a little sideways...

(not as in the movie!)

For some reason, my keitai (phone) is now saving my photos in a way that doesn't let me edit/rotate them. I have no idea why this was saved sideways, but, oh, well!

This is from the baseball game the other day. Unfortunately, our team lost, but we all were quite impressed with the solar eclipse that coincided with the game. It made things a bit cooler in the stadium. :) On the way to the stadium, I was teaching kids the "Take me out to the ball game" song, but we didn't have a chance to use it during the game, since they had so many other cheers! These kids do an aMAZing job of cheering for each other! Every time our team was up, so was the entire school - on their feet, doing some kind of cheer. It was pretty exhausting, but so much fun!

Here are the students stringing together strands of 50 paper cranes. These will be presented to each of the sports teams competing next weekend in the Nagasaki Prefecture High School Sports Competition. Each strand represents so much effort...have you ever folded a crane? If so, you know what it takes just to do ONE!

They're origami cranes

When I walked past this science lab room after school yesterday, I saw a riot of color on the tables. Wondering what experiment they were doing, I wandered in. Too my surprise, the colorful bits turned out to be exquisite Japanese washi papers folded into (thousands of!) tiny cranes. One of the science teachers just lost his daughter, and I learned that before she died, she folded all of these cranes. !!! I don't know why she did. I do know of a belief that they have here associated with folding a 1,000 paper cranes for luck. Her father didn't want all of the cranes to go to waste, so he brought them to school to give to the students.

2009 IHS Graduation

Graduation actually comes in March in these parts - have a look :)
Make sure to click on the slideshow so you can see a larger version and read the captions.

More from the Farewell Party

I made it back safe and sound from my little trip to Kyoto. I've got hundreds of photos, so I'm trying to whittle it down to a magageble number so you don't have to sit for hours viewing them :)

Here is another photo from our enkai last week. In this photo you see the people who were honored at the party, and in this particular activity, each person steps to the middle to receive a special, personal cheer. They did this for me when I first arrived at this school, and I remember being a little frightened when all of a sudden I was shuffled on stage (& left alone) and my slightly intoxicated supervisor stood in front of me on the floor and started doing weird hand and body movements accompanied by loud shouting. I was only slightly relieved when everyone else suddenly started chanting and clapping. Now, of course, I know that they were actually welcoming me in their own way, but at the time I was really scared!

Some of our delicious food...(yeah - don't ask me - I'm not really sure what it is!) In typical Japanese enkai style - we had many many little dishes of small portions of curious things. My best guess about these things - (top) kamaboko (steamed fish paste) & sashimi, (middle bowl) seeweed (I actually gave this one away to someone who LOVES it), (bottom) ~escargot(?) & breaded squid. And...umm...The menu sounds much better in Japanese...

LOBSTER???!!! They actually told me this was shrimp. It was filled with a mashed potato-shrimp mixture (think - twice baked potatoes). The embellishment was a grain that tasted like popcorn!

AND...after ALL that eating - the people who were leaving each got cheered and tossed up into the air!

Lucky Clover and SUPER Banana

As I looked down at the students cleaning the courtyard the other day, I asked them if they were finding any lucky clover. They said no, and went back to sweeping and pruning the grass. I got some of the extra 4-leaf clover window decals (thanks, Aunt Barbara!) and showered them down... Wow! What a stir it caused! They were all really happy to find such good luck during cleaning time! :)

Today, in our last class of the school year, the first year students presented original commercials in English about a generic product they were assigned.

Here are some of the memorable products...

*S*U*P*E*R* Banana!

When you eat these bananas, you become a *superstar*!

"FLASH Hatz"

Wear this hat and you get new ideas in a flash!

(I especially liked the fact that they not only sewed a light bulb into the top of the hat, but also offered a second, more powerful bulb as a bonus gift if you ordered a Flash Hat today! Their slogan "Hat de Hot" is really a Japanese phrase, but I thought it had a cool international sound & good meaning, so I didn't give them too much grief about using Japanese)

SKYCLEAR Gum

***Featuring a is patented

"three stratum structure" -

the outside is soda, middle is chocolate, and a variety of fruit flavors in the inner core.

(can you tell this was from the science track students?)

Angel Ring Shampoo

('before' photo)

"Help scientists in the world!"

Use this shampoo for clean, beautiful, straight hair.

(Because, I guess scientists are notorious for having problems with their hair??? I think the the name, Angel Ring, had something to do with having an angel's halo.

I really admired this student's willingness to get up in that 'get up'! Her costume was a big hit! I like how they targeted a specific population, too.)

Good job, students! The teachers and I were really impressed with your creativity and bravery!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since there are a few Irish ALTs, and a large number of people who like to drink beer here, there are usually a few St. Patrick's Day parties in the bars that cater to foreigners. Sadly, conflicting schedules prevented me from attending official parties around the ken, but tomorrow night I have an enkai (eating and drinking party) with my colleagues from the special ed school. I'm hoping there will be enough beer flowing to make them loose enough to don my fabulous St. Patty's hat & smile for a few photos :) Maybe I'll smuggle in some food coloring to make the beer a little more festive...

Here are some of the bigger "cuties" holding their lucky charms in front of the board I did for St. Patrick's Day. It was a lot of fun getting the students' help in translating some of the material for the board. They didn't really know what leprechauns were, but apparently they also believe in there being a treasure at the end of the rainbow.

In honor of the holiday tomorrow, I am making some Irish Soda Bread, but can't find any buttermilk in this country. Has anyone ever tried using milk+lemon or milk+vinegar as a substitute? Either one better than the other?

"I got in!"

OK, well I didn't, but that's basically what teachers here have been hearing all morning. The teacher room has been a lively place today! Apparently our graduates just found out whether or not they got into university (yes, these guys have all graduated, but are back on campus IN uniform!). I don't remember if I explained this last year at this time, but students in Japan graduate from high school on March 1 (even if it falls on a Sunday!), find out whether or not they got in to university mid-March, and start university the first week of April. Quick turn-around, ne! They've been taking university entrance exams since the end of January, and from what I understand, they focus on one university. I've heard that if they don't get in to that uni, they wait a year to try again. No wonder the kids are so stressed here. It seems like when students take entrance exams for middle school*, high school, and uni, they pretty much put all their eggs in one basket. If they don't get in to the high school of their choice, they have to go to a private school (remember, high school - 10th-12th grade - isn't mandatory). My main school here is a high-level academic school, so the students come here because they want to get in to a good university. What's really nice is the fact that the students have a tradition of coming back to the school on March 13 to thank the teachers for helping them along the way.


*some middle schools also have entrance exams

Sunday was a sad, happy day since it was my last graduation here.

These sannensei (third year students, seniors) were my first year students when I got here in 2006. The ones right around me in this photo were the same ouendan club guys I photographed after graduation two years ago...now they're passing the torch on to their kohai (junior members) as they set off for university.

More graduation pics & 'how Tracey got into that get-up' pics later when I'm on my computer.

My birthday was fairly quiet (outside of some slight hyperventilating on my part while I was watching Hugh Jackman in Australia). Thank you all for the cards and well-wishes!

YES we CAN (and did!)!

Well, although I thought I was going to DIE running in the school marathon today (my first race ever), I MIRACULOUSLY not only FINISHED, but I also wasn't last! In fact, I placed 1st among the female teachers who ran!

To be fair, though, I was also the only female teacher to run, but...details, details.

Here I am with some of the ichinensei girls (~10th graders) after our race. When we were finished running, we cheered the boys on as they ran their race.

(look - I'm even vertical and not some shade of green!)

Towards the end of the boys' race, I got the ninensei here to do an impromptu "Yes, we can!" cheer. It took a few tries, but I finally got a pic with the girls in the back jumping up yelling "can!"

I never thought I could take up running, and I'm by no means good at it, BUT it amazes me what one can accomplish by just continuing to put one foot in front of the other.

It was really nice to have people cheering me on along the way, too :) Thanks!

The Monkey and the Crab(s)

(once again, the gods of the internet deny me access at home...I thought I was so clever in moving the Mac to a warm room, and it DID work for a little while, but then - (sigh) :-( gone again. But if that's the worst of my troubles, I'm doing alright! )

Here's my International Day group donning some costumes from our skit. Basically, I think the moral of that story was:

If you're a monkey, and a crab asks you to pick some delicious kaki (persimmons) for her and her baby crabs, be nice and do it. Don't, as 'Bad Monkey Tracey' did, eat all the persimmons and pummel the crabs with the unripe ones (Hey! I had to! It was in the script the students wrote! But don't fret - they were only cardboard kaki anyway)

Yes, bad things happen to bad monkeys...eggs are thrown, strange characters attack with pitchforks and fierce kicking...But, fortunately, at the end of the day, Bad Monkey Tracey apologized and Monkey and Crab were friends once more.

******

Hey - Do you know what Japanese food I'm eating? (no fair if you answer, Kris!) You can buy them at grocery stores and conbini, and the rugby team eats these for snacks after practice.

mind games...

In case you're not crazy enough with the holiday season, here are a couple of things to get your brain working...

What do these really mean?

1. Lang4uage
2. Flubadence
3. o_er_t_o_
4. T.....I.....M.....E abdefghi

Enjoy!

"Bunkasai" (culture festival)

We don't have Homecoming, Prom, or GradNite...
BUT we do have some GREAT
festivals at the school and
everyone
gets to participate!



This festival is done by the first and second year students, as the third years are already studying hard for their university entrance exams. But everyone "gets to" (I think has to) come see all the performances and displays. In this post you see the kids preparing for the festival, and in the next you see them on the festival day. It's such a fantastic community builder...I'm really going to miss these festivals when I go back. Or, I guess I'll just have to start some new traditions when I get back to the States next year!

Here are photos from our school festival.
Every summer "vacation" the students start preparing for
a school-wide cultural festival.
Every class and many clubs do performances or
make some sort of display.
Here are some samples of what they did this year.
Feel free to click on the picture show &
it will take you to the photo collection.
I've made comments on a lot of the pics to tell
you what's going on.
(aren't the students adorable???)
(is the slide show working for you? it kept stalling on a guitar slide...please let me know-)

黄葉

Kouyou (autumn colors)
at my school...

...at the tea house in Goshoin Park on the school grounds






























...the front of the school. Just to the right of the overhang is a momoji
(Japanese maple) that looks likes it's on fire
(sorry - still using my camera's phone, so you'll have to use your imagination)

My kyoto sensei is an artist!

Wow! I had the neatest experience last week. In my Japanese painting class, I'm working on designing and doing my own nengajo (New Year's card). People send nengajo out at the end of the year and I believe they are all delivered on New Year's Day.
My teacher gave me a list of kichigo ("lucky/good fortune" expressions) and in deciding on which to use for my card, I asked the Japanese teachers here at school for their recommendation. Suddenly they got the kyoto sensei (assistant principal) involved, and he started showing me books he's made of all the inkan (stone/wood carved stamp or seal) he's done!


Here are some of his designs - oh - sorry - I forgot to put in something for a reference to the size of these. They're quite small, these are at most about 5cm long...so that makes them really difficult to carve!


I don't know what these say, but I'll print out this page for Kyoto sensei, and maybe he'll make a response... :)

Don't forget...

I don't know if it was a Boy Scout thing, or if it was just a genius idea that my dad (a Scoutmaster) had, but whenever a scout forgot something somewhere, he'd have to sing to get it back. I did this kind of thing in my art classroom, because students invariably left negatives in the enlarger. Today one of my students left her Show and Tell object (apparently a monkey doll) home, making it difficult for her to SHOW it. So, I took her Rirrakuma omamori charm* hostage until I get to see the monkey doll tomorrow. We'll see how long it takes for her to remember :)
Rirrakumachan hopes it's soon - Sam seems a little hungry...

*the kids all have these kinds of handmade charms hanging on their bags. They can be characters, symbols of the sport (ie: volleyball), etc. Usually someone involved with their club makes them for each of the members to commemorate an event or to get them psyched up for an upcoming competition.
Rirrakuma - I think that roughly translates to "Relax Bear"

In the US, the "big" high school events seem to be things like Homecoming and Prom, and they are somewhat exclusive (usually the upperclassmen participate more). In Japan, it's been my experience that the "big" school events are the "Bunkasai" (Culture Festival) and "Taikusai" (Sports Festival). These events involve the entire student body in various ways, culminating on the festival days, which happen to be last weekend and this weekend for my school this year.

In this little slide show, you see the drawings the students did of their homeroom teachers. The numbers you see in the pictures are the year & grade of the students - ie: 3-1 = third year, class number 1. Which translates to class 1 (out of 8) of the senior class. I wish you knew the teachers in the pictures - it would make them even funnier. My favorite is the one of the two teachers sitting at a table in a "snack bar" (not like those in the US - Japanese snack bars are basically places where men pay for female employees' (hostesses) drinks so that they'll keep them company).
Note - the teachers in that picture are both male...

You can click on the slide show to see the pictures & comments in my Picassa web album.

YMC Yea!

Hmmm...can't seem to upload photos at the moment. But I hope you enjoy this very short clip from one of the most amusing performances at our culture festival! This teacher must be the KING at karaoke!

Yea! It works again...Here's a shot of the teacher, now donning a red bow, joined by a few energetic cheerleaders.

Go, Japan!

So I walked into the staff room last week and saw the volleyball coach crouching on a Japanese flag on top of the table....?
Turns out he was writing (in Japanese with a brush) some words of encouragement to a former Isahaya High School student who is going to be in this year's Olympics! Many other people signed the flag, and the school had a big ceremony to present this alumnus with the flag and this "senbatsuru" (1000 cranes) made by the students. Some of you may know that the making of 1,000 paper origami cranes is a kind of good luck charm. Unfortunately, I had a business trip and couldn't go to the ceremony (and so I'm fuzzy on the details of all of this). I even heard about this athlete at my Japanese brush painting class, since this guy was from that little neighborhood, and while I was having class, many of the neighbors were having an enkai (dinner party) in his honor.
The link here takes you to our school's webpage, and if you click on the upper left photo, it will give you a pdf to open so you can read all about the event. Well, that is, if you can read Japanese - but there are a few photos, too :)