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!