yea, i play chess

Early morning convo between one of the Japanese teachers of English (J) and me (E).

J: “Im giving a presentation on chess today for one of my classes, but I don’t know much about it. They did a reading on chess.”
E: “Oh really? I play chess! If I have no class, I can come in and explain it.”
J: “Yea, first period.”
E: “Sure, I can explain a little history, how to play chess, and some facts.”
J: “Great. I didn’t know anything about chess! I’ll stop by right before class”

Quite a surprise when she showed up asking about the African American origins. What? Oh. You have been saying “jazz.” Well this is awkward, because I certainly don’t play jazz, or know a darned thing about it!

me want french fries

My friends and I were at a roadstop fast food place which was like many high volume places in Tokyo (but few where I live). You put in money, push the button of your choice like a vending machine, and get a ticket to bring to the front when your order is ready. I picked French fries, which I hadn’t had in forever. When my number was called, I went up and only small salad in the window. I sat back down, and they called me again. Still, just a salad. So I handed my ticket to the guy anyways. He pushed the salad closer. Confusing.

I briefly considered my options. (A) Be the American who points at the salad she ordered (mistakenly, so it seems) and scream “FRENCH FRIES PLEASE” in terrible Japanese. (B) Take the salad.

The salad was splendid.

genius

today i realized as i was eating my grapefruit mentos (they have all these cool flavors here) that mentos are just oversized skittles!

oh and i wrapped my ipod in cellophane to protect it from the rain when i went running. what a cheap cover! i am so smart today!

school for the blind

next week, i make my first trip to the school for the blind which i am scheduled to teach at once a month. my supervisor just got a lil info and relayed it to me. i am going to sing an english song i know in a costume for elementary school kids. it took me a few times, but finally i politely asked why in the world i would need a costume for blind kids. he laughed much, but still had no idea. this will be interesting...

japanese vacations

When I was being interviewed by the international club, they asked me what I did over summer vacation. I told them about traveling, and Misa’s baby, etc. Then I asked them. “Study.” “I studied.” “Study”. “Study.” “I studied.” That was five kids. “Did anyone do anything besides study? Did you travel? See anything? Go anywhere?” Silence.

Those are the only answers when I ask any student at the school. All they do on vacation is study! No joke! Except for the Indonesian exchange student. He traveled to 8 big cities in Japan. Probably more than the Japanese kids have ever been to…

rugby with the boys

I am so lucky that my high school has a rugby team and that the English teacher I work closest with is the coach! Note: women’s rugby is not accepted by the national rugby union. I was pretty scared, and all heads turned from the boys baseball and soccer teams as I stepped onto the large dirt area in my lil rugby shorts (all fields are just dirt).

Needless to say, I had a blast! I soon realized I could never beat even the prop (the “bigger” position, who wasn’t big at all!) on speed. So I relied on my 4 years of experience and a not half bad pair of hands. It’s a perfect challenging level. The hardest part was a drill where they do rock-paper-scissors (which the kids do around 10 times per day to decide anything) to decide which way to run, but my mind literally could not process who the winner was fast enough. I looked like an idiot, time after time, and eventually just threw paper every time!

bazookas

All my life my chest have never been huge, though not flat. But in Japan, I am like Betsy Big-Knockers at the school. The biggest size, a Japanese “D” cup is really a “B” in America with tons padding. I wear really conservative things but of course the guys stare when I talk to a small group of them. But my goodness the girls sneak peaks too! Incredible!

on milk

I bought popsicles. And I can’t help use the words from anchorman when I say “milk was a bad choice”. (Though the milk icecream I had here was delicious!)

The only English words on the entire milk carton are “Extended Shelf Life.” Score! I spend a lot of time reading these three words, cause usually I just stare at anything in English every morning, as my TV blasts all this crazy Japanese crap (the shows are more bizarre than I could ever explain).