sensei, have you disappeared from xanga? =(
Posted 6/22/2007 10:57 PM by EnderSatomi

No, dear, I haven't disappeared from Xanga. Actually, I've been trying to do a number of things this summer, but I might be trying to do too many things at once, because I don't think I've accomplished anything yet. And June is soon coming to a close...

Actually, I haven't written much on Xanga for the past year or so, especially when you consider I used to write almost every day for almost three years. I thought maybe it was writer's block, but I don't even know what that is. I could--as I have previously--write about the mundane occurancs of my life. But that would be too boring to write, and even more boring to read. I want to tell a story, something that will make me think and laugh and maybe even act. But as one student reminded me this year--Writing is a daily act. To perfect it, to thrive at it, you have to do it everyday, even if it is just a regurgitation of everyday mundane occurances. So maybe that is what I'll try to do.

Fortunately for me--at least today--there is something out of the oridnary to write about. Yesterday, I met with an old college buddy from my UCLA days, TY. He's here in the DC area to participate in a workshop for English language education in foreign countries. He heads a company that advises and directs aspiring Japanese students to appropriate colleges and graduate schools abroad, mostly in the US--I think. It was very nice to see him again, although looking at him reminded me how old we are getting. But it also aroused fond memories of my salad days at UCLA.

In the Fall Quarter of 1981, I had started my second term at UCLA and was full of excitement. Indeed, since I had matriculated the previous spring, I anticipated being in classes with people I might already know. It felt like I belonged. Unfortunately, there were not too many people I knew, and those I did know were chatting with those they seemed more familiar with. Oh well....

At least, I felt a bit more comfortable in a UCLA classroom. Or perhaps I should say, better prepared. I was shocked during my first quarter. The demands and expectations were far greater than I had anticipated--by leaps and bounds greater than at the community college I attended the previous few years--and it took me hours of studying just to keep up with my classmates, let alone the class. Indeed, I was surprised at having a full class from the very first day, caught embarrassingly unprepared. But not this Fall quarter. My notebook was open, my pencils were sharpened, I had previewed the first chapter of the textbook and looked up the kanji I didn't know. I was sitting in Akatsuka sensei's Advanced Japanese class in Bunche Hall at the ready. Sensei outlined her expectations of the course, and immediately directed us to the first chapter of the text book, just as I had anticipated. She pointed to one student, then another, both of whom struggled through the sentence they had to read. C'mon, sensei, call on me. I'm ready. But she called on someone in the back of the room. In a low baritone, this student proceeded to read one, two, three sentences in flawless Japanese.

What the fuck? Who the hell is this native speaker? Doesn't he realize he'll screw up the curve?

This was my first encounter with TY.

To be continued...

A couple of years ago, I went to a class reunion for my elementary/middle school class at Maryknoll, the former all -Japanese private school in Los Angeles. It was a pleasant get-together. I exchanged niceties with many of my former classmates and we exchanged email addreses and other miscellaneous contact info--including this blog--through a booklet of information distributed to everyone in computer file form.

But seriously, it had been decades, literally, since I had seen or even talked to virtually any of them. So imagine my surprise when I received an email from a girl... um, a woman... I used to sit next to in the First Grade. What makes it noteworthy is that I was just thinking about her the other day--in fact it was the very same day she sent me the email!

I was cleaning the area around my desk--finally--and came across the original invitation/announcement to the reunion... Yes, my desk is THAT messy. I looked at the return address on the envelope--DH--and my mind kinda floated back to the First Grade. I'm not sure if I've written about this before--I think I am manifesting the early signs of Alzheimer as I have very poor memory retention these days--but I recall having DH as a deskmate back then. If memory serves, each vertical row of desks in class were made up of two desks horizontally aligned with each other. Bolted down onto wooden rails, these sturdy desks with solid wood desktops and ink wells (!) were presumably our first line of defense in case of an atomic bomb attack--the ridiculousness of duck and cover drills can only be appreciated in hindsight.

Anyway, back then, DH and I often chit-chatted, but I think our teacher, Sister Angela Maureen, finally had it with us and decided to put an end to our chatter by closing our mouths with an "X" of two strips of Scotch tape. Amazingly, it worked, at least for me. Obviously, cellophane tape is not strong enough to keep my mouth closed, but the embarrassment of Scotch tape X'ed over my mouth from upperlip to chin was enough to quiet me down for the rest of the afternoon. I still remember the bottom part of the X coming loose and the cellophane tape dangling from my upper lip, but still I could not bring myself to say a peep.

In any event, you can imagine my surprise at receiving an email from my first grade conversation partner on the same day I was recalling our experience. It makes me wonder if we Maryknollers--or perhaps anyone who basically lived with each other day to day for almost ten years during their formative years--are connected in some cosmic way...

Nah! 

This is graduation weekend at school and I have a number of students graduating. I am, as usual, sad to see them leave, but I am also happy for them, for they advance on their road toward adulthood--new horizons, new challenges, more responsibility, health insurance premiums, credit card bills, student loan payments....

Well, maybe I shouldn't be too happy...

Anyway, pat yourself on the back, guys. You deserve it... well, most of you do...

I enjoy teaching and try my best to make the material interesting and relevant, which is hard to do with literature. For the most part, I like to think I am successful. I get my share of compliments and sometimes I can actually feel my had swell. So I guess its a good thing to get shot down from time to time.

Just the other day, a student came in to hand in her final exam--a take home--and she mentioned that she rated me on ratemyprofessor.com. This site has no real control of comments, and as a consequence, it has little value to instructors. Indeed, some of my older readers may recall that someone once put up on that site that I would take bribes for a grade. This was--and still is--totally bogus, but as I said there is no control of raters and their comments. But it is, I suppose, a beauty contest of sorts, that can give some students--and their parents--a rough idea as to how an instructor is viewed. So, anyway, I was curious to see what this student wrote, and found her comments rather complimentary, but I also noticed the following comment.

[Onigiriman] is a ****. The online quizzes are stupid; there's a ridiculously
short about [sic] of time to do them & they always have trick questions
in them. Online quizzes are supposed to be easy because you can use
your book! Plus he takes forever to grade papers. I wish someone else
was teaching this class, not just him.

Okay, I'm not sure if this was real or not. I mean, I find it odd that someone would complain about these online quizzes--questions strategically posed notwithstanding--because 15 minutes to answer seven to ten questions that are multiple choice, fill-in or true-false should be plenty of time if you've done the reading and come to class. Here's a couple of examples from a quiz based on readings, required viewing and lecture on Akutagawa.

Q: 

In "Yam Gruel" by Akutagawa, Goi craved to eat porridge made of what vegetable?

     _________________________________________________

Q: Who is this man from Rashomon?

Now the first one was a gimme. Some might construe this question as a trick question, but anyone who read the story would know, and those who didn't might even hazzard an educated guess. The second question would have required you to view this film, maybe just the first 20 minutes of it. But if you did, then the answer would have been a piece of cake. I'd wager that some of you who saw this film years ago can still answer this qustion without a moments hesitation, right? I contend that these questions are easy if you have done the assigned work. Prove me right by giving me answers in the comments.

However, if someone doesn't have class notes or needs to do the assigned reading or viewing WHILE TAKING the quiz, well then, 15 minutes is probably not enough time.

The other point: I must admit that I can sometimes be slow with grading. I give a number of hardcopy quizzes in my language courses and they usually get priority over any other grading I do, so lit essays sometimes take a back seat.

In any event, this student is/was obviously dissatisfied. I'm not sure what was deleted with asterisks, but from the context, I would guess that I am "a jerk"--if the number of asterisks is indicative of the number of letters in the word, I can think of no other. 

Oh well, this is just a reminder that I can't allow myself to become complacent. While I obviously can't satisfy every student, it doesn't hurt to try.

BACK TO GRADING....

So I'm grading... and grading... and grading...

We age in different ways: physically, mentally spiritually. Fortunately for me, I think I age a bit slower than many others. I don't know if it has to do with being Asian, or if it's because I chose a profession in which I am surrounded by younger people, or simply because I allow stressful situations to slide off my Teflon-coated teenage mentality.

Still, while my aging rate may seem slower, I am aging nonetheless.

I previously wrote that I once had people tell me that I resembled Jackie Chan. My step son said so, but I thought that was mere flattery on his part. But I had other people tell me this when I came to DC. This was ten years and 26 pounds ago, a time when I worked out regularly, running 10 to 20 miles a week and lifting weights about every other day. Unfortunately, as my work increased and the number of other activities grew--altough I'm not sure if watching J drama can be considered an activity--I have been taking less and less care of my body. Yuck.

Well, this lifestyle has its consequences. While many still seem surprised when I tell them I will be 52 later this year, the gap between my real age and the age I appear to be in the eyes of others is closing dramatically. When I came to DC, I was 40 but many thought I was under 30. In fact I was carded more than a few times. This was, as you might imagine, quite an ego booster. But now, people will guess my age to be around mid to late 40s, which is not too much different than my actual age.

The othere day, however, was the last straw. I went to my bank to wire some money to my step-son in Japan--don't ask... Anyway, at the bank, I was filling out the form and making small talk with the bank officer helping me. I must have said some humorous things as it elicited a few chuckles. Then this officer strikes me with the equivalent of a punch to the belly.

"You look like that guy in the Karete Kid. You know..."

"You mean Pat Morita?" I ask.

"Um, you know, the guy who was the teacher?"

"Mr. Miyagi?"

"Yeah, yeah! Mr. Miyagi."

I laughed with her, but deep down inside me, I was floored. This was a real eye opener for me. No more can I fool myself into thinking I look younger than I am. No more can I pretend to think a youthful attitude will cover for an aging body. My physical appearance has finally caught up to me. In the span of about ten years I went from Jackie Chan to Mr. Miyagi.

Well, there is only one thing for me to do this summer. I swear...

Wax on, wax off...

Today was the last class of the semester. I have Final exams to give and grade next week, but I don't care what anyone says. I'm having a beer... As if I needed a legit reason to draw a pint.

There are moments in everyone's lives when it seems that everything is happening at once, when life seems to be so hectic that you just want to scream. So here goes...

Aaaaaaargh!

There, I think I feel better....

In any event, there are a lot of things on my plate, but the stress I feel is partly self induced. Yes, I watch too much TV. My excuse for watching J-drama--I look for things I might use in class, as well as help me keep my Japanese level up--is growing less and less compelling. The dramas do keep me on my toes with my Japanese and it allows me to stay in tune with an ever-changing language and pop culture--Did you know that you can exchange telephone and email addresses with someone else just by pointing your cell phones at each other and "sending"? Well, I didn't. Did you know that you can use your cell phone as a debit card? Well, I didn't know that you could just touch your phone on the pay-pad at the 7-Eleven or the ticket vending machines at the train station, and the money will be debited from your bank account--scary thought, don't you think? Did you know that you could not only watch TV on your cell phone, but you can also record them as video? Well, I didn't know that either. I mean, how much memory does a cell phone have in Japan? It boggles my mind.

Still, I need to "edit" my viewing habits as it is cutting into my other responsibilities. I mean, I still teach and grade--and with a degree of efficiency since I know that I have to manage my time better--but I feel exhausted all the time. I thought that J-drama would be my "down" time, a time when I can relax, but it isn't... not really, as I am always "learning" things and writing them down and looking up new words, etc.

And there are other things besides school work, too. I held a curry gathering for J majors this past Friday. That, of course, takes time to hold, about two and a half days, actually. Buy food, prepare food for more than 20 people, entertain--or try to--and the clean up, which in itself takes a whole day... as M is wont to remind me... and remind me... and remind me... So that is time away from grading and preparing for class and, of course, watching J-drama...

This is also tax time, and I finally finished and sent my taxes yesterday. Whew, one job done...

As for immigration, I had to cancel one class last week to get some more stuff done. In fact, M and I had to go to two different immigration offices last week, on Wednesday and Friday. But just to let you know, our petition to get M's Green Card reinstated was finally approved. I will talk about it later when I have more time. Thanks to those who expressed concern and offered well-wishes. I appreciate your thoughts and comments greatly.

I just wanna go to sleep....

Yes, we lost... to Florida... again... Last year, we lost in the National Championship game. This year in the semifinals. The game was last Saturday and it's taken me 4 days to recover. I'm so bummed.

But we did receive some news from immigration concerning M's green card. Yeah, that fiasco/nightmare we have been living for the past two and a half years. I should have taken Sunjun's advice much, much earlier...

It's a long story so I'll write about it later. I have to prepare for class...