Bonnie

Understanding is the Gateway to Communication.

candywings — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:53:41 GMT

I love the times (few as they may be) when you actually feel like you're progressing and not just a stupid foreigner who can't grasp Japanese.

Today, I was able to almost perfectly understand what one of the teachers at my Non-English-Speaking elem. school needed to tell me. There were a few words I didn't get, but I understood the most important parts:

"Next week on May 16th, we have Sports Day practice. The whole school will be practicing first period, then the first/second graders will be practicing during second period. You had to teach both grades, and there will only be three periods left to teach them. Is it okay to combine the two second grade classes and teach them both at once?"

I totally understood. I was really happy! I'm not sure if the teacher thought I understood, since it was mostly the standard "hai" and "wakarimashita" responses, but later when I talked to him again, I think he knew for sure if he didn't before.

I realized that we're doing Introductions (Hello/My name is/Nice to meet you) and I only have 31 character cards (Hello, my name is Doraemon/Hello, my name is Stitch/Nice to meet you), and I needed another 18! I also wanted to make sure we could get a large room. So I went over to the teacher after he was done writing Monday's agenda on the board and
1) Asked him if we could get a big room (of course you can!)
and
2) Explained the character card problem.

Of course, I had a bit of trouble with some of the Japanese there, but I also had my cards and between showing and talking and saying that last year, the teachers at the other elem. school in my town helped me with the cards for the Japanese characters since I have no clue who the kids will know (Dokin-chan? Wakame-chan? Chibi Maruko? Never heard of them before that day....), I was able to convey the problem.

Actually, it was really cute. After flipping through my cards and writing down all of the Japanese characters (not the Western ones such as Mickey and Spider-Man that they all know), he asked one teacher who had just come into the room, "So, what other characters are in One Piece besides Luffy?" (Luffy was one of the ones I already had) She starts listing people and he writes them all down, then looks at the list again. "Hmm, how about Naruto?" She laughs and says she doesn't know, so he asks the secretaries, then moves on to other characters and other shows until we have enough people. It's mostly the One Piece/Naruto/Chibi Maruko/Conan show now, though. Before, I didn't have so many characters from the same show....

It was really funny, though, and they were all laughing, too. Then I asked him where I should go online to look for the pictures, and he said he'd do it and have it all ready for next week. He even asked about what my ribbon coding system is (red for boys, purple for girls, white for characters//unisex cards).

It was really nice and, honestly, I was relieved, since I've never seen any of the shows and wouldn't have been able to identify any of the characters. Well, except Conan, but I never saw the series, only the live action movie...and only because Oguri Shun was in it. I couldn't even identify anyone else from that show, though I have memories of a couple of the other characters. No names, though. Plus, every character card I have is animated--even Harry Potter and the two or three Superheroes they all know. So, really, no help at all.

I was so happy to understand, though! It's so nice when it does happen....

..........Okay, so this weekend I'll update w/more vacation stuff. Promise. Yesterday I was too busy, and tonight I wasn't home!

Glover Garden

candywings — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:47:36 GMT

So in Japan, there were just a lot of holidays in a row. First, I went to Kyoto, Osaka, and Hyogo, but I'll talk about those in another entry, and not tonight, since I have too many entries today. You'll only read so much, right? Next, I went to Seoul (in South Korea, for those not geographically-inclined), which was amazing. I'll try to post about it tomorrow, I think? Then on Sunday, I went to Nagasaki City. I'll talk about it today, mostly because I have so much to update, and I think it's better to go backwards in time. Sound good? ^^

Okay, so Nagasaki City. It's not like I've never been there before, though I had some new experiences. I met up with one of the girls from Siebold who was in my group back in August. I hadn't seen her in ages b/c she couldn't come to the Siebold Intensive this past February (which I also have to update you on....). We had so much fun catching up! I ♥ her so much. Really, I do. :)

Anyway, we met up to go to Glover Garden. I'd never been there before, even though it's one of the "things to do" in Nagasaki. Actually, even though she was born and raised in Nagasaki, T. had never gone, either.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I kept hearing it had beautiful flowers and stuff and is always so lovely in the spring, but really, it was mostly a house from this Dutch dude until the 70s or something, and there weren't so many flowers and stuff. I was a bit disappointed with that. T. was excited to see this one stone the whole time. I didn't realize what she was looking for until we saw it. It was shaped like a heart, and it was embedded with a bunch of other stones on a marble pathway. Apparently, it's a really famous stone. People go just to see it and take pictures, and it's just on the pathway with all the other stones. Crazy, huh? Oh, Japan...!!! ♥ ♥

After we finished walking around, we went to Chinatown for lunch. I'd been to the Chinatown in Nagasaki once before during the Chinese New Year this past February, but it was so crowded that we couldn't really move, let alone look around! Actually, last week I also went to the Chinatown in Kobe, but they didn't have champon, which is what my prefecture's famous food is. Then again, the one in my prefecture didn't have my beloved Bubble Tea, so hmmm.... Strange, too, b/c even T. thought we'd find some "Tapioca Juice." Anyway, we waited in line forever to get into a champon restaurant, but it was worth it. So delicious!!! Ahh, I love champon. I'm going to really miss it! It's my favorite noodle dish.... YUM. And even more than Nagasaki Champon, I love the version with the extra seafood.... *glow*

More on champon here.

So, that was pretty much my day in Nagasaki. Nothing too special, but still a lot of fun!!

Next time: Seoul!!!

What do you think?

candywings — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:30:33 GMT

Okay, I know how behind I am on blogging. For the winter holiday stuff, I wanted to wait until I had pictures, but PhotoBucket was too slow and then I tried, I think Shutterfly? It all uploaded, but you couldn't view the pictures if you weren't logged in. Then, it got so busy and I didn't have time to upload it all again.

Then, I didn't want to post anything new until I had the old stuff up to keep it all in chronological order. ^^;;

So I think that what I'll do is make a journal entry that mentions some of the highlights for each of the past few months (from what I can remember, at least). I can go into more detail later when I can actually get some photos on the web that you can SEE.

Does that sound okay to you? (Or if not, what would be better?)

In the meantime, I guess I'll make an entry with my most recent fun since I went all kinds of places in the past week. :)

I guess I'll backdate it someday....I don't know how, though. Has anyone ever backdated something before? ^^;

Why I love my 1年生 JHS students!

candywings — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:01:50 GMT

Yesterday, my JTE told me that last week, the first-year students were asking for me and sad I wasn't teaching them. The one class had seen me walk past their room because I taught another first-year class that day, but they didn't have me. When they asked why, my JTE said it was because I was with the third-year students and they got really sad! They thought I should always teach them and that I was their own personal ALT. <3

They were so thrilled when I came today, apparently.

And, honestly, I love my first-year kids. They have such enthusiastic personalities!!

Oh, and in the hallway this afternoon, I was going down the stairwell and encountered a couple of first-year boys on my way up. I asked them how they were and one goes, "I'm good. I love you!" and I look at him and go, "Oh, yeah?" and him and his friend start giggling and take off. It was amusing.

I've been teaching the first-years a lot lately because the new JTE likes to have me come and help teach. It makes me happy. On Thursday, she'll have me make Christmas cards for the second-year students who chose English as a special elective class (now that we're done preparing skits for Culture Day). Next week, I'll be doing holiday stuff with the first-year kids. I'm going to show them a music video of the "Christmas Shoes" song that all the kids saw and liked last year. I'm supposed to be looking for a new song for the second and third year kids. (Any suggestions? One that has a good video that helps with understanding what the song is about?)

This past week, I've been teaching the third-year students about the JFK assassination. They're learning complete sentences. Instead of saying, "I don't know," they have to learn, "I don't know why Amy's angry," etc. I made an activity where I wrote a short news article about the assassination and about the death of Lee Harvey Oswald. The assignment was to pretend they were journalists (newspaper, Pulitzer Prize, etc. were vocab words this unit) and writing the article. They had to "re-read" what they wrote, and then their "boss" was going to ask them questions. They worked with partners, and for, like, five questions, they had to know the answer from the reading, and from the other five or so, they had to use the grammar point if they didn't know the answer. They seemed to really enjoy the lesson and learning about real history.

They started the assignment last week, and finished yesterday and today. I grabbed a video of both events from YouTube (making sure there was nothing graphic), and converted them to AVI, but they didn't play on the school comps, which are monitored by the Board of Education, and my computer wouldn't hook up to the projector, so we wound up having groups of kids (six at a time) come up to watch the videos. After three class periods and countless watches, I felt like JFK and Oswald were probably frowning at me!!!

[Ah, and before you say so, nooooooo, I'm not morbid. I came up with the JFK idea b/c when I went home in Oct, I saw the musical Assassins with my dad, and afterwards, he was talking to me about conspiracy theories he knew, and then the anniversary was last month. Due to all that, it was fresh in my mind and the first thing I thought of when looking for a good topic. Plus, my JTE really liked it b/c he likes JFK, too. So yeah. I'm not morbid. REALLY!]

Fun times in Nagasaki City

candywings — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:48:56 GMT

On Saturday, I did a bit more exploring in Nagasaki City. I was bored and wanted to get out of Yoshii for a bit. Plus, I wanted to pick up these study books at Kinokuniya (those children's books that I mentioned recently) because Amazon isn't selling them anymore and it's the only store where I've seen them.

I met up with Asami from the Siebold Summer Intensive (the one who helped me buy my electronic dictionary that day, if you recall the story).

We went to Youme Plaza, went to the book store, then wandered around. (And interestingly, I ran into three people I know through JET while there, one who had been at the Siebold Intensive, so it was a mini-reunion.)
Anyway, she took me to the toy section and told me stories about all of the Japanese cartoon characters, where they came from, etc. I'd never seen many of them before, and others, I'd heard of, but knew nothing about.

After that, we ate lunch--big bowls of hot tempura soba soup. Mmm.

After that, we went across the river to the Nagasaki Museum. Typically, I don't like museums because the ones I've been to are always so crowded, and paintings get mundane after a while. I liked going to this one, though, because the special exhibit was for sculptures by Naoki Tominaga. Plus, there weren't many people there at all.

It was interesting to hear that Tominaga was a resident of Nagasaki City. Some of his sculptures are even at the Peace Park. Apparently, he's pretty famous here.

His scultures were so beautiful. The detail was amazing. There were life-size (bigger than life-size, actually) sculptures of sports players and you could see outlines of rib, muscle, shirt buttons, pants stitching, etc. There was a huge samurai on a horse that nearly touched the ceiling. It was gorgeous and exquisitely detailed. (Here is a small picture of it that I found on the 'net.) My favorite was the sculpture of a tree and all these koala bears. I forget the name, but it was something about not disturbing their sleep. He'd used bronze, and managed to tint the leaves green, and together with the branches, it looked so real. It was absolutely amazing. I wish I could find it online!

Here is a site that has a few of his pieces: click here! The golden statue five down of the girl with the flute was Asami's favorite piece.

I also searched for him in Kanji via Google JP, and here is a search list where you can see some of his stuff. (And another from Yahoo.)

Um, after that, we went through the other room of the museum, which was various paintings and stuff, mostly from Nagasaki artists. From that set, I most liked the silkscreen....I don't know what to call them. They're those large board-things that people used to change behind or use instead of walls, etc. Do you know what I mean? Well, the Japanese art was so beautiful and traditional. And there was one painting that I really liked. The colors were very rich and fresh. The red jumped off the canvas and really looked like velvet, etc. It was a portrait of one of the Spanish kings, though I forget which. I think the artist was foreign, too. Beautiful colors, though!

After that, it was back home for me!

Cultural Festival

candywings — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:22:00 GMT

On Friday, I got to see my junior high school's Cultural Festival. Granted, it's nothing like a high school one (they're pretty intense), but I didn't think I'd be able to due to the fact that I had to go to Minami Elementary that day. The two schools were able to arrange it so that I could go to the JHS during 3rd and 4th period, though. (Yep, the festival is only two periods long and not on a weekend. Shows how small it is, ne?)

Um, when I went into the auditorium, there were curtains over all the doors and windows to keep sunlight out. All over the walls, student artwork hung (from when they had their annual Sketch Day outside while I was on break in the States). There were also charts and posters and stuff from other subjects, pillows and other objects made during home ec, and even some homemade robotic cars which, when my principal tested one to show me, kind of died, so...uh, yeah.

The first performance was some students playing those bell instruments. I hadn't seen them since fifth grade when I was in Bell Choir! Ah, memories...

After that, there was a powerpoint demonstration where three third-year girls demonstrated pitch using the bells.

Next, some kids got up on stage with their guitars (and the 3rd year math teacher!) to play, and it was arranged so that, two times, they stopped as a boy pretended to lose his place and get lectured. In the background, a few girls sang the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (in English) by John Denver. Next, the female gym teacher came up on stage, got cat-called by the students, and started to sing a song in Japanese. She was really nervous, but eventually got into it, and all the students were clapping along and stuff. It was cool.

Finally, the big moment I waited for the most! It was time for the second year English skit! I've been helping my JTE practice with students during the weekly class, and the moment had finally arrived. I must say, I'd had doubts because the props were painted onto paper and the kids had made these white bands with ears to strap around their heads. I wasn't sure if anyone would be able to tell what anything actually was. Boy was I wrong!

Everything came together so beautifully on stage. I wish I had it on video for you. Hell, I wish I had a PICTURE for you! My camera's a piece of shit. But you know that already. I absolutely HAVE to get one when I go to Tokyo next month. Akihabara is THE place to go, supposedly. That, and Den-Den Town in Osaka, but I looked there briefly this past spring. Meh. I WILL have a new camera, though. I WILL. And just in time for great pics of vacation, ne? With my current camera, it doesn't zoom in, everything is blurry, and if I have it on the setting that WILL come out? Ants on a stage.

Anyway, the set. The kids took their painted sheets of paper and physically put them on stuff. The fireplace went over the podium, the grandfather clock was attached to some sort of locker so that the one little goat could hide in it (getting a huge crowd laugh) and pop out later (another laugh). They put two desks together with sheets and a pillow, and we had a bed. They somehow constructed the paper over something that was a moving door. There was a blue bucket for a wash tub. It was so great.

On top of that, the COSTUMES!! It wasn't just paper headbands! Everyone painted their faces white with little pink noses, and they all wore white, long-sleeved sweatshirts and their gym shorts. The mother goat (played by a boy, for whatever reason) also had an apron on--decorated to look like the American flag-- and a basket! He came around in front of the stage when he was entering/leaving the house and would go up/down the steps. It looked so real. The wolf had some sort of brown shirt on with a tannish belly, and the kid really did do a great job with his paper muzzle. He also had brown facepaint or something. They all looked really, really amazing, though. I should ask my JTE if there's any way I can get a picture.

They were really nervous, and forgot a few lines, but did really, really well! I'm so proud of them!<3

Grades in Japan

candywings — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:04:44 GMT

You've probably heard that Japanese students get amazing grades. It isn't true. They don't study or do their homework a lot, and get pretty poor grades, but there is no hold-back program in Japan. They study for the major entrance exams, and that's about it. Granted, some subjects are easier than others.

All the kids took major tests last week, and in my first year classes, this is how they averaged in English:

1-1: 64%
1-2: 62%
1-3: 56% (and one kid took the test today, so that figure will either rise or fall)

That's pretty poor, if you ask me. One kid got an 8%. Another got 12%. Most had 50s and 60s, and there were only a couple in the 80s or 90s.

What's interesting is that some kids with bad grades leave it out on display for everyone to see, while others fold the lower right-hand corner of their paper in shame (that's where the grade total is). The weirdest part is that some of the kids with really GOOD grades also hide the mark. I have to wonder if it's b/c they're embarrassed they did well, as a safety measure for the day they don't do well, wanting to mind their own business, etc.

It was interesting, though.

....I think this is what gave me that YA novel idea that I mentioned on my main journal...*laughs*
The things that *inspire* us...

Just another day

candywings — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:20:22 GMT

Want to know how to almost give yourself a heart attack? Open up your mail and find volume 2 of your Japanese course book sitting there waiting for you...and you still have about a week and a half to go in your current book, never mind the test.

I KNOW I'm on schedule. The test isn't due until the 7th, and if I finish it next Thursday and mail it next Friday, it will be in by then. I'll be fine. I do realize this. It's just, last year, I'd be done and have the test mailed off, and the book would come after that. Yeah, I wasn't spending eons translating everything b/c the grammar explanations were in English last year, but I also could study more in a day and remember more. Now, I dedicate so much time to translation so that I can figure out what's going on that I don't have as much time to remember all of this new vocabulary. I also have to wait to make sure that I translated things properly and that the grammar point is right before I try to memorize, for in case I'm doing something more. I only see my neighbor once a week, though, and lately, we've had a lot of stuff come up on that night and have only met once. I can only hope I pass the test! UGH. >.<

On days like today, Japanese is far from my best friend.

News from Bunny's World

candywings — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:57:36 GMT

While it sucks seeing your breath fog the air in the morning, the nicest part about biking to school is the fact that, if you've accidentally left your bike in a strange position and the sun hits it at JUST the right angle, then even though it's cold enough to see your breath, you're sitting on a very toasty seat. It's like having my own heated toilet seat...on a bike! It's very nice.

Today, I dug out my gloves b/c my hands are getting too cold against the downhill wind, and last week, I got a zip-up sweater. I don't think I'll need the heavy coat until Dec or Jan still--well, I probably should because it's somewhere b/w 6 and 12 degrees Celsius, but if I break it out now, then when it's really cold, I'll freeze to death. I feel that I just have thin blood b/c I lived in FL for so long. Then again, I found out today that my town is one of the coldest areas in all of Kyushu b/c we're boxed in by mountains, but really, that still isn't bad, because it only flurried, like, two or three times last year and nothing stuck. So it can't be that bad, right? I've just turned into a complete wuss. I grew up in PA--and I want to move to New England! Come on, now!

On the lighter side of things, I get to leave the junior high an extra hour early all three days this week. Last week, I stayed after for a total of six overtime hours because I was helping a few third-year students practice for an oral/reading English Proficiency speech exam thingie that they had in Sasebo City yesterday.

I saw two of the kids today, and the boy said he had been so nervous and thinks he only did so-so, while the girl said she think it went "okay." I'll see the other three kids tomorrow when I teach 3-2. Oh, and I totally have to put my lesson on here when I can take good pics of it. I spent eight hours drawing comic strip panels for their grammar worksheet and did a rough sketch-draft of it the day before that! They seem to like it, though. Better than an ordinary worksheet, right? Plus, this is Japan, and kids worship manga here, so when they see comics--even if I'm not the world's best artist--they fawn all over getting to write their own strip. *laughs* I'm quite impressed and happy. ^_^

Ohh, and I found out today that I can attend Siebold University's Spring Intensive in February, even though it's during three school days. YAY!!!

Planning for next month

candywings — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:14:24 GMT

Okay, so this isn't a critical post. It's mostly for me. I'm planning out the trip next month during winter break, but there are so many things that I don't want to forget anything. Feel free to skip to the next two posts! (Man, when I update, I really update, ne?)

Anyway, I'm planning a trip to Kyoto and Tokyo with lazzchan, and we'll meet up with my friend Kyle for Kyoto and possibly a leg of the Tokyo trip. I think I’ll probably leave earlier than everyone else and take a longer vacation because I’m the only one who wants to go to Nara. It’s too old and uneventful for everyone else. I think I can spend a day there and do the biggest things:

Tōdai-ji (the largest wooden building in the world; it also has a huge Buddha and deer roaming around and gardens that are supposed to be really pretty…though probably dead at this time of the year…) and Hōryū-ji (one of the best temples in all of Japan and one of the oldest in the entire world), and Hokki-ji (the oldest pagoda temple in all of Japan), and possibly Kōfuku-ji and if there’s extra time, but it’s not as interesting as the others.

And, finally, Heijō Palace (Because, uh, Nara was the capital before Kyoto, which was the capital before Tokyo, but most people forget about good old Nara..).

A day is plenty of time, don't you think?

After that, I may or may not go to Kyoto a day early. It depends on what the others want to do. I mean, I don't want to not do something when this is one of the places I want to see the most, you know? I've been wanting to do a Kyoto/Nara trip for the LONGEST time.

I think Kiyomizu-dera and Daigo-ji and Kinkaku-ji (Rokuon-ji) sound like really good temples to see, and I also think I’d like to see Nijō Castle and the Philosopher’s Walk and the old Geisha district (and possibly the Geiko district, too). I’m not sure that anyone else will want to do those things, though, and I don’t want to make anyone do the things I want to do because it can be boring or “once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen hem all” kind of a thing. So I’ll find out if the others want to since we’re probably there two full days now.

The days that we’re all there, we’re going to the Tō-ji Temple and, of course, the Imperial Heian Palace. I think we’re also going to some kind of samurai/ninja/jidaigeki place, but I’m not really sure what it is. And Kyle mentioned going by the Nintendo HQ (but may do it on his own; he isn’t sure) and lazzchan mentioned getting a city tour pass, but I’m not sure if she has a list of stuff yet or if we’re winging it. ^_^

After that, we’ll go to Tokyo. lazzchan wants to go to Akihabara and spend $$ at the Square-Enix store and I think there are one or two other places there she wants to go. I might buy a digital camera there because they’re supposed to have really good prices and you all know I need one. It’s just sad that it would be after Kyoto/Nara….*sigh* I mean, I COULD stop in Osaka on the way and go to Den-Den Town since I’ll be on my own schedule, but I wasn’t too impressed last time…

I’m not sure if Kyle will join us or go straight to Roppongi. I guess it depends on the time. We still don’t know if we’re taking the Shinkansen or flying yet. I e-mailed the agent earlier tonight.

We’ll spend a full day at Tokyo Disney Sea because lazzchan really wants to go b/c she really liked my entry about it last year. Luckily (if the time is right in my head, which I’m pretty sure it is), we’ll be doing the park on December 30^th, which means none of the shows will be canceled and they won’t kick us out early for New Year’s prepping like they did last year.

lazzchanThe next part is complicated. I’ll talk to the agent to make sure this is the case before we do anything, but traveling on December 31^st/January 1^st is a nightmare because 1) it is so very, very crowded, and 2) it is more expensive. Actually, it’s more expensive through Jan….either 3^rd or 4^th, but those two days are the worst. We’re traveling at a bad time of the year, but that’s okay. Anyway, we might need to stay in Tokyo for longer. If we do, we’ll definitely hit up a Shrine on the 31^st for a traditional New Year’s, and I think lazzchan would like the Asakusa Shrine where we were last year, since it’s one of the best in all of Japan….but it’s really crowded on New Year’s Eve, so I’m not sure… and maybe we’ll do Tokyo Tower. (Did you want to go to Ginza for something, too, Laz? I forget…)

I might stay an extra day on my own because I want to do a couple of things that lazzchan doesn’t want to do and I don’t want to force her to go with me. I really, REALLY want to go to Yebisu Garden Place (and not just because they filmed near the cool statue thing where they’d sit for Hana Yori Dango, but because it just sounds—well, really cool.) Plus, it’s in Shibuya which is an awesome district. The street outside of the station is the most amazing thing. It totally reminds me of NYC.

I also want to go back to Shibuya because if you go out this one exit at the station, there’s a statue of the dog Hachi. At my conference last week, I bought some eacy picture books to study Japanese. One is about this famous dog named Hachi. I’ll try to translate and put the story online over the weekend. It was so sad—I wanted to cry!! But now I want to see the memorial so much!!!

I also really wanted to go to the Imperial Palace last year, but that got canceled at the last minute. I also think it would be cool to go through and do the Azabu-Juuban tour and see the antique market and stuff that they mentioned at the hostel last winter. The_sweet hadn’t been interested and neither is lazzchan, so I may not go since it wouldn’t be fun to go alone, but I might because it’d be neat. We’ll see. I think I’d like to go back to Harajuku because there are a two or three small shops I need to go back to. Plus, we were NEVER there in the day--it was always when they were closing down for the night! If there’s time, I’d like to go through Ueno park because the_sweet hadn’t wanted to last year and we passed through it on our way to the museum. That isn't an imperative, though.

Anything else I'm missing?

Exciting things in store at the JHS!

candywings — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:54:20 GMT

I'm REALLY excited about the next few months at the JHS.

Why, you ask?

The First/Second Year JTE is out on maternity leave. Okay, I'm not happy because she isn't here anymore. She's really nice and I like her. At the same time, I rarely taught in her classes and when I did, it was always the same thing. She never changed it up or tried new things. Games were almost always interviews and BINGO.

With the new JTE, I've already been able to make a lesson plan (for this past week).

On top of that, she's going to let me help with the Special English Class. This is a class for Second Year Students. They can pick what subject they want to do extra stuff in. These are kids that, obviously, like English. There are 17 of them in all. There are...maybe six or seven boys, and the rest are girls. It's kids from both of the second year classes mixed together.

So far, they've been prepping for testing.

At the end of this month, the school has its annual Cultural Day. The Special Class will perform an English skit. It's called The Wolf and the Seven Goats or something. It's kind of like The Three Little Pigs crossed with Little Red Riding Hood.

Anyway, last year, I didn't go to C.D. because I taught at the elementary school. I do this year, too, BUT I asked my supervisor if I can go to Minami-sho for the last two periods of the day because the festival will be over by the end of fourth period. I asked if I can do the two classes I'd miss the following week.

I don't feel bad asking this year the way I would have last year because *drumroll, please!* I'm helping out with the skit! I made an audio recording on Monday where I read the script, and the kids will get copies to listen to. Today, I attended the class for the first time. In the beginning, my JTE talked in Japanese, and then we listened to the recording (my voice! GAH!!!). After that, she made a list of props they'd need and asked for volunteers for each prop. It was interesting to see Japanese instruction. I haven't been able to see this side of school yet. It was like the infamous "homeroom scenes" we all know. It was nice. ^_^

After that, the kids got into small groups and rehearsed their lines. We walked around and listened/helped with pronunciation/etc. The boy playing the wolf was hysterical. He also has some hard lines. He had trouble saying "double drat," for example. Finally, we had the students read out loud and corrected pronunciation along the way. Class finished before we did, though. I'm really excited to go back!

My JTE said that after C.D., they'll go back to practicing for testing, but if I'd like to, I can come back and we can do conversations and stuff. More to do and new ideas/techniques? I'm in!

I ♥ new JTE!!!

Wow, it's been...a really, really long time.

candywings — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:40:13 GMT

I didn't realize that I hadn't updated in so long, everyone. Sorry!!! I never even finished talking about my Kumamoto trip!? Well, I'll try to get some pics online and I'll talk about it when I show them to you so that I don't clog the space now. How does that sound?

My excuse for being away for so long? I went back to the States for two weeks last month, so after my trip, I was really busy getting things together, and then I went to Siebold University for two days to help a professor with some research, and then...I left. I came back, rushed to put stuff together (lesson plans, etc.), and then ran off to Nagasaki City for my mid-year conference. Now, it's the following week and...well, I'm back!

本当に、ごめんなさい！！！

Okay, so I guess I should give a quick re-cap of recent events then, ne?

SIEBOLD UNIVERSITY

Basically, I helped a professor I met during the Siebold Summer Intensive this past August. Over two days, we interviewed about...24? girls. He left me in the room with each one and we'd have a 15-20 minute conversation. He'd come back, I'd leave the room and fill out a questionnaire regarding if I thought the girl understood the conversation, was lost, etc, while he talked to her and played back a 3-5 minute video clip of the conversation. Next, we'd switch positions and I'd watch the video and say my opinions on each part. Most of the time, I read the girls pretty well, which most of the guys didn't do. Then again, they were also fresh off the boat, while I'm more used to Japan. Also, I'm a girl, so that might be it. I also have been noticing lately that my hearing is even worse than usual and I stare at faces when people talk a lot more now, so I think that helped with how I read them. He'll do the study again in a few months when the class is over and see how the kids improved. He's looking for things that the Japanese people do such as nod and agree even when they don't understand a thing, give random sounds, etc.

I had fun, though. I saw two of the girls from the Intensive--one who was in my group!! There was also a girl a town away who may come to our monthly English meetings (excellent English; but she also studied in the States for...a year, maybe?). I also met a girl who grew up in my town. In fact, right now I teach her brother, who is in his final year at the junior high school. Too bad his English isn't very good, unlike his sister's....

FUKUOKA PREFECTURE

Coming back from the States, my final destination was Fukuoka Prefecture. I met up with katesugarfairy and we had some of the ken's famous ramen (though it wasn't the best shop for it) and went shopping the next day. The highlights of that? Hitting up the CostCo and getting some good, old-fashioned U.S. products. I'm almost out of bagels now, though. :-(

NAGASAKI CITY

Well, I didn't really do anything special in NC. It was mostly the conference and seeing familiar faces that I don't normally see. I did some great shopping, though. The used bookstore at the station started selling CDs again, and I got the first two Orange Range albums at a cheap price, one of which, "Orange Ball," is an Indie release you can't buy in stores. There's a department store/mall thing near Dejima Wharf that has a Kinokuniya bookstore. In the English section, there was a shelving wall just for books about Learning Japanese. I found this series of books that are picture books. They range from Level 1-Level 4. There are two or three volumes of books (each volume has five books) in each set. I got the first volume of the first level, which is geared for knowing 350 words, but I think I should have gotten a higher volume and/or second level, geared at 500 words. I'm not sure if I know 800 words or not yet (level 3), and I definitely don't know a thousand...

The ALT in the next town over gave me a ride back after the conference, and on the way, we found a Book-Off. It was actually a really bad one--one of the worst I've been in, but ironically, I found some REALLY good stuff. How does that work, you ask? They mostly have old CDs, and there are major artists that they have NOTHING by. The pickings were slim. But because there were a lot of older artists, I found two Field of View CDs that are SUPER hard to come by. Now, I think I have all of their releases (jealous, seeshellirun?), though there might be one more. I can't tell if the last release is another BEST collection or not. Plus, at only 250 yen (like, about two dollars or so), the price was the greatest thing EVER. (seeshellirun, I can't guarantee I'll go back, but if I ever do, they had lots by them, so let me know if you want some...?) They also had the box set of the first three EXILE albums. I don't have any and have been wanting to buy them, so it was a great thing to find. It wasn't cheap--4,000 yen--but if I bought it online used (b/c it's not available anymore), it would be about 13,000 yen or more!! Plus, this is for three albums, two of which have DVDs attached and are about 4,000 yen each by themselves. Not a bad deal! So yeah, got some great stuff at amazing prices, but the store itself was BEH.

Well, that's up-to-speed. I want to talk about my new JTE, but I guess I should make a new post before this one gets too long!

Mt. Aso: One of the world's largest active volcanoes!

candywings — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:58:09 GMT

Today, lazzchan and I went up to Mount Aso, which is not only the largest active volcano in Japan, but one of the largest in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Aso has some information if you're interested.

It was absolutely gorgeous, though. Going up the mountain by bus, we could smell sulfur in the air long before we arrived at our destination. Once there, we took the ropeway up to the top. The rocky mountain reminded me a bit of the grand canyon due to the texture, colors, and patterns of the rock. As for the volcano itself? The view into the caldera was absolutely spectacular. I hope my pictures came out! Here is one that I took on my cell-phone and e-mailed to myself:

The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice, though. The circular area that looks like a lake was a mixture of this really vivid blue and green. These glowing coils of yellow light were threaded through the blue. I don't think it was really water, but it really looked like it. Smoke billowed into the air, and I could almost imagine an evil enemy living there and coming out to prey on the unsuspecting tourists. It's really hard to describe because the image was so vivid, but I'm so glad I went.

We also talked to some of the vendors that were scattered and had small, half-understood conversations, heard the infamous whisper of "gaijin, gaijin!" at one point, etc. On the way up to the volcano, a lot of cattle and horse grazed. We commented on the fact that they had huge brandings on their hides, but I later realized this was because the horses were going to be killed to make horse sashimi. I was so sad when I thought about that. I'm glad I didn't realize it at the time.

After Mount Aso, we went into Kumamoto City and walked through the arcade. I saw some cute sandals at a cheap price and am kicking myself for not looking now. :-( Oh, but we found a food stand that had Tapioca Tea (more like a creamy juice). I was so excited, because I love the drink so much. The tapioca pearls were fruit-flavored and colored--not the usual blackish-brown. Very pretty. Also at the stand, I FINALLY found Taiyaki! I always see the fish on TV and stuff, and they look so delicious. They seem to have a lot of history and people get dreamy when they recall memories of them; I think they're associated with childhood, etc. here. People talk about if you should eat the tail/head first, etc. I wanted to eat the tail first, but the other end would have broken open. :(

Anyway, I've been really wanting to try one, but I never see them. Finally, I ate one!! Instead of the bean paste-filled taiyaki, I got one filled with chocolate. It was piping hot, too. It was more delicious than I thought possible. I want another! *laughs*
Here is a link if you want to see a picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyaki

Tomorrow, we'll go to Miyazaki Prefecture and the Ocean Dome, then on Monday, we'll go to Kumamoto Castle and some temples and stuff before I head back home.

I just wanted to give you a short update, though I'm already having trouble explaining how beautiful everything was. :)

Uh-oh, Bunny has a keitai!?

candywings — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:08:53 GMT

Okay, so I've gone and caved. I officially have a cellphone now.

Last year, it wasn't such a big deal that I didn't have one, because I didn't know a lot of people. This year, I know more people and, also, I plan to go on more trips. If you go on trips and you're not in the same area as the other people, it's hard to meet up without a phone.

Cellphone plans in Japan are really bad, though. I mean, I only get 25 free outgoing minutes for one month. All incoming calls are free, though. Also, instead of text-messaging, they have e-mail, so I can get e-mails from anybody to my cellphone.

I'm not actually sure if I signed up for the e-mail package or not. If you're not on the package, it's 3 yen for every 200 English characters or every 100 Japanese characters. If you're on the package, it's about 50,000 free e-mails for 1000 yen a month. I think that I didn't, though, because I only see the monthly charge listed. If I do more than 333 messages in one month, it's worth it to get the extra plan, but at the moment, I don't know that I will since I have normal internet at home and stuff!

I'm paying a little more than I'd like to a month. It's a bit cheaper than my plan in the States, but it's about 3,000 yen (a little less than $30 USD). I went with DoCoMo because they had the same prices as AU. SoftBank was pretty cheap (only 980 yen per month!!), but they make you buy the cellphone, so you pay 2,000 yen or more every month toward the cellphone price, which means that they are at least as expensive as the other two companies. It's free to call anyone with a SB plan from 1 a.m.-9p.m., but I don't know anybody who has SB. Everyone has AU or DoCoMo (I wish you got free phone to phone or could pay a monthly rate to do that, though; if they did, I would have gotten AU).

The nice thing about getting DoCoMo is that my neighbor went to Junior High School with the grandmother of the person who sold us the phone, and so he gave us a big discount! You have to pay a little bit for the phone, but it's at a discount, unlike SB, which is full price. So, for example, the cheapest phone is 3,000 yen. You also have to buy the battery for it. He gave me both of these for free! Also, after he showed us the first page of the cheapest phones, he also showed me a Motorola Razor (which may have cost a little more) that I could also have for free. So I didn't have to pay for my phone. I'm so happy that I went with my neighbor and had him!♥♥♥

I picked the Motorola phone because there is a (small) chance it'll work back in the States. If not, maybe someone will know how to crack it...*innocent*

Luckily, they had a manual in English to give me, so I can figure out how to use the phone despite it being in Japanese!

花火大会 [hanabi taikai//fireworks exhibition show]: SENTOURO//"A Thousand Lights Festival"

candywings — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:35:33 GMT

Tonight, I went to 江迎千灯籠祭. Translated, I went to Emukae Town's Sentouro festival. Sentouro means "A Thousand Lights." It concluded with a 花火大会, or fireworks exhibition show.

It is called Sentouro because there is a huge pyramid made up of a thousand lanterns. Would you like to see pictures? For the main shot, my camera was a bit fuzzy, but when we went "inside" the pyramid, I got some clear shots. Also, I searched Yahoo Japan to find a couple more pictures, too. Thankfully, I knew the right kanji.<3 So you can see some more professional shots if you click, too!

First, this site is so, so wonderful: http://tim-s.net/album/event/senntourou.htm
It has some REALLY good pictures of the lit pyramid and the individual pieces and the inside and stuff!

Here is a good close-up of the lanterns creating the pyramid:
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/images/diary/t/tany/2005-08-28.jpg
Here is a picture of the pyramid of lanterns all lit up:
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/tot/hanabi/04.html
Here is a picture of performers in front of the pyramid during brighter hours:
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/event/maturi/images/10.jpg

Okay, and here are my pictures:

and Ogata-san took this picture....the blur is supposed to be me, haha!

This is the inside of the pyramid. I stood in the middle and shot upwards. It looks a little like a spider-web, doesn't it?

Finally, here is another interior view. This pic is actually pretty clear. I got the sign and also some of the individual lanterns!

</div>
Here is a description of the event from a Japanese site:
花火大会データベース: ... 江迎千灯籠祭り花火大会データベース. 名称. 江迎千灯籠祭り. 開催日 ... 約3300個の灯籠で飾られた高さ25mの三角すいのタワーの周りでは24発の打ち上げ花火や多くの露店のほ
GOOGLE translator (take it with a grain of salt) states, "Fireworks festival database: … Emukae thousand light basket celebration fireworks festival database. Name. Emukae thousand light basket celebration. Around the tower of the triangular inhaling of the height 25m which is decorated in opening day… approximately 3300 light baskets the launch fireworks of 24 shots and the [ho] of many street stalls"

We went inside the pyramid and there were so many lanterns. I got dizzy just looking up! There was also a clothesline with wooden hearts hanging from it. People wrote wishes for love and happiness on them and hung them beneath the lanterns!

To get to the pyramid, we walked through the streets of Emukae. There were vendors everywhere and it was an open-market. You could buy all kinds of food and they even had the exhibits where you catch fish for pets! Many girls were wearing yukatas (the summer version of kimono. The fabric is very light). A lot of students were still in uniform. I saw some of my students. They always started to giggle and talk about seeing me afterwards! I saw some of my elementary school kids with their parents, too.

There was a 花火大会 (Fireworks Exhibition) at 9 p.m. and it went until 9:25 p.m.! Usually, they're much shorter, aren't they? I haven't seen so many live exhibitions, and of those I have, many were at theme parks, etc. I wonder if the fireworks are so beautiful everywhere, or if it's just because our view was so amazing?

The exhibition was by the river. We sat behind the people at the bar-thing that prevents people from falling in. We sat on, not a blanket, but something similar. The seats were so good, because the fireworks came from the other side of the river and exploded over the water. We were so close, it seemed like the remnants would fall on us! I wonder if it's common for traces of fireworks to hover in the air like fairy dust, or if I saw it because of where we were?

Some of the fireworks were like those I've never seen before. They had fireworks that spiraled through the air, ones that spiraled and "fought" with one another, then exploded in a clatter, etc. They also had the common "starburst" ones and individual ones and the normal ones that whistle and boom. One really interesting thing was that they created fire on the land that outlined the sponsors throughout the show. Each time, a new sponsor's name would appear, then a ball of light would streak across a pole and light up a row of lights and the name would fade away. The last time, after the arch was lit, it began raining sparks that resembled fairy sparks. Toward the end of the show, another ball of light streaked all the way across the river and made something that Ogata-san called the "Niagara Falls Effect." It was so beautiful, and it reflected so nicely on the water as the sparks fell.

My favorite fireworks had this...sort of CHATTER sound to them. They exploded all at once, one after another, like sparks of starbursts full of fairy dust, and they got bigger and bigger and chattered like a bubbling brook. They also had the normal starbursts that would explode over each other with loud booms. At times, it got SO bright w/so much going off at once that I'd have to squint and shield my eyes! There were even fireworks that blinked on and off like Christmas lights. It was so unique and pretty. Then, some of the fireworks weren't really "fireworks," but trails of stardust/fairy dust that would fall down from the sky like a curtain. There were also a couple of fireworks that hung in the air in the pattern of a weeping willow tree after they exploded. One of these looked like lingering pixie dust (I really don't mean to be redundant with saying this, but it's absolutely the best description and there were so many types of this!).

I wish I could have filmed it. I didn't even try to take pictures because my nasty camera would do no justice (and, it didn't focus in the viewfinder, so I didn't take any).

Now, I can see why hanabi festivals are so popular in Japan, though! Also, in Nagasaki, Emukae is pretty famous for its festival. Sentouro even has a huge mural of the lanterns and fireworks painted near the highway that you can see on the way to/from Hirado. I had so much fun!<3

To celebrate, I offer you another song: http://www.sendspace.com/file/obihz6'>http://www.sendspace.com/file/obihz6
It is called "Hanabi" (which means Fireworks) and it is by a group called AAA. I've liked this song since first hearing it either this month or the end of last month. It's so pretty. Only the girls from the group sing in this song; I don't know where the boys are. LOL. Anyway, the song played in my head as I watched the fireworks overhead, so I would like to share it with you.

A quick note for all concerned!

candywings — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:09:04 GMT

dizilla (and anyone else who thought this!):

--I did NOT brainwash the students at the Intensive with American Musicals! I mentioned that I liked musicals during a conversation and two of the girls started going on about High School Musical and how much they LOVED Zac Effron (or whatever his name is) and *then* I mentioned that he was in the Hairspray movie, which would come to Japan on October 20th. So THAT is why two of the girls gushed over seeing Hairspray in the letter.
..Actually, I let them listen to some of the music on the bus and some girls from other groups started gushing, too. Apparently, Zac is hugely popular and "hot" in Japan w/this generation of students! [I still need to watch that someday...It's one musical I haven't seen, mainly b/c I was crazy in uni at the time...and then I heard some bad things from others in the "theatre circle....")

^_^

Let's spread the musical love!<3
</div>

How can we make Peace? //Quotes from a student

candywings — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:03:51 GMT

When I wrote my article for the Nagasaki Beat, I e-mailed the students that I had addresses for and asked them to tell me what they thought about Peace and the Intensive, etc. Asami (who helped me find a dictionary) responded. Her reply came after I sent in the article, so I e-mailed it the editor. I'm not sure if it will be included or not, but I thought you would all like to read her response.

Anyway, I diverge! Here are Asami's thoughts on peace! Nothing has been changed or altered.<3

How can we make Peace?

Asami ------

Through the Intensive course, I interviewed many people who are young or senior, Japanese or foreign in the Peace Park. They had many opinion and they have many reason about it. As I interviewed them, I started to think how we can make Peace.

First, there usually are two types of situation, “Peace” and “Not Peace”. “Not Peace” means that there is something wrong: a war, a dispute or a trivial conflict. So, there is “Not Peace” unless these problems are solved.

Then, why do problems occur? I think that’s because there are some thinks or opinions about one topic. The thinks or opinions may have various reasons, for example their culture, religion and so on. And the thinks or opinions may not have any reason. I think that the thinks or opinions which don’t have any reason are just selfish, so we need not respect them, but they have any reason, we have to respect them and find an allowable range about each opinion. Thus, I think that we can make Peace by finding it.

Nagasaki Beat Article: September Issue (Siebold Intensive Write-Up)

candywings — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:54:42 GMT

Okay, here is the write-up of what we did during the Siebold Summer Intensive. I wrote about it for my first column in the Nagasaki Beat.

Plus, by posting it here, I kill two birds with one stone, ね? So, yeah, this is pretty much it... Ah, I'm so not used to writing columns. You can see my struggle between writing a news article (My excuse? I was the News Editor of UT's school paper for a year and mostly assigned articles in the section the year before that!) and commentary. At first, it's all factual, and you can see my struggle to add opinion and stuff. Also, I think the opening is pretty cheesy, but MEH!

“Looking for a Perfect Sky: The Search for Peace”

By...ME!<3

The afternoon sky was blue and clear, not a storm cloud in sight. The area surrounding the Nagasaki Peace Museum and Park was populated with tourists from all over the world who had come to remember those who died during the atomic bombing on August 9^th, 1945.

Scattered throughout the vicinity, students from Siebold University conducted surveys related to peace for a three-day Summer Intensive Course they had enrolled in. Each group was accompanied by one of eight ALTs helping with the event.

The Intensive, a two-credit English class packed into an allotted timeframe, kicked off on August 10^th. The (29?) students in attendance formed groups and participated in an ice breaker activity where they were able to have short conversations with the various ALTs in attendance. After they met everyone, each group chose one ALT to work with during the duration of the course.

My group consisted of one freshman, two sophomores, and one junior. The four girls dubbed the group the “Perfect Sky” group to commemorate a conversation we had the first day. Because my name is Bonnie, one of the girls asked if I knew a Japanese singer named Bonnie Pink. After that, they started to sing the song “A Perfect Sky,” which has a line in English stating, “I’m looking for a perfect sky.” We discussed the fact that the term could be talking about looking for peace and liked the idea so much that we christened our group with the name.

The first night of the Intensive, students had to come up with a list of topics relating to peace and/or the bombings, and afterwards, a list was compiled on the board. My group chose to research the aftereffects of radiation because our first suggestion, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, had already been grabbed by another group.

Each group composed a list of five questions correlating to its chosen topic, then joined them together with those of another group. In our case, we worked with a group led by an ALT named Emilie that was researching famous peace leaders.

On August 11^th, the groups toured the Nagasaki Peace Museum. When my group reached the exhibit on radiation, we took notes for the upcoming presentation. The stories of both survivors and the perished displayed throughout the museum all shared the nuance of being incredibly sad and undeniably thought-provoking, allowing for conversations with the students on their thoughts and feelings.

After visiting the museum, my group and Emilie’s group formed teams of two. Each team took five surveys of the compiled questions from Friday night and interviewed other tourists in the area. After each interview, the participants received paper cranes that the students had created the night before, reiterating the message of peace and hope. By the end of the afternoon, we had interviewed a total of twenty people, about half of which were foreigners, so the students were able to practice their English skills.

That night, after relaxing at a BBQ dinner, the students began to prepare PowerPoint presentations using their research and the surveys in order to give a twenty-minute presentation on Sunday morning. After the presentations on August 12^th, there was a farewell pizza party, where many tearful goodbyes were exchanged in addition to promises of future correspondence

The experience was one of the most memorable ones I’ve had since coming to Japan. The students were incredibly nice and fun to be around. At first, they were shy and afraid of their English skills, but once the ice was broken, the conversations flowed very naturally. I was able to have in-depth, thought-provoking discussions with the girls in my group as well as students from the other groups.

I think the reason I had such a wonderful experience is due to all of the people that I associated with during the three-days I spent in Nagasaki City, be it students, Siebold professors, or other ALTs. Every person made the weekend so much more enjoyable and memorable, and I hope we continue to keep in touch when the Intensive is nothing more than a memory in the darkest recesses of our minds.

As much as I love my placement and my students, I’m always sad that there are so few events in which to interact with the students on a more personal level. At my one elementary school, I think I know the six students in English Club the best, and in my junior high school, I tend to know the students who talk to me in the staff office or outside of class more than I do the others.

One of the most important aspects of teaching is interaction with your students: What makes them tick, what they do for fun, their worries, hopes and dreams. Since I’m not a High School ALT, there are fewer chances in which to do this, so I cherished my time with the Siebold students and feel that they have taught me as much as I’ve taught them.

By doing such events, there is also the opportunity to get a rare, uninhibited glimpse into a student’s thoughts and feelings. For example, while at the museum, one of the girls mentioned that her grandfather had been alive during the bombing. In fact, he wrote his memory down for the museum to display for everyone to read. Moments like that hit home in a way that reading a textbook never could.

The intensive was a great way to bring everyone’s ideas into the open, allowing them to be more openly explored as stories and opinions were shared with one another. This in itself is a growing experience, especially when the students were also able to survey other people for their views on the various topics. It lent a broader scope to the topic they had been challenged to ponder during the Intensive.

To find out more information regarding the goals of the Intensive or to find out how you can help in the future, please contact Siebold University Professor and JALT Coordinator (right?)MC at XXXXXXXXX. (If you're in Japan and want that info, let me know--I won't post it on an open-blog!)

Any suggestions?

candywings — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:13:43 GMT

While I was at the intensive this weekend, I met the guy who runs the Nagasaki Beat. I'm going to have a column every month (because two ALTs are leaving)! I'll probably write about the intensive for the first one; it's due on the 15th.

Anyway, what are your suggestions for a good column name? The current titles are:

Tom's 'Exciting Gomi' (Gomi=Japanese for garbage)
Amber's 'This Genki Life'
Diana's Reflections, A Diction Addiction
Michael's Thoughts
Laura's Corner
Glenthink

Any suggestions?

x-posting to baine

"You're gonna grin and bear it, your newfound popularity!"

candywings — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:58:14 GMT

I guess I'm officially popular? I've already gotten an e-mail from one of the students in my group (saying that she missed me already..so cute! Actually, when we left, some of them hugged me and almost cried; so did a girl from another group...). They gave me their addresses and I gave them mine. Actually, we also made a sheet for all of the students with every ALT's e-mail address, so I hope that some of the students from other groups will also e-mail me! I only have the addresses for my own group and for Asami (the girl I went to the bookstore with). Something interesting to note: School e-mail addresses use the student ID number and not a student's name.

I also forgot to mention that two of my girls were second-year students (20 yrs), one was a first-year (19 yrs) and one was a third-year (21 yrs). I forget who was what, though.

Tomoko, the girl who e-mailed me, sent me a picture we took yesterday. Somehow in conversation, my "Bunny" nickname came up. While we were taking pictures, one of the girls suggested making floppy bunny ears because of it. You can tell that I'm laughing and that it's a little awkward. I always have awkward poses and expressions, though, so I guess it can't be helped. Not the greatest picture in the world, so don't laugh, but here you go:

From Left to Right: Tomoko, Yui, Me, Misato, Yuumi.

Also, I forgot to mention this last night: On Saturday when we were at the peace park, the girls bought a postcard and wrote little notes on it so they could surprise me with a card when we left yesterday. I wasn't allowed to read it there, so when I read it later, it made me sad!

This is what they wrote:
[I'll use {} to describe pictures they drew and make numbers to show when each section changes so that it's easier for you to visualize! Also, I didn't change any spelling, grammar mistakes, etc. I've left it as is for you to see. :)
{Ah, and you can also see some of our conversations from recurring themes!}

Well, first, at the top, it says:

{heart} Dear Bonnie {heart}

The hearts are like bubble letters with the middle left white. I think the letters were all colored in with pink highlighter. There's also a lined border around the card in the same pink substance and blue pen lining.

1. (Written in green ink)
I'm indebted to you for my fabulous 3 days. At first, I was nervous whether I could communicate with foreigner. But I could practice English cheerfully because you are so kind and cute! I'm looking forward to getting novels that written by you. Thank you so much! Love Misato Hamasaki

2. (Written in black ink. New words/expressions that I taught them are in red ink, so I'll make those words bold here. I was happy to see her not only remember them, but also make them stand out so I could remember, too!)

First, I 'm sorry for being floating girls, but please forgive us! {Smiley face with quotation marks in lower-left corner}
[Edit: she means "flirting," not "floating." I teased them because they had to survey twenty people on Saturday and most of the respondents were male. This is a reference to that.]

I really liked your pretty voice {red heart outlined in black} I could hear your English very clearly. By the way, did you have fun in doing activities with us? I do enjoyed the time we spent together :) {that :) face is red and not a real smiley like the other..you know, the circle and eyes/mouth thing} You are really FABULOUS! Thanks to your help, we could make it in presentation. {a :) facing upright and not sideways, followed by..it looks sort of like a hook; I'm not sure what the squiggle is....so the line reads:}
( :) Though I had a racing heart "v") Your student and friend, Yuumi
{For racing heart, the girls had asked how to say DOKI DOKI in English for when you're nervous. We don't have a sound, but we say that our heart is racing, so I taught them that. Also, the "v" has the second set of quotation marks in the bottom right-hand corner.}

3. (Written in purple ink; instead of punctuation, we have the images.)
I like you very much {heart} Because your talk is very very interesting, You are very friendly (smiley face) and you are very pretty (flower) I want to read your novel! I'm looking forward to watching "hairspray" {music note with a quotation mark next to it in upper-right corner} I'll study English harder to speak to you much more smoothly {three arrows pointing up} I'll send email to you. It was nice meeting you (two diamond/star things) Thank you so much!! Yui

4. (Written in yellow ink; again, images for punctuation. Interesting, no?)

Dear Bonnie (heart)
I'm glad to have a good friend like you!! Some day, let's watch "hairspray" movie {heart}, and talk--about it {two hearts} You're very cute {heart} I love you {two smiley faces} {peace sign}
Thank you very much {two diamond things} Tomoko

This weekend was so amazing

candywings — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:02:43 GMT

Okay, so it's late and I'm tired, which means you won't be getting a full report until (hopefully) tomorrow, but may I just say that this weekend was so much fun? I had such a great time; it was one of my most memorable experiences so far.

We will be having our summer intensive from August 10th-12 and are
looking for about 10 English-speaking assistants to participate in it.
Our students are mostly in their first year of university in the
Faculty of Multicultural Exchange, and are very motivated and nice.

Participants will be reimbursed for travel expenses, given room and
board, and an honorarium for their assistance.

Our intensive format has changed this year and has taken on a more
serious focus. Since the intensive occurs just after the A-bomb
memorial day, we have decided to use the theme of "peace" for this
year's intensive. We hope to have a panel or workshop on the first
day, and then on the second day, to ask assistants to help students
generate questionnaires to be administered at the Peace Park and
environs. On the last day, assistants and students will present their
findings to everyone.

As you can see, this is a more serious project than usual, but we will
interject some fun events here and there to lighten the mood as well.

Different from previous intensives too, we will be asking participants
to bunk with students (of the same gender, of course!) because
students have indicated their wish for more informal chatting when
"academic" activities have concluded.

Okay, so that's the gist of it. Again, I'll go into more detail later. The students were so incredibly wonderful, though. They were between first and fourth year of college and actually pretty good at English! I was especially in love with my own group of students (and not just because it was "my" group).

The first day, we had to do an ice breaker where groups met all of the ALTs and asked questions. In one group, we had a Yuumi and a Yui. I think the girls didn't think I could hear the difference between their names or had a problem with another of the ALTs because they repeated it a couple of times. I made a comment about the one girl's name being the same as the singer YUI, and that completely broke the ice with that group. We had a very nice, very loose (natural) conversation, so when they chose me as the ALT they wanted to work with all weekend, I was really happy because I'd enjoyed talking to them a lot.

There were so many other nice students, too. I hope to keep in touch with some of them via e-mail and stuff!

One of my group's earliest conversations (probably because of the YUI comment) was about music. Later in the evening on Friday, one of the girls asked if I knew Bonnie Pink, then they started to sing the intro of a song entitled, "A Perfect Sky." One of the lines, in English, is "I'm looking for a perfect sky." I mentioned that 'perfect sky' could be talking about peace and, since we were doing stuff related to peace, they latched onto the idea and started to say we were the Perfect Sky group. When they made their PowerPoint presentation for today, they used slides that had a sky and clouds and at the bottom, it stated, "We're looking for a Perfect Sky."

It was really, really cute. One of the teachers knew about it, so at today's farewell meal, the first song to play was "A Perfect Sky," which was hysterical.

Because everyone should hear the song at least once, here's a link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DC6891HQ

Oh, and then tonight, after we left, I took a bus to the station with an ALT named Richard and a student named Asami. We stopped in the bookstore at the station and Asami helped me pick out an Electronic Japanese to English dictionary. Actually, it also has English to French (and also Japanese to French), so I got more for the money! It was actually one of the more expensive models, but it was from the new Casio EX-Word line-up that's supposed to be really good. There's a stylus to write kanji (supposedly, stroke order doesn't matter and there's no time limit to write, unlike the other models...or at least, the 6400 has that, so I don't see why this one won't, but I haven't tried yet).

I actually got it on sale. It was...maybe 38,000 yen? That's about $320. Most of them average 20,000-30,000 yen. Actually, it was on sale; the regular price was...either 54,000 yen or 56,000 yen. That's a pretty big savings! Also, I didn't realize they were paying us for doing the intensive (I only thought it was travel money for some reason), so they gave me an extra 20,000 or so yen that I wasn't expecting, so I used it toward this purchase. What better, more memorable way to use it, right? I think everyone would like that very much, especially since they all had dictionaries to look up English! ^_^

Okay, so I'll post a real entry with what we DID soon, but I just wanted to say that I had an amazing, wonderful time and that I had a great group of students. I wanted to post that before the feeling goes away, you know?

Creepy Crawlers to the Extreme

candywings — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:45:16 GMT

Okay, one more post. Really, a rant.

What is UP with all the creepy crawlers at the moment? It's just one more reason to hate August. Stupid hot, muggy, BUGGY month.

It came up b/c I just found my first roach. One year and nothing. This month=EVERYTHING.

The other day, I saw this spider building a web over my doorway. The location was kind of crazy, so he'd be hard to catch. Also, when I got close, his legs looked kind of hairy. I grabbed the umbrella, got it under the door, and opened the door to the outside. Then, I was bad, and I sprayed him (I do try not to, but even so, I've used it three times this week...after using it maybe once or twice EVER here and just getting them the normal way and releasing them...). Anyway, after I sprayed him, I found out that he wasn't hairy------he'd just bent his really, really long legs and he was HUGE. I freaked and it took forever to deal with him.

A day or two before THAT, I found my first centipede in the house. He startled me b/c I walked into the hallway toward the bathroom and this big brown thing that moves like lightning zipped into the bathroom. どき、どき、どき。。。 Luckily, I knew what he was b/c the other day at this summer eikawa we're doing, there was a huge centipede near two of the kids. Max and James grabbed them from their chairs and moved them, then managed to get the centipede and stick it outside before he could bit anyone. Centipedes are really poisonous, but they won't kill you. Well, they can kill children, but not adults. Yeah....

The other major bug incident occured on my birthday. It was like, "Surprise! Here's your present from me!" I'd done my laundry the night before and hung it to dry. I walk out of the tatami room after waking up and this black thing zips backwards. I was all, "What was that? Spider?" Yep. He was on top of the hanger on top of a shirt. When I went out the other door to go back into the living room w/two glasses, he got nervous and went up his web...toward my doorway where the pants I'd been going to wear that day were! Luckily, he dangled for a min, so I was able to cup him before he disappeared against my black pants, but it was a very precarious position.

Seriously. What's UP with the bugs? I hate summer...
(How would I say that? 夏が嫌いです。? Or is it は? I hate は and が....I think it's が, though, b/c summer is the object...hmm...)

Update on the backlog

candywings — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:34:53 GMT

As some of you know, I haven't been able to get online much recently. Anyway, I wanted to give a quick update b/c I know that after this weekend, I'll have a pretty big one. Forgive me for any mistakes; it's getting late and I have a horrible headache atm.

Yesterday, I had a health physical here for the first time b/c they were sending all the female workers (all the males went today). First, we had to go to this van outside and do...I think it was a lung test b/c I think it was an xray. Not sure, just, "...take off the shirt, breathe in, hold it, etc." After that, we had to go up to the top floor of City Hall (where the BOE is) and do the typical eyes/ears/heart/etc. They took blood, too. In fact, they took three small vials of it. It reminded me of the scene in....what was the movie? Was it Gattica? Where the guy is an imposter in a world in the future and they've got the crazy needle/vial scene? Well, I don't remember it well, but it came to mind. THREE vials? I mean, seriously. Why THREE?

Okay, done the ranting. This is the part I really should have talked about much earlier, but, as I said, life has thrown me a crazy curve ball...

On July 28th, I went to brunch with my neighbor and another woman from our monthly conversation class. We got together for lunch b/c we'd had to postpone the dinner arrangement on my birthday a couple of days earlier. We went to a hotel across from the Saikai Pearl Resort. It was something called a "Viking Lunch."

I had envisioned it being similar to...what's the name...Medieval Times? With the knights? Anyway, I thought it would be Vikings and stuff, but apparently, that's the Japanese [katakana/foreign] word for Buffet. Color me sheepish! Anyway, lots of yummy food.

After that, Ogata-san and I decided to go across the street to the harbor and do the 99 Islands tour. I've been meaning to do it for a while. http://www.sasebo99.com/en/99.htm if you want some info and pictures. Most of what we saw looked like the picture next to this blurb:

99 Islands
Actually there are “208” islands in this group, which cover about 25 kilometers from just outside Sasebo to Hirado-Seto. Roughly divided into the north and south groups, the southern groups off Sasebo is generally thought to offer the most beautiful scenery.

I wish I'd brought a camera, but really, they all looked like that, so it's okay that I didn't.

A couple of days before that, on my birthday, the people at the BOE sang to me during the morning meeting. Do you know how they sing the [English[ birthday song here?

"Happy birthday, Bonnie,
Happy birthday, Bonnie,
Happy birthday, dear Bonnie,
Happy birthday Bonnie!"

Hmm, so it's a little more specialized. It was cute, though...............................but really, really embarrassing! @_@

Odds and Ends

candywings — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:04:48 GMT

Today, I saw a Japanese library for the first time. I decided to go after work since I'll be in and out of the City until the end of August. I might as well get some books, right?

Due to various circumstances that arose, I wasn't able to get there until shortly before closing, so I basically had time to get my card and briefly look at the two columns of English books. I think they have CDs and DVDs, too. I'm not sure how long you can take those out; the few books I managed to grab are due back on August 8th. It seems to be mostly classics or books that have been made into movies, but again, I looked really fast. Besides, there's nothing wrong with those! Hard copies.....ah, so much better than e-books!

Um, my hours are kind of crazy atm b/c I have to wake up 1.5 hrs earlier than usual in order to take a bus an hour into the City every day. I also lose time coming home at night. Sorry to everyone I haven't e-mailed back! Hopefully I'll do it this weekend, but we'll see...

Friday night, the BOE had a farewell enkai for the three ALTs leaving us. We had some good food. For the first time, I had tako that wasn't part of takoyaki. Mm, still good!<3 (Who'd have thought I'd EVER say that!?) Afterwards, I met up with Kate and we went to the movies. The Sasebo theater isn't nearly as elaborate as the one in Osaka, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be. This weekend, the two of us will probably go to the beach or something if it doesn't rain. The forecast is predicting storms, though. Why does it only ever storm on the weekend?

Auntie Em, Auntie Em!

candywings — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 09:21:14 GMT

So, yesterday, I totally felt like I was trapped in Kansas. We were supposed to get our first typhoon of the season. Either we got a baby one, or we just got the edge of it. We had a lot of wind, but not that much rain. But, oh, the wind! I had my big ceiling to floor windows open and when it gusted, it reminded me of Dorothy's house. Yeah, I'm weird. You already knew that, though!

In other news, we've had a student from Washington, DC living in Yoshii for the past month. He's here on his summer holiday and taking classes with the other first-year JHS students. The first day I had him in class, I thought he had advanced English. When my JTE told me he was from the States, I realized why!

His parents are both Japanese and his (Mom, maybe?) grew up in this town. He's thinking about attending college in Japan when the time comes. I don't know how much Japanese he can write, but apparently his speaking skills are pretty good.

During one of the lessons when I was teaching...I think it was the "Do you like/I like" lesson, he stood up to read an answer and all of the kids start applauding. >.> I wonder if they do that when he speaks Japanese, too?