Ikawa/School begins!

…First off, I apologize for my posting absence. The reasons will be apparent soon enough…

Last Monday morning I found my way to the Shizutetsu Station, and hopped a bus for Yokisawa. The ride was about an hour long. Once there, I waited 40 minutes on a bench to transfer to my next bus. The next bus was a van. It had a driver, an old guy with a backpack, and me in a suit. That ride was a bit over an hour, and took me to Ikawa. Ms. Hanamura picked me at the bus stop and brought me to Ikawa Junior High School. There I met the 11 staff that instruct the 10 students.


Yes, 10 students - four kids in seventh grade, three in eighth, and three in ninth. Ikawa Junior High School is the smallest school in Shizuoka City. And at two hours drive into the mountains, it is also the furthest. This is my placement for the first month. Because of the distance, I am supplied with a local apartment about a mile from the school. Monday mornings I bus from the center of Shizuoka to Ikawa. I teach for the week, and then a teacher gives me a ride back to center Friday after work.

I have never lived on my own before, and now I have two apartments entirely to myself! It does make things a bit difficult when I barely have the goods to furnish one apartment, let alone two. The apartment in Ikawa is in a building with the rest of the teachers. They are all in the similar situation of commuting home for the weekends. Every night dinner is served on the main level, and people can come and go. This has provided for a nice casual way to chat with my colleagues. At this point of the evening, people have typically dropped their pants and dress shirts to dawn t-shirts and shorts. The food has been pretty tasty and mostly traditional. We had sashimi on Wednesday night.

Ikawa has a population of 700, and it boggles my mind that the city provides the resources that it does. The school is about ten years old, not even a toddler when converted to human years. It looks like it could support about 200 students, I guess it is good to be prepared for expansion. The rural students are thus far a quiet bunch. I hope to shake that up a bit. As for now, I am still an outsider. The teachers/staff are extremely friendly, helpful, and sharing. If I have not tried a certain kind of sweet, they will see to it that I do!

For my first week I gave nine lessons, three of which were self introductions. The self introduction is a big deal and oh so mandatory for an ALT such as myself. I must admit, I am a bit of an authority in the field, when it comes to lecturing about myself. I gave them the geography - America/Wisconsin/Eau Claire. I made certain that they knew the importance of cheese, and what a Cheesehead was. There would be a quiz on it later. Then I introduced my immediate family. They are Minnesotans, but it is forgivable. I then shared my interests. Saturday mornings are a must at the Farmers Market and Ultimate Frisbee is the greatest sport. They would ask me about some famous baseball player, but I would steer it back to Frisbee. I showed photos of Romar Greenhouse where I worked. The kids were rural, and some farmers, but they were still pretty impressed by “1,000 chickens!”

The triumphant photo was always saved for last. I always qualified it by saying it was very special. Once I had their full attention I would present them with an 8x10 glossy color photo of Lindsay and I all dressed up at the Viennese Ball. Every good story needs a romantic interest, and the kids loved it. Sometimes other teachers would be in the class, and they would tell other teachers who would then ask to see the photo in the office. I currently have an outstanding promise to share the photo with the principal’s wife.

Thus far I am quite pleased with my assignment. I am splat in the middle of the mountains, the area is beautiful. I have already seen a monkey climbing a power pole. It was big with shaggy grey hair and a pink face. We had a two second staring contest, which I won, and then he jumped into the trees. I hope there will be a rematch.

Now that it is the weekend, I have come back to the city and have had the opportunity to swap classroom tales with the other ALTs. All of us are having different experiences, though mine are emerging as the most unique. The more I hear, the more it seems that I have a great classroom situation as well. Ms. Hanamura, my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), whom I assist, has been ever so helpful, and enthusiastic to work together. Some ALTs are already collecting the horror stories.

More than anything it just feels great for school to be in session. It was quite difficult to travel halfway around the globe and spend a month in detention at the Board of Education Office. None of us were hired for our skills in sitting and waiting. My story could change, but for now I am feeling great. The classroom is comfortable, people are interested in me, and everything is new.


Oh yeah, internet. I have a wireless internet service that, though portable, is limited to the urban realms of the city. The school office has one computer with access to the web. I may be able to sneak online occasionally, but for now my blog posts will be mostly weekend happenings.