One month on...

So it’s been a month, already? Wow. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was saying a teary-eyed goodbye to my folks. And now here I am: I can find my way home no matter what exit the train station throws me out of; I can lead a group of six kids whose native language isn’t English to sing and act out ‘head, shoulders knees and toes’ four times in a row; and I can resist buying every oh-so-pretty anime goody that catches my eye*

I wanted a challenge, now I’ve got one. Yeah, I only work six hours a day but those hours are intense. Managing a class of chattering Japanese children is something I still haven’t got to grips with yet. At ECC, I’m not allowed to speak or show I understand any Japanese, which is hard when you have a group of six or seven restless children bouncing around and chattering to you and each other in Japanese. Harder still when I’m out in the school lobby trying to make small talk with students or parents who can barely answer ‘what’s your name?’ in English.

But the kids, once you get them going in a song or game, are fantastic fun and amazing little sponges of language. The adults, once they understand a new word or relax and get chatting, are all fascinating. So many of the older students I’ve met have really interesting hobbies – traditional flower arranging in Kobe, scuba diving in Okinawa, ski bunnies in Osaka. None that I’ve met so far have said ‘I just watch TV’, or ‘I don’t do anything.’ The shortest answer to ‘What did you do at the weekend?’ I’ve had so far was ‘Study my kanji. A lot.’ (Hm, where to go from there..?)

Perhaps I’m only meeting a small minority of Kansai people who like pushing themselves to achieve (hence why they are learning English) but I feel like it’s teaching me a little about the ethos of people here. They like to challenge themselves; they like to keep busy; and they are enthusiastic about what they do. So I want to take those qualities on board too, and get myself a few good, challenging hobbies outside of work.

Learning Japanese is obviously a huge goal, and I can’t get any free lessons until December 1st when the Kobe Community Centre opens up their books again, so I’ve bought a challenging new textbook to give myself a little head start. My old textbook at warwick uni was mainly in English, but this one is in hiragana and katakana, so I have to get studying them again to use it.

Karate is my other burning desire to try here; having a weekly lesson in the UK was a great routine I had to stick to, rain or shine, and I made some great friends through it. It helped take my mind off work too which is something I can see I’m going to need. It’s hard to switch off sometimes. So. I have a YMCA just a short walk from my house, which I’ve seen runs loads of activities, so I’m going to brave going in to ask about classes there. I hope they have a flexible timetable as my working hours are so late at the moment; I could really do with either a morning class and/or a Sunday/Monday class. We’ll see what they’ve got.

Last but not least, I would love to get talking to some other anime/manga fans in the area too, as this is the mecca of it all, I’m sure there’s loads of events and good shops right under my nose. I wish there was a manga club just like at the astral gypsy in Coventry, perhaps there is but I’d have to find the otaku first.

One of the great things about doing sub classes at the moment is meeting other ECC teachers around the area. I’ve been for a few drinks with a group in Kobe, and today one of them kindly showed me some cool places around Sannomiya. They’re all pretty pleased to see new teachers arriving now, and as there’ll be more still coming later this month, I’m sure more opportunity for beer and possibly even karaoke will arise. We can but hope.

*not a guarantee