Graduation and the Japanese Driver's License Test

Been slacking a bit but whatever!

The 3rd years (9th graders) graduated a little over 2 weeks ago and it was pretty awesome.  There was a graduation ceremony that felt just as formal as a high school ceremony back in the states.  I told some of the teachers that graduating from middle school wasn't such a big deal in the states because you couldn't do much with just graduating from middle school.  In fact, high school is mandatory in the states so it makes it even less of a big deal.

Students walked up and received diplomas and this went on for about maybe 20 minutes or so?  Can't remember.  Afterwards the 1st and 2nd years (8th and 7th graders) sang a song for their upperclassmen.  It was sad to see them go even though I hadn't been with them that long but for the most part I was glad to see them go (don't tell them that though!)

After the ceremony in the gym, students (I'm assuming since I didn't actually go up there with them) went back into their homerooms and said their final goodbyes and signed their year books before coming downstairs to a hallway filled with the younger students who congratulated them and said goodbyes and thank yous.  The teachers got in on the act too and people were handing out flowers and other gifts.  One of the 3rd years is going to sign up for a program in the states and he has a chance to go to Oregon if he gets in!  When he came down I gave him my email and told him to contact me if he got into the program.  Hope he does!


Before going home, a girl saw me, turned, and with a big smile yelled "Dustin!  I... forget... you!"  I was about to go over and German suplex her, but her friend helped her out and she corrected it into "Dustin, I remember you!"  It was sweet.  We made out after.  Ok no we didn't.  But she wanted to.  Ok maybe not.

So!  I had heard that the proctors for the Japanese Driver's test were racist.  I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and give it my all.  The practical test for the license isn't very practical.  It doesn't test your driving ability as much as it should and they pick on the smallest things.  There is a part in the test called the crank and it's basically 3 90 degree turns.
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My drawing sucks but that's the general idea of it.  You can back up 3 times if you think you'll hit the curb or a wall.  I had to back up zero times because I am awesome.  There is also a part that's basically the shape of an S and you have to navigate through that also.  These 2 parts show that you can navigate Japan's narrow roads, although the crank might not really exist in real life as it is on the test.

I nailed the test.  I know I did.  I did everything right.  But that moron decides to ask me, right after we finish "Do you drive like that in America?"  He gave me a LIST of stuff I didn't do (half of it I know I did) and at the end told me I didn't know how to hold a steering wheel even though I had been 10 2ing it the whole time.  Racist bastard!  I'm taking the test next Tuesday again and if I pass I'm not thanking him!

卒業【そつぎょう】 (sotsu/gyou) (n,vs,adj-no) (1) graduation

March 11th, 2011, 2:46 PM

A year has passed since the most devastating earthquake in Japan's recorded history.  Even if you don't know anything about Japan or care, you likely found out about this not long after it happened.  I remember I was sitting at my computer in the early hours of the evening when my mom came up and told me a huge earthquake had just hit Japan.  I turned on the news and they repeatedly showed clips of the tsunami invading the land, taking with it cars, homes, boats and trees.

A lot has happened and there have been big clean up efforts and lots of money donated.  But there is still a lot, A LOT of clean up left to do.  They just paved one of the roads destroyed by the tsunami in my city yesterday.  There are still a lot of buildings that haven't been touched as far as clean up.  There are still places that have rubble piles a story high.  It will take many years for Japan to recover.  Remember the Haiti earthquake?  Their people are still without homes in some places.  Japan isn't a 3rd world country, but disasters like the one that happened to Japan don't get fixed over night.

One of the events I went to gave people the opportunity to write a wish on a piece of paper, strap it to a glass bottle and light a candle inside of it.  The event I found out was actually orchestrated by my teacher's niece.  There were quite a few candles and people were still making out wishes by the time I had written mine, which was a little later in the evening.

This one says something like "I pray your heart is at peace."  Yes the object to the left of it reminds me of a tooth.  There were quite a few other ones wishing for a stronger Japan and ones wishing for their relatives to rest in peace and all that jazz.  It was pretty touching.  Obviously I couldn't grasp the whole meaning of the events because I wasn't here for the whole ordeal, but still it was very moving.



On a separate note, my teacher's daughter's name is Rei.  Just so I don't forget, which I probably will.

大震災【だいしんさい】 (dai/shin/sai) (n) great earthquake (disaster);

Graduating Classes and Japan Puberty Stage

School lunch with "Congratulations" dessert

The school year ends in March, and early March for the graduating class.  As it is, my 3rd year junior high school students (9th grade) are finishing up this week, with a graduation ceremony on Saturday.  I only knew them a little more than half a year, but will be sad to see them go (except for one class who doesn't talk at one of my schools, good riddance to the lot o' ya! Haha)  The final lesson is them writing stuff about their teachers, embarrassing moments, fun times, predictions for themselves in 1 week, 1 year and 10 years, and writing down who is most likely to be an actor/actress, be a doctor, get rich and who will go to jail.

I'm nearing what I think is my puberty stage in Japan now.  When I first got to Japan and for the first few months I was still trying to figure out how things work, what teachers expected of me, and trying to see how I could get the students to connect with me.  Now I more or less know what's going on and what I should be doing.  Case in point: This blog is being written during work.  OH BAM!

Trying to think of what to do with my 2nd years (8th graders) for their last class.  Maybe Jeopardy or something.

卒業式【そつぎょうしき】 (sotsu/gyou/shiki) (n) graduation ceremony; graduation exercises