This is ma Sippin' Whiskey

This past weekend was Halloween! Happy Halloween!!

Ok so Friday night there was a party at this guy Gary's house in Tochigi. It was my second time seeing him. The house party was kind of fun, but I didn't really stay that long because we got there kind of late and I didn't want to spend the night so I left with Carrie and Graham. Kristine posted pictures of it on facebook that I'll post the link for later. The best costume in my opinion was probably Matt's. He was a cowboy, but what made it funny is that he's British. So his attempt at a southern/western accent was just funny. Also the best part of his costume was the fact that he carried around a bottle of Jim Bean the whole night.

On Saturday I woke up early (which I do all the time and it angers me haha) again and went to Utsunomiya for some Ultimate. It was pretty much the usual, except this time we played in a different area because the spot we normally practice was being taken by softball. I did some dances just messing around during the practice and everyone thought the were hilarious. That's a pic of me mid dance I think? I don't remember
Alot of the guys weren't there because they had some event or something on campus. Also this next weekend they have a tournament which is pretty sweet, I wish I could go and watch but the place is like a 5 hour drive west or something. They still want me to come to the tournament in March so that's cool.

Saturday night we had a party at this bar called Circus. On the way there I fell off my bike. This is the first "accident" I've had on my bike which is pretty impressive since its been like almost 3 months into my trip ahha. I was peddling too fast and my foot slipped off the pedal and planted in the ground, luckily I was wearing my Panda Grip gloves, so I didn't get scraped and my bike was fine.

The bar pretty cool, but really small, and really expensive (35 bucks but it was all you can drink so I guess I got my moneys worth). I met a couple new people but didn't exhange phone numbers or anything. Its a shame that the majority of Japanese girls there were a bit old. The closest girl to my age that was cute was 29. I was hoping to meet someone there that spoke English and was a bit closer to my age ahha. I should of still tried to develop a friendship though, oh well maybe I'll see her again. I also met a couple other ALTs that teach in Sano for private schools, but they seemed a bit weird so I don't think I'll try to develop that much.

Later that night Adrian came over to my place and spent the night. I didn't plan on having him come over but he needed a place to stay and I offered. After midnight it was his 25th birthday. We talked about stuff on the walk back from the bar, and then some more when we got back to my place. He's a good guy. I haven't done that much with him but I feel like I can easily get along with him.

Sunday I went over to Graham's around noon or so and we spent the day shopping for some stuff we both need for our houses. I bought a new chair because the one that came with my house was giving me serious back problems because the bar in the middle is in the worst spot. I felt like if I didn't get a new chair I'd get sculliosis or something. So at the store I had the option of a chair with arm rests or a chair without one. I chose the one with arm rests and paid an extra 500 yen (5 dollars) for it. When I built the chair this morning I realized the was no place to attach the arm rests so I wasted 5 dollars, and there's no way I can return it now ahha.Here's a picture of the new chair with the damn arm rests unattached:
I also bought another futon mattress, and I don't care that its yellow and flowery because you'll never see it. But now my bed is alot more comfortable.

Sunday night we headed over to Adrians for his 25th. We bought him a chocolate ice cream cake with snoopy and woodstock on it, it was a pretty nice cake haha. We also payed monopoly. It was a Japanese version with credit cards instead of cash. It was really weird and difficult to make transactions lol. And Adrian cheated and gave himself 5 million extra money, so it kind of made the game pointless. After that we played hacky sack hahah... and goofed off in Adrian's house. We caught the last train back.

Today (Monday) I had off so I tried to make use of the day and I went shopping. I set out only to buy a coat but ended up spending about 20,000 yen ($200) on clothes. While shopping two kids that I never met before followed me around the store and talked to me. I asked if they were my students or if they were elementary school students they said no. So some random kids wanted to talk to me. Hah I think the little boy was 4 and the little girl was maybe 3. They both literally followed me around the store as I was looking for a coat. Occasionally they tugged on my arm and then would say stuff in English and be silly. They made animal noises like Meow then would say CAT! Or they would scratch their heads and armpits and say MONKEY! They also tried to pop out from around a corner and scare me. It was really cute and funny. I just played along and joked with them and taught them some English words. Their Dad noticed what they were doing and told them to stop hah. I didn't really care but it was funny that that happened.

Anyways here are some pictures of what I bought.

First here is the coat I bought. I like the way it looks, it fit well and was comfy.
I bought this shirt too with pigs on it because it's good looking and just funny.

I also bought the matching shirt that I'll wear under it. Here is the front:Here is the back: The pigs are falling all over the place.
It's starting to get cold out so I'll really need all these warm clothes.Here's a pic of everything I bought. I also bought some socks, that were kind of expensive but super comfy so they'll be worth it. Alot of my white socks are dirty looking because of playing ulimate so I need to rotate them out. I've been spending alot of money this week, good thing I get paid next Monday. Next paycheck I wanna save at least 500 dollars or so because Christmas is coming up and I need to get gifts.

In other news I've really fallen behind on my Kanji study, so now I'm going to do a new lesson and maybe two so I can catch up with where I should be right now.

Looking for Love

Today I taught at Tenmyo. I had a really short day because after lunch the soon to be first graders and their parents came to school, so everyone got out for some reason? I don't really know why, but I'll accept it. I talked to Teraoka sensei about a bill I got, and I'm lucky I did because it is due tomorrow and its my gas bill (which heats my water). So I paid that today after eating my lunch.

Since I got out early I had alot of free time today, so I decided to get some stuff done. I took my bike over to AEON and the Premium Outlets. I shopped a bit. The whole point was to get two things. 1. a hacky sack for Kentaro as his present for doing a good job in the English Speech. 2. A Halloween costume, because Halloween is tomorrow! I went to Toys'R'Us and saw a Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas for only 12 dollars but I decided I wanted to be something else. I really wanted to be a character from Naruto but I don't have any time left to make it.

Anyways, at AEON I found the hacky sack I wanted to buy so now I have all the presents for my English Speech students. I'll give it to them next time I go to Azuma. I also made a couple other purchases.

Since I've been playing Ultimate almost every weekend I finally bought cleats: Only 3900 Yen (39 dollars) and good quality Adidas cleats.

Next I bought an Engrish shirt (The first one I've ever bought) I couldn't pass them up because it was two for 1000 yen (10 dollars)

First we have "Looking for Love" I mean come on read it. And the pictures on it just make it even better.
And now you know why I had to title this blog post Looking for love haha.

Next we have On kendo hacker. Because not only do I cheat at kendo I hack it. Also I don't know if thats an OTL or an O and a weird N or Pi or what, either way it is amazing. Oh yeah and there's a dog too.So after my visit to AEON and the Outlets I stopped at work man where I found some interesting stuff. And ideas for a possible costume. I considered being either a Zombie Japanese Construction Worker (Because they dress like ninjas and just generally look like badasses) Or just a ninja haha.
So yeah I think I'm going with the Japanese Construction worker. Its too cool to pass up lol. I can buy everything at workman too for relatively cheap.

Here's a whole article about construction man fashion lol http://pingmag.jp/2006/01/18/construction-worker-fashion/

Shinjuku and Monday Night Enkai

Lately I’ve been tired a lot. I need to start getting some more sleep or something. Also I’ve felt pretty lazy about updating a lot but I’m going to try to make sure I at least update once a week. This one will be long because a lot has happened over the past 3 days.

This past weekend I went to Tokyo again. This time I went with a lot of people. I went with Matt, his Girlfriend, Oliver, Adrian, Kristine, Graham, Becky, and Em (who I just met). The plan was to go to Shinjuku - check into our hostel, eat at a crazy restaurant and go clubbing.

I met with Matt at the station where most people were supposed to meet but it turns out it was just Matt and me. Everyone else had gone to Tokyo earlier than Matt planned. We met Adrian after connecting to Oyama. We had to get off the train and wait for a later one to meet with Adrian. While waiting I got some ice cream, and felt adventurous so I got Green tea with Black Honey flavor. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great.

Once we got to Tokyo we checked in and then we made our way to Shibuya which is where the restaurant was. The restaurant’s theme was a prison hospital. It was called Alcatraz ER. Cool theme but very wacky. The food was ok, but of course pricey because it was a themed restaurant. All the waiters and waitresses are dressed as doctors/surgeons and nurses. Mid meal the alarm went off and these people dressed as loonies came out. They had masks on and were going nuts. One came into our room (cell) and hit me in the head with a blow up hammer haha. It was pretty fun, and good for at least the experience.

After finishing at the restaurant we went toward the bus stop that was supposed to take us to Ageha (the biggest club in Tokyo). Once we finally found it, Kristine had realized she didn’t have her ID which you need to get onto the bus that takes you to Ageha. So we weren’t going to leave her so we decided instead to go to Shinjuku Ni-Chome.

Unfortunately for me Ni-Chome is the gay district of Tokyo. Arty Farty is the bar/club we went to. I’ve been there before and last time I went there it was a lot of fun, but I think that’s because of the group I went with. This time wasn’t so much fun because it was so crowded and I wasn’t in the mood to try and find space on the dance floor. I’m not homophobic, and honestly even if it was a straight bar and it was that crowded I wouldn’t have liked it. I would of much rather gone to Ageha because I think it would have been more fun, and I know for a fact there would have been more space lol, but its ok I still had a decent time.

After Arty we wandered around and stopped in another bar, then ended up at a Curry Place, where we ate and some of us slept.

From there we took taxis back to the hostel which had a weird curfew of 2:00 -4:30am. We got back at like 4:00 but couldn’t get back in until 4:30, so we waited outside. Here's a picture of my "room" its a capsule hostel.

The next day we woke up, showered and headed for Harajuku for some shopping. On the way we passed by Akasaka - it threw me into a jumble of emotions because I haven't been back there since I've been in Japan. I miss those days so much.

In Harajuku there was a Halloween festival there. We split up and some of us got brunch and the others got all you can eat (which here is called Viking) at a place called Shakey’s. I ended up choosing the pizza because there aren’t many chances for all you can eat pizza in Japan haha. The price was cheap too, and they had other stuff like salads, fruit, curry, and pasta – definitely worth it.

I found Luke's best Japanese Friend.

While in Harajuku I bought the toy called Mugen Edamame which means Endless (Infinity) Edamame (Soy bean). Basically it’s a retarded toy that mimics a Soy bean and you can pop the beans out over and over again. Why Japanese people love this I have no idea, but because its so ridiculous I bought it. I also decided to buy a Naruto Shirt because I don’t really ever treat myself to anything and I felt like doing it. I think soon I’m going to buy a DS (with a Kanji Dictionary game) or an Electronic Dictionary, because it would make life so much easier. The thing is I want to do some research first because they run about 200 dollars.

I get paid again on the 10^th next month which is pretty soon and I haven’t spent much of my first pay check. The next paycheck is supposed to be a bit more than the first because of all the expenses they took out, which is good. I still wish I got paid as much as the JETs (another English teaching program). I think they get roughly 700 more dollars per month than us which really can add up.

Yesterday I taught at Funatsugawa (the smallest elementary in Sano). It was pretty fun, I made a mask with the 3^rd/4^th graders (more of a hat) but I liked the way it came out hah. Last night (Monday night) I was invited by the Principal to come drinking with him and the 5^th/6^th grade teacher Mr. Yamaguchi. It was crazy. We ate, drank, and talked we pretty much talked the entire time in Japanese for 3 hours. After some time had passed the Principal got pretty drunk and started giving me the close talk and I’ve only known him for 2 months and I’ve only been to Funatsugawa maybe 4 or 5 times.

We talked about why I came to Japan, about our lives, if they had kids, what my interests were, about the kids at Funatsugawa, if I liked my job as an ALT, and so on. He said that since Funatsugawa is so small everyone there is like family. He said he hopes all of his students at Funatsugawa’s dreams come true. I agreed and said that they should always do their best and if they do they will achieve their dreams. He said he hoped my dreams come true too. He also said I should marry a Japanese woman and live in Sano haha. They even said a couple jokes that I actually understood. After it all, the Principal treated me, which was super kind of him, because we ate a ton.

I was surprised at how much sake they could drink, they were pros. It was a Monday night and I only drank a few beers but they were pounding the Sake. I asked if they ever get hangovers and the principal said no we’re both veterans haha. The principal also tried to tell me a story about how drinking sake alone is the best. I don’t know if it was his opinion or if it was because of a poem or Japanese people in general feel that way. From what I understood he was saying just being alone hearing the crickets chirp on an autumn night and reflecting on your thoughts sometimes is good (or the best). Apparently it is romantic or cool for guys to be alone drinking sake? Seems a little weird but I think it’s a cultural thing.

Since I told him I want to learn about Japanese culture he was trying to teach me stuff. He also wanted me to eat this paper sheet of fish, but I definitely wasn’t drunk enough to try it. I just didn’t want to gag or something if I ate it because that’d be rude Hahah.

It was a really good experience and I really wish I would have remembered to take pictures. I brought my camera but forgot to take pics and regret that. Next time I go out with them I won’t forget.

Today I’m going to Azuma to give the gifts to my students who participated in the English Speech contest. I hope they like everything.

It’s finally starting to get cold here and it’s almost November. The mornings and nights are chilly but it’s hot during the day. I wonder when I’ll have to turn my heat on?

Speech Contest

This week has gone pretty fast. On Monday and Tuesday I taught at Tenmyo. It was relatively easy, basic lessons, nothing crazy. On Wednesday I taught at Azuma Elementary. All the 2^nd graders insisted on getting my signature again. I taught 2^nd-6^th Grade. In both 5^th and 6^th we played a game called Fruits Basket but it was “Halloween Edition”. I play this game at a lot of my schools so I think it deserves to be written about…

What fruits basket is if you don’t know: It’s a game where the students get their chairs in a circle and there is 1 less chair than number of people – kind of like musical chairs. Each student is assigned or picks a fruit (or whatever options there are depending on the category). It starts with there being one person in the middle of the circle of chairs. They are known as the ‘Oni’ (Demon). That person says a fruit (or item in the category of choice) and everyone that chose or was assigned that fruit must get up and find a new seat. In our case the words were ghost, bat, witch, jack-o-lantern, Frankenstein, mummy and skeleton. There is also a key word that can be said where everyone must find a new seat, usually it’s fruit basket but since we played a Halloween edition the key word was Happy Halloween (if said everyone had to get up and find a new seat). The person left without a seat is the new Oni. This continues until the teacher decides the game is over or time runs out.

It’s a really fun game and the kids love it. Whenever teachers get stuck in the middle the kids go crazy. When I’m the Oni I usually new a few items so more kids have to find new seats and they have to listen better.

Yesterday my Junior High School Azuma had its English Speech contest. Kids from every school in Sano met at this community center for the contest. After teaching at Azuma Elementary, 3 Azuma Junior High students came over to practice their English speeches with me. We practiced for about 2 hours. I had to help with their pronunciation, they almost all had the same common mistakes. It was pretty interesting and I took some pictures and videos. I wish I was able to post pics of the kids and stuff of it but apparently I can lose my job if I post pics.

My kids didn't win -- they didn't get 1st 2nd or 3rd but I thought they did well. My first year student Kentaro (7th grade) did well with no mistakes. My 2nd and 3rd grade students Momoko and Hiraku had some mistakes. Afterwards they cried, I felt really bad and they if I would of practiced more with them they would have done better but no one every asked me to help them out. i wish I would of in hindsight but can't change it now. After the speeches we had a long lunch break and Robb brought a hacky sack. We played that during the lunch break and after the kids watched for a while I made them play haha. They all looked interested but Japanese kids are just shy. So I brought the students from my school into the circle then other students started joining lol. Hacky sack is a good ice breaker haha.

After the results the contest was over. We went for ice cream to help cheer the kids up. I asked them what their favorite things were because I'm going to do something special for each of them. Momoko likes Naruto so I'm going to draw her favorite character for her and give it to her. Hiraku likes this band called News so I'm going to burn her a News CD. Kentaro likes DS, so I haven't decided what to do for him yet.

Friday (today) I taught at Ueno. The lunch was actually good today - it was dry curry beef (like taco meat basically) with pita bread. Whats funny is bread here is Pan - so it was Pita Pan when the kids said that I laughed. We also had some veggie soup and cheezy bread.

I talked with Matsumoto sensei about Ito sensei and we agreed he is a little weird and a little loud. He also wears his pants very high. We had a really good laugh about it, like falling over laughing – until he came back in the room. Then other teachers asked about it – we referred to Ito sensei as “He” and all I had to do was pull my pants up and they guessed correctly hahaha. I also gave Arai sensei my contact info and told him lets go bowling together sometime in Japanese lol. So hopefully he emails me or calls me and we go!

This weekend I'm headed to Tokyo (possible shinjuku ni chome) and Ageha! EXCITEMENT!