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Although I never got around to finding a part time job here, I did manage to get myself in on a 1-shot deal tonight. It was at Kanda Gaigo Gakuin, which apparently is the vocational school associated with Kanda U. Yes, that’s right. There’s somewhere even lower on the foodchain than Kanda U. Anyways, they were having a party there, where they taught little kids about Halloween, while the adults (their parents) were upstairs pigging out on a buffet, drinking, and listening to horrible comedians.

Luckily, I didn’t have to work in the classrooms and teach the kiddos (they’re like 5 to 10 years old, I can’t handle that). I was upstairs with the parents and staff. My “job” was to mingle with the people, in English. I don’t really think anyone spoke English…. Anyways, I pretty much just talked to the Japanese girls about my age and pigged out on the buffet. And what was my work (1 hour of waiting, 2 hours of “mingling”) worth? 6000 yen. Yep, that’s right. Approximately 55 US bucks. It’s a tough job, someone’s gotta do it…

Oh, additionally, there are apparently a bunch of earthquakes going on tonight in Niigata (north of here). I felt about 3 while at the party in Tokyo, and some aftershocks. Just felt another here in Chiba. People are dying in Niigata, luckily they’re not that bad where I’ve been.

Typhoon was pretty much a washout (oh man was that a horrible joke?). Sure there was a lot of wind and rain, but not the huge typhoon of destruction, at least not here in the Chiba and Tokyo area (down south got hit pretty hard though). I fell asleep around 9:30 since I was so tired. Woke up briefly around 11 or 12 to talk to my folks who called, and the rain had tamed down. Rip off.

Trains were a bit of a mess this morning, on account of the typhoon stuff. I guess some lines were still down, and the wind and rain that was still hanging around did some trouble I suppose. Was late for Japanese class (wow big surprise, but Hosoi-sensei never cares). Could have made it only 15 minutes late or so if I were in more of a rush. And by “more of a rush”, I mean not taking a morning coffee break at Starbucks near the IES Center. Man I hope no IES staff or teachers read this… Hahaha. Anyways, I had my “late note” from the station, and they were nice enough to not write the time on it, so: instant excuse. Musashino Line was a pain in the butt anyway, I think it was totally handicapped. Apparently that, Keio, and Tozai are all “weak” train lines. Hey great, all the lines between my dorm and school. I guess it’s convenient if you feel like grabbing a cafe mocha before class.

I hear rumors of another typhoon coming soon, who knows. This year is really odd for some reason with typhoons, what a lucky time for me to be here. Hopefully it won’t interfere with the IES trip to Nagano on Wednesday. Yes, I’m taking a vacation. And on the agenda, a “ninja theme park” and much more awaits.

On Wednesday, I finally got to go to my field placement and work. Got up around 5:30 in order to be at school in Sengakuji (about 1 station away from Shinagawa, southern Tokyo) by 8AM. Honestly, I do absolutely nothing until 8:45, when first period starts. I’m going to start getting there at 8:15 or 8:30 from now on. Especially considering the American lady who is my supervisor doesn’t get in until about 8:44, and before that I sit there and do nothing.

I taught 4 English oral communication (OC) classes. 1 class for the first years (equivalent to American high school sophomores), and 3 for the second years. All these OC classes are “team taught” by two teachers: a Japanese and a foreigner. I just join as the 3rd teacher, although they make me sit and practice with the kiddies also sometimes. That right there is the worst part of my job period. Sitting with the kids and helping them practice their English. I realize it might be good practice for them, but it’s almost…degrading for me at times to sit there and help practice English. I might mention to my supervisor that I’m here to be a teacher and not just a practice partner. I’m more comfortable at the head of the class here.

All the classes I taught, even the class for the “advanced” second years seemed about the same. The main things they were practicing were “What’s New” and “That’s All.” Pretty much just asking questions about recent activities, and giving long responses. For someone who is fluent in English, this is about as exciting as stabbing yourself in the foot with a corkscrew. Not only that, but I had to say the exact same thing about 50 times in one day. If I have to do something like this again, I swear I’m going to start making stuff up. One kid will hear me talk about my adventures the previous night in outer space. They probably won’t understand me, so it will be OK. If they happen to understand me, I will tell them “Hey good job for seeing that I was lying to you.”

After one day, I know I could never be a teacher “for real.” It wasn’t that bad, honestly, and was actually kind of fun. But the pure fact that I had to do the exact same lesson 4 times (in a row) bored the life out of me. I don’t know how teachers who do that everyday can live with themselves. I’m not one for rubidium of something boring like that, so I guess I can’t be a teacher. Overall, it was a fun day, but I’m going to have to start putting a little more variety in my work schedules otherwise I’m going to go nuts working at this school. I’ll be going back this weekend to help with the English Speech contest the 1st years are putting on. I’ll either be a judge or the M.C. I’m hoping for MC.

Well I finally uploaded some pictures. Click on “Pictures” to the left there. 1 gallery of general Japan pics, the other is from the Tokyo Game Show.

Last week we had a meeting for the start of IES SIG groups, basically little clubs for various interests like sports, Japanese language, culture, etc. Clubs so the IES kids and Japanese students can hang out. I joined the biggest one, Movies, and became leader of it. Then, I didn’t realize that the leaders of each of the SIGs were automatically candidates for IES Student Council President. Well, that was the case, and I am now the President. Haha, funny funny.

On Monday, we were off for 老人の日 (Roujin no Hi), or “Be nice to old people day.” So what did I do? Went to the movies. Japanese movies are ridiculously expensive. 1 ticket is 1800 yen, or around $16. Student Discount is a little bit less. Me, Seth, and Bryan went to see Naruto the Movie. Mii showed up a little late, so we stubbed her in. She didn’t know this at first. I guess Japanese kids aren’t big on sneaking into movies. After that, we decided that we paid so much money, we wanted to see more than 1 movie. Luckily, when we bought our tickets, they give you a schedule of the movies playing that week. Makes it easy to figure out which movie to sneak into next. So, I watched about 20 minutes of Biohazard 2 (Resident Evil 2), then moved to watch the Dekaranger/Kamen Rider Blade double feature. Good times. Went to Outback for dinner.

Tuesday was just classes as usual, no biggie.

Wednesday, went to Harajuku to buy a man-purse, since every guy in this country has one. It’s actually just a black canvas bag with Kishidan on it. Then, me and Ari went to a restaurant that had for 1000 yen all you can eat pasta, pizza, pancakes, and hip hop. When I ever get around to putting up pictures, I will have to show the sign from this place. Then, we went to Ebisu to see the Sapporo Beer Museum. Horrible museum really, it’s just an excuse for people to try (after paying for) different kinds of Sapporo and Yebisu beer.

At night, went with Ari, Ahn-tuan, Dan, and Adam to Shinjuku. Went to 2 huge music stores, then walked around Kabukicho (the shady yakuza/triad-run area). Before we finally made it to Kabukicho, however, thanks to my awesome map-reading skills, we found where the Shinjuku gay district is. Definitely some weird stuff going on there. And also a gay park, where I guess the gay folk do their business. We were out of there as soon as we realized where we had gone.

Randomness for the rest of the night, primarily walking around aimlessly in Shibuya. Met up with Dave Heston from high school, and his friend from Germany. We walked around a lot, finally ended up in Roppongi at the famous Gas Panic (the locals call it GasPa) club. Let me make this short and sweet: ROPPONGI SUCKS. It is the dirtiest area I have seen in Japan, hilighted by the hordes of refugees/immigrants from Europe, Africa and the really poor parts of Asia. They are either in Roppongi to be hookers, to pick up Japanese guys who don’t know any better, and/or to go to dirty, crowded clubs like Gas Panic. Ah well, at least I know not to go back to Roppongi. Also note that since we were in Roppongi so late, I couldn’t even leave until 5AM. So I was trapped there for hours longer than I would have liked.

I forgot to mention that I have 2 national holidays this week. Also, my field placement High School is off on Wednesday since they just finished a week of exams. SO, that means I only have class on Tuesday and Friday this weekend. Hahahahah!