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Vacation in Japan

This year I will be having a visitor,  my mother.  this will be her first time overseas so I will be taking her to many places to visit.   The first place will be to see the Pacific ocean.  I will be attempting to take her to many different places, not necessarily tourist spots either because I find sometimes that the off-beaten path is more attractive and I wind up finding many more interesting things to see and do.  Well, I will see what happens.  I should have pretty interesting pictures to show for this vacation.

Working in Japan part 2

At one time, about 6 or 7 months ago, I was working 7 days a week at about 5 jobs.  This was my busiest time especially on Mondays.  I would work for 3 companies in one day, a daycare centre first thing in the morning in Shinjuku. Then I would go to the school where I teach kids, either in Saitama or Chiba and then off to the Ekaiwa for adults for one hour in Kawaguchi.  Then I quit one of the jobs and went on a more semi full time basis with one of the companies, creating more of an open schedule for myself to get more hours teaching instead of looking after babies in the nursery/daycare centre.   I was teaching privately on Sundays and working the other 6 days at both the  daycare and the teaching  jobs.  Now I am working 7 days a week, but not including the daycare centre.  Its still fun, but in a different way now.

Working in Japan

I`ve now been working in Japan for just over a year and a half and so far its been pretty much interesting.  There are ups and downs to teaching English to both kids and adults.  I find that the kids get really tired because they are always at some club for English, music or sports of some kind.   The adults are usually busy and have something to do so they have to cancel and thus seemingly forget the material that has been taught to them.  Other than these slight issues, its been very fun and most interesting to hear the Japanese students speaking and expressing themselves in English.

More about Life in Japan

Hello again.  Well here we are in the summer again.  Its quite hot and muggy, but I still enjoy this kind of weather.   I love being out in the sun while exploring in the small towns and cities.  The last few weeks, I`ve been to the regular areas that I go to for work, but during my break time, I went exploring around the towns and some of them have farms in the middle of nowhere.  Some of the areas have farms in the middle of the city and it looks very interesting to me because in the area I lived in when I lived in Canada, it was either farm area or city and they had a sort of boundary.  Usually the rural areas are located on the outskirts of the city or town.  Sometimes you can find an entire town or small city that is just filled with farmland and farmers. Of course there are some markets and stores so residents can buy things they need for everyday living, but other than that, the towns are made up mostly of farms.  Its very quaint and quiet usually.

Two week vacation – Part 3

I have one more photo of Shibamata I want to post because besides being a tourist area it was also like being on a nature walk and/or going hiking.  I love to hike whenever I get the chance and whenever I have the time.  Well, here`s the one picture that I want to post anyway.

Shibamata100502 (2)

Two Week Vacation – Part 1

On the 2nd of March, I went, with my girlfriend, to Shibamata and according to sources, it is a very underrated tourist area.  However, I had a very good time here because although it was small, it was one of the most traditional places I`ve been to thus far in Japan.  I know there are other places, but I believe that they are very far and impossible to have just a day trip to get to and have enough time to enjoy the time spent.  I`m hoping to be able to travel somewhere far in Japan.  I was in Kyushu once for 5 days, but that was 3 years ago and I haven`t been anywhere very far since then.  Here are a couple of photos of ShibamataShibamata100502 (1).  This is the last remaining port where visitors are taken across the river in a row boat.  Well… these ones are equipped with motors though so its a little more modern now.

Two Week Vacation – Part 2

On the 5th and 6th of May, I was with my girlfriend in Odawara, Yugawara and Hakone.  It was great fun because although we had a busy travelling schedule, there was a lot of traditions to see and enjoy.  Also, we enjoyed the black “onsen tomago” .  I will try to find the photos and attach a few later.  We also went for a walk on the Old Tokaido Highway.  That was a very crazy thing to do because we were already tired, but the good thing is that we had the opportunity to see how people lived in ancient Japan.

Golden Week

This year for Golden Week, I just relaxed for several days.  I also spent some time exploring Mejiro and Nakano.  Mejiro is a very beautiful city and unusual because its almost in the middle of a very  busy area.

I really enjoy walking around this country because of all the different architecture and the styles of the buildings.  On the other hand, I can enjoy the forests and all the nice greenery.

Vacation time in Japan

I`m currently on a two week vacation from work as it will be soon Golden Week.  I`m not really sure what I want to do this year because its been so busy that I`ve had no time to prepare or plan, but maybe I can come up with something soon.  I will be meeting my girlfriend`s second brother for the first time since I started dating my girlfriend which was 9 years ago.  That should be interesting… hopefully.  I don`t really want to talk about work right now because I want to focus on my time off, but I will mention more about it in another blog next month.

Oakhouse

The Oakhouse location in Shiinamachi is alright because its located in a very convenient area and there are many people moving in… and out, but it makes for many interesting situations.  However, there are many personality clashes as well and sometimes arguements that don`t need to happen.  Other than that, its pretty good here.  I`m learning more and more about how people of this country are and how people from other countries respond to the Japanese people through living in this guest house and also through daily life.