New term tomorrow
What will the students do now
That they’re used to me?
I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I start working again tomorrow and have the opening ceremony for 2nd term. It will be so much better this year now that I don’t have those pesky introduction lessons. It’s just been so weird thinking that I actually kind of know what I’m sort of supposed to be doing now (maybe?).
We had Christy’s birthday party today. A group of girls went out to all-you-can-eat pizza and karaoke. I ate so much that I’m still full 8 hours later. At karaoke a partial list of what we all rocked out to included:
I went grape picking today at a vineyard near my house. You pay ¥1000 and you get to go eat all the grapes you can then any grapes you want to take home you pay for. I took the new English teacher in our town for some shaded grape-picking delight.
Once we got inside the vineyard we were told we could cut any grapes we like, except for the very expensive Ruby Romans, which sell for about $1,000-$2,000 a bunch. One Ruby Roman can cost as much as $80 dollars. One grape.
So instead we decided to enjoy the grape picking and eat any of the other varieties out in the field. In the end we went home with a single bunch of grapes. The ladies back at the packing house gave us two bonus bunches to take home for free. Thank you!
They also let us taste the mythical beast that is Ruby Roman. It was very sweet and juicy. It would probably be good after chilling in the refrigerator on a very hot day, but a little out of my price range at the moment. (more…)
It’s me rolling in a deathtrap of perhaps the most fun park I have ever been to in my life. The hiking trail had obstacles on it, there were great play structures all over the place, and there was even a giant climbing bridge that had all different pathways through it. I just wishI had worn better shoes …
Or rather, who has the right to? I have a BMI indicator on my Mac Dashboard and as I input my weight tonight I decided to play weight fantasy. Right now my weight is 65 kilograms. (Sorry, you’ll just have to convert to imperial measurements on your own!) The indicator said that my weight was normal for my height. Then I decided to play weight guessing and see waht I’d be a few kgs lighter. Apparently I’d be IDEAL. While I am at a completely normal weight for my height apparently I’m not ideal until I drop those last 2 kgs.
It’s times like this that make me want to go on crazy crash diets.
Oh and by the way, BMI measure, I’ve already lost 8 kgs since coming here. I’ll take my fat-ass normal weight, thank you.
Japanese schoolchildren are adorable. I don’t know if it’s the uniforms or the pigtails or the mullets, but something about everything they do has a twinge of cute overload. At my school, one of the popular games for girls to play at recess is Hana Ichi Monme (花いちもんめ). It’s a little like Japanese Red Rover The girls break off into two teams and walk back and forth at each other while alternating singing a song:
勝ってうれしい花いちもんめ katte ureshii hana ichi monme
負けてくやしい花いちもんめ makete kuyashii hana ichi monme
あの子が欲しい ano ko ga hoshii
あの子が分からん ano ko ga wakaran
相談しましょう sodan shimasho
そうしましょ！ so shimasho
決まった! kimatta!
(A Team) Luckyちゃんが欲しい Lucky-chan ga hoshii
(B Team)Coolちゃんが欲しい Cool-chan ga hoshii
We’re happy we won, hana ichi monme
We’re sad we lost, hana ichi monme
We want that kid
We don’t know “that kid”
Let’s talk about it
Yes, lets!
We’ve decided
We want Lucky!
We want Cool!
It’s not much of a song, but it’s cute to watch. After they sing they huddle in their respective group and pick a member of the opposite team to challenge. The two challengers go out and either play Rock, Paper, Scissors or a game of chicken. The loser is then made to join the winning team.
In case you don’t believe me, here’s a video of the game in action: (more…)
The other day my kids found a snake at school eating a mole. I ran back up to get my camera to take some pictures because it was one of those few times you actually see a snake sitting out in the open swallowing a living creature whole. In that time my students managed to piss the snake off. I mangaged to instead get some video of one pissed off snake.
Now enjoy … Snakes on a Playground
And for good measure, here’s the snake with its mole. After the snake ran away, the mole quietly escaped in the madness. I was pissed.
As some of you may know I am going paragliding this weekend to raise money for a wonderful charity that aids orphans in Cambodia. The charity is called CamKids and many of the JETs in Japan volunteer their services with this charity during school vacations. If you have it in your heart to give, you can donate and cheer me on @ http://www.justgiving.com/Ishikawa-Volunteers. No amount is too small. You’ll have to donate in British pounds (our charity coordinator is a Scot), but £10 = about $15. REMEMBER YOU ARE NOT PAYING FOR ME TO PARAGLIDE. You are donating to help children in need.
Thank you in advance for your wonderful donations.
I’ve been experimenting a lot with my cell phone a Softbank 930SH. Since it’s all fancy and pretty I’m disappointed in myself with not using it to it’s fullest. The other day I decided I’m going to use my cel phone to it’s fullest extent. Apparently the fullest extent might even mean giving me internet access where I need it the most.
It started playing with my phone and computer connection using bluetooth, finally able to transfer photos off of my phone and onto my computer with ease makes my life a lot more enjoyable. I also bought a 8 gb memory card so I could fit a lot more software on my cell. But perhaps my favorite thing that my cell phone can act as a wireless modem for my computer, meaning I can finally use the internet at work. Which means a lot more time to surf the internet (and my poster rate is going to increase dramatically).
Follow this tutorial to learn how to surf the internet with your Mac and Softbank phone. (NOTE: you will need Snow Leopard.)
We’ve all been trying to figure out how to save the dying newspaper industry, trying to get people to care more and realize that papers are still relevant, but newspapers haven’t done perhaps the most important thing: a sexy ad campaign to air during the Olympics! Take a look at this ad for Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun. With a circulation of more than 14 million for its Japanese edition alone, Yomiuri has one of the largest circulations of any newspaper in the world. But this ad, showing Hiro, the lead singer for the Japanese band Exile flexing and wearing a tight wife beater, shows that this newspaper is f***ing serious.
The text in the ad is as follows:
What is real?
Is the thinking passionate?
Does it have the strength to move hearts?
REAL STRENGTH
Yomiuri Shimbun
So, if you want to sell papers, get a hot pop star, have him show off his sexy muscles and BOOM! You’ve got yourself a successful business. Industry saved.
