it's not life that matters but the journey...

I just received a letter from my company stating that as of March of 2011, Fuji city (where I'm currently living and working) will no longer be utilizing private ALT supply companies for their foreign English teachers. So that means that even if I had wanted to stay here in Fuji (i.e. if my husband got a job here and we decided to stay in Japan for awhile to make money), I will no longer have a job as of March 28th of 2011. So we will need to either move to a city like Tokyo or Osaka, or move back to the U.S. Because there really are no other options for me in this small city, and without my employment, my husband and I will have no income at all.

Wow! In a way at least it has given us a definite direction for our future. But it's kind of scary to know that the cities in Japan are cutting back on the money they are spending on English education. I don't know if this means they are going to discontinue the foreign teachers altogether, but how sad for the students! And it’s going to make the jobs out there (for teachers) more in demand – harder for me to get a new job! But in a place like Tokyo, perhaps there will be more options. Tokyo!?!!!? Or it’s back to the U.S., which seems to have been taken over by Republicans after the latest elections… kind of a scary option at the moment too.

My future is a bit shaky…but what else is new??

Anyway - on that note, happy almost-the-end-of-the-week! well, at least it's almost the end of the week for me:) And my week was broken up by a mid-week holiday - I had yesterday (Wednesday) off, which was very nice! It's almost like having two short work weeks - though I'd much prefer a whole week off, to be honest! I've been super tired lately, which seems to often manifest itself in dizziness and general lethargy - and I'm not really sure why. Ever since I returned to work (at the end of September), I've been working like crazy, and I hardly seem to have any time to just do stuff of my own - except on weekends and occasional days off. And even then, I still seem to be thinking about stuff related to my job. When I'm at my schools, I'm teaching 4-5 classes a day on average, and I've had so many new lessons that I'm spending my evenings making lessons and searching online for activities to make the classes interesting. And when I teach at one of my elementary schools, I usually have to prepare 4 separate plans, since I'm teaching two lessons per class per day! I've said it before, but I'm really starting to feel that this job is for someone much younger and more energetic! I love teaching, but this constantly having to prepare activities and lessons is exhausting! Plus I have this new private student once a week, and I'm spending time getting her lessons prepared too! Perhaps I need to start taking vitamins, or just exercising more - or maybe my eyes are tired and I need to start wearing my glasses. Who knows... but I'm ready for my winter holidays!

And speaking of winter… after a couple weeks of rain and storms, the weather has been very nice this week - sunny and cool, very fall-like with a hint of warmth during the day. Basically it's sweater weather - no jacket is needed after 9 a.m. But as soon as the sun goes down, the temperatures drop, and it's been very cold at night and in the mornings. Luckily the air conditioner/heater we installed in the second floor room works really well, and the room heats up in just minutes! So, I've been using this room as my dressing area since it began to get cold. With the onset of fall and colder temperatures, Fuji-san is just starting to show some snow at the very tip top, and it's so pretty! I need to get some pictures taken, but I keep forgetting to take my camera when I go out. Forgetfulness is my middle name lately! (I hope this isn't some form of early-onset dementia!!!!)

Before I go and take my shower and prepare tomorrow’s lesson, I thought I'd post a few pictures for your viewing pleasure - a few of an outing I took about two or three weeks ago (to a local park), as well as some pictures of our pets. Most of you know Leo, my 11-year-old cat. But my husband's parents also have this adorable little bird that my father-in-law found in a nearby field about four years ago. Her name is Piko – and while I haven't always been a big fan of birds, this one is special - she's just so cute and has so much personality! She always comes to the side of the cage and lets me rub her stomach when I go down for dinner, and sometimes I feed her lettuce or cabbage! and she's a total ham for the camera!

( smile and say lettuce )

and a couple pics of Leo when I was stuck in bed for 3 weeks - he was sitting under my legs!

( hello handsome )

and here's a few pics I took at this park about 10 minutes drive from my house. it's really quite pretty there, and on a cloudy day it was kind of quiet and peaceful.

( Marubi Shizen Koen (Nature Park )

ok - it's time for my shower and relaxing time. bye for now!!

I had my final work commitment today (until September that is) - three team-teaching demonstrations with another Japanese teacher in front of a group of other elementary school teachers. I was nervous and didn't want to do it - I knew it would be hot, and my mind has only been on my trip tomorrow (as well as other issues here at home...) But in the end, I didn't need to worry at all - it turned out to be surprisingly fun and very rewarding! And we actually were able to do the first two hours in an air-conditioned room. Although with more than 20 people in there, it was still hot! Yet the teachers participated whole-heartedly and had a great time singing songs and playing games, just like the kids do! I can't believe how nice the teachers were, and how grateful they were for my lessons! They genuinely thanked me over and over, and the principal especially was super nice. He even seemed to be having a great time during the lessons! I wish that the junior high school teachers were even half as nice and grateful as these elementary teachers are. Thank goodness I'll be teaching twice a week at elementary schools in the fall - I really don't like that junior high school!

Anyway - just wanted to do a quick, fly-by post to say that I'm off to the U.S. of A. tomorrow!! So I'll be offline for at least a couple days, and probably won't be posting on LJ too much... though i do plan to post at least once from my sister's and a few times while I'm at my mom's. I'm super behind on LJ and will only get more behind with this trip - but I'll be back! in three weeks...

I was gonna post a few pictures that I have on my computer, but photobucket was nicely doing maintenance when I went there just now, so they'll have to wait! Oh well - it was just sunsets, bugs and my cat!

so anyway - bye for now! happy August everyone!

I don't know if it's because it's that time of the month, or because I'm fighting a cold, but I'm just feeling really sad and lonely today. of course living with an unemployed person, who reminds you every day how depressed and frustrated he is, doesn't help. But no matter the reason, I'm taking advantage of this national holiday today to rest and do nothing. I had thought I'd have more energy, and perhaps get out and get my bus pass or do some shopping - but I have a killer headache, so I should probably just sleep.

Work has been okay this week. Not nearly as crazy busy as last week, thankfully! I taught only two classes Monday, and three yesterday and the day before. Yesterday afternoon I left school at 1 p.m. for a meeting at City Hall - this is going to be a regular monthly meeting with my supervisor, some representative of Fuji's Board of Education, and the other 7 ALT's who work in Fuji city schools. I think these kinds of meetings are a waste of time, especially for someone like me who never breaks the rules and who is mature enough to follow rules and other things. It seems that all we talked about were what we shouldn't do, and when we shouldn't take days off, etc. Apparently, some of the younger, stupider ALT's are already doing things to piss off the company supervisor, so he is already starting to treat us all like children. For example, one guys went to his sister's wedding in Hong Kong over the weekend, got delayed coming back and missed his classes on Monday! He also didn't get his time sheet faxed in and they've told us repeatedly if we don't get our time sheets in, then no one will get paid! He acts like it's no big deal! And another guy decided that he wanted to go to Kyoto for an extra long Golden Week holiday, so he was leaving last night for Kyoto, and planning to call in sick on Friday morning - he's supposed to be at school teaching! You see - the holidays don't really start until Saturday - we get today off, but we're expected to be back to teach tomorrow, and then we have five days off (the weekend plus Monday through Wednesday). these guys are really being immature and not treating this job like a serious commitment. Oh well - nothing I can do about it!

So tomorrow I do go back and teach four classes, then I have five days off - which are my last holidays (except weekends) until the end of July. I don't have plans for Golden Week - I think I'll just watch a bunch of movies and tv shows and be lazy and eat snacks! I don't want to travel - it's too tiring, for one, and too expensive - plus the roads and destinations will be so crowded since these are national holidays. And who knows what the weather will be - it's been terrible in April: one day cold and rainy, the next day hot and sunny, the next cold... and so so much rain! I'm tired of rain!

Anyway, I wish I could feel more excited about my job and about teaching, but I don't feel much like I'm a part of the schools, or like I'm really reaching the kids. So far it's not like when I was teaching at the high school 12 years ago - then I really felt like the kids were my friends and that I was valued for my teaching. Now, since I work as a contractor and not directly for the school or BOE, I feel like I'm just an outsider, just the token foreigner they have to help them teach English. I'm mostly talking about the junior high school - the elementary kids so far have been great - enthusiastic and fun and cute. they enjoy the classes and aren't afraid to use English. But the junior high kids are just so unmotivated. Even if I give them what I think is a "fun" activity, or even if we sing a song or talk about fun things, they just don't want to try. They are at that awkward age when I think it's even hard to reach them in their own language - so when I try to talk to them in English I'm just greeted with stares, or even worse terror!
One strategy I have is to just use Japanese with them, and then when they're comfortable, drop in some English - this is when I talk to them outside of class, for example at lunchtime, when I eat lunch in the classrooms.
I'm hoping that once I get a little more comfortable in the school, and once the kids know me better, I can get my camera out and start taking pictures of the lunch times, and the club activities. I did wander around the school last Tuesday, which happened to be the only clear sunny day in awhile, and visited some of the kids doing art, or playing sports. It was fun - and I think it's going to be the best way for me to bond with the kids and get them to talk to me.

Well my headache seems to be worse again so I'm going to sign off. I have some pictures I took of the outside of my junior high, and a temple across the street... may post those later.

For now I'll leave you with a very nice version of "Taking Chances" - I really liked this song on Glee, and I love this version too (just so long as it's not sung by Celine Dion!)

I can't believe I made it through more than half of my busiest week ever. It's Thursday night and I still have a day of teaching tomorrow, plus my full day follow up training in Nagoya on Saturday. I've been so exhausted this week, having to teach a full five classes a day for three days in a row! it doesn't sound like much, but it's just hard getting used to standing for so long, and having to be "on" for such a long time.

But on the positive side, I've been having a lot of fun with the kids! yesterday at the elementary school, I had a chance to teach the special needs class (kids who are mentally disabled), and it was so much fun! there were two kids with down's syndrome, and I'm not sure about the others - perhaps autistic or other illnesses. But they were so cheerful and so attentive to my introduction, and they had so much fun with the games! They just put me in a good mood for the whole day! I have so much respect for people who teach special education - that's such a hard, but rewarding group of students.

The junior high classes are turning out to be a little more challenging, mostly because the four teachers I work with are all so different in terms of their expectations (of me) and their styles of teaching. One of them is kind of intimidating. Her English is good, and she's a good teacher, but she is kind of too serious. She came to me after our class today and started telling me all the things I had done wrong. I didn't get upset though because I know it's just the Japanese way - and she's trying to improve our classes for the students, so it's probably a good thing overall. I just listened to her, nodded and made mental notes of what to change when I teach her classes. *sigh*

Anyway, enough about work for now - once I get more settled in and I'm more a part of the scene so to speak, I'll start taking my camera to the schools and try to get pics of the kids and the lunches and other stuff.

For now, I do have some pictures to post, from the last couple weekend's excursions. Masahiko and I went out to Hiromi Koen (a big park near our house) a couple weeks ago and saw the cherry blossoms before they went away. I got some more pics of blossoms, plus some pictures of the old-style houses and buildings they have on display there. the park also has a museum, and lots of history. I'll put all pictures in clickable thumbnails below a cut. Enjoy!

( Hiromi Koen in April )

Last weekend, I had a chance to meet my friend jojobruin since he's been in Japan for his medical studies. We took him out to Asagiri, where the weather was horribly cold, but it cleared up a bit in the afternoon so we went out to Shiraito and Otodome waterfalls, which are quite close to Fuji-san.

( Shiraito and Otodome Falls )

Hope you enjoyed my pics! I have even more pics of cherry blossoms that I took last weekend, the last of the cherry blossoms for this year. I'm not sure if I'll post more than one or two of those though.

anyway, I'm off to shower, watch a show, and revise a lesson plan. Sorry I've been so terribly absent lately from LJ. I miss everyone and hope to catch up soon! Please don't defriend me - I promise I'm still around, just busy and a bit overwhelmed by my job and my life at the moment.

hope everyone is happy and healthy and having fun in your lives. Pop by and say hi if you can!

Good morning everyone! How are you today? My name is Laura. Laura. Can you say Laura? My name is Laura. Nice to meet you! I'm from America. America. Who can show me where America is on the map? I like Strawberries! Who likes strawberries? Who can guess my favorite Japanese food? Yes, it's sushi! I like Sushi! My favorite sport is swimming! Who likes swimming? I have one older sister and one older brother. My brother is very tall! I have a cat. His name is Leo. He's 10 years old!


oh sorry! where am I? oh, no! I'm on Live Journal doing an update, not standing in front of a classroom of 30 Japanese kids reciting facts about myself! After 13 self-introduction lessons last week, I still have this stuff stuck in my head! And I still have about 15 more to go this week!

Wow what a crazy first week it was! After the first day of doing nothing, things definitely got busy. At the junior high, I taught three classes Tuesday, two on Wednesday, and four on Friday. Then in between, I went to an Elementary school on Thursday and did self introduction lessons for five classes of 5th and 6th graders in one day - four of the classes were back to back before lunch! I haven't been so exhausted in a long time! I've been getting up at 6 a.m. every morning, getting to school by 8, and getting home by 4 p.m. Sounds pretty easy, comparatively - I mean I'm not even working full 8-hour days! But I'm definitely not accustomed to standing for four hours and being completely "on" for that many lessons. It will take some getting used to for sure! By the time I got home every day this week, I was too tired for Live Journal, too tired to email, and I was in bed by 10 p.m. the last three nights!

But it's been lots of fun, especially the elementary school kids. they're just so adorable, and so full of energy and they really seem to enjoy learning. It's so easy to get them involved in the lessons, and they absolutely LOVE games! So I know I'm going to have tons of fun with the kids. I was super worried about working with the elementary school teachers because I know they're not trained in English - I was afraid that they wouldn't understand me or my lessons, or be able to communicate. But to my surprise, most of them understood me well, and even tried using English and got involved. There was one challenging moment, though, when one teacher couldn't understand the game I was trying to explain - it took over 5 minutes for her to understand I wanted the class to get into two rows! It will get easier the more we work together though.

The junior high classes are a bit more challenging - 13 to 15-year olds are quite a bit harder to motivate, and it's harder to find games that aren't too childish for them. but the younger ones, who I haven't taught yet, should still like to have fun. So far I've taught with three of the four Junior high school English teachers, and I really like two of them. One guy is so laid back that I think I'll end up doing all of the work, but he's very nice. And one female teacher is very good with English and it seems that I will be much more of an Assistant in her classes. However, she's already had me grading some short intros that the students wrote. The other male teacher, who I've taught with twice, is really not good at English and harder to communicate with - in fact, he couldn't even explain to me in English how to get from the teacher's room to his classroom on the first day! He just gave me a map instead! Oh well!
I also had some frustrating moments at the junior high where I felt a bit invisible.
Usually when I don't have lessons, I spend time at my desk making lesson plans or doing paperwork. There's almost always at least two or three other teachers, including the vice principal, in the teacher's room. Wednesday afternoon I was sitting at my desk for awhile, and all of a sudden, around 3 p.m. I realized that there was no one in the room with me. In fact someone had turned off the lights in half of the room! Luckily an English teacher showed up and I asked him where everyone was. He said they had a teacher's meeting that afternoon. I remember from my time at the high school years ago, that the teachers have whole staff meetings every week, and the ALT's can usually go home early since we don't participate in these meetings. I was happy to go home early - I just wish someone had informed me earlier so I wouldn't be sitting alone in a dark room!

The other interesting thing happened Friday afternoon. Once again I was at my desk filling out paperwork and all of a sudden all the teachers started yelling and running out of the room at top speed! once again no one bothered to say anything to me - I figured the building was on fire, or someone was hurt. And I found out, after I went into the hallway and asked an older teacher what was happening, that one of the teachers had collapsed outside. I guess they thought he had a heart attack, and I saw them running outside with a stretcher and carrying him back inside to the teacher's lounge. an ambulance came, but didn't leave for about 20 minutes. He had recovered consciousness, but I still don't know what happened! sometimes it's so hard being the only one who doesn't speak Japanese well, and who's so easily just forgotten! I hope that teacher is okay - I think the teachers work too hard, and he probably was just exhausted! I know the feeling!

anyway, yesterday was my first day off all week, but I got up early and we picked up my friend Alex (jojobruin) at the Shinkansen train station and took him with us to a little festival in Asagiri, which is out in Fujinomiya near Mt. Fuji. Alex is in Japan this month doing some interviews with Japanese medical students at Keio University as part of his own medical studies. It was great that we had a chance to meet finally after three years of being LJ friends! We had talked on the phone and emailed, but we finally had a chance to meet in person - and in Japan of all places! I wanted Alex to get a chance to see Fuji-san close up, but for most of the day it was covered in clouds. However, he did get a few chances to see it when it peeked it's gorgeous head out, and he got some pictures! The little festival was not so exciting - it was super cold (as it's been all week in this area), and there was even snow on the ground! We stayed there for a couple hours and listened to Masahiko's friends playing some blues, then we took Alex to Shiraito Falls, which was nearby. That turned out to be really fun, and even though it was a bit cloudy, the weather warmed up a bit and the falls were gorgeous! I have some pictures that I will try to post later, as well as some additional cherry blossom photos I took last weekend! The blossoms were all gone at Shiraito Falls yesterday, but the rest of the scenery was so beautiful. We had a great day, and ended by taking Alex to dinner at Denny's (yes, there are Denny's in Japan!) and he took the train back by 6:30.

Now it's Sunday morning, I'm getting ready to go and meet two of my friends with Masahiko, and just talk for a few hours. then tonight I'll get some more things prepared for my next busy week. Not only do I have five days of lessons this week (including two full days at the elementary school), but Saturday I have to travel to Nagoya and back for a one-day follow-up training for my company! No rest for me!

sorry I've gotten so far behind on comments and on all of your posts. Please let me know if there's something important or exciting going on! this week I know I won't be on LJ much either, but hopefully things will calm down a bit soon.

happy weekend everyone!

In just a few hours, I get to introduce myself in Japanese to a room full of Board of Education people in Fuji-city! And I will also be meeting the teachers with whom I'll be working starting next week. I'm nervous and excited. I don't even know my schedule yet, so today is a very important day...

meanwhile, I've been trying to organize stuff for my self-intro lessons which should fill up my first week of classes. I'm still not quite there yet, but I still have a few days... nothing like procrastinating until the last minute!

It's going to be so weird to be working full time again. My days have been so unstructured, and I've been filling much of my free time lately with some new and old favorite TV shows.
I find it so funny that I didn't really get into American (or British) tv shows until I left America. The last time I came to Japan in 2005 was when I started getting into Supernatural , which I got from downloads. that's how I feed my tv habit - from being able to watch my shows on my computer!

My favorite "new" show is Glee , and I've watched all 13 episodes in the last week!
I wasn't sure I even wanted to watch that show at first, but once I started, I was hooked! It's soooo good! Not only is the music extremely fun, but the writing and acting is superb. The show will go until June 8th, and thankfully will be renewed - but there really was no doubt about that - it's so popular!

I also started watching Justified , which has only aired three episodes so far. it's quite a good show, but honestly the main draw for me is Timothy Olyphant - he's just adorable!

Supernatural has only six episodes remaining this season, but at least we know it's going to be back in September for a sixth season. The other show I've been faithfully watching, FlashForward should be going until the of May, but I've been reading very disturbing reports that it may not be renewed for a second season due to low ratings! This makes me very sad. I really love that show for it's creativity and it's amazing actors. But also, it's one of the only shows that I've watched from the beginning, and to think that it will be over is so disappointing for me. Will anyone else be sad if it's cancelled?

It's nice to know that just when Supernatural, Glee and FlashForward are done, two other shows will come back at the same time: White Collar and True Blood . Finally, my other two shows, Merlin and Dexter aren't back until fall. Somewhere in the distant future, Being Human will also return... but gosh I hope I don't forget about it!

Anyway, winterdahlia recently posted a tv meme, and I thought it was fun. So here are my questions and answers, below the cut.
( Check it out )

Thank you to the lovely willow_m_w for the virtual get well gift of chicken soup on my user info page! that was so so sweet!! (and yummy)

unfortunately i feel a bit sicker today, so I'm off to bed. going out in the snow until 10 p.m. last night for class really did me in! and I haven't had time to get to all of your posts and comments. boo!

plus I had a sucky day at work - got totally chewed out by a "boss" who's not MY boss. Long story - maybe for another day. but let's just say it was really shitty!

oh well - I don't really care.

hugs to you all - don't get sick and stay warm and happy!