tl;ds :: too long; do skim
first of all, since i last updated my supervisor changed my new school AGAIN. i am not going to Ikku, nor am i going to Josei. apparently now i'm going to Otsu, and it better not change again cause i dont want to get my hopes up. >:[ Otsu was one of my first base schools when i first came to Kochi and i was there for over a year, so going back to that school wouldn't be bad... i'd be glad to. i'd much rather go back to a school that i've already taught at than to have to start over completely at a new school with only 4 months there before i leave anyway. if i go back to Otsu, i'll get to say goodbye to JTEs that i once worked with and liked. :)
changing topics, my trip to Okinawa is coming up this sunday! yay! there are two things that have me kinda "eh", though: 1) i'm only going to be there for 3 days which (after having looked thru a guidebook) obviously isn't enough time; 2) i've been suffering from a(?) cold for the past 4 weeks now and it could SO take a lot of the fun outta the trip. there's nothing that i can do about the length of the trip itself sadly, but this damn cold...! >_<; it's really been like 3 continuous colds that make up 1 giant cold that "pain in the ass" doesnt even come close to describing. why wont it just go away....? anyway, between now and saturday (when i'll be leaving on an overnight bus to Osaka) i'm trying to do everything i can to get better. :/ from the pages of a friend's guidebook that i've been looking at, Okinawa seems so goddamn awesome. interesting culture, unique food and interesting attractions EVERYwhere! and i'll only have 1 day to do whatever wont be covered by my bus tours on my own. :(
the 1st day (sunday), after flying to Okinawa from Osaka early in the morning, i intend to hit up Kokusaidori (lit. "International Street") and fit as much into my stomach as possible while taking in all the sights and omiyage (souvenior) shops. aside from food, i CAN'T do any real shopping! >_< i have set a very (possibly too) strict budget for this trip and i really need to stick to it.... i WILL, however, inevitably do a bit of shopping at Tsuboya Yachimun Dori, a seemingly rustic street that is paved with bricks and lined with shops selling okinawan ceramics. i LOVE ceramics... so i can't not go to this place and i can't leave without having bought atleast something to add to my ceramic collection. ^-^
the 2nd day (mon) is the bus tour to: Ryukyu Mura (see and "expertience" traditions in a recreated Ryukyu (ancient Okinawan) village), Manzamou (a scenic spot with an interesting-looking cliff), the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (supposedly the best in Japan :D), and Nago Pineapple Park/Okinawa Fruit Land ("SAMPLE SOME OF OKINAWA'S FRUIT!!1!", apparently)
.
the 3rd day (tues) i'll throw my backpack into a locker at the bus station before doing the bus tour to: Shuri Park & Castle (the former capital of the Ryuku Kingdom), the Former Japanese Underground Naval Headquarters (now a museum), Himeyuri Monument (dedicated to the female HS students who worked in army hospitals and lost their lives), the Peace Memorial Park (and the Prefectural Peace Museum), and Okinawa World (the longest cave in Japan + a replica of a Ryuku village). after that i'm grabbing my backpack and going straight to the airport from the bus station. once i'm back in Osaka, i'm catching the last overnight bus back to Kochi. got work the next day. :(
btw, the two bus tours are by the Naha Bus Tour (那覇バス定期観光) company, if you ever go to Naha and wanna check them out. i booked directly thru them, but you can also book in English thru JTB/JAPANiCAN (JTB offers other tours as well). if you book thru JTB, however, i believe you have to pay with a credit card when you book. if you book through the bus company, you pay at the bus station before the tour.
changing the topic yet again, it looks like i have a place to live in Australia already, but before i can talk about that, some background stuff is needed.
originally me and David (figgybee) intended to rent an apartment or house just for the two of us-- we'd looked at places on real estate websites already, trying to get an idea of the market and such. speaking of the market-- hahaha-- real estate in Australia (or atleast, in Brisbane) is crazy. it makes little sense to me, honestly. in some ways it has a lot in common with what i know of Japan's real estate market, but in other ways it's nothing like what i know of in Japan or America. for example, apartments outside the high-priced inner city seem to be far and few in between; as apartments are hardly available, studio & 1 bedroom places are also; "bond" money (seemingly similar to "key" money in Japan) is required; you basically have to have something similar to a resume relating to your history of residence when applying to rent a place; in terms of pets being allowed, Australia/Brisbane is a lot closer to Japan than America :'((, it is common for even people in their 20's to OWN a home!! etc etc
ok, i'll stop bitching about Australia and it's bizarre real estate. anyway, for some of the aforementioned reasons, finding a small place just for the two of us was looking like quite a challenge, especially within our idle budget. it looked like we would have to get a bigger place rather than a smaller place because the bigger places that were further out from the city were as expensive or cheaper than the smaller places and there was a lot more of them. things would prob be a bit tight at first financially, but we were all set to go for it.... until stuff happened. David's younger sister and her friend wanted to move out of their current place but couldnt afford a place relatively close to the city for just the two of them, so they needed housemates and that ended up being me and David. so for the past 2 weeks the three of them had been looking at places and yesterday they got a lease taken out on a place.
the place is a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in the suburban area known as Ashgrove. David said that the house itself and the neighborhood it's in are really nice. from the pictures of the house that i've seen online and from what i've seen "walking" around the neighborhood on Google Street View (lulz), the place does seem pretty nice. :) it's a "Queenslander" style house (reminds me of the style of houses i often see in Virginia) with 2 floors. the 2nd (and main) floor is where the kitchen, living & dining rooms are + 3 bedrooms and on the 1st floor is a large room with a kitchenette and bathroom. that'll be me and David's room. :3 as for the OTHER SO IMPORTANT ISSUE OF CATS, it seems like the owner/real estate agent has mentioned nothing of pets being allowed... :[ but i WILL ask/apply (yes, you have to apply!!) to have one once i'm there. cross your fingers for me plz. :'( anyway, yay! :] David, his sister and her friend may be moving in over spring vacation while i'm there, so i may get to help and see the place soon. :]
topic change #3: tomorrow i'll be teaching my last classes at Namegawa. :( i feel like i should make the classes special somehow, but i have no idea how to.
edit: GAHHH!!!! i completely forgot about graduation!! >_<;
graduate for middle schools in Kochi city was monday and this year i spent it at Misato JHS. i forgot my damn camera... :'( so i just took like 3 photos with my phone. :/ sadly i wasnt in a position during the ceremony where i could take out my phone and take photos without looking bad infront of students and important ppl... >.>;; but i havent even been teaching at Misato enough to have a strong tie to the kids that were graduating, so it wasn't too horrible that i didnt have a camera. ^^;; anyway, the photos that i did take:
changing topics, my trip to Okinawa is coming up this sunday! yay! there are two things that have me kinda "eh", though: 1) i'm only going to be there for 3 days which (after having looked thru a guidebook) obviously isn't enough time; 2) i've been suffering from a(?) cold for the past 4 weeks now and it could SO take a lot of the fun outta the trip. there's nothing that i can do about the length of the trip itself sadly, but this damn cold...! >_<; it's really been like 3 continuous colds that make up 1 giant cold that "pain in the ass" doesnt even come close to describing. why wont it just go away....? anyway, between now and saturday (when i'll be leaving on an overnight bus to Osaka) i'm trying to do everything i can to get better. :/ from the pages of a friend's guidebook that i've been looking at, Okinawa seems so goddamn awesome. interesting culture, unique food and interesting attractions EVERYwhere! and i'll only have 1 day to do whatever wont be covered by my bus tours on my own. :(
the 1st day (sunday), after flying to Okinawa from Osaka early in the morning, i intend to hit up Kokusaidori (lit. "International Street") and fit as much into my stomach as possible while taking in all the sights and omiyage (souvenior) shops. aside from food, i CAN'T do any real shopping! >_< i have set a very (possibly too) strict budget for this trip and i really need to stick to it.... i WILL, however, inevitably do a bit of shopping at Tsuboya Yachimun Dori, a seemingly rustic street that is paved with bricks and lined with shops selling okinawan ceramics. i LOVE ceramics... so i can't not go to this place and i can't leave without having bought atleast something to add to my ceramic collection. ^-^
the 2nd day (mon) is the bus tour to: Ryukyu Mura (see and "expertience" traditions in a recreated Ryukyu (ancient Okinawan) village), Manzamou (a scenic spot with an interesting-looking cliff), the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (supposedly the best in Japan :D), and Nago Pineapple Park/Okinawa Fruit Land ("SAMPLE SOME OF OKINAWA'S FRUIT!!1!", apparently)
.
the 3rd day (tues) i'll throw my backpack into a locker at the bus station before doing the bus tour to: Shuri Park & Castle (the former capital of the Ryuku Kingdom), the Former Japanese Underground Naval Headquarters (now a museum), Himeyuri Monument (dedicated to the female HS students who worked in army hospitals and lost their lives), the Peace Memorial Park (and the Prefectural Peace Museum), and Okinawa World (the longest cave in Japan + a replica of a Ryuku village). after that i'm grabbing my backpack and going straight to the airport from the bus station. once i'm back in Osaka, i'm catching the last overnight bus back to Kochi. got work the next day. :(
btw, the two bus tours are by the Naha Bus Tour (那覇バス定期観光) company, if you ever go to Naha and wanna check them out. i booked directly thru them, but you can also book in English thru JTB/JAPANiCAN (JTB offers other tours as well). if you book thru JTB, however, i believe you have to pay with a credit card when you book. if you book through the bus company, you pay at the bus station before the tour.
changing the topic yet again, it looks like i have a place to live in Australia already, but before i can talk about that, some background stuff is needed.
originally me and David (figgybee) intended to rent an apartment or house just for the two of us-- we'd looked at places on real estate websites already, trying to get an idea of the market and such. speaking of the market-- hahaha-- real estate in Australia (or atleast, in Brisbane) is crazy. it makes little sense to me, honestly. in some ways it has a lot in common with what i know of Japan's real estate market, but in other ways it's nothing like what i know of in Japan or America. for example, apartments outside the high-priced inner city seem to be far and few in between; as apartments are hardly available, studio & 1 bedroom places are also; "bond" money (seemingly similar to "key" money in Japan) is required; you basically have to have something similar to a resume relating to your history of residence when applying to rent a place; in terms of pets being allowed, Australia/Brisbane is a lot closer to Japan than America :'((, it is common for even people in their 20's to OWN a home!! etc etc
ok, i'll stop bitching about Australia and it's bizarre real estate. anyway, for some of the aforementioned reasons, finding a small place just for the two of us was looking like quite a challenge, especially within our idle budget. it looked like we would have to get a bigger place rather than a smaller place because the bigger places that were further out from the city were as expensive or cheaper than the smaller places and there was a lot more of them. things would prob be a bit tight at first financially, but we were all set to go for it.... until stuff happened. David's younger sister and her friend wanted to move out of their current place but couldnt afford a place relatively close to the city for just the two of them, so they needed housemates and that ended up being me and David. so for the past 2 weeks the three of them had been looking at places and yesterday they got a lease taken out on a place.
the place is a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in the suburban area known as Ashgrove. David said that the house itself and the neighborhood it's in are really nice. from the pictures of the house that i've seen online and from what i've seen "walking" around the neighborhood on Google Street View (lulz), the place does seem pretty nice. :) it's a "Queenslander" style house (reminds me of the style of houses i often see in Virginia) with 2 floors. the 2nd (and main) floor is where the kitchen, living & dining rooms are + 3 bedrooms and on the 1st floor is a large room with a kitchenette and bathroom. that'll be me and David's room. :3 as for the OTHER SO IMPORTANT ISSUE OF CATS, it seems like the owner/real estate agent has mentioned nothing of pets being allowed... :[ but i WILL ask/apply (yes, you have to apply!!) to have one once i'm there. cross your fingers for me plz. :'( anyway, yay! :] David, his sister and her friend may be moving in over spring vacation while i'm there, so i may get to help and see the place soon. :]
topic change #3: tomorrow i'll be teaching my last classes at Namegawa. :( i feel like i should make the classes special somehow, but i have no idea how to.
edit: GAHHH!!!! i completely forgot about graduation!! >_<;
graduate for middle schools in Kochi city was monday and this year i spent it at Misato JHS. i forgot my damn camera... :'( so i just took like 3 photos with my phone. :/ sadly i wasnt in a position during the ceremony where i could take out my phone and take photos without looking bad infront of students and important ppl... >.>;; but i havent even been teaching at Misato enough to have a strong tie to the kids that were graduating, so it wasn't too horrible that i didnt have a camera. ^^;; anyway, the photos that i did take: