IrishOboe

I've added a link to Weather Underground's Tropical Weather page, so you can keep an eye on Tropical Storm Banyan, along with other Pacific and Atlantic storms.

I just realized that I haven't set up post categories so everything so far has just been "general."  I'll try to add some and make things more organized.  Lack of organization is one of my complaints about blogs in general.

Anyway, the rest of the day went fine, though I'm very tired.  It's 7pm and I'm going to sort papers and go to bed.  Today we saw a video showing a day in the life of a JET and it was depressing.  I hope my school is different or I might drive myself crazy.  The kids looked bored to tears and the JET spoke in a monotone with unnatural rhythm and in an attempt to speak simply he dropped articles and other important aspects of English grammar!  The students watched the teachers perform a dialogue, then they all spoke it together, then the practiced it in pairs, then they performed it for the class.  This is all the same dialogue!  They didn't change it in the slightest, so all they did was memorize the particular conversation that will never be used in reality.  I don't know how I'm going to resolve my role as a teacher in this system with my philosophies of unschooling.  I pray that God makes a way for us to learn from each other!  At the very least I can come home able to say I was a teacher and able to communicate more specifically why the system isn't ideal.

Well, I survived day 1.  Tomorrow is another full day of orientation then we leave for our prefectures on Wednesday.

It has been brought to my attention that there are some of you don't know what I'm doing here in Japan so here is a very brief summary.  I am here with the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program, which is organized by the government of Japan and has brought nearly 45,000 people from all over the world to Japan over the last 19 years to promote internationalization.  Most JETs (including me) are ALTs (Assistan Language Teachers), and in my case I am at a high school where I team teach with the JLTs (Japanese Language Teachers) sometimes following their lead and sometimes creating my own curriculum.  I am just outside Kofu, the capitol of Yamanashi-ken.  Yamanashi is the prefecture just west of Tokyo and has Mt. Fuji on it's southern border.

Why am I doing this?  I lived in Italy for 6 weeks last summer and had a great time learning a language surrounded by native speakers.  6 weeks wasn't long enough so I looked into longer programs and for various reasons I ended up with JET.  My goals are to learn a decent amount of Japanese, get teaching experience and a look into the Japanese educational system, assimilate all the stuff I learned at Eastman and UR and be free to study, practice, and learn what I want to and think about what I want to do with my life now that I'm outside of the Eastman bubble.

Please email me if you'd like my contact info or just want to say hi.  My email is under the About IrishOboe link.

I hope that provides sufficient background!

I do not have time to do this post justice, but I'm guessing that numerous short blog posts are better than long, but infrequent ones.  Let me know if you think otherwise.

Last night I got about 7 hours of sleep, but kept waking up because my body thought it was day.  Today we've been sitting for presentations in business dress (heels, pantyhose, suit and all), but at least we're getting paid for it.  This afternoon my body told me it was time for bed, but I'm resisting the temptation to nap.  They gave us a ton more books and information that I'd like to wade through and sort before leaving for Yamanashi.  I'm writing this because I'm skipping the third time slot for breakout presentations (they were optional, so I'm not being bad) since the first two were not that helpful.  I'm also getting a break from my darn suit.

Random Observation (from now on, RO) #5: It's not as hot and everyone said it would be, but then again, I've only been here a day.

RO #6:  Did I mention that the bathroom has heated mirrors so it won't fog up?  Also, the toilets are push button and have two bidet settings.  The shampoo they provide is good.  There's hot water and green tea in the room, too!

Hm, I wish there was more to report.  After breakfast (which was fairly western style) I took a walk around the block, which was more complicated than it sounds.  Nothing happened in the presentations that is worth repeating . . .  Soon I have to go to the formal reception.  Then hopefully I'll be able to get to bed!

RO #7:  I am still a messy person.  I've been here not 24 hours and my side of the hotel room is a mess.

RO#8:  I love the internet.  I feel like I'm talking to everyone when I post here and I love hearing from you, too!