2007年11月26日月曜日

First Real Week Done


Hello, hello! Well, I think things could only get better since my last post, and so far that has definitely been the case. This past week I was busy working with a full course-schedule now that Megan is gone. Half of my classes are kids, and they are definitely the more challenging ones. Mostly because kids don:t always behave and most of them don:t really want to learn and are instead forced to go to English school by their parents. I think I:m getting the hang of it though. The better you know the kids, the more you learn what works for each class. You gotta trick them into learning sometimes.

The adult classes are a breeze in comparison and most of my students are really awesome. I especially like my high-level discussion classes where I basically just talk about an article or issues in Japan with high-level speakers for 50 minutes. It:s very interesting and I feel like I end up learning as much from them as they do from me!

I also had fun this weekend and am getting out of my lonely slump a bit. Friday was a national holiday in Japan and in honor of the previous day being Thanksgiving in America, I met some friends in Chiba for a pretty awesome all-you-can-eat buffet. Even though grilled meats were the specialty, I did well grilling squid and eating tako-yaki and udon and other Dawn-friendly fare. There was even a waffle machine! Afterwards we all went to an izakaya (Japanese style bar) in Chiba city and played a raucous game of Kings Cup. Only we were all too full from the huge dinner to be able to drink much.

Sunday I went to the last KUIS rugby game of the season. It was an emotional event. Kanda didn:t win, but they played well. Afterwards we all (myself included as a "graduated" player) took our picture together on the pitch and there was a ceremony for the graduating seniors. There was a lot of crying and speech-giving, ending with throwing the seniors in the air. People take the club really seriously and I understand why. Practicing with that team was one of the most rewarding experiences of my time abroad and a huge event in my life. Later, we all met at an izakaya and ate and drank a lot. The already somewhat heavy atmosphere was significantly weighted with the news that a player from their opposing team that day who had been injured during the match and taken away in an ambulance ended up dying in the hospital.

I ended up staying out pretty late with all the ruggers but getting back to my place by around 1:30am at least. Which means I left around 11:30 since I live so far! But since we started drinking at 6, that was a lot of time together.

Today I met my friend Tessa, who was in IES with me when I studied abroad. We went to the new IES center in Shin-Urayasu and caught up with our old advisor Shin-san. He:s awesome and it was so great to see him again. We:ve promised to get together with him soon to get a drink with the other IES people in Tokyo. Afterwards, Tessa and I went to the Hub (sweet English-style bar chain in Japan) to catch up and have some drinks and dinner (yay fish & chips).

Now my eyes are starting to blur because I:ve been in this Internet cafe too long! Miss everyone and hope this post finds you well. :)

1 件のコメント:

BethanyBarber さんのコメント...

I'm glad things are starting to settle into a routine for you and becoming a little more fun and a little less scary/lonely.

I've never heard of anyone dying in a rugby game, though! That's so scary! ::shudders::

You keep keepin' those kids in line--it sounds like you're a great teacher. Miss you!