I like to think our lives have plots. Each portion of your life -- divide it up along whatever lines you want -- segues into the next, like a beautiful piece of literature.
Anyways, as I told my roomate J, this is the end of part 1 of our Japanese adventure, which, if one considers Japan takin up a chapter or 2 in my life story, is a good few paragraphs gone in my autobiography. But in the smaller scale, going back to The GOC, moving into a new appartment, the dissolution of our previous roomate trio -- signifies a definate seachange.
I'm sitting in the Business Class waiting lounge for American Airlines -- we call it The Admirals Lounge. And bless their hearts they have internet, but their internet connection will not even allow me to visit www.urbandictionary.com to look up the meaning of "seachange." "Category: Tasteless." ... :(
Anyways, if The Admirals Lounge is any indication, business class is the Only way to travel. There is a buffet of sushi, cheese and crackers, and, to anyone English who used to live with me out there -- meat pies! There is also Benjamine Franklin's favorite drink on tap, along with whatever other alcohol you want. It's pretty rediculous. The chairs are hecka stylish and comfortable. It almost makes you wonder why they don't make the rest of the airport comfortable... almost.
Not just in the Admirals Lounge, but anywhere, Japan is truly a great country if you want to be catered to. To the finest detail service is of the utmost quality here. They will take your trash with a smile, go out of their way to help you locate a rival business, sneak you train tickets... the list continues.
So, I don't feel like waxing nostalgic or summarizing the events so far. Saying that there is a sea change is enough. One thing I will say, is that now I know I am definately here for more than one year. And as I think about my proposed time-line -- get a job teaching in a school in April, anywhere -- maybe the boondocks to learn the lanuage; work there for a year till the contract is up; moving out to Kobe to strike it rich for 6 months -- it all seems pretty rushed. We shall see what happens.
Stay tuned for Chapter 2, faithful readers!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunset in Japan
So today is Tuesday, not Monday, but I am still posting, because yesterday I didn't. My tinnitus has gotten better. I am not entirely sure if it has subsided or if I don't notice it as much. I think its a combination of both. For starters, I don't really hear it too much, unless I pay attention to it, and then it is still marginal. I hear it when going to bed in the silence. The ringing in my left ear is much less there if at all. I think the pitch has gotten even higher in tone, almost so high as to be a whisper. But, when I pray and hope that it is gone, I go to bed or a quiet room and hear a wringing in my right ear. Its not too bad, probably could live with it, but would I want to with probably more than half a century left to go? I also think that I am becoming accustomed to it. They did a study, put people in a dead silent room and found most people heard a high pitched tone. But I do think that what I have is louder and more unnatural than that. The outlook is not as grim as last week, when the tinnitus was worse, but, I am still fearful that I have this condition. I am also very afraid that I may damage my ears again, hear too loud a noise or get an infection or whatever. With my ears already like this, if they got knocked back again, so that I got BAD tinnitus -- well, that would be beyond horrible. As such, I have been refraining from consuming alcohol and caffeine (except in chocolate form I'm so bad,) because I hear (no pun intended) that makes your condition temporarily worse. So that is the story with my ears. I'm sure most of you don't care, I'll move on.
I turned 22 on Saturday. I am officially over the hill. 21 is when you become an adult. 22 is when you become over the hill. You see, 20 is the age before you can become publicly intoxicated -- which, as we all know, is a sign of one's maturity. So when you are 20 you are a kid. And then 21 you are an adult because you can drink and buy minors rated R movie tickets. And then 22, when nothing special happens, you are over the hill. The only thing I have left to look forward to is when I turn 25, the age you at which you can rent a car from Thrifty ... without a daily surcharge. So I can even rent a car now, just with a daily surcharge! And that's old hat! By the way, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, which is probably why Japan is full of old people. Yes, turning 22 sure did make me wonder where the years went...
I went to the bowling alley with The Last Roomate J. We played epic ping pong matches. As everyone knows, I am a backhand looper. My forehand game is practically non-existant. I found a new grip that lets me hit pretty good forehands, with the correct timing, and was developing that. Then P stopped by. We bowled a couple games. Then P invited us back to his studio to play some videogames. He lives with his gf. We hang out in his apartment for a little bit. Then his gf turns off the lights, and she and P emerge from the kitchen with a home made birthday cake... with candles! It was incredibly nice of them, and I wasn't expecting it at all! We talked for an hour or so, and me and J left to our apartment. By the way. P has a Wii and he has Mario Galaxies. Very cool.
I have been continuing to work at the tax college. I have a job interview for a high school or junior high position on Thursday. Wish me luck. I am also moving out of the apartment.
Looking on various apartment boards, I found an apartment posted by this 20 year old Japanese girl who works at an office. She lives with a 45 year old man "who has good sense." I thought they shared the apartment, but he owns it. Last night I went to check out the place. I travel about 2 hours to this place. It's in The Middle of Nowhere, Suburbs, Japan. Its an hour from Tokyo. 90 minutes -- 2 hours from my part time tax college job. I get to this place, after a few confused txt messages on both our parts from me and the girl. She arrives on a motorcycle and asks if I can ride on it with her. I figure refusing is wussy, and people might generally not want wusses for their apt mates. So she gives me a helmut and I get on the back. First time I ever rode on a motorcycle, only 5 minutes, and I have to say it was fun. We get to her apartment, and before we walk in, she explain the old man living there is the owner and she's been there 3 months. And here I was hoping he was some sketchy old noob.
Wow, this guy kept this place so clean he would give Danny Tanner a run for his money. I bet he even dusted! It was a small little place, 3 bedroom, a kitchen attached to a dining room, attached to a computer room. The place was a little spare, the single thing in the computer room was the computer. The man seemed a little incredulous and laughed a little impolitely at my desire to live there. The girl was our translator. They questioned my working 90 - 120 minutes away, although I don't think my commute concerns them. The man also seemed suspicious of living with someone who doesn't really speak Japanese. I speak a little, but not nearly conversational. My mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure out what they were saying, though, so I think living in Danny Tanner Heck-zone would be very beneficial to my language skills. BuT CAn TheY HaNDle mE?!! So, they said they would take till the weekend to think about it. I also don't know if they know that there's a good chance I'd move in April. Think I should tell them? Everyone is hecka polite in Japan, so much so that you don't want to go around screwing everyone for your own benefit like you would in The G.O.C..
So, realizing the tentativeness of this new place, I have spent today applying to new apts. Applied to a bunch. Gonna go look at 2 on Thursday. I think these are shared apts, 5-6 people, no owner-dood living on site. This is sort of what I want, minus any English people. But there are def Japanese at both, so language potential does exist. There is also a Spanish guy at one, so it would be fun para hablar en espanol al ello. Not as much as at Danny Tanner's house, though. Danny Tanner's house also costs $250 dollars, and this other one costs about $560 I think. $250 is redic cheap tho, $560 is a fairly good deal here.
Given the option of living at Danny Tanner's house, a 2 hour commute from my 2-time a week, 9.00 am start job, what do you guys think I should do? Advice?
I am coming home for Christmas.
____________________________________
We are on the final pages of the first chapter of Japan. I should have blog posted about this in more detail, but forgot to -- my roommate M moved out last Thursday to England. It's too bad. I'll miss talking about anime and watching him play computer games. And today J came home with exciting news -- he got offered a job. He starts training tomorrow. The next day they will fly him to the opposite coast of Japan for his job. He is a super-sub, meaning he fills in for English high-school teachers on long term basis. If a teacher is needed for a week or a month anywhere in Japan, he is your man. They will pay for his accomadation, wherever. So he will be living as a vagabond for a year. Kind of a cool gig, not my cup of tea, because I want roots. But in any case, he'll probably be gone in 2 days, and then I am left here, alone, in the squalor. But only for a week, and then I am gone to The Good Ol' Country. When I return, I will be somewhere new.
Yes, this first part of Japan was easy. It was too easy, and I didn't try hard. The wheels of fate are turning in synchrony with the eternal clock. Things are moving; people are moving. I am moving; I hope I don't stop until I've learned Japanese.
--Eoin
I turned 22 on Saturday. I am officially over the hill. 21 is when you become an adult. 22 is when you become over the hill. You see, 20 is the age before you can become publicly intoxicated -- which, as we all know, is a sign of one's maturity. So when you are 20 you are a kid. And then 21 you are an adult because you can drink and buy minors rated R movie tickets. And then 22, when nothing special happens, you are over the hill. The only thing I have left to look forward to is when I turn 25, the age you at which you can rent a car from Thrifty ... without a daily surcharge. So I can even rent a car now, just with a daily surcharge! And that's old hat! By the way, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, which is probably why Japan is full of old people. Yes, turning 22 sure did make me wonder where the years went...
I went to the bowling alley with The Last Roomate J. We played epic ping pong matches. As everyone knows, I am a backhand looper. My forehand game is practically non-existant. I found a new grip that lets me hit pretty good forehands, with the correct timing, and was developing that. Then P stopped by. We bowled a couple games. Then P invited us back to his studio to play some videogames. He lives with his gf. We hang out in his apartment for a little bit. Then his gf turns off the lights, and she and P emerge from the kitchen with a home made birthday cake... with candles! It was incredibly nice of them, and I wasn't expecting it at all! We talked for an hour or so, and me and J left to our apartment. By the way. P has a Wii and he has Mario Galaxies. Very cool.
I have been continuing to work at the tax college. I have a job interview for a high school or junior high position on Thursday. Wish me luck. I am also moving out of the apartment.
Looking on various apartment boards, I found an apartment posted by this 20 year old Japanese girl who works at an office. She lives with a 45 year old man "who has good sense." I thought they shared the apartment, but he owns it. Last night I went to check out the place. I travel about 2 hours to this place. It's in The Middle of Nowhere, Suburbs, Japan. Its an hour from Tokyo. 90 minutes -- 2 hours from my part time tax college job. I get to this place, after a few confused txt messages on both our parts from me and the girl. She arrives on a motorcycle and asks if I can ride on it with her. I figure refusing is wussy, and people might generally not want wusses for their apt mates. So she gives me a helmut and I get on the back. First time I ever rode on a motorcycle, only 5 minutes, and I have to say it was fun. We get to her apartment, and before we walk in, she explain the old man living there is the owner and she's been there 3 months. And here I was hoping he was some sketchy old noob.
Wow, this guy kept this place so clean he would give Danny Tanner a run for his money. I bet he even dusted! It was a small little place, 3 bedroom, a kitchen attached to a dining room, attached to a computer room. The place was a little spare, the single thing in the computer room was the computer. The man seemed a little incredulous and laughed a little impolitely at my desire to live there. The girl was our translator. They questioned my working 90 - 120 minutes away, although I don't think my commute concerns them. The man also seemed suspicious of living with someone who doesn't really speak Japanese. I speak a little, but not nearly conversational. My mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure out what they were saying, though, so I think living in Danny Tanner Heck-zone would be very beneficial to my language skills. BuT CAn TheY HaNDle mE?!! So, they said they would take till the weekend to think about it. I also don't know if they know that there's a good chance I'd move in April. Think I should tell them? Everyone is hecka polite in Japan, so much so that you don't want to go around screwing everyone for your own benefit like you would in The G.O.C..
So, realizing the tentativeness of this new place, I have spent today applying to new apts. Applied to a bunch. Gonna go look at 2 on Thursday. I think these are shared apts, 5-6 people, no owner-dood living on site. This is sort of what I want, minus any English people. But there are def Japanese at both, so language potential does exist. There is also a Spanish guy at one, so it would be fun para hablar en espanol al ello. Not as much as at Danny Tanner's house, though. Danny Tanner's house also costs $250 dollars, and this other one costs about $560 I think. $250 is redic cheap tho, $560 is a fairly good deal here.
Given the option of living at Danny Tanner's house, a 2 hour commute from my 2-time a week, 9.00 am start job, what do you guys think I should do? Advice?
I am coming home for Christmas.
____________________________________
We are on the final pages of the first chapter of Japan. I should have blog posted about this in more detail, but forgot to -- my roommate M moved out last Thursday to England. It's too bad. I'll miss talking about anime and watching him play computer games. And today J came home with exciting news -- he got offered a job. He starts training tomorrow. The next day they will fly him to the opposite coast of Japan for his job. He is a super-sub, meaning he fills in for English high-school teachers on long term basis. If a teacher is needed for a week or a month anywhere in Japan, he is your man. They will pay for his accomadation, wherever. So he will be living as a vagabond for a year. Kind of a cool gig, not my cup of tea, because I want roots. But in any case, he'll probably be gone in 2 days, and then I am left here, alone, in the squalor. But only for a week, and then I am gone to The Good Ol' Country. When I return, I will be somewhere new.
Yes, this first part of Japan was easy. It was too easy, and I didn't try hard. The wheels of fate are turning in synchrony with the eternal clock. Things are moving; people are moving. I am moving; I hope I don't stop until I've learned Japanese.
--Eoin
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Silence is Golden
Crappy week.
Let me start with the minor things. I have no full time employment. I have no future apartment or job.
Let me tell you what is really bothering me. On Saturday I went with the girl from Miami -- N -- to a rock concert. She knew the headlining act, and was obliged to go. Heck, I didn't even really want to go, it just turned out to be the most convenient thing to do. And it was free. So we go, and I see this band whose music I have on my computer b4 hand and who were pretty enjoyable. Then we see a pretty rockin band, then a weird noise band, and finally -- the terrible terrible deathly terrible final act.
Suffice to say, they put on the gig, were pretensious and boring, boring, derivative, and LOUD. At certain points they turned their distortion, pitch, and volume on high. Now we were standing at the front near the speakers so she could be seen by her accquaintences. This noise peirced my eardrums like daggers. I dont remember ever feeling physical pain from sound, but this truly hurt. Then they would ease off and return to their normal wailing, then jam on the pain again in the name of Rock. I longed to be in a Munch painting with my hands over my ears, but couldnt since I was 2 feet away from the singer, and for some stupid reason didn't just leave the floor. In anycase, their set lasted 15-20 minutes and they were done. Afterwards, outside, I asked N if her ears were still ringing. She said no...
Cut forward 115 hours. My right ear has a persistent ring in it. It never goes away. Sometimes it fades from my conciousness, but is always there. It is usually at a constant volume, but sometimes it waxes and wanes ever so slightly. On the train or outside it is easy not to hear it. With music playing it is not too noticible. It isnt even THAT loud. It sounds like a computer monitor or a computer booting up. Its a high pitched, metallic, unnatural squeal. Well, more cold than squeal, lets say a pure tone. Its surprising how unorganic it sounds.
I hoped to give it a few days to clear, right now that is all I can do, but days keep passing and the noise remains. As I said, sometimes when I dont think about it, I dont notice it, but thats kind of like always having a thought in your mind that you know you can't think about. I am talking about this affliction as if its permanent. That is because I fear it is. My symptoms seem consistent with, pardon me while I knock on wood, tinnitus.
There is no cure for tinnitus, although there is treatment. (Some research, though, suggests that you may be able to heal the damage with hyperbaric oxygen treatment, or sessions in a 100% pressurized oxygen container, within a few months of the traumatic injury.) There are also mental training excersizes that you can do. Tinnitus is caused for various reasons, one of which is acoustic trauma. The inner ear hairs become damaged, and the associated nerves start firing off random signals to the brain that correspond to no physical sound.
The ringing is bothersome. But bothersome things are nothing to cry about. What is awful is knowing that for the rest of my life I may be fatigued by this constant, omnipresent irritation. I also presently have fears that it may get worse. Initially I just heard the ringing in my right ear, but going to bed 2 nights ago, I heard a faint ring in my left, and last night, I heard an additional noise (like metallic crickets) in my right... I don't want my ear condition to get any worse. And what is also sad, is that I may not ever hear silence again. I've been pretty depressed this week. It'd be bad enough if this happened at middle or old age. But I'm only 21, and am not looking forward to enduring 60 years of noise. I'm not going clubbing on Friday for my birthday for obvious reasons.
...
"All in all, at least you've got your health."
Eoin
Let me start with the minor things. I have no full time employment. I have no future apartment or job.
Let me tell you what is really bothering me. On Saturday I went with the girl from Miami -- N -- to a rock concert. She knew the headlining act, and was obliged to go. Heck, I didn't even really want to go, it just turned out to be the most convenient thing to do. And it was free. So we go, and I see this band whose music I have on my computer b4 hand and who were pretty enjoyable. Then we see a pretty rockin band, then a weird noise band, and finally -- the terrible terrible deathly terrible final act.
Suffice to say, they put on the gig, were pretensious and boring, boring, derivative, and LOUD. At certain points they turned their distortion, pitch, and volume on high. Now we were standing at the front near the speakers so she could be seen by her accquaintences. This noise peirced my eardrums like daggers. I dont remember ever feeling physical pain from sound, but this truly hurt. Then they would ease off and return to their normal wailing, then jam on the pain again in the name of Rock. I longed to be in a Munch painting with my hands over my ears, but couldnt since I was 2 feet away from the singer, and for some stupid reason didn't just leave the floor. In anycase, their set lasted 15-20 minutes and they were done. Afterwards, outside, I asked N if her ears were still ringing. She said no...
Cut forward 115 hours. My right ear has a persistent ring in it. It never goes away. Sometimes it fades from my conciousness, but is always there. It is usually at a constant volume, but sometimes it waxes and wanes ever so slightly. On the train or outside it is easy not to hear it. With music playing it is not too noticible. It isnt even THAT loud. It sounds like a computer monitor or a computer booting up. Its a high pitched, metallic, unnatural squeal. Well, more cold than squeal, lets say a pure tone. Its surprising how unorganic it sounds.
I hoped to give it a few days to clear, right now that is all I can do, but days keep passing and the noise remains. As I said, sometimes when I dont think about it, I dont notice it, but thats kind of like always having a thought in your mind that you know you can't think about. I am talking about this affliction as if its permanent. That is because I fear it is. My symptoms seem consistent with, pardon me while I knock on wood, tinnitus.
There is no cure for tinnitus, although there is treatment. (Some research, though, suggests that you may be able to heal the damage with hyperbaric oxygen treatment, or sessions in a 100% pressurized oxygen container, within a few months of the traumatic injury.) There are also mental training excersizes that you can do. Tinnitus is caused for various reasons, one of which is acoustic trauma. The inner ear hairs become damaged, and the associated nerves start firing off random signals to the brain that correspond to no physical sound.
The ringing is bothersome. But bothersome things are nothing to cry about. What is awful is knowing that for the rest of my life I may be fatigued by this constant, omnipresent irritation. I also presently have fears that it may get worse. Initially I just heard the ringing in my right ear, but going to bed 2 nights ago, I heard a faint ring in my left, and last night, I heard an additional noise (like metallic crickets) in my right... I don't want my ear condition to get any worse. And what is also sad, is that I may not ever hear silence again. I've been pretty depressed this week. It'd be bad enough if this happened at middle or old age. But I'm only 21, and am not looking forward to enduring 60 years of noise. I'm not going clubbing on Friday for my birthday for obvious reasons.
...
"All in all, at least you've got your health."
Eoin
Monday, November 26, 2007
Boring...
Let's see... this week was pretty boring. I didn't do much.
All I did was go to a modeling gig with J, get my picture taken, walk down the runway, get a t-shirt for payment along with Subway and free drinks, and see a band that I really because after I'm done modeling at this "rock-fashion" show it turns out that the awesome band playing is they, and who incidently I went up to afterward and said "Nirgilis no ongaku ga daisuki desu!"; meet some new people: 1 a 3rd generation Korean born and raised in Japan who has a gaijin/foreigners card like we Westeners do, 2 a Miami raised Japanese girl who half-runs that modeling thing, go out to dinner with her and J, go to the hipster-den Shimokitazawa with J and her, buy some good drinks, talk to some Frenchies, listen to this man DJ (real small lounge about 10 people in there including us) leave with Frenchies and J to Shibuya to go to a club the man is DJing at, have some fun, buy some expensive drinks, dance to techno; find out I didn't get the job I was hoping to get which was actually a sweet job prob, but at the same time find out they were impressed with my interview to consider me for this other job in the suburbs of Tokyo; show up to work 40 minutes late my first day of my part time job which only translated to 5 minutes late to class because until I rechecked my email at 8:00 AM I thought I was supposed to be at the train station at 9:15 AM but was really supposed to be there at 8:15 AM, taught 2 classes of 20-21 year olds, who were amazed at my young age and also my shoe size (it was a fun class, and I deftly stayed in Control as their Master/ Teacher >:) ); went out to lunch and bought what I hoped were dumplings but what turned out to be fist sized joints or at least lumps of slick thick white cartilidge; slept late too much in general, and made up for it today by studying a lot of Japanese, including going to the cafe with J as an excuse to study there and away from the laptop; started a transition from button to Maitake mushrooms, and today bought some already cheap beef at half price and cooked some.
So it was a pretty uneventful week, sorry I don't have more to write about.
Until next time, faithful reader
Excelsior!
All I did was go to a modeling gig with J, get my picture taken, walk down the runway, get a t-shirt for payment along with Subway and free drinks, and see a band that I really because after I'm done modeling at this "rock-fashion" show it turns out that the awesome band playing is they, and who incidently I went up to afterward and said "Nirgilis no ongaku ga daisuki desu!"; meet some new people: 1 a 3rd generation Korean born and raised in Japan who has a gaijin/foreigners card like we Westeners do, 2 a Miami raised Japanese girl who half-runs that modeling thing, go out to dinner with her and J, go to the hipster-den Shimokitazawa with J and her, buy some good drinks, talk to some Frenchies, listen to this man DJ (real small lounge about 10 people in there including us) leave with Frenchies and J to Shibuya to go to a club the man is DJing at, have some fun, buy some expensive drinks, dance to techno; find out I didn't get the job I was hoping to get which was actually a sweet job prob, but at the same time find out they were impressed with my interview to consider me for this other job in the suburbs of Tokyo; show up to work 40 minutes late my first day of my part time job which only translated to 5 minutes late to class because until I rechecked my email at 8:00 AM I thought I was supposed to be at the train station at 9:15 AM but was really supposed to be there at 8:15 AM, taught 2 classes of 20-21 year olds, who were amazed at my young age and also my shoe size (it was a fun class, and I deftly stayed in Control as their Master/ Teacher >:) ); went out to lunch and bought what I hoped were dumplings but what turned out to be fist sized joints or at least lumps of slick thick white cartilidge; slept late too much in general, and made up for it today by studying a lot of Japanese, including going to the cafe with J as an excuse to study there and away from the laptop; started a transition from button to Maitake mushrooms, and today bought some already cheap beef at half price and cooked some.
So it was a pretty uneventful week, sorry I don't have more to write about.
Until next time, faithful reader
Excelsior!
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Return
Kobe. Awesome. "It's a special town. A port town," a lady told me today during my travels. That it is. That it is. So my last full day there was, in some ways, the best one. I only walked between probably 1 square mile all day, but it was raining, and I walked a very circuitous route, so forgive me! But, although I didnt get down to the harbor again, or get around to climbing that rock wall in that gym I saw, I still had a blast.
Basically, all I did was wander around the 2 central areas all day, stopping in various cafes, reading, and drinking coffee. When in Kobe, as the expression goes. In addition, for lunch, I found a place that was reccomended in my guide book for "Japanese food like it was before Japan got rich." The process was simple, the food carefully prepared, and the atmospehere very Japanese. I sat at a picnic type table near some Japanese, picked my order out by pointing at dishes on display, and the whole room was filled with smoking regulars it appeared, busy place.
Eventually, night fell, and it started raining -- not drizzling, raining. It was nice, although I eventually succumbed and bought an umbrella. During the storm which lasted hours, I continued my meandering. I saw a cafe at the top of a central building and made it my mission to go there, but I had to drop some things off first. After that, I found my way back, went up, and had tiramasu and coffee ovelooking Sanomiya area in Kobe.
There really is just too much to describe about Kobe to do it justice. All the little things. The old people dressed like hippies, the clean air, the graffiti at the edge of town, the modern architecture, the American buildings, the cafes, the mountains, the ocean -- all of it add up to a city that I liked alot.
I took a noon train down to Kobe center, and got an 11.30 last train or so back. On the way back down I saw a young guy in his twenties with a shaved head and sunken in eyes. I figured he was sick, perhaps on chemo. And then I realized how easy I have it. I have never struggled for anything in my life. There is alot of suffering and unhappiness in the world. Part of that is intrinsic to who we are. Part of that is based on our circumstances. I am very glad and grateful I have the family and friends I do, (thank you), and the privelege of a certain amount of money and health. Its shocking to think that people my age get sick and die. It makes me feel guilty that if and when I fall on hard times I can count on my family (or hopefully my friends) to back me up. Why do I have it so easy, on all counts? I don't think I really deserve it; I feel that I can only "deserve" it after experiencing hardship, but I must knock on wood now, because no one should ever wish for that sort of hardship.
I got pretty bummed out after seeing the bald boy on the train, but I was in a pretty introspective and excited state to begin with, after the whole Kobe trip. It was also sad to leave a place that I really loved so much. The feeling I am conveying now, two weeks later, does not do justice to the feelings I had while down there. I tried writing them up while in my hostel the last night. But the annoying lady running it said "we are closing the living room now" so I had to leave that and everyone was asleep in my hostel room so I couldn't type in there. Especially because I think I had toast crumbs under important keys that kept crunching...
I woke up with my cell phone alarm at 10.00 and went back to sleep. Half an hour later I woke up with a mild, but slightly persisting earthquake. Remembering the thousands who died 10 or so years ago in a gigantic Kobe earthquake, I got out of bed, and left the hostel.
I didnt mess around. I got a ticket to go home, and left. That's that. Kobe was a good trip. I will be sure to visit again, and I figure if I can get a year long contract anywhere any time soon, I would be sure to consider moving to Kobe after the contract is up for my remaining time in Japan.
**********************************
What else have I been up to? Well, while in Kobe, eating lunch at that very Japanese place, I got a call for an interview at a company that basically distributes native English speakers to schools. The lady sounded enthusiastic and awkward, and before when I called she seemed very friendly and happy that I tried to speak Japanese to her. It was good news. I had an interview for 2 days time (partly why I didnt stick around in Kobe longer.)
I got to the interview an hour early (its about 90 minutes from my house.) And good thing I got early, cuz it took me 30 minutes to find the place, and in Japan u want to show up early (prob everywhere, idk.) So I fill out, or start to fill out, a massively 7 paged questionaire of teaching and job app questions, u can imagine. Then this lady come and interviews me for 20 minutes. Then she sends in another, older lady who interviews me for a while. Then the original lady interviews me for a little bit. Then she goes away. Mind you, during all these breaks, I am struggling to write my autobiography on these 7 sheets. Then she comes back and tells me I have to do a videotaped intro of myself 3-5 minutes long. So i take 2 minutes to look her talking points over, and then go. Of course, I make sure to knock my chair over on the way out. ;) . And we videotape 2 takes, cuz the first one wasnt all that. Then we come back, i finish up writing, and basically a couple more questions, and we're done. Followed by much bowing on all sides.
I thought the interview went pretty well. The job was for an all girls private highschool 90 minutes from Tokyo. Awesome area. Historical, tucked in the mountains, prefectural capital. The highschool is presitigous, and English is important since they have some ties to Canada somehow, (think missionaries founded it.) Out of however many applicants my company had, they gave 4 people's profile to the school. ouly 3 of us, (us), were chosen. (!) .
So today, I make the 3 hour commute to this place, and its far, but its in a very nice, pretty, rural Japanese enclave and is a pretty looking, nicely bustling city. V. nice. I wasnt that enthusiastic about the job before I saw the area, because judging from the interview it seemed like it would be a lot of work and responsibility. Well, luckily, one dood was sick, so it was only me and this Australian dood interviewing for the position. btw, the position is assistant language teacher. I would be teaching alongside a japanese homeroom teacher. dont think id ever be alone with the kids, maybe, but def have more resonsibility than at a public school, where I think I'd essentially be a dictaphone (aka my dream job.)
I think the interview went well. What it consisted of was them calling him in first. me 20 minutes later. about 30 minutes b4 i was given a sheet of paper saying "you are to give a lesson to 15 people, its your first day as their assistant language teacher. introduce yourself and do activites... 10 minutes." So i walk into this room of 12 people, 2 of which are my PEEPS from THE COMPANY! (holler.) I talk about The GOC and Boston for a little bit, and then do an introduction game where we say what we like and dont and all that jazz.
I think the interview went pretty well. We shall see. One negative thing is as we were leaving the school, some school lady went up to the other dood and said, "can I ask you a personal question..." bla bla bla, so that they were askin him about his gf (who lives in this city,) is prob a negative to me. But at the very least, I hope I impressed/ represented for MY PEEPS from THE COMPANY so that they will strongly consider me for the next teaching gig they got. Who knows.
I have a part time job. Easiest interview ever. I showed up. They didnt ask me why I want to work, what I can do, anything like that. It took 30 minutes. Basically instead of asking me if I was qualified they said, "you worked at Nova for a month, you are qualified to teach these tax-college kids English." The only tough question they asked me was if I was reliable as in not looking for full time work, to which I repsonded I was only looking for part time work. :( . I feel bad, they are good people, and the job would be cool, because Id be hanging out with 21-23 year olds and I would prob be able to hang out with them if the situation arose.
*******************
Dang so much to type, so little strength in my fingers. One last thing. On Sat I went to this design festival, which consisted of thousands of art (painting, postcard, mostly,) music, clothes, booths that were just the size I imagine booths are at science conferences, -- 3-5 feet long. It was huge. We spent all day walking around its 2 floors and could have spent much longer. I bought some nice things. I went with my roomate J and C, who, if you remember, and if I mentioned his initial in my previous post, was my comrade in Kobe. He told me about it, we met up, J came, and it was much better than I expected. ALOT of art. Most of it was pop, which in large doses of the banal variety is bad for the soul. But as J told me, pop art is not meant to last, its about now, it looks cool now, and who cares if its crap in 10 years. So that made me appreciate the pop art more. But what I really appreciated was anime-like art. Not neccesarily big glossy eyed caricatures, but ephemeral, colorful, fantastic creations. I noticed how alot of the art seemed anime-inspired to C, and he smartly responded "its not so much inspired, as they are drawing from a common pool of influences. Its all part of one thing, and anime is one part, and so is illustration." I want to know more about this thing that they arise from. That will have to wait till the next art expo prob (cuz this stuff is so obscure it can only be found when 3000 artists get together.) That will be in March I think.
OK, enough type, more talk
holleratchaboi!
Eoin
Basically, all I did was wander around the 2 central areas all day, stopping in various cafes, reading, and drinking coffee. When in Kobe, as the expression goes. In addition, for lunch, I found a place that was reccomended in my guide book for "Japanese food like it was before Japan got rich." The process was simple, the food carefully prepared, and the atmospehere very Japanese. I sat at a picnic type table near some Japanese, picked my order out by pointing at dishes on display, and the whole room was filled with smoking regulars it appeared, busy place.
Eventually, night fell, and it started raining -- not drizzling, raining. It was nice, although I eventually succumbed and bought an umbrella. During the storm which lasted hours, I continued my meandering. I saw a cafe at the top of a central building and made it my mission to go there, but I had to drop some things off first. After that, I found my way back, went up, and had tiramasu and coffee ovelooking Sanomiya area in Kobe.
There really is just too much to describe about Kobe to do it justice. All the little things. The old people dressed like hippies, the clean air, the graffiti at the edge of town, the modern architecture, the American buildings, the cafes, the mountains, the ocean -- all of it add up to a city that I liked alot.
I took a noon train down to Kobe center, and got an 11.30 last train or so back. On the way back down I saw a young guy in his twenties with a shaved head and sunken in eyes. I figured he was sick, perhaps on chemo. And then I realized how easy I have it. I have never struggled for anything in my life. There is alot of suffering and unhappiness in the world. Part of that is intrinsic to who we are. Part of that is based on our circumstances. I am very glad and grateful I have the family and friends I do, (thank you), and the privelege of a certain amount of money and health. Its shocking to think that people my age get sick and die. It makes me feel guilty that if and when I fall on hard times I can count on my family (or hopefully my friends) to back me up. Why do I have it so easy, on all counts? I don't think I really deserve it; I feel that I can only "deserve" it after experiencing hardship, but I must knock on wood now, because no one should ever wish for that sort of hardship.
I got pretty bummed out after seeing the bald boy on the train, but I was in a pretty introspective and excited state to begin with, after the whole Kobe trip. It was also sad to leave a place that I really loved so much. The feeling I am conveying now, two weeks later, does not do justice to the feelings I had while down there. I tried writing them up while in my hostel the last night. But the annoying lady running it said "we are closing the living room now" so I had to leave that and everyone was asleep in my hostel room so I couldn't type in there. Especially because I think I had toast crumbs under important keys that kept crunching...
I woke up with my cell phone alarm at 10.00 and went back to sleep. Half an hour later I woke up with a mild, but slightly persisting earthquake. Remembering the thousands who died 10 or so years ago in a gigantic Kobe earthquake, I got out of bed, and left the hostel.
I didnt mess around. I got a ticket to go home, and left. That's that. Kobe was a good trip. I will be sure to visit again, and I figure if I can get a year long contract anywhere any time soon, I would be sure to consider moving to Kobe after the contract is up for my remaining time in Japan.
**********************************
What else have I been up to? Well, while in Kobe, eating lunch at that very Japanese place, I got a call for an interview at a company that basically distributes native English speakers to schools. The lady sounded enthusiastic and awkward, and before when I called she seemed very friendly and happy that I tried to speak Japanese to her. It was good news. I had an interview for 2 days time (partly why I didnt stick around in Kobe longer.)
I got to the interview an hour early (its about 90 minutes from my house.) And good thing I got early, cuz it took me 30 minutes to find the place, and in Japan u want to show up early (prob everywhere, idk.) So I fill out, or start to fill out, a massively 7 paged questionaire of teaching and job app questions, u can imagine. Then this lady come and interviews me for 20 minutes. Then she sends in another, older lady who interviews me for a while. Then the original lady interviews me for a little bit. Then she goes away. Mind you, during all these breaks, I am struggling to write my autobiography on these 7 sheets. Then she comes back and tells me I have to do a videotaped intro of myself 3-5 minutes long. So i take 2 minutes to look her talking points over, and then go. Of course, I make sure to knock my chair over on the way out. ;) . And we videotape 2 takes, cuz the first one wasnt all that. Then we come back, i finish up writing, and basically a couple more questions, and we're done. Followed by much bowing on all sides.
I thought the interview went pretty well. The job was for an all girls private highschool 90 minutes from Tokyo. Awesome area. Historical, tucked in the mountains, prefectural capital. The highschool is presitigous, and English is important since they have some ties to Canada somehow, (think missionaries founded it.) Out of however many applicants my company had, they gave 4 people's profile to the school. ouly 3 of us, (us), were chosen. (!) .
So today, I make the 3 hour commute to this place, and its far, but its in a very nice, pretty, rural Japanese enclave and is a pretty looking, nicely bustling city. V. nice. I wasnt that enthusiastic about the job before I saw the area, because judging from the interview it seemed like it would be a lot of work and responsibility. Well, luckily, one dood was sick, so it was only me and this Australian dood interviewing for the position. btw, the position is assistant language teacher. I would be teaching alongside a japanese homeroom teacher. dont think id ever be alone with the kids, maybe, but def have more resonsibility than at a public school, where I think I'd essentially be a dictaphone (aka my dream job.)
I think the interview went well. What it consisted of was them calling him in first. me 20 minutes later. about 30 minutes b4 i was given a sheet of paper saying "you are to give a lesson to 15 people, its your first day as their assistant language teacher. introduce yourself and do activites... 10 minutes." So i walk into this room of 12 people, 2 of which are my PEEPS from THE COMPANY! (holler.) I talk about The GOC and Boston for a little bit, and then do an introduction game where we say what we like and dont and all that jazz.
I think the interview went pretty well. We shall see. One negative thing is as we were leaving the school, some school lady went up to the other dood and said, "can I ask you a personal question..." bla bla bla, so that they were askin him about his gf (who lives in this city,) is prob a negative to me. But at the very least, I hope I impressed/ represented for MY PEEPS from THE COMPANY so that they will strongly consider me for the next teaching gig they got. Who knows.
I have a part time job. Easiest interview ever. I showed up. They didnt ask me why I want to work, what I can do, anything like that. It took 30 minutes. Basically instead of asking me if I was qualified they said, "you worked at Nova for a month, you are qualified to teach these tax-college kids English." The only tough question they asked me was if I was reliable as in not looking for full time work, to which I repsonded I was only looking for part time work. :( . I feel bad, they are good people, and the job would be cool, because Id be hanging out with 21-23 year olds and I would prob be able to hang out with them if the situation arose.
*******************
Dang so much to type, so little strength in my fingers. One last thing. On Sat I went to this design festival, which consisted of thousands of art (painting, postcard, mostly,) music, clothes, booths that were just the size I imagine booths are at science conferences, -- 3-5 feet long. It was huge. We spent all day walking around its 2 floors and could have spent much longer. I bought some nice things. I went with my roomate J and C, who, if you remember, and if I mentioned his initial in my previous post, was my comrade in Kobe. He told me about it, we met up, J came, and it was much better than I expected. ALOT of art. Most of it was pop, which in large doses of the banal variety is bad for the soul. But as J told me, pop art is not meant to last, its about now, it looks cool now, and who cares if its crap in 10 years. So that made me appreciate the pop art more. But what I really appreciated was anime-like art. Not neccesarily big glossy eyed caricatures, but ephemeral, colorful, fantastic creations. I noticed how alot of the art seemed anime-inspired to C, and he smartly responded "its not so much inspired, as they are drawing from a common pool of influences. Its all part of one thing, and anime is one part, and so is illustration." I want to know more about this thing that they arise from. That will have to wait till the next art expo prob (cuz this stuff is so obscure it can only be found when 3000 artists get together.) That will be in March I think.
OK, enough type, more talk
holleratchaboi!
Eoin
Monday, November 5, 2007
Highly Refined Pirates
Wow! My trip to Kobe was incredible. I tend to leap before I look, but I might have to say that Kobe is one of my favorite world cities. Last time I felt like this was when I walked out of the movie theater from Lost In Translation. I thought "wow, that movie was different... I think it might be the best movie I've ever seen." Now, I won't go so far as to say Kobe is the greatest city ever, but I will go so far to say as I have that same feeling. Maybe its just a culmination of moments, but it was good, good and bittersweet, too.
Let me start describing my journey. I got a fairly easy shinkansen (bullet train) ride down to Kobe. It took 3 hours and was uncomfortable. That was easy, finding my hotel was hecka hard. I got off at the correct stop, but walked to Tokyo and back looking for the place. This was annoying, and sweaty, because I had a bag full of clothes and a laptop briefcase full of a computer and books.
Immediately I noticed Kobe was different from Tokyo. For starters, its not as rich -- as evidenced by the graffiti on the steel walls. It has a lot more old people dressed like hippies. And also, I got more stares and glares than average.
I eventually found my hotel. It was a nice little spot called Kobe Tower Hotel or something. A real hotel, not a hostel. From when I got in that Thursday evening until when I checked out Saturday morning, I think I only left once to get a meal. Well, I also went to 7-11 to get a meal and supplies and what not. Oh and I checked out the location of the test on Friday.
On Friday night I went to bed at 10:30 and by my estimate got 5 hours of sleep. I checked out at 7:00 am Saturday and went to my test. It was the most beautiful ride to a test ever. Now I forget when I rode in which cart, but the line to the test location is called the Rokko Liner. It is a small rail that only goes about 5 stops, the last of which was mine. It crosses the peninsula high in the sky on golden rusty tracks to get to this man made island-development I forget the name of. My test was at Canadian Academy high school, and it was the last stop. (Let me just stop saying everything was beautiful, because it pretty much was, including the area around the highschool. I'll only outline specific points.)
I went to the test, which started at 9:30. I had Miss Manners for my "tester." She followed all the rules to a t, and even made up some of her own, "can you put your bag on the other side of the aisle?" You are not supposed to open the test booklet, u do ur done, and she actually came around to each person to make sure they didnt break the seal. And yet she let people keep going to the bathroom and delay our test! (At my first GREs, the "tester" didnt know anything, and just let us do our own thing.)
I took the test. It was fairly difficult, Im not gonna lie. One of the problems said an electron has a reletavistic momentum of mc/2, and asked us what the energy was. I tried E= γmc, and E^2 = (pc)^2 +(mc^2)^2 but nothing worked! So I'm not sure... In any case, thats an example of the problems.
So after the test I went to my hostel. When I got in the hostel, look who was there! It was a guy from the GREs. We agreed to go out that night. He went out that day, and I stayed in and took a nap/ checked the internet. We went out that night and wandered all over Kobe. We didnt really do anything, just walked all over the place and talked and got one of the last trains back to the hostel.
The next day he left and I decided to go, on his urging, to Osaka. Its a major city in Japan, so I might as well see it. It was Sunday. I read in the guidebooks that Osaka teethes with bars, so I figured I didnt need to write down any's locations. Well, I got to Osaka, and couldnt find any. Osaka was alright, not the greatest city on a Sunday night. When I finally found the cool area of town with clubs and such, they were closing or playing bad raga music. I spent the night in an internet cafe.
I got back to the hostel the next day with blistery feet. I took a shower, applied for some jobs online, and went into Kobe with my laptop and some books. It was my last day in this lovely city.
End of Part I
Let me start describing my journey. I got a fairly easy shinkansen (bullet train) ride down to Kobe. It took 3 hours and was uncomfortable. That was easy, finding my hotel was hecka hard. I got off at the correct stop, but walked to Tokyo and back looking for the place. This was annoying, and sweaty, because I had a bag full of clothes and a laptop briefcase full of a computer and books.
Immediately I noticed Kobe was different from Tokyo. For starters, its not as rich -- as evidenced by the graffiti on the steel walls. It has a lot more old people dressed like hippies. And also, I got more stares and glares than average.
I eventually found my hotel. It was a nice little spot called Kobe Tower Hotel or something. A real hotel, not a hostel. From when I got in that Thursday evening until when I checked out Saturday morning, I think I only left once to get a meal. Well, I also went to 7-11 to get a meal and supplies and what not. Oh and I checked out the location of the test on Friday.
On Friday night I went to bed at 10:30 and by my estimate got 5 hours of sleep. I checked out at 7:00 am Saturday and went to my test. It was the most beautiful ride to a test ever. Now I forget when I rode in which cart, but the line to the test location is called the Rokko Liner. It is a small rail that only goes about 5 stops, the last of which was mine. It crosses the peninsula high in the sky on golden rusty tracks to get to this man made island-development I forget the name of. My test was at Canadian Academy high school, and it was the last stop. (Let me just stop saying everything was beautiful, because it pretty much was, including the area around the highschool. I'll only outline specific points.)
I went to the test, which started at 9:30. I had Miss Manners for my "tester." She followed all the rules to a t, and even made up some of her own, "can you put your bag on the other side of the aisle?" You are not supposed to open the test booklet, u do ur done, and she actually came around to each person to make sure they didnt break the seal. And yet she let people keep going to the bathroom and delay our test! (At my first GREs, the "tester" didnt know anything, and just let us do our own thing.)
I took the test. It was fairly difficult, Im not gonna lie. One of the problems said an electron has a reletavistic momentum of mc/2, and asked us what the energy was. I tried E= γmc, and E^2 = (pc)^2 +(mc^2)^2 but nothing worked! So I'm not sure... In any case, thats an example of the problems.
So after the test I went to my hostel. When I got in the hostel, look who was there! It was a guy from the GREs. We agreed to go out that night. He went out that day, and I stayed in and took a nap/ checked the internet. We went out that night and wandered all over Kobe. We didnt really do anything, just walked all over the place and talked and got one of the last trains back to the hostel.
The next day he left and I decided to go, on his urging, to Osaka. Its a major city in Japan, so I might as well see it. It was Sunday. I read in the guidebooks that Osaka teethes with bars, so I figured I didnt need to write down any's locations. Well, I got to Osaka, and couldnt find any. Osaka was alright, not the greatest city on a Sunday night. When I finally found the cool area of town with clubs and such, they were closing or playing bad raga music. I spent the night in an internet cafe.
I got back to the hostel the next day with blistery feet. I took a shower, applied for some jobs online, and went into Kobe with my laptop and some books. It was my last day in this lovely city.
End of Part I
Monday, October 29, 2007
R U Still Down
The monolithic Nova collapsed. Its bubble of corrpution could no longer hold itself together. Is it an axiom that companies which hire, as a rule, cheap foreign labor are shady?
Tomorrow we will go to Hello Work. That is the name of the unemployment office. I hope it has an exclamation point attached. Goodbye work! Hello work!
I got a cell phone. Its pretty nice. Idk, though... I chose form over function. I could have gotten the model that would have let me watch TV programs for free on it. (I think its free, but I just didnt quite believe it.) Buying the phone was a fairly painless forty minutes. The staff called up a translation service, and we spoke to each other through the translator, passing the phone back and forth. My phone was free, $20 a month for 2 years. Its a nice model. But I think one of my biggest regrets will be that I didnt get the TV model. How kool would that be? Besides, upon reading the fine print, if I upgrade cell phones, I cannot upgrade to a TV model. :( :( :( :'-(
Wat else. Been studyin. Of course. I cannot wait until this test is over. My life would be sooo easy if only Nova didnt go down. After the test in a week, I'd have an easy life of talking to students, shmoozing, working easy hours. I tell you, it would've been made, and I could have lived like a king. I've been downloading music, too, alot. Gotta expand my library. I don't have all the Japanese music I had on my old computer -- that stuff is hard to get a hold of. I had a ton too, I think 1/6 of my music was Japanese.
We had a party last night. It was a good time and I think it recharged my batteries. We cleaned up the place a ton for the party. Many of the people from The Bar were here. The Japanese staff M and Y came. Canadian A came. Australian P and his gf came. Also roomies M and J were in attendance. I got to practice Japanese, although M and Y have pretty good English. Ya, it was the usual party routine, and the booze was flowing like wine! Although, when I busted out the champaign (on sale) the Japanese accepted it, but then didnt drink it. Guess they just dont like that Western stuff. One point of note about Japanese pov that I like is they dont have qualms about sitting on the floor. Even outside, they can be caught crouching or kneeling on the ground. And inside, well, furniture is usually so low to the ground, its a simple extension to actually sit on the ground, and put food (on plates) on the ground. Wouldn't the world be so much more comfortable if more people sat on the floor?
Today, I woke up, studied some, ate some, and took it easy. I've practiced as much as I think Im gonna, although I make retake a practice one more time to hone my skillz. But over the next couple days I plan on just memorizing as many random equationz as I can.
Until next time.
Holler at a schollar
one1
Tomorrow we will go to Hello Work. That is the name of the unemployment office. I hope it has an exclamation point attached. Goodbye work! Hello work!
I got a cell phone. Its pretty nice. Idk, though... I chose form over function. I could have gotten the model that would have let me watch TV programs for free on it. (I think its free, but I just didnt quite believe it.) Buying the phone was a fairly painless forty minutes. The staff called up a translation service, and we spoke to each other through the translator, passing the phone back and forth. My phone was free, $20 a month for 2 years. Its a nice model. But I think one of my biggest regrets will be that I didnt get the TV model. How kool would that be? Besides, upon reading the fine print, if I upgrade cell phones, I cannot upgrade to a TV model. :( :( :( :'-(
Wat else. Been studyin. Of course. I cannot wait until this test is over. My life would be sooo easy if only Nova didnt go down. After the test in a week, I'd have an easy life of talking to students, shmoozing, working easy hours. I tell you, it would've been made, and I could have lived like a king. I've been downloading music, too, alot. Gotta expand my library. I don't have all the Japanese music I had on my old computer -- that stuff is hard to get a hold of. I had a ton too, I think 1/6 of my music was Japanese.
We had a party last night. It was a good time and I think it recharged my batteries. We cleaned up the place a ton for the party. Many of the people from The Bar were here. The Japanese staff M and Y came. Canadian A came. Australian P and his gf came. Also roomies M and J were in attendance. I got to practice Japanese, although M and Y have pretty good English. Ya, it was the usual party routine, and the booze was flowing like wine! Although, when I busted out the champaign (on sale) the Japanese accepted it, but then didnt drink it. Guess they just dont like that Western stuff. One point of note about Japanese pov that I like is they dont have qualms about sitting on the floor. Even outside, they can be caught crouching or kneeling on the ground. And inside, well, furniture is usually so low to the ground, its a simple extension to actually sit on the ground, and put food (on plates) on the ground. Wouldn't the world be so much more comfortable if more people sat on the floor?
Today, I woke up, studied some, ate some, and took it easy. I've practiced as much as I think Im gonna, although I make retake a practice one more time to hone my skillz. But over the next couple days I plan on just memorizing as many random equationz as I can.
Until next time.
Holler at a schollar
one1
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Blue in Green
Its raining this morning -- first day in a long time that its been cold. The sky is covered by Chinese pollution and its very foggy.
The president was forced to step down today by the board of directors. A little too late. They should've done that when GEOS wanted to buy us. All branches are officially closed today. I suppose I won't have to call in sick next week.
The company is not bankrupt. It still has some assets and is asking the government for help. What's the expression again? Hmm... "A little too late." One can only hope that with the left over money Monkeyman gets his last month's pay check. Hate to see him kicked out of his penthouse.
Liquidate. I don't care. But before you do, let me get P's microwave. I went to the branch this morning to try to get the microwave. The doors were locked. I banged on the metal door and heard the phone ringing off the hook behind my clanging.
Nova was going under. We all knew it. The pessimists were right for once. It is a shame that Nova's death had to be done in such an underhanded way. Yesterday I left work figuring I'd be back today. I didn't say goodbye to the students. I didn't get to tell them they should take private lessons from me. I didn't get the numbers of my branch staff. I didn't get the emergency guidance numbers for foreigners. I didn't get the microwave.
All branches were closed quickly and quietly this morning with no notice. In some place, for some reason, an honorable man is committing seppuku. I do not think he is Monkeyman.
The company is not bankrupt. It still has some assets and is asking the government for help. What's the expression again? Hmm... "A little too late." One can only hope that with the left over money Monkeyman gets his last month's pay check. Hate to see him kicked out of his penthouse.
Liquidate. I don't care. But before you do, let me get P's microwave. I went to the branch this morning to try to get the microwave. The doors were locked. I banged on the metal door and heard the phone ringing off the hook behind my clanging.
Nova was going under. We all knew it. The pessimists were right for once. It is a shame that Nova's death had to be done in such an underhanded way. Yesterday I left work figuring I'd be back today. I didn't say goodbye to the students. I didn't get to tell them they should take private lessons from me. I didn't get the numbers of my branch staff. I didn't get the emergency guidance numbers for foreigners. I didn't get the microwave.
All branches were closed quickly and quietly this morning with no notice. In some place, for some reason, an honorable man is committing seppuku. I do not think he is Monkeyman.
--E
Monday, October 22, 2007
Juelz Santana
Short post today. I am in the final legz of GRE preparation and I dont got a lot of (for my Japanese students -- "a-lodda") time to waste.
Its Tuesday 2.20 am. Sunday after work I went to the bar with my English boss D. The occasion was that our branch boss K was leaving. Me and D talked for an hour or so about the typical high felutant topics we both enjoy. Then came the Canadian A. Following her were 2 Japanese staff named Y and M. Then Australian P came. It was gts. Once Y and M arrived, we -- as in I -- had alodda fun trying to speak Japanese. All people E to Y at this point were roughly the same age, 21 - 23, so that was kool too. I am the youngest by 2 months. Hmm... story of my life. Then our boss K arrived. She stayed for a while. Everyone was lettin it back a little. I was jokin around with D, but he is a funny guy so u can joke even at work. But I was also joking with K which was very unusual. Usually she puts The Fear into me. I guess alcohol really is, as I have read, the release button on the pressure valve, and drinking allows you to transgress usual power boundaries to a degree.
And also, it was the first time I really got to talk to the staff. The only people who didnt come were 2 older teachers, and 1 Japanese staff. Small branch. Then A left followed by K, and then D. Me (E), P, and the J's Y and M left at 0 AM in time for the last train home.
I got a good amount of sleep, (7 hours), but the previous night I only got ~3. This is because I woke up to watch the rugby world cup finals cuz my roomate (almost typed in his real name there, prob not gonna do that, and think im gonna drop the letter thing now,) reeaally wanted my to.
So I was hecka tired at work on Monday (sort of today.) I was practically falling asleep in one 1-1 lesson, but the guy was weird and staring at his book so he didnt notice. Last night my boss D jokingly said I could ask the students out as long as he wasnt up there in the stall (classroom = stall) next to mine. This evening during my break I was walking down some small side street when someone grabbed my arm startling me. I turned around, and it was a cute college student that I teach. We chat in English for a couple minutes. I ask her if she would like to get a cup of coffee sometime and she says "i dont know..." (twice) which in Japanese means "no." Oh well, can't blame a guy for trying. It wasnt totally out of the blue tho, I did think she was sending me signals... :-P . Probably teach her Wed.
In other news, that same roomate cooked awesome tempura tonight. And the other roomate has gotten me into a cool game called tower defense. check out towerdefese.net or something.
Study study study gotta do the darn thing! 10 days away. Its the final countdown. And oh yea, the Nova situation is dece grim, but the melodrama is too complex to explain. Who knows wats gonna happen.
All in all, I just wrote more than I originally intended.
One1
Its Tuesday 2.20 am. Sunday after work I went to the bar with my English boss D. The occasion was that our branch boss K was leaving. Me and D talked for an hour or so about the typical high felutant topics we both enjoy. Then came the Canadian A. Following her were 2 Japanese staff named Y and M. Then Australian P came. It was gts. Once Y and M arrived, we -- as in I -- had alodda fun trying to speak Japanese. All people E to Y at this point were roughly the same age, 21 - 23, so that was kool too. I am the youngest by 2 months. Hmm... story of my life. Then our boss K arrived. She stayed for a while. Everyone was lettin it back a little. I was jokin around with D, but he is a funny guy so u can joke even at work. But I was also joking with K which was very unusual. Usually she puts The Fear into me. I guess alcohol really is, as I have read, the release button on the pressure valve, and drinking allows you to transgress usual power boundaries to a degree.
And also, it was the first time I really got to talk to the staff. The only people who didnt come were 2 older teachers, and 1 Japanese staff. Small branch. Then A left followed by K, and then D. Me (E), P, and the J's Y and M left at 0 AM in time for the last train home.
I got a good amount of sleep, (7 hours), but the previous night I only got ~3. This is because I woke up to watch the rugby world cup finals cuz my roomate (almost typed in his real name there, prob not gonna do that, and think im gonna drop the letter thing now,) reeaally wanted my to.
So I was hecka tired at work on Monday (sort of today.) I was practically falling asleep in one 1-1 lesson, but the guy was weird and staring at his book so he didnt notice. Last night my boss D jokingly said I could ask the students out as long as he wasnt up there in the stall (classroom = stall) next to mine. This evening during my break I was walking down some small side street when someone grabbed my arm startling me. I turned around, and it was a cute college student that I teach. We chat in English for a couple minutes. I ask her if she would like to get a cup of coffee sometime and she says "i dont know..." (twice) which in Japanese means "no." Oh well, can't blame a guy for trying. It wasnt totally out of the blue tho, I did think she was sending me signals... :-P . Probably teach her Wed.
In other news, that same roomate cooked awesome tempura tonight. And the other roomate has gotten me into a cool game called tower defense. check out towerdefese.net or something.
Study study study gotta do the darn thing! 10 days away. Its the final countdown. And oh yea, the Nova situation is dece grim, but the melodrama is too complex to explain. Who knows wats gonna happen.
All in all, I just wrote more than I originally intended.
One1
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Final Countdown
The End is Nigh. The Final Days of Nova are upon us. And I am about to go to work...
Monday, October 15, 2007
THE GOC AND ME
"We're not in The GOC anymore" -- Wizard of Oz
It has become evident to me that I, like Dorothy, am no longer in The GOC. This is not a bad thing. Well, by all due respects, its a good thing. That's why I left The GOC. So that I would not be in it.
Well, actually I left it so that I would be in Japan. No offense 2 U All.
I have been slowly regaining contact with my GOC comrades. I intentionally have been avoiding that. I value certain members of The GOC as friends, definately. But to instant message them or whatever is to bring my new world closer to my old world. I don't want a blurry distinction. I don't want to live in Japan and have it be like last year. I don't want this to be an extension or a transition. I want this time in Japan to be a cold and hard break from the time before. Of course, I will ultimately keep in contact and do what I gotta do to stay friends, because stuff like that is important to me.
Which brings me to my next point. I've been pretty comfortable here. I live in a nice apartment with TV that I can watch English "24" on. My roommates are cool, and we talk in English. Teaching is easy; I like my colleauges and most of my students. In restaurants or beurocratic offices, I can get by with the Japanese speaking English. The weather feels like early spring. As I told a GOC friend on the phone: "I'm very comfortable...
"...and that's not good." I want an adventure in Japan and what is an adventure without conflict? I had poetic visions of a melancholy existence living in a single apartment trapped in my room with language books and literature, venturing out only to experience the lightning quick world of modern Japan, with necesary repreaves into the serenity of nature. Eventually, I would mellow out into a small circle of internationally-minded Japanese friends, with a few foreigners thrown in for good measure. Sure, that's probably asking alot, but why not? And then my friend told me "Going to Japan is an adventure in and of itself. I've never been outside the country. I'm sure you'll have conflict later." I realized she was right.
In the meantime, I have no freedom to carve out a desirable niche for myself. I am too busy studying physics. The Cribs are coming Oct 25 and I prob won't go see them, having to study instead. However, after November 3, I can hit the ground, and hopefully will start running.
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy and glad I'm here. Moreover, my desire to turn my world upside down does not include a desire to be unemployed. Every day the situation with Nova seems to get bleaker. Japanese staff haven't been paid since sometime in September. And everyone was supposed to be paid today, but a fax came out saying we will have to wait until Friday. Thing is, they did this last month, too, and ended up paying 2 weeks late. Massive amounts of teachers are calling in "sick," in fact, one branch had NO teachers show up on Saturday. The students who came had to take lessons on this video-conferencing tool each branch has. I heard the Area Manager say on the phone "I suppose I'll just stick with it till the bitter end." When the boss of your boss thinks the company is going down the tubes, and says it in front of you... things aren't so good. The ship is sinking, but at my branch its business as usual. No staff has called in sick, and the students and teachers keep having good lessons. Will we survive? I hope so. Will I get a pay check? I hope so. How long will Nova be able to survive with teachers working merely on a hope they will get paid? I don't know.
L8
It has become evident to me that I, like Dorothy, am no longer in The GOC. This is not a bad thing. Well, by all due respects, its a good thing. That's why I left The GOC. So that I would not be in it.
Well, actually I left it so that I would be in Japan. No offense 2 U All.
I have been slowly regaining contact with my GOC comrades. I intentionally have been avoiding that. I value certain members of The GOC as friends, definately. But to instant message them or whatever is to bring my new world closer to my old world. I don't want a blurry distinction. I don't want to live in Japan and have it be like last year. I don't want this to be an extension or a transition. I want this time in Japan to be a cold and hard break from the time before. Of course, I will ultimately keep in contact and do what I gotta do to stay friends, because stuff like that is important to me.
Which brings me to my next point. I've been pretty comfortable here. I live in a nice apartment with TV that I can watch English "24" on. My roommates are cool, and we talk in English. Teaching is easy; I like my colleauges and most of my students. In restaurants or beurocratic offices, I can get by with the Japanese speaking English. The weather feels like early spring. As I told a GOC friend on the phone: "I'm very comfortable...
"...and that's not good." I want an adventure in Japan and what is an adventure without conflict? I had poetic visions of a melancholy existence living in a single apartment trapped in my room with language books and literature, venturing out only to experience the lightning quick world of modern Japan, with necesary repreaves into the serenity of nature. Eventually, I would mellow out into a small circle of internationally-minded Japanese friends, with a few foreigners thrown in for good measure. Sure, that's probably asking alot, but why not? And then my friend told me "Going to Japan is an adventure in and of itself. I've never been outside the country. I'm sure you'll have conflict later." I realized she was right.
In the meantime, I have no freedom to carve out a desirable niche for myself. I am too busy studying physics. The Cribs are coming Oct 25 and I prob won't go see them, having to study instead. However, after November 3, I can hit the ground, and hopefully will start running.
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy and glad I'm here. Moreover, my desire to turn my world upside down does not include a desire to be unemployed. Every day the situation with Nova seems to get bleaker. Japanese staff haven't been paid since sometime in September. And everyone was supposed to be paid today, but a fax came out saying we will have to wait until Friday. Thing is, they did this last month, too, and ended up paying 2 weeks late. Massive amounts of teachers are calling in "sick," in fact, one branch had NO teachers show up on Saturday. The students who came had to take lessons on this video-conferencing tool each branch has. I heard the Area Manager say on the phone "I suppose I'll just stick with it till the bitter end." When the boss of your boss thinks the company is going down the tubes, and says it in front of you... things aren't so good. The ship is sinking, but at my branch its business as usual. No staff has called in sick, and the students and teachers keep having good lessons. Will we survive? I hope so. Will I get a pay check? I hope so. How long will Nova be able to survive with teachers working merely on a hope they will get paid? I don't know.
L8
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Holy Moley, Mackeral, and Manzanitas!
EMERGENCY BLOG UPDATE!
I interrupt my evening studies to bring you this urgent update. 2 citizens of 413 Lucida Katsutadai Chiba pref. Japan just experienced their first earthquake. It was not the third citizen of the apartment's first quake, as he has lived in Japan for the past 6 months.
One witnesses felt a mild trembling in the floor, comparable to someone shaking a table while writing furiously. Said the witness "I thought it was just me shaking the table by bobbing my leg." After he was informed of the earthquake, he halted his physics studying, and sat on the floor. He felt some mild periodic, lateral motion in the floor, about 4-8 waves per second. Too slow to be considered "vibration," it was also too mild to be considered "shaking." Wiggle your butt very slightly in your chair, and that is how it felt.
Said one witness, who hails from England: "When am I going to get a proper earthquake?"
Well, not a dangerous one, we hope. But one that at least feels like a hard shaking of the butt.
The earthquake scored a magnitude 150, on a certain units scale.
In other news, 2 Fast 2 Furious is on the T.V. and yet I am studying... will I ever see this movie that I love so much? :'''-(
I interrupt my evening studies to bring you this urgent update. 2 citizens of 413 Lucida Katsutadai Chiba pref. Japan just experienced their first earthquake. It was not the third citizen of the apartment's first quake, as he has lived in Japan for the past 6 months.
One witnesses felt a mild trembling in the floor, comparable to someone shaking a table while writing furiously. Said the witness "I thought it was just me shaking the table by bobbing my leg." After he was informed of the earthquake, he halted his physics studying, and sat on the floor. He felt some mild periodic, lateral motion in the floor, about 4-8 waves per second. Too slow to be considered "vibration," it was also too mild to be considered "shaking." Wiggle your butt very slightly in your chair, and that is how it felt.
Said one witness, who hails from England: "When am I going to get a proper earthquake?"
Well, not a dangerous one, we hope. But one that at least feels like a hard shaking of the butt.
The earthquake scored a magnitude 150, on a certain units scale.
In other news, 2 Fast 2 Furious is on the T.V. and yet I am studying... will I ever see this movie that I love so much? :'''-(
Friday, October 5, 2007
To
Japanese Blog. Work date 5. 10. 7.. Sometimes I write the GOP date for the work date. Can't confuse the paperwork. Well, my paperwork isnt that important, anyways. This post is long, so I will divide it into Headers.
BEFORE WORK:
I suppose I might as well tell you what I do. Let me do that by describing a typical day. I wake up and go online. Usually in the morning I will download music. I drink coffee and if work starts late enough I have lunch. Here is my schedule:
Sunday = 10Am -- 5.20Am. Monday = off. Tuesday = off. Wednesday = 5.00Pm -- 9.00Pm. Thursday = 1.20Pm -- 5.40Pm. Friday = 1.20Pm -- 9.00 Pm. Saturday = 11.40Am -- 7.20 Pm.
It takes 3 minutes to walk to the train station and literally 4-5 minutes on the train to get to work. Of course, I might have to wait 12 minutes for a train, but you can plan these things on time. This isn't Italy. The trains run on time.
So you can see that I don't have to wake up early (usually,) and therefore can usually have lunch instead of toast breakfast. One more thing to mention, is that I need to wear a shirt and pants. Pants are no problem but shirts are often wrinkly. So I have a couple shirts that are not wrinkly right now and have been wearing those most of the time and then hanging them up and hoping they don't turn wrinkly overnight. If I can only find wrinkly shirts, I have to iron, which eats up time. In fact, due to reasons such as these and the fact that the trains don't run every 5 minutes only between the hours of 12.00Pm and 2.00Pm, I was "almost" late for my second and third days of work. "'almost'" because I probably wasnt late technically. Technically I showed up exactly on time, exactly on the bell (or 2 minutes before) for my first lesson. But, that is essentially late or borderline, as my boss explained to me during our first night drinking together.
WHAT I DO AT WORK:
I arrive about 10 - 20 minutes early to prepare my first few lessons. I look at the schedule and see who I am teaching. I locate their file by their assigned number, pull it out, and pick a lesson to teach based on what they and their classmates have done. I can pick anything for their speaking level, but I should avoid repeating lessons they have done recently. Repeating older lessons is fine, they often repeat lessons up to three times.
The lessons come neatly packaged for the instructor and I suppose the student. My book is twice as thick as the students', because opposite to each of their textbook pages, I have a fairly detailed plan of how the lesson should/can proceed. The lessons come in units based on topic, (which includes a language goal.) Some are: Problem Solving (talking about being lost in the wilderness,) Talking about Medicine, (traditional versus modern medicine, and skepticism.) Urban Renewal And Development. (Universally important topics ;) Telling funny stories. I havent done the last one yet, but I hear its hard. The Japanese don't get the GOC's humor. OK let's move on to the actual lesson! The lesson is 40 minutes long and broken down into a few parts.
TYPICAL LESSON:
Introduction/Assesment. Let's break the ice, warm you up, you can talk about how I'm from Boston. Please talk about how I'm from Boston, because I have nothing else to talk about except the weather today, and we talked about that yesterday...;). I also try to forshadow the lesson. "It's rainy out today. Do you get colds being in the rain? Should you use acupuncture to treat a cold... OK open your books to page E-13! we're talking about medicine"
Main Language. Look at the vocab. Go over things, ask for questions, listen and repeat, and stuff like that. ("So... I think that urban development is good, because they build a casino and there will be more money, and stuff like that" I love this one guy who uses GOC ~colloquialisms?~ to an absurdley large degree, he says "and stuff like that" every other sentence.)
Ok lets move on to the listening. I'll read them a dialogue test their understanding. Have them read a scentence and then show them how a native would say it. Ex: "What are you looking at" becomes "Wha are you looking at."
Activity. Important part of the lesson. Takes 10-15 mn. Do an activity, have them work in groups if more than one. To go over the structures and phrases we just learned.
And now let's do Applications! Applications are the wrap up, the most important thing, test the students' skillz, and let them practice using what they learned. I base the lesson around what App I do. (I could make it up, but usually I just choose one of the options given to the teacher.) An example of an App would be, in partners, one has an ailment and is seeking treatment. The other person offers what they think is the best line of treatment, then switch.
Bell rings, 4o minutes are up, and I quickly go over one mistake they did to correct them, tell them (and throughout the lesson,) that they are doing a good job, and then leave. I got 10- 15 minutes to see who Im teaching next, figure out how I'm going to run the lesson, and then go and do it all over again.
The easier ones to teach are the high level practically fluent ones. We have alot of those at this branch.
One other aspect of my job is Voice. Voice is basically you sit in a room with the students, and you speak English. They stay and go as they please all day (same price for them,) but usually they come and go and stay on regular class intervals. You don't have a lesson or anything. You just gotta keep em talking. You can elicit ideas based on a topic or play a game or just have a free conversation. First case, I had Voice today and had them each give me 3 emotions, which I wrote on the bored. Then I said to each in turn "please tell me about a time you were sad/happy/confused" etc. It ate up the 40 minutes so I was happy. For the second one, games similar to Peruvian Hat Game work... one of these days I'm gonna bust that out!
I had chibiko (preskoolers) training today. I might not ever do that, one girl at my branch doesnt, but sqrt(-1) still trained for it. If i do thats fine. I realized that being overjoyous and overenthusiastic might look sarcastic and feel incredibly uncomfortable in real life, but I can just pretend I'm acting, acting enthusiastic, and get the job done. Could be fun, "GREAT JOB! HIGH FIVE HIGH FIVE HIGH FIVE!!!" etc...
AFTER WORK:
After work I get home sometime in the evening. As my roomate Matt said, Nova messes with your schedule. So it is not abnormal to not start cooking dinner until 10 PM, and then maybe go to bed at 2. Simply cuz ur 2 tired 2 cook aftr gettin home till you have a rest surfin tha net.
I have been studying for the GREs alot, i feel not bad. Its about 5 -8 hours away so I am gonna try to take a couple days off and make my trip there into a long weekend/ vacation. (its in Kobe.) But I have not been getting much sleep staying up late (studying and watching 24) so I am very tired. I will try to update this blog every Moday (I got Mon off,) so stay tuned on Mondays. This post probably counts for my monday entry, so try again in 9 days, (or sooner, who knows what the future will bring?)
SOCIAL SITUATIONS:
2 happened recently. Last Sunday, in time for my first "weekend" me and my boss and 2 coworkers, in addition to my 2 roomates, went to a Japanese pub basically. You sit down (cool seats, you sit on the floor, but below the table is sunken in, so it feels like you are sitting on a chair) at a table and they serve both food and drinks. GTs. My boss is a nice guy. He's interested in physics philosophy and silversmithing which I can appreciate. He can slag witcha but you still gotta do your job proffesionally which I respect. My coworkers are chill and so are the roomies.
Sitch 2. Next day coworker (still wonderin if I should introduce names into this blog) who was at bar had a party at her apartment, well actually at the guys' next door who are also at Nova. That was a nice time, good amount/mix of people. The ubiquitous "cut -- it -- out" of Joey Gladstone was introduced. GTs.
And that's all he wrote.
BEFORE WORK:
I suppose I might as well tell you what I do. Let me do that by describing a typical day. I wake up and go online. Usually in the morning I will download music. I drink coffee and if work starts late enough I have lunch. Here is my schedule:
Sunday = 10Am -- 5.20Am. Monday = off. Tuesday = off. Wednesday = 5.00Pm -- 9.00Pm. Thursday = 1.20Pm -- 5.40Pm. Friday = 1.20Pm -- 9.00 Pm. Saturday = 11.40Am -- 7.20 Pm.
It takes 3 minutes to walk to the train station and literally 4-5 minutes on the train to get to work. Of course, I might have to wait 12 minutes for a train, but you can plan these things on time. This isn't Italy. The trains run on time.
So you can see that I don't have to wake up early (usually,) and therefore can usually have lunch instead of toast breakfast. One more thing to mention, is that I need to wear a shirt and pants. Pants are no problem but shirts are often wrinkly. So I have a couple shirts that are not wrinkly right now and have been wearing those most of the time and then hanging them up and hoping they don't turn wrinkly overnight. If I can only find wrinkly shirts, I have to iron, which eats up time. In fact, due to reasons such as these and the fact that the trains don't run every 5 minutes only between the hours of 12.00Pm and 2.00Pm, I was "almost" late for my second and third days of work. "'almost'" because I probably wasnt late technically. Technically I showed up exactly on time, exactly on the bell (or 2 minutes before) for my first lesson. But, that is essentially late or borderline, as my boss explained to me during our first night drinking together.
WHAT I DO AT WORK:
I arrive about 10 - 20 minutes early to prepare my first few lessons. I look at the schedule and see who I am teaching. I locate their file by their assigned number, pull it out, and pick a lesson to teach based on what they and their classmates have done. I can pick anything for their speaking level, but I should avoid repeating lessons they have done recently. Repeating older lessons is fine, they often repeat lessons up to three times.
The lessons come neatly packaged for the instructor and I suppose the student. My book is twice as thick as the students', because opposite to each of their textbook pages, I have a fairly detailed plan of how the lesson should/can proceed. The lessons come in units based on topic, (which includes a language goal.) Some are: Problem Solving (talking about being lost in the wilderness,) Talking about Medicine, (traditional versus modern medicine, and skepticism.) Urban Renewal And Development. (Universally important topics ;) Telling funny stories. I havent done the last one yet, but I hear its hard. The Japanese don't get the GOC's humor. OK let's move on to the actual lesson! The lesson is 40 minutes long and broken down into a few parts.
TYPICAL LESSON:
Introduction/Assesment. Let's break the ice, warm you up, you can talk about how I'm from Boston. Please talk about how I'm from Boston, because I have nothing else to talk about except the weather today, and we talked about that yesterday...;). I also try to forshadow the lesson. "It's rainy out today. Do you get colds being in the rain? Should you use acupuncture to treat a cold... OK open your books to page E-13! we're talking about medicine"
Main Language. Look at the vocab. Go over things, ask for questions, listen and repeat, and stuff like that. ("So... I think that urban development is good, because they build a casino and there will be more money, and stuff like that" I love this one guy who uses GOC ~colloquialisms?~ to an absurdley large degree, he says "and stuff like that" every other sentence.)
Ok lets move on to the listening. I'll read them a dialogue test their understanding. Have them read a scentence and then show them how a native would say it. Ex: "What are you looking at" becomes "Wha are you looking at."
Activity. Important part of the lesson. Takes 10-15 mn. Do an activity, have them work in groups if more than one. To go over the structures and phrases we just learned.
And now let's do Applications! Applications are the wrap up, the most important thing, test the students' skillz, and let them practice using what they learned. I base the lesson around what App I do. (I could make it up, but usually I just choose one of the options given to the teacher.) An example of an App would be, in partners, one has an ailment and is seeking treatment. The other person offers what they think is the best line of treatment, then switch.
Bell rings, 4o minutes are up, and I quickly go over one mistake they did to correct them, tell them (and throughout the lesson,) that they are doing a good job, and then leave. I got 10- 15 minutes to see who Im teaching next, figure out how I'm going to run the lesson, and then go and do it all over again.
The easier ones to teach are the high level practically fluent ones. We have alot of those at this branch.
One other aspect of my job is Voice. Voice is basically you sit in a room with the students, and you speak English. They stay and go as they please all day (same price for them,) but usually they come and go and stay on regular class intervals. You don't have a lesson or anything. You just gotta keep em talking. You can elicit ideas based on a topic or play a game or just have a free conversation. First case, I had Voice today and had them each give me 3 emotions, which I wrote on the bored. Then I said to each in turn "please tell me about a time you were sad/happy/confused" etc. It ate up the 40 minutes so I was happy. For the second one, games similar to Peruvian Hat Game work... one of these days I'm gonna bust that out!
I had chibiko (preskoolers) training today. I might not ever do that, one girl at my branch doesnt, but sqrt(-1) still trained for it. If i do thats fine. I realized that being overjoyous and overenthusiastic might look sarcastic and feel incredibly uncomfortable in real life, but I can just pretend I'm acting, acting enthusiastic, and get the job done. Could be fun, "GREAT JOB! HIGH FIVE HIGH FIVE HIGH FIVE!!!" etc...
AFTER WORK:
After work I get home sometime in the evening. As my roomate Matt said, Nova messes with your schedule. So it is not abnormal to not start cooking dinner until 10 PM, and then maybe go to bed at 2. Simply cuz ur 2 tired 2 cook aftr gettin home till you have a rest surfin tha net.
I have been studying for the GREs alot, i feel not bad. Its about 5 -8 hours away so I am gonna try to take a couple days off and make my trip there into a long weekend/ vacation. (its in Kobe.) But I have not been getting much sleep staying up late (studying and watching 24) so I am very tired. I will try to update this blog every Moday (I got Mon off,) so stay tuned on Mondays. This post probably counts for my monday entry, so try again in 9 days, (or sooner, who knows what the future will bring?)
SOCIAL SITUATIONS:
2 happened recently. Last Sunday, in time for my first "weekend" me and my boss and 2 coworkers, in addition to my 2 roomates, went to a Japanese pub basically. You sit down (cool seats, you sit on the floor, but below the table is sunken in, so it feels like you are sitting on a chair) at a table and they serve both food and drinks. GTs. My boss is a nice guy. He's interested in physics philosophy and silversmithing which I can appreciate. He can slag witcha but you still gotta do your job proffesionally which I respect. My coworkers are chill and so are the roomies.
Sitch 2. Next day coworker (still wonderin if I should introduce names into this blog) who was at bar had a party at her apartment, well actually at the guys' next door who are also at Nova. That was a nice time, good amount/mix of people. The ubiquitous "cut -- it -- out" of Joey Gladstone was introduced. GTs.
And that's all he wrote.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Im not in the GOC anymore
Let us begin.
Japan (nihon) ni ikimashta (went to) last week (wakarimasen…). And now, I’m living here for t >= 1 year. I’m sorry for not updating this blog earlier. I probably should have, my first day’s impression of this land where the sun is always rising. But, perhaps due to this very strange solar phenomenon, my sleeping schedule has been a little off. For example, Friday night is going out night, right? Usually, it is. However, this Friday, I woke up at 6 am, went online for a little bit, and deciding I should get a little bit more sleep, closed my curtains and shut my eyes. I woke up to my roommate watching the T.V. and figure if he was up, I should get up. Long story short, it was dark out and 8 PM. Wow. Don’t know if I’ve ever slept until 8 pm. I guess I needed it, I was sleep. In any case, a lot of time, I’ve been too tired to write.
What the heck is this place like? Well, its hasn’t changed much in 1 year. That is a good thing. It is still busy, crowds are still pushy, people still stare constantly at their cell phone screens, (which do not look as advanced as American cell phones.) I’m sure it was the same before, but I have noticed particularly now the fashion of the Japanese. Every single girl here is uber fashionable by GOC (good old country) standards. Sometimes they try too hard, like the girl whose jeans were literally ripped in half on the leg, 360 degrees, and the bottom half only stayed up because they were tied there. But I didn’t bat two eyelids, because you half expect that. Basically, a girl dressing normal here is ultra-hip in America, idk. Guys are not as crazy actually. In terms of other descriptions for where I am living, its hard to describe, but everyone just seems extremely polite. Politeness is also mixed with goodnaturedness, which is probably slightly different from niceness, although related. For example, multiple occasions have Japanese noticed I was struggling with something – deciphering a menu, figuring out a map, whatever, and offered me concrete assistance. One guy poked me on the train, I turned around, and he asked me in English if I needed help. One woman spent 10 minutes trying to help me with a menu. Today, my day was made during the following interaction.
I ordered my favorite Japanese sweet – a pastry filled with cream – and asked where the train station was. Some Japanese woman said, “ishoni ikimasho” which means, “lets go together.” And I KNEW THAT!!! So I was like, “arigatoo gozaimasu.” And then we walked to the train station and had small talk IN JAPANESE!!! Where did she live – near the train station. Where was I from, etc. So she walked me to the train station and left, but she was hecka nice, and I SPOKE TO HER IN JAPANESE!!! Hopefully that was the first of thousands of more interactions like that.
Work. Hey, its not all small talk and games. Today I did it. Went to work. That wasn’t too bad. I won’t go into specifics because it does not entertain me to write about it, but I will say it wasn’t too bad. I am glad I took Publick Speaking in college, truly, because I have generally felt comfortable speaking in groups, I believe that class made me much more proficient at doing so. 2 hours after getting to work, (at 12.30, isn’t that so early??) I was already speaking in front of a group of students. A few hours later I was talking to them for 10 minutes and by the end of the day for 20 minutes. Tomorrow, I teach two full lessons for 40 minutes. Day after I teach 4 lessons. End of training. That is Wednesday. Friday I start work, full time, no supervisors. So, we were definitely tossed into the deep end but I’ll probably swim.
It’s weird, the job is better than I thought it’d be. But at the same time, it is somewhat scary thinking that I am actually going to LIVE here. This isn’t a vacation. It is highly intimidating to commit myself for a year, especially abroad. College was easy in that everything was decided for me except my schedule. Now I have to put in effort to decide the course of my future. I know I want to live in Japan, but will I feel the same in a year? Will I want to continue on and start the path towards a career? I would say no, 1 year isn’t enough, if the only factor were Japan. But the other factor is work, and work is scary. Much more scary than grad school. So those are just some initial hesitations I am thinking about.
(After my first day of work, I strongly doubt I can work happily in the traditional workforce with a regular boss and all that. Let’s hope this academia thing pans out in the future.)
But in the meantime, my job is fairly easy and fairly fun.
I have two roommates, Matt and Jack. Cool doods. I have the biggest room. It has tatami mat floors, big closet, connects to the balcony where you hang your clothes to dry. Tatami mats seem to make the mess look less messy. My room connects to the living room and the walls are extra thin in Japan compared to the GOC. The noise is a minor downside to trade for the space and tatami matts. Next Sunday after work my workmates are throwing a party for me. Should be GTs, (good times,) especially since I have Mondays and Tuesdays off. Gaijkokujin (Gaijin) crowd should be fun, no doubt, but the devil’s trap they are!
Goals: hangout with Japanese, perhaps this will be done at work with the Japanese staff.
Go to Karaoke and get plastered till the first trains start at 5 am, and then go to Sukiji fish market and get sushi.
Get Japanese girlfriend.
Get 990 on physics GRE.
Do the darn thing!
One1.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Who am I, where am I going?
Well, I am Eoin, hopefully you know that if you are reading that blog. I am going to teach English in Japan starting in September. I arrive 9/19/07. And I just found out today that I will be teaching in Yachiyo, a city in the Chiba prefecture, which is part of the greater Tokyo area.
The title of this blog comes from the novel Neuromancer, a chapter called "Chiba City Blues."
I'll be updating this thing to Keep U NFormed hopefully on a regular basis. That's all for today.
Hollatchaboi!
One1
The title of this blog comes from the novel Neuromancer, a chapter called "Chiba City Blues."
I'll be updating this thing to Keep U NFormed hopefully on a regular basis. That's all for today.
Hollatchaboi!
One1
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