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