Steve Doesn`t Like That Kind of Language

As most of you have seen on Facebook already, I bought rain boots this weekend!  This is kind of a big deal.  Not because it`s excessively rainy and I can`t deal (it did rain a lot last week, but I did fine with damp feet).  No, this is important step because I had to go to a shoe store.  And all the rain boots are at the back of the store with just a single boot on display, so you have to find someone, and then inquire about sizes, and then try them on and let the sales clerk know if it`s okay or not.

A bit of backgroud info is required at this point, I think; I have a somewhat unique take on language proficiency levels.  I consider the different levels as follows:
1. Native speaker - self-explanatory
2. Fluent speaker - not born into it, but essentially the same level as a native speaker
3. Business speaker - you`re proficient enough to hold a formal meeting in that language specific to your industry, but you`re still making some small errors in things you don`t deal with regularly
4. Conversation speaker - you can make small talk before the meeting, but can`t conduct the actual meeting
5. Casual speaker - you can order at a restaurant, go to a shop, get a hotel room; everyday life essentials
6. Beginner speaker - you can introduce yourself and greet others
7. `Help, I`m lost in the airport!` speaker - you can say hello and ask someone if they speak your native language

Normally I would consider myself a beginner.  But this interaction has shown me that maybe it won`t take that much for me to be considered a casual speaker.  I was able to ask for (what I assumed was) my size, understand when she said they didn`t have that size but the next size up, say that the next size might be okay, and then express that they fit perfectly when I tried them on.  Go me!  There was one point where I didn`t understand what she was asking (I think she was asking if I wanted the packaging, but I`m not sure, and I had zero ways of confirming this), but evidently it wasn`t important so we just let it go.  Still considering this a win.  Also, my rain boots are really cute.

So I`ve got my Japanese for JETs textbook open on my desk, and I decide I`m going to do some review on the basic stuff in the early chapters before moving ahead to where I was working before I left Canada.  I was working somewhat blindly through the exercises in this book before, reading the grammar and then doing to corresponding exercises without actually paying attention to the bigger picture of what I was doing.  So I`m working through Lesson 2: What and Where.  I look at the first exercise, in which you`re forming the answers for the questions `Is this            ?` with yes or no based on what the book is telling you.  Now, I`m going to have to assume that there is an implication of `Is this            (in Japanese)?` because otherwise these scenarios are ridiculous.  Like the second one:
Kore wa isu desu ka? - Iie, isu dewa arimasen.
Translation: Is this a chair? - No, that`s not a chair.
Who is dumb enough to need to confirm whether or not something is a chair?!?!?!?!  So, like I said, I`m assuming the context here is actually `Is `chair` the right word for this in your language?` and you`re confirming your vocabulary.  Because otherwise, that`s just a giant facepalm right there.  I`m also assuming the same for the `What is this place?` exercise, since the last one is this:
Koko was nan desu ka? - Oteari desu.
Translation: What is this place? - This is the toilet (room).  (Cultural note: a `bathroom` is literally the room with the bath in it, which is separate from the room with the toilet.)
You`d think the toilet(s) in the room would sort of give it away, so I`m choosing to believe that the question is really, `What is this place (called in Japanese)?`

Lunch with the ladies was fabulous.  First of all, spaghetti with crab and cream sauce.  Major win.  Secondly, the ladies were very entertaining.  I understood about one word in ten that wasn`t translated for me, but they`re still very expressive talkers, so I enjoyed just sitting back and listening to them!  It will shock exactly no one that our conversation turned at one point to Disney.  I`m considering calling it my superpower.  The Japanese language teacher who went with us goes every year (seems to be a thing around here, because my supervisor said the same thing about her family), and last year she went three times!  Super jealous.  We also discussed her son`s sixth grade summer homework.  One social studies report option was to go to a farm and watch a cow become beef. 

My reaction.

WHY IS THIS A THING?!  That`s horrifying!  It`s a wonder Japanese kids don`t all turn out to be vegetarians!  I mean, it`s not that I`m not aware of where my meat comes from.  I am aware that the delicious steak on my plate used to be a fuzzy cow.  That does not, however, mean I want to witness the process.  (Bodily fluids are gross, human or otherwise.)  She brought me in the report today so I could see it.  I'll admit, it was kind of interesting, and you should have seen the kid's face in the picture he took holding a huge bone with meat!  Still gross, though.

One of the best things about so many of the teachers going on vacation in the summer is that they come back, and I get fed.  Omiyage (pronounced something like oh-me-ya-gay) is a small gift from a trip, literally comprised of the words for `earth` and `product`, so it`s often a local specialty.  These are given to family/friends/coworkers upon return, and are generally in the form of some small, individually wrapped food.  Thus, I get fed.  You can also bring non-edible souvenirs, which you downplay for humility no matter how cool it may be (`a trifling thing`), but food is more popular, for obvious reasons.

 The stick ones on the right are from my supervisor, who went somewhere in Kyushu.  The best way to describe them would be like... cake croutons?  The one on the left is from someone else (it was on my desk when I came back from lunch) who went somewhere.  I dunno.  It's got an octopus on it, so maybe Osaka?  I don't read Japanese.

 And these are from the Japanese teacher I talked about at lunch who went to Disneyland.

Today was my first day of teaching, technically.  We had a sort of open house for potential incoming students, and the students could sign up to experience different classes.  A whole nine students elected to have an English class, so I did the demo lesson .  I`ve never been so afraid of a group of fourteen-year olds in my life.  I couldn`t sit still before the lesson (though that`s really not much of an indicator, because I can`t sit still ever), I kept going over my lesson plan again, and again, and again.  I wondered, `What if I can`t get them to speak?,` `What if they don`t understand me?` (this was a stupid worry, since a JTE would be in the room with me), `What if they don`t have fun?`, `What if the entire lesson I planned only takes 10 minutes and I don`t have enough extra material to cover the rest of the class?`  I was a wreck.  Internally.  Outwardly I am a model of decorum and tranquility.  Or at least I`m not any different than I usually am, which is perhaps not a model of decorum and tranquility...  I might be a bit of a spaz...  Anyway, my motto for the morning was as follows:

I`m reasonably certain this is what my face looked like.

Despite my intese fear of a group of teenagers, I think it went well overall.  As expected, they didn`t really speak.  It took a lot of encouragement (and translating by the JTEs) before we could get them to say anything.  I`m pretty sure `Good Morning` took four tries to get a response.  We played a game where I had written answers about myself and my country on the board, and they had to guess what the question was.  (A note to anyone who wants to use this in their own classroom, it might be good to have a sheet with all of the questions, but out of order, so the students still have to figure out which one, but you don`t have to waste a bunch of class time waiting for them to translate everything because they think in Japanese first.)  They seemed to enjoy it once we got started, though they were still really hesitant and quiet.  I`m hoping that my regular classes are a little more forthcoming, but I`m having my doubts.  Oh well, we`ll see in a few weeks.

New goal for self: Learn a Japanese song to sing at karaoke after my official welcome party on September 25th.  (Karaoke is like a national sport here, I swear.  Everyone does a karaoke after-party for everything.)  It will be impressive, and I will be adored!  I`m thinking the ending song from Howl`s Moving Castle.  Or from any other Studio Ghibli movie.  But Howl is my favourite, so I`m hoping that one won`t be too much of a pain to learn.

In non-language related news, there`s now a typhoon raging through my area now.  I haven`t seen weather this crazy since I left Florida.