Not that the people reading my blog will be able to read the website for my school, but I thought I would put it up here anyhow. There are a few pictures that might be interesting (of my school, the staff and me teaching).

http://www.amity.co.jp/school/schl/fukui/index.htm

When I was a kid we use to play a game called Opposite Day. Once someone had declared it opposite day then everything you said was the opposite of what you meant. If I said you were very nice I probably meant you were a jerk. Somehow today feels like Opposite Day. Everything that has been happening seems to be the opposite of what I'm expecting. The students who usually come early came late. The students who are always late came on time. The students who talk a lot and behave were bad and one student who never speaks was talking today. I got to work and it was 20 minutes before anyone else showed up (very unusual) it felt like the twilight zone. The weather can't decide if it is sunny or snowing up a storm. I'm curious what else is going to happen on my own personal opposite day.

Last night was amazing! I went to a charity concert for Tsunami Relief that ended up having amazing music (jazz and latin). While there my friend and I bumped into a Peruvian guy he knows and we got invited to a salsa club (who knew there was salsa in Fukui). The salsa club was a little strange, it was in an apartment building on the 4th floor. But the whole 4th floor was a big room with mirrors and music and a small bar. I'm not a great salsa dancer (having had few opportunities to try) but the Japanese are not great salsa dancers either so I fit right in. No one was worried about looking silly and it ended up being a ton of fun. I met a bunch of Peruvian guys who work in Fukui and it was amusing because they don't speak English and I don't speak Spanish so we had to talk in Japanese! Their Japanese was far better than mine but we managed. Their Japanese was also more understandable for me than a lot of Japanese people's Japanese (although they talk really fast). Then some Japanese guys told me about a huge salsa event in Kanazawa in a few weeks, so some friends and I are going to go up to that and salsa all night! How funny though... I come to Asia and learn to salsa!

http://www.salsa-marierossa.jp/p5.html

One of my students (the one I kicked out of class a few weeks ago) drew a hideous monster on the whiteboard in class today (while he was supposed to be speaking English). I asked him who it was and he kindly informed me that it was me. How sweet! I was going to take a picture to share with all of you but I forgot and accidently erased it at the end of class. My nose was massive, but only slightly larger than my lips and eyebrows. If his interpretation is correct then I am beginning to understand why all the people on the streets look at me so funny.

Today I went with a friend to Tojimbo and the haunted island of Oshima. Tojimbo has these famous rock formations that are apparently only found in 2 other places in the world (not sure where though). I would tell you more about them but all the informational educational signs were in Japanese so I really can't. Although unscientific, let's just leave it at-- they were really cool! It was a beautiful day- sunny, only mildly cold and not snowing! It was so nice to be able to brave the outdoors without 500 layers of clothing and risk of frostbite (it's been awhile). After viewing the rocks and eating lunch (yummy yummy echizen crab) we went to the haunted island (scary background noises begin). Apparently lots of Japanese people like to commit suicide somewhere near Tojimbo and Oshima (the Japanese don't seem to attach the same stigma to suicide as the west does). Something weird about the currents causes a lot of the bodies to wash up on this island that has had a shinto shrine on it for 300 years. So because this island was already a sacred place and all these dead bodies are washing up there, it has become haunted. If you walk around the island the wrong way (wrong for who?) you can see ghosts (or so the story goes). Well, we couldn't figure out which way to walk to see the ghosts (there weren't any signs saying "Ghosts this way." and if there were they were in Japanese and we couldn't read them anyhow). So we had to call a Japanese friend and ask which way to go. She told up right, so right we went. Maybe she thought we didn't want to see ghosts, because there were no ghosts to be seen and all the Japanese people were going the opposite way. We even tried taking some pictures (shown below) but no ghosts in the pictures. My friend tried to convince me that the stump next to the shrine was really a ghost in disguise, but who ever heard of a ghost needing a disguise? The island was beautiful, but eerily quiet and disconnected from the rest of the world. The atmosphere did feel different, even spooky, but I couldn't figure out if that was because of the presence of something supernatural or if I was just hoping for the presence of something supernatural. So, no ghosts for Carissa, but I did have a beautifully lovely day!

A tori on the haunted island of Oshima. See any ghosts? Look harder.... no? Me either, unfortunately! (not for lack of trying I assure you) 

The fabulous rocks of Tojimbo 

Went skiing today! It was great! We got up there a little late and were able to buy lift passes off people leaving for only 500yen (about $5). All those wimps running away just because it's snowing a bit (or a lot), and windy, and really really cold. The top of the mountains were all covered in fog so visibilty was maybe 15 feet (maybe- I kept missing turnoffs because I couldn't see them). It kept snowing and was so cold that my eyes would water and ice would form on my eyelashes. And the slopes were covered in ice (no powder for fukui). Despite all of this I had a wownderful time. I haven't been skiing in so long (several years aside from one jaunt last year) that it was just nice to be up there. It took me a little bit to remember how to do it but by the end of the day I was like a pro (a pro who looked like a snow monster). I can't wait to go up again!

Everyone knows that in business word of mouth is a great way to get new business. As a teacher sometimes the same thing applies-- mothers will tell other mothers that a certain teacher is very good and parents will enroll their kids in that class. Something new and interesting has happened to me though-- 5-year-olds recommending my class to eachother. I teach one student in a private lesson and he told his friend that my class was a lot of fun. The second student convinced his mother to move him out of a Japanese teacher's lesson into mine. I find it amusing that the 5-year-olds discuss and recommend teachers. In reality the conversation probably was more along the lines of:

"Carissa lets me blow bubbles in class."
"Really? My teacher never lets me blow bubbles."
"Carissa also makes funny faces, lets me play darts, do puzzles and doesn't give me much homework."
"My teacher never makes funny faces, never lets me play with darts and always gives me homework... MOOOOMMMM! I want to be in Carissa's class!"

Well, whatever works.

I completely snapped yesterday and kicked a student out of my class (for the first time). It was supposed to be a fun and easy class, just review and games, nothing difficult. One of the 3 students was absent leaving me with a boy and girl (around 12-13 years old). As we started the review it was obvious that the girl remembered it all (having studied during the last year) and the boy didn't remember any of it (having never learned it in the first place). I wasn't too concerned that he didn't know it, but when he completely stopped paying attention I started giving extra points to the girl for paying attention. The boy got really angry that he wasn't getting points, so I asked him some of the same questions I had asked the girl (which we had just reviewed if he was paying attention) and he got them all wrong and I refused to give him points. He got really angry and started to make rude noises, refused to play, and shoved all his points to the girl because I was being so unfair. I've been dealing with him being rude all year and I finally couldn't take anymore of it. I stood up, opened the door and told him to get out of the class. He wouldn't move (the last time I tried to kick him out he gripped the sides of the chairs and refused to get out of his seat and I ended up letting him stay because I physically couldn't move him). I went to find the manager but she was in another class so I stormed back (being very angry by this point) and told him again to get his stuff and get out. He still wouldn't listen to me. Finally Sean came out from his class (I'm assuming he say my angry storming through the window) and told him to leave. Of course the student listens to Sean but not me. The manager finally found him, talked to him and brought him back to the class and made him apologize. He apparently doesn't like the atmosphere of the class because the girl speaks better English than him. When the manager told me this I wanted to say "Well Duh! If you do you homework, pay attention in class and study you are going to speak better English." He wasn't very cooperative for the rest of the class but that was probably because he kept bursting into tears, I do feel bad about that. Crying in front of people (especially as a teenager) can be very embarrassing. I remember one student teacher in middle school I despised mostly because she had made me cry in front of other people (I don't even know that it was her fault really, but I certainly blamed her).

It's really funny being a teacher because I can see so many different types of students. I really do appreciate the students who pay attention and do their homework (they make my life easy), but at the same time some of the more difficult students end up being far more rewarding. My favorite students now were the ones who drove me crazy when I first got here (and still sometimes drive me crazy). Some of the brightest students are also the most boisterous and unless they are challenged or entertained they are bouncing off the walls (and no mom, it's not all ADD). It's also funny to see students and think- that is exactly what I was like as a student. Then I feel really sorry for some of my elementary school teachers. But all of the bouncing off the wall, and boredom I can understand. I can understand being frustrated at not understanding a foreign language (I've felt that since junior high school). I even understand not doing homework, but I just don't get rudeness. I told my manager that I will kick this student out everyday for the rest of the school year (which is over in March) if he keeps being rude to me, I am so fed up with it.

Bowling 

So my first trip to a hospital in Japan was not nearly as horrendous as I had imagined it would be (I have managed in 21 months of living in Japan to never visit a doctor or a hospital, up until now). It wasn't a huge thing- I somehow got an infection in my thumb and it has swelled up and turned purple. A rather stupid and unexciting injury. In Japan people don't go to a personal doctor when they are sick, they just go to the hospital. So I went this morning expecting long lines, doctors who don't speak English and lots of money. It took less than 30 minutes total, no massive forms to fill out (just wrote down my address), the nurses were nice, the doctor spoke lovely English and the total bill was $40 (but the insurance company will reimburse me for the whole thing). The last time I went to the hospital in the US it took 3 hours of waiting, the nurses were not friendly, I saw the doctor for maybe 3 minutes, despite speaking the same language as me he was incredibly rude and the whole painful experience was closer to $400 before insurance. I was amazed at how great the medical system here is and will no longer have qualms about going to the doctor. The hospital is also maybe 2 blocks from my house which makes popping over before work easy. Yeah for socialized medical systems! Yeah!

It's too bad I can't get snow chains for my bike tires, it would make transportation in the snow so much easier (although perhaps less exciting).