I Have Been A Busy Boy

Well, we're partway through Golden Week, and I have been having a lot of fun. I took the Shinkansen out to Osaka on Saturday. That evening Dave and Miyako hosted a falafel party for about 12-15 people, most of whom I knew from my Nova days. It's amazing how so few single people remain in my social spheres. I can count them on one hand in most cases. On Sunday we had a takoyaki lunch, and it turns out I actually like the stuff. For those of you unfamiliar with it, a takoyaki is like a Timbit (or doughnut hole), but undercooked and filled with bits of octopus, ginger, and spring onion. Pour on some tonkatsu sauce (which holds the same function in Japanese cuisine as ketchup in North American cuisine), or fish flakes if that's your thing, and it's a good snack. Extremely popular in the Osaka area. Last night we headed out to see Rie and Steve. They're a very nice couple, and we had a really great meal: proper chili, spare ribs, potatoes, and salad. I also got to play Wii tennis for the first time--I see why it's catching on so well. It's simple, it's fun, and it involves moving more than your thumb. The weather has co-operated as well. It's raining today, but today is the day we've set aside for just hanging out in the apartment and watching movies. Tomorrow I'm off to Tokyo, and hopefully the rain will have blown through by then.

up early
fresh blooming flowers
walking to work

The benefits of a good night's sleep have become one of the real treasures in my life. I've always had trouble sleeping, particularly when I have a class early the next morning. I've added another hour to my sleep schedule, and I remember reading that in the Victorian era people used to spend nine hours sleeping each night on average (and wrote much longer novels). Getting enough sleep is a challenge in the land of insomniacs and perpetual sleep deprivation. At times, I do get worn out, especially after a day with a lot of crutching around.

walking home
two skipped meetings
aching knee

The first week of classes has come and gone, and I'm very happy with my schedule. My students are really nice, I've got far less commuting to do, and I don't have to get up at 5:30 in the morning on Wednesdays anymore! Golden Week is fast approaching, and I've already got plans to head over to Osaka for a falafel party at Dave and Miyako's.

I had my Japanese class last night, and my skills seem to be progressing. We had a sort of listening test, and although I'm a bit fuzzy when it comes to long strings of numbers, I did better than I thought I would. I checked a couple of books out of the Peace Park library to work through, and I've been working on writing kanji, which is turning out to be a real struggle for me. In a couple months, however, I should be able to pass the practice test for the lowest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I don't have to decide which level I'll write until registration in September, which will allow me to write at the level I'm more comfortable with. I'd rather be writing an exam that's too easy for me than have the crushing rejection of failing.

The most interesting news from this past week is that I'll definitely be taking on the editing job that's opened up at work. I'm very happy about this, as it's a bit more responsibility and a great opportunity. I've wanted to do some kind of work in publishing for years, and this will be a great way to get my feet wet.

The research project I had planned will have to be delayed, as I didn't understand a couple of the rules about book ordering and the university ordered books for my students. This should work out, though, as I'm still learning a lot about teaching and could use the structure of the book's lessons to plan around. The interesting question for me will be how to balance target-based and content-based teaching. I want the students to talk about the ideas in the book, but I also need them to focus on particular mistakes or bad habits that are interfering with their fluency. And there are about 30 students in each class, which will make assessment an interesting challenge. I'm going to be assigning homework this time around, which is something I felt could have helped a lot last year. The book on pedagogy I mentioned last week is turning out to be really useful, with lots of practical in-class examples and not too much theory.

I've been enjoying the more moderate weather as well. I don't need to use the heater at night, and during the day I've been opening the windows and balcony doors to move some fresh air through. I've also gained a new appreciation for how quiet my neighbourhood is now that the election is past. In class I've been mentioning that this is my favourite time of year: new students, new classes, comfortable weather. Back in Canada my favourite time of year was always September, but in Japan we start the school year in April. Makes you want to go sit outside and watch people come and go, which is exactly what I'll be doing after lunch.

Election Day

Ah, at long last, the election has arrived! No more loudspeaker trucks! I really didn't appreciate how quiet my neighbourhood can be until the campaigning started. Right now, all I can hear is the traffic from the main street a couple blocks over, some birds, and my keyboard. It's great.

I got my schedule for my new contract tomorrow, and I'm very happy with it. Four uni classes to experiment on with my eco-speaking idea, some teenagers, lots of adult classes including some high level ones, and only one kids' class. Much less commuting, which will make an enormous difference to my current hip problems. I love the beginning of the school year, all the new faces and the week of easy "get to know each other" classes. April is always a short teaching month, with the first week off and Golden Week coming right at the end. Luckily, I only have to teach one day during the holidays, so I can spend a bit more time in Osaka than I'd originally planned.

I've just picked up a copy of H. Douglas Brown's Teaching by Principles, which is a well-regarded handbook for teaching methodology. I read his book on second language acquisition while I was working in Korea, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to get my money's worth out of this book as well. And let me just add, wow, are English books in Japan expensive. Good thing I have three library cards.

Beautiful Japan?

The cherry blossoms have been out in Hiroshima for about a week now. Traditionally, this is considered the most beautiful time of year. Sakura are a national obsession, and this obsession is accompanied by the "hanami" party, where people gather under the blossoms to eat, drink, and appreciate nature. Unfortunately, with our preference for disposability, this produces a lot of garbage. Normally, the Peace Park is quite nice, and I have really enjoyed walking through it day after day on my toing-and-froing. During cherry blossom season, though, the place is filled with huge piles of garbage and the accompanying smells. It's supposed to be the most beautiful time of year, but it's actually quite unpleasant. People should be asked, told if necessary, to carry their garbage home; the park authority should remove all garbage containers for the duration of the season; bike ticketers should be reassigned to policing litter and fining litterers. It would make such an enormous difference. It's a bit late for this season, but it would make a great activity for an environmental group--gonna have to put this on the list of things to do for next year.

One of my students wrote a really great essay this year about Mt. Fuji. Apparently, there has been a movement to make it a World Heritage Site, but it has been repeatedly rejected because of--you guessed it--all the litter. The movement has focused on making it some sort of national cultural heritage site, but they're still having trouble with it. Late last year, on my third trip to Tokyo, I finally got to see Mt. Fuji from the shinkansen. I've been looking forward to it since I first got to Japan, and the experience was mixed. It was a cloudy day, and I could barely see the outline of its base rising up into the clouds. It is really awesome, in an older sense of the word. Part of the appeal of Mt. Fuji is that it stands out so much. Many mountains of similar size are surrounded by other really huge mountains that put it into perspective, but everything around Mt. Fuji just makes it look bigger. But as I looked out the window, trying to see how far up I could make out the slopes of the mountain, something jutted into the foreground. It was a smokestack, with a fume of brown smoke drifting up to merge with the clouds. I checked it again on the way back, and that damned smokestack sits dead centre in that particular view of the mountain. So there's a bigger project, save Mt. Fuji from litterers and smokestacks.

It's Election Time!

Japan is in the midst of the latest batch of elections, which means that the candidates are getting out and making their faces known to their constituents. Or more accurately, they're driving trucks with loudspeakers around blasting everyone in a kilometer-radius area with a high-pitched female voice interspersed with their own shouting. At least they have the courtesy to keep it to between 9 and 6. For someone accustomed to North American politics, the Japanese political sphere can seem like a real oddity at times. I'd love to jump in with some commentary of my own, but I'm still trying to get informed about what's going on. (Having a politically aware girlfriend helps, as I can get her perspective on things too.)

It's also payday! Which means I get to make a deposit in my shiny new Postal Savings Accout! Positive Net Worth, here I come!

March Break

Teachers in North America often say that the three best reasons to be a teacher are June, July, and August. In Japan the school year is structured a bit differently, so we get our breaks at different times. My end-of-year break starts this morning, and I'm starting it off with some spring cleaning! Plans include studying Japanese, reading some short stories or shortish science fiction novels, and hanging out with people in town.

I've finally decided that Pynchon's Against the Day, his new monolith of a novel, has to go back on the shelf for a while. I think it's the kind of novel that I have to have a false start with, put away for a while, and come back to in a year or so when I have some time set aside with no distractions, like a long flight with some layovers. I just don't have the patience for a 1000-page novel these days. I'll probably go back to my original plan, which was to gradually read his work in chronological order. Gravity's Rainbow is next, in that case, but I'm going to be way too busy to pay attention to it for the next while. New Year's break, maybe.

As I've been finishing up my classes, I've been really moved by the expressions of thanks my students have been giving me. It's been really, really gratifying, especially since I've had a lot of doubts about my teaching skills this past year. I've been taken out for Chinese food, sent photos and nice notes and emails, and last night my students gave me pink roses! I'm planning to have lunch or dinner with some of my university students who have been keeping in touch. I suppose it's all part of putting down roots in a place, but I haven't had this much positive feedback from students before, and it's been great.

You know you're in the right profession when...

Today, I had a student from 7:30-8:30. Class was going great, and when I surreptitiously checked my phone's clock to go to the next part of the lesson, it was just before 8. Next thing I know, our principal sticks her head in to tell me she's locking up. I ask her what time it is, and she said it was ten after nine! Forty minutes overtime, and my student is too polite to say anything. Not only did I not even notice, I didn't mind. I guess this teaching thing was the right idea....

Conversely, you could argue that my lesson planning needs some tightening, and that I need to by a proper watch.

"Why do you have a blog?"

My friend Dave asked me this question recently. I think it's a good question, and I think most bloggers should give it a good answer. It really boils down to a few key points, some of which surprised me.

1. Keeping in touch. I think maintaining a blog will be a more civil way of keeping in touch with people than mass emails, which I tend to send only when something really bad happens. This way I can get news about the general, daily, and weekly events of my life out to people who care. This also allows me to focus on individual letters and emails, which I think should be more personalized and allow for a lot more intimacy.

2. Work. I plan to use blogs as a means of eliminating paper from my writing classes at Hirodai. This past semester I was handling about 400 sheets of paper a week, which was just astoundingly wasteful. Maintaining this site should help me help my students when they have problems with their own blogs.

3. Personal discipline. Keeping up an appropriate rate of new entries will keep me writing and thinking. I need to establish more of a routine in my daily life, and this is part of that effort. Initially, I was going to try for daily posts, but I know I'll often be either too busy or not busy enough to post every day.

4. Rejection-free publishing! I do want to start getting some of my writing out there for others to read. This blog will give me a way to give excerpts and short pieces that don't seem to fit anywhere else a test run.

5. Shameless careerism. I'm starting to network as part of my professional development as a teacher. This blog will give my colleagues somewhere to check in, share ideas, send messages, and it will give me a means of giving back as well.

Spring Cleaning

I was planning to spend the vernal equinox (a national holiday in Japan) cleaning my apartment out, but I've been slacking off and listening to music. Well, it's not even 6pm yet, so I suppose I'll just have to do it this evening after dinner. I've had a pretty good week, despite my hips being a bit more painful than usual. Last night I had my last class with a group at a local community centre, and afterwards we went out for some good Chinese food. I was totally stuffed afterwards, and I'm just starting to feel hungry. Bad for my diet, but when it's time to celebrate, it's time to celebrate!

While checking out some links from my friend Stu's blog, I discovered that my successor at my previous job, which I'd left over some irreconcilable differences, is a former classmate of mine from Trent! And I've also heard that the problem which motivated me to leave has been changed, and that my departure had something to do with it! That was a rather difficult part of my life, so this news is enormously welcome. Hopefully I'll be getting in touch with her (and my old co-teachers) soon.

Stu also posted a link in the comments to an environmental footprint site, which I checked out. I scored a 4.4, which I thought was accurate, if a bit high, but I think I'll have a closer look at how they figure it. I have been trying to make some changes, but living in contemporary urban Japan, I'm not sure how much I can do.

I'm still working my way through Pynchon's Against the Day. 1085 pages. Hope to have it finished by the end of the month, partly so I can just get it out of the way. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I think it's going to be one of those books I can't go back to unless I've got a lot of time with nothing to distract me.

One thing I've been experimenting with a bit in my classes is creative writing, particularly haiku. Most of my students are familiar enough with it from their secondary education that they can start getting them down on paper pretty quickly, and some of them turn out to be quite good. In the class I write a few myself, partly to give them time to come up with something without me looking over their shoulder. I came up with a few that actually kinda work, and I thought I'd share them with you:

deep snow
clearing off the car
school's cancelled


the handgrips on the streetcar
the trees in the wind


it's clear
i do laundry
it rains


Happy Vernal Equinox everyone, and please! post some comments! Let me know you're out there!

Online Education

I'd like to share a couple of great discoveries from the realm of podcasting. Remember the scene in Good Will Hunting where he has the intellectual show-down with the Harvard grad student in the bar? He says something along the lines of being able to get the same education by reading books from the public library. Of course, it's not the same thing--grad students get lots of detailed feedback on their own ideas that you can't get any other way. Nothing is a substitute for the tutorial or seminar. But something that is happening is that a lot of universities are starting to podcast lectures. In the EFL profession, a lot of people are also starting to use podcasting as a means of challenging their students to express themselves more fluently, building and reinforcing communities of teachers, and getting their own ideas about education out there for feedback. Two podcasts I've been spending some time with lately have been EdgyTESOL, produced by two teachers at Kansai Gaidai University near my old stomping grounds in Osaka, and Carolyn Merchant's undergrad course on American Environmental History (ESPM 160), which she teaches at UC Berkeley. A great big "arigatougozaimasu" to all responsible.

New (School) Year's Resolution

After a great deal of worrying about things on the five-year-away scale, I've made a promise to myself to stop worrying about anything more than one calendar year in the future. I get one week every six months to look long, but that's it. This resolution came after I spent six straight hours looking at house prices in Oregon. I was reminded of two things a couple friends of mine say regularly enough that they've stuck in my head. About kids and home ownership and marriage: "It's not a race!" And about computers: "You have to ask yourself, am I using this program, or is it using me?" I'm paraphrasing, but I think this gives you a good idea of what my Sunday was like.

As for my Monday, I slept in, I taught a class, I listened to some jazz, and now I'm going to sit down with some Pynchon.

Hajimemashite!

Well, I'm back. After an extended absence from blogging, a few friends' comments on the scarcity of information about me and what's going on over here have finally got me back at the keyboard. For those of you who might be stumbling across this for the first time, I'll refer you to the profile.

After a stretch of warm weather, Hiroshima has cooled down a bit. I've got the heat back on and my warm coat out again. The past few weeks have been fairly relaxing. Not as productive as I'd hoped, but then again, rest is not necessarily meant to be productive. My schedule for the new year comes out on April 7th, but I already know I'll have four (rather than ten!) university classes this contract. The reduction in commuting hours will be a great relief.

As for what I've been doing to occupy my time.... I've been spending as much time as possible with my girlfriend. Things are going very well. Just past the two month mark, although having known each other since I got to Hiroshima just over a year ago helped build a solid foundation beforehand. Yesterday we had lunch at an Indian restaurant, checked out the Childrens' Library (I can read some of the easier books, but my vocabulary needs a lot of work), and had coffee.

I've also been working on my syllabus for my Communication I/A class (speaking) at Hiroshima University. I want to try to start connecting my teaching with my other academic work, particularly with the environmental studies aspect. I found that my students respond best when a lesson is directly connected to their lives, so I'm trying to work out a course that will get them thinking and talking about their own environment. I've been thinking as well about how to green up my second-semester writing course as well, although that will have to wait until the summer.

I have slowly been working my way through Thomas Pynchon's latest book, Against The Day. I found that reading it a chapter a night was a good strategy at first, but given that it's over a thousand pages long, I'm picking up the pace after I post this message. It's good, if you like wacky, historical metafiction, but the sheer size and scope of the stories can be a bit overwhelming.

I've spent a lot of time listening to podcasts as well, which I'm finding to be a great way to get access to news and other information in English. There is a high risk of infoglut, so I've limited myself to an hour or two of listening per day to go with my breakfast and morning coffee. Here's the shortlist:

--NPR has a couple of environmental news podcasts which I'm finding good, concise, and informative. They do focus on the U.S. quite a lot, particularly the ins-and-outs of the coal industry's struggle to clean up in the face of the changing political sphere.

--The Green Planet Monitor is a good balance to the NPR programs, which are (understandably) focused on American political news. A fair bit of their reporting seems to be about Canadian NGO projects in developing countries, but it keeps the focus on the people using the program rather than the foreign workers.

--Deutsche Welle's Living Planet is more like the NPR programs than Green Planet Monitor, but with a European perspective.

--The Nature Stories Podcast is put out by the Nature Conservancy and features short audio documentaries of people involved in an environment. It's really stimulating my interest in environmental autobiography and narrative.

--The Poetry Foundation, Poets.org, and PBS' News Hour all have regular (if occasional) podcasts of poetry. Of these, the Poetry Foundation's is the best, with good readings (usually by the author) and some intelligent and accessible commentary from the host.

--The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Philosopher's Zone is a really stimulating interview show about philosophy and its connection to everyday life. I've been profoundly impressed with how strong the philosophy community is in Australia, based on this show and the couple of Australian-trained philosophy majors I've met.