Archive for August, 2014
July 17, 2004 – Too many kids
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on August 12, 2014
The entire Kawasaki NOVA schedule was filled with kids classes today. I was scheduled for three, but only had students show up for two.
I taught a 3 year old girl in one of my classes. She kept trying to climb furniture and jump on me. She also picked her nose a lot. Seriously a lot. When she wasn’t trying to jump on me, her finger was spelunking in her nasal cavity. I felt nauseous for about two hours after the class ended.
I finished my busy day, and then realized that since tomorrow is an early shift, I will be back at work in about 11 hours. BOOOOO!
July 16, 2004 – Return to Gyu-Kaku!
Posted by Barniferous in Lux, Teaching English on August 11, 2014
I was working with a slight hangover from last night’s karaoke. Working with a hangover, no matter how small, is not fun.
After work I took Lux to Gyu-Kaku. Once again, the food was fantastic! Lux is a smoker, and usually I don’t enjoy eating in the smoking section of restaurants. However, the ventilation at Gyu-Kaku is very good due to all the smoky grills at each table. The fan above our table sucked up all the cigarette smoke and I didn’t notice it at all. Just one of the many reasons why Gyu-kaku is great.
July 15, 2004 – Return to karaoke
Posted by Barniferous in Karaoke, Keikyu-Kawasaki NOVA on August 11, 2014
Today was notable for three reasons:
- I got my first full time paycheck! Much nicer than my part time paychecks! Yay!
- It was my first shift at Keikyu Kawasaki NOVA in 2 months. Keikyu is always more relaxing than Kawasaki NOVA. Also, most of the students actually remembered me and asked where I had been.
- It was my first time at Thursday night karaoke in a few weeks. Karaoke and beer = good!
July 14, 2004 – How big is Uranus?
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on August 11, 2014
Every month the lesson plans for NOVA kids change. This month’s topic is outer space. The senior class (9-12 years old) is learning the names of planets and comparison words.
Today I had to teach the kids “Uranus is larger than Earth”. If I tried to get kids to say that in Canada I would have been arrested.
July 12, 2004 – Only day off
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 10, 2014
I used up all of my vacation days when my university friends came to visit. My family’s recent visit was covered entirely with shift swaps. Today will be my only scheduled day off for the next 20 days.
This is going to suck.
July 11, 2004 – Returnee student
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 10, 2014
Like most Sundays at NOVA, today was a very busy day, but I got to finish in the afternoon instead of the evening. I am now spending way too much time at the internet cafe, catching up on the internet time I missed when my family was here.
Today I had a man to man lesson with a 6 year old returnee student. Kids students who have lived in English speaking countries are usually taught separately from the rest of the NOVA Kids so they can have more challenging material.
Today’s lesson material was animals. Regular NOVA Kids would get a lesson with “It’s a bird, what is it?” to which they would respond “It’s a bird!”. They would learn about 5 or 6 other animals and then the rest of the class would be spent playing games to reinforce the new vocabulary. For this returnee student, I brought in a whole pile of different animal flashcards. She knew all of the names already, so I tried to come up with a new challenge for her. I set up the flashcards around the room, gave her a paper ball, and asked her to throw the ball at various animals; animals that ate meat, animals that could fly, animals that live in Japan, etc. The lesson turned out well and we both had fun. I feel bad for this kid if any teacher goes into the classroom and tries to stick to the lesson plan.
July 10, 2004 – Pachinko shopping cart
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Greater Tokyo Area on August 10, 2014
Inside JR Kawasaki station
Today was my second day back to work after my parents left. Naturally, I needed a few beers after work with some of the other teachers.
We were in drinking beer near the Kiosk in Kawasaki station, when we saw a guy with a shopping cart full of junk trying to get down the stairs to the train platform. Included in the impressive pile of junk in the cart was a full sized classic pachinko machine.
Unsurprisingly, half way down the stairs the cart tipped over and his stuff went everywhere. It’s worth noting that there was a fully operational elevator nearby, but for some reason this man decided to navigate his fully loaded cart down the stairs by himself.
Beer at the station is never boring!
July 9, 2004 – New Voice Co-ordinator
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on August 9, 2014
Today was my first day back to work after my family left. I had 3 kids classes to welcome me back to the office, but they were all pretty good. I also learned that I am the new Voice co-ordinator at Kawasaki NOVA. The Voice room is a general conversation area for students of all levels. Occasionally the school will offer some specialized topics, including Club 7 (for low level students) or special topic Voice. The special topics are usually something related to one of the teacher’s countries, or teaching language for a particular task. My job as Voice co-ordinator will be to schedule the special Voice topics, and ensure that they are evenly distributed among all the teachers. I am pretty excited about it, even though there is no increase in my pay.
After work I went for Kiosk beers with Anzac. Usually we will get a can of Asahi or two and watch people in the station. Our highlight of the evening was a really drunk middle aged businessman in a suit who had peed his pants. When I say “peed his pants”, I don’t mean a few drops; he literally hosed down everything. I don’t envy the people next to him on the train.
July 8, 2004 – The family leaves
Posted by Barniferous in Tokyo, Visitors on August 9, 2014
Today I took my family to Narita Airport and sent them back to Canada. It was sad to see them go. I have been lucky to host two different groups of visitors in the past few months, and now I will have to return to my regular life of teaching English.
A big thank you to my family for taking the time and expense to come and see me!
(2014 Update) Before visiting me in Japan, my parents idea of international travel was driving to the USA. In the 10 years since they flew around the world to visit me in Japan, they have been to Bosnia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Israel, and Jamaica with plans for more travel in the future. They also returned to Japan in 2006, but that’s a story for a later date. I’m not taking all the credit for their jet setting ways, but I think I helped.
July 7, 2004 pt2 – Gyukaku!
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Visitors on August 9, 2014
For my family’s last dinner in Japan before returning to Canada, we decided to try a yakiniku chain called Gyu-Kaku. This post is going to read a lot like an advertisement, but I don’t care. Gyu-Kaku is AWESOME.
The closest Gyu-Kaku to Hello House is just north of Mukogaokayuen station, a convenient 5-10 minute walk from Hello House. When we got inside, we instantly smelled delicious meat. The staff literally screamed “irrashaimase” at us. Gyu-Kaku is a yakiniku restaurant, which literally translates to “grilled meat”. All of the tables have a small grill in the middle. The menu, which is also available in English, showed all of the different types and cuts of meat that were available, along with salads and some other uninteresting non meat items.
We placed our first order and received small plates of sliced meat. We all took turns cooking the meat at the table using the tongs, and then dipping the cooked meat into small bowls of sauce at the table. I had eaten yakiniku once before, but this was the first time for my parents and sister. We all loved it! We ordered different types of beef, chicken, pork, and even scallops, and they were all delicious. The only thing that other people were afraid to try was the beef tongue (which was also delicious).
If you have never eaten yakiniku before – do it! It’s amazing! Gyu-Kaku is fairly easy to find and with the English menus it is foreigner friendly.
Yakiniku was a fun choice for my family’s last night in Japan. We all got to try something new, and we talked about our favourite memories of the past week and a half. Since I was trying to extend my time in Japan, this would likely be my last family meal until Christmas. I am happy it was a good one!
(2014 Update) I still try to go to Gyu-Kaku every time I return to Japan. Yum!
Drinking in Japan 
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