Headlines

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT (if you can)!!!

Well, the monthly paper for my village came out a couple weeks ago and I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy. It's not that I love looking at funny characters that I don't understand and making up stories to them. It's that I think it is funny when I see my picture in the midst of all these strange looking symbols. Deep down inside, I think toddlers are the editors for the village newspaper. Who else could come up with such storylines as "Scribble, tree thing, hang man thing, circular switchback thing, and giraffe eating crocodile thing" to symbolize the upcoming debate on political reform? Ingenious, I know. The Japanese do, afterall, eat a lot of fish, and fish is commonly referred to as 'brainfood.' Coincidence? I think not.

Anyway, enough said. Take a look at me in the newspaper. It will probably be the only time I will ever be in the paper (not counting my obituary). So, you better catch a glimpse because you don't want the first time you see me in the paper be when I'm dead. Or do you?!?!?
















I don't understand any of it either. Pretty funny, huh? Hey! It could be an obituary for all I know. Or, I could be a wanted criminal or something. Maybe it says something like "Meet the Sexiest Man Alive" Haha. I am going to go with that. The only parts I understand are: Isaac Arnquist, Protestant, meter (I am almost 2 meters tall), computer programmer (describing my bro), America, and the numbers. Anything in katakana is somewhat discernible.

Kindergarten

I love Wednesdays for one reason: Kindergarten! You see, every Wednesday I can escape the routinely interesting classroom activities that take place in the Junior High School, and go to a little paradise known only as little-kids-love-you-land. You all remember kindergarten I'm sure--nap time, throwing toys, learning simple stuff like A through Z and colors, and of course letting your imagination run rampantly wild. However, at the kindergarten I went to as a kid, I never learned a foreign language like Spanish or French. Heck, I don't think I even learned any English save the alphabet. Well, in Japan it is a different story. I am teaching three, four, and five year old kids the alphabet, colors, foods, fruits, animals, emotions, paper, rock, scissors, numbers, and how to act like a big goofy foreigner. No wonder they make better cars than us, that are more efficient, and cost less....they probably learn about car production and the 4-stroke engine in 3rd grade!





This girl's name is Momo...she is one of my favorites. She always talks to me in Japanese and I just pretend like I understand what she is saying and she just keeps talking in her cute little voice. She is showing me a caterpillar that she caught.

Anyway, I don't really have much more to say except this: I understand why little kids need to go to bed by 7 pm...I think it is because they are so drained from playing, and running, and chasing, and tagging, and shovelling, and imagining, and crying, and eating, and puking, and biking, and swimming, and catching bugs, and crying some more, and dancing, and talking jibberish that there is absolutely no way they can actually stay awake. It is physically impossible!






































A typical day of kindergarten on Wednesday mornings goes a little something like this: I get there by 9 am. The next hour or so is strictly dedicated to playing with them and letting my inner child out, which isn't very hard because I am just a 220 pounder with a 5 year old's mind. In fact, at the end of the hour it is the children that are sitting down and needing a break and me egging them on to come out and play some more. I guess they can only handle climbing on me, and me throwing them up and down, and playing with them with woodblocks and plastic blocks, and making puppets out of stuffed animals for so long. Then the next hour is teaching. There are about 30-40 kids there, and I teach the whole group for the first half hour and then I take a third of the kids (by age) and teach them a little something more specific, like colors and food and stuff. It involves a lot of flashcards and using a loud voice, quiet voice, high voice, and low voice. They get a real kick outta the voice inflection thing.




































Today we watched a very educational video on the topic of "How are you? I am (fill in the blank)" It was a really funny video, except I don't think the children realized the humor in it, I guess that is why I was the only one laughing. The kids absolutely ate it up though...they jibber-jabber and laugh and smile and chuckle and repeat. It is the cutest thing ever! I love it.



















Kids hunting for bugs with their little red hats on.



















This is the last thing I see when leaving the nursery. The kids yelling "Isaac Sensei!" at the top of their lungs and chasing me as far as they can, much like a loving couple separating at a train station and one of them chasing after the train as far as they can. It is really sweet and makes every one of the 5,000 calories I burned worth it.

Swans and Raves

Swans and Raves...two things that are polar opposites, much like electrons and protons, north and south, and Sumo and featherweight. Swans and Raves -- elegance and purity vs. crazy and unpredictable. Swans and Raves.


Part I: The Swan

I had a 3-day weekend this last weekend because of a very important holiday: Respect for the Aged Day. Japan respects everyone and shows it in designating a day for it. The thing is, though, once that day is over you no longer have to respect the aged. I just can't wait for the upcoming holidays of Respect for the Newborns and Respect for the Mid-life Crisis Days. Anyway, because of the extended weekend I decided to travel around beautiful Gunma prefecture. First, I went to Haruna, where one of the 3 most famous mountains of Gunma grows upward toward the heavens. A friend and I went to the famous shrines of Haruna and made the trek up the mountain. The trek was really a trek. So, when the trail abruptly ended at the road that goes up the mountain, we decided to do some thumbin' (thumbin' = hitch-hiking).


















This is a view from atop a waterfall. You can't see my barrel, but I am just about going to take the plunge. AHH! Oh, and yes, I have gotten tanner since being in Japan.

The top of the mountain reminded me of Lake Tahoe, even though I have never been to Lake Tahoe. There is a lake surrounded by mountains, which are covered in trees, lifts, ice cream parlors, and people eating ice cream. It is a bit of a resort type area. We looked out over the serene lake and noticed the huge white swan paddle boats floating in the water. So, we did like anyone would've done and rented a swan and climbed aboard. There were also pink dinosaurs, but we thought we would go for something a little more traditional.


















This is my friend Maci and our swan, Don Swan--he is latin and can really shake his tail feather.

There were also huge, motor-powered swan boats that I referred to as the Mama Swan. I thought it would be funny to round up all the little swan paddle-boats and follow the Mama Swan singing our swan song, or other swan noise.


Part II: The Rave

As many of you astronomers and astrologers know, last weekend there was a full moon. And what better way to celebrate another full moon than to dance the night away at a full moon party in the middle of the woods on the side of a mountain, dancing to trance music and drinking expensive (not because of taste) beer.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the party, but let me describe it for you. Ok, imagine about 500 Japanese people, none taller than 5'5" and then one big, tall foreigner. Also, imagine an enormous screen surrounded by enormous speakers that pump out so much bass it puts defibrilators to shame. Alright, dancing in Japan is a little different than dancing in America. First, this was trance music, so it was all about self-expression, so what better way to dance than to conform to all the other Japanese people and dance facing the screen. That's right, no one dances with one another. Instead you are in lines dancing and going crazy and facing forward the entire time. I think it was a sign of respect for the DJ up front or something, however, it wasn't Respect for the Disc Jockey Day (that is sometime in August I think). Go figure. Now, imagine all these small people doing their techno line dancing thing, and then imagine one huge white man jumping so high in the air it blocks out the projected images going toward the screen. Also, imagine lots of groans and moans from my 104 kilogram frame coming crashing down onto someone's foot. I would always say "sumimasen (excuse me)" and then they would just smile and say something like "No problem" even though 5 metatarsals were broken and they were contemplating amputation. I think they didn't want to offend the big ogre/giant. Finally, imagine staying up to 5:30 am and feeling as though you made the trek back to the U.S. and are suffering from an extreme case of jet-lag.

Mount Fuji-fied

Well, I can cross one more thing off my Japan to-do list: Climb Mount Fuji. Let me tell you, I am glad I did it, but I never want to do it again. I think Fuji is Japanese for long, boring, 10-hour hike. Actually, believe it or not, Fuji is Japanese for "live or die." I just asked my Japanese English teacher and that's what she said. I think it got that name because people climbing Fuji kept asking themselves "can I make it to the top, or should I just end it now and kill myself?"




















A picture of glorious Mt. Fuji. At 12,389 feet, it is the tallest mountain in Japan. For a live shot of Mt. Fuji click here. Note: it may be cloudy and not visible on the live webcam.

After 7 hours of climbing up the mountain terrain made of small rocks that act as banana peels and marbles, I made it to the top! Let me tell you, it took my breath away! Not because of the breath-taking view, but because of the non-stop 40 mph cold winds! Seriously though, it was very beautiful. I made it up just in time for the sun to rise over the "land of the rising sun." Despite all of the people, the cold winds, and my sore feet, it was very peaceful and inspiring.



















After this glamour shot, my mouth was frozen wide open until I reached the base several thousand meters (and about 4 hours) down. Also note the Americana headband. Yep, I claimed a little corner of the crater for the good old U. S. of A.



















This picture reminds me of astronauts for some reason, that's all I have to say. Oh, and I love this picture.


















This is actually a picture of Heaven. I found the pearly gates (that structure on the left in the above picture), but I never found a guy named Paul. I did, however, find a guy named Suzuki and Mitsubishi. I was thinking of asking for an early entry permit--I might as well kill two birds with one stone (by the way, you could kill a lot of birds with all the stones on Fuji...I guess that's why I never saw any birds).



















Breath-taking view on the way down (click on any picture for larger image).

First Day of School All Over Again

AHH!! The beauty that is the first day of school. Well, technically speaking it wasn't the first day of school for these Japanese first-graders for a couple reasons: 1) junior high school is divided into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, instead of 7th, 8th, and 9th; and, 2) this was first day of school after summer vacation...the Japanese school year actually begins in April. Anyway, as you can see here in the pictures, these kids are AWESOME! I love them! They are very outgoing and good at English for being so young. Oh, and this is my entire class of 12 students. Yep, 12 students for me and the Japanesse English teacher to look after (that's a 6:1 student to teacher ratio if you are scoring at home).



















The traditional "peace" pose shown both above and below, is the most common pose in Japan. You will find children making this pose from the southern islands of Okinawa to the northern towns of Hokkaido. It is more Japanese than Sumo wrestling and Sushi combined...well, I think most sumo wrestlers have combined with a lot of sushi (rim shot, thank you, thank you)!





































More cute pictures of my first grade class.