Not much

Not much today. Got up pretty late again. Had some breakfast, got packed, went to the bank, however I need to wait for my cashcard. Then I walked around looking for Daiso. Spent 2 hours in there buying some necessary goods. Then went to work, struggled a little. I’m not as good with groups. Then back home for some dinner. Day is over so soon.

My favorite pan store: I usually go to Saint Etoile to buy my favorite pastries. I like the giant churro’s and green tea melon pan. I usually spend around 200-400 yen there whenever I work multiple shifts at Sakae.

Cars of the day: Saw a Red Mustang. Pretty rare to see those. I see a lot of Fiat 500’s. This time around there are way more european small cars than Japanese ones. 2 Years ago I saw a lot of Suzuki Swifts, now they’re all gone and replaced by smaller cars.

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Some songs for karaoke

eternal snow
Tooi kono machi de
Maaya Sakamoto – Platinum
tsubasa sister princess
kanon – last regrets
Yakusoku wo Shiyo – supercell
escaflowne – yakusoku – maaya sakamoto
crystal kay
Dango Daikazoku
そばにいるね　-　Aoyama Thelma
doraemon no uta
shizuku gto – drop
ayaka – why
toradora – silky heart

Osu Kannon

After sleeping at 6 AM, I awoke at 1 AM and had lunch. After lunch, I watered my sunflower seeds, and did laundry. When that was done, my roommate was thinking about seeing a movie, but we decided to head to Osu Kannon. At Osu Kannon he showed me the English bookstore, and then we met up with Brian and had Taiyaki. We went to look at some custom print t-shirts, I bought a Hiiragi Kagami as Hatsune Miku figurine before heading to the guitar shop. At the guitar shop it took me a little while, but I bought a used J-bass guitar. Afterwards, Justin left, and Brian and I went to the arcade to play some more JuBeat. After playing several games, we went to buy my phone a microsd card for my phone. With that we decided to check out the building which use to be Gamers. Brian bought a manga, and then we preceded back to my bike to head for sushi. We went to a Sushi place with conveyor belts, but also an express train to bring you something you wanted immediately. It came out rather cheap and filling, and much better than all you can eat.

Note: Today was a holiday and to many the beginning of Golden Week.

Karaoke Days

Two straight days of work, with 2 classes each day and a listen in by one of the more senior members. The student (Yuuichi) thought I did well, as did Daniel. It was a good day because I also got to create an account at Shinsei bank. We also got to see the Nissan pavilion in Sakae mall. After work, Brian and I went to karaoke for an hour, and sang mainly songs we knew in Japanese at the Joy Joy. The next day, I bought a bike and handed in a contract form for my stay at Freebell. The bike works relatively well, except the light isn’t connected to the wheel, so I get no light, and the rear is making a bit of noise. I rode my bike to Sakae for the first time, and met up with Elissa and Matthew again. It was our first time working at the same time since we parted 5 days ago. I believe we will see each other more since we’re all based in the same location. So after my lesson with Sou, Brian and I went to Karaoke again at the Joy Joy, this time in Sakae. The prices was 880 an hour this time, 100 yen more than last night, because it was the night before a holiday. Japanese karaoke is the best because it comes with free drinks, many of which are alcoholic, non-alcoholic, hot, cold, etc. and that they have all night karaoke for 1500 yen. Afterwards, I biked home and Brian took the train.

note: Saw Able today. 😀

Jewbeat

Today, I missed a very important playoff game. The Canucks beat the Kings to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs. However, Brian and I managed to get me a temporary gaijin card, while waiting for my real one to be ready within a month. The gaijin card is necessary in Japan to get important documents done, and to do simple things like open a bank account. The friendly ward staff spoke english and also helped us make the temporary card and provided us help in finding a Inkan shop. An Inkan is like a signature, except it is a stamp with you name on it. The Inkan staff told the ward staff that it would take 1 hour to make when the Inkan master returned in 4 hours. That pretty much meant there would be no chance I would be making a bank account today. It was alright though, so we went to the Inkan store to order the stamp. We both ordered one and paid our 1200 yen. Brian said that his last stamp took 2 weeks and costed 4000 yen to make, so this was a bargain. Afterwards, we biked home and I got to rest, make lunch and wash my clothes. Then when Brian was free again we went to pick up our stamp, before heading back out to Animate by the JR station. We bought misc goods before heading back out to meet Akim, Brian’s German friend. We proceeded to the local instrument shop in Osu, which had fantastic deals ($99 new Bass guitars, $2 guitar cables, $3 guitar cases) and then went to eat at Denny’s. We spoke about misc things at Denny including Berlitz. Akim then left while Brian and I went to the local arcade to play UFO catcher and Jubeat. Jubeat was new to me, and it seems like Konamii’s new DDR replacement. I rather like the game and how it can be difficult and fun. There are essentially squares that you have to hit in front of you that match up to the beat of a song. It reminds me a lot of Hatsune Miku’s PSP game, but with a greater variety of artists and songs. We played well into 11 P.M. before we headed home for some much needed rest before work tomorrow.

I kinda miss my training buddies Elissa (seems like all of Berlitz knows Elissa, even Akim knows her) and Matthew. We spent so much time together in the past week, around 8 hours a day together, having lunch and dinner together, its makes me feel kinda sad. However, I have new friends in Hanna, Brian, as well as my roommate, who are always close by at Sakae and here at Freebell.

Higashiyama Zoo

This morning I was off to Sakae station to meet with my friend. We decided that we were going to the zoo and so we did! We arrived at the zoo and being a Sunday there were of course many people also sharing the same plans. We walked through the zoo, which was similar to the zoo I saw in Tokyo 2 years back. We saw various animals, at some “potatoes”, rode on the “jet coaster” which is a normal roller coaster, and checked out locations of other roller coasters in Japan. Afterwards, we went to walk around the rest of the zoo where we entered a museum area, and talked about dinosaurs and petrified wood. Eventually, by 4 P.M. we got to see the Tiger and Polar bear feedings before the zoo told us it was closing soon. We ate the last of stand foods, and then made our way out where we had some more snacks. One was like a taco the other was spiral potatoe. We ran into a “Canadian” who only spoke Japanese and mildly decent English. He was on stilts making balloon animals for children @ 300 yen a pop. We spoke about our similarities and differences, had out picture taken and he gave us some balloons for free. We then headed home. When I got home I hung out with Brian and we watched some youtube videos, and play with his guitar before heading out to eat and shop and ValueMax.

Sickness and health

Well training finally ended and with that work begins. I have 6 modules to manage on Saturday. No time for much sleep, even though I’m getting over my 3 day cold. Been using the cough medicine and aspirin. A lot of eating out with my new co-workers and learning about Egypt, Nagoya University and a new station to get home from. Getting lost is no fun, but it happens. Been using the bike a bunch of times, saw a cockroach, but now its dead. Met a new co-worker, Brian, who lives in the same apartment as I do. Learned about the recycling-trash usage. I’ve used the washing machine, and finally my clothes are dry. Been eating rice, udon, kimchii, bread and canned food. Let’s hope I can do tomorrow without too many problems!

I need my gaijin card and bank account badly. Thinking about working at that kindergarten. I’m busy Sunday!!

Update: Class went off well, had a little trouble at the start with my first ever class and first ever group class. The doctor was late for the second class so I got a CTL from him. After the doctor the BE 1 lady I had was very fun and responded very well. Afterwards, I went with Brian to animate and bought a K-on tab book, Hard Off to look at used instruments, and then to McDonalds for dinner.

Sashimi

Today, I finally got a chance to pay my rent and with that I got ready for my training. I met Matthew from Nebraska and Elissa, who was back from Egypt. Both are very friendly and full of experience teaching. During training, we played games, studied grammar points, and ate lunch together at a local pub. I had pizza, and then we were back to work until 7:30 P.M. Afterwards, I walked home and I got a chance to borrow the bike. It allowed me to get to Daiso and the SuperMax supermarket in no time and with a place to place to groceries. My dinner was Tuna Sashimi and Kimchi. The Sashimi was huge and only for 200 yen! It filled me up well.

Daiso Dayo

Today, I decided I would get all my shopping done. Although this did not happen, I still managed to do a lot. I woke up at 6 A.M. and decided to head out to the station for some food. The day before I only had 2 onigiri’s all day. So, this morning I went to McDonalds and order myself 480 yen meal. It was a bacon and egg McMuffin. The sweet taste of syrup hit me as I ate the body warming meal. I finished up my orange juice and hash brown and was on may to BIC camera to pick up a lan cable. However, it was closed, so I made my way to Daiso. I walked through a small part of residential area a few times before I found Daiso. Surprisingly, I have already been here before! 2 years ago, I found this place by accident with my friends, but through hard research I somehow found the same place, but it would not be open until 10 A.M. I had an hour to kill, so, I went to the 24 hour supermarket in the same strip-mall. I bought a load of groceries, probably more than I could carry. I finally got my rice, and side dishes, and much needed utensils from Daiso. I headed back and reached my apartment around 11 A.M. When I got back, Justin had just woke up and showered, and so we decided to go out to eat at Pastel, a restaurant seemingly favored by women. We were the only males without a female. I ordered a seafood pasta dish, while Justin got his Pizza. Afterwards, we went to the bookstore in the JR towers, and then BIC Camera and another bookstore. We headed home and had rice. The rice turned out to be a success and I decided I could use a few more things from Daiso. So, I headed back and picked up more goods and my lan cable. When I got back I was dead tired. I met Justin’s friend Dan and learned he wrote for Japanzine. When they left, I decided to eat and then shower, use the internet and sleep.

A lot of trains

There sure are a lot of trains that pass in front of my living room. It certainly is interesting to watch them go by, making noise that isn’t too loud to keep me awake at night. However, I’m surprised Justin got use to it, but working with kids is certainly no easy task, so he must be pretty exhausted.

Today, I joined Jason in the hunt for a cellphone. We tried a few places before settling for Softbank in Sakae. They had a very friendly receptioness who helped me understand a lot about my phone and Japan. She is originally from China and came to Japan when she was 19. We spent the whole time speaking in 3 languages (English, Chinese and Japanese), switching over when one did not understand the other. I had a lot of fun that I did not realize 2 hours had gone by. I hurried back to my apartment and got changed, being unable to perfect tie tying, I did what I could and rushed to Kanayama for my interview. The interview went fine, however, my practical test did not seem to go over too well. This situation kind of proves how weak I am at applying what I’ve learned in TESOL, unless I’ve been given a lot of time to prepare. They gave me five minutes, twice, but somehow my failure may give me the ability to learn, study and correct myself.

My body is so sore from dragging luggage and running around all day.