With a Ukulele in my Hand
Forgive me if some of this doesn’t make sense, but it’s actually the second time I write this. I am a bit upset at the fact that I had written 3 pages worth of stuff that I simply forgot to post and then erased unknowingly. In any case, here it goes…AGAIN.
Cristina and I have discovered the wonderful world of Books Misumi. You may be asking yourself, ‘what would Jesse and Cristina want in a book shop that has 0 foreign books (not counting Korean)?’ Well, it’s also a video/dvd/cd rental store. And on every Friday, you can rent 5 videos or dvds for 1000 yen. So, Cristina and I have rented Season 2 and half of Season 3 of Roswell. We have been watching it non-stop for about 2 weeks along with episodes of Lost which we just got. In case you are wondering what I think about them, Season 2 of Roswell was good (better than Season 3 so far). I am finding Lost also very interesting. I have only seen half of it, but I am surprised with what they have done with it.
The last weekend of June, Cristina and I just stayed home and relaxed. We actually got Yahoo BB back, so we had to set it up and get it working. That Saturday night, we went bowling in Kanoya with Jill and Heather. It was surprisingly fun and a good chance for some people watching. Things that surprised me were: how nice and new the shoes were, relatively little smoke compared to American alleys, and the weirdest videos. As for our bowling skills, none of us faired too well. Heather came the closest to clearing 100 both times. Jill and I traded off both times for last. But, we tied for last once you add up our scores from both games. Cristina, as always, is simply getting better at everything she does.
I do have to mention that I did kick everyone’s a#$ at table tennis. Lately, I have been playing with many of my students during recess or a bit after school. They are really good, but I guess so am I. They keep on trying to teach me the ‘proper’ way to hold the paddle. I didn’t even know there was a proper way. In any case, the point is that I beat all the girls. Some of them, even twice. I do have to admit that some of the games were close.
The following Sunday, Cristina, Jill, Heather and I decided to venture to Miyazaki’s new mall, the one that I had gone too when Cristina was in Kyoto with Juanpi and Elena. If I had not mentioned it earlier, it is the biggest mall in Kyushu, though it will certainly not seem so (from an American perspective anyway). Cristina and Jill bought their head lamps for their climb up Fuji on the weekend of July 18. Other than that, nothing too exciting. I guess the highlight of our trip was dinner with Osa in one of her favorite restaurants.
Like usual, we had trouble deciding what restaurants to go to. The two we decided on were closed. Then, in a sheer moment of clarity, Osa remembered Akabei. Within 12minutes, we called to reserve a table and were there ready to sit at it. It is a Japanese style pub (maybe a little bit bigger) with amazing food. Among my favorite things to eat were the pumpkin mousse, the cheese and prawn spring roll and the chicken nanban. My absolute favorite was the pumpkin mousse. Imagine something like a sweet potato casserole with cheese instead of marshmallow on top. Mmmm… Simply delicious. In any case, we ate, drank and were merry and then we went home. Big KUDOS to Osa for remembering the place and taking us there. Now, if she only picked up the tab. (Just kidding Lady Bear!)
During the week, I had two demonstration classes. Basically what this entails is the JTE planning a class and incorporating the children and me in it somehow. You may not think so, but it’s really one of Japan’s favorite spectator sports. About 25 people come from the board of education and other schools for the sheer pleasure of making kids stay after school and watching the teachers get really nervous. After they observe us demonstrating how a great class should go, you walk out to the school courtyard for some tea and biscuits to listen to halfhearted comments about how well you did. Soon after, you’re taken like cattle to a meeting room where you spend the next 100 minutes listening to brainless questions from people who are simply asking questions to look like they are efficiently doing their job. It was great. All I had to do was smile and look foreign. Not so difficult, huh? Actually, it is a bit more involved and interactive than that.
Besides that, this week has been pretty uneventful. Well, there was the night that I went on a bayside cliff to eat Sri Lankan Curry in a restaurant that you have to honk a horn to call your waitress. Oh, and that time that I went to that party on top of the mountain for a girl from my office who is leaving to Kagoshima City for a 2-month study program. And, that day when my boss flipped because he didn’t have a tax form that my supervisor should have given me to fill out back in October. But, hey, that’s life of an ALT. Smooth sailing.
As for this past weekend, Cristina and I volunteered to teach in a One Day International College event. It is meant for people planning on going to an international college to study to see how it is like. However, what it ends up being is a group of women that probably studied English in college and end up using it for nothing else, so they go to events like this to meet people like us and them that they can speak English to. I was surprised that they were so enthusiastic about English, that they actually spoke in English to each other. As for what we taught, I had originally planned on speaking about U.S. Hispanics and teaching some Spanish. But then, I decided to stick with the basics and teach them what countries speak Spanish and some Spanish. Some things that surprised me were what countries they thought spoke Spanish, what countries they didn’t know spoke Spanish, and how good their accents were when they spoke Spanish. I actually think that it is easier for the Japanese to speak Spanish than English. The sounds that you have to make with your mouth are more similar to Spanish than English. Overall, I would say that the lesson was a big success. Cristina and I enjoyed it so much that we are thinking about volunteering to do the same thing in our towns.
Later that night, we went to the rooftop beer garden of the Mitsukoshi Department Store. It was the big Leaver’s Farewell Party. It was a lot of fun and all you can eat and drink which was nice after the crap lunch we had at the College event. It was great to see so many people and be able to have one final bash before they went back to their respective countries. They also gave out some funny (and some mean) awards like high school superlatives. Jill won Karaoke Master of the Universe. After the beer garden, we headed over to On the Table for the after party that was also a lot of fun. Since we couldn’t crash at Alex’s flat, we ended up crashing in a surprisingly spacious Single-room in a business hotel with Jill and Shana.
The following day was declared an AMU day complete with the KFC Dragon Twister and some Starbucks. We just spent the day lounging about. Like June, July seems to be just as rainy and a little bit warmer, so we decided it would be nice to go to the movies. We saw War of the Worlds, which I was pleasantly surprised with and highly recommend if you are looking for a loud, summer blockbuster. My favorite part of the day, however, was not the movie (which should be surprising if you know me). It was the musical instrument store. Cristina tried to teach me some stuff on the piano, which I am determined to learn. She also decided to get a guitar tuner to tune and learn a guitar that Kaz gave to her that was just sitting at her house gathering dust. I have also gotten on the kick and am thinking of learning the guitar, or possibly the ukulele. Yes, you read correctly, the ukulele. I figure it may be easier to learn and a bit more interesting. I have not bought it yet, but I think I will when I go back to AMU on Saturday to see Star Wars. And with that thought, I will leave you – imagining me strumming a ukulele on a street somewhere in this world wearing a brightly-colored Hawaiian shirt and possibly sporting a straw, cowboy-shaped hat.
Cristina and I have discovered the wonderful world of Books Misumi. You may be asking yourself, ‘what would Jesse and Cristina want in a book shop that has 0 foreign books (not counting Korean)?’ Well, it’s also a video/dvd/cd rental store. And on every Friday, you can rent 5 videos or dvds for 1000 yen. So, Cristina and I have rented Season 2 and half of Season 3 of Roswell. We have been watching it non-stop for about 2 weeks along with episodes of Lost which we just got. In case you are wondering what I think about them, Season 2 of Roswell was good (better than Season 3 so far). I am finding Lost also very interesting. I have only seen half of it, but I am surprised with what they have done with it.
The last weekend of June, Cristina and I just stayed home and relaxed. We actually got Yahoo BB back, so we had to set it up and get it working. That Saturday night, we went bowling in Kanoya with Jill and Heather. It was surprisingly fun and a good chance for some people watching. Things that surprised me were: how nice and new the shoes were, relatively little smoke compared to American alleys, and the weirdest videos. As for our bowling skills, none of us faired too well. Heather came the closest to clearing 100 both times. Jill and I traded off both times for last. But, we tied for last once you add up our scores from both games. Cristina, as always, is simply getting better at everything she does.
I do have to mention that I did kick everyone’s a#$ at table tennis. Lately, I have been playing with many of my students during recess or a bit after school. They are really good, but I guess so am I. They keep on trying to teach me the ‘proper’ way to hold the paddle. I didn’t even know there was a proper way. In any case, the point is that I beat all the girls. Some of them, even twice. I do have to admit that some of the games were close.
The following Sunday, Cristina, Jill, Heather and I decided to venture to Miyazaki’s new mall, the one that I had gone too when Cristina was in Kyoto with Juanpi and Elena. If I had not mentioned it earlier, it is the biggest mall in Kyushu, though it will certainly not seem so (from an American perspective anyway). Cristina and Jill bought their head lamps for their climb up Fuji on the weekend of July 18. Other than that, nothing too exciting. I guess the highlight of our trip was dinner with Osa in one of her favorite restaurants.
Like usual, we had trouble deciding what restaurants to go to. The two we decided on were closed. Then, in a sheer moment of clarity, Osa remembered Akabei. Within 12minutes, we called to reserve a table and were there ready to sit at it. It is a Japanese style pub (maybe a little bit bigger) with amazing food. Among my favorite things to eat were the pumpkin mousse, the cheese and prawn spring roll and the chicken nanban. My absolute favorite was the pumpkin mousse. Imagine something like a sweet potato casserole with cheese instead of marshmallow on top. Mmmm… Simply delicious. In any case, we ate, drank and were merry and then we went home. Big KUDOS to Osa for remembering the place and taking us there. Now, if she only picked up the tab. (Just kidding Lady Bear!)
During the week, I had two demonstration classes. Basically what this entails is the JTE planning a class and incorporating the children and me in it somehow. You may not think so, but it’s really one of Japan’s favorite spectator sports. About 25 people come from the board of education and other schools for the sheer pleasure of making kids stay after school and watching the teachers get really nervous. After they observe us demonstrating how a great class should go, you walk out to the school courtyard for some tea and biscuits to listen to halfhearted comments about how well you did. Soon after, you’re taken like cattle to a meeting room where you spend the next 100 minutes listening to brainless questions from people who are simply asking questions to look like they are efficiently doing their job. It was great. All I had to do was smile and look foreign. Not so difficult, huh? Actually, it is a bit more involved and interactive than that.
Besides that, this week has been pretty uneventful. Well, there was the night that I went on a bayside cliff to eat Sri Lankan Curry in a restaurant that you have to honk a horn to call your waitress. Oh, and that time that I went to that party on top of the mountain for a girl from my office who is leaving to Kagoshima City for a 2-month study program. And, that day when my boss flipped because he didn’t have a tax form that my supervisor should have given me to fill out back in October. But, hey, that’s life of an ALT. Smooth sailing.
As for this past weekend, Cristina and I volunteered to teach in a One Day International College event. It is meant for people planning on going to an international college to study to see how it is like. However, what it ends up being is a group of women that probably studied English in college and end up using it for nothing else, so they go to events like this to meet people like us and them that they can speak English to. I was surprised that they were so enthusiastic about English, that they actually spoke in English to each other. As for what we taught, I had originally planned on speaking about U.S. Hispanics and teaching some Spanish. But then, I decided to stick with the basics and teach them what countries speak Spanish and some Spanish. Some things that surprised me were what countries they thought spoke Spanish, what countries they didn’t know spoke Spanish, and how good their accents were when they spoke Spanish. I actually think that it is easier for the Japanese to speak Spanish than English. The sounds that you have to make with your mouth are more similar to Spanish than English. Overall, I would say that the lesson was a big success. Cristina and I enjoyed it so much that we are thinking about volunteering to do the same thing in our towns.
Later that night, we went to the rooftop beer garden of the Mitsukoshi Department Store. It was the big Leaver’s Farewell Party. It was a lot of fun and all you can eat and drink which was nice after the crap lunch we had at the College event. It was great to see so many people and be able to have one final bash before they went back to their respective countries. They also gave out some funny (and some mean) awards like high school superlatives. Jill won Karaoke Master of the Universe. After the beer garden, we headed over to On the Table for the after party that was also a lot of fun. Since we couldn’t crash at Alex’s flat, we ended up crashing in a surprisingly spacious Single-room in a business hotel with Jill and Shana.
The following day was declared an AMU day complete with the KFC Dragon Twister and some Starbucks. We just spent the day lounging about. Like June, July seems to be just as rainy and a little bit warmer, so we decided it would be nice to go to the movies. We saw War of the Worlds, which I was pleasantly surprised with and highly recommend if you are looking for a loud, summer blockbuster. My favorite part of the day, however, was not the movie (which should be surprising if you know me). It was the musical instrument store. Cristina tried to teach me some stuff on the piano, which I am determined to learn. She also decided to get a guitar tuner to tune and learn a guitar that Kaz gave to her that was just sitting at her house gathering dust. I have also gotten on the kick and am thinking of learning the guitar, or possibly the ukulele. Yes, you read correctly, the ukulele. I figure it may be easier to learn and a bit more interesting. I have not bought it yet, but I think I will when I go back to AMU on Saturday to see Star Wars. And with that thought, I will leave you – imagining me strumming a ukulele on a street somewhere in this world wearing a brightly-colored Hawaiian shirt and possibly sporting a straw, cowboy-shaped hat.
posted by Jesse Montano at
4:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home