Where's the Typhoon?

Last Tuesday there was a big announcement in the teachers room just before quitting time. The Vice Principal yelled out that there was a big typhoon coming and we might not have classes the following day. While he was saying this, I was looking at the weather on my phone and it said "Sunny". I figured that it was just another over reaction from the weather folk in Japan. It happens a lot actually. Needless to say, it was warm and sunny on Wednesday. :0)

Two Thursdays ago was my birthday and I became 28 years old. Wow, I'm really getting old! I still feel like I haven't really accomplished anything in my life. It's a weird feeling to be honest with you. I went to dinner with the misses and ate some delicious Korean style food. It made me remember how much I miss Korea. The food there was just amazing. Anyway, besides getting about 80 happy birthday messages on Facebook, it was just an ordinary day. One of my students gave me a cute little present with cookies and a Super Mario Lolly. I was really happy and surprised.

My Small Present

Yesterday, (9/12, Sunday), I went to watch my school's girl's basketball team play in the Osaka City Round of 16 high school basketball game. It was really interesting to see how it they play these games. They had girls playing on one court and the boys playing on a court directly across from them. Meanwhile fans and other teams waiting to play are in the middle of both courts. It's a really strange setup compared to an American style but I guess it's efficient. If my school would have won, they would have went to the final 8 of the city. Unfortunately they didn't win but they sure played hard. The other team just shot lots of three point shots and made about 60% of them. That pretty much ended the game there. I was so surprised to see how good my school was in terms of ball skills. They handled the ball really well and were good in the paint! Girls got some skills, even though they are so short. After the game I headed back to my apartment. It took me about 1 hour to get home, so it was a bit of a journey to see the game.

The team huddling up before the game.

During the game.

Warming up at halftime.

On Saturday was the 9th anniversary of 9-11. That was a horrible day for America and myself. It's sad to see that many people have already forgotten about that day. It's not really mentioned much in the news from what I saw. I don't think I saw anything about it here in Japan either. Well, It's not like Japan has to care or anything, it didn't happen to them, so I can understand that. I spent my evening watching the web stream of the memorial in New York city. It doesn't matter how many times I see that, I always cry. You can see people holding up 9 year old photos of their family members that no longer exist. One lady made a small speech at the podium and something like, she hopes that 9-11 never becomes a national holiday in America because it's not something to celebrate and have a day off of work, it should be a day of remembrance and mourning. Another woman added that her husband was never found in the rubble so she will continue to come back every year because it is where her husband is buried. Imagine not having a body to lay to rest? That would be just horrible. I'm sure his body was incinerated instantly in the fire unfortunately. One day he's alive the next day he's gone completely. Well, sorry to go on about this saddening topic but I just had to say something about it.

One more week until I head to Mt. Fuji to climb to the top. I should probably start buying some gear right? haha OK, well enough of my rant for today. Have a wonderful day, night, whatever.

peace

vince

What...Storm?

Hey blog readers!  How are you doing?  Well I'm happy to report that nothing serious happened when first hurricane in 2 years to hit Japan, Hurricane (Typhoon 台風) Melor came to shore in Osaka.  The winds were quite strong at night and I really couldn't sleep.  There was strong rain and wind for the duration of the night.  3am was probably the worst time for me.  I just watched the news on my cell phone and hoped nothing would break or fall apart.  The eye of the storm didn't hit Osaka directly luckily.  Unfortunately, other parts of Japan were not so lucky.  Here is a quick story that sums up the storm from The Examiner. Typhoon Melor  School was canceled for most of Osaka on Thursday.  I was glad because I really didn't want to venture outside with all that rain on the streets.  To sum it up, my first experience with a hurricane was uneventful, thankfully!

So today was the start of the 3rd term here at my school.  There are 4 terms total at my school.  Later this month is the school festival called 文化祭　"Bunkasai".  I talked about this event in the past, so look at the archives if you wish.  It will be held on the final Saturday and Sunday of October.  The bad thing is that I have to work on that weekend.  The good thing is that we get "make-up" days off the following Monday and Friday.  Brilliant!  That's another perk of working at a school in Japan.  When you have to work on a weekend, they will will usually give you the following Monday off or a day of your choice during the week!  I can't really complain about that! :)

This Saturday I will volunteer at a local Elementary school down the road from my high school.  They are having an "international festival".  That's a pretty vague term, but basically they will have some foreign English teachers and foreign exchange students from around the area to teach the kids about games from our countries.  From my school, 2 exchange students and I will volunteer to help.  I have to teach the kids from the elementary school about a simple game I used to play when I was a kid in school.  So the best game that I have memories of was Heads-up 7up!  That was a great game!  If you don't know this game, I'll give you the basic rules.  You get a group of students to come to the front of the class and have the rest of the students stay seated.  The seated students have to put their heads down on the desk with their eyes closed.  They have to stick their hand out with their thumb up.  The standing students will walk around the classroom quietly touching one students thumb.  Afterwards, the students who had their thumb touched will have to stand up and guess who picked them.  If they guess correctly, they get to stand up and join the standing group.  Pretty simple right?  Well I will see how it goes tomorrow!

I'm trying to decide where to travel this Christmas holiday season!  Any suggestions?  Until next time!

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

Wow

So today was definitely the first time I have become pissed off while teaching in Japan. I wasn't visibly mad of course, because I am good at hiding my feelings, but inside was an inferno. I have been here for approximately 10 months and this is the first time...so I would have to say that's pretty good.

The day was going quite well. My second class of freshman are very noisy and quite frankly obnoxious. This is mainly due to the lack of discipline in the Japanese Education system. Talking is deemed acceptable and so is sleeping... yeah....

My students were rather talkative today and I wasn't about to deal with the talking today. I had to move 3 students around the class, and one of them I made her sit outside. All the students were very surprised by this. Mainly because there is never any response to their talking in class at all. My teaching partner was supporting me in my discipline rules, so it was much easier. Anyway, one student was talking outlandishly in class. I finally just told him shut up. He said ok, then under his breath he said "fuck you". Obviously the other students didn't know what that meant because they just kept on blabbing away. Meanwhile, I stopped the class and asked the student "what did you say?". He said predictably "nothing". I walked up to him and told him that his not funny in Japanese. He stopped immediately, and we told him to stay after class. Let's just say, he was about to shit his pants. Especially since I walked up right in front of him. Needless to say all the other students got the vibe that something went down, so they changed into the innocent angel student.

After class all the students left, and the one kid stayed behind. I asked him why he said "fuck you". He basically said that he saw it in a movie and didn't think it was that bad to say. I told him exactly what it meant in English while my co-worker translated word for word. I told him that he is a smart kid, and to act smart. He agreed and we had a hand shake, and that was it. He now knows what "fuck you" means. He is just lucky that he was not in the America on the streets saying that. He would have had a surprising result.

Anyway, I was a bit steamed about that. Probably because I was so shocked that someone said that. I used to work in a middle school in El Paso and I never heard a student say that in class. Granted, the student didn't even really know the severity of his words. However, he knows that it is not good so I can't allow that excuse.

I have basketball practice soon and tomorrow is Friday. So things are looking up! Thanks for the comments everybody. Oh and if you leave a comment, leave a name too. Especially because it's hard to know who leaves a comment when it says anonymous. I'll be back soon!

peace

vince

End of the school year

Well today was my last day at school. That is until I get back from my little vacation. It was a really nice day. This whole week I have been playing basketball with the team at my school. The kids have really good technique and shoot the hell out of the ball. However, they don't have any muscle or strength when driving to the basket, or posting up. The coach likes the way I have been playing with them and he invited me to join him coaching the baskeball team. In my descent Japanese, I agreed happily. So that was a great thing that happened today.

After that I was rotting away in the teachers room. It was raining like hell all day long. Then a really nice student came up to me. She invited me to join her and the Sign Language club to make Gyoza. Gyoza is a chinese style dumpling. It's not a dumpling though, but it looks like one...hard to explain. Anyway, I was really happy to join them. There was about 14 of us in the kitchen making Gyoza and chatting. We had a great time. I was able to use my Japanese that I have been studying all week. Anyway it was just a great way to end the week and the school year. When I come back from the USA the new school year will start. A fresh start, with some new students. I am truly looking forward to it. But in the mean time, it's time to go home.

Tonight I am going out with a friend. I hope it will be nice! It's still raining as hell right now so I'm sure I will get a little wet. Well I will be back this weekend to give you an update or something.

peace

vince

p.s. jackie I REMEMBER! send me an email, and thank you for reading my blog.

This is after we made all the gyoza today. It was so fun.

Plain Day

Well this week is really going by fast! Payday was Monday so thats great. I had a great dinner last night and today I only have 1 class. So I guess it's all good right now. Thanks to everybody for the virtual presents as I said before. I have been getting a bunch lately!

This Friday is the end of year party at work. There is a bunch of hype about this party going around the school. Well at least I think it's hype, I can't exactly understand everything. haha Last night I was playing a game mass effect. Oh man I started to play about 6pm after dinner. I was so engrossed in the game that I didn't finish until about 12am. I had no clue what time it was while I was playing it was pretty funny. Well there is nothing exciting going on right now, so I will be back soon with some more updates ok! I promise!

peace

vince

**good luck mom on you exam, you will kick that exam's ass!
**lynn and mar~good luck haha
**cynthia ~ finally made it on the website! thanks! (^-^)
**hi julia haha
**thanks dan i got an email about the shipping
**hi everybody else! how are you doing?