Japanese Kids

So the conceptions I had of Japanese kids is for the most part true. I thought that the Junior High and High School kids would be all laid back and shy. And for the most part they are, except the classes where one of my jokes lands and they all get the giggles.
Today I was teaching my class of three 13 year girls. They are all usually dead silent and mumble English to me, usually with perfect grammar and pronunciation. Today however, I got them into the giggly mood by cracking a joke saying Jeremy and I were going to take pictures together in a photo booth, a time honored Japanese girl tradition. They all lost it and couldn't stop laughing. The rest of the class was great because they actually had energy when they spoke. I have discovered that the best way to reach these older laid back kids is to crack a joke. And this is not hard to do, because basically anything eccentric I do gets a good laugh. For example, to explain "bang my head" I did a classic moved performed by ZEV in high school where you run towards a door and pretend to BANG your head, but you actually block it with your hand. My students erupted in laughter, they didn't stop laughing for 5 minutes. Laughter is the key method I use when teaching, I remember being a student, and my favorite teachers were always the ones that could make me laugh. I really think that it lightens the mood and makes learning fun.
Some other good news, I got my favorite student Masayoshi back from Jeremy next quarter! So I can continue to teach fun IDIOMS! This kid is a genius and he is hilarious, he makes my day every time we have a class together.
I'm on my way out to the Tottori nightlife, but I'll post again on Monday my time, Sunday your time!
ONE :-)

Tottori-City Life

This week was good, the days seem to fly by so fast. I guess that is what happens when you work full time teaching kids. The little ones are so crazy and full of energy that the time just vanishes. The older students are so laid back though, and it is a little harder to teach them. The older ones are so bogged down with homework and studying that they are so tired. I ask them, what will you do this weekend? And 50% of the time they say sleep. That is what they look forward to the most. The other 50% usually say study. I have some really bright students, their English is great and it is a lot of fun to teach them. I found out the other day that I won't have Masayoshi as a student next quarter. I was so upset because not only is he the smartest, he is the funniest. Last week we spent the whole class telling jokes and just talking because the textbook is too easy for him. I taught him some more idioms and we talked about American music. Japanese people enjoy the funniest American music. They love Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and the Backstreet Boys. At karaoke they always ask me to sing Backstreet Boys or Bon Jovi, I dislike both bands so it is hard, but I do it to please them. They especially enjoy "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys.

Anyways, this weekend I had dinner with this Japanese girl named Yorie. I met her a few weeks ago and she said she wanted to learn English. So I told her we could meet up and talk in English and Japanese. She doesn't know much English, so we spent most of the time talking in Japanese. She is your typical party girl, I asked her what her hobbies were and she said, "drinking alcohol and dancing." Not the kind of girl I am looking for, but she was fun to talk to and practicing Japanese is always good. After we ate dinner we met up with Jeremy and his friend Eri. We then went to a bar and hung out for a bit then I went home. It was a fun night, nothing too crazy, but it was great speaking Japanese all night. At work I have to speak English all day, so I don't get to practice my Japanese much during the week.

The next day I woke up and wanted to go for a long bike ride/hike. I followed this river all the way to this trail that led to the sand dunes. I got off my bike and began to hike through the forest along this trail that led to the sand dunes. I thought it would take me to the tourist spot where I was last week with Mitsue. Instead it took me to this desolate part of the dune. It was great because the sand was untouched, unlike the tourist area that is covered in footprints. I walked around and decided to get artistic, so I wrote some Japanese in the sand. The picture below says, Nature. It was a very peaceful afternoon. I returned home and studied some Japanese, ate dinner and watched a movie.

The next day I went to my usual lesson with Mitsue. It was a little longer this time, I was really struggling with some of the material so we studied for about 3 hours together. She is so sweet, she made me these two delicious sandwiches that reminded me of home because they were on sub bread. We had a good lesson and then I returned home. That was my weekend, the usual, going out, biking, the ocean and finally my lesson with Mitsue.

I wanted to talk about one more thing: Japanese people stare at me every where I go. I thought I would get used to it by now, but I haven't. It is really annoying to pass someone and have them turn their head and follow you as you go by. If the cute girls do this I don't mind, but it is the old people. They give me dirty looks and it is quite uncomfortable. Jeremy told me to give them a big old smile in return, but that is hard to do when they are giving you the evil-eye. I guess I'll have to learn to deal with it, so I am going to take Jeremy's advice and give them a big "AMERICA RULES" smile and move on. That is the only piece of culture shock that I have had to deal with so far. The rest of the cultural differences are no big deal to me because I knew about them before I came.

Till next week. ONE

Sand Dunes 砂丘に行った！

Today I had a Japanese lesson with Mistue. Instead of going to her house we decided to go to the Sand Dunes and only talk in Japanese. She said, "This is my style, outside lesson today, Ne." So we headed to the Sand Dunes and they were massive. They were much bigger than what I had expected. The wind was quite strong, so it was difficult climbing to the top. We did it and got to see the large drop to the ocean from the top. We talked about how big, beautiful and different the sand dunes were. We also talked about a small island in the distance that looks like a whale. After getting on the subject of whales, I had to ask her. "Have you ever eaten whale?" She said she hadn't, but that they serve it in schools because it is cheap!!! So Japanese people feel the need to kill an endangered species, and then sell them for cheap?!?! That confused me and it was quite frustrating to hear that they make school children eat the whale...Anyways after complaining about whaling for a while we headed to Koyama pond. Mitsue really loves this pond, although like I said earlier, it is more of a lake. It is very beautiful because it is surrounded by mountains.

After that we headed to an Italian all you can eat restaurant! That's right, all you can eat in Japan! I was so excited, I had an opportunity to stuff my face like an American! Mitsue and I sat down next to these four girls, and I got the usual giggle when we sat down. I then began to devour everything that was put in front of me. Mitsue asked me how I can eat so much and be skinny. I said, if you knew my friends Joe and Zev, you would be asking why I can only eat half as much as them. We chatted about our families and Mitsue said, wow your mother much be very strong (とても強い). We then returned to the bike station where I hopped on my bike and returned home. It was a good day of studying, conversation and sightseeing. I finally got to see the Sand Dunes. Till next time. PEACE

面白い週末

This is a pic of the famous Mansion in Tottori at the base of Mt. Kyushou. This is where the city leader/shogunate lived from the 1800s to the 1950s. It has Western/Japanese Style architecture.

週末にいろいろな事をした。アレグラで面白い人を見ました。その人々はボテルの計略を実行した。それはとても楽しみていました。その後でバーでたくさん食べ物を食べて、ビルを飲んで、カラオケを歌いた。
So I thought I would write some Japanese for all of you to see for fun. Translation: Last weekend I did many different things. I went to a bar called Allegra where I watched two famous bartenders do Bar Tricks. They threw bottles up in the air. I really enjoyed watching them. After this we ate a lot of food at the bar, drank some beer and sang karaoke.

We hung out with some Japanese girls that Jeremy and I had met a few weeks back. They brought their friends and I got to practice my Japanese all night. They all talk in informal Japanese which is hard for me to understand because I have only learned Formal Japanese. Mitsue, my tutor says I speak beautiful Japanese because I use Polite and Formal Japanese. I struggled keeping up with the conversation, but it was still fun. We talked a lot about different hobbies. No one water skis or plays hockey here, so they find my hobbies fascinating. They all play soccer or basketball, but one of them is a SURFER! So I talked to him a lot. He told me that the surf season in Tottori is in the Winter because the waves are huge only in the Winter. I asked him where I could go get a lesson and he told me Uradome Beach which is about 20 mins away from my apartment. I am excited to go and get a lesson, ever since I was a kid I have wanted to surf.

The next day I hung out with Mitsue my tutor and practiced Japanese. It was a little frustrating because I couldn't understand some of the new grammar she introduced. Like any language, some grammar points just don't make sense. English is even worse in this regard. I had a good time chatting with her, she has been all over the world and has many interesting stories.

So until next week everyone, I miss you all!
JB

Fun Weekend in Japan (松江に行って、きゅうしょうざんに上りて、日本語を勉強した。

So I had a great weekend, first I went to Matsue with Jeremy for a friend's birthday. We caught a train and got to Matsue in about 2 hours. Matsue is a really cool town, or so I hear. We went out to a some bars and stayed out all night and caught a train back home at 5 am...It was quite the experience. If you want to hear some more details, ask me later..

The next day I decided to climb the local famous mountain. This mountain is awesome because in the old days there was a castle at the top of it. I was excited to see the ruins. The castle was at the top of Mt. Kyusho and in the early 18th century it was burned to the ground by a rival clan of samurai. I got that information from this board, I couldn't believe I understood the Japanese!

The climb was a lot of fun, it is a path that twists and turns all the way to the top. I decided to get a work out in and ran up the whole path. I ran past some old woman and scared them, one actually screamed...guess that is what happens when you are the only white guy around. I ran into them again later and talked to them in Japanese for about ten minutes! It felt good to have a long conversation in Japanese. When I got to the top I was taken back by the beauty of Tottori. There is the city, but right on the other side of the mountain is pure nature. I love being in such a peaceful place. I ended up hanging out at the top for some time before heading back down. The pictures didn't capture the pure beauty of the sand dunes. The sand is a bright gold and it is really BREATH TAKING(Seinfeld "The Hamptons").　I miss watching Seinfeld...

After I finished climbing the mountain I hopped a train back to Tottori University and met my Japanese tutor Mitsue. She is the sweetest old lady, she picked me up and was bumping ENYA in her car! I told her that I secretly love Enya and she turned up the volume and we sang together. Quite the experience, you can knock me for liking Enya, but that woman has the voice of an Angel. Joe Tierney will respect this Enya story. Anyways, we went to her house and had a two hour lesson. After which she said that I would be able to pass the 3rd of 4 Japanese Competency tests for foreigners. That was refreshing to hear, by the end of the year I will pass the highest level test. I am taking the 3rd level test in the spring, it will be a piece of cake!

So that was my weekend, Japan is getting better and better. I cannot wait for spring to come so I can go to Mt. Daisen! Till next week. またね！

Becoming an Alien

I finally got my Alien Registration Card this week. So it is official I am an Alien Resident. Sounds weird to call yourself an Alien, I prefer foreign resident. Now that I have this card I was able to open a bank account and get an awesome cell phone (ケイタイ). Japanese cell phones are awesome, my phone is basically a camera with a cell phone attached to it. Just check out the picture below. Notice the Pikachu key chain, it was a gift from Jeremy. Everyone in Japan has some weird Key Chain attached to their phone, I've seen some girls with like 20 key chains on their phones. I think I'll stick with Pikachu.

This weekend was fun, Jeremy and I went out on Saturday night and had a good time at the bars with some random people. The club was playing Japanese Hip Hop which is awesome because they rap so fast. I still need to get used to Japanese bars and restaurants, they stay open all night. I didn't get back to my apartment until like 5 am again. Today I took a train to Tottori University, I was supposed to meet my Japanese tutor at 2pm, but she never showed. I guess now that I have a cell phone I can call her from now on so that doesn't happen. It was nice to get over to that side of town and take a look around though. There is this giant lake, but they call it a pond for some reason. Here is a pic of Koyama lake/pond.

Success!

Hey Bro, I needed to show you the new Classical, pretty sweet, only 50 bucks.... It will have to do. Notice the hearts around the sound hole..

The Scream Baby did not scream today in class!!!! He was actually funny and loved to play around with mini-drums. It made my day, until.....a kid named Takayuki decided to run around the classroom naked. What do I do with that, I didn't want to touch the kid, so I opened the door said in Japanese to the mother, "please help me" and she took him out. This kid was out of control, he even bit my arm. I mean wow, I thought the screaming baby was bad. This was another level.

The rest of my day was great. I had yoshi today, he is the funniest kid around. He keeps asking me if I have a girlfriend and if so what is her bra size....I have a hard time telling him to stop because I can't help but laugh. I started teaching him some idioms today and he uses them perfectly. After class he went up to Jeremy, my co-teacher and said, "Hey Jeremy, WORD ON THE STREET is that you are like a DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH." This kid is great and I can see him doing great things. He is sooo smart. One more thing that I love about Japan is the gift giving. I had a mom give me this huge box of chocolates today. She said, "here is a Valentines gift, in Japan only women give gifts on this day." They love chocolate over here, everyday I eat about 10 pieces of chocolate. The other thing about the chocolate they give is that the chocolates look like little pieces of art.


After teaching, Jeremy and I headed out to a Yakiniku restaurant for dinner. Yakiniku restaurants are the best because you pay like 30 bucks for all the meat you can eat. They literally put like 10 plates of raw meat in front of you and all you have to do is put it on the hot stove in front of you. I ate every type of meat I could think of. It was great for me because I have been craving a giant American style meal since I've been here. I was actually FULL after a meal. Usually in Japan you leave a meal unsatisfied, or at least by American standards. If my stomach doesn't hurt after a meal, I'm not full. I finally achieved that after about 3 weeks.

So that was my Wednesday, I am getting into a nice groove, which is nice. Here are some more pics from the weekend. I will post again this weekend.