14 May 2011

Finally completed one whole week!

Today marks my last official work day of the week! I can honestly say I had fun for the most part. However some of my younger classes were a little difficult to control. They were more interested in running around or fooling around than learning English!

I met my first Japanese Teacher too at one of my schools. She is very nice and helped me a lot during my lesson with my youngest class. She seems like someone I could hang out with too when I'm not teaching which is a plus.

This month I am working all 6 day weeks where one week will be spent covering another teacher in Kagoshima. It's not so bad because the company will be putting me up in a hotel and giving me a meal allowance.

Today I was supposed to be covering a teacher but it turns out there was some kind of mix up because she wasn't told that I would be covering her so she turned up at the classroom too! We ended up team teaching where she taught two lessons and I taught one which was pretty cool.

I'm just happy I get to have a day off tomorrow. I got my schedule for next month and thankfully I actually have 2 days off a week! I think I will try and pick up a bike tomorrow since all this walking after I get home because i missed the last tram can be tiring sometimes!

7 May 2011

I feel so tired after 2 hours of work!

Right now I'm on my way home from one of my classrooms. I feel like today went quite well compared to my lessons yesterday. I was better able to manage my time and the students worked really well also. Because I finished at 8:30pm I could not get the lady bus and so had to get a taxi. Unlike the first time I decided to take the taxi to Kengunmachi tram stop rather than going all the way to my home. Overall this way worked out to be nearly ¥2000 cheaper which is good. I think I may stop by the supermarket again to pick up some of their discount pre-cooked dishes because I can't be bothered to eat spaghetti again for dinner!

*I was just joking about the 2hours thing by the way.

1 May 2011

Where is all my money going?!

Finally I think I have finished! I think now I have finally managed to buy everything I need (emphasis on NEED) for my apartment! It took me a while but today I was able to buy a pair of bins so that I can easily separate my burnable rubbish from my non-burnable rubbish (the plastic will just go in the corner somewhere). Having the bins will also give me a better reason to clean up because currently my place is in a bit of a state!

Recently it seems like I'm spending money like its water which is not good at all! The iPhone so far has been my most expensive purchase but I have found that general items are not cheap in Japan. The only place I can go to get cheap items is in the 100yen store. I think once I get paid my next high value purchase will be a bike! Today I also managed today to buy some more items for the kitchen such as a dish drainer and some sauces (chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and mustard) which will hopefully help when I'm cooking! Yesterday was the first time I cooked spaghetti bolognese in my apartment and it didn't come out too bad but maybe if anything I could have added bit more sauce.

On Friday I went to this Jamaican bar called Bar Cannon which was owned by one of the sound men from Cannon Connecter who was a DJ at the event I went to on Thursday called 'Cherry Thursday'. The event was pretty cool but at times I could help but wonder if they knew what type of night they were supposed to be because I was under the impression it was a Reggae night but there were a selection of DJs playing different types of music which a bit weird. Anyways the bar was pretty cool and the bartender in there was pretty friendly and same goes for this guy from Okinawa who was the only other person in there. But supposedly here in Kumamoto there is a little Reggae scene and people in this City/Area are into Jamaican culture which is good for me. Hopefully now that I have a phone I can start linking people a lot easier when I'm out and about.

Oh yea if you didn't already know its currently Golden Week here in Japan so I have a week off work! Its a pity I don't have anywhere to go though. If I had been placed in Kumamoto a little earlier maybe I could have made a trip to Tokyo or something to see all my friends down there. Some of the other teachers in my area have gone to South Korea for Golden but unfortunately I have to stay here in Kumamoto for the rest of Golden Week.

Tomorrow I hope to go out and visit some of the interesting places in Kumamoto City such as the Castle as well as the Suizen-ji Park. Supposedly the weather tomorrow will be quite nice if the app on my iPhone 4 is anything to go by. Yesterday the weather was terrible and so I was stuck in the house all day. So hopefully tomorrow will be much better.