6 month Recovery, Back to Business

It's here: the insomnia inducing, breath-taking, soul shaking, culture shocking adventure has returned from a longer than anticipated hiatus! Ok, on a more serious note, I apologize for the wait because I would have loved to update as much as possible, but due to an unexpected increase in work at the school, and time preparing to come home, and a bunch of other useless reasons, I never got around to posting. But enough of that, let's move on shall we? 

Ok, so since the last post, 6 months ago I believe, I hope everyone has been doing well and enjoying life. As for me, due to the lack of posts for the past few months, I decided it might be best to separate this post into two separate entries. The main reason being I don't want to bore you with a 30 paragraph thesis about my "unique" experience. Part 1 and Part 2 shall be purely constructed for the entertainment of anyone who reads it and to hopefully intrigue any of those to explore unchartered territories of their choice. Part 1 will consist of a story telling aspect, whereas I would like to express my opinion in Part 2. I'll also separate the story into parts so you can pick up or scan through any part at your leisure. 

1. November/December work, Oita, Tokyo Wedding/Reunion, Kansai Trip 

Winter came, with a sudden drop (more than expected) in temperature and lots of wind. November and December are the busiest months of the year because it's prime time to start resigning kids students for next April's semester. Along with that, we launched a Self-Study Campaign in order to promote more self study outside of class, allow students to see the material from a different perspective, and also to avoid any sort of plateau in their learning experience. Without a head teacher, assistant manager, kid's head teacher, it proved to be a difficult task for not only myself, but more importantly my manager. Between classes, during free time, or during counseling weeks (no classes during counseling week) I counseled the adult students and ask/recommended what kind of extra material they would like to try or may be interested in. It was a really good experience for myself as I was able to test my business skills and also see how much the students trusted me until this point. I had about 50 adult students total, and a successful campaign would be at least a 40% sign up rate. Fortunately, myself and my coworkers did really well with this and the kids sign up and we were able to overachieve our goal as well as make our bonus for the month. My buddy, who also works for the same company and from the States (Cali) got number one in Kyushu, so congratulations to him. However, I was really fortunate to receive Teacher of the Month for November. 

What was the bonus you say? 

Money? Nope. 

An extra day off? Not quite. 

Free meal? Getting warmer. 

A pen with your name written on it?  You betcha.

In November, soon after I started dating this girl, we went on a day trip to Yufuin in Oita prefecture. Oita is well known for its two hot spring-thriving towns, Yufuin and Beppu. Yufuin is a rather small, Nordic-like village, about 3 hours away from Sasebo, in the Northeast region of Kyushu. It's a great place for a day, or weekend trip with the family or as a couple. There are numerous stalls with different kinds of foods, such as giant takoyaki, cakes, cookies, yakiniku, yakitori, and so on. I recommend stopping by there to enjoy the hot springs and food, although it may be a bit pricey. There is even a nice footbath at the train station. I also made a return to Oita on Christmas day to visit some friends and play golf. From there my journey continued to Kansai area. For your leisure, check out this map for a more convenient view. (Nagasaki is #27, Oita is #30, which are pretty far away from Tokyo and Osaka).

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=map+prefectures+japan&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=lIVBmP9sR1VsJM:&imgrefurl=http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php%3Faz%3Dview_all%26address%3D439x611924&docid=VHPvRG2X3S4KjM&imgurl=http://jenninjapan.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/prefectures.gif&w=497&h=533&ei=igR8T-TvKuqimQWl3OXVCw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=404&vpy=4&dur=546&hovh=233&hovw=217&tx=120&ty=87&sig=105720401156394662349&page=1&tbnh=119&tbnw=111&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:73&biw=1280&bih=604

In December I was invited to attend one of my ex-coworker's wedding in Tokyo. It was a really great experience to see a wedding in Japan. The wedding was a bit of a mix between Japanese and Western styles, in which the ceremony was performed in a chapel, with the bride in a white dress and the priest reading the same verses that are heard from the bible back home. After the ceremony, the bride changed into a different dress for the party, and numerous speeches were done in honor of the bride and groom. Later, the bride changed into a kimono and they and their parents made speeches to everyone. It appeared to be a lot of work for the bride and groom, I suppose compared to my brother's wedding, where the bride and groom stayed in one outfit and were less mobile during the celebrations. Also, there was no wild dance party for 2 hours with a hip hop DJ like back home.

One wonderful thing about that weekend was the reunion with my buddy and his girlfriend from Stony Brook. The night before the wedding we met up, had some T.G.I. Fridays (I never thought I would crave it as much as I did) with half off drinks, then went to a real club with a real DJ. Unfortunately, people in Sasebo call the dimly lit Mexican Restaurant that stayed open 2 hours later than normal (until 12am) with a DJ spinning under Christmas lights a club, but most people have never been outside of Sasebo. It was so great to see them again and catch up and it really made me appreciate all the good friends that have stayed close, regardless of the physical distance between us. 

During the Christmas holiday I had 2 weeks off to celebrate anywhere I desired. Although Australia was high on the places to go list, my friend and I decided to take a trip to Kansai area. Ok, so real quick, there are 47 prefectures in Japan, which are pretty much similar to the states in the US. These prefectures, depending on their location, are collectively labeled as regions (just the like US's Northeast, Midwest, South, West). Tokyo lies within the Kanto region. Nagasaki, and all the other prefectures in Kyushu lie within the Kyushu region. WIthin Kansai there are a few large cities: Osaka (3rd largest), Kyoto (6th), Kobe(5th), Nara (55th) are all within a 5-10$ train ride from one another. Kansai, specifically Osaka, is notorious for having an interesting, or some call entertaining, dialect. Along with that, people in Osaka tend to be recognized as more outspoken, laid-back (which sometimes gets negatively associated with lazy), and easy-going. Compared to other cities in Japan, it has a pretty high pollution rate, I believe more than Tokyo. Kind of like how LA is so well known like NY, but is smaller and has more pollution. But nonetheless, these so-called faults, put a nice spin on the city, and adds to the uniqueness and makes the traveling more enjoyable. We decided to make Osaka our home base and go on various side trips to the other cities during the day. 

Osaka is also well-known for its food. Even a program on the Food Network was recorded in Osaka and the host traveled around trying various dishes such as takoyaki, okonomiyaki, whale sushi, horse sashimi, chicken neck, and various other delicious, but appalling sounding, dishes within the city. My buddy was under the assumption that Osaka would be covered with okonomiyakis on the streets, hanging from the signs, flying out of buildings, and so on. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit different, with less delicious okonomiyaki that tasted like they were cooked on the street. 

In regards to the hotel, we decided to prioritize price, not location or presentation. Perhaps a SLIGHT bit of research would have helped. The hotel was just off the freeway, located in a rather odd part of the city. As the woman of the "hotel" handed us the key she casually said, "The front doors are locked after 8PM." "Excuse me, did you say 8PM?" In a more casual tone, "Because it's dangerous outside." DUH

You know, besides the whole don't go outside after dark, blood stained carpets, custom made shampoo bottles with "ShAmPU" written on them, screaming from the next room over, outdoor hallways, elevator with a mysterious unattended bag of what appeared to be clothes, heater that screeched for 20min until warming up, smoke stained walls,  people knocking on my wall in the middle of the night, it did come fully equipped with a mini kitchen and came at a fantastic price. 

Ok, so the first night we decided to get invincibly drunk with a bottle of Crown Royal (as depicted in one of the pictures on the street on FB) and let our superpowers lead us to some fun places. Apparently the place to go for a good time of drinking, socializing, dancing, in Osaka is Dotonbori. It was especially intriguing because whenever we asked a police officer for directions, he gave us this sly smirk, like a (^-^) kind of face. So anyway, we teleported to Dotonbori and found ourselves in the streets asking every guy with a menu for a delicious takoyaki/okonomiyaki place. Before entering one place I made him promise to me that it would be delicious, and he didn't let us down. After eating, we asked him if he knew any good places for drinking, and he personally walked us all the way to the place. We went to the 3rd floor of the building, with the 1st and 2nd being part of the club, and somehow managed to sit in like a VIP area. We ordered some of the cheapest drinks and nibbled on some cheese and crackers whilst the group next to us was pouring champagne on one another and eating sushi rolls. My buddy pulled one of the girls aside and started talking to her and little before we knew it 4 girls were at our table giving my friend a chest rub while he laughed like a millionaire with his arms around them (this was after we finished our complimentary juice boxes). After we left the club, I was ready to head back but my buddy was on a mission and invited these 2 random girls on the street to get drinks with us and surprisingly they accepted. As mentioned previously, most places to go at night and drink/eat are izakayas. They usually have a pretty good deal, pay 30$ and you get unlimited drinks and sometimes food included for at least a 3 hour limit. As predicted, the night ended with laughs and enjoyment, and the next day begin with a headache. 

The next day was a trip to some of the main attractions in Osaka, such as Osaka Castle, the Skygarden observatory, and some shopping malls. While shopping, we had a rather unexpected experience when I was looking for new boxers. I honestly just needed a new pair of boxers, and I was unaware of my size in centimeters. So I figured I would ask the store clerk if he could measure my waist. As I approached him with a "foreigner friendly" smile with my traveling "partner" I asked the guy which underwear would better suit my body. First of all, he looked at me like he didn't speak Japanese. Then after I repeated myself and asked how many centimeters my waist is, he slowly looked me in the eyes, turned his head sideways, and made a sound like when you burn your finger on the stove or touch really hot water, "ssssss", then unwillingly took my measurements. I was wondering what his problem was, but after reanalyzing the situation with my buddy, it probably didn't seem like the most masculine thing to do. But what was even more astounding was when we went to the next floor to buy deodorant. You know when you see a really attractive person, in my case a girl, and you're subconsciously in a bit of a lull because of some sort of attractive feature on their face? Maybe even go to the extent of getting a bit shy with them when they start talking to you, like "teehee" shy. Well, I got a full blown taste of it from the cashier, as HE rung me up. 

Eventually our bromance had reached its limits and we called our girlfriends and asked them if they wanted to join us. Luckily they both hopped on the next plane and met us in Osaka the next morning. Before my girlfriend arrived, we took a day trip to Nara. Nara is one of the older cities in Japan, and is quite rural. It is particularly known for its park flourishing with deer, giant Buddha statue, and a few other not so interesting things. It's a nice place to visit if you have it on your checklist, but if you have seen a deer before, and heard of the word Buddhism before, then it's probably not worth coming all the way to Japan for. But it was kind of weird being trolled by the deer everywhere. I swear I heard one of them say, "Deeerrr coookieee."

The following 2 days were spent in Osaka with the ladies, going to the really great aquarium they have, out for Indian food (which is really good in Japan), Chinese dumplings, and going to the parks. On New Years Eve, we went to Gion in Kyoto, which is a notorious gathering place for people on NYE to ring the shrine bell, throw coins and pray for good luck, and eat different foods from various food stalls. NYE and Christmas in Japan are celebrated almost in opposite fashion to America. Christmas in the US tends to be a day with the family, exchanging presents, eating food, and you know, family stuff. NYE in Japan runs along the same path. All of my students told me they spent NYE with their families eating traditional food like osechi. Many people say that NYE and Obon (summertime) are two times in the year where they can meet other family members they don't see too often. For us, NYE is of course celebrated by many people with their families, but it is more of a party day with friends, drinking, counting down, and wearing ridiculous sunglasses. Christmas in Japan felt a little different. There are of course the lights and some decorations, but by no means the extent of some wild American blow up Santa Claus on a motorcycle riding along side the Eli Manning blow up. I don't intend to speak for the opinion of anyone besides my own, but perhaps because Christmas is a foreign brought tradition, it lacked the sentiment and feel of a real holiday that I felt during Obon, Children's day, and Golden Week. In a way, it prided me of our over spending for others, above and beyond light shows, giant snowman decorations staged on our lawns... After this experience, I'm willing to bet that most countries don't invest as much enthusiasm and money in the way we do on our Christmas holiday. 

THANKS FOR READING…. MORE TO COME SOON

October Summary

Heyyyyooooo  hope everyone is doing well. This month was pretty interesting, to say the least.
At the end of this month I officially have 4 full months left on my contract then it's time to move on!
Weather in Kyushu is still hotter than NY; mid 70s, sunny, and relatively dry weather. The weather here is super extreme.
There are at least 5 seasons in Japan:
Winter (cold, snow here and there)
Spring (warm, mostly sunny, sakura and other flowers bloom)
Rainy (HOT,HUMID,RAIN)
Summer (as humid as Rainy Season, without the rain) but hot as HELL everyday)
Fall (warmer than Spring, fall colors change)

*With a little bit of flooding, tsunami's, earthquakes, volcanoes in between.

Kyushu doesn't experience much earthquakes, nor too much flooding during the rainy season, but the southern part (Kagoshima) experiences ash showers from the nearby volcano and Kyushu tends to be more humid than Honshu (the big island).

You know, before coming here, I was free to choose almost any location to work in Japan. Since I had never been to the western part of Japan, I figured it would be a cool place to check out. Sasebo was the first offer I received, and as "advertised" my house was a 5min walk from the water, in the beautiful, warm prefecture of Nagasaki,  surrounded by numerous small islands. The thought that instantly came to mind when I looked at a map was, "Wow, giant tropical island! Can't go wrong with this!" ......well SOMEBODY didn't do their research. The so-called 5min walk to the water did in fact lead me to a waterfront, but not quite the image I had in mind. As I anxiously approached the waterfront with a beach ball in one hand and SPF Bronzer in the other, I started to hear a rather loud boat horn in the distance. I didn't think anything of it and continued on my jolly trot. Just when the words "Surfffsss Uhhhhhh.......... *****WAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUU*****" my voice faded into the depths of a battle ship's horn. Yea, I found water all right. Happened to be the same water the nuclear powered-supercarrier U.S. Ronald Reagan sailed in. NICE.

I have no intentions of complaining behind the anecdote, because it's been a solid 8 months here and for the most part I have been very pleased to live here. The town has a homey feel to it, it's easy to stay healthy, the people are fantastic and super friendly, and there are enough things to do to pass the time. There is a bit of a lack of nightlife here in regards to clubs, style, and music, but if you're a bar person, it's right for you. As a big drinking culture, it's quite easy to socialize at bars or izakaya, so it's not too hard to make friends wherever you go.

Last weekend I went to Fukuoka and met my friend to go out and get a little more than the Sasebo action. I got there late Saturday night and we headed straight over to my buddy's bar. His bar is always hoppin' at any hour of the night, and he serves great takoyaki along with decent priced drinks. As my friend and I were just getting settled in, we started talking with the group of people next to us. One thing led to another, and these ladies were pinching my friend's cheeks, telling her how cute she was, and asking for contact information. We hung out there for a while and eventually when it was time to head over to the club, I turned to one of the guys who I maybe spoke to for about an hour or so, and was like, "Hey do you want to come with us?" The guy paused for a second, and was like, "Yea! Let's go! I trust you." So we dropped money on the tab and the 3 of us headed to the club and danced and made friends with some Singaporean guy and his girlfriend. Afterwards we ate some delicious post workout champon, then headed back to the hotel for the night.

The next day we called the guy from last night and hung out with him all day in Fukuoka. We got Mexican food, went to two parks, did some shopping, and I oddly got selected out of the group of 3 of us to participate in this survey for a Japanese TV show. The survey was about how much men and women spend on average for a meal. I put about 10$ and made my little explanation why. The day ended great and I headed back to Sasebo.

Monday I climbed the mountain that I climbed the first week I got here in February and once more with Maro last April. Little did I know that the fall is the season of the GIANT WOOD SPIDERS (Image displayed here: http://www.richard-seaman.com/Insects/Japan/Spiders/GiantWood/ ) and snakes. This trail was nothing like it was 6 months ago; it had transformed into a jungle with literally spider webs everywhere. I just grabbed the biggest stick I could find and ran as fast as I could swinging the stick violently at the spider webs and screaming like a girl until I reached the summit. Thank god only the spirits of the woods saw me at probably my all time low. The view was well worth the journey, though.

2 weeks ago one of my kids student's father took me out for drinks. As an experienced Sasebo nightlife native, this guy knew what was up. Did rounds at about 5 different places and finished at a bar eating takoyaki half drunk. The evening after that our futsal team trained at the local gym and played about 7 or 8 10min games against another 2 teams.

In regards to the job, my head teacher left to get married at the beginning of the month. We had a going away party for her with about 25 students and myself and my manager made a little speech for her at the end. It's really a shame to see her go because she is one of the greatest individual's I've met here in Japan. She really helped me get settled into life in Japan. We still plan to remain friends in the future, and I look forward to hanging out with her and her really cool husband.  With the teaching, it's still enjoyable teaching students of all sizes and ages. Sometimes the kids can be a real pain in the ass, and sometimes the adults can too. But of course it's important to keep the emotions balanced and just remember that this experience won't last forever, so take full advantage of the time that's left.

The stories do no justice to the things that are observed and experienced daily, but anyone who has lived abroad can surely understand what I'm trying to express. If you have a place in mind, I suggest going there when the time is right for you.

Sorry, I always have to throw a cheesy motivational sentence in each blog, perhaps to prevent me from feeling sorry for myself after I click the "publish" button haha. I swear I'm having fun! lol...

I hope everyone is enjoying life back home or wherever you are! Take advantage of every moment : )
Speak to you guys soon. Thank you for following!

Special Lesson at School

Hey guys, we recently had "Special Lesson" week at our school, in which all the teachers were free to make up their own lessons and teach it in however manner they wanted to. My approach on the lesson was finding your own motivation and exposing it; particularly in English. In the lesson, I tried to touch on a couple things:

1. Basic differences between a "professionally written" article and an article written to a friend or family member. For example, the usage/lack of punctuations, full sentences, smiley faces, etc. when writing each one.

2. I also wanted the students to put their own thoughts and emotions at that time on to paper then hear themselves read it aloud to their partners. It may be easier at times to express yourself, particularly a random topic like "What's your motivation?", on paper than in words. So this exercise was targeted towards taking advantage of the diversity of English and expressing your true feelings through physical words and body language.

3. Carrying on a conversation, regardless of the personality of the person you're talking to. In this part, with the motivation topic in mind, I had the students work in timed intervals. One person said one thing they thought motivated them in one sentence. The other person had 3 minutes to ask as many questions about that reason (imagining the other person is extremely reserved). Then I switched partners and expanded it to 5-7 minute interval in which the students shared their own ideas reciprocally like a natural conversation. Then finally I had each person state their motivation in front of the group, to not only help with a public speaking voice, but to bring the conversation to a more group-like scenario.

4. And Most importantly, finding your own motivation. Sounds lame, but since it's my class and I had a free lesson, I figured why not be as lame as you can get and do a topic like motivation : ] .


It turned out to be really enjoyable, and hopefully the students enjoyed it as much as I did. For whatever time I have left here, I just want to help the students as much as possible. Let's face it, they see me once a week for an hour, then they're alone the rest of the week. It's obviously up to them how much they will progress in their studies, or life for that matter, but if I can say or do something that will spark their desire to take their minds to the next level, then that's what I'll aim for....

September 12

The summer is still here in Kyushu. Maybe after another month or so the temperature should gradually drop another 10 degrees, but for now it's still 90s and humid. Last month I received a one year extension offer to my contract, but I decided it's time to move on and start new things next year.
I only extended one month, so my last day working for my company is March 17, 2012. After that, I'm free, so to speak.

I've already passed the midpoint here, closing in on 7 months strong. The good thing is that it's a descent from the peak until the finish line. As long as I continue to try to make the best of my time and studies, it should be an enjoyable 6 months. The short term plans for now are taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) level 2 in December, my friend's wedding in Tokyo, and going to Thailand this Christmas/New Years. In regards to the JLPT, if I took it today, I might pass it, depending on what kind of questions and luck I have. So hopefully if I keep my studies straight for the next 3 months, I can fill in any missing holes in order to pass the exam.

An interesting article I read when I first came to Japan was a study based on Culture Shock. The process of Culture Shock is basically the adjustment of an individual living in a new culture. The symptoms can vary from over excitement, joy, fascination, to loneliness, isolation, and a "Why did I come here?" attitude. This study also had a Culture Shock timeline, which describes the state of emotions and feelings the person may have at each point in their living in this new culture. The timeline looks something like this:
         / \                                                               / \                        /
        /    \                                                           /      \                    /
1     /       \  2              ____3____                    /           \                /
     /           \              /                    \               /                \            /
    /              \          /                         \          /                     \        /
  /                  \     /                               \     /                          \    /
/                      \/                                     \/                               \/
                                                              4
      The first peak (1) consists of the initial "Honeymoon" period and then a sudden immersion of new problems such as housing, food, transportation etc (2). The plateau (3) comes after those initial everyday hardships are overcome and one starts to feel rather adjusted. The next drop (4) occurs when the individual has been away for a rather long period of time and has somewhat mastered the language, but cannot express themselves as well as they can in their native language. This is known as the "Mental Isolation" stage and frustrations begin to mount, which leads to a drop in self confidence. The study mentions that some people never successfully emerge from this stage.

Personally, I believe there are two major contributing factors to why some people can't get out of the "Mental Isolation" stage. The first is language. Anyone who has studied a foreign language knows that you reach numerous plateaus while studying, with each one becoming more difficult to overcome. This point in the Mental Isolation stage, may be the largest peak to climb in the language stage as well. This individual knows enough at this point to interact comfortably with native speakers, watch television shows and understand the overall meaning of each program, and pretty much confidently handle any sticky situation in which they may have faced before (ex. going to the doctor, receiving directions, conveying and gaining knowledge in confusing situations). However, for those who may not be satisfied with this point may begin to feel frustrated because they are "almost there"and every little word, nuance, phrase is taken with extreme consideration because they are the little steps they can build as they climb this mountain. Missed days of studying may feel like digressions, and new tactics or more time may have to be allotted in order to reach the next stage.

The language stage may run parallel with second point, social life. Just like the "new guy" in school, upon arriving to a new town can be very exciting not only for that individual, but for those living in that town. You are in fact quite different from the others and they are curious and want to know all about you. The initial attention may be overwhelming at first, but many new social buddies are made in a short period of time. As time progresses, the attention naturally decreases because you gradually become one of the norm. The 20 or 30 friends you had calling you every weekend to go out has now suddenly dropped to single digits. It's no more their fault than the individual's, because realistically it's just not possible to carry a job, take care of appointments, do one's own hobbies, and hang out with 30 people every week. Those single digit friends are now the friends who you are close enough with that you don't have to see each other every week. But then when that feeling of "I need to make new friends, make good use of my time here, find a nice girl etc." starts to creep in, it comes along with a feeling of "How do I approach these people?" In the beginning it was simple, just act yourself because you don't know how else to. The element of you being different will be enough for people to want to befriend you. But now it's not so simple. You've acquired knowledge and experience on the way things work in this culture. So what do you do? Do you try to act like one of the natives, although you are clearly not one of them? Or do you continue to play the "foreigner" card? With those knowing you have the experience in their culture, there may come a subconscious expectance that you are not naive to the ropes around here. The balance of the two may be key at this point, and those who can successfully balance the two will not only surpass those who are stuck in this situation, but it may excel them above the natives.

It's essential in how one can make use of their tools, and in this case it's knowledge, experience, and motivation. Used properly, these tools will not only create a masterpiece of a person, but a legendary story to come along with it.

Aug 16th

So I'm back with another post in store. The weather feels pretty similar to a NY subway, and isn't improving each day.

Today was the first day back to work after a glorious 9 day vacation for summer. Ironically after coming back from NY no more than 6 days later I had a full week off. Regardless, it was great to stay local for the week and actually get a nice taste of Japanese-only life. Before the vacation started, I was called into the office by my manager and head teacher. We had a quick discussion and they said they felt they wanted to offer me the maximum length contract extension for one more year at AEON. It was great to feel that my work hadn't gone unnoticed and they said I had the vacation to think about it and come back with an answer once I return.

Saturday night was the biggest festival in Sasebo, known as the Sasebo Seaside Festival. Near the train station, there were food stalls (remember yatai from Fukuoka?) making some real authentic foods for everyone to enjoy while the fireworks show was displayed. The yatai were making tacoyaki (fried octopus), yakitori(chicken), okonomiyaki(Japanese pancake), ramen, champon (noodles, seafood and soup) and a few other things. The fireworks show was great; they launched over 1 million fireworks.

From Sunday 7th to the following Saturday 14th it was just a continuous motion of going to the gym, soccer training and/or practicing golf during the day and going to izakayas and bars for drinks and food at night. Monday after training I met up with a friend and she introduced me to some of her friends and we chilled at a bar for the rest of the night. Somehow or another it turned into a English/Japanese quiz game on my friends IPad and I had to guess the meaning of the written kanji and they had to guess the meaning of my English words.

I played futsal on Tuesday evening at a local gym without ventilation; it kind of gave me the experience of living in a rainforest, 600% humidity and soaking wet, well from sweat not rain. Wednesday I played a full field match at the turf pitch near my house we won 11-2. It felt like playing against a bunch of children. In celebration, I grabbed some drinks with my boxer buddy and commiserated on how to find the best girlfriend and schemed a diabolical plan in order to help him make advances on one of the girls he likes in our class at AEON.

On Friday one of the older guys from Renaissance wanted to take me out for lunch because he is really rich and he can pay for two lunches. I was a little skeptical at first, but hey I guess you never find out someone's true intentions until you do some investigating. We grabbed lunch and he, for some odd reason, called the waitress over and was like, "Hey, this guy, he's my friend. " And started to talk about some of my attributes and all I could do was just sit there like a dog in a pet shop hoping she would take me home. Turns out the guy owns a few clothing websites online as well as owns two buildings in town; no big deal. We drove around in his BMW after lunch and as we were sitting down for some dessert at a bakery he showed me a picture of his daughter. I'm not sure what the clear meaning of it was, but he soon invited me to his house to have dinner with his family sometime. To be honest, if his daughter is going to be there too, then I'll show up with slicked back hair and a dozen roses bulging out of my leather jacket.

So Saturday night I stayed at my friend's house about 40min from my apartment because we were planning to go to Nagasaki on Sunday. I posted pictures of the kid's room a while back. He has his room loaded with weight lifting equipment. His family owns like 10-20 acres of land and his dad is growing rice on all of it just for hobby. I was shocked to see how much land only his dad takes care of while still doing a full time job. Sunday morning we lifted, then went to the same all-you-can-eat restaurant we went to a few months ago then went to Nagasaki city for the day.

This weekend was one of the biggest holidays of the year, known as Obon. It is a 3 day holiday, and the time depends on the region of Japan. Obon is a special holiday to honor deceased family members and their spirits. On the first day, the spirits return to the house, and all the relatives gather and eat food and enjoy time together. On the 3rd day, the spirits are prayed for and guided safely back to their homes in heaven. Nagasaki region has a special ritual, different from many places. Many people construct small boats and a source of transportation for the ancestor to take back when they return to heaven. These boats are let out to sea at nightfall. Sasebo and Nagasaki city are also notorious for fireworks during the last day of Obon. So people were parading the streets with shrines/boats of their ancestors and throwing fireworks all over in celebration. It was a reallllyyyy culture shocking experience to say the least.

Today I returned to work with my contract extension decision in mind. I made my final decision, and it will be to extend my contract. However, for various reasons, I will not be fully extending. I put in for an extension until March 10th 2012. After March 10th I will no longer be employeed at AEON, and I plan to stay in Japan for another month and a half or two months traveling, studying, and enjoying the culture and country before returning home.


That's all for now....... Talk to you soon folks! Thanks for the read!!!! : )

NY Wedding Weekend July 28-31

So here I am, before I know it, back in the Land of the Rising Sun. Thursday morning  at 5am (Japan time) I left Sasebo for a 2 hr bus ride to Fukuoka. From Fukuoka I took a 2 hr flight to Narita airport near Tokyo. From Narita I went directly to JFK 12 hrs. Due to the International Dateline I arrived in NY on Thursday morning at 11am; really weird.

Thursday was one of the strangest days, emotion-wise, I have ever felt. Partly due to the fact that I arrived in New York the same day and time that I left Japan, and partly because I knew this was going to be only a 3 day trip and I would disappear back to Japan in no time really put a skew on things. Looking out the window at the beautiful, stretched beaches of Long Island as the plane approached its landing instantly made me feel welcomed home. Within minutes I had my mom and dad in my arms, embracing their loving hug I last felt since February. 

The first point of destination was to get some good old American food; Subway! Just the ease of ordering a chicken breast footlong sub with double meat and the works was incredibly refreshing.  Next was to the doctor's office for a quick check-up. This was perhaps not the best idea considering there is always a guaranteed frustrating 1hr wait before seeing the doctor. For the first time while being in America, I felt a thorough culture shock. Whereas I'm used to being in a somewhat quiet hegemonic society with people who are of the same background, I was in a loud waiting room surrounded by white, black, spanish people of various shapes and sizes. For some reason I kept thinking, "Why is everyone talking so much?", and started to feel out of place. Of course America is unique for its blending of various cultures and races, but just seeing it in this perspective really made it clear how different it actually appears to a foreigner. 

The rest of Thursday was spent doing some errands, talking with my neighbor, and all the relatives who came to visit for the weekend. That night I went to my brother's (Chris) house to see his new apartment and we spent the night hanging out together before the wedding on Friday. 

Friday was the wedding day. As Chris and dad went to the wedding hall to drop off some equipment, they dropped me off at the mall. I don't know why but I was like a magnet for the random stalls in the mall. One lady made me try on about 20 pairs of sunglasses before I actually agreed to buying one. Another girl stopped me to ask me about the Dead Sea, I told her I knew all about it (which I don't) and she started to ask me all these questions in this pretend sexy voice in a strange accent. I figured I had some time to kill before Chris came back, so why not talk with the pretend sexy voice foreign girl. She washed my hands with this salt like stuff then put shea butter cream on my hands and let me tell you, my hands felt the cleanest they ever felt. 

"Now tell me, how beautiful do your hands feel?", she says. 

"Uh, great, I guess.", I replied. 

"Great? More like fantastic, wonderful, amazing!"  ^_^ 

"Sure. Amazing. They feel amazing."   T_T  "So my next question is, how much do they cost?"

"Normally they are $100, but today is special promotion." 

"Every day is a special promotion."

"Today is 60 dollars. "

"ooo sorry I only have 30 dollars on me. Actually 25, because I'm really hungry."

"Ok my friend," As she inches closer to my ear. "I will do something special for you today."

"Yea? Really? For me?", with an "excited" expression on my face.

"For you," She was practically chewing on my ear at this point. "40 dollars!" 

"I literally just said and showed you I have 30 dollars. I'll give you 25."

"I cannot do such a thing, that is too low my friend." 

"Thanks for the free hand wash, I'll  see ya later." And me and my freshly cleansed hands parted ways with her.

After the mall, my dad, Chris and I all got shaves at the barber. That was a pretty cool experience. Boris was a little rough with the razor and shaved parts of my skin off, but afterwards my face felt almost as good as my hands did. Moving on to the wedding, we arrived at the house, got dressed up and ready to go, and the limo picked up Chris, myself, and the other guys chosen for the wedding party and drove us to the church. We got to the church met with the deacon and he kept calling Chris "Vincent" for some reason. I didn't say anything because I thought since I missed the rehearsal, maybe that was like some code name given to him for the ceremony (I blame video games for my naivety on that). The ceremony itself was incredible. Christine (the bride) looked gorgeous. Everyone in the wedding party was so tense from excitement and nerves. As the best man, I came out with Christine's sister and stood next to my brother. When Christine walked down the aisle I almost lost it. Chris appeared to be holding strong, until I later found out that he was close to passing out at that moment. 

After the ceremony we went to Cedar beach to take some photos and from there went to the party at Lombardi's on the Sound in Port Jefferson with the other 120 guests. The cocktail hour consisted of 13 different stations, ranging from sushi bar, to mashed potato bar, to lamb stand, to eggplant parmesan. Of course there was a bar with an eagerly awaiting bartender ready to intoxicate all the guests. After cocktail hour, everyone moved into the main dining area for dinner. The wedding party did the self introductions and myself and Christine's sister did a choreographed spin as our names were called to enter.

Once everyone entered the hall, I was set to make my Best Man Speech. Before I could start, I was antagonized to speak Japanese, so I just said a simple, 『皆さん今晩は、今日は特別な日で、私の兄の結婚式です。結婚式に参加してくれて本当にありがとうございまいした。』"Good evening everyone, today is a special day, my older brother's wedding. Thank you very much for participating in the party." I then proceeded with my speech, which I may post a rough copy of on the blog. After the speech we indulged in a wonderful dinner and danced like maniacs for about 4 hours until the party was over. Within that dancing time, Chris played a song that he wrote for Christine with his guitar. It was really impressive that he played the song perfectly in front of a group of people that he actually knows. The party ended about 1230am and we returned to the house to relax and I gave my neighbor his birthday presents because Friday was also his birthday. 

Saturday was the last day in New York, so I made appoint to take full advantage of it. I met with one of my buddies for lunch, caught up with a few people on the phone, worked out at the house with my dog, and got ready for a big party night. That night I went to the club with 6 friends to see one of our favorite record labels.  The club was in the basement of the Hudson Hotel. So you walk in to the building, go to the left, show your ID, buy a ticket, and proceed down several flights of stairs into the basement. As you walk through the hallway, the wallpaper on the walls gradually disappears and become concrete graffiti filled. Then you walk through a door to the bar area. In this room you can hear the music, but not really sure where it's coming from. If you proceed to walk straight there is an opening and in the room next to the bar area is a HUGE open area which used to be a basketball court. It's filled with couches, lights, big screens, and a nice sized platform for the DJ and his entourage. The beats were wild, the dancing was crazy, the people were out of their minds. We left the part at about 530, returned home at roughly 630, and I packed up my stuff and got on a plane out of the country. 

What a weekend to say the LEAST. Now I must return to the real world for now, and teach my students with a new motivation. I didn't lose any time seeing my Tuesday students and while they proceeded to continue their daily tasks for the week before our next meeting, I flew across the world, went to a wedding, partied my face off and came back. I'm not sure if I will be able to face them the same way from here on out, but only time will tell. 

See you on the next post !

July 27

So today is the big day. The day has finally come when I need to pack for my return journey back to the States. My big bro's wedding is in 3 days and I'm flying 7000miles just to make sure I see it all happen with my very own eyes. I cannot express how exciting this is to experience such a memorable moment with my best friend, my big bro and his beautiful, soon-to-be wife, Christine. I wouldn't miss such an event for the world, because I'm literally conquering it just to return.

What lies ahead, only time will tell. But I foresee in the near future one of the greatest weekends that Japan may not ever be able to top.