Training week (Feb 11-13)

Feb 11: Heyy everyone. Today was my last day of adult lessons. I finalized all three techniques and I taught a practice lesson with advanced students. Working in the Japanese business world is pretty fun. I get to dress nice, act professional and at times on the street pretend I'm a big entrepreneur. Being a Japanese businessman also requires quite a bit of bowing. I read the average businessman bows at least 100 times a day. For me it's not necessarily expected and my office does not have that many employees, but they always smile when I do it anyway. I'm not up to the 100 bows mark, but I probably reached about 50 at some point. As a noobie to the company every morning I have to announce to everyone what I will be doing for the day and wish them good spirits. Later that evening I return and tell them about my day, thank whomever helped me, tell them what my plans are for the next day, and bid them a good night.

My thrill for the day came when I went to Biggu Kamera aka Big Camera electronics store to buy a hair buzzer and socket adapters. What a fool to think Japan wouldn't have the electronics I was looking for. I actually went to the wrong 5 story Biggu Kamera and had to go down the street to Biggu Kamera No. 2 to find my goods. I didn't know the word for hair buzzer so I tried my best to explain to the employee I needed an electric thing that cuts the hair on top of my head not my facial hair and not too short but still strong enough to give a good buzz and yet for a good price with maybe a wireless feature that doesn't have to charge too much.... ok ok you get the picture. Anyway, all went well and I got a real nice buzzer for the equivalent of about $45 and celebrated with a huge bowl of ramen and pork for dinner.

Feb 12:  Before work I went for a run at Ohori Park (same playground/lake). It was raining pretty hard but as you've read I have been eating deliciously not-so-healthy foods. (I'm going to go off on a little tangent) I figure while I'm in Japan it would be a good idea to learn some martial arts. I love and respect all sports, so I'm trying this combination workout of bodybuilding, boxing, martial arts, and soccer training. It all goes useless without a good diet, so that will have to work its way in too. So once I arrive in Fukuoka, the plan is to sign up at a gym and lift 4 days a week, do martial arts at a local dojo at least once a week, do "road work" and freestyle boxing training 3 times a week, and if I can't find a soccer field, I will mimic the goalkeeper training I did in college. Between that, work and of course the XBox once it's up and running, I should be kept pretty busy. 

I hate to say but then it started to snow.  Just when I thought 6700 miles from New York was far enough to escape snow, it found me. Today was only a half day at work and the trainer introduced children's lessons and taught me about open forum classes. My lessons that will be taught at Sasebo are:
1. Adult lessons which consist of: 
A. Round Up: Focuses on particular grammar points.
B. Group: Focuses only on phrases and situations.
C. Private: Can range from teaching our books or anything that the student chooses.
D. Forum: The teacher does minimal correction, rather encourages as students learn how to create presentations and/or reach consensuses.
2. Children lessons that vary in structure based on whether students are babies, in preschool, in elementary school or in junior high school.
3. Children's private lessons 

Most classes taught are 50min total with the extra 10min in that hour used to meet and chat with incoming students for the next class. It's a 12-9 schedule from Tuesday to Friday and a 10-7 Saturday.

Not too many adventures today outside of work besides a trip to the Hyaku En store and food shopping.

Oh, and I had some Japanese MacDonald's. Burgers taste exactly the same but the ketchup tastes different (better). There's also a Starbucks and a Subway in Fukuoka.

Feb 13: Today was my last free day in Fukuoka, so I had to take full advantage of it. I started my day with a run to the same park/playground to work out. However, this time I was battling the little kids for possession of the swing-set. Although we wanted to use it for different reasons, there was still much hostility. I sieged an attack and regained my pull-up swing set once again. Afterwards, I stopped by a few stores then treated myself to some yakiniku for lunch. 

As you all read, I walked to eastern, western,  and southern Fukuoka last weekend. This left me with only one more spot to cover: northern Fukuoka. Fukuoka is in fact a port city, which means when I travel to Korea later this year I have to leave from the International Port of Fukuoka to do so. More importantly, since it is a major gateway to China and Korea, this area was home to many Samurai during the Shogunate. 

What is now known as Fukuoka city is the area where Samurai defended their turf against the invading Mongolians around 1200AD. Last week I saw the shrine where kamikaze god originated to ward off enemies. Today I got to see where the Samurai resided and kept watch for invading forces. This park, known as Nishikooen (West Park), seemed to be a museum oriented park. There were many statues for famous Samurai, excavated and rebuilt Samurai homes, Shrines, and other memoriam monuments. I was also able to get an awesome view of Hakata Bay (photos are featured on Facebook). Unfortunately since it's Winter the flowers and trees aren't blooming. I will take note to return to this park in the Spring.

After the walk I returned to the hotel and studied some Japanese and took it easy. I was unaware of how much I DON'T know about Japanese until I actually started to live here. One goal I have for the year is be able to flip the switch and turn on only Japanese when outside of the classroom. Tomorrow and Tuesday start my kids lessons, then I'm finally off to Sasebo! I can't wait to see what's in store at my school and new home. The schedule is getting a little crazy, so updates might only come on the weekends. Thank you again for reading : D and until then, じゃまた.