It may still be too early to tell, but I think I love my job.
That was meant to be my opening line describing my first week in Tahara. Then it was meant to be a description of my first two weeks. Now, I'm forced to use it to describe my first three weeks. As they say, time makes fools of us all.
Where has the time gone? Well, to a number of different things, to my new job, (which I shall describe in a moment) to exploring my new home, (which I shall describe in my next entry) and to two festivals in the city, (one of which I will use in a later entry to explain flaws in the American educational system).
But first, let me describe my new position: professional charades player. Apparently, there are places in the world that will pay you to play charades. And I am not even amongst the world's greatest players, as my family will attest. I am likely not even in the top fifty. Actually, calling myself a professional charades player may be giving my job too many layers of complexity. In charades you are expected not to talk.
Of course, I am (partly) kidding. My new job is to teach English to Japanese high school students, being paid to play charades is just a byproduct.
My students have been excellent, for the most part. However, the effects of the Japanese cultural system on educational culture have been widely exaggerated. Students remain the same wherever you go, I believe.
My coworkers have also been fun to work with. Again, this is a place where I believe my expectations were misinformed. Everyone (who speaks English) has been wonderful about speaking with me and making me feel welcome. They have enjoyed speaking with me about foreign and domestic politics. They've spoken to me at length about America and Japan. The vast majority have even visited Washington DC. And the ones who don't speak English are still friendly, just a little more shy.
There has been one mistake that has united my experiences with both students and my teacher coworkers though. In both cases, I woefully underestimated the amount of knowledge they both had regarding English and America. My basis for my poor and wrong assumptions were my experiences with Spanish and my general knowledge of Japan. However, my students knowledge of English has been truly superb. My ultimate goal, therefore, has not necessarily been to teach. Rather, I have attempted to give my students a chance to practice what they already know.
Likewise, when discussing America with my coworkers, I am surprised by their knowledge of the country. Of course, America makes news all over the world but that did not lead me to believe that their knowledge would be so specific. (I remember going through the 'Great Japan Scare' in the 1990s, yet my knowledge of Japan remained limited.) Before my first trip to Japan, I could locate Tokyo and (I like to believe) Kyoto and Okinawa, but specific knowledge beyond that was beyond me. All my knowledge of Japanese history, beyond major world events and information I gleaned from Japanese cultural forms, came from my reading list, extracted over the past three months. And yet, information about America seems common knowledge.
There have been situations where I have assumed too much. I constantly speak too quickly with my coworkers. Maintaining a steady pace with my students is no trouble, but it is easy for me to forget that English is not my coworkers' first language. I hope to make simple, direct dialogue my specialty before I am through in Japan.
Thus far, it has been a wonderful experience and I look forward to describing many more mistakes here in the months to come.
