From Japan to Belgium!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Flight Saga
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What we've been up to!
Gomenasai!
Once again, this is the first blog in a long time. Let me try to give a quick, yet informative update since September!
Fall was a time of much excitement. We were really busy with a bunch of different things.
For a short weekend trip, Derrick and I visited the city Nikko, which is known for its many buddhist temples and waterfalls with great hiking opportunities. We went with our good friend, Kristin Creekmore. Nikko is also known for its temple with the engravings of the famous "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys.
That weekend in Nikko we met a family from Spain, living in Yokohama: Josef and Monica and their children Joan (pronounced like Johan) and Marta. They told us about a Greek restaurant in Yokohama and we decided we just had to go. So, in October, we decided to visit our new friends and try out some good Greek food. (By the way, Japan is seriously lacking in the Greek food area, so we miss it). They were very hospitable and showed us around town too! It was great!
That weekend we got to see the Blue Man Group perform in Tokyo! We went with our awesome Japanese friends from church: Norio and her parents Fumie and Chikara Namae. That evening we also saw a famous Japanese play in the Traditional Kabuki Theatre. (Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura: Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees).
Up through December 6th both of us studied Japanese harder than normal to be able to pas the level 4 Japanese Proficiency Test (easiest level). This was a very challenging time for us, but we made it through without too much stress. We received our scores this month and both passed, so we are very happy and ready to take on the next level this December. After the test, we had our second annual Logwood Christmas party (our first one was the year before). We combined forces and "hospitality" with our friends Chip and Heather Riley and renamed it the LOGLY Christmas Party. Many of our friends came and we had a great time with fun and games and prizes!
After having a Christmas party in Japan, the two of us packed up and got ready for Christmas back home in Missouri with Derrick's family there! We had a great time with everyone in Columbia and wish we had more time! We also got to go to Oklahoma for a few days to see some of my family and more! Derrick's sisters, Jordan and Hannah, went with us. (Below is a picture of us with Derrick's sisters, my granddad Bob Morris and his lovely newlywed wife Esther Marie and my little cousin Dylan).
We had so much fun! We didn't want it to end! We also got to visit with Derrick's dad, Wayne Logwood, and his girlfriend Jan while we were in St Louis!
Christmas over, vacation finished, we decided it was high time to start having weekend ski trips. SO, I taught Derrick and Chip and Heather how to Snowboard in Minakami, Gunma Ken for 2 days. Then Derrick and I went to Marunuma (also Gunma Ken), with Austin Powell and John Smith, to continue those awesome skills Derrick picked up, for two more days. As if that was not enough, we took a long weekend just last week with our friends Brett and Heather to Nagano. Many of you might know that this is where the winter olympics was held in Japan in 1998.
While in Nagano, we also visited the Matsumoto Castle. This castle is awesome because of its unique architecture, interesting history and the ability to see it in its original form.
Of course a visit to Nagano is not complete without seeing the Monkey Onsen! A hotspring bath full of soaking and relaxing monkeys. How cool is that!
We also got to witness some family drama... to see a video, watch for a link for it on a future post or on facebook.
AND in the midst of all our travel and fun and full time job, I was training for a Japanese Speech Contest which took place on February 6th. My speech was just under 5 minutes long. I talked about growing up as an American living in Belgium and obtaining both citizenships. I pointed out both some of the confusion this dual citizenship presented in my life, as well as the many benefits I have been blessed with.
To watch a video of my speech, please go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2nVImKrwpM or go to YouTube and type in "Miranda's Japanese Speech Contest".
This is by far not all we have been up to these last several months, so I am so sorry that I have neglected this blog and have not been able to post more about our exciting life!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Opening Ceremony in a Japanese Elementary School
Have you ever wondered how elementary schools in other countries start their new trimesters?? Yea, I never thought about it either. I never realized how ... uhm....interesting and different other cultures' opening ceremonies could be, even for the little ones.
Growing up in Belgium, I honestly never remember any type of ceremony except for when I graduated highschool and received my Highschool diploma...and even that wasn't very organized or strict compared to anything I see here.
Just to give you an idea about what ceremonies here are like, I want to describe step by step the opening ceremony for the 2nd trimester. Please keep in mind that this is one of the least important ceremonies....nothing compared to 1st ceremony of the year where 1st graders are new, or last ceremony of the year where 6th graders graduate.
(Also, bear in mind that other schools in Japan may vary and I am giving an account of what I have seen in the schools where I work)
Everyone meets in the gym, facing the big stage. Students sit down. The vice-vice principal (VVP) stands to the side with a microphone (and one of those pulpit like podiums with their notes). All other teachers are either standing to the side, or behind the students to make sure they behave.
VVP: "Stand up." (everyone stands up) "Bow" (everyone bows to nothing/no one in particular....perhaps to the Japanese flag to show respect, I'm not sure)
"Let's have the starting words for the ceremony" (this is a very loose translation)
Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage. On her(his) way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.
"Opening Ceremony will now begin."
She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.
VVP: "sit down" (all students sit)
"~~~student from 6th grade and ~~~~ student from 1st grade (says their names) will now read their comments"
One 1stgrade student and One 6th grade student come to the front. They bow to the principal and VP on their way to the stage. They go up the steps and stop and bow toward the stage. They walk to the podium with the mic. The 1st grader steps forward and bows to the audience who bow back. Student reads his/her comments that they had written down....comments about last semester and what they look forward to for coming semester. Student finishes comments, bows (with a return bow) and steps back. 6th grade student steps forward. Reads comments. Finishes and bows. Together the students walk back to the top of the steps, they turn and bow toward the stage. They walk down the steps walk to the principal and VP, stop and bow, and then move back to their spot.
VVP: "stand up" "Now we will sing the school song"
A teacher moves up to the stage, bows at the top of the steps and sits down at the piano. She starts playing and the kids sing the school song. (This is probably my favorite part!)
The song finishes. The teacher leaves the stage, not forgetting to bow at the top of the steps.
VVP: "Let's have the finishing words"
Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage....again. On her(his) way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.
"Opening Ceremony is now finished."
She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.
(Whats coming next doesnt happen all the time, but it happened to me last week because we had a teacher who was leaving.)
VVP: "It is time to start the goodbye ceremony for ~~~~sensei."
Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage....again. On her/his way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.
"The Goodbye ceremony for ~~~~ sensei will now start."
She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.
OK, I'm not gonna go through this whole ceremony as well....I just wanted to point out how funny it is to see one ceremony has to be completely finished before a next ceremony can take place, even for something as simple as starting a new trimester and saying goodbye to a teacher in elementary school.
Growing up in Belgium, I honestly never remember any type of ceremony except for when I graduated highschool and received my Highschool diploma...and even that wasn't very organized or strict compared to anything I see here.
Just to give you an idea about what ceremonies here are like, I want to describe step by step the opening ceremony for the 2nd trimester. Please keep in mind that this is one of the least important ceremonies....nothing compared to 1st ceremony of the year where 1st graders are new, or last ceremony of the year where 6th graders graduate.
(Also, bear in mind that other schools in Japan may vary and I am giving an account of what I have seen in the schools where I work)
Everyone meets in the gym, facing the big stage. Students sit down. The vice-vice principal (VVP) stands to the side with a microphone (and one of those pulpit like podiums with their notes). All other teachers are either standing to the side, or behind the students to make sure they behave.
VVP: "Stand up." (everyone stands up) "Bow" (everyone bows to nothing/no one in particular....perhaps to the Japanese flag to show respect, I'm not sure)
"Let's have the starting words for the ceremony" (this is a very loose translation)
Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage. On her(his) way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.
"Opening Ceremony will now begin."
She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.
VVP: "sit down" (all students sit)
"~~~student from 6th grade and ~~~~ student from 1st grade (says their names) will now read their comments"
One 1stgrade student and One 6th grade student come to the front. They bow to the principal and VP on their way to the stage. They go up the steps and stop and bow toward the stage. They walk to the podium with the mic. The 1st grader steps forward and bows to the audience who bow back. Student reads his/her comments that they had written down....comments about last semester and what they look forward to for coming semester. Student finishes comments, bows (with a return bow) and steps back. 6th grade student steps forward. Reads comments. Finishes and bows. Together the students walk back to the top of the steps, they turn and bow toward the stage. They walk down the steps walk to the principal and VP, stop and bow, and then move back to their spot.
VVP: "stand up" "Now we will sing the school song"
A teacher moves up to the stage, bows at the top of the steps and sits down at the piano. She starts playing and the kids sing the school song. (This is probably my favorite part!)
The song finishes. The teacher leaves the stage, not forgetting to bow at the top of the steps.
VVP: "Let's have the finishing words"
Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage....again. On her(his) way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.
"Opening Ceremony is now finished."
She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.
(Whats coming next doesnt happen all the time, but it happened to me last week because we had a teacher who was leaving.)
VVP: "It is time to start the goodbye ceremony for ~~~~sensei."
Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage....again. On her/his way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.
"The Goodbye ceremony for ~~~~ sensei will now start."
She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.
OK, I'm not gonna go through this whole ceremony as well....I just wanted to point out how funny it is to see one ceremony has to be completely finished before a next ceremony can take place, even for something as simple as starting a new trimester and saying goodbye to a teacher in elementary school.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The return of the Logwoods
Well, March, April, May, June and July have been busy months. I am sorry for doing a horrible job of keeping people informed of our daily excitements. Please enjoy this quick update of our current situation in Japan.
The new school year started in April. Derrick and I are both teaching at the same schools as last year, so we are happy with that. In Mito the schoolboard does this funny thing where they can send a teacher to any school and any grade. The choice is never the teacher's and the teachers never know where they will teach and in what grade until the middle or end of March. Then they only have maybe two weeks to pack up and change things before having to teach in the new school and new grade.
Anyway, after a couple of changes to the staff at our schools we have gotten used to this new year. The highlight of working at the same school for me is to be able to get to know the kids better. I am learning more names and enjoying more conversations with my students.
Japanese learning. Derrick and I have stepped it up a bit. We are now going to two classes a week each being 2 hours long. One is Saturday morning, which we have been doing since January, and we have just decided to start going to the Tuesday evening class at the same place instead of continuing the volunteer class at church. We will miss the class at church, but the other class gives much better preparation for the Japanese Language Test we plan to take in December. We hope to continue to meet with our love church volunteers to teach them English.
Church. I have recently been added to the list of women who prepare the Flower Arrangement for Sunday worship. This means that once every two months I am responsible for buying and arranging a bunch of flowers that sits at the front of the auditorium. I really enjoy doing this! Also I have been taking more responsibility as an attendance counter person (don't know what the title of this responsibility is, but I sit at a desk in the back, check people's names off, meet new people who walk in and just generally make sure everyone's comfortable has a seat and song book and stuff). I enjoy this because it allows for me to meet more people and learn more names.
The people at church are wonderful. There tends to be anywhere from 60 to more than 100 people in attendance. Its a pretty big church (especially considering the one I grew up in in Antwerp). Songs are mostly in Japanese and some in English. I enjoy singing in Japanese. It definitely helps Japanese reading and pronunciation skills.
Unfortunately we had to miss the Church Camp Retreat because that same weekend was the only weekend it worked out for us to meet our friend Masashi in Tokyo while he was home for the summer. We had a great day with him in Tokyo and really enjoyed meeting his father!
AET summer training. Every summer a group of AETs plans a training session for the whole AET group to learn things about how to do our job better and to get together and retrain together as a group as English Teachers. This year I have been asked to take on the responsibility of leading this summer training. I have really enjoyed this responsibility. It has kept me busy and it has taken a lot of effort, but it has been a real blessing to be able to be a part of this. 1 week of this training is already finished. We did it in July at the very beginning of the school's summer vacation here. Then we went on a two week Thailand/Cambodia trip with some friends. The trip was awesome! I will update the blog about the trip on my next post. Tomorrow we start the last 3 days of training.
Monday, March 2, 2009
A little laugh....
Here are some phrases that I found on one of my students' lunch placemat. Wish I knew where to buy the place mat!
Just so you know, any spelling and grammar mistakes were copied from the placemat. None of these mistakes are my own. Please tell me if you think you understand the meaning of any of these phrases. I would love to hear your thoughts!
Enjoy!
Just so you know, any spelling and grammar mistakes were copied from the placemat. None of these mistakes are my own. Please tell me if you think you understand the meaning of any of these phrases. I would love to hear your thoughts!
Enjoy!
Consideration
gentle to which
connects the heart.
It yearns after the family
of a warm impression.
----------
It is infatuation
at the charm.
Mama is a good cook.
And appetizing smel
come from the kitchen.
----------
Great, evev if
it make it the
from the heart
and sets by
the window or
decorates a wall.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Sumo and mountain climbing
This past week has been full of excitement! Last week, we went to Tokyo to watch sumo wrestling. It was great. We just happened to be there for the semi-finals of the competition, so it was really exciting! We were pretty high up, so we didn't have the best view, but it was still really cool.
Here are some pictures and videos:
Here I am in front of the entrance to the Sumo building!
Let the Sumo begin!
And now for some videos:
oooh, tricky!
Now for a fun one....Let's just fall on eachother!:
I will be putting more videos and pictures on facebook if you are interested to see more, look me up there!
Now, lets move on to our mountain climbing experience. This past Monday we went with our friends Kristin Creekmore and Kyle Lugger to climb mount Tsukuba, which is about an hour and a half away (driving). We were able to see Mt. Fuji at the earlier point of the day, so that was really awesome!
Here are some pictures from that day:
There are more pictures of this wonderful day on my facebook and maybe I will have a chance to put them on our Flickr account soon.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Random Facts about Japan
I have been meaning to post a random facts list for a while. Here it is:
1. Winter at school feels like wintercamp in Belgium. Its very cold except for in the main room, where its only warm if you are close enough to a heater. They use kerosene heaters, so the smell reminds me of the heaters and gaslamps at camp. Classrooms are cold. Hallways are cold. Toilets are cold.
2. In the summer, it gets hot and humid....so people wear a towel around their neck like a scarf to soak up the sweat.
3. Police car lights are always flashing. They use their loudspeakers when they want to pull someone over.
4. People don't pull over for ambulances....I guess unless they absolutely have to.
5. Japan has three alphabets and all three are used. Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji. The first two have more than 40 characters each and Kanji is basically a new vocabulary list, which must be drawn/written in the correct stroke order and with the exact number of strokes. THEY CAN TELL WHEN ITS WRONG!
6. Katakana is used for foreign words, but those words still need serious decoding. Some examples:
ka-n-to-ri = country
a-re-ru-gi = allergy
bu-ru = ????
hu-i-ru-taa = ????
Can you figure out the last two? In the next post we'll give you some more to figure out.
7. Rice with raw egg is a typical breakfast.
8. Fermented soybeans, some sticky, stinky, gooey brown stuff (= nato) is many children's favorite.
9. Road work seems to happen mostly in the winter and at night. At night? Yes, well, we dont know when they stop working but they tend to set up the road work stuff almost every day around 8 or 9 pm. Route 50 is the road we take straight into town....maybe about 10 km from our place. On our way in town its a perfectly clear road (except for the traffic). On our way back, after 9 pm, we can run into anywhere from 2 to 6 road work activities for which our lane takes turns with the oncoming traffic to pass the roadwork in the one usable lane.
10. Apparently green is blue.
11. I'm a big fan of inside shoes and bathroom shoes.
12. They really like mayonaise and corn here. In the store, you can buy a bun that just has mayonaise and corn on it. In almost any restaurant that sells pizza you can buy a mayo and corn pizza.
13. Crosswalks. Many crosswalk signal lights have a bird chirping sound to go along with the green light. Both directions have different sounds. Yes, I realize this is for blind people, which is awesome. I just think its funny they chose two different bird chirps. Also, you can cross an intersection diagonally (busy intersections)!! Yes, they actually stop road traffic from all 4 directions so that pedestrians have a green light from any corner to any corner.
14. It is cheaper to travel from Japan to South Korea or Thailand for vacation than to travel within Japan, considering all costs.
15. There is no real bacon and you can't buy a whole chicken anywhere.
16. One of the most popular desserts is anko. This is sweet bean paste. (sometimes its chunky!) Examples of anko dishes are 1) anko-filled mochi (remember the mochi rice stuff?), 2) anko-filled donuts and 3) anko-filled pancakes.
17. Pancake mixes are everywhere!
18. Bikers ride on the street against traffic (yes, on the side where pedestrians are supposed to walk if there is no sidewalk) on busy streets. (This is quite annoying and dangerous for us as scooter drivers because we typically kind of "hug" the curb to pass cars between the car and curb when traffic is moving slowly.)
19. Kewpies are actually not just known, but popular here. (They have a kewpie brand mayonaise!!) (If you do not know what a kewpie is, look it up....it is also Derrick's High School mascot)
20. Apparently gargling water or tea prevents illnesses, like the common cold or the flue.
1. Winter at school feels like wintercamp in Belgium. Its very cold except for in the main room, where its only warm if you are close enough to a heater. They use kerosene heaters, so the smell reminds me of the heaters and gaslamps at camp. Classrooms are cold. Hallways are cold. Toilets are cold.
2. In the summer, it gets hot and humid....so people wear a towel around their neck like a scarf to soak up the sweat.
3. Police car lights are always flashing. They use their loudspeakers when they want to pull someone over.
4. People don't pull over for ambulances....I guess unless they absolutely have to.
5. Japan has three alphabets and all three are used. Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji. The first two have more than 40 characters each and Kanji is basically a new vocabulary list, which must be drawn/written in the correct stroke order and with the exact number of strokes. THEY CAN TELL WHEN ITS WRONG!
6. Katakana is used for foreign words, but those words still need serious decoding. Some examples:
ka-n-to-ri = country
a-re-ru-gi = allergy
bu-ru = ????
hu-i-ru-taa = ????
Can you figure out the last two? In the next post we'll give you some more to figure out.
7. Rice with raw egg is a typical breakfast.
8. Fermented soybeans, some sticky, stinky, gooey brown stuff (= nato) is many children's favorite.
9. Road work seems to happen mostly in the winter and at night. At night? Yes, well, we dont know when they stop working but they tend to set up the road work stuff almost every day around 8 or 9 pm. Route 50 is the road we take straight into town....maybe about 10 km from our place. On our way in town its a perfectly clear road (except for the traffic). On our way back, after 9 pm, we can run into anywhere from 2 to 6 road work activities for which our lane takes turns with the oncoming traffic to pass the roadwork in the one usable lane.
10. Apparently green is blue.
11. I'm a big fan of inside shoes and bathroom shoes.
12. They really like mayonaise and corn here. In the store, you can buy a bun that just has mayonaise and corn on it. In almost any restaurant that sells pizza you can buy a mayo and corn pizza.
13. Crosswalks. Many crosswalk signal lights have a bird chirping sound to go along with the green light. Both directions have different sounds. Yes, I realize this is for blind people, which is awesome. I just think its funny they chose two different bird chirps. Also, you can cross an intersection diagonally (busy intersections)!! Yes, they actually stop road traffic from all 4 directions so that pedestrians have a green light from any corner to any corner.
14. It is cheaper to travel from Japan to South Korea or Thailand for vacation than to travel within Japan, considering all costs.
15. There is no real bacon and you can't buy a whole chicken anywhere.
16. One of the most popular desserts is anko. This is sweet bean paste. (sometimes its chunky!) Examples of anko dishes are 1) anko-filled mochi (remember the mochi rice stuff?), 2) anko-filled donuts and 3) anko-filled pancakes.
17. Pancake mixes are everywhere!
18. Bikers ride on the street against traffic (yes, on the side where pedestrians are supposed to walk if there is no sidewalk) on busy streets. (This is quite annoying and dangerous for us as scooter drivers because we typically kind of "hug" the curb to pass cars between the car and curb when traffic is moving slowly.)
19. Kewpies are actually not just known, but popular here. (They have a kewpie brand mayonaise!!) (If you do not know what a kewpie is, look it up....it is also Derrick's High School mascot)
20. Apparently gargling water or tea prevents illnesses, like the common cold or the flue.
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