7/19-9/9 timeline of my nonexistent period (blog at least) part 2

on to part 2...

8/11 Went to the Arakawa-ku Education Office for the orientation of the World School English Camp. Met up with the Japanese instructors and some of the native speakers. First impression of Yoko was good. As soon as the orientation was over, I went to Yabuzuka, Gunma prefecture for the Onnuri camping. Only about 10 people were in total, but it was nice to have a nice chat while drinking beer.

8/12 Left the camping place and went north to the Tomohiro Museum in Goudo, which is written the same as Kobe. Tomohiro Musuem has the works of a disabled person, whose name is Tomohiro, exhibited. His drawings and poems were done by using only his mouth. Very nice drawings.

8/14 Sa-chan came back from her trip to America. I met up with her in Shibuya and ate ramen for dinner. She missed ramen while in America. Went to Shinjuku and killed time talking about our love lives. Saw her off at the highway bus terminal because she was going back to Kanazawa via overnight bus.

8/15 Met up with Scott, who's teaching in Tokorozawa as a JET, and Naomi, an e-mail friend, for dinner at Gyukaku.

8/17 Met up with Oikawa, a Japanese dude who speaks Korean really well, Chang Yup, who is Oikawa's Korean friend, and Chang Yup's roommate for dinner in Shinokubo. Oikawa's friend Ai joined us for karaoke afterwards.

8/18 Went to Shakujii Park in Nerima-ku with Nagasawa-san, a Japanese man I meet once a month for cultural exchange. Walked around and took some pics.

8/19 Part-time job at Alaya and Activision. Both are translation-check jobs.

8/20-8/22 Participated in Global International Camp in Koufu, Yamanashi prefecture. Group was mostly Japanese kids and mothers, but there were some foreigners as well. Sang a bunch of songs, surprised that there were lots of Korean songs, danced along the songs, and went hiking, etc. Nice to have fun with kids.

8/22 Met up with Chie, an e-mail friend, in Ikebukuro after coming back home from Koufu. Ate at Subway and talked a bit in English.

8/23-8/27 The best week of my stay in Japan so far. Went to Kiyosato, Yamanashi prefecture for the World School English Camp and taught English to 161 Arakawa-ku elementary school kids with 19 Japanese instructors and 17 native speakers. If being a JET is this fun, I will have a blast next year. Got to know many of the Japanese instructors, and some are good friends now. It was hard saying farewell to everyone on the last day, especially to the kids. I keep in touch with one of the girls via e-mail. We played badminton a lot during free time. She's a sweetie.

8/28 Went to Onnuri. Hadn't gone there for about 2 months. There were lots of new people. It was kind of awkward, so I didn't teach Korean to anyone and just talked with people. Didn't go to dinner with them and got back home quickly because of the Turkish Night event at my dorm. Head of Meguro-ku personally came to say congratulations. Ate Turkish food and watched some performances. Food was unique. Got out of the event a bit early to meet Hiroko, one of the Japanese instructors at the World School English Camp, in Ikebukuro. We both like each other, I think, but apparently she doesn't like the fact that I'm nice to many women. I could have started dating her, but I didn't have confidence in myself after breaking up with Hyoju. So, we are just friends now.

8/29 Went to Shiodome with Morita-san to volunteer for UNESCO as a representative of Meguro UNESCO organization. Showed visitors how to play a game and also helped people take a personality test. Bought a book containing the personality test and many other cool stuff, a mug cup with cute pics, and postcards. I got a free T-shirt for volunteering. Left as soon as the event was over and went to Shinjuku to meet up with Scott, the JET teacher. Window-shopped and ate ice cream before we called it a night.

8/30 Met Kanae, an e-mail friend, in Shinokubo and showed her around in Koreatown. Kanae is a nice person, but she hasn't been to many places in Tokyo even though she lives close in Saitama prefecture. Her father is very protective, I think. Went to Alaya to do part-time job doing translation check. Met up with Takano-san in Okubo and had dinner with him and his NPO's female interns. After dinner, some of us went to Jonathan's, a Japanese family restaurant chain, to talk more. Unfortunately, none of the female interns joined us.

8/31 Went to Wang-san's farewell dinner at Asahi Beer Garden near Mitsukoshimae Station. Japanese teachers in my dorm and some of the students joined us. Ate and drank too much so I almost threw up in the subway on the way home.

9/1 Movies tickets are only 1000 yen on the 1st day of every month. I was going to see a movie with Hiroko, but she canceled on me, so I invited Yuuki, an e-mail friend, via MSN Messenger. She said yes, and we went to see "LOVERS" in Shibuya. It's a Chinese movie starring Zhang Zhi Yi, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro. I enjoyed the movie and Yuuki's company. It was my first time meeting her, so I wanted to talk more, but she had to go back because she had left work early to see the movie with me. She works at IBM Japan in Roppongi.

9/2 Did an interview for a full-time job at Fairway Solutions, an IT company. Talked with a woman named Izui. Went to a panel discussion with Nagasawa-san and listened to 3 foreigners talk about manner in Japan. Met up with Hitomi, a chat friend from Utsunomiya, Tochigi prefecture, and her male friend in Shinokubo. Ate at a Korean restaurant first, then went to a Chinese restaurant and ate some more. The guy ended up paying for us, and I felt sorry because I didn't pay much. Hitomi's car that was parked on the street was gone, towed away for parking violation, so we had to go to the Shinjuku Police Station and paying money to get the car back. Pretty unique experience for me.

9/3 Went to the MIFA office for part-time job. At night, met up with Akiko, one of the Japanese instructors at the World School English Camp, in Chiba, and went to eat at an izakaya. We talked about the Camp a lot, how we missed the kids and stuff. Went for a drive after dinner, and I didn't want to go back home, so we ended up sleeping in the car. She drove me to a station and got back home to change clothes for work. It was Day 1 with Akiko.

9/4 Met up with Hiroko in Ikebukuro because I needed to tell her that I can only be her friend, no more, no less. After meeting Akiko the previous day, I had to choose if I wanted to date Hiroko, date Akiko, or stay single. I chose Akiko, but we are still not official yet because it's hard for us to meet. Anyway, so I had dinner with Hiroko but didn't have the courage to tell her anything looking at her face. On the way back home, I e-mailed her on her cell phone and told her I have no confidence in dating her, and she was cool with the whole thing. I'm glad.

9/5 Went to a Meguro UNESCO meeting and talked about many upcoming events. Went to izakaya for dinner, and 3 of us went to Shibuya for coffee afterwards.

9/6 Met up with Kan-san, a Chinese girl who went to the Meguro UNESCO International Exchange Youth Retreat together, and she taught me Chinese because we decided to teach each other Chinese and Korean.

9/7 Met up with Yoko, one of the Japanese instructors at the World School English Camp, in Ueno and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Talked about Akiko and me and other things troubling me. She's a good counselor.

9/8 Started a new part-time job teaching English to a Korean-Japanese 6-year-old girl, whose name is Ribong, and her mom in Nishiogikubo. They lived in America for a while, so Ribong can speak pretty well. Will be getting about 1500 yen per hour.

9/9 Went to Fairway Solutions again to do the 2nd interview. Met a Korean guy who's going to be working in Japan as well as the President of the company. Talked about full-time as well as part-time, and it's decided that I will start part-time job this year and possibly move to full-time job in March when I finish my research program. I think I'll stick to my JET Program next year.

Stay tuned for my 10-day homestay program in Kagoshima prefecture.