A simpleton's rant

Think think think

2010-06-12T19:30:00.002+09:00

I am super motivated to post right now, but I have no focus beyond what I don't really wish to discuss. I'm putting myself through a trial and have been doing so for a little while. It's no one's fault but mine, and I have noticed that I have been changing and maybe even growing because of this. I'm seeing common aspects of life and my own outlook on certain things in a different light. Furthermore, my habits are changing at almost on a biological level. Behaviors and my body have changed, and I want to say the change has been for the better. My alergy symptoms have been more scarce than they have ever been since I was in Cuba, and I'm wasting a lot less time with movies and such. It sucks that so much good is being fueled alot angst. I hope these positives stick and maintain themselves and that I can pull out of this funk I continue to plague myself with =\

2 weeks shy of two months

2010-04-08T01:09:00.002+09:00

It has been so long since I have had enough motivation to actually update this. It is hard to explain my reluctance to post recently and there are several factors and considerations that have lead to my extended silence.

I think the primary reason is that I have made this blog overly public. Too many people can see this and that has weighed on my mind when I sit at the computer get ready to spill some guts. I fear that I will hurt feelings, burn bridges, or simply annoy people with ish that they really don't want to hear. Also, I want to make sure I didn't present a certain image through this medium, and this fact has caused me to refrain from throwing out some maybe important stuff. My closer friends and family know me well enough to understand that I don't like to complain about ish regularly unless I am directly faced with whatever challenges me.

Don't get me wrong, I have a multitude of things that I am happy about and would love to relay to the rest of you, but that isn't the whole story. From here on I need to be better bout having balance with this blog. Life is black, white and everything in between and I intend to do a better job of reporting that carefully, thoughtfully, and accurately.

Before I go off, I just want to inform the world that in the last three weeks, I have had the utmost privilege of enjoying visits from people living back in the States. I got to see my dear friend and Dance partner, Lynn along with her family for a night, kick it around Tokyo with Mikey and Allyson on two occasions, and most importantly, My mom brightened up my apartment and everyday life for seven days. The thing I miss the most about the United states is the people I love and care for, and aving these people out here (even if for short periods of time) has been really uplifting on my spirits. I am so very thankful to have been given the opportunity to reunite with these ones loved, and I hope that they were able to enjoy themselves here <3>

So the thing that is testing my patience on a daily basis recently. . . is work. April marks the beginning of the new yearly children's' and adult's 6 month class schedules and my office has been undergoing a lot of change. To this day, the only staff that hasn't experienced change in their office role since early January is the school manager and myself. At present, we have two brand new "green" teachers, my head teacher (our direct supervisor) is gone for two of my three work days, and our assistant manager is still "working things out." I'm going to refrain from any further details on this, but I think you can imagine the wide spectrum of possible challenges I face on a daily basis in the office. To be honest, things are getting on my nerves, but I want to remain patient. Hopefully, things will be smoothing out soon.

There is a lot more to say, but this is too long. hopefully I write again before 6 more weeks has passed -_-

Mid February

2010-02-23T08:54:00.000+09:00

As predicted, 2010 has been flying by since my last post and I am constantly in some sort of state in catching up. I find it humorous how I always try to treat the passing of the old year and coming of the new in the same manner same as any other time of the year, but events at the onset of this year have really forced me to make several minute and significant changes in my daily life (including work) that I really didn’t give enough consideration. It isn’t a problem or anything, and I am not in any way complaining. I just wish to explain why I seem to never be online or even at my computer at all anymore. Life, as well as some personal choices of mine, has actually forced me to physically live life beyond the confines of my apartment. It’s what I get for spending all that time watching TV as a kid haha.

Work . . . no complaints. The vibe has changed though, and in two ways. On the one hand, like I mentioned earlier, a lot of kids students have been deciding quit coming to our school. On the other, we have been seeing a lot more prospective adult and kid students come in with the interest to study with us. In the last two weeks, I have probably done more model lessons for adults and kids that I did in any three-month period during my first six months here. Aslo, there seems to be a better team like cohesion at the office. Everyone seems to help each other out more, planning and communication have a improved a little and the day to day pressure isn’t too high. We’re just busy with the new flow of things and chuggin along. It may feel a bit busier from day to day right now, but I am cool with things and hope to get a good new office rhythm figured out soon.

Dance . . . If I haven’t mentioned this cultural element I have noticed, let me fill you in. When people pay for formal instruction for a skill here, it often seems that the interaction between staff and student/customer is as personal as it is professional. Once patrons enter the domain in which they will be instructed, their fellow students and instructor(s) form a special social unit that resembles a family in terms of familiar interaction, and attentiveness to each others’ needs and desires. Time also takes an affect on this phenomenon. The longer the group has existed, then the closer the long term members seem to be. I have seen this with Aeon, people that go to my gym, as well as my dance class. With particular regard to my dance class, I am really starting to feel like “one of the gang” when I am there. Not only are my young classmates fairly comfortable with me, but other instructors as well as even students and parents have become familiar enough with me to treat me in a manner where I don’t feel too much like the outsider that I actually am. It's a really nice & refreshing feeling and I always look forward to class beyond the mere desire for my dance fix.

Personal . . . if you haven’t seen from my tweets from valentines day or other recent occasions, I guess I should inform you that a special someone has come into my life. I really enjoy her company and we had a wonderful valentines day. We took a walk through one of the really pretty parks here and along one of the rivers for a while. In the evening, we did some outdoor ice skating and had a good dinner. She is even busier with her Job than I am with mine and we really only get to hang out on weekends (Saturday evening and/or Sunday), so we try to spend as much of that time as possible together and I am thus not at home as much to catch up on things as I used to be. My personal life may be in some sort of upheaval in the moment, but I couldn’t be more grateful for the wonderful gift I have been granted to share. I’m looking forward to next weekend ^_^

Monday is catch up day, but I am usually pretty burned out and don’t get too much done. Especially today, since I had to work yesterday (Sunday). I need to learn how to utilize Mondays more efficiently now that it will be my only day to do ish that is moderately important and could become problematic if ignored (laundry and such)

Oh yeah . . . If you weren’t aware, Valentines Day is done differently here. In a sense, it has been cut into two holidays. The first is the traditional day on the 14th of February. The other is on march 14th. On the traditional day, Japanese women either buy or make chocolate (of any sort) and present it to the males in their life. Dad and brothers naturally get some of the action, guy friends receive “giddy choco,” and the specially made or expensive stuff goes to the boyfriend/husband. I also learned that girls will just make chocolate to eat together with their girlfriends also. As for the other day, it is called white day and it is basically the same as V-Day, but the responsibility falls back on the men. It’s an interesting custom. I dig it.

So this Valentines Day haha . . . I got my chocolate and a cute picture of us and card combo and after I said thanks she kind of had this expecting look on her face. And I was like: “what? It isn’t white day yet.” Then she was like: “youre American right?! You don't celebrate it like us!” Haha oops! I actually was planning to do my part on white day. We had a good laugh over the situation and agreed to celebrate the rest of the holidays in Japanese style haha. I’ll do good on white day. No worries =P

All right, this is long . . . my bad!

Busy!

2010-02-03T12:01:00.000+09:00

One month down, and I must say that January 2010 was one helluva month. I have been quite busy as you can tell by my two or three posts and one of them only being in video cause I was way lazy. I am sorry for it, but the way I have things prioritized right meow, it cannot be helped really. But fortunately I have finally been able to make the time to let you guys now what’s up and goin on around out here. I guess I should let you know why I have been so busy.

The primary reason . . . My Move!! As many of you already know, my American co-worker’s contract came to an end and it was her time to move onto something different. Usually not a big adjustment, but due to changes soon taking place at my school, I had to move into her apartment. Thus, the week after my last post, I the time spent packing little by little and taking care of loose that needed to be tied up to make the transition smooth.

On the 23rd (two nights before I moved), we had my co-worker’s going away party and I partied quite well. All I did was drink at the main dinner portion; it wasn’t much, but still on empty stomach . . . so yeah. Then after the main party, I headed over with a big group to the local karaoke spot and we did our thing for about an hour and a half . . . THEN a student took two others and myself to a local bar and we drank and sang till like 230 in the morning. I went to bed quite drunk and with a smile on my face haha. Of course, I was tired as hell all day the next day (especially since I woke up around 830) and did very little beyond some extra packing.

On the day of the move . . . I didn’t even get to my new pad till 6 in the evening. I packed and got out of my old place by 2:00 and waited around the school till I was able to head to my place. I wasn’t in the apartment by myself and ready to unpack until around 7 in the evening. As you can imagine, I didn’t get too much done since I had to get ready for work the next morning. Since I moved on a Saturday and had to figure out a new timing routine for getting to and from work, I wasn’t able to get much cleaning and unpacking done. Actually, my place still isn’t exactly organized to the point where I want it at this moment -_- Its nice enough though.

Anywho, another factor that hurt my available time to be at home and take care of ish was that work was particularly busy. I had a lot more paperwork than usual and other small factors gave me less time than Im used to in order to do it. Thus, I would go in early or stay after later (actually doing work) to make sure I didn’t fall too far behind (and I wanted to scoot as quick as possible on Saturday). The week ended up going by quickly and it wasn’t until Friday evening that my apartment was livable and ready for any guests I would want to have. No worries, it all ended up working out.

On Saturday, I was able to get out of work quicker than usual and enjoyed . . . wait for it . . . yes, a date. And that’s all I’m gonna say bout that here (ok . . . it was really nice) =P Then on Sunday, a group of students and staff from the school took a day trip to Disney Sea over here. It was a wonderful day. I was actually really surprised at how beautiful the park was. Any description I give it really won’t give it the justice I want to, so I will just leave it at the fact that I strongly suggest anyone go there if they get the opportunity to come to Japan. A very beautiful and happy setting for a good day in here ^_^

Monday was the catch up day. I had to go to the government building and register the fact that I moved and have my new address printed on my alien registration card. I also took a trip to pick up some things at the store I had needed for the apartment and hadn’t yet been able to get. Other than that, I did the laundry and enjoyed the snow during the evening . . . That’s right . . . it snowed finally . . . and I loved it ^_^

Work has been more or less the same this whole time with just one concern; MY KIDS ARE QUITTING. By the middle of the month I will have said goodbye to 7 of my kid students since November. They all say that they are quitting cause of cram school and busy schedules and I understand that, but can’t help but to be a little bummed out by it. If I had been better, would they have been more motivated to stay . . . I dunno. A couple of them, I am a little happy to be rid of, but I will miss the others dearly. I wish them luck in their lives and hope to see em again someday.

Well, I have once again made this long enough. I’ll give you a break now haha.

Sorry it took so long!

2 weeks

2010-01-19T01:17:00.002+09:00

Sorry it took me so long to get this up and I am sorry to those of you who cant get the full scoop cause this post is mainly in video. Hopefully I can make sure the next one is typed.

Twenty-Ten or Two thousand Ten?

2010-01-06T03:27:00.001+09:00

So the year at work has kicked off with a good start. Thank goodness. Today was moderately busy, and the transition to work after being free for the last nine days was quite smooth. Classes went really well actually. My genius six-year-old was awesome as always (even taught him a bit of lyrics from Michael Jackson, whom he loves), and all my other kids were really behaved for me today. I am going home very happy tonight ^_^

Though, today was a tad bittersweet. One of my favorite kids students had decided to stop coming to class so she could free up time to go to cram school in order to prepare for Jr. high, and today was the first day she didn’t show up. The class was, of course, easier to manage, but I will miss her presence. She was one of my brightest, and she really lightened the class atmosphere at times. I wish her the best of luck! On a brighter note; my first adult class went fantastic. I had two really fun ladies that are both excellent students and made the lesson really fun to teach. A great cap to a good day.

As I sit here typing this, I actually feel really refreshed from my break. I am totally ready to give it all I can until my next long break in May, and have high spirits and hopes that I will improve both as a teacher and a Japanese speaker. I am off to a nice start, but we shall see how it goes . . . Well, I hope >_<

2010 is here

2010-01-04T16:15:00.001+09:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that the last few days have been wonderful and relaxing for you and that 2010 has much happiness and joy in store everyone. My New Years Eve, day and following days were quite the contrast to the beginning of my break. Originally, I had plans to go to my Head teachers hometown and bring in the New Year at his family’s place. Well, he got sick and the doc told him to stay home and he followed the directions and told both my manager and myself on the 30th. Shortly after that text, my manager texts me that she, two of the students, and myself were moving our trip up to . . . TOMORROW the 31st (and we were leaving t 5am)0_0 Usually not a problem, but I had already had two-week old plans with my hip hop instructor to spend the night drinking and dancing in Tokyo (the 30th) and I didn’t want to be a spoil sport and cancel any plans. Thus, I soldiered it out. I had a great time in Tokyo with the instructor and got off to the ski trip with no problems.

On the way to the resort in Gunma (named Ishiuchi Maruyama) the weather was perfect, but turned blizzard-like shortly after we got on the slopes. I actually enjoyed it a lot though ^_^ The cold totally dispelled any drowsiness I was feeling and the limited visibility made it more of and adventure for me. It was an amazing way to spend New Years Eve day. Later on, we all had a big dinner and then the two students and I headed to our traditional Ryokan. It was great. The accommodations were comfy, we got free yukata to wear during the stay, and were able to enjoy their onsen for a bit. It was quite relaxing. To bring in 1200 am 2010, We turned on the tube and instead of seeing time square and the decent of its ever famous luminous sphere, we saw clips of what was going on at different Shrines across the country and the release of balloons at a famous shrine in Tokyo. It was different, but I was content nonetheless. About 15 minutes afterward, I was asleep and didn’t wake up till 1040 the next morning haha. I was freakin tired.

New years day was done in Japanese fashion (Hatsumode). We were in the town of Ikaho and the town’s Shrine is found at the top of a 365-step stairway. We made the trek up, threw in our 5yen coins, rung the bell, bowed & clapped twice, made a small prayer, and bought our new year’s fortunes. Mine was the second best you could get (out of 3). We then had lunch and headed back to our homes. It was a great way to spend the New Year.

The next day I accompanied a friend to Tokyo because she was unable to do her Hatsumode the day before. Even though it was the 2nd, it was still REALLY crowded, but the line still went by pretty quickly, so That was good. Fortunately, the shrine was in the same town as my favorite Ramen restaurant and we were able to head over pig out. Yummy ^_^ Then, yesterday was her birthday, so we went to this really cool spa/onsen (Check this site for all the details. http://www.ooedoonsen.jp/higaeri/english/index.html). It was a good 3 hours of ultimate relaxation. I am definitely going back there in the near future.

Now I am just recovering from my last 4 days and mentally preparing myself for the New Year. I am gonna put together an actual personal curriculum for my Japanese study, so I can get it going a little bit faster and kill the Japanese Language Proficiency Test I plan to take in a few months from now. I plan to print out pictures from my past to adorn my walls and keep my room from looking drab all the time. I have no resolutions though really. I stopped believing in them sometime ago. I decided that it was silly for me to wait for the first of the next year to fix any problems I may have now. Thus, I have nothing new to share in terms personal goals and aspirations.

Alrights, Im going to get to it now. Have a great 2010 everyone!

My bad!

2009-12-30T01:51:00.000+09:00

It seems that my recovery just came in the nick of time. Just a couple of days after I posted my last blog, I got busy as hell. One of my good friends here had finished her contract with AEON and returned from a good exploration of the rest of the country and called me out on my first weekend night to join her and her friend from the states for a good time in Tokyo. Of course, I went . . . and stayed there my whole weekend lol. Her and her friend let me stay in their hotel room and we just goofed around Japan for two days. It was a great time. One particularly cool thing that we did was got to National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno where they had the body of Hachi stuffed and put on display with other animals that are indigenous to Japan. He must have been a damn cute dog when he was alive. Other than that, we roamed Tokyo for different things to see and do. I miss my friend already and hope that America has welcomed her home well.

The following workweek (last week) was a lot busier than I had anticipated; and we even had Wednesday off 0_0 For starters, Tuesday was the day of the adult Christmas party. We had normal classes all day that went just fine that was swiftly followed by the party; which went really well. We held it at my favorite curry place that my coworker and I go to every Friday. As usual, the staff was awesome and the food was delicious (though a bit spicier than usual). There was a lot of happy drinking, chatter, and everyone but me, enjoyed his or her first white elephant gift exchange. I wasn’t sure how well the idea was going to work out, but was relieved to see that people were enjoying themselves the whole time. Who would have thought the element of theft could bring such merriment to a Christmas occasion =P The after party was taken to silver lanes where only three students joined us five staff for some late night Karaoke and we managed a good time of it. So much so, that everyone missed their last train and we took the show to my apartment and talked the night away till everyone made their first train at a little after 5 AM. A great night!

As you can imagine, I slept most of the day away the next day, and in the evening I did my laundry and some other things here and there until I joined my head teacher for dinner and Avatar in 3D at the local mall. I had a delicious steak with rice and LOVED the movie. I can’t wait to own it for myself. But since the movie is over 3 hours long (or so), my day was over by the time I got home and went to bed soon after.

Christmas eve wasn’t too bad. My present assistant manager is getting promoted to manager of another school and starts there next week, and we thus welcomed her replacement that afternoon. She is brand new to the company, but is really nice and hopefully she doesn’t have too much trouble getting into the swing of things. I’m looking forward to working with her. I had three classes during the day and did a bunch of stuff to help the staff prepare for the kids’ Christmas party the next day or preparing for this week’s holiday. When the day was up, I stayed after for a good long while and just goofed off with whoever had the time. I had dinner at my Ramen place on the way home and watched the Polar Express (4th year running). It was a low-key evening fo sho, but good.

Chistmas was great! We had the kids’ Christmas party and it went over very well. The kids were really cute as usual, and I didn’t have to make sure they were paying attention to what I was saying. An extra plus. I also got to be Santa Clause toward the end of it and gave little gifts out to all the kiddies. They didn’t believe it for a second haha. One took my hat off, while others tried to peek at the pillow under my shirt or pull my beard from my face. Everyone seemed to have fun though and the kids left happy. I wish them and their families a happy new year ^_^ I had one class after the party and then we did the staff secret santa and chatted it up until we called it a day and went home. It was a good Christmas

Saturday went really nicely. I took down the Christmas decorations right away as well as anything having to do with the self-study program. It was very relieving to be able to put away the salesman side of me for a good long while until the end of this coming spring. Surprisingly enough though, I managed to make a sale 0_0 I did a verbal assessment and counseling with a student and he decided to do a little extra study to help him along. I’ll do what I can to make sure it helps. After all the students who did speaking assessments and such were gone, we ordered pizza and savored our last Saturday of the year and last night as the Nakayama 09 staff that I came to care for. 2010 will have a lot of big changes for me within the first four months. I look forward to what they may hold, but I will still look back on Nakayama 09 with a smile.

Sunday was nice. I went out to get some snowboarding pants with my manager and a friend and then, joined my (former) assistant manager and her boyfriend for a house club night in Tokyo. . . though it was from 5-11 (gotta get that last train yo!). Her boyfriend was actually one of the DJs of the evening and really impressed me. I had no problems dancing the whole time while he did his thing behind the stand. The whole event was a lot of fun really. I was the only person there that wasn’t Japanese, so I got a TON of practice. As did some of the Japanese there that wanted to practice their English. Man, that event was definitely worth repeating. I even got a CD of one of my assistant manager’s boyfriend’s mixes . . . SWEET! Check him out at: http://www.myspace.com/yasuexesounds.

For the last two days, I have been a useless piece of crap. I have “spring cleaned” my apartment, but otherwise I have been veging out and loving it. I have been needing this time alone to just let my mind go and worry bout different things of a personal nature. For example, I have been selecting photos of times and friends that I have taken since I got deployed to Cuba. It took a REALLY long time, but the trip through memory lane was surprisingly moving and almost unsettling. Through these pictures I relived countless happy moments and the heat of old crushes. No lie, I got pretty homesick for a bit there. It made me think really hard and re-toggle my perspective about my current circumstances.

I had some really fun times over the last 4 years and seeing them again today and yesterday through these photos still managed to make my heart flutter with differing flavors of delight. I started playing with those two most terrible words as I viewed some of my most cherished memories and people . . . “what if.” I quickly remembered, as I was also reminded by some pics, of decisions made that I can’t take back and how I could never get back to those times if I even wanted to anyway. Those decisions lead to courses that lead me to this very moment, place, and emotional contentment. It would be a waste and immature of me to doubt them for even a moment. Nonetheless these memories are who I am and I plan to have them printed and spread around the walls of my apartment in order to remind myself and show off to any guests that I am truly lucky.

Sorry for the novel, I’ll leave it at that. Have a wonderful new year!

"I'll get chewed out . . . I've been chewed out before"

2009-12-17T11:21:00.001+09:00

Back to normal! So the doc prescribed me some quite effective medicine and I am typing this in normal good health. Feels good. I have gotten back on the workout regimen, am feeling great, and am enjoying the weather that the Japanese winter has to offer so far. As usual, most departments of my life have been going really well.

Last Wednesday during my kids’ class; my once shy introvert proved her comfort in the class in a funny way once again. I was doing something with my arms and I accidently hit her in the face with my fingers as I was moving around. I quickly apologized in English with a clear expression of shock and concern on my face; and her response was . . . (in Japanese and jockingly) I’m gonna kill you. I was quite surprised to say the least, but really entertained as I thought about it later. A funny story I soon won’t forget.

The rest of the week at school went well enough and I honestly can remember anything else that stood out until I was off for the weekend . . . OH! My head teacher helped me purchase an electric Japanese/English dictionary for cheap and I am quite excited now that I have it. Now I won’t be up the creek without a paddle when I go to the doctor or something . . . or when I talk to girls =P

Saturday, right after work, two of my co-workers and I headed off to another school in the area to support a mutual friend at her going away party. Her contract had come to an end and her school was seeing her off with a lively event. I estimate that maybe forty students were there at least. Our friend was definitely one loved teacher. She had been there for a year and a half, and being the charming gal that she is, I was not surprised to see so many people wanting to be around to say goodbye to her. The event got pretty emotional actually. There, were some really good heartfelt speeches, as well as a few tears here and there. It was quite the event. I am sure plenty of the people at the school will miss her and I will be missing her as well (until she returns). We had some good times together ^_^

On Sunday, I headed to one of the popular mountains near here named Mt. Takao (Takao-san). On a sunny day, around the time of the winter solstice, one is able to watch the sun set directly atop of Mt. Fuji. The Japanese call this occasion Diamond Head. But alas . . . it was cloudy -.- BUT, all was ok, as I had a really good time with my companion and the mountain had a beautiful view and a lot to see on the trails. It was not at all a wasted venture. After Takao, we enjoyed some delicious Chinese food and I headed off to hip-hop. Their performance is in less than two weeks and the group is pretty much ready to go. I’m bummed I can’t be part of it, but hope that they do well.

Monday was a lazy day for me. I did some laundry and chores, and then headed to the local mall to get my secret santa gift for work. While there I decided to catch the movie: Inglorious Bastards. It was actually very thought invoking (don’t read on if you haven’t yet seen it, cause I am gonna spill the beans about this movie). So basically it is another WWII story with a plot revolving around an attempt to kill Hitler and end the war right away. Well, I have to admit that I was really surprised to see that the story goes against history and realizes this fantasy. In a theater owned by a Jew in hiding, Jewish American soldiers (the commander isn’t Jewish though) and the Jewish theater owner manage to kill Hitler, Goering, and two more Nazi top dogs amidst roaring flames and machine gun fire in a crowd of German officers and elites in her theater. At times it is a gory and vulgar spectacle, but I have to admit I was amazed with some of the acting and some lines were said that just make ya think. I could go on for a while bout the movie, but I wont bore you with it. I’ll just leave with saying that it was . . . woah.

The week has been coming along well so far and I am facing everyday with a smile. I hope the same goes for you ^_^

Freakin body -.-

2009-12-10T11:13:00.003+09:00

BAH!! So I got to the doc last week and he looks in my mouth and tells my head teacher (translator of the day) that he saw that my glands were swollen and gave me all sorts of meds to beat the symptoms as well whatever it was that was ailing my system. It worked to the extent that my symptoms were reduced significantly . . . till I stopped taking the meds. Yesterday was really rough at work because of this. I was having some nasty sinus pressure to the point where I could feel a constant dull pain at the spot where my nose connects to my head. It was even throbbing at times, and my eyes were bloodshot and tearing up frequently. Fortunately Wednesday is a light day and my staff took extra concern and my manager took me to a different doctor. The doc thought it was something more along the lines of what I was actually feeling and gave me knew meds. Thank gosh. My manager sent me home and I promptly went to bed after taking some. Like before, they are working, but I am feeling a lot better already. I feel nothing like I did last night. Hopefully these pills persist and knock whatever it is that has been afflicting my immune system into non-existence. I am a lot more optimistic this time around.

Now that I got that out of my system . . . I have had my eyes opened to a new consideration in terms of kid students. I have noticed that shy and nervous kids tend to not perform well in class. They are often too quiet for me to hear and do not open their minds to class activities. On the other hand, I have noticed that if a kid is too comfortable with you, they wont respect your authority or the class in general. I am working on finding that happy medium where I am in good with the students to the point where they are comfortable, but not sacrificing their classroom attentiveness in the process. It is a conundrum that I know I won’t solve until I have a bit more experience, but I am at least aware of the issue and am happy to be striving toward that.

The past weekend was particularly good. I had dinner with an old friend from the states (worked at In N Out with me), his family and a friend of theirs. He has been here for the last six years and is married with a son (an adorable little boy). It was a wonderful few hours over some nabe, beer, and Kyushu made souchu. We sat around and talked talked about each other (as I didn’t know two of the people), tried to make the boy smile, and did a lot of laughing. I could feel the closeness of everyone at the table and I found the atmosphere to be spiritually therapeutic. There is something so peaceful about being in vicinity of a happy family or family like atmosphere.

There is more to discuss but I find myself out of time. Sorry . . . more to come next time!

Freakin body -.-

2009-12-10T11:13:00.001+09:00

Here comes the weekend

2009-12-05T00:57:00.004+09:00

There is a video along with this post. Please refer to my blogger site to get the full scoop on my update.

Here are pics of something I forgot to mention in the video. We put up some decorations for Christmas in the office (and here are some pics of the Sushi). I like the atmospheric change and think the decorations to be a nice touch . . . Enjoy ^_^

Made it!

2009-12-03T11:08:00.000+09:00

I was granted the privilege to breath easy at work 26 days before I was scheduled to. My school managed to meet it’s sales goal for the self-study program this fall/winter in record time (the goal wasn’t even reached last year). Now my head teacher has to buy the TMX Elmo for the staff’s entertainment and I can now feel less pressure in offering materials to my students. Some of them can actually benefit from what the materials have to offer, and I will happily do so if I think they will truly benefit from em or are actually interested. I am expecting to enjoy December at work a bit more now ^_^

Classes have been going well since my last entry . . . for the most part. I had an open house where three of the four kids’ brains wouldn’t work cause their Mom’s were in the room. It drove me absolutely bats and I felt horrible after that class (UGH!!). Other than that though, I have no other negative things to report. Something funny happened today though. One of my originally super-shy kids really surprised me today. I forgot what I did, but I said “Im sorry” to her because of it, and she responded to me in Japanese “I can not forgive you.” It wasn’t a big deal and she was clearly playing, but it was sooooo funny. I was so shocked (in a good way) that she would say such a thing. I wish you could have seen it. I was laughing even after she left LOL. Usually this would bother me, but even though she said something like that, she tried her best when it came time to getting serious. I think she is just comfortable finally, and I am glad she can express that haha.

On Christmas day, we are having our kids’ Christmas party at work . . . That will make the day a lot happier for me than what I expect it would probably be if I was doing nothing that day. I think I will be just fine this Christmas . . . Though I still wish you were here to share it with me.

I made a difficult decision this week. As most of you know, I love the music artist named Kaskade. Well, he is coming to Japan this week for a three-day tour. He will be in Tokyo on Friday, in Nagoya on Saturday, and in Kyoto on Sunday. I decided not to go to the Friday show cause I have class Saturday and thought it would be childish and unfair to my students to lower my teaching effectiveness for the sake of a concert/good time that amounted to nothing more than a good memory. I could go to event in Nagoya on Saturday, but the trip there and back would cost about a hundred bucks. Not only that, but I would need to rest somewhere as well in order to recover and I wouldn’t have much time to explore. If I was making a short trip with a friend out of this venture I might have done it, but the present circumstances are not desirable enough. Too bad, but I am sure he’ll be back! This is a big deal for me. I have done dumb stuff in the past just to see this guy perform . . . I am glad I have grown past that . . . Can’t wait till he returns though!

Feeling better

2009-12-02T12:02:00.003+09:00

I am coming around from a long run of a mild cough or cold that has been persisting for over the last two weeks. I had a few too many drinks with a friend last Monday and made my situation even worse and I decided to give in and finally go to the doctor this Monday after I realized I wasn’t going to get any better on my own. Like I said, the affects of my illness were mild overall and I did a lot of resting, so I was ok to work but did little else. I would usually go home and quickly go to bed. Thus, there will be a sense of discontinuity with my entries over the next few days, cause I don’t want for these to be too long for you to read by packing in everything I have wanted to relay over the last seven days.

Over the last week, I had a lot of time to myself because I can be kinda grumpy when I am sick and thus avoided real-time Internet communication or hanging out during the week. I did a lot of thinking in that time and realized a little bit more about myself. I have been able to change in my short time here. The person I was when I left California would have trouble understanding the person I am right now. Some of my values have shifted and beliefs towards certain things have been shifted. I feel like lot more is clear me, and making small life decisions will now be that much easier. To sum up what I have learned in one sentence, I say that; just because I have the lifestyle of an “adult” doesn’t mean that I automatically become one.

I was still somewhat of an idiot kid when I came to Japan and acted in that capacity, but I realized that as time drew on and have reduced that behavior to (what I believe to be) an age appropriate level. I am relieved to report that I am 26 and actually seem to be acting like it.

Last Friday I got one of the best surprises. One of my kids students presented me with this:

I am was and still am so touched . . . even if his Mom made him do it LOL. He presented it to me with sincerity. Not much more to say.

Sochu -_-

2009-11-25T00:42:00.000+09:00

Good weekend last weekend. I didn’t do as much as usual, but it is nice to relax and relatively bum it once in a while. Work on Saturday went well. I was rested and enjoyed all of my classes. A couple of them got cancelled, due to students not showing up and I was able to get a head-start on this weeks prep. It was very helpful as I didn't feel too hot today (I’ll explain later) and was a bit busy, so I needed the extra time today. I was also able to make a sale of self-study material, which kept the pressure off a bit. I’m grateful for the ease of my present situation and it further helps that I think the student will benefit from and probably enjoy the material he purchased. A good Saturday, overall. After work, a co-worker and I hit my favorite Curry place and I took it easy for the rest of the evening. Felt good.

On Sunday, I was finally able to finish my Christmas shopping, to my great relief, and make a little trip out of the errand. The city I did it in was one of the big tourist stops here (Asakusa), but I checked out a different attraction than Senso-ji. My next-door neighbor in Irvine had a Japanese exchange student homestaying with her, whom I have recently been in touch with, and she told me about a really good ramen shop there. Naturally, I had to go and am so glad I did. I have a new favorite ramen place. The meal was amazing; I hadn’t even eaten breakfast and I was sooo full when I was finished . . . I couldn’t eve slurp down the soup 0_0 Anywho, I walked around some while and after I shopped and then later bummed it at home for the rest of the afternoon and night. A good day.

On Monday, I did all my chores, caught up with some friends back in the US and was fortunate enough to meet up with a long lost friend here. A co-worker from In-N-Out had come here 6 years ago a year after he graduated and he never went back. He is now married with a young child and seems to be doing really well. We had some dinner and a few drinks at the local izakaya. It was really nice catching up and also quite a learning experience learning experience as I was really interested in his job. We talked about stuff like that for about 3 hours and it definitely left an impression with me. I’m looking forward to hanging out with him again. . . and I wanna meet his boy lol.

Today was a good day even though I was feeling the effects of a few too many drinks from the night before. Got my work out in, enjoyed my Japanese lesson with my co-worker and survived work just fine with mild ill affect haha. I’ll be turning in early tonight though! Anyway, I had another good kid moment today. My genius 5 year old likes Michael Jackson a lot and his mom requested that I try to teach him to sing some of the songs in class if I could. Well I totally had time today and I taught him a piece of ABC by Jackson five . . . he and mom liked it ^_^ I also noticed that he expresses himself to me in English a lot more recently. It’s very encouraging. He may be better than me at English some day. The rest of the kids’ classes went ok. I don't like the lesson for today and since I wasn’t feeling too hot, class didn’t go as well as I liked, but they could have been worse for sure. Hopefully I am better tomorrow and won’t have any problems.

We’ll see!

Thursday

2009-11-20T00:10:00.000+09:00

The cold has finally come to my town. I have been consistently wearing a scarf with my outfit when going out and wearing long sleeved garments when around the house. That’s only cause I am too cheap to use the heater most of the time though LOL. Of course, I intend to use it if you ever stay over at my place; I’m not that cheap haha. I like this weather though and have always enjoyed it. I don't feel sticky or gross all the time and it is easier to get warm than to stay cool, for me. I will definitely be enjoying the weather over the next 4 or 5 months.

Work has been going well. Still busy as I expected, but it has been nice to not worry bout prep as well as all these other responsibilities I have had to pay attention to. The open houses have gone well enough. Actually, only one Mom showed up yesterday, so it was pretty much a none-issue. On the other hand, all but one showed up for today’s class though. I was kinda worried as this class is probably my biggest problem class and I was expecting a somewhat tough time with them and the parents having problems. Fortunately, my students decided to help me out and actually play like well behaved and invested students and the class went better than it has in a long time. Whew! I have one tomorrow, which I think will go just fine, but the Moms are really involved and I fear any dissatisfaction. We shall see how it goes 0_0

Other than that; I have no real news or thoughts to report. Just gotta keep on top of my rest, so that I don't get sick amidst this change of weather. I hope all is well and miss you <3

Weekend report

2009-11-18T12:23:00.000+09:00

This past weekend was a great one! After work on Saturday, I just vegged in my apartment and did whatever while watching a couple of movies. It is nice to go brain numb every once in a while. On Sunday, I took care of some chores and refused to stay indoors since the weather was so freakin beautiful. I headed out to find this park in my city (that had alluded me one night back in the summer) and was successful in doing so it. It is a wonderful little spot. A perfect place to, go walk off some steam, go for a walk (even a romantic one with a date), or just forget the civilization that surrounds you all together for a bit. I walked around most of it and was really taken aback by its peacefulness even though a good amount of people were there. Every one I saw seemed happy and in high spirits. I took some pictures and did some good thinking and am looking forward to late May or June when the fireflies are supposed to be out and about.

After the park, I had hip-hop class and it went well as usual. Like I said before, the classmates are getting used to me and getting friendlier every week. It's a refreshing experience every time I go. After class I stayed after and chatted with my choreographer a bit. Turns out that He developed quite a fondness for hip hop culture as he studied it in college and on his own, which motivated him to start dancing. Now he dedicates himself to continuously further the art of hip hop dance whenever he has the time to do so. He’s got some undeniable passion and discipline. Haha, he also wants to go out drinking sometime after the performance in January. I am definitely looking forward to that!

On Monday, I enjoyed another cool first experience here . . . Footsol! Footsol is basically 5v5 soccer on a smaller field with a smaller ball and some of the minor rules are changed. So I went with a friend of my manager and he, as well as everyone else there, spoke and understood as much English as I do Japanese. He and everyone were really nice though and I had a really good time playing. It turned out to be a friendly tournament and with about 50 participants. I had the luck of being on the strongest team as we won the tournament 0_0 I wasn’t a starter for our team or anything, but I was ok with that. Footsol can be REALLY tiring if you aren’t conditioned for it and I was grateful to have been invited out and allowed to participate in the first place. Afterward, My manager’s friend took me to this restaurant at a market in Yokohama that had US portions of food at U.S. prices. I freakin gorged myself LOL. It was a great time and I was glad to have made a new friend. Ha plans to join my manager and I for snowboarding in the winter.

The workweek started off well enough. Due to all the work I was able to accomplish last week, I was able to majorly cut down on my normal weekly prep time. I easily finished everything today even though it was kinda hectic. Hopefully “the sailing” continues to go smoothly. Businesswise, we are in a good place right now, so the pressure isn’t too high and everyone is in fair spirits. I hope we can keep it going.

So this week and next, parents will be coming into class with their kids. I’m a little nervous about it, but I actually had one today and it didn’t overly affect me in any ill manner. Actually, I didn’t notice the parents for most of the class. I hope all of them go this well or better.

Haha, another cute attack story happened today. My head teacher has this lesson for 5~6 year olds with two really cute students and one of them is an absolute doll. She seems to have gotten comfortable with me since she was in my group for the Halloween party and has been all smiles with me as a result. Well today she broke my cute-meter twice. First time was before one of my classes while I was playin around with my genius 5 year old. I was just goofing off and did something goofy with my hands and the girl totally cracked up from the other end of the lobby. The laugh was quite infectious and I quickly joined in with her. Then after class, my head teacher was doing the lesson review with the two (they were going over what animals say), and When the head teacher asked “what does a tiger say;” she said “ROARRRR” and kinda leaned in to him as if she were an intimidating animal herself. It was too much and I started cracking up . . . and her Mom (right next to me) did the same. I am so excited to teach her in the spring >_<

One thing I have wanted to mention, and always forgot, is a funny phenomenon I wasn’t expecting. I guess some older women here find it fashionable to dye their hair purple. I’m not talking subtle highlights either; I am talking about straight up in your face unnatural PURPLE. I have no problems with it, but am just simply amused by how the old ladies find it fashionable here while the old ladies in the US fuss at their kids or grandkids for “having crazy hair.” Definitely something to look for if you ever come out here.

Other than that all I well and I will keep it commin ^_^

idiot boy!

2009-11-14T08:56:00.000+09:00

So I got to video chat with my family in VA for two hours and reconnect with some other friends on skype. It was a wonderful experience and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to see everyone smiles in real time and “catch up.” I am looking forward to a lot more video chatting in the near future ^_^

Work was a bit bothersome for me today though. I was a bit on the tired side and it affected my last class. The teaching point for that class is kind of tricky for me to teach because I don't often use the “present perfect for continuation” that much when I speak, and I let myself get confused over a particular part of the lesson. I felt very ashamed because I think it looked really bad in front of the students. I hope that they didn't mind too much about my goof up. I did recover, but I still don’t like making mistakes like that. They are steps in the wrong direction -_- I will try to make sure THAT doesn’t happen again.

On a different note, I have come to a funny realization. The gym I frequent here is like my own personal version of that local bar where everyone knows eachother. It’s really like that show “Cheers.” Every time I go in there, the same group of older men is there talking amongst themselves between sets. They are pretty impressive though as a few of them actually out lift me. There are some other folks I see there often also and everybody is starting to be friendly with me. Today one of em even went out of his way to talk to me as I left. It was a good moment ^_^ It’s actually kind of comforting in a way.

Now I am off to bed to face a hopefully fun weekend . . .z z z ZZZ z z Z

None of my business

2009-11-13T02:26:00.000+09:00

Today went fairly well! Once again I was able to get a lot finished due to the fact that I only taught two classes. My life up until April will be a lot more manageable at work since there is a lot less prep and unnecessary busy work I have to do around the office. Feels good to have so much done.

The classes I taught today were pretty interesting. It was actually the first time I taught them ever (formally). My head teacher had business at the head office and I took over his low intermediate and high beginner classes for the day. They went fine, but I had to slow down my speech some and simplify my words a bit. I’ll be good if I ever have to teach those classes again though.

A funny thing has come to pass at work. I taught my manager and assistant manager the meaning and different ways of telling someone “its none of your business.” It was a humorous event as they got it, but what is even funnier is that they have been using the phrase on me (accurately) ever since I taught them lol. I guess they learned too well haha. So, if you meet them, be sure to mind your own business =P

GOAL!

2009-11-12T10:58:00.000+09:00

Tis the end of my second day of the workweek and things are going pretty well. The weekend ended up being great and I had a good time of it. On Sunday, I went to the soccer game and had an absolute blast. It wasn’t too crowded, my head teacher and I had good seats, and the weather wasn’t too cold. Not only that, but the crowd seemed in high spirits also. As with baseball games, Japanese fans have a lot of chants to help bolster their team’s confidence. Loud rhythmic drumming, clapping, and a good portion of the crowd jumping to the beat accompany these chants. There are also a lot of giant flags being waved around. It is a wonder whether most of the fans even can see the game amidst all the activity. It was really cool to watch (my section wasn't at all involved hehe) though. Unfortunately, my town’s team lost, but the game wasn’t a wasted outing. I will definitely catch another soccer game should the opportunity arise.

On Monday, I was able to take care of cleaning my pad, running errands and doing some shopping with my coworker. It was a good time as we chatted away a big chunk of the afternoon picking up things we need and a gift for another co-worker. In the evening I was able to work out and then go rock climbing at the rock-climbing gym near me. It felt good, but I did a thorough job of exhausting myself and slept REALLY hard that evening haha.

Yesterday started off my week well. This week is counseling week and many parents will be coming in to talk about how their kids are doing, if they will be coming back for the next year, and if they want some extra study materials. I had two of these counseling sessions yesterday. I have to let you know how funny it was to me, that one was for my best student and the other for my worst. They both went better than I expected actually and the mom of my worst student even gave me permission to discipline her kid. I don’t plan to get any stricter with him though, but . . . it's a nice though lol. He isn’t a bad kid, just an uninterested student.

Classes went well enough. Though I kinda goofed in one of em -_- (mixed up my lesson days and did the review lesson a week early). It's a complicated explanation as to why, but the mistake was caught early enough to where I was able to catch them up on what they needed to know and they did fine up to that point in the lesson anyway. The rest of the classes went as usual and one of my adult students even bought some self-study material (makes my life easier in terms of “business”).

Today was really productive as I only had two (instead of up to 5) classes and got hella prep and things around the school done that will make life easier for me in the future. I also had a good time talking and goofing with my coworkers here and there. Work is pretty nice when it is quite and everyone still has a lot of work to do. Even though there were no kids’ classes yesterday, one of my cutest students came in. She lives one or two stations away on the subway and came in all by herself. Big brave girl eh (she’s ten)? We all felt really bad and I ended up hanging out with her for an hour till her dad came into pick her up. It was fun ^_^ The rest of the day went well enough and I even helped make another sale. I’m resting easy this week. I hope the rest of it goes well.

かわいい！

2009-11-08T14:21:00.000+09:00

The cutest thing that has happened to me here probably happened yesterday at work. So on Saturdays, I have nothing but adult classes, but one of my students brought her two-year-old daughter in with her. Some of you ought to know this girl I speak of as I have mentioned her before in the recent past by the way. Anywho, while Mom went to class, the assistant manager and I played babysitter and hung out with the kiddo. I didn’t really have to, but because I really adore this little one for some reason, I couldn’t resist hangin out. The assistant manager and I sat on our couch while she played with the toys and interacted with us. She did a lot of laughing and excited screaming and seemed to be having fun. She soon decided that she wanted to go to our kids’ room and wanted me to come with her. Since she speaks no English and very little Japanese, her method of beckoning me to come with her was to grab my hand and lead me to the room. Imagine a two year old leading a 26-year-old man by the hand to go play . . . cute huh?

After that, the manager asked me to take care of her by my self. We had ourselves some fun in the room until she decided she wanted to go back out to the lobby. We were out there for about 15 minutes before Mom’s class was over and while we were playing, I overheard my head teacher (in Japanese) say that I look like a dad. I liked the sound it. Hehe, all in all that hour totally made my Saturday. I hope Mom brings her in again sometime soon ^_^

The rest of work went really well and I joined my manager and a couple other students for dinner after work and nearby restaurant. I got a lot of Japanese listening practice (LOL), but was encouraged by how much I actually understood. I guess I am improving slowly but surely.

Today I am off to Nissan stadium (location of the 2002 world cup) to catch a Japan league soccer game. I have been looking forward to this since June and am excited to finally experience the place. I am considering whether or not to paint my body in the colors of the home team and just wear a speedo . . . just kidding . . . but seriously.

The rest of the weekend is looking like it will be nice and I am ready for what it has in store. I’ll let you know ^_^

金曜日

2009-11-07T01:02:00.001+09:00

This entry marks the beginning of an attempt to change my daily routine here. On the days that I have no pressing plans after work, I will stay in the office until the Japanese staff leaves (which is consistently a pretty long time), and study Japanese or write an update . . . as I am now doing. Reason being is that I get no internet here and the staff is busy trying to close up, so I won’t have any distractions from taking care of things that require more attention than facebook and internet antics.

Life since my last update, life has been pretty good. Last weekend I got to enjoy a three-day weekend and made good use of it. On Halloween I went to another school’s Halloween party and had a great time. I enjoyed meeting different staff and students and getting to know them a bit. Most of them were really nice and helped me have a good time. It was also cool to see what another school looked like and I was made really jealous by how much bigger a lot of the classrooms were than ours at Nakayama and that their AC was stronger. My envy isn’t very far reaching though. I like my staff and students too much to care bout room size or AC output.

After the school party, some friends and I headed to Tokyo to meet up with other friends and do some partying there. It was a pretty good time as ended up in a club that had good music, but was packed like sardines. I have to be sure to avoid clubbing here for big party holidays. Its as if there are no fire capacity laws here and I am getting over the fact real quick -_-

On Monday I headed to a city at the base of Mount Fuji with my head teacher to catch some different views of the fall leaves. It was absolutely breathtaking. I have never experienced the sight of fall leaves on this grand of a scale before. You know the colors I’m sure, and the sight stretched on for as far as the eye could see from the spots we stopped at. I will never forget the beauty of that day. I hope to share it with you sometime in some way.

On Tuesday, I went to Kamakura once again and was able to catch the “Grand Buddha” amidst perfect weather this time. I got some great pics and it was a good afternoon. Walking around the town afterward and having dinner was nostalgic for some reason though. I felt the same way I did as the times I walked the streets of Julian or Colonial Williamsburg. It was kinda cool. Imma have to go back next month to see other shrines and see how that feels lol.

Work has gone really well this week. It has been pretty “go go go” the whole time, but I am in good spirits and have been getting my rest. Relations with my co-workers and a large proportion of my students feel as if they are getting better and it makes me really happy. I am so thankful for the state of my life right now and I plan to keep working hard in order to feel like I have earned this sense of satisfaction. I know I am far from being a good teacher, and I will continue to strive for being the best I can possibly be. I want my students to be the most accomplished of any that study the language. I will do my best and we shall see how I do.

A freakin cute thing happened today though. I was teaching my 6-7 year old class and I was at the part of the lesson where we were going over letters. For kids that young, we have a letter song to help them remember letters and their specific sound in a somewhat enjoyable fashion. Ex: “I says ih ih ih, I says ih ih ih, I says ih ih ih, I is found in . . . (and choose a word the starts with I).” Well I was at a loss for a word they would understand and as I was searching my brain for a good choice, one of my girls said “igirisu.” Igirisu is the Japanese word for England and the phonetic start is exactly the same as “I”. I was overcome laughter and congratulated her on her creativity. It was an exceptionally cute teacher moment.

For the oncoming weekend I have no plans beyond hip-hop and living life to the fullest. I’ll let you know how it goes ^_^

day n night

2009-10-22T23:05:00.000+09:00

I type this amidst one “of those nights” where you get home and you are freakin tired. One of the primary reasons being the kind of day I experienced today, but I will get to that later. Yesterday was a great day at work. I was bummed that one of my favorite kid students was absent, but the rest of her mates did well and the class was a good time. At one point I was doing something that I had to focus on for a bit and I was sitting down. Since I got my hair cut over the weekend, my head must have had an inviting “pet me” look to it cause two of the students indulged their curiosity and commenced to pet me like a dog. I didn’t it mind much and in good “Wesley form” I pulled on of my favorite jokes on them. I snapped me head around real quick and barked at em like a dawg. HAHAHA you should have seen them jump! I love that joke ^_^ Other than that, things weren’t beyond normal really.

As for today . . . ugh. I started off a bit tired and my first class went fine and I even had a great advanced level interview. The prospective student had lived in London for Eight years and her English still retained the English accent. I was diggin it and my assistant manager said that my efforts were very well received. Good thing. My next class just turned my day upside down though. It is a kid’s class and they are usually my biggest nuisance at this point in time. The best-behaved student in the class was absent and the rest of them showed no interest in working with me during class. They would talk over me, interrupt me, and even disrupt activities I was trying to do (more than usual anyway). I m sure it was plain to see how annoyed I was and I think one of the boys even picked up on it. He got real quite and polite halfway through everything. For some reason, that class managed to sap me of my energy stores and I goofed up both of the next classes I later had in some way. I know we all have days like these, but that doesn’t stop them from sucking -_-

Starto!

2009-10-21T12:27:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was a good start off for the workweek. I got over half of my class prep done and the teachers meeting was a far stretch from being as stressful or distressing as they can sometimes be. It seems that the feel/attitude of the school has changed with the weather and I am glad for it. Going to work is a lot easier and worry free as of recently. Our Halloween parties are this Saturday evening (adults) and Sunday afternoon (kids) and the staff is really gearing up for them in terms of purchasing decorations, food, and getting as many of the students to come as possible. It should be a fun time.

In terms of classes, they went well as usual. I had my three kids classes and one person in my single adult class of the day. The lessons seemed easy for the kids (though a good few were absent this week) and my adult student caught on just fine. Talking to or playing with the students here there between classes was nice and made the day go all that faster also. Nothing especially cute or “out there” took place though, but I will take a day like yesterday any day.

One good thing I guess that is worth mentioning from yesterday has to do with the business end of things for my school. This week begins what we call our “self study program;” where we offer a variety of short courses and materials that target various English abilities at all levels to help hasten student progression. The campaign serves the purpose of enhancing learning as well as boosting profit for the company. I am getting more comfortable with the fact that AEON is business and that it is necessary for me to support my staff as they try to make sales. Yesterday I assisted my manager in our first sale. The adult student I taught signed up for a course on how to effectively take the TOEIC test (with the highest score possible) that will last for 22 classes. It’s comparable to a Kaplan course or something. Hopefully the class is useful for her and that she ends up feeling her money was well spent. I will continue to be supportive in this program and hopefully maintain being on the right side of that super thin line between offering a good service to students at a price and pestering customers just for the sake of turning a profit with disregard for their personal benefit. I think I will pull it off fine since I’m still critical of how much emphasis on money there seems to be here sometimes.

Monday

2009-10-20T02:59:00.000+09:00

Here I sit at the outset of another workweek and I find myself facing it with a smile . . . as usual since I have been here. Since my last video blog I had been fighting something off, as almost all of the staff at my school were some sort of sick. I ended up being able to beat it off though with little ill affect thank gosh.

A cute thing happened with one of my kid students on Friday. She is about 8 or 9 and is probably one of the shyest kids that I teach. She seriously looks like she is in pain from the embarrassment she goes through when she has to speak up in class. It is all-good though, since her classmates are nice and I try to be as encouraging and supportive as possible. I have noticed over the weeks though, that she has become more comfortable with me and participating in class and it has been very encouraging. She has been doing little things like waiting up for me when leaving and going to the classroom and holding the door open for me and such. It has been really cute and on Friday she did something new. Class ended and I had gotten all my materials together and was ready to head down. I turned the light off and noticed she had left her sweater on her chair and when I turned to call her, she was fiddling with the board, and then looked at me and sat in my chair with a playful grin on her face. I was a bit touched and even a bit relieved. I know this scene may not seem like anything special, but I never expected her to be like that with me. Now that I know she is comfortable with me, helping her improve will be a lot easier I think. We shall see.

Saturday night I had dinner with co-workers after work, which was really pleasant. I seem (so far) to have a good working relationship with all my staff and am not repeating the mistakes I made at my previous job. I have respect for those in charge of me (save some trainers that I never see) and am not taking myself too seriously in my job. I attribute this to two primary reasons. The first is that I actually respect the work I do and actually feel like most of my efforts are contributing to something good and I get to interact with people in a meaningful way and they actually respect me as a person. The other thing is that I learned from my last job. I never want to be bitter like that towards my work again and I think it is a bit of a bummer for things to have played out like that, but it is necessary I guess. I will endeavor to keep things going well at work in terms of being a team player and good teacher.

Sunday, I felt ok enough to go to hip hop class and it was a great time as usual. My instructor always has me translate terms or different moves during class and teases the girls that he will quiz them later or he just puts them on the spot and asks what certain words mean. It’s pretty entertaining. The girls also seem to be getting used to my weekly presence and even talk to me more. Yesterday was unique in that I hung for a while after class and I chatted with them, the instructor and even one of the Moms. It was really nice and pretty funny as one of them kept practicing English with me and the others were all making jokes. Also, since I can’t partake in the performance, the instructor wants to get our class to do another sort of performance sometime next year around February so that I could actually perform with the group. It was really touching and I really felt like I belonged in that moment. I am really thankful to have found that class and look forward to being able to speak more with everyone as I improve my Japanese.

The rest of the weekend up till now was a good one even though I spent a lot of it in my pad trying to beat whatever I was fighting. I was feeling really good today when I woke up and was actually surprised at how many errands I was able to take care of. I will be starting this week fresh and on the right foot hopefully.

a good wednesday

2009-10-15T10:12:00.000+09:00

All rights, I am kinda diggin this video thing. For those of you chacking this ish on facebook; just click on the link to VIEW ORIGINAL POST. there you will be able to watch what facebook isnt posting.

For those that get this to their e-mail; could you let me know if this is showing up in the message or not and if you are having problems viewing?

Everyone, if you have any feedback on the video blog idea; please give it to me. It is mostly for you, so if a lot of ya think it is a bad idea, I will just halt this endeavor. Hope you are having a wonderful day/evening

Here's a try at something different

2009-10-14T01:11:00.000+09:00

So from now on I am probably going to blog in this manner as I want to do a better and more consistent job about telling you how things are going here. We shall see.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I SKYPEd with the burbank crew and it totally made my day monday. I really miss you guys and was glad to see you all together. Quite heartwarming ^_^

PS. I said august when I meant OCTOBER. I am so impressed with how I can even mess up a video blog

whoops

2009-10-06T03:03:00.000+09:00

Wow I was totally unawares of how long it has been. Having had only three days of work after silver week threw me off a bit I guess. Sorry bout that. Well, all in all, things have been well since I have last written. The three days of work after silver week were really kickback as there were no kids’ classes and all the normal classes were canceled. It was the perfect transition into work after a vacation. The one thing that was a bit less than desirable was that one responsibility I had been alluding to and complaining about in other posts had to be done still. I finished it on time and to standard, but geez that was difficult for me. Good thing its over.

The weekend was a good one. I went clubbing on Saturday nigh, and it was a great time as always. I went early so I could study up on my Japanese a bit so I would feel less guilty bout partying the night away, and I managed to have a moment. I sat down in the upstairs seating of a McDonalds to do my thing and a Japanese gentleman sat down right next to me about ten minutes later. It turns out he was studying English and noticed me studying Japanese haha. So he got my attention and we talked and helped each other for about a half hour and headed our ways (me to the club and him to some friends). Its moments like those that make life so worthwhile out here. At the club I managed to make nightlong friends and did my thing like I normally do. A well spent Saturday night. On Sunday I took it easy and just went to hip hop class. Nothing special went down though.

On Monday, I was SUPPOSED to go rock climbing, but they were remodeling and my homie and I were quite put out. It was all-good as I got to go birthday shopping for Moms and hang with good company all day. We shopped around Yokohama for a bit and then took the show to Akihabara to look for a costume for Halloween. It was a failure, but at least the company was good. We then headed to Gotanda to this freakin awesome steakhouse here. It was amazing. The sauce was a bit different, but the steak itself was indistinguishable from what you get in the states. A little pricey, but it was an amazing dinner. It was my first real steak in Japan and my stomach was very happy with me that night.

I’ll make another post for last week and the weekend tomorrow. Gotta sleep
-_-

Silver week

2009-09-25T12:16:00.001+09:00

So it is the beginning of the second day after I returned from my silver week vacation. From Monday until Wednesday night, I was with my head teacher, his friend and one other in the Tochigi prefecture enjoying what the Japanese countryside had to offer. It was a good crew for the trip. I get along with my head teacher and it turned out that his friend and the other gentlemen were really good company. The people that are with you make a really big difference.

On Monday, we set out and ended up in Nikko to go see the Toshogu Shrine. Traffic wasn't too bad until we got to Nikko (everyone had a similar idea to us) and we got there at around 1 or 2ish I think. Since the roads were small and traffic was really heavy on the road to Toshogu, we parked a few Kilometers away and walked up the local streets to our location. It was a nice walk actually as that area was really pretty and there was plenty for my eyes to enjoy on the walk. Check facebook for pics. We also stopped for lunch at a Mom and Pap Korean restaurant on the way. It was a really cute place with maybe five or six tables and walls decorated with notes and pics from foreigners that have visited in the past. The owners were really sweet and talked to us while we ate and shared stories of popular customers or awards they have gotten. Definitely a good way to start off the Nikko experience . . . full of tasty Korean style food.

The Shrine was Magnificent. From the location amidst a national park to the careful detail of the artwork on every building, there was nothing about the place that was unimpressive. Leyasu was definitely an important guy because the effort that went into putting Toshogu together is clearly more apparent than other shrines I have seen here thus far. Unfortunately I was a bit sick that day and didn't get the full experience I could have, but I will still not easily forget how impressed with that place I was.

From there we got to our hotel that was basically a really big house run by an old married couple that have been there for 25 years. I was really impressed with the service we were met with, as were my companions. They made breakfast and dinner for us the two days we stayed and the meals were multi-course meal feasts. I am still hitting myself for not taking pictures of em. Probably had to do with the fact that I was dog tired by the time we sat down for dinner everyday. Also, Our room was a Six Tatami mat sized room, so sleeping was a snug experience and we spent very little time in our room. That was fine, since the living room was stocked with manga and board games that kept us occupied for hours on our second night. ^_^ A wonderful hotel.

On day two, we got up bright and early in order to catch the first Gandola to get to the 2000 Meter station of Mt. Shirane (Shirane san). It was a cloudy cool day that was perfect for a day of hiking . . . Not to mention that the leaves were turning already and the beauty started even before we started. We got to the station with no issue and got to the top of the mountain in about 2 hours. Freakin gorgeous and I have already posted good pics. Check em. From the top, we took a different path to a little pond and had lunch and then took a new path to the Gandola station and got down there even quicker. At the station, they had a foot hot spring where you could kick off your shoes and soak your feet as you enjoyed a 2000 foot view of the area. We of course took advantage of it and headed back to the hotel a little while after. We were on the mountain for around five hours, and it was a great time. I realize that I love to hike and plan to do more of it here.

After we got to the hotel and washed up, I took a long as nap to kick my cold and then played ultimate Frisbee with my crew for a bit. From there, we hit my first onsen that was about 5 minutes away. Those things are REALLY hot. It was a natural spring and I only lasted in there for about 10 minutes tops. I was totally cooked to. My body wasn’t used to that much heat for that long hehe. A good experience though. I’ll definitely be frequenting onsens in the future!

On Wednesday we checked out and headed to Kogen falls and Edomura. The falls were on the way and really pretty. Nothin much else to say about them though. As for Edomura, it is a historical theme park that is based on the Japanese way of life during the Edo period. Basically all the staff/cast dress in edo clothing and play a role all day while there are shops, shows and small attractions for guests to enjoy. Furthermore, they offer (even encourage) costume rentals from ninja to nobility of the time that my companions and I took advantage of the oppertunity. I choose to be a ninja and the other two were Samurai. I felt a little silly and of course got a lot of looks from being the white blue-eyed ninja but it wasn't a big deal. After we got dressed up and took some pictures, we caught the shows, threw Ninja stars, shot arrows and enjoyed the feel of the Edo period. If you come to Japan, you definitely want to check out Edomura. Be sure to rent the ninja outfit also, as it is really comfortable =P

Getting home was quick and painless and a good cap to a really nice getaway. I am sad it is over, but not sad to be back. It is counseling week at work and the rest of the week will be fairly low key. I like how it feels. It is a good transition from having so much time off. Whew, well I am off to work and have yet to plan out my weekend. We shall see what goes down.

Thanks for the love!

2009-09-19T09:10:00.000+09:00

Life has been fairly hectic this week. At work, we are preparing for our counseling week that will take place after our short holiday. Basically, what is goin on is the Japanese staff at my school will be having meetings with parents of the children students next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. In the meantime, there are no kids classes and the normally scheduled adult classes are canceled as well, but we will be teaching review and private lessons to any of the students that are interested. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but the catch comes in at the fact I have to write progress reports for my kids students. I have to rank their current level in five categories for both present and past levels, and then write remarks about the student. Also not a big deal . . . BUT, lets just say I don't get to say what I want to on all of the reports. This limitation has been making this task incredibly difficult and time consuming. I really really REALLY hate certain affects of money.

In terms of teaching, life was great this week. All the adult classes have been fun as usual and my little molesters’ class was really good yesterday. They must have subconsciously known that it was my birthday haha. Oh, so I got a new student in one of my middle age elementary classes. I think that day was the first time she actually spoke English in a formal setting, but she tried really hard and had a really cute personality. There is one other boy in the class, who is really strong, but he seemed a bit bored with trying to let her catch up. Hopefully he can be helpful. I am planning to ask my head teacher to talk with him so he can help me get her up to speed and they can enjoy class a little more. Also, The middle school trial student from a few weeks back signed up for my class, and I am pretty excited bout that as well. She is pretty strong as well and I think her presence will help the other three come out of their shells a bit more. We’ll see.

Last weekend started on Saturday night with the Pot Luck Party at work. It was good times hanging and talking with the students and afterward we took the show to the Karaoke room and sang away the night till about 130am. On Sunday, I had hip-hop, which was fun as always, and then went to a club in Shibuya all night. I went alone again and have noticed a trend. Younger Japanese guys like to come up to me and talk about anything from small talk to asking to help them pick up chicks. I find the fact pretty entertaining. I wish the ladies there were half as comfortable -_- oh well haha. It was a good night at the club and it made for a totally satisfying dance fix for the weekend. Monday, I just stayed around my pad and cleaned or ran errands around my town.

On Monday I head out with my head teacher and a couple of his friends to Nikko Japan. I will definitely be filling you in and posting pics. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Also, thank you everyone for the love about my birthday. I will be responding tonight and most of the day tomorrow.

A very weird thing for me

2009-09-09T23:10:00.000+09:00

Those of you that know me well enough are fully aware of my attitude about having kids. My catch phrase for the notion of me being a father has been "I am ok with one . . . IF ANY AT ALL." for 98% of my life, I have not been too keen on the thought of me being responsible for a child. Well, now . . . This is where it gets weird.

Teaching kids has made me particularly fond of them and its no joke. I smile whenever I see kids with their parents (anywhere) and get all excited when my kid students come to school. Moreover, most of my smiles from work come from moments I have with my students during the day. Gosh, they really have grown on me. I never thought I would be feeling like this bout kids. I'm not even dating anyone yet 0_0

One of my best pointed out something I have also noticed with this. Whether they behave or misbehave, most of the actions of younger kids are really genuine. They usually wear their hearts on their sleeves and act accordingly to how they feel. Now that they have gotten comfortable with me, the kids are starting to show their true colors and it is the cutest thing most of the time. It is definitely a learning experience though. All of them have very different personalities and I do like some a little more or less than others (just appreciate my honesty please), but I still have come to care for all of them a great deal. Now I am starting to understand why teachers always love teaching kids the most.

Haha, I really cant believe it when I think about it sometimes still, but it is all good. I know I will be happy with whatever I am fated, but I think I would want my first to be a daughter >_<

Its getting cooler here . . . AWESOME!

2009-09-07T18:40:00.000+09:00

So I am more confident that I have gotten into my niche here. Something brand new happens quite infrequently these days, but it is ok. I still really like life here and things overall are still feeling quite fresh.

Work is good as usual. There is always something new goin on and no day is the same as the one before. Whether it is because of new students, programs that we are asked to help promote or the constant class roster changes, monotony is being kept at bay for me. Thank gosh. All the little happy moments and conversations I have with students and staffs are also helping. I pretty much like or have little problems with everyone I work with, so everything is really working out thus far amidst the rather long hours I spend there.

Lots of things went down over the week, as I have alluded to, but I really don't feel moved to share them, because moments like those can’t be conveyed in a way that you would understand and experience them in the same way as me. It really is rewarding though, and kids scare me a lot less than they used to. I can actually conceive myself having one at this point. Don't worry though; I am DEFINITELY not in a rush lol. I haven’t even had a date here yet. Its all good though, as I have bigger fish to fry here right now . . . but my eyes are open =P

The weekend was particularly fun. I met up with friends in Roppongi (Tokyo) after work and got into a fairly nice club (for free!!!) and danced the night away like I love to. They actually had two hairdressing stations (dunno what else to call em) where two guys were doing hair for chicks that could pay for it. I didn't ever expect to see that in a club haha. I also got a lot of free drinks since my friends knew one of the staff and he kept hookin it up. Whew, I haven’t been like that in a while and did not appreciate that the sun was out when I left the club lol.

Yesterday I had hip-hop class and a good time again. Since the choreographer is preparing for the performance in December, we started doing the formations and such. This point of class got funny. So since I may be the only guy (if I perform), the choreographer gives me an 8 count “style solo” where I am supposed to act as if I am “hollerin” at all the girls (who form a crescent formation right behind me) in the class. Not only that, he told the girls to perform as if they are receptive to it . . . just a little awkward. Basically I am just gonna make it fun and innocently playful so I don't feel like a pedophile haha. It’ll be all-good.

Today I just chilled and did everything to tidy up my pad and brush up on my Japanese a bit. It was a rewarding day and good weekend. Looking forward to tomorrow and starting things all over ^_^

A good week and great weekend once again!

2009-09-01T01:08:00.000+09:00

Work went just fine this week. All the students, big or small, were wonderful and things weren’t too busy. We do have some things to prepare for though. On the twelfth, we are throwing a potluck dinner for the staff and any students that wish to come and they can bring friends and family if they like. The staff asked us to think of ideas for a theme that had something to do with the month of September. I could not think of anything for three days, as there is no holiday I could use that would actually appeal to the students. They have their own labor day and really wouldn’t understand the significance of “patriot day,” but I eventually figured out something that the staff went for. I said we should theme the party as a “blue” party. Reason being is that the birthstone and flower for September are blue, as is the mood of students going back or just restarting school, thus the potluck has been dubbed a true blue evening and we will all be feasting and socializing clad in some fashionable blue . . . hopefully.

In September, a bunch of holidays fall on the same week this year and my head teacher has been calling it silver week. We will be closed for half a week at work and have been thinking of things (in terms of classes) to offer the students on the days we are open since we wont be holding our normal classes because the cycle would get all complicated. We haven’t decided yet, but it seems as if the week will be composed of private lessons and such. We’ll see. I also am not sure of what I am doing with my time for that holiday. I am supposed to with my head teacher somewhere, but I will wait till there are solid plans set before I get my hopes up. More to come regarding that stuff later.

As far as the weekend was concerned . . . it was a blast! It started promptly after work on Saturday night. I was originally supposed to go to a concert where I know the band members, but the show started an hour and a half before I was even out of work. So, I decided to not go, but the night was salvaged by one of my homies out here and I joined her and her friend in Roppongi (Tokyo) to check out the Sky Aquarium. Basically it is an artistic aquarium atop of a 50+ story building where you get an almost 360 eagle eye view of Tokyo and an eyeful of rare fish set in uniquely designed aquariums (lots of lighting affects) amidst really pretty deep house music. It was a mellow and wonderful experience. It is a total date place though. There were so many couples there! Almost couldn’t keep my dinner down =P

After that, we headed to the “jumpin” part of Roppongi and met up with a friend of my homie and chilled with him and his crew for while at some restaurant. It was a good time and we got a kick out of his friends. They headed off to a club and we actually weren’t interested in following and ended up walking around looking at stores. I served as a bad influence for my friend who did a bit of shopping and ended up with a new dress.

From there we watched the movie “Hachi.” It's a really cute and emotional story about an Akita’s loyalty to his owner and died because of it. If you love dogs, you will like this movie, otherwise I suggest you wait till it hits the video shelves. That may take some time though as the movie isn’t supposed to hit the US till winter 0_0

Sunday was mostly mellow. I cleaned up a bit and had hip-hop class. Apparently, this studio is having a performance in September and they are already prepping for it. If my poor Japanese serves me right, then I think the choreographer wants me to participate. I will know for sure after next week what he meant as he said he would give me some info then. That would be funny to perform again though. Especially cause the class I am in is composed of: me (grown man), another college dude, and like 7 middle school age girls. It would look really funny, but its all good. I am just doing it for fun anyway (no comments needed from: Andrew, James, and Rainer. Thank you lol).

Today, I rock climbed again and have seemed to improved a tiny bit more. I am happy with that and look forward to the next time. It really is an enjoyable and rewarding sport. Overcoming the challenges presented by climbing offer that nice small dose of accomplishment to keep you spirits up for a good while. Afterward, I spent the afternoon and evening in Tokyo (I might s well live there) and have been taking it easy.

Looking forward to the coming week and weekend!

Before hump day

2009-08-27T01:13:00.000+09:00

It has been two days into the work week and I have been really busy in and outside of work. It has passed by in a flash, but I feel as if I have gotten a lot done in that time to. Its nice to feel productive and finally ahead on certain things.

Work has been very well, but I must admit that the "routine" setting in. I don't think it is a bad thing; as it is not bothering nor boring me, but rather a reality that just is. No surprises present themselves at work any more really. New prospective students do come in, but no one really makes any waves with their arrivals or departures or anything like that. Its ok. At least my updates wont be as long anymore right? hehe

Today was particularly nice though. My kids class has a girl that is very quiet and usually never does anything to disrupt the class. She barely even participates really. Anywho, I have tried to pay a little extra attention to her in and out of class to she if she will become a bit less shy. It seems to have worked. She was such a character today LOL. She was tired and would randomly throughout the class utter this very tired, or even incredulous, sounding aaaahhhhhh. It was so cute that I couldn't be bothered. I hope this means she is getting more comfortable with me and the class and maybe can even improve a bit more now.

After work, I went with a co worker and some of the students to the Everest kitchen (my favorite curry place here) and enjoyed fine dinner with really good company and lots of laughs & smiles. It was a perfect way to end the day.

Looking forward to tomorrow ^_^

took waaaaay too long!

2009-08-25T00:47:00.001+09:00

I think it is starting. A routine in my life is developing here and every little detail of life is becoming a little less novel to the point where I have lost the urgency to report every experience. I do not want to bore anyone, nor do I want to go on needlessly repeating myself. Nonetheless I have also been a little lazy in getting back “into the swing of things” since my break. I actually really messed up my sleep pattern for a bit, but it is more or less back to normal now. Life has been good over the last week, even though it has been a bit busy.

Last weekend I found myself in Tokyo; not once, but twice again lol. On Friday, I went to Akihabara to see what it was about and then went clubbing by myself in Shibuya. Akihabara really is the computer nerd and anime fanatic center of Japan. There were shops with that kind of merchandise EVERYWHERE. Good thing I am no computer nerd or Anime geek, I totally would have dropped too much cash on that exploration. Though I will be going back if I am ever to have any electronic needs =P.

The clubbing was fun. I got into this fun place called “Club Atom” at around 1145 and didn't leave until they closed at five in the morning. I made some nightlong friends with a group of Japanese folks and just danced the night away with them in the Hip hop/RB room. The played nothing but American music and about 85 percent of the music was stuff I really liked. No real report bout girls that night though. You know how lame I can be hehe. I will be hitting that club again for sure!

Sunday, I met up with some friends in Shinjuku and we had an awesome lunch. It was a place where we made our own food again. I have found that I really enjoy places like that. We then headed over to Harajuku to check out the Meiji Jingu Shrine. As usual, it was quite beautiful and a very peaceful place to be regardless of the noisy foreigners that were there -_- After that we did Karaoke for three hours in Shibuya. It was a blast! We just kept going and ended up having another lunch there in the room we were singing in. I have been trying to learn songs in Japanese so I can do them at Karaoke and apparently the practice paid off a tiny bit. I tried a song in Japanese and my friends seemed to have been really surprised at how well I sang it. They said I didn't even have an accent. Crazy. That was a good time. We then went to TGIF and I finally got my giant American style margarita. It tasted just like home and every sip felt like a vacation. Actually, the TGIFs here look exactly the same as those in the US and the Menus are completely in English. I totally felt like I was back in America at that place.

On Monday I slept in and cleaned the apartment till I went rock climbing with my homie in the evening. It was also a good time and an interesting continuous conversation. We had lots of interesting things to discuss. As for the workweek, it was a good one with no outstanding news I can remember, but that is probably cause I have taken so long to write this. As usual the workweek is one big compilation of small happy moments with students and co-workers that doesn't really leave the office and is too much to report in detail.

Geh, I need to stop being lazy and do this daily. The break really threw into a lazy bout last week 0_0

This weekend was good even though it started a little late. I ended up having to work on Sunday, but it was a good time and no bother at all. I got to teach two special classes. One on business English and the other on “American music.” I actually did enjoy myself. After classes, I hung out with my manager and one of the students for a while and chatted it up at Mister Doughnuts. It was fun. Then I once again took myself to club atom and danced the night away. A good time like the others ^_^ I made more friends and this time I have even kept touch with them after the club.

Today was nothing special as I slept most the day away, did the laundry, and cleaned. Though short, it was a good weekend and from here on, I don't want to fall back on my updating anymore. NO MORE EXCUSES!

whew

2009-08-14T15:32:00.000+09:00

Wow . . . A week has gone by fast. That happens though, when one is recovering from losing one day out of their weekend and then starting their vacation the following weekend.

Basically, the day after I wrote that crazy angry rant, I was over it and equipped with a new attitude on how to approach how I do my job. From that day till now, I have been doing my best to do everything in my job “by the book.” Of course I am not perfect and I adjust certain things according to certain situations, but I will be giving nothing for anyone to notice in terms of trainers or any one else above me. Who knows; maybe the students will learn better this way.

A funny teaching experience did arise. On Friday, one of my kids’ classes was reduced from 6 to 2 and it went really easy and well. Both of the boys are really smart and they were very enthusiastic about participating. Since there were only two of them, there was more time to play and I taught them two variations of handshakes one might see in the states. One was the version where you bump fists three times and the other was the one where you smack hands 3 times and end up in a hand-shake/half-hug. They really seemed to like it and one of them tried it on his Mom when we got downstairs. It was really cute and a handful of the other kids wanted to learn it. Haha, it really was one of those precious moments for me. Even the parents were entertained. One even asked if that is how Americans great each other. I told her that boys often do, but boys and girls usually hug if anything.

On Saturday we celebrated two coworkers’ birthdays that are going down this week and the kick off of our vacations. The day (as well as the entire week for that fact) went really quickly and it was nice just to hang out with my co-workers and some of the students amidst the stress free atmosphere of the oncoming weeklong bout of freedom. There were cakes, laughs and well wishes and then we were all off and the break started. I had no plans for the night, but decided to go chill with some of my training mates in Yokohama for a drink. I was only there for about an hour and a half, as I could not miss the last train and just wanted out of the house for a bit. I wasn’t about to party hard the night before I would climb Mt. Fuji. Which turned out to be a memorable experience.

Since mid July, about 5 training mates and I decided that we wanted to climb Mt. Fuji. It had been one of the top things on my “to do” list since I had arrived here, and our first week long vacation was the perfect time to do so. It was fortunate that we had starting planning nearly a month in advance, as getting the tickets and everything else in order amidst working was a bit of a challenge. Everything ended up working out perfectly and we decided to climb up at night so we could get a good view of the sunrise. The only issue was our concern for weather and one of our group was even trying to get us to reschedule for this coming Sunday rather than last, but I didn’t really want to worry bout the weather or push it back. So, I admit being an idiot for not considering the weather more -_-

Sunday evening came around and everything was working like clockwork. Everyone was more or less on time and getting the tickets was a non-issue. We grabbed dinner and hung out in the area till the bus was to arrive. The bus ride up was uneventful, but pleasant and we were definitely anxious to get there. When we arrived, it was a bit foggy and the temperature was great. Some guys put their stuff in lockers and dawdled a bit and we were off. The initial climb was moderately challenging, and the weather was mild and still just foggy in spots. This lasted till the 7^th (of 10) station and then the hike turned into a perilous adventure.

At around the 7^th station, the moisture around the mountain decided to come down on us a little bit and the winds started picking up. Not a biggie. I put on my layers and everything was good (more or less) until the 9^th station. At that point, it was just myself and one other mate that could manage our pace and the wind had really picked up and the rain was steady and cold. To top the situation off, all the shelters were closed at the station. We had to keep going. For anyone considering going up Fuji, you should know that the trail from the 9^th station to the top was the hardest for me. It was long and really steep in many places. Not to mention the weather is severe as hell. On this final stretch, all my clothes had soaked through and the wind was sweeping all my body heat away. I was feeling the hypothermia creeping up on me. As we approached the top, I let my partner know I needed to hasten my pace or I would have been in danger. Thus, I rushed off and was at the top in a hurry. Of course all the shelters seemed closed, but I was so desperate that I was gonna break windows to escape the weather.

Fortunately, the door on one of the places wasn't locked. I got in quickly and stripped myself completely of all wet clothing (everything) and changed into dry ones. I shivered with my partner (who arrived after 10 minutes) till my body was back at a comfortable temperature. Turns out that the shelter was a sort of hotel and it cost about 65 bucks to stay. As we woke up the staff with our movement, they asked for the money and let us stay till 5. I was scared for a second as it looked like we might have been kicked out into the horrible weather that lasted all night. That would have sucked. Well, 530 came around and we headed out. I had bought a plastic rain suite at the shelter, and I was ready for the bad weather that had not let up still. We got down to the 5^th station in like 2 hours and I managed to stay bone dry (thank god). The trip back home was long and I was exhausted, but proud to have overcome such an adventure. When I got home, I threw all of my wet gear in the bathroom, took a shower and slept.

Monday, I just chilled all day that day as well as Tuesday. I wanted to give my body optimum time to recover. I just cleaned and ran small errands in my town for both of those days. Wednesday was freakin awesome though. I went to the gym and then down to the city of Odaiba. It's a really cool place. There is super unique architecture everywhere and a 1/1-scale model Gundam mobile suit. The model is from a Japanese anime I enjoy and the nerd in me just had to see it. The trip was so worth it. I got plenty of pics of the gundam and explored Odaiba for few hours and soaked it all in as I walked around. Whoever comes to Japan should visit Odaiba for sure.

Yesterday was another chill day and I caught up with people from home mostly. Now I am about to head out the door to explore more of Tokyo that I haven’t seen yet. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Curiosity pissed this cat off

2009-08-06T00:31:00.000+09:00

This is going off yesterday's post where I said I took issue with how the trainers for foreign teachers in my company treat us. I was going to live out the rest of my time here with a mild annoyance at the fact that there was nothing genuine to be observed in the interaction of foreign trainers toward the teachers, but I made a discovery today that I just need to vent about. I already gave my mom the brunt of it and she really calmed me down. Thanks Mom <3

What I discovered today was a policy that my company seems to have in place concerning how foreign trainers write a evaluation feedback form on the performance of foreign teachers at their follow up training. This training takes place within three months of a teacher’s arrival and apparently is meant to gauge how much a teacher has developed in their time here. Soon after (2 days in my case), the evaluation is sent to the manager and head teacher of a given foreign teacher’s school. I was given this feedback in person on Monday, but neither I nor any of the other teachers seemed to have been made privy to the fact that the managing staff at our schools were to be given this feedback. Though, I must admit I am not supposed to know of this and technically was sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. Regardless of that fact, fate decided that I should find out anyway . . . so there!

So the problem lies in the fact that the trainer wrote notes and comments on my performance throughout the day concerning what I need to improve on according to what she saw.

In her first note, she relays that “he seems to like to do his own thing in lessons. I stressed that students were getting confused in his lessons. . .”

How the hell does she know this? The only time I gave her hint that I “do my own thing” was in explaining one situation and that was an isolated case. She has no proof or direct experience of such a fact. Furthermore, she hasn’t spoken to a single one of my students about my lessons. Her only bases was how I tried to pretend that my training piers were Japanese, and I didn’t take the game 100% seriously. How the hell does she know if the actual students are confused or not?! Absolutely ludicrous.

In another note, she mentions how “ . . . he seems to not agree with the feedback.”

Well of course I am not going to agree with feedback that does not take into account the particular needs of my students or unique circumstances! She is basically saying that I “don't know my place” with her above criticism. I understand I am a complete newbie and am drowning in ignorance when compared to her experience. But just because she has a wealth of knowledge as a product of a wealth of experience, does not make her smarter than me. She has no right to treat me like I am freakin stupid or lack the ability to help my students learn. Especially when she doesn’t even know what their needs are.

She also has no reason to assume that I reject or even intend to reject the feedback of the staff at my school. My managers work hard and have a very informed idea of the needs of the students at my school. Any feedback they have ever given has been unquestioned thus far and that won’t change unless there is a rare occasion where they happen to be dead wrong. Ugh, I can’t believe she would through up such a yellow flag on me like that. Not what I need.

There is one more note to comment on, but I have lost interest in this tirade and it is pretty similar to the last note. Essentially I am trying to illustrate that this women assumed way too much based on circumstances and a situation completely removed from the reality of my particular school. Neither she, the other trainers, nor my training mates are Japanese, and I refuse to treat any of them like they are. I refuse to disrespect the Japanese culture in such a way. If you are a Japanese businessman, I will treat you much differently then a recent American college grad and will also behave differently in a room full of people who know the true meanings of my words. I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to be performing all day at follow up training, but rather thought I was supposed to be learning. Well, whatever . . . I am over it now and have lost interest to go on.

My only reason for being so bothered is that an important person has said I have problems I need to work on and I consider these problems to be serious. I am taking my job way too seriously for such accusations as these. These problems don’t exist in my school and actual lessons, but now my manager and head teacher might feel that they do and be watching out for these issues. This vigilance can lead to self-serving prophecy and I now fear the headache it could cause me. I think that fear explains why I was so ill affected earlier on. I now know and was earlier assured that I can prove this evaluation dead wrong. I just hope I get the proper chance to do so. I also hope that my managers bring this evaluation to my attention so I can tell the trainers how much I do not like their system of assuming they know everything about a teacher after merely watching them play pretend.

Trainwreck

2009-08-05T01:55:00.000+09:00

It has almost been a week since my last post . . . I even believe the reason to be legitimate this time around. I chose to wait till the weekend to post and as things turned out, the opportunity and/or energy to update was unavailable to me due to lack of energy or actual time physically spent at home. Essentially, the weekend was nonstop 0_0

As I have said, Saturdays at work are usually the busiest and getting home somewhat fatigued is not an unusual thing. This week was no different, and I had originally prepared for this in planning to take advantage of some downtime before living up the weekend like I usually do. I had made plans with a friend from the US to meet up at around 1130ish, but those were drastically changed and moved up by two hours just as I got home from work. Thus, I spent an hour coordinating with other friends I had invited out and ended up rushing out the door in order to catch the right train to meet up. I should note I managed to not have dinner either . . . bad idea as some can imagine I'm sure.

I met up with my friends at the right spot and they had a beer for me on hand and I started drinking on the train -_- It was chill though and really nice to see my friend again. Though I felt kind of bad for all the Japanese people on the train. We were kind of loud and that is mildly (probably more) rude here. We had to switch trains along the way, and during our switch we made friends with a group of drunk Japanese people heading in a similar direction as us and finished our trip talking to them and having our fun. I felt less bad bout being loud since some actual Japanese had joined our banter. It was a fun trek.

We get to our destination with no ill affect and my coworker joined us not too long after we had arrived. The event we ended up at was in Enoshima on a peninsula that reminded me of something akin to how Coronado is connected to SD. The friend of one of my companions had rented out a bar, hired two crappy DJ's, and had the place open all night. Needless to say I got pretty drunk, acted plenty dumb, and had a good time. My coworker and I ended up leaving at around 445 for the first train heading back to our homes (after a nap hehe) and feeling rather hung-over. When I got home, I went straight to bed and woke up still not feeling at my best . . . ick. I NEED TO EAT BEFORE I DRINK!

I chilled for a bit in the apartment and handled some chores for a little while and was out the door after not too long. I went to Yokohama with a friend to check out "Egypt's Sunken Treasures," an archeological exhibition that had recently come to the area. It was mildly interesting, but I could not get over how crowded it was. Anything that could be read or just observed had a line one had to wait in to get a turn. Crazy stuff. We didn’t stay too long.

From there, we went rock climbing for a couple of hours at this gym that my companion stumbled on in her time here. It wasn't a gym with a tall wall(s), but rather a shorter facility with 8 different walls. Instead of just climbing on to any rock one sees, the gym labels the different grips according to color and shape in order to restrict and control the difficulty of certain climbing routes. It was actually really challenging, but a lot of fun at the same time. My forarms are still sore to be completely honest lol. Then we saw "The Half Blood Prince" right after. It is a long movie and I just managed to catch the last train home and wasn’t in bed until about 130 and had to be up at 730. I was not looking forward to it.

The reason I had to be up early was for another follow up training for my job. No biggie, but the trick about the situation was that it was located in a city that took me about an hour and 45 minutes to get to. Thus, I was up early and riding hella packed trains as I was riding during peak use hours (both ways). It is quite the adventure. The training was all right, but I found something that was bugging me bout the trainers. Something always rubbed me wrong when I was around them actually, and I finally pinpointed what it was that was vexing me. For the sake of professionalism (I assume), they are fake as hell with us. I understand to do that may important in maintaining harmony between Japanese and foreign staff at the schools, but it just bothers me that the trainers can’t even level with us. Neither they nor us are Japanese, and them acting the way they do makes me feel like I am being treated like a child or a customer that cannot handle honesty. I know I am a weirdo, but I find it disrespectful. I am glad I don’t have to work in a situation under them for a long time if ever again.

Anyway, since the training ended at 8:00, I got home late and just went to bed as I was totally drained and really out of it. The fatigue even carried over into today, but I attribute that more to my body trying to recover my assaulted arm and back muscles that were still achy. Hopefully I will be back to normal in the morning. School was good. Tuesdays aren’t particularly busy for me and today was a good day as any. One funny thing was I found out that one of my students likes Tom Cruise. I thought it funny and immediately thought of my Mom. I even told the student that my Mom liked him. I like moments like that ^_^

Well I am gonna head off now. I hope all is well and this catches you amidst good times <3>

Cooperation

2009-07-31T11:57:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was good. REALLY HOT THOUGH!! August will be killer in terms of heat.

I woke up and had a good workout at the gym. Always makes for a good start of the day. Then I made my way to work, and was sweating too much after my short 5 minute trek. whew!

Anywho, I have noticed that I have really been liking my Thursdays in terms of the classes I teach. I always see most of my favorite people on Thursday. The mom of one of my little molesters was in my first class and she is really good at speaking and always makes me laugh cause she is so damn cool. The class was about talking to strangers and I posed the question; "do you normally talk to strangers?" She said: "Oh yeah, I do . . . cause I'm Obasan (old lady)." So funny! Not only is it funny, but really encouraging that she is comfortable enough with me to be so relaxed and forthgiving when talking bout herself. yay >_<

My second class was the biggest class I have ever taught here so far. It had 7 people in it and they were all women. YEAH WUT!? It was a beginner class, so teaching it was kinda tricky and some of the usual students of the class got shy since there were so many people. It went well enough though, and there were plenty of laughs. It was a succes after all, but I do need to get better bout being creative when it comes to beginner classes. Like this class, all the rest went well and I "chatted it up with a lot of the students and even gave some music to one who had been asking about the type I like and interested in what I told them. I really like the Thursday crowd!

After work was cool to. I went with all but one of our staff to this amazing Nepal style curry place. From this moment on, I will refer to it as "Everest Cafe" (its name). Hanging with the Japanese staff was cool and relaxing and the food was amazing as usual. I have been there so much already that they hook me up with free rashi (yogurt drink) everytime I show up. Good stuff.

Thus, I went to bed a very happy camper. I then woke up early and caught up on basically everything having to do with keeping in touch and on top of persona ish. Life is good and I will be low stress at work today. There one minor problem though . . . I am starting to hear secadas. They better keep quiet at night!

Alrights, gotta go or i'll be late!

Peace!

I shock culture. It does not shock me!

2009-07-30T02:42:00.000+09:00

Tuesday was a good day to start off the week. It is summer vacation for kids here, so things were quieter during the kids’ class times of the day as most of them are taking vacations or something. Other than that, nothing new or particularly exciting has gone down in terms of the school. Every day is better than the last, but the changes aren’t so significant that I have anything new to say about them. After work was chill though.

Because I was headed to the main office again yesterday, my head teacher asked me to bring some documents with me that they didn't want to have to send. I was already home, but didn’t mind coming to pick em up since the office is so close. I met my head teacher and manager at the train station on the way and before we parted, my head teacher suggested Ramen for dinner. My manager backed out and thus, the head teacher said he would treat me, so I of course said yes. It turned out to be a good decision. We went to the ramen place I like, which is the closest to my house, and actually got to know each other a bit better. I was glad for it. As most of you can tell, I have authority issues, but hanging out with him that night was definitely a plus for his and my professional relationship. He may not be perfect, but I believe he ultimately means well (in terms of me at least) and I think he is quite fair in many departments. I will keep this in mind when I do my thang at work. I hope things stay this good or get better. Oh, he also gave good advice about tackling the climb up Fuji. Very helpful!

Yesterday I had training again in Shinjuku at the head office (Tokyo). This time, it was for a workshop on how to conduct interviews for all levels of prospective adult students. I definitely needed this training, as there have been changes made to the interview doctrine at AEON and I still wasn’t comfortable about doing them with my lack of experience. It was a very informative and helpful four hours . . . and even a little fun (I know . . . I’m lame). It was also good to see the trainers again as well as one of my training mates. Always a plus.

After that I returned to my school and only had one class to teach, which went ok. The teaching point was tricky to explain and get the students to understand, but they mastered the teaching point effectively enough by the end of class fortunately. After class I lingered at work for a bit and took care of some logistical stuff and got out of the place by about 940ish. Then it has been a night of working out, catching up, and preparing for the weekend.

I have one concern though that has been on the back of my mind. In my TEFL class last summer, I learned in depth about the trajectory of the phenomenon of culture shock. Basically after 2-3 months, foreign teachers experience a down in their over experience in the country they are in and kind of resent life and their hosts as a product. I am coming up to that time, and am really hoping that I will defy the numbers on this one. How sad would it be for all this happiness I have been gushing since I have been here to be overturned in less than half of the time I am supposed to be here? I think I will be fine though. I’m not a baby and also know how to appropriate and channel any frustrations I have effectively enough. If I start to complain a lot though, lease let me know 0_0 I refuse to be the whiney American!

Anywho . . .

Tomorrow is a new day . . . looking forward to it.

Befor the week starts

2009-07-28T09:46:00.000+09:00

What a wonderful weekend! Good times, good freinds and new discoveries. Cannot be beat!

So Saturday at work was plenty well. I pretty much took care of all the logistical work that I needed to (except for two small things) and all the classes went well considering how sleep deprived I was. It went by pretty quickly. One sad thing is my co-workers totally moded me on something though. There are no written symbols in Japanese for the sound "We (as in the first part of my name)" and I have been asking and looking for symbols that sound close to it and have a pretty cool meaning. I wasn't having any luck until a student said she found a cool symbol combo that would mean "on the beach." But alas, she was mistaken as my coworkers pointed that out. Now I am back on the search once again. Bummer.

The Mom of one of my little molesters came in for class and I hung out with her daughter while she was being taught. It was cute as she had me look at her homework and help her. Then if I were to go away at all to go talk to another student or handle something real quick, she would get all jealous and territorial. She would stomp her foot or grunt frustratedly in order to get my attention. So after five minutes of that, I started referring to her in Japanese as if she were royalty (using the "Sama" title with her name). She was also doing everything she could to get the attention of my head teacher, who was doing and interview in the interview room. It was an entertaining 50 minutes haha.

That night was the event of Bon Odori in my town. It took place right next to the train station, so it was two minutes from my house. The week prior I had arranged (with the help of a coworker) to tag along with one of the kid students and her mother, who had also planned on going. So that night I rushed home from work, changed into some traditional style Japanese clothes (jimbe) and rushed back to the school and waited to be picked up. When they arrived, I was so impressed with how beautiful they looked in their Yukata. The student was an absolute doll and her Mom looked very elegant. Both of their yukata designs were gorgeous also. We took a picture and then walked over to the festival.

It was hella crowded! Considering the location of the festival, it makes sense, but it was still impressive to see how many people were actually there. Tons of people were wearing Yukata or jimbe, lined up to buy food, or dancing round/on Yakura (festival platform). The music was quite traditional, and was accented by Taiko drums played by middle school musicians. It really enhanced the feel of the event. For about an hour and a half we got some food and ate a bit and then I just watched my companions do some dancing until the festival was done for the night. There was so much to see and so many people to watch. My eyes were feasting. A couple of friends had joined us and after the festival concluded, we got some dinner at my favorite curry place and called it a night. What a good Saturday.

On Sunday I just did all my laundry and got my house into some better order. It has been in need of some attention -_- Cleaning went well enough and it wasn't too long till I was out of the house. From there I made one of the best discoveries thus far in my trip I think. On my running rout, I run by this dance studio called junk-b. I picked up one of the flyers at their door one night to see what they were about. The only things written in alphabet were some of the names of instructors and the names of classes of course, but I thought I would give them a shot anyway. It could not have worked out too much better. The first lesson is free and you pay for 5 classes up forward that are good for any class of the proper length (70 or 90 minutes) anytime during the week. Oh and they have classes everyday! I am soooo excited!!! I get to do choreo out here for a fair price and their schedule is flexible to the demands of mine. I really lucked out with my location also, as this dance studio is only one stop away from me >_< I dare you to tell me to not be excited! Check their site:

http://www.junk-b.net/

So after the class, which was an awesome class in terms of difficulty and quality (warm up and choreographer attentiveness). I went to one of the towns to do some shopping and scope another train station I will need to use to get to Tokyo tomorrow for work. It was a good trek. I know how to get to where I need to go on Wednesday and I finally got some stuff I have been needing pretty badly at my place.

Yesterday, I got to see and catch up with an old friend from Irvine. It had been ages since we last saw each other (since she has been here a year already). We met up in Yokohama and went to the top of Landmark tower for our first stop. It was a breathtaking view and wonderfully set up tourist arrangement. The building had elevators that had only two stops for the roof and bottom floors and they had an attendant give you some info on the elevator and building as you went up. It was pretty fast to. We went up some fifty-something floors in a matter of seconds . . .my ears were popping hehe. We spent about 20 minutes up there chatting, taking pictures and enjoying the view. There was also a water tank with fish in it that would eat the dead skill cells of your hand if you stuck it in there for long enough. It was a funny feeling, but a cool experience. I had never heard of that before.

From there we got some cold stone and walked around the city a bit and checked things out here and there. We didn't spend too much time in one place as it turned out my friend was looking for Kamakura and did not have as much free time as I thought. So we took the show to Kamakura, where it had started to pour. No biggie. We got some umbrellas and visited the Daibutsu like she had wanted and got some good pics out of it. Overall, It was a really nice time and I was glad to see her again and get the opportunity to explore together. Hopefully I can get down to see her in Miyazake later on. We shall see.

On the way home I did the last bit of shopping I wanted to take care of and went home where I caught up with peops from home and put the dried clothes away. Twas a good weekend ya’ll. I hope yours was similar or better! I am off to work to start another week ^_^

Saturday morning

2009-07-25T03:59:00.000+09:00

The latter half of the week has been a good one. I have just been doing work and keeping in touch with the states for the most part; but so many little things have come to pass that have made life so very fulfilling.

In terms of work, I still feel I get closer to students on a daily bases and classes have gone well. The lobby and classroom have been filled with lots of laughs and happy chatter. A particularly cute story I want to relay happened yesterday afternoon with two of my little molesters. They werent exactly angels in class, but after class was out, I was off to lunch with my coworker and we ran into them as we were walking to the destination. it was raining outside and I was without an umbrella and one of the girls tried to hold her umbrella up to shelter. what a sweetie. Then when I said "it was ok" she lowered her umbrella and proceeded to grab my hand. I joined hands with the other one and we walked for a bit like that. It was super cute >_< They are growing on me.

Another fun moment was thursday night. Usually, the manager, head teacher and assistant manager are having a meeting or discussing business when I leave work. Yesterday the manager was actually rushing the rest of the staff and me out to go home. I jumped on the oppertunity and preceded to quize both the manager and Assistant manager as to where their dates where. Hehe, they weren't ready for the questions and we shared some laughs at my goofy behavior and line of questioning. I was really glad for that moment. I felt today that our group cohesion at work was a bit better as aproduct of our shared enjoyment. Good stuff.

Last night I hung out with a teacher from another school that I have only met once. We got to know eachother at nice little bar over some beer (thats right . . . I was drinking beer)and snacks. Turned out to be a really nice time and we ended up having A LOT more in common that I thought. I am delighted to find someone who shares my music and recreational tastes. Her favorite artist is the same as mine too! usually not a big deal, but when most people I meet dont know who Kaskade is, this is something impressive. I see lots of good times had by us in the future. Yay to having a new buddy here!

Tomorrow my town is having a festival and I am looking forward to it. I even brought some traditional Japanese clothing for the ocassion at the suggestion of one of my students. I will be sure to expand on this in the next post 0_0

alrights, time is pressing and I must jet. more to come soon!

Been too long -_-

2009-07-23T00:43:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I was supposed have posted most of this up by Monday or Tuesday, but that didn’t happen due to unfortunate circumstances and being too busy up to this very moment. My bad, but my story will explain everything . . . Promise.

Saturday:

Saturday at work is actually one of my favorite days of the week so far; I have realized. Not because of the freedom I will have for the next two and a half days, but rather I have all adult classes and experience little if any anxiety with regard to my responsibilities as a teacher. I like and am easily able to talk to most of my students during down times and everyone is in high spirits because its Saturday. It’s infectious and makes me feel good to be at work. Thus, Saturday was a good day.

Saturday night was a good interesting time also. When I got on the train to get to Shibuya, I apparently synced my departure with that of thousands of soccer fans from a game nearby trying to get on the same train line as me. Getting through and traveling with that mob of people was quite the adventure. After I got to my destination, I headed straight for where the club was. On my way there I was checking out other locations to scope prices and DJ lineups for possible future stops and was approached by a guy talking to me in labored English. I tried to talk to him in Japanese and quickly found out that he was Korean and didn't understand a thing I was saying LOL. Interestingly enough, he and his friend (almost silent but nice nonetheless) were looking for the same club as me but couldn't find it. Thus, I suggested we search together and we did so. We finally found the place and were informed by the staff there that we were a bit early. We had nowhere to wait and decided to hit a local convenience store to buy drinks and pre party some. I talked with my new friends about everything from music, to girls, to their military obligations coming up. I was a wonderful chance meeting and experience.

We went back to the club after it opened and the two guys couldn't get in (Korean age counting system is actually a year ahead of Japan's). I was truly bummed as we went our separate ways -_- I hope they managed to have a good time that night. As for the club, it was pretty chill. The crowd had a lot more foreigners (anyone not Japanese) than I expected and they really packed the place with people 0_0 The music was ok, but the vibe was wonderful. There were no tough guys, no bitchy people, and most everyone I saw was just smiling and moving in kind to the beat. I even made dancing buddies here and there as the night drew on. I ended up leaving at around 4 am and watched the sunrise in front of the Shibuya station, got home at around 630 and promptly went to sleep. A very good Saturday ^_^

Sunday:

I stayed in for most of the day and just cleaned, answered messages, and contacted people in the states. It was a good lazy day. It could have been a tad more productive though . . . oh well.

Monday:

So Monday I decided that I refused to stay indoors . . . and I didn't . . . but I took it too far -_-

First, I went to the gym and had a great workout as well as a bomb Ramen lunch right next to my place. It was a good start. Then I went home and did some communicating stuff for a bit and headed out again. My first destination was a western style mall called Lalaport nearby. Save for the fact that I was the only person that wasn't Japanese, the mall reminded of a few I have been to in the united states. Thus, it wasn't that big of a deal for me as I thought it might be from what students had been telling me about it. Yeah some of the stores were novel and unique, but you can find them all over the place here. So, not that big a deal I guess. One thing that was particularly cool though was one store had these guys there and they were blingin out cell phones with stickers and decals. I wanna get mine done up to >_<>

From there I got a call from an old friend that I actually went through the TEFL certification with and we met up in Kamakura. At least 10 students have mentioned Kamakura to me and I had been wanting to go for a while. It was nice to have some company along to. He and I walked around and saw 3 of the many shrines there, checked out the different shops, and caught up on what had been goin on with each other since last summer. It was a good time . . . but it didn’t end there.

My friend knew where to get margaritas and I just had to follow him there. He took me to some Mexican food/style bar that was run by a prior US Marine. It was walking distance from the US Naval base there and slam in the middle of the area where all the US servicepeople go when they get shore-leave. There were even normal SP patrols walking around . . . haha and they didnt have ish to say to me =P

Anywho, we chilled there for about 2 hours or so over four margaritas (each), wwf on the TV, and eye-ing a couple cuties that must have been hunting for foreigners. We then decided to Karaoke and did so for an hour and a half. It was fun, but not the best decision in the world. Basically, I missed the last train at a station 4 four stops (over 5 miles) away from home cause I was out too late. Damn it . . .

It didn't get me down though and I decided to try to trek it back on foot. I was confident that I would definitely beat the sunrise since it was only 1230 afterall. Well . . . I got halfway there without a problem, but when the tracks of my line converged with another, I must have gotten mixed up and walked waaaaay off coarse. I asked for directions at a convenient store and the clerk reacted like I was an idiot; and rightfully so. I had managed to walk at least 3 miles east of my target with this other rail track and would not be able to beat sunrise back to my place at that point, as it was already 330. Therefore, I got directions to the nearest train station and waited out. It gets even more stupid though . . .

Early on in my trek, I spent the last of the money I had on me on food and drink to give me energy for the hike. So along with being faced with the prospect of having to catch a train home in an hour and a half I also had to find an open ATM that accepted international credit cards (long and unimportant story, but I still dont have my card for my Japanese bank yet). I ended up going to four with no luck, but finally found one in a 7-11 just in time to catch the first train of the day . . . Whew! So yeah, I got home ok and was asleep by 730 and up by 12 for work. It was a loooong day at work. haha.

Note: if you run out of money in Japan and only have a bank card from the states, the only convenient store ATM that accepts international cards are the ones at 7-11s. I haven’t tried every chain here yet but out of the 6 or the 7 I have been to, 7-11 is the only one. Keep that in mind.

Tuesday:

As mentioned, it was a long day but not too bad actually. I was tired of course, but all the classes (even kids!) went very well. My left leg was rather sore from the night before though and I had no problems passing out right away when I got off. Man . . . definitely not missing the last train on a night before work again. I'm too old for that irresponsible BS.

Today:

Was awesome! I got rested up enough, the soreness had left my body, and I made it to work in high spirits where they stayed high all day. One of my classes had been canceled due to rescheduling and another had no students, but wasn't taken off the schedule. I was able to finish all my prep for the week and then practice/rehearse for a kids trial lesson that I had just before lunch. My head teacher also went through it with me and I went into the thing feeling prepared and confident.

It actually went fairly well. I spent about 15-17 minutes giving a preview lesson to a 5-year-old boy right in front of his mom. Kind of nerve racking to think about, but it actually didn’t bother or distract me at the time. It must have gone well though; since the mom signed her boy for the lessons right after the preview (taught by my co-worker). Yay!

After lunch, I had my kids class with the group of kids with the one girl that talks back and it went surprisingly better today. I made changes in my approach, but I didn’t expect things to go as well as they did. Heh, even the back talker was telling one of the rowdy boys to shut up on numerous occasions rather than talking herself. On top of that, all the kids in the class seemed to get the material to a satisfactory level. Thank gosh!

After that was 2 adult courses and they went as well as usual. Lots of laughing and some interesting conversation. I also got to talk to students more than usual today, which was a nice treat. I actually am feeling more comfortable with talking to people and I could even tell today. I wonder how far I have to go to get out of the shell.

Oh yeah, I also had a meeting with my head teacher and manager about my performance at the school thus far and it went rather well. I am not perfect and have plenty to improve, but they seem to like me so far. One of the comments I think about most is how the head teacher pointed out that the kids often cry when a new teacher takes over and how he was surprised when all of my kids adjusted with zero tears and little ill affect. There were other nice things, but I don't feel like tooting my horn and getting into em. I am happy just to relay that they like me so far. Awesome!

After work I got to have a good chat with my Mom and was super happy for it. Its always a treat to talk to Mom. No matter what about ^_^

Ok . . . now its bedtime again. I promise to update sooner next time 0_0

Friday night

2009-07-17T23:34:00.000+09:00

A good day overall. Things at work kept me quite busy today, but it felt like a productive and effective days worth of effort. No big challenges or failings report, so that is an even greater plus. I also got to have lunch at that Nepal restaurant with the bomb curry, and that had me in a REALLY good mood for my last two adult classes of the day. One of them was a private lessen where I just talked Japanese and American politics with the student, which was very interesting and enjoyable. My last class had some cool personalities in it and totally had me leaving work in smiles. Having cool and fun students is such a gift >_<

With regard to my kids, I have come to realize (with the help of a co-worker) that my little molesters merely just like me and are comfortable with treating me like their Dad or big brother. Another reason I let myself believe this is because one of my molesters seems to like the head teacher even more than me haha. Right in front of her mom, she got on top of his lap facing him and was touching his face and stuff like she was about to go in for a kiss. Poor guy has it worse then I do; she even said that she was gonna marry him once! I guess I have nothing to complain about HAHAHA. So I now view my treatment from these girls (except for the scrotum tap) to be cute and endearing. I am a "cool uncle" or something I guess. . .Until halfway through class and they get bored with me teaching them that is -_-. I'll figure them out though. I will have every kids class going well more often then not!

Another interesting event we had today was a workshop where we learned about the Kaizen philosophy and how to apply it to our school. Basically, Kaizen is a philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. As time goes on, things change, and Kaizen endeavors to ensure that a person or company can efficiently adapt to the changes it faces or better itself in any way. Our approach in implementing the philosophy was to write down problems in the work place and then share our ideas and then decide on the most feasable beneficial routes of action. It was interesting and I like the idea. Hopefully it bears fruit for us.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I am happy for it. I have to have a follow up meeting with my manager and head teacher about my performance as a teacher as well as my impression of the company thus far. It is to prep me for the coming follow up training I have on the third. I have some ideas of what to expect but am totally unsure of how good or bad it will go. We shall see. As for classes, it is all adults tomorrow, so that should be fine and enjoyable. Then for the night I am planning on dancing again and can't wait. This dancing once a month trend is for the birds!

Hopefully good news, pics, and a story or two to come of the weekend.

Catch ya!

Hump day

2009-07-17T11:40:00.000+09:00

I had my first emotional challenge at work yesterday since I have gotten here. It was more of me being disappointed with myself, but there was a student that catalyzed my frustration with the situation. In fact, she is probably one of my most challenging, if not the most, challenging students I have. She is a smart kid and always is one of the first to get the material in class, but she always tries to speak to me in Japanese (REALLY FAST) in class and often talks back. So on one hand I can’t understand her and on the other; she is fairly disrespectful (even by American standards). Anywho, I was doing an activity in class that required the use of two different students’ vocabulary cards. This one student and another were paired together and neither had put their names on the cards in order separate them after the activity was over. Wouldn’t be a big deal normally, but this girl decided to take a freakin long ass time to separate them and that time was taken away from the rest of the class. Ok, even that is fine, but when I tried to help or make her go faster, she would freak the fuck out and not let me touch the cards. Because of this, the class got out 10 minutes late and I had to rush through one section of a lesson and completely skip the other. GRRR!!

I was frustrated because I totally overlooked that the cards couldn’t be separated and the student’s behavior just put me over the edge. I was in a bad mood for about an hour after the class. It’s actually really saddening when I think about it. One thing I do not want to have happen here is to ever get frustrated with work, but I couldn’t seem to avoid it yesterday. All is good though. I am over it and will now be sure to make certain that an incident like this would not repeat itself.

The rest of the day went redeemingly well though. My last class has five adults in it, and they are all good fun people. Thus, the class went smoothly as any of the others and put me back in a good mood. Furthermore, one of my students told me that the class seemed like a party to her. This totally made my day and I finished it with a totally positive outlook. Kids may be a challenge right now, but the adults will keep me grounded and happy I think. I just really need to hurry up and figure the secrets of dealing with certain problem children.

Today was a particularly good day at work. My one kids class was relatively wonderful and my middle school aged class exceeded my expectations. Their shy as hell; which makes them seem less strong, but even the weaker student was catching on by the end of class today. Good ish!

Those that know me well enough are aware of how prone I am to making silly careless errors in life. Well I managed to pull two off today and ended up doing a lot of thinking on my toes 0_0 for the adult class I managed to grab the wrong lesson materials (book 2 materials for a book 1 lesson -_-) and got the wrong class cd for the middle aged class. What a mess, but I was able to adjust well enough to where the lessons weren’t overly (if at all) hindered. I just wrote down key parts for the adult class and got by fine while I spoke all of the CD script with different voices. The students weren’t confused or off set and did the tasks perfectly. So, I think it is safe to say that it was ok. Still, I will make sure it doesn't happen again.

So, the mom of one of my little molester students I will have tomorrow was in the class where I messed up today and I realized why the daughter is so strong in the class. Her Mom is awesome. She apparently went to a good English school before. It was easy to tell with her exceptional command of intonation, and incredible English memorization ability during the lesson. I was really impressed with her. Naturally, she asked how her daughter was doing . . . I didn't snitch that she touches my ass and stuff, but did tell her how strong her daughter is. She sounded relieved. I hope that I continue to teach both Mom and daughter ^_^

Tonight ended with a wonderful dinner with friends as we cooked our own okonomiyake (the server said mine looked the best =P ) had a couple of drinks and reminisced over songs that made us think of college and high school. It was one of those events that make life that much richer. I am going to bed with all smiles tonight!

Tomorrow is Friday. Not worried bout my little harassers and looking forward to getting to know my students and coworkers a little bit better.

Forgot to mention!

2009-07-15T11:31:00.000+09:00

Of course my company has a Japanese website that looks different from the one I showed you. Every school actually has its own website and they already have me on mine for a bit.

Here is the homepage (no action shots of me yet):

http://www.aeonet.co.jp/school/school.php?sno=1415

Here is the staff page:

http://www.aeonet.co.jp/school/staff.php?sno=1415

check it if you are bored =P

Tuesday

2009-07-15T00:58:00.000+09:00

So starts another “typical” week. Though the head teacher’s sister is getting married and he won’t be back until Thursday and the assistant manager wasn’t in today either. Thus, the feel of work was quite different today. There were less people in the lobby that didn’t have class and the office over all just had a lot less bustle. Fortunately, because of this of the lack of “things going on” I finished all my lesson prep for the week. Awesome!! Now I can prep better for classes for the rest of the week or take care of other things that may need attending to.

The actual classes of the day went well enough. On Tuesdays I have three kids classes and two of them only have one student; who both of which are really good at English and make my job fairly easy. The other kids class is one of my better one’s also. Anywho, since last Thursday and until tomorrow, the kids are doing review units where they basically go over everything they learned from the previous 3 chapters and put it together. They have gone well so far and my classes today pretty much killed on them and made me very happy. Review units do a good job of indicating student weaknesses. This time around, I am noticing a lot of problems phonemic comprehension. The kids cannot spell on command as well as I think they could. I will try to adjust my method for the coming weeks so that this problem does not remain.

On a funny note, my manager as well as a lot of Japanese people love stitch (from Disney), but have failed to see the movie he failed in. I find that pretty funny. Therefore I took it upon myself to download and give a copy of the movie to her. I am presently working with her to get the right software to play the file and hopefully we get it worked out and I get to see her get crazy over how much cuter she thinks stitch is. Hopefully I remember to post her reaction >_<

Now I am off to bed . . . for real this time =P

Been out of it

2009-07-14T01:20:00.000+09:00

Wow, it has been almost a week since I have said anything about school. Yikes! I think this starts the slacking off period or trend that happens when one starts to get settled and gets lazy more often. Well, at least I am aware of it and am taking action to ensure that doesn't happen right now.

As far as school is concerned since Wednesday last week , I don't remember to much that I want to mention beyond two things I have been able to recall at the moment. The first thing I am able to recall took place on Friday . . . That's right you guessed it. My class of little molesters struck once again, but not as bad as the other two times though. This week, one of the girls gave me a quick playful spank that I didn't see comming. It wasn't too big a deal I guess, but what is up with those two, really? More over, at the closing of the class they were touching my head like I was some sort of animal. I'm not sure as to why they did that, but maybe my weirdness and being different is interesting to them or something.

The other thing I wanted to comment about took place on Saturday. my headteacher came in and watched me once again to teach another lesson of a different (and our primary and most expensive) format. It went ahelluva lot better then when he watched me last week and he stated that he was quite pleased with where I was at withwith the material nd how I made the class flow. It was very encouraging and I am now motivated to improve even more. I want for there to be nothing for him to nitpick on the next time he should see me ^_^

Saturday was also one of my coworker's birthday and we ended the workday with some cake and chatting with students in the lobby of our school. It was really nice and my co-worker seemed appreciative of how we made her birthday a big deal. After work, a bunch of us were suppoesed to go to the next town down on the railway and drink a bit, but it fell through and I ended up going alone with the birthday girl to meet another coworker in the Yokohama Chinatown. It was a super relaxing evening and good idea. The coworker showed us to this "american style" bar where chatted over cocktails and I marveled at how the joint was making feel like I was back in downtown LA or SF. Afterward I walked around and explored Yokohama for a while before I headed back to my apartment. It was a really nice evening overall.

Something that I am super grateful for upon my reflection of last week is how close I am growing with my co-workers. I get along with pretty much everyone so far and have realized I am getting to hang out with them all quite frequently and I cherrish the fact. it makes me look forward to work even more and feel more comfortable with life here. They are good people and I am thankful they are letting me in, as I am happy to receive them as well.

Sunday I just stayed in, did chores, laundry and caught up with a few loved ones on Skype (skype me at unpouramor). So nothing needing to be shared there. Today as you may have noticed from twitter, my weekend was cut short by some training I had to attend today. Usually, losing a day off is a bummer, but I am glad that I went to today's follow up. It really helped me out. It was all about kids lessons and how to conduct them as well as possible and for every possible age group that we have. I will be feeling a lot more comfortable in my kids classes now and am even ready to teach more should the need arise.

It was also nice to see a bunch of my training mates again after a month. Everyone has plenty of interesting stories and catching up on eachother was a fun time during our breaks and lunch. We even managed to set some plans in order. Some of us agreed on a Mt Fuji trip over Obon week, watch a soccer game in november at the nissan stadium nearby and a couple other possible trips. I am looking forward to those, should they happen. I should also mention that the training was at the head office in Shinjuku, Tokyo and that was something else. The view from the 16th floor we were on was beatiful as I was distracted by it for a good portion of the day. Japan is really an interesting place to just look at sometimes. Pictures will be on facebook soon!

I also got to meet my head trainer for my division. She came in as we were leaving and introduced herself to the teachers under her wing. She was very kind and friendly and it put me at ease bout seeing her in the future if she ever showed up at my school. She had actually heard about me from my head teacher and said that I was very energetic. I dunno if thats good or bad, but will hope for the best hehe. I'll just show her whats up if she ever gets to see me in action ~_^

Other than, I cant think of anything. Now it is off to bed for an early morning tomorrow. I hope this finds you well and amidst good times.

Real quick

2009-07-12T23:28:00.000+09:00

First off I want to thank my family for the wonderful care package. There are somethings in the states they don't have here, and I am well stocked up now. Thank you so much for the love! ^_^
So, I meant to comment on this before as I discussed it with someone a while ago, but I want to say something about the concept of "life moves on." The concern was posited about how cold it was that life moves on when one leaves a place, group, or the living realm. No matter how popular or hated and individual may be, life does in fact move on after that person makes their exit. Does that seem sad and hopeless? If you want it to be; but there is something else to keep in mind.

If one makes some sort of exit, they leave with having changed the people and place they were involved with; even if in the smallest way. Even though life moves on when one makes their departure, they are not forgotten necessarily. Take myself for example. When I left In N Out, it did not shut down and my friends did not quit out of respect for my memory. Life went on as usual and I am certain that the store will be a completely different place the next time I see it again. This could be sad in the sense that I go back and things look like I was never there, but what I choose to dwell on is the fact that even though they are moving on with their lives, my friends/coworkers remember me and have shown it. I do matter and did make some sort of difference and am confident in that.

If you face this consideration when you think about the past or feel like you didn't make an impression on those or the place around. Think about who remembers you or what is different and will never be the same at that place left behind because of you. Life may have gone on there, but you have set life to take a different direction than before. Feel comforted by that. Life will always go on and on and on, but if you change its course in the slightest way, it will never forget you.

Weights

2009-07-09T11:00:00.000+09:00

Recently, as I ponder why I like it here so much, mind has been mulling over all sorts of considerations. I do admit this post has hit early as the culture shock is said to take about one to two months to set in, but I can not help to comment on the fact how much I like life in Japan and why. Reason for my confusion is that I am working here full time just like I easily could in the US and there are plenty of places to see in America as there are in Japan. Why should I like it here so much when I have the same opportunity in the US where everyone understands and can talk to me?

As I ponder further, I realize that 2 main things explain why I have such high satisfaction (bordering on infatuation) with my current situation. The more minor of the two is that, though my opportunities were the same between the US and Japan, I took and still take the sites to see in America for granted. I admit there are cool things to see and do in the US, but a good portion of it never really appealed to me. This coupled with the fact that the US is spread way far out and expensive to travel makes my motivation fall to practically nothing.

On the other hand, I want to see everything here if I am provided with the opportunity. From certain types of stores to historical landmarks, if I am offered to go somewhere with someone, I will go and even also plan to do exploring of my own. I don’t know how else to explain the fact that I just am innately more interested with what Japan has to offer in terms of experiences than my home country. It is more than likely due to a vast combo of factors ranging from the fact that my cultural/familial disconnection from Japan makes it exotic and more alluring, to sentiments of disappointment I harbor towards certain personally perceived shortcomings in my home nation (yeah that aint fair, but neither was the dismissing the spread of AIDS as the “gay plague” in its early stages or telling a Rwanda refugee that “America doesn’t have friends, it has interests”). Yeah, Japan may not be perfect, but until my home nation shapes up, I have no right to criticize another nation.

The other reason I like it here so much is that I have a lot more faith in and respect for my present job as well as a far deeper sense of satisfaction. All the hurdles I may face in working for AEON were made clear to me or AT LEAST hinted at. My prior experience with National Guard B.S. has trained me how to interpret these subtle hintings and how extensive a headache they could be. I have yet to have an unpleasant surprise. It also helps that Aeon primarily wants me to be a good teacher and takes good care of me for the purpose of providing a good service and that all those above me have treated me with (at least) an acceptable amount of respect.

Moreover, the role I am performing and trying to perfect really suites me. I am working everyday to help individuals master a task that will help them understand others of a different culture. At the moment, I believe this is how I can best make the world a better place. How much better would this world be if everyone could understand one another better? My ripple in the ocean of life may be miniscule but it is better than the absolute stillness that I felt I only managed to cause up to this point in terms of my work. I finally believe my job makes a positive difference and that is mostly why I freakin love working here.

Monday

2009-07-09T10:54:00.000+09:00

So now that I have been in Japan for a month, there are two things I know that I really want to do as soon as possible. The less important one is to find a good place to get margaritas, and I think I have. There are TGI Fridays here!!! One of my friends here has been there and she says they are good and the size is legit. I just checked the Internet and there is one about 10 minutes away from me by train 0_0 I am definitely hitting there soon. Though their giant (or supreme?) margarita costs 13 bucks more or less . . . It better be big and it better taste freakin good. LOL. The other thing I need to accomplish here is to finally “go big.”

My predecessor introduced me to this term. When explaining to me how the trains operate here as well as the clubs, he explained that (since the trains stop around midnight) either one goes home early, or one “goes big.” The term basically means that you stay out and up until around 530AM when the trains start up again. Staying up till around 530 in the morning has been my style of going out for quite a while and I hope to get the opportunity to “go big” soon. Ending a day of exploring at 830 or 9 is kind of a bummer -_- Hopefully my first night of “going big” provides a good story or two to share with you.

Yesterday, work was good. I did my first prospective student interview and it went ok. I had rehearsed and practiced a few times up to this point, but there is no training like doing the actual task for real. There were plenty of things to improve on, but my manager sat in on the interview and indicated later on in the day that she was satisfied with my over all first time performance. Whew! The prospective student did smile and laugh a bit, which also put me at ease. I know I am a loser to admit this, but I look forward to the next opportunity. This is something else I want to be good at. Making a good first impression . . .for myself as well as the company I am representing.

Sorry it took so long!

2009-07-08T11:26:00.000+09:00

Wow, it was quite the weekend. Even though I work through Saturday, my weekend did in fact begin on Friday night. A lot has gone down since I last posted and I apologize in advance for how long this may be. Friday: As I always say, and will try to say less often now, slowly but surely my teaching is improving in the sense that I am more comfortable with it and on top of all the steps I have to attend to in class. Other than that I have no real news of a serious nature, but there is once again a funny situation with the same kids class as I had that one awkward moment with last week. This time, I am actually trying to teach and am in the middle of doing a game activity with the kids. One of the girls is already done and out and I let her draw on the board behind me while she waited. No biggie. The problem presented itself as she turned around and touched both my butt cheeks with her hands and rubbed em for about a second till I stopped her (in a playful kid way I guess though) . . . Man those kids. I will be on my top guard for this class on Friday. Who knows what I face next with them?

After school, two co-workers (later to be joined by our manager), two students, and myself headed over to a local izakaya to wind down. It was a fun and relaxing dinner as we got to know each other and laugh over life’s simple or exciting pleasures. Nights like that are one of the many things that keep me smiling at work ^_^

Saturday:

As usual, Saturday is a busy day but it was a good one nonetheless. This was somewhat entertaining also. So, my head teacher needs to watch me teach a lesson and sits in on a lesson I am teaching to an 18 and a 20-year-old girl. For those of you who know me, stop laughing cause this isn’t going to be what you think . . . Jerks. Anywho, the class was about calling people on the phone and for the most part it went really well and while I am at the last ten minutes of class, I have one of the girls pretend she is calling a guy’s house, but he isn’t home while the girl (other student) is and she is his girlfriend. I didn’t even consider where they were gonna take this -_-

So here is the convo:

Student 1: Hello? This is (can’t say her name) . . . is Wes there?

Student2: No this is ___. I am Wes’s girlfriend (“oh geez” I thought to myself) Why are you calling here? (OH IT GETS BETTER)

Student1: Oh . . . I am also Wes’s girlfriend . . . (and the skit goes on, but that’s the funniest part)

So I got a little red, but we all got a good laugh out of it. Things like this definitely keep work rather interesting haha. In terms of my head teacher observing me, He liked me better that I expected. I did manage to forget a big chunk (which I had never done up to that point), but it wasn’t too big a deal. There are some preparation things I need to work on and a couple other fine details, but other than that, I am doing ok. I now have a better idea of how to improve and am grateful for it. He says he plan to watch another class this week. Hopefully I knock his socks off =P

After work, three of us teachers and one of the students went down to Yokohama city to have a night in the town. We got there around eightish and had ourselves a good time. We went to this pizza joint that is pretty popular here called Shaky’s. I guess it's a US based company with all the English and American culture that was all up in the place. The pizza was quite good though. Of course we had some pepperoni, but we tried some terriyaki chicken also, which was quite delicious.

From there we went and did some karaoke for about an hour and later took the show to a local arcade. It had several floors and all sorts of games you would and would not recognize. There were also a lot of those claw games where the prizes were anything from food to watches. Some of my friends would have never left hehe. I played this game that is like guitar hero but for Taiko drums (Japanese style drums). Very fun, and I posted pictures of it on the profile. Before we headed home, we went to this department store called Don Quijote. Its like the Wal-Mart of Japan 0_0 they had everything there >_<>

Sunday:

I met up with an old friend who actually lived next door to me in my first year at college. She was an exchange student doing a home-stay and I saw her quite often before I got deployed. It was nice to see her again after so long. We met in the city of Asakusa and initially checked out the Sensoji shrine that was there. It was an amazing site (pics posted). The structures of the gates and buildings were very impressive, and so was the long network of souvenir/snack shops between the inner and outer gate buildings. Not to mention there was a ton of people there that day. My friend said that over the New Year holiday, it is so crowded that one can’t even move around in the crowd. Crazy. Even though the place was hella crowded, I still felt the same way around this shrine as I did the one back in Omiya. It was amazing. We then proceeded to just walk around town to watch people and catch up on the 4 years we were out of the loop with each other. There were plenty of interesting people as well as sights. For instance there was this 4 or 5 story building dedicated to televising horse races for gambling. I never guessed it was so popular here. We also walked by a movie theater where I was surprised to see provocative pictures of scantily clad women in the middle of what seemed to be “romance scenes.” When I asked my friend what that was about, she told me that XXX theaters do exist here and that they call them “pink theaters.” I thought that was funny. Then, we just chilled by the river for a bit next to the Asahi headquarters building and enjoyed the peaceful and pretty afternoon. Gosh, Japan is so peaceful at times!

Next, we stopped a few cities over in Ueno. There is this big shopping center there called “Amayay okocho.” This place was also hella crowded, but that had pretty much anything you needed in terms of shopping. I managed to get myself this really handy coin-organizing wallet. Now I won’t jingle like santa clause with all the change I carry here.

We then bought a couple of bento dinners and cans of umeshu for ourselves and ate lunch in Ueno park. It was very relaxing as well as entertaining. There were plenty of people to watch and we also had to intimidate some crows that were intent on snatching our food. My friend said that this park is a prime spot for Sakura watching during April. She pointed out that basically all the trees lining the walkway would blossom. It sounded breath taking. Maybe I will make a stop there during April. Once we finished our meals, I then got to experience my first movie in Japan . . . Transformers 2!! It was in English and I liked it a lot better than the first one. Also, theaters in Japan are a little different but not really so much as to make for the necessity to comment more on it than this.

That was pretty much the excitement of my weekend. On Monday I just did errands and took care of ish at home. I guess I just need one of those days to relax. Work was fine yesterday and more or less uneventful. Though one of the staff is having her birthday on Saturday and we may do something after work. We shall see. You know I will keep you informed.

Lonely?

2009-07-03T01:25:00.001+09:00

I was asked recently if I was homesick yet and I have also even questioned myself as to why I am not lonely here. I have come to believe that this blog is the answer to that. as I type these words I am speaking from my heart to yours and that makes me feel closer to you. Knowing that my friends and loved ones care enough to bother to read my simple ramblings makes my heart content at its deepest point. I admit there are the moments where I would like to be able to reach out and hug you or something at will, but the knowing that you care is enough right now. Thank you.

Also, I was pretty unhappy with myself and who I was during the end of my senior year in college and the year I waited to to get out here. As my college career came to close, I didn't want to attempt grad school right away and I lost a lot of respect for my job. I was living everyday with no real tangible purpose, until I decided to come here. Even then, I had to wait to have that purpose for almost a year. I had things to work toward, but I couldn't help but feel that I was in a holding area and my life was sort of on pause (though i did live it up hehe). Now that I am here though, I feel that sense of purpose again and it makes me a lot happier with myself and life in general. It is really nice to have a positive (but realistic) spin on most things around me again.

So am I homesick . . . at times, but not in the way you think. You are my home and you are always with me. I just wish you were here sometimes.

Lunchtime thoughts

2009-07-03T00:33:00.000+09:00

Part of this was written on my lunch break today . . .

Yesterday went well. I woke up and took care of everything I planned to and was rested. Work was good as well. No real news on teaching, but everyday I feel like I am improving upon the day or week before and that is good enough for me. One of my students said something interesting though. She told my head teacher that compared to another teacher from a while back, I am starting off more confident. Apparently when this guy first began to teach, he would drop his materials often during class cause he was so nervous. I haven't been doing that and I guess I had impressed this particular student. This encourages me; not in the sense that I am starting off better than the other guy, but that I am starting off confident. I have one less hurtle to overcome before I can call myself a good teacher. . . Smooth.

Other than that, yesterday was a good and more or less average day until I went to bed. Today, is going along in the same vein. Though I did forget to mention last Thursday, but was reminded today, that one of my student's husband got his MBA at UCI. What a small world!! I told her to go home and do the "zot zot zot" to him ad see what he did. She said he was surprised and and laughed about it. Funny stuff eh?

It has been mentioned to me by some that I should talk about how I feel out here a bit more in detail in terms of emotion. I usually do, when it comes to excitement and happiness, but I will try to avoid complaining on this medium if I have problems. I don't want this blog to ever be mistaken for a bitchy one. Why would I complain or even take the time to write about negative emotions when all that will do is take time and energy away from the good ones or overcoming the challenges? I have and will be facing adversity here for sure and I will document those experiences, but you will be hard pressed to catch how upset or sad I am about something. Though, I admit now that if foreigners come here and piss me off and make me and other well behaved foreigners look bad, I will probably vent and get all crazy bout it here. so watch out for that hehe . . .

With that said I actually need to talk about the movie "Lost in translation" and how it relates to how I regard my situation here. But after I get back from work . . .

So . . . I have owned this movie, "Lost in translation" for the last 5 years or so and didn't sit down to watch it till last week. Basically the film follows the experiences of two exceedingly unhappy spouses (not to each other) as they cope with their general dissatisfaction with their marriages as well as life in general, in the town of Shibuya (Tokyo). A lot of the directional moves in the film seem to poke fun at or mock Japanese culture as Bill Murry or Scarlet Johanson's characters seemed to predominately receive the Japanese experience with ill affect until they meet each other and have their emotional affair. I initially wanted to be annoyed with the movie, but I soon realized that my interpretation of the film is probably far from universal and the problem I had from what I saw lies somewhere else.

"Lost in translation" could easily be proclaimed as a commentary on the fact that satisfaction with one's location is a reflection of one's satisfaction with life. This can be seen in the movie as the outlook of Japan seems to improve as the Bill and Scarlet get closer and coping with everything that is different from America in a more positive fashion. Like Bill is still consistently condescending to non english speaking Japanese people, but he starts doing it with a smile on his face with a air of playfulness rather than frustration as the movie draws on. So yeah, take the movie as you see it I guess.

BUT . . . here is what that film awakened me to; which is one of my quick switches actually. For anyone not of Japanese descent and unable to speak Japanese, please recognize the cold hard fact that you are a fucking guest in this country (an uninvited guest at that). Sure Japan allows people to visit so they can spend their money here, but the US is the same way or it wouldn't be so damn hard for foreigners to get a green card or US citizenship. Thus, as an uninvited guest, we need to act the part.

Here we go . . .

DO NOT COME HERE EXPECTING THE JAPANESE TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH!!! If you plan to vacation here, you had better study up on Japanese and their writing systems or get a sufficient guide (person) to help you around the country. To think that or act as if the people of Japan exist to serve your trivial recreational needs while you are on vacation is absolutely absurd. Please do not come here and start randomly talking to people that don't understand you and then get frustrated because they don't. How do you like it when someone gets in your face and starts blabbering in some language you can not understand?

HERE, JAPANESE CULTURE IS NOT WEIRD . . . YOURS IS! Do not come here and complain about how things are not the same as they are back home. The Japanese have several customs and other details of life, ranging from how one puts food in their mouths to how one views life, that differ greatly from your own. Get yourself informed of these differences, adjust if you failed to, and get over them. No one here is interested in your complaints except for maybe all the other babies that should have stayed in their home countries. And if your being in Japan was not a circumstance you wanted for yourself and you are stuck being here, do not burden your hosts (the Japanese people) with your problems and frustrations as they probably have their own to worry about. The depression is global after all at present.

Though you are an uninvited guest, I am more than confident that you will, more often that not, be treated quite graciously and with respect wherever you go if you make the slightest effort at being a pleasant guest. That means trying to comminucate in Japanese or just merely being considerate. Its really too easy to be treated well here. I have been here for a month and have yet to have a direct negative interaction with any Japanese person and am not planning to as long as I stay.

Whew ok . . . I'm over it and stepping off the box. Sorry.

Japan is different and definitely a destination not for everyone, as is any other country on this globe and some things I have seen or heard here from Non Japanese people have not settled well with me. "Lost in translation" randomly provided me the oppertunity to reflect on and articulate how I felt about the things I have been seeing.

and note that I am not speaking to anyone one in particular with this. I just wanted to vent this and let you know.

Another work week

2009-07-01T11:06:00.000+09:00

Well it is the start of my third week in Nakayama and things are well. I finally got my alien registration card in the morning and there is nothing I can not do here unless it is privately owned and the owners declare their service/good for Japanese people only. Thus, my assistant manager faxed the card to the internet guys and the are gonna be installing my internet between the 23rd and 26th. With that said; heads up as I may lose connectivity until then any day now =[

Work was well. I taught kids for real in every kids class I had and it went alright. I need to increase my arsenal of class games in order to prevent boredom and memorize the flow of ids classes, but other than that everything was satisfactory I think. The kids were all actually really good yesterday, so I am super thankful for that. Everyone in my adult class in the evening canceled, which was a bummer, but I got to chat with my staff and get closer. So it all worked out I guess. I did teach one adult in the morning though. Turns out he is a Japanese professional rugby player 0_0 The biggest Japanese guy I have ever seen. He is really pleasant and kind though and having a bro that played rugby made it really exciting to chat and get to know him. It would be cool if he could meet my bro. Maybe sometime . . .

OH! so that holiday going down this month that has the city being all decorated as the pictures show is callad Tanabata or 七夕(たなばた）. For the history of the holiday, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata. Presently, one of the main customs of the holiday is to write wishes or poetry on a peice of paper (any color and small in size) attach it to Bamboo and hang it or put afloat down a river. It is an interesting holiday, and like I said, I like how the city looks all decked out as it is ^_^

When my class was canceled in the evening, I was thinking to myself for a bit and stumbled on a realization. Whether or not I like it, I am out of control of the fact that all of life (in and out of the army) is a game of hurry up and wait. I prep and then rush to the train station with a hightened sense of urgency just to sit there and idly wait till I arrive at my location. I rush to work to be there at the appropriate time just to prep for classes or wait for instructions from other staff Or I rush to get to a party/meet up on time and end up chillin till everyone else arrives. There are countless examples of this in my own and other's daily lives that I have witnessed. Therefore, I think that those oppertunities where one is forced to wait after a stressful period of rushing are the perfect time to recover from those stressful moments. When you get on that train, when there is a lull at work, or when there is nothing to do, take that time to chill out and release that stress from your system you have just recently been undergoing. Life gives us plenty of oppertunity to chill out amidst life's chaos, but it is my and your own responsibility to take advantage of them. This is how I lived for the longest time till this very moment and have, at present, found a happy balance in my own life. I wish the same happiness for everyone around me.

I hope all is well!

Weekend success

2009-06-29T20:21:00.001+09:00

What a weekend! As I suspected, I got right on top of exploring once I got settled in my apartment. The journey has initiated its next phase. Work was good on Saturday. Classes went OK and the business end of things went just fine. Actually, our shibucho (divisional manager) came in, but she was just checking numbers, so I wasn't really affected any sort of way by her visit. The night ran long for the Japanese staff though. They were talking to prospective students still as I left the school at 9ish. Poor guy and gals =/

While they took care of business I headed to dinner with my American as well as one of my Japanese colleagues to a familiar spot. It was this family-run Indian/Bangladesh restaurant near my pad I have been to three times already since I've been here and is really good (it was even recognized by the governor of Yokohama). I need to get some photos of their food huh? Anywho, the three of us chatted away the time and made a delightful evening of a satruday night.

Sunday marked my first official trip away from where I sleep with the intent to explore Japan . . . finally. It was awesome for that reason AND that I got to meet up with one of my friends from the states and explore Tokyo together. The first checkpoint was to meet up in the town of Shibuya. Some of the things that I have been told about shibuya is that it is known for its shopping, eating, and nightlife. The trip we took there confirmed that. We went shopping for a bit and just walked around looking at shops and people till we got lost and ended up walking to Harajuku (next town down; not far at all) LOL.

Unfortunately it started raining on our little walk and the rain probably chased off all the Harajuku kids, cause we didn't see all that many. We did see a few here and there though, so it wasn't a total loss. We of course walked down crowded ass (plus umbrellas!) Takeshita street and checked out a handful of the little shops along the way and all around town there as well. An interesting sight we saw was a forever 21 that had a Line outside it just to get in and an H&M next door with the same situation. The even crazier thing was that everyone leaving forever 21 had a bag with merchindise in it! FOREVER 21 IS MAKING A KILLING IN HARAJUKU! From there we then decided to stop at an English style pub for a quick lunch.

This is where I need to mention that my freind decided to change her shirt cause it was hot out. What she changes in to was essentially a sash that covered her breasts. It was halter top style, tied at the base of her back (thats right, no back at all) and a ring kept the front together. Guys and girls were checking her out EVERYWHERE we went. It was really entertaining. She was quite the scandal that day. I even heard a Japanese woman go: " Ehhhhh!? shexy Desuyo!" As we went into the pub and she though we could't hear. Quite entertaining . . . and it wasn't hard on my eyes either =P

Anywho, from lunch, we went next door to a local Karaoke place and sang our hearts out for an hour. Trying to talk to the staff and get an English songbook was interesting, but we got the job done hehe. Afterward, we took the train back to Shibuya where we actually randomly ran into a store we were looking for earlier and couldn't find. My friend got another racey shirt that suited her style and we were off once again. It was 6 pm and we walk up to a dance club that we saw along the way and heard them playing music (we wanted to dance). We asked if we could get in, but alas, it was a college event. No biggie; we just went to the club nest door called Lounge Neo Club Asia and got in fine. WOOHOO!! we danced for practically two hours straight and as we were the only foreigners in the joint, we were quite the attraction. Many people came up to us, danced with us or took our picture. It was a feakin blast. I have been dying to dance since I got here and finally did. I'm so happy!

After that we headed back to the JR Shibuya station and went our seperate ways. It was a wonderful adventure. Thank you Stephanie!

Today I slept in, as you can imagine, and then was productive as hell. I went to the community sports/recreation center here and used the gym. Its small, but good enough for my workout regimen. It is only missing pull up bars and another machine I can't recall the name of, but I can adjust for the lacking easily enough. after that, I picked up some things for the house, organized all my official and billing documents (for here) into folders and did all my laundry and ironing. I will head to sleep tonight with nothing to worry bout. Love it.

Before I go, check the picks below. They are of the route I walk to work everyday. Usually there aren't the streamers though. They went up last week and I really like how festive they have made my trek. I will try to find out the name of the holiday for which the city is flying these decorations. I just wanted to share the sight though. Enjoy!

uh . . .

2009-06-26T22:44:00.000+09:00

So I have my phone in hand now. It is charged and I am connected to the rest of the country finally. . . thank gosh! It will take some getting used to though as you may imagine with it being suited for Japanese customers and all. The texting functions aren't the same, I have two choices for messaging, and messages from softbank (my carrier) are in Hiragana and kanji hehe. Its all good though. I will get used to it soon enough. One really cool thing that phones here do is use infrared technology to get contact information from other phones. So if I meet the girl of my dreams here and try to get her number; all I have to do is make sure we both have infrared on our phones and our info can be exchanged by holding our phones near each other. That's pretty cool I think. Here is what it looks like (notice the Hiragana on the key pad):

Yesterday wasn't too eventful as far as work was concerned. Though I feel even more convinced that it will probably be sometime before I get the hang of teaching. Like any particular skill, teaching requires careful prep and A LOT of practice. I just need to be patient with myself as I linger in my metaphorical room of mediocrity for a while longer. Now, about my school.

Though I refer to it as a school, AEON Nakayama does not necessarily meat the commonly understood criteria that makes a school beyond educating pupils. I have yet to teach a class that has more than six poeple in it. All my big classes are kids classes, and my adult classes are mostly one or two students big at the most. All homework is checked in class, and since AEON is a conversation school, there is very little written work to check. Makes the 25 classes I (am supposed to) teach quite manageble. I just need to be able to "think on my toes" a lot. I like it this way so far though. In terms of location; my school takes up the 5th and 6th floors of a 6 story building. The recpetion desk, lobby, teachers room & kitchen, one class room, admin office area, and an interview room are on the fifth floor and the sixth floor is all classrooms. All my classes take place in room 7 out of 9 others(my favorit number!) ^_^ It is smaller than you are probably imagining it, but it is a good fit for our purpous here.

Today . . . hehe

Fridays at work (at the moment) are looking like "kids days." from 3 until 6 in the evening. There are parents and their children everywhere. every teacher has a class and they all seem to have at least 4 kids a peice. It gets hectic, but the kids are so cute that I don't mind. I should also note that kids are a bigger challenge for me to teach than adults. I need to be really good at not only managing the flow of class, but making sure my younger students with short attention spans pay attention. I am up to the challenge, but it will definitely be quite the challenging task.

Speaking of being challenged; life threw me an interesting curveball today. I was trying to show my youngest kids class how to play "patty cake." To make the game easier for as well as seeming less imposing on my shorter partner, I squatted down to play with my student. No biggie, but as I was talking to two of the kids who began to goof off, my helper (a maybe 7 or 8 year old girl) patted my crotch exactly where my nuts are . . . WHAT THE HELL?!!! I didn't over react or make a big scene about it( I actually just casually but firmly said "quit that"), but what the hell moves a 7 or 8 year old girl to pat her teachers balls? Serously! I was taken completely off guard. It isn't going to be a problem for me or anything, but I won't be forgetting this event for a while I'm sure. Geez

Well my weekend starts tomorrow night and I am looking hella forward to seeing my friend who is here from the states. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes and get some good pics up ^_^

Smooth

2009-06-25T00:56:00.000+09:00

Success! The company (SoftBank) gave me the phone >_< I couldn't leave with it in hand as mt colleague and I had to wait but didn't have enough time to do so before work, but I pick it up in the morning and will be connected to the rest of Japan soon enough. Thank gosh! Now I can get the bank in order, and with luck, the internet company as well. They have an English help line and I will attempt to flex my charm on them. Wish me luck!

One thing I do need to add to last night's post (that was brought to my attention today) is that even though I seem to have gone through a hassle, the people here are super nice about it. Up to this point, every Japanese person I have had direct contact with has been nothing but super polite and gracious. Even if I am getting the run around, its from policy rather that rude people. I am thankful for that much. That's why it hasn't bothered me to a significant extent.

Work was good today. My classes flowed better and I am getting comfortable with them to the point where I am working on other aspects of my teaching style (classroom English, and how to best work with the material and adapt to student skill levels). Its better, but not by much. It will be a while before I even consider claiming that I am good. Kids have been a different matter this week though. Since they had counseling they don't learn lessons this week and thus all I do is play games with them. So far, they freakin LOVE the card game speed. It has been a hit with all ages under 12 thus far and they seem to warm up to me after we play. Good stuff! I hope that means that teaching them will be made easier next week. we shall see.

Ok, off to bed so I am not too tired when I get this phone!

Training wheels off

2009-06-23T22:54:00.000+09:00

Well, I am glad I was born with such patience as they are presently being tested and I have been relying on them some. This entry is not intended to be a venting of complaints, but rather a relation of utter fact. Furthermore, even if I were to be annoyed at present by my circumstances, it is because of my inability to adapt to my situation/surroundings and have really only myself to blame for my state of mind. Anywho, I have been facing a number of personal logistical challenges since I have arrived in Nakayama. Apperently, I need a Resident Alien card to work and live here in Japan as well as to take advantage of various services that are offered privitely or by the government. I registered at my local city hall the day I arrived to Nakayama, and they said I will need to wait till the 30th to come and pick the card up. Normaly I wouldn't care, but like is said, I have faced some challenges due to this policy.

Right after city hall, my head teacher took me to the bank to open an account so I can get paid this coming Thursday. That took a while, but was a successful endeavor. From there we went to one of the cell phone carrier shops and tried to get me a phone. No dice, the saleswoman said I needed the resident alien card before I could establish a contract. A bummer, but one of my colleagues went to another location and got a phone without her card, so I held off till I got another shot 4 days later. On Friday, both of the foreign teachers went with me to another city where I could get my internet and phone in the same building. The internet seemed to go easily enough (though I needed AEON to fax em my proof of employment later on in the day) and the phone seemed the same but we didn't have time to go through the whole transaction and had to get to work. The sales person gave a card with some notes on it and we left assured that we could get me a phone easily enough when we returned. Also, we faxed the proof of employment and everything seemed good.

Well it wasn't. The office got a call yesterday from the internet guy saying I needed my actual registration card to open internet (the official proof that I was gettting it made no bearing at all). AFTER THAT, the bank called saying that I cannot get my bank cards unless they have my telephone number. Even my manager was calling the bank and general sensation a headache. I even got annoyed for about ten minutes, but got over it quickly enough. I think It may get to me tomorrow if I can't get the phone afterall though. Cross your fingers for me!

My second day off wasn't really all too eventful. I responded to all the messages I had gotten since I arrived here, which felt really nice and I also was able to go on a run. Back into the swing of things hopefully.

Work today was good. I am off the training wheels and taught two classes today. Still needs work, but not too bad nonetheless. I did have another class, but it was a kids class and that with all the other kids classes this week will just involve me playing games with the cchildren so we can get used to eachother. I'm looking forward to it.

alrights I need to hit the sack so I can take care of ish tomorrow. Leave a comment if you have a topic request for one of my next blogs! Payce!

Ah . . . day off.

2009-06-21T23:03:00.000+09:00

So it is sunday and my first day off in Nakayama. What did I do? I cleaned my apartment finally and chilled. I am one of those people that needs to be indoors all day once in a while . . . though it seems to happen every time I drink the night before and happen to not dance. Which, happened last night, but I'll get to that. It actually feels really nice to have my apartment in order like this. It feels like its mine now. If it is actually called messy by anyone, it is my responsibility rather than the person who lived here before. Stay tuned as I intend to eventually get a video tour of my pad so you can get a taste of my living if you don't already have an idea.

As for work yesterday, it went pretty well. I taught two more classes and they went a lot better than Friday's class. My predecessor even told me so ^_^ I admit they were far from perfect, but better nonetheless. I will strive further and further to improve my abilities to facilitate my students learning. It has to happen in steps though and my first one to make is actually two-fold. I need to get on top of how to make a lesson flow correctly in terms of time (I will still strive to perfect other aspects of the class at that time of course) and I need to remember my students names. I need to know them rather than just who they are. When I know my students, I will know best how to help and instruct them. Names and class flow are my two top priorities right now. I hope to knock them out quickly, as it will be just me in the classroom teaching from Tuesday on. Sink or swim . . . I can do it!

After work yesterday was the big event, the welcome/farewell party for my predecessor and I. It was quite the event to. We ate at a local Italian restaurant (buffet/hourdervs style) and about 47 of the students and friends actually showed up. We literally closed out the joint once we got there till it closed. It was really fun. The head teacher had put together a quiz on my predecessor that was funny and enjoyed by everyone as well as a commemorative sideshow. From there all the foreign staff gave a speech in turn. I said "hello", my predecessor said "goodbye", and my colleague said "I'll miss you." From there we took the party (maybe 25 of us) to the local bowling alley where we rented out a huge Karaoke room where we sang and drank the night away in both English and Japanese. Then we went to a late night Japanese restaurant and snacked till about 330 or so. . . AEON staff and students know how to party lol. Through out the night I got to chat with different students and even got my first traditional tea ceremony lesson. It's complicated. I also got lots of advice on where to go, what to do, and eat. I apparently have a lot to do during my time here. I am looking forward to it.

In closing I need to acknowledge the departure of my predecessore, Ram. He was an indispensible source of seaoned wisdom and expert guidence all week and any confidence I display in the classroom Tuesday morning and everyday after will be attributed mostly to him. If you ever read this Ram, I hope you know that I am ever grateful for your help in getting me started on the right foot in my teaching career. I hope your vaction home was amazing and that you find what you were looking for in Thailand. Know that you will be missed here in Japan by all that knew you including myself. It was short, but it was great . . . dawg. Laters!

My first live time blog since I got here

2009-06-19T22:36:00.000+09:00

Beleive it or not, I am actually writing this post in real time. I got off work and decided to blog about the day before I hopped off to bed. I have to be in at 930 tomorrow and am looking at quite a long day/night in front of me. I will be teaching two classes, observing four others. From there, we go pretty much straight from work to celebrate my predecessor's going away from and my welcome to the school. We are having dinner at a local italian style restaurant, then going to the bowling alley where they have . . . bet you can't guess . . . yes, bolwing (as well as karaokee somehow) and then something else after that as I am told. I am interested to see how it plays out and will obviously be needing my rest this evening -_-

Today went pretty well. I woke up early to jump on the train to my predecessor's town so I could set up my own internet and phone. Two years here really paid off for him and his Japanese cause he translated everything with both sales people. The only problem was that the internet guy took too long and I didn't have enough time to finish the transaction with the cell phone lady and had to leave mid talk. Furthermore, it seems that it takes a while to install internet here, so I may be out of touch from July first till the 9th or possibly the 13th. I have internet now, but it was paid for only till the end of June. No worries though, there is an internet cafe near here and I will trek there when I need. Also, I will go get my phone on monday . . . hopefully with no more problems.

As far as work is concerned, it was an OK day. I taught my first class and I felt like it could have gone better on my part. I talked a little too much I feel and I wasn't as organized as usual cause I overlooked some pre-set up steps. It is not the end of the world though. My predecessor actually said I did OK for my first time and I know how to fix myself for tomorrow. Hopefully I'm better! Now I am off to bed to handle tomorrow. Wish me luck!

June 19, 2009 0124 JST

2009-06-19T02:21:00.001+09:00

How’s it rollin? I cannot believe I actually waited 8 days to write this. So much has gone on in the last 8 days. Well. . . not really but there is so much detail wound up in every experience due to it being new and novel that I feel like I could go on for pages about just one days experience at this point. Nonetheless neither you nor I have that kind of time so I will have to sell things somewhat short. So here it goes . . .

The rest of my time in training at Omiya went well. We all completed our training and I got feedback on various points that were encouraging and helpful. I was very optimistic about moving on to Nakayama (my branch/town). I was glad to get out of there. I was growing tired of living and sharing a space with a lot of people real fast, but fortunately its over. On our first day off before I moved to my pad. I went with 3 other teachers around our town. Our first stop was the local Shrine. I was so glad to have gone. It is hard to articulate the experience. I wasn’t merely seeing some ancient architecture or cultural artifact to take pictures, but something about being at that place made me feel at ease or at peace. I honestly felt that the location was stripping me of my worldly concerns and luring my soul to place of stillness. I didn’t say anything to my companions, but that place really affected me. If all shrines are like this, I cannot wait to get to the next one. From there we checked out a crude city zoo they had and explored their public park. It was a really nice trek and overall afternoon. On the next day, I just chilled got to the internet to hollar at those I haven’t gotten in touch with since I left. It was nice to reconnect with home.

Monday brought about my move to Nakayama. It was a full and good day. I said farewell to my comrades as they got off the train at stops before mine and finally met up with my head teacher. He is a pretty nice guy thus far. He showed me to the office where I met some of the staff that were there. Everyone made a good first impression. My manager and the two part time teachers there at the time were very welcoming and pleasant. I actually graduated from the same high school as one of them (she was a year ahead of me). How small is the world again LOL! From there I was taken to register with city card for my alien registration card, get a bank account and finally be moved into my apartment. I love it!! The best part about my place is . . . I share it with no one =p I do have to keep my noise down, but that is of no bother at this point. I have not yet been able to meet any of my illusive neighbors but my backyard does happen to be the local police station. Pretty funny huh? They aren’t Irvine cops, so I don’t mind. It would actually be cool to have some sort of morning greeting ritual with them. I think that would be funny. If that goes down, I will let you know.

Now I am settling in . . . to both my pad and job. I have been slowly arranging my apartment to suite my taste day by day. Its coming along slowly, but I am getting there. In terms of work, I have been trailing the teacher I am to replace and learning the ropes from him and taking tips from the other staff. So far I pretty much like everyone at the school. They have all been super nice and gracious and I couldn’t have been more lucky with my new crew I think. The students are all really nice as well. As most of you know, I will be having trouble with names, but it is almost my top priority to tackle that first so hopefully I have a good grasp on who is who when I take over officially on Tuesday. All and all the week has gone well thus far.

Today, it feels like things are starting to come together. I am remembering how things work and the higher staff has indicated that I am making a positive contribution in my efforts around the school already. I was pleased to get such remarks so soon. Also, a professional photographer from the head office came in and took pictures of all the staff that were present for both our branch website as well as possibly for ad campaigns if any of them a deemed good enough. It was an interesting day like all the rest. One thing that stuck out about the day took place just before I went home. My head teacher asked if I had taught or worked a similar job before this. He was impressed with how I interact with the students and was wondering where it came from. I told him it was cause of our students. Our students are better than I had hoped for during training in Omiya. They really want to be at class and excel and learning how to speak Eglish. Their drive and motivation drives me to be the way I am. They aren’t some spoiled priss-ass giving you shit cause they are hungry and don't want the food you made them. Rather, they want to be able to connect with me through language so they can engage a larger portion of the world in which they live. They are excited to accomplish this goal and project this excitement on me in the classroom and school lobby and I get off on that. As long as my students want to learn from me, I want to teach them. I see good things coming about based on this exchange. We’ll see.

I know I have skimped on many details, but this is long enough as is. Now that I am at my place, hopefully I can be better bout posting bout things in detail. Do hit me with follow up questions should you have any though.

June 11, 2009 10:06 JST

2009-06-19T02:20:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was another full day. We learned and went over how tot teach parts of a children’s lesson in the morning and then taught adults a different type of class again in the evening. It all went pretty well I think. I think I had performed somewhat better than the day before for the students but I still need to slow down. It is a problem I think will be more solved by time rather than my willpower (as the past has shown), but I will be making any possible changes nonetheless to get my speed right. Other than that, I got really good feed back from my trainer and it was super encouraging. I can’t let it go to my head though. I noticed something about my peers in training though. It seems a good portion of them have gotten way caught up in all the processes we have been taught and are overlooking the student care aspect. I think it is a minor function of the intense training we are going through, but nonetheless, it seemed as if the these teachers were robots going through their motions and not being aware or sensitive to the atmosphere the were making in the classroom. It was a bummer to watch but, like I said, will go away when what they are doing becomes more natural. I hope.

The reason I noticed this is that the students I have worked with thus far are super motivated and enthusiastic about what they are doing. In class they consistently exceed and think beyond the help and support the book and teachers provide. This makes me want to be perfect for them. They are trying so hard and I want them to get as much out of their efforts as they can. They are really inspiring. I hope my students in Nakayama are the same for the most part.

After work I hit the Internet café for a short bit and then went to this wonderful restaurant where we got some Okonomiyake. It’s cooked like a pancake in that it has egg and batter to make its form, but there are also vegetables, meat/seafood, and whatever else you want on the inside. The manager of the restaurant prepared them for us at our table in front of us and talked to here a bit in our broken Japanese. It was actually really pleasant. She was so sweet and even gave some extra ingredients and gave 80 円 off our bill. We also talked to one of the servers there that was in college and had been studying English for 6 years. It was a fun chat and he was also really nice. I want to go back to that place again soon >_<

Afterwards it was homework then bed. Then today I woke up cleaned a bit and did the rest of the homework. Now I need to change and have at it. We get a free lunch today, so I am looking forward to that =P I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!

The lunch was awesome!

June 9, 2009

2009-06-19T02:19:00.000+09:00

Good morning, how’s it rollin?

The last three days have been really nice. I have gotten to do some exploring, I already met up with and made new friends, and training has commenced wonderfully. It isn’t too hot here quite yet, and may be due to consistent cloud cover everyday besides Saturday, which I have appreciated as I have had to walk to lunch during my breaks during training. Hehe they have 7 eleven and AM PM here and the food they sell are perfect lunches. It may just be the novelty of em, but I seem to like the ones more than those back in the states based them having more types of food I would actually consider eating for lunch. I also managed to get to the McDonald’s next door to the 7-eleven because I wanted to try to the Teriyaki burger they offer. It was pretty good. I won’t be eating there often, but I must say that the amount of service and care that go into the food and customer service there greatly exceed that of their counterparts in the states. Watching them do their thing actually resembled that of a diligent In-N-Out crew working at a McDonald’s. I want to also note that the menu is pretty simple. There were 8 meals and around 7 familiar items on their 100 and 120 円 (basically “dollar”) menus, as opposed to nearly 30 or 40 (?) different items one can get at one in the states.

I trained all day Saturday and Sunday. Including an hour break and a few 10-minute breaks here and there, training days are about 9 hours long. The trainers are all super kind and helpful. They have been instructing us how to go about presenting the materials they provide in a manner that has shown to be most effective to efficient and better learning over the years. We also just learned about how to teach kids . . . I am kind of nervous about it. I know I will have at least 8 kids classes, so I need to get confident and get over it. I’ll be depending a lot on my staff for tips and pointers I think. Overall, everything is actually pretty interesting, though I am anxious to learn and move on. I have been a student pretty much all my life. I want to do the job; I know I need the training but I am still really looking forward to getting to my branch school on Monday and starting the job for real. Today we practice our abilities on students they train in from schools around the area. I’m super excited! My first professional contact with Japanese people since I have gotten here . . . hopefully I do well. Ok I have to head off to work . . . Will complete this at the end of the work day . . . hopefully =P

It went well >_< My enthusiasm has held up thanks to the students as I though it would. Today we trained some on how we will be teaching tomorrow, but the highlight of the day came after lunch break when we started practice for the “mock class.” My partner and I got some good practice in and then they came; about 9 Japanese AEON students like those that I will be teaching. We were all staged in our little staging area and got to meet and chat with our three students that came in. They were very kind and seemed enthusiastic about speaking with us. It actually relaxed me, as I knew that they wanted to be there as much as I wanted to help them and that would make instruction considerably easier. So three of us did a practice lesson with the three and they were great. They were patient and super motivated. They even would exceed our instructions on certain parts of an activity. So helpful! I went last, but didn’t have much of a worry. I was fairly well rehearsed and I knew the students rocked. I wasn’t near perfect as any would expect, but the feedback I got back from the trainer was very encouraging. I might just be good at this and I am looking forward to doing more so I can find out. I will be good at this (if not the best) I promise. Students like those I had today deserve nothing less.

In terms of “personal time” stuff, I already had the great fortune of making some friends. One of my TAs from my Japanese class, Yosuke, was in Tokyo on Sunday and I met up with him and hung out with him, his friends as well as his older brother and his older brother’s friends (9 of us +1 more at dinner). We actually started off helping his older brother move from one apartment to the other. It was a super nice pad on the top floor of his building with a to-die-for view of the town he lived in (Ogikubo). It is super small according to American standards, but the quality couldn’t be beat. He had dark hardwood floors and the place had not yet been lived in. I was glad to have helped him move in order to see what different apartments are like and just see how moving works in Japan. Once we were finished, we headed into town where Yosuke’s brother treated us to some really good Japanese food and some Sapporo (beer). I had chicken sashimi, dried squid (almost like jerky) and a few other dishes I can’t remember the name of but I enjoyed it all. The best part of it all is I made friends with Yosuke’s brother and friends. I got away with 6 different sets of contact info and Yosuke’s brother even invited me to his concert this weekend. I think I am actually gonna try to go to >_< We shall see. . . Wow this is long. I will try to be more consistent so entries aren’t so ridiculous. Sorry!

June 5, 2009 19:47 JST Day 1

2009-06-19T02:18:00.000+09:00

So it starts. I have embarked on my new journey and the first day went without any negative event thankfully. I had to transfer some weight from one bag to another at LAX, but that was the worst I had to deal with. I slept for at least six of the first 13 hour flight so I spent the day feeling sufficiently rested. My airline across the Pacific was China Airlines and I have nothing but good things to say about the experience. They were very helpful with check in, super accommodating all flight long (2 meals and plenty beverage runs!), and I like their uniforms. They reminded me of old school American stewardess style from the 50s. They look quite elegant and very attractive. The Japanese staff at customs was awesome also. If they weren’t wearing a mask, everyone greeted me with a smile or at least a kind tone that kept me at ease through the three customs stations I had to pass through. At one of them they actually took my picture and got prints of both my forefingers. I was surprised but commend their precautions. You can’t be too safe I guess.

After I got past customs, I waited 10 minutes till I met up with the AEON training rep. and other students. Everyone is really nice in the group I met with. There were 7 of us including the rep (4 Americans, 2 Aussies, and 1 New Zealander). The training house was about a 1:45 hour train ride away from the airport so I got to know some of the gang as we made our journey. I like the crew so far. A kind and interesting group of people they are. I also need to mention that my eyes were busy the whole train ride. Everything from the landscape to architecture is unfamiliar and I loved it. I feel like a foreigner and am enjoying the sensation at the moment.

Once we arrived to the training house, we met the rest of the staff that will be training us till next Friday and got a grand tour of the building. The layout is Japanese style and I am digging it. I am sharing a room with one other gentleman (Also from So Cal) and we are getting along well. I basically spent the evening preparing for tomorrow’s training and taking it easy. My long travel has caught up with me as I type this, so that is why this entry lacks some coherent structure and eloquence. As I turn in for the night, I have to say that I am excited and optimistic. I have finally begun my journey and I look forward for tomorrow in order to make it the best. Though a bit fatigued right meow, I am looking forward to it ^_^

Productive

2009-03-22T21:07:00.000+09:00

I swear I find the weirdest times to take care of things. I wasn't able to sleep and had stuff on my mind, and thus decided it would be best to handle them at this very instant even though I am on vacation. I'm such a goofball.

Anywho, I am in Nor Cal stayin with one of my closest friends, Michi. I am having one of the nicest times of my life up here. I have zero pressing obligations, Michi's wonderful company and her family's amazing hospitality, and I got to also spend time an old friend from MCIA I have not heard from in a long time.

The drive up was really quick and very nice as Michi, Cynthia, and I chatted it up the whole way. On day one (yesterday) we found ourselves exploring SF in the Castro and Mission (roads) areas, kicked back at Michi's place, had some bomb dinner at a local chinese joint, and then went to a random 18+ club that seemed quite "high school," but the DJ was bangin, so we didn't really notice.

There was a lot of deep conversation that went down today as well. I learned a lot about both my friends, as they did me, and it is difficult to articulate the content and "at ease" feeling im experiencing. I honestly could not ask for more from this vacation. Today and monday morning are going to be quite the bonus ^_^

Oh yeah! I did it. I need to hit the send button to finalize the process, but I have taken that step to possibly tie up an important loose end. It feels really good actually to have just done it. We shall see what time has in store. . .

Geeeez Maaaaaan!

2009-03-10T18:38:00.000+09:00

I have been rattled. I have been presented with evidence and a compelling argument that I can not ignore forcing me to disturb and labor upon one of the more significant foundations of the person I am today. I made a decision a long time ago based on hours and hours . . . AND HOURS of thought and consideration to behave and live in a certain manner because that is what I deserved and what would suit all parties the best. I made several predictions based on my course of action, and they all came to fruition, but there was one aberration that occurred that I was willing to ignore, but no longer can as I have have been informed that things may not necessarily be "OK."

Closure . . . the media has thrown a multitude of examples of what this concept is and how it is achieved. Two people find their intense relationship ended, but there are "emotional loose ends" left undone that gnaw at one or both of the partners. a professional (licensed MSW, LCSW) says that once a person believes these have been tied up in a post or mid break interaction, they have achieved closure and things are OK. They can continue forward without looking back too often.

For my part, there are no loose ends to be tied up. I chose to maintain full faith in our last words regarding what we shared and never questioned them or looked for inconsistencies in any way. Circumstances dictated that I deal with the situation alone and I was silently allowed to so. As more time passed, I found more and more reasons to hold myself, rather than the other, accountable for the situation I found myself in. I recollected and mentally documented many faults on my part to be coupled with (what I assumed to be) the other's fundamental inability to do this kind of long distance relationship.Thus, I have felt "OK" with things since because I took care of the loose ends that were torturing me. There may not have been two way input, but my efforts were so exhaustive and comprehensive that I had complete confidence that I had covered the truth of things.

Months to years of mutual silence help me to entrench the fact that I was right in my thoughts and decisions and I beleived I was OK with that. I was not going to de-evolve into one of those 30 year old cry-babies cursing some girl that broke his heart over 5 years before. It is a sad sight and I wish on nobody and refuse to deal with anyone that allows that to happen. Grow up, move on, and stop acting below my age! Anyway, I have acheived the goal thus far. But something happened . . .

I gesture was made . . . and I shook it off. I guessed how the interaction would play out and acted accordingly. I let my pride cause me to overlook something that may have been more than it seemed. It was only a matter of weeks before I doubted the wisdom of me letting my pride get the best of me in that situation. This gesture, I think, could be a marking turning point. It means something; my pride and fear whisper that addressing it is a needless effort and nothing significant will change while my logic and heart have come to beleive (with some outside help) that something is undone and I have to go back and undo my pride's work from a year ago.

It isn't going to be easy pulling this off. First, I have to deal with feeling like an idiot for taking almost a year to "wake the fuck up" and then the prospect of being feared makes me pretty angry. I am not a monster and never gave anyone any reason to fear me! Especially . . . Furthermore, I have known for sometime that there are things I don't know and my friends have respected my wishes in not telling me things I did not want to hear from anywhere other than the source. Thus, I fear how I may react to what I may learn. There are so many possibilities and I just don't want to have to deal with any newfound regret or bitterness.

Well, now that I have it out there, I guess I just have to do the thing. I need to talk to a couple people first, but I am going to do this. An outcome on one end of the spectrum will be a shrug of the shoulders and apology to myself for labeling myself prideful and "who knows what" on the other. We'll see.

Interesting

2009-02-23T20:55:00.000+09:00

One of my prior room mates once told me that I "have enough friends." I didn't get it. I have always been accustomed to being involved in many activities at once and having the time with people in my several different domains was enough for me. When I came to Irvine in 06 I decided to try and actually establish ties that weren't superficial or constrained by the domain they took place in. I spent time with co workers out side of work and chilled with team mates and classmates outside of class and practice. I got close to a lot of people at once, and before I knew it, I had little time to take care of my responsibilities and practically no time for myself (but I had had enough of that in Cuba). I overcompensated. I experienced a good deal of drama and self inflicted anxiety at the prospect of failing or dissapointing some of the closer of my friends.

I honestly was in over my head, but did my best. Things happened and lives took their courses and distances were made or at least were allowed to do so. I have learned a lot from reflecting on the time that has passed since my return in 06 and have come to a conclusion for the future based on a change I have discovered in myself. I am actually happy when I am all by myself with nothing to do but kill time in a way I see fit. I no longer yearn for some other's company all the time or feel the need to be doing something. I actually want more time for myself to enjoy life's simple pleasures by myself. Moreover, I need to be good at something again. I don't agree with a lot about work or care (various reasons) enough to be the best there, and I dont really shine with my volunteer work either. I also don't have the time to make for a lot of my friends anymore and my helplessness there saddens me. I need focus . . .

Thus, I am going to Japan with this resolution in mind: I need to be a good Teacher. My top priority will be doing my job and doing it well. I am going to do my very best to make a deep impression at my Nakayama School. Doing things with co workers or getting cught up in some activity will wait till I am convinced I am a good teacher. No activities, no volunteering, and no girls till I am rightly satisfied with myself. Once that happens, I will be ready to take on other things . . . but slowly . . . and one at a time.

-_-

2009-01-29T16:49:00.000+09:00

This may be the first time ever, or at least in a really long time (which I can not remember) that I experienced a certain brand of shame that I have this evening. I had a quize in Japanese class today on vocabulary for the first lesson. I am confident that I got 100% on it, but there was an extra credit section I completely ignored. Reason being is that I have yet to be up to par with my Hiragana and could not write out the vocabulary for an extra ten points. Usually this would not bother me. I am still getting an A in the class and would have nothing to worry about, but this is not that case for this class.

My performance in this class will dictate how well I socially get by in Japan, which means I need to be the best in the class, so I can feel confident that I will not be a hopeless mute when I arrive in Nakayama. The best may seem unreasonable for a asperation, but why not? Insult was added to injury when other students were writing down the words in Hiragana with impressive speed, while I was sheepishly the first one to turn in my quiz. Thanks to my sense of competitiveness and desire to excel, I am going to rock this course. From this moment on, I am gonna eat and breath Japanese when I can until I leave and show my classmates how an American ought to speak にほんご. Wish me luck!

Another Step

2009-01-24T22:29:00.000+09:00

So!

Aeon had contacted me and sent the materials and info that they needed for me to fill out. Some of the items were contracts, a personal history, couple employee books describing rules, responsibilities, and what to expect. They also wanted some passport photo's (10 at 35$ grrrr) my initial personal statement, and resume. I sent all of this back and the recruiter gave it the Ok and further informd me that the paperwork got sent of to the office in Japan and that my next step will be to get my work Visa in order. How exciting >_<

I also spoke briefly with the recruiter about some concerns I had ceoncerning what I was informed of, or not informed of enough, in the employee handbook. After covering all the loose ends in that phone-call, I am still very optimistic about this adventure. The handbook had struck me as kinda harsh, but I think my experience with the military and In N Out and thier blatant disregard for the individual at times made me dubious of some of the language I came across. Fortunately the recruiter is also prior military and understood where I was coming from and was thus able to ease my uneasiness in his explanaitions.

Now I will be learning Japanese in earnest and continuing to live my life as I have since the year started. Over all I am liking things, but still find myself tending to reflect and ponder. First off, I retook the GRE today and it was a mildy frustrating experience. I did worse than the first time, but not in a way to bring about shame or anger toward myself. My math was the same as the first but my big drop was in the verbal. I FOCUSED SOLELY THIS WHOLE TIME IN IMPROVING IT!!!! So, apparently, I am at my limit on the verbal and my GRE is as high as it will go at this time . . . oh well. I wish I had known this before I threw away 140$ to figure it out . . . sigh. I am already over it though. I am as smart as I am in terms of the GRE and I have accepted that.

Another thing that I have pondered is my current way of life. I realize that I am ill suited for the erratic scheduling I face with In-N-Out Burger. I either start early in the day or work till the wee hours of the night or morning. Never do I have a consistent schedule from week to week and rarely are my trend of day shifts and night shifts optimaly balanced with everything else going on in my life. I am not angry with the situation, but am weary of it. Hear I am after a closing shift that went to 215 am, it is now 545 am as I type this blog, and I have to be up in less than four hours for work at 1o am. I am a big boy and will be fine throughout the shift, but I know someone of my friends will want to do something tomorrow night and I will want to partake. The catch there is I have to be at work at 830 am the next morning and will be downright exhausted if I don't make up for tonights lacking . I hope whomever I spend tomorrow night with is understanding. Nonetheless I face this predicament often (my fault usually) and am tired of being tired all the time. Which has led me to remember what I refer to as "the simple life."

Life in Cuba was so simple. I was only close to five people at most there and two of them were in my unit, while I could only see the other two on days off. Demands from any of them in terms of friendship were sparse, cause the two I seldom saw were married & they were fine if I was around or wasn't and the other two saw enough of me to the point where they could easily tire of me as a product of our responsibilities and shared duties. Another factor was that the duty schedule was solid. Whether we had the dayshift or the nightshift, my work schedule was predominately predictable and static. The combination of these two elements led to a relatively blistful ruotine that I kinda miss at times. during the work cycles I would wake, eat breakfast, handle my shift, eat dinner, go work out, maybe hit the internet or catch free movie and go to sleep. On my two days off I would do laundry and mess around any which way I wanted to. That was the Routine 90% of the time and I was not tired all the time and my friends understood why my presence was ever scarce. They were in the same boat really. Though unhappy, I must admit that I was pretty comfortable with my lifestyle in those days.

I think my reflection indicates a portion of excitement for Japan. A set schedule that makes sense. No 7 hour turn arounds for shifts and a lot less distractions (for a while at least). No demands from anyone (or desire to randomly kill time with another) beyond my employer either as I intend to be primarily focused on being a good english teacher for a while after I start my journey. A new shot at a more simple life . . . sounds good to me ^_^

やた！

2009-01-16T22:55:00.000+09:00

Getting accepted into Aeon as a foreign English teacher was a metaphorical "opening of the doorway" to my journey to and in Japan. This week has provided me with the first actual steps down that path. I finally got my assignment and departure date. As things stand I am to arrive in Narita Airport (Tokyo) before 4pm on June 5th where I will be trained to teach English for at least a year at the Nakayama Branch school in Yokohama. I am so excited!! The location is pretty much perfect in terms of what I was looking for. I will be close to big cities and tourist spots, but not dead center in the international metropolitan chaos that are Tokyo or downtown Yokohama. Thus, I have better chance at having a true sense of what the ACTUAL Japanese culture is like on a daily basis. So, finding out when and where I am headed has proved exceedingly exciting.
Another step I have taken is to actually receive the contract packet the Aeon needs me to sign and provide them and start checking of boxes on the pre-departer checklist. I have applied for my passport, begun to build my professional wardrobe, and gather other essential information on what to bring and how better to prepare. It keeps me busy, but I am so motivated to do it all that it does not even seem bothersome.
Furthermore, I have begun my intro Japanese anguage course. As I will need to be able to communicate, I have a deeply vested interest in the class and all of the work has proven fun and interesting so far. Check what I can do after only two class sessions "うぇすり". That is my named spelled out in Hiragana, one of the three alphebets in writtin Japanese. hopefully I can pick it up quick and even become fluint in the time I am there. These steps may be small, but every one I take makes me anticipate the next even more. Times will be super busy till I leave, but I will be enjoying and savorying every last minute of it.

Hello, Goodbye

2009-01-05T16:10:00.000+09:00

Well, tis the beginning of another year. . . Cool.

2008 started off with quite a bang as I was at TAO when 2007 officially took the boot. Honestly though I actually kind of regret starting off the year like that. I will always have this small inkling of remorse concerning how i sort of wasted my first moments of the year. Its all good though; I learned from it, it doesn't keep me up at night, and I have actually improved myself because of it. I want to call 2008 my black and white year. Up till mid April was the dark part of the year. I was busy as hell with work from REALLY important classes, working full time and not getting that raise >:0, and balancing my (unfortunately) compartmentalized social life. Moreover, I needed to find a new trail to walk down in life as that of college was quickly coming to an end. Not knowing what comes next in life is a scary freakin thing, and stagnating in Irvine at In-N-Out was not an option (it terrified me). This fear overshadowed many aspects of my life and my closer friends were aware that times weren't too easy for me. Then finally I found my path.

I decided to teach English in Japan one day in May as I was driving to my internship for school. My decision re-injected purpose and direction into my life. I had motivation, plans, and a sense of direction once again. From that day fourth, life got better and better. I had gotten the raise, School was a breeze in the next quarter (more or less), and my social life was improving to ^_^ When graduation hit and I got to celebrate it with my family and some friends, I was the happiest and most content guy on earth. I will always reflect on June with a broad smile. With my graduation came a new orientation in my psyche . . . grow up and get the hell out of Irvine as quick as possible. With that in mind I started down my post grad trail toward Japan.

The first step was the 5,100$ Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification. I had eight classes spread out monday through friday. Not one was less than two and a half hours long and they all had homework. I was still working full time, so I clearly was working weekends and nights during the week when I could spare the time. I worked nights so that I wouldn't party and blow my money and not pass the course since had I decided that not partying as often as I had in the past was part of my "growing up" process. I thus had a lot of time to myself to mull my life over in my head as I didn't have music, alcohohol, and dancing distracting me and was further motivated to make more little changes in my life that makes me feel like a very different person from the me a year ago.

Though I am on this new trail, I have, since the end of TEFL, made a pit stop at a knoll along the way and have to wait till June to get back on the hike. Things are great and I am as happy as ever. I know I will be in Japan in the summer, but till then, I am living life in manner that I can approve of. I am at a grey point in my life I guess. I got something to offer, but can't show it yet in the way I want. I think that, once again, I will be a very very different person a year from now. hopefully I will still be more or just as happy.

here is a look at some of me over all of 2008:

Christmas with family

2008-12-25T12:07:00.000+09:00

It is Christmas eve and I am joined in the living room by family as we watch "Love Actually." Watching a christmas movie (dont argue with me, love actually is a Christmas movie!) on this evening has become somewhat of a tradition; and sitting here is very nostalgic and relaxing. The house looks more or less the same as I remember, and certain aromas still linger here from my childhood that often snap me back to the past. It is as if I were a kid again and I am digging it. It feels like the world has ceased to exist outside and the time on the clock of my life is standing still. There is practically no strain on me in any sense beyond how I am gonna indulge in the next wave of R&R.

I find it funny how I am never in the same place for Christmas every year, but the little traditions in every spot still manage to linger and persist over time as if I were there every consecutive Christmas. It is very comforting and I shall fall asleep with a broad grin on my face . . . figuratively.

With that said I must share that I haven't seen a lonely or sad Christmas as far as I can remember (and I would; being a Virgo and all). Even the one I spent alone in GTMO is not even a sad memory. I actually started my new tradition of watching The Polar Express on the Eve and sent shout outs to all my friends I was connected to on myspace. I didn't feel alone. Last year I closed at work on Christmas eve, which seems a drag, but it was actually nice to experience an event like that at job I like. I still got to share christmas with my family in palm springs after I got off that night and it was a really a nice Christmas.

I guess this can be explained by my practically fanatic enthusiasm for the holiday that I have had since I was a kid. It has waned some as I have gotten older, but time has thus far proven that the joy I find in this holiday (through one way or another) is incorruptible even if it is less spirited. With that, I hope this holiday proves joyful to all even if it means nothing to some. I should not be the only one out there enjoying tonight.

Merry Christmas everyone ^_^

Holiday Season

2008-12-02T19:18:00.000+09:00

Well . . . it is December first and my psyche has seemed to accept, on both levels of consciousness, that winter and the holiday season is upon us. The weather is consistently cool finally and I have actually worn some sort of sweater on more than one occasion a week. Furthermore, my eyes (and/or brain) are interpreting the atmosphere differently. I just look outside and can tell that the air is gonna be cool and crisp when I walk outside. I enjoy it. I also can't forget to mention that I have got my little tree out and lit and plenty of Christmas music to get the house sounding in the right mood if need be.

This (as well as thanksgiving) is arguably my favorite time of year. I seem to enjoy nature's as well as man's beauty a lot more at evening twilight and night time than during the day. The longer nights make fore me to enjoy it more. The way everything appears in the moonlight, the vast complexity of the night sky, the way Christmas and city lights light up the town and the fashions the ladies like to sport in the cold makes me truly treasure my sense of sight. Another sense of mine that appreciates this time of year is my sense of smell, the smell of burning wood from chimneys and burning food as everyone is making effort to make every meal possible a hot one.

I am a man that finds deep satisfaction in the accumulation and concurrent appreciation of simple pleasures and this time of year presents the most for my enjoyment. I am not quite as giddy as a school boy about this, but I am definitely gonna savor the time. I wish everyone the best this season and hope they truly sit back to enjoy a new simple pleasure they may have been overlooking all this time.

Now that I get to sit down to it

2008-11-29T04:35:00.001+09:00

This has been on and off my mind for the last week. At the MCIA retreat, the following question was posed to me: "what has changed on MCIA and what has stayed the same?" This was a very difficult answer for me to fully articulate without prior consideration. I have been around for a large portion of the first three years of MCIA's existence and, more or less, the whole time the following years up to this point and could only think of one thing that has consistantly stayed the same since the teams start. As a disclaimer, I must admit that I am one who values change over tradition. There are small personal traditions I tend to cling to, but I don't do it with much struggle or affect. If something is meant to stay in place, it will. Change has proven a very good thing for MCIA in my opinion and I have conciously noticed the changes for the better that the team makes while not giving much thought to any traditions or patterns that have weathered time.

In terms of unchanging, I claimed to have only noticed one thing to last since MCIA's Alpha year. That is class attitude or mindset. I asserted to have noticed that certain class mindsets remain with most if not all members of a given class and are minimally influenced by the later classes. I actaully think this assumption somewhat uninformed and even unfair. It was the only thing that came to mind and only few people I can think of fit this criteria. I mean to rescind this answer if it is brought up again.

I can think of one small thing that has lasted from start to finish, but I beleive it to be most important. Every year, there is at least one person on MCIA that has this burning passion for the team that is difficult to match. They are usually cabinit members, but not always. These people have gone to great lengths and sacrifice for the team to keep it together and happy. Though drama is unavoidable, these people have done much to difuse it or end it ASAP. They are always apart of or actually initiating team outings and their dedication has never even been thought of to be questioned (ex:will they audition for someone else). Heros exist on MCIA and we have them every year, they are a big part of what has been holding the team together since its inception.

Other than that, the zeta team is vastly different from that from the Alpha and I think its wonderful. Many changes have occured and many of those changes have become unchanging traditions that have served as positive aspects of the MCIA experiance. I want MCIA to keep changing as time draws on, but I also do not want them to lose sight of where they came from.

KEEP UP ON THAT BOOK GUYS!!!

My mind . . .

2008-11-18T20:09:00.000+09:00

I think my brain and I =) are in a good place. I hear lots of piers and close friends complain that they do not like to be alone with their thoughts for too long. I have not personally experienced that aversion for a long time. . . if ever. Maybe I am the type that will not let myself ignore significant problems or I just subconsciously enjoy dwelling on things that cause me pain until they no longer do. Anywho, several occasions of little and also significant affect have occured this week that kept me pondering my adjustment to something that happened long ago. I have come to a new or more informed conclusion regarding my behavior with all the lessons I have learned via life since then.

A dear friend had subtly suggested that I take action in a stride to make things "ok." This got the ball rolling after we discussed it a second time. I never really considered this because I came home from deployment having already convinced myself that I was "ok" and acted accordingly with practically no effort and minimal awkwardness. Thus, I never worried about it and my busy life with INO, MCIA, CANG, and school kept my thoughts busy and distracted from something that was far from sight and on the fringes of being forgotten. Well, now that I am an old fud merely supporting MCIA from the audience, a UCI alumni, and free of the national guard, I get a lot of me time and I ponder my circumstnaces a lot more often. I am actually glad for the oppertunity, since I get to better articulate me to myself and learn something. As a product of the pondering and the events of the last seven days, more or less, I have come to the conclusion that things are not "ok" but I have also articulated why it does not really affect me greatly.

My adjustment track is akin to that of someone who is robbed of a loved one by death. I am not claiming to have undergone such an experience nor understand that kind of pain, but I did experience a loss and dealt with it in solitary mourning. Some may say: "ok big deal, you had a bad/ugly breakup. . . so what?" Well, the thing is that; it wasn't bad and there wasn't any drama. A bitter word was never spoken on my part and there was not a single argument. What had happened was that I had this image of our relationship that set it apart from mere freindships and one of the characteristics that facilitated this beleife was an opennes we shared. It was one of the few things we still shared up to the end and I cherished it the most. Shortly after the break up, It was shown t me that we lost that willing opennes and I feared that such "down step" would plant and nurture seeds of bitterness in me that woild poison the freindship. Thus, I decided to "let go" as if she was taken away. We were thousands of miles apart and no longer shared anything beside the fact that we still cared about one another and wanted eachother to be happy. I did could not think of any other way to handle the situation, so I just kept to myself and trained my brain to accept "goodbye" as I sat atop those hills or inside the guard towers for 6 hours at a time.

As I have said before, it worked and my heart once again experiences more happiness than sadness on a consistent basis. Even when I had to face or cooperate with her on things, I actually was fine even though things were not quite OK. Reason being, I no longer knew who she was and she knew the same of me. I might as well had been meeting her all over again and I am honestly pretty hard to get to know unless either party is really interested/invested and I wasn't and she didn't express as much.

So she had soon after moved on and away and we have been in touch only once since then (which was weird to me). Things aren't "ok" and I don't anticipate that they ever will be. She left my world in the summer of 05 and was someone else since I returned home in april 06. I miss what we shared and I do hope she is happy in whatever she is into these days but, she doesn't seem to need me in her life to facilitate that and I'm doing fine without her to. And I think that in itself is ok.

Does this preclude me from finding love once again? I think not. At present, I really am not lookin for it and I am just super fuckin critical and won't waste my time and someone else's. I have a pretty good idea what is at stake and my dumb ass went through it twice already I don't think a third time will be the charm in this sense.

Work

2008-11-15T22:11:00.000+09:00

I am at a good place with work. For the first time in a long time I feel that my contentment with my job overides my consternation with it. When I first returned from GITMO, I would have been exccedingly happy with any job that was not the National Guard. As long as I did not have to report to those idiots on a daily basis, I was as happy as could be. As time drew on; my infatution with In-N-Out faded as issues began ebbing at my patience.

I can say several negative things about my job, but the roots of all these things are few and fundamental. First, we are doing everything for the money over anything else. All decisions of the managers are influenced by how the earnings of the store will be affected. Thus, I am ultimately a mere associate number (54466) and often feel treated as such. My other issue is that the heirarchical structure of the company closely resembles that of the military and can similarly breed or effect personalities to the point where people I used to really like at first do not appeal to me as much anymore. Though this issue is not too significant. The structure also makes me super critical of managers/leaders. If they are going to treat me like I am stupid or disrespect me in any way; THEN THEY BETTER HAVE THEIR SHIT FUCKIN STRAIGHT!!!!!!! Nothing makes me angrier than a manager that can not perform thier function effectively to the point that it negatively effects my work experience on shift and then get on me for whatever I may be doing wrong. Another consideration is training is always slow and frusterating to me. I hate not being competent at something, and that shows when I am training. My dissapointment with my own perceived inadiquacy also influenced my mood at work. especially if people at work were not very supportive or encouraging.

Those points more or less are at the root of all the issues I have had. Since the late summer of 06 until just after I graduated this summer. I was jaded with work and was often in a bad mood during most of, if not all, of a shift. Now things are different, thank gosh. I do not get in a bad mood at work nearly as often and if I am quiet, it is because I am focused on what I am doing. I think my recent adjustment is attributable to a few points. Firstly, none of the managers get on my nerves enough to tick me off. Some may have annoying habits or lack experience, but none of them "get to me" regardless. Another fact is that I cook a lot. The fact that I am a cook and cook a lot means that the management thinks I am at least satisfactory at my position; which is very important to me. I feel being a level 6 and constantly working a position where level 4s and 5s belong is disrespectful in a sense. Like passively telling me that I am no good. That used to happen when I was a level 5 and my ego did not take it well. Lastly, I know that I am not gonna be there forever. I have a job/adventure I am taking on soon, and the job that I am not enchanted with will no longer have an indefinite and dismal looking hold on me. It is nice being a happy camper at work more often than not.

I have been contemplating how I will look back at my experience with the company in the future. I feel that my outlook will always be positive. INO makes great food, holds its associates to high standards of quality and service, treats its associates better than most employers I know, and is incredibly flexible with my personal life's schedule. The good has proven to outweigh the bad. I would not be happy making a career of INO I think, but it was the perfect college job.

Thank you INO, I got your back!

Search

2008-11-11T19:35:00.000+09:00

So I was enjoyin some catching up with Michi and our discussion turned to a subject that left me unsettled regarding my old dance team. I need to get the whole picture. I will systematically interview several returners as to make sure my imagination is turning things all out of sorts. I hope I am jumping the gun. If I am not though; I will definitely not be a happy camper.

Cross your finger for no: "to be continued. . ."

Excitement!

2008-11-10T20:14:00.000+09:00

The music lover in me has experienced the ultimate in satisfaction over the past week. Two of my favorite music artists, Benny Benassi & Kaskade, Have brought a exhilarating sense of satisfaction to my soul.

Firstly, I stumbled upon Benassi's recently released "Rock 'N' Rave" while searching for a particular track and have fallen in love. Benassi has always been one of my favorite Electro/House artists and this discovery has been an absolute treat. I have barely listened to anything else but that album since I (actually) purchased it off itunes. Like most of his albums, a lot of his tracks are quite similar in style and overall sound, but I love his overall flavor and thus enjoy every track individually regardless of how subtle the differences may be. I seriously have never rocked out to as many tracks on any one album. The musician in my soul offers a million thanks to you Mr. Benassi for being so amazingly funky! You will keep my body busy for a long time with this one.

As for Kaskade. He is, hands down, my favorite house artist. More of his tracks reach to the utmost depths of my soul and soothe my consciousness than any other musician I have come across in my life. Many of his tracks, with their beautiful female vocals, funky beats, and calming nature concurrently reach to the lover, dancer, and "inner-peace seeker" within myself. I can actually say that, of all the songs I have been exposed to in my life, his "Sweet Love" is my favorite track to date. His music is a very big deal to me. With that being said, I was granted the most fortunate opportunity to go out dancing at a club that he was "spinnin" at for the evening. I was in a state of euphoria the whole time (and I attribute none of it to the little alcohol I had imbibed over the evening). He seriously "threw down" and I could not have been happier for those two and a half hours in time. I am so thankful to have been granted the opportunity to dance to one of my very favorite artists live. One less check box in my life to worry about now ^_^

Urge

2008-11-06T20:38:00.000+09:00

I still feel it . . . this need to leave. I want to get away and start a new trail so desperately. I do wonder if it is wrong of me to feel this way at times, but my logic keeps me from getting overly confused and anxious. I am running a trail that I have decided not to be content with and it bothers me from time to time when i get to think to myself. I will miss my friends and loved one's here, but I gotta go as they will when it is their time.

I am having my fair share of enjoyment with life's pleasures, but retrospection is always accompanied by some degree of guilt. I need to matter more. I need to earn my fun . . . sigh . . . good thing I am blessed with patience and wonderful people around me.

About Time

2008-11-03T20:25:00.000+09:00

This one will be short and sweet as I have work in less than six hours.

I have been meaning to set up a new blog for a little over a week and have finally gotten around to doing so. Reason being is that I feel I have finally entered the "next chapter" of my life and actually plan to document it in a manner similar to that of my Mother. I will be far away from home in less than a year and hopefully this medium will facilitate those who care the most not losing touch with who I am and become amidst my coming trials and tribulations.

There is a lot on m mind recently and more will hopefully follow. Hope you do not become too bored.