I still live

Went down to this place in Habourland on Friday with Kazu. It was kind of an arcade, but not. We played pool for a bit. I won! Afterwards we moved onto soe random shooting game that had the screen adjust to where I was phyiscally standing as well as if I ducked and/or dodged the bad guys' fire. Haven't seen something like that before.

Went on to play table tennis for a bit, and didn't really keep score since it turned into something that wasn't table tennis. I found it odd that an indoor place like that offered fishing, but it was closed. I really do think they used real fish (this is a big indoor place that was on the 5th floor of a shopping centre).

Anyways...


Having not updated in a while with anything of significance (since nothing too significant has happened), I thought I'd share some random stories.


Let's start with work and students.


I've mentioned very little about specific students, however, Lee is one that's rather noteworthy. He's Korean, but I have a feeling he may have be much more Japanese given that he uses a Japanese/English electronic dictionary as well as using Japanese a little in class out of habit.
I'd guess he's somewhere in his 50s to 60s, possibly older. The main 'thing' of him is that he's deaf.
I've always wondered why a deaf person would want to try and learn a 2nd language, but he has an enthusiasum that so many others lack. He is actually one of my favourite students to teach.


Duncan and I have been debating for ages over whether this Indian woman at our local convenience store is 2nd generation or not (since there are many people of Indian descent in Kobe, and possible all of Japan too). She always speaks Japanese to us, but it's been a mystery about if she actually speaks English, and, if so, if it's her first language or not.
I solved that mystery last week. I handed her a handful of coins (a big handful) and she (wrongly) counted it once in Japanese, looked puzzled, and then recounted it with "err ...two, three, four..." before declaring in Japanese what I'd given.
No non-native English speaker counts in English. She's likely a Uni student.
Mystery solved!


I had a high level student man-to-man last week who just ended up wanting to talk, instead of having a normal lesson. It focused mainly on my reasons for coming to Japan, as well as then continuing on to talk about many noteworthy temples etc in the local area. He seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the topic and let me know which were the 'tourist' temples and which were not, which was something I was very thankful for.


A few months ago: The lesson focus is about 'Regrets' and any alternate outcomes that could have been possible.
Halfway through the lesson one of my female, and regular, students declares, "I wish I'd never met you so I wouldn't have a broken heart."
I go blank. "... Good example!" I reply.
I'm guessing it was a song lyric or something...



I'll think of some more and try and make at least a weekly update to my blog from now on. Pay close attention to the 'try'.

3 Weeks Later (continued)

I've sat here for a while trying to think of a few more things to add, but there's not much else to be said.

I applied for my VISA renewal a few weeks ago and just need to head down to pick it up since I got the approval notice the other day. So, I'm definitely here til August, at least.

I've another Club7 Voice this week, so am pulling it all together slowly. The topic is animals and abilities. Lots of fun.


I caught a mild cold this weekend, which annoyingly came with a headache. Feels like I'm almost over it.

I'll leave it there for now and go get ready for work.

3 Weeks Later

Hi...


I'm alive and well, but my thermometer says 8C.

Also, I'm not one of the 6 (possibly soon-to-be-deported) Nova teachers arrested for drugs in Saitama (which is far away, north-west of Tokyo and is actually where George, one of my 2005 TAFE class mates, lives while working with JET). It has, however, become quite a piece of controversial gossip. I discussed a fair bit about drugs, pharmacies and chemists in Voice tonight after having been thrown this topic and trying to make something constructive of it.
There's actually also a notice that's been placed in the teacher's room guarding it, encouraging everyone to double their efforts to display ourselves in a (clean and) professional way. They're worried about the financial impact it will have of losing either current students or current/potential applicants.
Drugs are taken very seriously over here.


Kazu gave me a pair of chopsticks last week after having travelled far north of Kobe to a place called Wajimanuri. It's supposed to be Japan-wide (possibly worldwide?) famous for it's laquerwork.
In addition to this, he gave me a tube of Vegemite he got as a gift from someone. He, however, hates it (as most Japanese do).

Lessons are going great and feel as though I'm slowly building some momentum.



Work.
Have had Rebecca (a fellow Melbournian who has returned home for good) and Mark's farewells . Mark was transferred to a different branch but has been at my school forever and was actually a trainer for all the local schools, as well as a teacher like us all.

As I posted previously too, Mike left 3 weeks ago.



Was talking to Ralf, one of the German teachers, and he was saying there's a VISA that's something like "VISA for Cultural Studies" meaning that you can live here for a certain period of time under the premise of studying and immersing yourself in the culture and language. So am eagerly searching around for some info on that. Just hoping it's real and appliable. Either way, to live here indefinitely I've still only two avenues; get a degree or get married. One being easier than the other (I think).

I'll leave this post here. Will think of what I've missed and post again over the next few days.