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March 27, 2006
terima kashi
(it means `thank you` and is pronounced: te-ree-ma-ka-cee)
90 min massages: 15 dollars.
banana juice: 7 dollars.
cuban cigar: 23 dollars.
amazing wood-fried pizzas: 12 dollars.
jet ski rentals: 45 dollars.
parasailing: 25 dollars.
banana boat: 12 dollars.
getting rid of your farmer's tan: priceless.
that trip was awesome, will have pictures up in april.
thanks for an awesome vacation you guys.
Posted by Jeff at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2006
will be afk 3/16-3/24
going on vacation to batam and singapore with brad and ryan. will see you guys next friday!
have a good week you guys :).
Posted by Jeff at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2006
more engrish
this is too funny.
this too.
Posted by Jeff at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2006
it's also my favorite...
been having a busy 3 days, anyways, i figured i needed to get out of the teacher's office today and went off to visit my kids who did kendo and kyudo (japanese archery). the cool thing about kyudo is the fact that it doesn't start till highschool; i.e. kendo students have been practicing since they were 8, where as kyudo students start freshman year in highschool - this means i can start too!
plus a lot of my students (7/11) are in the club, and it's pretty cool being able to share in their hobbies ; ).
today kana, hitomi, mihoko, and mari all showed me the proper ways to shoot an arrow, in addition let me actually hold a real bow and practice the form myself. naturally i asked a lot of questions to clarify certain points (depends on how much was lost in translation heh) and we reached the point where they wanted to show me an arrow. after a few minutes of searching, kana finds me a blue arrow, and comes to show me:
kana: this is a 'ya'
me: gotcha
hitomi: this is your bow, or 'yumi'
me: right
mari: this is your 'kege,' glove, and your 'nakakege,' the inner glove
me: you bet
m: so kana, is a blue arrow special? is it for beginners? or for a person taller than 180 cm? is it lighter? faster? more forgiving?
k: actually... it's just a color... you can just pick an arrow of your favorite color and shoot it.
m: you don't say... ;P
ok, so there isn't more than meets the eye, but hey some... things... are color coded...
...
right?
Posted by Jeff at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2006
coolness
drove for the first time since 7/30/05 - 3/4/06!
drove on the wrong side of the road, and, stick, and, it was awesome : )
surprisingly it's not as different as i thought it would be.
Posted by Jeff at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)
no comment.... again
talking about how my favorite radio station is streaming online now:
me: is i'm listening too ;D
m: makes me feel like i'm back home
1: lol wtf
1: you should be indulging in strictly japanese forms of entertainment!
m: lol i don't even have a tv here
1: don't need no tv to sniff used panties :[
m: quoted
yes, the person who's `1` is the same person, so if you know, you're speeeeeeeshial!
and yes, the awkward silence followed.
Posted by Jeff at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2006
your friend, the period.
lately we've been having junior high school kids take the high school entrance exams at my school. the three biggest parts of it are: japanese, math, and english. now, to give me something to do, they asked me to sit and help advise them on various questions.
particulary the free answer parts.
yamaguchi sensei: hey jeff, question!
me: yes yamaguchi sensei.
y: what do you think of this?
m: /reads: country is.
m: huh... well, that's kind of right...
y: well you see, the question is `does ken's uncle live in the city or the country?`
m: ah... well, where is it?
y: in the country. so i'm going to give him 1 point cause he wrote `country.`
m: ok... /grabsanothertest-flipsittoananswerwhereshealsogave1pt
m: now, you see this answer?
ken's uncle live in country.
y: yes.
m: you gave this one point... so, how can you give `country is.` one point? that means it's the same quality as this sentence /points.
y: but maybe he meant `country is... where my uncle lives?`
m: he put a period there. that's where it kind of, you know, stops.
y: ...ah.
these are my potential students next year /joy!
Posted by Jeff at 03:17 PM | Comments (2)
March 06, 2006
finals... again
my kids had final exams last week, and i seriously couldn't be bothered to do anything last week either, so i guess it works out in the end hehe.
but yeah, this term's bonus question was intended to keep them from using 分かない (in the most annoying voice, ever, think nails on a chalk board for some students...). but yeah, so i asked them a question that i knew they (nor myself) would know the answer to.
q: what is the population of canada?
and i wrote: *hint: 3 words.
so, my best responses so far:
1. no i isn't!
2. snow
3. to speak english
4. i'm going to speak english to a school
5. many kinds of foods
6. enjoy
7. statue of liberty
8. avril lavigne
9. canada, new zealand, and australia
10. i go to the 3 words
11. it is english
12. the great wall
13. JAL
14. it's five
15. no
16. chocolate
17. sky
18. no what isn't
19. no i'm not
20. yes it is
21. i like canada!!!
22. they speak chinese
23. n.f.l.
24. ice hockey game
25. it is snow
26. i want to travel
27. ski
28. made in japan
29. usa
. . .
must not like canadians...
Posted by Jeff at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2006
oops
so last quarter i promised my students that i would reward them for the amount of hanko that they'd get (basically amount of participation).
knowing me being the lazy bastard that i am... i put it off till the last day they are all 1st year students...
so what do i do? i thought cleverly that i could write down all the names, and affix it to the blackboard in each room to let them know to come find me.
and then yamaguchi sensei comes to me:
yamaguchi sensei: um... jeff?
me: yeah?
y: you asked a lot of students to come see you... is there any reason why?
m: yes!
y: is it about the final exam?
m: nope.
y: in class test?
m: nope.
y: so what is it for then?
m: the participation in the second term.
y: ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
m: why?
y: cause we have a lot of students panicing right now.
m: eh?
y: cause when you post names on the blackboard... that means that student is in a lot of trouble.
m: ...
m: ...
y: ...
m: ...oops?
good job me!
Posted by Jeff at 09:10 AM | Comments (2)
March 02, 2006
absolute web addy for pictures
http://www.flickr.com/people/jcchu
Posted by Jeff at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
i just have to quote this one...
some friends and i were talking about my longevity in japan, but this just doesn't sound right to me(and i'm not just talking about the underwear thing):
1: does the novelty of living in jp ever wear off?
stefan: there's only so much used underwear one can buy, methinks
1: not possible
1: used underwear is awesome
1: too much awesome is even more awesome
dave: lol
me: lol
...yeah...
more fun conversations! feel the love!
m: roofs are about 1.5 m ;P
m: high
m: well doorways
hoarce: hahah
h: wow, so i can actually feel semi-tall there
m: lol
m: how tall are you again?
m: 5`3 ?
h: ...
h: i hate you
m: hahahahha
h: 5'7" though
m: ....
m: no seriously
m: >.>
h: hahahah
h: goddammit
h: wtf, just cuz i'm not freakishly tall like you
you betcha!
Posted by Jeff at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
....BUT!
yesterday was not without antics! for example:
2/28:
me: sensei, i know i should wear a suit tomorrow, but what color shirt/tie should i wear?
sensei: oh anything, wear whatever you want, just not something flashy.
m: ah, so can i wear all black please? black shirt, black tie?
s: of course! no problem!
3/1:
me: /walks-up-in-a-black-ensemble.
s: jeff why're you wearing that... you look like you're going to a funeral... you shouldn't come to graduation dressed like that...
m: but you said...
yamaguchi sensei: jeff... are you going to a funeral?
m: no but...
itou sensei: what're you wearing!? is there a funeral?
m: but i thought...
i think japan is just out to get me... at least my students thought i looked cool :)
students: you look like mafia!
other students: かっこいいじゃん！
etc., etc., etc.
but yeah, so as i was leaving it began to rain. and me, forgetting my umbrella on the bus one day, have no umbrella (it wasn't raining when i biked there). soo, obviosuly i go to the store to buy one (in addition to a boat load of other things). so everything is going great, i have the umbrella over me, a basket full of stuff, and i'm slowly making my way home without dying.
until i got to the last stretch and (this is an umbrella with a 65cm radius might i remind you and when i'm cycling i have limited/zero visibility) and my umbrella gets knicked by a pole off to my side.
when i get home i see that it has completely bent the metal rods inside... and as i try to straighten the rods i end uup breaking two of them... in addition i thought maybe if i close it...
this ends up snapping all the rods.
i have some nice blue cloth for sale though... -_-;
Posted by Jeff at 08:28 AM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2006
またいつか。。。。。。ね。
today was the graduation ceremony for the 三年生's.
though i didn't know a lot of them, i still knew a small amount. the ones who helped me clean the english room, the ones who took chinese, the ones who took the 英検 (english proficiency exam), the ones who i got to cook with a few times, and finally the ones who spoke to me now and then in the halls.
i will always remember あぽ and /patpat.
i was honestly surprised to see that the atmosphere was more somber than joyus. whereas back home, high school graduation was a time of celebration and smiles. but in japan, it's a rather sad moment, where students burst into tears because they have to say goodbye.
anyways, it was a nice moment. all the junior class members brought gifts for their 先輩's, their seniors. i got to speak with the ones who have found themselves in my life and thank them for all the silly things and nice conversations we'd have on bus rides home in the rain. of course i also have pictures of most (the ones i could find) and what not. in all honesty i hope it's not the last time i get to see them.
but as one student said to me in the end, 「またいつか。。。。。。ね。」
`until next time we meet.`
Posted by Jeff at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)