Winter Break fast approaching!

I only have a few more days of school left until I am officially on winter vacation! Wooo! This year, winter vacation is from December 23rd until January 10th...meaning I have 18 full days off for break!

So..."what will you do?" you ask. Well, this week I will celebrate Christmas with my girlfriend. We will make a homemade dinner and enjoy spending time together. We will also go to Roppongi Hills which has a nice light up display all around. We went last year and it was really nice, so we want to go see it again.

Then from the 26th-28th of December I will be going to Hokkaido for some snowboarding! I can't wait! There is a group of young teachers from the area who put together the trip every year and invited the ALTs as well, so I definitely joined. We will be flying out from Haneda on the 26th and come back on the 28th. Then from the 31st through January 2nd, I will spend some time with extended family. I will meet them on the 31st down by Mount Fuji...not actually at the mountain but at a hot spring around the area. I still have to figure out how to get there, haha...but I'll figure it out. Then on the 1st and 2nd of January I will be traveling around with them and visiting some relatives who I have never met before. It will be a cool opportunity to meet some very extended family.

Then from the 2nd through the 4th a friend who used to live in Japan will be coming back and visiting, so we'll all get together and hang out. Should be a great time. Then the rest of the break I will just relax and do things as they come. Take it easy before going into the last semester of the school year! I can't believe that this school year is almost over and I will be going into yet another school year at the school!

It's been a great time in Japan so far and the adventures never stop. I am learning or discovering something new everyday and there's no other experience like the one I am getting during my time here!

Well, more updates to come soon!

Off to Kyoto

So a lot has happened since my last update. I turned 26...my sister turned 30...my nephew turned 2...and a new baby was born into the family! The newest member of the Cavanaugh/Amano clan is a cute little girl named Maia. Her birthday is on October 28th...only adding to the October birthdays in our family! Haha! She is still in the hospital getting her heart condition stabilized and training to get full feedings in before officially going home with Amy and Tim. But besides that, it looks like she's healthy and doing well from the pictures!

The weather here has been unseasonably warm. This past week, it has cooled down, but the temperature is still in the teens (in C) meaning upper 50's-60's. This makes it very comfortable and nice! School has been pretty busy as we are in the middle of the second semester...but the time is flying back very quickly! Thanksgiving is coming up soon and soon after that it will already be Christmas time again!

But the main thing I've been looking forward to this week is my first trip to Kyoto! I will be taking an overnight bus down from Yokohama and my girlfriend and I will get to Kyoto station tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we are planning on hitting up all the famous spots such as Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji, Fushimi Inari Shrine, and Higashiyama Streets/Town. We will also play it by ear and see what else we can squeeze in, but I guess these are the priorities. On Sunday, we will check out whatever we didn't have a chance to see and then head to Osaka for a part of the afternoon. Then, it's on the shinkansen back toward home. It will be a short and sweet trip, but busy! I wanted to go during this time because it's famous for the fall season down by the shrines and temples. It may be a bit early and not all the leaves may have changed colors, but this was the only good weekend we could get together to go down.

Well, I'll have more updates after I get back and hopefully have some cool "Momijigari" pics!

Ohh, and happy Pocky day!! 11/11/11!!!

Typhoon Coming!

So today I woke up to a phone call from one of the teachers....No classes today! Why?! Well, typhoon number 15 was on the radar to come to the Kanto region and so it was going to be very dangerous for the students to come to school and go home in the middle of the storm.

Today, there has been on and off rain during the morning. But now, in the afternoon, TONS of rain has fallen and it has become more steady. The wind is also blowing very strongly and it's doesn't look good outside....

Here is a radar of the storm coming our way.

So today I have been at home, relaxing, and just hoping that my house doesn't blow over or flood....haha. Well it hasn't been that bad around here. The places where it hit the worst so far are further south in areas around Nagoya. Down there they've had bad flooding and mudslides...all things that I hope do not happen around the Tokyo area as well.

Well, stay safe everyone and we'll just have to ride out this storm!

The end of Summer break...

So summer break has ended and school is already back in session...and I managed to go through the whole summer without updating! Ooops!

I didn't mean to do that....I was just all over the place all the time and never had access to my blog to update easily or readily. I'll just highlight some of the major things that happened throughout my summer break in this catchup entry!

Well, the first day of official break was 7/21 (Thursday). Tomoe and I took a road trip up to Nagano which was a lot of fun. We visited many places around Nagano such as the famous Zenkoji Temple, around Nagano city, and Togakushi Temple (with beautiful trees and forests). We also made a stop by a famous soba restaurant and ate delicious soba and even indulged in some soba soft cream!

Then the next week I went into school here or there to prepare for speech contest practice. But the main event was on 7/29 when we took off for Thailand! We visited Bangkok first, arriving that Friday night. We met with my friend, Pete who I went to college with. It was fun and we stayed out all night. Then until 8/2, Pete showed us around Bangkok.

On the morning of 8/2 we flew to Phuket...where the white sandy beaches are! That day we got in and had time to explore since we arrived in the morning. We hung out at the hotel and took some time to relax. The next day, we moved in to the main part of town and visited a beach. We were able to take it easy on Phatong Beach and enjoy the scenery and some bodyboarding action. Then the next day we went on an island hopping tour to Phi Phi Island! One of the stops (Maya Bay) was where the movie, "The Beach" was filmed...and it was beautiful!!!! We even got to feed some monkeys on an island and do some snorkeling with beautiful fish.

Then on Friday we flew back to Bangkok where we had one final night and then flew out on Saturday, 8/6.

Thailand was an amazing country with awesome food and fun people. The people there are really nice and laid back. And so many people speak English! It's so convenient! Only 1 person there spoke some Japanese...but I guess it didn't matter because English is better for me anyway!

And the rest of the summer consisted of taking it easy and relaxing. My mother came into Japan around 8/6 and stayed until 8/20. During this time, I helped her with moving my grandmother to another nursing home nearby Yokohama. It's quite a change for her since she had lived in the other nursing home for the past 12 or so years....but my mother and other relatives were all there to support her and help her settle in to her new place. While my mother was in town we got to visit some places around Tokyo that my mother had never been to! We made a day trip out to Odaiba which was fun. We even went to a trick art museum where they had very real looking paintings and when you take pictures with them, it looks like you are part of the action. We also came back to my town where I live and did a little shopping and ate at kaitenzushi! We love going to the sushi place and eating some good sushi.

Then school started back up on 9/1 and since then I've been getting back into the grind slowly but surely. Summer was really nice because it's such a long break....and I don't really have any real responsibilities except for speech contest practice for my junior high school students. The speech contest is on 9/27 so I hope that this year at least one student will place or win! Today, I had elementary school and just finished....but from 5:00 we have one speech contest practice and then I will be finished for today.

This summer has been pretty hot...but compared to last year it is a loooot more bearable! There have definitely been days when it was unbearably hot, but recently there have been a couple cool days which helps a lot! I hope that it keeps getting cooler and things will settle down as I get back into the grind of work here.

Now that I'm back to a regular routine schedule, I'll hopefully be updating more regularly again. The summer vacation broke up my routine and I was all over the place...but now that school is back in session things will go back to normal. That's all for now and will update more regularly!

One year in Japan...

So I have not been updating as regularly as usual....it's been too hot and busy lately, so I feel that I had also gotten a little lazy. But as summer continues on, I will try to update more often.

Anyway, today (July 25th) marks exactly one year since I've been in Japan!!! Last year on this day, my flight arrived in Tokyo (NRT) and I arrived at the hotel in Shinjuku to get ready for our Tokyo Orientation. I remember that on this day, we got to the hotel and a group of us had decided to meet up for dinner. We were all tired, jetlagged, but excited. We went out to an izakaya and just enjoyed the first night in Tokyo. We didn't do anything too crazy since we were all extremely tired from the flight and traveling.

Now it's been one year and I am sitting in my house, on summer vacation with one year's worth of experience in Japan under my belt. I can say that quite a bit has happened and I have learned and become to appreciate a lot of things that I would not have otherwise if I were still in America or doing a different job. It's really amazing how much can happen within one year...while I realize at the same time how little can happen if you don't choose to either.

Since I've been here in Japan, I can say that I am a slightly different person than one year ago. Here is a list of things that I can do/realize now after having been in Japan for one year:

• I can navigate in and around Tokyo mostly without any guidance. I can get to most places without an issue or having to ask for directions.
• I understand a lot more of the Japanese in announcements, daily conversation, and even more professional/business environment Japanese than I ever knew before.
• I can drive a Japanese car very well....(the steering wheel is on the right side and we drive on the left side of the road) I even have my Japanese driver's license now!
• I have been snowboarding in a country besides the U.S.
• I have been able to travel to a neighboring asian country (South Korea) and will soon be making it to another (Thailand!) in a few days.
• I do not feel the least bit intimidated standing in front of a class full of students and speaking or making a fool of myself.
• I am not afraid of talking on the phone in Japanese to try and find out information or to take care of business/make orders/etc.
• I can read a couple hundred more kanji characters than I could read a year ago.

Things that I still want to accomplish or haven't quite gotten used to:

• I still haven't taken the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). I want to take this so that I have some certification on my level of Japanese.
• Travel within Japan to further places...namely Hokkaido and the Tohoku region, Osaka and Kyoto (down in Kansai), Okinawa, and the southern islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.
• Climb Mt. Fuji
• Go to a baseball game in Japan
• Be able to understand Japanese television completely
• There are no clothes dryers here! And no dishwashers!
• There is no parking available anywhere...without an expensive pricetag! Driving is just not the most economical means of travel.
• The summer heat!
• Fruit is so expensive.

But despite these differences, that is what makes the world interesting. These are merely observations and things that I have noticed during my first year here. There will be many more observations and experiences throughout the rest of my time here (which is still undetermined at this time).

Here's to more memories and the things that I will experience and continue to learn!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! It's one of America's biggest holidays of the year, yet I feel so far away from it. I guess I'm on the other side of the world right now, but usually the summertime reminds me of the 4th of July and the events that go along with it. I definitely don't see any American flags flying high around or the sounds of the patriotic music representing my home country.

Well, we had a barbeque this past weekend at my buddy's restaurant so I guess that was the closest thing to a 4th of July celebration while here. Anyway, I wanted to wish everybody a Happy 4th of July today!

The weather here has become insanely hotttt!!! It's not as hot as the peak last year but it's still warm! Everyday it's above 30 degrees C which is close to 85-90 with humidity....which makes it the worst! The humidity is what really kills....no matter where you go, the warm muggy and bad feeling stays with you. Even after a cold shower, the feeling latches back onto your skin as soon as you step out and you're back to square one....sweating, feeling hot, and uncomfortable. Well, at least tonight is feeling a little better, so there is a nice breeze coming through and I'll have my fan running. But that still leaves the rest of the summer with this kind of weather. Thank good I live by the beach! I'll be going swimming quite often!

It's hooooot!

So today was another ordinary day...but with one caveat.....IT'S HOOOT!

The temperature is around 30-32 degrees Celsius which equates to around 86-90 degrees F. Add humidity on top of that and it's not too pleasant being inside without fans and teaching kids all day! Haha, luckily I was at the elementary school today and I can wear more relaxed sports clothes. But no matter what....it's hot! Today I had 2 elementary schools. In the morning, I taught 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th grade at one school while at my 2nd school in the afternoon I taught the 5th and 6th graders. It was a fun day. We played lots of games and they had a lot of fun. However, with all the movement and games came more heat and it made it tiring. But I'm sitting in my house right now with my fan running and the AC on to help keep it cool. It definitely feels a lot better and I'm starting to cool down for the first time today!

This week is supposed to stay pretty warm with the exception of Saturday and part of Sunday. It should cool down but with that is rain, unfortunately....:(. Normally I wouldn't mind the rain too much but one of my buddies is having a BBQ on Saturday and if it rains that day, it will be sad. We can always do the BBQ inside his restaurant as well, but it would be more fun to be able to hang out outside as well and throw around a frisbee or do some summer stuff as well.

Anyway, the kids had a lot of fun today and it was a good time today. The 1st graders played a game called "Fruit Basket" for the first time today. But because we were learning colors, we did "Color Basket." I was surprised, though, because most everybody in Japan knows how to play "Fruit Basket." But since they are in 1st grade and just started school a couple months ago, they wouldn't have too much opportunity to play the game yet. At the end of class, they all said they had a lot of fun and enjoyed it so that was rewarding. Well, time to keep cool and only a few more weeks of class until summer break! Woooo!

Construction

So I have been removed from posting over the past week. I've been pretty busy and haven't been around too much so that's why I haven't had time to sit down and write more regular blog posts. But I'll hopefully get more caught up and get back into the routine. So last week I took the driver's test....and FAILED! What?! So I scheduled to go in again sometime when summer vacation starts because I don't want to have to use more vacation days to go up to the DMV to take the test. It's such a pain, and I failed for such a dumb reason....:(

There is a special course that people who want to get a Japanese driver's license are required to take the test on. It's like a real roadway with a series of obstacles, turns, and other mock things to replicate the real roads...except for a ridiculous part called the "Crank Turn" which is where my fate ended in obtaining my driver's license. So the crank turn is a series of three 90 degree angle turns and not to mention that it is very narrow to get around each turn...and there are poles that block the way so even if you clear the front bumper over the curve and don't go over with your wheels, the front bumper could hit those poles and you could fail on those. So I was doing well going through the test. I was 2nd in line that day which was lucky so I was able to watch someone else go first before I took the test. He did everything like I had read on the internet about what to do before the test. Checking under the car, double, triple, and quadruple checking all the settings and mirrors in the car, and obviously putting on your seatbelt before turning on the engine were all part of the drill. However, this guy had gone through and hit one of the poles in the crank secion which constitutes an automatic fail. We had to go directly back to the starting point and he was not allowed to finish the course.

I was up next. I did all the initial checkpoints, was doing well, and had a lot of confidence....until we hit the crank turns. I went in for the first turn but it was a tight left turn so I did not make it in. I did a reverse which is fine in order for me to get in. Then came the 2nd 90 degree turn....again I had to back up. Then there was the 3rd 90 degree turn on which I had to back up twice....for a total of 4 times that I had to reverse so that I was able to navigate the car through...which apparently led for me to fail! Wow...I was so mad. I can't believe that even though I was able to navigate the car through, that they failed me because I had to back up. I think that even if I had to back up, I should have still gotten full credit because I was able to navigate it through without hitting anything or going over the curve. So....I have to make the trek back there and retake the test. So for now, I'm still just past part 1 of getting my Japanese Driver's License.....Oh well. As the Japanese say....."しょうがない" *deep sigh

Anyway, I am posting this weekend as well because I have some rare time in my house. But this time that I have in my house was not my choice....when nature decides to wreak havoc and cause leakage in your roof and ceiling, it's time to get a new one. So there are a couple of construction guys who are here today to replace the inside roof because there was some water damage to the ceiling. They are also replacing the floor in my kitchen. There are a couple "hot spots" which sink down when you step on them. So I told them about those as well which had been there since I moved in. So they're finally going to fix all of that today. But the only issue was that they needed to be able to come for a full 1 or 2 days because it's a rather large project. But I have work throughout the week....so that meant that I had to be home during a weekend so that they could come to do their stuff. Bummer.....but I'm glad that they'll hopefully be able to get this all done and get this show on the road. Just waiting and HOPING HOPING HOPING that they finish it all today so I don't have to wait around for them tomorrow to finish up.

Until then, I'll be occupying myself with some cleaning in other rooms and watching movies.

Need to swim?

This week has been a pretty normal week so far. I haven't posted since I made a trip out to the driving center to go through the first step of getting my Japanese license. Today was an ordinary day at school where I taught two 3rd grade classes, two 2nd grade classes, and a 1st grade class. It was pretty busy because I had class 5 out of the 6 periods!

But the main thing I wanted to blog about was my gym experience yesterday. In my eikaiwa class there is a member who is very active and likes sports. He is 60 some years old and still goes to the gym at least 4 times a week, goes skiing every year in Switzerland, and wakes up early every morning to do pushups and situps. Not to mention tennis every Sunday as well. So we were talking one day about a nearby gym and I was interested. He offered to take me there with him one time along with another eikaiwa member. So I happily agreed because I wanted to know where this gym was and it would be nice to go and get in the pool as well and get some much needed swimming in. So we went yesterday and he picked me up around 5:30.

So we got to the gym and stretched and hopped into the pool. After swimming the first 2 laps I was already out of breath....hahahaha! I was actually pretty tired and took a 20 second breather, then continued a bit more. But the continuation was in increments of 50 meters with breaks in between each time. Meanwhile, I saw other people in there in their 40's and 50's swimming continuously. The eikaiwa members that I went with were also taking it easy but they were swimming more than I was....I felt....so out of shape!! Haha. But in all honestly, there are two different types of being in shape. There's running and there's swimming. I am definitely NOT in swimming shape! I am much more used to running and would be able to run at a normal pace for a longer distance. MUCH MUCH more so than swimming. But still, I felt pathetic against all these other people. I didn't get a tally on how many total yards I swam, but it wasn't much more than 500. I think the eikaiwa members I went with swam closer to 1000 yards maybe....didn't keep track but more than me! Haha. So I decided that I want to get more into swimming for a few reasons. It is very healthy because you get an overall body workout. Swimming works your whole body, whereas running will work mainly your legs. Swimming is also easier on the joints because it is in the water. Your knees are not being crushed or pounding continuously on the ground or treadmill. There is no risk of shin splints or other such injuries. And finally I won't feel embarrassed the next time I go swimming with other people because I will be able to go longer than 100 yards without nearly passing out.

Haha, so the moral of the story is that even if you think you are in good shape, there will always be a 60+ year old Japanese man or woman who will school you...NO MATTER WHAT!

Step 1 of Japanese Driver's License...Success!

Today I had the day off because in place of having class and school on Sunday, I had today off. It's a random day off, I know....but it's better than nothing, right?! So today I planned on going in to the Japanese version of a DMV. They call it the License Center which is basically the automotive place to take care of things that you would do at the DMV in the States.

So this morning I made my way up toward Chiba city to the License Center in order to first get my American license translated into Japanese. Apparently, you must get it officially translated by the JAF (Japanese Automotive Federation) which is kind of like AAA. So I went and did that and it only took around 30 minutes. After finishing that at around 10:45am I headed over to Kaihin-Makuhari where the License Center is and went there to await what was in store for me in order to get my Japanese License. Apparently, the process is long and painful...and indeed I can see why.

For starters, it was rainy and gloomy today so the trek wasn't as nice, but I guess it wasn't pouring so that was good! Once I made it to the center, the reception desk for changing your license from a foreign license to a Japanese one was only open from the hours of 8:30am-9am and 1pm-1:30pm! Haha....I arrived at the center around 12pm so I had to wait for about an hour before I could even get my documentation to someone to have them check it so I could take the written test. Well, I got to get some kanji studying in so it wasn't too bad. Finally at around 1pm I handed in a multitude of items...

• My current U.S. Driver's License


• My old U.S. Driver's License (expired one)


• My current passport


• My old passport (expired one)


• The translated license provided by JAF


• My alien registration card (Japanese ID)

They were basically checking to make sure that I had lived in America for at least 3 months after having received my Driver's License. After that was all checked and finished, they took me to a room where I could take the written test. This is step 1.

It was an easy test. It was only 10 T/F questions and they were pretty common sense. The only challenge was getting around the translation from Japanese into English...which was not so easy on one of the questions! So during the test, I asked the proctor if he could explain more what one of the sentences meant. I can't remember verbatim what the question was but it went something like this....:

Original Question:

"When driving on a road, large motor vehicles and mopeds must keep to the extreme right and light small vehicles and extremely light ones must keep to the extremely left, when approaching a lane which has a change direction."

I read this a couple times and it didn't really make complete sense to me...so I thought about it a little bit and skipped it. After coming back to it, I looked at the picture which accompanied it and figured it was probably trying to say something like this:

My Interpretation:

"When driving within the lane, large motor vehicles and mopeds are required to drive along the right side of the lane while smaller vehicles such as bicyclists are required to drive along the left side of the lane."

I talked with the proctor while he was giving me the eye exam and he had asked me what was confusing about that question. I told him that the last line of the question didn't quite make sense because I wasn't sure if they were trying to say that when you turned into a lane after making a right turn, the vehicles must be in those positions within the lane, or while it was running normally in the lane. He then was like, "Ohhh, I see. Then if it was confusing for you then it might be confusing for other foreigners taking the test as well!"

Haha, I agreed and kindly offered to write down a cleaner way to word the question so they could correct it and ensure that other people wouldn't make a mistake while answering the question because of misinterpretation. He gratefully accepted. So after I finished filling out the applications and getting my appointment set for coming back to take the road test, I wrote down on a piece of paper a more natural way of wording the question. He thanked me and said they would definitely make the change. I guess I'm becoming a natural teacher! Haha! The only thing that was going through my mind was..."Since I helped you with this...could you please just give me the Japanese License now without having to take the road test?!"

Well, I'm scheduled to take the test next Thursday (the 9th) in the morning so I'll have to make another trip out there and probably have to take some time off from school in order to go. They are only open on the weekdays so I have no other choice.

I'm glad that I was able to pass the test and before having taken the test, I read a lot of blogs and information on there about switching to a Japanese License. I even read online that other people had written that it would be tough to get around some of the questions because of the wording or translations, much like the one I encountered today. My question is, if other people experienced it and write about it online, why aren't the tests fixed into better English now? Those people should have also helped by providing a more natural way of wording the questions! Anyway, I hope I pass the test next week and will not have to make more trips out there!

Kind of a day off

Today is Monday. It's pretty rainy and gloomy weather today as well. It was pouring pretty hard this morning. However once mid-morning and the afternoon rolled around, the rain had slowed down and became a light sprinkle or pretty much diminished in most areas. The big kicker for today was that there were no classes today. In fact, there were no students at school today! So why did I even have to go in? That's a very very good question....I'm not sure! But that's a part of Japanese culture that drives me crazy and that I can't stand. No matter what...under all circumstances, people's time are wasted because of formalities and things about work that I don't agree with at all. But anyway, I was able to leave early which I was happy about.

So why are were there no students today? Well, for starters, the 3rd graders are on their middle school trip to Kyoto and Nara. These are historical sites that many middle schoolers travel to for their school trip to learn about Japan's history. The 1st and 2nd graders also had a school field trip today. The 1st graders went to a place in Chiba called Mother Farm. I'm not sure of their exact itinerary there but probably to spend some time outside, see some animals, and other things of that nature. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating too much today so hopefully they still had a good time. And finally, the 2nd graders were gone to the museums up in Chiba. So that left me, 3 other teachers, and the vice principal in the school today. I was aware of today's situation beforehand and so were the other teachers and the vice principal. However, out of the previously spoken formality about work, the vice principal still wanted me to come in to school for just a few hours in order to be fulfilled about the formality...which I still don't know why it exists but that's how it is for now in Japan. I understand that people are obligated to work and should be loyal to work. However, if there is no point in coming in to school or work, then they shouldn't make people come in! It's a waste of time and is more counter-productive than productice! I could have stayed at home and done the same work that I "worked" on while there without wasting any commuting time.

Luckily, the vice principal allowed me to go home around 10:30am so I only had to be there for about 2 hours. But the fact that I still had to wake up, get ready, and then only spend that much time there also makes it aggravating. It was nice that I got to leave early because I was able to run some errands and accomplish things that I'm normally not able to since I have work on the weekdays. When I left, the vice principal was very cautious in telling me about being careful and not getting into an accident as it could be a liability on the school or BOE because I'm technically supposed to be at work during that time. Well, that's understood. But my logic is, that if they didn't make me come into work in the first place, then there is less risk of me even getting into an accident. The fact that they made me go out and come to work puts me at more risk of getting into an accident because I have to go out into traffic. If they would have just let me have the day off, I wouldn't have been out on the road during that time anyway....some people!!!

Oh well, I got to relax today and have a nice break. Now hopefully this water spot in my roof will get fixed. Yesterday, I noticed some water leaking through but luckily it wasn't dripping onto anything in my house. There is someone coming today around now! (4:30pm) to come take a look, so hopefully they can fix it!

Rain...and work?!

Today is Sunday....and I had to go in to work!! Ahhhh! Yeah, Japan is weird and ridiculous like that. However, I get next week Thursday off in exchange which is good news. But I don't understand why they don't connect it with other days off to give me a 3 day weekend or something...it's a random Thursday off with a day of work on Friday again, separating the days off....doesn't make too much sense to me and is frustrating! But at least I have a day off in exchange so that is good. The reason we had school today was because the 3rd graders have their annual school trip in which they will go to Kyoto and Nara. These are historical sites and cities in Japan. They are very popular destinations because they exhibit the traditional and old Japan that you may think of when you think of Japan. They are very natural and beautiful (or so I hear!) and they have many historical shrines, parks, and nature which are educational and important to the Japanese.


Today, I only had 2 classes which is not bad at all! I had one 2nd grade class and one 1st grade class. So overall, not a bad day. The only downer is that it has been raining since yesterday...a lot! The weather is forecasted to not be so good in the next few days. There is a typhoon headed straight toward Japan's main island and will hit here tomorrow. It started raining a lot yesterday and has been raining through today (as it continues to do so). Then the typhoon will come in tomorrow, and last until around Tuesday. Hopefully this doesn't mark the start of the infamous "Rainy Season" but it very well could be! Rainy season is an unpredictable and not fun time in Japan! It is what it sounds like...where it will and can rain anytime, anywhere. People carry umbrellas with them at all times as no one will ever be sure when the sky will unleash and let rain pour.

As well, I noticed that there was a wet spot in my ceiling. It seems that there may be some leak in the roof somewhere over my computer room. It isn't dripping water anywhere yet but it could be soon since it's not expected to stop raining anytime soon. I called my supervisors and landlord and they will come take a look at it tomorrow. Hopefully it will hold up until then!

Hopefully I'll be staying dry until my next post!

Back to Judo

So this week has been pretty busy. Today wasn't too bad, though. Thank goodness. I had 4 classes today. I had two 3rd grade classes and two 1st grade classes at the middle school today. Nothing special in particular happened today. I guess the parts that I translated in the document that my principal asked me to do awhile back finally came into good use. Today, out of the blue, one of the teachers asked me to print it all off so they could create an English version packet. I don't know who they were going to show, but there were many guests that came to the school today. I think they might have had a meeting today about the sister school exchange program and wanted to show that at the meeting. Either way, the principal was very happy with the work that I had put into it (as well as the efforts and enormous help from my mother and prior vice principal). It took many many hours to translate, edit, and re-edit the parts! Translation is a tough job, so I give my mother lots of credit for the job she does! It's tough because even if you are fluent in one language, there are so many nuances, phrases, and references that you have to learn in the language that you are translating it to in order for it to read smoothly. Even so, just doing that kind of work for a long time is also straining on your mind as you try to think of the best words and phrases and is tiring.

Tonight I decided to go to Judo club again since it's been awhile since I'd been there. I also want to get back in the habit of regular exercise during the week so I figure that going there will be a good way to fit it in. It's also fun to wrestle around with the students because they all like to come up and challenge me...their English teacher! It's cool to see that there are a lot of new 1st graders on the team. It's good that they have the interest so that by the time they become 3rd graders, hopefully they will get a lot of experience and become pretty good. They are all a good crew and good group of kids. But I was tired today after practice, needless to say. I stayed at the practice until around 6pm, but they usually stay until close to 7pm, I think. There was one big cultural thing that I was aware of but that really hit me today at practice. In America, people are very laid back and you can come and go to events/practices/classes as you please without it being a big deal. If you enter, people will greet you and say, "Hey, what's up?" or "hey there." But in Japan, things start and end with a definite bow, greeting, and other form of interaction or process. When I left early, I just told a few of the kids that I was leaving early and they were like, "Ok, see you!" and I thought that would be it. Then the senior captain turned off the music, called everyone over and said, "Lei!" and they all chanted "arigato gozaimashita!" They all bowed and told me thank you and saw me off. I was kind of in shock even though it's not the first time this kind of thing had happened. But it was just interesting because I didn't know what to say except, "Thank you. Mata yoroshiku onegaishimasu. Minasan ganbatte ne!" I thought I w0uld just leave casually but that was not the case. I guess it just hit me but it was a good realization and very cool. The culture is similar, yet so different.

I'm having a great time here in Japan and realize/discover something new everyday!

Yeah....TGIF!

TGIF! This week wasn't too bad, but it seemed to go by a little more slowly than usual...especially today! I only had 3 classes today when I normally have 6 on Friday...but maybe that's why it seemed to go by more slowly with all the free time I had. I had meeting times with the teachers plan lessons but normally the day doesn't seem to drag on like it did today! Well today I had my normal Tuesday elementary school in the morning. I switched the Tuesday and Friday morning schedule because the teachers of the schools requested to do so. So this morning I taught a 5th and 6th grade class and this afternoon I had one 6th grade class at my other elementary school.

Today at the school in the afternoon, the top dogs from the Chiba BOE were in town to do an observation. I think they're going around to all the schools around Chiba to check on classes and such. So today, they came to observe around 5-10 minutes of my class this afternoon....wow! There were around 7-10 adults wandering around the room kind of checking and just listening in on what the class was like. But there's a funny story to this.

So prior to the class starting I was sitting in the teacher's room. One of the top guys came in and asked to see the textbook for the 2nd grade social studies class or one of those classes. I was the only other person in the room besides the school secretary. Of course, I have no idea where those books are and what it would look like if I found it. So I deferred to the secretary and asked her if she knew where the books were. I'm sure the man thought that I was one of the normal teachers at the school....he would have NEVER guessed by looking at me that I was the "English Teacher!" So it was funny to see his reaction when he walked into the classroom to observe my class today. I could see him looking at me, then looked confused, and then started talking with one of the members of the local Board of Education. I know his question/curiosity was "Is he Japanese?" Haha....I kind of chuckled to myself because he probably felt awkward after knowing that he had asked me where the books for the 2nd grade class was even though I'm only at that school once a week...if even.

Well, that's the only exciting thing to happen today...nothing much else. It was very warm and sunny out today! It's been great weather this week and I hope it continues into the weekend! My girlfriend and I are set to go out and explore Chiba this weekend, so I hope the weather is nice while we do so! Happy weekend and TGIF!

Nothing too much today

Today was another day at the middle school. It was nice because I had a bit of free time in the morning to relax and not be bombarded with classes. For the first period I had my 3B class and we went into a new grammar point. Not a bad class. Then I had the 2nd and 3rd period off and continued with my 1B class in which we just gave back the exam they took and went over the answers. Again, nothing much for me to do there so it was easy.

Then in the afternoon we continued with the 1B class and finished the day off with the 3A class. Altogether, not too bad. The day went by more slowly because it was a nice day today...and I had to spend it inside!!! Well, I at least got to go for a run after school today, so I'm not too bitter. I want to get back into the mode of regular daily exercise. Time to get the beach body in order! I recently bought a new yoga mat so that I could do sit-ups and floor exercises without hurting my back! The wood floor is hard in my house! I also got one of those ab roll things to help strengthen my abs and help with balance. It definitely works!

Belated Easter lesson

Today was a nice day! It was rainy last night...and it rained pretty hard! But today was a sunny and comfortable day. Too bad I had to spend most of it inside teaching classes! Well, I guess I didn't have to teach too much today, actually. Yesterday, the students all had mid-term exams so today we handed them back and went over the exams. I was scheduled for 5 classes and went to all of them. However, I didn't have to do too much today. I helped with some last minute correcting that one of my English teachers needed help with and ran a few warmups for the classes. But other than that, it was a pretty chill day.

I had the two 3rd grade classes, the two 2nd grade classes, and one 1st grade class. So in total, 5 classes, none of which I had to actually teach!

I don't have too much more to report for today. Tonight I have my Eikaiwa and I'll be doing an Easter lesson! I have boiled eggs ready to go for them to decorate, printed out a powerpoint for them to follow along, and have a game ready! I know it's a little late, but we haven't had class since the actual Easter date so I figure it will be good for them to learn about the holiday.

No cockroach will survive...not on my territory!

So today I had two elementary schools. One in the morning in the city which is further away from me and the other which is a school about 5 minutes away. Today was busy because I had a full day....all 6 class periods. But since it isn't too hot outside yet and there is a nice breeze that comes through the classrooms, the class periods didn't seem too long. And the kids seemed to enjoy the classes so all that combined makes the day go by more quickly. I had a total of 3 5th grade classes and 3 6th grade classes. Seems like a lot...and it is! But I could feel the kids were learning and had a good time so it definitely paid off.

As well...last night I came back to my house after coming back from Mobara with my buddy to do some shopping and grab some dinner. Then I saw this disgusting thing crawling around on the floor and over some of my clothes....it was a cockroach!!!! Out of shock (I hadn't seen these things in months because they don't come out during the winter) I just stared at it and didn't move. Then I realized, if I didn't catch this and kill it, it would still be there the rest of the night and somewhere....

So I immediately started clearing away my things and cleaning up a little so I had more room to be able to move my furniture and have a better view of where the cockroach might be. So in this mad state of cleaning and getting things cleaned out, I also grabbed the bug spray which immediately kills most insects on contact (it's sweeeet!). So after having cleaned for a few minutes, I lifted up the couch...and there it went! So I went after it but it got away!! Nooooo!!! I tried to chase it again but it disappeared....greeeeaat...

So I continued cleaning and was on a mad search for this cockroach. There was no way I was going to go to bed tonight without having had the peace of mind that the cockroach was no longer alive in my house. So I continued cleaning, lifted and moved the couch various times...but still no luck! Arrghh...I am not going to sleep well if I know that thing is lurking in my house. So I continued cleaning and still had no luck. Well, I thought I should wait it out a little and maybe wait for the cockroach to come to me. It was scared for sure, so it wouldn't be crawling around knowing that I was out to kill it. So I chilled on my computer for awhile.

Then, about 30-45 minutes later, I saw a dark thing lurking by my desk. Immediately I grabbed my bug spray and sprayed in that direction and got some hits on the cockroach! It started to slow down but was still running around like mad! I continued spraying it and got great contact on it! But this thing was tough!!! It continued to survive and would run around then stop...run around then stop....it was getting weaker from the poison but I could tell he was also desperate to get away. So I was finally able to catch him in a slowed state but it was still difficult to keep him contained in the kleenex that I was trying to wrap him in. Finally, after a minute or 2 of finally struggling with the cockroach I prevailed and there is no longer any worry about this cockroach! There is no way a cockroach will survive on my territory!!! I have to defend my house and ensure that I will not be sharing a house with these creatures for the summer! Victory is mine!

Mid-May?!

Today I only had 2 classes! And one of them was all review for their exams tomorrow...so technically I only had 1 class today! It was the 2nd grade class. Although they have exams tomorrow as well, it sounds like they had plenty of review sessions to keep up with what's going on so we continued in the text a little bit. Nothing too exciting happened today. I was pretty bored at school today...although I used the time to prepare for my other classes and for my eikaiwa class a little bit. It's always nice to have a little break and not be bombarded with so many classes all at once.

Tonight I also went up to Mobara with my buddy and we went to the sports store to pick up a few things to get us on our workout track. The summer is coming up soon and it's time to get that beach body on! Speaking of which...I can't believe that it's almost summer already. It is mid-May and that means that summer will be coming up real quickly...which also means that it will have been a year since I've come to Japan come late July! time is flying by so quickly here and I am definitely enjoying every second of it. Although it has its ups and downs, there are definitely more ups than the downs. I love living here and the people and everyone here are extremely nice. I love the culture as well and you can't beat the customer service that you receive anywhere...even at McDonald's! They treat you like you are a King and everything is very precise and detailed. They pay attention to the smallest detail and ensure that everything is covered/taken care of for you. Well, May also means that the weather is becoming nicer which is great...but I can also start to feel the humidity that will be coming with it. The humidity here in the summer is NOT coooool! But I recently bought a new fan which will help for the summer. I am happy with it and it's a nice tower fan that I will be utilizing quite a bit this summer!

Well, time for bed and need some rest to get through the rest of the week!

How's the weather?

Today was my last day at the middle school for this week. Not too bad today. I had 4 classes. Two 1st grade classes and two 3rd grade classes. Next week Tuesday they have their first test coming up so today was a lot of review for the students. Oh, and you ask how's the weather? Yes...today the weather was pretty bad...rainy, cold, wet....cloudy!

But besides how the weather ACTUALLY was today, let me explain the story. In one of the 1st grade classes, we did a Q&A competition where students would stand up row by row. Then us teachers would ask random questions such as "what is your favorite color, what food do you like, how old are you, are you a junior high school student?" and so forth. The first person to raise their hand who is standing gets a chance to answer the question and receive a point for his/her team. So it was my turn to throw out a question and it was "how's the weather today?"

One of the students eagerly raised his hand and looked very confident. So the English teacher and I both thought he was the first student to raise his hand so we gave him the chance to answer the question....da da da!

Well, the student started answering with "I....am....." and I thought, wait...this will not answer the question! Then the student continued to stutter with..."I am......歯ブラシ..."

WHAT?!?! Haha! My English teacher and I started to laugh really hard...I mean really hard! When you translate this, it means, "I am toothbrush!" It doesn't make sense, doesn't answer the question, and doesn't even make sense if you say it or translate it into Japanese! I don't know what the kid was thinking, but it made my day. Good times! Well, I hope these kinds of things only happen in the classroom and not when they are actually trying to communicate with people from English speaking countries. 2 Reasons....I want to hear this entertaining stuff while I'm teaching so that I don't get bored...and number 2. If someone realizes that this student was mine, they would think I'm a horrible English teacher so I don't want that student communicating like that out in the public with others! Haha! Well, let the adventures continue and I will keep updating!

Check out my video!

Today was a day at the junior high school. I had a pretty full day...5 classes! But I managed to get through it and it wasn't so bad! Today I had two 3rd grade classes, two 2nd grade classes, and one 1st grade class. In 3 of the classes, I had reading checks, so I was doing a lot of listening and repeating today! It's not so bad but it can get tiring when you have to do it over and over again so that's the only bad part. But overall not bad. It's always a fun time with the kids everyday and always something new.

The video that I created about my trip to Korea finally finished uploading to my new site on Vimeo this morning! I'm so proud of my video! It's my first ever creation and hopefully not my last! I want to get better at editing and continue to make some cool videos. Well, check it out and hopefully you'll enjoy it!

My Korea Trip Video

Vimeo please

Today was an ordinary day. Nothing too special. I had elementary schools today. In the morning, I taught the 5th and 6th grade in the morning, and then in the afternoon I made my way over toward a different school closer to my home and taught the 5th and 6th grade class there as well. Today was a pretty humid day. It's starting to get warmer here which is nice. But in Japan, with warmth and heat comes humidity. Plus, it was also forecast to rain today, which it did at around 4:00pm.

Well, since I created a video of my trip to Korea, I've been trying to look for mediums and ways to post videos and such without restrictions on both size and the audio content that I have in my video. I created a video compiling the photos and video footage I took while on my trip, but after uploading it to YouTube I ran into an issue. I used a couple songs that are from CDs which I bought, but YouTube scanned them and banned the audio on my video. What?!?! I was so mad. Because those songs are technically owned by the publishing company and it may infringe on copyright laws, they banned the whole audio on my video. So it was pretty much useless to have the silent video posted on there. Most of the fun is what is in the music/audio of the video to go along with the visual.

So I talked with a couple others who have experience in the social media/networking realm and they recommended Vimeo. It's a website for those who want to upload videos and photos and they don't ban or seem to screen as much as YouTube. So I subscribed and will check it out. Check back later for more posts and links to my videos! They're sweeet!!!!

Back to work...

Today was my first day back to work since the 27th of April...so it seems like forever ago! I was at the elementary school today so I needed a lot of energy to get through the day. Plus, I had one of the worst colds that I think I have had in a long time. On Monday and Tuesday, it was hard for me to talk because my throat was so dry. Then on Wednesday and Thursday, it hurt pretty badly even when I just swallowed food. And so then having to come and teach on Friday again and muster up the energy was not great...but I was starting to finally feel better, though I was not in tip top condition. My throat was still hurting and my nose stuffy. I wore a mask today just so that I wouldn't pass it on to my students.

But the best news of the day was that I had no classes in the afternoon! Yay!!! In the morning, I was able to get through the 2 fifth grade classes and 2 sixth grade classes. It was not as bad as I thought that it would be and I was able to get through it. I was just relieved when it was all over and was able to finally rest again and look forward to the weekend!

But I am still a little bitter that we had to come back to school/work on Friday. There is nearly a whole week dedicated to national holidays and days off...come on, people...the whole week is a vacation, so why don't they just have the day off on Friday?! It makes sense...or so one would think. I had to come all the way back from my trip just to be at school for a few hours. It just disrupted the whole time before the weekend and would have made more sense to just be able to have the entire week off. But anyway, there are more people out there suffering from bigger issues and problems, so I can't complain too much. There are people up in the northern regions of Japan struggling non-stop since the earthquake and tsunami hit and many without homes or even the thought of a vacation on their mind. There are also those dealing with the nuclear power plant issue and everything that comes with it, so I consider myself very lucky and very fortunate.

Well, I have today and then the weekend, and starting next week will be a long streak of consecutive work weeks until summer vacation comes. Back at it!

The Arrival...Time for heart and SOUL! (Seoul)

Haha....do you like my pun in the title?! Very creative...I know....well anyway, we arrived in Seoul yesterday at a little after noon after having departed on our trek from Chiba station at 6:30am. It was my first time riding JAL and it was a good experience I'd say. The highlight of the flight was the bento that was served! It was literally....THE BEST airplane meal I've ever had! It was a really nice bento and tasted delicious.

We landed in Seoul and soon realized...we actually don't speak Korean, can't read it, and can't understand it! But that didn't stop us from venturing out into this new world and see what lay ahead. We walked around the airport to try and look for a few transportation options, but then were told about a bus that could get us close to what we were hoping would be our hotel. So we trusted one of the people at the information desk about getting a bus ticket to a place where we didn't really know where we were going...except having heard the name Gangnam which we knew was within +-10-40 minutes from our hotel...we really had no idea! So we hopped on and rode for about an hour and approached what we knew was Seoul.

After having gotten dropped off from the bus, we were literally in the middle of a busy busy street with our luggage trying to figure out which way to go. We were able to finally get a taxi...only to be yelled at in Korean and have an extremely awkward first interaction! The taxi driver was not too keen on us at first! I don't know what ticked him off...the fact that we couldn't understand him or if he was just having a bad day. We got in the car and he started yelling at us but no one could respond because the best we know is "anyung ha seyo" or "kamsahamnida" which mean "hello" and "thank you," respectively. So we explained where we wanted to go and eventually made it there...after this event:

• We get in the taxi. Taxi driver is yelling at us in Korean....????



• We are showing him the hotel address and phone number...but he keeps demanding for a "telephone!!!! telephone!!!" so I hand him mine with the hotel's number in it



• He proceeds to continue in what seems to be an angry conversation with the person at the hotel....again, we had NO clue what he was saying!



• We are ripping through the streets of Seoul on the way to what we hope would be our hotel. Meanwhile...the taxi driver was apparently mad at us because we were "shoving" our luggage into the trunk? He made no effort to help us anyway...so I don't know why he was so mad. We didn't really shake it that much...I didn't think?



• We finally make it toward the hotel and the taxi driver apparently seems to have cooled down. He seemed nicer. He may have realized after a few minutes in the drive that we actually only speak either English or Japanese....and no Korean!



• We finally get to our hotel and for a 10-15 minute ride....it cost only 3 or 4 bucks! So cheap!

So in the end...it wasn't so bad. It was a cheap ride, we were able to find our hotel, and we made it all in one piece! Not a bad start for 3 guys who speak no Korean.

Later this day, we headed out to check out the nearest place which was Gangnam. We decided to walk around our area first and found some nice stores. We also had to try and find a place with internet connection and possibly some people who could speak some English...we needed some help with directions and what not. While walking around, we found an English school called "Pagoda"....hmmm...this could be promising! So we stepped right in and looked around. Just as luck would have it, we found some computers on which we could use the internet. This was a great first start to help us out. We didn't find many people who spoke in English there...I just don't think we were talking to the right people. There was someone who could speak Japanese, so that helped! They let us use their phone and allowed us to call our friend who would be able to meet up with us later this week and show us around! That was great!

This is a picture of the Samsung Headquarters. Check it out!

After some time, we also noticed that there was a cafe on the top floor so we decided to check it out. Just as more luck would have it, it was called International Cafe "Huh?!" Haha....it was nice BECAUSE there was one rule before entering the cafe....no speaking Korean! Which meant that most of the people in there spoke good English. And it was nice! They had free pool, internet, and lots of space. It was a nice chill area and this would become our safehaven for a part of the trip. Inside, we were also able to talk to many people who could give us good insight on what to do around the city. They are the locals and know best.

So after hanging out in there for a bit and shooting some pool, we headed toward a restaurant called "Punga" which some new friends of ours had recommended. We got directions to go there, but we somehow got lost...and were trying to search for this place for nearly an hour! It was supposedly a 5-10 minute walk away...but obviously this wasn't going to happen that quickly for us! Well, after searching and talking to strangers to try and get directions, we finally used body language and very vague map pointing to find our way and make it to the restaurant!!!!! It was definitely worth it! The food there was delicious and it was some of the best meat that I'd had in a long time....if not ever! Haha!!! After dinner, we went to a bar and hung out there. It was a good time and we also ate more food there...SPICY food! But I think I will get used to the spiciness of the food...hopefully! It's spicy and nothing comes with anything less than a spicy level! Well we hung out til pretty late and then finally made our way back to the hotel. We are relatively close to the heart of the city and taxis are really cheap here, so it's no problem to stay out late and we don't have to worry about last trains! Yay!!!

Packed and ready to go!

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Chiba to spend the night before we head to the airport early on Thursday morning for Korea! I will go up tomorrow night and spend the night at a friend's place and then we will all go to Narita where the adventures will begin! I have my stuff all packed and ready to go...now just time for me to get to the airport and wait for my work day to be over tomorrow!

Today was another day at the elementary schools around my area. In the morning, I visited one school where I taught the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. We are still in the first stages of the textbook at this school so it was just the introductory lesson for them today. For the 3rd and 4th grade, I taught them how to say, "How's the weather today?" and they learned how to answer with 9 different ways to answer. Those included the basics such as "It's Sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, stormy, snowy, hot, cold, and foggy!" It was a fun day. The 3rd graders are an energetic bunch and all love English class! It's fun, but takes a lot of energy as well! There are 24 of them so it's a lot of energy to keep control of. It's a fun time, though. They are all very funny and they all absolutely love the games and the fun times. At the end of class, they also wanted me to sign their cases for their recorders! They all lined up for me to sign it and they also had their notebooks open for me to sign. Haha! I felt like a celebrity! They're too funny!

Nothing too much else to report for today. In the afternoon I finished the afternoon off at a different school where I taught the 5th and 6th graders. They're a good bunch as well and all the students are smart and very nice. The teachers at that school are also extremely nice and always give me snacks or other goods to take home with me!

Tonight I just finished up some laundry before heading out and need to just finish doing the dishes. I will do those and get ready! Wooooo! Korea, only 1 one more day!

Counting down the days...

Today was another day at school...but that just means one more day closer until Korea!!! I am so excited to go to Korea for Golden Week! Ever since I got to Japan, I had been looking forward to traveling to nearby surrounding Asian countries...and South Korea is one of them! I have never been there, but have heard lots of good things! It's so close, that it's a shorter flight from Tokyo to Korea than to Okinawa! Haha!

The thing I am looking forward to most is eating excellent food. I think I already mentioned this before in another post...but I can't help it! That's what I am excited about! I also want to see what Seoul is like (probably similar to Tokyo) but it's always fun to experience, and then there are also other parts of the country that will be great to see (the historical aspects).

And as for my school day, today was not a bad day. My morning was pretty busy, as I had class for all 4 periods, but my afternoon was open. Later in the afternoon, there was a teacher's meeting which was going to start at 3:30pm. Normally, I would probably just sit through this and really not do anything...as the meeting usually has nothing to do with me or anything I do. And I think my Principal realized this, as he said to me at about 3:20pm..."Kent, we have the teacher's meeting and there's nothing for you to have to do, so you can go home! Have fun!"

Woohoo! So I left immediately and enjoyed my time! I went for a run, ran a few errands, and then ate dinner and settled down for the night. I have a few things to get ready for my trip to Korea (laundry!) so I got those done and will begin packing tomorrow. Well, nothing too much more to report except that I am excited! Korea...coming soon!

The Weekend is here!

Today is Friday! Thank goodnesss!!!!!!! I had been waiting all week for the weekend...as bad as that sounds. But I think it's partly a case of Spring Fever! The weather has been getting better recently and it always looks so nice outside. I don't want to have to worry about anything except enjoying time outside and being able to go out and explore. But I know that I obviously have some work to do...but right now I'd rather go out and play if I can!

Well I had all 6 classes today....so I am very tired! But since it's the weekend, I don't mind and am happy! Today wasn't too bad. It's still early in the lessons so it's all very basic stuff. Greetings, how to say "My name is, Hello, etc." and the alphabet. I guess I really only had 2 lesson plans today....one for the 5th graders and one for the 6th graders. It just gets tiring when I have to keep on doing the same lesson throughout the day. Doing it once isn't bad...but when I have to do one lesson 3 times it gets old and tiring. One advantage is that by the 2nd and 3rd time, I know it so well that I don't need any notes and I know how to time everything so that it fits in with the class schedule and time.

But my funny story for the day comes with my 2nd period class. The students in this class are all good and they are very interested in English. There is one pupil in particular who is kind of an oddball, but very funny. He asks me all these different types of questions that no 5th grader in the world should be asking me. Economic policy, dollar and Yen exchange rates, the number of nuclear power plants and factories in America....the list goes on. I don't know what kind of news he watches or where he gets information from, but he is always very interested in this kind of stuff and it surprises me how much he knows! Well, aside from asking all these questions all the time, he is very good at participating in class and is very involved. So normally at the beginning of class I will go around class and ask people, "How are you?" A very basic greeting and one that they are all used to. So most people will answer with "I'm fine, I'm hungry" or something of the like. But this one child in particular likes to be a part of the class and answered, "I'm GREAT hungry and GREAT happy!"

Of course I chuckled at this and found it very entertaining. This was his response 2 weeks ago when I was teaching the class. At that time, I had told him to replace the "GREAT" with "VERY" and that would be a much better and clearer answer to the question which would make sense. So he took note...but obviously forgot today. He shouted out the "I'm GREAT hungry and GREAT happy!" in front of the whole class. So again, myself as well as the students had corrected him to replace the "GREAT" with "VERY" as the others had remembered this. And so then he goes on to ask me how to say "hazukashii" in English, which would be "embarrassed." So he went on to answer my "How are you?" question with, "I'm GREAT embarrassed!"..............then he corrected himself and said "No! I'm VERY embarrassed!"


hahahahahha! I was laughing pretty hard at this point and I know the homeroom teacher and other students had a good kick out of the whole episode. Ahh..this kid is hilarious and made my day. It was really funny and as long as he doesn't keep putting the "GREAT" in front of everything, I'll be happy. Hopefully by the end of the year he will be using the adjectives correctly!

On another note, there was another aftershock last night. I can't count how many aftershocks there have been over the past several weeks since the large earthquake on March 11th. Last night's happened while I was in the best place possible to be during an earthquake.....the SHOWER! Haha, I was washing my hair at the time and I thought...."am I scrubbing my head so hard that the whole room is shaking or is this.....ohhh an earthquake!" I looked over at the shampoo bottles and they were shaking back and forth, so I knew it wasn't just my imagination playing with me. I immediately hopped out of the shower and turned on the tv to see the severity of this one. It wasn't too bad....but it was an earthquake right next to Chiba. Luckily, there was no tsunami warning and I was lucky that the power, water, and heater were all intact since I was in the shower. It would have been bad if it wasn't since I was still in the shower when it happened....I might have been stuck with shampoo residue in my hair if the water was cut for some reason during the earthquake!

Well, I'm going to go enjoy my weekend now!!!

Wish it was the weekend...

So it's hump day. I am more than halfway through with the week! I know it's early, but I can't wait for the weekend. Even though I don't even have plans, I am excited to be able to sleep in, relax, and go out and do whatever.

Today, I had 5 classes....so it was a pretty full day. The whole morning was booked with the 2nd graders and one 1st and 3rd grade class each. Then I finished the day with a little break in the afternoon following lunch and one final class with the other 3rd grade class. We are just starting in most of the textbooks for the classes so it is all pretty basic stuff at this point. The 1st grade book consisted only of the following dialogue for the 1st chapter:

Yuki: "Hello, I am Yuki. Nice to meet you."
Andy: "Hello, I'm Andy. Nice to meet you, too."

Haha! Very basic and easy! But I guess it's good. This will hopefully give some of those that aren't that good at English some more confidence since they should be able to recite this. I am reciting this stuff with the 5th graders in elementary school right now...so hopefully those that are 2 years older will be able to catch on to this as well!

Well, nothing too much else to report. Tonight, my eikaiwa class has started again for the first time since the earthquake. I will have tonight's class, and then the next one will not be until May 11th because of the Golden Week Holiday...during which I will be in Korea!!! Wooo!!

Weather forecast...warm and sunny!

So today it started off with some rain, clouds, and thunder/lightning. I thought that it would be like this all day. But, it actually cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful day! The sun is shining and the weather was really really warm! Too bad I couldn't have been outside more today to enjoy it!

Well, today I was at the elementary schools. In the morning, I only had 2 classes at one elementary school and then continued on in the afternoon with another elementary school with 2 classes in the afternoon. I started in the 1st chapter for all the classes in the textbook, Eigo Note. It's really basic stuff. For the 5th graders, it's getting them used to saying, "Hi, My name is____. Nice to meet you." For the 6th graders, it's learning the alphabet. So we played an assortment of games involving the alphabet...karuta, BINGO, finding the letter, etc...

All in all, not a bad day. The kids are all really well behaved at these schools as well, so that makes life easier! Today, there was an aftershock again after having not felt one in nearly a week. I guess these will be going on for nearly a year....jeez! Just no break for Japan! But hopefully things will continue to get better and Japan will be on the fast road to recovery!

Seoul!!!!!

So it's official....I have finally gotten my tickets and hotel booked for a vacation in Seoul, South Korea!!!! I had been wanting to go there for awhile! They have good food, good shopping, good sightseeing (world heritage sights and older temples), and relatively easy transportation. So...hopefully it will be a good time! Every person who I've talked to about South Korea has said that it's a great country. The people there are nice and the food is good. The thing I am most looking forward to is obviously Korean BBQ! The meat is to die for....and the lettuce wrap style barbeque is excellent...and I can't wait to eat their kimchi!!!

Well, basically all I've mentioned so far is food...but that's because Korean cuisine is soooo good! I'm also looking forward to just going around and exploring! Well, from April 28th-May 4th, you'll know where to find me!

3000 Letters to Japan

So I have decided to take part in the event going on to help out the people who are suffering or are stuck in the evacuation centers up in the Tohoku area. The idea of the event is to send 3000 letters and have them be delivered to those that are in the centers. The idea and hope is that it will put a smile on their faces and give them hope. These people have been in the centers since the earthquake and most are very lucky survivors of the horrible disaster and have probably lost most of their most precious possessions, their lives in their towns, and possibly loved ones. I feel so bad for them as I would love to help them out, but it's difficult for me to go up there now to physically help out. But I thought that it I could help out without having to go all the way up there. Today was the first day back at some of the elementary schools that I work at. I thought it would be a great idea for the students to partake as well and have them write letters to their own countrymen to show support. So for the first day back, I did a brief self introduction again. This took only the first 20 minutes of class. Then for the remainder, I introduced the project and the kids got started writing right away. While some kids had trouble thinking of things to write, I saw a good majority writing encouraging and inspiring things. I didn't ask them to write too much....just some things like "We will get through this together" and "We are thinking of you" and things of that nature. But there was one kid who I got goosebumps from after hearing about it. He does chores at home and of course many kids nowadays will get an allowance. But what this one child does in particular is he currently donates all the money he earns to disaster relief. For a 5th grader, that is incredible and extremely selfless. I feel so happy that there was someone like that and am glad to know that some of these kids are so involved even though they are young. Of course, a good handful probably don't follow the news as closely so there were many that didn't know the full extent of what is happening in Japan at this time. However, I think it's also a good time to spread awareness and have them think outside of their own shoes and situation and keep those in Tohoku in mind. Nihon Ganbare!!!

I'm Back!

I flew back from Minneapolis on Saturday, April 2nd and arrived back in Japan on April 3rd in the evening. It was about a 12 hour flight but wasn't too bad. I am able to sleep anytime, anywhere, so I slept a majority of the flight. I stayed up to watch 1 of the movies and part of another, but that was about it....the other movies were not too interesting or didn't seem like it. The flight was also extremely empty! I had a lot of space around me...I could count at least 15 open seats around my vicinity. I had the middle aisle seat and there were 2 seats empty right next to me. So that meant I could stretch out and enjoy my space! So I probably slept about 8-9 hours of the flight! I guess not too many people are bound for Tokyo, Japan at the moment given the current conditions. I was able to fly directly out of Minneapolis since my flight was going to go through there anyway, so it was nice since I spent the prior night in Minneapolis, and then my parents just dropped me off at the airport in Minneapolis the next day. I was bummed that I wasn't able to see my sister's performance in Minneapolis, but I guess I couldn't help it with the flight and everything. Well, when I got back the airport was completely empty. Going through customs was a breeze and I was able to get out of the airport fairly quickly. But I was glad to see that things in Japan were back to normal for the most part. The train lines were all running on almost full schedule again and things in the stores were replenished. I could buy bread, milk, and other things that were not available before I came back to America right after the earthquake. I'm so glad that things are back and that I was able to come back to Japan. Depending on the circumstances, I wasn't sure about my return to Japan right away. In my mind when I was packing, I was 100% sure that I would be returning to Japan, but just not completely sure when. I bought a round trip ticket set for coming back on April 3rd, but if things didn't get better or if something drastic happened that it wouldn't be safe, then I probably wouldn't have been able to come back right away. Well, let's hope that nothing more happens and that we are just having to deal with the road to recovery now! The highlight of coming back is that it's time for the new season....the new season of everything in Japan! The new school year, fiscal year, and pretty much all operational aspects in Japanese culture starts when the Cherry Blossom season starts. That is typically on or around April 1st, so that is when the new season starts for many things. Upon returning, I was able to experience my first ever Cherry Blossom season! During this time, it's extremely common for everyone to go out and look at the trees, flowers, and other things that are coming in to full bloom. On the news, they do reports about where the Cherry Blossoms have started blooming across the country. So since I had Monday off and it was a beautiful day out, my girlfriend and I decided to go out and experience the Cherry Blossoms. The flowers aren't in full bloom yet, but there are definitely some out. Check out the pics! A close up view of some flowers View of the bank where some people can get rowboats or paddleboats! Panoramic shot of a bank and the city with my girlfriend! A shot in front of the park in Tokyo My first Hanami Bento! Very delicious!! Some more shots walking around the city They look so nice :) One final closeup view

Chicago for the weekend

While back in America, I wanted to meet up with my friends and see as many people as I could. So I got in touch with some of my buddies from college and we decided to meet up in Chicago. I rode the train down on Saturday and met up with my friends by lunchtime.

Chicago is known as being the "Windy City" and it sure didn't fail to hold its title. It was windy, cold, and not the best weather...but at least it didn't rain or snow! This would have just added to the cold feeling already! So we met up and walked around for a little bit. After working up an appetite, we wanted to eat some good food from Chicago...which only means Deep Dish Chicago Pizza!!! So we went to the restaurant around 2pm and chowed down our food.

We had already decided that we wanted to eat sushi for dinner as well so with that in mind, we were thinking we should go eat at around 7:30-8pm to let the pizza settle awhile. So we walked around Michigan Ave. and did some window shopping. I didn't buy anything because I didn't want to add any more weight/stuff to my already full luggage that I will be taking back to Japan with me. So I mainly browsed and looked at stuff. My friends had bought a couple things here or there but nothing too major. Walking around the stores and to the different places just made me realize how different the culture in Japan and the US are. In Japan, they welcome you at every single store with a phrase, "Irashaimase" meaning "Welcome!" However, in America, they don't greet you with that same phrase or any other common phrase as well. In Japan, once any person steps through that door, you can be sure that every single staff in the store will yell out the phrase. As well, when you leave even without having bought anything, they all chant "Arigato gozaimashitta!" which means thank you. Although it's not a big difference, you really notice it once you've spent a lot of time abroad as I have thus far.

Anyway, we continued on and then decided to finally head to the sushi restaurant for dinner. My friend had been there before and recommended. It's a sushi restaurant in Lincoln Park and is all you can eat for only 18 bucks. I love sushi, so I definitely did not argue with this. When we got closer to the restaurant, my other buddy and I looked at each other and were thinking the same thing...the place/area seemed familiar....like we had been there before. In fact, we had been! Almost a year ago, I had met up with my other buddy to go eat somewhere and we wound up at that restaurant...the same one that we had gone to this time! We just didn't recognize it by name! Haha!! Well, no arguments here as we had enjoyed the sushi last time, so we continued on in. After ordering a number of rolls, our dishes came out and we ate to our hearts' content...again! Today is a feast day! Deep dish pizza....sushi...it never ends! Well, after finishing we walked around a little more and stopped by a bar in a hotel to hang out and let the food settle. We were waiting for some bowling lanes to open up since they were extremely full. We had to wait for about an hour or 2 until a lane would open up for us.

By this time, though, we were all exhausted. It was nearly midnight when we started to bowl, but we got through it. We were starting our 2nd game when we noticed that we were bowling but our bowling balls were not coming back. We called the service people and we ended up waiting for nearly 30 minutes...a bowling pin had gotten stuck in the return gutter and so that's why our balls were not coming back! Well, we were all so tired that we didn't even bother with finishing the 2nd game....we just paid for the 1 game and headed back to get some sleep.

The next day(Sunday), we headed to Chinatown to eat some good 'ol dim sum for lunch. We ended up going to a restaurant called "Three Happiness" which is a restaurant that my family and I always used to go to while I was growing up! It brought back memories! Haha. My family used to make monthly big trips to Chicago as that was the best place to buy fresh and larger quantities of asian groceries. They have a large population of asians in Chicago, so they naturally also have better grocery stores to service those needs. After finishing lunch, I hopped on a train back to Milwaukee and that concluded my weekend in Chicago. It was great to see my friends and I hope to see them all again when they come visit in Japan!