Author: redoctopus13

SO! Teaching is weird!! There are a lot of different levels of students and each class is something new. There are somewhere around 800 students that come fairly regularly (within the last 6 months). The school has 14 classrooms which are really just big cubicles with a curvy desk and a bunch of chairs (me + up to four students). So it definitely keeps you on your toes. Japanese is not allowed at any time, so with the lower level students you start to feel like Tarzan and Jane. Throw in some hand signals (‘square’, ‘next to’) and you’ll feel like a moron in no time. I’m already complaining that my intelligence level has fallen since arriving. :) But, it’s pretty fun. You just try to make people laugh and not make it a boring lesson….. I’ll try to take some pictures of the school so you can get a better idea of what it all looks like.

Answer to a popular question: I do NOT sleep on the floor. ;-) Those are tatami mats, and then i have a foam mat (2″ thick) and then a futon mattress that’s maybe 3″ thick that I sleep on top of. I’ll have to take a picture of the whole shebang…..

So, I’ve obviously found an internet cafe. :) Roommates & I hope to get internet in the apartment in the beginning of July, so I will hopefully update the blog more often. As for right now, there are three posts BELOW this one going all the way from the airport to Nisshin. I’ve actually finished my training at work now (as of yesterday). Tomorrow will be my first real day. Of course, it stinks to work again but it’s not too bad. A little nerve wracking so far!! Should get easier though. There are around 800 students. 10 or so teachers? Canadian, Australian, English, Irish, American, Japanese, and so on. All very nice and fun too. I don’t really know what else to say?!? There’s a hundred new funny stories I have to tell – like going to a restaurant and not understanding anything, fun food surprises, the train, the grocery store!!! I finally found peanut butter! SO exciting. :) I guess I’ll leave it at that for now. I’m doing well, adjusting alright so far. Nisshin is rather small. It’s only 20 minutes from Nagoya so that’s good. I work in Toyota which is 17 minutes away on the train. I guess once I get on the internet more often I will be able to write better posts about specific funny stuff…. I hope everyone’s doing well and having fun!!!!!!

Whew! So I’ve been busy!! I arrived in Nisshin on friday and didn’t have to work until tuesday, so i took out a map and walked around. took lots of pictures. there’s half a dozen temples and shrines within a 30 minute walk. i went to an iris park on saturday. there are THOUSANDS or irises growing next to a rice patty with little walkways. pictures below….

So then I walked back home and stopped at a shrine and temple on the way. I was glad that no one was there so I didn’t feel like I was angering the gods or something by just wandering around taking pictures of everything. :)

And finally, a few pictures of pretty flowers growing in gardens or on the side of the road. The hydrangea is the city flower of Nisshin!! :)

SO, on the very next morning after arriving and running around Osaka taking pictures of grafitti i had to get up and hop on a train to get to Nagoya. we rolled our little carryons to the station (a few blocks away) and went down an escalator and waited for the train to arrive. i was the only one going to Nagoya so a Nova employee said, here’s your ticket, when you get there in 2 hours someone will be meeting you. i took all of these pictures out of the window on the train. actually, i took at least double of what’s here, but i’m only putting up the best ones. it was a really beautiful ride. (pictures have bigger descriptions again and are posted in order from osaka towards nagoya.)

And where did i get to after that long trip?!?!? HOME!! Pictures of the apartment are below. We’re on the first floor, the apartment closest to the camera. So that little window right in the middle is mine. There are three rooms, three roommates – Kerry from Canada, Lisa from Australia, and ME! I got the only japanese style room with tatami mats on the floor (the rest is hardwood). There are sliding doors connecting my room & Lisa’s (not so great) and i have a huge closet too (all sliding doors).

Osaka was SO cool. I MUST go back. The flight was delayed out of Detroit so we left at 5pm or so. We arrived around 8pm the next day – watched four movies on the flight. Ate dinner, a snack and then breakfast. The flight really didn’t feel like it was all that long. I guess because I slept for quite a bit of it. We then took a little bus and walked thru the pouring rain to our hotel. The rain let up so I went walking and lo and behold – graffiti everywhere. It was really fantastic. Apparently all of the stores have their doors done so night time was the best time to go walking around. I finally found a little shop that said ‘english menu’ outside of the door so I went in there. :) i know, I’m a chicken. :) it was great. i paid for my bowl of rice with many chunks of chickens and one beer. had a broken conversationg with the 2 guys working there and a girl wo was eating too. some guy bought me and the girl a beer. and then the workers gave me a third. (YEAH!!) so all of that was around $10US. good stuff. so i’m putting up a bunch of pictures that i took. they’re just in the order that I took them. and of course, click on the picture so you can read what the heck it is.

I’m here!! I already have pictures that I want to post but I am only able to use the hotel’s computer so I can’t upload pictures yet…. I will be leaving Osaka today and travelling to Nagoya and Nisshin during the day. Should be all kinds of fun!! Osaka is REALLY neat – I wish I could stay longer. There are a lot of tiny clubs, grafitti everywhere, little restaurants, and -big surprise- Japanese people everywhere!! It was raining when I arrived so I got a nice shower on the way to the hotel but it’s clear and sunny today. Hopefully I will be able to post some photos in the next day or two…. And just so you know – it’s a 13 hour time difference here from the east coast – it’s 9:30am here, Friday morning (contrary to what the blog’s time stamp says). :)