Nomisugimashita

I haven’t been updating regularly but I’m hoping to change that. I’ve been on vacation and though I should have been doing a lot.. I haven’t. Well, I wrote some post cards, figured out how to send money home, learned how to use my rice cooker, and finally made some Japanese flash cards with the intent on studying... but all in all I’ve either been reading at Starbucks or drinking with friends. If the latter then the usual has been either over poker, at one of our usual pubs, or at the club we frequent. I have a feeling that if I added up all the money spent on partying this break and just stayed sober I could have definitely done at least a little traveling. But drinking is a huge part of the social and work life in this country and in the end maybe its important to make the effort to make friends first and then see stuff later. I mean I have only been here a month and I’m still getting to know the city...I don’t get lost.. but finding things can be an issue with so many side streets and things packed up in levels.
I’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to friends. Everyone I work with is awesome and I’ve made friends with a lot of teachers from other schools too. In the spring when the days are longer and nights a little warmer I’m going to see if I can get some friendly competitional stuff going between the schools. Might be cool to see where that goes. I’ve also made a few Japanese friends.. But in all honesty, the language barrier is still stunting me there. Confidence is hard to have when you can only make out a few words here and there. It’s a cool feeling though when people show speak a little of each others languages are truly able to communicate.

A few rememberable moments from the past 2 weeks:
-Being in front of a dirty dancing conga line. (As weird as it sounds)
-Learning that the difference between making Indian curry and Japanese curry is about 3 days apartment curry smell...lol
-spending 20 min in a class with an entire class laughing as they try to pronounce "seriously"
-Kareoke Kareoke Kareoke