Back by popular demand
Well, since the last entry, you could say I have been very busy, but then at the same time, if you are busy, there often isn't a lot of time to do stuff worth writing about.
In otherwords, this month is a case of one-day weekends, until next weekend, when it is payback time. I have been swapping shifts, and therefore have five days off in a row, in order to go to Hiroshima.
My last entry was just before Krysta's (final) leaving party. The party was quite fun, heaps of people came to say good-bye to her, so it was a good time to catch up with people and hang out.
The next day was Sunday. I had my Japanese lesson, although lucky for me, my teacher asked to defer it until the afternoon so he could observe his shed being constructed. After my lesson, I guess I wasted the rest of the afternoon reading and writing emails. When I ventured home, I went via the supermarket in the arcade, and worked out that it is a bit cheaper than the one in the mall. Anyhow I stocked up on some food, and went home and cooked a batch of teas for the week.
That Monday night I had to work, in return for the Friday I had had off a few weeks ago. It wasn't so bad, as it was only the evening, not the whole day. Still it screws with your mental clock.
Sometime that week I went for a bit of an explore, on my bike after work, as I was tired of not having a proper perspective of the nearby environs. Anyhow I found the big park I had been told about, and worked out how to find the nearby stations (suburbs).
The following night, I went with Lee on a bike ride to the flat where he was moving to. It wasn't so far, and also good to get that into perspective too. The place where he was moving was quite nice, it is in a huge apartment building (as in long), and is out of the CBD, so it is a lot quieter. The view from the top floor (of course I had to check it out!) was cool, especially as a night view. The apartment itself was cool too, the kitchen was separated from the lounge by a breakfast bar (or counter, if you are North American LOL) and slightly bigger. The best thing of course is the fact that it would also be significantly cheaper.
The following Friday, Lee moved out. Our apartment is back to optimal capacity I think. It is too crowded when there is 3 people, especially kitchen-wise.
On the Saturday a whole group of us teachers went to Nagoya for a Beer Garden. It was held on top of a building, across from the Nagoya station - if you look at the photos of Nagoya at night, from December, it's the building with the Vodafone sign on it. It was pretty good - it was all you can eat and drink, and you just filled up your own glass from the vending machine things (like at BK), and there was cooked food, as well as food that you could cook on your own BBQ thing on your table. The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that the gang was there in Nagoya, instead of the same old haunts of Yokkaichi. When I came home, I got a text from a friend, asking me to have some drinks with them, so me and Kevin went and had a couple with them.
The next day was Sunday. Japanese lesson at 10. Then I did things that needed doing, such as dishes, washing, ironing, and shopping. I decided I may as well get out some videos to watch while I was ironing, so I got out Mr & Mrs Smith, and Into the Blue. That night Anandia and I went and visited the people who we had met at the Chinese restaurant that time, and gave them some souvenirs. Straight after that, I went to the station, to meet some other teachers, so we could go and play Futsal (basically indoor soccer, on a half field, on rubber grass). That was pretty cool. I only remembered once I got there, that I hadn't really played soccer since I was at primary school (or elementary school LOL).
Monday I had to work, as a shift swap. The hardest thing was it was a 10am start. Anyway, I made it OK, and the day was reasonably easy. I cooked some more dinners, and later on, when Kevin came home, we decided to have a beer somewhere, walked around town looking for somewhere that was open, and finally settled for an Italian place with a big screen.
Tuesday, after work, the gang went out to celebrate one of the teachers birthday's. That was quite good too, as we had 500yen drinks, and no silly sitting fees.
Wednesday Michelle and Raj (the Australians who came not long after me, just before Mark left) came back from Australia. So Michelle (who I work with - although usually once a week at this rate, as we are scheduled all over the place) and I had station beer and caught up. Following that, we decided to see how to get to their place from my place, based on what I had discovered the other night (of where the other stations were). Anyway, I hung at their place for a while, and Raj gave me a copy of a programme he has written to learn Japanese. It is awesome, and really useful. Recently I have tried to learn Hiragana, as I had somehow neglected to. Anyhow, on top of the bit of study I had done, I've now pretty much mastered hirgana. Next is katakana - which will be useful, maybe more than hiragana, as all the foreign words are written in katakana.
Anyway, this week has been a slow case of getting my washing, ironing, and dishes up-to-date. Plans for this weekend include a party on Saturday night, listening to a speech by a Canadian guy on Sunday, and maybe lunch somewhere. Monday I have to work in the evening at Tsushima for a shift-swap. Unfortunately it will waste a lot of my day just getting there. Anyway, come Wednesday next week, I'll be enjoying Universal Studios, Himeiji castle, and Hiroshima.
In otherwords, this month is a case of one-day weekends, until next weekend, when it is payback time. I have been swapping shifts, and therefore have five days off in a row, in order to go to Hiroshima.
My last entry was just before Krysta's (final) leaving party. The party was quite fun, heaps of people came to say good-bye to her, so it was a good time to catch up with people and hang out.
The next day was Sunday. I had my Japanese lesson, although lucky for me, my teacher asked to defer it until the afternoon so he could observe his shed being constructed. After my lesson, I guess I wasted the rest of the afternoon reading and writing emails. When I ventured home, I went via the supermarket in the arcade, and worked out that it is a bit cheaper than the one in the mall. Anyhow I stocked up on some food, and went home and cooked a batch of teas for the week.
That Monday night I had to work, in return for the Friday I had had off a few weeks ago. It wasn't so bad, as it was only the evening, not the whole day. Still it screws with your mental clock.
Sometime that week I went for a bit of an explore, on my bike after work, as I was tired of not having a proper perspective of the nearby environs. Anyhow I found the big park I had been told about, and worked out how to find the nearby stations (suburbs).
The following night, I went with Lee on a bike ride to the flat where he was moving to. It wasn't so far, and also good to get that into perspective too. The place where he was moving was quite nice, it is in a huge apartment building (as in long), and is out of the CBD, so it is a lot quieter. The view from the top floor (of course I had to check it out!) was cool, especially as a night view. The apartment itself was cool too, the kitchen was separated from the lounge by a breakfast bar (or counter, if you are North American LOL) and slightly bigger. The best thing of course is the fact that it would also be significantly cheaper.
The following Friday, Lee moved out. Our apartment is back to optimal capacity I think. It is too crowded when there is 3 people, especially kitchen-wise.
On the Saturday a whole group of us teachers went to Nagoya for a Beer Garden. It was held on top of a building, across from the Nagoya station - if you look at the photos of Nagoya at night, from December, it's the building with the Vodafone sign on it. It was pretty good - it was all you can eat and drink, and you just filled up your own glass from the vending machine things (like at BK), and there was cooked food, as well as food that you could cook on your own BBQ thing on your table. The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that the gang was there in Nagoya, instead of the same old haunts of Yokkaichi. When I came home, I got a text from a friend, asking me to have some drinks with them, so me and Kevin went and had a couple with them.
The next day was Sunday. Japanese lesson at 10. Then I did things that needed doing, such as dishes, washing, ironing, and shopping. I decided I may as well get out some videos to watch while I was ironing, so I got out Mr & Mrs Smith, and Into the Blue. That night Anandia and I went and visited the people who we had met at the Chinese restaurant that time, and gave them some souvenirs. Straight after that, I went to the station, to meet some other teachers, so we could go and play Futsal (basically indoor soccer, on a half field, on rubber grass). That was pretty cool. I only remembered once I got there, that I hadn't really played soccer since I was at primary school (or elementary school LOL).
Monday I had to work, as a shift swap. The hardest thing was it was a 10am start. Anyway, I made it OK, and the day was reasonably easy. I cooked some more dinners, and later on, when Kevin came home, we decided to have a beer somewhere, walked around town looking for somewhere that was open, and finally settled for an Italian place with a big screen.
Tuesday, after work, the gang went out to celebrate one of the teachers birthday's. That was quite good too, as we had 500yen drinks, and no silly sitting fees.
Wednesday Michelle and Raj (the Australians who came not long after me, just before Mark left) came back from Australia. So Michelle (who I work with - although usually once a week at this rate, as we are scheduled all over the place) and I had station beer and caught up. Following that, we decided to see how to get to their place from my place, based on what I had discovered the other night (of where the other stations were). Anyway, I hung at their place for a while, and Raj gave me a copy of a programme he has written to learn Japanese. It is awesome, and really useful. Recently I have tried to learn Hiragana, as I had somehow neglected to. Anyhow, on top of the bit of study I had done, I've now pretty much mastered hirgana. Next is katakana - which will be useful, maybe more than hiragana, as all the foreign words are written in katakana.
Anyway, this week has been a slow case of getting my washing, ironing, and dishes up-to-date. Plans for this weekend include a party on Saturday night, listening to a speech by a Canadian guy on Sunday, and maybe lunch somewhere. Monday I have to work in the evening at Tsushima for a shift-swap. Unfortunately it will waste a lot of my day just getting there. Anyway, come Wednesday next week, I'll be enjoying Universal Studios, Himeiji castle, and Hiroshima.
posted by J T at
6:22 pm
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