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It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here! Enjoy watching me ramble on about where I’ve been living this past year, the International House. Excuse the mess, please! :)
Note: The sound is pretty bad in the beginning because of the wind. Don’t worry, it gets better. ;)
It’s been a while since I wrote an actual post here, so I figured I’d let you all know how my Christmas/New Year’s break went. Honestly, I didn’t do a whole lot, especially in terms of travel – I stayed in Hirosaki the whole time and didn’t do anything particularly out of the ordinary. But I did do a few things that could be considered above average and/or “cultural experiences” and I’d love to share those with you now!
Hirosaki 08-09
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advice, Alex, Christmas, Dead Stock, Hirosaki, host family, izakaya, Japanese, kaiten zushi, Kevin, Luis, MAG-NET, New Years, rambling, ramen, upload, video, Yasu
Hey all! I gave a presentation today in my Japanese culture class here in Hirosaki. I presented it in English, but I got some great help from my friend Lim in the handout translation. For anyone who’s interested, here’s the Japanese text of my presentation! It was about the Japanese influence on the American video game market, especially during the 80′s/NES era.
Continue reading 'Japanese Modern Culture Class Presentation'»
It’s been about a month and a half since I first got my first job here in Japan: teaching English at a “juku,” or “cram school” as it might be translated into English. The name of the place is A+ English School and they actually have a website. Yes, that’s me in that video on the front page. No, it’s not that embarrassing. :P Clicking around the site, you might notice it’s primarily a school for young children. We have students as young as 3 years old, all the way up to about 11 years old. In the course of working there, I’d had chances to teach and play with all of them. If you’re curious about teaching in Japan, or what kind of opportunities there will be for you to work as a foreign exchange student, then this post is for you!
The day was unsually sunny and warm for this time of year, so I decided to get out the camera and do what I’ve been putting off for a while: a video of my daily bike ride to school!
Now that fall is here and all the new students have arrived, the new semester is very much underway. I thought I would throw up a quick post on what classes I’m taking and what I’ve been up to around here in good old Hirosaki. Hit up the link below to read all about it!
I just got a call from my parents who are now in Narita, after a nice long 14 hour flight. Sometime tomorrow they’ll be up here in Hirosaki and I’ll be able to start showing them around to all the cool spots in this little town of mine. After that, it’s off to Kyoto and Tokyo. So this blog will probably be on hiatus for a couple weeks until after I get back, but expect a big update then! I’ll definitely keep on tweeting and I might be able to put up some new photos, though. It’s been a while since I’ve had new photos, eh? See you on the other side, then!
(Note: this is more of a personal ramble than anything else. If that sounds boring, don’t bother with this one)
I left Hirosaki at a fairly critical juncture when I went to Korea. I left during the middle weeks of the month of August, after the end of the semester and as such, many people have left, especially people from the western countries. In particular, one of my good friends here has left to go back to the U.S., Hojin. I definitely spent a lot of my free time over at Shimoda hanging out with him and the other guys there, many of whom have now gone like I said. The good old kaikan here feels much more empty, too. Sure, I talk with some of my friends from Korea who will be here for a year, but besides that it feels like no one else is around. The experience of the first semester is quite over now.
Continue reading 'A Fresh Start on School, Life and Japanese'»
Hey all! Had quite the busy past week here in Japan. Every summer here is always full of summer festivals. Aomori prefecture, the prefecture I am currently living in, is host to the Neputa and Nebuta festivals. They are quite rambunctious affairs, with loud cheering, lots of food and drink, and of course, dancing. I even got the opportunity to participate in Neputa here in Hirosaki with my fellow exchange students. So let’s get right into it with the details!
Ohisashiburi! It’s been a long time, eh? Well, since it’s coming down to the end of the semester here, I’ve been busy with this and that, but I’ll try to give you all a bit up an update now. There were festivals at the beginning of the month, then a camping trip with my club and the culture festival at my host family’s daughters’ school. Also, in other exciting news, I have successfully applied for an extension, so I will be staying here in Japan until February 2009! One semester just wasn’t enough. Well, without further ado, let’s get on with it!
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