Graduations

Spring is here again (finally) which means graduations, parties, saying goodbye,  flowers, holidays and change. At my last visit to the big Junior High School I was given a package of letters addressed ‘to the ALTs’ from the graduating third graders, saying thank you for two years of occasional English. They ranged from ‘I enjoyed game’ to more detailed messages such as ‘thank you for teaching English and abroad culture for us. We had a good time at the ALT. I will go to foreign country and use English taught by you’ Here are some highlights (and this formatting is frustrating):

 ”Thank you for teaching us English. It was very fun. See you again.

PS JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA is very strong team!! Soccer is interesting”

(I finally asked this girl is JEF United are good at soccer last week. Her reply was あまり- not really)

“thaksyou. With all my heart <3″

(this next one was written all in katakana)

“I am a Manchester United fan. We won’t lost to Liverpool!! Gerrard’s kick is the best!! Please come to [name of Izakaya we sometimes go to for 三次会s] and have a conversation. see you SAM day”

“genki de ne <3

your happy <3

ba—-i [picture of hand waving]“

“thank you for real English”

“At the time of class of the ALT, I was very happy. The various time when I played a game was the most pleasant in that.

Thank you very much so far”

“Thank you for teaching us English. It was exciting”

“Thans. See you again. Take care” (this boy spelt Sam’s name wrong)

“I like you [picture of smiling face giving peace sign]“

“thank you very much. three years. very good class”

one boy made up Kanji for my name: 流胃酢 style of/stomach/vinegar. And then thanked me from the bottom of his heart.

“I learned many things from you. Thanks to you I became interested in English. Please check with a dictionary.” (I’m not sure about the last part. What am I meant to check?)

“I don’t like English, but I came to like English. Sam & Louis are BEST OF TEACHER”

“English very X100000 difficult…but ALT is very interested”

“Thank you very much. The English was very fun. I want to change myself. I will try to do every thing and enjoy doing it”

“If I am going to meet studying English peaple, I will said “America and Australia are lived by great English teacher. Their name is Sam and Louis.”

“Thank you so much for the last two years. I couldn’t grow up without you!! You changed my life!! I wish your happiness!! See you someday!! Your forever student Kento”

I worry about that boy sometimes.

 

Snippets about Kochi

I’m reading online to find little amusing facts about Kochi. Unfortunately I’ve lost the links to most of the sites, so I’ve been Googling from memory. If anyone wonders why “Kochi women eight testicles” in my Google history, this post should explain:

From Wikitravel

“Drink: Liquor in all forms. The people of Kochi are known as the biggest drinkers in Japan. The women in Kochi are particularly renowned for their affinity and ability to drink. They are refered to as Hachikin, literally meaning 8 testicles since it is said that one Tosa (Kochi) woman can drink like four ordinary men. Kochi offers an abundance of locally made sake and shochu, and the friendly locals will surely approach you for a fun interaction at Kochi`s numerous bars.

From http://fuseki.net/home/comparison.html:

“Capital of a rural prefecture. Sleepy town, everyone interesting leaves for the big cities as soon as they can.”

The land use in the city is apparently:

“20% extremely steep hills covered with “industrial cedar”, 40% rice fields/concrete canals, 30% houses packed back to back with no yard/gravel yards filled with propane tanks/dead cars/buses, 10% roads/stores/parking lots.”

Best of all, KIA (the Kochi International Association) describes this restaurant in the city:

Cadiz has a strange atmosphere with mexican cowboy style decorations and punk music blaring in your ear… but yet the Italian like food is so scrumptious. I highly recommend the pumpkin seafood cream sauce pasta, brushetta, and spinach gorganzola pizza… I am hungry just thinking about it. Vegetarians be sure to ask for the pumpkin pasta with no bacon (it doesnt say it’s in there on the menu). They also have an English menu! Expect to pay about 3000-4000 yen for two, depending on if your order wine or not.

Sounds…awesome. More information later (still no word on my police clearance or more details of my placement)

 

I got my placement!

Dear Louis

I would like to inform your JET Number and your placement.

JET Number (maybe I think I’ll delete that)
Your placement: Kochi

Further details of your placement will be informed by your employer (local government).

Regards,

Yuichi Coordinator for Information and Cultural Affairs
(JET Programme Coordinator of WA)
(Hiroba Newsletter Editor)

 

I’m beginning to love Yuichi-San’s broken English e-mails. So what if I’m moving to a fishing village (actually, it’s a decent sized city about the size of Hobart, and I think I’ll be able to find some non-seafood-food) on an island which every Japanese person I know has never been to. I wonder now if my police clearance is just a formality. I’d better do it anyway.

Honestly, try and find anything about Kochi online, it’s almost impossible except for This Site. I guess I should try 日本語の sites as well.

I keep telling Tamara to look on the bright side, such as by all accounts Shikoku is the least tourist infested, most beautiful part of Japan. I always said no matter where I was I’d take a week off to go cycling around Shikoku, until I found out how mountainous it was. I also wanted to go to Takamatsu, partially because of the funny name and also because of Kafka on the Shore. And it’s connected by the world’s longest bridges to Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka (sort of….I think it’s a bit of a drive to get to the Seto inland sea)
But here’s a map:

The home of women’s voting rights and the liberation…something or other, I lost the website that had all the information. Their local dialect is apparently gibberish (Yay!) and they have trolleys (ie. streetcars) Trolleys! That was part of my reason for wanting to go to Hiroshima! I’m sure I’ll get over it very quickly, though. But I am so excited at the moment. Wait until the anxiety sets in. And the clothes buying. I’ll be living in what, by all reports, is a ’seafood lover’s paradise’ (also they apparently have the best noodles in Japan, but I think every city either claims to have the best そば or the best らめん in all of Japan. I guess it’s all good) As long as they have a Yoshinoya’s.

That’s all for now. Two updates in one day!