Well I am back in my hometown. After a 25 hour travel period, a surprise meeting of my buddy pato, multiple delays and a really delicious sandwich, here are a few pics that I took on the plane. Be back later with some more.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Back in Texas
Well I am back in my hometown. After a 25 hour travel period, a surprise meeting of my buddy pato, multiple delays and a really delicious sandwich, here are a few pics that I took on the plane. Be back later with some more.
Friday, December 12, 2008
News and sorts
Hello everybody. Well the cold weather has now arrived in Osaka. It's quite chilly in the morning. I enjoy the cold weather actually. Most people really hate it, but it makes me a bit happy. So what have I done since the last post? The big news is that I decided to go back home for Christmas. I wasn't going to go back because it was so expensive. But I found a great deal online and I couldn't pass it up. It was still expensive, just not as much as I thought. I am really happy to get to see my family and good friends when I get back. I'm going home on December 18th.
Last week I had to attend a JET conference in Osaka. This conference is called the Mid-year seminar. It is held for 2 days in December. It is for all the Osaka JET teachers. Last year it was quite bland and I wasn't looking forward to this year. However, I came out of that conference with a lot of ideas that I could use in my class. I went to a Japanese bead making class too. I made about 5 beads with glass and my own hands. It was really nice. I left that conference with a positive outlook for the coming school term. I really thought about what goals I have in my job. I truly want to make communication with my teaching partners better. We talk, but not as much as we should. I already started to try hard this week. I think that if we talk more, our teaching will automatically become better. I'm going to give it a shot.
Last Sunday December 7th, I had to take my Japanese language test. It is called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or in short the (JLPT). There are 4 levels of the test. 1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest. I took level 3. It consisted of writing, vocabulary, reading, listening and grammar. I'm sure that I did excellent on the listening. However I'm not too sure about the others. The reason I took this test was to see what my Japanese ability is, and to see what I need to work on. I didn't study much for this test. Now I know what my ability is, so I will strive to study starting in January. I will learn much more Japanese next year, that is my #1 goal. At the moment, I can hold a decent conversation with people. However, when it comes to really deep feelings and proper topics, I fear my skills to be below my quality standards. がんばれ！ (you can do it!)
Today, there was an Australian exchange student visiting my class. It was fun to have another westerner in my class. Since I have lived in Japan for a quite a while now. I begin to notice how much all westerners from English speaking countries are alike. It doesn't really matter if you are from USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa etc... we have so much in common. I have made friends from all of these countries. And sometimes I forget that they are not from America. Of course there are a few slang words and accent differences, but at the core, we are just the same. So it's very easy to become friends and chat with other westerners like myself. Some may disagree, but that is my point of view.
So anyone that knows we well or has read my lame blog for the past year or so, knows that I have quite the obsession for finding and listening to new music. I just thought I would take some time to recommend some good music to you while you are here. In a few days I will post up a music player with some of the bands and groups that I recommend. Anyway here it goes,
I have been listening to a lot of this band called "Pompeii" and their new album called "Nothing happens for a reason." They have a bit of an indie vibe to them. The sound is very relaxing with sweet guitars and soft drums for the most part. The lyrics are excellent and I just like hanging out and listening to them. It's good music when you are working on some homework or studying, or writing a bloody blog.
Another band that has taken a lot of my time is "The Bigger Lights" and the new EP called "Fiction Fever". If I had to compare them to another band I would say they sound in between Forever the sickest kids and The starting line. This is only an EP but this band should have a full album out in a few months.
Sorry that was probably lame, but I just thought some people might actually find some interesting new music. Well that's all for this blog. I will try and put another one up before I leave next week. If I don't I will post when I'm back from in the USA. Hopefully after my 21 hour trip from Osaka to El Paso will not kill me! Cheers
peace
vince
Last week I had to attend a JET conference in Osaka. This conference is called the Mid-year seminar. It is held for 2 days in December. It is for all the Osaka JET teachers. Last year it was quite bland and I wasn't looking forward to this year. However, I came out of that conference with a lot of ideas that I could use in my class. I went to a Japanese bead making class too. I made about 5 beads with glass and my own hands. It was really nice. I left that conference with a positive outlook for the coming school term. I really thought about what goals I have in my job. I truly want to make communication with my teaching partners better. We talk, but not as much as we should. I already started to try hard this week. I think that if we talk more, our teaching will automatically become better. I'm going to give it a shot.
Last Sunday December 7th, I had to take my Japanese language test. It is called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or in short the (JLPT). There are 4 levels of the test. 1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest. I took level 3. It consisted of writing, vocabulary, reading, listening and grammar. I'm sure that I did excellent on the listening. However I'm not too sure about the others. The reason I took this test was to see what my Japanese ability is, and to see what I need to work on. I didn't study much for this test. Now I know what my ability is, so I will strive to study starting in January. I will learn much more Japanese next year, that is my #1 goal. At the moment, I can hold a decent conversation with people. However, when it comes to really deep feelings and proper topics, I fear my skills to be below my quality standards. がんばれ！ (you can do it!)
Today, there was an Australian exchange student visiting my class. It was fun to have another westerner in my class. Since I have lived in Japan for a quite a while now. I begin to notice how much all westerners from English speaking countries are alike. It doesn't really matter if you are from USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa etc... we have so much in common. I have made friends from all of these countries. And sometimes I forget that they are not from America. Of course there are a few slang words and accent differences, but at the core, we are just the same. So it's very easy to become friends and chat with other westerners like myself. Some may disagree, but that is my point of view.
So anyone that knows we well or has read my lame blog for the past year or so, knows that I have quite the obsession for finding and listening to new music. I just thought I would take some time to recommend some good music to you while you are here. In a few days I will post up a music player with some of the bands and groups that I recommend. Anyway here it goes,
I have been listening to a lot of this band called "Pompeii" and their new album called "Nothing happens for a reason." They have a bit of an indie vibe to them. The sound is very relaxing with sweet guitars and soft drums for the most part. The lyrics are excellent and I just like hanging out and listening to them. It's good music when you are working on some homework or studying, or writing a bloody blog.
Another band that has taken a lot of my time is "The Bigger Lights" and the new EP called "Fiction Fever". If I had to compare them to another band I would say they sound in between Forever the sickest kids and The starting line. This is only an EP but this band should have a full album out in a few months.
Sorry that was probably lame, but I just thought some people might actually find some interesting new music. Well that's all for this blog. I will try and put another one up before I leave next week. If I don't I will post when I'm back from in the USA. Hopefully after my 21 hour trip from Osaka to El Paso will not kill me! Cheers
peace
vince
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