Sunday, October 30, 2005
October 30, 2005
I slept in nice and late today after staying up till 3:30 yesterday talking with mum and dad. I did some downloading and then headed out (in black, no more pink or frill) to meet with Yoko. I went to her house for dinner. I was cool to see her home. Everything is much closer together. We sat, on the floor, and I looked at all her pictures from Australia. Then we ate some fabulous food, lotus root, miso soup, mugi rice, pickled daikon and carrots, green pumpkin. It was yummy. Then we had a one hour English lesson. It was fun to teach her some stuff. She's trying to learn new vocab so we talked about the words and I tried to give her some sentences where I would read the word. It was stuff like confine, declare, adequate, estimate, speculate, cultivate. Good words. Some tough words. Then I trekked home, with my backpack on, I had lent it to her for her trip to Australia. I watched some Survivor, thought of Sharon, and that's it.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
October 29, 2005
Finally. The end of the Hallowe'en goodness. It was a rather anti-climatic end. I was really looking forward to today cause I have some super great kids and they're lots of fun and I was looking forward to playing with them and seeing them dressed up all cute. I have to admit that I am just really, really disappointed. I guess that most of the parents forgot, or something, but the kids came totally unprepared and unaware of what was supposed to be happening. In my first class only 1 kid had a "costume", it was just a mask. And in the second class only one student came (10 minutes late in a 45 minute class) in a costume, and one other had a mask. It totally killed the energy. In other classes this week they were all excited and dressed up and couldn't wait to get in to the room to have fun and games. Today they all thought they were coming for a regular class so they just stood there in shock for the first bit. It was a lot of energy that I had to expend with absolutely no reaction back from the kids. Even the ghost races that were a huge hit every other day (except the teenagers, but they're mutants), totally bombed with the kids. The best part of my day was that my last class was cancelled so I only had the two kids classes and two private students (one of which I actually really like, she's a 14 year old fabulous girl who loves to learn English and talk with me). Super easy day. Some good times were seeing some former students of mine all dressed up and we had fun in the reception area. They even wanted me in on their pictures with their new teacher. They're super great kids and I miss that class. The other great picture was at the end of the day, again, not my students. Kiyoko is the nice lady who invites me to her house for "Mother's Club" so I had to take pictures of her and her friend who were waiting for their class to start.
Lame that I had down time for two hours in the middle cause it took twice as much energy to switch from planning mode back into genki teacher for a Hallowe'en party mode, but I really needed the easy schedule today as I'm going on half steam. I spent much of last night in shock on my bathroom floor with my head as close to the toilet as I could physically manage. I really did go into minor shock. Full on uncontrollable whole body shakes and teeth chattering, sweats then chills and back again, no physical strength (I literally crawled on the floor to get there), dehydration, and some serious nausea. I finally passed out around 6 am. I don't know what I ate last night, but something made my body very, very angry with me. At this point I would like to reiterate how much I hate the door on my washroom. So now I'm eating a little food, watching some Survivor and maybe even some Boston Legal. I am going to sleep forever tomorrow. No more Hallowe'en.
I have never "celebrated" Hallowe'en more in my life than I have this week. If I never celebrate Hallowe'en again it will be too soon. It's a silly day that has little intrinsic value, which is particularly enhanced when pared with American mass consumerism. It has little substance to it but spending money on costumes to out-do the other person to prove that you're better and mass consumption of refined sugar. I don't care about the monsters and ghosts and vampires. I couldn't care less about what the Conservative right-wing Christian sect says about it on a "spiritual" level (Trick or Treating probably stems from a Christian ritual from the 9th Century, but whatever, it's evil, right?). It's evil for completely other reasons. Reasons that, btw, those who condemn the day seem to be okay with when associated with something else, say, the birth of a Saviour God, or Christian Book Stores or Music Festivals or CCM minus the sugar. But whatever.
Lame that I had down time for two hours in the middle cause it took twice as much energy to switch from planning mode back into genki teacher for a Hallowe'en party mode, but I really needed the easy schedule today as I'm going on half steam. I spent much of last night in shock on my bathroom floor with my head as close to the toilet as I could physically manage. I really did go into minor shock. Full on uncontrollable whole body shakes and teeth chattering, sweats then chills and back again, no physical strength (I literally crawled on the floor to get there), dehydration, and some serious nausea. I finally passed out around 6 am. I don't know what I ate last night, but something made my body very, very angry with me. At this point I would like to reiterate how much I hate the door on my washroom. So now I'm eating a little food, watching some Survivor and maybe even some Boston Legal. I am going to sleep forever tomorrow. No more Hallowe'en.
I have never "celebrated" Hallowe'en more in my life than I have this week. If I never celebrate Hallowe'en again it will be too soon. It's a silly day that has little intrinsic value, which is particularly enhanced when pared with American mass consumerism. It has little substance to it but spending money on costumes to out-do the other person to prove that you're better and mass consumption of refined sugar. I don't care about the monsters and ghosts and vampires. I couldn't care less about what the Conservative right-wing Christian sect says about it on a "spiritual" level (Trick or Treating probably stems from a Christian ritual from the 9th Century, but whatever, it's evil, right?). It's evil for completely other reasons. Reasons that, btw, those who condemn the day seem to be okay with when associated with something else, say, the birth of a Saviour God, or Christian Book Stores or Music Festivals or CCM minus the sugar. But whatever.
Friday, October 28, 2005
October 28, 2005
A rather splendid day of silliness today. I started with an adult class where only one student showed up. The student who came is a really nice girl, 33 single (so in the Japanese world that means she lives at home still and will until she's married), has a boyfriend who she talks to once a week, and is really quiet. She's usually the hardest one to deal with in the class because, although she's nice, she's terribly quiet and won't contribute to the class unless directly asked a question. Makes it hard to keep a conversation going when it's just me asking her questions. But today was quiet nice, a little stilted at times, but still good.
My little kindies were in full force today. So cute and actually relatively well behaved. This is the class where Rui is usually OOC and Mei & Kana like to talk about and touch my boobs. And Miyu and our newest member Chihiro just stand there looking cute. Rui wasn't OOC, there was no groping and Miyu and Chihiro did their usual looking cute which is their specialty. They loved the ghost race but because of the school I was at today, the tables are really high and wide and so they all ended up on the table to blow the ghosts down to the end. It was madness and not so much of a race as a ghost blowing frenzy but a good time was had by all. I was a little nervous about them up on the table and my nervousness became justified when I turned my back to get the paper and supplies for the craft and I heard a thud. That's an awful sound. At first I was hoping it was just feet hitting the ground, but upon further investigation it was learned that it was actually Mei's face and knee that had made the sound. There were much tears and sobbing so I sat there for about 5 minutes holding the very hot and sweaty child with the other four around me in a semi-circle staring at us trying to console their classmate. It was really sweet. Rui went and grabbed tissues for me (I was impressed that he knew what I was asking for on my try) and said "Daijobu Mei", which is essentially "There, there Mei". Or at least that's the best interpretation in this case. It's not a literal translation. The demon child was so cute. He's getting better. So then we had the craft which I was inspired to change up a bit. Instead of tracing our hands I made legs of folded black construction paper and we taped them to a black circle that we cut out, then made a spider web on orange paper like the original plan that I did for the rest of this week and then glued the spider to the web. It looked waaaay better than the ones we made over the last three days. Their legs are all sprong-y and fun. Then we did some Trick or Treating and that was all we had time for in the class, what with the tears and all.
Then I had another trial lesson that I think was the best I've had since arriving here. She was a really nice woman. I asked her if she was nervous and she said she was really nervous because I was the first foreigner she has ever spoken to. Can you imagine? Never in your life have you run into someone at the grocery store who is not of the same ethnic background as you. Never have you had a cabbie from another country. Never run into someone in the school halls in University (or College for the Americans) who is student from abroad. She may have seen one or two foreigners from afar, but she has never spoken to a foreigner in her life. That blows me away. I told her that I was nice and that there was nothing to be nervous about. She said that she had heard yesterday from "young people" (I'm not sure what that means) that I was nice. I think the receptionist yesterday, Mika, told her that I was nice and maybe someone who was around (like another teacher) agreed with her. That's the general gist that I got from her. But I was touched that someone told her that I was nice. Ah, how easily they are all fooled. She was a really interesting lady and even though her English totally sucked she totally talked and tried to communicate with me. Fascinating how people differ. Here's a lady who has no experience in trying to achieve real communication in another language that she hasn't taken a class in since High School (she's like my mum's age, her daughters are 21 and 25) and she's doing better at interacting than most people who take classes from us. It's interesting to me how people differ in their language use and how they engage those around them. Interesting.
The next Hallowe'en goodness class Carrie and I decided to combine last minute. She has this horrendous class of Jr High kids, half of whom I've had make up classes in my former Wednesday classes on my former schedule, and I have my most wonderful amazing kids. It was funny to mix the class. Like, the complete opposite of the situation for me yesterday. Neither class wanted a Hallowe'en party, but damn it, our kids were going to have some fun and be silly if it killed Carrie and I and them along with us. We made them put on silly hats and I got out my star glitter, there was much screaming. You'd think we'd gotten them with fire hot pokers or cattle brands, but no, it was sparkly stars. We made them make ghosts and we did boys against girls ghost races. Some of them were too cool and didn't even try and just watched the other person beat them. Too funny. Then we made them Trick or Treat. It's amazing how difficult some teenagers can make it to give away candy. Then we watched some Simpson's Hallowe'en, which her kids liked because they wanted to sleep. My Yuichi was bored cause he wanted to get into English class to learn English. He loves English. I was hoping to get some photos, but my camera died during my kindie class.
My last class is my fabulous Returnees. One of the girls in the previous class is one of my Returnee's sister. I made her put on sparkly stars, so I told her that I would do the same to her brother. So of course, as the classes were switching, teenagers Takuya was sitting in the waiting area and she was finishing up at the reception desk, so I attacked him with the sparkly stars so that she could see. She giggled, a lot. He tried to get away, but I got him. It was a good time. He eventually forgot about them and left the school with three small sparkly stars at the corner of one eye. I'm sure he rode the train like that and didn't notice till he got home. That's the end of the Hallowe'en fun for today.
I went out for dinner after work at the 13 Palms with Taeko, Masanobu and Carrie. It was nice to get out and chat and I always like hanging with Carrie. I was tired though and I had had enough of talking so Carrie and I headed out just after 10. It was a really nice time.
My little kindies were in full force today. So cute and actually relatively well behaved. This is the class where Rui is usually OOC and Mei & Kana like to talk about and touch my boobs. And Miyu and our newest member Chihiro just stand there looking cute. Rui wasn't OOC, there was no groping and Miyu and Chihiro did their usual looking cute which is their specialty. They loved the ghost race but because of the school I was at today, the tables are really high and wide and so they all ended up on the table to blow the ghosts down to the end. It was madness and not so much of a race as a ghost blowing frenzy but a good time was had by all. I was a little nervous about them up on the table and my nervousness became justified when I turned my back to get the paper and supplies for the craft and I heard a thud. That's an awful sound. At first I was hoping it was just feet hitting the ground, but upon further investigation it was learned that it was actually Mei's face and knee that had made the sound. There were much tears and sobbing so I sat there for about 5 minutes holding the very hot and sweaty child with the other four around me in a semi-circle staring at us trying to console their classmate. It was really sweet. Rui went and grabbed tissues for me (I was impressed that he knew what I was asking for on my try) and said "Daijobu Mei", which is essentially "There, there Mei". Or at least that's the best interpretation in this case. It's not a literal translation. The demon child was so cute. He's getting better. So then we had the craft which I was inspired to change up a bit. Instead of tracing our hands I made legs of folded black construction paper and we taped them to a black circle that we cut out, then made a spider web on orange paper like the original plan that I did for the rest of this week and then glued the spider to the web. It looked waaaay better than the ones we made over the last three days. Their legs are all sprong-y and fun. Then we did some Trick or Treating and that was all we had time for in the class, what with the tears and all.
Then I had another trial lesson that I think was the best I've had since arriving here. She was a really nice woman. I asked her if she was nervous and she said she was really nervous because I was the first foreigner she has ever spoken to. Can you imagine? Never in your life have you run into someone at the grocery store who is not of the same ethnic background as you. Never have you had a cabbie from another country. Never run into someone in the school halls in University (or College for the Americans) who is student from abroad. She may have seen one or two foreigners from afar, but she has never spoken to a foreigner in her life. That blows me away. I told her that I was nice and that there was nothing to be nervous about. She said that she had heard yesterday from "young people" (I'm not sure what that means) that I was nice. I think the receptionist yesterday, Mika, told her that I was nice and maybe someone who was around (like another teacher) agreed with her. That's the general gist that I got from her. But I was touched that someone told her that I was nice. Ah, how easily they are all fooled. She was a really interesting lady and even though her English totally sucked she totally talked and tried to communicate with me. Fascinating how people differ. Here's a lady who has no experience in trying to achieve real communication in another language that she hasn't taken a class in since High School (she's like my mum's age, her daughters are 21 and 25) and she's doing better at interacting than most people who take classes from us. It's interesting to me how people differ in their language use and how they engage those around them. Interesting.
The next Hallowe'en goodness class Carrie and I decided to combine last minute. She has this horrendous class of Jr High kids, half of whom I've had make up classes in my former Wednesday classes on my former schedule, and I have my most wonderful amazing kids. It was funny to mix the class. Like, the complete opposite of the situation for me yesterday. Neither class wanted a Hallowe'en party, but damn it, our kids were going to have some fun and be silly if it killed Carrie and I and them along with us. We made them put on silly hats and I got out my star glitter, there was much screaming. You'd think we'd gotten them with fire hot pokers or cattle brands, but no, it was sparkly stars. We made them make ghosts and we did boys against girls ghost races. Some of them were too cool and didn't even try and just watched the other person beat them. Too funny. Then we made them Trick or Treat. It's amazing how difficult some teenagers can make it to give away candy. Then we watched some Simpson's Hallowe'en, which her kids liked because they wanted to sleep. My Yuichi was bored cause he wanted to get into English class to learn English. He loves English. I was hoping to get some photos, but my camera died during my kindie class.
My last class is my fabulous Returnees. One of the girls in the previous class is one of my Returnee's sister. I made her put on sparkly stars, so I told her that I would do the same to her brother. So of course, as the classes were switching, teenagers Takuya was sitting in the waiting area and she was finishing up at the reception desk, so I attacked him with the sparkly stars so that she could see. She giggled, a lot. He tried to get away, but I got him. It was a good time. He eventually forgot about them and left the school with three small sparkly stars at the corner of one eye. I'm sure he rode the train like that and didn't notice till he got home. That's the end of the Hallowe'en fun for today.
I went out for dinner after work at the 13 Palms with Taeko, Masanobu and Carrie. It was nice to get out and chat and I always like hanging with Carrie. I was tired though and I had had enough of talking so Carrie and I headed out just after 10. It was a really nice time.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
October 27, 2005
We shall start off the day with a Kindie class. I joined forces last minute with fellow teacher, Gina. We followed pretty much the same plan as the last two days but instead of making a spider we just coloured a witch. Her kids were all into things and having a good time. Masahiro, of germ factory fame, was all into things as he always is. At one point he went parading around the room singing a Japanese song while dancing with a box of crayons. This is why I can't stay mad at him for being the provider of all that is snot. Another girl, Ami, is the one who had the break down last week. She didn't participate in anything today. When we made ghosts she stood there with tears in her eyes holding onto the tissues to make the ghosts. I told her she could do it, "Here, do it like this" and I showed her. She just shook her head and welled up more. Poor dear. I still made her do a bit of it cause I don't believe in codling kids but there's something very sad about this little girl. Colouring was also an issue, so she just sat on my lap and cried and I held her. Terribly sad.
Next class were my super stars. It's a class of six girls between 8 and 12. They're on a fast track through the text and the previous teacher didn't know that. It was a fast speed to begin with, but now that we're like 15 pages behind, we're having to go at break neck speeds. They're handling it well so far. I feel like I've really bonded with the whole class. It was great to play some games with them today and just have fun with no school work. We joined classes with LeeAnne so we had 13 kids all together. It really was a party. It's tough having a "party" when you've only got 2 kids. You can do the same things and they still don't feel like party games with only a few people. We pitted our classes against each other. My class had one less person so I got to join in and be the 7th person on the team. We did the ghost toss into baskets. My class rocked it. We won like 11 to 7 or 8. We smoked LeeAnne's class. Next was the ghost race. We got beaten pretty good. I unfortunately annihilated the kid that I was competing against. I have good diaphragm control. It's the singing. And I've been doing these games all week, plus trying them out before the Hallowe'en classes started to make sure that the games would all work. I blew once and my ghost was half way down the table. I would've felt bad if my win had made a difference, but we were so behind that it didn't matter and everyone thought it was really funny. We did Trick or Treating with LeeAnne hiding in the kitchen. We had a FABULOUS toilet paper race. It was intense and awesome. We had a narrow win. We di the blindfold the teacher and give them directions thing. And we did some Pictionary. I was so proud to see some of the quieter kids in my class, Yuzuki in particular, speak up and get the answer right. LeeAnne's class tied us on the Pictionary. So in all we had an even number of events that the classes had won. It was kinda lame to have an actual tie cause it's what all lame teachers try to do...have a tie so that no one feels bad. But it was a legitimate tie. It was a really great time.
The last kids class we also joined with LeeAnne. It was pretty funny cause she has like 7 students who are all interactive and into things. I have three students who are the Bringers of Death. It was really funny to see them all come together for one big class party. Case in point. All of LeeAnne's students brought costumes or put on costumes once they got to the school. Mine, shorts and t-shirts. We could barely convince them to put on masks that we had at the school. One kid, Ayato, a boy, went so far as to refuse candy by refusing to put on a mask. We were joking saying "Oh, no costume, no candy", with full intention of giving him candy. He was like, [shrug] "Okay", and walked away. I gave him the treat bag anyway but he wouldn't take it. They're so funny. We tried to do things in teams as classes but with the discrepancy in numbers it was just too hard so we had them do it in split teams. Things went relatively well. We changed the blindfold the teacher thing to blindfold one of the team members to put the face on the pumpkin. We also did a make a monster game where you roll the dice and each number gives you the body part to draw. It seemed like they had fun. Today they were actually not to bad. They talked a lot amongst themselves but Misako only told me "No" once when I asked her to do something, and I saw her smile on several occasions throughout the class. It was funny that after class I apologized to LeeAnne for bringing the Bringers of Death in with her great kids, and LeeAnne was like, "I'm glad I don't have your kids every week, they're something else". I thought they were good today.
My last class is an Adult class that I adore. They're all really talkative and interactive and interested to learn. I had a good time giving the girls sparkle stars for their eyes like mine, and then I had to give some to Yoji as well. He's a middle aged man, and a really great sport. We talked about appropriate topics of conversation in Small Talk. It was a great time. I love that they talk and we have real conversations and I give them English info as we go along. The hour flies by. I wish all my adult classes could be like that. Normally I'm watching the clock as the minute hands go about as slowly as the hourly hands should.
Gina and I decided to keep on the costumes for the train ride home. Call it an experiment in staring. I had already taken off my wings, but I put on my tiara and she kept her cat face paint on. We're used to getting looked at, but tonight the looks were a little more prolonged and there were more stifled giggles from some of the female riders. One lady watched us, like blatantly stared, for the entire ride on one of the trains (we take two to get home from Nishi-Shiroi, it's up in the boondocks). At one of the stations this man got off the car in front of us and then walked by the window in front of us, he stared at us as he walked by, Gina smiled at him and he got all flustered and put his head down and walked faster. It was funny. We're the crazy foreigners. If you saw some foreigners on public transit (I know this is a reach for Dad, seeing that he's so well versed in the ways of public transit) dressed up in costumes, would you stare? I would look, smile to myself cause they look silly and carry on with my life. I don't understand people who stare. But then, that's what we were going for.
Next class were my super stars. It's a class of six girls between 8 and 12. They're on a fast track through the text and the previous teacher didn't know that. It was a fast speed to begin with, but now that we're like 15 pages behind, we're having to go at break neck speeds. They're handling it well so far. I feel like I've really bonded with the whole class. It was great to play some games with them today and just have fun with no school work. We joined classes with LeeAnne so we had 13 kids all together. It really was a party. It's tough having a "party" when you've only got 2 kids. You can do the same things and they still don't feel like party games with only a few people. We pitted our classes against each other. My class had one less person so I got to join in and be the 7th person on the team. We did the ghost toss into baskets. My class rocked it. We won like 11 to 7 or 8. We smoked LeeAnne's class. Next was the ghost race. We got beaten pretty good. I unfortunately annihilated the kid that I was competing against. I have good diaphragm control. It's the singing. And I've been doing these games all week, plus trying them out before the Hallowe'en classes started to make sure that the games would all work. I blew once and my ghost was half way down the table. I would've felt bad if my win had made a difference, but we were so behind that it didn't matter and everyone thought it was really funny. We did Trick or Treating with LeeAnne hiding in the kitchen. We had a FABULOUS toilet paper race. It was intense and awesome. We had a narrow win. We di the blindfold the teacher and give them directions thing. And we did some Pictionary. I was so proud to see some of the quieter kids in my class, Yuzuki in particular, speak up and get the answer right. LeeAnne's class tied us on the Pictionary. So in all we had an even number of events that the classes had won. It was kinda lame to have an actual tie cause it's what all lame teachers try to do...have a tie so that no one feels bad. But it was a legitimate tie. It was a really great time.
The last kids class we also joined with LeeAnne. It was pretty funny cause she has like 7 students who are all interactive and into things. I have three students who are the Bringers of Death. It was really funny to see them all come together for one big class party. Case in point. All of LeeAnne's students brought costumes or put on costumes once they got to the school. Mine, shorts and t-shirts. We could barely convince them to put on masks that we had at the school. One kid, Ayato, a boy, went so far as to refuse candy by refusing to put on a mask. We were joking saying "Oh, no costume, no candy", with full intention of giving him candy. He was like, [shrug] "Okay", and walked away. I gave him the treat bag anyway but he wouldn't take it. They're so funny. We tried to do things in teams as classes but with the discrepancy in numbers it was just too hard so we had them do it in split teams. Things went relatively well. We changed the blindfold the teacher thing to blindfold one of the team members to put the face on the pumpkin. We also did a make a monster game where you roll the dice and each number gives you the body part to draw. It seemed like they had fun. Today they were actually not to bad. They talked a lot amongst themselves but Misako only told me "No" once when I asked her to do something, and I saw her smile on several occasions throughout the class. It was funny that after class I apologized to LeeAnne for bringing the Bringers of Death in with her great kids, and LeeAnne was like, "I'm glad I don't have your kids every week, they're something else". I thought they were good today.
My last class is an Adult class that I adore. They're all really talkative and interactive and interested to learn. I had a good time giving the girls sparkle stars for their eyes like mine, and then I had to give some to Yoji as well. He's a middle aged man, and a really great sport. We talked about appropriate topics of conversation in Small Talk. It was a great time. I love that they talk and we have real conversations and I give them English info as we go along. The hour flies by. I wish all my adult classes could be like that. Normally I'm watching the clock as the minute hands go about as slowly as the hourly hands should.
Gina and I decided to keep on the costumes for the train ride home. Call it an experiment in staring. I had already taken off my wings, but I put on my tiara and she kept her cat face paint on. We're used to getting looked at, but tonight the looks were a little more prolonged and there were more stifled giggles from some of the female riders. One lady watched us, like blatantly stared, for the entire ride on one of the trains (we take two to get home from Nishi-Shiroi, it's up in the boondocks). At one of the stations this man got off the car in front of us and then walked by the window in front of us, he stared at us as he walked by, Gina smiled at him and he got all flustered and put his head down and walked faster. It was funny. We're the crazy foreigners. If you saw some foreigners on public transit (I know this is a reach for Dad, seeing that he's so well versed in the ways of public transit) dressed up in costumes, would you stare? I would look, smile to myself cause they look silly and carry on with my life. I don't understand people who stare. But then, that's what we were going for.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
October 26, 2005
Stupid bad day today. I had 7 classes. That's a whole lot. I have 3 private classes today so I won't bore you with the details of them. Just know that they're boring and they suck all that is joyful and alive in my spirit and replaces it with apathy, languor and ennui.
My first class is with four adorable looking 4 year olds. They were all princesses. It was a whole lot of pink and frill for that small space. Don't let all those adorable faces fool you though. 3 of the 4 are training to be future minions of evil. The fourth is lovely and pleasant and totally lovable. We made some ghosts and through them around because I had no buckets. Then we tried to do ghost races but really we just blew the ghosts around the table. We laughed. It was a hit. That's the great thing about this age, especially when they're all dressed up like princesses, they just want to be there and look pretty. We put faces on a pumpkin on the board and made it into a jack o'lantern. We made a scary spider and that was about it. They really weren't into a lot of stuff today. One of the girls, Yuri, the blue princess, often comes to class in a really foul mood. Today was no exception. The best part, which she still didn't participate in, was singing Spooky Loo, which is a Hallowe'en version of Looby Loo, which is a take on Hokey Pokey. It's a good one. The four of us danced, while Yuri watched on, pouting.
My next class is two really smart kids who are flying through the text. They're 8. The girl, Shiori, loved the ghosts that we made. I have one that I keep on me with a pink ribbon around it so that I know that it's mine. She was obsessed with it. She actually tried to take it. No such luck. It's mine. She has taken to saying "Teacher" as a security blanket. Every two seconds she's saying "Teacher, teacher" and that's all. Sometimes she wants to get my attention and actually tell me something or show me something, that's fine. But more often than not she's just saying it, over and over again. Today she was really excited about the things we were doing so she said it all class. We made monsters the same as yesterday with the numbers on the dice representing a body part to draw. Then we also made the spider craft that I do in the lower class. We also put the face parts on the pumpkin on the board only with them I blindfolded one of them and the other gave directions. It went well.
The last kids class was the best of the day. It's an interesting class of kids. They're between 7 and 9. Two of the girls are really smart and fabulous. Another hardly ever comes so she's totally lost most classes. There's two boys, brothers, who I really like, they're fun kids, but they're dumber than logs. Sweet kids though. Another teacher, Matt (different Matt, Matt Johnson from Tennessee), and I decided to combine our classes cause they're kind of close in age. Sort of. The two smart girls of mine came and the boys showed up late. He had four of his kids come. We had a great time. We played games like: throwing the ghosts in buckets (we found buckets), my team won; ghost races by blowing them down the table, his team won; a TP race where you have to go over then under the next person, then over the next and so on, but if it breaks then you have to re-start, my team won; then the piece to resistance was the faces on the pumpkin game (again) but this time we blindfolded the teacher and their students had to give them directions, his team won. It was a really great time. It made such a difference to have a lot of kids, as well as having the other teacher be there for extra energy. I was a little apprehensive putting my physical safety in the hands of the logs, but they actually came through for me, with the prompting of the other teacher of course. In all my team actually won the day because we had extra innings of the ghost toss so we had more points in total than the older kids.
Then I had my two other private classes, which actually didn't suck as bad as they usually do. It was a long day with no food and no time to breath. On top of my usual 6 classes I also had a trial lesson that I walked into cold. It's been happening more often lately that I'm having to walk into things completely cold with no resources with me because of no planning time or a last minute change in the schedule. It's taught me how to BS even better than I was able to before. It's still hard to tell though when you get someone who says they're a beginner and you start talking to them and they're like "My favourite movies are love stories. I don't like action films at all." That is sooo not a beginner level. I am a beginner at Japanese. I can say "Kore wa pen desu", 'This is a pen'. My specialty is when the name for the item has been borrowed from English or is a classroom object, other than that, I'm lost. That is a beginner level. "No, I can't snowboard." Teacher, "Have you tried?" "No I haven't" is NOT a beginner level. That was my trial lesson today.
My first class is with four adorable looking 4 year olds. They were all princesses. It was a whole lot of pink and frill for that small space. Don't let all those adorable faces fool you though. 3 of the 4 are training to be future minions of evil. The fourth is lovely and pleasant and totally lovable. We made some ghosts and through them around because I had no buckets. Then we tried to do ghost races but really we just blew the ghosts around the table. We laughed. It was a hit. That's the great thing about this age, especially when they're all dressed up like princesses, they just want to be there and look pretty. We put faces on a pumpkin on the board and made it into a jack o'lantern. We made a scary spider and that was about it. They really weren't into a lot of stuff today. One of the girls, Yuri, the blue princess, often comes to class in a really foul mood. Today was no exception. The best part, which she still didn't participate in, was singing Spooky Loo, which is a Hallowe'en version of Looby Loo, which is a take on Hokey Pokey. It's a good one. The four of us danced, while Yuri watched on, pouting.
My next class is two really smart kids who are flying through the text. They're 8. The girl, Shiori, loved the ghosts that we made. I have one that I keep on me with a pink ribbon around it so that I know that it's mine. She was obsessed with it. She actually tried to take it. No such luck. It's mine. She has taken to saying "Teacher" as a security blanket. Every two seconds she's saying "Teacher, teacher" and that's all. Sometimes she wants to get my attention and actually tell me something or show me something, that's fine. But more often than not she's just saying it, over and over again. Today she was really excited about the things we were doing so she said it all class. We made monsters the same as yesterday with the numbers on the dice representing a body part to draw. Then we also made the spider craft that I do in the lower class. We also put the face parts on the pumpkin on the board only with them I blindfolded one of them and the other gave directions. It went well.
The last kids class was the best of the day. It's an interesting class of kids. They're between 7 and 9. Two of the girls are really smart and fabulous. Another hardly ever comes so she's totally lost most classes. There's two boys, brothers, who I really like, they're fun kids, but they're dumber than logs. Sweet kids though. Another teacher, Matt (different Matt, Matt Johnson from Tennessee), and I decided to combine our classes cause they're kind of close in age. Sort of. The two smart girls of mine came and the boys showed up late. He had four of his kids come. We had a great time. We played games like: throwing the ghosts in buckets (we found buckets), my team won; ghost races by blowing them down the table, his team won; a TP race where you have to go over then under the next person, then over the next and so on, but if it breaks then you have to re-start, my team won; then the piece to resistance was the faces on the pumpkin game (again) but this time we blindfolded the teacher and their students had to give them directions, his team won. It was a really great time. It made such a difference to have a lot of kids, as well as having the other teacher be there for extra energy. I was a little apprehensive putting my physical safety in the hands of the logs, but they actually came through for me, with the prompting of the other teacher of course. In all my team actually won the day because we had extra innings of the ghost toss so we had more points in total than the older kids.
Then I had my two other private classes, which actually didn't suck as bad as they usually do. It was a long day with no food and no time to breath. On top of my usual 6 classes I also had a trial lesson that I walked into cold. It's been happening more often lately that I'm having to walk into things completely cold with no resources with me because of no planning time or a last minute change in the schedule. It's taught me how to BS even better than I was able to before. It's still hard to tell though when you get someone who says they're a beginner and you start talking to them and they're like "My favourite movies are love stories. I don't like action films at all." That is sooo not a beginner level. I am a beginner at Japanese. I can say "Kore wa pen desu", 'This is a pen'. My specialty is when the name for the item has been borrowed from English or is a classroom object, other than that, I'm lost. That is a beginner level. "No, I can't snowboard." Teacher, "Have you tried?" "No I haven't" is NOT a beginner level. That was my trial lesson today.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
October 25, 2005
It was the first of my Hallowe'en Party classes. We had fun. I am a Pretty, Pretty Faerie Princess. I have sparkly pink wings and a pink and silver crown and pink ribbons in my hair and sparkly pink glitter all over my face and sparkly silver stars around my eyes and a frilly puffy white skirt. It's exactly what Hallowe'en is to me, dressing up as something scary that you're not. That much pink is a whole lot of scary. But it's fun and I'm enjoying it. It makes me feel girly, something that is quite foreign to me. Not that I don't feel like a girl, I do, I just usually feel like a girl who can kick some serious petootie and look dead sexy doing it. Girly is a whole other ball game. Japan is all about girly. Even the men are girly. It's wrong that most young guys, we're talking High School to mid-twenties, have bigger hair than I do. That said, I'm so far enjoying this week. It feels like it will go really fast. That's something I'm looking forward to.
My first class was a playgroup with some 2 and 3 year olds and their mums. They were all pretty cute. They didn't really care about what we did as long as they were looking cute in their costumes. Unfortunately one of the little girls hadn't been to class since 3 weeks ago so she didn't know about the party...means no costume. We made tissue ghosts and threw them into buckets with pictures of spiders and candy and such. Then we had ghost races where we tried to blow our ghosts down a table. It would have helped if we all could have been as tall as the table, that made life a little difficult. We read some stories about a monster and some kids trick or treating. We cut out our hands to make a scary spider with great big eyes, mums had to help with the scissors. We danced around looking like our fabulous selves. I tried to teach them to Trick or Treat, but it didn't really work.
My next kids class, there was an adult class in between, has only one student so we joined another class that's just a little bit older. There's seven kids in that class. They're all about 5, my student is 4. It was a little bit different from the usual quiet room with only the two of us to do whatever we feel like. She did great. We played a lot of the same games only a bit different as the last class. We also tried to play a freeze game where they jump from pumpkin face to pumpkin face on one foot then freeze when the music stops. Problem is that they're Japanese kids and are far to innately ordered to go ahead of each other so no one moved for the first 20 seconds of the game and they all just stood there on their pumpkins staring at the pumpkin faces below them. It was a winner game. The other teacher and I thought it was a bust but they absolutely loved it, waiting forever for "their turn" to step on the pumpkin in front of them. They got Trick or Treat a little bit better. I stood outside the class and they knocked on the door from the inside. I opened it, they all yelled "Timaty" or "Tikaleet" or just "Kah-teet" and I gave them candy.
Next were my boys. Yes, this is Kenichi and his cohorts, Hiroyuki and Takahiro. I love this class. They're such boys. I changed some of the games a bit. We still made ghosts but the buckets were further away and they pretty much just ended up tossing them about the place and punching each other as they raced to pick up their ghost. The ghost race went way better, seeing that they can actually see over the table. We played another game, Make a Monster, where they draw a body part that corresponds to the number on the dice that I roll. For example, I roll a 1, they draw an eye. I roll a 3, they draw an arm. I roll a six, they draw a horn. And so on until we have about 14 eyes, several long thin appendages that are supposed to be either arms or legs, about 7 ears and more mouths than I can remember. It was great fun. I'll do it differently for the rest of the week depending on the size of the class. If I have enough kids then we'll do it in teams and they'll go for a certain amount of time. We also played Pictionary where they draw Hallowe'en items and the others guess. It pretty much just meant them looking through the cards and punching each other as they fought over the whiteboard markers. They fully got the Trick or Treat thing even though they still didn't get the words right. Whatever. Give'm candy.
My first class was a playgroup with some 2 and 3 year olds and their mums. They were all pretty cute. They didn't really care about what we did as long as they were looking cute in their costumes. Unfortunately one of the little girls hadn't been to class since 3 weeks ago so she didn't know about the party...means no costume. We made tissue ghosts and threw them into buckets with pictures of spiders and candy and such. Then we had ghost races where we tried to blow our ghosts down a table. It would have helped if we all could have been as tall as the table, that made life a little difficult. We read some stories about a monster and some kids trick or treating. We cut out our hands to make a scary spider with great big eyes, mums had to help with the scissors. We danced around looking like our fabulous selves. I tried to teach them to Trick or Treat, but it didn't really work.
My next kids class, there was an adult class in between, has only one student so we joined another class that's just a little bit older. There's seven kids in that class. They're all about 5, my student is 4. It was a little bit different from the usual quiet room with only the two of us to do whatever we feel like. She did great. We played a lot of the same games only a bit different as the last class. We also tried to play a freeze game where they jump from pumpkin face to pumpkin face on one foot then freeze when the music stops. Problem is that they're Japanese kids and are far to innately ordered to go ahead of each other so no one moved for the first 20 seconds of the game and they all just stood there on their pumpkins staring at the pumpkin faces below them. It was a winner game. The other teacher and I thought it was a bust but they absolutely loved it, waiting forever for "their turn" to step on the pumpkin in front of them. They got Trick or Treat a little bit better. I stood outside the class and they knocked on the door from the inside. I opened it, they all yelled "Timaty" or "Tikaleet" or just "Kah-teet" and I gave them candy.
Next were my boys. Yes, this is Kenichi and his cohorts, Hiroyuki and Takahiro. I love this class. They're such boys. I changed some of the games a bit. We still made ghosts but the buckets were further away and they pretty much just ended up tossing them about the place and punching each other as they raced to pick up their ghost. The ghost race went way better, seeing that they can actually see over the table. We played another game, Make a Monster, where they draw a body part that corresponds to the number on the dice that I roll. For example, I roll a 1, they draw an eye. I roll a 3, they draw an arm. I roll a six, they draw a horn. And so on until we have about 14 eyes, several long thin appendages that are supposed to be either arms or legs, about 7 ears and more mouths than I can remember. It was great fun. I'll do it differently for the rest of the week depending on the size of the class. If I have enough kids then we'll do it in teams and they'll go for a certain amount of time. We also played Pictionary where they draw Hallowe'en items and the others guess. It pretty much just meant them looking through the cards and punching each other as they fought over the whiteboard markers. They fully got the Trick or Treat thing even though they still didn't get the words right. Whatever. Give'm candy.
Monday, October 24, 2005
October 24, 2005
My house smells like a pool. I finally found some bleach, so I've bleached the floors and the window & door frames. Let's see any roaches want to get in here now. They evidently don't like bleach. It burns their little footsies. Aww, poor little roaches with burning footsies. Bwa ha ha ha, burn little evil footsies, BURN!!!!! Now if only there was some liquid that I could put out that would make a man (DPB in particular) not want to pee in the garden, then I think my life would be perfect.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
October 23, 2005
I am in shock. The Canucks are first in their division, second in the Western Conference and as far as I can tell, up in the top 3 of the league, possibly second. I am in shock. It's still early in the season. So like a true Canuck fan I will say, it's early still, they'll mess up soon enough. We're a cynical bunch, but I figure we're actually happier that way as we're never really all that let down. They always rise to the standard to which I judge them, which is not very high. That said, I will stand behind them until the eminent demise of the NHL. It's like the unraveling of the entity that we know of as The United States, it's just a question of when. Everyone involved is too complacent and unwilling to acknowledge the short comings and blatant inadequacies at the very core of their being. Therefore, it will all unravel at some point because they don't want to deal the problems to which they have their eyes covered. I am in shock.
I had a lovely afternoon with a friend today. I met him after he got off work and we headed off for Harajuku. It is unlike any other place on the planet. That's all I have to say about that. I will try and explain at some later date when I go again, but for now it's indescribable and I won't do it justice. It should say something that I found almost all the bits I need for my Hallowe'en costume in the stores there. I found my skirt in a shop on the main Takeshita (tah-ke-shtah) Street (I'm not saying what I am yet until later this week when I have my Hallowe'en classes and I post pictures, I want to keep you in suspense). It was a drag queen shop. It was fabulous. We found many outfits that we really wanted to be able to pull off, or just have the money to buy. I had decided long ago that I need a cape. I found my cape, it's white with big white, iridescent sequins, floor length, right next to the Liberace-esque cape and "gown". It was just under 3 man, that's 30,000 yen (man is the word for ten thousand, they count differently here). That's about 300 US bucks. There was another full body pleather Trinity-esque outfit that I soooo wished I could have pulled off. It's sad that the only place I could find a skirt that fit me was in a drag shop where the clothes are meant for men. Even more sad is that I still looked at three quarters of the store and said, "This stuff won't fit me, it's too small". The Trinity-esque outfit was one of them. We want to go back again some day and go to Yoyogi Park on a Sunday. That's the big event of the area. Everyone goes and hangs out just being their "Alternative Sub-Culture" selves. I love Tokyo fashion. Only in Tokyo could you look normal walking down the street as Little Bo Peep on a Sunday afternoon. What other city in the world could you do that and not get stared at?
I had a lovely afternoon with a friend today. I met him after he got off work and we headed off for Harajuku. It is unlike any other place on the planet. That's all I have to say about that. I will try and explain at some later date when I go again, but for now it's indescribable and I won't do it justice. It should say something that I found almost all the bits I need for my Hallowe'en costume in the stores there. I found my skirt in a shop on the main Takeshita (tah-ke-shtah) Street (I'm not saying what I am yet until later this week when I have my Hallowe'en classes and I post pictures, I want to keep you in suspense). It was a drag queen shop. It was fabulous. We found many outfits that we really wanted to be able to pull off, or just have the money to buy. I had decided long ago that I need a cape. I found my cape, it's white with big white, iridescent sequins, floor length, right next to the Liberace-esque cape and "gown". It was just under 3 man, that's 30,000 yen (man is the word for ten thousand, they count differently here). That's about 300 US bucks. There was another full body pleather Trinity-esque outfit that I soooo wished I could have pulled off. It's sad that the only place I could find a skirt that fit me was in a drag shop where the clothes are meant for men. Even more sad is that I still looked at three quarters of the store and said, "This stuff won't fit me, it's too small". The Trinity-esque outfit was one of them. We want to go back again some day and go to Yoyogi Park on a Sunday. That's the big event of the area. Everyone goes and hangs out just being their "Alternative Sub-Culture" selves. I love Tokyo fashion. Only in Tokyo could you look normal walking down the street as Little Bo Peep on a Sunday afternoon. What other city in the world could you do that and not get stared at?
Saturday, October 22, 2005
October 22, 2005
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NEN!!!!
The cold got really bad today. Thankfully one of my privates cancelled today, so I had a Kindie class, then a 3 hour break to do planning and projects for Hallowe'en, then another Kindie class, then a private with a fabulous 14 girl whom I love, then I found out that my adult class student also cancelled, so I got to leave. I got back to Kita just before 7 and I had thankfully packed my suit this morning so, despite my cold, I went for a swim. It felt really good, although a little uneasy. They're very serious about their leisure in this country. There's no free swim. It's all lengths, all in a lap pool, no fun colourful mats, no wave pool, no volleyball net. Very serious. Goggles and a swim cap are required. I got a lot of looks. My bathing suit isn't revealing, back home it's not that big of a deal. Most people have seen boobs at some point in their lives, at least on tv. Not so much here. I think it was a first for many, women included. Not that I care, heck, I walk around the change room nekked, it's just an odd feeling to be constantly aware of being watched by all as soon as you walk in a room. Must be what it's like for a black person in Victoria. My favourite still is the older generation when you sit next to them on the train and they didn't see you get on and then all of a sudden they look up and realize you're sitting next to them and they do a shocked double take. It always makes me laugh inside.
The cold got really bad today. Thankfully one of my privates cancelled today, so I had a Kindie class, then a 3 hour break to do planning and projects for Hallowe'en, then another Kindie class, then a private with a fabulous 14 girl whom I love, then I found out that my adult class student also cancelled, so I got to leave. I got back to Kita just before 7 and I had thankfully packed my suit this morning so, despite my cold, I went for a swim. It felt really good, although a little uneasy. They're very serious about their leisure in this country. There's no free swim. It's all lengths, all in a lap pool, no fun colourful mats, no wave pool, no volleyball net. Very serious. Goggles and a swim cap are required. I got a lot of looks. My bathing suit isn't revealing, back home it's not that big of a deal. Most people have seen boobs at some point in their lives, at least on tv. Not so much here. I think it was a first for many, women included. Not that I care, heck, I walk around the change room nekked, it's just an odd feeling to be constantly aware of being watched by all as soon as you walk in a room. Must be what it's like for a black person in Victoria. My favourite still is the older generation when you sit next to them on the train and they didn't see you get on and then all of a sudden they look up and realize you're sitting next to them and they do a shocked double take. It always makes me laugh inside.
Friday, October 21, 2005
October 21, 2005
Thoughts from class.
Adult class, Yumi's husband lives in England for work. She must raise her kids on her own. I've talked to her before about it and I thought she had a good gig. I still do think it's good, but it has it's draw backs. She's essentially like a single mum. The difference being that she has financial support. A lot of financial support. But she was saying how she has to raise the kids on her own. Stuff happens and she needs to figure out the best thing to do in the situation on her own. Her son is now 16 and is starting to disrespect her and she has no backup there to support her. No dad there to say "Hey, don't talk to your mother like that". She's on her own.
Returnee class, Takuya's dad lives in Malaysia for work. He gets to talk to him on the phone sometimes and says that he can talk to his dad easier on the phone about his problems than with his mum in person. His dad will be home for a week in November. He says that he would like to be able to do more things with the whole family, like all four of them go for dinner together. He's 15. Oh, and btw his sister is also one of my students in another class.
Interesting how both of those classes collided today.
In the Returnee class we're studying how our cultures influence our perceptions of the world and how do we communicate with those around us keeping our interpretations and their interpretations (that are probably different) in mind.
How do you see these two cases? How do you view the fathers? What is your initial reaction to hearing these things?
It's a difference of culture in how you interpret these two cases. The men have gone abroad for the work they need to do to ensure that their children can receive the moral and intellectual training at good schools that they will need to become good and successful adults. The Japanese put more of an emphasis on formal education whereas in North America (particularly among the right wing Christian community) they put more emphasis on the physical presence of the father in the home as being integral to the development and success of the kids. How would Dobson or FOTF (Focus On The Family) view these two families? Would they lambaste them? Sure there's difficulties about both situations, but what family in America (next to mine of course) is perfect? Who says that a family structure needs to look exactly like This, or This? So much of it is determined by our culture and those around us. What do we value? What has shaped your thinking? If you are a Christian, how much of what you value as being "Godly" is really and truly scripturally Godly, as opposed to what has been fed to you by the MassMediaChristian-eseCulture? It's been interesting to plan some stuff for my class as it's really stretching my own thinking of being aware of what has influenced my own values and thoughts, which often have gone against the major thinking in my most immediate environment. What aspects of life do I take for granted. How would a Japanese man see an American father who is physically present for the family, but does not provide a financial abundance? Maybe the American father is content to see the children regularly clothed and educated at home, but that would appall the Japanese man as being negligent,irresponsible and unloving towards your child's future.
I'm getting sick. I can feel the pressure behind my eyes building. It started yesterday afternoon. I think I caught it either from a fellow teacher or from one of the snotty Kindie kids. My guess is Masahiro. He's all snotty and he just HAD to have a high 5. He's five, I can't deny a five year old a High Five when they've asked for one, no matter how snotty they are. I tried to clean everything, but it evidently didn't work.
Adult class, Yumi's husband lives in England for work. She must raise her kids on her own. I've talked to her before about it and I thought she had a good gig. I still do think it's good, but it has it's draw backs. She's essentially like a single mum. The difference being that she has financial support. A lot of financial support. But she was saying how she has to raise the kids on her own. Stuff happens and she needs to figure out the best thing to do in the situation on her own. Her son is now 16 and is starting to disrespect her and she has no backup there to support her. No dad there to say "Hey, don't talk to your mother like that". She's on her own.
Returnee class, Takuya's dad lives in Malaysia for work. He gets to talk to him on the phone sometimes and says that he can talk to his dad easier on the phone about his problems than with his mum in person. His dad will be home for a week in November. He says that he would like to be able to do more things with the whole family, like all four of them go for dinner together. He's 15. Oh, and btw his sister is also one of my students in another class.
Interesting how both of those classes collided today.
In the Returnee class we're studying how our cultures influence our perceptions of the world and how do we communicate with those around us keeping our interpretations and their interpretations (that are probably different) in mind.
How do you see these two cases? How do you view the fathers? What is your initial reaction to hearing these things?
It's a difference of culture in how you interpret these two cases. The men have gone abroad for the work they need to do to ensure that their children can receive the moral and intellectual training at good schools that they will need to become good and successful adults. The Japanese put more of an emphasis on formal education whereas in North America (particularly among the right wing Christian community) they put more emphasis on the physical presence of the father in the home as being integral to the development and success of the kids. How would Dobson or FOTF (Focus On The Family) view these two families? Would they lambaste them? Sure there's difficulties about both situations, but what family in America (next to mine of course) is perfect? Who says that a family structure needs to look exactly like This, or This? So much of it is determined by our culture and those around us. What do we value? What has shaped your thinking? If you are a Christian, how much of what you value as being "Godly" is really and truly scripturally Godly, as opposed to what has been fed to you by the MassMediaChristian-eseCulture? It's been interesting to plan some stuff for my class as it's really stretching my own thinking of being aware of what has influenced my own values and thoughts, which often have gone against the major thinking in my most immediate environment. What aspects of life do I take for granted. How would a Japanese man see an American father who is physically present for the family, but does not provide a financial abundance? Maybe the American father is content to see the children regularly clothed and educated at home, but that would appall the Japanese man as being negligent,irresponsible and unloving towards your child's future.
I'm getting sick. I can feel the pressure behind my eyes building. It started yesterday afternoon. I think I caught it either from a fellow teacher or from one of the snotty Kindie kids. My guess is Masahiro. He's all snotty and he just HAD to have a high 5. He's five, I can't deny a five year old a High Five when they've asked for one, no matter how snotty they are. I tried to clean everything, but it evidently didn't work.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
October 20, 2005
And today in my ET3 class, with Misako who acts like she would like me to die a thousand horrible firey deaths, actually went fairly well. She only threw her books once. She actually laughed twice in class and she actually listened to me when I corrected her. It was amazing. It'll be funny to watch that class at the Hallowe'en party cause two of them are too cool for words and the other boy is pretty quiet.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
October 18, 2005
Today, Kenichi and his cohorts were a little more OOC than usual (Out Of Control) but the best moment was when I said, "C'mon you guys, chill", they were fighting, and Kenichi looked at his fellow student Hiroyuki and squinted his eyes, puckered his lips, held out his index finger and said "C'mon baby". Freakin priceless. I've heard him say it once or twice before, but never quite like that. I don't know where he picked it up cause he didn't know it when I had him previously, so he learned it over a span of about a month and a half. "C'mon baby" Definitely a fav moment.
Annoying factor. It's been up on our Staff Meetings schedule for like a month now that the meeting this week is in Kita. Today we get a fax saying "Blah, blah, blah, it's at Katsu at 12:00" So I wrote back asking if it had been changed from what was on the schedule? He wrote to everyone that it's at Katsu in case you're confused!!! I'm not freakin confused, it's what's on the stupid schedule that has been posted everywhere for ages. I can see a potential problem that they're going to have because there is someone who had today and tomorrow off and they won't have seen the fax until 12 on Thursday when they show up for the meeting at Kita. I don't know whether to call her so that she's not in a jam, or whether to leave it, foreseeing a really blatant conflict that the current management seems to be completely blind to, and let the repercussions of their mismanagement run their course. If it was anyone else I wouldn't let them know, but I know that it will cause her stress and I don't want her to have to deal with it, especially when she won't say anything about it to the people who have put her out. I hate living under poor management. I know I'll let her know, but I really wanted the powers that be to come face to face with their incompetencies. It's the details that matter that build to be all these little annoyances that then lead staff to get frustrated and unhappy. Chalk it up to another learning point about management.
Annoying factor. It's been up on our Staff Meetings schedule for like a month now that the meeting this week is in Kita. Today we get a fax saying "Blah, blah, blah, it's at Katsu at 12:00" So I wrote back asking if it had been changed from what was on the schedule? He wrote to everyone that it's at Katsu in case you're confused!!! I'm not freakin confused, it's what's on the stupid schedule that has been posted everywhere for ages. I can see a potential problem that they're going to have because there is someone who had today and tomorrow off and they won't have seen the fax until 12 on Thursday when they show up for the meeting at Kita. I don't know whether to call her so that she's not in a jam, or whether to leave it, foreseeing a really blatant conflict that the current management seems to be completely blind to, and let the repercussions of their mismanagement run their course. If it was anyone else I wouldn't let them know, but I know that it will cause her stress and I don't want her to have to deal with it, especially when she won't say anything about it to the people who have put her out. I hate living under poor management. I know I'll let her know, but I really wanted the powers that be to come face to face with their incompetencies. It's the details that matter that build to be all these little annoyances that then lead staff to get frustrated and unhappy. Chalk it up to another learning point about management.
Monday, October 17, 2005
October 17, 2005
I have had a good day so far, especially considering that I didn't really sleep much last night. My kitchen table just isn't long enough, otherwise I could be quite happy up there permanently. I had a fun lesson with Nomura-san. I have finally mastered the difference between NA adjectives and I adjectives. Kono cado wa kirei desu. Kore wa kireina cado desu. This card is cute. This is a cute card. Note the different forms of 'this' and the existence of Na after the adjective when it is a part of the NP (cute card). It's not all adjectives, it's just a small class, Na-adjectives, that have the Na after it when it's the compliment to a NP. We laughed a lot as I kept getting things confused. I think I was very disruptive to the rest of the classes. Then I went shopping at Uni-Qlo and spent more money than I was going to, but I don't care cause I need a wardrobe overhaul. My clothes are driving me INSANE. I'm far too vain to wear the same things day in and day out. Then I rode my bike on a different route home from Takanekido. I finally found the sports complex. It's closed on Mondays. Bah!! Then I went grocery shopping and bought a huge thing of veggies and eggs for just under 2000 yen. If I had bought the same amount at the Top Valu it would have been about twice the price. Then I decided to stop in at the kimono shop just close to my place to see what I could find on sale. I think I've found some gifts that I will have to go back and get. I did manage to pick up some little goodies for some ladies back home, like Granny and mum. They've got some really beautiful things in there that I might go buy for myself as well. They've got these fabulous bags made from old yukata and kimono fabrics. Quite lovely. I still want to go in to a market with Taeko to buy an old yukata for the fabric. I may have to do that before November so that I can send stuff home with Robbin. I got home and found presents from Mum & Dad and Marc & Amanda's wedding invite in the poste. I got online and talked with Mum while on MSN with Marcus. It was a good time. I feel happy. I feel like I could use three more days like this to feel ready to go back to work. Now I need to go chop some veggies so that they're all prepped for the week, otherwise I'll never use them up this week. I hate chopping vegetables. What a difference cooler weather makes to me. Today it feels like a usual day back home in October or November. Cool, drizzly, gray. Quite nice. Makes me feel human.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
October 16, 2005
Day off today. I didn't leave my flat. I didn't get dressed. I didn't brush my teeth. I barely ate (just left over rice and veggies from last night). It was just fine. I watched a couple movies. I was relatively content, content enough considering my usual state of discontentedness. I was watching the Italian Job. Then I saw something move. Stupid roaches. Aren't they all supposed to be dead by this time of year. I've had the odd person tell me that they like, go into hibernation or something over the winter. Whatever it is, they aren't supposed to be around. It's not like it's summer. So I put my bed away, I can't clean anything else as I've already cleaned my whole place. I bet it's my stupid downstairs neighbour who is home right now. He's totally gross. I don't know what he has against indoor toiletry but he seems to enjoy peeing right from inside his house . He just opens up his back door and pisses in the garden, standing in his tatami room, right out the sliding glass door. Gross. I was mentioning him to Brooklyn tonight and I've come up with a new name for him. From hence forth he shall be known, like a superhero, or maybe a foil character to...wakata, that's it, he's the foil character to Our Conqueror (superhero echo effects on the voice followed by supremely triumphant superhero music), he shall be known as "Downstairs Pee-er Boy" da da da da, standing gallantly with his hands on his hips, wide strong stance, chin up, freely peeing. No wonder we have roaches. Normal people don't usually have roaches. But then, I don't think they have pee in their gardens. Very few of my students get roaches in their house. Izumi (Takuya's sister) said she has never had a roach in her house. Since arriving, I have had 4. One was the big ass one that first time in my main room. Then a smaller one in my bathroom. Then a really small one in my main room. And now again tonight, a pretty big one again in my main room. It's not like there's anything in here to attract them. It's just my comp on a small, low table in the middle of the room. That's it. No chairs. No pillows. No anything. I called a friend to see if I could crash with him tonight. I really don't want to sleep on the floor. He hasn't been answering his phone over the past 2 days. Ass. I guess I will have to sleep on my kitchen table again tonight.
October 16, 2005
Day off today. I didn't leave my flat. I didn't get dressed. I didn't brush my teeth. I barely ate (just left over rice and veggies from last night). It was just fine. I watched a couple movies. I was relatively content, content enough considering my usual state of discontentedness. I was watching the Italian Job. Then I saw something move. Stupid roaches. Aren't they all supposed to be dead by this time of year. I've had the odd person tell me that they like, go into hibernation or something over the winter. Whatever it is, they aren't supposed to be around. It's not like it's summer. So I put my bed away, I can't clean anything else as I've already cleaned my whole place. I bet it's my stupid downstairs neighbour who is home right now. He's totally gross. I don't know what he has against indoor toiletry but he seems to enjoy peeing right from inside his house . He just opens up his back door and pisses in the garden, standing in his tatami room, right out the sliding glass door. Gross. I was mentioning him to Brooklyn tonight and I've come up with a new name for him. From hence forth he shall be known, like a superhero, or maybe a foil character to...wakata, that's it, he's the foil character to Our Conqueror (superhero echo effects on the voice followed by supremely triumphant superhero music), he shall be known as "Downstairs Pee-er Boy" da da da da, standing gallantly with his hands on his hips, wide strong stance, chin up, freely peeing. No wonder we have roaches. Normal people don't usually have roaches. But then, I don't think they have pee in their gardens. Very few of my students get roaches in their house. Izumi (Takuya's sister) said she has never had a roach in her house. Since arriving, I have had 4. One was the big ass one that first time in my main room. Then a smaller one in my bathroom. Then a really small one in my main room. And now again tonight, a pretty big one again in my main room. It's not like there's anything in here to attract them. It's just my comp on a small, low table in the middle of the room. That's it. No chairs. No pillows. No anything. I called a friend to see if I could crash with him tonight. I really don't want to sleep on the floor. He hasn't been answering his phone over the past 2 days. Ass. I guess I will have to sleep on my kitchen table again tonight.
Monday, October 10, 2005
October 10, 2005
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
I had a nice weekend. I spent most of Sunday, yesterday, at Chris and Yasuko's. We went over some wedding stuff for Toshi and me as MC's. I'm still a little unclear of exactly what I should be saying. It'll be fine. Then we kicked around the apartment for a while. We headed out to Shibuya for some dinner and hit the Canadian Bar there, The Maple Leaf. I had Thanksgiving Dinner seeing that it was Sunday night on Thanksgiving weekend. My family was also having dinner on Sunday night back home so it felt right. The turkey was a little dry and the gravy a little weak, but it was dang good and one of the best meals I've had in a really long time. I don't think it was even the quality, but the familiarity of tastes that was so good. We also had some poutine and beer. It wouldn't be a Canadian celebration without it, non?
It was nice to be away from my home and neighbourhood for a night. It felt like a mini vaca. It was really nice.
I had a nice weekend. I spent most of Sunday, yesterday, at Chris and Yasuko's. We went over some wedding stuff for Toshi and me as MC's. I'm still a little unclear of exactly what I should be saying. It'll be fine. Then we kicked around the apartment for a while. We headed out to Shibuya for some dinner and hit the Canadian Bar there, The Maple Leaf. I had Thanksgiving Dinner seeing that it was Sunday night on Thanksgiving weekend. My family was also having dinner on Sunday night back home so it felt right. The turkey was a little dry and the gravy a little weak, but it was dang good and one of the best meals I've had in a really long time. I don't think it was even the quality, but the familiarity of tastes that was so good. We also had some poutine and beer. It wouldn't be a Canadian celebration without it, non?
It was nice to be away from my home and neighbourhood for a night. It felt like a mini vaca. It was really nice.
Thursday, October 6, 2005
October 6, 2005
I would like to tell a little story. It has been a long week and I'm only on my "Wednesday". The last two days have been really busy at school as I'm now at locations that are kinda out there, and they're all new classes (6 classes both days) so it's been a lot of prep work and prelim leg work to get things rolling for the new semester. The days have felt especially long because I still haven't gone to buy a bike so I'm walking about an hour a day just to and from my house to my first main school to check in. Today was long again with a staff meeting at noon (I have to leave the house just before 11 to make it there on time) and then teaching till 9 at yet another school. In all I spent just over 2 hours on trains, or waiting for trains at transfer points. I spent 1780 yen on train fare alone. So after a long day I then had a long walk ahead of me. I was wearing my "kick ass boots" today, think cat woman meets cool kindergarten teacher, and realized that I hadn't brought my sneaks to walk home in. I dumped my shoulder bag at Kita school and went off home. I stopped for some TP and nacho chips (hard to come by, the nacho chips I mean, but there is a random wholesale store near my house that carries random international food) and made it to within a block of my house, looking forward to checking hockey scores and watching some Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that was downloading while I was at work, when I thought "..." well, I won't tell you what I thought cause it embarrasses my mum when I cuss. My bag is back at the school. My house key is in my back. I only have my school keys on me. Oh dear me! Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Oh dear me, this is a pickle, how could I be so absent minded. Yup, just what I said. I dropped my shopping bags at my door and headed back down the street. Now I must say that it has become habitual for me to take a side road that runs parallel to the main road for some time and then crossing over to another more spacious main road with barriers between pedestrian and vehicle areas. It's a little bit longer, I think, than taking a park route that cuts diagonally, but it's a much calmer route and quite peaceful, especially at night. Tonight, I had taken the more travelled route home to swing by the stores and I figured I would take the same way back as it was probably shorter, and note, I was still wearing my "kick ass boots" so a shorter distance was about all my feet wanted. Keep in mind I had already walked to and from the school already today. As I was passing by the music school I noticed a red bike. This whole week I have been looking at all the Fat Cat (yes, my bike model is called Fat Cat, how fabulous is that!) bikes that I see. I have discovered that they are plentiful in the land. This bike was a Fat Cat and I just happened to glance down at the cross bar where Drlfan had some gashes in her paint from some other inconsiderate fellow bikes. There were gashes in the paint! "No," I thought, "she can't be this close to my house, she's gone and I need to stop looking at every Fat Cat I see". I was about to walk by when I thought to glance at the reg numbers. "055XXXBlah Blah" I only ever remember the 055. "No Freaking Way!" thought I. Yes, folks, yes. It was Drlfan. Now you need to remember that I had left my keys at the school so I had to go all the way back to be able to unlock her. And you need to remember that if I hadn't left my keys back at the school, I wouldn't have been walking down this street. She was locked and looked a little worse for the wear, but still she was there, in front of me. There were a bunch of folks still at the music school with studio time and I thought, "Hallelujah". That was my first thought, then I thought, "What if it was one of them and they're going to come back out and take her away again". So, being the woman of action that I am, I went into the school, threw a tantrum and kick some crazy Flock of Seagulls haired, ripped jeans and cowboy boots wearing, girly man in the nuts and stole my bike back. Okay, so no I didn't. But some days I would really like to. They look ridiculous, don't they know that? Being the woman of action that I am, I ran, yes, RAN back to the school to get my keys, saying "Thank you Lord, man my legs are going to get a rash from all this chaffing, thank you Lord", the whole way through the park. And then shuffled (I changed out of my boots at the school and into some slip ons that I have stashed away that are harder to walk in, but kinda easier than the heels were going to be for the FOURTH time today) back as quickly as my stupid shoes would let me, and opened her lock, freed her from her dirt shackles and walked her home. Well, we only walked a few blocks as I talked sweetly to her, asking her all about the nasty person who put their bum on her seat, then I realized, "Dude, I don't have to walk anymore, let's ride baby!" You may think I jest about talking to her...I do not jest. I'm fully serious. I totally talked to my bike for like 2 blocks. That's how completely crazy, and completely ecstatic, I was to get her back.
The moral of this story is (make that "morals" and "are"): pray, God hears you, I've been praying for a week and a half that the stupid cleptos would ditch her somewhere where either I'd find her, or the police would confiscate her; always have good bootin' shoes available cause you never know when you'll have to "boot"; and last but not least, always double lock your bicycle. This story has been brought to you by the letter D and the number 5.
That's D for Drlfan, and 5 for 055-somethingorothersomemorenumbers.
The moral of this story is (make that "morals" and "are"): pray, God hears you, I've been praying for a week and a half that the stupid cleptos would ditch her somewhere where either I'd find her, or the police would confiscate her; always have good bootin' shoes available cause you never know when you'll have to "boot"; and last but not least, always double lock your bicycle. This story has been brought to you by the letter D and the number 5.
That's D for Drlfan, and 5 for 055-somethingorothersomemorenumbers.
Monday, October 3, 2005
October 3, 2005
Today is officially the first day of the state of "my not having a bike"-ness sucking. I had one of my longest days here today. I left the house at 10:15, got to Mak about an hour later after my walking-train-train-walking extravaganza that is my commute. I got home about quarter past ten, oh, look 12 hours later. I was at the school the whole time, I only taught 5 and a quarter hours, and yet I was on premises for 10 and a half hours. The same amount of time to plan per class as the actual class takes. Unbelievable. The good news...I have Kenichi again!!! He was so surprised when he saw me, and then even more floored when I made it evident that I was his "new" teacher...again. His mum was so excited when I saw her after class. Both the other teacher and the receptionist said they had never heard that class so quiet. They were astonished. It's 3 very obnoxious, very active 8 year old boys. I loved it. We threw some stuff, we played some games. They hated doing the text work, but when it came time to do their workbook I'd worked them over on everything else, plus threatened them with taking away their English Challenge if they spoke any Japanese (stamps which they can then "buy" cool stuff with like fun erasers or trading cards from the school), that they settled right down and did wonderfully well. It's not like I ever have to take away their EC, I don't actually want to, but if pushed, I will do it to assert my authority, and then I back down from it. It usually works really well to keep a balance of trust and confidence with authority and respect. I certainly don't ask for any more respect than I give the kids. I treat them like people, as opposed to the little rug rats that they are (!!!), and they usually give it back. Except that one girl on Thursdays. But she's a special case. I don't know what her drama is, but I think she hates me more than I hate "THE MOUSE"...and that's saying a lot. A heck of a lot.
Thought for the day, by Kent Runge over at the BHT:
When your nation's your messiah it's axiomatic that your president's your pastor.
I'll just leave that with you for a while. Mull that one over, and all it's subtleties, it's beautiful.
Thought for the day, by Kent Runge over at the BHT:
When your nation's your messiah it's axiomatic that your president's your pastor.
I'll just leave that with you for a while. Mull that one over, and all it's subtleties, it's beautiful.
October 3, 2005
I got up early today to set off for Tsudanuma. I don't work there any more! I had a Japanese lesson with my dear Nomura san, whom I like to call Nomura sama. Nomura san is like saying Mr Nomura. Nomura sama is more like calling him Sir Nomura. We had a very good class today. It probably had something to do with me not thinking about work coming up after the lesson. We were heading to the train when he said he would like to go enjoy lunch together but thought I had plans. I told him I didn't, so we headed up the line by one stop and went for lunch. It was nice to sit and talk with him. It gave me a chance to use some of the stuff we had learned today, that made him proud, and it gave us a chance to just chat in English. He told me a little about living in Korea before the war. About his grandfather who had been an agricultural engineer in Korea (in what is now North Korea) and some of the work that he had done. We talked about some of his travels too. He worked for Mitsubishi for more than 40 years and had an International position that required him to travel the world quite a bit. He had some interesting ideas about the Korean language. It used to be based on the Chinese Kanji system, which is pretty closely reflected in Japan but with a few changes. After the, I believe, Great War (or maybe World War II, any history buffs out there can correct me) they had a really big hate on for all that was Japanese who had been their occupiers. They cut Japanese language from all schools and changed the writing system to the one they use now. It's an interesting writing system based on the sounds, like an alphabet. I studied the theory behind it in University and I remember one teacher saying that it was quite possibly the most perfect writing system in the world, mostly because it was engineered as opposed to developed naturally through the centuries, like most other writing systems. Nomura sama thinks the Koreans made a huge mistake by changing the writing system. He said that the language was based on the Kanji writing system which is all about communicating whole ideas as opposed to just phonemes and that the wholeness of the language has been lost because of it. It was an interesting way of thinking of it. I've never thought of a language's writing system being so integral to its identity and fullness. It was a glimpse into the importance and love of the Kanji that exists in many who use it. Would it really bother me if English were to be conveyed with a different alphabet, would something be lost from the language due to the change? I would say it wouldn't, and that's a shame. It doesn't have the depth of tradition that the Japanese language and writing system seems to have. This depth is being lost with the new generation of Japanese. They have embraced so much western culture and thought and so quickly that it's not being assimilated well into their own culture, it's usurping it.
Sunday, October 2, 2005
October 2, 2005
Yeah to a day off. I grabbed some groceries really quick for a chicken salad. I watched Super Size Me today. I had a physical reaction to watching that movie. I actually felt physically sick to my stomach after watching it. This guy goes on a 30 day McD's diet, only food he consumes for 30 days must be from over the counter at a McD's. It runs the full gamut of health aspects to product branding to corporate manipulation of federal lunch programmes. I was so concerned for Morgan's health that after the doctor told him that if he were an alcoholic with the same blood work results that he would tell him that he had to stop drinking immediately or he would die. Then it shows Morgan eating another Big Mac. I was yelling at my comp, "No, baby, please stop, don't eat it, put it down". Then it went into school lunch programs and then I got really firey. I want to go back to Canada and become a lobbyist to remove all junk food (mostly vending machines) from our schools as well as instituting intelligent cafeteria programmes. I was totally one of the kids they had in the movie. You bring a lunch to school, usually just a pb sandwich and maybe a piece of fruit, and then get some fries from the caf and ditch the good stuff and just eat the fries. Not that I did that often as I didn't have the cash supply as a teen, but still, I feel like I know what those pesky kids are doing. I was one of them. Sure we can talk about giving them the opportunities to make wise life choices early on, but let's face facts, we are the adults, they are the kids, under no circumstances is providing soda at school a positive choice no matter what else they consume during the day so let's make that choice for them by removing it. By the end, as I said, I was feeling quite queasy. I've decided that I will forgo much of the fast food around me, and that's hard to do here because everyone eats out a lot and my schedule is such that it's difficult to make food for myself. It's such a different way of going about things here than when I was in Vic last year. I mean, I had a juicer and an oven and a great farmer's market just down the road, and a Nana upstairs with plenty of freshly frozen goodness in the freezers. Mmmm, blackberries, raspberries, 30 lbs turkeys. Okay, so I never stole a turkey, but I certainly helped myself to the fruit. And I use the word 'stole' here very loosely. Is it really stealing if the person who it belongs to is aware that you are taking it? I say not. At least 'not' if they don't try to stop you. If they know and try to stop you, and you still go ahead, well then yeah, that's stealing.
So I watched Super Size Me, then I watched The Amazing Race - Families Edition Season Premier, then I watched episode 3 and 4 of the new OC season, then I watched some Freedom TV that's on streaming on WinAmp, stupid President Bush. I won't deny that he's a Christian. He may, or may not, be a good man (so many people on tv, albeit often on Fox and they don't exactly supply impartial news coverage, I have heard say, "He's a good man". Who cares if he's a good man, he makes horrible decisions that lead to the deaths and the increased misery of the people he claims to stand for, ie. Americans) but that is truly beside the point, he just should not be President of the United States. It is far too powerful of a nation to be run badly. And I'm not just talking militarily. It has tremendous economic and environmental power that is going unchecked and unaccounted for. It has a tremendous population whose well-being is being ignored as a whole. Okay, so I could go on, but I'm going to stop now. I have more to rant about, but it does absolutely no good and will only prove to divide myself from some of my dear and greatly loved friends who are Americans and some of whom are proud Bush supporters. Or at least they have been in past times, I don't know if they have changed their minds in light of more recent events, although if their minds weren't changed due to his actions before the latest federal vote, then I doubt they would change now because it's all just a lot of the same old thing. Oh goodness, I said I would drop it and look, I brought it back up. Okay really. I'm stopping. Let's go back to the school lunch programmes. That seems like a much safer topic. After Bush I watched something that I can't remember, then I had a bath that was too hot. It was great but I'm still sweating. Then I watched an old documentary and the German taking and then defeat of Stalingrad. What can I say, I grew up watching old war documentaries. It feels like home, and are incredibly interesting much of the time although I don't always have the full grasp of what the effect on the whole war was, Dad usually filled in that info for me. Now I'm writing and downloading the last two John Stewart's of the past week. It actually set new records for my comp tonight. It got up to 105 KB per second. This is quite the feat as I'm usually really happy when it downloads in and around 20 to 30. So 105 is completely unheard of.
In a nut shell, today was a great day of airing out my flat and watching American produced "entertainment". Not a hint of Japanese culture in my day today. I didn't even talk Japanese to the lady behind the counter at the grocery store. Oh wait, actually I think I said "Arigato" to her. I said one word, other than that, it was me living in my own little haven of North American-ness that is my flat. I'm still trying to come up with a good name for the apartement. It's been 5 months of contemplating and nothing has really fit. That may have to be my goal for tomorrow...seeing that I HAVE TWO DAYS OFF IN A ROW!! I'm so excited.
So I watched Super Size Me, then I watched The Amazing Race - Families Edition Season Premier, then I watched episode 3 and 4 of the new OC season, then I watched some Freedom TV that's on streaming on WinAmp, stupid President Bush. I won't deny that he's a Christian. He may, or may not, be a good man (so many people on tv, albeit often on Fox and they don't exactly supply impartial news coverage, I have heard say, "He's a good man". Who cares if he's a good man, he makes horrible decisions that lead to the deaths and the increased misery of the people he claims to stand for, ie. Americans) but that is truly beside the point, he just should not be President of the United States. It is far too powerful of a nation to be run badly. And I'm not just talking militarily. It has tremendous economic and environmental power that is going unchecked and unaccounted for. It has a tremendous population whose well-being is being ignored as a whole. Okay, so I could go on, but I'm going to stop now. I have more to rant about, but it does absolutely no good and will only prove to divide myself from some of my dear and greatly loved friends who are Americans and some of whom are proud Bush supporters. Or at least they have been in past times, I don't know if they have changed their minds in light of more recent events, although if their minds weren't changed due to his actions before the latest federal vote, then I doubt they would change now because it's all just a lot of the same old thing. Oh goodness, I said I would drop it and look, I brought it back up. Okay really. I'm stopping. Let's go back to the school lunch programmes. That seems like a much safer topic. After Bush I watched something that I can't remember, then I had a bath that was too hot. It was great but I'm still sweating. Then I watched an old documentary and the German taking and then defeat of Stalingrad. What can I say, I grew up watching old war documentaries. It feels like home, and are incredibly interesting much of the time although I don't always have the full grasp of what the effect on the whole war was, Dad usually filled in that info for me. Now I'm writing and downloading the last two John Stewart's of the past week. It actually set new records for my comp tonight. It got up to 105 KB per second. This is quite the feat as I'm usually really happy when it downloads in and around 20 to 30. So 105 is completely unheard of.
In a nut shell, today was a great day of airing out my flat and watching American produced "entertainment". Not a hint of Japanese culture in my day today. I didn't even talk Japanese to the lady behind the counter at the grocery store. Oh wait, actually I think I said "Arigato" to her. I said one word, other than that, it was me living in my own little haven of North American-ness that is my flat. I'm still trying to come up with a good name for the apartement. It's been 5 months of contemplating and nothing has really fit. That may have to be my goal for tomorrow...seeing that I HAVE TWO DAYS OFF IN A ROW!! I'm so excited.
Saturday, October 1, 2005
October 1, 2005
I went out briefly tonight for a few drinks at Watami's. I say that I don't hang out with people I don't like. Tonight was an exception. One acquaintance I like was there so it was cool to chat, and if he hadn't been there, I wouldn't have gone. End of story. Oh, that and the chick in the booth behind us was having a birthday so we started a rousing English version of Happy Birthday to You for her. Many of the patrons around us joined in, as well as all her friends. It was a good time. She seemed to enjoy it.
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