Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Ashikaga Wine Festival
What up What up?
Yeah so this week has been easy. I taught at Funatsugawa on Monday. Taught the whole school in one day again haha (all 21 students in the school). At recess we played cops and robbers, the kids love getting chased, but always complain that I'm to fast haha. I like funatsugawa but the 5/6th grade really doesn't get into English at all which makes it hard to want to teach.
On tuesday I taught at Azuma JHS where I finally gave my students the gifts I made/got for them. Here's a picture.
For Kentaro, I bought a hacky sack because he really liked playing it when we played during the lunch break. I hope he plays with his classmates and they all see how fun it is haha. For Hikaru I burned a copy of her favorite band's CD. She likes a group called NewS and the album name is Pacific. I also included some extra tracks from other CD's because there was room. For Momoko I drew two pictures of her favorite Naruto character Neji and gave her the free Naruto bag I got at Kiddieland in Tokyo haha. For all of them I wrote a note in Japanese saying:
I know the English speech was difficult, but I think you did your best. If you always do your best you will never have any regrets in life. I used my hanko (signature stamp) and hanko'ed the note too haha.
I think they all really liked their gifts.
Wednesday through Friday I taught at Ueno ES. On Wednesday I taught 4th grade, which is pretty fun. After school that day the incoming first graders came to get tests done. A small paper test, and eye sight and hearing test. Just to check up on them I guess? It was kind of fun just hanging out with the students and helping the kindergardeners. On Thursday and Friday I taught 2nd and 1st grade, and I've decided they are my favorite grades haha. This one cute little first grade girl wouldn't leave my side, at recess she wanted to hold my hand haha. She also brought me over to the monkey bars and made me watch her do it haha. She was all excited and I told her GOOD JOB!
After class was over in the 2nd and 1st grade I told the kids "手を上げてください” Which means please raise your hands and when they did I ran up to them and started tickling them. It was really funny, but now all the kids just come up to me with their hands in the air because they want to be tickled so its funny but kinda weird haha.
At recess on Thursday these two 2nd grader girls wouldn't leave me alone. I had to phyiscally run away from them during recess. I climbed a tree and hid. They kept wanting to hold my hands. A six grader came over and said they we were lovers haha. I told her NO! and Help me! lol.
After school on the day that I taught 2nd grade (Thur) this kid came up and talked to me for a bit, then I realized his hat he was wearing had this written on it: F*** the World (but without the stars) haha. It was hilarious that people here can wear that, have no idea what it says and on top of that he's a 2nd grader without a care in the world. I think sometime soon I want to bring my camera to school, I still haven't done it. If I take pictures of kids though and post them I can lose my job so the pictures will just be for me and anyone who requests them via email I guess.
This weekend was the Wine Festival in Ashikaga. Here are some pictures.
Here's a link to the rest of the album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070332&l=c63bb&id=38001190
It was pretty fun, but I'm glad I didn't go with everyone else at 7:00am, I went with Kazuya and Matt at about 10, and got to leave with them a little early at about 4:30. Surprisingly I didn't get drunk at the wine festival. I think its because I'm not a huge fan of wine so I didn't go crazy, but I did eat alot of stuff there because everyone brought different stuff with them. We got to eat in the vineyard, it was really cool. There was live music, good food, good drinks, and good people.
And a video!
Yeah so this week has been easy. I taught at Funatsugawa on Monday. Taught the whole school in one day again haha (all 21 students in the school). At recess we played cops and robbers, the kids love getting chased, but always complain that I'm to fast haha. I like funatsugawa but the 5/6th grade really doesn't get into English at all which makes it hard to want to teach.
On tuesday I taught at Azuma JHS where I finally gave my students the gifts I made/got for them. Here's a picture.
For Kentaro, I bought a hacky sack because he really liked playing it when we played during the lunch break. I hope he plays with his classmates and they all see how fun it is haha. For Hikaru I burned a copy of her favorite band's CD. She likes a group called NewS and the album name is Pacific. I also included some extra tracks from other CD's because there was room. For Momoko I drew two pictures of her favorite Naruto character Neji and gave her the free Naruto bag I got at Kiddieland in Tokyo haha. For all of them I wrote a note in Japanese saying:
I know the English speech was difficult, but I think you did your best. If you always do your best you will never have any regrets in life. I used my hanko (signature stamp) and hanko'ed the note too haha.
I think they all really liked their gifts.
Wednesday through Friday I taught at Ueno ES. On Wednesday I taught 4th grade, which is pretty fun. After school that day the incoming first graders came to get tests done. A small paper test, and eye sight and hearing test. Just to check up on them I guess? It was kind of fun just hanging out with the students and helping the kindergardeners. On Thursday and Friday I taught 2nd and 1st grade, and I've decided they are my favorite grades haha. This one cute little first grade girl wouldn't leave my side, at recess she wanted to hold my hand haha. She also brought me over to the monkey bars and made me watch her do it haha. She was all excited and I told her GOOD JOB!
After class was over in the 2nd and 1st grade I told the kids "手を上げてください” Which means please raise your hands and when they did I ran up to them and started tickling them. It was really funny, but now all the kids just come up to me with their hands in the air because they want to be tickled so its funny but kinda weird haha.
At recess on Thursday these two 2nd grader girls wouldn't leave me alone. I had to phyiscally run away from them during recess. I climbed a tree and hid. They kept wanting to hold my hands. A six grader came over and said they we were lovers haha. I told her NO! and Help me! lol.
After school on the day that I taught 2nd grade (Thur) this kid came up and talked to me for a bit, then I realized his hat he was wearing had this written on it: F*** the World (but without the stars) haha. It was hilarious that people here can wear that, have no idea what it says and on top of that he's a 2nd grader without a care in the world. I think sometime soon I want to bring my camera to school, I still haven't done it. If I take pictures of kids though and post them I can lose my job so the pictures will just be for me and anyone who requests them via email I guess.
This weekend was the Wine Festival in Ashikaga. Here are some pictures.
Here's a link to the rest of the album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070332&l=c63bb&id=38001190
It was pretty fun, but I'm glad I didn't go with everyone else at 7:00am, I went with Kazuya and Matt at about 10, and got to leave with them a little early at about 4:30. Surprisingly I didn't get drunk at the wine festival. I think its because I'm not a huge fan of wine so I didn't go crazy, but I did eat alot of stuff there because everyone brought different stuff with them. We got to eat in the vineyard, it was really cool. There was live music, good food, good drinks, and good people.
And a video!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Second Month Complete
So I've finish October and it is was my second successful month here. I'm still enjoying teaching. Alot of the kids are warming up to me, pretty much everyone has my name down by now. They are still confused about what to call me: Nicholas Sensei or Lockard Sensei, but that's ok.
I haven't been bringing my camera with me places lately and I hate to post without any pictures or videos. Friday night I went to Graham's for little get together. Graham had like 8 people over or so, it was pretty fun.
Saturday during the day we had a big brunch and all hung out at Kristine's house. I bought15 bucks with or fruit but made this huge fruit salad it was really good and really worth it. I also had some pancakes and bacon and other goodies. Saturday night I went with Oliver to Oyama and had a few beers, and bar hopped. Met a couple people but didn't exchange numbers.
Today I went to Tokyo with Carrie and Adrian. Here are some pictures.
Here's all the pictures of the trip:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069935&l=e09be&id=38001190
For those of you who know Yoyogi park you know its a nutty place where people do everything imaginable. We came across an acapella group it was pretty cool, I took a video. We also came across a bunny pageant which was funny.
It was another trip down memory lane being back in Tokyo again.
I haven't been bringing my camera with me places lately and I hate to post without any pictures or videos. Friday night I went to Graham's for little get together. Graham had like 8 people over or so, it was pretty fun.
Saturday during the day we had a big brunch and all hung out at Kristine's house. I bought15 bucks with or fruit but made this huge fruit salad it was really good and really worth it. I also had some pancakes and bacon and other goodies. Saturday night I went with Oliver to Oyama and had a few beers, and bar hopped. Met a couple people but didn't exchange numbers.
Today I went to Tokyo with Carrie and Adrian. Here are some pictures.
Here's all the pictures of the trip:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069935&l=e09be&id=38001190
For those of you who know Yoyogi park you know its a nutty place where people do everything imaginable. We came across an acapella group it was pretty cool, I took a video. We also came across a bunny pageant which was funny.
It was another trip down memory lane being back in Tokyo again.
Monday, November 03, 2008
This is ma Sippin' Whiskey
This past weekend was Halloween! Happy Halloween!!
Ok so Friday night there was a party at this guy Gary's house in Tochigi. It was my second time seeing him. The house party was kind of fun, but I didn't really stay that long because we got there kind of late and I didn't want to spend the night so I left with Carrie and Graham. Kristine posted pictures of it on facebook that I'll post the link for later. The best costume in my opinion was probably Matt's. He was a cowboy, but what made it funny is that he's British. So his attempt at a southern/western accent was just funny. Also the best part of his costume was the fact that he carried around a bottle of Jim Bean the whole night.
On Saturday I woke up early (which I do all the time and it angers me haha) again and went to Utsunomiya for some Ultimate. It was pretty much the usual, except this time we played in a different area because the spot we normally practice was being taken by softball. I did some dances just messing around during the practice and everyone thought the were hilarious. That's a pic of me mid dance I think? I don't remember
Alot of the guys weren't there because they had some event or something on campus. Also this next weekend they have a tournament which is pretty sweet, I wish I could go and watch but the place is like a 5 hour drive west or something. They still want me to come to the tournament in March so that's cool.
Saturday night we had a party at this bar called Circus. On the way there I fell off my bike. This is the first "accident" I've had on my bike which is pretty impressive since its been like almost 3 months into my trip ahha. I was peddling too fast and my foot slipped off the pedal and planted in the ground, luckily I was wearing my Panda Grip gloves, so I didn't get scraped and my bike was fine.
The bar pretty cool, but really small, and really expensive (35 bucks but it was all you can drink so I guess I got my moneys worth). I met a couple new people but didn't exhange phone numbers or anything. Its a shame that the majority of Japanese girls there were a bit old. The closest girl to my age that was cute was 29. I was hoping to meet someone there that spoke English and was a bit closer to my age ahha. I should of still tried to develop a friendship though, oh well maybe I'll see her again. I also met a couple other ALTs that teach in Sano for private schools, but they seemed a bit weird so I don't think I'll try to develop that much.
Later that night Adrian came over to my place and spent the night. I didn't plan on having him come over but he needed a place to stay and I offered. After midnight it was his 25th birthday. We talked about stuff on the walk back from the bar, and then some more when we got back to my place. He's a good guy. I haven't done that much with him but I feel like I can easily get along with him.
Sunday I went over to Graham's around noon or so and we spent the day shopping for some stuff we both need for our houses. I bought a new chair because the one that came with my house was giving me serious back problems because the bar in the middle is in the worst spot. I felt like if I didn't get a new chair I'd get sculliosis or something. So at the store I had the option of a chair with arm rests or a chair without one. I chose the one with arm rests and paid an extra 500 yen (5 dollars) for it. When I built the chair this morning I realized the was no place to attach the arm rests so I wasted 5 dollars, and there's no way I can return it now ahha.Here's a picture of the new chair with the damn arm rests unattached:
I also bought another futon mattress, and I don't care that its yellow and flowery because you'll never see it. But now my bed is alot more comfortable.
Sunday night we headed over to Adrians for his 25th. We bought him a chocolate ice cream cake with snoopy and woodstock on it, it was a pretty nice cake haha. We also payed monopoly. It was a Japanese version with credit cards instead of cash. It was really weird and difficult to make transactions lol. And Adrian cheated and gave himself 5 million extra money, so it kind of made the game pointless. After that we played hacky sack hahah... and goofed off in Adrian's house. We caught the last train back.
Today (Monday) I had off so I tried to make use of the day and I went shopping. I set out only to buy a coat but ended up spending about 20,000 yen ($200) on clothes. While shopping two kids that I never met before followed me around the store and talked to me. I asked if they were my students or if they were elementary school students they said no. So some random kids wanted to talk to me. Hah I think the little boy was 4 and the little girl was maybe 3. They both literally followed me around the store as I was looking for a coat. Occasionally they tugged on my arm and then would say stuff in English and be silly. They made animal noises like Meow then would say CAT! Or they would scratch their heads and armpits and say MONKEY! They also tried to pop out from around a corner and scare me. It was really cute and funny. I just played along and joked with them and taught them some English words. Their Dad noticed what they were doing and told them to stop hah. I didn't really care but it was funny that that happened.
Anyways here are some pictures of what I bought.
First here is the coat I bought. I like the way it looks, it fit well and was comfy.
I bought this shirt too with pigs on it because it's good looking and just funny.
I also bought the matching shirt that I'll wear under it. Here is the front:
Here is the back: The pigs are falling all over the place.
It's starting to get cold out so I'll really need all these warm clothes.
Here's a pic of everything I bought. I also bought some socks, that were kind of expensive but super comfy so they'll be worth it. Alot of my white socks are dirty looking because of playing ulimate so I need to rotate them out. I've been spending alot of money this week, good thing I get paid next Monday. Next paycheck I wanna save at least 500 dollars or so because Christmas is coming up and I need to get gifts.
In other news I've really fallen behind on my Kanji study, so now I'm going to do a new lesson and maybe two so I can catch up with where I should be right now.
Ok so Friday night there was a party at this guy Gary's house in Tochigi. It was my second time seeing him. The house party was kind of fun, but I didn't really stay that long because we got there kind of late and I didn't want to spend the night so I left with Carrie and Graham. Kristine posted pictures of it on facebook that I'll post the link for later. The best costume in my opinion was probably Matt's. He was a cowboy, but what made it funny is that he's British. So his attempt at a southern/western accent was just funny. Also the best part of his costume was the fact that he carried around a bottle of Jim Bean the whole night.
On Saturday I woke up early (which I do all the time and it angers me haha) again and went to Utsunomiya for some Ultimate. It was pretty much the usual, except this time we played in a different area because the spot we normally practice was being taken by softball. I did some dances just messing around during the practice and everyone thought the were hilarious. That's a pic of me mid dance I think? I don't remember
Alot of the guys weren't there because they had some event or something on campus. Also this next weekend they have a tournament which is pretty sweet, I wish I could go and watch but the place is like a 5 hour drive west or something. They still want me to come to the tournament in March so that's cool.Saturday night we had a party at this bar called Circus. On the way there I fell off my bike. This is the first "accident" I've had on my bike which is pretty impressive since its been like almost 3 months into my trip ahha. I was peddling too fast and my foot slipped off the pedal and planted in the ground, luckily I was wearing my Panda Grip gloves, so I didn't get scraped and my bike was fine.
The bar pretty cool, but really small, and really expensive (35 bucks but it was all you can drink so I guess I got my moneys worth). I met a couple new people but didn't exhange phone numbers or anything. Its a shame that the majority of Japanese girls there were a bit old. The closest girl to my age that was cute was 29. I was hoping to meet someone there that spoke English and was a bit closer to my age ahha. I should of still tried to develop a friendship though, oh well maybe I'll see her again. I also met a couple other ALTs that teach in Sano for private schools, but they seemed a bit weird so I don't think I'll try to develop that much.
Later that night Adrian came over to my place and spent the night. I didn't plan on having him come over but he needed a place to stay and I offered. After midnight it was his 25th birthday. We talked about stuff on the walk back from the bar, and then some more when we got back to my place. He's a good guy. I haven't done that much with him but I feel like I can easily get along with him.
Sunday I went over to Graham's around noon or so and we spent the day shopping for some stuff we both need for our houses. I bought a new chair because the one that came with my house was giving me serious back problems because the bar in the middle is in the worst spot. I felt like if I didn't get a new chair I'd get sculliosis or something. So at the store I had the option of a chair with arm rests or a chair without one. I chose the one with arm rests and paid an extra 500 yen (5 dollars) for it. When I built the chair this morning I realized the was no place to attach the arm rests so I wasted 5 dollars, and there's no way I can return it now ahha.Here's a picture of the new chair with the damn arm rests unattached:
I also bought another futon mattress, and I don't care that its yellow and flowery because you'll never see it. But now my bed is alot more comfortable.
Sunday night we headed over to Adrians for his 25th. We bought him a chocolate ice cream cake with snoopy and woodstock on it, it was a pretty nice cake haha. We also payed monopoly. It was a Japanese version with credit cards instead of cash. It was really weird and difficult to make transactions lol. And Adrian cheated and gave himself 5 million extra money, so it kind of made the game pointless. After that we played hacky sack hahah... and goofed off in Adrian's house. We caught the last train back.
Today (Monday) I had off so I tried to make use of the day and I went shopping. I set out only to buy a coat but ended up spending about 20,000 yen ($200) on clothes. While shopping two kids that I never met before followed me around the store and talked to me. I asked if they were my students or if they were elementary school students they said no. So some random kids wanted to talk to me. Hah I think the little boy was 4 and the little girl was maybe 3. They both literally followed me around the store as I was looking for a coat. Occasionally they tugged on my arm and then would say stuff in English and be silly. They made animal noises like Meow then would say CAT! Or they would scratch their heads and armpits and say MONKEY! They also tried to pop out from around a corner and scare me. It was really cute and funny. I just played along and joked with them and taught them some English words. Their Dad noticed what they were doing and told them to stop hah. I didn't really care but it was funny that that happened.
Anyways here are some pictures of what I bought.
First here is the coat I bought. I like the way it looks, it fit well and was comfy.
I bought this shirt too with pigs on it because it's good looking and just funny.
I also bought the matching shirt that I'll wear under it. Here is the front:
Here is the back: The pigs are falling all over the place.
It's starting to get cold out so I'll really need all these warm clothes.
Here's a pic of everything I bought. I also bought some socks, that were kind of expensive but super comfy so they'll be worth it. Alot of my white socks are dirty looking because of playing ulimate so I need to rotate them out. I've been spending alot of money this week, good thing I get paid next Monday. Next paycheck I wanna save at least 500 dollars or so because Christmas is coming up and I need to get gifts.In other news I've really fallen behind on my Kanji study, so now I'm going to do a new lesson and maybe two so I can catch up with where I should be right now.
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