Brokeback Mountain is out in the States! How jealous am I? I was reading stuff online and came across this:
"My friend and I were discussing the movie and she said 'Do you think they'll mind if I just bring my vibrator with me into the theater?'
Made me laugh... and sort of consider it myself."
I think that quote is a far better review than any critic can write.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Catching Up
So once again I been a bad blogger. Work has been crazy lately, it seems, so I haven’t had any time to write while I’m here. Today isn’t so bad, so I will summarize the last week or so….
Friday night was nice and relaxing…I went to Nacchan’s for a yummy-as-usual dinner, then went home to watch RENT THE MOVIE, yo. Got a little help from Myra-chan in order to do so, sankyuu! Anyway, some wine, white chocolate, and Rent? How could a Friday night be any better?
I still don’t know how I feel about the movie. It is good because it is Rent, but I don’t think it is necessarily a good movie? Columbus is just a bad director, he has no sense of what works on film. He also cut parts that were important, and changed things that shouldn’t have been changed. But the cast was really good (except for Adam who doesn’t know how to act), and some songs were really good. I liked it, but didn’t love it or anything. I need to watch again with lower expectations and see how I feel. We’ll shee.
On Saturday I met up with Veronica at AEON and saw Harry Potter again. Fuck, that movie is damn good! I am on a HP high right now, so I bought my THIRD copies of HP 3 and 4. I bought them in the US, then bought them here when I wanted to read them in 2000, but all of those copies are in the States, so I bought ‘em while I was at AEON. I have quite the HP collection going on, apparently. Saturday night, I didn’t do much, since I had to wake up at bloody 4:50 the next morning!!!!
Stupid Japanese proficiency test! Woke up bloody early, took the 5:51 train from Yabbers, met up with Emily (thanks for keeping me awake! I fear I may have missed a transfer or two without her) and ended up at Saitama University with plenty of time. The first two parts of the test (vocab/kanji and listening) made me unexpectedly confident (did I mention I didn’t study AT ALL?), but then it all went downhill during reading/grammar. There was fucking FUCKED UP grammar on that shit, yo. Who knows what the hell that shit was. So, yeah, there is NO way I passed that test. It was all Scantron, but for some reason everyone has to wait 2 1/2 months for the results? Only in Japan.
After the test I was exhausted and braindead, but excited because I got to meet up with Natsumi and Adam! Natsumi was one of my RAs at Senshu last year, and she is muy cool, yo. Adam is her boyfriend who is teaching English in Saitama. I met up with them and had my second gingerbread latte of the day (SO happy they have them here) and did a bit of Uniqlo shopping. It was really fun to see them, but we will def. have to do it again when I’m not exhausted.
Sunday night I slept harder than I have in MONTHS. I was like dead pretty much.
Work has been crazy this week. Tuesday I had five classes AND had to help students with speech contest stuff. Yesterday I had five classes at shou and had to come back on my one period off to help students. Today is my first non-busy day, yay.
Apparently Yabuzuka is becoming aware that they have a Japanese-speaking ALT, which I am not amused about! I have to do a 90-minute presentation about America in Japanese in January. I don’t care about the fact that it’s in Japanese, but I don’t know what to talk about for 90 minutes in ENGLISH. What the hell?! So, er, if anyone has any bright ideas for that, let me know. I get to use pictures and stuff, but I don’t have THAT many pictures from home that aren’t “Here is Jeff drunk! Here is Jeff drunk and giving someone a lap dance! Here is Jeff getting a lap dance from a drunk friend!”
Embarrassing gaijin monkey story of the week: I have to be Santa Claus at the Public Hall (I don’t know how to translate that word) next week! Cindy, I hope it is better than the scary Santa suit we saw in Maebashi. God it is going to be embarrassing. I’m sure it will end up being fun, tho, as I get to give 3 year-olds presents. I will be sure to have someone take pictures. Ugh.
K, this post is long enough, and now I am all caught up! I still have to post a shitload of pictures, but that will happen after the trip to Lake Haruna
this weekend.
Friday night was nice and relaxing…I went to Nacchan’s for a yummy-as-usual dinner, then went home to watch RENT THE MOVIE, yo. Got a little help from Myra-chan in order to do so, sankyuu! Anyway, some wine, white chocolate, and Rent? How could a Friday night be any better?
I still don’t know how I feel about the movie. It is good because it is Rent, but I don’t think it is necessarily a good movie? Columbus is just a bad director, he has no sense of what works on film. He also cut parts that were important, and changed things that shouldn’t have been changed. But the cast was really good (except for Adam who doesn’t know how to act), and some songs were really good. I liked it, but didn’t love it or anything. I need to watch again with lower expectations and see how I feel. We’ll shee.
On Saturday I met up with Veronica at AEON and saw Harry Potter again. Fuck, that movie is damn good! I am on a HP high right now, so I bought my THIRD copies of HP 3 and 4. I bought them in the US, then bought them here when I wanted to read them in 2000, but all of those copies are in the States, so I bought ‘em while I was at AEON. I have quite the HP collection going on, apparently. Saturday night, I didn’t do much, since I had to wake up at bloody 4:50 the next morning!!!!
Stupid Japanese proficiency test! Woke up bloody early, took the 5:51 train from Yabbers, met up with Emily (thanks for keeping me awake! I fear I may have missed a transfer or two without her) and ended up at Saitama University with plenty of time. The first two parts of the test (vocab/kanji and listening) made me unexpectedly confident (did I mention I didn’t study AT ALL?), but then it all went downhill during reading/grammar. There was fucking FUCKED UP grammar on that shit, yo. Who knows what the hell that shit was. So, yeah, there is NO way I passed that test. It was all Scantron, but for some reason everyone has to wait 2 1/2 months for the results? Only in Japan.
After the test I was exhausted and braindead, but excited because I got to meet up with Natsumi and Adam! Natsumi was one of my RAs at Senshu last year, and she is muy cool, yo. Adam is her boyfriend who is teaching English in Saitama. I met up with them and had my second gingerbread latte of the day (SO happy they have them here) and did a bit of Uniqlo shopping. It was really fun to see them, but we will def. have to do it again when I’m not exhausted.
Sunday night I slept harder than I have in MONTHS. I was like dead pretty much.
Work has been crazy this week. Tuesday I had five classes AND had to help students with speech contest stuff. Yesterday I had five classes at shou and had to come back on my one period off to help students. Today is my first non-busy day, yay.
Apparently Yabuzuka is becoming aware that they have a Japanese-speaking ALT, which I am not amused about! I have to do a 90-minute presentation about America in Japanese in January. I don’t care about the fact that it’s in Japanese, but I don’t know what to talk about for 90 minutes in ENGLISH. What the hell?! So, er, if anyone has any bright ideas for that, let me know. I get to use pictures and stuff, but I don’t have THAT many pictures from home that aren’t “Here is Jeff drunk! Here is Jeff drunk and giving someone a lap dance! Here is Jeff getting a lap dance from a drunk friend!”
Embarrassing gaijin monkey story of the week: I have to be Santa Claus at the Public Hall (I don’t know how to translate that word) next week! Cindy, I hope it is better than the scary Santa suit we saw in Maebashi. God it is going to be embarrassing. I’m sure it will end up being fun, tho, as I get to give 3 year-olds presents. I will be sure to have someone take pictures. Ugh.
K, this post is long enough, and now I am all caught up! I still have to post a shitload of pictures, but that will happen after the trip to Lake Haruna
this weekend.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Wet Wednesday
K, it has not been a "wet Wednesday" (whatever that means) in any way, but I wanted a title with alliteration.
Today I went to Minami Shougakkou for a day of being a lazy-as ALT! It seems to be the theme of the last few weeks at shougakkou, but as long as the kids have fun I figure it's okay. I have discovered the excellence of art projects: keep the kids busy, let them have fun, and just watch them do stuff rather than running around! Now that I am done with the culture board, the art project this week was making Christmas cards. In my defense, I was told my lesson would be called "It's Christmas time!" and I didn't want them to have to learn stupid words such as "reindeer," "stocking," etc. So, Christmas cards, it is! The kids actually ended up really enjoying it, so it was fun. I also made a CD of a bunch of Christmas songs I found off Limewire, and it sadly made me a bit homesick! I love the holidays! And, somehow, the songs didn't drive me crazy? I expected them to release some sort of pent-up post-traumatic stress disorder memories of working three holidays at Barnes and Noble, but I actually enjoyed the songs. Very scary. Holly, I'm sure you're shuddering at the thought of CHOOSING to listen to this music.
While we're on the subject of Christmas music, I have decided that I absolutely despise "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." There is really nothing good about the song. It is annoying and also a bit inappropriate. The kid's mom is a total slut. I am not positive if his mother is married, but still, kissing Santa Claus? That's just skanky. Plus, I don't like to think that Santa goes around pimpin' on kids' moms on Christmas Eve. That's just nasty. He's about giving, not about making out with sluts!
Also, I have a confession to make...I sadly enjoyed Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" WAY too much today. I heard it in four classes and rocked out each time. That song fucking rocks. I am not the only one who likes it, tho, as the scary 4nensei teacher who usually seems to hate life was even tapping his feet to the magic of Mariah's Christmas caroling.
I had lunch with my 3nensei today, which was fun for the most part. They asked me what time it was in America, and when I said that it was last night's 9:00, one of them asked "Are you sleepy?" I stared for a second, then informed her that I live in Japan :) Apparently I fly into Narita every other Wednesday to teach shougakkou! Hehe. By the end of the lunch I was a bit tired of being the gaijin monkey, tho. They would literally comment on EVERYTHING I was doing. "Look, he has his hand in his pockets! Look, he is touching his leg!" I am not kidding. It was a bit scary, as half of them were just staring at me while they brushed their teeth. Crazy Nihonjin.
I made up for being a lazy ALT by going to chuugakkou on my one period off to help two 2nensei with their speeches...no breaks today, sad! I am evil and kind of hope they get knocked out in the preliminary speech contest this Saturday so I don't have to practice with them anymore ;) God I am the worst ALT ever!
Anyway, tonight consists of watching lots of TV and never moving. Will hopefully blog tomorrow to summarize last week, as I have been too busy to blog lately.
Today I went to Minami Shougakkou for a day of being a lazy-as ALT! It seems to be the theme of the last few weeks at shougakkou, but as long as the kids have fun I figure it's okay. I have discovered the excellence of art projects: keep the kids busy, let them have fun, and just watch them do stuff rather than running around! Now that I am done with the culture board, the art project this week was making Christmas cards. In my defense, I was told my lesson would be called "It's Christmas time!" and I didn't want them to have to learn stupid words such as "reindeer," "stocking," etc. So, Christmas cards, it is! The kids actually ended up really enjoying it, so it was fun. I also made a CD of a bunch of Christmas songs I found off Limewire, and it sadly made me a bit homesick! I love the holidays! And, somehow, the songs didn't drive me crazy? I expected them to release some sort of pent-up post-traumatic stress disorder memories of working three holidays at Barnes and Noble, but I actually enjoyed the songs. Very scary. Holly, I'm sure you're shuddering at the thought of CHOOSING to listen to this music.
While we're on the subject of Christmas music, I have decided that I absolutely despise "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." There is really nothing good about the song. It is annoying and also a bit inappropriate. The kid's mom is a total slut. I am not positive if his mother is married, but still, kissing Santa Claus? That's just skanky. Plus, I don't like to think that Santa goes around pimpin' on kids' moms on Christmas Eve. That's just nasty. He's about giving, not about making out with sluts!
Also, I have a confession to make...I sadly enjoyed Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" WAY too much today. I heard it in four classes and rocked out each time. That song fucking rocks. I am not the only one who likes it, tho, as the scary 4nensei teacher who usually seems to hate life was even tapping his feet to the magic of Mariah's Christmas caroling.
I had lunch with my 3nensei today, which was fun for the most part. They asked me what time it was in America, and when I said that it was last night's 9:00, one of them asked "Are you sleepy?" I stared for a second, then informed her that I live in Japan :) Apparently I fly into Narita every other Wednesday to teach shougakkou! Hehe. By the end of the lunch I was a bit tired of being the gaijin monkey, tho. They would literally comment on EVERYTHING I was doing. "Look, he has his hand in his pockets! Look, he is touching his leg!" I am not kidding. It was a bit scary, as half of them were just staring at me while they brushed their teeth. Crazy Nihonjin.
I made up for being a lazy ALT by going to chuugakkou on my one period off to help two 2nensei with their speeches...no breaks today, sad! I am evil and kind of hope they get knocked out in the preliminary speech contest this Saturday so I don't have to practice with them anymore ;) God I am the worst ALT ever!
Anyway, tonight consists of watching lots of TV and never moving. Will hopefully blog tomorrow to summarize last week, as I have been too busy to blog lately.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Globalization in the Classroom
This week I have been using pictionary as a warm-up for my 2nensei classes, as it’s easy, fun, and gets them moving. I use a lot of basic words for pictionary (car, bicycle, fruits, drinks, etc etc), as I can’t exactly have them drawing pictures of “compare” and shit like that. I always throw in a couple of random things to surprise them, including one country name. This is mainly just because I am curious to see what they think of when they hear a country.
This week I used Canada, and most classes drew the Canadian flag. However, one class was having issues with Canada in general. For one, I got the most…er….”interesting” map of North and South America I have ever seen. After a few failed guesses, one stidemt attempted to draw the flag, I guess, but only drew a maple leaf, with no border around it or anything. Upon seeing this, one of the sorta-troublemaker kids (who was enjoying pictionary very much and was actually participating) was like “Oh! Marijuana!” with a completely straight face. I do have to admit that the maple leaf looked like a pot leaf, but does he actually think I would give that to the students as something to draw?! I literally couldn’t stop laughing for two minutes. However, upon further analysis, marijuana is kind of a synonym for Canada anyway, so I should have given him the point.
This week I used Canada, and most classes drew the Canadian flag. However, one class was having issues with Canada in general. For one, I got the most…er….”interesting” map of North and South America I have ever seen. After a few failed guesses, one stidemt attempted to draw the flag, I guess, but only drew a maple leaf, with no border around it or anything. Upon seeing this, one of the sorta-troublemaker kids (who was enjoying pictionary very much and was actually participating) was like “Oh! Marijuana!” with a completely straight face. I do have to admit that the maple leaf looked like a pot leaf, but does he actually think I would give that to the students as something to draw?! I literally couldn’t stop laughing for two minutes. However, upon further analysis, marijuana is kind of a synonym for Canada anyway, so I should have given him the point.
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