The image above is the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, which at almost four kilometres in length is the world's longest suspension bridge. And in just over a month's time, this bridge will be one of our local attractions.You may or may not be aware by now that Matt and I have been placed as JETs in Kobe. The purpose of this blog is for us to keep our friends and family apprised of our adventures in Japan, both in pictures and in words. Though we can't yet be sure what the internet access is like over there, we will try to update it as often as possible.
Feel free to drop us a line!
P.S. The title of the blog is a rather poetic line (well, we think so, anyway) from William Gibson's Neuromancer. Gibson has set many of his novels in Japan--albeit a very futuristic and Western image of Japan (think Blade Runner)--but so far it's the only Japan we know. We are about to get "schooled."
28 comments:
hey miss have u opened my prezzie??
Yes David, I have. I absolutely love it!!
Glad you messaged--I was going to chase up your PCG teacher to pass on my thanks.
P.S. I'll draft my blog entries before I post them to ensure I haven't made any spelling mistakes!
Haha Miss. You shouldn't make any mistakes..you ARE an english teacher :P
imagine..you get all the japanese kids spelling things wrong haha
can you remember how many times our class has corrected you? well this years class and last year!
hey miss!!
hows u going!! hows the holidays!! me and sam are going to miss riting u our friday letters! but dont worry, u will styl get them, cuz we can ryt them on here!! how awesome lol!! we promise we will fill u in with everything!! lol!! have funn in JAPAN!! xx brieza
Hey Miss...
we are also gonna draw pictures and scan them and send them to you :D
have fun
sam xx
I look forward to it. I showed Matt the fantastic picture you drew of us; I think the brightly couloured crotch area of the pants makes him look like a superhero.
:D that was brie's lovey work lol......does he like our pictures..cos personally i think we are very artistically skilled.
heya Miss:D
hows it going?? hope you plan on enjoying yourself...
will keep a nice little eye on this site in hope of any new details:P
dont get too frustrated with the Japanese if they spell a few words incorrectly
Daniel Makarounas
PS. We will miss YOU!
How are you? Have you left yet? It's a bit sad to lose your favourite teachers, and I should know. I hope you have a great time in Japan!
HIIIIIIIII MISSSSSSSSSSS!!! :P
I can do that over the net too XD
hows it going over there? your missing Aussie Idol!! :o how could you?! haha :P
i really hate miss thorpe. I think everyone does. We are going to try and fire her for writing "slut" on the bored. Miss Griffin was fired!! now all the good teachers are gone :(
and your missing the Oliver production!! and im backstage crew!! thats NOT cool!! lol :P
anyways..miss you heaps
<3 Hayley xx
hey miss nicoletti!
I understand that you would have been in Japan.. for what, now about two days?
What is it like there? How was your flight?
English is rather dull now that you've gone. We all miss you a lot!!
I couldn't help but notice you spelt 'coloured' wrong. hehe
When do you actually start teaching/working?
well, good luck for the first couple of weeks.
Kym =]
you know, i agree with Hayley. all the good teachers are leaving. It stinks. You were alot more fun as our english teacher for the term we had you, than the new teacher. mrs paul is nice enough, but she hasn't taught us much. english is a bit depressing now. we've had quite a few lessons of solid silence now, with the only noises coming from joel. stupid noises too.:) i hope your enjoying your time in japan
-briony
Hello: I'm just testing as every other comment I have written deletes instead of posting.
Hello guys:
This is Ms Nicoletti, I'm signing in under anonymous as when I do using my sign in name it keeps deleting.
It's very exciting here in Japan; however, the weather is very, very humid and when we cook with the gas stove in out apartment it turns into a sauna.
Much to my delight there are lots of friendly cats here, which diminishes some of my sadness at leaving my beautiful little cat Dill. There are also a lot of students (or at least there will be, it's currently school holidays), yet this do not diminish my sadness at leaving you guys.
On the subject of school holidays, students here come in to practice their extra-curricular activities (which are compulsory) even during their school holidays--I guess that's why Japan is not called the lucky country like Australia. Baseball, brass band, rock bands volleyball and kendo (a sport like fencing that uses sticks instead of swords)are big here.
I best be off or I'll miss my bus home, otherwise it's a long wait in the heat, or, worse, a hilly walk in the heat.
I'll try to get a proper post up next week.
Miss Nicoletti
hey Miss!!
ur so lucky its warm over there...its cold and rainy here.
U missed out on oliver..it was really good and i saw ur name in the program :)
When do u acctually start teaching??
i bet ur misisng mine and bries pictures on friday lol.
well hope ur having fun
miss you
sam xx
Hey!
You’re living in an apartment? So have you actually moved in somewhere now, instead of staying in a hotel? I love the way you mentioned your cat and then went straight onto us students. Almost like a comparison.
But still, yay! "yet this does not diminish my sadness at leaving you guys." We all feel loved, haha. I think I speak on behalf of all the kids in our class when I say that those Japanese kids better be grateful they have you!
It's great to hear from you =]
(well.. read)
Kym
I quite like your implied analysis of the juxtapositions in my comments Kym--very heartening. Indeed, I am missing the pictures, especially the representations of Matt in his red-crotched pants!
I'm settled in my apartment, it has one living room, a bedroom, kitchen/dining room and a bathroom/toliet/laundry (slashes indicate a multipurpose room).
The students don't start back until September 3rd, so I have lots of time to plan!
I haven't got the internet connected at home yet and I haven't brought the camera to school, but when either of these two happen I will post a picture of a really cool mobile (it's got a tv in it!). Here, instead of sms, mobiles send e-mails, which means that mobiles connect to the internet almost everywhere!
Miss Nicoletti
Woah, that's a rather long word! I have never seen that one before. Do you have a large vocabulary, or did you just use a thesaurus? haha.
How can you fit all of both of your things into what seems like such a small area? I could never fit all my belongings into such a place like that, and I'm only a fourteen-year-old!
That's great, approximately two weeks. So.. when will you be coming back to visit? Soon, right?
Right? Right? Right?
Joking. Goodluck teaching and such!
Kym
hayyyy missss!!
hows japan going???? are you having fun over there?
can i ask you a question miss?
can u please come back and take our english class back becaause i really dont like the new teacher no offence n i dunno if i shud say this but i think shes a bitch...she was going to call my parents today because i was laughing...thats sooo unfair!!...i dont think anyone likes her...she is soooo mean to us you were much nicer...i used to like english n was doing good at it but now i hate english and i think im being dummbed down =[ lolz
anywayyyss have fun in japan i hope you enjoy doing whatever you are doing there because english sucks over here! hehe
bye bye miss nicoletti take care
<3 Sam Le xx
PS dont worry about ur spelling mistakes because i think i have made alot of spelling mistakes. LOL
hae miss!
hows it goin in japan!
we recently had a japanese student,,but he left today :( he was pretti cute! bahaha
well i bet ur having loads of fun :)
the pics look preti awsum
not to make u feel sorri for us bak here but our english teacher isnt verii good
she sent me outside cause i sed ha,,one word and everiione else was talkin
im the good lil innocent one!:p haha
well yea have u learnt the language yet? it wud b pretti hard aii
well yea bye!
hae fun
Jesse Morganti :p
she called my mummy :( grrr miss thorpe
and she yelled at the topp of her lungs and i didn't even open my mouth i was just sitting there grr
we need u back miss
david whitehouse
Hi miss
its josh
how r u goin
hows japan
is it crowded
from our descriptions wat do u think about miss thorpe
hope ur havin a better time then i am
CYA
JOSH :-)
Hi guys: I hope you're not picking on Ms Thorpe. I remember being in high school--yes I can hear you say across the Pacific, "well it must be a distant, foggy memory of a youth that shimmered with hope and dreams of a life fantastic" (or something to that effect)--and I too remember classes where the teacher thought that talking (dare I say socialising) during class time was a definite no no. However, that Ms Thorpe does this is a testament to how seriously she takes your education and wants you to succeed. My suggestion is that you should take a leaf out of the books of the students I teach hear in Japan: a student's silence creates harmony, keeps the teacher harmonious and masks any disharmony in your understanding. Well don't adopt that last part--it's important to ask questions (in the appropriate way by raising your hand and waiting to be called upon of course) when you don't understand something otherwise you will never learn--a bridge I need to cross with my students over here. In short, follow Ms Thorpe's instructions without complaint and you will enjoy English much more!
miss were not piking on miss thorpe...shes piking on us....
i think shes being to serious with our eductaion....we've basically had an assignmnet every week nearly...we will get one then after its due we get another....thatz alot of work miss....
i shud really stop complaining now...u probally have heard a lot of complaining about miss thorpe already...anyways hows japan miss? what school do you teach at? hope ur having fun over there
sam le
Hey, u posted again!! Finally.
Picking on Miss Thorpe? - Not at all.
I gave her a fair chance and all, she's not so bad. (Besides the fact that she took over from possibly the best teacher ever!)
However, she doesn't exactly get in my good books when she accuses me of being a plagiarist. Of course I would do nothing of the sort!
Anyway, enough about Miss Thorpe, this isn't her blog now is it?
Seriously Miss Nicoletti, you need to use much smaller words or at least different synonyms for them! Your language is too advanced! I've had to read over some of your posts a few times to get the meaning.
We'll try to get by. Not having such a good teacher as you. Just interpret our complaints of Miss Thorpe as compliments to you! haha.
Not that I'm complaining... really.
Kym
hi miss :)
its karsen...your favourite!
can u please come back
i dont like our new teacher..no offence. your way coolera!!
have funn
xx karsen
Hi Matto!!
I'm Takatsuka girl.
I read your blog.
This picture is very beautiful!
I can see The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge from my house.
Please post beautiful pictures.
bye-bye
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