This turned out to be longer than I'd planned... I always have a lot to say these days...
So lately I've been listening to a lot of Tomoyasu Hotei. Yes, Tomoyasu Hotei is the guy who wrote the theme for the Crazy Eights of Kill Bill. That song is, for the record, called "Battle Without Honor or Humanity". But don't get me started on my Quentin Tarantino rant. Anyway, the song that totally makes my soul sing? Howling:
I feel like I've heard this song before. In that hazy place where you're not sure if you're remembering something or if you dreamed it.
There's this awful hilarity regarding the casting choices of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. But personally I'm still gagging about the Dragonball casting...
A minor rant... move along, nothing to see here...
A discussion about J.K. Rowling's plotting, characterization, et. al. My personal opinion is that she's great at worldbuilding, but not so much with the character development. She didn't seem particularly interested in challenging the main characters' notions of right and wrong, which made me feel, as a reader, that her own moral system was not particularly well-developed. But that was a personal, and highly subjective issue, but at the same time I cannot in good conscience recommend the books to kids.
Not because I'm that much of a literary snob, but if I recommend something, it has to be in line with my own values, you know? My frustration with the Harry Potter books can be summed up thusly, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Buffy: "Does [life] ever get easy?"
Giles: "What do you want me to say?"
Buffy: "Lie to me."
Giles: "Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after."
Buffy: "Liar."
Here what Giles says is ironic. In the Harry Potter books, it often felt like this was literal. People have told me, when I've explained to them, that they're just children's books. That I shouldn't be frustrated at the blatant stereotyping and discrimination of people (see: Hogwarts houses) because it's "just a fantasy." People have told me that they don't want to talk about moral implications, they just want to escape. But I can't do that - I can't turn off the part of my brain that tries to be aware of moral implications of things, because I'm not interested in just believing everything people spoonfeed me.
It kind of reminds me of the outrage people had with the events of the final Twilight book, Breaking Dawn. But I enjoyed it, because I had been having moral outrage the entire time, and it was just a new level of cracktastic hilarity that people seemed to be waking up to it. Well, a little anyway.
But, anyway, back to my point. I think J.K. Rowling is great at worldbuilding. Amazing even. I give her super major props for that. Plus being successful, pumping out those seven books in good time with all those expectations was also pretty impressive (I'm looking at you here, Robert Jordan! /shakes fist) And she's definitely got some moxy.
But I'm a character girl more than a plot girl, which is probably why I have trouble taking to episodic shows like CSI or 24. Not to say there isn't character development in either of those, but rather the excitement is driven by the plot.
Er, I have more crap to talk about, but then I always do.
I'm super excited to go home for Christmas, but since I live in the boonies where there are basically no stores at all, I don't have presents or crap for anyone. Which kind of makes me an asshole, not bringing back presents - and honestly, I do have one evening in Naha tomorrow that I could theoretically spend running around Kokusai Dori frantically buuuuut. Nah. I'm going to be hanging out with kyouikuchou tomorrow!
Which reminds me, him and my supervisor are freaking psychic. I called Yoseda-san today hoping to ask for a ride to the airport (during her work hours), and only got as far as "あの、明日はさぁ、忙しいの？" Before she was like "Oh yeah! You're going to the airport tomorrow! Sure I'll give you a ride." This kind of thing has happened before.
Now kochou-sensei is making small talk with me about flight costs. What! But in all fairness I love kochou-sensei - he's a fantastic principal especially for elementary school, where is office is placed, but he has "visiting" desk that's near mine near the door where he always comes in and reads the newspaper. But the vibe I get from him is similar to some of my mom's younger brothers - there's something very boyish and warm about him. I definitely can see why Mako's mom is chasing him, but she's like an anime character herself (The Dojikko, to be specific); but in all honesty, I'm totally rooting for her on this one.
It's bizarre, I've only been here four months. Today at lunch Masato-sensei asked me what my impressions were of Japanese people (before I came to Japan, and currently). I talked about my perception that Japanese people tended to be quieter and that I worried that the students would hold back for fear of being wrong. That they'd be shy. Ahahaha! Today Takahiro and Kingo, during our Christmas cooking class where they lost points every time they spoke in Japanese, kept yelling things at me in English out of their English phrasebook like "You know it!" or "I'm not sure what you mean!" or "Who do you think you're talking to?" ...Today the first graders barricaded me in their classroom and clung to me like gremlins or jumped into my arms. All while I was trying to run away. Yeah, shy is not something these kids are.
Well, Yui was at first, since he was the first student I met and worked with for hours and hours and hours on that speech of his, but he eventually revealed himself to be a total goofball. A smart goofball, but a goofball nonetheless.
I also learned recently that Masato-sensei has only been here in April. Which means I get another year with him. Which is awesome. The guy is freaking cool, and very kind, and is also a licensed teacher of English as a foreign language BUT he's never been to the US. He's actually never been outside the country. And mostly I can just comfortably talk to him in English - he doesn't switch back and forth constantly like Junko-sensei, and he's at the stage where he's thinking carefully about what he's going to say which makes him come across as thoughtful, but also very good at English because he doesn't screw up or stutter. Or just throw random English words at me, like kyouikuchou likes to do when he's drunk. Okay, that's not fair, because usually the words are very pertinent - what's always surprising is that they're usually fairly advanced vocabulary. Kind of like when kochou-sensei yells "Oh my God!".
What strange people I have fallen in with.
My Christmas class special was making them all cut out Christmas trees and decorate them. I did teach the 1st graders how to cut snowflakes (not without screwing up a bunch at first... thankfully Serina-sensei figured out what was going wrong) while playing Christmas music. Very unstressful for me, especially since Kitsune took care of the junior high school classes for me.
Oooooh did I have much to learn... especially about the partying. I had no idea that the Japanese were such crazy drinkers. There's actually an article from our JET Program newsletter that is titled "Surviving the Enkai Season". And actually, it's extremely apt.
I am going to be here for New Years. I AM SO EXCITED. It'll be the first actual New Years party I've ever gone to (believe it or not) and it's going to be crazy. Apparently, what everyone does is go to one house, drink, eat some food. Then move to the next house. Drink, eat some food. Then the next. Then the next. Then the next. I'm kind of half-wondering if I shouldn't stock my fridge with beer, even though right now the vegetables are pwning any space in my fridge that I could handle. But yeah, my fingers are crossed that I'll get to spend New Years partying with 中kyoto, Shoshun-sensei, and kyouikuchou. But we'll see. At the very least I'll have a few days to myself just goofing off and hanging out without the pressure of having to do crap for the school.
If I can get my internet working at home, I might be able to avoid going to school all together. \o/
I need to do New Years memes. Because this year I've had more new experiences than the average year. Actually, I struggle to have an "average" day. Every day is crazy and new and confusing, and I'm running myself into the ground but then having a lot of good times.
Click to viewI feel like I've heard this song before. In that hazy place where you're not sure if you're remembering something or if you dreamed it.
There's this awful hilarity regarding the casting choices of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. But personally I'm still gagging about the Dragonball casting...
A minor rant... move along, nothing to see here...
A discussion about J.K. Rowling's plotting, characterization, et. al. My personal opinion is that she's great at worldbuilding, but not so much with the character development. She didn't seem particularly interested in challenging the main characters' notions of right and wrong, which made me feel, as a reader, that her own moral system was not particularly well-developed. But that was a personal, and highly subjective issue, but at the same time I cannot in good conscience recommend the books to kids.
Not because I'm that much of a literary snob, but if I recommend something, it has to be in line with my own values, you know? My frustration with the Harry Potter books can be summed up thusly, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Buffy: "Does [life] ever get easy?"
Giles: "What do you want me to say?"
Buffy: "Lie to me."
Giles: "Yes, it's terribly simple. The good guys are always stalwart and true, the bad guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats, and, uh, we always defeat them and save the day. No one ever dies, and everybody lives happily ever after."
Buffy: "Liar."
Here what Giles says is ironic. In the Harry Potter books, it often felt like this was literal. People have told me, when I've explained to them, that they're just children's books. That I shouldn't be frustrated at the blatant stereotyping and discrimination of people (see: Hogwarts houses) because it's "just a fantasy." People have told me that they don't want to talk about moral implications, they just want to escape. But I can't do that - I can't turn off the part of my brain that tries to be aware of moral implications of things, because I'm not interested in just believing everything people spoonfeed me.
It kind of reminds me of the outrage people had with the events of the final Twilight book, Breaking Dawn. But I enjoyed it, because I had been having moral outrage the entire time, and it was just a new level of cracktastic hilarity that people seemed to be waking up to it. Well, a little anyway.
But, anyway, back to my point. I think J.K. Rowling is great at worldbuilding. Amazing even. I give her super major props for that. Plus being successful, pumping out those seven books in good time with all those expectations was also pretty impressive (I'm looking at you here, Robert Jordan! /shakes fist) And she's definitely got some moxy.
But I'm a character girl more than a plot girl, which is probably why I have trouble taking to episodic shows like CSI or 24. Not to say there isn't character development in either of those, but rather the excitement is driven by the plot.
Er, I have more crap to talk about, but then I always do.
I'm super excited to go home for Christmas, but since I live in the boonies where there are basically no stores at all, I don't have presents or crap for anyone. Which kind of makes me an asshole, not bringing back presents - and honestly, I do have one evening in Naha tomorrow that I could theoretically spend running around Kokusai Dori frantically buuuuut. Nah. I'm going to be hanging out with kyouikuchou tomorrow!
Which reminds me, him and my supervisor are freaking psychic. I called Yoseda-san today hoping to ask for a ride to the airport (during her work hours), and only got as far as "あの、明日はさぁ、忙しいの？" Before she was like "Oh yeah! You're going to the airport tomorrow! Sure I'll give you a ride." This kind of thing has happened before.
Now kochou-sensei is making small talk with me about flight costs. What! But in all fairness I love kochou-sensei - he's a fantastic principal especially for elementary school, where is office is placed, but he has "visiting" desk that's near mine near the door where he always comes in and reads the newspaper. But the vibe I get from him is similar to some of my mom's younger brothers - there's something very boyish and warm about him. I definitely can see why Mako's mom is chasing him, but she's like an anime character herself (The Dojikko, to be specific); but in all honesty, I'm totally rooting for her on this one.
It's bizarre, I've only been here four months. Today at lunch Masato-sensei asked me what my impressions were of Japanese people (before I came to Japan, and currently). I talked about my perception that Japanese people tended to be quieter and that I worried that the students would hold back for fear of being wrong. That they'd be shy. Ahahaha! Today Takahiro and Kingo, during our Christmas cooking class where they lost points every time they spoke in Japanese, kept yelling things at me in English out of their English phrasebook like "You know it!" or "I'm not sure what you mean!" or "Who do you think you're talking to?" ...Today the first graders barricaded me in their classroom and clung to me like gremlins or jumped into my arms. All while I was trying to run away. Yeah, shy is not something these kids are.
Well, Yui was at first, since he was the first student I met and worked with for hours and hours and hours on that speech of his, but he eventually revealed himself to be a total goofball. A smart goofball, but a goofball nonetheless.
I also learned recently that Masato-sensei has only been here in April. Which means I get another year with him. Which is awesome. The guy is freaking cool, and very kind, and is also a licensed teacher of English as a foreign language BUT he's never been to the US. He's actually never been outside the country. And mostly I can just comfortably talk to him in English - he doesn't switch back and forth constantly like Junko-sensei, and he's at the stage where he's thinking carefully about what he's going to say which makes him come across as thoughtful, but also very good at English because he doesn't screw up or stutter. Or just throw random English words at me, like kyouikuchou likes to do when he's drunk. Okay, that's not fair, because usually the words are very pertinent - what's always surprising is that they're usually fairly advanced vocabulary. Kind of like when kochou-sensei yells "Oh my God!".
What strange people I have fallen in with.
My Christmas class special was making them all cut out Christmas trees and decorate them. I did teach the 1st graders how to cut snowflakes (not without screwing up a bunch at first... thankfully Serina-sensei figured out what was going wrong) while playing Christmas music. Very unstressful for me, especially since Kitsune took care of the junior high school classes for me.
Oooooh did I have much to learn... especially about the partying. I had no idea that the Japanese were such crazy drinkers. There's actually an article from our JET Program newsletter that is titled "Surviving the Enkai Season". And actually, it's extremely apt.
I am going to be here for New Years. I AM SO EXCITED. It'll be the first actual New Years party I've ever gone to (believe it or not) and it's going to be crazy. Apparently, what everyone does is go to one house, drink, eat some food. Then move to the next house. Drink, eat some food. Then the next. Then the next. Then the next. I'm kind of half-wondering if I shouldn't stock my fridge with beer, even though right now the vegetables are pwning any space in my fridge that I could handle. But yeah, my fingers are crossed that I'll get to spend New Years partying with 中kyoto, Shoshun-sensei, and kyouikuchou. But we'll see. At the very least I'll have a few days to myself just goofing off and hanging out without the pressure of having to do crap for the school.
If I can get my internet working at home, I might be able to avoid going to school all together. \o/
I need to do New Years memes. Because this year I've had more new experiences than the average year. Actually, I struggle to have an "average" day. Every day is crazy and new and confusing, and I'm running myself into the ground but then having a lot of good times.