How is everyone today? Good I hope. Upon the request of a friend I am going to let you all know what a usual day for me is here at Sapientia University, or Eichi University; we have two names here and most people still have never heard of the school (or schools...Depends who you ask). So here it is.....
7:30am-Wake up, stretch, and go for a run. Hahahahahaha. Just kidding. I'm usually still sleeping about this time; but there was this one time when I got up and went for a jog. It was alright and all. But I really like sleeping too.
between 9 and 9:20am-Usually the time to get up. I have my first class at 9:30, so I at least need to splash some water on my face and go pee. Most of the time I wish that I had some breakfast, but I am really bad about grocery shopping...mostly because the stores only have products with some sort of a foreign writing. So unless I want to live off of noodles that only require hot water, cereal, or food products of that nature, I have to either get my meals from a convenience store (which isn't all bad), or I have to learn to read, cook, and eat mostly all Japanese. Which isn't going to happen anytime too soon.
9:30-Class. Okay, so I will break down the best and the worst things about my students. Best: they are always and usually constantly amusing. Some speak English very well and some don't really want to try. The classes that I teach are non-credit courses and are used by the students to merely assist them in speaking English more naturally. Therefore most of the students have a very good understanding of how to speak, or they at least know a few words. This is good as I am not really an expert in such things as linguistics or in teaching English as a foreign language; as many of you may know my own English skills have often been brought into question, the best example being when I took the ACT and received an 8 on the Grammar Usage and Mechanics section. Don't let 'em know. They rely heavily on standardized tests and are likely to take my score as losing face. I don't know about you but I am a sucker for peer pressure and one of the only ways to regain face (or respect) is that fancy ritualistically suicide, and I don't know if I would be able to say "no" if they asked me to help them out in the aforementioned way. Seriously though, this is a horrible cultural joke. The Japanese practice of harakiri (はらきり) has essentially ceased since Japan has become more westernized since opening it's doors again in 1853, after 213 years of total isolation. I am sure that some still take part in this exciting ritual; but it is no more apart of their daily life now as lynching is in America.
Moving on...
I teach classes from about 9:30 until 4pm. Not a bad day. On my busy days I have classes back to back, but there are a few days a week when I have some free time. Which is not all bad think that the hardest part about teaching here is that I don't know how well I am doing. No one really wants to criticize or offer up suggestions...Maybe that's a good thing.
Nighttime: Well, my nights are quite varied. Usually they involve eating and sleeping. Sometimes we jump on the train and head out to Umeda (station within the city of Osaka). Some nights I cook dinner...or at least eat a sandwich that I bought at the local convenience store. One thing I don't do too much of is watch TV. As mentioned before this option is pretty much not there. But I do rent videos of the great American TV show 24. It's pretty darn good.
Pretty exciting huh...You may be thinking, "well Dan I expected a little more than that. But it does sound different." Well it isn't all bad. There are some other things that I have left out. But they are difficult to explain. The people's expressions when I am on the streets are interesting. They are neither ever happy nor surprised by me. Not too many smiles nor too many scowls. Just blah looks. See I can't explain it.
Well I think that I am about done with this post. Sorry if I didn't do it any justice Erik. It was a good idea. I just screwed it a bit. Alright then. Take care. I love you all.
1 comment:
Hey Danny. I hope you're doing well. It's already 2K5 in Japan. Hm. Funny. I bet you're either drunk or hung over. I'm setting my sights on "drunk" in a couple of hours. More than any of this, I wanted to ask if you have a DVD player there, or could secure one for a few yen (¥.)
Also, I saw your chirstmas video. Good, good stuff. I died laughing when the Peanuts characters spoke Japanese. Also, new Wes Anderson movie is quite good. Watch that there if you can. Talk to you soon, buddy.
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