updated 8/3 at 10:20 AM ( Read more... )

I have both gaijin.on.parade@gmail.com and gaijin.parade@gmail.com registered for the purpose of replying to people who check this Live Journal - but I completely forgot about the first email, which is actually the account's default email.

I THOUGHT it was odd that I never got any mail at the second email address!

D'oh, I am a dunce. Baka gaijin.

This entry was created in August 2005, and was accurate as of July 2005. It was last edited July 2007. I can't vouch for any changes there may have been in the Kumamoto Driving Test, but feel free to leave a comment if something is different or has changed.Sorry for the hiatus. The following is my account of my experience at the Unten Menkyo Center ( Read more... )

Baloney maloney, my arms hurt. Tonight we started our own gaijin troupe for taiko - Japanese style drumming. It's a lot more involved than it might sound or look; unlike drumset drumming, which uses more wrists and fingers and little arms, taiko requires moving your whole arm up and down, hitting the drums hard, and also other parts of your body, ( Read more... )

I had heard about other JETs somewhere in the country getting arrested and deported, presumably on marijuana possession, but that was all rumor and speculation. Well apparently it's true, because CLAIR has been sending JETs faxes and notices left and right, warning us about marijuana possession. Japan takes it very seriously, and anyone who's ( Read more... )

Just got busted by the NHK guy >X ( Read more... )

Arguably Japan makes some of the best french fries anywhere (they call them "fried potato"), but the one seriously irritating thing for a condiment-loving gaijin is that THEY NEVER GIVE YOU KETCHUP with your fries. At some fast food places, like Mos Burger, the employees seem to have caught on to the idea of automatically giving the gaijin ketchup ( Read more... )

( Special needs at elementary schools )

Today was my first day at the REALLY big elementary school - the one with 180 some kids. I was exceptionally nervous because the rule of thumb (up until today) had been: the bigger the school, the more chaotic the students. When I was taking down the number of students in each class my mind must have been playing tricks on me. I calculated that one ( Read more... )

I'm finally starting to learn some of the students' names and catching onto individual students' levels of English. Some are pretty good and can write down what they want fairly quickly, but in class today some students couldn't get past "I'm (name)" when trying to write about their interests. One girl just stared at her paper for nearly the entire ( Read more... )