Archive for October, 2004
Training week
Sunday, October 17th, 2004
Hello again everyone, my week of training in Okayama is coming to a close. Its been an extremely busy week, but its been a lot of fun too. Things are going great here, my Japanese is working out well, and I’ve had some meaningful conversations with 8 year olds outside the grocery store. Teaching is going smoothly too, all my test students enjoyed their lessons, and I feel more comfortable telling someone how to speak English now than I did before. I am surrounded by Canadians, but things are working out well. The biggest story so far though is the….
LEGEND OF AKEMI
I was teaching a lesson that had a little “getting to know you” part at the beginning, so the students were asking each other about what their hobbies were. Akemi (a 30-something OB/GYN who loves horror movies) was trying to explain her hobby but she didn’t know the English word. So she tells us she likes to “go to the train station and find a person. Then I try to follow then and not be seen.” So I think about that fir a minute and say “We call that ’shadowing’” but another student, Nobuko says “No, its stalking.” This was true but I wasn’t gonna put her out there like that ya know? Anyway, we all laughed for about 10 minues at CRAZY STALKER AKEMI. She’s a really nice woman though, thats the strange part. Her favorite movie is Hellraiser though…..which makes me kind of creeped out all over again. I can only hope that my actual students are so interesting.
I uploaded some pictures in the Japan section, so be sure to check them out and watch for more updates as they come. I move to my actual apartment in Higashi Hiroshima tomorrow night, so more updates should be coming. Stay tuned.
Send Off
Thursday, October 7th, 2004
Tonight is my last night in Maryland for a year, and its definitely not going to be a long one. I have to get up tomorrow at 4:30 so I can make my 8 AM flight tomorrow. Not so fun. So next time I write something here I will be in Japan, telling crazy stories and posting insane pictures. Oh, and teaching English or something like that. I’ll be thinking about you all and I’ll be sure to keep in touch. Wish me luck!
PS. I got a thanks on long range bullet today. How cool is that? Only cool to me, thats how cool.
