Shindig and first day at school

Last night was the official welcome party for me and Nathan. After work, people from the Board of Education, the principals, vice-principals, and some teachers from all the schools, and some other official-types including the mayor came to a local place. There was a nice spread with various little things to eat. We all stood as Nathan and I were introduced and then several speaches were given. And then I had to say something! After the speaches and the "Kompai" we all ate and mingled. I have been asked about my hobbies so often lately. At one point, I was talking to all the English teachers from Taiwa JHS and I tried an onigiri (rice-ball thing) and described it as "oishi" (delicious--one of the few important Japanese words I know) and they all thought it was fantastic, laughing and smiling. I'm not sure if they were impressed that I liked it or that I busted out a Japanese word. Of course there were the mandatory questions as to whether I could use chopsticks, and everyone was impressed that I could. I mingled with everyone at the party. The English teachers helped translate for me. And at some point, after meeting a bunch of officials, the English teacher who was with me said that now as a Japanese custom, I should pour more drinks into their cups. I guess now that I did that, we're officially friends or something. Anyway, all in all it was a pretty fun shindig. And the food was delicious.

Today was my first day going to school instead of the Board of Education. It is still summer vacation, but the teachers are working (albeit shorter hours and more relaxed atmosphere) and the students are there practicing with their various clubs. I came in around 10 am, walked around the school with one of the English Teachers, had some coffee, and then spent some time helping out 2 students who are participating in the upcoming English speech contest.

I worked with them on their pronunciation and inflection (or intonation, not really sure what its called). English is a very up-and-down in pitch language, whereas Japanese is much more flat and even, so it is very difficult for Japanese speakers to sound natural. Of course, the problem with that comes from being able to stress different words in a sentance for different nuances of meaning. It's a bit wierd that I have become the authority on how words are pronounced. I keep thinking that the pronunciations I'm giving are specific to my accent and there may be other correct (and possibly easier) ways to pronounce certain words.

But anway...the students were so eager to please. And they respond to praise so well. When I said that something was correct, or especially when I called something perfect, their faces would simply light up.

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. A bunch of the teachers sat together at a table in the teachers' room and we all had lunch together. I told them all about famous things in Chicago. They were shocked to find out that ketchup does not go on Chicago-style hotdogs. After lunch, I sat at my desk brainstorming my self-introduction lesson for a bit. However, before long, a couple teachers came in with ice cream for everyone. So we all went back to the table and sat around eating ice cream together. When we were done with our ice cream, I went back to my desk and within 20 minutes or so, one of the English teachers came to me and said that I had been working very hard, must be tired, and to go home.

I get told that I must be tired a lot here. It's a bad translation of some Japanese phrase that is basically thanking a person for their hard work. It means something along the lines of 'you have been working so hard so you must be tired.' It is a very polite thing to say, but it comes off oddly if you're unaware of the intent.

So my first day, I worked 4 hours, an hour of which was lunch, and another 20 minutes or so was spent eating ice cream. Yes, I was very tired. I look forward to doing it again tomorrow.