I'm a good Aussie!

This week our school has a Japanese teacher from New Zealand, Elin, visiting us. This is her sixth time of being in the land of the rising sun! Tomorrow I am taking a class together with her. To make it a little special for the students, we decided to make an Australian/New Zealand delicacy... Lamingtons We had planned to make them together tomorrow morning, but I read the recipe and you need to give them a rest in the fridge overnight to set. Seeing that the weather is all hot and humid, I thought it best to make them tonight. I hope Elin isn't too upset! I have some left over ingredients, so maybe we can make some for her homestay family instead. It is really expensive to make them.... you can only get 40g packs of desicated coconut, which is not really nice... but I think they will taste OK!

As for other news, I finally had a weekend with no responsibilities! On Friday night I went out with some other ALTs in the area for some drinks and food at an izakaya (Japanese style pub). I wore Australian flags in my hair, but I don't think I was as wacky as the birthday girl, Sarah (can you pick her?)

On Saturday night Megan and I went to Nagoya to the Outback Steakhouse. The atmosphere was great, although we got sick of people singing "Happy Birthday" every half hour.... (On that topic, it's Megan's 30th on Sunday -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY! -- she's climbing Mt. Fuji for the special day) I had a yummy chicken ceasar salad and half of a cookie cream dessert thing (way too rich for even me to eat the whole thing!)

I had a couple of very un-Australian drinks.....

Pina Colada and a Budweiser....Last Friday I went with the third year students on a class trip to Kyoto. It was fun, although a very short visit. I mostly bought souvenirs. I think I'm going back again this Saturday with the water polo team (no, I am not playing). The only photo I took was in the rest area for busloads of tourists... It's a sign above the lovely squatter loo.... Sorry about the focus... it says "THIS REST ROOM IS FULL AUTOMATICALLY" Who knows what that means...

Please excuse my French....

That is absolute bullshit. Stupid ref.... I know next to nothing about soccer... but that was not a penalty. Dumbass. Stupid Italian sookie lalas. Well now I am a sookie lala! Absolute BS. Good luck in your exam tomorrow Andrew, I suppose it's a good thing it didn't go into extra time....

Oh yeah, and what are these "Bombers" that everyone is talking about? Go Rumbling Reasovers!

I'm so proud....

To be an Aussie! Go get 'em Socceroos and make the quarter finals! I think I will be a very very tired girl after the next match! Wooooooo!

What's going on in the life of Suzi?

Well! I cannot begin to say how relieved I am at the moment. I finished my final exam today. The exam itself wasn't so good, but at least it's behind me! "It wasn't good?" you ask eh? Well, one word... ACCOUNTING. Argh, it bores me to tears! I know that there are people in this world that really love accounting, but I am certainly not one of them! Why would any sane person decide to debit and credit a trillion different accounts when somebody purchases a packet of fruit tingles? Well, the subject certainly led me to have an appreciation for the accounting people. The only side of accounting I ever want to see again is on my paycheck! On the other hand, I am one of those people in the world that has a passion for analysis. I had my Data Analysis for Managers exam last Tuesday, and it was the most fun exam I have ever done! I love translating statistics and predictions into plain English and vice versa. I suppose you could argue that is what accounting essentially is. But it's different. Just accept it.... Hehe.

So now I have 5 weeks and a bit until I come home, and no study! I am so happy about that! Next month I'm heading to Nagoya for a sumo tournament. I'm looking forward to seeing people who have more meat on their bones than me! Today is also a good day because I found $120 in my purse that I didn't know I had. It's because my purse is loaded with receipts. In Japan, you get a receipt for everything you buy. If I buy a lollypop, the shop assistant would not hesitate to put it in a plastic bag (and then probably a cardboard box, followed by yet another plastic bag - I never let them get past the first plastic bag stage though...), and give me a receipt! So the money was hidden between all of the receipts. Lucky me.

So now I have a load of free time on my hands, I thought I would post some random pictures of my time in Japan. They are pretty much in relation to my previous blog entries, but I thought that you might like to have some variety!

Volleyball Day at school. They were dead set serious about their volleyball!The pretty cherry blossoms at school, a couple of days before I came back to Oz

My favourite car at the Toyota museum. It looks like a shoe. It was huge.In Okinawa - the kids in Japan learn the peace sign at an early age!A big bird statue thing in Okinawa. Megan saw the bird from across the peninsula thing, so we went on a crazy bird chase up and down windy narrow roads.Cleaning time at school!
Going home time! This was in winter. These girls are not the same girls in the photo above...
Where the students take off their "outdoor" shoes and put on their "indoor" slippers. There's 1000 pigeon holes!
The view from Gifu Castle
Gifu Castle
A dude with a transmittor radio at Gifu Castle. It was fun to watch him, he looked so serious.
In Kyoto, I watched funny Japanese TV. It was like Australian Idol or something, but the Japanese guys dress up as Elvis or Michael Jackson. They sing funny.

A graveyard in KyotoOne of my favourite stores... the 100 yen store! It's huge.
Doing my first calligraphy with a first year student (she's second year now). I'm painting the character for strong. Because I am...
Land of the Rising Sun? This sun is sinking....
Ogaki Train Station
"Purifying" myself at Ise Shrine with the St. George's exchange group from England.

Let's Be Patriotic!

Well.... big match tonight... my students are all pretty excited about the World Cup. They keep talking about some big Japanese player who has a mohawk. I have no idea who they are talking about. In fact, I have absolutely no idea about the soccer. All I know is that Australia is playing Japan. The Japanese have apparently gone a little crazy about it. They have even resorted to cooking kangaroo shaped pasta so they can eat the Aussies up! They're also very stressed that their team is shorter than the Australian team. Boohoo. If Australia win, I am going to play the Aussie anthem at the start of each class. If they lose, I will stay quiet. :)

Anyway, in this whole wave of patriotism, I couldn't go past the following product I picked up at the supermarket... Let me present "Thorpedo"!There was a whole stack of these drinks set up next to a big poster of him. The drink tastes like a typical Japanese sports drink. It's got a mild grapefruit flavour, but is pretty bland overall.

Anyway, I must be off to bed. Been studying most of the day and I'm pretty happy with how it is all going. That isn't to say that I won't be happy when my studies are over! I'll be soooo happy and free! Yay!

Go Aussies! (Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday to the Queen - and Selen too!)

How you doin'?

Well, I haven't updated lately! I've done nothing significant I suppose. So I thought that I would update you on my life in general!

First of all, as of today I have 55 days left in Japan. It is going soooo quickly! The past month I have been totally immersed in studying. I had four assignments which are now thankfully over. Last week was an absolute killer because I had some problems with the last two assignments. I couldn't sleep and was having about 4 hours sleep each night. By Friday, I was a zombie. I was very grateful when that week was over.

This week has been great though. I gave myself time off from studying and didn't have to teach on Thursday and Friday. I really enjoy the actual classes, it's just the time between that gets to me sometimes. Each week I correct a little more than 200 essays, and I have been encouraging the students to write more and more. In turn, this means that I have to read (and try to understand) more and more! But this week I had had enough. I decided that I would let the 2nd year students watch "Finding Nemo". I never realised how great that movie is. I have watched the first 45 minutes of it 3 times and am not sick of it.

Sometimes classes are a struggle. At times I think the students understand me more than how much some of the teachers understand me. It can get challenging... On the flip side, there are some awesome teachers. They are easy to improvise with and make the class enjoyable for both myself and the students. Sadly, one of my favourite teachers is leaving for England next Thursday! I will never see him again! There's another teacher taking his place, and I have only spoken to her once. She seems OK though, her English is good as she lived in America for a year.

As of July 24, my teaching career is finishing. I don't think I would want to teach as a career as I need more stimulation and the mundane nature in which each day is the same can be really challenging. I've been applying for a few graduate jobs back in Oz and have progressed through a few of them to the interview stage. That's where it gets sticky. One employer has told me that I will have to reapply in November so they could assess me in person. However, my number one choice is proving to be very flexible. They are going to conduct a phone interview in the near future (next week I hope), for a job that will begin a few days after I arrive back in Melbourne. That would be pretty awesome. There are a few other options open to me, most of which are located in Canberra (whoo) for one or two year contracts. I tend to think that if I could (barely) survive Japan, Canberra would be a breeze!

OK, I will leave it there. I don't want to go and bombard you with words and no pictures (sorry!). I'm heading off to dinner at a place that apparently has nice pizza (hmm, I wonder if all the pizza has mayonnaise on it...)