Sick weekend

Well as you may have already read on Kelly's blog, I came down with a bit of an illness yesterday morning. I started having a small cough at work on Friday but didn't really think it was anything major. But then Saturday morning I woke up with the chills and aching muscles and an even worse cough so I knew things were not right. The headache and fever followed soon and I have been bedridden ever since. But I'm feeling better now so it seems that I didn't catch the flu that has been going around. I'm still in bed recovering but definitely not feeling as bad as yesterday. It's basically just turned into a head cold.

The funny thing about it all is that when I first took my temperature yesterday it was 100.5 and then a few hours later is was 101.5. But I never really felt like my skin was hot enough to have that high of a fever. So we thought that maybe the electric blanket was making my body hot and making the thermometer read high temperatures. I guess we'll never know, but if I did have a fever I think the electric blanket played a large role in making it go down. After the 101.5 I took a few hour long nap with the blanket turned up pretty high. I woke up drenched in sweat, which as we all know is a good sign that your fever is going down. I took my temperature again and it was 98.5 so I credit the blanket with the quick cure.

So anyway, I will have ended up spending my whole weekend laying around in bed once I go back to work tomorrow. Not a great way to spend any weekend but we were probably not going to do anything this weekend anyway so if I was going to get sick it might as well have been now. Kelly has done a great job of taking care of me as she always does when I'm sick. She made me soup and rice and some delicious onigiri and checks on me constantly to see if I need anything. She also banned me from the kitchen all day yesterday which was probably smart. Caspian has also checked on me regularly and been very excited the few times I've stood up only to be disappointed when I lay down again a few minutes later. But he makes for good company even when we're just laying around feeling sorry for ourselves. :)

So here are my picks for the championship games this weekend in case anybody cares. I'm picking Pittsburgh to beat Baltimore and I really think that Arizona will beat Philadelphia. So I'm picking Pittsburgh and Arizona in the Super Bowl. We'll see. I won't pick the Super Bowl winner yet. Might as well wait to see if I got these right first.

Positive feelings and Photoshop

I had a good day today. Nothing really special happened but it was a good day. I had a new OC I lesson today, and it didn't go exactly according to plan, but I just went with it and figured out what will work better next time. It's nice to teach a lesson and have the luxury of figuring out what you can change to make it better and not just assume that the reason why the lesson wasn't perfect was because of the students. It sounds weird I guess for me to want my lesson planning to be the problem, but my students were the problem so much last year in Channelview that it's really a relief. And it really went well even with the planning issues. I do this lesson 4 more times, the last being an observation by my prefectural advisor and his boss. The PA is a guy named Ashley from New Zealand who is a really good guy and fun to hang out with and his boss is named Yasuo Suzuki. I've met him a few times and he is really nice too so I'm not worried about it. I can get some good advice on how to make my lessons more effective and some feedback on what I do well. It will be much nicer than the occasional random drop-ins from my boss last year which always just succeeded in making me nervous. I'd much rather have Ashley and Yasuo-sensei coming to observe me than Dolores Umbridge. Did I say Dolores Umbridge? Sorry about that. I meant the CISD Fine Arts director who will go unnamed. Don't know why I'm going off on a tangent about Channelview. I guess I'm just thinking about how I felt a year ago at this time with another semester to go and how much I dreaded every day. I've been dealing with the usual winter homesickness/culture shock/my goodness it's freezing/I want some Tex-Mex feelings that apparently are very prevalent at this time of year for JETs, but it doesn't make me forget how much more I like this job than the job I had last year.

We had curry for dinner tonight for the third time in the past two weeks. It's becoming sort of a comfort food for us. I guess it's always been a comfort food for Kelly but it's getting more like that for me. Maybe it has something to do with the cold. More accurately it's probably the fact that it's easy to cook and so requires less time in the unheated kitchen.

Well anyway, I think I had something really interesting to write about tonight but in all my rambling I seem to have forgotten it. So anyway, hope everyone's doing well. I hope more people are reading our blogs than are commenting on them. I'm trying to write more this year so the more feedback I get the more motivated I'll be to write. It's like having a good audience for a show. As much as you hate to admit it, you always give a little bit more effort when your audience makes you aware of the fact that they're there.

And now the unveiling of my first photoshop effort! I got home today and took some pictures of Mt. Fuji and later played around on photoshop. It's not as impressive as what Kelly can do but here it is anyway. It's just something basic to start with. I'll put it on Flickr too. Hope you like it!

An interesting experience

No work tomorrow for Coming of Age Day. It's the day that all of the people who turned 20 in the last year and their families celebrate the fact that they're 20 which is the age here where you officially become an adult. We rode past the Rose Theatre today and there were a lot of guys in suits and girls in kimonos. Very nice looking. We would have stopped to look longer but we were headed to eat ramen for lunch and some dressed up 20 year olds are only interesting for so long when you're hungry. :) So maybe we'll see some more of them tomorrow.

Had an interesting church service this morning. The preacher typed and printed up an English guide to the sermon which was very generous. This is the guy who Jeff saw get baptized 25-30 or so (?) years ago and wrote in his Bible. He speaks very good English and is always good at including English in his sermons, prayers, scripture readings and everything. We have a guy that sits with us every week and translates for us which is extremely nice. We feel bad because he doesn't get to sit with his wife and his little son who is like 2 starts running all over the church during the service. But we are definitely grateful for his help. So anyway, the sermon today was about baptism. There was a lady there who is very sick (maybe cancer - I never really heard what the illness was) and she got baptized last week. At the end of the service, the preacher asked that everyone gather around her and lay hands on her and pray for her. This was the first time I've been a part of something like this in Japan. I was always very stand-offish with things like this at home even though this was a regular occurrence at Sugar Grove. I sometimes knew the people who were being prayed over at Sugar Grove more than I knew this lady. All I knew about her was her last name. But when people stood to gather and pray for her, I found myself right in the mix with my hand on her back. I don't know what the difference was. I guess I just found myself in a situation where I felt like I had no reason not to do it. This was a new Christian and she was in need and there was a genuine feeling in the congregation that we needed to pray for her to help her in any way. It was the first time I have really felt a part of this church. It was a good feeling. We didn't come here for a spiritual experience. We didn't come here to be missionaries disguised as English teachers. We came here to be English teachers and to get a cultural experience. That is what our time here has been and will continue to be dedicated to. But if every once in a while we learn something about ourselves and grow spiritually, then there is certainly nothing wrong with that. So I just wanted to share that experience.

So anyway, tomorrow I will be celebrating the fact that I turned 20 8 1/2 years ago by sleeping in and then watching NFL highlights online followed shortly by watching the premiere of 24 season 7. Everybody watch it, it's going to be amazing! Go Jack Bauer!

Back to work

Went back to work on Monday and have had a slow few days. We had opening ceremony yesterday (Tuesday) and I realized that I am going to have to get some gym shoes. You're not allowed to wear shoes in the gym that have been outside so I can't wear my regular tennis shoes but I'm not allowed to wear my indoor shoes either even though they have never been outside because they're not gym shoes. I don't really know all the reasons for everything but I just do as I'm told. So anyway, during the opening ceremony I was standing in there in my socks and my feet were extremely cold. So I'll be getting some gym shoes soon hopefully.

It's funny that there was an opening ceremony because it's the third term of the school year so it's not like it's really the opening of anything. And they just had a closing ceremony two weeks earlier. But Japanese people love their ceremonies so have one we did. This is going to be a short term with only two months of actual classes (one for the 3rd years) and then who knows what in March. The 3rd years have their finals at the beginning of February and then disappear for a month until graduation on March 1. Plenty of time apparently for them to die their hair and then have to be taken into the teacher's room on the day of graduation to die it black again. Or so I've heard.

First classes of the term are tomorrow. I have an OC I lesson on parties. We're teaching them how to invite people to a party. Hey, it's the next chapter in the textbook. And then we have a 2nd year International Course class where we're starting a new project. The students are going to work in groups and do a presentation in English on some different countries that we've chosen. If I can remember correctly the countries are Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Vietnam, India, and Sweden. A nice mix of topics. Hopefully the groups with Mexico and Italy will go the extra mile and bring some food. :)

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

This is the gingerbread house we made at school right before Christmas. Some students helped us make it and of course many students helped us eat it later in the week.



Thought this might be interesting to anyone who has never seen any Yen before. I was getting change to put in my pocket and thought it was funny that these few coins make 2000yen which is roughly equivalent to about $21.50. Important coins!

First Post of 平成 21 (2009)

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！！！

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!!! 　

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!