The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune
It's been a great week. We had a public holiday on Monday (Respect for the Aged) and Thursday (Autumnal Equinox). A kiwi from Wellington came to stay with us, Anna, she is a JET in Gunma which is just out of Tokyo, apparently great skiing in the winter. Guess where we're headed in the New Year.
Wednesday was the big bad Hagi Junior High speech competition, I sat there and chewed my fingernails almost as nervous as half the contestants. It was particularly hard for Dan and I since we had coached over half of the kids, unlike the other JETs who had done one or two. The great news was that the 3 girls from my base school all came away victorious. Two got silver and one got 2nd place gold. The girl that beat her had done homestays in England before, so it was almost unfair to compare them. Ayumi will now go on to take part in the prefectural competition in October, if she makes the top three of that she will go to Tokyo for the grand final which is performed in front of the Japanese Emperor and Royal family! We were so wrong in thinking that our speech coaching was over. But we can't complain, the teachers at Hagi Nishi (my base) have been overflowing with compliments about our help, and have inundated us with (oh no!) gifts of food.
Unfortunately Kana and Nori from Aishima performed brilliantly and yet were awarded bronze. I felt really bad for them and I heard from other JETs that sometimes the judging can be hard to take. However another boy I coached from Hagi Higashi got a silver and was completely stunned with surprise, when I first coached him I couldn't believe how quick a learner he was, with naturally good pronounciation. Like a diamond in the rough.
All us ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) headed to our place that night since Dan and I have the biggest house out of everyone. Kirk and Ellen from down Yanai way headed up and met us at 9pm after Japanese class. It was sooooo much better for me this week, I was able to go at my own pace a bit more. I was just about to pull out so I'm glad to held on and perservered. Life lessons and character building and all that stuff.
So we all went out for drinks at No Side and had a good bonding session. Ellen and I had Bailey's shots at the bar and educated the barmen about what you call one of those topped with butterscotch schnapps. The next morning Christine did a mammoth effort and made her legendary banana and choc-chip pancakes for brekky, she fed herself, me, Dan, Sarah, Anna, John, Bruce, Ellen, and Kirk. We spent our Autumnal Equinox sightseeing around Hagi, we went to the lookout at Koshigahama (where Kirk had his barbequed corn cob stolen by big hawk-like birds not once but twice..) and pottery shopping. Kirk has demi-God status in our house because he brought us a spare TV/Video from his place that he never uses. It is heavenly to chill out and watch videos, and along with the new plants its made our house feel like a proper home.
We're going to yet another bloody Sports Day on Sunday (the school has 12 kids in total and needs the numbers) but hopefully a day to chill out on Saturday. Dan is pretty sick at the moment, sniffling away with a hacking cough. I think its just exhaustion. We went out to dinner tonight though, for yakiniku (barbequed meat that you cook yourself) which is super delicious. Ordering on our own with limited Japanese was farcical, but we made the effort because it was our one year anniversary :) It really has been quite a year and we've made it. Yay!!
Wednesday was the big bad Hagi Junior High speech competition, I sat there and chewed my fingernails almost as nervous as half the contestants. It was particularly hard for Dan and I since we had coached over half of the kids, unlike the other JETs who had done one or two. The great news was that the 3 girls from my base school all came away victorious. Two got silver and one got 2nd place gold. The girl that beat her had done homestays in England before, so it was almost unfair to compare them. Ayumi will now go on to take part in the prefectural competition in October, if she makes the top three of that she will go to Tokyo for the grand final which is performed in front of the Japanese Emperor and Royal family! We were so wrong in thinking that our speech coaching was over. But we can't complain, the teachers at Hagi Nishi (my base) have been overflowing with compliments about our help, and have inundated us with (oh no!) gifts of food.
Unfortunately Kana and Nori from Aishima performed brilliantly and yet were awarded bronze. I felt really bad for them and I heard from other JETs that sometimes the judging can be hard to take. However another boy I coached from Hagi Higashi got a silver and was completely stunned with surprise, when I first coached him I couldn't believe how quick a learner he was, with naturally good pronounciation. Like a diamond in the rough.
All us ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) headed to our place that night since Dan and I have the biggest house out of everyone. Kirk and Ellen from down Yanai way headed up and met us at 9pm after Japanese class. It was sooooo much better for me this week, I was able to go at my own pace a bit more. I was just about to pull out so I'm glad to held on and perservered. Life lessons and character building and all that stuff.
So we all went out for drinks at No Side and had a good bonding session. Ellen and I had Bailey's shots at the bar and educated the barmen about what you call one of those topped with butterscotch schnapps. The next morning Christine did a mammoth effort and made her legendary banana and choc-chip pancakes for brekky, she fed herself, me, Dan, Sarah, Anna, John, Bruce, Ellen, and Kirk. We spent our Autumnal Equinox sightseeing around Hagi, we went to the lookout at Koshigahama (where Kirk had his barbequed corn cob stolen by big hawk-like birds not once but twice..) and pottery shopping. Kirk has demi-God status in our house because he brought us a spare TV/Video from his place that he never uses. It is heavenly to chill out and watch videos, and along with the new plants its made our house feel like a proper home.
We're going to yet another bloody Sports Day on Sunday (the school has 12 kids in total and needs the numbers) but hopefully a day to chill out on Saturday. Dan is pretty sick at the moment, sniffling away with a hacking cough. I think its just exhaustion. We went out to dinner tonight though, for yakiniku (barbequed meat that you cook yourself) which is super delicious. Ordering on our own with limited Japanese was farcical, but we made the effort because it was our one year anniversary :) It really has been quite a year and we've made it. Yay!!
posted by Rosie at
8:27 pm
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