Tuesday, January 23, 2007
I'd rather be in Tokyo
1: I said, "look twee" and they both pulled the same pose. I thought it was pretty funny.
2: The gate at Meiji-jingu.
3: Lanterns outside Meiji-jingu.
4: Fuji-san from the window of the train.
2: The gate at Meiji-jingu.
3: Lanterns outside Meiji-jingu.
4: Fuji-san from the window of the train.
Nara photos part 2
1: If you can fit through the hole in the pillar, the people standing around will cheer loudly and give you some butter to grease yourself with if you get stuck
2: Nara is very pretty
3: Standard Japanese 'outside something pretty' photo pose
2: Nara is very pretty
3: Standard Japanese 'outside something pretty' photo pose
Nara photos
1: Kick-ass statue (Thunder god, possibly?)
2: Tennoji, biggest wooden structure in the world
3: Sign warning vistors not to mess with the deer
4: Deer eats small child
2: Tennoji, biggest wooden structure in the world
3: Sign warning vistors not to mess with the deer
4: Deer eats small child
Christmas photos
1: Karaoke on Boxing day
2: Pulling stupid faces in the Hub on Boxing day
3; Girls in white coats (Christmas day)
2: Pulling stupid faces in the Hub on Boxing day
3; Girls in white coats (Christmas day)
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Back to school
Changes for 2007:
1. New flat.
2. New job.
3. New boyfriend. Actually he's not that new, but I realised I've not given him a proper introduction. His name's Damien, he's Australian, 28, and fairly well behaved most of the time. Except when he talks during films and I want to poke him with a sharp stick (the correct punishment for talking during films). On the other hand, he volunteered to help me move house and did most of the heavy lifting without a word of complaint, so he may in fact be worth his weight in gold.
I moved into my new flat last sunday and started my new job on tuesday. The flat is great, I'm living with Nozomi and Kumiko, they're nice chilled out Japanese girls, both 28. I've got the internet here, there's lots of food in the kitchen (Kumiko's friend's dad's a baker, so we've got tonnes of free bread and eggs) and a good selection of DVDs. I am now addicted to Lost.
The new job's pretty cool too, I'm the assistant English teacher in a junior high school. There's about 400 kids aged 12 to 15. They are scarily well behaved. The school seems to be in a good area. We start at 8.50 and finish at 3.30, then they pretty much all do an hour of sports or music after school before going to their cram school classes. There's about 40 kids in each class (except in 1st year, where they're in 2 groups of 20 for English; and the handicapped class where there are about 20 kids with various learning disabilities all together). In the classes I do games and try to get the kids speaking English (instead of just reading and writing, which is all they have to do to pass the exam).
The other English teachers are an interesting mix. Takeuchi sensei is the head of the English department and looks very scared of everything. Her shoulders are permanently hunched up around her ears and she looks terrified when the students talk to her in the corridor. Watanabe sensei teaches first years, and she seems pretty sound. Shibata sensei teaches the second years, is the youngest of the English teachers, and speaks enough English to have a fluent conversation. She's cottoned on that the ALT (me) has lots of free time, and she's doing her best to fill it. At the moment I think that's a good thing. There's a male teacher who's name escapes me, but he's a nice guy and the students seem to like him.
It's weird sitting with all the other teachers and trying to a, look busy; b, understand what's going on around me; and c, understand the way the Japanese workplace works. I'm the only foreigner there, it's interesting trying to figure it all out. No-one ever says "I want you to do this." it's all just dropped hints. "Oh, there is a lot of marking to do." "Would you like some help?" "yes, please." I have to try to remember to do that myself, it seems to be gauche to just come out with what you want.
School dinners are pretty groovy. For 250 yen (about £1.20) I get a bowl of noodles or soup, rice, salad, some fish or meat, and maybe a little bit of fruit. And a little glass bottle of milk, which sent me on the biggest nostalgia trip back to primary 3. There's no choice, so when faced with udon with liver (liver- yuk) and a little fried fish (the one full of bones and with eggs in its stomach - double yuk) you just have to grin and bear it. Mmm. Crunchy.
1. New flat.
2. New job.
3. New boyfriend. Actually he's not that new, but I realised I've not given him a proper introduction. His name's Damien, he's Australian, 28, and fairly well behaved most of the time. Except when he talks during films and I want to poke him with a sharp stick (the correct punishment for talking during films). On the other hand, he volunteered to help me move house and did most of the heavy lifting without a word of complaint, so he may in fact be worth his weight in gold.
I moved into my new flat last sunday and started my new job on tuesday. The flat is great, I'm living with Nozomi and Kumiko, they're nice chilled out Japanese girls, both 28. I've got the internet here, there's lots of food in the kitchen (Kumiko's friend's dad's a baker, so we've got tonnes of free bread and eggs) and a good selection of DVDs. I am now addicted to Lost.
The new job's pretty cool too, I'm the assistant English teacher in a junior high school. There's about 400 kids aged 12 to 15. They are scarily well behaved. The school seems to be in a good area. We start at 8.50 and finish at 3.30, then they pretty much all do an hour of sports or music after school before going to their cram school classes. There's about 40 kids in each class (except in 1st year, where they're in 2 groups of 20 for English; and the handicapped class where there are about 20 kids with various learning disabilities all together). In the classes I do games and try to get the kids speaking English (instead of just reading and writing, which is all they have to do to pass the exam).
The other English teachers are an interesting mix. Takeuchi sensei is the head of the English department and looks very scared of everything. Her shoulders are permanently hunched up around her ears and she looks terrified when the students talk to her in the corridor. Watanabe sensei teaches first years, and she seems pretty sound. Shibata sensei teaches the second years, is the youngest of the English teachers, and speaks enough English to have a fluent conversation. She's cottoned on that the ALT (me) has lots of free time, and she's doing her best to fill it. At the moment I think that's a good thing. There's a male teacher who's name escapes me, but he's a nice guy and the students seem to like him.
It's weird sitting with all the other teachers and trying to a, look busy; b, understand what's going on around me; and c, understand the way the Japanese workplace works. I'm the only foreigner there, it's interesting trying to figure it all out. No-one ever says "I want you to do this." it's all just dropped hints. "Oh, there is a lot of marking to do." "Would you like some help?" "yes, please." I have to try to remember to do that myself, it seems to be gauche to just come out with what you want.
School dinners are pretty groovy. For 250 yen (about £1.20) I get a bowl of noodles or soup, rice, salad, some fish or meat, and maybe a little bit of fruit. And a little glass bottle of milk, which sent me on the biggest nostalgia trip back to primary 3. There's no choice, so when faced with udon with liver (liver- yuk) and a little fried fish (the one full of bones and with eggs in its stomach - double yuk) you just have to grin and bear it. Mmm. Crunchy.
Happy new year!
Happy new year and all that. Here are the things I liked best about my new year.
Drinking tea in the kitchen with Lisa like we were at uni again;
Petting deer at Nara and showing Lisa old-style Japan;
The Aberdeen university reunion;
Boxing day karaoke;
Singing "row, row, row your boat" boating on Ueno pond and inventing contrived James Bond action sequences involving pedalboats and killer ducks;
Drinking games in Tokyo pubs;
My favourite people in this country in the same room as 2006 became 2007. I think that's auspicious.
I hope you had fun too.
Drinking tea in the kitchen with Lisa like we were at uni again;
Petting deer at Nara and showing Lisa old-style Japan;
The Aberdeen university reunion;
Boxing day karaoke;
Singing "row, row, row your boat" boating on Ueno pond and inventing contrived James Bond action sequences involving pedalboats and killer ducks;
Drinking games in Tokyo pubs;
My favourite people in this country in the same room as 2006 became 2007. I think that's auspicious.
I hope you had fun too.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Christmas was strange and fractured. In the morning I worked, and my "Merry Christmas!" greetings were mostly met with politely blank looks from my students, which did make me want to poke them in the eye with a sharpened Christmas tree. Because that is the true meaning of Christmas, of course.
After work I did some last minute Christmas shopping (3pm on Christmas day truly stretching the definition of last minute). Spent a couple of hours in the flat by myself and felt utterly unseasonal until I put on Radio 1 and listened to all the crap Christmaaaaas! songs and it felt right. Went to Freebell with Jo and began the Christmas Eating. I had a long train ride ahead of me so I stuffed myself with crackers and cheese. I left the party at Thom and Rob's flat to go pick up Lisa from the airport. So good to see her again! Back to the flat for more food (turkey, etc) and lying on the floor groaning.
After work I did some last minute Christmas shopping (3pm on Christmas day truly stretching the definition of last minute). Spent a couple of hours in the flat by myself and felt utterly unseasonal until I put on Radio 1 and listened to all the crap Christmaaaaas! songs and it felt right. Went to Freebell with Jo and began the Christmas Eating. I had a long train ride ahead of me so I stuffed myself with crackers and cheese. I left the party at Thom and Rob's flat to go pick up Lisa from the airport. So good to see her again! Back to the flat for more food (turkey, etc) and lying on the floor groaning.
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