Say Goodbye!

Yesterday I was informed by one of my JET friends over in Japan that they quit the JET program. She came to Japan at the same time as me and we met in Phoenix the first time. This person who I will keep anonymous has had a bad experience overall on JET, and made the decision to leave the first week of April. I really feel bad for her, because she had such a bad experience. The problem with the JET program is that depending on where you are placed in Japan, you may or may not have an enjoyable time. Unfortunately for my friend, she was placed on a somewhat boring area, with some really bad teachers, some ignorant people and an overall shitty placement(I hope that sums it up correctly). However there are some people that like me that are placed in Osaka with pretty good teachers overall. It makes me wonder if I would have done the same thing as my friend. I wonder how lucky I was to be placed in Osaka, even though it is far from perfect, FAR from perfect. But even in Osaka things are varied. Some of my JET colleagues here in Osaka tell me about some really bad situations at their schools. Anyway, I am getting off the topic. If my friend is reading this I wish her well on the next step in life, where ever that may be! I know you will kick some ass some where else! Take care!

Well as for me, it's another boring day sitting around at my school. There are no students, no classes and again the teachers are running around like chickens without heads. I really don't understand what they could possibly be doing that makes them so busy. Well, whatever it's all good you know.

Hey I realized something funny the other day. In Japan, people love to wear these ridiculous white masks when they are sick. They look like those masks that you would use if you were painting, or you know those masks that people used to use during that SARS outbreak a few years back? Well anyway, those masks! So you will see people walking around with these masks all day long. It's basically a billboard that says

"HEY EVERYBODY I'M SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

Now I really didn't have a problem with these masks at first, until I saw this one ridiculous thing. I have noticed that people that wear these damn masks love to pull the mask up off their mouths when they are going to cough!!

"but vince, i'm sure that they cover their mouths when they cough right?"

HAHAHA, absolutely NOT! They will just cough into the air spreading all those germs. And then casually place the white SARS mask back on and over their mouths.

Now, I'm no doctor but I do believe that germs are spread when you COUGH! So, I can't possibly understand the point of wearing the SARS mask when you are just going to take it off when you cough.

(ok let me gather myself for a moment...)

Alright, tonight I am going to "martini night" at a cozy bar in Namba called Cinquecento with New York Tom. It should be good times! I'll let you all know how that goes tomorrow, or sometime during this weekend. Right now I am going back to my desk to sit around and stare at my Las Vegas Sign that my brother gave me before I left. Viva Las Vegas! See you all!

peace

vince

p.s. i like to say hi to people on my blog. not to fulfill people ego's, but because i genuinely like to say hi! see ya!

Sashiburi! (long time no see!)

Hello, sorry for not keeping in touch much these past few days! Actually I have been quite lazy to type anything on my blog. I had the past 2 days off and nothing was really going on.

So I am going home on March 18th. In order for me to leave Japan and come back with my VISA, I have to get a "re-entry" permit.

"hey vince, what the hell is that?"

Well I thought you would never ask!! Ok well all foreigners that are living and working in Japan have to get one of these. Basically you are paying for the permission to return. If I don't buy this ridiculous permit, I will have to re apply for a VISA when I return from holiday. It's quite absurd.

So here is the process. Keep in mind I live in Osaka, so if you are reading this and living in other parts of Japan, you should look up the nearest Immigration office.

You have to go to the Osaka Immigration office. Which is located just outside of "cosmosquare" station. This is the last stop on the Chuo subway line. You enter the suprisingly modern looking building (that smells like smoke, like everything else in Japan). You have to buy a stamp (yes literally) that will cost you 6,000￥($55) for a mulitple re-entry permit, or 3,000￥($25) for a single re-entry permit. You take that ridiculous stamp to the immigration office. Ask the dude at the front(that doesn't know English) for a re-entry application. Afterwards you fill out that form, and follow the green dots on the floor to the receptionist. They will look at your Gaijin Card, Passport and application. They will give you all your documents in a folder which you have to take to one of the windows (they will tell you which one). They will call your number up and you will recieve your passport with the new re-entry permit. It's a very simple procedure. Although going all the way to the immigration office is a bitch. For that reason only I would suggest you buy a 6,000￥ permit. That way you can leave and enter Japan as many times as you like, without having to go back to the office to buy a new one. I hope this lame walkthrough helps somebody. Ask me some questions if you need help!

"so vince, how is your life going right now?"

Well, not much is going on. Right now I'm at school trying to figure out why I have to be here. There is no classes, no students, no lessons to plan. Yet, all the teachers here seem to be sooooooo busy!! I just don't understand! lol Maybe I just work to fast or something. I going out to dinner with a my friend on Saturday. She works at a local tv station! That's crazy!

I don't really know what else to say right now. If I think of something else I will come back to blab about it later on. If any one in EP or the surrounding areas wants to hang out when I go home, let me know! Alright I'm going to go finish playing half-life 2 on my computer! hahah see you take care

peace

vince

p.s. neo, i got the invitation! it's nice! thanks dude

End of the school year!

Hello everybody! How is this fine month of February treating you? This month has really just blew by! It's hard to believe that I have been here for about 7 months now. I remember this time last year I was going to Phoenix to have my interview to get into JET. I still remember the feeling of my stomach while I was waiting for the interview. Oh man, time really does fly.

Well today was the official last day of school for students. I didn't have any classes today. It was a half day anyway. The cool thing about today was that at about 12pm I asked my supervisor what I was supposed to do for the rest of the day. He thought it over for a few minutes (literally). He then continued to ask multiple people the same question. It seemed like it was so difficult figure out what to do with little old BINSU. It was actually pretty hilarious, I was just sitting at my computer giggling to myself. Finally, he came up to me and said, "you can go home." He also said that I don't have to come back to work until next Thursday. This is because there will be entrance exams for the newbies. I just said "SWEET, see ya!"

Before I left home, one of my co-workers (the one that I told you about in my previous post) came up to me and asked me to join him on Saturday night with his friends. I was completely shocked, only because I had never really been asked to hang out from a Japanese person before (yes that sounds ridiculous). I have been asked to go hang out at work related events, like drinking parties, eating parties and other similar gatherings at homes. However, my co-worker wants me to go hang out with him and his friends. I was really happy about this request. Of course I agreed and tomorrow I will meet him up in Umeda at 8:00pm. The thing that I found odd was that he told me specifically, there will be 6 guys and 6 girls. I was like...ok. I really don't understand why he said that, and my horrible Japanese ability didn't allow me ask why. haha Anyway, I don't really care. I just want to hang out! So I'm quite excited. Hopefully I will have some pics up tomorrow night of the evening out!

Well as for an update to my story yesterday about the what I like so creatively call "the hair incident". My student was able to take her test after school. And she did great too, so I was happy about that too! Oh and Val, I have heard similar stories about the strictness of the school appearance from other friends in Japan too. I didn't realize it was like that in Taiwan too! It was a bit difficult for me to understand this. At least next time it happens, I won't be so angry about it. Actually I wasn't too angry, I was more shocked. Well I suppose that I have been shocked many times in Japan. haha

Hey tonight I watched a great movie online. It's called "Be Kind Rewind". It's very ridiculous, but that movie has so much heart. Sure it has the "run down building, and the community coming together to stop the demolition" cliche, but this movie really made me happy. Yeah, I'm not much of a movie critic, but I really recommend it. I believe it's out in theaters in the USA. I watch it on my favorite video camera movie website! Hey you can't blame me! It's not like the movies will be shown in Japan.

Anyway, this is the end of my blog post for today. I just wanted to share a few thoughts are going through my head today. I'm not sure exactly how a blog is supposed to be. Is it like a diary, or journal? I don't know, but I really hope it doesn't suck! haha I try ok! :) Take care everybody, where ever you are!

peace

vince


p.s. hey Ferdinand the bull! how are you ?

p.s.s. joey joe joe, i have a wonderful name for the club. TRBYTASC "the randomly brush your teeth at school club" is that good? maybe you can suggest a new name before i make an order for shirts! lol J/k!!

p.s.s.s. Hey El Paso, you better start stocking your restaurants! I will be back soon with a voracious appetite! :)

p.s.s.s.s. i made a new playlist for my music player, i'm trying to add songs from bands that are not well known. i like so much music, i hope you will learn about new music too!

News and all that good stuff!

Hey everybody! How are things going for you? Well I have to say things are going pretty good over here. I mean nothing has really happened out of the ordinary lately.

I really don't even know if people even read my blog much anymore, so I really haven't had the drive to put up some new stuff. Anyway, this week is the official last week of classes at my school. This Friday the exams start and there are no more classes. Which is cool because I don't have to go to any classes. Basically I will be sitting around on my laptop playing Half-Life 2 and Portal next week. So I really can't complain about that right?! The good thing about being an ALT is that I don't have to go to the teacher's meetings and listen to all the nonsense that they talk about there.

I think you have all read about my not so positive feelings about the Japanese education system. Well, today I was giving a conversation test first period. All my students showed up except for one. I was worried about her because she was in my class yesterday. So I sent one of the other girls to the office to check and see if she had called in sick or something, you know since we had a TEST! Anyway, my student comes back and tells me that the absent girl is at the school. I asked, why she wasn't in my class then. The student told me that the girl was getting her hair dyed black by the principal because it was too light!! So basically, she was held back from taking the test, because she wanted to look nice and put some highlights in her hair. I cannot understand the logic of Japanese school systems sometimes. OK BIG DEAL! A GIRL GOT HIGHLIGHTS!?!? WOW WHAT A CRIME!!! This really backs up my theory that image is everthing in Japan. The content may be garbage but as long as it looks good! Is having your hair black more important than education?!?! I guess so! I felt bad for the girl, she did't do anything wrong and she missed my test too. But I talked to her a little while ago (with her newly dyed BLACK HAIR), and I will let her take the test at lunch time. Sorry for my long rant! I have never seen such a ridiculous thing at my school before, so I had to bitch about it!

Now for the good news y'all. I booked my ticket yesterday for my trip back to the USA! I will be leaving Japan on March 18th, and arriving in El Paso on March 18th until April 3rd. So pretty soon I will see most of you! I am looking forward to going home and eating some Moe's Mexican Restaurant, Rudy's BBQ, Whataburger, House Of Pizza, Casa Pizza, Taco Bell, oh man the list goes on!! Ok, well this ends my ridiculous blog for today! I hope you all are doing good! Leave me some comments if you are actually reading this thing. Talk to you soon! Bye bye!!!

peace

vince



p.s. why does everybody brush their teeth in the middle of the teachers room over here? it's one of the most bizarre things ever... oh man...

Good times

Hello! First off I would like to congratulate my cousin and great friend have been engaged! That's so great! Looks like I'm going to be the last one with out a wife pretty soon! haha :)

So last night was really great. There was a happy time party, and we ate some Japanese food called Mottsu Nabe. Which is like a soup with many different things in it like veggies, tofu, meat. Then we had some fried chicken and some Korean appetizers. It was extremely good, I was quite surprised! Afterwards we went to karaoke! We were singing some Japanese songs and English songs too. Over all it was a great night. My co-worker missed his last train home so he just stayed at my place so he wouldn't have to pay for a taxi home. He was quite surprised that I offered to let him stay. Maybe Japanese don't usually do that? I don't know, but anyway that's what happened last night.

I am going to try and book my ticket back to the states on Monday (payday)! So pretty soon you will know my travel details. Well here are some pics from last night! Enjoy, and thanks for the comments! Oh and Danny, when you threw all that tea on me, that was the funniest and most tramatizing experience ever. HAHA

peace

vince

Howdy

Hey everybody, how are you all doing? I've been ok these past few days. I was feeling sick yesterday, I was quite worried that I would come down with a cold. I'm quite glad that I didn't. The one thing that did suck was I was playing basketball with my students. I went up for a rebound with about 4 guys around me, and one of those short flailing arms elbowed me right under my right eye. I freaking hurt a lot, but I didnt really feel anything right away. After about 5 minutes of playing more, it started to bleed a little. I got a nice looking (sarcastic) red cut under my right eye now. It was funny because when I came to work this morning everybody thought that I was in a fight or something. They were like "BINSU SAN, DAIJOUBU DESU KA?". Asking me if I was ok, and I was like yeah I'm fine. Actually it's already starting to scab so hopefully this warlock will be off my face soon! It's no big deal though, it just makes me stick out even more than before! I'm used to it.

Well, I called a travel agent here and I got a price to go home in March. It will cost be about 130,000￥ or about $1,300 dollars to get home. That's a crap load of money. Basically I only have 2 choices. The first choice is, don't go home in March. The second choice is, buy my ticket next Monday and for the next month after that be a complete hermit in my apartment because I won't have any money to do anything. Actually it won't be that bad but I won't have too much money for extracurricular activities for a month. It's actually no big deal though. So most likely I will choose the blue pill, or choice number 2. So expect me to be going home about March 18th. I will let you all know the exact details pretty soon, since I have yet to book my flight.

Something that will be following me home is my dead Xbox 360. The reason being is that it will cost me about $150 just to ship it home. In other words, the hell with that. I'll just throw it in my backpack when I go home. Oh and Marcel, I heard about the recent death of your Xbox 360 from the same illness as mine. I'm sure it was the curse from my Xbox, damn red ring of death.

So what's new in Japan? The weather has been on a somewhat PMS trip as of late. On Saturday it was freaking snowing outside all day long. Sunday it was sunny. Monday and Tuesday it was raining all day, and today (Wednesday) it is sunny and warm. I am really looking forward to spring. I hear rumours about a wonderful Cherry Blossom(flower) viewing area at one of the main parks in Osaka. I would really like to see this display. I also hear that many people go and chill under the trees in the spring and have bbq parties, live music, hookah parties and all sorts of shenanigans. So I'm definitely looking forward to spring.

There is two more weeks of school left here in Matsubara high. The students are getting ready for their final exams, and are basically uncontrollable. I don't care though because that's exactly how I was way back when I was in high school, so I know how they feel. It's all good to me. The graduation ceremony for my senior students is on March 5, so I look forward to seeing this. I think I will actually have to dust off my suit from my closet for this "momentous" occasion. I will still have to come to school in March even though there really is no school. Well I could use my vacation days and just slack it at my apartment until I go back home to the states, but that is no fun. I would rather come to school and get elbowed in the face playing basketball!!!!! No but really, I would rather come here and actually get to talk to people. Speaking of talking to people, this Friday is another Happy time party. Remember those whack parties that we have a work, every 3rd Friday of the month. I hope it will be good like the last time, I had a great time last time.

Anyway this blog has really gotten out of control with it's length and randomness in general. I hope you attempted to enjoy my ranting and my woebegone attempt at story telling. I hope you all are doing swell. Take care of yourselves, and if ya have some time. Send me a comment, it would be greatly appreciated! BYE

peace

vince

Good times...

So it's Saturday morning and I'm a bit tired. Last night I was invited by my co-worker to go eat and drink at a restaurant in my neighborhood. It was really fun, we ate a lot of food. Foods like yaki-udon, ramen, some kind of chicken dish I forgot the name of.haha The owners sister was there with her two kids. They were teaching me how to make some origami. We were laughing and having a good time. Today, I will be going to Nara to sight see with my neighbor from down the street. Well I hope you are doing good take care, and have a great day.

peace

vince

Congratulations!

David stuns Goliath!

So today I woke up at 3am, I took a day off and I haven't slept since. Was it worth it? Of course it was. Today (monday in japan, sunday in USA) my favorite American Football team the New York Football Giants won the Super Bowl. The Giants had everybody against them, especially band wagon Patriots fans. The Giants defense showed one of the most inspiring displays of will, heart and power. They never gave into the pressure that EVERYBODY put on them. I'm so happy for them. I know it's "just" a sport, but sports are a huge part of my life. It can make you feel sad and defeated, but it can also bring you joy and inspiration. That's the beauty of the games! Well take care! If any of you blog readers want to send me some Giants gear that would be nice! haha I'm definitely not going to find any over here.

peace

vince


p.s. dad-sorry about ur bet haha :)

Things are changing

今日はさいきんど？！So this week I only had 10 classes. The main reason is because the 3rd year (seniors) students have finished school already. They will graduate on March 5th. My new idea of not giving my students a written exam this term is going very well. If you remember from my previous blog post, I had an idea of having the student make a dialogue about a common situation. Well, right now they are on their second practice dialog. I am giving them a dialogue that I made. They will practice three different dialogues, then they will create their own. The final exam of the year will be their presentation of the dialogue. So I believe this gives the student more control of their own grade. The one thing that I am really happy about is that even the students that were the "sleepers" in my class are really involved in this project. It really makes my day to see them smile, seriously.

One of my other projects that I started this 4th and final term, was the "daily writing" activity. If you remember from previous posts. I gave my students a sheet with 8 boxes on each side. They have to write something in English every day right before the end of class. I decided not to give them a topic of the day, because I just want them to practice English. Well it started with simple things like "I'm sleepy today". I would go through every single one and write something to them in that square of the day. Currently, this has blossomed into students writing 4 to 5 sentences to me. We basically are having a conversation with out actually talking to each other. I think this is so nice, because I can get to know ALL of my students and they can get to know me. I definitely know that most are shy and they won't try to talk to me live. So this is a great way for them to interact. You would think that I would get tired of writing so much everyday. But it's the exact opposite, I am so excited after every class to see what they have to say.

Yesterday (Friday), I was approached by the school newspaper editor. He told me he me to write a self introduction in Japanese for the school newspaper. Well, I attempted to do it, and with help from my colleagues I was able to do it. I gave him the typed self intro, and he snapped a photo of me to put in the paper. It was pretty funny. He told me that the paper will be out for the start of the new school year in April, so I will put a pic of it up when I get it ok.

Last night was really nice. I ha my second "date" with this cool girl. Keep in mind that I didn't call it a date, she did, not that there's anything wrong with that. Anyway, I showed her this pub I know and she really liked it. Last Friday she took me to this crazy Hookah bar/restaurant, which was actually pretty sweet. Anyway, I see something happening here so I'll keep ya posted y'all! I really don't even know if I should be talking about this, it's hard to word it. But I want you to know what happens here in my life. I just try to document it.

So did you watch Cloverfield? I watched the lame bootleg online, since it's not coming out in Japan. This movie was very interesting, intense, funny and strangely sad. Action comes out of no where and the ending is quite heart pounding. The first person perspective is very nice, because it made me feel like I too was running through a apocalyptic Manhattan. Well let me know what you thought about it. Send me a comment with your opinion.

Today I'm going to head to a room shop later. I need to buy some curtains for my apartment, the curtains that the person before me left are absolute rubbish. So basically I can't take them anymore.

Well thank you for reading my long blog today. I hope you all are doing great. Enjoy your weekend.

peace またねー


vince

*currently listening to "the weepies"