Day 7 – I'm leaving!! for now...

March 17, 2011

I’m leaving!!! Yes, this was the final decision.

It was quite a rushed decision. A few things contributed to my decision…

1. I heard on the news that US had expanded the evacuation zone to 80km. (Sendai was about 100-120km from the plant…)
2. They were trying to spray water into….something, and the spokesperson said something like “this is the last thing we could try…” That sounded kinda scary.
3. Somehow when I heard “there would not be any immediate effect to human health”, the question “what about long term effect?” came to my mind…
4. I wasn’t really able to positively contribute to the company. I was only using their resources. While I did have options to stay or go, I should save the resources for those who have no choice but to stay in Japan.
5. My family was very worried and I guess the only thing I could do for them from worrying about me was to leave that environment.
6. I was very tired of living day by day…and watching the news every 10 minutes for possible bad news. I needed a break.

Haha, that’s all I could think of right now.

I called my supervisor before the decision was “official”. I was fortunate that she was very supportive of my decision. It was too bad that I couldn’t go to school before leaving, but I didn’t want to miss the China bus.

My decision became official at about 9:30am. I contacted all related people about my plan so some of them would be able to assist me. I really had to thank my aunt for finding me all those information on the buses and flights back to Taiwan. I went home, took the most accessible suitcase, threw all the clothes & previously bought omiyage, and left the house at 11:30am.

It was nice that I was able to talk w/ Iain and Kumagai sensei before I board onto the bus. I was initially going to board on the China bus going to Niigata airport, but I decided to take the Australia bus that was supposed to leave at 6pm. A representative from the Canadian embassy kindly offered me a spot on the Australia bus. I was sooo lucky that I saw a few ALTs waiting for the New Zealand bus! =)



I was extra lucky to have a spot on the New Zealand bus that left at 2pm. We arrived Narita airport at around 8pm. I grabbed my first super “relaxed” meal after a week at the airport. =)



Then I headed to the hotel that my aunt booked for me. I still felt aftershock in the hotel. In fact, according to the stat, we had more than 220 aftershocks within 4 days after the earthquake. I still still feel like the earth is shaking now. However, everyone, myself included, is a lot more relaxed.

Thanks to my aunt, I was able to take a plane at 4:30 the next day to Taiwan.

My early vacation starts now. =)

Thanks everyone for reading..haa! I know these are loooong posts. =P

Day 6 – Decision made!......or not....

March 14, 2011

In the morning, I had the opportunity to chat with my sister more about my decision. She had carefully analyzed the situation with me to help me make an informed decision. She also al so advised me to pray about it. Just when I was praying and washing dishes at the same time, Mr. Saito called me to tell me to go back to school next Tuesday. Somehow, from that moment on, I felt like I wanted to stay to help the community, and to do something for school since it would be the last few days of the school year. Therefore, I decided to stay. =)

I was very sure that I wanted to stay, so I instantly called my mom and chatted with her. It was very nice chatting w/ my mom because I knew she was very worried. She really wanted me to leave as well. I really wanted my mom to understand what I was thinking and what made me to have that decision. I told her something like I wanted to help w/ the community since God had put me in that situation. Also, I really wanted to attend school. My principal had been very good to me and next week would be her last week in the school. I really wanted to be a part of it. After my phone conversation with mom, I also talked w/ my aunt, who was uberly worried about me. It was very nice for them to understand me and gladly accept my decision. =) Well, of course my sis and a few awesome ppl back home had always been very supportive of whatever decision I made. =) I also called our Sendai educational advisor to let him know that I’m available to help.

Haha, I guess it was a bit contradicting because although I was telling myself that I would be staying, I went to the Australian info session on ways to leave the city if one chose to do so. I had the opportunity to hear many people’s opinion on leaving or staying in the city... Then I started to doubt myself.......Why was I still there???? It was kind of frustrating.

When I went home, I saw a friend who was going to leave the city but ended up staying! We started to have a little discussion on what we were thinking and why we did what we did. Yeah, what he said actually resonant with what I was thinking. I felt like I shouldn’t be leaving the city leaving all the other Japanese people here. I do somehow feel like I’m part of this community. I might be an outsider, but I feel like I should be here with the others. I didn’t like the idea of leaving just because the city was in trouble. I told many people that if I were either a visitor or a student, I would have left. However, I work with other Japanese teachers and I felt I should be there to “fight” with them… Some people think these are stupid things to stop one from leaving, but yea.......it was those stupid reasons that kept me from leaving. Well, I’ve also heard a lot of stuff about the whole nuclear thing....I didn’t really know what to believe anymore......

Again, a night of uncertainty...a night of frustration.

Day 5 – to go or not to go…?

March 15, 2011

Ever since the 2nd day of the earthquake, my family has been telling me to leave. I had numerous telephone/msn conversations with my family. I knew they wanted me to be safe, but I simply didn’t feel like a right time to leave the city.

My sister asked me a few times why wouldn’t I leave. Hmm, it was a good question. At the time, I didn’t really know exactly why I didn’t want to leave. Perhaps since not many us left and I heard that there were many misinformation floating around in the news, I didn’t feel like it was the time to leave. However, the more I heard about leaving, the more I was considering of leaving. It was quite frustrating actually. In the morning, my family and others heard of some “bad” news about the nuclear plant. A friend was a bit nervous about it and had decided to hold a “meeting” to talk about the possibility of leaving. However, after I went back home to get some stuff and went back to the friend’s place, everyone was a lot calmer and the idea of leaving somewhat disappeared again.

I actually didn’t do much during the day. I basically stayed at my friend’s place and we were trying to learn more about the nuclear plant thing. A few more people joined our dinner, which was a very good tasting kimchi soup, thanks to Daniel. I continued to get a lot of “evacuation reminders” from my relatives and they had even invited different people to convince me (and even beg me) to leave just for the sake of my family. It was some stressful and frustrated moments. I had really considered of leaving and even asked one of our JET coordinators for advice. I was thankful that my sister and my other 屬靈長輩 were very supportive of whatever my decision would be.

It was a tough night and I didn’t know what I should do…

Day 4 - Friends are valuable 共患難~ =)

March 14, 2011

It was Sunday in Vancouver. As “scheduled”, I was “attending” my home church’s afternoon service with Skype. THANKS SIS!! YOU ARE AWESOME! =) It was an emotional one for me. I guess I wasn’t feeling emotionally well the previous night, I couldn’t stop from crying during P&W time. I miss my home church. I miss the bros and sis back home. Although we don’t chat as much now and I sorta feel out of it now, I still really miss them. The good thing is that the Sunday service actually really encouraged me to be strong and continue to walk with God’s strength! =) I was very very happy to be able to chat w/ one of my lovely bros in church. It was soooo awesome to hear his voice! Add oil ar! =)

The day then followed with Emily and I going to Daniel’s for a shower and stopping by a grocery store for food. Before we headed out, we put all our important stuff in front of the door so in case we had to evacuate, we would be able to grab all we needed and flight.



Wooooooo…the line up was soooooo long for the grocery store! Emily and I probably lined up for 2.5 hours to get into the store! Surprisingly, the store still has a lot of stuff available. In order make sure the most people can get food, there was a 10 –item per person policy. Since we had heard about the radiation thing, we purposely bought a bag of seaweed to get our iodine. Since Daniel had water at his apartment and he was kind enough for us to stay at his place, our camp at his place had started. =)

As what we’ve constantly been doing, a group of us didn’t stop watching news from all over the world about the nuclear thing. We just chatted and had snacks for the night. I still remember the only “healthy” food I ate for the entire day was the banana in the morning….. Yeah, it was pretty bad. However, all of us somehow felt a lot better about the nuclear incident since we’d seen some assuring articles. Although my family continued to tell me to leave, I wasn’t too afraid of telling them that I didn’t need to leave. I knew my family was very worried and I talked with my sister on the phone for many times during the day. However, I did have everything ready just in case we had to leave.

Even though Emily and I were sleeping on the floor, we (or at least I) had a good night sleep…ish. =) It was awesome chatting and staying with friends during this kind of time. =)

Day 3 - Panic mode......

March 13, 2011

Emily and I had our most nutritious food for the day – banana. We followed by eating some more delish food like the following:



Yes, DRIED APRICOT and Sendai kitkat. They were good. =) Emily and I actually didn’t do much on that day. We first went to a park somewhat near her place to get water, dropped it off at her place, then we went to the international centre. I met a few people in international centre. They were all very nice people. =) The international centre had some food and drinks for foreigners to have and it was a little place for people to rest. Many people from abroad called the centre to find their family or friends in Sendai or in Miyagi prefecture. There were a number of volunteers who went around the city to jot down names of foreigners in different shelters.

One of the workers at International centre was a Japanese with very good English. It was very sad that her grandparents’ house got flushed away…..along with the people in there. After hanging around in the centre, Emily and I went to another person’s place for a shower. Yeaaaaaaa…shower. It was cooooooold, but it was nice to feel somewhat clean. =)

We then went to Daniel’s place for a little gathering with a few more people. We actually didn’t do much. We just chatted, discussed the possibility of leaving the city, talked about the possible ways of leaving the city, watched the news, and ate snacks. Haha, we actually thought of different ways of leaving. We thought of driving half way up to Yamagata and have the other Yamagata JETs to meet us; we also thought of taking the Yamagata bus together, then go to Aomori… Oversea relatives were very nervous about my condition. They kept on telling me to leave the city, but I was not sure… They actually told me to leave as soon as they could get in touch with me. Initially, I wasn’t really worried about the nuclear plant thing because I didn’t really think it was a threat to Sendai since it’s about 120km away from the plant. However, I guess the more news I saw and the more people, including friends, telling me to leave, the more I was thinking if I should really leave. I brought up this “leaving” discussion on the table. Man, I was so bad for bringing up the nuclear thing because that actually made some people worried… =(

Well, I guess at least we had a great time chatting and we had some good food! =) 2 of the ALTs just came back from Yamagata and brought a lot of food from there. We had some sort of yogurt w/ granola and chocolate PROTEIN POWDER (it actually tasted pretty good…=P ), roast wild boar, and pasta with wild boar stew.



The food was gooooood, but unfortunately, many people were somewhat in their panic mode about the nuclear thing.

I didn’t have a good sleep that night. I was sitting on the couch…and the tear of fear and “helplessness” rushed out of my eyes.

I was in my panic mode…

Day 2 – Perhaps bad things come in 3s……

March 12, 2011

In the morning at like 6am, my co-worker drove me home. From this incident, I actually learnt a bit more about the Japanese culture. On Monday, female teachers didn’t have to work but male teachers had to work…

Anyway, when I got home, I was like….WOW….WHAT A MESS!!!



Well, just that the shelf by the door was broken…many things fell, like my tv, kettle, shelf, toaster oven. However, there was no major damage. Only 2 things were broken: a cheap plastic tray and the cap of my parsley. My phone died, but luckily I had an usb thing to charge my phone w/ my laptop. I packed up all the important things that I would need if I needed to leave the city. Then, I went to Emily’s place.

She had been my earthquake buddy for the week. I still remember we went to our nearest refuge area to go to the washroom, drink water, and eat dinner. The shelter near her place wasn’t as crowded as I thought. I was very impressed that there were water and warm wakame rice, so we had our dinner there. It was a very good meal. =)



Our evening ended with UP to cheer us up. =) While I was watching a part that was very touching, THE LIGHT CAME ON!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! We literally screamed for joy!!! I couldn’t stop from crying. The electricity actually came back a lot earlier than I thought, but I was definitely not complaining for its presence. =P

We went to the nearby shelter for washroom, then we went to bed WITH the heater on.

Sweet dreams~

Day 1 (part 2) – A “good” day has changed…..

March 11, 2011 (2)

Japan is a country with many earthquakes. I have undoubtedly experienced a lot of small earthquakes since my arrival in August. I still remember I was msning w/ a friend when “my first” earthquake happened…probably back in September. It was a small one, but it was also a bit nerve-racking. After experiencing a few more small earthquakes, I got somewhat “used” to small earthquakes. Earthquakes weren’t that frequent. We would get an earthquake about once a month or once every 5 weeks. However, On March 9 (Wednesday, 2 days before the biggie), we had 3 earthquakes in a day. I still remember Winsy, Amanda, Emily, Sophie and I were planning to go for burgers on Wed., but we cancelled because of the earthquake and possible subway closure. After the 3 earthquakes day, I was telling myself that it might be an warning call for me to make an earthquake kit. Since it was Friday, I was going to go to town after work and prepare my earthquake kit…. Ha, how ironic eh?

Ok, back to the big earthquake day. Some students, teachers and I were in the gym setting up for the grad ceremony. Most things were prepared and ready for the big day. Kids were just doing some final touch up and chilling. Suddenly, the earth started to shake. Then, Mr. Sasaki shouted “Earthquake!! Hide under the tables!!!” (well, of course in Japanese..haha..) Luckily we set up many long tables, so many students, including myself, hid under the tables. Initially, the earthquake wasn’t that strong, so some students, mostly boys, were still sorta fouling around and didn’t do anything to protect themselves. While Mr. Sasaki was telling the kids “Head! Head”, he didn’t really do anything to protect himself. Man….that reminded me of great teachers who wouldn’t care about themselves but to save the kids.

The earthquake was looooooong. The shake also got stronger and stronger. The big huge lights on the ceiling were shaking like crazy. I think the shake lasted like….a minute? Or longer? I didn’t really know. When the earth was shaking, I was somewhat anticipating something to fall…or even the building to collapse. About half a meter in front of me, a part of a light cover from the ceiling fell! It was scary. When the quake got weaker, another teacher, Mr. Morosawa, decided everyone should evacuate. He and Mr. Sasaki quickly pushed away the chairs that were in front of the emergency exit to make a way for the students to go out. Some of the students were definitely TERRIFIED! Many students were crying like crazy. Many girls started to cuddle with each other to comfort each other. When they saw their other friends, other students yelled out their friends’ names w/ a slight feeling of relief because their friends were ok. After that, the teachers, including myself, were trying to comfort the students and get them to calm down. The students were told to get into their clubs and sit down to avoid further chaos. Many students were still traumatized and they couldn’t stop crying. It was very “fortunate” that at least the 3rd years all went home so there were fewer students.

Some people asked me if I was scared during the earthquake. To be honest, not really. I guess because there were so many students and they looked very scared, the only thing in my mind was to calm them down and make sure the evacuation was as smooth as possible. Haha, I’m not saying I am a hero or something…but yea, I was just trying to be as calm as I could.



After we have gathered all the kids at the field, they were told to sit according to their classes. After some research (thanks to 3G phone), a social studies teachers told everyone what the earthquake was called and the magnitude of our earthquake. Since it felt the safest for the kids to go home, a few teachers went to all the classrooms and got all the kids stuff so they could go home. Because trains and buses all terminated their services, the teachers grouped the students according to their locations and a few teachers walked the students home. Wow, it was truly a strange day… The thought of “the end of the world is here” hit when the heavy snow hit right after the earthquake. It was…crazy. Yes, no more grad ceremony. Yeah, the classrooms and everywhere were MESSY!!! However, I would say we were quite lucky that only small things like 1 piece of glass, plastic cabinets were broken. There was no electricity. Well, our school was lucky to still have running water. Also, this incident was considered as an emergency situation, so the male teachers stayed at school for the night. It was a very interesting phenomenon. I guess Japan is still a “men work outside, and women stay at home” kind of society. Most of the female teachers went home for the night and all the male teachers stayed at school. We constantly had the radio on to get the latest info.

To be honest, I didn’t know the earthquake was so serious…AND I didn’t know it brought something even more serious – TSUNAMI! When we were at school, we heard that a few schools were flooded!!!! It was very scary. Some teachers were chatting with each other and some teachers just slept on their desks.

Yay! Dinner time…!? We all first got a bag of cracker.



Wooo…my very first time eating emergency food! The crackers actually tasted pretty good. =) After a few hours, we had WAKAME RICE!!! (rice with seaweed!)



I was like… “where did they get that rice???” It is actually another standard disaster food. It worked like instant noodle. It was in a big box. The rice (it’s called “alpha rice”) was in a plastic bag. You would put hot water in and viola, you would get wakame rice. It was actually quite tasty. =)

My principal was very nice to me. She said, “Joyce, you must be tired! Go sleep in the nurse room!” I felt a bit 不好意思 cuz I was the only person who was sleeping on a bed…

Well, so this was my day 1. I was sleeping on a bed with no heat, but I was very “warm” because my principal was so nice to me. =)

Good night everyone and the journey continues…

Day 1 - Seemingly a normal day...

March 11, 2011

It was a normal day to start. I still remember Winsy, Amanda, Sophie, Emily, and I were going to Kame burger at Izumi to get our burger fix. I still remember I was telling myself… “wow, this weekend would be pretty busy! When can I study my Japanese?? My weekend “consisted” of burger in the evening, then work on Saturday and perhaps Crooners singing performance outside of Mitsukoshi for St. Baldricks. On Sunday, I was supposed to have taiko practice for Aoba matsuri, then tutor afterwards. It was supposed to be a packed weekend. I just figure there are soooo much stuff on this day that I will have to split the post into 2 parts. Here they are. =)

Our graduation ceremony would have been tomorrow! I was so bad…I went to school late again. Recently, I had been sleeping quite late everyday, so my dear sis called me in the morning to wake me out. Did the morning call work? Hmmm..a bit. I picked up the phone, then went back to sleep……XD If my memory serves me correctly, I woke up at 7:15!!! (my train leaves at 7:30). Um…yea, I couldn’t catch that train. When I was rushing into the school, one of the 3rd year students were standing outside of the staff room and WAITING FOR ME!! Wow, I have never had students looking for me at the staff room. Then the girl (awwww…I wish I can remember her name… =( ) gave me a “card” (I think it’s called “kishiki”) and she said it’s from all the 3rd year students. Awwww, that was very nice of them. Since it was the last year for the 3rd years, they wrote that card for all their teachers. After I gave their class that “lucky penny” thing, I could sense that the students figured that they don’t have that card for me. The card is a simple card, but it is a very very sweet card and act.



It was the last day of classes for the 3rd years. When their classes finished at noon, I was roaming around in the hallway, and one of the students, Rina, in 3-7 told me to go to the classroom. Since it was the last day of JHS class for them, they got their report cards and their year book. The students were excitedly seeing each others’ report cards and signing each others’ year books. After I went into the classroom, Rina, and other students, asked me to sign their year books. Sure!!! I would love to!!! If possible, I would love to somehow keep in touch with some of the students! They are cute. =) I spent so much time signing year books that I almost forgot my lunch, so I, unusually, ate lunch with a few 3rd year teachers in the staff lunch room. It was nice that we were able to have a bit of conversation. It was good. The day was good.

After lunch, 3rd year students went home and the 1st and 2nd year students were at school to prepare the school for graduation ceremony. This ceremony is, according to my supervisor, the most important event in the school year! Students were at different places of the school to do major clean up so guests would see our school in its “best” condition. I was at the gym helping students setting up the chairs and tables. Detail was important. The kids had to put a measuring tape right in front of the legs of the chairs to make sure the line RIGHT ON the measuring tape. Yes, it was THAT detailed. This kind of attention to detail actually reminded me of Nick from Sage. He is a Japanese-Canadian and he is quite detail-oriented in setting up the best presented catering area. No wonder he was so “picky”. =P Because this level of attention to detail and grad ceremony is so important to a school, this was supposed to be my “photo of the day”:



While we were still setting up, THE EARTHQUAKE CAME!!!!!!!!! =S


(to be continued…)

What a week.......!! (Earthquake speical edition)

Man, I can’t believe it had only been a week since the last time I posted something. I felt like a month had passed by. For those who don’t know, I live in Sendai, Japan; for those who don’t know (wow, it would be pretty bad for not knowing…), a magnitude 8.9 earthquake stroke Northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. So….where’s Sendai? Yup, it’s at the Northeastern part of Japan. It was quite a thing I would have to tell you. In the past week, many things had occurred. First, 8.9 magnitude earthquake (I think it was the world’s 3rd largest earthquake in the recorded history), then it followed by tsunami at the coastal area of Northeastern Japan. Finally, (maybe not finally eh? But I sure hope it is “finally”) my neighbouring prefecture, Fukushima, had some sort of nuclear plant meltdown problem. I guess bad things come in 3s? Hopefully bad things would ONLY come in 3. We don’t need more bad things in Japan. Some people said I have “chosen” a “good” year to come to Japan. Well, I guess God gave me a “good” year to come. Things have not ended yet, but I guess it had sort of ended for me personally since I am now in Narita airport awaiting my flight to Taiwan.

Day 10 -- Present.

March 10, 2011

Haha, I would have to say there's nothing too special today. After class today, I saw these (well, the ceramic thing was wrapped in paper..) on my desk. Awwww, so nice and cute! I wondered who these were from! Haha, then my kocho sensei (principal) walked by and said something about those things. Haha, my principal is so cute. She would sometimes give me random stuff. I remember one time she gave me some postcards from hotels and said "Japanese cards". Sure sure, it's the 気持ちthat counts. =) I still remember one time she gave me a 鳳梨酥 because her friend went to TW. I guess she doesn't really like sweets. Whenever there's enkai and if I were to sit near her, she would give me her dessert.

Hehe, I actually quite like these few little things. =) Yay! more decoration for my house. =) Haha, I asked if Johana could visit the school and observe one of my classes, and kocho sensei agreed. =)

Yup, it's a present. The present is also a present (gift). I will continue to find thankful things in life. It is a blessing to have "present". I will treasure it. 一期一会...yup..that's right. We never know how many times we would meet someone, but we (or I) shall treasure every encounter with everyone. I still treasure the people whom I encountered before. I guess 變幻原是永恆...other than God. How nice and blessed we are. =)

cheers~ =) Hope we can all try to find little bit of interesting things in our lives la! \(^o^)/

Day 9 - 思い出 (Memory...)

March 9, 2011

This is a picture of a 3rd year classroom, the 3-7 classroom to be exact. Today was the general admission high school entrance exam day. However, some students were selected to write it back in January, so some of the 3rd year students came back to school to clean their classrooms. I didn’t know it until I started to see different 3rd year students showing up outside of the staff room looking for different teachers. Yeah…it was big clean ups.. (大掃除). The students pretty much took away everything and anything that didn’t belong to the “original” classroom. Awwwww, it was sad to see all those posters, students’ works got torn off. As I was wandering around outside of the 3rd year classrooms, I had the chance to talk to some of the students. Awwwww…..memory…off the wall. Well, I guess memory will also be in our hearts. Memory lasts forever. Memory shapes who we are today… Haha, when I was telling the kids that I’m going to put this picture on my blog, they were like… “oh! The picture of 3-7’s classroom????” Hahahaha, they got soooo excited…XD It’s soooo cute how innocent these students are. Thus, I have to specifically say this is 3-7’s classroom! =) The wall used to be filled with students’ works, encouraging slogans, different pictures. Now, it’s so blank… kinda sad… =( When I was taking the picture, one of the students was saying something like “生な壁” (Haaaaa, I actually can’t really remember what exactly she said, but I swear she said the word “生”, which means “raw” or “bare” in this case. Yeah, I agree. The classroom has become so “nama”… Then I instantly thought of all the memory down the wall…(I told the students that too..haha!)

One of my favourite students, Shihori, was in the classroom. She is sooo cute and funny! She’s the girl who said something like “I love you because you are hardworking” back in Sports day. Haha, today, she said to me “I am アンパンマンbecause I am正義の味方” (it means “I am anpanman because I am the friend of justice.) Haha, cute eh? XD She kept on telling me that she’s going to be a lawyer. Although I know it is definitely not as easy as she might think to be a lawyer, I love her innocence and her excitement towards her future. ああ～～～たぶん、これは青春だ！ I sincerely hope she can work hard and work towards her dream!
Things may change in the future, but it is precious to have dreams I think. =)

Haha, I think somehow I am starting to enjoy even more of my work/life here. =) Yeah, I guess everything takes time, and everyone takes different amount of time. Well, I think our mentality is very important too. I am glad I’m doing this “photo a day” thing. It gets me to find interesting little things in life. I believe if we truly seek, we should be able to find little interesting happenings in our daily lives. Well, I guess it’s easier when you are on an “adventure” like what I’m doing right now.

Man, the students can seriously make my day. Like most of any other days, I was having lunch with one of the classes. Today, I had lunch with 2-1. Well, I would have to say sometimes I was not as excited to go to certain classes. Well, actually 2-1 is ok. When I went into the class, I was first “greeted” by the Chinese student who came to the school half way into the year. I could see that he is feeling a lot of comfortable, and not as timid as when he first came to the school. It seems like the other students are more accepting of him being in the class too. I am happy to see that. It can suck pretty bad to always be seen as an outsider, especially for kids their age. Haha, now I think back, I really have to thank him for speaking Chinese to me. I miss that… Haha, although I thought the students knew I was from Hong Kong, a few students in the same group were so surprised that I can speak Chinese! XD They were all like “すごい!全然分からない。。。” soooooo funny! Because the Chinese student and I were sitting at the opposite ends of the tables, the other students were all able to overhear our conversation. During lunch, other than the Chinese conversations, I tried, as usual, to speak English to them. Haha, we “talked” so much that I didn’t have time to finish my lunch! It was a pretty scene. =) When our group were chatting, it sort of got the other groups interested at what we were talking about.

It was one of my happiest lunches. Here is why…

As usual, most of the students were like “英語は全然分からない！” (I don’t understand English!) So before each thing I said, I said something like, “ok, challenge!” to get them to listen to me and try to make sense of what I was trying to say. One of the boys (one of the “I think I’m too cool for English” kinda guy) was, not surprisingly, kept on saying he didn’t know English. HOWEVER, during the course of our conversation, he was one of the students who was able to understand most of what I was telling them. Haha, I was actually very surprised because he’s one of the “trouble makers”, “I am so cool kinda guys” in class. I was very very surprised that he actually tried to translate what I was saying! It was AWESOME to see the attitude change from the beginning of lunch (“I don’t speak English”) to the end of lunch (“yes, I can..”). Ok, fine fine, I “conditioned” all of them to say “yes, I can speak English”. Haha! =P

Before I went back to the staff room, I pointed at him (yes, I literally pointed at him…) and said “your English is good. がんばって！” I could see that there was at least a slight attitude change towards his own English ability…or ability overall. I think he had gained a weee bit of confidence in his English, or in himself. It was…speechlessly awesome. I don’t even know how to describe that “fu” in words. Well, I’m sure that “Yes, I can” attitude is not gonna last forever, but I hope it did make at least a slight difference in his attitude towards himself. When he said “ありがとうございます” to me w/ his..um… “proud” but not boast face, that picture totally made my day.

Haha, God is so good to me. He really is. Haha, I know I am totally off topic now. These are nothing related to my picture above….XD Whatever…it’s my blog. I can do whatever I want. Haha! =P

When I was walking to the train station after work, I bumped into one of the 3rd years. Haha, I’m a bit 恥ずかしい (ashamed) to say that I didn’t really recognize her when I saw her because she had her mask on. She called out “Joyce sensei”, so I stopped to briefly chat with her. I asked whether she was writing the high school test, then she nodded. She then said “終わりました!” (I've finished!) to me. Haha, I actually didn’t know exactly what to say, so I just said “good job!” with my thumb up and “お疲れ様でした!” We chatted a little bit more like if she’s going to school tomorrow etc. Then she wanted to show me something. In my head, I was like “what do you want to show me?” For the jacket part of our school uniform, there’s a little pocket to put small things. When she wanted to show me something, she reached into her little pocket. I saw her お守り (lucky charm) in it. Japanese people like to have lucky charm to wish for different things. In the student’s case, it was for good grade on the exam. THEN, she took out THE LUCKY PENNY that I gave to the students!!!!!! My penny was a part her lucky charm!! I felt so honoured! I was speechless. I seriously wanted to cry at the spot. I felt so honoured to be brought into the exam with them for good luck! Haha, when I was in the train, my tears couldn’t stop as I was thinking of all the wonderful things happened today and in the past. Then, I heard “How can I keep from singing Your praise” from my ipod.

Yes Lord. How can I keep from singing Your praise? You have given me so much blessings. Lord, please use me to bring your blessings to others. I want to be an inspiring educator!!!! Errrrrr!!!!! ファイト!!!!!!!

Last word for today…..

JOY! =)

Day 8 -- ジャパンニス。カウチャー (Japanese culture)

March 8, 2011

Yup, Japanese culture. Since it's almost the end of the school year, while other teachers are preparing for the graduation ceremony and other unknown stuff, I am not doing much. Well, I do look for possible future activities and stuff, but I thought it would be more interesting to see the students during their club activity time...so I did. Well, this isn't the first time for me to walk around the school the see and possibly talk to the students after school. It is true. The best times to bond with the students are outside of the classes. First, I was walking around in the building. I would usually see the brass band students standing in the hallway practicing, but this time they were all in band room....so not much interaction there. So I changed into my outside shoes, put on my HIROSE STAFF jacket and went outside. I first saw the Kyudo (弓道）students, so I stayed there a bit and chatted with the students. Haha, I got a few of the students show me how to pull the bow. I also made them to take a picture of me pretending to release the arrow. It was going to be my picture of the day, but I looked (and I probably am...) like an obese おばさん, so no more picture of me.

After kyudo, I decided to check out kendo (剣道). Haha, one of my favourite (but shy) students is one of the senpais. I can see him being a great leader in the future. He is in one of the quietest classes..(hence hardest to teach). I still remember along with a few other students, we used to clean a part of the school together. After my first lesson with his class, he told me... "Joyce sensei, good job. I understood everything you said." Awww...that was so encouraging. =P Anyway, kendo looks intense! (well, kyudo seems pretty hard too) The picture is when they were practicing. I had no idea how they determined which side got a point which side didn't. Oh well, I'm totally new to this. After they were finished w/ that "game", I said "かこいい！！！！” and left.. haha..XD Some cool students were in kendo club. They seemed surprised to see me. haha!

Man, I am so glad that I got into JET instead of some other language schools because I bet the experience would be soooooooo different!!! I love where I am! Haha, I still find it very very cute when the studentsn say "Hi Joyce" or "oh! Joyce sensei だ！” when they see me. I am glad that I'll have the opportunity to see the 1st years to become 3rd year. Too bad I won't be able to see them graduate... =( Yeah, that's true. It takes time to know them. I still remember the 1st years were very quiet..and they were scared of me in the beginning. I think they are more willing to approach me now. I am happy. =)

Haha, from today's daily card (they finally arrived!!! thanks sis! i love u.), I was told to look at the ceiling and smile~ Sis, if you're reading this blog, I actually did exactly what you told me to! - look at the ceiling, smile, and thank God for what He's giving me. =)

I'm lovin' it. =) 神様、ありがとうございます！超感謝！=)

Day 7 -- "the world can't take away Your love"

March 7, 2011

Sing (Your love) - Hillsong
(from the album "more than life")

It used to be darkness
Without you I
I lived my life in blindness
But now I am found

And I'll sing, sing I love you so
And I'll sing
Because the world can't take away
Your love

Found me in weakness
Broken
You came to me in kindness
And now I live

I'll give my life for you Lord
For all you've done


Haha, as of now, I would be thinking of what to post on my photo of the day. I actually prepared an actual picture...but while I was little walk to Sendai Station attempting to buy souvenirs, I found this song in my ipod. I usually just listen to the specific playlist. In fact I've been listening to it for quite some time. Today I suddenly pressed the play button for shuffling all the songs in my ipod...and I came across this one. Well, I know this song, but I didn't have any special "fu" to this song. When I was walking...walking...walking, the line "...the world can't take away Your love" suddenly hit me. I guess I miss P&W. I wanted to just stand on the spot and sing as if no one's around. Well, but people were around...so I guess I shouldn't just stand there and sing..XD

Haha, true, this is not a photo, but whatever... It's my blog. Haha! =P I guess not everyday will have something super special eh? Well, but I guess it's a good idea to find something "special" in our everyday life because I guess as long as we search for the interesting/special moments, they will appear.

Ok, unrelated to the video, I'm excited for Johana's coming. She might come to my school and see one of my classes! I'm nervous and excited! Man....I should have asked my supervisor when my sis came...since she wanted to see my workplace and stuff.. Well, too bad. Perhaps when/if she comes again....slim chance.

Anyway, thank you Lord for continue to be w/ us and love us no matter how much the world change. =)

Day 6 -- さくら握り

March 6, 2011

Yup, this is the name of this sushi. Man, what was I thinking????? I thought I wanna save???? Why did I allow myself to eat sushi?? (and it's not kaiten zushi...well, but this store is not too expensive...) Anyway, yes....I went to this sushi store and had sushi before the Crooners practice. This is actually my 3rd time going to this sushi place. I went there by myself the first time....thinking I went to a kaiten zushi place..(since it's cheap..) Haha, I was a bit nervous the first time...cuz it's those u sit in front of the sushi chef. Also, since it wasn't kaiten zushi, so I was nervous that I would be eating too much..haha! I went there w/ Paul the 2nd time. Haha, we stayed there for like...almost 2 hours.......... Since we were speaking in English for the whole time..(well, I was trying to speak Japanese to the chef...but yeaa...it was hard.) Haha, this time around when I went into the store and saw the chefs, I think a few of them recognized me.... One of the chefs was telling another chef that I'm from Canada. Haha, it was interesting that they would remember me...I guess I don't dress like a typical Japanese...that's why..haa..

ok, back to this specific piece of sushi. The reason why this made it to my today's picture is because it's my first time trying it. Hmmmm.....sakura. To my knowledge, it means "cherry blossom". Well, obviously, this is not cherry blossom...and it's NOWHERE NEAR a cherry blossom. Can you guess what this is??


.

..

...

....

.....

.......


ok, this is HORSE SUSHI! Yes, it's a rare piece of horse, topped w/ a bit of grounded ginger and green onion. It's also sprinkled w/ a bit of..um..i'm guessing it was ponzu soy sauce. Now comes to the taste..... well, it actualy just tasted like a piece of um....raw food w/o much flavour. However, I don't like how it's 咬不斷...so I had to put the entire thing in my mouth. It was ok...not unpleassant. It was an interesting experience.

Yes, coming to Japan is also a culinary adventure for me. It may explain why I'm getting fatter and fattter....soo sooo sooooooo scary!! yea...i need to exercise and eat...better food at the right times...

all in all...culinary adventure....I'm lovin' it.

Day 5 -- Spring time...?!?

March 5, 2011

This is something called "Sakura mochi". I got this at the little cute bakery just below my house. They have good cakes. =) Hmmmm, I've tried almost all their cakes.... Ha, I guess that's another reason why I'm gaining weight... This time, I've decided to give their mochi a try. The pink part is cherry blossom-flavoured mochi. The outside leave is a piece of cherry blossom leave, and the inside is filled with red bean paste (yes, Japanese loves their red bean paste..haa!). People usually eat it during spring time since sakura is such a big thing in Japan. Perhaps it means spring is near.....? (well, for a day, I felt spring is springing...but SNOW came...............and it has been pretty cold since then...)

Sooooo, here comes the taste. =)

The mochi and the red bean paste part were pretty good. The mochi was chewy like...a mochi. =) The red bean paste was not overly sweet. NOW...the leave part.... It was SALTY!..... I did not like the saltiness w/ the sweetness here... It's kind of strange. I had it with my tutor during our tutoring session today. Well, it's a traditional Japanese snack. It's a good experience. I like the mochi...except the leave. haa!

Woooo...spring time + sakura. They make me think of....GOLDEN WEEK! YAY!! Now the Aomori trip is becoming more real. Tonight, Winsy, Emily, and Sophie came to my place to search for hotels in Aomori. Well, initially I was thinking of Hirosaki, but absolutely no hotel room was available in that area. LUCKILY, there were hotels in Aomori!!! =) The hotel we booked is only 3 minutes away from JR Aomori staion on foot! How nice....! It's not expensive too! I am excited. =) Man, i'll be so broke...

so this is my little blab about this spring theme thing. Enjoy spring everyone...when it's here. ha! =)

Day 4 -- 送り会 (Goodbye ceremony)

March 4, 2011

Today was my school's goodbye ceremony for the 3rd years-the graduating class. It was a touching ceremony. It first started with some 1st and 2nd representatives holding up..um...ring (??) to welcome the 3rd years. Each club also painted a banner for the 3rd years. They were all very cute, encouraging, and sweet! =) Haha, my tears came out during all these events...haa! Luckily I was standing upstairs..so probably no one saw me. =P Sasaki sensei also got videos of teachers who left the school to congratulate the students. The 3rd years were all very excited when they saw their former teachers. Haha, another fun part must have been the photo slide show! It showed pictures of the graduating students....from their starting school ceremony to now! It's sooooo funny seeing what the students looked like 3 years ago.

Ohoh, back to the picture. This big poster is made by the 1st and 2nd years. Believe it or not, it's actually THOUSANDS OF ORIGAMI PUT TOGETHER! The student who was introducing this poster did say how many pieces there were...but I didn't catch it. I only remember there was a "9" in it. It's a picture of our first sports day after 10 years I heard. Sports day was fun!! It sure did create a lot of great memory. =) Since today is the last day of the 3rd years eating 給食 (school lunch), we had dessert and 赤飯 (rice cooked w/ red bean sprinkled w/ black sesame and salt). This rice is usually eaten during celebration time; eg, birthday, graduation. Well, it's actually their last day eating school lunch perhaps for the rest of their lives! They've been having school lunches since elementary school.

Well, it was a great afternoon having the goodbye ceremony. Man, the teachers did soooo much work! 先生達、お疲れ様でした!　本とにありがとうございました！

Day 3 -- Shopping activity........

March 3, 2011

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SELINA, JOSEPH, AND TIMOTHY!!! =)

Yes, I am not a very smart teacher. I use/waste a lot of time making stuff sometimes... This is one of them. Some people might know that I've been thinking about the 2nd year's shopping conversation lesson for the longest time. Since we did skit twice before....(props were involved too...), both my JTE and I wanted to do something else....BUT the big question is WHAT? We have been thinking...thinking...thinking...thinking. I've been searching...asking....thinking...bugging ppl about this lesson. In the back of my head, I was like..."It's only 1 lesson???? Why am I using soooo much time thinking about the activity??" Well, we've finally decided to give it a try and make everything. Haha, I did stay til 8:30 one night to make the props. Since I usually have classes during the day time, I wasn't able to make the props during the day. Because of the possible complication of this activity, I had to think through what the props should include. I actually had this lesson idea awhile ago; however, there are "flaws" to this activity....like how much practice they're really getting... whether this is too mechanical... Well, I guess there's no perfect activity eh?

As for the "money" shown on the picture, I wasn't going to laminate them. Well, since it was like 8:30pm already....I asked my JTE (yes, he was still in school too...) if he had thick clear tape. I was going to just tape one side of the money and cut them out like that. However, when I was telling what I was going to do to my JTE, he said, "I think laminating them will be better. Let's cut them out first!" Haaaaaaaa........laminating them meaning I'll have to cut them out first, then one by one lay them out on those laminating sheets, then cut them out one by one, THEN cut the corners since the corners of laminated sheets can be quite sharp. I was like......ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? I literally told my JTE that if we did that, it would take me til next year!!!! Haha, at last, we didn't do the activity the next day...(that's why I stayed til so late to prepare all the props). My JTE just did the textbook. Oh well, at least I got most of the stuff done. =) Well, intially, we were not going to include money since it is A LOT of work to make those money...and the kids probably know how to ask "how much is it?", "it's $..." already. However, true...,what kind of shopping doesn't involve money?? Fine...生徒達のために、やろう！ (For the sake of the students...let's do it!) Well, on Friday, when I asked my JTE for the laminator, we laminated and cut the money together. I actually didn't expect him to do it with me. It was very 優しい of him. =) I am blessed to work w/ good people. =)

Soooooo....how did this activity go? We've done 2 classes so far. I think the kids enjoyed! I could tell that most of them at least know how to say "may i help you?", "I'm looking for a ________". Oh well...perhaps I'll post it somewhere...and other's can help me/others revise this activity to make it better.

Oh my....I can really blab on forever. Well, here's my 2 nensei's shopping activity. =)

Day 2 -- "We love Joyce~" =P

March 2, 2011

Today I have finished the last classes for some of my 3rd years. I used like...a week to think of "special" activities for them. Man...maybe that's the way I am. I think...think...think and waste time like that. Haha, after talking to my JTE (well, I told him that I need some advice..XD), he said "普通がいい"....yup, just do normal lesson stuff. Well, that's true. The ideas I thought of were not really doable...and the kids may not enjoy anyway. At last, I just did vocab blackboard run and sleep & awake um...making sentence activities with them. Hehe, well, I think they still enjoyed the lesson. =) I gave every kid a "lucky penny" as a little gift to wish them luck in their entrance exams and their future. Well, I've also "re-packaged" the pennies so they look more...valuable. After I handed out the pennies, each lunch group in each class GAVE ME A "GRADUATION THANK YOU CARD"!! =) I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks my JTE. Well, it was one of their writing assignments, but it was still very sweet. Yup, these cards made my day. Haha, some of the comments are funny... "How can I live without you....?" XD Thanks to the media I guess. TOOOO FUNNY! When the kid was handing me the card, that's exactly what he said..."how can I live without you". Funny kids. Anyhow, I guess that's why I'm in the teaching field eh? Seeing my students happy and appreciate my work make things worthwhile. I will miss them.

Yay! I have some awesome wallpapers. =)

Day 1 -- Preparing for the graduation ceremony

March 1, 2011

Ok, it will be a challenge remembering to take a picture everyday and post "everyday". However, I guess this might be more interesting...hahaa!
Fine. This is my first post for this "photo a day" thing....and I'm gonna cheat the first one. If you can see the date on the picture, it was taken on Feb. 28. Well..whatever. Who said I need to be so strict??? =P sigh....what kinda teacher is this...

Anyway, enough 廢話。。。

This is a picture of the 3rd years. It was during their after lunch break. They all gathered in the multi-purpose room to practice their singing for the graduation ceremony. Although I didn't fully understand the song, I managed to pick out words here and there. Well, it's a graduation song, so there were many words such as "memory", "life", "acheving dreams", "although we are parting now" kinda thing. Haha, even though I'm not the person graduating, I could feel my tears were about to come out. I guess I'm old enough to have experienced different kinds of "parting" from different environments. Hope I wouldn't cry in the ceremony.... ha!

Oh my blog.....

Wow...it's March already........ and really, u can tell that I"m not a blog person/a dedicated writer. I've just realized that I only had 1 post in Feb........... how is it going to "document" my journey here if I update once a month??

Ok, from now on, I will be a copycat and TRY to do those a photo a day thing. I'm too lazy to start a new blog, so I'll just put everything here. Well, whatever...it's just for myself anyway..haa!

cheers. =)