I've lived most of my life in the Southern U.S., and most of my life in the South was spent in Alabama. As every American knows (or should know), Alabama is famous for its history of discrimination against minorities. However, in all my years there, I've never experienced any direct racism of any kind. Maybe I was lucky enough to be surrounded by people who didn't judge me by the color of my skin. My experiences in Alabama (hey, everywhere I've lived) were pretty good on that front.
So, when a female student called me the closest Japanese equivalent of the n-word in one of my classes during a recent short stint at a high school in northern Osaka, I have to admit that I was very shocked. I never actually heard her say the word; the class in question was pretty noisy. I would have never known that anything had happened if the regular teacher of that class hadn't called me later and told me. According to the teacher, the girl was trying to get my attention in class. She used the term because she thought it was a friendly gesture. After the class, the teacher and the principal of the high school confronted the girl and told her that such language was unappropriate. I was surprised and disappointed to hear all that.
What happened after that was very awkward for me. I had a meeting outside of school with the principal and teacher, who both apologized to me in person. Then, when I returned to the school, I had another meeting with the teacher (who apologized again) and the girl who said the word. She was a pretty young woman with a great smile - someone you don't expect to utter racial slurs. She looked embarassed and ashamed to have said what she did, and she gave an authentic apology. She went as far as to promise to study more about African-Americans and minority groups in general. I don't know if the teacher put her up to that or not, but the student certainly made a sincere effort to show that she was sorry. I told her that I forgave her, but what she said had hurt me very much, and I hoped that she would show more consideration in the future.
In the end, I suppose the whole incident did some good. The teacher and principal decided to use the incident to develop what they called a "civil rights education" program to teach not only the students, but the teachers on how to show the right respect towards other races. As for the girl, I've heard that not only is she really trying to learn more about other cultures, but her grades at school have risen dramatically (especially in English class). Me? Well, I don't hold any grudges about that. It wasn't something that was said out of hate; it was just ignorance. I'm sure she's not going to say that word again. Yeah, I was disappointed, but I've moved on. If anything, the incident helped make me stronger as well, because it caused me to reaffirm who I am and what I represent.
30 May 2005
15 May 2005
My Trip to Shikoku
During the past Golden Week holidays, my girlfriend and I decided to go on a 4-day driving trip to Shikoku, one of Japan's 4 main islands. It was a lot of fun!
Day 1
First, we drove three hours from Osaka to the Seto Bridge, one of 3 bridges that go to Shikoku from Honshu, Japan's main island. The view from the bridge was beautiful! There was a place for us to stop and admire the landscape. Wonderful.
After driving over the bridge, we arrived in Kagawa, one of Shikoku's four prefectures, or states. Kagawa is famous for udon, which is thick Japanese noodles. The first thing we did when we got there was to find one of the famous udon restaurants and slurp away. It was delicious, I tell you! That was good eatin'.
Full off of udon, we went to a famous temple called Konpirasan. It is located near the top of a mountain, and to get there, you have to climb up about 900 stairs! We made it successfully, but we were dead tired, sweaty and we had drunk all of our tea. After we made our way down, even though it was 5 pm or so, we went straight to the hotel. We were too tired to do anything else.
Day 2
We began the day with a nice, delicious breakfast of... udon. Yep, udon for breakfast, too. Hey, we were in udon heaven. Might as well make the best of it. This was the best udon I had by far. We went to the place about 9 pm, when it opens. However, because there was such a long line, we didn't get in until a quarter to 10. That's how famous this restaurant was. It wasn't even really a restaurant. It was like a hole in the wall in the back of someone's house.
After that, we left Kagawa and headed to Iya Valley. Iya is a very very beautiful canyon, kind of like the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washington state back in the U.S. We did two things there. First, we went on a short boat cruise along the river that carved the canyon. Second, we went across a suspension bridge made of vine and tree branches. That was interesting! Although we were not that high, it still looked scary to look down onto the river below. Women were screaming out of their minds! I had fun.
Next, we drove an hour and a half east to a small city called Tokushima. By that time, it was nighttime, so we just went to a famous chicken restaurant for dinner, then headed to bed. I was tired from all the driving.
Day 3
For day 3, we had planned to go see the nearby Naruto whirlpools, some of the largest whirlpools in the world. However, Mother Nature did not cooperate with us, as there was a windy rainstorm. It was too dangerous to ride the boat to see the whirlpools close up, or go to the overlook point under the Naruto bridge. So we headed back to Tokushima. We weren't sure what to do, so we went to this place called the Awa Odori Theatre. The Awa Odori is some kind of local dance, and Tokushima people do it during the festival of the same name. However, at the Awa Odori Theatre, there is a dance troupe that does it every day. We saw the dance, then they asked for volunteers to dance with them. My girlfriend volunteered me, so I went down there and experienced the Awa Odori up close and personal.
With nothing else to do in Tokushima, we spent the afternoon driving back up to Kagawa to eat more... yep, you guessed it... udon. That restaurant, however, was not that delicious in my opinion - not like the two other restaurants. After that, we went back to Tokushima and called it a day.
Day 4
The weather was more cooperative today, so we headed up to Naruto to see the whirlpools. We went on a boat cruise out to the whirlpools. However, the tide was not good enough for the whirlpools to form at that time, so we didn't see anything - a waste of money. Despite that, the views from the straits were gorgeous.
Afterwards, we went over the Naruto bridge to Awaji Island, near Kobe. There, we went to a public ranch called England Hill. We petted rabbits, saw a sheep show, bought freshly-picked vegetables, and other fun things. Not bad. Once we finished that, we drove along the west coast of the island and stopped to watch the sunset. Then we headed over the famous Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world - longer than Golden Gate Bridge. We drove through Kobe and headed home. Overall... a good vacation.
Day 1
First, we drove three hours from Osaka to the Seto Bridge, one of 3 bridges that go to Shikoku from Honshu, Japan's main island. The view from the bridge was beautiful! There was a place for us to stop and admire the landscape. Wonderful.After driving over the bridge, we arrived in Kagawa, one of Shikoku's four prefectures, or states. Kagawa is famous for udon, which is thick Japanese noodles. The first thing we did when we got there was to find one of the famous udon restaurants and slurp away. It was delicious, I tell you! That was good eatin'.
Full off of udon, we went to a famous temple called Konpirasan. It is located near the top of a mountain, and to get there, you have to climb up about 900 stairs! We made it successfully, but we were dead tired, sweaty and we had drunk all of our tea. After we made our way down, even though it was 5 pm or so, we went straight to the hotel. We were too tired to do anything else.
Day 2
We began the day with a nice, delicious breakfast of... udon. Yep, udon for breakfast, too. Hey, we were in udon heaven. Might as well make the best of it. This was the best udon I had by far. We went to the place about 9 pm, when it opens. However, because there was such a long line, we didn't get in until a quarter to 10. That's how famous this restaurant was. It wasn't even really a restaurant. It was like a hole in the wall in the back of someone's house.
After that, we left Kagawa and headed to Iya Valley. Iya is a very very beautiful canyon, kind of like the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washington state back in the U.S. We did two things there. First, we went on a short boat cruise along the river that carved the canyon. Second, we went across a suspension bridge made of vine and tree branches. That was interesting! Although we were not that high, it still looked scary to look down onto the river below. Women were screaming out of their minds! I had fun.
Next, we drove an hour and a half east to a small city called Tokushima. By that time, it was nighttime, so we just went to a famous chicken restaurant for dinner, then headed to bed. I was tired from all the driving.
Day 3
For day 3, we had planned to go see the nearby Naruto whirlpools, some of the largest whirlpools in the world. However, Mother Nature did not cooperate with us, as there was a windy rainstorm. It was too dangerous to ride the boat to see the whirlpools close up, or go to the overlook point under the Naruto bridge. So we headed back to Tokushima. We weren't sure what to do, so we went to this place called the Awa Odori Theatre. The Awa Odori is some kind of local dance, and Tokushima people do it during the festival of the same name. However, at the Awa Odori Theatre, there is a dance troupe that does it every day. We saw the dance, then they asked for volunteers to dance with them. My girlfriend volunteered me, so I went down there and experienced the Awa Odori up close and personal.
With nothing else to do in Tokushima, we spent the afternoon driving back up to Kagawa to eat more... yep, you guessed it... udon. That restaurant, however, was not that delicious in my opinion - not like the two other restaurants. After that, we went back to Tokushima and called it a day.
Day 4
The weather was more cooperative today, so we headed up to Naruto to see the whirlpools. We went on a boat cruise out to the whirlpools. However, the tide was not good enough for the whirlpools to form at that time, so we didn't see anything - a waste of money. Despite that, the views from the straits were gorgeous.
Afterwards, we went over the Naruto bridge to Awaji Island, near Kobe. There, we went to a public ranch called England Hill. We petted rabbits, saw a sheep show, bought freshly-picked vegetables, and other fun things. Not bad. Once we finished that, we drove along the west coast of the island and stopped to watch the sunset. Then we headed over the famous Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world - longer than Golden Gate Bridge. We drove through Kobe and headed home. Overall... a good vacation.
14 April 2005
Konban wa, Norah Jones!
My girlfriend and I have been busy recently with work and all. But last night, we had a chance to go to a Norah Jones concert here in Osaka. It was my girlfriend's first concert, and it was my first in a few years.
The venue was a good one. The capacity was 3,000 seats. We were far away in the balcony, but even up there we felt an intimacy with the performer. The place was packed with people. I was surprised that so many Japanese like Norah Jones, but hey... I can't blame them.
The concert was great. Norah Jones is a great live performer, a great singer, and a great pianist. Her Handsome Band was pretty cool, too. What most impressed me was her sense of humor. On the CDs, she sounds very serious and low key when she's performing, so it was shocking to see her joking around with the audience between songs. Once, she noticed the two screens on either side of the stage and said, "These screens aren't good for me." Then she playfully and jokingly pretended to move her expensive-looking dress around on her body as if she were making it look better on her. Also, while talking between songs, she said, "This spotlight... you can't escape from it!" Then she ran around the stage like a little girl trying to escape the spotlight, but to no avail. I was in stitches. A great concert.
The venue was a good one. The capacity was 3,000 seats. We were far away in the balcony, but even up there we felt an intimacy with the performer. The place was packed with people. I was surprised that so many Japanese like Norah Jones, but hey... I can't blame them.
The concert was great. Norah Jones is a great live performer, a great singer, and a great pianist. Her Handsome Band was pretty cool, too. What most impressed me was her sense of humor. On the CDs, she sounds very serious and low key when she's performing, so it was shocking to see her joking around with the audience between songs. Once, she noticed the two screens on either side of the stage and said, "These screens aren't good for me." Then she playfully and jokingly pretended to move her expensive-looking dress around on her body as if she were making it look better on her. Also, while talking between songs, she said, "This spotlight... you can't escape from it!" Then she ran around the stage like a little girl trying to escape the spotlight, but to no avail. I was in stitches. A great concert.
23 March 2005
Todai-ji Temple
One of the gems of Nara Park - Todai-ji Temple. Inside is one of the biggest Buddhas in Japan.
22 March 2005
Dances With Deer
This past weekend, on Sunday, I had a good time. I went with my girlfriend's family to a place not too far from Osaka called Nara Koen. If you don't know about Nara Koen, it is a beautiful place. It's a very large public park between the city of Nara and the small mountains east of there. For me, living in a large city with hardly any greenery, it's a sight for sore eyes. Lots of grass, lots of trees... places where you can actually sit and have a picnic. It's great. Plus, at Nara Koen there are a few temples, shrines, and historical spots.
But those things are nothing compared to the real attraction at Nara Koen: deer. Lots of them. Just walking out in the open. That's the amazing thing to me. You can go there and just pet deer. Imagine trying to do that in the U.S.
Anyway, I went there with many members of my girlfriend's family: her, her mother, her sister, her mother's two cousins, one of their husbands and their children. One of her mother's cousins brought a big cart with several grocery bags of food for the deer: lettuce, bananas, bread, cucumbers, carrots, among other things. It was amazing. See, usually people buy the special deer cookies available at the park and feed that to the deer. Not many people actually buy fresh vegetables to give to the deer, and if they do, it's usually just one head of lettuce, a few carrots... something like that. Not a whole cart of the stuff. When we were walking in the park, many people did a double take at our group and our big cart of vegetables. It was a little embarrassing. At the same time, it was very cool. I'm lucky to have a girlfriend with that kind of family, one that has their own way of doing things and aren't embarrassed about it. That's unusual in Japan.
But those things are nothing compared to the real attraction at Nara Koen: deer. Lots of them. Just walking out in the open. That's the amazing thing to me. You can go there and just pet deer. Imagine trying to do that in the U.S.Anyway, I went there with many members of my girlfriend's family: her, her mother, her sister, her mother's two cousins, one of their husbands and their children. One of her mother's cousins brought a big cart with several grocery bags of food for the deer: lettuce, bananas, bread, cucumbers, carrots, among other things. It was amazing. See, usually people buy the special deer cookies available at the park and feed that to the deer. Not many people actually buy fresh vegetables to give to the deer, and if they do, it's usually just one head of lettuce, a few carrots... something like that. Not a whole cart of the stuff. When we were walking in the park, many people did a double take at our group and our big cart of vegetables. It was a little embarrassing. At the same time, it was very cool. I'm lucky to have a girlfriend with that kind of family, one that has their own way of doing things and aren't embarrassed about it. That's unusual in Japan.
21 February 2005
08 February 2005
Ski Trip
This past weekend I went on my first ski trip. I have to admit: it wasn't that bad. It was actually a lot of fun. But you couldn't tell me that on the first day. Man oh man, where do I begin...
The place: Omi-Imazu in Shiga prefecture. My girlfriend and I went there by train from Osaka, about a 2 hour trip. As we rolled into north Shiga, I started to get excited as I saw all the snow around. This is gonna be great, I thought. I remained excited all the way up until I put on my skis and tried to make my way from the rental ski shack to the lifts. If you don't know, walking with skis on is not the easiest thing in the world to do, especially if you don't know what you're doing.
After I used all my energy to get to the lift, I was dead tired, and probably not fit for skiing. But we went up anyway. We went to the beginner's course. But once I was on top and I saw how high it was, I was thinking, No way is this a beginner's course! But I gathered enough courage to start going down. I didn't go that far, about 5 meters, before I fell. OK, I thought. I fell. That's a part of the process. Now get up. Easier said than done. I couldn't get myself up. It was the hardest thing I had to do all day. It's tough to explain to those who haven't experienced it. Imagine you're at the skating rink, and you fell down in the middle of the rink, where there's no wall to help you up, then try to get up by yourself. It's like that.
Anyway, to continue, it took about 5 minutes before I got myself up. Once I got up, I was up only a few seconds before I fell down again. Then the whole process began again. My girlfriend went down the slope like 8 times before I made it all the way down the first time. That's what my first day was like.
The second day was much better. I was able to go down the course without falling, and I was even learning to turn and zig-zag a little. I was proud of myself. Yep, I thought, a black man can indeed ski. Now, I'm waiting for the next trip. I'm not looking forward to a sore behind again, however.
The place: Omi-Imazu in Shiga prefecture. My girlfriend and I went there by train from Osaka, about a 2 hour trip. As we rolled into north Shiga, I started to get excited as I saw all the snow around. This is gonna be great, I thought. I remained excited all the way up until I put on my skis and tried to make my way from the rental ski shack to the lifts. If you don't know, walking with skis on is not the easiest thing in the world to do, especially if you don't know what you're doing.
After I used all my energy to get to the lift, I was dead tired, and probably not fit for skiing. But we went up anyway. We went to the beginner's course. But once I was on top and I saw how high it was, I was thinking, No way is this a beginner's course! But I gathered enough courage to start going down. I didn't go that far, about 5 meters, before I fell. OK, I thought. I fell. That's a part of the process. Now get up. Easier said than done. I couldn't get myself up. It was the hardest thing I had to do all day. It's tough to explain to those who haven't experienced it. Imagine you're at the skating rink, and you fell down in the middle of the rink, where there's no wall to help you up, then try to get up by yourself. It's like that.
Anyway, to continue, it took about 5 minutes before I got myself up. Once I got up, I was up only a few seconds before I fell down again. Then the whole process began again. My girlfriend went down the slope like 8 times before I made it all the way down the first time. That's what my first day was like.
The second day was much better. I was able to go down the course without falling, and I was even learning to turn and zig-zag a little. I was proud of myself. Yep, I thought, a black man can indeed ski. Now, I'm waiting for the next trip. I'm not looking forward to a sore behind again, however.
26 January 2005
What's in my digital music player now
In case you want to know (and I'm sure you really do), here's some of the albums I have in my mp3 player:
-N.E.R.D., Fly or Die
-Ciara, Goodies
-Alicia Keys, Diary of Alicia Keys
-Jay-Z/Linkin Park, Collision Course
-Utada, Exodus
-Craig David, Slicker Than Your Average
-Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory (after listening to Collision Course, had to pull it out again)
-stuff from my Japanese textbook CDs
-N.E.R.D., Fly or Die
-Ciara, Goodies
-Alicia Keys, Diary of Alicia Keys
-Jay-Z/Linkin Park, Collision Course
-Utada, Exodus
-Craig David, Slicker Than Your Average
-Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory (after listening to Collision Course, had to pull it out again)
-stuff from my Japanese textbook CDs
21 January 2005
OK, so elementary school wasn't that bad...
Yesterday I finished my short assignment at that elementary school near Kobe that I told all of you about. Despite all my problems while I was there, it ended on a pretty good note, I must say.
All of the students (even the bad ones) were a little sad that I wouldn't be back. To my astonishment, they had come to enjoy the English games that I used in the lesson. Many students took time after the last lesson to tell me thank you very much. That meant a lot to me. One class even gave me a binder with thank-you letters in English from every student in the class. Here are some excerpts, and forgive me - I didn't correct their English:
All of the students (even the bad ones) were a little sad that I wouldn't be back. To my astonishment, they had come to enjoy the English games that I used in the lesson. Many students took time after the last lesson to tell me thank you very much. That meant a lot to me. One class even gave me a binder with thank-you letters in English from every student in the class. Here are some excerpts, and forgive me - I didn't correct their English:
-"I was very grateful to you for teaching English, although a short time."Amazing, huh? I guess my time there was kind of effective, even though I didn't think so most of the time. In hindsight, things weren't so bad, I suppose. I'd probably do it again.... maybe.
-"I couldn't speak English, but I could understand it little by little, studying with you. I want to study English very hard in junior high school."
-"I have been learning English but I could not study home work at all. But I can do it, thanks to Mr. Herman."
-"I like sports, especially basketball. You are very tall, I want to play basketball with you if I have a chance." (Herman's comments: I think to any 12-year-old, I'm pretty tall, don't you think? Still, very cool letter.)
11 January 2005
Happy New Year everyone!
Welcome to my first post of the year 2005. So far it's been a good one. Of course, it's only January 11, so there's a lot of year to go.
Christmas and New Year's was good. In Japan Christmas is more of a romantic holiday, so my girlfriend and I went out to dinner and exchanged gifts. It was good. New Year's was great, also. I was able to do what Japanese usually do at the beginning of the year. I went with my girlfriend's family to a local shrine, and we said our first prayers of the year. It seemed very spiritual at that time. But that quickly went away when I saw all of the food stands and goods tents that were set up on the shrine grounds. However, the food was very very good!
The big news over the holidays around the world was, of course, the tragic earthquake and tsunamis in South Asia. (By the way, if you didn't know, tsunami is a Japanese word. It means "harbor wave". My Japanese buddies were surprised that we use that word in English.) There were no tsunamis here in Japan. But we felt the impact here at my company. Some teachers were vacationing in the area and my bosses were not able to contact them immediately. But it turns out that they were okay. They weren't in the affected areas, so that was good news.
Well, I look forward to a good 2005, and you all should, too. Take care.
Christmas and New Year's was good. In Japan Christmas is more of a romantic holiday, so my girlfriend and I went out to dinner and exchanged gifts. It was good. New Year's was great, also. I was able to do what Japanese usually do at the beginning of the year. I went with my girlfriend's family to a local shrine, and we said our first prayers of the year. It seemed very spiritual at that time. But that quickly went away when I saw all of the food stands and goods tents that were set up on the shrine grounds. However, the food was very very good!
The big news over the holidays around the world was, of course, the tragic earthquake and tsunamis in South Asia. (By the way, if you didn't know, tsunami is a Japanese word. It means "harbor wave". My Japanese buddies were surprised that we use that word in English.) There were no tsunamis here in Japan. But we felt the impact here at my company. Some teachers were vacationing in the area and my bosses were not able to contact them immediately. But it turns out that they were okay. They weren't in the affected areas, so that was good news.
Well, I look forward to a good 2005, and you all should, too. Take care.
25 November 2004
OWWW! In Japanese, ITA!
Well, well, well... several weeks ago, I was talking about how well things were going over at the elementary school near Kobe. Well, the honeymoon is over... for some classes, anyway.
* A few weeks ago, I did a sports lesson. I had a bunch of sports toys from my company that I used to help teach the target English. Well, at the end of a few of the classes, some of the boys decided to grab the materials and take off, and I had to go chasing them because I needed the materials for the next classes.
* Today, I was doing a class on food. We played a game where the kids had to use a toy fishing rod to pick up these picture cards and put them in a paper bowl. One boy had trouble with the fishing rod, and, in his frustration, he threw the thing against the blackboard, breaking part of it.
*Here's the worst part: recently my hair has been kind of long, and the kids love to touch my hair during and after class. I don't mind that; after all, these kids don't get many chances to touch a black person's hair. However, after the last class, a couple of boys went too far. They grabbed a few strands of my hair and PULLED THEM OUT! That really got me steamed. After that, they went to their friends saying, "Mite! Mite!" (That means "Look!" in Japanese). It's like they got a souvenir or something. I was really upset.
Notice that in all the problems above, they involved the boys. The girls are no problem; they're sweet and nice, but a little shy.
* A few weeks ago, I did a sports lesson. I had a bunch of sports toys from my company that I used to help teach the target English. Well, at the end of a few of the classes, some of the boys decided to grab the materials and take off, and I had to go chasing them because I needed the materials for the next classes.
* Today, I was doing a class on food. We played a game where the kids had to use a toy fishing rod to pick up these picture cards and put them in a paper bowl. One boy had trouble with the fishing rod, and, in his frustration, he threw the thing against the blackboard, breaking part of it.
*Here's the worst part: recently my hair has been kind of long, and the kids love to touch my hair during and after class. I don't mind that; after all, these kids don't get many chances to touch a black person's hair. However, after the last class, a couple of boys went too far. They grabbed a few strands of my hair and PULLED THEM OUT! That really got me steamed. After that, they went to their friends saying, "Mite! Mite!" (That means "Look!" in Japanese). It's like they got a souvenir or something. I was really upset.
Notice that in all the problems above, they involved the boys. The girls are no problem; they're sweet and nice, but a little shy.
15 October 2004
Elementary School
Yep, that's right... in addition to teaching at a high school 3 days a week, I'm also teaching at an elementary school near Kobe every 2 weeks or so. The first time was yesterday. It was a blast! The kids were excited to be learning English, so they were eager to see me and participate in the activities. It was more fun than high school! I was dead tired after work, though. 5 straight lessons with 10 and 11 year olds will do that to you. But it was enjoyable, a break from all those bad high school students.
13 October 2004
12 October 2004
The Land Down Under
I just had the most wonderful vacation. My girlfriend and I have just come back from Australia. That's right, the Land Down Under. It was only the 4th country I've been to, besides the USA, Canada and Japan. We went there for 5 days. It was great!
First, we went to the Gold Coast in Queensland. The Gold Coast is famous for its beaches, and they were some great beaches. We also did some other things there like shopping, restaurants, and riding buses that turn into boats. We went to a place called Sea World (a little different from the ones back home) and we went to a walking nighttime safari and saw kangaroos, crocodiles and koalas.
After a few days at the Gold Coast, we went down to Sydney for the second half of the trip. There we took in the sights, such as the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour. We ate at some good restaurants and enjoyed the city. We drove to a Koala Park and saw, yep, koalas, in addition to some other animals. We fed kangaroos and petted wombats. We even saw a sheep get sheared! That was hilarious. After that, we went to the Blue Mountains and saw some gorgeous scenery, including the Blue Mountains.
The trip was great for me. It was good to be back in a place where everybody spoke English, even if it was Australian English. It was good to be back in a multiracial environment, too, especially Sydney. But I guess I'm too used to the great service we have here in Japan, because I missed that in Australia.
What a trip. Unfortunately, it was too short. Maybe we can go back sometime. But for now, it's back to the world of teaching in Osaka.
First, we went to the Gold Coast in Queensland. The Gold Coast is famous for its beaches, and they were some great beaches. We also did some other things there like shopping, restaurants, and riding buses that turn into boats. We went to a place called Sea World (a little different from the ones back home) and we went to a walking nighttime safari and saw kangaroos, crocodiles and koalas.
After a few days at the Gold Coast, we went down to Sydney for the second half of the trip. There we took in the sights, such as the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour. We ate at some good restaurants and enjoyed the city. We drove to a Koala Park and saw, yep, koalas, in addition to some other animals. We fed kangaroos and petted wombats. We even saw a sheep get sheared! That was hilarious. After that, we went to the Blue Mountains and saw some gorgeous scenery, including the Blue Mountains.
The trip was great for me. It was good to be back in a place where everybody spoke English, even if it was Australian English. It was good to be back in a multiracial environment, too, especially Sydney. But I guess I'm too used to the great service we have here in Japan, because I missed that in Australia.
What a trip. Unfortunately, it was too short. Maybe we can go back sometime. But for now, it's back to the world of teaching in Osaka.
10 September 2004
Below the Rim
Whenever I have some free time after a hard day's work teaching English at my high school, I decide to play hoops with the basketball team. Now, the basketball team is not even a team right now. They have only four players: 3 boys and a girl. The hoops teacher is all too happy to have another body there to make things more interesting.
Yesterday was just my second time to join the hoops team for some b-ball, and today we decided to have a little ball game. I and two of the boys were on one team, and the hoops coach, the third boy and the girl were on the other team. I'm proud to say that the game was very competitive, with the coach's team winning a close game, 10 to 9. The highlight of the game for me was when I posted up against the coach, spun around and made a layup. Apparently, the team doesn't learn much about posting up, so you should have seen the looks on the students' faces at that work of art. All of a sudden, rumors are going around the school that I'm a basketball star. One of the students called me Jordan. Hey... I'll take that. That's better than Kevyn Little.
Yesterday was just my second time to join the hoops team for some b-ball, and today we decided to have a little ball game. I and two of the boys were on one team, and the hoops coach, the third boy and the girl were on the other team. I'm proud to say that the game was very competitive, with the coach's team winning a close game, 10 to 9. The highlight of the game for me was when I posted up against the coach, spun around and made a layup. Apparently, the team doesn't learn much about posting up, so you should have seen the looks on the students' faces at that work of art. All of a sudden, rumors are going around the school that I'm a basketball star. One of the students called me Jordan. Hey... I'll take that. That's better than Kevyn Little.
31 August 2004
Back to School
This week I started teaching at the high school again, after a good summer break. By the way, summer break was nice. I didn't do much, but you know, those are sometimes the best kind of vacation. I needed to just relax.
The high school hadn't changed that much. The bad students still behaved in class, and the good students were still too shy to say anything in English in my class. One thing that I did notice was that a lot of the girls have started to call me Kevin Lyttle. I had no idea who Kevin Lyttle was until they started calling me that. (If you don't know, he's that soca singer with that song, "Turn Me On", which, surprisingly, is popular here in Japan.) Both my girlfriend and I think that I look absolutely nothing like Kevin Lyttle. But most of these students have never seen a black person in the flesh before, so any black guy looks like Kevin Lyttle to them.
Even so, it gets on my nerves, because (a) I don't look like him at all, (b) it's not just one girl that's doing it, it's a huge number of them calling me that, and (c) they do it every single day. You'd think they'd get tired of it.
Oh, and while the girls call me Kevin Lyttle every day, the boys are worse. I've been at that high school since May, telling everybody that I'm American. But even here, in August, the boys insist that I must be from Jamaica! I know why they do that: (a) I'm black, (b) their idea of an American is someone with blond hair and blue eyes, and (c) reggae music is popular with the boys at that high school. Still, it bothers me.
Enough ranting. By the way, I do like working at the high school, if you can't tell.
The high school hadn't changed that much. The bad students still behaved in class, and the good students were still too shy to say anything in English in my class. One thing that I did notice was that a lot of the girls have started to call me Kevin Lyttle. I had no idea who Kevin Lyttle was until they started calling me that. (If you don't know, he's that soca singer with that song, "Turn Me On", which, surprisingly, is popular here in Japan.) Both my girlfriend and I think that I look absolutely nothing like Kevin Lyttle. But most of these students have never seen a black person in the flesh before, so any black guy looks like Kevin Lyttle to them.
Even so, it gets on my nerves, because (a) I don't look like him at all, (b) it's not just one girl that's doing it, it's a huge number of them calling me that, and (c) they do it every single day. You'd think they'd get tired of it.
Oh, and while the girls call me Kevin Lyttle every day, the boys are worse. I've been at that high school since May, telling everybody that I'm American. But even here, in August, the boys insist that I must be from Jamaica! I know why they do that: (a) I'm black, (b) their idea of an American is someone with blond hair and blue eyes, and (c) reggae music is popular with the boys at that high school. Still, it bothers me.
Enough ranting. By the way, I do like working at the high school, if you can't tell.
10 August 2004
I know, I know....
Sorry everyone... It's been a while since I updated my blog. I know, I know... I'm lazy. Actually, I've been kind of busy lately with some projects at work, so I've been too tired to go here and update it like I should. I'll do a better job of it, I promise.
Anyway, now it's my summer vacation here in Osaka. Today I visited Nihongo Club for the first time in 3 months! It was good to see everybody again. For those who don't know, Nihongo Club is a volunteer Japanese teaching group where you can go and talk and learn Japanese. I went there for several months before I got my new job with ECC Outsourcing in May. I had a good time there, talking to some of the people I haven't seen for a while. But my former teacher, Mrs. Ishida, wasn't there. How sad. Maybe I'll see her in the winter vacation, if I'm not travelling.
Anyway, now it's my summer vacation here in Osaka. Today I visited Nihongo Club for the first time in 3 months! It was good to see everybody again. For those who don't know, Nihongo Club is a volunteer Japanese teaching group where you can go and talk and learn Japanese. I went there for several months before I got my new job with ECC Outsourcing in May. I had a good time there, talking to some of the people I haven't seen for a while. But my former teacher, Mrs. Ishida, wasn't there. How sad. Maybe I'll see her in the winter vacation, if I'm not travelling.
02 July 2004
Is this a Japanese high school?
Well, several weeks into my high school job, I can say that I've been very very surprised. In the U.S.A., we always hear about how Japanese high school students study all the time, how good they are at math, science, etc. The people that tell us that have never been to the high school I'm working at. In their classes, some students sleep, email friends using their cell phones, curl their hair with curling irons, read comic books, listen to their Walkmans, put on makeup, play with their little sticker books - anything except pay attention to the teacher. And this goes on every day, in just about every class I have.
Part of the problem is that teachers don't discipline students for those kind of actions. You can be sure that if I listened to my Walkman in class, I would have been in detention or something. But the students at my school get away with it. I don't know why the teachers don't do anything about it, or can't. But obviously they're embarrassed about it. The teachers that I team-teach with always say, "Herman, we're very sorry. Don't think this is a typical Japanese high school. Don't believe these are average Japanese students." In other words, this school is a special case.
To be fair, my high school is about an hour and a half by train from Osaka, in the countryside. These students don't expect to be much when they are adults. Many of them have hard lives: poverty, family problems, peer pressure. They don't have the motivation to study hard. So that's probably why they behave that way.
Still, I'm surprised every day I go to school. It doesn't bother me that much. It just makes my experience more interesting.
Part of the problem is that teachers don't discipline students for those kind of actions. You can be sure that if I listened to my Walkman in class, I would have been in detention or something. But the students at my school get away with it. I don't know why the teachers don't do anything about it, or can't. But obviously they're embarrassed about it. The teachers that I team-teach with always say, "Herman, we're very sorry. Don't think this is a typical Japanese high school. Don't believe these are average Japanese students." In other words, this school is a special case.
To be fair, my high school is about an hour and a half by train from Osaka, in the countryside. These students don't expect to be much when they are adults. Many of them have hard lives: poverty, family problems, peer pressure. They don't have the motivation to study hard. So that's probably why they behave that way.
Still, I'm surprised every day I go to school. It doesn't bother me that much. It just makes my experience more interesting.
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