This morning was the first frost.
Tuesday: I was really happy for some reason. Stayed cheerful all throughout the long day. Most of my classes went well too. Big mood booster was playing the piano at Yoshikawa :)
And by the way, I have eaten at McDonald’s more times in Japan than I have the rest of my life. It’s really quite good, and a good place for Casey and I to hang out between Yoshikawa and Yutaka. Oh, how I do love french fries!
On my way home, I saw a gathering storm... of crows.
Wednesday: The Itou teachers have gotten tired of the textbooks, which are really too sparse, and thought up even more extra activities for their students. The 5th grade teacher introduced a bunch of new vocabulary to his students, and is having them study the komoji (lowercase) as well as the oomoji (uppercase). Lately I’ve been trying to give my students more things to do as well, and to speak much more in English. I’ve seen what the Jr. High school students have to study, and there is absolutely a HUGE gap between what is required in 6th-grade and what these kids have to do in Jr. High — namely, understand full sentences and grammar, and be able to spell words I’m not sure I could spell at that age. For the kids going to juku (cram school) they have a good heads up, but for all the kids who don’t... I hope I can help them at least a little.
I helped Miki study following and, more importantly, giving directions. It’s really difficult! Not only are there many words, but you have to remember all those ‘at’ and ‘on’ and other preposition words.
Thursday: I taught my Yanagi kids the days of the week. The flashcards I have are my favorite flashcards, because they show a picture that incorporates the Japanese letter. For example, Thursday is ‘Mokuyoubi’, 木曜日. The first character moku means ‘tree’, so the picture is of that character as branches of a tree. What makes this fun with the little kids is they don’t even know that yet — and well, most of them don’t even know the order of the days of the week either — so I can teach them Japanese at the same time ^^
Nathan was really ill. So I taught at Katakami Elementary. I regretted not having the afternoon off, but unexpectedly I enjoyed the classes. I guess I’m getting used to teaching after all.
Friday: Morning classes were so boring I just got tired out. The rest of the day was better.
Saturday: Look, snow!!
Kept my little kids mostly under control. Then kept the other little kids mostly under control. Got a little irritated as usual, especially when I told them if they behaved we could have a Christmas party the next week — then they were bad as usual. And as usual the second Nanjo class cheered me up and I laughed with the kids.
Sunday: Kaori and I went to visit her mom in the hospital (fractured hip?), and the hospital looked like... a hospital. But I haven’t been in many so it could be vastly different. Then we shopped for envelopes to put gift money in, stopped in to say ‘hi’ to Hugh’s family who has arrived from South Africa, and in the evening we went to Kaori’s Spanish teacher’s house for a dinner of Spanish and Peruvian food. It was delicious and I ate too much.
Recent Japanese:
ippanteki (一般的) = typical, general
saenai (冴えない) = unsatisfactory
uwabaki (上履き) = indoor shoes — been wanting to know this word forever!
getabako (下駄箱) = shoe rack or cupboard (where the outdoor shoes go)
ikitomari (行き止まり) = dead end (of a road)
sonkei (尊敬) = respect, esteem
shigeki (刺激) = incentive
otsukai (お使い) = errand, mission
reisei (冷静) = calm, cool
oyobi (及び) = and, as well as
tezawari (手触り) = feel, touch
hazawari (歯触り) = texture (food)
mizore (霙) = sleet
arare (霰) = hail (small); hyou = big hail
waribashi (割り箸) = splittable chopsticks (disposable)
This week's phrase or idiom:
kuchi no naka ni wa mitsu, kokoro no naka ni wa doku
kuchi no naka ni wa mitsu, kokoro no naka ni wa doku
In more vindication news: I was listening to a Japanese podcast, and the hosts mentioned that Kabuki is performed in an older form of Japanese, and that native Japanese speakers typically need to use of the translation earpieces to understand it. Not only have both of these people been to Kabuki performances, but one is a native speaker and the other is fluent and has lived in Tokyo for many years.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you heard it from them and not me (I don't know where I heard it from). Perhaps Kabuki has changed in the handful of years since the episode was recorded (doubt it). Perhaps you went to a special performance that was in modern Japanese (unlikely). Or perhaps this old Japanese is similar enough to modern Japanese that people who are not fluent or native speakers can't really tell the difference (this is my preferred theory). So your goal should be to get good enough at Japanese that you can't understand Kabuki anymore :p.
Now your talent for teaching is becoming apparent! Perhaps along with your video training, this suggests an avocation.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures. Nice early frost on flowers. You have certainly learned some Japanese ways with the simplicity of your shots.