Hey Everyone!
Today is a joyous occasion for us—it's pay day! This is the first time we've seen money appear in our newly-opened Japanese bank accounts since we've arrived and is undoubtedly a reason to celebrate!
We officially started our celebration a little prematurely. On Saturday night after a long week of work, we invited our training group to our house and ordered Pizza Hut with the last bit of cash we had. It was worth every penny! One of our friends found out that we could get a plain cheese pizza for only 1000 yen and 200 yen for each extra topping. In addition to that great news, we got 400 yen off each pizza for going to pick it up. Usually it's about 3000 yen (about $30) for a large pizza to be delivered here—absolutely ludicrous! The types of pizzas they have here are even more far-fetched with names like "Mayo King" (imagine a pizza covered in cheese, mayonnaise, seaweed and last but not least, a raw egg to top it all off...yum!). Luckily, we decided to order what we knew we liked and it was so fabulous to have a taste of home, even if it was just for a night. It was great to spend some time with friends, play cards, have some drinks, and celebrate together.
On Sunday, Scott and I decided to do something fun (well, for me at least). I was ecstatic when Scott agreed to come shopping with me. Last week, one of my students was telling me about a great outlet mall near the airport, called Rinku Premium Outlets. We left in the early afternoon and six long hours later, Scott was complaining that he was sick of shopping. The outlet mall was absolutely unreal, with stores like Banana Republic (Jess...you would go crazzzzzy!), Gap, Coach, Juicy Couture, Furla, and over 150 others. The deals were just as amazing as the selection of stores and I ended up getting some really nice work clothes for 70 per cent off. Scott also had some shopping success. Everyone here is so fashionable. Rumour has it that Japan is one of the trendiest countries. The women here are ALWAYS decked out to the nines and ALWAYS wear heels. I swear to God, they would even climb a mountain in heels. Our credit cards were pretty worn out at the end of the day, but our little adventure was well worth all the money we spent! At least we actually have a paycheque in our bank accounts to make us feel less guilty. We also had a nice dinner at an American-style restaurant before we left to go back home.
On Saturday, I also met with another private student for the first time and I was absolutely shocked at his English ability. After I got home, I kept telling Scott that it was like talking to one of my friends! He works for a news company and hopes to become a foreign correspondent someday, but he wants to improve his listening ability first. What’s even cooler is that he has a British accent! When I heard him speak I told him that he had a British accent and he replied, “I aspire to be like John Lennon.” So cute!
Work is going well, although we find the classes a little menial at times. Even though this opinion is based largely on how good the students are and how willing they are to learn, the Free Time Lessons (FTLS), which I think Scott already touched on a bit, are what drive us crazy. These lessons focus on rote vocabulary, repetitive dialogue practise, and anything else that involves drilling or repeating. So you can imagine how boring it would be to do six forty-minute classes a day. Although a straight FTL shift is somewhat rare, I ended up with one last Monday and today as well. Last week Scott even caught me talking in my sleep. I was teaching an FTL...haha.
Don’t get us wrong, we do enjoy work, but like every job, there are the inevitable ups and downs!
Write us! We’d love to hear from you. Miss you all!
Jo & Scott
2 comments:
ooooh your outlet adventure sounds very nice- i can't wait to see (and borrow!) the goods :)
who knew they had banana in japan?!
haha ya...it was pretty amazing. not as amazing as the nanette lepore store though! they also have tiffany's everywhere!!
Post a Comment