I am currently in Chiang Mai, Thailand and have spent my winter school break thus far traveling around the southwest coast of India and the last couple days in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow my friends and I will go to Bangkok to celebrate New Years, then head back to Japan.
India was amazing until the very end of our stay. We flew into Bangalore where spent the night at nice hotel in a shady looking part of town rampant with stray dogs. This part of town was supposed to be one of the better parts , which we all found somewhat disturbing.
The next morning we caught a flight to Trivandrum, which is much further south, then took a train to Alleppey. We spent a couple days there and rented a boat to take us through the backwaters of that area. This was pretty amazing. We were there during a multi-day festival as well which was pretty cool to see. Everyone we encountered was very friendly and tried to speak with us.
From Alleppey we hired a cab to take us to Munnar where there are huge tea plantations. We discovered that Tetley Tea is grown and packaged there. The cab ride was terrifying as there don't seem to be any traffic laws and people constantly pass each other at high speeds and drive into oncoming traffic. Honking seems to be required when passing someone or making a turn in any direction. The constant sound of honking only adds to the terror. We made it in one piece though and it was worth it because Munnar is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day there, then shut out our eyes and headed to Fort Cochin with the cab. Our cab driver went his own way after that and was overjoyed to be rid of us I think.
Fort Cochin was our favorite spot in India as it was much more touristy than the other places we had visited. In the other towns we had been nearly the only tourists, but in Fort Cochin we were part of the tourist mob and street vendors, adults and children, constantly came at us like flies. We had one night there and were happy to leave.
The next day we flew to Bangalore where I had an unfortunate encounter with a veggie croissant at the airport. The rest of my trip has been ruined because I became really ill a couple hours later with food poisoning and have not yet recovered. We took 2 flights to get to Chiang Mai, Thailand, both of which were hellacious for me. My body finally recovered a bit once in Chiang Mai, but I've not been able to eat much more than toast and have been dealing with stomach aches and nausea every day. I hope to recover somewhat by tomorrow as we will fly to Bangkok to celebrate New Years. After that it's back home to Japan, which will be a huge relief.
I hope everyone is well and had a great Christmas. Happy New Year!!!! I will post pics and more about my trip once I'm back in Japan.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
I am from the city of Corumbus in the state of Oreo
Last week the students had exams every day. That was great because I didn't have to teach and had plenty of time to plan this week's lessons and study Japanese. The exams, however, did not go so well. Most of the students did not study at all it seems. And if they had studied, English would not have been at the top of the list. There are good reasons for this though. A day in the life of one of my students would go something like this:
Go to school at 7:00 or 7:30 am to practice his/her club activity. Club activities here are generally sports, but can also be kimono club or English club. That last one is kind of a joke because only four students belong to the club, and only one ever shows up. Yet we still try and meet twice a week. Every student counts apparently.
Practice club activity until 8:15 when school begins. Classes end at 3:10, followed by a 10 minute break, then cleaning for 20 minutes. Yes, I said cleaning. At most Japanese schools the students do the cleaning. This includes sweeping, cleaning the bathrooms, and taking out the trash. One of my extra duties is to act as a "volunteer" to help the students with the trash. It is very complicated here and has to be separated into five or six different bins, which include burnables like food waste and paper; plastic bottles; cellophane and similar plastics; metals; and glass. I help make sure that burnable trash is not put into the bins for plastic, etc. Not my favorite thing, but whatever.
After cleaning go to club activity and practice until 8:30 or 9:00 pm. Students are at school for 13-14 hours during the week! Even on the weekend they generally go to school to practice their club activity or have a match.
After club activity, go home and maybe study. But what probably happens is that they eat, take a bath, and go to bed. They seem to be exhausted every day and for good reason. They are at school for so long that they generally don't have time to study and, as I said before, if they did English would not be at the top of the list. You're required to pass an English exam to get accepted to a university in Japan, but 75% of the students at my school won't go on to university. So not only is English not a priority, but it's a pain in the butt and is being forced upon them for no reason.
So, back to my test... My students are at a fairly low level of English comprehension, so I have to make my lessons and tests fairly easy. As I was grading the tests I realized that a couple of the questions were a bit too hard, so I felt kind of bad. But the other questions were not and I was very disappointed in the overall scores.
The test material included my self-introduction and greetings from around the world. One of my self-intro questions was "Kate is from the city of Columbus in the state of Ohio." The "l" in Columbus and the "hi" in Ohio were left blank. Students had to fill in the letters. These sounds, especially the "l," are very difficult for them. Still, I thought that this question wasn't too hard since most of the word had been given to them. I was wrong because quite a few students left that question blank or gave the wrong answer. The funniest answer was "Kate is from the city of Corumbus in the state of Oreo."
One of the greetings from around the world questions included a map of the world with a few countries numbered, including the US. Students had to label the US and a few of them could not do this. Instead they labeled it as Canada, South America, and even Tibet. I was baffled as to why 100% of them did not answer the question correctly. I guess that kids can be ignorant everywhere because many American students probably can't point to Japan on a map.
We'll see how the next test goes...
Go to school at 7:00 or 7:30 am to practice his/her club activity. Club activities here are generally sports, but can also be kimono club or English club. That last one is kind of a joke because only four students belong to the club, and only one ever shows up. Yet we still try and meet twice a week. Every student counts apparently.
Practice club activity until 8:15 when school begins. Classes end at 3:10, followed by a 10 minute break, then cleaning for 20 minutes. Yes, I said cleaning. At most Japanese schools the students do the cleaning. This includes sweeping, cleaning the bathrooms, and taking out the trash. One of my extra duties is to act as a "volunteer" to help the students with the trash. It is very complicated here and has to be separated into five or six different bins, which include burnables like food waste and paper; plastic bottles; cellophane and similar plastics; metals; and glass. I help make sure that burnable trash is not put into the bins for plastic, etc. Not my favorite thing, but whatever.
After cleaning go to club activity and practice until 8:30 or 9:00 pm. Students are at school for 13-14 hours during the week! Even on the weekend they generally go to school to practice their club activity or have a match.
After club activity, go home and maybe study. But what probably happens is that they eat, take a bath, and go to bed. They seem to be exhausted every day and for good reason. They are at school for so long that they generally don't have time to study and, as I said before, if they did English would not be at the top of the list. You're required to pass an English exam to get accepted to a university in Japan, but 75% of the students at my school won't go on to university. So not only is English not a priority, but it's a pain in the butt and is being forced upon them for no reason.
So, back to my test... My students are at a fairly low level of English comprehension, so I have to make my lessons and tests fairly easy. As I was grading the tests I realized that a couple of the questions were a bit too hard, so I felt kind of bad. But the other questions were not and I was very disappointed in the overall scores.
The test material included my self-introduction and greetings from around the world. One of my self-intro questions was "Kate is from the city of Columbus in the state of Ohio." The "l" in Columbus and the "hi" in Ohio were left blank. Students had to fill in the letters. These sounds, especially the "l," are very difficult for them. Still, I thought that this question wasn't too hard since most of the word had been given to them. I was wrong because quite a few students left that question blank or gave the wrong answer. The funniest answer was "Kate is from the city of Corumbus in the state of Oreo."
One of the greetings from around the world questions included a map of the world with a few countries numbered, including the US. Students had to label the US and a few of them could not do this. Instead they labeled it as Canada, South America, and even Tibet. I was baffled as to why 100% of them did not answer the question correctly. I guess that kids can be ignorant everywhere because many American students probably can't point to Japan on a map.
We'll see how the next test goes...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Let them eat pancakes!
I had my first visitors a week ago when my sister's friends made a stop in Kanazawa. (See pic below with two guys on the left.) I had never met either of them before, but agreed to meet up with them for dinner and what turned into a fun night of karaoke. I can't believe I typed those words, but yes, I did have fun at karaoke. I won't sing by myself, but will scream along to "Say It Ain't So" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" when prodded.
My friends and I took them to an okonomiyake restaurant for dinner. Okonomiyake are Japanese "pancakes," but are nothing like American pancakes. These are made of flour, water, shredded cabbage, ginger, egg, and the meat, seafood, vegetables, or tofu of your choice. They are so yummy and it's fun to show newcomers how to make them.
One of my friends will show you step-by-step how they're made:
First grease up the grill, then mix your ingredients thoroughly, otherwise your pancakes will taste like crap. We found this out the hard way our first time.
Then put half of your mixture on the grill with your meat, seafood, or in my case tofu, next to it. You can see an egg is also cooking next to one of the pancakes. This was a bit premature and is not recommended until after the pancake is nearly finished.
Next put your cooked meat, etc., on top of the cooking mixture, followed by the remaining mixture.
Make sure your pancake is nearly ready on both sides, then cook the egg next to it. When the egg is ready, put it on top of the pancake, then top with a soy-based brown sauce and mayonnaise. (I skip the mayo because I am not of fan, especially of the Japanese kind.)
My friends and I took them to an okonomiyake restaurant for dinner. Okonomiyake are Japanese "pancakes," but are nothing like American pancakes. These are made of flour, water, shredded cabbage, ginger, egg, and the meat, seafood, vegetables, or tofu of your choice. They are so yummy and it's fun to show newcomers how to make them.
One of my friends will show you step-by-step how they're made:
First grease up the grill, then mix your ingredients thoroughly, otherwise your pancakes will taste like crap. We found this out the hard way our first time.
Then put half of your mixture on the grill with your meat, seafood, or in my case tofu, next to it. You can see an egg is also cooking next to one of the pancakes. This was a bit premature and is not recommended until after the pancake is nearly finished.
Next put your cooked meat, etc., on top of the cooking mixture, followed by the remaining mixture.
Make sure your pancake is nearly ready on both sides, then cook the egg next to it. When the egg is ready, put it on top of the pancake, then top with a soy-based brown sauce and mayonnaise. (I skip the mayo because I am not of fan, especially of the Japanese kind.)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
I'm a believer in the problem solving powers of Starbucks
I never frequented Starbucks while at home, but have found myself there quite a bit since arriving in Japan. There seems to be one on every block in the city center (just like home) and it's become a super convenient meeting place. The workers at one particular Starbucks also seem to have the ability to solve a variety of problems—even though they barely speak English and most of my friends and I barely speak Japanese.
I went to a furniture store last weekend to buy a few things so I wouldn't feel like I was living in some guy's apartment, which I basically am since the last couple teachers in my position were men, and the apartment and the crap in it have been passed down with the job. (By crap, I do mean crap, but will get to that in another post.)
My friends and I do not have cars and are at the mercy of public transportation or our bikes. This can be a problem when purchasing large objects or just a lot of stuff, which we did at this place. One friend can speak Japanese fairly well, so she was able to arrange to have our stuff delivered. Amazingly I only had to pay $9 for that service! It was worth it, except for the hassle a couple days later when all of my stuff was delivered except for a large mirror. I was able to speak enough Japanese to communicate that the mirror was missing and understand that I had to call a number the next day to sort it out.
So I left my apartment to meet friends for dinner. We were meeting at Starbucks, of course, and I received a phone call from a man who did not speak English right before I arrived. I told him in Japanese that I did not speak Japanese and he, in turn, told me in English that he did not speak English. We weren't able to communicate anything else, but he would not hang up. I arrived at Starbucks while on the phone with him, passed the phone to my friend who does not speak Japanese either, then started asking everyone there if they spoke English. One high school student said he spoke a little, but wasn't able to help after I passed him the phone.
Finally a Starbucks employee who spoke a "little English" came over. I gave him the phone and hallelujah! he was able to translate enough to tell me that another driver had shown up at my apartment with the mirror and wanted to know when I would be home. We sorted out a time and I was able to get my mirror that night.
The moral of the story is that not being able to speak the language of the country you're living in stinks, but fear not! Starbucks may be an evil organization in some ways, but can help with much more than coffee. This is not the first time Starbucks has saved the day. And I'm sure it won't be the last.
I went to a furniture store last weekend to buy a few things so I wouldn't feel like I was living in some guy's apartment, which I basically am since the last couple teachers in my position were men, and the apartment and the crap in it have been passed down with the job. (By crap, I do mean crap, but will get to that in another post.)
My friends and I do not have cars and are at the mercy of public transportation or our bikes. This can be a problem when purchasing large objects or just a lot of stuff, which we did at this place. One friend can speak Japanese fairly well, so she was able to arrange to have our stuff delivered. Amazingly I only had to pay $9 for that service! It was worth it, except for the hassle a couple days later when all of my stuff was delivered except for a large mirror. I was able to speak enough Japanese to communicate that the mirror was missing and understand that I had to call a number the next day to sort it out.
So I left my apartment to meet friends for dinner. We were meeting at Starbucks, of course, and I received a phone call from a man who did not speak English right before I arrived. I told him in Japanese that I did not speak Japanese and he, in turn, told me in English that he did not speak English. We weren't able to communicate anything else, but he would not hang up. I arrived at Starbucks while on the phone with him, passed the phone to my friend who does not speak Japanese either, then started asking everyone there if they spoke English. One high school student said he spoke a little, but wasn't able to help after I passed him the phone.
Finally a Starbucks employee who spoke a "little English" came over. I gave him the phone and hallelujah! he was able to translate enough to tell me that another driver had shown up at my apartment with the mirror and wanted to know when I would be home. We sorted out a time and I was able to get my mirror that night.
The moral of the story is that not being able to speak the language of the country you're living in stinks, but fear not! Starbucks may be an evil organization in some ways, but can help with much more than coffee. This is not the first time Starbucks has saved the day. And I'm sure it won't be the last.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Omiyage gallery
Omiyage are gifts given when invited to dinner or a party or, in the case of everything I've shot, food stuffs brought back for your co-workers after going on a trip. The teachers will usually bring back a box of small packaged sweets that can easily be shared amongst the others. Omiyage was overflowing my first couple weeks of school due to summer vacations and long school sports trips.
Most of what I tried was mediocre. The Japanese seem to love sweet bean desserts, but I can't say that I'm a big fan. What I didn't try involved seafood, including cookies made with "delicious clams," as my co-worker said. Cookies and seafood never occurred to me as a good combination, but I guess I have been proven wrong.
Below are some of the things I sampled (and some I didn't).
Above is banana cake that wasn't bad. It was one of the better cakey things I've had here.
Above is something that reminded me of a dry English muffin filled with sweet bean paste. It was OK, but not a favorite.
The cracker above is something I didn't try as it contained the previously mentioned delicious clam.
The leaf shaped cakes above contained sweet bean paste like the "English muffin," but the outside was more like cake and was therefore better, in my opinion.
The gelatinous bean thing above was packaged really beautifully, but wasn't a love.
The orange gelatinous ball (above right) was amazingly good. It tasted like pumpkin and was therefore great. Anything that tastes like pumpkin is good in my book. The green rectangle tasted like sweet potato and was not as good, but still enjoyable.
The best sweet I've had here by far is the ginger cookie pictured above. It beats ginger snaps and gingerbread by miles.
The cupcake above did not compare to cupcakes from home. I was slightly disappointed. And the cookie to its right was just OK as well.
The sweet rolls above were really good. They were filled with some sort of cream and packaged really nicely. (As all omiyage sweets are.)
I didn't try the cookies above, but thought they were really cute.
Last, but not least, is the mandarin flavored sweet. This was really very good. It's sitting on top of my Japanese text book, which has not been getting very much mileage since school started. Also pictured is a fan, which is a necessity in the summer.
Most of what I tried was mediocre. The Japanese seem to love sweet bean desserts, but I can't say that I'm a big fan. What I didn't try involved seafood, including cookies made with "delicious clams," as my co-worker said. Cookies and seafood never occurred to me as a good combination, but I guess I have been proven wrong.
Below are some of the things I sampled (and some I didn't).
Above is banana cake that wasn't bad. It was one of the better cakey things I've had here.
Above is something that reminded me of a dry English muffin filled with sweet bean paste. It was OK, but not a favorite.
The cracker above is something I didn't try as it contained the previously mentioned delicious clam.
The leaf shaped cakes above contained sweet bean paste like the "English muffin," but the outside was more like cake and was therefore better, in my opinion.
The gelatinous bean thing above was packaged really beautifully, but wasn't a love.
The orange gelatinous ball (above right) was amazingly good. It tasted like pumpkin and was therefore great. Anything that tastes like pumpkin is good in my book. The green rectangle tasted like sweet potato and was not as good, but still enjoyable.
The best sweet I've had here by far is the ginger cookie pictured above. It beats ginger snaps and gingerbread by miles.
The cupcake above did not compare to cupcakes from home. I was slightly disappointed. And the cookie to its right was just OK as well.
The sweet rolls above were really good. They were filled with some sort of cream and packaged really nicely. (As all omiyage sweets are.)
I didn't try the cookies above, but thought they were really cute.
Last, but not least, is the mandarin flavored sweet. This was really very good. It's sitting on top of my Japanese text book, which has not been getting very much mileage since school started. Also pictured is a fan, which is a necessity in the summer.
Veggie heaven!
I have been starved for good vegetarian food since I arrived and am tired of going to restaurants and having to explain what I can and can't eat, only to be served something with pork or shrimp. People here don't get it. Pork is not considered to be meat by some, which is ridiculous. It runs around on four legs and has to be slaughtered like other animals, doesn't it? That is my rant for today... All of my frustration was disappeared for a while yesterday after 2 bus rides, 15 minutes of walking around lost, a phone call to the restaurant for directions, then finally getting PICKED UP by one of the owners, only to realize during the very short car trip that we had walked pass the restaurant and not noticed it because it is nondescript and off the beaten path. The restaurant in question is macrobiotic, vegan and serves amazing food. And I could eat everything on the menu without fear of pork making an unwanted appearance!
I went with two friends—one a fellow veggie and the other a carnivore. Below is a pic of our meal. It consisted of miso soup, organic brown rice, soy chicken, daikon salad (daikon is a yummy Japanese radish), seaweed salad, and some other stuff I could not name. It was all delicious... But it's too bad (or maybe a good thing) that it's a pain for me to get to, because I could easily go there several times a week.
Sorry for the boring post, but I had to share the joy :)
I went with two friends—one a fellow veggie and the other a carnivore. Below is a pic of our meal. It consisted of miso soup, organic brown rice, soy chicken, daikon salad (daikon is a yummy Japanese radish), seaweed salad, and some other stuff I could not name. It was all delicious... But it's too bad (or maybe a good thing) that it's a pain for me to get to, because I could easily go there several times a week.
Sorry for the boring post, but I had to share the joy :)
Sunday, September 16, 2007
My weekend and other random stories...
I've been teaching for 2 weeks now and I can't say whether I like it or not. It's not bad, but in the long run it may not be for me. It's really up and down and some classes go really well, while others do not. This could happen for many reasons: the students could care less about me or the material, I could be doing a better job, and/or the students are just having one of those days and the class won't go well no matter what I try to do. Overall the students are cool though.
My first lesson was a self-introduction where I spoke about myself and showed pictures and objects. The students also made name cards to help me learn their names. That in itself will be a great feat if it ever happens because I teach about 450 students per week and their names are difficult for me to pronounce, let alone remember. The name cards are really cool though. Most of the cards are really colorful and fun, especially the girls' cards. Below are pics showing the front of the cards with the students' first names and the back of the cards showing their class names. (Students are divided into 4 main classes or courses of study: architecture, civil engineering, information something-or-other which includes video editing and animation, and machinery.)
My second lesson was about greetings around the world. I told the students about different greetings and showed pics or demonstrated as necessary. Then we played a version of jeopardy that included questions about the material we had just reviewed as well as questions about languages (What language do people speak in France?) and countries (I showed the students maps and asked them the names of specific countries). The sample questions might sound dumb, especially if since my students are in high school, but you have to remember that English is not their first language and the questions were a bit difficult for some of them. They had already learned the names of countries and the languages spoken there in English, but that had been a few years ago, so they had to dig deep in order to answer the questions correctly. Some of my classes did well and the students were participating and got into the game. Others classes did not and some of the students just stared at me like I was an alien. It was all I could do to get them to participate and answer questions.
My favorite classes continue to be the ones that are all boys, as well as two classes of 6 students each, which are mostly girls. My largest class is 36 students with boys and girls and it's sometimes hard to control—mainly because the girls like to talk, even when I'm speaking.
School has been more work than I thought it would be and last week I had to work on my lesson plans almost every night after work. Hopefully this will stop happening after I become better and faster at making the lessons. I also spend more time then is probably necessary designing handouts—not that I would put them in my portfolio, because they're not that great. But they are better than the stuff my predecessor put together and I couldn't still call myself a designer if I didn't care a little bit about how they looked.
This weekend was a much needed long weekend. Monday was "Respect for the Aged Day" and a day off. Long weekends mean that most ALTs travel, and I wasn't an exception. My weekend was super busy and started with a big welcome party thrown by my school. It was at an Italian restaurant and the food was amazing. The only problem was that the staff didn't understand that vegetarians do NOT eat fish, so the first plate that came my way had a big piece of fried fish on it. It wasn't obvious that it was fish, so I took a bite and then realized what I was eating. It wasn't horrible, but I still have no desire to add fish to my diet. My supervisor had to speak to one of the waiters to ensure that the rest of my meal was, indeed, vegetarian.
About 28 teachers, including the principal and one of the vice principals, came. It was so much fun and I regret not being able to speak Japanese because I wasn't able to have real conversations with most of them. Below are some pics, including one of an all veggie dish prepared especially for me.
After dinner a small group of us went to a hostess bar where we had whiskey and water (horrible), some snacks (not bad), and did karaoke. It was my second time karaoking in Japan, but my first time doing so with Japanese people. It was fun to watch and listen to them—even if I couldn't understand what they were singing. I sang a couple of songs with two of the teachers. One was an Elvis song. The other was Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." I was terrible and got into a laughing fit for that reason during "Uptown Girl." The teachers on the other hand all had great voices and took karaoke very seriously. After every song, the computer gave the singer(s) a score and most were very good.
Saturday I met up with four friends and went to a town about an hour south of Kanazawa called Fukui. We spent Saturday and Sunday going to a dinosaur museum, a Buddhist temple, and come cliffs where an evil Buddhist priest was supposedly thrown to his death by angry villagers in 1182. Below is a pic taken from the top of the cliffs. (Click on it for a larger view.)
Other pics can be viewed on my Flickr site by going to this url:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90319390@N00/sets/72157602052275177/
So that was my weekend. Tomorrow I begin teaching some new lessons. Wish me luck! Next weekend is another long weekend, which I am looking forward to because I will be in Kyoto with friends :)
My first lesson was a self-introduction where I spoke about myself and showed pictures and objects. The students also made name cards to help me learn their names. That in itself will be a great feat if it ever happens because I teach about 450 students per week and their names are difficult for me to pronounce, let alone remember. The name cards are really cool though. Most of the cards are really colorful and fun, especially the girls' cards. Below are pics showing the front of the cards with the students' first names and the back of the cards showing their class names. (Students are divided into 4 main classes or courses of study: architecture, civil engineering, information something-or-other which includes video editing and animation, and machinery.)
My second lesson was about greetings around the world. I told the students about different greetings and showed pics or demonstrated as necessary. Then we played a version of jeopardy that included questions about the material we had just reviewed as well as questions about languages (What language do people speak in France?) and countries (I showed the students maps and asked them the names of specific countries). The sample questions might sound dumb, especially if since my students are in high school, but you have to remember that English is not their first language and the questions were a bit difficult for some of them. They had already learned the names of countries and the languages spoken there in English, but that had been a few years ago, so they had to dig deep in order to answer the questions correctly. Some of my classes did well and the students were participating and got into the game. Others classes did not and some of the students just stared at me like I was an alien. It was all I could do to get them to participate and answer questions.
My favorite classes continue to be the ones that are all boys, as well as two classes of 6 students each, which are mostly girls. My largest class is 36 students with boys and girls and it's sometimes hard to control—mainly because the girls like to talk, even when I'm speaking.
School has been more work than I thought it would be and last week I had to work on my lesson plans almost every night after work. Hopefully this will stop happening after I become better and faster at making the lessons. I also spend more time then is probably necessary designing handouts—not that I would put them in my portfolio, because they're not that great. But they are better than the stuff my predecessor put together and I couldn't still call myself a designer if I didn't care a little bit about how they looked.
This weekend was a much needed long weekend. Monday was "Respect for the Aged Day" and a day off. Long weekends mean that most ALTs travel, and I wasn't an exception. My weekend was super busy and started with a big welcome party thrown by my school. It was at an Italian restaurant and the food was amazing. The only problem was that the staff didn't understand that vegetarians do NOT eat fish, so the first plate that came my way had a big piece of fried fish on it. It wasn't obvious that it was fish, so I took a bite and then realized what I was eating. It wasn't horrible, but I still have no desire to add fish to my diet. My supervisor had to speak to one of the waiters to ensure that the rest of my meal was, indeed, vegetarian.
About 28 teachers, including the principal and one of the vice principals, came. It was so much fun and I regret not being able to speak Japanese because I wasn't able to have real conversations with most of them. Below are some pics, including one of an all veggie dish prepared especially for me.
After dinner a small group of us went to a hostess bar where we had whiskey and water (horrible), some snacks (not bad), and did karaoke. It was my second time karaoking in Japan, but my first time doing so with Japanese people. It was fun to watch and listen to them—even if I couldn't understand what they were singing. I sang a couple of songs with two of the teachers. One was an Elvis song. The other was Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." I was terrible and got into a laughing fit for that reason during "Uptown Girl." The teachers on the other hand all had great voices and took karaoke very seriously. After every song, the computer gave the singer(s) a score and most were very good.
Saturday I met up with four friends and went to a town about an hour south of Kanazawa called Fukui. We spent Saturday and Sunday going to a dinosaur museum, a Buddhist temple, and come cliffs where an evil Buddhist priest was supposedly thrown to his death by angry villagers in 1182. Below is a pic taken from the top of the cliffs. (Click on it for a larger view.)
Other pics can be viewed on my Flickr site by going to this url:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90319390@N00/sets/72157602052275177/
So that was my weekend. Tomorrow I begin teaching some new lessons. Wish me luck! Next weekend is another long weekend, which I am looking forward to because I will be in Kyoto with friends :)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
So maybe things won't be that bad...
Thankfully today was so much better than yesterday! I had two classes of all boys, which I was worried about, that ended up being really good. The second of the two was especially good. That group of students may end up being my favorite. Things ran more smoothly. I kept modifying my lesson plan after every class to make things better... And the day is going to end really well since I'm having dinner at an Indian restaurant. Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of the week isn't horrible. I have 4 classes tomorrow and 3 on Friday....
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
First day of school!
Well technically I've been going to school for the past 4 weeks, but today was my first day teaching. I taught only one class today thankfully. It was so stressful and if you thought that the stereotype of a Japanese student was true, including paying close attention in class, being respectful of their teachers, studying constantly, etc., let me shatter that impression forever. It's so not true!!! Not at my school and not at some of my friends' schools. The kids are just like American students, except that there doesn't seem to be a problem with violence here. Other than that their attitudes are the same, their behaviour is the same, and I could go on and on. And the class I had today was supposed to be pretty good...
I hope it gets better, but I have the feeling that some of my classes are going to be hard to control. Two of my classes have 31 boys each and the other female teachers have told me that they have problems controlling them at times. That means the students don't listen to them, etc and are therefore difficult to teach.
Here is a summary of my first class:
The kids remembered who I was as well as my name, which was good, but then it went downhill a bit. I began by telling them to listen carefully because I was going to tell them about myself. I said that twice. Blank stares both times. The Japanese teacher repeated what I said in Japanese. Stares not quite as blank, but there seemed to be little interest. I told the kids about myself using simple sentences, pictures, and objects. Blank looks most of the time. They seemed somewhat interested in the picture of me and my siblings making crazy faces. A few kids kept laughing and talking off and on. Couldn't tell if they were making fun of me, but I can probably assume that some of them were, since mimicking me was involved.
After I finished, really blank looks. I asked them if they understood, as did the Japanese teacher. Really blank looks from most of the kids, but one did answer yes. We played a gambling game with true/false questions based on what I had told the kids. The Japanese teacher asked them to get into groups, which took a bit of time. I wrote sentences on the board to help them answer the questions and tell me how much they wanted to bet like "I bet $40 the answer is true." They didn't like repeating the sentences as a class. It took several times to get them to repeat the sentences audibly and somewhat clearly.
The actual game went better and they seemed to get into winning money. One kid told me "Give me money! Give me more money!" But the game took so much longer than I had expected. I had come up with 9 true/false questions and we only got through 2. Maybe 3. Can't remember. And I ran out of money (photocopies of a $20 bill) because the kids were really into betting as much money as they had. It was mostly the boys who were betting as much money as they could. If the kids won their bet, the money doubled, so on the last question the boys were betting $200 - $400. Maybe the kids understood more than I thought because most of them got the answers right, although cheating may have played a part. Japanese students also cheat! Not true you say? Wrong!!!!
Next I asked the kids to make name cards to help me remember their names. The girls really got into it and included patterns and many different colors. Most of the boys just wrote their names in plain pencil. You can definitely tell whether the card belongs to a boy or girl by the style. (I will take a picture because some of the cards are great.)
Those two activities took up the entire class. I had a third thing planned—a handout so the kids could tell me about themselves—but there was no time. So that was it. The Japanese teacher said that I did well, but I kind of disagree. So does my head, which aches. Tomorrow I have two classes. Hopefully they will run a bit smoother since I have some idea of what to expect now and have revised my lesson plan a bit.
I'm sure I will have more teaching stories very soon...
I hope it gets better, but I have the feeling that some of my classes are going to be hard to control. Two of my classes have 31 boys each and the other female teachers have told me that they have problems controlling them at times. That means the students don't listen to them, etc and are therefore difficult to teach.
Here is a summary of my first class:
The kids remembered who I was as well as my name, which was good, but then it went downhill a bit. I began by telling them to listen carefully because I was going to tell them about myself. I said that twice. Blank stares both times. The Japanese teacher repeated what I said in Japanese. Stares not quite as blank, but there seemed to be little interest. I told the kids about myself using simple sentences, pictures, and objects. Blank looks most of the time. They seemed somewhat interested in the picture of me and my siblings making crazy faces. A few kids kept laughing and talking off and on. Couldn't tell if they were making fun of me, but I can probably assume that some of them were, since mimicking me was involved.
After I finished, really blank looks. I asked them if they understood, as did the Japanese teacher. Really blank looks from most of the kids, but one did answer yes. We played a gambling game with true/false questions based on what I had told the kids. The Japanese teacher asked them to get into groups, which took a bit of time. I wrote sentences on the board to help them answer the questions and tell me how much they wanted to bet like "I bet $40 the answer is true." They didn't like repeating the sentences as a class. It took several times to get them to repeat the sentences audibly and somewhat clearly.
The actual game went better and they seemed to get into winning money. One kid told me "Give me money! Give me more money!" But the game took so much longer than I had expected. I had come up with 9 true/false questions and we only got through 2. Maybe 3. Can't remember. And I ran out of money (photocopies of a $20 bill) because the kids were really into betting as much money as they had. It was mostly the boys who were betting as much money as they could. If the kids won their bet, the money doubled, so on the last question the boys were betting $200 - $400. Maybe the kids understood more than I thought because most of them got the answers right, although cheating may have played a part. Japanese students also cheat! Not true you say? Wrong!!!!
Next I asked the kids to make name cards to help me remember their names. The girls really got into it and included patterns and many different colors. Most of the boys just wrote their names in plain pencil. You can definitely tell whether the card belongs to a boy or girl by the style. (I will take a picture because some of the cards are great.)
Those two activities took up the entire class. I had a third thing planned—a handout so the kids could tell me about themselves—but there was no time. So that was it. The Japanese teacher said that I did well, but I kind of disagree. So does my head, which aches. Tomorrow I have two classes. Hopefully they will run a bit smoother since I have some idea of what to expect now and have revised my lesson plan a bit.
I'm sure I will have more teaching stories very soon...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Omicho Market pics
I am finally posting some pics! In the last week I have been settling into life here and waiting for classes to begin. I haven't been outside of Kanazawa much, but have been visiting different sites within the city. My supervisor at school took me to Omicho Market one morning. Below are some pics. You will see that the food at the market looks very different from stuff at American markets.
Starting from the top, the first shows dried seaweed. The second is another type of seaweed. The third shows shrimp with their eggs. Some people think that pregnant shrimp taste better. The fourth is of various types of dried seafood. Don't ask me what they are because I have no idea.
I have too many market pics to post on my blog, so the rest will be posted to my Flickr site. I'll send out a link...
Starting from the top, the first shows dried seaweed. The second is another type of seaweed. The third shows shrimp with their eggs. Some people think that pregnant shrimp taste better. The fourth is of various types of dried seafood. Don't ask me what they are because I have no idea.
I have too many market pics to post on my blog, so the rest will be posted to my Flickr site. I'll send out a link...
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
I`m a lazy blogger
Well, not really. I do have valid excuses such as not having time due to 2.5 days of orientation in Tokyo, extreme jet lag and consistent lack of sleep that caused my brain to stop functioning correctly, and limited access to the Internet...
Orientation was a blur. Most of the new group of teachers were there. I think there were at least 400 of us, but am not sure. We had to attend seminars to help us with our new jobs and life in Japan. There were seminars on Japanese etiquette, being vegetarian in Japan (not as bad as I had thought, but still not easy), being a women in Japan (for a first world country women here have surprisingly little support in some ways. It`s like they`re stuck in the 1950s), and a bunch of other stuff I can`t remember. A couple things were mandatory, but we could pick and choose from the rest.
I think I am one of the older people in the group which made things annoying at times. The majority of people just graduated from college and have never had a real job or lived in the real world. Some of those people still act like they`re in college and would skip the seminars or talk the entire time during a seminar. During one I had to turn around and tell two guys to shut the hell up. (But in a much nicer way.) They gave me blank looks but stopped, then skipped out altogether during the break. Some people do not get and I hope they learn very quickly what it means to be an adult...
I had to go to a seminar for grade school teachers but found out later that I will not be teaching grade school at all, which is a bummer. But during that seminar I did learn the difference between serif and san serif fonts and also learned that comic sans is amazing and one of the best fonts ever created. (Note the sarcasm.)
About a week ago I flew to Kanazawa with the rest of my group. Everyone was jealous because my supervisor is very organized and sent me a schedule for the day. No one else had any clue what they would be doing upon arrival. I had a really full day and was a zombie by the end.
My supervisor from the Board of Education and a senior ALT met me at the airport. My supervisor is of course Japanese and I must call him Mr. Ikeda even though I`m at least 3 years older. He`s very nice, but doesn`t speak English very well.
(Note: ALT is the name of my position and the term will be used a lot in my posts. It means Assistant language teacher.)
I set up a back account, applied for my alien registration card, hung out at the Board of Education (BOE) for a bit, met the head of the BOE, met my school supervisor, had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, signed a billion lease forms and learned to write my name in Katakana, went to my apartment where the real estate agent and the gas man were waiting, went to a grocery store, then walked around my apartment like a zombie before finally passing out. This was Wednesday of last week.
I talked about an alien registration card. If you`re a foreigner in Japan, you MUST sign up for this. It`s required in order to get a cell phone, Internet access at home, and some other stuff. Of course it can take up to 3 weeks for it to arrive, so I am sans technology for a couple more weeks. It`s sad, but I feel naked without that stuff. And it`s really hard to make plans without it. Thank God for email.
The next day I walked around my place like a zombie a bit more and eventually unpacked. When I finally ventured out I got lost in my neighborhood. The streets here are completely crazy and windy and are definitely not on a grid. Many of them are dead ends and since I can`t read Japanese I am forced to find my way using landmarks. Everything kind of looks the same on your first day in a foreign place and needless to say I walked around for 45 minutes before I figured out where I was. I`m not alone though because another Kanazawa ALT did the same thing in a different part of town.
I biked into town later to meet a senior ALT for a drink and fell in love with my bike along the way. It is a borderline piece of crap and I`ve already had to put about $40 into it, but it gets the job done. I haven`t owned a bike in years because I was terrified to ride around Columbus. But here everyone has a bike and they actually prefer that you ride on the sidewalk instead of taking your chances on the street. The only problem is that there are so many lanes that branch off from the main roads that you have to watch to make sure that a car doesn`t zoom out and hit you. And the heat and humidity are horrible and you`re a nasty, dripping mess afterwards. But I still love it. I even have a basket to carry groceries in.
I biked around a bit with the senior ALT and then went to Starbucks and the GAP. Not what I should be doing while in Japan some might say, but the senior ALT wanted to go and I had no opinions that day. I just wanted to speak to someone in English.
The next day I went to school and learned that I will have nothing much to do until school begins at the end of August. I`ve basically been talking to the teachers and students, trying to study Japanese, watching the students` clubs, and getting on the internet.
Japanese schools are very different from American schools because when the kids are on summer break, they don`t have time to lay around and do nothing or get into trouble or have a summer job. Instead they spend 10-12 hours a day Monday through Friday involved in school clubs. The clubs at my school are mostly sports teams and range from sumo wrestling to archery to baseball to badminton. Can you imagine practicing and playing baseball for 10-12 hours a day? That would get old really fast and it`s so incredibly hot that you might be miserable most of the time. The only rooms that are air conditioned at school are the administrative and teachers` rooms. But I will get a taste of it once I begin teaching. The classrooms on the third floor are especially hot and stuffy.
The school is in need of repair, but they have problems getting funding for renovations just like American schools do.
Ok, this is a really long post and I think I`ll stop now. I`ll try and post some picks in the next one.
Ja mata!
Orientation was a blur. Most of the new group of teachers were there. I think there were at least 400 of us, but am not sure. We had to attend seminars to help us with our new jobs and life in Japan. There were seminars on Japanese etiquette, being vegetarian in Japan (not as bad as I had thought, but still not easy), being a women in Japan (for a first world country women here have surprisingly little support in some ways. It`s like they`re stuck in the 1950s), and a bunch of other stuff I can`t remember. A couple things were mandatory, but we could pick and choose from the rest.
I think I am one of the older people in the group which made things annoying at times. The majority of people just graduated from college and have never had a real job or lived in the real world. Some of those people still act like they`re in college and would skip the seminars or talk the entire time during a seminar. During one I had to turn around and tell two guys to shut the hell up. (But in a much nicer way.) They gave me blank looks but stopped, then skipped out altogether during the break. Some people do not get and I hope they learn very quickly what it means to be an adult...
I had to go to a seminar for grade school teachers but found out later that I will not be teaching grade school at all, which is a bummer. But during that seminar I did learn the difference between serif and san serif fonts and also learned that comic sans is amazing and one of the best fonts ever created. (Note the sarcasm.)
About a week ago I flew to Kanazawa with the rest of my group. Everyone was jealous because my supervisor is very organized and sent me a schedule for the day. No one else had any clue what they would be doing upon arrival. I had a really full day and was a zombie by the end.
My supervisor from the Board of Education and a senior ALT met me at the airport. My supervisor is of course Japanese and I must call him Mr. Ikeda even though I`m at least 3 years older. He`s very nice, but doesn`t speak English very well.
(Note: ALT is the name of my position and the term will be used a lot in my posts. It means Assistant language teacher.)
I set up a back account, applied for my alien registration card, hung out at the Board of Education (BOE) for a bit, met the head of the BOE, met my school supervisor, had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, signed a billion lease forms and learned to write my name in Katakana, went to my apartment where the real estate agent and the gas man were waiting, went to a grocery store, then walked around my apartment like a zombie before finally passing out. This was Wednesday of last week.
I talked about an alien registration card. If you`re a foreigner in Japan, you MUST sign up for this. It`s required in order to get a cell phone, Internet access at home, and some other stuff. Of course it can take up to 3 weeks for it to arrive, so I am sans technology for a couple more weeks. It`s sad, but I feel naked without that stuff. And it`s really hard to make plans without it. Thank God for email.
The next day I walked around my place like a zombie a bit more and eventually unpacked. When I finally ventured out I got lost in my neighborhood. The streets here are completely crazy and windy and are definitely not on a grid. Many of them are dead ends and since I can`t read Japanese I am forced to find my way using landmarks. Everything kind of looks the same on your first day in a foreign place and needless to say I walked around for 45 minutes before I figured out where I was. I`m not alone though because another Kanazawa ALT did the same thing in a different part of town.
I biked into town later to meet a senior ALT for a drink and fell in love with my bike along the way. It is a borderline piece of crap and I`ve already had to put about $40 into it, but it gets the job done. I haven`t owned a bike in years because I was terrified to ride around Columbus. But here everyone has a bike and they actually prefer that you ride on the sidewalk instead of taking your chances on the street. The only problem is that there are so many lanes that branch off from the main roads that you have to watch to make sure that a car doesn`t zoom out and hit you. And the heat and humidity are horrible and you`re a nasty, dripping mess afterwards. But I still love it. I even have a basket to carry groceries in.
I biked around a bit with the senior ALT and then went to Starbucks and the GAP. Not what I should be doing while in Japan some might say, but the senior ALT wanted to go and I had no opinions that day. I just wanted to speak to someone in English.
The next day I went to school and learned that I will have nothing much to do until school begins at the end of August. I`ve basically been talking to the teachers and students, trying to study Japanese, watching the students` clubs, and getting on the internet.
Japanese schools are very different from American schools because when the kids are on summer break, they don`t have time to lay around and do nothing or get into trouble or have a summer job. Instead they spend 10-12 hours a day Monday through Friday involved in school clubs. The clubs at my school are mostly sports teams and range from sumo wrestling to archery to baseball to badminton. Can you imagine practicing and playing baseball for 10-12 hours a day? That would get old really fast and it`s so incredibly hot that you might be miserable most of the time. The only rooms that are air conditioned at school are the administrative and teachers` rooms. But I will get a taste of it once I begin teaching. The classrooms on the third floor are especially hot and stuffy.
The school is in need of repair, but they have problems getting funding for renovations just like American schools do.
Ok, this is a really long post and I think I`ll stop now. I`ll try and post some picks in the next one.
Ja mata!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
I think I've arrived
It's 500am Tokyo time and I don't have to be up for 2 more hours, but I haven't been able to sleep. Fortunately I'm not alone and there are a ton of us at the hotel checking email, ironing our suits, calling home.
About 150 of us flew directly from New York City to Tokyo on Saturday. After a 14 hour flight, we arrived around 200pm Tokyo time on Sunday (1am NYC). I managed to finish Harry Potter on the plane, so if anyone wants to discuss, please email me!
It was amazingly easy and fairly quick to grab our stuff, go through customs, and go to the hotel, after which I was thoroughly exhausted. I forced to make myself stay awake until 930pm and walked around with a big group of people. We had dinner at an udon shop. Vegetarian options are limited in Japan, but I was able to get a bowl of udon with radish and a seaweed salad. A little boy walked passed our table a couple of times to get a look at what the foreigners were eating. He wasn't very subtle about it and was pretty funny.
I haven't seen much of Tokyo yet, but will have by the time I leave on Wednesday. I still don't feel like I'm here, and probably won't until after I arrive in Kanazawa. My first impressions of the city are that it is amazingly quiet and clean, especially considering how many people live here.
I'll be in Tokyo for orientation until Wednesday, then will fly to Kanazawa and have a full day of meeting my teachers and principals, setting up bank accounts, etc.
Sorry, but I won't be able to post pics until I'm able to use my computer. Might be later this week.
Sayonara!
About 150 of us flew directly from New York City to Tokyo on Saturday. After a 14 hour flight, we arrived around 200pm Tokyo time on Sunday (1am NYC). I managed to finish Harry Potter on the plane, so if anyone wants to discuss, please email me!
It was amazingly easy and fairly quick to grab our stuff, go through customs, and go to the hotel, after which I was thoroughly exhausted. I forced to make myself stay awake until 930pm and walked around with a big group of people. We had dinner at an udon shop. Vegetarian options are limited in Japan, but I was able to get a bowl of udon with radish and a seaweed salad. A little boy walked passed our table a couple of times to get a look at what the foreigners were eating. He wasn't very subtle about it and was pretty funny.
I haven't seen much of Tokyo yet, but will have by the time I leave on Wednesday. I still don't feel like I'm here, and probably won't until after I arrive in Kanazawa. My first impressions of the city are that it is amazingly quiet and clean, especially considering how many people live here.
I'll be in Tokyo for orientation until Wednesday, then will fly to Kanazawa and have a full day of meeting my teachers and principals, setting up bank accounts, etc.
Sorry, but I won't be able to post pics until I'm able to use my computer. Might be later this week.
Sayonara!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Japan ho!
The countdown has really begun! I fly to Japan in less than two weeks—July 28 to be exact. I alternate between being super stressed out and really excited. So far I'm not nervous, but I'm sure that will change.
For anyone unaware of my placement, I will be on the west coast of the main island (Honshu) in a town called Kanazawa. The population is about 450,000 and it's supposed to be a cool city. Read about it here: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/ishikawa/kanazawa.html.
I will take over the job and apartment of a Kiwi guy who has been there for two years. The apartment is a decent size by Japan standards. The Kiwi guy has been super nice and helpful and sent pics:
It was mostly furnished when he arrived, save a bed and a few other items which I purchased from him. It looks pretty cute from what I can tell, but we shall see.
As for my job, I will be teaching at a technical high school. The students study architecture, some types of engineering, and computer science. It's a low academic school because the students will not go on to university, and instead work immediately in their chosen profession or go to another technical school for more training. For me this means that some of the kids could care less about learning a language they will never use. The stereotype of the perfect, attentive Japanese student is not entirely true whether in a technical school or college prep high school. I may have to deal with a lot of apathy, although I'm hoping the kids are better behaved than the worst American students.
The school is 75% boys and I'll teach up to 600 14- to 16-year olds a week. "Teaching" means that I will assist 5 Japanese English language teachers. It will be a team-teaching environment so I'll help prepare lessons, instruct the class, and grade tests and homework among other things. I have no prior teaching experience, so we'll see how this goes. And my English ain't so good, so the kids might be speaking like hillbillies by the end of the year.
That's it in a nutshell. I could say a lot more, but I'm bored by this blog thingy already and maybe should hold back info to wet your appetites for the next post... I promise to post on a regular basis though. (Or try at least.) Feel free to add comments or email me.
Dewa mata! (Roughly: See you again)
For anyone unaware of my placement, I will be on the west coast of the main island (Honshu) in a town called Kanazawa. The population is about 450,000 and it's supposed to be a cool city. Read about it here: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/ishikawa/kanazawa.html.
I will take over the job and apartment of a Kiwi guy who has been there for two years. The apartment is a decent size by Japan standards. The Kiwi guy has been super nice and helpful and sent pics:
It was mostly furnished when he arrived, save a bed and a few other items which I purchased from him. It looks pretty cute from what I can tell, but we shall see.
As for my job, I will be teaching at a technical high school. The students study architecture, some types of engineering, and computer science. It's a low academic school because the students will not go on to university, and instead work immediately in their chosen profession or go to another technical school for more training. For me this means that some of the kids could care less about learning a language they will never use. The stereotype of the perfect, attentive Japanese student is not entirely true whether in a technical school or college prep high school. I may have to deal with a lot of apathy, although I'm hoping the kids are better behaved than the worst American students.
The school is 75% boys and I'll teach up to 600 14- to 16-year olds a week. "Teaching" means that I will assist 5 Japanese English language teachers. It will be a team-teaching environment so I'll help prepare lessons, instruct the class, and grade tests and homework among other things. I have no prior teaching experience, so we'll see how this goes. And my English ain't so good, so the kids might be speaking like hillbillies by the end of the year.
That's it in a nutshell. I could say a lot more, but I'm bored by this blog thingy already and maybe should hold back info to wet your appetites for the next post... I promise to post on a regular basis though. (Or try at least.) Feel free to add comments or email me.
Dewa mata! (Roughly: See you again)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)