久しぶりだな

Hey, what's up? 'Sbeen a while, hasn't it?

I've been both really busy and extraordinarily lazy for the last few days, which hasn't really facilitated a lot of blogging. It has, however, promoted a lot of sleeping, as I've been tired each night from working and hesitant to depart from my bed in the morning.

My first class was last Friday, and I think it went pretty well. Before I started class, I was kind of up in the front, setting up a projector for a slideshow, and all of the students were talking about me, as if I weren't there. They clearly didn't understand that there was a possibility that I could fully understand them, despite being white. When I started class, the first thing out of my mouth was "Yes, I speak Japanese, so be careful!". Everybody was like "EEEEEEEEHHHHHH!!?!?!" Needless to say, they were pretty damn surprised and embarrassed.

In class, I went over the syllabus and homework, gave a little presentation on the course material, and played some name games. I honestly can't believe it was a full 90 minutes. I don't know how I'm going to fit all of this material into only 90 minutes / class...

Here is a breakdown of the ~36 students:

• 3 Jokesters/Clowns (to be fair, pretty funny, although it would perhaps be inappropriate to encourage this behavior by laughing with them)
• 12 or so girls with perfect attention. They seem like they are really into the course material, and they're very enthusiastic. They all came up after class with questions about the class.
• 10 people who seem a bit bored or nonchalant. My course is obligatory, so they could be just not particularly excited to be there. Maybe they're thinking, "man this class is going to be a joke."
• 11 people who have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON. It is a 90-minute long blank stare. I feel kind of bad, and I hope after a few weeks, these guys are going to get more comfortable with listening to an English lecturer.

There was one point in class, after about 40 minutes of speaking English, when I asked, "do you understand?" in Japanese. There was a resounding and unanimous, "not one thing". Damn. I guess I'm going to have to use more Japanese than I had thought.

Next Friday, I'm covering the "American Home". I'm pretty excited for a few reasons. First, the differences between certain elements of American and Japanese homes are very cool. The whole dynamic and social atmosphere of a Japanese home differs from those of American homes. For instance, a Japanese kitchen is very narrow and petite, and serves only as a place to prepare and cook food. In America, a kitchen is very wide and can double as a place to eat. In my home, the kitchen is arguably the most central and social location. There is always somebody there at some point in the day.

Also, I'm using Weezer's "In the Garage" and Shel Silverstein's "Messy Room" as course material to highlight the various uses of the American garage and to prove, once and for all, that messy rooms exist in both Eastern and Western cultures.