hey all,
Back in America. I'm just realizing that not all Americans are loud, but just Americans that everyone remembers seeing abroad, such as Brian, who drew more than his fair share of stares because he doesn't know how to modulate his speaking voice.
The flight was really...unique. We signed in under a special system, and didn't even have tickets until about 2 minutes before we got on the plane, and sat down in our business class seats. The service was quite good, if a little brusque, and the food was excellent.
More later, as I have not slept more than 10 minutes since waking up...36? 48? hours ago? Not sure at this point, but I seem to have hit a second, or third wind.
Cheers,
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Bon Voyage
hey all,
In less than 24 hours now, Bri, Michi, and I will be on a flight to the US. Out trip to Kyoto went pretty well, and so have our smaller trips to more local locales.
That's it for now. Hope to see some of you stateside.
Cheers,
In less than 24 hours now, Bri, Michi, and I will be on a flight to the US. Out trip to Kyoto went pretty well, and so have our smaller trips to more local locales.
That's it for now. Hope to see some of you stateside.
Cheers,
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Soon, Kyoto
hey all,
Finally finished my work year of 2010. Been able to hang out with Brian a little after work each day, and of course we're heading off to Kyoto soon.
More in a few days.
Cheers,
Finally finished my work year of 2010. Been able to hang out with Brian a little after work each day, and of course we're heading off to Kyoto soon.
More in a few days.
Cheers,
Monday, December 20, 2010
Meet-Up
hey all,
So the meet up went really well. That's about all I have right now as I have to get ready for class tomorrow.
Cheers,
So the meet up went really well. That's about all I have right now as I have to get ready for class tomorrow.
Cheers,
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Oh Me, Oh My
hey all,
As I said, things are picking up. In less than 24 hours, Bri comes to Japan, and he'll have to mostly fend for himself for 3 days before I get off of work. I plan on meeting him and doing dinner, but getting from the airport to the hotel is on him, and then while I'm at work of course he's on his own.
And then we run around like orcs with our heads cut off for a few days before coming to the US. The US will be even busier because the time is shorter, but somehow we'll manage.
There is still some shopping to do, both that Michi has been assigned and that I've been assigned, and there are train tickets to reserve for Kyoto, I just sent my climbing shoes in to be resoled (at a really amazing climbing shop, BTW), just paid my health insurance, will be paying my rent soon, etc. Luckily, by the time my next residence tax payment is due I'll have been paid again.
I'm going to call it a night and try to sleep. I really hope everything goes smoothly, but we'll see. Already, one element of our plan has gone awry: I wasn't able to book tickets at Studio Ghibli. It is a museum, but you need to order tickets in advance, and you can only enter the place at four specific hours each day, and every time slot was booked.
Hopefully I can survive this.
Cheers,
As I said, things are picking up. In less than 24 hours, Bri comes to Japan, and he'll have to mostly fend for himself for 3 days before I get off of work. I plan on meeting him and doing dinner, but getting from the airport to the hotel is on him, and then while I'm at work of course he's on his own.
And then we run around like orcs with our heads cut off for a few days before coming to the US. The US will be even busier because the time is shorter, but somehow we'll manage.
There is still some shopping to do, both that Michi has been assigned and that I've been assigned, and there are train tickets to reserve for Kyoto, I just sent my climbing shoes in to be resoled (at a really amazing climbing shop, BTW), just paid my health insurance, will be paying my rent soon, etc. Luckily, by the time my next residence tax payment is due I'll have been paid again.
I'm going to call it a night and try to sleep. I really hope everything goes smoothly, but we'll see. Already, one element of our plan has gone awry: I wasn't able to book tickets at Studio Ghibli. It is a museum, but you need to order tickets in advance, and you can only enter the place at four specific hours each day, and every time slot was booked.
Hopefully I can survive this.
Cheers,
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Yay!
hey all,
I was able to make it to the Immigration Bureau in Yokohama today. Boy is that place inconvenient! Every train and bus I had to take to get there, I had to wait about ten minutes for. It is supposed to only take about 30 minutes to get there, but it ended up taking an hour or so. It got to the point where I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it in time, but I got there with about 10 minutes to spare. And everyone I'd talked to about it was right. The place was mostly empty, and I only had to wait about 10 minutes in order to get my re-entry permit.
It was so quick in fact, that I was only about 5 minutes late for my PM class. I took over for the other teacher, and taught the rest of it.
My mood is much better. I've got a pretty good presentation, only a few rough spots, but I'm just going to leave it as is. I also signed a new contract for my company; I've been operating under a hand-written agreement until now, as both I and my boss sort of forgot about it and hadn't had time to straighten it out.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
I was able to make it to the Immigration Bureau in Yokohama today. Boy is that place inconvenient! Every train and bus I had to take to get there, I had to wait about ten minutes for. It is supposed to only take about 30 minutes to get there, but it ended up taking an hour or so. It got to the point where I was worried I wouldn't be able to make it in time, but I got there with about 10 minutes to spare. And everyone I'd talked to about it was right. The place was mostly empty, and I only had to wait about 10 minutes in order to get my re-entry permit.
It was so quick in fact, that I was only about 5 minutes late for my PM class. I took over for the other teacher, and taught the rest of it.
My mood is much better. I've got a pretty good presentation, only a few rough spots, but I'm just going to leave it as is. I also signed a new contract for my company; I've been operating under a hand-written agreement until now, as both I and my boss sort of forgot about it and hadn't had time to straighten it out.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sanity
hey all,
So for the sake of my own sanity, I'm pulling the plug on the presentation. I wanted to incorporate all the pictures of my travels up until I actually returned to the US, but that will not be psychologically healthy at this point.
It has been eating up a large amount of my free time, and I need some down time to just relax. Especially after taking the JLPT, I've been hitting the Japanese like I should have been hitting it everyday before I took the test. And of course everything is gearing up for the holiday instead of gearing down, like it should.
I'm calling it finished as is, and from here on I'll get some free time before Bri arrives and all craziness breaks loose.
Cheers,
So for the sake of my own sanity, I'm pulling the plug on the presentation. I wanted to incorporate all the pictures of my travels up until I actually returned to the US, but that will not be psychologically healthy at this point.
It has been eating up a large amount of my free time, and I need some down time to just relax. Especially after taking the JLPT, I've been hitting the Japanese like I should have been hitting it everyday before I took the test. And of course everything is gearing up for the holiday instead of gearing down, like it should.
I'm calling it finished as is, and from here on I'll get some free time before Bri arrives and all craziness breaks loose.
Cheers,
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Multi-Pitch, No Teacher
hey all,
Just got back from Joyama again (every time I type that I'm reminded of "Yo mama" jokes...). Saturday we climbed several single pitch routes as a warm up for today's main serving of multi-pitch madness. We only got in one multi-pitch route: a 4P route called Battle Runner. We climbed it before together with our climbing instructor, and we waited for a long time to climb it today. We had to wait both at the bottom, since it was very crowded, and also about two pitches up, where a really annoying woman stopped us. She was terrible at rock climbing, constantly saying "oh! scary!" and had long, decorated nails. She had no business on a multi-pitch route, and yet there she was, blocking the way, slowing us down, and constantly getting afraid of something that ...I was about to write "isn't scary," but actually it can be. Still, I don't see many sane people walking around at night exclaiming "Wow, it's dark" for 10, 20, or 30 minute stretches. What is the point in that? Yes, rock climbing is scary. Get on with it, or get out of the way.
In any case, we got up and down without incident, and actually ran into our climbing instructor again as he was either climbing with some friends or instructing more students. I was able to tell him that we climbed the whole route without falling once, and also without resting or asking for tension. (At least I was able to. Michi has a ways to go yet.)
Although I'm feeling pretty worn out from shopping, coordinating trips, dealing with troubles at work, and the muscle/mental ache of climbing (especially multi-pitch gives me this feeling: we were separated from the ground from about 11:00 to 16:00, or 5 HOURS), it was a good weekend. Michi and I haven't had any of our huge "It's over!" fights recently, and we're probably getting better at feeling out the mood of the other. It helps that we can lose our tempers with each other, and then patch things up quickly and move on.
One of the larger projects looming over my head is a presentation I'd like to give about my stay in Japan so far, but some of the features I'd like to do are a little tricky.
Cheers
Just got back from Joyama again (every time I type that I'm reminded of "Yo mama" jokes...). Saturday we climbed several single pitch routes as a warm up for today's main serving of multi-pitch madness. We only got in one multi-pitch route: a 4P route called Battle Runner. We climbed it before together with our climbing instructor, and we waited for a long time to climb it today. We had to wait both at the bottom, since it was very crowded, and also about two pitches up, where a really annoying woman stopped us. She was terrible at rock climbing, constantly saying "oh! scary!" and had long, decorated nails. She had no business on a multi-pitch route, and yet there she was, blocking the way, slowing us down, and constantly getting afraid of something that ...I was about to write "isn't scary," but actually it can be. Still, I don't see many sane people walking around at night exclaiming "Wow, it's dark" for 10, 20, or 30 minute stretches. What is the point in that? Yes, rock climbing is scary. Get on with it, or get out of the way.
In any case, we got up and down without incident, and actually ran into our climbing instructor again as he was either climbing with some friends or instructing more students. I was able to tell him that we climbed the whole route without falling once, and also without resting or asking for tension. (At least I was able to. Michi has a ways to go yet.)
Although I'm feeling pretty worn out from shopping, coordinating trips, dealing with troubles at work, and the muscle/mental ache of climbing (especially multi-pitch gives me this feeling: we were separated from the ground from about 11:00 to 16:00, or 5 HOURS), it was a good weekend. Michi and I haven't had any of our huge "It's over!" fights recently, and we're probably getting better at feeling out the mood of the other. It helps that we can lose our tempers with each other, and then patch things up quickly and move on.
One of the larger projects looming over my head is a presentation I'd like to give about my stay in Japan so far, but some of the features I'd like to do are a little tricky.
Cheers
Friday, December 10, 2010
$%^&* List
hey all,
So that new housemate turned out to be a real douche. He didn't have his visa yet, and I mentioned that I'd be heading over to the Immigration Bureau on Thursday to take care of my re-entry permit for Japan.
I arranged to have another teacher teach my evening class, and headed out to meet the guy. When I got back to the house, he was sleeping. He didn't have his papers organized, and hadn't printed out the most important document. When we went to the Seven Eleven to print it out, it didn't work, so we had to go back to the house to transfer the file to my USB stick. When we went to back to the Seven Eleven, instead of focusing on printing his documents out, he left that to me and bought some snacks.
By this point I wasn't sure we'd make it and called the bureau. It would take 35 minutes to get there and they would only be open for another 15.
Thanks to this punk who I went out of my way to help, I wasn't able to get my re-entry permit and almost inconvenienced another teacher (I made it back to work and taught the class myself, since I couldn't run my errand).
Other than that, the week has been pretty decent. Shopping for Christmas presents, studying a little Japanese, and doing a little site-seeing.
I've made arrangements to go to the bureau again next week, and Douchebag can find his own way there.
Cheers,
So that new housemate turned out to be a real douche. He didn't have his visa yet, and I mentioned that I'd be heading over to the Immigration Bureau on Thursday to take care of my re-entry permit for Japan.
I arranged to have another teacher teach my evening class, and headed out to meet the guy. When I got back to the house, he was sleeping. He didn't have his papers organized, and hadn't printed out the most important document. When we went to the Seven Eleven to print it out, it didn't work, so we had to go back to the house to transfer the file to my USB stick. When we went to back to the Seven Eleven, instead of focusing on printing his documents out, he left that to me and bought some snacks.
By this point I wasn't sure we'd make it and called the bureau. It would take 35 minutes to get there and they would only be open for another 15.
Thanks to this punk who I went out of my way to help, I wasn't able to get my re-entry permit and almost inconvenienced another teacher (I made it back to work and taught the class myself, since I couldn't run my errand).
Other than that, the week has been pretty decent. Shopping for Christmas presents, studying a little Japanese, and doing a little site-seeing.
I've made arrangements to go to the bureau again next week, and Douchebag can find his own way there.
Cheers,
Monday, December 06, 2010
Test, Etc
hey all,
So the test was pretty touch and go. The first section was 35 questions within 30 minutes of vocabulary, and I quickly discovered that the words I had been studying and the set of words on the test, only overlapped a little. So I had basically been studying the wrong words, or really, not the wrong words, but more likely not enough words.
The second section was a reading comprehension section, and I feel I did pretty well on that. Mostly just checking details about the reading passages, selecting appropriate words/phrases to go in the blanks, etc.
The last section was listening, and that was also touch and go. Several parts of it made me feel that it was far too easy, but other parts I just had to guess because they never repeated any of it, and they never slowed down: they just spoke at normal speed. The actual real difficult part was when they had no answers. I mean, for the new test, they have parts of the listening section where your question sheet just has a blank page for you to take notes on: the question is asked verbally, the conversation is played, and the possible answers are listed verbally, and if you miss any of it, too bad.
I'm not sure whether I passed or not, but I'm leaning towards not at the moment.
The ramen museum was pretty interesting, and some of it was quite delicious. It is very cheap to get in, but if you want to eat any of the ramen served there, it can become quite expensive. They have about 10 different regional varieties of ramen to try, and even if you only try a small bowl of each, your wallet and stomach take a hit.
In other news, it appears that A Song of Ice and Fire will be coming to HBO next April. I just saw a 10 minute "Making Of" clip on the author's livejournal page, and it looks really amazing. The production values are through the roof, and the actors all look in top form. We'll have to wait and see whether the dialogue, action, and maturity of the books have been well translated into film. No news about the long-awaited volume five yet.
My cold is getting a little bit better, but there is still almost no time to rest. Next weekend Michi is insisting on going rock climbing again so that she doesn't forget how to multi-pitch climb. Not a bad idea, but it just means that I don't really get any days to just watch anime, play video games, go see local sites, or plain old sit around and do nothing. I'd rather have an interesting life than no life at all, but relaxing is important for my sanity.
I've been hanging out with the new housemate from the Midwest, and that has been really good. Since I've kinda gotten used to not being able to go anywhere and not having anyone besides Michi to go anywhere with, I've been missing out on seeing a lot of Japan. Since he moved in, I've gotten to see some of the local things around Yokohama that otherwise I wouldn't get to see.
Cheers,
So the test was pretty touch and go. The first section was 35 questions within 30 minutes of vocabulary, and I quickly discovered that the words I had been studying and the set of words on the test, only overlapped a little. So I had basically been studying the wrong words, or really, not the wrong words, but more likely not enough words.
The second section was a reading comprehension section, and I feel I did pretty well on that. Mostly just checking details about the reading passages, selecting appropriate words/phrases to go in the blanks, etc.
The last section was listening, and that was also touch and go. Several parts of it made me feel that it was far too easy, but other parts I just had to guess because they never repeated any of it, and they never slowed down: they just spoke at normal speed. The actual real difficult part was when they had no answers. I mean, for the new test, they have parts of the listening section where your question sheet just has a blank page for you to take notes on: the question is asked verbally, the conversation is played, and the possible answers are listed verbally, and if you miss any of it, too bad.
I'm not sure whether I passed or not, but I'm leaning towards not at the moment.
The ramen museum was pretty interesting, and some of it was quite delicious. It is very cheap to get in, but if you want to eat any of the ramen served there, it can become quite expensive. They have about 10 different regional varieties of ramen to try, and even if you only try a small bowl of each, your wallet and stomach take a hit.
In other news, it appears that A Song of Ice and Fire will be coming to HBO next April. I just saw a 10 minute "Making Of" clip on the author's livejournal page, and it looks really amazing. The production values are through the roof, and the actors all look in top form. We'll have to wait and see whether the dialogue, action, and maturity of the books have been well translated into film. No news about the long-awaited volume five yet.
My cold is getting a little bit better, but there is still almost no time to rest. Next weekend Michi is insisting on going rock climbing again so that she doesn't forget how to multi-pitch climb. Not a bad idea, but it just means that I don't really get any days to just watch anime, play video games, go see local sites, or plain old sit around and do nothing. I'd rather have an interesting life than no life at all, but relaxing is important for my sanity.
I've been hanging out with the new housemate from the Midwest, and that has been really good. Since I've kinda gotten used to not being able to go anywhere and not having anyone besides Michi to go anywhere with, I've been missing out on seeing a lot of Japan. Since he moved in, I've gotten to see some of the local things around Yokohama that otherwise I wouldn't get to see.
Cheers,
Sunday, December 05, 2010
This is Rest?
hey all,
Had a really busy weekend, what with coordinating and planning the trip home and Bri's trip to Japan, visiting the ramen museum with a new housemate, studying Japanese, and taking the JLPT.
So busy in fact, that that's it for now.
Cheers,
Had a really busy weekend, what with coordinating and planning the trip home and Bri's trip to Japan, visiting the ramen museum with a new housemate, studying Japanese, and taking the JLPT.
So busy in fact, that that's it for now.
Cheers,
Friday, December 03, 2010
The Weekend, At Last
hey all,
So I've been fighting a cold for the better part of a month or two, and my voice is going, again. Thankfully it is the weekend, and I'll get to rest it. Although I get to rest my voice, I still have to take the JLPT on Sunday.
Seems to be one of those "you just have to let it run its course" things. Medicine makes it go away for a week, then it comes back worse than before.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
So I've been fighting a cold for the better part of a month or two, and my voice is going, again. Thankfully it is the weekend, and I'll get to rest it. Although I get to rest my voice, I still have to take the JLPT on Sunday.
Seems to be one of those "you just have to let it run its course" things. Medicine makes it go away for a week, then it comes back worse than before.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
And...We're Back
hey all,
Sorry for the long gap there. Been really busy as usual of late. Classes are going pretty well. I'm starting to get the hang of teaching that younger class, and I've figured out how to make that afternoon class pretty fun while still covering the amount of material that I've been requested to cover.
Last weekend, I met up with Michi on Saturday, and then on Sunday I sold four games, and bought Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Pretty good so far. I also met up with John, my Michigan buddy and we had a Thanksgiving lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo. I have to say they did a good job, and it was worth it for the price: only about 2600 Yen, or $30. You could get the same for much cheaper in the US, but again, we're in Japan. You can't even find turkey in the supermarket. I've actually never seen it anywhere, although John tells me they sell them at Costco.
I'm still studying Japanese for the test, but at this point it is a little late: I only have 4 days until the JLPT on Sunday. I'm probably going to head over to Tokyo a little early on Sunday to make sure I get there.
I've also been trying to arrange my trip to the US, plan for my friend's trip to Japan, gear shop for climbing, and I've been obsessed with a particular type of Japanese snack. It is basically deep fried burdock root, but I've been unable to find a recipe for it, and I've been unable to actually find the snack in a store so that I can look it up on the internet.
That's all for now,
Cheers,
Sorry for the long gap there. Been really busy as usual of late. Classes are going pretty well. I'm starting to get the hang of teaching that younger class, and I've figured out how to make that afternoon class pretty fun while still covering the amount of material that I've been requested to cover.
Last weekend, I met up with Michi on Saturday, and then on Sunday I sold four games, and bought Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Pretty good so far. I also met up with John, my Michigan buddy and we had a Thanksgiving lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo. I have to say they did a good job, and it was worth it for the price: only about 2600 Yen, or $30. You could get the same for much cheaper in the US, but again, we're in Japan. You can't even find turkey in the supermarket. I've actually never seen it anywhere, although John tells me they sell them at Costco.
I'm still studying Japanese for the test, but at this point it is a little late: I only have 4 days until the JLPT on Sunday. I'm probably going to head over to Tokyo a little early on Sunday to make sure I get there.
I've also been trying to arrange my trip to the US, plan for my friend's trip to Japan, gear shop for climbing, and I've been obsessed with a particular type of Japanese snack. It is basically deep fried burdock root, but I've been unable to find a recipe for it, and I've been unable to actually find the snack in a store so that I can look it up on the internet.
That's all for now,
Cheers,
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