Just a little something to help Katie keep up with all those who matter to her.
|
|
| We're Not in Japan Anymore... Just a little something to help Katie keep up with all those who matter to her. |
|
|
Monday, December 29, 2003 Just saying a quick "hi!" from Kyoto! Jeremy and I had lots of fun in Hiroshima and Fukuoka, where we saw Aiko and Takashi (friends from WMU). We spent the day checking out some of Kyoto's temples. Tomorrow we'll see two more, then meet up with Madoka for lunch! I'll try to write more when we have more time! Just wanted you to know we are safe and happy! (: Bye! posted by Katie Suttles | 6:49 AM Comments-[ comments.] Saturday, December 27, 2003 Hi all! I'm writing from a Media Cafe in Hiroshima! Jeremy and I got here yesterday afternoon and spent the day exploring the city. We visited all the sights in the Peace Memorial Park, and did some shopping. We're having a really great time. (: Well... Jeremy's not having too much fun with the Japanese-style keyboard right now, but... other than that, this has been fun so far! We started about 6am on Friday, and travelled for about 4 and a half hours to Himeji, where we saw one of the prettiest castles in Japan. We toured it for about 2 hours, then continued on to Hiroshima, where we checked into our Japanese-style hotel (more or less...) and headed to the nearby island of Miyajima. Ever seen the picture of that big orange toori gate in the water? Well, that's Miyajima. We wandered around there for about an hour and then headed back to our 'hotel' for a good night's rest! This morning we got up about 7:15, in time for Sailor Moon. (: Then we had breakfast, showered Japanese-style (: and then began our trek around Hiroshima. I think we saw all the big stuff that everyone sees when they come to Hiroshima. The memorials were all really nice, and very moving... especially the museum. There are so many artifacts from the day of the bombing... pictures too... it's really sad. But very interesting. I'm really glad we came down here to check it out. We just had a quick noodle dinner in a department store, and now we are relaxing here, at the Media Cafe. They have all sorts of stuff to do here: use computers, read books, have dinner, play darts or billiards, take a shower... it's really amazing! I don't know how much it will cost, though... we pay when we leave. But Misha told me she and Arnel checked out their Media Cafe quite often, so it can't be THAT expensive. (: She woulda warned me. After this, we'll stroll home and check our inventory. (: We bought a lot of stuff today! Then we'll probably plan for tomorrow. We will get up early again, get ready, then watch cartoons for an hour and a half. (There's some good stuff on!!) After that, we have to check out, so we'll head up to the station and put the big suitcase in a locker, and explore the area around the station for a few hours, before we have to head down to Fukuoka. We are going to meet my friend from Western, Aiko, there! She's moved back to Japan since graduating and getting married; it will be so nice to see her! She said we'll get something to eat, and she will show us around Fukuoka. I'm excited. Fukuoka is on Kyushu, a different island of Japan. I've only been on Honshu, so this will be cool! After that, we will take the train AAAAAAAALL the way up to Kyoto, where we will stay for about 4 days. It will probably be, like, a 6 hour train ride. :P Maybe we can get tickets on one of the really FAST trains... Hm. We'll probably run into another chance to use the internet in Kyoto, so you should hear from me again soon! But, we're both pretty tired from walking around all day! I'll try to get some pictures up sometime soon, so keep your eye on my sites! If I don't 'talk' to you before then: Happy New Year!! posted by Katie Suttles | 6:12 AM Comments-[ comments.] Tuesday, December 23, 2003 Today is finally here! Jeremy will be arriving in Japan later today! It's funny how long we've been counting down the months, weeks, days.. and now even hours (he really was!)... and now the day has finally come. (: It's strange how time flies. So, I'll go to school for three classes today (making a pit-stop in the 1B cooking class! Yum!) and head out about 12:45. My bus for the airport leaves from the station at about 1:15. This is a new service, the Numazu-to-Narita bus, so I'm gonna try it out. It'll be about a 4 hour trip to Narita, though. :P But I won't have to change buses or anything, so I can sit back and relax--read, listen to music, etc. So I'll get there about 5:15. Jeremy's plane arrives about 4:25, but customs should take him at LEAST 30 minutes... so we'll be getting to the gate at about the same time, I imagine. I hope I beat him, though... we'll see. If not, we looked at a map and found a meeting point. (: After we meet up (YAY!!), we'll get train tickets from the airport to Tokyo, then take the bullet train back down towards Numazu. (: (We could take the bus, but the next one leaves about 8pm, which gets us home way too late. :P ) At the airport, we're gonna 'mail' Jeremy's bags on ahead, through this really super service. They'll probably arrive sometime tomorrow, at my apartment door. (: So, anyways... we'll probably be getting back to Numazu around 9 or 10. Whew. That will be about 24 hours of travel for my poor dear... he'll probably be so tired! That's fine... I've got a nice, comfy futon waiting here for him. (: Heheh.. hope he doesn't mind sleeping on the floor... Hm, I bet it will actually be really comfortable after trying to sleep on an airplane, though.... posted by Katie Suttles | 5:16 PM Comments-[ comments.] Monday, December 22, 2003 Happy Birthday to the Emperor of Japan, and a big "Thank you!" to him because we get a holiday. (: So I get a free day the day before Jeremy arrives. (: Time to clean, make sure the fridge is stocked, and finalize our plans for the holidays! Whoopee! He'll be back here in Numazu with me in about 48 hours! posted by Katie Suttles | 7:14 AM Comments-[ comments.] Saturday, December 20, 2003 You are allowed to hate me. I bought tickets to the Ghibli Museum today! Woo Hoo! If you know what I'm talking about, then you are most likely jealous. If you don't know what I'm talking about... well, you WOULD be jealous if you DID know. (: Have you seen any of those really great animated movies from Japan? 'Spirited Away'? 'Princess Mononoke'? 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'? 'My Neighbor Totoro' or 'Kiki's Delievery Service'? If you said "no" to all the above then shame on you! Studio Ghibli (I'd say the most well-known animation studio here in Japan) created these wonderful films. Hayao Miyazaki, the owner and founder of the studio, had a big hand in all of them. He's kinda like worshiped by animators world-wide. I'm really serious! I've read interviews with American animators who say that Miyazaki's works have influenced them. His movies all have really great messages--and they are delivered in a very artful way. He rarely depicts violence--but when you see it, it's meaningful... not just for show. Practically every film 'stars' a child, so they are all perfectly suited for all audiences. His imagination is amazing, and his style is unique. The above-mentioned movies should all be pretty easy to find in stores nowadays. So if you haven't seen any of them, GO! Hurry! The video store should be open right now!! Just to rub it in a little more, here's a link to one tourist's site about the museum. I promise to take lots of pictures to put on my site. (: And I'll take any requests for stuff to buy while I'm there! (I think that's a special message for my buddy, Rachel, who may be foaming at the mouth in jealousy right now....) We'll be making our appearance on January 12th, so I'll be waiting for your requests! (: posted by Katie Suttles | 2:54 AM Comments-[ comments.] Friday, December 19, 2003 Yeah, I felt much better today. I didn't feel my best when I got up, but after a shower I started to feel better. I even got my appatite back. :P So, that's good news. I can't believe that I've already had two final classes already... I have three days of classes left, and then the Closing Ceremony on Thrusday (which Jeremy will attend with me! Yay!) I took pictures in all three classes today, and I have pictures from lunch one day that maybe I can get up on the site this weekend. Tonight I went to Tanaka-san's house for a really nice dinner. (: She had a lot of tasty dishes ready, as well as two platters of sushi, and two small pizzas from Pizza-La, a popular delivery place here in Japan. Fusako brought Aaron over, and two other ladies were there (I always forget their names...). I had a really nice time. (: Enough English and 'simple' Japanese was spoken that I was able to understand a majority of the converstaions. I may have even learned some new Japanese. (: Ha. We talked about all sorts of stuff, and had some really great food--I ended up having a really nice time. For about 5 hours, even! Tomorrow night we will have another dinner party at Fusako's home--so I hope we have as nice a time as we did tonight. I'm also looking forward to my Japanese class tomorrow afternoon. (: I think we have vacations for the next two Saturdays, because of the New Year, so I have to make this class count. And I have a lot of cleaning to do to get ready for my special visitor!! Yay! (: I can't believe how quickly this has come! I hope time doesn't fly so fast while he's here... I'm going to try to get some concrete plans together for our trips this weekend, and I'll try to post them when I've got it ready! Stay tuned! But for now, it's bedtime! Oyasumi! posted by Katie Suttles | 9:00 AM Comments-[ comments.] Thursday, December 18, 2003 Sorry it's been a few days. Not much has been going on. Just school and sleep, pretty much. Oh, and the, like, total excitement that's been brewing inside because Jeremy will be here soon. (: So, well, this week started out a bit crappy, but has gotten a tiny bit better--only because I know Jeremy is coming! Yesterday fuses came by the school and brought Aaron from Kalamazoo with her. He was here last summer and loved it so much, he came back for a visit. He's kinda hoping to be the next ALT, so he's interested in what I'm up to. So they visited all three of the classes I worked in yesterday. So, needless to say, I was a little busy teaching and touring them around the school... Didn't sit down much for about 4 hours... But it was kind of fun. (: However, after they left, I felt myself wind down real fast and realize I had a headache... ugh. So I just kinda rolled through the last two hours of school somehow... Oh, the kids got a real kick out of seeing another foreigner yesterday. I think he got more stares than I did on my first day. (: In one class, Ogawa-sensei asked us to have a 'natural English' conversation, so we talked for about 3 minutes. I think a few of the kids followed along really well, and the rest caught a majority of what we said. (: It was kind of fun. Last night was my last guide class; Aaron again came to see what it was all about. It went well, the students were a bit more animated than they were in other classes before... I'm not sure why, either..? Because it was their last chance? We had a visitor? Emotions were a little higher than normal because it was the last class..? They'd finally gotten comfortable with me...? It's too hard to say. But I taught through a headache, and went to our "Tea Party" afterwards with my head still throbbing. I drank only water, so naturally everyone was asking if I was okay, or 'don't you want to eat something?' or 'Wouldn't you rather have tea?' etc... They all worry too much. :P But, well, it's nice sometimes. So I came home and crashed... My head is a bit better, but I can still feel what's left of my headache creeping around the back of my brain.... :P Stupid headache. I hope I feel better soon, because today, already, I have two final classes. With a 3rd grade and a 2nd grade class... I can't believe it's ending so soon. I got a letter yesterday, though, from my next school: Ooka. The English teacher there mailed me my entire three month schedule and a map, along with a nice letter. Wow. Yeah, I'll be there for three months, if you couldn't tell from the school schedule on my site. The school is huge, I guess. There are 4 English teachers' names on my schedule. Sheesh. I'll get into that more later, right now... I should eat something and finish getting ready for school! See you! posted by Katie Suttles | 5:19 PM Comments-[ comments.] Monday, December 15, 2003 Wow, so, Saddam's been captured, huh? I found out just a few minutes ago, and from MSN News of all places. MSN Japan News, really... I saw pictures of him all haggard and stuff and wondered, 'hm, wonder what they are saying about Saddam today? Catch another one of his doubles or something?' So I decided to head over to MSN 'English' so I could actually understand the news, and lo and behold, I had about 20 articles to choose from, all trumpetting the end of the 'longest manhunt in history', blah blah. I just IM'd my American buddy in Japan, asking if he knew. He said, "eight." As in, I was the eighth person to start an IM conversation with such a statement. Sorry, dude. (: Well, yeah, he found out last night. I went a whole day and didn't know? Wow.... doesn't help that my newspaper was on 'holiday' today. Ha, I bet they are kicking themselves now, huh? Ouch. Well, so here's to me.. the last American (?) to find out this really great news. Oh well, that's what being half a world away will do to you. And on that note... I'm wondering how many times my buddies in America have been bombarded with this news? And I've only JUST heard--and only cuz I just happened to wander over to a news website. I watched an entire run of a 2 hour Inuyasha movie in peace this evening. I doubt that would have happened if I was in America! Were your favorite shows inturrupted so Dear President Bush could 'personally' tell you the good news? Gee, I hope not... but if so... aren't you jealous of me? (; Even stranger... after I saw the article on MSN, I was still skeptical (too good to be true kind of stuff, I'm sure you did the 'double take' when you first heard, right?), so I turned on my TV. Well, no big surprise to me, but all 6 channels were worried about telling the Japanese public about stuff that was totally NOT about Saddam. Gee darn. Click. As my friend said, it's kind of nice being in a different country while all of this stuff goes on. It makes it a whole lot easier to not have to listen to or talk about the politics. posted by Katie Suttles | 7:58 AM Comments-[ comments.] Sunday, December 14, 2003 If I ever had any desire to be famous, I think I've just lost it. Or, really, I just realized I have lost it. I went to this party last night, and would have written about it last night, but I wasn't in the best of moods, and the post probably would have turned into something incredibly cynical--more cynical than I was feeling, perhaps--and I didn't want that. I'm not feeling a whole lot better today, but... whatever. At least I was able to copy the Garnet Crow CD I borrowed from the rental place. All of the Do As Infinity ones are 'copy control' CDs and don't even play in my computer. It stinks. Anyways. I was, again, like, some stupid guest of honor because I came over on this Sister City program. I got introduced to the crowd about an hour into this "Year-end Party"--after a majority of the guests had already approached me and asked me where I was from. It's pretty much a lie, but I just say, "Kalamazoo." Like they'd know Flushing. Sometimes "Michigan" is even not a good answer. I've heard, "Is that near America?" (Perhaps she meant something different... it's hard to tell.) So, yeah... I talked to about ten strangers that night, all on their own volition. I guess I'll give them props for bravery... I went home with a sore throat (and disposition...) from trying to talk to all these strangers over the band which was playing too loud. (Songs like, 'Hello, Dolly'....?) I hardly got to eat anything or got to sit down anywhere because I kept getting stopped to be talked to. I was asked to be a judge of the costume contest that was a part of the part (yeah, a costume contest at a Christmas Party...)--which actually involved me moving around the room and asking total strangers in what Japanese I could manage what their names and themes were. (Sorry, I was expecting something a little different when they asked me to 'judge'.) I have some feeling telling me this is what it's like to be famous. It's funny how everyone always says, 'enjoy yourself' before these things start, when I end up feeling like I'm there for them to enjoy me. At least I had a nice time with Kazuyo that afternoon. She took me to a really good okonomiyaki restaurant. We had a 'seafood' one--it had shrimp and octopus in it, with some vegetables and egg. We cooked it on a flat grill in the middle of our table. It was kinda fun. I'd enjoy going again. After that we went to a park which has springs from Fuji in it, and we went shopping at some nearby stores. We even got some of those photo stickers for the fun of it. I had a good time. Oh, and tonight the 2nd Inuyasha movie is on TV, as we await the theatrical release of movie 3 (this Saturday). So, there... I ended on a good note. posted by Katie Suttles | 5:21 PM Comments-[ comments.] Saturday, December 13, 2003 Hi there. I just got back from watching 5 minutes of fireworks no one told me about. I had bought some new pajamas today, so I decided to try them on and be nice and cozy this evening... I was sitting down with some cocoa and today's crossword puzzle in my newspaper, and suddenly I heard fireworks booming outside. I hurried and looked out my front door, but saw nothing... so I checked from my balcony... I could see the lights flashing from behind one of the apartment buildings that stands between me and the Kano River, where the fireworks were most likely coming from. I shrugged and sat back down with my cocoa... I mean, I was already in my pajamas and everything, and they're just fireworks, nothing special. Yeah, I could only take about ten minutes of the booming before the kid inside got the better of me and a threw a sweatshirt on over my top, and switched to my jeans. Grabbed my coat, scarf, gloves and ran for my bike. They began just about 6:30, and it was about 6:45. I hurried as fast as I could to a pedestrian bridge that crosses the river (it wasn't easy... there were lots of people about downtown) and saw a bank clock that read 6:58. Some fireworks were still going off over the river, so I pulled over and stood with my bike, leaning against the railing. The first ones I caught weren't that exciting... just several jets of gold shooting into the air, ending in a small flash of green, then red, then blue. This actually went on for a while, and I kind of found myself laughing at how boring it was getting.... I glanced at the clock again: 7:01. Wow. But soon after several canons on the bank exploded in flashes and shot up about five bright fireworks that exploded in the sky. (: There were three or four different kinds of fireworks going off in the sky. It was really amazing, to stand on the middle of a bridge, leaning my head back to see fireworks straight above me. It was so pretty... but it felt awful lonely somehow. Then, suddenly, even louder, brighter fireworks shot off from the ground. One exploded only a few meters above the water in what I can only describe as a hot, white snowball of glitter exploding... Does that give you a good mental picture? Soon after the first, while it was still buring in the air, another went off several meters above it. They were really beautiful, and so big... they lit up the whole area in warm, white light. It was really lovely. (: A great finale. Okay... now the mundane stuff. I got a fever yesterday, I think... My first 'real' cold since coming here. But I felt much better today, so you don't have to worry. I only have one more Numazu Guide Class to teach. Next week we have a small party, and a guest from Kalamazoo will visit. Ohh... Friday after school I had my second class with the Numazu Jr High English teachers. Well, six of them, to be honest... I guess it's a busy time of year, so half the class cut out. Oh well. Oh well? Ugh... no, not 'oh well.' How many times have I thought, "Gosh, I'd rather not go to class tonight?" But I have to. I have no choice. Or, at least I feel like I don't have a choice. I'm the teacher for cripes' sake. Ever since about the third week of the Guide class, I haven't had even nearly a full class. And yesterday, more than half of the English teachers skipped out on a freaking hour and a half meeting. And it's even something THEY asked ME to do! Geez... There. That's all. I guess I'm just a little surprised sometimes at the things I see around me. Humph. Okay. Today Japanese class was alright. I guess I suck more at particles than I thought I did, cuz I answered, like, 10 of 30 wrong. Oh well... Guess I better study tonight. Of course, the teacher didn't do the best job explaining.... Hm, tomorrow Kazuyo is taking me to lunch... maybe I can ask her. She's interested in teaching Japanese, after all. (: We're going for okonomiyaki--which is kind of like a Japanese omelette/pizza... I hear.... Never had it. The name okonomiyaki means 'cook what you like', though. Should be interesting, at least. (: After that, at 5:30, is the Year-End Party by N.I.C.E. (the volunteer group who holds my Japanese class) I guess I'm a judge for some costume contest. I totally forgot until Fusako mentioned it Thursday night... sigh.... Oh well. Lucky I didn't have plans, huh? Oh yeah, she invited me to go on a trip next weekend. After the three parties... the weekend before Jeremy arrives. I could have screamed. Instead, I politely declined and explained that I might be busy since three of my nights that week will be sucked up in parties. Right. Sheesh. Was I more cynical than usual today...? Felt like it... wow. I think I need this vacation. What do you think? posted by Katie Suttles | 5:41 AM Comments-[ comments.] Wednesday, December 10, 2003 Not a whole lot of news.. but I figured it was about time for a new post. Yesterday and the day before were so incredibly clear. You could see Mt Fuji's snow-capped peak all afternoon; too bad I'm stuck inside all day. I got a few shots, though... I'll get them on my site soon. I mentioned helping that boy to Mrs Ogawa, but I kind of got turned down. I think she said she will talk to his parents, though... I dunno... I can see how it might be embarrassing, or maybe they see it as futile... I don't know... I made my offer, so I guess that's about as much as I can do, right? If they don't take me up on it, then I'll have done what I could... And I'll still see the boy in class... for only another 2 weeks, though.... Gosh, this time has gone fast.... I really haven't felt too settled in, so I guess the fact that 'the end' is coming soon is a bit surprising. That, and I feel like I've been terribly busy... ugh.... The Guide Class went to the Imperial Villa Park here in Numazu for some reason on Sunday... We all met there at 1 and wandered around together. Fusako asked me to explain the place in English to the gang, but I know squat about that place. (I've only lived here 3 months, and gathering info on the IVP has hardly been a priority...) So she took over... It was incredibly windy that day, so standing near the beach, on the edge of the park sure was something. I got a few pictures of some brave windsurfers. Yes, WINDSURFERS. In the WATER. In DECEMBER. I wonder how you say, 'funky' in Japanese...? Fusako mentioned sometime since Saturday that they are considering having another Guide Class in April... I don't know if I can say any more about that. >sigh< Before the park, Fusako and her two friends took me out for lunch and coffee... and I mostly got ignored as Japanese was spoken much too fast around me. I was able to figure out that they were planing some sort of get-together, involving me, but not asking me.... so I said something like, 'are we going to a party or something..?' And Fusako laughs, like always, (it feels like, 'ha ha... oh, you didn't understand any of that, did you?') and then says, 'yes.' .... AND? (I have to ask for her to continue...) Well, I guess I'm going to a party on Friday the 19th. And the last Guide Class' party will be on the 18th. And Fusako is planning a party for the 20th. She makes it sound like three parties in three days (which happen to be the weekend before Jeremy arrives...) sound like fun. My "Countdown to Jeremy" has begun, and I've started to get ideas together for a trip down to Hiroshima for us. I'd like to show him my 'old hometown' of Hikone, and Kyoto is a must, and seeing the Himeji Castle would be cool... and then there's friends to stop and see. (: Should be fun, though. I think we'll be out from the 26th to the 4th of January. Then I have a week of school. Then I think we will head up to Tokyo on Friday and stay there until Tuesday, when he goes home. Then I'll head back for work on Wednesday. I'll get a better schedule up soon, when I've got it. (: Oh, dinner at Ikuyo's was nice. She's a really good cook. We had eel (unagi); it was pretty tasty. Has a strange texture, though, so it might not be for everyone. Her husband used to work at Oohira Elem, so his kids are now the 3rd graders at the Junior High. I took some pictures, and he got out some, and we tried to match up the kids. (: It was fun. ...Dang, I miss those kids.... Well, enough complaining, I guess... I should do something productive. Sleep, perhaps.... Bye for now. posted by Katie Suttles | 7:09 AM Comments-[ comments.] Saturday, December 06, 2003 Hi again. I've been working a bit on my page today, so you can see the fruits of my labors HERE. I got my apartment cleaned again, and my laundry washed... However, the weather's starting to turn colder, so drying my clothes outside is starting to take two or three days... :P And of course, last weekend it was cold and rainy.. and today, guess what? It was cold and rainy. And VERY windy... >sigh< I'm hoping for a decent day tomorrow, so maybe I won't have to wear my pajamas to school. Also, tomorrow my Thursday English class is visiting the most famous Park here in Numazu. We'll talk about it in English, so they will be able to tell foreign visitors about it. So, decent weather would be nice for that, too... Let's see... Class on Thursday went well. However... for the last four weeks or so, we've been averaging about 12 of 25 students showing up. I'm wondering if anyone's dropped... It sure seems like it. Of course, many students have missed a class or two because they have more important things to tend to... (hiring babysitters is kinda unheard of here... Guess that's not much of a surprise since their kids are in school until 4 or 5pm and are then expected to go to 'cram schools' after that...) Oh well... A survey was passed out last week (from the cooridinators, so it was in Japanese), but I'm wondering if I can be told any of that information. I'd like to improve my teaching skills, of course, so hopefully they will be willing to share any info I might find useful. Anyways... I better get my clothes before they are blown away. :P posted by Katie Suttles | 6:37 AM Comments-[ comments.] Thursday, December 04, 2003 I learned something interesting today, as my year-long stroll through the Japanese educational system continues; another thing that differs between the American and Japanese systems. Yesterday I was conducting 'reading tests' for the ni-nensei, (second graders, which means 8th to most of you) and the last student strolled into the small room where I was waiting. I don't know his name, but he stands out in class. He's a little chubby, he hardly ever wears his school jacket (like his other classmates do), and he LOVES to talk. (: He's a cute kid, and has always been pleasant in class. I thought he was a pretty good student, despite his love of chatting, because almost every sentence I would say, he could translate. "I'm from America," I said on the first day, during my introduction. "Aaa," I heard him say, facing his friends, "Amerika-jin da." ('She's an American.') Well, so he walked into the testing room, sat down and I said, "Section two, OK?" He opened his book to the right page and started fidgeting, but being cheery about it. He kept saying, "wakarane," (I don't get it) and so I said, in Japanese, 'please, read.' So he pointed to the first word and tried to read. He was still muttering, "wakarane," so I read the first word for him: "Once." (Several other students had forgotten the pronunciation of it, too, so I wasn't worried... yet.) So he copied me and read, "Once a..." but he stopped again. 'Little,' was next... but he wasn't reading it, and he kept saying, "wakarane." So I told him, "little... chisaii" (which is it's translation). But that seemed to confuse him... This was about the point I realized: This boy can't read English. So I tried to help him sound out the words. "'L' no oto ha nan desu ka?" (What sound does L make?) But either he didn't get it, or my Japanese is really poor... So we slowly struggled through the 40-so word page. Mrs Ogawa walked in on us at one point, and helped him with a few words, but then left. I was kinda wondering what I should do, and was hoping she'd tell me... I didn't want to rush into English in front of this boy, though.. it would probably only make him self-conscious. So after she left, we continued. We got through it and he heaved a sigh of relief. But I said, "Let's read it again." I wanted to make sure he remembered these sounds, even some of them. However... he didn't. Even 'and'... He just doesn't know the sounds the letters make. And without knowing the sounds, you can't piece words together. That's how we learned as children, right? I started to wonder what the problem was here. Why had this been ignored? Here he is in second-level English, and he can't even read 'and' without a struggle. Is he dyslexic, maybe? Or perhaps he just slacks off in English class? There wasn't anything about his behaviour to suggest to me that he had any disabilities that would affect his learning (however, that is one drawback to my WMU education--a lack of special education knowledge). What was going on? So today I asked. I said to Mrs Ogawa, 'That boy... he's obviously behind his classmates... why isn't he repeating English 1?' Well, the Japanese have this thing with homogeny, right? In school, all the kids wear the same clothes, they must all look about the same (no hair-dying or strange piercings or colored socks), and they should all be the same age. Unlike American schools (or really, more like our elementary schools), these students are grouped into classes. At Dai-Ichi, there are two classes in each grade, and students always stay with their class. They even stay in the same room all day. So, this boy is a 2-B student (2nd year, 2nd class). All day he has classes in the 2-B classroom. The English teacher comes to them for English class, so do the math, science and history teachers. And all of the 2-B students have the same classes at the same time. No one leaves. There are no advanced students, no remedial students. Every one is the same. Except their not. However, it doesn't matter. At the end of the year, whether this boy learns to read English or not (and actually, Mrs Ogawa told me he struggles in all his subjects), it doesn't matter. He will graduate at the end of the year, with all his 2-B classmates, and they will be come 3rd year students. If he was held back, even just in English class, that would create difference, and disruption. Quite sad, I think... and even worse--high school is the same. Only entrance examinations weed out these 'bad' students. (Each high school (and college) has it's own exam you must pass to enter the school. They are very hard, and students must study extremely hard to do well on 'good schools' exams.) This hardly seems fair. This boy has a learning disability. I'm sure of it, though I know I am hardly certified to say so. I'm willing to bet, though, that since he struggles with everything, he has some inability to learn from the way he is being taught at Dai-Ichi. He needs help, or he is just going to keep sitting in class, getting ignored because he is not on the same page as his classmates. I'd like to help this boy... Even just getting him to be able to read the alphabet by the end of the month would make me happy... I thought about asking if I should tutor him, but taking on another 'class' isn't all that appealing to me at the moment. However, if I left Dai-Ichi and didn't help this kid in SOME way, I know I would hate myself. So... let's see what I have to say about this young boy in one month, huh? Will I be bragging about his improvements, or verbally scolding myself for not giving this boy a chance? posted by Katie Suttles | 3:28 AM Comments-[ comments.] It's done. The big box is mailed. I can't go into details cuz then that spoils Christmas fun! I have now sent... let's see... 5 Christmas packages. All airmail... ugh. I think the shipping fees cost more than all the presents did. Nah, joking... I think. The postman today was really nice and somehow got about 15% knocked off my big box. Dunno why, but I'm grateful. (: Yay. I got to leave school 3 hours early today because there were a bunch of tests and I would have just been sitting around on my butt. Actually, I didsit around on my butt for about 2 hours, since I only had class 1st and 2nd period... but the teachers kinda asked me to stick it out til lunch, since I eat with the kids in their classroom, and they would miss me. (: So I did, and got to go home about 1:30. I still had to use some of my 'vacation time' to do it, but it was worth it, since I got the big box outta the way before 5. Woot. So I was biking home with still a bitta sunshine through the clouds. (Oh, yeah... big box actually fit in my bike basket! I was worried it wouldn't, but I got lucky. Horrah. Didn't have to bike to the PO for 15 minutes with a package under my arm.) That's about it for today. Jeremy's off getting some food with a buddy (at 2am? eh, whatever... that's what college is all about, right?) so maybe I'll study some Japanese before I have to teach my class tonight. Only 4 more classes left, including tonight. I've gotta say that I'm kinda glad... It's been fun, and I think I've learned a bit from it... but it certainly adds a bit of stress to my schedule... All in all, though, I think I'll be glad I said, "yes" to Fusako, when all is said and done. posted by Katie Suttles | 2:53 AM Comments-[ comments.] Wednesday, December 03, 2003 Yesterday the sky was so amazingly clear. However, I did not notice this until after school had begun. I walked into one of the classes on the second floor and suddenly had a picture-perfect view of a snow-covered Mt Fuji framed through the window. CRAP. No camera... and still, at least, 6 hours left of school... 6 hours of hoping the sky would remain clear for me to take a picture of yon Fuji. Yeah, well... that didn't happen. As I walked home, I noticed clouds had gathered near the horizon, which usually makes Fuji unviewable. Oh well... I'm betting there will be another crystal-clear sky sometime soon to allow me to take a picture. So, my VCR turned on yesterday when I hit the 'power' button... but the door is still half-open... indicating that it is most likely still broken. I uh.... was a little forceful with it Monday night... in my deperate attempt to get it working before Inuyasha began... sigh... So last night I stopped by the electronics store to check prices. Yeah... about the same as America, about what I expected. Of course, this place lacks a DVD player, and I figured as I looked at the VCRs, 'why just get a VCR? I should just get a DVD/VCR combo and 'upgrade' the apartment...' The cheapest one was about $150... I was struggling over the idea of getting a new bike for me (and future ALTs) to use... Now I have to decide whether I want to buy a stupid VCR that I will only use for 8 more months, and never see again. ....sigh.... posted by Katie Suttles | 3:09 AM Comments-[ comments.] Monday, December 01, 2003 Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh........ my VCR is broken..... This is so awful. Of course, whatever happened to break it happened right before "Inuyasha" started tonight... so I couldn't tape it. I almost wasn't able to watch it! The VCR jammed, thinking there was a tape inside, so the screen would flip to 'VCR mode' or whatever, and I couldn't get the normal channels to show! I tried turning off the VCR, but for a while it wouldn't turn off... But I got it to display the TV channels at least... about 2 minutes before "Inuyasha" started... So, 'oh well,' I thought, 'this week's episode didn't look like anything special...' Well, it was pretty funny, and it'd be nice to be able to go back and check stuff out, to understand it better... but I guess I'm out of luck until some fan subs it online for me to see.... >sigh< Hmm... my shoes fell apart at school today, too... But I couldn't really expect less from clogs that cost 1000 yen, could I? So I had to rush out and get some new shoes this evening. It took me a little while, but I finally settled on some 5000 yen sneakers. Yeah, $50 isn't the best price, but I spend about as much time in my indoor shoes as I do in my outdoor... so I figured 'what the heck...' The only thing that sucks about this is I had to get a really neutral color--to go with khaki pants AND black pants... and whatever skirts I would wear, too.... >sigh< I'm not a big fan of this 'taking off the outdoor shoes' aspect of Japan. Where's the fun in wearing the same pair of shoes every day? ...And on that note, I've had a few comments when I've done something 'drastic' to my hair... like, wear it down after a few days of wearing it up. "You changed your hair," I've heard. Weeeell... yeah.... Why have the same hairstyle every day? I haven't noticed a whole lotta significant changes in day-to-day hairstyles in my female collegues. Interesting... Oh, some good news: I finally found copies of these two m-flo songs I heard on TV and I really, really like. (: Yippie. And I made mom's 'chicken stir fry' the other night, and it turned out edible. Mom makes it better, naturally, but I'll work on it. Also, I was unable to find those tasty "Chinese fried noodles," or whatever the heck you call them, so I used white rice instead. It was okay, but I missed the crunch the noodles add... Perhaps at a different grocery store I'll have more luck. Okay, I went to bed way too late last night, so I'm going to make up for it tonight. See you! posted by Katie Suttles | 6:29 AM Comments-[ comments.] |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||