Today I meet my friend Masayo at the post office and she helped me get a stamp that I needed in order to get my work visa. The post office was so confusing, so I'm so glad that she helped me out!
After, we went to a different cafe that was really good. I got some strange tea with an orange-flavor. It has pieces of what looked like orange at the bottom, too, but I'm not sure that it was an orange. I also got a small chocolate pastry that was, of course, amazing ^_^
She taught me a lot and I learned several phrases so that I can have normal conversations in Japanese. I'm definitely going to have to memorize and practice them . . . We went to a Daiso, which is a 100 yen store, after that and I was happy that I found a Twix bar there! I hadn't seen any before then and it's my favorite candy bar so I was glad. Unfortunately, they don't have Mt. Dew here, but oh well.
After hanging out with her, I went to the airport and got my work visa! It looks almost like a driver's license, but in Japanese :P I used it to fax information to the internet company, but I'm not sure that it has my address on it since I can't read it. It might have my work address on it, I'm not sure. Hopefully, it'll be enough, but I will be without internet probably for a week or two starting Sept. 1st so I will be visiting cafes a lot and I probably won't be able to respond to emails every day, so I just wanted to let everyone know that it's not because I don't like you, it's just because my internet got cut off! I'm hoping that I can get a cell phone with internet on it if it takes too long to get internet for my computer. I think that it might be easier but I'm not sure.
Nothing much happened Mon-Wed except work. My boss gave me an old obi of hers so that I can wear my kimono that I brought (which I found out was fake but she said it was okay). She also said that I can still come to the tea ceremony and that I don't have to wear a kimono, so I think that I'll start going in September. I'm both nervous and excited about it!
I plan to update on Sundays and Thursdays like normal since those are my off-days so I can visit cafes with internet. Thank you for reading! :D
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Sunday August 26th
After spending most of the day cleaning, I hung out with my friend Yurika again. We went to a Chinese tea place nearby and I ordered a flower tea that was sweet and fragrant. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it, but if I go there again, I will write it down. Here are pictures!
She invited me to a baseball game the day before my birthday then to a salsa beach party in mid-September! It sounds like a lot of fun so I hope that I can go! Her boyfriend works for the local baseball team, so I think she might get free seats but I'm not sure. Either way, it'd still be really fun and I can finally get to the beach!
We had a nice long talk and I learned more about how to carry on normal conversations in Japanese. She also told me that she had a book about child psychology that she was having trouble reading because it was in English and very difficult so I told her she should bring it next time! She's a clinical psychologist and wants to get her Master's in America, but wasn't able to come up with ideas that haven't been studied in that field yet, so she wanted help with thinking in English. I hope that I can help her, I'm really excited about it!
She invited me to a baseball game the day before my birthday then to a salsa beach party in mid-September! It sounds like a lot of fun so I hope that I can go! Her boyfriend works for the local baseball team, so I think she might get free seats but I'm not sure. Either way, it'd still be really fun and I can finally get to the beach!
We had a nice long talk and I learned more about how to carry on normal conversations in Japanese. She also told me that she had a book about child psychology that she was having trouble reading because it was in English and very difficult so I told her she should bring it next time! She's a clinical psychologist and wants to get her Master's in America, but wasn't able to come up with ideas that haven't been studied in that field yet, so she wanted help with thinking in English. I hope that I can help her, I'm really excited about it!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Sunday Aug. 26th update: Friday and Saturday
Friday Aug. 24th:
I was extremely nervous about going to Nishijin again because last week two of the kids were so disobedient, but I was confident I could put them in line. I was also nervous about getting back to the office in time to teach my next student . . . Thankfully, everything went well! The "bad kid" came in late so I couldn't seat him away from his friend, but I didn't really have to this time. He first started acting up by not coloring in the lines nicely, so I made him color nicely and from then on, everything was great! I hope that it continues, but I'm glad that I didn't have to be forceful. I was about to get to the office early, except that I misjudged the time and jumped on the wrong train! I was on the train going in the opposite direction . . . I didn't realize this until 2 stops later, and unfortunately the train stopped in Meinohama where I had to waste 10 minutes waiting on the next train back to Tenjin. Of course, I was five minutes late to the office and very embarrassed and out-of-breath. It was the first time I'd met this student, so I'm sure it wasn't the best impression especially since he looked like a business-man. We were so busy that night that I didn't get a chance to talk to my boss about it.
Saturday Aug. 25th:
I was surprised to see that Ms. Maeda (the manager) wasn't there. I asked my boss and she told me that Ms. Maeda was following this band around and had seen their concert 4 nights in a row! She apparently was chasing some guy in this band. It was the funniest image ever, I'm not sure how old she is, but she's definitely too old to be so boy-crazy! I'm going to tease her about it on Monday :P
My boss finally was able to ask me why I was late coming back to the office the other day, so I explained. She didn't seem mad or anything which was good, but obviously it was a very bad thing. It was a quiet day besides the political guy yelling on a megaphone so that it was even too loud in the office. They've been doing it at least every Saturday, and all I've been told is that it has something to do with politics and people bashing the government. I didn't know they did that in Japan.
After work, I met Madoka and a couple of her Japanese friends. They said they couldn't speak English, but after we had a beer at an authentic Fukuoka restaurant, they started talking in English. It was a lot of fun, but of course I couldn't read the menu hardly at all. In Japan, they usually eat family-style, meaning that everyone shares the dishes, so they just picked everything out. Madoka wanted me to try Fukuoka's specialty food: beef guts. I was a little nervous about this at first, but I had four other dishes before it to prepare myself. We had a Caesar salad with the best bacon I've ever tasted. The bacon was thick and didn't taste like bacon but like sweet, fried ham. Then, they brought out four little dishes of random things. One had the clear noodle-like seaweed that I had before, another had three little fishes (head, tail and all), another had tiny pieces of what looked like pork and bean sprouts in a type of sauce, and the last one had beans and other random vegetables. They were all really good and I was proud of myself for eating one of those little fishes. It even had its eyeballs still on it, but I didn't think about that while I was trying to eat it, otherwise I might've gotten sick. It was of course very good, it's just the idea of it that I'm not used to yet :P The waiter then brought out shrimp covered in a sweet sauce. They were so good and crispy! After this, the next dish was eggplant stuffed with what looked like tuna and other things, all fried in a batter. It was so delicious! I dipped it in a sweet, dark sauce. Finally, they brought out a burner and put a pot with raw beef guts, tofu and vegetables. We let it cook for a while and they tried to get me to speak in Japanese. I asked them how to say things like "where do you work?" and "Do you have any siblings?" but it was hard since I'd never learned these phrases before! It will take me a few times to remember it. I was too embarrassed to write anything down and thought it might be rude while we were eating, so I'll have to ask another language partner how to say these things again. It was so much fun though and it was good because it forced me to try and understand what they were saying when they spoke in Japanese. They also spoke slowly which really helped! Once the dish had finished cooking, I was the first to try it. I felt all of the eyes watching me. I could already tell it would be delicious from the smell of the broth. It was very soft but slightly rubbery. However, the broth had such flavor to it, that despite the fact that it was difficult to chew it, it was so tasty! I really loved it and they made me finish it since they were all full ^^; After this dish, we had rice and the waiter poured the rice into the remaining broth, stirred it up, and cracked an egg in it! He stirred the egg around until it cooked. It was so good! They made me finish the rest of this too, but I didn't mind :)
After the restaurant, they wanted to go to a bar, but the Mexican bar was closed so we walked around looking for another one until the Madoka's friends had to leave. I didn't have enough money to go to a bar anyway, and I was kind of worrying about how I would tell them that, so it worked out! It was really fun and I'm glad that I got to meet her friends, too. She wants to introduce me to more of her friends, so I hope that it will force me to learn Japanese faster!!
I was extremely nervous about going to Nishijin again because last week two of the kids were so disobedient, but I was confident I could put them in line. I was also nervous about getting back to the office in time to teach my next student . . . Thankfully, everything went well! The "bad kid" came in late so I couldn't seat him away from his friend, but I didn't really have to this time. He first started acting up by not coloring in the lines nicely, so I made him color nicely and from then on, everything was great! I hope that it continues, but I'm glad that I didn't have to be forceful. I was about to get to the office early, except that I misjudged the time and jumped on the wrong train! I was on the train going in the opposite direction . . . I didn't realize this until 2 stops later, and unfortunately the train stopped in Meinohama where I had to waste 10 minutes waiting on the next train back to Tenjin. Of course, I was five minutes late to the office and very embarrassed and out-of-breath. It was the first time I'd met this student, so I'm sure it wasn't the best impression especially since he looked like a business-man. We were so busy that night that I didn't get a chance to talk to my boss about it.
Saturday Aug. 25th:
I was surprised to see that Ms. Maeda (the manager) wasn't there. I asked my boss and she told me that Ms. Maeda was following this band around and had seen their concert 4 nights in a row! She apparently was chasing some guy in this band. It was the funniest image ever, I'm not sure how old she is, but she's definitely too old to be so boy-crazy! I'm going to tease her about it on Monday :P
My boss finally was able to ask me why I was late coming back to the office the other day, so I explained. She didn't seem mad or anything which was good, but obviously it was a very bad thing. It was a quiet day besides the political guy yelling on a megaphone so that it was even too loud in the office. They've been doing it at least every Saturday, and all I've been told is that it has something to do with politics and people bashing the government. I didn't know they did that in Japan.
After work, I met Madoka and a couple of her Japanese friends. They said they couldn't speak English, but after we had a beer at an authentic Fukuoka restaurant, they started talking in English. It was a lot of fun, but of course I couldn't read the menu hardly at all. In Japan, they usually eat family-style, meaning that everyone shares the dishes, so they just picked everything out. Madoka wanted me to try Fukuoka's specialty food: beef guts. I was a little nervous about this at first, but I had four other dishes before it to prepare myself. We had a Caesar salad with the best bacon I've ever tasted. The bacon was thick and didn't taste like bacon but like sweet, fried ham. Then, they brought out four little dishes of random things. One had the clear noodle-like seaweed that I had before, another had three little fishes (head, tail and all), another had tiny pieces of what looked like pork and bean sprouts in a type of sauce, and the last one had beans and other random vegetables. They were all really good and I was proud of myself for eating one of those little fishes. It even had its eyeballs still on it, but I didn't think about that while I was trying to eat it, otherwise I might've gotten sick. It was of course very good, it's just the idea of it that I'm not used to yet :P The waiter then brought out shrimp covered in a sweet sauce. They were so good and crispy! After this, the next dish was eggplant stuffed with what looked like tuna and other things, all fried in a batter. It was so delicious! I dipped it in a sweet, dark sauce. Finally, they brought out a burner and put a pot with raw beef guts, tofu and vegetables. We let it cook for a while and they tried to get me to speak in Japanese. I asked them how to say things like "where do you work?" and "Do you have any siblings?" but it was hard since I'd never learned these phrases before! It will take me a few times to remember it. I was too embarrassed to write anything down and thought it might be rude while we were eating, so I'll have to ask another language partner how to say these things again. It was so much fun though and it was good because it forced me to try and understand what they were saying when they spoke in Japanese. They also spoke slowly which really helped! Once the dish had finished cooking, I was the first to try it. I felt all of the eyes watching me. I could already tell it would be delicious from the smell of the broth. It was very soft but slightly rubbery. However, the broth had such flavor to it, that despite the fact that it was difficult to chew it, it was so tasty! I really loved it and they made me finish it since they were all full ^^; After this dish, we had rice and the waiter poured the rice into the remaining broth, stirred it up, and cracked an egg in it! He stirred the egg around until it cooked. It was so good! They made me finish the rest of this too, but I didn't mind :)
After the restaurant, they wanted to go to a bar, but the Mexican bar was closed so we walked around looking for another one until the Madoka's friends had to leave. I didn't have enough money to go to a bar anyway, and I was kind of worrying about how I would tell them that, so it worked out! It was really fun and I'm glad that I got to meet her friends, too. She wants to introduce me to more of her friends, so I hope that it will force me to learn Japanese faster!!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Thursday Aug. 23rd update!
Hello everyone, thank you for following!
This was my first full week on my own and so far it's been going pretty well besides the 2 year old class that I had on Tuesday. First, two of the kids started bawling their eyes out when they saw I wasn't their old teacher. It didn't help matters when I heard the teacher explain to the kids in Japanese that their old teacher was gone and wouldn't come back . . . but she helped me drag them into the classroom and once they sat down, I started singing the ABC's and everything was dandy again . . . except for when the boy suddenly had a giant puddle on the floor below him. At first I seriously thought that he'd brought some kind of water into the classroom and it'd just spilled. It didn't occur to me that it was something else until my next class came in and noticed that the floor was wet. yeah . . . unfortunately my Japanese ability wasn't good enough for me to explain to the Japanese teachers that a boy had peed in the classroom . . . the rest of the classes went "swimmingly well" as some people say, whatever that means. Sounds like a good pun to me. Anyway, nothing really exciting happened this week except that my boss invited me to her tea ceremony classes that she teaches. Apparently, the tea ceremony is extremely complicated, even to the type of kimono you wear. My boss said she would give me free lessons, but it might end up being expensive if I have to buy a different kind of kimono each month, so I'll see. I'm interested, but not interested in sitting seiza style for over 2 hours. I'll see, but maybe it will make my boss respect me more and I've always wanted to learn how to participate in a real tea ceremony. Maybe she won't be picky about what I'm wearing. . .
Today (Thursday), I met a new friend named Masayo. She was extremely helpful and we talked for 4 hours! She told me so many things about Japanese culture and things that I never would've thought to be different. For example, I asked her what she did this morning and she acted shocked and explained that to Japanese people, that is strange, but it was okay to ask what she did that weekend or "what have you been doing lately?" I thought that was very interesting though. It was embarrassing when she wanted to switch from talking in English to speaking in Japanese! I really didn't even know how to begin a conversation! I don't know what I'm going to do . . . I might have to bring in the Japanese book that my best friend, Britteny, let me borrow. It was a very stormy day today, so I was glad that we were in the coffee shop the whole time! It was very calming and much better than sitting at home on a rainy day :P
I plan to post again Sunday, Saturday night after work I'm hanging out with Madoka again, then Sunday evening I will see Yurika again so I will be kept plenty busy and hopefully get much better at Japanese! (fingers crossed)
This was my first full week on my own and so far it's been going pretty well besides the 2 year old class that I had on Tuesday. First, two of the kids started bawling their eyes out when they saw I wasn't their old teacher. It didn't help matters when I heard the teacher explain to the kids in Japanese that their old teacher was gone and wouldn't come back . . . but she helped me drag them into the classroom and once they sat down, I started singing the ABC's and everything was dandy again . . . except for when the boy suddenly had a giant puddle on the floor below him. At first I seriously thought that he'd brought some kind of water into the classroom and it'd just spilled. It didn't occur to me that it was something else until my next class came in and noticed that the floor was wet. yeah . . . unfortunately my Japanese ability wasn't good enough for me to explain to the Japanese teachers that a boy had peed in the classroom . . . the rest of the classes went "swimmingly well" as some people say, whatever that means. Sounds like a good pun to me. Anyway, nothing really exciting happened this week except that my boss invited me to her tea ceremony classes that she teaches. Apparently, the tea ceremony is extremely complicated, even to the type of kimono you wear. My boss said she would give me free lessons, but it might end up being expensive if I have to buy a different kind of kimono each month, so I'll see. I'm interested, but not interested in sitting seiza style for over 2 hours. I'll see, but maybe it will make my boss respect me more and I've always wanted to learn how to participate in a real tea ceremony. Maybe she won't be picky about what I'm wearing. . .
Today (Thursday), I met a new friend named Masayo. She was extremely helpful and we talked for 4 hours! She told me so many things about Japanese culture and things that I never would've thought to be different. For example, I asked her what she did this morning and she acted shocked and explained that to Japanese people, that is strange, but it was okay to ask what she did that weekend or "what have you been doing lately?" I thought that was very interesting though. It was embarrassing when she wanted to switch from talking in English to speaking in Japanese! I really didn't even know how to begin a conversation! I don't know what I'm going to do . . . I might have to bring in the Japanese book that my best friend, Britteny, let me borrow. It was a very stormy day today, so I was glad that we were in the coffee shop the whole time! It was very calming and much better than sitting at home on a rainy day :P
I plan to post again Sunday, Saturday night after work I'm hanging out with Madoka again, then Sunday evening I will see Yurika again so I will be kept plenty busy and hopefully get much better at Japanese! (fingers crossed)
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sunday August 19th
I got up early this morning to do more filming. I think I got to the park by around 6:40 and immediately I could hear the swarming of mosquitoes in a nearby tree. I was hoping to be one of only a few people awake at that time on a Sunday morning, but unfortunately this is apparently the time that the older people go walking. I was hoping that was only an American thing, but apparently not. There weren't as many people as last time, so I was able to film more, but I still had to fend off the mosquitoes. I walked until I reached the end of the park, I think that it leads to the old Fukuoka Castle, but the doors were closed so I'm not sure. There is a large baseball stadium and track field, and numerous tennis courts, all that have to be reserved. It isn't like America where if it's free, then you can play in it, you always have to reserve the courts. Anyway, there was a cherry tree garden and a plum tree garden that was really beautiful, I just had to take a picture:
I got back home really early, about 8am because the mosquitoes had eaten my feet and my video-camera's memory card ran out of space. I edited for most of the day and met up with a new friend that I hadn't met before named Yurika (Eureka!). I ended up taking a 2 hour nap since I was so tired from getting up early, then I went to the grocery store. I saw Keiji-san, the chef from the restaurant that we went to for Marc's birthday, while I was at the grocery store! I was so surprised I accidentally spoke to him in English, but that was ok, because he thinks it's cool when people speak English even though he can't understand it. He just repeats what I say and laughs. He's a cool person.
I met Yurika at Seattle's Best Coffee, then we went to this coffee shop near my place called Tully's. On the way, we passed a shrine and I told her I didn't know there was one right there, but I always wanted to see what it was like. We went in and she showed me what you were supposed to do. You rinse your hands first with a wooden spoon by pouring water from a basin over each hand. Then, you go up to the shrine and, if you want, you can throw money into a big box. You bow twice, clap twice, then say a "prayer" which is more like a wish, then you ring the bell. I wanted to take pictures, but wasn't sure if that was appropriate or not.
We sat at Tully's for about 2 hours and she taught me a lot about how to say certain things, like when I'm in an elevator and they ask me which floor. She also explained the difference between "kudasai" and "onegaishimasu" since they both mean "please," so that really helped me. She is very traditional because she's in her 30's so sometimes I would ask her what she thought about something and I think that it was too personal for her, so I will have to stop doing that! It's just so difficult coming from America where everyone asks you what you think about something. She told me that she had a hard time expressing her thoughts and feelings because that's the Japanese way, so I hope to help her get better at that, but maybe I should start out more slowly. She's a lot of fun, and she wants to take me to the beach sometime as well as a Thai restaurant! I didn't ask Yurika what time she had to go, so her mom called at 7:30 wondering where she was. I felt so bad! She was really sweet about it though, and even emailed me later to make sure I didn't get lost going back home! I look forward to being able to speak to my friends in Japanese, but that will be a little while from now . . . I'm just glad that that I was able to make so many friends and so quickly! I'm meeting another friend on Thursday at a different Tully's!
I met Yurika at Seattle's Best Coffee, then we went to this coffee shop near my place called Tully's. On the way, we passed a shrine and I told her I didn't know there was one right there, but I always wanted to see what it was like. We went in and she showed me what you were supposed to do. You rinse your hands first with a wooden spoon by pouring water from a basin over each hand. Then, you go up to the shrine and, if you want, you can throw money into a big box. You bow twice, clap twice, then say a "prayer" which is more like a wish, then you ring the bell. I wanted to take pictures, but wasn't sure if that was appropriate or not.
We sat at Tully's for about 2 hours and she taught me a lot about how to say certain things, like when I'm in an elevator and they ask me which floor. She also explained the difference between "kudasai" and "onegaishimasu" since they both mean "please," so that really helped me. She is very traditional because she's in her 30's so sometimes I would ask her what she thought about something and I think that it was too personal for her, so I will have to stop doing that! It's just so difficult coming from America where everyone asks you what you think about something. She told me that she had a hard time expressing her thoughts and feelings because that's the Japanese way, so I hope to help her get better at that, but maybe I should start out more slowly. She's a lot of fun, and she wants to take me to the beach sometime as well as a Thai restaurant! I didn't ask Yurika what time she had to go, so her mom called at 7:30 wondering where she was. I felt so bad! She was really sweet about it though, and even emailed me later to make sure I didn't get lost going back home! I look forward to being able to speak to my friends in Japanese, but that will be a little while from now . . . I'm just glad that that I was able to make so many friends and so quickly! I'm meeting another friend on Thursday at a different Tully's!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Thursday Aug. 16th
I didn't do much today because it was so hot today. Mostly, I stayed inside and studied a lot of Japanese! When the sun started going down, I grabbed my camera and headed for the same park that I went to on Sunday to play baseball. I brought my expensive camera and hoped that the park would be empty, but there were a lot of people walking their dogs. I made a mini video that I plan to add onto. It's a weird narrative with no direction at the moment, but I'll give it one as I keep filming. Next time, I will go early on a Sunday morning since I only work until 7pm on Saturdays, so it won't be such a pain getting up early. It was terrible because it was nearly dusk and the mosquitoes were out in full force. It was almost unbearable, but it was too beautiful just to stop! Here's what I have so far, just the basics and you can see the beautiful park:
Afterwards, I went home and made some ramen noodles with this sauce I bought but I'm not sure what it is. It's orange in color and I think that it has the words "miso" on it among other things. Either way, they worked well together and with the bean sprouts, so I was happy!
My noodles! They're still in the pan, that's why it's dark . . .
This is the sauce. If anyone knows what it is, please tell me! I can read some the hiragana, but it's difficult for me when it's written like that . ..
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Wednesday Aug. 15th
Last day of Obon vacation, but I still have tomorrow off since it's my regular day off! :D
I woke up determined to make sushi correctly today, so I made more rice and made the other piece of fish that I'd bought. The rice's texture seemed much better this time, and I was finally able to make it! Although it wasn't pretty, at least the rice didn't fall apart!
I also forgot to put pictures of my new sink on here! My boss said the old one had cracks in it, so she had some guy come over and install a new one. It took him two hours, but here it is!
Apparently the pull-out handle thing is to wash my hair in the sink. I've never washed my hair in the sink, but I think it'd be a great sink to wash my "hand wash only" clothes in :P
It was Marc's birthday, the guy that I replaced at work, so we all met up at his favorite restaurant called Tomoki's. It happened to be down the street from where I live so it was nice! The food was amazing but it was a little awkward because one of Marc's friends couldn't speak English! So, either I was left out of the conversation or he was. But, it was an awesome time, and even cooler because the owner/chef was a former sumo wrestler!
I woke up determined to make sushi correctly today, so I made more rice and made the other piece of fish that I'd bought. The rice's texture seemed much better this time, and I was finally able to make it! Although it wasn't pretty, at least the rice didn't fall apart!
It was Marc's birthday, the guy that I replaced at work, so we all met up at his favorite restaurant called Tomoki's. It happened to be down the street from where I live so it was nice! The food was amazing but it was a little awkward because one of Marc's friends couldn't speak English! So, either I was left out of the conversation or he was. But, it was an awesome time, and even cooler because the owner/chef was a former sumo wrestler!
Roast Beef! So much better than in the states. That shrimp was amazing. Apparently, they call French fries fried potatoes. They were delicious!
It was such a cool cake, it has sparklers on it!
Japanese women take a lot of pictures of the food, so I didn't feel weird :P
Marc and his girlfriend, Maiko
Marc and the chef, Keiji
It was a great night, and the food was so good! I'm so glad that I could make friends since I'm not very social. It seems so much easier in Japan though, because people never ask personal questions or try to dive into your life. I also tried this plum wine called umeshu in Japanese. It was the most delicious drink I've ever had, it was sweet but not too sweet and looked like white wine but didn't really taste like it. I could only describe it as a mixture between sake and white wine. We also had little pizzas that were so good, one had curry in it and the other had salmon. I was getting full so I didn't eat the one with curry in it, but the salmon one was amazing! Also, they had Death Sauce, which is an amazing hot sauce they have back in America. This one was After Death sauce and it had such flavor to it. It was perfect on the pizza! We also had this chicken that was the best chicken I've ever had, but I'm not sure what it was. It had some kind of sweet sauce on it and the chicken was the perfect texture. The last main dish we had was ohm rice. I'm not sure how to write it, but I think that's what they called it. It was rice with an omelet on top, and it was fantastic. The omelet and rice were the perfect combo, I can't even describe the flavor. Lastly, we had Japanese fruit cake, which I heard was one of the best. It had mango, kiwi, apple, blueberry, strawberry, melon, and grapefruit on it, it was paradise!
I went home and crashed afterwards, even thought the food looked like it wasn't much, it was so filling!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Tuesday Aug. 14th
I had a great lunch with Madoka! She took me to an authentic Japanese restaurant that happened to be literally underneath where I live! Mine only cost about 7 American dollars and it came with a soup, a main dish with miso soup, and a dessert! I thought that was a pretty good deal. Here's the main dish and the dessert:
Madoka said that the dessert wasn't made from chocolate but it did taste a lot like tiramisu to me, it was so good! As for the main dish, she told me to pour the egg on top of the tuna and also to pour a sauce over it that was very sweet. She told me the egg came from a bird that we don't have in America. She told me the name of it, but I don't remember! The meal was so amazing, I can't even describe it. The tuna was raw, and on top was more tuna that was made into a kind of paste. She said that when eating in Japan, you alternate in a triangle pattern between soup, main dish, and tea or whatever other side dish you might have. I'm so used to finishing one thing and moving onto the next, it was hard for me! I know I don't hold my chopsticks right and she asked if I needed a spoon but I told her it was ok, that's just how I use them ^.^; Anyway, the soup at the beginning was made from egg, and I think it was only from the white of the egg because its texture was like jelly and it tasted very creamy. It was delicious just like everything else. She was full before I was, but she was waiting on me to eat her dessert, so I just stopped. I only had rice left, anyways and I knew it would expand in my stomach later.
After we finished eating, we went to Starbucks and she helped me learn Japanese! I had a book with Kanji in it that's actually for kids and she went through it and explained it to me and how some of the symbols came about. I liked the one for "parent" where it combined kanji meaning "to see," "tree" and another one I can't remember, I think it was "person." She said that it meant the parents climb up the tree and look for their lost children. I thought that was really cool, and a lot of the other ones were cool, too. She explained a lot of things that really helped me out, too, and we went to the 100 yen store so I could get a few things. She explained to me what some of the groceries were for and how to make them, so I look forward to trying it out sometime!
When I got home, I failed at making sushi so I ended up eating it with a spoon since it all fell apart . . . oh well. It was a really fun day and I'm glad that I'm starting to make friends!
After we finished eating, we went to Starbucks and she helped me learn Japanese! I had a book with Kanji in it that's actually for kids and she went through it and explained it to me and how some of the symbols came about. I liked the one for "parent" where it combined kanji meaning "to see," "tree" and another one I can't remember, I think it was "person." She said that it meant the parents climb up the tree and look for their lost children. I thought that was really cool, and a lot of the other ones were cool, too. She explained a lot of things that really helped me out, too, and we went to the 100 yen store so I could get a few things. She explained to me what some of the groceries were for and how to make them, so I look forward to trying it out sometime!
When I got home, I failed at making sushi so I ended up eating it with a spoon since it all fell apart . . . oh well. It was a really fun day and I'm glad that I'm starting to make friends!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Mon. Aug 5th - Wed Aug. 8th
Monday and Tuesday were easier because I was still in training. On Tuesday, I had to travel to a school, which was a little bit of a disaster because my first class had a bunch of 3 year olds and the other class had 2 year olds! The last 2 classes were older so it went a little better. I didn't have much time to prepare when we got there because it was pretty far away, and we had to split the room in two since our boss was gracious enough to not give us 18 three year olds at once! We each had 9 so it was a relief, but it was difficult wheeling these giant shelves to the middle of the room since there was no divider. Also, we could hear each other easily which was distracting for the kids, especially when we had to play the "hello song" which is always played for the 3 year olds. They all just stared at me not understanding a word I was saying, but thankfully Marc was still training me, so he helped me out a lot in trying to get them to cooperate. They kept looking at him wondering why I was standing up front! They are really used to a man's voice and haven't had another teacher for English besides Marc, so they were totally confused. It was quite a disaster, but I learned that I need to keep them moving in order for them to pay any attention to me. The very last class was a relief because they were older and they helped bring up the tables and chairs at the end, which was very nice since it's very time consuming trying to take them down myself.
On Wednesday, I didn't have to travel to any schools, so it was an easier day, especially since it was my first day on my own! I was able to stay in the office and just proofread things and teach every now and then. The other two teachers were away at schools so I had lots of space to work on! I just hope that one of the other teachers doesn't quit, because it would be complete chaos . . .
On Wednesday, I didn't have to travel to any schools, so it was an easier day, especially since it was my first day on my own! I was able to stay in the office and just proofread things and teach every now and then. The other two teachers were away at schools so I had lots of space to work on! I just hope that one of the other teachers doesn't quit, because it would be complete chaos . . .
Monday Aug 13th and recap
It was a lazy day, it was very rainy outside so I stayed inside and cleaned my entire house! The only thing I didn't do was wipe down the windows :P
Here's my balcony view on a rainy day:
There was a lovely dead Cicada that greeted me as well:
I made chicken teriyaki and told myself to take a picture of it, but forgot . . . it was good but not as tender as I wanted it to be, I think it was because I overcooked it just a little too much since I'm paranoid about raw meat. It was still really good though and reminded me of old times. I was able to talk to my godmother for 2 hours via Skype, but other than that I didn't do anything interesting, so I will recap on last week!
Friday Aug. 10th
I was so glad that Ms. Maeda printed out a google map to how to get to the school, because I had to go and return on my own by subway! I had a difficult time even figuring out how to get out of the subway, so that was fun . . . I took my lunch break right before I left, so I went straight there and took the long way around so I wouldn't get lost. I got there in enough time to set up everything and play catch with the one kid who got there really early. The kids at Nishijin are very intelligent, and in my second class, I had a kid come in ready to speak English! He greeted me with "hello" and started talking to me with the little English that he knew, then we played catch. For every kid that came in, I could hear him telling them in Japanese that I was their new teacher and that they needed to tell me their name. It was really cute and I think they had a lot of fun! I tried to follow the lessons exactly as I'd seen, and I'm so glad that I videotaped them otherwise I would've been lost!
On the subway back home, I sat across from an older lady. Suddenly, she started brushing at her shirt, so I looked at her and saw a bright green walking-stick bug fly out. She acted like nothing had happened and looked at me wondering why I was acting so surprised :P I wonder what they do when they get scared and they're in public, I've never seen them react . . .
I got back to the office at 7 and was so thankful that my 7 o'clock student had cancelled because I would've been late! I hope that in the future she schedules that student with someone else . . . it was difficult having enough time to clean the room by myself, walking to the station, waiting for the train, then walking through the crowded subway to get back to the office! Needless to say I was very tired, so I didn't have as much energy for my last student that I had that day. I really wish they had Red Bull here! >.<
Thursday Aug. 11th
I'm off on Thursdays, so I was able to get some grocery shopping done but most importantly I was able to go to the airport to apply for my work visa! I made the mistake of wearing heels there since my blisters were pretty much gone, but that was a bad idea . . . I didn't realize how far Terminal 3 was from the subway station, so I ended up getting another blister in a different area. I got a good workout wearing those heels, though! When I got to the immigration office, I was looking for a number since I was told to get a ticket and wait for them to call my number. There was nowhere to get a ticket, so while I stood helplessly looking around the room, one of the people from the information booth came around and spoke to me in perfect English asking me what I needed. He helped me get everything together and even got me a ticket number. I was the next up since apparently no one else was applying for a work visa, so it was very quick. The lady unfortunately didn't speak English, but she could write it, so she wrote all of her questions down. At first, I was worried because she asked me for a certification of working in America and I told her that we don't have those in America. After she flipped through a book for a few minutes, I guess it was ok because she handed me a slip of paper. She almost forgot to photocopy my passport so I was glad that I handed it to her! Now I'm just waiting for it to come in the mail, I can't wait! Once I get it, I can get a phone, apply for my alien registration card, and start a bank account here.
Here's my balcony view on a rainy day:
There was a lovely dead Cicada that greeted me as well:
I made chicken teriyaki and told myself to take a picture of it, but forgot . . . it was good but not as tender as I wanted it to be, I think it was because I overcooked it just a little too much since I'm paranoid about raw meat. It was still really good though and reminded me of old times. I was able to talk to my godmother for 2 hours via Skype, but other than that I didn't do anything interesting, so I will recap on last week!
Friday Aug. 10th
I was so glad that Ms. Maeda printed out a google map to how to get to the school, because I had to go and return on my own by subway! I had a difficult time even figuring out how to get out of the subway, so that was fun . . . I took my lunch break right before I left, so I went straight there and took the long way around so I wouldn't get lost. I got there in enough time to set up everything and play catch with the one kid who got there really early. The kids at Nishijin are very intelligent, and in my second class, I had a kid come in ready to speak English! He greeted me with "hello" and started talking to me with the little English that he knew, then we played catch. For every kid that came in, I could hear him telling them in Japanese that I was their new teacher and that they needed to tell me their name. It was really cute and I think they had a lot of fun! I tried to follow the lessons exactly as I'd seen, and I'm so glad that I videotaped them otherwise I would've been lost!
On the subway back home, I sat across from an older lady. Suddenly, she started brushing at her shirt, so I looked at her and saw a bright green walking-stick bug fly out. She acted like nothing had happened and looked at me wondering why I was acting so surprised :P I wonder what they do when they get scared and they're in public, I've never seen them react . . .
I got back to the office at 7 and was so thankful that my 7 o'clock student had cancelled because I would've been late! I hope that in the future she schedules that student with someone else . . . it was difficult having enough time to clean the room by myself, walking to the station, waiting for the train, then walking through the crowded subway to get back to the office! Needless to say I was very tired, so I didn't have as much energy for my last student that I had that day. I really wish they had Red Bull here! >.<
Thursday Aug. 11th
I'm off on Thursdays, so I was able to get some grocery shopping done but most importantly I was able to go to the airport to apply for my work visa! I made the mistake of wearing heels there since my blisters were pretty much gone, but that was a bad idea . . . I didn't realize how far Terminal 3 was from the subway station, so I ended up getting another blister in a different area. I got a good workout wearing those heels, though! When I got to the immigration office, I was looking for a number since I was told to get a ticket and wait for them to call my number. There was nowhere to get a ticket, so while I stood helplessly looking around the room, one of the people from the information booth came around and spoke to me in perfect English asking me what I needed. He helped me get everything together and even got me a ticket number. I was the next up since apparently no one else was applying for a work visa, so it was very quick. The lady unfortunately didn't speak English, but she could write it, so she wrote all of her questions down. At first, I was worried because she asked me for a certification of working in America and I told her that we don't have those in America. After she flipped through a book for a few minutes, I guess it was ok because she handed me a slip of paper. She almost forgot to photocopy my passport so I was glad that I handed it to her! Now I'm just waiting for it to come in the mail, I can't wait! Once I get it, I can get a phone, apply for my alien registration card, and start a bank account here.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Catching up on the week - Sat. Aug. 11th
Yesterday, I went to work and was so thankful that one of my students (even though she was my favorite student here because she speaks English very well) had cancelled! I was able to actually get my one hour lunch break which was very nice. I know my mom won't like this, but since I didn't bring a lunch (since I didn't think I had a break), I went to Lawson's, the local convenience store (called a conbini in Japanese). I was going to get something like sweet bread, since almost all bread here in Japan is considered a dessert, but instead I spied something better: chocolate covered peanuts! ^_^ They were so filling, which was great since my stomach had been growling all day before this since I was too busy preparing for my classes to eat any breakfast. I sat on the bench outside, but it started to sprinkle, so I slowly wandered back towards my building and idled around for a bit. I bought a coffee from one of the vending machines in our building and sat on the stairs just to be alone for a bit. Since it was Saturday, hardly anyone was there so I didn't have to worry about anyone wondering why I was sitting on the stairs. A window happened to be cracked on the 4th floor, so I looked out over part of the city and watched the people go about their business. It was really meditative and helped calm my mood. I had to prepare for double-booked students since I'm the only one who works on Saturdays and one student's session ended at 5:55 while a group of students began their session at 5:50! She ended up cutting the last session shorter so that it wasn't a problem, and after work I was able to go to a free piano concert! No one else went with me, but Ms. Maeda literally ran me over to the music hall after work. In Japan, we get Obon week off, which is the week where people go and visit the graves of their loved ones. Ms. Maeda had a flight back home to Tokyo at 8:30 and we got off work at 7! Apparently the music hall was on the way to her apartment, so she ran me over there so I wouldn't get lost. As we were running, she asked me if I liked classical music and I said I did. I asked her if she liked it and she said it makes her sleepy :P She is adorable, if she wasn't in a higher position than me, I'd hug her ^_^ She's so much fun even though she's older, and she's so sweet.
I wandered down the stairs and with many "dozo"s and bows, I was directed to the music hall. I had to sit for a bit and wait since she was in the middle of playing, and when I went in, I stood in the back with a few other people. The music hall was fairly small, but beautiful. It had a deconstructionist design where the bottom of the bricks were flush with each other, but as it reached the ceiling, they began to protrude irregularly. The walls also began to ripple in huge waves as it wound closer to the front of the stage. She played with such precision, and was able to perfectly render every loud and soft note to the degree that was intended by the composer. I was amazed at how accurately she followed the difficult patterns of the notes, emphasizing them to form a beat. When I played piano and the violin, this was one of the most difficult things for me, figuring out the beat and which notes have to be emphasized in order to create the right sound. As I listened, my mind was drawn into Debussy's world of grey contemplation, like a memory of childhood that almost faded.
After the intermission, I waited for everyone to be seated, and then found an empty seat. I didn't know how to ask if a seat was available so I waited until the last second! I was very glad that I went, and thankful that we have generous students who give us free food and free concert tickets! One of the girls who works with us is also a student, and last week she brought us each a quarter of a watermelon! This week she brought us each a bunch of huge grapes! I am so fortunate to have this job ^_^
Here's the program from the concert, as well as the giant grapes. Look at the size of them compared with my hand!
Anyway, I got side-tracked there . . . after the concert ended, we all rushed out into the rain. Thankfully, the rain had been unpredictable that week already so I learned to bring my umbrella in spite of what the weather websites said. I couldn't fall asleep, so I drank some of the wonderful Bailey's Irish Cream (one of my favorites) that Marc had left in my apartment! I feel so much more free out here, I never would've gone to a concert by myself in America, I'm not sure why. I think because everything's so new I feel like I should try more new things :P
I wandered down the stairs and with many "dozo"s and bows, I was directed to the music hall. I had to sit for a bit and wait since she was in the middle of playing, and when I went in, I stood in the back with a few other people. The music hall was fairly small, but beautiful. It had a deconstructionist design where the bottom of the bricks were flush with each other, but as it reached the ceiling, they began to protrude irregularly. The walls also began to ripple in huge waves as it wound closer to the front of the stage. She played with such precision, and was able to perfectly render every loud and soft note to the degree that was intended by the composer. I was amazed at how accurately she followed the difficult patterns of the notes, emphasizing them to form a beat. When I played piano and the violin, this was one of the most difficult things for me, figuring out the beat and which notes have to be emphasized in order to create the right sound. As I listened, my mind was drawn into Debussy's world of grey contemplation, like a memory of childhood that almost faded.
After the intermission, I waited for everyone to be seated, and then found an empty seat. I didn't know how to ask if a seat was available so I waited until the last second! I was very glad that I went, and thankful that we have generous students who give us free food and free concert tickets! One of the girls who works with us is also a student, and last week she brought us each a quarter of a watermelon! This week she brought us each a bunch of huge grapes! I am so fortunate to have this job ^_^
Here's the program from the concert, as well as the giant grapes. Look at the size of them compared with my hand!
Anyway, I got side-tracked there . . . after the concert ended, we all rushed out into the rain. Thankfully, the rain had been unpredictable that week already so I learned to bring my umbrella in spite of what the weather websites said. I couldn't fall asleep, so I drank some of the wonderful Bailey's Irish Cream (one of my favorites) that Marc had left in my apartment! I feel so much more free out here, I never would've gone to a concert by myself in America, I'm not sure why. I think because everything's so new I feel like I should try more new things :P
Weekly Update! Sunday Aug 12th
For those of you who have been following this, I appreciate it! It's been hard keeping up with it because of work, so I think that I will post on Sundays here (Saturdays or Sunday mornings in America). I will work backwards on describing my week for the sake of my memory . ..
Aug. 12 - Sunday
I had a banner day today, first I met up with Marc, the guy whose place I took at work, a co-worker named Richard, and Marc's girlfriend Maiko. It was great because I posted on a local website that I was looking for a Japanese teacher that I could exchange languages with and she responded! Apparently she was looking for me, and I was looking for her on there, too, so it worked out! I also found two other Japanese females who want to exchange with me, and many more but I settled with 3, I think that's more than enough ^_^
We were supposed to go play baseball, but it started pouring rain as soon as we got in the taxi! We ended up turning around and going to the gym that I didn't know existed (it's literally right down the street from where I live!). It only costs 250 yen to get in, and I think that's for 2 hours, so it's fairly cheap and you don't have to become a member or anything which is also cool. We had to rent "indoor shoes" so that we could enter the gym, and that cost 100 yen, but overall it was still fairly cheap. Apparently, if we had worn different shoes and carried our gym shoes in it would've been ok? I'm not really sure. We worked out for maybe an hour, then ran into an Australian guy who started talking to us about his very interesting life. He's done literally everything and it was amazing to hear how he'd been to all of our hometowns. He was able to find this house by the beach here in Fukuoka and bought it for all of about $10,000, only because it was older! He said he renovated it for about $4,000. If I had that kind of money, I would totally do that. . . He said that he wakes up to dolphins jumping in the ocean every morning! He also said that he was preparing for this 100k race that lasts 3 days. It's pretty much like camping and you have to swim part of it for 20k and hike part of it! He said that he was the undefeated champ for 5 years, which I thought was impressive until he told us that he started the race! I thought that was kind of cheating since he built the course :P But, he had a million other cool stories of things he'd done so it was interesting. He told us that we should leave our company and start on our own, which of course we won't do, but it was kind of a funny idea.
After we left the gym, it had stopped raining, so we walked to a park next door. It was such a beautiful park!
We just played catch, which I was really glad about since I don't know if I ever successfully hit a baseball with a bat before :( But it was a lot of fun, and I was able to get back into it again since I don't remember the last time I ever threw or caught a baseball!
Here are more pics that I stole from Maiko's facebook!
Aug. 12 - Sunday
I had a banner day today, first I met up with Marc, the guy whose place I took at work, a co-worker named Richard, and Marc's girlfriend Maiko. It was great because I posted on a local website that I was looking for a Japanese teacher that I could exchange languages with and she responded! Apparently she was looking for me, and I was looking for her on there, too, so it worked out! I also found two other Japanese females who want to exchange with me, and many more but I settled with 3, I think that's more than enough ^_^
We were supposed to go play baseball, but it started pouring rain as soon as we got in the taxi! We ended up turning around and going to the gym that I didn't know existed (it's literally right down the street from where I live!). It only costs 250 yen to get in, and I think that's for 2 hours, so it's fairly cheap and you don't have to become a member or anything which is also cool. We had to rent "indoor shoes" so that we could enter the gym, and that cost 100 yen, but overall it was still fairly cheap. Apparently, if we had worn different shoes and carried our gym shoes in it would've been ok? I'm not really sure. We worked out for maybe an hour, then ran into an Australian guy who started talking to us about his very interesting life. He's done literally everything and it was amazing to hear how he'd been to all of our hometowns. He was able to find this house by the beach here in Fukuoka and bought it for all of about $10,000, only because it was older! He said he renovated it for about $4,000. If I had that kind of money, I would totally do that. . . He said that he wakes up to dolphins jumping in the ocean every morning! He also said that he was preparing for this 100k race that lasts 3 days. It's pretty much like camping and you have to swim part of it for 20k and hike part of it! He said that he was the undefeated champ for 5 years, which I thought was impressive until he told us that he started the race! I thought that was kind of cheating since he built the course :P But, he had a million other cool stories of things he'd done so it was interesting. He told us that we should leave our company and start on our own, which of course we won't do, but it was kind of a funny idea.
We just played catch, which I was really glad about since I don't know if I ever successfully hit a baseball with a bat before :( But it was a lot of fun, and I was able to get back into it again since I don't remember the last time I ever threw or caught a baseball!
Here are more pics that I stole from Maiko's facebook!
This is Marc, the guy I replaced at work. The guy further back is Richard, my co-worker.
This was Fukamizu, he joined the game later! He's on Marc's baseball team so it was intimidating, but he was very nice, as Japanese people always are :P
It was a lot of fun even though it was really hot, and of course my face turned beet red like it always does when I exercise. I didn't notice it until I got home, so it was embarrassing to think it was red that whole time! ^^; I looked it up to see if other people had the same problem, and apparently they do. They all said there was nothing wrong with them, it was just something genetic, so I guess I will never have an explanation for it, or a cure. I just have to deal with it! A few people said they had major problems, like one girl said that she constantly had to go home early from school after P.E. because the nurse always thought she was running a fever or something serious was wrong with her . . . I'm glad I never had that problem!
After we finished playing, everyone was ready to take a shower and eat lunch, so we parted ways. Later on at 4 PM, I met up with another new Japanese friend named Madoka and we went to have some matcha smoothies! Matcha is basically ground green tea and the smoothie had vanilla in it! It was really good ^^ Before our smoothies, she took me to the subway and helped me buy subway passes which will save me money in the long-run, because when you put money on the card, you get 900 yen's worth free, which is about 3 and a half free subway tickets! If I had more money, I could've saved more, but for now, that's good enough. I will get reimbursed for my subway tickets at the end of the month, I can't wait for that . . . After getting my pass, she took me to a key place where the guy got me a copy of my keys. I was so glad she was there, because I couldn't figure out how to ask him to make a copy ^.^; She said that I definitely need to learn Japanese to function . . . After the smoothies, we went to a different 100 yen shop that was a lot nicer than the 2 other ones that I'd been to before. She picked out a kids book with hiragana and another one with kanji so that I could practice more! She walked back towards my apartment with me and helped me pick out groceries at Sunny, which is actually owned by Wal-Mart. She told me what I could use to make certain things, and when I got home I was able to make my own yakisoba with pork! It was so good and so easy!! We are supposed to hang out again on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I think I might hang out with Marc and Meiko again. I am so happy to have made some Japanese friends finally!! Since I actually have days off now, it will be nice to get out and do things with other people. I feel like I've been stuck inside for centuries now, and am dying to get out, which is weird for me since I'm usually so reclusive. My only worry is spending too much money, since mostly people here like to get coffee or go to eat, but I'm glad I found friends who like to do other things, like go to the gym or play sports because it's much cheaper :P When I get my paycheck I hope that I will be able to save up, yet still have fun. I don't know why, but I feel so much more alive here, everything just feels like home.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Sunday August 5th - Summary!
The Apartment
Here it is! Big and beautiful . . . I am so thankful! Everyone made a big deal about me bringing so much clothes so I had to explain that I'm not planning on buying any here! It's just too expensive unless I absolutely need to. There's a really nice balcony too which I will film later, maybe around sunset or something cool like that :D
I've got such a big kitchen and hopefully today I can stock up on some ingredients! It has a typical Japanese style bathtub where the shower is outside of the tub so that you can clean yourself before soaking in the tub. I haven't done this yet since the person before me was in a hurry to get out and didn't get to clean it well. I'm going to buy cleaning supplies today, too.
Ah, and nearby I was shown by the guy who used to live in this apartment a very good taco stand! It's called Timmy's Tacos or Americano:
It was so good! I was hoping that it'd have rice in it, but it didn't. It was still amazing though!
Friday at Work
I dressed less warmly this time around since everyone commented last time about how hot I must've been in a full-on suit! Anyway, on Friday I just observed again, thankfully, but we went to the "nursery" schools with kids ages 2-12. I'm so nervous about the 2 year olds, when I went it was Open House, so the parents were there watching the classes which made it more difficult since the kids were so distracted. It also was hard for me because I had to introduce myself to people who only spoke Japanese! It was quite awkward. I will also have to learn Japanese phrases so that if the kids need the bathroom or something, I know what's going on. I have to do that by Tuesday! We spent most of the day at the school and returned to the office at about 7pm. I watched more lessons being taught and proofread a paper. I was exhausted from walking so much! The school was far and even though we took a subway, we still had to walk a long way from the subway to the school. I slept 8 hours that night, my first time getting a full night's rest since I've been here!
Saturday at Work
I was still so tired and groggy, I really needed that rest, and even though I drank a lot of green tea, I was still so tired! I even left my phone at my apartment, which isn't important except that it's my only watch! I wasn't as early for work as I liked to be, and had to get a watch on my lunch break. I was so nervous since it was going to be my first day teaching! I prepared the night before, but didn't have time to prepare before the actual classes, so I forgot what was going on and had to look over the material quickly. I also had to make lesson plans for Monday's students so I hardly had time to get ready. My first class I was noticeably shy in, the second class I got better, and by the third class I loosened up considerably. I was still very nervous of course, but I was a little more comfortable. It's been a challenge trying to explain things and see whether or not they even understood what I said or what I was trying to ask them. I had a girl after my lunch break and I don't think that she could understand what I was saying! She had a very blank expression on her face, so I kept trying to say it in other ways. I was sweating bullets by this point, I had no idea what to do. I just kept writing the questions I was trying to ask her on the board, and then she understood. Thankfully, pretty much all Japanese people are able to read English fairly well, at least better than their ability to understand speech. I was able to get by with this lesson, but found out after it was over that I was supposed to play games with her! I didn't think she understood me so I didn't know how I was supposed to play games with her, but apparently she is familiar with certain games, so if I start it, she will know what to do. I was very glad when that lesson was over needless to say . . . The last class that I taught were two high school girls who understood English very well, so I felt much more confident. They were a lot of fun and I brought them out of their shells a little bit. They both have such interesting lives, but are so afraid to talk about it! I found that the girl who is the most shy actually made a movie in Jr. High! The other one is part of the Kendo club! I'm excited that I get to teach them, they seemed to enjoy the class whereas some of the other students seemed a bit sad to have a different teacher since the other teachers have taught them for years! I hope that they can get used to me quickly, it's so hard having them expect me to be like their old teacher. I'm not an extremely outgoing person, but at work, I put on a show, I just have to get better at doing that. I'm not used to making lessons so fun, at my other job it was strictly business and no games unless they pertained to the lesson, so I hope that I can have fun with this and get out of the habit of making the lessons so boring!
Saturday Night - Party on the Boss's Yen!
Our boss took us all out as a welcome party and a goodbye to the two people who were leaving.
We went to this extremely expensive restaurant after getting off work, and I was so impressed by how beautiful the rooms were! They had authentic rice paper walls that were ornately decorated and the floor was raised above decorative stones and bamboo decorations. We took our shoes off before entering our private room and below the futons we sat on, there was a drop-off ledge underneath the table, so everyone sat American style even though we were technically sitting on the floor! It was very nice, especially since my legs always get numb when I sit on them :P
I was so nervous, I hate eating in front of people I don't know, and I was seated directly across from my boss! The seating arrangement was very odd, because I thought that the boss was supposed to be at the head or the middle of the table, but I think she sat near the button that you can push when you want to order something, which made sense. She kept forcing me to eat so much and kept filling up my sake cup! It was the best food and sake I'd ever had, the raw fish had the most amazing flavors. I had smoked salmon and what was described as "a very expensive fish." I can't even describe how they tasted, I'd been waiting to try raw fish in Japan, and apparently Fukuoka is renowned for having the best seafood! Unfortunately, like I said, I left my phone at home and I didn't bring my camera either :( I was very sad to not have any pictures. The new guys were a little embarrassing, they kept asking for more drinks (even though we could have as many drinks as we wanted!) but my boss kept having this look like she couldn't believe it. They would talk about inappropriate things and the two older guys who we are replacing had to keep shutting them up. I stayed out of it and when they tried to bring me in, I just said that was a topic for another conversation and they quit. I'm worried that the other two teachers will somehow get me in trouble or make me look bad, so I'm definitely steering away from them. They are older than me, but still act like children.
Anyway, we had gyoza, which was also amazing, a salad, clear seaweed which was beautiful and had a unique flavor, some type of pork, a clear soup, more gyoza, GIANT shrimp with shells on, so I had to maneuver my chopsticks to pick it out. I ended up just picking it up and eating it since my boss saw I was having such a difficult time. She told me it was ok ^_^; Everything was the best food that I'd ever had, but to top it off, I had honey toast, the epitome of bread that melts in your mouth. The honey was the sweetest and the most pure that I'd ever tasted, and the ice cream was like a mixture between sherbet and yogurt with a touch of raspberry. The sauce was a light chocolate and raspberry gently sprinkled over the four honey toast logs that were arranged so that their edges touched and spiraled upward into the ball of ice cream that delicately sat on top. I really wish I could've taken a picture! Ms. Maeda, the manager, finished hers before I hardly got started! She has a sweeter tooth than I do :P After this, we did one last toast of sake and had the people who were leaving propose the toast. We finished the sake and were gone. My face was embarrassingly red from drinking even though I wasn't even drunk, I was hardly buzzed! That's one thing I hate about being part Native American, or Chinese, or wherever the redness comes from . . . it happens every time I exercise or drink, no matter how much or how little! :( I hope that my boss didn't think that I was drunk, I was very worried about that. Overall, it was a great night and my boss was very genial, constantly giving us food and pouring us drinks. I am afraid of what it will be like once the old teachers leave, so I am going to take advantage of Monday and Tuesday, my last days of training!
I've got such a big kitchen and hopefully today I can stock up on some ingredients! It has a typical Japanese style bathtub where the shower is outside of the tub so that you can clean yourself before soaking in the tub. I haven't done this yet since the person before me was in a hurry to get out and didn't get to clean it well. I'm going to buy cleaning supplies today, too.
Ah, and nearby I was shown by the guy who used to live in this apartment a very good taco stand! It's called Timmy's Tacos or Americano:
It was so good! I was hoping that it'd have rice in it, but it didn't. It was still amazing though!
Friday at Work
I dressed less warmly this time around since everyone commented last time about how hot I must've been in a full-on suit! Anyway, on Friday I just observed again, thankfully, but we went to the "nursery" schools with kids ages 2-12. I'm so nervous about the 2 year olds, when I went it was Open House, so the parents were there watching the classes which made it more difficult since the kids were so distracted. It also was hard for me because I had to introduce myself to people who only spoke Japanese! It was quite awkward. I will also have to learn Japanese phrases so that if the kids need the bathroom or something, I know what's going on. I have to do that by Tuesday! We spent most of the day at the school and returned to the office at about 7pm. I watched more lessons being taught and proofread a paper. I was exhausted from walking so much! The school was far and even though we took a subway, we still had to walk a long way from the subway to the school. I slept 8 hours that night, my first time getting a full night's rest since I've been here!
Saturday at Work
I was still so tired and groggy, I really needed that rest, and even though I drank a lot of green tea, I was still so tired! I even left my phone at my apartment, which isn't important except that it's my only watch! I wasn't as early for work as I liked to be, and had to get a watch on my lunch break. I was so nervous since it was going to be my first day teaching! I prepared the night before, but didn't have time to prepare before the actual classes, so I forgot what was going on and had to look over the material quickly. I also had to make lesson plans for Monday's students so I hardly had time to get ready. My first class I was noticeably shy in, the second class I got better, and by the third class I loosened up considerably. I was still very nervous of course, but I was a little more comfortable. It's been a challenge trying to explain things and see whether or not they even understood what I said or what I was trying to ask them. I had a girl after my lunch break and I don't think that she could understand what I was saying! She had a very blank expression on her face, so I kept trying to say it in other ways. I was sweating bullets by this point, I had no idea what to do. I just kept writing the questions I was trying to ask her on the board, and then she understood. Thankfully, pretty much all Japanese people are able to read English fairly well, at least better than their ability to understand speech. I was able to get by with this lesson, but found out after it was over that I was supposed to play games with her! I didn't think she understood me so I didn't know how I was supposed to play games with her, but apparently she is familiar with certain games, so if I start it, she will know what to do. I was very glad when that lesson was over needless to say . . . The last class that I taught were two high school girls who understood English very well, so I felt much more confident. They were a lot of fun and I brought them out of their shells a little bit. They both have such interesting lives, but are so afraid to talk about it! I found that the girl who is the most shy actually made a movie in Jr. High! The other one is part of the Kendo club! I'm excited that I get to teach them, they seemed to enjoy the class whereas some of the other students seemed a bit sad to have a different teacher since the other teachers have taught them for years! I hope that they can get used to me quickly, it's so hard having them expect me to be like their old teacher. I'm not an extremely outgoing person, but at work, I put on a show, I just have to get better at doing that. I'm not used to making lessons so fun, at my other job it was strictly business and no games unless they pertained to the lesson, so I hope that I can have fun with this and get out of the habit of making the lessons so boring!
Saturday Night - Party on the Boss's Yen!
Our boss took us all out as a welcome party and a goodbye to the two people who were leaving.
We went to this extremely expensive restaurant after getting off work, and I was so impressed by how beautiful the rooms were! They had authentic rice paper walls that were ornately decorated and the floor was raised above decorative stones and bamboo decorations. We took our shoes off before entering our private room and below the futons we sat on, there was a drop-off ledge underneath the table, so everyone sat American style even though we were technically sitting on the floor! It was very nice, especially since my legs always get numb when I sit on them :P
I was so nervous, I hate eating in front of people I don't know, and I was seated directly across from my boss! The seating arrangement was very odd, because I thought that the boss was supposed to be at the head or the middle of the table, but I think she sat near the button that you can push when you want to order something, which made sense. She kept forcing me to eat so much and kept filling up my sake cup! It was the best food and sake I'd ever had, the raw fish had the most amazing flavors. I had smoked salmon and what was described as "a very expensive fish." I can't even describe how they tasted, I'd been waiting to try raw fish in Japan, and apparently Fukuoka is renowned for having the best seafood! Unfortunately, like I said, I left my phone at home and I didn't bring my camera either :( I was very sad to not have any pictures. The new guys were a little embarrassing, they kept asking for more drinks (even though we could have as many drinks as we wanted!) but my boss kept having this look like she couldn't believe it. They would talk about inappropriate things and the two older guys who we are replacing had to keep shutting them up. I stayed out of it and when they tried to bring me in, I just said that was a topic for another conversation and they quit. I'm worried that the other two teachers will somehow get me in trouble or make me look bad, so I'm definitely steering away from them. They are older than me, but still act like children.
Anyway, we had gyoza, which was also amazing, a salad, clear seaweed which was beautiful and had a unique flavor, some type of pork, a clear soup, more gyoza, GIANT shrimp with shells on, so I had to maneuver my chopsticks to pick it out. I ended up just picking it up and eating it since my boss saw I was having such a difficult time. She told me it was ok ^_^; Everything was the best food that I'd ever had, but to top it off, I had honey toast, the epitome of bread that melts in your mouth. The honey was the sweetest and the most pure that I'd ever tasted, and the ice cream was like a mixture between sherbet and yogurt with a touch of raspberry. The sauce was a light chocolate and raspberry gently sprinkled over the four honey toast logs that were arranged so that their edges touched and spiraled upward into the ball of ice cream that delicately sat on top. I really wish I could've taken a picture! Ms. Maeda, the manager, finished hers before I hardly got started! She has a sweeter tooth than I do :P After this, we did one last toast of sake and had the people who were leaving propose the toast. We finished the sake and were gone. My face was embarrassingly red from drinking even though I wasn't even drunk, I was hardly buzzed! That's one thing I hate about being part Native American, or Chinese, or wherever the redness comes from . . . it happens every time I exercise or drink, no matter how much or how little! :( I hope that my boss didn't think that I was drunk, I was very worried about that. Overall, it was a great night and my boss was very genial, constantly giving us food and pouring us drinks. I am afraid of what it will be like once the old teachers leave, so I am going to take advantage of Monday and Tuesday, my last days of training!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Day 8 - Tuesday July 31st
Found Tuesday's report, I saved it as a draft to edit later . . .
Tuesday July 31st:
I'm so excited to see my new apartment Thursday and anxious to start work tomorrow! It's not rainy today so I might check out the beach, but my feet are really sore, so I'll see how it goes. I studied more Japanese this morning and I'm going to get my things packed up besides my sleepwear, work clothes for tomorrow, and clothes for today.
Ok, so I didn't check out the beach, I ended up going to a cool restaurant called "Rolling Stones Bar" which of course had many red tongues everywhere. I guess those bars are popular out there because I saw a couple of them. I do have a picture that I will attach here later.
The food was amazing there, and it was my first restaurant experience, so of course I picked the most American one. . . but it still was Japanese style. I figured out how to ask for the check, too ;p
One thing I have to say, Japanese steak is the most amazing thing in the world . . . I hate steak and it was the best thing I'd ever eaten! I also got rice with it which worked well with the steak sauce. The steak was so tender and was cooked a perfect medium rare.
I got a notebook for work so that I could take notes. I found one at the local convenience store. I also took another long nap . . . I think I hardly slept again the night before . . .
T-minus one day till work starts!
Tuesday July 31st:
I'm so excited to see my new apartment Thursday and anxious to start work tomorrow! It's not rainy today so I might check out the beach, but my feet are really sore, so I'll see how it goes. I studied more Japanese this morning and I'm going to get my things packed up besides my sleepwear, work clothes for tomorrow, and clothes for today.
Ok, so I didn't check out the beach, I ended up going to a cool restaurant called "Rolling Stones Bar" which of course had many red tongues everywhere. I guess those bars are popular out there because I saw a couple of them. I do have a picture that I will attach here later.
The food was amazing there, and it was my first restaurant experience, so of course I picked the most American one. . . but it still was Japanese style. I figured out how to ask for the check, too ;p
One thing I have to say, Japanese steak is the most amazing thing in the world . . . I hate steak and it was the best thing I'd ever eaten! I also got rice with it which worked well with the steak sauce. The steak was so tender and was cooked a perfect medium rare.
I got a notebook for work so that I could take notes. I found one at the local convenience store. I also took another long nap . . . I think I hardly slept again the night before . . .
T-minus one day till work starts!
Day 8 - Wednesday August 1st - 1st day on the job!
I'll post Tuesday's report later, I honestly don't remember what I did . . . but my first day on the job was good, I heard that the boss was very difficult, and that's the reason why the two current teachers (who'd been there 2-3 years) were leaving. Both said if it wasn't for the boss, they would stay . . . that scares me but nonetheless I am up for the challenge. Thanks to Uncle Armand's recommendation, I purchased a notebook and promptly took notes when I got there and the entire day. My boss commended me on this and actually told one of the other new teachers (there are 2 new ones besides me) that he should take notes, too :P
I figured out that there are only 3 native English speakers, and my boss and her assistant are the only other teachers! I thought that there would be other Japanese teachers but apparently not. It is a very tiny set-up and I hope to get a picture soon (since one picture would suffice, it's that small!). My first day went well, just observations etc. They commented that my clothing looked rather warm (business suit with jacket) so I will dress for summer weather and wear the full suits in fall and winter, which will be very cold with snow!
Friday I will go to the nurseries and see how that is. I hear that is one of the most challenging things about the job so I'm anxious, but I have worked with kids before so it might be more familiar to me, we'll see . . . more to come, been busy moving into my surprisingly huge new apartment!!
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