The Yen - A Shadow of it's Former Self

August has come to a close and it's still annoyingly hot and humid here. Currently it's raining, which makes for all the more uncomfortable situation. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to fall's arrival. I miss the dry heat of California and next summer will be much different. That being said, I've pretty much decided that I'll ride out my current contract (which ends in June of 2014), and I'll return to California. That means I'll have spent two and a half years of my life here in Japan. Part of me thinks that isn't that long, but the other half can't quite believe I've been here this long. One huge disappointment is that the yen is so incredibly weak right now (and has been for the past half year), so sending money back to the States hasn't been as exciting as when I first arrived. I'm pretty much cutting even with what I send home but when I first got here back in 2011, I was getting a few extra hundred based on the strength of the yen. If only I had a crystal ball.

So with summer school a thing of the past, I now have to focus on parent observations, which start Tuesday. The parents observe the lessons, all except the grammar classes. I'm not sure what the reason behind that is; maybe it's too dry for the parents to give a crap. I'm not even nervous about these P.O.'s like I was in the past. I've realized they're definitely not a big deal. Most of the parents are either lost, focusing their child's siblings, or messing with their cell phones. I pretty much do my lesson as normal, albeit with a small speech beforehand to welcome parents, let them know about what's going on in the class and any other information they might need to know. This time around, with my friend's help, I've created a quiz about myself that I plan to give students and their parents, which they'll do together before the lesson begins. Basically, how well do you know Jason sensei!? They've had a couple of years now to get to know basic things about me, so it'll be interesting to see how well they do...at least for me anyway. With that, it's going to be a busy September, with the inclusion of me covering Japanese teacher lessons at two different schools the first week. My birthday lands on a Saturday this year, which would be cool except for the fact that it's also the same day as our September staff meeting. Maybe I can lay a guilt trip on everyone and get a free lunch out of it. ;0)

Maple and margarine hotcakes sandwich.

Basically meat and mayo shoved inside.

Red beans and mochi. One of my favorite Japanese treats.

Hot and spicy potato strips.

Terrible grape soda.

Best Doritos I've had here. Very hot.

...really satisfies you.

Summer School - That's a Wrap

Yes indeedy do, summer school has officially come to an end. I'm incredibly happy about this fact and now it's time to return to some normalcy around these parts. The last two weeks were a bit of whirlwind in terms of schedule and fatigue certainly started setting in a bit. Truth be told, the classes that I had for SS weren't too bad at all three of schools. However, I had to help out at another teacher's school, teaching his last two classes of the day. His last class was a bit of a nightmare. It was just five girls, but they were five ball-busting girls. At times it was like talking to a brick wall and when I did get through, it was all for not because they really seemed misplaced in the advanced SS course. Luckily, it was just two days with these troubling gals and now they'll go back to being the other teachers problem when regular classes resume again.

Today, Saturday, we had a staff meeting, which is highly unusual as most of our staff meetings are held on Mondays. I think I liked it being on Saturday better though because Mondays tend to suck no matter what, and having to get up at 9am for a meeting makes it extra crappy. I had a good time at the meeting, as it's usually a nice period to socialize with some of the other teachers I don't get to see so often and our boss isn't really a hard-ass. After the meeting, four other teachers and myself went to a cafe for lunch and chatted about one of the teachers drinking problem. It wasn't behind-the-back gossip, as the teacher with the problem was at the lunch, openly discussing it. It was quite fascinating to hear someone speaking firsthand about a substance abuse problem, their awareness of it and the challenge to nip it in the bud before it gets any worse. So yeah, life could always be worse.

In less heavy news, I beat the incredibly awesome game, "The Last of Us", but I've started it again on the, "Survivor", difficulty level, which really is a pain. There's definitely less items along the way to pick up and they've taken away Joel's ability to, "hear", where the enemies are, so you really have to be on your game. I have one week of regular classes next week, starting on Tuesday, before a week of vacation begins. I don't have any plans, but that's okay. Time to save a little dough. I wrote this blog listening to the soundtrack for the film, "Prince Avalanche". It's music by Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo. Not too shabby.

Mint-chocolate ice cream bar. Pretty rad.

Pepper-salami flavored Doritos. Too salty.

Korean kimchi Pringles. Yeah...not for me.

One of my favorite curries to make.

Little box of french fries from the corner store.

Basically a carbonated, energy-drink version of Powerade.

Japan: a rollercoaster

And like all love affairs, there are ups-and-downs. Right now, I feel like I'm in the middle of a down moment. I don't hate Japan and I reckon I probably never will but right now I don't like Japan. I can't necessarily put my finger on it. It's probably just a bunch of nonsense I've created in my own mind, because Lord knows Japan hasn't changed anything it's doing. I suppose that what it boils down to, is that Japan has it's way of doing things and there are times when your level of managing it will fluctuate. I'm at a low point. I have a near-constant scowl on my face and I don't like my surroundings. I honestly think I'm bipolar (undiagnosed), because I rarely have a real reason for feeling the way I do when I'm in my low points, but alas, I refuse to take medication for such a thing. I'll let you all know if I feel there's anything to truly be worried about.

A lot of people, recently, have been asking me what I plan to do in the future. I recently handled some business at the immigration office, renewing my work visa here in Japan, and that led to people inquiring about my plans. I don't really go on record as to saying when I'll be done here in Japan because I honestly don't know myself. I keep telling myself, "Oh, it'll be soon. Anytime now." Yada, yada, yada. But that's just what I end up telling myself when I'm feeling down about being here and would rather be somewhere else. Plus, keeping my mouth shut prevents me from turning into the boy that cries wolf. I don't want to raise (or lower) anyone's hopes by giving them a date that I may not adhere to. So if you haven't gotten a straight answer out of me, well now you know why. I'm still on a financial mission here and I'm slowly, but surely, trying to focus on my Japanese studies. I plan on taking the JLPT (Japanese language proficiency test) this coming December to see if I've made any real progress. So yeah, here's to short-term goals and long-term (paying off debt). I'm in the middle of a funk, but I'll get out of it, as I often do. Summer school starts in two weeks, so I'll have to barrel through that with a smile on my face. I'd hate for my mood to ruin the kids' fun.

Death sauce flavored crackers. Yep, spicy.

Chocolate baseball bats. Lame.

My new camera. It rules.

My new bag...it rules too.

Super spicy yakisoba. Awesome.

Damn the MAN

Most of pay taxes. It's just one of those things that every working man and woman can say they have to deal with whether they like it or not and in most cases, we do not like it. Here's a related fun-fact about paying taxes in Japan: you will be hit hard during your second year. I mean really hard. I'm quite disappointed in my company for not giving me a heads up about this "residence tax", or jumin-zei 住民税 as it's known here in Japan. It comes in an envelope and it's divided into slips, or payments, that are to be made of the next few months. My first payment is due on July 1st, so that's awesome of them to give me a whole 2 weeks before having to pay $400 usd. I won't get into exact amounts, but let's just say that the total I'll be paying back is much more than just $400. I'm not complaining about paying taxes, I'm just complaining (a bit), about having to pay them in this way. These sudden, large, lump-sum payments that my company failed to mention would be coming and would be a significant amount of money. So yeah, I guess I'm disappointed in my company for dropping a rather important ball. On top of that, the rate for my national health insurance coverage has gone up, again significantly. It is what it is, to coin a cliche, but it's putting a real damper on my ability to save and send money home and that, my friends, is the real sadness of this story.

Aside from all that depressing stuff, we had our spring training seminar in Miyazaki last week. I had a really good time and as far as meetings go, it's pretty awesome. It's really just all of the area native teachers getting together, socializing, going over a bit of business and playing games related to different company practices. Rachel and I played as Vanna and Pat, respectively, in a Wheel of Fortune game with the theme of classroom management. It went over really well, as the group seemed to have fun. The big focus of the seminar was the upcoming summer school classes in July. We practiced curriculum by doing demos and giving each other feedback and for me, it definitely helps seeing all the lessons acted out. I feel like I'll be well prepared by the time SS classes roll around next month. Next up, the big combined meeting (CM), on July 1st, where the native teachers get together with the Japanese teachers for more SS prep. Joy!

What a crew.

One of my favorite combinations.

Sausage for the win.

Mad hot yakisoba.

Wasabi and soy-sauce flavored chips.

Clever. Town of USA (ooh-suh), doin' the Hollywood thing.

Hakata rooftop.

Plenty of flowers around Hakata station.

My Shakey's Pizza Parlor pizza. What a joke.

Only in Japan?

That's an expression you hear all too often amongst English-speaking groups whenever they start talking about...well, Japan. It usually pertains to things that are weird or something that couldn't take place in the States, but in most cases, it's both of these things. However, let's not focus so much on the weird this time around, but for the sake of this story, let's talk about red tape. Japan, in case you weren't aware, is the land of the rising sun and the land of red tape. I'm pretty sure that's why the circle in their flag is the color red. Everything the Japanese do, at least in terms of business, is by-the-book. Now this can be both a good thing and a bad thing. You always have a pretty good idea of what to expect when you're going to do business somewhere in Japan, whether it be at a bank or purchasing an item at the store. I personally like that. However, there are some small things that can start to get on your nerves after a while. For example, when I go to the bank (as I did today), to transfer money back to the States, there is a specific form that I need to bring in. In Japan, they often don't sign for things like we did in America, they use a inkan (a stamp), with their name on it and stamp that sucker on all sorts of documents to make it all legit. I didn't have an inkan when I first got my bank book so I was able to sign it the ol' Western way. Due to signing it, with my signature, back in the day when I first got that bank book, it's pretty much made my inkan (which I eventually got), worthless in the eyes of the bank. Instead of saying, "oh, you can either sign (Western-style), or use your inkan", for "signing" documents, I only have the option of signing them Western-style. All because of how I did it back in the day when I first got my first bank book. Is your head spinning yet?

I'm not saying that this by-the-book manner of doing things is terrible, but it certainly makes the Japanese seem very unwilling to be flexible. I guess, in many ways, they are...at least in the business world. Who know? Maybe they prefer it that way. Or maybe it's the only way they really know so it's hard to compare it to anything else. But when you try and introduce a new style of doing something into their tried-and-true method, it really just ends up freaking everybody out and tends to get shot down. Just so no one gets butt-hurt, I want to say that I'm only generalizing in my experience. We all perceives things differently. There is a certain level of panic that comes across a fast-food workers face whenever I try to make a special order. Something as simple as, "no onions please", has the employee confirming my request in their reply, albeit with a tone of confusion. I went to the post office today, having been delivered a piece of mail addressed to the person previously living here (by the way, that was almost 2 years ago), and the dude's mind was blown. He was like, "so, this is not you?" (pointing to the mail). I replied, "no. that isn't me. yes, that is my address, but he no longer lives at that address." This exchange was all in Japanese mind you. He then tells me to please wait, walks over to a group of employees to tell them what I just told him, I heard a bunch of Japanese acknowledging the situation, he then walks back over and asks me to write my name on a small slip of paper. I didn't even bother to question it. In times like these I just say, "this is how they roll." I ask him if that's all he needs, he nods and clips the name to this piece of mail. I think I just gave this guy a new story to tell around the water cooler. "Hey everyone! So, this white guy walks up to me today..."

Vanilla/chocolate wafer ice cream sticks.

Yum.

That cream soda in a mayo bottle again. Good stuff.

Maple Custard Pie = Bomb!

Idaho burger...not so much. Burger with a hashbrown on it.

Fit for a king.

Long, cheese-flavored puff.

Back from the Land of the Morning Calm

Howdy folks. It's Sunday morning here and also kodomo no hi, or kids day, here in Japan. It's basically a day to celebrate the little ones and yes, it is a nationally recognized holiday. Since it fell on Sunday this year, tomorrow will see a lot of businesses closing for the day. Tomorrow is also my first day back at work since having a week of vacation days, also known as Golden Week. I got back from Korea on Friday evening and it was a great experience for me. Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

I left for Seoul on Sunday, April 28th, via Korean Air from Fukuoka airport. This is super convenient for me because it's only a 2 hour train ride from Oita to Hakata station (in Fukuoka), and from there, a short 5 minute subway trip to the airport. I packed light, having bought a cheap duffel bag for my clothes and I checked in for my flight. The last time I went to Korea, back in 2009, it was an 11 hour flight from LA. It was a traumatic, turbulent flight to say the least, so I was beyond thrilled, seriously, to be flying back to Seoul with the flight time only being 1 hour and 10 minutes. I've never flown Korean Air before, but it was a pleasant experience. Even though it's such a short flight, it's still an international flight so you get an in-flight meal and free use of the entertainment system. I started watching Django Unchained, which I'd never seen, while eating a chicken sandwich. I was really into the movie but only halfway through it the Captain informs us we're preparing to land. I kinda wanted the flight to keep going so I could finish it, but I digress. When I got to Seoul, my friend Kelly was waiting for me and I was happy to see her. She helped me out with so many things for this trip, starting with renting an iphone so I could have a local number and maps on the go. I ended up renting an iphone 5 for 5 days and it only cost 10 usd dollars a day. My hotel was really nice, not five star or anything like that, but it was well good enough for me. The counter staff weren't the friendliest bunch, but I'll go more into that later. The room had two single beds (for whatever reason that was all I had available to book), a nice HD teacher and more than enough space for my stuff. After checking in, we went out to Itaewon, which is dubbed, "America in Seoul", due to it's large number or foreigners. I saw Taco Bell, and ran for it. I know that might sound weird, but I can't get TB where I'm at here in Japan and I wanted a taste of home. It delivered.

I was able to cram a lot of stuff into my trip which required a lot of walking. The shoes I brought weren't the most comfortable (I later found out), so I bought some shoes while in Korea. A necessary investment and I found out the hard way why everyone wears walking/jogging shoes in Seoul. I went to Seoul tower which provided beautiful views of the city. There was an awesome trail leading up to it that was quite scenic. I rode the subway...a lot, which is pretty much the preferred method of transport in the city. The T-money card, that you load up and swipe to get in the subway makes it easy and convenient. The driving in Seoul is totally insane, to the point where I can't even imagine doing it. The rules of the road seem more like suggestions than actual laws. Pedestrians...you do NOT have the right-a-way. I had some interesting meals; bibimbap, jjigae, toppoki, galbi, and various Korean foods. Visited Namdaemun market, which I can confidently say I'm not a fan of, due to the fact that half, if not more, of the stuff they sell is knock-off. I'm not into knock-off junk and it's basically a tourist trap. I visited the War Memorial of Korea, which was a fascinating experience. That place is huge and to see the names of everyone that passed is a sobering sight. Shopping in Myeong-dong was fun and there's no shortage of places to shop there. Ate some awesome pork by the Han River. Saw Iron Man 3 in 4D in Yongsan. The list goes on and on. It was a great trip. Oh, and for all my Monster fans out there, Korea sells them in the big, American-size cans. Wonderful.

My next post will be on my observations of the differences between Koreans and Japanese. Having spent a couple years here in Japan, I was able to notice these differences in a big way.

(blogger isn't uploading my pics at the moment, but I'll keep checking)

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em

The blog post title refers to the fact that I'm writing this entry on 4/20. Anyway, lame jokes aside, it's a miserable, cold, rainy day here in Oita, Japan. I just wrapped up a week in Nakatsu, which is about an hour north (by express train), from where I'm at. Yes, Nakatsu is not one of the schools in my regular rotation but, as usual, I was sent there to cover. Luckily, the classes there were pretty awesome. Most of the kids were really great, with good attitudes and they were all nice to me. The only troublesome class was on Thursday. It's a group of 4 year old little ones and they're new to the school so they're still having to learn the flow of a lesson, including proper classroom behavior. The Japanese teacher for the school came to sub (basically assist), and even with her there, it was still a mess. Only one of the kids actually listened, the rest of them run around (like babies do), and climb on top of stuff. It was truly a daycare scenario more than anything else. I had read the Japanese teacher's notes about this class, from previous weeks, and even she admitted to needing help, and sure enough, this class needs all the help it can get. I can only hope the kids settle down with some time and the lessons can roll out in a normal fashion.

In other news, I had a friend from Korea come pay me a visit. This is a friend I've known for years, but have never really spent much time with. Due to our close proximity now, we figured, "hey, let's hang!". It was good having someone to hang out with for a little while, but I had to work while they were here and that kinda sucked. I can only hope they weren't too bored and left Japan with good memories and experiences.

With April winding down, I have only one week left of teaching before Golden Week is here and I'll have a full week of vacation. Golden Week, for the uninitiated, is basically a series of holiday that all fall within the first week of Japan, making for a relatively relaxing week. The company I work for pretty much gets us an early start by giving us time off starting at the end of April. I don't have any plans yet, but I'm thinking I'll either stay in Japan and travel somewhere new or maybe fly to Korea for the week. Gotta check the finances first, but I really don't wanna sit around for a week. I'll let you all know where I decide to go when a decision is made though! Until next time true believers!

Garlic, chili chips. Not bad.

Garlic, soy-sauce chips. Yum!

Tasty ice cream cone.

Homemade chocolates from some students.

Garlic, butter chips. So-so.

Italian Balsamic Pringles. Good stuff!

Longest Week Ever?

Hello there Spring! You've brought some gnarly, rainy weather with you and yesterday I was stuck in it. This past week, I was teaching at my Saiki school. This is my farthest commute and as I've previously mentioned, it's not a six-day school. Needless to say, it felt like an incredibly long week and I was dead tired after all was said and done yesterday. The rain was hardcore early on in the day and even with an umbrella and coat, my legs were soaked due to the strong winds blowing rain on me. Thankfully, most of the classes went quite well, aside from the new classes on Thursday. My JT is supposed to be there for the new classes to serve as a "sub", due to the fact that the kids are new, still a bit scared and are trying to adjust. Some of these kids haven't even started kindergarten yet, so it's quite an intimidating situation for them. So yeah, my JT didn't come and I was left with a couple of screaming, crying kids who only wanted their mommies. It's incredibly difficult to have a lesson flow in the way you want it and the way it should when you're bobbing a little boy on your need to keep him from howling out for mom. I actually called my boss after the last class that day to vent some of my frustrations and concerns with how things played out. I've never done that before, but I felt like this could be an opportunity to possibly change things in the future. I told him that the first week of the new school year should not land on an NT's week. There's a lot of things that need to be explained to the new students, as well as old students adjusting to new classes, in regards to what they need to do and what's expected of them in the upcoming year. Due to the language barrier, coupled with the company telling us not to use Japanese in the classroom, I can't do an adequate job of explaining these things and it leads to a lot of confusion and disorder. Maybe I gave him, my boss, some food for thought for when the new school year rolls around in 2014. It just seems like things could be done more efficiently. However, I think that's a motto for most foreigners working in Japan.

The rest of the month will have me teaching at my regular schools, albeit with old students being in their new classes. I'm interested to see how everyone does in their new classes, surrounded by unfamiliar faces. I definitely saw some changes this past week in the classroom chemistry. I saw previously energetic kids suddenly calm and quiet because they didn't know the faces sitting across from them. Only time will tell how this all plays out. I'm sure it'll only take a month of classes or so before everyone is comfortable being together.

Completely unrelated to Japan, I really enjoy the new Paramore, self-titled album. It's super different from their past work. Very experimental in some of the sounds on there, but it still manages to be catchy. I heard clips from all of the songs on the new, upcoming Fall Out Boy album. Now I can say with certainty that I could care less about it. Big thanks to my folks for sending me a surprise Easter basket a week or so ago. It's always nice to have some yummy snacks from the States. Until next time!

New park construction by my apartment.

Creamy dressing flavored Pringles. Ranch, basically.

The glass in my hotel bathroom is a hater.

Cream soda bottle designed to look like mayonnaise.

Cheesecake and raspberry flavored pudding. Awesome.

Platform view - Oita station.

Easter!

Spring has sprung

Or so it would seem around these parts. The weather has been a little schizo, with signs of warmth hitting me one day and then cold and rainy the next. Wait, is that what spring is like? Anyway, I for one am glad to see winter coming to an end. I certainly dealt with it much better this year than I did when I first got to Japan. I was in a better mental state this time around and just better prepared in terms of warmer clothing. This year has been pretty good so far in regards to my teaching job. I'm happy to have parent observations behind me and I won't have to worry about that pressure for a while. The only thing I have to deal with at the moment is the impending schedule changes starting in April. A lot of new classes are starting up, a few new students and in general, things just just being shaken up a bit.

My far-off school is going to be my most brutal. It's officially a six-day school now, Monday through Saturday. Tuesday night, I believe, is going to be a hotel night (it was previously a Wednesday night), and a couple of days that week are just going to be longer than they were before due to more classes. The school in the town in the middle of nowhere ends up having the most enrolled students...go figure. Whereas my school in the middle of the city has a significantly smaller amount. Having looked at the attendance sheets for the new school year, I'm happy with some of the changes and confused at some of the others. I guess I've been here long enough so that I can look at who is going to be in which class and determine how well they'll do in that mix. Sadly, I don't have any say as to who is in which class.

As of today, I'm in the middle of a coverage week (big surprise), in Beppu for the Australian NT that's leaving at the end of the month. Luckily, the students at her school have been pretty awesome and from what I've been told, Thursday and Friday classes are no problem either. We (the NT's), got our April schedules a bit earlier than usual and again, big freakin' surprise, I'll be covering for another teacher in the third week. This time, at a school I've never been to. I feel like I've taught at just about every school in the area but apparently not. This doesn't bother me too much because there's always potential for them to be super awesome kids. Or it could just be a hellish week for me. We'll see. Enjoy two completely random photos!

Katsu curry. Yummy but crazy high calories.

Happy trails Buster, ya big lug.