Time to start posting again! Woo!

J71 Thursday, May 24th 2007

A few rules, now that life has settled somewhat:

I can't post personal information about my students or my coworkers. The contract I signed forbids it. So, I'll just be using nicknames and initials. Don't worry, there will be plenty of consistency, but I do apologize.

That being said, let's begin.

K-sensei is finally back! She's been on extended leave for a stay in the hospital. She went in the last day of Golden Week, had a procedure done, and only just now came back, nearly 3 weeks later. She's lost some weight, which is impressive because she was skinny to begin with. That combined with a new haircut made her return today a little interesting. She seems to be very energetic, though, which is good. I was beginning to miss her cheery disposition.

Speaking of weight loss, she commented that I appeared to have lost weight, as well. I must say that I agree with her. Monday, when E.J. and I went to Tokyo and met up with Tom and Brain, Tom commented on the same thing. It had only been 2 weeks since I had seen him, which really kind of shocked me. But every morning I look in the mirror and I can't help but think I'm slowly slimming. I didn't realize just how big I had gotten back in the States, but now that I think back on it I was leading an alarmingly sedentary lifestyle, filled with unhealthy food. I'm going to start biking in the morning, which will both let me explore Hitachi some more and lose even more weight. Go slimness!

I had another evaluation today, as my follow up training is this weekend, and I did much better than last time. Though she had to go home right after she observed my lesson, K-sensei said I did great. Coming from her, that was a really big complement.

Aside from that, nothing much today.

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[Original day written: Thursday, February 24th 2007 at 8:30AM]


J2.0

My first morning in Japan. Mike, the New Yorker-via-Hawaii, is my roommate, and he's a decent fellow. We're in a small room, maybe the size of a modest single bedroom in an apartment. Two short beds, a long desk, a small rack for hanging clothes, two closets, and a bath suite (toilet, tub, shower, and sink) are all crammed into a space that is maybe 15 feet by 10. Maybe. The bath unit is amazing. One faucet services both the sink and the tub, with a flexible metal tube transmitting water for bathing.

Mike and I walked to the nearby convenience store, Lawson's. Lawson's is a chain that is everywhere in Japan. They sell everything. Toilet products? Check. Food? Check. Snacks? Check. Drinks? Manga and magazines? DVD Rentals? More food? Booze? Check check check check check. Everything. They even sell clothes; button up shirts, underwear and socks, for the businessman who missed the last train. We snagged breakfast and walked back to the seminar house. Training starts at 9:30, goes 'till 6.

J2.1

Wherein I see just how many pictures this thing can hold.

Me in my suit. [EDITOR: This is the only suit I pulled from my stuff before I shipped it to Hitachi. It will be the only suitable garment I wear for the week I am here, aside from a single change of street clothes and a sleeping shirt.]

Crows. The crows here are the size of men. [EDITOR: Trust me. I've got a great picture with a size comparison. These things are massive.]

Holographic 500 yen coins. Neat!

Vending machine in the lobby. Delicious Coke!

J2.2
Are they all luddites? None of my fellow trainees know what a 'blog' is. Also, it is very windy here. [EDITOR: This is the understatement of the year. The wind actively hates you and wants you to die.]

J2.3
We went out on the town after training, eager to take in out new surroundings. I had my trusty leather jacket with me, but the cold bit right through to my painfully thin shirt. We went to a restaurant....Wabi Wabi, maybe? I can't remember. It was like a tapas place; lots of cheap, small dishes, which is a great way to sample Japanese cuisine. We sat down at a low Japanese-style table, after locking out shoes in little wooden boxes at the front door, and proceeded to dig in. Across from us were these dudes...these.....dudes....

So, they were having a great time. Eating, drinking, smoking, laughing and joking; these guys were out on the town and having a good time. One of them had a bottle of....something. I couldn't see it, but it was green. The bottle wasn't interesting, though. It cap was...or should I say caps. See, they obviously loved this brand of alcohol, because they had glued, taped, and stapled every cap from every bottle of it they had ever drunk into a Seussian tower that wobbled dangerously any time someone unscrewed it for a pull. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it was just so cool.

Eventually, one of them said hi in the little English he knew. We struck up a conversation, our table and theirs. One's nickname was Potato. Another was Dinosaur (he was loud and awesome). They asked us what we were doing, to which one of our number blurted "Greenpeace". They laughed and winked and got the idea that we didn't want our occupations known, for fear of discovery by our omnipotent superiors...well, some of my group didn't. I didn't think it mattered all that much that a group of fun-loving drunks knew we were English teachers, but I was the silent minority.

Potato regaled us with his love and respect for the West, saying he held in his heart both emotions for America and Canada, the lands of our group's births. The smokers of my training group marveled at the packs of Lucky Strikes our Oriental counterparts were enjoying. Lucky Strikes are not sold in America, and have become somewhat legendary there, or so I was led to believe. I find it hard to swallow that America has banned a cigarette brand that is sold elsewhere in the first world, but then again I'm not a smoker [EDITOR: Not yet! Haha, foreshadowing!]

Finally, we packed it in for the night. Tomorrow, Sunday the 25th, is to be our first off day. An entire day that I will spend checking out Japan. Plans are afoot to contact Brain and Tara and gallivant around the nation with them tomorrow. Moo hoo ha ha.