Ghetto Happy Dining - Restaurant in Shibuya

Not a whole lot has been happening lately. But there are some things happening in the not so near future.
-My bandmate's other band has asked me to take pictures of them... Maybe I'll have a gig as the band's official photographer haha.
- I'm going to a taiko drumming concert - not sure what to expect there haha
- I'm DJ'ing for an event my bandmate is throwing. I have no idea how that will go as I have absolutely no experience in that field. I like music but I'm not sure that will translate to me being a decent DJ.
- I'm going back to Canada for Christmas/New Year's!! I dont think I can even begin to explain on here how excited I am to go home for a visit. So I wont.
- My band is having another gig sometime in early 2012, we have no new material and no time to practice so it should be another gong show haha. Good thing we aren't in it for the money/fame/glory!
So lately it seems like I have a lot of free time on my hands as all my friends seem to have found lives of their own. Because of this I've started using my DSLR camera, that I bought in Canada before I came to Japan, a lot more recently. So here are some pictures I took a week ago in the Iidabashi, Ochanomizu, Ebisu and Shibuya areas of Tokyo.

Ooze Charm - An Italian Restaurant in Nishi-Shinjuku

So I had a great blog entry all typed up and then lost it. So... here's round two.

I tried that 'pungency' tea that was the title for my last entry and I have to say, it was quite good. Not pungent though. A little disappointing but I'm willing to look past that.

It was pointed out to me that in all my entries not only do I apologise for my tardiness but I'm also always sick or getting over a cold haha. I am very happy to report that I am not sick at the moment and nor do I feel the need to apologise as I updated this blog recently. Go me.

So recently I've been wandering all over Tokyo during my days off as I have nothing better to do haha. Last weekend I went on an epic journey that took about four hours to acomplish. I went from Ginza to Tsukiji (the massive fish market) to Daimon (where I stayed the first time I came to Japan TEN years ago) to Zoji shrine, then I walked up to Tokyo Tower and around down to Akabanebashi to Azabu-Juban and wandered around the shopping area there (it really reminds me of Kitsilano in Vancouver haha) and then up to Roppongi where I caught a train to Ikebukuro because there was no way I'd be able to walk there haha. After that I walked around Sunshine City and then went home. Phew. So, since it's my weekend again I decided to go on another trek in the city and, at the request of a special someone, I brought my camera to take a few pictures. These pictures were all taken around the Nishi-Shinjuku and Kabukicho areas of Tokyo.

Pungency - name of a tea beverage found in most convenience stores

So instead of saying something like "wow, it's been ages since I last updated this blog" as I seem to do in every entry... I'm going to dive right in!

I have been up to a lot of hijinks lately and it has been fun. What have I been doing? Glad you asked...

1) I attended the Great Japan Beer Festival - it is a beer tasting festival held every year in various locations around Japan. The main goal of the festival is to taste a variety of craft brews... Granted I take it as a challenge to taste all the different craft brews in attendance. This year was my second year to attend the festival and it was great! There were different beers there this year than last year so I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to drink with the Italian brewers I met last year - oh well.

2) I went back to Shimizu-shi in Shizuoka. This place is near to my heart. Let me explain: during my first trip to Japan many moons ago, the school I came to Japan with had a sister school in Shimizu-shi and so when we came to Japan we came to Shimizu to do a mini exchange with the sister school (and then the students we stayed with stayed with us when they came to Vancouver). So! Late last month I went back to Shimizu and met the family I stayed with TEN years ago. We had sushi, chatted all day (only in Japanese - eek!) and looked at pictures from the trip. It was quite the trip down memory lane.

3) I attended Octoberfest in Yokohama. Again, this is a festival I went to last year and wanted to keep the tradition going. This day turned out to be one for the ages so I feel like I should write it down before I forget it all together haha. It all started off with a phone call from my co-worker asking me to go to Octoberfest with her and her husband... I of course agree and run out the door to meet them. The day started off slow with some polite beers with a bunch of couples and me... the single foreign one hahaha. Eventually I got a phone call from a friend who had gone to Octoberfest with me the year before to say he would be arriving shortly. I met up with him and our mutual friends and started playing drinking games (Eek!). We began to compare the current fest with the previous year's fest and remembered our favourite story from last year - our friend getting up on stage to sing polka to the massive crowd and then getting removed by security. We decided to do this again this year. Unfortunately when we got on the stage (just one other friend and I) the microphones were unplugged so we ended up having to yell quite loudly and only one group of people sang back to us. We were quickly removed from the stage.
Eventually once Octoberfest died down we hopped on a train for Shibuya. Oddly enough my friend and I got separated from the main group so he and I were listening to music (still very much in the singing mood) and singing to the rest of the train. Now if you have ever been on a Tokyo train you know that what I'm about to tell you is quite amazing. Some how... I managed to get about half our train car to both sway/dance AND sing "You can call me Al" by Paul Simon with me and my friend. This lasted for a little while until a major stop when my audience left and I lost interest.
And last but not least for my amazing Octoberfest day - I met these three stray Australians sitting by the side of the road... at this point my friend and I had purposely ditched the big group of friends we were with and my friend was off somewhere for the time being. So I sat with the Australians and started chatting with them and they offered me some champagne and then showed me these great costumes they bought... naturally in my state of mind I ask to wear one and they being cool guys agree. For a little while I was walking around the streets of Shibuya in a "Sento-kun" costume by myself until two of the Aussies decided to bust out their costumes and join me in a rilakuma and pikachu costume respectively. We were dancing in the streets and drinking champagne while the third Aussie and my friend watched (and of course various passersby).

I think my Octoberfest will go down in history as the coolest.

At the moment I'm a bit sick so I'm trying to take it easy so I can go out and do that all over again hahaha. I have to say, looking back on my adventures - sometimes I meet the coolest people and do some really silly things. I love the stories.

Guilty Parties Shake a Lady - Guy's T-shirt in Osaka

I've managed to catch a cold this past week so for some reason this means I'm awake at 5 in the morning and can't fall back asleep. At least this gives me ample time to catch up on emails and update my blog.
Last weekend I had to say goodbye to my friend who is going abroad for three months. We had a nice day of driving all around Tokyo. He actually gave me a bike I have named Jiminy. And true to the idea that everything in Japan is small, Jiminy can fold in half and is very small. I have not tried riding Jiminy as I'm afraid I'll get hit by a car.
I also did a bit of exploring this weekend. My coworker and I went on a massive hunt to find this "rumored" Aeon mall in our area. We found it after walking over 7 kilometers! The mall was pretty cool but unfortunately I was with my male coworker so once we found it, we basically turned around and caught the train home.
So Golden Week has come to an end meaning Obon will be here in August. Recently I've been looking into taking a trip abroad during Obon. I'm looking at Vietnam, Thailand or Bali. My coworker is going to come with me so now all we need to do is find a deal. My first choice is Vietnam as I really want to see Ha Long Bay.
In other news, I have been offered another contract extension. The manager told me she would like to see me stay at the school for a long time. I'm torn. I'd dearly love to stay but also get to see my family more than once a year.

Happy Japanniversary!

So today marks a very special day for me. It has been exactly one year since I moved to Japan! It's been a very interesting year full of new experiences, I'm lucky to say I've met a lot of good people along the way. Hopefully this is the first of many years to come in Japan.

So what have I been up to as of late? Nothing outrageous.

For Golden Week I went to Osaka. I decided to do something a little different regarding mode of transportation down there. Instead of taking the bullet train or highway bus as I have done before, I took the local trains. The bullet train usually takes two and a half hours and the highway bus (depending on traffic) takes about six hours. The local trains took roughly ten hours, 8500 yen and nine train transfers. It was a fun experience and definitely worth the time. By taking the locals I got to see a lot of the countryside and because of all the transfers it kept things interesting and gave me the opportunity to walk around and see some small towns. Osaka was fun as usual and I saw some people I met last month. I can't say I did anything special or noteworthy. I ate a lot of food, sang Karaoke and walked around parts of Osaka.

Last weekend I spent my entire weekend alone. It was a first for me as I tend to be a socail butterfly but for some reason I just felt like being alone and having a relaxed weekend. It was great! On Sunday I went to Shinjuku and just walked around Kabukichyo and Shinjuku-sanchome, I also went to Shinjuku park which is a hidden gem in the city! I've been to the bigger, more popular parks like Hibiya, Ueno and Yoyogi but I had never been to Shinjuku park before. It's truly beautiful! It has a good sized lake with bridges and koi fish, a traditional tea house and thick forests. It was great to see the contrast of a serene lake against the back drop of the skyscrapers of Shinjuku. I'm looking forward to returning soon for a picnic! I went home and made myself some Japanese food for dinner!! Nothing too crazy, just some yakisoba.
On Monday I decided to do some more exploring. I went to Nakano (a little bit west of Shinjuku) to see this shopping arcade they have (It is said that Nakano is the new Akihabara but I didn't see that at all). Apparently in this arcade they have a store where you can things people have found on the train! Unfortunately I did not find this store. I got bored of Nakano quickly and went to a regular spot of mine called Kichijoji, it's good for shopping and funky little cafes. I just wandered around there and found a foreign food shop so I bought a couple western food items and cooked myself dinner. I'm seriously impressed with myself as I have cooked myself dinner four nights in a row now (if you know me, you know that this is quite rare).

Needless to say, nothing really noteworthy has been happening. Life is good! :)

Marverous - Name of a bar in Fussa

After a month hiatus, I'm back blogging.

What have I been doing you ask? Nothing particularly special. In the past month I have:
-Worked, worked and worked. I was given the opportunity to teach some silly classes... French, darts and bar. No, I do not speak French.
-Taken a day off and got lost in Gunma on said day off. I ate a horrifying kaiseki dinner at the hotel in Gunma which included fish kidneys and clams. I'm still shuddering about this. The dinner had good points too... like salad, wild boar and some unidentified fish. Breakfast at the hotel was much of the same. I also went to an onsen where I could watch the snowfall. I went to a farm (which I later discovered was intended for five year olds) and saw some goats and sheep. I got lost on the way home because I foolishly got off the train to pee (turns out the train had a bathroom) and found myself stuck in darkest Saitama for an entire hour and a half with Take. We made some friends with the locals and wandered around. They laughed when we asked where we could find a restaurant haha.
- Caught up with some friends... Mainly drinking around my area and singing Karaoke, there was also some darts and purikura.
- Had an evening out with my co-workers and got to know them personally a bit better. We ended up drinking until 5 am... unfortunately most of them were drunk after the first.

What's on tbe books for the next little while? A friend of mine from Scotland is coming in for a few weeks to visit so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm celebrating a friend's birthday and successful surgery next weekend. I'm teaching English to the masses. That's about it. Glamorous life, I know. :)

Epilepsy - T-shirt for sale in Osaka

That was a good t-shirt.
So... on the news front... I signed another six month contract so I'm staying until November 2011 with this company. It's a little bittersweet, I love my students but I could do without some of my coworkers. After that I think I'll either go home or find a different job with a different company.
So this weekend... I'm going to try and take it relatively easy. Take mentioned something about me learning how to play the drums hahaha. Recently I've had a cold sore and some canker sores so I'm going to try and get some much deserved rest.
Did I mention I met another Canadian out here?

Who the hell cares set tripping silly - T-shirt on a guy riding the subway

I'm back from Osaka! It was a short whirlwind trip but quite nice to get out of Tokyo for the day and a half that it was. We went to see the whale shark, went to the food amusement park they have and then to Dotonbori to see the big glico sign and to the American village they have... which wasn't very American haha.

Good Luck to All Who Ride - T-Shirt in Shibuya

So I have another cold. I think it's because my apartment is so cold all the time.
This weekend was a very interesting one. After work on Saturday, Take met me at the train station and we went for dinner... That is the last time I let him order even if he is the one with superior Japanese abilities. Over the course of dinner we ate: Karaage, Gyoza, steak, Buri sashimi, whale bacon, pig intestines, raw horse and deep fried oysters (Done in the Hiroshima style so I had to try them because that is where Take is from). The first few dishes were all fine and dandy... the last ones I struggled with. The whole dinner was like Take trying to see what he could get me to eat because I was being stubborn after he gave me the gears about not being open minded. "I'll show you open minded... pig intestines, wow they're lovely... I wish we had more" *gag*
Yesterday before my students house I went to Tachikawa with Take for an epic shopping trip. We went WINDOW SHOPPING for about three and a half hours and he didn't complain once. I am still shocked about this.
Last night I went to my students house. It was alright. I ate more food I wasn't too happy about lol. Steamed fish paste with fish eggs on top. I hate fish eggs. The night went alright, we sat on the floor the whole time so by the end of the night my legs were hurting pretty good. After that I went home and ate pizza lol.
Today I think I will go shopping some more. I have a 5000 yen gift card I want to spend.

Everybody Must Get Stoned - Shirt on a guy in Shibuya

I know I've been extremely neglectful as of late with updating my blog. (I think this is how I start every entry I write) Sorry!
I have been extremely distracted lately with my social calendar. I have been entertaining guests from out of town on the weekend, working overtime all week and having Halloween parties (those fell somewhere between work and play). I went to my first Japanese rock concert and I tell ya, that was very entertaining just watching the crowd. The band's name is Mucc... I enjoyed most of their songs even though they were all in Japanese. I think my favourite part of the concert was when the lead singer was trying to explain "trick or treat" to the crowd and then threw candy at them.
Recently, I've met a number of people into the music scene in Tokyo which has been awesome. I've met various bands and DJs from all over the world including one from Canada! Wooo. That brings the count of how many Canadians I've met here to three. This past Wednesday was a national holiday so I managed to swing partying for four days (with a short break to teach on Tuesday). I met so many people but unfortunately have another cold as a result.
What's on the up coming calendar?
-Tomorrow my friend Take is coming over, hopefully we'll take it easy.
-Sunday I have to go to a student's house for some dinner thing (blah)
-Monday I'm going to go shopping to find a birthday present for Dan, Takumi and Take. November is birthday season.
-Later this month I get a three day weekend so I'm hoping to hop on a bus/train and go to Osaka or Iwate.

Ignore Alien Orders - T-shirt at the Yokohama Oktoberfest

Another few weeks have gone by and I am still very neglectful with my blog. Apologies as always.

What have I been up to you ask? Well, let me fill you in!
-Teaching English to the masses (of course) that keeps me out of trouble for maybe four days of the week. :)
-I read a book. I really enjoyed it. I dont know if anyone who reads this would but hey... it's called "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk. It's a pretty intense, strange book but rather amusing at parts and very creative at the very least. Warning - not for people with a weak stomach.
-I have been partying. As always. I introduced a friend to my new favourite bar in Shibuya. (name is Rock no Kokoro) It's a half foreigner half local bar, huge focus on indie DJs, the crowd is good and there's no cover. Need I say more?
-I went to my first Oktoberfest. It was grand! A bunch of us from our training group all went together and had a great time. The weather was excellent so we sat our in the sun and drank a bunch of beer and danced a bit to polka. I have a great beer mug from it. (you paid 1000 yen as a deposit on the glass and then if you wanted to keep it you could. So I did! It's great for tea.)
-I went to my first hostess bar. As I was making my tipsy way back home from Yokohama's Oktoberfest I received an email from my friend Wataru asking me if I was free.
"Yes, of course... what are we doing?"
"Meet me in Tachikawa."
"I dont see why not"
Upon finding each other in Tachikawa we start wandering down one of the roads... We make our way into an elevator with his friend and then voila! It didn't dawn on me for a while that I was at a hostess bar. It wasn't very special. But I didn't pay for anything so what do I really care where we drank? All in all it was alright, the hostess bar's "Mama" was celebrating her birthday that night. I asked her how old she was and she swore she was 24 but then she kept forgetting and telling me she was 20, and then 21... I think she was probably more like 30.
-I had ramen three times last weekend and it was delicious. If you've never tried Ramen, I highly suggest you do. Try shoyu (soy sauce) base or tonkotsu (the kind of broth used). I hear it isn't too healthy for you so you should only eat it like once a week... It's probably relatively high in sodium. Oh well.

What's on the schedule for the next while?
- My friend is in town! He arrives on Monday so I must go find him at the airport...
-Halloween is afoot! My school has three Halloween parties I must participate in, let alone the actual day where I plan to be out in full freak force! I'm going to a Japanese concert that day, but either way I'll be in costume for it! My costume is being imported from Canada courtesy of Bryan (the visiting friend)

On the news front...
My Mum is coming to visit for New Years! I'm very happy that I will get to see a familiar face for the holidays and get to share my love for this country with her! Hopefully afterwards she'll understand why I'm here! :)

One Tongue is Enough - no idea where I saw that one...

So the weather is finally cooling down and I no longer have to sleep with my air conditioner blasting. Needless to say, I'm thrilled by this. Also, Autumn/Winter fashion is coming out which is great. My friend is coming to visit me in about two weeks which is also great!
Things are kind of just settling nicely. I had a semi-full weekend this weekend. I went to see my friend DJ in Shibuya which was awesome. Everywhere I went I was treated like a pseudo-celebrity or local god... people flocked around me and just wanted to talk to me... much to my friend's dismay who had a legitimate reason to be flocked to but no one paid attention to him but me hahaha. We were talking about that last night and he could not get over my gravitational pull I had on everyone. Good times. Sunday I spent the entire day in a great deal of pain. The stomach bug/thing I had in May has reared its ugly head again.
I need to go see a doctor.
On Monday I went on an excursion to the English book store in Takadanobaba and I bought two books. I'm excited to start reading some intellectually stimulating books instead of the dribble I have to read for work (that came off a bit harsh maybe). If anyone has any good book recommendations please let me know! :) I also saw a coworker of mine, who works at a different school, and we had dinner in Koenji.
All in all... good weekend aside from the stomach pain and the cold. Turns out the pain killers I've been taking are for headaches... hmm...

Smack my Bitch Up - Guy's t-shirt... walking with his WIFE

For such an epic title to this entry... you'd think I'd have more to say.

Another week has gone by and life in Japan is still great.

Today (Sunday) I had to go in and work. It was a good day, quieter than normal, I taught two classes and spent the rest of the day tying up loose ends which was really nice.
Recently, I have made the acquaintance of another gaijin living in my town. He's really nice and into the same things as me! He's from Rhode Island and is an assistant language teacher at one of the public schools, he moonlights as a DJ though and is hoping to make it big in Japan. How cool. I know a pseudo celebrity! Get this: he can speak fluent flawless Japanese AND he can read a lot of Kanji!! I envy him! Gotta keep practicing eh?
So, since I have tomorrow off, my friend Jay is coming over and I'm cooking a traditional Canadian dinner of chicken alfredo... it's going to be grand if he ever shows up. I suspect he is lost in darkest Tokyo! Uh oh... I fear I'm gonna have to go on a search and rescue mission.
The upcoming week is a bit busy as I have to go to headquarters and learn some new things to help me with my new added responsibilities. I'm feeling the pressure because I need to do well with my new responsibilities in order to prove to them I'm worthy of staying for another year.
No pressure, no pressure... No, pressure! hahahaha punctuation.

Cant Stop Grind - Cant remember where I saw it

I was at a street festival a few weeks back which was a hot bed for Engrish t-shirts, I wrote down some of the phrases I saw in my note pad on my iPhone which is where I keep getting these hilarious titles. Hope you're enjoying them.

This week is supposed to be quieter for me as all kids classes are cancelled but instead of that I have seven classes today (the maximum). Tomorrow is a national holiday though (Respect for the Aged Day I think?) so I dont have to teach tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the break in my week as I also have to come in on Sunday.

Last weekend was another busy one.
On Saturday one of my students took all the teachers and staff at our school out for Teppanyaki. Wow was it ever good! We had a FIVE course dinner! The chef was really funny and treated me like a celebrity or something because I had never had teppanyaki before. He moved things around and kept asking me questions, I think that made the other foreign teacher a bit mad.
On Sunday I walked around this park near where I live for a couple hours and got some massive blisters on my feet because of it lol. After that I went to a karaoke party hosted by a student and my old coworker. It was fun but really long! Around 3 in the morning we called it quits.
On Monday I went to the Great Japan Beer Festival in Yokohama. It was amazing! There were over 250 beers to try there, and you can sleep well knowing I tried my hardest to drink them all. Might have got about 50... in hind sight I probably should have kept a tally. I went with my old coworker and we ran into a student there which was very amusing for us. We ended up meeting a bunch of cool people who brew beers, got their business cards and one brewery invited us to drink on the docks with them after the festival, which we did for a while. Since we were in Yokohama (has one of the world's largest Chinatowns) we went for all you can eat Chinese food.

The pictures I put up are of Yokohama (the building where the Beer Festival was held- no idea what the name is), for some reason a robot was handing out all the awards to the winning breweries and finally... my glass of beer on the ceremonial block of ice that melts. I had more to put up but they have been lost somewhere in cyberspace for the time being. Will post once they arrive.

Cheers!

Titty & Co. (On someone's purse)

Long time no blog.

I've been relatively distracted lately and have yet again been neglecting my blog.

I have been given more responsibility at work. Yay (read exasperated sigh). I will soon get to be one of the many people who die from karōshi. (overwork) haha. I am in charge of more business related things, making sure people sign up to do studies at home and explain to head office why people aren't. I didn't want this responsibility. Enough about work.

On the fun side of living in Japan... It's been summer this past little while that I have not been blogging (duh!) and I have been taking full advantage of the weekly festivals that have been taking place all over Tokyo.

Recently...
I went to a takoyaki party that was held in the middle of a punk rock bar in Kabukicho, in Shinjuku. Some guy closed down the entire bar for a private takoyaki party (fried octopus balls) with only 15 guests! It was quite the sight and really fun.
I went to the Tokyo 2010 Brazil Fest in Harajuku. It was amazing! Great dancers, people were everywhere... the music was great. It was a very hot day though so I did not stay long. I have pictures on my phone but not on my computer. I will post some pictures soon.
I went to Odaiba and saw the future! A friend and I went to the Toyota building where they showcase all their cars and what not. We were able to simulate the race track they test their cars on in a big theatre, learn all about hybrids, see future cars and... ROBOTS!!! We also went to a place called.... Venus Fort (I think), the entire inside was built to look like some courtyard in Italy. I took a lot of pictures... they just aren't up yet (sorry again). My favourite part about Odaiba was sitting on the beach and watching the sunset. Fantastic!
I went to a BBQ (again) on the Akigawa River (again) and it was pretty fun. I was the only foreigner there and most people couldn't speak any English so I was using a lot of Japanese the entire day.

So there's a little update about what's been going on. I will try to remember to update more often and hopefully post some pictures of my adventures!

Hysteric Glamour

It's been a week since I updated this so... I figured I should update it.
Somethings I've noticed this past while:
Everyone in Japan seems to love Crocs and not notice how utterly horrible they are. They bejewel them and everything. I hope whoever reads this knows what they are as I will not be posting any pictures of Crocs on my blog. :)
People here fight over who should sit down. It's the opposite as in Vancouver. People try to give up their seats and then the person they try to give their seat to wont sit down and they argue back and forth as to who should sit. It's very amusing to watch.
So it's summer and the Japanese are in full swing for summer festivals. I've been to two so far. Both were packed full of people, small stalls lined the streets with food and drinks to buy. People are all wearing their yukatas and kimonos and hobbling down the streets in their geta. (Geta are the traditional sandals worn with kimonos) It's fun to watch them get drunk because those shoes are hard to walk in! I went to a matsuri last Sunday with a fellow teacher and a student. It was a sight to be seen for sure! It was in Azabu-Juban near Roppongi. The area was packed with people. The main street was lined with little food, games and drink stalls. There was even a stall selling Moet & Chandon for the more distinguished tastes hahaha. The teacher I went with is not very familiar with Japanese cuisine. We decided to have okonomiyaki from one of the stalls. The Japanese describe okonomiyaki as a 'pancake', there is nothing pancakey about it aside from that I think flour and eggs are used. As I've been told there are two kinds of okonomiyaki, Kansai and Hiroshima. I've tried both before and Hiroshima is tolerable if done right. We had Kansai and it was not done right. My poor friend was terrified as to what he was eating:
"What is this?"
"It's okonomiyaki dude, just smile and eat it"
"what is in it?"
"How should I know?"
"This is terrible"
"I know"
"I dont know what I'm eating"
"Neither do I"
The conversation went on like that in hushed tones for the entire duration of our meal. It was terrible. Events like that I like to call 'dinner roulette'. It can be good, it can be terrible and you're most likely going to lose.

Today, I'm off to another festival with my friend Eriko. I'm not sure where it is but I'm sure it'll be fun!

Straight Burger - a Burger Joint Slogan

Straight burger - no chaser. This burger joint, Lotteria, offers a ten patty burger for the ultra low price of 900 yen. My coworker tried to get me to eat one. I wouldn't know where to begin!
I'm honestly not sure why I'm updating this blog but I am. I'm alive. Work is keeping my on my toes as always. I have to work tomorrow (normally my day off) but oh well. I'm turning Japanese and working myself to death. Funny how that goes. I also went to h.o. for a workshop this week. It was nice to meet some other teachers... one's I had not met before. Some new and some experienced. I'm getting more comfortable with teaching and I think my coworkers are pleased with me. This week has been fun with teaching children. I got to introduce them to the games 'Mother May I' and 'Pin the tail on the donkey'... and with the idea of "show, dont tell" for teaching children I got to be pretty goofy which always makes the day fun. My plans for the brief time I have off this week include: Teaching my friend Japanese, and looking for a good English book to teach someone else English and going for a nice Indian curry. Pretty tame, I know.
I got some good news that I might have company coming to visit me in October. Which is fantastic! I would love the oppportunity to show off my new city and the great places I've become acquainted with!