... this is a continuation of the previous post. Apparently I had too much to write.
Anyways, as I write this I'm back at my base school. It's been only 3 days since the undoukai and enkai and I feel like the environment's a little more laid back. The undoukai was on a Saturday, and the school gets 2 days to recover, so Monday was their day off. It's 8:51AM right now on Tuesday, May 31st.
I think I may have mentioned this on my previous post as well, but in preparation of the enkai, the teachers woke up SUPER early, and got to school at around 5:00-5:30AM to put up the tends and in general prepare for the festival. Even after that, they had to manage the actual festival. After THAT was the enkai that was from 6:30-8:30PM.
I'll be honest, I felt super tense at first since I've only been to a couple enkais with them and they've made me make a speech in Japanese once before. Also, the office environment until now hasn't been too cordial. They'd always speak in Japanese, wouldn't often acknowledge me nor talk to me so there would be some days where I didn't know what I was doing and would be at my desk alone doing nothing. HOWEVER, once we got some alcohol in our systems we all loosened up.
We went to a place called 「ラ・プラス青い森」and the charge was different for each people. My guess as to why that was is that the teachers at the school feed some of their paycheck into an enkai fund, and I don't. So, while some teachers paid ¥2,000, I paid ¥3,800... even though he initially asked for ¥4,000. I didn't question it, anyways. There was a special campaign going on, so that's why the price was so low. On top of the nomihoudai (ENG: all-you-can-drink) there was a all-you-can-eat (JPN: tabehoudai) "Viking" style, which basically means buffet self-serve. The food was was pretty good and consisted of indian curry, half-stale naan, gobo root salad, potato salad, french fries, pizza, and other simple buffet foods.
At the start, a teacher pointed me into the direction of the food, so I went and made myself a plate. Turns out, he was probably telling me to make a plate for the entire table because after I came back with my own plate, others came with a plate full of a single item and people started taking from it. My fear was confirmed after a slightly drunk teacher mentioned in Japanese that since I'm young, I should be bringing food to the table for them, and so I apologized and did so. I know some people might have a problem with this, but I didn't. I didn't even realize it was a rule that I was breaking, and I wanted to be kind and give a good impression, so personally I felt there was no problem with this request. I brought over a plate of na'an and a bowl of curry, and also got 2 more plates and handed them to other parts of the table as well.
Reflecting on that Japanese etiquette point, serving food is in the same boat as another point where junior or younger members of a company goes around and refills the older or more senior members drink. Some might find this patronizing, but I think it's actually quite respectful. What better way to show your respect for a person than to pour their drink (and make sure they never stop drinking their beer, hehe.) TAKE NOTES ON THIS POINT NEWBIES... that is, if any JET newbies read my post. They probably don't. I write this mostly for me to be nostalgic in a few months or years, but ANYWAYS I DIGRESS. :)
So, after I got their drinks, the night progressed and after about 3-4 drinks the folks I was sitting near were already quite drunk. I wasn't drunk yet, though. If you recall, the teachers woke up around 5:00AM so some of them were entering into this "sleepy" drunk phase. The base ball coach and I were previously talking about MLB, NBA, and Japanese baseball. Before nodding off, he told me that he likes the Mariners because of a famous Japanese pitcher (and probably the former Mariner, Ichiro) and that he also likes the American Football team, the Dallas Cowboys.
Once everyone was drunk, I started getting visits by some of my other teachers. First came my 1st year teacher who really flattered me by saying that I was one of the best ALTs that he's had and was bummed that I was leaving. I was definitely shocked by this statement as I felt that I haven't really done anything to deserve this compliment. My 1st year JTE transferred to my base school just this year, and he's a really cool, competent teacher, but is a bit shy. His English is super good and he always strives to find ways to be a better teacher. Regardless, just like all the other teachers, he doesn't really talk to me while in the teacher's room and doesn't ask me to prepare anything in advance so I was thrown off by this statement and covered my face in shame because I felt bad that I was leaving them.
Following my 1st year JTEs visit, my 2nd year JTE came (who is also my Vice Principal) and sat in the open chair next to me. He hasn't really done this in any of the other enkais so I could tell that he was in the "happy" drunk. He is a good guy, and good teacher, but he is always very busy since he's not only an English teacher, but also the Vice Principal. The Vice Principal is many times more busy than the actual Principal.While the Principal is mainly a figurehead, the vice Principal has his boots on the ground and does the real work.
Anyways, he mentioned about his experience with the first ALT he's ever had - how she was a woman from the U.K. and how she gave the teacher looks when he slurped his noodles, which is a cultural tidbit of Japan that shows that you're enjoying your meal. In Western culturals, though, slurping is generally rude as it shows that you're being messy with your food.
He then complimented me on my role as an ALT and said that I was a very kind person and that the students like me. He said that if the students like the ALT, they will like English too. He was also bummed that I was leaving as he thought that I was a good ALT, and told the other teachers, in Japanese, that I was leaving too since many of them didn't know. A few of them let out an "eeeeeeeeeeh" which would be comparable to "WHAAAAAAT?!?" in English. One of the few teachers who reacted was the janitor, with whom I sometimes ride the bus. He doesn't speak that much English, but like every other Japanese person, he could understand it fairly well. SO. I felt pretty bummed out again and covered my face in drunken shame.
As for drinks, I think that the teacher's were pretty good after 3-5 beers, but I had 2 glasses of beers, 1 glass of umeshuu and a small bottle of the hotel's nihonshuu, which didn't taste good, but didn't taste great either.
As the night went on, my Vice Principal and I talked more and he asked what I was going to do after I returned to the U.S. I let him know that I wanted to work for a micro-loan company in order to help push a mission of helping those less fortunate to bring themselves out of poverty on an international level. Following the explanation, he asked me if I could do a "My Dream" speech on the last class with the students. Apparently there's some "thing" in Sendai and he wants to 1) Record my presentation and 2) Present it to the conference he's going to. We were both drunk, maybe that's why he asked, but I told him that if the video is good or if I do a good job, he can show it, but it'll probably be not so good.
By 8:30 our enkai finished, and as expected only about 4 of the ~20ish people who went were able to go to the nijikai, which is basically the 2nd party or afterparty in English. The other teachers were way too exhausted to do anything else. Unfortunately, I did leave without saying goodbye to the other teachers since the principal was leaving to the next place.
So, after the official enkai went to a place called honcho, which is a district in Aomori-city known for its numerous bars, snack bars, and other "red-light" type establishments. My Vice Principal took us to a place called 「のら」. Turns out, he frequents that place and turns out that it's actually a snack bar.
For those who don't know, a snack bar is a small establishment that serves alcohol and is usually run by women. The oldest and owner of the bar is called the mama. Basically, how this works is that the women chat with you while you drink and refill your drink when it's empty. By having a conversation with you, the mama hopes you become inclined to buy more drinks and talk more. The place was run by only 2 women and one was the owner. She chatted with us for a little bit, but then talked with others who entered the bar. We were in a group anyway with nomihoudai so it really didn't matter if she talked to us or not. To put the size into perspective, the bar was probably the size of a small bedroom....so imagine a dimly lit small bedroom with a bar table spanning across it, and a TV in the corner for karaoke. That was basically the bar. We kept drinking and the principal was giving me recommendations for places to eat.
I thought it was funny because the principal actually called one place up (Keep in mind this is like 11:~~PM) and asked them if I can go. They told him that even if the establishment is closed, just tell the principal and he'll let them know I'm coming. Therefore, I can go whenever - even on their holiday. I forget the other bits of conversation, but it was all pretty fun. One teacher asked why I was interested in Japan and why I came, and another one talked about some juicy drama that happened in the past involving an ALT.
I got to my limit of alcohol at the nijikai and at around 11:30PM, we went home. I walked with one of the teachers to the previous location we were at, which is where I parked my bike and started walking my bike home. After sobering up (just a little) I rode my bike home.
When I got home, I felt kiiinda sick. I felt nauseated for a while, but I never threw up, and I think I fell asleep in the living room or something because I woke up at 3:00AM to move to my bed.
I never drink enough water, but I really should. Still, it was a really fun night and I got to hear a lot from my teachers that I otherwise wouldn't be able to talk to.
I'm glad that the teachers think highly of me, but I still feel like I'm not doing as much as I could be doing. After I have classes, I have nothing to really do (hence this blog) and when I do have class, it's usually a quite simple job (i.e. repeating words, walking around to check spelling/grammar, etc.). There are a few ideas that I have in mind, but I only have 1.5 months left before summer break begins to put it into action.
I want to
1) Setup a sort of pen-pal letter writing project so that I can keep in touch with students who are really passionate about English
2) Have a kaiwa or conversation time during lunch break
3) Have them keep a journal, and when I have school visits, I can respond to their entries.
I don't think it's enough time, and in hindsight, I feel like 1 year almost isn't enough time either. I'm not saying I regret my decision - I think my time can still be used better in the states - but I wish that I had more time to get to know my students better on an individual leve, and put into action the ideas that I had for them. It only really feels like just now I'm breaking the barriers that I had with my base school, and that I'm also getting to know my students better, but there's nothing I can really do about it so I will just have to make the best of the time I have left.
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