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Good day, journal writers, it's been a while :) I come today with a bumper edition of journal posts - I have completed almost-two journals since my last post, so I'm excited to share them with you today!
These are my journals for late April -> May, and late May -> now. If you'd like a peek inside, come follow me under the cut~!
Calendar.
Awful weather. Planning a class for the alphabet, but my school kept booting me out of the English Classroom - where all the equipment, including the interactive whiteboard with all our software on it - is kept. Wound up having to do a run of low-tech lessons instead :(
One of my friends uploaded a bunch of photos. These were taken two years ago, it's interesting to see how everyone in the group photo has changed!
Interesting lesson in Japanese culture. These are called sasumata - or was it sasamata? - they're used to help catch armed interlopers. Operating under the assumption that the interloper will be carrying a knife, these are used to pin him down whilst keeping out of reach. Every school has at least one and, as I learned this year, the schools drill for this as well as fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
I don't much care about football either way, but this amused me.
Pen porn :/
Getting on top of my Japanese.
I got a treat from Not Another Bill. It's nice to get surprises in the post, but it was really expensive to do this internationally :( When I get home to England, I may try it again and see what I get...
I found this gorgeous postcard of Thira, Santorini. In Matsuyama - I think this is the start of the donkey path heading down to the harbour. Love Santorini.
Found a photograph of Miserable Me, from a few months before I left for Japan. Also I pretty decent ice cream recipe I found online, though it comes out a little sweet, so I'd recommend you reduce the sugar. Also you can add other flavourings :D I've done cardamom and almond, and cinnamon using this recipe!
Now for the current journal. It occurred to me while I was midway through it that I should weigh them first and see how much I add to them over the duration. Unfortunately I didn't weigh it, but I had an identical journal, albeit in a different colour.
Starting weight.
Almost-finished weight.
Inner cover.
Planner.
Letters!
My name was down for a meeting that I was not informed of. I only found out about it on the day, and only because I happened to approach the notice board armed with my Japanese App to look for information on something else! I went, and it wasn't really a big deal - all about inter-relations between my junior high and its feeder schools - but since I change schools every August... not really relevant to me, in the end.
First letter from a student :D And a postcard from home. Albeit a dated one XD
FOOD.
The thing in the top left corner is the school lunch menu.
More lesson planning and a random post-it that wasn't supposed to be there.
More menus!
BUGS. It was June 4th -> 6/4, and the elementary schools were like "Today is 'mu-shi', so let's learn about bugs (mushi) and cavities (mushiba) today!" Luckily there were no live ones but urgh. Gross.
Another letter from another student :) The letter-writers were best friends, so they'd come and chat to me after lunch, too :D
Starting to consider a trip to Kyoto; thinking of stuff to do/see.
Boredom Mandala.
Ridiculously ambitious plan at the top was from the teachers at Mibu 2. I was planning to give them one more week but they wanted to rush through it.
Reassigned schools. Mine are at the bottom, highlighted in mint green. Yodo high and Yodo elementary are new territory for me, but Tachibana was my elementary school when I first got to Japan two years ago, so I already know at least half the kids I'm going to teach.
Visited my friend out of town. Her fiance had recently moved in from Tokyo XD The tiny karaoke bar we went to that night was full of old people who went home around ten, so we had the place to ourselves.
July. Getting set to leave all my schools :(
Leaving party for a few people who will leave Matsuyama this year. One of our support staff was also moving to Kobe, so she left this little card and a note for each of us.
Goodbye Mibu 2. One of the kids gave me this picture. It's supposed to be me >_<
My Japanese Language Proficiency test was the day before this entry. Already making plans at this point to study for the next level.
Loved that they included Antigonus' death in this infographic.
I found this picture from January or February in my desk. I described art pieces to the third year students and they drew them ("There is a man standing on the right. There is a woman standing on the left. The man standing on the right is holding a big fork. There is a house behind the man and the woman.") This is what one of the groups came up with when I was describing American Gothic. They weren't far off - and I reckon it's much cuter this way...
My last day at Tsuda rolled around far too quickly. I found this letter in my box - all in Japanese and unsigned. I think it was from one of the first years who came up in April :)
School had barely finished before it was time for camp! My friend teaches at a senior high so I was one of the english teachers helping out.
Incredibly short entries for the duration of camp. "I am NOT acceptable" is a reference to a line the kids wrote for me in their skit XD
The same friend out of town had her leaving party... we went to the local kite museum and paper workshop. The paper workshop was a terrible idea. I have awful impulse control when it comes to paper...
Still technically at Tsuda high, packing up my desk and stuff. I booked leave, and so the Kyoto thing was starting to become a more definite idea.
Busy month of August, helping to orient the Newbies.
REAL final days at Tsuda. Thank you note from one of my elementary teachers. I wrote notes for all my fellow English teachers, plus Japanese ones for the principal and vice principal - especially the vice principal, who tends to appear in many of my doodly cartoons - and gave them all friendship flag pins as a small gift. I'm gonna miss that school. On to the next adventure >_
Planning for Kyoto. I managed to get most of the things done that I wanted - I definitely wasn't short on stuff to do for my flying visit!
Organisation pages.
Close ups!
Got up Kyoto Tower when I arrived. This is my free "memorial" photograph!
Little Old Ladies, I swear to god. They just started lifting up their clothes to compare...
Kyoto post card.
Special shaped Kyoto Postcard. And a pocket for all my leaflets!
Bus map of Kyoto.
Lemon curd. I made this yesterday, it was amazing.
Observations on rice cookers.
Pen tester Page.
Started drafting my farewell speech in the back of my diary - first in Japanese (romanised, because I suck at reading even if I can speak it okay), then decided I should probably use English and translate it afterwards. It's not all there, but the right hand page is basically what I said. I got a little bit tearful around the time I was writing the "thank you" part ._.
So that's it! For now at least! Hopefully I won't leave it another four months!
Good day, journal writers, it's been a while :) I come today with a bumper edition of journal posts - I have completed almost-two journals since my last post, so I'm excited to share them with you today!
These are my journals for late April -> May, and late May -> now. If you'd like a peek inside, come follow me under the cut~!
Calendar.
Awful weather. Planning a class for the alphabet, but my school kept booting me out of the English Classroom - where all the equipment, including the interactive whiteboard with all our software on it - is kept. Wound up having to do a run of low-tech lessons instead :(
One of my friends uploaded a bunch of photos. These were taken two years ago, it's interesting to see how everyone in the group photo has changed!
Interesting lesson in Japanese culture. These are called sasumata - or was it sasamata? - they're used to help catch armed interlopers. Operating under the assumption that the interloper will be carrying a knife, these are used to pin him down whilst keeping out of reach. Every school has at least one and, as I learned this year, the schools drill for this as well as fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
I don't much care about football either way, but this amused me.
Pen porn :/
Getting on top of my Japanese.
I got a treat from Not Another Bill. It's nice to get surprises in the post, but it was really expensive to do this internationally :( When I get home to England, I may try it again and see what I get...
I found this gorgeous postcard of Thira, Santorini. In Matsuyama - I think this is the start of the donkey path heading down to the harbour. Love Santorini.
Found a photograph of Miserable Me, from a few months before I left for Japan. Also I pretty decent ice cream recipe I found online, though it comes out a little sweet, so I'd recommend you reduce the sugar. Also you can add other flavourings :D I've done cardamom and almond, and cinnamon using this recipe!
Now for the current journal. It occurred to me while I was midway through it that I should weigh them first and see how much I add to them over the duration. Unfortunately I didn't weigh it, but I had an identical journal, albeit in a different colour.
Starting weight.
Almost-finished weight.
Inner cover.
Planner.
Letters!
My name was down for a meeting that I was not informed of. I only found out about it on the day, and only because I happened to approach the notice board armed with my Japanese App to look for information on something else! I went, and it wasn't really a big deal - all about inter-relations between my junior high and its feeder schools - but since I change schools every August... not really relevant to me, in the end.
First letter from a student :D And a postcard from home. Albeit a dated one XD
FOOD.
The thing in the top left corner is the school lunch menu.
More lesson planning and a random post-it that wasn't supposed to be there.
More menus!
BUGS. It was June 4th -> 6/4, and the elementary schools were like "Today is 'mu-shi', so let's learn about bugs (mushi) and cavities (mushiba) today!" Luckily there were no live ones but urgh. Gross.
Another letter from another student :) The letter-writers were best friends, so they'd come and chat to me after lunch, too :D
Starting to consider a trip to Kyoto; thinking of stuff to do/see.
Boredom Mandala.
Ridiculously ambitious plan at the top was from the teachers at Mibu 2. I was planning to give them one more week but they wanted to rush through it.
Reassigned schools. Mine are at the bottom, highlighted in mint green. Yodo high and Yodo elementary are new territory for me, but Tachibana was my elementary school when I first got to Japan two years ago, so I already know at least half the kids I'm going to teach.
Visited my friend out of town. Her fiance had recently moved in from Tokyo XD The tiny karaoke bar we went to that night was full of old people who went home around ten, so we had the place to ourselves.
July. Getting set to leave all my schools :(
Leaving party for a few people who will leave Matsuyama this year. One of our support staff was also moving to Kobe, so she left this little card and a note for each of us.
Goodbye Mibu 2. One of the kids gave me this picture. It's supposed to be me >_<
My Japanese Language Proficiency test was the day before this entry. Already making plans at this point to study for the next level.
Loved that they included Antigonus' death in this infographic.
I found this picture from January or February in my desk. I described art pieces to the third year students and they drew them ("There is a man standing on the right. There is a woman standing on the left. The man standing on the right is holding a big fork. There is a house behind the man and the woman.") This is what one of the groups came up with when I was describing American Gothic. They weren't far off - and I reckon it's much cuter this way...
My last day at Tsuda rolled around far too quickly. I found this letter in my box - all in Japanese and unsigned. I think it was from one of the first years who came up in April :)
School had barely finished before it was time for camp! My friend teaches at a senior high so I was one of the english teachers helping out.
Incredibly short entries for the duration of camp. "I am NOT acceptable" is a reference to a line the kids wrote for me in their skit XD
The same friend out of town had her leaving party... we went to the local kite museum and paper workshop. The paper workshop was a terrible idea. I have awful impulse control when it comes to paper...
Still technically at Tsuda high, packing up my desk and stuff. I booked leave, and so the Kyoto thing was starting to become a more definite idea.
Busy month of August, helping to orient the Newbies.
REAL final days at Tsuda. Thank you note from one of my elementary teachers. I wrote notes for all my fellow English teachers, plus Japanese ones for the principal and vice principal - especially the vice principal, who tends to appear in many of my doodly cartoons - and gave them all friendship flag pins as a small gift. I'm gonna miss that school. On to the next adventure >_
Planning for Kyoto. I managed to get most of the things done that I wanted - I definitely wasn't short on stuff to do for my flying visit!
Organisation pages.
Close ups!
Got up Kyoto Tower when I arrived. This is my free "memorial" photograph!
Little Old Ladies, I swear to god. They just started lifting up their clothes to compare...
Kyoto post card.
Special shaped Kyoto Postcard. And a pocket for all my leaflets!
Bus map of Kyoto.
Lemon curd. I made this yesterday, it was amazing.
Observations on rice cookers.
Pen tester Page.
Started drafting my farewell speech in the back of my diary - first in Japanese (romanised, because I suck at reading even if I can speak it okay), then decided I should probably use English and translate it afterwards. It's not all there, but the right hand page is basically what I said. I got a little bit tearful around the time I was writing the "thank you" part ._.
So that's it! For now at least! Hopefully I won't leave it another four months!