10 Things I Learned in September

10. I should have bought a keitei earlier.

I waited one year before I ventured into a cell phone shop. The fellow took my info and proceeded to fill out my information for me. An hour later, I was in possession of my own dandy keitei. Behold, the phone I only need to charge once every few days. It takes pictures, serves as a dictionary, and plays the Final Fantasy IX theme "Melodies of Life." Yes, I have a video game ring tone.

9. There's an undoukai for everything.

September 9th: Junior high sports day.

September 23rd: Nishi elementary sports day.

September 24th: Ie elementary sports day.

October 1st: Ie island sports day.

October 6th: Kunigami sports day.

8. Japanese residency gets me no bonus points come Nov. 19.

Imagine my surprise to learn that North America gets the Wii before Japan. It debuts November 19th, while Japan receives it two weeks later on December 2nd.

First party games are region free, however. Delicious!

7. Heavy drinking does not a good eye make.

After the first night of school, there was a party to celebrate the start of the term. The teachers and I went down to Yoshinoya, one of my favorite resturaunts (I dig the curry), and we ate in one of the back party rooms. This was the night I got my keitei, so there was a glorious exchange of information. I was staying away from the liquor. That is, until they asked me to MC.

Shinya-sensei--the science teacher--helped me. "Helped" is a relative term: he tried to feed me bad Japanese. I did that on my own a couple times, leading to large laughs around the table. Drinking helped this process, and about half-way through I pretty much decided it was time to get tossed.

I believe I went home after I recited Casey at the Bat. A few days later, this was the result:



Yay for heavy drinking.

6. I can live without playing FFXI constantly.

I have a lot of free time, most of which has been taken up by exercising. My workouts are getting longer, to about the 1 1/2 hour + range, and that's a good chunk of time at night that leaves me pretty exhausted. I still have a lot of free time and I'm filling it with other things. I am obsessed, however, and it remains a great connection back to the states.

5. I should have read Catcher in the Rye six years ago.

So, brother mine looking for books, read this one before you are forced to read it for class and it takes all the pleasure away.

4. Surprise!

Do shit when you can, because you never know when one of the teachers will pop up with some event that no one bothered to tell you about and it's in 15 minutes.

3. A Nintendo DS is an invaluable tool.

2. Five years of indolence does not disappear overnight...

...but it is starting to go away. Since the last report on August 27th update, I've decreased a further 5 kilograms. I've gone from 117 > 108. That was my goal for the month. 9 kilograms lost since the last week of July. That's almost 20 pounds total to anyone using the Queen's system.

I'm running three times a week, and when something doesn't pop up, going to judo 2x a week. Last week there was no judo, so I did some light running on those days and went swimming.

1. The students like me.

The former ALT apparently yelled at the students and pushed them around. He got frustrated easily, and the students didn't like him for it. They didn't like English much as a result either, apparently.

I've been doing more with students lately: exercising with them, helping them clean up and eating with them. I have a natural tendency to stay away as well, since I don't want to be the stupid foreigner getting in the way. However, being the slightly confused foreigner trying to help is better than being the lazy-ass foreigner. I'm communicating with the teachers more as well, and my coworkers seem to get a kick out of the progress of my diet/exercise program.

I've been pleased with my 9th grade students: we're working on making English skits. I connect with them better when it comes to performing. More say good morning to me and are much more likely to stop and talk to me in the hall. Also, where the elementary students love to hang and climb all over me, some of the 7th-9th graders have gotten more buddy-buddy with me of late, which scared me the first time I had an 8th graders arms around my shoulders. Say what you will of strict Japanese teaching, the teachers and students are very close to one another here. The boys wrestle and hassle with the male teachers, the girls chat and are very open with their female teachers. Not something you'd ever see in America.