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!