Archive for April, 2014
April 5, 2004 – Walking to Yokohama
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, Life in Japan, Yokohama on April 5, 2014
Hey look – the sign is in romaji! I hope you know what a ryokuchi, koenjimusho, bijutsukan, kagakukan and minkaen are.
Bouken day (adventure!). My new floor couch was delivered in the morning. I had to use Japanese on the phone when the delivery people called. This sounds impressive, but I basically just said “hai” about 6 times until they hung up and delivered the couch.
After a nice nap, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a walk. I started with a 15 minute walk to the cool park near my place. Upon climbing a really large hill, I found there was an exit on the other side. So I kept walking through this really cool residential area with big houses on a hill. Residential areas are like mazes here, and I was lucky to find my way out the other side after much walking. By this point, I decided to head back home, but I didn`t really know how to get back the way I came. I found a road sign, and started following it. However, the road back had no walking path. So I made a useless 30 minute circle around the area, and started walking towards one of the other stations listed on the sign.
Just after the 2 hour point in my walk, I pass a sign which says I am now in Yokohama city limits. After many more wrong turns and cutting through another park I found a bus route and decided to walk along side it to the next station. Finally about 3 hours after I started, I found Azamino station, which is on the Den-En-Toshi line and the Yokohama subway. I took Den-En-Toshi to connect with the Nanbu line and then returned to Noborito. It took me about 20 minutes to get home by train!
I estimate I walked about 10km in total, possibly more, so I rewarded myself with some Wendy’s. Random walks in huge cities can be fun.
(2014 Update) – According to Google Maps, I walked at least 7.5km, but probably more due to the unexpected loop I made.
April 4, 2004 – Happy birthday to my sister
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 4, 2014
Happy birthday to my awesome sister! You may be 24, but you still look 18.
There is a new video rental place in the Noborito area. I ventured out in the rain to check it out, but due to the grand opening promotion everything good was already rented. The only other “productive” thing I did all day was to go to the supermarket for some groceries. I treated myself to a really small, really cheap steak from the supermarket. Japanese beef is just not the same.
(2014 Update) There is some very good beef in Japan. However, the discount supermarket beef I bought would have been better used in a stew or curry instead of for grilling.
April 3, 2004 – How to call in sick
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on April 3, 2014
Today was a good day for two reasons. The first was that I got to work an early Saturday shift. The early shift runs from 10:00am to 5:40pm, leaving the entire evening free. My usual late shift is a standard 1:00pm to 9:00pm. If there is anything fun happening on a Saturday night, I always show up about 3 hours after it starts.
The second good thing was a fun special topic voice class. Inspired by my recent cold, the topic was when and how to call in sick to work. We ran through new vocabulary for some common medical conditions and had a discussion on which ones would keep you home from work. Fun fact: Japanese people rarely miss work (or English lessons) for illness. We then worked on the dos and don’ts of calling in sick when you aren’t actually sick. Some examples:
- Do have a reason that will make your employer want you to stay home – explosive diarrhea for example
- Do sound sick on the phone
- Don’t make up an illness that should have you in the hospital
- Don’t use your day off to go somewhere public where you will be seen
It was a lot of fun for both myself and the students.
The only bad part about the day was that I was stuck on the smoking floor of the internet cafe. I now completely stink like cigarette smoke.
April 2, 2004 – Back from the dead
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 2, 2014
Sleep and movies makes colds go away! I felt pretty good and was super productive. I managed to finally get back to the immigration office to pick up my pickuppables, got my hair cut, and picked up dry cleaning. Also, my kids class wasn’t terrible today.
But the real reason why it was a great day was that I found out the Pixies will be coming to Japan this summer! Details to follow.
(2014 Update) Yeah… I never got to see the Pixies when they came to Japan 😦
April 1, 2004 – Sleep, movies, games, sleep and sleep
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Movies on April 1, 2014
I was feeling pretty crappy today. I woke up with a massive sinus headache and it felt like my eyeballs were going to explode. I did a very un-Japanese thing by calling in sick. Unlike yesterday, I did not trust the daytime cold medicine to get me through my shift.
To recover, I enjoyed a day of sleep, PS2, sleep, movies (The Tuxedo and Full Metal Jacket) and sleep.
Drinking in Japan 
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