welcome to the jugyo, we got fun n' games

Here are some pictures of my daring exploits in the classroom. The original copies were good old fashioned film prints, and currently lacking access to better technology, I took pictures with my cellphone and sent 'em to my email. My laptop broke shortly after I got here (corrupted hard drive after 2 weeks of use- be wary of refurbished Dells) so I'm limited to using the internet during breaks in the workday at school.

These pictures are from Ueki-kita, one of my three junior high schools, which I reach either by bus or by picturesque thirty-minute bike ride. What you see is a pretty standard classroom set-up with rows of attentive Japanese students, and what you don't see is the kids out cold sleeping on their desk, punching each other repeatedly in the head, and yelling out English swear words at random. If I can get them to recall conversational words as readily and pronounce them as loudly and accurately, I will have done my job here.

In reality behavior like this is usually the exception, but pre-teens and angst go together like a dirty apartment and cockroaches, apparently no matter where you live. When I get the chance I'm going to collect their hilarious pencil boxes and post a picture of them on here. Almost all have some random 'Engrish' phrase on the top, and those that aren't marijuana-themed (realistically about 1/3 of the boys' parents have bought them these... one of my favorites reads "Smoke dope and addicts- is bud rearry for me?") usually have something to do with peace, love, music, or candy.












Most of my time is spent reading words, phrases and stories aloud, but I am slowly gaining some flexibility as I get to know the language and fellow English teachers better. Recent developments have included a class sing along to Under the Bridge (by the Red Hot Chili Peppers), and working out basic words playing Hangman. One of my students also lent me the piano sheet music for the rousing main theme from Pirates of the Caribbean, which I hope to work into a lesson somehow. Right now I'm thinking a pirate-themed dance off during a school assembly around Halloween.

In other news, I just returned from an adventure-filled trip to Osaka last weekend to see Radiohead, and have a few yarns to spin and pictures to share from that trip when I get the chance to upload them. Until then, here are some teasers from my three-day trip to the gourmet food capital of Japan: samurai gear photo shoot in four-hundred-ten year-old castle; multiple-story indoor/outdoor onsen waterpark complex; twenty-four hour all you can drink hip-hop dance club; eleven-hour hungover bus ride; majestic whale sharks.