KONNICHIWHAT!?: Hisashiburi! (Long time no see)

It's been a couple weeks since I blogged about my life here in Japan, so by golly...let's get to what's doin'! Since we last spoke, I had my GW (Golden Week) vacation, which is basically a week off of work and I did absolutely nothing. Well, not nothing exactly, but I definitely didn't do any traveling or anything exciting. I hung around the apartment like a lazy bum and occasionally went out to explore the city and play games. Not a rollercoaster time by any means, but it was a week not having to teach so I won't complain. It's all a part of my plan to save money and I'm happy to be sticking to that plan. It doesn't always equate into exciting times, but I gotta be responsible with my income.

As for the teaching game, I just finished up a week in my furthest commute school. Last time I spoke on that, it wasn't a pleasant week because my hotel night wasn't set up properly and I had a kid peeing herself in class. This time around was much better. The hotel room was reserved and there was no kids urinating in the classroom. The hotel was alright, and I've been told that it's the best in town (the town my school is in), but it's rather old and while I don't mind that, I do mind seeing a cockroach running across the floor. This unsettled me greatly as all I could think about was the roach crawling on my bed as I slept and dancing on my face. I eventually put those thoughts aside and got some fairly decent sleep. As for the large, unruly child classes that I had trouble with last month, this month I was lucky to have my JT (Japanese teacher) for the classroom come and sub-teach with me. Basically she was there to help corral the kids and keep them in line, assisting when needed. Trust me, her assistance was greatly appreciated as those classes are just too large and those kids are just way too young. I've said it before but it's seriously like a daycare session.

It's Sunday now and I'm leaving in a hour or so to attend a farewell party for one of the NT's (native teachers), who has been with the company for 3 years but has decided it's time to move on. I'm not really close with her, but I'm going more as a gesture that we're all in this great adventure together and let's stick together until the end. She's been nice enough to me whenever we've socialized and hopefully her next step in life will make her happy. As for the party, you all know I've never been the partying type, so I'll just make a brief appearance to eat a little food and socialize with some of the other teachers I know. I'm bringing sausages for the grill...per another teacher's request. I know that last sentence seemed to come out of nowhere, but it's true, and it's a pot-luck type of affair. I'm looking forward to chatting with the only other guy teacher that quit the company a month ago. It's been awhile since I saw him and it's a drag being in a girl's club all the time.

In other news, my friend Erin is gonna be here in a couple of weeks to hang out with me and I'm really looking forward to that. She'll be my first visitor since I came out here and we plan to shoot some stuff for a new ChaChaCha episode. Should be interesting. Not sure if I'll make a post before her visit, but keep checking back!