Highlights of the Day

E1st period: a student was writing a description of his family and pets: "I have a dog. She is a bitch" I tried controlling my laughter and pointed it to my JTE but she didn't seem to get it. I think because the principal was sitting in the back of the class to observe.

3rd period: I explained to the kids the mysteries of the bermuda triangle, atlantis, and the nazca lines and asked them to think of an explanation for each one. One student: "The bermuda triangle is a portal to another world. Atlantis disappeared because it was in the bermuda triangle and got transported. The nazca lines come from aliens who came through the bermuda triangle". Quite a smart kid to link all 3 different topics together.

5th period:

So we had a school fire drill today with sirens and announcements, the whole shebang. I was taking my time to stop working and get my jacket to go outside when I saw the head english teacher making some tea for herself. "I don't want to go outside for this, it's too cold and crowded". I was like "really? we can do that?" I sat back down, and under the blaring of the fire alarm she said "tea is ready! dozo" Guess we can since we're the teachers after all.

As I was leaving school, some students were complaining to me how cold they were when all they were wearing was their normal summer clothes with a scarf over it. I told them to get a jacket, crazy kids. We got into a conversation about Christmas and boyfriends/girlfriends. They demanded I give them presents for Christmas but we compromised saying that I would only give something if they did something for me. Since they're broke-ass kids with no jobs, I figured getting them to write me an English Christmas card letter was within their budgetary constraints. One girl said she wanted a boyfriend for Christmas and I started shouting at passing boys "are you looking for a girlfriend?!" The other girl started talking about her boyfriend which is when I learned some Japanese (see previous post)

More Japanese from my students

"Tomadachi ejo, koi bitto miman"

Something to do with more than a best friend, but less than a lover.

lol my students are hilarious

Shoplifting

So during our shopping game lesson one of the boys tried shoplifting and pocketing without paying one of the accessories I had on display right in front of my eyes. I was shocked and highly amused. "Put it back, and get out of my store!" "Where did you learn that!" Ohh wait... now I remember... I knew that bank robbery lesson would come back to bite me in the butt. On the bright side at least they're still retaining what they've learned.

Candy and learning new japanese words

I introduced skittles to my students in the dance club. They thought they were like smarties, but were pleasantly surprised to find out they were tasty candies! I used it as an opportunity to teach them what each flavour each colour was.

Some birds flew over our head and we heard a big splat. The girls shrieked and yelled about the poo. This started a conversation about poo. At the end I learned new words to describe poo: unko and unchi, daiben and fun.

Big Trouble in Little Osaka

got told off by a japanese gas station attendant today when I cut through the station on my bike. He waved me down with a "konnichiwa! konnichiwa!" and I knew I had done something wrong. He assumed I understood Japanese by the way I looked, went into a rant, and wildly gesticulated. I didn't understand what he was saying but by his tone and gestures I figured he was saying it was dangerous to bike through a gas station because I might get hit by a car.

Being robbed by my students

I had a group of my genki students stop and surround me on my bike as I was leaving, and they begged me for food and money because they were hungry. wtf?? The last thing I expected to find in Japan is starving schoolchildren.

Honestly they were just using it as a chance to chat with me. Its weird having that many faces staring at me waiting for me to say something funny. I gave one girl a 5-yen coin and laughed in her face saying "try buying something with that", but she was still joyous to get anything from me. I had to promise them I'd bring chocolate tommorrow to get them off my back. Damn these kids are gonna bully me out of my lunch money if I'm not too careful!

First Post

This blog is going to document my travels and experiences in Japan for my friends and family, and the curious internet onlooker. I hope to update this blog with new pics regularly whenever something interesting happens. Stay tuned! I'll post some of the things I've been doing to prepare for my arrival in Japan.