Continuation of the previous blog...

Sorry, last night I had some plans which involved gambling. But more on that later. Therefore I couldn't finish the blog of last week.

I also wanna say for those JETs that read my blog, the person shouting in my face wasn't anybody of the JETs that I hang out with so no worries! Even thoughit was a bit irritating its not like I hate that person.

Anyway, on with the blog. Where was I? Oh right teaching on Thursday the 23rd.

On the 23rd I went to the Yochien (basically preschool) where I played with the children for about 2 hours. It's kinda nice to be the JET of the city and get to go the Yochien because all you do is talk and play with kids and you get paid for it. The kids are pretty cute and generally not as shy as the elementary, junior high or high school kids. After that I returned to the Board of Education (BOE) and then after work I went to pick up the rest of my comics, as they had finally arrived at the local book store. However, I'm still missing some issues in between because they can't find some of the issues, but I guess patience is a virtue and I'll wait it out just to help the smaller guy out.

Friday was really my first day of teaching class. I went to the junior high and taught my first class during the second period (9:45 ish I think). Basically I just explained where I was from, my hobbies, interests and likes and dislikes. Gave them a quiz on myself introduction. It wasn't too hard because the teacher, Kosaka-Sensei, basically lead the way.

Friday was the beginning of Furusato Matsuri (Hometown festival), but instead I went out to Akashi, a local izakaya, to eat and party with the elementary school staff. I had to make a speech, which I have no more problems with now, since I've done it soo much :(. I realize I suck at Japanese still tho, so theres still a lot to work on. The first speech I made was in English s it wasn't soo bad. The second speech, was part of a game, where I had to talk about my love life. I started in English, but stopped after Kosaka-sensei started translating my speech inproperly and made me look like some hentai pervert. But anyway I just talked about my last relationship.

Our second party was at a Karaoke bar, I forget the name. But it was just more drinking and singing. I actually ended up going the a third party with a couple of other teachers and eating Horumon (pig guts, sounds gross but its good when its bbq'd) and Ramen. After words I proceeded to go home and sleep away the alcohol.

On saturday, I did a few choirs around the house (yes, pretty rare coming from me), while waiting for Pete, the ALT in Shirataki (a city of 1500, only 30 mins away). We went to the festival for a bit and talked to a couple of people, before leaving at shortly after. We decided that it would be better for Pete to stay over for the night so he could drink and party with the people of Kamikawa, rather than return home and then come back the next morning for his Yasakoi (Japanese Traditional Dancing, although I'm not sure if thats the correct way to call it, you may want to check for yourself). So we went to Shirataki to pick up his stuff and almost ran over a fox on the way there. We came back to Kamikawa and hung around the festival for a bit.

First, we went to watch the parade, which consisted of dancing skits and the like. There were actually people from the Yakuba (Town Hall) and BOE (people I work with) doing a dance number with a Women's synchro theme. They were wearing women's swimming suits and make up. Had I not had Sapporo orientation I would've been forced to join because I promised to try it in Sapporo when I was asked. Which means next year I will be doing it for sure. It was pretty funny. They were doing something related to the naked dancing guy in Jackass, but Japanese style. One of the trademark moves is saying "Sou Nani Kankei Ne" while stamping your right food and moving your arm like pulling a lawn mowing card. And then you go "Pah pee pooh!". You have to see it, its pretty funny, if I find it on You tube I'll link it.

I also met Mama, the owner of Romance, a local karaoke bar and ate a crap load of food and drank a buttload of beer.

After the festival was done for the day, we headed to Romance and sang and drank the rest of the night away. I threw up discretely in the washroom, and then left romance soon after at about 1:00 in the morning. I actually got lost around Kamikawa for a bit before being able to stumble my way back home. Pete stayed till 3:30am apparently so I left the door open in the apartment so that he'd be able to get in.

I had to wake up the next morning at 7:30 and help my supervisor clean up the streets at 8:00am, at a place near the Gym, but I actually got lost and went in the opposite direction. I was late leaving and by the time I called my supervisor to ask him where it was, cleaning was over. He did pick me up and showed me where it was and then dropped me off at home. I actually felt pretty guilty. I was also feeling pretty shitty from being hung over and tired from lack of sleep.

When I returned home, Pete woke up shortly after, and then we headed to the Festival grounds and I waited for him to Yasakoi. In the meantime, I went home to record my message on my answering machine. I went back to the grounds and watched the Yasakoi. After that, Pete and I went to Asahikawa for a bit of shopping. I was finally able to buy a long TV cable, so that I could move my damn TV in to the real living room with a couch. I also bought a couple of things from Takeo Kikuchi and crap loads of groceries from the grocery store at Aeon and at a foreign food store. I also introduced Pete to Takeo Kikuchi, which he cursed me for. I think he'll be spending quite a bit of his money there from now on. BWAHAHAH!

We had ramen before returning back to our homes. It was nice to be back home, but I soon went back out the meet Takahata-san for the After Furusato Matsuri party. It was at Akashi again and really good. I had to make a speech in Japanese, which I toally got wrong as a result of being hung over, but I think I still made my point.

I went home at 11:00pm although Fuchigami-san, one of the employees of the Yakuba, wanted me to go to a Second party with him and Nishiki-san, at at karaoke bar. Actually Nishiki-san was pretty unwilling and told Fuchigami-san but I think Fuchigami-san suceeded in dragging Nishiki-san along. Poor guy. I just ran away and told them I had to teach in the morning (I had to be at the High School by 8:00).

On Monday I woke up early and headed to the BOE to pick up my teaching materials. However it was locked and I actually couldn't get in until 7:50. I quickly gathered my stuff and just barely made it to the high school on time. I taught my classes by doing a self introduction and a quiz. I also did a few tricks with my Hockey stick and puck. That impressed the students.

High School Girls seem pretty inquistive about my current relationship status. I told them I have 20 girlfriends back home and then all answer with "Saitei" ("You're the worst"). I just laugh it off. I also had some girls ask me to go out with them, to which I replied: "I'll think about it". This seemed to make them happy and then just ran off laughing. It's all pretty wierd and pretty funny at the same time.

Tuesday was pretty normal as I was back in the Junior high doing a classes. The kids were still pretty talkative and still treate me like I'm sme sort of star.

Today was pretty interesting. It was my first day at the elementary. Teaching was basically the same outline at the junior high and high school, just a bit simpler for the youngins. However I did have a kid ask if I had a big Pen 15. I was too shocked to answer. He just ran off and yelled: "I knew it was big!". I'm not kidding, this is a true story...

I'm also kinda sad today. I was flexing my stick today for the kids to see and ended up snapping it in half. *Sniff* there goes my Nike Bauer 190. I hope to be able to order a new one maybe this Sunday if I head down to Asahikawa. Maybe I'll get two, just as a back up. Somehow, life feels a bit emptier without a 190.

Anyway, I've finally caught up to where I wanna be. I'm gonna sleep now since I have to be at the BOE tomorrow around 8:30, if not sooner. I wanna study some Japanese and read my Japanese Novel to get ready for the JLPT Level 2 Exam in December.

Talk to you guys later, I hope the start of school isn't stress you guys out too much. If you guys are in Japan, teaching, I hope that your students make your experience enjoyable!

Its been a while...

Sorry about that, its my fault. I've been so busy with the weeks events that I haven't had much time to reply back to some emails, nor actually catch up on blogging. This is gonna be one long post if I manage to finish it tonight, if not I'll try to finish it tomorrow night. I kinda have an early day tomorrow (I have to be at the Elementary by 8) but I'll do what I can.

Let's start with the beginning. Last week Saturday, the 18th (Friday was uneventful because I was just packing for Sapporo) . Since I had Sapporo orientation with the JETs on Monday the 20th, till Wednesday the 23rd, my supervisor decided it would be a good idea for me to head to Sapporo on Saturday to party it up with his morning baseball team. And after hearing party I accepted right away. So in the morning of the 18th we headed down to Sapporo, the largest city Hokkaido, 2 hours away.

When we got there we checked into our hotel at Susukino called Swanky Hotel (The name is actually quite descriptive based on the location). Susukino is the Kabuki-cho of Hokkadio (Kabuki-cho is the red light district of Tokyo). Being the red light district, it has a lot of....clubs and stuff.

But anyway, after checking in to the hotel we headed to the nearest subway station and took it all the way to the Sapporo Dome, to watch the Nippon-Ham Fighters, the local team in the Japanese baseball league. Although I don't normally like baseball, I kinda found it fun to watch because being part of the Cheering squad is so much fun. The opposing team (Chiba Marines) had a really strong cheering squad despite having 10 times less the fans as the Fighters. The Fighters lost in the end, due to a bad 7th inning, but it was still fun anyway.

After that we headed back to an Izakaya at Susukino and I got the chance to eat freshly killed octopus. The tentacles still moved in the plate which it was served in. It was a pretty interesting experience and I'm glad I tried it. I'm sure it grosses most of you out though, but when in foreign place, I find it hard not to try new things. Also had crab brains and sake, that was a really interesting way to eat it.

Afterwards we went to a few bars and clubs....yah.

Everybody had their own room, which was totally nice, because after Tokyo orientation and staying with other people, it was a nice change.

The next morning, I went into the Hokkaido Keio Plaza Hotel, which is not as luxurious as its Tokyo counterpart. I couldn't check in right away, check in time was at 13:00. So I had Keio keep my luggage for me and then me and my supervisor walked around the area (which is basically known as Sapporo station). I discovered where the ATMs where, the JA train station was, where I needed to board the train back to Kamikawa on Wednesday and tons of other stuff including a Starbucks. We ate ramen at a Ramen village, which was a floor on the Department Store totally devoted to ramen. In other words, heaven. Anyways, we went back to the Keio and my supervisor left. I then met up with a couple JETs downstairs in the lobby of Keio.

We then went around the area doing some electronics shopping (where everyone bought DS), clothes shopping before finally eating at Yakiniku at Susukino (we took the subway to get there). Ike-chan suggested it when I asked him over the phone. I had a bit of a difficult time trying to find it, but it all ended up ok and I think everybody enjoyed it for the most part. We went drinking at a couple of bars and ended up getting quite wasted. My friend Jenna and I almost got stuck in Susukino, we caught the second last train back to Sapporo station at 12:01 midnight. It was kinda scary. Although Sapporo is within walking distance to Susukino (30 minutes) and I guess we would of made it back one way or another (even if I was lost I had cell phone GPS). But it was quite an experience.

The next morning was the start of orientation. I got up early and headed to the Combini to buy myself some Riceballs and a coffee for Breakfast. Nothing much happened at Orientation other than being bored out of my mind. There was a recruiting for HAJET, which is like a brotherhood of JETs. When you join you can use their english library and other services. I myself didn't join because I don't read english books, and for 4000 JPY it was a bit pricey. There was also a enkai hosted by HAJET but that costed 4000 JPY too. A lot of JETs were going, but I decided to have some alone time and wander around the city of Sapporo.

I first went to Oodori Station, which is the stop between Susukino and Sapporo station. (It's kinda wierd how they name one station Sapporo station but anyway...) Theres a shopping place called Kanuki Koji, which is like an outdoor bizarre. I guess you could compare it with something like Whyte Avenue or 17th Avenue if you're a Calgarian. Afterwards I walked to Susukino, 15 minutes away. I visited some of the department stores there and ended up buying a couple of dress pants. All the stores there close at 8. So I went back to Sapporo station at that time and did a bit of shopping at the department store there, which closes at 9.

After that I dropped off all my bags at Keio plaza (only 5 minutes walk from the station by the way, sorry that came out so late) and then ate at an Izakaya my supervisor suggested to me. It was right behind Keio so it was pretty convenient. The Husband and Wife pair that run that store know my supervisor personally and are actually really close with the Kamikawa people because they go there all the time. It was nice talking to her and I told her to basically let her decide what I would eat at their restaurant.

She picked Gouya (which is some sort of Vegetable, with bitter melon, in a yellow soup, it's hard to explain), Sanma (Mackeral) sashimi, Cooked Sanma and Crab, which is very different then the ones in Canada (the ones here are pointy and the meat is pretty tender). The dinner came out to be about 4000 JPY but it was delicious and fulfilling. It was really nice to try new things.

I met up with some JETs at Susukino after on their 2nd party after the Enkai, we talked for a bit and then headed down to the 3rd party in a karaoke bar near Keio. It was fun and all, but I did have some people shouting in my face, which I didn't enjoy. I realized they were drunk but still... I didn't know JETs could be soo loud but it was all in good fun, even though I was so dead tired I was incorrherent of things going on. I left earlier then everybody, 1:30 in the morning in preparations for next days orientation.

Next day's orientation was about the same. Except atleast I got to do Advanced Japanese class, which was fairly decent. It ws basically us talking in Japanese the whole time. After orientation everybody just had an easy day. I went shopping with a Chris, a JET I had just met in Sapporo. We went electonics shopping and guitar shopping, although I didn't buy one, I learned a lot about the process. I might consider getting one later on in the year. Everybody, including me went to bed early and to get ready for the next day's orienation and departure back to our respective cities. I did go buy some Yukimi Daifuku (Ice cream rice balls) and a beer for snack before sleep.

The next day was half a day of orientation and then a tour of the museum and historical village. The latter was the most interesting, since it was basically old transported buildings gathered in one place. I got to see live silk worms which was kinda cool. After that I departed JA station at 17:30 to arrive back in Kamikawa at 19:50. A couple of co-workers came to the station to see if I made it home ok and to give me a ride back to my apartment. Very nice people, but I probably caused them a lot of pain :(. Anyway, I was sooo tired that I went back out and into one of our many Ramen stores to eat dinner. After words I went home and slept.

The next days were really eventful as they were my first days teaching and the Furusato Matsuri, which I'll explain next time. It's getting late and I don't wanna rush the rest of the blog, so I'll leave it at that till tomorrow.

Yay for Keitais!

Finally! On Monday morning my Foreigner card finally came...which means I am allowed to do many things I wasn't allowed to do without one. For one, I'm now able to buy a car, whether used or new.

Another thing, which I actually did shortly right after we stopped by city hall, was get a Postal Office Bank Account. Along with my normal account, a postal office bank account will let me withdraw money from any postal office in Japan. My normal account is with JA (not sure what this stands for), but if I'm in places other than Hokkaido, my money won't really be accessible. I can also do banking with my Keitai (Cellphone), which brings me to my next subject.

In the afternoon, we headed to Asahikawa to finally get myself a high tech, 3rd generation Keitai. (I believe Canada and US are still in Generation 1.) Weeks before, my supervisor and I discussed which plans to get for about 3 days. We decided to go with Softbank (I think its Vodaphone), on their White Plan. The White Plan is really different that any other plan that I've had. In the end we decided to get the Double White Plan (Its actually W-White) because just 100 JPY more expensive than the White plan. Heres how it works, you get to phone people who are in Softbank for free from 1:00am - 9:00pm, outside of those times, it costs 10.5 JPY / 30secs. Mailing messages is about the same, except theres no time limit and your charged by message length when you message someone outside of Softbank. Anyway, rather than bore you with other details, I'll just concluded that my plan is about 3300 JPY/Month (approx. $30 CDN). Thats with paying for the phone monthly (over two years) and the Double White Plan. It should be noted that he phone I got is the 913SH from Sharp and is the latest model of Keitai Softbank has.

Anyway, the 913SH and other 3G (3rd generation) phones are pretty amazing in Japan. If all you owned was a phone and had a decent salary you could live off these phones in a main city (like Tokyo, Sapporo or even Asahikawa). You can use your phone as a wallet, you can pay for hotel room (by using your phone like a Pre-charged credit card), food at combinis, and public transportation, simply by swiping your phone over a sensor. Its nuts! If your bored and want to watch TV, you can (I can't yet, but apparently the service is coming to Kamikawa in a month, hence why I said "living in a main city"). Watched too much TV on your Keitai? Go buy yourself a Wii, PS2, PSP, PS3 or DS at Geo (pronounced Geh-Oh) with your Keitai. Lost your bank card? you don't need one, just swipe your Keitai over a sensor and you can log into your bank. Wanna get out of Tokyo? JAL and ANA take payments for plane tickets by Keitai. All these services require pre-charging your keitai with money. Its pretty incredible, whats being going on with cellphones in Japan.

But that doesn't even scratch the surface. Keitais are almost like your blackberries, but have even more functions. Everybody knows about cellphone cameras, but can your cellphone take a picture of a business card and read information from it? Then turn that information into a contact for your phone? Can your phone read 2D barcodes that can contain information such as websites, phone numbers, contacts, names? I finally figured out why theres no iPhone in Japan. Because the iPhone sucks compared to other phones here.

If all this sounds like I'm falling head over heels for Techno gadgets in Japan, its probably because I am. Keitais alone are reason not to live in North America or any other place. But then again I guess most of my friends are in Canada, so thats a pretty good reason to go back too. Maybe we should all move to Japan and then I'll be pretty happy!

Anyways, wanna end the Keitai verbal molestation, with saying that if your in Japan under Softbank, gimme a call anytime between 4:45pm and 9:00pm or text me at any time (except when I'm asleep). Actually if your in Japan gimme a shout anyway, we can atleast trade contact info. If your not and wanna cost me some money, I guess you could call my cellphone, though I would prefer if you guys signed up with Skype so I could talk to you guys cheaper :P. That ends my Keitai rant.

Anyway, we went to go look at a couple of used cars after we got my keitai all hooked up. I'm thinking about declining the sprinter for a car with 4WD. My supervisor has been telling me to get it just in case snow becomes really bad on the roads. Even though the Sprinter is cheap, its not worth the danger I might have in the winter time. As a side note, I'm sell my Mazda3 at home :(. I'm gonna miss that car. If anybody is interested, let me know.

We took a look at the normal white licence plate cars. They tend to be heavier and safer in the wintertime. One car that was of interest was a Honda Integra Type R(yes Honda, Japan doesn't have Acura). For 590 000 JPY, it was tempting, but it doesn't have 4WD and insurance will be might expensive, being a race car.

On returning to Kamikawa, I went to my supervisor's house to have Dinner, where we had Yakiniku, with fish, mutton and vegetables. We had plenty of beer to drink and got drunk pretty late in the night. Toby-san, who works at City Hall had his family and himself join us. We must of talked till 10pm. Then we went inside My Takahata-san's (My supervisor's) house and played Wii Tennis. After that it was home and sleep.

Today, was less excited, other than playing with my phone, I didn't do too much. Work was also dead due to the Obon-festival. Tomorrow will probably be the same :(. Anyway, gotta sleep soon, blog to you later!

Hanging out with the "Youngins"

Well there have been a lot of replys about my Natto (fermented soya beans) post (which I'm sorry for not describing, I just assume everybody is familiar with it for some reason). Anyways, your replies got me thinking about trying it again, so maybe if we I have a house party with the other co-workers I'll try to experience Natto in a different way than at an izakaya (sit-down restaurant). Thanks for your feedback!

So, throughout the whole week, it was pretty uneventful. Pretty much a routine of waking up, going to work, coming home, cooking dinner and then relaxing and playing video games. My supervisor went on holidays from Wednesday to Friday and will be back this coming Monday. Also, I finally got my memory card mailed to me on Wednesday. I'm still waiting for my manga to come from Asahikawa (its taking forever :/ ).

Friday was a little more eventful than the rest of the week. I'm planning on buying a used car so that I can drive to Asahikawa and play hockey in the winter time. I got to see on Friday at noon. It was Toyota Sprinter and for 260 000 JPY it was a bargin, considering it had an automatic car starter, and winter tires included in the price. It's pretty tempting, but I think I'm gonna pick another car considering the Sprinter is a FF (Front Engine, Front wheel drive) and automatic, which isn't gonna be fun to drive for 2-3 years. I've been told its best to have a 4WD car especially in winter time when the roads are filled with snow. Anyways, I have a while to think about buying the car. It's a white licence plate car (which signifies that the engine is above 1000cc) which means Shakken (annual/bi-annual manditory inspection) is going to be a bit more expensive as is insurance. Though for the price, I think its a great buy and I'm pretty sure it would last me the rest of my stay in Kamikawa.

After work, my co-worker, Ikehata-san (whom, I should call Ikke-chan after work), invited me to go to a beer party in Kamikawa Park. When he came to pick me up at 6:30, he had changed the plans to Yakiniku in Asahikawa (basically korean bbq with Japanese food). However, we did stop by the beer party to say hi to Watanabe-san of the Rotary club, whom had called me to tell me to go to the beer party when I got home after work.

We picked up Ikke-chan's two friends, two girls Chikka-chan and Ick-B (note: thats not they're actual names, just their nicknames), and then we headed off to Asahikawa. The difference in age between me, the youngest, and the oldest, Ikke-chan, was 4 years. We drove to some Yakiniku place and basically ate until our stomachs were full. I was kind of disappointed in myself for not being able to have better conversations with them. I think it was a combination of being tired, being sorta intimidated with hanging out with a younger Japanese crowd and just not knowing enough Japanese. Maybe it was just the inexperience of hanging out with a younger Japanese crowd.

Afterwards, we headed back to Kamikawa, and on the way went Kabuto-mushi (Beatle) Hunting. I have no idea what it is, but Japanese girls are fine with Japanese beatles but not ok with moths or any other bugs. Maybe I'm prematurely drawing a stereotypical conclusion.

We stopped by a Combini (convenience store) for a couple of snacks and drinks, Ick-B and Chikka-chan's house, for their Gamecube and Playstation games. Then we returned to my house for a night of video games. We ended up playing till about 3:30 in the morning, and in between the tenants down below coming up to my apartment at 12:00am to tell us to keep the noise down. I apologized and bowed deeply to express my regret. Needless to say, throughout the rest of the night, I was a bit nervous for fear of waking up the neighbors again. I should probably go down and apologize again later.

It was a fun night anyway, I'm probably gonna try to be less timid next time. We played Mario Party 8 and Mario Kart, the latter in which I "pwned" all :P.

Not sure why, but I felt really tired today but still managed to do laundry, go grocery shopping and cook and feed myself. I'm currently watching Women's volleyball. Its Japan vs. the Netherlands and its actually pretty intense. Netherlands definately has the height, but they're not so good when it comes to digging. However, with that being said, Japan is definately the underdog. Anyway, I'm gonna get back to Volleyball, so I'll blog to you guys later!

A Food Tip for the JET and Those Coming to Visit Japan

It happened a couple days ago, but I thought I'd tell you now that I remember about it. In Japan, it should go without saying, that you should try everything if you really want to experience it's cuisine. In otherwords you have to have a pretty tolerant stomach.

Being Chinese, I'm pretty open new food, I will each pretty much anything thats sanitarily edible. However I at something that made me gag for the first time ever in my life. Well technically its two things.

Anyway I'll get straight to the point, instead of going round-about. Do NOT try to wash down Natto with Beer. On that day, I decided to challenge myself by eating Natto the second time, in my life. We ordered Natto-maki. During the fourth roll, I couldn't swallow it because it was getting wayyy to strong. So I decided to wash it down with beer. Thing is Natto makes beer foam, and beer increases the taste of Natto in your mouth. Along with that, there are these mint leaves they put with Natto, it kinda makes the Natto taste more pronounced.

All this in combinaton triggered a gag reflex, and I almost puked on the spot. Luckily my desire to not puke on the table or other peoples laps was stronger than the desire to puke. Anyway, thought I would relate that lesson to you, so you don't go through the same thing as me. If your gonna eat natto try it in small bits and never wash it down with beer.

宴会ばから ･ Enkai Bakari

Sorry its been a while, heres a short update on what has happened the past days since I updated.

I had a Welcome party on friday, which was interesting and fun. I drank a lot and puked equally as much. The thing about any Enkais or welcome parties of the sort is that there is always two stages. You start off at one place and you often end at another. Therefore, its important to pace yourself when you do enkais. Otherwise, you'll be puking in front of your work staff staring at you concerningly. I had to have two co-workers, Suzuki-san (Yasumasa is his first name) and Tomoko-san carry me into my apartment. Needless to say I thanked them on Monday.

Sobering up from Friday's Welcome Party, I headed to Asahikawa the next day. Asahikawas is the nearest city next to kamikawa and is about 1 hour away. There, I went to a couple of department stores that were interesting; Comme ca Men, Seibu, composing of two buildings, and Marui Imai Department store. I bought a couple of things from TK (Takeo Kikuchi), they're not too fobbed out, and one from Men's Malibu, which had a pretty cool dress shirt with crystals from Swarvorski. It's kinda neat, I dunno maybe I'm just turning too metro in Japan.

Anyway, I went to a video game store called Geos where I bought a PS2, yes I know its old but its cheap and has games I can enjoy when I'm playing by myself. Unfortunately, I forgot to buy a memory card, but I ordered one online and I hope that comes in a few days. A nintendo Wii will have to wait till later. I plan to get it when more single player orientated games come out.

It should be noted that one of the department stores in Asahikawa, I forget what it is called has a complete Anime/Manga floor. In retrospec maybe I should of got all my manga then, but I guess helping out the little guys is always good to, if I'm willing to be patient.

On Sunday, I did cleaning and laundry in my apartment, as well as spend time with my PS2. Needless to say everything is now clean, and I'll send pictures to facebook once I get my own internet.

Yesterday, Monday, was back to work. I spent the first half of the day meeting people from the town office and pre-schools, elementry schools, junior high school and high school. It was pretty rough, but I have to say that talking with the mayor face-to-face and being interviewed by the town newspaper felt pretty neat. I can definately see the benefits of coming to a small town like Kamikawa.

The last half of the day was used to prepare lesson plans, although those won't be used till August the 24th or so, and studying Japanese. I'm actually trying to read the Death Note Novel, based on one of the Minor characters Misora Naomi. Today I actually got past the prologue, which I totally don't get, and started reading chapter one. After work, it was another Enkai but it was with a Peace forum.

The peace forum is is trying to advocate peace, based on experiences and consequences suffered as a result of the Hiroshima bombing. We had to watch a video about mothers of the Hiroshima bombing, which was pretty shocking once you actually saw what happened. I'm glad it had nothing to do with anything political like Yasukuni or anything like that. Otherwise, I don't think I'd go. But I'm pretty sure people wouldn't do that to me, especially Takahata-san, he's a pretty cool guy.

Anyways, after the video we had Yakiniku, which was delicious. Niku (meat) was mostly Mutton, but they had some cow meat, but it was really really soft and tender, more so then the ones at home. Our second stage, was at the Karaoke box, where I got to sing my Japanese songs and listen to Enka for the first time. Although it sounds horrible to many people, Enka is a pretty fun way to enjoy karaoke, but its really difficult to sing. Fuchikama-san who works at Town Hall had too much to drink, and by the end of the night, he as yelling "Fight-Oh Fight-Oh" and mixing that with the song lyrics. When he wasn't singing he was sleeping in the corner. He was also doing Chekku, which is basically hugging yourself and making yourself looking like your making out with someone. It was funny and pretty much at the end of the night we were just laughing non-stop. I had no idea karaoke could be so fun with Japanese people.

Today was all work. I came home right after it was done because I need someone to install a gas alarm for me(all Japanese stoves use propane and the alarm is needed to warn you if there is a leak). Actually, it was suppose to be done for me yesterday, but I was at the Enkai and I totally forgot about it. Bad me!

Btw, hopefully I have a Keitai soon. I'm going to go with Softbank, for those who are planning to come live here in Japan, go Softbank too and I can mail you for free. I'm probably gonna get the Softbank 913SH phone, which looks really nice and will hopefully keep me statisfied for a few years. I'm pretty excited about it!

I've finished all my chores for today, and I'm currently watch a pretty sad television show called Tengoku no Tegami (Letters from Heaven). I think its some psychic guy basically talking to the families whom have had people die tragically (The one I'm watching is where one day, some kids at a childcare are walking along the street for a feel trip and many of them get struck by a car with a flat tire). This psyhic has communicated with the dead and is basically relaying the messages ("Its not their fault, etc.). It doesn't matter if its fake because hes making people feel good, thats probably the most important thing. Anyway it's Namara-Kandou dabe! (Really moving). I'm gonna keep watching so I can learn some Japanese and maybe tear up infront of the T.V.

Talk to you guys next time!

New Day at the Job

Before I start I should probably write some more things about Tokyo. Washrooms at a 5 star hotel have everything. A Bidet to clean ur but, and part of the mirror is heated, so condensation will not occur when you take a really nice hot bath. It's really nice!

I also met my JET predecssor in Shibuya. I originally went to Shibuya to meet her and her sister at around 9. But couldn't contact her over the phone again and decided to go back to Keio. Once I got to Keio I decided to tell her not to go to Shibuya, but she was already there. Turns out she was traveling by train and she couldn't use her phone (in Japanese trains you're not suppose to talk on the phone). So out of eagerness to meet her, I decided to return back to Shibuya. Actually the train ride to Shibuya is only 7 minutes away from Shinjuku. Harajuku is like 5 minutes travel.
After we met up, we went to some bar in the back streets (it isn't as sketchy as it sounds, backstreets are the only places where you'll find the coolest stores). Turns out this bar was sort of a rip off because it charged us cover (400 Yen), and the drinks were ridiculously expensive for a bar in Tokyo (680 - 1100 Yen) based on what you choose. They're named after movies and comics and stuff, so I guess that made them unique. We only entered the bar because of sheer thirst for alcohol. We bonded for a while and left back to our "homes". It felt like I knew her for a
really long time.

The next day I traveled to Sapporo and then took a 3hr car ride with my Supervisor, Takahata-san, to Kamikawa. He didn't speak English well, so he was glad to have me speak Japanese to him. In fact he was surprised that I was at the level I was at. When we arrived at the Board of Education (BoE) we decided to play a joke on the rest of the staff members. When I first arrived, I pretended to be able to speak only English. We met the superintendent and he spoke to me first in Japanese (being of Asian decent and appearence, they think I can speak Japanese). I replied in Japanese. When Takahata-san told me "O.K." I let the Japanese rip. He almost had a heart attack! Everybody is happy that I speak Japanese, because they're english is minimal. They're all great people and I look forward to spending the whole year (or more) with them.

After that Takahata-san, other Co-workers; Nishimoto-san, Suzuki-san and I headed to an Izukaiya with (Sit-down Bar Restaurant) called Akashi. We at Sushi, drank Beer and Sake, and talked for about 2 Hours. Todo-san joined us in between and it was a great way to talk to people. We headed to another Food place right after, I was stuffed full, and proceeded to keep drinking and eating. I ate a Curry Katsu Don and was officially innoculated in the town of Kamikawa. I hardly at much after being so full, but I plan to go back and order it again.

Today was the first day of work. Takahata-san picked me up at 8:30 and took me around town for a few errands. First was getting the Foreigner Card. We needed to have two photos of me, so we actually had to go a Photo shop, take pictures and then head back to the Town Hall. After that, I got my bank account (I had to deposit 10 Yen) and then he took me on our tour which encompassed the schools, a gym and Espawaarudo, which is Kamikawa's large bell tower that sit on the peak of a smaller mountain nearby.

After that it was back to the BoE for a bit, and then Lunch, where I went to a grocery store and bought stuff for the house. I dropped that off and headed back to the BoE. I finished the rest of my work day studying Japanese (I haven't met the teachers yet so I don't know what kind of lesson plans I should do). I headed to a bookstore run by an nice elderly lady. I ordered probably $300 CDN worth of Comics (its actually alot, about 60 books or so. I'm using comics to improve on my Japanese. Now I'm home, blogging on my laptop.

Well I'll end this blog by saying that I'm glad that to have been placed in a small town. My Japanese is going to be so much better when I come back. I'm also glad that Asahikawa and Sapporo are close by, if I ever feel that the country side is getting too bland for me. The simplicity is nice for a home, but sometimes you need to head to the big city for shopping or something. Anyway, I splurged a bit but the good thing is that I get paid in 2 and a half
weeks. But I still have lots of money left.

The only downfall I can find with this experience is the lack of TV channels, but thats because I'm being cheap and not wanting to pay for extra channels. I might want to do that, seeing on how I feel about not being able to watch the dramas I want. I'll also have to see how much it is. If anything I can always get subtitled dramas from the internet once I get my own. Right now I'm mooching off a neighbor, and I don't want to hog his bandwith. I still have to find Hockey, but I'm sure I'll find it in Asahikawa, the city 1 hour away. (less than an hour if you
take the Tokkyu train). I'll upload some pictures when I can and put them on facebook.