Back in Texas

Well I am back in my hometown. After a 25 hour travel period, a surprise meeting of my buddy pato, multiple delays and a really delicious sandwich, here are a few pics that I took on the plane. Be back later with some more.

News and sorts

Hello everybody. Well the cold weather has now arrived in Osaka. It's quite chilly in the morning. I enjoy the cold weather actually. Most people really hate it, but it makes me a bit happy. So what have I done since the last post? The big news is that I decided to go back home for Christmas. I wasn't going to go back because it was so expensive. But I found a great deal online and I couldn't pass it up. It was still expensive, just not as much as I thought. I am really happy to get to see my family and good friends when I get back. I'm going home on December 18th.

Last week I had to attend a JET conference in Osaka. This conference is called the Mid-year seminar. It is held for 2 days in December. It is for all the Osaka JET teachers. Last year it was quite bland and I wasn't looking forward to this year. However, I came out of that conference with a lot of ideas that I could use in my class. I went to a Japanese bead making class too. I made about 5 beads with glass and my own hands. It was really nice. I left that conference with a positive outlook for the coming school term. I really thought about what goals I have in my job. I truly want to make communication with my teaching partners better. We talk, but not as much as we should. I already started to try hard this week. I think that if we talk more, our teaching will automatically become better. I'm going to give it a shot.

Last Sunday December 7th, I had to take my Japanese language test. It is called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or in short the (JLPT). There are 4 levels of the test. 1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest. I took level 3. It consisted of writing, vocabulary, reading, listening and grammar. I'm sure that I did excellent on the listening. However I'm not too sure about the others. The reason I took this test was to see what my Japanese ability is, and to see what I need to work on. I didn't study much for this test. Now I know what my ability is, so I will strive to study starting in January. I will learn much more Japanese next year, that is my #1 goal. At the moment, I can hold a decent conversation with people. However, when it comes to really deep feelings and proper topics, I fear my skills to be below my quality standards. がんばれ！　(you can do it!)

Today, there was an Australian exchange student visiting my class. It was fun to have another westerner in my class. Since I have lived in Japan for a quite a while now. I begin to notice how much all westerners from English speaking countries are alike. It doesn't really matter if you are from USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa etc... we have so much in common. I have made friends from all of these countries. And sometimes I forget that they are not from America. Of course there are a few slang words and accent differences, but at the core, we are just the same. So it's very easy to become friends and chat with other westerners like myself. Some may disagree, but that is my point of view.

So anyone that knows we well or has read my lame blog for the past year or so, knows that I have quite the obsession for finding and listening to new music. I just thought I would take some time to recommend some good music to you while you are here. In a few days I will post up a music player with some of the bands and groups that I recommend. Anyway here it goes,

I have been listening to a lot of this band called "Pompeii" and their new album called "Nothing happens for a reason." They have a bit of an indie vibe to them. The sound is very relaxing with sweet guitars and soft drums for the most part. The lyrics are excellent and I just like hanging out and listening to them. It's good music when you are working on some homework or studying, or writing a bloody blog.

Another band that has taken a lot of my time is "The Bigger Lights" and the new EP called "Fiction Fever". If I had to compare them to another band I would say they sound in between Forever the sickest kids and The starting line. This is only an EP but this band should have a full album out in a few months.

Sorry that was probably lame, but I just thought some people might actually find some interesting new music. Well that's all for this blog. I will try and put another one up before I leave next week. If I don't I will post when I'm back from in the USA. Hopefully after my 21 hour trip from Osaka to El Paso will not kill me! Cheers

peace

vince

No love for Wall-e??

So today in my "outstanding" English class, we had a test. It was an interview test. Basically I brought the student outside and I asked him/her about 8 fairly simple, yet engaging... well not so engaging questions. Anyway, while the other students waited in the classroom, I decided I would show them a movie. Well the movie I decided to show them was one of my favorite movies "wall-e". This movie has yet to be released in Japan, so they were in for a treat! This movie releases next week in Japan. Well we watched the whole movie, and I waited for a response from one of the 20 heads in my class. I never got that response. Not even a "that was cute!" or a "I liked the movie!". It was complete silence. I thought that I had shown them a damn video of a funeral or something like that. What the hell??? How can you not have a response to "Wall-e". Needless to say I was a bit shocked at this. When the bell rang, they all just got up and walked out of class. Not even a goodbye or thanks. That's the last time I lug my laptop and speakers to class for them. Lame...

On a good note, I got to watch "Wall-e" again. Damn I love that movie. Well gotta get going. Chat with you later! Cheers!

peace

vince


How can you not love this dude?

Long time, no...type!

Hey everybody! I apologize for the lack of posts on vinceinosaka.blogspot.com. Honestly I lost interest in writing this blog a few weeks ago. However I decided today to keep it going for the time being.

Anyway, the past few weeks have been quite interesting. Let's start off with what I will cleverly title "The Futon Incident". Sweet, huh? So to start this story off I will inform you about the Japanese Futon. It's not like what you know as a futon in the West. These futons are placed on the floor and you sleep on them. They are filled with various goods like cheap polyester to the oh so lovely down feathers. You have to put these futons outside at least one a week to air them out and get some sun. So on a Saturday a few weeks back, I decided to place my nice fluffy futon outside hanging off the balcony with a couple of harnesses attached. I left to the grocery store to buy some goods to cook. When I arrived back home, I didn't see my futon hanging off the balcony. I peered down the edge of my apartment building and it was nowhere to be found! My futon had a bright yellow cover on it, so it wouldn't have been difficult to find. But I never found the damn thing. It just vanished, my bright yellow semi-double pillow of joy! Well, last week I had to replace that futon. I spent a good $200 at the home store so but some winter futon and covers. Somewhere, some dude is on my yellow futon. I hope he is mauled by a tiger or something like that.

I have really been cooking a lot. Not only is it damn good fun. But I am realising that I can cook pretty good! I have been turning out classics like pizza, baked spaghetti, double dipped fried chicken, apple pie pizza, curry honey chicken, fried rice... seriously dude I've been cooking like a mad man!

Thanksgiving is coming soon! I really am going to miss all the delicious food my mom makes. I'm going to miss the football games and just hanging out at home. When you are away for a long time, you start to miss the little things about home. I really don't miss "El Paso" that much, just mostly miss the people that I love in El Paso. I'm not sure of my plans for Christmas yet, but damn I would love to get back home!

Thanks to all that keep reading this thing of a blog. I promise to keep up the stories more often.

peace

vince

Halloweenmas

Hey there fair people! Today is Halloween! Unfortunately that means nothing here in Japan. Well unless you are talking about superficial displays and decorations of pumpkins and the words "Trick or Treat" EVERYWHERE! Anyway, I gave my students some candy today. I think they were quite happy about it! I also taught them a bit of the history of Halloween, and where it comes from. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow (Saturday) because tomorrow at my school is an orientation for the new middle school kids. I figured it would be only in the morning. Of course I was wrong and they are actually going to be at my school all day long. In the morning they are going to be treated to a dreadful 2 hour meeting and Q&A in the cold gymnasium. They will join my class at about 3pm, so that means they will be half asleep! WOOOHOO!!! I'm so excited! haha Hopefully it won't be too bad. The good thing is that there is a holiday on Monday. I'm not sure what they holiday is about, but the day is called "Culture Day"!

Ok so I will admit it, today was a little brisk in the morning. In the afternoon it's quite nice though. However, if you walked around the streets here in Japan. You would think you were in Siberia or some ridiculously cold place like that. Every one breaks out the crazy ski gear and beanies etc... I was wearing a short sleeve button up shirt today and my students were dumbfounded at the fact that I didn't think it was cold. One of the items that is I guess "fashionable" is the Russian style hat. I don't know why they are popular, but I'm sure those girls are dying of heat under that damn hat.

Remember I told you it was Halloween today? Well Wednesday I went to Starbucks. The Starbucks is in a cool mall type place. Well when I arrived I found a ginormous Christmas light display. All with Christmas music in the background... I couldn't believe it! It was October 29th... Anyway, I took a few photos with my cell phone, so check them out for yourself. Well I hope you all are doing ok. And sorry to "disgruntled computer guy".

peace

vince



October Christmas spirit!!!

Welcome to the Japanese Classroom...

Well today was probably one of the worst classes I have ever had. It is an "eiken" class. Which basically means remedial English. And I know why. There were about 28 students in that class and about 24 students asleep. Absolutely no objection by the teachers or anything... lame That would never happen to my class in the USA.

I also went to a building called "Umeda Sky Building" on Sunday. I took a few photos and it was a nice day.

peace

vince

just look at the enthusiasm here, it's thrilling


looking over Osaka Japan


Another view


Umeda Sky Building

Football and Food

Hello, it's been a while eh? Well it's been quite gloomy (weather wise) lately here in Osaka. Almost everyday there is a bit of rain.

So what have I been up to, you ask?

I've actually been cooking a lot lately. Yesterday I made some baked spaghetti. I think it was probably one of the best dishes I have made in Japan yet. It was quite brilliant, haha. ;) Last week I made some sweet and spicy chicken with a sweet potato. I also made some honey baked chicken as well. I use chicken a lot, because it is so much cheaper than beef over here. Good times.

I've also had a few late nights of watching Football on the tele (my computer) lately. The English league is excellent this year.

Last week I also came down with my first Real cold in Japan. It wasn't so bad. Just that usual "dude, i feel like shit" feeling, you know? This week is a bit slow at work. My coworker called in sick yesterday so my classes were cut short. Today, I only have 1 class so I have a lot of time. I've been studying Japanese a lot lately. I have a big Japanese Language test coming in December, so I gotta get ready for that. I'm pretty sure I can pass that test!

I don't have any exciting plans in the coming weeks. I have nothing to complain about. I'm a lucky guy. Till next time mates.

peace

vince

Finally

So today I had a "only in Japan" moment. I was going to a convenience store by my school today to grab a coffee. In Japan, they love their bottled drinks. There are so many different drinks. Far more than in the USA. You could probably have a different drink for every day of the week. Anyway, there are always interesting ways that they market these drinks. I saw a new coffee and it came with two, and it said "transformer inside". So of course I had to grab that. As I grabbed my lame coffee. An old dude came up to me and said in Japanese "Oh, you are a foreigner!". And in Japanese I replied "Yes, that is correct, I sure am!". He started to laugh because of my smart ass response. He asked how tall I was and I told him. He said that he was so happy to meet a foreigner. I told him that I was glad to meet him as well. Then I went to the register to pay for my sandwich and coffee. The dude came up to the register and told the clerk that he will pay for my items. I told him "No, no, that's OK!" But he insisted. It was only about 5 dollars and he gave the cashier 10 dollars. He insisted that I keep the change as well. I reluctantly took the change. He said that I just made his day happy. It was quite interesting. The funny thing is that the store I went to was the same store that the crazy lady screamed and ran away from me! haha What a difference in opinion here in Japan. There are people that just love foreigners and those that completely hate them. There is really isn't a medium. The man said that I made him have a happy day, however he did the same for me as well!

Tuesday was a Japanese holiday. Something about respecting dead family members?? Anyway, the important thing is that I had the day off. I cooked a lot yesterday. I cooked some Tex-Mex fajitas for me and my roommate. I had marinated the chicken for about 8 hours. I made some Guacamole, Refried bean, salsa and some veggies. We had a Tex-Mex lunch complete with flour tortillas. My roommate completely loved it. He was eating giant tacos! He had the perfect Taco technique, which was quite surprising since he is from Boston!! haha ;)  I had a great day. Anyway, I finally made a long blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. I will try to get some more stuff up here more frequently ok! Take care

peace

vince


p.s. here are some pics of the coffee and transformer toy

Rain

So it's been raining the past 2 days. Yesterday was a foggy day. It also happened to be a Japanese Holiday. I think it had something to do with old people. Like, respect for the old people day, or "Don't kick old people day", or "Don't knock over old gimps on their bicycles" day. Anyway, it was nice. I cleaned up my apartment, it was and still is pretty bad. My room is quite nice most of the time but the rest is in shambles, it needs a proper tidy up. It was quite cool yesterday because of all the clouds so I was able to just open up my balcony door and feel the cool breeze. My roommate's girlfriend cooked us lunch while we cleaned up the apartment. She made some tasty Chinese rice mixture. It was damn good and I really enjoyed it.

So last week I showed my students the DVD that I worked on. Their response to the DVD was basically silence. No emotion, reaction, comments etc. It was so lame. I even asked if they wanted a copy of the disc and nobody responded. Sometimes I really think to myself, "what is the point of me teaching here?". My other classes are very funny and happy except this one class. The atmosphere is similar to a damn funeral in my class. Oh man...

For those of you who read my blog, I'm sorry that I haven't exactly put anything exciting up on my blog for a while. I really haven't been doing much traveling or sight seeing to put up cool pictures or videos. I just can write my life here. I hope to go somewhere cool soon though. Maybe just a weekend and getaway from the big city for a while. Well I hope everyone is doing great. I will talk to you soon. Much love to all the people in Texas that are suffering from Hurricane Ike.

peace

vince

Death of a Legend

This post has nothing to do with Japan. It's all about my hometown, and a local hero and legend that passed away Sunday afternoon back in my hometown of El Paso Texas. Have you ever seen the 2006 Disney movie called "Glory Road"? Well Mr. Don Haskins was the focal point of that movie. He was the first coach in College basketball history to win the National Championship in 1966 with 5 black players in the starting line-up. He won the only National Championship for my University, UTEP. That all sounds amazing, but what Don Haskins means to my city is much more than basketball. He was probably the most well known and respected figure. Everybody knew who he was and he was damn humble. I've never met Don Haskins in my life, however he has somehow touched my life to write this blog. I think it's just because I grew up hearing about the story of Don Haskins and even saw him coach many games as a young miner fan. Well I just wanted to share that story with you. I was quite sad today when I heard about this. Well rest in peace Don Haskins.

1930-2008

peace

vince

Long time no see

Hello all you!! Is there any one still reading this blog? Well I had a pretty good few weeks. My birthday was quite lame. I ended up eating ramen at a ramen shop across the street. I'm waiting for the box my parents are sending me. I look forward to getting that box! :) Thank you! I have been editing the commercials that my students made last week. Some of them were quite lame. Most groups completely forgot what we were doing, so they made these really horrible commercials. I had to edit them completely! So they would be decent. Some of them I added some ridiculous things in them so you have to watch them. Well I'm doing pretty good. I hope life is treating you well. I'll talk to you soon!

peace

vince

Getting a bit cooler

Hello everybody, it's been a while! I have been quite busy lately with moving and all that. We are almost done with the apartment so when I get that done I will take some photos of the place.

Next week is my birthday, I think it will probably be pretty boring. I wanted to go out, but I'm not sure what will happen. I don't think people in Japan actually care about birthdays, or maybe they do. I just never seen anybody say "happy birthday" here. Anyway, I should have some stories pretty soon, since school is starting this week. I will be back with some videos and stories soon. Sorry for the quiet summer of posts here on my blog.

peace

vince

p.s. my school sent out a memo today to tell everybody to make sure and check the students hair color. Yeah, instead of care about the grades or homework. The teachers check hair color. That's pretty lame... oh man

Quite a while

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I guess I have been lazy. Well actually I am putting more things up on my MYSPACE page. So check that more often.

First off Happy birthday to my brother Danny! I love you dude! I hope your day was good!!!

Well last weekend I finally moved into my new apartment. It is freaking huge. My co-worker helped me move. We managed to pack my entire apartment into his van. I was damn surprised at that marvelous accomplishment. We have a giant living area and a fairly large kitchen. My bedroom is kinda big with a nice view of the city. It is a big difference from living in Matsubara. The cool thing is that I will save so much money because I won't have to pay for subway and train fees anymore. I can just ride my bicycle everywhere. On Sunday Tom and I went biking around our area. We found a bunch of cool places.  Just few essentials are needed right now. I am looking forward to having some friends over. It will be great and so convenient.

Yesterday I went with my friend Tom, to Nara Japan. It is about 40 mins away from me. There was a lantern display there. I didn't really understand why there were lanterns everywhere, so I was a bit confused, but it was nice to see. We fed deer and ate candy apples. The deer are funny! When they see that you have some crackers to feed them, they will surround you. And to get your attention they will pull your shirt with their mouths or bump you with their antlers. It was really funny, but kinda scary when 10 surrounded you, while they were biting your ass! hahah We had a good time there. It was really hot outside though, and it had just rained so the humidity was killer. I had never been to Nara before so I was glad to go. I want to go again during the winter time to see how it looks in that season.

I was looking for tickets to go home for Christmas to the USA. The tickets were about $1,800 US Dollars. That is crazy!

Well that is enough for today. I hope you all are having a splendid week. Are you enjoying the Olympics? Take care everybody...

peace

vince

click this link to see my pics on myspace of the nara deer adventure! :)

Burning up

It has been very hot here in Osaka lately.　　Humidity seems to have been kicked up as well.　　This weekend was nice. On Friday I wanted to check out a giant fireworks show, but I wasn't able to go. I was able to see some of it thought from my apartment. There were people climbing up to the roof of my apartment with beers. It was quite funny. Saturday, I just relaxed and I cooked dinner for me and eri. I made some Pepperoncino Pasta and Sirloin Steak. It was damn good! haha I had a bunch left over too. We enjoyed it! Sunday I had to go to Kyoto because I put together an English project with my Eiken English class. Actually only 5 students volunteered and only 3 showed up. Anyway, the point of the project was to interview foreign tourists in English. For example one of the questions was "How long will you be in Japan?". We went to 3 tourist areas in Kyoto and asked 3 groups of people in each area. At first the students were quite reluctant to talk, but after the first one, they became excited. Every time they saw some foreigners they stalked them down and asked them questions. We recorded it and took a photo with the victims. haha It was really fun, however it was really hot outside. So my students were practically dead by the end of the day. We had a great time. I did some sightseeing as well when I was there. I took some videos and loads of pictures. We took a taxi to one of the tourist areas and I took a video of that. We went to a conbini called "Family Mart" and I was quite sad that I didn't find a family on sale. I arrived home about 6pm, so it was a long day. Since I worked on a Sunday, they let me have a day off this week. So I picked this coming Friday.

By the way, I am moving to my new apartment this coming weekend. I decided to throw away my current shit bed and buy a futon for the mean time. The person that lived in my apartment before me left me a bunch of SHIT so I will have to throw away most of it. However, all I really need is my Xbox, TV and clothes, my desk and a futon. It's all good yo! I am planning on taking some videos of our ridiculous attempt at moving this coming weekend. Hey I was thinking about making a podcast for my blog. What do you think about that? I think I will ask my buddy Tom to join in. Just an idea I'm throwing out there. Let me know what you think. The podcast will probably be about Life in Japan, Video Games, Music, Movies and random things in life.

So last Thursday marked 1 full year in Japan for me. This year has gone by so fast. I experienced many ups and downs. I have met many people and great friends. I have even managed to meet an amazing mate. I never would have thought this would happen to me here in Japan. Well I'm looking forward to this year as well. I have no idea what will happen this coming year. All I can say is that I know that I will do my best. The rest will follow through.

peace


vince



me and the students at the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto


students and teacher!


hello!


the nice golden pavilion in kyoto


my students interviewing a german chick


i bet they were hot


widescreen view just for you!


cooling off in the heat of kyoto



last but not least here are some ridiculous videos that i made. REMEMBER after the video finishes press menu and my other videos will be on the right side. just click the little squares and you will see the video.


searching for a family at family mart...

p.s... RIP bennigans... i will miss your amazing Guinness glazed bacon cheeseburger...sad times...half off burger Wednesdays was the shit...

If you like video games...

Just launched last week. I thought I would spread the word and post a ridiculous video they made! It's quite funny. If you life video games, check out this site. www.giantbomb.com

A few videos

Here are some videos that I shot yesterday on my way home. I was bored in the train so I decided to pull out the camera. You will be going on the train from Tennoji Station to Amami station (where I live). We will go to the convenience store, then walk to my apartment. Enjoy!

peace

vince


part 1



part 2

Life is good

Well I really can't complain this month. I'm moving into a new apartment next month, my friends are great, I got a new TV today, and love is in the air! If only my family was closer to me here. It would make everything so much better. The past few days I have been so happy.

School is on summer vacation now. However, I still have to be at work. Why? I don't know, and I don't even do anything. Today I just studied Japanese at my desk for about 3 hours. Then I ate lunch, played some basketball and went home. Not much to the day. I came home and waited for my TV to arrive at my door. I set it up and then did my evening run. Today I ran from my apartment to 3 train stations south and back. It's so humid here so it's very easy to sweat and lose fluids. It was a great run. Well I just wanted to give a quick update. Everything is going well. Here is a pic of my new setup. When I move to my new apartment, it will be way better! See you! :)

peace

vince

p.s. i saw wall-e last weekend on my computer, it's amazing! it's not coming out in japan, so that's a pity. i also downloaded the dark knight. it comes out here in about a week or so. i will definitely go see it in the cinema.


my xbox 360 and my new tv! 22 inch hd! not so big but good enough for my apartment!


i love wall-e, i don't care how gay that sounds haha :)

Hey there

So I'm not going to South Korea anymore. It sucks, but hopefully I will go somewhere this summer. Today I went with my buddy Tom to sign for our new apartment. It's going to be awesome. It's really big and we can't wait to have some Rock Band parties. Hopefully someone will actually come to visit me this year.

I had forgotten about this but...Tuesday morning when I was riding my bike to school. I stopped by my local convenience store to buy something to drink. As I pulled up in my bike, there was a lady leaving the store. She saw me and literally screamed out loud and ran like she had just seen a ghost. I put my kick stand down on my bike, all the while staring at her. My stare was a blank stare with the universal face of "you are a fucking idiot!". I literally stared at her for about 5 seconds, then for some reason I looked around for a camera like in the show "The Office". Unfortunately the camera crews were not around... oh well... haha Anyway I walked into the convenience store to buy my damn tea. When I walked out, that biatch was still standing there. So when I got on my bike and rode close to her, I yelled out "BOOOOOO!!!" She yelled and ran like a stupid gimp. It was quite hilarious. Oh some people are so ignorant. Just thought I would share that stupid story with you.

I was reading some journal entries that some JET participants have wrote in this years JET Journal. They are quite good. I finished reading them and felt a bit envious of those JETs that are living in small towns and on islands in Japan. They seem to be learning much more Japanese and enjoying local life quite much. Of course there are perks to living in the giant city of Osaka, foreign food stores, cinemas, entertainment, night life, many foreign people. But is that really better than the island? I really don't know. I'm sure that there are pros and cons to both situations. I really want to visit some JET friends that live on an island or a tiny town in Japan. I want to experience that feeling of being there. I will gladly open my doors as well to anyone that comes to big Osaka too! :)

So as usual I have been listening to a lot of music. I feel like typing a lot today so I will recommend some new music for you. Farewell, Ace Enders and a Million Different People, The Morning Light, The Maine, Hit the Lights, Beat Union. Check 'em out if you want to.

peace

vince

here is a little pic of osaka that i took a few days ago with my phone...

Bummer

So looks like there was a scheduling issue with my trip to Korea. I might not be going after all. We are trying to reschedule for the following week, but I think the price will change dramatically. This sucks... Anyway I'll let you know.

peace

vince

Ups and Downs of Life

It's strange how things change so quickly. How one day you can be completely distraught and depressed. To being strong and wanted. Life works that way, and perhaps it's just for the best. Last week for me definitely had it's bright spots, and unfortunately some very low points as well. I'm not going to go into detail about the low points. I just felt horrible because of some circumstances that arose. Anyway, I'm doing better now. I still have hope, I'll just take it day by day...or whatever that cliche is...

Well I'm going to South Korea. I booked my trip last week, and I will be leaving on July 27th to Seoul. I'm looking forward to this trip. I will take loads of pictures, and I hope to make some sort of lame amateur documentary about it. So get ready for that. I also decided to move with my friend Tom to a new apartment inside Osaka City. Currently I'm living in Matsubara City, which is quite close to my work. The downside is that the area is completely lame. I'm far from most people and it's very boring around here. So Tom and I are moving close to Namba in Osaka City. We will have loads of space there. I'm looking forward to it. Now I just have to think about how to get all my stuff over there...hmmm...

Well I just wanted to give a quick update here. I'll be back soon to write something that doesn't make sense again. Take care...

peace

vince


p.s. thanks for the recent comments everybody! nice to hear from the new people!

Rainy Day

Hey everybody! Well, today is a very rainy day. Usually I can't hear thunder here in Osaka. But today I woke up to the wonderful sound of the skies cracking! I love it! I have a busy few days. These are the last few days of school until the mid semester summer break. I'm sure that when we all come back in August, the students and I will have forgotten everything that we learned.

Last Saturday night was very fun. I made plans to meet my buddy Patrick in Namba for some drinks and dinner. I brought along my buddy NY Tom along as well. We were set to meet at 8:30pm, but Tom and I decided to show up a bit early to talk about a trip we have planned for South Korea. We grabbed a beer at Zerro (local bar) and started chatting away. Of course we hadn't ate anything, save for a measly salad that Tom bought at a conbini. So needless to say the tall glass of Guinness was having a small effect on him. I'm not going to lie, me too! haha We went to meet up with Patrick at the Dotonbori Bridge (a typical meeting spot in Osaka). Patrick had a head start on us because in hand was a nice tall Chu-hi 8%. Good stuff! We met up his nice friend and proceeded to the nights dinner location. Of course I went to my favorite cozy spot called Bamboo. My friend Levi cooked up some delicious lamb kebab (Israeli style) and others delicious goodies for us. We enjoyed them and had a few drinks. Tom was running low on money so he decided to go to the ATM. However we went to about 3 atms and they didn't work with his card. We thought he was screwed! I had his back with the money so it was all good. After a few drinks and the completion of our dinner. We started to walk to a place that Patrick wanted to go to. It was already about 10:45pm. Tom and I didn't have plans to pull an all nighter so we decided to just meet up with a couple of friends at a bar called Hawaiian Umiya. We said by to Patrick and his friend and walked to meet our friends. By the time we got there we were a bit tipsy and making ridiculous jokes. We met our Canadian friends from Toronto, Dorothy and Yi-lee. We hadn't seen them in ages, so it was nice to hang out for a bit. We had some beers and watched them eat an interesting salad. I can't go into much detail without confusing you, but the conversations consisted of references to "cave mango's", "love" and tongue twisters that I can't remember right now. By the time we looked at our watches it was 11:45pm. Tom's last train left the station at 12:01am. So if we didn't make it to the station, we would be forced into an all nighter. So we took our drunken selves out of the bar, and proceeded to run wildly through the streets of Osaka. Similar to what you might envision a group of cavemen to do...or something like that. I remember Tom dropping his cell phone. I yelled to the the Korean guards outside the consulate "Hey, we are visiting you soon!". And other random things. Anyway, Tom made it back to the train on time and so did I. It was a good night.

Sunday, was just wonderful. I went to the Osaka Aquarium. I was very humid and hot. But that didn't ruin the fun. The Aquarium was very nice, although there were so many kids there. The best animals I saw were, the Otters, Sea lions and of course my favorite Penguins! I love Penguins. I went to see an IMAX 3d movie, Oceans. It was exciting, not to mention how cool we look with those giant 3d glasses. I wanted to ride Japan's largest Ferris wheel but I think it will be the best at night time. It was just a great day. I can say that it was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time.

Hopefully at the end of this month I will go on a trip somewhere. I am looking to go to South Korea or somewhere in Japan. For sure somewhere though! I will keep you posted on that. Well take care everybody. Sorry for my Giant post today.

peace

vince

Been a while

Hello again. First off CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN! They won Euro 2008. What an amazing tournament. Unfortuntately I will without football for about 1 month. Oh well... I hope you are well. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been doing many things, so I have stuff to write about. Honestly, I've just been a bit lazy to type here. Anyway, today is Tuesday and the sun is out for the first time in a few days. However, I'm sure that later today the sun will fall to the clouds again. Personally, rain and clouds make me happy. I come from a hot desert city with about 330 days a year of sun. So rain and clouds were great days when I was growing up. It's actually kinda funny if you think about it. I remember I used to get mad when I would go outside and the clouds were gone in El Paso.

So what have you been up to Vince?

Thanks for asking...This weekend was pretty good. I ate fake Japanese Mexican food at a pretty famous place in Osaka called "el pancho". If you didn't know, I am Mexican/American and I come from a place in Texas that arguably has the best Mexican food in the entire southwest of the USA. So I can tell you right now that it doesn't taste like Mexican food. But it is decent. I was a bit hesitant to take her there because of this reason. Anyway she liked it. I was a bit disappointed with my food. I wish I could show her real Mexican food, it's so delicious. Saturday I woke up late watched a bunch of "The Office" on my PC.  Sunday was pretty cool, my best buddies in Osaka, the famous Tom, Tom and I went to a Japanese baseball game. The Orix Buffaloes!!! YEAH!!!! haha That is second team in Osaka, and honestly they are quite rubbish. This was all UK Tom's idea, so if it sucked I was just going to blame him! j/k tom! It was interesting of course. First off, I think baseball sucks, so you can imagine what I think about Japanese baseball. One thing that is very different from American baseball games is that there are sections of fans that just sing and beat drums the entire game. If you go to an American baseball game there is never any people playing trumpets and other musical instruments and dancing. So that was different. The food in the stadium was strange as well. I didn't see any popcorn, peanuts or cracker jack here. More like noodles, rice and bento boxes. We were damn hungry though, so we went to Mc Donald's. The place a foreigner can always go. As we walked to our seats and people saw us, there was chatter among the people that we passed. Comments like "look foreigners"! They were so surprised to see foreigners at a BASEBALL game.  I took some photos and I will post a few later on. I also shot a couple of videos as well so that will go up pretty soon as well.

I want to travel somewhere very soon. I wanted to go to this Beach Party this coming weekend, but I couldn't find anyone to go with :( so that really sucked. Maybe I will go to South Korea this month, but I'm not sure. Summer vacation is coming in about 2 weeks so, yeah! Ok I think that's enough for today. On July 31st 2008, will be exactly 1 year I have been in Japan! Wow, time flies so fast! Well take care everybody! Hey is anybody coming to visit me in Japan!? Ever?? Never?? See ya!

peace

vince


ball park


vince, ny tom, uk tom


pitching


cool dudes


kyocera dome in osaka



here are some vids , remember to click menu to get more vids

Happy Birthday Blog!

Hey everybody! So today is the 1st anniversary of vinceinosaka.blogspot.com. I really can't believe that I have been blogging for a year now. I remember when I first wrote on my page one year ago. I had no idea what would be happening in the year to follow. Well all I can say is that life is really good right now. I couldn't ask for more! Please wish my blog happy birthday! Or you don't have to, but it would be cool. Oh I uploaded my commercial for my English Conversation class. I showed my students today and they laughed kinda hard... They are starting to work on their commercials too. Well enjoy and take care of yourselves.

peace

vince


p.s. hi eri ^_^

I'm alive!

Hey everybody! I'm sorry that I have failed to update my blog lately. Actually I have been without internet for a few days now. Yes, again my internet has failed in the very "high tech" country of Japan. Perhaps I have the curse of bad internet. Anyway that is one of the reasons I haven't posted anything.

Did you know that my BLOG turns 1 year old on Thursday? Well if you get a chance. Leave a happy birthday blog comment on that day. It would be greatly appreciated... haha Well I'm shooting my English conversation commercial tomorrow. I hope that it will come out soon. I won't have any internet at home so I can't upload to viddler any time soon. But expect the video up in the next week i assume. Other than the internet debacle, Italy lost in the Euro 2008 cup. So whenever those wankers loose I'm happy. Ok well I'm doing good over here. I'll be back soon. Take care everybody.

peace

vince

Too much excitement...what?

Hey everybody how are you doing? Well I survived the dentist and the barber yesterday. I left my school about 3pm so I can reach the barber right at opening time. He didn't seem too excited to see me. However I realized that his demeanor was this way. He is a pretty nice guy though. We chatted about a few typical things. For example, the weather, baseball and girls. Sounds like a typical conversation between two dudes in the USA! haha Far from it I would say. Next stop was the dentist. The dentist was about 5 minutes from my house. So that was pretty awesome as well. As soon as I walked into the dentist office, a nice looking lady greeted me. I think they were expecting to see me. Anyway, the lady asked me if I was a teacher at Matsubara High School I swiftly replied with a great big "yes!". She told me in some decent English that her daughter went to MHS. It turned out that her daughter was in my class that day! It was quite ironic I think. We kicked the can for a few minutes then I went to see the Dr. He didn't really know English. Neither did the Dental Hygienist. So my Nintendo DS Japanese-English Dictionary came in damn handy! (thanks Danny!!!!) The dental office was all high tech. Everything was handled quite fast and efficient. They cleaned my teeth and fixed my broken filling. It may sound crazy, but I enjoyed it! haha All for a cheap 3,000 yen or $30. Can't beat that...well I guess you could...but you know what I mean. I have to go back next Friday for another cleaning. I think I will keep going for a regular cleaning, since I already broke the ice.

Tonight I am going out with my friends. I'm bringing along my good friends the two "toms". We're going to eat at an Izakaya (restaurant/bar) place. Should be good times. I will try to take some photos and put a few up later on.

At the moment I'm sitting at my desk at work. I have just finished my classes for the day. I am trying an ambitious (in my opinion) project this 2nd term for my 2nd grade students. We are going to make TV commercials in English. I downloaded recent commercials from America and showed them about 30 minutes of commercials today. Of course in typical Japanese fashion they had absolutely no response about them. In order for them to understand the assignment, I am going to make my own commercial. I am going to try and convince students to take my wonderful class in the commercial. I will shoot that lame commercial next week. So expect to see some ridiculous video next week. I hope my students will follow my ridiculousness with me. I can only hope however. Oh, and when they wrote in their journals at the end of class. All the students commented how they love the commercials. Of course I would never have known that since they will never speak a word out loud in class. Kinda crazy if you ask me... Well I believe that my brother and my father are heading to Las Vegas tomorrow. Please be careful driving ok! Oh and thank you SN and Tom for the comments. I appreciate it! SN, don't worry it's all good dude! Good luck with getting ready! And Tom, I'll be checking the blog soon! Well I'll be back soon. Take care y'all!

peace

vince

Hello

So the weather is starting to heat up here in Osaka. It's no big deal for me since El Paso is hot! I'm just glad that flip-flop weather is back! yeah!!! So what am I going to do this summer? Well, I don't know yet. I hope I can visit somewhere next month. I just don't know who I can go with yet. I want to go to Hiroshima for a few days. Maybe even go see Fukuoka for a few days also. Anyway, I hope something comes up soon. So tomorrow I have to go to the Japanese dentist. Actually tomorrow I am going to get a haircut and go to the dentist. Should be quite interesting haha! :) Well I don't know what to write today. So I will let you know some more good music that I have been listening to lately. Of course I've been listening to the new Coldplay album non-stop lately. My favorite song is "yes". It's just so amazing towards the end. Another good band that I have been listening to, is a band called "goot". They just released a new album called "arranged noise". It's a bit of piano inspired pop-punk. It's a great listen. One more band I will recommend is a band called "Run Kid Run". They are quite good. I can't stop listening to the song on their new album called "One in a Million". Well if you have some time check out some of these bands music. You won't be disappointed.

peace

vince

here is an older song from "run kid run"

We've Only Just Begun


here's the new video from coldplay





p.s. FRANCE PLEASE BEAT ITALY TONIGHT!!!!!

Interesting times

How are you? First off, I received no response about the JET information. So I'm not going to bother with that anymore. It takes too much damn time anyway. Kinda a waste of time to write all that and nobody even cares. So sorry!

I had a pretty good week. Every morning at about 1am I would watch the Euro 2008 matches. I would doze off for a few minutes then get back to the action. It has been a good tournament. Friday was interesting. I was going to Tennoji, so I was walking to the train station. Then there was about 5 police dudes walking towards me. Then the came up to me and asked me for my ID. I said, "sure". I handed them my alien card. Then they started writing things down and calling other dudes on the phone. Meanwhile I was totally looking like a criminal with 5 police dudes around me. Not to mention this drew a small crowd of onlookers. After about 5 minutes of waiting. The police dude asked me for my passport. I told him that it was in apartment. Just to let you know, I don't have to walk around with my passport. That is what my damn alien card is for. I even told him that. Anyway, he demanded to see my passport. So lets just say I was a bit pissy. So him and the other 4 goons followed me to my apartment. So just imagine how that looked. A foreigner walking with 5 police dudes. I was fucking embarrassed to say the least. It all turned out that it was "check foreigners day" or something like that. It was quite the primitive way of conducting a simple check. Ahh well...

Today I went to a BBQ. It was a BBQ for my PTA English class. It included all the members of my PTA English class, and the foreign exchange students. I ate a lot of food. Then we went to go play on these damn giant slides in the park. It was damn fun times. I felt like a kid again! We also played a bit of football"soccer". Then we played this game that I will call "blindfold a dude, give the dude a stick and hit the watermelon on the floor game". There is a specific name in Japanese but I don't know it. Plus, I think my names are a lot more amusing. BBQ in Japan is a lot different from in Texas. The meat is kinda weird and rubbery, and they like to put cabbage on the grill. I never did figure that one out yet though. I sure miss Texas BBQ with lean steaks and ranch style beans on the side, with a bit of potatoe salad and some Sam Adams beer. Oh home sweet home... haha Anyway, I added some pics from the days activities. Enjoy you all! Take care...

peace

vince

p.s. I'm listening to the new album from a great band called Augustana. The album is called "Can't love, Can't Hurt". If you enjoy good music then please pick it up. Or if you are a top 40 person, keep listening to that and don't bother with good music. No offense.. haha :)

here a video from them

here is a video of one of the big ass slides at the park.




grillin' it up yo!


yeah that's a bit hot


penalty kicks


kike and i going all superman style


yeah that slide was freaking huge


yeah we are sooo cool!


kickin' it old school


playing that "game" i mentioned earlier


yep, that's a watermelon alright


the bbq crew yo!

Something new for you... huh?!?!?

Hello fellow BLOG enthusiasts. How is this fine week treating you? Do you like the new Euro 2008 widget on the top page? If not, too bad! Because it is staying up there until the end of the tournament! As for me, this week seems to be going so fast. This week I have done a lot of test grading and playing basketball. At night I have been enjoying my new XBOX 360 games that I got. GRID and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Most of my time has been with GRID. If you are a race fan then I suggest you pick up a copy of that game. Or you can just do like everybody else does, and ignore my advice and go buy a shitty game like "the incredible hulk" woohoo! Did you catch the Netherlands destruction of Italy the other night? I hate the Italian football team and their football in general, so it was a good day (morning actually).

Today I was eating lunch at work. Actually it really wasn't lunch, it was just a bag of cereal and I was crunching. I felt a strange crunch and I stopped. I spit out the cereal to find a piece of my tooth filling in there. So basically my tooth filling on my back molar tooth came out. Which totally sucks. I don't think it completely came off, just a small piece. Anyway, I had to call the local dental clinic to schedule an appointment for next Wednesday. So looks like my quest to avoid going to the dentist in Japan has failed. haha I should have some interesting stories next week. ;) Meanwhile I am just going to not eat on that side of my mouth, and just take care of it as usual.

Ok, so I know that some of you are looking for information on the JET Programme. Some of you may be on your way over here in the next month or so. If so, congratulations! You are about to experience something that you will remember for the rest of you life. Excuse me for asking myself questions here...haha

So Vince, what should I bring to Japan? Should I bring a lot of clothes or toiletries etc...?

Well as for clothes, it all depends on how big and tall you are. If you are a smaller person then you should have no problem finding some really nice clothes. If you are like me, a bit taller (6'4, 193cm) than it would be best to bring a lot of clothes. If you are in or close to a big city like Osaka then you choice of clothes will be a lot greater than a person that lives in some tiny town on the coast. So this all depends on where you are located in Japan. One bit of advice I would give you is...Only bring clothes for the summer in your suitcase. Winter clothes are usually bulky and take up a lot of space. You can have family members or friends to send them to you later in the Winter in December. Bring at least 1 suit, and ladies bring a nice suit dress, or pant suit. You will probably only wear it a few times but it is a lot better than trying to find a damn suit in Japan. Oh, one other thing. When you fly to Japan, they will tell you to wear nice clothes on the plane so you will look nice when you arrive in Narita airport. DON"T DO THAT! WHY? Dude, because it will be burning hot and humid when you arrive in Narita. You will hate yourself and be all sweaty when you arrive with 5 bags. Trust me, I learned from experience. :( Plus, wearing nice clothes on a plane is not comfortable.

As for toiletries. Guys, I would definitely bring 5-10 of your favorite deodorant sticks. I have been here for 11 months and still have yet to see proper deodorant. There is American toothpaste here. There is Listerine, lotion, shampoo, body wash etc... Basically anything you like you can get here. So just bring a few things with you so you will have it available when you arrive to your apartment. Then you can go to your local shops to explore. Another good thing in Japan is shopping on line. There is a COSTCO in Osaka. There are various websites that I use frequently to get stuff from the States.

www.fbcusa.com
A great place to buy foreign groceries and other items on line. They ship directly to your home in Japan.

www.theflyingpig.com
Another awesome place to get foreign stuff on line. I use this one the most.

In other words, don't worry too much about toiletries here in Japan. They are easy to come by. And if you have a loving family (like me) they will send you stuff from home anyway. So relax...

One thing I would like to mention to incoming JET people is that you will likely be getting in contact with you "predecessor" or the person whose apartment you will be taking over. Most likely they will want to sell you some of the things that are in their apartment. Now most of the time this is a great idea. Who wants to arrive an empty apartment with no bed or TV (even though Japanese TV fucking sucks)? Just remember that you are not obligated to buy anything from you predecessor. Absolutely nothing! So if you don't want to buy something they offer you, Don't! Also ask you BOE if you some of the things that your predecessor is selling is already included in the apartment. For example, your predecessor might be selling you a refrigerator, but the refrigerator was already in the apartment. They are most likely just trying to shaft you. So be careful. Ask questions, and demand pictures of the stuff they are selling. If a person is serious about selling stuff they will take the time to take photos of the stuff. Again I say this from experience. My predecessor sold me a bunch of CRAP. She sent me these lame pics but I was naive and I bought the stuff. Also they apartment was fucking disgusting. I cleaned that one up immediately. Again this a just a horror story. You might have the nicest predecessor in the world, and they might just give you the stuff and leave the apartment just spotless. So it all depends on that person. Good luck with that.

Ok well I'm sure there are many more things that I am missing here. All I can say for now is that you should just relax. The people at JET pretty much baby you the way through it all. So you will be taken care of. Now for the meantime spend as much time with you friends and family as you can. You will miss them, and something like going to a new and strange country by yourself will test you physically and emotionally. It's always good to know that your friends and family have you back all the time.

If you have any other questions send them of to

trancewave2000@hotmail.com

In the following weeks leading up to the JET Programme 2008 participants arrival, I want to try and answer questions. So send them to my mailbox and I will use my blog to answer some questions. Well take care everybody. If you play on XBOX live add me too! gamertag : binsu 1

peace

vince

p.s. hi eri ^_^

Howdy

As a follow up to my lame post yesterday I wanted to put a few pics from the weekend activities. Tomorrow I will post some information for incoming JETs. So if you are an incoming JET, come back to my blog soon. Maybe you will actually find something useful on my BLOG! haha Take care all.

peace

vince

p.s. the new coldplay album is lovely



a dude playing the new DDR SUPERNOVA game (he was quite spastic)


yeah Tekken 6


Tom and Tom getting down on guitar freaks



a mall in umeda


me, japanese kid and tom. after we made some horrible pancakes and ate them.

*if you want to know what i have been listening to lately
give this splendid band a chance
the band's name is m83. sounds like the 80's (the good part of the 80's) and that's never a bad thing.