In Hokkaido

Woke up early on the last day, got dressed, had breakfast, checked out, and got on the bus back to Narita. Had my first Japanese Coca Cola at the airport and the results were good. Tastes good, if not better than American Coke which is more than I can say for ANY of the European Coke I’ve tasted.

The plane ride to Hokkaido was short, about an hour or so. The wait to get luggage and meet our welcome party took forever, but finally I was introduced to Mr. Oi (supervisor) and Kyoto sensei (vice principal). They drove me directly from the airport to the school where I met much of the office staff. I have heard of people having to meet the town mayor or something ridiculous like that after stepping off the plane, so I feel a bit lucky to only have met 5 people. My shipped luggage was waiting for me at the school. When we got to my apartment a whole bevy of school workers (teachers, office staff) was there to move all of my furniture and stuff into the places I wanted them as well as put my bed together.








The apartment is pretty sweet for only 13,900 yen a month. I have three tatami bedrooms, kitchen, living room, shower, toilet, large foyer. I only use like 1/3 of the apartment. I have also received many electronic goods that I didn’t have to pay for (see earlier post).

Akihabara

Today I slept off the jet lag some more and then headed to Akihabara district which is the electronics district to get kanji translator software for my DS. I got lost on the Tokyo trains and wound up going to the same suburb three times, but I finally found my way. Managed to not talk Japanese to the electronics shop owner but still managed to get the thing I was looking for. Went to the combini and got what I thought was a chicken sandwich that turned out to be inedible and what I thought was mandarin oranges which also turned out to be inedible. On the plus side, I did get some white chocolate that turned out to be delicious. Attended my prefectural meeting to discover how I was going to get to Hokkaido. Went to bed.

Genghis, Sleep, and Sleepwalking

Just went through three days of “intensive” training at this really posh hotel. My training consisted mainly of sleeping off jet lag in my room. The first day I actually went to things like the opening ceremony and the first part of the day workshop. Oh, and lunch because it was free.

The Japanese are big on ceremonies and speeches by the way.

After the first quarter of the workshop, I found myself slipping off to sleep in the uncomfortable chair and so when we had a break, I trotted on back to my room.

Went to nomihodai that night which was food and all you can drink for 3000 yen (a little less than $30). Even though it was all you can drink I did not get drunk, just slightly buzzed. Tried over 5 different drinks on the menu though and that was interesting. Dinner was good. Something called Genghis Khan that has no relation to the Mongolians.

I came back like the nerd I am and did some homework (midterm actually). Then about 2 hours later some people came carrying my roommate into the room. She was sooooooooo drunk. She passed out for a bit and then I tried to go to bed as well, but she kept getting up in the middle of the night and sleepwalking out of the room and into the other corridor, trying to get into someone else’s room. I had to go get her twice. As amusing as it was, it left me kind of tired for the next day.

In Tokyo

Arrival in Tokyo. Very tired. Very dirty. It’s amazing how grimy you can get just by sitting in a seat on a plane. I think the flight was about 15 hours though I may be exaggerating. I sat next to another JET and a Japanese businessman who lives in America. He was very chatty and I was glad because the flight was boring – even with a Nintendo DS and my Archos player.

NEVER EVER fly Northwest Airlines if you can help it. While the flight attendants were great, the plane was horribly cramped, the food was poor (but plentiful) and the amenities were nearly non-existent.

After getting to Narita airport, we had to go through customs which didn’t take very long. Turns out they didn’t give a crap about my bee sting medications or my prescription ibuprofen. So much for all that hassle from before.

We then shipped the majority of our bags to our homes as soon as we got out of the airport then got on a chartered bus and headed to Keio Plaza Hotel. Here I am now, tired as crap. Our handlers at CLAIR keep handing us more things – books, bags, tickets, papers…too much stuff.

No duh, everything is in Japanese (which I can’t read) but I am surprisingly not worried about it. What’s wrong with being illiterate?

I fall asleep on the way to Keio which is 1 1/2 hours away.

Keio turns out to be very, very swanky.

My first impressions of Japan: bright, foreign, busy. All in that order.

New hair color...

...for Japan!

Honestly

Which of these do you think is better? Cause I did the one on the right.

Second to Last Day at Work

And I'm so happy. I even got up at 8 AM I'm so happy. I must say that I've been completely mentally checked out since last week, but it seems that the week is going by slower as the days go on. It seems almost mind-numbing.

The things I really want to do: see my girlfriend, write the second chapter of my dissertation, make headway on the vampire script, and party with my friends. Oh, and pack. All in that order.

Got some handy dandy business cards made up. These were a nightmare to bring into fruition. First, I wanted to have them printed up by vista print, who has done my cards in the past. But their print and ship times were too slow, because I needed the cards mainly for this week/weekend to give out to people I wouldn't see for a while.

So, then I design my own expertly in Photoshop and see what I can get printed at Kinko's, but they only do their own design...and it's expensive...and they charge even more for front and back cards like I wanted.

So, then I try printing them myself, but realize I can't actually print these cards from Photoshop, even with the business card stock I just bought at Office Depot. Microsoft Word's templates are pure crap and won't center up a picture of the card I made in Photoshop.

So, finally, I go to the website of the people that made my business card stock (Avery) and use their formatter software stuff and mock up a design that looks exactly like my Photoshop design and voila! I now have business cards! Simple, elegant, yet effective.