Fun Festivities in the Fall

Sumo!!! [9.28.2013]

Odaiba [10.12]

Kawagoe Matsuri [10.19]

Fellow Teachers @ the Kawagoe Matsuri

Did I tell you that I went to a sumo tournament??? It took me awhile to upload the photos from my camera onto my laptop... I finally took the time today to upload the photos to my laptop and some to Facebook.  So here we go!!!

It was a new experience to watch sumo. It was my first time watching it!  I never watched it on TV or online or anywhere, and so the first time I saw a match was at the dohyo in Tokyo.  I enjoyed my experience because there were various traditions that go along with sumo.  From the design of the dohyo to the actions of the rikishi, every action and design is planned and is part of a ritual.  It is amazing how the tradition of sumo integrates Shintoism to the practice.  It was an interesting experience and I would like to attend another tournament.  Luckily, the tournament comes to Tokyo three times a year.  The next tournament in Tokyo will be in January.  I hope I can go again!

Yesterday and today was the Kawagoe Autumn Festival.  The Kawagoe Matsuri is the third weekend of October, and it occurs once a year.  I was fortunate to attend yesterday's festivities.  It did not rain until mid-afternoon.  By then we were done with our duties of pulling the dashi/ float.  We returned our "happi" coats, but we were able to keep the other fabric. I'm not sure what it's called in Japanese, but it says Kawagoe Matsuri on it!!!  It was a great honor to be able to participate with the local community in this amazing event!!!!! I was so overwhelmed with joy that I almost cried... There were crowds of people in every direction.  The streets were closed.  There were no cars, but the people, food booths, dashi-s filled the streets.  Happy to have the happi-coat. Happi-ness.

Visitor #7

My friend that I know from California is in Japan!!! She is working in Australia, and is on holiday... She went to other Asian countries, and is stopping by here before going back to work!!!  On Saturday we went to Odaiba, and saw the Statue of Liberty replica and the giant Gundham.  On Sunday we went to Harajuku and Ikebukuro.  Today we went to Koedo old town in Kawagoe.  It was a very nice weekend of site-seeing around Tokyo and Kawagoe!!!

View of Rainbow Bridge & Tokyo Tower in the background.

Kaiten sushi in Ikebukuro!

Disneyland Ticket Winners!

Congratulations Mai!  Mai won two tickets for completing the Summer Challenge.  The summer challenge consisted of weekly writing assignments and completing the Summer Passport booklet!  A great way to practice English. 

Fall Semester

First day of Fall Semester was on Friday.   I am teaching the same classes with the same students.  It is a bit nerve wracking because I want to do better in my teaching practice for my students, and I do not want to do the exact same things I did last semester.  

I had two classes and English Lounge.   It was a nice day!  I was tired from being at work all day; something that I will get used to again.   One of my classes had some "omiyage" for each other.  It shows how much in community this class is.  One student went to England, and brought everyone a small gift!  Another student went to his hometown in Iwate and brought back these delicious "egg" shaped desserts.  Not an egg, but had filling inside and the outside had this white coating.  It is pictured above with the wrapping.  It was very delicious tasting.   

We have two new teachers from University of Oregon, and I think they fit in great!  I am happy to have them here to have some fresh perspectives and ideas.  That is the great thing when working in a community that works together! We can share ideas and materials with each other and help each other out!

Happy fall season!  

Meetings...

As we get ready for the start of the Fall semester, we have MEETINGs!!! Sounds exciting, yes??? Yes! because we get sooooo much information that is pertinent to what we need to do in the next few days. It does raise the blood level a bit, but it brings us straight back in the swing of things!  We had our first full staff meeting yesterday with 10 teachers.  There are two newcomers to fill in the 2 teachers who left.  It is quite exciting to have some fresh blood (so to speak).

We have another meeting today in regards to our Coordinator duties.  I have many things I want to do today.  It is also the mid-autumn moon festival in Chinese culture.  Happy Full Moon tonight!!!  It will be a great way to kick off Fall Semester. :)

Sapporo, Hokkaido

Sushi!!! {Nijo Fish Market}

Sapporo Tower - Odori Park

Sapporo Mascot!!!

Greg, my brother-in-law, had a conference in Sapporo.  He left a day ahead of us because he had to go to the conference.  Cheryl and I joined up with him a day later, but he was busy with the conference.  So we galavanted around the city while he worked.  We ate miso ramen, melon bread, seafood, and more!  We tried to find what Sapporo is known for and eat it!!!  We also went to a harbor side city called Otaru where they have a beautiful canal.  It is about 30 minutes from Sapporo.  It was a wonderful experience to see another part of Japan, Sapporo.  It was open and spread out.  The city was on a grid, and easy to navigate around.  It was a small city so we walked around the whole city!  The food was absolutely delicious.  I would love to come back and visit Hokkaido again.  There are many other sites around Hokkaido that I would like to see and do.   I would like to come back for the Snow Festival in February... maybe the year after next.

Night Hike on Mt. Fuji

Getting prepared for the night hike! {Sept. 7}

At the summit of Mt. Fuji {Sept. 8}

It was quite the adventure!!! We took the shuttle bus from Shinjuku to Mt. Fuji 5th Station.  We arrived around 19:00.  We looked around the shops and what not to kill time before we hiked up around 20:30.  We did not reserve a hut, and we did not stay in a hut.  We stayed up all night!  We stopped at different huts along the way.  It started off as a beautiful night! After we passed the 7th Station it was pouring rain, and super windy.  It was like that the rest of the way up.  We stayed about 1 hour in one hut to get warm.  I was shivering and tired!  I felt better after we stopped in that hut. Then we continued up, and there were tons of people.  It was literally a line going up the mountain.  Every time we stopped, I had to keep moving in place to stay warm.  We made it to the summit around 04:50.  Sunrise was around 05:00.  We couldn't see anything because of the clouds, rain, and wind.  Once I was inside this small building I wanted to stay.  I wanted the shelter from the wind & rain.  We eventually went to another hut for some food.  There we stayed until 07:30.  We were advised to hike down the path we took up, the Yoshida Trail, because of the weather conditions.  It took us about 5 hours to hike back down to Mt. Fuji 5th Station.  There was still rain and wind that we had to fight on our way down, but as we got closer to the station the weather was better.  I had my hiking stick where you can get stamps at different stations on the way up, and at a certain point I stopped getting stamps because my hiking stick was too wet!! haha.  It was funny.  We were so tired and cold we forgot to get our certificates for hiking Mt. Fuji!  Well, we wouldn't have had a dry place to keep the certificates anyways... haha.  It was quite the adventure.  We spent 15 hours on Mt. Fuji!!!  It was a spontaneous trip, and I am happy to have shared this memory with my sister and brother-in-law.

On our way back home. {Shinjuku Train Station}

Visitors #4 in Japan!

On the Tembo Deck of the Skytree (350m)

My older sister Cheryl and her husband Greg arrived to Tokyo Tuesday night.  On Wednesday we went all over Tokyo.  I showed them TIU, where I work, and then we went off to Asakusa to the Sensoji Temple.  From them we went to the Tokyo Skytree and went up to the Tembo Deck. We were lucky it was not crowded!  Then we ventured off to Ueno Park, Shinjuku, and Shibuya.  It was a long day!  We finished the day with dinner at a soba restaurant in Ikebukuro.  We eventually made it back to my apartment, and from there they were packing and getting ready for their adventure to Kyoto.  They will be in Kyoto until Friday. On Friday they will come back to my apartment!!! I'm happy to have them come and visit.  I was a little sad when they left this morning. Good thing they are coming back!

Kobaton in Kawagoe!

I am feeling lucky!!! I know this could be childish, AND I still love these fun characters!!  This is the Saitama prefecture mascot! I live in this prefecture and I am proud of it so I wanted to get a stuffed animal of it.  Luckily, yesterday when we were in Shinjuku I found it!!!!  Then today I had to go to the Immigration office (because of my stolen wallet) to get a new residence card... on my way home I decided to stop by the main shopping area in Kawagoe, and LOOK WHO I STUMBLED UPON.  Yes, the kobaton itself!!! I was pleasantly surprised by all of this!  I am feeling content...

Happy September!!!

Greetings!!!

18 days left of summer break.  The first day of fall semester begins Friday, September 20th and ends January 20th.  Summer vacation has been going by so quickly! There is still so much to do... and see... and eat... :)

Last week I went to Harajuku for the Yosakoi Festival, to Kamakura to see the (Daibutsu), to the himawari (sunflower) field, to a meet-up at a comedy bar in Shibuya, and more!!!

Daibutsu

Himawari

On another note, tonight Cheryl & Greg arrive from Seattle.  They are going to stay the night at my place.  I don't know what they want to do tomorrow besides rest and relax.  10.5 hour flight and 2 hour train ride sure takes it out of you!!  I'll have a blow up mattress ready for them when they arrive. I'm sure they'll be ready to crash when they arrive.  There are more fun things to do together. I'm looking forward to it...

End of August

I returned back to Japan last Thursday from Thailand.  We had Open Campus on Friday and Saturday.  We had a full room in the morning sessions, and less people in the afternoon sessions.  I spoke to about 10 prospective students last weekend.

This past week I was fortunate to go to Kamakura to see the Daibutsu (Big Buddha) and have green tea in a bamboo forest.  It was nice to get to see these sites and experience more of Japan.  I also went to see himawari (sunflower) in Saitama.  It was a big field of sunflowers, and I picked two to take home with me.  I also had ichigo (strawberry) shaved ice.  It was a nice treat since it was very hot that day.  We saw many people dressed up to take pictures with the himawari.  When I say dressed up, they were wearing costumes, and had wigs, and lots of make up.  Maybe it is a thing to do to get professional cosplay photos in a field of sunflowers??? hmmm...

Last night I went to the gym for the first time in Japan.  Sadly, I had my wallet stolen.  Yes, stolen!  I had it in my purse, and it wasn't there after I showered... I did not lock it because I was taking a quick shower.  I didn't realize that it was missing until I was at the grocery store buying groceries.  My wallet wasn't there!  I spent about 3 hours at the Koban and back at PiKOA to figure out this mess... Whoever stole it used my credit card at Yaoko Marketplace 3 times in one night!!! This person spent more than 300USD there.  Unbelievable... I called and cancelled my cards this morning before the 3 hour investigation and reporting at the Police Station.  A lady showed up to the Koban and we went to the gym, and she took pictures and measurements of the locker.  I had to stand and point to where my purse was in the locker.  It was a unique experience.  We went back to the Koban and she took my fingerprints and said she would call if they find anything...

I have my old wallet, and it's pretty much empty!  I had my residence card, insurance card, TIU ID card, credit card, debit cards, and more in the stolen wallet... I hope it shows up!!!

  

Summer Break 2013

Summer break has begun!

My summer consists of random days of work with mini vacations in between. For example, the last day of classes were on July 22, and I had work from July 26-28. So I went to the Japan Alps from July 23-25. I also had work on August 4, so I didn't have much time to go on another trip in Japan.  I stayed around town and prepared for my trip to Thailand! !   Now I am in Thailand until August 21.  Yes, I have work on August 23 & 24.  These random days I have work are called Open Campus.  These days we meet prospective high school students and talk about the university and our classes.  It's actually quite fun to meet these students.  The Open Campus after the ones in August is September 7!  I'll have about 13 days free to do some work and visit friends in Japan.  Maybe I'll even go travel around Tokyo and Kansai region of Japan. We'll see... right now I'm in Thailand, and I'm enjoying every moment of this vacation.  This past semester had its challenges, and I am grateful to have persevered through it.  Somehow it happened... at moments I wasn't sure if I could do it... Cheers to the summer!

surprising news

I guess I didn't comprehend the email completely!  It mentioned cuts and reduction in staff, but I thought they were combining job duties or something!  They couldn't possibly cut three positions at the Salem campus, could they? !  I guess so... I'm very surprised. There is a lot of expansion and investment here with the new program. I thought for sure things were going well in all other areas of the university....

Another surprise today was... vegetables in a box!  What a lovely surprise. A friend in Japan sent this box of goodies to LeeAnn's apartment, and it was filled with produce from or friend's dad's garden!  Amazing!  How do you send a box of produce? I am amazed!

Spring Semester... Completeddddd

TGIF?

No, not quite. It is Monday, but it was the last day of classes for the GTI program! What an incredibly challenging and enjoyable semester it was.... AND we survived together!

I am looking forward to next semester. I plan to improve my teaching skills to help my students do better.  My first full semester done.  I am proud of all my students and the efforts that they have put into the school year... Also, whatever situation one may go through life goes on through the ups and downs... Keep on going with all that life has for us. Follow your dreams!

Thank you... Yashi, Yuki, Saki, Junta, Masaya, Mizuki, Miki, Yukiji, Mayu, Azuki, Ai, Emiri, Sucre, Sasuke, Yusuke, Susumu, Keiichiro, Yuuhei, Yuto, Takeru, Ikumi, Yuto M., Densol, Izumi, Daisuke, Rina, Sachie, Satomi, Mai T., Minami, Nao S., Nao K., Kento, Arisa, Ryo, Akihito, Mai F., Miyu, Ayumi, Rena, Kohei, Yuta.

English Plaza Extravaganza

This didn't post when I originally created the post. BUT it's okay! This was two weeks ago when the new GTFs came to visit. woohoo!!

EC Finals... Check!

 Section 3 - Happiness after finishing their Final Exam for English Comprehension!  Thank you for bringing some snacks to share with the class!!!

Section 15 - Snack party time after their Final Exam.  :]  Thank you to those who brought some snacks to share!   It made my watermelon, bread and cookies seem so minuscule to the amount of snacks my students brought.  

I tried some new Japanese snacks! I brought some snacks for my students, and some of them contributed to the food pile.  I also made some "Class Awards" for my students on a card stock paper with their name, section, award, and my hanko stamp.  I think that my students are connected and are supportive of each other. It was a challenging semester, and... We survived the first semester!!! :]  Many things to look forward to for next semester. {inshallah}

I hope you all have a great summer vacation, and I hope to see you in the Fall starting in September!!! 

ありがとう

Thank you~

6 days left.

Today I went to a church service in Japanese!  I didn't know exactly what was happening, but I think I got the gist of it. There was a bento lunch after service, and then we (Christine & I) walked back to the station in the nice humid weather. The people were very nice and welcoming. It was quite a learning experience to be around Japanese people at a Christian church.

Yesterday, I went to the BIGGEST mall that I have ever been to in my life.  It was three malls combined into one shopping mall.  http://www.aeon-laketown.jp/ It was surprising how many people and how many stores there were in this shopping area.  Everyone was shopping shopping shopping and there were so many people there that filled up the walkways! It was nice to be in the AC, but the store clerks shouting "いらっしゃいませ!" took its toll after a while.

Well, the final week of classes are HERE! WOW. WOW. WOW. Final exams here we go!!!

asahi the good times roll...

After several e-mails back and forth and among various people, we finally were able to decide a date, time, and location to meet.  It was just your normal gathering of teachers in a small restaurant.  Then someone important from work joins us later in the evening.  The whole dynamics of the gathering changes.  I am intrigued how one person can have a significant impact on 5 people.  It was a fascinating experience!   I am left feeling reflective and appreciative.

the end is in sight...

Last week we had 11 new teachers visitTIU!  It was a bit overwhelming for me.  Quiet mornings preparing for class were filled with excitement and chatter of 11 more people!   This week it looked like a tornado came through my cubicle.  There were piles of papers and notes and random things everywhere!  It was a needed moment to meet all the new staff!  Two will join us in the fall semester. We had a formal business dinner on Friday, and I chatted with the hard working Toru-san.  At times I can get frustrated and complain about work, but overall I am grateful for this opportunity.  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity!  I truly appreciate all that I hope to gain from this experience.
¤2 Weeks until the semester ends!
¤1 month until Thailand!

Chillin' in the English Lounge

With the AmAziNG Toru-san!

Sunday Funday

Well, it's Sunday night and we are heading into Week 13...

The new GTFs are here and will be coming into our classrooms for most of the day throughout this week!  What a trip it will be to have another teacher in the room! I'm excited and nervous at the same time! Eep! I'm not sure why... Maybe thoughts of insecurity of not being a good teacher in the eyes of another more experienced teacher?

On another note. I'm feeling uncomfortable.  I am grateful for this job and working with great teachers.  I also have to face the reality of being one of the few POC on an "American" staff.  Already the view that most Japanese people have of Americans are the face of a "White" person, and I do not fit that. I love my students and I have faith in their potential to be strong leaders in their communities and sometimes I wonder if they think they would want to have an "American" English teacher that was "White." My issue with teaching English was the connection to "colonization" and "educating" non-European looking people with Christianity and English.  Then I thought about it and decided well, I get to build relationships with my students and support them in their education as they figure out what they want to do with their lives.  Yet, I still feel uncomfortable with teaching "English."  I understand it can help them be more hirable and impact their desire to travel and learn about other cultures.  Sometimes I realize I am living in Japan, and I am in a bubble at work... but the bigger question is how do we shake up one culture's view on another culture?  What does it take for change to happen? Should it change? Or is this all in my head?

3 Months~

Now:

[6.26.2013]

Then:

[4.17.2013]

Cheers mates!! Here to the most challenging 3 months to adjusting to a new life in Japan, and to the start of my teaching career abroad!!!

week 12!!!

Well, well, well... There are 4 weeks left in the spring semester. There is still so much to do and to think about.

Today, I said, "Good morning!!!" several times to my students until they said, "Good morning" more  enthusiastically to me. haha. Fake it until you make it~

I may have mentioned my decision to choose to be more positive.  The last two weeks or three months... felt like they were dragging along... and dragging me along as well...  Today, I had the intention to choose to be positive.  How!?  I am choosing to take care of myself better by going to sleep earlier, practicing yoga in the morning, making my lunch, and leaving work before 6:30pm.  I did that all today, and I feel better already!  Now to keep it up for the rest of the semester... haha.  I'm trying to find the right balance, and it is difficult... AND it has to start somewhere... and no time like the present.

Welcome Summer Time!!!

Friday!!!

On Wednesday it was my student's birthday! Happy 19th Birthday Miyu! She said she had a happy birthday, even though I gave her a long midterm!

On Thursday, I picked up one of the books that the student read and found some fun images to go with the vocabulary! Reading is fun!

T.G.I.F.  After class today, I noticed that my students were matching! Brown pants and blue shirts. Lol. Too cute~

We had our usual Friday meeting and found out that a TIUA professor was not joining us in the fall, and that they hired 13 new GTFs! Amazing... Two of them will join us this Fall and the rest will come next year in 2014!! We will double in size in one year! 11 of them are coming next week and they will get an orientation of everything that goes on here. Oh my! 

dinner with the Niles~