Aspiring US JETs 2012

[chomuch]

I studied abroad in Hirakatashi (in between Kyoto and Osaka) a couple of years ago and the large grocery/electronics store called Midori had kits to make takos and the seasoning and shells separately. My boyfriend and I made tacos for his host family one night and it was pretty fun. His host father insisted on dumping every taco ingredient on top of his bowl of rice.

As for pizza, I had Dominos delivered to my dorm several times while I was there. They had a pizza called the American Special that had pepperoni and something strange that I can't remember on it. We always just asked for none of the strange ingredient and were good to go. Their large size pizza is a little smaller than a medium in America and it cost about $30. Dominos also had chicken nuggets and french fries that were pretty good in a pinch. When we went to Tokyo we were able to get Pizza Hut delivered to the hotel.

You can find a lot of American fast food in Japan. I saw McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and couple other places I was not expecting to see. At McDonalds the Shaka Shaka chicken is awesome!

You went to Kansai Gaidai? Ah, KG.... good times. Literally the best semester out of all my semesters in college, and the best experiences I've ever had in my entire life by far. I did home-stay instead of staying in a seminar house. When were you there?

APRIL IS TOMORROW WTH

[firefly06]

You went to Kansai Gaidai? Ah, KG.... good times. Literally the best semester out of all my semesters in college, and the best experiences I've ever had in my entire life by far. I did home-stay instead of staying in a seminar house. When were you there?

APRIL IS TOMORROW WTH

Yep, good ol' Kansai Gaidai. I was there the spring semester of 2010. I stayed in a seminar house and my boyfriend did homestay. I think I had the best of both worlds with that because his family let me do all kinds of cool stuff with them, but I was still able to come and go as I pleased at the seminar house.

[Cliodhna]

There's also Krispy Kreme donuts, but it's considered such a luxury sweet that the line is constantly a block long just to get a freaking donut, hahaha. It gets even worse on valentine's day. It mystifies the mind, especially when you're from the south where krispy kreme is so common, that anyone would hold it in such high esteem and regard.

I'm not a huge fan of japanese starbucks unless you're out to get a specialty drink. Getting just iced coffee is pretty miserable because they don't have the simple syrup sugar but this other weird liquid sugar that they make you mix in yourself that tastes remarkably like grass somehow. They also do not have half and half. They're also a bit more expensive because it's an american store. I tended to stick with nestle bottled iced coffee pre-sweetened and creamer and it always worked out awesomely. Japanese canned coffee is also really good. It's hard to find bad coffee in Japan, I think, but definitely easy to find bad western tea there. Royal milk tea is quite gross, I think, but I had friends who loved it, haha.

I recall the taco kits but never the taco shells, so kudos for finding that, firefly!!

[Boogerghost]

Ooh! Ooh! Are we playing the "if I do/don't get in" game?

I also work at a (game) convention, which falls just after the new year, so I'm hoping if I get in that I can take some of my vacation time then to go home for that. Which is to say, take vacation time to go work five days for free, of course . It's the best.

If I don't get in it might be time to have a follow-up chat with the Navy. I'm sure lots of things about the Navy will upset my hippie sensibilities, and it's no replacement for JET, but at least there's a possibility for an interesting job with decent pay, some sort of travel, and, after a while, OFFENSIVELY good benefits. Like, I'm personally offended by them. Even if I get them. Because others in the non-military public service aren't so lucky, even if what they do is critically important, and sometimes dangerous. But that's neither here nor there. Navy sounds cool, if a dramatic lifestyle change.

If I DO get in I think I will finally buy myself a melodica. What classroom environment isn't improved by a melodica? And I will buy sooo many stickers. Star Wars stickers, Obama stickers, music stickers, flags of the world stickers, flags of the US stickers, food stickers, facial expression stickers, those incredibly detailed relief-effect stickers they sell at craft shops, monster stickers, dinosaur stickers, cat stickers, video game character stickers to allude to my sad investment in commercialism (but also multimedia art), ooh, stickers of famous paintings? And maybe I'll start planning some Halloween costumes? And I will read about teaching techniques and English games till the cows come home. And maybe indulge in some quality Japanese film too, of course. Kurosawa/Itami/Miyazaki/Fukasaku fest! And memorize the handbook and absorb the forums and blogs whole and everything else all of us would do. Oh, and realizing full well that it might never be seen due to classroom technology limitations, I would also make the baddest self-intro video with scenes from home, college, and maybe a few other places, and possibly with Japanese subs. If that's kosher. I would want it to be humorous and engaging and vaguely intelligible. I can imagine it's very easy for self-intros to be quite boring.

Eventually I want cats? But I doubt having cats while on a sea tour is really wise either. Someone posted in a pet thread of some kind about a foreigner-run shelter in Japan from which visitors and temporary residents are encouraged to take out foster cats. I would find that pretty tempting, despite all the possible drawbacks.

But I'm completely expecting not to get in, of course.

Oh, Kansai Gaidai people - I hear the Genki textbooks were written at and inspired by your school (and the online videos, they're the greatest! Haha.). What say you?

[Kirari]

APRIL IS TOMORROW WTH

The real countdown begins! *DUN DUN DUUNNN*

If I DO get in I think I will finally buy myself a melodica. What classroom environment isn't improved by a melodica? And I will buy sooo many stickers. Star Wars stickers, Obama stickers, music stickers, flags of the world stickers, flags of the US stickers, food stickers, facial expression stickers, those incredibly detailed relief-effect stickers they sell at craft shops, monster stickers, dinosaur stickers, cat stickers, video game character stickers to allude to my sad investment in commercialism (but also multimedia art), ooh, stickers of famous paintings? And maybe I'll start planning some Halloween costumes? And I will read about teaching techniques and English games till the cows come home. And maybe indulge in some quality Japanese film too, of course. Kurosawa/Itami/Miyazaki/Fukasaku fest! And memorize the handbook and absorb the forums and blogs whole and everything else all of us would do. Oh, and realizing full well that it might never be seen due to classroom technology limitations, I would also make the baddest self-intro video with scenes from home, college, and maybe a few other places, and possibly with Japanese subs. If that's kosher. I would want it to be humorous and engaging and vaguely intelligible. I can imagine it's very easy for self-intros to be quite boring.

This whole paragraph is awesome. I love the sticker idea. Now I'm going to have to force myself to wait until the decision is out to buy them, lol. Kurosawa films I already have going, as I'm trying to finish up a paper on him for school. And a subtitled, funny, self intro video! Greatest idea ever.

Oh, Kansai Gaidai people - I hear the Genki textbooks were written at and inspired by your school (and the online videos, they're the greatest! Haha.). What say you?

Oh, Genki textbooks. The saga of Mary and Takeshi will never leave my heart.

[Cliodhna]

Ohhhh genki! Those are probably the best Japanese text books on the market. Kansai Gaidai, though....I looked at that school as a strong possibility for study abroad, largely because a friend of mine who had been an exchange student at my high school lived in that area, but I did some digging online and I saw a student review that at one point was prompted by the line "Before I left, I wish I had known that..." to which this person responded, "Students went to class wearing cat ears," to which I concluded that it probably wasn't what I was looking for. In the end, it all worked out pretty well, I think, with the school I did go to.

[SeaJay]

Oh, Kansai Gaidai people - I hear the Genki textbooks were written at and inspired by your school (and the online videos, they're the greatest! Haha.). What say you?

Oh, Genki textbooks. The saga of Mary and Takeshi will never leave my heart.

Ohhhh my god. My class shipped Mary and Takeshi so hard. Hahahaha! Fantastic memories.

[Boogerghost]

Ohhhh my god. My class shipped Mary and Takeshi so hard. Hahahaha! Fantastic memories.

YES.

Alternatively, Takeshi and Robert! Or was it Robert and John? I don't know, but I miss Genki. Really well structured, with some excellent precision in the grammar explanations.

[Cliodhna]

Ohhhh my god. My class shipped Mary and Takeshi so hard. Hahahaha! Fantastic memories.

YES.

Alternatively, Takeshi and Robert! Or was it Robert and John? I don't know, but I miss Genki. Really well structured, with some excellent precision in the grammar explanations.

I know our class was really counting on them coming back in the year 2 book and we were sorely disappointed when they didn't, hahaha.

[Kirari]

Ohhhh my god. My class shipped Mary and Takeshi so hard. Hahahaha! Fantastic memories.

YES.

Alternatively, Takeshi and Robert! Or was it Robert and John? I don't know, but I miss Genki. Really well structured, with some excellent precision in the grammar explanations.

I know our class was really counting on them coming back in the year 2 book and we were sorely disappointed when they didn't, hahaha.

!!! Weren't they the ones who went surfing and swimming with each other and talked about how beautiful the sea was? It was a precious moment. We all thought it might go somewhere...

[punnyIA]

Ohhhh my god. My class shipped Mary and Takeshi so hard. Hahahaha! Fantastic memories.

YES.

Alternatively, Takeshi and Robert! Or was it Robert and John? I don't know, but I miss Genki. Really well structured, with some excellent precision in the grammar explanations.

I know our class was really counting on them coming back in the year 2 book and we were sorely disappointed when they didn't, hahaha.

I have heard good things about Genki. Although I learned 1st and 2nd year Japanese through the Nakama 1 and 2 textbooks, which basically had Smith-san, Tanaka-san, and Alice-san for example characters. XD

[Gekishinken]

I have heard good things about Genki. Although I learned 1st and 2nd year Japanese through the Nakama 1 and 2 textbooks, which basically had Smith-san, Tanaka-san, and Alice-san for example characters. XD

Let me guess...University of Iowa

[Boogerghost]

OH MAN I JUST LEARNED ABOUT CAT CAFES.

And this guy, well, he's a little... haha, well, he's entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G90f8rtn ... ure=relmfu
Traveling Japan for his fix of cats. He visits that shelter I alluded to someone alluding to earlier, the Japan Cat Network. And many others.

[SakuraHoshi]

OH MAN I JUST LEARNED ABOUT CAT CAFES.

And this guy, well, he's a little... haha, well, he's entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G90f8rtn ... ure=relmfu
Traveling Japan for his fix of cats. He visits that shelter I alluded to someone alluding to earlier, the Japan Cat Network. And many others.

I've been to a cat cafe! As a cat lover, it was an awesome way to spend an afternoon; just being surrounded by gorgeous fluffy cats all having fun and playing with you

Btw Cliodhna, I recon Japan's Starbucks is way better than the UK's, althought I may say that because I'm a fan of speciality drinks. Their matcha frappuchino is just amazing; I miss it so much! and they do matcha cream filled pastries. I love anything matcha flavoured and there's nothing like that in the UK

[punnyIA]

I have heard good things about Genki. Although I learned 1st and 2nd year Japanese through the Nakama 1 and 2 textbooks, which basically had Smith-san, Tanaka-san, and Alice-san for example characters. XD

Let me guess...University of Iowa

Right on the button. XD