Bored? heck no, BOARD!

So schools rocks. Thats pretty much the long and short of it! Ha, long my ass...some how I doubt that this post will end up that short...they never seem to. I think I should enter a 12 step typing course, because I just cant seem to put the keyboard down sometimes! All joking aside (well not all...) let me get to the first part of the title: bored.

School is anything but boring. Trust me, some days I wish I had time to be bored. Let me clarify a few things about my school, as there seems to have been some confusion. I am at a school called Kousha Chugakkou. The U’s after O’s sound like O’s. Ha, I am supposed to be clarifying things! Chugakkou kinda translates to Junior High School, but it is more like middle school. The kids are the equivalent of grades 7 to 9 back home. They are a lot less mature (by that I mean they act younger, I am not trying to insinuate that Canadian High School kids are mature by any means) for their age though…but that is simply Japan and not my school in particular.

There are 3 grades (called 1,2, and wait for it…3) and 3 classes per grade. There are also 2 ‘special classes’ numbers 5 and 6. These special classes are quite small, I would guess 6 kids in total. This is where things kinda rub me the wrong way. I can say with out a doubt that at least 2 of these kids are just unmedicated ADD or ADHD kids that have been pulled from regular classes. Back at home these kids would barely be on the radar. A few of the others have social or emotional problems that I don’t have the full scope of yet. Either way they are all great kids, and I could never see them being completely separated from the general student body in Canada. I guess that that is just one of the differences.

There are definitely a few other major differences between school in Japan and in Canada. Some are for the better, and some are for the worse (well for me at least!). For the worse first: the students stay in their own class (I’m pretty sure I already mentioned this, but I don’t really care!). The teachers, including me, run around the school between classes. This is good in that the halls aren’t so crowded, but it means a trip to the teacher’s room to grab my stuff from my desk, and then rush off to the next class. I often run down 3 flights of stairs just to run up 2. I wish I could cart a bag around with me, but my Japanese Teachers of English (JTE’s) all want me to meet them at my desk and head off together. C’est la vie.

For the better: Schools don’t have janitors. How is that for the better you ask? Well every day the students do 30 min of cleaning. This is thorough cleaning too! Each class has an assigned area of the school. They do everything from sweeping to hand scrubbing the wooden floors, to pulling weeds! You wouldn’t believe how clean the school is after the army of young Japanese kids swarm the mess…the down side is that if us teacher aren’t busy we are supposed to help out. I have found 2 consolations in that. 1, look busy and burry yourself in work, then you are fine to keep working. 2, dust. For all the cleaning, the majority of the kids and staff can’t reach that high. Not that I am a giant, or the tallest person in the school by any means, but I can reach the high up sills. It is amazing the number of dust bunnies you can capture with a wet cloth and 30 min. Mom, don’t even bother saying anything! Ha, ha, ha!

School lunches…a toss up between better or worse. The upside: I get a lunch, no hassle, everyday. They are cheap, about 300 yen, or 3 bucks a day. They come with soup, a small Japanese style salad (usually full of pickled stuff, which suits me well) a small portion of an entrée (today was gyoza, the other day was pork) and some rice or bread…and milk. It is all good except for the fact that we all (teachers and students) get the same portions. That kinda bites when you are hungry. Another down side, I am ruing the day that we get 2 deep fried fish…heads, guts, eggs and all. That will be the only day I will not be mentally complaining about small portions. The milk part sucks, but I have that under control. I bring my water bottle (which by the way is a foreign concept to the Japanese, why do you need a water bottle when there are vending machines EVERYWHERE…I mean everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere on some country road.) My milk is a daily prize, but the largest (both height and waistline) kid in my lunch class seems to have capitalized on the milk deal. I now call him Milk-Man. I traded him for some extra food one day, but the other days I make him say something in English, or answer English questions. He is in the remedial English class, so his friends help him. That’s ok, because it helps them, and hopefully he retains some of it. Come winter the Milk is coming home so I can make Mochas with my espresso and steaming machine!

There are 6 periods a day, 50 min each. I have 5 classes usually. Let me tell you that that is a lot of work. These kids are very fun, but often unmotivated. Also, the JTE’s let the kids get away with anything short of murder in class. There is very little discipline in the classroom, which I have to admit seems a little strange for the Japanese. That is just they way it is though. As math will prove, I have at least 1 free period a day. I usually spent that trying not to pass out, as I am expelling tonnes of energy being ‘on stage’ for almost 5 hours a day. The best kept secret of my school is the tatami mat floor room. It is in the grounds keepers’ area, and it is the secret hideout for tired teachers. Usually one is taking refuge there. If you have never lain down on a real tatami floor, you would never believe how comfortable they can be. The rest of my free time is spent burning through Japanese flash cards, and prepping my lessons.

Well school is exhausting, and writing about it hasn’t been any less so. Therefore I will move on to the other part of the title of this now lengthy post: Board.

So the beach that treated me so wonderfully to some crispy skin, gave me something back this past weekend. I learned how to surf! Oh yeah, chalk up one more board sport for me! Now the waves we were hitting weren’t monstrous, but I was able to catch waves and get up on the board. What a thrill! If you have never caught waves, I suggest you take the opportunity, it is amazing.

My neighbour Brandon, works at another Junior High in Nakano. One of the JTE’s there is his snowboarding buddy. Apparently J (the teacher’s nickname) is also a surfer. He met us at the beach and brought some extra boards along. One of the other AET’s in town, Rich, bought a surfboard. Brandon and I grabbed the extra boards and we all hit the surf. Being the heaviest and tallest of the 3 of us, I got the LONG board. I’m talking Big Kahuna long. This thing was definitely not less than 8 feet! We all busted into the waves and started trying to catch them. That, believe it or not is the hardest part. Once you are on the wave it is a quick motion…very similar to skim boarding, to get to your feet. I managed to get a good dozen waves in the hour and a half we were out there.

Yesterday, Brandon and Rich went back, and Brandon also bought a board. I needed a day to clean and rest (which I am glad I took) so I didn’t head out. Those guys are so dedicated (in the nutz sense of the word) that they even did the hour drive tonight in hopes of catching waves. It seems like the beach is going to be keeping us busy until the snowfalls, and we strap on the snowboards. A few of the other AET’s in town are thinking about getting boards. I am still a little unsure as to whether I will or not. I have never been good at making big purchases without much deliberation. I also want a better bike than I have now, and I know for sure I will get good use out of that. I might wait till the off season and get a surf board then…because I know that come spring we will be back at Joetsu Beach on a regular basis (read: every weekend).

Well that brings you all pretty much up to snuff. I just want to send out a huge thanks to everyone who is checking out this site. I am seriously only updating this because of you my audience. Also I can see the site counter on my computer, so if any one can read the Kanji (Japanese, Chinese) characters please tell me what the counter is at. I want to have a big celebration when it hits a certain number…although I don’t know what number that will be yet.

I am definitely rambling now, so it is time to go. I will update the site again later this week, but probably with picture not prose. Yes, feel free to cheer, you will have it easy that post.

And with that being the 1666th word of this post,
This is Adam (or A-Da-Mu as I am now called) signing off.