with all of my good intentions I still didn't get around to posting. Let's just say that things have been stupid busy around here and now is probably the peak busy time!
But I won't have internet for a little while (hopefully little) and so I just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays now, while I still can.
Hope to get back to more regular posting next year!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
bitchy
I'm back. Things have been seriously busy around here, as in making my head spin with the amount of stuff I have to do. Today I have a little bit of time, so here I am. I've been in a bit of a funk lately.
I think part of it is that I feel bad about not being nicer sometimes. My husband has frequently told me that I'm too nice (in a complaining way, not in a good way) and I always thought there's no such thing. And it's because of this I've been having some problems. Like I have my own, personal Jehovah's Witness (or at least that's what it seems like) come to visit me every weekend. I should have told her to leave me alone or I'm not interested in what she has to offer, but instead I talked to her and now she keeps coming back. Not to mention the fact that every time I see her, she offends me in some way, asking me questions that I think are none of her business (Why do I answer?!)
Another example, there's an old man that I sometimes see on my walk to the train station to go home. He used to be a student of mine. He's very interested in learning English and is always writing stuff down in his notebook or reading his notes or whatever. So, you guessed it, when we end up taking the same train home, he goes through his notebooks and shows me what he has written or asks me questions about English. After having taught all day, on my short break-before the start of my next class at home. Anyway, it's not what I really want to be doing. Well, lately, if I should happen see him on my way home, I just don't see him. I can walk pretty quickly if I want to. :)
Before I just felt bad about that but after seeing this, I don't.
So to the kid in class who won't stop talking-f*ck you. And to my Jehovah's witness- f*ck you! And to the little boy at my kid's kindergarten who asked me dozens of times if I 'do English'-f*ck you. And to whoever decided that I have to fill in a survey to give to my kid's kindergarten to say what his dream his and what my dream is (WTF?!)-f*ck you! Not to mention all the other people pissing me off-f*ck you!!!
Ah, I feel so much better now-thanks!
I think part of it is that I feel bad about not being nicer sometimes. My husband has frequently told me that I'm too nice (in a complaining way, not in a good way) and I always thought there's no such thing. And it's because of this I've been having some problems. Like I have my own, personal Jehovah's Witness (or at least that's what it seems like) come to visit me every weekend. I should have told her to leave me alone or I'm not interested in what she has to offer, but instead I talked to her and now she keeps coming back. Not to mention the fact that every time I see her, she offends me in some way, asking me questions that I think are none of her business (Why do I answer?!)
Another example, there's an old man that I sometimes see on my walk to the train station to go home. He used to be a student of mine. He's very interested in learning English and is always writing stuff down in his notebook or reading his notes or whatever. So, you guessed it, when we end up taking the same train home, he goes through his notebooks and shows me what he has written or asks me questions about English. After having taught all day, on my short break-before the start of my next class at home. Anyway, it's not what I really want to be doing. Well, lately, if I should happen see him on my way home, I just don't see him. I can walk pretty quickly if I want to. :)
Before I just felt bad about that but after seeing this, I don't.
So to the kid in class who won't stop talking-f*ck you. And to my Jehovah's witness- f*ck you! And to the little boy at my kid's kindergarten who asked me dozens of times if I 'do English'-f*ck you. And to whoever decided that I have to fill in a survey to give to my kid's kindergarten to say what his dream his and what my dream is (WTF?!)-f*ck you! Not to mention all the other people pissing me off-f*ck you!!!
Ah, I feel so much better now-thanks!
Friday, September 26, 2008
blown away
earlier this week when the boy came home after being out with his grandma and had met one of the other foreigners in this wee little town. We know her but he couldn't remember her name, so he told me by asking me who the girl is with the same colour skin as mine....does that mean he thinks we have different coloured skin? We've talked about skin colour a little bit, but I really had no idea that he thinks of himself as a different colour. I'm also not completely sure if he meant skin colour or hair/eye colour.
I think he looks pretty Asian but it seems like a lot of people here don't think so-we get so many comments about how white he is/how he looks like such a foreigner blah,blah,blah. How about the other ladies in Japan?
I think he looks pretty Asian but it seems like a lot of people here don't think so-we get so many comments about how white he is/how he looks like such a foreigner blah,blah,blah. How about the other ladies in Japan?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
So son has a new, big bicycle. He got it earlier in the summer from his cousin (I love hand-me-downs!)who used it while he was in grade 1 to grade 5ish (he's now in grade 6). Anyway, it's a little big. He decided to start riding it about 3 weeks ago. He's also started to come and meet me at the station on his bike, by himself, which is scary enough given the things that have been in the news lately. He came to meet me on the first day-I was so surprised. I saw a kid on a big bike but didn't think that was my kid. Then I realized who it was and was really surprised to see him there, and see his face cause there was blood on it! He fell while trying a hill, I guess. A little bit of blood was coming from his nose and he had hit his cheek, too. That was on a Tuesday.
Thursday he came to meet me. Friday he came to meet me. Again, blood on his lip. This time it wasn't the bike but the pool-he was walking and fell down and smacked his mouth on the ladder, I think. He split open his lip and hit his front tooth, actually got his gum. I remember how my mom doesn't like to see blood and I can understand it so much more now-don't mind my own but when it's my kid's...I guess I feel bad. The first night I was at a loss of what to do for him-can he eat? Do I have to mush up all of his food? I think that night he didn't eat much but by the next day he ate normally. His lip gradually healed.
Last Friday I noticed that the tooth that got hit is a different color, so we went to the dentist on Saturday. They gave him an x-ray and basically said that we should just wait and see what will happen. I guess he hit the vein that brought oxygen to his tooth. It seems like nothing will be wrong with the next tooth but again, waiting to see what happens.
Not a very nice welcome home :)
Thursday he came to meet me. Friday he came to meet me. Again, blood on his lip. This time it wasn't the bike but the pool-he was walking and fell down and smacked his mouth on the ladder, I think. He split open his lip and hit his front tooth, actually got his gum. I remember how my mom doesn't like to see blood and I can understand it so much more now-don't mind my own but when it's my kid's...I guess I feel bad. The first night I was at a loss of what to do for him-can he eat? Do I have to mush up all of his food? I think that night he didn't eat much but by the next day he ate normally. His lip gradually healed.
Last Friday I noticed that the tooth that got hit is a different color, so we went to the dentist on Saturday. They gave him an x-ray and basically said that we should just wait and see what will happen. I guess he hit the vein that brought oxygen to his tooth. It seems like nothing will be wrong with the next tooth but again, waiting to see what happens.
Not a very nice welcome home :)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
how I spent my summer vacation
Ok-not really, but it sure felt like it. I don't know how many times I cleaned out this stupid fish tank....
By the way, does anybody know the name of the fish we have??! (I think it's getting too fat!)
By the way, does anybody know the name of the fish we have??! (I think it's getting too fat!)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Well, here I am again. I had a pretty good day yesterday and looking forward to today, too. Yesterday I went out in the morning for a coffee with my friend. Alone. We had a good chance to chat for a while. We work at the same school-she at the high school, me at the junior high school. She is also married to a Japanese man. Yes, lots to talk about.
After we met, I bought myself a lunchbox. I have been using the free one we got from a car dealership when we went to look at cars. It's too small, so I have to pack it and then 2 or 3 more little tupperware to get enough for lunch. Hopefully this will make things simpler. (plus it just looks a lot better!)
Can you tell which is the new one?!
After lunch, I went to the post office and finally handed in my application to take the Japanese test in December. The testing group really wants you to make sure that you want to the test, I think. First you have to write the application form, then get a passport sized picture to glue on to the application. Then you have to go to the post office to pay the 5,500 yen test fee (plus the 125 yen handling fee), putting the receipt in the envelope to show you have paid. Then you have to send it all by certified mail (another 210 yen). I hope it will make me study harder, knowing how much money I spent on this!
Today we are meeting friends at a pool in the morning, spending most of the day with them. In the afternoon a couple of Hiroki's cousins are coming to sleep here-he'll have lots of fun and hopefully I'll get some time to study!
Have a great day!
After we met, I bought myself a lunchbox. I have been using the free one we got from a car dealership when we went to look at cars. It's too small, so I have to pack it and then 2 or 3 more little tupperware to get enough for lunch. Hopefully this will make things simpler. (plus it just looks a lot better!)
Can you tell which is the new one?!
After lunch, I went to the post office and finally handed in my application to take the Japanese test in December. The testing group really wants you to make sure that you want to the test, I think. First you have to write the application form, then get a passport sized picture to glue on to the application. Then you have to go to the post office to pay the 5,500 yen test fee (plus the 125 yen handling fee), putting the receipt in the envelope to show you have paid. Then you have to send it all by certified mail (another 210 yen). I hope it will make me study harder, knowing how much money I spent on this!
Today we are meeting friends at a pool in the morning, spending most of the day with them. In the afternoon a couple of Hiroki's cousins are coming to sleep here-he'll have lots of fun and hopefully I'll get some time to study!
Have a great day!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
here's what I saw today
I love watermelon. I love chocolate. But I think this is pretty dubious.
Has anyone tried it?
Has anyone tried it?
summer update
Summer vacation is here, I have been on holidays now for however many days but still not managing to do this. The first week was due to those evil auctions, but I have cleansed myself from that sinful addiction. The second week was due to studying Japanese or various things on the computer/around the house that need to get done. Sigh. There is so much that needs to get done. I already feel like my summer is going to finish soon, you know?
Next week is o-bon, or the holidays when people are supposed to gather and remember the dead in their families. Then, we are going camping for 3 nights. (3!) I'm not sure if I am looking forward to that or not. I mean, I'm not sure if I like camping, first of all, and there's so much stuff I have to remember to pack. If I don't remember something, somebody will be a grump and that's no fun. ach.
Last week DS woke up and told me that his tooth is loose. He has been saying that for a while so I looked at his mouth and it IS!! I know this is normal and a good thing but WAH!!! my baby is growing up so fast! He shocked us at the end of July. We were staying with friends and there is a pool at the apartment building. Anyway, he jumped into the shallow pool and started to swim a little, underwater. omg! I didn't know he could do that!!
Of course he's been taking swimming lessons for a year now, but we can't really see him there. He always goes to the back of the big pool, far away from the window. He's been practicing at home in the bath, though. Every night he puts on his goggles and puts his head under the water to see how long he can stay there. Or he'll turn himself over in the bath, like doing a somersault, giving me a great up close view of his bum.So I guess I shouldn't feel surprised.
Just feeling bittersweet.
Here are some pictures from when we went to stay with our friends. It's always so nice to go and stay with them, it's at an apartment with a hot spring, so first of all that is really relaxing. Then we get a long well with the couple who stay there with us, and their daughter plays with Hiroki really well. So by the end of our time there we feel pretty relaxed and happy. How can you beat that?!
This was taken en route, at the restaurany we stopped at for lunch.
This was the beautiful (and yummy) sashimi that we had for dinner that night.
This was taken in Shimoda, where we spent the whole day at the beach. We'd been before but this time Hi-man was able to have a lot more fun. He was using his floaty thingy and saying how much fun he was having (tanoshii!) the whole time! (especially when the waves came)
Enjoying a nice cold one on the beach. (Can't get your picture taken without flashing the peace sign!)
The huge grin on his face is because of the 3 trains lined up there, including the one on the left, the Super-View Odoriko.
Next week is o-bon, or the holidays when people are supposed to gather and remember the dead in their families. Then, we are going camping for 3 nights. (3!) I'm not sure if I am looking forward to that or not. I mean, I'm not sure if I like camping, first of all, and there's so much stuff I have to remember to pack. If I don't remember something, somebody will be a grump and that's no fun. ach.
Last week DS woke up and told me that his tooth is loose. He has been saying that for a while so I looked at his mouth and it IS!! I know this is normal and a good thing but WAH!!! my baby is growing up so fast! He shocked us at the end of July. We were staying with friends and there is a pool at the apartment building. Anyway, he jumped into the shallow pool and started to swim a little, underwater. omg! I didn't know he could do that!!
Of course he's been taking swimming lessons for a year now, but we can't really see him there. He always goes to the back of the big pool, far away from the window. He's been practicing at home in the bath, though. Every night he puts on his goggles and puts his head under the water to see how long he can stay there. Or he'll turn himself over in the bath, like doing a somersault, giving me a great up close view of his bum.So I guess I shouldn't feel surprised.
Just feeling bittersweet.
Here are some pictures from when we went to stay with our friends. It's always so nice to go and stay with them, it's at an apartment with a hot spring, so first of all that is really relaxing. Then we get a long well with the couple who stay there with us, and their daughter plays with Hiroki really well. So by the end of our time there we feel pretty relaxed and happy. How can you beat that?!
This was taken en route, at the restaurany we stopped at for lunch.
This was the beautiful (and yummy) sashimi that we had for dinner that night.
This was taken in Shimoda, where we spent the whole day at the beach. We'd been before but this time Hi-man was able to have a lot more fun. He was using his floaty thingy and saying how much fun he was having (tanoshii!) the whole time! (especially when the waves came)
Enjoying a nice cold one on the beach. (Can't get your picture taken without flashing the peace sign!)
The huge grin on his face is because of the 3 trains lined up there, including the one on the left, the Super-View Odoriko.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
VACATION!!
Woohoo! It has started!!and I still haven't blogged!;P
I have had a lot of things going through my mind to blog about but haven't actually done anything about it. It's not like I'm not using the computer-I have been, just not blogging.
Instead I've been auctioning. Thanks to Gina. She started me on the auctions when I asked her where she got her overalls for her boys as H wanted a pair. Anyway, I found a pair and and bid on them. They were new, usually sell for about 9000 yen, but nobody else bid on them, so I got them for 1000 yen, or about 10 dollars. yay! And we even got them on time for his b-day. Cool.
So here he is wearing them.
Anyway, now I'm bidding on a skirt. One of those really long ones that were probably popular in the 80s or so-they call them Bohemian skirts on most of the auction pages I have looked at.
I'm really bidding on 4 skirts, so we'll see what happens. A couple of them still have another day to go, and a couple will finish today. I wonder if I'll get any of them :)
I have had a lot of things going through my mind to blog about but haven't actually done anything about it. It's not like I'm not using the computer-I have been, just not blogging.
Instead I've been auctioning. Thanks to Gina. She started me on the auctions when I asked her where she got her overalls for her boys as H wanted a pair. Anyway, I found a pair and and bid on them. They were new, usually sell for about 9000 yen, but nobody else bid on them, so I got them for 1000 yen, or about 10 dollars. yay! And we even got them on time for his b-day. Cool.
So here he is wearing them.
Anyway, now I'm bidding on a skirt. One of those really long ones that were probably popular in the 80s or so-they call them Bohemian skirts on most of the auction pages I have looked at.
I'm really bidding on 4 skirts, so we'll see what happens. A couple of them still have another day to go, and a couple will finish today. I wonder if I'll get any of them :)
Monday, July 07, 2008
exams again??!!
Last weeks was finals week-so been busy marking again! LAst Friday was supposed to be the last day of finals but we had horrible rain early in the morning, and school got cancelled. Which means today was the last day of exams, and tomorrow we have to give back ALL of the tests. Whether we have a class or not. We just have to somehow get the tests to the kids.
sigh. Looking forward to things easing up a little next week!
sigh. Looking forward to things easing up a little next week!
Monday, June 16, 2008
one more thing
that I've been thinking about lately-It's JUNE already!!! That means I only have 5 months left...
All along I have been comforting myself-it's okay, I still have lots of time to study for the test (Japanese) and then I woke up and it was June and June is almost over and the test is at the beginning of December and CRAP!!!
Do you think that means I've started studying yet??!
All along I have been comforting myself-it's okay, I still have lots of time to study for the test (Japanese) and then I woke up and it was June and June is almost over and the test is at the beginning of December and CRAP!!!
Do you think that means I've started studying yet??!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
still here
Haven't written in a while, I know. Lots of thoughts rumbling around in my head about what to write but just haven't had the chance lately. The kids had mid-terms so I thought that work would be a little easy but it ended up not being the case. One of my coworkers had to fly back to Canada briefly, leaving me with all of the marking. All of the marking of the writing tests-so I ended up marking over 80 essays, and of course it had to be done quickly because we had to get the tests back to the kids immediately. It ended up taking lots of time as my days were interrupted by speaking tests, too-we had to interview about 20 kids each day and mark those tests immediately, before we forgot things. Anyway, got them done. Now I'm trying to get used to my new schedule, new since April but with lots of events happening in April and May, we didn't have full classes until June. Now we have full classes and the final exams are at the end of the month, so I have to make another test! Never ends.
Some things amusing me lately:
Been listening to lots of Tom Waits again. The song Big in Japan just makes me laugh, cause of the song and because I take it literally- he sings I'm big in Japan. It's like my own private joke (because I feel big in Japan.)
Bought a pair of gauchos last weekend. Gauchos!! Ok, the name alone makes me laugh but also the fact that they are popular again...I don't know, I think it's funny.
Enough for now, just wanted to get back in touch.
Some things amusing me lately:
Been listening to lots of Tom Waits again. The song Big in Japan just makes me laugh, cause of the song and because I take it literally- he sings I'm big in Japan. It's like my own private joke (because I feel big in Japan.)
Bought a pair of gauchos last weekend. Gauchos!! Ok, the name alone makes me laugh but also the fact that they are popular again...I don't know, I think it's funny.
Enough for now, just wanted to get back in touch.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
here and there
Friday, the boy had a field trip. This means I had to make him lunch. Here's his lunch: (not nearly as cute as the other moms do but oh well)
Yesterday we went to my school festival. This was at the train station.
This was painting senbei, or rice crackers with syrup, then adding sprinkles to make a picture.
Hard to see but he's painting a train...
eating jelly made by my students-cherry in his cheek
at a restaurant for a yummy lunch with my friend
Home again-doing piano homwork-this is his book for piano class. You can see what fingers we're working on.
The 'song' he's practicing.
Yesterday we went to my school festival. This was at the train station.
This was painting senbei, or rice crackers with syrup, then adding sprinkles to make a picture.
Hard to see but he's painting a train...
eating jelly made by my students-cherry in his cheek
at a restaurant for a yummy lunch with my friend
Home again-doing piano homwork-this is his book for piano class. You can see what fingers we're working on.
The 'song' he's practicing.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
all about fish
our at least my kid's fish, anyway. Last September we went to our local city 'festival'. People who live in Japan know that that means you can pay a couple of bucks to try and catch goldfish (with kind of a paper net-it sounds lame because, well, it is.) Of course, little boy had to try it. Of course, we didn't catch any fish but the people who take our money for this seem to feel like they owe you something and so they scooped a couple of fish and put them into the plastic bag to take home. (Let me just say that I wasn't there!)
Anyway, when I got home, little boy shows me his fish proudly. I believe I said something to him about giving them to his cousin who already a fish tank and everything set up, but he told me that his grandmother had told him that she would get him a tank. Great. More things for me to take care of. sigh.
They got the fish tank, food, whatever else they needed. We put the fish in the fish tank. They died, one by one. (There were 3 of them?)
Little boy's dad, trying to make him feel better, decides to get more fish. They look on the internet for fish and choose some of the ugliestfish I have ever seen. Their name, which I can never remember, is something like demekin, de meaning big ass, me meaning eyes, and kin meaning goldfish. So it means big ass eyed goldfish. I found a picture on line that sort of resembles the ones we got.
Anyway, we got 3 more fish. I was not terribly impressed with them. We put them in the tank. They did nothing. We fed them. They did nothing. We didn't feed them. They did nothing. They were so uninteresting! Not surprisingly, they died one by one.
Got 2 more fish. One big ass eyed and one something else (I know, I'm so technical). These ones move! They seem excited to see us, and always very happy to be fed! I can sort of think of these ones as cute. So my next question is, if your pet fish has a long string of shit coming out of it, does that mean you are feeding it too much?
Anyway, when I got home, little boy shows me his fish proudly. I believe I said something to him about giving them to his cousin who already a fish tank and everything set up, but he told me that his grandmother had told him that she would get him a tank. Great. More things for me to take care of. sigh.
They got the fish tank, food, whatever else they needed. We put the fish in the fish tank. They died, one by one. (There were 3 of them?)
Little boy's dad, trying to make him feel better, decides to get more fish. They look on the internet for fish and choose some of the ugliestfish I have ever seen. Their name, which I can never remember, is something like demekin, de meaning big ass, me meaning eyes, and kin meaning goldfish. So it means big ass eyed goldfish. I found a picture on line that sort of resembles the ones we got.
Anyway, we got 3 more fish. I was not terribly impressed with them. We put them in the tank. They did nothing. We fed them. They did nothing. We didn't feed them. They did nothing. They were so uninteresting! Not surprisingly, they died one by one.
Got 2 more fish. One big ass eyed and one something else (I know, I'm so technical). These ones move! They seem excited to see us, and always very happy to be fed! I can sort of think of these ones as cute. So my next question is, if your pet fish has a long string of shit coming out of it, does that mean you are feeding it too much?
Thursday, May 08, 2008
just letting you know
in case you have read something in the news about Japan-I didn't even feel the earthquake early Thursday morning.
We are fine :)
We are fine :)
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
delayed
I was at school, checking out a comment from Gina (hi Gina!) and found that the video seems to be working now-scroll down to this is the 4th time!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
OK, this is like taking a page from illaheebaby’s book, but I like this style and it’s easy to write (therefore easy to post more!)
To my inner i-pod,
While I admit that I like music a lot, could you please stop making me listen to songs that I don’t like? Come on, now, I have never enjoyed Roxette, could you please stop making it go through my head?! Also, I would appreciate it, if you are going to continue making music go through my head, if you could at least pick songs from the music I listen to lately, ok? I don’t really need those kid songs in Jewish anymore, I stopped babysitting that little girl about 10 years ago now!
Thanks very much,
sheri
To my inner i-pod,
While I admit that I like music a lot, could you please stop making me listen to songs that I don’t like? Come on, now, I have never enjoyed Roxette, could you please stop making it go through my head?! Also, I would appreciate it, if you are going to continue making music go through my head, if you could at least pick songs from the music I listen to lately, ok? I don’t really need those kid songs in Jewish anymore, I stopped babysitting that little girl about 10 years ago now!
Thanks very much,
sheri
learning
What have you learned this week?
I found out that it’s not good to substitute baking soda for baking powder. Scones ended up tasting like baking soda. Yeeech!
I learned that when I get bored, I want to eat. Never used to be like that!
How about you?
I found out that it’s not good to substitute baking soda for baking powder. Scones ended up tasting like baking soda. Yeeech!
I learned that when I get bored, I want to eat. Never used to be like that!
How about you?
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
um
Back at work. Still not very good at this. Well, I’m now into my second full week of being back at school. Still haven’t had a full week of classes. Yes! It’s been really good to ease back into things. I think we won’t really have a full week of classes until June or so, (not kidding, either!) There seems to be something every week, and then by the end of May we have midterms, which is pretty interesting as we have barely had classes in some cases so what am I going to test them on?
The only problem is that I end up getting bored, or wasting time on the internet. There’s so many things I want to do but once I start looking on the net I don’t bother doing anything. Kinda stupid, I know. I could certainly use that time to study or write this. Hehe.
So I am teaching about 20 hours a week, a number I have been told is a lot by other teachers but it doesn’t seem too bad (same as last year). A new thing for me this year is going to the high school that is attached to my junior high school. I have 2 classes a week there. All of the students are kids I taught last year, so I know them. Unfortunately, I know them. The students from this junior high were divided into levels:2 advanced classes, 2 average classes, and 1 basic class. I am the basic class teacher. 14 boys and 2 girls. While I was looking at the list of names I was thinking “Ah!”, not him”, “oh no!” Anyway, the biggest troublemakers and loudest boys are almost all in my class. *sigh*
Well, I think I am going to follow the example of a few of my friends and start doing Wordless Wednesday and Foto Friday. I want to post more!
The only problem is that I end up getting bored, or wasting time on the internet. There’s so many things I want to do but once I start looking on the net I don’t bother doing anything. Kinda stupid, I know. I could certainly use that time to study or write this. Hehe.
So I am teaching about 20 hours a week, a number I have been told is a lot by other teachers but it doesn’t seem too bad (same as last year). A new thing for me this year is going to the high school that is attached to my junior high school. I have 2 classes a week there. All of the students are kids I taught last year, so I know them. Unfortunately, I know them. The students from this junior high were divided into levels:2 advanced classes, 2 average classes, and 1 basic class. I am the basic class teacher. 14 boys and 2 girls. While I was looking at the list of names I was thinking “Ah!”, not him”, “oh no!” Anyway, the biggest troublemakers and loudest boys are almost all in my class. *sigh*
Well, I think I am going to follow the example of a few of my friends and start doing Wordless Wednesday and Foto Friday. I want to post more!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
oops-time keeps slipping away
Again it has been such a long time since I updated. I have been meaning to write and even had a bunch of things I was thinking of writing about but, not having written them down, can no longer remember. Sigh.
Anyway, I’ll write about something I do remember. A couple of weekends ago, I went to Tokyo. By myself. Holy cow! As in the first time I didn’t sleep with my boy. Since he was born. It was sooooo cool and soooo needed! He didn’t have much of a problem, it seems, without me, although he called me a couple of times and apparently cried a little on Sunday morning. It was great.
So the reason I went to Tokyo was to take part in a conference. It was a conference of Canadian Consular Wardens, of which I am now officially. (got a certificate and everything!) A Consular Warden is basically the eyes and ears for the embassy in our area. What that really means is if there is a natural disaster in my area I have to contact people on my list and see if they are all right. Even though that if there is a natural disaster (read earthquake) then probably all of the communication lines will be down and I’m not sure how I’ll be trying to contact everyone. But anyway. We found out at the conference that we have to try and reach the people on our list but that the number of Canadians who are in Canada compared with the number of Canadians who are registered in Japan are completely different- almost 3000 people are registered but the Japanese government gave almost 12,000 Canadians alien cards last year. So if you are not registered, you should do so. Basically it’s so the embassy can get information about you and pass it on to your family in Canada. In the event of an emergency.
Other than that, not much is new. I am at work again, killing time. The kids have all taken their final exams and so I have finished marking and giving back exams, giving grades, and there are no more lessons to plan for this school year. I guess I could plan for next year but seeing as I don’t know what classes I’ll be teaching (or if I even will be teaching here next year-nothing is 100%!) it would be challenging. Guess its time to start studying Japanese again!
Anyway, I’ll write about something I do remember. A couple of weekends ago, I went to Tokyo. By myself. Holy cow! As in the first time I didn’t sleep with my boy. Since he was born. It was sooooo cool and soooo needed! He didn’t have much of a problem, it seems, without me, although he called me a couple of times and apparently cried a little on Sunday morning. It was great.
So the reason I went to Tokyo was to take part in a conference. It was a conference of Canadian Consular Wardens, of which I am now officially. (got a certificate and everything!) A Consular Warden is basically the eyes and ears for the embassy in our area. What that really means is if there is a natural disaster in my area I have to contact people on my list and see if they are all right. Even though that if there is a natural disaster (read earthquake) then probably all of the communication lines will be down and I’m not sure how I’ll be trying to contact everyone. But anyway. We found out at the conference that we have to try and reach the people on our list but that the number of Canadians who are in Canada compared with the number of Canadians who are registered in Japan are completely different- almost 3000 people are registered but the Japanese government gave almost 12,000 Canadians alien cards last year. So if you are not registered, you should do so. Basically it’s so the embassy can get information about you and pass it on to your family in Canada. In the event of an emergency.
Other than that, not much is new. I am at work again, killing time. The kids have all taken their final exams and so I have finished marking and giving back exams, giving grades, and there are no more lessons to plan for this school year. I guess I could plan for next year but seeing as I don’t know what classes I’ll be teaching (or if I even will be teaching here next year-nothing is 100%!) it would be challenging. Guess its time to start studying Japanese again!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
This the 4th time!
The whole video thing has not been working out for me. I'm going to try one last time!
Only about 30 minutes this time...
Only about 30 minutes this time...
Saturday, January 19, 2008
let's see if this works
Hiroki's grandmother bought him a used piano for Christmas.It seems like uploading this takes a really long time but I would like to see if it's going to work. What does everyone else do-do you somehow make your video file smaller before uploading it? Or do you just end up spending a lot of time waiting?
Thursday, January 17, 2008
7 5 3
Back at work. I don’t know why I feel like I can get this done more here than at home. Could be because I have so much time on the computer here. I have also planned lots of my lessons already and so end up wasting time surfing net. I could probably study Japanese…
Last November we took the boy to the shrine to celebrate his becoming 5 years old. Shichi-go-san (7,5,3) is often celebrated here, I’ve heard that it started because children didn’t survive long in the old days, so people started to go to the shrine to give thanks to the gods that their children were still alive. Wikipedia, however didn’t mention that. Anyway, boys go at 5 years old and get dressed up in a hakama or suit. We rented a hakama for him, it was beautiful.
The shop that we rented it from was great. The woman said to my mother-in-law that we don’t need to pay for someone to put it on him (the sashes should be tied elaborately, especially if you are going to get pictures done) and that she would teach us. So she did. My mother-in-law tried it a couple of times and then the saleswoman told us we could take it home to practice with. We had wanted to use it the next week. She also told us that she was going to give us a special deal-we said that our price range was around 15,000 yen or about $150 but the one she showed us first was about double that. Gulp. She said if we liked it we could rent it for our price range. Nice. She was really good at sales, I think. Anyway, we rented it and ended up borrowing it for a week longer since we couldn’t get to the shrine on that weekend. It was great, didn’t cost anymore money or anything. My poor mother-in-law ended up practicing and practicing tying the sash (she used a garbage can) and in the end Hiroki kept looking down at it while she was tying it and saying “That’s wrong, you’re doing it wrong!” Rat.
Last November we took the boy to the shrine to celebrate his becoming 5 years old. Shichi-go-san (7,5,3) is often celebrated here, I’ve heard that it started because children didn’t survive long in the old days, so people started to go to the shrine to give thanks to the gods that their children were still alive. Wikipedia, however didn’t mention that. Anyway, boys go at 5 years old and get dressed up in a hakama or suit. We rented a hakama for him, it was beautiful.
The shop that we rented it from was great. The woman said to my mother-in-law that we don’t need to pay for someone to put it on him (the sashes should be tied elaborately, especially if you are going to get pictures done) and that she would teach us. So she did. My mother-in-law tried it a couple of times and then the saleswoman told us we could take it home to practice with. We had wanted to use it the next week. She also told us that she was going to give us a special deal-we said that our price range was around 15,000 yen or about $150 but the one she showed us first was about double that. Gulp. She said if we liked it we could rent it for our price range. Nice. She was really good at sales, I think. Anyway, we rented it and ended up borrowing it for a week longer since we couldn’t get to the shrine on that weekend. It was great, didn’t cost anymore money or anything. My poor mother-in-law ended up practicing and practicing tying the sash (she used a garbage can) and in the end Hiroki kept looking down at it while she was tying it and saying “That’s wrong, you’re doing it wrong!” Rat.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
She finally did it!
Ok I am at work procrastinating. I have been wanting to write for a long time-there are so many things going on that I wanted to write about. First, of course, was the winter holidays. I had a pretty time, once all of the cleaning was done (finally on Dec 31st!) Actually, we didn’t really get all of the cleaning done but it was more of enough for now. My mother-in-law was leaving a lot of it to me, as I think she was pretty tired. But in between Christmas and the cleaning, we did manage get away for a night to a ryokan, or a Japanese inn, and the only worry we had was ‘Which hot spring should I try next?” Pretty nice, actually.
And something else I liked about that ryokan was that it had French food, yum! Of course dinner was served in our room. We took advantage of the fact that it was my mother-in-law’s birthday and got extra cake served with dinner. We had a whole bunch of cake, and it was all really tasty.
Cake and chocolates, mochi (rice cakes made from super fattening rice) have all contributed to my weight gain for the start of the year. I have to cut back on all of my snacks again to get back to where I am a little more comfortable.
Other things I have been itching to write about-living here in Japan. Things have gotten increasingly strict for foreigners here. Last year we had the idiot minister of justice announce to the press that he had a friend of a friend who was in Al-Quaida and that person had come into Japan several times. The way he announced it was so unclear it seems like he was warned about one of the bombings but he didn’t do anything about it, like warn anyone. He later changed his statement to say that he hadn’t known about any bombings and he didn’t really know the person who was in Al-Quaida, anyway, he made the government here look as bumbling and inept as they are, I suppose. The upshot of his whole statement was that Japan needs to protect itself against foreigners (which I will always be living here) and therefore the government made the program to fingerprint every foreigner every time they leave and re-enter the country. Every time. And not only that, but they will keep the records for an unannounced period of time (I think I heard like 70 years or something ridiculous like that) and they will give other government officials any access they need to the records. As in any police office around the country can access the fingerprint bank any time to use for ‘solving crime’. Maybe I am paranoid, but I don’t believe that first of all, the government is capable of not leaking our fingerprint information. I also am slightly paranoid that a police officer could frame any foreigner for any crime. Maybe I have been reading too many websites about this, but I just don’t feel comfortable that they’ll keep fingerprints for that long. Actually I have stopped reading a lot of sites like that as I have been feeling more and more paranoid-I’ve heard that I can actually (technically) be deported from the country for traffic violation. Anyway, it has made me feel not so happy about things here. It was brought up again today, with the headline in the news that permanent residents may be required to prove their Japanese proficiency. Sigh.
And something else I liked about that ryokan was that it had French food, yum! Of course dinner was served in our room. We took advantage of the fact that it was my mother-in-law’s birthday and got extra cake served with dinner. We had a whole bunch of cake, and it was all really tasty.
Cake and chocolates, mochi (rice cakes made from super fattening rice) have all contributed to my weight gain for the start of the year. I have to cut back on all of my snacks again to get back to where I am a little more comfortable.
Other things I have been itching to write about-living here in Japan. Things have gotten increasingly strict for foreigners here. Last year we had the idiot minister of justice announce to the press that he had a friend of a friend who was in Al-Quaida and that person had come into Japan several times. The way he announced it was so unclear it seems like he was warned about one of the bombings but he didn’t do anything about it, like warn anyone. He later changed his statement to say that he hadn’t known about any bombings and he didn’t really know the person who was in Al-Quaida, anyway, he made the government here look as bumbling and inept as they are, I suppose. The upshot of his whole statement was that Japan needs to protect itself against foreigners (which I will always be living here) and therefore the government made the program to fingerprint every foreigner every time they leave and re-enter the country. Every time. And not only that, but they will keep the records for an unannounced period of time (I think I heard like 70 years or something ridiculous like that) and they will give other government officials any access they need to the records. As in any police office around the country can access the fingerprint bank any time to use for ‘solving crime’. Maybe I am paranoid, but I don’t believe that first of all, the government is capable of not leaking our fingerprint information. I also am slightly paranoid that a police officer could frame any foreigner for any crime. Maybe I have been reading too many websites about this, but I just don’t feel comfortable that they’ll keep fingerprints for that long. Actually I have stopped reading a lot of sites like that as I have been feeling more and more paranoid-I’ve heard that I can actually (technically) be deported from the country for traffic violation. Anyway, it has made me feel not so happy about things here. It was brought up again today, with the headline in the news that permanent residents may be required to prove their Japanese proficiency. Sigh.
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