Show me Da Money! .... oh, thanks.

So times have really turned around. On Tuesday I am expecting the first deposit of money into my bank account. G Education has signed on all ex-nova employees, and is paying them to wait on standby until new locations open up. Yesterday we went to a meeting, where we officially signed on, and there were news cameras everywhere. It is a big deal in Japan, Nova is huge and omnipresent. Everyone has a lot of sympathy for us as soon as they find out we are ex-nova employees. Some laugh. Some offer money. Some try to explain that nova is not japan, and that they are sorry we have had such a terrible experience. The people here treat foreigners like celebrities. They all want to talk to us, make sure we have a great time and good impression of japan, and want to practice their English. There is no way you will ever get rejected when asking a girl for her number, because in the end even if they are not interested, they still wouldn’t mind some language practice.

Spencer and I are living rent-free in Motomachi, doing nothing while getting paid, until we receive a call telling us where we are working, and/or one telling us we are evicted. I hope I can go two weeks without any work, but I am expecting a call in a few days. More then half of the nova employees have left Japan, so that means almost half the people I know. In Himeji-Akashi, from about 40 people, maybe 10 are left. Nobody waited around. The ones who did scored!

Life has been good in Sannomiya/Kobe. We go to a 180 ramen restaurant about 4 times a week. It is really good and cheap! We have been trying to save our money for the past month just cause we don’t know our situation. The weather has really cooled down. I love riding my bike around the city. It is so lively and exciting. Everything is close, which makes living here very convenient. The nightlife is great. A few places that I like are: Sonic: gets packed Saturday nights like a dance club, polo-dog: pub style gaijin bar, midnight express: a nice bar with regular crowd and great food, second chance: cheap drinks wed night. The thing about Japan is there is no club scene the way we know it in Toronto. Line-ups are non-existent, there is no new trendy club, it mainly small bars that you go with co-workers to have drinks at after work and order little appetizers. you take off your shoes, and it is a warm and cozy atmosphere. i prefer the nightlife in Kobe, it is my style.

Two weeks ago on a Saturday night I went to Pure in Osaka, which is supposed to be the best nightclub. The day was also spent in Osaka, where there was a nova meeting that everyone attended to learn about the new company, then we chilled at triangle park (an area in central Osaka) for about 6 hours, a 280 YEN bar for another 2 hours, until it was time to go to Pure (12 AM). We met an Aussie from Nara named Lorenzo, who came along and was pretty jokes. We all got really hammered cause it was 3500 yen all you can drink. I left around 3 am for an alleyway that I spent two hours puking in. I thought the drinks tasted weak but they were really strong, so I had a lot. We took the train home at 6 am, missed out stop by 40 min, ended up in himeji where the train stopped. Then on the way back it almost happened again, but Spencer woke me up and we got off. Lorenzo later told me he ended up in the mountains somewhere. We finally ended up at home around 10AM. It was a good night, but Pure wasn’t as great as we thought it would be.

A Japanese friend we have met here, Toshi, comes by sometimes and we go to university festivals and meet girls. Its okay but nothing special. With Toshi we went to a all you can eat Italian restaurant the other night. We spend a lot of time watching Scrubs, Simpsons, and desperate housewives on our free time. A guy from Toronto we met here, Phil, is a really cool dude that we hang out with a lot. A few nights ago I spent a whole day with him. We walked around Chinatown, Motomachi, and Sannomiya. Then we went to a coffee shop. After we went to this Jazz Bar where this guy named Larry plays a lot of cool old retro R & B. We met a guy from L.A there, and he got the bill. Andrew, Phil’s friend from back home, met us there, and we left to go eat. We found an Okonomiyaki bar in Sannomiya. I have been wanting to try that since I arrived. It was really good, and we had a great time interacting with the chefs. Most restaurants in Japan are set up like bars, but instead of drinks you order food. That makes your interaction with the cooks very close. We stayed there for about two hours. The Okonomiyaki was great. It is basically Japanese pizza, but instead of dough they use cabbage. It turns into a potato-like pancake with meats and veggies in the middle, and you eat it with a special sauce. On our way home we went digging through garbage. In japan on big furniture garbage day (twice a month) you can find real scores if you look hard enough. I found a really nice Japanese dish I plan on taking back, a photo album in crisp condition, real solid, from 1964, some saki cups, a water heater to make coffee (been wanting that bad, I’ve been boiling water in a pot for the last month), a nice chair, and a brand new jewellery-like case which I use to put my stuff in. Overall great score. We all grabbed different cool stuff. And finally to top it off I saw the start of a police chase when they attempted to pull over a motorcycle. It was awesome. Really good night.

Overall everything looks good now, I am enjoying my time in Japan, and am def not planning on going home anytime soon. Alcohol is ubiquitous, from vending machines to every convenience store which is 50 m away from the last/next one. That means lots of drinking. There is no law against drinking in public, which makes for a lot of random drinking on the street nights. Smokes are 300yen, or 2.80 a pack. The food is great, trying new things everyday. My diet at home consists of rice and meat cooked in this special Japanese sauce or with curry, pasta, hot dogs, tortillas with ground beef, and peanut butter sandwiches. Now that we got paid I am going to become experimental. I plan on making tempura, fish in batter, stir-fry, and maybe even fried calamari. I am excited. My food from out consists of McDonalds, Yoshinoya (jap fast-food chain) Ramin, and fried chicken from Lawsons (convenience store).

I have been learning a lot of Japanese language. Really picked up my pace the last couple weeks. I know about 50-100 words/phrases now, which is not great but now that I’ve gotten into it I will excel fast. My roommate Spencer who studies religiously is probably at 300-400. He has a really good memory and puts in 100% effort.

Our apartment sucks but it’s free so we are sticking around. The bathroom is sooo small and the shower is impossible. There are no mirrors and the kitchen is attached to the living space. I hope to move out once we get an eviction notice.