I have a new blog page for 2nd Semester. See pages bar on the left.
Worry not, I am only giving up on catching up from Spring break. Suffice to say it was fun and busy.
I have a new blog page for 2nd Semester. See pages bar on the left.
0 Comments
This is long overdue, but I chose to enjoy my time with my host family rather than locking myself in the room to type.
I will be trying to play catch up on my blog, probably doing three large chunk posts about my time in Osaka in the next few days. Before my parents come to Japan, I am going to try to catch up on my blog, but I have a lot of plans for this coming week. Until I finish the large posts: I returned to Tokyo on the 20th, and have had little to do since. The day I got back, I visited a friend working at Starbucks in Tokyo Station. This last week, I have had no plans so I have mostly been taking it easy. Yesterday I went and took a tram/street car near Waseda for the fun of it. Today I went to a Japanese garden near my house. Other that that, I have unpacked, cleaned my room, tried making plans for next week, planned my trip with my parents somewhat, made our schedule, done paperwork, and cleaned my room. Tomorrow I have no plans, Tuesday I am hanging out with a female friend the whole day (she has never been to most areas of Tokyo), Wednesday I am going for a hike with a group of friends, Thursday I am with Japan Study, I will finally meet the new group for Spring semester, Friday I have a meeting for Niji, and Sunday my parents arrive and we start out tour of Japan. It will be a fun week. Hi, I felt I should post again. I am sorry that I am being so bad at updating this in a timely manner, but I am busy. I am surprised, but with a 3 year old in the house, I can not really use the computer until he goes to sleep, but he usually refuses to until I go to sleep or later... I have also been trying to enjoy my time here, spending lots of time with my parents and playing with my siblings and doing things on the weekends like sightseeing around Osaka and Daito. I also went on a hike in the mountains near my house on Friday for the fun of it.
I am done working at the two Elementary Schools, and am half way through working at a community center called Across. At Across, I have been doing some office work, teaching English a bit to the staff for fun, participating in community events, and helping with the set up and clean up for such events. I joined for two walks around Daito where we learn history and places of the city, I joined juggling and English classes, I helped set up for, take pictures of, and tried dancing at a Flamenco performance. I also spent one day working at a museum/ community center. I got a tour of the museum including the staff only areas like the special storage. I worked the whole day with archaeologists and asked a silly number of questions about history, Japanese culture, and the many many items in the museum and storage. I also ended up teaching them some basic English for their English speaking guests. Now to sleep. I am doing my best here and will continue to do so. And again, will do a decent update as fast as I can, I am still writing things down so I remember. good night Yesterday, Saturday, My host family went to an event at my sister's Kindergarten, then when we came home, four boys from class 5-2 were at my house. apparently they had come to play with me, that was how I spend most of Saturday. On Sunday, today, I went to Osaka by train with my host mother and went around seeing some sights. Upon returning home, we found five girls from 5-2, also at my house to play. Apparently they boys from Saturday told them. So that was how I spent the rest of the day, playing with them and my host siblings.
Tomorrow is my first day at Sanga, much much further away from my house, meaning much earlier mornings, so I am going to bed a bit earlier. Wish me luck! I will work up the updates and get them out as soon as I have time. Oh dear, I am falling a bit behind again. Today is the first day with wifi in a few days and I have been busy with school, come home, dinner, then spend time with my family. I will get back on track this weekend. Luckily, every day at the end of school, I have been asked to hand write a journal and my thoughts, similar to this, all in Japanese. So if nothing else, I will not forget anything. Writing stuff like my blog posts all in Japanese with no phone, computer, or dictionary is really a challenge, but I have been doing it every day at the end of work. The other teachers were all super impressed by my Japanese and saying I am already almost fluent. Awesome!
Tuesday, was Japan’s birthday. Happy birthday Japan! I work at a public school, so I had the day off. My host mother, sister, and brother all went to a friend’s house around noon, and my host father slept in until about 1 or 2 pm. I slept in until 9, had breakfast, and played with my brother and sister until around noon. At noon they headed out, and my host mother left lunch for me. There was a bit too much and I was not sure what to do, so I found some plastic wrap and put the leftover food worth saving in the fridge. My host father was still not showing signs of waking up, so I decided to take a bike ride around the area and see what I could see and if I could find important places. I love having a bike I can use at home, it makes wandering and exploring go so much faster. I started just randomly going around streets in the vicinity of my house, then I went to find the school I would be going to next week about a 20 minute ride away. I found it! As I was heading back, I chose a random street to cross, and decided to look for the train station. I somehow found that too and know I will be able to find my way back if I need to do shopping. I then returned to the area around my house. I went around the streets around the house. The little river by it is pretty filthy. I am almost tempted to go into Environmental Scientist mode and study the river. I already stand out enough here though, so I will resist. As I was riding around, almost every elementary school aged child that saw me, waved and said hello to me in Japanese or English, or just yelled Cameron-Sensei. I feel like quite the celebrity. The kids recognize me and always say hello. It also helps that I am one of very very few white people in the city. Apparently friends and family of my host family are also very curious about me. Having almost celebrity status feels awesome sometimes, strange sometimes, and just uncomfortable other times. I decided to draw out my ride a bit longer, so headed for the mountains near my house separating Daito-shi from Nara. I made it half way up the mountain on a bike with no gears before I decided I could not handle anymore and headed home. Back home, I decided to use my computer for the first time, so I asked my host dad for the password for the Wifi, which is a portable wifi he apparently also takes to work with him, which is why this post will be later than I was planning. I went on my computer, did some stuff for taxes, for rooming next year, and worked on my seemingly endless blog posts/diary. I went back downstairs once I was done. At that point, my host father had left but my mother and siblings were back. My host sister made me a valentines’ day gift; essentially a mini chocolate cake made with real chocolate and egg. Japanese Valentines’ count: 1 (cake from a five year old). Yay! I was honestly not expecting to get any Valentines’ gifts (the culture in Japan is that girls give chocolate to boys: something they made or melted down themselves for someone they like and store bought “obligatory” chocolate for coworkers). We had dinner, then sat around talking and watching TV. My host dad came home later as he always does, and joined us. Throughout the rest of the night, my host sister pretended to give me valentines’ gifts numerous more times, going to work, coming back, and asking how it was. It was very cute.
That is about it for this day I think. I will upload this once I have internet (typing all my posts on my phone is enough to drive someone insane). Monday, the 10th. This was my second day at Izumi. I arrived, went to the teacher's room to drop off my stuff and talked to the female teacher that I was with all of Friday. She suggested that I go to the classroom and play with the kids until 8:30 when the principal addresses all of the teachers before class starts. He also gave me a sheet of paper listing all the places I am going through out the day. Friday I was with 5-2 all day, but on Monday, I went to several classes. As I was walking back to my temporary desk, one teacher talked to me, saying he was the one I was joining for the first period, so I joined him to the classroom. 5-1 was just as energetic as 5-2. I introduced myself and they asked more strange questions, kids that age seem to like strange or funny questions. One that both of the grade 5 classes asked me was what I think of the 5-2 teacher (the female teacher I was with the first day), despite saying that that was a secret, they kept asking the same or similar questions (what I think of her, if she was going to give me chocolate for Valentines' Day, etc). They also asked where I am from, asked me to speak English, asked me if I have a girlfriend, my favorite food, etc. For the first class, I sat in the back and just observed as the students wrote for what I think was Japanese language class (Country Language). Next I went to Grade 3 class 1 for the second period. In this class, they were working on math, so as the students did their problems, the teacher and I went around correcting the students' work or drawing a circle if they are right. They were learning fractions, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and 1/5. They were so cute. When I did my introduction, they also asked really normal questions like where I am from, where that is, what kinda place it is, my favorite food, what is famous from Seattle, etc. The 3rd graders also seemed much quieter and more calm than the 5th graders. It was fun being able to walk around, interact with the students, and feel active in the class, rather than just observing. After 2nd period, was the first shorter recess, but rather than going outside for it, I decided instead to find the next place I was going, which I did not know what it was, I just knew it was four Kanji that I could not read. It turns out that it was the Special Education area, which in Japan are considered part of the normal school (the students also usually go to class with the rest of the kids if they can). I was a bit taken aback and reluctant at first, but I went in, and played with one girl who seemed not only slow, but also had a cast on her leg and could not stand or walk for all of the recess. We played with tops, and ball-in-a-cup type toys. She seemed to really enjoy it, but seemed very shy and nervous about interacting with me at first, but became more cmfortable as time passed. Then recess ended. There were two kids in the class (including the girl I played with), two teachers, a college girl volunteer, and me. The volunteer worked with the girl while the older teacher worked with a boy with possible anger issues. I ended up talking to the teacher and volunteer, who seemed plenty interested in me, just like everyone else in this area, teaching the kids English, and helping them with their normal work. For the last 10 minutes or so of class, we played. Fourth period, I was still with the handicapped kids, but it was a big group session for all of the kids needing special help. Some seemed to have a teacher permanently assigned to them while others were able to function just fine normally and were maybe just a bit slow or had occassional issues. I noticed one girl was from class 5-1. Japan system tries to integrate the handicapped kids into class normally, giving special help on top of that, thus allowing them to still learn to function normally in society and not be isolated. In the big group, the kids learned about and played with some old Japanese games including pull string tops and special types of cards. I joined the smallest group of children and helped them and interacted with them. It was really fun. One kid got a cut from the cards somehow and freaked out. Three teachers needed to hold him down and carry him out of the room. I was not sure what to do at that point, so I just let the teachers do their thing. Other than that, it turned out to be super fun. I also talked a bit with the volunteer. It was nice because she knew what she was doing, but at the same time was still new and seemed almost excited to talk to me and explain things. I thought I was going to get lunch with class 5-1 but ended up eating with my original 5-2 class. I will say, that class seems a bit closer and friendlier than 5-1. I like the class I was put with. Again they teased me about liking the teacher and were about to tell her I liked her, but I stopped them. After lunch, we played tag and takeover tag. Working at an elementary school is great exercise. Then was music and all three of the grade 5 classes got together to practice singing and playing the recorder for the 6th graders' graduation. There was also one boy who turns out to be a girl with a pink fluffy helmet from the handicapped children class. She was very cute, she kept looking up and smiling at the volunteer and I and would occasionally reach out for a handshake from one of us. She was very cute. The girl I played with at recess was there too in her wheel chair as was the volunteer. Afterwards was another joint class activity where the 5th and 3rd graders all got together in the gym and expanded on and shared the results of the whiteboard meetings from Friday. With that the shool day ended, the kids all wrote their journals at the end of the day, and headed home. I went to the staff room and worked on the journal entry the city wants me to do every day. As I was doing it, I chatred with several teachers, one teacher looked at my journal and praised me super highly on my Japanese, to the point that numerous other teachers also came over to see what I wrote and praised me too. Also the Vice principal gave me some chocolate for no reason. Yay! After I finished, I showed the journal to the VP and headed home. At home I talked with my family, sat around, played, had dinner, and watched TV. But I still find my brother running around with no pants on rather gross.
Well, that is about it for now. good night! This was my first two day weekend in ages. I slept in then had breakfast, we have western breakfasts more often than rice, miso soup, and fish here. After breakfast, my host mom drove me to a mall by the station to pick up some more under armour like clothing for school because it is so cold in the building. So I went to Uniclo, a cheap but good quality clothing chain. Apparently one of my students saw me there, but only mentioned it today at school. We came home, ate lunch, and my host mom took us (father at work at this time) out again, to the library, to pick up some travel books of Osaka and the area. We then came home, read a bit, and sat around chatting, playing with the kids, and watching the Olympics. Part way through, my host mother took a nap, but got up in time to make dinner. We sat around chatting more and watching the olympics more.
Sunday, the whole family drove to Kobe. There we visited some famous houses in an old international district of people like the US consulate's old house, a british mansion, a Nordic house, etc. We also walked by the consulate of Norway, France, and Britain. We then went to Kobe's China town and walked around. We got a late lunch at an Italian Restaurant, and continued on to the waterfront. There, we walked around, took pictures, and rode a ferris wheel. We were going to go to the restaurant my father owns, but we were all exhausted, so we just went home. Apparently my father owns a seafood trade company between Osaka and Southern China and a restaurant in Osaka. Wow. It was a long drive home with traffic. We talked part of it, but I dozed off. We got home, had dinner, watched TV more, and went to bed early, it was a school day for me. Today was my first day with my internship at Izumi Elementary School. My host mother and the kids walked me to school, five minutes away from home, where I was met by the woman I met yesterday at the city office who introduced me to the principal and vice principal, soon after one of the other city workers came, we taljed and they talked about expectations and serious stuff, then we just talked about normal stuff and they cracked a few jokes to try to make me feel less nervous. After this, I went and introduced myself once to all the teachers, then went back to the principal's office where the city workers and I talked a bit more until the teacher I am the assistant for came to meet me and introduce me to the class. She is quite young, only 25, and shorter than me with a round face and long hair slightly dyed in the very common Japanese bleached blond look (slightly orange). Like every other teacher at this school, including the principal and vice principal, she was wearing a track/warm up suit. I introduced myself to the class and they went balistic, they are so amazigly energetic and cheerful. When I walked into the room, five of them came up right away and shook my hand for some reason. After this it was music time, so I went with the kids to the musi class where I sat in the back and tried to sing along as best as I could, one vboy kept looking back at me throughout the whole class. Singing in a foreign language is hard! After music, the kids went back to the classroom and I went to the principal's office for my official orientation and got a bunch of papers to look at. Sadly I am not able to read the school rules, but they said the most important thing is to relax and have fun. After the meeting, I found my way back to the classroom and there was an earthquake drill. When we went outside, I introduced myself once more to everyone at the school and before that, many other students were staring at me. After the drill, there was yhe shorter of two recesses, so I went outside in my suit and played dodgeball with some of the kids from my class. After recess, it was time for science class for two hours. During this class, the kids were learning about Electricity and so I walked around to help them with the experiments and to be sure they were keeping up with the instructions. After that we had lunch, Japanese school lunches are delicious, but a bit small for me. I drew straws to decide where to sit for lunch cuz all the kids wanted to sit with me. Next was Recess take two. I joined a group of girls for tag and a group of boys also joined when they heard I was doing it. Several kids from other classes hovered around are area watching me the whole time. Then it was cleaning time, but I did not really see what was meant by that. The kids spend much of thetime brainstorming ways to beautify or improve the school. Soon after, the class split in half and half the class went to another room while a bunch of 3rd graders came. They did something called a whiteboard meeting where they split into groups and brainstormed how to improve the school. I stuck with one group and observed. They talked about some more stuff I did not really understand, sang a song, then I was up again. The teacher gave question time to the students, so they asked me all sorts of questions, from my favorite food to if I have a girlfriend, to which girl will become really attractive in the future to how old is and what I think of the teacher. I chose to skip some questions of course. Afterwards, some more stuff I did not understand, and then for fun, there were armwrestling competitions where I was apparently the grandmaster everyone wanted to challenge. With that school ended, I stood around and talked to some students, and went with the teacher whose name I really need to remember to the faculty room where I talked with a few of the teachers, one guy seemed to try to set himself up in a senpai position to me which I chose to ignore, and I worked on a journal I am doing for the school saying what I am doing and my thoughts. At one point the vice principal told me to relax a bit and gave me a shoulder massage. After that I returned home. At home we had dinner, sat around chatting more, played with the kids, and watched TV. I am seeing too much of my host brother's butt, he seems to hate pants and sheds them every chance he gets, it is hilarious, but I do not wanna see quite so much of him. Especially when he stands right in front of my face.
phew, weekend update tomorrow, good night. |