Sign In
Blogs from Shizuoka, Japan, Asia
Advertisement
February 10th 2013
Saturday 09/02/2013 All the MEK staff crawled and clawed their way to this weekend. Still buzzing from all the work drama and politics, I couldn’t sleep last night. I even started a new jigsaw. But the difference was, this morning I could have a sleep-in to make up for it. I guess I need to go back to last Sunday where I went to baby Mikio’s first birthday. I’m not sure he knew what was going on, but he sure was enjoying all the food and all the attention. High 5-ing (known as ‘high-touch!’ here) soon became a favourite. We also wore animal hats, Mikio sporting the cutest monkey face, me a green frog! Out came the birthday cake, an Australian ute, the tray filled with strawberries! Mikio demolished the strawberries while the ladies took to ... read more
February 3rd 2013
Sunday 03/02/2013 I’m still getting used to typing ‘2013’ instead of ‘2012’. It seems that my fingers disobey my mind. I say 2013, but still they type 2012. And my gosh, it’s already February! But, this short story begins in late January, when on Monday the Pandas had Parents’ Day. This time was a little different, as there would only be half the parents on Monday, and half on Tuesday. This is an excellent idea, except that nobody had thought of where the other half of the children would go when I was teaching the first half. Anyway, that got sorted out in a hectic rush. Panda A Group had just nine students, and one was absent. So eight Pandas and eight Parents made for a very spacious classroom! We made our little love bugs, (butterflies ... read more
December 1st 2012
Day 12 The morning began with an even earlier wake up call than the day before, as the guide had got nervous about the queue for breakfast the day before - 6am was a little extreme. Our first visit of the day was to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, whose gates featured in the film "Memoirs of a Geisha". The torii gates that we had seen earlier in the trip, were impressive for their size, whilst here it was the sheer number. At one point there are two tunnels of gates, all of which have been donated by companies hoping for luck in their business. The gates continue for about 4km and there are more than 10,000 of them, which are wooden and replaced every 10 years. It was certainly one of the best sights we had ... read more
Trip on tube : Japan trip ( 日本 ) Episode 6 - Kawaguchiko ( 河口湖 ) Fuji lake
Published: December 1st 2012Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Mt Fuji
December 1st 2012
Kawaguchiko : One of the five Fuji's lake Youtube chennel : Mountain the highest mountain in Japan surround with 5 lake. Kawaguchiko is the big one. It's the front gate to Fuji Unfortunately, when I came this the sky was cloundy and rainning. I can not see the Mt. Fuji but the lake so beautiful, I hope you like it too. ... read more
November 7th 2012
De reden waarom ik vanuit Tokio naar hier was gekomen was om de Mt. Fuji tour mee te doen die door het hostel 'K s House Mt. Fujizelf wordt georganiseerd. Ik had de hele avond ervoor het weerbericht voor de dag erop nagekeken in de hoop dat er verandering zou komen voor de volgende dag. Maar het gaf steeds aan dat de kans op regen vrij groot was en er redelijk wat bewolking ging zijn. Maar toen ik opstond was er niks meer of minder dan een helderbauwe hemel te vinden wat voor een adembenemend zich op Mt. Fuji zorgde. Het is een vulkaan, die met zijn 3776 meter de hoogste berg is van Japan. De tour zelf begon rond 9 uur 's morgens en duurde ongeveer tot 18.00 's avonds. We hadden de hele dag ... read more
Advertisement
September 13th 2012
Initiation The infamous Fuji trip was upon us, organised by our cruel overlords on the FJET council (social event organisers). Each year our prefecture’s new ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) get together to tackle the countries highest peak, and probably the most photographed mountain/volcano in the world, Mount Fuji. Even with a modest amount of trekking under my belt, it was a tough slog, and an unforgettable experience. At 3,776m it is well over 3 times the height of Irelands highest mountain, Carrauntoohill, and for the average person it is a significant undertaking! About 20 wide-eyed, eager first year Fukui ALTs (plus 3 Irish buddies from Hyogo) felt up to the task and signed up. Not all made it to the summit, and pretty much everyone was absolutely ‘flahed’ by the end of it…. but we had ... read more
September 11th 2012
Sunday 9/09/2012 Sunday was the most lazy of days! Another sleep in, followed by some cleaning in which I seriously took my time and pottered about. I cleaned under the stove, which I don’t think has been done in years, the mould had developed into multi-celled organisms and was just about to launch an attack on the world, but I wiped it out just in time! The bathroom sink has a tiny little hole, and therefore is constantly clogged with my hair, so that had to be done! (Pleasant thought, I know.) And of course the dishes, which I promise every time not to leave so long, and every time I hastily forget that promise. Spent the afternoon coming up with icebreaker/conversation starter games for the VOIS international party, and found some terrible ones on the ... read more
September 9th 2012
Saturday 1/09/2012 What a wonderful way to start Autumn! Headed into the city on the bus for my lesson with Mari and her husband, and on the bus pops one of my Juku students, followed by a Bear! I had no idea that they were brothers! I asked them how they were, and I think their mum was impressed with their English. I even quizzed them on what day of the week it was. Up on the backseat was another little boy, not one of my students, but I think he wanted to talk to me too! I’ve learnt where I need to get off the bus for that side of the city, which saves me a lot of time, and means I can catch a later bus. Straight to Mari’s shop and started the lesson ... read more
September 9th 2012
Thursday 6/09/2012 I was expecting chaos for today, as it was back to swimming for the Pandas and Bears, but I didn’t expect for the swimming bus to arrive before the last school bus, and I didn’t expect to be expected to have my kids changed and on the bus before they had even arrived! Miki took Daniel off me and put him in the Koala classroom before the chaos began, and it really would have been helpful to have another person to help get the kids changed and ready. Luckily a bus monitor came in and helped, but even with two of us, it took ten minutes to get the ten last-bus children ready. Daniel was never told to bring swimwear, so of course he didn’t have any, and couldn’t come to swimming. Once we ... read more
September 8th 2012
Biking in the beautiful sunshine of this Saturday, I got some inspiration to write - about Japanese school children. Why? Because at least half of those poor buggers are probably sitting IN school on this lovely Saturday. Yup, Saturday school ya'll. Japanese don't #$#& around when it comes to education. Ain't life a shame. Life isn't fair. FML. When first faced with it, I was surprised, shocked and almost appalled at the level of discipline that was expected of children even as young as 3 in Japan. For instance, all except the very youngest of the children enrolled in our school had two separate uniforms that they were required to change in and out of at least twice per day. On top of that, every single child had two pairs of shoes, one for indoors and ... read more
