My weekend!

So this weekend was definitely pretty fun. Friday night I went to an Indian restaurant close to my apartment and had some curry and nan. Below is a picture of it. And that was only about 3/4 of the nan (the bread) because I had already eaten some before I took the picture! I drank some mango juice with it and it was so delicious!

Saturday I got to hang out with some people from church. I met Aki at the train station in Matsudo and we rode the train to Takahama station where Hosana and her family lives. It was about an hour away from Matsudo. It was kind of crazy getting there and this is why. The fastest way to get to Takahama station is taking an express train. In Japan there is a "local train" and an "express/rapid train". The local train stops at every station and an express or rapid train only stops at the major ones. In order to get all the way out to Takahama we had to take a particular express train. Aki hopped onto it in Tokyo where he lives and rode it to Matsudo. The plan was for me to go to the last train car, find Aki, and hop in, all in about 30 seconds, which is how long the train stops at the station. I was so nervous I wouldn't find him, but thankfully I did and we got on the train and we were off! It was about an hour ride to Hosana's. I don't know if I have ever written about Aki before, so I should probably tell you about him. He is 26 and one of the guys that I first met at church. He plays the drums during the worship at church and wants to be a pastor, so sometimes he preaches on Sunday mornings. Anyways, he's super nice and we had a good chat on the train. Takahama is way out in the country and Hosana lives about 10 minutes away from the station, so when we got there we had to wait for Hosana to come pick us up. While we were waiting Aki bought me a drink from the vending machine. It was so good. It was like grape Jello in a can. You had to shake it up really good and it turns into partial liquid and you drink it. It was one of my favorite drinks I've had here. Below are two pictures I took at the station and the yummy jello drink.

An old Barber shop!

Aki at the station.

This was SOOO good!

Finally Hosana came and she drove us to her house. All the houses I've seen so far in Matsudo and in Tokyo have been tiny, but because Hosana lives in a small town out in the country most of the houses there were larger. Also at the party was Yuki, who is 19, and two 13 year old girls from the church that came to hang out for a while. Hosana's dad was at work, but her mom came home and we had a BBQ outside! We had a variety of different meats and grilled some vegetables. BBQ in America means we have hamburgers or hot dogs. Here it just means we are cooking outside on a grill. It was some really good food! After we got stuffed her mom brought out some yakisoba (noodles) and some sausages to cook. They had some really good sauce to put over it that just made it delicious. Also, at some point that night I tried tongue, although nobody could tell me from what animal the tongue was from. It had a very interesting feel in my mouth when I ate it!...

This is the group photo minus Leo. The two 13 year olds are on the outside, Aki is in the middle with his mouth wide open, and in the back from left to right is Hosana, Yuki, and Me.

After dinner another guy, Leo, came over. Then the boys-Aki, Leo, and Hosana's dad-went to the onsen (public bath). Us girls took the two 13 year olds home and then Hosana, Yuki, and I went to sing some karaoke! Here are some pictures of us at the karaoke place.

Apparently the sign above these creatures said to take a picture with them...So we did! This is me and Hosana.

Me and Yuki before we sang some karaoke.

We got back to the house around 11:30 I think. Shortly after that the boys returned from the onsen. Then we pretty much just sat around and talked for the next few hours. I was so tired though. I kept thinking we were going to go to bed because we had church in the morning, but everyone was still talking, so I went along with it. I got a good Japanese lesson from Leo at about 2am (I don't really remember much of it though! haha). Finally about 3:00 everyone decided to go to bed. Hosana's mom laid out some bedding for the boys in the dining room and us girls headed to Hosana's room. However, as the Japanese tradition goes, Yuki and Hosana wanted to shower before they went to bed. I said I was fine with showering in the morning, so I went to sleep. Yuki and Hosana finally came in around 4:30am!! It wasn't very fun to get up at 7:30 the next morning. I showered and got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. On the table was a salad (which I didn't eat because that just doesn't sound appealing to me in the morning), some different kinds of bread from a bakery, oranges, bananas, fruits, and yogurt. It was really good! Around 8:30 we headed to church. It was an hour long drive. Hosana's mom shared her testimony with us on the way, so that was definitely interesting to hear.

After church I was so tired, so I went home and slept from 4:30 in the afternoon til 8:30 at night. I got up for a few hours and then went back to sleep at midnight.

Teaching English

By the time the students reach Senshu University Junior High school they have already been exposed to English in a variety of ways. Most students study English in their elementary schools and even if they haven't, English can be seen everywhere from t-shirts, to signs, to advertisements. For example, at the top of a menu in a restaurant it might have "Drinks" for the title, and then go on and list the drinks all in Japanese. In a coffee shop it might even say "coffee shop" instead of using the Japanese word "cohe." Concerning verbal English, kids might hear an English translation on a train or listen to American music. Avril Lavigne, the Foo Fighters, and Evanescense are just a few artists that many kids in Japan are familiar with.

The junior high is consisted of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. 7th graders are put in classes of up to 42 students in a classroom. 8th and 9th grade classes are split up into groups of approximately 20. Each classroom has a native English speaking teacher, a Japanese "team teacher" who speaks English fluently, and when available, an intern (currently me and Carly). Usually it's the native English speaker who does the majority of the lesson planning and teaching. So I'm sure you're asking how exactly we teach Japanese students English? Well, first of all, you should understand that the kids take an English grammar class as well as a separate English conversation class. The conversation classes are the ones I help out with. The grammar classes are actually all taught in Japanese by Japanese teachers (doesn't make much sense does it?). In the conversation classes, which I'll be describing here, all of the instruction is given in English and the Japanese team teacher is there to translate in Japanese when necessary. Each student comes to our conversation classes twice a week, 50 minutes each. The purpose of the oral conversation classes (OC) are for the students to become comfortable speaking aloud in English.

Usually at the the beginning of a class we will start with a little warm-up to get the students ready to learn. For example, this week in the 8th grade classes we worked on the differences between F and V. After a demonstration of how to position your mouth correctly to pronounce the sounds, the teacher read aloud words like "vine" and "fox" and the students had to write down the letter they heard. After the warm-up the native English speaking teacher, team teacher, and intern will model the day's activity and then the students will break up into pairs and practice speaking with their partner. In the 9th grade classes, since they are getting ready to go to Nebraska this summer, we have what is called "bio-data questions." Each day we give them a new question for them to learn. For example, a question might be simply, "What do you like to do for fun?" or "Where were you born?" The questions continue to get harder as the school year goes on. Each day the kids will practice asking their questions to one another. Usually all of that will take up the majority of the class period. At the end if there is time we may review with the kids.

We do a variety of activities to keep the students awake and on task. This week we taught the 9th graders about American money. We did a short quiz as a group to review and then the kids did a fun game to help them practice the values. One thing that I noticed about Japanese kids is that everything is decided by "janken" (rock, paper, scissors). For example, when playing a game all of the kids will janken to decide who goes first. If there are any disputes, then a quick rock, paper, scissors game will quickly dissolve it.

Like I mentioned, the majority of the teaching is done by the native English speaking teacher. The intern and Japanese team teacher are basically there to assist. We walk around and check the kids' work and make sure they all understand the material. We might also pass out the papers or write answers on the board for the class. During the demonstration of the speaking activity the team teacher and intern are important to help the native English speaking teacher model the proper way to say the words and complete the activity.

Of course as interns we also get to do all of the "dirty work" or behind the scenes stuff. This year the school got brand new projectors for the teachers. This is great because then they don't have to write everything out on the board, but can just show the worksheet to the class using the projector or prepare materials for a powerpoint and teach using that. Of course this means a lot of things need to be scanned and it's the interns job to do most of that! We also do a lot of organizing, sorting, cutting, and laminating throughout the day.

Some students playing connect 4 before class.

One of the classrooms.

Crazy week, ending with a rain day!

Ok, so I promise I will be more diligent in writing in this for the rest of the trip! It's been a pretty crazy week. School started up again on Monday for the new school year. It was so cute to see the new 7th graders in their brand new uniforms and shoes. The week has gone by pretty smoothly. One of the English teachers I worked with left, so they hired on a new one, Ms. Marich. She is really nice. Tuesday Carly's eye hurt and was burning and watering, so she stayed home and I went to work alone. It was really busy trying to do two people's work, but it turned out to be a pretty fun day. I helped out in classes all day and then had to teach the ESS (English speaking society club) after school alone. There are only three kids. They are all 8th graders I think. We had a few papers with some short skits on them, so the kids and I acted them out. It was really fun.

On Thursday John, two of his Japanese friends, Carly, and I went to Shinjuku in West Tokyo to a Mexican restaurant!! It was so good. I got a chicken quesadilla that was pretty much amazing. After dinner we walked off all the food we just ate and went to Harajuku and then to the train station. It took us about 45 minutes on the train to get back to Matsudo, then about 25 minutes walk back to our apartments. All in all I probably walked around 3 or 4 miles in one evening. It was great though and it made me miss home and going to Mamasitas in Bennet!

Friday is our long day because I have to help out with 3 classes in the morning, have lunch, and then help out with 3 more classes in the afternoon. It's really hard to do that many classes back to back. Every other day I normally help out with 2-4 classes, but they are spread out through the day so it doesn't seem to be that much. However, on this particular Friday we got out of school early. Forget snow days, in Japan we get RAIN DAYS! It rained for almost 3 days straight and the courtyards at school had puddles everywhere because there was so much water. Apparently they shut the trains down if there is too much rain. Almost all of the kids (and teachers) from the school take the train, so they let everyone leave early so they could all make it home. I guess last year they didn't let the kids go early enough and one girl couldn't go home because the trains were down. I will admit it was nice to have the afternoon off!

The Mexican restaurant we ate at in Shinjuku. YUM!

My chicken quesadilla.

Ayako, Mami, Me, and Carly outside the restaurant.

This is an example of how the Japanese use every inch of space. This is a house that was squished in beside the street here. Crazy, huh?

This is how much it has to rain before they let school out early.

Even though the rain is a bit annoying when you have to walk 1/2 mile back home in it, it does brighten the scenary. This is at the sports park near my apartment.

Japanese fun

Well, I was all ambitious and have been running the past two weeks, and now I think I'm going to have to take a small break because I hurt my foot! The whole area around my big toe and the one next to it is really tender to touch and it doesn't feel that great walking on it, so I'm thinking running might not be a good idea! I don't exactly remember when it started hurting, it was more of a general pain after my last run. I'm thinking I should have invested in better tennis shoes than what I found at Wal-mart.

In other news, this is my last week of "spring vacation." I'm actually ready for work to start up again because I'm running out of things to do and lack of funds prevents me from going into Tokyo too much. Monday I did manage to have a pretty great day though. I met Hosana, a girl from the church I've been going to, and we did lots of exciting things. We met in Kashiwa, only about 10 minutes away from Matsudo. First we went out to lunch. It was so nice to be with someone that could help me read the menu! I got some chicken, rice, and soup. It was really good. After that we did some shopping. I ended up finding a nice spring jacket for only 1500 yen (about $15.00). Although my big puffy winter coat was great when I first got here while it was cold, it's too heavy now that it's warming up outside. After we had walked around for a while we went to starbucks and had some coffee and talked for a long time. Then Hosana asked me if I would like to try karaoke! I was nervous at first, but decided to go for it. Karaoke is very different here-it's not in a bar and you're not singing in front of lots of people you don't know. What you do is go in and pay for a room for however long you want. Ours cost about $7.00 for one hour. Hosana and I went into this room that had an L shaped couch and a table in the middle of the room with a TV in front. It was less than 10 feet x 10 feet, so pretty small. Then you choose your song and you just sing!! It was really fun. The only singer that we both knew was Avril Lavigne so we sang a ton of her songs. It was really fun and I want to go again! By the time we were done there it was getting late so we parted ways, but it was definitely a lot of fun and it was nice having someone to hang out here!

This is a bad picture because it's all fuzzy, but at least you can see how small the room was and what it was like.

Hosana and I

I miss root beer!!!

The weather has been absolutely amazing the past few days. Today there was a high of 65 and tomorrow will be even better at 68. Spring is my absolute favorite season-it's so nice outside and everything is blooming! A few days ago Carly and I went on a picnic at the park just down the block from our apartments. It was a lot of fun. We had fresh strawberries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oreos, and pringles! We laid out a blanket and ate our lunch under the beautiful cherry blossoms. Carly surprised me with bubbles she found at the store the other day. So we did what all 20 year olds want to do, blow bubbles! I will admit, it was pretty awesome.

Our delicious picnic lunch!

Bubble fun!!

The park we ate at.

Today, Saturday was pretty perfect. I got up this morning and talked to Joshua on skype for a bit before running to the 99 yen store for some food. That store by far is my favorite here in Japan. You can get almost anything there, including decent food. I got a bag of 3 huge bananas for only 104 yen (about $1.04). Right next to the 99 yen store is this adorable little boutique. I'd noticed some cute clothes there for the past week or so, but hadn't looked at any yet. I decided that since I had the time I'd go in. I found this adorable spring dress for only $10.00!!! I was so super excited that I ran home and put it on! Then I packed up my bookbag and headed to the "Forest Park of the 21st Century." It's a large park only a short bike ride away from my apartment. The first order of business when I got there was to get some ice cream! I got the black sesame seed ice cream and it was delicious. I can't describe the texture or flavor. It's like nothing I've ever tasted before, but I love it. After that I went and found an open spot on the ground next to the lake and laid out my blanket. I did some reading, some journaling, and some drawing. It was so relaxing and nice! The only bad part was that I managed to sit underneath a hoard of crows that hovered in the tree above me. I swear, they make the worst noise ever!

Yummy ice cream!

Beautiful trees at the park.

Flower garden!

Bridge and little stream.

My new dress!!!

After the park I had to head to church and be there by 5 o'clock for worship team practice. It was super fun. Everyone arrived and we set up and sang some songs. I learned a few songs in Japanese which was pretty cool. Hosana and I snuck out and went to the bakery to get a cake for a surprise birthday party for one of the women at church. It was so weird riding in the car with her. Besides sitting on the left side of the car in the front, everyone drives on the left side of the street! It's so backwards! When we got back to the church we all sang happy birthday and ate some cake and had some dinner. Then we did sang a bunch more songs. I got to go to the front at one point and practiced with the microphone. It was pretty cool. I didn't leave until around 9:30. Hosana and her mom drove me to the train station and now I'm home. Unfortunately i can't go to church tomorrow because now Carly and I have to go to school at 9:30 in the morning for the opening ceremony because it's the beginning of the school year. First is the senior high ceremony and then at 1:00 is the junior high ceremony. I guess we get to introduce ourselves to the whole school, so that should be interesting.

Ok, well it's late and I'm tired. Off to bed!!

Cherry trees and situps

It's been hard to wake up at a decent hour lately when I don't have to be at work at 8:30. I will admit, it's nice being able to sleep in until 10:30am, but I do actually miss the routine. I spent a lot of money when Josh was here, so I have been trying to save and just have been staying around Matsudo this week. Yesterday I decided I was going to ride my bike to the next town over, Yabashira. That's when I discovered my bike was stolen AGAIN! I actually find it quite comical now. I just don't understand why someone walks off with my bike, returns it a week later, and then takes it again. So needless to say, I couldn't ride my bike to Yabashira! Carly was gracious enough to lend me her bike and then I was ready to set off.

In town I found some pretty cherry trees. There were some cute shops that I wanted to go in, but it was super super windy out and I was blowing over on Carly's bike, so after hitting the 99 yen store, I headed home. On my way back I saw this little picture painted on the ground and I couldn't resist a photo. I have no idea what it says!

The weather is getting warmer and I want to take advantage of that. In the spirit of spring, Carly and I are going to have a picnic tomorrow afternoon at the park near our apartments. I'm actually pretty excited. I'm going to make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I'm not sure what else we'll have, but I'll figure something out. There are some beautiful cherry blossoms in that park, so I will most definitely take some pictures and post them up tomorrow night :)

I decided I needed to start a work-out program, so I made some charts and put them on my closet door. I'm going to run 3 times a week for 20 minutes each time, as well as do 200 situps and 10 pushup daily. My arms are so weak, so I can only do 10 a day! haha I'm doing good so far. Hopefully i can keep it up!