Reverse Culture-Shock

Been back in the States for a few weeks now.  First visited my dad down in Vancouver (Washington, not Canada), and my little sister had come up for the week too.

Now I'm settled in my room that I'm renting in a large shared house.  My room is nice and big and quiet, but the shared kitchen is kinda grody so I'm glad I brought my own cookware and dishes.  And I also have my own little counter and sink in my room so I can wash my dishes in my own clean sink with my own clean sponge. 

Lots of job applications but no solid offers yet.  Hoping that either of the interviews on Sunday or Tuesday leads to something.  I kinda miss working and having steady income...

Nothing else to report really, except that it's really weird being back and I'm looking forward to heading back to Japan.  Maybe I'll make a list of things that I miss about Japan (or really, a list of things that annoy me about being here, haha).

Oh, I did get my videos up of my, Roomie's, and Yuu's trip to Kyoto and Kagoshima.  Any new video I post shows up in the sidebar, but I'll post them here too.

Endings and Beginnings

It's been more than a month since my last entry; I didn't even post once during the month of August.  I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've skipped a month since I've started this blog.

Oh well, there's a first time for everything..

Today was my last day of work at the daycare.  

Been there for more than 2 years.

Had to say good-bye to my Yama-chan on Monday, as he didn't come yesterday or today..

Those who know me personally already know my plans, but just for those of you who don't-

I'm heading back to the States September 29th, and will be there for about 6 months.

Of course I'm coming back to Japan, but this time with a student visa.

I just got tired of the whole English-teaching thing.  It's never what I wanted to do, and if I'm going to improve and get myself out of the business, I decided I'd better go back and study the language some more.

So, that's what I'm doing!

I'm excited to go back.. it's been 2 and 1/2 years since I left Seattle and I miss it.

But...

I'm as equally nervous about it all too.

And I hate moving.  :p

Well, more on the past month later.  A lot has happened.

But for now, I gotta grab my bags and run out the door.  Gotta catch my night bus down to Kyoto, then off to Kagoshima on Friday!  Adventures, adventures.

Catching up

Still leeching off my neighbor's internet, but it's been good enough today so i thought i'd make a post.

Biggest news recently-  ...i've moved!  The hoikuen/daycare i was working at 3 days a week wanted me to start working there semi-full time, and they offered me an apartment too.  It was definitely a hard decision, but hey, money talks trannies walk (sorry, Youtube video reference there...)  So i agreed, and moved out of the guesthouse where i got to live in exchange for "working" there 2 days a week.  It's the longest i'd stayed in one place since i got to Japan, just over 4 months.  The guys there were all awesome, and it was nice having people to talk to and hang out with at night.  It's definitely very quiet here in comparison.  Yet.. very clean!  No roach sightings yet *knocks on wood*, and no mosquitoes bothering me either.  But i sure will miss all the crazy drawings on the white board, hanging out on the rickety old chairs out front and getting yelled at by grumpy old intolerant men, and scaring my unsuspecting housemates.

Which reminds me, i have a pretty great story about that.  The scaring my housemate thing started a while ago, because one day i somehow happened to be standing right in front of the door right when he opened it three times in a row.  We laughed at it the third time, and i jokingly said, "From now on, anytime you open a door i'll be standing right there!"  After that, i tried to make that happen as much as possible.  I get such joy from scaring people, i can't explain why.  My poor coworker P from my job in Seattle suffered quite a bit because of that, since her reactions were so great that i couldn't help but scare her any time i had the chance.  But back to my housemate- a couple weeks ago, he had gone out for a walk late at night.  I was in my room about to go to bed when i heard the door unlocking, and knowing that it was him coming back from his walk i thought it would be the perfect opportunity to be waiting at the door to scare him.  I bolted out of my door and went to make the immediate sharp turn to get to the back door, which was not a brilliant idea while wearing socks and running on slick laminate floors.  I crashed, landing on one knee, just as he opened the door.  Not quite what i had in mind, but he was still a bit startled to see me "crawling toward him in the dark hallway".  My knee was quite beaten though, and is still sporting a very colorful bruise!  That was my last scare attempt though.  Lesson learned!

My supernova bruise!

I'm only a couple stops away from my old place though, and we have some movie nights planned soon too (Princess Bride, for the win!), and Mr. Boss Man has said he will invite me to any of the Saturday night parties that take place (which are supposed to happen once a month, but there was only one held in the four months that i was there!) so i will get to go back and see some of the students.  On my last two days teaching there i got gifts from a few of the students, including this shirt that the student decorated herself.  She's done calligraphy for many years, and likes to bestow her calligraphied gifts upon us.  This is the first i've gotten from her, and it made me happy.  :)  She had asked me a week before what my favourite Japanese word is, and after thinking for a bit i answered "wagamama", which means "selfish", haha.  Can't say i really have a favourite word though, but i do enjoy saying this one for sure.  Rolls off the tongue quite nicely.  :)  She has an exhibition coming up soon, being held down the street from me so i'll definitely be going to see it!

"Wagamama"

I'll get pictures of the new place up once i get a few more little organizing necessities.  Had intended to do that last night, but all my errands/shopping excursions yesterday ended up being a bust.  Today was quite exhausting so i'll probably be heading off to bed soon.  Thankfully this is a short week (holiday yesterday, and also on Friday!) and this weekend is looking to be quite exciting!

Ch-ch-changes

Left Osaka rather suddenly, and a month earlier than previously planned, to head back up to the hustle and bustle of the Tokyo area.

Found a part-time job of sorts from Craigslist, offering a room for free in a guesthouse in exchange for teaching English conversation 2 days a week at an Eikaiwa Club.  I called the owner on Saturday the 11th.. said he'd love to interview me in person and show me the "school" and the guesthouse (which are all together in one building- the "school" area in the front, and the rooms, kitchen, shower, and toilet in the back area), so we agreed to meet on Wednesday the 15th.  

Monday the 13th i took a day-trip down to Hiroshima to visit an old friend who's there for a summer study abroad.  It's about a 5-hour trip by bus, so i caught an early bus down and made it there just after noon.  We met up (she had brought her roommate with her) and had lunch- okonomiyaki, both Osaka-style and Hiroshima-style!- then wandered around to look in some fun stores.  We all then went for some parfaits and to sit and chat a little before the two of them had to head back to their dorms to finish their homework and start writing their reports.  I killed time around town, walked around and managed to find the A-bomb Dome and wandered around the surrounding park area.  Also walked down the huge shopping street before taking the street car back to the station to wait for my bus back.  Got some food from the convenience store for dinner.  Boarded the bus just after 10pm.

 

Arrived back in Osaka just after 5am the next day.  Sleeping on the bus is not exactly restful, so as soon as i got back to the guesthouse and showered i passed out in bed for another 5 hours, before getting up to pack.  Then went out and about with one of the guys from the guesthouse.  I had mentioned before about my favourite food being Mexican food, so he had found a supposedly good Mexican food place online so we went to try it out.  It was pretty freaking good, indeed!  Definitely not disappointed.  They even had a "vegetarian plate", and it came with soup and salad; 2 tacos that came with veggies, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, refried beans, sour cream, and guacamole; tortilla chips; and quesadilla.

I then had to go catch my overnight bus to Tokyo around 9pm.  It was really sad to have to say goodbye to all the people i'd become so used to seeing everyday at the guesthouse.  :(

All the guys here though are really nice, though it's just not quite the same.  Too much English here i suppose, haha.  I'm used to being the only American, and for everyone around me to be speaking Japanese (or Korean or Taiwanese).

Anyway, got in to Tokyo around 7am Wednesday, and headed over to Ueno to check in at the hostel S and i had stayed at previously.  I was at the last station, about to head up the stairs and make the walk to the hostel, but as soon as i got off the train i noticed the handle on my big suitcase was really bent.  I knew that wasn't good, and of course and i was trying to straighten in back out it completely snapped off.  Sooo, no handle to pull my suitcase!  I had to drag it by the small handle on the top and carry the duffel bag that previously had sat on top of my suitcase over my shoulders, along with my backpack and bag of leftover groceries that i didn't want to leave behind.  Not a fun walk at all.  But as soon as i checked in i got to trim my hair (finally!  It was getting scraggly), shower, and relax a bit before heading out to Saitama to meet the guy from the Eikaiwa Club.  The "interview" was hardly an interview.  He just showed me the 'teaching' guidelines and was all "You think you can do it?".  Of course.  So then he showed me around, asked which room i wanted, gave me the keys and told me i could move in tomorrow (Thursday).

So i did just that!  Got up early to check out, and brought my luggage over in 2 trips, since i certainly didn't want to have to carry it all at once with my stupid handle-less suitcase again.   

Yesterday, Friday, was my first day on the job.  It wasn't half bad.  There's no structure at all, really.  There are 2 of us native speakers per day, plus Owner Man, and the students come in when they want.  They're then separated by speaking ability, and then placed with one of us and we start conversations.  We're supposed to correct them if they make any mistakes and have them repeat the sentence correctly.  We're also encouraged to introduce new words or grammar to them too as the conversations progress.  But yeah, no textbooks or anything.  They can take notes if they want, but it's all just conversation.  

Some more life changes will be happening soon, but as this post is already quite long, and as i don't really want to jinx anything, i'll wait to write about those events as they start to happen!  :D