Adventures in Japan

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Week 11: Happy Halloween!

No, wait, I've been here 11 weeks? How did THAT happen?!

....

Weird.

Anyhow, Happy Halloween! :D

This week I got to present the Halloween lesson I've spent the last 3 weeks coming up with, and I gotta tell you, it was fun! I made sure to change the lesson for each school a little so I didn't get super bored with it by Friday ('cause the kids can TELL) and I think they really enjoyed it! Most of them. You always get that ONE class...

So, the lesson! I started off with showing them some flashcards of basic Halloween stuff. A Jack-o-lantern, some monsters, some kids in costume, etc. Then, when I had the base down, I drew a picture of the earth. (or a tamago, or egg, as all the kids insisted) Then I took the picture of the witch and put it in ANOTHER big circle off to the side and named that "monster world". THEN I took a dollar store witches hat out of a bag and plopped it on my head.

"Monster" I said, pointing to myself.
"Monster" the students repeated dutifully.
"RAAAAWWWRRRRR!!!!" I roared fearfully at them.
They all cracked up.
In fact, one of the teachers pulled out a camera at this point.

I explained through motion and words that I couldn't cross the gap to the human world. Then, writing "Halloween" on the board, I drew a bridge from the "monster world" to the "earth" and as I moved the flashcard of the witch across the bridge I let loose one of my most sinister laughs. (those who know me know that can get pretty good)

Since there was now a bridge, I moved around the room, pretending to threaten to eat the students. :)

Then I pointed to the Jack-o-lantern, and then ran shrieking away from it. "Monsters don't LIKE Jack-o-lanterns!"

THEN we got a student up front, and I made sure to differentiate, I was the monster, he/she was a student. The kid's eyes lit up when I pulled another dollar store hat out of the bag and plopped it on their head. "Costume!" I pronounced proudly.

After giving the student a critical look over, I shook their hand. "Monster friend. Costume means monster friend."
Of course, to make sure they understood, I then pointed to another student and said, "No costume. Not monster friend." I then proceeded to "eat" said student.

We even got a bit of explanation in "trick or treating" where I got to run screaming in terror from the student. I fearfully gave the student a piece of candy and told the monster to "go away!" They were happy to at that point. Less happy when I stole the hat and candy back. :P (I'm not ALLOWED to give them candy)

With that explained, we did Halloween things, like play "pin the face on the jack-o-lantern"

Where the students would call to the blindfolded one to go "right, left, up, down," and "straight"

oh, look, there's my nose!

The sixth graders did "What do you want to be for Halloween", where their target conversation was:

"What do you want to be for Halloween?"
"I want to be a _______"
"Cool! I'm going as a______"

It was the first time they had done less formal conversation, and they seemed to enjoy it.

After, they got to draw themselves in costumes.

Some were impressive!

Some were lazy

And some were...confusing...

There were a few that were simple, but just so CUTE

Actually, this was one of the impressive ones, I just forgot to get it in there.

Some of the classrooms decorated for Halloween!

This is the go-to idea of a cartoon ghost here. Little arms and everything

With the 5th graders, we did "make your own Jack-o-lantern" which the students seemed to really grab onto!

ONE school even used them as decorations, I went back up later, and all the classrooms had them in the windows. :)

I guess I should mention that they don't really decorate classrooms in Japan, so this was awesome to me. :)

I don't normally give blow-by-blows of my lesson, but I just really enjoyed this one!

That kinda was the big news of the week, BUT! You get a bonus! I went to Tokyo this weekend! Which is, btw, 8 hours away driving. Only 3 hours by bullet train. Now I know why they invented the thing.

But this was a ward temple trip, so we rented a mini-bus, met at 9:00 Friday night

This was not 9:00 at night, but it IS the bus.

Thankfully, the little one was just there to see her off.

And then proceeded to try and sleep on a bus ALL NIGHT. We would occasionally stop for gas or bathroom breaks, and when I stumbled out of the bus, people would peer at me and say "Dai-jo-bu?" "are you ok?" and I would reassure them I was fine. What I WANTED to say was "It's 2:30 in the morning. How ok am I SUPPOSED to be?"

Well, we made it to the temple without incident, about 4:30 AM, which was too early.

So we sat in the parking lot and slept for another hour and a half in a bus that WASN'T MOVING. Seemed to help a lot.

Loved the Tokyo temple! It was lovely and I enjoyed the time, even though I kept falling asleep. Again, what do you expect at that point?

And then, at 2:00 pm, we got BACK ON THE BUS and left.

we thought they were going to start up karaoke at this point, but thankfully they refrained.

And we got to see a lovely view of Mt. Fuji

And made it back by 10:00.

I was informed by my friends that, as it was only 10:00 I could easily make it to their Halloween party. I gave a hollow sort of laugh and just went to bed. :P

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Week 10: Wait, you can buy that?

I gotta say, this has been a beautiful month.

I have ridden my bike to work every day this whole month. EVERY DAY. The weather has been THAT nice.

I have been informed by one of my principals that this is unusual. That usually October is liberally peppered with Typhoons, especially on the weekends. They all have sports festivals in October, and this is the first time in YEARS they haven't had to deal with the overhanging threat of rain. While I would like to see a nice typhoon (the only one I went through, I nicknamed "the big drizzle") I am also enjoying this lovely weather.

It's getting crisp too! I can tell because

1) I am no longer dying of heat and

2) everyone is putting on their coats and scarves.

I have yet to don long sleeves, though I will admit to wearing my short jacket one day.

I had previously been informed by my boss that when my school switches to winter wear I need to start wearing a suit coat, however, I know that schools have changed to their winter uniforms ONLY because I've noticed it on the way to school some mornings. None of my schools wear uniforms. I'm wondering how long I can get away with not wearing a suit coat.....

Anyhow!

As mentioned by those who follow me on facebook, I was very sad this week. AND nothing really happened. Lots of preparing for Halloween, but, you know, nothing much. So, this week is going to be "wait, you can buy that?"

Let's start with Halloween coming! In honor of this, the nearby mall has set up the Halloween tree!

As I was watching, a mom brought her kids dressed up in costume and took pictures of them next to the Halloween tree. :) The kids really seem to like it, now to introduce Trick or Treating!

You can, of course, buy a pumpkin

Why yes, that DOES say $26.

But they cost a bit. Don't think I'll be carving this year.

Now, as mentioned, winter is coming along, and it's getting cold. Maybe you need a warm hat.

And it's seasonal!

And don't forget the sweaters!

it was so warm and fuzzy, I almost overlooked the cat.

And, of course, you can't wear sandals anymore. Time to wear some shoes (darnit!)

and if you wear shoes, you need socks!

how do you CHOOSE?!

Now you're warm and comfy! But then, what if you don't WANT to look like you're cold?

Goodness knows, you can't look comfortable AND be fashionable, right?

You need to layer, right?

They're little shorts!

Time to get yourself a belly warmer! Gotta keep your core warm!

Well, you're all warm and comfy, time to get ready for school!

You're gonna need a backpack. The iconic Japanese Elementary backpack is called a Randoseru.

They were originally all black, and according to Charles, just 15 years ago, they tried to expand the colors to include dark brown, but found that the students with dark brown backpacks were getting teased.

This has now changed, they are found in SO many colors.

Some of the girls' has bling, and lots are cartoon character themed.

They are a bit pricey though.

$368 for a KID'S BACKPACK?!

This is the CHEAPEST backpack I could find ON SALE. They go up to around $700, and if you look at the picture above this one, a purple was going for just $495.

They last the entire time of Elementary school, and usually will be kept past that. (some have since passed them down to their children, I hear) Or, of course, you can buy a knockoff.

Then you need study materials, like flash cards!