Chelsea Does Japan: Miscellaneous Musings...

As I was writing the date on the chalkboard in class, it struck me how removed I feel from my country today. My hope for everyone on such an anniversary is that we remember to count each and every one of our blessings! And now I will make a conscious effort to discuss happier things going down on this side of the Pacific.

My inner editor cries daily in this land where English is the second (if even) language. But it's always amusing!

This a placemat at Muche ("Moooooosh"), our favorite authentic "Italian" restaurant in the neighborhood:

Are you enjoy? I sure are.

And this is my favorite trash can!

Being creen sure IS wouderful.

Now, reading the placemat and the trash can is a bit like reading the first graders' summer essays. They don't have a command of English, but you can always understand what they're trying to say because it's simple enough. The third graders, on the other hand, are trying so hard to compose such complex sentences that they convolute their work beyond all logic. It's cryptic, much like this ten-dollar purse I couldn't pass up:

(?)

(?)

I love it here.

Here is something else wonderful about this city: gaijin traps. "Gaijin" is a not-so-nice term for a foreigner. Now, to be fair, Japanese people ride bikes too, but it's usually the Americans or the Australians that come home with cuts and bruises from top to bottom after sliding off the road into one of these:

Isn't it nice how the asphalt just kind of gently rolls down into the ditch? You can see another ditch on the other side of the road, too. Now, gaijin traps come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they're narrower, maybe only six inches or a foot wide. They're usually this wide and this deep, roughly two feet. Sometimes they're six feet deep. As necessary drainage, they are on EVERY road, but maybe only five percent have grates to cover them. The rest are waiting to eat me.

Now, let's talk about school, particularly the bathrooms:

Yeah! It's like camping every day of the year...in your work clothes!

This is the teachers' office. All of the teachers work in the same room. There are three groupings of ten desks, and the principal and vice principal sit at the front of the room:

These are some of my teachers:

That was the third grade boss and Kano-sensei (with the fan). Kano-sensei is so cool! She always gives me the Japan Times in English. And she always finds chopsticks for me since I usually forget to bring my own.

And this is Kawakami-sensei:

Unfortunately, her eyes are closed, but she is so pretty! And she's a dancer and she's just the nicest lady ever. Today, she randomly asked me how I felt about my schedule, and I told her my concerns, and she said she would talk to the other teachers about it. And when 4 o'clock rolled around, she was like, "Just go home!"

And, saving the best for last, this is Hamada-sensei:

All of the other teachers tease him because he looks like yakuza (Japanese mafia). When Enami-sensei asked me to explain the difference between cute, handsome and sexy, she asked me to classify Hamada-sensei. Without even thinking about it, I said, "HE IS DEFINITELY SEXY!!!" He looks totally scary, and he can be (I watched him make a disruptive fifteen year-old boy cry today), but he's the biggest teddy bear when you're on his good side. I think he's why I like teaching the third graders so much. (Yes, I am giggling like a school girl right now.)

And I took pictures of cleaning time as promised!

First they move all the desks to one end of the room, and they sweep and "mop." And then they do it to the other half of the room. All the while, a few kids are cleaning the chalkboards and the erasers...even brushing or vacuuming the chalk dust off of the tray! It's so fun to watch how much they get done in fifteen minutes!