i had a great day yesterday! the sports day was so much fun and even though, at the start of the week, i thought they devoted way too much of their time to it i now appreciate why they did... it was really spectacular - a whole 7 hours long! i took lots of photos and short video clips but i'm not allowed to publish them on the web so i'll email them to you all instead... i couldn't believe how brutal most of the games were - and how competetive the teachers were! woaaah! made me look really tame in [View Full Entry]

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... so that's what i decided to do today... just smile at everyone and luckily, it's paid off! i've had a great day! i've realised that the teachers are too shy and embarrassed to try speaking in english so my JTE is helping me learn japanese - one word a day! i'm actually quite impressed with all the japanese words and phrases i've learnt so far... although most of them relate to wine and cocktails! letting the other teachers laugh at me as i tried to say different words in japanese made them open up slightly and a lot of them [View Full Entry]

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still bored at work! i’d never be cut out for a 9-5 desk job… every day I feel myself staring at the clock, trying to mentally move time forward (like that Japanese guy does in ‘heroes’) i’m hoping this is just a bad week with it being sports practice all day, every day and the JTE even apologised that noone had given me a role to help out with sports day… he said I can either help out on the field or stay in the staff room… he then asked me for a favour and gave me some speeches he’s working [View Full Entry]

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a much better day today! i got lots of 'good mornings' from the kids on my way to school which was lovely! when i got to the teachers room, i went straight up to one of the JTEs and asked them what my schedule was for today... that's when i realised that they didn't have one which is probably why they were all avoiding me yesterday! he apologised and said it was such a strange week as they are preparing for this sports event on sunday... i said i didn't mind wandering around the school and seeing what different activities were [View Full Entry]

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let's start with yesterday... moving in day! i am LOVING my flat! i'll take some photos on wednesday, as i have the day off school and will email them to everyone. i spent hours FINALLY unpacking my suitcases and working my way through the boxes of dairy milk chocolates which i had brought with me - with the intention to give as gifts (as japanese are VERY hot on gifts)... i met up with daniel in the afternoon who showed me a cheap place to buy kitchen utensils etc. so i stocked up there... and then got caught in a huge [View Full Entry]

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so my BOE meeting yesterday went well... as well as it can go when i couldn't speak any japanese and they couldn't speak any english! there was another teacher from my company there who will also be teaching in kanzaki city schools and he showed me up completely by talking to them in fluent japanese... although he has been living here for 4 years! i was then shown round the junior high school which will be my main school... apparently i don't go to the elementary schools very often. i'm actually quite glad about this as junior high schools have JTEs [View Full Entry]

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what a busy day! i've registered with the city hall, bought a mobile, opened a bank account and got my apartment details sorted... i'm so pleased i had a coordinator with me all day as i would have struggled to do anything on my own! it's so frustrating though when she blatantly starts discussing me with the people she's talking to and everyone is looking at me and smiling... or worse - laughing! so i got in a strop when we were in the housing office today and i said 'i know you're talking about me - what are you saying?!' [View Full Entry]

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so busy busy busy! i had a look round a few different apartments yesterday... the best was in saga city - the apartment is a 3 min walk to the station, only built last year, comes furnished... the only downside is that the balcony overlooks the railway line! but when considering the others i was shown, i think i'd rather put up with the noisy trains! plus the bed area is so cute! kind of like one of those capsule hotels you might have heard about?! i basically have to climb a ladder and then sleep on a level above the [View Full Entry]

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yet another day of boring training... this time we had to do a demo lesson with everyone and team teach with a partner. i worked with laura who will also be living in saga city with me. we had lots of fun doing it but it's so difficult presenting a lesson to people who are your age! of course lots of the guys did the opposite of everything we asked them to do just to be difficult and wind us up! this evening was LOTS of fun as we went into higashi-hiroshima to find a place to eat... we came across [View Full Entry]

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i can see i'm going to have to stop writing these entries whenever i come back from a night out as i'm not sure how much sense they'll make! not much to report on today... the seminars were TEDIOUS as they were just doing covering basic teaching info etc. we then spent 20 mins discussing the rules for 'rock, paper, scissors' as that's a big way of deciding who starts a game here - like we'd flip a coin to decide. we didn't finish until 6 and then quickly got ready for food and all headed out into town... we went [View Full Entry]

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