Blogs from Saitama, Japan, Asia - page 2

...with how stupidly hot and sweaty it is here. That will be all I say on the matter. Hello again! It's been a couple days and stuff is happening very quickly. First things first, my host family is AWESOME. It's a small family, but that's the way I like it. My host-mom ( I call her okaa-san) and my host-dad (otou-san) and my host-grandmother (obaa-chan) are all very gentle and fun-loving people. They are very careful to help me learn Japanese, and are incredibly patient when it comes to listening to me or trying to explain something. With host-dad's good-but-limited English, and my straight up limited Japanese, we are getting by alright. Okaa-san speaks very little English, so I hope to progress my Japanese enough that I can soon actually hold a conversation with her. There's ... read more

After a surprisingly short-feeling flight, filled with enough time for me to watch THREE movies (Einstein & Eddington, Green Zone, and Date Night), eat TWO meals (Bibimbap? Bimimbap? Can’t remember how to say it but it was a delicious Korean spicy rice dish), and try to take ONE nap (and failing), I emerged out of the plane doors into the oppressive heat of East Japan. After stumbling my way through Immigration, I came into what looked like a completely deserted baggage claim. I felt as if my plane had accidentally flown to the wrong Japanese airport. ‘Isn’t this Tokyo?’ I thought. ‘Aren’t people supposed to be everywhere??’ But looking at the incoming flights list, we were the only plane in this part of the airport. I’m standing there bemused, and I hear a small, nervous voice ... read more

Well......lots of things have happened since our last rendezvous. We checked out of our normal hotel and then went to buy a really cool camera we had finally decided on for less than half the amount you would pay in Aus. Yay! This took quite a while but was well worth it. The weather was quite cool and raining so we decided to head to the Toyota Salon and the Sunshine 60 buildings in Ikebukuro. We had some time to waste in the arvo as we couldn’t go searching for a love hotel till later so we decided to play some games in an amusement centre (games parlour). The one we chose was fairly small but it still had 9 floors of games with one floor dedicated to skill testers. Was good fun. We then decided ... read more

Well, not quite landed. Truth is, I've been here in Japan a week, but haven't really had a chance to sit down and start this blog I've been promising to myself for so long. To get you (and my future forgetful self) up to speed: I have moved to Japan! After so many years of stalled attempts with the JET programme, I finally lucked out with a company called Interac who are in essence the same thing: offering Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) to schools in Japan. I arrived here last Monday, jet-lagged into oblivion from Hearthrow to Narita via the smoggy Beijing International Airport. With barely one-night's rest for breathing space, orientation week was underway at the Narita View Hotel, where we wereweighed down with stacks of paperwork and thoughts to exaberate the inevitable headache. Of ... read more

So HEY EVERYONE! It’s been too long since the last update, I know, but I didn’t think that many people were living vicariously through me, hahaha. Now that I know I have that responsibility I’ll do my best to keep all the updates flowing and throw in some more cliffhangers and plot twists for you! In this episode we introduce some new characters, some awesome entertainment and maybe even answer some of the questions that you’ve been dying to find out about. Did he win the tournament? Did Keiko really ditch Taka for that other guy? Is Sloan’s love interest finally revealed!? Well keep your looking balls (eyes) locked on the blog and just maybe you’ll find out! Ok. So starting from January 8th where we left off last time, I can say that there have ... read more