Tokyo & Teaching English

It's hard to believe that as of tomorrow we'll have been in Japan for 30 days. It has flown by! And thanks to Christian Grey, so have the last 24 hours (for me).

My mind is buzzing with all the possibilites...I met with two very nice Japanese ladies on Tuesday about being an English teacher. In my own home. Hmmmm I think YES, thank you! I am so thrilled, not just for the extra money it will bring in but for the chance to really get to know some people from this amazing country. I can't wait!! More on this as it develops. Oh and you can bet I will be reading up on tips for teaching English ASAP!

We had quite an awesome trip to Tokyo this past weekend. I am going to be completely honest, I was so happy and was having such an amazing day I teared up at least twice that I can remember. Just looking around, taking in all the sights and getting to finally be somewhere I have been so excited to be for months now. And just the overwhelming sense of finally getting to BE somewhere, if you know what I mean. Americans think travel is cool in our own country "oh you've been to Vegas? sweeet!" but when you say "oh yeah, when we were in Tokyo" people kinda ooooo and ahhhh. I finally have something they can oooo over. Ya know? Not that that is the ONLY reason to be excited about being in a new place, but dammit it is a pretty awesome bonus. Not only do I have amazing pictures to share but I got to see it. Me. I was there. I got the tshirt, yo (actually we passed the Hard Rock but I WILL get the tshirt). I lived it. It may seem lame but it really does seem like a dream come true so it was finally sinking in a bit.

There is a daily shuttle from the base to Narita Airport and also the New Sanno Hotel (exclusively for service members) in downtown Tokyo so we decided to take the bus one-way and ride the train back. We were joined by a couple of guys that J works with and had a great discussion on the bus-ride down, swapping stories of our experiences thus far (among our group 8 months was the longest time here). We had a gorgeous day to explore and we went from the New Sanno to Roppongi to Harajuku and then Shibuya by the time night fell...see Facebook for about 100 pictures if you're interested. Oh and enjoy the Google map below of the route that we took. If I may be so bold as to suggest that if you take the time to actually view this Google map that you go ahead and put the little Yellow Google Dude ON the map and get a street view. It's pretty entertaining, especially in Harajuku! Those Google geniuses. If the link doesn't work, just copy and paste it into a new browser window...the blogger was actin' a bit dodgy so it might be messed up. It feels good to know you guys can at least catch a glimpse of what it's like to be here.

http://goo.gl/maps/Wx2q

Speaking of feelings, I've been thinking a lot lately about what it actually feels like to live here. I feel so safe. I mean, honestly, being with J I truly always do feel safe, but there's something carefree about being here that is not matched anywhere in the states that I have been. With that being said we've heard mixed reviews about what the Japanese refer to as a Chikan (Cheekan). Loosly translated as "Pervert on a train." We have heard they are not a real problem but anything with it's own name may have some merit. Hopefully we never find out. :)

From J: I had a blast in Tokyo! Its just non stop motion. Really crazy and cool. And everybody is so friendly! I grew up in a city and it was remarkable that nowhere in Tokyo did my spidey sense go off. Not once did I get that feeling we shouldnt be here, or that guy is going to stab me. And we were walking all kinds of back roads and alleys. Pretty cool. Also this week I got to go to my first meeting with JNs and a translator. It was just like Lost in Translation. One of us would say, "Can you email this to us? " and the translator would talk for like 3 minutes. And the same vice versa. We have a wonderful Japanese National that works with us that held my hand though and it all worked out. It was really cool, but weird to listen and nod like we know what they are saying when we have no clue. It beats just staring at my papers though. Stay tuned trusty readers. The adventure continues. This weekend will feature laundry and maybe wandering around Fussa. The kids will be here soon and we are saving some cool stuff for them!

Now without further adieu we now reward those that read the blog to the end with the world's most inappropriate picture. We tried to blur. Hope no one is offended but it's just too good not to share.
The shop keeper seemed embarassed that they sold it. I said "how much?" and she said "No, this is a bad word!' Too funny.