A New Teacher from the Philippines

A new Filipino teacher came to our school last week as a member of the JET program. What I know about her is that she is from Pasig in Metro Manila, she graduated from the University of Santo Tomas, and she speaks only very basic Japanese now. She comes to our school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to teach English for the third, fourth, and fifth graders. It is her first time to come to Japan, so she still seems nervous and sometimes confused with Japanese school life. Five Filipino teachers have been deployed in our city as English teachers since August, so she has friends from her country. I want to talk with her more to know more about the Philippines and the cultural differences between us.

Discriminated Areas

Prejudices remain in Japanese society such as LGBT and sexual minorities. Also, people tend to prejudice the residents who live in certain areas. It is based on professions of hundreds of years ago. Those residents worked as, for example, disposing of dead bodies, which was thought of as a job for low-status people. People still prejudice the people who lived in the area. There are about one thousand areas in Japan that still experience this treatment. Sadly, the Japanese tend to look down people based on their birthplace. Personally, I often talk with non-Japanese people around the world, so I don’t care about such things in our society.

Autumn

Although it is still hot during the daytime, it is very comfortable to go outside at night and early in the morning. The temperature could go up to thirty degrees or more during the day, but it could go down up to twenty degrees when the sun sets. If ever I am asked on what's the best season in a year, I would say that it's the beginning of autumn because it’s neither hot nor cold. Spring also has the same temperature as the autumn, but I like the advent of the cold seasons in September. I prefer winter over summer because I easily feel hot and sweat a lot during summer. And I like winter because I don't feel much cold. I enjoy the best season for me by visiting many places.

New Routine

My priority is to study programming because getting the skills can bring me a sideline and can make it possible for me to work as an engineer beginning next April. The contract of my current job will end in March 2020 so, I hope to work as an engineer after that. 
I need to work from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to get home by 5 p.m. I will use the rest of the day to make time in studying programming. I used to go to the gym after work, but this time I do it before going to work. 
The new term began in our school yesterday. Now is the chance to make a new routine for the rest of the school year.

Studying Programming

During my free time besides work, I spend most of my time for studying programming recently. Yesterday, I was sitting in front of my lap top for more than six hours and was studying programming in an online school. If I miss one mark, such as {  }, the whole segment doesn’t work. But when the program worked as I imagined, it was very satisfying. I want to get a sideline of creating websites in December, when the curriculum is over, and want to do programming as my main career beginning from April, 2020. There seems to be many hardships to overcome to complete the curriculum, but I will keep studying slowly but surely.

One-Day Trip to Tokyo

I had a one-day trip to Tokyo yesterday. I went there to take an exam to become a public school teacher in Tokyo for the school year 2020-2021. The thirty-minute oral exam was not so difficult. The results will be delivered in the middle of October. After taking the exam, I went to eat dinner at Shinbashi, which is two stations from Tokyo Station. The name of the restaurant was "Muscle Restaurant", which serves healthy meals full of nutrition. The food and the shake I ordered were very delicious. I was surprised to see there were several female customers enjoying the food. I thought the restaurant was mainly for men but women also came to the restaurant. I came to like the capital city more because I like to see health-conscious independent women.  I look forward to living in Tokyo in 2020.

Flamenco

Siroco is a famous and skillfill flamenco dancer from Kyoto. The 37-year-old dancer is supposed to perform at the Tokyo International Forum in November with his Spanish akin. Now he teaches flamenco in Osaka and Kyoto with his wife.
When he was younger, he stayed in Spain to learn the dancing skills. Since he didn't have much money, he lived in a cave and made a fire to cook. For about a dacade, he went back and forth between Japan and Spain.
I think he can be called as a ideal "teacher", because he himself as a leading dancer in the world and he has brilliant records in flamenco. The true teachers should be at the top position in the field and have notable records. Only those people can motivate their students to learn more and this is my ideal career to pursue.