So, last Friday was the all-Nagano JET conference held in Matsumoto. I luckily found out on Wednesday (I may have mentioned this) that it was actually Friday and not monday as I had originally thought. Man that would have been so weird / embarrassing to have shown up several days late and to have no one there. Ugh.
So I was very happy to find out Thursday evening that Jesse was willing to pick me up on his way to the event (although I had been under the impression that we couldn't drive), because it would save me a lot of time + it would be nice to chat with people on the way up. Well, Jesse / matt / nobu all are a bit pessimistic in regards to things related to JET, and since all but Nobu are employed by jr. high schools, techinically JET has no jurisdiction over them. So we were about 30 mins late to getting there, which was funny, because neal called just as we were getting into the parking lot and matt picked up and was saying things along the lines of "oh, we're just passing Ina, I think (30 mins away), this things starts at 1 right?" etc. Which was hysterical because we could hear Neal getting a bit worked up. Then we pulled in and he was standing up the stairs to welcome us. turned out we had missed practically nothing, so I honestly didn' feel bad in the least. (As they like to put it, they're already corrupting the new ALT :-P) Also, Jesse had sworn he was going to wear a bathrobe, but it was still funny to see him in flannel and old / torn jeans, especially after all the BS about needing to be dressed up and such. I of course was in shirt and tie, but whatevs!
So the first thing we did was go to a 'learn what it's like for your students to learn a new langauge', and was split into Chinese and Korean. I got to learn korean for an hour, and it was really fun, but honestly, the session was complete BS. For starters, NONE of the ALT's there have classes taht are taught solely in english, the teachers resort to Japanese all the time. Furthermore, the teacher went really fast on purpose w/ the new words we were learning to make it a bit overwhelming, which also sucked. On the bright side, I learned some adjectives in Korean! (although the pronunciation is hard as hell to do, so unlike japanese!! You're incredible for tackling this language bethany!)
It turned out though that we weren't supposed to drive after all, but i guess several people had driven, so it wasn't a big deal. After that was lunch, so we went to a mexican restaurant that Jesse knew, and it took a while to get there (we parked in a conbini parking lot, totally illegal), and found the place. It was really good food, particularly the Loatian style rice we had as a side, as well as the Bohemia beer w/ lime, so much better than corona (hecho en mexico!). The guys were going to matsumoto castle in the afternoon and bailing on the conference, but I wanted to go back, just to be a good student.
Well, they dropped me off back there (an hour after the lunch period had ended) and I was OH SO LUCKY to catch the tail end of the winter survival session that was mandatory for first years. Holy ugh. Basically, anyone that has 1) lived in the country and 2) lived in a place that will see cold temperatures didn't need to go to this. I wanted to roll my eyes so many times at the BS advice they kept giving out about what to do to avoid broken pipes / frozen contact lens solution etc etc. It seemed pretty obvious everyone there had been born and raised in arizona. blech.
It was nice to go to a multimedia demonstration that worked on how to properly integrate computer/projector/movies etc etc. Also, we went to a games in the classroom presentation for elementary / junior high teachers, and that was very great, and I picked up some games that I will no doubt be implementing in the classroom, hopefully as soon as this friday (when I have my first afternoon at the nanakubo elementary school).
After the event was done, I left with the group to go to the AJET enkai. It ended up being a complete blast! The food was very good, and they were pretty darn good about making sure we had plenty to drink, which is remarkable for the one poor woman who was in charge of getting us our drinks. Hats off to her. I met lots of new great people who are here doing JET and it was a lot of fun at the enkai talking with them etc.
Afterwards, we made our way home, with Nobu driving. jesse drove me home, although he had been sleeping on the way back. Although Nobu and I were a bit wary at first that he wasn't up to driving, he actually was fine, so no worries. :-P
Saturday and Sunday were pretty much uneventful days, with me doing cleaning around hte house, working on wasting time etc etc.
Monday wasn't a particularly busy day or anything, but I enjoyed the nice weather and such.
Yesterday, tuesday, was a teacher's meeting for the teachers in the Kamiina-gun area. So Jesse picked me up again and we made our way there. There were a total of about 8 ALT's or so, and when we got there, I felt like I was in another time zone. Or, as lauren put it, it's like a paralell universe, because all the schools are vaguely alike, but have slight differences.
so we got there for registration at 8:40, and nothing was starging until 9, so the ALT's all sat around in some random classroom and passed the time for a bit. Boring. Amanda was giving us the info about the event, but it was a bit redundant. We were going to work with an advanced english class on giving presentations with the teachers there. So first, they send us in to talk with the students, just the students and the ALT's. Well, we had all of enough time to have them perform the skit before they 'sent the monkeys back to the cage', which was completely pointless. Then, after another 15 minutes, we went back and had the 'actual' practice with the students, except they performed and we gave feedback, but with 50 japanese english teachers in the room too. The poor kids looked like deer in headlights, and all the teachers were standing there taking notes and BS. After that, each group did their actual presentations one by one, and then the ALT's gave their feedback to the group in front of everyone. The work with the students was a great time, very rewarding, and it was unanimous that the ALT's loved it. As soon as it was done, we were sent off to talk with each other for an hour about what we had learned or some crap, but it was basically a lame excuse for the teachers to 'throw us back in the cage' and forget about us for an hour while they went and talked about the presentations, which was again a load of bollux because they had done absolutely nothing in regards to working with the students. terrible. Well, it took us all of 10 minutes to actually cover all of the meaningful stuff we had to say, but we made sure to play the part and cover the board with all of this text about what we had been saying to give a nice strong illusion that we were seriously discussing the agenda etc. After that was lunch and in the afternoon was a several hour meeting only in Japanese where the new curriculum would be introduced and discussed. What this meant, was that we could bail on the event as of 10 after 11. So we made our way to a great indian restaurant for lunch, where I had amazing indian curry with a side of nan (fresh bread, which totally reminded me of Turkey. man, how i miss turkey.) I also tried a beer from Thailand, which was surprisingly delicious, I need to keep listening to Matt's recommendations! Afterwards we went across the street and bowled for a couple of hours, but towards the end our hands were really sore so we just sat there and watched the subtitled harry potter movie they were playing on the TV's. Hah.
Today was a big test day for the students, so I more or less had the day off while at school. I basically did japanese practice and wasted time, but it was enjoyable, of course. :-P
Monday, I finally raised the issue of my car with Kasuga-sensei and explained the situation in detail to him, and asked him if he'd convey my thoughts to Kyoto-sensei (the vice principle). I think I did a really good job of saying how I wanted to keep the BoE in my good graces but at the same time, I was going to get a car, regardless of what they said. Kasuga did a great job of getting my points across, and I learned that Kyoto-sensei actually had nothing to do with me getting the car, and the general consensus at school was that everyone was boggled as to why I couldn't have a car, considering just how difficult it was to do anything here w/out one.
I found out today that the BoE relented, and I will be able to get a car, but only if I get collision insurance (or whatever the japanese equivalent is). This made me lol, because they're still trying to dictate to me, even though they have no authority too. I'll consider it though, if it isn't too expensive and will keep them happy.
I also got my bike today! It's quite a looker, and I'm really happy to have it, although it's use will be moderately limited here, just because i'll be regaled to sometimes riding to school or around town, but not a whole bunch else. Which is a shame, because the rumor is it cost close to a grand. which is just insane. Maybe I'll understand that as I take it for a ride today, hah. Unfortunately, Kyoto-sensei asked me to wait a couple of weeks before I actually get my car, to give the BoE the impression that I've made an effort to get around using my bike, so they won't feel like it was a bad investment. Hurr. Can I bike to komagane? nakagawa? home with my groceries? nope! Oh well, I'll do my best to avoid burning the bridges though. I am looking forward to taking longer excusions around the area now though! Maybe this weekend I'll head over towards the mountains! :-D
Also, I got a tip-off today from Jesse that somone is selling their car on the Nagano-onelist. it's a 2000 suburu impreza (the same car matt has, and it's nice), and all they are asking for is 800$. Hot dang. I'm totally for this car, but I'm working through finding out some more info about the car and making sure there's nothing bogus about it, but I'm really psyched about potentailly getting this car, particularly becuase it's a nice 4-door sedan. Yay! i hope it works out!
This afternoon there was another teacher's meeting, which of course I can't understand, so I went ahead and did this blog entry during it. :-P I'm going to help Kasuga-sensei do some grading for a while, before I make my way home and then go grocery shopping too.
I also was able to pick up Jon's weedwhacker, so I'll give my lawn a good cutting this weekend, which it is in dire need of.
Well, that wraps it all up! I'll try and be more diligent in the future with these posts. Hah! :-P
Also, a highlight from the weekend! I bought this awesome new veggie slicer, and enthusiasm while cutting a carrot + my own inattention = this next picture!
goodbye a chunk of my index finger!
1 comment:
I hope you are putting disinfectant on that thing. Poor baby!
Post a Comment