reading materials and snacks.

That's what I kept thinking about as typhoon 18 hit my area today. That of course is a lyric from Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Membrane". Pigs aren't exactly a typhoon, but it's the closest I could come. Anyway, I woke up this morning with my walls shaking (there was also the phonecall at 6:40AM telling me that I had to come to work). When I arrived at work, none of the teachers who told me I had to be there were there themselves. What's up with that? Were they trying to be deceptive on purpose? I figured out that any teacher who wanted to be absent from school would have to use one of their precious 20 days vacation time. I thought I could make the 5 minute trek, even in adverse conditions and save one of my days off, say for something better like travelling. Using holiday time in the event of a natural disaster is further evidence of some eccentricities on the part of the Japanese. I'd say the typhoon was most severe between 10:30AM and 12:00PM. All the teachers had great views from the windows in our teachers room. We watched the roof of the barber shop across the street blow away one shingle at a time. Then there was a giant piece of sheet metal that came screaming towards the teachers room, but luckily it was picked up by a gust of wind at the last minute and instead blew all the way down the street. All the teachers ended up at the gym, cuz it was flooded. I had to take my socks off, roll up my pants, and bail water into a bucket. I mean, if I wanted to go to a waterpark, I would have gone. A waterpark has no business being in my school gym. I'm sure when I go home I'll find I don't have a balcony anymore or some other drastic happening. That's ok though, I've finally seen a typhoon that's lived up to it's billing. I swear I'll never get excited at a typhoon coming again, once is enough for me...

So what exactly goes into a 'blog' anyway? I'm a 'blog' virgin, so this post is historical in a sense. Maybe I should just ramble enough that it makes sense to only me...who knows. Well nothing out of the ordinary is going on. I popped into work today despite it being a Sunday. Now how many other ALT's go to work on a Sunday? We had an English Recitation contest practice with the first years; I must say they are pretty good although they still have a long way to go. I'm hoping that some of my kids can hit the podium this year, it doesn't matter what place. Getting shut out last year really left a bad taste in my mouth. Speaking of bad taste in my mouth, Japanese spaghetti sauce really leaves something to be desired. Maybe it's the fact that it comes in a bad that throws me off, or maybe it's the slightly salty tin taste it has. It's meat sauce in a bag, which makes me wonder what they did to the meat to make it last on the store shelves. How many years am I shaving off my life by eating it? Luckily I found a Costco, my culinary saving grace. Today I realised why I rarely eat balanced meals in Japan. I think it's the outrageous prices that have something to do with it. Today I bought two nectarines for 580Yen. I'm guessing that's a bit over 3 bucks Canadian a piece. Did I get fleeced? But I felt like a nectarine so I had to spring for it. In Japan, your money goes first, followed soon after by your arm and your leg. 10 buck oranges anyone? (that's a story for an entirely different time).

The hamburger that conquered me, even the most seasoned eater. If you look carefully enough, you can see the bun just laughing at me. Incidentally, my buddy Yuichi, all 160 pounds of him, finished the burger and he too was mocking me in the end.