June: June 1 - June 6

June, 2017

June 1, 2017

            Today was a bit rough.  I’m needing more self care days than I like.  I really need to get my sleep cycle fixed.  Anyway, I had to go visit my landlord today, which I did with one of the Japanese teachers.  It was nothing major, just telling me what’s what and asking me if there were issues needing fixing. So, I told them, then headed back to work.  It was a bit rough, as I had to do this landlord business on my work time, so…yeah, I had less time for planning and cleaning(we alternate days cleaning the school.) Classes were mostly fine and because a few students cancelled last minute I did get a little time back for planning and consolidating my ideas, which was nice.  I continue to love the adult classes, as they are driven and full of silliness at times.  They all got a kick out of me loving Hokuto no Ken/ Fist of the North Star, which is awesome sauce.  Never saying that again…wow…anyway, I think I’m making a good friend, as we’re planning mahjong and yakiniku times.  We’ll see.

            Today, one of my students gave out some chocolate in class and it was bloody amazing, like a cookies and cream style candy in different flavors and…wow…unfortunately, you can only get it in Hokkaido.  Looking forward to yakiniku on the weekend, but a rainy day does make me worry about whether or not I’ll be able to travel.  Also, I found a nearby pizza place and I am hoping to try it on the weekend.  Really love Bloodborne, but I really want to be done with it, as…yeah, it’s frustrating and difficult. Life here is still stressful and a bit hard, but I enjoy it.

June 2, 2017

Not much to report.  My crappy sleeping habits are making it hard to write, as I don’t have the motivation during the regular week.  Hoping to get something done on the weekend.  Sooner I finish Bloodborne, the better…that bloody game is frustrating, even if it is good and it’s keeping me up late.  Anyway, today was fine.  Some good lessons, some just okay lessons, and after it all, I got yakiniku.  Not sure what to do this weekend. I’m debating a bike trip of an hour or two towards the beach or mountains…but I dunno.  I’ve been low on sleep lately and maybe this is my chance to get some back.  Will keep you all updated.

June 3, 2017

Good and bad, let’s do this!  So, I talked with my family and my best friend today and that was great.  I went into the mountains briefly, I have a small temple and graveyard where I like to just sit and think for a bit, you’ve seen the pictures, that I love visiting, and I headed over to the bathhouse.  The tranquility I get when in this place and just soaking is nice.  It turns out the pots I saw last time aren’t full of boiling water, but unlike 90% of bathes in the world, you can be completely covered by water in them, which I tried, and it was awesome.  I had a good time.

Now, for the bad news.  Bloodborne…you know how I said I liked it?  Well, in concept I do.  In execution, “WHY THE HELL IS THIS BOSS SO FAST! IT HAS LIKE A BILLION HP!  IT KILLS ME IN TWO HITS FLAT!  I JUST WASTED 2 HOURS FARMING HEALTH POTIONS AND COULDN’T KILL THIS F***ING THING!!!!”  Sigh.  I did beat the game.  All bosses, all items, but it damn near drove me to madness.  Good news is that now it’s over, I can shelve it and start getting back to a regular sleep schedule…I hope.  Christ…I spent 8 hours of my waking life trying to beat this thing today.  Not worth it, in hindsight.  Anyway, I’m going to try some pizza at a new place tomorrow and maybe Overwatch with friends.  We’ll see.  They might just be on the PTR and leave me out in the cold…if so, hell, I’ll just sleep later. See you.

June 4, 2017

As per standard, I took my Sunday as a rest day from my gallavanting. Have to say…the pizza place was a bit disappointing.  Not nearly as good as the pizza I’d get from the other place.  Might not go back.  We’ll see.  Anyway, got a bit more rest since no one was playing Overwatch and I played Rakuen, from a favorite composer of mine, Laura Shigihara.  While it may look light and whimsical, it deals with some heavy issues and for someone with the knowledge I have on Japanese linguistics(as some of it is based on Japanese culture,) it’s got a pretty heavy, but subtle message on race with roots in Asia.  The thing is, Shigihara is an amazing composer, but since her music is as heartwarming and emotional as Nobuo Uematsu’s…it’s an emotional gut punch when you play a lot of her games.  That said, I had fun with it, much more relaxing than Bloodborne, but I might save it for weekends, since emotional gut punches during a school work week can be…less than helpful. Most of tonight has just been me lounging about.  It’s nice to get some of my sanity back and to get some rest.  New work week starts tomorrow.

June 5, 2017

Some good classes, some difficult classes, what else is new?  I feel that I’ll always have some issues with my insecurity as a teacher.  When I’m one on one, I feel I can do a stellar job, but that’s because you can hold the interest of one person alone and focus on their learning rather than balancing between 2-6 people.  Either way, I also need to get some better examples.  I feel I’ve asked people about their day or weekend or clubs a lot and yes, this is a part of conversation, it’s one you will be using if you do a home stay or if you meet with a business partner, small talk, basic conversation, but you need to evolve and do more.  Or at least, I do.  I’m giving it thought right now, but it will take time to implement.  I feel that perhaps the material I have and the way I present it is less of the problem as to the applications of said language.  Slowly, it is getting better, with more drill material being used by me and understood as to how it can be used to different effect, but…it is a slow grind to improve.  I have some pride in how I’m advancing with phonics, for example, but today I also had problem with making someone understand a variation of present perfect.  Planning is now much easier as the Japanese teachers and I are working together to find a balance of material for writing and speaking which means that I have less worry of teaching them something they already know, which has been a concern of mine for the higher level students.  Mondays are my easy days because I have enough time to get a bento lunch and plan, though a change to the schedule kinda pushed it for me.  I do want to say that as a teacher, sometimes to keep people happy, you need to roll with the punches.  I gave up my teacher’s chair for one class and basically treated the girls taking it as the teacher for the class, asking them what’s next for example before suggesting we should study months or days and they agreed.  It was funny for all involved, which always feels nice.  This seems to be the story of my school days.  Some good, some bad, some difficult, some fun.  Classes in all shapes and varieties.  Now, if I can just relax.  I am starting to build confidence that I will make it through the year, however old fears die hard.  I have other options if I want to work in Asia.  Japan really is my home, but a friend of mine was just re-hired to work in China and…well, if I could go to her center, life would be bearable there.  But bearable compared to awesome is…a step down.  And Natori is awesome.

Anyway, enough about school. It's cooler now for some reason.  Not sure how long that will last, but whatever.  I’m slowly getting into a better sleep cycle, but it’s…baby steps.  This week I need to go to the bank and I also need to see if I can handle writing before work.  Maybe not, maybe that’s a weekend dealie and editing should be during the week.  Not sure.  I do want to write more than once a week, but…difficult to balance. I also have a craving for certain foods now.  Mostly burgers and Mexican, which I can’t seem to find anywhere, however…the food here isn’t bad, but good lord, I have had enough noodles to last a lifetime.  Good noodles, mind you, but wow…

Just had a good idea.  Writing it here in case I forget it.  We love our flash cards at my school, but we don’t have a comparative set.  I figure, why not make a few that have the base adjective on one side and then the comparative equivalent of more on the other, using it for both er/more and also for est/most.  Could be kinda good.  We’ll see.  Same thing could be done for present perfect, actually.  Need to get on this.  Anyway, sleep for now, but hopefully I can remember to do this now that I’ve put it to writing.

June 6, 2017

Well, today was a reminder that even if you do everything right, some classes are just determined to not have fun.  I don’t mean that to be mean or anything it’s just some people’s attitudes aren’t in it.  That’s not to say I didn’t make mistakes today.  I still need to watch my Japanese in class, since it is such a handy short cut and my handwriting is improving a bit, but…only just a bit.  Anyway, it is nice seeing some of your plans and planning come together to make a class good.  On the flipside, it’s frustrating to feel like you’re boring.  I felt that way twice today.  One class, I could tell it was them, not me.  The other…not so sure.  Going to talk with my peers about topics okay for a class because I’ve had a lot of luck with my adult lessons, so if I can take a few topics from those and adequately adapt them, it might make the classes as a whole better.

Anyway, I don’t want to just come here and type about classes all day.  I think there’s a festival in Sendai this weekend, but not sure.  Will need to look into that. If I do, it means I need to make another run to the Yamaya for some of my Dr. Pepper during the week instead of on the weekend, which was my original plan.  Will be thinking on it.  Been hungrier than normal, lately, even though I’m eating a decent amount.  Not sure what to make of that.  Life is quieting a bit, but I will probably always worried or a bit on edge during the work week.