Japan_Bound
Monday, February 28, 2005
One week 'till Tokyo!! . . .
Well, we finally booked our Shinkansen tickets last week, which means everything is truly official now. We're going in a week and absolutely can't can't can't wait! We're taking a morning bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo and will meet Sean, Tara, Ed and Sara(h?) there next Tuesday. It still feels pretty surreal considering how long I've wanted to ride a bullet train and go to Tokyo. All these lifelong wishes coming true is pretty overwhelming!
On a sad note, as many of you already know, both Jesse's Grandpa (Clemens) and my maternal Grandpa are in the hospital right now. I haven't received any news about Grandpa Clemens but I do know that my mom's dad isn't doing so well, so she flew to Ontario to be with him. It's very frustrating to be sooo far away when our family is going through such a rough time; I know there isn't really anything we can do, but being there to offer our love and support would be nice. I hope all of you, especially our Grandpas, know how much we love you and that you're in our thoughts and prayers.
(The following seems so trivial by comparison, but here it is anyway)
In other news, Jesse got his visa renewed until early September, it has been snowing here for the past few days, my cold is gone, Rusty is curled up beside me (he's here pretty much every night now), I came home to a candle-lit dinner with wine the other night (wonder what he did . . .), I really want all of you to be watching "Desperate Housewives" because it's the BEST show, apart from two VERY short thumbnails I've finally stopped biting my nails, we're back on our health kick and trying very hard to stick to it, Sean and Tara want to go to a bunch of onsens which means I have to start having panic attacks about going naked in public (and around Tara who is gorgeous and has the world's most perfect body), I've been singing for about an hour a day in prep for all those karaoke nights I'll be spending with Tara and Sara(h?) who are in a band and have amazing voices, I really love it here but can't wait to go home, we're going to a Sumo match next month, we're going to a Hanshin Tigers baseball match with Yumi and Natsue in April/May, and it's so cold in this house that I have to end this soon because my hands are beet red and so frozen that I'm barely managing to type.
There's one more thing I want to tell you about! Last week my boss called me to tell me that a hotel in the Osaka area called Nova looking for an English teacher to teach their employees. Anyway, long story short, he said I was the first one he thought of and wanted to know if I would be interested. I said yes, yes, yes!! so he's going to call me this week to give me more information and to set up an interview. The only hitch I'm anticipating is that we've already decided to leave at the end of August; if this company wants a long-term commitment I obviously won't be able to take the job. But I'm crossing my fingers that everything will work out in the end; not only would the extra money come in handy, but I'd really love the opportunity to try something new. I'm going to have to tell my boss when he calls tomorrow that we've decided to leave. I don't want to but it's only fair to give him enough notice.
Over and out!! (an abrupt ending, I know, but seriously, my hands are starting to hurt)
Well, we finally booked our Shinkansen tickets last week, which means everything is truly official now. We're going in a week and absolutely can't can't can't wait! We're taking a morning bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo and will meet Sean, Tara, Ed and Sara(h?) there next Tuesday. It still feels pretty surreal considering how long I've wanted to ride a bullet train and go to Tokyo. All these lifelong wishes coming true is pretty overwhelming!
On a sad note, as many of you already know, both Jesse's Grandpa (Clemens) and my maternal Grandpa are in the hospital right now. I haven't received any news about Grandpa Clemens but I do know that my mom's dad isn't doing so well, so she flew to Ontario to be with him. It's very frustrating to be sooo far away when our family is going through such a rough time; I know there isn't really anything we can do, but being there to offer our love and support would be nice. I hope all of you, especially our Grandpas, know how much we love you and that you're in our thoughts and prayers.
(The following seems so trivial by comparison, but here it is anyway)
In other news, Jesse got his visa renewed until early September, it has been snowing here for the past few days, my cold is gone, Rusty is curled up beside me (he's here pretty much every night now), I came home to a candle-lit dinner with wine the other night (wonder what he did . . .), I really want all of you to be watching "Desperate Housewives" because it's the BEST show, apart from two VERY short thumbnails I've finally stopped biting my nails, we're back on our health kick and trying very hard to stick to it, Sean and Tara want to go to a bunch of onsens which means I have to start having panic attacks about going naked in public (and around Tara who is gorgeous and has the world's most perfect body), I've been singing for about an hour a day in prep for all those karaoke nights I'll be spending with Tara and Sara(h?) who are in a band and have amazing voices, I really love it here but can't wait to go home, we're going to a Sumo match next month, we're going to a Hanshin Tigers baseball match with Yumi and Natsue in April/May, and it's so cold in this house that I have to end this soon because my hands are beet red and so frozen that I'm barely managing to type.
There's one more thing I want to tell you about! Last week my boss called me to tell me that a hotel in the Osaka area called Nova looking for an English teacher to teach their employees. Anyway, long story short, he said I was the first one he thought of and wanted to know if I would be interested. I said yes, yes, yes!! so he's going to call me this week to give me more information and to set up an interview. The only hitch I'm anticipating is that we've already decided to leave at the end of August; if this company wants a long-term commitment I obviously won't be able to take the job. But I'm crossing my fingers that everything will work out in the end; not only would the extra money come in handy, but I'd really love the opportunity to try something new. I'm going to have to tell my boss when he calls tomorrow that we've decided to leave. I don't want to but it's only fair to give him enough notice.
Over and out!! (an abrupt ending, I know, but seriously, my hands are starting to hurt)
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
For the love of Pete . . .
Yours truly is sick A-GAIN, hence the hiatus from blogging. This time it's a cold/fever/sniffles/sore throat jobbie and I'm not very impressed. Really ready to get the hell out of dodge and be healthy again.
Last Thursday Jess and I rode our bikes all over Kyoto ALL day; he had to go the Immigration office to renew his Working Holiday Visa so we decided to make a day of it and get some exercise (or rather, he suggested it and I stupidly said yes, not knowing I'd agreed to about 8 hours of bicycle riding). Needless to say, we got through the entire fiasco with mildly sore thighs and yours truly suffered a minor flesh wound when an errant pedestrian pushed me out of his way and I sliced my hand open on a ragged chunk of metal. Was not impressed about that either. We did find the Immigration office and should be receiving a note in the mail any day now telling us to go back and pick up his passport with a renewed visa inside. Crosses fingers, as current visa expires in 2 weeks and if it doesn't get extended for another 6 months Jess has to leave immediately. We also met some crazy American dude at the Immigration place about whom Jess made a very wise observation; Jess said this guy was the perfect example of what happens to foreign guys who've never had mojo with the ladies - they come here and miraculously find Japanese girlfriends, but would otherwise have no such luck at home. He was a nice enough guy but I doubt we'll be in much of a hurry to call him and make plans.
Sunday night was Natsue's birthday; Yumi and I were going to take her out for dinner but Yumi got sick so it ended up just being Natsue and I. I took her to that Thai restaurant in Umeda that we're always raving about and we had a great dinner. I think it was a good experience for Natsue because she often relies on Yumi to translate for her (Yumi's English is somewhat stronger); she did very well and between her English and my Japanese we got through the evening with relative ease. Natsue quit her English lessons at E.C.C. (Nova's rival) and I've offered to give her weekly lessons for free - she should be calling next week to arrange a time. I'm looking forward to it!
Monday I had to run my first teacher's meeting - I had to train all the teachers at my school to use the new text books Nova has recently published. I wasn't nervous at all and actually felt really calm and in charge. My GOD I've changed since coming here. Whenever I had to do oral presentations in Uni. I'd feel like puking for two weeks leading up to the dreaded day; it doesn't bother me one bit anymore. I'm soooooo greatful for that because it's one of the things I've always wished I could change about myself. Woo hoo for me and getting over a major phobia. Anyway, the meeting went well and I'm extremely pleased. YAY!!
Yesterday, Valentine's Day, there were roses and a hand-painted sign waiting for me. Jess went into the city and spent the night at Dom and Julia's (some British friends of ours) cause I was sick as a dog and just wanted to go to sleep. We ran into eachother this morning while I was on my bike heading for the station and he escorted me (despite the fact that he was looking a little worse for wear). Anyway, I'm sooo glad he's become such good friends with Dom because it gets him out of my hair for a few hours a week - ha ha!!
Tomorrow he's taking me out for dinner to belatedly celebrate since I'm now feeling a bit better, Thursday we're going to the travel center to book our Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Tokyo (just got my holidays ok'd today so we're good to go!), and on Friday I have to go in for TOEIC/TOEFL training. I'm not even upset about having to go in on my day off because I've been wanting this training since I got here. If I decide to teach E.S.L. in Canada this course is applicable as credits toward the Canadian TOEIC/TOEFL course which is apparently quite expensive.
That's about all she wrote. Take care. WE MISS U!!! I have to go now cause Jess just whipped up a batch of K.D. He's a genius with the K.D. - seriously. I refuse to make it anymore cause he does it so well.
Yours truly is sick A-GAIN, hence the hiatus from blogging. This time it's a cold/fever/sniffles/sore throat jobbie and I'm not very impressed. Really ready to get the hell out of dodge and be healthy again.
Last Thursday Jess and I rode our bikes all over Kyoto ALL day; he had to go the Immigration office to renew his Working Holiday Visa so we decided to make a day of it and get some exercise (or rather, he suggested it and I stupidly said yes, not knowing I'd agreed to about 8 hours of bicycle riding). Needless to say, we got through the entire fiasco with mildly sore thighs and yours truly suffered a minor flesh wound when an errant pedestrian pushed me out of his way and I sliced my hand open on a ragged chunk of metal. Was not impressed about that either. We did find the Immigration office and should be receiving a note in the mail any day now telling us to go back and pick up his passport with a renewed visa inside. Crosses fingers, as current visa expires in 2 weeks and if it doesn't get extended for another 6 months Jess has to leave immediately. We also met some crazy American dude at the Immigration place about whom Jess made a very wise observation; Jess said this guy was the perfect example of what happens to foreign guys who've never had mojo with the ladies - they come here and miraculously find Japanese girlfriends, but would otherwise have no such luck at home. He was a nice enough guy but I doubt we'll be in much of a hurry to call him and make plans.
Sunday night was Natsue's birthday; Yumi and I were going to take her out for dinner but Yumi got sick so it ended up just being Natsue and I. I took her to that Thai restaurant in Umeda that we're always raving about and we had a great dinner. I think it was a good experience for Natsue because she often relies on Yumi to translate for her (Yumi's English is somewhat stronger); she did very well and between her English and my Japanese we got through the evening with relative ease. Natsue quit her English lessons at E.C.C. (Nova's rival) and I've offered to give her weekly lessons for free - she should be calling next week to arrange a time. I'm looking forward to it!
Monday I had to run my first teacher's meeting - I had to train all the teachers at my school to use the new text books Nova has recently published. I wasn't nervous at all and actually felt really calm and in charge. My GOD I've changed since coming here. Whenever I had to do oral presentations in Uni. I'd feel like puking for two weeks leading up to the dreaded day; it doesn't bother me one bit anymore. I'm soooooo greatful for that because it's one of the things I've always wished I could change about myself. Woo hoo for me and getting over a major phobia. Anyway, the meeting went well and I'm extremely pleased. YAY!!
Yesterday, Valentine's Day, there were roses and a hand-painted sign waiting for me. Jess went into the city and spent the night at Dom and Julia's (some British friends of ours) cause I was sick as a dog and just wanted to go to sleep. We ran into eachother this morning while I was on my bike heading for the station and he escorted me (despite the fact that he was looking a little worse for wear). Anyway, I'm sooo glad he's become such good friends with Dom because it gets him out of my hair for a few hours a week - ha ha!!
Tomorrow he's taking me out for dinner to belatedly celebrate since I'm now feeling a bit better, Thursday we're going to the travel center to book our Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets to Tokyo (just got my holidays ok'd today so we're good to go!), and on Friday I have to go in for TOEIC/TOEFL training. I'm not even upset about having to go in on my day off because I've been wanting this training since I got here. If I decide to teach E.S.L. in Canada this course is applicable as credits toward the Canadian TOEIC/TOEFL course which is apparently quite expensive.
That's about all she wrote. Take care. WE MISS U!!! I have to go now cause Jess just whipped up a batch of K.D. He's a genius with the K.D. - seriously. I refuse to make it anymore cause he does it so well.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Mish Mash . . .
As always, there is so much to say (none of it even remotely interesting or important!).
Yours truly is feeling better finally, and able to eat solid food again. That was a real doozey - the sickest I've been yet. I'm still convinced it was food poisoning rather than the flu, but who knows. Foreigners (gaijin) just seem to get really sick here and stay that way for long periods of time. Very strange for a developed country, but there you have it. I think all the vomiting helped me lose some weight though, so who's complaining?! ;)
Last Wednesday we finally had a big snow fall - I woke up at around 8 in the morning to a winter wonderland. Thinking it would stick around all day I blissfully crawled back into my warm futon for a few more hours' sleep, but by the time I woke up again it had mostly all melted. Go figure! Anyway, there's more in the forecast so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's been unusually warm this year, so most people are saying there won't be any more snow, but, much to Jesse's chagrin, I check about 12 websites religiously just to see what the forecast says. As you'd expect, said websites usually predict completely different weather, but if even one of them happens to mention the possibility of snowfall I run around like a demented lunatic, driving Jess bonkers. He's used to me by now though, and I prefer to think of myself as endearing rather than annoying. (No feedback from any of you is necessary in this matter, thanks).
Last Wednesday also happened to be the day I went to Umeda Honko, my old school. It was actually pretty cool to be back there, if a tad crazier and louder than JR Ibaraki. It was also really nice to see alot of the teachers and Japanese staff that I haven't seen since I left. When it came time to have my feedback session with Doug (my supervisor/ Head Teacher) I was feeling pretty nervous, as I always am for feedback sessions but, as usual, for no reason. He said I'm a great teacher, doing a good job, yadda yadda yadda (won't brag too much!). He also said if I'm planning to stick around Japan I'll probably be promoted this summer to Trainer (the next step above A.T. - Assistant Trainer). Obviously I'm flattered and everything and it would probably be a great opportunity, but I still really want to come home so that plan hasn't changed. I haven't told the powers that be yet because I still don't know when we're actually leaving.
And that's all she wrote. Fascinating stuff, I know. TTY Soon!!!
As always, there is so much to say (none of it even remotely interesting or important!).
Yours truly is feeling better finally, and able to eat solid food again. That was a real doozey - the sickest I've been yet. I'm still convinced it was food poisoning rather than the flu, but who knows. Foreigners (gaijin) just seem to get really sick here and stay that way for long periods of time. Very strange for a developed country, but there you have it. I think all the vomiting helped me lose some weight though, so who's complaining?! ;)
Last Wednesday we finally had a big snow fall - I woke up at around 8 in the morning to a winter wonderland. Thinking it would stick around all day I blissfully crawled back into my warm futon for a few more hours' sleep, but by the time I woke up again it had mostly all melted. Go figure! Anyway, there's more in the forecast so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's been unusually warm this year, so most people are saying there won't be any more snow, but, much to Jesse's chagrin, I check about 12 websites religiously just to see what the forecast says. As you'd expect, said websites usually predict completely different weather, but if even one of them happens to mention the possibility of snowfall I run around like a demented lunatic, driving Jess bonkers. He's used to me by now though, and I prefer to think of myself as endearing rather than annoying. (No feedback from any of you is necessary in this matter, thanks).
Last Wednesday also happened to be the day I went to Umeda Honko, my old school. It was actually pretty cool to be back there, if a tad crazier and louder than JR Ibaraki. It was also really nice to see alot of the teachers and Japanese staff that I haven't seen since I left. When it came time to have my feedback session with Doug (my supervisor/ Head Teacher) I was feeling pretty nervous, as I always am for feedback sessions but, as usual, for no reason. He said I'm a great teacher, doing a good job, yadda yadda yadda (won't brag too much!). He also said if I'm planning to stick around Japan I'll probably be promoted this summer to Trainer (the next step above A.T. - Assistant Trainer). Obviously I'm flattered and everything and it would probably be a great opportunity, but I still really want to come home so that plan hasn't changed. I haven't told the powers that be yet because I still don't know when we're actually leaving.
And that's all she wrote. Fascinating stuff, I know. TTY Soon!!!
