End of the Semester !?

It's hard to believe it's December already. Adding the four months I spent in Tokyo last year and my time with JET I've been in Japan for just over 8 months, and yet in that time I feel like my Japanese has actually deteriated since graduating last May. Gee, maybe I should actually study... :P

This week was the Mid-year Seminar for Toyama JETs. Got two "business trip" days off from work to make the 1 hr drive to Toyama City and attend a bunch of workshops. It was as expected. Somehow I ended up getting placed in the "Culture Shock" workshop- not even sure if I know what that is. I did however get to learn a bit of Portugese in one of language workshops (Oi, bon dea!)

They're predicting the first snowfall of the year this Sunday. Everyone at work has been giving me a hard time 'bout not changing the wheels on the car to snow tires yet. The Fukushikaikan came through for us once again with a free set so it's just a matter of takin' the Fun Cargo in to get 'em changed. Will I be able to drive in 4ft of snow on non-salted, non-plowed roads?? These snow tires must be magic.

Still sick, but gettin' better. My student's are all fascinated by my purple Powell's Nalgene bottle I've been carrying around to classes. They all stare and point at it during class. I never see anyone here drinking water, even when they're sick.
Students: What's inside?
Me: Water.
Students: What kind of water? Is it medicine?
Me: It's just normal water, for drinking.
Students: why?
Me: ...?

The other day I had an hour long conversation with the office ladies and the vice principal about drinking coffee. Apparently nobody here is aware of the fact that coffee has caffeine in it, and caffeine in large quantities is bad for your heart. I was like, yes, it's in tea, soda, and chocolate too! Don't they teach you this in health? Oh wait, there is no health class in Japan. (but they do have a class that teaches basic Morality where students learn to be kind to their elders)

falling asleep at my desk... need a cup of coffee

Comments

Unknown said…
Okay, I post another comment here. Whee! My computer broke so I will have to save this link on my BFs computer. Blarg!
Monday, December 18, 2006 1:00:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Update

what? yes, an update. It's my first day as the new assistant for the Animation department at my school ;) As you can see, I am hard at work. I haven't been in much of a mood to update lately, as you may have noticed. I figured I at least owed it to those few who still bother to check up now and then to know what country I'm in and such other developments of consequence (check my flickr for more frequent life updates). First of all, I left Japan. After much research and deliberation I finally decided to bite the bullet and go back to school. This decision in itself took about a month. The winner: Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. The program: Master of Fine Arts in Animation and Visual Effects, with an intended focus in storyboarding. Some other options I was considering: * Hospitality Internships in Barcelona, Rome, London and Chile * Working Front of House for Cirque du Soleil * Cinematography Apprenticeship in LA * Going back to Catering *
Read more

Winter Break Itinerary

Dec 24th-Dec 26th: KOBE (visiting yuki for xmas) Dec 27th-Dec 29th: Return to Toyama for work :\ Dec 30th-Jan 2nd: TOKYO/CHIBA (visiting host family for New Years) Jan 3rd-Jan 7th: HONG KONG (visiting Kim) Jan 7th: putz around tokyo for 9 hrs before my bus leaves for Toyama Jan 8th: back I've never been more in need of a vacation. Seems like every time there's a big American holiday my workload triples. On average I teach 24 classes a week- but normally I only have to plan lessons for the 8 elementary classes on Tues and Weds. This month my JTEs asked if I could plan all the lessons for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years at the junior high too. The lesson planning itself isn't that bad, but the actual teaching all day without any breaks is really draining (especially at the elementary schools. There's just not enough 'genki' in me to keep up with 5 classes of 40 kids a day). I was also asked to host a few Xmas parties- one for all the students of a local tutor and
Read more

It's cold inside

Image
It's ridiculously cold in Toyama, and there's no escape. Neither our house or the schools are heated. I bought my ticket to Hong Kong last Friday. It's going to be sweet...can't wait to flee south for the winter- right now in HK its in the upper 70s :) Too bad I'm only visiting Kim for 3 days :( While teaching the 3rd years the other day I was starring out the window and noticed the mountains surrounding the valley are all snow-capped now... just a matter of time. The snowfall is so heavy in this region that they're building bamboo enclosures around all the shrubberies and trees here to keep them from getting crushed under the weight of all the snow (!) crazy. I wear my coat and scarf to class now. I feel sorry for all the students who have to wear their skimpy uniforms, especially the girls in their skirts. The sun came out briefly yesterday for our day trip to Kanazawa. I've befriended a woman who works in the office at my junior high- she helped me buy th
Read more