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/

First Month A Success!

September is over and so is my first month of teaching English here in Japan. I must say the wait was much worse than the actual job. The job is actually really fun and easy. I experienced a lot of stress before getting here, having to get all my documents in order, rushing here and there, getting my visa the day before my flight, thinking about how much I'd miss my family and friends, and hoping I could afford it all. Luckily my family supported me throughout the whole ordeal and without them I wouldn’t be here today. I’m very grateful for all of their support. I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive family. Then, once I got here there was even more stress because of how my body was reacting, and how I had such a hard time adapting to the food here, but now all of that is alleviated. I’ve adapted to the food and now and I have no problems.

I really enjoy teaching, I’d say probably more than I expected. Being around kids all day is a lot of fun, but definitely tiring. I think I’m much more tired when I’m not teaching than when I’m in the classroom. I only ever feel tired right after lunch and recess when I’m in the staff room sitting there being bored. I thought that this job would be a lot more fun than any office job I’d land in the states (at least right after college) and my experience so far confirms it. On a side note the 1^st and 2^nd graders here are overwhelmingly cute.

It can sometimes be difficult to talk or work with some of the teachers here because they don’t know any English and my Japanese isn’t strong enough to bridge that gap just yet. Somehow through body language and other various ways I’m almost always able to communicate what needs to be done. Thankfully I haven’t had any serious problems at all with the teachers. I think pretty much everyone at my schools likes me. There hasn’t really been any one time where there has been a total failure to communicate. I was expecting to hang out more with the teachers but because they are so busy and with the whole language gap it is a bit difficult.

I feel healthy and I am getting a lot of exercise. I bike to school everyday and am very energetic in the classroom. I think the kids love the energy. I'm still working on making a catch phrase that I want all the kids saying by the end of the year haha. I also take every chance I can to go play games at recess. The kids always fight over me because some want me to jump rope, want me to play soccer, and some want me to play dodge ball. I try to do a little of each everyday. On the weekends I’ve been trying to stay active as well. I bought a tennis racket and plan on playing this weekend. Last weekend I went to my prefectures capital (like a state capital) about an hour train ride away and played Ultimate Frisbee. I made a bunch of new of new friends there. Last weekend after practice they invited me to come out drinking with them but I already had plans, maybe this weekend I’ll go with them haha.

I think that my life here can only get better as time goes on. So far that’s been the trend and I think its going to continue. I believe this because I’m going to get to know Sano better (find all the awesome little niche places), I’m going to keep making new friends (in addition to the ALTs make Japanese friends), and I’m going to continue to improve my Japanese (so I know what the hell I’m buying/eating/using ect.).

Soon I think there are free Japanese language classes in Ashikaga, a close by city. I want to go when they start so I can continue to learn. Self study is good, and I’m learning but not at a fast enough pace. I think being in a class of some kind might facilitate faster learning because there is someone pushing you to learn.

My ALT friends and I have decided to make Wednesday nights “closet movie night”. Where we watch a movie that is supposed to be bad but we all secretly like. Last Wednesday we watched Mean Girls, which I thought was well written hah. Next Wednesday I think it’s Snakes on a Plane, which I still haven’t seen but want to.

Life is good.

This week I taught at Tenmyo and Ueno, all easy and fun. I'm starting to teach about Halloween the kids seem pretty interested, but the teachers almost seem more interested than the kids haha. I want to dress up and go to class, if they let me I totally will.