Archive for August, 2015
August 8, 2005 – AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 8, 2015
After two farewell parties in two nights, I was happy to catch up on some sleep and rehydrate myself. After I finally woke up, I watched a DVD that one of the teachers lent me the night before. It was the second season of a very strange American animated show called “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”. The stories make little to no sense, and are based around the lives of anthropomorphic fast food items living in New Jersey.
Bizarre would be one word for it.
Hilarious would be another.
I never knew that fast food could live such an interesting life!
August 7, 2005 – Pianos and parties
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on August 7, 2015
In the afternoon I went to hear The Penpal play the piano at her annual recital. I went to the same recital last year, although this time I didn’t get stuck in a car with her father. The Penpal played Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata flawlessly. It is amazing to hear how talented she is!
In the evening I went to yet another farewell party (that’s two in two days for those keeping track), that started at an izakaya in Numazu, and finished with too many people jammed into a NOVA apartment at 3:00am.
Most of the NOVA teachers in the area have apartments in one building near the north side of Numazu station. My roommates and I are the exception – our building is about a 15 minute walk east from the south side of Numazu station. I was not familiar with the route back, but fortunately Azeroth was with me and he knew how to walk (stumble) back without getting lost.
With farewell parties on Saturday and Sunday evening, I am very happy with my new Sunday / Monday days off.
August 6, 2005 – Pretending to be asleep on the train
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan on August 6, 2015
The whole area is short on teachers right now, so I got stuck with 3 group kids classes. Boo!
After work I went to a farewell party at a small town near Mt. Fuji. As usual, the first party was at an izakaya where everyone filled up on beer and food. We took a short train ride to Fuji City for the second party, which was at a karaoke room we usually go to.
The last regular train back to Numazu from Fuji is at 12:15am. However, that’s not the last train. There is also a 2:30am night express train. The night express has reserved seats, and costs more than the regular Tokaido line train. We were concerned that we would have to buy seat reservations or pay extra, but one of the more experienced teachers assured us that everything was okay, and told us to just buy the standard 320 yen one way ticket.
It turns out that our strategy for beating the extra fee was to all congregate outside the washroom at the end of the train, and pretend to be sleeping. This way if a ticket checker came along, he might be reluctant to wake up a group of sleeping gaijins that smelled of beer to get us to pay the extra fee. If we had all been more sober, we probably would have felt a bit conflicted about our decision, but it was 2:30am and we wanted to go home. Fortunately we got all the way to Numazu without running into the ticket checker!
(2015 Update) There are plenty of ways to cheat Japan Rail, but that doesn’t mean you should do them*. This is how foreigners get bad reputations in Japan! Do the right thing and pay full price!
*Unless it’s an emergency
August 5, 2005 – Late Friday
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 5, 2015
Today was my first Friday late shift. My new schedule gives me two of the best days off: Sunday and Monday. However, I now work late shifts Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Late shift does pay a little more than early shift, but there is not a lot of options for things to do when work finishes at 9:00pm.
Fortunately I like beer and karaoke.
August 4, 2005 – Honeycomb
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 4, 2015
I now have a new CD on my “to buy” list. I just learned that Frank Black (aka Black Francis from the Pixies) has released his newest solo album, Honeycomb. I will have to do some searching to find it here. It’s not always easy to find import music in Japan, and then you have to search in Japanese alphabetical order. Frank Black can be found in the “Fu” section, for “fu-ra-n-ku bu-ra-ku”.
In the part month or so I have purchased and otherwise obtained new music from Audioslave, Rise, Guitar Wolf, Queens of the Stone Age, and others. You can’t have too much music!
August 3, 2005 – Apartment hunting
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 3, 2015
After work I hit the internet to do some serious apartment hunting. It has been good living with other teachers, but I really need my own place. I have never had a place of my own, and would like to take some time off from roommates.
I am looking in and around Numazu. My apartment will likely be very small and expensive, but it will be all mine! I have been saving up to pay the exorbitant fees required to get an apartment – a few months rent in advance, a landlord fee, and key money, which is just straight up profit. I will also need to get some of my own appliances. This plan will pretty much guarantee that I will be sticking around in Japan longer.
My goal is to move out in August or September.
August 1, 2005 – First day at my new school
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 1, 2015
Today was my first official day at Numazu NOVA. I have been here a few times before, usually to repay shift swaps, so it wasn’t completely new to me.
Numazu NOVA is located in a pedestrian only shopping area called Nakamise, which is just southwest of Numazu station. It is less than 10 minutes by bicycle from my apartment. The area is convenient, with lots of restaurants and stores nearby.
The branch itself is much larger than Mishima NOVA. The teacher’s room is a decent size and doesn’t feel like a converted closet. There is an employee washroom in the teacher’s room with a proper toilet, unlike Mishima NOVA which has a terrifying Japanese style squat toilet elsewhere in the building. The main floor has the sales area and teachers room, while all classrooms are upstairs.
There are exactly three inconvenient things about changing branches from Mishima to Numazu.
- I no longer have a commuter train pass since I live in Numazu. My current train pass is not nearly as useful as when I lived in Kawasaki, but it was still nice to have even a little free transportation.
- I am now further from The Penpal’s office, so we can’t meet up after work on my early shifts. My days off are much better for seeing her now, so I can’t complain too much.
- Because my schedule changed from Monday / Tuesday off to Sunday / Monday off, I only get one day off this week.
Even with these minor annoyances, I am excited about the change and the opportunity to work with some different teachers and students.
Drinking in Japan 
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