Blogs of international school teachers: “A Leaf Around the World”
Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad?
Our 26th blog that we would like to highlight is called “A Leaf Around The World” Check out the wealth of information in the blog entries of this international school educator who currently works at Yokohama International School in Japan.
A few entries that we would like to highlight:
“I have been reading this book called ‘How to Be an Explorer of the World’. It’s basically a guidebook/ reminder of my creative thinking, whenever I feel like, I turn the pages and roll in. Last night, I came across the exploration #4 which is a very simple practice. During your walk to your work/school,etc. you pick up 30 things. A collection of 30 random things… I decided that I will pick one object everyday and will record my findings and thoughts here. It will take a month and in the end I will try to create an artwork with my findings. It is a challenge for me to break away from my daily routine of speed walking to the train station while I am nibbling over my so called breakfast consisting a piece of toasted bread with cheese, paying attention to nothing but the road that leads me to my destination. A nice challenge though, one that will make me look at things rather than seeing them passing by…”
What a great idea! I think every one should have a go at this if they are living in a foreign country. Sometimes we can walk down a street many times in a foreign city and not notice certain things, even things such as a store. If we can remember to take a look around ourselves while living abroad, it could only help us to better understand our current situation and aide you in making new connections with regards to your life living in your host country.
“If you are living in Japan, you make a big commitment to recycle. The moment that you register with your neighbourhood ward, you are given an A4 paper of how to separate your rubbish. There are certain days for certain garbage and you need to tie them up as shown in the picture and moreover you need to wash your plastic garbage before you put it out in front of your door…”
I love the topic of recycling in other countries. Each one does it slightly different. Sometimes it takes awhile to get into the swing of things when trying to recycle things from your home after you have just moved to a new country. If you are living in Shanghai, there isn’t really a city recycling programme. But that doesn’t mean people in Shanghai don’t recycle. There are always people with big bags going to and looking inside of garbage cans in Shanghai. They are the recyclers. Actually, they look at their recycling other people’s garbage as their job, according to an article I read on the That’s Shanghai website.
“Every morning, I walk to the train station in Yutenji. On my way to the station I meet the same people everyday, the little old lady neighbour who sweeps her front door, the young woman on her fancy bike with a trendy green backpack, the father and daughter walking down to Nakameguro, the big old neighbourhood watchman sitting on a bench in Yutenji park which is the smallest park ever with its own rules and regulations written on a sign in both Japanese and English. The most interesting thing every morning for me, is the board that hangs on the wall of a very old house with weekly messages from a wise neighbour. Everyday when I walk down that road, I stop, read the message and think about it on my way to the station…”
Your journey to work is an important one. Going to work in a car is a bit different than going to work by bike or walking. You can see and interact with more people when walking to work. You can get some exercise biking to work. It is important to research how teachers get to work at international schools you are intersted in working at; will it be a good match with the preferred way you like to get to work?
If you are also interested in starting your career in the international school community, feel free to check out the 1300+ international schools that are listed on International School Community here. Also, don’t forget to check out our latest submitted comments and information about these schools. We have over 6000+ submitted comments and information as of this blog entry!
Want to work for an international school in the Japan like this blogger? Currently, we have 37 international schools listed in the Japan on International School Community. Here are a few that have had comments and information submitted on their profiles:
• American School in Japan (19 Comments)
• Seisen International School (22 Comments)
• St. Mary’s International School (14 Comments)
• Kyoto International School (9 Comments)
• Horizon Japan International School (9 Comments)
• Canadian Academy (Kobe) (10 Comments)
• Hiroshima International School (17 Comments)
• Gunma Kokusai Academy (8 Comments)
If you are an international school teacher and would like your blog highlighted on International School Community contact us here.
