I am "High Tension"

A lot has happened since this protagonist has last left her faithful readers!

I am now working at the Junior High. Junior Highs here are grades 7-9 (although they are called 1-3... first years, second years, etc). So far I have only had the 3rd years... get the toughest ones out of the way! They are generally quiet, shy, and have adapted to the group mentality and they must check with others before giving an answer.

Action photos:





Unlike elementary however, they are less than enthused to raise their hands. So I have taken the idea of handing out “dollars” for volunteers and such and then later I will have an auction for cool things. I have decided to make them “Akron Dollars” and have various things Akron is known for on them, such as the blimp, tires, soap box derby, etc. They are all worth 1 Akron Dollar. But for harder things, I have created a 5 Akron Dollars bill… with none other than an image of LeBron James on it. I am awesome.

Because I have no shame, I am doing basically an identical presentation for my introduction. The teachers appreciate me because of my loud voice and big expressions, so even the slower learners can understand. Because, in fact, I am acting like an idiot, there is generally a pause when I do something ridiculous, then they laugh with an “are you serious?!” tone. I ask them “What does a cat say?” They understand the question, but may be in disbelief as to exactly WHY I am asking it (why, to demonstrate the slight nuances between Japanese and American animal sounds of course!).

Some other teachers talk about me, right in front of me, without acknowledging me. Maybe they think I don’t know Japanese (as most Japanese people think about foreigners). But I digress, he was saying how down the hall, his class could hear a weird noise (it was me meowing). So now those students are looking forward to my class. With a compliment like that, why wouldn’t he have at least looked at me and gave me a thumbs up or something?

Students have to fill out this paper after class. In English or Japanese they can put down what they understood, or a question for me or anything really, and I read them. I can just circle it giving it an “ok” but I usually draw things on there and make a comment. A couple of girls have written how cute I am… ok? Someone wrote “GHOSTBUSTUR” because I told them about ghosts in Ohio, haha. Another student said I was “High Tension”... I didn’t know what to make of this, so I asked one of the English teachers if that was a good thing. She said yes. I think it may mean “very energetic”.

In other news, fish died, I got more fish, they died. I now have 0 fish. I went on a bus trip with some people from the Town Hall to a festival about 2 hours away. In Japan, as long as the driver isn’t drinking (and maybe the passenger) open container is ok. So, when Chris and I got on the bus, they handed her a beer. “Oh… here we go again,” I think. They never let you not drink. Then they hand me a tallboy…the obvious choice for giant girl (this just led to more being spill by the bumps in the road). And when that was finished? Oh… have a Chu-hai! A Chu-hai is a fruit flavored, I’m assuming, malt liquor (as it is clear), that has 0 alcohol taste and the lemon tastes like 7up. There may have been other chu-hai involved, I can’t remember, this was last week. Needless to say, I was doing pretty well.

Some pictures of (somewhere in) Gifu prefecture:













Later that night I saw the best shot for a picture. I was on a bridge and there were some rapids under it, some houses on the bank, a lit-up castle in the distance, and another bridge, colorful with people with umbrellas. It reminded me of France. So as I was taking my camera out, my supervisor came to help me, and I fumbled it. Screen broke, it will turn on, but it won’t take pictures. F.

So now has begun the hunt for the next better camera. I have a few in mind. The logical choice is when I am in Tokyo next weekend, go to the electronics district (Akihabara) and an insane camera for cheap because of the competition. However, I am going to a lot of places before I can get to there that I would really like a camera for.

This weekend is a 3 day weekend, so on Monday I will go to Nagoya to “Top Camera” (I hear good things) to hopefully buy a bad mama of a camera. I will continue to put a giant dent in my bank account by buying my bullet train tickets to and from Tokyo. I actually chose to go to Nagoya on Monday rather than Saturday or Sunday because there is a flea market at a temple there (FYI- because of the l/r thing, Japanese people think it is called a FREE Market- which actually makes more sense than “flea”…). When I went to Kansai Gaidai, Andy and I would skip class to take a trip to the largest flea market in Japan that happens once a month. I just want to fleetingly relive those good times.

Hopefully, nothing too awesome will be there because once I get to Tokyo in a few days after that, I need to pay for my hotels, concert tickets, and a ticket into Tokyo Game Show (a video game expo). Did I mention my “Tokyo Weekend” is also my BIRTHDAY weekend? Hopefully 24 will start out on a great foot by being there, or so great that in fact, I won’t remember a lot of it. Sunday (my birthday) will be my free day. I plan to go to Kamakura (to see the world’s largest Buddha statue) and Yokohama (Chinatown) before catching my train home.

Other than that, its been cooling down a bit here, had some rainy days. Some incredible mountain pictures I missed (GRR!) Things are well for the most part. Looking forward to sleeping in and taking it easy this weekend. I WILL clean up and do laundry.. at least that’s what I tell myself!

Here is a picture of one of the frogs that hangs out by my door, and a japanese toilet (most home toilets are Western style, and a lot of public bathrooms usually have one or more. but in general, these are just standard public toilets).





More pics in my photo account (link to the side).

Please watch this disturbing commercial of cartoon koalas taking off their noses and using them as cell phones and a mouse... (I believe its for car insurance)