Seiji took the day off work today, still a bit sick, and we went to a local Italian restaurant we seemed to have missed in our two years here. It was gorgeous - lovely service and nice food and just SO NICE to be out without Rai for a change : )
Ahh....
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Rai's 4th Birthday
It was Rai's 4th birthday today. We woke up at about 7am and some men came to the apartment at 8am to change our living room and kitchen ceiling. It was amazing - they managed to finish in 2.5 hours!! Now we have a lovely flat white ceiling covering up the ugly, asbestos-y looking one underneath (overtop?).
So, we spent 2.5 hours in my bedroom hanging out this morning. First, we opened Rai's presents. He got a lot of Shimajiro stuff that we had been saving - they sent out a present, and we had January's package as well. I had also bought him a few things at Ikea yesterday. A tin of ginger biscuits (which we had for breakfast - the kitchen being out of commission) and a dog's bowl with a cute crown motif. There was also a lovely book / first dictionary from his obaachan.
I took Rai to the nearby MacDonald's, which has a play area outside, and Tim and his twin boys Mark and Luke came along for a very good play. They gave Rai a lovely book called "The Magic Donkey Ride".
After that, we went and had sushi in Tama Center and bought some small cakes. WE got home, very tired, at about 2:30pm and I had a sleep for 2 hours!
Then, we went and had takoyaki and okonomiyaki at the local restaurant. Now we are home again, smelling of food and smoke from the restaurant and about to go to bed.
Before that, I might do some friendly proof-reading at a language site called Lang-8. I highly recommend it for anyone learning a language.
(Later) I just finished proofreading someone's writing on the Hanshin Earthquake which occurred in 1995 and severely affected my host family living in Nishinomiya. I didn't realise Rai was born on its anniversary.
So, we spent 2.5 hours in my bedroom hanging out this morning. First, we opened Rai's presents. He got a lot of Shimajiro stuff that we had been saving - they sent out a present, and we had January's package as well. I had also bought him a few things at Ikea yesterday. A tin of ginger biscuits (which we had for breakfast - the kitchen being out of commission) and a dog's bowl with a cute crown motif. There was also a lovely book / first dictionary from his obaachan.
I took Rai to the nearby MacDonald's, which has a play area outside, and Tim and his twin boys Mark and Luke came along for a very good play. They gave Rai a lovely book called "The Magic Donkey Ride".
After that, we went and had sushi in Tama Center and bought some small cakes. WE got home, very tired, at about 2:30pm and I had a sleep for 2 hours!
Then, we went and had takoyaki and okonomiyaki at the local restaurant. Now we are home again, smelling of food and smoke from the restaurant and about to go to bed.
Before that, I might do some friendly proof-reading at a language site called Lang-8. I highly recommend it for anyone learning a language.
(Later) I just finished proofreading someone's writing on the Hanshin Earthquake which occurred in 1995 and severely affected my host family living in Nishinomiya. I didn't realise Rai was born on its anniversary.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The End of Charity
I finished the "End of Charity" book I bought while in New Zealand. I was so inspired that I couldn't sleep until 1am!
The book is about social responsibility - not just of individuals but of businesses. It presents the idea that businesses can make profit a secondary goal after their primary goal of being a positive entity in society.
Along the same lines, I just got an email from an American site where individuals can LEND (not give) money to other people at reasonable interest rates.
The site directed me to this one, where you can vote to encourage more P2P lending. The comments are very interesting.
I don't use that site to lend money, but I do use Kiva. I love looking at my portfolio.
The book is about social responsibility - not just of individuals but of businesses. It presents the idea that businesses can make profit a secondary goal after their primary goal of being a positive entity in society.
Along the same lines, I just got an email from an American site where individuals can LEND (not give) money to other people at reasonable interest rates.
The site directed me to this one, where you can vote to encourage more P2P lending. The comments are very interesting.
I don't use that site to lend money, but I do use Kiva. I love looking at my portfolio.
A Busy Day
I had my first Thursday off in a while (well, apart from that wee three week holiday I just had in NZ!). I was working at Soka University every Thursday, but their semester finishes quite early and I have no more Thursday classes. Yay!
I got so much done today:
I posted thank-you / congratulation messages to:
- Yoshiko's parents for the present of lovely clothes that they gave to Rai
- Mr. Nishi in Beppu who chairs the Oita Prefecture New Zealand Friendship Association and got onto NZ's New Year Honours List (I met him many times when I lived in Beppu and often went to his house for barbecues and to watch rugby - he couldn't speak a word of English - or, for me, intelligible Japanese - but he is a great guy)
- Maki and Garreth's twin boys Sean and Kieran (sp?) - born in the middle of last year!
A New Year's card to Randy in Beppu, whom I saw at Yoshiko's wedding and had a great time catching up with.
Plus some administrative stuff - airpoints membership for Rai and a subscription to O (Oprah) magazine for me.
I also tried to check out Seiji's student loan status...have a feeling we should pay off his loan while the exchange rate is good...he owes about $10,000 which would be nice to be rid of.
I bought lots of things at the 100 yen shop for Seiji (medical masks because the poor man has a terrible cold) and for me (hooks to hang my coat and umbrella on at work, and other exciting things like that).
I realised that bookshops in Japan don't sell gift cards like in NZ - they have special stationery shops for that. It was quite a hassle because the two bookshops I went to only had a very small range of cards....something they should reconsider! (similar to post offices here which sell hardly any packaging at all, and no envelopes as far as I can tell - crazy!).
I am still interested in business stuff....and doing an MBA...info here and here.
I enjoyed looking at the Benesse website today - I thought it would be all Japanese and painful to read, but they have an excellent English website. The company is truly huge and has HEAPS of information. I requested their annual report and may even buy some shares.
I also looked at the ABC childcare group in NZ. Their parent company in Australia seems to have gone bankrupt (or whatever companies do - should probably learn that word before I start an MBA!), but the NZ part is fine apparently - shares are incredibly low (or worthless possibly) and I'm guessing won't be for sale if the parent company goes down...I cheekily asked them for an annual report as well.
I did a bit of research on Suzanne Paul (a potential mentor??!!)..I was surprised to learn that she won season 3 of Dancing with the Stars. Things you miss when living in another country : )
Plus, watched and enjoyed Rocky 2 with Seiji with morning and a bit of Summer of Sam good Spike Lee stuff with the sexy and under-rated John Leguizamo.
I got so much done today:
I posted thank-you / congratulation messages to:
- Yoshiko's parents for the present of lovely clothes that they gave to Rai
- Mr. Nishi in Beppu who chairs the Oita Prefecture New Zealand Friendship Association and got onto NZ's New Year Honours List (I met him many times when I lived in Beppu and often went to his house for barbecues and to watch rugby - he couldn't speak a word of English - or, for me, intelligible Japanese - but he is a great guy)
- Maki and Garreth's twin boys Sean and Kieran (sp?) - born in the middle of last year!
A New Year's card to Randy in Beppu, whom I saw at Yoshiko's wedding and had a great time catching up with.
Plus some administrative stuff - airpoints membership for Rai and a subscription to O (Oprah) magazine for me.
I also tried to check out Seiji's student loan status...have a feeling we should pay off his loan while the exchange rate is good...he owes about $10,000 which would be nice to be rid of.
I bought lots of things at the 100 yen shop for Seiji (medical masks because the poor man has a terrible cold) and for me (hooks to hang my coat and umbrella on at work, and other exciting things like that).
I realised that bookshops in Japan don't sell gift cards like in NZ - they have special stationery shops for that. It was quite a hassle because the two bookshops I went to only had a very small range of cards....something they should reconsider! (similar to post offices here which sell hardly any packaging at all, and no envelopes as far as I can tell - crazy!).
I am still interested in business stuff....and doing an MBA...info here and here.
I enjoyed looking at the Benesse website today - I thought it would be all Japanese and painful to read, but they have an excellent English website. The company is truly huge and has HEAPS of information. I requested their annual report and may even buy some shares.
I also looked at the ABC childcare group in NZ. Their parent company in Australia seems to have gone bankrupt (or whatever companies do - should probably learn that word before I start an MBA!), but the NZ part is fine apparently - shares are incredibly low (or worthless possibly) and I'm guessing won't be for sale if the parent company goes down...I cheekily asked them for an annual report as well.
I did a bit of research on Suzanne Paul (a potential mentor??!!)..I was surprised to learn that she won season 3 of Dancing with the Stars. Things you miss when living in another country : )
Plus, watched and enjoyed Rocky 2 with Seiji with morning and a bit of Summer of Sam good Spike Lee stuff with the sexy and under-rated John Leguizamo.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday, lovely Wednesday
Today, I taught only one class at Meisei but managed to be there from 9:30am to 5pm.
I got a lot done, including cleaning out my office, putting up a mirror (yes, I'm vain), sorting out a grading system for my 1a class and having a meeting with Declan about the syllabus for the IIc class. Also, the DVDs I ordered back in December arrived - so exciting! Now the DVD library will be up-to-date. I hope to use some of the DVDs in my classes.
I also had a good meeting with Tim about next year's 1b class - we worked out what would be good to use in the lowest level class (the focus is reading and writing, but we decided a four-skills approach was more appropriate). The students are almost absolute beginners, some being unable to read English properly, so it will be a challenge to teach..I'm looking forward to it!
I will have all the students buy a folder which will be kept in the classroom (no more excuses about forgotten sheets, etc) and become their writing portfolio. I will also do grammar worksheets out of the 100 yen grammar books, get them to buy a dictionary if their phone dictionary doesn't work, and do a few more, well, exciting things - graded readers, DVDs etc etc.
I got a lot done, including cleaning out my office, putting up a mirror (yes, I'm vain), sorting out a grading system for my 1a class and having a meeting with Declan about the syllabus for the IIc class. Also, the DVDs I ordered back in December arrived - so exciting! Now the DVD library will be up-to-date. I hope to use some of the DVDs in my classes.
I also had a good meeting with Tim about next year's 1b class - we worked out what would be good to use in the lowest level class (the focus is reading and writing, but we decided a four-skills approach was more appropriate). The students are almost absolute beginners, some being unable to read English properly, so it will be a challenge to teach..I'm looking forward to it!
I will have all the students buy a folder which will be kept in the classroom (no more excuses about forgotten sheets, etc) and become their writing portfolio. I will also do grammar worksheets out of the 100 yen grammar books, get them to buy a dictionary if their phone dictionary doesn't work, and do a few more, well, exciting things - graded readers, DVDs etc etc.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
If I had a million dollars....
Apart from all the usual, holidays, great food, buy a house etc etc...if I won a million dollars, I would love to set up some enterprise that does good in society - whilst still making a profit! I would love to develop a company in NZ that employs lot of people, especially people who need some support getting back on their feet...
I would also like to set up something to help families...similar to Plunket...
Which brings me to my latest scheme and that is setting up a service like one that exists here in Japan. You can sign up to a company called Benesse's service and they send a pack out each month to your house with toys, books, DVDs, etc for your child. The toys / books are all based around a character called Shimajiro and his friends. The packs also include advice for parents and I think this is what NZ needs more of.
The packs are really good, because you choose the level appropriate to the age of your child - so all the toys are age-appropriate, and the books etc introduce various skills that children can work on that suit their age. Benesse also makes excellent use of their database of customers for this service, by sending out catalogues / promotions etc for other goods and services. E.g. they also have a frozen food (mainly lunch-box contents) service that really helps out working mothers here in Japan.
Ever since I first saw the Shimajiro goods, I have wanted to start something similar in NZ - but there are a few barriers - namely, the market is much smaller in NZ, so the economies of scale are not as great (the packs in Japan only cost $15 - $30 a month - an absolute bargain for what you get). Plus, I am not a huge organisation like Benessse with 1000s of staff. I also don't have the skills (or interest in getting the skills!) to produce educational materials for children and parents.
I realised (yes, at 5am this morning), that a true entrepreneur would
A. Not wait until they had $1 million to do these things
B. ORGANISE people who have the right skills to produce the packs / do whatever is needed
In fact, in NZ, there are already many great groups that could work together to do this
e.g. Plunket / Treasures magazine / Tots to Teens / NZ Post / Children's toy distributors / the Warehouse etc etc
Lots of companies would be keen to sponsor it too...
So, now, instead of doing a PhD on learner autonomy (I'll just publish some small papers instead and do the conference thing)...I might do an MBA next year. I've always wanted to do one, but never really had a business idea to work on. Now I do.
I would also like to set up something to help families...similar to Plunket...
Which brings me to my latest scheme and that is setting up a service like one that exists here in Japan. You can sign up to a company called Benesse's service and they send a pack out each month to your house with toys, books, DVDs, etc for your child. The toys / books are all based around a character called Shimajiro and his friends. The packs also include advice for parents and I think this is what NZ needs more of.
The packs are really good, because you choose the level appropriate to the age of your child - so all the toys are age-appropriate, and the books etc introduce various skills that children can work on that suit their age. Benesse also makes excellent use of their database of customers for this service, by sending out catalogues / promotions etc for other goods and services. E.g. they also have a frozen food (mainly lunch-box contents) service that really helps out working mothers here in Japan.
Ever since I first saw the Shimajiro goods, I have wanted to start something similar in NZ - but there are a few barriers - namely, the market is much smaller in NZ, so the economies of scale are not as great (the packs in Japan only cost $15 - $30 a month - an absolute bargain for what you get). Plus, I am not a huge organisation like Benessse with 1000s of staff. I also don't have the skills (or interest in getting the skills!) to produce educational materials for children and parents.
I realised (yes, at 5am this morning), that a true entrepreneur would
A. Not wait until they had $1 million to do these things
B. ORGANISE people who have the right skills to produce the packs / do whatever is needed
In fact, in NZ, there are already many great groups that could work together to do this
e.g. Plunket / Treasures magazine / Tots to Teens / NZ Post / Children's toy distributors / the Warehouse etc etc
Lots of companies would be keen to sponsor it too...
So, now, instead of doing a PhD on learner autonomy (I'll just publish some small papers instead and do the conference thing)...I might do an MBA next year. I've always wanted to do one, but never really had a business idea to work on. Now I do.
Update
I tend to dislike posts where the poster starts by apologising for not posting, so I'm not going to do that. But I will try to sum up the past few weeks, if only for my own benefit, as memories seem to fade faster than cheap coloured paper in the sun.
- Trip to NZ from December 17th-January 7th -
- Christmas - great presents, great food
- My father's 60th birthday
- Cute cousins
- A new baby
- Good friends - morning teas, afternoon teas, BBQs
- The Dominion Post
- TV ONE with my mother
- Walks for Rai with my father
- Petone Rec ground, a soccer ball and icecream in cones
- Food - fish and chips, Vogel's bread, licorice, Wholly Bagel's
- "Working" at the coolest shop in Petone
- The beach - at Petone, at Eastbourne, at Oriental Bay
- An exchange rate that made everything cost only the equivalent of 2 cents
- Movies and a good boy on the plane going back to Japan
- Flowers and a clean toilet from my husband
ABSOLUTE BLISS
And now we are back in Japan
- chilly but beautiful clear days and amazing night skies with the brightest star I have ever seen (perhaps Sirius, or perhaps not a star at all, Mars?, I must check whether it twinkles or not)
- lovely students appreciative of candy cane souvenirs
- last classes at Soka University (will miss it, but am glad of the break)
- an excellent gig on Saturday - the star Michael Boustany, the audience 1/2/ Meisei half something else and my husband all included
- mochi and sushi, of course
- good gas heating
- deep baths
- our new Exercycle to make me feel virtuous
- witnessing a gorgeous butoh dance performance
- all the other things to discover over the next year
OTANOSHIMI NI
- Trip to NZ from December 17th-January 7th -
- Christmas - great presents, great food
- My father's 60th birthday
- Cute cousins
- A new baby
- Good friends - morning teas, afternoon teas, BBQs
- The Dominion Post
- TV ONE with my mother
- Walks for Rai with my father
- Petone Rec ground, a soccer ball and icecream in cones
- Food - fish and chips, Vogel's bread, licorice, Wholly Bagel's
- "Working" at the coolest shop in Petone
- The beach - at Petone, at Eastbourne, at Oriental Bay
- An exchange rate that made everything cost only the equivalent of 2 cents
- Movies and a good boy on the plane going back to Japan
- Flowers and a clean toilet from my husband
ABSOLUTE BLISS
And now we are back in Japan
- chilly but beautiful clear days and amazing night skies with the brightest star I have ever seen (perhaps Sirius, or perhaps not a star at all, Mars?, I must check whether it twinkles or not)
- lovely students appreciative of candy cane souvenirs
- last classes at Soka University (will miss it, but am glad of the break)
- an excellent gig on Saturday - the star Michael Boustany, the audience 1/2/ Meisei half something else and my husband all included
- mochi and sushi, of course
- good gas heating
- deep baths
- our new Exercycle to make me feel virtuous
- witnessing a gorgeous butoh dance performance
- all the other things to discover over the next year
OTANOSHIMI NI
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