Friday, February 25, 2005

Life's small pleasures

So after a very mediocre week, kendo tonight had been cancelled and my plans for coffee with my friend Nami also fell through, I met Lauren at Jusco for dinner. We had a nice dinner of curry katsu om-rice and then headed for coffee afterwards.

As we sat talking and looking at pictures of Lauren's kids... I looked over to my left and my favorite little boy, Yusuke, and his family were walking past. I gasped when I saw him, I was so surprised. I got up said hello and gave his older brother a high-5! I really wanted to give him a hug... but that might have scared his parents. I was SO chuffed!! He's such a cutie. Not 5 minutes later... one of his classmates, Yoshimitsu, and his family were riding up the escalator. How strangely coincidental that two of my favorite first graders were in Jusco at the same time as me? I waved at them and got huge smiles in return. Teaching here does have its rewards.

Then... to walk off our meal and coffee, Lauren and I went to Uniqlo. I found the PERFECT track suit! It's green... and great!

So... though tonight was entirely low-key... I managed to have a great night... because life has its own little unplanned pleasures to throw our way! :-)

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Bored no longer....

Now, just when I thought that my boredom was going to last until the end of the day... one of my fave 3-nensei students walked into the staff room... Toru LOVES hip-hop music. Knows all the artists from the states, Jay-z, Eminem, Dr. Dre, etc. We talk about music all the time... Well, he just informed me that this weekend... Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, and he are doing a concert in Texas! Then asked how to spell "finest" because he's always telling me he's the "world's finest" rapper! Heehee... I can't get enough of this kid. Hilarious!
I'm bored...

Yeah, so I've had my one class today. And I've studied some Japanese... and now I'm bored. Maybe I've got some ADD tendencies, but man I just don't feel like sitting here anymore... but have no choice until I leave here for my Japanese lesson.

Ok, just found something to do while being bored... look up "bored at work"! Heehee... yeah, I'm bored.
Long week...

Not in terms of what I've been up to. In that respect it's been a spectacularly average week, but man, am I dragging! I can't stop yawning and I just want to stay in bed ALL day. Is this normal?? Don't know, but it sure feels weird because I'm not normally like this.

At least it's Thursday, right? Just two days until the weekend (I have to get through today first!). And then, I hope to relax a bit and do some snowboarding too. Should be good. Let's hope it's relaxing. I need it!

Yusuke. I LOVE this kid! He's coming home with me in August, I swear. How could you not love him??  Posted by Hello

Makiko!! What a ham!?! A cutie nonetheless... she once told me that English was easy... and then told me how to say "apple." Gotta love that. ;-) Posted by Hello

Wednesday, February 23, 2005


The 6th year toughs... they crack me up! Posted by Hello

Two first years... also... cutie-pa-tooties!! Posted by Hello

My 2nd grade boys!! How sweet are they??  Posted by Hello

Miho and I... she's one tall 12 year old! Posted by Hello

Here's one of my 6th year classes... it was my last day teaching them (as elementary school kids anyway...)!! :-( Sad, next time I see them, they'll be in uniform! Posted by Hello

I've given some of the kids in this class nicknames... the kid on the left - he's Ichiro! :-) Posted by Hello

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

GONE!!!

Yup... after a really LONG time... the cat has left me. boo-hoo.... Hahaha... I did something smart... maybe... I let it starve (or get to the VERY hungry stage), then when I went away for the weekend I left my garage door open just a tiny bit. And now?? I don't have a cat living in my garage. Now, it may not be the work of a master... but the cat's gone! :-D

The saga's over...

Monday, February 21, 2005

BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!

You think I've said this before... you think that really, it has to be a severe exaggeration. NOPE! This is completely true and completely un-exaggerated. I've just had the best weekend ever. Now for the details...

Friday, I had to go down early to take the GRE. Now, you're probably thinking... that sounds like a great start to a weekend... but you know what? I rocked that test! Increased my score on both verbal and math... so I was dancing as I walked out of the test center. :-)

That night, Lauren, Kirsty and I met up with my roommate from Tokyo orientation when I first came to Japan on JET. It was really good! She's a great girl and she's just gotten engaged to her Japanese boyfriend... which is so cool since they're such a good couple! We went to a nice place that was kind of izakaya and kind of a yaki-tori-ya all rolled into one. And being starving (I hadn't had anything to eat since 11.30 that morning and the girls were also starved from their train rides), we ordered a LOT of food! And what more do you want than a nice, big dessert course after you've had a huge dinner!?! Well, we did... especially since there was a TGI Friday's (they have awesome cocktails afterall...) on the 2nd floor of the same building. So, we headed there for drinks and dessert, I treated myself to a HUGE mudslide and dessert because of my GRE success!!

Just before we left, we started Lauren's birthday off right... we had the wait-staff sing happy birthday and embarrass her!! Heehee... they took a picture and everything. It was really funny!! And a great start to what would be the best Saturday on record!

Saturday morning we got to an early start and headed for Starbucks and Ueno park. (The Starbucks wa in Ueno station... perfect!) We went to the Tokyo National Museum and the Metropolitan Art Gallery. The special exhibit at the National museum was The Dancing Satyr... which will be on exhibition in Aichi-ken for the World Expo starting in March. Then we moved on to the other exhibits in the museum... there were some beautiful kimono on display as well as authentic samurai armor... some really exquisite painted screens... and loads of amazing china as well. After that we moved on to the Met... where there was a Mucha special exhibit. I didn't think I'd seen any of his stuff... but I have. It's very art nouveau, but really nice. The only problem was the number of people and an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia that I was feeling at the time.

Then it was time for the main event: KABUKI!!! It's funny... in Japan there are many things you hear about that are really amazing. But when you go to the particular festival, have the particular dish, etc... you are disappointed. The only thing that has definitely NOT been true for was the Sapporo Snow Festival I went to last year. And now, kabuki. There's no good way to describe kabuki. It's a traditional form of theater that developed during the Edo period. It's highly stylized theater where the actors are all men, the costumes are all elaborate and the stories are all well-known. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Even if I hadn't known what was going on (we got the English headsets), the colors and acting would have been enough. All I can say, is if you ever get to come to Japan... go to kabuki. It's worth every penny!

After we stopped gushing about kabuki (which took over an hour... ;-), we headed out for dinner and karaoke. Where we ate cheaply priced food, had some cheapish drinks, and sang to our heart's content! It was GREAT!! After that, we headed to Shibuya... in search of clubs and dancing. First we looked for a club that came recommended by a friend... and we couldn't find it. Then we tried to find the old stand-by, Bar Isn't it?, with no luck there. We were starting to get really cold... when we happened on a club... passed it a few times (passed the guy trying to lure us in as well) and finally decided the music that we could hear was acceptable to our ears. And if all else failed (and it sucked) we could go somewhere else. But luckily, it didn't suck. Far from it actually... it was AWESOME! The DJs were good (though I could have done without the techno entirely!) and the club was hopping. Cool Japanese people (some could actually dance...) and cool foreigners as well. It was a great night... ;-) So great in fact that we didn't leave until around 4.30... and didn't get to sleep until 5.30. Eeeeek!! But man, it was worth it.

Sunday... we slept, showered and were out on the streets before lunch. We stashed our stuff in lockers at the station we'd have to leave from that night, and headed out. We took a few pictures of the Imperial Palace grounds... then headed for coffee (by this time we'd already run across a closed Starbucks and a Dean & Deluca that wouldn't serve us unless we bought lunch!!) at Starbucks (Lauren badly needed her caffeine fix!) and then on to shopping in Shibuya. :-) And by the end... we'd found a great bookshop, good sports stores (was in need of some sports clothing... bought a cute running hat and some other essentials), and eventually ended up in purikura. ;-) Yay!!

So that was the weekend... I'm completely wrecked, but it was worth every second and every penny!

Friday, February 18, 2005

WISH ME LUCK!!!

Well, today's the day... I take the GRE today starting at 2. Whee... I didn't really get to study last night with packing and sorting all the stuff I needed out. I figure cramming isn't necessarily a good use of my time. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself... because I can't go back now. :-)

Heading out on the 7am train to Tokyo. I'll let you know how it goes....

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Hokey Pokey time!!

That describes yesterday for me! At a loss for what I wanted to do in class on Tuesday, I had a brainstorm that I should teach parts of the body... since all the kids already know Head-Shoulders... I really wanted to do a new song. And thus, I chose the Hokey Pokey!

Like all good teachers... I waited until the last minute to download and burn a copy of the hokey pokey off the internet... (wait, real teachers plan ahead you say!?) etc.

I had 2 third year classes to teach. The first class... was genki enough. They were pretty good fun, but a bit shy. I was a little worried about the second class... silly me!

I wish I had pictures... the second class was great! They were superstar Hokey-pokey-ers by the end!! Man, I wish I'd had a camera... so wish I'd had a camera!! Maybe I'll do an encore with them tomorrow... just so I can get pictures.

After lunch I then played with the 1st graders... only problem?? The little girls all wanted to touch me (hold my hand, yank on the back of my sweatshirt, etc) and all I wanted to do was say "stop it!!" Finally I found one of my fave kids and ran around hiding behind him (he's only a few inches smaller than me)... the girls thought I was joking. Shhhh... don't tell.... they were driving me batty!!

Have a great day!!

Monday, February 14, 2005

Weekend Update and the Daily Show...

This weekend was a really good one... as 3-day weekends tend to be. :-) It was a nice girlie affair... had coffee, lunch, shopping and movies on Friday. The weather was too scary for boarding (really windy!). Saturday, weather be damned, Kirsty, Lauren and I were going boarding...

Saturday ended up being nicer than Friday. We put in a good few hours or boarding... it was great. I'm finally getting it! After threatening to quit altogether, Lauren's infinite patience won the day... and I ended up having a pretty good day. Had some really evil falls, but all in all I will conquer this front edge! I will.

Sunday... it was time for some serious exercise. SO... Lauren and I had lunch... and then hit the pool for a nice long swim. I love this swimming business... it's really fun to FINALLY know what I'm doing. Well, almost know what I'm doing. Being knackered I came home and zonked out in no time last night.

Today... Valentine's day!!

I hate this holiday, but you know what?? The kids were all so preoccupied with tests (they start tomorrow...) that no one even really mentioned the fact that it was V-day. Since I HATE this holiday... it was perfect for me.

I taught 4th years today. The first class... I could have smacked them ALL!!! Oh man... and I don't think I've felt quite that frustrated with Japanese kids before. I was really skeptical going in to the second class... they saved the day. They managed to really give the whole lesson a go... no pouting or sitting around not really doing anything. They were all into it!! Man, I love it when classes make my day. I really do!

Then I popped my head into the 1st years... more of my faves... Good day all around!

Went for a run... ended up biking... heading to the chiro tomorrow for the ol' knee. I've gotta get training for road races in the spring. :-)

There's the update... :-)

Thursday, February 10, 2005

It's FRIDAY!

Well, not really, but it is our "Friday" in Japan. Tomorrow is Foundation Day (I think that has something to do with the Constitution here... but ya never know!?!) and therefore everyone gets a day off. SINCE it's snowing like mad all of a sudden skiing or boarding might be on the agenda for tomorrow. Although, a nice onsen and a book might also be equally as tempting. Oh, the choices!? ;-)

Today I'm going to teach 5th years. Now, I've not ever taught these kids before... but last week after having lunch with the 6th years I was stopped by a group of these kids. One decided that I should call him mayonnaise and another told me I should call her ketchup. Needless to say... I'm looking forward to class today!!

Hope your day is going as well as mine! :-D

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

A Really Great Day...

Today I was at Tachi-chu. I generally like the school, but recently the principal (kocho-sensei) has been making my life a bit difficult... despite that I had a great day!

I had one 2nd year class... basically we played games the whole time. The teacher's not got any command of his class... and so whenever I come we play games. Funny thing... the kids listen to me better than they do the teacher... the only use they have for him is as a translator. Anyway... we just got to playing games and having an overall great time... making teams is the best idea ever. Some of the games we'd tried before... without much luck... but as soon as we assigned points... we had their attention!!

After that major success, I headed over to teach elementary school... 3rd years. Oh man!! These kids are SUCH good fun. Both classes are wicked and they're super genki about English. The best was AFTER lunch... we played cops and robbers!! I haven't nearly made myself sick during recess since I was in Elementary school. But today... yup, I had a stomach cramp that was KILLING me by the time the bell rang. Heehee... gotta love that. I'll be playing again tomorrow as well... :-) I love the chiddlies!

The fun doesn't end... I went to the gym. Had a nice little run... did some speed work, just a little to try out the knee (which is good, until I'm trying to sit seiza... then it kills!!). As I was finishing up... one of my kids realized I was in there (he sprained his ankle so had to bike)... we had a chat about training and why he wasn't with everyone else. Then went on our way. Well, this kid (Toshiki) is quite a good student... and he came over afterwards and started asking about music and stuff. (He noticed I had my MD player...) It was so out of the blue... while he's a great student, he's also really shy. I was SO chuffed!!

So, even though today was really normal... it was really nice. I like Japan a lot... again. I think this love-hate thing with Japan goes in cycles... today's a love day!!

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Ohisashiburi!!!

Or... long time no see...

Yeah, so since I had a bit of a computer problem last week (on top of the cat problem!!!)... I'm just now getting to update my blog. Heehee... gomen ne...

Well, last week was pretty good. I still really HATE (which is maybe strong, but I REALLY don't like...) the principal (kocho-sensei) at one of my school's. He's decided to be an absolute arse-hole as far as I'm concerned. Basically, he's old school... everything is really traditional and Japanese. And therefore, I have to do my best impression of being a Japanese teacher... which I don't appreciate because I'm NOT!!!! He's new this year and is basically a pain in my bum. 'Nuf said.

The cat. Is still here. I've decided that getting rid of the cat is a two person job. Why?? Because this silly bugger has decided to hide in the ceiling storage space in my garage. And THAT means I can't really see him/her/it to get rid of the bugger. Grrrrr... anyone want to volunteer for cat removal duty?? I'd REALLY appreciate it! :-D

Anyway... the end of the week consisted of a great Friday afternoon skiing with little kids at my friend Kirsty's elementary school... and onsening (hot springs) yesterday (the weather was SO crap!)... swimming this afternoon and the dinner at Hayashi-sensei's. Yummy tempura, shumai (chinese meat dumpling thingys), and rice. Yum!!! So... now I'm going to study some GRE algebra and head to bed.

Have a GREAT week!! :-)