40 minutes and my last EVER class with 11th graders

I woke up earlier today since I knew that it was 40 minutes classes today and I needed to prepare things in case CP doesn’t show up. The weird part about that was because we all had mentioned it to her so that she wouldn’t forget that classes started earlier today. I had reminded her a few times, and so did a few other teachers.

But low and behold, she forgot. Fortunately for me, I knew what we would be doing today for 7th grade kiku. It was the first time I took the lead of the class, so the students were a bit weirded out by it. But I got things started and figured that she would stumble in class a bit late and she would take over. That’s exactly how things turned out and the sad part about that, was it was all expected. But the few things that I didn’t expect were the complaints that I got from her on how I had organized things. Like having groups of four instead of three and making more copies when she had already made some, but since we were in a hurry and didn’t know where any of her stuff was, we just went with it and sort of said, you weren’t here and it really isn’t my responsibility. That’s how the day started and I wasn’t sure if it would carry on throughout the whole day.

4th period was with 8th grade ran and they were just presenting their “My favorite souvenir” speeches.

5th period was exactly the same as the previous class. I think that the difference between yuri and ran, is that yuri really is higher level. Most of the students in this class did better, and seemed like they practiced more and were better prepared.

6th period was my last class that I would lead at Yakumo. It’s sad actually. Things were setup during lunch and it didn’t take me long to get everything going. I had a visitor come see my class since it would be my last and things went perfect. Everything went smoothly and there wasn’t a problem at all. Things went too smoothly actually and we even had time at the end to go around the world… via Google Earth. I showed them places and I think that really impressed them.

I stuck around to clean up for a little bit. The winners of the game today chose postcards instead of chocolate, which was quite surprising since both the other classes chose chocolates instead. I stayed at school till around 8pm studying Japanese, and bothering the other teachers. I was checking a lot of tests to make sure their English grammar and spelling is all correct. The main problems that I saw on the tests were the spacing. But that was it.

I stayed at school really late and it was because I was helping another teacher with questions for my sayonara party and helping another teacher get acquainted with her newly bought computer. She has had an old computer, but bought a new one and really didn’t know too much about it. So I showed her and taught her how to use it. I think that was pretty cool.
Then I ended up meeting with another teacher for dinner and some tea. The tea wasn’t that great and I will be glad to go back to San Diego to get some real milk tea instead of the tasteless things here. But it was nice and we were talking a lot. The problem here was that there were some students on the second floor of the café we were at. That’s a problem because they aren’t supposed to be there and especially so late at night. We should have said something, but it just brings about trouble that no one wants, so we just ignored it and hoped that we didn’t get spotted because it would have been bad and we would have had to say something and write them up. We don’t like being the mean, bad teachers you know? I only had a sandwich for dinner, which really wasn’t much. I wished I had more to eat, but I was tired and wanted to get home. I would have to get up early tomorrow to go to a Canada day festival.

Screwed up royally

I had four classes today and half of those, I would lead. So it was a chance for me to show off some of the cool stuff that I had planned to do for the 11th graders.

The first class was with 9th grade yuri and this wouldn’t be my last class with them because I have another one with them next week. We had the test on Directions today. We also had some parents come by and check it out.

The second class I had today was with 7th grade ume and we worked on English Olympics, which is what CP came up with for a review program.

I ate lunch really quickly and headed to the LL to get everything set up, since my class would start about 15 minutes later. But I guess that it wasn’t enough time to get things setup. For some reason, I had everything in place, but I couldn’t get anything to show up on the screen. I know that it was the settings that was the problem and I didn’t have enough time to adjust it and make it correct before class started, so I had to do it the ghetto way.

5th period with 11th grade yuri would be my last one with them. They started going into the class early and I was distracted with the setup and couldn’t finish it on time. So I ended up writing it on the board. I didn’t like that since it made things harder for them and for me. I used the computer anyways, and thought that I could fix the problem before the next class, but that never materialized. I think that the students still enjoyed it since it was a fun game (English Jeopardy) and many students participated. I even gave out awards at the end and made my announcement that I would be leaving the school and Japan this summer. It was a bit sad, but I was still pissed that I couldn’t get it to work.

During the break, I was still working on it, but more students kept on going in the room and I was again distracted, but it was students from the class that normally is there, since I asked to have them move to a different location. I still wasn’t able to get it to work though. I think that it was really regretful since parents from the open school came last period and checked it out. It made me look bad, which is really rare and the worst way to end my career at the school. So I was pissed off that I had blown my best opportunity to impress everyone and even myself. This class, 11th grade fuji was struggling with everything though. I really had to go really slow and get them to participate because they simply didn’t know. They really aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and that’s a sad fact. They are indeed a very special class. And I didn’t get much help from the assistant teacher since her English isn’t the highest of quality either. So that was how I ended my classes with these students. I was miserable and fucked up royally. The part that really really pissed me off was after the class, I was able to solve the problem. And it was a very simple thing that I missed too and it would have worked for both of the previous classes.

I stayed after school like usual and stayed there really late. I started cleaning out my desk and getting ready to leave the school and I wanted to return all my books and stuff. So I brought all of it to the department chair and just went there back and forth dropping miscellaneous things off. I made disks and extra copies for things that I think they will need for the next semester and for years ahead since I won’t be there. I had the foresight to include things that I know they need but they don’t quite realize it yet.

I had dinner at Yoshinoya since it was late and I needed a quick meal before I got home. It was a bit hot and I left my computer at school. I figured that I didn’t need it tonight since I was tired as hell and was sleeping on the way home too. I have been spending too much of my energy and I really feel fatigued. It has been a bit too much for my body this week. I came home and pretty much died right there. I wanted to catch the soccer game on TV, but doubt that I did, since I don’t remember it.

2 classes

I only had two classes today and it started from 5th period, so it was nice that I got to sleep in especially since I slept late last night. I left my house early enough to get some brunch before getting to school. I ended up going to the Sukiya restaurant near Toritsu-daigaku station. There was a long line there and when I got a seat, the people working there were swamped so it took them a long time to wait on me. I was really hungry at this time since I haven’t been eating too much recently because of the heat. It makes me sick.

I finally got to school around 12:40pm. It was right when lunch started so everything was busy and things were going on. I just sat there realizing that I only have a few more days left and I wouldn’t be required to come to school anymore. That’s such a weird feeling for me to have. I’m almost finished with what I came here to do.

The first class that I had was with 10th grade yuri. They were working on the review of the past experiences paper. We went around the room calling on students to hear about their experiences. It was interesting.

The last class today was with 8th grade fuji and they had their test to give today. It was on “My favorite souvenir” which turned out to be interesting since they took a little more time than the other students.

I had dinner at mos burger tonight because I was in a hurry. I was able to finish the book I was reading too. That was nice since I didn’t want to take it with me anymore and since I will have to take my laptop to school for the next few days. It would have been a hassle too.

The beginning of the end

I only had 3 classes today and it started 3rd period with 10th grade fuji. Some of the students in this class knew that I was leaving the school. We were working on past experiences the paper that we had from last week and then we started another one interviewing the classmates on past experiences.

4th period was with 11th grade ran and we had a test today. Not the best way to end my teachings with them, but the schedule dictated that. They were ok, some were great and others need more work. I made my announcement at the end, even though I wanted to play a game with them.

5th period was also tests, but with 8th grade kiku. They started off very impressive and almost perfect scores.

After school, I stuck around only to study Japanese.

I had dinner at the curry place because on the way home I smelt curry walking with some co-workers.

Talking to family

I was able to talk to family today, which was a nice change of things. We finally resolved the issues with the payment of my housing so I’m happy to report that.

I was also talking with YSki today on skype although we were having a lot of problems because her voice didn’t come in clear. It was weird because it was very clear using Windows Live Messenger and using the webcam. But then again, it could have been just her computer.

England vs. Ecuador

I didn’t do all that much today. I think the biggest accomplishment I achieved today was pay for my UCLA housing. I found out that the card that I have isn’t usable because I have a newer card back in the states. Once I got that information, I was able get it through. But this wasn’t till around midnight my time since she just got back from Las Vegas and told me all of this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take care of any of it. It was nice that I got it taken care of two days before the deadline, although that is pretty close.

I also did some laundry which was nice. I really didn’t need to since I have tomorrow off from work too, but I thought it would be nice to get it done a day ahead of time so I could give my clothes an extra day to dry. Even though I think it might rain tomorrow, at least it will have another day to dry though.

I also made dinner tonight. It wasn’t so hot, so it was perfect to get some cooking done and get some of the clutter out of my kitchen in a nice move to get ready to move back to the states. I made mabo-tofu, which is one of my favorites. I made enough to last me till tomorrow too, so that was nice.

I talked with one of my best friends today too. YSki and I were speaking mostly in Japanese for the beginning of the conversation and then we changed to English later. I was really happy that I was able to understand a lot of what she was talking about and she could understand my Japanese. Well at least I thought she could.

I didn’t end up watching the England vs. Ecuador game till 1am since that’s when it started around. I only caught the second half and it seemed as if that was the half that was more interesting anyways according to the highlights. I saw the only goal of the match from David Beckham’s free kick. It was pretty cool that I caught that too. He really is a good player. I never knew since I really haven’t been a soccer fan for too long.

I was sewing, or hemming up my pant leg on some of my pants that are a little too long. So overall I did get some things done. But I didn’t work on any of the things that I wanted to get finished for work. For some reason I seem to be really lazy about that. I have a lot of things to accomplish tomorrow since I didn’t get it finished today.

I was having a cell phone conversation through email today. I was talking with CHda as she was riding the train back from her parents’ house in Chiba. I thought it was weird when she started sending me messages about nothing in particular. It was weird but nice since she’s the only person that really does talk to me in Japan. I mean I’ve gotten used to living alone and not needing anyone in my life, but it’s always nice to have someone there to talk to. I thought it was very interesting that she would do that though, although it’s a nice gesture. I was thinking about asking her to hang out tomorrow, but I know that I will be too lazy to actually go out and do something. I have a lot of work that I need to get finished so I should do that tomorrow since this week will be my last week at school officially as a teacher.

England vs. Ecuador

I didn’t do all that much today. I think the biggest accomplishment I achieved today was pay for my UCLA housing. I found out that the card that I have isn’t usable because I have a newer card back in the states. Once I got that information, I was able get it through. But this wasn’t till around midnight my time since she just got back from Las Vegas and told me all of this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to take care of any of it. It was nice that I got it taken care of two days before the deadline, although that is pretty close.

I also did some laundry which was nice. I really didn’t need to since I have tomorrow off from work too, but I thought it would be nice to get it done a day ahead of time so I could give my clothes an extra day to dry. Even though I think it might rain tomorrow, at least it will have another day to dry though.

I also made dinner tonight. It wasn’t so hot, so it was perfect to get some cooking done and get some of the clutter out of my kitchen in a nice move to get ready to move back to the states. I made mabo-tofu, which is one of my favorites. I made enough to last me till tomorrow too, so that was nice.

I talked with one of my best friends today too. YSki and I were speaking mostly in Japanese for the beginning of the conversation and then we changed to English later. I was really happy that I was able to understand a lot of what she was talking about and she could understand my Japanese. Well at least I thought she could.

I didn’t end up watching the England vs. Ecuador game till 1am since that’s when it started around. I only caught the second half and it seemed as if that was the half that was more interesting anyways according to the highlights. I saw the only goal of the match from David Beckham’s free kick. It was pretty cool that I caught that too. He really is a good player. I never knew since I really haven’t been a soccer fan for too long.

I was sewing, or hemming up my pant leg on some of my pants that are a little too long. So overall I did get some things done. But I didn’t work on any of the things that I wanted to get finished for work. For some reason I seem to be really lazy about that. I have a lot of things to accomplish tomorrow since I didn’t get it finished today.

I was having a cell phone conversation through email today. I was talking with CHda as she was riding the train back from her parents’ house in Chiba. I thought it was weird when she started sending me messages about nothing in particular. It was weird but nice since she’s the only person that really does talk to me in Japan. I mean I’ve gotten used to living alone and not needing anyone in my life, but it’s always nice to have someone there to talk to. I thought it was very interesting that she would do that though, although it’s a nice gesture. I was thinking about asking her to hang out tomorrow, but I know that I will be too lazy to actually go out and do something. I have a lot of work that I need to get finished so I should do that tomorrow since this week will be my last week at school officially as a teacher.

Tennis

I tried again today to get my housing things taken care of, but it didn’t go through again. I wonder what the problem is. But anyways, I got ready and went to school. It was hot as a mother today too especially in my apartment.

I got lunch at 五十番, which is a Chinese restaurant I frequently go to. I got fried rice there, which was fairly average, nothing really special. I then arrived at school around 1:15pm. I meant to get there at 1pm.

I did more coaching today than I probably have in the past. I wanted them to take practice more seriously and I think that they all got yelled at by the coach today too. It was a bit embarrassing because of their behavior in front of some other teachers. So they needed to shape up.

I left school around 8pm again tonight because we practiced late and I was talking with a few other teachers and students.

I got dinner at the Chinese restaurant place at Shin-Sugita station that I like to go to. I had tan tan men, which was ok, but there wasn’t enough noodles to make me full.

On the way home I stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some food for the next few days so that I wouldn’t have to leave the house, although I might end up going somewhere.

Japan vs. Brazil

I woke up at 4am to watch the Japan vs. Brazil match. It didn’t turn out very well for Japan and I believe that it was the fault of the formation. It just wasn’t strong enough to play even with Brazil.

I went back to sleep for about an hour and then woke up again to get ready to go to work.

The first class I had was with 7th grade kiku and we went over the seasons. Today was open school, so we had some parents come around and look into our classroom and observe.

The second class that I had was with 8th grade ran and we were working on the my favorite souvenir speech for next week.

5th period was with 8th grade yuri and it was the same lesson over again with my favorite souvenir.

The last class of the day was with 11th grade kiku and they had their test today too. I had one of the student teachers come in the back of the class to observe, but she left early. I’m not sure why she did though, but it was really impressive how they did. I was in awe at how well they all memorized it and how well they presented it. I believe they enjoyed it and I will really miss this class when I’m gone.

I stayed after school for a few reasons today. First we had English club pictures today at 4pm. But it was delayed because one of the students in the 9th grade got in trouble and was crying a lot, which is really sad since this will be a picture for her yearbook. It was nice to see all the students together again, but no one could stay after to have club because they had after school classes and other things to do.

I had a few students who needed to retake a test, but couldn’t because English club was delayed, but I bumped that onto Tuesday. I spent the rest of the time correcting the papers for 11th grade kiku so I could get their scores recorded and papers passed back to the students. I didn’t end up leaving till around 8pm again.

I had dinner at Jonathons even though I went to Bamiyan first, but it was really busy so I had to leave. I was really hungry and couldn’t wait.

Such a weird day

I woke up late because I got home late last night and watched some soccer on TV.

Then the Toyoko line had some trouble today, so with all that combined I was in a bit of a jam. There was a schedule change today too, so I had class earlier than usual. But I got a seat on both train rides, which was very nice and still made it in time for class, well 3 minutes before, but still I wasn’t late.

The first class I had 2nd period was with 9th grade yuri and we were going over the last details for directions because they would have their test next week.

3rd period I had off so I just stayed in the office and started to transfer all my information on memory drive to 1.5 floppy disks for the teacher next year.

4th period was with 7th grade ume and we were going over the seasons. CP had pictures and we formed groups and went over a few things that are done during the season.

5th period was with 11th grade yuri and I had a visitor in the back of the room to observe how I taught English. But it was mostly just the students speaking because it was their test day. They did alright, nothing too special actually. But they did have a bad attitude about it.

The last class today was with 11th grade fuji and they also had their test too. The same visitor was there to observe it, and like I imagined, it was worse. The level in this class isn’t very high and they struggled the whole way through. It was painful to listen to and to bare since I taught them. Well was supposed to teach them I should say.

After school, I was put in charge of club because CP wasn’t going to make it. I felt really pissed off about that because she just told me the day of and not before. I mean I would have prepared something special for them since it would be the last time I would ever have to do English club. So I tried to set up the movie projector and ran into so many computer problems. We did end up watching about 30 minutes of Batman Begins, but it should have been more but because I didn’t know she wasn’t going to be there. I was a bit peeved about that.

I left school rather late again and grabbed dinner at Matsuya at Kikuna station because I wanted to grab a quick bite to eat so I could go home and sleep early.

Slept in

I finally got to sleep in today because after going to bed so late yesterday it was hard to get up. I was really tired.

On the way to school, I ran into another teacher that starts at the same time I do. It was nice because we hung out on Monday, so it was nice. I took a different way to walk to school and I usually do, so I didn’t meet her until later.

The first class I had was with 10th grade yuri and in this class we were working on a worksheet about past experiences. They did much better than yesterday’s class with completing the worksheet. We never went over it and I suppose that’s what we will do next week.

The last class of the day was with 8th grade fuji. They were finishing up their my favorite souvenir speeches. Most of them had already finished, so they just needed to edit it and memorize it.

I stayed late after school again, but it wasn’t for club since we don’t have English club on Wednesdays.

I decided to have dinner at a new Chinese place that I haven’t been to.

Busy Day

There was a fairly big earthquake today at 7am.

Today 3rd period was with 10th grade fuji we worked on a paper about past experiences and they had to label what they had done in the past.

4th period was with 11th grade ran and we were doing the listening test and vocabulary quiz before I let them work on their going abroad work.

5th period was with 8th grade kiku was just finishing up their writing for the my souvenir speech they will have to give next week.

After school we had club, but I couldn’t go because I was grading and correcting papers.

The Da Vinci Code

I finally have plans that are pretty solid to see this movie. I woke up late today because I was watching both soccer games last night. I saw them almost to the finish, well I saw the Japan game till it ended and I saw the first half of the Australia vs. Brazil game. So I ended up getting ready late, which made me get on the train late and arrive late to meet CHda at Sakuragicho station. At least we weren’t late for the movie. I still arrived in enough time to get to the theater and everything 7 minutes before the movie started. It wasn’t good to get there that late because she had been waiting for 30 minutes because she arrived there early from the dentist. I felt really bad about that. I should have been there earlier. I seem to always be late to meet her. I really shouldn’t be either.

Well the movie started and it was pretty good I thought. It followed along the storyline of the book. I mean it was pretty consistent with everything that I read, but it was different to see the pictures and the places mentioned in the book. I was a bit worried because the movie didn’t get good reviews, but I think it’s the same people who always complain because they just complain about everything. For crying out loud, it’s just a movie for entertainment so be entertained. I was and I liked it too. I thought the pacing was good, a bit slower than the book, but it’s a movie so it needed to change that a bit.

After we had finished the movie, we decided to get some grub. We stayed in the area, world porters and walked around till we found something. I was shocked to see a place that I haven’t seen before. It was a little Mexican food place that is located in the corner of the building on the first floor. I have walked past there before, but never noticed it. I ordered their Nachos and Quesdilla, both of which were pretty good. We talked for hours. The movie ended about 3:30pm and we didn’t go home till around 6:30-7pm. It was nice to have a conversation with her. It was such a nice setting to talk too, but the weather was a bit hot. I didn’t like that since we were outside. It would have been awesome to have some outdoor umbrellas on the deck to make it very nice. But it was ok.

Before I started my way to go home, I stopped off at the Fuji supermarket to see what I needed to get. I wanted to get another melon if it was cheap enough or on discount. But it wasn’t so I didn’t get it. I got some other things that I needed and needed to break my 10,000 yen so I could get some change and some money for a passport picture booth. I needed to take the picture so I could send it to UCLA for my student ID. I thought it was ok, it wasn’t a great picture, but it’ll do.

I came home and then watched the soccer game between Switzerland and Togo. The Swiss won 2-0, but I kinda figured that they would win just because they are the stronger team although I felt both teams were pretty weak. I don’t believe that Togo or Switzerland will make it to the next round because they are in the same group as France and South Korea, both of which are much stronger teams.

Japan vs. Croatia

I decided to do laundry today since it was about time that I should. I really didn’t run out of clothes or anything, but I might have once the week started. I didn’t do much today but just hang out on Google Earth. I was getting some things ready for my class because they are preparing to give their speech on going abroad. So I was finding the locations that I have seen on their speech papers and hopefully I’ll have a chance to show them the cities with satellite views.

Then I started watching the Japan vs. Croatia game. Japan starts off very strong and very offensive, which is very different from the last game. I like to see it and I think it will work in their favor as long as they don’t tire. Wow, Kawaguchi just blocked a penalty kick from Croatia, which was amazing. Whoa, there was this one dangerous play where Kaji kicked it to the goalkeeper, Kawaguchi and the ball takes a weird bounce and gets away from him, lucky that it didn’t go in. It would have been a point for the other team. The first half has just finished and it’s nil-all. It has been a very good game so far except for the fact that Japan is not winning.

Portugal vs. Iran

I did a hell of a lot of cleaning today. I didn’t leave the house started raining. I was planning on going out and buying the new Utada Hikaru CD, but I just didn’t feel like it. I started doing a lot of packing today. I wanted to clean up my place because it was really starting to get hot today and I think that summer is on its way. I want to be ready for when summer comes and I decide when I will leave Japan. I started with taking out everything from the cupboards and putting it on the floor so that I would have to pick up everything eventually. It took a little longer than I thought it would take, but I was happy that I packed up my winter clothes and put it in the suitcase ready to go home. So at least I am half way finished with my packing to go home.

There were also a lot of insects everywhere, so I’m glad that I got rid of them too. I felt my apartment was a lot lighter and things were all put away nicely and things like that.

I watched the second half of the World Cup game on TV today. I missed the first half because I was cleaning, but the second half was the one with all the action anyways. I was rooting for Portugal, I really don’t know why, but it was interesting to watch them play. They are a good time, but so was Iran. But tough luck for Iran with that loss, they are out of the tournament and won’t move on.

Argentina vs. Serbia Montenegro

I had third period with 7th grade kiku today and we were working on the counting the kidney beans. We were working with having all the girls getting into groups and counting the beans. They had to guess how many were in a jar and then they would have to count them all, but they would do it in groups and each student would have to count them in English and go around in a circle. So one student would count 1, and the next 2 and so on. I’m surprised that they didn’t cheat, and count in Japanese, since most of the students last year and the year before did. But I think that it is getting better. Today was an open school day so we had many prospective students and their parents come and look at the class. So we went over time and even into their break because we wanted to show off our oral English program.

The 4th period class was with 8th grade ran and I was having a problem with this class. It happened at the end. And it was beef with the other teacher. I shouldn’t have remained silent and for that I regret. The assignment for the girls today was to write a little something about their favorite souvenir. First CP would write something on the board and would make them copy it. Then after they did that, they needed to write their own little speech based on what she wrote on the board. But her instructions weren’t that good and I think that the students were confused. So they started writing their own speeches and CP starts to go through and check them and she realizes that some of them aren’t writing their own and are just copying. There was one student that I know and work with and I checked it and it was good in grammar and everything. But some of the things about her speech weren’t true, but I didn’t have the authorization to check it. It said in her speech that her wallet had a picture of her sister. But I didn’t want to ask her to check her wallet, so I just believed it and went away. When CP came and checked it, she asked to look in her wallet, which I don’t believe that she should have and sort of scolded the student and then came to me and started saying how they don’t understand and can’t link things together. I think she overstepped that and it pissed me off. After that, the student didn’t feel like working anymore. I think that she shouldn’t have done that because it causes the students to be unmotivated. That’s not the purpose of the class, which is meant to be fun and promote English learning, we aren’t grammar teachers. So I was pissed off with that. After that I told all the students to go to CP to check their papers since she was all knowing.

Then we had lunch, and I had time to cool off. I felt it was necessary because I was really heated after that incident. CP did more damage than good. She doesn’t know what her affect on students is and I believe that it is detrimental to their learning.

5th period was with another 8th grade class and it was yuri. I was much more careful in this class because I didn’t want to get taken down with any other mistakes. I always asked the students to have CP check it after I checked it. I told them that it was fine, but CP might want to change something. They are a higher level class than the last 8th grade class. I didn’t want to get myself into anything that I didn’t want to get myself into, so that’s where I left it. I helped the students the best I could, without interfering too much.

The last class of the day, I was with the 11th grade kiku class. The sister that I referred to earlier is in this class. We first started with the vocabulary quiz like usual, which would actually be their last one and then we got started with the listening test, it would be the only one that they will have with me. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would since we moved faster and completed things quicker. I think that they did well overall since they are the highest level class. After we finished, I gave them some time work on and finish up their speeches for next week. They didn’t have that much time and I think most of them are confused, but if they are, I’ll take the heat for it. I just want them to imagine and work on it in English. That’s the purpose and not really to test them just to test them. I want them to have fun, and learn something all the while. I think that my goals are being achieved though, so it’s a good thing.

I stayed after school only to correct their booklets and vocabulary quizzes. I had three classes worth of information to correct and work on. It took me up till around 7:30pm to finish it all and I was working non-stop. I was really getting tired at the end and I just wanted to go home. I needed to get out to get some dinner. I ended up getting dinner at a place where I haven’t been before but always wanted to go to. It was a Chinese restaurant that was on the way home. It is right next to the Seifu Grocery store that I go to. I ordered the Fried Rice, which was awesome and the soup was pretty good too. It was really nice and I should have been their earlier, but I would have to go back often. It is a bit expensive compared to the other Chinese restaurants that I go to, but it was good so I think it might be worth it to go some times.

I came home and was really tired, but I decided to watch some world cup anyways. It was the Argentina vs. Serbia Montenegro. And it was one impressive display by Argentina. It was one of those games that I liked because there was a lot of scoring. They just tore up Serbia Montenegro to show their dominance. It was really impressive. I was surprised to see it, but it was a great game. I’m glad that I watched it.

Acceptance Letter from UCLA

April 26, 2006

Dear Bryan:

Congratulations! It is our great pleasure to offer you admission to UCLA for the Fall Quarter 2006. You have been admitted to the UCLA College of Letters and Science with Pre Political Science as your academic major.

You bring an impressive array of strengths to your academic endeavors. We know that UCLA will benefit from your intelligence, imagination, and energy, and we hope you will choose UCLA for your undergraduate education.

UCLA truly is a world-class university. Here you will have access to acclaimed academic departments, a world-renowned faculty, and distinctive research programs. The campus also offers a full range of social and cultural activities and organizations for you to explore. At UCLA, you will be challenged to confront, understand, and master a remarkable range of disciplines that are the measures of a cutting-edge education. Our students consistently remark how UCLA both fulfills their intellectual interests and enhances their personal growth, and we invite you to become part of this extraordinary experience.

For now, enjoy this moment- it is the beginning of one of the most exciting and memorable chapters in your life. Of course, you're going to learn a lot about the world at UCLA. But more often than you might imagine, UCLA will be where the world learns about you.

Welcome to UCLA!

Sincerely,
Dr. Vu Thanh Tran
Director

I thought this was a well written letter. I expected a generic letter, which this probably is, but I liked how it was written. It was one of the reasons why I chose to go to this school rather than the other schools I was accepted. I put this post on my MIXI website too. I'm really happy about getting in. I have other things to take care of to make sure that things are all set for me when I start. But I just wanted to post up the letter.

Ecuador and Costa Rica

The first class that I had today was with 9th grade yuri. They were working on the chapter about directions. They will have a test on directions coming up in two weeks. We just followed along with the book. That was pretty much it with the class.

The second class 4th period was with 7th grade ume. We were working on a counting the beans game. The girls were split up into groups of 4 and then they needed to count beans. First they would need to guess how many were in a jar first. They would have to count them one at a time and each member of the group would count the number in the consecutive order. So the first student would count one and the second two and then they would do that till the end of a cup and then they would switch cups until they counted all the beans in all the cups. It was a fun little game for them to learn how to count and numbers. They were really going at it and they were all speaking in English. So that was the best thing. They didn’t cheat and were honest with it. So I was happy with that.

After lunch, I had class with 11th grade yuri and I gave out their vocabulary quiz and then we did the listening test. Things were a bit rushed and we only ended up with 10 minutes for them to finish up their writing for the speech test. The whole while, they were complaining a lot. I was a bit shocked that they were doing that so much. They were talking throughout both tests and I did give them big hints on how and what to do, so I really don’t understand why they were complaining so much.

The last class of the day was with 11th grade fuji and we had to hurry up because they are a much lower level than all of the other classes, so I wanted to make sure that they had enough time to take care of what they needed to take care of. We ended up with 15 minutes for them to work on their speeches after the listening test and the vocabulary quiz. The thing I was surprised with was that they didn’t complain that much. It was a hard listening test, but I thought that they would complain that it was too hard since the last class did. I think that it is the difference in attitude that made the difference here.

After school, I was working on the correcting of all their listening tests and vocabulary quizzes. They had some weird ones that I saw because they did O and X instead of T and F for True and False. So I had to deduct some points for that since they couldn’t follow the directions in Japanese. There were other ones too that threw me off. So I had to wait around till the head person for the 11th grade to see what she would say. I found them in the part-time teachers’ office and we were talking about the average age of the teachers in the Full time teacher’s office. We found out that the average was 33 years old, but it used to be 27. So it went up, which is weird. I’m one of the youngest in the office, but there are a lot of young teachers. Because of this, I didn’t end up leaving till around 8:15pm. I was talking to some teachers and they were asking me about things because they know that I won’t be around too much longer so they needed to get things out of the way. At the very end, the VP talked to me and asked me some things that we were talking about at the Tonkatsu place. So I had to ask another teacher if he was “gomasuri otoko” which is a play on words in Japanese. Goma is sesame in Japanese and to Goma suru is to grind sesame. But gomasuri is brownnosing. So I had to ask the teacher if he was Japan’s number one brownnoser. That was a bit embarrassing since I had to do it in front of all the teachers. But they all knew that I had to because I didn’t know what I was saying and because the VP told me to.

From there I went to have dinner at a ramen restaurant that another teacher recommended to me. It was actually pretty good and I was glad that I went to someplace new. I enjoyed it and then went home. I met some student teachers on the way home, but they didn’t recognize me and didn’t acknowledge me. They probably didn’t see me since they were talking in their group of 4 and probably didn’t notice too much. They left school around 8:30pm, which is really late. From there I went home.

Another past 8pm day

I got home late and stayed up late, so I ended up waking up late today. Actually I got up pretty early because I wanted to make sure that things got taken care of for UCLA so I was talking to my sister at 8am. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But everything worked out and I didn’t have to file taxes after all. We consulted with a professional who advised me not to. And because it was already covered with my mom’s stuff.

I decided to give myself a haircut before work. At first, it didn’t work out for me and it was off and looked a bit unbalanced. So I re-cut my hair right before I needed to leave to get to work on time. But I was able to and things worked out. I left home just in time to get to school on time.

When I got to school, it was already lunch time. But I didn’t get a lunch and ate then because I had gotten up late, I didn’t get hungry. So I got some afternoon snacks for myself.

Then the first class started 5th period with 10th grade yuri. They only had to give their speeches and then listen to the listening test. They were very lazy it appeared, but some of the best speakers were in this class, so they did better overall. But they were expected to, so I think the scores were about the same as the other classes.

6th period was with 8th grade Fuji. They were working on their favorite souvenir speeches. So we just helped them with that.

Then after school, I decided to play tennis with the tennis team. The other coach was busy, so he asked me to go, but I was busy getting all the paper work finished and copied for tomorrow’s listening test. But I was able to get that done and joined the team outside. I was really tired from sleeping late last night, but decided that it was better for me to join the tennis team. I didn’t do very well and kinda let out my frustration in front of the students which wasn’t a good thing. There were some students there that I hadn’t seen on the team before, so I was a bit shocked. I don’t know if they are new or just never came before.

At the end of practice, I was talking with some students for a little bit, not on the tennis team, and missed out on picking up the balls and their meeting times and stuff like that. But I think it was overall better for the students if I talked to them in English. So I took the time to do that.

I left school after 8pm after I was talking with the teachers about the listening test and realized that I copied the wrong papers. I learned how to use the CDs for the test too. I was also helping with another teacher who was working on a script for Heidi and the English performance. This took a really really long time. I left and ended up Matsuzaya where I bought dinner and a few other things. It was good though.

I came home and watched the world cup. Today’s match wasn’t so interesting, so I was also doing a lot of channel surfing instead of watching.

All mixed up

Today things got all mixed up. The schedule changed last week and I wouldn’t have to be at school till 11:50am, but little did I know that it changed again and I wasn’t notified. Therefore I missed a class today. But that wasn’t my fault and it did give me enough time to get the other things I needed to get done today too.

The first class I had today 4th period was with 11th grade ran. We were starting to work on the going abroad topic and introducing the brochures to them. I gave them the questions and let them work on it. Everyone was tired and dismal and I think it had something to do with the loss to Australia in the soccer game. Apparently at least half of the country watched that match. I didn’t realize the time and talking with the other teacher about it and class just finished. It was a bit quick and I wasn’t really ready for it.

The 5th period class was moved to 3rd period today, so I ended up having this time off. I used this time to work on my laptop since I had brought it to school. I needed to take care of some financial aid stuff and working on a new picture spread for the students talking about travel. I wanted to show them some pictures of my travels.

The 6th period class today was with 10th grade fuji, which usually is 3rd period today, but since there was a switch, it moved to 6th period. We were letting them present their speeches about their trip to Santa Barbara and then we gave them a listening test at the end. That took up the time of the whole period.

Soon after that, I got wrapped up with going to English club. We were working with the junior high school students today. We played a game with categories and the alphabets. It was pretty fun and I think that it did help the students think more and learn how to connect the ideas of what they learned with vocabulary words.

I ended up staying at school fairly late since I still had a lot of work to do to prepare for Thursday’s listening test. I had to get all the CDs and stuff worked out. I did a lot of correcting for the 11th grade ran class because I wanted to make sure I got rid of all the stuff and at the very least get it off my desk. I didn’t want to worry about it anymore. I was about to leave around 8pm, which is really really late for me. But the VP stopped me and invited me to have dinner with her and some of the student teachers that are working at the school this week.

We were looking for a Tonkatsu place and we went to a few different locations. But we ended up at JR Meguro station and had dinner on the 5th floor. I thought that it was average since it wasn’t a very special place that we went to, but it was still good, just nothing awesome. We didn’t leave the restaurant till around 9pm and then we had to drive back to drop off the VP and I was dropped off at Yokohama station. I made it home in enough time to catch a bit of soccer on TV. I saw the Spain and Ukraine game. Spain spanked the living crap out of Ukraine. It was one of the kinds of games you like to watch if you want someone to win and win big.

World Cup Japan vs. Australia

I had awakened really late today. I got up around noon, even though I was awake around 8am. I was planning to see the Da Vinci Code today, but that didn’t happen. The friend I was planning to go with got busy at the last minute. I was still planning to go, but never ended up going because of things that just came up. I needed to talk to family today to make sure that I could get my housing things taken care of. That was the most important thing for me to take care of today. I started doing what I needed to do and talked about it with family.

We are thinking about buying a new car since I would need to go back and forth and around LA. But that won’t be months after I go back and after I started school. I would be thinking that it won’t happen till at least next year. I don’t really feel that will be important though since I have done well without a car for two years. But I think in America, you’d have to have a car to get to places and do things.

I was also talking to YSki today too. We were talking about what will happen when I go back to San Diego. She brought up something that I didn’t think she would bring up. We were talking about who we would hang out with, and she brought up the topic of my ex-girlfriend. I was surprised since some things changed and I didn’t realize it. Since San Diego is a really small city, I’m sure that I will have to eventually face up to the fact that we will all run into each other. It’s just what will happen when it does happen. I know that we can all think about it, but we really wouldn’t know until it actually happens. So I guess that really doesn’t matter. I won’t think about it too much and just enjoy my time while I’m in San Diego. It is after all my vacation time.

The next thing that I needed to take care of was my financial aid. I know that it’s about 5 months late, but I think that I’ll still be able to get something, and even if it’s a little, it’s still something. I think that I underestimated how much I would need and I think that since my status has changed, I need to get some help. So I started filling out the FASFA online and realized all this and I didn’t need some of the things that I though I would need. I could take care of everything myself and I didn’t really need the help of my family. So then I started to do some more research and realized that I should have filed my taxes separately from my mother. So now I’m almost 2 months late. But because I’m living abroad, I automatically get a 2-month extension. But that will only be till this Thursday. So I have to step on it and get it taken care of otherwise, I’d be in some tough shit. So now I have a lot of work to do in the next few days. But hopefully that will set my residence status to be a CA resident and everything will be taken care of and I don’t have to pay that much for school.

But at the moment, I’m watching the world cup on TV. It’s from 10pm to midnight, so I’ll be up late tonight watching that. Japan just scored in the 26th minute of the match. It was a nice loopy shot, which was really surprising how it went in. And the captain of the Japan team (Miyamoto) just got a Yellow card. It’s a really good game and both teams are really evenly matched. As it seems, Australia is really bringing on the pressure. There is a lot of pushing going on and and Grella of the Australia team just got a yellow card in the 32nd minute. Takahara just got a yellow card in the 39th minute. The passing of the Japan team is off, they always seem to miss or just not read it. They constantly lose possession of the ball.

In the second half of the game, things just fell apart for the Japan team. I was working on my Taxes and very distracted, but in the last 10 minutes of the game, Australia scored not once, not twice, but three times to seal the win and the upset over the favorite Japan. It was really sad at the end, but for Australia, it must have been amazing since Japan had complete control over the game up until the last 10 minutes. They made some mistakes and paid for it. The first goal by Australia, I believe was the mistake of the goalie, but the other two were pretty solid shots and well deserved. It was a good game to watch from the standpoint that if I weren’t supporting either team, but tomorrow I have to go to work with people in Japan, so it won’t be a pleasant one. Because one, I know they all stayed up till 12:30am or later to watch and mope about it and it will probably carry on since it is pretty determined that they might not make it into the next round since both Croatia and Brazil are even stronger than the Australian team.

Working on stuff

I wanted to get a lot of the cleaning stuff done today, but I slacked off on that. I was talking with YSki today for a little bit and it was nice to get up late and really sleep in. My clock was slow so the time was off when I got up. I thought it was 1pm, but it really was 2pm. I made myself soba noodles and watched a TV show about cooking. It was great and it looked really delicious.

I planned to do more cleaning than I actually managed to do. I did do laundry and clip my nails, but that was all that I did that I was planning to do. I wanted to cut my hair today, but didn’t manage to do it.

I watched the World Cup again tonight between The Netherlands and someone one else. Holland won 1-0. I made dinner, which was shrimp pilaf, which was pretty good. I finished off the cantaloupe that I started last night. It was still pretty good although it did lose some of its flavor because I had refrigerated it.

I talked to YSki again when she woke up and I was about to sleep. I started typing up my journal entries from the past few days. I will have to make more edits tomorrow though.

Recitation Contest

Today is a big day for the 7th graders. It was their first performance in English for the school and for them. There was a lot of pressure on them since they are a higher level grade than the previous years. They performed really well today too.

I was tired because I had slept late and gotten up late too. I slept on the train and did manage to finish up a chapter of the book I’m reading about teamwork.

After the contest, I had lunch with another teacher that I find very cute. She’s married and has two kids though, which is a shame. But I think she’s really beautiful. We had lunch at an Unagi restaurant that was very good. Then we went to a dessert store and she wanted me to try a few desserts that were particularly special for the store and for the area.

I went back to school to play tennis with the students. I was really tired, but did it anyways. We played for a few hours. I gave them the souvenir I bought for them and they devoured it.

I left school around 7:30pm again and was really really tired. I wasn’t able to walk straight even. It was pretty bad. I was sleeping while standing on the first train that I had taken. I was a bit hot and sweating at this point though since it started to mist and become humid. When I switched trains, I was able to get a seat and slept the whole way till my station. I had trouble walking home because I was tired and sleepy.

When I got home, I made dinner, which was the last of the curry that I had made and then I watched the Soccer game on TV. I also ate the nice cantaloupe that I bought the other day. It was damn delicious and it only cost me 500 yen too. I think that was a super deal since it normally goes for 4000 yen. I watched the World Cup match between England and Paraguay. I was very surprised that David Beckham scored in the first 4 minutes. I thought Paraguay was going to get smoked, but they are both strong teams. So it was pretty interesting. This lasted till midnight though and watched it even though I was sleepy.

Long Day

It was still open school today for Junior High School so parents would come and observe the classes. We had a pretty full house for the first class today. It was 3rd period so it was a bit early, but not that early. And it’s usually only the 7th grade parents that come. We were working with the kiku class today. So today for this class, we were working on the recitation contest. The contest takes place tomorrow, so this is pretty much the last time they get to practice. We were working on the S, Sh, V, F, and W sounds today as well as getting them to stand up and give their recitation. It was pretty good and it was nice that all the parents came and saw them when they were good. It would have been bad if they came when they were still bad. So things worked out nicely.

The 4th period class today was with 8th grade ran. We worked on the next chapter which was on questions. We covered the dialogue and all the usual things. We skipped the communication goal and told them to bring in souvenirs for the next class.

The 5th period class with 8th grade yuri, was much like the last class since it was back to back. This class is a much higher level class than all of the other 8th grade classes and it really is apparent too.

The last class of the day was with 11th grade kiku and we were working on the going abroad section. I brought all the travel brochures that I have been picking up from time to time to the class and they started their research for the last test I will give them. It’s a bit sad, but at least I know that they will enjoy this class. They were really excited about it and really motivated by it. I felt great, even though I was beginning to tire easily.

After class, I helped with some students to clean the office. Yeah, students in Japan clean the school which includes the teachers’ office. Then I had a lot of grading to do for all the vocabulary tests that I have been giving out. That took forever to finish up because I was working on three classes worth of grading and working on the answer sheet before that. After I finished, I was studying some Japanese, since I just should be. But before I really got started with it, I had to help with the set up for tomorrow’s recitation contest.

So I went over to the gym and started to help with the set up. First it was the chairs and then with all the arrangement of the chairs. Everything had to be super straight and perfectly lined up. Then it was the main sign over the stage. That took a little while since it wasn’t exactly centered the first time we tried it. But all this took a long time and I couldn’t get off of work till around 7:30pm. I decided that when I got home, I would have curry rice. I needed to get rid of it before it went bad. So it took a little while and I was really getting tired.

I went on the computer and saw some stuff on YouTube that kept me up till about 2:30am. That was definitely not good since I had to get up for the recitation contest. There was this one clip about Kevin Smith talking about the Superman movie. It was some funny shit. If you have a chance, check it out.

Stuck

I had four classes today, but it all started with train delays. I hate it when I start the day and I’m stuck on the train.

The first class I had today was with 9th grade Yuri and we were working on the topic of taking the train. They had to answer the question of how they go to school.

The second class today 4th period was with 7th grade ume. They were working on the recitation contest. We had a full house of parents in the back of the room.

The 5th period class today was with 11th grade yuri. We started working with the brochures today.

The last class today was with 11th grade fuji and we were also working with the brochures today and I gave them time to write up their next speech.

I had English club after school today and we were working on the information and details for the room for the Culture Festival. It took a long time, we were working past 6:30pm on the information they need for the room and the songs that they will use.

A short, but long day

I only have two classes today, but I still ended up staying at school very late. I still haven’t figured out the timing to get to school, but I had to carry my umbrella since I brought it home yesterday and it didn’t end up raining. So that was a bit of a hassle. It was nice today though, which was a nice change of pace. I wanted to play some tennis today too.

The first class 5th period was with 10th Yuri and they had their speeches today. I thought that they were pretty good and we held them to a higher standard, than I thought of the other classes. They are the highest level, but I think that they are just being lazy and it was weird with the scoring too. But it was all ok.

The last class today was with 8th grade fuji and they were working on the next chapter about questions. They are actually on this chapter, so we didn’t skip anything like we did yesterday. They are all caught up and they were a bit louder than usual, which reflected how they behaved last year. It was ok and acceptable though. They have to bring souvenirs for next week’s class.

After school, I was working non-stop to get all the new things for the next section ready and for me to pass off all my materials to the next teacher too. It took a lot longer than I thought it would take. I thought I could get it all finished in about 30 minutes, but it ended up taking close to 3.5 hours and I ended up leaving school at 7:30pm. There was a schedule change, so I had to accommodate for that and plan what I would want to do.

I also talked to the new teachers about their classes and helped them out and offered my advice to them. But I think that overall, I must have scared them. They don’t seem fit to be teachers and are always worrying, in the bad way, about their classes. They haven’t gotten good feed back from the students and they are doing everything they can, or it seems sometimes, to improve it. But then it could be their personalities too. They aren’t the happening people in the world either and they are overworked with the other responsibilities of the school.

I ate dinner at Yoshinoya and watched Bari Bari Value, which is a show that I’ve grown accustomed to watching on Wednesdays.

Evil Day

Today is 06/06/06, and you know that Hell, Michigan is going to have one hell of a festival… poor pun intended. Sorry about that. Anyways, it wasn’t that bad of a day for me today.

The first class I had today was with 10th grade fuji and they just gave their speeches about their trip to Santa Barbara. They weren’t that bad, but they were reading a lot.

The second class today 4th period was with 11th grade ran. They were a bit more alive today and even though we went slower today, it was ok. I really enjoyed teaching this class today. I saw more smiles today than I have usually. I think it was because I was speaking more Japanese in class. We did the dialogue and then we had them work on vocabulary. I wanted to reward a student for finding a mistake in my work.

The last class today was with 8th grade kiku. We just did a chapter in the book, but all the teachers mixed something up and we realized that we skipped a chapter. But it was ok because they needed to catch up anyways. And now they are all caught up.

After school, I was scrambling around to find the book and CDs I would need for the listening test this week. But I was troubled with the idea that they might have been thrown out and away. So I would be in a rock and a hard place. I asked some teachers and searched all over the place. I managed to find some time to type up my journal entry on the LL laptop since I was already in the LL.

I wanted to stay after and play some tennis, but it looked like it was going to rain, so I left school early and went to the grocery store to get some things for the next few days. I needed to get some insect killers and I wanted to get some fruits too. I haven’t eaten those things in a long time. I also went shopping for some new clothes today and I was actually surprised that I had bought a lot of stuff. It didn’t cost me that much, since I’m pretty good going thrifty these days. Back to the poor college student days.

I came home and ate Curry rice, which I had made previously. I watched some TV and enjoyed just chilling out.

Another boring day at home

Mondays always seem to be a waste of a day off. I should be doing a lot more than I really am, but I never end up doing that.

I got up around 2pm since I slept so late. I’m not sure why I even got up that late either. Usually in the summer I get up because of the heat, but it wasn’t that hot today either. I talked with YSki for a little bit about things. Then I talked to my sister about a few things, but really it wasn’t much because it was so short.

Then I was on the computer updating my journal entries. I think that I need to finish typing up the ones from Amsterdam before I forget to. I need to load them up online too. I uploaded a lot of the pictures that I had from before online to my yahoo photos account. I was surprised at how many I haven’t uploaded since the beginning of this year. I think for the rest of the day, I will take it easy and just chill out. I plan to make Curry Rice tonight for dinner, which will be pretty good since I haven’t made some in a long time. I need to get some things for it though, but I don’t really feel like going out and spending more money if it isn’t necessary. I need to get some sauces and stuff. But I’ll consider it since I’m not going to do much today anyways. I think getting some fruit to eat would be a good idea since I never eat fruit.

Meiji-Gakuin University’s festival

My plans for today were to get my laundry taken care of and to go to Meiji-Gakuin University’s festival. I was a bit slow to get up because I just didn’t feel like it. So, I ended up getting up in the afternoon, which seems to be usual for my days off. I was talking with YSki online and I talked all the way up to around 3pm. I was supposed to leave for the festival at around 1pm to meet my friend that has a booth there. So obviously I was a bit late.

I really needed to hurry to get my laundry done before I left, so I overloaded the laundry machine hoping that it would work out. But after an hour later I checked it and it seemed like it worked. But the problem was that the owners of the machine or my landlords told me not to overload it next time. It was making a lot of noises and there was a smell of burnt something. I looked at my clothes carefully and saw that one of my underwear was caught onto something and ripped. But I think that was an unfortunate circumstance. I got a little bit of a lecture about not overloading it from the grandma and now I’ve learned my lesson.

Soon after that, I left the house to walk to Meiji-Gakuin University. I really don’t know where it is, and it is hidden, but I know the general area of where it was. So I just walked till I found a route that took me through the trees and onto the big hill. At first I thought the building that I was going towards was the building to the campus since I saw it online, but I realized when I got there that it wasn’t it. But fortunately for me, but it was right behind the building that I was going towards. I was really lucky and it took me about 30 minutes from my house to walk to the campus entrance. I got lucky that I didn’t get lost too.

Now the next task that I had before me was to find the location of my friend. She sent me a message saying she was in the 7th building, so I was just walking around the school till I found it. The school looks much bigger on the map than it is in real life. I just walked down a little ways and I found where the 7th building was. Then I went up to the 2nd floor and walked around to look for my friend, but I couldn’t find her. I thought that she was inside of the room listening to the lecture, but it turns out that she was outside of the room right next to the area I passed twice and I just didn’t see her. When I found her and she found me, she gave me an aroma massage for my arms and shoulder. I was actually very surprised that it was very nice. I felt much better since I was feeling sick this whole week and the scents usually bother me, which it still did, but was better since I couldn’t smell anything this week. She spend about 15-20 minutes to finish up and this was around 4:40-5pm. So I was just talking with her and stuff. It was a good experience and I got to see a lot of the campus.

I was really disturbed at how cold the weather was since it was June already. It was only a little humid and I was only sweating because I had walked from my house to the campus. But inside it was nice and cool and the lotions that she used made me feel colder. A disturbing observation that I had was that I was much lighter in skin than I have been previously. Since I’m always wearing a suit, I’m very pale in skin color and I haven’t gotten a tan in years. I stuck around till they were cleaning up and packing things up to get ready to leave. This was around 6pm, but they didn’t finish cleaning till around 7pm. So then when they left the school, I went with my friend to Totsuka station and we would have dinner together. She took me to an area of Totsuka station that I haven’t been to before. It’s a little further than the McDonalds on the west side of the station.

We had dinner at a small hole in the wall Chinese Restaurant. We ordered two sets that were really good. It was nice and I could get free rice refills so I got three of them. This was actually a lot for me because I usually don’t eat that much. We were sharing the food, so it was pretty good to try all of it. At the end I was trying to read something Japanese, but realized that my kanji reading isn’t up to par. I have to study a lot more and I need to get cracking on that now since I will be starting UCLA soon. Soon after we finished, I walked her back to Totsuka Subway station since that’s how she would go home and I ended up walking home from there. It didn’t seem that long walking home even though it was fairly cold at this time. I was afraid that my cold would get worse because I was doing that.

When I got home, I just couldn’t get to bed. I was sleeping, but working on something, so I just didn’t fall right asleep. I wanted to check my computer for viruses and spy ware and that kept me up till around 3am. That’s not good because I know the end result will be me getting up really late tomorrow morning.

Cleaning up

I started to prepare my room for summer cleaning up everything. I started with my bedroom first and now the other room is all in a mess. It was nice and cool today too, which was really nice. It was actually bordering cold today too. That is weird for June since it is usually hot and VERY HUMID. But today wasn’t humid at all. It was perfect actually.

I was talking with my family today too while I was cleaning. At this moment my room is almost cleaned. I tried to do laundry, but that failed since no one was home next door so I couldn’t get inside to do laundry.

I also did some grocery shopping today too for the next few days or so.

It was weird because I ran out of space on my D drive today. It was the first time that I had that problem with this computer since there is 100 gigs on my hard drive.
I took some time to write up my journal entries, but this was at 2am and I got really tired and fell asleep.

A fun and interesting day

I got started like usual today. I woke up late and scrambling to get out of the house quickly, which I miraculously did. I don’t know exactly how I did it, but I got out quickly and got to school right when I wanted to arrive. It was great because I got to sit down on both the trains I needed to take to get to work and slept the whole way. For some reason, I was very tired and it was probably because I wasn’t feeling any better than I was yesterday.

The first class I had today was with 7th grade kiku. We were working with the recitation contest and the students had to go in front of the room to recite their scripts as a group.

The second class today was with 8th grade ran and they were working on the next chapter on suggestions. They did the dialogue like the way that we showed them how to do it and it worked out great.

The third class today was with 8th grade yuri and they were able to do the same thing as the last class too. They were really tired it seemed, but they did it. It was a bit hot and humid today too. But that was only inside of the building, while outside, it was cool.

The last class today was with 11th grade kiku. I was a bit hard on them today because I wanted to push through all the things that we needed to get finished today. I wanted to make sure that everyone was still up to par and taking care of the things that I needed them to take care of. I passed out the new textbooks today for them to work on the dialogue and new vocabulary. They also got a little grammar lesson today and even presented a few of their sentences that they were able to make.

I left school early today because the guys in the part-time teachers’ office wanted to play some pool and I would join them. So we walked over to Jiyugaoka and played some pool. It was really fun and I started off great. I made this one shot that was absolutely incredible. I did a jump shot that almost went off the table, but it came back and knocked two of my balls in. It was great. One of the coolest shots I have ever seen too. I can’t believe that I did it too. But after that, everything went downhill. When all was finished, I probably ended up being the 3rd best out of 5. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. One of the members had to leave to go to his college for some reason.

After that we went to have dinner with some other part-time teachers at tori yoshi. We joined two other teachers that were already there. So the total was now 6. It was pretty good and really wasn’t enough for us. We stayed there for a few hours and then we left. Some of the part time teachers had to leave at this point.

Then there were 4 members left and we decided to go to Big Echo and sing a little bit. My voice was really cracking at this point since I was sick and all.

And I can’t believe that after we finished, we went to another izakaya to eat and drink again. It was the first time that I went to 4 events in one day. It was the fourth thing we did together at Tofuro in Jiyugaoka. I mean we didn’t finish till around 11:30pm. And two of the teachers were going to go to Funabashi to meet up with another teacher too. That was absolutely crazy.

On the way home, I ran into one of my friends from the Red Shoes organization. I haven’t seen him still November, so it was nice to see him. I introduced him to my co-worker that was next to me and we were all talking on the train. It was pretty cool. They both live on the same line so it was nice that I introduced both of them to each other. It would be nice have someone to talk to on the way home, but for me, I didn’t have anyone. I didn’t get home for another hour after that which was around 1am. I showered and slept immediately.

The first day of Summer clothes

But the thing is, I didn’t wear any summer clothes. I thought it would be better if I wore the $1000 plus suit that he had bought for me. I woke up later than I wanted and ended up at school, much later then I wanted too.

The first class I had today was with 9th grade yuri. They were working on taking the subway and they were spaced out and not really working, so CP left during the last few minutes of class.

The second class I had today during 3rd period was with 7th grade ran. I don’t normally teach this class and hence that was why I was a bit later this morning even though I took the faster route was because I was helping with this class. They practiced the recitation contest.

Then 4th period was with 7th grade ume and they practiced the recitation contest by going up to the front of the room and reciting it with other classmates that are doing the same script.

The 5th period class was with 11th grade yuri and we started a new topic today. I just got them started with the dialogue and gave them time to look up words for their vocabulary quiz next week. We finished class with a grammar explanation of the dialogue.

The 6th period class was with 11th grade fuji. They were very loud and talking a lot and my voice really started to hurt in this class because I had to be louder. We started dialogue and a new topic today. They had a lot of time to look up words in the dictionary, but most of the students had forgotten their dictionary so I had to punish them by making them do a speech in front of the class. They had to do it three times because of the other students didn’t find it acceptable. I love turning students against each other. Damn I’m so evil. They had more time to finish and then we did the grammar lesson. We didn’t get to ask them their practice sentences though.

Then after school, I met with the headmaster of the school. We were talking about his son and my advice about SDSU and where his son would be best suited for school after he transfers. It was a pretty interesting conversation because his son is majoring in international business. I shared my thoughts with him. Then he asked me when I would leave the school. I think that July would be a good month to leave since I will leave Japan in August. He said that he will throw me a farewell party with all the teachers for me, so that was a bit of a shock for me. I didn’t mean to make it such a big deal, but I guess they will do it anyways.

After school we had English club and most of the Senior students showed up to help out and plan for the cultural festival. They found out that I will be leaving the school and leaving the country today too. It was a bit sad, but some people just brushed it off. My students are like that too. Haha. I gave them souvenirs from Holland that I got from Amsterdam. They really didn’t care so much that I went, but that I brought them something to eat when they were hungry. We did progress a bit on the planning for the cultural festival though, which was a good thing. We have general ideas and most of which are pretty much easy enough to do without too many people to help out. We need to get more people though.

tiring day today

I was a bit refreshed after getting up today. I was taking my time and going pretty slow since I didn’t have class till the afternoon. I was checking my email and deciding what to wear today since it was starting to get pretty hot. We will change into summer clothes starting tomorrow, so I was thinking that I should just wear one of my winter suits, since I have so many of them. I will need to get a new suit soon, but I’m also thinking if it is worth it since I won’t need to have one on after I leave Japan. So I might not end up getting a new one after all.

I was really tired getting to the station and going to school, but at least I got to sit down for the whole trip there. There really aren’t that many people on the trains in the afternoon time. I decided to have lunch at Yoshinoya, but they changed the menu from what I’m normally used to and they added a spiciness change that I wasn’t aware of till today and after I had ordered. I must have sounded pretty stupid in front of them, but I really didn’t understand what they were talking about till I looked at the menu and read it. I guess my Japanese really hasn’t improved. That was a pretty rocky start for me today.

I got to school during lunch time and it was pretty hot when I arrived. I was just trying to relax a little bit before I got started with getting things organized for class. The first class 5th period for me was 10th grade yuri and they were working on their composition paper for their speeches next week. I was surprised that CP used my idea about the composition and pretty much copied what I did. I was really flattered by it and it didn’t bother me at all that she did it. I really felt validated by it actually. The students did have trouble connecting things together from last week, or rather two weeks ago to this week. They don’t know how to use a paper from the previous class to help them with the class that they are currently in. They have a problem with linking things together, and I’m really having trouble trying to figure out a way to get them to link things together so that they can retain all the information that I’ve taught them. I need to work on making things more cumulative and to get them working on things. The students spent most of the class working on the composition part of the papers.

The last class I had today was with 8th grade fuji and we were working on a new chapter today. It was about suggestions. We did the dialogue, but showed them the new way that they should practice and they are actually going with it and I think it will help them with their fluency. So that’s a good thing. They did some listening comprehension and listening practice before they got stuck on the communication goal. It was a bit tricky and I’m not sure what the authors of the book had in mind for that kind of activity.

After school, I went over to the part-time teacher’s office and talked with some of my friends there. I had a California travel guide to show them and it came with a good map of California and I thought that would really help them out for their trip to California this winter break. I will have time since I will be living in LA and going to UCLA and it will be my winter break too. So it works out perfectly. We were talking about various things too and the plan that the organizer has is a very ambitious one. I don’t think she has the grasp of how large the United States is. I gave her an example of the size by driving distance. And I think it helped her a bit. But I think she will still plan a very vigorous trip for a week.

Then I helped with the English Performance girls. They were having trouble pausing after the breaks in the sentences like periods, and commas. They would just read the whole thing over and just know when to go next, but really it seems like they don’t know what they are talking about. It just sounds like they are nervous and it sometimes doesn’t seem to be clear. It’s a bit hard to understand and these are supposed to be the best girls for the performance since it will be for the prospective students and their parents. So they will have to do it a lot and perform it well too.

After that, I joined the tennis club for the first time this semester. It felt good, even though it was very tiring since I was still sick with whatever I caught from Europe. But I was able to do it. I realized why I was asked to join since there weren’t any other teachers on the ground to watch over the students. I was the only teacher on the field to make sure that everything was ok and no one got hurt. It was a good thing that nothing happened to anyone, and it was nice to be out there. During the practice, many students were asking me if I was leaving the school or not. I finally caved and told four of the girls in the tennis club and who are in the 11th grade that I teach why I was leaving and about when I will be leaving too. It was a good practice though, even though I think that the girls have much to improve on and I think that I will go to their Tennis Camp thing this summer to help them out a bit.

After I finished, I went to the computer room and helped with the folding of the textbook for the next section for 11th graders. We got them all printed out and folded and stapled so everything is set for tomorrow. I was happy about that, even though it will be the last time I will do that. We were talking a lot about the Da Vinci code since all of the teachers have finished the book. But thing was they read the Japanese version and I read the English version, so I was wondering if anything got lost in translation. It was pretty interesting the conversation we were having. From that point, I left the school to get some dinner at MOS burger. I wanted something quick because I left school at 7:30pm and I will have an extra class tomorrow too. And I will actually have to start school earlier than usual. So I’m bummed about that. I would have liked to get some rest, but I don’t think that will happen since it’s now midnight and I have to get up in 6 hours to get ready and go. I also have a meeting with the head master tomorrow too. I should take the opportunity to give him some of the gifts that I got for him too.

School after a very long break

It really felt weird going to school today. I had noticed that that my left ear really couldn’t hear things very well. I thought that it wasn’t that big of a problem yesterday, but it seems that it did turn out to be a problem after all. I thought I had gotten up sluggishly, but in actuality, it was normal. I even got up and ready earlier than usual. That was weird for me since my normal routine has been messed up, I don’t feel like I have anything of a normal routine anymore. I’m surprised that I have gotten my sleeping patterns back in line. I was very exhausted yesterday, but I was ok today. Not really energetic, but just ok.

I was sluggish to get to school today. I got to sit on the train going to school, which was nice since I had to carry all the souvenirs with me to school. That was a bit annoying though since it was a bit heavy. But I arrived safely and it was good. I got to stop off at the bank to get some more dough, since I was running out. Then I bought lunch and was off to school. When I had arrived at school, I saw the headmaster leaving the school. He said that he wanted to ask me a question about SDSU when he got back, but I had no idea when he would get back. So I’m a bit worried about what kind of question he will ask me about that.

When I walked into the teacher’s office today, it was empty because all of the teachers were busy either with teaching classes or working for the information session. It was an open school today for parents and future students to check out the school in action to see if it’s something that works for them. It was regular class for me as usual though. The first class that I was working with today was with 10th fuji, which was actually quite pleasant. I did get one comment from a student that said some rude comments, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from this class, so I just brushed it off. I really did feel sick in this class with a cold though, so that wasn’t very good. They were working on a paper that will help them with composing for next week’s oral test. I’m very happy that CP has been following in my footsteps to lead the students to learn what they are writing and teaching them how to compose better. It was really cool to see her do that and it made me feel validated that my ideas were being used to improve the student’s learning capacity.

The second class I had today was with 11th grade ran and we had an oral test today. I wanted to give them a few minutes to prepare for it and I was taking my time knowing that they would finish on time. So I took it easy and made sure that I explained everything very clearly for them. Then we got started. They did ok, but it wasn’t that hard of a test to begin with. Some students just started memorizing from the time the class started and they were able to do it, which tells me that they need to work a bit harder for the next test and I will really push them to think and work harder next time. Their scores were rather high, I thought and felt, but I really didn’t give them any opportunity to get a lower score since I didn’t ask for much. At the end of class, we played a few rounds of hangman to get them to think and to use English and for me to get them to practice the pronunciation of a few words.

The last class of the day 5th period was with 8th grade kiku. Last class, we worked on self-introductions, so this class we needed to catch up with the other classes. We worked on the chapter about asking permission and then did the dialogue a few times for the students to learn a new way of practicing. I think that it really works out well and the students actually do it the way that we tell them to. Then we played a little classroom object activity where they got post-it notes and went around the room to label things that were there. That was fun, but it seemed like CP ran out of energy to keep it going and just read them off instead of going to the object to make sure that they knew it. But for the most part, they didn’t have much trouble. There are a few words that they struggle with and that are scissors, bookshelf, and ruler.

After school, I worked on finishing up the grading for today’s exam and making sure that everything is set for the next 11th grade class this Thursday. Nothing has been set since we haven’t started copying the books yet. It will be a bit of a problem and I imagine that it will get done tomorrow at least for the first two classes on Thursday. I really didn’t have anything else to do so I just hung around school and talked with the part-time teachers because I had the time to. It was cool and they were teasing me asking if I had a girlfriend or not and why I had gone to Amsterdam.

I left school around 5pm with another teacher and then took the train to Shin-Sugita station to grab dinner there. There is a nice Chinese restaurant there and I like to eat the food. It’s actually quite delicious and I’m glad that I stumbled upon it. I usually get noodles there, but today I got a pork rice bowl with ramen on the side. It was pretty good and hit the spot.

I came home and started working on my computer since I have been behind for a very long time. I needed to check all the email for the past week and see my stuff for UCLA to see if everything had gotten through or not. But at this moment, it seems that most of the things that I have submitted have gotten through. So I really am a UCLA student now. I’m so happy about that, but it still feels unreal to be able to say that. I’m wondering what I can do for a study abroad. I need to think about a place to go to study in another country. It would be fun. Anyways, I should head to bed soon. Actually YSki just woke up and signed on so I might talk to her for a little bit before I go. I think I should bring my computer to work tomorrow to work on updating some things. I think that I would work better if I had the right tools there, but I really don’t feel like lugging the heavy thing back and forth to not use so much of it. So I probably won’t. I also need to get my house ready for the summer. I still have my heater in my room and it’s starting to get humid hot. So I won’t need that anymore.

I also found out that my best friend at Grossmont got married last month too. I was a bit shocked since he announced it after he got married and then I didn’t read his blog until another month later. She he has been married for two months already and I just found out. I guess I need to go to Hokkaido to find out what his wife is all about. What a punk ass for not letting me know earlier.

From Hong Kong to Tokyo

I hung out at the Hong Kong airport to write this, but was extremely sleepy. I almost missed my flight to be honest with you. I wanted to eat something, but I wasn’t hungry at this time. I was one of the last people to board the plane, but that didn’t matter because I wasn’t sitting next to anyone again. This time I got an aisle seat too. I watched a little bit of speed and Hercules. I was mainly watching Glory Road. It’s a basketball true story about colored people in a predominately white East Texas, El Paso. It’s about a black basketball team that wins the national championship. I liked it though. The trip was very short since it only took 3.5 hours. It felt good to be in Japan. I was comfortable again. The problem that I had was when we were landing. The last 10 minutes of the flight, my ears plugged and I couldn’t hear anything out of my left ear. The ride home was horrible too. I took 2.5 hours on the train and I had to wait 50 minutes for the train.

Flight Home

I got up a little after SEK and that was around 10am. She thought that it would take 1.5 hours for me to get to the airport. I had to finish packing, but that was really quick. Then we headed to central station by tram. I didn’t like the attitude from the conductor. I feel the people work in the service sector suck. They have all been fairly rude and unwelcoming. That put a damper on the week.

Soon after that I was off to the airport. I had bought more souvenirs there on 2 separate occasions. I kept on forgetting who I had gifts for. I don’t like the way of checking in at the airport either. Once you went through the metal detectors, you’d have to wait in the waiting room. You couldn’t go shopping or anything.

I got on the airplane and was relieved that I would be heading back to Tokyo. It was a really long flight from Amsterdam to Hong Kong. The flight time was 10 hours and 30 minutes. I ended up at a window seat and the person next to me moved to another seat since the flight was fairly empty. I watched underworld, underworld evolution (twice), match point, Linda Linda Linda, a little bit of Brokeback mountain. The problem I had was that I couldn’t sleep on the flight. I did get some pretty awesome views at night and sunrise. I was very dehydrated during the flight and probably had 8 cups of water plus a water bottle. I also had to go to the bathroom a lot.

The last full day

I’m nearing the end of my trip since this is the last full day I have left. There were many places that I did not end up seeing, but I did peek into SEK’s life which was probably more interesting.

The plan today is to go to Rotterdam, but we were supposed to leave at 10am and it’s 10:30am now and I believe everyone is still sleeping. I got up at 9am because I couldn’t sleep. But I need to start getting adjusted to Tokyo time now. I will probably go make some breakfast now since I’m starting to get hungry. I don’t know what I would do today if I didn’t go to Rotterdam, but I think this would be a wasted opportunity.

To my surprise, we actually ended up going. It didn’t seem so likely since we got off to a late start. They got ready pretty quickly and we were off to Central Station Amsterdam. It was the first time I rode a bike in years and I mean since elementary school. I picked it up really quickly although the bike was a little big for me. It was a quick ride over. SEK rode on the back of Xavier’s bike and I rode on my own. We bought a ticket to Rotterdam around 12:20pm. We bought some things at Albert Hejms then we got on the train. The train ride was exactly an hour from central station to central station. We had a little problem with tickets we bought because they weren’t stamped. I thought that it was weird and we almost got fined 35 Euros for it. But they gave us a warning and we were ok after that.

When we arrived in Rotterdam, the rain was falling, so it was a miserable day. We walked down the Chinatown district there and to some museums. We went into one of them and spent about an hour there. The museum wasn’t really so interesting, but it was fun to chill out there. From that point, we hung out at a café near the museum because they had a map of Rotterdam on the menu. We probably stayed there an hour or so talking. I ordered an apple pie and hot chocolate which were both good, the apple pie the other night was much better though.

We decided to go out, even though it was raining a lot. We walked to a place where there were buildings were shaped like a cube on its corner. So it looked like diamonds. There happen to be a marker (flen) at that time too. So we walked around there for a bit too.

From there, we walked towards the bridge and there was a WWII memorial there. We headed towards the New York Hotel. We decided to have dinner there. I ordered onion soup with a chicken wrap with guacamole and jalapeños. The soup was good, but the chicken wrap was rather average. It was a fairly expensive restaurant to eat at.

From there, it was about to be 7pm so we started to head back to Amsterdam. It took an hour to get back. SEK and Xavier were sleeping pretty much the whole way and I wasn’t sleepy so I stayed awake.

When we got back, we biked to Renee’s house to pick up Xavier’s cell phone, which he left at her place. She’s a Canadian student that is a friend of Xavier. We stayed there till 10pm before we started looking for a place to buy some alcohol for Peter’s and Steven’s farewell party. We found a place and biked quite a distance to get there. There living arrangement was much better than SEK’s. It was much cleaner too. It was a big enough place to fit everyone.

At first, I felt left out because I really didn’t know anyone, but I just started walking around joining some conversations. I was happy that I wasn’t shy about it. It was a bit difficult at first since everyone was very cliquish. The food there was excellent. I couldn’t stop eating, it was really that good.

Another first for me was that I finished half a beer. It was Amstel which wasn’t so bad, but had a poor after taste. I knew that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea because I will be flying back to Tokyo tomorrow. I was glad to have met new people, although some of them weren’t cool. But a majority of them were. I didn’t hang out with SEK for most of the night.

We left around 2:30am and didn’t get home till around 3am. I think that I might have over stayed because I could sense SEK not wanting to spend more time with me. When we got back, she crashed and I showered and slept.

Lounging and hanging out with friends

The plan today was to go to Delft, but we had slept in very late. I didn’t get up till around 1-2pm and from there we made breakfast/ lunch to eat. It was all the stuff we had bought from the grocery store the other day. So I was trying out new things like pancakes and some bread spread. All of which, were pretty damn good. By the time we finished, Xavier was talking with us and the time seemed to fly by. We left the house around 3:30pm and got to central station around 4pm. The line was fairly long to get a train ticket and the place is about 30-45 minutes away. So we scrapped the idea about going there. Everything in the Netherlands closes at 6pm, so what we decided to do was walk around and go shopping.

We went inside of Magna Plaza, which looks big on the outside, but not so much on the inside. I bought more souvenirs, which ended up being more money than I expected. It was for 5 things but around 30 Euros, which is around $40. It was ok since I would have spent that money in Delft, had we gone there.

We walked around some more and we went into a place where I could get some apple pie and eat French fries with mayonnaise. I think I ordered incorrectly, but luckily SEK saved me. The fries with mayo actually weren’t bad. It was rather tasty. The apple pie at this place was extremely delightful. Really it was the best apple pie I’ve ever had.

From there, we went back to the university apartments. We were just hanging out there for a little while. The plan at this point was to eat dinner at home, but when we met up with Xavier, he had said Manny wanted to go out to have dinner with Tyler, Matt, Xavier and us before going to see X-Men 3.

The problem was Manny fell asleep and everything was a little disorganized. In the end, we never went to see a movie, but we did go get dinner at an Italian restaurant near the university. Tyler and Matt had already gone to dinner, so they didn’t join us. I had lasagna, which was heaven. It was excellent. We had talked a lot there too about cultures from different countries.

After we finished, we headed back to Manny’s apartment and had some wine. We stayed there for an hour or so, then we went back to SEK’s place. Manny and Matt were going to go clubbing at 2am. There were some unfriendly people, mainly Kelly from Santa Barbara. I showered and then slept.