all of a sudden last night, my body decided to cave into the crippling powers of the flu.
despite shivering and feeling feverish last night, i woke up this morning with only a painfully burning throat. naturally, i decided to come to school.
so far, i:m not doing too bad, but of all the days i have 4 instead of 3 classes at my elementary school, it has to be today. *sigh*. i think i:m going to leave a little early and catch a nice long catnap before dinner.
in other news, a friend just sent me this article, and it is seriously enraging. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=64334
time for 5th period...
Monday, February 26, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
weird week
so i've had an odd couple of days. some moments funny, some moments sad, but all were mostly amusing. enjoy!
- Till now, I've discovered that between one of my small elementary schools and the fairly large junior high it filters into, there is a family of 5 sisters. the 2 oldest are in middle school, and the 3rd and 4th sisters are in elementary school. the youngest isn't school age yet.
by now, i've figured that because i look asian (because i AM asian), that you generally have to know who i am in order to accost me. that is to say, random people dont greet me for being a foreinger because i normally dont stand out.
i was waiting for the elevator at the mall the other day when i say a little girl sitting in her mother's shopping cart and eating a popsicle. she was having some issues, so her mother helped her squeeze some of the popsicle up. i thought it was absolutely adorable, so i started to chuckle to myself. then out of nowhere, i realize that the mother just said, "Eberin-sensei?" to me.
stunned, i answer, "Yes?" and she goes on to thank me for teaching her kids that go to such and such schools. once i heard the school names, i figured that the only family it could be was the family with 5 girls. and then i realized, "Oh! Is this #5?" to which she laughed and said, "yes."
i told my JTE the next day who teaches at the junior high. i told her that i now know the whole family, to which she asked, "have you met the father yet?" "no. i guess i dont know the whole family after all."
literally, an hour later, a man comes up to the teacher's room window looking for the principle, and my JTE turns to me and says, "it's natsuko and akira's father! now you've seen the whole family!"
pretty nuts, eh?
- hands down, my favorite Kyoto-sensei / Head Teacher / Vice Principal is the one at Kuta Junior High School. since my desk is next to his, i always turn to him and ask him random questions, and they always lead to awesome conversations. he reallly puts thought into his answers, and he always goes out of his way to explain something to me. not to mention the fact that everytime we finish a conversation, we both feel like we've learned something about one another's culture.
thanks to chieze, his DS, and his kanji game, i've discovered over the past month how i've been writing chinese characters and kanji in the wrong stroke orders my entire life. quite upsetting really.
in attempt to start afresh, i turned and asked the kyoto-sensei what the stroke orders were to a few of the words that always mess me up. the kocho-sensei (principal) overheard us talking, and walked over to where we were and decided to join in on the conversation. he then started quizzing me on some kanji, all which i failed to write correctly. and he knew some pretty tricky kanji too. he seemed pretty confident with his stroke orders, and considering he's a principal, been teaching for years, and is 59 years old (no really, he is), i take his word for it.
our 3-person conversation eventually spread throughout the entire teachers room, and i can honestly say not a person in the room went home without having his or her world rocked.
one of the teachers found a stroke-order website that illustrates how to write correctly, complete with an animation: http://kakijun.main.jp. my JTE then started inputting words she always wondered about, one of which was the first kanji in Hakata (an area of Fukuoka): 博. most people in the room thought that the dot in the upper right hand corner goes last, but actually, it's not. everyone was shocked. ESPECIALLY the principal. why? because it's IN HIS NAME *gasp*. poor guy. he's been writing his name wrong his whole life. he can get difficult tricky kanji correct, but not his own name... felt so bad for him. on a funny note though, he said, "i really just want to go home now and ask my wife to write my name for me... see if she gets it right" =P
- i went to my BOE yesterday after school, my BOE being on the 4th floor of the mall. i always end up running into students there because the library is also on the floor. when i went in, i saw 4 kids sitting around on a bench, and when i was about to leave, i ended up waiting with them at the elevator to go down to the first floor.
one of the girls i recognized from my huge elementary school. i asked if they were all from that school. they shook their heads. my student then said, "they're from fukuoka."
Fukuoka?? it's a school day. what are they doing on tsushima??
i started to ask if they were siblings or cousins (they were all realllly young by the way and all around the same age-ish). the boy of the group, who is obviously the oldest, points to my student and says, "she's my sister's daughter."
????!!!
i immediately ask the boy his age: 10. the girl: 8. wtf?! you're telling me that your mother is this girls grandmother? which would mean that the grandmother was still having kids until at least 2 years before her daughter was having kids? does that not sound messed up?
pointing at the boy, i ask my student, "so... so -- he's your uncle?"
*she nods*
but it gets better.
i then ask about the remaining two little girls in the group. i ask the boy who they are. "my siblings."
???!!!!
i ask the two little girls their ages. 6 and 6. "are you twins?" "no." HUH???!!! and the boy explains that one of them is going to turn 7 very soon.
*looking around*
is anyone else out there mildly to extremely disturbed by all this? i didn't have time to ask if my student had any younger siblings or how old her mother is, but assuming that her mother was at least 16 when she had her, that's still at least 16 years after giving birth to the mother that the grandmother is still having babies. i personally feel like once you become a grandmother, you should stop having kids of your own. cuz then things just get too weird. like this group of kids. i mean, if you think about it, those 6 year olds. they're BOTH my students' aunts. and they're both younger than her. i can't even begin to describe to you all how much this all distresses me. very Father of the Bride 2.
______
more weird crap happened, but i'm beat. bedtime!
- Till now, I've discovered that between one of my small elementary schools and the fairly large junior high it filters into, there is a family of 5 sisters. the 2 oldest are in middle school, and the 3rd and 4th sisters are in elementary school. the youngest isn't school age yet.
by now, i've figured that because i look asian (because i AM asian), that you generally have to know who i am in order to accost me. that is to say, random people dont greet me for being a foreinger because i normally dont stand out.
i was waiting for the elevator at the mall the other day when i say a little girl sitting in her mother's shopping cart and eating a popsicle. she was having some issues, so her mother helped her squeeze some of the popsicle up. i thought it was absolutely adorable, so i started to chuckle to myself. then out of nowhere, i realize that the mother just said, "Eberin-sensei?" to me.
stunned, i answer, "Yes?" and she goes on to thank me for teaching her kids that go to such and such schools. once i heard the school names, i figured that the only family it could be was the family with 5 girls. and then i realized, "Oh! Is this #5?" to which she laughed and said, "yes."
i told my JTE the next day who teaches at the junior high. i told her that i now know the whole family, to which she asked, "have you met the father yet?" "no. i guess i dont know the whole family after all."
literally, an hour later, a man comes up to the teacher's room window looking for the principle, and my JTE turns to me and says, "it's natsuko and akira's father! now you've seen the whole family!"
pretty nuts, eh?
- hands down, my favorite Kyoto-sensei / Head Teacher / Vice Principal is the one at Kuta Junior High School. since my desk is next to his, i always turn to him and ask him random questions, and they always lead to awesome conversations. he reallly puts thought into his answers, and he always goes out of his way to explain something to me. not to mention the fact that everytime we finish a conversation, we both feel like we've learned something about one another's culture.
thanks to chieze, his DS, and his kanji game, i've discovered over the past month how i've been writing chinese characters and kanji in the wrong stroke orders my entire life. quite upsetting really.
in attempt to start afresh, i turned and asked the kyoto-sensei what the stroke orders were to a few of the words that always mess me up. the kocho-sensei (principal) overheard us talking, and walked over to where we were and decided to join in on the conversation. he then started quizzing me on some kanji, all which i failed to write correctly. and he knew some pretty tricky kanji too. he seemed pretty confident with his stroke orders, and considering he's a principal, been teaching for years, and is 59 years old (no really, he is), i take his word for it.
our 3-person conversation eventually spread throughout the entire teachers room, and i can honestly say not a person in the room went home without having his or her world rocked.
one of the teachers found a stroke-order website that illustrates how to write correctly, complete with an animation: http://kakijun.main.jp. my JTE then started inputting words she always wondered about, one of which was the first kanji in Hakata (an area of Fukuoka): 博. most people in the room thought that the dot in the upper right hand corner goes last, but actually, it's not. everyone was shocked. ESPECIALLY the principal. why? because it's IN HIS NAME *gasp*. poor guy. he's been writing his name wrong his whole life. he can get difficult tricky kanji correct, but not his own name... felt so bad for him. on a funny note though, he said, "i really just want to go home now and ask my wife to write my name for me... see if she gets it right" =P
- i went to my BOE yesterday after school, my BOE being on the 4th floor of the mall. i always end up running into students there because the library is also on the floor. when i went in, i saw 4 kids sitting around on a bench, and when i was about to leave, i ended up waiting with them at the elevator to go down to the first floor.
one of the girls i recognized from my huge elementary school. i asked if they were all from that school. they shook their heads. my student then said, "they're from fukuoka."
Fukuoka?? it's a school day. what are they doing on tsushima??
i started to ask if they were siblings or cousins (they were all realllly young by the way and all around the same age-ish). the boy of the group, who is obviously the oldest, points to my student and says, "she's my sister's daughter."
????!!!
i immediately ask the boy his age: 10. the girl: 8. wtf?! you're telling me that your mother is this girls grandmother? which would mean that the grandmother was still having kids until at least 2 years before her daughter was having kids? does that not sound messed up?
pointing at the boy, i ask my student, "so... so -- he's your uncle?"
*she nods*
but it gets better.
i then ask about the remaining two little girls in the group. i ask the boy who they are. "my siblings."
???!!!!
i ask the two little girls their ages. 6 and 6. "are you twins?" "no." HUH???!!! and the boy explains that one of them is going to turn 7 very soon.
*looking around*
is anyone else out there mildly to extremely disturbed by all this? i didn't have time to ask if my student had any younger siblings or how old her mother is, but assuming that her mother was at least 16 when she had her, that's still at least 16 years after giving birth to the mother that the grandmother is still having babies. i personally feel like once you become a grandmother, you should stop having kids of your own. cuz then things just get too weird. like this group of kids. i mean, if you think about it, those 6 year olds. they're BOTH my students' aunts. and they're both younger than her. i can't even begin to describe to you all how much this all distresses me. very Father of the Bride 2.
______
more weird crap happened, but i'm beat. bedtime!
Monday, February 19, 2007
to phil
this one goes out to "Phil, ex Tsushima JET 2003-2004 Kamiagata ALT"
first of all, thank you for your comments. and also, for completely ruining my day.
so before i came to japan this time around for the JET Program, i swore to myself that i would NEVER become one of those JETs.. you know, the kind of JET who thinks s/he knows everything there is to know about Japan. the kind of JET that makes all other JETs ashamed to be fellow JETs.
i've always tried to take a step back at any given point in my life, take a look at where i am, what i'm thinking, what i believe in, how i act... and try to make sure that i'm not being too bias or too ignorant or too unfair. i'd like to hope that i'm constantly trying to take strides towards becoming a better human being.
so when something like a stranger halfway around the world whom i've never met, much less even heard of, decides to berate me on something i decide to write on MY personal blog detailing my own personal thoughts, i take offense.
in case you haven't seen it yet, mr. "phil", a former Tsushima JET, decided to "educate" me on how much i should "appreciate" where i live and how i should stop "bitching" about my placement.
Asshole -- you've got it alllll backwards.
i'd like to point your attention to the first thing you wrote to me: "Wow, you're probably the 10000th person on JET who has bitched about their placement in 20 years." I'm sorry, sir. where in my post did i SPECIFICALLY mention that i hate living in Izuhara? or that i hate living in Tsushima? or that i hate living in Japan? or did i once even use the word "hate"?
secondly, do you even KNOW me? have we ever met? last time i checked, i didn't even know you existed. how long have you been reading my blog? and how long did it even take you to find my blog? and does anyone find it uncanny that the one time i decide to poke fun at some aspects of japanese culture, that mr. japanophile here decides to get all up on my case about not "understanding the awe, the inspiration" that is tsushima? did you even know that i studied japanese for 4 years in university? or that i studied abroad in Japan for 5 months prior to the JET Program? kinda weird that someone with so much background in japanese would want to live in japan again, especially if they hate it so much and can't appreciate it, dont you think?
i dont know how long you've been reading about my experiences here, but if you bothered to read past the post you so rudely voiced your unwanted opinions on, you'd find that i LOVE it here. i love tsushima so much that i have the guts to do what you never did -- stay on the island a second year. that's right. i've only been here for 6 months, but after month 3 i already knew i wanted to stay a second year. you say it took you "a solid 8 months" to like tsushima? what the hell gives YOU the right to preach to ME about liking it here??
what i found most upseting about your comments is that they actually made me question myself. between you and me, one of us is being one of those JETs. the kind who thinks s/he knows everything about japan. one of us is being ignorant. i can't believe i for a second believed it could be me.
anyone who knows me, such as the people who i keep this blog up for, know that i wrote that entry half-jokingly. that as sarcastic as i may sound, deep down, i love being in japan. i like learning about how different my culture is from japan's. i never write with the intention of insisting that the US is somehow superior to Japan, or the other way around. i simply write with the intention of sharing my experiences and insights with people i care about. it is NOT for embittered ex-JETs who believe they're somehow better than everyone else to piss all over. take your ego and your pretentious bullshit and harass someone else. move on with your life. you're no longer in japan, and i'm sorry if you're jealous that i am. stop stalking people on the internet and trying to pick fights with people you dont even know. get up from your computer, go outside and enjoy the sunshine. sounds like you could use it.
first of all, thank you for your comments. and also, for completely ruining my day.
so before i came to japan this time around for the JET Program, i swore to myself that i would NEVER become one of those JETs.. you know, the kind of JET who thinks s/he knows everything there is to know about Japan. the kind of JET that makes all other JETs ashamed to be fellow JETs.
i've always tried to take a step back at any given point in my life, take a look at where i am, what i'm thinking, what i believe in, how i act... and try to make sure that i'm not being too bias or too ignorant or too unfair. i'd like to hope that i'm constantly trying to take strides towards becoming a better human being.
so when something like a stranger halfway around the world whom i've never met, much less even heard of, decides to berate me on something i decide to write on MY personal blog detailing my own personal thoughts, i take offense.
in case you haven't seen it yet, mr. "phil", a former Tsushima JET, decided to "educate" me on how much i should "appreciate" where i live and how i should stop "bitching" about my placement.
Asshole -- you've got it alllll backwards.
i'd like to point your attention to the first thing you wrote to me: "Wow, you're probably the 10000th person on JET who has bitched about their placement in 20 years." I'm sorry, sir. where in my post did i SPECIFICALLY mention that i hate living in Izuhara? or that i hate living in Tsushima? or that i hate living in Japan? or did i once even use the word "hate"?
secondly, do you even KNOW me? have we ever met? last time i checked, i didn't even know you existed. how long have you been reading my blog? and how long did it even take you to find my blog? and does anyone find it uncanny that the one time i decide to poke fun at some aspects of japanese culture, that mr. japanophile here decides to get all up on my case about not "understanding the awe, the inspiration" that is tsushima? did you even know that i studied japanese for 4 years in university? or that i studied abroad in Japan for 5 months prior to the JET Program? kinda weird that someone with so much background in japanese would want to live in japan again, especially if they hate it so much and can't appreciate it, dont you think?
i dont know how long you've been reading about my experiences here, but if you bothered to read past the post you so rudely voiced your unwanted opinions on, you'd find that i LOVE it here. i love tsushima so much that i have the guts to do what you never did -- stay on the island a second year. that's right. i've only been here for 6 months, but after month 3 i already knew i wanted to stay a second year. you say it took you "a solid 8 months" to like tsushima? what the hell gives YOU the right to preach to ME about liking it here??
what i found most upseting about your comments is that they actually made me question myself. between you and me, one of us is being one of those JETs. the kind who thinks s/he knows everything about japan. one of us is being ignorant. i can't believe i for a second believed it could be me.
anyone who knows me, such as the people who i keep this blog up for, know that i wrote that entry half-jokingly. that as sarcastic as i may sound, deep down, i love being in japan. i like learning about how different my culture is from japan's. i never write with the intention of insisting that the US is somehow superior to Japan, or the other way around. i simply write with the intention of sharing my experiences and insights with people i care about. it is NOT for embittered ex-JETs who believe they're somehow better than everyone else to piss all over. take your ego and your pretentious bullshit and harass someone else. move on with your life. you're no longer in japan, and i'm sorry if you're jealous that i am. stop stalking people on the internet and trying to pick fights with people you dont even know. get up from your computer, go outside and enjoy the sunshine. sounds like you could use it.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
conspiracy theories
now officially past the living-in-japan-for-6-months-straight point, and bringing me to a grand total of 11 months spent living in japan in my life, i've stumbled upon a couple of conspiracy theories which i'm sure are wholly unoriginal, but i'm going to voice them anyway.
- Japanese people only drink diuretics. At least that's all they sell or offer you when you pay them visits. Vending machines, home visits, school visits... everywhere you go, the most readily available liquids are chock full of caffeine, which for me spells out multiple trips to the bathroom. what do you do when you want to quench your thirst? drink coffee or tea. and what does that do? make you more thirsty. this way, you keep evilly spending money on drinks that keep making you thirsty.
- Non-insulated homes keep the blanket, heaters, and kotatsu-makers in business. Why is it that as brilliant as insulated homes are, japanese people still build non-insulated homes? because it's cool to have a kotatsu in your home. because it's neat to have a toilet seat warmed 24/7. because fuzzy blanket and heater manufacturers all over this country would be bankrupt otherwise. if you make an insulated home, you're taking away from the traditions of desperately staying warm during winter, and we couldn't have that happening, now could we.
- Japanese people wear layers and layers of clothing during winter because they have no body fat. Why is it that I, who has only known the Bay Area's Mediterranean weather (which is always mild), can get away with wearing only a t-shirt and a fleece to school in the dead of winter, while the teachers around me that have lived in Tsushima the majority of their lives need to wear 4 layers at a time? because they're super skinny and possess no body fat. they need to keep in all the heat they can make. i, on the other hand, don't have this issue. my body is fine with breaking down fat to create heat. i only wish it'd break it down more rapidly *sigh*
- Teachers keep offering me stick-pointers so i dont ghetto-fy their kids. I dont know if stick-pointers are what they're called, but they're the sticks you use to point at stuff during class. you know, like a long skinny pole. a while back, i invested in a 100 yen fly swatter and cut it up so that it'd come to a point, and have been using it since during class when my arm gets tired. the kids think it's hilarious whenever i pull it out, and it says something about my personality: i dont mind being laughed at, and i'm frugal as hell.
i've now on 3 or 4 separate occasions at different schools been offered stick-pointers. the first one gave me a real stick pointer with a hand pointing at the end of the stick. the second occasion i was offered to use the teacher's stick pointer. today, one of the teachers offered me his high quality stick pointer that can extend/collapse into something the size of a ballpoint pen. it's so nifty it lights up at the end when extended. if teachers are trying to tell me they feel bad for me cuz they think i'm poor and they're trying to help me out, then i appreciate the sentiment. but if what they're really trying to say is, "we dont want you to ghetto-fy our kids and encourage them to do low-class stuff like cutting up a fly-swatter," then hell no, i'm going to keep using my fly swatter. it's got charm =)
- Japanese will never come out and tell you what they really mean. It's recently come to my attention that all the, "Aren't you cold??" comments i've been getting from teachers may not actually mean, "Aren't you cold?" Instead, it's been suggested that they're hinting for me to layer up. are you kidding?? if i'm comfortable with a t-shirt and a fleece, then i'm going to wear a t-shirt and a fleece to school, Homes. just because you're weak and possess no body fat and need to wear 5 layers of shirts and jackets to school doesn't mean that my body works the same way.
Also, it's recently come to my attention that i'm not supposed to eat in my taxi ride to school, or eat snacks (as in bread) in the teacher's room at school during non-lunchtime hours. i've only been doing these two things for the last 6 months, people. and no one ever decided to tell me that i shouldn't. my taxi drivers will on occasion ask, "so did you eat breakfast this morning?" or if i'm at school, a teacher will say, "is that breakfast?" when i'm eating at 10:30am, but no one in either department has ever said, "you're offending me by eating here." well, that's your loss. until you outright say i can't do something, i'm going to keep playing the oblivious gaijin card. muahahhaa.
Japanese people sometimes make me want to cry from their being so circumlocutory and backwards. Japanese society also makes my soul die a little more each time i find out something new. *sigh*. dont worry people; someday i shall return permanently to the States =)
- Japanese people only drink diuretics. At least that's all they sell or offer you when you pay them visits. Vending machines, home visits, school visits... everywhere you go, the most readily available liquids are chock full of caffeine, which for me spells out multiple trips to the bathroom. what do you do when you want to quench your thirst? drink coffee or tea. and what does that do? make you more thirsty. this way, you keep evilly spending money on drinks that keep making you thirsty.
- Non-insulated homes keep the blanket, heaters, and kotatsu-makers in business. Why is it that as brilliant as insulated homes are, japanese people still build non-insulated homes? because it's cool to have a kotatsu in your home. because it's neat to have a toilet seat warmed 24/7. because fuzzy blanket and heater manufacturers all over this country would be bankrupt otherwise. if you make an insulated home, you're taking away from the traditions of desperately staying warm during winter, and we couldn't have that happening, now could we.
- Japanese people wear layers and layers of clothing during winter because they have no body fat. Why is it that I, who has only known the Bay Area's Mediterranean weather (which is always mild), can get away with wearing only a t-shirt and a fleece to school in the dead of winter, while the teachers around me that have lived in Tsushima the majority of their lives need to wear 4 layers at a time? because they're super skinny and possess no body fat. they need to keep in all the heat they can make. i, on the other hand, don't have this issue. my body is fine with breaking down fat to create heat. i only wish it'd break it down more rapidly *sigh*
- Teachers keep offering me stick-pointers so i dont ghetto-fy their kids. I dont know if stick-pointers are what they're called, but they're the sticks you use to point at stuff during class. you know, like a long skinny pole. a while back, i invested in a 100 yen fly swatter and cut it up so that it'd come to a point, and have been using it since during class when my arm gets tired. the kids think it's hilarious whenever i pull it out, and it says something about my personality: i dont mind being laughed at, and i'm frugal as hell.
i've now on 3 or 4 separate occasions at different schools been offered stick-pointers. the first one gave me a real stick pointer with a hand pointing at the end of the stick. the second occasion i was offered to use the teacher's stick pointer. today, one of the teachers offered me his high quality stick pointer that can extend/collapse into something the size of a ballpoint pen. it's so nifty it lights up at the end when extended. if teachers are trying to tell me they feel bad for me cuz they think i'm poor and they're trying to help me out, then i appreciate the sentiment. but if what they're really trying to say is, "we dont want you to ghetto-fy our kids and encourage them to do low-class stuff like cutting up a fly-swatter," then hell no, i'm going to keep using my fly swatter. it's got charm =)
- Japanese will never come out and tell you what they really mean. It's recently come to my attention that all the, "Aren't you cold??" comments i've been getting from teachers may not actually mean, "Aren't you cold?" Instead, it's been suggested that they're hinting for me to layer up. are you kidding?? if i'm comfortable with a t-shirt and a fleece, then i'm going to wear a t-shirt and a fleece to school, Homes. just because you're weak and possess no body fat and need to wear 5 layers of shirts and jackets to school doesn't mean that my body works the same way.
Also, it's recently come to my attention that i'm not supposed to eat in my taxi ride to school, or eat snacks (as in bread) in the teacher's room at school during non-lunchtime hours. i've only been doing these two things for the last 6 months, people. and no one ever decided to tell me that i shouldn't. my taxi drivers will on occasion ask, "so did you eat breakfast this morning?" or if i'm at school, a teacher will say, "is that breakfast?" when i'm eating at 10:30am, but no one in either department has ever said, "you're offending me by eating here." well, that's your loss. until you outright say i can't do something, i'm going to keep playing the oblivious gaijin card. muahahhaa.
Japanese people sometimes make me want to cry from their being so circumlocutory and backwards. Japanese society also makes my soul die a little more each time i find out something new. *sigh*. dont worry people; someday i shall return permanently to the States =)
chopsticks
i was at my biggest junior high school the other day when one of the japanese teachers comes up to me and asks if i was free that day. i said, sure, since i usually am. she then hands me a stack of essays written by the third years, and asks me to read and comment on all of them. the topic was japanese culture, and they were specifically written so that i could theoretically read them (despite being written solely in japanese, kanji and all).
it took me about a day and a half of reading during free periods and in between classes to finally get through them all, some better written and more thoughtful than others. by far, the funniest thing that i read was this one girl's attempt at english amidst her explanation of "Rice and Chopsticks:"
"Chopsticks is very good.
Chopsticks is very pretty.
It is fighting for world peace.
Let's use chopsticks."
and here i thought only paid adults could create quality engrish. somehow, i feel like she got this off of a chopsticks case... only props to her more if she didn't ;D
it took me about a day and a half of reading during free periods and in between classes to finally get through them all, some better written and more thoughtful than others. by far, the funniest thing that i read was this one girl's attempt at english amidst her explanation of "Rice and Chopsticks:"
"Chopsticks is very good.
Chopsticks is very pretty.
It is fighting for world peace.
Let's use chopsticks."
and here i thought only paid adults could create quality engrish. somehow, i feel like she got this off of a chopsticks case... only props to her more if she didn't ;D
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
valentines day in japan... so far
so i:m at my biggest, busiest elementary school today (the one i loathe), and so far a couple of things have struck me:
- so during class, i:m teaching them how to make this valentines card mailbox which requires some tricky weaving of paper. for the nation that gave birth to origami, these kids are pretty slow when it comes to the concept of slip the paper INSIDE the other one, not lay it on TOP of the other. *sigh*. so long as they:re being quiet and i dont have to talk much, whatever.
- i just had one of the most bomb ass chocolates of my life, and it was made by a teacher. think of a bar of rich milk chocolate, and mix it with a brownie, and you have a soft, yet delectable piece of chocolate. i really regretted not janken-ing (row-sham-bow) for more.
- by far the randomest thing to happen to me today: at the end of lunch, one of the 4th graders comes up to me and shows me a ball of tissue in his hand and says, "Evelyn-sensei. My tooth fell out."
??!!!???!!
WOW. that:s soooo romantic, kid.
- so during class, i:m teaching them how to make this valentines card mailbox which requires some tricky weaving of paper. for the nation that gave birth to origami, these kids are pretty slow when it comes to the concept of slip the paper INSIDE the other one, not lay it on TOP of the other. *sigh*. so long as they:re being quiet and i dont have to talk much, whatever.
- i just had one of the most bomb ass chocolates of my life, and it was made by a teacher. think of a bar of rich milk chocolate, and mix it with a brownie, and you have a soft, yet delectable piece of chocolate. i really regretted not janken-ing (row-sham-bow) for more.
- by far the randomest thing to happen to me today: at the end of lunch, one of the 4th graders comes up to me and shows me a ball of tissue in his hand and says, "Evelyn-sensei. My tooth fell out."
??!!!???!!
WOW. that:s soooo romantic, kid.
Friday, February 09, 2007
thailand and cambodia pictures!!
at long last, i've finished uploading and posting my pictures from thailand and cambodia. i'm sorry for being such a slacker and not getting these up sooner, guys =( at least now i can start blogging again without feeling guilty about not having pics up yet ;D
no offense to anyone who's posted pictures of their trips before, but i tried really hard with my pictures to only post pertinent pictures. that is to say, i didn't put up EVERY SINGLE PICTURE i took. i tried my best to only put up representative pictures. so those of you who want an idea of what i did, you should feel relieved. those to want to see every step i took and every angle of every building i saw, you're out of luck =(
you can check out my pictures in three movements:
Album I: First 3 days or so spent in Bangkok
Album II: The trip to Siem Reap (Cambodia) and back to Bangkok (~4 days)
Album III: Our last week, spent in Thailand. Mainly pictures of Krabi (where we did all sort of non-sightseeing activities), and some of our day trip to Ayuthaya, the former capital. Pictures of our last few days in Bangkok, as well as some of Jayne's pics, are scattered throughout the album too.
Enjoy!
no offense to anyone who's posted pictures of their trips before, but i tried really hard with my pictures to only post pertinent pictures. that is to say, i didn't put up EVERY SINGLE PICTURE i took. i tried my best to only put up representative pictures. so those of you who want an idea of what i did, you should feel relieved. those to want to see every step i took and every angle of every building i saw, you're out of luck =(
you can check out my pictures in three movements:
Album I: First 3 days or so spent in Bangkok
Album II: The trip to Siem Reap (Cambodia) and back to Bangkok (~4 days)
Album III: Our last week, spent in Thailand. Mainly pictures of Krabi (where we did all sort of non-sightseeing activities), and some of our day trip to Ayuthaya, the former capital. Pictures of our last few days in Bangkok, as well as some of Jayne's pics, are scattered throughout the album too.
Enjoy!
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