Today's thoughts

It is hot and humid today. I feel gross and sweaty and it is only 10:42 AM. I am tired from the humidity and the restless kids.

I saw 8 mile last night. It was good and I liked it. I was hoping to see the Matrix Reloaded but we got there late and it had already started. Will have to wait, I guess.

I have decided to stop fretting about jobs and housing. My good friend Ejlee gave me some words of wisdom and knocked some sense into me. Thanks Ejlee...still worried, but not going to let the uncertainty of my impending return govern my life. Just going to take things in strides.

Packing Report

In anticipation of my impending departure from Japan I have been trying to pack up my stuff. I came to Japan with two suitcases, but now after 2 years I have more than two suitcases worth of stuff...where did it all come from? I have packed my winter clothes and will be sending them off via post once I find a box big enough. Next will be my books and CD's. I blame my travels to Asia for the increase in CD collection, come on who can resist $3 pirated CD's. I have to figure out what I am going to do with my tennis raquet. Oppulence...ne...

Top Five Reasons to stay in Japan

My eikaiwa students gave me a list of 5 reasons why I should stay in Japan another year. Let's say it was not all that heartwarming and it is making my impending return not very inviting...

1. Homeless...I do not know where I am going to live when I get back.
2. Jobless...No one wants to hire a kinesiologist who can only teach English
3. Single...I have no boyfriend and thus no reason to live according to everyone here
4. Poor... I have no job = no money...plus a student loan
5. Carless..I will have to walk everywhere...

Sports Day

In schools all over Japan during June or September, students don their polyester gym clothes and showcase their talents in endurance, speed, agility, strength, and the how loud they can cheer for their team, otherwise known as sports day. It is a somewhat militaristic exercise with the playing of anthems, raising of flags, and the marching, but again many of the things in Japan are throwbacks to their imperialistic days...anyways, enough sociological analyzation from me...

Yesterday my school had their Sports day. Let me describe how it works: The entire school including teachers are divided into 4 teams based on their homerooms, yellow, white, red, and blue. Once again, I was put on the "photography" team....yippie!!!. With a total of 3 members, we had to compete in the events of shooting of moving figures, capturing facial expressions, and finally rapid installation of film...tough events I tell you...As you can tell, tad bit bitter about not being put on a team, although I have been here two years and really wanted to be on a team...Anyways, I digress. The students must then participate in different events, consisting of relays, running, obstacle courses, three legged races, and so on. The event that stands out in my mind, would never be allowed because of liability and the potential lawsuits, the Chicken Fight. This is the event all my Gr. 12 boys look forward to and prepare for. One boy is put on the shoulders of two other boys, with one boy holding him there, and a teacher close by to "catch" anyone that falls.. The object is to take the ribbon tied around the head of the opposing team. It gets quite violent and I am always shocked that no kids fall off and break their necks. I told my friends that I am always surprised that no fights result from it. I know at home, that if they did that event kids would be brawling and fists would be flying. Well I guess I spoke to soon, yesterday it got a little violent and a full fight nearly occured had it not been for the big burly Phys Ed. teachers rushing. A few punches flew but not too much bloodshed occured.. It was a little scary, because boys were rushing the field.
I must say that I did enjoy myself yesterday, I think that after being here 2 years I have been accepted by the students. I was promptly invited onto a team by the kids once they found out I was not on a team. My initiation consisted of letting them go nuts with a tube of white paint to show my team loyalty. I had white paint all over my face and looked somewhat like a aftrican warrior princess with war stripes. The only low point I can think of was the full posterior moon that one of my boys thought he would proudly display for me. Not a pretty sight I tell you. I have not seen such a white ass in a long long time.....

Teen boys are teen boys no matter what country they live in. Yesterday, once again some of my boys took upon themselves to ask me my phone number...you know it was in the hitting on you kind of way and not the innocent kind of way....that along with the spontaneous winks I got from many of the baseball team, it reassures me that boys no matter what country they are in are boys...I must say that I give two thumbs up to one of my Gr. 12 boys that I saw last night at the train station. He promply defended my honour when one his friends from another school made a snide sexual comment. My Gr.12's are great and are making my last two months here worth all the initial headaches a mere memory

Wednesdays

Normally, Wednesdays are my favourite day of the week, but today I am tired and hot and dreading that it is Wednesday. In a about 20 minutes I am going to hop my bicycle, (the orange popsicle has been fixed) and ride out to kindergarten to face 25 screaming kids. I just do not have the energy today. After that off to my first of two Japanese lessons this week. Then after that an Eikaiwa...I cannot wait for this day to be over so I can crawl into bed and sleep.....and it is only noon....

Blame it on my Alarm Clock

For the first time in two years I was late for work. I was about 10 minutes late this morning, and it was not due to the snow gremlins holding me down....ask Courtney about those guys. Anyways, I woke up and looked at my alarm clock this morning and it said 6:45 so I turned over and went back to sleep. I woke up again it still said 6:45, it was actually 7:15. So I decided to sleep until 7:00 according to the clock. I got up and showered and did my usual morning stuff. I was reading the paper when I decided that I needed to find my watch. I found it and looked at it and it said 8:20. Yikes, usually I am at school by that time and firmly ensconced in front of the computer. I still had to do my hair and brush my teeth. So I quickly did that and high tailed it to school. Lucky for me I only got a few raised eyebrows when I snuck into the teachers room. Stupid Alarm Clock....

SCARY

Sometimes I am bored and I do things to keep myself entertained while I am at work to prevent me from going completely insane and off my rocker. Well, I typed my name into a search engine...come on try it one day and see what comes up....Well, this is what I found, the only one hit for "Charlene Phung" and that was it. ....Scary, not sure who Michel Agel is..cannot remember ever meeting someone called that......

It is entitled Michel Agel vs. Charlene Phung

Starbucks
Think I deserve a chai latte today. Had a rough day!!

PUNK ROCK BABES

Every other weekend here, this club opens up on Sunday afternoons and lets kids use the facilities to put on a punk rock show. Well, yesterday being super ALTs, (stalking kids even on the weekends to make sure they use English even on their down time) we went to see the concerts that some kids were playing in. It turned out to be junior high kids with the max. age there around 16...needless to say we were definately the oldest ones there. It was strange to see the kids outside of school sans uniform. They were dressed as in British 80's punk rockers, safety pins, spiked hair, dog collars, and standard issue black leather was the attire. Once I got over the initial shock of having my ear drums blown away, they turned out to be really good. I was really impressed on how well most of the bands played. Hower, my ears are still ringing today. It was fun though, it was nice to see break out of their molds and be kids, albeit a little full of rage on stage.

Spraying

I have just been informed that this weekend I will have to remove all food from my desk and take everything that might be affected by bug spray off my desk. I should cover the computer with newspaper. Seems, they are spraying for bugs in the staff room this weekend. I think they may have a cockroach problem....yuck!!! Thank god I am before those little beasties can reproduce and take up residence in my desk. In fact, my contract will be up in 2 months from today.

My kids

Last night, I needed a much needed break from life in Japan and needed to be reminded of life back home in Vancouver. Which means a trip to Starbucks for a Chai Latte. While, I was sitting there chatting away with some of my friends about students and teaching (translation=complaining about how bad my kids were yesterday), my friend points to the window and says, "hey do you guys know that girl?". I turn around and to my surprise, it is one of my students from 2 years ago, my first graduating class. She is ecstatic to see me. So I run out of starbucks, knocking a chair over on the way out and causing quite the disturbance and give her a big hug. She is a little teary eyed and very happy to see me. She looks the same but older, her hair is dyed and she is wearing make up, but still Iyumi. Iyumi hated English but loved my class. She was great to have in class because she was always genki and would try to talk to me in Japanese. It was one of my favourite classes. Part in parcel to her enthusiasm and the occasional note that the kids would pass to me, written in cute English proclaiming their dislike for English but their utmost love for me.

I was glad that she came up to me and very happy about her very obvious enthusiasm at seeing me. She left with the promise that she would come back to school to visit me before I left for Canada. It is nice to be reminded that you did leave an impression on some kid some where, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside...

War is on

When you teach high school students, 400, 15-18 year olds, you do whatever it takes to get their attention and hold it. I have recently noticed that in my battle against inattentive high school students, I have taken out all the stops and am using all the arsenals in my possession to win them over. This includes mimicing their speach. I have taken to using phrases that are no more than 5 words, for example.."you (point at them), tired? (make a laying head down gesture)". My mannerisms and speach now resemble those of a kindergarten student. As well, hairstyles and fashion sense, I am starting to look and dress like them. Don't worry no short high school uniforms yet. However, some the clothes they wear I now think are kind of cute, vs. hideous when I first came. I now sport a very Japanese haircut that I style every morning with hair wax. It has been razored and has become very piecey.

I think the biggest thing I do is smile at them. It seems like the kids are not used to people smiling and laughing. I mean genuine smiles and laughter. From my observations many of the teachers never smile or laugh at their kids, they just yell at them. I have pattened the tilt my head a little, flash the dimple, and smile move. Both the boys and girls seem to think I am kawaii, which is good in the land of cuteness. Cuteness wins you points and perhaps will allow me to somehow take over the world one day....ha ha ha...(evil laugh)...if not that, then perhaps will make my kids more attentive in class. So far so good, my Gr. 12's seem to have fallen for it.

Earthquake

There was an earthquake in Japan yesterday. Just off the coast of eastern Japan in Sendai. The other side of Japan from me. I felt nothing and did not know anything about it until my friend emailed me to ask if I was okay. I checked the internet today and was suprised to learn that it was a pretty big earthquake The internet was down yesterday all day...perhaps the two are linked......

Groan... Monday....

So much for the weekend...it went by in a flash. Did not get a chance to really accomplish anything...although I did plant some rice and proctor a TOEIC test. I still need a few more days off....

TGIF

Finally Friday has arrived in Japan. Yippie!!! I am glad it is Friday simply because I do not have to be at work for the next two days. No inattentive sleepy attitude-filled little gr.10's to ignore and glare at me. Yup, it has been one of those days and it is only 11:00 in the morning. Man, do I hate teaching those little brats some days.
On a different note I am sad to report the injury of the orange popsicle..(my orange mountain bike). Last night as I was riding home after having dinner with a friend, I got hit by a car. I am okay, not injured or anything, but the frame of the back wheel of my bike is slightly bent. Nothing too serious but serious enough that I cannot ride it. I was going straight across the crosswalk when this jeep was making a left turn, he did not see me and clipped my back tire. Lucky for me, I was riding fast enough that he did not hit me but just the back tire. I did let out a scream though. I was in little bit of shock and thought the bike was okay when I got off it, so I did not get his phone number or name. It was not until I started riding that I noticed that it was bent. So now the orange popsicle needs to be taken in to the shop. I think I am going to be more careful from now on when it comes to riding my bike at night.

Mad Char disease

With the recent discovery of a case of Mad Cow disease in Canada, I was wondering if somehow I got infected with it, by virtue of being Canadian. I know I have not eaten meat in almost 4 years now but I cannot help but feel that my brain is turning into mush. The longer I stay in Japan the more I feel like I am losing my mind. I try and try but it seems like I cannot get a handle on this language. Grammar points and vocabulary that I thought I had learnt, disappear when I go to retrieve it from my brain. Definately full of mush now. Aiya!!!

Wednesday's Child

I just want to say that I love Wednesdays. Why you ask? Because it is in the middle of the week or because it starts with a W? Nope....cause I have good classes on Wednesday. I teach 2 third year classes and then bike off to kindergarten to teach 27 screaming 5 year olds. It is the best day.

My third year students are fun and genki. They may still hate English but at least they pretend to enjoy my class and pay attention. They are always eager to volunteer or ask me questions. Sometimes they get a little noisy but I attribute that to their enthusiasm for English. My Kindergarten kids are always a refreshing change from high school kids, at that young age they have not been brainwashed into hating English yet....

HTML....

I have been working on my blog trying to perfect the HTML...muzukashii!!

All wacked out

I am sad to report that I will no longer be able to tell people that I am from "the Wack", on second thoughts perhaps that is a good thing. Anyways, my parents have sold our house and will be moving out to Vancouver this summer, just a few months before I come home. I will not be able to say good bye to my house where I spent my formative teenage angst years, butting heads with my siblings and parents. Bye Bye to the Wack and that means the Chilliwack Corn too...Oh...the sadness that fills my soul!!!

The truth is that I have not lived there in the last 7 years anyways, probably spent more time not living there than living there...perpetually unable to put down roots I guess...

Help Wanted

I finally finished the three cover letters and resumes that I have been perfecting for the last two days and will send it off today. I decided that I would try to create internships at organizations that I would like to work at. I thought I would go out on a limb and send them a letter letting them know that I desperately need a job and if can look past my not so stellar resume...kin related that is, they will see my sparkling personality....keep your fingers crossed for me.