As I suspected this week has been completely quiet on all fronts. The need to save money combined with the lack of anything going on combined with the cold weather has turned me into somewhat of a recluse venturing out only for work and the odd walk to the DVD rental store.
Whilst on occasion it has been a little boring, its also been nice spending 15 hours in bed with no real reason to get up. However Ive began to recognize that I need to start doing SOMETHING, so I thought Id give the old blog a whirl.
Last week, as Ive said has been uneventful. The only thing Ive really done is go to Osu to sell my rubbish Japanese dictionary for my DS. Osu is THE place for second hand or cheap goods- in fact it was where I bought it in the first place, (second hand of course) and so was a natural choice to go to sell the `softo` (the Japanese word for cartridge derived presumably from `Software`). I was a little nervous, as I presumed not just my Japanese speaking but also my Japanese writing skill was going to be needed, neither of which really had the right to be called a “Skill”.
When I got to a store I believed to be a second hand shop (they were selling second hand games) I approached the counter and bluntly said “Uritai” which means “I want to sell”. I got a slightly confused look followed by some instructions in Japanese. I pretended I understood which led to an awkward silence followed by him pointing to his colleague waiting by the door.
I followed this guy out of the shop and down the street for a couple of minutes neither of us saying a word. Eventually we went into another games shop which had a counter set aside especially for people selling their games. Presumably the stores are owned by the same company and both shops get their stock from this one counter.
The guy behind the counter was very friendly and helpful, and gave me a couple of forms to fill in. Before I attempted filling in my whole address in Kanji, I asked if it was ok to use the roman alphabet and luckily he agreed. I put my name in Katakana though just to prove (mainly to myself) that I wasn’t completely illiterate. I got 1000 yen for the game which was more than I expected. It was after all now (at least) 3rd hand, not to mention a bit rubbish.
All this had made me rather hungry and so on the way back I stopped off at a Hawaiian burger joint. I had a Loco Burger (Or Rokko Baagaa) which was somewhat of a beast. Cabbage, Lettuce, Onions, Bacon, Tomato, Mozzarella and a fried egg accompanied the burger, as well as a healthy dose of barbeque sauce. This cost the better part of a 1000 yen so including travel expenses I had actually made a loss, but at least it gave me one picture for this blog.
Anyway that’s pretty much been my week, I wont bore you with the details of the films and TV shows Ive been watching, but its looking like a bit of a slack blog so Ill reflect a bit on my state of mind at this time.
A few days ago I hit the 4 month mark, meaning of course that I have been here for 4 months. Whilst this is a relatively short amount of time compared to prison sentances etc. it’s a long time for me. Also its given me a pretty cool blog title.
The teaching is going pretty good at the moment. Ive got a fairly stable stock of ideas on how to teach certain things, which although not really that interesting or innovative minimizes my worries before the lessons. Ive recently started a regular Tuesday teaching slot which should help recoup some of the losses from December (the day is long, and the lessons packed in) . Ive done 2 days so far, the second going considerably more smooth than the 1st.
Whilst on occasion it has been a little boring, its also been nice spending 15 hours in bed with no real reason to get up. However Ive began to recognize that I need to start doing SOMETHING, so I thought Id give the old blog a whirl.
Last week, as Ive said has been uneventful. The only thing Ive really done is go to Osu to sell my rubbish Japanese dictionary for my DS. Osu is THE place for second hand or cheap goods- in fact it was where I bought it in the first place, (second hand of course) and so was a natural choice to go to sell the `softo` (the Japanese word for cartridge derived presumably from `Software`). I was a little nervous, as I presumed not just my Japanese speaking but also my Japanese writing skill was going to be needed, neither of which really had the right to be called a “Skill”.
When I got to a store I believed to be a second hand shop (they were selling second hand games) I approached the counter and bluntly said “Uritai” which means “I want to sell”. I got a slightly confused look followed by some instructions in Japanese. I pretended I understood which led to an awkward silence followed by him pointing to his colleague waiting by the door.
I followed this guy out of the shop and down the street for a couple of minutes neither of us saying a word. Eventually we went into another games shop which had a counter set aside especially for people selling their games. Presumably the stores are owned by the same company and both shops get their stock from this one counter.
The guy behind the counter was very friendly and helpful, and gave me a couple of forms to fill in. Before I attempted filling in my whole address in Kanji, I asked if it was ok to use the roman alphabet and luckily he agreed. I put my name in Katakana though just to prove (mainly to myself) that I wasn’t completely illiterate. I got 1000 yen for the game which was more than I expected. It was after all now (at least) 3rd hand, not to mention a bit rubbish.
All this had made me rather hungry and so on the way back I stopped off at a Hawaiian burger joint. I had a Loco Burger (Or Rokko Baagaa) which was somewhat of a beast. Cabbage, Lettuce, Onions, Bacon, Tomato, Mozzarella and a fried egg accompanied the burger, as well as a healthy dose of barbeque sauce. This cost the better part of a 1000 yen so including travel expenses I had actually made a loss, but at least it gave me one picture for this blog.
Anyway that’s pretty much been my week, I wont bore you with the details of the films and TV shows Ive been watching, but its looking like a bit of a slack blog so Ill reflect a bit on my state of mind at this time.
A few days ago I hit the 4 month mark, meaning of course that I have been here for 4 months. Whilst this is a relatively short amount of time compared to prison sentances etc. it’s a long time for me. Also its given me a pretty cool blog title.
The teaching is going pretty good at the moment. Ive got a fairly stable stock of ideas on how to teach certain things, which although not really that interesting or innovative minimizes my worries before the lessons. Ive recently started a regular Tuesday teaching slot which should help recoup some of the losses from December (the day is long, and the lessons packed in) . Ive done 2 days so far, the second going considerably more smooth than the 1st.
On my first tuesday I arrived at school an hour and a half before the first lesson as it was a new bunch of lessons Id be teaching. This proved to be just the right amount of time which gives an indication of how much Ive still got to learn about this profession.
The next week I tried to arrive 30 minutes before, but as my first lesson cancelled I was given an hour and a half prep time again and being as this was not my first time at the dance was able to plan the day pretty well with only one real hiccup. One of the classes is a girl of about 10 who is taught privately but with her mum and sister present at all times. Whilst this was intimidating at first, the mother actually seems really nice so its not so bad. It does mean however that I spend more time planning this 30 minute class than any of my hour classes, as the pressure to perform well or at least to the best of my abilities is by far the highest.
Anyway, whilst the first lesson I did with them was awesome (as awesome as a 30 minute English lesson with a highly inexperienced not particularly motivated teacher can be), in the second one my lesson plan went to pieces a bit when the flashcards I was going to use for a game did not appear to be in my box of tricks even though I had just used them in the previous lesson. After a little too much dead time of me hurriedly rummaging through the box I resorted to the classic game of `Guess Who` (a great tool for teaching physical descriptions). Whilst I had used this before for the last 5 minutes of a lesson, this time there was like 10 minutes left and despite my painfully obvious attempts to pad out the game (“Are you wearing a hat with a feather in the middle?”), we finished the first game in 2 minutes. Needless to say we had 4 more games, but the mother luckily didn’t seem to mind, in fact praising me on playing such a fun game.
The rest of my lessons Ive just about got the hang of although in both my Saturday and Monday kinder classes the kids seem to be getting more and more unruly which aint a good sign. My Monday class in particular features one 6 year old complete and utter evil little bastard. Most of the time hes either bullying the other kids or trying to punch me in the balls, and on more than one occasion Ive had to physically restrain him. He really seems to enjoy all this attention though so Ive taken to ignoring him unless hes completely off the rails. This seems to work a lot better than constantly shouting at him, but he still tries to punch and kick the other kids. To be fair he was like that before I took over the class so it cant be completely my fault. I had observed the previous teacher on a couple of occasions and he was just as bad then. It was no surprise then, that I sensed a bit of relief in her when she was told I would took over her Monday classes.
Anyway despite being like this most of the time he still has that childish innocence on occasion, coming up to show me a toy he`s found in the school toy box, or show off a drawing hes done (even if it is of a rotting-flesh ridden zombie), and I think, awwwwwwwwwwww ……….. hes not really so bad…. Then the inevitable fist flies toward my nether region and were back to being Bart and Skinner, or Dennis and Dennis` dad. (Altho Im the cool one, Im no square dammit!).
Anyway except for the Monday classes Im pretty much on top of things and usually can come up with some way to blag my way through the lessons in a way that wont get me fired.
So that’s work. In terms of my living arrangements, Ive got used to calling our small but comfortable apartment home, and I know the nearby surrounding area fairly well. I know where to get a take away pizza, or homewares, or wheres nice to go for a walk at 6 in the morning. I know how to get to Nagoya cheapest, fastest and easiest and Ive got the bus timetable tattooed on the inside of my brain.
So that’s ok.
The food is still amazing and to my surprise, still surprising; the Loco Burger was evidence of that. Whilst I had little or no reservations about what I ate before I came, I feel an even greater urgency now to push the boundaries of experimental cuisine and to try to try the most random things possible, spurred on by the fact that it is getting harder and harder to find things Ive never tried.
And so this is the situation Im facing now. Whilst I just know theres miles more of Japanese randomness to be had, its difficult to do this on a shoestring budget, and after 4 months of experiencing a great deal of randomness, even more difficult. However, Im not gonna let this stand in my way. Theres still lots of cities Im yet to visit, and lots of experiences I have yet to have. One way or another I will persevere to find more and more cool, funny, obscene, outrageous and damn right random things/people/food.
After all, Ive only got about 4 months left….
Jack
The next week I tried to arrive 30 minutes before, but as my first lesson cancelled I was given an hour and a half prep time again and being as this was not my first time at the dance was able to plan the day pretty well with only one real hiccup. One of the classes is a girl of about 10 who is taught privately but with her mum and sister present at all times. Whilst this was intimidating at first, the mother actually seems really nice so its not so bad. It does mean however that I spend more time planning this 30 minute class than any of my hour classes, as the pressure to perform well or at least to the best of my abilities is by far the highest.
Anyway, whilst the first lesson I did with them was awesome (as awesome as a 30 minute English lesson with a highly inexperienced not particularly motivated teacher can be), in the second one my lesson plan went to pieces a bit when the flashcards I was going to use for a game did not appear to be in my box of tricks even though I had just used them in the previous lesson. After a little too much dead time of me hurriedly rummaging through the box I resorted to the classic game of `Guess Who` (a great tool for teaching physical descriptions). Whilst I had used this before for the last 5 minutes of a lesson, this time there was like 10 minutes left and despite my painfully obvious attempts to pad out the game (“Are you wearing a hat with a feather in the middle?”), we finished the first game in 2 minutes. Needless to say we had 4 more games, but the mother luckily didn’t seem to mind, in fact praising me on playing such a fun game.
The rest of my lessons Ive just about got the hang of although in both my Saturday and Monday kinder classes the kids seem to be getting more and more unruly which aint a good sign. My Monday class in particular features one 6 year old complete and utter evil little bastard. Most of the time hes either bullying the other kids or trying to punch me in the balls, and on more than one occasion Ive had to physically restrain him. He really seems to enjoy all this attention though so Ive taken to ignoring him unless hes completely off the rails. This seems to work a lot better than constantly shouting at him, but he still tries to punch and kick the other kids. To be fair he was like that before I took over the class so it cant be completely my fault. I had observed the previous teacher on a couple of occasions and he was just as bad then. It was no surprise then, that I sensed a bit of relief in her when she was told I would took over her Monday classes.
Anyway despite being like this most of the time he still has that childish innocence on occasion, coming up to show me a toy he`s found in the school toy box, or show off a drawing hes done (even if it is of a rotting-flesh ridden zombie), and I think, awwwwwwwwwwww ……….. hes not really so bad…. Then the inevitable fist flies toward my nether region and were back to being Bart and Skinner, or Dennis and Dennis` dad. (Altho Im the cool one, Im no square dammit!).
Anyway except for the Monday classes Im pretty much on top of things and usually can come up with some way to blag my way through the lessons in a way that wont get me fired.
So that’s work. In terms of my living arrangements, Ive got used to calling our small but comfortable apartment home, and I know the nearby surrounding area fairly well. I know where to get a take away pizza, or homewares, or wheres nice to go for a walk at 6 in the morning. I know how to get to Nagoya cheapest, fastest and easiest and Ive got the bus timetable tattooed on the inside of my brain.
So that’s ok.
The food is still amazing and to my surprise, still surprising; the Loco Burger was evidence of that. Whilst I had little or no reservations about what I ate before I came, I feel an even greater urgency now to push the boundaries of experimental cuisine and to try to try the most random things possible, spurred on by the fact that it is getting harder and harder to find things Ive never tried.
And so this is the situation Im facing now. Whilst I just know theres miles more of Japanese randomness to be had, its difficult to do this on a shoestring budget, and after 4 months of experiencing a great deal of randomness, even more difficult. However, Im not gonna let this stand in my way. Theres still lots of cities Im yet to visit, and lots of experiences I have yet to have. One way or another I will persevere to find more and more cool, funny, obscene, outrageous and damn right random things/people/food.
After all, Ive only got about 4 months left….
Jack
2 comments:
Hey Jack you legend, it's Robbie,
Just thought I'd drop you a message on here man! I'm still loving hearing about all your adventures, some of your stories are so crazy, I'm just glad they have happy endings! And remember that a boring week in Japan is still probably 2 to the power 10 times better than a boring week in Norwich!
Keep winning man!
Robbie
Hahhahaha, who'd have thought there would be a 6 year old Japanese version of cock-knocker in one of your classes?
It was good to hear more about your job man, coz i was often wondering how exactly you blag your way through them sometimes (in fact, me and tariq were wondering exactly that the other day!. Like Robbie says, a boring day in japan pisses ALL OVER a boring (and probably exciting) day in Norwich. What sort of DVDs do you rent? do you head for the easy streets of hollywood or challenge yourself with something local? (a bit like the film we saw on the way there last time).
Keep on truckin'
Z
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