I wanted to document for friends and family my Japan experience when I started this blog. I also planned to travel abroad a lot, which have now been put on hold indefinitely. Surprise, surprise a second baby is on the way. Whew!!! as if carrying a baby and a stroller up and down subway stairs, changing nappies on a tight airplane lavatory are not enough detriment on traveling, and not to mention the cost of having children. No complaining here folks, but I guess its now time to move this blog to the kiddie-playpen-at-the-mall-for-5-consecutive-weekends-blog.com. Although there were no exci [View Full Entry]

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There are three wonder of nature one cannot experience growing in a tropical country, that is, snow, changing autumn leaves and cherry blossoms. I'll talk more about it later, here are the pictures though. [View Full Entry]

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I haven't been sleeping right for the past two weeks. Well yeah I'm having anxiety attacks combined with my retrospective mode, which automatically switched itself on and I can't figure a way to turn it off. I hope I am still living in America wherein I can just run to a specialist and easily claim psychological imbalance and get a prescription drug to calm my nerves. I now feel sorry for my bias on taking prescription drugs to help induce happiness or relax the mind, hehhehe. When I turned 30 last year I didnt have time to reflect on the wee [View Full Entry]

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Our friend, Ken from New York came to visit us here in Japan. I tried to cover as much of the interesting sites of the Kansai region for a full three day trip. I had so much fun and have seen so many beautiful sites around my area. To top it all, Ken had full knowledge that his Merill Lynch salary goes so much way beyond my pay as an ALT in Japan, whose 6 month contract just ended, lol. Quite embarassed, he shouldered almost all of our tour expenses. Thanks!man. Kyoto We went to Kiyamizu Derra. Very beautiful specially looking [View Full Entry]

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Wow, time goes by so fast. I remembered my anxiety of not finding a job in this country. Now I’m on the last week of my six month contract at my Junior High as ALT. I am very sad to say the least. I never thought I would be accepted with so much enthusiasm by my students. My last week was filled with a lot of sad farewells. I was deeply moved by the different ways my students and even my colleagues showed me how much they appreciate me being part of the school. I didn’t realize I can make so [View Full Entry]

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7 Months ago we stayed for almost a month in Fukuoka, Rinka's hometown. Fukuoka served as our pit stop from New York to Osaka, which is our main Japan destination.Being a pit stop, relaxation is impossible with the anxiety building up going on to the next leg of the race. Our days in Fukuoka were spent making sure we both land a job in this country, we made phone calls, sent resume, browsed the net endlessly and set up living concerns in Osaka (looking for apartment, shipping stuff etc.) We did not have the time nor the right frame of mind [View Full Entry]

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Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Another day working in the freezing cold. No, I'm not a road or construction worker. I teach in a Junior High and as most public schools here in Japan, classrooms dont have heaters, and our superficially heated faculty room offers no relief at all However my day was made special when my school lunch was served. For today we had the usual bread, soup, cheese, yougurt drink and for the very first time in my life............ WHALE, cooked with tomato sauce, soy sauce, ginger, sugar and potatoes. It tasted really good, its like eating beef, only its not very tende [View Full Entry]

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We left Osaka December 21 for Manila, Philippines. Kansai airport procedure was an easy breeze through, making the arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila quite nightmarish. Not being home for the holidays for the past six years, I forgot how more chaotic the Philippines can become considering more than 90% of its population being Catholics, are all hyped in celebrating Christmas. We have to wait for more than an hour at the immigration line and baggage claim. I dont usually care about the crankiness and rudeness of the immigration and customs people in the Philippines, bu [View Full Entry]

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The lights and sounds are unmistakably Christmas. Christmas concert at the mall, ornaments, lights, -- everywhere you look reminds you that Christmas is coming. However, I feel like Japan celebrates Christmas devoid of emotion, spirituality and definitely none of the warm and fuzzy feel of the season. Christmas is already in the air in most countries around the world; in Japan Christmas is a mere visual experience, which is not bad at all. Considering Japan is not a Christian nation, I’ll still give them an A+ for beautifying or trying to light up the occasion. Most importantly, th [View Full Entry]

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We chose Japanese style furniture, for convenience. Our apartment is small but everything seems to fit in perfectly. Our dining and living room area are combined, we sat on the floor for eating, working on our laptops, talking ….. practically everything, for we don’t have any chairs in our house at all. Look at the picture, you will see that our dining, study, tea, center, all-in-one table is placed on top a very thin cushion and covered with a very thick blanket (only during winter). The table is a “kotatsu”; it has a built-in heater so the blanket traps the heat [View Full Entry]

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