Roy Huggins Says Stuff

A couple weeks ago, Electra and I were invited to have dinner with one of the teachers I met during my first elementary school visit, Yoshino-sensei. After some talking and some phonecalls, we arranged to get together last Saturday. I expected to have a quiet dinner with Yoshino-sensei’s family in which we talk about America and Japan for a couple of hours then head home.

It wasn’t quite like that. I knew Yoshino-sensei’s daughter, who is in university and speaks pretty good English, would be joining us. What I didn’t know until I arrived, however, was that we would also be joined by Yoshino-sensei’s two sons, two teachers from Shinoro Elementary and the school’s dietician, a quirky young dude named Sugoh.

I should probably digress for a paragraph about Sugoh. When Yoshino-sensei told me that I would have my desk next to that of the school’s dietician (”the only school dietician in all of Sapporo!”) I figured I’d be sitting next to a guy who’s at least my age but likely older and wearing a suit. Instead, I met this spikey-haired young dude with hipster glasses, jeans, etc. whose English communication skills are quite strong but chooses to dramatically use his favorite English phrases whenever they can come up. I explained Roller Derby to him, and he thought it was totally awesome. There developed a small inside joke of moving past objects and declaring “one point!” It’s also worth noting that Sugoh’s name is very close in sound to the Japanese word “sugoi” (すごい), which means “amazing!” or “awesome!” This point was not lost on Electra after meeting him, either. She asked him to write his name in kanji, which he did. The kanji he used are read as “su” (す) and “go” (ご). Electra took it and drew an extra kanji at the end that causes it to be spelled as “su” (す), “go” (ご), “i” (い) or “sugoi” (すごい.) I think he really enjoyed that.

In addition to the extra guests, the dinner was absolutely amazing. Yoshino-san (there isn’t really a way to indicate “Mrs. Yoshino” in Japanese, so just remember that Mr. Yoshino is a teacher so I can conveniently call him “Yoshino-sensei”) put out a spread like you wouldn’t believe including yakitori, a yummy salad that contained sliced salmon and squid, marinated tuna sashimi, some dishes I don’t know how to identify, Japanese kim-chee, the list goes on. At first, I didn’t want any beer because I was, er, a little “ill” from the night before… but Sugoh wouldn’t let me get away with tea and I can’t look unmanly in front of all those guys, y’know. The American ambassador to Japan told us personally in a form letter that the American-Japanese relationship is extremely important. So what was I to do but drink the beer? It was a sacrifice for my country…

The night was a roaring blast. I talked to almost everyone and had a good time. Electra chatted forever with Haruka, the daughter in the family, about all kinds of stuff.

One of the two brothers, Takehiro, is about to start a Masters-level program in clinical psychology. He also majored in psych in undergrad. In fact, Yoshino-sensei is also studying clinical psychology and both have completed trainings in play therapy. We talked about the fact that psychology isn’t really known or respected in Japan (yet) and I told him a bit about how it works in The US. That was a tough conversation, though. There’s so much politics in the US psych world and it’s tough to describe things like that when neither person has a depthful knowledge of the other’s language. We did agree to get together and talk psych in English, though, so Takehiro can improve his English psych jargon — a necessary step for pretty much any clinician who isn’t already a native English speaker. I’m sure I can trade for some basic Japanese conversation time. Yay for conversation partners!

We got a whole bunch of omiage (gifts) including some traditionally packaged/made natto. There’s a side story about the natto. When I was at Shinoro, the kocho-sensei (principal) asked me if I eat natto. This is a typical conversation question asked of foreigners because most Japanese do eat natto and most foreigners really don’t like it. I expressed my distaste and told him my story about eating natto the first time (I was given some by a couple of college kids doing a sociological experiment in Tokyo — this happened immediately after arriving in Japan) and he was amused. He said he eats it for health reasons and told me I should try plugging my nose and eating it anyway. We all had a good laugh and I said that I only tried it the one time and it’s worth trying again. After that, kocho-sensei would tell other people to ask me if I eat natto and it became another small inside joke.

So Sugoh gave me some natto at the party. This stuff was wrapped in straw, which is the old way of fermenting it (I think sushi rice was developed in a similar way.) It’s still sitting on the counter waiting for me to get up the nerve. Maybe this weekend. I can’t eat it when I have to be able to work that day, right?

It didn’t just last a couple hours. It lasted over five and we only had to break it up so Electra could I could catch the last subway home. It was a wonderful evening, and hopefully we’ll get to do it again!

(sorry about the “ZOMG”, it just seemed to fit.)

October is elementary school visits month in Roy-land! This month, I go to two elementary schools per week for two days each and play with teach the kids about America and English and stuff.

It seems I spend most of my time being either thoroughly enchanted or exhausted by overwhelming energy and enthusiasm. These kids are cuuuute. They are also genki (energetic, vibrant) as all hell! The third graders seem totally content to just grab my hand (en masse) and walk around with me asking me inane questions (”eto… suki na tabemono desu ka?” [”what foods do you like?”]) and not really caring too much if I actually know enough Japanese to understand and/or respond.

They all want me to sign things. The boys pictured at left ended up with my signature on both their forearms. One fifth-grade teacher (the dude at Ainosato) had the foresight to simply sit me down at a desk and have his students line up for signatures. It was like a book signing, I swear.

Lessons are very low on the academics. I only have two days at each school and the kids won’t be studying English often enough to benefit much from a rigorous lesson. Instead, I do my self-introduction and let the kids go crazy with questions. At both schools I’ve done a quick lesson on reading time and played Simon Says in English. They get to interact with an American, get their questions answered, hear English spoken by a native speaker and learn to be comfortable with a big foreigner.

Probably the best way to really communicate this, however, is with some pictures of total cuteness. I put the majority behind a jump so as not to overload my front page. Click through to see the awesomeness!

(more…)

I just sorted frantically through the stuff on the ledge in my closet. I threw aside two active credit cards like expired coupons. I didn’t find what I wanted, though: an old, used bus transfer.

I was just struck for a few minutes that I’m living in a world where a thing I used throw en masse into the trash, TriMet bus transfers, are of value to me. And a bottle of Black Butte Porter is worth its weight in platinum.¹

1. Not gold, of course. Its always worth its weight in gold! [↩]

These kids love photos.

Seriously. I wandered around school the other day looking to take a few pictures. I thought, “I hope some of the kids are up for some posed group shots.” Truth was, I couldn’t take a candid shot if I tried (and I did try.) As soon as the camera came out it was all poses, smiles and little V’s. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. The happy energy that erupts when the students see a camera is infectious.

Here’s an example. I was up on the second floor looking out a window at sannenses (third-year students [9th graders]) practicing juggling for the upcoming festival. I had my camera out hoping to catch some neat moves in the act. But before I could take the first pic, I was discovered by this group of kids who immediately commenced The Pose:

Later I wandered up to see what the ichinenses (first-year students [7th graders]) were up to. Some of the boys were hanging around taping pieces of newspaper together. I asked what they were doing and they said they were making a display. I asked what kind and they seemed to start deliberating in Japanese. One of them turned to me and said “Star Wars.” I repeated his words back to be sure but then another boy started waving his hands like “no, no, no.” So I decided to skip ahead and asked if I could take a picture. They were totally up for it, and this is what we got.

Notice how the dude who’s second from the right is looking off to the side? That’s because some of the kids from his class (sankumi [class 3]) saw that there’s a camera out and are currently rushing to join the fun. Like so…

Huh. Maybe we didn’t get everybody?

And there they are — everybody on the floor, at least. This isn’t all of sankumi but it’s a lot of them.

This next week is my last at Hiragishi Junior High until January 16th of next year. I’ve actually been pretty down about leaving. I really like the teachers I work with. I really like my students. Everyone seems to like me. I can walk to work. It’s a wonderful, welcoming place to be and a great place to work. I hope the other schools I work at are similar. Maybe they will be. Maybe I’ll have to be sad like this a couple more times as I leave one great place after another.

At least I’m reasonably sure that I’ll get to finish out the school year after I come back. And next month I go to elementary schools. Little kids!!