Anniversary

Today marks the almost 1 month anniversary since moving to Yokohama and starting life in Japanese elementary schools. I still can't believe i'm doing this. If you know me, than you know that I never ever ever ever considered doing this.  Of course, life happens and decisions must be made. Aside from all the lesson planning and feeling like I don't know what I'm doing, every day is filled with interesting experiences.

Whether it's the kid's reactions to games in the classroom or walking down the hall and never failing to hear "omg Michael Jackson Sensei!!" one thing is for sure, when I'm not "teaching" I feel like im getting a second chance at reliving my childhood. Living my childhood again through a Japanese lens.  Its a delicate mix of knowing what I am doing and not knowing what I am doing. 

As a kid I was never really aware of what I was doing in the class room, mainly just messing around and not caring about grades or whatever. And now, when ive finally gotten kids to understand a game iv'e introduced, it may only be 15 min, but sometimes I just jump in and participate in the game too.  In a way its reliving being a kid, but its hard to know exactly whats goin on cuz the kids are speaking a different language. I'm not talking about Japanese or English, but when I was a kid the adults were speaking a different language.

I realized that my main function is not to "teach" these kids English. It's to make sure they have fun and keep an interest in English that will prepare them for the all the technical baggage to come when the hit JHS. At any rate, I know I still have a damn long way to go as far as teaching and figuring out what I really want in this life. For now, the highlights are keeping me interested this job.

I do like watching kids come up with their own creative ways of dealing with a "shopping game".  Ive had kids who for some reason decided they wanted to buy up all the bananas in class, name their own store... or even start haggling other students.  You could even tell which kids were greedy with money.

Sitting in and participating in club activities is a blast too. Last week in one of the schools science clubs, they made some sort of sweet and salty candy in one of the lab rooms. I don't think my elementary school had a science room!  Yesterday I played cops and robbers in the schoolyard with the "survival" club. 

Anywhoo.. thats my update for the week.

Ps. Japanese Coke sucks.  I don't even know why I bought some. I never drink that stuff...  Somehow I always convince myself to make poor decisions with food.

Late night craving for tacos?

Late night craving for tacos? (Taco = Octopus in Japanese)

Why not head to your local.....

Taco Bitch!!!

What????!!  Haha, I saw this shop on the bus ride home from one of my schools.  Oh the crazy English that Japanese people use.  I love it.

Hello! Hello Hello Hello!!! Goodbye!

２４年４月：Hello Fukuoka!

２４年８月：Well that lasted long... Goodbye Fukuoka!... Hello Yokohama!

What can I say?? Life threw me a few surprises.  Yes, curve-balls really.  Some people say everything happens for a reason. I'd like to believe in some divine plan if there is one. Sometimes its difficult to know what I am doing out in this country.  Yet my struggle is I tend to believe in coincidence. However, if I may say... these are damn good coincidences.

Things in Fukuoka did not work out exactly how I planned them. I intended to stay for about 3 years, yet my previous boss asked "why not 5?"  

All things were good right? ... I couldn't have been more wrong!!  Twas in deed a dream job or so it seemed. Importing beer from around the world, satisfying bellies, turning six-packs into kegs.. and saving Belgian Christmas for the Japanese.

While I am still praying for something ridiculous and impossible to happen, I do have to take note that not only was I blessed with a job in Fukuoka.  When it was time to end it, God must have known this was going to happen.. cuz he gave me another one.  Of all places... in Yokohama. The only other place in all of Japan where I know friends.  My good friends Jinggo and Ken. Glad to be a part of your beautiful city.

Yes, I went from being an alcohol importer to... educating children. I have a newfound respect for teachers, good teachers. After about a week of crash course teacher training, I realized, being a good teacher who constantly keeps students engaged is hard! Even if you are an "Assistant English" teacher.  Yes, I am an "Assistant" teacher, yet we are expected to plan everything for every lesson.  

The irony is that I took so much pride in not being an English teacher when I first got here.  After a few months of trying salaryman work at a small office and realizing how much that sucked, God must have been laughing at me as he let me find ads for all kinds of jobs on Gaijinpot, specially the English instructor ones. 

Learning to communicate with kids in general is challenging.  Even more so with kids that don't speak your language. Teaching them how to do things and play games without explaining, just modeling.. that is indeed challenging.

Ive spent the last few days just going out of my mind with this.  Dealing with kids is an important job! Also, I get to see where all the culture learning happens.  These kids are being instilled with the very essence of what people will see in years and have been seeing... oh what it is that makes Japan the way it is.  Wacky Japanese culture and things we know as Japanese come from... guess what.. Japanese people!  And i get to witness it right in front of my eyes.

This job is pretty exhausting so far, but its important. It is by no means boring like other jobs ive had in the past. Its pretty exciting, borderline nerve racking. But its an experience that hopefully Ill get to enjoy for more than a few months. 

Anyway, its time for me to sleep! School tomorrow... As long as I have strength, Ill keep doing what I can here until I find my true purpose here. Peace!!

届いた！

在留資格認定証明書が届いた！あああ！早く過ぎる。次は飛行機の切符かな。

Its finally here, my certificate of eligibility! Note: "Business Papers"
Its fun getting a mail that basically says, "your future is here" Next is a plane ticket I suppose.



btw, I know ive been really lazy about posting stuff. Ive been wondering though, who even reads this?? I could post all kinds of junk on here and if noone reads it I won't get in trouble right? Anyway, im so lazy ive been thinking about going into hybernation and putting this blogging madness to sleep for a while. If you do read this, shoot me and email or comment to let me know..

What am I doing?

Sometimes I wonder what exactly am I doing? Aside from going to war with kanji and bulding myself a UFC body, not a whole lot. But I did get a very nice email today.. asking for my address in order to send 在留資格認定証明書！　Thats right. Its only a matter of weeks... Time to make some money!

Well I dont feel so bad having to wait for so long nowww.

Valentine Cards

This year someone may be receiving a card similar to this...

Or even better, this..

Wishing everyone a nice Valentine's Day!

~(^_^)v

The Fish-Eye

Ive always wanted a fisheye lens for a camera. The effect in my opinion was always pleasing to the eye. Getting a somewhat distorted but wider view of things. In order to take pictures like this ones options are to either buy an expensive camera with changeable lenses and then buy a separate fisheye lens or go with a cheaper non-digital alternative.


Of course, the least expensive quality camera i could come across would be at least $600 at base price. Then the extension would cost another $200. To get a proper carrying case and the right equipment that should go with this caliber of a camera would bring be to a total of almost $1000. An expensive hobby indeed!

Another option is to buy a camera made for fisheye photography. There are a few brands that make cameras with these specialized lenses starting from $50 and moving on up. Of course, the one below is a glorified version of what you could get. Most of these cameras are made out of plastic and use 35mm film.


However much i would love to buy one of these cameras, considering the cost is quite important. On one end I have no choice to wait until i am a little less poor to get started on this style of photography. On the other end, I want this capability so much that i can easily settle for a cheaper alternative. However, this alternative involves film :(. Unfortunately for me, I am quite spoiled by digital technology.

Luckily, I found myself a 3rd option. Using an old digital camera to start with, I decided to build my own fish-eye lens at home. After some research and a look at what other people had done, I decided to try something out.

First I started out with a wide angle door viewer, a pvc pipe and some craft foam. All of the materials I used were from a local hardware store, craft store or my own garage.

Careful cutting and precision measuring helped me build the perfect fitting for my digital cameras lense to fit nicely into the foam. Also, coating the door viewer with the foam helped to create a centered piece that would fit nicely into the pvc pipe while being centered with the camera lens.

After putting everything together carefully, I was able to build a complete lens. To make it look nice, all it needed was some high quality black ducking tape. The entire thing was built out of 4 basic materials.

After the lens was complete I attached it to the old camera. Of course, I wanted to make sure it was the old camera... just in case the fitting of the lens was too rough. Since these cameras aren't really meant for such extravagant attachments I thought it was quite nice.


In the end i was able to make a nice looking extension of my camera. I was able to successfully build and test my new fish-eye lens. And the best part was.. I made it myself!


Its not perfect, the sides are still visible unless you adjust the zoom right. However, considering the alternatives and the cost, I would say the small less than $20 i need to build this was quite worth it. With a little more work and adventure I hope to take some great pictures with this soon!