Fish Heads, Fish Heads, Rolly Polly Fish Heads

My first Japanese "enkai" was on October 17.  An enkai is basically a company party.  This one was the Miki HS English Department's way of welcoming the new ALTs.  Ben and I were invited to have dinner at an Italian restaurant called Osteria dell' Arancio with the English staff.  Matt, the other ALT, and Kellee, a third part time ALT, also joined us for the evening.

The food was amazing!  We had a course meal, so small dishes kept coming until finally our main course.  For dessert, each of us were able to choose from a plate of various cakes and puddings and we all had a cup of specialty coffee in handcrafted coffee mugs.  I chose a pumpkin dessert of course.  This country loves pumpkin in the fall and I take full advantage of that.

I have always taken myself for an adventurous eater, but on that night that idea was challenged.  One of the courses was a fully cooked fish, head and all.  The chef, God bless him, covered the little guy in a shroud of lettuce and vegetables, but there he was, staring up at us all.  Everyone began to enjoy the fish dish as I worked up the courage to try my first whole fish.  Ben, Kellee, and I discussed what could be inside the fish that had such a grainy texture, when it was frankly explained by my husband that it was fish eggs not cornmeal that Kellee had in her mouth.  She was a little put off, but not deterred from enjoying the fish eggs.  At that moment, I decided to go for it.  I would eat the head and get the worst part out of the way.  The rest couldn't be that bad if I just ate the head.  So, I did it.  

I ate the fish head and felt both victory and disgust.  I cannot forget the memory of feeling fish teeth on the end of my tongue and tasting the bitter flavor of the cooked fish skin.  The fish head had a crunch that seemed very carnal as a chewed it.  Once I had swallowed, I could not bear to eat the fish babies stuffed inside the poor fish mother who's head I had just devoured.  So, I passed.

I probably lost some points with the English teachers that day for refusing to eat the rest of the fish, but that doesn't matter to me.  The most important thing I gleamed from my fish eating failure was that sometimes you just have to be honest about what you can handle,  no politely lying to the English staff to save face, no torturing myself with eating fish I did not like.  The second most important thing I learned that day is that my husband is a fish head eating barbarian and likes it.

High School Life

The second semester of high school and subsequently my job began on September 1.  I have now been teaching for a little over 2 months.  Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I teach at Miki High School.  It is a really beautiful school with nice gardens.

The day begins with a 15 minute bike ride from my apartment down the mountain to the school.  I am usually following a pack of high school students on their bicycles.  I found in the first few weeks that if you stick with them they will lead you to all of the short cuts.

I park my bike and put on my "indoor shoes" which happen to be a pair of black glittery Tom's.  Outdoor shoes are not allowed to be worn in the building, so my sneakers go into a shoe locker.

The students have a place where they can put their shoes, but this is separate from the teacher's shoe locker area.

Student Shoe Locker Area

I try to be at school at least 10 minutes early, especially to have time to cool off before the morning staff meeting.  The staff room reminds me of a police bull pen.  It is always buzzing.  There are always teachers making copies and grading papers and talking with each other.  But, before the day begins, there is always a message from the principal (the morning staff meeting) and everyone greeting one another with "ohayou gozaimas".

At Miki High School I teach with another ALT named Matt.  He is from Australia.  We almost never teach together, but we have the same lesson plans we follow because we split the English classes of 40 into 20 and 20. 

I teach all of my classes alongside a JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), and most of them in the LL classroom.  The students practice using conversational phrases like "What did you watch on TV last night?"  You know?  The important things in life!  I model how vocabulary should be pronounced and try to encourage the students to practice and enjoy English through games and activities.  Japanese students are notoriously quiet.  It is always good when you can successfully get them to speak up in class.

LL Classroom

I spend lunch time in the cafeteria with the students.  The food is amazing and cheap.  The students usually don't talk to me much because they are shy, but sometimes a few brave students will sit and practice English at lunch.

Outside the Cafeteria

Using the bathroom at school is interesting.  The teacher's bathrooms are right outside the staff room.  There is one western toilet in the ladies' room, but the rest are the squat style toilets.  You must take off your indoor shoes and put on a pair of rubber toilet shoes to use the toilet.  Most women push a button that makes a sound like flushing so that you cannot hear what is going on in their stall.  They really need to install these in the States.  I can't think of how many times women at DEQ would just avoid using the bathroom with someone else in the room.  It's genius.  Another important fact about the bathroom is that there are no paper towels to wipe your hands on at the sink.  This is common in Japan, so it is smart to always have a towel in your bag at all times.

After school the students go to their club activities.  Club activities range from flower arranging to baseball to martial arts to mountaineering.  There are all kinds of club activities students can participate in and different levels of commitment come with each.  Many of the sports clubs meet every day of the week and on the weekends.  Some of the more academic clubs meet once a week.  At Miki I am not involved in any of the clubs, but at Miki Kita I am in charge of ESS (English Speaking Society).

So, when the day is done, I pedal home up the mountainside to my apartment, to my husband, to my shower.  And that is my work day in Miki, Japan.

Sports Day

Mix one part Super Bowl halftime show with two parts Olympics and add a dash of military regalia and you've got the perfect recipe for Japanese Sports Day. It is an epic day of sprinting, relays, tug o' war, kindergarten marching band, dancing, cheering, martial arts, three-legged races, and all things sports.


Each year in the fall, Sports Day happens at schools all across Japan. I could tell you more, but I'd rather let the pictures speak for themselves.

Just before my big race at Miki Kita, the 4X100 meter relay!

Swim Club boys passing the baton in the club relay at Miki Kita.

The first few pictures above are from Miki Kita (Kita) which is my "visit school" I go to twice a week.  It just so happened that Kita's Sports Day was on the day that I visit.  My "base school" is Miki Senior High (Miki), and their Sports Day was the very next day.  I ran 100 meters each day as part of the teacher's relay team and couldn't walk on Friday.  I told one of the teachers at Miki that I was getting old.  His reply, "If you are old, then I am dead."  I lol'd a little.  I have no idea how old he is, but he looks young to me.  Japanese people age well so he could be something like 70 for all I know.

The girls play a game similar to chicken fighting where you steal that hat of your opponent.  It gets craaaazzzy!

This has got to be my favorite shot of the day.  The kindergarden marching band was cute overload!

One of the students wanted a picture.  She is so cute!  How could I say no?

The students did a cheer competition that they choreographed themselves.   I was pretty partial to the blue team...  must have been the cowboy hats and the bandanas!

B...  L.... U....

There was no match for the yellow team in tug o' war.  This student was cracking me up throwing up peace signs for the camera while his teammates pulled them to victory.

Sports Day was a great day, and I am so happy I had a chance to be a part of it!

Opening Ceremony

Each trimester the students have an opening ceremony to start things off.  They sit in perfect rows, they quietly sing the school song, and they try to stay awake to listen to a number of speeches by the kouchou sensei (principal) and teachers.  For opening ceremony on September 1st, the students had to try and stay awake through a short speech that I made as well.

Kyoutou sensei (vice principal) walks by the students looking very official with his clip board while one of the English teachers videos opening remarks.

I wore a suit jacket, a skirt, and panty hose despite the fact that I would have been sweating in gym shorts and a t-shirt.  I walked up on stage and nervously proceeded to tell the students about myself, where I am from, what I like to do, and that I was looking forward to seeing them in class... all in Japanese.  When I was finished and they began to clap, I was so relieved.  Public speaking has always been something I have avoided.  Public speaking in a language that I do not know was terrifying, but I did it.

After the ceremony, I went back to the staff room and worked on some activities for next week.  A group of girls came in the staff room (which they often do if they have questions for teachers) and one of them told me in English that my Japanese was very good.  I was so happy!  It made me want to work hard to learn the Japanese language.

There were no classes that day, but after the ceremony the students had to be checked over by teachers to make sure they weren't breaking any school rules of appearance.  You see, in Japanese high school you must wear a school uniform, you cannot dye your hair, you cannot paint your nails, and you cannot wear makeup.  A matter of cultural differences I suppose. Can you imagine trying to police American students on this?

It was a good first day of school, and I am really looking forward to the rest of the school year.