Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Nothin' special...

As the title dictates, nothing special has really happened in the last few weeks...or month...hehe.

The job is great, the apartment is looking good, and it has finally cooled off to a livable temperature here.  I am still in the introduction part of my job, i.e. half of every class I teach is spent with me introducing myself so the job hasn't been too demanding yet.  The last class I didn't even have time for the lesson plan.  As soon as the kids found out I was proficient in Japanese it was 45 minutes of straight questions.  Now these are questions from 8 or 9 year old little tykes mind you.  For example;  "What is your favorite bug?"

This is actually a pretty standard question from Japanese children and I was more than ready with the correct answer.

"Hmmm, my favorite bug?  Kabutomushi of course!"

The kids crack up and start screaming;  "They have kabutomushi in America?!"

Kabutomushi is a general term for the Rhinoceros Beetle.  I am not actually sure if these beetles exist in the States
but the truth is the kids really don't care one way or another.



(I stole this image ;P)

You can buy this bug at almost any hardware store in Japan.  You can either buy a full grown bug or this huge larva and raise your own.  The bug is actually very docile and will let you hold it and play with it.  The kids hold "wrestling" matches between the bugs which are very fun to watch.  It seems that in the wild the male beetles compete for dominance by throwing each other off logs, or branches, etc. with their horns.  These matches can even be viewed on national television!

Here are a few more examples of the questions I recieved.

"How big are your shoes?"
"Do they have animals in America?"
"Who is the person you like the most?"
"How big are your hands?"  (I had no idea how to answer this one...)
"Are you wearing contacts?"  (I was wearing my glasses at the time.  This is a pretty standard question after they see my blue eyes.)

I managed to dig up a picture of me teaching from my supervisor here.  This was one of my first days teaching and was a little nervous.  When I am nervous and have no clue what I am doing I tend to put my hands behind my back...


What post isn't complete without a picture of me, eh Smatt?