So I got a little behind. Fine. A lot behind. Life has been CRAZY here. And mostly good crazy. Mostly.
So here is the lowdown;
Began teaching. Made some mistakes but also had fun too. Introduced myself--hey wait I am STILL doing that even now!!-- a billion times!
Self-introductions are called Jikoshokai. They are one of the most important things you do in Japanese society. I had to introduce myself to all my students in an auditorium--a total of about 500 people. Stressful. And that was just for one school. Remember I have ten! I was shaking. But after so many times of introducing myself to my students in my classrooms-I pretty much have my routine down pat. In fact, I think I will dedicate this blog entry as to how I introduced myself!
This is how it goes:
Me: GOOOOD MORNING EVERYONE *pauses and smiles REALLY big*
students: good morning Dori-sensei!!
Me: HELLLLLOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! *waves arms and motions to kids to respond louder and smiles REALLY big*
students: HERRO Dori-sensei!
Me: MY name is DORI WHITE!!! I AM FROM AMERICA *whips out map and points to America and smiles REALLY big*
students: OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH
Me: What do YOU know about AMERICA?!?!? *also tries to translate into Japanese and smiles REALLY big*
students: blank faces then---HAMBURGERS!!!! GUNS!!!!! and OBAMA!!!!!! (no seriously Obama is always one of the first things they mention)
Me: OBAMA??? *holds up a picture of Michael Jordan and smiles REALLY big* Is this Obama??
students: *shriek with laughter and all shake their heads* NO NO NO DORI-SENSEI!!!!
Me: Oh no! Its Michael! He likes Basketball! Is this Obama?!? *holds up a picture of a Japanese Comedian called Nocchi who is famous for his Obama impersonation...and smiles REALLY big*
This is Nocchi, doing his best YES WE CAN pose. In fact, all the kids love to say that catch-pharse. This so effective and both the kids and teachers love it. A sure-fire laugh every time.
students: *laugh like is going outta style* NO NO NO NO Dori-Sensei!!! He Japanese!!! Japan man!!!!
Me: OH! NO NO Nocchi!!! *wags finger at Nocchi and smiles REALLY big*
students: *continue laughing*
Me: This is Obama! *shows real pic of Obama and smiles REALLY big*
students: oh! Yes Dori-sensei! Right-o!
Me: America is also called the UNITED STATES because it is made up of 50 states, like a prefecture (Japan has prefectures not states) and I am from KANSAS!!! *points again to map and smiles REALLY big*
students: wft Kansas?! (ok so they don't say wft, but they might as well, cause of the loads of blank stares I get)
Me: KANSAS is GREAT!!! Anyone heard of Kansas? *nods against the sudden quiet and smiles REALLY big*
students: blank faces
Me: That's ok! Kansas is in the MIDDLE of America! Its famous for THREE things!!! *holds out picture of a field of sunflowers and smiles REALLY big* Number one is SUNFLOWERS!!! What is that in Japanese??
students: OOOHH!!! COOL!!! PRETTY!!! Sunflower is Himawari!!!
Me: Yes!! Good job!!! *flashes a thumbs up and smiles REALLY big* Now number two is an animal! What is 'animal' in Japanese?
students: Animal is....... dobutsu!!!
Me: YESSSS!!!! *throws up two thumbs up and smiles REALLY big* Kansas's animal is BIG!!! and HUGE!!!!
students: *began screaming random animals* Lion! Elephant!! Bear!!!!
Me: Its HEAVY!!!! and BROWN!!!! *stomp around, failing arms out to the side to show exactly just how big it is and smiles REALLY big*
students: OMG! (they really love to say 'oh my god' a lot) What is it!! Dori-sensei!!!
Me: and it is FULL OF MOJA MOJA. (ok, in Japanese the term Moja Moja means hairy hairy and it is really funny for foreigners to use it at all, let alone mixing it into English. No matter how stoic the kid--if I didn't crack 'em with Nocchi that is-- they crack a smile at me saying moja moja)
students: *laugh uncontrolablly and usually turn to the hairiest kid in the class and pet them* Like [insert Japanese boy name]!!! He moja moja boy!
Me: Uh-huh. Well my animal is much much much more Moja Moja! IT'S *whips out picture and smiles REALLY big* A BUFFALO!!!
students: EEEEEHHHHH??? What is THAT??
Me: Buffalo are like cows! They eat grass and are REALLY YUMMY!!! And REALLY Moja Moja!! Would you like to meet a BUFFALO? *gets out my travel bag, shows it to the class and smiles REALLY big*
students: *a little nervous* ye-yeah!!!
Me: OK! *reaches into bag, rumages around a bit and pulls out a little stuffed animal buffalo and smiles REALLY big* LOOK!! I found mini MOJA MOJA buffalo!!!
students:AWWWWW!!! ITS SO CUTE!!!! MINI BUFFALO!!!! *take my buffalo and pass it around*
Me: you know, I LOVE moja moja!! You know why?
students: *completely baffled* Why??
Me: Because my dad has Moja Moja! *shows picture of my dad* MEET my dad; MOJA MOJA PAPA!!!!!
This is the picture I show my students of my most awesome dad. It is from when he visited me in Japan; we all went to Kyoto and dressed up as geisha and samurai. The students are soooo impressed with this picture. As you can see it is a real sword (the boys swoon at that) and he is growling fiercely. My dad is now quite infamous here in Mori. Everyone is very excited to meet him. My big, harley riding, tattooed moja moja papa has a bit of a following. My supervisor asks after his health at least once a week and all my students ask when he is coming. Now now, if you wonder why I pick my dad over the rest of my family, its not cause they aren't amazing. My entire family is most awesome, but I don't have enough time to intro all of them *hugs to family love you!* Because Dad is so utterly foreign and dressed in a samurai outfit and works so well into my Moja Moja intro he is the most popular. I talk about all of my family-- no getting jealous!
So anyway----
students: MOJA MOJA PAPA!!!! *more laugher and ooohhhs!!!*
Me: Yes!!! I LOVE my MOJA MOJA PAPA!!!! *sets down picture and waits for the laugher to stop and smiles REALLY big* The third thing that Kansas is FAMOUS *repeats in Japanese and smiles REALLY big* for is a little scary!!!
students: *interested* oh??? Scary????
Me: Scary!!! Its bad weather!!! *frowns and shakes a little in pretend fear and smiles REALLY big---yes I frown and smile at the same time, I am that awesome*
students: Earthquake!!! Typhoon!!! Hurricane!!!!
Me: CLOSE!! Its TORNADO!!! Tatsumaki!!!! *make swishing noises and shows a picture of a tornado and smiles REALLY big*
students: OOOOOHHHH!!!!!! O.O;;;
Me:Tornados can be BIG!! Up to 3 Kilometers WIDE!!!! *nods gravely and shows picture of the aftermath of the Greensburg Tornado....and smiles REALLY big---ok, so I gravely smile REALLY big* This WAS a town. WAS a town.
students: *nod very solemnly* Oh no! Dangerous!!! Scary!!!
Me: When the tornado comes you can't run! No running!!! Bad!!! You must hide!!! *pretends to go down stairs and hides under a desk and smiles REALLY big*
students: *raise eyebrows at my antics but still a little overwhelmed at the thought of a tornado* Oh no!
Me: Yes yes, its a little scary. But tornados can be small too! Would you like to meet a tornado?? *grabs my trusty bag and smiles REALLY big*
students: NO NO No dori-sensei! Its scary!!! (although to be fair, some of the boys say YES!)
Me: Oh no! That is SAD! Poor Poor Tatsumaki-chan (~chan is an endearment, its attached to a person's name to signal familiarity- often only used with family members, close friends or when addressing young children) I BROUGHT a tornado today to show you!!! *I fondly pat my bag and smile REALLY big*
students: *look a little skeptical* ehh??? what??
Me: MEET *pull out my pet tornado in a can and smile REALLY big* TATSUMAKI- CHAN
students: *le gasp*
Me: OH NO! She is shy!!! (at rest there is nothing in the can) COME OUT COME OUT AND PLAY!!!! *I spin the can to produce a small tornado and smile REALLY big*
students: *MINDS WERE JUST BLOWN* OMG!!!! OMG!!!! WOW!!!!!! (That tornado in a can is WORTH its weight in GOLD!!!)
This is a picture of a tornado in a can, aka, Pet Tornado. A-Freaking-MAZING!! I have had the same reaction (which is a jaw-drop and a WOOOOW) from everyone who I do my intro to. From my second graders to my principles. They LOVE this thing. If I had to take only one thing from America it would be this bad boy.
Me: *hands them the Tornado in a can and encourages them to spin it and smiles REALLY big* OK!!! Are there any questions??
I find that they will ask me about simple things like my favorite food--katsudon I am looking at you!!!--- and my age. But I get a lot of rather personal questions; from the standard 'Are you married' to the super personal 'What is your boy type? Pick a boys you like in this classroom!!' to the out right weird 'What sake do you drink? Beer? Wine?'---ok so that last one wasn't so weird in topic, it just came from a 10 year old in 4th grade which most definately set it in the weird category.
But that is my self-intro, I can take it anywhere from 10 minutes to the whole lesson. I love having the kids ask me questions. I feel like a bit of a celebrity because I don't get to visit all the classes all the time. In fact, I have yet to go to four of my schools so I have more rounds of self-introductions coming up.
My co-workers are so sweet to me! They really have been so helpful! It is finally NOT hot here anymore and I love the fall weather! Fall time is also full of school festivals! In fact I have one in the morning! I have to go, I will try my best to update much more often!!!
