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!