Tuesday (13th):
After work my JTE( one of the two new Japanese Teachers of English I work with) and I left work to Mikaiji Elementary school for our monthly regular meeting. The meeting in general was useless and basically going over things we are had heard about or to try new procedures of teaching that we more than likely wont employ on our students in the classroom. We met our new supervisor as well and though he seems like a SUPER nice guy he can’t speak a lick of English while our former supervisors’ English was fantastic. Nevertheless the meeting finished and I had enough time to get home, change and go to Momo bar where we had the welcome/farewell enkai with JTEs, ALTs and Board of Education members.
This was indeed an interesting night. I managed to set myself between the now former and current supervisor and when I offered to move my former supervisor said it was ok to stay where I was. It was also my first time to have an party of sorts with both my new JTEs. Y-san gets adorably cute when she is drunk, and she liked to nuzzle her face into my side. She is made of adorable and also a fun teacher to work with. It indeed lucked out on having the opportunity to work with her. My male (25year old) JTE was also there, and wanted to go one on one with me for shots. Both I, O-san (25 year old and his name for further notice), Bandou, and a few other JTEs also managed to get on the topic of fetishes and porn, and O-san decided that it would be a good idea to bring it up with our former supervisor when he walked over to talk with our side of the table. Not to long before that though my former supervisor spoke with me about how he wanted me to continue teaching and help introducing western culture to those around me. He also proceeded to tell me that all of us Kurobe Jets were hand picked under other requirements then the rest of our Ken and said that I was indeed the most special. This backs my theory up that my supervisor had some subconscious crush on me. It’s interesting. Nevertheless as you can see the rest of the night was history, good times and no hangovers the next morning cause I’m a G.
**FAST FORWARD**
Friday 16th:
So today was Regional meeting time. Left work around 12:30pm and meet up with Lawrence to follow him to the Uozu center where the meeting was held. The meeting was long but more informative then normal, I also ran for regional representative but Marissa won over me. I am not to hurt by it simply because it leaves me free to do something else. I’ve debated about social representative but we shall see. After the meeting we had another short meeting talking about personal grievances we are having within the school system and hopefully that will start a chain of action. When that was over we were off to dinner at some Italian place (did not enjoy the food), over to the kombini for snacks and then three hours of karaoke. Amazingly I sung alone perhaps twice. I feel I’m starting to loose my voice, not so much from illness, but it’s been hard to sing up to my usual volume, range as of late. I wonder why this is. Then home I went with Tiffany. She ended up crashing at my house since she missed her train.
Saturday 17th:
AJet Prom started at 6:00pm that night so I spent most of the morning cleaning my apartment after Tiffany left to prepare for everyone one who was staying the night because of Kurobes’ lack of late trains. I got dressed with what I already had and went to the train station to pick up Faye. We ended up waiting around for twenty minutes (ate a bento in the mean while ^^) for Nicole and Ryan to come because their train was late. Once I had everyone we went back to my apartment and they finished getting ready. Faye got a small Anita make over as well. It was quite funny. We however didn’t make it to the prom till around seven but thankfully the party itself hadn’t really gotten off the ground. So for the remainder of the night it was picture taking galore since everyone was in 007 theme (which was essentially formal wear) or something short and spy like. Several ppl had fake guns. It was cute. The music got better at the end as well and a lot of us danced. All in All it was a really good time. The prom itself wasn’t the end of the night. Since the dance ended at 10:30 about twenty of us piled into cars and taxis and made our way back to Momo bar. There we stayed a few more hours, had some laughs, alcohol and good times. I saw many people I see rarely and Tiffany bought all my drinks. I think it was simply because I let her crash at my house twice in a row, but even still that was super nice of her. It was a good night, and I was suuper glad to see those who stayed over night at my house.
Sunday 18th:
The morning started super early. I wanted to sleep in for a while but some are early risers and thus woke the rest of us up. I resigned to my fate and we all dressed, and went out the door. We decided to catch lunch in Toyama, and the only reason why I agreed to go was for the sole purpose of play rehearsal that afternoon. At lunch we or at least I ate entirely too much but it was all very tasty. When the meal was over I said goodbye to everyone and to play rehearsal I went. Other then not being able to work on my song the rehearsal went well, and I simply just need to learn my lines by next Sunday (its already Tuesday >.<). FINALLY I WENT HOME… and then spent an absurd amount of hours (stopped at 5am) finishing the Sengoku Basara anime series even though I had work at 8:30 the next morning! It was totally worth it!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Long Week Post Long Vacation:
( Vietnam Vacation Post in the works)
The day I arrived back in Japan (April 5th) I went to work two hours after walking in my door. This was the first time I met my new JTE. A twenty five year old guy who is possibly one of the most non Japanese, Japanese people I have ever met. After work was over I managed to drag myself to Eikawa later on that night. It was a feat let me just say.
Wednesday the 7th I had my second ever play rehearsal and it was simply to receive my song and go over it the first time. I need a little work on the timing and on a few spots here and there with the Japanese pronunciation but overall I think I can get the song learned by the 18th. Thankfully the practice ended early and I went home afterwards.
The following day (8th) after work I went with Lawrence to a small Italian place for dinner. It was nice because he invited my out to chill and that really hasn’t happened even though we’ve been neighbors for eight months now. Even though I was spending money I didn’t have I had a good time. The food was great and the company is always nice. The more I talk to / hang with that boy it never ceases to amaze me how talented he is. Makes me want to raise up my awesome status bar. In fact just being here with all the talented people I’ve had the pleasure to meet here in Toyama has made me want to up my game in all areas of life. It’s nice to say I have finally got that push to reach further. Perhaps it’s simply because I don’t like to be average in a group of anything. I always prefer being on the higher end, and I think in truth that’s something everyone wants/or tries to strive for.
Friday the 9th was the beginning of quite a FULL weekend. Instead of perhaps staying home and saving money (and getting sleep) I dressed and made my way to Toyama to meet her and her friends who came from Canada to visit. We ended up going to Gohei (who’s food is great, but service is a bit slow). It was a nice time to just talk with people. Got to chill more with Jarred who is a very cool guy, and Sal who I had an great time with on my Vietnam vacation. Once we left Gohei we went to Karaoke for an hour then wondered around until we found ourselves wasting away time in a bar. Overall the night wasn’t to intense and yet it still ended up being a long one.
Saturday (10th) was a day that started far slower than I had/would have wanted. I lounged around at Vans until late in the afternoon which landed us at Hanami around 4pm. I had hoped to be at Hanami by noon. Kojo Koen Park in Takaoka was very pretty, and just as promised half the kens Jets were there and the Sakura was in full bloom. While I was here I just roamed around and mingled with people. There was some epic picture taking as well which included a Asian against brown people fight along with boys being piggy backed by girls. We all sung along to songs played by Lawrence on ukulele and Chris on guitar. Many Japanese people walked over to watch us. Leave it to foreigners to make a scene and get everyone involved! Yay us!, and leave it to Hanami for letting me see/hang with people I never see, Yay! *snuggles Nicole and Ryan* Around 8pm I left out with Nicole, Ryan, and Debbie to Hilda’s so we could get ready to head back to Toyama and over to Banana Pop for Hilda’s birthday. Hilda let me borrow a shirt of hers to wear, but since there were no late night trains N&R decided not to come out with us. After saying bye to them we (being Hilda, her two friends, and myself) went to the station where we all decided to get Mc Donald’s. Ironically enough nearly twenty of our friends who we had just left at Hanami found themselves in Mc Donald’s with us. It’s apparent that when people are drunk/tipsy they want heavy food. Seeing as we had a little over half an hour before the train we all sat down to eat only to take a mad dash to the right train platform hamburgers and all so we could catch our respective trains. I also found out that Michael a fairly serious and calm individual is CRAZY ( in a good way) when drunk. We all got to Banana Pop but not without talking about the logistics of Thanksgiving and the wonders of southern food. Once at Banana Pop I saw Marianna, Wagner, Nobuki and his wife. They are always a pleasure to be around and I also met a guy names Mark who is a really good painter. It’s too bad that I met him so late as he left back to his home country a few days ago. It was an overall decent time, and nothing overly spectacular. It was nice to be with others. Then after a few hours of this we tiredly made our way to Vans to crash for the night.
Sunday (11th):
SO after I made several trips back and forth from Kurobe to Toyama picking up things I forgot in the first place I went to rehearsal at CIC and had a makeup run. It was overall a bit stressful but now that I’ve done it we have divvied out jobs and I also know what I plan on doing. It’s far easier to know what I am going to be doing for the actors and far less time consuming as well. Once this was over me and Saiyuri went to Uozu for Indira ( yay! Indian food!) It was nice having dinner with her. She really is a sweet girl. A bit crazy and gaijin loving, but a friend nonetheless. With dinner I was aiming for my bed, the weekend was indeed long and crazy! However I was masochistic enough to go watch Saiyuri, Adam, Brian, Brett, and Nana bowl for two hours. THEN I went home! O.o
Sorry the last bit of this was rushed. I’ve been falling behind with my posts, and on top of that I’m nearly ready to pass the hell out from tiredness as I type.
The day I arrived back in Japan (April 5th) I went to work two hours after walking in my door. This was the first time I met my new JTE. A twenty five year old guy who is possibly one of the most non Japanese, Japanese people I have ever met. After work was over I managed to drag myself to Eikawa later on that night. It was a feat let me just say.
Wednesday the 7th I had my second ever play rehearsal and it was simply to receive my song and go over it the first time. I need a little work on the timing and on a few spots here and there with the Japanese pronunciation but overall I think I can get the song learned by the 18th. Thankfully the practice ended early and I went home afterwards.
The following day (8th) after work I went with Lawrence to a small Italian place for dinner. It was nice because he invited my out to chill and that really hasn’t happened even though we’ve been neighbors for eight months now. Even though I was spending money I didn’t have I had a good time. The food was great and the company is always nice. The more I talk to / hang with that boy it never ceases to amaze me how talented he is. Makes me want to raise up my awesome status bar. In fact just being here with all the talented people I’ve had the pleasure to meet here in Toyama has made me want to up my game in all areas of life. It’s nice to say I have finally got that push to reach further. Perhaps it’s simply because I don’t like to be average in a group of anything. I always prefer being on the higher end, and I think in truth that’s something everyone wants/or tries to strive for.
Friday the 9th was the beginning of quite a FULL weekend. Instead of perhaps staying home and saving money (and getting sleep) I dressed and made my way to Toyama to meet her and her friends who came from Canada to visit. We ended up going to Gohei (who’s food is great, but service is a bit slow). It was a nice time to just talk with people. Got to chill more with Jarred who is a very cool guy, and Sal who I had an great time with on my Vietnam vacation. Once we left Gohei we went to Karaoke for an hour then wondered around until we found ourselves wasting away time in a bar. Overall the night wasn’t to intense and yet it still ended up being a long one.
Saturday (10th) was a day that started far slower than I had/would have wanted. I lounged around at Vans until late in the afternoon which landed us at Hanami around 4pm. I had hoped to be at Hanami by noon. Kojo Koen Park in Takaoka was very pretty, and just as promised half the kens Jets were there and the Sakura was in full bloom. While I was here I just roamed around and mingled with people. There was some epic picture taking as well which included a Asian against brown people fight along with boys being piggy backed by girls. We all sung along to songs played by Lawrence on ukulele and Chris on guitar. Many Japanese people walked over to watch us. Leave it to foreigners to make a scene and get everyone involved! Yay us!, and leave it to Hanami for letting me see/hang with people I never see, Yay! *snuggles Nicole and Ryan* Around 8pm I left out with Nicole, Ryan, and Debbie to Hilda’s so we could get ready to head back to Toyama and over to Banana Pop for Hilda’s birthday. Hilda let me borrow a shirt of hers to wear, but since there were no late night trains N&R decided not to come out with us. After saying bye to them we (being Hilda, her two friends, and myself) went to the station where we all decided to get Mc Donald’s. Ironically enough nearly twenty of our friends who we had just left at Hanami found themselves in Mc Donald’s with us. It’s apparent that when people are drunk/tipsy they want heavy food. Seeing as we had a little over half an hour before the train we all sat down to eat only to take a mad dash to the right train platform hamburgers and all so we could catch our respective trains. I also found out that Michael a fairly serious and calm individual is CRAZY ( in a good way) when drunk. We all got to Banana Pop but not without talking about the logistics of Thanksgiving and the wonders of southern food. Once at Banana Pop I saw Marianna, Wagner, Nobuki and his wife. They are always a pleasure to be around and I also met a guy names Mark who is a really good painter. It’s too bad that I met him so late as he left back to his home country a few days ago. It was an overall decent time, and nothing overly spectacular. It was nice to be with others. Then after a few hours of this we tiredly made our way to Vans to crash for the night.
Sunday (11th):
SO after I made several trips back and forth from Kurobe to Toyama picking up things I forgot in the first place I went to rehearsal at CIC and had a makeup run. It was overall a bit stressful but now that I’ve done it we have divvied out jobs and I also know what I plan on doing. It’s far easier to know what I am going to be doing for the actors and far less time consuming as well. Once this was over me and Saiyuri went to Uozu for Indira ( yay! Indian food!) It was nice having dinner with her. She really is a sweet girl. A bit crazy and gaijin loving, but a friend nonetheless. With dinner I was aiming for my bed, the weekend was indeed long and crazy! However I was masochistic enough to go watch Saiyuri, Adam, Brian, Brett, and Nana bowl for two hours. THEN I went home! O.o
Sorry the last bit of this was rushed. I’ve been falling behind with my posts, and on top of that I’m nearly ready to pass the hell out from tiredness as I type.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Sumo Weekend! March 20-22nd
Saturday 20th:
SOOOOO SUMO TIME!!!! Waking up on a Saturday morning at 7am is a horrible thing, but well worth it as I met up with the others in front of Toyama station to check in and pay money for the tickets and rental cars. It was also the first morning in what it seems like eternity that we were able to enjoy a sunny and cloud free day. It was a wonderful feeling to have the sun beam down on us as we embarked on our journey to Osaka! The car ride was interesting, full of good music, conversation and random bouts of sleep. However we ended up hitting a traffic jam and what would have been a four or five hour trip turned into an eight hour adventure (as we did get lost once). Nevertheless we arrived in Osaka, checked in our hostel, and ventured out for some energy replacement. The group decided on this all you can eat pizza place a few blocks from our hostel. It ended up being a magnificent choice since we managed to get buffet style food ( not just pizza; chicken, salad, sweets, fruits, etc…) and an hour nomihodai all for around $16 bucks or \ 1500 yen. After stuffing ourselves, good conversation, and bathroom breaks Ryan, Nicole, Laruel, Alexis, Revan, and I went for some Baskin Robins (where we saw a all girl group dressed in wild electric/neon colors. I assume they were a roller derby team! LAWL), and then went to an appliance store to shop around. I ended up purchasing a deck of “KiKi’s Delivery Service” playing cards, and a Final Fantasy XIII figurine ( I currently have 4 out of 6 now). With money successfully spent on something OTHER than food the group went over to the Karaoke place next door and sang it up for three hours. My love Nicole can truly sing and we sound pretty good together. If I go out for the charity show/play next year I hope she auditions. It would be awesome to hit the stage with her!
Sunday 21st:
The day of the SUMO. Another early morning for us we marched down the streets of Osaka at eight in the morning to watch the Sumo matches held in the arena a few blocks from out hostel. Although there were around fourteen people total on this Sumo Trip the same group I hung out with the night before was the same group I traveled with to Sumo. Once we were seated that was it! We managed to be at the Sumo tournament from 8:30am to 4:00pm. I wouldn’t have guessed that I would enjoy sumo as much as I did. I can truly understand why the Japanese love it so (though it leads me to think about the irony in it all. For a country that can stand the idea of an over weight person to have a sport that basis is on being a rather large person both in muscle and in weight… it makes me just shake my head. Japan will make sense one day haha ). The only break from watching the matches (8:30am-2:00pm preliminary matches) was a quick trip to the local Mc Donald’s for lunch ( in which I lost my ticket getting snacks from the konbini on the way back and had to ask to be let back in! Thankfully being black had its advantages since I was like the only one there so he HAD to remember me! Hahaha ) The major sumo players came out around 2:30pm and they were wearing their special garbs and went through a few ceremonies before it began. These matches included the Yokozunas! (Which nostalgically brings me back to the first time I played Tekken) When Sumo was finally over the group simply walked around Osaka and I watched them play some games in the arcade. This one particular game that flips tables for points is something I know Tocky would LOVE. When I have a chance I will upload the video for viewing. The night ended finally with Alexis and I going to Toho Cinemas to watch Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” movie. We both quite enjoyed it! I felt like I owed that movie a theater watching (cause otherwise torrents go!). Disney has been around for a hot minute and we are just now getting a black princess. Yay! for progress ^^.
Sunday 22nd:
The entire group went to breakfast together and then hopped in our respective cars for the trip home. The trip home was relatively shorter then the trip going to Osaka and I managed to catch an hour or two of sleep in the process. When I got back to Toyama I ate some foods at Vans house, said my goodbyes and caught the train home!
SOOOOO SUMO TIME!!!! Waking up on a Saturday morning at 7am is a horrible thing, but well worth it as I met up with the others in front of Toyama station to check in and pay money for the tickets and rental cars. It was also the first morning in what it seems like eternity that we were able to enjoy a sunny and cloud free day. It was a wonderful feeling to have the sun beam down on us as we embarked on our journey to Osaka! The car ride was interesting, full of good music, conversation and random bouts of sleep. However we ended up hitting a traffic jam and what would have been a four or five hour trip turned into an eight hour adventure (as we did get lost once). Nevertheless we arrived in Osaka, checked in our hostel, and ventured out for some energy replacement. The group decided on this all you can eat pizza place a few blocks from our hostel. It ended up being a magnificent choice since we managed to get buffet style food ( not just pizza; chicken, salad, sweets, fruits, etc…) and an hour nomihodai all for around $16 bucks or \ 1500 yen. After stuffing ourselves, good conversation, and bathroom breaks Ryan, Nicole, Laruel, Alexis, Revan, and I went for some Baskin Robins (where we saw a all girl group dressed in wild electric/neon colors. I assume they were a roller derby team! LAWL), and then went to an appliance store to shop around. I ended up purchasing a deck of “KiKi’s Delivery Service” playing cards, and a Final Fantasy XIII figurine ( I currently have 4 out of 6 now). With money successfully spent on something OTHER than food the group went over to the Karaoke place next door and sang it up for three hours. My love Nicole can truly sing and we sound pretty good together. If I go out for the charity show/play next year I hope she auditions. It would be awesome to hit the stage with her!
Sunday 21st:
The day of the SUMO. Another early morning for us we marched down the streets of Osaka at eight in the morning to watch the Sumo matches held in the arena a few blocks from out hostel. Although there were around fourteen people total on this Sumo Trip the same group I hung out with the night before was the same group I traveled with to Sumo. Once we were seated that was it! We managed to be at the Sumo tournament from 8:30am to 4:00pm. I wouldn’t have guessed that I would enjoy sumo as much as I did. I can truly understand why the Japanese love it so (though it leads me to think about the irony in it all. For a country that can stand the idea of an over weight person to have a sport that basis is on being a rather large person both in muscle and in weight… it makes me just shake my head. Japan will make sense one day haha ). The only break from watching the matches (8:30am-2:00pm preliminary matches) was a quick trip to the local Mc Donald’s for lunch ( in which I lost my ticket getting snacks from the konbini on the way back and had to ask to be let back in! Thankfully being black had its advantages since I was like the only one there so he HAD to remember me! Hahaha ) The major sumo players came out around 2:30pm and they were wearing their special garbs and went through a few ceremonies before it began. These matches included the Yokozunas! (Which nostalgically brings me back to the first time I played Tekken) When Sumo was finally over the group simply walked around Osaka and I watched them play some games in the arcade. This one particular game that flips tables for points is something I know Tocky would LOVE. When I have a chance I will upload the video for viewing. The night ended finally with Alexis and I going to Toho Cinemas to watch Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” movie. We both quite enjoyed it! I felt like I owed that movie a theater watching (cause otherwise torrents go!). Disney has been around for a hot minute and we are just now getting a black princess. Yay! for progress ^^.
Sunday 22nd:
The entire group went to breakfast together and then hopped in our respective cars for the trip home. The trip home was relatively shorter then the trip going to Osaka and I managed to catch an hour or two of sleep in the process. When I got back to Toyama I ate some foods at Vans house, said my goodbyes and caught the train home!
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