It's Ova

A long time has passed and lots of events have taken place since my last entry. I am in a total different situation then I was since a month ago. Nova, after 4 weeks of rumours and constant chattering about its future among teachers, declared bankruptcy today. It’SOVA, we like to say. So now I am officially out of work, and owed one months pay. I will probably never see that money. I knew the situation since I first arrived, and being the realist and pessimist that I am, I predicted they were going bankrupt long time ago. I have been calling in sick the past week and handed in my resignation long ago. 4000 teachers royally fucked. Canadian embassy sent me an e-mail trying to give me resources. Forget it. I had two interviews with Gaba in Osaka and Kobe, which led to me spending a lot of time in Spencer’s apartment. I have been in Kobe for at least 10 nights this past month. I plan on moving there soon but not sure. Himeji is great but there is nothing and nobody left here, everyone has left or is leaving. I think I will get the job with Gaba but it will require that I move to Kyoto or Osaka. We will see. It hasn’t crossed my mind to head home once until today, when it hit me that there may be nothing here for me in Japan. And that it could get lonely now that all the people I met are leaving. I am confused and feel down. I had a wicked streak the past three weeks of just partying and fun and felt great but now reality is settling in. Kevin is coming to a city an hour north of Tokyo. I don’t know if I could live there. I’ll have to see.

I have been doing a lot of partying this past month. Tiger bar, Sports bar, are two gaijin bars here in Himeji that I have spent a lot of nights in. There have been costume parties, go away parties, branch closure parties. I have enjoyed getting hammered often. I have also been to Akashi a few times, 30 min train ride, and met with Emily and Moe.

Karaoke is the shit! 1300 yen you get all you can drink whisky and soft drinks and get to sing your fav tunes. You get a private room to share with your friends. It’s a lot of fun.

Around the 25th of September I had a huge bicycle accident on my way home from Sports bar. I was drunk and closed my eyes while riding for like 10 seconds when.. BAM! Right into a pole. I have scars left over. My face was fucked. Black eye, scrapes, the whole deal. I called in sick two days in a row. I suffered a concussion. It was ugly. I am okay now except for the scars. It was scary though. At work that’s all my students wanted to talk about.

Teaching was really fun, especially voice, where it was a free talk session. I would get to sit there and just chat to the students about anything. I enjoyed it. I bonded with a lot of the students as well. I made friends with them and they would tell me about their personal lives and became more socializing than work.

Other major things:

A Brazilian restaurant in Kobe I have been to twice is something else. For 980 yen, its all you can eat and really good food. It’s the only place you can go to get meat for cheap. Its right on the harbour which also makes it a beautiful setting.

A foot spa in Kobe is somewhere we discovered last time I was there. Its right on the street in Sannomiya (downtown) and it free. People sit there and relax their feet in hot water and talk. It’s a lot of fun.

There is one other Persian guy in Himeji. He owns a restaurant named Caspian and bought me a beer once at Tiger. I plan to eat at his restaurant before I leave.

I climbed Mt. Shosha, where last Samurai was shot, which was a really fun day. I had my music playing and it was the right temperature. Lots of fun. Also climed Mt. Maya with Spencer and visited an herbal garden at the top.

Last thing to mention is that I went to a sumo match. Interesting but boring.

Overall my time here so far has been great. I’ve met a lot of cool people and had fun exploring Japan, even though I do find it a little bit weak. I mean outside of the cities is beautiful, but inside is kind of boring. Nice places to eat and all, but ugly cities. Nowhere to really go for a walk you know. It has kind of been like a university experience, but instead of school, its teaching. Everyone living on their own partying. I wouldn’t switch my time here so far for anything. Its been among the best 6 weeks of my life. Its kind of like vacation, but you meet more people. I hope I can make the fun and my time in Japan last. Maybe. I have also picked up a decent amount of Japanese, which is nice. Hopefully by the time I leave I can put full sentences together.