I still haven't picked up my paycheck and it's starting to mess with my head. I keep forgetting to when I have the chance and the city hall closes so early.
Other than that, there are no problems in the world. Today was Usuchuu and though I was first dismayed by how lazy the kids are and what slackers most of them seem to be, I was relieved to return to a place where people were laughing, liking each other, and enjoying their time like human beings. That's what I realized was missing in the other school. The humanity. When I think about it in the long run, what those poor Nagawa kids have drilled so perfectly into their heads now is very likely going to evaporate as soon as their final tests have past, leaving only their critical memories of inadequacy, so is it that much of a difference if the Usu kids don't remember it at all? If they can feel anything other than revulsion for English at the end of schooling I feel like they'll have a better chance of actually pursuing the language. A balance in the middle would be best, and if the teaching was a bit more organized and a pinch more disceplined I think the Usu kids would be right up there with the Nagawans, but if push came to shove, I prefer this laughing, inefficient approach to the facism of the alternative. Being able to feel fond of others and being accepted even a little bit was so much better than the silent and sterile social side of Nagawa.
I helped two girls with their speech contest recitations today and I am a bit worried for them. They are trying hard (the second year girl more than anything- I can feel her nervous perfectionism and how hard she is striving, how humble she is) and they have clearly practiced many times. But without exposure to the spoken language (and there is a complete lack of it over here) it's too easy for them to develop bad habits and miss small mistakes. Additionally, after proofreading a very lovely personally written essay that will be read by a student at another middle school, I worry that reading from the textbook may hurt their chances. I want them to do well, but more than that I don't want them to be discouraged if they don't. I worry that the 3rd year girl has been told she is good so many times she believes it and won't fix her mistakes, and the 2nd year girl refuses to believe she might have some skill at it if it isn't the top. As an adult I can clearly see that such a thing is not true, but I still deal with the same feeling, so I hate to think she might lose heart. I guided her as best I could and I belive she will fix her mistakes as best she can. But I wish too I could give her just a bit more.
Tonight I'll go with Aki to set up my cell phone some way or another. I actually don't know what the hell is going on with it.
PS- Went with Aki, got my phone sort of straightened out, still don't understand any of it, but was surprised when I was invited to dinner at Aki's house. I had thought we would go out, and was delighted to be welcomed into another Japanese home. From the start I've thought of Aki as a sort of perfect representative of proper young modern Japanese ladies, so I was a bit surprised to learn she lives in a very salt-of-the-earth family of seven, and has lived in the same house all her life. Her grandmother and mother talked with me kindly over a dinner of Hamburg, rice with beans, two different types of salad, pickles, and pumpkin (even a simple meal in a Japanese home is often elaborate, I am finding). I learned through them that until 2004 the Missoula Children's Theater sent representatives to Date to put on plays like Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, and The Wizard of Oz with kids from Date, all in English. Her sister, several years younger, had participated twice, though she was too shy to answer when I asked about it. I was crestfallen to hear they weren't coming over to put on plays anymore.
After a long conversation, with a full stomach, and approaching my bedtime, my brain charictaristically shut down. They invited me to participate in a festival coming up and to come back to eat any time. With a sack full of tomatoes (I am probably going to like coffee and tomatoes by the time I leave here, simply because I cannot bring myself to insult the kind gifts people are always giving me) I marveled at some very broken english on the pachinko parlor near their house, circled the lot looking for my way out, and headed home feeling earthy and good.
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