March 14 - 21

Hey everyone. It's been a crazy week in Japan since the earthquake. As most of you know, there has been a lot of talk about the power plants, especially Fukushima, melting down. Many foreigners have left Japan and returned to their home countries, while many Japanese people have fled the area to Osaka and even Sasebo. Many wives and children are seeking temporary refuge with family members who live far away from the quake spots. Meanwhile, the husbands must continue to work and they are fighting through the lack of public transportation to do so everyday. Some people are walking to work in Tokyo from Chiba prefecture. That's like if someone walked from Nassau county to Manhattan everyday to work. I give the people of Japan an incredible amount of credit because they are still waiting on line at the grocery stores, helping others when they can, and focusing on cleaning up the damage as quickly as possible. In the meantime in Southern and Southwestern Japan, in order to avoid a major depression, everyone in the companies is trying even harder to make up for the damage done to the businesses in Tokyo. It's also great to see the Americans stationed here helping out as well. The local naval base has dispatched some ships and have sent servicemen to help with the recovery. This is just another reason why I respect Japanese society.

This week in Sasebo English school has been busy as well. March is the month of prospective students. The school semester in Japan begin in April and ends in Mid Winter. Most people make their "New Years resolutions" in April, so its a good time to recruit new students. My duty as the foreign teacher is to do a quick interview with the prospective by making small chat to sort of gauge their level as well as make them comfortable with me. After the talk, I report to my manager the level I think the student is capable of and she recommends the classes to the prospective. This week we had 5 prospectives and 3 signed up and 2 are doing trial lessons. It's very important to get the prospectives to sign up because a large amount of our school's monthly revenue is based off how many new students we bring in.

It's nice to see new faces in the school to kind of keep things fresh. It's also nice to see faces I'm not so fond of leave. I had to kick two students out of the class on Thursday because they breached the threshold. They were warned, in Japanese, by the head teacher before class. They still did not want to cooperate and during class they started to take all the paper money, magnets, dice, and markers and play with them around the room. When asked to return them into my hand, the students thought it would be a good idea to throw them. As mentioned, reprimanding a Japanese child in English is as if a Filipino curses at a Canadian in Tagalog. It means nothing to them, so I had to kick them out of the class in front of their mothers. After class, my head teacher spoke with the mothers and the students apologized. I really want to teach them, and I really want them to enjoy my class, but when I'm not being respected, it's not going to work. 

On Wednesday, I finally signed up for a cell phone. With the assistance of my coworker, I went to Softbank (the Verizon of Japan) with about $350 cash. I had no intentions of buying anything more expensive than that. The next thing I know, I am asking my coworker to borrow some money because I wanted to buy the iPhone for $460. I guess some things never go as planned, but the great thing is that I can Skype anyone from almost anywhere at all times of day. It really does make life in Japan incredibly easier having a smartphone. I do recommend buying one if anyone plans to live here. I also gave out my email to some of my higher level students because I know they have so much desire to become fluent in English. I only see them once a week and I want to help in any way I can, so I'm willing to answer any questions they may have during the week.

This weekend was nice because for Saturday students it was the last lesson of the semester. This means that many students who are not returning to the school give sweets to the teachers. It's standard tradition in Japan to give a small gift like sweets to a neighbor, teacher, or anyone else when meeting them for the first time and when leaving them. We received some amazing pastries and chocolates! It was great. The old foreign teacher was also in town before he returned to Australia, so I grabbed a drink with him and another teacher after work. 

Life outside of work is really starting to take a turn for the better. Since I got my iPhone, I am able to not only talk with friends from home, but I can actually make friends here and save their numbers. For example, I can chat with the new friends I made at the soccer field last week. The gym has been progressively getting better too. I started going at night to see if I could meet some younger people. At first everyone sort of avoided me because I am in fact the blue guy (remember blue guy from two posts ago?). Once they saw one of their own talking to me and saw that I can speak some Japanese and I won't eat them, many people started talking with me. It's funny because at first I befriended one guy and one girl employee at the gym. Perhaps people saw me and inquired to the employees about me because everyone in the gym now knows my name. It's as if I'm a celebrity; I'll be talking to the employee and this random guy approaches me and says in Japanese, "Hi Michael, you have a nice chest." Extremely flattering and unexpected at the same time. I also can't help but notice in my peripherals eyes watching me when I work out. Ironically, the next time I return to the gym the body of those eyes is doing the same exercise I did the other day! But now that I'm gradually being accepted in the gym, the girls especially become a lot more approachable.

On that note, if you want to meet girls in Japan there are two options. GENERALLY speaking, there is always the bar life where you can try to meet girls who want guys to look at them and meet guys who try to pretend they're tough. Sure those girls may be quite friendly after you buy them 3 drinks, but they're usually not people you stay in contact with in the future. The other approach can be through a group. For example, you can meet a guy (whether it be at a bar or work or the gym) and befriend him. This guy will introduce to his guy and girl friends and you can go out with them and socialize together. These types of girls tend to be a little bit more traditional in the sense that you need to show that you are a good person before they start hanging out with you alone. Either way is fine depending on your lifestyle, but I personally prefer the latter. At the least, you can be friends with the girl, and that's fine too. The other approach to me is more of an all-or-nothing instant gratification approach. I'm not to judge what others' do, bar life is just not my forte.

Monday was another great day for meeting people. I went to the soccer field to train alone for a little bit and I started chatting with some random Japanese guy. Apparently he is a professional sprinter and used to play soccer at a high level too. We trained together for a while and as I was taking a break I started to talk with an American guy who was watching us play. Turns out he's from Woodside in Queens and has been in the service for 27 years. He's lived in Japan for about 10 months and loves it here. Once he heard that I was affiliated with a Japanese company and not the naval base (which means I am not allowed to access the naval base premises) he gave me his email and told me he will try to help me get an access card. This is great because the naval base not only has a lot of Americans, but has a few American food stores, liquor stores, and a really nice basketball court and workout facility. Although I came to Japan to experience Japanese culture, having a little taste of America at such a convenience may be a beautiful option. 

Overall, each week living in Japan is better than the last. My Japanese is gradually improving, but still needs a lot of work. As the weather gets nicer, it will be even easier to be more active and meet new people. As most can agree, having an enjoyable life outside work can be a nice outlet to the energy consuming job. Thank you again for reading my thoughts. Unfortunately when they came to my house to install the internet, they could not gain access to the roof because it was a holiday. So I had to reschedule for another two weeks from now! But the iPhone will keep me sane for the time being. Take care everyone!