Well, it is near the end of the summer vacation period here in Japan for the school children. It is somewhat ironic to call it a summer cacation when, in fact, most (if not all) of the kids in the schools have been going to school everyday since school "ended" at the end of July. There are clubs to continue practicing, and homework to work on. This is truly not a vacation.
I too have been needed at my school during this vacation. By the end of the summer, I will have worked 7 days at my junior high school to help some of the students prepare for an English speech contest to be held in September. Interestingly enough, I am helping these students to be the best and win, and I will not evne be at the school when the contest takes place, I am being forced to work at another junior high school in the same city, a rival, if you will.
I say forced, because I did not ask to move. I did not want to move. I was confortable with the school, the students, and the teachers. The only reason I was given for the move was that I was quiet and the school felt that I was not a "match" for the school as they were "passionate" about English. The strange part is that I cannot find a single person at the school who knew that I was going to change schools.
Part of me wants to think that this decision was made by someone in the Board of Education that I have never met and was based on reports from the school, not by observation. The cynic in me tends to think that this decision was made by my dispatch company and is some type of revenge or bullying on their part for me trying to quit earlier in the school year, again based on zero oberservation as no one from my company has ever visited me at my school.
I am destined for another junior high school in the same city, although this one is now a 20-minute (at least) bus ride away from the train station. While I am basically working at the one school, I am further "blessed" to have to work odd days at 3 area elementary schools (yes that is 3 other schools).
Sounds Fun?
Summer Vacation
As the summer comes to a close, and thank god for that with the temperatures we are having, I have not really done much. I have worked the aforementioned days at my junior high school, and worked a few days at my part-time job. The one "trip" that we did was a 5-day stay at my mother-in-law's house in Yokohama. Perhaps there is more to come in the new year.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
My apartment
I thought it be best at this point to describe my Japanese apartment. In Japanese terms, it is listed as a 3DK. This means that it has 3 bedrooms, a Dining Room, and a Kitchen (plus the toilet and bathroom). That is it.
After entering the apartment through the outward opening front door, you are in the entranceway, which is essentially a tiled area for removing your shoes with enough space for 1 person to stand. Take a small step up onto the hardwood in the hallway and immediately to your left is the toilet in its own small room. Immediately to the right, along the hallway, is the small bedroom (for those inclined, it is 4.5 mats in size). Next to the toilet is the washroom (up another small step) that also includes the shower/bath room and the clothes washer. Continuing along the hallway as you pass through a doorway, you are in the Dining Room/Kitchen. This room is 7.5 mats large and is essentially a rectangular-shaped room with a small set of cabinets and cupboards on the right side as you walk in. This is the largest room in the apartment and also the centre. In front of you there are 2 doorways side-by-side. The doorway on the left leads to the "master" bedroom that has the largest closet (the small bedroom does not have a closet at all), and is covered in tatami mats (this room is 6 mats and the only room with tatami). To the right of this doorway is the other bedroom (according to plans and is identical in size to the master except has a smaller closet) that we use as our Living Room/Den/Library. Off of these 2 rooms is the balcony that stretches across both rooms and is just wide enough to use a chair on (this is when we do not have the laundry drying on it as there is no dryer in the apartment). The walls are all covered by the same wallpaper and we are not allowed to put anything up on the walls to decorate. There is one air conditioning/heater unit in the apartment located in our Living Room (although there is room to add one in our bedroom, we have not done so), as there is no central air.
That is it. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.
In terms of convenience, the building has an elevator and is located about a 7-minute walk from the closest train station (vital, living in Japan). There is really nothing around this station as it is quite small. There are a few supermarkets nearby (within a 15-minute bike ride radius of the apartment), but the nearest department store is one station away or an easy 10-15 minute bike ride away. To illustrate how small this station is, it has no fast food restaurants around it.
P.S. To see how big the room sizes are refer to this:
6 mats = 98.81 square feet
After entering the apartment through the outward opening front door, you are in the entranceway, which is essentially a tiled area for removing your shoes with enough space for 1 person to stand. Take a small step up onto the hardwood in the hallway and immediately to your left is the toilet in its own small room. Immediately to the right, along the hallway, is the small bedroom (for those inclined, it is 4.5 mats in size). Next to the toilet is the washroom (up another small step) that also includes the shower/bath room and the clothes washer. Continuing along the hallway as you pass through a doorway, you are in the Dining Room/Kitchen. This room is 7.5 mats large and is essentially a rectangular-shaped room with a small set of cabinets and cupboards on the right side as you walk in. This is the largest room in the apartment and also the centre. In front of you there are 2 doorways side-by-side. The doorway on the left leads to the "master" bedroom that has the largest closet (the small bedroom does not have a closet at all), and is covered in tatami mats (this room is 6 mats and the only room with tatami). To the right of this doorway is the other bedroom (according to plans and is identical in size to the master except has a smaller closet) that we use as our Living Room/Den/Library. Off of these 2 rooms is the balcony that stretches across both rooms and is just wide enough to use a chair on (this is when we do not have the laundry drying on it as there is no dryer in the apartment). The walls are all covered by the same wallpaper and we are not allowed to put anything up on the walls to decorate. There is one air conditioning/heater unit in the apartment located in our Living Room (although there is room to add one in our bedroom, we have not done so), as there is no central air.
That is it. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.
In terms of convenience, the building has an elevator and is located about a 7-minute walk from the closest train station (vital, living in Japan). There is really nothing around this station as it is quite small. There are a few supermarkets nearby (within a 15-minute bike ride radius of the apartment), but the nearest department store is one station away or an easy 10-15 minute bike ride away. To illustrate how small this station is, it has no fast food restaurants around it.
P.S. To see how big the room sizes are refer to this:
6 mats = 98.81 square feet
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