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[28 Aug 2006|05:21pm] |
My resummation of my last two weeks continues now with my first day at school! (Last Monday) I won't actually start teaching until the 4th (supposedly...), but I finally started going to my actual school last monday. It was definitely fun! More to do than at the Town Office, but not by much... When I first walked it, I was bombarded with people saying hello and they led me to my desk where there was a cute little welcome sign and some little cookies. But wait! No they were NOT little cookies! Despite being little pink heart-shaped packages with thin cookie looking things inside, they were not cookies! *Josh you warned me, but clearly I forgot!* They were FISH FLAVORED!! Definitely not expecting that! I got a brief introduction to all the teachers (and by brief, I do mean BRIEF) and then I had to stand up and give my self introduction in Japanese - not too bad, I'd done it before, but I was a bit out of sorts being that I hadn't slept all weekend and was not expecting to have to do it! Everyone was really nice of course. On my desk, there was already a seating chart with everyone's names on it (with the romanization penciled in too) as well as the grade level and subject they teach. As I met 30 new teachers in 2 minutes with all unfamiliar names, that chart has been invaluable to me this last week!
A few things surprised me. First, the vice principal (le?) isn't just the vice principal. As if a VP doesn't already have enough to take care of, he'll also be team teaching 3rd year English with me! This also makes me a little bit nervous because I haven't gotten the whole social hierarchy thing down yet and so to have to teach with the 2nd most important person in the office - how should I interact with him? And another thing - for being so focused on social hierarchy, the office setup surprises me. The Principal and the VP have desks in the main area with everyone else - no bigger, no smaller. No personal offices!! They sit directly across from the secretary and the clerk (typically lower on the hierarchy) and actually have worse circumstances because neither has a phone or computer, while both the secretary and the clerk do. As such important people, I would have expected the Principal and the VP to have their own offices...doing important things using computers and phones...having a least small luxuries. But they don't. Instead, they sit with everyone else and teach bratty kids. (Ok so I have no clue if they're bratty or not...I'm sure they're not bad...but aren't all middle schoolers at least a little bratty?)
I spent most of my first day going through the textbooks and attempting to figure out what the teaching method is. It's pretty simple and cheesy, but I think it'll be fun. Lots of room for games! Everyone ate lunch at their desks and worked straight through lunch while eating (well, I didn't exactly because I had nothing to work on...). Oh and people answer their cell phones at work! It appears to be completely normal to hold a 10-15 minute conversation with whomever in the middle of the work day!
Tuesday and Wednesday I had to commute to Otsu for JET Job Orientation. Lots of useful advice and suggestions - actually worth while unlike the previous three orientations. We also had a class where we learned Irish - two of the older JETs got up and taught in the style that we'll be teaching while the rest of us learned. It was incredibly frustrating! I couldn't understand ANYTHING. For that reason exactly, I'm really glad they did that workshop - the students I teach will no doubt feel exactly that way and now I can understand it. That's how it was on my first day of Japanese class at WashU, but I was also 19 y.o and had voluteered to take that class. With the Irish lesson though, while I was still older than 12, I really had NO desire to learn Irish - again, useful in helping relate to my students. All the tiny little pointers we had gotten (for example, that when the students are talking during game time, they're probably just talking about what the heck is going on so don't get offended) I found held true.
Anyway, after orientation I was a bit angry that I'd been sitting in the town office all these weeks doing nothing when I could've been at school decorating the classrooms and working on games and lesson plans and what not. (That feeling has since gone away after 4 days at work - there really is very little for me to do before class starts...) So when I went back to work on Thursday, I went with a mission! To make things fun! No one was in the office though. Just me, the clerk and the secretary. That ended up being pretty fun actually - I got to chill and really meet those two ladies and practice my Japanese! I didn't get a whole lot of work done, but I made friends!
Friday,one of my teachers showed me where all my predecessors lesson plans and classroom materials were, so I spent much of the day paging through those. She was DAMN good at what she did!! Bit of a blow to be perfectly honest because I know now what I have to live up to and it's gonna be hard to do! But on Friday again, very few people were in the office. During the summer vacation (only 40 days) the teachers apparently have very little to do because they're all making bintemari! (See August 11th) One of the ladies just happened to be at the end of the process, so I witnessed first-hand the actual making of a bintemari! The teachers were all so excited that I was able to see this done. In fact, the clerk said that about half the people in my office make bintemari pretty regularly and implied that I should learn how to do it with any number of the faculty as my teachers. I'm definitely gonna look into that!!
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[27 Aug 2006|04:28pm] |
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Ok, so now begins the HUGE update from the last week - hiroshima, WashUers visiting, my first day at real work, job orientation, etc. So much to talk about! Beware, this will be a long entry!
Man, where did I leave off?? Almost two weeks ago now, Margaret, Lara and Lauren from WashU visited!! It was an exhausting week, but definitely worth it! They arrived on a thursday and friday night we headed down to Kyoto to have dinner with our friend Ted, also from WashU. We went to an Isekaya - pretty much just a restaurant in private rooms with a phone to order with. Following that, of course, we did karaoke!!
We ended up going over time and literally RAN to catch our last train to Aisho! But it was definitely worth it. We got back to my place about 2am and then, lucky us, woke up at 4 am to catch the earliest shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima!!!
Hiroshima!! Amazing city!!!! I'll DEFINITELY be going back! And not just cuz DJ and John are there - it really is an absolutely gorgeous city; they've done an incredible job rebuilding it. And we weren't treated negatively for being Americans. As a American though, it was very difficult to stomach it all. Japan has done a very good job of preserving things in a realistic way - the monument captions stated things factually, with dates and statistics but fewer judgments than I was expecting. In the museum, the displays were surprisingly unbiased, admitting the Japanese atrocities as well. It was incredibly moving. I felt no guilt, only shame. Shame that my country used the bomb, not as a way to end the war with Japan, but as a political manuever against Russia - a way for the US to see what the bomb could really do.
The day was cloudy and drizzly - perfect for visiting such a place. The displays in the museum were incredibly intense. Half the museum consists of political documents and history while the other is of physical objects removed from the bomb sites. I'm going to use Eli's color coding now - if you're weak of stomach, read only the green. The pictures are tame though. When you first walk into the second half of the museum, the lighting is orange and red, and you're confronted by a gross display of human figures with skin melted, dripping off their arms, surrounded by rumble. You then continue on to view various objects that were "recovered" after the bombing - burnt hair, melted roof tiles that you could touch (surprisingly disgusting feeling - I could only touch the first two), destroyed religious relics, a set of stairs where all that remains of a man is a shadow of ash, and worst of all, fingernails and skin pieces from a boy who literally sucked the pus out of his own fingers to keep himself alive. I wanted to cry. Margaret did cry.
After the museum, we headed to grab some food and go to Hiroshima Castle. The castle itself wasn't all that interesting. Beautiful on the outside though and an amazing view from the top!
About halfway up, we took an extended pause because there was a dude with samurai and geisha outfits that you could put on and pose in!!! It was SOOOO much fun!!! I'll put up pictures once I get them from one of the girls (my cam was low on batteries ) Needless to say, I made a kick ass samurai, especially given that all I had instead of a katana was an umbrella...
My friend John, another JET met up with us soon after that and we pretty much just chilled for a few hours till DJ , a friend from SPU, got off work. We went to the top of one of the taller buildings where John got some decent Italian food (yum!) and we just admired the view as the sunset. When we finally met up with DJ, we were all pretty tired, so we ended up just runnin to the conbeni to get alcohol and bring it back to the ryokan (which I should have taken pictures of but didn't...) We went to sleep early (having only had 2 hours of sleep the night before...).
The next morning we woke up and guess what we did??? PURIKURA!! Oh how I have come to love this Japanese art form! Xanga's not working with me at the moment, so you'll have to wait to see it. Thus ended our trip to Hiroshima!
On our way back we stopped for a bit in Kyoto to go to an English bookstore. I'm really amazed that I'm in JAPAN and I STILL spend WAY too much money on books!! While waiting for the train however, we discovered pretty much the awesomest thing in the world - energy saving escalators!!! Now you might not think that sounds very cool, but let me tell you, when you see Lara just being hyper and jumping on a stopped escalator only to land and have it start moving, you'd think its the awesomest thing too!!! It really is a novel idea though isn't it?
So this brings us to last monday - my first day at my school! Up until then, I'd been working at the Board of Education town office in Hatasho (the office which took us out Friday night). Monday, I finally got to go to my school in Echigawa! But I'll update that in a little while - I'm tired of typing now. Byeeeeeee!
*To see pictures of all this, go to https://www.xanga.com/shaniqua621 Oh and also there are pictures of my first enkai up too!!! Lots of fun!!
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[17 Aug 2006|05:43pm] |
August 13th:
Kyoto!!
I`m at an internet cafe in Kyoto, so this will be rather short, but I do have lots to say!! Again, I cant upload picture till I have internet in my apartment, but Emily was supposed to get her`s yesterday so I`ll hopefully get mine soon too!!
Friday we headed down to Otsu for the fireworks. Awesome, but they didn`t last long - only about 45 minutes. Pictures soon.
Afterwards, Miki, James and I headed into Kyoto to meet up with other JETs. We ended up `missing` our last train back to Aisho, so a group of us decided to hit up the karaoke bar at about 2am because it was super cheap for 4 hours! SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *pictures to follow* It really wasn`t even tiring till the last 45 minutes or so!! And I totally bonded with a lot of new people, including some Kyoto Japanese people! (one that we met completely randomly) So Emily, James and I didn`t make in back to Aisho until 10am on Saturday!! Man I was tired!! James had come up for the fireworks from Hyogo so we crashed as soon as we got back. I`ve only been here for 2 weeks and already my extra futon has been exceptionally helpful!
After going to bed at 8:30 last night, James and I got up at about 6 am and came into Kyoto to see Kiyomizu Temple, famous for its 3 waterfalls (more like streams that fall like 5 feet) which are supposed to bring one luck in love if they drink from it. I was very disappointed. It was quite expensive and after Ishiyamadera, was very mediocre. James liked it though especially since it was his first temple though, so it was worth the trip.
That`s all for now! Hopefully I`ll have pictures up soon!!
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[11 Aug 2006|01:46am] |
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I`d just like to start off by saying that I love my bosses! Emily and I have literally nothing to do at the office all day because they dont have any work for us yet since the school is on summer vacation. We actually sit in the office the entire day and read books and surf the internet. Yesterday, my boss needed to go to Otsu for a meeting and pretty much asked me if I wanted to hitch a ride to Otsu and go sight-seeing while he was in his meeting since I had nothing better to do! Of course I said yes! So yesterday afternoon I spent wandering around Ishiyama Temple by myself!! It was wonderful!!!! I accidentally got into the temple for free  I was wandering up the mountain along the curved paths and as I left I went through a gate where they were accepting money! In my wanderings, I had unknowing completely bypassed the entrance!! I plan on going to the temple regularly though, so they`ll be getting plenty of my money! 
The temple grounds are HUGE! I wandered for at least 2 hours and barely covered any ground at all! I was filled with trees too, so I would walk aiming for one building and as I reached it, another appeared further up, and another, and another! It seemed endless! I also found many pathways that weren`t heavily travelled it appeared and so I found a few places that seemed really remote and exceptionally beautiful - an ampitheatre of sorts, a mystery torii which I saw from above and behind, and a clearing in a wooded grove with a torii entrance. I`ll post pictures as soon as I have internet at my apartment! (Which will hopefully be sooooooooooooooooon!)
One thing I really liked about my visit was that because I went in the middle of the day on a weekday, there were very few people there. No one to interrupt my phototaking or the peacefulness of my wanderings. It was very relaxing. But I did speak with a few very nice people, despite there only being maybe 10 in the entire temple area. This seems to happen everywhere I go. Japanese people seem very curious and will just randonly start conversation, especially when they realize you understand even a little of what they`re saying. I wsh people in the States were this friendly and welcoming!
Then last night, a lady from work, her daughter and her daughter`s husband (an Aussie) took us to the Kotonarie - a big lights show similar to Winter Wonderland in St. Louis at Christmas time. It was relatively small but very very beautiful. Echigawa, my town, is famous for a type of art called Bintemari and they had made a giant replica of a piece of Binzaikutemari using lights! It was incredible. They also had covered the ground (except thin paths) with lights and over your head, so it felt like you were walking through a magical land of lights (a bit trippy I might add)! There was also an art exhibit which had some incredible paintings, a bit like a mix between traditional japanese prints and hippie art. It was beautiful!! After the exhibit, my co-worker bought us all snows - you know, thinly shaved ice with flavor syrup! I haven`t had that since I was a kid and we all just sat on a ledge and enjoyed our snows and the lights.
I hope that these last few wonderful days are just the beginning of a wonderful stay in Japan. =)
Tonight we go to Otsu for more fireworks!!
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[07 Aug 2006|02:45pm] |
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Ok, so I havent had regular internet since I got here, so all these entries are in backwards order so if you want to be updated in the order I experienced things (the earlier entries will help the later to make more sense) Start with the first of the four I "wrote" today.
Well I had quite the weekend!! Friday we went into Otsu for our new-JET Survival Orientation. Pretty fun. Met lots of new people (mostly 2nd and 3rd year JETS) that were pretty cool. After the orientation, we went to a bar called The Pig and Whistle. It was western style which was kind of nice, but I hope to check out a more Japanese style place this next Friday when we head to Otsu to meet Group B of the new JETs. I was THRILLED to find out that you can get Passo・in Japan!!! I haven稚 had it in more than 2 years, since Benoit痴 in France! I drank nothing but Passo・and Orange Juice for most of the night ・making up for two years of withdraw of course!! ;) It was really great to get to know so many of the people that are in my area ・ especially in such a carefree, laid-back environment! I知 definitely looking forward to this coming Friday! Though I知 pretty sure my mind is already full enough of new names・/p>
Saturday, after leaving early from Rachel痴 place in Katata (near Otsu) where I had crashed the night before, I headed to Nagahama to watch my friends Wes and Louis・bunraku (Japanese puppetry) performance. The bus system to get out there was quite complicated in that I had NO clue where I was going! But I met a very nice woman at the bus stop who works for the International Friendship Organization in Nagahama and, as she was going to the same performance, she showed me the way. Very lucky encounter!! We had great conversation on the half-hour bus ride to the middle of nowhere! She even invited me to her house for korokke which is my new favorite Japanese food!!
The performance was really entertaining. A few times it was a bit difficult to figure out what was going on, but I met up with a new friend, Steve, (2nd year JET) who had done the same internship 2 years before and he was able to describe to me a lot of what was going on. Props to Wes on his shamisen skills!!! I actually couldn稚 find any reason to make fun of him!!! Nothin but love wes・span> At the end of the performance, the main sensei of the troupe called Steve and me up on stage ・why? I have NO clue!! Steve said it was probably because we were in the countryside and they love foreigners, but who knows. Either way it was definitely a first to be called up on stage for doing absolutely nothing!
Eventually I made it back to Nagahama for the Fireworks show!! The train ride was HORRID! I had to put my bag on my head it was so crowded!!! I don稚 think I致e ever been so drenched in sweat in my whole life!! It was worth it though!! A bunch of us JETs went to the top of one of the guys・(Deo痴) apartment. Definitely the largest, longest (1.5 hrs!), most awesome fireworks show I致e seen in awhile! And, again, it was really great to bond with more of the JETs.
After the show, a group of us headed to the train to head home. I got off earlier than the rest because I had to take a connecting train on the local line. BUT when I arrived, I realized that what I though was 2000 yen was actually US$20 ・absolutely worthless to me at the moment!! So in a panic I tried my hardest to find an ATM that would accept international credit cards ・but alas, to no avail! I even tried using what is considered a Yakuza ATM in my desperation! I eventually attempted to get a hotel, but unfortunately, hotels in Japan close at 10pm!!! Nevertheless, the hotel staff was very kind and helped me attempt to get a taxi that would accept credit back to my apartment ・again, unfortunately, it would accept neither of MY credit cards!! Luckily, the hotel was able to run my credit card and they were exceptionally nice in letting me rent a room at midnight ・ well after the closing time!
Lots of things were interesting about the hotel - many distinct differences like yukata to be worn around the hotel room, the flushing sound toilets (of course...), and so on. The most interesting though was that they had "replaced" the Gideon's Bible that you see at almost every hotel in the States with a hardcover copy of "The Teachings of the Buddha." Clearly it wasn't actually a replacement as I would have been more surprised to see the Bible, but I did find it interesting that they have an equivalent idea here! Well at least at that hotel...
For the night I was saved. But in the morning, I still had no way of getting money!! I ended up called Seiko and she was wonderful enough to drive an hour away to Hikone to rescue me!!! It also meant we had to postpone our trip to the temple because I had no money, but my boss is taking me to the bank first thing in the morning, so its all good!! I will be going back to Hikone (where I was stranded) with Yuko on Wednesday to set up internet and a cell phone, so I will stop by the hotel to present them a 双rei・・a reward of sorts that you give to people you appreciate. I have no clue what I would致e done had they not been as kind as they were!
Anyway, I知 exhausted and even though its only 9pm I think I might go to bed!! Oh and today I put up all my pictures in my apartment and framed a few, so its really starting to feel like its MY place!
Much love to you all!!
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[07 Aug 2006|02:43pm] |
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First of all, my futon is pretty much the comfiest bed in the world! The heavy, semi-not bendable comforter is amaaaaaazing. I知 happy to have my gross, disgusting・comfiest pillow in all history pillow though mom・
Today was my first official day at work! I use that term only in the sense that I got paid for my daily activities ・it was merely a day filled with errands and paperwork. We (Emily, the other ALT, and I) started the day by going to City Hall and meeting the mayor, chancellor of the Board of Education and all the Board members!! Eeeek! But we survived!! Then began the errands. First we had to arrange for our alien registration card which involved getting passport pictures taken at a photo booth outside the grocery store ・one of those booths with the curtain that you take cutsey pictures in at the Mall of America or whatever. Yuko, the woman who was very good friends with my predecessor, met us there and was very helpful in translating and what not. She has pretty much no accent whatsoever and better grammar than I do! The rest of the day was spent filling out forms at the bank for 2 hours and filling out forms at the office for another hour. In between, we went to Yuko痴 for a delicious lunch of yakisoba and potato wedges ・an interesting combination, but quite delicious! (My breakfast was also good ・ apple yogurt is wonderful!) When we were at the office, a woman named Seiko came to meet us. Her parents are friends with our two bosses ・ Yamamoto and Tsuji ・and so she came to meet us and practice her English. Sunday she is taking us to see a local temple which should be tons of fun! I foresee us being good friends with her. =)
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[07 Aug 2006|02:40pm] |
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8-2-06
My arrival
Yesterday was our last day of orientation and it was looooooong. We had information sessions for hours and hours and hours! And most of them weren稚 even useful!! Surprisingly enough, it was the session I was most apathetic about going to that proved to be the most useful ・JET as a Female! The others ・Etiquette and Getting Involved in your Community ・were pretty much unnecessary. Oh and I also found out that I知 going to be doing elementary school visits too!!!
Today I arrived in Aishou! After taking the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto and another small train to Otsu, the capital of Shiga Prefecture, I had to attend an introduction session with all the Shiga Board of Education people and school representatives from every school in Shiga that has a JET ・about 45 people. At this session, I had to give a self-introduction IN JAPANESE!!! I did alright, pretty much just said My name is Shannon, I come from Wisconsin, I went to school at WashU and I知 very glad to meet you. Pretty basic. Quite nerve-wracking though! And I have to do it tomorrow in front of all 30 of the Aishou Board of Directors! I don稚 like meeting so many important people!!!
After the meeting, my town representatives took another JET named Emily and me to Shiga ・about a 2 hour drive, but next to the ocean the entire way! (I値l have pictures up soon) There was a small detour when Mr. Tsuji (my head boss) got a bit lost, but in the end, we arrived safely!
The first place they took us was the Heiwado ・a mix of a grocery store, department store, electronics store, etc. A bit like Fred Mayer for those on the West Coast. Lots of delicious food! For my dinner I got this yummy potato-y thing that looked like tonkatsu (clearly not as it was potato not pork =)) and some sweet potato tempura. Very yummy! They have lots of cool stuff here ・aloe, cantalope and apple flavored yogurt and peach juice for example. And they have cocoa puffs and haagen daz!! And LOTS of ramen. 3000 Yen later, my grocery shopping for the week was done!
As we exited the store, Mr. Tsuji痴 phone rang and oddly enough, it was for me! A good friend of Jocelyn痴 (my predecessor) and also Mr. Tsuji had called to speak with me! She said that Mr. Tsuji was a little worried about my getting situated as he will be leaving for Wisconsin (of all places!) next week with many of the students for an English language camp-thing. She assured me that if I needed anything ・even if I wanted to go somewhere this weekend ・that she would be glad to help me out! Very comforting.
After that, we headed to my apartment! Of course, the very first moment I walked into my apartment, I made the horrible mistake of forgetting to take off my shoes!!! Luckily it was only in the kitchen (which is linoleum), not on the tatami mats. I hadn稚 even stepped more than one step before I heard a gasp from Emily痴 supervisor at my actions!!! Not a good way to begin my apartment entrance!
My apartment isn稚 quite what I expected. All the storage space is movable, much of it being stackable plastic drawers on wheels. My pillow is made of rice. The apartment is adorable though and I love it! There was a brand new futon awaiting me, though I have no idea how to set it up! There痴 a dense pad that I assume is the bottom most, another about the weight of a dense comforter and a third that痴 a thin terrycloth. I have no clue what to do with it all! Its too hot tonight to care though ・I値l just sleep under the terrycloth! (Is that bad??) Of course, pictures will follow soon!!
PS I fully believe that Japanese TV consists of nothing but gameshows.
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[07 Aug 2006|02:38pm] |
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I'M IN TOKYO!!!!!
We arrived last night after leaving Chicago an hour late becasue the plane was too heavy - comforting huh? Customs took forever, no surprise, traffic in Tokyo was less than pleasant. But the weather was beautiful and a group of us enjoyed a leisurely walk around Shinjuku in search of food after our arrival! We hit up a Ramen-ya which was definitely interesting. To order, you go to a machine and push a button after putting in your money, kinda like a vending machine. The only problem is that not all the options have pictures!!! So I knew that I was getting ramen and salad, but no clue whatelse. So what do I get??? NATO!!! (fermented soybeans, notorious for being disgusting!) Not something I wanted to try as my first meal in Japan!!! It wasn't THAT bad, but I wasn't especially hungry to begin with so most got left behind.
My first real culture shock moment was at the airport when I used the bathroom and saw amidst all the ridiculous buttons on the toilet one taht said "Flushing Sound." Apparently women in Japan are rather modest and dont like to have others hear them pee, so they mask the sound by flushing! The toilet industry thus made a move to create the flushing sound to save water. Our hotel toilet even has it so that the noise starts as soon as weight is put on the toilet seat. Pretty ridiculous huh??
Last night, my friend DJ called me at the hotel just to welcome me to his country!! DJ and I went to SPU together and he's currently living in Hiroshima doing Aeon. It was wonderful to talk to him!! He's got vacation from Aug. 10-16, so I'll be able to see him very sooooon!!! I haven't seen him for a good 2-3 years, so I'm very excited!
Tonight I'm hanging out with some WashU people in Tokyo!!! Comforting familiar faces!
Unfortunately the hotel doesn't have any grounded outlets, so I have no clue when/if I'll be ablet o plug my laptop in, so this might be the last you hear of me for quite a few days, but know that I am alive and probably/hopefully well!!!
Time for another exhausting training session... 
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[27 Jun 2006|11:51pm] |
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Thoughts of late
I've been doing a lot of analysis of various ideas lately. Below is rambling about what I've decided or not decided or would like to decide or don't plan on deciding concerning a few of these ideas.
In meeting new people and becoming re-acquainted with old recently, I find myself attempting to qualify my relationships to them. Some I've felt completely repelled by, others friends of convenience, and a couple a strong connection. With those I find a strong connection to, I'm having a difficult time explaining to myself what exactly the connection is. But I've decided that any attempt to explain ruins it. Any label inherently distorts what is being labeled. In trying to quantify it, I am inhibiting my ability to grow closer to these people. I will refrain from labeling these new and old friends for fear of limiting their potential.
When one labels something, is the label really a reflection of that thing? Or does the label change it to what one desires it to be? But without a label is it truly understandable? Is it with a label?
“A road is made by people walking on it; things are so because they are called so. What makes them so? Making them so makes them so.” Chuang Tzu
Chaos is an example of this question. Language is a form of order; something man created as a means of understanding the world around him. But to label something that is inherently disordered by using language is to ignore its very nature.
My friend Levi is in the midst of an existential conundrum and has been contemplating the dichotomy between chaos and entropy. This has caused me to wonder whether or not there is a dichotomy or if they are just manifestations of the same thing. He has drawn upon the Hindu ideas of the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, chaos being the creator, the process of order the preserver and order the destroyer. But if we’re using these terms, I would agree that chaos is the creator, but that order is the preserver and the destroyer merely another manifestation of chaos. Order necessarily decays into chaos, beginning with a process of stagnation. Would not the preserver be the representation of this stagnation? I don’t think I believe in most of these chaos ideas, but it is nevertheless an interesting concept to ponder.
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[18 Jun 2006|08:48pm] |
I haven't seen the sun rise in quite some time. I love my new JET friends!!!
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[12 Jun 2006|04:32pm] |
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So I decided I am going to use this to update people on life in Japan only because people that don't have a livejournal can make comments unlike xanga. If you want non-Japan stuff - random thoughts, rants, links, etc, check out my xanga.
I got my contracting information in the mail today from Japan. I feel a lot better about life next year now. The town Ill be in (Aishou) has 20,000 ppl and the middle school (echi-gun) has 360 students. I won't be rotating like I thought I would be, which is good. My apartment (less than $250/mo!) is only a 10 minute walk from the school and is right next to a department store, grocery store, 100 yen store and a laundromat. But I won't need a laudromat because my apartment comes with a washing machine! It's a surprisingly nice apartment too. It's got "one tub room and one toilet room" (as my predecessor put it), a kitchen and 2 6-tatami mat rooms (about 18x36')! That's huge for a Japanese apartment! All the dishes and kitchen utensils are already there, as is a TV, VCR, Japanese region DVD player, a bed and all the rest of the furniture! Oh and I get a bicycle too! It sounds awesome!
Work is 35 hrs/wk, from 8:15 - 4 pm. We get 20 days of vacation, but sick days, transportation problem days, etc are separate from that. So I'll be able to fly back for Lou and Nancy's wedding!! YAY! The vacation time can also be taken by the hour...very interesting...
My predecessor will be leaving all her lesson plans in the apt. so I'll have stuff to look at before I get thrown into a classroom. The kids are on summer vacation though until the end of August, so I'll have almost a month to prepare for teaching, meet the profs, perfect my Japanese ^_^ and get situated.
Anyway, that's all I can remember right now, I'll post more later.
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[05 Jun 2006|07:04pm] |
So I don't plan on using LiveJournal, but I wanted to be able to quickly access all of your ljs to keep myself updated while I'm in japan! ^__^
I will link to my xanga though for all of you that care!
www.xanga.com/shaniqua621
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