Saturday, September 26, 2009

a quick thing.

got here to fujinomiya without much fanfare. i was shown my apartment and taken to the grocery store.that night i was already invited to attend a bbq a couple of parents of kids i would teach were having. it was fun. really fun. i got to eat a ton of food, meet the group of kids that would go on to become my favorite students and i got to get over some awkwardness of being a new teacher by making friends and putting them in my corner. (this will make more sense later, right now i'm just giving the readers digest version of everything because tomorrow i will go to tokyo game show and i want to give it its propers).the next day i had to get up early and meet my new coworkers. all of which are, without exaggeration, amazing to work with. in japan its a crapshoot. i really expected some uptight by the books, but everyone here is laid back and likes their work. that translates well to the students and parents and the whole environment is nice. except for when the students freak out on me and scream and don't want to learn english. but again, ill get into that later.so anyways, i meet the coworkers and take a stomach churning ride through the mountains, never losing sight of mt fuji. we make our way to an amusement park called fuji q (company name) highlands. one of my coworkers, nozomi, used to work there so we got in free. yay.rode some roller coasters, ate some overpriced park food. went to an "italian" restaurant. had shrimp pizza. went home happy.got ready for the longest week of my life thus far.to be continued...












kanchos, ge-ge-ge-no kitaro, sleeping gundams and all the peoples i work with now (except the white girl, she went home).


























give mt. fuji a smile, eyes, and a japanese flag and you've got a marketable mascot. genius.

























even fuji q has their own rangers. you can get your picture taken, but the only thing you can see are your eyes. so... unless you have like crazy googly eyes then .... whatever, its japan.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

bleh bleh bleh bleh. (and dont think this is the only time ill use bleh in a title)

i know i know. jeezy kreezy(no relation to the holy begotten) i know i know. I'm the worst blogger since... well pretty much any blogger. but I'm doing this for friends and family, not for fame or whats its. so that's got to count for something. i would direct you to my friend daniels blog if you want a real blog full of witty and contemporary insights, but since i always planned on this being able to be read by a 5 year old and up. (content wise, not ... you know, like up to speed on the grammar and vocabulary they're teaching 5 year olds... or whatever) his blog is a bit adult oriented (however if you like to laugh and you don't mind the jaded ramblings of a reformed jew comedian (read: faith? only if its funny, sir) who wants to be an actor, then this is your site and you can look up daniel is funny dot com).
eh? where am i? too many parenthesis.
oh yeah. Ive been neglecting telling you all how painful my life has been since i decided to go all cube on you. (oh you don't know cube? it means no matter what side you look at it, its still a square... popcorn baby)
so i had a crazy teach training me who was loved by her kids. she'll probably read this and go "wha? crazy?" and to that i mean crazy in a good way. she was passionate about what she did. but it also made me a little crazy. and i don't mean passionate. but she did teach me a lot. a lot.
and her kids liked her a lot. a lot.
so that means i got the screaming "who's this crazy scary thing guy all up in my grill? i want the old teacher and i hate change.
we all hate change. we all hate it as much as the kid who looks at me like i just walked out of a horror movie, but only children are allowed to freely articulate it without it being considered poor taste.
yeah, so no pretty pictures today, but tomorrow there will be a filling in on the lost week, including apartment pictures, and amusement park pictures, and blah blah blahdy blahs with a nazi helmet (true story). so this is basically filler because im tired but i know i need to keep up with this thing. i promise. tomorrow i will give you all the 4 11. thats spanish for el informatione, stay tuned.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

sorry.

this week is super crazy busy and long hours. i have 4 days off this weekend an no money to do anything, so i will have plenty of time to fill everyone in. thanks for watching. stay tuned. i have lots of pictures for all the curious kittens across the globe.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

in the nomiya

i am sooo tired. i feel like i might want to start many a post that way. today was so full of stuff that i need a good bit of info and links to give it its propers, however i just don't think i mentally have it in me. im also going to an amusement park tomorrow called fuji q.
word.
basic break down of today.

woke up early.
took my way too heavy stuff from the hotel, past the train station to the annex which housed the dorms where all the other trainees were housed.
met the managers.
walked back to the train station (with said heavy stuff).
was given an hour to walk around in case i forgot to buy snacks for myself.
took the shinkansen to shizuoka. met manager. forgot ticket on train.
missed next train and gave horrible first impression to new boss while trying to sort out my losing a piece of paper worth 95 dollars.
once sorted tried to have awkward conversation about how little there was to do in my new town.
got to fujinomiya.
saw mt. fuji.
closed mouth.
went to new apartment.
"sugoi~~!!!" (japanese word for the week. sugoi! its a slangish word meaning basically "cool" or "awesome" or 'amazing". my apartment is huge, especially for japanese standards)
went to jusco. (apparently i have a choice of jusco and jusco. think bigger japanese target)
they bought me bedding (let them pick it out. didn't want to scare them by choosing all black greys or reds. therefore my apartment has a very colorful-mostly blue- motif. which will change gradually as i begin to receive paychecks) and food. i felt bad, because i wasn't sure how much they expected me to buy and in the end, although i chose cheap essentials, i felt like i chose too much and they were upset at my poor management of company funds.
went to bbq with parents of my new students and outgoing net teacher (native english teacher, its what i am now). ate and chatted, played monster, the kids killed me a lot, then played with hanabi. fun!
finished by playing soccer having a heart attack and dying cursing mcdonalds and my lack of will power.
walked home, chatted with outgoing net about other students. and now i'm typing.
that is all.
move along.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

english school is over.

not really, but thats what we have to sing with the kids at the end of the day. training week is over. now i have two days off then i do it for real. i feel so un-trained. im not ready. at all.

im going to royally screw these kids up.

oh well. its only for a year, right? maybe my replacement can repair the damage i will have wrought.

anyways, theyre taking us out to dinner tonight. so... thats good. i need to get all dolled up. take off my clark kent uniform and put on my super-host outfit. today's japanese lesson is "ima hima?" (it means "are you free now?")







<---before








<---after

Friday, September 11, 2009

so i saw this poster up in the kusuri (the japanese word for the day is kusuri. kusuri= drugstore) with my main man and second favorite pixelated hero (i've got pac-man fever), solid snake holding a bottle of some weird japanese vitamin drink. so i bought it. i'm a sucker. it was alright. kind of tasted like bubblegum flavored mouthwash. but i could feel my hit points returning. which is nice. afterwards for some reason i felt a distinct need to hide under a cardboard box.


Thursday, September 10, 2009

bleh. so tired.

so haven't updated worth much, but thats because i had no idea what i was signing up for. i've neever worked so hard in my life.


im basically, with in office training, and prep work for the next day, working 14 hour days. thats not counting the readings i also have to do which i usually take care of over coffee and rice breakfasts.

<---This is some of the stuff i look at on a daily basis.





i did get to sneak out for an hour today (even though i really shouldnt have) to an arcade called Joypolis (it is the same company as teh tokyo amusment park, however just with video games). it makes me smile that japan still has actual arcade game centers. i wasted too much on random games, but i did get this gem from a gatchapon machine. yes its hello kitty dressed like ultraman.



i love ultraman.




so back to work. i have to get back making model lessons that the trainers will tear apart, so that i can learn how to make an actual one for all the different age groups i teach throughout the week. joy. fun. explosions in my head.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

just a something i just saw on tv before i go to work.


ケンカのあとは
Uploaded by neovitaminex. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

i'll post a more indepth something or rather later. if i'm not dead. from being tired.

Monday, September 7, 2009

not much to see here.

just walking around town looking at stuff. bought raw fish from the grocery store. it was delicious. they were also selling peaches for 5 dollars a piece. didn't buy one. i bought peach flavored jelly shot things instead. yum.
didn't sing karaoke last night because it was 1700 yen (17 dollars about) a person, and with 8 people not so much worth it.
tomorrow i will don my suit and tie and with a plastic smile i will start my new career. or at least train for it. i'm "ironing" my suit and shirt by hanging them up in the bathroom and letting the steam build up.
like i said. not much to see here. life isn't exciting yet.
i do have a fancy captains chair toilet in my room though. bidets. how can you ever feel clean again without them?
that's it. that's all i got. here's a smiling chimp to make up for it.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

ok. lets get this straight.

ok. lets start over.
i recently accepted after an arduous process, the job of teaching english to students outside of a school with a company. This company (since nova went belly up) is the largest eikaiwa in japan. it is not jet. so don't ask.
but basically i have to cut my hair, hide my piercings and tattoo, and wear a suit everyday while teaching kids all the way from prenatal to high school.
its all in the brochure.
before i go off to my prospective school i have to train for a week here at the headquarters in okayama (and i actually saw a person dressed up as its mascot that you see in this link, however i need a card for the camera my sister in law, nicole, was kind enough to let me borrow). its a nice town off the beaten path.

its me and 8 other people in this group all going their separate ways after training. so when we get here all of us are supposed to stay in a dorm situation with a common room. i however lucked out, due to overbooking (other employees of amity also stay there for various reasons) i get my own comfy fancy-schmancy hotel room. sweet.
i have today and tomorrow to get acclimated to living in japan (no big feat for me, but there are some kids who've never been here) so i went shopping at the 100 yen shop today. then i went across to some shopping center. look what i bought!
this is some ukiyo-e towel thing i bought for a dollar.
and this is a hello kitty ramen flag i also bought for a dollar and a kamen rider kiva toy i bought for 10 dollars. but its awesome! how could i not buy it. its like kamen rider but a vampire. you know, for the kids.


First Day

ok. so this one will be quick. its late, im tired and i need to go get some supplies. so i made it. it was a decent flight and i got lucky and got my own hotel room with internet. i was the only one. everyone else is in a dorm. lucky dayo!
ill tell you all more tomorrow.
peace.