Being awesome, made to look easy.
I so totally can't be bothered to do this post, but I need to put the effort in and get it done.
Ok - so where were we? Ah yes, I had just finished training. Ok, so I will try and give an overview of what has happened since then.
On Friday I had the day off (think I mentioned this last time), so I just chilled like a villain and relaxed. On saturday I had my first day of teaching which was at Kamiooka. This is my nearest school but not my regular one. It was pretty hectic as Kamiooka is a busy school, but it was nice enough and the teachers were pleasant. It is pretty tiring doing like 8 lessons though. Your throat really dries out too - from all the talking I guess. It was ok though and you soon learn that you really don't have to do that much preparation for lessons once you have had some practice. I did 11am-7pm that day I think - there abouts anyway.
On sunday I was to have my first day at my usual branch. I was doing 10am-5pm (well is like 5:40pm, so closer to 6 really). I had already been over to this branch the week before to get the route sussed as the map Nova gave me sucked big style. I gave myself plenty of time anyway and trekked over there on sunday morning and arrived for 9ish. What I didn't bank on was that the big shopping mall (how American I know) was closed. So I was like "how exactly do I get into the school!?". It was so, so hot outside too so I was kinda gutted that I couldn't get in the building. I waited around till 9:30 then decided to check the instructions to see if there was another way in. At the bottom of the page in small print was a sentence saying that if you get there and it is shut, to go around the side, past the bike stands and up the steps, where I would then have to sign in. I went round the side of the building and past the bike rack and right round like 3/4 of the building - no steps or anything step-like. Needless to say I was getting kinda concerned as I didn't want to be late - Nova fine you for that. In the end some old Japanese man noticed I was totally lost. He came up to me and said "Nova?", so I replied in the affirmative. He then managed to direct me back down to the intersection I had come from and then round to the far side of the building down another road. I was sceptical as it was kind of totally not what the map said, but I was out of options so I followed his directions. Needless to say, his directions were spot on. I found the steps, got signed in and then got one of the security guys to show how to get to the Nova office (the building is like a giant warehouse attached to the shopping centre/mall so is like a maze). The rest of the day went pretty well though. I met some of the other teachers who were all really nice and helped me out. Things are a lot easier going at my branch (Kanazawa Hakei) than at Kamiooka as it is much smaller and quieter, which is cool. The day went well and then I went home.
I got home and had about 20 mins to get showered and changed and ready for a night out with my housemate Callum and a load of his friends. We went to this cool bar on the roof of some large buidling in Yokohama (as mentioned previously). I was kinda concerned as it was super hot and the place had now aircon as it was open roof, but being that high up there was a decent breeze so it was cool. I got to meet loads of wicked people from all over the place and it was great fun. A load of us then went to Karaoke till like 5am and enjoyed many more fine Japanese beers. I know it's hard to picture me going to karaoke, given my intense dislike of the very premise of amateur singing in public. Still, once you have properly "prepared" yourself for it then it is kind of a laugh and you can stay there for hours and hours. You have you're own little booth, you each pay 3000 yen (about £15) then you can stay there all night and whenever you want more drinks you just use this little phone in the booth and they bring you stuff.
I awoke at 5am on monday morning to find myself still in the karoake in Yokohama and feeling a little worse for wear (apparently I had slept for like an hour). We trekked home and got back for about 7am, so I then went to sleep until about 11am. I was then teaching from 1-5 at my usual branch. It was less than enjoyable given how I was feeling, but you just have to suck it up and get on with it - atleast it was only a half day. Afterwards, my friend Sophie from work took me to a cool Indian curry place right near my house - which was most cool. I then went home and died completely.
Tuesday I was back on top form and went to work to do a 1-9pm shift. The time goes by surprisingly quickly in this job, which is awesome really. After this shift finished I was then off for 2 days which was great.
Wednesday I finally did some washing - almost all my clothes were smelly and grim from all the sweating (nasty stuff). I got them all washed and hanging up - I haven't ironed anything yet though. I just do a shirt each morning as and when I need them, as big piles of ironing suck. I chilled out for most of wednesday and then met up with 2 friends (Dawn and Yimin) in Sakuragicho in the evening. We toured round for a bit, then went to the top of Landmark tower. I tried to film it but my video camera is being lame so I need to buy a head cleaner before I can film any more stuff for you lot. The view from the top of the tower is pretty special though. The lift is crazy too - it does like 69 floors in under 10 seconds. I think it is meant to be the 2nd fastest lift in the world or something. You barely feel it moving either; I was expecting to be stuck to the ceiling. We then went to a chinese restaurant in one of the lower floors which was nice and classy and had interesting food. Am so loving how every meal here is an adventure.
We then went to Kannai (one stp away on the subway) and trekked round to find a pub. In the end we went to a "traditional English pub" called the Queen Merry. It was like a home from home - well, ok that's totally not true - but bless them for trying. Basically I was like "Ooh a Union Jack - let's go there!". This was a mistake as the place was super expensive - I paid 600 yen (£3) for half a pint of Heineken. Still, it was kinda nice to have some European beer again. After that we all got the last trains home around 12-something.
On thursday I trekked into Yokohama as I had arranged to meet Sam at 12. I arrived late as I was tired and the heat was annoying me - I really can't stand it, and these last few days have been the hottest days of the summer here apparently, so you can imagine what it's been like. I couldn't find Sam so I trekked to my bank to cash some travellers cheques as I was super poor. Unfortunately my bank doesn't cash travellers cheques - lord knows why not. The directed me to another bank which took me a little while to find, but I got there in the end (fortunately). Normally things like this would be a mild annoyance at best, but this weather just massively amplifies my aggitation - so I was in a foul mood. I decided to go hide in Yodobashi as it is massive and has aircon. I went up to the giant TVs floor and watched a bit of 'National "Ooh America is so great" Treasure'. I then got a call from Yimin who was coming into Yokohama to pick up a phone, so I met him at Yodobashi and got him hooked up with a mobile at the same place I got mine. Which reminds me that I totally didn't mention that earlier - on monday after work I trekked into Yokohama and got a phone. It was a total mission to get it sorted, but I persevered as I am a champ. Sam joined us around 1ish - he was late as he had been out drinking till 5am the night before; he had missed the last train home so went into a random bar and was taken care of by loads of Japanese people who bought him loads of drinks all night (lucky sod). We then got Sam a phone, although this took all day as for some reason they decided to make things more difficult for him. We also went to various pubs in this time to get some nice cool pints in. I also tried a weird alcohol called Shochu, which is like Japanese vodka. All I will say is - if you come to Japan, don't try it. It is nasty. I order 'lemon and shochu'. It had about as much lemon in it as a bucket of sand and they seemed to have mad it super strong (imagine 'house double' and then some). So basically it was like drinking slightly watered-down vodka and they had given me a massive glass of it. Took me quite a while to get that one finished and had a bit of help from Sam. Still, you have to try these things atleast once I guess.
Later on that evening we were joined by Dawn and we toured round some bars. We went to a couple of cool places that we already knew and it was generally cool. Then we all left around 12ish to get the last trains.
Today (friday) I was back at work. I awoke to find that this day was the hottest one so far (goody!). First off I got the subway to some other part of town (Konanchou or something) to pick up my Gaijin card - so I am now 100% legit. Then I travelled back a load in the opposite direct by tube and train to get to work. I finally met the last members of staff that I hadn't yet met and it was all good. I was only doing a 1-5 today so that was cool. I then trekked round the 100 yen store with another cool person from work called Emma and we bought loads of cool stickers to decorate our mail folders - I can't really be bothered to explain that one, so make of it what you will.
I am now home and have finally stopped sweating - good old aircon. I swear it is not right that a person can sweat this much and not like die from some horrible sweat-induced death. I am amazed I haven't shrivvled up like a raisin or something. Anyway, I am now going to go get dinner. I bought myself some cool fried pork strips in some un-named but lovely sauce and some weird seasonsed hash brown things that they have here which are stunning. I hope everyone is well and that this post wasn't too boring/illegible. I know I normally put more effort into my posts and try and speak properly in them, but I really can't be bothered I'm afraid (especially given the length of this giant mecha-post).
Ok - so where were we? Ah yes, I had just finished training. Ok, so I will try and give an overview of what has happened since then.
On Friday I had the day off (think I mentioned this last time), so I just chilled like a villain and relaxed. On saturday I had my first day of teaching which was at Kamiooka. This is my nearest school but not my regular one. It was pretty hectic as Kamiooka is a busy school, but it was nice enough and the teachers were pleasant. It is pretty tiring doing like 8 lessons though. Your throat really dries out too - from all the talking I guess. It was ok though and you soon learn that you really don't have to do that much preparation for lessons once you have had some practice. I did 11am-7pm that day I think - there abouts anyway.
On sunday I was to have my first day at my usual branch. I was doing 10am-5pm (well is like 5:40pm, so closer to 6 really). I had already been over to this branch the week before to get the route sussed as the map Nova gave me sucked big style. I gave myself plenty of time anyway and trekked over there on sunday morning and arrived for 9ish. What I didn't bank on was that the big shopping mall (how American I know) was closed. So I was like "how exactly do I get into the school!?". It was so, so hot outside too so I was kinda gutted that I couldn't get in the building. I waited around till 9:30 then decided to check the instructions to see if there was another way in. At the bottom of the page in small print was a sentence saying that if you get there and it is shut, to go around the side, past the bike stands and up the steps, where I would then have to sign in. I went round the side of the building and past the bike rack and right round like 3/4 of the building - no steps or anything step-like. Needless to say I was getting kinda concerned as I didn't want to be late - Nova fine you for that. In the end some old Japanese man noticed I was totally lost. He came up to me and said "Nova?", so I replied in the affirmative. He then managed to direct me back down to the intersection I had come from and then round to the far side of the building down another road. I was sceptical as it was kind of totally not what the map said, but I was out of options so I followed his directions. Needless to say, his directions were spot on. I found the steps, got signed in and then got one of the security guys to show how to get to the Nova office (the building is like a giant warehouse attached to the shopping centre/mall so is like a maze). The rest of the day went pretty well though. I met some of the other teachers who were all really nice and helped me out. Things are a lot easier going at my branch (Kanazawa Hakei) than at Kamiooka as it is much smaller and quieter, which is cool. The day went well and then I went home.
I got home and had about 20 mins to get showered and changed and ready for a night out with my housemate Callum and a load of his friends. We went to this cool bar on the roof of some large buidling in Yokohama (as mentioned previously). I was kinda concerned as it was super hot and the place had now aircon as it was open roof, but being that high up there was a decent breeze so it was cool. I got to meet loads of wicked people from all over the place and it was great fun. A load of us then went to Karaoke till like 5am and enjoyed many more fine Japanese beers. I know it's hard to picture me going to karaoke, given my intense dislike of the very premise of amateur singing in public. Still, once you have properly "prepared" yourself for it then it is kind of a laugh and you can stay there for hours and hours. You have you're own little booth, you each pay 3000 yen (about £15) then you can stay there all night and whenever you want more drinks you just use this little phone in the booth and they bring you stuff.
I awoke at 5am on monday morning to find myself still in the karoake in Yokohama and feeling a little worse for wear (apparently I had slept for like an hour). We trekked home and got back for about 7am, so I then went to sleep until about 11am. I was then teaching from 1-5 at my usual branch. It was less than enjoyable given how I was feeling, but you just have to suck it up and get on with it - atleast it was only a half day. Afterwards, my friend Sophie from work took me to a cool Indian curry place right near my house - which was most cool. I then went home and died completely.
Tuesday I was back on top form and went to work to do a 1-9pm shift. The time goes by surprisingly quickly in this job, which is awesome really. After this shift finished I was then off for 2 days which was great.
Wednesday I finally did some washing - almost all my clothes were smelly and grim from all the sweating (nasty stuff). I got them all washed and hanging up - I haven't ironed anything yet though. I just do a shirt each morning as and when I need them, as big piles of ironing suck. I chilled out for most of wednesday and then met up with 2 friends (Dawn and Yimin) in Sakuragicho in the evening. We toured round for a bit, then went to the top of Landmark tower. I tried to film it but my video camera is being lame so I need to buy a head cleaner before I can film any more stuff for you lot. The view from the top of the tower is pretty special though. The lift is crazy too - it does like 69 floors in under 10 seconds. I think it is meant to be the 2nd fastest lift in the world or something. You barely feel it moving either; I was expecting to be stuck to the ceiling. We then went to a chinese restaurant in one of the lower floors which was nice and classy and had interesting food. Am so loving how every meal here is an adventure.
We then went to Kannai (one stp away on the subway) and trekked round to find a pub. In the end we went to a "traditional English pub" called the Queen Merry. It was like a home from home - well, ok that's totally not true - but bless them for trying. Basically I was like "Ooh a Union Jack - let's go there!". This was a mistake as the place was super expensive - I paid 600 yen (£3) for half a pint of Heineken. Still, it was kinda nice to have some European beer again. After that we all got the last trains home around 12-something.
On thursday I trekked into Yokohama as I had arranged to meet Sam at 12. I arrived late as I was tired and the heat was annoying me - I really can't stand it, and these last few days have been the hottest days of the summer here apparently, so you can imagine what it's been like. I couldn't find Sam so I trekked to my bank to cash some travellers cheques as I was super poor. Unfortunately my bank doesn't cash travellers cheques - lord knows why not. The directed me to another bank which took me a little while to find, but I got there in the end (fortunately). Normally things like this would be a mild annoyance at best, but this weather just massively amplifies my aggitation - so I was in a foul mood. I decided to go hide in Yodobashi as it is massive and has aircon. I went up to the giant TVs floor and watched a bit of 'National "Ooh America is so great" Treasure'. I then got a call from Yimin who was coming into Yokohama to pick up a phone, so I met him at Yodobashi and got him hooked up with a mobile at the same place I got mine. Which reminds me that I totally didn't mention that earlier - on monday after work I trekked into Yokohama and got a phone. It was a total mission to get it sorted, but I persevered as I am a champ. Sam joined us around 1ish - he was late as he had been out drinking till 5am the night before; he had missed the last train home so went into a random bar and was taken care of by loads of Japanese people who bought him loads of drinks all night (lucky sod). We then got Sam a phone, although this took all day as for some reason they decided to make things more difficult for him. We also went to various pubs in this time to get some nice cool pints in. I also tried a weird alcohol called Shochu, which is like Japanese vodka. All I will say is - if you come to Japan, don't try it. It is nasty. I order 'lemon and shochu'. It had about as much lemon in it as a bucket of sand and they seemed to have mad it super strong (imagine 'house double' and then some). So basically it was like drinking slightly watered-down vodka and they had given me a massive glass of it. Took me quite a while to get that one finished and had a bit of help from Sam. Still, you have to try these things atleast once I guess.
Later on that evening we were joined by Dawn and we toured round some bars. We went to a couple of cool places that we already knew and it was generally cool. Then we all left around 12ish to get the last trains.
Today (friday) I was back at work. I awoke to find that this day was the hottest one so far (goody!). First off I got the subway to some other part of town (Konanchou or something) to pick up my Gaijin card - so I am now 100% legit. Then I travelled back a load in the opposite direct by tube and train to get to work. I finally met the last members of staff that I hadn't yet met and it was all good. I was only doing a 1-5 today so that was cool. I then trekked round the 100 yen store with another cool person from work called Emma and we bought loads of cool stickers to decorate our mail folders - I can't really be bothered to explain that one, so make of it what you will.
I am now home and have finally stopped sweating - good old aircon. I swear it is not right that a person can sweat this much and not like die from some horrible sweat-induced death. I am amazed I haven't shrivvled up like a raisin or something. Anyway, I am now going to go get dinner. I bought myself some cool fried pork strips in some un-named but lovely sauce and some weird seasonsed hash brown things that they have here which are stunning. I hope everyone is well and that this post wasn't too boring/illegible. I know I normally put more effort into my posts and try and speak properly in them, but I really can't be bothered I'm afraid (especially given the length of this giant mecha-post).
6 Responses to “Oh the effort”
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About me
- I'm Andrew
- From Lincoln, United Kingdom
- I graduated from the University of Hull, where I studied Economics. I decided to go to Japan for a year to teach English and this blog is to chronicle my adventures.
- My profile
You must be sweating yourself thin if wasn't for all these meals and drinks!
I want to see pictures of these people you keep talking about, also still no signed of footage from your room / flat, broken camera is not an excuse you in the country that invented the dam things! I'm sure someone could fix it in seconds!
Man alive, you have hit the nail on the head there big time right off the bat. 'Time goes by quickly in this job' I had this during my year abroad in america, it went by in a heartbeat, and all my wishing couldnt bring it back . I wasnt prepared for that, sooner than you know you will be bound for england again, so cherish your time when you have it. I dont mean to sound negaitve, but dont take it for granted. I know you wont, but its a danger that could happen.....I still wish I was on my year abroad, and wanted to go back there every day since I left. So live it up man!
Your time sounds amazing, and I wish I had gone ahead with my JET plans.....but seriously man, all you talk about seems like fun interspersed with boring work. What is it like teaching the kids? What are Japanese children like? Im very interested to hear this side of your experience, yet it is only commented on in passing, what are you really there for man? Hope its rocking......talk to you soon dude.....Ian
Ed: lol finding someone to fix the camera isn't a problem. It's explaining to them what's wrong with it that is tricky. In all honesty though, it's an easy one to solve - but I just can't afford to be spending money on camera bits atm. Will get some more photos uploaded real soon though.
Ian: Yeah time really is flying by here. You should totally look into coming over here if you don't find some awesome job that is worthy of your skills. I will do another post in a couple of days which will be more focused on my actual job and more details as to what it is all like etc. It will also include some more details about Sakuragicho, as I was chilling out there again this evening and the more time I spend there, the more I realise how much cool stuff there is. I have barely scraped the tip of the iceberg thus far.
It's 2pm on Friday and still no entry. I'm dissapointed with you mate.
lol knew someone would mention t. Sorry bud - unfortunately I have been spending all my free time socialising and having an amazing time, rather than sitting on the internet. I promise I will try and get some stuff posted soon though.
Mate, I dont't mind. I'm just happy to hear that it's all going so well. You won't forget us though will you?
If anything major happens, make sure you leave me a message on my blog.