Pay day

Well, after a month's blood and toil I have finally gotten my first miniscule pay check (in Yen!) After work I celebrated by heading down to the local onsen for a long hot bath.

Back home in my apartment, my war against the mosquito people continues unabated. I woke up this morning in a pool of blood (ie four drops on my futon) and a number of dead mossies on my hands. I am so used to it now that I didn't even wake up- I just went on a bug-killing fugue in my sleep.

Halloween is a lot bigger event in Japan than it is back home in Australia. All week long the kid's teachers and their students have to wear costumes. The kid's Manager is stuck in a very cute panda outfit until Saturday, much to my amusement. We also have some Jack-o-lantern babes and a Scarlet Pimpernel ( not me thought :-( )

Not only do I like to think that my students come out of my lessons having learned something as well as have a good time, but what they don't know is that I am also teaching them the basics of successful raiding in World of Warcraft. This week a lot of my warm up activities focused on being 'the Bomb.' When the time comes in Molten Core as they face off against Baron Geddon, they will realise I have trained them well. A lot of awesome loot will be dropped on that day...

Seriously though, I'm quickly going mad in this country. But in a fun, amusing telemovie way

=Blake

Kungfu fighting

Kungfu fighting
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

The knowledgable martial arts scholar will recognise that I am capable of ripping a man`s heart out with my five exploding fingers of death technique.

The hat is just the icing on the cake.

Amess

IMGP0654
Originally uploaded by OmegaBlake.

I should have cleaned up a little before I took photos of my lovely suite... but here is my living/dining room

Shaquille, please note the beany baby next to the TV :-)

Blake-sensei's Everyday Life

I feel like a kid in some kind of Robot Museum! (Note: I am actually in a Robot Museum)

It's good to back online. I have been cut off from the outside world for quite some time, so its good to be able to sit down at a desk and catch up on things.

I'm starting to settle into my life in Anjo. Everyone here is very nice- creepily so. It must be something they put in the water. I don't not what they are saying about Japan's falling population, because one out of every two women I meet is noticeably pregnant.

My weekly schedule is as such. I wake up at around 6:00 when the Meititsu trains starting running... right next door to my apartment. I actually get out of bed at 9:00, make breakfast, shave, shower and then get dressed to go to work. I leave the house after I finish the dishes and vacuuming (I'm so domesticated. Also, they have very big rats in this country, so I'm taking preventative measures). I ride to Komeda, the local coffee change for some morning coffee (they sometimes throw toast in for free as well, so I guess it a kind of brunch. Then it's off to work! I get there half an hour early in order to do some office work and prepare for my first lessons. If I'm lucky I get to repeat some of my lessons, which means less preparation for me. Still, I normally have to teach four/five lessons a day. I have a lunch break at 3:00, and my last lesson is at 9:00, so I normally get out of work half an hour later. Then its back home for dinner and whatever I choose to occupy myself with (studying Japanese, eating cake and listening to my iPod mostly).

Today I met up with some of my fellow teachers for the Nagoya festival. There was a two hour parade with samurai, spear men, drummers and princesses in the streets to celebrate Tokugawa Iesyu Day or something. The mock battles were pretty cool, especially the samurai duels. It was great fun, even though I depleted both my camera batteries.

I've gotten my hands on a cheap iMac, so I hope to have full time Internet access soon. I will have to wait until I get my Gaijin card (next month) until I can get my mobile phone though :-(

I hope everyone is doing okay back home. My thoughts (if not my meat-puppet) are with you all!

FOR THE HORDE!

-Blakey

Class of 2006

Blake's Camera 012
Originally uploaded by ljbatraylover.

With looks this good, you could be fooled into thinking that we're competent

Karaoke Master

Nagoya 027
Originally uploaded by ljbatraylover.

Can you feel the POWER!?

Nagoya T plus One Week

Greetings Gentlefolk;

As of typing I am still drawing breath. As this Internet cafe is full of cigarette smokers, this is not so much a good thing. I have survived the week long training　process and have emerged as an official teacher. I even have the business cards and the little lapel pin to prove it. After comparing both policies side-by-side, I've realised that the lapel pin actually has a better insurance policy than I do.

I've made some good friends since I've been here. I'm pretty happy that I don't have any drama queens or jerks in my intake group. In fact, after our last day of training we all went out to a karaoke bar and screamed into a microphone for the rest of the night. My contributuions to the night were 'Take me Out' by Franz Ferdinand, 'Down Under' by Men at Work and 'YMCA' by... those really strange guys.

The training week was pretty long and there were a lot of things to cover, but I think I've got the hang of things now- I'm sure I'll pick up the rest when I move to Anjo tomorrow. I taught two classes with Japanese students last week, and they went pretty well. At least they didn't run screaming out of the class room or throw things at me.

I've been pulled over by the cops under suspicion of being a westerner, something that never happened when I was last here. I knew enough Japanese and they knew enough English to get me through the encounter with as little jail time as possible.

I've been eating losts of strange things since I've been here- rice and ramen of every kind, tempura, shabu shabu, teriyaka chicken, even Octopus Balls (eck). I wouldn't be suprised if I'm losing even more weight (I don't have much more left to lose)

I've been taking a lot of pictures- Downtown Nagoya, Tsuna and I at Atstsu Jingu shrine, Karaoke the other day... they will be posted as soon as Kendra gives me her Flickr link and password

Peace out (for now)

Great Teacher Blake

Foot job

Just deleted my long winded post by accident, so I'm afraid you're just going to be getting the highlights:

Bangkok Airport is new. As in, finished only yesterday new. A lot of things still going wrong there, not enough air conditioning

No net access either :-(

Takes half an hour to walk one end from the other. Not good for the feet

Got a Thai foot massage for aforementioned reasons. Was worth every single Baht

Going to Phuket (Airport) for another stopover. A storm was coming in on the horizon yet the beach still looked beautiful

Not getting shot in the glorious kingdom of Thailand. Long live the King! All Hail his loyal subject, the handsome, stalwart defender of democracy, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin!

Sincerely;

~General Sont... Australian Male

2/10/06, Formerly 29/09/06