STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 45

JULY 6

It’s been too long since I have danced at Shirakawa Park. The weather today was a bit iffy, but it started out nice and sunny. Five of us were practicing, doing our own thing when I noticed someone watching in the corner of my eye. We made eye-contact and he spoke to me, ‘Do you speak English?’

Had he not asked this in a perfect American accent, I would have assumed he was Japanese. On the contrary, he was actually from Michigan! On top of that, he was a break dancer, but he was in Japan on a three-week internship as an engineer. Of all the people!

At the time he had just finished touring the science museum, so he happened to notice us as he passed by. He wasn’t meeting his friend until later that evening, so we offered him the chance to rest, or to join us if he’d like. It had been ‘months’ since he’s practiced, but he jumped right into it, despite the light rain that started to fall. Eventually, we moved our group to the basketball court, which was covered by the overpass and practiced there. As the first English-speaking break dancer I have met in the past year, I eagerly took his well-pointed advice. Now I’m trying to figure out how to do thread while I’m in a shoulder freeze. Thanks, Albert. Be seeing you again I hope.

JULY 7

I started packing and preparing for the move. What I really mean is that I’ve put away all my winter things nicely, and I have filled up my large orange luggage with things I am not using now, but will need later. It never hurts to start early. Then, evening practice in the Naka District.

JULY 8

After weeks of waiting, my group has finally been able to present our survey to the class. All the themes had a relation to school, and ours was about the commute. Almost a month ago we started our surveys by asking a few volunteer students who came to our class basic questions in regards to our research. We didn’t have to actually create another survey on our own accord, but since we only had two questions to investigate, and already eight people’s answers, we decided it was an opportune time.

I was in charge of the survey, but we divided the other research and presentation creation amongst the three of us. Not only were we to present on Japan’s school commute, but our home countries as well. As far as information goes, we filled our twenty minutes greatly, and that was before playing the video material. I wish our member had shown us the video beforehand, rather than playing the five minutes’ worth during the real presentation as we were on the clock. There were no questions to be asked, which may or may not have been a good thing. I think people just wanted to go to their next class. There will probably be a question session at the beginning of class next week.

JULY 9

It’s the second to last week of the semester, which means today was the second to last Business Japanese class we will have. Next week also happens to be the final exam, which will be similar to the midterm where we had to do role-plays. However, we also have to write a thank you speech, and practice new role plays such as telephone conversations ad lib. I hope I don’t get picked for the telephone conversation!

JULY 10

Our morning started out with a guidance meeting for the students who are going to return to their home countries soon. Granted, some of us are ready to go home, but I’m not. We spent about an hour or so being talked about canceling our Internet contracts, preparing for water and electric bills, returning our bikes to the university, cleaning up our rooms, and, of course, final paperwork. My only comfort was that if anything happened, I would still be around later to deal with it. But the harsh truth was very clear: in less than a month I would be saying good-bye to some of the most important people in my life, my second family.

Like I said it was depressing, but we couldn’t wallow in it. We still had more immediate preparations to make. The day after tomorrow four of us, Joy, Rachael, Aurianne and I were heading to Mt. Fuji. Joy and I rode our bikes to Donki for some last minute preparations, in particular headlamps. We intended to climb the mountain over the course of the day and into the night so that we could see the sunrise. Then, we hurried home to work on our final presentations for culture class tomorrow. Once again, we can present on anything we want, and I was still undecided until yesterday.

JULY 11

(I woke up just in time for the clouds to give way to the dawn.)

My second to last presentation topic of the semester, of my undergraduate career was this: Okami. Okami has several meanings when translated, all which depend on its kanji. The basis for my presentation was a Capcom video game that came out a few years back when I was in high school. In this game you played as Amaterasu, a god or okami, who comes down to Japan to save the people from the dark ages as a wolf, also okami, and your powers are used by drawing symbols on paper, the final kami. The main reason I chose this as my final subject was because this game opened my eyes to Japanese folklore. Every character, every story within the story has a link to a Japanese folktale. I’m a fan of folklore, and another big theme that I enjoy is past meets present. This game does exactly that, as it is a modern tool depicting old stories. I highly recommend it.

That said, I kind of tripped through the presentation itself. Maybe that was karma, or some foul curse that said any video I planned to use in my culture presentation would betray me. In this case, the voice over of the video was faster than I could read, but it wasn’t a real, clear language. So I constantly had to pause, read, and play the video again. It made my presentation much longer than the intended ten minutes.

STUDY ABROAD:WEEK 39

MAY 25

If only I didn’t have homework, or the need to eat, then I could have slept all day. At least Mark was going to keep me company when I headed out to the Daiso. First, however, I went to Jason’s room to return his forgotten items. I couldn’t remember which room he lived in, but I knew it was on the second floor. As I was messaging him I noticed there was a door propped open with flip flops, similar to the ones Jason wears. In mid-message confirming that I could come in, I went to open the propped door, just as its resident came to close it. We made eye-contact, long enough for our holds on the door to become awkward. I noticed he was trying to pull the door shut, so I quickly jumped back and apologized. I had almost walked into a stranger’s room, I was that tired. A few seconds later, Jason opened his door on the opposite side of the hall. If only he had done so a bit sooner.

MAY 26

I had a feeling it would rain today.

During lunch Joy and I met with the two or three students from the seminar class that still come to eat lunch with us. We decided that this Thursday we would go check out the futsal club because Joy didn’t have to work. That was fine with me, even though I suppose BPM is having a mock battle on Thursday also. I don’t have a partner lined up or anything, so there’s no pressure for me to show up. Besides, I haven’t been able to play with Kaori and the other guys on Saturdays since February— I needed to just run around and kick a ball.

As I said, the rain came, and it was a drenching rain. Nevertheless, we were determined to go eat somewhere after international cafe. Lai and I walked back to the apartments together; she had her bike and the umbrella, but in the end I volunteered to carry at least the umbrella since at her height it kept hitting me in the head. Not more than two minutes after it was in my hand the wind turned it inside out and broke one of the spokes. That is precisely why I don’t carry umbrellas. In any case, when that happened, she tried to hold up the broken umbrella over herself so I walked the bike. I was being a “gentleman”, which made me even more uncomfortable since she was holding onto my arm as well. That was just being nice and doing the write thing.

By the time we got back to the apartment, we were both drenched. That and we passed the udon shop we hoped to eat at on the way, only to find it was closed. A quick change of plans and we met up with the others at Manchinken, the ramen place across from 7i. Finally, I could try the ramen for myself, and it was delicious, just as I hoped, it was perfect after a cold rain.

MAY 27

Aside from working on manga today, Jason and I also practiced for our Business Japanese midterm tomorrow. For the midterm, there is no written test, we are only expected to rehearse and perform accurate role-plays based on the conversations we practiced in class. This is one of my skills, so even though I don’t know all the vocabulary perfectly, I can memorize lines and play them. However, since we didn’t practice until the evening I couldn’t go to dance practice. Midterms come first in this case.

MAY 28

Yeah… so that whole “test” I was talking about yesterday persists. The first part of class was a listening quiz, unrelated to our midterm test. Then, our professor gave us time to practice before starting the actual test.

The class was divided between International Students (students who were attending the University as normal students on a 4-year program) and the Exchange Students (students who would only be at the University for six months to a year). She started the tests with the International Students, of whom there were six. ‘A’ would play the student, or the lower role, and ‘B’ would play the teacher, or other superior role. Then ‘B’ would become ‘A’ and the next student on the list would become the new ‘B’. During that time, the other students would peer review their performances. In that form we completed the International Students and started on the Exchange students. I was second on the list, so I was Gi’s ‘B’ partner when time ran out. I was half done, half done! Now I have to wait until next week to finish my midterm. At least I will be the first done.

MAY 29

Last night I packed a huge bag of clothes that I don’t need any more to take to Book-Off. Supposedly we can exchange them for some money, depending on the quality and brand, etc. I wasn’t expecting more than 300 yen. Mark and Margeaux also joined me with their own bags of unwanted items. Many of Mark’s clothes were ones that he bought this past winter and would not need in Hawaii. He got less than he wanted for the amount, but I on the other hand made 600 yen! That was double what I expected.

From there we all went our separate ways. By chance I happened to run into Rachael, Joy and Aurianne as they stopped outside Café de Crie for lunch. With my hard-earned 600 yen I bought a delicious roast beef sandwich. They were on their way to find the Kobe honey exhibition somewhere in Sakae. I took Rachael’s place as she headed to work, and then the three of us headed toward the Tokyu Hands in Sakae where it was advertised to be on the 6th floor. It was not. It was actually quite a pain to find, but after asking the right people and being directed to the underground shopping area we found the honey. Apparently, when they had gone to Kobe over spring break, they had found this honey and fell in love with it because there was so many flavors.

They had only wanted to find the place today, but they really intended to return tomorrow with Rachael, who was the most zealous to buy the honey. With the mission successful, Joy and I headed back to the university to play futsal with Shogo and Chiharu, also from the seminar class. I can’t explain how good it felt to just run and really stretch out my legs. I was using different muscles than usual, so of course I became a little winded, but Joy and I had a great time. Joy and I always made a point to play on opposite sides since we didn’t know the other members, at least we could compete with each other. It was very interesting to play with just the girls, too. Many of them are still first or second year students, so they have a tendency to move in flocks. Joy and I ran the most during those games.

I went from doing something wonderful and healthy, to going to a tenpura party. Deep fried, though lightly battered, goodness of all kinds, thanks to our cooking mama: Rachael. Chicken, pumpkin, zucchini, carrots, chocolate, bananas and more were consumed over the course of the night. Taigen also came so four of the ‘cool kids’ were able to hang out and talk until morning once again.

MAY 30

No class this morning, but I didn’t sleep in much either! I’m making progress.

It goes without saying that I spent the day inking pages, and then erasing, and then toning some of the pages digitally. The reason why we didn’t have class today was because tomorrow we are going to have our ikebana experience. We can’t bring them home, which is a shame, but I’m ready to challenge ikebana again!

MAY 31

Our class all met together outside of the library just before 9am. The discussion rooms had all been opened up to create one large room. Three ikebana teachers had come to help us with our experience. They guided us through the three main steps, and also provided meanings for certain flowers.

Since there was so many of us, we could only sit two to a table, and each person received a prepared set of flowers that worked well together. For some people that included branch-like flowers and even long grass-like stems. I was lucky enough to receive the set with the lilies, one of my favorite flowers if I had to choose.

I followed the teacher’s advice through the first three main steps; the mother, father and child branches are one way to describe them. This time I was incredibly pleased with my creation. I followed the aesthetic rules and my own instincts to create a unique, somewhat tropical feeling piece of art. When we had to present our ikebana and describe the theme, I compared it to my current growing experience. Many of the students were able to create nice pieces of work, and love seemed to be a common theme. Some people even used avant-garde ideas in their designs.

In the end, ten of our pieces could go on display in the library or in the international center. I volunteered to have mine on display in the library, out in the common room, where at least I could see it every day when I come in. It was actually placed near the entrance at first, but then they moved it up to the second floor somewhere… no one goes up there. I’ll have to go hunt it out and take a picture this coming week.

([untitled] May 31, 2014)

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 21

JANUARY 19

Sunday is dance day! I arrived a little earlier than usual today to find two strangers in our usual dance spot. Patiently, I waited off to the side until Ken, our designated group leader, showed up. It turns out that the couple that was practicing in our spot were actually acquaintances of his. He also brought along another break dancer— quiet, serious, and super strong. He was a power specialist, and power is the kind of breaking I aspire to be able to do, which is why I was excited and reluctant to practice today. Thankfully, Ken gave me a lot of good advice. We even had a small practice battle: the first time was okay, the second time was just a mess. I keep getting stuck between moves because I can’t decide what to do next. The music is also a lot faster than the hip hop I am used to, so I’m terribly slow. I should lay off the hip hop for a while and just practice break dancing I guess.

At 6pm I left dance practice to meet with Jessica in Kanayama. We ate dinner at Yama-chan and just caught up, talked about the last month’s events, and the near future. She will be going back to America soon, which she’s really excited to do because she has this great plan for her future; she wants to set-up a women’s safe house in New York one day, so she hopes she can work up a network after she’s back in the States. If I were to go back, I don’t know what I would do myself. I wouldn’t go back to school because there’s nothing specific that I want to study, nor do I care to put out the money for graduate school. There’s really no job I would like to do either. I have my manga series, but I prefer to keep my art as a hobby. The stress of a job only kills my creative inspiration.

I say there’s nothing I want to do, but over the last few months I have been helping a lot of people study English. It’s something I can honestly say I do enjoy: a personal challenge and accomplishment. I know that many people choose to teach English just so they can stay in Japan. I don’t know what other motives they have, but I know that I like teaching, and I’d like to improve at it. If that opportunity is here for me in Japan, I want it, and I will find it.

JANUARY 20

Curry, the lunch of champions, only 750 yen. Four months in and it’s still one of the best meals I have found yet (that isn’t made at home). That lunch was my amplifier for the day. I was going to have another job-related meeting in the afternoon, this time, not with the group from Toyohashi, but with a different school. The owner was actually an acquaintance of the students who studied before me from my University. Through their contact, I was able to meet with her. We’ve met a few times as I have visited her school to volunteer on a couple occasions, but today it’s tea time. Of course, we talked about how my job search was going, and to my surprise she mentioned that her company might be interested in hiring me on.

Shock! That was great news, if they could make it happen. I really love their school’s atmosphere and staff. The place also seems more stable than the one in Toyohashi, which is comforting for me. But, they have never hired a full-time foreign staff member before so they have to look at the paperwork. I have my fingers crossed. The excitement carried on even after tea-time so I spent a good four hours searching for possible apartments between Okazaki and Toyohashi.

JANUARY 21

Back to school for a moment, literally, today we had one exam, and that was for the conversation class. None of us knew how to study for it; we only reviewed the chapter points. I was the first of us four students to take the exam. It started out with a paired conversation; Jason and I were paired up, and we both were able to pull the conversation together once we understood the exam’s format. After that it was one-on-one role play and question time with the professor. I think it went well overall, but it wouldn’t have hurt to study the conversations in the textbook a little more.

Two more exams to go! Kanji and Grammar, which may be considerably more difficult than the conversation exam, but at least I know how to study for those. I studied for tomorrow’s kanji exam in the library before dance practice. This time I went a little earlier because I was hoping that I could use the multi-purpose room, which was bigger than the studio. Now, I understand there is a reservation process, so I reserved one of the rooms for BPM and we were able to practice until 9:30pm. Really, it’s supposed to only go until 9pm, but the guy at the front desk didn’t say anything. Thanks, but next time, I’ll make sure to only reserve until 9pm~

JANUARY 22

The Kanji portion of the exam went really well. I had no trouble remembering all the kanji for the two lessons that were compiled into the exam. It was about eighty or so to write, and about the same number to read. The problem came afterward during the composition part of the exam. The subject was about ‘value’, but I misinterpreted the meaning as I was writing it. I guess I messed that part up.

After that, it would have been a good idea to review grammar, but none of us had any motivation for that. We went to Saizeriya for lunch, and then watched the remainder of the Drama class presentations. I took the day pretty slow until the evening, when I finally settled down and read over all the grammar sections.

JANUARY 23

Test day? Okay, now it’s time to wish I studied more!

To be honest, the test questions themselves weren’t so bad, but the test setting was rather strict. No water bottles on the table, on a pencil and eraser. Mr. Yoshida monitored the first hour, and then Mrs. Yamamoto came back for round two. That’s when we all died a little. The second hour was about reading comprehension, something we had just barely practiced in class a couple weeks ago. At this point, I can’t even say if my answers were on point. I just wrote stuff. My brain was done.

And so, my fall semester’s courses came to an end. What to do with all my new free time? First, celebrate with chocolate, and then some more job research. Dance practice today was from 3-9pm in the gym’s arena, so we played a little basketball too. I finally feel like I am making progress with my freezes! Now I got to practice handstands some more, and I also started to learn how to do a windmill!! So excited, can’t wait to dance even more over spring break.

JANUARY 24

Okay, today was officially the last day of the semester. We still had presentations in culture class, so even though I was done, I still had to attend and participate. That was all fine and dandy because I could just sit back and enjoy the presentations. After that, I paced myself and did some cleaning around my apartment.

Off to Toyohashi for another day of “training”. Now, with other possible jobs in the wind, I was all business. We talked about the visa situation, since it would require that I be able to work full-time and receive a certain amount of money. No matter which job I was looking at, it had to satisfy the minimum requirements in order for the visa to be approved. I wish that wasn’t the case because I’m starting to like the students in Toyohashi also. They were very participatory today, which is an ego boost for me.

JANUARY 25

I woke up at 9am today for a breakfast meeting with the aforementioned Toyohashi school. Though the owner was hopeful that we could gather enough students to somehow make up the minimum salary and hour requirements for the visa, I think she is starting to see the same problems I am. I want to help them, but if the hours collide with another possible job, then it would be impossible. I have a sense that it won’t work out, I just need them to understand that. I hope this issue is settled sooner rather than later.

STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 20

JANUARY 12

Paid my electric bill~ compared to the others my bill seems a little cheaper. Maybe that’s because I keep things unplugged unless I am using them? Or maybe I’m out of my room so much that I am just not using the electricity like they are.

Anyway, finally a Sunday that I could go dance at the park!

I arrived at the park just a little bit after Humito. He was able to start dancing right away, but I need to warm up first. It seems that is a similar pattern with many other dancers I know; they just break into dance right away without stretching or anything. I’m jealous, but at the same time, stretching is a good time for me to focus my mind and observe other dancers.

Ken arrived a half hour later. His outgoing personality broke up the awkward silence that passed between Humito and I when it was just the two of us. I was working on transitions from a baby chair freeze into something that I can connect to a windmill, which is currently my goal. I’m trying my best at practice, but I can’t help but feel sub-par when everyone else is already accustomed to the moves I am just learning. Then again, a couple weeks ago my six-step was a horrible mess. Now, it’s not bad, and I can do it with rotating myself in a circle, too. So I’m improving somewhat, slowly but surely.

JANUARY 13

Received another package from mom! This time there was a bunch of winter wear, like fuzzy socks, and thin, but warm under shirt and pants. Just in time, too. Winter is starting to kick in, and in two weeks, Joy, Rachael and I will be going to Hokkaido to see the snow festival. It will be cold. I don’t know what compelled me to go, since I really dislike the cold, but if I have to go at least once, there’s no one else I would rather go with.

On another note, today we didn’t have school! Last week was the last ‘official’ week for the exchange student’s classes, which is why we didn’t have class today. We do, however, have class on Wednesday to make up for a missed day. Other than that, it is basically time to study for exams. But exams are still over a week ago, so today we decided to go to a Chinese New Year festival going on today in Sakae, near Yaba-cho Station.

My cough is persisting today, so I opted for a face mask. I didn’t have a fever, but while we were walking I did get a little light-headed. Then, there was a sudden sharp pain in my chest— it was the first time I had ever experienced it, and it was so fast that stopped and waited in case it happened again. I’ve been told before that I have a leaky heart valve, but this felt more like a nerve pain. Whatever it was, it took my light-head with it.

I caught up with the rest of the group as we entered the festival grounds. As with most festivals, the paths were lined with food stalls. However, these stalls were all specializing in Chinese foods. That meant a lot of pork mixed foods I couldn’t try. The directions were also in spirit of the Chinese New Year, and the crowd was a mix of all kinds of ethnicities. I hate to say that there was something different about that atmosphere. The area seemed a little dirtier, the customer service a little more rushed and business-like; I can blame part of my impatience on my lingering cold, but the others also said they agreed. I also couldn’t eat anything there, so hunger only drove me to leave sooner.

(Before leaving the Chinese Festival, we found this artist who drew beautiful and extravagant pieces by using one’s name, in kanji of course)

It wasn’t long before we separated from the festivities and started shopping around Sakae. We went to our favorite building, one with not only a Book-Off and a hyaku-en store, but also a GU and Uniqlo. I found a copy of Battle Royale, volume 2, for 105yen. Now I just need to find a used copy of volume 1 somewhere.

As for GU and Uniqlo, I wanted to buy clothes there because they are a pretty good price, but I can’t find anything that fits properly. My body doesn’t know what it’s doing right now. Shoulders, chest, hips or legs are always too big. Either that or it’s an unflattering box. I need more pants, and probably a belt; my current one goes to the 8th hole easily now.

With that conundrum in mind, if I can’t buy clothes, might as well buy some good food. How about some pancakes? Not just your average breakfast stack, but dinner and dessert pancakes. There’s a ‘Hawaiian Pancake’ trend in Japan right now, but we can’t make any sense of it. That’s just how pancakes usually are, with fruit and whip cream, for example. The Hawaiians insist it’s not a Hawaiian thing. As for these dinner pancakes, it’s the first time most of us have ever heard of them. Totoro and I split our orders so we could try both dinner and dessert pancakes. It was brilliant: teriyaki chicken and salad with pancakes. For dessert, a more conceivable banana-caramel and vanilla ice cream stack. And, since we split the bill, it was only 1050 yen a piece.

JANUARY 14

I received a letter from Lynnette today~ kind of for Christmas, kind of for New Years. It was another good surprise that I wasn’t expecting this season. I would send her a letter back, but I have so many goodies prepared for her… I can’t wait to give them to her in August.

Almost everyone else went to Round 1 to hang around today. I wasn’t planning on skipping dance practice, so I stayed behind to finish Kanji homework and work on my drama presentation for tomorrow’s class. We were able to dance up in the studio today, which meant no cold concrete! I practiced the Fortune Cookie dance some, and practiced break dancing some. Just adding more bruises, I think. Recently, I just feel weak, and maybe it’s because of this cold, but I don’t feel like I’m delivering 100%. I need to hurry up and get over this cold because we are filming the Fortune Cookie dance on Thursday!

JANUARY 15

Last day of classes this semester!! No more presentations for a while~ yay!!

My drama presentation was on a movie titled Ima Ai ni Yukimasu (Be With You). I had watched the movie last year in the language lab at my university, but I hadn’t thought about it until one day at karaoke when Totoro requested Orange Range’s Hana. The music video for that song is compiled with scenes from this movie. For a drama, it’s one of my favorites.

I’ve also been thinking about my recent job offer a lot more recently. If I have to work somewhere, I want to be able to leave that place and seek refuge in my own private space. Though it’s a kind offer to let me live in the building, I think I will need my space. Not to mention, putting my rent at $400 a month for essentially one semi-private room, and the morning run of the house (unless we do cafe hours), is not the best deal. I’ve been shopping around for apartments, and there’s one that’s close to the station for only $250 a month. There are other options, so I’m going to keep an eye open for them, as well as an open mind.

JANUARY 16

…Today we filmed the Fortune Cookie dance. They made me center, again. They said it was because I was the international face, but I had hoped anyway I would end up in the second row or so, while we put cute girls in front. No. Why do I even try to guess what will happen?

We had some time to practice before the filming. In other words, enough time for me to get nervous and start tripping up the choreography. The Student Affairs office was going to do the filming and editing for us, so we just had to dance. Of course, there was rules like ‘Don’t lip-sync’, ‘Don’t ad-lib’, all these little things that were my back-up plans should I misstep. I tried to smile and have fun, but I think it might have showed on my face when I messed up, or when I was concentrating too hard. They only took two takes, and they said they would edit them together to make it look good. Still, I’m not confident that it turned out well. Sorry.

JANUARY 17

Shin wanted to meet with me at school at 1pm, so that’s where I ended up spending most of my day. The other exchange students went to eat lunch at the restaurant where Jason is working part-time. It was just me in the library for a while, but then Taigen and Yuka came and went between their classes. 2:30pm and still no Shin.

I thought I might have time to go home and grab my hanko (name stamp) before the next class was over, so I took the chance. I needed the hanko to sign my permission form for the Fortune Cookie dance we filmed yesterday. In exchange for our participation, we all received a 2000yen library card. I guess, it costs money to borrow books from the public library? I don’t know, I haven’t been to one yet.

In any case, I was able to walk home and back to campus to sign my form; still no Shin. Where are you big brother?? He finally met with me after his last class at 5:30pm. Then he handed me a stack of papers from his teacher and asked if I could help him summarize it. It was about 20 pages printed from Wikipedia about religions, and all written in English. Though he could understand some English he couldn’t figure out which parts of the explanations were important. I started helping him eliminate the unimportant filler language, but we didn’t have much time so I brought the papers home to look over in advance. This little task of his is going to take a while.

JANUARY 18

The guys weren’t playing futsal today, so Joy, Rachael, Totoro and I went to the fitness room at school. It was my first time there. I didn’t realize we had free access to such a place! I mean, I heard about it, but it was really nice and there was nobody there before noon. We had the whole place to ourselves, including the locker room and showers. Since I didn’t know about the showers there, I didn’t go prepared, but next time I am definitely taking a free shower!

After lunch on the roof, despite the chilly weather, I headed down to Toyohashi for my test-run at the potential job. The class I was given to teach was with three high school boys. Since it was the first time there was a lot of introductions, questions, and we played a game I made up using UNO cards and flash cards to make sentences. The rules were simple: the number on the card you play is the card you will draw; for example, if you play a 4 then you have to take the 4th card from the flash card pile. This time there was various verbs written on the flashcards, so they only needed to use the verb in a sentence. I think it went over well, but it’s hard to tell, the guys were pretty shy.