Blogs from Miyagi, Japan, Asia
May 17th 2012
Another update about my time in Japan. I've been doing a lot of '-structing', both 'con-' and 'de-'. That is to say that I've been breaking and building things of late. More breaking than building though. Destruction is much more fun! >:) So that apartment we cleaned back in the Japan - Part 1 entry was actually the second floor. The first floor was very heavily damaged by the tsunami and we'd been asked to get rid of all the remaining floorboards, insulation and walls, leaving only the major support beams. It was a job for 3-5 people for almost a week. I worked on it each day and had a crowbar glued to my hand almost the entire time. It was a lot of fun and really satisfying when that beam you've been bashing and ... read more
Tohoku disaster : Because It’s Not Just Mud...
Published: May 6th 2012Asia » Japan » Miyagi » Ishinomaki
May 6th 2012
...it’s also hope, overwhelming problems, determination, love, and lingering frustrations. All mixed together. Because some days it’s more of one feeling, and the next, it’s more of another. Everybody has to cling on something to not feel disouraged. When you pass by one of the too numerous mountains of garbage or cars or tires, the ones they still don’t know where they’ll get rid of, you can’t help but feel a bit hopeless. There are so many things here that you can’t do anything about just with your two arms and spirit. But. There is such a good energy, such love coming from all these people going through this all together, waking up every morning to do what is possible for them to do. Until one day, a clearer morning will arise. And it will. The ... read more
April 11th 2012
Japan! So, after something like 25 hours flying I finally made it to Japan. Unlike the last time I came there was literally no line at immigration and it took all of three minutes to get through. Armed with the knowledge of which trains to take and how to get to my hostel I set off from the airport. Boring story short, I made it there fine, got some sleep, next day waited for the bus that would take me to Ishinomaki and played the 'in-transit-sleep-deprivation' game again on the way. So the name of the organization I'm volunteering with is called It's Not Just Mud (or INJM for short). Here is the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ItsNotJustMud and the website: http://itsnotjustmud.com/. The website has all the information about what they're doing/what they're about in a nicer format ... read more
October 21st 2011
On the official 10 year anniversary of 9/11 and the 6 month anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, I flew into Sendai airport, the airport that shown around the world being almost submerged by the Pacific Ocean. I flew into an area that is still recovering, still surrounded by empty and broken businesses. The first very prominent showing was the fact that the Airport Line still isn't running, a full 6 months after the disaster. After having to take a rather expensive taxi ride into the city, I could still see the destruction even in the dark. Ghost businesses span the distance from the airport to the highway and just over the edge lies the ocean that made them. As I was making my way into downtown every changes came up. E-Beans is still unusable, ... read more
October 21st 2011
A few weeks ago I got in contact with a Japanese guy called Kimi, who runs a Saturday kids club called KanKan Kids, with his wife Michiko, a few other Japanese volunteers and a couple of other English teachers. I went along to one of their local club days and had a great time. This led to an opportunity to take part in a volunteer weekend in Oshima Island, Miyagi prefecture. Kimi and his wife have friends on the Island and have been visiting there every month since April to help in any way they can. This particular trip was to run a two hour Halloween party for forty of the island's kids. We left Iida at 5.30pm in the KanKan minibus on Friday afternoon, and arrived just in time to catch the ferry over to ... read more
Last full day in Japan. Where'd the week go?!
Published: September 6th 2011Asia » Japan » Miyagi » Shiogama
August 27th 2011
My last full day in Japan.... obviously my schedule for today was just as packed as the other days! I woke up around 6:30am (again, not something I planned but my body insisted on getting up early) and by 9am I had left my hotel and was already heading for Sendai station. Around 10am I arrived in Natori City, where a friend had kindly offered to let me spend the night. But by 11am I was already back on a train heading towards Shiogama. At noon, I met with an ALT friend of mine as well as some of my former students. None of my students have changed at all (in both looks and personality), and that made me happy. We spent about 2 hours chatting, while enjoying delicious ice cream, about what everyone was doing ... read more
August 26th 2011
We arrived at the school around 8:40. I was happy to see the school remained more or less the same as when I left it (only a few small cracks on the inside). At 8:45 I greeted the students and by 9:00 I was already teaching my first class! The grade 8 class is the biggest class in the school, with a total of 10 students. The TV crew decided they were going to film the entire class so knowing it would be a bit hard to focus, the teacher and I decided we would spend most of the time doing question and answers. For the most part, all the students and their families are well, but some of the students who used to live on the island now live in Shiogama because their houses were ... read more
August 26th 2011
Oh what a day today was! Today was the day I went to my beloved island school, so naturally I was bit excited. Actually...I was more excited than I thought because I woke up at 4am and was unable to fall back asleep. So I took my time getting ready and eating breakfast before catching the 6:30 train to Shiogama's Marine Gate. (Before I get into too much about my day, I just thought I'd let you know why this school is my "beloved." The school is grades 1-9 and has only 30-35 students total, so class sizes are very small. Combine that with a 40-minute ferry ride to school, and then back again, gave me plenty of time to really get to know the students and teachers. The whole atmosphere was also more laid back ... read more
August 25th 2011
Another early morning for me, but I'm already getting used to this routine! Today was the day I went to visit 2 of my junior high schools; First Jr. High and Tamagawa Jr. High. As soon as I walked into the staffroom I could tell this was going to be another busy day. All the teachers were busy so it was a bit hard to get my schedule from them. Essentially, they told me to talk to the English teachers and see if I could join their class! So by the time I was told this, first period had already started but I spoke to one of the assistant teachers (who I was very happy to see again!) and she said she'd ask the grade 7 English teacher for me. Since I had nothing to do ... read more
August 24th 2011
Thanks to the Jet Lag, I am early to bed and early to rise this week. Honestly, I'm thankful. By 7:20 I had left the hotel and by 7:46 I was on the train to Shiogama! The first school I decided to visit was "First elementary school." I really great school (as they all are) with very genki students and equally as genki teachers. While I was sitting in the Principal's office waiting for the Vice Principal/Head teacher (hereon referred to as "kyoto-sensei") I noticed my schedule for the morning1. Oh boy. I was scheduled to visit every class in the school! (Grades 1-6, 2 classes per grade = 12 classes.) Usually I would be more enthusiastic about this but as I mentioned earlier, I was still Jet Lagged... I did gain a bit of energy ... read more
