Okay, it's kind of been a while, I know~ you guys know how
Well...last weekend I went and had a driving adventure. I drove out to where I lived the previous times I was in Japan- Hikone, Shiga. Feel free to Google Maps that. I went from Ina, Nagano Prefecture to Hikone, Shiga Prefecture. For those of you too lazy, it's 133 miles or so, about 3 hours by car. (But you should totally have a look at the map- then you can know where I live!......wait, never mind, you guys are all creepy stalkers so I take that back).
I was visiting my friend there who's doing the internship like how I did last year. We went around the city, had Subway for lunch (it's similar yet different from here, I like it all the same) and ice cream happened at the mall. We also went to my favorite clothing chain, Shimamura. It's like...the prices of Khol's, but everything is waaaaay cuter. I got a pair of really cute shoes, and a hair tie. My hair is starting to grow longer and since it's getting hotter there are days when I really don't want it on my neck. >3> There was also adventure to Starbucks (right now, they're featuring a chocolate chip-strawberry frappuccino and a mango blended drink with the option of pudding at the bottom~) and then wandering through the supermarket. It was all pretty nostalgic for me, and I never really thought I'd ever be back around that area. I was kind of happy, but things have changed up a bit too since then.
A few shops that used to be around are gone-- like the close convenience store to the school- its gone, and I don't know how the kids are dealing with that. The good 1 dollar shop is gone too, and things have moved around. And at the school, there are so many new teachers- only one is still there from before.
We went back to my friend's dorm and just chatted and watched youtube. xD I met her roommate too, and we all chatted for a while- it was really really nice, I was happy to be able to talk so much with a friend and other nice people~ I had also met up with this one girl who is really nice- we had been talking on facebook a little bit, since she wanted to ask me about the internship program (I had been the only one to do it last year, and it was brand new last year too, so it was only me people could ask).
On the way back, I stopped at rotating sushi for dinner, and then made the trip home at 9pm. It took a bit longer this time though. On the way back I had to get off the toll highway about 15 miles or so South of the exit I needed. There was construction happening so everyone got herded off. Since it was past midnight though, I guess it's no surprise. Now from there, I had no idea how to get home. Luckily, the toll guy told me to keep left and then turn left. I didn't know if he meant the first intersection or not, but I went with it. Then I saw signs down that way eventually (this was a small road so I was skeptical) which led me right, and then I saw a main road luckily caught the writing on the ground, which told me that left would take me towards Ina. I was tired but I kept going and eventually I could see the city on my right. I took a random turn in the direction, got down there, took a left randomly because it was by the train tracks and as I had hoped, it led to the stations downtown and yaaay, I was home~ Pretty good for it being dark and rainy and curvy roads and junk. But I handled the hills better than before. It was tiring, but I had a lot of fun.
Friday I had introduced a new game. The first years (7th grade) were learning "What's this, It's ___". So, I used these little cards with pictures of food on it that I had used for a memory game. Each kid got one. They were to ask "Whats this?" to a partner, who would answer and then The partner would ask too. They would switch cards, and then play rock-paper-scissors. The winner would be human. The loser would be a zombie. Zombies had to crawl around on the floor. Humans could interact with humans, and zombies with zombies. It was a fight to become and stay human. They loved it; I'm going to use it with other grammars and classes too, I think.
Today was really great. The first was class was so-so, I had a worksheet for "Why? Because___" with "Do you like ___ or___? Why? Because ___". I've been told to use less Japanese and more English is class, but I need to get less nervous with my explanations because then they get all improptu and the kids seem rather confused. xD Still, my comparisons were things like "vampires or werewolves" and "zombies or ghosts". xD I think they were amused, but I wasn't all that thrilled about the lesson. Still, I'm working on it.
During 3rd and 4th hour, there was a concert for the school. Normally this means the kids perform, when you think of a school concert. But no, a group called String Ristorante were performing. I'll just say this- they were really really good. I wish so much there were videos of their performances somewhere.
Schools here are much more interested in culture and art teachings than we are I think.
Basically, the group has several performers for European instruments, Japanese instruments, and Chinese instruments. You should've seen me, I was grinning so wide while they played. There was cello, violin, piano, koto, shamisen, and an erhu. There was one other instrument, but I cant find info on it anywhere. There were pieces for each indivudual instrument, ones with just chinese, just japanese, just the european ones, and then others with mix. It was fantastic-- the lady who did violin did all these trills and eighteenth-notes and everything-- they were all really really good. @3@
It was clear these people are professionals ^^
Here's some info on the foreign instruments- you've probably heard these sounds before~
Here's the Erhu, Chinese:
Shamisen, Japanese:
(and for you Lady Gaga fans- Bad Romance shamisen:)
And lastly, the koto. Actually, I learned how to play it a little last year. The koto lady actually brought a student up there, and taught her a few simple notes. It was realllly nostalgic- I wanna play the koto again...
This song is actually the one I learned to play last year and the lady played it today-- in a little bit simpler version, but it's basically this song:
Try and imagine these instruments with piano, cello, and violin altogether...it was fantastic~
The students were taught things about each instrument too...so like I said, the international culture learning importance is a lot greater here I think.
Lastly, my last class of the day was not taught by my usual teacher. As of last week, there have been 3 college student girls here, training to be teachers. One is training to an English teacher. Today, she led the 2nd year class instead of the normal teacher. She's just 21, and the poor girl was really nervous, I could tell. She was quiet, and sometimes I could see her shaking.
Her lesson and the way she conducted it was quite by the book, but I felt she did it well. There was an interview activity, and the students were shy and didn't answer her too much in the beginning, but she got responses as it went on. I was there and read a dialogue with her which I think may have helped the kids to speak more. I told her at the end that I could tell she was nervous, but that she did really well. I didn't get the time to say more to her, but I told of the English teachers that I felt she did well, so she should have more self-confidence and feel freer in her interactions with kids. She said she'd tell her for me. I hope it helps. ^^
Spaghetti time. Tomorrow, salmon.
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