Wednesday
I bet you all thought now that Daniel is in Japan with me I've forgotten all about you! You're wrong. Mostly wrong anyway. It has been great having Daniel around and I did put off writing because it was great spending time with him and showing him around. Unfortunately I put it off for too long - within a few days of Daniel's arrival, neither of our computers were working! Occasionally one will work for a few days, but never quite long enough for me to write.
So, I'm writing this up now - while I'm at school and will type it up the next time I find a computer. (Sunday: Currently one of our computers is working and we've also borrowed a friends).
One of my teachers was absent today (found out 5 minutes after my class with her was supposed to start), so I spent a bit of time practising my address. Interesting order: postcode, city, area (like state), street block, apartment number. Practising the kanji is more difficult, but at least I understand it a little better now.
(Incidently my teacher had a headache, but only had half a day off! She still wasn't well when she arrived at 12:30, but felt that she didn't have a choice. They don't call in relief teachers and the students just have individual study time.)
The weather is really nice at the moment - sunny days, but not hot (according to Naomi, very humid according to Daniel) and cooling off during the evening.
School has been going well - I'm getting to know the teachers and what they want me to do. Some of the highlights have been the special education classes. They are very enthusiastic and the classes have been lots of fun. I have been able to give a lot of suggestions for the classes and ususally run most of it. The kids are also getting to know me (I have lunch with them on Fridays) although some of them still speak fast Japanese to me and are surprised when I don't understand. At least now I know what words they know and can use them in conversation.
I've also had some fun with the year 9 classes. In their textbook was a story about cross-cultural incidents and my teacher asked to me share one of my own with the class. So, I told the story of wearing my outside shoes inside at a school. Although it was rather challenging for them a few of them understood it well.
The year 8 classes on the other hand, tend to be a little more frustrating - I think year 8 kids are the same in every country! But the textbook really doesn't help - the dialogue we were working on this week went something like this:
A: Did you watch Harahara Times last night?
B: Yes, I did. Did you?
A: Yes. It was so exciting!
B: Really? It was boring to me.
They then had to practise this with each other, although could change the TV show and the adjectives.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
At the airport..... waiting
At the airport.... very tired and waiting for a very late plane, but it has been a good few days. Last night I traveled up to Osaka on a ferry (a very big ferry which was more like a cruise ship) and today I wondered around Osaka. I didnt really do much sighseeing, but I had a good look around Osaka Castle.
You will have to forgive me for the punctuation errors - using a Japanese keyboard, which doesnt always do what you want it to do like apostrophies or randomly changing to Japanese.
Did I mention that I:m waiting for Daniel:s plane, which is about an hour late? I came rather early because I was sick of walking around. I:m actually looking for a quiet place where I can curl up and sleep for a while. I didn:t sleep well on the ferry - I:m still not used to sleeping in a room with other strangers. The comfort level was also a little low even compared to what I:m used to. Didn:t sleep well the night before either. I think I might have been a little excited.
There:s so much to write and tell you, but not all now. I:m paying for the internet with 100yen - 1 dollar - coins and I just used my last one. Just wanted to let you know that all is going well - I didn:t get lost in Osaka, Daniel;s on his way, and I;ve got today and tomorrow off work. The teachers have asked us out to dinner on Friday night - they seem pretty keen on meeting Daniel.
This keyboard is really quite frustrating....there is a tiny space bar and whenever I hit a button on either side where the space bar usually is, it tries to change my writing to Japanese. And I can;t for the life of me find an apostrophe - rreally aorry about the semi colons showing up everywhere - they;re where the apostrophe usually is and it;s easier to continue using that than nothing at all.
Anyway, going to find a coffee or something. Or some sleep. Good thing i put in an exctra book - already 50pages through!
You will have to forgive me for the punctuation errors - using a Japanese keyboard, which doesnt always do what you want it to do like apostrophies or randomly changing to Japanese.
Did I mention that I:m waiting for Daniel:s plane, which is about an hour late? I came rather early because I was sick of walking around. I:m actually looking for a quiet place where I can curl up and sleep for a while. I didn:t sleep well on the ferry - I:m still not used to sleeping in a room with other strangers. The comfort level was also a little low even compared to what I:m used to. Didn:t sleep well the night before either. I think I might have been a little excited.
There:s so much to write and tell you, but not all now. I:m paying for the internet with 100yen - 1 dollar - coins and I just used my last one. Just wanted to let you know that all is going well - I didn:t get lost in Osaka, Daniel;s on his way, and I;ve got today and tomorrow off work. The teachers have asked us out to dinner on Friday night - they seem pretty keen on meeting Daniel.
This keyboard is really quite frustrating....there is a tiny space bar and whenever I hit a button on either side where the space bar usually is, it tries to change my writing to Japanese. And I can;t for the life of me find an apostrophe - rreally aorry about the semi colons showing up everywhere - they;re where the apostrophe usually is and it;s easier to continue using that than nothing at all.
Anyway, going to find a coffee or something. Or some sleep. Good thing i put in an exctra book - already 50pages through!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Japan - the country of the long weekend!
It's funny listening to all you Aussies talking about the long weekend. Anyone would think you don't have many. I on the other hand am not feeling the need for a public holiday as I feel I just had lots. I checked my diary, and it not only feels like I've had lots, I have had 2 long weekends last month and having another one next weekend!
It seems that in Japan people often go away for weekends, rather than taking time off work and going on a holiday. So, I guess this suits the Japanese lifestyle and work ethic. Remember too that traveling in Japan isn't as time consuming as traveling in Australia. Apparently it's unusual for people to spend more than one night at a hot spring, which is a very popular destination.
The thing that really amuses me is that people go away for a weekend (overnight) and buy souvenirs for all they friends or colleagues!
Incidentally I counted the public holidays in Japan and in Australia. 17:10 our (Japan's) win.
So enjoy your long weekend, don't sleep it all away.. enjoy it because it's a long time until your next one!! I've got 3 public holidays next month too!
It seems that in Japan people often go away for weekends, rather than taking time off work and going on a holiday. So, I guess this suits the Japanese lifestyle and work ethic. Remember too that traveling in Japan isn't as time consuming as traveling in Australia. Apparently it's unusual for people to spend more than one night at a hot spring, which is a very popular destination.
The thing that really amuses me is that people go away for a weekend (overnight) and buy souvenirs for all they friends or colleagues!
Incidentally I counted the public holidays in Japan and in Australia. 17:10 our (Japan's) win.
So enjoy your long weekend, don't sleep it all away.. enjoy it because it's a long time until your next one!! I've got 3 public holidays next month too!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
A Silly Shoe Story...
Now we all know that Japanese people never wear shoes inside (slippers only or inside shoes at school) and Japanese people know that we do wear shoes inside... But I had a lot of difficulty explaining in class today that there are no rules about where you wear your shoes. Sometimes I wear my shoes inside and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wear slippers, sometimes I have bare feet. Sometimes I even go outside in bare feet! ("You go outside with no shoes?!!!"). They never go outside in bare feet!
The class was about "must" and "mustn't". These were the sentences provided in the text book:
In Japan:
You mustn't wear your shoes inside.
You mustn't wash in the bathtub.
You must drive on the left side of the road.
In America:
You wear your shoes inside.
You must wash in the bathtub.
You must drive on the right side of the road.
When the students asked me if I wore my shoes inside in Japan, I pointed to the first rule.
The students were a little confused about washing in the bath until I explained it was so the floor doesn't get wet. And I found out that Japanese people don't wash in the bath because other people in the family use the water. It also works because their whole bathroom is a giant shower with a bath next to it.
They were rather amazed that we had a few things in common - like driving on the same side of the road and we both use degrees celcius / kilometres / kilos.
But they just could not comprehend that I don't wear special slippers to go to the toilet!! "So what do you wear when you go to the toilet?" "Whatever is on my feet at the time - sometimes shoes, sometimes bare feet."
The way they giggled behind their hands and repeated it to each other made me feel like I had said something scandalous! I must admit that I didn't really comprehend their reaction! I also made some fast readjustments to my thinking, "this is actually important, who would have thought putting on a pair of slippers to go to the toilet would have been that important?!"
I now have the dilemma that I now know how important this is to them, so maybe I should start putting on toilet slippers.... Honestly, it just seems more trouble than it's worth - it's another shoe change into a pair of plastic slippers that usually look quite small, just to go to the toilet. (I have discovered that my size 8/1/2 feet are huge! Ladies LL (Large Large) shoes are about a size 7 and they don't make ladies shoes any bigger than that!).
In Japan - so many rules about shoes
In Australia - wear whatever you feel like!
It will be interesting to how much has rubbed off when I return to Australia.....
By the way, did you know that you often have to take your shoes off at restaurants and in fitting rooms at shops? At restaurants there will sometimes be lockers, otherwise they just go in the entrance. No, I haven't lost any shoes yet, but then again, I don't think anyone would want giant shoes! I guess that also makes it easier to tell them apart. All the kids at school have their name written on their shoes!
The class was about "must" and "mustn't". These were the sentences provided in the text book:
In Japan:
You mustn't wear your shoes inside.
You mustn't wash in the bathtub.
You must drive on the left side of the road.
In America:
You wear your shoes inside.
You must wash in the bathtub.
You must drive on the right side of the road.
When the students asked me if I wore my shoes inside in Japan, I pointed to the first rule.
The students were a little confused about washing in the bath until I explained it was so the floor doesn't get wet. And I found out that Japanese people don't wash in the bath because other people in the family use the water. It also works because their whole bathroom is a giant shower with a bath next to it.
They were rather amazed that we had a few things in common - like driving on the same side of the road and we both use degrees celcius / kilometres / kilos.
But they just could not comprehend that I don't wear special slippers to go to the toilet!! "So what do you wear when you go to the toilet?" "Whatever is on my feet at the time - sometimes shoes, sometimes bare feet."
The way they giggled behind their hands and repeated it to each other made me feel like I had said something scandalous! I must admit that I didn't really comprehend their reaction! I also made some fast readjustments to my thinking, "this is actually important, who would have thought putting on a pair of slippers to go to the toilet would have been that important?!"
I now have the dilemma that I now know how important this is to them, so maybe I should start putting on toilet slippers.... Honestly, it just seems more trouble than it's worth - it's another shoe change into a pair of plastic slippers that usually look quite small, just to go to the toilet. (I have discovered that my size 8/1/2 feet are huge! Ladies LL (Large Large) shoes are about a size 7 and they don't make ladies shoes any bigger than that!).
In Japan - so many rules about shoes
In Australia - wear whatever you feel like!
It will be interesting to how much has rubbed off when I return to Australia.....
By the way, did you know that you often have to take your shoes off at restaurants and in fitting rooms at shops? At restaurants there will sometimes be lockers, otherwise they just go in the entrance. No, I haven't lost any shoes yet, but then again, I don't think anyone would want giant shoes! I guess that also makes it easier to tell them apart. All the kids at school have their name written on their shoes!
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