Long weekend and second JHS

So in the past week since my last entry I did quite a lot. There was a Monday/Friday holiday last week, and there was another typhoon so school so school got cancelled and I took a nenkyu day. Only worked 2 days that week. The long weekend started with heading to Nabari on Thursday to spend the night at a fellow JETs place. A bunch of us met up and hung out. Had a relaxing dinner at a really cheap izakaya (Japanese pub). Then on Friday we went to hike (it wasn’t really a hike…) Akame Falls（赤目四十八滝）.  After the hike we met up with JETs in Nabari and some JTEs and had a BBQ. Then we took the train in to Osaka for a girls night out.  I had to stay at a different hostel than everyone because their hostel was booked, so I went to my hostel on my own. I really have no sense of direction and got lost many times. I had to ask for directions. I eventually met up with everyone. We had dinner at Freshness Burger (my first time trying it. It seemed a little healthier, but I think I like Mos Burger better). After half of our group went back to the hostel to hang out with these other guys the met there and we went to karaoke for a few hours. I usually don’t like karaoke, but I surprisingly had a good time. After we met up with the rest of our group and randomly met up with friends of a friend. Then we went to a club and came home at the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday we took it easy and just walked around a bit and shopped. I got back to Matsusaka by around dinner time. 

One of the waterfalls at Akame Falls

Another waterfall

and another waterfall

BBQ

OSAKA!

 Sunday I went to Kyoto on a day trip. On Tuesday evenings I go to the Taki Community Center to study Japanese, so the people that went on this trip were mostly people who go to the Tuesday Japanese classes. It was kind of rushed but we went to Kiyomizu-dera and Shunko-in which is part of the Myoshinji Temple. A former Taki CIR married one of vice-abbot of Shunko-in, so that’s the reason we got a chance to visit and what not. Myoshinji is a Zen Buddhist temple of the Rinzai School, and is one of the main temples in Kyoto. We got a short lecture of zazen and we got to meditate for a 15mins. They had a really pretty rock garden and sliding door paintings by Kano artists (it was really cool to see stuff up close instead of copies in articles that I read in classes at DPU).  It was a good day trip, but there is so much to see in Kyoto that you have to go again and again to see different things.

Kiyomizu-dera

Kiyomizu-dera

Kiyomizu-dera (remodeling?)

Kiyomizu-dera

The wall looked cool

Some Maiko(Geisha) walking around

Myoshinji

I thought this looked cool

Ginger; reminded me of home

Garden at Shunko-in

Kano Wall paintings

 This was pretty trippy....so matter where you stand it looks like the stairs are facing you. The 1st picture I was on the left side of the room and the other was on the right side. It really does look like the stairs face you.

Kano Wall paintings

So, I started teaching at my 2^nd J.H.S. It is completely different than my other one. I had heard it was a rough school, so I was preparing myself. This is far for a typical school and it will be an interesting challenge. When I go back to my other J.H.S. it will be like heaven. There are good students at this school, but the general attitudes and behavior of the students is not what you expect.

Some of my lessons are epic fails; the students don’t talk and are uninterested. But some classes are wonderful; the JTEs help translate and the students understand and fully participate. I’m still getting used to things and maybe after my self-introduction lessons are over things will be different.
 

I went to watch the brass band club for a little bit and talked with some of the members. I used some Japanese when they completely didn’t understand, I think it gave them confidence to talk with me. One of the JTEs was passing by and a student told him she was speaking a lot of English. That made me really happy that they felt confident and were using English able to communicate with me

Oh yeah, after the typhoon rolled by the weather cooled down a bit. It’s not as humid and the air is fresh and crisp. I’m wearing long sleeve shirts now to school. It’s a little nippy for me, so I’m going to have to get a coat soon. It’s starting to feel like Fall.

21 Self Introduction Classes so far....

I was meaning to post this entry on Monday, but my internet was spotty and I couldn't upload the photos.

So I’ve had a full week of teaching (18 classes to be exact). I’ve done my self-introduction a total of 21 times already. And to top it off, I’m going to my second Junior High School starting tomorrow where I’ll probably have to give it another 20-billion-times. But even having four classes back to back is better than sitting at a desk all day doing nothing. The kids are at a lower level than I thought, so I am dumbing things down a bit. But they have only studied English for  a total of 1-3 years so…if I compare it to when I studied Japanese I couldn’t really understand much either.

So each class usually has around 40kids but for the English classes they split the class up so it’s 15-18kids per class. They have 2 JTEs per grade so 6 JTEs total at Tonomachi. Its good this way, so they can kind of get more attention from the teacher. Each class usually has 1 trouble maker/very talkative/ wants attention student, and they always look the same. I taught only 1^st and 3^rd years (7^th and 9^th graders). With the 1^st years I gave my intro then they did a self intro (they had already done some short 5ish sentence intro), and I had a worksheet to test if they remembered my intro. With the 3^rd years, I did my intro then they had a worksheet activity using the sentence ‘The place I want to visit is …….’

Things are going okay, but I want to make my self-intro lesson more fun/interactive. Feels like I’m just talking at them. I still have time to work on it since I have a chance to do it all over again at Kamada JHS. But without fail I always get asked my age and if I have a boyfriend. I am always reminded that I am soooo young. But I tell them I have 5 boyfriends, one for each day of the week.

On Friday the Tonomachi JHS JTEs took me out to dinner for my ‘Welcome Party’. At first I thought it was going to be the whole staff, but it was just the JTEs. It was nice to chat with them and get to know them a little better. They chatted mostly in Japanese, but I was able to follow what they were talking about.  I learned a new word; kimotameshi. There isn’t really an exact word that it translates to in English, but its like testing your bravery. Examples are like at a haunted house, our going out at night go a graveyard. Something like that.

When I was going home it kind of made me sad because now I’m going to Kamada. But it’s not like this is the end of it. I’m kinda nervous and excited at the same time to go to a new school. I just got used to things at Tonomachi. 

So it was also a three day weekend. Saturday I went to Toba with friends and we went to the Mikimoto Pearl Island and the Aquarium.  The weather was kind of junky, but it cleared up a little. I haven’t really ever bought myself jewelry and I’m not really in to it, so I had a hard time picking something out. Ended up getting a cheap heart shaped ring with a pearl in the middle.  Just like I would rather someone else cook for me, I would rather someone else buy jewelry for me. Oh, must not forget to mention that the Aquarium is either filled with couples on dates holding hands and being all cute, or screaming kids and families. Both are gross.

Some boat by the Mikimoto Pearl Island

Pearl Catcher!

They did a demo but didn't see much of it because it was raining.

Reef Shark

Crayfish

NEMO!

Porpoise, but they were too fast

Japanese Spider Crab

At one of the shows

Giant Hamster/Rabbit/Guinea Pig?

Manate

Walrus which are called セイウチ(Seiuchi)

Penguins

It gives kisses

and it has a popping sound when it gives a kiss.

and the trainers can make them kiss each other

more and more tricks

Sunday, I was supposed to go out and watch my Elementary School’s Sports Festival, but I ended up staying home  doing stuff around the house.  Today I went out with friends to Odai and we went to nice spot along the river and swam. The water was kinda cold, but it felt really refreshing. It doesn’t look it, but the current was kind of strong. Swimming up current was rough, but going down was breeze.

The river we were swimming at. we also swam at another spot, but I didn't take a picture of that spot

There were sooo many rocks. My feet were sore.

Wow I can actually cook.
One of the teachers at one of my Elementary Schools gave me clams.

Hayashi Rice

I only have 3 days of school this week then another three day weekend. WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!