KONNICHIWHAT!?

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

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.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Recovering nicely

Ahh, it's been about a week since my last post and in that short amount of time I've gotten another cold. I saw the signs fairly early this time around and made a trip to the drugstore to get the proper goods. Thanks to a Japanese friend of mine, I was able to get the type of medicine that I needed (sinus meds) in order to make a preemptive strike. I also stocked up on vitamin C drops and good ol' Halls lozenges. The sickness here hits me hard in the sinus region and I'm often hockin' up phlegm and blowing snot out of my nose until it passes. My apologies for the somewhat graphic description. I mentioned in my last post that I'm sick of this weather and I still stand by that. My body hates it and I'm just ready for the sun and the warmth that comes with it.

I also spoke about being responsible for the icebreaker welcome activity at the staff meeting that occurred this past week and I'm happy to say that it went over quite well. The meeting itself was alright I suppose, but it's always nice to have all the teachers together in one spot so we can chat and catch up on things. We use that time to pick each others brains as to what we're planning in regard to the job itself and our future involvement...if in fact there is any. As it turns out, most of the current NT's that I work with are finishing up their time here with the company. It appears it's time for most of them to return to their real lives and they all indeed have things waiting for them, whether it be a relationship or a different destination that interests them. I seem to be the only one in the group that's here for financial reasons.

Two days this past week were spent team-teaching with two of my currents, with me traveling out to their schools. With Rachel, I taught one of her classes and it was a bit challenging only because I was still new into my sickness and my throat was strained. The kids were great though and quite attentive. The next day (Friday) I went to teach with Ji-yeun and since she had a four-lesson day, I taught two of her classes. If it's a three-lesson day, the visiting NT teaches one class. So the two lessons I taught for Ji-yeun were interesting because the students were quite young, with the first class being hyper but good and the second class was super shy and quiet. One kid in the hyper class was telling me that his penis looked like a sausage. I just stared at him trying not to laugh and I looked at Ji-yeun and said, "you're aware of what he's saying right?'. This same kid had boogers smeared all over his nose and top lip. I wonder what his home life is like. Yesterday, I went to one of my schools to observe the JT's lessons. The last class of the day consists of mostly 11 year old kids and they seem to like me a lot. One girl in particular always grabs onto me and she made sure I was involved in every aspect of the JT's lessons. Then, when I had to leave to catch my train, the JT said, "say goodbye to Jason sensei. He has to catch his train now.", and the whole class gave a collective moan of disappointment which made me feel good. I guess I'm doing something right with some of these kids.

Mochi, cream roll cake. Bomb.

Wings...duh.

This was totally disgusting.

OG!

Thanks guys!

Oi vey.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Winter...piss off already!

This winter business...it's enough already. Granted, I spent a lot of time in the cold and snow during my days as a Colorado citizen, but my time spent in California was enough to acclimate my body to much warmer temperatures and quite frankly I liked it. Now I'm here in Japan, which has the proper season system that most are accustomed to, unlike Californians, and my body has taken it pretty hard. Not only that, but I was ill-prepared clothing-wise for the harsh weather. I guess what makes it worse is the fact that Oita is quite close to the sea, so those cold wind gusts coming in are brutal! I've been told that the sun will start making more frequent appearances come the end of March. It almost goes without saying that I'm looking forward to the warmer weather. Japan takes it too extremes in that the winter's are really cold and the summers are really hot and humid. No joking around here.

As for non weather related news, another week of teaching is behind me and it mostly uneventful. I was put to use as a carpenter this week, putting together various bits of furniture for different Japanese teachers in their classrooms. Us native teachers aren't just here for the students apparently, but we're your go-to problem solvers! I have a staff meeting tomorrow and I'm responsible for providing the icebreaker welcome activity to the group. This is usually a quick 10 minute thing, so it's not big deal and I have an idea that should work just fine. I plan to issue a celebrity with each staff member, with them unaware as to who it is, and the other staff members have to provide clues so that they can guess the celebrity. Basically, a who-am-I game.

One of the native teachers that I had training with (who is in a different area than me), who I've been buddies with since before coming to Japan, told me that she's planning to quit. Her desire to be back home with her family has been growing more and more since she flew back home to see them for Christmas vacation. Not to mention the fact that she hasn't been adjusting to the culture shock of everything so well and you have a pretty good case for packing your bags. I've been trying to provide her with a shoulder to lean on during her decision-making process because one thing is for sure doing this job, it can be quite lonely and isolating. She was actually worried that I would judge her for her decision but I told her that it was great that she made it as long as she did (she's putting in her notice and will be out before the summer so they have enough time to find a replacement). I told her that no one could judge her for her decision unless they've been in the same situation and even still, not everyone adjusts the same. Some people never do properly adjust. I had a rocky couple of months in the beginning where I thought, "why am I putting up with ____ and ____?", and really just missed being home and hanging out with the people I care about. Now that I've had some time to settle in and assess everything, my motivation in sticking with it at this point is almost purely financial. I knew before I came that I wanted to send funds back home and hammer away at some annoying student loan debt and that's what I've been able to do so far. My point is this; it really helps if you have a specific goal in mind when taking on such an adventure. It helps in dealing with the ups and downs that the adventure throws at you. Cliche alert(!): keeps your eyes on the prize!

P.S. I'm really getting good at Tekken Tag Tournament 2!

Korean burger from McDonalds.

Looks like total deuce, but quite tasty!

Wasabi-beef flavored chips. The wasabi was too strong.

Habanero meat sticks. Supposedly great with beer.

Looks like a serious doughnut but it was weak.

A typical salad in Japan. Mostly cabbage based.

Again, doughnut fail.

See above captions.

Awesome English on the doughnut box though.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

'Bout that time

Here we are, a week and some change into January already. Wow...time flies no? Well, I've officially been back at work since last Thursday, the 5th. As all of you readers know, I went back to work and straight into parent observations and you also know that I teach at three different schools. Since I was going back to work on a Thursday, I only had to work two days (Thursday and Friday), then started at a different school with parent observations this past Tuesday. What that means is that I won't finish my parent observations at the first school, in which I started on Thursday, until the next time I go to teach at that school in it's proper rotation...so basically, three weeks later. Strange, I know. I'm one day away from finishing parent observations at one of my schools this week and I have to say, it hasn't been as bad as I expected. I certainly didn't have to be as nervous this time around as I was thrust into parent observations for my very first week of teaching back in September. If I can handle it then, fresh off the plane, then I can handle it with a bit of experience. That way of thinking turned out to be true for the most part. The only nerve-wracking thing this time around has been the fact that it was the first time I had parent observations at this particular school. The JT for this school has pretty high expectations and I definitely have to be on my toes around her.

I'll give you a quick rundown of how a parent observation class goes. The students come in as they usually do and I check their homework and go over their picture cards with them. Once I've done that with each of the kids in the class, I give them a writing assignment to work on, usually writing something out of their textbook and for the really young kids, they write the alphabet. While the students are writing, I sit with my JT while she addresses the parents in the room about the class, the plans we have for it and what the students and parents both should be focusing on in regards to the material. This lasts about five minutes. After that, I introduce myself to all of the parents and tell them a bit about myself and my JT helps to translate anything that isn't understood. I've been doing this about three times a day for each day of the week and I'm sure I'll be doing it at the other schools. Next, my JT tells the parents about a quiz that I've come up with (which is true) and the subject matter is things related to Los Angeles and California. I made a short, six question quiz that the students could take with their parents in order to learn a bit more about the place I flew in from. This part I enjoy because I play the role of a TV game show host, reading questions and answers aloud and making a big fuss when kids and parents get answers right. So far, no one has been six for six. Following the quiz, I teach the lesson as usual for the kids while my JT talks with the parents individually, this time around speaking to them about their students English tests scores. I have to cram a lot of the lesson into a considerably shortened time frame, due to the earlier speech and quiz, and when the lesson is over we give a small speech to the parents and thank them for coming. That's a P.O. class in a nutshell and I guess it's giving me a lot more experience in terms of presenting in front of large groups and being in front of people. I always feel like this type of thing is good for me, another reason why I took acting classes in the first place, because public speaking has never been something I've felt comfortable with.

After tomorrow I only have about a week left of P.O. classes at a different school and I'll be done with it for the rest of my contract period. As I've been telling the parents in class, all of this has been a good experience for me in which I'm learning a lot about myself and I feel like I'm growing as a person by being exposed to a life that was completely opposite from what I knew. We're almost halfway through January now and September honestly doesn't seem that far away. I'll let you know how I feel about that as soon as I know.