Football match in Kobe

Hello all! This weekend was a busy one! On Saturday I went with my friend to watch a football match in Kobe. We went to see a Japan League (j-league) football match between Vissel Kobe and Urawa Reds. Urawa is close to Tokyo in the north and Kobe is about 30 minutes from Osaka by train. Kobe has a really nice Soccer specific stadium and I was quite impressed. The atmosphere was intense and fun! Here are some pictures of the match.

This mural is in the subway station.

The outside of the stadium.

The pitch

The end of the match. Vissel Kobe 3 Urawa Reds 2!! :)

Sunday I went to the Osaka Science Museum and Planetarium. The Museum was a bit rubbish, but the Planetarium was really cool! They showed the stars that were viewable that night in Osaka. They also showed a few constellations, galaxies and nebulas that were viewable that night. All this information was in Japanese. I wasn't able to understand everything but I knew what they were talking about! I hope to go back there soon!

I was at the market today. I found some little dried fish snacks! They were tasty, salty and sweet. They look crazy but they are really good! :) Want to try? :)

Tasty little lads, fish jerky?? You want some while watching a game dad? :)

peace


vince

I've been here a long time!

So today one of my teachers told me that I needed to turn in my health insurance card. I asked them why I needed to. He told me that my insurance card has expired and they needed to renew it! Apparently it is only valid for 2 years. So I came to realize that I have been in Japan for quite some time. I still remember that fateful day when I stood in line in Tokyo waiting for my suitcases filled with shoes, deodorant and hygiene products. Now I'm nice and settled in my new flat and I have a daily routine. I have a good paying job, some new friends and a lot of new experiences. So I guess this staying in Japan thing has worked out in the end.

I was looking on the board at my school to see what the schedule was just a few minutes ago. I found out that it was another half day for the Senior students. Keep in mind that we literally just came back from summer holiday but this week there are 4 half days at my school. Anyway, the reason that there is a half day today is that the teachers are offering some practice job interviews for the Senior students. I asked my colleague what kind of jobs they are practicing for. She told me that they are for the jobs that they will look for after high school. You see, my school is a very low level school. The students know they are at a low level school and only a small fraction of them will even attempt to go to University or even technical school. Therefore, they are starting to prepare now for real world. It's a pity that many of these students are quite smart, but lack the confidence to go so University. They think that they are not smart enough because they were put in my school, the publicly known "low level school". I've ranted about this many times in previous blogs over the past 2 years, but I still can't get over it. Most of the jobs that the students here are expected to get are jobs like, bike repair man, hair dresser, shop clerk, cleaning crew, trash crew, convenient store worker, construction worker etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these professions, don't get me wrong. I just see so much potential in some of these kids, it just makes me sad. I asked a very talkative, witty student in my class the other day... "What do you want to do after high school?", he told me "Umm, maybe I want to work at bike store". As in he wanted to do that for the foreseeable future.

I'm glad that my school feels that it needs to help the students with their interview skills! That's a great idea. However I just wish that they would try and push them a little higher. Damn I'm starting to sound like a trained teacher... oh wait! I am one! :)

Well I'm leaving school soon! And I have to ride my bike past that scary scarecrow mannequin again!!!! ahhh!!!

peace

vince

Summer Vacation is over! :(

Hey everybody! I am back to blogging after a month off! I was on Summer Vacation and honestly I had absolutely nothing to write about. I did nothing interesting besides play football and eating. Pretty average life I guess. Well today was my yesterday was my first class. I did my usual "Good Morning!!!" greeting and my response from the students was "..................................". Then I remembered, wow I hate teaching here! Well I guess it's not that bad, but wow! Not even a response. I had to say "good morning" about 4 times until I received a little "good morni....n..g". Well the lesson went well, after I made the dead rise.

I'm excited about next month! I will be traveling to South Korea with my friend, his girlfriend, his brother and I. We are going to to take a ferry from Osaka to Pusan, South Korea. Home of Korea's most wonderful beach. According to the Internet, that is. We'll be leaving on September 18th. Should be quite fun!

As I left for home today, I was riding my bike as usual. There are many rice fields in front of my school. There are also many scarecrows our there, to scare away those giant freak black birds! Anyway, I saw this freaky looking scarecrow. I don't know where the farmer dude got that mannequin head but damn, if I was a bird, I'd fly away from it!

Apparently, blonde people are scary! That thing is freaky!!!

I'll be back soon with a few stories.

peace,

vince