AHA! NOW I know why I like cookies so much. (Sorry, couldn’t find the link but they’re called “Chococo”). They remind me of those ring cookies that were like shortbread with chocolate stripes and had chocolate on the bottom.
Sorry. Totally random.
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Archive for March, 2007
Well, at least they gave me two months’ (it is apostrophe after the “s” right? Something about that just looks funny to me….) notice instead of two days this time. My parents may be coming to visit at the beginning of May. They said something about missing me…or whatever.
May is gonna be an interesting month for me.
I’m getting yet another new green tag…only to have this one make a quick exit as well. As of the end of April, this will be four TI’s I’ll have gone through. *sniff sniff* It’s enough to give a girl a complex…
We tried a new yakiniku place this past Sunday. Well, not “new”, but one we’d never eaten at before. Steve recommended it.
It was pretty good. We ended up spending about the same amount of money we usually do and the cuts of beef were better, or so I was told. Honestly, I think I like the all-you-can-eat place a little more, maybe it’s in the way they marinate the beef or the garlic kind that we usually get.
Thereafter, we went back to Mike’s place to watch 300. I confessed to having no real desire to see the movie, but went anyway ‘cuz it’s us; this is what we do, and it’s fun to hang out together. To be honest, I’m glad I didn’t pay to see the movie. It was fun, though.
Anna has recently acquired a smoothie maker, so she made us all some smoothies for dessert. The one she made for me was akin to the Orange Shooters I always used to order from Freshens. Damn, I miss those smoothies.
First off, a big THANK YOU to Mark, the blog-fixer extraordinaire, without whom this blog would not be possible *bows*
And now, back to your regularly scheduled post…
A crazy thing happened here in Osaka this past Sunday morn. I was in the middle of a lesson and my student was trying to tell me about her favorite movie when she stopped mid-sentence and started looking around her room. I was mildly perplexed by this and then she calmly stated, “Sorry, earthquake.” All casual like it was a usual thing.
I confess some part of me panicked; I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to call tech or let the student log-off or what. She seemed fine, she looked around the room a couple more times, but then continued on with her sentence.
Not a minute or two later, I started to feel…dizzy almost. I couldn’t help looking around myself, wondering if I was the only person feeling this way. I noticed some of the tech staff looking abouts, too, thus assuring me that it was not just me.
It turns out it was my first tremor experience. I really can’t constitute it as an earthquake because technically, it was the aftershock.
It was a bizarre and strangely thrilling experience.
This past Thursday, I did an observation at a school in Sakai, about fifteen minutes south of Namba on the Nankai Line. My former co-worker Anthony arranged the observation for me. One of the biggest reasons I don’t teach children is because I don’t know how, so I figured if I see how it’s done, I’d be more inclined to try.
Mayumi came to meet me at the Shichido station and we walked to her school. I also met Shun, her three-year-old nephew, who is positively adorable.
The school itself is in a big warehouse, for lack of a better term, and there are three classrooms on the top level. While Mayumi got some things ready, she put in a video for me. I guess last Sunday, their school had a kind of show. Shun-chan also kept me entertained by dumping some marbles on the floor and then picking them up again, declaring each color in English as he went along. That was pretty impressive as English isn’t his native language and he can barely speak Japanese. He is only a recent three-year-old.
The first class was a young group, around five or so. It’s been a really long time since I’ve been around kids and I’d forgotten how shrill they can be when they’re excited about something. I joined in a little since their class activities weren’t overly difficult; there was singing involved and a little dancing. But they clearly enjoyed it, so that was cool. It’s also from them that I got the title of this post, as it was a phrase they frequently shouted when Mayumi asked for volunteers.
The second class consisted of ten- and eleven-year-olds. They were up to full, simple sentences and they had phonics and reading as well. The third class was eleven- and twelve-year-olds, and they were a more advanced group, moving onto a little more grammar. They were the most enthusiastic, aside from the little children, in seriously learning English. At one point, they were practicing their questions on me, only I had to answer in Japanese. One of the questions to me was, “Where do you live?”
“Higashi-Osaka wa shindemasu.”
Which resulted in a lot of laughter. “Shindemasu” means “to die” so not only did I use the wrong particle, I said I die in Higashi-Osaka. At least I remembered it was a verb. 
It was a pretty interesting afternoon. I observed that Mayumi is a great teacher and I wouldn’t mind the chance to work with her again sometime. I don’t know how useful I’d be, but I could certainly try.
I went to see a play yesterday afternoon (Wednesday the 21st) at the Senri International School in Senri, Osaka. It was put on by the The Voice, an amateur theatre company based out of Kobe, Japan.
I had read about the production in the Kansai Scene and was pretty determined to go. I have sorely missed theatre and was quite looking forward to the show.
The stage of the Senri International School is an old-fashioned proscenium stage, about the size of Allen Theater. The pre-set was unlit with decorative piano music greeting the audience upon our arrival. The set itself was pretty linear and was primarily downstage, even spilling over into the apron, with a table and chair thrust far DSL. The pieces were simple: a wood-frame door, two couches SL and SR as well as folding screens; there was a slightly impoverish look to the whole set.
When the play began, the first character entered from the door CS. There was a very odd lighting choice in that the lights seemed to come up half-way through what seemed to be the opening of the scene. Of course, this may not have been intentional, but if it had been, I think it probably would have been better if the lights had come up on the empty apartment and then have the entrance.
Here we meet George and his brother Sam, played by one Jonathan Mendelsohn and Dustin North respectively. George has just returned from a trip and his brother chastises him about the condition of the apartment. George is not paying attention and is more focused on the mail he is sifting through thrust DSL. His movements are a little stiff and mechanical, as are his gestures; in contrast to Sam who is pretty natural and comfortable in movement. At first, I attributed it to the character, but as the play progressed, I really think it was more the actor.
At the end of the scene, we are then shown Jennie’s apartment which is SR. Suddenly, the set falls into place and it is all pretty well thought out. Jennie, played by Jen Neales, has just returned from a trip of her own, and she is followed closely by her friend Faye, played by Asuna Osako. We learn that Jennie is recently divorced and that Faye has marriage trouble of her own.
From here, we watch the events of these four lives unfold. The set-up between Jennie and George, thrown together by their well-meaning loved ones Leo and Faye. The burst of attraction and affection that is between our two protagonists as well as the conflict that is their sudden marriage.
Overall, it was a good show. There was a moment where Jennie was in George’s apartment and told him she was going to run home. Instead of going out the door, she just jumped across the stage, totally breaking my disbelief. I had a panic attack for like five seconds; I mean, her next scene wasn’t imperative. She could have at least walked towards the door, stepped into the frame and promptly stepped back out again. Then again, that would have been my choice.
The blocking was pretty good, had all the nice angles we studied about in directing and various other theatre classes. For the most part, the lighting itself seemed to be done with fresnels and I could have sworn they were using a scoop at one point. Or so it looked like to me. Mostly warm tones, I’m guessing at ambers, but then again, it’s been a helluva long time since I’ve had to do any kind of lighting so for all I know they were using straw or no color blue and no color purple. But it was definitely warm.
The audience itself was mostly Western, hence there was clapping at the end of Act I, much to my relief. It seemed like the majority of the people were friends of the actors or some such. At least in this time around , no one fell asleep like when I went to see The Taming of the Shrew last year.
There were a lot of great moments in the show. It seemed to me that Jen Neales had a strong presence, and our main fellow Jonathan Mendelsohn had a great stage voice but the gestures were distracting to me; and the supporting players were equally strong in their own right.
Watching the show made me miss theatre all over again.
Bloody hell, I have a craving for take-out Chinese food, like from Great Wall or Yu’s.
Grrr…
Dude, so I was trying to remember when I went to Kyoto the first time and backtracked to the old post. Apparently, I wrote that I was thinking about getting an iPod even then!
From April 4, 2006
I am considering investing in an iPod. But if I do that, I will undoubtedly invest in a speaker system of some kind thereafter. That’s just how it would work with me. Anyone care to comment on this prospect and whether or not this would be an adventagous venture or not?
I find this incredibly amusing for some reason; maybe it’s ‘cuz there’s something sad about it to me. I mean, I really take my time to mull it over. And I guess I know myself well ‘cuz the day after I bought Kaylee, I bought Persephone…heh…
Kaylee’s so pretty. If only she would play RENT…
Of course. Why is it that electronic items and I get into such disagreements? Kaylee doesn’t seem to like RENT at the moment. I’m hoping to remedy this problem and have sent a query to one Ask Mark. I have my fingers crossed that I will not be at odds with Kaylee the way I can be with my beloved John. I mean, we barely know each other.
So I’m back on my Peanut M&M kick, as well as spaghetti. No, I’m not quite like me Da where he puts M&M’s or Skittles into his pasta, I mean, what freak would do such a thing? (And I can say this ‘cuz it ain’t like me Da is likely to I don’t know, check his e-mail or anything let alone check the blog. Which reminds me, someone put something in his food while I’m away! *looks pointedly at Vicki of Wau-con-da*) But yeah, the M&M’s are only 100 Yen at the SunKus by work so I’ve been like loading up. Back in the states I would never pay a dollar for this size bag, but the Japanese use 100 Yen coins like quarters in this country, so in my Japanese-head, this is a good deal.
I’m back to my spaz thing, second guessing stuff as is my way. I know that my head is so totally wrong, but I can’t help it. Friends and I don’t mix well and in certain friendships I guess I’ll always have serious doubts before just accepting that things are the way they are because they are (I lack for commas in there, don’t I…). I guess the folly of Umeda (and other instances) still linger deep with in the recesses of my stupidity. Lousy insecurity! I shake my fist at thee!
On the bright side, and potentially something completely different, I’ve been writing…well, kind of. I keep trying to remember that this is for fun and that I don’t need to try this hard, but like many other things in my life, I take this too seriously.
Now there’s a funny thought. Tell me, friends, do I strike you as “serious”?
Remember how I said having Rob’s collection of DVD’s was probably going to be a bad thing? Yeah. Watching Alias Season 4. I have fond memories of watching that with Yoss during my harrowing student-teaching days. It was the one night a week I got to be free of any kind of responsibility. That and the opening credits always made me smile. Wow. Going to hell.
They don’t have my Gummi Bears at Yamaya anymore. They have the weird hard ones again. I was bummed about that. Maybe that’s why I got back into M&M’s.
Wow. Toni’s right. I usually do mention a lot of food in these posts. Which reminds me, I really want pop corn. Why, oh why can’t Costco carry my pop corn again? They have this weird 94% Fat Free Butter crap that tastes awful! I just want Light Butter, people. Is that too much to ask?
Oh! I forgot to mention I inherited these private students from Rob who are just a blast. I had my first session with them this past Tuesday and seriously, I coulda done that for free. The students are a bunch of housewives who speak way more Japanese than English, but they were still fun. Rob was right; it’s pretty easy money.
Speaking of housewives, and this is a legitimate segue, we went to Costco on Friday (where I bought Persephone) because the Tea Ceremony ladies had never been to it before. Japanese housewives are a lot of fun.
I think that’s all the madness for now. It’s cold in the house again. It flurried this morning. I can see my breath in my room. Maybe I should use a heater…but I think it’s going to warm up again this week. I managed to keep my last electricity bill under 2,000 Yen. I was pretty proud of myself.
Yeah. Gonna go burrow under the covers now. Happy late birthday to my pal Al! I was gonna post about it but unfortunately for me, I got distracted by something shiny. D’ya get the flowers?