October 9, 2008
My first full day in Osaka. (opps, I should mention our apartment. Jeph did a great job of getting our house all set up. I was so impressed!! It felt great to lay down in a bed (after being in a plane for a few hours) and I slept the entire night. I woke up and got dressed (be a little impressed as I hadn’t gotten completely unpacked the night before) and Jeph and I headed to school. It’s about a 20 minute walk (mostly uphill) to the school which was really quite a nice walk. The school is beautiful- it definitely does not feel or look like a Japanese school. The first thing that was weird was not having to change out of “outside” shoes to indoor slippers- for some reason, everyone just wears their same shoes inside and outside. Very strange!!! (it did make for a nicer, cleaner lobby area though!). Jeph showed me his classroom and then I met with Gwyn, the principal to find out where and what I would be teaching. Attached are pictures from the classes. The first class was 6th graders- very diligent and hard working. The second class were 8th graders.. they were a bit more chatty and I enjoyed some lively discussions. Both classes were science ones…. Yeah, I know! Thankfully, the teacher had left worksheets for them to work on. Whatever they didn’t finish was homework, which took a lot of pressure off of me. After my two classes, I again met with Gwyn and was delighted to be asked to sub a few more times over the next two-three weeks. I’ll actually be working all next week (a teacher will be attending a conference) and a few days the following week. I’m excited as it’s a fun way to get to know the students and the community while I look for other job possibilities. Am not sure how far I’ll have to look and/or how much I can do at OIS. One of my other new jobs will be babysitting for Gwyn and Kayoko! This will most likely be my favorite job! They have two daughters, Nina who is 2 and Rianna who is 8 months old. I’m thinking that my time with Nina will help my Japanese language acquisition more than anything as we are probably on the same level- well, no, she is way ahead- maybe I’m more on the level of Riana! Anyways, I am looking forward to hanging out with them.
After the two classes, I walked home and took a nap while waiting for Jeph to get home. We then walked up to the station (20 minutes the opposite way from school) where all the shops and restaurants are. For those of you who have been in Japan, we ate at Mosburger! It was awesome!! Tasted just like I had remembered. I got a teriyaki burger, a fries/onion ring combo and a M size (yes, medium, but they say S or M or L size) drink- for about $8. I marveled at the portion sizes… let’s just say that I could have easily eaten 4 of the above order, easily! The fries/onion ring combo consisted of 3 onion rings and 5 french fries. Just like the picture on the order form!!! Oh, Japan!!! The restaurant was at the subway station which was another 15 minute walk from the train station. The subway station is a much larger station which means more shops, more restaurants and more people. The restaurant was up on the third level, which had an outdoor entertainment area and we enjoyed sitting at a table outside listening to live music. It was really quite nice and it made us feel like we were on vacation!
One thing that I saw that I had never seen in Japan before was an older man with two dogs. One was sitting next to him, and other was on his lap. He showed them so much affection- petting, kissing and talking to them. I had never seen a Japanese man showing anything that kind of attention before. I also noticed that quite a few Japanese men were with their kids- either walking with them or pushing them in a stroller. I don’t know if this is an Osaka thing (Osakians are known for being somewhat radical/ie… western) or if this is just an example of how times have changed .. hard to believe that it’s been 6 years since we were in Sendai! Jeph and I walked home and thus ended my first full day!
My first full day in Osaka. (opps, I should mention our apartment. Jeph did a great job of getting our house all set up. I was so impressed!! It felt great to lay down in a bed (after being in a plane for a few hours) and I slept the entire night. I woke up and got dressed (be a little impressed as I hadn’t gotten completely unpacked the night before) and Jeph and I headed to school. It’s about a 20 minute walk (mostly uphill) to the school which was really quite a nice walk. The school is beautiful- it definitely does not feel or look like a Japanese school. The first thing that was weird was not having to change out of “outside” shoes to indoor slippers- for some reason, everyone just wears their same shoes inside and outside. Very strange!!! (it did make for a nicer, cleaner lobby area though!). Jeph showed me his classroom and then I met with Gwyn, the principal to find out where and what I would be teaching. Attached are pictures from the classes. The first class was 6th graders- very diligent and hard working. The second class were 8th graders.. they were a bit more chatty and I enjoyed some lively discussions. Both classes were science ones…. Yeah, I know! Thankfully, the teacher had left worksheets for them to work on. Whatever they didn’t finish was homework, which took a lot of pressure off of me. After my two classes, I again met with Gwyn and was delighted to be asked to sub a few more times over the next two-three weeks. I’ll actually be working all next week (a teacher will be attending a conference) and a few days the following week. I’m excited as it’s a fun way to get to know the students and the community while I look for other job possibilities. Am not sure how far I’ll have to look and/or how much I can do at OIS. One of my other new jobs will be babysitting for Gwyn and Kayoko! This will most likely be my favorite job! They have two daughters, Nina who is 2 and Rianna who is 8 months old. I’m thinking that my time with Nina will help my Japanese language acquisition more than anything as we are probably on the same level- well, no, she is way ahead- maybe I’m more on the level of Riana! Anyways, I am looking forward to hanging out with them.
After the two classes, I walked home and took a nap while waiting for Jeph to get home. We then walked up to the station (20 minutes the opposite way from school) where all the shops and restaurants are. For those of you who have been in Japan, we ate at Mosburger! It was awesome!! Tasted just like I had remembered. I got a teriyaki burger, a fries/onion ring combo and a M size (yes, medium, but they say S or M or L size) drink- for about $8. I marveled at the portion sizes… let’s just say that I could have easily eaten 4 of the above order, easily! The fries/onion ring combo consisted of 3 onion rings and 5 french fries. Just like the picture on the order form!!! Oh, Japan!!! The restaurant was at the subway station which was another 15 minute walk from the train station. The subway station is a much larger station which means more shops, more restaurants and more people. The restaurant was up on the third level, which had an outdoor entertainment area and we enjoyed sitting at a table outside listening to live music. It was really quite nice and it made us feel like we were on vacation!
One thing that I saw that I had never seen in Japan before was an older man with two dogs. One was sitting next to him, and other was on his lap. He showed them so much affection- petting, kissing and talking to them. I had never seen a Japanese man showing anything that kind of attention before. I also noticed that quite a few Japanese men were with their kids- either walking with them or pushing them in a stroller. I don’t know if this is an Osaka thing (Osakians are known for being somewhat radical/ie… western) or if this is just an example of how times have changed .. hard to believe that it’s been 6 years since we were in Sendai! Jeph and I walked home and thus ended my first full day!
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