Blogs from Shimizu, Shizuoka, Japan, Asia - page 2

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu April 6th 2007

I love Fridays. I work a short shift from 10-2 so it almost feels like I have the day off! I just got back from work today which was great. I had some of my favorite students which always makes the day more pleasant. And I only had to teach 5 lessons instead of the standard 8 lessons so it flew by! Here is what my schedule looked like today: I started off the morning teaching a Level F student. The highest you can get at Nova is Level G. So needless to say she can communicate pretty well in English. She is a university student in Shizuoka studying Opera and just got back from traveling in Vienna for a couple of weeks. Our lesson was about inviting and persuading people to go places. After her ... read more

Let there be internet ;)

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu March 23rd 2007

Sakura Blossoms

Farbs

So sorry for the recent draught in blogs!! Dawn and I just got the internet connected in our apartment!!! Yeah, so blogs should be a bit more frequent now :). So much has happened since I last wrote, trying to figure out where to start is very intimidating. Every day here feels like a month worth of things to write about. I think for the sake of my sanity and yours I will just start with today and let the many details of the last month come out as I begin writing more freqently. I just got back from work a little while ago and had some Japanese yams, an apple and some sekihan (rice and beans) for dinner. Outside my wiwndow music is blaring from the Cherry Blossom Festival that is going on in ... read more

A couple of my new discoveries...

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu March 1st 2007

Dawn and Ben at the foot massage park

Farbs

Hello everyone!!! You get a double dose of travel bloggage today because I forgot to publish my last entry last week. Things are still going well in Japan!!! I still have not left Shizuoka, there is so much to do and see here. Have I told you guys how lucky I feel to be living in this city? It really is the perfect size, not too big and not too small and it has so much character and so many things that I am looking for in an ideal place to live. Honestly, I once made a list in my journal of some of the qualities that my ideal city would have and Shizuoka has my top three, lots of great coffee shops (reminds me of the Northwest!!), beautiful parks to run in, and people who ... read more

Continuning to get settled...

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu February 21st 2007

Ume Blossoms

Farbs

Been in Japan for almost a month now (it will be one month on the 23rd) and I still haven't made it out of Shizuoka yet, this city has plenty to keep me busy and I really am still discovering new things every day!!! I am still getting settled, but I am proud to say that I have successfully set up a Japanese bank account, purchased a cell phone, set up a cell phone plan, figured out the postal system, communicated on the phone with the post office, discovered some great places to shop for essentials. I still have tons to learn about daily life in Japan but I am progressing!!! We:ve had stormy weather for the past week, lots of rain and lots of wind, but today way beautiful!!! I went on a bike ride ... read more

Onamiyaki

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu February 3rd 2007

Onamiyaki

Farbs

Just finished my second day of work at Nova and I am really enjoying it. Its more like tutoring than actual teaching, I never have more than 4 students and we basically just get to sit around and talk and they are all so respectful, I can hardly believe it!!!! I will write more later, I mostly wanted to share about my dinner the other night...ONAMIYAKI...Japanese pancakes...amazing, it is like an omelet, made with tapioca flour, lots of seafood and veggies and some crazy sauce and japanese mayo on top. Here is a picture. ... read more

The mountain is out!!!

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu January 30th 2007

My crazy roomie Dawn

Farbs

I have been in Shizuoka for about 5 days now and this morning on my new favorite run up to the Sengen Shrine I got my first glimpse of Mt. Fuji!!!!! It is beautiful!!!! It stopped me dead in my tracks and I just stared for about 10 minutes!!! I have about a million things to share and unfortunatelly just a few minutes before my second day of training at NOVA. Luckily I just had a big cup of coffee so I am on turbo mode right now and should be able to blab a whole bunch in the next few minutes, although I am warning you now, none of this is going to be gramatically correct and a lot of it might not make sense so bear with me :). I do not know much ... read more

Strawberry fields forever. And Shimizu Port. And Mt Fuji

Asia » Japan » Shizuoka » Shimizu April 24th 2006

Fuji

BlackManx

I had the Beatles song stuck in my head all day, but the strawberries were ripe for the picking at Shimizu on Saturday. Believe me, there is a limit to the amount you can eat at one time, and i guess it didnt help that i was smothering mine with the condensed milk they gave us (Dad, you would have been proud). Yum. We also saw the 'beach' and found a spot for some great fuji shots and experienced a dodgy Japanese restaurant where the picture menus were limited and a little blurry so the 'chicken' that i thought id ordered turned out to be the inside of some animal. Not liver, not heart but i saw it in the Shizu with the other entrails!! It was actually quite yummy and ate it all up like ... read more

Brief history of Japan

In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Fol...more history

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