Hehe, I keep giggling over the facebook post of one of the other ALTs. She came over with her girlfriend and they are both working through JET, so the locals don't necessarily know they are anything more than friends. She said they went to dinner with a bunch of old ladies and they were thoroughly quizzed on whether they had boyfriends and what type of blokes they liked. I keep laughing over the awkwardness of that conversation. Next time I feel sorry for myself getting the 'do you have children/why not/when' questions, I'm going to be grateful I'm not them!!
Yeah... I've had a few random situations lately. Driving to work yesterday, in stop-go rush hour traffic, the bloke behind me made the most of the opportunity to do a full personal grooming session. Including trimming his nose hairs with scissors. He had to hit the brakes quite hard at one point because he hadn't noticed I had stopped again. Slamming on the brakes when you have scissors up your nostrils doesn't seem the safest...
I had finally got used to all the girls (well, mainly the girls!) pulling out their brushes and mirrors to brush their hair during class when I got a new one. Making the most of the minute before the bell rang, a girl sitting against the wall had her hair straightener plugged in and was attacking her roadkill-flat hair. Is it just me or is that really odd??
I thoroughly surpised a teacher during a food lesson when I assured him that we don't eat salad for breakfast in Western/English-speaking countries. Not even in America. He was so taken aback - I'm not sure he really believed me!
I have also noticed students struggling with asking what is meant to be 'do you have a boyfriend?' Here 'boyfriend' has different connotations, so I am regularly asked 'do you have a... a... darling? A... a lover?' I'm getting better at not cringing when 16 yr olds ask me if I have a lover, but a 'darling' just makes me think of Peter Pan.
Having said that, however they ask it's great they are trying out their English on me - lots of students now know the word 'husband'! Most of my informal chats with students lately have happened while I attempt to infiltrate their sports clubs :D On Monday I had my first Kendo lesson - I was handed a bamboo sword, was made to hit a student over the head and was asked 'is it fun?' Actually I felt really mean - I wasn't wearing any protective clothing so they couldn't retaliate in any way. It was entirely one-sided abuse! One of the boys was busting a gut trying to translate things for me and I was really impressed. Then, today (Thursday) I recognised him in one of my classes. In class he is really quiet, so I had no impression of him, good or otherwise. Most of the students spend class time pretending they know nothing, but when they need to use it, eg. when trying to instruct Kendo in English, suddenly they have a great vocab!
The other group I have accidentally joined is a gym session with what turns out to be the girls basketball team on Fridays. That was random - I just happened to be using the weights room when they came in and got excited to see me there. They asked me to join them, so I promised to be there the next week. It's good, similar to a hockey fitness session with different stations and group ass-kicking moves... in fact they're only missing a Sandra!
Now I'm working on organising one other sport to fit in... probably tennis or volleyball. Tennis would be good - I figure I make an ass of myself all the time in Japan, so it's a good chance to learn tennis without having anyone call my sports ability retarded. Not in a language I understand, anyway! However, if that turns out to be too hard (the 'soft tennis' coach said they are training for a competition atm and the 'hard tennis' (what we know as tennis) coach keeps changing her mind about what day I can join in. I think she wants to roll out the red carpet and really look after me, even though I find the kids look after me perfectly well and I feel guilty making a teacher try to look after the girl with little Japanese and less tennis ability!)... Anyway, if it turns out to be too hard, I'm just going to join the volleyball team. The teacher in charge is the lovely Nakamura-sensei; young, enthusiastic and with really good English!
So... long story short... I'm finally getting my shit together and sorting out my Life. In that strange way that motivating yourself in one area often flows into others, shortly after I started making time for exercising, I also started studying Japanese again. Not a lot - I need to make that clear - but a little every few days. In fact - don't laugh - around that time I also started straightening my hair, too. All summer it's been fluffy pony tails, but now the weather has cooled down, I always 'mean to' get up early and straighten it. Of course, no telling how long this will last for, but at the moment I'm enjoying looking in the mirror and getting a fright when I see smooth, glossy, straight hair. It's never what I expect! Now, the remaining question is... when will my new-found willpower extend to not eating junk food? That's what I want to know!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Snow White and the ten dwarves
Well, as you can see by the title of today's post, we watched a Japanese production of Snow White in the weekend. Our 'local' (half an hour away - as local as it gets out here) friend Emma was playing the part of the Queen when she is dressed as a witch, off to kill SnowWhite (in an effort to include everyone who auditioned, they had two entirely different casts and most of the leads were played by two different people!). The first half was odd, as we tried to follow along with the three mirrors, weight-lifting queen and ten dwarves, but we were thoroughly rewarded by Emma doing an awesome turn as the witch. Apparently she had spent hours and hours getting her Japanese lines down and it showed. The only one to rival her for stage charisma was the totally off time but enthusiastic smallest dwarf. Go Emma!
In other news... we bought a camera! Yay! Very exciting! It's an 'entry level' Nikon SLR that came with two different lenses and a Mickey Mouse camera bag. And... being Japan... we also got 'service' - eg. freebies. In this case, two Adidas bags and two dinner plates, one of which is also Mickey themed. Foolish Jeff looked SURPRISED at receiving free dinner plates with his camera. Myself, I laughed at his naivety. Over a year living in Japan and he still expected the freebies would be relevant???
Now we are super excited for November - Jeff's mate Steve will visit from NZ and we will go to Kyoto. Autumn in Kyoto... is there a better time to have a new camera? I think not!
Actually, talking about people visiting, when I called home in the weekend (to wish Harry a good flight as she embarks for America!), Mum said, "What's this I hear that you may not be staying in Japan a third year? We are planning to come visit you again so you can't leave!" I was all, "What...??" First off, who told my Mum we had made any decisions?? Those don't come until February (Feb 10th to be exact, when we have to resign by)! Second, a second visit?? This is unheard of! (hmm... please don't hold the excessive punctuation in this paragraph against me!) She has already spent a month here and she is, apparently, serious about returning. I was so surprised. I knew my parents loved it here, but I assumed it was because they don't get out much and they were just enjoying not being in NZ. I didn't realise that it was Japan in particular that they were so crazy about.
So far we have already had Kate, Geoff & Sandra and my parents visit. Now we have Steve coming next month and it sounds like my parents will return! They never visited this much when I lived in Hamilton... But in all seriousness... if there was an award for the JETs doing the most for Japanese tourism, I think we would have it in the bag. Now I'm waiting on Megan, Yi-leen, Heather, Rikki, Chris & Gemma, Hannah, Sam and anyone else who expressed an interest in Japan/likes to travel to visit us! I'm still working on Laura, too - I think Mum and Dad should fund her a trip here (as of the end of the week she will be the only chick still in the Draper nest!). The only problem is trying to get her to fit Japan into her schedule :S
Hope everyone is doing well,
Charly
In other news... we bought a camera! Yay! Very exciting! It's an 'entry level' Nikon SLR that came with two different lenses and a Mickey Mouse camera bag. And... being Japan... we also got 'service' - eg. freebies. In this case, two Adidas bags and two dinner plates, one of which is also Mickey themed. Foolish Jeff looked SURPRISED at receiving free dinner plates with his camera. Myself, I laughed at his naivety. Over a year living in Japan and he still expected the freebies would be relevant???
Now we are super excited for November - Jeff's mate Steve will visit from NZ and we will go to Kyoto. Autumn in Kyoto... is there a better time to have a new camera? I think not!
Actually, talking about people visiting, when I called home in the weekend (to wish Harry a good flight as she embarks for America!), Mum said, "What's this I hear that you may not be staying in Japan a third year? We are planning to come visit you again so you can't leave!" I was all, "What...??" First off, who told my Mum we had made any decisions?? Those don't come until February (Feb 10th to be exact, when we have to resign by)! Second, a second visit?? This is unheard of! (hmm... please don't hold the excessive punctuation in this paragraph against me!) She has already spent a month here and she is, apparently, serious about returning. I was so surprised. I knew my parents loved it here, but I assumed it was because they don't get out much and they were just enjoying not being in NZ. I didn't realise that it was Japan in particular that they were so crazy about.
So far we have already had Kate, Geoff & Sandra and my parents visit. Now we have Steve coming next month and it sounds like my parents will return! They never visited this much when I lived in Hamilton... But in all seriousness... if there was an award for the JETs doing the most for Japanese tourism, I think we would have it in the bag. Now I'm waiting on Megan, Yi-leen, Heather, Rikki, Chris & Gemma, Hannah, Sam and anyone else who expressed an interest in Japan/likes to travel to visit us! I'm still working on Laura, too - I think Mum and Dad should fund her a trip here (as of the end of the week she will be the only chick still in the Draper nest!). The only problem is trying to get her to fit Japan into her schedule :S
Hope everyone is doing well,
Charly
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Friday
Hey there,
Wow... Jeff and I have been keeping up with the Rena disaster online. It sounds really dreadful :( Wish I could fly home and help!!
Here things are pretty quiet. We are trying to have a 'savings month' so we have a bit of spare cash when Steve (Jeff's uni buddy) comes to visit in November. We are planning to do a weekend in Kyoto, so that will be awesome. We have been looking forward to Kyoto since we arrived last year!
This weekend we have a busy schedule of online rugby games and... er... watching the children's play Snow White performed in Japanese. Our friend plays the evil witch, so we are heading along to watch. Should be amusing!
What else? Oh, we have bought our flights to Singapore and Malaysia for our holiday over New Year's. We are really excited - 11 nights spent bumping around Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang (where Yi-leen's parents are gonna show us the sights!). We are also starting to research our flights home to NZ, having given up on getting a Japanese credit card and therefore no longer waiting on that process.
On Wednesday I was asked to help out with a second year English class, as they had requested me (I don't teach the second years, not sure why...). I did an NZ quiz with them and in one of the question answers I taught them 'kia ora'. Then yesterday, when I was stepping out of my office, a boy gave me a big grin, a wave and a 'kia ora!' I was so stoked! We will have them ready to visit NZ in no time!!
Keep me updated...
Charly
P.S. Harry leaves for America on Monday the 17th and Kate flies out on the 20th! I'm not even home and it freaks me out that everyone is finally leaving! In other travel news, Jeff's parents are on an amazing two week ticki/ticky tour around Europe and Canada (cos those two always go together..) and I'm SUPER jealous! Bring on Malaysia!
Wow... Jeff and I have been keeping up with the Rena disaster online. It sounds really dreadful :( Wish I could fly home and help!!
Here things are pretty quiet. We are trying to have a 'savings month' so we have a bit of spare cash when Steve (Jeff's uni buddy) comes to visit in November. We are planning to do a weekend in Kyoto, so that will be awesome. We have been looking forward to Kyoto since we arrived last year!
This weekend we have a busy schedule of online rugby games and... er... watching the children's play Snow White performed in Japanese. Our friend plays the evil witch, so we are heading along to watch. Should be amusing!
What else? Oh, we have bought our flights to Singapore and Malaysia for our holiday over New Year's. We are really excited - 11 nights spent bumping around Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang (where Yi-leen's parents are gonna show us the sights!). We are also starting to research our flights home to NZ, having given up on getting a Japanese credit card and therefore no longer waiting on that process.
On Wednesday I was asked to help out with a second year English class, as they had requested me (I don't teach the second years, not sure why...). I did an NZ quiz with them and in one of the question answers I taught them 'kia ora'. Then yesterday, when I was stepping out of my office, a boy gave me a big grin, a wave and a 'kia ora!' I was so stoked! We will have them ready to visit NZ in no time!!
Keep me updated...
Charly
P.S. Harry leaves for America on Monday the 17th and Kate flies out on the 20th! I'm not even home and it freaks me out that everyone is finally leaving! In other travel news, Jeff's parents are on an amazing two week ticki/ticky tour around Europe and Canada (cos those two always go together..) and I'm SUPER jealous! Bring on Malaysia!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Thoughts on travel
Today I've been pondering the million dollar question... why do I love travel?
The thing is, whenever I live overseas I miss NZ. I miss it so badly and have such fond, rose-tinted memories of home that it's a wonder I ever leave again. But, when I get back and settle in, it just seems boring and I want to leave again. It's like... NZ is utopia (for me, anyway. I know not everyone is in my educated, financially secure position. I'm not forgetting how hard life is for many NZ families). But perfect and easy get boring.
So I come overseas. I put myself in these mentally and emotionally challenging circumstances... and then feel sorry for myself when I get homesick. I guess it's a little like post-workout sore muscles. They are painful, but they remind you of what you've achieved and you wouldn't actually wish yourself back to how you were yesterday.
Because Jeff is doing his second year in his (fairly undemanding) job, he is feeling rather like moving on. But I am only just starting my (much more busy) job, so had been talking about how much easier it would be doing this for a second year (lesson plans already done etc!). These discussions got me homesick and got me to thinking about all that we were missing in NZ. However, I just realised something... all the things that make me homesick when I think about them are (with the exception of Trudi's photos of Mission Bay on a lovely sunny day) to do with convenience. It's the ease of replacing clothes, asking for directions and reading the fine print at the bank that I miss.
And then... when I look on facebook and experience photo-envy, it's always from travel pictures. Again, with the exception of Trudi's pics, it's everyone's travel photos that get me really jealous and wanting to plan to get there asap. So... why am I even bothering to indulge in missing NZ when all I REALLY want is to see the other 179 countries in the world? (Man... that's a lot. It's going to keep me busy!)
Hope things are going well for you all - wherever in the world you call home!
The thing is, whenever I live overseas I miss NZ. I miss it so badly and have such fond, rose-tinted memories of home that it's a wonder I ever leave again. But, when I get back and settle in, it just seems boring and I want to leave again. It's like... NZ is utopia (for me, anyway. I know not everyone is in my educated, financially secure position. I'm not forgetting how hard life is for many NZ families). But perfect and easy get boring.
So I come overseas. I put myself in these mentally and emotionally challenging circumstances... and then feel sorry for myself when I get homesick. I guess it's a little like post-workout sore muscles. They are painful, but they remind you of what you've achieved and you wouldn't actually wish yourself back to how you were yesterday.
Because Jeff is doing his second year in his (fairly undemanding) job, he is feeling rather like moving on. But I am only just starting my (much more busy) job, so had been talking about how much easier it would be doing this for a second year (lesson plans already done etc!). These discussions got me homesick and got me to thinking about all that we were missing in NZ. However, I just realised something... all the things that make me homesick when I think about them are (with the exception of Trudi's photos of Mission Bay on a lovely sunny day) to do with convenience. It's the ease of replacing clothes, asking for directions and reading the fine print at the bank that I miss.
And then... when I look on facebook and experience photo-envy, it's always from travel pictures. Again, with the exception of Trudi's pics, it's everyone's travel photos that get me really jealous and wanting to plan to get there asap. So... why am I even bothering to indulge in missing NZ when all I REALLY want is to see the other 179 countries in the world? (Man... that's a lot. It's going to keep me busy!)
Hope things are going well for you all - wherever in the world you call home!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Cheese sensei
It is now exams week. Which sounds like a big deal, but for me it's really not. For me it just means no classes until Friday. Luckily I worked at the Tode High School Open Day on Saturday, so I get tomorrow off work instead. That leaves me with only three days of sitting at my desk doing nothing. Of course, when I say doing nothing, I SHOULD be planning lessons and studying Japanese, but I'll probably be on facebook and having big email conversations with my sister, who works just as hard as me ;)
It's exciting times for my sisters atm. Kate is leaving the country around the 17th of October, heading off for a big holiday in America and South America. Harry is leaving on the 17th to spend a year as an au pair in America (aww... taking after her big sis!!). Beth is (according to my inside source, eg. Kate) looking at leaving the country with Kate in March 2012 to work in Europe somewhere (probably London, of course). Kate has promised me that she will try to stay in NZ long enough for me to see her when I come home for Holly's wedding and hopefully Beth will be round too. Would be strange visiting 'the family' in NZ and having only the parents and Laura at home! Not much of a family visit.
In a change of topic, I was talking to one of the English teachers this morning as we walked to the morning meeting. Well, I walked, she limped. She explained to me that over the weekend she had joined a march from Onomichi on Honshu island (just round the corner), over the Shimanami bridges, to Shikoku island, a distance of 80km. Participants are given three days to do it, but she couldn't take the Friday off work (a Japanese person take time off? Not done!!), so her, her sister and her father covered the 80km in two days. Hence she is limping today.
Of course, as soon as I heard about this, a plan began forming. I may have promised my husband, my father and my feet that I will never do the Oxfam Trailwalker again, but I never promised not to walk 80km of bridges in a weekend! Hah! So if we stick around for a third year, then on this day in a year's time you'll be hearing all about it!
Man, my stomach is so rumbly today! I know that's nothing new for me, but it's EXTRA rumbly this morning. I got to work at 8am and it was already growling. I had a macha latte but that only shut it up for an hour or so and now I'm rumbling again. Luckily the teacher next to me hasn't noticed yet. At least I'm not teaching - it's super awkward when the students laugh at my rumbly tummy!
Speaking of students and food, just call me Cheese sensei - the students do! It's a Tode High thing, just my last class of the day. The teacher asked me in front of the class what I had done in the weekend. The real answer was pretty much nothing, but I needed to give them something, so I said I went shopping at the Fuji Grand mall (making it sound like a day out rather than a mission to get something to put in the fridge). The teacher asked what I had bought and, feeling slightly foolish, I told him 'cheese'. This was not the answer the students expected and the name has stuck. Cheese-sensei it is, then!
It's exciting times for my sisters atm. Kate is leaving the country around the 17th of October, heading off for a big holiday in America and South America. Harry is leaving on the 17th to spend a year as an au pair in America (aww... taking after her big sis!!). Beth is (according to my inside source, eg. Kate) looking at leaving the country with Kate in March 2012 to work in Europe somewhere (probably London, of course). Kate has promised me that she will try to stay in NZ long enough for me to see her when I come home for Holly's wedding and hopefully Beth will be round too. Would be strange visiting 'the family' in NZ and having only the parents and Laura at home! Not much of a family visit.
In a change of topic, I was talking to one of the English teachers this morning as we walked to the morning meeting. Well, I walked, she limped. She explained to me that over the weekend she had joined a march from Onomichi on Honshu island (just round the corner), over the Shimanami bridges, to Shikoku island, a distance of 80km. Participants are given three days to do it, but she couldn't take the Friday off work (a Japanese person take time off? Not done!!), so her, her sister and her father covered the 80km in two days. Hence she is limping today.
Of course, as soon as I heard about this, a plan began forming. I may have promised my husband, my father and my feet that I will never do the Oxfam Trailwalker again, but I never promised not to walk 80km of bridges in a weekend! Hah! So if we stick around for a third year, then on this day in a year's time you'll be hearing all about it!
Man, my stomach is so rumbly today! I know that's nothing new for me, but it's EXTRA rumbly this morning. I got to work at 8am and it was already growling. I had a macha latte but that only shut it up for an hour or so and now I'm rumbling again. Luckily the teacher next to me hasn't noticed yet. At least I'm not teaching - it's super awkward when the students laugh at my rumbly tummy!
Speaking of students and food, just call me Cheese sensei - the students do! It's a Tode High thing, just my last class of the day. The teacher asked me in front of the class what I had done in the weekend. The real answer was pretty much nothing, but I needed to give them something, so I said I went shopping at the Fuji Grand mall (making it sound like a day out rather than a mission to get something to put in the fridge). The teacher asked what I had bought and, feeling slightly foolish, I told him 'cheese'. This was not the answer the students expected and the name has stuck. Cheese-sensei it is, then!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Yamamoto's
Ah, too cute. Jeff just got a text from our elderly friend Makiko Yamamoto. He had messaged her to say he was unable to come to dinner on the 9th, but that I was still coming. She replied with this message:
Jeff I am regrettable :( Welcome Charly I am waiting for you :) MAKIKO YAMAMOTO.
The Yamamoto's run the English club held in the local town Yuki, that we attend every second Tuesday night. A few week's back, Mikiko dropped in to let us know that she is visiting NZ for a month to attend a language school for two weeks, then stay at my parents for two weeks (she had the dates for me to run by Mum). We were excited about her trip, so she showed us the brochure. We saw it was on the Coromandel and assured her it was a beautiful area, then we noticed with surprise Chris Lawry's (friend who has lived with both Jeff and I. Poor guy, lol) parents in the picture. Of course, it was their new language school! We were laughing with surprise and explained we were very close friends with their son. Such close friends that we would be home for his wedding in October 2012. Then we looked at the dates Mikiko was intending to attend. Yup... October 2012! So we will be in NZ, on the Coromandel, at the same time as our Japanese friend, while she attends language school run by our friends parents! How random! What a small-world moment!!
Ok, class time now so I better skedaddle (yup, Jeff, I did that just to irk you. I managed to put 'skedaddle' into my blog!).
Cheers,
Charly
Jeff I am regrettable :( Welcome Charly I am waiting for you :) MAKIKO YAMAMOTO.
The Yamamoto's run the English club held in the local town Yuki, that we attend every second Tuesday night. A few week's back, Mikiko dropped in to let us know that she is visiting NZ for a month to attend a language school for two weeks, then stay at my parents for two weeks (she had the dates for me to run by Mum). We were excited about her trip, so she showed us the brochure. We saw it was on the Coromandel and assured her it was a beautiful area, then we noticed with surprise Chris Lawry's (friend who has lived with both Jeff and I. Poor guy, lol) parents in the picture. Of course, it was their new language school! We were laughing with surprise and explained we were very close friends with their son. Such close friends that we would be home for his wedding in October 2012. Then we looked at the dates Mikiko was intending to attend. Yup... October 2012! So we will be in NZ, on the Coromandel, at the same time as our Japanese friend, while she attends language school run by our friends parents! How random! What a small-world moment!!
Ok, class time now so I better skedaddle (yup, Jeff, I did that just to irk you. I managed to put 'skedaddle' into my blog!).
Cheers,
Charly
Back to it
Not much to say here... Work has started up again - there are FIVE working days this week!
In order to break up the week a bit, we are going bowling with friends tomorrow night. We keep talking about doing things with friends, now that I have an apartment in the city (don't think Tokyo style city :S ), but it's time to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. Starting with going bowling with Gabby and Danny and their toddler.
Actually, their kid is such a crazy situation. Mia/Mya/Mea (take your pic, cos I don't know!) was little more than a baby when they came here last year and is now 2 (or 3?). Her parents are from Montreal, so speak French at home and English when out with friends, but she hadn't started speaking yet when they came to Japan. She has been attending kindy with Japanese children, so now speaks. In Japanese. Which Gabby and Danny don't understand. They originally thought she was speaking babytalk until a Japanese neighbour held a conversation with her and reported back what they had talked about. It's pretty sad for the parents, but great for the child if she can keep up with the Japanese when she returns home.
Now I'm going to pack my bags and head home. I officially finish at 4:05pm but I invariably leave a little later. Somehow I am always ready to leave at cleaning time (4:20ish), so that I look like the lazyarse going home while everyone else cleans (hence my updating now :D ). Not that the Japanese kids version of 'cleaning' seems to involve much more than chatting to friends and hoping the teacher 'supervising' will do their cleaning for them! I know I should get more involved in school life and help out, but it's just another thing on my Should Do list (others on the list include try Kendo, start exercising, finish decorating my classroom, join the tennis club and do some Japanese study...). It's a fairly long list and I'm going to need a motivated day to get on top of it.
Hope you are all doing well and you enjoy the more socially acceptable blog length today!
In order to break up the week a bit, we are going bowling with friends tomorrow night. We keep talking about doing things with friends, now that I have an apartment in the city (don't think Tokyo style city :S ), but it's time to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. Starting with going bowling with Gabby and Danny and their toddler.
Actually, their kid is such a crazy situation. Mia/Mya/Mea (take your pic, cos I don't know!) was little more than a baby when they came here last year and is now 2 (or 3?). Her parents are from Montreal, so speak French at home and English when out with friends, but she hadn't started speaking yet when they came to Japan. She has been attending kindy with Japanese children, so now speaks. In Japanese. Which Gabby and Danny don't understand. They originally thought she was speaking babytalk until a Japanese neighbour held a conversation with her and reported back what they had talked about. It's pretty sad for the parents, but great for the child if she can keep up with the Japanese when she returns home.
Now I'm going to pack my bags and head home. I officially finish at 4:05pm but I invariably leave a little later. Somehow I am always ready to leave at cleaning time (4:20ish), so that I look like the lazyarse going home while everyone else cleans (hence my updating now :D ). Not that the Japanese kids version of 'cleaning' seems to involve much more than chatting to friends and hoping the teacher 'supervising' will do their cleaning for them! I know I should get more involved in school life and help out, but it's just another thing on my Should Do list (others on the list include try Kendo, start exercising, finish decorating my classroom, join the tennis club and do some Japanese study...). It's a fairly long list and I'm going to need a motivated day to get on top of it.
Hope you are all doing well and you enjoy the more socially acceptable blog length today!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Osaka weekend
It may have come to your attention that I have not posted anything in the last week - apologies. Here in Japan it is what's known as Silver week - two three day weekends in a row, meaning a working week of only three days :)
Currently it's Saturday on the second of these long weekends. Last weekend we headed up to Osaka on the shinkansen. It's funny, we always assume there will be plenty to do in cities. Then we remember that a) their shops usually sell things we can't fit/don't use, b) we don't understand the signs on any tourist attractions/places we bump into and c) there is only a finite amount we can eat. Well, that Jeff can eat :D
However, we tested the limits of how much you can eat (apparently it's the done thing in Osaka!), trying butaman (steamed pork buns), Osaka-style okinomiyaki (cabbage pancake), takoyaki (octopus balls), omi rice (omelette with rice), pumpkin flavoured icecream, 'Freshness Burger', frozen yoghurt from Partyland yoghurt store and, er, Subway.
Our hotel turned out to be a worry from start to finish. I had booked online, but when we got there they had no record of my booking. I wanted to jump online and print off my booking info so I could show them, because I was concerned about double booking and they had my credit card details. However, the computer in the lobby wasn't working and we hadn't brought our own with us this time. Throughout this, the minimal English spoken by the staff made things more difficult (usually in big cities hotel staff speak English, we have found). After a lot of hassle they finally got us booked into a room and took our luggage.
When we returned that evening to actually check in, we went up to our room and were hit with the stench of old cigarette smoke. We went back downstairs and insisted on a NON smoking room! Although the room was even smaller than the smoking room, which in turn was smaller than any previous Japanese hotel room we have stayed in, we settled in for the weekend.
That evening, tired from the day's travel and walking in the heat, we got our takoyaki and took it back to our room. We figured we could watch a movie on the entertainment channel while we ate dinner and relaxed in our 'huge' bed. You may see where this is going but... our 1000 yen card for the entertainment channel allowed us access to three porn channels and one fuzzy music channel featuring J-pop. Awesome. So... the front desk got ANOTHER visit from the annoyed foreigner, demanding money back for the crappy pay TV card!
The next morning we headed out to the Osaka aquarium, excited about seeing the resident whale shark. Ah, foolish foolish tourists. Midday on a long weekend in Silver week? What were we thinking?? We spent what seemed like days (but was probably the best part of an hour) queuing up outside in the hot sun (we are talking well over 30 degrees here) before we even got in the door. Inside was only better because there was shade - we were still crushed on all sides by children, parents, grandparents and strollers. Jeff was still getting cranky with people pushing him and I was still moaning about the sweat trickling down the back of my legs.
BUT the good news is that by the time we reached the whale shark in all his awesomeness, the crowd had thinned out some and we had plenty of quality viewing time. Also, less publicised but equally exciting, was the huge manta ray also gliding around the tank. They were both truly amazing.
While we were watching them, a diver came into the ray tank to handfeed some of the smaller fish, sharks and rays in there. Although the manta ray didn't seem interested, there were two huge stingrays that were very, very interested in him (or her?). They both had a diameter the length of the diver and he spent his whole time pushing them away, trying not to be a stingray sandwich. With the limited visibility provided by goggles, he wouldn't realise where they were until a flipper kicked the ray beneath him and the tip of a wing caressed his face from above. The way he pushed them off was like a teacher scolding well-meaning but boisterous children. You could almost see him clucking his tongue.
Other exciting moments at the aquarium were seeing sea otters (huge!), dolphins (bit sad in their small pool) amd, our personal favourite, watching huge deep sea crabs fighting. Jeff alerted me to it by telling me to 'go and watch War of the Worlds over there'.
So we learnt two important lessons. Moral one: don't go to big tourist attractions on national holidays. Moral two: but if you go to Osaka, you must visit the aqaurium. Even if it is a national holiday.
Now it's lunchtime and time for us to prepare our supplies for watching the game. Yup, I am actually going to watch a rugby game of my own free will. Well, I think I will watch it. I intend to watch it. Maybe I will read a magazine while I watch it... we will see. But being overseas while all the World Cup hysteria goes on has made us rather homesick, so we have beer and chips and WILL watch the game!
Hope you are all doing well and - for the people back home - enjoying the rugby madness!!
Currently it's Saturday on the second of these long weekends. Last weekend we headed up to Osaka on the shinkansen. It's funny, we always assume there will be plenty to do in cities. Then we remember that a) their shops usually sell things we can't fit/don't use, b) we don't understand the signs on any tourist attractions/places we bump into and c) there is only a finite amount we can eat. Well, that Jeff can eat :D
However, we tested the limits of how much you can eat (apparently it's the done thing in Osaka!), trying butaman (steamed pork buns), Osaka-style okinomiyaki (cabbage pancake), takoyaki (octopus balls), omi rice (omelette with rice), pumpkin flavoured icecream, 'Freshness Burger', frozen yoghurt from Partyland yoghurt store and, er, Subway.
Our hotel turned out to be a worry from start to finish. I had booked online, but when we got there they had no record of my booking. I wanted to jump online and print off my booking info so I could show them, because I was concerned about double booking and they had my credit card details. However, the computer in the lobby wasn't working and we hadn't brought our own with us this time. Throughout this, the minimal English spoken by the staff made things more difficult (usually in big cities hotel staff speak English, we have found). After a lot of hassle they finally got us booked into a room and took our luggage.
When we returned that evening to actually check in, we went up to our room and were hit with the stench of old cigarette smoke. We went back downstairs and insisted on a NON smoking room! Although the room was even smaller than the smoking room, which in turn was smaller than any previous Japanese hotel room we have stayed in, we settled in for the weekend.
That evening, tired from the day's travel and walking in the heat, we got our takoyaki and took it back to our room. We figured we could watch a movie on the entertainment channel while we ate dinner and relaxed in our 'huge' bed. You may see where this is going but... our 1000 yen card for the entertainment channel allowed us access to three porn channels and one fuzzy music channel featuring J-pop. Awesome. So... the front desk got ANOTHER visit from the annoyed foreigner, demanding money back for the crappy pay TV card!
The next morning we headed out to the Osaka aquarium, excited about seeing the resident whale shark. Ah, foolish foolish tourists. Midday on a long weekend in Silver week? What were we thinking?? We spent what seemed like days (but was probably the best part of an hour) queuing up outside in the hot sun (we are talking well over 30 degrees here) before we even got in the door. Inside was only better because there was shade - we were still crushed on all sides by children, parents, grandparents and strollers. Jeff was still getting cranky with people pushing him and I was still moaning about the sweat trickling down the back of my legs.
BUT the good news is that by the time we reached the whale shark in all his awesomeness, the crowd had thinned out some and we had plenty of quality viewing time. Also, less publicised but equally exciting, was the huge manta ray also gliding around the tank. They were both truly amazing.
While we were watching them, a diver came into the ray tank to handfeed some of the smaller fish, sharks and rays in there. Although the manta ray didn't seem interested, there were two huge stingrays that were very, very interested in him (or her?). They both had a diameter the length of the diver and he spent his whole time pushing them away, trying not to be a stingray sandwich. With the limited visibility provided by goggles, he wouldn't realise where they were until a flipper kicked the ray beneath him and the tip of a wing caressed his face from above. The way he pushed them off was like a teacher scolding well-meaning but boisterous children. You could almost see him clucking his tongue.
Other exciting moments at the aquarium were seeing sea otters (huge!), dolphins (bit sad in their small pool) amd, our personal favourite, watching huge deep sea crabs fighting. Jeff alerted me to it by telling me to 'go and watch War of the Worlds over there'.
So we learnt two important lessons. Moral one: don't go to big tourist attractions on national holidays. Moral two: but if you go to Osaka, you must visit the aqaurium. Even if it is a national holiday.
Now it's lunchtime and time for us to prepare our supplies for watching the game. Yup, I am actually going to watch a rugby game of my own free will. Well, I think I will watch it. I intend to watch it. Maybe I will read a magazine while I watch it... we will see. But being overseas while all the World Cup hysteria goes on has made us rather homesick, so we have beer and chips and WILL watch the game!
Hope you are all doing well and - for the people back home - enjoying the rugby madness!!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
My sister is a God. Bow down.
I feel the need to share a link here. Why? Because my sister is freaking amazing. I'm thinking about starting a Laura Draper Appreciation Group on facebook. If you don't already agree, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekD6E5lKVYE
Man I wish I was as cool as my little sister!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekD6E5lKVYE
Man I wish I was as cool as my little sister!!!!!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Badass teacher??
Hey there,
I'm feeling a bit quiet on it today. Yesterday was sports day. And it was at least 33 degrees :S I feel like a wuss because I wasn't even doing sports (and by sports I mean tug of war, dancing and obscure games with fighting over sticks or caps). I spent most of the day hiding under a shady tent, with a cap and sunglasses. I only emerged to join in the folk dancing a couple of times. So I feel bad making the students study, knowing I'm only getting by because I've taken painkillers for my headache!
Anyway, I am a teacher here, ergo I require the students to study. Which generally they do, when they're not asleep. But today I had a class where two girls were continually chatting instead of doing their worksheets. Every time I came past I told them to stop talking and do the worksheet, but they only had the answers I had helped them with, while a number of students were finished and waiting. Yet, even as I tried to tell them to work, one of the girls kept trying to point out something about me to her friend - probably my not-in-the-lobe earring that they seem to love. All I caught was 'kawaii' (cute). Although I'm sure she had the best intentions, it was very irritating to have the students focusing on my physical attributes and/or jewellery when I needed them to catch up to the rest of the class! I was very clearly annoyed at her doing it, but she didn't seem to get it. She didn't seem the brightest bunny in the box. About the third time I came past them with empty sheets, I lost patience and moved them to seperate seats at the back of the room. As I write it, imagining it back home, it seems like nothing, a very standard teacher response to dealing with chatty students (I should know all about it!! I still feel bad for Mr Beach!). However here they have a very different teacher-student relationship.
Afterwards the teacher wanted to know why I had moved them and I felt a need to make my case as to why I felt it was necessary. Perhaps it was less how he asked and more about me, because I have already had my supervisor (grumpy as hell to adults, but can't - or won't - discipline his students) ask me to discipline students 'gently'. I don't really care what my supervisor thinks of my teaching, but I don't want it going around the office that I'm innappropriately rough on the students. So now I feel odd. But when the only discipline I've done all week is move two students seats, that's pretty good, really. I'm so torn... I'm not the kind of person to let the students run over me, but I also know I make my life much harder if I scare them too much. I figure, though, that 16 yr olds probably learn pretty fast - I doubt I will have to move those girls again for a while, now they know I will do something about it if they don't knuckle down.
Bah, it's so hard adjusting from NZ classroom behaviour expectations to Japanese ones!
Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest.
Hope you're all doing well :D
Charly
I'm feeling a bit quiet on it today. Yesterday was sports day. And it was at least 33 degrees :S I feel like a wuss because I wasn't even doing sports (and by sports I mean tug of war, dancing and obscure games with fighting over sticks or caps). I spent most of the day hiding under a shady tent, with a cap and sunglasses. I only emerged to join in the folk dancing a couple of times. So I feel bad making the students study, knowing I'm only getting by because I've taken painkillers for my headache!
Anyway, I am a teacher here, ergo I require the students to study. Which generally they do, when they're not asleep. But today I had a class where two girls were continually chatting instead of doing their worksheets. Every time I came past I told them to stop talking and do the worksheet, but they only had the answers I had helped them with, while a number of students were finished and waiting. Yet, even as I tried to tell them to work, one of the girls kept trying to point out something about me to her friend - probably my not-in-the-lobe earring that they seem to love. All I caught was 'kawaii' (cute). Although I'm sure she had the best intentions, it was very irritating to have the students focusing on my physical attributes and/or jewellery when I needed them to catch up to the rest of the class! I was very clearly annoyed at her doing it, but she didn't seem to get it. She didn't seem the brightest bunny in the box. About the third time I came past them with empty sheets, I lost patience and moved them to seperate seats at the back of the room. As I write it, imagining it back home, it seems like nothing, a very standard teacher response to dealing with chatty students (I should know all about it!! I still feel bad for Mr Beach!). However here they have a very different teacher-student relationship.
Afterwards the teacher wanted to know why I had moved them and I felt a need to make my case as to why I felt it was necessary. Perhaps it was less how he asked and more about me, because I have already had my supervisor (grumpy as hell to adults, but can't - or won't - discipline his students) ask me to discipline students 'gently'. I don't really care what my supervisor thinks of my teaching, but I don't want it going around the office that I'm innappropriately rough on the students. So now I feel odd. But when the only discipline I've done all week is move two students seats, that's pretty good, really. I'm so torn... I'm not the kind of person to let the students run over me, but I also know I make my life much harder if I scare them too much. I figure, though, that 16 yr olds probably learn pretty fast - I doubt I will have to move those girls again for a while, now they know I will do something about it if they don't knuckle down.
Bah, it's so hard adjusting from NZ classroom behaviour expectations to Japanese ones!
Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest.
Hope you're all doing well :D
Charly
Monday, September 12, 2011
A day of highs and lows...
Hey there,
Second post in a day! Guess that's what a desk job does to you! Actually I'm now at home fighting to keep my eyelids open, but I feel the desire to tell about my slightly crazy day.
The morning way pretty normal - staff meeting, two classes, some photocopying, etc. Other than the fact in the second class we spent the latter portion with the students teaching me a folk dance (named the Oklahoma mixup or something similarly traditional Japanese...).
After lunch the same teacher had organised for one of the PE teachers to also run me through the dance (I was under strict instructions to say the students taught me at LUNCHTIME, not during class!). That was a nice thought, but I fear the English teacher forgot the overwhelming seriousness of people who have sport as a way of life. Not only was I put through my paces on not just one but two different dances, but poor Wasada-sensei was too! She had only meant to take me down to the weights room to introduce me to the teacher, but she got roped into helping as my alternate partner, until finally the PE teacher decided I had the hang of the steps, so she focused on making sure Wasada-sensei got it too! We were both super sweaty and giggling by the time the PE teacher decided we were up to scratch and our dance lesson ended.
At the end of the lesson, as we passed through the PE teachers office, I finally gave myself the mental kick up the bum I've needed for a long time and asked about trying Kendo. The other teacher - a fresh-faced guy who turned 23 today - was one of the Kendo teachers, so he invited me to come along at 4pm to watch the students training.
That all sounded like fun and I was very excited, but just before 4pm I discovered the sapphire had come out of my engagement ring. I discovered this about ten minutes after the students had finished cleaning the school. I paled to think of my sapphire (ok, I'll put it out there, it's worth over a grand) in the bottom of a vaccuum cleaner or thrown into a bin by some student who made the safe assumption it was plastic. I remembered knocking my ring on the fan in Jinseki yesterday, but couldn't recall actually looking at the stone all day, so I had no idea when it would have come out. This meant it could have been in Jinseki, in my car, on any one of the four levels at school or down the drain from washing my hands. My response was the only suitable one - panic. Unfortunately, in one of those horrible bad timing situations, I found my stone was missing seconds before I was due to have my picture taken for the school magazine, so in my permenant school photo I will be looking like a startled rabbit, trying not to cry!
So I then spent a good while going up and down stairs, crawling round my classroom on my hands and knees and sticking my finger down the bathroom sink when I thought the students weren't looking (there was gunk. Gross, but it was plausible it could have caught my ring).
Finally, almost half an hour after I had promised to be at Kendo, I dragged the Kendo teacher out of practise to make him unlock the weights room for me, where we had been dancing. The Kendo teacher and I both did a couple of circles of the room looking for it and I had actually shrugged and said it wasn't here, we might as well lock up again, when I saw a small blue thing glinting in the centre of the wooden floor. Turns out the problem with circling the room is you don't check the middle! I was so happy to have it back I very almost hugged the teacher. Only, as I didn't even know his name yet and we had only met that afternoon, I didn't think it was the best way to make him feel comfortable round his new student. Instead I was so happy that - after a quick phone call to tell Jeff it was ok, it was FOUND - I went and spent almost two hours watching and talking to the Kendo students.
Now my Wednesday is truely a cultural experience. I will have Sports Festival, where I will be performing two American-style folk dances with hundreds of Japanese students, followed by my first Kendo lesson, where I can safely assume I will be hit over the head repeatedly with a bamboo sword (turns out that's what Kendo is!).
Next step is to also try Japanese archery (kyudo, I think it's called. Done with bows significantly taller than the students - a truly elegant sport) and tennis. Yes, you heard me, tennis. My theory is that if I'm making an ass of myself with my lack of Japanese and my lack of ability in traditional Japanese sports, I'm unlikely to make myself look any worse trying a sport we have at home. This could be my chance to stop being quite such a sporting retard... Of course, these are big words. Jeff keeps laughing at me for being so 'first year', with my excess of enthusiasm and plans to get involved in everything. So I'm not swearing on my hamster's life or anything, just telling y'all of my intentions...
Cheers,
Charly
Second post in a day! Guess that's what a desk job does to you! Actually I'm now at home fighting to keep my eyelids open, but I feel the desire to tell about my slightly crazy day.
The morning way pretty normal - staff meeting, two classes, some photocopying, etc. Other than the fact in the second class we spent the latter portion with the students teaching me a folk dance (named the Oklahoma mixup or something similarly traditional Japanese...).
After lunch the same teacher had organised for one of the PE teachers to also run me through the dance (I was under strict instructions to say the students taught me at LUNCHTIME, not during class!). That was a nice thought, but I fear the English teacher forgot the overwhelming seriousness of people who have sport as a way of life. Not only was I put through my paces on not just one but two different dances, but poor Wasada-sensei was too! She had only meant to take me down to the weights room to introduce me to the teacher, but she got roped into helping as my alternate partner, until finally the PE teacher decided I had the hang of the steps, so she focused on making sure Wasada-sensei got it too! We were both super sweaty and giggling by the time the PE teacher decided we were up to scratch and our dance lesson ended.
At the end of the lesson, as we passed through the PE teachers office, I finally gave myself the mental kick up the bum I've needed for a long time and asked about trying Kendo. The other teacher - a fresh-faced guy who turned 23 today - was one of the Kendo teachers, so he invited me to come along at 4pm to watch the students training.
That all sounded like fun and I was very excited, but just before 4pm I discovered the sapphire had come out of my engagement ring. I discovered this about ten minutes after the students had finished cleaning the school. I paled to think of my sapphire (ok, I'll put it out there, it's worth over a grand) in the bottom of a vaccuum cleaner or thrown into a bin by some student who made the safe assumption it was plastic. I remembered knocking my ring on the fan in Jinseki yesterday, but couldn't recall actually looking at the stone all day, so I had no idea when it would have come out. This meant it could have been in Jinseki, in my car, on any one of the four levels at school or down the drain from washing my hands. My response was the only suitable one - panic. Unfortunately, in one of those horrible bad timing situations, I found my stone was missing seconds before I was due to have my picture taken for the school magazine, so in my permenant school photo I will be looking like a startled rabbit, trying not to cry!
So I then spent a good while going up and down stairs, crawling round my classroom on my hands and knees and sticking my finger down the bathroom sink when I thought the students weren't looking (there was gunk. Gross, but it was plausible it could have caught my ring).
Finally, almost half an hour after I had promised to be at Kendo, I dragged the Kendo teacher out of practise to make him unlock the weights room for me, where we had been dancing. The Kendo teacher and I both did a couple of circles of the room looking for it and I had actually shrugged and said it wasn't here, we might as well lock up again, when I saw a small blue thing glinting in the centre of the wooden floor. Turns out the problem with circling the room is you don't check the middle! I was so happy to have it back I very almost hugged the teacher. Only, as I didn't even know his name yet and we had only met that afternoon, I didn't think it was the best way to make him feel comfortable round his new student. Instead I was so happy that - after a quick phone call to tell Jeff it was ok, it was FOUND - I went and spent almost two hours watching and talking to the Kendo students.
Now my Wednesday is truely a cultural experience. I will have Sports Festival, where I will be performing two American-style folk dances with hundreds of Japanese students, followed by my first Kendo lesson, where I can safely assume I will be hit over the head repeatedly with a bamboo sword (turns out that's what Kendo is!).
Next step is to also try Japanese archery (kyudo, I think it's called. Done with bows significantly taller than the students - a truly elegant sport) and tennis. Yes, you heard me, tennis. My theory is that if I'm making an ass of myself with my lack of Japanese and my lack of ability in traditional Japanese sports, I'm unlikely to make myself look any worse trying a sport we have at home. This could be my chance to stop being quite such a sporting retard... Of course, these are big words. Jeff keeps laughing at me for being so 'first year', with my excess of enthusiasm and plans to get involved in everything. So I'm not swearing on my hamster's life or anything, just telling y'all of my intentions...
Cheers,
Charly
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Osaka in five nights!
I realised in the weekend that we have two three-day weekends coming up and no plans, so I have booked Jeff and I a hotel in Osaka for Friday-Monday. We have no definate plans other than visiting the aquarium (zoos and aquariums are always top of our list!). As it's still very (very!) warm, we intend to spend most of the day in air-conditioning, eg. our hotels or shopping malls, only emerging outside once the sun goes down. Cities are good for this type of thing. We have only spent one night in Osaka before, so it's very exciting! Bar hopping and shops with English, here we come!! :D
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
New job resolutions
To continue with my new resolution to write more often, I thought I would do a quick update now. Not that a lot has happened in the last 24 hours, but little and often is probably preferable for all concerned :)
Last night Jeff and I went to the adult English class that we help out with in Yuki. It took the cake as the most awkward class yet and I was so grateful to have Jeff there too. Only four of the seven regulars turned up, one of which, Tokura-sensei, seemed to be off form. Granted, he is 80-something, but he didn't actually face in our direction all lesson. In my language course in Hiroshima a couple of weeks ago we did an exercise in calling on the telephone, which we practised by sitting back-to-back. I got the shock of my life when I realised how much of my 'understanding Japanese' is actually understanding body language! As such, I was really concerned by this old bloke not even looking our way all lesson. So... I believe Jeff and I were less than useful in that lesson, but at least we showed up to help. And Tokura-sensei gave us apples :) He always gives us something, but my favourite is when he gives us big, delicious apples off his apple tree.
In other news... I have finally submitted my new car contract (under my name, not Jeff's) to my school, so HOPEFULLY they will now officially allow me to drive to work. It has been an on-going saga because a) I work on Tuesdays at a different school, which the ALT traditionally takes the train to and b) I'm the first ALT in this position to have a car and a reason to drive (the other school is 40 minutes closer to Jinseki than my base school). Over the last month and a bit I have been continually asked to come down to the office to answer questions about my car and show relevant paperwork. This is a problem because even if I did understand the requests in Japanese, it's a hire car so I don't have any of the paperwork. Finally I convinced them to just call the hire company and that sorted most of the issues. Until they came back to me and said that I needed a new contract under my name. Originally it was under Jeff's name because it was through his work, he had the bank account and pay cheque and I was on a Dependent's visa. But now my school decided that despite the fact I've been covered for insurance for the last year driving that car, they can't possibly 'allow' me to drive it without it being under my name. I feel so bad for the lovely couple who run Jinseki Motors - they have had so many requests from my school for paperwork and information. I don't say this lightly, but they actually deserve some of the NZ chocolate Mum brought over. Yup, they are THAT lovely.
Actually, I got a fright when I went in yesterday afternoon. When we first hired the car, the wife was heavily pregnant and over the year I've 'conversed' a few times with her baby while he lay next to the cat on the couch. But yesterday when I went in, he was walking around the office, pulling the cat's whiskers and repeatedly falling out the door. He has a shock of dark hair that sticks straight up (if you haven't seen Japanese babies, their hair has to be seen to be believed!) and he was grinning at me as he used my trousers to support himself while he attempted to follow the cat. His Mum said he would be one next week. I know that time frame makes sense, but seeing how big and capable he is now really brought it home how long we have lived in Japan! When I told Jeff about it, he pointed out it will be the same for Jason and Shelley's wee one, when we next make it home (for Holly's wedding!). There's nothing like baby pictures to show how time is passing!
Now I better stop procrastinating and mark some more My Dream essays (*sigh*) or plan Friday's lesson. The weather here is finally starting to cool down - at 6am this morning I had to put on a sweatshirt for the first time in months! Hope you are also experiencing more pleasant weather. Japan has taught me to dislike weather extremes!
Cheers,
Charly
Last night Jeff and I went to the adult English class that we help out with in Yuki. It took the cake as the most awkward class yet and I was so grateful to have Jeff there too. Only four of the seven regulars turned up, one of which, Tokura-sensei, seemed to be off form. Granted, he is 80-something, but he didn't actually face in our direction all lesson. In my language course in Hiroshima a couple of weeks ago we did an exercise in calling on the telephone, which we practised by sitting back-to-back. I got the shock of my life when I realised how much of my 'understanding Japanese' is actually understanding body language! As such, I was really concerned by this old bloke not even looking our way all lesson. So... I believe Jeff and I were less than useful in that lesson, but at least we showed up to help. And Tokura-sensei gave us apples :) He always gives us something, but my favourite is when he gives us big, delicious apples off his apple tree.
In other news... I have finally submitted my new car contract (under my name, not Jeff's) to my school, so HOPEFULLY they will now officially allow me to drive to work. It has been an on-going saga because a) I work on Tuesdays at a different school, which the ALT traditionally takes the train to and b) I'm the first ALT in this position to have a car and a reason to drive (the other school is 40 minutes closer to Jinseki than my base school). Over the last month and a bit I have been continually asked to come down to the office to answer questions about my car and show relevant paperwork. This is a problem because even if I did understand the requests in Japanese, it's a hire car so I don't have any of the paperwork. Finally I convinced them to just call the hire company and that sorted most of the issues. Until they came back to me and said that I needed a new contract under my name. Originally it was under Jeff's name because it was through his work, he had the bank account and pay cheque and I was on a Dependent's visa. But now my school decided that despite the fact I've been covered for insurance for the last year driving that car, they can't possibly 'allow' me to drive it without it being under my name. I feel so bad for the lovely couple who run Jinseki Motors - they have had so many requests from my school for paperwork and information. I don't say this lightly, but they actually deserve some of the NZ chocolate Mum brought over. Yup, they are THAT lovely.
Actually, I got a fright when I went in yesterday afternoon. When we first hired the car, the wife was heavily pregnant and over the year I've 'conversed' a few times with her baby while he lay next to the cat on the couch. But yesterday when I went in, he was walking around the office, pulling the cat's whiskers and repeatedly falling out the door. He has a shock of dark hair that sticks straight up (if you haven't seen Japanese babies, their hair has to be seen to be believed!) and he was grinning at me as he used my trousers to support himself while he attempted to follow the cat. His Mum said he would be one next week. I know that time frame makes sense, but seeing how big and capable he is now really brought it home how long we have lived in Japan! When I told Jeff about it, he pointed out it will be the same for Jason and Shelley's wee one, when we next make it home (for Holly's wedding!). There's nothing like baby pictures to show how time is passing!
Now I better stop procrastinating and mark some more My Dream essays (*sigh*) or plan Friday's lesson. The weather here is finally starting to cool down - at 6am this morning I had to put on a sweatshirt for the first time in months! Hope you are also experiencing more pleasant weather. Japan has taught me to dislike weather extremes!
Cheers,
Charly
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Sorry!!
Hey people,
Ok, no promises of greatness for this post! I know I've been shite at updating lately, but the last couple of months have been crazy.
After our Fuji climb we had my parents arrive. They lived with me in my Kurashiki apartment for a bit until Jeff and I went up to Sapporo, Hokkaido, for a week of holiday (it was awesome. Beer, beer and more beer!). In August I spent the first week in Tokyo training, the next week we both had training in Hiroshima and the third week Mum left and I had a lanaguage camp in Saijo (look out for my youtube debut as the Japanese-speaking nurse!). The following week my classes started and I have been busy trying to get my head round the new workplace, signing paperwork for god-knows-what and driving back and forth between the new Fukuyama apartment and our big place in Jinseki.
Things are starting to settle down finally, as I'm into the third week of school. I spent Sunday night marking 64 'My Dream' essays, which included one which was a page explaining how the student wanted to be a sports sweat shirt. I don't think he was taking the piss, so I have no idea what he actually wanted to be...
Anyway, for the future, this is a list of things I should give you more details of when I find the time:
* Climbing Fuji
* Our Sapporo holiday
* Was going to say our training in Hiroshima. But suffice it to say that we met, we trained and we got horrifically drunk. If you're not sure what kind of party scene to imagine here, let's just say that there was a DANCE FLOOR. The first one I have seen in Japan. So things may have got a little crazy. At least we weren't like one new JET, who woke up at 3am under the bar with two broken ribs and no recollection of how it happened. We were not that crazy. But Jeff was drunk enough to dance and I was drunk enough to ask Jeff why our (Japanese-speaking) friend was talking about eating first year students. Turns out she was talking about teaching first year students about food. Hey, I was half right.
That's not a super long list, so I'm hoping I will get around to giving you a more comprehensive rundown of those two. I keep encouraging Jeff to write something on here, but he is resistant. Although he may not have my self-indulgent turn of phrase, he has a much more accurate memory than me and doesn't change smaller details to make the story run smoother ;) I blame my travel writing paper at Massey, which clearly taught us to sacrifice details for the good of the story!!
Apologies that this is neither thorough nor informative, but hopefully it will be something to tide y'all over until I get back into this!!
Charly
Ok, no promises of greatness for this post! I know I've been shite at updating lately, but the last couple of months have been crazy.
After our Fuji climb we had my parents arrive. They lived with me in my Kurashiki apartment for a bit until Jeff and I went up to Sapporo, Hokkaido, for a week of holiday (it was awesome. Beer, beer and more beer!). In August I spent the first week in Tokyo training, the next week we both had training in Hiroshima and the third week Mum left and I had a lanaguage camp in Saijo (look out for my youtube debut as the Japanese-speaking nurse!). The following week my classes started and I have been busy trying to get my head round the new workplace, signing paperwork for god-knows-what and driving back and forth between the new Fukuyama apartment and our big place in Jinseki.
Things are starting to settle down finally, as I'm into the third week of school. I spent Sunday night marking 64 'My Dream' essays, which included one which was a page explaining how the student wanted to be a sports sweat shirt. I don't think he was taking the piss, so I have no idea what he actually wanted to be...
Anyway, for the future, this is a list of things I should give you more details of when I find the time:
* Climbing Fuji
* Our Sapporo holiday
* Was going to say our training in Hiroshima. But suffice it to say that we met, we trained and we got horrifically drunk. If you're not sure what kind of party scene to imagine here, let's just say that there was a DANCE FLOOR. The first one I have seen in Japan. So things may have got a little crazy. At least we weren't like one new JET, who woke up at 3am under the bar with two broken ribs and no recollection of how it happened. We were not that crazy. But Jeff was drunk enough to dance and I was drunk enough to ask Jeff why our (Japanese-speaking) friend was talking about eating first year students. Turns out she was talking about teaching first year students about food. Hey, I was half right.
That's not a super long list, so I'm hoping I will get around to giving you a more comprehensive rundown of those two. I keep encouraging Jeff to write something on here, but he is resistant. Although he may not have my self-indulgent turn of phrase, he has a much more accurate memory than me and doesn't change smaller details to make the story run smoother ;) I blame my travel writing paper at Massey, which clearly taught us to sacrifice details for the good of the story!!
Apologies that this is neither thorough nor informative, but hopefully it will be something to tide y'all over until I get back into this!!
Charly
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Mt Fuji, here I come!
It is officially the countdown to Mt Fuji! On Saturday morning we will catch a train into Fukuyama city, where we will be picked up by our bus. We will spend all day on the bus (bar food stops), heading up to Mt. Fuji. We will start our climb at 8pm, climbing through the night. It is supposed to take 5-6 hrs, so we will have time to rest up there before watching the sunrise and doing an easy 3 hrs down. We will then be taken to an onsen to rest and recuperate in the warm water, before having the onsen serve us breakfast and packing us back on the bus for the homeward journey! Personally I intend to spend a good portion of the weekend sleeping!
To prep myself for the weekend I did a strength-training workout on Monday night, focusing on the squats (building up those mountain-climbing thighs!!) and today I did another beach run.
I'm quite pleased with my beach runs, as I know they are great exercise, much better for my joints than road running, and I get my dose of vitamin D for the day. I have been toying with the idea of running in my bikini, to get a little bit of a tan (I've given up on 'pale is beautiful'. I don't care what the Japanese think, I just look sick!). But I get enough stares in my tshirt and shorts, so I'm not sure I'm brave enough. Today was a case in point... I'm jogging along the water's edge in my shorts, tshirt and cap with the ipod going, when I see a couple of guys with jet skis up ahead. They are staring at me as I approach. I flatter myself it's because I'm the most beautiful (read only!) blonde they've ever seen, but I know from experience it's either because a) I'm a female running or b) because my face is tomato-coloured. Anyway, I'm jogging along trying to look cool and trying to look at their jet skis sideways out of my glasses, so they can't see I'm looking, when my sneaker catches on a big chunk of seaweed and I stumble forwards, almost landing on my knees in front of the guys. Luckily I catch myself before I hit the sand and stumble on, trying to pretend nothing happened. Awesome. I'm so damn cool I amaze myself. Maybe I should leave the bikini running to the more coordinated!
Other than that, tonight I'm having a battle to the death with mosquitos. I have several big welts on my legs and a smear of someone's blood on my foot from where I squashed a mozzie. I only hope the blood is mine! Maybe this is God telling me to have an early night - get into bed asap and turn my bug repellant mist on!
Eight sleeps until my Mummy gets here!! Yay! Also Beth has just posted me a big package of bits and bobs from home and next week we SHOULD find out where my placement for my new job is!
I hope you're all doing ok back in NZ. Life is great here because we turned on the air conditioning at work today. It was pretty cool in the classroom so I went to turn the air con up a little higher and saw it was set at 26 degrees! That certainly gives an indication how warm it is outside of the classroom... I decided to leave the air con for now, but I may turn it a little higher later on, because I don't think it's healthy for your body to adjust from really hot to fairly cool several times in the course of a day. Of course, noone has told Waikato Uni this - I assume you still have to take sweatshirts to summer lectures and have a light tshirt under your layers in winter!!
Ok, Jeff is calling now so I should finish this. Night everyone!
To prep myself for the weekend I did a strength-training workout on Monday night, focusing on the squats (building up those mountain-climbing thighs!!) and today I did another beach run.
I'm quite pleased with my beach runs, as I know they are great exercise, much better for my joints than road running, and I get my dose of vitamin D for the day. I have been toying with the idea of running in my bikini, to get a little bit of a tan (I've given up on 'pale is beautiful'. I don't care what the Japanese think, I just look sick!). But I get enough stares in my tshirt and shorts, so I'm not sure I'm brave enough. Today was a case in point... I'm jogging along the water's edge in my shorts, tshirt and cap with the ipod going, when I see a couple of guys with jet skis up ahead. They are staring at me as I approach. I flatter myself it's because I'm the most beautiful (read only!) blonde they've ever seen, but I know from experience it's either because a) I'm a female running or b) because my face is tomato-coloured. Anyway, I'm jogging along trying to look cool and trying to look at their jet skis sideways out of my glasses, so they can't see I'm looking, when my sneaker catches on a big chunk of seaweed and I stumble forwards, almost landing on my knees in front of the guys. Luckily I catch myself before I hit the sand and stumble on, trying to pretend nothing happened. Awesome. I'm so damn cool I amaze myself. Maybe I should leave the bikini running to the more coordinated!
Other than that, tonight I'm having a battle to the death with mosquitos. I have several big welts on my legs and a smear of someone's blood on my foot from where I squashed a mozzie. I only hope the blood is mine! Maybe this is God telling me to have an early night - get into bed asap and turn my bug repellant mist on!
Eight sleeps until my Mummy gets here!! Yay! Also Beth has just posted me a big package of bits and bobs from home and next week we SHOULD find out where my placement for my new job is!
I hope you're all doing ok back in NZ. Life is great here because we turned on the air conditioning at work today. It was pretty cool in the classroom so I went to turn the air con up a little higher and saw it was set at 26 degrees! That certainly gives an indication how warm it is outside of the classroom... I decided to leave the air con for now, but I may turn it a little higher later on, because I don't think it's healthy for your body to adjust from really hot to fairly cool several times in the course of a day. Of course, noone has told Waikato Uni this - I assume you still have to take sweatshirts to summer lectures and have a light tshirt under your layers in winter!!
Ok, Jeff is calling now so I should finish this. Night everyone!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Beached as
Hey there,
It has got so hot over here in the last couple of weeks, making that important (slightly painful) move from temperatures in the 20’s to in the low 30’s. I’ve been struggling with that, but this morning I found the PERFECT antidote.
First off, you should know that a) it’s horrible exercising in this heat, so I try to avoid it, and b) we are climbing Mt Fuji in less than two weeks, so I want to be fit for that. So this morning I pushed myself into going for a run on the beach. Usually I think about this and don’t do it, as although the beach is less than five minutes’ drive away, getting there involves walking from my flat to my car (a few hundred metres), opening the two gates (one locked, the other a hooked up chain) to get into the work carpark, driving my car out and closing the two gates behind me again. It always seems such a hassle that I talk myself out of driving anywhere and just end up going to the expensive supermarket that is within easy walking distance. But today I was determined to go for my beach run, so I made the effort of getting the car out and doing it. I was all prepared, with hat and sunscreen for my face, ipod to keep me entertained and bikini underneath so I was ready for the end of my run! I ran to the end of the beach (I’m telling myself it was a km but I could be totally overestimating it!), along the rock wall extending into the water and halfway back, just walking the last half a beach length. I was pleased I had that much stamina considering I haven’t run in months and I was on sand in over 30 degree heat! Finally, back near my car, I stripped off – aware I was the only adult going deeper than knees (with the notable exception of a bloke in his rash vest, bathing cap, flippers and some odd paddles on his hands, who still only seemed to go waist deep). I would like to say I plunged into the icy water, but it was more that I eased in to the cool shallows, anxiously avoiding all the floating seaweed. But submerging myself in that saltiness was divine. It was like being barefoot after a night in heels, like chocolate after a detox, like a home-cooked meal after six months of flatting…
Of course, all this is great news as the swim was such a blissful experience that it made it worth doing the run. I have hope this will help motivate me to fit in a few more runs, particularly over the next couple of weeks before climbing Mt. Fuji. I realise it sounds stupid, a last-ditch effort to get fit in two weeks, but I have been doing ok at my weights workouts at home, so it’s just a matter of trying to use these two weeks to focus on the muscles I will need most for the climb.
Now it’s getting late, so I should retire to bed (after a cold shower), in the hopes of getting to the beach a little earlier tomorrow. Early = cool. I dream of being cool. I fantasise about those winter snows. I never truly appreciated them – actually, that’s not true. The memory of last summer’s heat has stayed with me all year, meaning even in the coldest part of winter, I could easily quell my complaints with a mental reminder that at least it wasn’t summer.
Night,
Charly
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Shopping weekend
It’s a grey and rainy Monday, the start of another week here in Kurashiki. I’m sulking because I have a sore throat and a buzzing head, but I know Jeff has been dealing with constant headaches the last month, so I can’t complain and expect too much sympathy. As much as I’m enjoying my job down here, there is a lot to be said for having someone at home to look after you when you’re not feeling 100%.
Last night Mum booked her flights to Japan, so that’s really exciting! She will be here for slightly over a month. NZ passports can only stay for a month without a visa, but on her UK passport she can stay six months – nice. Although it sounds like Kate may possibly be the most excited person – I think she is really looking forward to having someone to discuss her time in Japan with.
This past weekend Jeff came down to visit me in Kurashiki. Friday night started brilliantly (for me, anyway), because when I got off work I found Jeff had prepared me a big dinner of fresh salad (vegies provided by a sharing neighbour) with tempura prawn and a piece of salmon cooked in foil with basil pesto. It was so great having someone cook dinner for me. Even better to come home from work to find someone has cooked dinner for me; there is something about finishing an eight hour day and NOT having to prepare your own food. As I pointed out to Jeff, this is almost the first time I’ve been able to come home from work to someone else’s cooking all year (with the exception of when Kate was visiting – a couple of times she finished teaching before I did and would prepare something for when I got in). Dessert was the famous Japanese ‘pudding’, another gift from our generous neighbours.
On Saturday we had a lazy morning then drove into the Tamashima train station. There we caught a train into Okayama. This was a revelation, as last time we went into Okayama we spent hours on wet roads, fighting hundreds of cars. The train was much faster and stress free – well, the trip in anyway. On the homeward journey we jumped on a train that turned out to turn inland two stops before ours. We then had to spend at least half an hour waiting at a tiny little train station in a tiny, mist-covered mountain town, waiting for a train back in to Kurashiki. Back in Kurashiki we were able to change to a train that got us back to Tamashima no more than, oh, an hour and a half after we should have been there!
Other than this, Saturday was a very successful day. I found the hairdresser I had been recommended (they are used to Western hair – very important for me!) and got a cute cut. I just hope I can style it on my own… I particularly impressed myself because the hairdresser spoke about the same amount of English as I spoke Japanese, so we ended up communicating in, say, 80% Japanese and 20% English. I was there for over an hour and we chatted almost constantly. We couldn’t talk about anything in-depth, but we were able to ask and answer questions and generally understand each other. Usually I let Jeff deal with the Japanese conversation, so it was great for me, both as practice and as a confidence-booster. While I was doing this Jeff did a bit of shopping, buying beer and snacks at the import store and getting me a book at the store that has an English section (it is a book called 24 Eyes. They made a movie of it and when we were in Shikoku we visited the village that was built as the movie set). When I was done we wandered round a few more shops, weaving our way round the underground mall, before heading home early. You know what happened then!
On Sunday we headed into the big mall in Kurashiki, with the main objective of buying Jeff socks. He keeps trying to buy socks that turn out to be too small, so my sock collection is growing quickly! However, we managed to find him stretchy socks and a new work bag, while I bought a couple of blokes singlets – the only way I can find a singlet that is sure to fit me and isn’t unflatteringly clingy. Lunch was Subway – ah, Subway, how I had missed you!
Back in Tamashima we went for a walk on the beach before Jeff went home. As it was a warm weekend, the beach was very popular with a number of groups on the sand. However, the only people in the water was one woman wading ankle deep and a toddler. As we pulled into the carpark we watched a woman in jean shorts and stiletto gladiator sandals gingerly step onto the sand and walk down towards the water. No wonder when we took the Chinese students from the hall of residence to the beach, they didn’t know to bring swimsuits!
Work starts in just over an hour, so I should get dressed and have something to eat. I might take a bottle of juice to work to make my throat feel better. I only have to teach three classes this evening, but I only have ten minutes break between each one, so I’m not looking forward to it. I guess I’m being a drama queen about this, but it’s just there is no-one/nothing happening to distract me from feeling urcky today (yes, that is a word, ok!).
Bye,
Charly
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Halfway to a placement!
The big news atm is that we are partway to hearing a placement. We have been told I will be in Hiroshima-ken, (Hiroshima prefecture) but no more, so we expect I will probably be in a high school (elementary and junior high school JETs tend to get told a more specific placement). We expect to hear exactly where I'm going in July, but it's fingers crossed for it being close enough to Jinseki that I can live at home.
A couple of minutes ago an odd thing happened. The apartment shook, just a little and just for a couple of seconds. The building also shakes when my neighbour starts his incredibly noisy car, so this doesn't mean much, but - not being used to earthquakes - I wondered briefly if it was a truck driving past or something that had done it, although I hadn't heard anything... Thirty seconds later I got a text from Jeff (in Jinseki, two hours away) saying 'Earthquake!' I know for people used to earthquakes this will seem stupid, particularly because it was so tiny (I'm thinking of Christchurch as I write this!), but I find it bizarre, overwhelming and a little frightening that Jeff and I, so far away from each other, are both being shook around by the same movement of the earth. There is no escaping the power of Mother Nature here. Considering we were told Jinseki doesn't get earthquakes, that makes the fourth one in the less-than-a-year we have lived there! I know Jeff thinks nothing of them, having grown up in earthquake-prone parts of NZ, but it's a big deal for Aucklander Charly!
Now, for the grand finale of this update: my Mum is coming to visit me in Japan!! My boss had her new employee pull out pretty last minute, so I offered to work the first three weeks of July - taking the last week off to have a few days away with Jeff, make the transition from living in Kurashiki to living in Jinseki (or a new town/flat) and to pack my bags for the training in Tokyo. I get a little anxious when I think about everything I have to do in those five days, actually... Anyway, I have organised for Mum to come and help out for that last week of July when I'm away. Yay! As you would expect, I'm really really excited about showing Mum around. It's a pity it will be in the middle of the summer heat, but I'm still hoping that she will come back for the autumn leaves or cherry blossoms :)
I had a very cringeworthy moment with my students tonight. It is the most advanced group of youngsters, ranging in age from nine to about twelve. Their reader is set in America and shows a range of nationalities, with the lead character being a boy in a wheelchair - all very PC stuff. Until one of the girls pointed at the worried-looking black man, the teacher Mr. Williams, and said "Obama!" I knew I should just drop it - there was noone there to be offended - but one of the things I find hard about Japan is the complete lack of cultural diversity. In all reality these kids have probably never seen a black person, and maybe never will. But, all the same, I felt obliged to try to explain that I understood it was hard in Japan, because most people here are Japanese, but that saying he looked like Obama just because he was black was rude, and that it was like me saying they all looked the same because they were Japanese (there was no irony in this; the class consisted of a younger girl all grins, two older girls - one more hesitant, the other with a shrewd twinkle in her eye and a serious older boy. All very different looks and personalities). Of course, I was still doing a double cringe listening to myself, remembering some of the racist anti-Asian sentiments I have heard in NZ, but it just fueled my anti-racist fire! I think the girl understood what I was trying to explain...
Of course, with my boss and I both being natural blondes with that pale/pinky skin tone specific to blondes, the students have probably already concluded that all Europeans look alike! At least when Mum visits they will see that Europeans come in more than one colour, lol. It's stupid, but I wish I could bring Beth here and substitute her for me for a day, to see the reactions. People who know us never get us mixed up (we are very different - hair style, hair colour, skin colour, weight, face, body, etc. Actually I'm not sure what's so alike...), but people who have only just met us often get us mixed up and when we go out together we occasionally get asked if we are twins. So I would be very curious to see how many of the students and parents at the school would assume she was me (with dyed hair, perhaps?) and how many 'see' me clearly enough as an individual to see Beth as a different individual.
Ok, time for me to clean the bathroom and get to bed! Jeff is coming down tomorrow so I have to make the house look spick and span and pretend it's always like that! :D
Night,
Charly
A couple of minutes ago an odd thing happened. The apartment shook, just a little and just for a couple of seconds. The building also shakes when my neighbour starts his incredibly noisy car, so this doesn't mean much, but - not being used to earthquakes - I wondered briefly if it was a truck driving past or something that had done it, although I hadn't heard anything... Thirty seconds later I got a text from Jeff (in Jinseki, two hours away) saying 'Earthquake!' I know for people used to earthquakes this will seem stupid, particularly because it was so tiny (I'm thinking of Christchurch as I write this!), but I find it bizarre, overwhelming and a little frightening that Jeff and I, so far away from each other, are both being shook around by the same movement of the earth. There is no escaping the power of Mother Nature here. Considering we were told Jinseki doesn't get earthquakes, that makes the fourth one in the less-than-a-year we have lived there! I know Jeff thinks nothing of them, having grown up in earthquake-prone parts of NZ, but it's a big deal for Aucklander Charly!
Now, for the grand finale of this update: my Mum is coming to visit me in Japan!! My boss had her new employee pull out pretty last minute, so I offered to work the first three weeks of July - taking the last week off to have a few days away with Jeff, make the transition from living in Kurashiki to living in Jinseki (or a new town/flat) and to pack my bags for the training in Tokyo. I get a little anxious when I think about everything I have to do in those five days, actually... Anyway, I have organised for Mum to come and help out for that last week of July when I'm away. Yay! As you would expect, I'm really really excited about showing Mum around. It's a pity it will be in the middle of the summer heat, but I'm still hoping that she will come back for the autumn leaves or cherry blossoms :)
I had a very cringeworthy moment with my students tonight. It is the most advanced group of youngsters, ranging in age from nine to about twelve. Their reader is set in America and shows a range of nationalities, with the lead character being a boy in a wheelchair - all very PC stuff. Until one of the girls pointed at the worried-looking black man, the teacher Mr. Williams, and said "Obama!" I knew I should just drop it - there was noone there to be offended - but one of the things I find hard about Japan is the complete lack of cultural diversity. In all reality these kids have probably never seen a black person, and maybe never will. But, all the same, I felt obliged to try to explain that I understood it was hard in Japan, because most people here are Japanese, but that saying he looked like Obama just because he was black was rude, and that it was like me saying they all looked the same because they were Japanese (there was no irony in this; the class consisted of a younger girl all grins, two older girls - one more hesitant, the other with a shrewd twinkle in her eye and a serious older boy. All very different looks and personalities). Of course, I was still doing a double cringe listening to myself, remembering some of the racist anti-Asian sentiments I have heard in NZ, but it just fueled my anti-racist fire! I think the girl understood what I was trying to explain...
Of course, with my boss and I both being natural blondes with that pale/pinky skin tone specific to blondes, the students have probably already concluded that all Europeans look alike! At least when Mum visits they will see that Europeans come in more than one colour, lol. It's stupid, but I wish I could bring Beth here and substitute her for me for a day, to see the reactions. People who know us never get us mixed up (we are very different - hair style, hair colour, skin colour, weight, face, body, etc. Actually I'm not sure what's so alike...), but people who have only just met us often get us mixed up and when we go out together we occasionally get asked if we are twins. So I would be very curious to see how many of the students and parents at the school would assume she was me (with dyed hair, perhaps?) and how many 'see' me clearly enough as an individual to see Beth as a different individual.
Ok, time for me to clean the bathroom and get to bed! Jeff is coming down tomorrow so I have to make the house look spick and span and pretend it's always like that! :D
Night,
Charly
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Waiting...
Hi people,
Well, this is really only a courtesy update, because NOTHING'S HAPPENING!! Jeff and I are still waiting on hearing about my JET placement. I was told I would hear in May, but that didn't happen... Now I live for the moment I check my emails every morning. And I am disappointed every morning.
At my temporary job, I originally thought that if the JET placement wasn't in a good location, I could just keep this job instead. But the JET placement took way too long so they well and truly had someone lined up. But on Monday their new employee pulled out, saying she had received a better job offer at home.
All signs had pointed to this week being when we found out about JET ('all signs' meaning the opinions/rumours circulating on JET forums Jeff was checking out), which meant again I was in a position where if the JET offer wasn't good, I could have taken this job. However, three out of five days into the week there has been nothing and Jeff's forums are suggesting there have been delays of another couple of weeks. So again, it looks like I will miss out on this job even if I need it because JET doesn't come through! Jeff is reminding me to be optimistic, that JET will probably give me something closer than this, but I like having a Plan B.
The good news (for me) is that, with the new employee pulling out last minute, Cindy suddenly needed July covered. I straight away said I could cover the first three weeks, so she only needed someone for the last week. While on one hand it would have been nice to have some time to get myself organised before I start my new JET placement in August, and to spend some time with Jeff (especially if my new job will also involve living away from home), I am very very nervous about the summer heat, clearly remembering how miserable I was last summer, so I think being down here in an air-conditioned building with small impatient children keeping my mind off the heat is a good distraction technique. Plus, of course, the extra money is always appreciated.
However, there was still the final week in July when Cindy needs a teacher. I told her that Matt had paid Kate's air fare in return for her covering for a couple of weeks and suggested one of my sisters might be interested in that, if she had no-one suitable over here (I knew she didn't). So now I'm encouraging Beth to come see me in Japan; working for a week then travelling and hanging out at my place for a week. Would be awesome to have a second sister come visit!!
Other than that, things aren't so peachy on the Draper homefront, so if you see one, hug a Draper today :(
Charly, Jeff & Kuma
P.S. A big shoutout to Jason and Shelley who have a new addition to the family - well done you two!!
Well, this is really only a courtesy update, because NOTHING'S HAPPENING!! Jeff and I are still waiting on hearing about my JET placement. I was told I would hear in May, but that didn't happen... Now I live for the moment I check my emails every morning. And I am disappointed every morning.
At my temporary job, I originally thought that if the JET placement wasn't in a good location, I could just keep this job instead. But the JET placement took way too long so they well and truly had someone lined up. But on Monday their new employee pulled out, saying she had received a better job offer at home.
All signs had pointed to this week being when we found out about JET ('all signs' meaning the opinions/rumours circulating on JET forums Jeff was checking out), which meant again I was in a position where if the JET offer wasn't good, I could have taken this job. However, three out of five days into the week there has been nothing and Jeff's forums are suggesting there have been delays of another couple of weeks. So again, it looks like I will miss out on this job even if I need it because JET doesn't come through! Jeff is reminding me to be optimistic, that JET will probably give me something closer than this, but I like having a Plan B.
The good news (for me) is that, with the new employee pulling out last minute, Cindy suddenly needed July covered. I straight away said I could cover the first three weeks, so she only needed someone for the last week. While on one hand it would have been nice to have some time to get myself organised before I start my new JET placement in August, and to spend some time with Jeff (especially if my new job will also involve living away from home), I am very very nervous about the summer heat, clearly remembering how miserable I was last summer, so I think being down here in an air-conditioned building with small impatient children keeping my mind off the heat is a good distraction technique. Plus, of course, the extra money is always appreciated.
However, there was still the final week in July when Cindy needs a teacher. I told her that Matt had paid Kate's air fare in return for her covering for a couple of weeks and suggested one of my sisters might be interested in that, if she had no-one suitable over here (I knew she didn't). So now I'm encouraging Beth to come see me in Japan; working for a week then travelling and hanging out at my place for a week. Would be awesome to have a second sister come visit!!
Other than that, things aren't so peachy on the Draper homefront, so if you see one, hug a Draper today :(
Charly, Jeff & Kuma
P.S. A big shoutout to Jason and Shelley who have a new addition to the family - well done you two!!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
LOVING the new job!
Hey there,
My internet is working quite well atm so I thought I would take the opportunity to update y'all. As my internet is some random broadband that happens to be floating around my 'spare room', I can't really complain about the speed or inconsistency - instead just making the most of it when it's going well.
This is my second week at my new job in Tamashima, Kurashiki. I'm loving it - it's such a breath of fresh air after my last job. My boss is a chatty American woman who liked to horseride as a kid, so we get along like a house on fire (rather too well, chatting when we are supposed to be prepping lessons!). Her teaching philosophy and staff training methods are much more relaxed than my old boss; she believes that if I chat to the students in more complicated language than they understand it will prepare them for the next step up and she puts me in the soundproof room while I'm finding my feet, so I'm not selfconcious about her or parents following my teaching. Because I came on board quickly and am working within her timeframe, both my boss and her husband are bending over backwards to do anything they can to help me out, including not charging me rent and being relaxed about me taking off to the 7/11 for coffee or running home to put my laundry away when rain threatens! My new flat is great - a two bedroom place with a decent kitchen and lounge with couch and coffee table (there is a TV, but without fluent Japanese, it's no help to me!).
In the weekend Jeff came down to stay, so we could explore the local area. We found a mall about 20 mins away that is probably the biggest we have seen here and has all the useful shops we sometimes frequent (by 'useful' read Body Shop and Starbucks!!). We went on a hat hunt, because all Jeff's current caps give him a headache because they are too tight. To get the head size in proportion, in NZ Jeff bought a size L mens helmet and it fitted me nicely. So yes, he struggles to find hats (and yes, I shop in mens stores for mine!). We tried on every hat in the mall (well, it felt like it!) and we found not one, but TWO hats that fitted him. We also picked up the new Foo Fighters CD and I got a mens singlet from Uniqlo (the one store that has clothes with a hope in hell of fitting us). Although I can sometimes fit the womens stuff at Uniqlo, their cotton singlets are very tight and most have built in padded bras. As I have recently started to dress in a manner that best conceals my chest after a few embarrassing incidents with children, there is no way I'm squeezing into those tiny plentifully padded singlets (though I'm still blown away by the ten year old who reached out to admire my necklace, then casually pushed his hand into my chest while staring earnestly at the pendant. On one hand I want to slap him and on the other, I want to give him a hi five for his balls!).
Other than retail therapy, we went for a wander up to a garden/shrine/graveyard with a nice view over Tamashima and the harbour, ate some nice meals and spent rather more time than intended driving around losing and finding ourselves in Kurashiki.
I've surprised myself with having a better than usual sense of direction in this area, which I think is a sign that I'm MEANT to work down here (if JET offer me something too far away I may take this job permenantly rather than relinquishing it to the American woman intending to come in July). In Fukuyama, our closest city to home, I have a dreadful sense of direction - we only ever visit the same places and they involve a maximum of about two turns, but I still feel overwhelmed and confused when I have to drive there. I think the difference is the height of the buildings, all covered in huge signs with stylised Japanese writing.
Driving round in Japan makes me feel like I'm five again. I remember when I was first learning to read how tiring it was being driven round, because I automatically tried to read signs we passed, my brain trying to process the information as we shot past. Now it's the same - it does my head in trying to read all the Japanese writing fleetingly passing as we drive. What makes it worse is often it's kanji which a) I don't know and b) sometimes looks like one of the other two alphabets that I do know, so that I'm mentally putting in sounds then realising that actually it only LOOKS like that letter, it's actually something totally different. Sorry, if this sounds confusing, that's because it is.
Anyway, in Kurashiki the buildings aren't so tall and they are set further off the road, so I don't have these signs thrust in my face while I drive around, so I find it a much more peaceful place. Of course, it also helps heaps that there is a real SWIMMING BEACH just down the road. Swimming beaches are a rare commodity in Japan, as most places where the land meets the water are defined by a waist high concrete wall. My current theory is that it's to stop all the people falling out. However, a few kms from my apartment there is a swimming beach and, although it looks totally manmade, a beach is a beach and it calms me just knowing it's there. My plan is to go for a walk/run down there tomorrow before I go to the supermarket, but that depends on what time I get to bed (it's 11:41pm and I still have to do the dishes...).
Anyway, the plan while I live down here is for Jeff to visit me every second weekend, so we can make the most of exploring a new area, while I still get every second weekend at home to sleep in my own bed, talk to our hamster and check on my bean plants.
Hmm, it has just come to my attention that the internet has stopped working, so I'm going to try to get it going and post this before I lose it!
Bye,
Charly (& Jeff)
My internet is working quite well atm so I thought I would take the opportunity to update y'all. As my internet is some random broadband that happens to be floating around my 'spare room', I can't really complain about the speed or inconsistency - instead just making the most of it when it's going well.
This is my second week at my new job in Tamashima, Kurashiki. I'm loving it - it's such a breath of fresh air after my last job. My boss is a chatty American woman who liked to horseride as a kid, so we get along like a house on fire (rather too well, chatting when we are supposed to be prepping lessons!). Her teaching philosophy and staff training methods are much more relaxed than my old boss; she believes that if I chat to the students in more complicated language than they understand it will prepare them for the next step up and she puts me in the soundproof room while I'm finding my feet, so I'm not selfconcious about her or parents following my teaching. Because I came on board quickly and am working within her timeframe, both my boss and her husband are bending over backwards to do anything they can to help me out, including not charging me rent and being relaxed about me taking off to the 7/11 for coffee or running home to put my laundry away when rain threatens! My new flat is great - a two bedroom place with a decent kitchen and lounge with couch and coffee table (there is a TV, but without fluent Japanese, it's no help to me!).
In the weekend Jeff came down to stay, so we could explore the local area. We found a mall about 20 mins away that is probably the biggest we have seen here and has all the useful shops we sometimes frequent (by 'useful' read Body Shop and Starbucks!!). We went on a hat hunt, because all Jeff's current caps give him a headache because they are too tight. To get the head size in proportion, in NZ Jeff bought a size L mens helmet and it fitted me nicely. So yes, he struggles to find hats (and yes, I shop in mens stores for mine!). We tried on every hat in the mall (well, it felt like it!) and we found not one, but TWO hats that fitted him. We also picked up the new Foo Fighters CD and I got a mens singlet from Uniqlo (the one store that has clothes with a hope in hell of fitting us). Although I can sometimes fit the womens stuff at Uniqlo, their cotton singlets are very tight and most have built in padded bras. As I have recently started to dress in a manner that best conceals my chest after a few embarrassing incidents with children, there is no way I'm squeezing into those tiny plentifully padded singlets (though I'm still blown away by the ten year old who reached out to admire my necklace, then casually pushed his hand into my chest while staring earnestly at the pendant. On one hand I want to slap him and on the other, I want to give him a hi five for his balls!).
Other than retail therapy, we went for a wander up to a garden/shrine/graveyard with a nice view over Tamashima and the harbour, ate some nice meals and spent rather more time than intended driving around losing and finding ourselves in Kurashiki.
I've surprised myself with having a better than usual sense of direction in this area, which I think is a sign that I'm MEANT to work down here (if JET offer me something too far away I may take this job permenantly rather than relinquishing it to the American woman intending to come in July). In Fukuyama, our closest city to home, I have a dreadful sense of direction - we only ever visit the same places and they involve a maximum of about two turns, but I still feel overwhelmed and confused when I have to drive there. I think the difference is the height of the buildings, all covered in huge signs with stylised Japanese writing.
Driving round in Japan makes me feel like I'm five again. I remember when I was first learning to read how tiring it was being driven round, because I automatically tried to read signs we passed, my brain trying to process the information as we shot past. Now it's the same - it does my head in trying to read all the Japanese writing fleetingly passing as we drive. What makes it worse is often it's kanji which a) I don't know and b) sometimes looks like one of the other two alphabets that I do know, so that I'm mentally putting in sounds then realising that actually it only LOOKS like that letter, it's actually something totally different. Sorry, if this sounds confusing, that's because it is.
Anyway, in Kurashiki the buildings aren't so tall and they are set further off the road, so I don't have these signs thrust in my face while I drive around, so I find it a much more peaceful place. Of course, it also helps heaps that there is a real SWIMMING BEACH just down the road. Swimming beaches are a rare commodity in Japan, as most places where the land meets the water are defined by a waist high concrete wall. My current theory is that it's to stop all the people falling out. However, a few kms from my apartment there is a swimming beach and, although it looks totally manmade, a beach is a beach and it calms me just knowing it's there. My plan is to go for a walk/run down there tomorrow before I go to the supermarket, but that depends on what time I get to bed (it's 11:41pm and I still have to do the dishes...).
Anyway, the plan while I live down here is for Jeff to visit me every second weekend, so we can make the most of exploring a new area, while I still get every second weekend at home to sleep in my own bed, talk to our hamster and check on my bean plants.
Hmm, it has just come to my attention that the internet has stopped working, so I'm going to try to get it going and post this before I lose it!
Bye,
Charly (& Jeff)
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