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Published: December 21st 2009
Shibuya Crossing
Sloan marveling the sights and sounds at the biggest intersection in Shibuya.Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Sloaner!
Hello again everyone! After a week off from the blog due to some extra work and a week with a cold I'm back to give all you eager followers another message from the far far east. Let's get right to it!
Here is a quick list of just some of the events that have happened since the start of December:
1. Level 5 Earthquake
2. Karaoke adventure with students
3. Shopping extravaganza
4. Samurai / Nautical Bar in Roppongi
5. Kyoto trip planned for the Holidays
6. Sick
7. Follow up training at head office in Shinjuku
8. Delicious presents from students!
Ok, so now I can give you some details about that list, which seems about the average amount of excitement experienced over a span of two weeks in Tokyo. Let's start with the most interesting. So the time was 5am and I was sound asleep dreaming of my upcoming holiday trip to Kyoto, and all of a sudden I was shaking. I thought, “hmm, I must be real cold, better turn the heat on” but when I sat up I realized the whole room was shaking. Of course I panicked and was still
Sloanta-Clause
Drawings on the board for an upcoming class. half asleep so I was more confused than anything, but after a minute it stopped and I instantly fell back asleep. So the next day I woke up and went to work as usual and it wasn’t until my assistant manager, Chikako, asked, “Did you feel that earthquake this morning? It was a big one” that I realized I didn’t make it up while I was sleeping, which of course is always happening to me. I laughed and realized it was the first time I’ve ever experienced one, and that it was a pretty normal event almost everywhere in Japan. No damage or even evidence of it and I’m sure it won’t be long before it happens again at night and I go through the exact same story. But it was intense and something I will remember for a while, when I’m awake at least.
The best night we had during the past two weeks was last Saturday night, at an amazing small restaurant in Shiki, by my school, and then at the karaoke bar around the block. We went with about 12 people, half staff and half students from Shiki school. We ate a whole bunch of amazing
You can See Mt. Fuji!
Standing at my train station and you can see all the way to Mt. Fuji in the distance to the West. Winter sky is beautiful and clear! dishes which you can see in the pictures, and had a great time teaching some extra curricular adult English and learning some more social Japanese lines that can be said at night. The video shows a little introduction to the night when everyone was fairly calm, and then it escalated to a rowdy night of j-pop singing, tambourine waving, and country dancing until the sun came up. I even had some students come back to my apartment to relax after the singing fest so it was good to have guests over to enjoy the changes that I have made to the place. One of the funniest things I have seen in Japan so far happened during that time, as I welcomed them into my room and showed them the available seating. After listening to the options that included 3 chairs, a new leather lounge chair, and the bed, the whole group just pushed those ideas away and sat down in a tight little circle on the carpet, all cross legged ready to start the next conversation. I looked around at the empty chairs and bed and just laughed, shrugged and sat down in the circle and we went on the
What a crew!
Three of my students at dinner on Saturday night. whole night like that. I guess that’s one of those times you just learn to accept it and log it away as a story to tell later on. But the night was great and there is some great memories of some hilarious dancing, less than amazing singing, and a foggy cab ride back to my place!
Other than that we spent one day shopping at a gigantic mall about 20 minutes away, which I can compare only to the Mall of America. It was absolutely huge and we spent the day window shopping and playing with crazy Japanese gadgets and electronics. I ended up getting just a scarf and the used leather chair at a warehouse around the corner from my apartment, as well as a nice mirror I put up on the wall. I had an extra day of work too on the Monday, when our training group met up again for a follow up training in Shinjuku, downtown Tokyo. As usual it was good to see the crew and we had a quick drink after the training before heading our own ways to get ready for the work week starting the next morning. I came down with
Dinner time
Hanging out at dinner before heading to Karaoke. a cold the next day and it dragged on until today, but never managed to keep me out of the office for any amount of time. Other students and teachers were falling left and right and the first sickness of the winter was definitely spread around last week. But I feel great today and am catching up on chores and cleaning, and decorating my two mini trees, that are all I have for my version of Christmas here. I will be dressing up as Santa on Christmas day to teach a special lesson to kids, and will be teaching two other special lessons that I created for this week, including a World Issues class, and three versions of a Sports Vocabulary and History class offered for our ‘All-You-Can-Take’ option. It’s been fun creating my own class and getting the freedom to design it my own way. So I have one day off on Wednesday and then my holidays start on the 27th and I will be off until January 4th.
During that time I will be heading to Kyoto, which is known for its amazing sightseeing and numerous temples scattered around the city. The four of us, Dave, Neil,
Delicious
Students hanging out and showing some of the amazing dishes at the restaurant in Shiki. Rob and I, will spend four nights in a hostel just outside the city and spend 5 days exploring and drinking in the scenery and majesty of it all. We will hopefully catch the bus back on the 31st just in time to meet up with a big crew to head to a giant club called Ageha in southeast Toyko for an all-night NYE celebration and dance-fest. Back to the famous club where the life sized kitten was caught about a month ago, which I’m sure you have seen in the pics from the blog. So a great few weeks are ahead of me. The main goal is to finish this week strong in the school and stay healthy so that the holidays are as amazing as I think they will be!
I hope all of your holidays and celebrations are relaxing and fun, and you take a minute to be thankful for everything you have in your life! Sometimes it takes being away from everyone to realize how lucky I am. I miss everyone at home and around the world and will be thinking of you over the holidays a lot, especially those Christmas get togethers and unbelievable
Saturday night Dinner!
Shota and the crew at the other table on Saturday night. dinners that I can’t believe I will miss out on this year! Maybe I’ll try to cook a chicken and some mashed taters with gravy, but it just won’t be the same! I hope the moves go well in Toronto and everyone is psyched for a new year and new adventures in 2010! One love to everyone and let’s see who can pack the most food into our gullets over the next few weeks!
Sloan ‘Captain Canada’ Crawford
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anonymous
non-member comment
woot woot! looks like you're having a blast there Spanky boy!