D-day has arrived...kinda, sort've

And by D-day, I mean decision day. I recently (yesterday), got my contract renewal survey in the mail. This survey basically asks me whether or not I want to stay in Japan for another year of teaching or if I want to decline and return to the states. There are also a few other options; 3-months, 6-months and a 9-months renewal. My gut reaction upon getting this in the mail was basically just a feeling of pressure. There are still 5 months left on my current contract but the company is only giving me until the 21st of April to make this decision. Part of me thinks that's crazy because a lot can happen in 5 months and feelings can change. However, I know they have a lot of work to do on their side with finding a new replacement teacher and processing various visa and immigration paperwork. Needless to say, I'm feeling a bit anxious about this decision and I'm quite torn as well.

Why am I torn? Well, as many of you know, I really like Japan and I have for a long time. I've spent a large part of my life (more than I'd sometimes like to admit) trying to find a way to get over here. So I found that way and here I am. Now, is it everything I thought it would be? Not exactly. I don't have the freedom I thought I'd have in terms of traveling the country and I'm in a rural location. I'm not opposed to countryside Japan, but I definitely have a desire to be somewhere a little more urban, especially considering I've gotten used to that coming here from Los Angeles. I just find it more exciting. So what am I getting at? Well, I've applied for a marketing job in Tokyo and I'm pretty darn sure that if I got it, I wouldn't hesitate to take it. It's quite rare to find a job here in Japan that isn't as an English instructor and still pays well (for us foreigners anyway). The way I feel now is that if I don't get a job somewhere more urban (Tokyo or even Osaka for example), that I'll more than likely be heading back to LA. (By the way, I'm listening to Perfume's most recent album "JPN" as I write this post. It's quite catchy electro J-pop). Another option I'm considering is applying to GABA. It's still teaching, but it's got plenty of locations in Tokyo. You can create your own schedule and it's one-on-one instruction, which I think suits me better than a full class of screaming children. I do enjoy teaching English, but to those that really want to learn and have a genuine interest. Not so much for a group of kids where a majority of them are there because their parents want them to be there and they themselves hate it. So the idea of teaching someone who paid their own hard-earned money to learn English from a private instructor really intrigues me and I think it could be far more rewarding.

I've had very interesting experiences here in Japan so far; some bad and some good. I know for certain now that teaching large groups of children English isn't in my blood, so to speak, but that's something I'd never have known if I hadn't tried. I simply don't have the patience for it and I know that about myself. No big deal, it just is what it is. Some people aren't cut out for construction jobs...you get my point. Per usual, I'll keep you all informed as to my next step, but for now, keep hanging on to the edge of your seat.

My train's home are often like this.

My boy Matt runnin' his crepe shop.

French salad flavored chips. Umm...

This makes me laugh...though I'm not sure why.

Damn I look good here.

I don't remember what this tasted like.

The double-down! Named the Double Chicken Fillet here.

It is what it is.

Matt gettin' ready to do work.

Korean snackies. Topoki...sweet and spicy...oh and tasty!

End of the School Year

So today was the last class of unit 11, which is the final term in our school's curriculum. That being said, the new classes start in April. Now they aren't exactly new classes exactly, because it's really the same curriculum I've been teaching all along, but with the same students "graduating" to a different curriculum. Good Lord, did that make any sense? I may or may not have mentioned that our school's curriculum is color-coded, with each class being a different color (Aqua, Lavender, Violet, etc.). Orange is where students begin when they're old enough to manage a textbook, so when "orange" students have done all 11 terms, they "graduate" to Lime class, which is the next step up in the curriculum. This is all just a really long way of saying that starting in April, I'll be doing what I've been doing all along, but I'll be seeing the same students in different classes. Sure there will be a few new students here and there and maybe even a few are going to be leaving, but nothing major.

Tomorrow I'll be having going to our monthly staff meeting and will be giving a demo on one of our new curriculum. I'm no longer sweating these meetings, or even the demos, and this time I feel well enough prepared. This new curriculum is for some of the younger students and let's just say I spent a little bit of time making finger puppets for tomorrow's demo. Tomorrow is also the last staff meeting for one of my fellow native teachers, as he's quitting and will have his last day sometime in the first week of March. There was going to be a bit of a farewell dinner after the meeting, but I won't be able to make it. He called me today to officially invite me, but a friend of mine from Tokyo will be coming down here to spend my long weekend with me. He understood and said it wasn't a big deal and that since he'll still be in Japan for a while after his last day, that there's time to reschedule a dinner. I still felt a bit guilty being the only reason the farewell dinner wouldn't be going down. He did say that regardless, they'd all be going out for dinner anyway...just a regular, non-farewell dinner. My friend is going to be arriving at the train station around 6pm and since the meeting ends at 4pm, there really wouldn't be enough time for me to go to the dinner other than it being like a cameo-appearance.

I have a few ideas as to what I want to do while my friend is visiting. I'm sure we'll go around to my regular haunts and maybe even go a few places that even I have yet to visit. Strength in numbers right? Anyway, I'm just happy to have a long weekend, time to relax and good company to spend it with. Until next time!

Quite a city.

Tiny ramen shop in Fukuoka.

Fukuoka, lookin' good during winter.

Hakata station...blingin'.

Like a soup line!

English biscuits, courtesy of Ruki (a fellow NT).

It takes all kinds

I've been here in Japan long enough to observe the various types of students that one can come across in this line of work. I haven't experienced all of them, but I have a good enough understanding, thanks to conversations with other teachers sharing their experiences, to give you all a nice little rundown! Fun-ward ho!

The middle-of-the-road student: This is your everyday, run-of-the-mill type of student who is usually well-mannered, knows what he's there (in the classroom) to do, doesn't give you any shit and goes with the flow of the lesson. These students are typically calm, don't go out of their way to brown-nose, but don't ignore you either.

The SUPER genki student: These students are incredibly loud and hyper (genki roughly translates into "good spirits", and not of the alcohol type). They constantly have to be told to quiet down, threatened with having game privileges taken from them, and generally just being more than any sane person can bare for longer than an hour.

The I-can't-be-bothered student: Ahh yes, these little gems. The ones that roll their eyes, whisper "mendoukusai" (which translates into 'annoying'), every time you try to get them to do something, and clearly would rather be anywhere than in your classroom.

The nightmare student: Well, these kids are pretty much monsters in children's clothing. They are loud, they don't want to be in your classroom, they could give a crap less that you're a foreigner trying to teach them English, they bully other students, they talk back and they don't use appropriate language.

The dream student: To be honest, they "types" are too few-and-far-between, but when you have one, you wanna hold on to them and keep them in mind whenever you're dealing with "nightmare" students or "I-can't-be-bothered" students. These students are the ones that make you want to go to class and basically do what you do. They're eager to learn, to try what they've learned and genuinely seem to enjoy being in your presence and the experience they're having. 

The class clown student: Oh they students are found the world over and Japan is certainly no exception. These little turkeys are always trying to make the others laugh, usually pissing me off in the process, and to be honest, are usually more behind than the other students. Gee, why is that? Because they're too busy trying to be funny.

That's pretty much a fair rundown that covers all, or at the least the majority, of student types that you're bound to comes across with this gig. Now, as for me, with the three schools that I teach at, I'd have to say that I have mostly, "middle-of-the-road" students with a nice handful of "class clowns" and "SUPER genki" students thrown in just to keep things interesting. I do have one or two nightmare students, but it's literally just one or two so the numbers aren't high enough to ruin things completely. I also have a couple of dream students that I tend to look forward to teaching.

One of my fellow NT's has an entire class full of nightmare teenagers that don't listen to a word she says and just play with their phones instead of paying attention to the lesson. Another NT I work with just quit yesterday, after three years in the game, because he simply couldn't take "it" anymore. "It" being the disrespectful, lazy and whiny behavior from one of his schools. Apparently there was an incident the other day which served as the final straw for his camel-ish back. So yeah, it's definitely not all fun and games and the companies do a good job at selling you a pretty picture of what it's like to teaching Japanese kids English. It didn't take me long to realize I'd been sold a bill of goods. These kids aren't as respectful and nice as you thought they'd be and they're not as taken with seeing a foreigner as you might think either. Go figure.Lesson learned. Now you learned something as well!

Yep, it's bacon and it shrinks like crazy.

Umm yeah, eggs and bacon.

This is what I did with it.

Gyudon (meat/rice bowl) with fish on the sides.

Same thing, with mixed veggies on the left.

Some crazy quattro pizza I had from Domino's in Osaka.

Same deal, but this was a spicy sub sandwich.

These shots of feet always seem popular.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...just me

Yes, that's a reference to good 'ol Superman. But why? Well, I came to the aid of an old woman who clearly was in need of assistance. Let me paint you a picture...I'll take you there. It was this past Sunday, around 5pm and I had only been back in Oita since around 2 (having spent the weekend in Miyazaki...more on that later), and the weather was per usual; rainy. I wanted to go to my friend Matt's crepe restaurant, Bon App!!, but they don't open for dinner until 5:30. So I'm walking back to my apartment having killed some time out in the city and I see this old lady walking in my direction. She looks as if she's struggling to walk and sure enough, she falls right there in the road, dropping her umbrella and hitting the street. I knew she hadn't just slipped. On this road, that I often walk, there isn't a lot of people around and it can often be deserted for long periods of time. I ran over to her and immediately starting asking her if she was okay, what was wrong and if she needed an ambulance. Ya know, the basics for when you see a person in distress. She didn't even have the energy to grab her umbrella again so I knew it was bad. She could hardly catch her breath and when she did take breathes, they were raspy and seemingly difficult for her to take. She was complaining about her legs and feet and how she just couldn't walk anymore. She also had a face mask on, when had me thinking that maybe she was already feeling sick, hence the raspy breathing and lack of energy. Who the heck knows. The fact that she was struggling to take deep breathes was what had me most concerned. Anyway, I'm standing there holding her hand and using my other hand to keep her umbrella over her so she doesn't get wet. I try to walk with her, very slowly, towards the next closest business so we can get her some help from someone with real Japanese language ability. However, she just couldn't do it. We stood there for about 5 minutes until a guy on a bicycle pedaled by. I flagged him down and told him the lady was in bad shape. By God's grace he worked at the salon nearby, which is also right next to my apartment building, and he told us he had a car and he'd go get it. After getting his car, he came right back and we helped put the old lady in the car. He also told me to hop in and that he'd give me a ride back home. We made sure she was reunited with her people back at the senior center where she was staying and she thanked me profusely. I told her I was just happy she was okay. I thanked the guy for helping out as well but he said, "no, no, I should thank you". I don't think I've ever been in that position before, but I'm glad I didn't freeze up or walk the other way. It felt good to help someone in need.

In other news, I did indeed have my weekend in Miyazaki covering for another NT. How did it go? Well, it was a mixed bag. Total, I only covered five of his lessons, which again boggles my mind in that it's a total of six hours commuting time for five hours of lessons. I have to just assume the company is really short-staffed and they had no choice but to send me all that way. Nevertheless, I enjoy the hotel that they set me up at in Miyazaki and this time was really no different. Comfy as usual. I didn't care for how the NT at this school conducts the flow of their lessons. It's definitely different from my own style and you can just tell in the way the students behave and what they expect in the lesson. We simply do things differently at my schools. As for the mixed bag comment, well the first night, Friday, I had three lessons. The first was a group of 9 year olds and they were all very loud and energetic, possibly excited at the fact that they were dealing with a new foreigner. They weren't ill-mannered or anything like that, simply too hyper to listen and focus properly. The next class were 11 year olds and they were awesome. Very shy at first, but soon warmed up to me and seemed to enjoy the lesson, as did I. Last were the junior kids, around 14-15 years olds. From the get-go they were all really polite and well-behaved as they came in. They remained that way throughout the lesson and I had a good time with them. A nice way to end the day. The next day, Saturday, I only had two lessons to teach. The first being another group of 11 year olds, same lesson material as on Friday, but this group was quite different. They were really shy and a bit more behind than the other class. Meaning they simply didn't know as much. It wasn't horrible and it wasn't great, simply so-so. The last class was a group of 7 year olds and it was only four boys, but my God, what a nightmare group of boys to have. These guys were like animals that had broken out of the zoo and weren't gonna be calming down without a tranquilizer. I did my best with them, but it was certainly an exercise in patience. I'm not sure how much English they retained but to be honest, all I could think of was how happy I was to not have that class every month.

An interesting past week to say the least and thus the remainder of March is at my regular schools with another week of coverage for an NT. Oh how I hope it's the last bit of covering I do for a while. This month is also the last month of the year, curriculum wise, as the new school year starts in April. That means that in April, I'll have new classes at each of my schools with my current students "graduating" to the new curriculum level. Same kids, just in different classes learning different stuff. We'll see what happens and you can be sure I'll post about it.

A pizza flavored steamed bun. Mediocre.

This is what a microwaved pizza looks like.

The bag reads, "Happy Salt" flavor. Not bad.

One of my JT's teaching.

Ditto.

Meh, it was alright I guess.

A fellow NT attempting to send money home at the bank.

Who needs a leap year?

Here it is, the 29th of February all because of a leap year. I for one wouldn't have minded a day being shaved off the month. Alas, here it is and it's nearly over so I'll stop whining. What a February it's been! Quite exhausting to be perfectly honest. That's mostly because I'm used to teaching three weeks out of the month but February saw me teaching all four weeks of the month due to covering for another teacher who was vacationing back in his home country of Australia. I wasn't really worried, and continue to not be worried, about having to cover for other teachers. I've adopted the mindset that covering isn't so bad because the kids can fall on one of two sides of the coin; they're either really nice and excited to see a new foreign face, or they may be rude and obnoxious because you aren't their normal teacher. Now why isn't that so bad? Well, if they're excited about you, the classes kick butt and the time flies, and if the kids are terrible little monsters, well guess what? You probably never have to see them again as the odds of covering for the same teacher at that same school are slim-to-none.The school I was covering at was a mixed bag. There were some classes where the kids were shy because they didn't know me, but once I showed them I came in peace, they warmed up to me and the lessons went well. This past Saturday however, I had a Lavender class (our classes our color-coded) with three students. Beforehand I told myself, "this will be no problem...three students, piece of cake", but alas, my motivational speech to myself was far from the truth. These three kids were some of the rudest, most ill-behaved, disrespectful children I've come across. They were lazy, they complained about everything, and the hour couldn't pass fast enough. For sure, when it was over, I thought, "thank God that's not one of my regular classes". It was a fairly easy week of coverage all said, and I walk away mostly unscathed.

As for my regular schools, I just finished up teaching at one of them. I know what you're thinking, "but Jason, it's only Wednesday. what's the deal?". Well reader, my schedule got all switched away due to my supervisor having a compulsion to mix things up for no good reason. So I have tomorrow (Thursday) off, when I typically have three classes to teach. Instead, my JT for this school is teaching those lessons. Huh? Then on Friday I'm taking the three-hour train ride to Miyazaki to cover for another NT who is traveling back to New Zealand for vacation. Another NT will be teaching my regular Friday classes at my regular school. Say what? So yeah, I'll be in Miyazaki teaching this NT's three classes, staying overnight in a hotel, then teaching two of his classes on Saturday, staying another night and then coming back to Oita. Again, I don't mind covering, especially since this NT is a cool dude and I actually like the hotel stay. It's a nice change of pace and the hotel is awesome (I've been there before, having covered for another Miyazaki NT months before). I know it sounds simple, but I like sleeping in a regular bed after having spent all this time on a futon. It stills boggle the mind having a teacher (me) commute three hours by train, requiring a hotel stay, for three lessons. I guess those types of decisions are outside my pay grade. Continuing on with the topic of coverage, I'll be teaching four weeks again this month, covering for another NT during the third week in March. At this point you must be thinking, "are you the only one they get to cover?", and I'd tell you, I'm thinking the same thing. It's a bit obnoxious at times, especially if I think too much about why they can't find someone else. All I know is that I'm planning to take some days off and someone will have to cover for me. It goes both ways.

So that's how things are shaping up and how things have looked since my last past. I'm passing the time with Fringe (almost done with season 2) and my new obsession, Adventure Time. That cartoon is awesome and I'm not really a cartoon guy. I also ordered FIFA 12 and Final Fantasy IV Collection for my PSP, which should be arriving tomorrow, so that the commuting is much more tolerable. Until next time.

Two of my fellow NT packin' it up after a meeting.

A fellow NT...doing something.

My supervisor schoolin' an NT.

Chicken sandwich with an odd, yet delicious, tasting shake.

Spicy little rice crackers.

K-ON!! promotional goods from Lotteria.

Yep.

This is from K-ON!! as well.

See what I mean?

Sandwich lunch pack. Custard filled. Very odd.

 

Wakai!

What does, "wakai", mean? Hmm, it's used to say something, or someone, looks young. So what does it have to do with me or this blog? Well, I've been hearing that word a lot lately as I've been meeting new people. When people find our how old I am, 31 for all of those unaware, they say, "wakai!", meaning that I look a lot younger than my actual age. It's actually a pretty awesome thing to hear to be honest with you. I'm hearing it from students and other Japanese people I meet. One person in particular told me, "we Japanese think that many foreigners look much older than their age, so I'm surprised!". Yay for me and my baby-face syndrome.

Oh, so I just recently wrapped up what I've deemed, "the longest week", this past Saturday and it was a near-death experience. My last post did say, "next week will kill me", if you recall. Sure, I'm exaggerating a bit, but doesn't a little exaggeration always make things more interesting? It all started on Monday, at my furthest away school (a near 2-hour commute each way), with classes having parent observations for the entire week. So I had P.O.'s on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then Thursday is typically my day off for this school's week but I had to cover at another school for a teacher who was out of the country due to personal issues. To make matters worse (getting screwed out of my day off), I also had P.O.'s at this other teachers school. Let me just say, P.O.'s are already awkward because there's a row of parents lined up against the wall watching you teach their children and you're trying to act like they aren't there. Now picture that in a situation where the students and parents both have no idea who you are and you have a SUPER awkward experience. I somehow made it out of that unscathed and it was back to my regular school and P.O.'s on Friday. Now keep in mind, I get home from this long-commute school around 11pm and it's near impossible for me to fall asleep right away. I need to unwind, eat something, take a shower and then hit the hay. Friday night was rough because I knew I had to get up at 5:45am in order to catch a 7:06am train to my school for 10am classes. I couldn't fall asleep, because my mind races, and didn't do so until around 3am. You do the math. Total exhaustion. Normally I don't have classes that early, but the company is in the middle of it's, "Spring Campaign", which is where we try to get new students to enroll. How do we do that? By giving demo lessons (basically a free lesson) to potential new students to show them what they'd be signing up for. Again, the parents are there watching and it's quite awkward cause these kids have no idea what goes on in the classroom and they're just staring at you clueless. I had two hours of demo lessons, from 10am to 12pm, then I had a 1 hour break, with my regular classes starting back up at 1:15pm. From 1:15pm to 4:45pm I had my three regular lessons with yep, you guess it...P.O.'s. My first class, Green class with little 4 year old kids, was weirder than usual because they all had stage fright, so to speak, having to do things in front of their parents. To make matters worse, the parents were filming the class, which the company says they aren't allowed to do (but you try telling them that). Thankfully, my last class of the day went really well and it was just fun. After they all left, I went back into drained-mode and could only think about sleep. I did just that, falling asleep at 8:30 Saturday night and waking up at 10am Sunday morning, batteries recharged.

However, the excitement of having a day off was hampered by the fact that I'd be traveling two hours north on Monday to cover at Nakatsu for another teacher who is on vacation. No rest for the white man. I opted to spend the extra yen today to get an express train ticket to Nakatsu, thus making my train ride only an hour instead of the cheaper, local train ticket price, which makes for a 2 hour ride. I get to Nakatsu and yeah, it's a sleepy town but the classroom I was covering at was big, clean and pretty darn nice. I only had to teach two classes, which would be super awesome if it weren't for the fact that the last class of the day was one that I'd never taught before called Peptalk. The first class went really well and the kids were well behaved, I'm thinking they were just excited to see a different native teacher, but the Peptalk class was a mixed bag. I had a really talkative boy that was super-nice and happy to chat with me, but that was the problem; he chatted too much. Then there was two really smart girls with the same name, a really shy girl and a girl that just didn't try. The material for this class is pretty lame and this unit I was teaching them about giving compliments to friends and family. You may or may not know that the Japanese have a bit of a reputation for being shy and quiet. This can be quite true, especially if they're put on the spot to give compliments! Regardless, I somehow made it through and there I was, alone on the train platform, the only one hopping on the express train from Nakatsu bound for Oita. I have tomorrow and the next day off. I plan to enjoy a Fringe marathon (currently on season 2) and I'm pondering the purchase of a 3DS. By golly I think I've earned it.

This stuff was TOO dry for me.

Salt and Mayo chips. Oddly enough, super tasty.

Make your own gooey candy!

It taste like total crap.

I made sausage curry with cheese. Looks like deuce, tastes like yum-yum!

Super flippin' hot chips.

For the first time

My post title is referring to the fact that yesterday, for the first time, I actually realized that there are some students of mine that I'll really miss seeing when this adventure comes to an end. I hadn't really had that moment yet; that thought, but there I was, laying in bed, thinking about the students that I enjoy seeing, teaching and interacting with. Obviously, this is a good thing but it's not without a negative side. Maybe not so much negative as it is bittersweet. It's great that I'm finally at that moment where I can enjoy certain students, having now had enough time to learn about them, their interests and personalities. However, when it all comes to an end, it's going to make it all the more difficult to say goodbye to them. How's that gonna' go down? I've thought about that scenario for sure and I'm thinking that the Japanese teachers for the schools that I teach at will give the students a heads-up about my departure date so that it's not so sudden an jarring for them when suddenly I'm gone. I suppose it's an inevitability in this line of work and I also know that the students have seen it all before, the coming and going of native teachers, but I'm almost certain I'll be feeling guilty saying goodbye. Why? Because I've been spending this time trying to form relationships and trust with these students so that the hour we spend with each other every month is a comfortable, fun experience. Then I feel like I'm going to be that jerk native that suddenly tosses it all out the window and lets these kids down by going home. "He came into our lives and then he was gone". I'm already having these thoughts at the near-halfway point, so I can only imagine these feelings will be stronger come this September.

In other news, in one of my classes yesterday I was teaching the students (2 girls and 1 boy) about Valentines day and White day. White day, for those that don't know, is on March 14th and it's when boys give girls chocolates. See, on Valentines day here, still February 14th, girls give chocolates to the boys. The point of all this was that I was giving them a hard time about whether or not they had boyfriends and girlfriends and I caught the girls passing love messages back and forth...about me! Ah, I've never been the focus of a crush before...at least not that I was aware of. My classes, so far this week, have been pretty awesome and the kids have all been well behaved. Today, in Yellow class (4 year olds), I had a new student who my Japanese teacher informed me is a total crybaby. This little dude cries about EVERYTHING! His mom sat in on the class to supervise his behavior so he wouldn't have a complete meltdown but he still came close to it. He cried for almost the entire hour and I only hope this behavior changes. I can't imagine another 7 months of that. Two more days at this school for the week and then I have a nice two-day weekend. Next week will kill me...wish me luck.

At the big CM (combined meeting).

My fellow natives.

Fanta Funmix. Cola+Orange mixed. Surprisingly tasty.

My favorite ice cream.

Vanilla ice cream, crunch chocolate and wafer. Simple.

Grilled meat Cheetos. Terrible.