Had my second lesson on how to drive a manual car today. It started with "alright, drive us to the parking lot."
@.@
After a rather jerky, slow, panicky ride, we got there. I drove in circles and practiced starting on a hill. Then we drove to the store and back home. By the way, first time driving on the left side of the road, with gutters on steroids, very veeery narrow, sharp curves, and lots of rain. ^_^
Total drive time, 1st and 2nd lessons put together? Maybe 45 minutes tops.
Ready to drive to kendo tonight? Oooh yeah :P
Aaaaah, freedom.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Japanese TV
Oh, ho exciting Japanese TV is. Currently trying to find something to one out to, on the channels there are:
1. horse racing
2. horse racing (same thing)
3.a show i think about food, currently a food-eating contest in the middle of a field.
4.golf (womens)
5.more golf
6.more golf(the womens one again)
7.fuzz (never works)
8. sumo
9.one of those commentated talk-about-anything shows. This time it's on trains.
10.even more golf (same as #5)
11.pre-recorded video of ppl doing a slow repeating dance in the streets for hours on end (local channel)
12.live shougi atch with live commentary!!To make it more interesting. Think of a chess game at the pro level where each move takes about 5 minutes, with 2 people n the background discussing possible strategies.
And I pay $25 a month for this, since it's required.
1. horse racing
2. horse racing (same thing)
3.a show i think about food, currently a food-eating contest in the middle of a field.
4.golf (womens)
5.more golf
6.more golf(the womens one again)
7.fuzz (never works)
8. sumo
9.one of those commentated talk-about-anything shows. This time it's on trains.
10.even more golf (same as #5)
11.pre-recorded video of ppl doing a slow repeating dance in the streets for hours on end (local channel)
12.live shougi atch with live commentary!!To make it more interesting. Think of a chess game at the pro level where each move takes about 5 minutes, with 2 people n the background discussing possible strategies.
And I pay $25 a month for this, since it's required.
Kendo party
Last night just as I finished my blog, I got kidnapped by all the Kendo Sensei for a party at the onsen, lol. there were maybe 20 people in a sitting room in the onsen eating and drinking, then an after party at the nearby cottages where we stayed for the night. The guys got really drunk and hilarious, with the younger ones spontaneously wrestling, and an arm wrestling tournament. I did pretty well in that, though I have a feeling that they went easy on me....
Some of them knew enough English to converse with, and yes, I was the only girl. When we threw the futons out to sleep they gave me plenty of space, though. Everyone woke up with a huuge hangovr today, but not me cause I drank lotsa water and not as much alcohols (not for their lack of trying, as is in any Japanese social gathering). The best part about this: it was free (for me)!
Now to sleep, since I got maybe 1 hr of sleep tops last night and it's 10:00am right now. Night!
Some of them knew enough English to converse with, and yes, I was the only girl. When we threw the futons out to sleep they gave me plenty of space, though. Everyone woke up with a huuge hangovr today, but not me cause I drank lotsa water and not as much alcohols (not for their lack of trying, as is in any Japanese social gathering). The best part about this: it was free (for me)!
Now to sleep, since I got maybe 1 hr of sleep tops last night and it's 10:00am right now. Night!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
V-rock Festival '09
One more thing.
For my birthday present from my parents and to myself, I'm going to the visual kei concert in Tokyo in October. I'm sooooooooooooooo psyched. A lineup of the artists is here: http://v-rockfes.com/content2/ . Including some of my favs Abington Boys School, D'espairs Ray, the Gazette, and Moi Dix Mois (Mana on stage?!). Also Marilyn Manson. Once in a lifetime opportunity? YES. Worth the $200 ticket? YES. A whole weekend of being merry and listening to kick-ass music? YES. Bring it on.
The only thing better would be X Japan...ah well. Next time.
For my birthday present from my parents and to myself, I'm going to the visual kei concert in Tokyo in October. I'm sooooooooooooooo psyched. A lineup of the artists is here: http://v-rockfes.com/content2/ . Including some of my favs Abington Boys School, D'espairs Ray, the Gazette, and Moi Dix Mois (Mana on stage?!). Also Marilyn Manson. Once in a lifetime opportunity? YES. Worth the $200 ticket? YES. A whole weekend of being merry and listening to kick-ass music? YES. Bring it on.
The only thing better would be X Japan...ah well. Next time.
Silver Week
Alright, so it's the weekend after silver week. Many things have happened, I guess. One of them is that I've started teaching in elementary schools (shogakko). I'm lazy, so I'll copy and paste a paragraph from an email about it: "Recently, I have been going to an elementary school Tomikusa to teach 5th and 6th graders. It was quite a shock the first day when they brought me there, stuck me in front of a class, and said "teach." I had no idea where to start, what they knew, how elementary classes were run, etc. We ended up practicing numbers, colors, and doing the hokey pokey, which they seemed to enjoy saying more than acting (hokey pokey hokey pokey hokey pokey). After that initial time, I have the knowledge and time to prepare for classes so I really look forward to those classes, which I think of as "play time"."
Apparently the 5th grade teacher and I are going to be teaching an extremely important (the lesson was planned out a month ago) English lesson October 9th. It's the kind of thing where all the teachers in the school will be watching and taking notes (basically grading us). I'm not really nervous, just kind of want it to be over with. Also, I'm staying at my current jr. high (ichu0 until it's over so the kids can get used to me. When I go to nichu I will be doing more blogs, I promise!!!! More free time in the teachers' room.
This past week or so, in order to keep busy during break, I've taken up hiking as a hobby. I kinda walk around all the hills maybe twice a day for an hour, sometimes jogging if I feel like it, listening to music. It' keeping me in relatively decent shape to hopefully kendo won't kill me when I go >.
Although I really should have the whole set of armor so I can join in the whole lesson. Right now I'm stuck doing basic drills, but if I got the (expensive) armor set, I would look like:
Pretty scary, huh? These guys are lightning fast, too. Oh, and after the practice I hung the outfit on a door to dry out, and cause of how its arranged, it looks exactly like a captain's uniform from Bleach is hanging there lol (Anime fans would get that one). Tonight I have practice at Anan's kendo club at 6:30, looking forward to it!
Apparently, there will be an art show in a few days displaying teachers' artwork. No one thought it was important to tell me until yesterday. Now I gotta whip up something or other to display for the community (which will be HIGHLY scrutinized) in 2 days. -.-;;; Oh joy.
In other news, I've been trying to keep up with the popular culture that the kids are tellig me about in their diaries. Many of them mentioned "Buzzer Beat," a Japanese drama that just ended. I've gotta say, it's the best directed JDrama I've seen. Most of them are pretty cheezy and akward, but this one really shone in terms of quality. The story was another one about romance, cheating on boy/girlfriends, etc. though. There are way too many of those, and waaay too many about yakuza and gangs, surprisingly.
One I am watching now came highly reccomended, Ninkyo Hlper. Basicallya bunch of ppl in a certain yakuza gang were told to go work at a nursing home, and the person that does the best job will take over as leader in the future. ....What? It's pretty good actually. You can watch both of these and other Chinese, Chinese, and I think Korean dramas at http://www.dramacrazy.net/. God, I sound like a commercial.
Black Jack episodes keep getting released, and I keep getting right back into the fandom again and again, lol. I really need to find a new series to go ga-ga for -.-; I started a new small series Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, about what would happen if a huge earthquake would hit Tokyo. You would think it's another Grave of the Fireflies (if your eyes are dry at the end of that movie, YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!!), but it keeps a bit of light on. I reccomend it if you're looking for a short something to watch.
I stopped in the library for a bit today and ran into a student of mine studying math. That's one thing that's kind of a universal language, I could actually understand the textbook, gasp! And yes, it's jr. high math, so I knew how to do it -.-; While I was there I thuroughly scanned the library for what they had that would interest me...how the heck do they sort books here?! At least in the manga section, I think it might be by genre or something first, then author after that. The magazine section was kind of lacking (not interested in Japanese "Seventeen"), the VHS/DVD section has a few good things like Disney and Ghibli movies, and there's lotsa books with funny signs in them I'm guessing are kanji :P There is a decent manga section here, for when I'm up for a challenge.
The elementary schools had their field days last weekend, which was alot of fun. They have been preparing for it for months, and they're basically huuuge shows of sports and such, very theatrical. Again, I'm amazed at the control these kids have. You'd think they grew up in boot camps. I participated in the adult tug-of-war, which my team lost, and I got a pulled muscle as a result, but wow it was fun!! There was also a traditional Japanese dance with partners that everyone joined in for, and I got paired with an obviously special needs young kid. He was pretty cool though, not doing the dance but going forward and back with everyone, but having the habit of grabbing people and hanging on. At Tomikusa (one of the elem. schools) I was invited to sit with the guests of honor and enjoy the festivities, and talked to alot of cool people.
Walking home the other day, I passed the old lady that lives in the apartments next to the road that's very talkative. She's nice but doesn't really get that I only understand about 30%-50% of what she says.... anyways, yesterday there was also a very verbal little black kitty on the side of the road. It didn't really trust me so I had to be careful, but I got to pet a cat!!!!! YESS!!!!!!! It's been months, I really missed petting a real kitty *sniff* The lady told me its name, that it's a mother, and some other stuff all the meanwhile.
Another thing I really miss about home is singing out loud to my music. Living in an apartment building with walls literally made of paper you can hear exactly what your neighbors are doing. Right now I'm listening to some Disturbed (YEAH!) and wishing I could totally rock out, but oh well.
One more thing. Taiko Drum Master KICK BUTT. I played some with my friend Cris, that arcade one had lots of anime songs and popular Japanese songs, and I was sweating by the end of it. Also, on a sushi trip with nichu people, we stopped into a bowling lley with a DDR machine. So OF COURSE I had to play... with a few Japanese teachers looking on like :O and trying to distract me lol.
One more thing. The cure to homesickness = a familiar anime. Go figure.
One more thing. poached ish is soooo much better than broiled fish.
One more thing. This is the end.
Apparently the 5th grade teacher and I are going to be teaching an extremely important (the lesson was planned out a month ago) English lesson October 9th. It's the kind of thing where all the teachers in the school will be watching and taking notes (basically grading us). I'm not really nervous, just kind of want it to be over with. Also, I'm staying at my current jr. high (ichu0 until it's over so the kids can get used to me. When I go to nichu I will be doing more blogs, I promise!!!! More free time in the teachers' room.
This past week or so, in order to keep busy during break, I've taken up hiking as a hobby. I kinda walk around all the hills maybe twice a day for an hour, sometimes jogging if I feel like it, listening to music. It' keeping me in relatively decent shape to hopefully kendo won't kill me when I go >.
Although I really should have the whole set of armor so I can join in the whole lesson. Right now I'm stuck doing basic drills, but if I got the (expensive) armor set, I would look like:
Pretty scary, huh? These guys are lightning fast, too. Oh, and after the practice I hung the outfit on a door to dry out, and cause of how its arranged, it looks exactly like a captain's uniform from Bleach is hanging there lol (Anime fans would get that one). Tonight I have practice at Anan's kendo club at 6:30, looking forward to it!
Apparently, there will be an art show in a few days displaying teachers' artwork. No one thought it was important to tell me until yesterday. Now I gotta whip up something or other to display for the community (which will be HIGHLY scrutinized) in 2 days. -.-;;; Oh joy.
In other news, I've been trying to keep up with the popular culture that the kids are tellig me about in their diaries. Many of them mentioned "Buzzer Beat," a Japanese drama that just ended. I've gotta say, it's the best directed JDrama I've seen. Most of them are pretty cheezy and akward, but this one really shone in terms of quality. The story was another one about romance, cheating on boy/girlfriends, etc. though. There are way too many of those, and waaay too many about yakuza and gangs, surprisingly.
One I am watching now came highly reccomended, Ninkyo Hlper. Basicallya bunch of ppl in a certain yakuza gang were told to go work at a nursing home, and the person that does the best job will take over as leader in the future. ....What? It's pretty good actually. You can watch both of these and other Chinese, Chinese, and I think Korean dramas at http://www.dramacrazy.net/. God, I sound like a commercial.
Black Jack episodes keep getting released, and I keep getting right back into the fandom again and again, lol. I really need to find a new series to go ga-ga for -.-; I started a new small series Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, about what would happen if a huge earthquake would hit Tokyo. You would think it's another Grave of the Fireflies (if your eyes are dry at the end of that movie, YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!!), but it keeps a bit of light on. I reccomend it if you're looking for a short something to watch.
I stopped in the library for a bit today and ran into a student of mine studying math. That's one thing that's kind of a universal language, I could actually understand the textbook, gasp! And yes, it's jr. high math, so I knew how to do it -.-; While I was there I thuroughly scanned the library for what they had that would interest me...how the heck do they sort books here?! At least in the manga section, I think it might be by genre or something first, then author after that. The magazine section was kind of lacking (not interested in Japanese "Seventeen"), the VHS/DVD section has a few good things like Disney and Ghibli movies, and there's lotsa books with funny signs in them I'm guessing are kanji :P There is a decent manga section here, for when I'm up for a challenge.
The elementary schools had their field days last weekend, which was alot of fun. They have been preparing for it for months, and they're basically huuuge shows of sports and such, very theatrical. Again, I'm amazed at the control these kids have. You'd think they grew up in boot camps. I participated in the adult tug-of-war, which my team lost, and I got a pulled muscle as a result, but wow it was fun!! There was also a traditional Japanese dance with partners that everyone joined in for, and I got paired with an obviously special needs young kid. He was pretty cool though, not doing the dance but going forward and back with everyone, but having the habit of grabbing people and hanging on. At Tomikusa (one of the elem. schools) I was invited to sit with the guests of honor and enjoy the festivities, and talked to alot of cool people.
Walking home the other day, I passed the old lady that lives in the apartments next to the road that's very talkative. She's nice but doesn't really get that I only understand about 30%-50% of what she says.... anyways, yesterday there was also a very verbal little black kitty on the side of the road. It didn't really trust me so I had to be careful, but I got to pet a cat!!!!! YESS!!!!!!! It's been months, I really missed petting a real kitty *sniff* The lady told me its name, that it's a mother, and some other stuff all the meanwhile.
Another thing I really miss about home is singing out loud to my music. Living in an apartment building with walls literally made of paper you can hear exactly what your neighbors are doing. Right now I'm listening to some Disturbed (YEAH!) and wishing I could totally rock out, but oh well.
One more thing. Taiko Drum Master KICK BUTT. I played some with my friend Cris, that arcade one had lots of anime songs and popular Japanese songs, and I was sweating by the end of it. Also, on a sushi trip with nichu people, we stopped into a bowling lley with a DDR machine. So OF COURSE I had to play... with a few Japanese teachers looking on like :O and trying to distract me lol.
One more thing. The cure to homesickness = a familiar anime. Go figure.
One more thing. poached ish is soooo much better than broiled fish.
One more thing. This is the end.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Blarg computers, random funnies
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
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
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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