Aboriginees on the Hunt

Trip Start Sep 25, 2002
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Trip End May 15, 2004


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Monday, February 3, 2003

Week 14 (1.23 - 1.29.03) - This week I begin my first group kids class at a different branch, Shonai, which is much closer to my house so its cool with me. The kinder kids group (two 4 year olds and two 4 year olds) was as horrible as I had heard about. I mean, they're just being kids, but they're just too young to be taught English by a non0kids at shonai, karaoke shin, office sex, aboriginie -Japanese speaker...I mean, they don't even understand "Sit down" or "be quiet"! I did my best but am afraid it was more like baby-sitting rather than teaching, which, I hear, is generally okay with the parents, most of whom seem to treat it as hiring a baby-sitter with the added benefit that possibly their kid might pick up a bit if English. But I like kids and liked the class in general, regardless of the above. The junior class (ages 7-10) was much more educational and fun for both the students, and myself so it was a good day overall. The next night, Sunday, Nick, Alistair and myself decide to pull another all-nighter in Shinsaibashi just to check the scene out. Although we realize that Sunday night isn't exactly the best night to go out, we are kind of stuck because we all work Saturday and Sunday morning. The "scene" wasn't all that and just verified that the real parties are on Friday and Saturday night, as expected. Well, we barhop fro awhile and stop in a bar called Players, which was semi-full of, what I can guess were, mostly foreign teachers. Nothing too great going on and then these 3 Aboriginal girls come in and one plunks down right next to me and within a few minutes is all over me, just flirting as hard as she can! Flirting so much that my suspicion radar goes off and so I decide to rebuke her! Well, good lord, this must have been a first for her because she doubled her efforts and attacked! I'm thinking she's just a big time tease who loves attention, so I just keep cool and kind of ignore her. This drove her crazy and she decided to just chat for a bit and, as I suspected, she has a boyfriend of 2 years and is just a big time flirt who loves the attention. So, no harm no foul, but, damn, she was hot!! :p To end the evening, Nick and I hit another karaoke bar and sing and drink until the sun begins to rise and then head home for a long, well-deserved break.

Week 15 (1.30 - 2.5.03) - I decide to start having fun in the voice room and decided to teach the students local slang for greetings and end up teaching them rhymes like "see you later alligator", etc. and "keeping it real"...which doesn't sound funny at all here, but is hilarious when a 60 year old grandma is saying it! (think the old lady singing hip-hop in The Wedding Singer) I went to a local izakaya (same one I went with Stu) with two students, Jyunichi and Noriko. Jyunichi is a young guy leaving for Canada in June and Noriko is a little hottie office worker. Now, as teachers, we're not supposed to see students outside of the classroom, but I've never been one for following stupid rules, which is why I'm writing about meeting up with two students after school! But, seriously, our best chance at meeting and becoming friends with Japanese people is through school, so why not take advantage of that? Practically everyone does it anyway...I think it's more one of those rules that they state, but no one really follows. (It comes from the teacher who impregnated a 16-year-old student, I believe!) It was a good time and I got both of their emails and will keep in touch. I got my cable modem installed, so I now have internet at home! Also, I had my first Japanese lesson, which just proved to me that I won't be coming home with any type of grasp of the Japanese language! It's a seriously screwed up language seemingly developed jut to make it extremely difficult to learn. (ask for details if interested)

Week 16 (2.6 - 2.12.03) - Not too much to tell this week, just worked a lot and went out with a few teachers for a teacher who recently got transferred and who had just had an art exhibit that ended that day. It was called Manslaughter Fairy and was a photography exhibit that ended with some strange sculpture of a crazed-looking fairy. I didn't get to see it b/c I thought it was on for a few more days. Anyway, we just hung out downtown at a dive bar and chatted a bit. On Monday, I actually went on a date with a Japanese girl named Noriko. She's one of my students and we decided to go hiking and then do a little ice skating. The hike was good and we just talked and then headed up to the ice rink. The ice rink is on the top of Minoh mountain and, at certain spots, overlooks the city of Toyonaka/Ikeda. We had lots of fun and I'll definitely be seeing her again.
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