The wonderful world of Purikura!

Purikura! 1
Originally uploaded by LaurenCampy.

I thought I would show you all the wonder that is Purikura!! This a big craze in Japan, and has been for a couple of years I think. Purikura are little photos that you do with your friends...you go into one of the cute brightly coloured booths...you have your photo taken (like a normal photo booth at home!)..and then you decorate the pictures by using a little computer screen outside the booth. You use this kind of pen-thing...to change the backgrounds, add borders, pictures, writing, themese..whatever you want!!! They're soooooo cool! They are particularly popular with teenage girls, who have notebooks full of the little pictures that they take with their friends at the weekends! In my 2 years in Japan, my aim is to be one of these girls! I want a notebook full too!! I'm getting there, as these pictures show!

Purikura

Purikura! 2
Originally uploaded by LaurenCampy.

...and these are the most recent bunch!

Kids say the funniest things..well Japanese kids anyway!

I've been marking some writing exercises from second yr (16-17yr old) students this week. On the whole they were pretty good, often grammatically acurate even! However, a couple stood out, as they made me almost chuckle out loud in the staffroom!

Question ; What do you want to be in the future?
Student answer ; In the future I want to be a cooker!

Question ; What is the food like in Japan?
Student answer ; In Japan there is a lot of Japanese food!

Question ; Who do you most admire?
Student answer ; The person I admire most is Sherlock Holmes. He is a detective in detective stories. He is calm, self-possessed and gentlemanly . He is excellent in every sphere. I want to become a woman like him even if he was the man in detective stories. So I respect Arthur Conan Doyle too.

WHAT!!!!!!!

Sniffling at school

I have a cold…I feel yucky, and I want to go home! I only have another 40 minutes, before I belt out of the staffroom, trying to look a little guilty about leaving before everyone else, but also trying to hide my smug grin, as I know everyone else will stay until at least 6pm!! I just want to go to bed, with some hot soup, and maybe watch a bit of The Office to cheer me up. I think some serious comfort food is in order, that’s for sure….ooh, I would love pie, chips and gravy right now! I’ve also got serious cravings for a hot Ribeena (my beloved childhood cold-comforting hot drink!) But alas, Ribeena is just not something that the Japanese have; satsuma / peach / grape / plum / winter strawberry flavoured stuff…yes! Blackcurrant, with the bouncing purple berries on the front of the bottle…NO!! I wouldn’t feel so yucky, if I could actually just blow my nose every now and again. A simple idea you might think…the normal thing to do! But, oh no…in Japan it is rude to blow your nose in public...frowned upon even! So, all day today, I’ve been running off to the toilet (which in itself isn’t fun, cos the students don’t clean them properly, and they’re also a little like I imagine the Arctic to be…flippin freezing,) just to blow my ickle runny nose! Woe is me!!

My belated birthday night out!

This weekend, me and Kat had a joint belated birthday night-out in nearby city, Tokuyama. It was a great night! I had stupidly taken on the role, yet again, of organiser, and was a little stressed at the beginning of saturday night. I had spent all week trying to work out, who was coming for bowling, who was coming to dinner, who was meeting us later for drinks etc , and by friday, I had a total of 25 people for both bowling and dinner! Luckily, Bruce (a second year american guy who is a real sweetie, and speaks japanese), agreed to help me out, and booked the bowling and the restaurant!! Thanks Bruce you're a star! All went according to plan, and so at precisely 5.30, I cracked open my first can of beer (bought from the vending machine at the bowling alley!) Bowling was great fun..I cam 8th out of about 25 overall, which i was quite pleased with. I have no technique whatsoever, but at least whatever I was doing seemed to work! After bowling we moved on to a wonderful yakitori restaurant (yakitori is chicken and stuff on sticks!!) At our table was Kat, Ellen, Rosie, Dan, Lee, Tom, and Bruce...and we definitely had the most fun....although i cant really talk about it on a blog which is read by my family!!!...but it involved cameras and boobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a great meal, we headed off to the first bar, which was very crowded, and so we left after one drink. We must have been quite sight in lil ole Tokuyama...a trail of 25 foreigners, most of who were quite drunk at this point, walking through the centre of town...especially a peculiar sight when we decided to teach Tom how to skip properly! After some more drinks, and an attempt at pool at the next bar, a few of us headed back to Yanai, for an hour of blissful karaoke, and then bed! I believe my head finally hit the pillow at around 3.10am....Happy belated birthday to me and Kat!

...and I get paid for this!!

Today was a really nice day! I was at my school on a little island called Oshima, and was told that I didn't have any classes until the afternoon. 'Lovely' I thought...So I spent the morning surfing the internet, buying new stickers from my fave teachers-stickers website, e-mailing and arranging my weekend plans. Then had a bit of lunch, and whilst eating the vice principal came over to my desk and presented me with a handful of mikans (satsumas) to have with my food! The school is an Agricultural vocational high school, and they have their own farm, fruit trees etc. I was finishing off my food, and wondering what we would be doing in the afternoon classes, when my teacher came over to explain. It was the last lesson I would be having with the third years (18 yrs old...so final year), and so she thought it would be nice if we used our double lesson to all watch a movie together. So I spent the whole afternoon in a lecture room in the school, which had a big projection screen on which we saw The Shawshank Redemption....like my favourite film ever!!! I was sooooo happy! After the film, a collection of students asked me to write messages on the covers of their exercise books, and promised to write me letters in the future. Bless! They probably wont (their English is isn't that great for a start!!), but it was still a really sweet thought! When I arrived back in Yanai at 5 o'clock, I went to McDonalds for dinner, and then checked out the oven Im planning on buying on sunday! What a lovely day it was!! Oh, yeah, and it was pay day!!!!!!

I'm staying!

Yesterday I handed in my recontracting papers....Yes folks, I'm staying in jolly old Japan for another year...It's now official. I will finally come back to Blighty in August 2006...God that sounds like such a long time. But time flies when you're having fun, and I'm certainly having that! I'm also currently trying to sort out some leave, so that I can come home for three weeks this August. I hope to see as many of you as I possibly can then (people in the South...get your bums up to York for a weekend!!). My god..a 3 week holiday in England...isn't life strange!

Another day...another proposal!

There are a couple of boys who I teach at my base school (Yanai Senior High School), who have taken a bit of a shine to me!! Maybe it’s the fact that every lesson I give them really cool stickers…maybe it’s the fact that I make English fun….or maybe it’s that I’ve started to wear skirts!!! I don’t know! But whatever the reason, it’s very flattering / embarrassing / weird when 16 year old Japanese boys are declaring their undying love for you!! Two boys have already asked me to marry them, with one of them using the phrase “I want you, I need you, I love you,” and the other stating “Lauren, you are my everything!” Bless!!! But yesterday took the biscuit! The same boy who said that I was his “everything”, waited for me to walk past his classroom after English club at 5pm, bounded out on to the corridor, got down on bended knee, asked me to marry him (again!), and presented me with a small bunch of silk red roses, tied with some lace!!! I was with another teacher at the time, and was just so taken by surprise...I thought maybe she would tell him off, but she just stood there and laughed!! She said “Lauren, I think that the boys at Yanai High School love you!” I asked the boy (Mr Ito…you always call them by their surnames!) where he got the flowers from. He claimed he bought them. But I guessed correctly that he had pinched them from the home-ec classroom (someones textile project maybe!) I thanked him for the gesture, told him to put them back, and reminded him that I could not marry him. “Why not?” “Because you are 16, and I am 23. I am the teacher, and you are the student.” His reply…”No problem, no problem!” Bless him!! I told him no again, but thanked him, and congratulated him on his good English…and then walked away, still blushing a little from the whole incident! Hey, if proposing to me makes him practise his English, then great!! I just wish he would speak that much in class!

Cleaning at school

One of the weirdest things that I have encountered so far in Japanese schools is ‘Cleaning Time.’ Sometimes this time is in the morning, after registration (or home-room as they call it here!), sometimes it is just after lunch, and sometimes it is after last period, just before the students go home. But whatever time of day, it’s the same thing….THE STUDENTS CLEAN THE SCHOOL!!! What the heck!! There is a designated time each school day, where every student in the school goes to their allocated area, and cleans! They sweep, hoover, dust, empty the bins, and generally tidy for about 15 minutes of every day. The schools don’t hire cleaners to do this job at all….the students just do it!! Almost like some sort of Japanese student cleaning sweat-shop…Cleaning time is actually in their school timetable!!! Now, I have mixed feelings about this idea. On the one hand, I think it’s great that the students have the responsibility of looking after their school, and maintaining their own little areas. I think it’s good that there is an emphasis put on students and teachers caring about their school, and taking responsibility for its appearance etc. However, the fact of the matter is, that normally the students do a pretty poor job of cleaning the school! Yeah, they look like they’re sweeping, and they look like they’re cleaning the toilets…but are they really? Well, no…not properly anyway! The result is that most of the schools I have seen are always a bit grimy and dusty…and the toilets are definitely not cleaned in a way that a proper cleaner would respect! I know some JETs who actually volunteer to help in cleaning time…maybe in some misguided attempt to bond with staff and students And as far as I can see this only really works with the younger energetic kids, not the sullen older teenagers that I teach. As for me, I am keeping a purely spectator role…cleaning is not in my job description as an ALT. If I’m going to bond with my students, I will do it in class, not in a corridor with a broom!

My birthday

Yesterday I had my first birthday away from England. I am now the ripe old age of 23, and am sure that in that one day I became a whole heap wiser!....maybe not! To be honest, I thought my birthday was gonna suck this year! It was the first day back at school, and so I had no classes because of things like Opening Ceremony (don’t ask!), and exams etc. I therefore expected to spend the day sitting at my desk in the freezing cold staffroom, watching the teachers milling about sniffling in the cold, with no clue (or interest!) that it was my special day, and waiting for the clock to hit 4.15! And yes, that’s pretty much how the day panned out! Although, by the afternoon, I gave in, and just told a couple of teachers that it was my birthday….just to get some attention for the briefest of moments. One of the English teachers (a big beardy teddy-bear-like man) even attempted to sing Happy Birthday to me! Bless!

So by the time I was due to go home, I was feeling more birthdayish, generally more cheerful, and excited by my night of yakinku (see next post!) and karaoke ahead! I was also delighted to hear that all my parcels and cards had also arrived, so one of teachers drove me to the post office to go and pick them up. I think she was more excited than me! When she saw the jiffy bags in my arms as I walked back to the car, she said “I think you are loved very much!”…I thought that was really sweet….my grumpy mood had well and truly been lifted! Back at my apartment I ate Malteesers (yep, I know how to live!), whilst opening all my goodies, and was really chuffed with everything that I was sent. Thank you Mum and Dad, Paul, Margaret, Judith, Grandma, Lisa, and Vicki. I also spent some time reading e-mails, and opening e-cards that had been sent throughout the day from my lovely friends!! Thanks you guys!! Just before we went into town, Kat (the other JET in my town) came over to bring me a prezzie from her and Ellen. They bought me a really fab Muji throw thing…which will go with my apartment splendidly. Kat even made me a card..with bits of origami paper, paint, stickers…you name it, it was on my card! The girl’s definitely got a strong creative streak! I loved it!

The rest of the evening was spent in Yanai with Kat, Kirk, Aaron (and his sister), and Neal…where we had yakiniku, my favourite dessert (blood orange sorbet) at ‘Jolly Pasta’, and then 2 blissful hours of karaoke! Didn’t quite realise how tipsy I was until I walked home, and stumbled into my apartment at 11.30 (it’s a school night, so not a late one for me!). All in all, it was a really nice day…and it definitely didn’t suck! It felt a little strange, just as Christmas did, to be in Japan for a special occasion…but it wasn’t a bad ‘strange’…just different!

Yakiniku! The best food in Japan...but it's Korean!

Thought I would tell you about my favourite food in Japan! Yakiniku is amazing, and I just love it! It’s actually not even Japanese, but Korean! But it’s soooo popular here, and even more popular with JET people like myself, that I feel I am allowed to have it as my favourite food in Japan! Basically, yakiniku means grilled or fried meat! Sounds boring and rubbish you might think….but oh no no..there’s this magic sauce which gives yakinku its number 1 ranking with me!

So, you tend to go to yakiniku in a group…you all sit round this little grill / BBQ set in the middle of your table. You order whatever cuts of meat (and also some veggies) you want….the meat arrives…you all cook it on the mini BBQ…you dip it in the gorgeous sesame thick rich mmmmmm sauce, and then you eat! When I go with my friends, we normally have a bit of beef, bit of pork, bit of chicken, maybe a few sausages, green pepper, corn, onion, mushrooms…whack them all on the grill (I sound like Jamie Oliver!)…drown them in the sauce, and eat it all with rice, and Caesar salad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s just sooooo good! And yeah, I know, you have to cook your own food, and maybe you’re thinking that’s a drag…but actually its really fun, and you all take turns, and then just help yourself to what meat you want when you see that it has cooked! I wish there was yakiniku in England…..it’s definitely something that I’ll miss when I come home!

Japan and the cold!

Ok, so I am very cold in my apartment at the mo, and was therefore inspired to write a little bit about the cold in Japan! Japan really isn't any colder than the UK in winter...probably a bit milder even! However, there is a problem; the inability of the Japanese to understand the concept of insulation! Take my apartment for example. It's a really nice apartment; big rooms, gorgeous wooden floors, tatami floors in the bedrooms, and frosted glass sliding doors! Ooh nice, you might be thinking? Ooh, Lauren you've fallen on your feet to get a nice apartment like that!...And yes, I am lucky...it is a fab apartment, and I pay a pitiful amount for it (thanks to JET subsidised accommodation). However, now it's winter...the floors all feel icy cold, the big rooms are drafty, and the useless sliding doors to not keep any nice bit of warmth in a room! The walls are really thin...and therefore, whatever temperature it is outside, its pretty much the same inside my apartment! I sleep in my pjs, my old uni hoody, long fleecy socks, a sleeping bag, a duvet, and a blanket!

I tried asking one of my Japanese English teachers about this a while ago, but she really couldn't understand the idea of having insulation, and she certainly had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned double glazing!!!!!! She explained that in Japan, they like to use heated carpets (large rugs to put on the floors which plug in and heat up!), electric blankets, and the kotatsu (a table which you put a cover over, and you plug the table in, and it heats up...families sit with their legs under them, while eating dinner!). I have a kotatsu, but is certainly no substitute for just having walls with a decent thickness!

In a country, which is soooo advanced in so many ways; electrical gadgets galore, an enviable train system (the fast bullet train goes up to 300 KM/H!...and the trains are always on time!), and electric-heated toilet seats being a norm in family households; it is so confusing and contradictory, that Japan cannot introduce simple ideas like double gazing and central heating. As my apartment was also sweltering hot in the summer, I can only assume that Japanese houses (at least in my part of the country anyway!), are built to make you sweat in summer, and shiver in winter.......And dont even get me started on the ridiculous kerosene heaters that they expect you to use in winter!! Im sticking to electric!

Chocolate Buttons

Just another quicky before I go to bed....have just eaten some Chocolate Buttons...my first packet in 5 and a bit months! They were yummy! You've gotta love English Cadburys chocolate. We can buy imported Australian Cadburys chocolate here...but it's just not the same! Yey for English chocolate! :-)

Welcome to my Blog!

So this is my first post, on my first Blog! Cool! This is really just a test to see if it all works properly! Will write something properly soon! It's cold in my apartment now..gonna get in my sleeping bag now, and go to bed! Night night!