Feast or Famine

I work on idioms with my upper level English students. Being a native English speaker, I don’t even think about using them or knowing what they mean, but they are confusing for students of English.

One that came to mind recently was “Feast or Famine”. To stay in Japan, I need a work visa, which means I need a job where my employer will sponsor me to work and stay in the country. For the past couple of months I have been applying for teaching jobs in many different locations across Japan. At first I didn’t hear much, other than a few email requests to ask my age or birthdate.  After I responded, I heard nothing more from those schools. (Famine)  Then, all of a sudden I had 10 requests for Skype interviews with a two week period.  Within four days of each other, I had three job offers in three different locations. (Feast)

So far, I’m pretty pleased with my choice.  I hope they will be pleased with me and my work.

From One Island to Another

For more than four years I have been living in Hokkaido in the north of Japan.  Today I am moving to Kagawa prefecture on the island of Shikoku, far to the south of Hokkaido, to take a full time English teaching job.

 

The last few weeks have been rather emotional, as I packed and did all the things I needed to do to get ready to go. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted much stitching lately.  That’s because there wasn’t much to post!

The whole visa thing is kind of complicated, but to make it short and simple – to stay in Japan, I need a visa, so I need to work for someone who will sponsor my stay here. Moving to Kagawa for this job allows me to stay in Japan.

I don’t know what my internet situation will be for the next few weeks, so I have some posts scheduled to appear.  After I start working full time, I don’t know if I will be able to continue posting every day (like I have for the past four plus years); I’ll have to wait and see what my free time will be.  And, like most everything else in Japan, I won’t know what is happening until afterwards, and then I still might not know.

My blog will continue to be called “Hokkaido Kudasai” even though I’ll be living in Kagawa, not Hokkaido.  As soon as I can, I’ll start writing about my new adventure and stitching.  Thank you for your patience!

Candle Walk

University art students held this candle event in the snow in the downtown area.  It was very windy, so the students had to keep relighting the candles. As always, we didn’t know what it was all about, but it was interesting.

Black Cow

When I was a child, we sometimes had ice cream with soda poured over it.  If made with root beer, it was called a root beer float.  If made with cola, it was called a black cow.  We had black cows at home the other evening.  Ted made his “blacker” with dark chocolate in his.

Hokkaido Shinkansen

Japan is known for its efficient transportation systems. The trains are fast and on time.  The shinkansen or bullet trains are high speed trains that are operated by Japan Railways (JR).  These trains run at speeds up to 320 km/hr and have never had a fatal accident.  Ted and I took the shinkansen between Kyoto and Yokohama several years ago and it was amazing. It is a bit expensive, but I’m still glad we did it.

A new shikansen route will start March 26^th between Aomori on Japan’s main island of Honshu and Hakodate in Hokkaido by way of the Seikan Tunnel.  This service will connect southern Hokkaido with Tokyo and other areas in Japan with the shinkansen network.  The Hokkaido Shinkansen is scheduled to extend to Sapporo by 2030. To find out more about the Hokkaido Shinkansen, check out this JR Hokkaido Railway website (in English).
 

Work In Progress Wednesday - December Needleroll Progress

Free Milk

When I was at the post office the other day, there was a woman at a table with some coolers.  She came over to me when I was waiting and gave me this little bottle of milk, as part of some kind of campaign.  I don’t know what it was all about, but I think she was trying to get people to agree to home delivery. Like I said, I don’t know what it was really about.  Anyway, I came home with this little bottle of milk for my coffee. I love living in Japan, even when I don’t know what is going on.

Monday Morning Star Count

Another week of very little progress.  I finished the fourth flower.  Next I will start the embroidered pictures that will connect these together.  I'm not sure what color thread to do the little pictures in.  My first thought was a blue, but I'm also considering using the four colors in these four blocks.  What do you think?

 

Linking up with Sarah's Help for Hexie a holics.



Hart to Hart

I watch old TV shows on YouTube.  My favorites are mysteries and crime drama shows.  Recently I've been watching episodes of Hart to Hart.  Besides being a crime/mystery type show, I love this show because of how these characters interact with each other. These two adore each other, despite the crazy situations they find themselves in. Are there any real men in this world who worship and adore their wives no matter what happens?  Unfortunately, I've never encountered a man like Jonathan Hart.

Running Dictation

One of the activities I use in my university classes is called the "running dictation".   I like this activity for many reasons.   It incorporates reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  It accomodates differing skill levels in the same class. It reinforces material in other parts of the lesson.  It gets the students up and moving, to guard against anyone falling asleep. While all this is going on,  I can watch and listen for spelling and pronunciation issues.  

 

This is how it works --- Each student needs a partner. The success of the activity in a multi-level of skills class depends on this first step. You cannot  let the most highly skilled students pair up with  other highly skilled students and lower skilled students pair up with each other.  The result with that is the higher level students get done quickly and are bored and the lower skilled students are frustrated. I have a variety of ways to pair the students up without  them knowing what I'm doing, but that is a post for another day.  

Each pair will have a runner and a writer.  If the class has an odd number of students, one group will have two writers and a runner. I tape copies of a paragraph on the back wall.  The writers sit at desks in the front of the room.  The runners go to the back of the room and read the paragraph and repeat as much as they can remember to their writers, who write it down.  The runners "run" back and forth as many times as they need to in order to get the whole paragraph. The activity is not a competition, but students usually get excited and treat it like it is.  

I watch and listen.  When I see there is a word the writers are mispelling, I write the word on the chalk board for everyone to see.  That way I can make a correction without putting anyone on the spot or embarrassing anyone.  I often hear "katakana" pronunciation, so I write the word I hear and cross off the extra vowel - example, the word "might" is often mispronounced "mighto", adding the extra "o".  I write MIGHTO on the board and cross out the "o".  

When the pair is finished, they take the written paragraph to the back and check to see how well they did. When everyone is finished, I tape copies of a second paragraph to the wall and the partners change roles.  This way both partners get the chance to run and to write. When both paragraphs are finished, I ask some questions about the story to see how well they comprehended what they read and wrote.  This activity can be used at all levels, depending on the paragraph used and the lesson taught.

I really like this one! 

Unclaimed Backpacks

I read a rather sad story on Japan Times online. Almost 3,000 backpacks that washed ashore after the earthquake and tsumani in March 2011 will be incinerated. If ever you see school children in Japan, you will see them carrying box-y leather backpacks. It’s almost like it is part of the child.

The backpacks, musical instruments, and other items were originally kept at the site of the former Yuriage School after being found in the tsumani disaster debris. Regular viewings of the items were held in an attempt to find the owners or their families. The city has now decided to incinerate the items after almost five years because of a lack of interest and lack of space.  The current storage space will be demolished.

About 240,000 photographs that were recovered have been digitized to preserve the images.

How Deep Is the Snow?

Where I live it snows a lot.  Roofs have to be shoveled off pretty often because the weight of the snow can cause buildings to collapse.  Yesterday, university workers shoveled off the roof of the bike garage in front of our apartment.  About time, wouldn’t you say?

Work In Progress Wednesday

This week I've been working on this small beehive fob that I started while on vacation in December. 

I've made several of these over the years.  Here is the first one I made when I belonged to the Indianapolis chaper of EGA about 20 years ago.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - Bonnet Stitch

This is a new one for me – I’ve never seen or heard of it before.  I did a short seam to try it out.  I’ll probably add something to it later.

You can join TAST at anytime. Check out Sharon B’s stitch instructions here.

Monday Morning Star Count

I was able to stitch the red flower to the background and get a start on the brown flower.  I know, very little progress!

Linking up with Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches.

Tsurushi Kazari

There are so many wonderful things in Japan.  I love the history and traditions and festivals.  March 3^rd is Hina Matsuri, a special day for girls in Japan.  My friend and I went to see this display in the Keio Plaza Hotel in Sapporo.  Is this fantastic or what?

 

To see some close up pictures of this kind of traditional Japanese stitching and get more information, check out Queenie Patch’s blog here. She adds a few of her own stitched pieces to her collection every year.



The Alphabet Club - G

(For the full story on what this is, check out the Alphabet Club.) 

This month's letter is "G". The Japanese word gaku (or gakubuchi) means picture frame.  Here are a few of  the small framed pieces I have here with me in Japan. Sorry about the reflections on the ones with glass.

What Children Want to be When They Grow Up

I read an interesting article on RocketNews recently about what Japanese children want to be when they grow up.  The Addeco Company conducted a survey of children in seven Asian countries to find out what type of work these children wanted to do in the future.  I thought the results were rather interesting. 

For Japanese children, Business Person was number 1 for boys and number 3 for girls.

In Japan, Adecco polled 500 boys and 500 girls between the ages of 6 and 15. The top responses for the boys were:

9 (tie). Architect/contractor (2.8 percent)
9 (tie). Paramedic/firefighter (2.8 percent)
9 (tie). Engineer/programmer (2.8 percent)
7 (tie). Driver (bus, taxi, train, etc.) (4.2 percent)
7 (tie). Police officer/detective (4.2 percent)
6. Scholar/researcher (3.4 percent)
4 (tie). Doctor (6.2 percent)
4 (tie). Professional baseball player (6.2 percent)
3. Civil servant (6.6 percent)
2. Professional soccer player (10 percent)
1. Businessperson (10.2 percent)

The responses from girls were:

10. Singer (2.4 percent)
9. Manga creator (2.6 percent)
8. Music/art instructor (2.8 percent)
7. Fashion designer (3 percent)
6. Nurse (4.6 percent)
5. Civil servant (4.8 percent)
4. Doctor (5.6 percent)
3. Businessperson (5.8 percent)
2. Educator (preschool-university) (6.4 percent)
1. Confectioner (11 percent)

Here are the top three responses for all 7 Asian Countries:

▼ Overall results based on responses from both boys and girls

When I was a child, I often wanted to be a school teacher, usually for the grade I was currently in.  I wanted to be the Flying Nun for a short time, even though I wasn't Catholic. I thought being a librarian would be a pretty cool job.  I don't remember ever wanting to be a business woman.

What about you?  What did you want to be?  Did it work out for you?