I don’t feel like an old lady and I also don’t have issues with aging but it is quite interesting to think about my greatest dnb memories and realise that some of them happened like 20 odd years ago.
I do entertain the idea of venturing to Tokyo to go and bob my head to some of the dnb nights there, but as I was saying to my buddy Submorphics yesterday, I kinda have just reached the point where I would like to do that with just my friends. I really don’t have the desire anymore to make new friends and go rave with them. I want to rave with the ones I already have. Does that make me a horrible person? LOL.
I’m sitting here grading really bad grammar and listening to a dope Eastside Sessions. Japanese students aren’t really taught to express their feelings that much during classes, especially in their writing. A lot of their curriculum caters to the tests they will need to take to get into university. Kate and I try to incorporate this in our lessons a lot. We have seen amazing results and I get so excited about it, but the beginning stages of laying the groundwork are brutal.
Bad grammar is funny for like the first hour and then afterwards you just want to throw the papers across the room. I do know that it’s worth it though. I’ve seen the results. Our seniors wrote these amazing heartfelt essays about how they felt about embarking on the next chapter of their lives and I was so proud. We asked them not to use their electronic dictionaries, and if you teach Japanese students, you know what a big deal this is. Nobody did. It was lovely. I definitely got all emo as I was reading them.
So back to my current situation. We had the first years write a 10 entry winter journal over winter break. It’s one of the first assignments on this journey to free-writing and it’s ridden with horrible sentences filled with dictionary words that I know the kids don’t understand. I’m spending most of my time trying to decipher what the hell they are talking about and it’s doing my head in.
Fortunately this Eastside Sessions is helping keep me sane. I wish I knew that A-Sides was in Tokyo cuz that’s a friend I definitely would risk being tired the next day while teaching class and trek out to see. 🙂 I’m sure it was a good night too! I didn’t make a big announcement when I moved to Japan so a lot of people think I’m still in Chicago. Oh well, I told him he def has to let me know next time! In the mean time I hope you enjoy this 2 hour sesh as much as I did.
DnB & Kiki 