I figured this deserved a seperate post as it’s kinda special, but to save confusion, the photo’s were taken a mixture of last night (hence Seiko being in one) - and the rest taken just now when I went to get her some ice cream from the store and wanted to go back and get some day time shots.

Ok, so, let’s start with the simple, walking down the road and, what’s this?

A tiny little shack thing tagged onto the end of the block.

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We get a bit nearer and see it has a little opening…

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Strange, but what it be? The sign doesn’t help too much, I can translate - “Burusera …… ko-na-” - so something corner (well state the obvious)

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A closer look and we discover it’s a vending machine corner, ah no problem, so Seiko goes inside to get a cup of coffee….

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BUT WAIT! That’s not coffee for sale? Infact, that’s not drinkable at all…. can anyone guess…? (to stop me getting told off by mum, you need to click the links to see what’s inside……)

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Well I never, fancy that ….. only in Japan

Sitting home waiting for Seiko to return, so figured I might as well get on with writing a bit more - though at present - I am talking with Helen on MSN, so progress might be a little slow, in fact, I may not finish by tonite - so you may well find two different accounts here ….

Anyway, I’m starting to ramble, let’s onward and avarst ye young see dog…
Today as I wrote yesterday, I had to give 3 kids lessons, 2 of them kinder classes (which I was quite looking forward to) - though getting up early was horrible. I don’t know if anyone else gets this, but if i don’t have enough sleep i feel all grotty and like my hair is all itchy - which then causes my head to break out in mini one day spots…. arrgh….

So anyway, first lesson was kinders which i was looking quite forward to, but maybe also a little nervous as it would be a full class. It started off well enough, we were going through the colouring books and getting on with the flash cards - but I soon saw why teachers don’t like the kinders - they seem to get bored quite easily and start just climbing up the walls?!? haha… you then don’t know how firm you should be with them to get them to stop - like properly shout, or just go with the passive approach.

I dont like telling off kids, so i stuck to the “try and just coax them over” technique, which while worked, certainly isn’t the fastest method - though we did get through the whole class without too much of an issue and it certainly is easier than doing an adult lesson.

So do I recommend it… hmm, as long as they are well behaved it can be good fun, though if not, you might come into issues. The second class seemed to have a few more trouble makers in it, but still, it went ok…
Second class was a man to man kids lesson, but I hadn’t been given the correct material to take home, so was kinda a bit lost in this one - I managed to follow the plan as I went along, but didn’t manage to cover all the curriculum as it was in really small and i missed it - however he did very well and got it all done
Lunchtime didn’t come soon enough, and it was off to the AM:PM to get a microwave meal of spaghetti and sausage. When paying, I did my usual “arigatou”, but this time the woman asked me “…..nihongo….” (i didn’t get the rest), however it was pretty safe to assume she asked did i speak japanese…

I told her a “little, tiny” - at which point she then started asking me some (basic) questions - where was i from, how long had i been in Japan, where did I study etc…. ok, so again, it wasn’t much - but it was still a lot more than i could have done if i knew nothing. She also got the other assistant to join in, who is quite cute ;), which was nice … haha …

So back to school for the final half (at least the day is split exactly into 2, 4 lessons, lunch, 4 lessons) which was 2 voice classes and 2 groups of 4… usually i run away from such a schedule, but today, i seemed to have some extra power in me, and gave I think some very good lessons
Something needs to be done about Usuke though, yet again he sent Yumi into a flood of tears …. I don’t know what to do … but really, this cannot go in. I know she doesn’t want to say anything, but if she is going to leave the company anyway, she might as well go out guns blazing !

And heareth lies the cut - Seiko came home, so went out ….

Being quite tired, we figured we would just go and find some food and then hit an izakaya or something, so off we went. Seiko reckoned there was a good restaurant up the road, so we set off …. on getting to the top of the hill, we realised there wasn’t so decided to walk down the Setagaya-dori…. 15 minutes later we had reached Sangenjaya (where we had decided we definately didn’t want to be) - it was now 12 midnight and i was starving, so Seiko suggested we walk to the next station along (Ikejiriohashi)…..

20 minutes later (:eek:) we finally got there to be greeted by ….. NOTHING ….. haha … not wanting to walk around any further, we just went into a local ramen place, which to it’s credit was actually really nice, however, there is a perfectly nice ramen shop at the end of our street - go figure ….

Seiko seems to have caught quite a bad cold, and unfortunately it started to come out quite badly last night. I must admit it was quite funny, as her voice went really high pitched as she coughed each time she tried to talk, but I mustn’t be too mean - Upshot is, we caught a taxi home… but you know, we did nothing, but I won’t call it a waste of a weekend as it was really nice to spend quality time with her.

We have agreed that once I come back, we are going to make a real effort with each other, there should be a sofa by then, so we can watch movies together and stuff…. w00t!

So anyway, back home now and gonna toddle off to bed in a moment…. Night!

Can’t write much as I have these 3 kids classes tomorrow to revise for, but couldn’t resist posting this up….

This is from the kinder class textbook - can anyone see anything odd?

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Oh, and also just found out that due to “the regularity bonus” - which is only awarded if you are punctual 100% of the time, due to the mishap on the 4th I don’t get it …. so, Januarys pay is like this:

Normal pay £900
- Unpaid leave : -£90
- Closed for new years : -£90
- Late one class + 2 class penalty: -£30
- Regularity Bonus : -£125
So total pay for Jan = £565 … rent = £350 so £215 to live (including to pay my £150 japanese school fees!!)…. I can’t believe it, £155 penalty for being 30 minutes late?!!?!?

Aparently it’s not always enforced, but I think at the moment they will be doing everything they can to reduce my pay…. swines….!

Ah well, better be orf to study for the kinders

Big changes in the house today, I was awoken by the sound of the doorbell at about 10:30am (which was good as I didn’t want to oversleep) and then loads and loads of noise.

It was so cold, I didn’t really want to get up and look, however i could see a number of shapes moving around in the front room through the glass. After about 30 minutes, all was quiet again, so I snuck my head outside…

WOW! I should have taken a photo, but basically, the front room was full of many household items, a massive TV, DVD, microwave, chairs, tables, computers, blenders …. and the list goes on…

It seems Seiko and Shiho had raided their fathers house!

Also included was a new Halogen heater (so I can give you that money back now dad) which is great, as we have been having big problems with the aircon (it keeps tripping the power) - there is a slight problem in that it’s permanently pointing out the floor, though I’m sure i can work out how to move it up without breaking it at some point…

Japanese school hasn’t got off to such a great start, after missing Wednesday, I had looked over the work to do in this morning. However yesterday at work, Usukei (or however you spell it) - had another go at Yumi which sent her off in a flood of tears… so after work, instead of going home, we went out to a restaurant and had some drinks to cheer her up.

Upshot is of course, I missed Japanese. BUT, I told her this would happen, so she is willing to make up for it by going over the stuff I have missed (and doing it properly this time :)) - not all bad.

I’m also liking Mum’s idea of meeting up with Nagisa often whilst I am back, it will work well, she has loads of free time, so we can meet - and then later I can go home / Gowry’s / out with Haroon etc…. I actually hope to get more studying done in England than I have done so far out here hahaha….

So the room swap, it would be tonite, however a big issue has come up at work. I have to work Saturday as a swap, BUT, the kids teacher won’t be in This means I have to teach all her classes, no mean feat as I haven’t had any decent practise yet - so they are letting me take the books home tonite, so basically i will be studything these - no time to do anything else.

I guess I will move on Sunday - but the good thing is, now Seiko’s computer is here, we have to get a router (so we can share the connection) which means I can carry the laptop around the house (so will be able to sit in the front room with them :)) - I really like both of them, so want to make a big effort to spend more time together.

I had a meeting at work the other day too - which wasn’t so good - I was basically told that me being late the other day was like committing “work suicide” during your probation period…. with this in mind, I made a huge effort for my evaluation yesterday and made a list of all my issues - which Tony then looked over and agreed on - I’m fed up of being told things too late to do anything about them, so this way I have come back….

My main issue has been avoiding the lessons altogether and just chatting - well, the students wanted to, so I figured it would be ok. Aparently not though, and this is the biggest issue…. easy enough to solve, just, NEED TO BE TOLD ABOUT IT …. grrrr…

Sorry, I’ve gone off on a right tangent there - and now I can’t remember what the hell I have written … lol … thats what only having 8 hours sleep does to you
Well today is friday and tomorrow ISN’T my weekend - haha - i think that’s all that needs to be said Saturday night will be my night out, so expect some more photos then ….. Atom is calling me….
Ta’ra!

Mmmm.. i am now sitting at my computer eating huge chunks of the special cheddar cheese sent to me for christmas along with a few fingers of a kit kat - i must say, they go together quite well! Yummy …!

Well that was quite a story last time hey? Actually looking back, it’s quite funny - just a shame it stuffed up my weekend as now being back and working this 7 day week is just horrible.

I could go on and write loads more, but, I don’t want to - perhaps all that is just a memory best forgotten.

Sunday, as I had already mentioned, I had to work to cover shift swapping for my holiday. I had never worked a weekend before, but was told they were always really busy. To make matters worse, you can’t go in any earlier to prepare as the staff don’t get in until 9:30 (work begins at 10)

Even worse, the night before had been so cold (and we are talking proper freezing) - I had been unable to get much sleep at all and walking to work, I was just in a daze. To try and counter this (and because for once I was up early enough) i headed straight for the local McDonalds to pick up and Sausage and Egg McMuffin - so mum, you can be happy I have had breakfast for once!!!

The weekends are the busiest days at Nova (hence the reason I have never wanted to work them) - and it seemed today was no exception. My first class was a full 4 person, but luckily for me, a lower level - which I really enjoy teaching, so it wasn’t too tough
The rest of the lessons went ok, but by lunch I was really grateful for the break. Not really much of a break though as of couse I had to plan all the next lessons, so sat with a yaki soba balanced on my knee, trying to write up all the next reports!

My final class of the day was voice - which was nice as by then i was getting quite tired - and as usual, the topic turned to how much I think Japanese food sucks over western food However, this time it was a bit more productive as the students seemed to know quite a few BBQ buffet places, so by the end of the lesson I had quite a comprehensive map of places I should try.

Even better, one of them is only a few minutes from work - and offers drinks for 1000yen (£5) for drink as much as you can for 2 hours!! They offer the same with their menu too, but this is a little more expensive at 3000yen for a 2 hour eatathon. I think I should definately try it though, make the most of the time here Haha….

I was so glad when I finally reached the end of the day and was able to stagger home, though only an hour or so after arriving home, I had a call from Shimpei who needed some help with some translation. Usually I would have said I am too tired, but i felt obliged to help as he has been so good to me.

I was just about to leave when Yumi showed up though! Apparently Seiko was coming back and she had asked to see her so she could give her a present from her weekend away. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to see Seiko yet, but couldn’t leave Yumi on her own in the place, so called Shimpei.

It turned out however that Seiko was at Shimpei’s already, so we could all go around there…. he also said he had talked to Seiko and she wanted to meet up….

So it was on….

The upshot of everything is, we are swapping rooms…. which you would think is a great situation - but, I just can’t stop feeling guilty about it I feel like perhaps she feels bullied into it (as in, “Ben will go back to the UK unless you move”) - they keep telling me not to feel bad, but it’s not helping….

I also feel bad about her having to pay so much more rent than me (£150) - but I really cannot offer any more - so, I figured maybe I could do extra things around the house to help out - such as do the floor cleaning, or the laundry (though according to Gowry, it’s not the done thing to wash a girls laundry unless she is your g/f? I don’t know, i’m not sure I see the problem) - so this will make me feel a bit better, as I will be putting more input in?

So yes, the room move will be next friday - I will miss the sunshine and daylight but i guess it will solve all the other problems. Infact, maybe this will encourage me to spend less time on the computer!! The other issue might be that next to my room now will be another bedroom, so saturday night late music might cause issues, but i suppose that can be dealt with when the issue arrises - in the meantime, i’ll just have to keep it low on weekdays.

I also told Seiko that i was sad i never see much of her, i came to live with her in Tokyo, but only see her a few times a week at most. We are now going to make the effort to see more of each other and have bought a calendar for the kitchen so we can see who is free when - thus being able to plan to meet up and stuff around those times. Admittedly me working until 9pm each evening doesn’t help, but I am right next to the station, so on Mon + Wed nights we can definately start to do more things (I have school on Wednesday at 9am you see, so the other nights are no use).

Talking of Japanese school, it starts tomorrow which will be good, though i reckon i will get a right bashing for now having learnt as much as i should have - though now I have finally got all my computer work out the way, i have a lot more time for it - there is a bit of a mutiny going on the forums, but hopefully we can sort all of this out without too many casualties.

Sorry if this is a bit rushed, but I’ve got work in 10 minutes, but didn’t want to leave anything any longer less I forget, so in summary:

1) I’m moving room
2) Seiko and I are going to spend more time together
3) I hate working weekends 4) Cheddar Cheese + KitKat is most delicious