Song of the Moment: "Shanghai Honey" - Orange Range

Yep, it's started... my interest in Japan pop music. Download the above song if you can find it online... great stuff, sorta hiphop/rock fusion with Japanese lyrics. Pop music here in Japan is interesting... you think the music industry is evil in America? They ain't got nothing on Japan... average prices for CDs here:

$10 for a single (1-2 songs + instrumentals)
$35-40 for a full length LP (10-15 songs)

Crazy, eh? Strangely, American music is priced same as America... $13-19 for a CD. Maybe that's why American music is becoming so popular. It's cheaper to buy...

Anyways...

Yesterday, I went to visit the city of Yagi and Kashihara Jingu shrine... very nice area, parks and everything. I had no idea what was special about the shrine - all the signs were in Japanese only. The place was also partially closed (some holiday?), so I wasn't able to look at the shrine up close... only from a distance.

Being the curious guy I am, I Googled "Kashihara Jingu" and this is what I found...

Jimmu Tenno
The Legend of Jimmu Tenno
Pictures of Kashihara Jingu

Apparently, the legendary first emperor of Japan, Jimmu Tenno, is buried there. Even though while I had no idea of the significance of the place while I was visiting there, I had some idea that it was very important. Everything about the area was meticulously cared for - from the gravel path, to the bridges and the trees - people here in Japan have a lot of respect for old things, and history. Back home in America, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody told me they have to wipe graffitti off the Lincoln Memorial every couple of weeks to keep it clean.

I'm thinking of finally getting out to Kyoto in a couple of weeks. My students have been great in suggesting places for me to visit.

Also on the list of places to go:


COSTCO.


Nothing historical about Costco, but hey... a man's gotta live. I'm talking big bags of frozen boneless chicken breasts/thighs, mass ramen, and $1.50 hotdog and soda. I found out the closest one is in Amagasaki, a city one stop down from my school by express train.

Random note:

My favorite online store, Digital Gravel, got in some new gear. I love this t-shirt... so simple, so eloquent. Surprisingly, with the growth of hiphop culture here in Japan, there's a lot of interesting clothes for sale... but mostly brandname wh0ring... lots of Sean Jean, RoccaWear... bleh.
posted by G at 5:40 AM   | (0) comments

I just want you to know, how I feel
Feeling good, feeling great
Feeling great, feeling good, how are you?

Awww yeah, the Outkast is blaring loudly on the MD player. It's not a complete substitute for going to church/fellowship, but writing has been therapeutic for me. Been workin' on a couple of more introspective issues I'm encountering here in Japan. Maybe when I polish them a little, I'll post them here on this blog.

Random note on blogging: It can sometimes make ordinary folks into celebrities, like this dude, "Salaam Pax". I heard an interview with him on NPR once... pretty intelligent, normal guy. I found it fascinating to hear his opinion - for once, the unfiltered opinion of an Iraqi about Iraq.

More fun pics of downtown Kobe / Sannomiya...


Seattle and Kobe are sister cities. I had completely forgotten until I found this plaque in a park near city hall.


Seattle's gift: a totem pole. Riiiight...


Shot of my favorite park that I like to hang out at sometimes... I just sit there and rest sometimes after work, since it's right next to the subway entrance/exit.

Did I mention it's the weekend? Watashi wa totemo ureshii. (I'm very glad)

No plans yet on where I want to visit (maybe Himeji or Kyoto? hrmm), though I'm giving myself a mission: sign up for Japanese lessons at the local non-profit community culture center in Kobe or my work city, Ashiya. Yep.

I've also bought my first piece of native clothing... a $30 shirt for $10. When I saw it, I knew I had to get it... see for yourself.


...


...


...





Told ya. =)
posted by G at 3:51 AM   | (0) comments

Do you like fast women?

As I've mentioned numerous times before, the best part of my job is meeting students. There's some really fascinating people at my school.

Today, I had lesson with a student named Junko, a woman in her late 20s/ early 30s, short hair, and laid back in her chair wearing a baggy Adidas tracksuit. Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: So what have you been doing lately?
Junko: Not much... but I'm a bit sad and tired.
Me: Why?
Junko: I crashed part of my car on Rokko mountain yesterday.
Me: Whoa! What happened?
(Junko smiles, looks a little embarassed, and laughs...)
Junko: Heh heh. Ummm... I was driving too fast...
(she makes a motion with her hands to indicate she fish-tailed the back left side of her car while going into a turn)

After talking a little bit more, it turns out Junko is quite the speed junkie and regularly goes up to Rokko mountain (a low-level hilly area with small, twisting local roads) just to straight up drive, rally style. It also turns out that she used to be into the street racing scene here in Japan, but stopped because it was too expensive and dangerous. Who woulda thunk I'd have a female Japanese rice rocket driver as an English student?

We spent the next hour just talking about cars, telling car stories, and the differences between automotive life in Japan and the US. She's even been autocrossing at the local circuit raceway. Interesting fact: biggest car company here in Japan is Nissan, not Honda or Toyota.

Junko's current ride is a pimped out Subaru (aftermarket mods to engine, seats, shifter, wheel, pedals, exhaust, and tires) her favorite store is Autobacs, and she hates SUVs. Jeff would be proud.

Too funny.

***

In other news, my boys have had all charges dropped! Yay, justice and thank God. Took the prosecutors' long enough... now, hopefully they can win their wrongful-arrest lawsuit and recover the over $11,000 they had to spend on bail money, court fees, and the like.

And need I mention... THE YANKEES LOST? That's awesome. Now I can laugh at all the Japanese people wearing Yankees hats... stupid Yankees merchandise is everywhere here in Japan. I haven't found a decent Mariners hat yet... anybody know where I can buy a black ball cap with the old school Mariners trident 'M'?

***

Oh yeah, packages from America rock. Wh00t, I'm in a good mood. ^_^

To my angel:
Thanks for the homemade cookies, candy, and Sunday comic page. Gar <3 you.

To Cora, moi #2:
Thanks for the burned CDs. Outkast is now bumpin' on the trains of Kobe. speeeeeakerboxx
posted by G at 2:19 AM   | (0) comments

I say 'hip hop', you say 'I like hip hop'... 'hip hop'... 'I like hip hop'

I think I'm slowing settling into my job as an English teacher. It's a bit weird when you start to have dreams about giving speaking drills to your students. Am I becoming a cold, emotionless tool of the English language teaching industry? da-dum!

Speaking of cold, emotionless tools, I finally caught American Psycho for the first time. I rented it from the local Japanese video store to satisfy my longing for entertainment in English. Very good movie, if not a little bit of an unsatisfying ending. I recommend it highly to any guy who digs Fight Club or Office Space... the incredibly dark humor of the movie had me laughing even in the most macabre and goriest parts. Ah, angst of modern man... women who hate violence or misogyny, steer clear of this one. It's got loads.

Are you a fan of Genesis? <--- This is funny, but only if you've seen American Psycho.

Ah, back to sexy cellphone pics... some more food.


Mah-Po-Doufu flavored potato chips! These things are the bomb... nice and spicy. I buy them at the local convenience store when I'm hungry. Ever notice how spelling convenience is inconvenient? Just a thought.


Would you drink something with SWEAT written on the side of the bottle?

Yeah, I wouldn't either.

***

Hey Drew, your subway maps should be on the way shortly. Anybody else wanna engage in some international trade? Poor, broadband-less English teacher seeks music, movies, and American candy. Will trade various Japanese items including but not limited to: subway maps, food, toys, and pictures of local, bizarrely dressed natives.
posted by G at 7:11 AM   | (0) comments

eh yo verse two coming with my Heineken brew
N-O-R-E putting people back in I C U
You ain't even thidd-ink/ that I need a dridd-ink
hit you up quick/ before you could even blidd-ink
Give you a splitting/ cut you up with the shidd-ank/
tell your accountant to go and just check the bidd-ank/
I damn near broke it/ you and I ain't even thidd-ink
I gotta churrda lurrda girls like Shabba Riddanks
Guaranteed to be there/ just like Fed Ex
We write our own rhymes kid you can check the credits -NORE, "Oh No"

So what does Noreaga have to do with Japan? Nothing really, but there's something funny about bumping American hiphop on the trains... oh no oh, oh no...

Anyways, as I promised... food here in Japan! It's very good actually. I feel lucky... I haven't encountered as anything as funky as deep-fried hampsters like mr. phonic.

But enough talking. Here's some pics courtesy of sexy mr. cellphone.


Food vending machine/cashiers! This is great when I don't want to try to negotiate menus or prices at some joints. You simply pick your food, your drink, plunk in the coin-age, and out it spits a ticket. You take the ticket inside to the restaurant they make your food right away. wh00t!


This may look like puke, but it's actually a yummy local dish called "okonomiyake" - a Kansai area speciality. It's basically fried cabbage, onions, egg, and dried fish... all together in one funky Japanese pancake. Quite good, but supposedly Kanto area Japanese folks (Tokyo area) think it's nasty. I liked it, though.


My first decent bowl of ramen... quite nice. Noodles, onions, ginger, cha-siu, and broth that I drank down to the last drop...


Yep, they're everywhere. Eviiiiiiiiiiiiiiil...


Nothing says "American" like donuts and coffee! Quite nice.

More later.
posted by G at 5:33 AM   | (0) comments

(more shots of Nara. why? 'cause they're cool...)

Well, I didn't go siteseeing like I planned this past weekend, Wednesday and Thursday. Just ran errands and pretty much chilled out, since for some reason, I felt a little bit more tired than normal.

I think I'm starting to undergo a bit of a craving for English-language media. I'm starting to consider getting a newspaper subscription, especially considering I don't have easy access to the Internet. Being the cheapskate I am, I always read the Seattle Times online back home in Seattle, but now that I'm here in Japan, and only able to drop by the internet cafe every once and awhile, I haven't been able to read as much. Hrmm.

Yeah, I'm starting to realize that I'm a bit of a media freak. Not having a newspaper, music, or television (except news) in English makes me feel a bit out of the loop. Any kind souls want to burn me a CD of the latest hits? Or just clips of Triumph, the Insult Comic dog? heh.

It was a long day at work. No stories today, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Maybe for my next entry, I'll write about the food here... yeah, food...

PS OK, my very last comment about my cellphone... I promise! But yeah... it has GPS! I can connect to the GPS system and instantly view a map of where I am in Japan... damn, that's so cool!!! I just found the feature last night while playing with my phone. (the instruction manual is all in Japanese, so it's been tough figuring out all the features)

Now if I could only figure out how my phone can cook steaks and print money...
posted by G at 6:49 AM   | (0) comments

soul, swine, and spiritually speaking

Well, my 2nd week of work has been going much faster than I thought it would. It's already pretty much past me by, and I look forward to another weekend (2 days off). My students have been great at recommending places to visit here in Japan, so I already have some ideas in mind of where to go next... perhaps the city of Himeji is next? Hrmm.

Part of my English teaching everyday is usually a 50 minute "free talk" session that is nicknamed "VOICE". At my school, there's this nice room that has been reserved especially for Voice - couches, a lounge chair, coffee table, and a white board. Basically, the entire idea behind Voice is giving students a chance to use English in a natural and conversational manner, talking about particular topics or playing a certain game - whatever the teacher wants to do.

I find these lessons to be very educational, at least in that I always gain some insight into Japanese culture from them... my most recent Voice lesson that was interesting was this past Saturday with a student named Shuji, or as I liked to call him, Professor Shuji.

--- Who is this guy?

As his name implies, Shuji is a professor at a local Japanese university, in the department of medicine. His specialty happens to be transplant surgery and apparently he's one of the best transplant surgeons in the country. He oftens travels abroad to attend medical conferences, and hence, his interest/fluency in English comes from the need to communicate internationally. However, because of the culture of Japan, he hasn't had a lot of opportunities to practice his craft - in fact, transplant surgeries are so rare in Japan, Shuji has turned to research to keep busy.

According to Shuji, the problem with transplant surgey is a cultural phenomenon here in Japan. It's not that there's a lack of willing patients here in Japan - the reason behind having so few surgeries is that there is huge lack of organ donors. To compare on average, a city like Houston in Texas may have as many as 100 various transplant surgeries a year, while in Osaka, the average is only around 5 surgeries a year.

---Transplant blues

Apparently, the problem lies with Japanese people themselves, in Shuji's opinion - despite most Japanese people claiming to be non-religous, there is fundamental belief held in the culture by most people that their soul is connected intrinsically to their bodies. Most people believe that unless their body is cremated after death (in accordance to tradition), they run the risk of some sort of haunted/restless afterlife. People here are therefore very reluctant to donate their organs, even though Japan has a similar organ donor sign-up system that America has - people have the option to sign-up when they register official personal documentation, such as a drivers license.

Shuji and I discussed that in comparison, one of the factors in the relative frequency of organ donor sugery in the West has much to do wth the Judeo-Christian belief, that post-death, the soul and the body are separated and the body is nothing more than an empty shell. Having a belief like that makes Westerners more open to the idea of donating their organs, since in death, the body no longer has any sort of strong spiritual connection to the soul. While organs availablity in the West is by no means huge, it's overwhelming in comparison to Japan.

So since Shuji has had few opportunities to do surgeries, the majority of his time is now spent on research - transgenic research. Shuji's research right now is directed at developing transgenic pigs that can be basically used as organ farms, thus solving the lack of organs for transplants - imagine pigs that have hearts completely compatible for transplant to a human being. The idea isn't quite as far-fetched as one might think, either... Shuji mentioned that scientists already have for years successfully synthesized human insulin from genetically modified pigs and it's been used by people for years.

To think that someday the comment "you are such a pig" may be less an insult than a statement of fact is an odd thought indeed, eh?

--- don't mind me, i'm rambling

I guess my conversation with Shuji is on my mind right now because I still haven't found a church to attend here in Kobe and I find I often itch to have spiritual conversations with people. Here in Japan, it's a place where the convergence of a traditional (very spiritual) culture and Western-style hyper-consumerism is so obvious, yet also invisible. Hundreds of shrines and temples dot the landscape, yet what about the people themselves?

In a way, I guess Japan reflects America in that for your average person, spiritual beliefs have been relegated to either academic discussion or the yearly visit to the church/temple. It's not that Japanese people are completely soul-less and unspiritual (not any more than Americans, anyways), but I suppose I expected to find in a country as old as Japan, a stronger inclination toward the pursuit and practice of truth.

Then again, maybe I just have met a complete cross section of Japanese people? Afterall, most of my students at the Ashiya school are bling-bling doctors, businessmen, housewives, and young kids.

But yeah... I think in terms of relating to another human being, if you can't hold a conversation with them about the great mysteries of life (AKA spiritual things), it's a huge gap in terms of the experience of being a living, breathing person. For many of most closest friends, guys I've known since I was a kid, I think the fact that we can frankly and honestly to each other about God, faith, spiritual things, etc. allows us to enjoy a bond that we wouldn't otherwise have. Layers, I suppose... the layers of human relationships.

Did I mention the first and only time I've been to church here in Japan, most of the congregation were women, children, and a handful of foreigners? My homie Mel was right and I didn't believe him...

On a related note: the NY Times has an interesting article here about the decline of Christianity in Europe. Interesting stuff.

Oddly enough, I agree... religion is a bit outmoded, at least religion where people file into a building once a week and separate what they do from what they believe. But the spiritual nature of man... that will always be relevant. I don't any amount of intellectual debate can dismiss the fact that human beings have as an intrinsic part of them a sense that there is something other then this world out there and we want badly to connect to it. History shows that.

Hrmm... the spiritual versus the spare-ritual.

On a less serious note, Ahhhhhnold is now governor. That means the movie Predator now can claim it has boosted the careers of two politicians, hahaha. Ah yes... Arnold is gov'nor.

God definitely has a sense of humor.
posted by G at 4:11 AM   | (0) comments

Please make my Buddha super-sized

WARNING: This update contains lots of pics.

So I'm just started my second week of working fulltime, but I find myself still reflecting on my weekend - it was great! I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off, so it's interesting to be off work when your normal Japanese person is still slaving away. But yeah... I digress.

This past Thursday I was fairly pumped up because I got to do my first "tourist thang"... I and friend (another newbie English teacher, my Korean-Canadian homie Michelle) went to the city of Nara to go site seeing. Nara isn't quite as famous as Kyoto to foreigners, but my extensive guidebook studying before I came here to Japan said that Nara was definitely worth a trip. At one time in ancient Japan (I think around 700 AD), Nara was the Imperial capital.

It took me around 2.5 hours one way to get there, but all I gotta say in response to them guidebooks is...

Yep.

The entire city is very quiet, and completely covered with various shrines, temples, and parks, most with probably great historical significance, but since most of the signs were completely in Japanese (and Korean, surprisingly) I'm left to just speculate about things. Here's a couple of highlights from my trip:


What is it? I dunno, but it looked cool and was engraved with a lot of writing.


This five story pagoda was a replica of a temple that was in the city... I think this is near Kofukuji temple.


Deer... the entire parks and temples are crawling with them. Apparently, they're considered a symbol of the city and allowed to breed at will, unharmed. They look meek... but don't let them fool you. Those mangy bastards will manhandle you first chance.

During a break from walking, I and my friend sat down to eat some yummy green tea ice cream. A buck near by us kept chasing a doe, for what I suspect was probably some sort of deer humping action. The doe eluded the buck, so the buck, in what I could only guess was deer sexual frustration, let loose with the most horrific sound I've ever heard a 4-legged mammal make - a 1-2 minute whine that sounded like a badly damaged megaphone or Michael Bolton single.

I resisted the urge to slay the sacred animal with my barehands. It was difficult.


I try to half-heartedly make peace with a buck.


A nice looking tree. Yes, some Japanese people are still masterful gardeners in their home country.


The outer wooden gate to the highlight of the trip, Todaiji temple. The inside of the gate held two massive wood statues of Buddhist guardians (complete with demons trampled underfoot).?@?@


One of the guardians and me. Note the scale.


Todaiji temple. This thing was as beautiful as it was massive. Bit from another webpage... "It was constructed in 752 as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples of Japan and grew so powerful that the capital was moved from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 in order to lower its influence on government affairs. " It's also the world's largest wooden building, even though the current temple is a reconstruction of the original (the reconstruction dates from the 1700s), at only two-thirds of the original's size.


The Daibutsu... a gigantic bronze statue of Buddha that's about 50 feet high. It's also the biggest Buddha statue in the country. Whoa son! Very impressive and incredibly detailed, though I suppose it's existence is a bit ironic, considering that the founding tenets of Buddhism seem very anti-iconic.


Another gi-normous wooden statue of a guardian, this one being inside the temple, in one of the corners.


The monks at the temple are trying to raise money for Todaiji temple's continuing restoration, so for 1000 yen donation (about $10) you get a roof tile to write on and leave your mark. The roof tile will someday be incorporated into the temple. I wrote my name, the date, where I'm from, and a Bible verse in Chinese... heh heh. I wonder if the monks would recognize it...


My tile on display! Whoohooo!


OK, this has nothing to do with Todaiji temple, but it was my first spotting of Engrish in Nara. Funny, eh?

So yeah... Nara was a great city. If Shiv or my mom or my sister come to visit, I plan to take them there... there's definitely a lot of stuff to see.

***

On an unrelated note... behold, my new good friend in Japan. Mr. Say-Roo-Rah Fu-Own!

DigiCamera, movie capability, e-mail, internet, linked photos to phone numbers so when people call, their picture shows up... even English / Japanese mode! So nifty...





Note small size and yes, English menu!


The camera eye is located in the middle and can rotate to face either inside...


...or point outside! Awww yeah... you can photo-snipe with ease...


My "gone native" accessory, which I got free with buying my phone and signing up to a plan. The favorite local baseball team is the Hanshin Tigers, who are currently in the Japanese playoffs. This is their mascot.


Close up on the outside display of my phone. It displays the time and can display a photo... in this case, a picture of me as a kid and my father.

Have I mentioned I've sold out to cellphone technology? Yeah, yeah... this is the last time I'll mention it. Really.
posted by G at 6:56 AM   | (0) comments

hey shoot... made ya look, you slave to a page in my rhyme book...

While life in Japan is starting to approach normality, there's definitely things that I still come across that make me say, "HRMMMM".

Example number 1:



Odd, eh? During rush hour, all through out the many different railway companies, trains have "Ladies Only" trains. People are so tightly packed into trains during these times, that random groping of women passengers by dirty old geezers, lonely salary men, and teenage punks is pretty common. I guess the problem is so bad (especially considering that current Japanese fashion for ladies is very short skirts and knee-high boots) that train companies now have instituted these "Ladies Only" cars and they enforce the rules pretty rigidly. Don't board the "Ladies Only" train cars when you're not supposed to or it's beatdown city...

So what was I talking about? Oh yeah... normality...

I've started working fulltime at a school called Ashiya (ah-she-ya). The commute sucks pretty bad, it takes me about one hour to get to work every day - I have to take two different trains, each ride running a half hour each. The city of Ashiya is very nice, very pastoral with low buildings, houses, a large river, and wide streets. Apparently, this is where many rich folks live, so I guess it's a sort of Bellevue-type area. More clues: most of my students are wealthy housewives, businessmen, and junior high / high school students whose parents are paying for lessons to help their kids get ahead.

I think I'm actually only 1 of 2 Americans at my school... most of the other teachers are Aussies, British, and Canadian. All of the teachers I've met so far are very cool, so I count myself lucky... I've heard enough stories about weirdos, freaks, and Asian-philes from the veteran teachers to make me glad I don't have to work with any of those types.

Just like during training, the highlight of my day is always my interactions with students. Funniest conversation of today was with this older guy named Naota, who's about 50-55 years old.

Me: So tell me about a hobby or interest you used to have, but don't have now.
Naota: Hmm... well, when I was a student in America, I loved to dance. At the time, I had this very big dream.
Me: What dream?
Naota: I wanted to dance on Soul Train!
Me: For real!?!
Naota: Yes, yes... sadly, at the time... no Japanese allowed. They did not let me in. Only black people.
Me: Ah... too bad, man.
Naota: Yes, too bad. Nowadays, all kinds of people can dance on Soul Train. If only I was young man again... ah...
Me: Hahaha.

Yep, the students... they're the best part of the job. They probably could be the worst part too, but so far... no bad seeds yet. I'm afraid to start kids classes, though... most of the kids are fine, but apparently there's a couple of really spoiled 5 or 6 years old that really terrorize the school. Nothing like them spoiled kids... oh boy....

Number one train activity:


Ah, the blissful sleep of the life where one is free of responsibility, obligation, and worry.

Oh yeah, did I mention I took both of these two fancy pics with my cellphone? They're still in their original, unaltered size and resolution... so cool... man, I've totally sold out to cellphone gadgetry...
posted by G at 5:13 AM   | (0) comments

Things have been busy, but good... working full time has been a definite change.

I'll write more later, but here are some more pics from my life...





PS

My new cellphone is nifty. I've gone over to the darkside and I love it.


posted by G at 6:43 AM   | (0) comments

Seven words:

Missing your train is a bad thing.

Doh. I wonder how much a taxi costs...
posted by G at 9:05 AM   | (0) comments

wakari mashita. "I understand" / "Understood."
wakkatta. Informal/plain version of wakari mashita. Often heard grunted by soldiers in response to orders in anime shows.

Local time: About 10:40pm.

So the last couple of days have been quite busy... I've just finished my second day of training at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi and I've found it to be OK... (city name means lit. "Western Shrine - Northern Pass/Opening"). I and two other teachers (a guy from Baltimore named Tom and the Asian Australian named Caroline) are all be trained simultaneously by one teacher. We spend a lot of talking about teach techniques, talking about classroom theory, talking about the stages of the lesson, talking about the best way to correct students... talking talking talking. You get the idea.

I don't blame our trainer, she's a nice person, I guess it's just another complaint against the "system" the company has in place. Not to sound full of myself, but I do understand all the material... I can comprehend it intellectually without a problem. The tough part, as any teacher will tell you, is actually the act of teaching itself - interacting with the students and talking with them. I taught my first 3 full lessons today (50 minutes each) and I learned more during teaching those lessons than did during all the other hours and sitting around yapping about teaching theory. Whee.

What does this all mean? I'm not really sure, but I think God perhaps maybe telling me quite plainly that I'd hate normal corporate life. Ah, the evils of slaving away in a profit-seeking, secular institution! Not that's there anything bad with making money, but lets just say my eyes are continually be opened to the subtle shady-ness in some of the practices of my company.

Case in point: Lessons are 50 minutes each, so there's only 10 minutes between each lesson. Often, your planning for a lesson in limited to just those 10 minutes, since class schedules are generated daily and students often call/come in the same and are added last minute to classes. Bear in mind, your students have shelled out a considerable amount of yen-age for the privilege of coming to class... a class with a teacher who's only had 10 minutes of preparation. It's like institutionalized procrastination! Haha.

Now I of course am the king of procrastination, but my conditioned Chinese work ethic grates against the fact that these poor people have shelled out hard-earned money to get sometimes a half-baked lesson. To be fair, I do teach from a textbook, with clearly divided lessons and objectives, but still... if you paid money to attend a class, wouldn't you want a teacher who prepared at least 30-60 minutes for your class, not 10?

Like, I said... shady money-making company motives. I understand it... maybe even tolerate it... but I don't think I approve of it. Sure, it's in the interest of the company to have teachers constantly teaching classes, not planning... the more classes they can offer, the more students they can take... the more students that come = more $$$. The bling bling rules all.

Despite the grind of being a company cog, the saving grace these past two days have been all the Japanese students I've had. Classes really are diverse and cross pretty much every division of life here in Japan - I've taught high schoolers, university students, housewives, business men, science teachers, grocery store clerks... I find it fascinating just to hear about their lives and their experiences as the inhabitants/shapers of Japanese culture. My favorite part of the lesson is usually the first 10-15 minutes, the warm-up/introduction section... that's when I get to really talk to the students and when they get to ask me questions. As a new teacher, they're of course interested in where I'm from, life in Seattle/US, hobbies, how I like Japan... regular stuff like that.

My favorite conversation with a young guy, a highschool student, name Yuki.

Me: What's your favorite American music group or singer?
Yuki: Ah... Destiny's Child.
Me: So do you know who Beyonce is?
Yuki: Yes, yes... she is... how do you say...
Me: Pretty?
Yuki: No... ummm.... sexy! Yes, very sexy.
Me: Hahaha... nice...

Tomorrow will be my last day of training and I'll be getting Friday off... yes! Hopefully, I'll be able to kick it with Kian and Michelle this Friday, as I'll be starting work fulltime on Saturday. Right now in my regular schedule, I work mostly evening shifts... better double check for last minute changes. No church on Sunday, unless I can find an early morning service... hrmmm.

Oh yeah... some fun pictures of training day in Osaka this last Monday...


View of Namba area, downtown Osaka, from the skyscraper where NOVA training was at.


Michelle and Kian, at the diner.


Squat-pot! My first one... most toliets I've found here in Japan are Western-style.


G'nite, y'all... until next time.
posted by G at 6:42 AM   | (0) comments

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33