Archive for October, 2007:
Nampa Sareta
Today during a counseling session one of my students told me she wanted to marry me. She’s also a senior citizen.
It was hard to come up with a response to that…
Halloween Begins
Our school began Halloween Week on Saturday. All the teachers wore costumes, and some of the kids did too. (Bonus: I can wear jeans instead of a suit under my costume!) The first day was pretty fun. Hell, any day I can wear a monkey suit is pretty fun! Some of the students were a little freaked out, but most of them enjoyed it. Here’s a photo of our staff (clockwise: Miwa, Rieko, me, Yumi, Saori): Read more »
Takefu, Here I Come
So I’ve been living in Takefu for almost 3 months now, and I haven’t had tons of time to really explore the town, other than my Obon holiday. When I arrived, I asked the other teachers what there was to do here, but since they all live in Fukui or Sabae, they weren’t really able to give me much advice. The previous foreign teacher didn’t help much either, as she didn’t do much other than stay with her boyfriend… so she couldn’t give me much information about the city. So learning at my own pace has been fairly slow, what with work every weekday, and my weekends quite busy. However, the previous previous foreign teacher just came back to Takefu for a day to visit one of our teachers, and so she and I went out with him to a bar. He’s a pretty nice guy, and what’s really cool is that he gave me a list of very nice places in Takefu to go — bars, drycleaners, parks, sushi, okonomiyaki, and other places. I had seen plenty of shops, but without time to trial-and-error them all yet, discovery has been slow. So this was a great help! I’ve really liked Takefu so far (unlike most people who come here I guess) and so did he, so I have a good feeling about his recommendations. So I’m pretty excited to know some places to go now!
I Need to Gain Weight
Yeah, that’s probably one of the weirded things someone has every complained about. See, since late last Fall, my diet consisted of more strombolis and cheesesteaks and pizza than it had in the past (even during my Ringling diet which consisted mainly of pot pies and donuts)… as a result I’d been gaining weight for a while. Then I got this job and bought my suits for my size at the time. Of course, there are no cheesesteaks or strombolis here, and every other portion is smaller — even donuts and pizzas are tiny. So even when I eat unhealthy food (I haven’t exactly been part of the health-food craze), I’m still losing weight just by existing here. At first it was one belt loop, which was kind of nice because I went back to a size that I had been for a very long time. But just yesterday I was walking on my pant cuffs again, and this morning I had to go down another loop on my belt! Egads! I don’t think I’ve gone this far down on a belt since at least very early in my Ringling life. My coworkers even noticed I lost weight (it must have been the lack of manboobs). I don’t have a scale so I can’t really measure anything, but I’m worried that in another month or so I might need to start wearing an extra pair of underpants or stuffing my butt in order to keep my pants from falling off… 困ったね。。。
I Promised Typos
Anytime you come across English in Japan, you’re bound to come across something very interesting. Conversation school is no exception to that rule. Here’s a flashcard that came with one of the sets: Read more »
Takefu in the Fall
There are lots of crows here, and there is one crow who really likes the bike park. I take a photo of him every time I pass the bike park and see him in there. This way I have proof if he ever decides to take a dump all over my bike. Read more »
Artwork at Aeon
Well I haven’t been able to make tons of art here due to my working hours (of course its not like I went above and beyond the call back home either), but I’ve been trying pretty hard. One thing I have been able to do is make lots of art for my school. The first really big project I did I mentioned earlier: the Aeon Zoo. It’s been done for a while, and hanging on a big wall in the back of the school, so I took a few photos of it and stitched them together. It’s a pretty crappy photograph, but there’s not much that can be done about that, considering the stitching. Anyway, trust me: it’s very cute.
The next project, which I just finished today, was to make a bunch of medals for the students who complete special tests. After 10, 20, 30, and 40 points they get a medal, so I got to make the medals:
Cool, huh? I sure hope so. We’re going to print them out on nice paper and laminate them for the kids.