So as you can see from the pictures before, I went on vacation! I know, only 5 weeks at work and i already get a paid vacation? Just lucky I guess. Haha, no but seriously. It was just great timing. And the vacation was actually much needed. The summer seminar period for Amity is the busiest time of the year, and I was just thrown into the mix! I'm adaptable, and adjusted well, but it was stressful, and the work is draining. So getting this week off right after getting into the flow of things was really nice. My next vacation is a 3 day weekend in September. That one isn't as necessary, but i plan to make the most of it!
So on to my vacation!
Sunday:
I headed off to dinner and Miroku with Briana, like we always do. My friend Ayumi also came into town that night from Kyoto for Obon. (Obon is a holiday in which traditionally one goes to their family home to honor their ancestors who are allowed to look on from the afterlife during this week.) She came and brought Briana and I some Hello Kitty Kyoto cookies! Yum! We shared them with everyone at the bar. Our friend Hiro was also hanging out, and had some of his friends along. One thing lead to another and it was decided that we all needed to go out for karaoke, and well.... I can never say no to karaoke! But Briana can... so I struck out with Ayumi, Hiro, and two of Hiro's friends. He took Ayumi and I to a place just down the street that I didnt even know existed. It wasn't your average Japanese karaoke, in that it was a bar with a stage and everyone can hear you (American Style!). We sang and had a good time for a little while. The owner/bartender is a friend of Hiro's and apparently something of a musician. On the stage was a full set up for a band, and it was ready to go! Ayumi hopped on the keyboard, Hiro and the bartender picked up a bass and a guitar respectively, and Ryo (who had finished his shift at Miroku and had come to collect his big sister Ayumi) jumped on the drum set. And they began to jam, and it was wonderful! Ryo even showed me how to play a simple rhythm on the drum set and I got to play while the others jammed. So much fun! We didn't go home until the wee hours of the morning, but before we did I made plans with Ayumi and Ryo to have lunch the next day.
Monday:
Ayumi apparently doesnt like to wake up, so lunch quickly turned into dinner. So I spent the day packing and preparing to leave for Tokyo. For dinner Ryo took Briana, Ayumi, and I for a 5 course traditional Japanese dinner. It was fanTASTIC! We ate ourselves silly. I was super surprised when Ryo paid for us too, I guess Miroku pays its bartenders well. Afterwards we all went for more karaoke. Japanese style this time. Then Ryo was nice enough to drive me home to grab my suitcase, and then dive me to the station to catch my train. I took the train to Nagoya where I caught my bus, and I was off to Toyko!
Tuesday:
I arrived safely in Tokyo in the eaaaaaarly morning. I took the train to my friend Bethany's place which was only two stops past my old home in Japan from my study abroad days! The ride was very nostalgic. Once I got to her place I cleaned up a bit and we grabbed some food. Then we met up with our other Amity co-trainees in Harajuku! Harajuku was fun, lots of shopping was had. We went up and down the famouse shopping street. I bought a really cool shirt that I promptly wore the next day, and a nice scarf (winter is coming). Before leaving Harajuku, I lead the others (Rachel, Ariel, Kalai, Steve, Bethany, and I) to Meiji temple. Its a forest oasis in the middle of the city. Its completely man-made specifically for the temple, but you would never know walking around in it. We then left Harajuku for Shinjuku. My favorite place in Japan! There is so much there to do! I left the others to their own devices and met up with a friend from Sophia named Atsuko. She took me out for Mexican food! The enchiladas were great, the salsa was delicious, the beans and rice were SUPER fail. But Japan doesn't know anything about Mexican food, so I wasn't expecting much. Afterwards we walked around a bit and eventually ended up at a cute cafe where we had coffee sundaes! That was a first, but it was really good! Then I went home with Bethany. Her place is your average SUPER TINY studio. There was barely room for me to crash on the floor, that's how small. Six of her places could fit into mine. Literally. I feel so lucky.
Wednesday:
Wednesday we woke up bright and early to go to the newly opened Tokyo Skytree! The tallest tower in the world, and the 2nd tallest structure in the world. Woo! We got there at 9am and got in a short line where they gave us each a ticket telling us to come and get in the actual line at 1pm. To kill time we ate breakfast, and waited in yet another line to try to get into a planetarium. When we finally got to the front of the line we find out that the show time we were gunning for only had 2 openings left. >__< It just wasn't our morning. So we waited in starbucks till 1. We then got in line and waited until roughly 3pm to buy our tickets an board the elevator. The ride to the top was super fast, and when the doors opened on the observation deck, the view was breathtaking! There were a TON of people (it being new, and obon) but we made our way to several windows and took lots of pictures. Then we got into yet ANOTHER line to buy tickets to the very top! That elevator ride was really cool because it had a glass ceiling and you could see yourself rocket upwards. The view up there was even more stunning because the walls were ceiling to floor glass. Amazing! We left shortly after. We lost Steve and Bethany to other friends of theirs, but the rest of us made our way to Odaiba. Odaiba is a man-made island in Tokyo bay, and the monorail to get there has a stunning view. We were also joined by Kristen! One of my besties from my LMU days. Unfortunately as soon as we got to our destination, Rachel had to leave us. But Kalai, Ariel, Kristen, and I all went to the Oedo Onsen. An onsen is a public bath house. A lot of times, they are made at natural hot springs, but this one is man made. And it is gorgeous! We walked around in Yukata and stretched/soaked our feet in the wading pool. Then we hit the baths. There are over a dozen different baths all ranging from 38-41 degrees celcius. I can't tell you what that is in farenheight, but I can tell you that its HOT! There was also a freezing cold bath at 20 degrees. We pretty much tried them all. We completely lost track of time, and it was wonderful. After we finally pulled ourselves out, we grabbed some food in the onsen and chilled for a bit. Finally we realized that we needed to hurry home so as to not miss last train, but also our phones had died (too much use taking pictures of the Tokyo skyline) and we needed to meet up with Steve and Bethany. We rode to Kristen's place to make use of her internet to contact the others, then we rushed to the trains! Ariel and Kalai made their train, but I missed mine. Luckily I was able to get back to Kristen's place and remembered my way back to her apartment. I did not however, remember which room was hers. So I knocked on some doors at half past midnight and woke some people up until a kind stranger pointed me in the right direction. So... I crashed with her that night.
Thursday:
In the morning I headed back to Bethany's place and promptly went back to sleep, haha. That afternoon we all met up in Ikebukuro and went to Sunshine City! Its a big mall, with an aquarium, planetarium, and Namja Town. Namja Town is where we were headed! Inside its an old traditional town. Its so dark, and creepy, but its freaking adorable! There is a haunted house where you touch things and things jump out at you. It was really fun wandering around in there. But the crowning glory was the gourmet Gyoza (fried dumplings). I am a fool for gyoza and we got two big pans of the stuff and dug in! Delicious! We also hit up a place called Ice Cream City where they have every flavor of ice cream imaginable, including my favorite, Black Sesame. I got a big cup of it! Yummy! After Namja town we decided that we would finally get into that planetarium, so we bought tickets for the next show, and shopped around until it was time. The show was gorgeous, and I can't remember the last time I was in a planetarium. Unfortunately it was all in Japanese, and beyond my vocabulary. Afterwards we grabbed dinner and then it was time to go home. Ariel left that morning before Ikebukuro, so Steve and I switched who we were staying with. I went home to Yokohama with Kalai.
Friday:
Friday everyone was tired and we just wanted to take it easy. So Kalai and I didnt make the trek back out to Tokyo (about an hour+ train ride) and she showed my around Yokohama instead. We went to the bay and rode one of the biggest ferris wheels in the world. the view was amazing, and it was really relaxing! We also rode a small roller coaster that vanished into a pool of water and went through a tube. Cuz yaknow, why not? Afterwards we tried to get into the instant ramen museum, but it was all sold out. What up with that?! Stupid obon... We went back to her place and took naps, then it was time for dinner and another (smaller) ferris wheel. Then I headed into Tokyo at met up with Kristen and Steve in Shinjuku for a night of dancing! Only when we got to my fav club, there were signs everywhere that said "PLEASE DONT DANCE" and they were for real! Check this out --> Why can't I dance in Japan? So we bar hopped instead. It was really fun. We took the first train home thoroughly exhausted.
Saturday:
And then I went to sleep. When I woke up, Kalai and I headed to a city called Futakotamagawa (a mouth-full, I know) to attend a fireworks festival. This city is situated right on the line between Tokyo and Yokohama, so everyone from both places was pouring in in droves. I am not exaggerating when I say there were thousands of people there. All having picnics on this half mils stretch of a river and either side. There was a bridge that ran through the middle the split the two cities, and each side had its own hour long fireworks show at the exact same time. Yes an whole HOUR! It was amazing, and we ll got whiplash trying to watch both shows. The Tokyo show was far superior, though. It was so pretty and so much fun! That night we said goodbye to Bethany and Steve came back to stay with Kalai. And then there were three.
Sunday:
We headed to Sea Paradise and checked out an amazing aquarium! I saw so many animals and took so many pictures. The marine mammals show was amazing as well. We had a really amazing time! That night Steve took his leave and Kalai and I had a relaxing evening. We went and saw The Avengers which had just opened in Japan that weekend.
Monday:
My last day in Toyko! So we went into Tokyo and hit up Shibuya. Shibuya is Tokyo's answer to time square and is home to the busiest intersection in the world. Of course, I got a video of it. We then went back to odaiba to explore what else the boardwalk had to offer. We stumbled upon a trick art museum that was a lot of fun! After Odaiba we went to Shin Okubo which is Korea Town. There we had amazing Korean BBQ and I was able to introduce Kalai to the wonderful world that is K-pop! If you haven't seen this music video yet, you need to now! Then it was off to Tokyo station where I had to kill some time before my bus home.
Tuesday:
I arrived safe and sound back in Nagoya and took the train home to Ogaki. I missed Ogaki! I took a taxi home and crashed into my bed. A few hours later my alarm went off and it was off to work for me!
I'll update about my first week back after vacation and this current week soon. But now its time for bed...
Matta ne!
~寒
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Pictures! Part 4 (Obon Style)
Getting off the bus early in the morning and walking into Tokyo station.
The famous Takeshita street in Harajuku, home of Tokyo street fashion!
Me posing at Meiji Temple, a forest oasis in the middle of the big city.
Met up an old friend from when went to I college in Toyko!
Arriving at the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the world, and 2nd tallest building in the world.
Beer Pyramid!
You can see foreverrrrrrrrrr...
This is a beautiful city!
I found Okasama (mom) in Tokyo. Kristen and I are good friends from LMU and now she goes to school in Tokyo.
At the Oedo Onsen! Lookin good in my Yukata :).
Eating gyoza in Namja town, the cutest haunted house ever. Only in Japan could i call a haunted house cute...
Cheese Gyoza! I could eat this stuff everyday.
My favorite ice cream flavor! I've only ever been able to find it here, but its delicious!
Black Sesame ice cream....
turns your mouth and tongue black.
Yay! Namja town!
Yokohama Bay.
In one of the largest Ferris Wheels in the world (and the largest in japan) overlooking Yokohama Bay.
Goin to the aquarium!
Look mom, Dolphins!
Aquatubes are beautiful.
In Odaiba we went to a trick art museum.
Whats back here?
Stopping to help the locals.
Did I mention that I'm a vampire now?
Don't eat me!
Ooh, free money!
Mini statue of liberty replica... because why not?
Aaaaand finish it all off with KBBQ in Tokyo's korea town.
Matta ne!
~寒
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Meh... (with pictures!)
Well, as far as teaching goes, this week was entirely uneventful. Back to having all my classes, down to the last of my seminars. All pretty routine stuff. Tantrum girl is officially quitting, but Manager assures me that its common for students to quit when NETs change over. One student that I thought was going to quit actually came back, and we had a really fun time together, so hopefully she will stay.
I horrified myself and probably firmly planted myself of the bad side of a student by calling her by the wrong name for the entire class. She is the ony girl in my high school class, and i kept calling her the name of the only girl in my jr. high class. They start with the same character! Still, I felt really bad when i realized it later... I'm starting to develop my favorite students, and have a few that I wish I could get rid of. I have no real way to discipline the students, and its really annoying when a bad egg keeps the rest of the class from learning!
My P4 and P5 classes are my favorite, the elementary school kids. They are eager to learn, and can play more fun and competitive games. I made prizes for them too, its an incentive to not only perform well, but behave in class as well. The students are really starting to warm up to me, as I have been playing around with them before and after class more often as well. I had a trial lesson with a student this week as well. Thats when a non-amity child comes in for a class and then the parent speaks with the manager while you play with the child. It went well! The kid was cute, and very smart. We played for another 25min or so after the 40min lesson and he became very familiar with me (int he beginning he wouldn't even look at me) so it looks like I have a new student.
Obon has officially started! The summer holiday! I have a week and two weekends off from work. Tomorrow night I take a night bus to Tokyo where I will visit old friends and my co-trainees for a week of good times. We will probably swap horror stories about our first month as English teachers, haha. To celebrate the start of our break Briana and I hit up Miroku (of course) to have a relaxing night. At first we were turned away because there was some official pub crawl going on on main street and we didn't have passes to get in. That was annoying, especially since Taisei (a Miroku bartender) was trying to wave us in. We came back later when then even was over though. I unfortunately ended up sitting next to a guy who was completely trashed and was trying to get to handsy. Why do I always attract the overzealous ones? Speaking to him and his friend in pure Japanese though, was really good practice. I just had to keep close to Briana and keep rejecting his propositions to go out on a date. I did get a free drink out of it, however! After that Briana and I made friends with a few guys who were all doctors (two interns and a dentist). They were really nice, and one took quite an interest in Briana (after she took quite an interest in him) so I kind of acted as an interpreter for her for and one of the doctors (who spoke English) worked as an interpreter for him. It was a strange situation, but good practice again. Lucky me. Before we left a random guy who was across the bar asked Ryo (a bartender) to ask me to take a picture with him. Apparently he had been admiring me all night, but lacked the courage to speak to me? Too bad, he was really cute too! If I see him there again, I will try to get him to talk. Briana and I are probably going back tonight for a more laid back night (hopefully) where we can just chat with Ryo, Taisei, and Yuta (the bartenders).
I horrified myself and probably firmly planted myself of the bad side of a student by calling her by the wrong name for the entire class. She is the ony girl in my high school class, and i kept calling her the name of the only girl in my jr. high class. They start with the same character! Still, I felt really bad when i realized it later... I'm starting to develop my favorite students, and have a few that I wish I could get rid of. I have no real way to discipline the students, and its really annoying when a bad egg keeps the rest of the class from learning!
My P4 and P5 classes are my favorite, the elementary school kids. They are eager to learn, and can play more fun and competitive games. I made prizes for them too, its an incentive to not only perform well, but behave in class as well. The students are really starting to warm up to me, as I have been playing around with them before and after class more often as well. I had a trial lesson with a student this week as well. Thats when a non-amity child comes in for a class and then the parent speaks with the manager while you play with the child. It went well! The kid was cute, and very smart. We played for another 25min or so after the 40min lesson and he became very familiar with me (int he beginning he wouldn't even look at me) so it looks like I have a new student.
Obon has officially started! The summer holiday! I have a week and two weekends off from work. Tomorrow night I take a night bus to Tokyo where I will visit old friends and my co-trainees for a week of good times. We will probably swap horror stories about our first month as English teachers, haha. To celebrate the start of our break Briana and I hit up Miroku (of course) to have a relaxing night. At first we were turned away because there was some official pub crawl going on on main street and we didn't have passes to get in. That was annoying, especially since Taisei (a Miroku bartender) was trying to wave us in. We came back later when then even was over though. I unfortunately ended up sitting next to a guy who was completely trashed and was trying to get to handsy. Why do I always attract the overzealous ones? Speaking to him and his friend in pure Japanese though, was really good practice. I just had to keep close to Briana and keep rejecting his propositions to go out on a date. I did get a free drink out of it, however! After that Briana and I made friends with a few guys who were all doctors (two interns and a dentist). They were really nice, and one took quite an interest in Briana (after she took quite an interest in him) so I kind of acted as an interpreter for her for and one of the doctors (who spoke English) worked as an interpreter for him. It was a strange situation, but good practice again. Lucky me. Before we left a random guy who was across the bar asked Ryo (a bartender) to ask me to take a picture with him. Apparently he had been admiring me all night, but lacked the courage to speak to me? Too bad, he was really cute too! If I see him there again, I will try to get him to talk. Briana and I are probably going back tonight for a more laid back night (hopefully) where we can just chat with Ryo, Taisei, and Yuta (the bartenders).
This is a picture that a student drew of me. We were playing a game where you have to draw a face on the board. She got a little carried away....
Taisei making Briana a Blue Mararita. He is the bartender with the most English (which isn't saying much).
Briana and I chillin in our usual spot at the bar "where everybody knows your naaaaaame..."
Monday, August 6, 2012
Pros and Cons of Week 3
This last week at work was a "Set Working Day" (SWD) week. Which meant no group lessons. Since it is the middle of summer break season, our students are out of school and therefore have more time to take extra private lessons (seminars) with us! So it was a week of only private lessons, extra seminars, and lot of cancellations from students out on vacation. Additionally, since I am new I don't really have many seminars. I wasn't around to promote myself, and Sara couldn't promote people to sign up for seminars with a complete stranger... Basically it was a painfully slow week, that had its ups and downs...
Pros to SWDs:
- Lots of free time meant I had plenty of time for lesson planning. I had that freak out moment last week and learned how to power through some lesson plans. Now this week with all my free time I ended up ending the week with my entire week of lesson plans (for this coming week) complete
- Again I had a LOT of free time. So I had time to read all my training material on different games you can play in the classroom to reinforce what you've just taught. I picked a bunch that I liked. And then made the props for one for each major age group (toddlers, elementry school, jr. high and bilingual). It was fun getting to cut and color and draw and make all these new game props.
-Time to get organized. I went through the NET supply closet and got more familiar with what was now mine and where everything was. I reorganized the books so that in the 5min transition I have between classes, I will have an easier time finding the right ones. I also have two baskets that I take to class, one for my floor classes (Baby - P3[toddler]), and one for all my table classes. I went through and reorganized those, exploring what props for games that I had and could utilize, and threw away all the useless stuff. I found that I had a lot of really good stuff for my floor classes! I need to bulk up my props for the older kids.
Cons to SWDs:
-I HAD TOO MUCH FREE TIME! Even with all the things that I ended up accomplishing, it wasn't really enough to fill the 2-3 hour gaps I was now finding in my working hours. And yet I am expected to always look busy. Especially since my spot in the back room makes me the first thing parents see when they walk into the school. I would read and re-read training material to try and eat up time. I found myself falling asleep at the desk pretty much every afternoon that week.
-I've planned all of my lesson plans for the next week. So now what am I to do with the time I have in my schedule for lesson planning? Well I guess I can just continue to be a week ahead with my lesson plans... or make more props.
-I left work too early. It is expected in Japan that you always come to work 15-20min early and stay 15-20min late. But when I had nothing to do for the last hour or more of my day, then there really is no reason for me to stay late. After your last class you are expected to complete your cleaning duties (your work area, a classroom, and one of the general areas assigned to you that week) and then you can leave. I always do my cleaning duties, and then help the JTs out by straitening up their rooms as well, so that they only need to clean the floor and/or wipe down the tables. But when I have all that time at the end of my day, my cleaning gets done early. The JTs get out of thier final class and I do a quick run through and I am out 5min after the hour. I guess I could have sat around for another 10-15min, but I literally had nothing to do to make myself look busy. I would just be in the way... so I left.
All in all it was a good week though. Remember tantrum girl? she still hasn't come back. Her mom assured Manager that they would try, but no dice. And suddenly I have another student who was doing really well, who didn't want to come to class this week. She sat in the car and refused. Also, my only adult student, quit at the end of last month, after one class with me. Finally, my favorite student that I had really bonded with in our 3 short classes also quit Amity this week. I only know for sure that the first one (tantrum girl) is because of me, and the last one isn't, but its hard to not take it personally with all of them. Am I that intimidating? Am I a bad teacher? What did i do to scare them off?
My other classes are going pretty well though. I enjoy private lessons because you really get to know your student. But the group lessons are more fun because you can do more with competitive games. There were two seminars that I did with these sisters who had never taken a NET class before, that went amazing! The girls were so fun and cute! I played with them in the lobby afterwards and really won them over. Hopefully I can get two new regular students out of them. In the lobby I taught them some tongue twisters. I've actually taken to doing that with all of my table private lessons if we get through everything I planned too quickly. Its a great way to teach American English pronunciation. I've started with "Red leather, yellow leather" said 3x fast and "She sells sea shells by the sea shore." These are REALLY hard for Japanese speakers because they don't have the "th" sound or the "see" sound in their language. They come out sounding like "Red lesure, yellow lesure" and "she shells she shells by the she shore." its actually pretty funny, and endearing. The other thing I taught the girls in the lobby was a simple hand jive that they could play with each other at home. Hopefully I can play more lobby games like this with students in the future. There was one poor boy in the lobby for almost an hour looking very bored while I was in the back pretending to look busy, he wasn't a student of mine or anything, but I felt for him. So I went to the supply closet and grabbed my jenga game. I introduced myself and we played. It was simple, and fun and kept him entertained. It was nice.
I have other set of sisters that are my regular students. I have their private lessons back to back, and their dad is fluent in English, though I think talking to me is the only real practice he gets. He is super intimidating and invested in his children's education. He is clearly a great day and they really love and respect him, I can see it in the way their interact. But then he turned his serious face on and asked for some extra time to talk to me about his daughter's education. Basically he wants them to sound American. He doen't care about lesson plan calendar that I am supposed to follow or anything like that, he just wants natural speaking ability. After that conversation he has been nothing but delightful, but I really feel the pressure to help these girls with their pronunciation. I cannot let Super Dad down!
So enough about work, lets talk about my weekend. It was an amazing weekend! Every Saturday night after work Briana and I go do something. This Saturday we went to near by Gifu City for dinner and drinks. On our way to the station, however, we discovered a huge festival on Ogaki's main street. It was pretty cool, but we didn't stay long (too hungry). Gifu was really nice. There was a festival happening somewhere there as well, though we never found it. Briana took me to a nice pizza place where they stove top cook the pizzas and finish it off with a blow torch! I am going to take a video next time. It was delicious. Afterwards we went to a really popular bar with import drinks (American and European liquor and beers). It was a lively atmosphere! But we didn't stay too long. I will definitely be back though. Afterwards we ended up at the local bar on Ogaki's main street that we go to literally every weekend. Miroku! Its my favorite little place. We know all the bar tenders and some of the other regulars by name. Its really fun. When one of the bartenders quit, Briana even wrote him a long letter. Normally its a very chill atmosphere, where we sit back, chat, and make new friends at the bar over a few drinks. But this night was different, we ran into four foreign guys (a Canadian, an Englishman, an Irishman, and another American) who also live in Ogaki and are English teachers. I was so shocked! I mean... I know there are a lot of other companies that bring English speakers to Japan to teach, but for some reason I thought Briana and I were the only ones in Ogaki. Apparently they come to Miroku fairly often, but always a lot later in the night, after Briana and I have called it a night. We talked, had a good time. Some drunk Japanese guys decided to talk to us and that's when things got weird...
Briana was at the bar with the Irish guy, and I was sitting on some couches with the others. The conversation started normal, talking about Star Wars and famous people and what not, but then somehow the conversation turned to porn and masturbation. I awkwardly laughed thinking these guys were joking, or trying to teach us dirty words in Japan. But then one guy apparently got upset for me laughing at him. The questions got more personal, and us Gaijin (non Japanese) got really uncomfortable. I excused myself from the conversation pretty quickly. Later I found myself cornered at the bar by one of those Japanese guys. Again the conversation started normal, we talked about travel and languages. He asked if its true that Americans hug each other often (physical contact among adults, even those that are romantically involved, is largely non existent) and I assured him that its true. So of course he asked for a hug, which I gave a quick one armed one. Then he asked if its true that we kiss, and I quickly said NO. At this point I tried to weasel my way into Briana and the Irishman's conversation (he was steady trying to get her number) but it didn't work out and I was forced back to Nao, the increasingly annoying Japanese guy. OJ, the other American, was also there, so i kept trying to bring him into the conversation. Nao asked me to go for a walk alone with him, which I refused. He then gave made an open invitation to him home, which I was noncommital about. Thankfully not long after that his friends decided that they were ready to leave and he was gone. Then our new foreigner friends left. Briana and I had a "WTH just happened?!" moment, and they we headed home as well.
Sunday afternoon was spent lunching and shopping with Briana. Later that night we got back together to return to Miroku. We were both hoping to run into the Gaijin guys again. Instead we made some new friends. Ryo, the newest bartender at Miroku, introduced us to his sister, and we talked with her for a bit. She was super cute. I hope we get to see her more often. There was a man at the bar, Hiro, who spoke pretty good English. So we talked with him and Ryo and the head bartender Yuta for most of the night. Hiro translated, which was really annoying for me, but really helpful for Briana who doesn't know any Japanese. We talked about all different kinds of things, but it ended with the revelation that Briana has a crush on Yuta. Well, all the other bartenders knew, we had talked to them about it before, so its pretty safe to assume he already knew. But now here they were talking about it face to face for the first time (with a translator). Yuta was trying to assure Briana that he is no good for her and that she should forget about him, but Briana was insistent that she didn't care. However there are two things keeping them apart; they both are dating someone else, and they can barely speak two words of each other's language. All in all it was an interesting night. Ryo and I bonded over the fact that we both play drums. We even discovered that Taisei, the third and final bartender, lives above the bar. That explains why we would ALWAYS see him there, even though he wasn't working, he was simply coming or leaving home.
Then the rain started... I had to ride my bike home in the rain, awkwardly holding my handlebar and umbrella at the same time. It stormed all day today (Monday) so I haven't been outside. I spent a very relaxing day reading and surfing the internet. Back to work tomorrow, and its a normal work week. After the laid-back-ness of last week it will be a bit of a shock to my system. But this is the last week before a nine day summer vacation. So there's that...
That's all from me for now. Thanks for reading!
まったね！
～寒
Pros to SWDs:
- Lots of free time meant I had plenty of time for lesson planning. I had that freak out moment last week and learned how to power through some lesson plans. Now this week with all my free time I ended up ending the week with my entire week of lesson plans (for this coming week) complete
- Again I had a LOT of free time. So I had time to read all my training material on different games you can play in the classroom to reinforce what you've just taught. I picked a bunch that I liked. And then made the props for one for each major age group (toddlers, elementry school, jr. high and bilingual). It was fun getting to cut and color and draw and make all these new game props.
-Time to get organized. I went through the NET supply closet and got more familiar with what was now mine and where everything was. I reorganized the books so that in the 5min transition I have between classes, I will have an easier time finding the right ones. I also have two baskets that I take to class, one for my floor classes (Baby - P3[toddler]), and one for all my table classes. I went through and reorganized those, exploring what props for games that I had and could utilize, and threw away all the useless stuff. I found that I had a lot of really good stuff for my floor classes! I need to bulk up my props for the older kids.
Cons to SWDs:
-I HAD TOO MUCH FREE TIME! Even with all the things that I ended up accomplishing, it wasn't really enough to fill the 2-3 hour gaps I was now finding in my working hours. And yet I am expected to always look busy. Especially since my spot in the back room makes me the first thing parents see when they walk into the school. I would read and re-read training material to try and eat up time. I found myself falling asleep at the desk pretty much every afternoon that week.
-I've planned all of my lesson plans for the next week. So now what am I to do with the time I have in my schedule for lesson planning? Well I guess I can just continue to be a week ahead with my lesson plans... or make more props.
-I left work too early. It is expected in Japan that you always come to work 15-20min early and stay 15-20min late. But when I had nothing to do for the last hour or more of my day, then there really is no reason for me to stay late. After your last class you are expected to complete your cleaning duties (your work area, a classroom, and one of the general areas assigned to you that week) and then you can leave. I always do my cleaning duties, and then help the JTs out by straitening up their rooms as well, so that they only need to clean the floor and/or wipe down the tables. But when I have all that time at the end of my day, my cleaning gets done early. The JTs get out of thier final class and I do a quick run through and I am out 5min after the hour. I guess I could have sat around for another 10-15min, but I literally had nothing to do to make myself look busy. I would just be in the way... so I left.
All in all it was a good week though. Remember tantrum girl? she still hasn't come back. Her mom assured Manager that they would try, but no dice. And suddenly I have another student who was doing really well, who didn't want to come to class this week. She sat in the car and refused. Also, my only adult student, quit at the end of last month, after one class with me. Finally, my favorite student that I had really bonded with in our 3 short classes also quit Amity this week. I only know for sure that the first one (tantrum girl) is because of me, and the last one isn't, but its hard to not take it personally with all of them. Am I that intimidating? Am I a bad teacher? What did i do to scare them off?
My other classes are going pretty well though. I enjoy private lessons because you really get to know your student. But the group lessons are more fun because you can do more with competitive games. There were two seminars that I did with these sisters who had never taken a NET class before, that went amazing! The girls were so fun and cute! I played with them in the lobby afterwards and really won them over. Hopefully I can get two new regular students out of them. In the lobby I taught them some tongue twisters. I've actually taken to doing that with all of my table private lessons if we get through everything I planned too quickly. Its a great way to teach American English pronunciation. I've started with "Red leather, yellow leather" said 3x fast and "She sells sea shells by the sea shore." These are REALLY hard for Japanese speakers because they don't have the "th" sound or the "see" sound in their language. They come out sounding like "Red lesure, yellow lesure" and "she shells she shells by the she shore." its actually pretty funny, and endearing. The other thing I taught the girls in the lobby was a simple hand jive that they could play with each other at home. Hopefully I can play more lobby games like this with students in the future. There was one poor boy in the lobby for almost an hour looking very bored while I was in the back pretending to look busy, he wasn't a student of mine or anything, but I felt for him. So I went to the supply closet and grabbed my jenga game. I introduced myself and we played. It was simple, and fun and kept him entertained. It was nice.
I have other set of sisters that are my regular students. I have their private lessons back to back, and their dad is fluent in English, though I think talking to me is the only real practice he gets. He is super intimidating and invested in his children's education. He is clearly a great day and they really love and respect him, I can see it in the way their interact. But then he turned his serious face on and asked for some extra time to talk to me about his daughter's education. Basically he wants them to sound American. He doen't care about lesson plan calendar that I am supposed to follow or anything like that, he just wants natural speaking ability. After that conversation he has been nothing but delightful, but I really feel the pressure to help these girls with their pronunciation. I cannot let Super Dad down!
So enough about work, lets talk about my weekend. It was an amazing weekend! Every Saturday night after work Briana and I go do something. This Saturday we went to near by Gifu City for dinner and drinks. On our way to the station, however, we discovered a huge festival on Ogaki's main street. It was pretty cool, but we didn't stay long (too hungry). Gifu was really nice. There was a festival happening somewhere there as well, though we never found it. Briana took me to a nice pizza place where they stove top cook the pizzas and finish it off with a blow torch! I am going to take a video next time. It was delicious. Afterwards we went to a really popular bar with import drinks (American and European liquor and beers). It was a lively atmosphere! But we didn't stay too long. I will definitely be back though. Afterwards we ended up at the local bar on Ogaki's main street that we go to literally every weekend. Miroku! Its my favorite little place. We know all the bar tenders and some of the other regulars by name. Its really fun. When one of the bartenders quit, Briana even wrote him a long letter. Normally its a very chill atmosphere, where we sit back, chat, and make new friends at the bar over a few drinks. But this night was different, we ran into four foreign guys (a Canadian, an Englishman, an Irishman, and another American) who also live in Ogaki and are English teachers. I was so shocked! I mean... I know there are a lot of other companies that bring English speakers to Japan to teach, but for some reason I thought Briana and I were the only ones in Ogaki. Apparently they come to Miroku fairly often, but always a lot later in the night, after Briana and I have called it a night. We talked, had a good time. Some drunk Japanese guys decided to talk to us and that's when things got weird...
Briana was at the bar with the Irish guy, and I was sitting on some couches with the others. The conversation started normal, talking about Star Wars and famous people and what not, but then somehow the conversation turned to porn and masturbation. I awkwardly laughed thinking these guys were joking, or trying to teach us dirty words in Japan. But then one guy apparently got upset for me laughing at him. The questions got more personal, and us Gaijin (non Japanese) got really uncomfortable. I excused myself from the conversation pretty quickly. Later I found myself cornered at the bar by one of those Japanese guys. Again the conversation started normal, we talked about travel and languages. He asked if its true that Americans hug each other often (physical contact among adults, even those that are romantically involved, is largely non existent) and I assured him that its true. So of course he asked for a hug, which I gave a quick one armed one. Then he asked if its true that we kiss, and I quickly said NO. At this point I tried to weasel my way into Briana and the Irishman's conversation (he was steady trying to get her number) but it didn't work out and I was forced back to Nao, the increasingly annoying Japanese guy. OJ, the other American, was also there, so i kept trying to bring him into the conversation. Nao asked me to go for a walk alone with him, which I refused. He then gave made an open invitation to him home, which I was noncommital about. Thankfully not long after that his friends decided that they were ready to leave and he was gone. Then our new foreigner friends left. Briana and I had a "WTH just happened?!" moment, and they we headed home as well.
Sunday afternoon was spent lunching and shopping with Briana. Later that night we got back together to return to Miroku. We were both hoping to run into the Gaijin guys again. Instead we made some new friends. Ryo, the newest bartender at Miroku, introduced us to his sister, and we talked with her for a bit. She was super cute. I hope we get to see her more often. There was a man at the bar, Hiro, who spoke pretty good English. So we talked with him and Ryo and the head bartender Yuta for most of the night. Hiro translated, which was really annoying for me, but really helpful for Briana who doesn't know any Japanese. We talked about all different kinds of things, but it ended with the revelation that Briana has a crush on Yuta. Well, all the other bartenders knew, we had talked to them about it before, so its pretty safe to assume he already knew. But now here they were talking about it face to face for the first time (with a translator). Yuta was trying to assure Briana that he is no good for her and that she should forget about him, but Briana was insistent that she didn't care. However there are two things keeping them apart; they both are dating someone else, and they can barely speak two words of each other's language. All in all it was an interesting night. Ryo and I bonded over the fact that we both play drums. We even discovered that Taisei, the third and final bartender, lives above the bar. That explains why we would ALWAYS see him there, even though he wasn't working, he was simply coming or leaving home.
Then the rain started... I had to ride my bike home in the rain, awkwardly holding my handlebar and umbrella at the same time. It stormed all day today (Monday) so I haven't been outside. I spent a very relaxing day reading and surfing the internet. Back to work tomorrow, and its a normal work week. After the laid-back-ness of last week it will be a bit of a shock to my system. But this is the last week before a nine day summer vacation. So there's that...
That's all from me for now. Thanks for reading!
まったね！
～寒
Pictures! Part 3
My official Japanese bank book, signature, and ID. I am legit.
Ogaki Castle. I pass it pretty regularly. It's a replica since the original was ruined in the war, but its pretty cool.
Samurai armor inside the castle.
View of the castle grounds from the 3rd floor.
View of the beautiful Ogaki from the 4th floor of the castle on the hill in the city center. I love this city.
The entrance to my apartment building. The sign says "Gold House" in gold lettering.
The house next door. Isn't it big and beautiful?
Briana and I often make friends at our local bar every weekend. This is Ayumi, the sister of one of the bartenders, Ryo.
Chillin at CafeBar Miroku (yes, that's it's real name) like we do every weekend.
Obligatory Purikura pictures from our trip to the mall.
Briana and Sara from a trip out to dinner on one of Sara's last nights in town.
Karaoke with the co-workers! Miho has the most ADORABLE voice.
Satomi singing very beautifully.
I heard it was good, I enjoy salted watermelon... it was gross.
There is a large river that flows throughout the city. I follow it to and from work. This is it in front of Briana's apartment.
It has walkways on the surface and also down at the water level. In some places there are lots of trees and vines, waterfalls, grassy areas, etc. Its really nice!
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