See you in HONG KONG

I can't believe my holiday has begun! Special thanks to an awesome manager :D

Hong Kong... here I come!!!!

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner with my manager! There are no words to describe how awesome my manager is!

Her dessert: Raspberry chocolate mousse cake with raspberry gelato.
My dessert: Simple, but amazing, strawberry shortcake

Quick update

Daiwa Zushi @ Tsukiji Fish market (huge lineup to get in)

Here's a quick list of things I've experienced over the past month.
Interested in details? EMAIL ME!

• Visited Japan's largest mall - AEON Laketown
• Experienced a Love Hotel - costs about the same as a regular hotel, size is bigger and it has KARAOKE!!!
• Kaiten zushi - conveyor belt sushi
• Visted Roppongi Hills - absolutely beautiful
  
• Visited Tokyo Tower
• Tokyo Disneyland ^_^
• Visited Maid Cafes in Akihabara
• Saw a group of Naruto ninjas hanging out at the Akihabara
• Watched a drunk Japanese guy on the train have a very intense conversation with himself and apologized to his reflection when he bumped into his reflection
• Visited Tsukiji Fish Market - the sushi? AMAZINGLY FRESH

MERRY CHRISTMAS ~

Thank you for all of you who sent me a card for Christmas! You sure know how to make me feel even more homesick.
I miss you all at home and all around Japan. Merry Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

As for me.... I'll be in HONG KONG in 2 days!!!

BLEACH Fade to Black 君の名を呼ぶ

My first movie in Japan: Bleach Fade to Black. It was pretty interesting but confusing as hell. I tried to understand as much as I could, but having limited Japanese really limits my understanding. I THINK I got the jiffs of the movie, but I'll find out when the movie is released online with subtitles.

I really love the movie system here. Basically, it's like buying tickets to a musical or a theatre production. When you purchase your tickets, you get to choose your seats too, which makes so much more sense, but what makes it EVEN COOLER is that they provide you complimentary blankets!!! I love watching movies with a blanket over me even if im not cold - it's like a safety blanket :P

I'm still alive ^_^

I know its been awhile (a month long) since I last update, but this past month was BRUTAL.
I probably have at least 4 blogs started but didnt post since they were all negative ranting about my PSYCHO co-worker.

So, a quick rant and update about how much stress she's given me over the past month:

• I found out one of her students had a panic attack at the sight of her and my manager immediately had to open up a new class for her so I can teach her on another night. (Psycho isnt allowed out of her classroom on Tuesdays from 7 - 8 until that student leaves the school).
• She threatened her student to send him to speak to the manager (which is equivalent to sending a kid to the Principal's office) if he doesn't start behaving INFRONT of his mom - we had to transfer him out of that class and into my class.
• She's cried infront of me at least TWICE, and at least 5 times infront of my manager - Japanese people dont like these displays of emotions because they're taught to hide them, so everyone feels so awkward now.
• She has a history of cuts on her arm and after a month of depression and knowing a trainer from head quarters will be coming to evaluate her class in 2 days, she comes to school with a huge bandage around her forearm (from her wrist to almost her elbow). Sleeves rolled up and ready to show the world.... her reason? A cooking accident... -_-"
• The day before trainer arrived, she turns 180 degrees and tries to become ME! Gave me nightmares for 2 weeks. It felt like she recorded my conversations with my students, and practiced them at home infront of a mirror, came to school and started talking to the students like that. *shudders*

There's so much more, but I dont want to rant about it anymore. Why? Because Head Quarters will be transferring her to a DIFFERENT SCHOOL as of end of January!!! hahaha... Basically, if HQ didnt fire her or send her elsewhere, both the manager and I would have left. I've successfully ignored her the past month now and I dont plan on making any changes. I feel so uncomfortable around her, that I cant even stay in the same office as her for more than 5 minutes. Its brutal.

But enough of that now. I have some work to finish up, but guess who watched BLEACH THE MOVIE... hehe... I'll blog about that tonight.

my exhaustingly fun (LAST) weekend

I really need to update more frequently.

So last weekend, I went out for some over night karaoke with these buddies here:



On Sunday, after getting a couple hours of sleep, I was up and out again in Tokyo. I went to Harajuku and visited Meiji Shrine again. And went to Omotesando Hills for some window shopping since I'll never be able to afford anything from there. I think a crepe cost 3500 YEN. It was quite ridiculous. Where can I buy 649 when I need it? lol

After walking around this fancy mall, we decide to head out to Ginza to walk around an area of non-affordable stores. LOL. If Yorkville can look even 1/20th of this area, it would be so posh. Ginza is definitely a nice place to walk around.

I went into the Sony Building and saw the new colour Rolly's. They're the cutest, yet most useless things ever! Check them out on Youtube if you don't know what a Sony Rolly is.


After a long exhausting day in Tokyo, I got home at midnight and didn't get sleep until 3 a.m. to wake up at 7 a.m. to get ready for shopping with my manager at Costco and Mitsui Outlet Park. Shopping at Costco felt like home. The size of product were actually NORMAL size and not the miniture stuff they have at Japanese supermarkets. A chocolate bar was the size of a CHOCOLATE BAR! LOL. I bought some ginormous stuff which I have yet to take pictures of, bu they will come soon :D


The Outlet Mall was great, but still too expensive :( I saw a sweater for 15000 YEN and a purse for 45000 YEN, both which was 50% off already. :S BUT I did experience a COLD STONE CREAMERY ice cream!!! [http://www.coldstonecreamery.co.jp/] It's the greatest tasting ice cream EVER!!! But definitely a little on the expensive side, but so worth every penny of it... or yen I guess. :P My server would be singing a Disney song happily to me while creating my own personal ice cream! I love the service in Japan. I'll post pictures of my DELICIOUS ice cream when it's not 2:30 a.m. :P

Here are some pictures of my last cooking experience (2 weeks ago):


My delicious cream puffs and chocolate eclair with chocolate custard! Both which are to DIE for... I miss my oven :(

REMIND ME TO BLOG

I feel like there's a million things I want to talk about, but they all seem so random now because it's been such a long time. I need to kick myself to really do a weekly or bi-daily blog update.

Let's just do a quick update on this weekend's plans:

Satuday night:
- I went out to Tokyo after work to do overnight karaoke with a friend and it was EXHAUSTING! We sang from 12 - 5 in the morning!!! It felt like Happy Hour karaoke since we didn't drink and just sang our hearts out for 5 hours. It was exhausting but fun, and I'd definitely do it again!

Today (Sunday):
- Heading out to Harajuku to meet with other people
- ??? Not sure what else yet.

Tomorrow (Monday):
- Heading to Chiba with my manager to shop at COSTCO! Apparently, it's a big deal here to enter into Costco :S But I guess it's because that's the only place that would sell things in big bulks. And she's taking me to the outlet mall in Chiba!!! YAY!!!! Those words "outlet mall" are music to my ears. hehe...

I'll try to update my weekend Monday night... and sometime this week I'll write my backlogged entries.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Updates will come... I PROMISE!

3-month evaluation results

I got PERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFECT! haha... My manager had no negative comments on my evaluation form at all and gave me a perfect score in all aspects. YAY!!!


It was kind of funny because I walked into the room expecting SOMETHING that might need to be changed, but my manager just said she has nothing to say, and she's really just doing this as part of company policy. haha... so my manager and I simply sat there for an hour talking about what how socially awkward and incredibly dense my co-worker is. To illustrate, I'll provide some examples (if the previous entries weren't enough):

1. She's been complaining about being sick for the past month, and despite the weather getting colder, she's still wearing a tank top to work (after several warnings from the manager)
2. After a long talk with my manager, she now hangs around the lobby "greeting" the parents and students - but really, she's standing there glaring at my manager and scaring the students
3. Her Wednesday student is now being overwhelmed with so much attention, she doesn't know what to do hahaha...

These are just a few, but I'll have an entire blog entry dedicated to this one who entertains my life daily.

3-month evaluation

I can't believe it's been 3 months already, and I'll be meeting with my manager for my 3-month evaluation today.

I wonder how it's going to go...

Maybe an update tonight? hehe... I've been lazy sorry.

Updates to come:
- Training experience in Zushi
- MORE halloween lesson pictures
- more crazy drama from the kook

The crazies rang my doorbell

Yesterday my co-worker rang my doorbell twice. Both of which I ignored because I wasn't feeling well and I didn't want to deal with her especially after her attitude problem on Saturday. I didn't know what she wanted, but I figured if it was urgent she'd email my phone or call me.

Anyways, I was able to dodge her yesterday, but she came over and rang my doorbell again today. And I guess giving myself a 1 day break from her was enough, so I decided to open the door. To my surprise, all she wanted was to let me know the manager gave us the wrong electrical bill. YAY! No drama... yeah right.

After bringing up the electrical bill issue, she brings up the bike conversation my manager had with her and more complaints about how she's been treating her really unfair and blah blah blah. And then she pissed me off. She actually had the nerves to say it's my fault that the manager dropped this "bike bomb" on her.

Anyways, she gave into the manager and fixed the broken bike and now offering to sell me the other bike for the cost of fixing the front tire (which she paid for). I think it's reasonable, but she continuously emphasizes what a crap bike it is, so I'm kind of hesitant to take up the offer to buy it from her. What do you think??? Comments please.

My co-worker has the case of the crazies

I've always known my co-worker had the case of the crazies since the first day of knowing her, but I think yesterday just summarizes just how serious her condition has become. She was so crazy yesterday, I have to breakdown this day into 3 stories.

The Manager hates me

My manager is the sweetest person I've ever met and to have someone think anything negative about her pisses me off. My co-worker has this crazy idea that the manager hates her and is picking on her and giving her attitude for no reasons. I'll admit my manager isn't exactly very fond of her, but let me list you the reasons why:

• She takes lunch hours whenever she feels without notifying the manager.
• She leaves the school after lunch hours without telling the manager where she's going
• Sometimes she doesn't start her classes on time especially her Wednesday class because she hates her student.
• She walks into the school wearing just a tank top when we're suppose to dress professionally
• She has an attitude problem towards certain students, parents and the manager
• She doesn't take criticism very well

She's been complaining about this issue for about 2 weeks now and I told her to just talk to the manager directly if she's feeling this anguished by the way the manager has been treating her. Yet, she refuses because she doesn't think she did anything wrong, and therefore the manager should approach her to resolve whatever issues she may have with her (even though the manager has already spoken to her on several occasions discussing the above matters).

I'm too sick to go to training!!!

She's been sick since the first day I arrived. She's had her couple of good days where she doesn't feel "sick" but for the majority of it, I'll walk into the school every day hearing her blow her nose, coughing, and complaining about how sick she feels. I've learned to sing in my head to tune out her complaints. :P I've suggested to her to take medication which she refuses to take, go see a doctor which she also refuses to go see and told her to eat more healthy, but she ends up not eating at all.

We have training in Zushi Tuesday and Wednesday, and she's been dreading and complaining about it also since I arrived. And now suddenly, she thinks she has a serious ear infection that needs to be checked out by a doctor and she's too sick to be on a train for 2 hours to attend 2 days of training.

Headquarters called to ask if we had any questions about training, and she starts complaining about how sick she is and no one was taking care of her which is why she isn't getting any better. :S

I want to keep 2 bikes because I want to use both

The bike I've been using doesn't have a basket, which makes it difficult for me to shop and buy groceries since I have to put everything in a knapsack. The teacher my co-worker replaced left 2 bikes (1 working, 1 broken) for the next teachers who may need a bike. She left the keys with her, but told the manager that the bikes are left for whoever needs a bike.

Now, I asked her if I could have the broken one and I'll take it to a shop to fix and she refused because she wanted to fix the broken bike and use both (even though she left it broken for 1/2 year until I asked...) So I asked the manager to take me to buy a bike and she asked why since my co-worker has 2 and she doesn't even use the other one. And so, I told my manager what she said, and she couldn't make any sense of it since she only has 1 body and can't possibly ride 2 bikes at the same time, and she knows I have friends coming. My manager has a talk with her about the bikes and she flips out and basically for the remainder of that Saturday after the talk with the manager, she gave attitude to everyone.

----

This is just 3 stories from ONE day... I think if I updated this blog everyday, it would be filled with her crazy stories because I know that's all I chat about because she drives me INSANE!

Swarming with school girls

I left my apartment at 8:00 this morning to find the streets of Kumagaya swarmed with school girls. I live near an all-girls school, but I always thought it was just a small school, but apparently it holds about 1000 students there... I felt like I was in an anime since they were all wearing the Japanese style school girl outfits! kawaii~~ Anyways, after running my errands, I got a ticket on my bike AND I was double parked! I was SO pissed off. It was so much trouble moving the person's bike out of the way so I can leave. I should have put that person's bike elsewhere so he/she cant find the bike afterward! But of course, I didnt :P

I didn't really do much this weekend since I've been lacking sleep. My 20 minute nap turned into a 5 hour sleep :P

Anyways, I had a pretty uneventful weekend since I was so tired and have a crazy Halloween week ahead of me ^_^

Happy Early Halloween!

My beautiful cake and random

Sometimes I wonder if I'm in Japan to learn to become a baker or to be a good teacher...
I made this today! ^_^

Cream cake with white peaches, kiwis and blueberries ^_^

OH! So here's the random part... I finally tried that shrimp filet burger at McDonalds! But I think my heart is still with the filet-o-fish. <3

A delayed weekend story

I should've written this last weekend, but I've been procrastinating and busy preping for my Halloween lessons. So before this weekend begins, I'll write about the interesting events that happened last weekend! ^_^

I skipped out on attending the Japanese conversational class because there's this creepy guy there I met from the first lesson who keeps emailing me to tell me "I miss you" (and that's the only thing he'd write in the email). I'd like to hope it's simply a language barrier since he doesn't speak English, but I still feel uncomfortable talking to him so I'll just avoid the situation by going only once a month and hope I'm lucky and I won't see him there. Plus, the conversational class isn't helping at all, my students teach me more Japanese than they do~!

Instead of attending the class, I went around to 3 book stores to look for Japanese grammar books to learn on my own. And just like every other weekend, I'd randomly ask someone for help even though I know they're not staff. So I met this girl who happened used to take classes at my school when she was younger! What a small world! So we stood around talking for about 20 minutes and then I got her number and going out with her next weekend. ^_^

Since it was a Sunday, I didn't want to go home to cook but I didn't bring my little traveller hand book to help me order in Japanese, so I didn't know what to do. I zoned out at the intersection to think what I should do, and suddenly this man starts talking to me. I told him I don't speak Japanese and so he switched channels and spoke broken up English. Still not knowing what he said, I just ignored him totally and asked him where I can find a good restaurant to eat. And he recommends... karaoke? I told him no, so he ends up bringing me to an Izakaya (居酒屋). I thought I was eating alone, but when I got off my bike, he walked into the restaurant first. I asked him if he was eating with me... and he's like.. OF COURSE! :S But when we started ordering, he didn't even order anything because he said he wasn't hungry. I started feeling even more weird, but as the conversation started rolling, I started feeling more comfortable because he was a really nice guy. He taught me a lot of Japanese and it felt really good. So basically, my night ended with a stranger taking me out to dinner. We exchanged numbers and probably going out for coffee sometime this week.

I believe the random stranger pickup count is at 5 now. :P

No. 18 Good Fortune

Here's my GOOD fortune from Asakusa:

The cloudy sky will get more and more clear and the moon will appear. The linen robe turns into a green on. What you've been troubled for a long time will soon begin to fade away. your virtue and happiness will reveal themselves.

*Your wishes will be realized. *A sick person will recover. *The lost article will be found. *The person you are waiting for will come. *Building a new house and removal are good. *Making a trip is good. *Marriage and employment are all good.

Looks like I'll be having a good year! :D YAY!!!

My Halloween lesson

I have so much fun teaching Halloween lessons because they're just so much fun!!!

I teach them basic vocabulary: Dracula, a witch, pumpkin (for the younger ones, and jack-o-lantern for the older ones), Frankenstein and a ghost! And then I put it in a sentence: he's (a) ....

And then I'll ask the question... WHO IS HE?

He's Dracula

He's a witch

He's a pumpkin

He's a ghost

He's Frankenstein

If you got them all correct, you get a HIGH 5! hehehe... here are some students who took my class. They are so adorable!!!!

The little one on the right was my student. Look at her big eyes!!!

She was so fun to teach! She's only 3 years old

My angel... hehe...

The big brother, spider, and the little brother, cat! Both so cute to teach!!!

Since these are not my regular students, they all call me Halloween sensei. It's so cute!

My wonderful weekend: cookies and SUMO

Another weekend has passed, and this update should've been written on Monday and not Friday morning :P But here it is anyways:

Sunday:

I went to another baking class and made some yummy cookies and this dessert. I can't remember what it's called in Japanese, but it was DELICIOUS!!! The apricot puree with rum was soooooooooo yummy!


After cooking class, I went out to Tokyo (Ueno) to do a little more shopping. I didn't buy too much because I got there late and I wanted to shop around. But I did find this interesting little cafe... Space cafe... what do you think they sell here? Space cake... what do you think is in it? lol...
Well, according to their menu, they have hemp beer.. whatever that means... but for those who are interested... it's in UENO! lol



Monday:

I went to watch my first and probably only SUMO fight! But before I go into details about Sumo, let me say again... JAPANESE PEOPLE ARE SO NICE!!!! So, like most weekends, I got lost or couldn't find my way to my destination. The Sumo fight was held at Kumagaya Dome, which apparently is right behind my apartment, but I rode my bike the opposite direction. And once again, I stopped a random stranger to ask for directions in English, knowing very well, he probably doesn't speak English. I showed him the map, and said something to me, but I had no idea what he was saying. He gestured to follow him, and like always, without thinking, I followed him. haha... He took me to the bus stop and tried to explain to me my bus will arrive in half an hour. I said thank you and tried to explain that I'm okay now, I'll just wait there by myself. I saw him leave and I wandered around the bus station for 1/2 hour. The bus came right at 2:00 and i got on the bus and guess what? That boy came BACK to make sure I was on the bus!!! Absolutely sweet!

I got to Kumagaya Dome just in time to watch a couple of fights. It was interesting because the sumo wrestlers smell like baby powder! It was actually really cute. I didn't understand the fight so much because it really looked like a wedgy fight. I couldn't see how big the ring was, so I couldn't tell if one wrestler stepped out or not; I just assumed when the fight stopped.

I'll try to upload the video, but I'm still trying to figure it out... so don't expect it. But here's a picture of me and a sumo wrestler! mmmMmmMm baby powder! ^_^


After sumo wrestling, as much as I didn't want to shop anymore, I just couldn't resist. :P
I ended up with 2 new pairs of shoes, a cute mini skirt, a nice sweater and a belt. I promised myself I won't go shopping this weekend, but there's these skinny jeans that are adorable. *sigh* I'll let you know if I give in after this weekend.

欲しいです！！！

これわ欲しいです！！！　(I WANT THIS!!!)

Internet problem solved... for now

YAY!!! I got the internet back... but I'm still stealing :P So who knows when it's going down again.

5 new entries coming this week...

Tokyo adventures continue....DAY2

I’m extremely sorry for the delay of this blog entry. For those who tried to contact me on MSN would know that “my” internet has been a major pain in the bum for the past week. I’m currently at a cafe making the best of my time here to write this blog.

Day 2 of Tokyo.

So after a fun night of being liquored up, waking up at 7 in the morning when the rain still hasn’t stopped isn’t exactly what I would consider fun.

The day starts at 7 in the morning to visit the Asakusa temple. However, since no one was really up for walking around the temple in the rain, we decided to catch some breakfast at Denny’s! At Denny’s we ordered... well of course... an American breakfast. The Japanese seem to have a HUGE appetite in the morning it we all simply needed coffee. It was interesting because the Japanese never fail to amuse me with their terrible English translations. Here are some examples:



After breakfast, although still raining, we needed to make the most of our trip so we walked around the Asakusa Temple. I wasn’t overly impressed with it just because it didn’t feel spiritual at all. There were simply too many tourists walking around and little shops selling little Japanese goods. Nonetheless, how can I go to a Japanese temple and not get my fortune told? So here’s my fortune:

[insert fortune]

Before you head into a temple in Japan, you have to do a cleansing ceremony. First you cleanse your left hand, by holding the scoop with your right hand at the end of the stick, and then you switch and cleanse your right hand, and then your mouth; all this with ONE scoop of water. And then you pour out the water by vertically holding the scoop with your left hand, letting the water run down. After this little cleansing ceremony, you can enter the temple.

After the temple, we went to Ueno to catch a yummy lunch. It wasn’t a Japanese lunch; I believe it was a Lebanese sandwich! Haha.. yes.. I’m in Japan, and you haven’t heard me eat Frog Sashimi yet... I’m sorry... but I promise I will try something like that soon :D I’ll have to admit, I haven’t tried much Lebanese food before, but this was a good sandwich and worth the stop. MmmMmm.. I love good food.

After lunch, we headed over to Shibuya! SHOPPPPPPPPPPPPPING and GORGEOUS people! I have never been in a district where I felt so dressed down. I wasn’t dressing to impress anyone, but I didn’t think my outfit looked terrible, but when walking in that area, you just can’t help but feel like you’re homeless or something. It’s not so much of the brands they were wearing, but simply how the outfit was put together. It felt like, the district was their catwalk, and everyone walking there are models! Both men and women looked absolutely beautiful! But, I can’t say it’s natural. Most of them look like they’ve definitely had some major plastic surgery done, but that doesn’t counter how well they dress! Yes... you’re all sensing jealousy from me! lol...

The shopping was amazing!!! SHIBUYA 109 = 9 floors of women’s fashion! I was in HEAVEN!!! I didn’t buy TOO much because I tight with time, but I did promise myself a return there for a shopping spreeeeee!!! I also so Hachiko, the loyal dog. Please wiki “Hachiko” and read the touching story of this dog.



After my wonderful experience in Shibuya, we headed to Shinjuku. My trip there was short because we were there for one purpose only, to find a MAID cafe! To our disappointment, they don’t exist in Shinjuku anymore. But please be aware to NOT ask a local where these cafes are because they’ll give you the most shocking reaction ever! Lol

Odaiba would be our next stop! (Yes, this is still only day 2.. there’s day 3 after this.) The train ride there was long and confusing, but we found our way there. Odaiba is this wonderful little man-made island. It’s absolutely beautiful! A 3 thumbs up (since I’m an alien now) to visit Odaiba for whoever plans to go to Tokyo. There’s this GIGANTIC ferris wheel which is SUPER romantic and many wonderful things. I’ll just show pictures to describe my wonderful experience from this part of Tokyo.

I made my own tiara! :D

Infront of the BIG Ferris Wheel in Odaiba

After a long day of travelling everywhere, how do we wrap up this amazing day 2? With a little clubbing in Roppongi. Since subways in Tokyo close at midnight, we were stranded on the streets of Roppongi until 5 a.m. when the subway opens again. But staying up and out for that long wasn’t hard at all. We went to Gas Panic Bar, which was TINY. But the music was pretty good... the crowd wasn’t bad... and the price of drinks was reasonable... and I ended up dancing on a bar top... so let’s just say I had a pretty good night! :D We ended up at the hostel at 7:30 in the morning to catch 3 hours of sleep before we have to check out and I had the most brutal hang-over ever.

Well... Day 3 in Tokyo really doesn’t get anymore brief than what I wrote in my summary. If you’re really interested in what happened in Harajuku, Meiji temple and my train ride home (and yes, I was talking to strangers again on my ride home... I’m bored! Give me a break)... you can MSN me, or email me!

Look out for my next entries:

- My awesome Halloween lessons
- How to make friends with strangers 101
- Will I last a year with an annoying co-worker? [this one is just me ranting]

I’ll insert those pictures later when my internet is more stable. Writing this blog was already a challenge... took 34823943 refresh on my browser for the page to load... to get to “create new post” I had to refresh the page 34209832 times. But I do promise pictures will be posted.

[I finished this long blog at home because I ended up making friends with the waitress at the cafe!]

Overdue Tokyo trip update

Sorry for the delay in this post. I've been procrastinating to write this post because I know it's going to be a long one. My trip to Tokyo was absolutely amazing. Just thinking back to what a wonderful weekend I had brings a big smile to my face. Here's a brief agenda of what happened last weekend:

Day 1

• Arrived in Asakusa and stayed at Khaosan Hostel
• Went to Sky Bar located on the 22nd floor of the Asahi building
• More drinks at Tokyo 23

Day 2

• Breakfast at Denny's
• Visited the Asakusa shrine and got myself a good fortune :D
• Stopped over in Ueno for a yummy YUMMY sandwich
• Shopping in Shibuya where all the trendiest clothes are sold
• Stopped in Shinjuku to look for maid bars/cafes (failed.. they're actually located in Akihabara)
• Rode the monorail to Odaiba - the futuristic man-made island
  
• Clubbing in Roppongi until 5 a.m.

Day 3 - with 2 hours of sleep

• Went to Harajuku for lunch and shopping
• Visited the Meiji Shrine, one of the Tokyo's major shrines dedicated to Emperor Meiji and witnessed a Japanese wedding!
• Too tired for anything else and got home by 7:00 p.m. to catch up on sleep before work the next morning!

If you're not satisfied with reading just my agenda and want MORE juicy information about my weekend, you can read on...

Day 1 (with details)

Although my phone gave me the weather forecast for the day, I decided to take a chance and hope it was wrong because I really didn't want to carry an umbrella around with me, especially while biking.

Luckily, umbrellas in Japan are like finding pennies on the ground. They're easy to find and when you pick up a random umbrella, no one will look at you funny or suspect you stole the umbrella because basically everyone uses the same type. And chances are, the umbrella they're holding probably isn't theirs either. lol

When I arrived in Tokyo, my worst nightmare came true... it was raining cats and dogs and I was there without an umbrella. :( Luckily, I was able to "borrow" one at the hostel. ^_^

Half of us caught dinner at fast-food curry restaurant. Japanese curry is actually quite different from Indian curry. I don't really know which one I like better since I'm not big on curry, but I'm probably going to have it again some time since it's very popular here. Better yet, maybe I'll learn to make it myself :D

Since it stopped raining after dinner, I decided I need to satisfy my little shopping itch. Sadly, the department stores were closing and so I ended up wandering the streets for a shop to be opened... and I FOUND it!!! :D But my shopping itch wasn't satisfied... so I treated myself to a little something sweet :D

I'm not sure what this is.. but I think it's Japanese pudding with yummy fruits and a thin layer of cake at the bottom. It was MmmMmMmm delicious!!! ^_^






Unfortunately, I was unable to take a picture of how beautiful it was to be on the 22nd floor of the Asahi building because of the rain and reflection of the glass. But for anyone who ever plans on visiting Japan, you should definitely pay a visit to Sky Bar, located in the Asakusa area. It's like going to Panorama without paying the Panorama price for drinks and the view of Japan is so much prettier than Toronto.

Day 1 ended with more drinks at Tokyo 23 Bar, where we got our free drinks for staying at Khaosan Hostel. The bar wasn't anything too impressive, but it was fun just take shots with my "birthday buddy" haha... we're not even the same horoscope!

FYI, in Japan, NOTHING is 24 hours, well, except certain convenient stores such as AM/PM, 7/11 and Lawsons. When a McD says 24 hours, it means that it closes at the 24th hour (midnight). SCAMMERS!






hmmm... looks like details of Day2 will have to wait until tomorrow. It's 2 a.m. over here and I have some brats to take care of tomorrow. Until then.... *meow*

Registered Alien with a NEW Sexy Phone! :D

I'm officially a REGISTERED ALIEN!!!! Thanks Japan for identifying me as an alien!

But being an alien is great because it allowed me to pick up my NEW sexy phone!!!


923SH

• 3.3" Widescreen VGA LCD - I can watch Japanese TV
  
• 5.2 Megapixel Camera
• Digital TV (One Seg)
• Media Player
• microSDHC™ Memory Card (sold separately)*⁴
• Bar (QR) Code Reader - coolest thing EVER!!!! I can scan barcodes!!!!
  
• Bluetooth^®
• IrDA
• Simple Mode
• PC Site Browser
• Global Roaming Service
• 3G High Speed
• PC Mail
• Graphic Mail
• Chaku-Uta Full^®/Chaku-Uta^®
• E-Comics
• S! Appli
• S! Music Connect
• S! Information Channel
• S! Quick News
• Customized Screen
• S! Town
• S! Friend's Status
• S! Circle Talk
• Video Call*⁵
• S! FeliCa (Mobile Suica)
• S! GPS NAVI - now I won't get lost as often :D
  
• S! Familiar Usability
• S! Addressbook Back-up (SAB)

It's an absolute beauty :D

You can email me at irene.fung@softbank.ne.jp
It's like a SMS for me! :D

Hospitable count: 3

So you've all read about the first hospitable story - entire family walks me home.



After this experience, I finally learned my way home from school! My school is situated across the street from Belc Supermarket (ベルク ｽｰﾊﾟｰ, pronouced b-ru-ku su-pa-), which most people know about. My second hospitable count occurred the weekend before this past weekend when I was lost and wandering the streets after a Japanese conversational class. I wandered up to a stranger and asked "ベルク ｽｰﾊﾟｰ はどこですか？” (Where's Belc Supermarket? - B-ru-ku su-pa- wa, doko desu ka?). And just like last time, I didn't understand what she said after I asked. haha... So guess what? Yep! She rode her bike with me to Belc!

Yesterday was even more interesting. After work, I decided to wander the streets of Kumagaa for some sort of community centre (don't know if those exist here) to take some yoga lessons to stay active and meet people. My manager told me it was around this huge karaoke bar. Now, who thinks I got lost trying to get to the karaoke bar??? Well, HA! you're wrong!!! i found the karaoke bar just fine, and along the way I found this really cool chinese restaurant that I must try. Now I can take whoever visits me to karaoke and chinese food! lol

Back to the story, since getting there wasn't the issues, of course looking for my centre was a HUGE issue. I really need to practice reading my katakana. I rode my bike for about 10 minutes around the area looking for a building that could look like a community centre, but found no luck. I resort to asking strangers on the street. I asked a few people if they understood English and then I even started doing yoga positions for them to explain yoga and they just stared at me weirdly and told me to ask the gas station attendant. lol. I almost gave up when I rode past a building that looks a place where I can take cooking lessons. While standing infront of this building trying to decipher a board full of kanji and hiragana, I saw a woman walk by and thought, "what the heck. Last one. If she doesn't speak English, I give up and I'll just ask my manager tomorrow."

So I approached her and asked if she spoke English. SHE SAID YESSSSSSSSS!!!! I got so excited I started talking to her in my regular excited pace (for those who don't know what that sounds like... it's REALLY fast). Poor girl looked SO confused!!! I slowed down my pace and tried to explain community centre, yoga, meet people, learn japanese. She didn't know what a community centre was or of any nearby place to take yoga, so she couldn't help me. She asked if I was chinese, and when I said yes, she started talking to me mandarin. errrr... you should've seen the confused look on my face and my terrible attempt to tell her I don't speak mandarin! lol well we spoke for a good 1/2 hour - 1 hour and she gave me her phone number and might be enroling her 5 year-old daughter into my school for English classes. :D (making a new friend and business, how wonderful is that?) Well, as always, this story ends with me in a lost situation and she ends up walking with me to Belc! :D

I hope I don't ever run out of lifelines to meet wonderfully nice people who'll always take me home! :D

Talk about crazzzzzzy

This entry isn't a personal experience but one of my friends whom I met during training. While I'm experiencing all the sugar and everything nice of Japan, he seems to be getting.... well, you'll see after reading this.

The story of the week:

Crazy StoriesRound 2
Place: My Apartment
ComplexTime: 9:15 a.m., this morning
Scenario: Craziness

My doorbell rings, jarring me out of a sound sleep and out of the arms of one Ms. Jennifer Garner. My first thought: "Aww hell, I overslept...now my crazy manager is going to dine on my face." Surprise surprise, I look at the clock and see that I still have 3 hours before I have to be at work. Well who the hell would be at my door then?

Groggy and confused I open the door in my boxers. But let me tell you, nothing breaks that haze faster than seeing 7 men in blue uniforms and masks standing outside your door screaming in Japanese. They point down the corridor to my neighbour's door 20 feet away and after a completely useless interchange in Japanese, one man runs up and makes "get your shoes" and "get downstairs" gestures. At this point things seem important, so I just run back in to grab some pants and bolt downstairs, coming across 7 more uniformed men running in the opposite direction. At the bottom of my apartment, in the street, there are at least 10 more uniformed figures, all in masks, a fire truck and an ambulance. As they usher me into a nearby building, I see the other tenants fleeing the building, barely dressed and all wearing the same expression of confusion and concern.

Shortly after, a police car arrives, carrying four police officers in Kevlar vests...and after that another truck with 5 men...all in full yellow hazmat suits. Just one of those days I wished I had paid more attention in Japanese class. Thank goodness that two of the JTs live in my apartment, and soon one comes hastily into the adjacent building.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Your neighbour committed suicide"

"Huh." pretty much all I could muster at that point.

After a brief silent interlude.

"So why are they evacuating the building?"

"They think she used a very dangerous chemical, and they can't get into the room where she opened the container"

"Right."

At this point, the JT is noticably shaking, while the rest of the room is coated in a preternatural silence. Tiana comes down after about 15 minutes, somehow managing to sleep through the noise and officials banging on her door.

We wait for an hour and a half, eventually finding out that the girl didn't make it and that it may be just gas that she used...but they're not sure. They urge us to open our windows and to call the ambulance service if we feel the slightest bit sick.

By the time they clear the apartment, it's 45 minutes before I have to be at work. I bathe, dress and rush down...just in time to see the parents as they get the news from the police. It was one of the most heart wrenching things I have seen in a while. They looked so reserved and stoic for a second...then the mother just collapsed into a heap in the street, bawling and crying while the father just stared into nothingness.

I gotta say, I could really use this weekend out of my city.

---------

I don't know if any of my stories can ever top this one.

How's the weather? It's raining, it's raining tonight

A little song I sing to my students to teach them the weather:

How's the weather?
It's raining
How's the weather?
It's raining
How's the weather?
It's raining, it's raining today!!!

Maybe someday I'll make a video of me teaching this song! :)

As random as I am, there's a reason why I started this blog with this song... it's because it's... guess what? raining outside and I'm stuck at home on a Sunday night! :( I know that doesn't sound too terrible, but Sunday and Monday are my days off so it's a huge bummer! Time to go shopping for some RAIN BOOTS! :D

On a happy note, I attended a baking class today and made this:

1. sponge cake

2. Dressed with fresh cream, kiwis, cherries, and peaches

3. Final product - a trifle cake ^_^

My first embarassing moment

こんばんは！(konbanwa) - Good evening!

It's an absolutely beautiful evening in Kumagaya (26 degrees), which is why I'm planning to get lost in my little town tonight. But before I leave for my little adventure, I thought I would share my first embarassing moment... well, aside from CONSTANTLY getting lost, my first REAL embarassing moment.

Ever since I arrived in Kumagaya, I've become a little less afraid of spiders because they're EVERYWHERE! But there was this one spider crawling around my school haunting me all day at school. In the morning, it was hanging from the ceiling infront of my classroom. In the afternoon, it was crawling on the wall behind me distracting my students. And finally, in the evening, during my second last class, I noticed my student wasn't paying attention to me anymore. I turned to look at what she might be looking at, and there it was... the same spider from this morning hanging 2 inches away from my face!!! I couldn't have bounced out of my chair any faster or screeched any higher and louder!

Now, guess what my student did next. Well, of course she laughed at me (who wouldn't?), but what was unbelievable was she grabbed the web the spider was hanging from and threw the spider out the window! It was the coolest yet weirdest thing I've ever seen. Grabbing the web and not using a tissue or cup to catch the spider... oh Japanese people, how you make me fall in love with you more and more each day... <3>

Next weekend... TOKYO HERE I COME!!!!

A sweet gift... 岡山桃

Story of the week:

Before coming to Japan, I swore to myself one of the things I must try is a Japanese peach. Sadly, I didn't do enough research to find out WHERE the best peaches were grown and I almost missed out on trying the BEST peach in Japan!

During the week of training in Okayama, I saw these beautiful peaches that were ridiculously overpriced! (11 000 YEN for 6). I was warned that everything, especially fruits, were expensive in Japan, so I didn't think anything of it. Since I didn't have any lugguage space, I thought I could buy peaches in Kumagaya of the same quality. When I arrived in Kumagaya, the first thing I asked my Manager to do with me was to go to the supermarket to buy some peaches! :D I explained to her my love for peaches and how expensive the peaches in Okayama were. And this is when she told me...

Okayama grows the best fruits in Japan because they have the perfect weather to cultivate fruits.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~

Okayama is 5 hours away and travelling domestically is VERY expensive in Japan. I'd be spending $400 just to buy some peaches... how insane does that sound?

Well luckily, and when I say LUCKILY, I can't emphasize the LUCK enough, the last day of training after the after-dinner-party, I met some locals (remember from the first entry). I kept in touch with a couple of them because I carried the camera that took the group photo of that evening. So in the midst of our email conversations, I told one of them how disappointed I was when I found out Okayama has the best peaches and I didn't take advantage of the chance to buy and try one. He quickly offered to look for it and mail it to me.

Look what I got in the mail.....

kekeke... I LOVE JAPAN!!!!

Pictures are posted

First couple of days in Okayama
http://picasaweb.google.com/ifung84/TrainingInOkayama?authkey=fDj7M0tG6hk#

Training after-party
http://picasaweb.google.com/ifung84/LastDaysOfTraining?authkey=5gNyQW-wDwQ#

First of many blogs

こんいちわ！！

日本に来てから、二週間になります。素晴らしい所ですねえ と ここで、何もかも楽しんでいます！今まで、岡山と熊谷え行きました。

So to translate... Hello!!

I've been in Japan for 2 weeks. It's a wonderful place and I've really been enjoying it here. I've been to Okayama and Kumagaya.

Impressive eh? hehe... wouldn't it be great if I could write an entire blog in Japanese? I think that's going to be ONE of my MANY goals this year while I'm in Japan! :D

For all the curious cats out there, here's a summary of a little bit of my "adventure" here in Japan! :D

A little taste of Okayama (岡山).

This is where I spent my first week of Japan and also where training was taken place! Fancy huh? hehe... I'm just kidding. Training was taken place in Okayama, but not in this castle.

This is the Okayama castle, popularly known as "Crow Castle." It's situated right across from the very popular and beautiful Korankuen Garden.

Aside from these beautiful scenaries, training was a lot tougher than I had expected. I was basically thrown into a Japanese cram course without knowing it. But when it was all over, it was definitely worth it! The after-party...

We had dinner at a traditional Japanese restaurant and OMG is all I can say about their food. Everything, and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING, tastes amazing!!! A simple salad from this restaurant tasted like it was from heaven. *drools* just thinking about the food.


After dinner, we randomly met a group of local Okayama-ers? and we hung out with them. Althought we just finished dinner, they invited us to their dinner to have some drinks with them and then offered to take us out to the nightclub afterwards! They were so hospitable!




Wonderful little Kumagaya (熊谷)

Kumagaya is the little town that I'm living in. Now, where do I even begin to explain how happy I am to be living in this town? First of all, unlike all the horror stories of living in a closet, I live in a 2 bedroom (and not Japanese closet bedrooms, we're talking about full-size bedrooms) WITH closets, ktichen, living room, bathroom and fully furnished apartment. Second, I have the best location to teach. My manager is the sweetest person and most helpful manager ever. I had the best trainer to shadow for my first week here. My kids are all really bright and easy to work with (with a couple of exceptions). I live 5 minutes away from work, there's a mall 15 minutes away, and I'm an hour away from Tokyo by train (1100YEN = $11).

Now the story of last week:

The first couple of days, my manager would pick me up and drive me home from work because she was worried I would get lost. (how sweet is that?) By the 4th day, I decided I should become a little more independent and find my way home. I hopped onto my little red bike that my manager gave me, and rode home from school. I had written directions, and I had a drawn map from my manager, yet somehow, with my great sense of direction, I was still able to get lost. It was late, dark, and I was scared. Luckily, one of the first phrases I learned to say is "______ wa, doko desu ka?" (Where is ________?) I saw some guy riding his bike, and I stopped him, showed him my address and asked if he knew where it was. Guess what? Knowing how to ask the question is useless when you can't understand the answer!!! So, the universal language is BODY LANGUAGE! He motioned me to follow him, and so I did! I ended up following him home and waited outside his house for him. Now, you won't even be able to GUESS what happened next because it would NEVER happen in Toronto.

His little son, daughter and wife all came out, riding their little bikes and took me home!!! Talk about a living in a great neighbourhood! :D I LOVE JAPAN!

Pictures of my wonderful trip will be posted soon. Until then, I miss you all at home and keep me posted with Toronto stories please!!!

XOXO