Tuesday, October 30, 2007

October is my favorite Monf

October is Tychawn's Bifday Monf.
October is typically the beginning of sweater weather.
And of course there is Halloween.

Even though Japan doesn't technically celebrate Halloween it has been the best thing that has happened to me here.


Tomorrow is Halloween, which means it will be the end of my Halloween lessons. I have no idea how to plan a lesson that is not about Halloween.



Japanese people have no holiday to wear costumes. When I was in elementary school I spent like 9 months a year thinking about what I was going to be for Halloween.
Some Japanese people have asked, "So ... have you ... like ... dressed up for Halloween?"


At the Jr. High I passed around a picture of myself, dressed up like a princess, when I was probably six and some of the students felt awkward just looking at such a crazy picture. Or maybe it was just the boys that are too cool and they could give a shit what some American was doing when she was six.

After I played "make the pumpkin a jack-o-lantern while you are blindfolded" at the Jr. High I went to my favorite elementary school to join various people, in the area education department, to watch a demonstration English lesson.

After the lesson I sat in on a meeting about incorporating English in the classroom. I sit in on a lot of these kinds of meetings at this school. I never have any idea what anyone is saying.

During the majority of the first hour of this particular meeting "Caity Sensei" or "ALT" was being said or people were just gesturing toward me.
I have also been video taped while teaching lessons at this school. Which is all just awkward considering how lazy I am. I cannot get it together enough to learn Japanese or even brush my teeth every morning. At work today I spent about an hour googling people. Then I googled myself (whatever, I do that) and I remembered how much I want to be a journalist when I grow up.

About half way through this meeting people starting asking me questions. Which I found to be unfair since I had just been sitting, listening to people speak Japanese, thinking only about how I wish I had thicker socks on because my feet were cold and how I wish I had bought that brown blazer I saw at that yard sale on Elam St. this summer.

Two hours later, when the meeting was over I stood up and walked out, only saying goodbye to one person. I drove away feeling kind of guilty I did not linger because most of those people spoke English and I was talked about a bunch. It is just that at the end of the day there is only so much Japanese I can take.

But I am watching something on TV about teaching English to adults. That is what a dedicated teacher I am being.
And thank god I still have one more day to make paper plate masks and put my devil ears on Japanese students.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Three months

This is what the last three months of my life has been like:

I had a JET orientation in Tokyo.


I flew to Tokushima, in Shikoku and drove to Ikeda.


I do not wear shoes inside and I wear slippers in restrooms.


I learned that Japanese boys will buy you food and drink and they will NOT be creepy hanger on-ers for the rest of the night.


I wake up to a rooster crowing.


Or I wake up with ZERO recollection of who that other person in the above picture is.


I have a car and drive lots of places.


I still have good hair.



I stayed out all night in Osaka.



I teach English and throw the peace sign without thinking.

Japan has been good to me. Sometimes it sucks and sometimes it rules. Most times when things are about to go really wrong some Japanese person helps me out.

I do spend time missing people and places back in the States ...



But I am trying to feel lucky that nostalgia will always exist.

Another way to waste time.

Why I Blog?
I have decided to start a blog in support of the movement of wasting time on the internet. I am not blogging to keep in touch with people. I am probably going to lie a little bit in my blog, so if we are really friends our contact probably exists outside of this blog.

I love reading other peoples blogs on the internet. Especially people I do not actually know. I love judging those people in both positive and negative ways. This is why I did not want to start blogging. But, I figure it is only fair that I expose myself, in such a way, since I enjoy the way others expose themselves.

Honestly, it is kinda cool how much public writing exists in this little world we live in thanks to the internet.

After I got that last email with Anne Meade's blog it made me want to blog.

Since I live in a small town in a country where I do not speak the language I spend a lot of time in my own head, so I might as well start an actual blog instead of the compulsive myspace blogging I have gotten into.

With that said, I hope you can spend time reading my blog while you think about the many other, more productive, ways you should be using your time.