2008年10月29日 Papers

Lesson Plans
It’s no surprise that my Japanese ability is less than stellar. But I still have to communicate with the Japanese teachers, especially at the elementary level. At my regular elementary school hardly anyone speaks good English, so I’ve gotten into the habit of making lesson plans with illustrations; using as few words as possible to make the planning process run smoothly and as comprehensive as possible for the both of us. I actually like drawing out my lesson plans and even my worksheets cause it eats up a lot of time and the day seems to roll by faster. People always make comments as to how cute my lesson plans look… might as well post ‘em up here. What better venue, right!

Some rough sketches for Halloween flashcards

Part of the 5年 & 6年’s  Halloween and restaurant ordering lesson plans

Brainstorming and illustration of how a game works for another lesson

Info sheet I made for a school I’m visiting this week that introduces my likes/dislikes and also the grammar point for the lesson

2008年10月20日 Ben’s Birthday aka ANTM

Birthday Dinner
As always I was running late, but managed to get to Shinjuku at a reasonable time where everyone was still eating. Ben so-called surprise birthday dinner was at this cool entertainment restaurant called Pink Big Pig. When you first come in through the elevator you are surrounded by red velvet curtains. At first I thought we were at a strip joint, but it’s indeed a restaurant and then some! There was a band playing on the stage where the lead singer was dressed all skimpy. There was even a pole in the middle of the stage, so I’m sure the entertainment does get a bit more… um festive. So I guess maybe my previous assessment wasn’t too far off. LOL Anyways Happy Birthday Ben!!!

When ANTM began…
We went to this small temple in Shinjuku for some chilling and drinking after dinner. The remainder of the night was spent talking about ANTM and then taking a bunch of blurry pictures. Here are a few of the better (less blurry) shots. Ariel had the idea that we takes pictures with themes. For example, pose like you won the lottery or pose with your eyes like Tyra Banks goes on. Anyways the rest will be on Facebook and eventually on my Flickr when I get the time, so check back.

Me as the bashful one being being exposed to the pervert’s inappropriateness

As Britney Spears

Showing of the boobies!

The Last Supper (note the the halo)

The Cosby Show

Boy Band cover shot

The drunk and the hungover

The things these guys make me do! LOL

2008年10月17日 Halloween Lesson

I Love Elementary School
3 days a month I get to go to my elementary school. I really enjoy my regular elementary. The kids are very friendly and the teachers are just as much so! I wish I could go there everyday, but it’s not the case.

This month I decided to talk about Halloween to the 5th and 6th grades. Talking about vampires, werewolves, skeletons and other random Halloween vocabulary words. Towards the end I decided to play a little game I did during high school orientation aka Rookie Rumble for those who remember the FMM days. I’m sure it has a proper name, but I call it the Mummy Race. Basically you have teams and many rolls of toilet paper and give the kids a time limit to create the best mummy! I had their teacher judge the best mummy! They really enjoyed it and it was a load of laughs. Here are some pics.

2008年10月13日 Talking About…

… this past weekend
Saturday the 11th - I mentioned I was supposed to go to Sawara in Chiba this past Saturday. Unfortunately I never made it cause I was waiting on the delivery of my new bed from MUJI. It was supposed to come in the morning around 9am, but it didn’t end up coming until closer to noon. So by that time there was no point in traveling the 2 hours to get the Sawara. I salvaged the rest of the day by setting up my bed and inviting a friend over where we made tacos and shopped. So it wasn’t a total loss.

Making tacos in Japan is expensive!

Sunday the 12th - a bunch of us went over to Ben and Andrew’s place for Canadian Thanksgiving. Great job Heather & Andrew for making Thanksgiving a success. The food was really good and it was great seeing everyone! After dinner we watch Hocus Pocus and played Wii where some of us performed surgery and botched the procedure. I think the game is called Trauma Center in English, a very interesting game which had very long narratives that you couldn’t skip!

Heather carves the chicken… Turkey is hard to find in Japan

Heather and Ariel try hard to open a bottle of wine as Nikki watches

Ariel & Andrew

Andrew, Leigh and Amanda chatting before the meal

Playing the Trauma Center Wii game and performing delicate laser surgery on the throat

2008年10月10日 I Have No Title for this Blog

Random Phone Pictures!
I have a bunch of pictures lingering on my cellphone. I figure I should post a few of them. Random pictures of randomness from my random life in Japan. Ya Random! Anyways here they are, perhaps more to come.

This is a picture of a street in Koshigaya (the city I work in). I walk this street everyday. What’s interesting is that everyday after class this street plays MIDI style JPOP songs through the speakers that line the street. You often hear jams by Koda Kumi! It’s the oddest thing to me, but I ain’t complaining.

This is a picture of random Panda walking the streets of Koshigaya near the city hall. Where he was going is beyond me! Sorry this picture is not of best quality! That day is was really hot. The man must have been sweating up something close to heat stroke!

They have the McRib in Japan! Need I say more! Does anyone remember curly fries during the Winter Olympics? Not-to-mention the Arch Deluxe and McDonald’s pizza?! I loved that sh*t, minus the pizza. In Japan, they also have bakery goods for sale. Like melon bread, croissants and a few others that I can’t recall right now.

This is a picture I took of an advertisement board outside a home that is being constructed just down the street from my place, I’m assuming this is the construction company’s motto or name… I really didn’t analyze the sign in further detail other then what native English speakers would actually take in from this.

In Japan on hot days you can often find people handing out plastic fans with advertisements on them. Actually it’s not a bad idea seeing it gets ridiculously hot in Tokyo during the summer months. This is my Ugly Betty fan… I think its advertising the release to DVD or something.

Of Things to Come
This weekend should prove to be a good one. Saturday I’m going to Sawara in Chiba with Andrew, Heather and long lost Leigh (a friend from NOVA Kid’s training). I don’t know much about the town, but there’s a festival going on there that day. Apparently the place has retained a sense of nostalgia. Something you would see in an old style Japanese period drama…. Should be a great day. I’m expecting a delivery in the morning. I actually bought a bed frame for 7000yen MUJI… I bought the display model plus bought new sheets and stuff for under 13000yen. Good deal I think! So as soon as that arrives, then I’m off to Sawara.

Also Sunday is (a Canadian) Thanksgiving party at Andrew & Ben’s place. I haven’t decided what to bring, but IMO a bucket of KFC never fails! That’s a traditional item during the holidays in MY family! Just wish they had Popeye’s Chicken up in this country! Ooo and those biscuits just make your love-handles… well… more lovely! More to come later!

2008年10月09日 While Surfing

Meanwhile at Random…
I was reading about some disorders and syndromes (by accident while searching for flashcards and stuff to educate my students with) when I came across an interesting one:

Paris Syndrome (syndrôme de Paris)
Basically everything you read from now on has just been ripped from Wikipedia! :P Sorry to plagerize, but at least I provided my sources in my bibliography! Hehe! ;)

A poster I found on Flickr (sorry I didn’t cite this resource^^)

Paris Syndrome is a constellation of symptoms primarily affecting mood which affects visitors working and vacationing in Paris, France. Japanese visitors are observed to be especially susceptible. First noted in the French Nervure journal of psychiatry by A. Viala, et al. in 2004, it is classified as a form of Stendhal syndrome (French: Syndrome du voyageur). From the estimated six million yearly visitors the number of reported cases is insignificant. The authors of the journal cite the following matters as factors that combine to induce the phenomenon:

1. Language barrier – few Japanese speak French and vice versa. This is believed to be the principal difficulty and is thought to engender the remainder. Apart from the obvious differences between French and Japanese many everyday phrases and idioms are shorn of meaning and substance when translated adding to the confusion of some who haven’t previously encountered such.
2. Cultural difference – the authors state that the large difference between not only the languages but the manner in which Latin populations communicate on an interpersonal level in comparison to the rigidly formal Japanese culture proves too great a difficultly for some Japanese visitors. It is thought that it is the rapid and frequent fluctuations in mood, tense and attitude especially in the delivery of humor that cause the most difficulty.
3. Idealized image of Paris – it is also speculated as manifesting from an individual’s inability to reconcile a disparity between the Japanese popular image and the reality of Paris
4. Exhaustion – finally, it is thought that the over-booking of one’s time and energy, whether on a business trip or on holiday, in attempting to cram too much into every moment of a stay in Paris along with the effects of jet-lag all contribute to the psychological destabilization of some.

Okay, this is me talking now. With all THAT said. I read on the Japan Times website about the subject that despite the classification of “syndrome” only 12 or so Japanese people a year are said to be victims of the so-called syndrome. And although I do agree with some factors discussed above, I agree with the Japan Times opinion on how come Japanese people are singled out for this. I mean, I’m sure any person can be disillusioned about a place and receive a major case of culture shock and go over the edge.

The report also makes points about travelers receiving a ‘rude shock’ and having ‘their heads full of romantic notions’ as seen in movies, this leading to high expectations and ultimate letdowns, which I tend to agree… Side note. Remember when everyone was soo hyped up about Matrix 2 cause the first Matrix was so good. And then when everyone went to watch the sequel (and even the third installation) a majority of people were disappointed. I feel the same kinda thing going on. LOL

As for it being a ‘real’ medical condition, well that’s your opinion, however as the editorial article states there’s already a ready cure available. It’s called Rome!

References

Japan Times. 29 October 2006. 08 October 2008 <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20061029a1.html>

Viala, H. Ota, M.N. Vacheron, P. Martin, and F. Caroli. –
“Les Japonais en voyage pathologique à Paris: un modèle original de prise en charge transcuturelle” – 5 – p. 31-34.

Wikipedia. 30 August 2008. 08 October 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome>

Hells ya I cited my sources! Bitches recognize! ^o^

2008年10月06日 WTF’s, Facts, Rants and Other Random Sh*t! (Part 4)

WTF’s, Facts, Rants and Other Random Sh*t! (Part 4)
It’s the time again where I write about stuff that the title suggests. So here goes! Feel free to comment on anything that may catch your attention about things I experience/question about Japan.

Dentistry
What is up with people’s teeth in Japan?! Not to be rude, but many of them have bad or busted up smiles! Maybe some Japanese folk or people in the know can tell me anything about the following:

• Is it true that Japanese guys like the snaggle tooth all the girls in this country seem to have!?
• Why is that when a Japanese person smiles at you there’s always some gold or silver up in there? Are there no white fillings or stuff of that nature?
• Why is going to the dentist for something routine takes a couple of visits to complete?

 

Other Random Thought/Facts

• Purikura is the sh*t
• I love kaiten sushi! 100 yen plates have the potential to be dangerous to your waistline
• 7-Eleven receipts are a waste of paper!
• There are vending machines for soup, beer and even panties the list goes on!

Yummy corn soup amongst hot vending machine beverages

• I’ve found bubble tea, but it ain’t that good
• Am I dating someone Japanese? Haha wouldn’t you like to know!
• They love wearing Crocs here
• Things here are less sweet then back home
• When it rains here it’s for days!
• Japanese people are way skinny and have a different perception to body image then Westerners do
• People bow while even on the phone
• McDonald’s in Japan tastes more or less the same as back home

Japanese McDonald’s Menu! Gotta love the 100yen menu ;9

• Everything here requires a meishi card or some sort of formal introduction
• Finding the @ ‘ ” and _ keys take some getting used to on a Japanese keyboard
• Japanese people have trouble pronouncing th, sh, r, l, z, si, and v sometimes
• Oden is a mystery to me… I’m scared to try cause it’s so exposed at 7-Eleven… say someone just passing sneezed!
• The calories of a meal are listed on restaurant menus in plan sight
• As a Canadian I can drive in this country without taking a driving test!
• Ganguro 顔黒!!!

センター街 Sentaagai – the male Ganguro

• Golden Retrievers are the most popular kind of dog in Japan apparently
• If you didn’t know, they drive on the left side here
• All TV shows to my experiences are either of the cooking, gaming, talking or variety persuasion

School Facts

• School grounds are usually sand covered, not grass or cemented
• Kids clean up there own school, there are usually no janitors
• Uniforms are all the rage

These are actually pretty close to what my school’s uniform looks like

• All students have the same bag
• Teachers wear track suits and sports wear while teaching class. (I totally take advantage of this)
• School lunch is delivered and then served by the students within class
• They love school clubs in Japan
• Getting into your choice high school is a big deal
• The school bell is mad annoying at times
• There’s a Japanese ceremonial tea room at school (well at least at mine)
• Students change shoes before entering the school
• There is no air-conditioning in the schools other then in the shokuinshitsu 職員室 (teacher’s room)
• Each school has it’s own school song
• I still haven’t learned our school song… cause I can’t read kanji!
• I learned what a zoukin 雑巾 is… a dust cloth used to clean the floor

Japanese Elementary school kids clean the floor using zoukins

2008年10月01日 Not 100%

Sick Talk
I was on the verge of getting really sick this weekend. This weekend I caught a cold, which in itself isn’t all that bad, but as the weekend progressed I was feeling sh*tty. I bet it was because of the abrupt change in the weather. I swear it became fall-like overnight!

There were opportunities to go out this weekend too. For one, I was invited to watch Andrew’s friend perform at some club and the following day I was to attend a Farewell Party in Shibuya where you could dressed as the singer/artist of you choice (I would have been some kind of Pussycat Doll LOL ;P). Though I must admit I was lazy to go in the first place. But getting a bit sick this weekend prevented any change of mind. Plus I still should plan a Birthday dinner or something… despite the lateness! Meh, I’m a procrastinator!

On Monday I came into work feeling all gross in the head. I had a monster headache and my nose was running. It wasn’t pretty! Lucky for me now I’m on the mend. I have a runny nose still and my old back injury is acting up, which is unrelated to anything I’ve been talking about (though the story of how I hurt my back is an interesting one, I think). But sufficed to say I’m feeling a bit better, despite the back pain. Haha I’m truly getting old! :S

…So How Did I Hurt My Back!?
Well this story goes back to when I was working part time during high school when I was 17. This is when I first started working at Wal-Mart. I had just transferred from the Toys Department to the Furniture Department, which by the way if you ever work at Wal-Mart work in the Furniture or Automotive Departments or even the Layaway cause they are easy departments.

To be sidetracked, working in the Layaway allowed me to do my readings for university since the department is tucked away in the back of the store and customer traffic is low. Anyways back on point, I was cleaning my department after closing and someone had opened one of those large Mylex brand computer desks (or maybe it was a storage cabinet) and put it on the floor (aka the action alley in Wal-Mart lingo). Anyways being stupid I tried to lift it back onto the shelf (cause ya know I’m muscle man ;P). The thing is mad heavy so I don’t know what I was thinking. It slipped and I threw out my back. And I’ve been living with the pain ever since.

腰が痛いです！！！　I got pain in my lower back

Other Times I Almost Died at Wal-Mart:
1. In a separated incident I was taking back a curio cabinet from the Courtesy Desk up the movator (like a moving sidewalk, but inclined) and the wheels of the shopping cart didn’t lock. As a result the shopping cart with the curio cabinet box in it toppled over and almost landed on me. The sound it made was pretty bad, but luckily I narrowly missed getting injured. The lesson here is to use a pump-truck.

2. I was cleaning up the picture frame aisle one day…for some reason this aisle gets messed easily and broken glass is often a factor. One day during my shift I was ‘zoning’ (organizing) the frames section when the glass part of a frame came loose and dropped onto my leg. At first I thought nothing of it and cleaned up the mess, but later during my shift my leg started to hurt. After further inspection I realized the glass had ripped my pants and cut into my skin pretty deep! Now I have a scar on my leg thanks to Wal-Mart. Yeah! A souvenir! :P

3. As a Courtesy Desk Associate we would get a lot of sh*t returned. One evening there was a customer who returned a fireplace… I didn’t even know Wal-Mart sold fireplaces. Anyways without realizing how heavy it was I tried to move it out of the way since the desk gets very crowded on the weekends with returns quite quickly. The fireplace wasn’t that heavy, but it was enough to aggravate my old back injury. Oh me!

I’m sure I got hurt more times than none there, but those are the most memorable. LOL let this be a lesson! Stay alert and stay safe! Those training videos are not just for wasting time in the back room. ;)