1st Japanese class of the term
August 26, 2006 at 10:32 pm | In Education | Leave a CommentThursday’s class went great. I learned a lot in the time that I was there (2.5 hours). The instructor was more enthusiastic about teaching Japanese than the other instructor I had in the spring. The content of the course included learning 10 of my very first verbs in Japanese….how exciting!!! The other parts of the course were dedicated to reviewing the hiragana and katakana we studied last term.
This class is much bigger in size than the last class I took. As the instructor was reading off names on the attendance sheet, I realized that even though the class was packed full of people, there were numerous no shows. I don’t know where they are going to sit next thursday. Should be interested to find out.
I met one T.A. in the class who is from Tokyo. He is studying at a local private university but helps out by assisting the instructor at my community college. He told me that there are only 3 Japanese students at his university….pale in comparison to other colleges around.
My homework this week consists of getting enrolled in the Japanese tutoring class (mandatory for all students) and completing the crossword worksheets the instructor handed out. Next week we have our first quiz, mainly a review of hiragana and katakana.
Looking for a job is tiring
August 25, 2006 at 1:16 am | In Career | Leave a Comment
Today was like a dream I never woke up from. I arose from the bed groggy and wishing I could stay in this comfortable state of sleep a few more hours. Regardless of my desire, responsibility kicked in and I got ready for work. The clock read 4:35 am…….why do I subject myself to such punishment? After arriving at work I completed some daily routine things that had to be accomplished for me to get paid at the end of the day.
I spent time later on searching out jobs in Japan. My first stop was to peruse the classified section on the Japan Times website (http://classified.japantimes.com/career/en/). Most of the jobs I saw were in fields which I have no experience whatsoever. And many of these jobs require the person to already be in the country, which I am not. So after a disappointing one and a half hours, I felt further from getting a job in Japan than when I began.
I find myself wishing that somehow I could win the lottery or become independently wealthy somehow between now and next year sometime. A ridiculously insane thought but nonetheless it’s prevalent. While the reality is that I will have to work while over there, I internally, potentially in the back of my mind somewhere, am resistant to this change.
What is happening to the optimism I felt when I was on my trip. I was feeling great resolve in my dedication to making this work transition abroad. I will remind myself of the feeling I had while in Japan and the absolute commitment to follow through. Ah, I feel better already.
Japanese Class – Fall Term
August 24, 2006 at 12:12 am | In Education | Leave a CommentJapanese class starts this Thursday at my local community college. I initially started taking Japanese 1A last spring to increase my understanding and speaking skills. The schedule was perfect for my work hours (only one class per week in the evening). I would return from work, then immediately go to class which would start just a few minutes before I got there. During the spring course I learned how to write and read hirigana and katakana. The real life application continued on my recent trip to Japan. I impressed my hosts with my limited knowledge in Japanese writing characters.
The class that begins this fall is Japanese 1B, a continuation of the first year Japanese class. This time around the syllabus says we will learn some Kanji words and verb tenses. The main benefit I find with this schools Japanese classes is that the teachers are all Japanese. That was a deciding factor on my choosing it over another school.
Where to start
August 24, 2006 at 12:03 am | In Career | Leave a CommentI have been researching various jobs in Japan through the sites that others on Yahoo questions board have submitted. Most of the jobs that are available to gaijin (foreigners) who don’t know much Japanese is English Teachers. Now teaching english sounds great, but it is going to be fairly difficult to have take a pay cut to around $30,000 per year (now I make around $57,000) and still survive in a high cost of living place like Tokyo.
My instructors at the college I was attending said to try and get a job before you go there. Easier said than done. I am also concerned about how my retirement and stocks will be able to continue if I move to Japan. Can I still contribute to a Roth IRA if I wanted to? All of these issues are at the forefront of my concerns.
I decided to create a starting point and then work from there. First things first…..my resume. The resume I have now is outdated and to be honest, really weak on verbage. If I am going to get a job in Japan, I really need to spruce it up. Some things that will hopefully be of use to an employer is my degree in International Business.
A surreal trip to Japan
August 23, 2006 at 9:18 pm | In Trips | Leave a CommentI just returned from a trip to Japan. It was a much needed two weeks and an experience I will never forget. Although I have been to Japan more than 6 times in the past 10 years, this trip was by far the most memorable.
The plane ride would last a little more than 10 hours by plane…really racking up the frequent flier miles. Once I arrived at Narita Airport, I made my way to the foreigner section of the immigration line. After about 25 minutes, I finally reached the officer at the counter who asked me what my purpose in visiting was. I stated it was for vacation and to visit family and she gave me a puzzled look, I could only assume she was trying to figure out if my family was there as expats or in-laws that lived there.
I expected to exit the airport in Tokyo with a sudden onslaught of humidity, but was pleasantly surprised to find cooler and dryer weather than I had 10 hours ago. I live in Southern California where the humidity at most times is relatively mild. But just before traveling to Japan, Socal was experiencing a high level of humidity in the air due to a storm that had developed in Mexico and was making it’s way north.
After meeting the family and exchanging greetings we were off to the house in the countryside. I have occasionally visited the countyside during my trips to Japan but most of the time was spent in the main city areas. The family had recently bought a home in the countyside which has much more land and space. By the time we reached the house it was well after dark. I stepped out of the car and looked up. The sky was filled with an unfamiliar sight. Stars as clear as ever sparkled like a diamond under the light.
After getting the bags into the house, I just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. The futons were already neatly placed on the tatami mat, so after my shower, I crashed with the cool breeze of the night mountain air drifting through an open window. The end of day one.
The rest of the trip was filled with hiking, visiting friends, attending a Japanese summer festival and helping the family landscape the yard. Even though I still don’t have a great understanding of the language, I think of the challenge before me as an opportunity of a lifetime. To understand another language and communicate with people in their native language is truly amazing. More familiar words connect and I try to guess what people are saying to me, and hopefully this class I will take in the fall will further cement in new skills. Continue reading A surreal trip to Japan…
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