Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Stopgap
Time to catch up as I won't have much time to blog during my vacation. I don't need to fall any further behind in my personal writing, seeing as I'm still behind on my scholastic writing!
I don't have much to say about school lately. It's going as expected and that's about it. I got one of my incompletes done but one more remains. At the very least, finishing one qualifies me to graduate so it makes the other one mean a little less. It took a lot out of me to write that first paper, I'm ashamed to say. I knew the grade didn't matter and all I needed was to hand something in to turn that I into a actual grade. Still, I couldn't help but worry myself sick over my arguments and even tense choices.
My interview for the JET Programme was last week and I believe it went very well. There were three people across the table from me, an American who was a former participant, a Japanese man from the consulate and a Japanese woman who teaches over at CUNY. The tone of the interview was pretty positive, with the American man in particular saying a lot of extremely complimentary things. He was especially impressed by my essay (adapted from this speech) and even quoted it back to me, saying it was a "perfect" description of the JET Programme experience. At one point I had to pretend they were students and I had to explain, in simple English, an American holiday. I went with Halloween and they seemed to like it, even asking questions as little children might. By far the most awkward moment came when the Japanese woman asked me a simple, conversational question in Japanese. I understood her completely but my nerves and general conversational confusion left my response a slow, lurching mess. I was barely able to offer much of an answer, but I'm hoping they won't hold that against me as this job isn't about Japanese. So all I can do now is hope that the compliments were genuine and that my responses to their other questions left them confident that I can do this job.
The snow last week left me stuck in New York for an extra night but I made it back to school in time on Thursday, then I came back down on Saturday afternoon. Ben and I hung out, he made enchiladas, and we went to see Hannibal Rising. It wasn't high on my list but Ben had loaned me the book and I found it reasonably entertaining. The movie, however, simply truncated too many of the book's good ideas to be worthwhile.
Right now I'm gathering my things in anticipation of Mako's arrival this afternoon. Soon I'll meet her at the airport and then together we're off to southern Florida to see my mother and, yes, we will be taking a trip to Disney World. Expect photos of our trip in the future, but not much writing in the meantime. If I was negligent of the blog without Mako around, you can imagine how completely indifferent I will be once she's around. Sorry, but there's sun and fun to be had!
Feit...out.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
I don't have much to say about school lately. It's going as expected and that's about it. I got one of my incompletes done but one more remains. At the very least, finishing one qualifies me to graduate so it makes the other one mean a little less. It took a lot out of me to write that first paper, I'm ashamed to say. I knew the grade didn't matter and all I needed was to hand something in to turn that I into a actual grade. Still, I couldn't help but worry myself sick over my arguments and even tense choices.
My interview for the JET Programme was last week and I believe it went very well. There were three people across the table from me, an American who was a former participant, a Japanese man from the consulate and a Japanese woman who teaches over at CUNY. The tone of the interview was pretty positive, with the American man in particular saying a lot of extremely complimentary things. He was especially impressed by my essay (adapted from this speech) and even quoted it back to me, saying it was a "perfect" description of the JET Programme experience. At one point I had to pretend they were students and I had to explain, in simple English, an American holiday. I went with Halloween and they seemed to like it, even asking questions as little children might. By far the most awkward moment came when the Japanese woman asked me a simple, conversational question in Japanese. I understood her completely but my nerves and general conversational confusion left my response a slow, lurching mess. I was barely able to offer much of an answer, but I'm hoping they won't hold that against me as this job isn't about Japanese. So all I can do now is hope that the compliments were genuine and that my responses to their other questions left them confident that I can do this job.
The snow last week left me stuck in New York for an extra night but I made it back to school in time on Thursday, then I came back down on Saturday afternoon. Ben and I hung out, he made enchiladas, and we went to see Hannibal Rising. It wasn't high on my list but Ben had loaned me the book and I found it reasonably entertaining. The movie, however, simply truncated too many of the book's good ideas to be worthwhile.
Right now I'm gathering my things in anticipation of Mako's arrival this afternoon. Soon I'll meet her at the airport and then together we're off to southern Florida to see my mother and, yes, we will be taking a trip to Disney World. Expect photos of our trip in the future, but not much writing in the meantime. If I was negligent of the blog without Mako around, you can imagine how completely indifferent I will be once she's around. Sorry, but there's sun and fun to be had!
Feit...out.
つづく... (Click here to read more)
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