Spain Day 3:

Monday! First day of work in my language assistant program. Today I went to both schools that I will be working at and introduced myself to the teachers and children. With the help of one English speaking T.A, Ana, we went from class to class where she introduced me and I fielded some questions from the students. We started with the youngest classes, 3rd graders, and went all the way up to the 6th graders. The most common questions were in reference to my favorite color or sport or food. Most of the kids were pretty shy but I attribute that to any time a large unfamiliar black guy shows up at this school in Malgrat. The kids are very funny and I'm sure they will come out of their shell soon enough, they better because I'll be teaching them.

The school system here is interesting because the students start at 9AM and go until 1PM then they go home and come back from 3PM to 5PM. To me this is very interesting because it's not at all like home and the teachers have to be mindful of a gap in the middle of the day. Plus school doesn't end until 5PM!! Can you imagine being in a 3rd grade class until 5 at night? Then again dinner isn't usually until 9 or 10 at night so it's not so bad.

After leaving the primary school I walked over to the secondary school where the kids range from 12-18. I didn't enter the classrooms there to avoid the commotion that the older kids are bound to make when I do. I met with several of the teachers and had lunch with them as well. As we ate lunch there were two old nuns that used to work in the school and when they heard me speak Spanish they were quite surprised. I told them that my goal was to get a lot better at Spanish and the immediately said that I could practice with them. It was more of a command than a nice gesture but I'll take it. I'm not gonna mess with a nun plus I get more practice. Win win.

I left the school after lunch and grabbed tea with two of the teachers that are my guides. Both speak english and collaborate with me on the gameplan for teaching english.

For those that don't know what exactly I'm doing over here I can explain. I admit I was a bit confused myself early on. Basically I am an assistant to the English language development program. I help a few teachers each day for about an hour as I rotate between the classrooms and grade levels. I'm responsible for making a few lesson plans and helping them find the best way to teach English. It's difficult because the students have no one to practice their speech with so me being here is a type of trial run the will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of assistants like myself.

Oh well I'm excited to actually start teaching tomorrow but not going to bed until after I watch the Breaking Bad finale. It's Heisenberg time. Till the next time.

That language barrier is coming down! (Hopefully)

Wednesday

That title may be a bit confusing give the context of this trip but given the events of today, all of which I will delve into later on, will surely do the title justice. Today was great and made for a great interlude into the 4th of July.

Tons of people wear crocs in Japan

The day started off pretty normal, breakfast then lunch before practice, and we decided to try out the McDonalds across the street. I heard back home that the menu at McDonald's is way different in foreign places. Turns out that the menu is pretty similar with the exception of a strange shrimp burger and some other small things. The food was good though and it was kinda cool to have something familiar for a change. After the morning we went to practice and it was hot and humid day. Practice was extra humid today probably due to the storm advancing on our location. The practice went by fairly quickly even though it was sunny and hot, but toward the end we could see storm clouds forming in the distance. Before you knew it the sky opened up, and I mean really opened up because the rain was coming down at an angle and I went from dry to drenched in a few seconds. It was like standing in a pool except outside and wearing all your gear. To be honest it was pretty amazing because I'd never seen rain like that and it wasn't cold. The rain here is pretty warm and not at all uncomfortable to be in. That cued the end of practice though and we turned it in.

The calm after the storm

Dinner on this night was with the team from Kansai, the Seahorses. The dinners just keep getting better and better as the week goes on because this dinner was even better than the last night. After practice we went back towards our hotel and luckily the place we were eating at was a block from where we were staying. We walked from the parking lot toward this high rise building and went up to the 22nd floor. This place was gorgeous and even better they had actual seats so no more sitting on the floor with a tiny  table. Things were better already.

Very cool recessed seating and nice ambiance 

 The meal blew me away as did the first one. Again we were able to cook for ourselves, seems to be a common theme here in Japan, as each table had a grill built into the middle and the meat they brought out was to be cooked there. This time there were more vegetables so I didn't feel as bad eating a ton of beef and other kinds of meat.

Me and my table crew

All of the food was amazing and the table conversation was lively as well. It's always entertaining trying to bridge the gap between languages but I'm impressed as to how much english they know compared to how little Japanese we can produce. Luckily Gowan has service on his phone as uses the itranslate app quite often. Nonetheless it was great food and great company as we watched a gorgeous sunset through the windows of the 22nd floor.

Awesome view of Osaka at night

Everyone

We finished up the meal with some pictures and then headed downstairs. During the evening the guys had spoken in broken english about some kind of bus sightseeing thing that we could do after dinner. We weren't sure if they meant that same night or after the game so it was a bit confusing as we departed the hotel.

That when things got weird.

The hotel was literally a block to our right when we left the building but we went left and the confusion only grew from there. We thought we were going to Starbucks at one point then later a bus depot but we got in the cars and drove away with no idea really what was going on. We drove a few miles one direction and thought maybe we were going to the "big bus room" as one of the Japanese players put it but after driving for a little while I started to think that wasn't happening. Then we made a U-turn and came back toward the hotel only to stop in the parking lot of a building that looked like this.

Thought it was like Dave and Buster's

We walked in and we were all apprehensive about where we were and what this building was. I thought it was a huge arcade and I would've been cool with that. We took the escalator past the first floor of games and arcades only to find that we were in a nicer kind of bar setup. We took our shoes off and the next then we know we're in line to by towels at the front desk. Only then did it click that we were at a spa. We got our towels and walked around another corner to find a back area of hot springs and sauna rooms. Surprised doesn't even begin to describe how we all felt considering we had no idea what this place was.

We all had to strip down because apparently that was the status quo as we saw several naked Japanese men just strolling around willy nilly. The hot springs were awesome though. There were hot tubs and cold tubs and a sauna room that had like 100 proof cinnamon incense. That room was like breathing in cinnamon instead of air and it was really hot. We tried all the different tubs and it was very relaxing. It was a nice way to unwind and get some of the soreness from practice out. Overall it was an experience that I'll never forget and made me appreciate how sometimes the language barrier can be terrifying but exhilarating.

At about midnight we headed back to the hotel and thanked that guys for a great evening. The next day was the 4th of July so we were ready to get some rest in preparation for that. The day was long and grueling but very much so

Monday

I keep getting turned around with these blog posts because I try to post them on the day that the actual events happen but I forget that here I'm 16 hours ahead so it's more difficult than expected to keep track of time. Oh well a day late it'll have to be. So yesterday we landed and went exploring and that was Sunday afternoon-evening. After getting over my intense jetlag, soreness, and upset stomach from eating two breakfasts and lunches in a day Monday here was much better. After about 9.5 hours of sleep I felt refreshed and ready to attack the day with "an enthusiasm unknown to mankind." Included in the stipend envelope was a packet of meal tickets so we could access the breakfast bar in the hotel. Breakfast here in Japan is not quite like what you'll find at your local IHOP. We found comfort in some American food options like french fries, waffles, and eggs but we were definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Breakfast bar of champions. At least that's what I think it says

After breakfast we decided to head out and explore downtown Osaka. Since we had a whole day to ourselves we figured we'd make the most of it and actually experience the city we were in. We hopped on perhaps the most confusing subway system ever designed and were on our way. Now it may not be the most confusing subway system to the locals but for us it was a little hard to understand why there were at least 10 different lines and the stations didn't start at number one but number eight. We made it without getting lost though!

These things are pretty much everywhere you turn

So with that we arrived and took our stipend money out for a spin. Downtown Osaka is really cool but we noticed that there are a tremendous amount of buildings. Whether it be malls, businesses, living high rises, or the like, it's buildings as far as the eye can see. We figured that with the populations being so large space is at a premium but man did I miss the sigh of a park or a fountain/public play space. As soon as we got out of the crazily busy train station we could see a big ferris wheel in the distance so we figured that was as good a place as any to start.

The wheel was located at the top of a shopping center to we took the elevator up to the 7th floor and that was the middle of the wheel so you can imagine how tall this thing was. The tickets were 500 yen (so $5) and we were off. The wheel turned pretty slowly but there was an ipod dock (broken) inside and plenty of time to take pictures of the landscape. I think that Osaka is a really cool place but probably not as hustle and bustle as Tokyo. We thought about going there but it turns out that the train ride is two hours long and the tickets are 15000 yen!

Skyline

Inside the mall were a ton of shops and stores. The downside though was that everything was fairly expensive. There are many signs around claiming bargains far and wide but most of the prices were comparable to what you'd pay in america. Oh and by the way the mall had six floors of women's clothing and one of men's. SMH. The clothes in the store were pretty cool and all the shop owners were quite surprised our group walk by. We're basically giants everywhere we go, it pretty cool but at the same time everything it to small!

The western influence was very apparent

What?

After the ferris wheel ride it was time for some more food. We stopped by a few familiar places like 7/11 and KFC. It's quite difficult to order/buy anything because we don't know how to say basic things like "what is this" or "what is that!?!." We managed to get by ordering food by putting our Stanford knowledge to good use and pointing to the pictures on the menu and using charades like gestures to indicate quantity and size. Good times. My appreciation for translators/those who work at the UN increased exponentially because this language barrier is no joke. At the same time though it made me really want to keep up my Spanish learning and get back into sign language. A valuable asset you are if you can be a bridge between cultures. I succeeded in ordering my first meal though and I was pumped it came out the way I wanted. Japanese menus are a tad different because they have one picture then about eight bullet points next to it so you don't really know what they all mean or how there could be so many options. My order pretty much went like this:

              Server: something in Japanese akin to "can I take your order"
              Me: Pointing frantically at picture of sandwich
              Server: Graciously helps me out by narrowing down my picture options
              Me: point to the one that looks less scary
              Server: asks if I want a drink
              Me: Pepsi! Only drink on the menu I could recognize (there was a logo)

              Success!

The colonel lives

After walking around for a few hours we decided that was enough fun for one day. We headed back to the train station and nearly got lost once again. I really wish that you could read Japanese and just sound it out like you can Spanish or German but alas no such luck. We made it back to the train station and for 350 yen we were on our way.

It definitely says something

The night ended with our welcome party and that was really cool. We got to sit out on the patio by the pool and have all you can eat/drink. The food was really good actually with a good mix of American and Japanese entrees. I didn't bring my camera down because I thought we would be going in the pool so no pictures whatsoever from the evening but it was a nice relaxed event with about 100 other people that we had no idea why they were in attendance. Another day in the books and tomorrow is the first day of practice. Apparently we'll be in shells all week, no complaints here. Until the next time