Mike's Meditations

My Day and Some Excuses

Today's been busy. Well last night too really. I am studying a computer course with the Open University and my first assignment was due in today. It doesn't actually count toward the final mark (although later ones will) but its an opportunity for feedback so I tried to get it done on time. That led to me staying up till three in the morning working on it. Then today was meant to be hiking. A quick glance at the weather put paid to that idea so we (a small gathering of ALTs) just had lunch (and coffee and chatting) all day instead.

We also did a bit of shopping and I was reminded yet again of the value of going clothes shopping with girls (buying for me not them!). This is because they actually make good suggestions what to buy and prevent me from just buying the first thing I see and running out of the shop (British male: can't - stay - in - shop). I also found out this week that going with other blokes may not be a good idea. Elliot, if you're reading this, those swimming trunks DO NOT FIT! To anyone else reading this, yes I'm a fool who just bought tiny swimming trunks that manage to be both too tight and yet very draughty. I also bought goggles only to find that they don't really fit either. They stick into my "high nose" rather painfully and there is no way of adjusting the bridge to make them fit.

I was pretty worn out most of this evening although I now seem to be waking up again. Plans for tomorrow include intensive study of my OU course and meeting Yuka after her exam (shes taking yet another English exam, TOEIC this time I think).

I got a complaint (see post below) about my not posting enough. Its a fair cop. I don't post very regularly mainly because of not being too clear what to say. This might change soon as lessons at school will be finishing soon and I won't have much to do at work over the summer. Among the list of things I may or may not do with this site over the summer are:

• Change the design from the standard Moveable Type template
• Write useful and interesting articles about Japan and life here
• Think of something interesting to say in my posts

So, hows that for a post?

Me and Doraemon

OK, its late and I'm lazy so the Bunkasai report will have to wait for now (I will do it eventually I promise!). So until then, I can tell you it was great. The atmosphere was great. The performances were great and everyone had a good time. I took pics but most didn't come out too well. I've got to figure out how to take a good picture of something moving in the dark (in this case people on a stage with spotlights and no other lighting). At the moment the shutter speed is too slow and everything comes out blurry. I could have a faster shutter speed but then everything is dark. Theres a happy balance somewhere, just haven't found it yet.

Anyway, here's me and Doraemon:

Bunkasai!

On the 20th and 21st Kita High School is holding its culture festival (bunkasai). This week everyone has shifted into overdrive to complete preparations. Most if not all of the clubs are going to do some kind of performance and I believe all of the classes will each have a performance as well. Thats a lot of performances, hence the two days. It should be a lot of fun. There is quite a work hard, play hard culture here and I'm sure that everyone will relax once things get started (and maybe after their performances are out of the way).

As it happens I'm going to be involved in two performances. One with the ESS (English Speaking Society) and one with the Folk Song Club. ESS are going to act out English versions of Japanese TV commercials and the Folk Song Club are going to do a load of songs (mainly Japanese I think). The Folk Song Club is basically a guitar club, I'm not really sure if they ever play any folk songs. My part will be singing (cover your ears) for an English (well American) song. Hopefully I won't mess up too much but we'll see. Of course in the ESS performance I will be acting (but only a little) and giving moral support.

Well, hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures of the event and write some more later.

Dialogue Journals

Recently I did a lesson about giving and receiving advice (on a very simple level) with my first years at Kita. In it we got students to write down problems real or imagined. Hoping for lots of interesting and imaginative problems, instead we got a lot of quite serious ones. The most common one was the "I like English but I can't speak it. What should I do" type. Along with the usual advice I suggested they could start dialogue journals with me. A suggestion which seems to gradually be taking hold.

A dialogue journal is like a diary that is written to someone (in this case me) who reads the entry and then writes back, hence the dialogue. The idea is to encourage actual communication without the fear factor present in speaking. It also has benefits for their extended writing skills, vocabulary and ability to make good sentences. What the student writes isn't marked or corrected (although I may make suggestions on the wording of a sentence when I write back) as the idea is that by reading natural written English they can see for themselves where they have made a mistake and what the correct form is.

As usual, I am feeling my way in the dark a little with this so any suggestions would be welcome.

Unearned Celebrity

There is a strange phenomenon in Japan. It is that any foreigner who "looks" foreign is naturally "cool". As a foreigner I have certainly reaped the benefits, especially with blond hair, blue eyes and a "high" (big) nose. Somehow though it just doesn't sit right. At school, I was never "cool". I was never part of a cool group until we all grew up a little and just hung out with our friends without worrying which group we were in.

Today, I was told to my face that I was cool, not once but twice. The first time I just kind of cringed inside. The second time was from someone who was only in school for two weeks (training as a teacher) and was leaving today. Although I brushed it off as usual, inside I was screaming "but you don't even know me". ;-)

Its a strange situation and a joke that a lot of people don't seem to get. I don't always mind, its kind of nice being a celebrity after all but just occasionally, its more strange than funny.

Maybe I just don't know how to take a compliment...

New Computer!!!

I went out and bought a nice new desktop computer last saturday. I was going to build one from scratch but decided that I'm not quite there with the technical knowledge. That and I would only have Japanese support which is ... a bit of a scary idea frankly.

As the computer came with all Japanese software I'm going to put together a dictionary of computer terms as I learn them. At the moment I'm just going to keep it for myself but if it gets big enough and I can figure out how to do it I'll put it up on this site. A lot of the terms are pretty easy though as they are just katakana english (ディスク　= disk for example). If that doesn't come out right on your computer it says disuku in katakana. Thought I'd experiment with putting some Japanese on the page.