5th February, 2007
I was in class today happily going about my business when all of a sudden I could hear the teacher talking quite loudly with a student. I turned to see what was happening. The talking gradually got louder and louder, they seemed to be arguing with one another. I could not understand what was going on as they were speaking in Japanese. All of a sudden the teacher grabbed the kid and pulled him out of his seat. I wasn’t sure what it was all about. The kid then retaliated and pushed is desk and chair over. Books and pencil cases went flying everywhere. The teacher still had him by the arm. The student didn’t like that so he pushed the teacher off of him. Before I knew it the teacher had dragged the student out of the room. I don’t know what happened next. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I don’t even know why it happened. Everything seemed to be going well to me. Obviously I missed something. The rest of the class kind of laughed a little once they had left the room but I think it was just in shock. Some of the boys cleaned up the mess – picked up the table and chair and books and pencil case. Then they just got back on with their work. After the lesson the teacher came and apologised for the incident that occurred in my class. He didn’t tell me the reason behind it though.
After school the counsellor came up to me and started talking to me in Japanese. I had no idea what he was saying to me. I think he thought I knew what he was saying and was waiting for me to reply. Luckily an English speaking teacher walked passed and translated the information. He was talking to me about the incident, which I figured anyway. He said that the boy had written me an apology note – (in Japanese of course). The English teacher read it to me and he had just basically apologised for disrupting my class and said that he would not do that again. I wasn’t even aware that he had disrupted my class. It was all a very strange experience. This is now the second desk I have seen tipped upside down. I wonder if I will experience another crazy scene.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Setsubun Festival
3rd February
There was a Japanese festival on today which we went to. It was like a good luck festival where they keep away the evil spirits so they can have good luck for the year. It happens on the 3rd of February every year which is the eve of the first day of spring. On this day people in Japan scatter roasted soybeans inside and outside their homes. "Fortune in, bad spirits out". In Japanese they say " Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto".
The first part of the festival was a burning ceremony.
They burn paper bags and logs to get rid of all the bad spirits. Then there was some sort of procession and a little dance. After that they threw out lucky beans.
There were lots of bags of beans being thrown into the crowd of people. It was quite funny watching all the Japanese people trying to catch these bags of beans. I didn’t think I would catch any at first and then I changed my tactic – I went further to the front and fought amongst the Japanese to catch one. It was like playing marks up - seriously. If a bag fell on the ground they would all scramble to pick it up. It was almost like a pile up! ☺ I eventually caught one and was so excited. 
I was then motivated to catch even more so I pushed my way into the crowd even more so I could catch some for everyone else. I ended up catching in total about 8 bags of lucky beans. I really had to fight for these though. This means that I am going to have a very lucky year!! 
When the crowd lessened I went up to the people wearing the masks and they actually let me put one of the masks on. It was pretty funny and very heavy. I don’t know how they wore it for as long as they did. I would have fallen over.
At night we had a ‘Pot Luck’ welcome part for all of us new Aussies in our residence. All the Japanese local community people came to meet us as well as the Americans who live in the building. Everyone had to bring a plate of food to share. I made chicken curry. About 60 people came so it was a pretty good turn out. It was actually a really good party because we were able to meet lots of really nice Japanese people. There were quite a few who offered to take us out too.
I invited one of my adult classes from the University and about 5 of them came. They really enjoyed themselves. We were introduced to everyone at the party and when my name was called the people from my class all cheered for me. It was like I had my own personal fan club. It was quite funny.
The party wrapped up around 9:30pm and then we moved on to Coast. This will probably become our local pub. We actually rode there – this could become slightly dangerous so I am not sure how often we will ride there. We didn’t get home until 2am.
There was a Japanese festival on today which we went to. It was like a good luck festival where they keep away the evil spirits so they can have good luck for the year. It happens on the 3rd of February every year which is the eve of the first day of spring. On this day people in Japan scatter roasted soybeans inside and outside their homes. "Fortune in, bad spirits out". In Japanese they say " Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto".
The first part of the festival was a burning ceremony.
They burn paper bags and logs to get rid of all the bad spirits. Then there was some sort of procession and a little dance. After that they threw out lucky beans.
There were lots of bags of beans being thrown into the crowd of people. It was quite funny watching all the Japanese people trying to catch these bags of beans. I didn’t think I would catch any at first and then I changed my tactic – I went further to the front and fought amongst the Japanese to catch one. It was like playing marks up - seriously. If a bag fell on the ground they would all scramble to pick it up. It was almost like a pile up! ☺ I eventually caught one and was so excited. 
I was then motivated to catch even more so I pushed my way into the crowd even more so I could catch some for everyone else. I ended up catching in total about 8 bags of lucky beans. I really had to fight for these though. This means that I am going to have a very lucky year!! 
When the crowd lessened I went up to the people wearing the masks and they actually let me put one of the masks on. It was pretty funny and very heavy. I don’t know how they wore it for as long as they did. I would have fallen over.
At night we had a ‘Pot Luck’ welcome part for all of us new Aussies in our residence. All the Japanese local community people came to meet us as well as the Americans who live in the building. Everyone had to bring a plate of food to share. I made chicken curry. About 60 people came so it was a pretty good turn out. It was actually a really good party because we were able to meet lots of really nice Japanese people. There were quite a few who offered to take us out too.
I invited one of my adult classes from the University and about 5 of them came. They really enjoyed themselves. We were introduced to everyone at the party and when my name was called the people from my class all cheered for me. It was like I had my own personal fan club. It was quite funny. The party wrapped up around 9:30pm and then we moved on to Coast. This will probably become our local pub. We actually rode there – this could become slightly dangerous so I am not sure how often we will ride there. We didn’t get home until 2am.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Mount Shosha
28th January 2007
Today we went to Mount Shosha which is where The Last Samuri was filmed. It is such a beautiful mountain.
To get to the top you have to take a cable car. You get there within 5 minutes. The view was very picturesque. There were lots of different little shrines and statues to look at along the way. There was a bell that you were allowed to dong so of course I wanted to have a turn. It made a pretty loud ‘DONG’. 
We just took our time going around the mountain looking at all the beautiful things on it and taking a billion photos. We actually didn’t get around to do the whole mountain as we ran out of time so it is definitely a place that we will be going back to, to have another look at. Next time we will probably take a picnic lunch with us.
Today we went to Mount Shosha which is where The Last Samuri was filmed. It is such a beautiful mountain.
To get to the top you have to take a cable car. You get there within 5 minutes. The view was very picturesque. There were lots of different little shrines and statues to look at along the way. There was a bell that you were allowed to dong so of course I wanted to have a turn. It made a pretty loud ‘DONG’. 
We just took our time going around the mountain looking at all the beautiful things on it and taking a billion photos. We actually didn’t get around to do the whole mountain as we ran out of time so it is definitely a place that we will be going back to, to have another look at. Next time we will probably take a picnic lunch with us.
Australia Day
26th January 2007
Today is Australia Day. Celebrating Australia Day in Japan was very different to being in Australia. The Japanese people had no idea about Australia Day until we explained to them what it was all about. There were certainly no big firework displays today, but even still we wanted to celebrate it ourselves. After work we all decided to put on some Australia gear and go out for tea.
No one seemed to really take notice of what we were wearing. After tea we headed out to karaoke where we sang some songs and had a few drinks. We joined some of the Americans again. There were a few Japanese people in the Karaoke room too and they ended up paying for the whole evening. I couldn’t believe it. It would have been quite expensive too. Well over $100, and these people didn’t even know us. After Karaoke we went to a pub called Coast. This pub was pretty good. 
We danced the night away. Our Australia gear was popular in this pub with everyone wanting to know why we were wearing it. We got home around 3am.
Today is Australia Day. Celebrating Australia Day in Japan was very different to being in Australia. The Japanese people had no idea about Australia Day until we explained to them what it was all about. There were certainly no big firework displays today, but even still we wanted to celebrate it ourselves. After work we all decided to put on some Australia gear and go out for tea.
No one seemed to really take notice of what we were wearing. After tea we headed out to karaoke where we sang some songs and had a few drinks. We joined some of the Americans again. There were a few Japanese people in the Karaoke room too and they ended up paying for the whole evening. I couldn’t believe it. It would have been quite expensive too. Well over $100, and these people didn’t even know us. After Karaoke we went to a pub called Coast. This pub was pretty good. 
We danced the night away. Our Australia gear was popular in this pub with everyone wanting to know why we were wearing it. We got home around 3am.
A Swallowcliffe Moment...
26th January 2007
I had an interesting lesson today. Everything was going really well, the students were all on task doing what they were supposed to be doing when all of a sudden I heard a big commotion going on. I turned around to see one of the boys on the floor doing a little commando roll with his desk turned upside down and his chair fallen over. One of the other boys had pushed him over. At first I just thought he fell off his chair but then I saw another boy fired up trying to go for him again. The supervising teacher seemed pretty calm. She just went over to the boys and said something calmly to them in Japanese which I didn’t understand.
As I am not the main teacher there wasn’t much I could really do. I just let them sort out the issue. It was not like I had never seen this kind of behaviour happen before – but it was definitely the first time I had seen this type of behaviour in Japan. The funny thing was, no-one got sent out. I think it has to be pretty drastic for students to be sent out here – I definitely do not agree with this system. If students are being disruptive they should be sent out of the room. Well this certainly made my lesson interesting and one that stood out from the rest.
I had an interesting lesson today. Everything was going really well, the students were all on task doing what they were supposed to be doing when all of a sudden I heard a big commotion going on. I turned around to see one of the boys on the floor doing a little commando roll with his desk turned upside down and his chair fallen over. One of the other boys had pushed him over. At first I just thought he fell off his chair but then I saw another boy fired up trying to go for him again. The supervising teacher seemed pretty calm. She just went over to the boys and said something calmly to them in Japanese which I didn’t understand.
As I am not the main teacher there wasn’t much I could really do. I just let them sort out the issue. It was not like I had never seen this kind of behaviour happen before – but it was definitely the first time I had seen this type of behaviour in Japan. The funny thing was, no-one got sent out. I think it has to be pretty drastic for students to be sent out here – I definitely do not agree with this system. If students are being disruptive they should be sent out of the room. Well this certainly made my lesson interesting and one that stood out from the rest.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Shikama High School
This is my school........
the front of the school
another front view
the soccer field
leading to the front doors
the front doors
the shoe cupboard
the staff room
my classroom
the front of the school
another front view
the soccer field
leading to the front doors
the front doors
the shoe cupboard
the staff room
my classroom
Our Apartment
If you are wondering what our apartment looks like here it is.......
bathroom and laundry
shower and bath
hallway
the bedroom
the toilet
the kitchen
the dining room
the lounge room
bathroom and laundry
shower and bath
hallway
the bedroom
the toilet
the kitchen
the dining room
the lounge room
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