Kada - fishing

Today during 5th and 6th period, the whole school walked over to the ocean and went fishing. About 5 or 6 of the student’s father’s neatly arranged about 80 fishing poles and many bait buckets for us before we arrived. The students were very excited, as was I. The poles had a long fishing line hanging from it with a small basket attached at the end to hold the ebi, and about 4 hooks going up the line from it. Most of the fish the student’s caught were Horse Mackerel. But there were 2 fugu, one big and one really tiny. The tiny one kept puffing his belly out to seem bigger. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. He was thrown back. The mackerel were not so lucky. Except for one. The girl in one of the pictures above ran by with the only fish she caught. I stopped her to take the picture. When she turned around to drop it into the bucket, it squirmed free and dove back into the sea. I was happy for him, but the girl was sad. At least I have proof that she caught one. I had a really nice time mingling with the students as they fished.
Unfortunately this is the school that I am at the shortest amount of time. The first visit is for 2 weeks, the second and third are only 5 days each. I am glad to have this experience at Kada.

Kada Jr. High

It is late Friday night, but I am so excited to share with all of you the wonderful week I had at my new school, Kada Jr. High. Everyone told me how small the school is because it is in a little fishing village on the outskirts of Wakayama. But I never expected it to be this small. All together in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades, there are 80 students – TOTAL! There is one class at each grade level, and 6 teachers. Tonight they had a dinner at a Chinese restaurant near my apt. I had such a great time. The English teacher, Mr. Moriwaki, helped to translate some of the conversations. I wish I could find better words to describe the climate of the school, but it is basically like a family. They have made me feel so welcome. The students are kind and respectful. They have been together in the same class since kindergarten, so they are like brothers and sisters. It is so evident how much all the staff cares for each student’s well being.












On Wednesday, they celebrated their athletic festival. It was the first one I have seen in Japan. The students had a lot of fun. I participated in the tug of war and folk dancing. Some of the boys didn’t want to hold my hand, so of course I grabbed their hands and shook them all around. But a few of the other boys were quite the little gentlemen, bowed, and held my hand tightly as we danced. There was a nice opening ceremony with music and marching. By the way, the picture of the students lined up, is of ALL the students. Lunch was provided for us. Beautiful, but a little too raw. Can you find me in the tug of war picture?
There are too many pictures, so I will continue on teh next post.

Engrish Signs

As I’m sure most of you know, Japanese translations can be quite amusing. I decided to create some different blog pages dedicated to things I find entertaining, and hopefully you will too. This page has signs that I have seen around Japan.

I think it was fate that we ended up at the Hearton Hotel on our Madonna weekend. Check out the name of the convention hall! For those of you who don’t know, Sumire is my middle name. And for the last time, it means “violet” not “violent.”


I was just happy to see a sign with mom’s maiden name on it. I did not try any Ogawa Coffee, but I’m sure it is great. The staff was very kind and kept trying to make me sit down even though I was just looking around to see if there was any “Ogawa” merchandise.


Patisserie Tooth Tooth is a small dessert shop in Kobe. The cakes looked amazing, and they probably are pretty bad for your teeth.



Hair Make Love is a hair salon near my apartment. At least I think it’s a hair salon…



I wonder where they go to do experiments?



I think even more frightening than eating a flesh cake, is having it served in the old converted church we were in.



On our bathroom door in the Hearton Hotel, this sign was posted. Keep in mind smoking is permitted in the room, so I guess “a” smoke detector really only detects the dangerous steam, not actual smoke.

And don’t worry, my search is not over yet!

Madonna live at the Osaka Dome

This past weekend was a three-day weekend in Japan because Monday was Respect for the Aged day. In celebration, I went to Osaka for a Madonna concert. I have never seen Madonna live before, and she is an amazing performer. It was quite a show. On Saturday, my friend Susanne came to Wakayama City and we had dinner with Theo and Shogo at an all-you-can-eat-in-90-minutes restaurant. Needless to say, I was quite stuffed after about 60 min, but I pushed on. Then we headed to a 24-hour bookstore (crazy, I know) and picked up a few books. I am buying lots of kid’s books that tell you what things are in English and Japanese. Who knows, maybe by June, I’ll have the vocabulary of a three year old!
Sunday morning Susanne and I headed to Osaka fueled by a breakfast of coffee and cake. It was like when I was little and Grandma Frazier let me have leftover birthday cake for breakfast. We went to a really crappy part of town because people had suggested a cheap hotel there. Erring on the side of safety, I decided that we should find other accommodations. So we got back on the subway and went to Shinsaibashi in Umeda and found a much nicer hotel in a great shopping area. We shopped for a little bit, then headed to the Osaka Dome.
We arrived about 5:30 and found our seats, which weren’t too bad. A little far, but an unobstructed view. Theo and I spent about 10 min. texting each other and standing and waving to try and find one another, but never did. I wanted to get better pictures of the stage, so we snuck down to the lowest part of our section, which was basically field level. Soon the concert started and instead of being rude and walking in front of people to return to our seats, we found two empty seats in the 2nd row on the end and stayed there. We had an excellent view of the stage. As I said, Madonna puts on quite a show. Her singing was perfect, even while dancing around stage for 2 hours. And she’s 50! She sang old and new songs, only a few I didn’t know. She was accompanied by a Muslim-looking guy, whom she referred to as “Frank Sinatra,” for a few songs. He had such a beautiful singing voice, both in English and whatever the other language was (Arabic?). The dancers just blew me away with their strength and choreography. For one song there were monkey bars set up across the stage and the male dancers glided through and around them like a Cirque de Soliei show. They also did a roller skating routine and break dancing, which I love to watch. She put a 70’s beat to some of her older songs which I really liked. Sometimes live performances don’t sound as good to me, but in this case, I enjoyed all the songs better than the originals on CD. How she danced and sang for 2 hours, I do not know, but it was an excellent show. I would absolutely see her again!
On the way out, I helped the clean up crew out by removing one of the posters advertising the concert with Madonna’s picture and the info in Japanese. Soon, everyone was pitching in and taking the posters down! Aren’t we helpful? :)
Susanne and I went back to the area around our hotel where there is a Mexican restaurant that everyone says is the best. It was pretty good, but I’d say more Northern California Mexican, than Southern. And we all know that nothing beats San Diego Mexican food! But it was a nice change.
We left Osaka after a little more shopping on Monday, and headed to an outlet mall in Rinku Town. The outlets were very nice, and finally, with an almost empty wallet, we headed home.
By the way, all the Madonna pictures were taken with my cell phone. They turned out pretty well!

Care package

The only reason I am making this list is because people asked. Ok, and I like gifts too :). Please do not feel that you must send me anything because it is very expensive to mail things to Japan. And of course I would love things not on this list too because they would be reminders of home. But thank you to those of you who are asking what I need (or want). I can’t tell you how happy and loved it makes me feel to know that you are thinking of me. Also remember how picky I am, so some of the items are very specific. Just laugh it off as one of my quirks.
Food:
Goldfish crackers (cheddar or multi-colored)
Cheerios (regular not honey)
Bisquick
Smucker’s sugar free syrup
Any type of mix (muffin, cake, cookie, brownie)
Frosting and cake decorations ( I’d like to use with my 2 kids I tutor)
Tomato paste in a tube
Newman’s Own Spaghetti Sauce
Worshtershire sauce
Ground coffee from coffee bean (light/med roast, flavored – not coconut)
Coffee mate powder (I go through the giant cans in about a month or two)
Flavored powder from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (fat free, sugar free vanilla or chocolate, if you can find their white chocolate, I’d love you forever)
Guava jam (not jelly)
Wheat thins or Triscuits (low fat even though it doesn’t really matter)
Non-perishable because of the time it takes to get here. Unless you come visit me and put it in your carry on! Then I have a whole other list!! Hee hee!

Teaching stuff:
Sentence strips
Index cards
Some basic workbooks to practice reading in English, about a K, 1st, or 2nd grade level for my two girls that I tutor. They are learning how to blend sounds. Just words, not really sentences yet.
English conversation frames
Little give away things for the kids from America, California, San Diego, or Hawaii (like stickers, postcards, key chains, etc.)

Thank you for keeping me in your thoughts. And your emails keep me from becoming homesick more than any presents (except, of course, for a California burrito).
Love you all,
Leilani

hula

Did you really think I’d give up hula for a whole year? This weekend my friend, Akemi, found us a hula group to join! The group is called Keola. I met with the two teachers after their show, and they seemed very nice. They don’t speak English, so I’m hoping they use Hawaiian commands, then I can follow along. I liked their costumes, much better than the ones from my old group. My first class will be on Sat. I am excited to begin my lessons!
By the way, the show was at a community center and before the hula performance, some high school bands performed. They were really good! I was quite impressed.

Fukko

I’ve been at school for about a week now. The first Junior High that I’m at is called Fukko. It is right at the base of the castle. They teach 7th – 9th grades here. The school itself is very different from Palmer Way. All the teachers have their desks in the teacher’s room, and they move from class to class instead of the students. It is crowded and messy in the teacher’s room. They are seated in clusters by grade level, presumably for collaboration. I don’t think there are any custodians, because the students do all the cleaning. Therefore, the rooms are not very clean. There is not much of a field outside, just dirt. Apparently this is very typical of a public school. Many teachers are afraid to speak English, so I try to say hello/ohayo gozaimasu and look as friendly as I can. The first day, I walked around to each teacher, gave them my card with my name and e-mail address on it, and a piece of chocolate. They liked the chocolate. When I was introduced at the morning meeting, I did a very short introduction in horrible Japanese. They all clapped and said how wonderful my Japanese was. It was kind of them to fib, but I think they really just appreciated the effort. The vice principal, Kyoto Sensei, has been very kind to me. He is a former English teacher, so he speaks very well. Everyday he makes an effort to come and talk with me. Today we talked about schools in San Diego and how they are different than here. It turns out his wife works at one of the other schools I will be visiting. The main English teacher I’m working with, Hirata Sensei, has also been very kind and helpful.
I have been doing self-introductions each day to different classes. Sometimes I am in a small group outside the classroom, and sometimes it’s in front of the whole class. Japanese students begin learning English in 7th grade, although now I think it may begin in elementary school too. I have been introducing myself to the students as “Leilani,” because no one can pronounce “Frazier.” I thought my first name would be harder.
The one thing that has really surprised me here is the behavior of the students. It is very common to have the teacher or another student speaking, and have small groups of other students talking quite openly at the same time. The teacher just talks louder. Some teachers will ask the students to be quite, and only sometimes will they listen. With one teacher, I had to just completely take over because they were being so disrespectful to her and me. Many of the students are very nice though. I only see each class once a week, and I am only at Fukko for 3 weeks. I wish I could spend more time in just one school.

Nara

On Sat, Tristan, Megan, Rose, Susanne, and I went on a field trip to Nara. It is about an hour and a half by train. After going to so many cities here in Japan, it was nice to make it to a place with more natural beauty. After some ramen and gyoza, we walked to Kofukuji Temple. It is famous for it’s 5 floor pagoda. There we encountered many deer. At first they were all cute and Bambi like, but as we watched people trying to feed them, we realized how fearsome they were. If you had no food, they walked calmly by. But if you have the sembei crackers in your hand, they pull and bite at your clothes. I have many pictures of deer chasing people around while they throw their crackers at them, but I was absolutely ecstatic to catch one of the deer biting this poor man on the butt. Although the funniest thing was when Tristan went to buy water from the vending machine, turned around and was face to face with a deer with large antlers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone jump so high. I could not stop laughing.
Then we walked to Todaiji Temple, which houses the Great Buddha of Nara, 53 feet tall, the largest bronze Buddha ever cast. It is inside the largest wooden building in the world. There is a pillar inside with a small hole at the base. It is good luck to squeeze through it. One man was pulled through by his wife after getting stuck. I think I could have maybe fit a leg through.
On the way back to the train, we came across a woman dressed in a kimono. She stopped and posed for our pictures. She looked fabulous!
This was the best place I’ve been to by far, especially after all the cities.
Saturday night, we went back to Wakayama and picked up some bento boxes for dinner. It was about 9pm and we walked to the castle to eat. It was very peaceful, but lots of bugs. Have I mentioned that there are small bats that fly around at night? So three of us were at one bench and Tristan and Megan were at the other. Suddenly Tristan throws his food in the air, screams, and runs off. He “said” that a bat landed on his back and walked two steps. None of us saw it but he insisted. That was the second time I almost peed my pants that day from laughing so hard.
All in all, another good weekend!

dinner and karaoke

On Friday afternoon, I went to a Jet meeting. It basically introduced (officially) group A to group B. We went to dinner, which will hopefully be the last time I see most of those people ever again. I have given them a chance, and I just really dislike some of them. I am truly happy with the dozen or more good friends I have made in the program, and I am satisfied with that. On Friday I had about 10 people stay over, and I probably could have fit a few more. Thanks to Joe for taking the closet!
The pictures are of me and Theo singing, Susanne singing, Gareth and I at the restaurant, Tristan, Lara, and Theo at the restaurant, and of course Joe coming out of the closet.
On a different note, I am watching Lost on cable, and I'm going to cry. I almost hyperventilated when I saw it was on. With second season repeats, maybe I'll get to see the third!