Fall "English Experiences"

If you're looking for a good conversation starter (in Japan) this time of year, the following phrase will likely get you a long way:

福島の秋はとても美しいです。
"The Autumn in Fukushima is absolutely beautiful!"

One of my students, whose hobby is photography, has been outside "practicing" for weeks, in preparation for when the leaves change color.  A week ago Haidee and I took a hike up Azuma Ko Fuji, the mountain that we can see from our apartment window, and enjoyed some beautiful Fall colors at the higher elevation.

Some of the beautiful Fall colors atop 吾妻小富士

Along with the change of colors this Fall has come a change in activities at our English school.  One of Haidee's students recently got married and had to stop taking English lessons.  This lowered our Saturday student count to one.  For some reason our Fukushima students have not been very interested in regular English classes on Saturdays.  After a bit of brainstorming we decided to try a little experiment this fall:

Autumn English Experience

An interactive, hands-on experience is a very good way to learn a foreign language.  It can also be a lot of fun!  So we've scheduled events for five Saturday afternoons this Fall to see if there is any interest in this alternative form of English language learning.  Drawing from the many diverse talents of our team:  Haidee, Cindy, Pamela, and myself, we came up with these five themes:  Pie Baking, Dancing, Skits and Stories, Christmas Songs and Carols, and a Christmas Party (Yes - partying is a talent!). 

Our first event, Pumpkin Pie Baking, required a lot of preparation.  Haidee and I practiced making crusts and baking pumpkins (which are actually かぼちゃ= Japanese squash).  Cindy baked Apple Cobbler, and designed the recipe handouts for the event.  We brainstormed ways to bake pies using our 3 tiny Japanese ovens (that suck up electricity and tend to blow fuses in older Japanese buildings; such as our church).  The morning of the event we rearranged the Sanctuary to make space for 4 different groups to bake a pie and an apple cobbler.

Our Pie Baking event was very well attended!  In addition to students from our school, we had some students from a public school where Cindy teaches, as well as students from a church member's school.  Everyone enjoyed the day, good conversations were had, and all the pies got baked, eventually (I ended up running over to Pamela and Joel's apartment with one uncooked pumpkin pie to use their oven when it was clear that the church was not going to handle all three ovens going at once).

Cindy teaching the words to "Shake Another Hand" - our icebreaker song

Students interacting during the event.

Haidee explains the pumpkin pie recipe.

Participants of all ages help with the pie making.

The ladies gather ingredients at the back table.

Students enjoying pie and tea at the end of the afternoon

We'll be posting more about our "Fall Experiences" on the English school website:  http://3strandsenglish.webs.com/apps/blog/.  Haidee updates the site weekly - if you're interested, check it out from time to time.

Getting a Japanese Driver's License (Part Two)

(If you are looking for some good materials to study in preparation for the Driver’s License Test in Fukushima Prefecture, click here)

I needed to apply for a driver’s license in Japan, a country obsessed with perfection.  Just how hard is it to pass the Japanese Driving Test?  Read the detailed account on my previous blog.

A week ago Friday Joel and I, with help from Nomura Sensei, went to the Fukushima Driving License Center to try our first attempt at getting a Japanese Driver’s license.  We were met with a long list of required documents, paperwork to be filled out in Japanese, a long wait, an interview grilling us for details on our driver’s test in the USA, more waiting, an eye exam, an easy (and slightly humorous) bi-lingual written exam, even more waiting, and an insanely impractical “practical” driving test. . . .only to find out at the end of the day that we failed.

The next Wednesday, I showed up at the Driving License Center for attempt #2. . . . and I passed!  Yappari (just as I thought!), the mysterious picture of a bicycle on the road means that all bicycles (the imaginary ones that I was supposed to look everywhere for) are supposed to leave the road.  I researched a little more on-line to discover one American’s blog about his first attempt (and subsequent failure) of the “practical” driving test.  He, too, failed because he wrongly assumed that the yellow line signified a bicycle lane. 

You're actually supposed to drive on top of this picture!

When I completed my second attempt on the “practical” driving course, Nomura Sensei joined us in the car and translated the proctor’s comments to me.  His first statement was, “Wow, you’ve really been practicing!”  I had a good feeling that I was going to pass.  However, he then went on to lecture me for over 10 minutes about looking carefully for other cars, pedestrians, and bicycles.  “I saw you looking both ways, and using your mirrors, but I don’t think you were looking well enough.  I don’t think you confirmed that there were no other vehicles.”  I simply nodded and said, ‘Yes, of course, I understand’.  In my mind I was thinking, “How on earth can I confirm that I’m looking for all of these imaginary figures on a completely closed off, perfectly safe, well-manicured driving course?”

My confidence slightly shaken after that long lecture, I waited with Nomura Sensei for another 45 minutes on the 3^rd floor of the License Center to get the results.  A young man from Bangladesh who had taken the test with me (apparently this was his 4^th or 5^th attempt) got the news that he had once again failed.  Then an officer called out my name and said, Omeditou (congratulations!).  I passed!

I had to pay another fee (¥2200) and wait for another 30 minutes before they were ready to take my official picture for the driver’s license (Do you remember that 3x2.4cm picture I need to bring with me?  That apparently wasn’t for the actual license car).  Five minutes after the picture was taken I was holding my new card and walking out the door just before 3:00pm. 

This is a "Kei Car" - much smaller than the typical American car.

I now have a license to drive in Japan, and I’m happily exercising my new privilege.  I’ve taken to driving in Japan pretty quickly (although I still occasionally make the mistake of getting in on the left side of the car only to find that the steering wheel is on the right side – whoops!).  Only one problem remains:  I’m just a little bit paranoid about making left hand turns. . . . the bicyclist, the bicyclist, am I going to hit the bicyclist!?