Rest assured, good readers... I am still here... just that a lot has happened since I last made a decent post, and the task of sorting through the interesting bits and jotting it down seems to be a daunting one. I suppose when I have a sufficient amount of time, I'll camp out in front of the ol' laptop and smash it all out, but until then, just take a minor update and be grateful! ("Mooooore???")
For the moment, I can tell you that things are going splendidly! I was recently spurred to do a little more for that whole pesky "Exchange" part of my job, but really the spurring was what I needed to finally kick into gear ideas that have been floating around for the almost 6 months I've been here. Anyway, since I'm surviving the winter with no trouble, I'm feeling more able to shake off the frost and get it in gear. As a fellow ALT told me (as he was told by another fellow ALT), it takes about 6 months to get used to being in Japan. I think I'm there, so I'm looking at everything with an, "Okay, now that that's over, what can I do now?"
Things have returned to "normal" now that Anna's gone home (*tear*), soooo that means I get to look forward to more observation classes, special ALT meetings, and Gun activities. But that also means I get to look forward to mundane teacher's meetings I don't understand, students that drive me crazy, and classes that could go better (Though today... I made my sannensei into tanks... mwahahaha... good lesson). It might balance out, so whatev. :D
Anyway, I must be off. Soon, I'll get some substance in here!! And I've got some videos on the back burner... and a few more pictures.. A SMORGASBORD OF GOODIES!!!! :D
Showing posts with label Hastings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hastings. Show all posts
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Frequently Asked Questions part 1
Howdy, folks. Figured since it's been a lazy weekend, I could use this to address some questions that keep cropping up.
---------------------------
-What are you doing there??
I'm on a sister-cities exchange from Hastings College teaching English to junior high kids in a small Japanese town.
-Oh, so like the JET programme. Are you a JET?
No. While I have the same duties, same contract, same pay, same everything as a JET, I'm just an ALT (Assistant/Alternate Language Teacher) working independently through the school board of Ozu. I'm not a JET. :D
-What age group are you teaching?
I'm teaching at a middle school. There are 3 grades: ichinensei, ninensei, sannensei (first year, second year, third year). They're equivalent to American schools grades 7, 8, and 9.
-Where are you at again?
I'm in Ozu-machi! A little town located near Kumamoto City on the island of Kyushu, one of Japan's 4 main islands. Check out that map, since I went to all sorts of trouble to make it.
Ozu is on the more developed side of the inaka (countryside) so it's not exactly rural, but it's not at all a big city. It's about the size of Hastings, Nebraska, for those of you who know what that's like. There's a main road that has all of the big stores on it, but for the most part, I see rice fields and very Japan-esque homes on my bike ride to school everyday. So, small... but not too small.
And plus, there's always the train line to get into nearby Kumamoto City, a much bigger, flashier town. :D
-Do you speak Japanese?
Not really... I knew a few basic phrases before I came, and I've been learning a lot since I arrived, but I'm far from being able to hold down a conversation. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to order food or go shopping without having to point and grunt at things, but we'll see.
The requirements of the job were that I was fluent in English. I don't speak any Japanese in school, since I'm there specifically for the students to hear a native English speaker speak the language. So, in regards to the job, it's completely okay. The lack of Japanese knowledge only hinders my outside-of-school life... but I've been managing, thanks to the help of some great people. :D
If you're going to ever do anything like this in any country, though, I recommend learning what you can. It saves you lots of trouble.
-And you're not a JET?
No. I'm not a JET.
-I know all kinds of things you can do in Tokyo! There's a fish market to see, a video game store to check out... etc. etc.
Ok, awesome! I appreciate it! But... I'm nowhere near Tokyo. :-/
While I DO enjoy the advice on travel plans, I think a lot of people have the misconception that I'm closer to these things than I really am. It's quite the trip to go to Tokyo, for example. It's not something I can do to just run up and see in a day and come back before dinner. Depending on how I went there, it would take a good day or so of travelling.
But as I said, I really do want ideas of things to see... just know that I won't get around to it for a while... at least until the next big break in school. There are already talks of planning trips and going up north to Nagano, Tokyo, all sorts of places (Even rumors of taking a ferry to Korea... heh), so when I head there, I'll rant about it before hand.
Keep giving me ideas!! Just, don't be shocked if I don't go to check it out right away. :D
-Oh man, I bet you're sleeping on the floor and have a really small place!
Actually, my place is really a pretty good size! I've got a couple of 6-tatami mat rooms and a kitchen about the same size. I'm not sleeping on the floor, but it's a fold up futon thing that's about 6-8 inches OFF the floor... It's comfortable, though. My only complaints are the low door frames and hanging lights... ouch.
(Oh, and all of my other furniture is actually on the floor... I'm thinking of buying a slightly raised couch. :D)
-Are you sure you're not a JET?
...
You know what? Yes. I'm a JET. For all intents and purposes, I'm a JET. You got me.
Sometimes it's just easier to say this. :)
---------------------------
-What are you doing there??
I'm on a sister-cities exchange from Hastings College teaching English to junior high kids in a small Japanese town.
-Oh, so like the JET programme. Are you a JET?
No. While I have the same duties, same contract, same pay, same everything as a JET, I'm just an ALT (Assistant/Alternate Language Teacher) working independently through the school board of Ozu. I'm not a JET. :D
-What age group are you teaching?
I'm teaching at a middle school. There are 3 grades: ichinensei, ninensei, sannensei (first year, second year, third year). They're equivalent to American schools grades 7, 8, and 9.
-Where are you at again?
I'm in Ozu-machi! A little town located near Kumamoto City on the island of Kyushu, one of Japan's 4 main islands. Check out that map, since I went to all sorts of trouble to make it.
Ozu is on the more developed side of the inaka (countryside) so it's not exactly rural, but it's not at all a big city. It's about the size of Hastings, Nebraska, for those of you who know what that's like. There's a main road that has all of the big stores on it, but for the most part, I see rice fields and very Japan-esque homes on my bike ride to school everyday. So, small... but not too small.
And plus, there's always the train line to get into nearby Kumamoto City, a much bigger, flashier town. :D
-Do you speak Japanese?
Not really... I knew a few basic phrases before I came, and I've been learning a lot since I arrived, but I'm far from being able to hold down a conversation. Hopefully soon, I'll be able to order food or go shopping without having to point and grunt at things, but we'll see.
The requirements of the job were that I was fluent in English. I don't speak any Japanese in school, since I'm there specifically for the students to hear a native English speaker speak the language. So, in regards to the job, it's completely okay. The lack of Japanese knowledge only hinders my outside-of-school life... but I've been managing, thanks to the help of some great people. :D
If you're going to ever do anything like this in any country, though, I recommend learning what you can. It saves you lots of trouble.
-And you're not a JET?
No. I'm not a JET.
-I know all kinds of things you can do in Tokyo! There's a fish market to see, a video game store to check out... etc. etc.
Ok, awesome! I appreciate it! But... I'm nowhere near Tokyo. :-/
While I DO enjoy the advice on travel plans, I think a lot of people have the misconception that I'm closer to these things than I really am. It's quite the trip to go to Tokyo, for example. It's not something I can do to just run up and see in a day and come back before dinner. Depending on how I went there, it would take a good day or so of travelling.
But as I said, I really do want ideas of things to see... just know that I won't get around to it for a while... at least until the next big break in school. There are already talks of planning trips and going up north to Nagano, Tokyo, all sorts of places (Even rumors of taking a ferry to Korea... heh), so when I head there, I'll rant about it before hand.
Keep giving me ideas!! Just, don't be shocked if I don't go to check it out right away. :D
-Oh man, I bet you're sleeping on the floor and have a really small place!
Actually, my place is really a pretty good size! I've got a couple of 6-tatami mat rooms and a kitchen about the same size. I'm not sleeping on the floor, but it's a fold up futon thing that's about 6-8 inches OFF the floor... It's comfortable, though. My only complaints are the low door frames and hanging lights... ouch.
(Oh, and all of my other furniture is actually on the floor... I'm thinking of buying a slightly raised couch. :D)
-Are you sure you're not a JET?
...
You know what? Yes. I'm a JET. For all intents and purposes, I'm a JET. You got me.
Sometimes it's just easier to say this. :)
Friday, August 22, 2008
August 18th: What'd the 0 say to the 8?
It's been a busy couple days. Sunday was cleaning day, but then turned into "Hey, let's go check out this mall nearby before hitting up a festival in Mifune!" day (That's pronounced "Me-foo-neh," silly Americans). I did get some cool cleaning done... and found some questionable costumes tucked back in the closet (There's a certain popular Japanese TV personality I won't mention... unless you REALLY wanna know). Note to future JETs: Your predecessors will likely leave/sell you some cool stuff... but check all the nooks and crannies for things they might have forgot... or for a good time in general. ;)
We drove out to this pretty big mall, "the most western style mall in the area," as Tim said, and he was right. It's more like American malls than Hikarinomori was. Complete with that familiar looking food court, only with unfamiliar restaurants (and the obligatory Kids show going on... oh man, it was neat-o. I got some video.) We killed some time until it was time to head over and meet the group (some of the same ALTs and a few new ones... all great people scattered around the prefecture) to go to the festival.
Japan and Festivals. I guess they do these all the time. There's a spring, summer, and fall festival for every town, I think. None in the winter, since it's probably too cold, so the other 3, they make them count. As usual, there were the food stands, hanging lanterns, throngs of people, only this festival kinda rocked because there was some weird karaoke/skit contest going on at the main stage. Oh man... some people are just BIZARRE. I saw everything from an average Joe (Average Taro?) singing karaoke to a sparkly-suited emcee singing cheesy songs, to even an appearance by the power rangers fending off putties. "Oh, man," is all I could say. We all wandered through the stands picking up dinner (The corn dogs, "American Dogs," were a big hit among our group) and finally settled back to our blanket and prepped for fireworks.
I can't think of any attempt at a witty way to say this, so I'll just come out with it. Japanese fireworks are AMAZING!! We had some amazing seats. Literally 20 feet from the front fence, and the fireworks were about 40 feet beyond that, so when they shot off, they exploded DIRECTLY ABOVE US. And also, for some reason, they weren't allowed to shoot them really high, so we had about 40 minutes worth of spectacular, awesomely close fireworks. Sure we were a little tight huddling about 10 people under 4 umbrellas (it started raining), but no one cared. Some amazing stuff, really. I can't think of anything else to describe it. Anyway, we headed back to one guy's apartment and played some mario kart, and then called it a (late) night.
The work day today kinda flew by... it had it's highlights. My boss was digging up old pictures of when the Hastings College Choir came to perform here 12 years ago, and I pointed out all my professors, so that was fun, and kind of a "Go Hastings!" moment (which I'm expected to do, I guess. ;) ). After work, I kinda got back into my element. I got to give a voice lesson! Chieko had talked to me about it a while ago, so we set it up for today. I first made her drive me to the hardware store to pick up some things to fix the place up a bit (Man, this place looks CLEAN when I put in new, working lightbulbs!!) and then we set off a-singin'. Yes, I can be a music nerd in any part of the world, thank you very much.
So all in all, a good, busy couple of days. There's always some cool stuff to see, great people to hang out with, things to do... all that usual jazz. I can't wait for school to start, though... then maybe this blog will start being less "Dear diary," and more, "Oh man, guess what I got this kid to say today!" (Oh that reminds me... I meet the teachers tomorrow... I give a speech in front of them all... oh man oh man oh man.... )
Thursday, August 21, 2008
August 9th: And on the 6th day, Colin tried SUSHI!
The real stuff. Not that fake Nebraska wannabe sushi. But more on that later.
After breakfast this morning, we watched the rest of the olympics while Kuroda-san's wife was away. It was pretty cool! I think this family really enjoys sports, so we might be watching a lot of olympics. Once everyone was back, we drove up to the mountains through Nishihara-mura and Aso (both are towns... mura = village, Aso is a city). Oh, also I got up close and personal with the windfarm I've always seen to the east of town waaay off on the horizen. Oh man, the sound those massive fans make when you're directly under them is scary. You've got these massive blades spinning disgustingly faster than anything that size should be moving, and you can literally hear them SLICING THROUGH THE AIR!! When I got out of the car, I looked up just in time to see one spinning right down towards me. I kinda flinched. C'mon! Can you IMAGINE one of them slying off and spiking through the car into the ground??? *shudder*
Annyway, we went to find the friendship forest. It was kinda cool. He told me that in 1996, Hastings College students came to Ozu and planted a little grove of trees up in a little non-descript part of the mountain. He was going to show me the little commemorative post placed there, but the weeds were overgrown to be about chest high. We hacked through some to see if we could find it, but to no avail. In the winter, though, all the weeds die off, so the post is in the middle of the field. Still fun, either way. I felt like a marine, or something, climbing through the tall brush on some Japanese island... maybe that's a bad comparison... haha
we drove around the mountain a bit and he showed me some of the spectacular views of Ozu, Kumamoto city, Nishihara, and Aso. He also pointed out the different mountain peaks. (Including "neko dake"... you guess it. Cat Mountain!) The whole area (maybe not Ozu and Kumamoto... my geography is shady) is one massive crater from a volcano blast, but the only real volcano (nakadake, I think) left was just over the horizon. Since it was late, he said he would take me to Aso Nakadake tomorrow morning, so off we'll go. We had more important matters to attend to...
...like SUSHI FOR LUNCH!! Oh man. OH. MAN. Sushi is AMAZING! The little sushi bar we went to at first seemed like a little McDonald's type place (and that comparison is NOT doing the place justice... not to self: think of new comparison) with tables and everything... but then I looked and saw that each table, while at usual American height, was raised off the floor about 2 feet. So, yes. Standard routine. Take off shoes, and sit on knees or cross-legged at the table. Crap, here goes my legs again. :(
The place was pretty cool. It had a constantly moving conveyer belt running by each table with pre-made sushi standards running around on it. You just grab what you want as it goes by, and the waitress counts the plates at the end (105 or 210 yen per plate, depending on the item/color of plate). I thought that was where the fun stopped, BUT WAIT!! There was a call button that Den's wife pressed and soon the server came over. They placed an order for some specialty things, and within about 3 minutes, there was suddenly a little monorail-shaped tray sliding along above the conveyer belt. It stopped at our table, a buzzer sounded, and we grabbed the food off of it. The little train shot back to the kitchen, and we devoured the food.
I have never had sushi before, so part of me was nervous. What if I hated it? I'm in freaking Japan, and I wouldn't like sushi! not the case, though. It was VERY good! The shrimp, tuna, salmon, beef, chicken... everything was awesome. The wasabi on a few items kinda caught me off guard (seriously... for a second, it felt like every pore on my face opened up and screamed... but not in a bad way... nice mental image... where was I?), but it was very good. After this, they showed me around Jusco (Kinda like Walmart) and the 100 Yen shop (oh man, so awesome) before heading back home. On the way home, they showed me where my apartment and my school are. They're very close, so that's good. Also, tons of rice fields!
Too much going on... see the next post.
After breakfast this morning, we watched the rest of the olympics while Kuroda-san's wife was away. It was pretty cool! I think this family really enjoys sports, so we might be watching a lot of olympics. Once everyone was back, we drove up to the mountains through Nishihara-mura and Aso (both are towns... mura = village, Aso is a city). Oh, also I got up close and personal with the windfarm I've always seen to the east of town waaay off on the horizen. Oh man, the sound those massive fans make when you're directly under them is scary. You've got these massive blades spinning disgustingly faster than anything that size should be moving, and you can literally hear them SLICING THROUGH THE AIR!! When I got out of the car, I looked up just in time to see one spinning right down towards me. I kinda flinched. C'mon! Can you IMAGINE one of them slying off and spiking through the car into the ground??? *shudder*
Annyway, we went to find the friendship forest. It was kinda cool. He told me that in 1996, Hastings College students came to Ozu and planted a little grove of trees up in a little non-descript part of the mountain. He was going to show me the little commemorative post placed there, but the weeds were overgrown to be about chest high. We hacked through some to see if we could find it, but to no avail. In the winter, though, all the weeds die off, so the post is in the middle of the field. Still fun, either way. I felt like a marine, or something, climbing through the tall brush on some Japanese island... maybe that's a bad comparison... haha
we drove around the mountain a bit and he showed me some of the spectacular views of Ozu, Kumamoto city, Nishihara, and Aso. He also pointed out the different mountain peaks. (Including "neko dake"... you guess it. Cat Mountain!) The whole area (maybe not Ozu and Kumamoto... my geography is shady) is one massive crater from a volcano blast, but the only real volcano (nakadake, I think) left was just over the horizon. Since it was late, he said he would take me to Aso Nakadake tomorrow morning, so off we'll go. We had more important matters to attend to...
...like SUSHI FOR LUNCH!! Oh man. OH. MAN. Sushi is AMAZING! The little sushi bar we went to at first seemed like a little McDonald's type place (and that comparison is NOT doing the place justice... not to self: think of new comparison) with tables and everything... but then I looked and saw that each table, while at usual American height, was raised off the floor about 2 feet. So, yes. Standard routine. Take off shoes, and sit on knees or cross-legged at the table. Crap, here goes my legs again. :(
The place was pretty cool. It had a constantly moving conveyer belt running by each table with pre-made sushi standards running around on it. You just grab what you want as it goes by, and the waitress counts the plates at the end (105 or 210 yen per plate, depending on the item/color of plate). I thought that was where the fun stopped, BUT WAIT!! There was a call button that Den's wife pressed and soon the server came over. They placed an order for some specialty things, and within about 3 minutes, there was suddenly a little monorail-shaped tray sliding along above the conveyer belt. It stopped at our table, a buzzer sounded, and we grabbed the food off of it. The little train shot back to the kitchen, and we devoured the food.
I have never had sushi before, so part of me was nervous. What if I hated it? I'm in freaking Japan, and I wouldn't like sushi! not the case, though. It was VERY good! The shrimp, tuna, salmon, beef, chicken... everything was awesome. The wasabi on a few items kinda caught me off guard (seriously... for a second, it felt like every pore on my face opened up and screamed... but not in a bad way... nice mental image... where was I?), but it was very good. After this, they showed me around Jusco (Kinda like Walmart) and the 100 Yen shop (oh man, so awesome) before heading back home. On the way home, they showed me where my apartment and my school are. They're very close, so that's good. Also, tons of rice fields!
Too much going on... see the next post.
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