英語の先生になった日曜日です。 Ｔｈｅ ｓｕｎｄａｙｓ Ｉ ｂｅｃａｍｅ ａｎ Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ Ｔｅａｃｈｅｒ

At the end of the fall semester, my landlord approached me to see if I would interested in teaching at her English school once a month in the new semester. I thought it would be fun, so I said yes and waited for our first class. It was the last Sunday in January when I'd be starting to teacher and that Sunday is a day I'll most certainly never forget. Not because of the school, but because of how much snow Nagoya got on that day! It felt like I was back in Canada when I looked outside. In some respect, I wish i could have stayed inside the whole day, as when I went outside it was obvious Japanese people weren't used to driving in snow. Driving from our house to her school, I remember closing my eyes preparing for death several times as my landlord raced around turns and speed down narrow streets. Thankfully/surprisingly we didn't crash, nor somehow did I see any other accidents. Literally have no idea how...
Arriving at her school, I was surprised at how nice it was. A single level building with about 5 classrooms. Brushing the snow off ourselves, we took off our wet shoes, put on some comfy slippers and went into the classroom.

The first class of the day was children aged 4-6. They were simply adorable! Obviously knowing very little Japanese, let alone English, in this class we sang various English songs and played some simple games. It was a lot of fun, thought I must say I'm not much of a singer...

Following this class was the 6-8 year olds. We started the class off much the same as the previous one, with some classic songs like incy wincy spider, and then moved on to learning some vocabulary. I would first read through all the words, and then one by one read them as the children repeated after me. After that was a chance for some questions for the Gaijin (me!) having everyone be so shy, my landlord asked some questions and I got to tell them a bit about my background and where I come from, which is always nice.

Next up was the Junior High School students. It was obvious that they had very little practice actually speaking English, which wasn't surprising because I know in Japanese schools the teachers only focus on grammar, but even simple questions had the students stumbling over their responses. This class saw the exact same start as the previous two but now had an additional reading component. Very similar to the vocabulary, I would read out a sentence and the students would repeat it back to me. Fun stuff...

The final class of the day I think was still Junior High School students, just more advanced. They were able to introduce them selves and answer basic questions. That day's class had the students prepare a self introduction to present to the class, and I was able to help out with them. Trying to explain why certain words are spelt the way they are or why different words are used at certain situations really made me glad that English is my first language, as I can imagine it's hell to try and learn!

This past Sunday was the last time for me teaching at the school, and my landlord had a sort of party/games day for it. It started about 2 hours before the class usually started and with the children we made various crafts and such. It was a really nice way to wrap up my teaching at the school, and was really nice to see all the children having so much fun, rather than just sitting in class.

Farewell Party

Really? Is it this time already? Where did this semester go...I seriously find it impossibly to believe that it is already this time again. I can still remember last semesters farewell party like it was yesterday. I guess time surely does fly when you're having fun (or worrying about glowing in the shower/discovering a new super power that you have)!
During the weeks leading up to this party, our Senseis had been very eager to have us perform some sort of skill for the party. I tried to resist, but their passive aggressive ways took the better of me, so myself and my friend Adrian agreed to do something for the party.

Left to right, top to bottom-
Basa-San, Adrian, Alanna, Doi-Sensei, Kelsey, Me, Fukutomi-Sensei, Cha-San, Caleb, Mashida-Sensei, You-San, Jenny, Gengu-San, Samantha, Imon-San, Odeileku-San, Tario-San, Deigulu-San, Fukata-San, Inoguchi-Sensei, Joel, Kao-San, Antoni-San  

Now, lets run down what I can do to perform...um, there's juggling, err, I can juggle, and oh yes. juggling. Looks like i'll be juggling...Mind you prior to this I had only ever done this in front of my family and maybe a few friends. As for my friend, well his skills were limited like mine to one area, and that? Playing the Ukulele! Oh I could tell from that point that this was going to be incredibly embarrassing for both of us.
We got together a few times to practice, but lets be honest, there was pretty much zero synchronization in our separate skills, so it usually just ended with a bunch of Japanese people crowding around us taking pictures.
As the morning came, we met one last time for some practice (and a Chuhi!) and proudly (for now) went to the party. I did forget to mention that these farewell parties have a tendency to be overly awkward from the get go. I still remember back to last semester when this fool, Indiana Bob (as we called him) was showing us a type of martial arts when he fell on his back and put his foot through the tea ceremony room door...Then preceded to lay on the ground for a few minutes swearing to himself under his breath...
Adrian and myself were the first act, and got up and performed (kinda?) Of course there is video, so watch and you decide! :)

Hanami (Flower viewing)

Come spring time in Japan, if you're not out with friends at a park enjoying the beautiful Sakura blossoms, then there is something wrong! With some friends and teachers (Sensei), we went to probably the largest park within Nagoya, Tsurumai Koen. It was an absolutely beautiful day with barely any clouds in the sky and a nice cool breeze in the air, wafting the sweet smells of the cherry blossoms throughout the park. Not much more to say other than that it was amazing!

Alanna and Myself under the Sakura Trees

Left to Right,
Me, Inoguchi Sensei (And her adorable child), Machida Sensei, Doi Sensei, Alanna

River that ran through the park. 

Nothing to do but be sad? I THINK NOT!

One can only sit in self misery for so long before your sad tale of missed friends, worried family members and fear for growing a third arm become boring and old news.
With this in mind, we decided to plan some fun.
First order of business was a party. Our house was empty of roommates, so what better time would there be to have a huge house party? I think none!
And as for what to call such party, I think our chosen name of "Meltdown Drunk" suited the circumstances quite nicely. It was a great opportunity to have some fun amidst all the bad that was happening. We even created our own "Radiation Cocktail" for the evening. I'm not quite sure what was in it to make it that colour to be honest.

As fun as parties are, doing that every weekend for the rest of the semester was a recipe for failing our courses, so we came up with other stuff to do. Certainly one of my favourite activities that we got up to was heading into the Mie Prefecture to enjoy a day at the Nagashima Spaland. 

Showing our ride bracelets. Ya, we're that cool!

Full of awesome rides, tons of roller coasters, and a butt load of good'ol fun, this was an amazing day. I made it a point of going on every single ride, and left the craziest one for last. The seemingly 100 story high Giga Coaster was almost more than I could handle, if nothing more than the 2 minute clime it took to get to the top...I think I can safely say one of the most terrifying (and of course most fun! ) rides I've been on. 

Seconds before we fell to our doom!!!

30 some odd rides later, a bunch of tasty, bad for us food in our bellies and feet as sore as ever, we headed back to Nagoya, and back to the life we were oh so pleased to get away from if only for a day. All in all, this was by far the most fun I'd had for quite some time! 

Weeks after the Earthquake

Following the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, there was a lot of fear and uncertainty surrounding everyday life. Whether it be waking up to another large aftershock, reading reports of the extent of the damage in Sendai or watching coverage on NHK (national news agency) of the various reactor housings exploding, there was a lot to keep your mind racing. I think what possibly affected me the most about these few weeks was the misinformation coming from news sources around the world, but in particular from America. News agencies made it seem as if everyone in Japan had been washed away in the tsunami and that the nuclear crisis was immediately effecting everyone on this small island of Japan. Yes the crisis was bad. Yes there was reason for concern. But No there was no need for the amount of fear caused in the US.(Though causing fear is something America is known for, so why am I so surprised...) I remember reading that people in California had started to take Potassium iodine to combat the increase amounts of radiation that they were being exposed to. Really?...

 As the time passed, my class sizes began to diminish as my friends and classmates where being summoned back to their universities. The earthquake happened right as people were leaving for trips back home as it was our 10 day spring break. Many of them never got a chance to come back. Two of my roommates, Rene and James, left for home with every intention of returning after the break, and instead got denied by their schools and were forced to stay away. Rene's room still sits full of all his belongings waiting on him to return. Everyday that passed more of my friends lost their battle with their home universities to reject having to return home, and so day by day I said goodbye to friends who were devastated and heartbroken for having to cut their exchange short. I will never forget the complete empty feeling of sitting in a class that a week ago was full of discussion and chatter of friends and classmates that was now reduced to 3 students, sitting quietly taking notes to try and take our minds off of our departed friends.