so as of today i officially begin my second year here in japan. on July 27th last year i landed in Japan and embarked on an amazing year.
i have a lot more to say but its late and i wanted to post before it's way after the second day. it's been lots of needed introspection and reflection lately. i should take time to do more... but it's kind of scary to recap on a year. re-play all my failures and successes and figure out what i can do better next year. i actually made a list of the all to post on the ol' blog here... but i felt weird doing that. so maybe i'll print it out and put it in my not-so-public journal.
but things are going good. going good. looking up. looking up.
today new JETs came to my town. it's like mail-order friends almost. think about that for awhile and you'll understand the weirdness and fun of it.
Dear Mike, Tammi, & Krista;
You all rock me dearly. Today i opened the door to a nice man carrying an enormous box for me. Surely, this was from my Mom, i thought, but then i opened the Box....what's in the box?... inside was some much needed americana, some socks, and burned CDs... wait. my mom never burns me CDs! i was confused! then i saw the letters and opened them. from the Rices and Krista.
now let it be known to all the world (or at least the small microchasm that visits wimpkiller) that the great Michael & Tammi Rice and their Krista Vossler are the rocking-est people in the whole entire universe..
thank you so much. i'm flabbergasted. really am. you guys are wonderful. truely. thanks for making my day wonderful. if i ever come back to the states, i'm buying you all dinner. God bless you all.
love, davey....
PS. "i'm right here mikey!"
i scanned some homework for you that i found extraordinarily entertaining. i'm not sure how legal this is....but the moral of the story is: kids are fun. i bet this happens in america too. american teachers aren't posting their kids' homework on the internet. mu wa ha ha. man, does this stuff make my day.
"what am i?" and "what's your future dream?"
what's in the box?
and no english education post would be complete without a sample of my contribution to the world of English education. so with out further ado...
here's a preview (very rough cut) of the game i'm making! i plan to add other accents and a better rewards system for getting questions and finishing rounds... test thus far confirm that necessity.
target audience is young young children and mentally handicapped children (both foreign and domestic).
so as of today school is officially out for summer! [insert anthem by twisted sister and crazy end of year happenings a la "Rock N' Roll High School"]
japanese education, to answer your question aunt carol, is on a trimester system which basically equates to year round school. the school year (and fiscal year!) starts in april and ends in march. just as the year renews itself in spring, so does the budget. so... first semester has just ended and now there are five weeks until school begins on September 1st (nationwide). so what do i get to do?
SIT ON MY F*&%ING A$$*! that's right. even though the kids don't come, i have to come to school every day and "work", that is "pretend to work". five weeks of being bored out of my mind. apparently because i'm a public employee, tax payers would feel like their money is not being well spent. thus i need to pretend to work, even though no kids are here and my job as a "communication tool" is negated. but i do have a few surprises along the way...
what i will be doing!
THIS SUNDAY is my Shamisen Debut. i have a recital in Osaka. big deal if you ask me. i'm the only foreigner on the bill. foreigner playing japanese folk songs on the ol' shamisen... it's going to blow people's minds. i sing to. man, i'm gonna folk it up!
next week two new JETs come to my town. sorry for them, i'll probably make it my duty to orientate them just because otherwise i'd lose my gourd. maybe i can pace myself. then somewhere in august is a real orientation for all the new JETs in Hyogo.
on the 15th and 16th is my city's DEKANSHO MATSURI! that's always a good time and it makes you feel like you're apart of the city. it's connected with the buddhist holiday OBON, where you ancestors come back from the dead and roam the earth for awhile...(i think)... i'll investigate more. but nowadays, its less religious and more ritual... like opening christmas presents from santa on christmas - not really celebrating the Immaculate Birth of Christ the Savior, it's more like Family Day.
then i may go to Indonesia (Bali) and relax myself for another semester and then absorb as much heat as possible so i can bear the harsh winter.
thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.... i don't have much else planned. steve, when do you get to china!?
i'll also be working out in the afternoon. then we'll see a new, refined, buff dave (how many times have i made that promise before... about sixty).
what i will not be doing!
though i sound like i'm going to be having ample amounts of crazy fun... i must remind you i have seven forced hours a day behind my air-conditioned desk or out in the summer heat and humidity.
i will not be on the internet at work. because my city "fears viruses" from the internet they have prohibited personal access at school. i think this is just a bullshit reason and they really don't want to shell the cash to wire everything, and they don't want to waste "productivity" while everyone is pretending to work. i sort of catch their drift, but the internet is not just for porno, you can do things on it like connect to people in other countries, find teaching resources, and more!
i will not be going back to america. sadly. ticket prices are jacked up for the summer and going home would have been near $1000 (again) and i just didn't want to fork that over.... plus i heard they were crowded.
i will not be dry. i will be sweaty as a mofo...
i will not be getting five weeks off to go home or wherever i want to like the JETs in the town next to me. lucky dogs. needless to say that fuels some jealously about my whole summer situation... but as the JET handbook says... "EVERYBODY'S SITUATION IS DIFFERENT".
what the kids will do...
did i say there wouldn't be any kids around? well... i lied. to be honest there will be plenty of kids, everyday. but they're engaged. required to come here in the summer to do club activities, kids will be in and out of here. though probably too hot and too busy to talk to me... let alone challenge english. but maybe some of my "friends" will stop by to say hi to me.
other kids will do some traveling and stuff, per family regiment. other kids, like the ones that tell me to "GO HOME", will be in all sorts of trouble without any real discipline.
i may at times join the Girl's Table Tennis Club for kicks. they're fun kids and laugh at my jokes.
so what will i then do...
so. with countless hours at the ol' pretend grindstone what will i do. i hope to write. write my butt off and then upload that to wimpkiller. maybe storing some of the fruit away for a paper zine or mini-book. contributions anyone?
then i'm planning on reading as well. you can't be a good writer if you're not a good reader. on the plate are: finishing the da vinci code, finishing the illiad, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, silence by shoshaku endo, vernon god little, and some japanese comic books in the mix as well (that's another story entirely!).
so... what will you do this summer? i realize for most of you, the summer is starting to wind down, while mine is just starting....ah, the beauty of pre & post-war economic ideals that create an unnecessary work ethic standard across the nation that is no longer necessary. but, no matter where you live, it's good to have something to look forward to, especially in the heat.
....and the final thought...
look at me. i'm complaining about getting paid for doing nothing other than forced sitting, which i can use any way i chose. who's a weenie?
