English Recitation: BLINGIN' BABY

My students recently participated in an English recitation contest in Aso city. It was kind of a pain in the ass for me, since I had to stay after school every day (and sometimes at 7:30 am + after school) to help the kids practice. That meant I was at work from 7:30 until about 6 pm. I am starting to feel like a real Japanese person working such long hours. Though, most of the time I'm just sitting around studying Japanese or checking my email.

Oh... and the above image has nothing to do with the contest. I just like it a lot.


Here are my students owning the stage.

I thought that this was an appropriate shirt to wear to an English recitation contest. "Your word inspired me. STAY!!!"
That's right, we took first place (but was there ever any doubt?)... *BLING!* BLING!*
Take THAT Ichinomia! You got served!


So, now it's more practicing because we are going to the prefecture's contest in mid-November. Really, the extra practice time is okay because I get a day off to travel and get paid just to hang out in the city during the contest... sweet.

Best Two days at Work EVER!!!

I don't know what your idea of a good day at work is, but the two-day trip that I recently took to Nagasaki tops my list. A few teachers, Thai exchange students and my freakish foreigner body made a the long bus ride to Nagasaki for a fun-filled, all expenses paid (plus salary) trip. We first stopped at (i think) the most famous amusement park in Kyushu called "Greenland," (well, in Katakana it's グリーンランド　"Guriinrando"). It was fun. Not as nice as some places I've been to in the states, but fun indeed. I had a sweet, sweet time... and I mean sweet, sweet, sweet... sweet.


This is by far the biggest Ferris Wheel I've ever ridden, and with a glass floor too! cool

Oura Tenshudo Church, National Treasure of Japan.






























Nagasaki is really, really pretty. It's crazy to think that a nuclear bomb exploded in the middle of the city killing hundreds of thousands of people less than 100 years ago.




























I made some stained glass, but I think the glasses I wore were sweeter than anything I could make on my own.



Next, it was a trip to the Nagasaki Peace Museum. Very depressing... and I felt very shameful being there seeing everything first-hand. Sure Imperial Japan and Axis countries were doing some pretty evil, evil things, but dropping a bomb is never a good thing. Plus, it seems like the Nagasaki bombing was more to show that America was powerful and that the $2 billion Manhattan Project was worthwhile. Crazy regardless of the motivations, it was still an insanely evil thing to do to people. Aweful aweful...


But, regardless of any shame I experienced I still had a great time and learned quite a lot from the trip. Perhaps the most valuable thing I learned is that when on an amusement park ride called the Super Viking in Japan with a bunch of screaming high school students, you have to take video!

Japanese Amusement Park: The Super Viking!!!

CNN: Dollar Plummets Against Yen

Depressing because I am losing money in the U.S., but glad I'm making yen in the short term, I suppose. Weird being over on this side of things...


"U.S. currency drops 4% against Japanese currency, but rises to 14-month high against the euro as bailouts continue in Euro.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The dollar continued to rally against European currencies Monday but plummeted more than 4% to hit a 6-month low against the Japanese yen, as the credit crisis spreads around the globe.

The dollar fell as low as 4.8%, or ¥100.23 during Monday trading from ¥105.32 Friday. It was the first time the greenback traded that low since Mar. 31.

By 6:13 p.m. ET, the dollar had recovered slightly, but was still trading down 3.7% against the Japanese currency to ¥101.45.

"The yen typically outperforms other currencies during periods of extreme risk aversion," said Dustin Reid, ABN AMRO senior currency strategist."

Party in Amakusa

...went to a party with other JETs this past weekend way down in Amakusa. Swimming too. The water was very very cold. This is a view from the swinging bridge, which a couple people jumped from. A little too scary for me since it's about 60' down.

My work...

So, yes... I do work over here in Japan, actually. I teach Engrish. Above is is a picture of me "working." I went on a trip the other day to Kumamoto city with four Thai students and a teacher participating in an exchange program. They only speak English and Thai, so I get a bunch of free trips places during work. I love the Thai exchange program.

Below is a picture of a couple of my colleagues. This is the traditional pose of Japanese women.
This is me fighting with the Japanese teacher of English on Ubuyama's dam... epic
Below is another picture of me "working" on our visit to Kumamoto. We stopped at Kumamoto Castle and the guards didn't me in because I didn't have black hair. I took my picture with him because he was actually a nice guy.I was told by a lady at my school that they built the castle with a curved bottom to protect it from ninjas. Apparently ninjas' flying kicks are thwarted by this design and they simply bounce off of the castle midway through the attack.This is actually what my job entails... Playing the monkey and pronouncing words in English in front of elementary and junior high kids. Pretty fun and easy if you ask me.

My house and other things

(pic 1) This is my house. I live in a small village called Ubuyama-mura (産山村) on the edge of the Aso caldera, which is one of the biggest active volcano calderas in the world. Ubuyama has a population of about 1700 people. No one speaks English and the closest convience store is a 30 minute drive away. Perfect for a weird artist like me. Actually I like it here, it's just going to get really, really cold because it's in the mountains and the houses aren't insulated or heated. Plus my shower is terrible and super touchy, with little more than a hair's turn of the faucet between ice cold and scalding. I've been through two uneventful typhoons so far. Actually the pic of my house was taken the day before the 1st typhoon. In my spare time I've been travelling, but mostly to fix stuff that has broken since I got here. I also study Japanese for about 2-3 hours every day. So far I've made very minimal quantites of art because the transition was harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully some new work will be started soon.

(pic 2) This is the view from the caldera's rim. Yes, there is a town inside the caldera.

(pic 3) They take biking pretty seriously in Japan.

Japan Blog

Hi,
This is my new blog for people interested in knowing what I'm up to over here in Japan. Keep in touch!
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