Journeys · in · Japan

still alive!! i know it's a while since i last posted... still loving my job and life. no real news. been keeping busy!

well, i went to my new schools to introduce myself. I'm going to be teaching in 3 elementary schools and one kindergarten, every week! friday will rotate between the 3 elementary schools. yikes! i couldn't believe that the new company (somewhat notorious for not being nice to its staff) put me in the closest part of isesaki to my house! nice! it only takes about 20 minutes to get there! so i don't have to get up THAT much earlier! schools seem nice. one of them is practically brand new, and it's BEAUTIFUL!!! i got lucky in my placement. yeah, so it's not junior high, but it's still gonna be fun. oh, and hectic! looking forward to the new challenge. feel free to send me ideas! never consistently done elementary school before!

Had an amusing weekend! On Friday, James Mckight came to Kiryu to hang out. We dont get to hang out so much anymore a) because he`s moved to Isesaki, b) because he`s married. So we went to an izakaya, then to GL. James left about 10:20 to get the last train home. I missed mine! I stayed at GL chatting to some people I know, playing darts and getting along VERY well with this guy, Yoshi. Then sometime during the course of the night, Hisashi came in, and we were chatting. then I crashed a university graduation party with him at Shidax Karaoke. Was amusing! I haven`t crashed a party here for 3 years! I was the only girl, and yes, phone numbers were exchanged!

Saturday, I had so many plans, but due to my getting home at 4am, they didn`t exactly happen! then in the evening, I went to a party at Tsubohachi (the ONE happening izakaya in Omama). It was Dave`s and Rob`s birthday party (from VIVID), and mine and Warren`s leaving do. I was a little under-the-weather due to the previous night, but eventually perked up and had a great time. Matt drank a bottle of whiskey - ouch! We left Tsubohachi and went to Passion Karaoke, where the mics didn`t work! still had fun, tho! got back to Dave`s, watched a bit of Eddie Izzard, then Matt and I went home about 4:30. we passed out about 5am.

Sunday was kinda a non-event. we hung out at mine: woke up about 1; watched a movie on TV, then about 5 went to Matt`s and hung out there for a change of scenery! I left about 1am. Hell, I don`t exactly have anything to do today! just closing ceremony and packing up my shit at school! I`m on holiday from 12:30! Only plan I have for the week off is to go to Ueno to see the Da Vinci exhibition, buy some make up and sleep! Maybe go to Caribbean Beach, do a hike or something. Oh, and clean the house! Need to find space for all the crap I`m bringing home from work!

OK, now I`m REALLY pissed off!

my principle doesn`t like me much, but I have a great relationship with EVERYONE else in the school. So the principle asks the BOE to change ALTs, basically putting me out of a job. I run around like a mad woman to find a new job within 3 weeks, find one, and then hear that the fucking principle is bloody retiring! The only reason I couldn`t stay at this school was him, and now he`s not even going to be there next year!

No one wants me to leave, and they`re all pretty damned upset about it. I`ve had one of my JTEs crying over me leaving, giving the principle serious evils all the time and being quite rude to him! Mr T`s pissed off at what happened, but he`s leaving too. and the new JTE`s not aware of WHY I`m leaving, just sad that I am. The other teachers in the school, especially all the ones I teach with (10 of them) are sad and disappointed, asking me to reconsider. The JTE that just went off on maternity leave is absolutely stunned about what happened. she said I`m a great teacher, and I`ve performed miracles in a very difficult situation this year. She doesn`t believe the reasons that were given for my sacking, as she`s only ever seen me working hard, getting along great with everyone, and being friendly and helpful. I have great team spirit, according to the people who i actually work with! I wish I could have spoken to her myself, but one of the other JTEs saw her in a shop lastnight and told her what had happened. as I said, stunned disbelief! and she was my supervisor.

I told some of the kids that I`m leaving, lots cried, and my evil 2nd years protested loudly, and begged me to stay. lots of them even cried! and I`ve only actually "told" 3 out of the 14 classes in the school!

and NOW i find out that the ONE person in the school who i don`t get on with is fucking retiring! bloody cheek!

I just explained to mr T exactly WHY I`m leaving. he thought it was because I wanted to. so do all the teachers I haven`t actually told, yet. I really should tell more people the reason, but then I`m going behind the principle`s back, like he did to me, which would make me as bad as him. Mr T agrees that I`ve been treated like shit by the principle, and said that it serves him right that there`s no ALT here next term yet! Yeah... they haven`t managed to find anyone to replace me, and they`ve got less than 2 weeks to do so. I also told Mr T why I didn`t go to the party on monday, and why I actually asked a company to interview me at that particular time! I didn`t want to get drunk and have a go at kocho sensei and make a scene. Good idea on my part, methinks! but I WAS missed at the party!

One and a half days to go.... come 12:30 Monday, I sure as hell ain`t sticking around! I might have almost 2 weeks off, depending on when I start my new job! SWEET!!

I got a new job.

Salary will be the same as VIVID, but I`ll have to wake up earlier... got to drive to Isesaki every day! ouch! but at least i don`t have to move! Not sure yet whether I`ll be at elementary of junior high school. Itoi sensei is also transferring to isesaki, and he really hopes that we`re at the same school! I think that`s sweet!

went out celebrating last night. had fun! thank god it was ladies night, and drinks were half price!! also got a very strange email from taku... he said congrats from the bottom of his heart, to which I replied "you don`t have a heart, lol!" then he said: "you cannot realise the bigness of my heart because you are immersed in mine, no?" wtf does that mean???anyone wanna help me out with decifering it? is the man giving me hope? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. i just get one aspect of my life back on track, and now I have man problems! one of the fellas last night was blatantly after me, which his best mate found quite amusing, as did i. then taku`s elusive email, and takao`s back on the scene. you know what they say about buses, well i firmly believe that men are the same! the funniest thing... taku, takao, taka. yeah I know I`m british and all, but it may just be possible to overdose on T!!!

oh, and i`m still a wee bit tipsy from lastnight. doing SO well!!!

well, i`ve had 3 interviews, all appear successful! problem is that they might mean relocating, which i`m unwilling to do! oh, and with shite companies, but with 3 weeks notice, there ain`t owt else around!

Tomorrow`s a holiday, so I`m thinking of climbing a mountain or something. might give takao a call, coz he`ll be around. other than that, just cleaning and laundry plans! yay, fun!

in other news, happy birthday, Gabe!

Oh, and I`ve only got 2.5 days left at work... got 4.5 days holiday to use, so I will, dammit!

So... had a bit of a shock last week. It turns out that I won`t be here next month. so I`m looking for a new job. yikes! all I can say is my principle is a wanker. asked too much from me, then when I performed miracles, decided to go behind my back and get rid of me anyway. he`ll rue this decision later, though! after what I`ve done this year, and the "thanks" I get for making a shitty situation actually work, they`ll find it bloody hard to get someone else who jumps through hoops and wants to work for him!

still around! just haven`t had anything worth posting for a while!

Will be staying here next year, too, and it`ll actually be the longest I`ll have spent at the same school since i arrived in Japan. yikes! previous longest was 20 months at Daitochu. (currently in my 19th month at Niichu!)

Cat went insane at 4am this morning, damn him! he`s LOUD when he wants attention!

yesterday, went to a gig with Itoi and Takao... 8 local bands. all oyaji! (Grandpa)...ie, over 25 year olds! that`s scary.... does that mean I`m a grandma?!!! Then had jamuna for dinner. nice and cheap. 360yen for curry, naan, salad and coffee! yup - i had a full point card! yay! went to GL to hang out for a bit until my train. taku turned up. was nice.

oh. i gave up far too many things for lent! no chocolate, pizza, chips, crisps, snacks, burgers os any other form of fasst food/ junk food for another 28 days! 12 down, and I`m cool with it! got my teachers on my side. those who know about it don`t put treats on my desk, and know that if I get anything, they get to eat it! my land lady came round on Saturday to get my rent, and left with some chocolates and stuff I was recently given. Bonus for her! I just told her that I`m on a 40 day diet... dunno how to explain Lent in Japanese!!

well, as I said, there`s really nothing to report! Life`s ticking along nicely!

did I say "party at mine, Sunday"?!! well, there is! random booze, some food, movies, darts, feel free to come if you`re in the area!

had a quiet weekend. mainly because I had a migraine! ouch!! couldn`t move on Saturday until about 7pm, apart from pottering around the house doing a bit of cleaning. Ended up driving myself mad through solitude (furface doesn`t count), so went into GL... and Jason gave me some migraine pills! It was just me until about 11, when a guy I know a bit came in, and then later Nao arrived. Sunday was more cleaning, still not feeling too great, then Matt and Tomoko came over for a movie. They left about 11, since they had work in the morning (i had the day off). Monday, I pottered again, drew some sketches, and then at 4:40 drove round to matt`s. we watched 3 movies... very tired now!

Tonight is class, tomorrow... dunno yet - hopefully cleaning some more and doing laundry, so that it`s all out of the way by sunday.
Thursday, no surprise, is curry night. Stacey`s coming over from Ashikaga, and the boys are gaming. that means that the girls will go to GL, and taku should be joining us, depending on what time he finishes work.
Friday`s as yet unplanned, but something`ll come up! Saturday`s the same. Sunday, people are coming round for movies and to drink some more through my booze cabinet. Gotta make those brownies... hmmm, maybe Saturday or friday evening??? Gotta get all the fresh veg for the meal, too! doh, there goes my nap time!

Taku was in Hakone on Monday to see an exhibition. 5 hours each way on the train...yikes! He had to go there for work, since his gallery will be putting on a similar exhibition, and Taku needed to study it! poor guy! had to use his day off, and next week`s too! all because the gallery owner is cold... won`t let them have nenque, only 1 day off a week, (2 extra days a month), and any studying of exhibitions the staff do, THEY have to pay for, and they don`t get time off in lieu. ouch!

Oh yeah... Taku`s come up with a scheme to work together! he wants to "reach out" to the youth of the area, by doing lectures and setting projects. and he wants to do it in English. (ideally french, but there`s not many ALTs around here good enough to translate french!) so that I (or the other ALTs) in the area take groups of students to the Gallery with the art teacher, and then set them project work to do after. Course, it`s a lot of organising, but my school`s already expressed interest. it`s still all very much in the idea stage. hasn`t become a plan, yet. But I have to help him with his english, presentation, and co-ordinating with my school. more work for me! But it`ll be an interesting challenge for both of us if it materialises.

Pizza Express was great (had a cake with a candle in it!), and La Boheme was AWESOME!! then we went for cheap sushi, then I took train back to Kiryu. Taku picked me up at the station, then we hung out at GL for a few hours and he drove me home. It was a perfect day!

Sunday, I turned 27. I did nothing all day, a little bit of cleaning, watched some Audrey Hepburn movies, then went out to Kiryu. matt, rob, noriko, akiko, taku, and some others came. Jason, GL`s owner, gave me my wine on the house, alison bought me a surprise drink (still not quite sure if it was a martini, as was in a tumbler, not a martini glass!!) and I went home at about 1am. oops... work today! another perfect day!

where`d winter go??? It`s not just me wondering where the cold cold gunma winter went! been really mild this year!

I thoroughly enjoyed the party on Saturday! had a great time, although, for various reasons, i don`t remember much about karaoke! there were about 24 people in total. most people enjoyed themselves, a few rather too much!! I was given a great selection of presents, and thanks to everyone!! I got cake, vodka, gin, a pirate game, flowers, taku`s favourite CD, creme de mure (???) a watch from Nao, a T-shirt, some bath goodies and some other stuff that i can`t recall off the top of my head. Nice! thanks, guys!

I just want to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!", well, because it`s his birthday today!

Been busy translating my hugely edited life story for my 3rd grade. yikes... 27 years in less than one page... and I have a tendency to ramble! hence the editing! my brain hurts!

anyway, class tonight. matt`s last night (Galaxy Rangers), maybe tomorrow too, but I have to see Yoko if possible! Thursday`s jamuna (wonder if Taku`ll show up at Global Lounge, only to be disappointed again, as I wasn`t there last week!? he sent to a mail to find out where I was and why I wasn`t there!! bless!!!) Friday`s a dance/ band / DJ/ club night thing in Kiryu, 9pm-2am. then Saturday``s Pizza Express in Shibuya/Harajuku followed by LA BOHEME. can`t wait! oh, and I`ll probably hang out in Kiryu until the first train home! Sunday`s my birthday, and I`m planning to be domesticated! or not...! might get some people together for bowling/ ice skating/ karaoke. or just chilling! meh, something`ll happen, it always does!! that`s all for now! thanks for taking the time to read!!

josh, I hope you had a great birthday! sorry i didn`t contact you for it! wish you were gonna be at the party this weekend, for mine and matt`s!!

been busy, and oh so very tired since i got back home. stewie`s adorable as always! school computers seem to have all fracked up at the same time, hence the long silence. not really much to report! sorry. life`s the same as always, and just as enjoyable!

oh, today there were 2 memorable occasions: first, the fire bell went off while i was teaching the special needs kids on my own, so i got them outside double-time! no fire. we were the only ones outside! we hadn`t the foggiest what was going on. let`s face it, fire alarm goes off, you get the kids you`re with out of the damned building!! none of the other teachers even made the effort! I waited with the kids until a teacher came to tell me that the alarm was a mistake. hell, i wasn`t going anywhere until i knew the kids i was looking after were safe! (also yours truly!) i was a responsible teacher!!! second, i taught the class from hell today. they weren`t listening to my explanation, and the teacher i was with wasn`t keeping them quiet (hell, he was talking loudly, too!). i gave up and lost my temper for the first time.... instant silence. sheepish science teacher. perfect behaviour for the remainder of the class. thing is, i didn`t scream at them that loudly! must have been the tone of voice! yikes, i dunno HOW i did it, but I`m glad I did! i think i told them to "shut the hell up and listen, or i`d "... course, I could actually have said "lovely day, wot?!!" hmm... must learn the lingo of this wonderful country!

party tomorrow. should be fun. think there might be about 25 people there, or more! taku`s coming. I`m wearing my new dress. and heels.... might even look in the mirror! Ice hockey game down in tokyo on sunday. next week busy as hell, and then next weekend is La Boheme for my birthday. can`t wait for the opera!!!

righty ho, i'm off home later today. right now, it's 1:48am, and I'm trying to watch the last few episodes of 24 season 5 before i leave. I COULD watch them back home, but then i'd have to pay to rent them. also, if i don't sleep now, i'm much more likely to pass out on the plane!!! gonna do my best! anyway, signing off, so that i can pay all due attention to the show!!

yesterday was fun!!!

missed the bus into town, then got the nesxt one.

got into victoria, and walkde down to pimlico to visit the Turner Galleries at the Tate Britain. he's officially in my top 3 artists, where he's remained for about 10 years!! then i took the tube to tower hill, and went to the Tower of London. Had to be quick, though, as I was meeting Pete at 3! so, Pete and I met up and walked down the banks of the thames to the Tate Modern. there's a new exhibition which inclues slides!!! whee! but I'd spent so much money in town over the last 2 days, we opted out of the slides, and spent an hour or two walking around the gallery. was good, coz there had been some noticeable absences in the Dali exhibition in Tokyo last month, and the most important ones I missed were in the Tate Modern!

Pete and I then went to the pub. then i took the train home from blackfriars.

Dan had asked to rearrange our "date" to today, but i'd already made plans with other friends. so i did some frantic rearranging, and switched dan to tonight.

I got back to Sutton, then met up with james, tanya, arianne and jason in All Bar One. had a drink there, then went off to find some food. we went off to a mexican restaurant, and wore sombrerros! good food. wass fun, and I sneakily asked the manager if they have anything special for birthdays.... tanya's birthday was jan 2nd. so after we'd finished our meal, and ordered some cocktails, tanya's surprise drink-in-a-pineapple and chocolate cake arrived, decorated with a sparkler!!! she appreciated it, though! was in all, an extremely fun day, with lots of activities, and a few too many drinks! had an awesome time!

ooh, boy, have i been busy!!!

spent the first week chilling with the family, then christmas eve i went to the woolpack with james and tanya (guinness is SO much better here!!) then midnight mass. christmas day, went to grandad's boxing day was relaxing. then saw my brother again anotherr day. oh... went up to town to see some exhibitions (cezane; manet to picasso [at the national gallery]; the past from above [at the british museum]) with andy last thursday. was fun. andy's not into art, but he actually enjoyed it! took him to my fave london restaurant in town, italian grafiti on wardour street.

new years' was a blast. think i got a mouth ulcer from the guy from last year...oops! he wants it to become a habit! there was a bouncy castle at the party!!! two and a half bottles of red, and i was still "relatively" OK!! had a really great time, and was good to see everyone again!

Today, i went up to town again. had an awesome day. got up to town, bought a matinee ticket in leicester square, then took a tour bus around town.(2 hours) took some awesome pics, but like normal, i wont put the pics on my diary. then, i went to the national gallery again, this time to see the velazquez exhibition. taku will be proud! picked him up an exhibition brochure, because he recommended the exhibition. also got him some national gallery stationary for work! After the exhibition, i went to the Palace Theatre on Shaftsbury Ave to see.... SPAMALOT... yes, the Monty Python musical. mostly the story of the quest for the holy grail, ripping the piss out of musicals, and generally a rip-roaring riot of fun! and yes, i was singing along! unfortunately, due to it being a matinee, tim curry's understudy was playing king arthur, but he did an amazing job! wow!!! wanna see it again!

then i walked back to victoria to get the train home.

tomorrow, i'm off up into town again. going to the london dungeon/tower of london/madame tussauds/or a river cruise. then at 3pm i'm meeting pete (ex-isesaki jet) then in the evening (not sure of time yet) i have a "date" with dan. thursday, i'm seeing other mates, again friday, and sat, i'm flying home.

havinf an awesome trip. sorry, raygan, i can't meet up with you unless you're in london area!!