Kesennuma Rising 2, Trip Planning

This last weekend they had Kesennuma Rising 2 at the Yokocho Yatai Mura (横丁屋台村).  The same people as last time performed and it was pretty cool.  Freiddie (sic) Mercury was once again the best act of the night.  These events are pretty uplifting in this city.

They had a a party for singles the other day in the yatai mura as well, but you had to have tickets to get in, and by the time I knew that they were full... supposedly.  But my neighbor Pierre-A went down without intending to participate and they said he could!  Those bums.  I wanted to join in.  It's so lonely here it's killer sometimes.  The girls, despite my thinking they would be desperate for boyfriends since it's super hard to meet people here, are not desperate.  In fact they push me away at every opportunity (If I have time I'll call you!).  Maybe one day.

Planning for a trip to Tokyo in September.  Going to go see sumo, a baseball game, the AKB48 cafe, the Ghibli museum and some other things too likely.  I also need to find out details on how to get back home for the summer for 2 weeks.  Looking forward to this next year because I'm going to be doing stuff like traveling and essentially going all out.  It'll be my last year living in a foreign country, likely forever, and it's going to count!

合コン【ごうコン】(goukon) Party where singles meet with the intention of finding a dating partner

Golden Week

Golden Week has come and passed.  I planned to take a trip but ended up not doing it, in large part because I am lazy, and in small part because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with my passport (it expired and I had to wait for a new one to get sent to me from Tokyo).  I ended up volunteering one of the days and met some cool people (Maki) and someone I met the 1st time I volunteered (Atsushi) came back also.  We cleaned up the original Koyo high school, which is close to Iwaisaki, and it was interesting as it was the first time I'd really been in a building that was damaged by the tsunami (I had always planned to go into one but never did).  I found a lot of textbooks and stuff washed up that had been used by the students before, and it was sort of a strange feeling.  I stood in classrooms that were now filled with debris and rubble.

I'm quite excited to see what the new JET batch will bring.  I hope it's 2 new good ones.  I've already posted a picture on Facebook about luck that no one got.  Soon we'll know.  I need a good neighbor, I really do.

瓦礫【がれき】 (gareki) rubble

Ideal working conditions

Posted on Facebook, posting again here.

Just for fun, thought I'd compare the ideal working conditions of my current job as a "teacher" in Japan to what I have now.  Of course I'm very happy to be working and living in Japan, but nothing's ever perfect.  This is NOT a complaint.

1. The Job
Ideal: 1 university (Realistic ideal: 2 high schools)
Current: 2 middle schools (junior high) and 1 elementary school
[*] Kids are cute, but they're cuter when I don't have to try and keep them focused and teaching them.  In university I could teach people who, for the most part, were there to actually learn.  I remember my college Japanese class, I would like to teach English in that sort of setting.

2. Location
Ideal: A city with a population of over a million but less than 2 million.
Current: Kesennuma, population around 70,000
[*] I enjoy the city life a bit more than the rural one.  I like having things to do (bowling, billiards, etc) and plenty of opportunities to meet people.  Not to take away from rural areas, which have their advantages as well, but yeah.

3. Working hours
Ideal: 9:30-5:30
Current: 8-4
[*] With this I could wake up at 9, which means I could go to bed from around 1-2.  Going to bed at around 11 or 12 is hard for me.

4. Commute
Ideal: 5 minute walk
Current: 10 minute drive
[*] I have 3 schools and even the farthest one is just over 10 minutes, but with a 5 minute walk I could do that even when it's too hot or too cold, and could save gas!  I'm all about the environment (and my wallet of course!).

5. Coworkers
Ideal: 1 or 2 that speak decent English, the rest speak to me in Japanese.
Current: 1 or 2 that speak decent English, the rest speak to me in Japanese.
[*] Well this is pretty spot on for me.  Most the English teachers talk to me in English and the rest in Japanese.  It's good for when I need to know important things and also lets me practice my Japanese.  Of course there are the ones here and there that I don't really talk to, but whatever.

6. Students
Ideal: Everyone loves me, loves studying English, wants to talk to me and secretly tries to give me money.
Current: Maybe 1 or 2 students in each class that like English, but are drowned out by the students who could care less.  The students who do tend to like English rarely talk to me, while the ones who don't care about English talk to me way more.  None of the students try to give me money.
[*] Ever seen a Japanese school drama or anime on TV?  Yeah, it's not exactly like those... The money thing was a joke, unless they actually want to give me money, in which case, cash only please!

7. Salary
Ideal: 400,000 yen a month ($4k)
Current: 300,000 yen a month ($3k)
[*] Obviously more is better, but with that salary I could save 1k a month, spend 1k a month, and have 1k a month for trips.

8. Workload
Ideal: Planning 3 lessons a week, one for each grade of junior high.
Current: I do next to nothing in middle school.  The teachers who did let me do some things have moved on to different schools.  I plan a little bit for elementary school, but that's it.
[*] It's a good thing I've found ways to get job satisfaction outside of teaching, because I don't actually do much of that at all.  It is nice in the evenings when I don't have to worry about lesson planning, because being the procrastinator that I am, that's what would be happening.

9. Napping
Ideal: Would be able to take a nap, somewhere in the vicinity of 1 to 3 pm, for about 20 minutes.
Current: While saying I've never dozed off would be a lie (maximum of mere minutes), I'm too scared to be looked unfavorably upon by the teachers for doing so.  I'm not sure I'd ever find out if it were bad or not.  I try not to.
[*] When I was teaching in Korea I was in an office with one other teacher.  He used to take naps and I did too.  That was good times, and I felt much better throughout the day with the nap.

10. Job excitement
Ideal: Just like in the movies, I'd like to save my students from massive yakuza mobs and teach them about life by saving them from the brink of death.  I'd like to have teachers try to kill me, leading to big adventures where everything turns out alright.  I'd like all my coworkers to be hot female teachers who are interested in me. I would like to be involved in a love dodecahedron.
Current: Just about fell asleep in class the other day waiting for the teacher to ask me to pronounce a word in the textbook.  In elementary school I watched a 4th grader throw up his lunch.  I have one hot teacher who isn't interested at all in me.
[*] I really don't think this one is all that much to ask for!  Come on now! 

11. Job title
Ideal: It would be nice to be recognized as a teacher in my contract.
Current: I'm known as the "Foreigner Guidance Assistant" or something to that effect.
[*] My current title is actually pretty appropriate, seeing how little teaching I actually do.  Not to mention my lack of any official document stating that I can in fact teach.

理想【りそう】 (risou) ideal; dream

Earthquakes, Camcorder

We had a weak 5 earthquake the other day.  A lot of people post things about earthquakes on Facebook, rightfully so I suppose, but I don't really see why they bother with things below a 6 or maybe a strong 5.  Weak 5s don't do anything.  I've never seen a tsunami from a weak 5 and they aren't enough to do anything but get your attention and break some glasses if they were on the edge of your table possibly.  Living where I am though, it's hard to say that out loud.  People don't want to listen to where you're coming from, they just want to get offended at everything nowadays.  Anyway yeah, I think 5s are fun haha

I got my camcorder the other day!  It's very cool and I can't wait to test it out.  Tonight at Kevin's birthday party I probably will.  The only thing I don't like about it is that I can hear the mechanics of the camera on the video when it's otherwise silent.  If someone's talking it's fine, so likely just a minor irritation.

The flowers on the sakura trees are getting ready to bloom here!  They were early in most parts of Japan this year for some reason.  Just a while longer before we can go for Hanami!

The third years are on their school trip right now to Tokyo at Jonan.  2 periods today.  Good time to update the Kesennuma website!

地震【じしん】(jishin) earthquake

Spring Vacation, Speed Dating, New Computer, Migraines

So over the spring vacation I didn't actually do all that much.  I stayed around Kesennuma for the most part and just relaxed.  It was good times.  On the first Wednesday I went with Pierre-M and Tara to Oshima and volunteered my time getting flower beds ready to plant flowers, that was fun.  We got to go around and see Oshima too which I hadn't done before.  I played Saints Row the Third which is like GTA on steroids.  Good game, nice and short too, which is how I feel GTA should have been, with less busy missions to do.

The 2nd Wednesday I went speed dating.  This was interesting.  We went to a place in Sendai that was the size of maybe 2.5 living rooms or so.  We filled out a profile card then sat down and had 2 minutes to talk to the girls.  There were about 6 guys and 10 girls.  After we finished a round, we had to rate which girls we liked and wanted to talk to.  We got 2 approach cards that we could give to show them that we liked them.  I got flustered and didn't write anyone's name down so halfway through the first I was trying to figure out who was who.  We got a second round with the girls, after which we ranked them in terms of who we wanted a date with.  Then they announced the couples.  There were 3 couples, but I failed to get a date.  It was fun, and I'd do it again, but it costs $50 (5000 yen) for no guarantee, so I'm not sure how willing I'll be to seek it out again.  Good experience though!

We played beer pong one night which was fun.  I played 3 games and won them all.  We went to Kappa Sushi for dinner first, then to my apartment for the beer pong.  Kevin, Frisa, and Pierre-A joined in.

I finally got my new computer.  Not liking Windows 8 as I feel they catered more to the tablet people and forgot to transition it correctly to PCs/laptops.  Slowly getting used to things though, and switching things to match my preferences, so it's cool.

I got a migraine the other day.  Of course it had to happen the 2nd day back at work and the 1st real day of teaching with some of my new teachers.  One of my friends mentioned that she threw up due to the low pressure + lack of oxygen, so I might try to keep records on that to see if my migraines are related.  It would be nice to be able to guess when I'm going to get those things.  Such a pain.

On the upside, it's starting to get warmer!

カップリングパーティー (kappuringu/paatii) Speed dating

Graduation, Computer Problems

So graduation has come and passed.  I'm sad.  I really liked the 3rd years at Jonan this year, it's sad to see them go.  Each class was great, I can't say the same for the 1st and 2nd years.  In fact, I don't like the 1st year classes so much.  Well that might be a bit much.  The truth is that there are a few kids (read: boys) in each 1st year class that are attention whores.  It's ridiculously obvious and super annoying.  I hope they put them all in one class next year so I can at least enjoy 2 out of the 3 classes and then just have 1 class where it's hell for 50 minutes.

I went to Niitsuki's graduation this year.  It was good.  The graduation representative, Kana, gave a good speech to the principal.  I didn't get it on tape though.  Here's what I did get on tape (sorry if people actually read this blog.  I'm under the impression there's no one reading it, so you can't view the videos.  If you want to see them for whatever reason let me know).

Niitsuki Graduation 2013- Gunji Atsuya Goodbye Speech

Niitsuki Graduation 2013- 3rd years singing

Niitsuki Graduation 2013- School Song

Niitsuki Graduation 2013- 3rd years leaving

Niitsuki Graduation 2013- 3rd Years Send-Off

Here's stuff from Jonan

Jonan 2nd years singing goodbye song

Jonan 3rd years entrance

Jonan 3rd years exit

Jonan 3rd years memories pictures

Jonan send off Kouhai 1

Jonan send off Kouhai 2

Jonan 3rd years Last Class 3-2

Jonan 3-3 Last Class 

Jonan 3rd years Last Class 3-1 

Jonan Grad prep (National Anthem) 2013

Jonan Grad prep- Receiving Diplomas 2013 

Jonan Grad prep- Singing songs 2013 

Jonan Grad prep- School Song 2013 

Jonan Grad prep- 3rd years singing 2013 

Jonan Grad Prep- 3rd years leaving 2013

Jonan Grad prep- 3rd years leaving again 2013

I felt a little awkward with the Niitsuki 3rd years but I still love them all the same.  Hope they all do well in high school!  My favorite English teacher, Abe Shizuko sensei, is retiring this year.  I'll miss her.  I feel honored to be her last ALT!  There were goodbye speeches by all the teachers and of course some of the teachers cried.  I wonder if I'll get any crying teachers when I leave.  I don't think I've left that big of an impression for that.  That's kind of the type of person I am though, not so impressionable.

My elementary school kids graduated too as 6th years.  At the banquet at Plaza Hotel, the mothers of one of the classes dressed up and danced to AKB 48's Heavy Rotation.  The kids kept yelling "stop it!"  It was cute.

So really bad timing!  My computer decided to go bust on me.  Luckily, the guy I'm having "fix" it was able to recover the data on the D drive, but not the C drive.  There's a lot of stuff on the C drive too, but whatever.  Can't be helped.  I decided to fix it with really low specs and use it as a back-up of sorts.  I bought a new one, a Sony Vaio, for around $1,100.  I bought it off Amazon and am having it shipped here by my parents since they won't ship to Japan.  I also had to buy a new external hard drive because the one I have now is making clicking noises.  I hope I can transfer everything over to the new hard drive before it too goes kaput.  My computer breaking is the reason I haven't updated in a bit.  Right now I'm borrowing Tara's laptop.  Going to get the fixed one tomorrow in the afternoon, and hopefully the new one maybe a week later.  I'm actually kind of excited to get my new one.  It has Windows 8, which I could do without, but whatever.

On spring break now!  No real plans.  My spring break budget was completely broken by all the electronics going belly up on me.

卒業 [そつぎょう] sotsu/gyou: Graduation

End of the School Year

The school year is coming to an end.  I've seen the last of my 3rd years for my base school.  If they even have a class tomorrow, I'll see the last of my 3rd years for my other middle school tomorrow.  I saw the last of my 6th graders in my elementary school yesterday.  Well not really, they all move up to my base middle school so I'll see them again.  I really liked the 3rd years at my base school.  They were all very nice and had a perfect energetic energy.  Quite the contrast to my 1st years, which I largely don't like going to class to teach.  For the last class I had them tape a piece of paper on their back and walk around writing messages to each other.  Then I had them write a letter to themselves about their memories now that they could read 10 years down the road.  I hope at least one of them will keep it and read it years later.  I only need one student to read it years later to feel like the project was a success, but since I'll have no way of ever knowing, I'll just assume that out of the roughly 90 kids, at least one did read it.

Rachel is coming back this Friday for about a week.  I gotta clean!

思いで【おもいで】 (omoide) memories