Where to start...
I flew up to Tokyo 2 weekends ago (March 27-30) and stayed with a friend who lives in Chiba. I had a really nice time :) One thing I realized while I was there, though, was that I could never live in a city anywhere near as big or crowded as Tokyo. It was more crowded than usual because it was spring break, but still - way too many people in one place. That said, it's still a cool place to visit. I went to Harajuku, Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi Park, Shinjuku,
Disney Sea, and Asakusa. Like I said above, I didn't actually stay in Tokyo. I was staying at my friend's apartment in Chiba which is about an hour train ride from the center of Tokyo. My friend is Japanese and she seriously knows how to make food. It was nice to have someone prepare breakfast for me every morning - and it was actually GOOD breakfast... unlike my usual grab whatever food is in my apartment and go. The cherry blossoms at Yoyogi Park were still kind of on their way to fully blooming, but that didn't stop people from gathering and having hanami parties. I've come to find out that hanami parties consist of going to a park where there are cherry blossoms, drinking lots of alcohol, and eating lots of food. Pretty fun. Disney Sea was cool to see... but just too crowded. The wait for everything was 2-3 hours. It was also pretty cold the weekend I was there. I'm still glad I went to Disney, regardless of the crowds. Here are some pictures from my weekend trip to Tokyo:
This past weekend I celebrated my birthday with some friends. Saturday night I had dinner in Ube with Meng, Jimmy, Saranne and her fiance Hideki. We went to a yakiniku place... because I love yakiniku. After that, Meng, Jimmy, and I went down the road and went bowling. We bowled 5 games and had a few drinks in the process. These 3 girls were bowling in the lane next to us and it 
turns out they were 20 years old and had graduated from the commercial school where I teach. They weren't that interested in being our friends though, haha. After bowling we decided to go down the road and we stopped at this really cool store called Don Quixote. We took advantage of their awesome photo booths. We then made our way to this Japanese style restaurant. I had 2 pieces of salmon... and they were delicious. After that, we made our way to McDonald's where I believe I had some kind of hamburger. I thought I was being smart and ordered another burger to take home with me (so I could eat it for breakfast Sunday morning... yeah...), but I ended up leaving it in the back of a taxi... yeah... All in all - it was a great night! The next day (Sunday) Jimmy, Meng, and I met up with Richard at Space World. Space World is an amusement park in Kitakyushu. I was a 
little disappointed in the park, but it was fun hanging out. I just thought there would be more rides... there were only 3 "big" coasters and 1 of them was c
losed. Richard has all of the pictures from the day on his camera, so as soon as I get them I'll post them. After Space World, we made our way to Kokura and had dinner at the awesome Thai place. The cherry blossoms at Kokura castle were really pretty!
turns out they were 20 years old and had graduated from the commercial school where I teach. They weren't that interested in being our friends though, haha. After bowling we decided to go down the road and we stopped at this really cool store called Don Quixote. We took advantage of their awesome photo booths. We then made our way to this Japanese style restaurant. I had 2 pieces of salmon... and they were delicious. After that, we made our way to McDonald's where I believe I had some kind of hamburger. I thought I was being smart and ordered another burger to take home with me (so I could eat it for breakfast Sunday morning... yeah...), but I ended up leaving it in the back of a taxi... yeah... All in all - it was a great night! The next day (Sunday) Jimmy, Meng, and I met up with Richard at Space World. Space World is an amusement park in Kitakyushu. I was a 
little disappointed in the park, but it was fun hanging out. I just thought there would be more rides... there were only 3 "big" coasters and 1 of them was c
losed. Richard has all of the pictures from the day on his camera, so as soon as I get them I'll post them. After Space World, we made our way to Kokura and had dinner at the awesome Thai place. The cherry blossoms at Kokura castle were really pretty!
So that covers the past 2 weekends. Work is what falls in between... or rather the lack thereof. Going to my base school for the past month and sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day with no work to do has taken its toll - that's for sure. I'm just not going to get into how not fun it has been. Old teachers left and new ones came in which is a nice change. There are these 2 younger females who sit very close to me who are new... there is potential there for work friends. It's nice to not be the only young person there, that's for sure. I have nothing in common with the older teachers so they don't really talk to me. I FINALLY got my base school schedule today. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony. They weren't shy in giving me classes... I have 4 classes Mondays and Tuesdays, and 3 classes on Wednesdays. Teaching 4 classes in 1 day takes its toll. I'm not complaining though... not yet. I'll have 4 classes every Friday at the commercial school. I'm not sure yet how many I'll be teaching Thursdays at the technical school. I hope the teachers at my base school actually give me some guidance in terms of lesson plans this year. Last year they just said "do whatever"... but I'd rather make lesson plans that are relevant so that students HAVE to pay attention. There are 2 new English teachers at my base school that I'll be working with. My first day of teaching at my base school is Monday. If they don't approach me about lesson plans then I'll approach them and make them give me a topic. I hate how non-confrontational people are here... just talk to me!
What else... hmmm... oh, well today is my actual birthday. I did nothing today because I did all of my birthday celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. I actually had some self-control and managed to not open any of the birthday cards I received in the mail until this morning. My mom sent me a wrapped box of Hostess cupcakes with some birthday candles. It was nice to have something to open AND cake to eat! She was the only one to sing happy birthday to me and it was through my phone email which I received at 7:30am... perfect timing... very nice mom, thanks!! I didn't tell anyone at work that it was my birthday... I didn't really see the point. It will be interesting when they hear me do my self-introduction in class. Will they notice that I'm 23 and not 22 anymore when I introduce myself? I had a nice birthday. It is a little weird though that it's practically over... in Japan... but just beginning in the US. That's weird.
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