Well I have had a very unconventional Christmas this year. But I have to say it has been a really REALLY great one.
Typically Christmas day is spent having dinner at home with family, opening presents and lazying around. Which is fine, its wonderful in fact. I love Christmas for these reasons. But when you dont have family around, its great that you can turn to friends to share the holidays with.


First there was Js house party on Xmas Eve Eve. It was a mellow secret Santa thing with dinner and drinks. Everyone ended having such a good time I guess cause everyone just ended up crashing at Js. I met some new people which was great. The next day, Xmas Eve, I took myself Xmas shopping. I hit up my favorite used English bookstore out here. I bought 5 books and a CD. Its nice to buy your own presents. Then you get just what you wanted.

Then I met up with a group of friends on Xmas day. We had dinner at a shamelessly American restaurant in Ropongi, which was what everyone was in the mood for. Then we crossed the street to relax and keep on drinking in a sheesha bar. The bar cleared out at around 12 (Last train) but we just decided to keep on going. We danced and danced and some smoke. Then we left the sheesha behind in favor or more dancing. We went to some bar/club and continued to dance. Even though western pop/dance/hip hop in Japanese bars and clubs is usually 3 years old, it was still an awesome night.

And now I an exhausted and will need a vacation from my vacation.

Hope everyone had a great Xmas too!

Pencil Smashers

So of course on my last day in school, my last class before my break had to be 6-1 (A senseis class).

They surprised me today by being relatively behaved and quiet in comparison to other lessons we have had together. Also to my surprise A sensei actually graced us with his presence!!! What a shock for me, he usually sends an assistant teacher to sit at the back and stair into space, in his place. So we made our way through my fun filled lesson. (It is a fun lesson! I have done it with EVER class i have and they all love it) After one of my activities I collected my pencils (I have a bunch of pencils in the classroom for the kids to use, instead of having them bring their own pencil cases to class. It saves a lot of time for everyone and I thought it would be easier for the kids.) After collecting my pencils I looked down and saw that about half the class had smashed the tips of the pencils, very obviously on purpose. I was so pissed! I stopped the lesson and yelled at them for a minute. Still A sensei coward at the back of the class. He felt no need to interfere in any way. They were shocked and embarrassed that I did not just per tend not to notice. They got very quite and serious after that. We moved on and played another game, but the group of kids I know was involved in the pencil smashing (heehee) were noticeably sulking in the corner, not participating. At the end of the lesson I took another minute to tell them that smashing my pencils was very rude. It sucks cause I know they dont understand exactly what I am saying. They know what I am saying, but if they understood me fully, I feel like I could get a lot further with them. What I wanted to do was yell at them and then make them all stand up and in true Japanese disciplinary fashion, make a deep bow to me and apologize in English. Perhaps I will do that next time. Anyway I am so pissed. And I am even more angry because A sensei took absolutely no interest in my lesson or in disciplining his students. And I can do nothing about it. I cant talk to anyone at the school and my company has been of no help to me on this matter. I really want to talk to some of the other teachers about it, but I am afraid they will just go tell A Sensei and then I will look foolish.
You cant ever tell anyone how you feel, which results in all this passive aggressiveness! Obviously I have offended A Sensei, I wish he would just man up and TELL me what I did already so he can move on with his life, and I can have a chance to enjoy teaching his kids who are obviously very bright. BUT NO. he cant tell me how he feels, and so his only option is to disrespect me in front of his kids, leaving me feeling frustrated and confused and to day dream about spitting on his "onigiri" or into his green tea, while no one is looking. ITS So STUPID! I never thought I would value the more open system of communicating we have in the West.

Anyway, in response to my classes and co-workers own passive aggressive childishness, I decided to respond with my own passive aggressive move by displaying the collection of 20 broken pencils on my desk in the teachers lounge. Next year, I will very humbly and respectfully request that H sensei, a 3rd grade teacher in charge of me, buy me more pencils as the 6th graders "keep on braking them, I dont know why, heehee(smiles very shyly)". And adding a little salt in the wound, I realize I have to buy this stuff that they ripe up, with my own money!! anyway, then next year I will request that each child in 6-1 bring their own pencils to class from now on, as they are incapable of respecting my things.

Dont judge me, im angry.

To be fare though, I work with about 40 teachers and I only ever have a problem with this one man. So those are pretty good odds.

"Xmas" in Japan

Christmas in Japan. Maybe you have heard that they celebrate Christmas out here. Well do they EVER! The Japanese LOVE Christmas, but they have sort of re-invented the holiday a bit to better serve their own cultural purposes. And here is a brif description of my observations of the Christmas season thus far in Japan.

In Japan as you might imagine, the religious aspect of Christmas has been completely removed. People often refer to Christmas as "Xmas" not in the sense of an abbreviation, as we might do in the west, but in spoken English, as in "Merry Xmas!" You will see no images or Jesus and no manger sense. But it is still an incredibly popular holiday. And my guess is that Christmas in Japan seems to be gaining popularity each year.

Santa Clause is obviously the major symbol of Christmas here. But dont call him Santa Clause, cause hes "Santa san". The Japanese have brought over all the other symbols and characters associated with Christmas as well, elves, reindeer, snow, stars, bells, the Christmas tree, presents all of it. In my schools I often get to sit in on other teachers lessons, like calligraphy or reading or social studies, what have you. Last week I attended a 1st graders music lesson. They sang the Japanese version of "Rudolph the red noise reindeer" and another song about Santa-San which was complete with a very funny dance.

Christmas however, in past has been a holiday associated with couples, not children. Its a holiday where lovers get together and go on dates, or visit love motels, or go on mini break vacations together. Its not even really a family oriented celebration. But now it is clearly expanding to include children, families and young singles more and more.

Can you guess what the most popular thing to eat on Xmas eve is??? Its Kentucky Fried Chicken.!! Yes. the fast food chain, and its as horrible here as it is at home. But its so popular that the fast food chain puts together a special Xmas take away menu, and people are advised to pre-order their dinners far in advance, perhaps a month before Xmas!! I think the reason this is a popular choice for Japanese people is that they are aware of the western Christmas tradition of roasting a turkey, or a ham, or whatever you eat over the holiday. They have seen it many times in holiday films and TV. But Turkey is hard to come by here and even harder to come by is an oven. Most apartments and even homes don't have them. So people would have no means of cooking a bird even if they got there hands on one. Hence the "Kentucky" trend.

Another strange Japanese Xmas trend is the Christmas cake. In all the grocery stores huge displays are erected with ingredients and decorations for making the perfect Christmas cake. My guess is that the girl makes a cake (Japan is still very much a chauvinistic society) and then the couple enjoy eating it on their Christmas date.

Right now and for the past few weeks, tons and tons of twinkly lights have been put up everywhere. And a Christmas tree can be found in all the major shopping districts around Tokyo. Even in Toride around our station there is a nice little "illumination" as they like to call it out here, of blue lights draped in the trees lining the street leading you away from the station. (It looks very festive and cute.) The favorite color for Xmas lights is blue here for some reason.