I finished my final English lessons of the year today. Tomorrow is a national holiday because of the emperor's birthday and Thursday, the 24th, will be a day for closing ceremonies at the school. On Christmas Day I am taking the shinkansen (bullet train) up to Tokyo to stay with some relatives in Yokohama. And this weekend, on the 27th, my girlfriend Elizabeth flies into Narita for a 10 day trip in Tokyo with yours truly!
Though I am more than excited to spend this time in Tokyo for the winter holidays, I have to say that this year's holiday season has left me more homesick and nostalgic than last year's did. For me there's nothing in the world like being with the rest of the Meuse family or my friends around these days - chowing down on awesome cookies, opening a pack of Gary West beef jerky in my stocking, Christmas day with the fam, celebrating New Year's with buddies...
Nevertheless there will be some nice highlights around here for sure. Roughly, the plan is this: spend Christmas Day on a train during the day and with Koki and Kazue at night; stay with them for 2 nights in Yokohama; go to Narita and pick up Elizabeth; stay in Asakusa for 2 nights; meet up with Koki and Kazue and go to Hakone (a famous day-trip spot with onsen, hot spring, and some other natural sites) for a day and a half; spend New Year's in Yokohama; spend another 3 days of sightseeing with Koki and Kazue around Tokyo; and spend the last 3 days with Elizabeth, probably checking out some museums and having an adventure at Disney Sea, while staying in Ueno.
Anyway Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone this year! (meri kurisumasu de yoi otoshi o!)
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Really Tired Students
Last week I worked at the smaller of my two schools, Ogura Junior High. On Friday, during one of the English lessons with the 7th graders (ichi nensei), the Japanese English teacher and I began as usual by asking the students a few questions to review what they've learned. The Japanese English teacher, Ms. Imamura, asked one student 'Do you like Fridays?' He replied 'No I don't.' Naturally she found out why and it was because he had to go to cram school, or juku, after the regular school day. She asked him 'How many times do you have juku this week?' - he replied 'Three times.' She then turned to the rest of the class (about 16 students) and asked them how many went to juku. Half the kids raised their hands.
I asked the kids 'How long do you sleep every night?' Two girls raised their hands and said 6 or 7 hours. Then Ms. Imamura asked the students who got 8 hours of sleep to raise their hands. Two students out of 16 did. I raised my hand, too. 'How about 7 hours?' she asked. Maybe 6 or 7 students raised their hands. '6 hours?' she asked. Another 4 students raised their hands. That covered nearly everyone save the couple who abstained from answering. 'What about on the weekends?' I asked. 'Do you sleep for longer?' The students had some trouble understanding this question so Ms. Imamura asked just one student to answer. A boy answered in Japanese that he gets 8 hours of sleep on Fridays. 'Wow,' Ms. Imamura said and looked at me. 'The students have regular school, then after school a club activity, then juku at night.' She left out homework they had to do after juku and their club activity happenings on the weekend. All the kids in the room are no older than 13.
This was kind of eye opening for me. I and everyone I knew in junior high and high school slept a solid 8 hours a night and longer on the weekends. I had really till then just kind of 'figured' these kids were sleeping about the same amount. Also hearing these kids talk about their sleep habits made me flashback to the numerous times they looked and acted awfully tired during the lessons and not just because I and the Japanese English teacher were totally boring them. And though I'm sure some of my (unspoken) criticism of these kids' motivation was justified at times, I realize now some of it wasn't at all.
In the following class I saw one student sleeping pretty soundly at her desk. Usually the camp counselor, disciplinarian, strong-willed part of my personality would kind of yearn to wake this student up so she could push herself during the 50 minute lesson. I could tap on her desk and say 'Gambare!' (Do your best!). But, after my previous lesson she looked less like a student to be pushed and more like a kid to be nurtured. Really if they're only 12 or 13 and not getting nearly enough sleep it seems clearer to me that there are times when it's fair to let 'em do their best in catching up on sleep during a boring English lesson.
I asked the kids 'How long do you sleep every night?' Two girls raised their hands and said 6 or 7 hours. Then Ms. Imamura asked the students who got 8 hours of sleep to raise their hands. Two students out of 16 did. I raised my hand, too. 'How about 7 hours?' she asked. Maybe 6 or 7 students raised their hands. '6 hours?' she asked. Another 4 students raised their hands. That covered nearly everyone save the couple who abstained from answering. 'What about on the weekends?' I asked. 'Do you sleep for longer?' The students had some trouble understanding this question so Ms. Imamura asked just one student to answer. A boy answered in Japanese that he gets 8 hours of sleep on Fridays. 'Wow,' Ms. Imamura said and looked at me. 'The students have regular school, then after school a club activity, then juku at night.' She left out homework they had to do after juku and their club activity happenings on the weekend. All the kids in the room are no older than 13.
This was kind of eye opening for me. I and everyone I knew in junior high and high school slept a solid 8 hours a night and longer on the weekends. I had really till then just kind of 'figured' these kids were sleeping about the same amount. Also hearing these kids talk about their sleep habits made me flashback to the numerous times they looked and acted awfully tired during the lessons and not just because I and the Japanese English teacher were totally boring them. And though I'm sure some of my (unspoken) criticism of these kids' motivation was justified at times, I realize now some of it wasn't at all.
In the following class I saw one student sleeping pretty soundly at her desk. Usually the camp counselor, disciplinarian, strong-willed part of my personality would kind of yearn to wake this student up so she could push herself during the 50 minute lesson. I could tap on her desk and say 'Gambare!' (Do your best!). But, after my previous lesson she looked less like a student to be pushed and more like a kid to be nurtured. Really if they're only 12 or 13 and not getting nearly enough sleep it seems clearer to me that there are times when it's fair to let 'em do their best in catching up on sleep during a boring English lesson.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Amway part 1 and 2
I know it's been a little while since I last posted, and since my last post I caught the flu and was feeling real out of it for a few days. I don't remember the last time I caught the flu so it surprised me how fast it made my body weak. And after catching it I began to feel more empathy for the kids at school that have been catching it left and right - but also curious as to who was the bugger that got me sick...
I had an experience last weekend I think worth sharing but first I need to backtrack a little bit to put it into context. In October my buddy invited me to a sort of 'dinner party' that he said had something to do with a company called Amway, which I later found out was from the states. My friend got invited to this by an acquaintance he used to work with and this acquaintance is now affiliated with Amway. I being a friend of his friend got invited too.
So we arrived at a house and walked into a living room full of older Japanese men - ranging from a couple of guys around 30 to men in their 40's and 50's. We were the youngest by far and I felt a little awkward just stepping (bare)foot into this living room. We sat down and all turned to our host, the oldest among the Japanese men. He began the evening by playing a promotional DVD that was animated, had something to do with how to succeed, and was naturally in Japanese. After we watched the DVD our host began his introductory pitch about Amway, an American company. He, knowing I was American, looked at me a few times during the speech and I, knowing that I had some kind of distant relationship to this company, felt obliged to keep good eye contact and nod a few times in agreement with statements that may as well have been in Estonian.
Despite the entire speech being spoken in (fluent) Japanese I believe I caught the gist of the gist of what he was talking about. The rags to riches narrative of the 2 dudes who started Amway was a springboard from which this man leaped into an overview of Amway's 'ethos,' which had something to do with a formula for success involving time, capital, risk, etc... At one point he did bring out one of Amway's cleaning products, demonstrating the cleaning power of its solution vs. an ordinary solution in removing a stain on a small mirror. At this point, about 2 hours into the evening I realized I didn't know a few important things: what the heck Amway really sells and how much longer this schpeel was going to last. I did know this was an unusual Saturday night activity for me and one that I felt okay about not having to repeat. To be fair after the speech we did have food and drinks and talked informally amongst ourselves and and I generally enjoyed the rest of my evening.
Two days ago I went with my friend to his acquaintance's house to have lunch. This is the house of a guy he knew, not of a guy's he didn't. Also this lunch was only among 5 people - me, my friend, my friend's acquaintance, his wife, and his friend. I can't say there was anything at all formal about the invitation (I made sure ask) or the lunch. The experience became interesting after I noticed an entire cupboard full of Amway products in their bathroom cupboard. Then I saw vitamins and supplements from Amway lining an entire shelf in their kitchen. Then he and his wife began explaining a few products from an Amway catalog. "So they like Amway crap a lot," I thought. Then after lunch he began giving my friend and I an Amway pitch that sounded way too similar to the one I heard the month before. He even pulled out an Amway portfolio that had a couple of pics of those Americans who started the company (Rich who used to be poor and the other guy whose name I can't remember).
What started to make me sick was when I heard those same bullet points that were blasted at me before - something about having time, money, chance, etc... it was more than enough for me to interrupt him. I said (in Japanese) - "No thanks." "I don't want to own a company," "I don't need this right now." I told him my dream was to become a college professor. He replied to the effect of "This isn't necessary?" I said yes. He began to talk about how I would still need money, time was still a factor (I think a review of the bullet points) and turned to my friend. "What about you?" In a more finessed Japanese style response he gave him the runaround. And after leaving we agreed once more the food and drinks were tasty.
I had an experience last weekend I think worth sharing but first I need to backtrack a little bit to put it into context. In October my buddy invited me to a sort of 'dinner party' that he said had something to do with a company called Amway, which I later found out was from the states. My friend got invited to this by an acquaintance he used to work with and this acquaintance is now affiliated with Amway. I being a friend of his friend got invited too.
So we arrived at a house and walked into a living room full of older Japanese men - ranging from a couple of guys around 30 to men in their 40's and 50's. We were the youngest by far and I felt a little awkward just stepping (bare)foot into this living room. We sat down and all turned to our host, the oldest among the Japanese men. He began the evening by playing a promotional DVD that was animated, had something to do with how to succeed, and was naturally in Japanese. After we watched the DVD our host began his introductory pitch about Amway, an American company. He, knowing I was American, looked at me a few times during the speech and I, knowing that I had some kind of distant relationship to this company, felt obliged to keep good eye contact and nod a few times in agreement with statements that may as well have been in Estonian.
Despite the entire speech being spoken in (fluent) Japanese I believe I caught the gist of the gist of what he was talking about. The rags to riches narrative of the 2 dudes who started Amway was a springboard from which this man leaped into an overview of Amway's 'ethos,' which had something to do with a formula for success involving time, capital, risk, etc... At one point he did bring out one of Amway's cleaning products, demonstrating the cleaning power of its solution vs. an ordinary solution in removing a stain on a small mirror. At this point, about 2 hours into the evening I realized I didn't know a few important things: what the heck Amway really sells and how much longer this schpeel was going to last. I did know this was an unusual Saturday night activity for me and one that I felt okay about not having to repeat. To be fair after the speech we did have food and drinks and talked informally amongst ourselves and and I generally enjoyed the rest of my evening.
Two days ago I went with my friend to his acquaintance's house to have lunch. This is the house of a guy he knew, not of a guy's he didn't. Also this lunch was only among 5 people - me, my friend, my friend's acquaintance, his wife, and his friend. I can't say there was anything at all formal about the invitation (I made sure ask) or the lunch. The experience became interesting after I noticed an entire cupboard full of Amway products in their bathroom cupboard. Then I saw vitamins and supplements from Amway lining an entire shelf in their kitchen. Then he and his wife began explaining a few products from an Amway catalog. "So they like Amway crap a lot," I thought. Then after lunch he began giving my friend and I an Amway pitch that sounded way too similar to the one I heard the month before. He even pulled out an Amway portfolio that had a couple of pics of those Americans who started the company (Rich who used to be poor and the other guy whose name I can't remember).
What started to make me sick was when I heard those same bullet points that were blasted at me before - something about having time, money, chance, etc... it was more than enough for me to interrupt him. I said (in Japanese) - "No thanks." "I don't want to own a company," "I don't need this right now." I told him my dream was to become a college professor. He replied to the effect of "This isn't necessary?" I said yes. He began to talk about how I would still need money, time was still a factor (I think a review of the bullet points) and turned to my friend. "What about you?" In a more finessed Japanese style response he gave him the runaround. And after leaving we agreed once more the food and drinks were tasty.
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