2007年6月16日

今週の漢字: 海岸

Coast:
I got my placement, and I’m placed in the town of Mito. I was very shocked when I saw a message from my predecessor. I contacted her back and we’ve been sending many e-mails to each other. She gave me a great deal of information on the town and the school. I hope she’s not too annoyed with my flood of questions, although I don't think I asked too many. Do you think 20 questions is a lot?? I imagine there are people who ask lots more. I have been interested in the more practical and living information.

So, Mito is a suburban town. I did a comparison between my town in New Jersey and Mito. Here’s what I discovered:

My town
Area: 13.5 km2
Population: 13,806 (as of 2000)
Density: 1,156.3 per km2

Mito
Area: 18.73 km2
Population: 13,504 (as of 2003)
Density: 720.98 per km2

Mito isn’t the most rural location, but it is relatively the most rural for me. There are rice paddies and as you might be able to tell from last week’s picture, there is also a mountain. The town is right by the coast, hence the kanji of the week. It seems like a very beautiful place filled with a rich cultural history. It is very exciting to finally know exactly where I’m placed. There is no public transportation to travel within the town, but there is a train station. The town is a stop on the rails that connect Osaka and Tokyo. I am about an hour and ten minutes from Nagoya by train at a price of about $15 (USD) round-trip. Traveling to Tokyo is another story… I’ll just say the fastest way: Under 2 hours by bullet train at a one-way price of a little over $80 (USD). I’m sure I’ll travel a few times to Tokyo each year, but many times to Nagoya.

As for my commute to school from my apartment, my predecessor says it’s about 15 minutes by bike and about an hour on foot. For those of you that know me, the problem is that I can’t ride a bike… yet. I figure this is a great time for me to learn. I’ve tried several times in the past, but my coordination was extremely poor at those times. I had a knack for somehow falling off the bike usually I fell right as the bike fell left. Some people ask me how I fall… I don’t know how to answer that as I don’t know myself. It just seemed very natural. I can see myself riding to the school and falling a lot. All my colleagues will stop to ask me if I’m okay, and they will pass me after I reassure them of my safety (at least for that moment). Of course nothing will really hurt me except my natural talent of clumsiness like riding into any obstacle even though I can see it from a kilometer away.

Anyway, enough of my embarrassing abilities (or lack of), I’ll be teaching the high school. There are roughly 500 students in three grade levels, as that is the high school system. Each grade is broken down into four classes. I was informed that I’ll be teaching almost every student at least once a week. First years focus on oral communication. Second years focus on listening comprehension. Logically, third years focus on writing. There shouldn’t be any discipline in this school, but many students are really shy and are plagued with boredom. I can understand this as I can relate, which is why sometimes people are surprised with my passion for theatre arts. After some time, I was cured of the plague and came out of my shell more. I hope that I would be able to find the activities and teaching styles that work best. I understand that learning a language can be daunting, exhilarating, or a bit of both. I hope I can make my students comfortable with learning and speaking English. Conversely, I really want to continue to learn Japanese so that I can have a deeper connection with my students, colleagues, and the town. Of course this is in no way influenced by hoping to understand anime, manga, Jpop, and Jrock more. Okay, I lied, but I truly want to make this an enriching experience for everyone. Just six weeks away… =)

Stay tuned next week for a look into the optional orientation I attended for New York based JETs and thoughts on the cultural differences of bullying!

今週の写真: Here’s a picture of our adorable Siamese cat, Cookie.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

your dumb cat is evil!!!!! doesn't let anyone pet her at all!!!!! stupid cat hahahahah

Cal

Anonymous said...

Regarding the last comment, I couldn't see your cat's eyes b/c they blended right in with her face. So it just seemed like she had no eyes at all.

So your basically moving into another town just like yours, you're saying. Heh!, except for the rice paddies/mountain view.

-curtiss

Anonymous said...

i'm going to miss you...

Anonymous said...

wow d00d i'm actually writing on your thing lol no but seriously it seems that you have a lot of challenges ahead of you, and i'm not naturally gifted by God with the gift of encouragement, but i know that he'll have great things in store for you as you progress with your enriching experience of a different culture and life in japan *sigh you make me sorta want to go there.. ok soo we gotta start that email chain thing soon again, or at least i will .. so where have you been for like the past 2 weekS?!
ok GB
joe