ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

On the 2nd day of my trip, my friend Rob drove me from Illinois to Michigan. I wasn't aware of how long the trip was taking. To me, it seemed short, because the sun was out. Then I looked at the clock.

It was 8pm.

The sun was still high in the sky at 8pm, and didn't set until after 9. I was flabbergasted. I know that some countries do not use daylight saving time, but I had forgotten how great it is!

Two times a year, the U.S. will set their clocks an hour ahead or an hour early. This is done in the very early morning so that it doesn't effect too many things (like people's schedules). Because of Jetlag, I was waking up early and going to bed early. The extra sunshine in my day made the vacation feel longer and fuller.

There was one instance during my vacation where I was lost. I was trying to get to my friend's house, and my map app was confusing me. Luckily, I was able to see the roads I needed because it was still sunny around 8pm. I even saw a family eating dinner outside at that time!

I now feel that it gets dark in Japan too quickly. We could do a lot more fun things by using daylight saving time.  

Since I've started teaching at GEM, my class schedule has me teaching at two of their busiest schools, Rainbow and Yashima.
I enjoy the excitement and bustle of a fun busy schedule, as it makes the days fly by and it's fun to get a class of 8-10 students excited
and "happy and having fun" with English! That size class is actually small compared to the 15-20 at the International school I taught in before. However, when I started teaching Wednesday at our new Ohta school, I found a slower and different pace with class sizes much smaller. With even smaller classes I was able to give even more individual attention to the students. It turned out to be a nice change of pace for me. That's what I like about teaching at GEM, every day is different. Every class is different. It makes the days and the weeks fly by. I'm never bored and I am continually challenged with different curriculum and activities in each of my classes as they are all different by size, ability and age- baby through adult. But all with the same goal- having FUN learning English. Stop in and check out our new Ohta school and say "Hi"!

  

Last weekend was the Zenigata Festival! And on Saturday I was set to dance in the festival. But the problem was I also had work that day until 5:15. Up at Utazu. And our meeting time was at 6. So my friend picked me up at 5:16 and we rushed back down to Kanonji for the festival. On the way down it was down pouring and we were both concerned about dancing in the heavy rain getting soaked. But luckily for us as we got to the festival the rain lifted and it was a light drizzle. And we danced on stage and had a lot of fun! It was my first performance and I had so much fun! We have two more festivals we're going to and I'm super excited for them! I can't wait!   

My wife (Candice-Sensei) had never been aboard the popular Anpanman Train. Every time she would see the train go by she'd comment on how cute it was! While running a quick errand together, I decided that we should return home on an Anpanman train! Candice-Sensei was so excited!

The train is every Anpanman fan's dream! The theme music plays inside with a greeting from the man, the myth, the legend himself... Anpanman! Plus the inside of a the train has its ceiling filled with pictures of the entire Anpanman cast. The Anpanman Train is a great inexpensive experience for families on the go. They even stamp your train ticket with Anpanman's face! I recommend the Anpanman Train for people of all ages!
  

As I am continuing to look back on my year in Japan, I've been thinking a lot about what it was like when I first got to Japan. I had never visited another country, let alone moved to one, so while I was excited to make the move it was scary for me at the time. When the plane landed, and I watched the rain through the window, I didn't even know how to feel. It didn't seem real to have moved all the way around the world. But here I was, in Japan! The next year I made a lot of mistakes, learned a lot, and grew a lot as a person. But it has been such a great experience! I'm incredibly grateful for GEM school for the opportunity to have come here. I'm excited to spend another great year in Japan, and another great year teaching English!


  

Yesterday's dinner was veggies, tofu and homemade tzatziki sauce. What's tzatziki sauce, you ask? Well, it's a cucumber sauce found in many Greek dishes. It's primarily made of yogurt and cucumber, with other seasonings and herbs. People in the US use "Greek yogurt" to make it, and I was happy to find some Greek yogurt here in the supermarket. As soon as I saw it, I immediately reminisced about my University days and how I would eat Greek salad every week at my favorite little Greek spot, sometimes two or three times a week. The salad didn't contain tzatziki sauce, but I remember seeing it there, and every once in while having the sauce with some other dish. All in all, this dinner was an homage to the Greek food I love so much!


  

The First compact Japanese Car!
I saw it in the Edo/Tokyo museum while on break. The whole exhibit was incredible. First half spoke about the Tokugawa era. The other half was Japan from the 1800's on. This little car caught my friends eye. He's a real car buff, especially American cars. When I told him about compact cars, the yellow plate, and how they are different his eyes lit up.

My eye's lit up too, but for me this was just "Lupin III"s car. Am I right?

Check it out! English dub.
https://vimeo.com/39790868

Compact car's really changed a lot about this country. We should be thankful.

How have small cars affected you?
Joe o/  

I see lots of cool things in Japan. I'm a huge fan of cars so it's always a great sight to notice new cars around.

I'm going to keep exploring around!  

Overtime I've received lots of sentimental items from friends, family and loved ones. Every souvenir has proudly occupied a piece of my heart space. But the greatest gift I've ever been given is the gift of kindness! Family, friends, workmates, and strangers have all bestowed that gift onto me at some point or another. Acts of kindness are gifts that will always be timeless and priceless! Thank you to anyone out there showing goodwill to others! May you get a blessing back ten-fold.   

I don't even know how. Last Friday, as my final class ended, I stood up and felt a pain in my foot. I didn't think much about it, but it was quite painful. Then when I got home there was a bruise in the arch of my right foot.

But the next day was the BBQ, so lots of running around, falling down, and other shenanigans. That night I took this picture:


Still not sure how I managed this, but it has almost completely healed now.  

During my stay at my mother's house, I went through my old boxes. Before I moved to Japan, I had to box up all of my things. One treasure I found was a CD that was made to introduce people to Jpop. It was made in 2003, and features the first Hyde song I had ever heard. It was sold in a fun anime store downtown.
I already knew a handful of japanese artists before then, but this CD was super special and helped me find even more. It was fun to find it again!  

GEM had their yearly traditional summer BBQ this past weekend! This was my first BBQ with Gem and What FUN it was!!

The BBQ picnic and activities are supposed to mirror similar events in America and the event passed with flying colors doing this job. After having a blast playing games with the students- games that were just the same as I would play with students or my own children in America, like bubbles and squirt guns, it was BBQ picnic time!! I saw the grills and also saw my opportunity to do what I like best in the summer- grill!! I never turned my oven on in the summer back home in America. It is way too hot and I didn't want to heat the house up. Almost every dinner I cooked was out on the grill over wood pellets. For the GEM barbecue I made my favorite side dish, American potato salad with a dressing of mayo and mustard. The only thing lacking was a touch of paprika but I sprinkled some fresh green onion on top instead. YUM!! Even though it was a hot job cooking over the grill, I didn't mind! I was soaking wet from the squirt guns and "fishing" with the babies in the pool, so it helped me get dry!!

I hope you all enjoyed the "American BBQ Picnic" fun and festivities- and food we prepared and shared, as much as we had fun preparing and participating ourselves!!


  

It's been a few weeks but I've officially been in Japan for a year! And I'm loving it! I've meet so many wonderful people, eaten such amazing food and seen breathtaking sights while here in Japan (and also Korea). Here's to another year here in Kanonji! I can't imagine going back yet!  

Summertime is the perfect time for shakes! My wife (Candice-Sensei) always makes me banana or strawberry shakes. She doesn't use regular milk either. Every time she has made a shake she has used almond or cashew milk. I think the different flavors of milk enhance the taste of the shake.

Did I mention that summertime is the perfect time for dips, too? Candice-Sensei and I were very lucky that our blender came with a miniature food processor! My better half likes to make hummus and I like to use the food processor to make bean burgers. It is going to be a festive summer in our humble abode!   

Recently I've been thinking it would be nice to start fishing again. I used to go fishing with my dad in the rivers in Idaho, but I haven't' fished much at all since I went to college. There are many things I'd like to start doing now that I am out of college
and can afford to do it. Do you enjoy fishing? What is something you want to do you haven't done in a long time?


  

For all of my life, I have lived near the ocean or sea. I grew up in Miami, Florida, just a short drive away from South Beach. My family is also from Puerto Rico, so anytime I went to visit family there, we were surrounded by the ocean. For college, I stayed in Florida so I was still near the ocean. Now, for the past 2 and a half years, I've lived in Takamatsu, Japan, which is right by the sea. I enjoy cycling to Sunport very much just to look out at the water. I have met some other teachers that grew up "landlocked", which means being surrounded by land, or in the case of the US, other states, far away from the ocean. I realized I've never really imagined living away from the ocean. I've been so spoiled to have always had it near me that the idea of living away from it never really occurred to me. I know living by the water has influenced me a lot. From the food I eat (I love seafood) to the daydreams I have about the beach, it's sand and the ocean breeze. I'm grateful I've always been able to stay near the water.

  

I went up to Tokyo last month for my friends wedding. It was beautiful and wonderful and a life changing experience but also, food.
Tokyo has so much cool food and so many different kinds at any time of day. Table-charge was the absolute pits but I knew how to dodge the bad ones. This place gave me a small plate with a nice drink and it really hooked me. "Bitter melon" is pretty rare in the states and it was cool to try such an infamous Japanese dish outside of the normal stuff.


I tried it again when I came back home! My friend knew how to treat bitter melon correctly. Sugar helps ;V

Whats some off-the-grid food I gotta try?
Joe o/  

I saw these nice candies last week and was curious to try them out. I wasn't disappointed at all! They were very delicious. I can't wait to try out more foods in Japan!  

Writer's block! It's the bane of my existence. Most days I'm always writing something! It could be a poem, lyrics, a blog post, etc. I'll scribble down anything and everything! Unfortunately sometimes I get a case of the Writer's Block. Writer's Block is when you just can't sit down and write out a thought.

Here is what I do to fight Writer's Block.

1.) Go for a brief walk. Inspiration can be found outside! The sounds of a bird singing, the way the trees sway in the wind, even the laughter of a happy couple can be muses.

2.) Write anything and everything! Sometimes I found myself inspired by a simple sentence I wrote in the spur of the moment.

3.) Visit or call friends. My friends are constantly inspiring me. They are the sources I need to recharge my mental and spiritual batteries.

4.) Break out that Nintendo DS or Switch! Sometimes even playing a random video game on game system or on a phone can lead to inspiration. I'm always inspired playing "Tobidase Doubutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing)". Really!

5.) Work on a jigsaw puzzle. It's super relaxing working on a jigsaw puzzle! After a few hours of working on a puzzle I feel refreshed and ready to write again!

6.) Be patient with yourself. Now more than ever be kind to yourself. It's perfectly normal to have bouts of Writer's Block. You are not alone!

If you are facing Writer's Block. Don't be discouraged! You'll overcome it in due time! :)

  

I'm going to attempt to make something resembling baked beans again. Last time the results were less than satisfactory.

One problem that consistently crops up when cooking for others is spice. Not just spice as in spicy, but just flavoring in general. Personally, I try to avoid excess salt, as much as possible, but I like pepper.

We'll see how things go this time around.