Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I was very glad for 2009 to come around. 2008 was a bit of an up and down year for me and though it ended on a pretty positive swing, I'm ready for this next year to try to make this a good year the whole time. So hopefully you all have your resolutions in order and are ready to make this a great year too.
We went on our trip to Nagano prefecture for Christmas from the 24-28. It was a great trip and a good chance to get away and relax with just us for a few days. We had snow the day after Christmas so though it wasn't a white Christmas it was close enough. We got to see some beautiful scenery and enjoy the ryokan experience but I think we were all (Caspian was there too) ready to get back to Fuji. It was just so cold the whole time that it started to get uncomfortable. So we enjoyed it but I think we'll probably stick to the big cities for our travel from now on. Kelly took a ton of pictures and has put them up on Flickr so check them out. The snow monkeys were the highlight of the trip. Very cool to get that close to animals in their natural habitat.
This week has been a lazy one to say the least. We got back into town on Sunday afternoon. We spent most of Sunday-Tuesday lazing around and playing on the computers. We started watching the most recent season of Survivor on Sunday night and had finished the whole thing by Tuesday night. So yeah, that's basically what this week has been like. I guess we should be taking advantage of the week off by going to some nearby towns and shopping or seeing local sights, but our laziness often gets the best of us. We like to stay at home so that's what we've done. We both go back to work on Monday and it'll be good to get back on a regular routine.
For New Year's eve we went over to Andrea and Joe's apartment. Andrea is the other ALT who works at my school and Joe is her husband. We had tacos and a lot of snacks, watched some Futurama and played Bomberman on their Wii. One of the more low-key New Year's Eves I've had in a long time but it was a good time. I guess I'm getting to the age where a low-key get together is going to be more common than big parties. Nothing wrong with that. So anyway, we stayed over there until a little after 1 and then came home to Caspian and the new electric blanket we got from Kelly's parents. (Thanks!) It has been very cold lately so it's nice to be able to lay down on your own futon and get under a warm blanket.
So that's what we've been up to for our holidays. We definitely miss everybody and I think this time of year brings that out even more. I was jealous of Kelly getting to go back for a few days since she got to see her family and some friends but especially because she got to eat Taco Bueno, Little Panda, and Chilis among other favorites. But I'll survive. It's making me a stronger person. :) I've also been feeling the pain of missing all of the bowl games that are going on right now. I got up this morning and found a live feed of the Rose Bowl and watched the 2nd quarter. Better than nothing I guess.
Well I'm listening to a CD I bought with one of my iTunes gift cards so I'm having a hard time concentrating while I'm writing this. So if this post seems a little scatterbrained, you can blame it on Dave Matthews. Once again, Happy New Year and don't forget to go check out the pictures on Flickr. あけましておめでとうございます！！！
Friday, January 2, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
End of the semester
Hello there. Well, Kelly's been out of the country visiting the fam and getting ready for Anne's wedding while I'm still here in Fuji working like a dog. And by working like a dog, I mean a dog like Caspian whose only work involves sleeping, eating and licking. Yes, slow days these days at work. I had 6 classes last week and all were pretty easy and then 3 on Monday and 1 yesterday and now I'm done with classes until the new term starts in January. So these last three days will be pretty slow and boring so I am switching back and forth between studying Japanese and vegging out on the computer. And then every once in a while I go and supervise some kids during cleaning time which basically means me talking to them and showing them the cool things on my iPhone. :) Tomorrow is outdoor cleaning and then Friday is closing ceremony followed by the teachers' Bon-Enkai which is an end of the year party. It's at an onsen resort type place so I'm expecting some good food and relaxation and also planning to test out my Japanese on some of the other teachers who I've never talked to before. So that should be fun. I actually had an entire coversation with a guy in Japanese last weekend. It was pretty cool. Granted it wasn't about politics or the economy or anything tough like that. It was about food which is what the majority of my English conversations are about anyway. But it was still an accomplishment in my mind.
So as I have basically come to the end of my first semester of teaching in Japan, I'll give some thoughts. As most of you know I was a teacher at home for three years with a one year "let's see what else I can do--ooh I don't like sales at all" break mixed in. And I can say with confidence that I enjoy teaching here 10 times more than I ever did at home. Yes it is completely different because I'm teaching a different subject and I'm an assistant teacher, and I have less class time each week, but not having to deal with behavior problems and students who don't care about me or my class is such a relief. This is the first full-time job I have ever had that I didn't want to quit a month after starting. So that has led to my being much happier over the past four and a half months than I have been in a long time. Because you can have a lot of friends and a good family and a lot of good stuff going for you, but you spend so much time at work that if you don't like you job, you're going to be unhappy. At least that's how it works for me. So anyway, I love working here. The classes are fun and not too hard to plan or teach. I love the students and I love the fact that they actually want to talk to me and at least say hi when they see me. I like the way the school is set up and run, and though some things are very strange and would never work in American schools (i.e. the students all sitting in their classrooms unsupervised while the teachers have a morning meeting - try that at Channelview High School!), I've gotten very used to the routine and I feel comfortable with it.
As for problems I've encountered, it can be extremely difficult to get students to respond to you in class. I guess the only thing worse than giving an incorrect answer is giving an incorrect answer and using incorrect English while doing it. But sometimes if you can get one student to break out of their shell and volunteer an answer it helps everyone. It also can be a little taxing at times to work with so many people that don't speak your language, but considering that I was never really a big talker at my other jobs, that's not as bad as it seems. I guess other than that, the only other problem is that sometimes it feels like some other teachers don't take my job seriously or see what my purpose is. But the great thing is, I don't really care. :) I know what my purpose is and as long as I take it seriously, that's all that matters.
So those are my end of semester thoughts. I'm definitely glad for a 2 week break coming up in a few days. It will be nice to get away from work (I've only taken one day of leave all year up to this point - a record for me) and be able to relax and experience the holidays in Japan. But it will also be nice to not dread going back after the break like I always have before.
I'll try to fill everyone in on our vacation time and what we're up to, but since I probably won't write again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and enjoys your time with friends and family.
ﾒﾘ- ｸﾘｽﾏｽ!!!
So as I have basically come to the end of my first semester of teaching in Japan, I'll give some thoughts. As most of you know I was a teacher at home for three years with a one year "let's see what else I can do--ooh I don't like sales at all" break mixed in. And I can say with confidence that I enjoy teaching here 10 times more than I ever did at home. Yes it is completely different because I'm teaching a different subject and I'm an assistant teacher, and I have less class time each week, but not having to deal with behavior problems and students who don't care about me or my class is such a relief. This is the first full-time job I have ever had that I didn't want to quit a month after starting. So that has led to my being much happier over the past four and a half months than I have been in a long time. Because you can have a lot of friends and a good family and a lot of good stuff going for you, but you spend so much time at work that if you don't like you job, you're going to be unhappy. At least that's how it works for me. So anyway, I love working here. The classes are fun and not too hard to plan or teach. I love the students and I love the fact that they actually want to talk to me and at least say hi when they see me. I like the way the school is set up and run, and though some things are very strange and would never work in American schools (i.e. the students all sitting in their classrooms unsupervised while the teachers have a morning meeting - try that at Channelview High School!), I've gotten very used to the routine and I feel comfortable with it.
As for problems I've encountered, it can be extremely difficult to get students to respond to you in class. I guess the only thing worse than giving an incorrect answer is giving an incorrect answer and using incorrect English while doing it. But sometimes if you can get one student to break out of their shell and volunteer an answer it helps everyone. It also can be a little taxing at times to work with so many people that don't speak your language, but considering that I was never really a big talker at my other jobs, that's not as bad as it seems. I guess other than that, the only other problem is that sometimes it feels like some other teachers don't take my job seriously or see what my purpose is. But the great thing is, I don't really care. :) I know what my purpose is and as long as I take it seriously, that's all that matters.
So those are my end of semester thoughts. I'm definitely glad for a 2 week break coming up in a few days. It will be nice to get away from work (I've only taken one day of leave all year up to this point - a record for me) and be able to relax and experience the holidays in Japan. But it will also be nice to not dread going back after the break like I always have before.
I'll try to fill everyone in on our vacation time and what we're up to, but since I probably won't write again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and enjoys your time with friends and family.
ﾒﾘ- ｸﾘｽﾏｽ!!!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Christmas lessons, exam week, and junk food (but not too much)
So things are beginning to slow down now after a hectic past few weeks. Last week and the week before I was getting all of my classes in with their final lessons before exam week this week. I did a Christmas lesson with my first year Oral Communication classes. There wasn't a lot of oral communicating going on I guess but it was still a fun lesson. We did a white elephant gift game. You know, the game where you can keep your present or trade with someone else (that's my class version.) I made some of the gifts and bought the rest at the 100yen store. Before this job I would have griped heavily (and did) about spending any of my own money on stuff for classes, but I didn't really mind this time. It was actually kind of a treat for me. The gifts that were stolen from other people (or traded in this case) most often were the Dave Matthews Band and Coldplay CDs I burned, the Christmas card signed by me and Andrea (mostly stolen by girls), and the 100yen coin. I found this odd because it was just 100yen (roughly equivalent to $1) but these kids wanted that money. I guess they needed to buy something to drink at lunch. So anyway, that was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed getting gifts no matter how small and inexpensive they were.
So this week has been exam week. It's weird because there are actually two more weeks of classes after this before winter break, but it's just one of those things you don't question because there probably isn't an answer. So I wrote all of my tests last week and have been grading this week. It's nice because unlike most ALTs (including Kelly) I have someone to split the duty with. But I graded 122 OC tests, 120 English II tests, and about 75 International Course tests complete with essays which are always fun to grade. It gets to the point when reading essays where I'm not even sure what's proper English anymore. Our OC students did the best by far. I actually thought the test was going to be a bit hard but they all did well. Well, there are always exceptions of course, but for the most part they all did well. So they've earned themselves a harder test next term! Haha!
Other than that not too much is going on. We had a Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday at a friend's house in Fujinomiya. We all had to work on Thanksgiving so we made up for it on the weekend. There were six of us there and we had chicken (no turkeys to be found in our city), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (made by Kelly), green bean casserole, dressing, homemade rolls (made by Kelly), and pumpkin pie. It was all very good. Then we sat around and played Wii and some other games for the rest of the day. Here's a picture of the food:
There are more pictures from the event on Flickr.
あの...other than that, I'm getting ready for a two week break coming up in a few weeks. One week that I'm taking off and one that I'm given off. Kelly is leaving next weekend to go on her trip through Abilene and Nashville. She'll be gone for 10 days so I'll have plenty of time to get myself in trouble. :)
Last few notes, I took my first test from the JET Program Japanese language course. You take it on your own but I didn't look at the book or any dictionaries or anything while I took it (even though you're allowed to.) After I finished, I checked my answers and only missed 2 out of 40. So I was pretty pleased with that. Now it's time to start on month two.
And finally, just to show how immersed into the Japanese culture I am getting, I realized today that my taste for sweets is not as it used to be. This morning I made my daily stop at 7-11 to get my breakfast and lunch and they were out egg, ham, and lettuce sandwiches (my usual breakfast.) So I looked around at what else I could get and saw some doughnuts covered with icing and sprinkles. I used to be a sucker for doughnuts, especially ones covered or filled with any type of icing or frosting, but as soon as I considered getting it my stomach turned at the thought of eating anything that sweet for breakfast. So I turned around and got a microwaveable ham and cheese burrito instead. Hey, I didn't say I've lost my taste for unhealthy food!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
November School Events
Okay so I have officially ruined my status as a good blogger. Sorry, I kind of lost track of how long it's been since I last wrote. Some interesting things have gone on the past few weeks. You can read about the Shimizu S-Pulse game, Halloween, and the Daidogei street busking festival at Kelly's blog. The one thing I'll add is this picture of my jack-o-lantern that I carved at school.
It's a cat!
Other happenings include my school's 100 year celebration last Friday. The whole school met at the Rose Theatre (the same place we saw the musical) for the whole school day. We had a practice ceremony in the morning so the students would know exactly what was going to happen. In the practice ceremony the speeches were much shorter. The real ceremony started in the early afternoon and the place was packed with honored alumni, PTA, donors, families, etc. I understood almost nothing that was said during the 2-plus hour ceremony and might have even dozed off a bit during the keynote speech by some famous Japanese soccer player/coach who I can only assume went to school there. But I did participate in the singing of the school song thanks to a translation from Kanji to Romaji by Andrea. I knew the tune because ever since the October 1 school assembly where the students sang it unsatisfactorily, they have been playing it during lunch every day. The students didn't sing along during lunch but I guess it was a threat to say, "If you don't sing it better at the 100 year ceremony we'll keep playing it during lunch every day for the rest of the year." I guess the principal was satisfied because they haven't been playing it anymore. The ceremony was capped off by a performance by our nearly-Olympic qualifying rhythmic gymnastics team. It was pretty impressive. And then a taiko drum performance finished it all off which was amazing and very loud. Also a little awkward when a few of the drumming guys came on stage in nothing but what appeared to be a sumo-type diaper. The reaction of the students made me realize that these students are not all too different from American students after all. So despite my inability to understand much, it was a nice ceremony and a good chance to be around all of the students and teachers in a different setting. I also got to wear my suit for the first time since Tokyo orientation.
Yesterday was Sports Day at my school. It's the annual day in the fall where everyone participates in sports instead of going to class. This is something that would never be allowed in American schools where parents would call and complain that their child shouldn't be forced to play sports. Here everybody did it and they took it seriously, evidenced by the high number of injuries that occurred. The school nurse was very busy. The first-year students played handball, second-years played volleyball, and third-years played basketball. I was an alternate for the 36 homeroom boys basketball team because they only have 5 boys but I would only play if one of them got hurt. I wanted to play but I didn't want anyone to get hurt so I didn't mind not getting to play. I'm also not very good at basketball so it was probably best that I didn't play. I did get to play on the teacher's handball team that played the winning boys handball team at the end of the tournament. I've never played handball before so I was kind of thrown into the fire a bit but I guess I held my own. I definitely had the biggest cheering section of anyone that was playing with constant cheers from all of the students of "Kory gambare!" I have to admit that made me feel pretty good. In the end the students won 8-7 in a sudden death overtime. And I got a nice scrape on my knee. Battle scars.
So sports day was fun. In May or June there is another sports day that involves more team building exercises, many of which look extremely dangerous to me. So when that happens I'll try to take some pictures. Other than all that, it's been mostly work and regular daily life. I'm definitely feeling like I've got a pretty good routine. I'm enjoying work and the cooler weather. Mt. Fuji has been looking very pretty lately with snow appearing on the top. It's amazing how much closer it looks when it's clear outside. Yesterday I could actually see the fifth station with my naked eye from a window at school. So we'll try to get some more pictures of Fuji-san soon. Please remember to check out our Flickr site for all of our pictures.
I hope everyone is doing well. Sometime soon for anyone who is interested I'm planning to do a post about some of my lessons so you can see exactly what I do in class. But I'm tired of typing now so it'll have to wait.
さよなら
It's a cat!
Other happenings include my school's 100 year celebration last Friday. The whole school met at the Rose Theatre (the same place we saw the musical) for the whole school day. We had a practice ceremony in the morning so the students would know exactly what was going to happen. In the practice ceremony the speeches were much shorter. The real ceremony started in the early afternoon and the place was packed with honored alumni, PTA, donors, families, etc. I understood almost nothing that was said during the 2-plus hour ceremony and might have even dozed off a bit during the keynote speech by some famous Japanese soccer player/coach who I can only assume went to school there. But I did participate in the singing of the school song thanks to a translation from Kanji to Romaji by Andrea. I knew the tune because ever since the October 1 school assembly where the students sang it unsatisfactorily, they have been playing it during lunch every day. The students didn't sing along during lunch but I guess it was a threat to say, "If you don't sing it better at the 100 year ceremony we'll keep playing it during lunch every day for the rest of the year." I guess the principal was satisfied because they haven't been playing it anymore. The ceremony was capped off by a performance by our nearly-Olympic qualifying rhythmic gymnastics team. It was pretty impressive. And then a taiko drum performance finished it all off which was amazing and very loud. Also a little awkward when a few of the drumming guys came on stage in nothing but what appeared to be a sumo-type diaper. The reaction of the students made me realize that these students are not all too different from American students after all. So despite my inability to understand much, it was a nice ceremony and a good chance to be around all of the students and teachers in a different setting. I also got to wear my suit for the first time since Tokyo orientation.
Yesterday was Sports Day at my school. It's the annual day in the fall where everyone participates in sports instead of going to class. This is something that would never be allowed in American schools where parents would call and complain that their child shouldn't be forced to play sports. Here everybody did it and they took it seriously, evidenced by the high number of injuries that occurred. The school nurse was very busy. The first-year students played handball, second-years played volleyball, and third-years played basketball. I was an alternate for the 36 homeroom boys basketball team because they only have 5 boys but I would only play if one of them got hurt. I wanted to play but I didn't want anyone to get hurt so I didn't mind not getting to play. I'm also not very good at basketball so it was probably best that I didn't play. I did get to play on the teacher's handball team that played the winning boys handball team at the end of the tournament. I've never played handball before so I was kind of thrown into the fire a bit but I guess I held my own. I definitely had the biggest cheering section of anyone that was playing with constant cheers from all of the students of "Kory gambare!" I have to admit that made me feel pretty good. In the end the students won 8-7 in a sudden death overtime. And I got a nice scrape on my knee. Battle scars.
So sports day was fun. In May or June there is another sports day that involves more team building exercises, many of which look extremely dangerous to me. So when that happens I'll try to take some pictures. Other than all that, it's been mostly work and regular daily life. I'm definitely feeling like I've got a pretty good routine. I'm enjoying work and the cooler weather. Mt. Fuji has been looking very pretty lately with snow appearing on the top. It's amazing how much closer it looks when it's clear outside. Yesterday I could actually see the fifth station with my naked eye from a window at school. So we'll try to get some more pictures of Fuji-san soon. Please remember to check out our Flickr site for all of our pictures.
I hope everyone is doing well. Sometime soon for anyone who is interested I'm planning to do a post about some of my lessons so you can see exactly what I do in class. But I'm tired of typing now so it'll have to wait.
さよなら
Friday, October 17, 2008
Eventful Yet Relaxing Week
It's been a pretty easy week this week. Mid-terms were going on so there were no classes. Monday was a public holiday so on that day we slept in and then went and had sushi for lunch. The rest of the day was spent lazing around the house sleeping and doing whatever. Then on Tuesday Kelly had the day off because she worked on Saturday, so I took a day of paid leave since there was only testing going on at school which doesn't require my assistance. So we went to Shizuoka to get our multiple re-entry permits so if we want to leave the country we will be allowed back in. We heard about a good Mexican restaurant in Shizuoka and we were going to go check it out. It was raining so we bought some umbrellas at the train station and headed into the city. The map we had turned out to be very inaccurate but we eventually found the place after about 30 minutes of looking all around the area and of course it was randomly closed at 1pm on a Tuesday. Very disappointing. The sign out front said closed Sunday but said nothing about Tuesday. And it even said Tex Mex on the door which is exactly what I needed but alas, it was not to be. So we went and had ramen and gyoza. Always a good substitute. After that we went and got our permits done and headed back to Fuji. We would've gone to see some stuff in Shizuoka if not for the rain.
Tuesday night I finished reading a book that I started on Monday. A very quick read for me who usually takes at least a few weeks to read any book whose title doesn't start with "Harry Potter and the..." The book was called The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I strongly recommend it. It is a great story that gives a little boost to your outlook on life. Certainly a fictional view of Heaven (for all we know) but very well written with a great view on the meaning of life. So anyway, check it out if you haven't already. It's by Mitch Albom, the same author as Tuesdays With Morrie.
So back to the week, Wednesday I went back to work, planned lessons for next week and played in a teachers badminton tournament. I haven't played badminton since elementary school but I had a blast. It's amazing how you can play a game with a bunch of people who speak a different language than you but once you get started, you just play. Ahh sports, the universal language. My partner, Ito-sensei and I lost both of our games but it was still fun. I'd like to do it again sometime. Then I spent Thursday planning more lessons and grading Oral Communications I mid-terms. It was a listening test about everything we have taught so far this term. We recorded the listening part ahead of time and they played it over the speakers in their classrooms. There were questions from my self-introduction on there. In the recording I mentioned Kelly's name several times and then asked the question on the test, "What is Kory's wife's name?" In my lesson I had talked a lot about Kelly and also mentioned and showed pictures of Kerry and Amanda. So the options were A. Kerry, B. Amanda, C. Kelly, and D. Lucy. Now remember that Japanese students have problems with the L sound because there is no L sound in the Japanese language. So they usually use the R sound for words that require an L. Hence the constant confusion between Rs and Ls. So anyway, Andrea and I graded a total of about 240 tests and we discovered that somewhere around 85-90% of them marked A. Kerry as my wife's name. So there you go Kerry, you're now a girl and my wife apparently. I have to admit that I kind of expected that to happen, but the rest of the test was so easy that that was really the hardest question on there. So I don't feel too bad.
And finally today we had school excursion day as an end of testing week reward for everyone. I went with the first year students. We went hiking to some waterfalls on the Izu peninsula. It was pretty fun and an easy hike. I got to talk with some students a lot so that was very enjoyable. They love practicing their English with me especially in a non-formal setting so it was good that they could break out of their shells a bit. I made hiking buddies with a couple of girls and may have accidentally promised them I would eat lunch with them at school next week. It was neat though because at first they would ask me a question and then I would answer and then they would discuss their next question with each other and decide how to say it in English and then ask me. But eventually as we found out more about each other, we started actually having a conversation, which was nice because that's pretty much what my role is here. Conversational English. So it was good to see it come to fruition a bit.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
The 16HR students on the bus before we left school:
The "haunted" tunnel we walked through:
My new best friends:
Some waterfall pictures:
My Wasabi ice cream I tried for the first and last time:
Some of the 16HR guys:
Back to regular classes next week. But then Halloween is coming up and the kids love that. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures to share of that too. That's all for now.
Tuesday night I finished reading a book that I started on Monday. A very quick read for me who usually takes at least a few weeks to read any book whose title doesn't start with "Harry Potter and the..." The book was called The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I strongly recommend it. It is a great story that gives a little boost to your outlook on life. Certainly a fictional view of Heaven (for all we know) but very well written with a great view on the meaning of life. So anyway, check it out if you haven't already. It's by Mitch Albom, the same author as Tuesdays With Morrie.
So back to the week, Wednesday I went back to work, planned lessons for next week and played in a teachers badminton tournament. I haven't played badminton since elementary school but I had a blast. It's amazing how you can play a game with a bunch of people who speak a different language than you but once you get started, you just play. Ahh sports, the universal language. My partner, Ito-sensei and I lost both of our games but it was still fun. I'd like to do it again sometime. Then I spent Thursday planning more lessons and grading Oral Communications I mid-terms. It was a listening test about everything we have taught so far this term. We recorded the listening part ahead of time and they played it over the speakers in their classrooms. There were questions from my self-introduction on there. In the recording I mentioned Kelly's name several times and then asked the question on the test, "What is Kory's wife's name?" In my lesson I had talked a lot about Kelly and also mentioned and showed pictures of Kerry and Amanda. So the options were A. Kerry, B. Amanda, C. Kelly, and D. Lucy. Now remember that Japanese students have problems with the L sound because there is no L sound in the Japanese language. So they usually use the R sound for words that require an L. Hence the constant confusion between Rs and Ls. So anyway, Andrea and I graded a total of about 240 tests and we discovered that somewhere around 85-90% of them marked A. Kerry as my wife's name. So there you go Kerry, you're now a girl and my wife apparently. I have to admit that I kind of expected that to happen, but the rest of the test was so easy that that was really the hardest question on there. So I don't feel too bad.
And finally today we had school excursion day as an end of testing week reward for everyone. I went with the first year students. We went hiking to some waterfalls on the Izu peninsula. It was pretty fun and an easy hike. I got to talk with some students a lot so that was very enjoyable. They love practicing their English with me especially in a non-formal setting so it was good that they could break out of their shells a bit. I made hiking buddies with a couple of girls and may have accidentally promised them I would eat lunch with them at school next week. It was neat though because at first they would ask me a question and then I would answer and then they would discuss their next question with each other and decide how to say it in English and then ask me. But eventually as we found out more about each other, we started actually having a conversation, which was nice because that's pretty much what my role is here. Conversational English. So it was good to see it come to fruition a bit.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
The 16HR students on the bus before we left school:
The "haunted" tunnel we walked through:
My new best friends:
Some waterfall pictures:
My Wasabi ice cream I tried for the first and last time:
Some of the 16HR guys:
Back to regular classes next week. But then Halloween is coming up and the kids love that. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures to share of that too. That's all for now.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Rescue Mission
Not many updates lately. Sorry about that.
The past few days have been devoted to a very important happening. Yesterday Kelly and I made a trek to the Tokyo area, not for a weekend checking out the coolest city in Japan but for something even more exciting. Caspian finally arrived in Japan! After months of preparation and worry and tons of e-mails going back and forth between us, Gwynn, Animal Quarantine, and who knows who else the day finally came for him to arrive. We got to Narita around 3:30pm and his flight was scheduled to arrive around 4. We first went to Animal Quarantine who immediately sent us to the American Airlines Cargo office where we had to turn in some forms and get some other forms and wait. After we got the forms from them we went back to Animal Quarantine who checked the forms and then sent us back to American Airlines. At this point we met a Japanese couple who happened to speak good English. The husband was actually raised in Dallas. How about that for a small world. They were picking up their cat so we went everywhere together to make sure none of us went to the wrong place. When we got back to American Airlines we went up to the next floor where we handed in some more forms and then all got into a van to go back to Animal Quarantine and in the back of the van were two kennels. One with the cat and one with our Caspian! I had to sit in the front seat so I couldn't see him but I heard all of the high pitched squealing from both of the girls in the back seat. Once we got to Animal Quarantine again I finally got to see him, and they let us take him out. Kelly got him out and held him while they scanned his microchip. He was visibly shaking from fear because he had no idea what was going on. Definitely glad to finally be out of the kennel I'm sure but it was short lived because we had to put him back in and go fill out more paperwork. We did that in the Animal Quarantine office while they checked him out and then we went to Customs to fill out even more paperwork. I impressed everybody by pulling out my hanko instead of signing my signature (at least I imagined that they were impressed.) For those that don't know, a hanko is a red stamp that is used in Japan as your signature. It's your name in kanji. Anyway, after customs we all walked back over to American Airlines cargo where we paid and finally were officially reunited with Caspian. About a two and a half hour process altogether. We bid farewell to the other couple and thanked them for translating everything for us. We were definitely lucky to have run into them. Once we got out of the cargo facilities we finally let him out of the kennel and let him walk for a little bit. We fed him and gave him water on the sidewalk (in his bowls, not literally on the sidewalk) because he obviously needed them. We then set off for a long trip back home. We finally got back to our apartment around 1:30am. Train times are really screwy here. He was stressed out and didn't like having to stay in his kennel on the trains and in the stations with so many potential petters around. I also didn't like having to carry his kennel around everywhere because though he is a very small dog, the whole unit became quite heavy. But we all got home in one piece and we're doing good. Many thanks go out to the Haseltines for helping take care of him until he was able to come. It may not be as exciting for him here but we are certainly very excited to have him back. We feel complete with him.
So anyway, that is the story from our end of Caspian's coming to Japan. A world traveler! In other news, we went to a local musical that one of Kelly's students was in today. It was definitely interesting and even entertaining despite the fact that we understood very little of it. I could pick out a few words including a very touching moment at the end where the main character said to her mother, "Okasan, gomennasai." (Mother, I'm sorry.) The dancing was very good and the staging was good enough that we could basically understand the plot. Definitely different from American theatre though. Including the opening where two characters asked the audience to be kind to them (Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu) and the end after the curtain call where one actor offered a formal thanks and bow to the audience along with an echo from the entire cast (Domo arigato gozaimasu.) Of course that kind of goes back to the prologues and epilogues that Shakespeare wrote into some of his plays, proving once again that theatre is a universal art form no matter what language it is in. But all in all it was very enjoyable. And the theatre was close to McDonald's so we got dinner there afterward. Always a good thing.
Edit: I just realized that some of you who didn't know us before Japan might not know who Caspian is. Check out our pictures of him to get up to date on our baby:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koryandkelly/sets/72157604692137436/
The past few days have been devoted to a very important happening. Yesterday Kelly and I made a trek to the Tokyo area, not for a weekend checking out the coolest city in Japan but for something even more exciting. Caspian finally arrived in Japan! After months of preparation and worry and tons of e-mails going back and forth between us, Gwynn, Animal Quarantine, and who knows who else the day finally came for him to arrive. We got to Narita around 3:30pm and his flight was scheduled to arrive around 4. We first went to Animal Quarantine who immediately sent us to the American Airlines Cargo office where we had to turn in some forms and get some other forms and wait. After we got the forms from them we went back to Animal Quarantine who checked the forms and then sent us back to American Airlines. At this point we met a Japanese couple who happened to speak good English. The husband was actually raised in Dallas. How about that for a small world. They were picking up their cat so we went everywhere together to make sure none of us went to the wrong place. When we got back to American Airlines we went up to the next floor where we handed in some more forms and then all got into a van to go back to Animal Quarantine and in the back of the van were two kennels. One with the cat and one with our Caspian! I had to sit in the front seat so I couldn't see him but I heard all of the high pitched squealing from both of the girls in the back seat. Once we got to Animal Quarantine again I finally got to see him, and they let us take him out. Kelly got him out and held him while they scanned his microchip. He was visibly shaking from fear because he had no idea what was going on. Definitely glad to finally be out of the kennel I'm sure but it was short lived because we had to put him back in and go fill out more paperwork. We did that in the Animal Quarantine office while they checked him out and then we went to Customs to fill out even more paperwork. I impressed everybody by pulling out my hanko instead of signing my signature (at least I imagined that they were impressed.) For those that don't know, a hanko is a red stamp that is used in Japan as your signature. It's your name in kanji. Anyway, after customs we all walked back over to American Airlines cargo where we paid and finally were officially reunited with Caspian. About a two and a half hour process altogether. We bid farewell to the other couple and thanked them for translating everything for us. We were definitely lucky to have run into them. Once we got out of the cargo facilities we finally let him out of the kennel and let him walk for a little bit. We fed him and gave him water on the sidewalk (in his bowls, not literally on the sidewalk) because he obviously needed them. We then set off for a long trip back home. We finally got back to our apartment around 1:30am. Train times are really screwy here. He was stressed out and didn't like having to stay in his kennel on the trains and in the stations with so many potential petters around. I also didn't like having to carry his kennel around everywhere because though he is a very small dog, the whole unit became quite heavy. But we all got home in one piece and we're doing good. Many thanks go out to the Haseltines for helping take care of him until he was able to come. It may not be as exciting for him here but we are certainly very excited to have him back. We feel complete with him.
So anyway, that is the story from our end of Caspian's coming to Japan. A world traveler! In other news, we went to a local musical that one of Kelly's students was in today. It was definitely interesting and even entertaining despite the fact that we understood very little of it. I could pick out a few words including a very touching moment at the end where the main character said to her mother, "Okasan, gomennasai." (Mother, I'm sorry.) The dancing was very good and the staging was good enough that we could basically understand the plot. Definitely different from American theatre though. Including the opening where two characters asked the audience to be kind to them (Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu) and the end after the curtain call where one actor offered a formal thanks and bow to the audience along with an echo from the entire cast (Domo arigato gozaimasu.) Of course that kind of goes back to the prologues and epilogues that Shakespeare wrote into some of his plays, proving once again that theatre is a universal art form no matter what language it is in. But all in all it was very enjoyable. And the theatre was close to McDonald's so we got dinner there afterward. Always a good thing.
Edit: I just realized that some of you who didn't know us before Japan might not know who Caspian is. Check out our pictures of him to get up to date on our baby:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koryandkelly/sets/72157604692137436/
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Random Day Off
There are many holidays in America that we do not get to experience over here in Japan. We worked on Labor Day and will have to take paid leave to get days like Thanksgiving and Christmas off. But I guess all things even themselves out in the end. Because today we got a holiday to celebrate the fact that the night and the day were the same length. Yes that's right, Autumnal Equinox Day! So even though today was a Tuesday and we had school on Monday, there was no school today. Not a bad way to break up the week. So when we go back tomorrow we will have a short three day week left. I can handle that.
We celebrated the day off by going out with friends last night and stuffing ourselves full of Japanese food. We have a friend that speaks and reads Japanese very well so we just made suggestions, handed him the menu, and he went to town. Edamame, 7-spice chicken, crab croquettes, caesar salad, two kinds of soba, gyoza, and the main course...lots of sashimi. It was all very good and very affordable. Gotta love the cost of living in Fuji.
Today we went to Lake Tanuki with some people to enjoy our day off together. It is a beautiful lake not too far from here with a great view of Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately that view was covered by clouds as usual but it did peek out a few times. Once the weather starts cooling down the cloud cover will disappear and we'll get a more regular view. Kelly took lots of pictures today so we'll get those up sometime soon.
Speaking of pictures, we've got some new ones of our trip to Osaka up on Flickr so check those out if you haven't already.
So back to work tomorrow. I've got a new Oral Communications I lesson tomorrow after doing my self-intro lesson for all of them. I've done that lesson 15 times and have two more to go. I'm definitely a bit tired of talking about myself. But now the new lessons will start now so that will break up the monotony. Before long, I'll be wishing I could do some more self-intros.
That's all for now.
We celebrated the day off by going out with friends last night and stuffing ourselves full of Japanese food. We have a friend that speaks and reads Japanese very well so we just made suggestions, handed him the menu, and he went to town. Edamame, 7-spice chicken, crab croquettes, caesar salad, two kinds of soba, gyoza, and the main course...lots of sashimi. It was all very good and very affordable. Gotta love the cost of living in Fuji.
Today we went to Lake Tanuki with some people to enjoy our day off together. It is a beautiful lake not too far from here with a great view of Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately that view was covered by clouds as usual but it did peek out a few times. Once the weather starts cooling down the cloud cover will disappear and we'll get a more regular view. Kelly took lots of pictures today so we'll get those up sometime soon.
Speaking of pictures, we've got some new ones of our trip to Osaka up on Flickr so check those out if you haven't already.
So back to work tomorrow. I've got a new Oral Communications I lesson tomorrow after doing my self-intro lesson for all of them. I've done that lesson 15 times and have two more to go. I'm definitely a bit tired of talking about myself. But now the new lessons will start now so that will break up the monotony. Before long, I'll be wishing I could do some more self-intros.
That's all for now.
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