Ey, ¿que honda?

Hey readers! (And welcome, new readers!)

So, it’s been a while since I’ve last written. Quite a while really. But it’s not understatement when I say, “I’ve been busy.” If you any of you personally know me, you’d totally understand what I’m talking about. But besides that fact, in light of everything’s that been going on here in Japan (and in response to all the emails and conversations rotating around “Are you back yet?” and “You should come back,” comments, I figured now’s a good time to write again about my daily shenanigans and keep you guys in the low paranoia level.

So, let’s begin.

As I’m writing this, I can’t remember when was the last time I posted. I don’t recall if I wrote before/during/after winter break…but right after winter break I’ve been pretty crazy busy. Mainly due to 2 projects that work that just sucked any free time I had. One more than the other (like, I even lost some sleep…ugh…)

Project A: Video Lesson
When I went home for Christmas, I made sure to take pictures of pretty much everything I did in LA and took video when it was possible. (Taking pictures wasn’t too difficult since some friends already call me “paparazzi”. It was the taking video bit that I’d usually forget about…). After I came back to Japan (and spent New Year’s with a friend and with my host mom), I started to work on a video for my students. I’m not a computer geek and computers tend to hate me so it took some time to learn the tricks of iMovie and get the music to start and fade out where I wanted them. Then I made questions for the students to answer, did the lesson 10 times (new readers: I teach all of the first years, equivalent of sophomores, and there’s 10 classes of 40 students), graded their handouts and recorded their scores. Right after this I started planning and preparing for the English Speech Contest.

Project B: English Speech Contest
So, in my school, all of the first years must write their own speech and then we hold preliminary rounds in each class to choose the student who will continue in the Speech Contest. Usually there are about 2 students per class that continue with the contest but occasionally we pass more. Anyway, the time consuming part was getting them to start to write their essays. Most of them didn’t seem too thrilled about it so getting excited for it was a bit of a challenge. Learning from last year’s craziness, I did more lessons with them on how to write. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I didn’t expect it to be heavily overwhelming for some students. So I made sure to explain everything. But, for their rough draft, once I finished correcting their grammar, I wrote questions all along the sides to help them expand their speeches (and to make it more coherent). THAT took way more time than I had anticipated.
And then, in came a busy cloud. 3rd year’s English Essays!!! This year was the first time I taught at least one senior class on a weekly basis. But usually my part is done by winter break (since they’re mainly preparing to take their college entrance examinations). However, many of the teachers were asking me to help with the English Essay portion of their entrance exams! So, on top of grading/correcting/commenting/asking my 1st years’ Rough Drafts, I was lesson planning/prepping/correcting/guiding/advising the 3rd years! So, I felt like there weren’t enough hours in a day.

This went on for about 2 weeks.

Once I finally finished working with all the rough drafts (did you do the math?), I did 10 lessons explaining more on writing a speech, giving small grammar lessons (based on common mistakes I corrected), answering questions and talking one-on-one with the students who were either slacking off or having a really hard time, I thought I had some free time. But no. As soon as I had finished that second round of classes to start them on their 2nd drafts, their deadlines started coming in. So again, I was correcting all of their speeches. But this time around, as much as I wanted to, I didn’t ask them questions to help them with their speeches because the semester was almost going to end. I needed the last week of the semester to hold the preliminary rounds.
And the last day of the rounds was my busiest day!!! 1st and 2nd period I had preliminary rounds, 3rd period was a co-worker’s Open Class (so I checked it out), 4th was another preliminary round, then I had lunch (oh yea, I had skipped breakfast so I was soooo hungry), 5th was the last preliminary round, 6th was spent tallying up the points, going over my notes to choose the best speaker and writing the list of the students who will continue in the contest and finally, in the 7th period, I announced who would continue.

Phase 1 of the English Speech Contest ended. Oh man…I slept so much that weekend. And it felt sooooo nice.

Now, I’m busy with other things but at least now I shouldn’t be working too late…
Phase 2 will start when the new school year starts. So…maybe mid-April?

Bleh…I only wrote about 2 things and one of them took so much space…

Anyway, clearly, things are fine in my area. Maybe my next one will be more on what’s been going on but first I wanted to let ya’ll know why my replies to your emails have been delayed (or very short-answered…)

Stuff that’s been going on

Hey hey~

Ok, so yea, I suck at keeping this updated. >.<;

So I’m gonna separate this into “Past Craziness” and “Current Shenanigans.”

Past Craziness:

Surprises Galore!
It all started with Julie and I wanting to throw Lupita a surprise birthday party. It then rolled over to “Let’s surprise Julie too!” which then ended up being 2 surprises for her (because our gift to her was a getaway trip to an onsen but we wanted to go when it was still cold and therefore was a really really early birthday present. And then we still threw her a surprise dinner party. Ha-cha!). Then it just became a crazy “Let’s surprise her too” tunnel and so Erika had her little surprise dinner, Mayu had a surprise dinner outing and home dinner party and we even threw a little surprise farewell dinner for Julie. And now I’d like to take a small break from surprises (it gets a little hard to remember who knows what and what’s a secret from who sometimes…well this last time it was because there were 3 surprises and I was starting to forget who knew what!! Ah…)

筑紫祭
So at my school’s Cultural Festival, I did my usual judging of the speech contest. Which also means helping the students prep for it. But this year, I also got to work with my ESS kids and their English play. In ways, I was their scriptwriter, director and understudy. Hahaha. But it really seemed like we were just goofing off and having fun. :D
And then, the Home Ec teacher asked if I’d be interested in baking with the Home Ec club. They usually bake tons of cookies, put them into cute little bags and sell them during 筑紫祭. She knows I love to bake so of course I decided to help! So all of these things, being done around the same time meant that I needed a double, or an assistant. Being that I have neither, I was staying at work really late. I mean, it was dark out when I’d leave. And sometimes the last group of teachers would be walking about the school to lock it up. This was the second time I’ve seen my school in the dark. But this time I had my camera so I took some night shots. Sadly, it doesn’t do much justice. It had just a little bit of creepiness to it. But maybe it’s just because I’m a horror fan and it looked like a setting for a horror film. :P


Current Shenanigans:
I had a college buddy come visit me for a week! She was actually in Japan for 2 weeks but she was visiting another college buddy up in Hiroshima first.
It was an awesome time with her. It was to catch up and to show her about my city. And we got to go shopping! (It’s been a while…) Then together we went to visit another college buddy further south of me. That made it even more fun. But, the typhoon was not so much fun. Luckily it didn’t hit my area but we did get a lot of rain and strong winds (which together means you’ll get wet. With or without an umbrella. Yea!… -_-“). But because we stayed indoors, it rather felt like a vacation and it was nice to A: catch up on sleep and B: just chill.

Then right after this was the uber crazy Soumen Dinner Party/Mayu’s Surprise Birthday Party/Julie’s Surprise Farewell Party. And since I had spent the previous days away from home, I was up early that Saturday morning to clean, straighten out my place, run errands, finish the surprises (cake and photo albums) and generally getting ready. Despite waking up early, we party hard-y-ed till almost dawn. We could have kept going but half of the members were getting really tired. (boo~)

About one week later, it was Julie’s last night and her cousin decided to throw her a farewell BBQ (mmm. Yummy meat). And we all decided to wear yukatas just because. Hehe.

Sadly though, I was unable to spend the night or see her off at the airport because I had made plans to take a day tour with my office ladies like 2 months in advance. But the day trip was fun!! Hot, but fun. We went about Kumamoto and picked our own melons, got grapes and watermelon, went to a winery, saw a historic place, went to a famous river (which was really cool. Like cold cool). And had yummy food.

The next day, I went to a teacher’s house to have dinner. Her husband is also a teacher but at a different school but his ALT lives at my jutaku so we went together. Unfortunately, the moment we decided to head over to their place, it was pouring rain! (Evil rain! I know you’re out to get me!) Luckily though, there was a taxi outside so I snatched it before it left. Mahaha!
We had tacos for dinner (which were quite yummy. I want more~) and did some nice chatting. Got a little lost on the way back (it’s crazy how much the streets change in the dark…) but we got back alright (and there was no rain! Haha!).

Oh, the only other update would be that I fear my tendonitis if coming back. Noooooooooooooooooo.

I think I have only 1 more chance for this super-strong shot and after that…if my tendonitis comes back…I’ll have to get surgery… o_O;;

久留米花火大会２０１０

So last night was the 久留米花火大会 (Kurume Fireworks Festival). And being the biggest fireworks festival in Fukuoka, many many MANY people go watch. So, most of us ALTs make plans with our blocks to go and watch it together (also since the ALTs that just arrived wouldn’t have known about it or wouldn’t have known how to get there…unless they knew Japanese and then I they’d be ok.)

But yes, speaking of new ALTs, I met just about all the new ALTs in my area. This year, some high schools went back to JET (so they decided to not continue with the private companies) and so these ALTs have no predecessors. So I imagine they have many questions. But sadly, maybe not the kind I can answer (every school is different which makes every situation different…the best help here would be from a predecessor…*le sigh…).

Anyhoo, back to the main event. The festival!!!
So, yesterday, I kinda raced back home to take a quick cold shower and change into my yukata (summer kimono). I decided to wear the one my host mom bought me 3 years ago (yes, I have 2) and then decided to go for a challenge and do the obi myself. The obi that came with this yukata is pre-set so that I don’t have to worry about making the bow. But, I wanted to try a new obi I had bought maybe a year ago. So, standing in front of the mirror for maybe 13 minutes trying to figure it out do I notice I did the same mistake I did the year before: I folded the sides of the yukata “left over right” instead of “right over left.” Left over right is intended for deceased people…so I was something of a zombie last year… -_-“ But I noticed this time! But sadly it also meant I had to un-do it all and start over. Ugh. But I managed to finish in time to then help my friend dress into her yukata. And she had the pre-set obi so hers was easier to put on.

Then after some waiting for the rest of the block members to gather, we ventured off to the train station where we squished ourselves into an already packed train to get to Kurume. Personally, I think last year was more crowded… hmm…

*Fast Forward*
So we get to the tarps that our friends who live near Kurume set out and sat down. After a little while, the festival began. In Japan, the fireworks run for more than 15 minutes.
They run for an hour.
No really. The festival began at 7:40pm and ran until 9:10pm. So I got to play around with the settings of my camera and managed to get some good ones (woot~).

But of course, since it’s one of the biggest festivals, going back means lots and lots of traffic…both in terms of cars and people. Some of my buddies decided to head back before the festival ended to try to beat the crowd. But some of us lingered to the very end. So we took our time getting up, throwing away our trash, folding the tarps and taking pictures. (And there was even an announcement that because the station was heavily crowded, everyone should take their time walking back to the station. hehe).
So we did. We even stopped by the little stands in the shrine area to check out the kids trying to scoop up goldfish with a paper paddle. But still, we had to wait in a really long time for…maybe half an hour? (possibly more) And then we got squished into a train (not that squished but yes, quite crowded) and returned home.

And now some pictures for you!

*Sniff Sniff*

Lately, I’ve been going down memory road as I ride my bike to work.
Why?

There’s a row of houses that have many flowers in front of their houses. And these flowers are flowers that are either at my parent’s home or my hometown.

Like…the flowers that I’d always pass when I’d walk to church with my parents. They have a very strong…honey (?) smell and so whenever I smell them, I immediately see the flowers in my head and then I feel like I’m going to church. Haha. (But then I realized I’m not home and am riding my bike and should be careful about the car coming up behind me)

Then I pass a house that has many roses. Since my mom loves roses, she usually has some about the house.
It’s a never-fail effect:
I smell roses -> Mom pops into my head.
(But then a car crossing in front of me quickly bursts that thought-bubble)

What I found surprising was that instead of making me homesick it just made “home” that much more of a special place.
:)

The New School-Year Has Started~

So in Japan, in the interval between the end of the year and the start of the new academic year, there is a special, high-tension day. It is the announcement day of the list of the teachers that will be transferred. Once a teacher has taught at a school for 3 years, s/he can be transferred. But some teachers somehow manage to stay a school for longer (some have been at my school for 13 years!). But it’s not something you apply for so it’s really just a game of chance.

When this happened last year, I was mainly confused by it and then downfallen at the fact that some of the teachers I’ve been trying to build friendships with were leaving!

This year, I knew it was coming but I didn’t expect to have almost half the department transferred out or to have so many teachers in general transferred! So it was quite sad but I was mainly upset about one particular teacher. This one teacher was one of the few I really got along with and whom I would joke around with. I was afraid of this teacher leaving last year (when I first heard about this) but luckily it didn’t happen. But it did this year…*SIGH* What made it a little harder was hearing one of the students who really liked this teacher too say “Being a 3rd year is going to be rough! I can’t do it without that teacher!”

I can still contact this teacher (so we can meet up and have coffee or something) but it’s going to be sad not working together anymore…

Today we had the Opening Ceremony for the new academic year. The new teachers were introduced as well as the new Principal and Vice-principal (both of whom seem to know English! Score!). But it’s crazy to see my first 1st years as 3rd years (seniors) now. I’m in disbelief that they’ll graduate in one year…time sure does fly by!

Tomorrow is the Entrance Ceremony and I’ll meet my new 1st years. Exciting~

Rain and Snow Knocked on my Window…

So Wednesday morning, somewhere around 3 or 4 in the morning to I got woken by crazy rain and snow hitting my window due to the violent winds that were blowing. Not only was it a rude awakening, I continued to be woken up until I actually had to wake up to get ready to go to work. Luckily by the time I left my apartment, it was only lightly snowing and the ferocious winds had stopped.

This totally sucked for my students since Class Match had to be held indoors. So the boys who had signed up for soccer now had to play ping pong. But they all seemed to have fun despite the bitter cold (still amazed some of them were in their shorts…).

But as always, day 2 is vicious. Because the ３年生 have graduated, there are inter-class games. My kids tend to be competitive anyway but once it becomes the ２年生 versus the １先生…not only do they step up their game, the cheering intensifies. I enjoy trying to document this whole event. However, the stray dodgeball balls are something to fear…especially when the softball girls are playing…hehe.

But back to the crazy weather. It’s March and it should be getting warmer and warmer. It was until this week and we suddenly dropped to freezing degrees and then got snow and rain… And although it continued to snow that day it never piled up so we couldn’t even have a snowball fight. Saaaaaaad.

Hmm…because it was getting warmer, we were expected to have the sakura blossoming for the middle-end of this month. But after this random cold front…could it have been pushed back? Hmmm…

Hopefully there’ll be some around for my block’s 花見 event. (Hanami comes from the kanji of “Flower” 花　and “To See”　見． So it’s usually translated as “Flower Viewing.” But in the Japanese culture, “Hanami” implies picnicking underneath a sakura tree and drinking sake.)

Crazy but Awesome Weekend

So Valentine’s day just past by. And yes, I’m behind in sending cards…gomen! ><;;

This past weekend, Lupita and I had one of our Mexican Fiestas. Since it was near Valentine’s, it was a mix of a block-event-Mexi-Nite and a Valentine’s day event for our block (sadly though, not everyone came…). So, of course, this meant that Lupita and I were up to our usual business and work work work for preparing for all the craziness. (Going to at least 3 stores each to find all the right ingredients, doing the baking before hand, which in this case was Thursday, starting the prep work Friday night and then cooking all day Saturday and leaving us only about an hour or so to get ready.) And this time around, I ended up napping before the party started…I was that tired before it even started!
But it seemed to have turned out well. The food was good although it went by really fast this time around. Lesson learned. Our invite list will need to be a max of 20 people. No “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts.” Which really sucks for us because then we feel like we’re being mean but…I don’t want to get Lupita in trouble with her neighbors and I’d like to not be so tired after our parties…But that’s a different topic-

This time around, my Oxy Ohana came!! (They are some of my college buddies that are also doing the JET thing). One of them came Wednesday night so it was really awesome to have some more hanging out time with him. He even came to my school! I think my kids enjoyed talking to a friend of mine. We ended up talking to a group of 3rd years (high school seniors) for about an hour! About movies, sports, bands and whatnot. He was a little blown away since he teaches at elementary schools and junior high schools.

This on Thursday we went to the mall to get last minute ingredients and lunch. After that was baking, talking, baking, laughing, baking, eating take out, baking and more baking. Friday was working, showing my friend around, ESS fun, dinner with my co-hosts and meeting up with another buddy from my Oxy Ohana!

Saturday was mayhem. Cooking, cleaning, frying, mixing, beating, shredding, cutting, dicing, blending since 9:45am. And somehow we always just on the dot with getting ready…ah…but they seemed to have really enjoyed the food. ^^ But I ended up knocking out on the sofa around 3 or 4am…only to randomly wake up around 8am and seeing futons and bodies all around me. Oops…By that time though, the party was swindling down.

Sunday was spent cleaning, making French toast for my buddies, watching a movie and just chilling. Then I took my Oxy Ohana to the station where we sadly said our good-byes. But I should soon be meeting up with them again. :D

And now…I want to sleep…

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