Ｊａｍｅｓ　Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ　Ｈｏｕｓｅ

It's Monday morning, so I have to bring the garbage out to the collection spot by 8:00 AM. The collection spot is far enough away so I have to drive to it, and in winter that means I have to scrap the frost off the windshield before I can go.

When we lived near the sea we never had problems with windshield frost. But when we built our house in the mountains it became a problem. My wife's solution to it was to get a bowl of hot water from the kitchen sink and throw it on the windshield.

There was many a morning when she'd go out to her car and then come back in and order me to get a bowl of hot water. Growing up in a cold climate, I know that throwing hot water on a cold windshield really isn't a good idea, so I decided that I would get a windshield scraper the next time I went back to the US.



I kind of enjoy scraping the windshield on a cold morning. It reminds me of being back home. Of course, scraping the windshield here is a lot easier here than in upstate New York because the car frost is the only thing that regularly gets iced over in Shizuoka. I really like living in a place where it never snows and I'm so glad that I didn't have to import a snow shovel because shoveling snow is something I hate!!!  

It is customary for Japanese people who take trips to buy souvenirs for their family members and friends when they go someplace. This means, of course, that being a teacher means you get a lot of souvenirs. And other students in the class will get something as well.

One of my students went to Los Angeles and Las Vegas for a week and these are what she brought back for us. The snacks and the postcards were for the other two students in the class while the Grape-nuts were for me.

The snacks and the postcards are pretty standard souvenirs, but the Grape-nuts are a bit out of the ordinary. Why would I get Grape-nuts you ask? The student knows that I love granola and as she handed me the box she said, "I got you some granola." I replied, "Thank you, but this isn't granola. It's a breakfast cereal." "Are you sure?" she said, "look at the picture, it's granola." "Well," I countered, "look at the box, is the word granola written anywhere on it?" It took awhile to explain what the difference between grape-nuts and granola is. "I just looked at the picture on box.....and it looked so healthy......sorry!" was her carefree retort.

Another student in the class who likes to pick on me said, "You shouldn't complain, she got you something that you've never eaten before." I was a bit confused by this statement, "What do you mean??" I asked. "New is written on the box so you've never eaten this before," was her answer. It took a few minutes to explain that "new" meant that it was a just a new flavor for an old cereal.

The other student in the class then said, "Does the American Post Office sell food?" I was perplexed and asked what she meant. "Post is written on the box, isn't it??" It took awhile to explain that Post was the name of the company that made the food.

The three of them wanted to eat some of this and I poured a little into each of their hands. The first student started to complain, "I didn't get any of the red things like the others did. Give me some." So, I fished around in the box and gave her some of the dried fruit in the cereal. She picked one up and said, "Grapes in America are red??" "Huh, what are you talking about?" I got out as I recoiled in my seat. "The box says "grape" and these are red, so American grapes must be red!" It took awhile to explain what the name meant and how this was dried cranberry and not grapes. It was a pretty rousing start of the class.

Ah, the life of an ESL teacher in Japan! Never a dull moment and plenty of delicious snacks!!  

I have always given candy to kids at the end of class as a way of saying thank you. The kids seem to appreciate it.

On Thursday night, I teach a 4th grade girl who has a younger sister who doesn't study English that always comes with her mother at the end of the class. One night, as I was handing out candy, I happened to look up and the younger sister had a look on her face that said, "Wow, I wish I could have a candy too!" So, I asked her mother if it was OK to give her a candy, and when her mother said it was, the girl was very happy. I have continued to give her a candy since then.

This December as I prepared Christmas gifts for all the students, I decided that I would give this younger sister one as well. She was very surprised and said "thank you" in a big voice as I handed it to her.

At the beginning of the first class this year the older sister suddenly pulled out a red envelope of her bag and passed it to me saying "It's from my sister." In the envelope was a hand drawn picture of me with a note written on the back. The note said, "James, thank you for everything. You give me candy and you gave me a Christmas present. They make me very happy. You really are a gentle person."

I really like this picture of me. Not only did she give me a lot of hair, she also made me thinner and look a lot younger. I'm going to keep this picture posted on the whiteboard for a long time!!
  

I was in my favorite coffee shop when an ex-student of mine came in and sat down next to me and we started talking. He suddenly said that he had read my wife's profile in some book and that it said that I liked Yosa Buson. He looked straight at me, cocked one eye and asked, "Is that true??"

I've never understood why people find it hard to believe that I am interested in haiku. I don't study it so much now, but there was a time when I read and wrote haiku every day. So yes, I do like Yosano Buson, he is my favorite haiku poet and I find that he and the English poet John Keats are very similar in their ability to evoke strong imagery.





I recently was introduced to a haiku by Buson which I found interesting:

辻堂に死せる人あり麦の秋

There is a
dead person in
the crossroad's temple;
wheat the
color of autumn.


The word autumn (秋）is used in the seasonal word (季語) but the "kigo" of this haiku is summer　(夏）. The Kadokawa "Haiku Saijiki, summer" (俳句歳時記夏の部　角川書店編) says that 麦の秋 (wheat's autumn) is:

麦が熟する初夏のころをいい、吾ー六月にあたる。
(The time in early summer when the wheat crops are ripe in May or June.)

It also explains:

麦刈りの時期を控えて短く、農家の人たちは忙しく立ち動かなければならい
(The cutting of the wheat season is kept short because of the rainy season so farmers are very busy and must work very hard.)


Knowing that the wheat harvest is a hard and short time for the farmers, we can understand the meaning of this haiku. Farmers are too busy during this season, so if someone in a farming family dies, they don't have the time to give them a proper funeral. So, the dead body stays in the temple alone because everyone is out in the fields cutting the wheat.

Everyone knows that going to a funeral in Japan is a day long event. You start in the dead person's house in the morning, you go the crematorium, you go back to funeral hall, you go to the temple and then there usually is family party after. It's a long hard day.

Plus, given that funerals in Japan are still community events where neighboring houses send people to help out the bereaving family, a death during harvest would effect every household.

Buson lived in the 18th century, so imagine what a funeral was like in those days. It's easy to see why a wheat farming family during the harvest season wouldn't have the time to do a funeral.

I won't say that this is a great haiku by Buson, but I do think that it does give the sense of the quietness around a farming community when all people are busy working in the fields and it does evoke the bathos of a family who is too busy to honor its just dead. I do know that the next time I have to go to a funeral I will think about this haiku.

  

I had to go to a community party this afternoon at the local community hall and one of my neighbors suddenly pointed at me and asked, "Didn't I see you on TV yesterday doing a DOCOMO commercial?"


Yes, that was me. To make a long story short, one of my student's brother is a producer at TV Shizuoka and he suddenly needed a "gaijin" (foreigner) for a commercial about DOCOMO's new translation program. And he was so desperate that he used me.


The spot was filmed on Dec 18 and was run at about 6:40 last night during the comedy duo Ninety Nine's "Mechaike" (めちゃいけ) It will be on again on Jan 12 (I don't know what time) and then will never be shown again. And it wasn't a national commercial, only people in the Shizuoka area saw it. I was on screen for about nine seconds.


There were two "pro" TV talents with me in it. One came from Tokyo and another came from Nagoya for the filming. Here are their blogs:


http://beamie.jp/?m=pc&a=page_fh_diary_list&target_c_member_id=309

http://ameblo.jp/kubo-junko/entry-11440752298.html?frm_src=thumb_module


It was a once in a lifetime experience and it was fun. They even payed me for doing it. So now that I am a TV talent, I guess I'm going to need an agent. LOL. Does anyone out there want my autograph??
  

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!! I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2013!!

I don't usually make New Years resolutions because I usually don't keep them. But, a student put me on the spot this year. They sent me a "Happy New Years" message and said their New Years resolution was to study harder and then they asked me what my resolutions for the year were.

After thinking about it I decided there are three things that I want to do this year. First, I want to exercise more (i.e. go on a diet) because my weight is starting to go up again. The second is that I want to play my guitar more and I want to play and sing with other people more than I did this past year. And the third is that I want to do this blog more.

I pretty sure that I can do the first two pretty easily, but writing the blog might be a bit of a problem. I will try and I hope I will be able to force myself to write more and look for things to write about.

So, what are your New Year's resolutions?? You know I'm going to ask you about them in class!!