So I have been addicted to the official JET Forums of late, and it seems that the results for the JET Program have all but rolled out to most of America. This has made my wait doubly painful as I read all the short-listers waxing about their elation and how everything is pretty and shiny in their lives......grahhh, I want to be doing the same right now!!! So Australia and the UK are keeping it old school by informing applicants by ye olde snail mail (Americans are told via email), so we have to just hang in there. Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand (among others that aren't repped strongly on the forums) seem to be still waiting in the wings, so we have been consoling each other somewhat through continuing cheesy forum word games and the like.
In the spirit of keeping distracted I have finally gotten around to making the site logo into something that I like. It is pretty cute, yeah? I want to litter some iconic mini pics around it such as a little Mt. Fuji, a little Uluru etc.
So what do you think? Can you give me some suggestions of Japanese and Australian icons to pepper the site logo with. I will give you a shout out in an upcoming post if you give me an idea that I use!! Ganbatte!
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Friday, 15 April 2011
Japanese Mini Lesson 1: How to use "Zuibun" / 随分の使い方
随分 / ずいぶん / Zuibun
Zuibun is an adverb and na-adjective meaning very, extremely or considerably. I mostly see it used as an adverb and often paired with time expressions.
例 文 / れいぶん / Reibun （Example Sentence）:
彼はカラオケボックスで、 随分遅くまで歌いました。\
Kare wa karaoke bokkusu de zuibun osoku made utaimashita.
He sang at the Karaoke Box far into the night.
Literally--> Regarding him at the Karaoke Box, very late until sang. Literal translations like these are useful for you guys coming to grips with the order of verbs and objects etc. in Japanese sentences.
Zuibun is an adverb and na-adjective meaning very, extremely or considerably. I mostly see it used as an adverb and often paired with time expressions.
例 文 / れいぶん / Reibun （Example Sentence）:
彼はカラオケボックスで、 随分遅くまで歌いました。\
Kare wa karaoke bokkusu de zuibun osoku made utaimashita.
He sang at the Karaoke Box far into the night.
Literally--> Regarding him at the Karaoke Box, very late until sang. Literal translations like these are useful for you guys coming to grips with the order of verbs and objects etc. in Japanese sentences.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
The 1st MOS Burger for Australia!! Reviewed!
He then went on to say that another 4 stores are planned for the city by year's end. Delicious progress indeed for my home city. So about 2 weeks after it's opening, I and a few friends headed on to see what was all the fuss. For me, this was my first MOS experience, so I was quite excited. On arrival, we got to enjoy another bit of Japanese culture, waiting in a long line, haha. Even at 2ish weeks following it's opening, the restaurant was still bulging at the seams.
Anyway, a small wait later and in we are trying the:
->MOS Burger (Classic/Original/Vanilla)
->The 1000 Vegetable Burger (Warning: contains meat)
->Yakiniku Rice Burger
REVIEW
Ok, delving into the flagship model first. The first thing that I noticed on biting into this one was the epic size of the tomato, something that seems to be a MOSism. The onions and sauces gave the burger a very pleasant barbeque grill taste. This in addition to the tasty meat patty made this a nice burger. For a fast food item, the meat patty was very flavoursome and has much more character than the ones on a McD's burger. Bad points were that the tomato I got was really flour-y and the bun tasted a little stale. So overall, I would give this a 7/10.
This burger did not have a thousand vegetables on it so it lost points straight away with us, haha. Anyway, this time around, we got a beatifully soft and sweet bun with all components being super tasty and fresh. I assumed that the 1000 would have meant 1000 island dressing or something, but the sauce, though the right colour for it, tasted better than that. So that still remains a mystery, please comment if you know the answer. Everything was delicious so for fast food standards, this gets a solid 9/10.
The manifestation of West meets East, the rice bunned-burger containing delicious marinated beef. This was pretty darn good, the meat was tasty and the rice bun was nice. It wasn't anywhere as near as crispy as the pictures seemed, so that was a little disappointing, but nevertheless, a tasty burger worth 8.5/10
Overall, I was impressed by MOS burger Sunnybank. The food was pretty good and the service was great. The line moved fast and the friendly staff gave us menus and took orders in advance to keep the line going. I was also thrilled that the manager understood my "ご馳走様 でした" (thanks for the feast) as we left the store.
Here's hoping we get a Freshness Burger in the near future to add to the growing asian influence in Brisbane.
Saturday, 2 April 2011
Introducing: Kanji by Kappa. Edition 1 導入している：カッパの漢字、第一。
_______________________
Greetings land-dwellers and welcome to my Kanji clinic.
Today's Kanji word is 恥ずかしい (Hazukashii; Ha-zoo-ka-shee). The English equivalents for this word are embarassed, ashamed and shy. In it's function of "embarrassed" I have a special mnemonic using the two ideographs in the Kanji.
First, on the left side of the Kanji, we have the radical representing 'ear' and 'hearing': 耳
Secondly, on the right side we have the radical representing 'heart': 心
OK, so if you can imagine an embarassing situation, what can you HEAR your HEART doing? It is thumping really hard isn't it. So next time you see 恥ずかしい、think of the ear hearing the heart, and you will remember this with no problem.
Peruse my example sentence:
プレゼンテーションの間に、ズボンが突然、落ちちゃったのでほんまに恥ずかしいになりました。
Purensenteeshon no aida ni, zubon ga totsuzen, ochichatta node honma ni hazukashii ni narimashita.
During the presentation, my pants suddenly dropped to the floor so I became very embarassed.
This concludes the first edition of Kanji with me, Kappa. I must get home now before Kangaroo eats all my cucumbers. Until next time, 又今度！
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Classroom Curveball
So there I was at my tuition school today, a pretty average day really except I had fewer students to supervise than usual. I am relishing this formative experience of teaching children and today I had a bit of an experience which almost took me out.
So one of my students is happily working on his computer program, dutily (and vocally) sounding out his words as he was progressing through the spelling activities. He had knocked down some toughies such as 'knee' and 'cough' before coming to 'I'. He commented something like, "I? Pfft, that's too easy!" I agreed, before he reasoned, "There is 2 different I's isn't there?", referring to eye and I. Then he abruptly says, "I have cancer." In the space of maybe 2 seconds I went from curiosity, through to horror and then finally to tentative understanding as I got reacquainted with his slightly irregular right eye.
"Well, I HAD cancer." Best I could offer was "Oh no, did you?" rejecting my initial instinct to say "Oh! How horrible!" "But they cut it out and I am blind in one eye." At this point my heart was sliced in two and I was terrified at what to do next. "Well, you've had to be very brave haven't you? I sure am glad that you are here with us today having fun learning spelling!"That last bit, I think I could have done better and I continue to do a "mind-groan" everytime I replay it. However, the child, whom appeared so mature and calm about telling me the story, did not resist and jumped straight back into the spelling activity.
It was all so out of the blue and trying to read the child and work out why they would tell me this after only knowing me for 2 lessons is really difficult. Children obviously don't censor themselves like adults do and they are learning social mechanics at a much higher rate, which naturally comes with experimentation of how to act and what can, should and shouldn't be said in varying situations. One thing that stuck out in the interchange was the tone of his voice and the way he was scanning me with his one working eye. I am so sure that he threw it out there to see how an adult reacts to the situation in order for him to gauge how bad it is in an adult's mind, and from this, add it to the numerous other reactions and judgements that he has come across, to steadily construct how bad the impact of this ailment really is on his life.
I still don't understand kids very well, but what I do know is that kids are built pretty damn mature these days.
So one of my students is happily working on his computer program, dutily (and vocally) sounding out his words as he was progressing through the spelling activities. He had knocked down some toughies such as 'knee' and 'cough' before coming to 'I'. He commented something like, "I? Pfft, that's too easy!" I agreed, before he reasoned, "There is 2 different I's isn't there?", referring to eye and I. Then he abruptly says, "I have cancer." In the space of maybe 2 seconds I went from curiosity, through to horror and then finally to tentative understanding as I got reacquainted with his slightly irregular right eye.
"Well, I HAD cancer." Best I could offer was "Oh no, did you?" rejecting my initial instinct to say "Oh! How horrible!" "But they cut it out and I am blind in one eye." At this point my heart was sliced in two and I was terrified at what to do next. "Well, you've had to be very brave haven't you? I sure am glad that you are here with us today having fun learning spelling!"That last bit, I think I could have done better and I continue to do a "mind-groan" everytime I replay it. However, the child, whom appeared so mature and calm about telling me the story, did not resist and jumped straight back into the spelling activity.
It was all so out of the blue and trying to read the child and work out why they would tell me this after only knowing me for 2 lessons is really difficult. Children obviously don't censor themselves like adults do and they are learning social mechanics at a much higher rate, which naturally comes with experimentation of how to act and what can, should and shouldn't be said in varying situations. One thing that stuck out in the interchange was the tone of his voice and the way he was scanning me with his one working eye. I am so sure that he threw it out there to see how an adult reacts to the situation in order for him to gauge how bad it is in an adult's mind, and from this, add it to the numerous other reactions and judgements that he has come across, to steadily construct how bad the impact of this ailment really is on his life.
I still don't understand kids very well, but what I do know is that kids are built pretty damn mature these days.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Recently has been going decently
So, I have been going a little stir crazy since finishing up at uni last year. I have been actively looking for work, but since silly old honest me has been throwing out the whole YOU-CAN-ONLY-HAVE-ME-UNTIL-JULY disclaimer at every job interview, employers are picking the "safer-bets". So yeah, this has kept me jobless for quite a few weeks and this can make one feel a little unloved and redundant, so it was with absolute glee that I finally suceeded in getting a tutor position with a local tuition business.
I have been working as a casual tutor for a few weeks now and it has been great to feel useful once more. On top of that, I am happy that I get to develop some teaching skills. The role ranges from simply supervising students as they work through literacy and numeracy computer programs through to one-on-one tutoring. I am a Biology major and have offered to tutor many subjects for one-on-one including Chem, Phys, Biol, Maths, and as a punt, Japanese.
The little punt paid off and I currently get to tutor one student in Japanese which thrills me no end because A) I need to hone my language teaching skills for my English teacher role this year; and B) I looove getting paid to talk and teach Japanese (I think this may be what I want to do later on down the track, and yes, despite the Science degree thing :P). Generally, the one-on-ones are better as the students are pretty darn willing to learn (which is good because the parents are paying a damn premium for the privelege).
So, yes, I am pretty happy that I am in this line of work at the moment as I continue to wait in agony for the results of the JET interview. The results usually come out mid-April, so it will be good to have this to distract me. I hope all the other JET hopefuls are coping with their epic waits.
Please look forward to some more interesting blogs very soon!!!
Dan xox
P.S. If you haven't already, be a good global citizen and donate money to the Tsunami appeal if you haven't already! Additionally, you can check out the partners for Japan channel at ---> http://www.youtube.com/user/partners4japan . Simply watching videos on this channel will magically generate revenue for the relief effort. Good on you me hearties :D
I have been working as a casual tutor for a few weeks now and it has been great to feel useful once more. On top of that, I am happy that I get to develop some teaching skills. The role ranges from simply supervising students as they work through literacy and numeracy computer programs through to one-on-one tutoring. I am a Biology major and have offered to tutor many subjects for one-on-one including Chem, Phys, Biol, Maths, and as a punt, Japanese.
The little punt paid off and I currently get to tutor one student in Japanese which thrills me no end because A) I need to hone my language teaching skills for my English teacher role this year; and B) I looove getting paid to talk and teach Japanese (I think this may be what I want to do later on down the track, and yes, despite the Science degree thing :P). Generally, the one-on-ones are better as the students are pretty darn willing to learn (which is good because the parents are paying a damn premium for the privelege).
So, yes, I am pretty happy that I am in this line of work at the moment as I continue to wait in agony for the results of the JET interview. The results usually come out mid-April, so it will be good to have this to distract me. I hope all the other JET hopefuls are coping with their epic waits.
Please look forward to some more interesting blogs very soon!!!
Dan xox
P.S. If you haven't already, be a good global citizen and donate money to the Tsunami appeal if you haven't already! Additionally, you can check out the partners for Japan channel at ---> http://www.youtube.com/user/partners4japan . Simply watching videos on this channel will magically generate revenue for the relief effort. Good on you me hearties :D
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
The current devastation in Japan
What an incredibly sad tragedy Japan has been facing over the past few days. I would first like to send out my prayers and positive thoughts to those that are suffering as a consequence of the earthquakes and the tsunami in northern Japan. As if the strife from mother nature wasn't enough, now Japan is dealing with the consequences of the man-made problem that is the radiation coming from their various powerstations. There are somewhat conflicting reports between the domestic and international press regarding the significance and threat of the spent and impending nuclear powerplant explosions which is confusing, but sort of expected in this period of hastily gathered and interpreted information. I guess the healthiest thing to do is focus on the common denominators and to have patience as the news becomes more concrete and reliable.
In light of the massive problems Japan and her peoples are having, I would urge everyone to donate money to one or more of charaties such as The Red Cross, Hands On Tokyo, Save the Children or Global Giving (easy to pay by Paypal at https://www.paypal-donations.com/pp-charity/web.us/campaign.jsp?cid=-12). If everyone does their bit and sacrifices a bit of their wages, the cruel strain on Japan can be eased somewhat.
So for anyone in Japan that stumbles across this blog, I would just like to say 苦しい時にも、一所懸命頑張ってください。毎日、日本人の皆様のことをよくになるように願っています.
Dan.
In light of the massive problems Japan and her peoples are having, I would urge everyone to donate money to one or more of charaties such as The Red Cross, Hands On Tokyo, Save the Children or Global Giving (easy to pay by Paypal at https://www.paypal-donations.com/pp-charity/web.us/campaign.jsp?cid=-12). If everyone does their bit and sacrifices a bit of their wages, the cruel strain on Japan can be eased somewhat.
So for anyone in Japan that stumbles across this blog, I would just like to say 苦しい時にも、一所懸命頑張ってください。毎日、日本人の皆様のことをよくになるように願っています.
Dan.
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