Today in my class, we got off on a politics topic. I asked the students if they ever had such a gathering for a president in Japan, like Obama did in America. Most students told me that they truly disliked the current prime minister of Japan, Aso. Well, honestly I have no idea about the president or politics in Japan. I asked them about the local Mayor of Osaka-Fu, Mr. Hashimoto. Apparently they don't like him either. I asked them why, and the reply was... "I don't like him because he won't let us bring our cell phones to high school!" From what I gather, he is trying to implement a big change in the lagging Osaka School system. After years and years of neglect, it's good to see at least something being done in the schools here.
Thanks for the suggestions for the party that I want to make. I'm still thinking about it, but I will let you know what my party theme will be. Today I only have 1 class this morning. Afterwards I will go home. Usually on Fridays I have 4 classes to teach. However, the Senior students have finished school already (even though graduation isn't for another month???). So that leaves me with one class on Fridays until at least April. Until next time folks...
Well it's Wednesday, and you know what that means! Well actually I don't really know what that means... Anyway time for a new post!
Ok, well things have been going well the past few weeks. Last Friday we had a party for my room mates birthday. We invited about 15 people I suppose. I think a few people didn't show up though. We had a great time. All we did was buy cups, plates and forks. People brought, food and drinks. The party was definitely in Japan, because the food was sushi and Japanese bread. There was a cake for my friend and we ate that cake quite fast. Everybody was chatting, and at midnight we started to dance to salsa music. My room mate is a salsa dancer so he was showing us some moves. We probably danced for about 1 hour or so. By that time the alcohol had set in, and we were all pretty smashed. The last person left at about 2am and I just fell asleep. I had to wake up early in the morning because I had a private lesson at 10am. Unfortunately I woke up with a pounding headache, but a bit of coffee took care of that problem.
At my private lesson there were 10 people from the community. I showed them pictures of my trip back to America. They had many questions and seemed generally interested in it. It was an easy $50 dollars. Plus they gave me some coffee and sweets. Sunday was relaxing and ridiculously cold. I went walking around in the shopping district here. I ate a chicken kabob too! This week at school is going good as well. My students are starting to understand how to give their opinion about things. When I asked one of my students today if she believed in aliens, she said "I hope that we can meet them one day", I was really happy that she told me how she felt. Sometimes it's quite difficult for a Japanese student to tell you an opinion about something. I really don't know why though.
I have been able to drop about 6 pounds since coming back to Japan. I think I gained 15 pounds when I went back home. It was not good!! I ate everything you could possibly imagine, except McDonald's...:) My friends here told me that I had gained weight too! All I really have been doing is just eating what I normally do here in Japan and I lose weight. I think I lose weight because of all the walking and bike riding I do everyday. I probably walk at least 30 minutes a day. I ride my bike about 4 miles a day, so that is probably the reason for my rapid weight loss.
Last night I went shopping for some jeans and a couple of pillows for my bed. I went to GAP because I know that I can wear those jeans. For some crazy reason, the jeans at GAP are about $125 each. I don't remember exactly how they are back in America, but I know for sure they aren't that much. So basically I just left that place. If they aren't on sale, I won't buy them! haha I went over to French Connection and there was a big sale! I saw some really nice jeans that were priced at $145, but they were %70 off! So I tried them on and they fit great! I was quite happy about that. When I left, the girl asked me if I was from the United Kingdom, I said... of course! haha :) I then ventured to buy a couple of pillows. I hadn't changed my pillows since I arrived here in Japan. I bought some nice fluffy ones along with pillow covers. Everything came out to $35 dollars! Good times! Last night I slept on those pillow like a dream.
I am thinking about throwing a party soon at my apartment. I was thinking a clothing themed party, for example a "white party". But that is kinda played out. Maybe a "black party"? Give me some suggestions OK! I want to do this soon!
Ok, well enough about my life. I wanted to share with you some musical suggestions for this evening. I hope you will give them a whirl in your mp3 player or what not.
The first band is called The Apples in Stereo. They are really good. A bit of an indie rock type of sound, but amazing stuff.
The next band is called Playradioplay. They are from Texas and the new album is so originally titled "Texas". I can't really describe the sound. Maybe a mix of "the postal service" and pop punk. Good stuff.
Ok that's enough for today. My blog is being renovated right now, so I hope you will like the new look. Cheers
Well as you all know the American Presidential Inauguration was today. Actually in Japan it was early this morning. I stayed up all night watching and gazing at the pictures I witnessed live and on the Internet via MSNBC.com. I have never seen such a beautiful scene in my life. I have traveled many places in the world, but I realized that I have taken for granted the beauty of my own country. I have never been to Washington D.C. but I know I am definitely going to try and make in next time I go back. I just kept thinking about the history of that place. All the people that worked in throughout the years for equality, if only they could have lived to see it. I envy the people that were able to see it in person. I am looking forward to this next president. He seems to be a great man with a following like no other. Should be interesting time ahead for America!
Today in my class, we got off on the topic of Obama. I don't know why, but the Japanese are in love with him. My students had so many questions about America and Obama. I taught them a little about the slaves in south, segregation, human rights, MLK, World War 2 and the Iraq war. They really don't know much about history. I showed them how minorities were separated by using the water fountain example. They were really shocked about this. One student told me that he disliked what the Americans did to the "black mans" as he said. I told him that I agreed with him. However I continued to tell him about how the Japanese in World War 2 took Korean people as slaves to build their military installations. They had no idea! I was glad to teach them a little about the world. It was truly fun, and that is the way education should be. Heck, they even learned a bit of English too!! I really had thank my teaching partner though! She helped me translate so much, and it was soooo helpful to me. I'm really starting to think that my plan about teaching English by using current affairs is a good and feasible idea! I just hope the next presentation will go just as well! :) Be back soon!
Well I just finished two classes right now! They went pretty good. I gave a small presentation on the drug war in Juarez Mexico(the city across from El Paso). They were blown away by how many murders there were last year... about 1800. Perhaps I scared them about Mexico though! Oops... At least they learned about something, and they learned in English! Life is going good lately. I'm really trying hard on my new years resolutions. I think this year will be a great one! I was thinking about how my blog has somewhat become a small diary of sorts. At first I wanted to dish out all this info about Japan. But I realised, it's really hard to explain or for people to imagine your lifestyle here. I put pictures up and stuff like that but they don't do the story justice. I hope some people can come over here so I can share with them a bit of my lifestyle. As for my blog, well we'll just see what happens. Gotta go with the flow. Take care all, and I'll talk to you soon!
peace
vince
p.s. here is a pic i just took with my cell phone! search for things some of you have given me :)
Well I am in the Denver Airport right now. It's a nice airport. If you ever come by here, you should definitely go eat at Heidi's Brooklyn Deli. The best sandwiches I have ate for a long time. Anyway, I was really happy to go home. I have gained a new appreciation for my family. They are the best. That's mainly who I saw when I went home. I saw a few good and friends, but it was mostly family time. I truly enjoyed it. I really like Japan, but I love America. As much as people love to complain about this country, you really don't appreciate it until you leave. Anyway, I just wanted to say... Don't take for granted what you have.
During this trip I ate a lot of food! I surely gained at least 5lbs! I could not stop eating!! haha And if you have ever been to El Paso Texas, then you definitely know how wonderful the food is there! I went snowboarding in Ruidoso New Mexico. It was fun, and my body took a beating! At night we went to look at the beautiful sky with my telescope. They sky was absolutely stunning. I was able to see the Milky Way in the middle of the sky. I spent a lot of time with my dogs too!
Anyway, soon I will be back in Japan. I'm not sure when I will be back in America yet, but I am glad that I was able to refresh myself and enjoy home. Thanks to everybody that made my holiday the best one in a long time. I appreciate it!
I'm going to finish this giant sandwich from Heidi's now...
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.
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
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!
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.
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".
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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
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! :)
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...
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
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