11 posts tagged “school”

I watched Check It Out, Yo!! again on Sunday.  It's a good movie.  I rented it because Inoue Mao was in it and it had English subtitles and it turned out to be a good choice so I copied it for myself.  After watching Yamapi on the 24 Hour Television charity telethon last weekend and now this... I really want to go to Okinawa.  I want to go before I leave Japan because I probably won't get another chance.  I didn't think I'd be able to with saving up for China.

But I was doing some research.  Flights are normally ¥36,900.  However, ANA has a special deal where if you book at a certain time, you can get air fare for super cheap.  The last travel window is Dec 18-24 which would be perfect since I finish work on the 18th and booking is Oct 16-25.  Each way is only ¥14,000!  Round trip ¥24,000.  Totally do-able.  And there are a couple hostels for $30 a night that I found through Hostel Bookers.  

If I don't hit for Arashi tickets, maybe I'll go to Okinawa instead.  I wonder if I could find anyone who wants to go with me.

Fuck, I'm going to be living off soba for the next 6 weeks and here I am thinking about dropping a couple hundred bucks on another trip.

I didn't want to go to work on Sunday for their Sports Festival, but I ended up enjoying myself (and working on my tan) in the end.  There were so many injuries this year!  A couple kids got heat exhaustion, at least ten took a tumble during their relays--one landing on his head, another injuring his hip (!!)--one boy from first year got trampled during the kibasen and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance.  Even Miyakawa-sensei injuried his leg (pulled muscle?) by giving it too much during the last relay.  At times like that I wish I was certified in first aid so I could have helped out.  I'll probably have to when I get into the teacher's union.

So, Kaneko-sensei had another break down.  At least that's what I'm deciding has happened because no one will tell me voluntarily and would probably give me a roundabout answer if I asked.  In any case, he's been off for two days and no one expects him to come back for the rest of the term.  Just great.  So that means, I'm teaching.  Jun seems to have faith in me (at least someone does) and I spent all day planning a 6-8 lesson spread.  I don't have a schedule so I don't know exactly how many classes I'll have or when I'll have them.  It really chaps my ass because I spent so much time working on my quiz show for the 3rd years and now I probably won't get to do it.  At least not until January and then... I don't think so.  I think they don't have any classes come January -- just self-study for exams.  D<  Jerkface! 

The second years are so behind.  They should be finishing (or at least halfway through) program 7 but they are just starting.  Jun said there's about 8 lessons left til the end of term (per class) so I figured if I plan to spend 2 lessons on each section and 1 on the practice/extra bits at the end, and then have 1 lesson buffer in case things take longer than expected... I should be okay.  At least that's what I'm hoping.  I'm more afraid of going too fast.  Because then I'll have to make stuff up to fill the time.  And it's not like Nova where I can just shoot the shit and chat with them if we finish early.

I spent the entire day writing up grammar worksheets and trying to think of how to organize.  I figure if I just stick to how Jun-sensei or Imai-sensei do their lessons -- lots of reading practice -- I should be okay.  The kids who get the grammar points are going to get it (gerunddd grrr!  Apparently one of the hardests things for them to get and I have to teach it to them) and the ones who don't, won't no matter how long I spend on it.  Or even if I was a Japanese teacher.  They just don't care.

I'm a bit pissed that I haven't heard anything from work.  I emailed Tatsuya and gave him a heads up to my situation (and he hasn't come for his visit yet) and I haven't heard anything back.  Maybe I'll hear something tomorrow.  If I'm lucky.  I'm hoping they give me a bonus for working more than I'm "supposed to" but I doubt it.  A couple 3rd year girls also asked me to record a couple of English listening questions for their high school exams.  Another thing on my plate this week.

Ugh.  I'm in a foul mood.  This calls for carbohydrates.

I think bugs must be contageous through the internets. Everyone seems to be sick at the moment and now I seem to be coming down with it. Hopefully it's just a sore throat and doesn't blow up into something more. The PTA festival is this weekend and I need to have some energy/sanity for that.

The Ekiden/Welcome party last night was great fun. It was at an izakaya on my side of the station that I may be tempted to go back to; I'll have to look at the prices but they can't be more than Wara Wara or Watami. Thank god I ran into Tamaya-sensei on the way becuase I was totally going to the wrong place. Like a moron, I left the sheet with all the info in my desk at work.

Even though I was sittin between kocho-sensei (principal) and kyoto-sensei (vice-principal) and around non-English speaking teachers, it was good. Yesterday was the 62nd Toukatsu Ekiden (long distance relay) and Toyochu came in 4th place :( but set a personal best! All the teachers went to watch (I wish I had) so everyone got up to say a little something about it and congratulate Kawashima-sensei who was the coach. Even I had to get up and say something! I said that we don't have something like this kind of long distance relay in Canada (which may or may not be true, but definitely not at the jr high school level) and it was really great to see such school spirit because I didn't have that when I was in school. And apologized for my crappy Japanese to which everyone's like, "No, no, it's fine!" Haha. I wasn't nervous or shakey like the last time I had to speak in front of everyone last December when I started there (nor read off a piece of paper) so I guess that's a testiment to how far I've come.

It was a joint welcome party for Shiratori-sensei, and a celebration for Watanabe-sensei who passed some exam. I'm not sure what exam... maybe teacher's exam because he talked about how he learned a lot in the last half-year and looks forward to the rest of it.

Even though I didn't talk much, it was good. I have always really enjoyed listening to people so it worked for me. And it gave me more chance to eat. The food was so yum! Except izakaya fare never fills you up and I was so hungry. That might have contributed to my grossness today.

Afterwards, there was the 二次会 (ni ji kai, after-party) of course (karaoke~ as usual) so I decided to go. I had been wanting to go to karaoke all day and actually thought about going for an hour or so in the afternoon and didn't really want to go all the way down to Shinjuku for 2-3 hours for Ben's birthday party. It would have cost the same, if not more, and they were so flakey. They didn't know what they were going to do after dinner. Anyway, I got to talk to Watanabe-sensei and Shiratori-sensei on the way to Piero. They are the same age as me and actually pretty cool. At least Watanabe-sensei is. He reminds me a lot of the teacher from last year (whose name escapes me now) who went to teach at high school in Tokyo somewhere. His attempts at English were so cute~ And if I remember correctly (through my drunkenness), his first name is Tomo? I should check out the seating chart at school.

My love for Miyoshi-sensei has grown exponentially. He asked me to sing Koda Kumi (Taboo~) and then was telling me that Watanabe-sensei just had his heart broken so it's my chance. XDDD I'm not gonna lie; he's a looker. He even asked me if I wanted to get married to a Japanese guy and what's my type. XD I think I was getting a bit flirty but I was definitely getting touchy with him. I just hope it wasn't too obvious to everyone else. Whatever. I'm not gonna make moves although maybe I should try and get the younger teachers together and have more outings. I said to Imai-sensei before, Japanese guys are shy so I don't think anything is gonna happen even if he is interested. Her reply was "They are shy, but they are waiting". Yeah, well. So am I. I also sang Moon Crying and Jun said to me, "I didn't know you had such a cute voice." O_o Okay. Despite it being so high, I can really sing that song well.

Needless to say, I think I have a new crush.♥

I have good memories of last night at least~ I don't feel so great this morning; I could feel a sore throat coming on at dinner last night and it was pretty fullblown when I got home and my drunk wore off. I'm feeling a bit nauseous and that is definitely from the booze; I didn't drink enough water before I went to bed.

Why in the name of all that is shiny am I awake at 8am on a Sunday? The retard who's moving out put an alarm clock in the trash and it was beeping right outside my window. Whatever. I'll watch D no Arashi and then nap later. Though it should and kind of does tempt me to get some cleaning done around here. Only a little.

When the pictures from this year's ekiden get put up, I'll edit this with a link. :)

From Wikipedia (copy/paste woo!):

An Ekiden (駅伝, Ekiden), usually referred to as a marathon relay in English, is a long-distance relay, road race.

The term originated in Japan, although the concept of a long distance relay race is probably not original or unique to any country. The first ekiden race was sponsored by the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1917, and was run over three days between the old Japanese capital of Kyoto and the modern capital of Tokyo, a distance of 508 km, to celebrate the anniversary of the moving of the capital to Tokyo.

The popularity of ekiden in Japan is unsurpassed in any other country, and its popularity has spread around the world with races run in New Zealand, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, China, Germany, France, the United States, Korea, and elsewhere.

As written in Japanese, Ekiden combines the characters for "station" (駅) and "transmit" (伝). This name was coined by the poet Toki Zemmaro (1885-1980), who was head of the Yomiuri Shimbun's Social Affairs Department at the time. The original concept of the race hearkens back to Japan's old Tōkaidō communication and transportation system in which stations were posted at intervals along the road. In the race, each runner on a team runs the distance from one "station" to the next, and then hands off a cloth sash, or tasuki, to the next runner.

The lengths of ekiden can vary greatly, with some local, amateur races covering 20-30 km with five or six runners on a team, and larger national and international races running a full marathon (42.195 km) or longer, also usually with five or six runners per team. Some races can stretch hundreds of kilometers long.

One of the most popular modern ekiden in Japan is the Hakone Ekiden, which features teams of students from various Japanese universities. This race from Tokyo to Hakone and back is held over two days at the New Year, and is a popular spectator sport that receives full network television coverage nationwide. Runners in the race compete to set individual records as well as to support their teams, and the race is considered to display many aspects of Japanese culture and spirit, including individual perseverance, identity within a group, and the importance within the Japanese hierarchy of allegiance to a major university.

Another widely publicized ekiden is the Prince Takamatsu Cup Nishinippon Round-Kyūshū Ekiden. Held annually, the race follows a thousand-kilometer course in Kyūshū.

Controversy has recently surrounded the Ekiden in Japan as the All Japan High School Athletic Federation has banned non-Japanese high school students from participating in the first leg of their Ekiden Championships (the ban also applies to different degrees to participation in basketball, volleyball and table tennis). The official reason for this is stated by the Federation to be "to make races more interesting for fans". However, it has been widely reported that the principal motivation for the ban is to break that succession of victories in the event by high school students of black African descent (and in the case of table tennis, of Chinese and Indonesian descent).

I'm finding it hard to believe it's been a month since I updated.  It feels like nothing has happened.  That would be why I haven't updated because nothing exciting has happened.  Nothing that I think is blog worthy/safe anyway. 

I had planned on writing the next level of the kanji kentei this October but I missed the deadline.  Ironically by one day.  I knew I should have just signed up when Andrew mentioned it -- or at least wrote the sign-up deadline down.  I felt like such a tool but I hadn't been studying all that hard anyway.  I did buy the kanji kentei game for my DS so I could practice and study but I haven't been commiting.  The next test session is in February and sign-ups start at the end of November.  It's written down in my calendar!

School has been... strange.  September felt so busy.  This past week was my first full week since I started back: the first week we had Monday off to make up for the sports festival on that Saturday.  The next week, Monday was off for "Respect for the Aged Day".  The following week Tuesday was a holiday for the Autumnal Equinox.  And now this next weekend is another long weekend: the 13th is Health and Sports Day.  And I thought Ontario was bad!  There's a long weekend in November for Culture Day and then Winter Holidays start for me on the 20th of December. 

Next weekend also happens to be the Sawara Autumn Festival.  Sawara is part of Katori city, about an hour and a half from Kashiwa.  It's been preserved to look like the Edo period so it's a really popular filming location for period dramas and movies.  I wanted to go and spend one night in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and I left that to Andrew to call because I did the research.  We found 3 and of course, we'll try and see if the most expensive one has room because we want to go in the onsen as well.  :)  It'll probably be more expensive because it's a long weekend but why not?  Make the most of it.  If we can't get a room, I guess we'll just make a day trip out of it.

Next week the kids have midterm tests on Thursday and Friday so I don't have any classes.  On Tuesday I only have the Araragi class because they will be reviewing the test results.  At the end of the month, there's the chorus contest so no classes again. :)  It seems like I don't do any work!

Toyoshiki Sports Festival - White & Red Teams

Toyoshiki Sports Festival - Big Ball Relay

 

Toyoshiki Sports Festival - Kibasen

Toyoshiki Sports Festival - Kibasen

Toyoshiki Sports Festival - Relay

Go! Go! Red Team!

Today has just been the crappiest day ever.  I had 3 classes - 1st year and 3rd year were doing my lesson plans, the fifth time around for me so I was really hating them by that point.  And then I had to teach 2nd year solo.  Oh yes, alone.  Kaneko-sensei has been away since last week but no one has told me what happened.  Even if he's deathly ill he'll still come to school so I'm thinking it's an accident or family emergency.  Either way... I had to teach by myself.  I teach 4-5 or sometimes 6 classes of elementary kids every Friday who for the most part can't understand a thing I'm saying... but 2nd year of Jr High makes me nervous?  Well, fourteen year olds can talk back.  There was another Japanese teacher there for "support" but they are as useful as the elementary teachers.  I had Ohara-sensei with me today, and all the kids are scared of her so at least they weren't rowdy and fucking around during class.  But I have to do it 4 more times...

On top of that, there is a speech contest coming up so Nakamura-sensei asked me to look for some stories for the student doing it, and to do a lesson plan for the conversation elective on Monday, and I had to decide on something for grade 6 tomorrow... it was a busy and stressful day.

On top of that... BUGS.  I took a shower tonight and when I stepped out I saw this black thing on my kitchen floor and knew even without my glasses that it was a monster roach.  MONSTER.  Fucking like the size of my index and middle fingers together.  There was some screaming and flailing and crying involved but I managed to trap it and stun it with my laundry bucket and then throw it outside (along with my waste paper bin... I'll rescue that tomorrow).  I don't have anyone to do it for me....... so I have to suck it up and do it and then cry about it later. 

I hope that tomorrow goes without any stress or problems.  I get a bit of a break because one class is a week behind so I'll get to do two different lessons instead of five of all the same.  And it's the last week of term so I won't be back there until September.  Ahhh summer vacation starts next week! 

I talked to Yuka and I am probably going to go visit her in Osaka during the first week of August! :3

Today was more productive than I thought or intended it to be.  I taught all the 2nd year classes with Mr Nakamura and helped him mark tests.  I felt important.  I was only supposed to have 4 lessons but he moved the 5th from tomorrow to today to get all their tests done and handed back to them in the same period.  Whatever, it just means I have only 2 tomorrow.  Woo. 

Mr Kaneko hasn't finished writing his final exam yet.  He was supposed to get it to me for checking today, but didn't.  Am I surprised?  Not in the slightest.  I saw the monstrosity he uses to type up his hand-outs.  I wondered how he got them to look like they came off a typewriter.  It's because they did.  This thing is a dinosaur.  I don't know how its still working.  But he doesn't have any room on his desk for even a laptop computer, and given how he runs around like a chicken with his head chopped off most of the time, I'm not sure he could handle a real computer.  Anyway, he said he'll get it to me tomorrow.  My two classes are both with him so hopefully he'll have it done. 

Right now, it's Aisatsu Week at school.  Aisatsu can be translated as "greeting" but its more than a greeting.  Every morning (and actually at the start and end of every lesson) the kids have to do aisatsu.  They have to say 起立、気をつけ、礼 kiritsu, ki wo tsuke, rei.  "Stand up, pay attention, bow."  It's very militaristic and regimented.  The kids though, are so fucking half-assed about it.  There's one person assigned to lead the class in aisatsu and they will stand up and it basically stops there.  They'll get quiet for a while, and maybe nod their heads at you instead of a bow.  It's cute though in elementary school when they do aisatsu.  They all snap to attention when the teacher says ki wo tsuke. 

Aisatsu is pretty much anything used in greeting, anything in response... and a lot of ass kissing.  Yvonne told me they are "set phrases to make social interactions go smoothly, from when you go to buy things to making business phone calls". 

おはようございます Ohayo gozaimasu.  Good morning.
すみません Sumimasen.  Excuse me.
いらっしゃいませ Irasshaimase. Welcome.
失礼します Shitsurei shimasu. Excuse me for interrupting.
よろしくお願いしますYoroshiku onegashimasu.  Please take care of it for me.

Everything anyone says to anyone at school is usually followed by yoroshiku onegaishimasu.  I have even started to throw it around to cover my ass and make myself look polite. 

This clip is from the Making Of the Video for Step and Go, Arashi's new single.  I just had to clip this part of the video because that's exactly how the kids act, especially first thing in the morning.   I'm not even joking.

It was good listening practice, but I couldn't catch everything they said (marked with [?]).  (Thanks for helping Yvonne~) But I got the gist and the meaning by myself.  But seriously, that's what I get every morning.

I really don't know how they do it.  I have been doing elementary lessons for a week and I'm exhausted.  All I want to do when I get home is sleep.  And after I wake up in the morning, I want to sleep.  After lunch, I want to nap (although that might be due to the super homo 3.5% milk we have to drink).  Mad props to those elementary folks.  Holler.

Now that my wigga moment is over, let's get on with other things.  I've been getting mail (e- and otherwise) from people over the last few days, and I say thank you!  I got a belated X'mas card from Grandma in the mail today.  It made my day.  When I was doing my Christmas Lesson at Junior High, I talked about how Canada is so PC that we don't even say Merry Christmas anymore.  Haha.  How right you are, Grandma!  The postmark is all blurred so I can't see when she sent it.  I'm still waiting for JC's package that he sent a couple weeks before X'mas.  It's probably sitting half destroyed at the port in Kawasaki. 

Yesterday was Seijin no Hi (Coming of Age Day), when people who have turned 20 celebrate becoming an adult.  Girls get all decked out in kimono and go to the shrine (guys just wear a suit) and then they have a big party at night, since they are now legal.  I didn't see that many girls walking around in kimono as I thought I would.  There were a few, but for some reason I thought it would be something like Arts County Fair or everyone's 19th birthday where you're just stupid and drunk all day and celebrating.  It was rather subdued.  I went to the shrine in Kashiwa, which is a lot bigger than I thought it was.  It wasn't busy at all.  I bet most people went downtown to Meiji Shrine in Harajuku.

For lack of anything better to do, I met up with Dan and Masato (friends through Andrew) and we went to Hibiya Park.  It was kind of a dumb thing to do, since it was dark by the time we met up and it was freezing cold.  It finally feels like winter.  The last couple days have been bitingly cold.  It's really starting to grate on my nerves how everyone says "ああ、カナダ人！寒くないでしょう? Aa, Kanada-jin!  Samukunai deshou?" Ah, Canadian!  You're not cold right?  FUCK YOU!  Canada and Japan aren't that different latitude-wise.  Vancouver and Tokyo have the same climate.  The reason people complain its so cold here is that they don't know how to dress properly for winter.  I was waiting for the train to Ueno and these two school girls walked past me.  One of them complained that it was cho samui, sooo cold but she was wearing a skirt, converse sneakers and a hoodie.  OF course you're going to be cold, moron!  (end of gaijin rant)

After our jaunt through Hibiya Park (which I have to make a note of returning to in the daylight) we wandered through Minato-ku, detouring through Starbucks for a warm-up, to Tokyo Tower.  I had scoffed off going as some kind of over-priced tourist trap, which it is, but we didn't have anything better to do.  Being in the middle of the business district there wasn't a whole lot else to do.  We scored discounted tickets at 7-11 and went up, and actually it was worth it.  Since we went at night, we could actually SEE stuff.  The Tokyo skyline looks much nicer at night, if you ask me. 

080114 - Tokyo Tower

080114 - Tokyo Tower View

Only ten more to go!  No, I'm not starting a countdown til the end of school, like I would be if I was a student.  It feels like I've been back at work for more than week, after doing three days of elementary lessons back to back.  Next week is going to be even worse: Monday's a holiday (Coming of Age Day), and then four days.  It's been kind of nice, because when I'm done teaching, they let me go home even if it's not the end of the school day.  Tuesday will be a little bit of a respite, only four lessons, but the rest of the week is packed.  Why they wanted to cram all the English lessons in right at the beginning of term is beyond me.  It's exhausting.  Yvonne said that all her schools are requesting their "internationalization visit" all at once too so she's in a similar boat to mine.  It makes me feel like I'm actually working though.  Like I'm a real teacher.  Or one with some power at least, instead of just being a human CD.

I've got to teach grade one, three, five and six next week.  They requested "eikaiwa" (English conversation).  I don't know what kind of eikaiwa I can teach to kids in thirty minutes (after rambling about Canada for fifteen).  I've decided I'm going to give the kids an opportunity to practice what they already know, rather than try and cram new info into their heads.  It's worked well so far.  And teach them games I played in school.  The one time I played Duck, Duck, Goose was the most sucessful, rather than trying to explain and get them to play Heads Down, Seven Up.  They have fun anyway.  This week has been a bit weird because I think the school was having an Open House where parents could come watch their kids in class.  My classes always seemed to have half a dozen or more parents.  The kids totally ignored their parents, which could be more due to the militaristic nature of the Japanese school system rather than the kids themselves, except for when a younger sibling got lose and made their way to the front of the classroom.  Japanese kids are so cute!  But I guess I'm a bit of a novelty since the kids get one English lesson a term.  So its definitely more like "fun time" than anything else.

Other than that... I've been a complete lump.  It's a combo of talking/standing all day and being on display at school and the homo milk that is served with lunch everyday.  And they give me so much to eat (やっぱり外国人。。。) that I feel sluggish.  The same goes for the kids.  But at least they go out and run around for twenty minutes.  I went shopping yesterday because Takashimaya Station Mall is having a big Six Day Sale so I went to check it out.  My brown sweater is starting to eat it, so I was looking for a replacement but no luck.  Also found some gloves that I've been looking for and got a sketch book.  I need to start drawing again, more regularly, I've decided.  Why?  I used to be good.  Or other people thought I was though.  I wonder how my life would be different if I had chosen to go to art school instead of UBC and continued with more dedication at the one thing I was good at.  Also, one of the members of my favourite Japanese band, Arashi, is having an art exhibition next month (they're also releasing a new single the day after my birthday~) and he's actually really good.  I'm going to make a point of going down to check it out. 

I should go out to the recycle shop today as well and see about getting a full-size table.  I can't stand my legs going numb and having my hips pop all the time.  It can't be good for me.  Have you ever lost feeling in your thigh?  It's awkward and weird.  The last time I was there, they had tables for 3000yen (~$28) but I don't know about delivery.  They must do, because there were items with "sold" stickers on them sitting in the shop. 

My 320 mark just got posted -- I passed!  And better than I expected, I pulled of a C-.  Still killed my wicked average for the semester though; not including my 320 mark I had an 81 average, but the C- pulls it back down to a 75.  But I'm okay with that.  I passed!  I'm graduating!  I'm going to Japan!  Happy tears!!

On the subject of Japan... Nova called me AGAIN this morning.  I didn't really hear the phone in my feverish sleep but it was that guy who I can't remember/pronounce his name and didn't say what they wanted on the message and I don't feel like talk to them in my sickly state.  We'll see if they call back tomorrow... it can't be that important.  Probably wanting to talk to me about my Visa application again... I really should tell them not to call me before 10am because I won't answer.  Stupid Toronto - you aren't the centre of the universe!

My ASIA369 mark just got posted - FUCKING 85!!  Solid A.  Holy crap.  That was unexpected.  I guess that's one of th pluses of being in the guinea pig class - no bench mark to be measured by.  I must have ripped on the final and my project mustn't have been half bad.  Now, I am just anxiously waiting for my ENGL320 mark...  I'm afraid that the next time I log into SSC I'll see a big fat F in that blank spot.  Which is going suck big time... and all my planning will be for nothing.  But still, 85 is fucking awesome.

Nova emailed me again... I need to redo my Visa resume application because the dates don't match up with the letter from OFS.  Getting the letter wasn't hard, they probably get requests like that all the time.  No prob.  And I went and asked how much it would be to overnight a regular sized letter, with 1 piece of paper inside - $21!!  Are you kidding me??  Even Express Post would be $10.  Fuck that noise.  Regular mail.  It's not like they can REALLY do anything until they get my transcripts I think.  I don't care if they want it "fast".  I'm not forking out that much for a stupid piece of paper.  Although, my fault for not filling it properly, but whatever.  That's bullshit.