Alison Danger Baumgartner

I have a terrible habit of just sitting around my house on my days-off, so I decided at about one o'clock, after fruitlessly trying to get a hold of a few friends back in the States, to wander north. So, I saddled up my 1996 Toyota Corsa and turned down a perfectly safe, wide road following the signs that lead to Seikinohana. The road quickly turned into a winding path through parts of Togi that looked as if they were from the 1930s. I could find no places to pull over to take pictures, so that description shall have to suffice. The signs said that Seikinohana was only 11 km away, so I expected to be there in under 15 minutes. Unfortunately, at the Speed-Racer-like 30 km an hour the journey took much, much longer. As always, this is the problem with Japan. You may only be 1 km away from something, but the twisting geography makes it a full 4 km.

I began to become worried after thirty minutes, wondering if I were going in the correct direction. However, narrow roads being as they are, I could find no places to turn around, so I continued. But then! A sign! I had found it! But underneath that sign that wearily points in the direction I should go, is a rope with another sign that says I cannot enter. However, I didn't come there just to be turned away. I needed exercise! I needed natural beauty! My apartment has no windows that I can open (the hazards of living on the ground level only one foot off of the main road), so I needed a good stare at something beautiful.

So, I parked at an abandoned bus stop and snuck under the roped lines in between me and the scenery. The building that clearly sold omiyage (souvenirs) at one point was abandoned, with plastic models of food littered about the place, and some disturbingly old looking boxes of Camembert cheese. It looked as if a mass exodus had happened in under a few minutes and nothing important came with.

I walk around the building and realize then why the signs are up. The building is fall off of the cliff. I know I shouldn't have, but I explored further. Off to the right, I found an abandoned shrine (my pictures of it were out of focus) with its contents strewn about the place and the screen doors sideways. One supporting column lay on its side at the bottom of the stairs. I continued down this path and found that the asphalt abruptly stopped and there nothing but sheer cliff and tree roots sticking haphazardly out. Prudently, I turned back.

An abandoned food vender.

The other way proved just as daunting, but well worth the trip. Seikinohana, it turns out, is a rare sandstone formation. Unfortunately, with only my zoom lens, it was difficult for me to get any good pictures, but these were among the best:

Honestly, the whole experience was quite horrifying, yet inexplicably profound. I found myself just staring at places paths had once been, mesmorized by the transience of everything, and yet terrified of it.

When I could take no more, I ran back to my car and returned home.

The next day, I'm told that Seikinohana is famous for suicides. "Go up to the top of the hill," Fujii said, "and you will feel like someone is pushing your back." I went to that hill, and I still remember how scared I was. I thought, and still think, it was because I knew the land I was standing on was not sturdy, and the bridges likely to fall at any time. But now, I'm wondering if that truly were it.

The Tough Road Ahead

I've just been informed that I will only have 16 students for the International Course next year, but I will unfortunately have 30 students for 1-1. This means I will only have 16 people that actually want to study English next year, and therefore only one class, but I will have two classes of 1-1 to torture me horribly.

I hear next yearis the worst disciplined class to ever come into Togi. I wonder if they are exaggerating or not.

Togi from Afar

It's snowy and -1 celsius. My brilliant idea: go out and explore with only a wool coat and a camera. My pictures did not turn out well. This is the best of the lot, which should tell you the havoc the snow was playing on my exposure.

Help Me! Help Me! Please Repeat After Me!

Ryuutarou was, for lack of a better description, simply Ryuutarou yesterday. My friend Kaity was visiting me, so I jumped on the oppurtunity to have them listen to another English speaker. So, I had them stand up and say something interesting about themselves. If it wasn't interesting, such as "I like pizza" we asked them questions about it.

Ryuutarou is last, which is pretty typical, and he stands up only to say "I am Ryuutarou. My house I have many snowmans." (I would do well to note how immensely proud I am that he said something even this grammatically correct.)

Kaity and I look at each other in surprise, knowing full well that it has not snowed in Togi yet. I point out the window and say that it's warm, and I don't see snow. Ryuutarou, with only that small sentence, is already on English overload and feels like he's being made fun of. So, he does what any well, self-adjusted student would do, he starts to read the classroom English signs after repeating "Help me! HELP ME!" many times. "Help me! Can I got to the Nurse's Office. Repeat after me!" Laughing hysterically, I pull the signs down and tell him to sit down.

Takahiro, in the back, said, "sorry, sorry, you're stupid." I had to give up on the last five minutes of class after that.

The Kids (cont)

These last two weeks have been irritatedingly disjointed, with my third-years taking tests, my second-years in Australia, and only me and one other English teacher trying to teach all of the English classes when there are usually five of us! Thus, I don't have any fresh impressions to give my about my students. However, I do know my 3-2 Oral class very well, so I shouldn't have a problem describing them.

3-2オ

Tetsuya is my best student, and has achieved the level that all of the other students should after six years of English education. Actually, to be fair, he has surpassed it, so it's unfair of me to compare my other students to him. He is excellent at understanding, and he has a natural talent for grammar. It's amazing watching him talk, because you can see him really thinking about what he wants to say, yet he never pauses for a second to try and figure out how to say it. He thinks in the moment, and knows that if used the wrong form to express himself, he can change the form on the fly. He does it so effortlessly!

Tetsuya is also, aside from Meccho, the most popular kid in school. After all, he was the Baseball Club captain, and a student council member (the highest positions in the social heirarchy). I find this strange since he's not particularly handsome. His leathered face is old looking, and he has peculiar, smiling wrinkles, like he had spent his entire youth in the sun. He is probably the least vain of my all my boys, but I still catch him walking into the background to check the volume of his spiky hair. He will go to Kansai DaiGai in Osaka, and insists that he wants to learn eleven languages, Spanish being his top priority.

Next Tetsuya is the other boy in my class, and one of my absolute favorite people, Shota. His English is what it should be for a lazy, but attentive boy. He never studies, but has a knack for all things school-related. He wants to be a musician, a guitarist in particular, which is a dream that his little brother, Naoyuki, also shares. I shall miss those two the most, I think, when I leave. Shota comes after school to talk about music with me, although I'm depressed that he doesn't like Muse that much. True, I didn't give him their best CD, but I thought it would impress him a little. Next, I'm going to see how he feels about The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand (the bands who are a lot closer to my heart than Muse is).

Shota is the master of communication translation. He may not be able to use words to express himself like Tetsuya, and he may not understand everything you say, but he senses the emotions of the speaker, puts it together with the words he knows, and their gestures, and then understands what they said. However, if you were to ask him to translate, he would be unable to explain but would insist that he understood exactly what you said. I have to be careful with him, though, because he laughes when he senses I told him a joke, even though he doesn't always get it.

I found out that he talks to all the teachers after school, and that he is Bill's favorite student too. When I asked why this was, Bill simply said "because he doesn't mind saying things are bullshit. That's why none of the other kids like him." I was so surprised to find out that Shota was so unpopular! In America, his personality, and his style, would instantly shoot him into school celebrity status.

The girls are the most fun loving in 3-2 home. Meccho is the most popular girl in school, and is dating a boy from 2-1, but I am to keep that a secret. I love her, because she grins mischieviously and says "secret, secret" while pressing her fingers to her lips. She's always late, but I think it's because she likes it when I scold her for it, and it gives her a great reason to give me guff when I'm late. Meccho's English isn't the greatest, but she is the master of gestures. It's entertaining, really, what she comes up with to get her point across, when all she had to do was pay a little more attention to vocabulary.

Meccho wants to be a wedding planner when she grows up, because it makes people happy. I wanted to say "Oh really, people are happy to be married?" jokingly, but I did not want to confuse the poor girl. She wants to marry her current boyfriend and have two girls and one boy, but insists that she never wants go back to the country. I agree, she was meant for the city, Meccho is.

Next to Meccho is Misa, the dumbest, sweetest, and dirtiest girl in school. The things she comes up with in regards to sex is always funny, but a little embarassing, seeing as I am supposed to be her teacher. Misa speaks about two words in English, and one of those words is always "yes" which she always uses when I talk to her. I think it's how she stops me from talking to her further. Her family owns the Shell station next to the school, and I'm always their patron.

Ahead of Meccho is Yuki, who is hard-headed, incredibly smart, and supremely lazy. So lazy that she failed my Reading test, a test that even Misa passed! Yargh. Yuki wants to be a baker, and is apparently very good at it. Last year, she won the prefectural baking contest, which makes her the pride of the school (along with Hayaka, who won a National Speech Contest). Bill says this is because Togi never wins anything. Yuki is somewhat jaded, and Etienne tells me this is because she went to Australian and found out what real boys were like, and she has become dillusioned about Japan. He did not expound further, and I felt it inappropriate to ask.

On the right side of the class room, in the front row, is pretty little Yuka, who is insecure about herself that it actually hinders what should come naturally to her. Her father is an English teacher, so she has a lot of expectations to meet, and she's doing ok by them, I think. Unfortunately, with people like Tetsuya and Megumi (who are inordinately good), it makes her so nervous that she'll make a mistake that she inevitably does. She failed two of her entrance exams, which confuses her because she knows that she's smarter than the other students. I wonder if it's because that she thinks just enough outside of the box that she overthinks what's inside of it.

Next to Yuka is Naomi, my little hair stylist. She will go to Kanazawa next year to learn how to arrange hair. I asked her if she would learn how to cut hair, and she shook her head with a horrified expression. "No!" She wants to live in the city, and wants to get married at 30 when she'll have children. One boy, and one girl. She's a smart girl, but English is not her priority, which is a shame, because she could become fluent with just a few more years. I hope she does not forget everything she so painstakingly learned as she starts her new life.

Behind Naomi sits Megumi, who is such a strong willed girl with such a pitiable life that I love her unconditionally, even though our interests don't align in any meaningful way. She was in a car accident as a child, and therefore has to go to the hospital a lot for surgeries. Also, she is the youngest of a Buddhist temple family, and must inherit it now because all of her elder siblings choose not to take on the family tradition. Now, she must go to Kyoto and study Buddhism. She can study English too, but it's impossible for her to double major. In the future, she hopes to work with an NGO or IGO, and help the other people in the world. I love her for this too.

What is the most endearing about Megumi is her hand gestures. When I have class debates, she is always the most vocal, and she moves her hands back and forth like a rapper calling another rapper out. And every now and then, I catch her head jutting forward to emphasize her point. I find myself wanting to have more debates just to watch her get gangsta on me again.

And last, but not least, is Hayaka. Her favorite class is Japanese, and took my class only because she's lazy and has a knack for languages. She's a little upset with me because I gave her a bad grade on her last speech, which is her forte. But, in my defense, it was too short, and she read it from a paper. Also, the speech was a little hard to follow.

Hayaka is a tall, leggy girl, who feels lucky that she's so tall, yet is always hunching like her height is excessive. She's only 5'6.

I have so much more to say about this class because I have them three times a week. However, for your sake, and my wrists (which risks carpul tunnal at this moment), I will sign off.

Alison is listening to: Talk Show Host by Radiohead.
Alison is eating: weightloss soup again.
Class was: Fantastic! I love 1-2A.
Alison is doing: her plans for her Nagano trip tomorrow. Monkeys in the onsen, here I come!

The Kids (cont)

It is necessary that I preface these next few entries. While this journal is to keep my friends and family apprised of my life so I don’t have to write essentially the same email over and over again, it is also here for posterity’s sake, and so that I remember. Therefore, if you tire of my descriptions, ignore all of the posts marked “The Kids”.

12-B

12-B is funny class that I enjoy equally as much as 12-A. I like this class better only because I do not have to teach it with Horiaka-sensei, a man’s who charitable nature and affable smiles make it hard for me to say that his English ability is only a little bit higher than my second year students.

I realize that perhaps it would be best that I not have favorites at all, but human nature and all that…

Naoyuki, who is Shota’s brother, is another one of my favorites. He loves music, and desperately wants to follow in his brother’s footsteps. I find it incredibly cute how he writes his signature like his brother, complete with a picture of a smiling face and a guitar with a few music notes thrown in for extra measure, and how animated he is when talking about his favorite bands. Currently, he loves Sum 41 (much to fake excitement), but his favorite band is Elle Garden, a Japanese band that sings much of its songs in English. He’s trying to learn English with these songs, which I consider fantastic intiative.

Next to him is Takuya, an uninterested kid due to social circumstances more than anything else. Being invisible is high on his list of priorities, so English, as indeed all other classes, are unimportant to him.

The loudest student is Kento, who is the typical student uninterested in school and only in socializing. He doesn’t like me very much, but I think it’s because I’m truly frustrating. He brings back memories of my volunteer senseis in my Japanese class, whom I avoided for that self same reason.

Next to Kento is silent Masahiro, and behind him is the one who competes for that prize, Saeki. Neither are as successful with being invisible as Takuya is. Saeki is too handsome to be easily forgotten, and Masahiro is far too awkward.

Ryota, who sits in the far corner pines for Sakura, and confesses to me that he hates Christmas because he doesn’t have a girlfriend. I find him humorous looking if only for his butch face and body accompanied by his very girlie hair and sense of style. He is fun-loving, but easily frustrated.

In the front of the class room is his love, Sakura, who ignores him with all the tact of a grown woman. She was in love with Etienne, from what I understand, and likes me far less because of it. She is very pretty and cute, and is among my best English speakers. Apparently, she went from the worst in the class to among the very best. She has people like Kyousuke, and Chie to compete with though.

Next to her is Misaki, the girl who is too cool for school, and yet is somehow even cooler by attending it. She’s decent at English, and has a low raspy voice that I wish I had. She looks very fashionable, but stands like a boy.

Also in the front is Takahiro, another favorite. He is loud, and loves to announce random translations. When I say “for example” and he shouts, “Ah! Tatoeba!” I say “however”, and he duly says, “ah! Shikashi!” He is a quick learner, but victim of practicing things he had learned incorrectly. However (shikashi!), I do think that his enthusiasm will translate into future success.

Yuusei, who sits next my boisterous Takahiro, is a bizarre case. His answer to “how are you?” is always “sleepy”. I can’t disagree with his assessment, because he is constantly looking at me through half-lidded eyes, as if there are more interesting dreams painted on the other side. He lets Takahiro do all the work, although he is equally talented.

I’m not familiar with the last four girls. Chie is sporty, and she doesn’t take shit from anyone. However (shikashi!)she is nice about it, which I like. Sakurako is incredibly vain, and is always checking her reflection in the TV screen. If only she knew how sickeningly pale she looked with all the cover up she uses. Behind them are Eri and Riho. Riho is a an anime fan, and seems rather embarrassed about it. Eri, on the other hand, is so reserved and quiet that I wonder if she walks on the air above us. She rarely talks, and has the worse pronunciation in the class.

Which reminds me... I think I shall have a pronunciation war. That should encourage them.

The students I want to come to 2-2 Oral class, as it is optional, are Kyousuke, Takahiro, Sakura, Misaki, Natsuko, Tadamichi, Yuki, Naoyuki, Ryota, Ryouta. My current 2-2 only has five students, which is nice, but I think more should be in the class

The Kids

Students, in Japan, are divided into different homerooms that have anywhere between 20 and 40 people. Togi is so small that it only has two homerooms for each year of students. I teach only 1-1 home, 1-2 home, 2-2 Oral, and 3-2 Oral. I have made a few friends in 2-1 Home and the only 15 people large 3-1 Home.

1-2 Home has the brightest personalities, all of whom I have been actively trying to tease out. The class is divided into two, so I only see one half at a time. I find this to be a godsend because they are easier to discipline in small groups, and I'm terrified to know what they are like if they have all of their friends with them.

12-A

My best student is a boy named Kyousuke, who is mentioned in a previous post as the boy who cried. He is the most studious, and he is continually coming up to me to tell me " teach me English, teach me English." It's very endearing. With him on my side, immediately all other students fall in line. I now see why teacher's in my experience were always friends with the popular kids. I never understood it, and certainly despised it, until now.

Kyousuke is a singer and guitarist, and he desperately wants a band. For this reason, and his adoration of English, he idolizes Tetsuya, my number one best student from the third years who shares the same interests. Kyousuke has bleached blond hair, which is a very big no-no, and continually wears his shirt tails outside of his pants. He tucks them in when a teacher tells him to, but then pulls them out when the teacher walks away. I always laugh when I catch him doing this, because he doesn't know whether he should tuck them back in or not. I'm relaxed about these things (I am American after all), so I don't care either way, but his indecision is always a source of mirth for me.

Next to Kyousuke is Yuki, the only student to pass the Step Eiken (National English Test of sorts). He is quiet, and terribly embarrassed most of the time, but his English is suitably good. I always think he looks funny, with his hair carefully preened, but looking overly processed. He wants the bad boy persona so badly, but is so prone to blushing that he can't achieve it. All he can do is stand unaware in the shadow of Kyousuke, hoping that people perceive him the same glorious, shining light.

Ahead of Kyousuke is another one of my favorite students: Tadamichi. He is always trying to speak English, but forgets how to connect the few words he knows into sentences. He's always excited, and is continually in a contest against Kyousuke to see who can do better. Although he's talkative, I like him because he's usually talking about something pertinent, even if it is in an attempt to be humorous.

Ayaka is the girl in this class that I really need to reach out to. She is decent at English, and therefore is lazy about it. I sense a kindred spirit in her, so I need to encourage her now before it is too late. Her apathy will stagnate her English ability, and then she will wonder why she isn't as good as the other students and then simply give up. I refuse to let this happen, but I am having trouble reaching her. Today was the tough love approach, when I made her the first person to do the presentation. When she did it completely wrong, I sent her to the end of the line and made her listen to every one else's and then do hers again. I like Ayaka, but I fear she can easily fall to the dark side.

Ryuutarou is simultaneously a glorious joy and a fantastic pain in the ass. He is loud, horrible at English, and hard to keep focused. On top of that, he is wonderfully handsome, and completely aware of it. There is no question in my mind that he has Attention Defecit Disorder. Trying to cope with that has been difficult, but I think I've begun to perfect the method. All one needs to do is chide him, but not in a way that embarrasses him. Being offhand in one's commands is the best way to deal with him because they seem more innocuous and aren't a direct challenge to his "badass-ness". Etienne tells me that is what Ryuutarou wants to be, and I don't doubt it. His best friend is Kyousuke, which is another reason I love having Kyousuke on my side. It makes Ryuutarou have to continually re-evaluate his participation in class.

On the left is Takeshi, a bizarre Picasso of boyish and girlish characteristics. He has a square face, but wide almond eyes with long lashes. His nose is a big strong nose, but his lips are plump and pink. He also has a bad case of acne, which he tries to cover up with concealer. No one seems to notice, and he is liked well enough. I like him, naturally, because he is respectful, and makes attempts to learn. With a little push, I could make him as good as Kyousuke. Unfortunately, he is unbelievably uncompetitive, so I would never be able to use him to spark the desire to win against him in any of the other students.

The others in class are of little consequence because they make themselves that way. Ryouta is very good at English, but is horribly shy. Kenta, who has to sit next to Ryuutarou and therefore has to be his partner, is so shy that he fears listening to English will embarrass him, so he shuts down immediately. I've been drawing him out more and more lately by asking him questions I know he can answer. Takahiro is reasonably good, despite the incident where he decided to take off his shirt in the middle of class, but he and Yuta prefer to sit back and let the class pass them by. Yoshihiko is so shy and butch it's adorable. His speaking is not very good, but he understands well. I wish I knew more about him. The girls are impossible to bring out in this class. Miku rides on Ayaka's efforts (which are called so only charitably) and Akina and Misaki are clueless. They are outcasts, so I feel that is the reason behind their awkwardness in class. Natsuko and Rina are also very good at English, but prefer to be like Takahiro and Yuta.

That is the class I just taught. It was difficult because I had to do it myself, but they don't seem to mind me repeating the English many times, or my muddling through bad Japanese translations of what I wish to say.

Listening to: Creep-sensei bother the other teachers. I am therefore seriously considering putting some Scissor Sister's on.
Eating: nothing! It's not lunchtime yet!
Class was: good, so far... but who knows how the next two will be!
Doing: this blog entry clearly.