Seattle Spring Break

I think I'm finally caught up on all of the homework I put off over Spring Break...because I was in Seattle! It was a great trip, and I must thank my dear friend Katie a million times over for hosting me, feeding me, and putting up with my quirks. 

I arrived on Wednesday night. On Thursday I gave a presentation about Thailand to Katie's Asian cultures class. The kids really engaged with it and made some great connections. It wasn't as bad to interact with middle schoolers as I'd feared, but I still have an enormous amount of respect for anyone who teaches that age group. What an awkward time of life. 

Friday was a big day. Katie took me on a tour of the UW campus, which was fantastic. I love their library. I then connected with some family and went to the European Masters collection at the Seattle Art Museum. My favorite painting was this one.

A Canal in Winter by Isaac van Ostade

I like it because it portrays everyday life and is kind of a window into the past. Yep, that's about as deep as my visual art analyses go. 

After that Katie took me to a really neat park and we hiked around a bit and I got some great pictures.

Friday evening I got to meet some friends of Katie's and went to a driving range for the first time in my life. I absolutely sucked, but Katie's friend Alex was very patient about teaching me and by the end of it I could actually aim the ball... a little bit... 

On Saturday we hooked up with another college friend and played games. That evening we didn't have anything special planned, but while we were checking out a nearby church we discovered there was a choir concert going on that night. It was a collection of Italian sacred choral works, and being total music nerds, we decided to attend. 

So it was a pretty perfect weekend and the weather even cooperated, as much as Seattle weather does. 

Student Quotes

"I miss pork! I want to touch a pig..." 

"If I see a pig, I don't think 'I want to eat this one.' But if I see pork, I want to eat pork!" 

"My stomach is a black hole."

"My stomach is bigger than Japan." (She meant, "My stomach is bigger than it was in Japan.")

"I don't want to be fat, but I want to eat."

Today at breakfast,

Student: Today, I will go to the Shadle Center.
Me: to go shopping?
Student: Yes, my chocolate is gone.

I like these kids.

Also, yesterday I taught them the phrase, "that's a bummer." I was sorely tempted to teach them "that's a bum-bum" instead.

Living at Mukogawa means I'm never in need of company. There is always a handful of students eager to practice their English or looking for help with their homework. It would be draining if I didn't have the mornings to myself. As is, I often find myself being used as a walking dictionary or pronunciation guide. Sometimes the questions they come up with are very difficult to answer. I should probably be writing them down so that I can research them for future teaching, but that would be a lot of work... Often they pump me for English information going to and from meals. The other night they asked me what the difference is between explain and describe, when to use this or it, and of course they alwayswant help understanding articles. The Japanese language does not have articles (a, an, the) and their usage is not easy to explain.

Occasionally I will say a word they don't know, and then either one of the other group members will define it or I will have to play dictionary. The best part, though, is when they want to practice their pronunciation. This also often happens going to and from meals and it is hilarious. Not because their pronunciation is bad mind you, but because I often have a group of six people following me across campus while repeating the same word over and over again. "Bird, bird, bird, bird, biiiird, birrrrd," or "girl, girl, girl, giiiiiirl, giiirrrrrl, grrrr." And of course I'm often coaching them,

Me: Almost, you need more of an R sound, Girrrrl.
Students: Grrrrrrr.
Me: Not that much, try to place it more at the front of your mouth. Your tongue should move like this (demonstrated with hand motions).

Unfortunately, sometimes I can't help laughing after being surrounded by a chorus of the same word for five minutes. For example, yesterday one of the girls pointed to a puddle and asked me for the English word.

Me: Puddle
Student: Puddle?
Me: Puddle
Student 1: Puddle
Student 2: Puddle
Students 3 & 4: Puddle, Puddle!
All of them: Puddle! Puddle. Puddle. Puddle.
Me: (Can't stop laughing.)
Students: Heidi! WHY!? Why you laugh?
Me: Because I feel like I have an echo.
Student 1: Echo?
Students 2 & 3: Echo?
Students 1-4: Echo? Echo? Echo? What is echo?
Me: (Laughing hysterically) An echo is when...(laughter)
Students: Echo? Echo? Echo?

Finally I was able to explain it to them and on the upside, I learned the Japanese word for echo: Yamabiko!

Life at Muko (and Valentine's Day)

My new digs.

I worked really hard on this bulletin board. It makes me really happy.

My Valentine's Day haul. Best ever. 

One of the girls in my group is quite the artist. She's actually done a pretty good job capturing the personalities in my group.The hamsters are kind of an inside joke. One of the girls in my group really likes hamsters, but she has a hard time pronouncing the word and her friend likes to make fun of her. 

Why I'm Doing This 1

Yikes. It's been busy. I started working at Mukogawa this week, which has meant a whirlwind of new information to process. My orientation was last weekend and I moved most of my stuff in last Sunday. I'm now pretty well settled and have an epicly decorated bulletin board to prove it. I spent Monday through Wednesday trying to keep up with school while preparing for my group's arrival. They flew in on Thursday and since then it's been non-stop.

Actually, it's been pretty non-stop all week since, of course, everything has to happen at once. My niece's (4th!) birthday party was the same weekend as my orientation, which meant I was scrambling to get her a gift and get it wrapped etc. Then my classes just started amping up with multiple out-of-class projects and observations to juggle. And on top of it all I got sick the same day my group arrived. Not deathly ill, but I-have-a-sore-throat-and-lost-my-voice ill. Losing your voice the same week that you have to orient a group of non-native English speakers to a foreign country is less than ideal. For the last couple of days all I've been capable of is a croaky whisper. I think I'm finally regaining the use of my vocal chords, but talk about bad timing.

Today I took my group downtown. Seeing Spokane from a tourist's eyes (especially a Japanese tourist's eyes, if I may say so) really gives you a fresh appreciation for the place. Here is a normal downtown trip for me, sans Japanese students.

-drive forever looking for a parking place
-finally end up parking five blocks away from ultimate destination
-try to appreciate the walk while also trying not to be rude to the creepy people on the street
-meet friends for coffee/go to the park/whatever
Same old familiar, comfortable Spokane, appreciated, but not exciting.

Downtown trip with Japanese students
-Oh look! A squirrel! (Clicking of cameras).
-Oh look! A dog! So cute!
-Oh look! An American child! So cute! (Thankfully they refrain from taking pictures of people's pets and children.)
-Oh look! Geese! (Clicking of cameras).
-Oh look! Subway! We have Subway in Japan! (Clicking of cameras)

And that's pretty much how it went the entire time. It was the most exciting trip to downtown ever, and all we really did was walk by Riverfront park and go to the mall. Yes, we are in the honeymoon stage of culture shock. The first place we took them was Rite Aid, because it's a useful resource for them that's easily accessible from the bus plaza. Before today, Rite Aid was for me a boring convenience store. From now on I shall remember it as a wonderland of endless possibilities. I have never seen anyone get so excited at a convenience store. Let's face it, I've never seen anyone get excited about a convenience store period. But I think they could have spent an hour in there easily. I was kept busy explaining what my favorite snacks were, that the Spongebob Squarepants soap was indeed bodywash they could use in the shower, that Angry Birds is both a game and a candy, and why we sell such obscenely large bottles of wine.

When we moved on I took them past a few notable shops and down to Riverfront park. It was actually a pretty nice afternoon and I was pleased that they would have some good photos of the clocktower. I took them by my favorite coffee shop where I ran into my friend Katie (Elizabeth, be sure and ask her about this at Bible study). I introduced her to my group and of course they wanted to take our picture together. "Sure, let's have a picture!" Katie agreed. And suddenly we were faced with a wall of 12 cameras. Yep. When we arrived at the mall they again took a bunch of pictures... of... the... mall... I'm not trying to feed the stereotype that Japanese people take a ton of photos. I mean, they are traveling. I take pictures of random stuff when I'm traveling. Just maybe not quite as much.

I had them split up in the mall because we'd been attracting a lot of attention thus far. Then I took one group up to show them the Made in Washington store, which is right next to one of those big coin spirally things. Up until now I'd always thought of those as big rip-offs that essentially make you throw money into a hole. There was a little girl and her mom there though, and the mom was giving the little girl pennies to play with the thing. My group got a bigger kick out of it than the little girl did and I came to the realization that it's a fantastic way to get rid of extra pennies.

Tonight we sat in the kitchen and they taught me some Japanese games and we talked about Japanese and American culture. So I'm stressed out, and behind on my homework, and fighting a cold, and staying up way too late but days like this make it all totally worth it.

My housemates - I like them

From left to right, Katie's fiance Quinton as Robin Hood, Katie as a turtle, Pam the Pirate, and nobody's really sure what Elizabeth is supposed to be... Betty Crocker meets Laura Ingalls Wilder after a recent trip to REI?