We got a new schedule at the beginning of April; at first I didn't like the changes, I suppose mainly because there were a lot of new students to get to know from scratch. Now I know everyone, and lately I've been really enjoying most of my classes again. So I am happy at work.
I now have three kids' classes - a new one will start next week. Also, I am about to get a new student. Until now, I've had just one 2-year-old student, with her mother. From next week, it will be me, a 2-year-old, a 3-year-old, and no parents. I imagine the shift in gears (not to mention the shifting of power!) will be quite powerful. To be honest, now that I'm no longer nervous about this class, I only have one concern - the fact that Jim teaches another class at the same time. There is no soundproofing in our school, and the new kid has a very marked talent for screaming very, very powerfully and frequently.
To be honest though, the little kids were extremely cute together. The nice thing about them is they are both happy toddlers. (Well, generally. My 2-year-old did cry in class today, for the first time.) So when they 'met', they both had big smiles and jumped up and down on the couch together, laughing and screaming (very loudly). They have such cute smiles. :)
I did feel sorry for Jim's class though. I kept glancing at my watch, thinking 'well, they can't possibly hear their lesson, but at least it's almost time for their class to finish...' We'll see how it goes. I was a bit flustered.
I suppose it didn't help that our building can never get the air-conditioning right. Today it was about 27 degrees in the classrooms, which is too hot if you're a) wearing winter clothes (today was cool outside), and b) dancing about and playing games with a small child. (By the way, this poor air-conditioning/heating thing is a Japan-wide problem. This blog entry was written by a video game developer in Japan, and rings very true.)
My 8-year-old student (now 9) is still great. Her mother seems to have taken a liking to me, somehow, and every week she gives me something. So far she's given me packets of cocoa, caramels, and a coffee. Jim thought this was quite funny, since her daughter is such a model student; he said it's the parents of bad children who should give us stuff, in apology. :)
I really do like teaching this girl. She has a great energy. Actually, the new girl I'm going to teach has a nice manner too. She's about 10 and quite shy, but she has a very sweet, open smile, a bit like Victoire Thivosol (who plays Anouk in the movie Chocolat).
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I like ladies
Sometimes things students say are not side-splittingly funny, but make you smile a bit. Like these two from today, each with one crucial word missing:
'I drank my colleague.'
'I broke up my boyfriend.'
Hahaha! I asked a student which character in the textbook was his favourite.
'Kate,' he said.
Why? I asked.
'I like ladies.'
'I drank my colleague.'
'I broke up my boyfriend.'
Hahaha! I asked a student which character in the textbook was his favourite.
'Kate,' he said.
Why? I asked.
'I like ladies.'
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Tunes
Daily life is full of tunes.
It starts in bed when you wake up to the sound of the ice cream truck playing its regular song.
Only it's not an ice cream truck.
It's a garbage truck.
!!!
Why the entire neighbourhood needs to hear them is a mystery to me.
I always hear this song as I wake up; I've listened to it a lot in my sleep, and this has no doubt done some damage to my subconscious. I'll find myself randomly humming the Garbage Truck Song at various points throughout the week.
Then it's off to your Japanese lesson. As you go to the station you can hear the pedestrian crossing playing the 'crossing the road' song.
You go into the station and wait for the train. The train's impeding arrival is announced with a mere chime, but once the train arrives, you are treated to the 'doors are closing' song.
At some point during your Japanese lesson you're guaranteed to hear another neighbourhood truck, this one selling 'oishii mono! oishii mono!' (yummy things! yummy things!)
Off to work, and after hearing a dozen 'doors are closing' songs (they vary from station to station; I heard they used to have the same song for every station but it caused depression in commuters!!!), it's into Kawasaki station. Various songs accompany the ads on the Kawasaki big screen, but I always hope for the Azalea one, which I call the 'Kawasaki theme song'.
My own office building has a theme song too. In our school we have 70s and 80s pop/rock music playing. Recently there's been quite a bit of U2, Tears for Fears, The Police, and Billy Joel.
Anyway, virtually everywhere you go around here has music playing; even outdoor shopping streets or romantic harbour bridges have piped muzak in the background.
The 100 yen store has a chirpy 'do-do-do-do-do (duh-duh), do-do-do-do-do.... one price shop! one price shop de gozaimasu!' tune on loop (and I mean on LOOP. If you're in the store for five minutes, you'll hear it at least a dozen times. It's kind of surprising that there's not more violent crime in this country.)
The supermarket has a catchy tune, in tone similar to the opening theme to 'Tonari no Totoro', only with new lyrics ('go shopping! have fun shopping!')
The convenience store has some incomprehensible 'para-riru-rara-riru-nananana' composition.
A very high number of these everyday songs sound like children's songs, so if you have highly developed musical sensibilities, you may want to Avoid.
The last, and my favourite, song of the day, comes from the corner outside my own local train station. There are two karaoke-kan there, and rarely a night goes by when I'm not treated to the sounds of some drunken salaryman torturing some Jpop classic. I've yet to hear someone who can actually sing, but you have to admire their gusto all the more.
It starts in bed when you wake up to the sound of the ice cream truck playing its regular song.
Only it's not an ice cream truck.
It's a garbage truck.
!!!
Why the entire neighbourhood needs to hear them is a mystery to me.
I always hear this song as I wake up; I've listened to it a lot in my sleep, and this has no doubt done some damage to my subconscious. I'll find myself randomly humming the Garbage Truck Song at various points throughout the week.
Then it's off to your Japanese lesson. As you go to the station you can hear the pedestrian crossing playing the 'crossing the road' song.
You go into the station and wait for the train. The train's impeding arrival is announced with a mere chime, but once the train arrives, you are treated to the 'doors are closing' song.
At some point during your Japanese lesson you're guaranteed to hear another neighbourhood truck, this one selling 'oishii mono! oishii mono!' (yummy things! yummy things!)
Off to work, and after hearing a dozen 'doors are closing' songs (they vary from station to station; I heard they used to have the same song for every station but it caused depression in commuters!!!), it's into Kawasaki station. Various songs accompany the ads on the Kawasaki big screen, but I always hope for the Azalea one, which I call the 'Kawasaki theme song'.
My own office building has a theme song too. In our school we have 70s and 80s pop/rock music playing. Recently there's been quite a bit of U2, Tears for Fears, The Police, and Billy Joel.
Anyway, virtually everywhere you go around here has music playing; even outdoor shopping streets or romantic harbour bridges have piped muzak in the background.
The 100 yen store has a chirpy 'do-do-do-do-do (duh-duh), do-do-do-do-do.... one price shop! one price shop de gozaimasu!' tune on loop (and I mean on LOOP. If you're in the store for five minutes, you'll hear it at least a dozen times. It's kind of surprising that there's not more violent crime in this country.)
The supermarket has a catchy tune, in tone similar to the opening theme to 'Tonari no Totoro', only with new lyrics ('go shopping! have fun shopping!')
The convenience store has some incomprehensible 'para-riru-rara-riru-nananana' composition.
A very high number of these everyday songs sound like children's songs, so if you have highly developed musical sensibilities, you may want to Avoid.
The last, and my favourite, song of the day, comes from the corner outside my own local train station. There are two karaoke-kan there, and rarely a night goes by when I'm not treated to the sounds of some drunken salaryman torturing some Jpop classic. I've yet to hear someone who can actually sing, but you have to admire their gusto all the more.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Contract
Just a quick note to say that I decided to stay for an extra six months and signed the contract renewal form today; so I will likely be in Japan until next May. I'd like to visit Australia over the New Year break.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Trip photos etc
(click on a photo to see it bigger - photos from my trip - long rambling post ahead)
I had a long stopover in Hong Kong so I went into the city. Hong Kong was my first glimpse of life outside Japan. So of course I was comparing it heavily against Japan. And to be honest, I didn't like it. My first thought was that the air was hard to breathe. And that there were a *lot* of 'foreigners' around. (By the time I got to London I stopped thinking of Westerners as 'foreigners'. But here, that's just what we're called.)
Actually I noticed just how multicultural Hong Kong is. There are loads of people from many various parts of Asia and loads of Westerners too. I heard so many different languages. I came out the train station and there were dozens of ?Indian women sitting around on the ground on pieces of cardboard boxes, playing cards and chatting.
It was strange to speak English again. People were a lot louder and more forceful than in Japan. I hadn't really realised how quietly polite Japanese society in general is, until I was in a coffee shop noticing people, for example, leaning on the counter, or forcefully slapping down onto the counter some product they wanted. After six months of Japan it kind of jangled on my nerves.
Also, in Japan, I can go weeks without a stranger talking to me. I was in Hong Kong for about six hours, and I had two people ask me for directions, one person ask me to take their picture, and two guys try to chat me up.
One other thing, absurdly, which stood out was that in a Hong Kong station, I had a long walk through an underground tunnel, and every 20m or so was a rubbish bin. In Japan there's like one bin per city.
***
Anyway, to London!
This is the station nearest my friend's place; the sun was actually out!:
And here's where I changed trains. Fancy seeing that every time you change lines!
So I went to the Tower of London and did a tour and you know what, introducing credit cards into tourist ticket gates is a profoundly bad idea. I stood in line fifteen minutes before anyone moved even one step. I suppose they need them, with the steep prices for admissions. The Tower was around AU$32; St Paul's and Westminster Abbey about $21 (each).
I had wisely arrived soon after the place opened, having heard that one should arrive early to beat the queues. The queue while I was in it was by far the longest of any point that day.
Nonetheless, thoroughly enjoyed the Tower. Also thoroughly enjoyed a rich lamb casserole and orange polenta cake at the Tower cafe. Oh, and I finally know how to pronounce 'Anne Boleyn', which I've read but never heard.
St Paul's!
The whole time I was walking around here I couldn't help singing Mary Poppins:
'All around the cathedral
the saints and apostles
look down as she sells her wares...
Although you can't see it
you know they are smiling
every time someone shows that he cares...'
The season, though the same as Japan, felt about 3-4 weeks old; for example, everywhere there were cherry blossoms and other fruit blossoms, which faded out in Japan about 4 weeks earlier. Also, tulips all over the place. I love tulips!
Sadly I failed to climb to the top of St Paul's. Climbing to the first gallery was painful enough, and I take stairs all the time these days.
Speaking of stairs, this sign in a Tube station made me smile:
You don't need to tell me twice.
Everywhere there were random buildings and doors that made me take pictures:
Russell Square was a glorious blaze of tulips:
I made my way from Russell Square through the places named in the book The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.
Speaking of which, here's 84 Charing Cross Road:
No longer an antiquarian bookstore 'straight out of Dickens', it's now... well, somewhat changed in atmosphere. Nor is the plaque commemorating the site, there any longer.
I went back to my old haunts around East Putney:
When I was young, I think the stall on the left sold fruit; now it's a cupboard-sized mortgage consultant. Up on the right is a mobile phone stall (literally, stall). Strange.
I wound up at Trafalgar Square about four times during my week:
This was the only time the sun was out, so I wasted no time getting the camera out.
I went to Notting Hill. I didn't see Hugh Grant or the House With The Blue Door. But I did have a cappu. :)
And Notting Hill had quite a few pastel-coloured buildings, all in a row. Now that I think about it, I'm vaguely wondering if I did go there as a 7-year-old. Some half-formed memory is coming back (of a place I'd never heard of and probably didn't understand why we were visiting :)).
Shockingly, the sun was still out, so I went to Kensington Gardens:
The idyllic scene you see here is soon to be shattered by a small, brattish dog running in and snapping at the swans, making them all fly away. While the dog's parents stroll insouciantly by, blatantly ignoring the multiple 'please keep your dog on a leash' signs.
Also went to Oxford. Now Oxford was full of Doors. You could easily imagine a Door like this becoming the entrance to Narnia:
I half-expected Eustace, Jill and Caspian to come flying through it at any moment, brandishing swords.
And Bath:
It's lovely, innit?
I had a long stopover in Hong Kong so I went into the city. Hong Kong was my first glimpse of life outside Japan. So of course I was comparing it heavily against Japan. And to be honest, I didn't like it. My first thought was that the air was hard to breathe. And that there were a *lot* of 'foreigners' around. (By the time I got to London I stopped thinking of Westerners as 'foreigners'. But here, that's just what we're called.)
Actually I noticed just how multicultural Hong Kong is. There are loads of people from many various parts of Asia and loads of Westerners too. I heard so many different languages. I came out the train station and there were dozens of ?Indian women sitting around on the ground on pieces of cardboard boxes, playing cards and chatting.
It was strange to speak English again. People were a lot louder and more forceful than in Japan. I hadn't really realised how quietly polite Japanese society in general is, until I was in a coffee shop noticing people, for example, leaning on the counter, or forcefully slapping down onto the counter some product they wanted. After six months of Japan it kind of jangled on my nerves.
Also, in Japan, I can go weeks without a stranger talking to me. I was in Hong Kong for about six hours, and I had two people ask me for directions, one person ask me to take their picture, and two guys try to chat me up.
One other thing, absurdly, which stood out was that in a Hong Kong station, I had a long walk through an underground tunnel, and every 20m or so was a rubbish bin. In Japan there's like one bin per city.
***
Anyway, to London!
This is the station nearest my friend's place; the sun was actually out!:
And here's where I changed trains. Fancy seeing that every time you change lines!
So I went to the Tower of London and did a tour and you know what, introducing credit cards into tourist ticket gates is a profoundly bad idea. I stood in line fifteen minutes before anyone moved even one step. I suppose they need them, with the steep prices for admissions. The Tower was around AU$32; St Paul's and Westminster Abbey about $21 (each).
I had wisely arrived soon after the place opened, having heard that one should arrive early to beat the queues. The queue while I was in it was by far the longest of any point that day.
Nonetheless, thoroughly enjoyed the Tower. Also thoroughly enjoyed a rich lamb casserole and orange polenta cake at the Tower cafe. Oh, and I finally know how to pronounce 'Anne Boleyn', which I've read but never heard.
St Paul's!
The whole time I was walking around here I couldn't help singing Mary Poppins:
'All around the cathedral
the saints and apostles
look down as she sells her wares...
Although you can't see it
you know they are smiling
every time someone shows that he cares...'
The season, though the same as Japan, felt about 3-4 weeks old; for example, everywhere there were cherry blossoms and other fruit blossoms, which faded out in Japan about 4 weeks earlier. Also, tulips all over the place. I love tulips!
Sadly I failed to climb to the top of St Paul's. Climbing to the first gallery was painful enough, and I take stairs all the time these days.
Speaking of stairs, this sign in a Tube station made me smile:
You don't need to tell me twice.
Everywhere there were random buildings and doors that made me take pictures:
Russell Square was a glorious blaze of tulips:
I made my way from Russell Square through the places named in the book The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.
Speaking of which, here's 84 Charing Cross Road:
No longer an antiquarian bookstore 'straight out of Dickens', it's now... well, somewhat changed in atmosphere. Nor is the plaque commemorating the site, there any longer.
I went back to my old haunts around East Putney:
When I was young, I think the stall on the left sold fruit; now it's a cupboard-sized mortgage consultant. Up on the right is a mobile phone stall (literally, stall). Strange.
I wound up at Trafalgar Square about four times during my week:
This was the only time the sun was out, so I wasted no time getting the camera out.
I went to Notting Hill. I didn't see Hugh Grant or the House With The Blue Door. But I did have a cappu. :)
And Notting Hill had quite a few pastel-coloured buildings, all in a row. Now that I think about it, I'm vaguely wondering if I did go there as a 7-year-old. Some half-formed memory is coming back (of a place I'd never heard of and probably didn't understand why we were visiting :)).
Shockingly, the sun was still out, so I went to Kensington Gardens:
The idyllic scene you see here is soon to be shattered by a small, brattish dog running in and snapping at the swans, making them all fly away. While the dog's parents stroll insouciantly by, blatantly ignoring the multiple 'please keep your dog on a leash' signs.
Also went to Oxford. Now Oxford was full of Doors. You could easily imagine a Door like this becoming the entrance to Narnia:
I half-expected Eustace, Jill and Caspian to come flying through it at any moment, brandishing swords.
And Bath:
It's lovely, innit?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Foot in mouth
You realise how important the correct tense is to the meaning of a sentence. There were a couple of times, for example, when a member of staff was asking me to do something, but I thought she was saying she'd already done it. Misunderstandings don't happen much, as our staff have pretty good English.
Our manager, for example, probably has good enough English to teach classes herself. There will be occasions when one of us has to ask for clarification though.
Her: Do we need any more of that coloured paper?
Me: No, we already have quite a bit of it.
Her: Okay. (pause) Does 'quite a bit' mean 'quite a lot'?
Me: ...Yes, it does... (thinking about it) ...English is strange, isn't it?
But communicating the wrong time is quite common among students. A lot of them don't understand 'how was your week?' (when asked in the latter half of the week) and respond with their plans for the weekend.
Then, the other day:
Me: So, what are you doing today?
Student: I got a haircut.
Me (thinking) Really? It looks kind of the same to me... I feel bad for not noticing... (aloud) You got a haircut? Oh yeah! It looks good!
Student: No no, I mean I'm getting a haircut after class.
Fortunately a nice student, so we could both laugh.
***
On a completely unrelated note, they've brought out azuki Kit Kats. Oh, the horror! I suppose it was only a matter of time.
For those fortunate enough not to know, azuki are sweet red beans. They have a consistency that is impossible to describe, but they are horrible, just horrible. Virtually all Japanese sweets have this vile concoction in them, and what's more, you'll frequently see them crop up in Western products (azuki icecream, Starbucks azuki frappuccinos, etc).
Needless to say, I left those ones on the shelf. Curiousity about trying new things can only go so far, after all. But I had a near-miss today. I was going to buy a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), and had even lifted it to put on my tray, when I thought the characters on the sign looked different than usual, so I smelled it.
It was an AZUKI CROISSANT!!! >_<
I went to Kamakura today; as usual found myself looking at food. Now, in Japan, fruit is sometimes given as a gift. So you can often buy perfect, well-presented little baskets of fruit as gifts. This fruit is overpriced - like $20 for a large, cute punnet of strawberries, for example - but I suppose it is a gift.
Today I saw something that took the cake. A 500g box of cherries. Each one flawless and fitted neatly into the box. How much for half a kilo of cherries?
14,800 yen.
In Australian dollars, $148.
!!!!!
You'd want to take out insurance on that!!
For that price, you'd want each cherry to give you an extra year of life...
Speaking of food, the other day I was at an izakaya again, and someone had ordered a tray of yakitori (skewered meats). I had a chicken one. (Jim said the fatty chicken skin one was his favourite. With all sincerity. There are times I can't believe that guy.) Then I was scanning the others for the one that looked the least like fat or offal.
Me: What kind of meat is that one?
Student: I think it's liver. (he asked another student in Japanese) Yes, liver.
Me: Okay.
And then I ate it.
This is the world I now live in. Where liver seems like a safer choice than any other option... ^_^
Our manager, for example, probably has good enough English to teach classes herself. There will be occasions when one of us has to ask for clarification though.
Her: Do we need any more of that coloured paper?
Me: No, we already have quite a bit of it.
Her: Okay. (pause) Does 'quite a bit' mean 'quite a lot'?
Me: ...Yes, it does... (thinking about it) ...English is strange, isn't it?
But communicating the wrong time is quite common among students. A lot of them don't understand 'how was your week?' (when asked in the latter half of the week) and respond with their plans for the weekend.
Then, the other day:
Me: So, what are you doing today?
Student: I got a haircut.
Me (thinking) Really? It looks kind of the same to me... I feel bad for not noticing... (aloud) You got a haircut? Oh yeah! It looks good!
Student: No no, I mean I'm getting a haircut after class.
Fortunately a nice student, so we could both laugh.
***
On a completely unrelated note, they've brought out azuki Kit Kats. Oh, the horror! I suppose it was only a matter of time.
For those fortunate enough not to know, azuki are sweet red beans. They have a consistency that is impossible to describe, but they are horrible, just horrible. Virtually all Japanese sweets have this vile concoction in them, and what's more, you'll frequently see them crop up in Western products (azuki icecream, Starbucks azuki frappuccinos, etc).
Needless to say, I left those ones on the shelf. Curiousity about trying new things can only go so far, after all. But I had a near-miss today. I was going to buy a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), and had even lifted it to put on my tray, when I thought the characters on the sign looked different than usual, so I smelled it.
It was an AZUKI CROISSANT!!! >_<
I went to Kamakura today; as usual found myself looking at food. Now, in Japan, fruit is sometimes given as a gift. So you can often buy perfect, well-presented little baskets of fruit as gifts. This fruit is overpriced - like $20 for a large, cute punnet of strawberries, for example - but I suppose it is a gift.
Today I saw something that took the cake. A 500g box of cherries. Each one flawless and fitted neatly into the box. How much for half a kilo of cherries?
14,800 yen.
In Australian dollars, $148.
!!!!!
You'd want to take out insurance on that!!
For that price, you'd want each cherry to give you an extra year of life...
Speaking of food, the other day I was at an izakaya again, and someone had ordered a tray of yakitori (skewered meats). I had a chicken one. (Jim said the fatty chicken skin one was his favourite. With all sincerity. There are times I can't believe that guy.) Then I was scanning the others for the one that looked the least like fat or offal.
Me: What kind of meat is that one?
Student: I think it's liver. (he asked another student in Japanese) Yes, liver.
Me: Okay.
And then I ate it.
This is the world I now live in. Where liver seems like a safer choice than any other option... ^_^
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Staying?
By the way, some people have been asking me if I'm planning to stay longer, or come back to Australia at the end of the year.
Truth be told, I've been thinking about it a lot over the last four months. I still haven't decided yet. At this moment I"m leaning toward renewing for another six months, if possible. But then, a week ago I was leaning toward going home when my contract expires.
Generally I still really enjoy living here. I just like this place. The main reasons to stay are: a) I like my students, b) I like the staff at my school, and c) I really, really like studying Japanese. Plus, it's a hassle and expense to move and set up in a new country. There are also reasons to leave...
Truth be told, I've been thinking about it a lot over the last four months. I still haven't decided yet. At this moment I"m leaning toward renewing for another six months, if possible. But then, a week ago I was leaning toward going home when my contract expires.
Generally I still really enjoy living here. I just like this place. The main reasons to stay are: a) I like my students, b) I like the staff at my school, and c) I really, really like studying Japanese. Plus, it's a hassle and expense to move and set up in a new country. There are also reasons to leave...
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