The surveys have gone out, and I’m happy to say they were understandable to both students and teachers, which was the main thing I was worried about. I have to thank last year’s character project for that. It taught me how to put together an effective survey, and I’m glad that experience came in handy somewhere completely different.
Lessons have been great this week. I’ve been teaching my students colloquial British phrases, and they find it hilarious that the phrases don’t line up with the formal meanings they’ve learned from textbooks. My favourite was telling them that “calm” is slang for “okay”. They were completely baffled, because in their minds it means relaxed, so a perfectly normal “yeah, calm” sounded like I was telling them to chill out. It’s a nice bit of bridging too, since it got them laughing and using English for fun, which is exactly the sort of thing I’d like to see more of.
I had the opportunity to see Sakae at night. Well, it definitely wasn't glamorous: my phone was dying, and I had to find a charger at FamilyMart. Still, even a quick trip through Nagoya’s busiest district after dark was enough to see the neon and the crowds.
Japan at night is a completely different place. The neon comes on, the streets fill up, and the crowds are a total contrast to the quiet, calm daytime. After weeks of seeing the polite, reserved version, it was fascinating to see the country light up and get loud.
The highlight of the week was Arashiyama in Kyoto, where I wore a kimono, which felt like a natural follow-up to the kimono mission in Week 1. After finding one for my sister, it was great to wear one myself. My advice from Week 1 still stands: the more colour, the better.
I also met up with a friend from university, and it was brilliant to catch up in such a beautiful place.
Not everything was perfect, though. At one point we were laughing and chatting, and a tourist shouted at us for being too loud. It made us both feel really uncomfortable, and it stuck with me for the rest of the day. After writing about how reserved people can be, it was strange to run into that from a fellow tourist.
Brighter, louder and more surprising than I expected. One month in and Japan is still finding ways to catch me off guard. On to week five!