Christmas Tuesday

Today was my last day at the elementary schools until winter break is over. Overall, not too bad since it was a day full of games and fun. It's not as tiring when I'm having as much fun as the students!

One thing that really made my day was receiving a nice card from the students in my 6th grade class at the end of the day. One student wrote a really nice message and made a cute Christmas Card and presented it to me in front of the class. Then, we took pictures together with the entire class. It was really nice and thoughtful! The message included notes saying that they really enjoy English class and are looking forward to more English fun next year!

*Sniff sniff...I know, it's get me down to the heart...but seriously, it's really nice and I really do appreciate the kindness of everyone here in Japan and around me.

Nabe!

Today was Sunday...a nice and relaxing Sunday! I was on my way back from Tokyo and there was a nabe party happening in Togane...so of course I stopped by to eat dinner!

In Togane, there's an organic place up in some mountains where there was a venue to prepare food and be able to accommodate many people to all gather and eat. And so we did just that! A group of ALTs from around Chiba and some other friends all got together to create and eat nabe!

For those of you who don't know what nabe is....basically it's an Asian dish where you mix anything together...and eat out of it with different sauces and ingredients. But the most typical things to put in are cabbage, other vegetables, meat (pork, chicken, seafood), and noodles. We had 4 different pots of nabe all with different flavored soup brewing. Yeah, 4!

It was a delicious mix of everything and we definitely had a lot of food leftover! There was a lot of food to begin with and even though we all came hungry, we still couldn't handle the amount in front of us! Well, we all ate to our heart's content and then hung out for a little bit. It was a fun time and it felt nice to catch up with some of the other JETs. As well, it was cool to meet some new people. At these events, there are always new people and it's a great way to meet either native Japanese people or other JETs that you just haven't met yet.

All in all, a good time and hope to eat more nabe again sometime!

Christmas Friday!

So today was another day at the elementary school. A tiring, but day full of Christmas spirit! I did 6 straight classes of Christmas classes (as it's my last day with this elementary school until after break next year) so I did a marathon of Christmas themed lessons.


Mainly, it consisted of games and listening to music, so my day today was actually fun! I am usually exhausted after a day at this school, however, today it wasn't too bad! I think because I got a little more sleep than usual and I had more games and music, it wasn't as tiring...which is a good thing!


Usually by this time on Friday, I'm on my way to Tokyo, Chiba or another place other than my town. But tonight is different...it's a chill night tonight! I'm happy to be actually resting and relaxing at home tonight. I know it sounds like a lame Friday night, but I'm completely fine with it! It gives me a chance to rest up and just hang out. I'll be busy tomorrow anyway and Sunday, so might as well get some rest tonight!


Nothing else too much happened today. Today was a special lunch at school in honor of the
Christmas holiday, so the lunch consisted of a "Christmas Cake" which was a cute little log cabin.

Thursday

So today I had 3 classes. Not a bad day. I was glad that I could relax and not have to be all rushed to go from place to place. And the best part is, all my classes were finished by lunch. So I had the afternoon open!

During the time I had open I took the time to study kanji. I've been trying to get through a few kanji a day, but that's been pretty hard. It sounds easy, but the next day after having studied, I just cannot remember a lot of the kanji that I should have known from the previous day! I guess it's just going to take time to sink in. But I do feel that I'm making progress little by little....which is good!

Today during lunch recess, I had the students give me a mini quiz on the kanji I had been studying. I would have them say the reading or the kanji, and I would write it on the blackboard. I guess I didn't do too badly! Considering that I'm still in the beginning stages. They had fun with it and it's a great way for me to learn the kanji! Especially since I'm working with the native speakers and users of the writing! This way, they can also teach me the correct writing of it in case I mess up...that's right. The kanji has a certain stroke order that you're supposed to write with. So even if you write one line at the wrong time or the wrong direction, it's counted as WRONG! But slowly, I think I'm getting it...

Well, I guess we'll see how it goes! Wish me luck!

Last Christmas...I gave you my heart...."Do you have the time?"

So I have been playing that song in my head over and over again..."Last Christmas, I gave you my heart but the very next day, you gave it away....this year....."

Haha...the teachers at my middle school have been playing this song in the classroom and when you hear it for 5 class periods in one day, it's definitely going to get stuck in your head! Today, I had 5 classes and it seems busy, but it wasn't too bad. The morning went by pretty quickly and then I only had the afternoon left! It was sunny today as well so that was refreshing! The past couple days there were clouds and some rain.

Although it was sunny, the air was kind of chilly. But not too bad of a day! It's just frustrating when it's rainy (which it has been for most of the fall and a lot of the winter) because then I cannot hang my laundry out to dry. I don't have a dryer like most people in Japan, so I have no choice but to hang my laundry. It's not too bad, but it's hard to do laundry when I can't leave it out to dry. I don't have a porch or roof over the area where I hang my laundry, so if it does start to rain, I have to rush home in order to get my clothes inside.

Although I have set up a place inside to hang my laundry, it just does not dry as well. It stays wet for a few days and takes forever! I think it's because the air doesn't circulate as well while I'm not home and I do not want to leave windows open at my house in case it starts to rain or for obvious security reasons.

But anyway, I still have the song stuck in my head and I'm sure I will for days to come...at least until Christmas is over!

Tonight, we also had a Christmas party with my Eikaiwa class. It consisted of a dinner with all the members and they brought in delicious dishes for all to eat. It was very nice! The food was great and there was a large variety. I ate until I was very full, and then some more!

But the most surprising and great part was the people. They are all really sooo nice and generous. I was NOT expecting a gift at all and I received one. It was a really nice one actually! They got me a watch! (Hence the title...) Haha. But it's of the SEIKO brand, which is a very well known and good brand in Japan! And so jokingly I had them ask me "Do you have the time?" and I would flip out my wrist and prominently display my new watch and say, "Why yes I do!" haha....oh the humor.

But seriously they're great people. And we also played lots of different games to stay entertained. All in all, it was a fun evening with good times and good gifts. We had a secret santa exchange party as well where each member bought someone else a gift. We picked names out of a hat a few weeks ago and that was who we would purchase a gift for. I received a shirt from the store called "Right On" which is a nice clothing store. I like their clothes so that was a nice gift as well!

Tuesday

Today was an ordinary day. Nothing too much happened. It was an elementary school day. I had only 2 classes in the morning which was nice because at that school I only teach the 5th and 6th graders. Then I went to another school in the afternoon and taught the 5th and 6th grade classes over there.

I did a Christmas themed lesson today at the school in the afternoon since it's my last time seeing them for this year. I guess I'll see them next year! Haha. I don't have class with them until January, so it seemed fitting to do Christmas now and since everyone is getting ready for the season, it makes for a Merry time! I had a word search for them to do and then did a BINGO game out of the words that they found in the puzzle. I also had a mini lesson (very short 5 minute talk) on Christmas and the tradition. At the end, we listened to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You" and so I've had that song stuck in my head all day. It's a very popular song here in Japan just like in America. Although people here don't know the lyrics, they have all heard the song and know the tune. I guess that includes me because I'm not one to be good at lyrics for songs. I know basic lyrics, but I'm not really that good at singing. Anyone who knows me can attest to that!

I will do a Christmas themed lesson with the school I taught at this morning next week. I will see them again next Tuesday and that will be their last time before the 2nd semester ends. I think I will do most of the same stuff, but if I find something different I may throw that in there as well.

Tonight after work, I was invited to my local dentist's house for dinner. She has me over for dinner quite often and so I went there to eat. It was delicious and it was good to catch up with her and chat. I just got back from that so I am quite full and am now tired. I guess that makes for a good combination to falling asleep rather comfortably and easily...and it doesn't help that I'm sitting under my kotatsu table right now. This is a deadly recipe for instantly falling asleep. Anyone that knows me can also tell you that I have a knack for being able to fall asleep not only quickly and easily, but anywhere!

Well, with that I think I am going to get ready for bed pretty soon....take a nice hot shower, get my bed ready, and sleep! Good night!

Friday antics

So this past Friday, I was at 2 schools. One elementary school in the morning where I taught 3,4,5, and 6th grade, and the other elementary school where I taught 5th grade in the afternoon. By the end of the day, I was exhausted!! But I had a good weekend to look forward to so it wasn't so bad at the end of the day!

I went through my usual routine for classes and nothing too special happened. I guess I'm to the point now where I'm used to the classroom atmosphere and I know how to handle the time, the material, and the students. It's a nice feeling because I remember at the beginning of my time here when I had NOOO idea what was going on. I still am not an expert or anything, but it's amazing how much a couple months in front of the classroom will improve your teaching and public speaking skills.

Well, tonight I'm going to Tokyo with my buddy and we're meeting up with our friend who lives there. Haven't decided where we're going to go eat dinner, but probably somewhere around Ueno or the like. They have a good variety of restaurants and it's usually pretty decently priced. Well, I'm off and I'll see ya when I get back from the weekend!

Thursday Haircuts

Today was a pretty busy day...I had 5 classes. 3 in the morning and finished it off with the 2 in the afternoon, to make for a pretty full day. But all in all it wasn't too bad. I guess there wasn't anything too terribly exciting that happened today. I had the 2A class twice today...why?

Well, because yesterday one of the classes was canceled because of the calligraphy class, so they made up for that missed class today in the afternoon. And normally they have a class in the morning on Thursdays, so lucky for them, they got English twice! Haha...exciting, right?

This weekend, I'm planning on going in to Tokyo to meet up with some friends tomorrow night and then my girlfriend on Saturday, so I'm excited for tomorrow to be over with! Originally I wanted to get a haircut up in Tokyo this weekend. But I'll be pretty busy this weekend and I wanted to get my hair cut soon, so I went and got it cut today after work.

Before going to a place, I looked online to try and find places to get my hair cut. It's not so easy to find a good place in the inaka...and even harder doing research on the internet in Japanese! Haha, so I did it the old fashioned way. At first, I tried to keep a few places in mind that I saw on Google Maps and checked them out. I drove up to a few places that I saw...but not to be discriminatory, I only saw really old people working in the shops.

So I decided not to go in! Haha, I know, it's horrible, but I'd rather have someone a little younger cut my hair who won't give me an old man haircut or something. Besides, most of the places closed at around 5:30pm...way too early! Considering it was already 5:15ish while I was driving around. So I continued to drive around and headed toward some places where I had seen barbershops before while driving around the city. I found this place along Route 128 which looked relatively new and pulled up.

They had a "menu" of their prices posted outside so I checked it out and it was a decent price. I also saw inside and there were younger guys working, so I decided to step in and give it a shot. I got in and told the guys how I wanted to get my hair cut and they got started right away. I had been to a more expensive place in Tokyo to get my hair cut, but this place seemed almost similar, but not quite as fancy. The place was really new (only about 1 1/2 years old) and the aura of it seemed pretty nice.

Well, about 45-50 minutes passed by and during that time my hair was cut, washed a couple times, and styled. In the end, I really liked the hair cut and the style. It was only about 2,900 Yen, which is pretty decent considering that the other places I saw were more expensive and had the "old" people!

Haha, well I guess when I'm stuck around the inaka and need a haircut, I know where to go!

Random Thoughts

So today was hump day! Another Wednesday in the books. I can feel that Christmas is getting closer. In class, we're listening to Christmas songs and the students fill in random blanks that correspond with the words they hear. Today, we listened to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" song. Yeah, a classic and one song that I really do like! I had both 3rd grade classes today and one 1st grade class, so not too bad of a day. I had quite a bit of down time so I actually studied some Kanji and worked on some other lesson planning.

As well, I didn't have as many classes today because there was a calligraphy instructor that came in to teach the kids calligraphy. And by calligraphy, I mean for Kanji. It's quite difficult! I visited the class while the kids were working on writing and some of the kids wanted me to try it. And so I did....but it was difficult!! Haha, I wrote my own name and even that was hard. It's not hard because I don't know how to write my name...but the brush and the strokes you need to use are different. It's a large brush. Think about trying to use a pointed paint brush or something and then trying to write legible characters. So my name looked "pretty" decent and legible, but definitely not official "Japanese Calligraphy" good.

But there were random thoughts that came to my mind as I was going about during the day. I was just thinking about how quickly my time is going by here in Japan and how much I've really enjoyed it here. And it's sad, because I came in at mid-year, so I only get to spend half the year with the 3rd graders who will be graduating this coming March. It seems far away, but really it's only a few short months away. And I was actually starting to feel sad inside...(tear tear) because I really do like the kids. They are all great and really funny, and they are all so kind and warm to me. Although not every single one always tries during English class or they may not be on their best behavior at every moment, I've really become attached to them and they're growing on me. It's going to be very sad when I see them graduate and it's time to really say "goodbye" and not just in the classroom context to end the class period.

Since the first day that I met them, the students were all curious about me and have treated me very well. I always feel very well respected by all the students and they definitely appreciate having me around. And I have a lot of fun talking with them and getting to know all of them. So it's going to be sad when the students that I'm used to talking with won't be there next year...I know today's post is sappy and sad, but it's true!

I guess what I'm trying to say is, that I really appreciate all the kids and people at my school. Before coming to Japan, I really had no idea what to expect. Sometimes, I thought that I was crazy for quitting my job at Target where I was getting good work experience and getting paid very well. It was a stable job and I could have worked there for the next 30-40 years of my life and been very comfortable. But after having thought about it over these past few months, I know that I made the right decision to come to Japan and get the work experience and life experience over here. I've made many new friends and formed new relationships that I would never find anywhere else. I've also seen and understand more about Japan and the rest of the world which I would not have seen if I were still in America. As well, the people at my school are incredible people who have taken me in with open arms and taught me lots. In exchange, I have obviously taught them a lot about English language and American culture. So I know it is a mutual benefit. But I feel that they have done so much to accommodate me and to host me in this country.

Well, I'm sure there is more exchange and other experiences to be shared while I spend the next X amount of time in Japan. All I can do right now is take advantage of the time I have with everyone and enjoy it!

Tiring Tuesday

It was an elementary school Tuesday for me. I spent the morning teaching 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th grade at one school and taught 5th and 6th grade at the other school in the afternooon....talk about a full day!

As I said before, most of my elementary school days are always full days. Very tiring. But it's rewarding because I can tell that the kids enjoy it...for the most part!! Haha. I taught colors to the younger kids and played many games incorporating the use and understanding of the colors. They always like the different games and I have fun running them as well since it's fun for me.

But I ended the day by going over to Ohara to pay for my school lunch bills at the Board of Education. I was planning to pick up my buddy and we were going to go grab some dinner. So we went to eat at a family owned Japanese restaurant close-by called "Kaneyo." That's our go to place and they have a huge assortment of Japanese style dishes. Since it's family owned, it's relatively cheap and they serve a TON of food in the dish! It's great!

So we went there and the owner knows my friend and me because we go there quite often. But what I didn't know is that her son goes to one of the elementary schools I teach at in Ohara. I noticed that while we were sitting waiting for food, one of the boys ran across an opening, stared at us, and went hiding. I guess he was just shy, because when we were served our food, the owner asked if I taught at the elementary school that her son attends. Of course he was one of my students and I guess all kids are shy when they see their teachers in a place other than the classroom.

Well, I thought that was pretty funny and I guess I will be seeing her son in school now!

Wow...soooo fulll!

So tonight I was out driving returning some DVDs and running a few errands. Then I received a phone call from my Kyoto Sensei (Vice Principal) saying that him and a few other teachers were going out to eat some Yakiniku. So of course, since I hadn't eaten yet, I took up the offer and met them at a restaurant.

When I got there, I realized that it was a restaurant that my buddy and I stopped at and considered going into, but didn't because we saw the menu and it was....well....$$$$$ (pricey)! Haha. Well, I figured why not, it will be a good time and obviously good food! Well, when I got there, I met up with the other teachers and we instantly started ordering meat....lots of meat. It was mainly Kalbi, which is a cut of meat. Very delicious and tender. So we got lots of plates of this...I mean, at least 5 LARGE plates of the meat to grill!

I also had a dish of raw meat with an egg on top...sounds like salmonella frenzy, right? I know...but had to give it a try. It's called "Yuke" and is a dish that is definitely more common in Japan than in America. I think people in America would die of shock before they would even try even it if they had to. It was tasty and I'd had it before, but this tasted better than before.

After plates and plates of meat and goodness, I'd had enough food and was done...out for the count. I had the meat, rice, kimchi, some type of cheese stuffed flour thing...I don't really know what it was, squid, and vegetables. I could say that I'd eaten enough to last me a few days. Well, thank you, Kyoto Sensei! It was a delicious meal!

Today's day of classes went pretty well. The students have exams tomorrow, so I didn't have a whole lot to do today. It was mainly review for the exam, so I walked around the classroom helping the students with anything they had questions on and the work they were doing. 4 classes in all...I'm glad I have these chill days once in awhile. Especially since some other days are hectic and super busy, so it's nice to have it balance out like this.

Well, I'm full and tired, so it's time to get some sleeeeeeep.....zzzzzz

Typhoon?!

So this morning I woke up at around 3am in a cold sweat...I hate that! I was literally dripping with sweat. I didn't know why I was so warm, but it was very unusual. For the past few nights, it had been cold and so I was used to waking up and it being 9-10 degrees Celsius in my house.

Well, after I got out of bed and checked the temperature, I figured out why I was so warm. I checked the temperature in my house and it was 19 degrees! I was under the blankets that keep me extremely warm in the cold temperature, and so I was under those same covers...which explains why I was so hot! Well, I went to the bathroom and also noticed that it was quite windy. And by quite windy, I mean really really REALLY windy!

The window to my bathroom was open and I felt some water splashing on to me...what?! When I looked outside, all I could see was heavy rain flying everywhere and the trees flying back and forth, being tossed around by the water and heavy winds. It literally looked like a crazy storm out there! I checked the weather forecast on the internet and there were supposedly 40-50 mph winds for today with some rain...interesting.

Well, this made for a not so fun commute. I could feel the wind pushing around my car the whole drive to school. I'm glad I have a car, though. If I didn't, it would be an even more miserable commute to work! When I stepped outside, it was really warm! I know the temperature got up to around 70 degrees F and it was really humid. So it felt like a stormy summer day! Crazy weather around here lately.

Anyway, the storm cleared out by around lunchtime. But it was still extremely windy the entire day. It was sunny all afternoon, but I could hear the wind howling all day long.

Well, I had a full day today...all 6 class periods. Very tiring! I was exhausted even by lunch! I had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade all in the morning. Then I had 6th grade in the afternoon. I like playing games and such with the kids, but it gets really tiring. And as I mentioned in earlier posts, I know that I'm more worn out by the end of the week, so it's always hard to stay awake on Friday, but I do what I can.

So I was planning on meeting up with my buddy up in Chiba after work today and hang out there for the evening. I went to the station to catch the train. However, the winds were still extremely strong and crazy. So the trains were delayed, something that is unusual in Japan. The trains are ALWAYS on time and are exact down to the minute...or second! Instead of being able to get on the train that was scheduled for 5:52pm, I had to wait for the next train to come which was at 6:21pm. And that got delayed by another few minutes. So instead of getting in to Chiba at my original scheduled time of 6:45pm, I got in at around 7:36pm...Almost an hour later than I had wanted. Well, what can you do? I can't control the weather and I guess it couldn't be helped!

Anyway, I finally got there and met up with my buddy. We went to a kaiten sushi place which had good sushi. I looove sushi! Sooo gooooood! I also had some Otoro, which is the fattiest type of tuna...and also the best. It tasted really good! I'm glad that I got it and tasted it...I don't think that I had eaten it before. I had eaten other types of tuna, but not the Otoro type.

Finally, we headed back home. We caught the last train to get back to Isumi. Well, everyone else was also catching the last train. I mean, we were packed on the train like sardines...literally! I was squished in the train, then more people kept on pushing in and trying to squeeze in. It was so packed, it was literally hard to breathe! I was pushed up against everyone else and pushing them into the other side...so they were getting squished, I was getting squished...I guess it was uncomfortable for everyone!

Well, when there's interesting typhoon like weather, I guess things get crazy and it's not so fun!But overall, I had a good time and more importantly, I'm glad the weekend is here!!!! Wooo hooo!!

What does that say?

Today is Thursday. Not Friday, not Wednesday, but Thursday...

Just wanted to make that clear with myself. When I woke up this morning, I kind of knew that and was thinking it. But for some reason as I was heading out the door, I rushed back in to grab the garbage and take it out. Garbage days around here are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

So guess how surprised I was when I took out my garbage and found that no one else had taken theirs out to the site....yeah. I had to re-think it and was like, "Oh yeah, it's not Friday!" Bummer.....I guess I just can't wait for the weekend! But that's natural, right? I mean, most people look forward to the days off when they don't have to work and don't have to worry about anything else except for what they want to do. So, another Thursday has gone by and tomorrow will be Friday!

Today, school was alright. It was pretty slow because I only had 2 classes today! They were both in the morning as well, so by the time lunch was over I had no more classes for the day! It was nice. Since I didn't have much to do and had lots of free time, I decided to study the dreaded kanji! Yeah, I know. Not fun, right? Since I've been in Japan, I have picked up on the basic kanji and am able to read basic things (I mean REALLY basic!) but I guess it's better than no progress at all. So I opened up my kanji book and continued studying. But I find that no matter how much I've been studying or looking at the kanji in my book, it's still SOOOOO hard for me to read any real documents. I can't pick up a piece of paper or a set of instructions and tell you what it says. No way!!! I always have to ask other people, "what does that say?" or "what is this kanji?"

Without other people's help, I'd be lost! I guess it will come with time, but I just want to be able to read anything and everything without having to ask everyone around me what it says. I'm hoping that within the next year, I'll become pretty literate and be able to read documents or other pieces of Japanese without much struggle. I'm 25 years old and it's frustrating feeling illiterate! Haha, I guess everything will come with time. I just have to be patient with myself and do my due diligence in studying. I guess that's where the issue is, though...I don't always have the self discipline to sit down and study kanji. It comes in waves for me. There are days where I will not take a peek at the kanji book and others where I will go through a ton. So I just have to find my pace and stay consistent with it and make sure that I am constantly reviewing what I have learned while moving forward at the same time.

I think another thing that would really help me to accelerate my reading skill in Japanese is to read books or manga. I know, read real books? I was thinking the same thing....seems kind of like a big leap to go from not being able to read to reading a whole story! Although I don't have to know everything, as long as I can get through some of the books and train my eye to read the Japanese characters, then I think it will help. Well, wish me luck! I have a hard enough time getting myself to read books in English! So we'll see how it goes with the Japanese!

懐かしい...

So today I had a full day of class...well pretty much full! I had 5 out of 6 class periods to teach today. I had 3 out of 4 classes in the morning and the 2 classes in the afternoon. Today, I had taught with the regular English teachers. It has been awhile...I mentioned in previous posts that there were student teachers at my school doing a live rotation in a middle school as they prepare to become teachers after they graduate from school. So I haven't taught with the regular English teachers for nearly 3 and a half weeks. It's been awhile!!

So the title of my blog today is 懐かしい (natsukashii) which in Japanese means, "It's been a long time" or "this takes me back." That's kind of how I felt today. I hadn't taught with the teachers in awhile that I kind of forgot the feeling of teaching with a real English teacher for middle school! But it was a good feeling, I guess. Although it was fun teaching with student teachers who are more my age, it's good to be teaching with the teachers who have the experience and who actually run the class. They have more control over the class and all the students know that they can't get away with as much as they might have been able to with a student teacher in the front.

Another 懐かしい moment came for me tonight at my Eikaiwa class. Tonight I taught a "Holiday Lesson" based on some pre-Christmas things and Thanksgiving. I mainly taught about the Thanksgiving Holiday and how we celebrate it in America. I even gave a mini history lesson giving the details on the origins of Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it. More than an English teacher, right?! Haha....

Well, besides Thanksgiving being 懐かしい for me, I showed an episode of FRIENDS because they have many Thanksgiving episodes. I don't personally own any seasons of FRIENDS, but there's a DVD rental place that I went to and they had most of the episodes there. I like the tv show a lot and watching it again reminded me of America. I forgot how funny the show is and how much I enjoy all the characters in it. So I had a really good time watching it again in my class tonight and being reminded of American sitcoms.

Prior to the class, I was playing with the rental DVD on my computer so that I could be all set when I wanted to show the episode to the class. However, I ran into one problem while trying to play it on my computer...I forgot about the different region codes!! Yeah, this could set me back a little bit! Well, I tried a lot of different things, like trying to open it up differently or playing it in Windows Media Player Classic, but still no luck. Well, you can only change the region code on DVD players 4 or 5 times for the lifetime of the machine, and I definitely did NOT want to do that!

Luckily, a friend of mine had put a different media player on my computer back in Minnesota that can play all sorts of different media, including those from a foreign country! I found this out tonight and was in luck! That way, I didn't have to worry about the different region code or about not being able to show the episode. Thank goodness! I guess I'm thankful for that! Haha! Well, long story short, I found out that I am able to play different DVDs from different regions on my computer and that makes me a happy camper!! All in all, there were many 懐かしい moments in my day and I'm sure there will be many more to come as I spend more time here in Japan. Everyday is a new adventure!

Time to bust out the Christmas Music!!

So today was Monday...but I didn't have the case of the Mondays! I don't think...haha! I woke up and it was kind of a cold day....but turned out sunny! And so the weather was really gorgeous actually. I wish I could have spent more time outside...enjoy it a little.

But work today wasn't too bad. I had only 3 classes. Normally, I would have had 4 classes but today there were student council speeches and elections in the afternoon, so my 1 class of the afternoon was canceled.

Well, it's officially the "holiday season" for me, and the rest of those that celebrate Christmas or the Holidays. Thanksgiving is over, black friday shopping has been done or is in progress through to Christmas, and the air is getting cooler! I love this season! It's my favorite time of the year. So this is the time when I officially bust out all my Christmas music and have it playing all the time. In America, 99.1 WMYX in Milwaukee begins to play exclusively Christmas music starting on Black Friday. Wonderful? maybe...Great? maybe...

Wonderful, Great, awesome, excellent, and really sweet?



YES!!!

I LOVE Christmas music and everything that goes with it. I with more stations would play only Christmas music, or would even play it all year round! I really really like it and am glad that I can stream 99.1 Live on my computer through the internet so that I can listen to the station as well. My point is, I really like Christmas time. The season, the snow, music, spirits, and warm feelings of happiness and joy are all things that I love about the season. Growing up in a cold state, I couldn't imagine having a Christmas season that was warm/hot outside and without at least some snow or other cold weather related precipitation. In Japan, they rarely have snow in Chiba where I live, but it happens once in awhile, which is alright with me!

Well, time to celebrate these good times before Christmas with music!

Thanksgiving Feast! and then Sushi!

So on Saturday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with fellow JETs up in Chiba. We did this on Saturday because everyone is busy during the week....so the best time to get together was the weekend! Of course! Well, there were a total of about 40 people that gathered to help cook, prepare, and eat the Thanksgiving dinner! It was an awesome day of food, filled with American Thanksgiving goodness that you wouldn't find anywhere else in Japan.




The menu included a plethora of items...Turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, pumpkin salad mix, stuffing, potato salad, bread rolls, and of course our all time favorite, pumpkin pie! Turkeys in Japan are not common at all...in fact, no one in Japan besides foreigners will eat turkey...probably.

The turkeys were bought at Costco, along with the pumpkin pie. Yes, there is a Costco in Japan! I have not personally been there, but if a person has a membership anywhere in the world, I guess it works anywhere as well!











Please take a look at the feasting pics!





















S0 the day after the feast was planned to be a cultural event. This was our official Sushi Making event. We went to a class which were taught by 2 older obasans. They taught us how to make 2 different rolls. The first one was a basic roll but had some complication in it. It has a flower shaped center surrounded by rice and seaweed. This was a fun project and it made me hungry to work up the appetite while making the sushi! There was a lot of rice, wrapping, and rolling involved! The second roll that we created was actually an アンパンマン designed center to the roll! Yes, that's right. He's a famous Japanese animation character that has been around for many years and will be a national icon for many more years to come! It was a bit more difficult, since we had to make the different parts to the face, but it was fun and worth it! We created awesome sushi rolls in the end and now I'm full! With plenty of leftovers! Take a look!!

What a day...Happy Thanksgiving!

So today was a pretty busy day. I had 5 classes today, which meant a full day! Was I tired by the end of the day? YES!

Was I tired after the first period? YES! Haha, so I was pretty much tired all day long...but I made it through! I need to start getting more sleep! But it's so hard in the morning to wake up since it's colder outside and the air in the room is chilly! I know I've mentioned this before and I mention it again...because it doesn't leave!

But to be honest, I prefer this to the extreme heat that we had earlier this summer and up until about 6 weeks ago. The summer was too much......in the mid 30's (Celsius) is just unbearable. Especially when it's every single day.

Well, today was an interesting day. I mentioned that we have student teachers at my school for about 3 weeks because they're doing their student teaching portion at a school for their class. And today was the day that they had to do the demonstration for a grade. A lot of preparation and learning had been leading up to today. So of course, since I'm the English ALT, I was also a part of the class and involved in helping to teach. Yay, these student's grades would also be dependent on me! Haha....no pressure. Well, it went fine. There were 2 demonstrations today and one was in the morning and the other in the afternoon. At these demonstrations, the Vice Principal, Principal, and any other teachers that were available or wanted to come watch were invited. So it was a pretty full classroom. Well, the one in the morning went....well....let's just say it could have gone better. I did the best that I could to make it go smoothly. But the student teacher was really nervous. I think almost too nervous! She was writing on the board and made some spelling errors (which myself and the English teacher fixed during the class) and other things that just weren't as well executed. It was an interesting class period and I'm glad for the student teacher's sake and mine that it's over....

But the one in the afternoon went really well. The student teacher was very well organized and had a great plan. As well, the student teacher utilized the time and the activities very well. I know they're both happy to be done and it's a relief for me as well...since they were stressing out about it as well! I guess I remember those days, when one thing counts really big toward a grade or something important. I'm glad I'm not in school anymore just because it was always a pain to prepare for exams or big presentations.

But now, I guess I'm presenting everyday, so I have a big presentation every day that I teach! Although I don't think about it now, it's almost become second nature and I don't think about the fact that I stand in front of hundreds of students every day and talk. I was never really a nervous public speaker in the first place but now I've become numb to it. I guess that's good thing so that when I have to make a presentation in front of a larger crowd it's not so bad.

Well, I went on a tagent from my original point and wanted to say that it was an interesting day today...and tomorrow will be a busy one! I'm at the elementary schools tomorrow, teaching a full day, so it will be busy! But, I guess I always look forward to it because I know that the weekend is coming up and it's rewarding when I finish the day! This weekend, I'll be enjoying a Thanksgiving feast with fellow ALTs from around Chiba. It will be filled with turkey goodness and many "thanks," haha. I'm glad that there's this event, because today is actually Thanksgiving! I know that in Japan, they celebrated it 2 days too early, but I guess I'll be celebrating the event 2 days too late! Anyway, it should be fun. I'll let you know how the feast goes and will post pictures of the event afterward!

No time to blog!

So the past 2 days I've been very busy. I've hardly been at my home, hence the reason that I haven't posted yet for Monday and Tuesday.

So let's start with the beginning of the week...

Monday
Monday was a pretty good day. I only had 3 classes and so I could relax for most of the day. The classes were normal and nothing too much happened. The great thing about this past particular Monday was.....

the next day was a Japanese national holiday!!! They call it Thanksgiving day as well, but it's the unofficial Japanese Thanksgiving, I guess! In Japan, no one really celebrates Thanksgiving like we do in America. I don't know the exact reason why they recognize it as a national holiday, but it's a nice break in the week. As well, I thought it was funny that it's on a Tuesday (In America, Thanksgiving is ALWAYS on the Thursday of the week).


But anyway, Monday continued on and we had an enkai for our school that evening. The enkai was to celebrate a couple things. There were a few events that occurred and the enkai is really the only time when all the teachers can get together to officially celebrate with each other. They really take this time to have fun and let loose. Basically, an enkai is a party with co-workers. It's not always for just schools. Companies have enkais as well. They also take place at a restaurant. Food is served for everyone to share and everyone pays the same amount. It's also all you can drink. So even if you don't drink, you still pay the same amount as everyone else in the end. Interesting, right?!

Well, it's fun, but it can also call for an expensive evening, especially if you don't drink. Well, it was certainly expensive! It was split so all the males paid 5,000 Yen and the women paid 4,000 Yen. Basically, 4,000 Yen is equivalent to $40 and 5,000 Yen to about $50. Although it is quite different with the current exchange rate, that is a simplified view of the rates.

But, it was a good time. I got to socialize with the teachers and have a good time. All the while, they were having fun as well and all trying to test out their best English skills on me! Haha. There was an after party at a karaoke bar. We went there for a few hours and sang our hearts out, and many of the teachers continued drinking there. At the end of the night, I ended up getting home around 12:30 or 1 in the morning. But like I said before, we had Tuesday off so it's all good!

This is a picture with the English teachers at my school and 2 student teachers that have been at the school for the past 2 weeks. In the front with me is the school Vice Principal. He actually used to be an English teacher and speaks very good English! Good times!















Tuesday
So since I had this day off, it wasn't so bad coming back late in the evening/night/morning. But I was planning on meeting someone to celebrate her birthday since I couldn't spend it with her on her real day. To celebrate, I took her to Disney Sea! It was my first time there, so definitely a fun time. Always up for something new and so I was excited. I left my house in the morning and met her at 10:30. We were there the whole day and stayed until close!



So, to reiterate my point earlier, I haven't been at home much these past 2 days. I got home last night at around 12:30...which made for a tiring Wednesday, but it was a fun time! We got to get on a lot more rides than we were expecting. The crowd wasn't too bad considering it was a holiday. I think it was mainly because of the weather. In the morning, it was raining...:( unfortunately....


But by the afternoon, it cleared up and was partly/mostly sunny. It was pretty cool the whole day, but not bad! In the evening, the weather was absolutely perfect! It was a little cool, but there was no wind and the sky had cleared up. It made for a nice night view and good for walking around and checking out the park. A highlight of the evening...we were waiting in line for a ride for about 5 minutes...I think it was "Journey to the center of the earth" because it was the Volcano ride. They then announce something and it's to the effect that "There is unknown maintenance that needs to be on the ride so everyone must leave. We will have everyone file out of line and have you depart"

bummer....yeah, but at least we had only been waiting for five minutes. BUT, they gave everyone a free fast pass to any ride for the inconvenience....score!! I guess it was great! We only waited 5 minutes and got a free fast pass to get on a different ride that was working! Nice! I wasn't too bummed about that. We saved a lot of time with that and got to get on a ride anyway.

So all in all it was a really fun day! We had a lot of fun together and enjoyed the day at Disney Sea!

And so that lead into today's blog. I guess it was a normal Wednesday...but it felt like a looong day! I guess I was tired...haha. But finally got through the day. It also didn't help that I had 5 classes today, so pretty long and tiring. But I got through it. As well, I had my Eikaiwa class tonight so that just makes the day seem longer since it's a night class from 7:30-9:00.

With that, I'm off to get some rest and stay warm!

Relaxing Weekend

So this weekend I really didn't do much at all. I mean at all! On Friday night, I had the dinner with a couple ALTs and some of the English teachers in town. Then on Friday night when I got back home, I continued watching the TV series "Heroes" and was up til pretty late watching that. I guess until around 3am?!

Then on Saturday I slept in until nearly 1pm!! Haha, what a good night's sleep! It felt really good to lie in bed and not have to worry about a thing. It was awesome! After I woke up, I went for a run and got in some good exercise! I finished with that and made a mid-afternoon late lunch and early dinner, so I guess some would call it "Linner."

Then later that night I didn't really feel like doing anything so it was another relaxing evening. I continued watching Heroes and cleaned up a little around my house.

Today, I woke up a little earlier but still had a good chance to sleep in. I bummed around in the morning and organized my kitchen a little more. Then I went grocery shopping in the afternoon to stock up on stuff for the week. Tonight, I'll make some chicken katsu and eat that for dinner.

So overall this weekend, nothing too exciting happened. It was good to have a relaxing weekend around the area and not have to worry about anything. I do have to go out around my area more and explore what's around here. I know for the most part what's here (not much really!) but I'm sure there are some hidden gems and places to find that have nice views or are more natural than what you'd find around Tokyo or another big city. But rest comes first!

I know this wasn't the most interesting post....:( But I guess that kind of explains the kind of weekend I had! Real laid back and not much action. I just wanted to post this so I could look back in the future and remember what I spent my time doing in Japan. Later!

Chill...

So today was a Friday at the elementary school. I was at the one in Ohara all day today. This is one of the schools that's the furthest from my house. Well, today I woke up at a decent time so I wasn't in a mad rush like I was yesterday! Phew!

Today, they had some musical performance and practice for their school's "marathon" so I had only 2 classes in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Nice! As opposed to the usual 6 I would have had today! But I found myself completed exhausted by the end of the day, still!

This morning, I did a numbers lesson with the 3rd graders. It was my first time teaching numbers today. I think it went well and it was a lot of fun. Then I had the 2nd and 3rd period to rest and recuperate a little bit. Then it was 4th period with the 5th graders. Some parents came today to watch the music performance as well as watch some classes. So there were some extra members in the audience for my English class today! I hope they learned some new English! Haha!

Then in the afternoon it was my 2 6th grade classes. I got back to the teacher's room at the end of the end and I was just physically and mentally exhausted. I find that I'm that way every Friday...I think it's just because it's the end of the week and so everything builds up and I'm just tired by that time. As well, the kids at the elementary school are very "genki" so it takes a lot more energy to deal with them and to teach those classes. Anyway, I'm glad it's Friday night and that I have the weekend!

This weekend, I have no real plans, so it will be nice and relaxing. Tonight, the English teachers around the Isumi area all got together for some meeting at my middle school. Then afterward, there was a dinner at a restaurant called "Rice Shower" really close to my house. All the English teachers from the different schools were there and 3 other ALTs from the respective middle schools. It was a fun time. There was lots of food and by the end of the night I was absolutely stuffed!!! I mean, really really full!!

I'm typing here and I'm still trying to recover from all the food I ate! They had a salad, a gratin dish, some rare/grilled fish, and mini hamburgers. There was also paella which I haven't had since I was in Spain! So that was a nice change of pace. You don't usually find that kind of food in Japan! And then there was dessert at the end as well. So definitely full!

Afterward, my buddy and I went to a darts/billiards bar nearby and played some games of pool. We played for about an hour and then called it a night. I haven't played pool in awhile so it was definitely rusty pool playing! But by the end we were both getting pretty smooth at the game and the flow and getting better. But we both kept on technically "losing" because we would scratch when going for the 8 ball or even scratching on the break! Haha, I guess we have some practicing to do but it's fun! Well, time to go and relax and enjoy the weekend!

What can you do in 8 minutes?

Well, today wasn't so bad. I had no classes yet again! The students had exams so I could do other stuff while they were taking their tests. However, when they finished, that meant the start of me correcting some exams because today was the English exam for the students. But all in all, it wasn't so bad. It didn't take too long and I finished all of them by early afternoon.

But the worst part of the day was this morning. I went to bed a little later than usual, but nothing that would have affected me too badly. However, it's just so hard to wake up in the morning because the air is so cold. You do NOT want to climb out of bed and the only thing of comfort you can get is under the warm blankets which are heaped over you. So this morning, I was in that situation where my alarm went off and I was not ready to wake up....so I hit the snooze as usual.

Well, the snooze went off a few more times and I kept pushing the button a few more times. However, I must have missed the last one, because the next time I woke up, it was around 7:51am! I usually get to work around 8am...

SO that meant I had only 9 minutes to get to work! Ahhhh!!! So that instant I jumped out of bed in a mad rush to get my clothes on and look halfway decent for the day! Haha, it was an interesting blur of running back and forth making sure that I had everything I needed, and then grabbing my bag and running out the door...to be honest I don't even remember exactly what I did because I did it all so fast. Well, I hopped in the car and the clock read 7:59. This means that I got ready and was out the door in 8 minutes...not too bad I guess! I was only about 1 or 2 minutes in the door of my school after 8am. I guess I wasn't technically "Late" since there's not anyone really checking to make sure. There was a morning staff meeting which started at 8:05am so as long as I wasn't late to that, then I think that I was ok.

Well, that was the most interesting part of my day, I guess! Haha....I know, a riveting day, right? Well, at least I made it "on time" and woke up on my own! I had turned off the alarm and fallen asleep after that....a dangerous combo! Well, let's hope that I don't do this too much. One of these days I will actually be late and there will be a class full of students waiting for me to come through the door and I'll still be in my pajamas!!!!

Zip, Nada, Zilch!

So today was "hump day"!!! Another Wednesday goes down in the books. As I look at the calendar, I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just about 1 week away! Last time I remember, I was still getting ready to come to Japan and embark on my new journey!

This means that I've been in Japan for officially 16 weeks and 3 days as of this past Sunday! Wow, nearly 4 months now?!?! I can't believe it. My time in Japan is flying by! Before I know it, it will already be that time when the new class of JETs come in to start their new journey, and I'll be one of the "Experienced" JETs, haha!

Well, today was another day of school...without class! Yes! I was at the middle school today and they all have exams. So that meant that there were NO classes for me to teach. Nice! They didn't even have their English exam today so I had nothing to grade...that will be tomorrow! So literally, when I walked in to work, I thought that today, I have absolutely NOTHING to do! I thought that there might be an English exam for at least one of the grades, but they're all tomorrow. So I guess I'll be busy correcting tomorrow.

But today was pretty much a free day! Too bad in Japan, they don't like to just let you go home or tell you it's a free day, so I pretty much spent the day doing my own thing. I studied Japanese and kanji....I know, right!? Me, studying Japanese!? I guess it has to be done at some point. I DO want to become a literate Japanese person, haha. And I guess the only way to get there is to start with the basics and study. So I spent a good portion of the morning working through the text that I received from CLAIR for the Japanese language course. I finished the given exam for the 1st month. I guess all I have to do now is fill out the answer sheet with my responses and send it out! (But before filling out the answer sheet I'll have a native speaker check my answers first, of course!) It's not cheating, it's "collaborating"! Haha, Target would appreciate this answer! Working together with other people. Using more minds to make the best decision....yeah..

So anyway, I do feel somewhat accomplished because I also got planning done for next week's English lessons. It sucked to plan because it was pretty chilly today, so all day people were cuddled up in sweaters and trying to keep warm, including myself! Good thing I brought an extra fleece jacket to wear over my clothes, otherwise I would have gotten slight freezer burns on my skin! Haha, not that extreme, but it would not have been as fun. In Japan, it's not as cold as it is in the midwest where I'm from. However, I think I mentioned this in a previous post somewhere, but there is no insulation in houses in Japan. So even though it may be cold outside, it doesn't mean that it's warm inside like in America. There's no central heating and the walls are all paper thin! So that makes for cold mornings when I wake up!

In Japan, besides the kotatsu to stay warm, there is this thing called a "Yutanpo" which supposedly helps. It's basically like a canteen in the U.S., but it's made for hot water...nearly boiling water! It's a canteen-like shaped bottle that is anywhere between 1-3 liters, and you fill it with the hot water. Then before you go to sleep, you wrap a towel around it and place it in your bed. It's supposed to warm up the whole bed so then when you climb in, it's nice and toasty! Then, it should keep you fairly warm all night long. In the morning, the water is said to still be warm and you can use that warm water in the morning to wash your face or to warm up a little after hopping out of bed into the cold air! When I wake up in the morning, it's usually anywhere between 9-12 degrees Celsius...which means about 48.2-53.6 degrees Fahrenheit! yeah....it doesn't make waking up any fun!

So after work today, I stopped at a store to pick up one of these Yutanpos. I guess I'll try it tonight and see how it works! Hopefully it will be nice!!!

Phew! I'm tired...

So today was another Tuesday. However, I was technically scheduled to only have 2 classes today. At my elementary school in the morning, I was only going to teach 5th grade and the same with my elementary school in the afternoon. The 6th graders all around the area were on some type of field trip all day long...not quite sure exactly what it was.

Well, my school in the morning decided that since I was there and would only be sitting around, that they would schedule in unexpected classes for me! Haha, I didn't mind, but I got in and they were like, "Can you teach 2 other classes today?" In my mind, I was thinking..."What do I do?"

Well, having been teaching for these past few months I learned that I always have to have my "bag of tricks" ready. I literally have an elementary school bag that I carry around with me on elementary school days with tons of stuff in it. It has things ranging from stuff about America, pictures, picture cards(Months, body parts, animals, fruits, numbers, ABCs), stamps, and all sorts of other stuff that I can whip out just for days like today. So I did impromptu lessons today at the school in the morning. So instead of my 1 class I was scheduled for, I had 3. (I guess the included lessons weren't so impromptu since I had done those lessons at other schools for the same age group).

Then at my school in the afternoon, they substituted the 6th grade class with the 4th grade, since the 6th graders were gone. So good thing again that I had my "bag of tricks" so that I could bust out my materials for any situation! All in all, it was a tiring day...I was planning on only having the 2 classes and ended up with 5! Haha. I guess that's why through the interview process they want to find people who are flexible and will be willing to adapt to any situation. And by any situation, I guess they mean ranging from living in the countryside in Japan to having to deal with on the spot lessons or other duties.

At the end of the day, it's all rewarding. I can tell that the kids all have fun and I enjoy it when they like the class. The kids were chanting at the end, "we want another English class today, and tomorrow!!!!!" Haha. This made me happy, as I guess it's good that the kids get excited about English at such a young age! Just wait until they get older and English actually starts getting harder! Then maybe they'll change their minds! But for now, it's great that they are enjoying it and that's my goal at the end of the day. For the kids to enjoy learning and to have fun while being in school!

Well, with that I'm off to take a hot shower and go to sleeeeeeeep.....zzzzzzzz....

That was a close one!

So today was Monday...obviously. The start of a new week. I started teaching with the new student teachers that are at my school for a couple weeks. It was an interesting experience! They are both really nice and I think they will be good teachers! We had a fun time in the classroom and everyone seemed to be enjoying the classes. I think it was pretty nerveracking for the student teachers because today was the first time they were actually teaching an entire class.

Most of the classes went pretty smoothly. The actual teacher had some feedback that he gave to us about the class and just some other tips on what he thought could have gone better. We played a game in one of the 1st grade classes and the students were pretty loud during the game so it was difficult to conduct it. One point that the homeroom teacher commented on was that there could have just been more structure to the actual game of starting each round and such. I guess when you're in the moment, it's hard to always think of the logical stuff. But when you're observing from the outside, it's so easy to point out the little stuff and make sense of things, haha.

But overall, not a bad day. The biggest worry for me started this morning. I have laundry that I wanted to dry, and since I do not have a dryer, my best option is to hang my clothes outside. They dry the fastest and most effectively outside. I've been drying my clothes inside my house just hanging over the past month because it was always raining outside, but today was looking pretty good. It looked like it had drizzled a little overnight because the ground was wet. And the sky looked decent. I could see the sun peeking through this morning. But there was a light overcast of clouds. Well, I figured that if I left my clothes outside, they would hopefully dry out for the most part. And if it did start to rain, well, that would suck! But if I left my clothes inside, they wouldn't dry as well anyway and would still be wet. So that's why I thought that it would make sense to put them outside for the day while I was at work. If it rained while I was at work, my clothes would get wet but they would be like that anyway if I left them inside.

So today went by, and every class we said that the weather was "Cloudy" when I would ask the students the typical question, "How is the weather today?" Well, it kind of worried me because I thought that at any moment during the day that the sky would just let loose and start pouring...:(

By the end of the day, it was getting very windy and very cloudy, and by 4:20ish it was already dark. Well, the sky really looked bad and it looked like it was going to start storming at any moment! I also started to hear some thunder roaring, but no lightning yet. Well, I rushed home in order to get my clothes inside safely before any more rain could come down. When I stepped outside the school, it was drizzling and I was thinking, "oh no....the damage has been done!"

The whole car ride home I saw big drops splashing on my windshield. As I used the windshield wipers I kept thinking about my clothes out in the rain.

But as I got home and went to get my laundry, they had dried out and weren't affected by the little drops that had started to fall.....phew!!!!!!! Thank goodness!! That was a close one!! I'm glad, otherwise it would have been annoying to have to wait another few days for my clothes to dry out.

All in all, I'm happy and hope that future clothes drying days won't be as troublesome as today!

Japan vs. America

So I've gotten the question many a time before. Which do you like better, Japan or America?

Haha, like many of you would imagine, there are many things to consider before answering this question seriously. I mean, I've grown up and become accustomed to America, but at the same time I am very familiar with Japan because of the obvious family ties and my annual visits to the country ever since I can remember. When answering this question in front of a classroom of students at my school, I say Japan because then they all get happy and cheer! They all say "Kuki ga yometta!" which literally translates to "He read the air!" In Japanese, this is a figure of speech to say that one is able to feel the surroundings and the aura, and base judgment and actions off of that. So depending on the situation, one should adjust their actions or behavior in order to react appropriately or to make a sound decision.

But also deep down inside, I really like America. If you were to ask me where I would be 10 years from now, I could not give you a straight answer and tell you that I will be living in a house in America with a family or the same situation but in Japan, instead. There are many pros and cons to consider of each country.

America
Pros:

• Lots of space and more privacy. Many houses are more spaced apart and you have more privacy to do your own thing
• Easier to get to far places in your car.
• Central AC and Heat
• Large selection at the grocery and you can buy lots of things or lots of the same thing! For cheap!
• Easy to sign up for services (Credit cards, internet and cable, etc.)
• American Football. Gotta love them Green Bay Packers!

Cons:

• Service is not as good. Many people will only give good service because it is commission based.
• People may not always be as honest. They may just want to make the sale and tell you something otherwise about a product or service in order to sucker you in.
• Food is very unhealthy and it always ends up being the same thing. Sandwiches, greasy food, or fries/pizza. (although tasty, not what I want to fill up on all the time)

Japan
Pros:

• People are very trustworthy and it's a safe country. People will go to great leaps and bounds to return even the smallest thing to you if you forget it or lose it by accident!
• Good public transportation system. Very efficient and easy for people to live without a car in the bigger cities.
• The food here is great!!! I love all the fresh variety and it's all healthy.
• Matcha Ice Cream!!!! Need I say more?

Cons:

• It's more difficult to make a road trip to further places. The roads are not as well structured and it may take a lot longer to go the same distance in the U.S. than in Japan.
• The overwork culture. Many people work too much overtime, in my opinion, and it's just not cool...

So as you can see, there are good and bad to Japan and America. Just like with everything else, there's always going to be a tradeoff. This list is not all iinclusive and there are probably things that I will add to it as I think of them.

What I'm just trying to do now is enjoy my time in a new and different place than I'm used to. So far, I'm loving it over here and am trying to take advantage of my time here by going to many places and experiencing different things. Although I have not made a sound decision on which country I'd rather live in, I know that I will be back and forth to America and Japan!

Fridays....rock!

Well, today was a busy day at the elementary school. I had a full day but split between 2 schools. I taught 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade at one school and 2 5th grade classes at a different school in the afternoon.

So to say that I'm tired right now is an understatement! Haha, but at least the day's over with and I can get my weekend started! Well, today I did the alphabet with the 3rd and 4th grade at the first school. The 3rd grade teacher there is a nice lady, but at first glance she looks like your typical school teacher. Rigid, tough, a little older, and the type that will give commands and isn't afraid to say what's on her mind. She also has the glasses with the string things on them so they hang around her neck when she doesn't have them on her face. So at first, she was a little intimidating when I met her about 1 month ago. However, she talks to me and said that she's good friends with two people that are in my Eikaiwa class. And so she has been friendly to me because of that connection.

And actually, she gave me a very flattering compliment today. After class, she asked me where I learned to teach for JET. I told her, that actually, no teaching experience is required to teach for JET and that the only official "training" I got was a few seminars when we first arrived to Japan. These seminars are very high level and don't give you much guidance on the actual teaching aspect and the details of how a lesson should be run. Well, the 3rd grade teacher basically told me that she thought I was a great teacher and that her students had a lot of fun. She also mentioned that she thinks the way I ran the class is good because since the students were having fun, it was a great experience but at the same time they were learning. She thinks that this is very important...something that I agree with!:)

Well, I was very happy when she told me this and it made my day! As well, I had good conversation with the vice principal while I was in the office. He's pretty decent at basic conversation and I think he likes to talk to me so he can practice his English. I was asking him about all sorts of places in Japan to go visit and he was telling me about many different places. Although he's never been to an English speaking country, I would rate his conversational English at a fairly high level compared to most people I've talked to that can speak English. He's pretty good!

And the afternoon was filled with other classes and of course....BINGO! Haha, well the day finished up and I'm glad to be back and done! Now time to enjoy the weekend!

Pocky Day! 11/11

So apparently today is Pocky day in Japan, so Happy Pocky Day! If you don't believe me, just watch these commercials!

Why is it Pocky Day? Well, because it's 11/11, I guess it represents 5 Pocky sticks...You see it?! Yeah, I didn't know about it either until someone in one of my classes mentioned it! Unfortunately, I didn't have any Pocky to celebrate....:( Maybe next year. I guess it will be better next year because it will be 11/11/11, meaning there are 8 pocky sticks represented! This will be the most for the next 100 years until it becomes the year 2111! So I guess I'm not missing out on too much this year, haha.

Well, besides the Pocky Day fun, today was another day at the middle school. I had 3 classes in the morning and then was done for the day with class! Woohoo! But it still ended up being a pretty busy day. I finished up the classes, and then had 4th period free. During this time, I was creating lesson plans. I mentioned that earlier this week some student teachers were at our school to observe for this week. Well, next week I will be teaching with them and running class. So I spent 4th period looking online for lesson ideas and anything I could find that would help. Then during 5th and 6th period, I met with them to create the lessons and plan out what we would do for the classes.

Well, we finished that up and I was going to make some copies after school. I ran into the English teacher for the 1st and 3rd grade classes and showed him what I was going to make copies of. Then he pointed out that for the 3rd grade classes, what I was going to make a copy of was not exactly the grammar point that was going to be introduced for Monday...uh oh...

Well, good thing I didn't make copies of that worksheet otherwise it would have been a waste of at least 70 copies or so. Well, I'm glad that I ran into him, because we would have been teaching the wrong grammar point as well on Monday! I guess it pays off to plan ahead and not procrastinate! Well, I met with the student teacher again to point out the mistake and so we started planning again...almost from ground zero...:( But we finally came up with a plan and are pretty much good to go for Monday, I think.

Although planning out lessons and getting a class organized can be good, it's much harder than you may think! There are just some lessons or days that you cannot think of a good lesson plan! And on days when you're tired, it's nearly impossible to come up with any ideas or types of activities! So the student teacher and I were sitting there after school for awhile trying to come up with ideas and neither one of us could come up with much! Haha....well, we finally have something so hopefully it will work out alright. She seems nervous to start teaching on Monday, though. Since she is still a 4th year in college and hasn't taught in front of students yet, I can definitely understand how she would be nervous. Heck, I was even in those same shoes 3 months ago when I first got to Japan!

But I guess I've been up in front everyday for the past 2 months so I've been getting used to it.

On a different note, I love how easy it is to get cheap, fresh sashimi from the grocery in Japan! I got a pack of sashimi at a reduced price. In Japan, there is a large variety of freshly made food ranging from meat, rice, mixed vegetable or meat dishes, and sashimi/sushi. After a certain time, the grocery wants to get rid of the food because it will go bad. So that means that they put a massive discount on the items just so they can get them out the door faster. By massive I mean 30-50% off and meaning very cheap food. So I got a package of sashimi for dinner which I ate with wasabi, rice, and other vegetables and such. The package was cheap to begin with. It was only about 400 Yen (about 4-5 bucks). Well, it was on sale for 40% off which meant that it was reduced down to just over 200 Yen! For fresh sashimi that was really good, I can't complain! Gotta love it!

Well, it's not the first time that I got sushi from the grocery for that cheap but I just finished dinner....so it's fresh on my mind.

Anyway, back to lesson planning and getting ready for my day at elementary school tomorrow!

MIDDLE of the week at the MIDDLE school!

Today was Wednesday (aka hump day) for me. So that meant another day at the middle school. I taught 4 classes, so not a bad day today. In my first class, the vice principal of the school came in to observe and just hang out...unannounced! Haha, but he's a good guy. He's good at English and I think he likes to study it a lot. He's able to have a relatively good conversation via English and it's quite impressive. Although he's not completely fluent, he's good with the technicality of the language and understands a lot of the nuances that most people may not get.

Well, I haven't had feedback since I was working at Target earlier this year, so it was interesting. He said that the class that the English teacher and I taught was good, but he also had a few comments which he shared with us later. He gave really good perspective on the lesson and told us what went well, and then gave a little bit of his own insight into what he thought could have been more useful or what could have gone better.

One thing that he mentioned that I didn't even think about until then was the "situation." No, I'm not talking about Mike "the situation" from Jersey Shore! Haha, that's just ridiculous. But up until this point, I have been teaching English and helping students to understand the language. They understand basic things like "What's your name? How old are you? How are you? What did you eat for breakfast?" and other questions like that. However, the vice principal also mentioned that it's important to create the scenario or "situation" in which phrases or grammatical points are used. These are the things that can be created with 2 teachers in the classroom (myself and the English teacher). I guess that's a big reason why I'm here in Japan. To help to understand when to use the grammatical points that we teach. Instead of just cranking through the text and showing students the vocabulary, it's important to also help them understand when these things are used. There are many different words that have similar meanings. But it's always hard to know which one to use in which situation unless it's your native language.

I guess since it's natural for me, I don't think about that kind of stuff. I just know when to use different words and for what situation. But most of these students haven't been to an English speaking country, so they have no idea how to use this stuff besides when told to speak it in class. The whole "Putting what you learn to practice and real life" is what the vice principal was getting at. It was really good advice and a really good point. These are the situations that aren't always listed in a textbook. And unless there's not someone there like me (from America or another English speaking country) the students would have a really difficult time understanding how to use them.

Well, I guess a light bulb turned on for me today and that's a good thing. I'm glad that even though I'm not working in a company or advancing my business degree as much, I'm still learning new things and practical ways of life. I guess that's what is important, and even these small things can be transferred over to the business side of me.

I finished off the day with the other 3 classes for the day and then headed home. Tonight I will have my eikaiwa class for the adults, so I have that stuff prepared and ready to go...except one handout which I forgot to make copies of at the school! So I'll swing by the school again and make copies before the class tonight. Not a big deal. It feels like forever ago that I had a class with the eikaiwa group but it's because last week was canceled. I didn't have class last week because it was the national holiday. So after a one week break I feel pretty good and will be back at it tonight!

Tuesdays are alright...

Today I had elementary school. I was at one in the morning where I taught 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. This morning, the classes all went pretty well. However, time just seemed to be standing still while I was teaching! For some reason, each class period took forever and I felt like the time was ticking by at an exorbitantly slow pace! After 2nd period was finished, I felt like I was still running at the beginning of a marathon, just dreading the rest of the race! I mean, teaching and stuff is fun, but I think that today I was pretty tired.

I could definitely tell that I was tired when I kept hearing my alarm going off and I kept hitting snooze. I didn't wake up until literally 14 minutes before I was supposed to be out the door to get to work. SO I guess I kind of started the day off on an off note, and that probably bled into the rest of the morning! It was also odd this morning...I was sleeping and I have this really thick, warm and insulating comforter. At night here, it gets pretty chilly in the rooms because there is no central heating and essentially no good insulation in homes in Japan. So in the rooms, it's pretty chilly...I guess around 50 or 55 F when I wake up. At night, it's probably closer to 60-65 but gets cooler as the night progresses.

So when I go to sleep, it's pretty cool and I get cuddled under the blankets. But this morning at around 4am, I woke up and was under the covers. I felt warm so I took the covers off to cool off and then got this cooooooool chill all over my body! It was because my body was completely covered in sweat! I mean, I was just drenched with it on my arms, chest, back, body, and really uncomfortable! I don't know why I was sweating so much...it's not like I had a bad dream or anything! So that was really weird, and I just didn't get as good of sleep after that...so that's why I think I was pretty tired.

Well, as the afternoon came around and I was teaching my last 2 classes of the day, my mind was getting pretty exhausted! We played some BINGO and had other activities in the classes, but I was pretty tired mentally while running everything. Well, the last 2 classes of the day ended and I was finally able to go home! I got back and rested for a little bit. But I was just absolutely exhausted from the day! I guess the elementary school days just wear you down sometimes! Haha.

And tonight, the local dentist had me over at her house for dinner! She made delicious katsu and ebi fry. Also complimented with a salad, pumpkin, and miso soup. For dessert, she had kaki (persimmon) which is grown in her own backyard. It was all very filling and delicious. I'm extremely full as I type! This is probably the 5th time or so that she's had me at her house for dinner. The dentist here has always served as the local "mom" for the ALT in this town since there was an ALT for my area. She's very kind and always makes sure that I'm alright.

Well, today was a long and tiring day and I'm ready to go off and get some rest. So more to come tomorrow! Hopefully I'll get some better sleep tonight and won't wake up in a random cold sweat again! That was NOTTT comfortable!

Work...different in Japan?

So today was another day at school. I went to the middle school in the morning where I taught the 1A and 2B classes. Not many classes today...the 3rd graders had an exam today so that was canceled. Which meant that I had 1st and 2nd period to collect my thoughts and get things ready...yay!

As well, we have some new interns or student teachers at the middle school that will be working at my middle school for the next few weeks. This is their first week so they will just be watching and seeing how the classes are run. Then I think they go into action next week. There are 3 total, 2 of them for ENGLISH! and 1 for Physical Education. So that means I'll be working with the 2, I think. It should be interesting...a student teacher and an ALT running class next week...haha! Well, I think it will be fun and be cool to work with other people. And since they're still in college finishing up, they're closer to my age than the other teachers I work with around the area, so that'll be a nice change of pace.

Well, I finished up my morning at the middle school and headed over to the elementary school to teach 2 classes. Normally I don't have elementary school on Mondays, but since I had the day off last Tuesday, they switched the elementary classes on that day to today. Well, today were fun classes. The 5th graders reviewed some gairaigo words (words borrowed from foreign countries like America and Australia) and then we played a game with those. For the 6th grade, we're learning directions. So we made a block out of the desks with different locations and the students had to navigate a partner to the destination using "Left, right, straight, back, stop..etc" until they safely arrive.

All in all, not too bad of a day, considering it's Monday! So the title..."Work...different in Japan?"

I am posting this, because there was an interesting situation today. After my classes at the elementary school, I offered to stay a little bit and do some planning for the next time that I'd be at the elementary school with the 5th and 6th grade teachers. Well, the 6th grade teacher had to take care of some sports festival stuff coming up, so he said that we'd meet next week before classes. That was fine by me. So I went to the 5th grade teacher and she was busy with her bukatsu stuff, so she wasn't able to plan with me either, today. So all this meant that I really didn't have to do anything else and probably could have just gone home right there and then. Well, the 5th grade teacher is really nice and cool, so she talked to the vice principal to let him know that neither her or the 6th grade teacher had time to meet, so essentially I had no purpose of being at the school anymore for the work day. The vice principal is a nice guy and I think he's cool, but when the 5th grade teacher told him that we couldn't meet to plan for next week, he just kind of sat there and was like, "ummmm..."

The 5th grade teacher was like, "So is it ok if he either goes home or does something else since we can't do any planning right now? There's really nothing that we can do for next week today..."

And the vice principal still sat there longer just pondering and wondering. He was like, "So you can't do any planning today?" and the 5th grade teacher responded with, "Yeah, as I said before, neither the 6th grade teacher nor myself can meet right now."

The vice principal continued to sit there and was like, "Well, I guess maybe he can sit here and have some tea or something until the time is up..." At this point, it was about 3:40ish and my time is "technically" until 4:15. I'm just thinking, "Seriously?! What's the point of just sitting there and drinking tea when I could go do something else or just go home?"

That's one thing that bugs me about Japan. The fact that even if you have nothing to do, people want you to stay there until exactly your time is up or after...I don't mind staying late if I have to finish something or am not complete with my duties for the day. I really don't keep my eye on the clock and make sure that I compensate exactly for lost time or for time that I've stayed over. I think that you should just be able to leave when you want/need to.

Well, finally the vice principal was like, yeah, I guess you can leave early today. Since you're going to meet with the teachers next week anyway before classes. And we're all on the same page that you'll be here, right? In my mind I'm just thinking, "Duh! Yeah, I'll be here and obviously know that I have to plan with the teachers!"

It was around 4ish so I was like, "Arigato gozaimasu" and peaced out. In Japan, it's just so different that even if you're not being productive, your presence there is essential or valued. I worked for a company in America, and people were allowed to make their own hours, essentially. I knew some people that left work at Target around 3:30 every day, and no one cared. It's basically your own call that if you finished your work for the day, then you can do whatever. No one is going to sit there and watch you to make sure that you stayed until 5pm or whatever. And so I guess I'm just used to that mindset. There were some days at Target where I'd stay until 6 or 7pm because I had to finish working on stuff, and other days where I'd be out of there by 3:30 or 4 because I didn't have much else to do.

Technically, classes here at my school end as early as 2:30 or 3pm, depending on the day. But my designated time says that I have to stay until 4:15pm. There are some days where I just walk around the school because I have nothing else to do. I just try to occupy my time with something because I have to stay until 4:15. I think that it is so pointless and kind of annoying, but I guess that's one part of the culture.

Well, I've rambled on enough about this topic, but I guess it's something that you learn only when you live in a foreign country. You can learn about it, but it's so much different experiencing it firsthand!

Sunday Chill Day

So today was a very relaxing day. I really did nothing! I wish I had more Sundays like this...:) Or I wish every day could be like this! Haha, but it was good. I slept in until pretty late...11 am or so and then ate a late breakfast/lunch. Or I guess brunch. Then I did some laundry and since the weather has actually been pretty decent for the first time in awhile, I was able to hang it outside! Before this week, it's been rainy or kind of crappy literally every day. So I'd been having to hang my laundry inside...which doesn't dry as well.

I then ran some errands in the afternoon with my buddy and then just had a nice nap under the new kotatsu...yup...it's going to be a nice cozy winter. There will be many naps under that kotatsu! So trouble because I will never move from that spot! But at least it makes the investment in the table worth it, right?!

Well, I wish there were daylight savings in Japan as well...because then that would mean that I have an extra hour right now. But instead, I guess time will continue without the switching or confusion...I've been so used to calculating the time difference between America and Japan as just 14 hours, but now I'll have to remember that it's now 15 hours instead. Wow, it's interesting to think that the time difference is so much! But I guess that's how it goes! Well, time to get ready for tomorrow. I have my middle school in the morning and then will have to head to an elementary school in the afternoon. I missed having that elementary school last week because I had Tuesday off, so I have to make up for that missed class tomorrow...oh well! It should be fun!

Kotatsu...Check. TT! Check! ;)

Oh no....this is going to be good but bad....

So on Saturday I went up and met up with someone from Tokyo and we went kotatsu shopping. It's officially the season for kotatsu and it definitely showed at the store. We went to a DIY store called Nitori. And well, let's just say it was "slightly" crowded there! Haha, everyone was out to buy a new kotatsu to stay warm for the winter. So there may be some of you out there wondering what a kotatsu is. It's a table that's exclusively in Japan. The tabletop is separate from the rest of the structure. The reason is so that you can lay a blanket down over the structure, and then place the tabletop over the blanket that you lay out. The blanket is also supposed to be large enough to drape over the sides and create an insulated pocket beneath the table. That way it traps in the heat. "Heat?" Yes. There is a heater built in to the table which plugs in to an outlet. You turn on the heater and it heats up, then you sit under the table cuddled up with the blanket and keep warm.

Sound fantastic!?! Yeah...it pretty much is. I'm sitting under mine as we speak this instant! I think that I will be sitting under this table a lot this winter...staying warm and probably falling asleep there every night...so that's why my new kotatsu is good and bad!

After getting a kotatsu, we headed over toward Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is a structure in Japan that looks very similar to the Eiffel Tower. I've been wanting to see the Tokyo Tower ever since I knew what it looked like and what it was...(which I found out 2 years ago, haha). For those of you that have seen the show "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" hosted by Rome Kanda, I hope you'll appreciate this. Well, that show aired the summer of 2008 and it was about a group of 8 contestants that were selected to be on a new reality TV show. But little did they know that they would be on a crazy game show, let alone one that takes place in Japan! Haha, so if you know anything about game shows in Japan, you'd know that they are absolutely ridiculous! They have the contestants always dressed up in humiliating costumes and having to do or accomplish the most ridiculous task. Basically, the goal is to humiliate the contestant as much as possible and make sure they do not come out of the task clean or with a straight head, haha. Well, this became one of my new favorite TV shows. And I went on this rant because whenever they showed this on TV, they always panned over the skyline of Tokyo. And in Tokyo, you could prominently see the Tokyo Tower, glowing in the skyline. So thus began my obsession to go visit this landmark.


Well, we went to visit and check it out. I was interested in going up to the main observatory...but the line to go up was ridiculously long!! So we bought some Tokyo Bananas. Yeah, that's right. Tokyo Bananas. Haha, she pointed out this unique food to me and I really wanted to try it. It's a banana shaped fluff cake filled with a banana custard. It's really good! I'm glad I got this to try it!



And so we headed to sushi for dinner, where I had some good sushi and tried "Shirako" for the first time, I think...I can't remember if I had eaten it before, but I'm pretty sure it was my first time. I may have tried it before...but I forget. But basically it's the eggs of fish, but it was delicious! We also had some other sushi and then headed back. Well, Tokyo Tower was still there, but luckily the long lines to go up weren't! So we headed up the 150 Meters to the observatory to check out the view. Luckily it was a nice night! No rain, no typhoon, good view! The tower is 333 Meters tall, so we were just about 1/3 to almost 1/2 of the way up. It was really nice. Check out the view!









We also got our picture taken with the Tokyo Tower official mascot, Noppon! And if you're wondering whether Noppon is petting our heads...that would be yes!

There was also a lookout window from the floor. From this window, you could look straight down and it's as if you're standing on clouds! Haha, not really but it's a fun concept and pretty cool.














I have a notebook where I have random things written down. Among the randomness is a list of things that I want to do while in Japan. Well, visiting Tokyo Tower was on that list, and now I can check it off! Yay! Although buying a kotatsu was not on that list, I can gladly say that I have one and will be staying warm this winter! Yay to that as well!