just one more

Had the past three day weekend devoted to hanging out with friends and making new ones. Friday was Diego's birthday so we all went out and celebrated. Saturday was the drinking party with the firemen. Was craaaazy. Ended up getting some digits but we'll see if I can actually hold a conversation when they hit me up. Sunday was the drinking party with the teachers at one of my schools. I have to say, the food I had on Sunday at the party was the most interesting food I've ever had in Japan so far. A+ on presentation. Ohh, I miss iron chef. Monday was day off; some sort of respect for elders day. Met up with some Japanese people and had lunch. Discovered a whole bunch of restaurants in the area. Dangerous.

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I can't stop wondering what these people are thinking about when they ask me about my roots. Kids are obsessed with kpop (it's like a cult) and won't stop asking me how to say certain phrases in Korean, but it's not as if adults are obsessed with kpop too. Well some are, but I'm talking about our parents' or even grandparents' generation. People in those generations are definitely not the same. It's so hard to pick up what they are thinking about (whatever it might be about) because they all have the same polite face on, but you know they're pondering about something in particular. Ohhh I can't wait 'til I can hold a decent conversation with these people and finally get rid of this mind-boggling curiosity.

sun sun sunnnAAY Sunday

Got up at 11 today and decided to be productive. Skipped breakfast, went for a run down the hill around the neighborhood. It was sunny outside, and running around the rice fields was just refreshing. After, drove out to one of my schools I will be visiting this coming week to make sure I know how to get there. It's a bit of a drive compared to my other schools; I have to drive out to the super boonies for 20 minutes which isn't so bad. It's nice scenery especially on a sunny day, but it's lame if your car can't play music because the cd player's outdated . . fudge. I need to either install a new stereo or get one of those ipod connectors so I can have music. I'll probably end up getting the ipod connector . .

After the drive, I made some Indian food (chicken marsala) and it was good. So it's official. I make miso soup every time I cook. It has become a regular part of every meal, sorta like rice for Asian people, but it's soup. When mum cooked for me, miso soup was never like a regular thing. In fact, it was more of a main dish when she decided to make it, but I guess in Japan, it's more like a side dish thing that goes with a meal, and I've become used to it. Cool. Did some housework after. So good to have those chores out of the way finally!, because I've been putting them off like no other. Sunday was good.

On Saturday though, there was a beach party thing which was cool because I met some chillllll people. Met someone from Hawaii and Cali. They aren't from the city (they're like an hour or something like that away from the city), but they surf every weekend or something like that. It was so good to meet someone from back home and talk about island stuff. Made me miss home! And at the same time made me wanna pick up surfing. Or tennis. I'm debating between the two; maybe I can do both. Friend recommends tennis so I want to play, because I've been wanting to play tennis to see what it's like, but surfing sounds cool too. Either way, I'll get some workout if I decide to do one of those.

Another week gone. Weekends go by so quick, ugh. Need to stay on top of my shit if I want to stay productive like I was today. It's been good so far though.

Yesterday was my first day of school. I was going to blog yesterday, but ran out of time as usual. I have this tendency of falling asleep after dinner; basically falling into the trap of food coma and lazily napping with the TV on, on my fake couch; with the AC on, this can be super damaging to your sleep schedule. I’ve been going to bed really late every night because I wake up from that nap at like 10 and haven’t accomplished jack shit for the next day. Woohoo! After the nap, I would shower then try to get stuff done, but it takes double the usual time to get things done because you just had a nice nap and a shower. Anyway… let’s see if I can recall how it all went down.

First day of school was basically a day of learning (although you pretty much learn something new every day). I had two self-intro lessons back to back with the same teacher. I wasn’t so nervous even though it was my first time EVER pseudo-running a classroom full of teenagers, but I felt a little guilty given the fact that I was going to improvise mostly. I had many pictures, a list of things to talk about and a short activity of answering questions prepared, but didn’t really organize them in detail. What did I learn? I learned that 1. You can’t have drinks in the classrooms even though they are nonalcoholic; no morning orange juice (or screwdrivers, jay kay…) for me, 2. These kids are super shy but they like winning prizes, 3. Backups are good; in fact, they are necessary if you lack the wit to come up with something on the spot, 4. Bells and chimes are important; pay attention to them, 5. Smile and chill out literally, & be flexible. First day was cool.

Today was the second day of school. I’m still in school right now, typing this out. I had four lessons in the morning back to back, and they all went so much better because I made some revisions and included a fun-er activity using powerpoint. I learned that 1. Kids get excited when you have the same interests as them so be creative and come up with some interests even though you may not care for them (remember that one Japanese dude from Arashi?), 2. Finishing school lunch in entirety would make you look good, but don’t stress if you can’t gulp down that last bite; prosperity before productivity, 3. Be early if you want to look good; fashionably late doesn’t fly in Japan, 4. Learn Japanese from everyone outside of the classroom, 5. Pay attention & you’ll be golden.

I’m probably super lucky for getting this school because it has a lot of nice kids; they are all well-behaved and relatively genki! They’re also super cooperative. I can tell just by how they treat the ten minute cleaning time: they take it very seriously. I could probably write a book on all the cool things I noticed & observed, but toodaaloooOO for now.

*posting this one day late. 9/5-first day, 9/6-second, 9/7 (today)- picked up my kei car...whattttt (;