kevinsensei ([info]kevinsensei) wrote,
@ 2009-07-13 22:38:00
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Current location:静岡県　静岡市　葵区　瀬名
Current mood: optimistic
Entry tags:life, stuff

Summer Plans
I've decided not to go home for the summer break after all. There definitely is time for it, but I'm planning on going home for the winter break anyway. Besides it'll be hotter than hell in Florida right now. I'd spend most of the time at home seeking refuge from the heat.

So.

August and September - no word yet on if/when the committees are meeting. I'm not about to ask. Here are some things I want to do to fill the time:

  • Buy a sax and get back into playing regularly. I saw a nice vintage tenor in Tokyo a little while back. Next paycheck, I'll take a little trip and buy it if it's still there. If not, then pretty much any used modern horn will do. Heck, I can get a used Yamaha here in Shizuoka. I can't really practice at my apartment. I can keep the sax in my office. Over the summer I can just practice whenever. When the term starts back up, I can then practice after hours. Students who are in band are always practicing at that time. I can just go to the same general area and practice there.

  • Climb Mt. Fuji, either early/mid August. For that I need to get into shape, which brings me to...

  • I'd like to join a gym. Thing is, there isn't one nearby. What I'm afraid of is that I'll sign up and then pay 10,000 yen a month for something I hardly ever use. I have this fancy new bicycle. I haven't done any serious biking recently. There are roads that lead out of my neighborhood up into the hills. I should just pick one and GO. I need to just do some cardio, any cardio, to sweat and get my heart rate up. I've kind of soured on the biking to work idea - I get too hot and sweaty. I'm pretty sure the students would rather I not be dripping in sweat as I teach the class. There are only a few weeks left in the term anyway. I'm just gonna bus it for the rest of the term, and do my biking exercise after work.

  • Study Japanese. Here I go again. What I need to do is buy some textbooks and make myself "go to school". Go to the library and study. Really study. No killing-time-on-the-internet-pseudo-studying. Listening and speaking are my strong points. Kanji and grammar and my weak points. I give my students advice on how to improve their English all the time. I need to take my own advice and apply it towards Japanese.


Yeah. I need to get off my ass and do this.

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[info]februaryfour
2009-07-13 03:15 pm UTC (link)
GANBATTE!

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[info]ontogenesis
2009-07-13 05:08 pm UTC (link)
FIGHTO! :waves a flag and does Japanese-style cheering:

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[info]thorny_rose
2009-07-14 12:53 am UTC (link)
1. Awesome! Ahem, you could try flute - same fingering! (Mmm...sounds so drrrty)
2. Heeeh, I'm not big into hiking, but you'll probably meet lotsa interesting folks doing that.
3. *glares*eyes*o*fire*
4. *sigh* Yeah, now that my tutor is on hiatus, I can already feel my competence suffering. I'm going to start watching game shows and trying to read the subtitles. Also reading more of the materials I've been carrying around but ignoring. I have so much stuff and I don't use it. Shame... Damn shame...

It also doesn't help that I'm dabbling into Chinese and I've been asked to do private lessons for one of my students over the summer, and I'm studying GRE math and learning about sociology and....

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whoo golly!!
[info]aimegami
2009-07-14 01:02 pm UTC (link)
1) well, you can play an instrument so if you can afford it... go forth and play,plus it's cool.

2) dear god, i think my friend may drag me up that mountain whether i want to or not... if she does, she'll succeed where 3 friends and 2 ex-BFs have failed before her.

3) yeah, well now's a good time cause they're running their summer campaigns...

4) argh with studying, if you need a long distance study buddy... i'm trying not to lose it but yeah studying sucks. i really do need to start following my own study advice too.

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[info]demetra_ai
2009-07-14 01:29 pm UTC (link)
Just interjecting with my 2 yen here... What really helped me with my Japanese study was going to a class regularly. There was a class in my little corner of the inaka for gaikokujin to study Japanese, and it was super-cheap and affordable too. I think it was 2500 yen a month actually! I'm telling you, super-cheap. They did it through the city kyouiku-iinkai and also had a weekend class at the local community center, so maybe your local BOE may have something similar? It'd be worth looking into in my opinion, for two reasons.

First, the purpose of the class I took was to prepare us for the JLPT. We had lessons that followed exactly what was going to be on the test. We did long essay readings, kanji, listening practice, the whole shebang -- everything that appears on the test. So when it came time to take 2-kyuu, I was very well prepared. And I passed, thanks to Ikemizu-sensei! d(^_^)b Secondly, having a weekly class that I had to show up and be prepared for was a good way to motivate myself to study and complete the homework assignments. Sure, I still procrastinated sometimes and all that, but having a set schedule and knowing you're gonna have to be at that class makes it easier to set aside time to get the studying and work done. This is probably all the same stuff you tell your English students, isn't it (^_-)

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[info]demetra_ai
2009-07-14 01:41 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I also meant to say... Another good study guide for me was to buy one of those JLPT prep books they have at the bookstore. I got the one that teaches grammar points, which was super-invaluable for my understanding of Japanese. You can find out what things like "to ha ie" and "-zaru wo enai" mean! lol I think the title of my book (without having it in front of me) was something like "Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken Bunpou Taisaku" or something. I bought the 2-kyuu one which had a green cover, but different -kyuu have different-colored covers. I think they kept these in the English-language section of the bookstore, even though they're all in Japanese.

I also got this awesome grammar dictionary that's published by... I think it's the Daily Yomiuri or something. It's definitely some Japanese newspaper company that publishes it... maybe The Japan Times. I forget. Anyway, it's in the English-language section (at least it was in my local bookstore), and there's two volumes -- the first volume has a yellow cover and the second one has a greenish-gray cover and is thicker. You can look up grammar points written in romaji and it explains what they mean in English, with Japanese example sentences that have English translations. That book was really good, and I still use it sometimes to look up grammatical constructions that I forgot!

I also got this awesome book that's out of print now, but it is AWESOME. It's by Gomi Tarou (you know, the guy that writes those children's books like "Everybody Poops"?). It teaches you Japanese onomatopoeic expressions with explanations in both English and Japanese. It also has cartoon drawings to illustrate each expression that are hilarious!! Here, I found it online: http://www.thejapanshop.com/product.php?productid=16457. This looks like a more up-to-date modern version of the one I have (^_^)

Anyway, these books helped me out, so I just thought I would pass on that info in case you might find it useful! (^_^)

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[info]kevinsensei
2009-07-15 01:18 pm UTC (link)
Thanks everyone for your support and advice. Now I just gotta make it happen! (^_^)

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