Exams To Become A Teacher

I am going to take an exam to work as a regular teacher at a public school.
Each prefecture or each city holds the exam, so as long as the exam dates are not overlapped, you can take any exam.
In my case, I applied for six municipalities: Tokyo, Nagoya, Okayama, Kagawa, Ehime, and Tokushima.
There are two steps to be passed to be hired as a regular teacher.
On each weekend in July, I need to take the exam of one of the municipalities.
The first one will be held in Okayama on July 7th.
I hope to pass and work at public school next school year.

Different Views

Donald Trump previously made a speech about being successful and he said that “if you want vacations, you are not in the right business.”
Now, I can’t wait for the weekends and, on Mondays, I feel very lethargic.
Three months have passed since I started to work for the elementary school.
I like to play with the kids by doing exercises on breaks but I don’t really like to work at school every day.
If I had enough money without working, I want to read more books and want to study abroad to enhance my English skills.
I know at least I need to work, but I foresee my future with wider views without sticking to working at school.

Unicycle

When I was a kid, I practiced riding unicycle so much.
In the current school I work for, there are unicycles provided for its students which they can learn and use on school breaks.
To my surprise, I can still ride it even if I had not done so for decades.
While I was still awkwardly practicing with it, a third-grade girl came up to me and said “I’ll teach you how to ride a unicycle.”
She kindly took my hand and cheered me up while we were riding side by side.
I don’t know her name but, whenever I meet her, she says, “Let’s ride a unicycle again.”
I am planning to practice it today and I hope to meet her at the school ground.

YouTube Channel

I have been making videos for my YouTube channel titled “Learning Japanese for Men.”
Eight videos were already made and there is one subscriber, my friend.
He lives in America and studies Japanese.
He kindly said that my videos were interesting and fun.
I will continue to make my videos until I get 1,000 subscribers.
Once you get that number of subscribers, you can put ads on each video and get money from the videos.
It is still a long way to reach the 1,000 subscriber point, but I will produce my new videos day by day.
If I can make money through my channel, I will have confidence in myself and it will be a motivation for making more videos.

Field Trip

I joined an annual school field trip this Monday and Tuesday.

After riding a bus for an hour, we arrived at a facility in Yashima, Takamatsu.

Each group made a raft and sailed near the beach by themselves.

At night, we did a campfire at the field in the dark forest.

On Tuesday, we enjoyed flying disc and making their own wooden board.

In the process of making the boards, they put the board above the fire and burned them intentionally to add a black color on the surface.

At the end of the trip, they looked tired but we were very satisfied for the two days outside school.

Sessions for Instructor

I joined a session yesterday to get a license for a certified sports instructor.
Yesterday’s session was our first out of six.
We can take our qualifying exam on the sixth session.
We can add this in our resume when we pass the exam and obtain a certificate.
There were twenty nine participants including me.
Most of them looked older than I am.
We did recreation exercises and aerobics.
To be honest, I was not quite happy with the exercises because they were suitable for elderly people.
I expected more intense exercises.
After all, the session was free for all so I just want to enjoy what the session can offer to all of us.

Lunch with My Childhood Friend

I had lunch with my childhood friend at a restaurant yesterday.
She and I went to the same elementary, junior high, and high school in Ehime Prefecture.
Both of us now live in Kagawa Prefecture.
We didn't have any other classmates who went to the same schools except us.
One year has passed since I met her.
She is taking her maternity leave now to raise her second kid.
She will go back to her work as a pharmacist at the end of this month.
We built the same career until the end of high school, but currently we have different lifestyles.
After talking about her daily lives with kids, I thought being a single is a reasonable option for me.

Pension

In the future, current labors will receive less pension than what the current pensioners get.
On the age of 65 will be the first year citizens receive their pension in Japan.
Our country's elderly population is increasing while the number of young generation is decreasing.
Taking into the situation, current working people have to pay more taxes than before.
To make matters worse, you cannot get the same or more pension compared to the tax you paid when you were working.
Finance Ministry revealed that you cannot live with the amount of pension that you'll going to receive because the allowance will be sure to reduce.
You need to save money thinking about your life after retirement.

Early Leaving

4:30 p.m. is the usual finishing time of my job.
Yesterday, I left the school at 1:30 p.m., because the other teachers joined meetings.
The other teachers are employed by the prefectural office, but I am employed by the city office.
We work at the same school, but there are several working styles such as a temporary role, an assistant role, and a part-time role.
Since I am working as an assistant, my contract is different from the others.
After leaving the school, I enjoyed the free time by going to an udon restaurant, going to the gym for workout, and taking a nap.
In the future, I want to be able to earn enough money only working in the morning.

Foreigners Living in Japan

Since I was a university student, I have admired foreigners who work in Japan.
For foreigners, living in Japan is not so easy because of the language and our shyness.
We Japanese couldn't express our true feelings in words. 
You need to sense it by keenly observing their facial and body movements.
I also want to live abroad and experience the life of being a foreigner.
I prefer to live in a city not in the countryside.
I also want to live in a cool temperature rather than in a very cold or tropical place.
If I don't pursue this dream, I will regret my life forever.
I will seriously now make plans to make my dream a reality.

Bad Words in English

There is an assistant language teacher from America in our school.
She comes to our school only on Tuesdays.
For the rest of the weekdays, she works for different schools in the area where our school is.
Yesterday, after work, I learned English bad words from her.
She kindly wrote them down on a sheet and explained them dividing in five levels.
The words of level one can be used by children but level five words can cause fighting.
I’ve heard most of the expressions, but some of them were not familiar to me.
There aren’t any foreigners expect her so nobody understands the English bad words in the school.
I will try to use the minor ones at school to get used to the bad words.

Videos on Japanese Language

I am making YouTube videos of teaching Japanese language for men.
There are many videos that explain about Japanese, but there aren’t any videos that explains words for men.
The length of each video is within one minute.
I am planning to make a video every day.
In order to find good words, I will read magazines, listen to songs, and watch videos for men.
I am going to explain the words in English, so any English speakers who want to learn Japanese will enjoy the videos.
I want to see how many people will watch my videos.
If possible, I want to make money through the videos by putting ads.

Tennis Tournament

I joined a doubles tennis tournament yesterday.
Fortunately, our pair took second place. 
We got a certificate and a 1,500 yen coupon ticket each for the tennis shop.
I regret some of the points in the last match because if I have got the point, we might have won the last match.
At least, I noticed what I would have to practice, so I will focus on the return practice to win the same opponent next time.
Joining a tournament is a good way to know my weakness and also competing makes my nerves strong.
I will look for another tournament I can join in the near future.

Rainy Season

It rained heavily yesterday and it was dark all day long.
I liked the humid air and gloomy sky because it soothed me and it gave me a peace of mind.
At this time, it is still summer season, but it had made us feel that rainy season has just begun.
Farmers are preparing for rice planting and paddy fields are being filled with water from the rain and water channels.
After a rainy day, it seems like a very clear weather today and the temperature is going to be high later in the afternoon as predicted by our weatherman.
I will do my best in today’s tennis tournament.

New Skills

Japanese Lifetime Employment System is said to have collapsed, because even Toyota expressed that it needs to keep their workers employed over their retirement age. 
Also, it isn’t surprising that employees in their 40’s and 50’s can be laid off suddenly.
Public employees are encouraged early retirement as well to reduce personnel expenses.
Based on these current situations, you need to have some specific skills and experiences to stand out from others.
It’s difficult to develop some skills while working, so I need to do something new after work to secure my future.
I’ll try to do anything extra and if I find a reasonable one, I’ll continue to do it.

Short Driving

I met a woman last Sunday at a match making party.
She and I went out for dinner 2 days later after the party.
She has been going to a driving school and get a driver's license.
Yesterday, I went to the driving school to pick her up after work.
On my way to thee, I was pretty excited to see and talk to her.
I still don’t know much about her, but I hope I can know more about her as we go out on dates again and again.
She needs to take a final exam next week, so she needs to prepare for it.
I hope that she will pass the exam and continue to have dates even after she passes or not her driving lessons.

Tennis After Work

I am going to join a tennis tournament this Sunday.
My doubles partner is my friend from the same college.
Yesterday, I practiced tennis alone after work in the evening.
Doing exercise during that time is very comfortable because of the cool breeze and beautiful sunset.
While playing tennis, I thought that time after work passes quickly but time during work passes very slow.
In order to survive, I need to make some amount of money, so I need to work.
An idea always comes up to my mind that if I can make money after working a few hours, how my life can be more exciting.
I will study more to accomplish my ideal life.

Dinner at A Restaurant

I went out for dinner last night with a woman whom I met last Sunday at a party.
After finishing my job, I went to the driving school to pick her up and went to a Japanese style restaurant with her.
The garden and interior of the restaurant was very beautiful. 
Furthermore, each dish was very delicious.
We also enjoyed talking about our recent interests and our ideas for the future.
It was my first time to meet her after the party, so I was very nervous at first.
However, as we talked further, I felt at ease throughout the conversation.
I hope to see her again this week.

A Teacher from America

Once or twice a week, an American English teacher teaches English to our students.
I enjoy talking to her because I like to listen to her stories about her experiences with the Japanese teachers, students and the schools.
That is because I like to hear her experiences in Japan and to share our complaints for our work.
We also get to talk about our complaints about our work.
She is very energetic and she loves to talk to any Japanese she meets to keep on practicing her Japanese communication skill. 
She is very fluent already in speaking this language even if she has only been staying in Japan for 10 months.
She teaches English at three schools and ours is one of them.
She comes to school to teach every Tuesday, sometimes on Wednesdays.
I love to listen her stories about teachers from the other schools she visits for me to learn what approach I can do when I encounter similar situations as hers.
Sometimes she feels useless because the Japanese English teachers would continue teaching while she would only be standing or seated in the classroom.
Also her schedule sometimes changes because of a Japanese teacher’s absence whom she has to replace.
I am looking forward to meeting her today at school.

Party

I joined a match making party yesterday.
There were about twenty men and women in the big room.
After talking with each woman, the men are allowed to choose three  whom we want to talk with again.
Luckily, a woman had a caught my attention and my interest. 
She has the same feelings toward me.
One of the rules is that when you are chosen as a couple it means you can talk to each other exclusively during the party.
We could exchange our contacts without being a couple, but being a couple means a lot to me.
After the party, we walked together to the station. 
I made it a point to see her off the station.
Yesterday I sent her a text message to confirm our dinner date and she agreed to go out with me on Tuesday.
I am looking forward to meeting her this Tuesday again.

Bar

I went to a bar alone in Takamatsu City last night.
While I was walking at a shopping area, I found the signboard of the bar and entered.
The atmosphere inside was more impressive than I expected, so I was tense at first.
But the owner kindly guided me to a seat.
Takamatsu City is a little bit far from my home, so I can go there only on weekends.
The owner told me about a bar called “Silence Bar” in Marugame City, where I live.
According to the owner, Silence Bar is very dark and quiet.
I will go to the bar tonight to see what it is like.

YouTuber

I watched a YouTube video of a Japanese blogger who earns fifty thousand dollars per month from his blog.
He runs his blog titled “manablog” which introduces programming skills in very simple ways.
He changes his living place frequently in South Asian countries, because he can do his job with his laptop only.
Besides running his blog, he posts YouTube videos almost every day.
Now, he lives in Singapore, but in previous videos, he said he lived in Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Being able to work anywhere is my ideal work style.
I will act based on his advice to accomplish my dream in life.

My Own Blog

I made my own blog yesterday about book reviews of Japanese old books.
There are many websites which provide free blog services, but I made it from obtaining an original URL and renting a server.
Additionally, I registered Google Absence, so I hope to make money through the blog.
Although I need to pay about ten dollars per month for using the server, I think I can get profit from the website after a few months by increasing daily readers.
I can make money (probably) and increase knowledge by running the blog.
I am curious about how many people will visit my blog.

New Blog

I was making my own blog from the beginning yesterday.
First, I got my own URL for the blog and rented a server.
It took about four hours, but I did the tasks without any break times.
The blog is about book reviews of Japanese classic books.
I still need to revise the blog and to increase the posts to make the blog widely known.
I will post my reviews every day to make the readers satisfy with different posts.
Reading at least one book is required to post every day.
It can be hard at first, but reading books will be a good practice for myself.
I want to make meaningful blogs for people around the world.

Phone Call

I’ve got a phone call last night from a college in America.
I was taking a nap at that time and I woke up with my ring tone.
I didn’t check who was calling me before answering the call.
The speaker was using English so I was surprised to hear that.
She called me to introduce their MBA program after checking my TOEFL score.
If you get a good score on TOEFL, some organization or school may contact you to invite.
I am not interested in taking an MBA degree so I said no to their offer.
However, the call made my will of going abroad stronger, so I will study more in order to accomplish my dream.

Working at College

When I think about my dream job, working at a college as a lecturer is my best option.

Elementary school teachers always have to be with their students and it is very tiring for me.

High school teachers have to join club activities every day, so they don’t have time to study for themselves and to enjoy their lives after school.

College lecturers can focus on researching and preparing for their lessons.

Although, even for college lectures, there are some tasks besides the subjects they teach, but the amount is not as much as what elementary and high school teachers have.

I will study more in order to get this dream job in the near future.

Documentary on Donald Trump

I watched a documentary titled “American Dream,” which featured how Donald Trump became the President of the U.S.A.
There were several episodes and I watched the first one, “Manhattan.”
He took over his father’s construction business when New York was called “Fear City.”
To revitalize the city, he planned to construct a large hotel and he got a tax deduction from the City Mayor's municipality.
Then, Trump Tower made him famous worldwide, but around that period, Mr. Trump started to insult politicians, especially the mayor of New York.
That is because the mayor didn’t allow Mr. Trump to get another tax reduction for his new constructions.
During an interview, he said he would be the president of the country if he lost his job three decades ago.
I want to watch the following episodes to learn about him.

Dating App

I registered a dating app called Tinder yesterday with a hope of making friends with foreigners.
My American friend introduced me the app and I tried to use it for the first time.
You can use the app for free at the beginning, but you have to pay in order to use its more functions such as checking pictures unlimited and sending messages.
The price is not that high so I paid the fee and started to use the app to the full extent.
I am not sure if I can make friends with the app but I will continue to use it until I get some friends.

Dinner with Colleagues

Last night, after work, our school had a dinner party to reward our efforts for Sports Day and Open Day.
There were about thirty colleagues in the party.
We gathered at a restaurant which is located in the city center at 6:30 p.m. 
The event started with the principal giving a speech of appreciation.
Then we ate dinner and chat.
The dishes were very good with fish and vegetables.
I personally didn't like to join a second party, so I quickly left the restaurant and went to a gym for a workout.
Afterwards I was so tired that I wanted to take enough rest for the coming week.