hey all,
Very excellent weekend. I finished watching Shutter Island and chatted with a friend Saturday morning, and then headed up to Tokyo to meet up with Michi. We didn't see each other at all last weekend, as I worked on Saturday and we both had colds. So this weekend was the first time we'd gotten to spend more than 2 hours together in two weeks.
We made a decent dinner of vegetable soup and yakisoba (fried noodles), and talked about A Song of Ice and Fire,the first book of which she is now about half way through...This actually makes me really jealous. In English I can get through one of these books in a couple of days, given enough time to read each day. But it has taken me the better part of 5 months to get through the first book in Japanese, and she's gotten through half in about a month.
Anyway, we also got around to the topic of baby names, somehow. No, that's not a hint or clue, but especially with my economic situation seeming to improve it is a topic that's come up. The funny thing is that we came back to A Song of Ice and Fire for this as well: there are actual attested fans of the series who've named a son or daughter after a character from Mr. Martin's excellent fantasy series, and if I had a daughter, I couldn't think of a better name than Daenerys or Dany for short.
Today we went indoor rock climbing, as there was a typhoon yesterday and the weather was still not too great today. We both did pretty well. Michi has been going bouldering after work almost every night this month, and she even took a private lesson outdoors earlier , like I did when I first started climbing. She can now climb some 5.10a's and 5.10b's, but her reach is a little short and sometimes her weak left hand holds her back. Still, it took me 5 years to reach the 5.10a mark, so who am I judge? I didn't break any records, but I did a couple 5.10a's and 5.10b, and finished with two 5.10d's. I almost completed a third, but I smashed my knee trying to pull myself over the last ledge at the end, and that really took the fight out of me.
I've been watching talks on TED recently, and I thought I'd share two here.The first is really brilliant, and the second is pretty interesting.
Cheers,
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Odd
hey all,
So the other day I had to do all those change-of-address errands, and I noticed that I've always lived in a room number with 3 in it. In Omiya I was in 103A, in Tokyo I was #3, and now I'm #203. What gives?
Cheers,
So the other day I had to do all those change-of-address errands, and I noticed that I've always lived in a room number with 3 in it. In Omiya I was in 103A, in Tokyo I was #3, and now I'm #203. What gives?
Cheers,
Monday, October 25, 2010
Busy busy
hey all,
I received the afternoon off, so after morning classes were over I bolted and started running errands. I updated my gaijin card, setup a mail forwarding system at the post office so my mail will be sent to my new address, and updated my address at the bank and at my phone company. I also managed to renew my national health insurance and make a trip to Tokyo to pick up the last of my stuff.
Eating my dinner now, and then it is to the showers and to bed.
Cheers,
I received the afternoon off, so after morning classes were over I bolted and started running errands. I updated my gaijin card, setup a mail forwarding system at the post office so my mail will be sent to my new address, and updated my address at the bank and at my phone company. I also managed to renew my national health insurance and make a trip to Tokyo to pick up the last of my stuff.
Eating my dinner now, and then it is to the showers and to bed.
Cheers,
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Um
hey all,
So it has been an interesting weekend. As it happened, I wasn't supposed to work on Saturday after all, just like the schedule had showed me, but...That teacher who's wife just had a baby? The one I subbed for two weeks ago? Well, he had called in at 8:30AM saying he couldn't make it in because his wife had a fever and he had to look after the baby. When I showed up unannounced, everyone was breathing sighs of relief because it meant that they could actually do their classes and not have to make embarrassing explanations to their students/customers.
Anyway, I worked until about 5PM Saturday, and then went back to Tokyo and spent the night at the old place. The southern guy and I watched The League, and then I hit the sack. This morning was spent organizing and packing, and realizing that despite my intentions of carrying everything by myself (in only three trips), I would actually need help today, and that I'd still have several items left over even if I received help.
Just like my last move, I lured one of my friends into helping me with promises of free train fare and lunch. It went pretty smoothly, and now I've got two more plastic crates from Muji, my PS3 and monitor, plus my rack for drying clothes, etc. All that actually remains behind are a fifth of tequila, a wood pulp shelving unit, my blender, and an Asian style straw hat that is a souvenir for a friend.
Last night I also bought and started taking some cold medicine, and already I'm feeling much better. My cough and runny nose are still pretty bad, but I think in a couple days I'll be back to normal.
I think I'm going to study a bit, since I haven't had time to do much of that recently.
Cheers,
So it has been an interesting weekend. As it happened, I wasn't supposed to work on Saturday after all, just like the schedule had showed me, but...That teacher who's wife just had a baby? The one I subbed for two weeks ago? Well, he had called in at 8:30AM saying he couldn't make it in because his wife had a fever and he had to look after the baby. When I showed up unannounced, everyone was breathing sighs of relief because it meant that they could actually do their classes and not have to make embarrassing explanations to their students/customers.
Anyway, I worked until about 5PM Saturday, and then went back to Tokyo and spent the night at the old place. The southern guy and I watched The League, and then I hit the sack. This morning was spent organizing and packing, and realizing that despite my intentions of carrying everything by myself (in only three trips), I would actually need help today, and that I'd still have several items left over even if I received help.
Just like my last move, I lured one of my friends into helping me with promises of free train fare and lunch. It went pretty smoothly, and now I've got two more plastic crates from Muji, my PS3 and monitor, plus my rack for drying clothes, etc. All that actually remains behind are a fifth of tequila, a wood pulp shelving unit, my blender, and an Asian style straw hat that is a souvenir for a friend.
Last night I also bought and started taking some cold medicine, and already I'm feeling much better. My cough and runny nose are still pretty bad, but I think in a couple days I'll be back to normal.
I think I'm going to study a bit, since I haven't had time to do much of that recently.
Cheers,
Friday, October 22, 2010
To Work, or Not To Work
hey all,
Been a long week, and it may not be over yet. As seems to happen pretty regularly, I get told one thing about the schedule, but when I check the printed version, there are changes. It seems that one of the secretaries in charge of doing the schedule is pretty new, plus there are two actually doing it, so there are changes that get made on day, only to be undone, or changed again by the other secretary the next.
So the short way to put it is that I don't know whether I'm actually working tomorrow. As I did on Monday, I'll go in tomorrow morning prepared to work and see if I'm needed. I sure could use a day off, though. I seem to have caught a second cold this season, and taking it easy would be great medicine. Of course, I still have to head back to my old room in Tokyo to pick up the last of my things, and doing that tomorrow would let me rest on Sunday.
I miss seeing and talking to Michi. We've been talking on the phone, but that isn't the same as being in a restaurant or sitting on a couch together, and I only saw her for a couple hours last weekend. It sounds as though she's caught a cold as well, so we might not be meeting this weekend at all, which is a depressing thought.
With the long hours, I haven't been able to keep up my study of Japanese as much as I'd have liked too, but I have managed to put in a little time.
Time to get ready for bed.
Cheers,
Been a long week, and it may not be over yet. As seems to happen pretty regularly, I get told one thing about the schedule, but when I check the printed version, there are changes. It seems that one of the secretaries in charge of doing the schedule is pretty new, plus there are two actually doing it, so there are changes that get made on day, only to be undone, or changed again by the other secretary the next.
So the short way to put it is that I don't know whether I'm actually working tomorrow. As I did on Monday, I'll go in tomorrow morning prepared to work and see if I'm needed. I sure could use a day off, though. I seem to have caught a second cold this season, and taking it easy would be great medicine. Of course, I still have to head back to my old room in Tokyo to pick up the last of my things, and doing that tomorrow would let me rest on Sunday.
I miss seeing and talking to Michi. We've been talking on the phone, but that isn't the same as being in a restaurant or sitting on a couch together, and I only saw her for a couple hours last weekend. It sounds as though she's caught a cold as well, so we might not be meeting this weekend at all, which is a depressing thought.
With the long hours, I haven't been able to keep up my study of Japanese as much as I'd have liked too, but I have managed to put in a little time.
Time to get ready for bed.
Cheers,
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Work, Work, Work
hey all,
Been a busy week so far. I've been asked to do a 6 day work week schedule, but it seems like I might be able to switch to a 5 day if I start feeling pressured or stressed. Classes are going pretty well. I've started a daily grammar activity where I have the students conjugate verbs. I started this because my boss had the students do this for some simple, common verbs and they couldn't do it at all. Things like "Tonight I will eat a cake. Yesterday I ___ a cake. I have just ___ a cake," with "ate" and "eaten" in the blanks. We teach them complicated subjects like physics, tectonic plates, Baroque composers, etc, but somehow some simple things are not been taught/trained.
On top of the long week, the hours are also a bit long, but unlike my last job, if classes are done, or if I'm already prepared for my next classes, I'm allowed to take off (as long as I'm back in time if I still have a class later that day). It looks like they might be reducing the length of some of my days, as I'm working 6 days.
I ran into this on the internet today: a robot that sings and dances! The average Japanese pop singer can be said to have about the same personality as the robot, so think they should be worried about being automated out of their jobs.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
Been a busy week so far. I've been asked to do a 6 day work week schedule, but it seems like I might be able to switch to a 5 day if I start feeling pressured or stressed. Classes are going pretty well. I've started a daily grammar activity where I have the students conjugate verbs. I started this because my boss had the students do this for some simple, common verbs and they couldn't do it at all. Things like "Tonight I will eat a cake. Yesterday I ___ a cake. I have just ___ a cake," with "ate" and "eaten" in the blanks. We teach them complicated subjects like physics, tectonic plates, Baroque composers, etc, but somehow some simple things are not been taught/trained.
On top of the long week, the hours are also a bit long, but unlike my last job, if classes are done, or if I'm already prepared for my next classes, I'm allowed to take off (as long as I'm back in time if I still have a class later that day). It looks like they might be reducing the length of some of my days, as I'm working 6 days.
I ran into this on the internet today: a robot that sings and dances! The average Japanese pop singer can be said to have about the same personality as the robot, so think they should be worried about being automated out of their jobs.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
Sunday, October 17, 2010
New Place
hey all,
So I moved a load of stuff over to the new place yesterday, and signed the contract, and made the first rent payment. That took up a bunch of time, and I spent even more time packing, transporting, and unpacking today. I've got all of my clothes and books and school materials here, but my monitor, PS3, rock climbing/camping gear, and some food items are still back in Tokyo.
I originally received tomorrow off, but then I was given Saturday off as well, and was told that my schedule would be set later on Saturday. Well, I still don't know exactly what's up, but I'm going to go in to work tomorrow anyway, as it is now so close. If I'm told to go home, I can update my address with the bank, phone company, post office, and city hall, and maybe bring down another load to the new place.
If my uploads worked, below should be two videos: one from rock climbing, and one of my new room.
Please excuse my enormous brain farts on simple vocabulary while introducing my room. Even in the US this happened to me a lot, but living in a foreign country will multiply the frequency and severity many times. I should also have noted the size of the room: there is ample designated storage space (every room has a little box) for food, shoes, etc outside of the rooms, so a lot of stuff that I had to keep in my room in Tokyo or Omiya, I can put elsewhere. But the room is so freaking BIG! My climbing gear will fill part of the closet, but there will still be empty space in there, and then the room itself will still be mostly empty.
The rent is higher, of course, but I'll be saving a lot of money by commuting by foot or bike to work. Plus, there are the intangibles: actually living in a room you can wave your arms about in without scraping your knuckles or pissing off the neighbors.
Cheers,
So I moved a load of stuff over to the new place yesterday, and signed the contract, and made the first rent payment. That took up a bunch of time, and I spent even more time packing, transporting, and unpacking today. I've got all of my clothes and books and school materials here, but my monitor, PS3, rock climbing/camping gear, and some food items are still back in Tokyo.
I originally received tomorrow off, but then I was given Saturday off as well, and was told that my schedule would be set later on Saturday. Well, I still don't know exactly what's up, but I'm going to go in to work tomorrow anyway, as it is now so close. If I'm told to go home, I can update my address with the bank, phone company, post office, and city hall, and maybe bring down another load to the new place.
If my uploads worked, below should be two videos: one from rock climbing, and one of my new room.
Please excuse my enormous brain farts on simple vocabulary while introducing my room. Even in the US this happened to me a lot, but living in a foreign country will multiply the frequency and severity many times. I should also have noted the size of the room: there is ample designated storage space (every room has a little box) for food, shoes, etc outside of the rooms, so a lot of stuff that I had to keep in my room in Tokyo or Omiya, I can put elsewhere. But the room is so freaking BIG! My climbing gear will fill part of the closet, but there will still be empty space in there, and then the room itself will still be mostly empty.
The rent is higher, of course, but I'll be saving a lot of money by commuting by foot or bike to work. Plus, there are the intangibles: actually living in a room you can wave your arms about in without scraping your knuckles or pissing off the neighbors.
Cheers,
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Assistant No More
hey all,
So I have finished my week of subbing. I get the impression that the mothers, students, and my coworkers and boss are generally pleased with me, at least they don't seem to be forming any lynch squads at the moment. My boss has commented that the students like me and like the efforts I'm making in class so far.
The hardest part has again been the private/semiprivate lessons in the afternoon, because every day there are different students learning different material with different levels of English, and it seems the teacher I subbed for was pretty good at organization, but certain materials would just turn up missing, or 30 minutes of my lesson prep time would vanish as I'd be asked to do a baby lesson suddenly. When I say baby lesson, I mean baby lesson: between 0 and 2 years old.
I'm trying to post a video from the rock climbing trip, but Blogger's servers seem to be finicky tonight.
I've been wondering whether I should technically start a new blog now that I'm not an ALT anymore. I'm still teaching English, but we're using science, math, history, etc to do that, and I'm not assisting anyone: I'm in charge of every class I do.
Cheers,
So I have finished my week of subbing. I get the impression that the mothers, students, and my coworkers and boss are generally pleased with me, at least they don't seem to be forming any lynch squads at the moment. My boss has commented that the students like me and like the efforts I'm making in class so far.
The hardest part has again been the private/semiprivate lessons in the afternoon, because every day there are different students learning different material with different levels of English, and it seems the teacher I subbed for was pretty good at organization, but certain materials would just turn up missing, or 30 minutes of my lesson prep time would vanish as I'd be asked to do a baby lesson suddenly. When I say baby lesson, I mean baby lesson: between 0 and 2 years old.
I'm trying to post a video from the rock climbing trip, but Blogger's servers seem to be finicky tonight.
I've been wondering whether I should technically start a new blog now that I'm not an ALT anymore. I'm still teaching English, but we're using science, math, history, etc to do that, and I'm not assisting anyone: I'm in charge of every class I do.
Cheers,
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Time
hey all,
The rock climbing trip came off rather well. I'd love to post some more about it, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to try to move into the new place in Yokohama this weekend, but I'm not sure about my work schedule yet. This hour long commute is killing me: I leave at 7:30AM, and don't get back until around 8PM.
Classes are gong OK, but I am substituting for someone else's classes right now, so I keep having to ask where they left off last time, was there any homework I should check, etc. And on top of that, I can't always find the materials listed in the lesson plan (if there is one), etc.
In the mornings I'm with the regular students which is pretty nice, but the afternoons are the tricky part because it is different students with different abilities every time learning different materials.
Basically, I'm getting by, but I think things will get better once I get used to teaching here and once I move.
Cheers,
The rock climbing trip came off rather well. I'd love to post some more about it, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to try to move into the new place in Yokohama this weekend, but I'm not sure about my work schedule yet. This hour long commute is killing me: I leave at 7:30AM, and don't get back until around 8PM.
Classes are gong OK, but I am substituting for someone else's classes right now, so I keep having to ask where they left off last time, was there any homework I should check, etc. And on top of that, I can't always find the materials listed in the lesson plan (if there is one), etc.
In the mornings I'm with the regular students which is pretty nice, but the afternoons are the tricky part because it is different students with different abilities every time learning different materials.
Basically, I'm getting by, but I think things will get better once I get used to teaching here and once I move.
Cheers,
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Changes
hey all,
I was able to check out the guest house near my new job after work yesterday. While talking to the teacher I'm replacing, I learned that if I move in there, I'll actually be moving into his old building.
The place seemed nice enough. To be honest, it is a little old, and a little dirty. But it will be temporary. That is the point of "guest houses:" they are places that you only have to put up with for a certain period of time. And I'm hoping that my period of time will be up next March.
The room does boast several benefits. First, it is larger than my current room. It has a massive 2 layer closet, which will probably be taken up by my suitcase, tent, sleeping bag, climbing gear, and assorted goodies. It has its own refrigerator: a model similar to the one I had in college with an real freezer compartment, and not just the little ineffective icebox thingy. And since the teacher I'm replacing lived there, it is close to my job. Probably about 30 minutes by walking, and he claims 10 minutes by bike, but that seems like taking a scenic route at a leisurely pace.
I'm going through reserving it, and planning my move for the weeks ahead.
However, the agent from the guest house in Shinkawasaki that I looked at earlier has been a little too persistent in trying to get me to move into one of his company's buildings. I keep telling him that I've been looking at a place which has a larger room than the ones he's showing me, is closer than any of the buildings he's suggested, and is cheaper as well. But he can't take the hint.
Anyway, today was supposed to be part of an outdoor rock climbing trip, but the weather has interfered and instead of a two day trip, it has been reduced to a day trip instead. We're heading out bright and early tomorrow morning and going to one of our favorite spots: Makuyama Park in Yugawara.
Some good news is that Michi and I went indoor rock climbing briefly today to make sure my shoulder was up to it, and I think I should be fine. I've got a little bit of soreness, but nothing like the shooting/jolting pain when I injured it swimming.
Cheers,
I was able to check out the guest house near my new job after work yesterday. While talking to the teacher I'm replacing, I learned that if I move in there, I'll actually be moving into his old building.
The place seemed nice enough. To be honest, it is a little old, and a little dirty. But it will be temporary. That is the point of "guest houses:" they are places that you only have to put up with for a certain period of time. And I'm hoping that my period of time will be up next March.
The room does boast several benefits. First, it is larger than my current room. It has a massive 2 layer closet, which will probably be taken up by my suitcase, tent, sleeping bag, climbing gear, and assorted goodies. It has its own refrigerator: a model similar to the one I had in college with an real freezer compartment, and not just the little ineffective icebox thingy. And since the teacher I'm replacing lived there, it is close to my job. Probably about 30 minutes by walking, and he claims 10 minutes by bike, but that seems like taking a scenic route at a leisurely pace.
I'm going through reserving it, and planning my move for the weeks ahead.
However, the agent from the guest house in Shinkawasaki that I looked at earlier has been a little too persistent in trying to get me to move into one of his company's buildings. I keep telling him that I've been looking at a place which has a larger room than the ones he's showing me, is closer than any of the buildings he's suggested, and is cheaper as well. But he can't take the hint.
Anyway, today was supposed to be part of an outdoor rock climbing trip, but the weather has interfered and instead of a two day trip, it has been reduced to a day trip instead. We're heading out bright and early tomorrow morning and going to one of our favorite spots: Makuyama Park in Yugawara.
Some good news is that Michi and I went indoor rock climbing briefly today to make sure my shoulder was up to it, and I think I should be fine. I've got a little bit of soreness, but nothing like the shooting/jolting pain when I injured it swimming.
Cheers,
Friday, October 08, 2010
British English, Finally Over
hey all,
I've finally said good bye to all of my schools. As much as I didn't like a few of the teachers, or teaching some of the rude or loud classes, for the most part the students and teachers were really good and fun working with. So I've been feeling a bit down the last few days saying good bye to all of them.
Something that has been bugging me as an English teacher is that British people are also allowed to teach English. They often get higher pay in fact, as there are some schools which only specialize in British English. But there are a lot of things just wrong with British English. For example, the headline here. They do this with "committee" and "government," as well: treat a morphologically, semantically, and syntactically singular noun as a plural, which changes the conjugation on the verb.
And of course, they say things like "I'm going to go to hospital." I try to look at this as an extension of "go to work" and "go to school" and even stranger "go home" (No preposition and no determiner!!?!). But still, it seems oddball.
No rest for the weary.
Cheers,
I've finally said good bye to all of my schools. As much as I didn't like a few of the teachers, or teaching some of the rude or loud classes, for the most part the students and teachers were really good and fun working with. So I've been feeling a bit down the last few days saying good bye to all of them.
Something that has been bugging me as an English teacher is that British people are also allowed to teach English. They often get higher pay in fact, as there are some schools which only specialize in British English. But there are a lot of things just wrong with British English. For example, the headline here. They do this with "committee" and "government," as well: treat a morphologically, semantically, and syntactically singular noun as a plural, which changes the conjugation on the verb.
And of course, they say things like "I'm going to go to hospital." I try to look at this as an extension of "go to work" and "go to school" and even stranger "go home" (No preposition and no determiner!!?!). But still, it seems oddball.
No rest for the weary.
Cheers,
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Almost Over/Beginning
hey all,
I'm in the process of saying good bye to my schools. Yesterday I said good bye to my least favorite school, today I said good bye to the school with the high tech which usually lets me go early, and tomorrow I say good bye to my second favorite school.
Saturday I go in to my new job and do more observing, training, and practicing. After that, I have an appointment to check out a guest house within walking distance of the school.
Sunday and Monday are rock climbing, and then Tuesday through Saturday I go back to my new school.
Something random I ran across is the picture below. It is a keyboard for typing Japanese developed by Google. Apparently, the way you type is like playing the drums, and there are also pedals which you can't see in the picture below.
Cheers,
I'm in the process of saying good bye to my schools. Yesterday I said good bye to my least favorite school, today I said good bye to the school with the high tech which usually lets me go early, and tomorrow I say good bye to my second favorite school.
Saturday I go in to my new job and do more observing, training, and practicing. After that, I have an appointment to check out a guest house within walking distance of the school.
Sunday and Monday are rock climbing, and then Tuesday through Saturday I go back to my new school.
Something random I ran across is the picture below. It is a keyboard for typing Japanese developed by Google. Apparently, the way you type is like playing the drums, and there are also pedals which you can't see in the picture below.
Cheers,
Monday, October 04, 2010
Belated
hey all,
Above is a belated video from my Golden week camping/climbing trip (early May 2010).
Sunday, October 03, 2010
More Ughishness
hey all,
I got back a while ago from checking out the guesthouse in Shinkawasaki, and it seemed really nice. The area seemed OK, but there weren't really any stores or anything: no big shopping complexes by the station like I've come to expect in most Japanese cities. The building itself was pretty good: clean, well-maintained, new, and the people seemed pretty friendly.
I decided I'd sign an application for them, but they called later today saying that I hadn't passed their application process, but they'd still like to give me the room, as long as I'd pay double the deposit. Well, the building is nice, but it isn't that nice, and especially given that there were no stores around, it doesn't seem like it is worth it. Even with their promises the I'll get the money back when I move out. I don't really care. I'm not handing over that much money to even a reputable company like that housing firm.
So, I started up the process of looking again, and I've come up with at least one place that is closer to my job, and might offer more in the way of stores, etc. The rent is also cheaper, but we'll see how things go.
More actual good news is that my arm is almost back to normal. I'm still getting some twinges of pain every now and then, but the pain and the grinding have greatly lessened. I decided I'd see what my rock climbing training book had to say about shoulder injuries, and I've been doing several reps of two simple exercises everyday. Combined with the shot I received, it seems like I should be back to rock climbing soon. The ugh part here is that the exercises look unfortunately like you're practicing for seppuku. Yes, the ritual slitting open of one's belly following a disgrace.
Cheers,
I got back a while ago from checking out the guesthouse in Shinkawasaki, and it seemed really nice. The area seemed OK, but there weren't really any stores or anything: no big shopping complexes by the station like I've come to expect in most Japanese cities. The building itself was pretty good: clean, well-maintained, new, and the people seemed pretty friendly.
I decided I'd sign an application for them, but they called later today saying that I hadn't passed their application process, but they'd still like to give me the room, as long as I'd pay double the deposit. Well, the building is nice, but it isn't that nice, and especially given that there were no stores around, it doesn't seem like it is worth it. Even with their promises the I'll get the money back when I move out. I don't really care. I'm not handing over that much money to even a reputable company like that housing firm.
So, I started up the process of looking again, and I've come up with at least one place that is closer to my job, and might offer more in the way of stores, etc. The rent is also cheaper, but we'll see how things go.
More actual good news is that my arm is almost back to normal. I'm still getting some twinges of pain every now and then, but the pain and the grinding have greatly lessened. I decided I'd see what my rock climbing training book had to say about shoulder injuries, and I've been doing several reps of two simple exercises everyday. Combined with the shot I received, it seems like I should be back to rock climbing soon. The ugh part here is that the exercises look unfortunately like you're practicing for seppuku. Yes, the ritual slitting open of one's belly following a disgrace.
Cheers,
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Better
hey all,
So today was a much better day than yesterday. I stayed with the class that I taught the first time I came in to demo teach, not the little hellions that I had yesterday.
The class went really smoothly, for the most part, and I also brought a lunch today since I was expecting to be there for a long time. They actually let me go early, which was excellent, but I do have to come back in next Saturday.
And then, of course, the Monday after that I start teaching for real.
I've got my last five days of work at my old company, and I'm in a little quandary as to how to pay for my last school lunches. As far as I know, my schools don't know that I'm leaving, and my company has asked me not to tell them. (My guess is that they want to find a replacement first, and then inform the schools, but still. If they can't find one, then they still have to explain at some point that I've quit.) But I normally pay for school lunches at the end of the month. So, how do I insist on paying for one or two days worth of school lunch before the end of the month, without cluing them in that I'm leaving?
One piece of random news I ran across is about squatters in Amsterdam. This is been legal for many, many years, but apparently a new law has made it illegal. In my own experience, even when I was living in Amsterdam two years ago, the Dutch police still evicted squatters from several buildings, despite it being legal to squat. So what gives? Now that it is illegal to squat will the police stop evicting people? The Dutch have an infamously negative attitude towards their police. I wonder what will happen now that the police have to evict people from their homes. There's already been news of riots in Amsterdam.
One last bit of commentary. Now that I'm commuting a pretty decent distance to work (from Eastern Tokyo down to central Yokohama), I get to read the announcements on the train LED boards as I ride. It seems like everyday, there is some train that is delayed because of 人事故 or "human accident," the euphemism for someone jumping in front of a train. I know I've mentioned it before: Japan has half the population of the US, but the same number of people commit suicide in each country, i.e., the suicide rate in Japan is double that of the US. When I've spoken with one of my Taiwanese housemates, he has also mentioned that Taiwan has a very high suicide rate. Recently, even the Prime Minister of Japan (Mr. Kan) has announced his intention to create a government group to look into the problem. Aside from costing the country a lot in terms of human life, the economy, etc, it isn't really something you want your country to be famous for. "Yeah, more people kill themselves per capita than in any other post-industrial country in the world."
Cheers,
So today was a much better day than yesterday. I stayed with the class that I taught the first time I came in to demo teach, not the little hellions that I had yesterday.
The class went really smoothly, for the most part, and I also brought a lunch today since I was expecting to be there for a long time. They actually let me go early, which was excellent, but I do have to come back in next Saturday.
And then, of course, the Monday after that I start teaching for real.
I've got my last five days of work at my old company, and I'm in a little quandary as to how to pay for my last school lunches. As far as I know, my schools don't know that I'm leaving, and my company has asked me not to tell them. (My guess is that they want to find a replacement first, and then inform the schools, but still. If they can't find one, then they still have to explain at some point that I've quit.) But I normally pay for school lunches at the end of the month. So, how do I insist on paying for one or two days worth of school lunch before the end of the month, without cluing them in that I'm leaving?
One piece of random news I ran across is about squatters in Amsterdam. This is been legal for many, many years, but apparently a new law has made it illegal. In my own experience, even when I was living in Amsterdam two years ago, the Dutch police still evicted squatters from several buildings, despite it being legal to squat. So what gives? Now that it is illegal to squat will the police stop evicting people? The Dutch have an infamously negative attitude towards their police. I wonder what will happen now that the police have to evict people from their homes. There's already been news of riots in Amsterdam.
One last bit of commentary. Now that I'm commuting a pretty decent distance to work (from Eastern Tokyo down to central Yokohama), I get to read the announcements on the train LED boards as I ride. It seems like everyday, there is some train that is delayed because of 人事故 or "human accident," the euphemism for someone jumping in front of a train. I know I've mentioned it before: Japan has half the population of the US, but the same number of people commit suicide in each country, i.e., the suicide rate in Japan is double that of the US. When I've spoken with one of my Taiwanese housemates, he has also mentioned that Taiwan has a very high suicide rate. Recently, even the Prime Minister of Japan (Mr. Kan) has announced his intention to create a government group to look into the problem. Aside from costing the country a lot in terms of human life, the economy, etc, it isn't really something you want your country to be famous for. "Yeah, more people kill themselves per capita than in any other post-industrial country in the world."
Cheers,
Friday, October 01, 2010
Ugh
hey all,
What a brutal and grueling day. The last time I went into the school, I came in expecting to teach. But this time, I came in expecting to talk about what I'd be teaching the week after next, and ended up teaching from 9:30 until 19:00. "I'd like you to come in and talk about your teaching schedule" doesn't really send the message or have the meaning of "You'll be teaching for the better part of 10 hours today."
Despite the mis-communication, things went OK. At least, the first several hours were grueling, because they were spent trying to teach the youngest regular students: from 2 to 3 years old. But after the regular classes finished, I got to eat lunch and prepare for 3 rounds of private lessons, all of which went pretty decently.
The major ugh part is that I'll be going back tomorrow, even though I promised to meet Michi. I might still be able to meet her, but it looks to be another relatively full day. I really need to get this school's teaching style down, as I only have a short time before I have to teach classes by myself.
It's is already a bit late and I'm going to eat dinner.
Cheers,
What a brutal and grueling day. The last time I went into the school, I came in expecting to teach. But this time, I came in expecting to talk about what I'd be teaching the week after next, and ended up teaching from 9:30 until 19:00. "I'd like you to come in and talk about your teaching schedule" doesn't really send the message or have the meaning of "You'll be teaching for the better part of 10 hours today."
Despite the mis-communication, things went OK. At least, the first several hours were grueling, because they were spent trying to teach the youngest regular students: from 2 to 3 years old. But after the regular classes finished, I got to eat lunch and prepare for 3 rounds of private lessons, all of which went pretty decently.
The major ugh part is that I'll be going back tomorrow, even though I promised to meet Michi. I might still be able to meet her, but it looks to be another relatively full day. I really need to get this school's teaching style down, as I only have a short time before I have to teach classes by myself.
It's is already a bit late and I'm going to eat dinner.
Cheers,
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