Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go....

Sorry for the lack of posting - training and work have kept me pretty busy. Even though it's been busy, the work isn't all that difficult, and is actually quite fun (mostly). My work day starts and ends at varying times, but my earliest lesson starts at 10:00 am. Since I live about 7 minutes walk from work (depending on the street lights), I leave about 20 minutes before the first lesson. I love late mornings. Actually only one shift starts at 10 - the others start at 11:40, 1:20 and a half-day from 5pm to 9pm. So I need to have more productive mornings - I've got a line on a free bike, and once I get that, I plan on getting a surfboard - there's a decent beach not too far away, and that will probably take up a good number of mornings. I've also been told of a place where I might be able to sign up for Kendo classes, so I'll try to schedule that for mornings as well. So I probably won't be sleeping in too much, but getting up early to surf or do Kendo seems much less of a chore than for work!

A basic lesson at work consists of introductions, a couple minutes of small talk, depending on the student's level of ability, and then working through a set of preplanned exercises that help them with vocabulary, pronunciation, listening and practice. Basically we try to get the students to talk a lot (with each other if possible) and use the types of language needed for particular situations. We also have some free talking sessions where the topics are up to us and we basically try to encourage and direct the flow of conversation - all in all, it's really pretty easy.

Today I head back to Mito for some more training - this time for really small kids' classes - apparently it's unusual to be sent back for extra training quite this quickly, but I guess there's a need. I haven't even had my one week evaluation yet.

Outside of work, I haven't done a whole lot yet - my first payday isn't until mid-July, although there should be a salary advance in my bank account here. I did go shopping the other day and found a great deal on a telephoto lens for my camera, so I ordered it. This weekend, I might try and go up to visit Nikko, which has some really beautiful temples. On the other hand, since I'll probably have a bike, I might just try to check out some beaches. And find a way to rig the bike to carry a surfboard!

A Japanese game show where, sort of like DDR, except you hit buttons strapped to your body in time to the symbols flashing on the screen.



Like Super Mario but in real life. Hard to see, but the character there is actually a real person in a harness.

My flatmate Clive and Optimus Prime. More than meets the eye.

Making maki sushi - salmon and tamago. I bought the inari (aga sushi).

A random white moth in the stairwell. It died in place.