The Castle, The Park, and the Creepy Things!

11/22/11

Today was our last “free” day before training, so we decided to see the other side of the train station that we hadn’t been able to explore yesterday. Plus, there was a castle and a famous park nearby too, which, though a little tourist-y, was supposed to be really famous and beautiful.

So, after getting hot tea at a vending machine (which is still the coolest thing ever), we headed off across the station and ended up walking through this covered street marketplace, like those outdoor malls in England where they have stores on either side, but there is a roof covering everything. We went to a hyaku-en (100 yen) store, which is like a dollar store here, and bought gloves and looked at all the other weird things. :) Then we found a yarn/knitting shop and Chelsea, Rosie and I went in to look at it. There was a really cute kid, a man, and I think his mother who owned the shop. We saw a beautiful scarf and the lady showed us the yarn it was made with. I decided to get some, because it was really reasonably priced and looked amazing! The best part was that the lady then proceeded to show me how to make the scarf we were looking at (which was surprisingly easy), and even gave me a free pattern! It just blew my mind how nice she was! Even though my Japanese wasn’t very good, she just smiled and was super helpful and friendly.  If I lived in this area I would buy yarn from her all the time!

The "Sky Mall" :)

Chelsea, Niki, Dane, Cat, Rosie, Ayumi, and Chris

It took a while to get to the castle, but we finally did. It was located in a gorgeous park with a river next to it. The castle is called Okayama-jō (here, “jō” means castle). It was built in 1597 and is called “crow castle” sometimes because the outside is black, and it had beautiful white and gold edging, which really made it stand out. In World War II it was destroyed in air raids, but then they made a perfect reconstructed it in the 1960s. There was an area before you actually got to the castle where there were outlines on the ground where there used to be buildings before they were destroyed, and they had reconstructed the foundation stones as well. The castle was beautiful from the outside, but we didn’t go in because it was a little bit expensive. Instead, we went to the Korakuen garden, which was located right next to Okayama-jo. (Shift+ Left Click the picture to bigger original size)

Me! At Okayama Castle

The park was absolutely stunning. Words can’t really describe it, so here are some photos, and I’ll try to put up a ton more soon (I took like 70 photos today!).

There was a wooded part of the park as well, and although it was beautiful as well, it was also a little creepy… The bamboo and trees everywhere made it very dark in comparison with the rest of the park. And then there were… the creepy things. So, we were walking through the woods and suddenly we come upon this:

Ok, so obviously it’s some kind of art sculpture. A little ominous but, ok cool. But then when you get close to it you see:

A Brain!!!!! :O

No, not a real brain, but that is a rather realistic depiction of one. It was really weird and a little creepy. But we kept going, and found a little building… with tall metal spikes on the ground outside. Again, obviously artistic but a bit un-nerving.

Rosie was the bravest among us, and went first. :)

But not as unnerving as what was inside of the building. There was a lattice on the front and a mirror behind it, but the mirror was angled so that if you stood on the left side of the building you saw your reflection only on the right hand side. Plus, when you looked at the floor:

WHAT ARE THESE???

They were really creepy, but also kind of cool. The woods started to give us the creeps so we headed back toward the sunny fielded area, and passed by another house exhibit. You could only go up to see it 3 at a time and there were, of all things, playing cards lodged in the wooden slats of the porch. We asked the staff lady who was there what the significance of the cards was, but actually she said they had no meaning originally but that for some reason, now, people come and put them there as a kind of good-luck thing. It was really interesting, but I was a little disappointed that there was no other explanation for it or a clue as to the other art exhibits we had seen.

Also, as we headed out of the woods, we found a small lake full of dead lilies… eek! Scary!

Everyone was super tired after our excursion, so we headed back toward the training center, and stopped for ramen on the way. Yay! My first Japanese restaurant! :) You had to order pay for the food at a machine, then give the ticket to a waitress inside. Unfortunately, everyone who knew Japanese ordered first and went to sit down, but I was one of the last ones and I was like, “Hey! Come back, I can’t read!” Sigh, I definitely need to improve on my Japanese. After eating we went to an electronics store and I bought a stylus for my tablet, then we headed home.

After all the walking yesterday and today I was SO tired when we got back. I fell asleep at 5pm and didn’t wake up until 11! Training starts tomorrow, though, so hopefully the extra sleep will help. :) I had an amazing time exploring Okayama today, and hopefully tomorrow will be an adventure too!

Until next time!

Achievement Unlocked: Get Amity Assignment!

Drumroll please.....

I GOT MY AMITY POSITION ASSIGNMENT!

After worrying about it for weeks, I got a phone call today from the Los Angeles office and they informed me that (should I choose to accept this mission), they want to send me to the Shizuoka-Ekinan Amity branch this November!

Shizuoka in red, a little south of Tokyo.

Shizuoka (静岡，しずおか）is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture in the Chubu region of Japan. It's 1.5 hours from Tokyo, and 1.25 hours from Nagoya, plus it's located next to Mt. Fuji, the Japanese Alps, and the Pacific coast, so in the summer there will be beaches nearby! :) 


There are festivals and events throughout the year, although my arrival time and subsequent training will make me a few weeks late for the Daidogei World Cup (Nov. 3-6) and the Shizuoka Street Festival (Nov. 19-20). Sadness... but there's always next year! Plus there's supposed to be a lot of festivals and events in the spring coming up, and I'll be in time for Japanese New Years!

From Amity's website (the star is where the school is)

According to the info that Amity sent me, the climate is "Comparatively mild. Rarely snow during the winter, although it can get very cold." I'm glad I'm bringing my coat, but it looks like my snowboots will be mostly unnecessary. :/ Not sure how I feel about a snow-free winter, but I figure if I miss the white stuff I can take a train North. :) I don't know where the apartment is yet, bbut it's supposed to be within 5-10 minutes from my school (my school, hee hee!), so I won't have to worry about having to travel too far to get to work every day. It will be hard not to let that become a reason to sleep in daily. 


I tried to be a total creeper and "google street-view" the area, but unfortunately it's not one of the places marked out for that super awesome feature. I'll just have to sit here and imagine it for a few more months. ^_^ As soon as Amity sends me the hire-packet with all my forms and stuff in it, I can get my plane ticket and seriously pack my stuff! The information they've sent me by email has been so helpful, as well as the stuff I've researched online over the past few hours! I found a weekly video-news in English for the area, a city guide for foreigners with information about local hospitals and trash pick-up, and a little guide book that you can print out and take with you to doctors or post offices and point at if you need help and don't know all the words (like "I need stamps" or something). I'm going to try really hard to learn as much Japanese as possible so that I can do that on my own, but it looks like it would be a lot of help!


Anyway, it's official: I'm going to Japan! Please continue to read and support my blog as I keep you updated on all my adventures!

2 weeks; Interview Process; Shopping

2 Weeks Left!

So, my final quarter of college has only 2 weeks left to go! It seems unreal, especially after the 6 years it took to get to this point. :-/ But I'm so excited about finally finishing! Midterms went really well, I passed them both with A's (98 and 90), so I'm not too worried about passing at this point. I have one quiz in each class this week, and then finals next week, and then all done. Well, almost... I also have 5 sessions of Japanese to finish up before the end of August, but that's not going to be a problem, so for all intents and purposes I'm ALMOST THERE!

The Amity Interview

There are several blogs and forums online that discuss the Amity interview process, such as how to prepare and what to expect when you're on the chopping block yourself. I wanted to take some time to share what I did in my own interview that resulted in me getting offered a position.

The interview process itself is pretty simple. You fill out the form on their website, detailing any teaching experience you have had in the past, and ending with a 500 word minimum essay entitled "Why I Want to Teach English to Children in Japan." I heard back from Amity within a few days of submitting my application. If they accept you, you'll get invited to attend a group interview. Be prepared to travel if you are not in Los Angeles or Toronto; my interview was in Atlanta, GA which is a 10 hour drive from where I currently live. Thankfully I had my awesome mom to drive with me, which made the trip a lot more bearable. :) 

To prepare for the group interview they have you fill out another application, gather any reference letters you might have, and then ask you to prepare a sample English lesson for "beginning students." If you've never taught before, this can be really kowai (scary)! Even though I've tutored in the past, I don't have any experience teaching English, so I didn't really know where to start. This is where research comes in handy. 

On Amity's website it states "In an effort to utilize the most comprehensive methodology for second language acquisition for children, Amity adopted the Model Action Talk method, better known by the acronym MAT. MAT is a dynamic method developed by Ritsuko Nakata, a noted author and EFL children's teacher." Bingo! A little more research led me to some Nakata-san's website which had more explanation about how the MAT method works, and even provided some sample lessons. Basically, the MAT method involves teaching children vocabulary, then a sentence that uses that vocabulary, then a question that prompts that sentence. Repetition is key, as well as games/songs, and speaking at a natural speed. Here are some awesome video clips I found online of Nakata-san teaching her method at a seminar:

(You can also find more clips HERE)

Using this method as a guide, I created my own sample lesson. My vocabulary was about colors, my sentence was "It is [color]," and my question was "What color is it?" You can do this lesson any way you want to, using any vocabulary. I liked my question and sentence because even though it was really simple, in later lessons the students could substitute different vocabulary or more complex sentence structure (e.g. "What day is it?", "It is Tuesday" or "Do you know what time it is?" "It is 4:30pm."). Try to associate a hand-gesture with each vocab word, even if it doesn't really fit (how do you gesture "red"?), you'll need this later!

I made color flash cards to practice the vocabulary, and created a race game, inspired by a few of the sample lessons on Nakata-san's website, in which the students had to say the sentence that corresponded with the right color card, and then ring a bell. Competition and points are always fun in a classroom! No matter what lesson you create, make it FUN! During the group interview, people sang songs, did activities, and played games. The more interactive you make it, the better. Also, you have to create a whole lesson which should be the equivalent of a half-hour's worth of material. You only have to present 5 minutes of it, but you have to turn in the entire lesson plan with your application. If you only submit 5 minutes worth of material, you probably won't get a call-back.

The group interview began with an information session about Amity, what was expected of teachers, and what a typical day would be like. They also had a question-answer session. Afterward, there was a break, and we divided into groups for the sample lesson. Each person got 5 minutes to present part of their lesson, and the other interviewees acted like the students. Help eachother during the sample lessons, especially since you'll want the help of the others when it's your turn to present! After the lessons were all presented, we went back to our hotels. The recruiters called back people they wanted to see again for a personal interview the next day (I was one of them! ^_^)

The personal interview is loooooong, and rather nerve-wracking since now you're one-on-one with a recruiter. They ask you to self-rate your lesson performance from the day before, and tell you where they felt you did well or lost points. They go over more details about the job, ask for your location preferences, or if you have any complications that would keep you from being able to go overseas or completing a contract (pets, illness, family members close to death), etc, etc, etc. They show you a sample of clothing that is "work appropriate" and ask you to rate your current clothing. TIP: Wear a suit! I brought 2 suits to Atlanta, but my day-2 suit's hem came out as I was getting ready that morning so I had to switch to a black skirt (knee-length) and collared blouse, which looked pretty awesome and very professional... but after looking at the "business wear" sample sheet I felt under-dressed. Best to wear a full business suit to both days of the interview. 

Then comes the scary part...the surprise lesson! You have 10 minutes to come up with another sample lesson on the spot (again totaling 30 minutes, 10 minutes presented) to go along with the vocabulary and sentence the recruiter gives you. They leave the room and you get to work. Of course if your original lesson was modeled after the MAT method, all you need to do here is substitute vocab and sentence, and do the same lesson over again! Teach vocabulary (gestures!), then sentence, then question. Ta-da! The recruiter pretends to be the student, and may act shy or try to speak in Japanese. Just smile, be enthusiastic and encouraging, and go with the lesson's flow! You don't have to teach all 30 minutes in that first 10, so be careful not to rush. If you spend the whole 10 teaching vocabulary and working on pronunciation and gestures, that's fine, but it will probably go faster than that. :) After the sample lesson, you're basically all done!

If you make it through the personal interview, you'll be contacted within a few weeks (in my case a little over a month) with an offer of employment! If you have your college diploma, you'll send it in and get a placement, if you're still in school, you'll get placed after you receive and send them your diploma. That's it! Omedetou (congratulations)! You're going to Japan!

SO in summary, my tips are:

1. Do some research before your interview. Learn about the company and what they expect you to do and understand by reading online. 
2. Use the MAT method as a guide for creating your lesson plans. Not only will it show them that you took the time to study researched their company, but it will show that it won't take as much to train you if you're already on board with their methods! Plus it's a pretty solid system.
3. Make your lesson FUN! I guarantee you, if you have a boring lesson where students must sit quietly and raise their hand all the time, you won't get the job. Amity is really into teachers being active and enthusiastic, so be prepared to expend lots of sweat and energy!
4. Make sure you create and ENTIRE lesson, not just the 5 minute presentation. 30 minutes is a good goal.
5. Help other people during their presentations. Not only will it insure that they will help you on your turn, but you're also getting noticed more by the recruiters. Make them remember your name and face. 
6. Wear a suit! Look nice, neat, and clean during both interview days. Pack an extra set of clothing in case of wardrobe malfunctions
7. Don't rush your lesson. Even though it's only a 5 or 10 minute presentation, take your time. You'll appear calmer and more professional.
8. SMILE!!!!! 

Some other people who have written about the interview process are HERE and HERE. Enjoy! :) Hope this helps!

Getting my Shopping Done

I spent this past weekend shopping with my mom and sister for my "Japan stuff." Even though I don't have a more specific departure date than "this fall," I like to have things in order and getting some of my supplies has been a huge stress relief! The best thing out of everything that I got are my suits! Four lovely wonderful suits, both pants and skirts, and a whole ton of silk scarves to accessorize them. :) I probably should have waited to get the official "Amity Employee Handbook" along with my placement information, but I have pretty good taste when it comes to business wear (and my mom was there to help me!) so I'm not too worried. All my suits are in demure colors (black, brown, navy, and grey), the skirts are knee-length, and they have no "revealing" necklines. Even so, I feel pretty swanky wearing them! :P

I also got some vitamins, handkerchiefs, extra makeup, new socks and undies, and all the little bits and pieces that I will need for the six weeks prior to my first paycheck. I had to cut down my book collection to 6 titles, which hurt a lot (I'm really attached to my books...), but they were too heavy otherwise. I've packed away anything that I am not currently using in my GIANT suitcase. I'm hoping that it won't weigh too much for the airplane, since anything over 50lbs is $60 extra, and anything over 70lbs is $200! :( But, we'll see. If it's too heavy, I'll donate some of it to the person in line behind me, lol...

Something weird that I've been told to pack is mac and cheese! Apparently it's difficult to get in Japan. I'm wondering if it's just that whole packages are hard to find, or if the actual macaroni noodles are the difficulty. I can make pretty good mac n cheese from scratch if they have macaroni shaped noodles, but I'll probably pack one or two boxes just in case. :)

Sunnyside Up or Sunnyside Down?

..................................

Ugh, after years of saying that I hate blogs and blogging, here I  am writing one. :-/ I guess it was only a matter of time, but it still feels a little like a defeat. 

Oh well, I guess this is where I put an introduction...

Hey Everyone!

My name is Shawna, and this is my blog dedicated to my preparation and eventual departure for JAPAN! :D Graduation is creeping up on me (only two months to go for the diploma!), and after five years of struggling through classes, transferring to different colleges, and that whole messy ex-boyfriend business, it looks like things might be falling into place after all. 

Back in March, I drove down to Atlanta, GA with my mom to interview with Amity, the children's branch of AEON (one of the leading English education corporations in Japan). I've been planning on going to Japan to teach for most of the time I've been in college, but this was the first time I had applied, let alone interviewed for a position. I'll write a post later about the interview process, but for now let's just say that I got an offer of employment that will eventually turn into an actual school-placement once I mail them my diploma. In the mean time, I'm finishing up my last few college classes and reading everything I can get my hands on about Japan.

It's actually been relatively difficult to find other bloggers who have worked for Amity, so details on what to expect over there are slim so far. But what has concerned me the most are the number of EXTREMELY negative blogs about teaching in Japan at all. The guy who writes "Japan it Up" (one of the ones I do enjoy) said it best in one of his posts: "Although there are a handful of great “foreigner in Japan” blogs out there, I found a lot of people talking as if Japan sucks, the world is against them, and there’s nothing they can do about it besides complain and have a pity party."

This is basically what I've found online too. It seems like almost everyone who writes a blog about their experiences in Japan use it as a way to vent every little bad thing that happens to them, and it's really discouraging to read. I'm not saying that we should only post happy, "japan-is-the-best" type blogs, but that we should balance both the positive and the negative experiences. After all, life is made up of both, right?

I live by the philosophy, "you get what you concentrate upon," meaning that whatever you focus on will be actualized in your daily life. I want to love my experience in Japan as a whole, so I want to bring positivity into whatever circumstances I encounter, even if some are "bad." In every post, I will write a balanced account of my experiences, with positive ones being "Sunnyside Up" and less-positive ones as "Sunnyside Down." This way, I can focus not only on the sucky experiences, but also on the awesome ones. :)

Anyway, that's all for my introduction. Time for our first Sunnyside Report (and yes, you must love my happy smiley eggs)!

Sunnyside Up: It's a 3-day weekend for the Fourth of July! I have time to study AND have fun watching movies and playing minecraft. I get to go see my mom and my sister preform at the Ohio Historical Society tomorrow, and apparently there will be free Jeni's ice cream (if you've never had it, you are missing out)!!!

Sunnyside Down: Midterms are coming up on Tuesday, which worry me a little bit. I've done some studying this weekend, but procrastination is soooo easy...

Future Eggs (things I'm looking forward to):

-End of classes July 20th!
-Buying my Amity suits    
-Going to Japan!              

See you next time! (Isn't that what the Reading Rainbow guy used to say?)