I started training at the new company yesterday. All the teachers from all 3 branches were there, plus the 4 or 5 of us new people. At my last company I was the only non-Japanese person, so it's quite a change to now be in an all gaijin environment. It reminds me of being on JET which is nice. It felt like a BOE meeting or something. Out of 22 ( Read more... )

So there's this guy Ryo that I met in January. I met him at Ageha (the biggest club in Tokyo/Asia). It's weird because it started out as a one night stand. The last time I went to Ageha was on New Year's Eve, and that night there was nothing but couples there and it made me so depressed. "Why don't I deserve a cute guy too?" I was thinking. So ( Read more... )

I'm still buzzing from an amazing night last night. The Starfire 11th anniversary event was as awesome as I'd hoped it would be. People from all over Japan and people from other events who usually don't come to Starfire came out for the anniversary and it's nice to see people supporting Starfire. I got my 11th anniversary strap ( Read more... )

These last couple of weeks I've been intimately involved with my company's hiring process, and I have to say it's a joke. I had to join the bosses for a meeting to decide who we're hiring as part-time teachers, and they're deciding things now that they should have decided before they even listed the job ad. They made a list of all the classes ( Read more... )

Last night was definitely one of my top memories in Japan ( Read more... )

I haven't been making event updates lately so I'll update with some of the recent highlights ( Read more... )

I went to 9LoveJ for the first time since May of last year ( Read more... )

It's recontracting season for JETs so I'm hearing about people counting down the days til they can go home etc and I can't help feeling odd for being here 5 years and not feeling like going back home. I can add "Aren't you homesick?" after "Can you use chopsticks?" to my list of questions that I hate being asked in Japan ( Read more... )

I heard back from one of the companies I interviewed with last week. They turned me down, even though they were "impressed by my background and personality." I have to wonder what was the problem. I didn't want that job anyway because I didn't like the atmosphere at that company, but it was kind of a shock because I was so confident ( Read more... )

I had to teach a 3 hour class on classroom English at work today to a class of trainees. The prospect of teaching for 3 hours straight scared me. It started out good and I was doing ok teaching about teaching English. But I ran out of material at the 2 hour mark. I asked if they had any questions and no one did, so I ended class 45 minutes ( Read more... )