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

I forgot to post the pictures I took of my last week's worth of school lunches. Some of these were actually quite good, but honestly I won't miss these lunches. It was always a mystery what I'd get, and sometimes the quantity was just too much. My system is doing so much better now that I'm eating light lunches at home.

Anyway - it was a very interesting experience. here's pics (no clickable thumbnails this time) of my last school lunches, with explanations, below a cut:

( food glorious food )

My favorite of these was the omelette with rice, and perhaps the last day since I love fried pork and fried shrimp, and I also like sekihan. it's very tasty!

Hope you enjoyed that slice of Japanese food-life!

So today I was at one of my elementary schools, and at lunchtime I was given some entertainment. I was sitting with one of the 6th grade classes, my favorite at this school. They are all great kids, and interested in learning English - and the teacher is first-class - very easy to work with, understands English, and just a very nice woman. During lunch, the kids were all asking me questions - In English of course - about my favorite things. So the topic of music came up.
I am familiar with the names of the popular Japanese pop and rock bands that the kids like, and there's one particular group called AKB48, which is is a particular favorite amongst the 12-16 year-olds, especially girls. If you don't already know (and why would you!!??), AKB48 is an all-girl idol group - a singing and dancing sensation, similar to the boy groups such as Smap or Arashi (but why would you know who they are either!!??)...

AKB48 is so named because they have 48 members (yes, that's true - 48 members!!), and they are split into three groups: one is named the A group, one is the K group, and one is the B group. Very clever huh? That's all I know about them. But just in case you're interested in knowing more about this popular girl group, here's their wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKB48

But the reason I mention this group is because the class convinced one boy to get up and sing a song for us. And since he's a fan of this AKB48, he sang one of their songs, complete with the dance moves! I found the video for this song, and thought I'd share it with you here:



It was unbelievably hilarious to see this kid singing this song, and doing the dance moves (which you can mostly see at the end of the video) - and I wish I'd had a camera or a video camera!

but I think it's mildly disturbing to think that these kids, who are just 12 or 13 years old, are watching videos like this, with scantily clad girls in very enticing poses, kissing each other, and erotically eating sweets, and dancing around looking both cute and sexy. I'm not sure I'd like my 12-year-old boy to be watching this kind of thing. And all of their videos are the same!

oh well. I guess it's mostly innocent - not really too pornographic compared to some things you can see in the U.S. And what's probably more disturbing than the way these girls dress is how terrible the music is - if you can even call it music!! and the fact that they need so many members! Seriously how can you even know who is who???

Anyway - it's just another slice of life from the land of the weird and absurd: Japan!

So what do you think of my new layout? laurainlimbo
I like it. It suits my mood now. I didn't find an LJ one that I liked, so I went to mintyapple and found one. And just added my own header pic that was made for me awhile back by bitterbird. The only thing is, when I view LJ in Firefox and in Internet Explorer, the fonts look different. and sometimes when I click on viewing comments, the text inside the header picture gets all skewed. I don't know how to fix it. Hmmm...


I had a very busy day - took some pictures of the Fujinomiya Sengen Shrine, but haven't uploaded them yet. Ate good food and walked around a seriously crowded and huge shopping mall that looks like it belongs in some suburb in some U.S. city not in Fujinomiya, Japan. I didn't take pictures of the mall. I hate malls. Especially when every person in the entire city is there. I've been enjoying my free time - sitting in my futon and watching movies and playing on LJ. I might get some sleep if my cat lets me.

until later...

I need to post some more thank yous, some of these are long overdue:

Thanks to dawnie1970 for the three virtual gifties on my profile page - the santa bear and candy cane are perfect for the holidays, and the hugs coupon I will definitely keep for times when I need it... how about now?
And thanks also to jojobruin for the virtual candles and the virtual snowflakes! The candle will help light my way through the decisions and things that must be done at the beginning of the new year!

Also a big thank you to dragonsrmd for the gorgeous Christmas card I got in the mail the other day. It's really a beautiful card - it looks home made. If so, I'd love to know how to make something so pretty! And also thank you to wolfpurplemoon and bayareajenn for the Christmas cards. I don't want to take down my tree and put away all the cards I got this year - they're all so lovely!!

Yesterday was more productive than Monday... In the morning we drove to Numazu to meet with some ladies about the classes we're going to start teaching in April. I guess we'll be doing two classes, one with 1st-3rd graders and another with 4th-6th graders. I have lots of time to prepare - it will just be twice a month for three months on Sundays, so it won't be too much work. If we get lots of students, we can make up to 10,000 yen in a day (which is about $80 at the current rate), which isn't bad. They will also be putting my picture and a little mini-bio in their insert which goes into the Shizuoka newspaper - which is great publicity for me and my new school!

In the afternoon I studied a little bit of Japanese - I really need to study more, like up to 2 hours a day! Then in the evening, my friend Akiko (who used to be my supervisor at the high school 12 years ago) came to pick me up. We ended up meeting her daughter Emi, who's 26, at the Chinese restaurant in Shin-Kambara, the town where I used to live! The dinner was great, and we had dessert (I didn't get a picture, I ate it too quickly), and I ended up with a new student! Emi wants to study English with me, and she's starting on January 15th! So as of now, I have two private students! Hopefully with enough time, this will double, then triple, then... well you get the idea!

There are moments when we feel overwhelmed with all that has to be done. But we really want this to work!

So today I'll finish my cards and packages and get them in the mail. Then focus on writing lessons, blogs, and studying Japanese. If only I could organize my time - it's already Wednesday and my vacation will be over far too soon!

I love Christmas time! I got my first three holiday cards this week - two today in fact! Thanks to dawnie1970, serialbathera and burningchaos for the beautiful cards - they're under my tree now!

Also thanks to Dawnie for the virtual milk and cookies on my profile page - yummy! I wish I had some real milk and cookies right now!

And thanks to selvatica for the pretty virtual present - sorry I am so late in thanking you for this! I love presents, even virtual ones:)

I've got a lot to write about, but not necessarily today. I had a great day Sunday at the JALT meeting (Japanese Association of Language Teachers). I met some great people who are hopefully going to help me in my search for a good job in the future (if I stay here in Japan). Also, they gave me some great ideas to get started writing and publishing some academic (or at least educational) articles. We had a presentation (by a guy who teaches at a university in Chiba) for 2 hours and then a dinner buffet at a department store restaurant near the station - all you can eat dinner and drinks for just 3000 yen (less than $30.00). the food and the wine (I had three glasses) was fantastic! It was really fun! And I did my Christmas shopping while I was in Shizuoka - I love that city! So much to do there!

Masahiko's been working really hard on the logo and website for our English school - he's bought a website building program and put up our sign again, and will start to make a pamphlet soon too. I'm getting excited for it and hope it works out!! I've got lots more to write about this when I have more time. I've been so busy lately with my job and thinking and planning... plus trying to catch up on shows. Most of my shows are either done for awhile, or on hiatus for the holidays. I hated to watch the last Dexter - that show owns my soul, and it's not back for almost another year! Speaking of shows... does anyone know where I can find information about when shows are returning from winter? Glee, for example? And when is White Collar back? is it just two more episodes?

anyway - I should get going and do some exercise and some reading before I sleep. Busy busy busy!

thanks for putting up with my mood swings lately. things seem to be looking up at the moment.
I hope that since I have enough postcards now, and most people's addresses (though a few of you didn't reply to my address request post), I can start writing and sending them this weekend. It's Christmas in just over a week, after all!

have a great week all!

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 can't remember when I've had a virus that hung on as desperately as this one is. I've now been sick for 8 days, and though I'm able to get up and walk around, and I still don't have a fever, I feel like death warmed over. I went to work Thursday even though my body was telling me to stay home and rest - and as a result, I ended up feeling much worse that night. So I called my supervisor asking him if I could just teach my classes Friday morning and go home before lunch. He suggested I just stay home for the whole day - so I stayed home all day Friday and rested. Saturday morning I thought I was starting to feel better, but I think it was just an illusion. Still I stayed home all day yesterday and all day today, with the exception of going out to the grocery store for about 30 minutes this morning. I've done nothing but sleep and watch movies (I finally watched that adorable movie Up ) and episodes of Supernatural (from Season 3) and True Blood (I re-watched the first two episodes from season 1)... Yet, even with all that resting, this nasty cold virus won't relent. Thankfully my nose congestion has cleared up a bit - so that I can actually breathe through my nose. But now the virus has moved into my lungs, and I've got that heavy feeling in my chest. And every once in awhile, I get a tickle in my throat, which starts me on a coughing spasm that won't let up for about 3 minutes. Then that causes me to have a headache - from all the coughing! Can someone please tell this virus I don't want to play anymore? I'm not having fun!

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to teach this week unless I start to feel a whole lot better by tomorrow morning. I've been taking vitamins, and a handful of medications given to me by the doctor I saw Wednesday. But this thing seems determined NOT to let go! Still I felt bad enough missing work Friday - so I'm planning to go tomorrow and see how things go. Sadly I still have lessons to plan for this week, so I can't really relax much tonight. But I'll try to get to bed early...

so, sadly that's all that's been going on in my life for the last week. Hopefully, once I feel better, I can get out and about again. Though with this consistent rain, there's not much to do anyway. Today was at least a bit cooler, and there was a mist covering the whole area this morning that made everything look quite mysterious - and that kind of mist causes such a stillness. It's eerily quiet during this kind of weather. But who's complaining about quiet? certainly not me...

here's a couple of pics of the mist we had a couple weeks ago - today's mist was even heavier than this, ( but just to give you an idea )

But before I bore you to tears with weather reports and more thoughts on my love/hate relationship with Japan... I'll leave you with some pictures that I took two weeks ago at the local Gion Matsuri in Yoshiwara, very near my home. It's a street festival - they close off the street to traffic and have floats and food and other stuff. Here's a little description I found on a Shizuoka guide online: Yoshiwara Gion Matsuri (Fuji City) Early June
Yoshiwara Gion Matsuri -- "Gion Matsuri is an event originated in Gion, Kyoto to quieten down evil spirits that cause disease and disaster and it spread out all over the country. The gorgeous and dynamic festival features a parade of Mikoshi (portable shrine) carried by children and youngsters and 21 decorated floats pulled around the area."

( pictures are here )

So that's it for now. I'm off to finish a few things for my lessons. Wish me luck getting through a week of classes... luck and a little hand sanitizer is what I need!

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!

I've decided that I really would like to start doing more writing, and since I'm in Japan and experiencing a foreign country and language and culture, I thought it would be an even better idea to write about my life here. I did write a bit when I lived here in 2005, but my entries were not seen by many people. And my life was in such turmoil then (my relationship really) that I wrote more about "my life" in Japan than "life in Japan" - if you get the difference...

There's a website called GaijinPot which is well known to foreigners living and working in Japan because they post jobs and apartment listings and other links and advice. Also, they offer people the chance to write blogs on about life in Japan (working, teaching, living, speaking Japanese, culture, etc.)... I just need to submit something to them and get approved, and then I might be able to start blogging... easier said than done.

My problem is the same problem I always have as a writer. I have no great ideas to write about. I know it sounds crazy - I mean the things I experience on a daily basis here would probably be so foreign and weird and maybe even horrible or funny for you all in other countries! However, the problem is, since I'm living it, I don't know what other people would consider interesting. I've lived in Japan three years total, so stuff isn't that foreign for me anymore.

Therefore, I would like to solicit some ideas from you, my lovely friends out there in LJ land. Can you help me to brainstorm ideas for a blog about life in Japan? All you need to do is tell me what you would like to know about life in Japan. What questions do you have? what misconceptions would you like to have cleared up? If you were going to come and live in Japan, would would you want to know? What is weird to you about this country? What is wonderful? What is horrible? anything goes, really!

Here are a few topics I've written about in the past (when I lived in Japan from 2005-2006):
(these are all in my archives, if you look from April 2005 to May 2006)

Bugs
Noise
Smells (food, etc.)
holidays (i.e. christmas, new years)
bad English
vending machines
toilets
Things I Don't Understand about Japan (see this entry: http://laurainlimbo.livejournal.com/67041.html )


Anyway - I could expound on any of these topics, or write on something else. Keep in mind that I don't have a car and don't drive, and I don't live in an exciting big city like Tokyo, so there are some limits to what I can see and do here. But the good thing is that I live with Japanese people, and have Japanese friends, so I can always ask them questions too. Get the Japanese perspective:)

Basically I'm just curious to know what you're curious about my life - or a foreigner's life - in the land of the Rising Sun.

I'm excited for your comments! Thanks in advance!!

I thought it was time for me to post some pictures of things I've seen and done lately, as it's been a few weeks since I took some of these pictures, and I'm probably going to forget what they are soon! Also I just want to keep a record of what I've been doing - for posterity I guess ^_^

I've know I've been a bit quiet lately, and that's unusual for me. I guess it's because I'm still waiting to hear about this job that I want, and I'm starting to worry a bit. I've applied for one more job, but so far I haven't heard anything - their deadline is early next week for applications. All I have at the moment is these two prospects. Miki talked to her sister's husband who works at a private school in Fuji, but she found out that they don't even have an ALT (English assistant teacher) working at their school. So that's another strike.
I can apply for other private schools by simply sending my resume and cover letter, but it's not looking too positive, unfortunately. If I don't get a full time job by April, then the chances are I won't be able to get anything until fall or next spring - and that means I won't be able to earn any money to pay my student loan. I can survive without income if my husband works, but I don't know how I can survive not working. I'll go crazy! Jobs are much more scarce here than I'd imagined, and for any job posted, there are hundred of applicants. Another problem is that the people who currently have contracts want to renew, rather than going back to their own countries. I don't blame them - if they're making money, why give that up? I know I'm more qualified than lots of other applicants, and I know I should be hired; the problem is that I have no control over who the companies decide to hire. So I just wait for an answer.

Anyway, in the meantime I am keeping myself occupied as best as I can while my husband works during the day. I watch some tv shows, I surf LJ, I go for occasional walks or do my walking or yoga dvd's, and I study Japanese. One thing's for sure: if I don't get a job, I should become very very good at Japanese. I'm starting to feel a bit more confident already because I need to use Japanese to communicate with Masahiko's parents, and I'm surrounded by Japanese wherever I go, so I'm absorbing it. I'm also spending at least one day a week with my friend Miki, and she's a very good teacher! She's coming over to my house tomorrow to study for a couple hours, so that should be fun. We also spent 45 minutes last night talking on Skype, so that was good for my listening and speaking practice.

Ok now let's go back in time a bit for ( a recap of my last couple weeks... )

Sunday, Masahiko and I went out to buy a new television for our room. His dad has a huge TV that he uses on the second floor, but we wanted one in our bedroom. We got a very small flat panel TV for only about 25,000 yen, (about $250 u.s. dollars) and it's so nice to be able to watch DVD's now. However, I need to buy a new DVD player that will play my recorded DivX movies.

Yesterday I didn't do anything at all - and here it is Tuesday, and I've not nothing much planned this week either. I did some shopping today at the grocery store, and I'll meet Miki tomorrow and have yoga Friday. and I hope by Friday to have an answer on this job. I need an answer very soon!