Blogs from Chiba, Japan, Asia - page 7

We're here! So here goes our first entry...we've finally got internet in our hostel in Asakusa, so I'm going to have backtrack to yesterday and our time in Yachimata-machi. The plane ride was actually not that bad. Aside from the crazy crackling lady behind us and her husband who sounded like he was trying to cough up a lung...eww. since we were flying Korean Airlines, we got to try some interesting Korean food - "bim bim bop" I believe is actually the proper name for it. Not bad for plane food! and I think we drank more juice than we ever thought possible - they were serving us orange juice every 30 minutes or so and on a 10 hour flight that's alot of JUICE! On our way to my family's house we stopped by the ... read more

I was dancing wildly; gyrating my hips, flicking my hair out of my eyes and swaying my head to the fast hypnotic beat. My entire body was covered in a thick layer of moisture, some from the rain but mostly from the sweat that was pouring out of every pore of my body as I jumped, shouted and bounced along to the remixed Janet Jackson track blaring from the speaker behind me. A pair of arms encircled me and a shirtless torso started bumping and grinding up behind me, I took a deep sip of my cocktail and whirled around to face my assailant. Yaaaaaaaaay! I squealed with delight and threw my arms around the gorgeous young japanese man "Go! You found me! I'm having the best bloody time ever!" Go smiled sweetly at me and ... read more

So I realize I've been awful at updating this blog, I have no excuses! Life has been good and hectic. I began teaching several weeks ago and have encountered all the joys and horrifics of teaching english. Some of my students have been amazing and a lot of fun to teach. Some are so shy speaking is difficult. My kids classes are full of the cutest kids ever. Except for one class; it is full of devil children that basically reduce me to tears every week. The past week was Golden Week which means paid vacation, YEAH!!!!! My friend Katherine and I decided to hit the beach on the Izu Pennisula in a little town called Shimoda. It was beautiful and I had my first ever dip into the Pacific. We got back to Tokyo late ... read more

Training…..and Trains! The events from 29th March-5th April OK…. I arrived in Japan on March 29th, had a day to myself to meet the other gaikokujin (outside country people), chill-out and explore, and then on March 30th (a Sunday mind you) we started training. It basically consisted of group work, note-taking, presentations, many anecdotes about living and working in Japan, and went from 9am to 6pm for 6 days. By the end, we were all totally shattered, and of course, that’s when we had to give our demonstration evaluation lessons. We were graded on our attitude, helpfulness, genkiness (energy and enthusiasm) and tested on our knowledge of policy etc. I missed out on a master trainee ranking by 1 point! But still walked away with an upper superior trainee ranking (I keep wanting to say mother ... read more

I have arrived! Wow. First impressions: calm, friendly, clean, busy, foreign, fun, exciting, new, surreal, and fantastic! I arrived yesterday morning and training started this morning so I had a free day to explore with some of the new (to be) teachers I have met. There are several going to my area which is reassuring, and all of the staff seem friendly and helpful (which they assured me is only a facade meant to lull us into a false sense of security). I'm staying at a lovely hotel in Narita, and have made a few friends from all over the globe. My roommate is Jamaican, and is very friendly. We're similar in some ways (both dating men with similar names and we have names which can be shortened into similar sounding nicknames; Nikky and Riki), but ... read more