That Warm Glow

~After my vacation, returning to work has been, as always, a challenge. My job requires tremendous amounts of energy and a great deal of time and effort. But there are also rewards to teaching, the kind that I imagine many other jobs lack. After I've waded through mediocre classes and dealt with apathetic students, I find that sometimes the simplest of things sets my heart aglow and makes it all worthwhile. I've written about this previously, but I'd like to share another couple of great moments in teaching.

For one of my advanced classes, I considered using Choose Your Own Adventure books as part of the curriculum. For those of you that were born on another planet, the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books were a long-running series of action novels written in the rare second-person point-of-view, in which you, the reader, go through some kind of adventure and have to make choices at critical moments. Each book features many possible endings that only you can determine.

I'd always enjoyed them as a student, so I had two of them sent to me (thanks Mom!), but I found that I simply lacked the class time to effectively use them the way I wanted to. So, I gave them away as Christmas presents to the two students in the class.

After the winter vacation, I asked them if they'd enjoyed the books, and one of the students told me that he loved it and had spent three hours over the vacation reading it. He enthusiastically discussed his favorite parts and the endings he'd reached. I'm very pleased that he's enjoyed reading a book in English.

Another great moment came when one of my older students won first place in an English speech contest for the entire prefecture (state) of Niigata. We'd worked for months on the speech she'd delivered until it sounded almost natural, and I was very proud of her success. Now I know how a sports coach feels--you want your students to do their best, because their success is also your success. At the same time, you know that "winning isn't everything", and that it's more important for them to be learning.

Of course, now that she's won the prefectural contest, she's going to Tokyo for the nationals. She's been working hard on the speech with help from me, and I am already so proud of her efforts. Dedication like that from my students makes me very happy and makes the difficulties of my job seem trivial when compared with the joys. ~Oyasumi!

Bizarre Teaching Moment #10: Scarface

~Yet another bizarre teaching moment today, courtesy of my five-year-old sports maniac. Midway through his class, I noticed that he was constantly scratching his neck, and I asked him if he was alright. He pointed to a band-aid on his neck, then looked at me, ran his finger over his face, and said, "Scarface!"

He then proceeded to do a perfect reenactment of Al Pachino blasting away at Italian gangsters with a machine gun, complete with sound effects.

In retrospect, I really shouldn't have been so shocked. After all, when my younger sister was in kindergarten, her teacher asked everyone what their favorite movie was. Most children gave generic Disney answers, except for my sister...who announced that her favorite movie was Terminator 2. Yeah, I come from a strange family.

I considered teaching my student the phrase, "Say hello to my little friend!", but we really didn't have time. Maybe next week. ~Oyasumi!

The Orion Deepfield

~The space image below (the Astronomy Picture of the Day from January 6) is just so staggeringly beautiful that I feel compelled to share it with you:

The Orion Deep Field

Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler

Explanation: Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations, the glowing Orion Nebula and the dark Horsehead Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. But even fainter filaments of glowing gas are easily traced throughout the region in this stunning composite image that includes exposures filtered to record emission from hydrogen atoms. The view reveals extensive nebulosities associated with the giant Orion Molecular Cloud complex, itself hundreds of light-years across. A magnificent emission region, the Orion Nebula (aka M42) lies at the upper right of the picture. Immediately to its left are a cluster of prominent bluish reflection nebulae sometimes called the Running Man. The Horsehead nebula appears as a dark cloud, a small silhouette notched against the long red glow left of center. Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion's belt and the brightest star to the left of the Horsehead. Below Alnitak is the Flame Nebula, with clouds of bright emission and dramatic dark dust lanes. Completing the trio of Orion's belt stars, bluish Alnilam and Mintaka form a line with Alnitak, extending to the upper left.

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By the way, if you're up early (or have sharp eyes in the evening), you may be able to catch a glimpse of Comet McNaught, the brightest comet to visit our corner of the solar system in decades. You can catch it in either the early morning or late evening. I'd look for it myself, but the light pollution is so bad in Japan that I can't remember the last time I saw the stars here. ~Oyasumi!

Quake 2

~Never a dull moment here in Japan! Just a few minutes ago, a moderately strong earthquake struck the Niigata region, centered right on the town that I live in. As usual, I live up to my reputation as a walking disaster magnet.

^Specifically, it occurred at 6:59 pm local time, and had a magnitude of 4.6 on the Richter scale. It lasted around ten seconds and shook things around in my apartment, but not seriously--not strong enough to knock things off of the shelves, for example. There was a brief tsunami warning for the coastal regions, which was rescinded shortly after it was announced. All of this taken together gave the earthquake a rank of 4 on the JMA Seismic Intensity Scale.

I was quite impressed by news coverage of the earthquake. As I said, it happened at 6:59 pm, and the 7 o'clock news covered it, complete with maps and seismic readouts, not three minutes later. That's some fast rescheduling of the night's news lineup! If any more details become available, I'll post them here. ~Oyasumi.

A Hero Has Fallen

~Yesterday, a Japanese legend died. His name was Momofuku Ando, and he was truly one of the greatest men to walk the earth before his death at age 96. What's that? You've never heard of Momofuku Ando?? He was the inventor in instant ramen noodles, beloved by bachelors and students all around the world.

Were it not for this man and his genius, untold millions may not have survived their college years. We would constantly hear grisly stories of computer science majors dying of starvation in front of unfinished programs, with food in their kitchens yet no will (or time) to cook it. On behalf of the world's students and bachelors, allow me to extend my thanks to Ando-sama for the bountiful meals he gave (and continues to give) to the masses.

Born in Taiwan, Ando invented instant noodles in 1958. They were inspired by a long line of people that he saw in Tokyo shortly after World War II, who were all waiting in line to buy ramen from a black-market stall. The experience convinced him that "peace will come to the world when people have enough to eat."

To facilitate the sale of his instant ramen, Ando founded the Nissin Food Products Co., which he led until retiring in 2005 (at age 94! How's that for dedication?). In 1971, the company produced the now-legendary "cup noodle" product that we all know and love: instant ramen contained within a disposable plastic foam container. Just pull the paper lid back, add hot water, wait a few minutes, and eat! Best of all, there's no cleaning necessary--just throw away the container when you're finished.

That definitely deserves a BRILLIANT! from me, and from everyone: in Japan, Ando was dubbed "The King of Instant Ramen". So the next time you dig into a cup noodle, take a moment to and remember the genius behind its creation. ~Hail to the King, baby!