This is it! I am confirmed to start music school at BIMM through Univ of Sussex in Brighton, UK- the foundation degree in professional musicianship! In the california style beach town full of lesbians an hour from london! It’s exactly what I wanted! I almost can’t believe it!!! And the Uni even has archery, shaolin Kung Fu and horsemanship courses! I am set!
Archive for the ‘Ichihara’ Category
Earthquake update
2011 -
03.12
Dude, too tired to explain everything right now, but me and my stuff are okay. The oil refinery near my house exploded and I was evacuated- my boss came to take me to her house since she knew I wouldn’t understand the Japanese. I just got back into my house! Thanks for all your wellwishes! My boss had so much hospitality it was like a ryokan, so no real hardship… But especially after seeing the news I couldn’t sleep until 5am or so I was so pumped, ready for flight! But everything is okay now except my sky looks like LA Armageddon and were not supposed to be uncovered outside or breathe the air, and there is going to be chemical rain for over a week. The factory is still sending smoke up but is safe. Time for self care! I’ll tell you the exciting bits when I have the energy. Love!
I know I’m forgetting people in my dazed state- please spread the word if you think of people. Shower now.
Sent from my iPod
Winter Singing Gig!
2010 -
12.13
Having mentioned that I was a jazz singer, my boss asked me to sing at the company party today! I sang:
- Let it snow
- White Christmas
- Winter Wonderland
- The Christmas Song
- I’ve got my love to keep me warm
It was a great experience. Everyone complimented me earnestly and I really enjoyed myself. It was great to be up on stage again, and especially considering the weird issues with dehydration I’ve had recently, I am happy with my performance. One person said that they didn’t think the audience truly appreciated what an artist they had in front of them, and that really gave me the confidence to apply to music school. I am realizing, once again, that many people literally can’t hold a tune, many people have pitch but no control or expression, and the fact that I can do what I can do is a rare talent that I should never take for granted. I can’t imagine what it would be like for me if I loved music the way I do but hadn’t been gifted with the voice I have. I should sing every day as a celebration of my fortune! And while being on stage I also remembered the aspects of my singing that I have always wanted to improve; my shy body movements during instrumentals, my confidence in belting and chest voice, my willingness to woo the audience and take myself seriously… all of the work I have done on myself in general is contributing to these areas, and the idea that in the near future I will be able to focus exclusively on becoming the best singer I can be is just a dream come true!
Then, after the party, a bunch of us went out to this cute bar and then to karaoke, where I sang Iron Maiden, Nightwish and some awesome classic duets with my new friends. I’m glad we did the karaoke AFTER my gig because I completely killed my voice being Bruce Dickenson, but ‘Bring your daughter to the slaughter’ was really satisfying, and Wishmaster was just hilarious as always– apparently my air guitaring was impressive because I got cheers for rocking out. I so need to learn that instrument when I am at rock school. It was so refreshing to hang out with other people (at all) and also to hear their Japanese… truly inspiring about what is possible. As soon as I am done applying for music schools I am going to throw myself in to learning as much Japanese as possible before I leave this awesome country. I had an awesome time with Dave, Kevin, Vanessa, Erin, Corey, Jack and I’m sure some other peeps I am forgetting! I hope we can continue to hang out together as much as possible! Though it is always a challenge to balance all my personal quests with a social life, since I spend every non-working waking moment writing, singing, studying or exercising. Oh, what a life! and Katherine will be here in 9 days! I am so happy!
Also, I need to give myself full props for having the courage to wear a sexy bright red size 10 dress given my body issues! But I just couldn’t be a jazz singer without a sexy dress. Seeing the video is a reality check for both how much I really am going to love being in shape again AND how much more in touch with my body I am now than I’ve ever been, even when I was my proper weight, because of all the work I’ve been doing. This week my food groove was off because it suddenly got cold and my body’s needs shifted, but next week I have a better idea of how to do a winter version of my food routine, so alls well. I also got support about my weight and healthy lifestyle from Dave and Corey, which was awesome. Also got to chat about queer stuff with Dave, which was so therapeutic… I hadn’t realized how much I missed my usual dose of gay, and it was nice to be out to real humans instead of pretending to be Joe American at school. All in all, this day was fantastic!
Teaching has become manageable!
2010 -
09.14
Just a quick post to say that teaching has now become doable. It is no longer eating my every waking hour and giving me nightmares. I ride my new folding bike to school, prep in the space between classes, teach increasingly better, then ride home and do my ‘real’ life. So the crazy time has passed and I am spending a lot of time focusing on my novel and other awesome projects that I will mention in a later post.
Second week so much better already
2010 -
09.07
Today I feel proud of myself, accomplished and competent! This weekend I made myself relax and not prep, as I had prepping burn out and wasn’t really retaining anything. So after deciding to prep in a general sense, and use the little pauses in class to insto-prep, my classes were all successful, I didn’t make my bosses nervous by seeming unsure about the schedule, and I taught the best I have so far. So yay for relaxing! And tonight I didn’t bring home the books to prep with at all. Now I get dinner and am going to watch something. Only down thing was battling ants when I got home- apparently you have to have covered garbage cans, so shopping time! And I was able to scare the ants away with incense and rubbing lavender deodorant all over their tracks, so my hippie sensibilities are intact. bbye!
First week of teaching
2010 -
09.05
I am so overwhelmed that I don’t know where to start. I forgot how much the learning curve of a new teaching job sucks the life out of me. I begin to forget that I am anything but a teacher, and have any responsibilities or rights outside of being a teacher. I have 28 classes a week with over 75 students across 11 different curricula (4 main categories). Each of the 4 categories of curricula has a specific formula for delivering content, rituals for each transition in class, and even verbal patterns that the kids depend on for knowing what is expected. I learned in my first kids’ class that they literally only know the vocabulary, sentence patterns and instructions that they have been taught before: the difference between an ESL environment (where English is spoken around them outside of class) and the EFL environment that is Japan. I had understood this intellectually during my training, but the impact on the classroom environment is staggering. So much of what I do to entertain my native English students in my previous schools just confuse the poor students here. And I am learning quickly that “sit down” will always result in them sitting, while “have a seat” makes them all look at me funny. (more…)
I got the job! I can stay in Japan!!!
2010 -
07.26
And it’s at the location I wanted! And they even offered to let me stay in their guest house for only $10 a day (half as expensive as the cheapest hostel) until my job starts on August 16th! Then I have a week of training, a week of paid observation, and then I start work! Holy crap! Yayayayayayayayayayay! Relieved does not even begin to describe how I feel! There is still a chance that I may have to leave the country to go get my visa, which means I would have to borrow money, but since I have a job I really could pay it back!
The people there seem really kind and find my enthusiasm amusing, so I think this is a good fit. I am going to get a packet of info by email today, which I sign and fax back over to them to confirm my acceptance of the position. Then I need to dye my hair, acquire business clothes and my textbooks from home, and then start preparing to teach and get ready to do the dance of becoming a resident of Japan!
I will be living in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture; and hour away from Tokyo by train and an hour away from the beach. I am eventually going to get a scooter for beach runs. I was pretty sure they were going to offer me a job, but I was afraid it would be the other position, way out in Gunma, hours away from Tokyo… so yay! AND I get to stop applying for jobs every day! *jumps around* And today is 2 months exactly from leaving Boston!