Today I had an interesting experience with a teacher asking me (professor of English knowledge) about what air quotes are. She approached me and asked what it meant when you do "this" with your fingers in the air. I had a devil of a time trying to explain what that meant, but I think I got her on to the idea.
This made me realize that when I try to explain complicated concepts to people that don't speak English well, I sound like an idiot. The video that immediately came to my mind was this very popular video:
The reason I think I sound so stupid is the words that I feel that I have to use. Never in the course of regular conversation with other English speakers do I feel such a desire to use every big word I have ever learned. I think it is some kind of disorder. Somehow while discussing air quotes, I really wanted to use the word ubiquitous.
After discussing the nuances of air quotes, we got discussing sarcasm. Sarcasm is a difficult thing to discuss with native English speakers, but it is extra difficult with someone who has English as a second language. But I think that...it like...was...really good...like...such as...
So...I had intended to write a really nice and poignant post about being in Japan on the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, but I couldn't come up with anything that fit the bill. It was a rather unspectacular day here in Japan. I went to get my yearly health check (more on that later). That night, we had our English society as well. I will say that in attendance at that meeting was an 82-year-old woman who would have been 11 when Japan entered the war with the U.S. My grandfather was a bomber in WW2 in the Pacific, and yet here we are, 70 years after the fact, speaking as friends in Japan. It's funny how the world works right?
I have been reading a book for a while on the history of D-Day. I have a tremendous level of respect for veterans of all wars, but especially for those of World War 2. I can't imagine fighting a war under those conditions. It is moving to read the stories of bravery, brotherhood and sacrifice. I am extraordinarily proud to be an American, but I am even more proud of the goodness in people to resolve conflict after the fact and come together. I believe me living in Japan is a testament to that.
Health time! I went to get my annual checkup and they do it differently than we do in the U.S. It is actually more like a book fair than a health check. They pull up a bunch of busses that have the different stations for health. They had an X-ray bus, a CAT scan bus and all sorts of stuff.
I snapped this picture of the eye test station. Getting a health check in Japan was a harrowing experience for me. Evidently I was supposed to bring my urine sample already prepared...I neglected to do so, and found myself standing in line with a cup of pee with other people watching me. They organize it a lot like a buffet, you just go from station to station. After the urine sample test (which I guess I passed), I went to the lady who asks you a bunch of medical questions. Answering medical questions is significantly more stressful when you are can't speak the language. She asked me something about hospital (the only word I know) and blood. I said no to both. She also asked me about su-pee-do gohan, which translates (I think) to speed food. I don't know if she was asking me if I ate food while on speed, or how fast I ate my food. I just said yes and waited.
When they took my blood pressure, they saw that it was pretty high. I can't imagine why... The lady administering told me to relax and it came down by 20 points. I saw about 3 other people who asked me to lift up my shirt about 3 times, and took my blood. I am not a doctor, but I am sure that the lady who took my blood was not qualified because it hurt really bad!
I snapped this as I was walking away. Bus number 2 is where they did the ECG. I knew this was an EchoCardioGram, but it might as well have been in Japanese. I went in, laid down, and they put suction cups on my chest and heart monitors on. Evidently I passed because they let me go in the end. I also got a chest x-ray. They had me go in the back of the bus and hug this thing that took an x-ray of my chest. The doctor showed me the picture, and it looked good (to me).
Little funny thing I had today. We were talking about whether or not it was good for Junior high students to have cell phones. I caught this little tidbit that one of the students wrote. "it is emergency for us to noise." I think the student was just putting out all of the English words they knew, because the other two were really coherent.
So I have been missing for a few days. What can I say? I have lots of stuff to do...like...internet...things. You knew I would come back, just like I knew you would come back> So lets not say sorry, or hello again, lets just continue on. What follows now is a bunch of little posts that didn't merit an entire post by themselves. Fair warning though, I just read all seven Harry Potter Books and watched all 8 movies, so there will be a post about that this week.
The problem with living in the "Land of the Rising Sun" is that you get the Land of the Setting Sun pretty early. This is the skyline as I left work at 4:30 in the afternoon. I really like the mountains on this side of the valley. They are super sudden.
I can't help it, but I think that this is about the funniest picture of a turtle I have ever seen. This turtle lives at my little elementary school. He is high centered on a rock, with his head up against the wall. I just laugh at how miserable he seems.
My junior high is cooler than your junior high...at my junior high, they let students burn things during cleaning time. Unfortunately, all I get to do is vacuum.
I saw this bag at the 100 yen shop. I don't know what efforts are being rewarded, but you should never give up.
The little man that guards the entrance to the kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi place. If you push the button, he says things in unintelligible Japanese. I guess he is kind of like a mascot.
Conveyor belt sushi is awesome because you get to use your plates to play a lottery game...that we lost a bunch of times. You can see the elders in this video. Shiozawa on the left and Malcom on the right. I accidentally got natto sushi. Terrible error.
VIDEO ATTACK! At our last culture day trainy special class thing, the students learning jazz dancing did this nice little routine to a Shakira song. Nothing odd about that right?
Where's Wally. Japan got it wrong. They are never going to find Waldo if they keep looking for Wally.
Last week we had a surprise chorus festival as well. You can see the kids be bopping a long with the song. Take that Glee! The only thing better than this was seeing their homeroom teacher at the back of the gym doing the motions for them to follow along with. She was VERY animated...them not so much. Ultimately, the choir festival was OK, but 2 hours of sitting in a folding chair listening to junior high level choir songs is not my idea of an afternoon of fun...
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving (for us)! We are going to get together as a bunch of English speaking folk at the international center and eat turkey. I am worried that they underestimated the amount of turkey needed for all these folks, but I hold out hope. I made Flaky Jakeys for the occasion. I imagine it will be a huge hit.
It would seem that Japan really enjoys a lot of silly things. Everyone does. Things that would be normally resigned to the fringes of society and deemed bizarre in western cultures are embraced in Japan. A good example of this is manga and anime. These are cartoons and comic books that Japan is well known for. They are everywhere, and you see everyone reading them. You see business men in their suits just chillin' and reading a comic book on the subway.
Case in point...here is something that evidently is deemed okay in Japan. I saw this on a poster in the hall in the Junior high that highlights current events.
I still haven't figured out if this is to celebrate the new iPhone or the death of Steve Jobs...either way, the sensible thing seems to be to strap a cardboard version of the iPhone to your head...right?
The other thing I am a little concerned about is the America that we are introducing to these children. Here is a picture that seems to send more than a few mixed messages. As you can see, this is the "Let's Try" book. In this book they try things...like English things.
My issues are this: Without explanation, aren't the students going to picture us all driving around in old school Cadillacs and hanging out on beaches? I feel like the cover of this is straight out of the movie "The Birdcage." You can't see it in this picture, but the only other English word that you can see on the street is a cafe called Casablanca. Mixed message? I think so myself. The only thing we are missing is a big white guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt taking a stroll.
I guess that is where I come in...I round out the picture of America. I will be their big white guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt...it's why I make the big money...
