its been awhile since I last updated this thing!

Well, Golden Week was the first week or so of May. Its basically a bunch of holidays  bunched together - I decided to stay home for the break, but managed to stay busy by going out with Satoko & some other teachers. Went out one night with her & her friends from high school- was a lot of fun... went and had our fortunes read- which was an experience in itself since she didn't know English- we wrote everything down & then translated it over dinner (okanamiyaki! my fav.) Also went out to dinner one night with the "under 30" crowd of teachers from school- about 10 of us. Amazing dinner- grill in the middle- and they bring tons of meat & veggies for you to fry up while you enjoy all you can drink for about 2 hours! Alcohol def helps with the language barrier! 

I've found that its pretty typical that people make an effort to include me as much as they can in the conversations, but as the day/night goes on (whatever the occasion may be) I tend to get left out more & more. I don't blame them- its just the pitfall of not understanding Japanese, and I know that it can be tiring for them to translate stuff in English, as most of them are not English teachers (only 1 is, and he isn't there 1/2 the time).  I wouldn't want to have to "work" on my day/night off either, it just kinda sucks from time to time, so i have definitely mastered the art of occupying myself at events! =)

Golden Week went by really fast & school started up- the following Friday night the 1st year teachers from Minami (my main school) were all going out for drinks, and one of the teachers invited me to go. Unfortunately, her son got sick, and so she couldn't go, but Satoko & Junpei & Sadamitsu (the teachers I'd been going out with during g.w.) were all going, so I still went & had a fabulous time. More delicious Japanese food & all you can drink. ( Once a month, all of the teachers go out for a meal together- this ran about $80 a person - expensive, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of them don't get to go out all that much because they are so busy with school, so its their way of bonding/relaxing etc...- the food is ALWAYS freaking delicious so its well worth the price!)  I also enjoyed it because I spend a lot of time at the 1st yr end of the teachers room, so i got to hang out with teachers that i always see but never talk to (due to lack of a common language) 

School just started today because we had a week off for swine flu! A kid about 30 min away by train had it, so they shut down all the schools in the area to keep anyone else from catching it- with the idea that kids were to stay in their homes/ not go anywhere esp on the trains where they could get it. Crazy- but I was stoked. I decided to go up to Tokyo since I didn't go during Golden Week, and missed getting to see the boys. Friday night I met up with Nick who I had met in LAX during my i-to-i TEFL training- he's here with a different company, and absolutely hates it, so I'm doing really well with Interac! ha. Saturday I attempted to go shopping, but couldn't find anything that I liked that fit me- which wasn't much! Met up with Seth for a 100 yen sushi lunch (the kind w/ the rotating plates...) - delicious! Saturday night we all went out to this club. Had so much fun dancing the night away..literally. We didn't get home until like 8am, and Seth came in about an hour later waking us all back up. Ended up sleeping until like 230pm, and basically didn't do anything but eat (another delicious) dinner in Rappongi Hills. It was a chinese restaurant (we had Peking duck- omg- aaaaah mazing) and after we went to get coffee [ met up with one of Seth's alt friends- he was from Glasgow, but went to school in Edinburgh, so we had a good time talking about that for awhile] It started to POUR rain- complete with thunder & lightening! Felt kinda bad because I scammed the trains to & from Tokyo- it only ended up costing me about $5 RT *instead of $150!! - but it took 9 hours each way... so good & bad to it I guess. haha. 

This past Monday (the day I came back from Tokyo) I went bowling with Satoko, Junpei & Kondo-sensei. I got a 206!!!!!!!!! I had never bowled so well in my life. The next 2 games I sucked (well, still over 100 ) but had fun. At this alley, if someone in your group gets a spare or a strike in each frame, for 9 straight frames, the bowling people bring a stack of cards over & you pick one. Then, whatever combination that is on that card each person tries to bowl (so we picked a 6 - spare). If you can bowl that in 1 try, you win some $. WE weren't able to do it, but I definitely want to go back & try again! ha 

Well, it seems as though the weather from Tokyo has followed me here...its now dumping buckets of rain outside w/ thunder & lightening. So crazy- we never get rain like this back home... I should get used to it though since June is the rainy month. 9.5 inches is the average (the avg rainfall in SD is 10.5 inches - for the YEAR!) I'm going to die- or drown i should say. 

why I <3 my job...

As I was leaving school last week, I had stopped to talk to some of my students hanging out by the gym... 

After awhile one of my boys asks "whats my name?"

Me: ...ugh I don't know...haha..sorry...

Him: "no no ..what do you call me?"  ...me finally catching on...

 ... "Oooooh Kleenex Boy! Tissue Man!"

Him to the others w/ a huge grin - "YEAH!!! she calls Kleenex boy!! " =)

..he was so freaking excited, it was super cute. [he used to walk around with a box of tissues that he had attached some blue cellophane tape to for a strap when he was sick/had allergies..]

And then today I was teaching the 1st years the alphabet. As I was walking back to the teachers room, a group of them were coming down the stairs, and started chanting/yelling the alphabet when they saw me. So I would tell them the next letter, as they yelled it back. So cute & its English outside of the classroom! SUCCESS! haha... 

....its things like this that make me <3 class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">even more. 

School started Wednesday. Still haven't had any classes. Literally sat in the staff room for 8 hours each day doing nada. Can't even go to just chill in a class since they're busy settling in for the new school year. At least I'm getting paid again (spring break = unpaid)! Weather is also gorgeous! Want it to stay like this and not get muggy! not gonna happen though i'm sure.. New kyoto sensei (ie- Vice Principal) was an English teacher, so she & I have been talking the last few days. She's fabulous...also now sit next to 2 really sweet teachers - they don't speak english - but they've always been really nice to me too. The teachers have all been really sweet & talkative the last few days, which is surprising- Kita used to be my more awkward of the two schools - so I'm really excited that spring is bringing in lots of new changes! 

Am pretty close to cherry blossom overload. Saw them a bunch w/ g&g when they were here, and also saw them a ton in Tokyo...then did a 7 hour (SEVEN HOURS!) blossom walk Tuesday w/ Kayoko... she wants to take me to something else this weekend too- i feel a cherry blossom overdose coming on! 

Not much is new... 1 month until Golden Week (no clue what that is, I just know it means 3 days off of school!). After that there are no more breaks until August... :/  Still no plans for G.W. but I'm sure the gang will think of something! :)

spring break: part FUN

So I've been on the go ever since school ended. Thursday "taught" that English conversation class..ie- I just sat there and talked about myself, answered their questions, and got paid about $50 bucks. pretty sweet deal. 

Friday boarded the trains for Tokyo w/ Amelia. Took us about 8 1/2 hours to get there. Actually went pretty quick- didn't seem like that long at all. Got in, had dinner in Shinjuku, and then searched for an internet cafe. We didn't have the print-out from the company- so we spent awhile finding a place to print the receipt- and of course- we didn't even need the damn thing. That night we met the boys back in Shinjuku (after dropping our stuff off at their apt) for drinks w/ some of their friends. Ended up getting good & drunk ... didn't get home/go to bed until 4am ... had to be up at 6am for snowboarding. Was definitely still a little drunk when we left to go..slept on the 3 hour bus ride to the resort. My cohort Amelia was unable to snowboard. She spent the entire time sleeping and puking in the toilets of the small lodge. (hangovers can be a bitch) It actually worked out kinda well though, because we only had 1 set of gloves and 1 pair of goggles that the boys had given us in tokyo- and she didn't know how to snowboard, and it turns out that the resort wasn't for beginners whatsoever.  I absolutely loved it- it was perfect for me. The "beginner" runs were fabulous- and the snow was amazing for it being the last weekend in March. Wasn't even all that icy- except for at the very bottom. Almost everyone there was snowboarding- and they were all amazing... they obviously go every weekend they can.  SO, I snowboarded...Amelia puked & slept all day... and that was pretty much our Saturday. 

Sunday we woke up and made pancakes (from scratch) w/ eggs & bacon for breakfast. ((and by "we" I mean Amelia & I watched Austin Powers while Seth & his gf made breakfast..ha)) SO freaking delicious. Amelia and I ventured off in the afternoon to Koenji & met up with Jun in Kichi Joji where the cherry blossoms were blooming and walked around the lake. He took us to his fav coffee shop, and then Seth & his gf met up with us and we all went out to dinner & drinks afterwards.... again, managed about 4 hours of sleep before having to wake up at 7am Monday morning so that we could spend another 9 hours on local trains back to Kyoto.

.....finally got to Kyoto (an hour later than we hoped..we got lunch for 10 min which then messed up our connecting trains), got to grandma & grandpa's hotel 5 minutes before they all left for dinner & have since been doing Kyoto sightseeing with the grandparents...which will come later in part 2... :)

Spriiing Breeeeaaaaaak!

Well, its spring break now (for me at least--the real teachers only get about 3 days off-sucks for them)  Should be a pretty busy break actually. Got to sleep in today- which was really nice! Have been exhausted since our sumo weekend in Osaka. {sumo is actually pretty interesting live- was perfect because there were about 8 of us that went, haven't seen some of them since xmas, so we just spent the whole time catching up and occasionally paying attention to the matches going on} It was really strange being in Osaka actually because it such a big city compared to the towns that I live & work in, and compared to Kyoto. Kyoto is very old, and there are building restrictions to help preserve the area, but Osaka was huge & busy & bustling. It was a gorgeous day as well, so it was fun to explore. Great nightlife too (too much fun actually-spent the next day w/ an atrocious hangover-boo)  but will definitely have to go back again. It was only an hour away by train which is nothing considering it would take me an hour and a half to get into work when i was living in tokyo.

Speaking of Tokyo, will be going there on Friday. Taking the local trains - 9 hours - but will be super cheap as the JR trains have this special ticket that you can use any local train all day. So will cost me 30 bucks to get to Tokyo instead of 150 on shinkansen! =)  So Tokyo Friday, snowboarding on a day trip from there...then leaving to meet the grandparents in Kyoto Monday. As long as all of the trains are on time- I will get back to Kyoto at 5:30/5:45 - just in time to meet g&g for dinner at 6:30! haha 

Tomorrow (thur) I am going to Japanese mum's English class she goes to twice a month. Am supposedly just going to talk to the group for an hour and a half. Am slightly nervous- don't really know what to talk about but at the same time I don't really care. Think they're gonna pay me, so thats cool! Should help pay for Tokyo! :) However, this class has turned into class & lunch with some of them afterwards..and then dinner at japanese mum's house...so what started as a two hour commitment, has now turned into an all day event! -figures. 

So thats whats been going on out here... school was kind of low-key..just a bunch of cleaning the last few days.. I got to help paint though, so that was exciting! Found out that I'm going to be staying at the same schools that I'm at next year. So I'm happy- will be the same thing as last school year. One of the girls in Kyoto had been teaching at 4 schools, but will now be teaching at 10, so I was glad that mine stayed the same! Time for bed- gotta be up early..this is not going to be a "sleeping in" break unfortunately! xx

kita graduation

this morning was Kita's graduation. So STRICT (as expected) but what i wasn't anticipating was the waterwork show. The teachers and students lost it completely at the end of the ceremony. I was shocked esp as the "tough" guys who have literally broken windows and basically made life miserable for these teachers were losing it.  About 1/2 of the kids were crying as they were leaving, and the 3rd grade guy teacher was ridiculous. Like rubbing his face and sobbing- I was just thinking "Get a grip man- pull yourself together"!!! Its middle school graduation for goodness sakes! (later found out that he has taught those kids for all 3 years, but still...)

Afterwards the kids all say goodbye etc for about an hour or so. Teachers just mill around taking pictures and some students give them Thank You cards. The students who were friends w/ the younger kids (the whole school has to attend the ceremony) tear off and give the 2nd button off of their uniform to them..some of the "popular kids" were walking around w/ all of their buttons torn off their jackets. 

WHen they finally all left, the teachers all ate lunch together in the staff room, adn then i got to go home early! :) Get Monday off as a replacement for having to work Saturday! AND there is only 3 days of school next week as Friday is a holiday. The girls are all coming in, and we're going to Osaka! Only 10 more days until spring break too!! Woohoo!

"the japanese way" of graduation madness

So for the past 3 days, the 3rd year (ie graduating) students have been practicing for graduation. I was perplexed at what they could possibly be practicing so freaking much, until I got to witness the WHOLE SCHOOL 2 hour practice run. I have never seen an entire school practice standing up and sitting down so much. Of course, this is because it has to be done in perfect unison. If some students are late, everyone tries again. The 3rd yr students were pros at this (having practiced all week), but it was just amazing to see some 800 students sit & stand so fast. Very militarized. Incredible. They then practiced the 3 or 4 songs they will sing tomorrow (over and over again).

 After the 2 hour practice,  a cleaning spree commenced, and the hallways were cleaned for an hour and a half. That was then followed by setting up the gym. ALL of the chairs had to be in  perfectly straight lines, all of the chairs had to match, and they had to go on top of this UGLY mat(which is stained- i it find ironic that everything has to be perfect but the tarps they use to cover the gym floors are heinous). This was only made more difficult because the ugly tarps were not matching up, and they "MUST" cover everything- even the centimeter of hardwood that was showing around the perimeter of the gym. So more tarps were found & brought out. Crisis adverted.  All day, the teachers would ask what I though about their ceremony, repeating that "aah..yes, this is the japanese way..." One tried to tell me their way is "very zen and for unification". Not so sure how "zen" it is to be yelled at for not standing up immediately, and for getting scolded if your hands are too far left/right behind your back (they should be in the very center and in the middle behind your back.. obviously ha

So yeah. I had tried to help out with the cleaning and arranging of chairs, but i didn't really understand what was going on, or what they were yelling in japanese over the microphones, so i moved on to help the boys decorate the doorways with paper flower/poms on the sticky tape above the door - - they were still a little short (^-^) It was really cute because there were like 30 boys decorating, and they were really getting into it. Normally they're running around wrestling & punching each other, but they were wanting to make pom archways and stuff. haha.. I found it amusing...esp as they tried to come up with questions in English to ask me, and then coerce one of their mates to say it. ( "Do you like Tanaka?" ..who? "him!" ... "aaah...no no no..he's too young for me! sorry!")

This was my day today. Very long, and uncomfortable as I was either (unknowingly) sitting in the staff room on the computer as all the other teachers cleaned, or -when i finally realized what was going on- getting in the way and being more of a nuisance by trying to help. Either way, I managed to get lots of weird awkward looks from them today. haha..whatever... it is the "japanese way!" after all.