December 4, 2007 – 10:59 pm
Recently one of the nurses from my doctor’s office joined our school. Although the clinic is for gynecology and dermatology, if you go there with other problems, they are willing and indeed happy to help. Because of this, they get a lot of business in this season for colds and flu. This nurse had recommended [...]
December 4, 2007 – 10:59 pm
With the recent addition of fingerprinting foreigners at immigration, there has been a lot of talk this past month about the treatment of foreigners in Japan. Here is something you probably don’t hear much about:
Last week, I had to go to one of the government offices to get some documents changed. I recently had my [...]
November 25, 2007 – 7:35 pm
My cousin is currently in Hong Kong setting up an office for an investment company. He is thinking about coming to Japan to visit us before xmas, so we have been exchanging emails on what to do.
This really reminded me how much there is to do here! So many excellent activities (golf, skiiing, scuba diving, [...]
November 21, 2007 – 11:11 pm
My husband (and co-owner of Smith’s Azamino), Mike, has recently gotten back into golf, an activity he used to do quite a bit in Canada when he was younger, and one which we didn’t think we could afford to do here in Japan. While it isn’t cheap, it is not unreasonably expensive if you [...]
November 18, 2007 – 12:54 am
Last Saturday night, one of our students came to her lesson looking totally exhausted. She was shivering from the cold, and had a couple of very heavy bags she needed to bring home. Her husband, who usually picks her up after her lessons, was out of town. She doesn’t drive, so she was going to [...]
November 18, 2007 – 12:52 am
One of our students came to her weekend lesson as usual the other day. She was in great spirits as always, in spite of the rain. I had not taught her for some time, so it was nice to have a chance to catch up with her. I usually teach her son at that [...]
November 18, 2007 – 12:35 am
I had the night off on Friday and by a lucky chance was able to meet up with an old student of ours. She had first joined the school when she lived in our neighborhood, then stopped for a while when she moved away to Hayama (in the Miura Peninsula). It didn’t take long before [...]
November 14, 2007 – 4:51 am
Last week, during a lesson with 3 students, the topic of curry came up. Mike mentioned that he makes a great Thai-style curry, and this peaked the students’ curiosity. At the end of the lesson he promised to make them curry for the next week. Mike was excited to show off his favorite dish! [...]
October 6, 2007 – 7:37 pm
Just thought I would share this with all of you.
I recently signed a new student who is quite a bit older than anyone I have ever had in my lessons before. Until now the eldest member was 67 years old (and a yoga teacher, by the way). This active gentleman who just joined is…81 years [...]
October 4, 2007 – 6:56 am
Just got home from a long day. One which would have been much longer if it weren’t for head office’s help.
I run the school with my husband, and we have no other teachers. If we are sick we have to tough it out. Thankfully we haven’t had much trouble.
Until today, that is. My husband and [...]
I recently joined a local sports club I’ve been wanting to join ever since I arrived here 7 years ago. It’s quite expensive, so I’d shied away from it before. (Thanks to Smith’s School of English, I can now afford such a luxury!) Wouldn’t you know I ran into one of our students my [...]
One of our students is in the long process of trying to move permanently to Canada. Not entirely sure why, exactly, but it is her dream. Her husband has joined her in this adventure and went to Canada ahead of her in search of permanent work. After going on a student visa, he has finally [...]
We have several families who’ve joined our school. Sometimes they join together, but often they stagger it.
Our first family joined the first month we were open, 3 years ago. The husband dropped by one evening and rang the bell without an appointment. At that time we had hardly any students, so I was free to [...]
My husband and I took a short trip to the Izu Peninsula during Golden Week vacation. Before our holiday break, as is our custom, we discussed holiday plans with our students (our plans and those of our students). A great opportunity to use real English, it’s also a fabulous chance for us and students to [...]
Truly the best compliment I have ever received from a student was from our very first student (#001), who of course is still studying with us at Smith’s Azamino and has begun her 4th year with us. (Her son is also a student!)
She is a teacher herself, and therefore understands the value of reviewing one’s [...]
Today for the One-Point English at Azamino Smith’s School of English we were practicing “I don’t know the first thing about ____.” Every one of our students knows I don’t know the first thing about cooking, so that was an easy one! This of course made it very easy to guess the meaning of the [...]
Just got home from a student’s place. She and her husband invited my husband and I to join their family at their home for an Okonomiyaki party tonight. She was our first student and is still studying with us, as is her son, who we have had the priveledge to watch grow into a wonderful, [...]
I just got back from the (10-month-old) grocery store across the street. Its opening was a long awaited event after a long-standing discount electronics store closed and the building’s owner spent an entire year revamping the location and gathering new tenants. A gym opened on the 1st and 2nd floor, and an internet-cafe-amusement-hobby-”something” opened on [...]
I’m between lessons and just got off the phone from Gavin at Smith’s School of English head office. At the last training seminar I had promised to get on my computer and write something for the new blog. Between my full schedule and the (excellent) Golden Week holidays, I had kept putting it off. Partly [...]