Life in Japan

[Erk]

Some pictures of my time in Japan; it occurs to me I have been kinda neglecting the forum for neat pictures. I will post some more in a while since they will not all be pictures of me and I have quite a few, I think this warrants a new thread, but hey - gendisc mods, if you disagree feel free to treat it like a normal topic

For those who don't know, I am a junior high school English teacher in Japan. My duties vary from being a teacher's assistant and human tape recorder to teaching classes on my own and managing a curriculum.

Spoiler: Erk at work: the office

This is what the staff room at my current school looks like, and me in my work duds
http://www.rmxp.org/erk/photos/erkwork.jpg[/img]

Spoiler: Erk at work: the classroom

Me helping a student with spelling or something.
http://www.rmxp.org/erk/photos/erkwork2.jpg[/img]

Spoiler: Erk at work: the kids and I

I mentioned "photo" and was suddenly surrounded by cheering adolescent girls. It was pretty funny. Cameras are crack to Japanese females.
http://www.rmxp.org/erk/photos/thekidsandi.jpg[/img]

Spoiler: Erk at play: the stringbox

This is a corner of my apartment, and my stringbox.
http://www.rmxp.org/erk/photos/stringbox.jpg[/img]

 

[Kaito]

o.O
You look somehow different from your previos pictures...
Wow...School and forums? How the heck you managed the time? ;.;
....
...........
.................
...How's the students?

(The upside down octopus killed me. xD)

 

[Erk]

the "upside down octopus" is Odenkun, a food ingredient hero.

 

[Norris]

I'm planning on going over there myself as well after I graduate. What's it like financially in Japan? I hear it's pretty expensive. Is a cup of coffee over there the price of a small lunch here?

BTW, get a new hairstyle man :P

 

[Erk]

I'm a teacher, ambience, I am not allowed to have fun hair. Check older posts for styles I have enjoyed in the past.

A cup of coffee here is between 50 cents and 4 dollars, same as anywhere else. I can have a first-class lunch for 8 dollars or a cheapo one for 2-3. My internet costs 40 dollars a month and my rent is free, but would be 250 if I was paying for it. Find me someone who claims Japan has an astronomic cost of living and I will find you someone who doesn't realise there is more to Japan than Tokyo and Osaka.
[prices listed in canadian dollar equivalents]

 

[Pyromanga]

Do you have fun with the students?
or do you just make them write down everything?
Do you believe in the art of Discussion?
Or Writing In Books?
Is It Hard Teaching?
What's THe Pay?
What the fuck's that chicken thing on the blackboard, It looks like a Japanese Hairband Pikachu?
How much are electronics?
Is there a videogame company near where you live?
If you weren't teaching, would you work there?
and if you do would you send me a free sample? or 235?
Is there Disco in Japan?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
If not kill everyone.

Good luck Teaching (and maybe killing).

P.S.
YOU LOOK LIKE BILLY CRYSTAL!!!!!

 

[Erk]

In order:
Yes; no; students who can't say their names can't really discuss, but they do try to talk, and I believe in the Art of Correct Capitalisation; fun but stressful, rather like running a forum; reasonable; if you had read previous posts you would know; probably the same as where you are; how the hell would I know, I am not a telephone directory; depends on tons of factors; what are you talking about; and, of course there is, this country does not exist in a bizarre parallel dimension.

PS: Actually, no.

 

[Buster]

That's pretty awesome, Erk. I didn't even know you knew Japanese. O.o

Oh, and nice "stringbox". Looks prefect for smashing- I mean, jamming.

(Hey, I just now noticed the dragon guy at the bottom... when did that get there...?)

 

[Selwyn]

mmh, looks nice.
the photo with the girls reminds me of all the photo I took with my family/ class/ etc...

Everytime the word 'shashin' was pronounced it was like 'OMG shashin, posing, kawaii' etc...
always thought it was funny but now that I think back about it, it actually was pitiful :-/

 

[sandgolem]

Weird school uniforms.

Is there any reason one group is in blue and another orange?

 

[Nakama]

I now know that eye in your avatar is a real eye xD nice pics :D.

~RS~

 

[arcthemonkey]

Call me a racist prick, but am I crazy in observing that all those students have essentially the same hairstyle?

Is it dress code?

I'm thinking about floating my english-speaking ass over to Japan to teach for a year via Nova or some other group when I graduate... Looks interesting.

 

[Pyromanga]

do you, you know, get it on with japanese chicks?

 

[Erk]

Don't go Nova, Arc you racist prick (just doing as you asked). Try JET first, we get paid better, do way less work, and tend to have many more opportunities to actually experience Japan. Do NOVA if you just want to do a grunt job using your language instead of your muscles, only do it overseas instead of at home.

Also, there are many hairstyles but mostly because japanese hair is all pretty much the same there is less variety; where I am is a bit conservative but in general in Japan the hairstyles tend to vary much more than in North America, as a counterweight to the fact that everyone's hair is the same. These particular girls are all from the same social circle, too, which means they don't vary from each other as much.

No offense to Tana. There are awesome things about eikaiwa work... just try JET first.

Scaramanga, not only is that question phenomenally impolite, I have a girlfriend in Canada. Try to remember that the forum is a social place; you have to observe some modicum of etiquette.

Goomba, the blue kids are from my second school Nichu, and the orange kids are from my first school Icchu. At Icchu the girls wear orange and the boys green; at Nichu they all wear blue. These are their gym strip uniforms. Their normal uniforms are more "classic" uniform-looking.

 

[Elijah von Bose]

Erk... Would you say dealing with the people on these forums has helped with dealing with rebellious if not incredulously annoying junior high students? I would assume it does. Also, do you often recommend RPG Maker to your students, and are any participating members of the forum?

 

[Erk]

I don't really want my students in my private life, Paradox, so I am not inviting them to use RMXP and my forum. And my instruction and discipline training in Air Cadets is actually what has helped me in both the forum and school, but administrating this place has kept me on my toes.

 

[Tohsaka]

I don't really want my students in my private life, Paradox, so I am not inviting them to use RMXP and my forum. And my instruction and discipline training in Air Cadets is actually what has helped me in both the forum and school, but administrating this place has kept me on my toes.

Well, would you say, with your knowledge of the students that there is a chance that one of them uses tkool?

Looking at your pictures... Wow. I miss Japan.

 

[Doctor]

Did you start playing DDR while in Japan?

 

[Tana]

I'd have to agree with Erk on the point about try JET first.

The students are good with NOVA, but the company I'm really finding lacking. Whereas Erk got lots of help setting up for life here, he's got an apartment to himself, and gets lots of oppertunity to practice Japanese; I have to fend almost entirely for myself when it comes to things like setting up bank accounts and such, I have an annoying roomate and the possibility of rotating "temp" roomates, and I'm not allowed to practice Japanese at work.

Not to mention, Erk gets real weekends, and asking for time off isn't such a big hassle. I'm trying to get next saturday off so I can join Erk for dinner at some of his friends, and I've been waiting on the word for a month, and still haven't found out.

 

[Mega Flare]

@Erk: You were in Air Cadets? Wow something we got in common