Thursday, October 23, 2003
Interesting experience last night....
Last night I finally started tutoring my guarantor`s 11-year old daughter, AT. I rode the famous Yamanote Line to Meguro. Me gu ro. Sounds cool, doesn`t it? I means "black eye" in Japanese. Anywayz, her mother, Mrs. T, met me halfway to their house and when we got there, she was basically like, "Ok, AT will tell you what to do". Yeah, basically I just get to help her with her homework, which is in English. AT goes to a bilingual school, which is taught half in Japanese and half in English. How lucky is she? She is bilingual in English and in Japanese! But then again, I`m bilingual in English and Spanish....but Spanish is so....futsu (common). Still, I remember how impressed some of the girls at Sunflower Hall were when they found out I spoke Spanish...hehe. Anywayz, last night inspired me to try harder at improving my Japanese and my Kanji.....whether I`ll follow through is a whole other story ;-)
Anywayz, it seems that AT has a rather dry personality, but she seems like a really nice girl, and I think she took a liking to me. After two hours though, her mother seemed anxious to get me to leave, saying something about her husband getting back at around this time. So she wanted me to leave before her husband got back? Sounds a little fishy....does my guarantor no longer want to see me? But anywayz.
Last night I finally started tutoring my guarantor`s 11-year old daughter, AT. I rode the famous Yamanote Line to Meguro. Me gu ro. Sounds cool, doesn`t it? I means "black eye" in Japanese. Anywayz, her mother, Mrs. T, met me halfway to their house and when we got there, she was basically like, "Ok, AT will tell you what to do". Yeah, basically I just get to help her with her homework, which is in English. AT goes to a bilingual school, which is taught half in Japanese and half in English. How lucky is she? She is bilingual in English and in Japanese! But then again, I`m bilingual in English and Spanish....but Spanish is so....futsu (common). Still, I remember how impressed some of the girls at Sunflower Hall were when they found out I spoke Spanish...hehe. Anywayz, last night inspired me to try harder at improving my Japanese and my Kanji.....whether I`ll follow through is a whole other story ;-)
Anywayz, it seems that AT has a rather dry personality, but she seems like a really nice girl, and I think she took a liking to me. After two hours though, her mother seemed anxious to get me to leave, saying something about her husband getting back at around this time. So she wanted me to leave before her husband got back? Sounds a little fishy....does my guarantor no longer want to see me? But anywayz.
Aobadai....the town of "blue" leaves
On Tuesday, I was sent to a Berlitz school in a town called Aobadai, which is in Kanagawa prefecture, near Yokohama. The train ride to Aobadai was really nice....the day was sunny and the train was not crowded. When I get to the Berlitz school....I find out that I have to teach THREE kids classes in a row...after nearly having a nervous breakdown the last time I had kids classes! I was about ready to kill someone! Seriously, thoughts of quitting my job and returning home as soon as possible flashed through my head with a vengeance. But I bit my lip and went through it, not expecting any miracles. The first class was a class of SEVEN little girls, and considering that there were seven of them, they weren`t too badly behaved. The second class had three little boys and the third class had two slightly older boys. I managed to bumble through the classes, even the second class that was recorded on tape by the boys` parents. The boys just sort of started at me, giving me strange looks, obviously not knowing what was going on. Overall, while it wasn`t horrible, it wasn`t great either...but I got through it. Apparently, the Aobadai Berlitz school teaches a LOT of kids lessons, and I could tell that Aobadai is a rather "young" town...you can see a lot of children there.
After that, I had an hour break, then I taught two adult lessons to two ladies....who both have November birthdays. One of them has the same birthday as me! Yay!! I believe she is about 5 years older than me? Still, that was a cool coincidence, as I rarely meet people with the same birthday as me.
On Tuesday, I was sent to a Berlitz school in a town called Aobadai, which is in Kanagawa prefecture, near Yokohama. The train ride to Aobadai was really nice....the day was sunny and the train was not crowded. When I get to the Berlitz school....I find out that I have to teach THREE kids classes in a row...after nearly having a nervous breakdown the last time I had kids classes! I was about ready to kill someone! Seriously, thoughts of quitting my job and returning home as soon as possible flashed through my head with a vengeance. But I bit my lip and went through it, not expecting any miracles. The first class was a class of SEVEN little girls, and considering that there were seven of them, they weren`t too badly behaved. The second class had three little boys and the third class had two slightly older boys. I managed to bumble through the classes, even the second class that was recorded on tape by the boys` parents. The boys just sort of started at me, giving me strange looks, obviously not knowing what was going on. Overall, while it wasn`t horrible, it wasn`t great either...but I got through it. Apparently, the Aobadai Berlitz school teaches a LOT of kids lessons, and I could tell that Aobadai is a rather "young" town...you can see a lot of children there.
After that, I had an hour break, then I taught two adult lessons to two ladies....who both have November birthdays. One of them has the same birthday as me! Yay!! I believe she is about 5 years older than me? Still, that was a cool coincidence, as I rarely meet people with the same birthday as me.
I still can`t believe it....
The computer that I used to transfer the pics from my digi-cam was replaced by a computer with no CD RW drive, so I decided to head to the other Internet cafe, which has computers with CD RW drives. Unfortunately, the computers there run on Windows ME, not XP, so you have to use a CD burner program in order to record files on a CD. Last time I was there, I managed to do it....but for some reason, it wouldn`t let me do it. I messed around with the program and in desperation, I choose something that too late, I realized was formating my CD!! I was able to stop the formatting process about one minute into it by pressing Ctrl Alt Del.....but the damage was done. I have put the CD in several computers and it no longer reads my disk!! All the pictures I had taken....I`d easily say between 200 and 300....lost. Gone. It made me so mad! And it still frustrates me so much thinking about it. Those were memories you can`t take back. And some of the pictures I worked so hard on, like pics of Mt. Fuji at sunset. Arrrggghh! But I keep telling myself it`s better to lose a bunch of pictures than losing something much more important to me....and I haven`t lost hope yet. I mean, I stopped the formatting process.....there must be some way I can access those pictures! If you know of anyway to do so.....please let me know!! In the meanwhile....the only thing left to do is just take more pictures....try to make them better than before. And by the way, yes, I found another way of storing my photos....online....which I should have thought of doing BEFORE. But anyways, I guess what`s done is done. Unfortunately, for now, my phlog entries will be few and far between.
The computer that I used to transfer the pics from my digi-cam was replaced by a computer with no CD RW drive, so I decided to head to the other Internet cafe, which has computers with CD RW drives. Unfortunately, the computers there run on Windows ME, not XP, so you have to use a CD burner program in order to record files on a CD. Last time I was there, I managed to do it....but for some reason, it wouldn`t let me do it. I messed around with the program and in desperation, I choose something that too late, I realized was formating my CD!! I was able to stop the formatting process about one minute into it by pressing Ctrl Alt Del.....but the damage was done. I have put the CD in several computers and it no longer reads my disk!! All the pictures I had taken....I`d easily say between 200 and 300....lost. Gone. It made me so mad! And it still frustrates me so much thinking about it. Those were memories you can`t take back. And some of the pictures I worked so hard on, like pics of Mt. Fuji at sunset. Arrrggghh! But I keep telling myself it`s better to lose a bunch of pictures than losing something much more important to me....and I haven`t lost hope yet. I mean, I stopped the formatting process.....there must be some way I can access those pictures! If you know of anyway to do so.....please let me know!! In the meanwhile....the only thing left to do is just take more pictures....try to make them better than before. And by the way, yes, I found another way of storing my photos....online....which I should have thought of doing BEFORE. But anyways, I guess what`s done is done. Unfortunately, for now, my phlog entries will be few and far between.
