Thursday I was able to meet a couple more English teachers at the University. It seems there are new people to meet every day. Everyone seems to know who I am - I'm the new English Teacher from Ohio. I know no one. Well, I know people, the only names I remember are the ones that go along with my American Co-workers. It is just so hard to remember all the Japanese names, they talk so fast I have no idea how to pronounce them all. On top of that I have 126 names to learn and which student they go with. Everyone is amazed that I only have 126. Both Diane and Arwen have closer to 300 students each. I just go lucky and have the small classes. I have anywhere from 2 students to 44 students in a class, the exact numbers are 2, 5, 6, 16, 21, 32, and 44. I will definitely have my work cut out for me. Getting all my lesson plans done and make sure I have plans for a really small class and for a really big class even though they are the exact same class.
A couple of the guy teachers that have been in japan for a lot longer than I have took me out the other day for a drink. It seems the Americans here only like going to the American/European type bars. I have yet to go to a Japanese bar. Oh well. They also play a lot of darts here. I have also had some more Japanese food, Yakatori - basically it is roasted chicken on a stick. The restaurant I ate Yakatori at was pretty cool though. You get to sit in your very own booth that is in your own secluded area with a door and everything. The only time the waiter(ess) comes back is when you push a button saying that you need something else. Then a whole bunch of yelling goes on in the Kitchen and the next thing you know there is someone coming to help you. It was a lot of fun. Oh and they also have vending machines that you can buy beer out of. (Oh and we did more Karaoke.)
Karaoke is a big thing here. We are having a Karaoke contest for our students with prizes and everything. So now I am working on thinking of a song I can sing at karaoke that they will have in their list. Amanda speaking of singing songs, what is the song I need to know for you wedding, I need to make sure I have the song and can practice it before you get married! It is definitely a good thing I like to sing so much, I definitely get to do a lot of it here.
The bathrooms here are a totally different story. One of these days I will have to take pictures of a toilet so you can all see what I am talking about. But, the toilets are weird. They have a faucet on the back of them that fills the tank after you flush it, and I have yet to see a toilet seat here that isn't a bidet. So they have a faucet on their backs and they have extra gizmos to make sure you are really clean after going to the bathroom. The toilets aren't the only weird thing in the bathroom though. In the bar there was also q-tips, toothpicks, mouthwash, and facial pads in the bathrooms. Plus the bathrooms have hand dryers, but unlike the ones in the US the ones here actually blow out air hard enough to dry your hands.
Last night I went to Tony Roma's and Costco - yes they have Americanized everything here it seems. McDonalds are everywhere, along with Starbucks, 7/11s, and other random American/Foreigner stores. Starbucks tastes the same as it does in the US, it is the only coffee in Japan it seems that actually tastes like US coffee. I haven't been to McDonalds yet, but I hear you can get a hamburger with little shrimp in it. Maybe one day I will go there. We will see.
More to come later I am sure!
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