16 September 2007

on the bright side




first of all, i am not really worried about finding another job. i'm already looking and there is a lot out there. this might be just the opportunity to move to tokyo and party like a rock star!

so...here's what i've been up to.

on my first day exploring the city, i met eric (brandon's roomate) and yoshie (his girlfriend from nagoya). we ate the most delicious steaks and then wandered up to the nagoya television tower to watch the sunset. we could see the mountains in the distance and the sun setting over the misty mountains. as we climbed up to the observation tower, we heard an orchestra playing across the street. now the "building" they were in is almost impossible to describe in words. it's like a huge oval pool has been removed from the ground and moved up 10 stories. the open area that remains below the pool is a shopping center. this night, they had an orchestra playing for free there on a weekday. i love this place.

the following day, while looking for posters, we wandered back to the tower and saw little cartoons walking around. my favorite, koran-chan was a bouncy ball that wiggled and jumped when you say "konichiwa!"

after an intense week of training and karaoke knee banging, i was off again to enjoy myself on days off. though it was raining and misty, i went to nagoya castle with brandon, eric and yoshie.




we watched a 3D tour of the castle as it was and observed the skyline of nagoya from the top of the castle.


after that, we walked through the underground mall to avoid the rain until we met some of my friends from training for yakatori: traditional japanese grill. we ate shitake mushrooms, shrimp, chicken and other delicious foods tapas style and drank their local drink: a strong, whisky-like drink that you mix with an apricot. we would call out, "sumimasen!" when we needed something and the whole staff would shout, "hai!" and someone would scurry over. they proudly steered us toward their delicacies, including grilled fish fin, which is suprisingly meaty and tasty, and the osaka version of a traditional liquor. after that, we all walked through the rain to a driving range and played golf.



it was pouring rain when we left and made our way back to kanayama on the last train. not wanting to go home, we solicited a crew of young japanese and then went to joy joy, the 24 hour karaoke bar right by my house. we got a private booth and sang our hearts out for the rest of the night.



the next day, i went exploring with my friend aaron for awhile before going to lunch. my plan was to go to osu to find a bike, but i ended up window shopping and exploring a buddhist shrine in the area.

it's strange- there are shrines everywhere here. sometimes they take you by surprise. i didn't find a bike, but we did enjoy a nice walk around the city. i found the orchid gardens, which will open later this year, and then the robot museum, where we played and assembled robots like huge nerds!


i closed the evening back at the futuristic fountain, watching the sun set over nagoya.

as we left, we saw a hip hop showcase in the shopping center with 2 breakdancers, a guy rapping to a human beat box and live painting. my city constantly takes me by suprise. i figure, if i can love it when it's typhoon season, i'm all set here in japan.

15 September 2007

tits up, as mark says

well, good news for people who love bad news...
it seems that my little honeymoon has been short lived because shortly after moving into my new room, it's come to my attention that nova might be going bankrupt. the teachers haven't been paid this month and, though they have been promised to be paid by this tuesday, a lot of them are leaving. teachers aren't insured against unemployment and the company pays off creditors and japanese employees first, so it looks pretty gnarly right now. i had a bit of an inkling that this might happen (thanks dan), so i've been braced since i got here, but i'm officially on the market for a new job.

i have an interview with a private tutoring company on monday and i'm going to start applying for other jobs online. i'd be fine with leaving nagoya, but i like it here. it's really beautful and the people are nice, yet it's still a big city.

for those of you that love to worry, DON'T.
i have plenty a back up plan and i'm actually having a blast not knowing exactly what is going on. it's very unlike me, but cool.

10 September 2007

first impressions


So I’ve been living in Japan for almost two weeks now and I’m starting to feel like I’m settling down. It’s been a whirlwind of alien registration, opening bank accounts, training and figuring out trains. When I arrived in Kanayama (my neighborhood) and saw my room, my first thought was, “I can’t do this”. It was two strides wide and across and had no working closet. I was so frustrated because after living out of my suitcases for almost 3 months, I couldn’t spread out and put my things in the right place. I was cramped and hot in the Japanese humidity, where I felt that I was trapped in a dense cloud of overcast. My roommates, Christy and Sandy, were really sweet to me but both of them were about to leave so they weren’t going to become tight friends.

The company also had me train with 3 people in a city about 30 minutes away, which is a huge commute from where I work. It was really cool to see how another branch would be, though I thought it was really disorganized to have me train and make friends with people that I will have a really hard time hanging out with. The boys in my training class were fun though. We spent most of our time making fun of our trainer and nicknaming him Gifford. Our last night of training, Gifford took us for drinks and we sang karaoke. This time I made it a point not to fall and hurt my knee. (For those that don’t know, that’s another story).


I am really lucky to have my friend, Brandon, here. Not that I haven’t met a lot of other teachers and enjoyed meeting some Japanese people, but it’s important to have someone you know, who shares your values watching your back. After training, we spent our day off wandering around Nagoya and found a store called Toyku Hands that sold only cartoon paraphernalia. I’ve never seen so many pencils, stickers, notebooks, towels and cell phone bling in one place. I must have wandered around that store for an hour wondering how best to pimp my new Japanese cell phone. I already have 2 charms; the Nintendo one is from a vending machine and the Koran-Chan one I bought from my cartoon friend on the street.

This week I started working at my branch and, though it’s far and very small, I really like my staff and my students. I’m learning Japanese vocabulary and writing characters on the train, so it’s nice to have a long train ride.



I moved into a new room tonight, since one of my roommates moved out. I am finally feeling settled into my new home. I am liking my job, trying to learn the language and meeting people. Now that I’m settled, I’m ready to start exploring the city and then Japan. Watch out Tokyo…here I come. (Daft Punk, y’all! December 7 and 8th. WHAT?!)