There are certainly a lot more Chinese and Koreans in Japan now. The main tourist areas commonly provide help in japanese, english, chinese and korean. Lots of adverts for chinese schools n lessons. But i am surprised that at the public bath i was at - there are more Chinese than Japanese.

And they are conspicious. Talking blatantly and loudly. Squeezing water from their towels on the floor directly. Making inappropriate jokes. Basically doing everything that will make a local squeal. Sure enough a japanese man near me was muttering under his breath and showing his disapproval.

I was so scared that they will talk to me in Chinese- forcing me to reply and give the game away. And the locals will then think i am an equally hopeless foreigner and associate me with them. Luckily they did not.

I did notice a Chinese speaking man who was also annoyed by these ill behaved Chinese. Turned out that he was Taiwanese lol. And then the taiwanese and the singaporean start talking to each other- and the japanese are probably none the wiser and think we are the same group as the Chinese. Ah the irony.

In japan!!

Here is something for someone who faithfully checks my blog even though i have not updated in months. And this poor person doesnt have whatsapp so i cannot talk to him with my free wifi in the hostel.

Past two days was more or less just orientating David to kyoto and tokyo - not the most exciting thing since i have been there so many times. Although dipping into an outdoor hot spring in the cold winter night spells SHIOK despite being surrounded by naked japanese men - both young and old, attractive and not. Of course onsens play an important part in any japan trip that i am involved in - and the one in my hotel in kyoto is just a boring plain one compared to the more exotic ones that i will be going to in the next few days, but still.

Now i am in fukuoka - kyushu, southern most of the four main islands, closer to Seoul than Tokyo, the starting point of my kyushu trip. And thanks to the easy access to free wifi nowadays i am spending more time on my ipad than my psp which was such a faithful companion on earlier trips. Which is also why i can blog about this on my ipad instead of fighting with other ppl at the hostel internet terminals or hunting down internet cafes. I am a digital

Age traveller!

For the longest time I have resisted updating my blog. My life is boring. The fact that I am stuck in a job with irregular working hours which forces me to give up many things I wanted makes me feel sad. If I blog, and all I can blog about is school and teaching, that only makes this fact all the more apparent in my face, which makes me even sadder.

So, yes, my life is a blank in my blog for the past few years. I make almost no mention of SAJC Student Council even though my life has largely revolved around it for the past 4 years. As much as I try to get out of it (and telling half the world..only to end up embarrassing myself in the end when I failed), I am still here. (when other newer teachers have come and gone)

Whatever it is ... probably will TRY to start blogging regularly from now on. Not necessarily for the two pesky brats, but for myself.

Sitting at the consultation benches waiting for students to print their InR...

JC2 boy sitting at the next bench bugging his maths tutor.

" Can you explain the integration by parts formula to me?"

( A levels Maths Paper 1 starts in 1 hour time)

* look of shock on maths tutor's face.....and then a look of resignation *

Totally unbelievable /faceslap/

Worn out from WoW

For the first time, I start to feel a little (just a little) sick of WoW. Don't get me wrong, throwing lightning bolts in the face of humanity's greatest evil and harnessing the power of nature to spam heals on my comrades is still fun, but with my guild being more or less defunct, there is just too much queueing and waiting for groups to form for my liking. And there is a limit to the number of times I want to level a toon to Lvl 80.

Also, the crazy PW period (WRs! OP dry-runs! InRs! Marking! Standardising!) means that I have to cut down on how much I play. And to my surprise.....I can survive.....not playing WoW for one whole week. Hee hee. See! How strong am I! * proud *

The look on your face last night really killed me.

I've never felt so guilty towards a student before, but this month I feel it twice. Two weeks ago, her words stung as she left the classroom - "Even if I have a real reason, you will also never understand." OUCH.

Then last night. Your sheepish, almost-tearing expression under the dim flourescent lamp. Squinting your eyes again like when we first met, which you fought so hard to overcome for the past months. OUCH.

But I believe I did what I have to do. I can only hope that you will also do what you need to do.

I can't remember who said this (i think it's zaoxiong).....those people who become teachers are those who enjoyed their own school experience so much that they join the teaching service in order to pretend they have not graduated. I used to dismiss this with a wave of my hand, but lately what he said came back to me and I have to wonder whether this is not true for myself.

* interruption * I was so exasperated with PW students begging me to tell them whether their written report is an EE (Exceeding Expectations) by now that I posted a threat in my msn nick. Sure enough, other people (i.e. non-students) start bombarding me and asking me whether they are an EE. Tsk tsk....grown ups are worse than students.

* back to emo mood * I haven't blogged in so long ....reading my own blog entries written two years ago which could have been written by a complete stranger. Have I changed so much in two years? Gosh... students that I was blogging about have already like GRADUATED. I didn't even blog anything about being a council teacher, and I have already been one for two years, all the ups and downs.

Teaching is slowly losing appeal for me. I mean, of course, all is good and fun now...but can I see myself eating supper with students or gossiping with them over lunch in 5 years time? 10 years? Gosh what a scary thought. I think I am not going to last if I don't make some mental preparation and adjustment.