More random updates...

Last week I went outside the department store building where I work, to get my usual coffee, and what did I find but a full gospel choir! There were about 80 of them, Japanese people, but singing English Christmas carols and some popular gospel tunes ('Joyful Joyful' was one, I seem to remember). They were really good! With the faster songs they even did the whole swaying, clapping gospel choir thing.

Lots of passers-by were stopping and smiling. It was very infectious.

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I got a haircut on the weekend. To get there I went along Motomachi street, near Chinatown. This street is pretty cool. It reminds me of a street in Paris or Sydney (okay, so Paris and Sydney are pretty different...)... the road is small, quiet, and one-way, and the street is lined with designer stores. Of course I didn't buy any designer goods but I had a nice cappuccino and salami pesto sandwich in a bakery.

The hairdresser was cool; the teacher I replaced told me about him. hahah... he was quite a young, cool guy. The haircut he gave me was okay - I'd say, so-so ('so-so' is an expression that Japanese students use all the time) - but I will go back to him because the service was so good, I feel like I am already 'his' customer.

When I first went into the salon, he was making endless small talk with his client. After he was done with her, he started with me - a continual stream of questions and conversation. It was fun, and I couldn't help thinking - hairdressers really are the same all over the world.

The hairdresser speaks English, but punctuated with the most 'anou's and 'sou ka's I've ever heard... a lot of Japanese people use the occasional Japanese word or phrase when they are thinking - 'etouuu' ('uhh...') is common. My manager often says 'nandarou...' (which means something like 'let me think...').

I have one really beginner student who sometimes simply says Japanese sentences instead of English ones, because she simply lacks the words. I'm pretty proud of myself - one student said he went to a casino, and she asked me a question in Japanese. I translated it 'how much money did you lose?' I could understand enough Japanese to work out what she wanted to say.

I can understand pretty well all of the train announcements now. 'mamonaku' means 'presently'. 'kakueki teesha' means 'local train'. 'Omiya-yuki' means 'bound for Omiya'. Then there's 'doa ga shimarimasu - go-chui kudasai' ('the doors are closing - take care please')

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I've more than doubled the size of my wardrobe since I came here: two new jumpers, six new shirts, two new tops, two new pairs of shoes, a new jacket for work, a padded jacket, gloves, pyjamas and thermals. It's pretty bad really. I'm not even done yet. I'd like another couple of pairs of shoes, and some black pants, and new jeans.

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Reading hiragana and katakana has proved more difficult than I first imagined. I had pretty well learned the hiragana before I moved to Japan, and a few katakana. In my first week in Kyoto I kept looking up the hiragana and katakana on signs to practise and learn the characters I didn't remember. Since then I have intermittently practised reading hiragana and katakana in my textbook, on signs, and from children's books.

Despite all this, I still haven't *mastered* them. I still have to *think*. I guess some things, you can't just learn by osmosis. You have to study them properly, until you really know them. Just because you're surrounded by Japanese characters all day, it doesn't mean you'll magically learn them all without any real effort.

The one thing I do seem to be gradually improving in without studying, is numbers - I understand them more quickly. Sometimes now, I can understand how much money someone is asking for, without looking. Haha... but not that often...

The other day I got a letter. I thought it was for the previous resident, as the label was all in Japanese. But actually it was for me (from my insurer). Seems I don't even recognise my own name any more. Haha... I've had to write my name in katakana a few times now... and write my year of birth in terms of the Emperor's reign.

Did you know that? I was pretty surprised! On official documents, you write your birthdate as the year of the Emperor's reign. For example, if you were born in 1980, you were born in the year '55'... the 55th year of the previous Emperor's rule. This year is 19 - the 19th year of the current Emperor. My train pass had 19/12/11 as the end date - meaning 11 Dec 2007... who would have thought?

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When I first got my teaching schedule during teacher's training, I had no private lessons. But now I have quite a few. This week I have four; next week, at least four, but different ones... it's kind of a quiet time of year, and next week there are no 'official' lessons, so it's a popular time for 'once-off' lessons.

One of my regular private students, K, is great. He has so much energy, and a great attitude. He takes so many classes! I can't describe this guy but he's hilarious. He's so outgoing and always smiling, and he gestures like an Italian, and over-emphasises almost everything. Very unusual for a Japanese guy!

Jim, my fellow teacher, says that when he is teaching, he always over-emphasises words and gestures so that the students will at least slightly emulate him - because students rarely emphasise words and feeling enough unless really encouraged to do so. (In his words, 'I give 150%, so they will give me 20%...') He says K is the only student who emulates him exactly and goes just as over-the-top. He says they look so ridiculous together, over-acting every expression...

Whenever I say 'are you ready?', K will exclaim 'come on!' and put up his fists like he's ready for a fight. Hahah... Jim told him that a big guy like him shouldn't say that, or he'll scare people...

My other private lessons? Next week I have a couple of once-off private lessons with a Mexican student. I think he's about the only non-Japanese student at the school. He's a cool guy and speaks fairly good English. You can really notice the difference in attitude between him and most Japanese students. For example, he's quite friendly, and not shy about asking questions, and has a strong, firm handshake (most Japanese people give 'wet fish' handshakes).

You can also notice the difference in how he speaks English. He doesn't know as much vocabulary as the Japanese students in his level, but his sentence structure is much better - he's one of the few students in the school who uses 'the' and 'a' correctly - since Spanish is so much more similar to English than Japanese is.

Another private student is a flight attendant. We kind of teach her whatever she feels like learning, but it can be a little difficult for me to wing lessons like that... she's good for a conversation though. I can spend a long time preparing for these lessons.

Another private student is a uni student who is just having a few once-off classes for free conversation. I'm happy to 'freely converse' with her, but I'm not sure how beneficial it really is... and it seems pretty expensive for a conversation..

Then there's my regular whom I am teaching business English too, but the English is too advanced for him, nice guy though he is. So it's somewhat boring as all I can do is drill pronunciation over and over...