Mastering the Art of Looking Busy

Sigh, it is a slow time here at Yoshida High School, at least for some of us. It is actually almost the end of the Japanese school year -- we have two more days of class, then year-end exams begin. When I was teaching at home, this would have been the busiest time of the year, but here it is my slowest. First of all, the seniors get the entire month of February off in order to deal with university entrance business and to do driving school (driving age is 18 here). 9 of my 16 classes were seniors, so during February I teach a grand total of FIVE CLASSES PER WEEK! And they are nicely spread out, one class each day. Some teachers had all senior classes, so they don't teach at all this month.

And then the next few weeks are taken up by testing and entrance exams, and graduation and a whole mess of other stuff that I have hardly any involvement in, then the students have a two week break before the new school year starts. I won't go back to having a full class schedule until the second week of April.

What a dream right? A teaching job where I am not stressed out?!?! Imagine that! But here's the catch -- I still have to be at school from 8-4, Monday through Friday, regardless of how much I have to do. Today for example, I had one class in the morning and that's it. I probably could have finished everything I have to do by 11 am. But I can't go home until 4, even though I have nothing to do. Instead, I have to find things to do, and when that fails, I have to master the art of looking busy.

This is one of the biggest differences between being a teacher in the US and a teacher in Japan - the working hours. At most US schools, you teach your classes, and can leave anytime after 4. When the students are on break, teachers don't have to come either. Being a coach or an advisor is usually optional, and most teachers I know chose to take their grading home with them. So although teaching does keep you ridiculously busy, the possibility of leaving early, and having all those breaks is sort of a luxury.

But in Japan, teachers are required to stay until 5 on weekdays. ("So it's like a real job," said my high school principal friend, who has dealt with his fair share of teachers bolting the second that classes are over.) Yes, it is like a real job - teachers must be at school from 8-5, just like in any office job. But in reality most of them end up staying until 7 or 8. They are almost always here on Saturdays and often on Sundays as well.

AND here is the biggest difference - when the students are on break, the teachers in Japan still have to be at school. All of winter break, all of spring break, and all of summer break. Can you imagine if they tried to make teachers in the US do that?!?!

Although most of them have enough work to keep them busy the entire time they're at school (unlike me, because I only teach a half load of classes), it is pretty frequent that the teachers have nothing at all to do. Grading and planning are done, and all business is taken care of, but they still have to be here. Some just read, some chat with other teachers, some surf the internet. But it also leads to some pretty funny stuff --

First of all, there's the sleeping - it is perfectly acceptable to sleep at any time during the school day. Japanese are the masters of the short nap - they can fall asleep within seconds in any sitting position, doze peacefully for 10-15 minutes, then pop back awake at exactly the time they need to. You see this on the subways as well - it is like they have inner alarm clocks that tell them exactly when it's time to wake up, an art that many foreigners actually develop after living in Japan. I see teachers sleeping here all the time - at their desks, at the computers, in the lounge, wherever. Always sitting up as well - I have never seen anyone put their head down on their desk. The women will bow their head over some book as if they are reading, but the limp hands and distinct lack of movement are sure signs they are actually asleep. Sometimes there will even be light snoring, and occasionally someone will lose their balance and fall out of their chair.

And then there are the wanderers - we have a few teachers who just amble leisurely around the teachers room when they are bored, reading posts on the wall, whistling, talking to themselves. We have one teacher who we call Freddy Krueger because he wears a stripped shirt, and he spends a significant portion of his day just strolling and muttering to himself.

Taking a cigarette break is OK, but you have to at least go to the end of the school parking lot. Japan has not been hit with the anti-smoking thing yet, so it is ok for a student to see a teacher smoking. In fact, Freddy Krueger is sitting next to me now, and he reeks of smoke.

Another popular activity to pass the time is simply staring into space. As much as I enjoy this myself - I actually think is really healthy to just space and out and daydream - I have a hard time doing it at work, because my brain is wired with the idea of 'must be working while I am at work!' But it is totally ok to do it here. Most teachers will have a book open on their desk, and it was clear that they were attempting to do something before they started letting their mind wander, but sometimes you will see the person with absolutely nothing on their desk, just staring into space for extended periods of time. This is especially popular in the summer time, when the break is extra long.

Probably the first reaction for Westerners is to think "how awful, if there is nothing to do, why can't they just go home?" And it's true that most Westerners would never want a job that forces them to stay even if all their work is completely done. But this is where cultural differences come in - the Japanese have a totally different mindset about their jobs. In Japan, a job is an obligation, not simply a means of making money. It is a source of honor and identity. It might even be fair to say that your job is higher priority than family - I know at least that Japanese teachers spend far more time at school than they spend with thier own children.

In the US, we are super protective of our "personal time," and we draw a clear line between work and personal life. A job that infringes too much on personal life is considered a bad thing. When we talk about people who are too closely tied to their jobs, we do it with a sense of sympathy for the person. The only acceptable reason for working so many hours is to make money, and even this is not desireable for many.

In Japan though, "personal time" takes a much lower priority. For many people, especially teachers, your job is your life, and that is not a bad thing for the Japanese. It seems weird to us, but it is simply the way it is, and people are alright with it. A person who devotes themselves completely to their job is respected for it, and at is more of an obligation than a sacrifice. But I know that with increasing influence of Western culture, that mindset is changing. I have read that a lot of workers are demanding shorter hours and more vacation, and that personal life is starting to be more important than loyalty to the company.

As for myself, I will take the American teaching hours any day. I like having the choice to bring my work home. I think the Japanese system makes sense for them though. But I really don't like having so much down time at work, like I do now. OK, granted, it is great to have ample time to prepare my classes, and still be able to write a blog in the middle of the school day, but I get pretty bored. If there is one thing I have learned about myself in Japan, it is this: I am far more satistifed with a job that keeps me busy. A lot of the other JETs don't get me on this - they love the easy job because it gives them time to persue their own stuff - and I have to say I love this as well. But this job is TOO undemanding! Give me more to do, or let me go home!!

That being said, it is noon now, and I actually do have *some* stuff I need to do today. You know that saying "Work expands to fit the time alloted?" Well, it is absolutely true!!

Learning to Love the Cold

So I was thinking that since I dedicate this blog to all the people at home traveling vicariously through me, I really should be writing about everything that is included in being abroad. Not just the fun stuff and the major events, but also the mundane everyday things; stuff I tend to take for granted.

This post was inspired by two recent related pieces of news I have received. One, that the weather is expected to get a bit warmer as of tomorrow. And two, that my friend Mike has finally thrown in the towel and turned on the heat. The relevance of the first news is probably obvious, but the second needs some explaining.

Mike is a Canadian JET who lives in a neighboring town, and a good friend of mine. He is socially and environmentally conscious in the best and worst of ways, and I say this with complete fondness. This winter, he decided that he would not use his heat AT ALL, so he would not contribute to global warming any more than he had to. I totally support him, in spite of fact that I think he is nuts. Every time I see him, he shares stories of his latest tricks for staying warm (which included learning to type with one hand so the other hand stayed could his pocket), and talks yearningly of spring days to come. We were all rooting for him to make it through the winter, but this week he had to give it up because he was having migraines. But it is damn impressive that he made it this far!

So by this point, you might be wondering - just how cold does it get in this part of Japan? Actually, it gets cold, but compared to many other places in the world (Canada being one), it really does not get THAT cold. Nighttime temperatures are usually barely above freezing, with the daytime usually being at least a few degrees warmer. It is not the warmest place I have lived, but it is not the coldest either (Seoul was much, much colder!)

But if you will allow me to play with definitions a bit, and measure temperature by how much the cold is actually FELT, then Shizuoka is by far the coldest place I have ever lived. The reason - it is just warm enough to be tolerated, and the Japanese are all about building character. Meaning - when my apartment and school were built, central heating and insulation were not considered necessary, or maybe left out to save money. And that means not only being cold when you are outside, but also being cold a good portion of the time you are indoors as well!

I essentially live in a concrete block, with super drafty windows. For heat, I use either a electric space heater or kerosene. The kerosene heater works really well, but I can only heat one room at a time. Luckily, my kitchen, living room and bedroom are connected by sliding doors that can be opened or closed depending on how large a space you need to heat, but it is really inefficient to heat them all at once. So I usually heat only the kitchen and/or living room when I am home. About 30 minutes before I go to bed, I have to move the kerosene heater into my bedroom and pre-heat it before I go to sleep. I don't sleep with any heaters on, because it is dangerous and expensive. About 10 minutes after the heaters are turned off, the temperature in my bedroom is back down to about 10 degrees C, and by that time I snuggled deep down under my blankets, wearing sweats, wool socks and a hooded sweatshirt to keep out the cold. Recently I have begun filling a plastic liter bottle with hot water and putting it down by my feet. I've got it down to science, and manage to stay really warm at night. But I hate waking up and feeling how cold my nose is!

And don't even ask about the rest of the rooms in the house - which is where all bathroom, washing, showering, laundry, doing hair and makeup and changing of clothing takes place. Those stay cold, and I just suffer when I have to be in them.

At school, it is pretty much the same story. Only the teachers room is heated, so when I teach I often have to wear a jacket and gloves. And the toilet in the staff bathroom has a heated seat, but the bathroom itself is not heated! I feel sooo sorry for the students, who sit most of their day in those cold classrooms, but that is the Japanese character building for you!

Here is my morning routine - wake up and spend about 10 minutes enjoying the warm bed I have spent all night creating, psyching myself up for the cold. I get up, and let the shock of the icy cold toilet seat jolt me awake. Turn on the shower to let it warm up, undress in the spare room (where I keep my clothes), and run into the shower. The water temperature/pressure doesn't get *quite* warm enough to do much for the body in the time it takes for a morning shower, and the instant the water is off, I am chilly again. Make a brief stop in the kitchen to move the kerosene heater from the bedroom and turn it on, then run to the spare room, dry off and throw on clothes as fast as I can. Make-up and hair are done in the cold, and my only warm moments in the morning are spent in the kitchen eating breakfast. Then it is time to bundle up for the 25 minute bike ride to school, and by the time I get there my core is warm, but the surface areas that get hit by the wind are frozen - especially my face and thighs. And then I sit in the teacher's room nursing a hot cup of tea while I defrost. As soon as it is time to teach, the jacket and glove go back on.

So can you see what I mean by "how much the cold is felt?" Winter in Shizuoka is a constant game of cat and mouse played with the cold. In cold places with proper heat and insulation, you are only cold when you go outside, but here, you are also cold for a good portion of the time you are inside. Even if you get all nice and warm for a bit, it is inevitable that you have to leave the warm place within a short time. For example, right now I am warm enough because I am shut up in my living room with the heater on, but I have to pee, and I have to clean up the kitchen, and I eventually have to get ready for bed, and the instant I step out of this room I will be freezing again.

Feeling sorry for me yet? Don't! In the spirit of the Japanese, I like to think how all this "suffering" is making me tougher. Think about it - in the modern world, we have so many accommodations to minimize our discomfort, and it ends up making us sort of wimpy. At least I know it made me wimpy - a little cold, a little heat, too much physical exertion, and I was whining like a baby. But I think there is really something to be said for the old adage, "Stop complaining, it builds character!" There is something that happens mentally and spiritually when you have to "tough it out;" it makes you a stronger and even more humble person. I've seen pilgrims walking for 100 miles to visit a sacred spot, I've built houses alongside people who eat nothing but a bowl of rice everyday, and I've taught 15 year old girls who sit all day in a zero degree classroom wearing a skirt - what do I have to complain about?

Which brings me back to the first piece of news mentioned earlier in this post - that the weather was expected to get warmer tomorrow. As much as I have been looking forward to spring, I actually felt a small twinge of disappointment when I heard that. Like, I've finally got this whole winter thing down pat, and it is already ending? But I was just starting to really toughen up! I guess I've done such a good job of turning lemons into lemonade that I don't want to see the lemons go! I like my cold lemonade!

Not that I won't be thrilled once I can sleep without a hooded sweatshirt and teach without my jacket on.....

雪まつり

Here are some shots from the 59th Sapporo Snow Festival---be amazed at what can be done with snow!

Mmmmm, my first proper Ramen shop! Miso ramen, one of the best loved foods in Japan, originated in Sapporo. (And Japanese ramen is nothing like Top Ramen!)

Glen and Micah building a sculpture of their own.

We were there before the festival officially began, so people were still working.

I think this one wasn't finished when I took the photo?

The two girls are ALT's that live close to me, Kate and Maureen. And Zach is one of the lucky JETs to live in Hokkaido.

A corgie in a bee costume - cute or sickening? He was the sweetest dog though, so I guess he get can get away with dressing goofy.

Sledding Hill

At nighttime, all the sculptures were lit up.

A HUGE Prince Caspian sculpture, to promote the new Narnia movie coming out soon.

This sculpture was the central attraction of the festival - built by the Department of Defense! (The guys that were building it were wearing their army clothes!) It celebrates the upcoming G8 meeting that will be held in Hokkaido. If you look closely, you can see 8 countries represented - Japan, US, England, Canada, Italy, Germany, France and Russia.

WOW!

There were also at least 100 smaller sculptures done by groups and families from the community. Some were pretty cool, others, well, lets just say that the people making them probably realized halfway through that they didn't like working with snow and decided to cut some serious corners! Here are just a few of the better ones:

Another one of the big ones. This was my favorite - it was so detailed!

Close up, with colored lights

A shot with people, to get an idea of how BIG this thing was!

This one wasn't done by the time we had to leave, but it is a whole bunch of ice blocks with sea creatures frozen inside them.

Lowering the ice blocks

That time of year

We just passed a pretty important benchmark here in JET world - the 6 month point! Which means that I am just over halfway through my time in Japan - eeek! But it is an important time for another reason - early February is when JETs have to decide whether or not to recontract and stay in Japan for another year. It is a REALLY difficult decision for a lot of people, especially because it comes only half-way through the contract, during the coldest time of the year, and right about when culture shock can be at its worst. A lot of my friends here have been agonizing over the decision for the past few weeks, and the big question has been "You gonna stay or go?"

For me, it was simple - I had always planned on staying only a year. Of course I knew I might change my mind once I got here and end up staying longer, but that didn't happen, and I feel really comfortable with my decision to go. I'm actually one of the rare ones! Most people on the program stay at least 2 years, sometimes 3 or 4. The main reason I am not staying is pretty simple - I just don't really enjoy teaching here. I miss having my own classroom, speaking the same language as my students, and being able to communicate with my colleages. I also miss teaching Social Studies - language is just not my thing! But mostly, I miss the bond that is formed with the students - that just doesn't happen to the same degree here, and it is that part of teaching that really makes it worth it for me. While I have learned a LOT from being is this position, I spend far too much time daydreaming about what I want to do once I am back teaching stateside again.

Of course, I do my best to also remember the stress and other bullshit that comes along with teaching in the US, just so I don't have unrealistic expectations for when I return! That's one factor that makes it a little hard to leave - this is the lowest stress teaching job I will ever have! I get paid a full salary for a half-load of classes. Not to mention a round trip ticket, subsidized apartment, and tons of time off. We really do have a sweet set up here. Right now I have time to do all the things I always wish I could do when life gets busy - reading, cooking, writing, being lazy, etc. It is great actually, but not enough to keep me here. One thing I realized about myself from being on JET is that stress levels aside, I am truly happiest when I have a fulfilling job. And as stressful as it was, I felt much more fulfilled when I was teaching back home.

But that is one of the major differences between myself and most of the other JETs - I actually have a career to go back to. Most people are fresh out of university, and have no particular career path figured out yet. Actually, a lot stay in Japan simply because they have no idea what they want to do when they go back home!

Another reason for leaving -- my life has now been in "temporary" status for 2.5 years - teaching in Korea, traveling in Southeast Asia, short time back home, then teaching here. I love the traveling and living abroad, but it wears on me. I guess I was not meant to be a nomad, and lately I find myself craving a feeling of permanency. I'm not saying that I'm really to trade by backpack for a white picket fence and 2.5 kids, but I am pretty much ready to put down at least a few roots. (Not deep ones though, I know the travel bug will never fully leave me!)

Actually, I started to get second thoughts about leaving - while I was in Sapporo of all places! Something about the big city...lots to do...great subway system...beautiful snow...NOT having to work, hee hee, it just reminded me why I love being abroad in the first place, and pulled me out of my recent slump. I guess you could say that being in Sapporo made me like Japan again! Not that I don't like where I live, but if I had my choice, I'd be in a bigger city rather than the countryside.

And then I started thinking about the fact that I still haven't seen half of what I want to see in Japan. But I think you could live here for years and never really be satisfied, there is just an incredible amount to do and see here. But I still have 6 months, and I will squeeze in what I can. (The next two trips being the Nagoya Penis Festival and Hiroshima, hopefully!)

In the end, I keep coming back to the advice that helped my friend Micah make his final decision to leave - life is best lived by following your heart. And I know that being an assistant English teacher in the Japanese countryside is not where my heart really wants to be. It has been (and will continue to be, I hope) a fantastic experience, but a year is enough.

Damn, I sound like I am leaving tomorrow. But I'll do my best to make the most of the 5.5 months!

And just for fun, two completely random but neat photos!

A giant spider eating a butterfly, isn't nature cool?!?! I took this right outside my apartment. These enourmous spiders are everywhere in the summer. I personally don't mind them - they are really pretty actually, but they are a nightmare for anyone with even a twinge of arachnaphobia. And the butterflies.

At a festival back in October, there was a tub full of live eels. At first we all thought that was pretty cool, until we realized that Squeeze the Eels had become a very popular game with all the kids, and right next to the tub was a stall selling cookedうなぎ　(unagi, aka eel).