Been a few

So, its been a busy couple weeks, and i apologize for the lateness. I will attempt to pin some of the blame on Azu and her lack of internet, however. I am currently pirating a very weak signal from her neighbors. As you may have guessed from my previous sentence, i moved in with Azu this week. Its been nice, except for carrying 2 really heavy suitcases, my laptop, and an extra bag through train ticket takers, smashing into keikyu during rush hour, and carrying my suitcases 50 miles to the end of azu's station train platform. I am pretty sure i killed a few people getting onto the train to Yokohama during rush hour... ah well. Moving sucks. I am going to see if i can get a video going of her house and what not to show you guys. For the next couple weeks i have a much longer commute. It hasnt been so bad, except the time i almost fell asleep and missed my connection in Ofuna, that coulda been bad. I also took a video from the train that i would like to show you folks.

So this week it was mostly moving and unpacking. I managed to meet up with Ronn, Tawnya, and her friend on wednesday, and we hung out in Harajuku and Shibuya. It took all day, but i managed to find a man bag that was only 1380!, thats about 12 bucks or so for those of you not familiar with Yen. Considering i saw a T-shirt that day that was over $200, yes a T-shirt (not even that cool), i think i did pretty well for a bag. It was hidden between a couple bags that ran bout $60. I know what most of you are thinking. "A man bag?! its not acceptable for men to carry a purse-like object on their shoulder!" WRONG. In Japan, its perfectly acceptable, and there is an entire man bag industry, so there. Also, its just handy when you need to carry a few extra things, BACK OFF.

The week before Ash was here. Eric covered most of their trip, so click on his link cause i am feeling lazy. We had fun, we did the Kawagoe Area the first day, Tokyo the next, and had some mexican later that week. When i stop being lazy and post some pics, i will include the few pictures i took from the top of the sunshine 60 building. Its pretty weird being that high up. Buildings you thought were high before dont seem so high when you are at 60 stories. The Tokyo metropolis, which is the largest in the world it turns out, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Tokyo_Area), is pretty amazing from above.

Well, i am going to post this before my internet cuts out again and i get angry. I am going to Disney Sea next wednesday with Azu, Ronn, and Tawnya, so that will be fun, i will write again after that. Oh, i also got my first real paycheck, and lemme tell ya... payday is sweet!

Big News!

Well, not so much time has passed, but some new stuff has come to light, man. So last week, on wednesday, my boss so to speak, calls me up and informs me that something has come up, and that I can transfer to Hiratsuka effective at the beginning of June, if i want it. I only had about 3 hours to think it over though, and it involved my schedule changing to all early shifts, and my days off changing to thurs/fri. The place is however, about 15 minutes by train from Azu's, towards tokyo, saving some time if i meet up with R&T or E&E after work. Well, I accepted, so starting in June, i'll be at a new location! Early Shifts also make it easier to meet up with eric and emily, so i may actually see them more than once a year. Early shifts are.... well, early. Its not really that early, i'll probably have to wake up at 8 am, which I am not a big fan of, but other people would say that's late, so I guess I can't complain. Wait, yes I can, and I probably will.

Well, aside from that, on my day off wednesday, I went to the beach. This past week was "Golden Week". Golden Week is a series of unrelated Japanese national holidays that happened to be right next to eachother. I think they are unrelated... my students were terrible at explaining golden week, and I forgot to ask Azu, so thats my story. Anyway, since there were already like 3 or 4 national holidays, companies are usually nice, and just say "what the hell, take the whole week off". Golden Week is business as usual if you work at Nova, so the only thing golden I enjoyed was the Golden increased business on the trains, and the Golden fact that all my shifts started early that week because thats what my Nova does on holidays, or the Golden closed banks, atms, etc. Well, that aside, the weather was fantastic this week where I live. Not too hot, not cold, no rain, perfect days really... so I guess that was golden. I'm rambling now... anyway, I went to the beach, it was sweet, and we went to a shrine near here, and climbed a billion steps to the top of a little foresty hill, and got to enjoy a rather nice view of the area. The landscape is really beautiful here, and you'll get to see that some day when I stop being lazy and put up some pictures. From the beach, we could see Hakkejima sea paradise, which is an amusement park on an island or something.

In other news, yesterday I went to Azus again, and we saw Spiderman 3. Aside from being alot more expensive, and getting specific reserved seats, Japanese movie theaters are pretty much the same as ours. Atleast the one in Azus town is, it was equally large, and had seats like most new cinemark/regal theaters. One odd little quirk: their discount times are at night, and are expensive during the day, unlike ours. I am told this is because japanese people typically do other stuff at night, and most people use trains to get around. If a movie lets out late, after trains have stopped for the day, people are boned and cant go home, so i guess thats why fewer people go at night (btw Lark, trains do stop here around 12:30ish, so you either go home, take a cab later, or sleep on the cold hard floor of the train station, which involves spooning with hobos if its in Shinjuku) . Our "discount" price was 1200 yen... maybe 11 bucks or so. Usually its 1500 yen or up to 2000 at times i guess. On the first of every month though, all movies are 1000 yen, its some sort of special premier day. Also, wednesday is ladies day, and they get in for 1000 yen, horseshit! Azu told me this is good, so when I get to pay for her tickets in the future I will be paying less! I failed to see how it was a win situation for me.

Thats all for now! Ashley is arriving in Japan soon, and I am heading up to erics tuesday night after work for some good times, so i'll blog about that next. Peace!

Happy Birthday Mike!

P.S. that is the main sign for a hair salon near my apartment.. i encourage you to click on the pic and read it. Later i will post a pic of the main label.

Yay for computers

Ok, so its been a while, for that I am sorry. I did however, finally get my laptop, so I am back online! Here is one picture of a temple me, Ronn and Tawnya went to near my house. I am gonna have to post my pics on another site I think and then just have a link to them so you guys can look at all of them. Anyway... I got a memory card for my phone, so I can put my pictures on my comp now as well.

Where to start... ok, so Ronn, Tawnya and I have met up a couple of times for various shenanigans since we all have wednesday off. We met eric and john once in shibuya and went to an outback steakhouse there. It was good! The girls (Azu and Tawnya) were getting their hair cut, so the 4 of us wandered around in the rain looking for outback with erics leadership being our only source of guidance. We made it, so that was good. We also found a restaurant near my house that specializes in American food, so i go there occasionally. The crazy thing is.... they have good mexican food. I know, the very notion is rediculous, but i did it, i found a place with good mexican food here. Its not the best i'v ever had or anything, but it is damn good, and its certainly the best iv found in Japan. Real salsa... good quesadillas and burritos, and taquitos, and chile con carne... however you spell that. Anyway, they have alot, and i havent had any that werent awesome. The quesadillas rock. My only gripe is it needs to be spicier. They arent big on spicy here.

Enough on that, so my newer roomate, Alex, we'll call him Alex S to avoid confusion with Alex W, has his girlfriend visiting him from Canada right now. They seem to be having fun so far. I think we might be going out for Yaki Niku tomorrow night with Azu. I am moving down with Azu next month if anyone didnt know. Its going to be a significantly longer commute for me to work, but i guess its just a standard japanese commute, so my students just kinda nod when i tell them how long it is. It will be about an hour and 15, but i figure i can just read or study on the trian, so it wont be a big deal. I have a few students who commute 2 hours into various parts of Tokyo, so they dont really seem to be surprised at the time. One of my students today... while doing a lesson on daily routines, revealed how she wakes up at 5 am everyday, and goes to bed at 1 am. I scolded her after i got done looking shocked, then told her how i feel bad if i get less than 6 hours a night. Another of my students, a high school girl, has a self imposed hour commute to HS (she chose this school) because the uniforms are cuter.

My work branch is sorta secluded. Kurihama is basically in the sticks, its 20 mins from my place, which is 20 minutes from Yokohama proper. My place is still technically yokohama, but Kurihama is another city technically i think... anyway, my students all say its in the coutryside. I am told that a few stops away in Miurakaigan, there are in fact cows and farms and junk, so i guess i cant argue with them. its not really that far away geographically though from Yokohama. My train line, keikyu, gets pretty intense in the mornings. Fortunately i never have to use it at its worst, except when iv returned from yokohama during the evening rush hour. It sucks then. Azu used it once in the morning going to Tokyo and sorta refused to ever do it again, so i guess its bad. My school is small, but you get to know alot of the students, so thats kinda nice, if they are cool. Sucks if they arent. Kids classes are nuts.... i am coping with Juniors ok, but i had a kinders class a few days ago that made me want to end my life. They just ran around screaming, climbing on the counter, no joke, trying to throw eachother off, while screaming at the top of their lungs, while i got to sit there and try to paint a smile on my face for the parents. They did nothing but be unruly. Trying to get them to not be unruly just encouraged them i think. The advice i received: smile more.

So, the most recent thing i did was last sunday. I stayed at Azus house sunday night and we went to a hot spring that night. I find them to be very nice despite having to be naked with a bunch of other dudes. But really, you are the only one who cares at all, so as soon as you realize you are just being stupid, they're great. I was trying to get some japanese practice, but its surprisingly hard to get people to talk to you. Most people simply wont speak to you ever, unless you address them directly. So, in this pool that had red water ( a good conversation starter) i found some younger guys, and managed to strike up a conversation, it was cool.. We talked for about 40 minutes or so about various things. They were college students in the area. One of them was very shy and only listened mostly, but the others were happy to give me some practice, and wanted to hear some english here and there as well.

Ok, thats all for now. I will be more regular about things now that i have a computer. I will try to figure out how to show all my pictures from kamakura, cherry blossoms, etc as well. Peace!

An update!

Ok, so in hindsight, coming here without a computer was foolish. That being said, it hasnt been easy for me to get on the internet. So... where to begin. Work was stressful at first. They sorta just throw you right in. On the second day of training you have to teach a whole class by yourself.. 2 actually. After 3 days of training, you are teaching a full day by yourself. Planning lessons and stuff takes time when you are new, so you have to get the hang of it, but it comes quick. I have been disappointed about my location. I am basically far from Azu and eric/em/jon/ronn/tawnya. As ronn put it yesterday, we live in a big triangle of ass. Wed/Thurs are my days off, erics em and jon are mon/tues. i work till 9 mon/tues. Ronn and Tawnya are tues/wed, so we can get together on wednesdays. Wednesday and sunday when people get off earlier are about the only days its feasable to meet up.

Proximity to friends aside.. my place is cool enough. Close to the ocean, lots of stuff to see. I am told by other americans there is a kick ass mexican restaurant in my town run by a guy that learned in America, so they say he has it down. I havent been jonesin yet, but i am sure i will in the future. The folks at my branch are cool, its pretty laid back. Everyone smokes though, so i am alone on breaks while they all go smoke, haha. My students have all been pretty nice for the most part with a few exceptions. We have a younger student that i havent taught yet, that apparently has never spoken a word of english in class, he just points at things. He is sorta.... difficult. The older students are usually the most talkative. Younger students are harder because they are usually more nervous and shy. Adjusting was difficult at first, but im doing well enough. Azu is transfering in a few days, so she'll be closer, and i wont have to visit her in her jungle apartment. This apartment... good lord. Something in it creates humidity, i shit you not. it just GETS that way. it is about 3 times more humid than anything youv ever been in at any given time of day. I hung up a work shirt the other day when i stayed there (it was 100% dry) and it was damp the next day when i went to put it in my bag. Its crazy.

My apartment kinda sucks. I gather its the village bicycle of nova places. Everyone sorta cringes when they hear where i live. I guess its about the crappiest, most expensive place you can come by. Also, the door has no key lock, just a combination... so thats great.

Havent done much since i got here. Hung out with the saitama gang a few times, and me and azu took a drive with her dad south of Odawara and checked out a few dive shops we plan to do business with when the weather gets a little nicer (and i get paid). We also saw some cool scenery. She really lives in a nice place.

Anyway, i gotta order my computer so i can join the civilized world again. peace!


Its hard to check my normal email right now, but if you wanna get a hold of me, send it to my phone for now, i usually have it on me all the time. When i get a computer and memory card of my own, i will post pictures, or maybe just a memory card. I could use azus comp if i get the card. I apologize for a lack of punctuation, this keyboard sucks.

Japan

Well, i'v been here for a few days now. I saw azu, eric, ronn, tawnya, emily, and some of azu's friends the first night i got here. Since then i'v been down in Odawara mostly after a stop at my apartment in Yokohama to drop off my stuff and meet my roomate. He seems nice enough. I took care of my gaijin card registration thursday, and got my cellphone yesterday, on which you can email me at dbhuff@ezweb.ne.jp . It was a long involved process with the phone, analyzing plans and what not, i think azu was tired by the end of it, but i settled on AU, because they had a good deal on a phone that had english and a nice camera, which killed 2 birds with one stone. I was going to go with softbank, because they had a plan that was only about 10 bucks a month, and i could talk to anyone on softbank for free from 2 am - 8pm. If azu had been on softbank, i probably woulda done it, but to get the 10 dollar plan you had to take a crappier phone with a crappy camera, and azu isnt on softbank, and if you call people outside of softbank with that plan you get hosed basicaly, soo... i went with AU.

Anyway, as soon as i get a memory card, and a reader, i will start puttin up some pictures. My phone seems to take a pretty nice picture.

Leavin on a jet plane.

Well, I have one more day here in the states. I am a little bit nervous, but mostly I just dont want to pack. You would think that with near infinite time on my hands, I could get things done. Wrong. I leave in roughly 36 hours, and I have done... nothing. Eric and Emily, if you read this before I arrive, I will be there Wednesday evening. Azu said you were joining us and Ronn and Tawnya, but your msn message gave me the general impression you had no idea when I was arriving. Anyway, we are meeting in Ikebukuro for good times.

Ok, I am going to go pack, wish me luck.

Dan

Alpha

Ok, blog created. mic test.