Sometimes I wonder if the small/big things I do with people will be remembered by them in the far future. 10 years later, will someone remember a one-liner I randomly said that I don't even remember anymore? Will they remember a random night, a conversation, or something I helped them with?
Near since the day I got to Kesennuma (the city I'm living in), I have been helping two middle schools with two students each for a speech contest. That contest was yesterday (Wednesday) and the results are as follows (withholding names, sorry)... oh by the way there were 2 sections of the contest, the first was recitation, where students could pick a passage, memorize it and vomit it back to the crowd. The second section was a speech section where students wrote their own speeches, translated them into English, and then puked them back on to the crowd. And now for results!
Recitation
SY: 1st out of 25.
SH: 7th out of 25
Speech
TY: 2nd out of 5
OC: 3rd out of 5
This was really awesome as the student who won first actually wanted to win first. She had a goal to go on to a bigger speech contest, which she could do if she won first. Freaking sweet! I felt a little bad for SH who got 7th, as they handed out trophies to the top 6. As happy as I am that my students did well, I must say that these speech contests aren't so much determined by the work of the ALT(Assistant Language Teacher, aka me) but rather by the students' innate ability and motivation. This is obvious by the fact that us native English speaking teachers don't see all that much improvement in the things we try to teach them. That said, out of all the other ALTs, I had the most students win something, which means I am the best teacher out of all of us. OH YES IT'S TRUE YOU PUNKS!!!
I am happy that it's over though. I was staying up to 3 hours later than I am normally scheduled to in order to help with the contest. It's over, and I can finally go home on time now! I would post pictures, but you're not supposed to post pictures of students. Maybe I'll black their faces out and post them later, if I'm not lazy.
On an even more exciting note, with the help of another teacher (Rachel) I figured out how to tether my phone, which means I now have INTERNET! This has been the most exciting thing to happen to me since arriving in Japan. Banzai!
優勝【ゆうしょう】 (yuushou) (n,vs) overall victory; championship;
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
Pictures!
Japan has been great. I've been sucked into the school teacher life that a lot of Japanese teachers live (10-12 hour work days) but that's not going to last much longer. I've been trying to help some students out for a speech contest that's on the 14th of this month and it's less than a week before sweet freedom!
There is still no answer on when/if I'll get internet at my apartment. If I don't have it by mid winter I will destroy something valuable... of someone else's of course.
Not sure what I'm going to be doing in the meantime. Been thinking of ways to make some friends and ideas are coming and will be put into plan in 2 weeks or so. Hoping they work.
I have a car, it will be officially paid off and MINE on the 21st! Her name is Maria and cost me around $1,200. She is the smallest thing I've ever ridden in and will get a picture or two of her up soon hopefully. In the meantime, here's some pictures:
This is a picture taken of a place near my apartment. The place itself got off a little lucky. Most of the other places are filled with rubble. We just got our first convenience store reopened like 5 days ago. It's still a little crazy to think about.
This is a picture of a boat... obviously. There are a few other boats around, a few bigger than this one. There used to be some on the road I drive on to go home, but those have been taken off, luckily.
Here is a picture of one of the bigger boats. Check out the larger version of the picture by clicking on the picture and you can see 2 kids playing under the back of the boat. At least they're trying to enjoy the irony.
Great examples of why the Japanese need English if they're going to attempt to use it. Check out the bigger version of this picture too. She's obviously never been to college.
A $1/plate sushi bar where you can order stuff on the screen that you see in the picture. The ordered sushi comes along on bullet trains (really fast trains they have in Japan).
When I went to meet one of my schools, I walked in to this. The school is great and the students are cool too for the most part.
It doesn't look like it but this spoon with a crack face eventually became miso soup. It was probably as good as crack. This was during a teaching orientation that I had a little over half a month ago.
This is about a 10 minute drive from where one of my friends, Tara, another ALT lives. It's awesome for a view and if anyone else is reading this from where I'm at and feels like getting laid, this is the place to take that special someone. They won't be able to turn you down!
There is still no answer on when/if I'll get internet at my apartment. If I don't have it by mid winter I will destroy something valuable... of someone else's of course.
Not sure what I'm going to be doing in the meantime. Been thinking of ways to make some friends and ideas are coming and will be put into plan in 2 weeks or so. Hoping they work.
I have a car, it will be officially paid off and MINE on the 21st! Her name is Maria and cost me around $1,200. She is the smallest thing I've ever ridden in and will get a picture or two of her up soon hopefully. In the meantime, here's some pictures:
This is a picture taken of a place near my apartment. The place itself got off a little lucky. Most of the other places are filled with rubble. We just got our first convenience store reopened like 5 days ago. It's still a little crazy to think about.
This is a picture of a boat... obviously. There are a few other boats around, a few bigger than this one. There used to be some on the road I drive on to go home, but those have been taken off, luckily.
Here is a picture of one of the bigger boats. Check out the larger version of the picture by clicking on the picture and you can see 2 kids playing under the back of the boat. At least they're trying to enjoy the irony.
Great examples of why the Japanese need English if they're going to attempt to use it. Check out the bigger version of this picture too. She's obviously never been to college.
A $1/plate sushi bar where you can order stuff on the screen that you see in the picture. The ordered sushi comes along on bullet trains (really fast trains they have in Japan).
When I went to meet one of my schools, I walked in to this. The school is great and the students are cool too for the most part.
It doesn't look like it but this spoon with a crack face eventually became miso soup. It was probably as good as crack. This was during a teaching orientation that I had a little over half a month ago.
This is about a 10 minute drive from where one of my friends, Tara, another ALT lives. It's awesome for a view and if anyone else is reading this from where I'm at and feels like getting laid, this is the place to take that special someone. They won't be able to turn you down!
自閉症【じへいしょう】 (jiheishou) (n) autism; (adj-no) (2) autistic
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
So Far
So I'd be writing a ton more blogs but I don't have internet at my apartment and it is unknown when I will get it. According to my supervisor, it's "just a little longer," but that phrase usually doesn't actually mean that when Japanese people. When they say "just a little longer," they are really saying "this answer will make you happy and make you go away thinking I am a good person. I might not even know how long the thing you're asking about will take but if you go away that won't really matter anymore will it!" This leads to some good and fun times while you wait weeks/months for things that were supposed to take "just a little longer." Japanese people do have some of the longest life spans, so maybe that's the reason their "a little longer" is longer than mine.
I've started school and the schools are pretty good. Most of the students don't speak all that great of English but we get by. I had to write comments on a students' poem today and she wrote about rainbows so I wrote "it's a double rainbow!" on her paper. Awesome if you know why it's funny. She will never get it! Another student needed help with a speech so we were reading some sentences word for word until the whole sentence got said. One of the lines was "Don't blow yourself up" (regarding building rockets), so I started with don't, then blow, then yourself, and we repeated like this, each time adding an extra word, until I got to "Don't blow yourself." I almost laughed but held it in.
Uploading pictures right now is a little hard but hopefully when I have internet I'll be able to post a ton of pictures. When will I get internet? It'll be just a little longer...
もうちょっと (mouchotto) (exp) in a little while (referring to the very near future on the order of minutes); in a bit
I've started school and the schools are pretty good. Most of the students don't speak all that great of English but we get by. I had to write comments on a students' poem today and she wrote about rainbows so I wrote "it's a double rainbow!" on her paper. Awesome if you know why it's funny. She will never get it! Another student needed help with a speech so we were reading some sentences word for word until the whole sentence got said. One of the lines was "Don't blow yourself up" (regarding building rockets), so I started with don't, then blow, then yourself, and we repeated like this, each time adding an extra word, until I got to "Don't blow yourself." I almost laughed but held it in.
Uploading pictures right now is a little hard but hopefully when I have internet I'll be able to post a ton of pictures. When will I get internet? It'll be just a little longer...
もうちょっと (mouchotto) (exp) in a little while (referring to the very near future on the order of minutes); in a bit
Friday, August 12, 2011
End of Orientation
自分で俺の年と同じくらい友達を作る目標は何よりです。
Leaving Sendai in the afternoon tomorrow. Had some good workshops but for some reason was really tired and had to try hard to stay awake during most of them. Met some cool people, but honestly wondering how many times outside of these orientations I'll actually meet them. A lot of them are pretty far away.
I love the internet. I just bought a Blu-ray player for my dad for his birthday and I don't even have to be there to have it wrapped and arrive on his birthday (although I wish I could).
Got a fairly full week ahead with things like hanging out and visiting schools to help with speech contests. It's going to be exciting, probably more exciting than this entry, hopefully.
吐息【といき】 (toiki) (n) sigh; long breath
Leaving Sendai in the afternoon tomorrow. Had some good workshops but for some reason was really tired and had to try hard to stay awake during most of them. Met some cool people, but honestly wondering how many times outside of these orientations I'll actually meet them. A lot of them are pretty far away.
I love the internet. I just bought a Blu-ray player for my dad for his birthday and I don't even have to be there to have it wrapped and arrive on his birthday (although I wish I could).
Got a fairly full week ahead with things like hanging out and visiting schools to help with speech contests. It's going to be exciting, probably more exciting than this entry, hopefully.
吐息【といき】 (toiki) (n) sigh; long breath
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
More Orientations
So I have internet for a few days because I'm in a dormitory right now. I've been shipped down to a bigger city (Sendai) for another orientation. It's only the first day but it's been pretty cool. Well not really, the air conditioning is set seemingly on the lowest setting and I am sweating buckets. Gotta dry clean my suit soon, it's gone like a week without any washing and I've been sweating in it. Freaking gross but there is no time to get it dry cleaned since I've been needing it at least every other day.
On another note, all the new teachers played Jeopardy tonight at the orientation's dinner reception and I was able to put my team in second place as I was the only one who knew the last question, which was "what is the word for 'wisdom tooth' in Japanese?" Oh yeah, that definitely leveled up my badassness.
親知らず【おやしらず】 (oya shirazu) (n) wisdom tooth
On another note, all the new teachers played Jeopardy tonight at the orientation's dinner reception and I was able to put my team in second place as I was the only one who knew the last question, which was "what is the word for 'wisdom tooth' in Japanese?" Oh yeah, that definitely leveled up my badassness.
親知らず【おやしらず】 (oya shirazu) (n) wisdom tooth
Pretty sure this should have been posted back on Sunday. It's been a while because I don't have internet and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it since I guess the tsunami took out some of the wires for it that are needed in my apartment. Hopefully I should have it soon, unless my supervisor doesn't know what he's talking about.
I got to my city Kesennuma on Wednesday and the next few days were spent getting all the things done needed for new life assimilation. Bank account, phone, alien registration card, shopping, car and other random things. Of note, I am getting my car Tuesday possibly and it will be the first car I've ever personally owned and bought woohoo! It's a cheap one at around $1,200 but it works. Also I bought a smartphone which is the first one of those I've ever had. Thank you Japan!
Yesterday I got to take my first real shot at Pachinko. Pachinko is a game where you try to get these BB gun bullet-like balls into certain areas on this pin filled obstacle course. It is mostly all luck and not very fun if you get the newer machines where you just hold a circular lever down while the balls come out. Tara, another ALT (assistant language teacher, the jargon for my job) and I both decided to donate 500 yen (roughly $6.50 USD) to this new experience. We ended up at a machine that featured big breasted girls skiing down mountains and fighting robots in swimming pools while dressed in bikinis. Within maybe 5 minutes we had exhausted all our pachinko balls, smiled at each other and walked out of the parlor. One of the attendants came out telling us to come back in for some reason, which we did, and when we sat back down he pressed a button that gave us a steady stream of pachinko balls to play with that lasted for around 20 straight minutes. We didn't know what we were doing or how much we were winning, but at the end we had quadrupled our money! We went from 500 yen each to 2000 yen each ($25) I got a new wallet and a free drink with cookies plus my original 500 yen back. It was a sweet experience, but not sure I can go back and try again. I came out ahead, and that's not likely to happen again with those types of gambling games!
I'm meeting my schools for the next two days (Monday August 8th, Tuesday the 9th). Should be interesting. Hoping the English teachers I'll be working with are awesome. If not I will still be stuck with them for a year!
恵み【めぐみ】 (n) blessing; grace;
I got to my city Kesennuma on Wednesday and the next few days were spent getting all the things done needed for new life assimilation. Bank account, phone, alien registration card, shopping, car and other random things. Of note, I am getting my car Tuesday possibly and it will be the first car I've ever personally owned and bought woohoo! It's a cheap one at around $1,200 but it works. Also I bought a smartphone which is the first one of those I've ever had. Thank you Japan!
Yesterday I got to take my first real shot at Pachinko. Pachinko is a game where you try to get these BB gun bullet-like balls into certain areas on this pin filled obstacle course. It is mostly all luck and not very fun if you get the newer machines where you just hold a circular lever down while the balls come out. Tara, another ALT (assistant language teacher, the jargon for my job) and I both decided to donate 500 yen (roughly $6.50 USD) to this new experience. We ended up at a machine that featured big breasted girls skiing down mountains and fighting robots in swimming pools while dressed in bikinis. Within maybe 5 minutes we had exhausted all our pachinko balls, smiled at each other and walked out of the parlor. One of the attendants came out telling us to come back in for some reason, which we did, and when we sat back down he pressed a button that gave us a steady stream of pachinko balls to play with that lasted for around 20 straight minutes. We didn't know what we were doing or how much we were winning, but at the end we had quadrupled our money! We went from 500 yen each to 2000 yen each ($25) I got a new wallet and a free drink with cookies plus my original 500 yen back. It was a sweet experience, but not sure I can go back and try again. I came out ahead, and that's not likely to happen again with those types of gambling games!
I'm meeting my schools for the next two days (Monday August 8th, Tuesday the 9th). Should be interesting. Hoping the English teachers I'll be working with are awesome. If not I will still be stuck with them for a year!
恵み【めぐみ】 (n) blessing; grace;
Monday, August 1, 2011
Arrival
After I got off the plane there were probably around 20-30 assistants wearing pink shirts to guide me through the corridors of the airport. All of them were full of energy and welcomed the new teachers to Japan which was cool. We loaded on a bus for a hotel where another 10 or so assistants were waiting to guide us to information booths and our rooms.
The place I'm staying at for a few days for orientations and such is called Keio Plaza Hotel. It has a pretty nice view and although the view would be nicer if it were not cloudy, it would be a lot hotter and this country is hot enough as it is so no real complaints.
Slept decent, although only around 5.5 hours or so, which is why I have time to hash out this entry. Breakfast goes until 9 and I don't eat breakfast so before orientation starts it's lazy time in the hotel room.
This game is awesome. You get to pick a scenario from things like a botched wedding to a classroom full of misbehaving kids. You pound the table as you get angrier and angrier until you can't take it anymore then you flip the table on them and try to take out as much of the people and damage as much stuff as you can. Hilarious when you see the looks on the faces of the people you toss the table into. Check out this link to see how it's played.
Well gotta go. Battery is running out and I forgot this place is all about 2 tong outlets.
Edit: Forgot to put my 3 tong converter in the right suitcase but luckily my camera that I bought in Korea had some converters that worked with the computer. Internet addict for sure.
放射能【ほうしゃのう】 (houshanou) (n) radioactivity;
 |
| View from my room in Keio Plaza Hotel |
Slept decent, although only around 5.5 hours or so, which is why I have time to hash out this entry. Breakfast goes until 9 and I don't eat breakfast so before orientation starts it's lazy time in the hotel room.
 |
| Angry game! |
This game is awesome. You get to pick a scenario from things like a botched wedding to a classroom full of misbehaving kids. You pound the table as you get angrier and angrier until you can't take it anymore then you flip the table on them and try to take out as much of the people and damage as much stuff as you can. Hilarious when you see the looks on the faces of the people you toss the table into. Check out this link to see how it's played.
Well gotta go. Battery is running out and I forgot this place is all about 2 tong outlets.
Edit: Forgot to put my 3 tong converter in the right suitcase but luckily my camera that I bought in Korea had some converters that worked with the computer. Internet addict for sure.
放射能【ほうしゃのう】 (houshanou) (n) radioactivity;
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