Friday, December 25, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
My First Shrine
So on Wednesday, I visited my first shrine! It was in the city of Fukuroy (only about a 10 minute train ride from Kakegawa) It was so beautiful! The Temple was set up on a Mountain and it was a beautiful walk/hike lol! I added more pictures to the slideshow at the bottom right corner of my blog... I also added captions but I'm not sure if you can see them... (yes I'm still trying to figure this thing out... let me re-phrase, Eric is figuring it all out, I'm just along for the ride... hahaha) Anyways, It was really cool to visit my first shrine! Manager took me, so it was nice to have everything explained to me... now I know what to do and why you do it...I will be going to Kyoto and Osaka for the New Year's break so I look forward to visiting a lot more shrines and fun stuff!!!
Japanese Culture Lesson:
So in Japan, New Year's and Christmas have an opposite function to the US... For example, On Christmas, most Japanese people go out with their boyfriend/girlfriend or have a party. It is traditional to eat "Christmas Cake" (looks like a birthday cake...) and I've heard from many of my students that you have to eat fried chicken... like KFC!!! lol!
Now New Year's is the family holiday! Families get together and the mothers make a big meal, which sometimes includes Ozoni (a type of Japanese soup), and most likely Mochi (a type of rice cake)! Different families have different recipes for Mochi but I have heard that a simple soy sauce with sugar glaze can be very nice. So far my favorite is Mochi with ancho (a sweetened red-bean paste - soo good!!!)The shrine we went to is famous for that kind of sweets..! Also families might go to a shrine or temple to make their New Year's prayers or wishes! I made mine for this year... stayed tuned to see if my wish comes true!!!
Okay class, I think that's enough for one day... see you next time!
all my love, and Merry Christmas!!!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
K-Town
So I am finally in Kakegawa; the city I will be living and working in. I arrived in Kakegawa on Wednesday around 12:36... side note: I've learned that timing is very important in Japan... being even a minute late is a really big deal... While I was training, we would take brakes and our trainer would say, "Okay, it's 7:53, lets break until 8:53!", not 9, or 8:50... 8:53 exactly!!! It was odd at first, but I have gotten used to it... Although I know the concept of being "on-time" would be hard to grasp for some people...
Anyways, Kakegawa is a small town, but it is central to other larger cities such as Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka... apparently that is where all the good shopping is!
So my first day was pretty consistent with training... extremely overwhelming, and exciting at the same time! I observed all lessons today, however, I will be teaching about 7 lessons a day, and so out of one week's worth of work, I have only really observed one day's worth of lessons (if that makes sense) Tomorrow I will be observing some lessons as well as teaching a few lessons! I am excited about teaching! It will be nice to be back in a classroom, and teaching real students! (they are much more forgiving than adults... hahaha) Also I just miss the feeling of being in front of a class... weird, I haven't even become a "real" teacher and I already feel withdraw when I'm away from students... watch out!
So the work-day went well (crazy busy- but good!) and after work I went out with some of my colleagues to a German bar... crazy I know... I was so surprised to see Chimay beer and other Belgium/ German items... It was fun! I was able to practice some Japanese, as well as speak English to some new friends!!! It was a lot of fun!!!
So on a side note... I experienced my first earthquake in Japan!!!
It was my first night in my new apartment, and I was sleeping on in this "loft" sort of thing on a Futon... It was odd sleeping on a futon for the first time, so unfortunately I didn't sleep that well... But I awoke in the middle of the night so a little shaking... at first I thought "humm... that's odd... maybe it's cause I'm on this loft thing..." Then I realized it may be an earthquake... AHHH! However, being the seasoned Californian that I am, I realized it was just a little one and went back to sleep... later I felt a small after shock, but woke up not knowing if it was a dream or not... I told my friend about if and we laughed about it (thinking "i'm crazy to be having dreams about earthquakes...") But later in an orientation meeting, my manager was going over the companies policies and procedures, and mentioned the earthquake last night...! I was so relieved that it wasn't a dream and also kind of excited that I had experienced my first earthquake in Japan! and I survived!!!
This weekend is our kid's Christmas Party as well as the farewell/ welcome party for myself and Stephanie (the outgoing teacher). We are going to celebrate in Hamamatsu (one of the closest larger cities to Kakegawa). Apparently there are going to be like 60 people there! Students as well as all the teachers are coming! I'm really looking forward to it!!! I'll keep you posted ;) (that's a winky face in case you didn't know... hahaha)
Well sorry this was a long one... but hope all is well and I look forward to sharing new and exciting adventures from Kakegawa!!!
O ya sumi! (goodnight :)
Anyways, Kakegawa is a small town, but it is central to other larger cities such as Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka... apparently that is where all the good shopping is!
So my first day was pretty consistent with training... extremely overwhelming, and exciting at the same time! I observed all lessons today, however, I will be teaching about 7 lessons a day, and so out of one week's worth of work, I have only really observed one day's worth of lessons (if that makes sense) Tomorrow I will be observing some lessons as well as teaching a few lessons! I am excited about teaching! It will be nice to be back in a classroom, and teaching real students! (they are much more forgiving than adults... hahaha) Also I just miss the feeling of being in front of a class... weird, I haven't even become a "real" teacher and I already feel withdraw when I'm away from students... watch out!
So the work-day went well (crazy busy- but good!) and after work I went out with some of my colleagues to a German bar... crazy I know... I was so surprised to see Chimay beer and other Belgium/ German items... It was fun! I was able to practice some Japanese, as well as speak English to some new friends!!! It was a lot of fun!!!
So on a side note... I experienced my first earthquake in Japan!!!
It was my first night in my new apartment, and I was sleeping on in this "loft" sort of thing on a Futon... It was odd sleeping on a futon for the first time, so unfortunately I didn't sleep that well... But I awoke in the middle of the night so a little shaking... at first I thought "humm... that's odd... maybe it's cause I'm on this loft thing..." Then I realized it may be an earthquake... AHHH! However, being the seasoned Californian that I am, I realized it was just a little one and went back to sleep... later I felt a small after shock, but woke up not knowing if it was a dream or not... I told my friend about if and we laughed about it (thinking "i'm crazy to be having dreams about earthquakes...") But later in an orientation meeting, my manager was going over the companies policies and procedures, and mentioned the earthquake last night...! I was so relieved that it wasn't a dream and also kind of excited that I had experienced my first earthquake in Japan! and I survived!!!
This weekend is our kid's Christmas Party as well as the farewell/ welcome party for myself and Stephanie (the outgoing teacher). We are going to celebrate in Hamamatsu (one of the closest larger cities to Kakegawa). Apparently there are going to be like 60 people there! Students as well as all the teachers are coming! I'm really looking forward to it!!! I'll keep you posted ;) (that's a winky face in case you didn't know... hahaha)
Well sorry this was a long one... but hope all is well and I look forward to sharing new and exciting adventures from Kakegawa!!!
O ya sumi! (goodnight :)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Nagoya Day 1
Sunday was our free day before we started training so the girls and I decided to do a little sightseeing around Nagoya. After a little research, we decided to go to the Nagoya Castle and the Nagoya TV Tower (It's like a mini version of the Eiffel Tower) It is apparently very popular for "Lovers" or couples to go there and enjoy the view of the city! It is really pretty at night and is located in the center of a park.
The Castle was really pretty and we were able to get a nice view of the beautiful trees changing color! It really felt like fall! Well I guess it's December now, so it's winter, but whatever. Anyways I am trying to figure out how to post pictures on this think so I can show you where I was, but I'm kind of new to this whole blog thing, so stick with me here...
Okay time to get back to studying for training tomorrow... Yep it's like I'm in school again! I love it!
The Castle was really pretty and we were able to get a nice view of the beautiful trees changing color! It really felt like fall! Well I guess it's December now, so it's winter, but whatever. Anyways I am trying to figure out how to post pictures on this think so I can show you where I was, but I'm kind of new to this whole blog thing, so stick with me here...
Okay time to get back to studying for training tomorrow... Yep it's like I'm in school again! I love it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
