Here’s a week or so in the life of me!

The week starts off with the water in the gutters all iced over. Coming from a country that is nice and warm always, stuff like this is exciting to me.

So at my middle school they were playing volleyball. At the end the winners played the teachers. OMG it was freezing inside that gym, I think I died. I didn’t have gym shoes either, but in the end one of the students let me borrow her shoes and I played for 2 minutes with the teachers, scoring one goal but also losing one goal. So I guess I contributed nothing.

An assembly after the volley ball. At things like this you bow before and after someone does a speech. I think it is a better idea than trying to clap cold hands. It is certainly different though.

The view as I walk from school to the bus stop. I always think that it is just so beautiful around here. The camera never does it justice.

I am taking all these photos from my iphone, so the quality is pretty crappy. I also always seem to get a smudge on the photos, but that is just grubby me.

At the JET mid year conference. Hmmmm…. This was better than the orientation in Tokyo for sure, but still…. The best things I got out of it were a couple of ideas for games (reverse bingo anyone?). There was also information about the teaching English program in Finland and how they can totally speak English by the end of their high school years, but of course everything that was addressed will not be implemented in Japan. They could do it – after all I’m pretty sure if they started the Middle school textbooks in grade 3 here they would be able to do it easily. Thinking that perhaps they would move a bit slower than what they do in middle school, I see no reason why a grade six student could not graduate primary school with the English knowledge of what a current grade 9er (grade 3 in middle school) would have. However it is Japan’s policy that we just play games with primary school kids so it’s not going to happen…

That’s my thoughts/rant for now!

We were the bad kids up the back…

My first time bowling in Japan. Their shoes aren’t clown shoes! I wanted to keep them.

Before bowling we had all you can eat pizza which was pretty good. I also won bowling which is an unexplained phenomenon and I hope I didn’t break the universe.

I still can’t believe people eat the whole fish, head, tail, bones, all. I can’t fathom it. The thought makes me want to throw up.

The bus on the way to work.

From the top of the hill, walking to the bus stop from my middle school

My mountain school. This is all the kids in the school.

They has a skipping expert come in from another city to teach skipping skills. It was actually a lot of fun and I think I want to get a skipping rope when the weather warms up a little bit. I remember when I was a child I used to be able to skip for hours.

Rice fields everywhere were getting… um… machined over. This one is my back yard.

Tis amazing! There are actually people on my bus today!

View from the bus

Dinner. Home made wong tong soup – perfect for a cold night.

Everywhere was covered in cloud. This is me waiting for the bus…

More cloud.

But when I got to the top of the mountain where my school was I realised I had actually stepped out of the cloud. That was pretty cool.

Middle schoolers serving lunch. At my schools everyone eats in one room.

More fish. But the vegetable thing to the right side has grown on my and I enjoy it now. At middle school you can choose how much you eat which is fantastic. I always had trouble getting through all this food. Now I am trying to be more healthy in my everyday life I’m trying not to eat more than half of the rice. I try not to be guilty about throwing out all the food I don’t eat. I am thinking that if I don’t see the results I want by the start of the new school year in April I’m going to try and cancel school lunches and bring in my own. The downside would be losing valuable interaction time with the students.

After lunch you have to separate all the rubbish. You also wash your milk carton and unfold it.

This is still the cloud day… After school the cloud had cleared at everything looked amazingly clear. You can’t see it through the camera as well, but it was awesome. This is my middle school.

Friday! This is at an elementary school. I was always a fussy eater, but as I got older I became less and less fussy and now I eat quite a lot. Unfortunately, being back in Japan I feel like a fussy eater. I don’t like seafood and I don’t like citrus fruits. These two things are often served. I managed to get rid of the orange that was served with this meal, but had to eat the tuna croquette. *sigh*.

So at this school I always had a fax machine in the corner of my desk. Now I have a fax machine in the middle of my desk and a computer on the corner of my desk. Yeah, thanks guys. I have lots of room to work on. And I can’t even feel comfortable using the computer because I sit next to the vice principal.

View of the primary school as I wait for the bus. Yayayay, it’s Friday and now weekend time!

Well, that was my week or so, let me know what you think! Do you want me to post more stuff like this?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life and stuff. I know thinking is bad for your health, and I’ve concluded that the answer is 42, I’m still no closer to the ultimate question.

What do I want to achieve in this life? There are many things that I want to do. I’m young but I know if you don’t set out clear plans and intentions, the days roll round quickly into years and suddenly it’s five years later and you are no closer to where you want to be.

One thing’s for sure – I don’t want an ordinary life. Some people are happy with a nice, comfortable life with 3.2 kids and a home of their own. And I guess I would like that too. But I want to experience other things as well. I’m not a great adventurer but I would like to see the world.

The thing is my careers of choice are not the stable income time. My careers of choice are the type where 2% are rich and the rest are struggling to make end meet….

I am also no closer to achieving anything in my chosen professions than I was 5 years ago. They haven’t been high on the priority list. They should have been. Japanese definitely took over. Lately… Lately I want to keep learning Japanese but I feel like I need to put these other things into my life as well.

This has all come about partly because it is recontracting time with JET. Do I stay or do I go? I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s due today but I’m handing in my forms tomorrow to my supervisor. So I have just over 12 hours to decide. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. I’ve seriously been thinking hard about it for two weeks and I am perhaps no where near closer to a decision. I’m looking into my life’s priorities and I’m not sure.

So that’s where I’ve been. Deep in thought. I don’t know. I’m too indecisive.

I think the SOP is very important in the written application. Perhaps the most important part, but who knows. Here is a page where I got advice from: The Jet Programme, Statement of Purpose. Basically I went all over the internet and got inspiration from everywhere.

And now, here is my SOP, in all it’s (lack of) glory. No editing here from me for spelling or to turn down the arse kissing, this is how I sent it in… Perhaps you can take away something from it, even if it is a couple of giggles. Enjoy

Statement of Purpose

With a love of both language and culture, I would love to work as an Assistant Language Teacher in the JET Programme. At university I majored in English Literature and the Japanese Language, combining my two passions. I have also studied Australian popular culture and intercultural communication. With this background, along with my enthusiasm and passion for teaching, I would make a perfect candidate for the JET Programme.

I chose the JET Programme so that I will be able to improve my understanding of the Japanese language and of Japanese youth culture. While assisting in the teaching of the English language and culture, I would be gaining valuable experiences and knowledge that I would like to use in post graduate research. My overall aim is to teach about Japanese popular and youth culture to an English speaking audience. Within the JET Programme, I will have first hand access to the youth of Japan. This experience will help me stand out against my peers and broaden myself as a person.

In learning the Japanese language, I have a better understanding not only of Japanese culture, but also of my own culture and the English language. I would love to share this sense of understanding with the youth of Japan, so that future generations gain a tolerance and understanding of different cultures.

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I enjoy teaching, and look forward to team teaching. In my current job as a sales assistant in a scrapbooking store, part of my job is to demonstrate scrapbooking techniques and also run scrapbooking classes. I enjoy not only teaching but preparing material for classes and coming up with exciting ways to present the material. I also had an opportunity to teach one lesson at my university. This was a valuable insight into teaching in a class room setting, and confirmed my passion for teaching.

My international experience has helped me appreciate and understand cultural differences. Having visited the USA and Canada, while similar to Australia in many respects, these countries have many differences as well. While Japanese youth may be exposed to North American culture through Hollywood productions, they may not have an opportunity to experience Australian culture. I would love to share this with them so that they gain a deeper understanding of western cultures.

If I am accepted, I would work hard to ensure that I am a valuable asset in the JET Programme. My passion for both Japanese and Australian culture makes me an ideal candidate. I will aim to instill this enthusiasm into my students, increasing internationalization and fostering cultural understanding in future generations.

Thank you for your consideration.

I haven’t talked about this at all here (in case I failed miserably), but I have hinted/talked about it at twitter, so if you have been following me there you may know what I’m talking about oh-so cryptically right now. That is, today I received a letter from the Brisbane Consulate of Japan to say I have been short-listed into the JET Programme. Or, in simpler terms… I’m going to Japan!!! As long I’m healthy and the criminal background check doesn’t dig deep enough to find my secret past, I will be flying over to Japan this August.

I’m sure that the next three and a bit months will go very slow but at the same time very quick. I plan to go all gung-ho with my Japanese study – mainly because I have a lot of excellent texts that I don’t want to lug with me to Japan!

I am looking forward to many exciting times in Japan.

tokyocooney

OK, so this guy is popular and perhaps a bit annoying, but I like his videos a lot. He is working in Japan as both a comedian and within the film industry. Thus, his videos are quite good and funny.

myargonauts

A guy living in the middle of no where who is on the JET programme. He has some great videos about both the JET programme and sumo.

Also check out TaishaJason which has some more personal stuff about living in Japan and Jason himself.

ProfASAr

If you like to learn about learning languages, I recommend having a look at this guy. He is a polyglot so I guess that makes him knowledgeable about learning languages! Some people will find him dry, but I love to listen.

Bonus Video With Nothing To Do With Japan

Here are two comedians from Australia in LA trying to recruit people for their gang.