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.

The New School Year Approaches

We've just started the month of March (which is still crazy when I think about it), and that means the new school year is getting closer. April brings new students enrolling into new classes and older students adjusting to their new classes. For the most part, it's not a difficult transition for me, but I will have a few new students to warm up to and them to me. All I can do is hope and pray for good kids. There's always the chance a little monster gets thrown into the mix, but we're going to stick with positive thoughts for now. What's left for March then is the last half of parent observations lessons. As of today I have 6 P.O. classes left. Not too shabby. So far they've been going really well. I haven't had any students acting abnormal or creating a scene, knock on wood, and with the classes I have left, I don't see any issues arising. The biggest pain in the butt I have stuck in my mind right now is the fact that the school I'm going to next week, my farthest commute school mind you, is turning into a six day school. That means Monday through Saturday lessons, and possibly two hotel nights. If I didn't already dislike it enough, now I'm close to throwing my hands up at it. This company, after all, is a business. The sales team isn't concerned with how the number of students they enroll affect the lives or schedules of the teachers. They just wanna put butts in classes. I get that, but it doesn't mean it sucks any less. If you think I'm just whining too much, well maybe I am, but it's my blog to whine on!

March also brings the departure of one of our area's native teachers. She's a really cool person that we're all going to miss having around. I'll be covering lessons for her for a week this month, so yeah, that's another reason I wish she was sticking around. All kidding aside, it sucks to see her go. We'll be short-staffed here in Oita and I think it's going to be really hard on all the teachers for a little while until we get some new people. The native teachers aren't the only ones that seem to be leaving. The Japanese teachers have had to do a lot of covering on their end as well. Woe is us right?

In other news, I'm thinking of taking a short trip over to Busan, South Korea for a nice little three day weekend. I know it sounds crazy leaving the country for a three day trip, but get this, and this is no BS, it costs the same, if not less, to travel overseas by air as it does to travel to Tokyo by train. Japan, yet again, blows my mind with it's ridiculous domestic travel pricing. So if I'm going to shell out some dough for a nice break, I'm gonna go somewhere else, rather than the country I live in. Plus, I have a nice friend in Busan who I plan to hang out with. Bonus! I may not like flying very much, but the flight to Busan from Fukuoka is only 55 minutes. That's a piece of cake. By the time your flight has reached it's maximum altitude, you're ready to land. I'll let you all know if that plan goes forward. Until next time!

Italian Balsamic Pringles. These are awesome.

Constant on-screen tsunami warning while watching Supernatural.

My boy's shop sells cherry Dr. Pepper now! Score.

I like the instaweather app. New library almost complete.

This park will be right next to my apartment. Almost done.

R.I.P. Buster, ya big lug.

Dragonball Z movie, KFC campaign. Goku gettin' down with a leg.