bliggity blog...

Ok, back to letting you all know what's going on in Marioland.  

Since I last blogged my friend Natasha left on April 4th.  I am still a little sad, I miss her a lot.  She was awesome, and I can't wait to kick it with her in New York!!  The day after Natasha left I took the train to meet Justine, another co-worker friend, in Ueno.  It was suuuuuper crowded!  Everyone was there to see the Sakura (cherry blossoms).  I got some pretty good pics, but when I say crowded, I mean you had to shuffle instead of walk, it was too much.  We only stayed for a couple hours.  

The following Thursday, April 9th I met Tomo and his two friends (Nuria and Laia) visiting from Spain to go bowling and karaoke.  They were so awesome, I am planning to go visit them in Spain next February.  The next day (Friday) I was off, so I went with them to a shabu shabu restaurant for lunch. Delicious!  You get an assortment of vegetables and thinly sliced meat (we got beef) and there is a big pot of bowling water in the center of your table you cook everything in.    You get rice with it, and before you start cooking your food you grind up sesame seeds in a bowl and stir the crushed seeds with a sesame sauce.  You dip your food in it.  It was really good!  After lunch we headed to Kamakura, if you saw the pictures of me with the giant Buddha, that was in Kamakura.  When we got there we parked at the beach, I was so excited to see the ocean!  There were even palm trees.  After about a 30 minute walk to the train station we took the train to the Great Diabutsu(Buddha).  It was so cool...and BIG!  We got to the Diabutsu 20 minutes before it closed, so we didn't spend much time there.  Afterwards, we walked all over the city and saw the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine.  It is very famous, but when we got there it was dark, so the pictures did not turn out that great. I want to go back and get better pictures.  Tomo went back and got the car, such a gentleman, and after we headed to dinner at his friend's restaurant.  It was another very delicious meal, one course you dip different meats and vegetables into a raw egg, I was a little apprehensive, but it was a really nice restaurant so I went with it.  It was good, and I didn't get sick.  YAY!  The next day I worked, but after I got off I met back up with Nuria, Tomo, and Laia for Korean BBQ and karaoke.  The Korean BBQ was good.  You cook it yourself at the table.  Tomo said the restaurant burned down once a long time ago, I wasn't surprised considering the center of every table is a flaming grill.  Karaoke after was fun, but I was sad to see Laia and Nuria go.  Sunday Dan and Jennifer came over for drinks and hanging out.  Nothing super eventful, but a good chilled out night at my place.  

Speaking of my place, I have Natasha's old apartment now.  I am soooo happy to have an apartment that isn't falling apart.  I feel a lot more excited about having guests now that i have a cute apartment.  It's the exact same apartment as my old one, but in WAY better condition.  There are pics on Facebook if you haven't looked.  

I just worked and hung out around the house until the following Friday.  In the morning Bujan (co-worker friend) and I rode bikes for a few hours.  I discovered some new parts of my town, and some cool new little stores and restaurants.  We biked to Murakami (about 15-20 min), one train stop over, and Bujan left to go to work.  I had lunch with another friend, and looked around at some of the stores at Fululu Gardens.  I was very near completely broke at this point, and I wasn't getting paid until today (10 days later), so I didn't buy anything.  Tomo met up and we all got a cup of coffee at Starbuck's.  Tomo and I looked at some bike tires because I need to replace mine, and then I rode my bike back home.  I worked at Kitanarashino on Saturday, and then I went to karaoke again with Jennifer, Justine and Bujan.  We at at Saizeriya first, I love it there cause it's delicious, clean and CHEAP!  Karaoke was a blast as usual, then I caught the last train home with Bujan.  

When I woke up on Sunday (April 19th) I decided to meet Jennifer a few towns over, Yachiyo-Midorigaoka, on my bike.  After we met we were going to ride our bikes together the rest of the way to Kita.  It was SCARY!  The bike trail is about a foot wide with traffic flying by inches away on the right, and a wall on the left.  It's not like that the whole ride, but enough for it to freak me out.  Another problem is that you are supposed to walk/ride on the left side of the road, this only really matters in situations like this, because if you come across another pedestrian going the opposite direction there is really nowhere to go except the street.  Needless to say, I was running into people every two minutes!  EXTREMELY frustrating, I probably would have made it to Kita a lot faster if I wasn't constantly stopping for people.  Follow your own rules people!   After I met Jennifer and rode the rest of the way to Kita,  we met Eun Jong for lunch.  Eun Jong is a Korean teacher at my school, she is super sweet.  I rode my bike back in the dark, which was even more scary, hahahaha!  But I felt bulletproof when I got back.  I can ride my bike anywhere after that trip!  

I'm going to stop there...Sunday April 19th.  I will fill you in again after Lacey leaves.  

Miss you!!

Sayonara for now!!

Slacker....

hello friends!

I have been slacking at this blog business again.  Ohh well.  Sooooo...let's see here, well, a lot of nothing has been happening, HA!

Nikki and Trevor left last week, they stayed with me their last few days in Japan.  Tomo, Natasha, Nikki, Trevor and I hung out at my place one night and my downstairs neighbor called the cops on us.  I talked to my boss about it and he said my downstairs neighbor is a nutjob so not to worry about it.  Thank God Tomo was here to talk to the cop, cause I would have just stared at the cop while he talked, hahaha! On Sunday, Nikki, Trevor and I went into Tokyo to Harajuku and I got to go to KIDDYLAND!  YAY!!  It was rainy and Nikki got poked in the eye with someone's umbrella.  The side streets in Tokyo are really narrow and if you add that crowdedness with umbrellas it's no good.  There were some cool little shops, but the rain and crowds were getting on my nerves.  I bought a few things at Kiddyland, I was stoked to see all the Gloomy Bear stuff!!  I bought a gloomybear/Hello Kitty kitchen towel, some stationary, and a Blythe day planner.  I'm SOOO buying a Blythe doll, I blame Nikki.  I want this one that has ice blue hair and dark blue eyelashes, I will be hunting for her in Tokyo soon.  

Last Friday I went to Tokyo with Tomo and Ethan to go see Natasha's last improv performance.  We got to Tokyo a few hours before her performance, so I went with Tomo and Ethan to meet Tomo's friend.  Wordy.  Any-hoo, we went to this coffee shop and hung out there for a while.  Then we walked around Harajuku, I didn't buy anything, cause I'm cheap, hahaha.  We walked to Natasha's performance at the Crocodile about 7pm.  The comics were all super funny, and Natasha's last performance was the JAM!  Her improv group is super funny, and she was cracking me up.  I plan on still going to see their performances even though she won't be there anymore. *tear*

I wasn't too stooked on my apartment, so I wrote the school a letter.  After seeing other teacher's places I realized mine was in pretty bad shape.  So, I am now moving into Natasha's apartment after she leaves tomorrow.  Her apartment is exactly the same as mine but more updated and better in general.  I now have a REAL bed, thank you thank you thank you TOMO!  My neck had been hurting, and ever since I got this bed I am A-OK!!  I also bought a super soft white rug at the mall in Yachiyo-Madorigaoka, and I inherited Natasha's red IKEA couch, that was formerly Keri and Mario's.  Awesomeness.  I think I am good on furniture now, and I can't wait for Krummel to get here and stay in my CLEAN new apartment, YAY!!!

Today is BEAUTIFUL!  It is my day off, so I slept in and went to this Ramen place for lunch.  After that I stopped by the grocery store (York Mart) and got a few things.  Nothing interesting, just some coffee, bread, jelly, and trash bags.  Exciting stuff.  Now I am sitting on my bed with my balcony doors open enjoying this beautiful day.  

Lastly, I have a cell phone now, incoming calls are free for me, so if you need to get a hold of me at anytime, get you a calling card and dial these digits:  080-375-13990.  I'd call you, but it's 90 cents a minute, so F that. 

Sayonara for now!

 

Shi-BOO-YAH!

Another week gone by...well, almost.  This week work was MUUUCCCHHH easier.  I think I've got it down.  There are some kinks I need to work out and lots to learn, but I'm feeling really good about my job.  Not much happened besides work on Monday and Tuesday...Wednesday I went to dinner with Justine, Natasha, Nikki and Trever at Tsubahachi.  It was some delicious sushi, except for one piece of squid I got, it was YUCKY!  I also picked up my box from my family that day, Trevor was nice enough to carry it to the restauratn, and Natasha rode it in her basket on the way home.  It was pretty big so I was lucky to have the help.  In the box was my beloved bedding, a jacket, a bunch of tights, and that's about it.  It was almost $100 to ship it here!  That will be REAL nice when I have to send it home!

Thursday after work I hung out with my new friend/co-worker Jennifer.  She's coooool.  I helped her highlight her hair and we had a couple drinks. Then we headed to the train station with Jude, another co-worker, to meet to other co-workers, Eun Jong and Kesson.  We headed into Shibuya Tokyo to hit up some bars/clubs.  The first place we stopped was dead...so we decided to look for another place.  Some dude on the sidewalk gave us discount tickets to get into a club called Camelot.  IIt said on the tickets the discount was only good for "foreigners and females."  Pretty funny.  It was 1000 yen to get in, like $10...and you got two free drink coins, so it was pretty much free to get in.  The club was pretty cool, not somewhere I would normally go, but I had fun.  There was this drunk Japanese girls who was dancing all over me and telling me I was cute and she kept giving me her drink, whick was an oversized shot really.  She was cracking me up.  I danced with her and Eun Jong and Jennifer, it was fun.  It was just some upbeat house, kinda reminded me of being at a rave, so it was a little weird.  People kept buying bottles of champagne and passing them around, so more free drinks!  ha!  There was another room playing hip hop, but we didn't hang in there much.  It was bad radio hip hop, not anything very good.  After getting pretty toasted at that place we stumbled to the nearby McDonald's, there were some douchy dudes in there from Europe I think.  I wanted to tell them they were douchebags, but I didn't, hahaha.  I got a Big Mac and some fries, it seemed like the hugest amount of food cause it was american size.  Needless to say I didn't eat even half of it.  The smaller portions here have shrunk my appetite, which is fine with me.  There were a bunch of businessmen passed out at the tables in the McDonald's, it was pretty funny.

After that we headed back to the train station and I pretty much passed out til we transfered to another line.  Then I passed out again.  My group all got off 5 stops before my town in Kitaranashino, so the last leg home I was alone.  I totally passed out, but everyone on the train pretty much was.  I got home about 7 or 8 am and passed out til 2.  Then I got ready and got some late lunch at Pic Nic.  Delicious as usual.  I decided to go to the mall cause I was really wanting to buy something, I didn't care what.  When I got there I just milled around walking into every store for like an hour.  I bought a hat, that I decided was kind of a rip off, but whatevs.  It was originally 2400 yen, marked down to 1600, so like $16.  I guess that's not too bad.  Then I found some really cute black wedges that are super comfy!  I am lucky, cause the biggest size they make at most places is like an american 8, so I wasn't sure if they would even fit me.  But they do!  The were like 4000($40) yen, so not bad.  I stopped at the Kaldi's store and bought some peanut butter, yeah JIF!  I heard it was expensive here, but I only paid $3.50 for it, I think it was on sale.  I headed home after that, and that's where I am now.  I work tomorrow and Sunday, usually Sunday is my day off, too, but there are 3 extra work days in my contract throughout the year, so I am getting one out of the way now.  

Sayonara for now!

I need to get with it...

So...I am not a very good blogger.  I need to keep up with this thing AND I need to take more pictures.  

Sooo...this week went by pretty fast.  Monday my classes stressed me out, starting a new job is always intimidating.  Especially considering I am teaching people who don't even speak the same language.  Some of my adult classes are pretty advanced and we have some good conversations.  They ask me A LOT of questions.  I dig it.  My kids classes are freaking adorable.  I love hanging out with them and singing songs and what not.  They think I am hilarious cause I dance around like an idiot, so it's pretty good.  Some of the kids look sooooo BORED.  I feel bad about it.  But if I went to school all day and then had to go to learn at night I don't know how into I'd be either.  I am learning a lot from the other teachers on how to make my classes more fun.  

Tuesday I was at the school in Tsudanuma...my classes were all pretty fun.  Wednesday I was at Yachiyo-Chuo...and those classes were all pretty good, too.  Thursdays I go to Kitaranashino...I don't know if I spelled that right, hahaha.  Fridays I'm off, Saturdays back at Kita, and Sunday I'm off.

Any-hoo...Friday night I went into Tokyo with my jawsome friend Natasha to watched her perform with her improv comedy group.  It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of people there to talk to who spoke English. That was nice. The first performance were these dudes in big white astronaut looking suits.  I think there were two dudes in each suit, but I'm not 100% sure.  I put a pic of it on myspace.  The dudes were doing all kinds of acrobatic stuff and dancing around.  Pretty hilarious.  Picture those halloween costumes that blow up, that's what these astronaut suits looked like, but bigger. It was crazy how many non-Japanese people I saw in downtown Tokyo...I am not used to it anymore.  Saturday night, I met up with Tomo (the rad dude who picked me up from the airport in exchange for american candy bars, hahaha!) and his friend and had some beers at a little dive near my place.  Tomo is Japanese, but he used to live in London so he speaks fluent English...with a British accent.  He is the jam.  After that bar closed we went to another bar/restaurant and met Natasha there.  We enjoyed some delicious Japanese whiskey...and I was feeling like doo doo all day today cause of it.  F U whiskey!  So, after laying around most of the day and reading Lolita, watching youtube videos and nursing my hangover, I ventured out to buy some groceries.

I ran into Natasha on the way and we talked for a few and made plans to hang out after she had a nap.  On the way to the store I decided to get dinner at Pic Nic since I hadn't eaten all day.  It was delicious as usual...this time I got some pasta and a salad.  

My trip to the grocery store was a little more successful this time...I got a bunch of vegetables to make salads for lunch during the week, some bananas, snapea crisps, english muffins, eggs, apple and orange juice, yogurt, cheese, and some other random crap I can't remember.  Carrying it home was a pain in the nards...it's only like a 15 minute walk, but all the drinks I bought were stinking heavy.  My shoulders were killing me when I got home.  Next time I am only buying stuff that is lightweight, hahaha.  

Well, back to work tomorrow...so I will say Sayonara for now!

Cafe Pic Nic

The last few days have been pretty busy.  My training usually lasts from 12pm until 8 or 9 at night.  Last night (friday here) I got off at 5 and came home.  I had an e-mail from my neighbor/co-worker Natasha inviting me to go to dinner, so I was super stoked!  About a half an hour before Natasha and I were supposed to meet my other neighbor/co-worker Gail came over and invited to come kick it with her at her place.  I went over to Gail's and had a cup of coffee and decided to meet her after dinner with Natasha for drinks.  Dinner with Natasha was awesome.  She is a super cool chick and I am super glad I met her, but sad that she will be leaving next month.  We had a great conversation with a delicious dinner.  I got some sushi, kim-chi and bacon wrapped asparagus (Michaela it reminded me of being at Seki's!)  When we were first seated at the restaurant we were at the bar, but the two groups sitting on either side of us disappeared and the waitress moved us to our own private room.  Natasha told me we probably scared the locals by being "scary foreigners" and that's why we got our own room.  I was happy, cause the little room was super cool.  We had to take off our shoes to go inside and then they closed the sliding door.  

After dinner Natasha walked me to meet Gail and my boss Dana at this tiny dive bar across town.  It was awesome and small and the owner was very attentive.  We had drinks and a lot of talking and I didn't end up home until after 3.  Gail and I walked home together, and I was glad to have met some people that like to go out.

Today I was off so I spent the day organizing my apartment a little and reading...but I got bored so I walked around town.   I found a dollar store and bought like $20 worth of stuff, including an umbrella.  The other day it was raining on my way to work so an umbrella was high on my list of things to buy.  I need to get some rain boots, too.  After shopping I went to my favorite new place, Cafe Pic Nic.  I will post some pics on myspace, it is the cutest little coffee shop, and the food it delicious.  The girl who works there, Momi (sp?) speaks English and always reads the menu to me.  She is totally sweet!  I am off again tomorrow before I start my work week on Monday.  I have my Monday classes planned, and I am at the school here in my town, Katsutadai.  All the other days I work I have to take the train to other towns.  But the train isn't as intimidating as it was at the beginning.

Sayonara for now!

let's do this.

Soooo.  Yesterday and today were looooong days.  Yesterday I woke up and met up with Miki and went by train (first train trip) to the city hall to register for my health insurance and this card I need to get a cell phone and open a bank account.  I'm sure it has other uses, but I'm not sure what yet.  After that we went to the bank so I could get some yen.  Then we headed back to the school so I could start my training.  My training was like 2 hours of going over paperwork and how things work in the school, then I spent the rest of the day observing the classes I will be taking over on Mondays.  I teach a wide variety of ages and abilities, so on Mondays I will have 2 adult classes, and 3 kid classes.  It all seems pretty cool.  After work my co-worker Dan took me to a restaurant by the school because I was desperate for hot food.  We got a couple beers and i got some potstickers for dinner.  I really should have eaten more because the beers went straight to my head and the walk home alone in the dark was kinda freaky, HA!  

Today I got up early, as usual, and headed off to work training an hour early so I could get some coffee and breakfast.  I went to Mr.Donut, which had good coffee and the donut I got was pretty delicious.  I don't really see how you could mess up a donut though.  After that I headed to the school and did some more training before getting on the train to go the Keisei Tsudanuma school.  I will be working at this school on Tuesdays, and it's like five stops down from my train station.  I am super intimidated by the trains since I haven't used them much yet.  On the bright side I made it to my school and home without any trouble.  Once I got to the Tsuda school I observed 3 out of 6 of my Tuesday classes.  The first was two housewives with more advanced English and they were both really sweet.  The next class was five 3 to 5 year olds.  It was completely insane and the kids were the CUTEST!  i already know this is going to be one of my favorite classes because the kids are so energetic and sweet.  My third class was 5 middle school girls.  After those 3 classes I decided to head home and caught the next train back to Katsutadai, my town.  Once I got back here I decided to go to the store and attempt to find food again.  Then I headed home.  That's pretty much it so far.  Tomorrow should be another super long day, which I hope I will find some time to buy some of the stuff I need around the house.  I haven't had much time to do any shopping yet. 

First 24 hours in Japan

So....I'm gonna start this blog thing...no promises I will keep up with it, but I will try.

My first day here I was lucky enough to get a ride from the airport from my new friend Tomo.  Big thanks to Keri and Mario for setting that meeting up!!  Once I got to my new town, Katsutadai, I met my co-worker Miki at the offices for my school and she brought me to my apartment. She showed me how to use my appliances and shower then left.  My new neighbor/co-worker Gail stopped by while Miki was showing me stuff and asked me over for a drink after I was done.  She is super rad and I have her to thank for my wireless internet connection.  After our drink I came home and went to sleep...at 9pm.  

I ended up waking up at 5am and unpacked my suitcases. By 8am I

heard my neighbor Natasha up so I went to hang out with her for awhile.

It turns out she will be leaving in a month so she is hooking me up

with a bunch of furniture and other stuff for my apartment. I am

super stoked on meeting her because she is really nice and she is

saving me from a bunch of shopping.

At 10:30 I met up with Gail and she walked me into town. Once we 

got to the train station we parted ways and she directed me to a

store where I could find an adapter for my computer cord. The

plugs here work the same, but you do have to get an adapter for 3 

prongs. I found the store and after searching through bins of

random stuff for about 30 minutes I found what I was looking for.

The store was actually pretty cool and had aisles and aislea of 

used electronics.

After getting the adapter I walked home and was very proud of myself

that I didn't get lost. There are no street signs! I tried to nap

when I got home but I was too hungry and gave up and walked back

into town to find something. This was a challenge as well. The first

shop I came across was rad. It was all little snack cracker/sweet

things and when I walked in they brought me a cup of hot tea and

two candies that tasted like a fortune cookie but were tiny and pink.

I ended up buying some kind of dried pea/cracker/peanut mix in

individual bags because I was confused and it looked pretty good.

When I left they had me crank the handle on this thing and 1 marble

came out so I got to choose a free grab bag. This was cool, but I

still needed to find real food. I remembered seeing York Mart, which

is where Keri recommended I do my shopping, so I headed there. After

about 30 minutes of walking around I ended up with 6 eggs, a bag of

those crispy baked sugar snap peas, a salad from the deli, and some

weird ramen thing.  

This was my first 24 hrs here.