So my computer has been having tantrums lately, and I've dealt with them best I can. To eat up some time I brought it into work today and had Nick take a look at it. Apparently the hard drive is almost gone and the battery is pretty much fried. So when I get home I'm gonna back everything up and pray for the best lol.
Just got our second paycheck yesterday,they take quite a it out for random stuffs, but that is the same everywhere. Hopefully now I can start saving up some money, pay back some that I have borrowed, and take a trip to Akihabara sometime soon ^_^ For those of you who don't know, Akiha is the main electronics district of Tokyo, and has many shiny objects.
Today Nick and I are meeting Katsuno-san from the board of education to see our new (old) car. We don't know if we will be able to use it or not right away, but both of us agree that a trip to Iida is in our immediate future. This is just too much in the boonies sometimes. Also, I would loove to get a cell phone to be connected.
It is so odd with the schedule I'm on now, I'm going to bed at 9:30-10 and waking up at 7-ish. Normal hours, not going to bed at 2am and waking up at 12pm :D System is trying to get used to that, and all of this Japanese food is still somewhat messing it up. We eat the school lunches everyday which are tasty, but not something I'd cook for myself (except for the daily rice). Yesterday I had my second "I ate what?!" moment, where I thought I was eating one thing and it turned out to be something completely different. There was a nice salad of tomatoes, herbs, and what looked like little stringy pieces of Parmesan cheese. Even tasted a bit like it, just a little tough. Turns out that was squid. ^^;
Monday and Tuesday are our run around and do alot without breaks days. The rest of the week is waay more laid back. Today we only helped in one class. The 3rd year students took a monthly English test yesterday, and they went over the results today, so there goes 4 classes right there. Yay for internets and laptops.
I spent the last period yesterday and the morning today mass-producing dragonballs. Yes, dragonballs. Hirota-sensei wants to use them to help the 1st year students learn counting in English, since each ball is numbered 1-7 by how many stars it has inside. Now THAT was fun ^_^
Speaking of dragonballs, there is a DBZ mmorpg being made in Korea o.O
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-24/dragon-ball-online-mmorpg-new-trailer-video-posted
Also, Vicky sent me an awesome link of people shaving poodles to look like other things, Some of these are AMAZING!!! I was looking at this during work and trying to keep a straight face....but failed miserably. Ah well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208913/The-poodles-transformed-pandas-horses-snails-creative-grooming-dog-shows.html#ixzz0PCNPXuSZ
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Back to work
Hey all, first entry in a while. Things are going good for me right now, just started work again on Wednesday. We're teaching at ichu jr high school at the moment, then next week going to nichu (the jr high about 20 mins away) and then after that splitting up and one person goes to ichu while the other goes to nichu.
In the day, there are 6 (i think) periods of 50 minutes, plus 2 homeroom periods, cleaning time, lunchtime, and 10 minutes between each period to chill. Cleaning time is interesting, everyone in the school, teachers included, puts on a bandanna on their foreheads and sweeps, organizes, iwipes down desks, wipes down floor with rag, etc. for about 20 mins. There is minimal talking, and everyone does so without complaint. You would never see something like this in a public school in the U.S.!
Right now there is a period dedicated to moral education, where the kids learn to help those in need, be a better person, etc. Nick and I were like " o.O really? "
We usually have classes maybe 4-5 periods of that six, and on our downtime, we write comments and correct the students' english journals. They write things like "I ate eggs for breakfast today, soccer practice was fun," etc. Sometimes you get a dialogue going with things like "I watched this show today. What is your favorite show?"
During class, Nick and I spend alot of time pronouncing vocab words, and reading from the textbook. Friday the kids in one class were handed new vocab sheets and we went around correcting the accents, such as teaching the kids how to do the "th" sound, telling them that this letter is not pronounced, etc. It was actually really fun and kind of challenging. In a first grade class, we did an activity where there were a few keywords, the kids got into groups, and changed sentences like "Tom has a ball" to "tom does not have a ball" and "does Tom have a ball?" We also play bingo, and do other activities.
At lunchtime, Nick and I split and eat lunch in different 3rd year classrooms. Each class has over 30 students, so each grade is split into classes "3-1" and "3-2" for the 3rd graders, "2-1" and "2-2" for the 2nd graders, and so on. By the way, first graders refer to the kids in their first year of jr high, the equivalent of a 7th grader in the U.S.
This weekend, I went to my first kendo practice. For those of you who don't know, kendo is kinda like japanese fencing. There are alot of formalities though. Since I didn't have any armor, or "bogu," I had to practice my "men" and "kote" swings with 2 adorable elementary kids. One was i think 6 and the other maybe 11 or 12. After practice I just sat on my knees (so I was the same height!) and talked with all the younger kids for a while. They are so curious and not at all bashful at that age, and the youngest one was all smiles and giggles. They kept fluffing my hair and looked at my eye color, asked me how tall I was, what sports I like, when I came to Japan, etc. I also asked them how old they were, did they have any siblings, etc, trying to mingle a little English here and there (I am an English teacher after all!) Overall, that was the most fun I've had maybe since I've come to Japan.
After kendo, Nick and I went to a family owned resturaunt to unwind a bit. This is the only resturaunt in town, called Miwa's. The owners are two really sweet grandparents, and their family just happened to come that night also. It's a small place, wiht enough room for 3 tables on tatami mats, and a barshelf with sitting room for maybe 6, but really cozy. We chatted with the family, I played with the youngest kid and helped him climb a support beam (the grandmother was helping earlier!), and Nick got some information about a puppet festival the next day.
So Sunday Nick and I went to a local shrine, where there were video cameras up the wazzoo, and watched the first 2 acts of an oldschool puppet show. Thepuppets are about the size of a small adult, and each one is operated by 3 men wearing all black to blend in with the background, using complex motions for moving the puppet's hand gestures, etc. The music was a man to the side plucking every once in a while on an old fashioned instrument (I forgot what they're called!), with a lady singing out the dialogue between 2 female puppets in the old Japanese singing style.
Afterwards, we went to the grocery store, and went back home to make....a spaghetti dinner!!!!! Wow, that was soooooo delicious.
So now I am sitting in the teachers' room trying my best to look busy (you're ALWAYS busy here, even when you're not) and trying to stretch my arms and back out from kendo.
Whew, there. Now I'm good for another week, right? Right? Hmmmm, maybe I'll put up some pictures soon as well.
Ciao!
In the day, there are 6 (i think) periods of 50 minutes, plus 2 homeroom periods, cleaning time, lunchtime, and 10 minutes between each period to chill. Cleaning time is interesting, everyone in the school, teachers included, puts on a bandanna on their foreheads and sweeps, organizes, iwipes down desks, wipes down floor with rag, etc. for about 20 mins. There is minimal talking, and everyone does so without complaint. You would never see something like this in a public school in the U.S.!
Right now there is a period dedicated to moral education, where the kids learn to help those in need, be a better person, etc. Nick and I were like " o.O really? "
We usually have classes maybe 4-5 periods of that six, and on our downtime, we write comments and correct the students' english journals. They write things like "I ate eggs for breakfast today, soccer practice was fun," etc. Sometimes you get a dialogue going with things like "I watched this show today. What is your favorite show?"
During class, Nick and I spend alot of time pronouncing vocab words, and reading from the textbook. Friday the kids in one class were handed new vocab sheets and we went around correcting the accents, such as teaching the kids how to do the "th" sound, telling them that this letter is not pronounced, etc. It was actually really fun and kind of challenging. In a first grade class, we did an activity where there were a few keywords, the kids got into groups, and changed sentences like "Tom has a ball" to "tom does not have a ball" and "does Tom have a ball?" We also play bingo, and do other activities.
At lunchtime, Nick and I split and eat lunch in different 3rd year classrooms. Each class has over 30 students, so each grade is split into classes "3-1" and "3-2" for the 3rd graders, "2-1" and "2-2" for the 2nd graders, and so on. By the way, first graders refer to the kids in their first year of jr high, the equivalent of a 7th grader in the U.S.
This weekend, I went to my first kendo practice. For those of you who don't know, kendo is kinda like japanese fencing. There are alot of formalities though. Since I didn't have any armor, or "bogu," I had to practice my "men" and "kote" swings with 2 adorable elementary kids. One was i think 6 and the other maybe 11 or 12. After practice I just sat on my knees (so I was the same height!) and talked with all the younger kids for a while. They are so curious and not at all bashful at that age, and the youngest one was all smiles and giggles. They kept fluffing my hair and looked at my eye color, asked me how tall I was, what sports I like, when I came to Japan, etc. I also asked them how old they were, did they have any siblings, etc, trying to mingle a little English here and there (I am an English teacher after all!) Overall, that was the most fun I've had maybe since I've come to Japan.
After kendo, Nick and I went to a family owned resturaunt to unwind a bit. This is the only resturaunt in town, called Miwa's. The owners are two really sweet grandparents, and their family just happened to come that night also. It's a small place, wiht enough room for 3 tables on tatami mats, and a barshelf with sitting room for maybe 6, but really cozy. We chatted with the family, I played with the youngest kid and helped him climb a support beam (the grandmother was helping earlier!), and Nick got some information about a puppet festival the next day.
So Sunday Nick and I went to a local shrine, where there were video cameras up the wazzoo, and watched the first 2 acts of an oldschool puppet show. Thepuppets are about the size of a small adult, and each one is operated by 3 men wearing all black to blend in with the background, using complex motions for moving the puppet's hand gestures, etc. The music was a man to the side plucking every once in a while on an old fashioned instrument (I forgot what they're called!), with a lady singing out the dialogue between 2 female puppets in the old Japanese singing style.
Afterwards, we went to the grocery store, and went back home to make....a spaghetti dinner!!!!! Wow, that was soooooo delicious.
So now I am sitting in the teachers' room trying my best to look busy (you're ALWAYS busy here, even when you're not) and trying to stretch my arms and back out from kendo.
Whew, there. Now I'm good for another week, right? Right? Hmmmm, maybe I'll put up some pictures soon as well.
Ciao!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Earthquaaaaaaaake!!!
Sorry I haven't been posting in a while, gotta get the motivation to do a huuuuge post one of these days. For now though, let's talk EARTHQUAKES! rofl.
Sunday night I heard a little grumbling and felt the apartment complex shaking a bit, kinda felt like a sumo wrestler ran through it really quickly, though if I had been up and aout I might not have noticed it. Apparently that was a 6.9 or 7.1 (depends on what country you ask -.-; ) earthquake off the coast near Tokyo, and could be felt like crazy in that city. I was kinda excited to feel my first earthquake, bu nothing to really write home about.
Then this morning at a little after 5am, I was awoken to a full-out shaking of the building. In my half-asleep state i scrambled with my blanket for the doorframe and hung on for the ride. Thinking back, the shaking wasn't so much that the roof would start collapsing or anything, but in my defense I wasn't awake yet. I heard something glass break in one of the other apartments near the end, but other than that everything was okay.
Because of that though, Anan-cho made the news!!! I just turned on the TV while the computer was booting up and they were showing damage done (big rocks fallen into roads, a concrete wall broken in half). Then they mentioned Shimojo (a village right next to me) and Anancho (my town) as well as other places in the area and showed damage from our area. National news, yeah!!
Breakfast is done, gonna eat and go grocery shopping, later!
Sunday night I heard a little grumbling and felt the apartment complex shaking a bit, kinda felt like a sumo wrestler ran through it really quickly, though if I had been up and aout I might not have noticed it. Apparently that was a 6.9 or 7.1 (depends on what country you ask -.-; ) earthquake off the coast near Tokyo, and could be felt like crazy in that city. I was kinda excited to feel my first earthquake, bu nothing to really write home about.
Then this morning at a little after 5am, I was awoken to a full-out shaking of the building. In my half-asleep state i scrambled with my blanket for the doorframe and hung on for the ride. Thinking back, the shaking wasn't so much that the roof would start collapsing or anything, but in my defense I wasn't awake yet. I heard something glass break in one of the other apartments near the end, but other than that everything was okay.
Because of that though, Anan-cho made the news!!! I just turned on the TV while the computer was booting up and they were showing damage done (big rocks fallen into roads, a concrete wall broken in half). Then they mentioned Shimojo (a village right next to me) and Anancho (my town) as well as other places in the area and showed damage from our area. National news, yeah!!
Breakfast is done, gonna eat and go grocery shopping, later!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Vids and pics of Japan.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
omg internets!!!!!
YESSSSS now I have internets in my apartment now!!!
vlogs : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnB9MXYhPo4
blogs later on, tomorrow.
vlogs : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnB9MXYhPo4
blogs later on, tomorrow.
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