Waking up late

Today was some day. Ok, first of all, I normally wake up at 9, leave the house at 9:30, and get to work by 9:40 to prepare for work at 10:00. Today, I woke up at 9:45!! Having slept again after turning my alarm off. I looked at the clock and just straight up panicked. The ramifications for being late in Japan are somewhat more dire than in Australia. I basically threw on my clothes, grabbed my tie and bag, and ran out of the house. I ran all the way to my branch office, which normally takes about 10 minutes to walk to. In total, from the time I ran there to the time I clocked in was 7 minutes! A pretty serious effort, if I do say so myself. Except I was so out of breath that my first lesson I couldn't breathe properly, and couldn't teach properly. For the first 4 hours, I was so thirsty but I couldn't really get in a proper drink because it was so busy today with so many students in the morning. A teacher on their break bought me a drink, and saved the day. I will NEVER do that again. I've gotta start setting more alarms.

Anyway, work was pretty cool today, some highlights. For one, I figured out what that Koi...thing was...its called Koinobori, which are the paper carp on flags that Japanese people put out on Children's Day, May 5th. And I also found out how to order (say) my favourite dish at the Japanese equivalent of McDonalds, Yoshinoya. They have really cheap meals, and you can eat 'em quick so it was good. Anyway the dish I like is called yakinikudon, the last part meaning meat bowl. Its quite a nice dish, I'll take a photo sometime.

This was the highlight of my day. I decided to pick the lesson "Calming Down Angry People". To get them into the context of the lesson, I asked them, "Have you ever encountered angry people?" They all kinda said "Not in Japan." So I guessed that they hadn't really got an answer. So I started talking about someone I'd seen in Japan that was a customer, getting really angry at a sales clerk. I said further that I think people in Australia and western countries probably show emotion more than in Japan. So I asked them again, "Have you encountered angry people before?" And this lady jumped in and said, "In Australia!" I couldn't help but laugh! She gave us this story about her seeing two men throw punches over a pool table reservation. It was so funny.

I also learnt another cultural thing about Japan, when I was teaching a lesson about seasonal activities. July 7th, there is a special day called tanabata, which refers to a day when in the Milky Way, two Japanese gods dated...and for some reason, on this day people tend to wear yukata (which is like a cheap kimono). Later on in the day, I forgot what tanabata was all about, so I asked in my voice lesson what it was. When we came to the subject of kimonos and yukatas, I asked what's the difference. Because I thought they were the same thing. Apparently, kimonos are really really really really expensive, and yukata are cheap things, which look a little bit like kimonos. Kimonos are made of silk, yukata out of cotton. One of the students had just been married four months ago and she was carrying a small book of some photos that were taken at the wedding. Now, its every girl's dream to wear a kimono at their wedding. And they're not cheap, so that's why its so highly regarded. This student of mine showed us a picture of the kimono she wore, and told us it cost her...get this...400,000Y to HIRE! for one day. The payment includes the helping wear it because a kimono is made up of around 12 different sheets. Now 400,000Y is about $5,000. I think you can buy a quite nice wedding dress for that amount...but to hire a kimono!? Crazy... I later found out that standard kimonos that people might hire cost about 50,000Y, so around $625. This student had worn a very special kimono so that's why it cost so much. Unbelewable. I swear, I think I learn more than my students in voice class.

I really had to tell you all about this...its very informative, don't you think? Hehehe, sorry its so long.

OH! I also had my first kids class, Man-to-Man. Cute little girl, her photo in her file, she looked mega cute. Kawaii!!