Wednesday, October 19, 2011

How to have a great day's teaching - method #3697

Start the day by eating a grasshopper.

Well, to be honest, it had little impact on the rest of my day, but it sure was different way to start the day. There I was, sitting at my desk and minding my own business, preparing for my first lesson of the day, when one of the ladies in the staffroom came up to me, and asked me if I'd eaten <word I didn't understand>. When it was obvious that I didn't understand, she explained that it was a bug. I decided that I must have misunderstood, and came over to have a look. I hadn't misunderstood. There was a great big box filled with grasshoppers, and a group of ladies was enthusiastically hoeing in. I was assured that they were sweet and delicious, and was given one to try.

Needless to say, I wasn't entirely convinced. OK, so I wasn't at all convinced. However, I observed that several of them were eating these grasshoppers with obvious enjoyment, and no ill effects. The principal was handed one, and gulped it down with relish. The vice-principal refused, though he's known to be a fussy eater. I looked at my grasshopper, and then decided not to look too closely. I brought it to my mouth, and chickened out. Repeat by about five. Since I couldn't make myself bite into it, I decided to try licking it instead. Attempt one, attempt two... Nope, couldn't do that either.



By this time, the bell for the start of lessons had been and gone, and I was still standing in the staffroom staring at my grasshopper, and had four flights of stairs between where I was and where I was supposed to be. I gathered up all my courage, and bit off a leg. It actually was sweet, sweet and crunchy, with not much flavour beyond the sweetness. I think they were honey roasted, or something similar. If I hadn't known what I was eating, I might have thought it just a crunchy sweet. However, I did know what it was, and even though I now knew it tasted ok, and logically I knew there was nothing to worry about, a little voice in my head was screaming that I was going to die from eating something obviously contaminated. Nevertheless, I sccrewed up my courage again, and took another bite of leg. Still ok. I took another couple of bites, and managed to bite off, chew and swallow the back half of the grasshopper. Still no flavour but sweetness. However, by this time my courage had failed me. I had eaten half a grasshopper, I didn't have to eat the head too, did I? Besides, I was late for class. I wrapped the other half in a tissue, threw it out, and ran for my lesson, where the teacher had not yet finished making announcements.



Note: sorry about the quality of the photos, I only had my phone.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Our Apartment


I've been meaning to do this post for months, but better late than never. When we first moved in, I promised some pictures of our apartment. Well here they are. The first lot of photos are from the day we moved in, followed by some shots of our apartment in its present state, although somewhat tidier than usual.

Before

The entrance
The kitchen/dining
The lounge room
The bedroom
The space outside the bathroom

The bathroom/toilet


After

The entrance

The kitchen/dining
We inherited a bit of extra
furniture as one of the
apartments was no longer
inhabited

The lounge room
A new (2nd hand) sofa!
We dry most of our clothes
inside because of dust
The bedroom
You can't hang dresses
in the cupboard...
Pink is not my style but
it keeps the dust off.


The space outside the bathroom

We had to create a
computer corner for Hunty

The bathroom/toilet

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Earthquake

We just had our first earthquake that we actually noticed. The windows rattled, Hunter and I looked at each other, and then we both dismissed it as a strong gust of wind. Neither of us noticed any movement below our feet. However, a few minutes later we got messages confirming that an earthquake had in fact occurred, a level 3 in south Osaka. So there it is, we have experienced a (very mild) earthquake.

A genuine sports carnival

Last weekend, primary schools around the city held their annual sports carnivals, and was a sight to behold. Ever since school started back up after the summer holidays, the kids have been preparing for this day, and in the past few weeks, it was ramped up to an average of 2 hours a day. All subjects, including English, were liable to be dropped at short notice due to a practice session.

The first thing that caught my attention about the day was that it really was a carnival. We call our events Athletics Carnivals, but there's not any carnival atmosphere to it, just kids running around the oval, and occasionally jumping or throwing something. Not so in Japan. There was a central oval, with seating all around, and everything took place on that oval, one event at a time. Every time a group of kids ran on or off, it was orchestrated, made to look pretty, and done to music. It was also highly team oriented. Nobody got any credit for personal achievements, it was all about progressing the team. Lower grades (presumably not to be trusted with a relay baton) ran individual races, but in quick succession, as soon as the last runner was done from one race, the next lot were off. What colour team does the winner belong to? Ok, that's all we need to know. Older grades ran relays only, with no individual events at all. All the running was done with music playing in the background.

Apart from the races, each year level also played one game, and performed a dance.
The "Giant Pants" race (Yr 3/4)
A dress rehearsal for the Soran dance (Yr 5/6 at this school, sometimes only Yr 5)



Rehersal for a 6-legged race (Yr. 5)

My role for the day was to help set up between events. This involved running out and drawing new lines on the ground, erasing old lines, putting out equipment, and getting shouted at for misunderstanding instructions. It was interesting, as everyone was in a great hurry to have a minimum of wait time between events, and so there was frequently not enough time for me to understand instructions before being shooed onto the field to do my job. However, we got it all done, and I had plenty of time for taking photos and videos in between.

The highlight of the day was the final event, the kumi taisoo (group gymnastics), presented by the year sixes, and at some schools also the yr 5s. This built up in progressively more difficult activities, and culminated in a giant human pyramid (or multiple pyramids, depending on the size of the school). The kids were incredible. I really can't imagine a standard school group of 10-12-year-old Australian kids managing to achieve anything like the below photos demonstrate, and believe me, the photos are only a small sample of a long performance.







Front on view of the pyramid - rehearsal
What a (different) pyramid looks like from behind

Another couple of pyramids
I hope to post a video compilation of some of the highlights from different schools fairly soon, but it will take a bit of time to cut that together.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Must-see "Hunter the Samurai" footage!

Some time ago, I posted a link to Hunter's write-up of our adventures in a Japanese movie village. At the time that was written, we didn't have a video of his starring role in the samurai drama. A copy has now been found (thanks Xander Taylor!), and is included below for your viewing pleasure.




I apologise that a fair bit of it is Japanese. I tried to add some subtitles, but it didn't work. However, the gist of it is easy to understand.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

It's recruitment time!

Toowoomba Regional Council is now recruiting for next year's Assistant English Teachers. All you need is to have a University degree (in anything - it's a visa requirement), be familiar with the Toowoomba region, and be keen about teaching English in Japan. Japanese language abilities are a bonus, but not required.

For more information, see the below links:

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at booksie@gmail.com

I highly recommend the experience!