Another week, more frustration from work

Before I go back to talking about the cool things in life, I wanted to take a moment to comment about work. The school year is now two months in and the best word to describe this time would be, frustration. My goal at the beginning of the year was to take this opportunity of having new classes to refocus on my mistakes and do my best to fix them as quickly as possible as well as improve as a teacher. Unfortunately it hasn't been as simple as I had hoped.

Two weeks ago I was asked to prepare for a demo lesson, where the staff and teachers would pretend to be students, and I would give a lesson to them just as I would my kid students. Honestly this is one of the most nerve racking moments I have at my job. I tend to be more nervous and make more mistakes during these demos. It was made worse by the fact that I ended up getting sick for three days missing work, and so my demo lesson was delayed to this week. And at the top of the bad news, I would have two of these this week.

Basically to explain as simply as possible, the demo lessons were short and focused on the first parts of my lessons. Things like intros, homework, etc. I tried as hard as I could to do my best, but my nerves tended to get in the way. I also tried to use it as a chance to show my problems in a way that maybe I could get some good feedback. The hardest part of it is each "student" is given a role that is pretty much the most extreme caricature of every student, from perfect little princess to brat from the seventh layer of hell. So it was a real challenge. In the end the results of the demo lessons were hard to take. I did many things well, many really good, but lots of nitpicking, lots of things I missed, and things that I need to fix immediately.

I tried my best between demos one and two to improve, and things got better on the second one, but again it still wasn't my best performance. I felt very disappointed all week from this and even expressed that in my meetings after words. The important thing I need to focus on is improving on the base of the teaching system we use at my school. Its pretty complicated, but I have most of it down I was told. But now I need to quickly make the necessary improvements to bring me up to that level.

Lastly the hardest thing I have to do is find a balance within myself in being able to be more strict with the kids, and show who is boss. I've never been able to show any sense of anger to a child, and even a raised voice is hard for me to do. Most classes I don't have to worry about this but others I have kids that do not always respect the classroom. Finding the best way to handle it has been difficult, and my trying to be nice and caring only is not working. Of course you have to be careful on both sides of the issue, but hopefully I can find some nice ways of dealing with it which not only makes the classes better, but also are comfortable to me.

Now that I've gotten all that frustration off my chest, back to the good things to talk about! More post with lots of good things shortly!

The Ayumi Hamasaki Concert

One of the most interesting moments of my Golden Week vacation actually occurred a few days after the end of my official vacation time. On May 10th I got to see the famous JPOP singer Ayumi Hamasaki in concert. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of JPOP music, and Ayumi Hamasaki (Ayu for short) is one of my favorite singers. I have wanted to see her in concert almost ten years. in 2001 when I came to Japan the first time as a study abroad student in Tokyo, I wanted to go see her in one of her big dome stadium shows. But unfortunately it was pretty difficult to get a ticket considering her huge popularity, so I was unable to see her concert. So after returning to Japan I had made it my goal to finally see one of her shows. In February I was lucky enough to have my pre-order chosen for one of her arena shows in Yokohama. I would finally get to see the concert I had been dreaming of!

I headed for the concert early as I wanted to do some shopping before hand. Concerts in Japan always have people selling souvenirs around the stadium, both official and not. I ended up picking up a lot of things outside the stadium. All of the so called "goods" were expensive, but worth it. I ended up buying a T-shirt, program, figure, concert scarf, a bag, poster, and Ayu's latest album.

By this time the arena was surrounded by fans, mostly young girls with their boyfriends. There were a few foreigners around too, more so than when I had saw Morning Musume in concert in 2002 (I didn't see any that day). Eventually the gates were opened and I found my seat, which was located in the lower section seats on the halfway line of a basketball court. This was great as the stage had a walkaway extension to the center of the arena and I ended up being very close to it.

The show began at 4 o'clock with the arena a glow of blue lights and lasers. Ayu opened the concert by appearing from the floor in the center section. Everyone was cheering, dancing, it was a blast! The show was very emotional and elaborate, with lots of great sets, dance numbers, unique costumes, and great music. I was really surprised by how many songs were sung during the concert, and hearing Ayu sing live in person was a real treat. You could tell she was just as talented as she appears on tv. Most of the songs she sung came from her new CD that had just been released a few weeks before, but she also dug in deep and sang many of her classic hits. After almost two hours the grand show seem to come to a end, but of course there would be an encore. This encore ended up being a real treat for three reasons. One she sang some more of her old hits which I really loved. Two, she added a nice little Japanese variety show style segment that was fun and enjoyable to watch. And finally, it was long! The encore was well over a hour, and the concert ended up being just over three hours. It was exciting and very enjoyable. It was more than worth the wait!

Interestingly I had been worried the concert might get canceled because of the Swine Flu scare in Japan. Thankfully that did not happen, but ironically just a week later many of the Ayu concerts on the tour were canceled for that exact reason. I guess I was lucky my concert happened before the outbreak.

So in conclusion, the wait was worth it, and I hope I can see her again in concert in the future. It was certainly the best concert I have been too, and well worth the hassle and money it took to get a ticket.

Catching the worse cold during the Swine Flu outbreak in Japan

So I haven't posted anything over the last few weeks due to two main reasons. First I have been very busy. With Golden Week, work, the Ayu concert and more, life has been so busy for me. I plan on posting about that time in the next few days, and it was a vacation that I'll never forget.

But the second reason I haven't posted is that I have unfortunately caught a very bad cold. I have been feeling bad for over a week, but I really started feeling sick last Tuesday. It was so bad I ended up in the doctors office being tested for the flu. The timing of my cold was interesting as the major swine flu outbreak in Japan has just started a few days before. Thankfully I didn't have the flu, after going through a extremely painful test to prove it. However I ended up missing three days of work, and even today I am still not 100% well yet. Its the first time I've been really sick in over 2 1/2 years, and I hope I feel better soon.

But like I said, other than that, Its been a truly magical time in my life. So many wonderful things have happened, things I have hoped for for a very long time. I'll talk about those very soon.