Sunday, June 28, 2009

Refreshing

I was walking around Tokiwa Park by myself today when 2 complete, separate strangers told me how beautiful I am... how nice is that?! Both times, the people were old people... but I don't care.... and it makes it that much better because they were being genuine (as in not trying to hit on me). It was refreshing to hear :)

Friday, June 26, 2009

Last day at Ube Shougyou (Commercial High School)


Today was my last day teaching at Ube Commercial High School (Ube Shougyou). There are still 3 weeks of classes left, but next Friday I will be teaching at Ube General Support School since Shougyou has exams. The Friday after that, I have to go to Kenchou in Yamaguchi City for the Prefectural JET's farewell ceremony. Then the Friday after that, it's the farewell ceremony at my base school (Ube Nishi) and I will go to my base school that day because I have to give a farewell speech in front of the school. I really enjoyed teaching at Ube Shougyou over the past year. The students are all very friendly. Almost everyone at the school really warmed up to me over the course of the year. I remember when I first got there, the English Club was really just feeling me out and so were the teachers and students. I'm not gonna lie, it is somewhat disappointing to leave once everyone has finally warmed up to me, but I know I made the right decision. Also, it's really nice to leave on a high note. One student in particular at this school is my absolute favorite student that I've worked with. She is a member of the English Club. When I met her last August, she was a very sweet, shy, and quiet first year. She has since grown into an outgoing, bubbly girl and she is now a second year student. She really came a long way over the year - socially and her English has really improved thanks to a little self confidence. Her pronunciation was really good when I got here, but now it's even better and she has enough confidence to be heard. Anyway, she makes my time here in Japan complete. I really wanted to have an impact on at least 1 student and from what I gather from a letter she wrote me, I'm pretty sure I've had an impact on her and it feels really great. Lately, I've been wondering if I actually made a difference while I was here in Japan this year... and I realized that I have and that makes me really happy :)


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Rafting, Shrine, and Beach

Two weekends ago (June 13th), I went rafting somewhere in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi with a handful of other Yamaguchi JETs. We went on the Nishiki River. The rapids were pretty much a class 1... well, more like .5 if that were a ranking... not many rapids at all. But, it was still a lot of fun. The water was incedibly CLEAR and it was really pretty along the river. We also had 2 kayaks and those were much more fun. I think kayaks would not be fun in big rapids, but for our baby ones, it was pretty fun!


The same weekend I went rafting, I also took a day trip to Fukuoka with 2 co-workers from my base school (the art teacher and the Japanese history teacher). We originally went because the art teacher wanted to check out a Tibetan Exhibition. It was cool. Everything was written in Japanese, though, so I mostly just walked around and looked at stuff without REALLY knowing what it was. Trying to translate all of the readings would've taken far too long... so I didn't really try too much. If I wanted to know what something was, then I'd try to make out what the reading said... but I could mostly just pick out a few key words thanks to the kanji. It was still cool, though.

After the Exhibition, we made our way to Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. Students go there to pray for a good grade before exams. I was praying for a new job come August :) Same thing.



The week following the rafting and day trip to Fukuoka, I had Monday and Tuesday off. I pretty much did nothing all day Monday because I was exhausted. Tuesday, however, I made my way to Nijigahama Beach in Hikari. This is the same beach where the welcome party was way back in August and I hadn't been there since because it's pretty far from Ube. The weather was really great! There weren't any other people there except for a handful of people fishing. I went to the convenience store when I got to Hikari and bought a few beers and snacks. This was my spot for the day:

While I was there, a nice old man came up to where I was sitting/laying, sat down in the sand next to me, and started a conversation for about 45 minutes. We chatted for a long time - well, he did most of the talking and I did the polite nodding of the head and Japanese sound effects. I finally got too hot and told him I was gonna go dip in the water and then he left without saying goodbye which I thought was a little odd. But then he came back with a present he had bought for me somewhere nearby and invited me to go eat with him at a restaurant nearby. I told him I'd love to, but had to catch a train back to Ube... which was half-true. It was also because I was exhausted, had a little too much to drink, and was majorly sunburnt. Encounters like this one remind me why I like this country :) and old people :)




On a side note: Last weekend I went to Saga for my friend Ian's birthday and it was FUN!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

June?!?!?!?

Haven't updated this thing in awhile...

Things have been pretty good lately. Last weekend was fun. Friday night, I went over to a co-worker's apartment and hung out with some of the other younger teachers. There are these 3 female teachers who came in April and they've been really great! They talk to me at work and now it seems like we're hanging out outside of work. One of them invited a few other teachers over for food and drinks. I think it was one of the best times I've had in Ube - for sure. Saturday, I went to Hiroshima with Meng to see the Carps play Fukuoka in their brand new stadium. I think this was the worst baseball game I've ever seen in my entire life! By the second inning, the Carps were down 6-0... !!!!! Yeah... by the fifth inning it was 11-1... so we decided to leave. Made it back to Ube in time for some bowling and karaoke, though! It was a lot of fun! A couple of us stayed and did karaoke until 5am!

I just got home from the teacher softball game tonight and it was really fun! My base school (Ube Nishi) played a game for fun against Ube Chuo. I got there late because the teacher giving me a ride was late... but I still managed to bat AND I actually got a base hit! Yeah! Way to not embarass myself! I really miss playing softball now. Hopefully when I get back to the US I can find a team to play on for fun... hmmm... yeah, that'd be fun!