The Week of Intercultural Chaos

Being the only ALT in a village of 800 people means having a lot of free time.  Most days are a struggle to occupy myself for the 3 (or 4 or 5*) class periods when there are no English classes.  However, every once in a blue moon comes a week that is slightly busier and English-ier than usual.  And, once every 15 months or so (aka once in the entire time I’ve been here), these weeks coincide and create (as I’ve dubbed it) The Week of Intercultural** Chaos.

All about the WOIC,

(exhausting week of fun and

job satisfaction).

The primary source of chaos for the week was the presence of two foreigners.  (In Otoineppu!  Who weren’t related to me!)  They were part of an exchange that our senior high school does with another wood crafting school in Sweden.  As the only native English speaker in town, I was asked to translate for them as they enjoyed the Otoineppu experience.  Even with my iffy translation skills, the week was a blast!

Translation Pro-tip:

When interpreting for Swedes,

don’t speak Japanese.

Stressor no. 2 was the junior high English speech contest.  My JTE was in charge and declared me the “boss of the ALTs,” a title I definitely could have done without.  Thankfully, no riots broke out during the group game—playing a variation on Dead Ant with 102 students is always interesting—so I think I pulled it off.  Even better, my wonderful, genki students totally owned the performances.  Seriously, my third year student now has a fan following among junior high schoolers and ALTs alike.

“Oh stand, stand by me”

Last guitar chords still ringing,

the crowd goes wild.

To end the week right, I attended the HAJET Fall Meeting in Obihiro.  Great people, great food, great fun, but maybe not a great idea to travel 12 hours round trip to spend less than 24 hours there.  And our return trip hit a snowstorm.  Gotta love Hokkaido!  In short, it’s 2 (3?!) weeks later and I think I might have just recovered.

Tree planting, dodgebee,

mini-volley, iaido:

Thank god for onsen!

*Take this Monday, for instance.  It may not sound too bad to have 3 kids out sick, but when your school only has 5 students, entire classes are absent!

**For the purposes of this post, “intercultural” applies any event where the attendees (besides me) represent two or more cultures.  I have low standards…