I had my first day at work today. Very strange and intense. I get 3 days of on the job training before I start a full teaching schedule. I had to teach a lesson today with 10 minutes to prepare a lesson plan, seriously felt like I was in the deep end there. My job is at a MultiMedia Centre and I teach lessons online through advanced video conferencing. The system features a white board to write language on and draw pictures, a typing board, pictures, listening, and flash cards. It is very hi-tech. So I had to learn all that fun stuff and the 7 lesson stages in an afternoon before testing it out on an unsuspecting student. Argh! Hopefully I’ll get better at my lesson planning, I teach two lessons tomorrow. Anyway, am so knackered, off to bed, night night folks.
Groceries & Bon Jovi November 27, 2006
Ok, shopping for groceries here in Japan is very interesting. First of all, I have no idea what most of the labels say, I can read the basic stuff, but that’s about it. Then there is all the yummy pre-made Japanese food. Going shopping when you’re really hungry here is a very bad idea. I came home with sashimi, shumai (shrimp dumplings), bbq pork bun (dim sum like thing) sandwich (japanese sandwiches are SO good), red bean paste sweets, pizza, and onigiri (rice ball filled with various stuffings covered with seaweed). While I was shopping there was this Japanese cover band playing Bon Jovi’s ‘you give love a bad name’ followed by Tina Turner’s ‘what’s love got to do with it’. It definitely made my morning. This is the grocery store near my apt building and they always play cheesy american music either covered by a japanese band or the keyboard instrumental version. It makes shopping super fun. I have to restrain myself from singing!
Multi-tasking and toilet seats November 25, 2006
Since I’ve been here, I’ve marvelled at Japanese efficiency. Today I saw a man smoking, texting, and holding an umbrella whilst riding a bike and avoiding pedestrians. Seriously. I struggle to do any of those things by themselves. I am very impressed. I have also had the joy of experiencing the heated toilet seat. When it’s cold outside and you need to use the toilet, the heated toilet seat is very handy. Not sure how environmentally friendly they are, but it keeps my buns toasty!
Yokoso! November 24, 2006
After much waiting and paperwork, I am finally in Osaka! The journey began on a Wednesday morning flight from Amsterdam to Osaka (note to fellow travellers: when travelling with a lot of luggage, flying out of Amsterdam can look very suspicious to immigration officials). I flew the lovely KLM, 80 movies on-demand makes the flight go by much faster, and they have a snack and drink bar that you can help yourself to during the flight – unlimited wine, ice cream and cup-a-noodle! Woohoo!
When I finally landed (11 hours later) everything was SO efficient. The luggage was out v quickly and going through immigration took 2 minutes. After a bus journey into the city of Osaka (the airport is on a man-made island in Osaka bay) I was able to stop by my office to pick my apartment keys. A short subway ride later and a five minute walk brought me to a huge apartment building, up the elevator I went to apartment 903. My flatmate was at work, but left me a lovely note and hand-drawn map of the area. My room is western-style (with a closet) a sofa, and a futon. The apartment is small but very nice. I definitely have much more closet room here than I ever did in London.
After cleaning up a bit I went out to get some take-out sushi, about 400 yen (3 quid), and returned home to wait for my luggage. They have this great luggage delivery system in Japan that almost everyone uses. At the airport you drop off your luggage and it gets delivered to your address in the evening. It was great to be able to travel to my apartment without the luggage hassle. After unpacking it was time for some much deserved rest on my new futon.
The Running of the Jew November 19, 2006
Ok, not seen Borat yet? Go, now! Seriously, v v v good. I cannot remember the last time I have laughed that hard and that much. I laughed from the opening scene to the end. There were tears streaming down my face at one point. I’ve talked to a few other folks that have seen the movie and it seems that how funny you find the film depends on how you feel about America. Americans find it funny, the French find it very funny and Americans that don’t like America find it the funniest . The gun shops, christian priests, gay pride parade, texas, frat boys, etc… I just don’t think the satire is as funny unless you’ve experienced it for real. After actually living the american life, to see it portrayed by people not even aware that it was supposed to be funny was just too hilarious…. There are no words… just go see it!
Margarita Mondays November 13, 2006
i was just thinking about when i lived in LA and we used to have margarita mondays. our local taqueria had pitchers of margaritas (mmm tequila) really cheap … those were good times. whatever happened to margarita monday? i’m determined to bring it back. that and tracksuit bottoms, so comfy. skinny jeans are not comfy, something has gone wrong somewhere along the way
Get out the vote November 7, 2006
Ok, so today pretty big day for US politics. Democrats look set to get some significant gains in Congress. I am cautiously optimistic. It would be amazing if the Democrats regained control of the House for the first time since 1994 (i think?, anyone know for sure?). It’ll be interesting to see how people vote. Because people say they hate Bush but they might hate the liberals and taxes even more and still vote Republican. This’ll certainly be a good indicator about how America is feeling now and how people might vote in 2008. Of course I expect my gov. to be re-elected (that’s the terminator to the rest of you folks). It’s weird that Arnie’s my political rep, least he could physically kick everyone else’s ass. Somehow that is comforting. Is that weird?
So on election day while Clinton and Bush are compaigning hard for their respective parties I gotta give respect to Cheney. Only he would spend election day hunting and not supporting his party. It’s also his first time hunting since shooting his friend in the neck. Maybe the republican party told him to stay out of the electioneering…
I just saw ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ a few weeks ago. I have to say that I really wanted to like it but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t. The film was allegedly about global warming and there was a little bit of that in there, but it just seemed like a huge vanity project of Al Gore’s. The film was split – half about global warming (it’s v bad and we’re all going to die) and half about Al Gore (please vote for me, I still want to be president). It really was just such Gore propaganda that I couldn’t believe all the good things I was hearing about the film. I mean there was the part where Al’s son gets hit by a car and his sister dies of lung cancer (i’ve been through bad things too voters). And then this weird bit about Al farming tobacco as a child. And then it seemed to suggest that good ol’Al has been trying to fight climate change single-handedly since the 1960’s. Which is pretty impressive considering he was also busy inventing the internet at this time. Seriously…
Alrighty folks, if you’re American go vote today, if not… well um, don’t
Hello world! November 2, 2006
Hello all and welcome to my spiffy new blog. I’m just about to move to Osaka to teach English and thought I’d set this up. I’m completely crap at keeping in touch with folks and I never could keep a diary when I was younger. Hopefully that won’t happen here! I hope you find my life amusing, I certainly like to laugh at it!
A reckoning November 9, 2006
Well it looks like Bush and the Republican party have paid a steep price for their mistakes in Iraq. The Democrats finally have control of the House of Representatives and likely the Senate. Hopefully there won’t be any nasty recounts, that’s just embarrassing. And Bush getting rid of Rumsfeld. I mean he officially ‘resigned’ but we all know that’s just code for being told to leave because his mistakes cost the regime control of Congress. The new speaker of the House, Polesi (i think that’s her name), is from my home town of SF. She’s really into energy issues and apparently is one tough cookie. Ah, makes me proud and cautiously optimistic. Been feeling a lot of that these days, cautiously optimistic. I just hope that the Democrats don’t screw up this chance for change. I’d really like to see them take on environmental issues and with Polesi as the speaker this may happen. Just please no recounts!