Archive for December, 2004
Log
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004
I had this text file I was keeping of the first few days in Japan when I thought I would magically write down everything that happens because I would have all the time in the world. Its not doing me any good just festering on my harddrive, so here is it, festering on the internet:
10/7 sat next to couple from hawaii on the flight to chicago, the ones that were in front of me to check bags in. irony. Short flight, arrived ahead of schedule, currently waiting at o’hare, wifi is password protected so no email yet.
10/8 sat next to a blonde marine who lives in okinawa, total trip. crying baby the whole way, the guy in front of us kept opening his window for no reason. watched eternal sunshine twice (awesome) and the day after tomorrow (sucked). Got to Kansai international, got luggage, met with trainers, waited for other people, got on super express to shin osaka, took the shinkansen to okayama for training.
10/9 okayama is the birthplace of momotaro, so everything is momotaro themed. I only have 1 other person in the training process this week, so thats kind of strange. Dan from Ottawa. Both trainers Tim and Alec are from Canada too, irony. We did a little intro to the company and a small tour of the city, then sort of bummed around on our own, found some hilarious looking signs for stores. Watched Bulletproof Monk that Sally (another canadian) Amity teacher had brought. AWFUL movie.
10/10 day off today, went and used the internet at the international center, and walked over to attempt to buy a denchi jisho, but nothing good was on sale. Got my first gashapon today (envy from FMA) the birth of a nation! Walked over to the castle and the garden, paid the 800 yen to go in but damned if it wasn’t worth it. not a whole lot to see but you know what they say, take every opportunity and all that. got my McD’s on for the first time in japan (again) and got a JUMP so I have something to read, etc. Sleep semi early again.
10/11 back to training, did several test runs of different parts of the lesson (warm up, pre-activity, listening) which all went well. Have to present a lesson on wed, but I’m not super concerned. Went to matsuya for lunch, and showed two japanese guys where the international center was because…unless I was understanding them they were looking specifically to meet foreign people. They wanted to hang out but I honestly didn’t know when work was going to let out, and we have crazy homework to do so I passed. felt kind of cool to try to get along in japanese though.
Open
Sunday, December 12th, 2004
I’m sorry, this is just too sweet.
Thats basically why I came to Japan. Who else would put so much time into something like that?
Newsletter
Friday, December 3rd, 2004
I managed to get a copy of the newsletter Dan and I were in, so here follows our writeup:
PS. I have on idea where “The Hoover” came from. I’m not sure Dan knows either
Dan “The Hoover” Mays “loves Toronto like a second home” but hails from Canada’s capital, which loyal Times readers will recall as Ottawa. Dan found training centre legend Mr. Onishi to be a “funny memorable character: reminds me of my grandfather.” His favorite thing about Japan has been the food, although he already warns us “watch out for that Boss Coffee, it’s addictive.” (aaah, I just had a Fine Roast myself after reading that. Delicious!-Ed). Besides the pursuit of The Perfect Lesson, Dan will use his first year based in Iwakuni to get out and see the many wonderful sights of Hiroshima prefecture…and beyond, while sampling the cuisine and expanding his Japanese language skills.
Meanwhile, Brad McNair brought his mad Japanese skillz to the source all the way from Burtonsville, MD. Brad says he is “looking forward to putting [his] Japanese language and culture studies to good use and helping out fellow language students.” One of his model lesson students “explained her hobby as following a person from the train station without being seen. Finding an appropriate word in English proved interesting/hilarious.” He also enjoyed the “extreme friendliness and willingness of people to speak in both Japanese and English”. “It’s Brad, OK? Brad.” joins the team at Higashi Hiroshima school, where he hopes to “have fun teaching and enjoy the smaller town atmosphere in Saijo.” Good luck to you sir!
All this talk about Japanese language reminds me that trainer Tim said I was probably the most skilled in Japanese foreign teacher to come through the company in a long time. That’s pretty cool.
