Just a little something to help Katie keep up with all those who matter to her.
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| We're Not in Japan Anymore... Just a little something to help Katie keep up with all those who matter to her. |
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Tuesday, March 30, 2004 Okay, so I've been SO bad about posting. My last entry was only about two weeks ago, but I've done a lot in that short time! Here's a brief re-cap. I finished out my last week of classes at Ooka Junior High. On Friday the 19th, there was a graduation ceremony. I have a few pictures to share, and will get them on my site sometime. It was quite interesting, and one of the teachers told me the junior high ceremonies are probably the most-attended of the grade school graduations. I guess they feel it's the most important. So, anyways, pictures soon! I left early Friday to go pick up my mom and aunt from the airport! (: They came through the gate about 5pm. Wow, it was good to see them again! (: We sent their suitcases on through a delivery service, got their money exchanged, and headed to Asakusa, Tokyo, where our ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) was. I'll just do a quick recap of their week-long visit. I've got lots of pictures, of course, and I'll have a page sometime soon. Saturday we spent in Nikko, and it snowed! Sunday we explored Tokyo a little--and the weather was gorgeous! On Monday we shopped around Numazu, and I showed them my 'hangouts'--and it was rainy! ): On Tuesday, Fusako invited us for lunch and then we went to Atami, where we stayed in a nice hotel with a great hot spa! It was really wonderful. We stayed there overnight, then came back the next afternoon. We spend the rest of Wednesday shopping a bit more, their last chance to get souvenirs! Thursday morning we visited Dai Ichi Junior High; mom and Robin got to meet Ogawa- and Atsumi-senseis, and we got a tour of the school. We even ran into some of the kids. (: We got a ride to the Mishima train station by Sugisawa-sensei (the Japanese teacher at Dai Ichi)... then, we headed to the airport.... ): And then I came home alone... ): But I had a great time! It was a very wonderful vacation. <3 Friday I went to school and sat around and did nothing. :P After school, I had my first English 'lesson' with Sugisawa-sensei's daughter. It was nice. (: She's a sweet girl. That weekend, the weather was GORGEOUS! Of course... I went to Japanese class on Saturday, and then that evening, I went to dinner at the Sugisawa's. We ended up speaking more Japanese than English... but I didn't feel too bad, since that wasn't really one of my 'lessons'... They invited me to a museum on Sunday, and we saw illustrations from picture books. They were really lovely. Again... we spoke mostly in Japanese... ah well. Monday I went to school, even though the kids are on holiday. Around 10-ish, a lot of the teachers had cleared out of the teachers' room, but one came to me and said, "Let's go to the gym." I asked 'why?' and she said something in Japanese I didn't understand. I got at the end of this short line of teachers... and kind of figured it was a rehearsal for the 'goodbye ceremony' Sumi-sensei had told me would happen that evening. Well, we walked into the gym and everyone was sitting aroud like it was a REAL ceremony... and it was! Sumi-sensei had told me it was that NIGHT, and asked me to prepare some words. Well... I guessed she was wrong or something. So I took my place on the stage, with the other teachers who were leaving the school. I was slowly putting a small speech together as I sat there, so I had a decent one ready when it was my turn. I hope they all understood... I tried to keep it simple. I got 4 pots of really pretty flowers, too. (: Yay. More potted ones! Bouquets make me sad... But, then, after the ceremony, Sumi-sensei told me I could go home about noon. ?!?!?! I had no idea. I asked her what the ceremony this EVENING would be about, and she said that she must've explained it wrong. There was a DINNER PARTY that night, the CEREMONY was what we just did..... >sigh< Well, then she said that the teacher in charge of the party didn't reserve a spot for me, so I "didn't need to go." Well, that's fine. I was kind of invited to the drinking party afterwards, but I didn't end up going. Eh... THEN Sumi-sensei said I didn't need to come to school Tuesday OR Wednesday. Sheesh. I had NO idea; she seemed surprised. >double sigh< So I packed up my flowers on my bike, with my bag, AND my indoor shoes (yeah, that was a fun ride home...) and left early. After school I got to pick up a new bike from City Hall. Ms. Mochizuki didn't say much to me, even though she doesn't speak much English... usually we can get by on Japanese.... I'm afraid she's angry with me... I hope she understands when she sees the bike I had. I guess, REALLY, the bike itself was kind of fine... but the basket was beaten to crap, I had to use string to tie it on. And a basket on the back would've been REALLY nice... and the front tire never would stay full of air (and I just bought new tires a few months ago!!!). >sigh again< .... well, whatever.... maybe I'm just being whiny.... The new one is nice. It's basket is much nicer than the old one, and it has that 'rack thing' on the back, so I can put groceries there, too, instead of holding onto them if they don't fit all in my basket (which they hardly ever do). It's a woman's bike, though. It will be nice for me, cuz now I can bike to school in skirts easier... but if Aaron replaces me next year.... (: Shouldn't be too bad, I see boys biking on women's bikes here all the time. Well so today is Tuesday and I'm being lazy. I should get to cleaning soon, though. And I need to find my way to Katahama, my new school as of Thursday, April 1st. I haven't heard ANYTHING from them. It sucks. Luckily, Sumi-sensei helped me find a map, so I know where the school is. And, I think, the kids don't start classes til the 5th, the following Monday... so I should have time to get ready for lessons. Okay, that's a brief (?!?!) explaination of what I've been up to! Sorry about the delay.... ): posted by Katie Suttles | 12:09 AM Comments-[ comments.] Monday, March 15, 2004 So my weekend was a whole lotta nothing special, but that's okay. My mom and aunt will be here on Friday, and then I get a really awesome week-long vacation with two really awesome people. (: Yatta. School on Friday was interesting, though. It was the 'presentation of sogo,' Sumi-sensei said. Sogo classes are kind of like extra-curricular classes, or even clubs, to us... Here, each teacher has a 'special' class (some of the options here were sign language, weight training, paper crafts, etc) and the students can choose which to join. They study for about 4 months, as a part of the regular school day. Then, towards the end of the year, everyone shows off what they learned. We saw about nine presentations on the stage, and walked around the school to different rooms to see displays of projects other students had done. It was kinda cool. (: I took as many pictures as my memory card and my batteries would allow! I will have pictures up soon (I'm aiming at before my mom and aunt arrive...) and I will have a better account of all that transpired! Stay tuned! Friday night I had another class with the English teachers. We ended up talking a lot about how to improve their English; talking about things you can do, stuff I suggest, etc. While we didn't really get around to our normal lesson stuff again, I think they enjoyed it... Though I think most of them walked away with not-as-much valuable info as last time. I guess that gives me something to talk about next month... Afterwards, Ogawa-sensei said something to me about helping her daughter learn English. Ogawa-sensei was such a blast to work with, so when she mentioned paying me, I just HAD to think of a better idea. So I said that I really don't know HOW to teach English (I mean, I can teach AMERICAN English classes, but that's totally different from teaching kids grammar and all that crap that she really means), but if she was interested in conversation skills, I'd surely be able to help. She said that conversation was more of what she meant anyway, so I said something about casual situations being better for that... (I mean, choose one: conversation practice in a classroom or conversation practice over dinner....) She perked right up! Ogawa-sensei loves to cook (and she's great at it!) so she said she'd invite me to dinner sometime, and then I can speak with her and her daughter. I'm really looking forward to that, then. (: Wee. Saturday's Japanese class was fun, too. We had a great teacher this time, and we all did a lot of talking (and laughing!). We didn't get far in the book, but that's never an issue. (: We got to practice quite a lot--and I understood most everything that was said that day. Yatta! Afterward, Li-san mentioned something about the characters in the movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and I said they were all famous literary characters. So I took him down to the English stacks in the library and pointed out books like "The Picture of Dorian Grey" and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." He picked up one or two. I hope he enjoys them! English isn't his mother-tongue, though, so I hope he has an OK time with them. "Dorian," if I remember right, was written before 1900... so the English is going to be a little old... Ah well. (: We'll see in 2 weeks' time, how he fared. Saturday night I went to dinner at Fusako's. It was nice. One of her friends from NICE was there, too--Yuuko, who works at the library. She helped me pick out some kids' books to try to read a few weeks back. They talked a lot about the new Numazu Guide Class and the textbook we are finishing up. I just did a lot of proofreading... nothing too exciting. Sunday I did a whole lot of nothing... (: I got some cleaning and room-arranging done, though, in preparation for my guests! I still have a few things left I want to do, but I'm mostly ready for them. I hope we all fit.... (: It was cozy when Jeremy came to visit, so three might be a crowd... But we'll be a happy crowd. (: I CAN'T WAIT! (:posted by Katie Suttles | 1:49 AMComments-[ comments.] Monday, March 08, 2004 So I got the pictures up from when I checked out the Hina Matsuri dolls, AND from plum blossom-viewing this weekend! Go me! And go YOU! Go check out my new pictures!! I had a really nice time checking out the flowers with Kazuyo. They were really pretty, and they smelled SO nice. I wish I had a tree somewhere near my apartment... (: After the park, we went into the town and had some lunch. It was a really nice afternoon--nice and slow, very relaxed. I got to ask her a few questions I had about Japanese, too. (: So, my weekend was pretty tame, but that's okay! I've been working on the 'textbook' for the next Numazu Guide class, and some documents for this 'host family guide' Fusako asked me to help her proofread. I've got the worst kink in my next from using my computer for, like, three days straight! This weekend was a nice break from it... but I worked on it again at school today, and the kink is back. :P Sleeping on a mat on the floor doesn't help a whole lot either. Oh well... I think I finished today. I will go back and scan stuff soon to make sure. Not tomorrow, though... I have classes all throughout the day. Maybe Wednesday I'll lug my comptuer to school. Although, the basket on my bicycle has almost completely broken (did I tell you?), so I can't put both my laptop and shoulder bags in it. Actually, if I put my heavy laptop bag in the basket, it would drop down and start pressing on the tire cover, rubbing against the tire... >sigh< Why doesn't City Hall want to help me get a new bike..? Can we start a petition? Do you think they'd listen to my concerned fans in America? (: Mom and Robin will be here soon! I can't wait! I've got a nice schedule all made out for their visit--hopefully we'll get a little bit of everything in. Some new Japan, some old Japan... we're even going to see some stuff I haven't seen yet, which is nice. (: So I'm quite excited! I think they are, too! Hehe. Oh, mom told me that Sadie, our dog, had surgery last week to finally remove that tumor on her shoulder. Things went great! Mom says she even seems a bit more active. She still has her stitches, but they should be out soon. She will probably look so good when I see her again! (: Japanese class went okay on Saturday. Our teacher talked a little too fast for me, but luckily I've studied most of this before. And even luckier, I was able to ask Kazuyo the next day to clear up some stuff. (: >whew< After class, I went to the bookstore and bought some books that go along with the textbook we use in the Saturday class--they should help me practice during the week. No new yet from KU! ): I'm such a dork and checking my mailbox every day! Ha ha. Oh well. I found a card from Marisha one day, though! She says she's getting bigger... I still can't believe one of my best buddies is going to have a baby! And I'm HERE! ): I would love to see her... and go to the shower... and all that stuff... I hope I don't miss too much... Ah well, it's about bedtime. I didn't sleep well last night, so here goes! Thanks for reading! Come back soon! posted by Katie Suttles | 7:57 AM Comments-[ comments.] Friday, March 05, 2004 Well, I applied a few days ago and now it's official: I am a University of Kansas student! (: Jeremy is doing his grad work there and will have one more year to do after I return. So I decided that I would go to Lawrence for a year until he finishes. Not sure what I will do for a job yet, I should start looking soon, but I found out that KU has a really great Japanese program. (: I miss structured Japanese classes so much! I need homework and tests! Classmates and teachers! This is going to be sooooo nice! I'll be on a non-degree track, though. I don't think I really need to get one YET. I'd like to be certified to teach Japanese, but I already have English and Art under my belt, and now I have this great experience in Japan. If there is a job out there that I am qualified for, I am not worried that I won't get it. (: I'll get another certification when I know I can use it. Today I went on a little field trip with Shibata-sensei and her sogo kids. (Sogo is some sort of extra-curricular class... not exactly sure what it means, though.) Her students took Japanese fables and translated them into English. Then they drew pictures on big pieces of posterboard. Today we went to an English immersion kindergarten and they recited their stories. It was fun. (: I watched as one group (one of the stronger ones) told their story. They did a pretty good job. Afterward, the teacher (who I recognize as a New Zealand woman in my Saturday Japanese class!) told the children they could ask questions, in Japanese or English. One little boy asked, "How did you make the story?" I think the girls understood, but the answer came out in Japanese... oh well. (: Not like I can blame them. It was a great experience, though, I think. And I think they really enjoyed it. I know I did! posted by Katie Suttles | 12:37 AM Comments-[ comments.] Wednesday, March 03, 2004 So the next chapter in the first years' book has a small collection of emails from kids around the world. It encourages the students to use the internet to improve their English skills. I am all about that. I mean, computers are amazing, aren't they? And the internet? I don't even know if there is a word to describe how utterly amazing the internet can be. If I forget how to spell a word, I can use the internet. If I want to talk to my fiance and parents, half a world away, I hop on the internet. If I need to find out the air-speed velocity of an unladden sparrow.... Yeah, that's probably on the internet, too. God bless America and the Internet, yo. Anyways, there's this one little example from a 12 yr old Singapore girl. It reads: Hie! I am a gal from Singapore and i luv email. My bdae iz on 16-5-87. Please e-mail me with ur name, age and bdae. Sayonara Okay, I am all about encouraging the kids to explore the land of 'Internet English'... but I kind of forgot about this! Abbrieviations like 'ur' and 'bdae'.. there are so many more. Shortened phrases like 'ty' and 'lol' and all. And that's not even getting into l337 territory! Though.. I can't imagine the kids will come across l337 TOO much... But it would be fun to tell them about it.... (: So now I'm contemplating some mini-lesson on 'Internet English'! What do you think? (: posted by Katie Suttles | 11:11 PM Comments-[ comments.] |
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