Lunchtime thoughts

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

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

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 . . .

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

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

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.

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!