desire to blog again

1.5 years have passed since I got back.

Thought I was done blogging but I’m itching to blog again. I don’t think anyone really reads this anyway, but I like reading my own old posts once in awhile. It brings me back the memories and helps me remember how God was at work in different points of my life.

I miss my kids and friends from Japan terribly. But honestly I  had no time to miss them bc teaching fourth grade has been so challenging.I’m just thankful to have survived my first year teaching. Second year is much better but still has it’s own challenges. So during breaks, all I want to do is rest and not think about school.

But I’m determined to not let fatigue overcome my daily life starting 2015. Perhaps blogging will help me with it.

 

2.5 months left!

I was going to update this blog diligently when I started it 3 years ago….but I just stink at updating regularly.

But I want to make a list of things that i’m going to miss……………………..

Will keep updating as they come to me.

but today, after teaching Korean class to 10 middle aged ladies….i realized how blessing it was to get the class started…to meet these wonderful ladies…to be able to even teach Korean.  i’m so humbled that they come out so regularly and they enjoy the lessons. although one lady kinda dozed off last class while we were reviewing some words. lol

So things i’m gonna miss!

– Korean class ladies

-My precious students that sing One Direction songs by heart during break time

-Natto!!-Speaking and hearing Japanese all day

-Having Wednesday afternoons off (1/2 day!!)

 

New School Year

So my desk at the Board of Ed is gone now…b/c of all the reconstruction going on at the city office, more people moved into the Board of Ed office… so they got rid of ALTs’ desks….
which means I have to be at school even during the break.
cons about coming to school instead of BOE is that it’s farther…so I don’t get to sleep in like i used to during breaks…and i don’t get to see the BOE people anymore.
pros about coming to school is that i get to eat out with the school teachers…i can never do this during the school year b/c they are super busy and we can only eat school lunch….and i get to mingle more with the teachers..they seem to be more relaxed during the vacation time.

Two more days of spring break and a new school year starts.

So with the new school year starting and all….some of the teachers were moved to different schools (teachers in Japan are hired by the prefecture and the head of the prefecture move the teachers around so that they don’t stay in one school for too long…usually 6-7 years in one school).. My one and only JTE i worked with got switched…sigh..
so it was an abrupt goodbye with lots of tears.

Maybe a lot of teachers i worked with for the past 3 years being changed has affected me a lot….i’m really not looking forward to starting another school year.
and this ALT job has gotten really repetitive for me.

I visited my sister in Okinawa last week as my last big trip in Japan. and i got to visit her 2nd grade class room (international school). and it made me want to go home and start an actual job ASAP.

i thought it’s gonna be super hard to say goodbye to Japan, now that i only have 4 months left…but my yearning for home has grown bigger and I am now counting down the days till i go home. saying goodbye to my students and the people i met here is gonna be really tough, but i have a hope that God bring me back here some day and I’ll get to connect with them again sometime in the future.

Anyway, my visit to Okinawa was good in that i got to bond w/ my sister. and it made me realize how much i missed her. weird to say. kinda makes me sad that we’re not gonna be living near each other for awhile.

yup. that’s my sister. inside a huge bell.
i’m not even sure if we are allowed to go in that thing………haha some historic site in Okinawa.

another random note…….
i finally for once in my life cleared out my inbox…and for the first time EVER it says, no new email. haha
took me a whole week to sort out 7000 + emails i had since 2007ish.

but i was able to read through some old emails and laugh/shudder at how immature i sound.
hopefully i matured these past 3 years in japan. haha

Arm Wrestling Match and ramblings

Yesterday was the school assembly where all students gathered at the gym and did some recreational activity.  And the activity was…………………….

arm wrestling match!

Each class  had one girl and one boy winners and they arm wrestled against other grades.  2nd year girl became the girl champion and a 1st year boy became the boy champion. And this picture is the final round.  This first year boy was so strong. He won all the games as if it was a joke.  He does Aikido……..some type of martial arts….maybe that’s why?  It was so fun watching all the kids arm wrestle each other….but, one boy apparently broke his elbow and had to go to the hospital. tsk tsk.

While they were doing the matches, the class officers put on One Direction songs….and the whole school was singing along. LOL  That’s right. I introduced them the One Direction craziness.

Anyway, I took the bus to school yesterday b/c it was raining, and the after school teacher that i lovee told me she could drive me home. She always gives me a lift, so I felt bad about it and told her it’s okay.  And she told me you are dirtying the water. What? 

In Japan, when a close friend treats you like a stranger, they say, “Mizu Kusai,” which means rotting water.  B/c siblings and family are referred to as blood and friends and acquaintances as water…..and i guess me telling her not to give me a ride was “dirtying” the water.

Anyway, this teacher (she’s a retired English teacher), she’s so sarcastic…and i LOVE it. While we were walking to the car, I asked her if it’s supposed to rain tomorrow too…..and since she knows  I never check the weather….she says in English, “Why do you never check the weather?  You are so primitive.”

LOL!  Did she just call me primitiveeee?

I guess I am…………………

i never check the weather……..i don’t have a smart phone………and I don’t have FB! haha

10 things i’m thankful for today….

1.  Forgot to set an alarm last night…woke up at 7:10…the usual time I wake up. =)

2.  Thankful for the health…. so I can ride my bike to/from work.  One of my fav times of the day….

3.  Thankful for the busy school day so I don’t have to sit at the office twiddling my thumbs.

4.  My students are just SO cute.  SO thankful for each one of them!!! I was working on the English board today…and one girl was so sad that I took down the One Direction posters…..i told her i hung them on the other side of the room….then she just smiled right back…..during lunch time, the girl and her friend came to the English class and listened to One D songs…and jumped like crazy as if they were at One D concert. lol  =D

5.  Had so much fun playing table tennis with the 2nd year junior high boys during their P.E. class. 

6.  v-day chocolate making at my international club was a success!  Except the chocolate covered strawberries….let’s just say….the strawberries refused to get covered with chocolate..

7.  my international club kids…they are always laughing and giggling….metcha ukeruuuu (girly term for that’s so funny…haha)

8.  One of my ex-students came for a visit after school.  Had a good time talking to him.  Gonna miss my students so much when i leave……..sigh…..

9.  3 day weekend!!! YESHHH.

10.  did i say……..3 day weekend? YEAHH

Gangnam Style finally hitting Japan?

So ever since Gangnam Style was “in”, (which was last year summer?) I wanted to talk to my students about it, but none of my Japanese students knew about it….

But the other day, my first year Junior high boys started singing “op op op op oppan gangnam style.”  SO funny!  They dance to it and sing it randomly during class when they are doing individual work….and they’ve been asking me to download the MV so they can watch it on the digital board during break time…haha  dunno if i should….but i can finally talk to them about it and DANCE w/ them. =D  It must be just the first year boys though…..

On the other hand, my other classes are into One Direction these days……I showed them “What Makes You Beautiful” MV and one boy got soo into it, that he bought the CD and has been stalking One D like crazy….he was telling me today who dated who and broke up with who and how the One D members had a fight….lol  They watch the MV before and after class….i’m surprised that it’s a boy who’s all into One D though…..

and thanks to Gracie Poo who got me bunch of teeny bopper magazines….they’ve been looking at the One D pictures in the magazines over and over. haha

Anyway, in my junior high first year class, there’s a running joke about Takoyaki…it’s pretty funny…Takoyaki is Japanese food….it’s ball-shaped and got octopus pieces inside.  Everyone likes Takoyaki in Japan…i don’t think i have met anyone who dislikes it here…

So whenever the kids get a chance, they try to incorporate Takoyaki into the lesson.  For example–

“Can you eat 100 Takoyaki?”

“Do you like eating Takoyaki?”

“How many Takoyaki can you eat?”

And today, during the lesson, kids had to act out something, and their partner had to guess what they were doing…so one kid volunteered and I knew he was gonna continue the running joke and he did…he acted out eating Takoyaki….”um…you are eating Takoyaki!!”

So every time i go to their class, i have crazy cravings for Takoyaki….

Maybe I’ll get some next time i see a Takoyaki shop.

 

Japanese? Korean? American?

When I went to Korea this winter vacation, I learned that I no longer
look Korean, but I look Japanese.  My grandmother’s friend came over
and told me I look Japanese.
I thought she is just saying this because she knows I live in Japan.
But couple days later, I was showing my Japanese friend around Myong
dong, and while we were shopping, all the workers at the stores spoke
to me in Japanese.  At this one shop, the lady worker was fluent in
Japanese because she had lived in Japan for 6 years.  So I asked her
in Japanese, “What nationality do you think I am?” and she said, “Not
Japan, because your Japanese has an accent.”  So I spoke back to her
in Korean that I’m Korean.  But she replied, “But you are not Korean
either because your Korean accent is weird.”  I then told her that I’m
from States.  But funnier thing happened when a dude in a spider-man
suit tried to get us to come eat at this restaurant….he kept following
us, so I told him to stop in Korean.

Me : Ah JJOM!!!  Gue man hae yo!! (STOP)
Spider-man: Oh, are you Jae ill gyo po?  (Korean Japanese)
Me: No.
Spider-man: Then why do you have a weird accent?
Me: I’m from States. (walking away…telling Japanese friend what
happened in Japanese)
Spider-man: (pops out of nowhere) You lied to me! You`re Japanese.
 -___-

More confirmations about how I look Japanese….

At the airport―

Lady doing the security check :  E jjok eu ro o se yo (come this way… in Korean)

Lady: (looks up at me)  Chotto kochi ni kite kudasai.  Kutsu sawattemo
ii desuka. (Come this way. May I check your shoes…in Japanese).

Me: (pretending to be Japanese ‘cause can’t be bothered) Hai ii desu…

In the plane
Cabin attendant: Gamsahapnida, uhsuh o ship shi yo.  (Thank you.
Please come in..in Korean)
Canbin attendant: (looks up at me) Irrashaimase. Arigatougozaimasu….
-__-

Anyway, I chopped off my hair and dyed it super light brown. =)
And I’ve been getting many different comments from kids.

Jr. high boy 1- どちもにあわん。You don’t look good with neither hair style….
Jr. high boy 2- 男の顔しちゅう。 You look like a guy….

Elementary kid 1- 前がよかった。長いほうがいい。 You looked better before.  You look
better with long hair.
Elementary kid 2- モデルみたい!  You look like a model! (obviously most honest kid)

But funniest thing happened today…..one 6th grade teacher in the
morning called me and his assistant teacher over….I thought he was
gonna tell us something serious or tell me about today’s lesson.  He
looks at his assistant teacher and says, “Hey, don’t you think Hyemi
looks very nice with the new hair cut?”  “Hyemi, how do you say you
look cute in English?”  “I just called you over to tell you that.” LOL

He’s pretty old, so I don’t think he was saying this in a sleezy way.
Haha but this one comment really made my day.  I should say nice
things to ppl more often!

Btw, why is yen weakening so much when I need to send money home…..

All I Want for Christmas is YOUU

This is one of my fav. Christmas songs. haha

For all my junior high classes, we listen to pop songs and sing along in the beginning of the class.  And 2nd years have been listening to this song for December.

During this “music” time, I usually sing super loud and try to annoy my students and they always giggle and laugh. lol I love it!

And as always, I was singing along to this song and was even trying to copy Mariah Carey’s high notes…..

And as the song was nearing to its end to the part that goes “all I want for Christmasssssss iiiiiiiiiis………….YOUUUUU” I looked straight at my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English…so the main English teacher) and pointed right at her and at the same time, my JTE looked back at me and did the same thing. LOL we didn’t even plan this. 

I burst out into laughing and all the students started laughing too.

BTW, this was the first period of the day…..

After laughing, some of my students were saying, “朝からテンションちょうう高い” which means….”they are so hyper starting from morning….”

Anyway, my JTE and I have gotten really close….and we joke and laugh together a lot…

She tells me stories about her son, and her son is HILARIOUS….I almost want to write a book about her son. haha 

I guess what i’m trying to say is….THANKFUL for a wonderful JTE to work with…my one and only JTE (’cause my school is so small haha). 

MERRY CHRISTMASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Obachans

This past Wednesday was Kochi ALT orientation and we had the opportunity to learn some Japanese culture through workshops.  I signed up for Shamisen and Chigirie.  Shamisen was fun to play.  We learned to play the Yosakoi song (traditional song that ppl dance to during the Yosakoi festival in Kochi). 

Chigirie is a paper art where you rip Japanese traditional papers to create an art piece.  We made Mt. Fuji.  Mine turned out pretty decent, despite me trying to rush to finish it. haha  The best thing about this workshop was though, running into an old lady that I met before…I met this lady on the bus, on my way to the airport when I went to Korea 2 years ago.  She was really into Kpop, especially Tohoshinki, and she had asked for my phone number.  After that, she never called me, so I didn’t think much about it, but I ran into her again at my elementary school.  She came to teach Chigirie to my students.  She told me she’s going to take the students’ Chigirie artwork to Korea and teach it to Korean elementary school students.  So, I offered to translate what the students wrote in Japanese to Korean (kids had written their wish in Japanese on the artwork).  After this incident, I didn’t think I’ll meet her again, but she called me on Monday and told me she’ll be teaching the workshop on Wednesday and that she’s excited to see me!  I think it’s really cool that I ran into her three times at random times. haha 

So after we finished the workshop, she told me she had something to give me.  She gave me a bag full of mikans (clementine?) and some Japanese snacks.  =)

This really made my day….but it doesn’t end there…

After the orientation, I went to the Bonenkai for my Korean class. =D

Bonenkai is end of the year party and it means to forget the woes and troubles of the year. Wasn’t really planning on having one for the Korean class, but my obachan (old lady) students wanted to eat at the Korean restaurant…so we did. I was surprised that all of them showed up….so we had a pretty big crowd–total of 12 ppl.  We basically took over the whole restaurant. Before eating, I told them they should order in Korean to show off what they learned, but they were too shy. lol

I’m really thankful for these obachans ’cause when I started the class, I didn’t even think I’ll hangout with them outside of class….but all of them are so eager to learn, and they really enjoy my class. =) 

After the dinner, one of the ladies bought some kimchi from the restaurant, and I thought she bought them for herself, but when we were saying goodbye, she gave me some kimchi to take home. How sweet is that?

I love obachans. =)

 

SO COLD!!!

The weather has gotten really cold lately…=(

which means the beginning of the kairo season (heat packs).

Today we had SDC (Skills Development Conference) instead of normal teaching day.   SDC is a training/workshop conference where all the ALTs in the Kochi prefecture gather together.  I like SDC ’cause it’s something different than just going to school.

So in the morning, other ALT in my town was coming to pick me up with the BOE car and I witnessed something very cute/funny.  ’cause it was just the time for the elementary school kids to go to school, I saw my students walk by……and I saw one first grader just taking off his backpack and everything he was holding and doing a crazy dance. LOL  At first I had NO idea what he was doing, but apparently he was trying to take off the heat pack he was wearing on his back.  The kind of heat pack he had on was the attaching kind, so no matter how hard you “dance” it wouldn’t just come off.  He tried to take it off ’cause his hands were freezing and he wanted to hold them, instead of having it on his back.  After I helped him take it off, he tried to hold it…but you are really not supposed to directly hold it ’cause it might cause low-heat sunburn….this kid was so frustrated already from having to dance so hard….and from the cold weather……so when I told him this, he went, “then just stick it on my arm!” haha He was really getting angry, almost crying, b/c his hands were freezing. =(  I had gloves so my hands were warm…so i held his hands for a bit….but i don’t think that helped… he walked away grumpily…angry at the cold weather. haha  I know he was being serious, but just the sight of all this was hilarious….hope he remembers to wear gloves next time. So that crazy dance started my day off w/ a smile………..but it doesn’t end there!

During last year’s SDC, there were some veteran ALTs who facilitated discussions, and I remember thinking, it’d be great if I could do something like that.  It’s weird ’cause I like doing things in front of people, but at the same time really shy about it.  But this year, the ALT who’s in charge of helping out with the conference asked me randomly to facilitate a discussion. =D  I thought I would get nervous, but I really enjoyed doing it and it turned out to be better than I thought it would be.  hee  I guess what I’m trying to say is….God remembered what I desired in my heart and He made it happen!  This always happens….when I first came to Japan, one ALT from Kochi met us newbies in Tokyo and brought us back to Kochi, and I remember thinking, it’d be fun to do something like that…and I did just that this summer! I applied for the position, thinking I won’t get it, but I ended up getting it and was able to bring the newbies back to Kochi. =D  God is good yeah?

More things to be thankful for!!  An ALT in my town got his bike stolen a couple of weeks ago, and it was an expensive bike.  So when I found out about it, I prayed that God will help him find it….and this morning, on the way to SDC, I remembered about his bike being stolen and I prayed about it again…and GUESS WHAT?  That ALT got a phone call during the SDC that the police found the bike. =D 

Some people might say that it’s just a coincidence, but I believe that everything that happens is under God’s great sovereign control, and I know that God answered my prayer.

 

Booyah. haha