September 30th, 2007
Quiet Sunday
McDonalds For Breakfast
It was cool again today AND it rained early this morning. I slept a little later than usual, but left at exactly 9:30 as planned. I had a new mission in mind that had a rigid time frame that could not be missed! This morning’s secret mission: McDonalds breakfast, which ends worldwide at 10:30. What can I say, I’m in love with the Sausage Egg McMuffin. I really like the Steak, Egg and Cheese Bagel, but they don’t have that one here. The plan is to go to McD’ and then back to the library to work on my lessons for next week. The real reason is that I suddenly want McDonalds coffee. McD’s coffee is the best in the world in my opinion, WAY better that that burnt crap Starbucks sells.
Since it had rained, I decided to take the bus to Tenmaya and walk to the library. Since there’s a McDonalds in the Tenmaya arcade, all the better! I order my Sausage Egg McMuffin value set and I’m happy for the day. Note that’s it’s called a “value set” here, not a ”value meal.” It’s the same thing: sandwich, hash browns and coffee, but they call it a set. Just one of those things I guess. I also noticed that the bagels they use here for breakfast food all have sesame seeds on them, where the McDonald’s bagels at home are the plain kind. Gosh, there’s something to ponder huh? There must be some hidden Eastern significance there somewhere.
More Library Action and Lesson Plans
After eating, I quickly walk the two or three blocks to the library. It still looks like rain, and I’m still hoping to avoid using my little folding umbrella. It turns out that the rain was done for the day at that point, but it didn’t look like it right then. I find a nice quiet spot in the back of the library and set up my laptop there. Everything works instantly with no fuss at all this time. I forgot to update the “email list” version of this blog yesterday, so I did all that first. Then I upload yesterday’s report and a little test video that I made last night.
Next up was email. I received several suggestions about kindergarten activities from my sister-in-law and also from Dr. M back at my university in the states. Both had some good ideas that I will try to use for the Kindergarten class real soon now. For this week, I downloaded a bunch of “coloring book pictures” of animals from the National Geographic website. These are really good pictures and I’d recommend them to anyone who needs animal pictures to print. The youngest group of children is supposed to know animals, so we’ll see with these pictures.
I also downloaded clip art pictures of trees in all four seasons. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to work it, but I think in the older kids classrooms, I will break them up into four groups, and each group will “be a season.” They’ll color their trees appropriately for that season. Then I’ll have them trade papers with other groups and have the groups now become weather groups.” One will draw snow, another rain, another sun, and another clouds. We can tackle seasons and weather at the same time. I’m not quite sure how to drag this out to fill a half an hour, but I have a couple of days yet.
I’m not supposed to prepare anything for tomorrow’s university class. It’s the first class of that course, and the professor wants to talk about his syllabus and that kind of thing. He’ll probably introduce me and maybe ask a few questions, but tomorrow isn’t anything I need to prepare for. Tuesday’s class is more of a support group, and I don’t think I’m really supposed to have anything ready to go, just deal with whatever arises. Thursday’s class I do have to prepare for, but it’s not hard and I can think about it on Wednesday while riding on the train; there’s no point in dwelling on that one yet. Friday this week I am off this time.
That leaves the two adult classes on Wednesday. For the early class, I told them that this week we would start looking at idioms. I did quite a bit of work with idioms with my Korean student last year, and he always enjoyed it, so we’ll see how they like it now. I have an excellent website bookmarked that lists hundreds and hundreds of them. I’ll print off about one or two pages’ worth for each class.
They are advanced enough that they are asking really tough grammar questions, many of which I can’t find answers to on the Internet. I really need a good grammar reference, but there isn’t one here in the apartment. There’s one at the bookstore, but it’s around $50 or something and I can’t do that. Maybe one of my “academic readers” (You know who you are!) can get the English department at school to send something? Hint-hint?
The older ladies in the evening are posing a new problem. The old man from two weeks ago has now joined their group and he’s already shaking things up. The ladies were happy to just sit around and chat for the most part, almost ignoring me for long stretches, just looking to me for grammar help and occasional input. The Old Man wants to make it into more of a “real class”. He’s talked them into wanting to work on a nightly “theme” where everything revolves around some central idea. They voted that this week will be “going abroad week.” I need to create vocabulary lists and some activities involving travel. It’s a good idea, and I’m fine with that, but I wonder if the ladies really want it like this or they are just being accommodating to the only man in the group? I’d hate for one or more of them to get frustrated and leave because the dynamics of the class is changing. The old man is just far more advanced than they are, and it’s going to be frustrating for all of them.
So while at the library I saved an article for the early class to work on, and a few things involving travel that I will have to manipulate into vocabulary lists. Nothing difficult, and if I can get it all done this evening, that’ll just make the rest of the week so much easier. I can print everything off tomorrow morning at the office before my class and be done with the materials for the week. I still have some thinking to do about what exactly to do with them, but I’m sure I can come up with something. The concern now is that I only have about one hour with the Internet and printer tomorrow, and that’s my only opportunity until Thursday morning. This would all be so much easier if I could just get on the net conveniently.
I left the library around 2:30 or so, after watching some highly important stuff on Youtube. I had some very plain French food from a place inside the train station; some kind of vegetable pizza, a hash-brown muffin, and some kind of hard biscuit with chocolate chips in it; not bad. After coming home, I manipulated and cleaned up everything for printing in the morning. I’m pretty well set now.
Roommate Wanted?
Marc just left, stating that he was going to a rock concert. It was the first I’d heard about it. He could have asked me to go along, or at least mentioned that there was such a thing happening tonight. I probably wouldn’t have gone, but you never know! Actually, one of my readers has suggested that I get a lock box for my pay money, since it seems likely that he’s going to run out. We don’t get paid again until the 27th, and that’s a long way off. The lockbox may be a little much, but then again, maybe not. On the other hand, I don’t even know where to get one, so it’s not really an issue. I really don’t think he’s the sort of person to do that, but he’s clearly got a drinking problem and when people get desperate, who knows? I’d be willing to bet the loan requests will be starting soon. Groan.
Now it’s 8:00; as far as I can remember, everything is done for tomorrow. I should probably look over my vocabulary lists for Japanese class, but that’s it. Since Monday isn’t a holiday, I have Japanese twice this week. It’s moving too slowly to be of much use, but it’s a place here I can ask questions at least. I think I’ll hit that Haiku book some more, and hopefully finish it tomorrow night. Then I can start the History of Japan, the second book I bought. After that, I’ll bring home something from the library, maybe The Tale of Genji, one of their major classics.
My weekly schedule is pretty well set and fixed now with the exception of Fridays. Here’s my regular schedule:
Schedule:
Monday 10:50-12:20 Dr. N’s class up on the mountain.
Monday 1:00-3:00 Japanese class up on the mountain.
(No real travel)
Tuesday 1:00-4:00 Bitchu-Takahashi in the university student support center.
(About an hour train ride each way)
Wednesday 10:00-11:30 Three different kindergarten classes.
Wednesday 1:00-3:00 Advanced adult learners.
Wednesday 6:00-8:00 Beginner adult learners.
(About an hour getting there, about two coming back on the fast and slow Shinkansen)
Thursday 10:50-12:20 Dr. K’s class up on the mountain.
Thursday 3:30-5:30 Japanese class near the little train station.
(No real travel)
Friday 10:00-??? Something or other in Fukuyama’s Elementary School.
(About an hour each way by train)
So as you can see, I am going to have some hours on the train, reading hopefully. I see eight classes PLUS whatever comes up on Fridays, so I’m betting on ten all together. As far as I know no one has ever gone insane from the pressure before, and I don’t want to be the first, but it des look like a lot. Marc’s schedule is set up along similar lines, but he’s doing a nursery school and junior high among other things. It sounds like I have a busy couple of months ahead of me!
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