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
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 ^_^
LOL! Vince, my bad.
ReplyDeleteMy brother's wedding is coming up on June 28/29, and I'm the major organizer for the guests/events/etc. So I have not written, even though i read -- my bad, I won't let it happen again.
I like the new format! Is it from any suggestions I know of???