2 for 2

So I finally started teaching Thursday, although it was only with the 3rd and 2nd year students, i.e. 8th and 9th graders. Personally, I think it went really well, and my only real complaint is that my class room has no air conditioning/heating/ventilation other than an open window. We started off with a map of the US. I asked if anyone knew where North Carolina was, and of course, nobody answered, so I pointed it out and instead asked, "who likes basketball?" To which a few would always raise their hand, and then I would wow them by informing them Michael Jordan was from North Carolina.

Afterward, I just went through some photos I had brought along. I showed a pic of my house, which they thought was enormous, and my truck (because we don't use trains and buses in NC). I also brought my Panthers Jersey along, which they thought was pretty cool. The wow factor though, came from something I bought in Japan: a plastic Gundam model. Some of the boys almost fell out of their chairs when I pulled it out and told them I liked Gundam. To be fair to the girls though, I also showed a photo of me and Jenn and talked about her for a couple minutes. The whole class loved it and at the end of class we played Andrew Jeopardy for stickers. To sum things up, if you want to impress your students in this country, just bring a toy robot into class.

On another note, this weekend was the annual AJET meet the new kids camping getaway at Mt. Sanbe. Due to the ferry schedule, I decided it would be too much hassle to try and attend, so I staid in Ama, which worked out pretty nicely. Friday I met up with the JET who takes care of all the Oki highschools. He comes to Ama twice a month. It was nice to have someone to hang out with, and even more he knew some of the restaurants around town, and we ended up having Oki beef, which, in Japan, rivals Kobe beef. They export most of it from the islands to Tokyo, but this one restaurant sells it locally, and it was absolutely delicious.

Saturday, we met up with the two other Douzen Island JETs on Nishinoshima, which is about 10 minutes by ferry from Ama. Nishinoshima is the biggest of the three Douzen Islands, and has some beautiful scenary. I didn't go sightseeing, but I did go to the beach, which was beautiful. The water was pleasant, and incredibly clear. In truth, the only beach I've ever been to that compares to the beaches in the islands was at St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands. Absolutely beautiful. After the beach, we met up with the rest of the JETs and their friends for a small community concert. The Englishman from Nishinoshima was actually the frontman in the main act (They did a lot of Bon Jovie). At the concert, I met the English teacher at Douzen High School. She just moved to Ama in January, and her English is incredible. Like me, she doesn't have many friends in Ama yet, and, also like me, she is a Christian. She was very excited when I asked her if she goes to church around here, and as it turns out, she does on occasion. So Sunday morning, we met at the ferry port and took the boat back to Nishinoshima for church. It was a fun time. The building was small, with only 6 pews and maybe a dozen or so people in attendance. I was able to sing along to most of the hymns, but I couldn't recite the Psalms or the Confessions of Faith. I also couldn't understand the sermon, which was based on Genesis 12: 1-9. Yuko had a hard time understanding too though, and she's Japanese, so I didn't feel too bad. After church, we returned to Ama, and I went back to the beach for the afternoon, while Yuko went home. She's getting baptized in a couple of weeks at a church on the mainland. The pastor is apparently from Minnesota and preaches in English, while his wife translates into Japanese. We have three consecutive days off work after that, so I plan on attending and then doing some more mainland sight seeing, though I haven't decided where to go yet. I think next weekend I will go back to Nishinoshima and rent a car to go view the colored cliffs, the ruins of a 13th century imperial palace, and some wild horses.