Two weeks ago I went on a mini four day vacation to Tokyo. It was my 2nd time getting to the big city int he six months that I've lived here. I really wish I could go more often. Its so good to see old friends.
Anyways, I took a night bus up on the night of the 2nd, arriving ridiculously early in Shinjuku on the 3rd. From there I hopped on the train to my host family's place, just outside of Ikebukuro. It was so early in the morning that I was up before the sun. I got to the station and Asuka (the friend I was staying with) wasn't there yet. But I remembered the way to her apartment, even though it had been over a year since I had been there. So I started walking and about half way she rode up to me on her bike. It was really good to see her again!!! We got back to the apartment and I said hi to Yumi, my host mom and handed her my new years/thank you gifts. Then I promptly went to sleep.
After I woke up (at a decent hour of the morning) I got to greet Hiro kun (host dad) and Daichi (lil brother). Then I headed out for lunch in Asakusa. I was supposed to be meeting my friend Moeko, but she called me to let me know that she was gonna be late. The awkward thing was she had another friend visiting Tokyo as well, but they weren't from Japan, so they didn't have cell phone and Moeko had no way to let them know she would be late. So I was sent a picture and their names and sent to Asakusa to find them and show them around until Moeko showed up. This is easier said than done, Asakusa is already a huge tourist destination and is already always crowded. But its also the new year and Japanese people flock to shrines at the beginning of a new year. What's the main attraction in Asakusa? Kaminarimon, the giant lantern temple! It was madness. There was no free movement, you just went with the flow of the crowd. It was that packed.
The next day I went out for lunch again, this time with two of my friends my the choir club I was in, Atsuko and Makiko. I hadn't seen Makiko since I left Sophia almost three years ago, it was really nice to see her again! We had lunch, then took some purikura and finally just ended up chatting at a cafe to get out of the cold and get caught up.
After lunch I caught up with Asuka and we went out to Odaiba to do some shopping. I really love the island of Odaiba simply because its so lively and so pretty. There was a relatively new shopping mall there, so we walked the whole thing. H&M was having a massive sale, it was awesome! On our way back home we stopped by a cafe to see another friend (while she was at work). We made plans for the two of them to come visit me here in Ogaki and mid February. I'm super excited about that!
The next day I woke up and no one was home. Everyone was at work. I made myself breakfast and sat down to watch some TV. Around 11 Hiro kun came home and was very surprised to find me there alone, haha. He probably felt awkward. But we chatted a little and then watched TV together. It was super cute. Later I met up with a co-trainee, Bethany and took her to meet up with Asuka and another old Sophia friend, Noel. We ate at a restaurant that I frequented back when I went to school there for lunch. This trip was full of all kinds of nostalgia. Then we went and walked around Sophia its self for a bit. Ah.... good times! After that we headed to harajuku because, why not? We walked about and did a little window shopping.
Noel and Bethany had to head out, and Asuka and I went to the hospital to visit jiijii (grandpa). It was good to see them again (last time I was on vacation in Tokyo I had met baabaa and jiijii on our trip to Mt Fuji) and we chatted for a bit. JiiJii is doing just fine, he had only over exerted himself a bit. After leaving the hospital I split from Asuka and went to Shinjuku to meet up with Nao. We had an amazing (and amazingly fatty) dinner and Wolfgang Puck and caught up and generally talked about extremely nerdy stuff. Then she had to get home and I met up with Haga. We went and had a few drinks at one of our old haunts (well, my old haunt, still his current haunt). Before I knew it, it was really late and I needed to get back to the station to catch the last train back to Asuka's place.
It was a very fun and much needed trip!
Now on to work stuff... I had a bit of a tiff with Manager over my new hair. She doesn't find it professional, and wants me to wear it in a high ponytail at all times. I think that that is unfair considering my co-net has long hair and that is not required of her. We came to a compromise, and I talked to a trainer about how upset I was. She helped me to put thing in perspective and I plan to have a talk with manager sometime this week. Outside of that though, it was a big hit with all of my students and parents. I even had students and parents that were not mine coming up to talk to me about it. Outside of work all my friends got a kick out of it too. Guess I should have done this sooner, huh?
This past week at work I had my six month evaluation. Overall it went pretty well. My score was actually a couple points lower than my three month eval, which had me a little sad. But I know what I need to work on, and I will try my best to do so. Manager asked me if I want to renew and stay another year, and you know what.... I do. So sometime in the near future I will be receiving a new contract. That really excites me, I'm not ready to head home yet! But I will definitely have to come by for a visit sometime.
With the new year some of my students in some of my classes have gotten shifted around, and its thrown off the dynamic in the classroom. I'm still working on fixing that... There is always something, right? I also have a new student that is not handling Amity classes very well. He throws a tantrum every class. I'm running out of ideas of how to get him to open up and have fun, and I feel a lot of pressure to get through to him. I know he can do it, because I've seen him do it (when his grandmother was bringing him to class, with mom he refuses to do anything at all). He is only about 3, and honestly I am not the best with this age group. I'll try my best! Inversely, I had a wonderful new student who is an adult. We did a seminar lesson and he enjoyed it so much he signed up to take a class with me. It my last class of the day and of the work week and it is a wonderful way to wrap up with week. We just get to chat, mostly. Its fun.
And now my blog is all caught up! Lets hope I can keep it this way.... haha.
まったね！
～寒
