Pictures! part 7

Miroku closed on a Saturday night?! We do not approve!

Welcome to Universal Studio's Japan!

Ayumi, say cheese!

Kanami, hai chi-zu! (say cheese)

There wasn't a giant T-Rex trying to eat us at the top, but that drop was still really scary!

But then I found the T-Rex and made him my friend.

Preparing to release the zombies! I'm in the Resident Evil movies!

The spider man ride all kinds of blew my mind!

Staying behind a zombie so he doesn't see me and attack.

But then this one came up behind me, and he def saw me!

Kanami, Me, Ayumi, and Koiji on our way out of the park.

Same line up, going into the spider man ride!

Happy Halloween!

The wait is how long?!!

Kanami and I going into the park.

Ayumi and I coming out of the park.

I just can't wrap my brain around it...

This job, being an English teacher, is my first REAL job. I've had many part time jobs in my short life (mostly working retail) and they have for the most part been for very little pay. I've also always been paid at an hourly rate. Working part time, coupled with low pay, and having to feed/cloth/transport myself for the past few years means I was pretty much always strapped for cash. I always put stuff away in savings (but then I would always spend that on something big) and lived as cheaply as possible.

That has all changed now. I'm not rich by any means, and I still find myself low on funds at the end of each month, but my life (as far as money and how i spend it) are concerned are completely different. Never before in my life have I been able to go out every weekend and have dinner with friends with the money I earned. I do this every weekend now, both Saturday and Sunday night. Dinner followed by drinks. That $80 that I drop now without having to worry would have set me back for months just four months ago. Instead of wondering if I will have money for groceries AND gas after paying my student loans, I pay all my bills here in Japan, send money home to pay my student loans, and then put some away in savings as well. And after all that I still have the money for groceries, going out twice a week, and random excursions. It blows my mind how different things are. I am extremely grateful to have a full time job, but also extremely grateful to have lived the other side of things for so long. I am able to prioritize my spending, save, and be frugal, while still having fun!

That's the weird thing though... I still have the perpetually broke college student mindset. I count and re-count the money in my wallet. Check and re-check the funds in my bank accounts. While I have never written down an official budget, I am always making one and repeating them to myself in my head. "I will only spend x amount on groceries and x amount on dinner tonight so that I can save for x." It's like a mantra. Its only been three months... I'll probably get used to it and not worry so much about money.

This little brain fart isn't really a problem at all except for at work. I've always worked hourly jobs. I was only paid from when I clocked in to when I clocked out. Now I am a salaried worker, but at work we still clock in and out. Logically I know that this information isn't used to affect my paycheck, but almost on principle I treat it as such. When I come into work, I work clock in until I've st my stuff down and am ready to start working. Inversely, two days a week I am the first teacher to come in and I have to start the computer and wait for it. On those days I just stand there and wait for the computer. i could start pulling out my lesson plans and getting together supplies, but that's work. And I haven't clocked in yet! Its even worse at lunch. I'm used to clocking out and then rushing through my 30 min to get food and eat and get back to work, or getting a full hour on occasion and loving the extra time to do nothing. I have an hour lunch break with Amity. Briana will eat her food and go right back to work. The JTs only get 30 min, so they often do the same. Me? I finish eating after about 10 min (because I am a ridiculously fast eater) and then sit and dick around on my iPhone for 40-50 min. Why? Because my lunch break is an hour! That's an hour I'm not getting paid! Its not actually like that... and in a Japanese work environment you always start early and leave late. But I really can't make my brain understand. So I sit there on my phone while everyone else is eating/working. Manager hasn't complained, I am within my rights, but I still feel bad. Bad enough to stop? Not yet... not while I still have this mentality.

Moving on... this past week at work was largely uneventful. The first two days were non set classes days. Meaning I had no standard lessons, just random students coming in for make-up lessons. I didnt have many of those so I had a lot of free time. I made some Halloween decorations and some much needed flashcards since its the beginning of a new term. There was an annoying amount of coloring, cutting, gluing, and taping going on. Since we had those two days though, until November (I think) the beginning of our loop week starts on Thursday (the middle of the week, since I start on Tuesdays). The loop week is how Amity keeps track of the lesson plans we are supposed to teach. Every week the different age levels that I teach have specific pages from their repective textbooks that they are supposed to learn. When I started the loop week started on Saturday, which was a little confusing since the last day of my work week was the first day of a new lesson plan week. Then it was fixed and Tuesday began both the work week and the loop week. But now I have to start on Thursdays (and have three students that actually start on Wednesday instead). Its such a headache to try and keep things straight this way. But I am managing to still keep a week ahead in my lesson planning. So... that's good.

Anywhoo, on Wednesday we all went out to the clinic for a check-up on the company. Nice, right? During my eye exam i got my directions a little screwed up (saying up, but pointing/meaning down) and taking the hearing test is a claustrophobia test as well, haha. The worst part, though, was taking the chest x-ray. I was told to take off my bra and come out in just my shirt. I'm already unhappy because I hate being bra-less. Then when I come out he sees my cami and realizes that that is also inappropriate for the xray machine so he disappears in the back room and come back with a random white t-shirt from who knows where and tells me to put it on instead. Now I feel really uncomfortable in no bra and a strange shirt. Then he pushes me up against this machine to take the x-ray. I get as close to it as was comfortable, but that apparently wasn't close enough cuz he kept pushing me even closer. Not a fun experience. But I left with a clean bill of health! Even lost 10 lbs in the last three months. All that bike riding a good Japanese food. Still waiting for the results from the urine sample and chest x-ray, but I'm sure I'm fine. Next month we are all going out for flu shots (on Amity!).

This weekend wasn't anything too crazy. Dinner with Briana and my new friend Jarrett. Then we tried to go to Miroku, but it was closed becasue the manager was attending a wedding. So we went to another bar called Wave and all the foriegn guys came and joined us. Fun times were had. Sunday Briana and I got our Miroku fix, and it was a night of just us, the bartenders, and two friends. It was like out own little private party and we all had a nice time. Briana was feeling down, which started a big of a hug fest (which is a big deal in Japan because they don't usually affectionately touch each other, ever, not even exaggerating). So that was fun. Monday I went with one of my JTs, Kanami, to Universal Studio's Japan (USJ) in Osaka (about 2 hours away on the train) for Halloween Horror Nights. We met up with Ayumi and her non-boyfriend boyfriend, and Stephen (my co-trainee from Kobe) there. Briana had to sit it out because she randomly came down with a bug, poor thing. Stephen also invited a lot of his friends, so we ended up splitting up. But it was a really fun trip with lots of waiting... but rides that made it all worth it! Pics to come later...

matta ne!
～寒

Ogaki Matsuri

So remember all those baby classes I was worrying about? Lots of tears and productiveness  Lots of trying to stretch for time and keep the child entertained. But thankfully, little to no awkwardness. I can do this! I think these classes will become 2nd nature, like the others after not too long. Meh... babies.

Now on to the fun stuff! This past Sunday there was a large festival on the main street in front of the station. I met up with Miki and Satomi (two of my co-workers) and we went together. The day before had been really overcast and cool, so I went out in a cami and light sweater. Tell me why that day it had to be hot as hell. Ugh. I few times I ended up taking my jacket off so as to not get heat stroke. Clothing fail. The worst past is on work days I always check the weather forecast (even though I'm inside all day). Then on the weekend when it actually matters I do nothing. Brilliant.

The festival was really fun though!!! It started with a parade of all children representing the different extracurricular activities they do. There were various sports teams, martial arts groups, bands, dancers, etc. It was really cute and really fun. I kept looking for students of mine, but I didn't see any. Miki and Satomi saw a bunch though.

left: boy scouts! I missed the girl scouts, took out my camera too slowly   >_<

The parade ended with a bunch of adults in full samurai gear. The stood at the bridge and did some formations and shot off old fashioned guns. It was pretty sweet. After all that we walked up and down the festival grounds and grabbed food and drinks from the various booths. I had chijimi from the Korean place (I'm crazy for that stuff, and the staff at the resteraunt know Briana and I now, haha), Satomi got a hot dog on a stick, and Miki had a potato croquet. We sat on the curb back at the bridge and ate our food and watched  a couple taiko performances. Which I of course freaked out about. The first one was a group of kids who were really cute. The 2nd was a group of epic old men. 

Then the omikoshi parade started. Omikoshi are these big floats that are carried on the shoulders by large groups of men. They have an entourage that follows them with water to splash on them and large fans to cool them, and LOTS of beer to keep them all very very drunk. One of the floats was being carried by a bunch of my friends Japanese and foreign. It was cool to see them having so much fun and working so hard, haha. Well first there was a group of kids carrying mini omikoshi. That was adorable. Then the adults started. They went around the parade route like four or five times and it was a HOT day! They told me afterwards that it was really tiring and that they had really sore shoulders afterwards. 

left: I know like... half of the guys carrying that thing
right: on of my students is in there somewhere!

After watching them make a full circuit, we decided to beat the heat and went inside the station for a bit. On the way there I ran into my high school student, it was nice to see her outside of class. I also saw two of my students carrying the mini omikoshi, they were really cute! Inside the station I ran into two more students, brothers. The younger one is one of my favorites, by far. Oh! And I ran into another favorite of mine on the street while watching the omikoshi go by. After we rested we went back outside and headed to Ogaki castle for the final event of the festival. They were throwing mochi (rice candy) from stands. Everyone gathered around and tied to catch them in the air, and then would scramble to pick up the rest from the ground. I thought it was going to be all fun and games, but these people were VICIOUS. People of all ages throwing elbows, pushing, and trampling to get as many of the candies as possible. I didn't get a single one. It was insane. Pretty entertaining to watch, though. 

After that the festival was over, so Miki and Satomi and I headed back to my place and I made tacos while we watched the third x-men movie. It was really fun, and the first time I've entertained guests at my place! Then they left for home and I went to meet up with the foreign guys at the karaoke bar near Briana's place. The foreign guys were shocked because I knew everyone who was in there. That's what happens when you are a regular! We sang for a bit and generally had a good time, and I made a new friend! But then I felt that itch to go to Miroku, and so I did. My friend Hiro accompanied me. The foreign guys ended up coming by about an hour later. It was a fun night all in all.

left: me with Miki    right: me with Satomi

left: OJ (american) and Ronan (irish) rock out
right: Marcel (canadian) and Jamie (english) belt it out

me and my new bestie, Jarrett (american) in our first picture together!

This week at work is going to be kinda slow. We have two working days, which means no classes. I have two make up lessons one day and three the next. The rest is free time. I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself... Make props I guess. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are all going to the hospital together for a health check. Kinda glad for it because I've been sick three times in three months and pretty much have a perpetual cough. What up with that, Japan?!

And next weekend we are going to halloween horror nights at universal studios osaka! I'm really looking forward to it!

matta ne!

～寒

Three Day Weekend in Kyoto

So two weeks ago we had a Saturday off for some reason... Briana and I decided to celebrate the three day weekend by heading off to Kyoto!

Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan, and is the place to go if you are really into traditional Japanese culture. It has shrines and temples everywhere! The city is really beautiful, and the mix of the modern and the traditional is really impressive. It's a great city and its only about an hour/hour thirty from Ogaki!

Saturday afternoon we headed in and stopped by the tourist information booth to figure out what we should do first. Briana wanted to go to the Bamboo forest so we asked about that. It is at Arashi Yama, so we were off to the mountain side! We wandered around lost for a little bit trying to find that bamboo forest once we actually got there, but it was really nice. We walked around and took some cool pictures. The small village we wandered through on the way down the mountain was really cool as well.

Once we got back to Kyoto proper one of my co-trainees Derek met up with us. We all took a cab to Gion, a popular district in Kyoto where all the good shopping and night life is located, and where the the hostel we were staying in was. We checked in and dropped off our bags and then went to go have a late lunch/early dinner. We found this AMAZING indian food place. Delicious! Then the three of us headed to the Fushimi Inari Shrine where we met up with another co-trainee of mine, Abby. This shrine is the only one that's open at night. Its actually better at night. Its a shrine at the base of a small mountain and behind it is a path that goes all the way up and around the mountain. The path is completely covered in red torii gates. Torii are the wooden arches you go under when you enter a shrine or temple. It was really pretty, and kind of surreal. The torii were crawling with spiders. It was really creepy. But you walk up the path, climb some stairs, and every so often there would be a little landing with a mini shrine, or several mini shrines. Then you climb some more. Mini shrine. Climb some more. We didn't do the whole climb. We got to a scenic outlook of Kyoto, took some pictures, and then went back down. It was about an hour all in all and were were dead tired and sweaty after it was all said and done.

Once we got back to Gion we decided to go drinking by the river. There were a lot locals lined up and down the river drinking and talking and laughing. It looked like the thing to do, lol. So we hit up a convenience store, grabbed some tall boys, and went to sit on a sand bar. We played a drinking game called Kings Cup to pass the time. Suddenly the heavens opened up and we ran to shelter under a bridge. Also trapped under the bridge were a bunch of European biophysicists in Japan on business. We chatted it up with them for a while, and when the rain died down, we all decided to go to a bar together.  We eventually found a cool place with good music and lots of space (a rarity in Japan). It was a fun night of talking, beers, dancing, and magic tricks (true story!). Yay for single serving friends! Trying to get home that night in the rain was a nightmare. We got turned around and went the wrong way down this major street. We didn't have umbrellas... Briana and I just decided to take a cab back, even though it wasn't that far.

The next morning Briana and I headed out to Kiyomizu temple. We were supposed to meet Ayumi there, but she ended up over sleeping. So we shopped around for souvenirs and drank at a really cute cafe to hide from the rain. Once the rain passed we went into Kiyomizu temple. Breathtaking! If you can only go to one place in Kyoto, go here. After we went and met up with Ayumi back in Gion and went shopping. We ran into Abby on four separate occasions while shopping, and Kyoto is by no means a small city. The fourth time Abby decided to stick with us. Later Derek caught up with us as well and we all went to dinner. We wanted a traditional Kyoto meal, which led to us going into a random interested and ordering a 4 course meal that we had no idea what it consisted of. Mine was delicious! Briana and Abby ended up with whole grilled fish, which was quite a shock to them, it was hilarious.

After dinner we went for a few hours of karaoke. Good times! Karaoke is always good times. Then Ayumi took us to a bar where all the drinks were $3. So we taught her how to play King's Cup and ended up playing two rounds. Really funny. Ayumi caught on really quick for not speaking any English. Way to be, Ayumi chan! We left that bar and wandered around Gion for a bit looking for our next place. Ayumi called someone and got a suggestion, and we ended up at a Nepalese themed bar. It was really cool. A nice relaxed atmosphere. At this point it was about 3 am and we were all falling asleep though, so we only had two drinks before heading home.

Early the next morning Briana and I met up with Ayumi and her "he's not my boyfriend" boy friend whose name I can't remember. They took us to Kinkakuji, the golden pavilion. It is really pretty, but there isn't much to it after you've gone "oooh, gold!" So we left there pretty quickly and went to Ginkakuji, the silver pavilion. The pavilion itself isn't as impressive, but the rock garden and scenery around that area is breath-taking. Its my favorite tourist destination in Kyoto. I bought a few souvenirs from there, I didn't get any anywhere else. After it was time to say good bye and head back to Kyoto Station where we caught the train back home to Ogaki.

It was a really fun filled adventurous weekend! Woo!

~寒

Pictures! Part 6

Bright and early on the train to Kyoto! From Ogaki its only an hour and a half ride.

We've arrived at Kyoto Station!

Trying to be mysterious in the bamboo forest of Arashi Yama (Mt. Arashi).

Gorgeous.

Can I live here?

We got passed up by a line of rickshaw drivers (pullers?) on our way down the mountain.

Inari temple, the only one that is open at night, and actually looks much cooler then.

Here come Abby and Derek...

We climbed the mountain through thousands upon thousands of torii gates.

Hot and sweaty, we finally made it to the scenic outlook.

Strangest torii gate ever calls for strange photos!

And so we took a lot of them!

At the entrance to Kiyomuzu Temple. 

Looking out down the mountain as others approach the temple.

The view of the cleansing station below from the to of Kiyomizu.

Kiyomizu temple.

I'm too cool to look into the camera.

The view of Kiyomizu Temple from the cleansing station below.

We found Ayumi and went out shopping!

Traditional Kyoto dinner. I had tofu and vegetables in a milky broth. It was delicious.

Then the gang went to karaoke!

And soon after we hit up a bar.

While exploring for our next bar we discovered this really funny sign. 

And then I found a sign Welcoming me to the Afro bar!

Briana and I at the Golden Pavilion.

With Ayumi.

Our guides for the weekend. Ayumi and her "he's not my boyfriend!" boyfriend.

I still can't believe I took this photo, its so gorgeous.

The rock garden at the Silver Pavilion.

The Silver Pavilion. More modest, but more beautiful for it, imo.

That rock garden is so meticulously perfect. 

The Silver Pavilion from behind. 

The Silver Pavilion from above. My last look at Kyoto before leaving for the weekend.

matta ne!

～寒