Here's a glimpse at our fabulous Xmas party! And other random assorted things.
New Year is looming, its in the air. The biggest holiday in Japan is one day away! It seems like the country is starting to grind to a halt and everyone has gone back to their ancestral hometowns; I went to Minami Senju last night and the train was practically empty. On the other, people are rushing around getting last minute preparations for the New Year. I've been told everything stops for 2-3 days (banks, services, etc) but shops seem to be open for regular business on the 1st. I went out today to run some errands and it was crazy. The grocery store was packed. But, it could also be because its a Sunday afternoon and people are home from work and therefore out shopping.
I inherited a few things from Justin last night because he's been booted out of his Nova apartment in Minami Senju. He's pretty choked up, since its a pretty nice location. It's on the north-east edge of Tokyo; almost in the 'burbs, but still in the city. He's moving temporarily to Warabi in Saitama until he can find a place in the city. I scored a new futon (since mine is growing (more) mold) and a DVD player. I had to switch the region on my laptop to play Japanese DVDs so I was planning to get an external player so I can switch my computer back. It's a pain because you can only change the region 4 times. After the last time, it's stuck that way. I'm quite pleased that I managed to score this little player for free. I went to Bic Camera to get cables for the player on my giant errand trip, and after staring at rack upon rack of cables for thirty minutes, picked one and it turns out the end is wrong. GAH! So I have to go out again tomorrow and exchange it. What a pain. Go figure.
I'm almost done my new year cleaning as well. I'm half-done my laundry, and only have the bathroom left to clean. I had planned to get up early (didn't happen) to air out my futons and get my laundry done and hung up since it was supposed to be sunny. I made a move at noon, and at 12:30 a storm rolled in and started hailing! Since I had so much laundry to do, I'd have had to make two trips anyway, so I did the bulky, heavy stuff today so it could have time to dry. Ironically, by the time I was done at the laundromat the storm passed and the sun was out again. I also got a お正月飾り oshougatsu kazari (New Year decoration) for my door. It's made of pine branches and supposed to welcome good luck to your house for the new year. It's hung until January 7th, but then I'm not sure what you're supposed to do with it.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Seeing as how Christmas is nearly over for me, I should update before my time runs out.
I can't believe I've neglected my blog for such a long time! Things have been both busy and boring at the same time. I was teaching full-time up until last Thursday, and then have been entertaining a house guest until today and celebrating Christmas in pseudo-Japanese fashion.
Things haven't been so fluffy and lovely lately, unfortunately. My culture shock has finally decided to rear its ugly head. I've been slowly setting up my place and getting things organized in terms of utilities and payments and such. I thought I was such a clever bastard for doing the fuikomi (electronic transfer) for December's rent by myself but I laughed too soon. A few weeks ago, I got a call from the rental company (I only presumed) saying that they hadn't recieved my payment. I haven't been so frustrated since I came to Japan; I could understand the gist of what this guy was saying to me, but didn't have the vocabulary and language skills to defend myself and speak to this guy. I proceeded to collapse on the floor after the call and bawl my eyes out. In addition to that, I couldn't pay my phone bill because my bank doesn't pay bills, and I can't get to a bank or post office before they close for the day after work. Things that aren't even major were pissing me off, and still are. As Andrew and Yvonne put it, I have become one of those jaded, bitter gaijin. We have fun gaijin rants quite freqently. Anyway, finally got that sorted and transfered my rent today for December and direct withdrawl will start next month for the month of February. The woman I've been doing all my dealings with is so nice. She sent me a letter today, which I suspect was hand delivered to my mailbox, saying that I have to furikomi my rent this month, with furigana and a crude, handwritten translation in English. Yvonne was there to help me transfer, and I thought that it was only 42,000 yen, but its supposed to be 42,500. I hope they won't be too picky about 5$ and I'll just add it on next time.
I was finally paid for the first time in two months and it's such a relief. Money is still tight, but things are getting back to normal. Work is great and I'm really starting to feel at home. We had our bonenkai (Year End Party) on Friday night at a little restaurant in Kashiwa (a branch of the same place we held Christian's farewell party) followed by karaoke, of course. It was nice to relax and socialize with the teachers, who I don't normally have a chance to talk to at work. I was sat at the same table as the principal, Mr. Iwahara, the music teacher, Ms. Fujiwara, and few other teachers. The table next to us had Mr Nakamura and Ms Imai, two of the English teachers so I had some translators on hand. I also got out my handy mobile phone dictionary but managed to hold my own pretty well in broken Japanese and English. I also had a good conversation with the 1st year PE teacher, who is moving to a high school in Tokyo next school year. Everyone embraced me warmly and I had a great time. I even exchanged numbers with some of the female teachers and we'll go drinking together in the New Year. I was also invited on a ski trip over the February holiday weekend, which I agreed to. Although, I don't know if I will end up going... I can't ski, for one. I don't have the right clothes, secondly. I really wish I had brought my ski jacket now. UGH! Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it. What a pain! Andrew and I are thinking we might go visit Yvonne in Nagoya that weekend, since she's come to see us every month since October.
The day after the bonenkai, Yvonne came to spend Christmas. She helped me do errands and sort out house-related stuff. We shopped, we ate, we ranted, we sang karaoke. Monday was our big Christmas party. Christmas Eve is like Valentines day in Japan, so Yvonne and I rode the train out with couples galore to Odaiba, the big date spot in Tokyo. Andrew and I have been talking about Christmas and our "White Christmas" party for ages, and he actually procured a turkey in Tokyo. I never thought we'd find one, let alone get one, but we did. It was a pain in the ass, and I'm never doing it again. Murphy's law prevailed, of course. Andrew's building has units that have their own kitchens, but in the other building, they don't so there are communal kitchens on each floor that have ovens. So the plan was to break in and use an oven to cook the turkey. Things started off well enough when we timed out entry just right, and got in without having to wait. We got off at the 6th floor, and people were in the kitchen so we went up to 7 and found it empty. We got the bird and stuffing ready and fired up the oven which had probably never been cleaned. Ever. The kitchen was a disaster. I though that the Totem floor lounges were disgusting. Anyway, we got the bird in.. and I went to check it and take out the gizzard and stuff after an hour and found the oven had turned off! First emergency. It took forever to heat back up again since the thing was so tiny and the turkey took up 80% of the space inside. In the meantime, I cooked the potatoes and carrots to heat up in the microwave later. Andrew and Yvonne had to make an emergency grocery run to get ingredients to make pumpkin pie while I held down the fort. A few people came in to cook their lunches and gave me the 3rd degree which made me feel really uncomfortable. I thought one of them might be an RA come to kick me out, but that wasn't the case. Long story short, 5 hours later, the turkey was done. I didn't think we'd pull it off but we did. Dinner was served at 7pm, and we stuffed our faces with good food and drink.
Today, Yvonne and I procured a rice cooker for me and discovered a great Singaporean Hainan chicken restaurant in Shimbashi. It was heavenly. Tasted JUST like jifan (chicken rice) back in Singapore. It is one for the books and I will return many a time before I leave Japan. Sent Yvonne off from Tokyo station and hunted for a book with Andrew throughout Ueno, with no success. We saw people pulling down all the Christmas decorations already and Christmas isn't even officially over yet. Tomorrow, everything will be replaced with New Year decorations and the big push to finish everything before the year ends will begin. I need to clean up my house, settle all my bills, and figure out where I am going to hatsumode on January 1st. Hatsumode is the first visit to the shrine in the new year. There is a big shrine in Kashiwa on the other side of the station but I have a feeling I'm going to get a call from Yoshimi or Mr Nakamura asking me to go with them.
Anyway, I hope you all had a fattening and festive holiday!
I've been so frugal and not doing anything (excluding my little trip) for the last 2 months, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when my bank account bulges this Friday. Well, it won't be anything compared to my check in January, but it'll be more money than I've seen in a long time. The logical, rational, worrisome side of me says, "Squirrel as much as you can away, its only another month wait for the big one", but the other goodie-goodie, spontaneous, stupid side says, "You've been so good so far, you deserve a treat". But I don't know what I want, if I were to splurge on something. Maybe something else for the house? A new pair of jeans (if I can find any that fit me)? A new pair of shoes (again, if I can find any to fit me)? I've been living on "needs" for so long, I have forgotten what its like to want something.
Today, the grade 8 classes were practicing "become". They were asking each other "What did you want to become...?" It made me think back to all the jobs that I thought I would want to do when I was a kid: marine biologist, translator, graphic designer, paediatrician, teacher. Not necessarily in that order. I think I wanted to be a marine biologist for the longest time, until I realised that they don't make any money if they aren't doing current research. And even then, they aren't rolling in it. Not that teachers are millionaires either, but it's a secure job at least. And I just had an epiphany... also after talking with Meghan and Heather who are steps away from finishing their B.Eds, I'm almost there. Well, realistically I'm about 4 years off from getting my certifications, but I'm one step closer. It makes me feel a bit happier.
Jenna comes back from Kyoto tomorrow and it'll be her last night in Japan. I have to go work at IKOI (well, don't HAVE to, but I said I'd go and I'll just guilt trip myself) so I won't get home until 11pm and then should sleep so I'm not bushed at work the next day, but will probably stay up since I can't send her off from Narita. I need to start making a routine with people, since I've been having lonely streaks lately. It's hard though because you don't feel like doing anything when it's dark outside, but you know its only 5pm.
My horoscope for tomorrow is a good one (for once):
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Which, by all accounts, should not be me. I am the most out of shape I've ever been in my whole life. But I'm working on it.
I survived my first week at my new job and I love it~! I've tried to keep myself as busy as I can, and so far I've reserached the origin of my surname, how maple syrup is made and the governmental system of Canada on Wikipedia. That was actually all done in one day. The teachers and the staff are all really friendly and it makes things easier. I'm usually left to my own devices if I have a free period (I usually co-teach 2-3 lessons a day) so I've tried to make myself busy by learning random crap on Wikipedia or reading my fat grammar textbook from ENGL302 that I lugged with me. Imai-sensei, the 3rd year (grade 9) teacher, has asked me to help her to some marking, which is really fun for me. :D I love wielding the red pen. She also asked me to think of a game to teach relative pronouns (which I had to go look up in my grammar tomb) but the internet at school as a block on it so it doesn't show up blogs. Also Facebook is blocked, so I can't fill up my time with that either. Although, its not as fun as it used to be, to be honest. I rarely use it anymore.
Anyway, now that I'm home, I can get to those sites that came up on my search but I couldn't view. I think Jeopardy is the way to go. Anyway, I won't get into that. It's the weekend! No need to think.
Anyway, I'm fitting in nicely. Whether it was Nakamura-sensei's own initiative, or the vice-principal or a collective thing, I got officially invited to the Bounen Kai (忘年会, literally "Forget the Year Party) on the 21st. I've got Keigo's lesson that afternoon but I'll go right after, it'll be fun. I won't be able to talk with many people, but I will ganbaru and try my best. I think that means I've been accepted into the school community (at least by the English teachers) and the rest of the year will go well.
But I feel like a bit of a loser sitting at home alone on a Friday night... I spent the day cleaning house. My bathroom was getting really disgusting. I finally got some tension rods to hang a shower curtain and a little curtain in the kitchen from the dollar store, as well as cleaning supplies. I aired out my futons and found mold growing on the bottom foam pad. Fuck! I guess its not just a summer problem but a winter one as well. At least I don't have to worry about tatami mats, which are impossible to clean. I googled "how to clean mold from futons" and found that if you wipe it down with vinegar water and hang it out to dry out for a few days, it should take care of the mold. I wiped it down, and now am drying it in front of the space heater. I hope it works. I sent a frantic email to Yvonne but she hasn't gotten back to me yet.
Yvonne is probably coming out for Christmas. The 3 of us, Yvonne, Andrew and I, will probably do a little presenty thing but that's it. I'm too broke to send presents home to Canada and I wouldn't know what to buy. Obviously tacky omiyage (souvenirs) type things, like an Engrish t-shirt for Sean and some pretty Japanese fabric for mom, but the postage is going to kill. Those things will just have to wait. I got some blank nengajou (年賀状, New Year's cards) so I can send a few of those off but that will be all I can afford. But Yvonne and Andrew, I should get something for them since they've been so helpful to me over the last 4 months. ESPECIALLY Andrew for taking me to see Koda Kumi last week. I had no idea. He said, "Keep Saturday free, I have a suprise" and we met in Ginza since we can't afford to buy anything there anyway, even if we weren't strapped for cash. Then we took 4 different trains to get to Suidobashi where Tokyo Dome (a.k.a. The Big Egg, really) is. I thought we might be going to the theme park there or something, but we were going to the concert at Tokyo Dome! There were vendors set up at the station entrances selling Koda Kumi stuff, but I didn't piece two and two together. It was a great performance, she really put on a great show but the audience was kind of... lame. There no energy. I wonder if that's usual, because there was no energy at the school assembly I went to on Monday either. Maybe its just the Japanese way to clap in an orderly fashion, even if it's your best friend or idol. In any case, it was so fun. Here's a video from the concert:
The quality of the video output from my digital camera is pretty good, all things considered, but when you are trying to zoom in on some flashing lights and people that are tiny and far away, they become blurry pixelated things. Too bad. But you can get an idea of what it was like to be there! This is her latest single, Last Angel feat. Tohoshinki, a Korean boyband that have made some waves in Japan. I said she would probably do that song, but I didn't really expect Tohoshinki to be there as well. It was quite a suprise! I wonder if you can see, but people bought these light up torches and would wave them all in unison or wave them at Kumi if she waved to them, it was quite an interesting sight. It looked like the crowd was pulsating. This point in the concert was probably when the crowd was most energetic. I felt kind of bad for her, because obviously, she must have realized how low-energy everyone was. But honestly, by the end of 2 hours with no intermission, I was starting to feel tired too. The entire show went on for 3 hours! That is a testiment to Japanese showmanship.
I felt like I was 5 years old all over again, off to my first day of school.
Yesterday, seeing as I get super paranoid about traveling anywhere new, I went and scoped out the route to school from my house. Luckily it was a mild, even sunny, day which made for nice walking. I found the school, taking the long route (40mins) the first time, and took the proper way (ie the way I had originally planned) home which only takes 20 minutes on foot. There is a bus that runs on that road but I could probably walk faster than it's scheduled to run so we'll see how often I take it.
I got to school ten minutes early just to make sure I wasn't late but it felt like I almost was! Mr Nakamura, my partner I guess, was like "We have a meeting!" and rushed me in and I had to sit through the teacher's meeting in the morning. I guess it actually starts earlier than 8:30 which is when they told me to be there. Anyway, Yvonne wrote me a jiko shoukai, self-introduction, in Japanese for the teachers meeting and I blew them away! I was sooo nervous I was shaking and tripping over my words, but I think the feeling got across. It's all about first impressions with Japanese teachers. Today, I had about 4 teachers come up and introduce themselves to me in English, or tried at least. It's going to take me forever to learn names... They all have the same parts of names so it's going to take me a while to get to know them all... I should ask for a list of everyone's name so I can learn them.
Today was pretty much just look and learn. In the classroom, I'm just a helper. I read the text from the book so the students can hear it naturally (ie natively) and the Japanese English teacher explains all the grammar and stuff. I also write stuff on the blackboard... pretty simple. I'm going to be giving my spiel about Canada for a week until I meet all the classes. Unlike elementary school, JH kids have English 3x a week, but only once with the ALT, I think. That's what Mr. Oishi tells me. So they were pretty good. I gave my little intro in English and the teacher would give a brief translation but also ask questions about what I said and they could catch everything.
I got to meet the special class, called Araraga, first thing in the morning. They are a group of 5 boys with mental disabilities. They have 2 teachers who are both really nice and I met them and got to talk to them first thing in the morning. They even prepared little self-introductions for me. By the looks of things, I won't be doing much in terms of lesson planning or anything. Which is kind of nice, and when I get more secured in my position and see how things work, I can definitely make some suggestions for lessons and stuff. But I won't be totally idle, since even I have to take part in cleaning time. Or at least go supervise. Today I helped, but I could just stand by and bark orders. haha. They had an assembly at the end of the day to inaugurate the new student council, and I gave my little intro to the whole school in English. Mr Nakamura did a short translation after, and he said my speech was really good. Talking in front of 400 kids, I wasn't nervous at all. But maybe its cuz they didn't understand half of what I said, and I was mostly worried about screwing up in Japanese in the morning. Whatever, it's over!
However, I do feel a bit like a panda at the zoo. The previous teacher was Filipino, so she wasn't such a novelty as I am with my white skin and blue eyes. Everyone is like "Woah new teacher!" when I walk in the hall way or they stop by the classroom or teachers room. I made a bunch of girls giggle when I waved to them as they were looking at me from outside the teachers room. Mr Nakamura said, "You're really popular". HAH! I guess so. Maybe its also because I'm not old? I don't know. I remember having a student-teacher in grade 1 and I thought she was so cool because she was closer to my age (more so than my real teacher). I stopped at the 100Yen shop on the way home to get some supplies for my elementary school stint tomorrow and a group of girls came in and say (quite loudly) "Hello!" to me. It's really nice, and I do appreciate the friendliness, but its almost... novelty, for lack of another word. I'm sure it'll wear off in a while. On the plus side, when they loudly greeted me, the shop clerk realized I was waiting at the cash register to pay and came running over. HAHA!
Speaking of Elementary school, I'm doing my first Elementary school lessons tomorrow. Well, first in Kashiwa. First running the show myself. I went over after school today and had a "meeting" with the vice-principal and grade 1 head teacher. It wasn't really so much a meeting, as us trying to communicate to each other. Well, they are pretty willing to do whatever I want (like in Funabashi). I wonder if I'll be able to fill up 45 minutes though. It'll be like going back to Nova all over again. And from meeting those two teachers today, I doubt any of the other homeroom teachers will be able to speak much, if any English. So there won't be any translating going on, most likely. :X Well, we're going to just be singing songs and playing games, so hopefully there won't be much translation needed. It's going to be... interesting because its 5 grade 1 classes. That means the same 45 minute lesson 5 times over. Thank god its only once or twice a month. Although, if there are that many classes in each grade, and I only go there 1-2 times a month, they must get English like once a term. Unless there are other ALTs who go there too? I don't know. It's strange. And I thought 20 minutes a week in Funabashi was bad.
Anyway, I think I'll survive. It's something to fill my days up with
and bring some money in anyway. And eat really good, cheap lunch. :)
I am officially employed again! I went down to the IES office and signed my contract and went over contractual nitty-gritty details with Mr Oishi and got materials from Tatsuya for teaching Elementry classes. Apparenly, I won't be free of them. I'll be going to 柏第二小学校 Kashiwa Dai Ni Shou Gakkou (Kashiwa Elementary #2) about twice a month for lessons. I'm actually going there on my second day of work! I don't have any idea what's going on. I need to call this teacher who I'm relieving and get the details from her. I suppose now (it's 6pm) is a reasonable time to call, but I don't really feel like it. I suppose I should call before I start studying up for Monday.
I went and visited the school, 豊四季中学校 Toyoshiki Chuu Gakkou (Toyoshiki Junior High School) with Tatsuya on Wednesday afternoon and met the principal, vice-principal and head English teacher. They were all really and nice and I think it'll be a good job. I get my own real desk and a laptop to use. It's right at the front of the room beside the windows. There are 3 English teachers in the school, each taking one grade. There are five classes in Grade 1, five in Grade 2, and four in Grade 3.
The Japanese school system was a bit weird for me to understand at first, but I've got the hang of things now. I still have to convert grades in my head so I know how old these kids are, actually. Elementary school has grades 1-6, corresponding to grades 1-6 as we have in Canada. Middle School, or Junior High has three grades, 1-3, which would be grades 7-9 for Canadians. High School consists of another three grades, 1-3, which would be grades 10-12. When people say what grade they are in they say, ”私は高校三年生です。Watashi wa Koukou sannen sei desu." I am a third year high school student. But I still have to think "Grade 1, okay that's grade 7" in my head.
Anyway, they want me to do a 自己紹介 jiko shoukai, self-introduction on Monday in front of the whole school at the assembly. I'm a bit nervous, but they probably won't really understand what I'm saying anyway. I also have to do one for the teachers in the morning at the staff meeting, and that's more important because they could make my life a living hell. I could be easily accepted, or they'll just ignore me. I got Yvonne to write me one in Japanese so I need to practice. If I show that I'm trying to learn or use Japanese, they'll be more accepting, so I've been told. Although I'm worried that I might give the impression that I can speak when I actually can't. Although, I'm sure Junichi, the head English teacher, will clear that up. It's even that long, but I still want/need to practice. I was also given the textbooks to have a read of so I'm on the same page (so to speak) on Monday. Thankfully, I'm only doing two classes that day, and most of it will be "Intro to Heather/Canada". They asked me to bring a map and pictures of Vancouver for show.
Alright, I'm freezing my butt off. And I don't know how to work the heat function on my air conditioner so I'll have to live with huddling in front of my little space heater.
Today's lesson: Yappari gaikoku jin wa yuba ga daikirai.
"After all, the foreigner hates yuba."
(I just wrote my entry and stupid Firefox lost it before I could post. I was almost done, you bastard!!)
Nikko was awesome! I had a great time, and it was a short and relatively cheap trip. Now its back to reality and trying to figure out how I'm going to live on 100$ until payday when I have to pay my rent on the 30th.
For a little background information, I scammed Wikipedia: "Nikkō (日光市, Nikkō-shi, literally sunlight) is a city located in the mountains of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Located about 140 km to the north of Tokyo, it is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists, housing the mausoleum of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (Nikkō Tōshō-gū) and that of his grandson Iemitsu (Iemitsu-byō Taiyū-in), as well as the Futarasan Shrine, which dates to the year 767. There are also many famous hot springs (onsen) in the area. The mountains west of the city are part of Nikkō National Park and contain some of the country's most spectacular waterfalls and scenic trails. As of May 1, 2006, the city has an estimated population of 93,568."
I'm not uploading all the pictures to Vox being its fickle and will take forever. So, please go to my Photobucket and see and read about my adventure in Nikko! I'll write a little blurb of my trip later: I'm hungry and cold right now. And still pissed that Firefox axed my entry I had nearly finished. So, write up to come later.
Furniture was delivered yesterday, and I spent the bulk of the day building a shelving unit and reorganizing my stuff. There are a few things that don't seem to have homes yet, but slowly but surely, things are coming together. I think I've said that before, but I really am starting to get that feeling of peace and stability. Justin came over last night as well since we haven't seen each other in months and caught up. After having been through the disaster that was Nova, we both agreed that stability shouldn't be taken for granted. It's one thing to be spontaneous and do stuff on a whim, but its not so pleasant when its forced upon you. So, for all you people who have found a niche or a stable job and home, take a moment and reflect.
Nikki was supposed to call me in the morning today, it's 11:54am, and come over to see the house. I've got work at 6pm with IKOI conversation school and that'll bring me a couple thousand yen for my trip tomorrow. I should send Yvonne over to the ticket counter to get our tickets when she comes back from Tokyo today, although I don't know when that is going to be. I'm not sure if I am going to continue with IKOI when I start work next month... He doesn't pay transport and its 900Y round trip to go to work every time. He doesn't even pay me that well. He keeps telling me I'm "the best teacher", but if you want me to stay, you better pony up some more cash.
I got a call from Tatsuya from IES yesterday and I'm going in for my contract signing next Wednesday and then going in to visit the school in the afternoon so I won't be able to go work at IKOI. He also asked me if I would be interested in working on the 29th, facilitating a training session for Japanese English teachers. I accepted of course, because I could use all the money I can get, but what the hell do I know about real teaching?! But I guess Houden Higashi and Maruyama Elementary schools where I did my 2 week stint liked me enough to recommend me to do it? Or because I worked at Nova? I don't know. Maybe I'll ask him, I'd be interested in hearing his reason for asking me. Maybe its just because I'm desperately in need of money. I won't be doing it alone, there will be other ALT's there, and it is only for 90 minutes. If nothing else, it'll be a cute trip to Saitama prefecture, transport paid.
So, the maelstrom that was Nova is finally over and the dust is beginning to settle. I've moved out of the Nova apartment in Abiko to a one-room (literally) place in Kashiwa. It's small by Canadian (and even Japanese?) standards, at a whopping 16.36m^2. It's probably smaller than those Marine Drive studios actually. But I like it. I'm getting some furniture delivered tomorrow so I'll be able to make this place feel more homey tout suite. I've got a kitchen that consists of a mini-bar fridge, one electric burner and sink with a 2 shelf cupboard above. I cooked dinner for the first time tonight and it took a lot of planning an maneuvering, deciding what to cook first. Beside the kitchen, next to the door, is a closet that is meant to house a washing machine, which I will probably never buy. Right now, it's where I chuck my dirty
This month was going to be a bit of a holiday for me. My new job at IES wasn't scheduled to start until December so I got a few part-time stints teaching and a few private lessons and was going to sit tight. However, IES called me and needed a substitute teacher immediately for some elementary schools, at Y12,000 a day, so I jumped on it. Kept me busy, and got a feel for this ALT job (although, junior high will be different). That finished on Friday, so now I get a 2 week break before starting for real. It's going to be busy though: now that I've moved, I have to change my address everywhere, including city offices and get a new gaijin card and set up house. I've got a bit of training for the new job also to do, but will only be 1 day next week.
Yvonne came out this weekend to celebrate her birthday with me and Andrew. She's got a JET conference today, tomorrow and Wednesday, but came a bit early and we went to the Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba on Saturday night. An onsen is a Japanese hot spring, or communal bath. It was awesome! This place was decked out to look like the Edo period and everyone wore yukata. We didn't get to go to the outdoor baths, since it was too late, but we stripped off and tested out all the different baths. Unfortunately, there wasn't any co-ed ones, so Yvonne and I had to ditch Andrew for a while. We took ridiculous pictures, of course, making total asses of ourselves. On Thursday, Yvonne and I are taking a trip to Nikko. We're staying 1 night, and going to hit up all the sights there. It'll be my first real trip in Japan, outside of Tokyo. I'm so excited! It's only going to be about 100$, and right before a national holiday so we got a pretty good deal. I'll have loads to write about!
After getting back to Kashiwa yesterday afternoon, Yvonne helped me get a haircut since I was long overdue. The guy asked me if I dye my hair because he said it looked damaged. WTF! This is the first time in years that I actually don't have ANY dye in my hair so it should be healthy as a baby's bottom. But hairdressers in Singapore used to say that to me all the time too, "Your hair feels dry". I think he was full of crap. And besides, how many white customers does he work on? Fool doesn't know what he's talking about. Pssh. Anyway, I played with my camera and got carried away with taking pictures.
