ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Well, the time has come to say goodbye. I thank you all for your kindness and for trusting me all these years. I hope to see you all again and I'll miss you all. Kagawa has been a wonderful place. Such kind people and beautiful scenery. I'll be back to visit before long. Hopefully when it's warm. Next, I'll be going to Thailand. It's going to be an adventure. I'm looking forward to it.

  

Last Saturday night, me and a bunch of teachers went to Round 1 for some all night fun! There, I did something that I hadn't done in many years---went rollar skating!

When I was a student in Middle School, we used to have Friday night parties at the Rollarama. My classmates and I would don our skates, skate in circles, and eat terrible pizza. We would blow our money on useless things at the gift shop and hang out with our friends. It was a great time!

On Saturday I was pretty rusty on skates! I took a few spills but I found my balance. I seem to be pretty out of shape though, my legs and feet hurt after a few passes around the track. I'm glad I gave it a try though, it was fun to do again!   

I think I have only talked about half the time that I was in Tokyo, but the latter half ended up not very exciting (to talk about anyway) as we were all starting to feel drained from all t he exploring and partying. So I shall talk about two more things that happened on the trip. The first is very obviously New Year's. Now I bet you all believe that we went crazy, all out party to the wee hours of the morning. Well, like I said, we were getting tired by this point, so instead we ended up at this 24 hour izakaya near the hostel (it specialized in seafood), with some of the people we went to karaoke with. It was really lucky that this place was open, because everything else was closed (it being New Year's Eve and all). Pretty much we spent the night just drinking and hanging out in this izakaya, with people fro the group slowly heading back one by one after the New Year came. It wasn't very exciting, but I am still glad I was doing something instead of just sitting around at the hostel. I think it ended with maybe five of us still there until 3 or 4 am. Suffice to say, I slept in the next day, haha.
The other thing of significance that happened for me in Tokyo. It happened either in Akihabara or Shibuya, though I am inclined to believe that it was Shibuya. I was wandering around, and happened upon a game center. I decided to play around a bit here, and also to test my luck at a crane game. I have never won a crane game before. I didn't play often enough, so I don't think I was able to figure out the trick behind it. At this game center, I tried one game, just for the sake of giving it a shot. For whatever reason, I decided that I had to get the prize. I probably tossed away 2000 yen, and was about to give up, when my prize suddenly fell down in to the prize area. I was shocked. I had finally won something! And this is what I claimed as my prize:



It really made my day. I think I will try other crane games in the future (actually, there is one in the Niihama Aeon game center that I can't figure out, but really really want the prize from!). Here's hoping I can figure the other games that I try out!  

Back in America I used to have to speak in public pretty often. As a writer, you are expected to read your work in front of others, and when I was head of Jenny Magazine, I had to host all of the premiere parties. I used to be really nervous about speaking in front of large crowds. I'd do anything to avoid it. Then I became a teacher, and I had to do it every day. To get used to it, I used to sing karaoke. In America, when you sing karaoke you have to stand up on a stage and do it in front of a room full of strangers. It got me over my fear pretty quick, which is good. When I taught in America, I would have to speak in front of 25 to 50 people daily. Here are some pictures of me at poetry and fiction readings. Do I look scared? Are you afraid to speak in public?