pikachu sends out some christmas hugs.

XMAS IN TOKYO!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

today is christmas eve...and it was full of surprises! 

three of my students planned out a surprise christmas party at our school. they brought a bunch of delicious food (including natto sushi, which they took pictures of me eating. silly, japanese!) and one of my students even made a CHRISTMAS CAKE (tradition here in japan)!!! OISHII!!!!!!

p.s. notice how much i look like a teacher, f'real.

christmas is a big couples holiday here. most couples go out for dinner, buy each other gifts, etc...like valentine's day. new years is spent with family. OR, if you don't got a lover you spend it with friends by having a party. 

today i got paid to teach three classes (and each class was basically a free-for-all conversation class), eat lots of delicious food, and get some gifts from some of my other students. all-in-all, i'm pretty much loving my job right now. 

tomorrow i teach four classes and then its my winter holiday! horray!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

happy birthday emperor akihito!

japan's emperor akihito turns 75 today. 

it's a national holiday! on a TUESDAY! most national holidays in japan are on monday, which conviently happens to be my day off anyway. so, this is the first three day weekend i've had.

...then i work two days and have my winter holiday! yes!

nabe party.

december has been a month of too many celebrations.

my american co-worker, wil, departed japan on sunday. last week, my new australian co-worker, john, started teaching at our school. 

for two weeks, there have been a plethora of farewell events for wil. and it all finished with a christmas/farewell/welcome party on saturday hosted by our school. i wasn't really concerned with taking pictures because i ended up posing for most of them (sorry. its been a busy month.), so i don't have any visuals. the party was fun, just like my welcome/barney's farewell last june. it was held at an izakaya in shibuya. a lot of students were there...maybe like 50, and it was pretty cool because i'm at this point now where i knew 95% of the students who attended, as well as all their names, the courses they took, and their english level. i was pretty stoked about that. so many things have changed in these past six months. it was a good night.

afterwards, i took the new teacher and a small group of students out to karaoke. and the way there i had to chat with john about not hitting on random japanese girls on the street while in the company of students. the night got kind of weird after that (full moon, i suspect) but its really not worth mentioning. it was fun, but after two weeks of farewelling wil, i am totally ready for my winter break and kyoto. for real.

HOWEVER, here are some pictures from a nabe party a few of my students had a while ago. nabe is amazingly delicious! its this giant cauldron ontop of a burner that you put all these different vegetables, noodles, and animal intestines in. you eat and eat and eat and drink and drink and drink as much as humanly possible! nabe parties are super duper popular in japan during the winter.

oh, and i am 99% sure that i am renewing my contract for an additional six months.

contract renewal.

my contract in japan expires in june, however i've been given a renewal contract to extend my time here. i have to decide what to do in the next week or so.

i think i'm staying.

i don't know! what do i do?!

this is what my life looks like.

christmas, colonel style y'all!

i was going to go get a bucket 'o chick'n on thanksgiving day (i ended up drinking instead...as every thursday night....with a british dude, japanese dude, and three lovely french snobs), but now i HAVE TO buy some japanese KFC on xmas because the colonel is santa clause. duh!

i love tuesdays.

i love tuesdays! i love tuesdays!

BECAUSE: i teach the craziest japanese people.

in the MORNING, i taught a drunk rich house wife. 

in the EVENING, i taught a beginner lesson that consisted of three adults all in their 50's (basically, i feel like i'm teaching my parents english). this class is always super duper amazing.

WHY YOU ASK?

1. one student is a woman who gives me presents every single week (since july). she's always gleefully prancing into my classroom with some elaborate piece of work that includes a lot of sugar or some exotic japanese treat. i love her!

2. another student is a male japanese lawyer, who was going to quit studying english, but after taking my classes he has decided to continue. yes!

3. the third is another male japanese dude, who every week is a complete RIOT! 

FOR EXAMPLE:

today's topic was "shopping" and the #3 japanese student was buying clothes at a store. he requested, "does this sweater come in any other colors?" 

japanese student #1, "yes, sir. what colors would you like?"

japanese student #3, "SHOCKING PINK OR RAINBOW."

japanese student #1, "i'm sorry, sir. those colors are only for women."

japanese student #3, "WHAT?! then i don't want this sweater!"

japanese student #1, "would you like another color?"

japanese student #2, "oh no. please don't ask him for another color."

i could not stop laughing the ENTIRE CLASS. oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!

while reading this, PLEASE keep in mind that these people are in their late 50's. 

wow, sometimes my job truly rules.