We have received many emails asking what our days and lives are like. The answer, of course, is that every day is different – sometimes REALLY different. We thought it might answer a lot of questions if we kept a journal of what a typical day was like. This was Brian’s day: Friday October 1, 2004: (sorry it got so long – this is for the die hard curious only)
Woke up at 5:30 a.m. and came downstairs to find Bette and David up and watching the Mariners play Oakland live. Ichiro is two hits away from the record and that is a big deal here – so big the game made it to broadcast TV (we don’t have cable). However, ½ hour into the game they cut away to the local morning show but still showed regular clips of the game which consisted entirely of Ichiro: Ichiro hitting; Ichiro warming up; Ichiro sitting in the dugout; Ichiro…
Breakfast of granola: Acquiring American style cereals requires some persistent hunting and gathering but we can find it. Bette also makes granola because the cereals are quite expensive. Bette often has rice for breakfast but rice twice a day is enough for me. While having breakfast I read the Daily Yomiuri newspaper – English translation. We were going to go without the newspaper but coffee and newspaper before the kids get up is a long-standing tradition in our household.
6:30 a.m. leave for school on my bike. The weather is absolutely gorgeous. It has been a brutal, hot and humid September (everyone is complaining -- not just we newcomers) but fall is making an appearance finally. The air is clear and, while not really cool yet, it is quite comfortable. A typhoon just missed us yesterday and the rain washed down the city grit. According to the locals, the post typhoon days are awesome – something to do with the pressure systems.
It takes less than 10 minutes to ride to school and, unless it is raining, I love it every morning. Being on a bike opens you up to all the sights, sounds, and smells. The smells can be a mixed blessing. I love riding by the fields and smelling the vegetables – but some of the smells coming up from the sewer grates and unexpected whiffs appearing out of nowhere defy explanation or identification. Interesting things this morning: 1) someone honked their horn with a long loud bleat when the car in front didn’t turn. In spite of heavy traffic, narrow streets, and constant and often unpredictable bike and pedestrian traffic, drivers tend to not use their horns. I think this might have been the first time I have heard a horn used aggressively since we arrived! Politeness? What you do hear commonly is a soft “ching-ching” as people use their bike bells to let others know they are passing. 2) I followed a guy hauling a cello on his bike. You see all kinds of stuff hauled on bikes but I just liked the dimension and angles of a cello sideways in the arms of a bicyclist. Turns out the cello was headed to CAJ (a dad bringing it for his son) so I followed it quite a-while.
I park my bike by the school and walk across the street to Shimizu – a convenience store the students from the school frequent. It isn’t open yet but I’m after a chilled coffee from the vending machines out front. There are 20 million vending machines in Japan and this one happens to be out of my favorite canned coffee. I find a substitute and toss it in my briefcase to drink at my desk. People seldom eat or drink while they walk here.
I walk up to my classroom passing and greeting a number of students on the way. There are always kids on campus – early, late, very late. The kids I see are coming for before school orchestra, tennis practice, or to work out in the gym.
I settle in at my desk and spend a few minutes checking email and listening to WTOP: a Washington DC radio station on the Internet. I’m getting used to ignoring the DC traffic reports but I still get thrown by the weather reports when I’m not paying attention. I have more than once been surprised by the weather here in Higashi-Kurume because it doesn’t match the forecast I heard on WTOP.
I go to open my blinds and set my classroom up for the day and find that, for the first time, I can see Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji) from my room! There it is kind of under that power line and between those buildings. Very cool. The orchestra is practicing on the first floor so I turn off the radio and open the door. I’m on the third floor but there is an open atrium right in the middle of the building that carries the sound up.
First period: AP World History We are doing student reports on art history. Emily goes today (she has both her parents this year) and it is great to have her in class! I wish I could have had her for US history at WCA with all the fun field trips.
Second period: US history. The students are divided into groups and sitting on the floor telling “stories” about revolutionary figures. A new idea for me – I’m pleased with the results.
Break (15 minutes): I’m supposed to have outdoor duty but end up talking to students and teachers and barely have time to grab a coffee from the workroom (yeah – I know I drink too much coffee). I teach five classes in a row with only this short break so it can be exhausting.
Third and Fourth: Japanese Culture class. We have a pretty good discussion about whether Japan is a “swamp” when it comes to seeking Christian converts. This is based on the novel Silence that deals with the historical persecution of the Church here. I’m getting the students ready for a three-day trip to Nagasaki next week. There will be more on that later.
Fifth: Another US history class. This one is mixed AP and “regular” students but we are doing the same assignment as second period. It goes well again largely thanks to the kids being willing to give something new a chance. Next week the Juniors go on a 4 day backpacking trip in the mountains (while I’m in Nagasaki with the Seniors) so we wrap things up.
Lunch (1:05): There is hot lunch everyday. Only rarely is it not some rice based variation of Japanese food. Even the taco salad is called “Mexican Haystack” and is built on a pile of rice. Today, however, there is chili. I love rice and am far from bored with it, but this is a pleasant diversion.
The late lunch and solid block of classes leave me with the end of the day for plan periods (6th and 7th). I spend a good chunk of the afternoon working on the trip to Nagasaki details though I do meet with a student new to the school to help her understand the concept of plagiarism and paraphrasing. It appears the students coming in from Japanese school have a huge transition to make.
3:30 final bell. I have a Brain Bowl team getting ready for a competition so students come to my room to work on current event questions.
4:00 to 5:30 After the brain bowl team leaves I work on questions I need to submit for the competition. This is taking way more time than I planned!
Emily’s JV Volleyball home game starts just as I walk into the gym. They win decisively in two straight games against a DOD (Department of Defense) school from a local American base.
Christopher opts for hot dogs from the concession stand; Emily eats with her teammates; Bette, David and I go to the take out bento (kind of like a boxed lunch) stand at the machi (train station). I have no idea what I'm eating (except for the rice) but Bette has a taste and we agree it is delicious. We return in time to watch most of the Varsity volleyball match.
Back on the bikes for the ride home. It is a little more dangerous riding in the dark, and I worry about the kids riding home on their own all the time. It is nice to be coming home together. Interesting this trip: several store owners hosing down the sidewalks in front of their stores; the guy in his dirt floored shop where he makes tatami matts has a new order stacked up; and I almost run over a drunk who staggers in front of my bike on his way to the pachinko (an unusual cross between video arcade and casino) parlor.
Back home I waste some time channel surfing hoping to find something in English – which is very rare. Give up and come over to finish this and put it on the web. Realizing that this is now three pages long and the few die-hards who have read this far are likely bored to tears, I break off to watch the news and go to bed. At 10:00 they translate a chunk of the Japanese news into English on one of the channels we can get.
10:00 p.m., the news is talking about Ichiro (isn’t this where I came in?), the kids are in bed, and all is well.
Brian