Click on the pictures...

Sunday, July 18, 2010

I've got a fever and the only cure is more festival.

So there was a second night of the festival tonight. Since I got off earlier I was able to get there in time for some of the festivities.



From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010


From Festival 7182010

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Local Festival

Just a quick entry tonight. When I got home from work someone in the building informed me that there was a small festival going on up the temple/shrine (I’ll confirm exactly which it is later). Sadly, by the time I got up there at 9 (I got home at 8:30) it was already wrapping up so I missed the people beating on the drum and the people dancing with fire. It was still a really cool site. The little girls looked adorable in their yukatas. I turned off the flash so as not to bother anyone.

From Festival 7-17-2010


From Festival 7-17-2010


From Festival 7-17-2010


From Festival 7-17-2010


From Festival 7-17-2010


From Festival 7-17-2010



From Festival 7-17-2010


From Festival 7-17-2010

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Starting Work

Yes, it has been a long time since I’ve updated. Things have become rather busy since I’ve started work and I just haven’t quite gotten around to the blog. I also think my entries perhaps need to be short, but more frequent.

My job, like many jobs, got off to a rough start. The first two and a half days were spent largely feeling out what I needed to do. After a couple rough lessons I finally found a good pace that works and I feel much better about the service I am providing. I remember when being interviewed I was asked if I thought that teaching a class of several people or individual lessons would be harder. At the time I said teaching a class would be harder because there are so many variables to juggle in such a setting.

I might have to revise my opinion now that I am 33 lessons into my job. It’s true that there are a lot more variables to consider in a class than in private lessons, but eventually you come to understand the character of a class and know how to handle it. Thus far, I have taught 32 different people, which means every lesson I have to come to understand a new person, each one a different from the last. Now eventually I should have repeat customers and therefore I won’t have to worry so much about this. But perhaps at the end of the day neither class nor individual lessons a re harder, they’re just different.

Other than that I am enjoying Tokyo. The Japanese are an extremely considerate and respectful people. It is amazing how the people in Tokyo live so densely together in such great harmony. This morning I talked down to the nearest 100 yen store and I couldn’t help but marvel how quiet things were for such a large and busy city.

I do have some pictures to share, I’ll post them shortly, but that’s all for now.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Sorry

Soon, soon.