Golden Week come and gone..
One of the big holidays in Japan is called Golden Week. Basically its just a time in the Japanese calendar where a bunch of holidays all hit right next to each other. So we had Wed, Mon, Tue, Wed off. (basically a 5 day weekend plus a random other day off). I originally had no plans at all for GW, but then started thinking about taking a trip.
I started looking at the possibility of maybe going to Hokkaido or somewhere closeby where I could drive. But the more I looked and the more I talked to teacher's here at school, the more it seemed that staying at home would be better. Everywhere I wanted to go was either booked, too expensive, not enough time, or would be too crowded.
Instead, I decided to go to the zoo in Yokohama. I had heard it was pretty decent, and I wanted to check it out compared to the Ueno zoo in Tokyo. I was going to meet Hitomi and her friend there at noon. I got there early (about 9:30) because I wanted to take a lot of pictures and stuff. I took a nice leisurely stroll thru the place and, of course, took a lot of pictures. I really enjoyed that. Hitomi ended up having issues getting to the zoo though. The train line she was on had an accident, so she had to switch trains. The bus she was going to ride on had problems, so she had to go from a different station.
All in all, she ended up arriving with her friend at 2pm. A bit later than expected, but it wasn't bad. We enjoyed a stroll thru the zoo (albiet a quick stroll). After we were done with the zoo, we decided we wanted to grab dinner. So, we headed to Fridays in Yokohama. It was an enjoyable dinner.
Overall, it was a long day, but a fun one. The rest of the weekend, I really didn't do too much. I took of the other ALTs to the airport to pick up her friend and played a lot of video games as well (surprise surprise eh?)
Oh yeah, on Wed the 29th (also a holiday), I went with a couple of guys in my judo club to the All Japan Judo championship. That was pretty fun to watch. A couple of olympic gold medalists were competeing in it (they lost ^^). It was a long day, but I had a great time. I have pictures from that too, but I'm waiting for my computer to get back from being fixed before I can edit and upload them. I'll post whenever I get pictures updated.
Yesterday, although it wasn't Golden Week, was a great day as well. I headed into Tokyo for a concert. But, this concert, for me, wasn't just a normal concert. The group I went to see was MAX. MAX was the first JPop group that I ever really liked. (Who am I kidding. LOVED, bordering on obsessed ^^). But, up to this point, I had never gotten to see them live. On top of that, the summer I moved to Japan, they came to Dallas for the anime convention there (i.e. I woulda been helping them on the weekend and been able to meet them. *sigh*).
As it turned out, yesterday was the anniversary of their debut 14 years ago. Plus, this concert tour was their first in 8 years. Watching the concert was a great time. And on top of that, brought back a lot of memories from when I was first getting into JPop. Very nostalgic. It's too bad I could only go to one concert of theirs. Hopefully they have another one soon ^^ One other nice thing about the concert was that the 4 original members were back together. (Though, I spent the entire concert just watching Reina. *sigh* ^^)
Now that Golden Week is over, the first semester is in full swing. Just like back home, there are no real breaks from now till the end of the semester.
On a job search note, I just got an email from one of the companies I was talking to. I had a phone interview of sorts a week or two ago, mainly to check my Japanese skill. Next, he wants to do a "Technical check" sometime this week or next. It'll be over the phone, so I'm not sure what exactly it'll entail (Maybe just checking what I have experience with?). Wish me luck on that. It seems like it would be a good place to work.
I guess that's all for now...
I started looking at the possibility of maybe going to Hokkaido or somewhere closeby where I could drive. But the more I looked and the more I talked to teacher's here at school, the more it seemed that staying at home would be better. Everywhere I wanted to go was either booked, too expensive, not enough time, or would be too crowded.
Instead, I decided to go to the zoo in Yokohama. I had heard it was pretty decent, and I wanted to check it out compared to the Ueno zoo in Tokyo. I was going to meet Hitomi and her friend there at noon. I got there early (about 9:30) because I wanted to take a lot of pictures and stuff. I took a nice leisurely stroll thru the place and, of course, took a lot of pictures. I really enjoyed that. Hitomi ended up having issues getting to the zoo though. The train line she was on had an accident, so she had to switch trains. The bus she was going to ride on had problems, so she had to go from a different station.
All in all, she ended up arriving with her friend at 2pm. A bit later than expected, but it wasn't bad. We enjoyed a stroll thru the zoo (albiet a quick stroll). After we were done with the zoo, we decided we wanted to grab dinner. So, we headed to Fridays in Yokohama. It was an enjoyable dinner.
Overall, it was a long day, but a fun one. The rest of the weekend, I really didn't do too much. I took of the other ALTs to the airport to pick up her friend and played a lot of video games as well (surprise surprise eh?)
Oh yeah, on Wed the 29th (also a holiday), I went with a couple of guys in my judo club to the All Japan Judo championship. That was pretty fun to watch. A couple of olympic gold medalists were competeing in it (they lost ^^). It was a long day, but I had a great time. I have pictures from that too, but I'm waiting for my computer to get back from being fixed before I can edit and upload them. I'll post whenever I get pictures updated.
Yesterday, although it wasn't Golden Week, was a great day as well. I headed into Tokyo for a concert. But, this concert, for me, wasn't just a normal concert. The group I went to see was MAX. MAX was the first JPop group that I ever really liked. (Who am I kidding. LOVED, bordering on obsessed ^^). But, up to this point, I had never gotten to see them live. On top of that, the summer I moved to Japan, they came to Dallas for the anime convention there (i.e. I woulda been helping them on the weekend and been able to meet them. *sigh*).
As it turned out, yesterday was the anniversary of their debut 14 years ago. Plus, this concert tour was their first in 8 years. Watching the concert was a great time. And on top of that, brought back a lot of memories from when I was first getting into JPop. Very nostalgic. It's too bad I could only go to one concert of theirs. Hopefully they have another one soon ^^ One other nice thing about the concert was that the 4 original members were back together. (Though, I spent the entire concert just watching Reina. *sigh* ^^)
Now that Golden Week is over, the first semester is in full swing. Just like back home, there are no real breaks from now till the end of the semester.
On a job search note, I just got an email from one of the companies I was talking to. I had a phone interview of sorts a week or two ago, mainly to check my Japanese skill. Next, he wants to do a "Technical check" sometime this week or next. It'll be over the phone, so I'm not sure what exactly it'll entail (Maybe just checking what I have experience with?). Wish me luck on that. It seems like it would be a good place to work.
I guess that's all for now...