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Going to tsukuba

This......................

1,150 yen and 52 minutes from Tokyo. Does it really matter what Tsukuba is like when you are that close to Tokyo? And you say that you will be working in an international school meaning that the majority of your coworkers will be foreigners. I doubt you will have troubles. On the home stay, all the home stay stories I've heard include being showered with anything you want and still being treated as an adult. As in go out all night and party, we don't mind sort of adult treatment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonbvr (Post 621145)

1,150 yen and 52 minutes from Tokyo.

Is that the train ticket price? Wow! I'll be out and about on my weekends then!

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Originally Posted by jasonbvr (Post 621145)

all the home stay stories I've heard include being showered with anything you want and still being treated as an adult. As in go out all night and party, we don't mind sort of adult treatment.

What do you mean? Can you explain this more please?

I mean don't worry. You will be fine.

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Originally Posted by SHAD0W (Post 620552)

As part as of my teaching degree i get to choose something as a special placement for a few weeks teaching practise outside the classroom. Alot of people in my case go to teach in childrens hospitals or young offenders institutes. While pondering my choices i was told that my friend was going to ireland to do her placement -> ive been given permission to go to japan.

Apparently I'll be going to stay with a woman who owns and runs a school for international students in japan. Children of people who have come to work in japan from other countries. So ill be teaching a range of subjects in english to foreign children, which is a relief that i don't have to speak japanese while at work Im only at lower intermediate level.

This school is in TSUKUBA, in the Ibaraki prefecture. Just wondered if anyone could tell me some things about tsukuba? Whats life like out there? Anything i should know about the area?

Does anyone here live in tsukuba? we could go for a drink when I'm not teaching!

Also, does anyone have any tips for staying with a host family in japan?

Any help highly appreciated!

Ash

Tsukuba is really nice... Its very green and it has all the basic amenities you can expect from a small city. Outside of Tsukuba, you'll mostly find a lot of rice fields... Its a perfect place to jog, if that is your thing. Make sure to check out Ushiku Daibutsu while you are there, its one of the biggest Buddha statues in the world.

what kind of japanese language would my host family expect of me?

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Originally Posted by SHAD0W (Post 649823)

what kind of japanese language would my host family expect of me?

Cockney-hongo.

??? lol

You mean bad japanese right? :p

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Originally Posted by SHAD0W (Post 649839)

??? lol

You mean bad japanese right? :p

Was just a silly pun from the island of pun-makers. Your host family would probably expect "a little bit formal", if not very formal, at first. But as you guys get to know one another, they will surely ask you to speak less formally. That could happen on the very first day after a round of intros.

lol i know i gotcha.

So its as expected.. thats good. I've never heard anyone ask not to speak politely, what does that go like?

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Originally Posted by SHAD0W (Post 649851)

lol i know i gotcha.

So its as expected.. thats good. I've never heard anyone ask not to speak politely, what does that go like?

It may actually depend on the family you will stay with. Not all Japanese speak the same way. In some families, the parents expect their kids to speak to them very formally. But in many others, you can talk to your parents as if they were your friends. So start with the formal kind of speech that I'm sure you're learning right now. If the mom and dad don't ask you to speak more informally, you won't. If they do, you will.

This happens to not only foreign guests. It happens to us, too. When I meet someone as old as or older than myself for the first time, I tend to speak fairly formally. They often ask me to speak less formally as we get to know one another.

So, unless you stay with an exceptionally 'formal' family, it wll be a great opportunity for you to learn informal/colloquial Japanese.

In class we are doing formal lessons but i aquired a set of informal only audio lessons which was well worth it because to me, infromal still sounds like a compleetly different language sometimes.. I'm learning though. Currently doing masculin vs feminine stuff. Finding it hard to get my head around what to use when and where. Things that I wouldnt have been bothered about saying 3 weeks ago now sound feminine? if that makes sense.. and im really worried about what I should be saying and it just puts me off talking altogether.. meh, im only on lesson 8 out of 150 in this pack so at the end i might sound like one of your locals then i will be "scraping you off the ceiling" as i believe you put it :p