Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The End of NaNoWriMo 2011
NaNoWriMo has officially ended in Japan! How did you all do? Did you finish? Will you try to edit and publish your new masterpiece?
To all of those who participated; whether you made the 50,000 words or not, congratulations on such an incredible accomplishment! I'm proud of everyone who took part, and I hope you'll join me again next year! Good job and good luck! To those of you who didn't participate but are considering it for the future, perhaps you'll join us in 2012?
-Lana
P.S. Happy December 1st!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Jane Eyre - Book Review
Please note: There may be spoilers here. I will be
sure to write any spoilers in PURPLE with brackets { } so that
you can avoid reading sections that may give away parts of the book.
I have recently finished reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
I was inspired to read it for three reasons. The first reason is that I
always hear this book mentioned in popular culture such as on TV or in
movies, and as I was not required to read it in school I always wondered
what it was like. The second reason is that it seems people who have
read it either really like it, or really hate it and I wanted to know
first-hand the causes of this split. The last reason is that recently
I've been thinking I should read some of the "classic books" and
discover for myself their greatness. It is funny too, that so many of
the classics mention other classics and famous authors within them! The more I read, the more I want to read!
I've
read a few books written in older English, and they are usually very
difficult for me to understand. I thought that this book was going to
be similar, but I was happily surprised to find that the English used in
Jane Eyre is actually quite simple and easy to follow. The book is long however, and may be a deterrent for some hoping to read it.
I saw the recent Jane Eyre
film before I read the book, but I wouldn't recommend doing so.
Actually, I wouldn't recommend it for any book. If you see the movie
first, I think you'll be less likely to enjoy the book. You already know
what happens, and you already have the director's interpretation of the
story and characters in your mind.
{Just
by viewing the trailer, I thought it would be a ghost story of sorts.
Towards the end we figure out that it is not a ghost story and ends up
being a classic love story; the tales of one girl's life. I enjoyed reading
about the time period and learning about the story and characters in
more detail, but it might have been a better experience to go into it
with a blank slate.}
All in all, I thought it was an pleasurable read. Towards the middle the plot lagged a little bit and it took me some time to read through it, but it's no wonder that the classic has remained popular and withstood the test of time. If you have a lot of time and are interested in reading some old literature, I would recommend this book. If you're looking for a light and quick novel that can be finished in a matter of days, save this one for a different occasion.
Happy reading!
Happy reading!
Next up is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Check the "Read Read Read" tab for the next book review, coming soon.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
HAPPY (slightly belated) THANKSGIVING! I hope it was a good one. Although we didn't have the day off here, I was able to have a large Thanksgiving-style dinner last Sunday evening with a bunch of other English teachers in the area. Also, we had the day off on Wednesday due to a Japanese national holiday so it was a good week all in all.
To top it all off, I finished my NaNoWriMo novel last night at 50,121 words! I've updated my "NaNoWriMo 2011 participant" badges to the "2011 NaNoWriMo winner" ones. Anyone who crosses the 50,000 word finish line is a winner. Towards the middle of the month I was feeling less motivated, but I got a final burst of motivation triggered by comptetive spirit and I finished. The novel needs a lot of work, but perhaps someday it will turn into a published short story. For now, it is just a rough draft and will probably stay that way for some time. I think I'd like to do some planning throughout the next year and write another novel next November. Hopefully I'll have time to think up a fun plot-line and some interesting characters before then.
Here is a very short blub from my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel:
H&F
Sometimes I wonder if I could change things still. Even now.
There are light-brown stains on the index and middle fingers of my right hand. My hair is brittle from dye. I try to tease it for volume but it’s pretty useless. The cheap cloth of the uniform I’m wearing is wrinkled and discolored from overuse. It hangs loosely on my frame. Cigarette burns, beer stains, and oil marks from the dirty men who grope me as I walk through the isles form a visible pattern on the blue fabric, like they’re part of the design. God I hate this job. I hate those men. I hate their smoke and their money and their crude language, and everything about them. The people who come before the doors even open and stay until we kick them out are the absolute worst. Where do they get the money to gamble all day? Every day the same people come. They’re as addicted to pachinko as I am to not coming to work.
------------------
All for now. Good night!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
ほぼ日手帳 2012 - My Personal Planner for 2012
ほぼ日手帳 2012
Pictures of the planner I bought for 2012.
I am slightly obsessed with books, notebooks, writing utensils, and other tools used for organization. Last year I wrote a post about ほぼ日手帳, or Daily Planner. You can review the blog entry by clicking the following link.
Pictures of the planner I bought for 2012.
I am slightly obsessed with books, notebooks, writing utensils, and other tools used for organization. Last year I wrote a post about ほぼ日手帳, or Daily Planner. You can review the blog entry by clicking the following link.
I plan to keep everything organized using this one book. By keeping everything in one place it makes it easier to see what needs to be done. It also has a monthly and a weekly section, making projects easy to plan out and upcoming deadlines easy to see.
For those who hate organizing and planning, there are ways to make manageable goals over a period of time. Different methods work for different people regarding how to accomplish them. If you would like any ideas or advice regarding organization, please contact me by e-mail via the About Me: Contact tab.
Here are some other pictures:
 |
| http://www.1101.com/store/techo/2006/concept/images/p_open.jpg |
 |
| http://art20.photozou.jp/pub/87/209087/photo/29643993.jpg |
 |
| https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNgR5SqJbLq1XR3Th6wy_wB7ULdye4R5hY0uB1EcTHoEZRfdlxREg0cIBCuzLIjUjDAIr9Vah3Bz1X5vhRjjHHevJEy_ZO59C11Uv3YYM1JqjD7JFHU082Kws0pg-nq0a3i9WAqMPeBk/s1600/IMG_0480.JPG |
Happy planning!
And while we're on it, the New Year is coming up very soon! What are your 2012 New Year's Resolutions?
My current count for NaNoWriMo is 33,055 words. More than half way there!
My current count for NaNoWriMo is 33,055 words. More than half way there!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Shosenkyo - 紅葉 （こうよう）
Although it was a little early in the season, two friends and I decided to visit Shosenkyo last Saturday.
It's a very scenic drive that they close off to pedestrians only in the fall. People can walk along the windy mountain road and enjoy a leisurely hike while taking pictures and gazing at the changing colors of the leaves. Like I said, it was a little early in the season for us to go because it has been strangely warm for November, and many of the leaves haven't changed colors yet. Below are a few pictures that we took.
I'm so glad I got to go! It was a nice time to get away from the busyness of town, and just take in the sights. The road also ran along a small gorge and at the top of the hiking trail was a waterfall. As we got near the waterfall there were too many people around for my liking, but it was very nice to see the kind of place that tourists, Japanese and foreign alike, go to see around our prefecture.
Please enjoy my pictures!
It's a very scenic drive that they close off to pedestrians only in the fall. People can walk along the windy mountain road and enjoy a leisurely hike while taking pictures and gazing at the changing colors of the leaves. Like I said, it was a little early in the season for us to go because it has been strangely warm for November, and many of the leaves haven't changed colors yet. Below are a few pictures that we took.
I'm so glad I got to go! It was a nice time to get away from the busyness of town, and just take in the sights. The road also ran along a small gorge and at the top of the hiking trail was a waterfall. As we got near the waterfall there were too many people around for my liking, but it was very nice to see the kind of place that tourists, Japanese and foreign alike, go to see around our prefecture.
Please enjoy my pictures!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Doctor's Visit
Yesterday was my first visit to the "hospital." The Japanese all tend to say "hospital" when sometimes they just mean "clinic" or "doctor's office."
I took two hours off of work so that I could go to the doctor's office early. They closed for a few hours in the afternoon but opened back up at 3 PM. I tried to time it so that I would be there right away. I followed a hand-drawn map to the location, and went into the building. Good! There were only two people in front of me!
I handed the nurse a piece of paper that one of the teachers had written for me. I explained my situation to the teacher in English (since she's an English teacher) and she wrote it out for me in Japanese. After a few minutes, and after I had filled out all of my information on the contact card, the nurse came out to explain to me that for my "ailment," I was in the wrong building. She directed me to the next building over.
I took my health card and small sheet of paper to the building at the end of the block, and was sad to find that the waiting room was already packed. The receptionists took my information (and explanation paper) and told me that it wouldn't be until 5:15 or so that I could get an appointment. That was two hours away. They told me that I could go and come back at 5 if I liked, so I decided to call my Japanese teacher and see if she was available to change the time for our lesson. We had planned to make it later, but unfortunately I had to schedule the doctor's appointment and change everything around.
She said sure, so we had an hour lesson at a fast-food place near the doctor's office.
5:00 came, and I went back to the office to sit and wait with about 15 other people.
I was still waiting around 5:45, wondering if they had called my name and perhaps I didn't hear it.
I felt stupid for going to the doctor in the first place and wondered if I really needed to be there. I would probably see the doctor and be sent away. The reason I went in the first place was because there was a small rash on my hand, itchy and spreading like poison ivy. I asked a few teachers about the prevalence of poison ivy in Japan, and they didn't really know what I was talking about/said it was not common, especially around here. That being said they told me that I needed to go to the doctor to have the small rash checked out. It hadn't gone away after about 2 weeks so I followed their advice.
I was starting to feel neglected, forgotten, invisible, and afraid that I wouldn't have enough Japanese ability to explain the 'rash' situation.
Finally, I heard my name called from the back. As I made my way to the door, I started to get a little overwhelmed and choked up. The nurse asked if I could speak Japanese, and I told her I could speak a bit. I could hear her relaying the information about me to someone in the other room.
Finally the doctor came in. I was so nervous it would be an old man whose Japanese I wouldn't understand and who wouldn't understand me, but I was emotionally relieved to find a young female doctor enter the room. Her Japanese was very easy to understand and she made me feel comfortable.
After three hours of waiting, I met with her for literally 5 minutes and was sent back out to reception. She looked my rash over briefly, made sure I didn't have any allergies and wasn't taking any other medicine. She told me that I should take medicine X and Y, and then come back in a week. They made another appointment for me next Monday evening, and gave me a prescription.
I then had to pick up the medicine across the street from the other clinic (the wrong one). It was my first time in a Japanese pharmacy. It was small, not like the large ones where you can buy anything, or like any that I had seen in the states. It was just one room, with a small back area for the medicine
I finally got the medicine, and was able to make it home by 7:30. Only five hours after leaving work!
It was a very interesting, yet a strangely fulfilling experience.
The next time you do something that you consider part of your everyday life, just thank goodness you don't have to do it all in Japanese. :)
Good night!
I took two hours off of work so that I could go to the doctor's office early. They closed for a few hours in the afternoon but opened back up at 3 PM. I tried to time it so that I would be there right away. I followed a hand-drawn map to the location, and went into the building. Good! There were only two people in front of me!
I handed the nurse a piece of paper that one of the teachers had written for me. I explained my situation to the teacher in English (since she's an English teacher) and she wrote it out for me in Japanese. After a few minutes, and after I had filled out all of my information on the contact card, the nurse came out to explain to me that for my "ailment," I was in the wrong building. She directed me to the next building over.
I took my health card and small sheet of paper to the building at the end of the block, and was sad to find that the waiting room was already packed. The receptionists took my information (and explanation paper) and told me that it wouldn't be until 5:15 or so that I could get an appointment. That was two hours away. They told me that I could go and come back at 5 if I liked, so I decided to call my Japanese teacher and see if she was available to change the time for our lesson. We had planned to make it later, but unfortunately I had to schedule the doctor's appointment and change everything around.
She said sure, so we had an hour lesson at a fast-food place near the doctor's office.
5:00 came, and I went back to the office to sit and wait with about 15 other people.
I was still waiting around 5:45, wondering if they had called my name and perhaps I didn't hear it.
I felt stupid for going to the doctor in the first place and wondered if I really needed to be there. I would probably see the doctor and be sent away. The reason I went in the first place was because there was a small rash on my hand, itchy and spreading like poison ivy. I asked a few teachers about the prevalence of poison ivy in Japan, and they didn't really know what I was talking about/said it was not common, especially around here. That being said they told me that I needed to go to the doctor to have the small rash checked out. It hadn't gone away after about 2 weeks so I followed their advice.
I was starting to feel neglected, forgotten, invisible, and afraid that I wouldn't have enough Japanese ability to explain the 'rash' situation.
Finally, I heard my name called from the back. As I made my way to the door, I started to get a little overwhelmed and choked up. The nurse asked if I could speak Japanese, and I told her I could speak a bit. I could hear her relaying the information about me to someone in the other room.
Finally the doctor came in. I was so nervous it would be an old man whose Japanese I wouldn't understand and who wouldn't understand me, but I was emotionally relieved to find a young female doctor enter the room. Her Japanese was very easy to understand and she made me feel comfortable.
After three hours of waiting, I met with her for literally 5 minutes and was sent back out to reception. She looked my rash over briefly, made sure I didn't have any allergies and wasn't taking any other medicine. She told me that I should take medicine X and Y, and then come back in a week. They made another appointment for me next Monday evening, and gave me a prescription.
I then had to pick up the medicine across the street from the other clinic (the wrong one). It was my first time in a Japanese pharmacy. It was small, not like the large ones where you can buy anything, or like any that I had seen in the states. It was just one room, with a small back area for the medicine
I finally got the medicine, and was able to make it home by 7:30. Only five hours after leaving work!
It was a very interesting, yet a strangely fulfilling experience.
The next time you do something that you consider part of your everyday life, just thank goodness you don't have to do it all in Japanese. :)
Good night!
Friday, November 4, 2011
November Articles
The November issue of AJET Connect magazine is now out! In this issue I have two articles featured. One is a full two-page article, and the other is a one-page column by "Rosie." I have also submitted a photo for the November photo contest. I hope you will enjoy reading this month's articles! They aren't perfect, but I'm happy to be writing and getting my work out there!
Screenshots:
Here is the link for the direct download, and here is the link to access the section on the AJET website http://ajet.net/ajet-connect/.
And on a different note, I'm up to 9,451 words on my NaNoWriMo story. Although I know it isn't a very good story, as in this case quantity as more important than quality, I am still tempted to post it on lulu.com when I'm finished. If not for anyone else, I think I'd like to own a hard-copy of the story at least for myself. It can be a reminder of this accomplishment of November 2011. Also, if I ever do National Novel Writing Month again, it would probably good to have a physical copy of all of he work I've done from the past to keep track.
A day mostly well spent I think.
Good night Tokyo!
Screenshots:
 | ||
| "The No Impact Experiment" -LRK, PDF pg 15 |
 |
| "A Word to the Wise" -Rosie, PDF pg 54 |
 | ||
| "At Home in Serenity" -LRK, PDF pg 57 |
Here is the link for the direct download, and here is the link to access the section on the AJET website http://ajet.net/ajet-connect/.
And on a different note, I'm up to 9,451 words on my NaNoWriMo story. Although I know it isn't a very good story, as in this case quantity as more important than quality, I am still tempted to post it on lulu.com when I'm finished. If not for anyone else, I think I'd like to own a hard-copy of the story at least for myself. It can be a reminder of this accomplishment of November 2011. Also, if I ever do National Novel Writing Month again, it would probably good to have a physical copy of all of he work I've done from the past to keep track.
A day mostly well spent I think.
Good night Tokyo!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Breakdown - but not mine
I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only one who has difficult days from time to time at the Junior High School.
Today I was walking through the library at the school, searching for nothing in particular. The librarian and I like to chat about books and life when we have some free time after school. I am often able to find some kind of book to read for fun, and I just enjoy looking even if I can't read anything. Don't forget, this is a library in a Japanese school...
I was looking around for a few minutes, paying little attention to the librarian who was putting books away from the previous class. She went to her desk once or twice to get a tissue to blow her nose, but there was very little communication between us for the first five minutes as she tidied. Finally, we ended up near the same bookshelf and at last she said, "Oh it's no use."
I saw her sniffling and holding a tissue, so I asked her, "are you sick? Did you catch a cold?"
"No," she replied, and her eyes started to water. "It's just because I'm crying. I'm so mad." At this point the real tears came, and she started to choke over her words. I finally figured out that she had been softly crying that whole time. I asked her what was wrong, and we talked about her day.
Several classes had come in to use the library that day, and the last class of the day had been particularly childish and difficult. I only understood about 20% of what she was trying to tell me, but I got the main gist of everything. On top of the misbehaving students, she was also offended by a teacher in the staff room who made a back-handed joke about her age.* We talked about the situation for a while, and I reassured her that these specific students were not only bad for her, but for everyone. Also, I told her that it isn't her fault that they act this way. There are probably a large number of reasons that the students have turned out this way; they want to impress their friends, they are still children, they have mental/social disorders, they have a rough time at home, their parents have problems, they only think about themselves and don't worry about how it effects other people, they grew up in a bad environment, and so on. We ended up talking for about an hour or so, and tried to gear the conversation away from the students so that she could stop thinking about her bad day and think about something else fun.
I was sorry to see her so upset, but glad that I could be there to support her, and also glad to see that other people sometimes feel hurt by the words or actions of the teenagers at the school. I do my best not to let the youngsters get to me, but every once in a while when a variety of events pile on top of one another, it's normal to break down a little. Even someone who's been teaching for 20 or 30 years can still feel these things. It makes me feel a lot better to realize that everyone has similar problems.
After our conversation she was worried that I would bring bad memories of Japan back with me to America. I told her that every once-in-a-while there were indeed difficult and trying days, but in general my image of Japan and sentiment is still a good one. I will most definitely bring all of my good stories and experiences back to America, and I think that the ones that I'll remember the most will be the good ones.
Today was actually a good day for me, despite having a few difficult classes of my own. First period I was supposed to go to a first year class, but on my way through the hall there was news of a special education class that got changed and would have no teacher for the period. There were only two girls in the class (both of whom I teach English to once a week) and I volunteered to just sit with them while they did some Japanese worksheets for the hour.
I've gotten a lot better at what I do as an ALT I think. It may seem like a weird time to post this, but I'm really happy that I came to Japan, even though originally I would have preferred to come as a CIR. I've learned a lot about Japan, about human nature, about consulting, Japanese, communications and more. I think I'm stronger now, too. I'm definitely ready for the next step in my career, and I'm excited to see where the experience and connections of the past year and a half will take me come July.
Thanks for your constant encouragement and support!
Sincerely,
Lana Kitcher
Today I was walking through the library at the school, searching for nothing in particular. The librarian and I like to chat about books and life when we have some free time after school. I am often able to find some kind of book to read for fun, and I just enjoy looking even if I can't read anything. Don't forget, this is a library in a Japanese school...
I was looking around for a few minutes, paying little attention to the librarian who was putting books away from the previous class. She went to her desk once or twice to get a tissue to blow her nose, but there was very little communication between us for the first five minutes as she tidied. Finally, we ended up near the same bookshelf and at last she said, "Oh it's no use."
I saw her sniffling and holding a tissue, so I asked her, "are you sick? Did you catch a cold?"
"No," she replied, and her eyes started to water. "It's just because I'm crying. I'm so mad." At this point the real tears came, and she started to choke over her words. I finally figured out that she had been softly crying that whole time. I asked her what was wrong, and we talked about her day.
Several classes had come in to use the library that day, and the last class of the day had been particularly childish and difficult. I only understood about 20% of what she was trying to tell me, but I got the main gist of everything. On top of the misbehaving students, she was also offended by a teacher in the staff room who made a back-handed joke about her age.* We talked about the situation for a while, and I reassured her that these specific students were not only bad for her, but for everyone. Also, I told her that it isn't her fault that they act this way. There are probably a large number of reasons that the students have turned out this way; they want to impress their friends, they are still children, they have mental/social disorders, they have a rough time at home, their parents have problems, they only think about themselves and don't worry about how it effects other people, they grew up in a bad environment, and so on. We ended up talking for about an hour or so, and tried to gear the conversation away from the students so that she could stop thinking about her bad day and think about something else fun.
I was sorry to see her so upset, but glad that I could be there to support her, and also glad to see that other people sometimes feel hurt by the words or actions of the teenagers at the school. I do my best not to let the youngsters get to me, but every once in a while when a variety of events pile on top of one another, it's normal to break down a little. Even someone who's been teaching for 20 or 30 years can still feel these things. It makes me feel a lot better to realize that everyone has similar problems.
After our conversation she was worried that I would bring bad memories of Japan back with me to America. I told her that every once-in-a-while there were indeed difficult and trying days, but in general my image of Japan and sentiment is still a good one. I will most definitely bring all of my good stories and experiences back to America, and I think that the ones that I'll remember the most will be the good ones.
Today was actually a good day for me, despite having a few difficult classes of my own. First period I was supposed to go to a first year class, but on my way through the hall there was news of a special education class that got changed and would have no teacher for the period. There were only two girls in the class (both of whom I teach English to once a week) and I volunteered to just sit with them while they did some Japanese worksheets for the hour.
I've gotten a lot better at what I do as an ALT I think. It may seem like a weird time to post this, but I'm really happy that I came to Japan, even though originally I would have preferred to come as a CIR. I've learned a lot about Japan, about human nature, about consulting, Japanese, communications and more. I think I'm stronger now, too. I'm definitely ready for the next step in my career, and I'm excited to see where the experience and connections of the past year and a half will take me come July.
Thanks for your constant encouragement and support!
Sincerely,
Lana Kitcher
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Off to a good start!
Well! The first day of NaNoWriMo and I'm off to a decent start! I've written 2,255 words for my story today, which is 589 words more than I needed. It really doesn't matter how many words I write a day, as long as I write an average of 1,666 to accomplish the 50,000 word goal by the end. I bet it will be difficult to find time to write on some days due to whatever, so writing over the daily goal is probably a good thing. I'd love to write more tonight, but after my English lesson with a co-worker and getting ready for work related things for tomorrow I don't think I'll have enough time. It's already near 9 and I tend to be in bed by 10. I wish I was (were? I can never remember this rule...) the type that could run on no sleep. Then I could probably get everything accomplished! Perhaps my real problem is that I have too many interests and there simply aren't enough hours in the day to support them all. ^_^
So far on the first day, I've found that my friends' progress in NaNoWriMo is a big motivator to write more. On the website there is an option to befriend other people also involved in the project, and if they update their status you can see how many words they've written and what percentage they have finished. The competitive side of me wants to stay ahead, so as long as my friends are writing and updating, I'll probably be able to get motivation and inspiration from them as well as from myself.
As of now I don't think it's good enough to post any of the 2,255 words that I've written, but I'd like to post a short sample here sometime this month so keep a look out!
Hello November!
So far on the first day, I've found that my friends' progress in NaNoWriMo is a big motivator to write more. On the website there is an option to befriend other people also involved in the project, and if they update their status you can see how many words they've written and what percentage they have finished. The competitive side of me wants to stay ahead, so as long as my friends are writing and updating, I'll probably be able to get motivation and inspiration from them as well as from myself.
As of now I don't think it's good enough to post any of the 2,255 words that I've written, but I'd like to post a short sample here sometime this month so keep a look out!
Hello November!
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