Friday in Fukuoka

I told my 9th graders to give each other high fives this afternoon for making it through their first week of high school.  Then I asked them if I could take this photo to share with my friends.  They are a pretty enthusiastic group!  I've probably already mentioned this, but it still blows me away that they say "thank you" after each class!  Oh, and that's all of them in the photo there.  14 students.  Fantastic!  

After school the high school staff met for drinks and food at a sort of pub in my neighborhood.  Good times.  My colleagues at my old school were the best thing about working there, and I do miss them, but it's nice to have a great group of teachers to work with here, too.  

I've been following the news here, listening to the conventions live on NPR and watching the important speeches I missed on YouTube.  Palin's was, of course, quite entertaining, but in a sickening way.  Her nasty jabs and boastful lies were completely aggravating and I can only hope that although her audience was disgustingly supportive, the average American wasn't fooled.  In case you haven't seen it yet, Jon Stewart offered this thoughtful observation last night:

Anyhow, tomorrow I may visit Dazaifu, a nearby town with a famous shrine, and on Sunday my shipped boxes should arrive. It will be like Christmas, opening packages (full of mostly books) from me! Then its another week, which I'm pretty sure will be just as great as this one! Hope everyone is well!

I hate Japan.

Okay, I don't really hate Japan, but I'm feeling pretty darn frustrated at the moment.  Do not believe that Japan is the Shangri-la of cellphones.  It is quite the opposite.  After several visits to the electronics store, I am finally prepared to purchase a cellphone (I had to wait until I had my permanent resident card and until I thought I had a vague understanding of how this worked).  The cheapest cellphones are about $300.  The iPhone is about $900 so that is out of the question.  Then you have to buy into a plan that you don't really want (they said you could change it later) and after you agree to it they add on insurance and call-waiting charges.  They make you buy the "unlimited discount packet plan" which I think covers the internet but is actually limited.  Then even with the full plan any calls made to phones outside the company (there are at least 4 major cell companies) cost about 42 cents a minute and calls within the company are that much after 9pm.  Then they promise you a "super bonus" but it turns out that doesn't kick in till the 3rd or 4th month.  Oh and of course there is an application fee, about $30.  In the end I fear I'll never use my $300 phone because of all the extra charges.  And get this: on top of my new phone I had to buy the phone charger because it was not included!  I want to strangle somebody.  How can the Japanese people stand for this?  Why are there no riots in the street?  Nobody understands it (I've asked around at school) but everyone just pays it like lemmings going to the cliff.  Then again, nobody complains that they use three friggin' alphabets either, and it's not like this is a society where anybody wants to challenge the status quo.  

I know I'm being melodramatic here.  Obviously there are bigger things to have a headache over, like Hurricane Gustav and the earthquake in China and Cold War II and Sarah Palin.  I must calm down.  (Thanks for enduring my rant, if you're still reading, anyhow.  I'm writing this from the electronics shop, waiting for my final cell phone contract to be approved, and I'm going bonkers.)

Oh, school today was great.  Every student did their homework and I adore the 2nd graders.  I'm teaching my first Theory of Knowledge class tomorrow and Model UN starts on Wednesday.  We're going to the MUN conference in Seoul in November and I hear there is a possibility of a bigger MUN conference in Dublin.  Cool.  

I'll get over the cellphone thing.  I can't understand my bank statements anyway so it's not like I'd notice how much money I'm paying for my cell phone.  Just don't expect me to call.  (Incoming calls, however, are free.)  

First Week of School!

The first days of school were cool and wet.  I usually walked instead of riding my bike, though most people seem to bike carrying umbrellas.  This is the view again from my journey to school looking back to the confluence of the rivers where I live when the tide is out and there are people digging for clams.  I also usually see lots of herons wading in the rivers.  

On the morning of the first day of school, all the students and staff of Fukuoka International School filed into the gym for a welcome back assembly.  The students sat on the floor in rows by class, with the tiny preschoolers in the front and the cool 12th graders in the back.  Altogether there were less than 250 people in the room.  Each class stood up and waved as we clapped and enthusiastically started the 2008-2009 school year.  

I met my 9th and 10th graders.  There are 14 students in each class!  The students showed up to class early, sat calmly in their desks, and paid attention as I introduced myself and subjects (9th grade = world geography, 10th = ancient world history).  It was amazing!  The students are mostly Japanese and Korean but there were a few American, Malaysian, Finnish, and Thai students.  I love them all!  

The lighting for this photo wasn't too good, but can you tell that it is a map of the world, drawn from memory by one of my 9th graders?  I was amazed watching my students think hard and draw their versions of the world map.  Every single student worked on the assignment for the whole time!  This student's map is pretty advanced.  Others had more blob-shapes, and some funny perspectives on the size of certain landmasses (i.e. Korea was often huge!).  Some students clearly had a better grasp of geography than others, and some clearly needed help with English, but they all did their best and I was so impressed!  

I finally learned the rest of my teaching schedule at FIS:  I will be working with elementary students in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th grades, sitting in with them in their classes and pulling them out for one-on-one help with English and reading.  I also get to teach "Theory of Knowledge" to 11th and 12th graders.  ToK is one of the core classes in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.  I am very excited about this opportunity to teach this philosophy course which examines ways that we know things and asks questions like, "How do you know what you know?" and "How do you know you know what you know?"  

So it's going to be a busy year at FIS but overall I'm thrilled.  The students are fantastic, the classes are small, the staff is supportive, and my classroom has windows!  

After school on Friday the staff had a bbq in the school yard.  I'm happy to be making new friends.  Afterwards a few of us headed downtown to hit some bars in Tenjin.  I didn't get home till 5am so have mostly wasted today away...  I have a lot of reading to do and have discovered that you can rent movies on iTunes so I will stay occupied this weekend.  

Shopping!

I watched the spectacular closing ceremonies of the Olympics tonight at my neighbor Vicki's, partly because I wanted company and partly because I was avoiding the cockroaches in my apartment.  Yuck.  They must have moved in when I was out on the town today.  I went on an all-day shopping extravaganza (remember, Fukuoka has been called the greatest shopping city in the world!) with Lori and Kumi, and returned home with only a few choice items, to greet the nasty creatures in my kitchen.  

It was a lovely day.  First we went to a flea market, where I bought two great vintage kimonos (for the price of one, a gift for being a foreigner), and then visited Fukuoka's most famous shrine, where I learned that apparently it is a bad year to be a woman born in the year of the dragon (1976).  What's a girl to do?  Dragon dudes are in the clear, and I'm not sure which sign is bad for guys this year, as I was busy focusing on my own bad fortune.  Man!  

Next we had delicious sushi in Tenjin, the main shopping area of town. We then toured several department stores, including one that had a special market of goods from Okinawa on the 7th floor. I sampled Okinawan rum, mango ice cream, and a disgusting fruit juice made of noni berries. According to wikipedia, noni is sometimes referred to as either "cheese fruit," "starvation fruit," or "vomit fruit" - take your pick. Anyhow, we finished the long day of shopping with coffee and dessert at my favorite new coffee shop in Tenjin, a cool place called "Le Union." We especially enjoyed the deep fried banana with red beans and vanilla ice cream. Mmm.

The most annoying part of the day was trying to get cell phones.  We visited several crazy electronics stores and tried to understand the plans offered by the three major companies.  Apparently nobody really gets how the charges work.  First you must purchase a phone, the cheapest ones running nearly $300, then you can choose a plan involving very limited cheap minutes, a few text messages, and expensive minutes after 9pm or to those enrolled with a different company.  The iPhone is about $800 and monthly rates are way more if you actually want to get online.  So I'll have to wait for that dream.  I think I'm going with a company called SoftBank, formerly Japanese Vodaphone.  Basically I have to learn to make friends with only other SoftBank customers, finish my calls before 9pm, and remember to send text messages otherwise.  Best is to just receive calls, which is free.  My new phone will not be one of the fanciest Japanese gadgets, like the ones that you can scan to pay for things in certain stores or the ones that have 5 megapixel cameras and mini-television screens, because they are too friggin expensive.  But I hope my new camera will be a fun color, like purple or green, which I can further adorn with sparkly stickers and my Hello Kitty-Lantern Lady charm from the Yamaga Festival.  Cool!

Tomorrow is the first official day of work. The last day of summer was an exciting day when I was a kid, eager to start school, a depressing day the last few years, dreading returning to school after fantastic breaks, but now just another part of this journey. I was sad to say goodbye to Portland a few weeks ago but am glad to have had time to settle in to my new life in Fukuoka before getting bogged down with work. I've got meetings this week and heaps of planning to do to get ready for the students on Thursday. Wish me luck!

Hot digs!

I am sitting right here in my living room posting this photo of my new home.  It gets a lot of light although there is no view to speak of.  So far I only use the little patio in the back to dry my laundry.  Anyhow, if you are curious to see more pictures of my apartment then check out my picasa pictures.  Apparently I just reached my quota on Picasa storage so I just paid for 10g and you should be able to see these new photos soon!  I am so pleased with my living space and location!  (Thank you Teri-Lynn!)  

Fukuoka Bike Tour

This evening I took my new bike for a ride downtown.  I'm worried that the bike is too small for me and I may have to negotiate an exchange at the shop, but I was thrilled with the beautiful ride through the city.  

Momochi Beach is about five minutes from my apartment.  It's been too hot to hang out here yet, but I think I'll be spending time here in September.  I'm not sure what purpose Fukuoka Tower serves other than standing tall as the highest building in town.  In the far left of the photo is the pier pictured below.
The Italian-esque pier separates Momochi beach in half.  Both sides are lovely!  
I rode all the way past Tenjin to the famous dinner stalls (yatai) on Nakasu Island downtown.  On the way home I had coffee in Tenjin and then picked up a watermelon at my local market to share with my neighbor Vicki from New Zealand.  Now I've just eaten another fruit salad and am marveling at how awesome the Olympic runners' bodies are!  

I learned today that my two social studies classes (9th grade Geography and 10th grade Ancient World History) only meet three times a week each.  Now the heads of the high school, elementary school, and ELL department are scrambling to figure out how I'll spend the rest of my time.  Meanwhile I have a lot of history textbooks to review.  I'm grateful for this time to acclimate before school starts, but I'm getting anxious to meet my new students and meet the challenge of this new job!  

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New wheels!

Today I bought a bike from the shop around the corner from my apartment.  Here is my new bike parked in front of my apartment.  (I'm the ground floor apartment of a three story building.)  Everyone rides cruisers here, just like my Breezer bike in Portland.  It has a bell, a basket, a rack, and built in lights and a lock.  Sweet!  I could barely communicate with the shop owner, but I handed over 12,000 yen (about $120) and rode it home.  I think I'll ride it around town right now!