A Few Miscellaneous Posts

Michiko: Before break, I was over at Michiko's for dinner one night. I had just stopped by to drop off some Christmas cookies I had baked, and she invited me to stay for dinner. Gareth was there, and we cooked ramen on the stove in the living room. Michiko had suggested to Lara and Lana that we could watch a show called Winter Sonata as a fun thing to do for some Japanese practice. Actually, Winter Sonata is a Korean drama from a few years ago, that got HUGE in Japan. It's been dubbed into Japanese. It stars a really famous Korean actor named Bae Yong-Joon who is a megastar in Japan, particularly, I believe, among middle-aged housewives. Here, he's called "Yon-sama" ("sama" being an incredibly elevating honorific). We actually talked about this in my Japanese Civ class last year, that's how big this show is. Anyway, we watched the first two episodes, and it is melodramatic like you wouldn't believe. Two high schoolers have been best friends since they were children, he's in love with her but she doesn't know, then this new, brooding, handsome student comes to school. He's looking for his long-lost father who abandoned him. He thinks it's the girl's best friend's father. He and the girl fall in love, the friend is jealous, then, in a surprising twist, it turns out the new guy's father is probably the girl's father. Ew... He runs away leaving her heartbroken. Then he has a change of heart, is running back to her, when BAM! he gets hit by a truck and dies. Flash forward to 10 years later. The girl and her best friend are engaged, when back into their lives comes... guess who? It's the guy who died! Or is it? M-e-l-o-d-r-a-m-a. 

Student Journal: I was asked to correct an English journal kept over break by one of the third year students, TM. In one entry, he writes about his dream of being an interpreter and learning about many cultures. He says "Ms. Miriam speaks about four languages, and I think she is very cool." Yay! I'm cool :) I said during my self-intro at the beginning of the term that I spoke English, French, Italian and Japanese, but I may have neglected to mention I'm only fluent in one of those. I like when I'm asked to help out with things like this. The speech contest, editing students' writing, the English club, these are the times I get to know the students better. Just seeing them in class is useless for that. 

New Term, New Approach: I came into this job last term with no clue what I was getting into. I had a number of expectations, almost all of which were wrong, about what this job would be like. Now that I've done this for a full term, I have a better sense of what I'm getting into. I've set some goals for myself, such as being more assertive with lesson planning and communicating better with the other English teachers. I also know how things work here now--or rather, I know that any attempts to plan a schedule will be thwarted by the unpredictability of the school calendar, so I have to take it one week at a time, and make sure I'm proactive about seeking out the information I need, so I don't end up being surprised at the last minute as I always was last term. 

OMG: So I'm a little strapped for cash now that break is over (or rather, I've gone over budget and there's still over a week until pay day). So I was planning on not spending any money for the next 10 days--eating the rice and cereal I have in the house, for example, and not going anywhere this weekend. Well, back in November, my teachers had a drinking party. No one ever came to collect my money the next week at work, so finally I asked the English teachers about it. She said she'd find out how much I owed and let me know. We had another party before the break in December. Then I left for Korea. Well, today, finally, she comes to me: "Ok, for the two parties combined, you owe 16,569 yen"-- 170 dollars! Why, why, WHY this week of all weeks? 

Did you lose weight?: Today, the music teacher said to me "have you lost weight?" I really don't think I have, if anything I think I've gained weight since moving to Japan. I assume it's because I was wearing a suit, since today was the opening ceremony, and it's slimming. But there are two other possibilities: either I actually have lost weight (possibly from not eating for a week in Korea) or I've gained weight, and she was using the same reverse politeness Japanese people use when a foreigner opens their mouth and speaks terrible Japanese, and the Japanese person automatically blurts out "your Japanese is so good!" In the West we say "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything." In Japan, it seems the motto is "if you can't say something nice, say something nice."

Engrish: Added some more Engrish. Now with more Korean! Check it our here.