Day 1 x 2

So, I came to Japan for many reasons but my vehicle here was and is teaching the English and it's something I had thought about since I was 19 when I read the blog Gaijin Smash you can find here http://gaijinchronicles.com/ . I actually just got sidetracked reading it for like half an hour.


Anyway I'm here now and I had my first day at my Junior High School yesterday and my first day at my Elementary School today. I've never taught a real class of school kids, only fake ones with  my peers pretending to be Japanese kids. There is a big difference, sometimes you get that kind of silence that comedians get when their joke doesn't fly or the silence you get when you ask a girl her name and she blanks you ( Neither of these have happened to me by the way).  Doing the same class a few times allowed me to fine tune my class and it went done quite well, it was aimed as an introduction and they got to know my name with thanks to Super Mario as a lot of times I introduce myself as Mario without an M. It helps trust me.

The Elementary school now was like the best fun I've had in a long time, and it helps that I understand a fair bit of Japanese because although I only teach one year in the school, everybody is running up to me and asking questions and they don't even think about talking to me in English, I'll just have a kid asking me if they can jump on my shoulders or, how tall i am?where I am from`? Can I dunk? How strong am I? what's my favourite song? my favourite animal? The only thing everyone can say in English is 'HELLO'

Like I could go into detail but I mean being able to laugh and smile and make people do the same at work is amazing. I mean there are man things I could do better but it is just the start I think I'll learn a little each day and eventually I'll be that guy.

Oh and the teachers act like I'm some wonder child and they love that I brought Earl Grey Tea in a little souvenir box.

It's really happening

Just running a bath so I can only take a few minutes here, usually at home I have showers or bucket baths in the morn but now I'm here I'm doing the whole Japanese shower and soak in the evening.

It's crazy how things change, I took a run to the Ocean today it's only 20 minutes away, I  used to only see the Ocean when I was on holiday but now it is in my own back garden.

I've dreamt and dreamt and hoped and prayed for years that I would be here in Japan and finally after so long it's true, I'm yet to start teaching here but that will soon come and the nervousness I have now will soon hopefully die away. Right now is the hard stage the lonely stage I have few new friends and the only close friend I have in the country is too far away to even try and reach. This freedom across the seas ironically is its own prison, it's along time till payday and the costs of moving abroad  and the lack of local knowledge confine me to the only place I can say is mine and mine alone, no communal kitchens or showers, it's all me.

Being alone you start to worry there are an unlimited amount of scenarios you can run through but I guess that's natural for anyone living on their own without another family member in the whole continent.

Checked the bath it's hot but not full yet.

I plan to explore the area I live in and then the capital city of the prefecture possibly on the weekend with the new friends I met who are all in the same boat. As I do have some shy Japanese ability I am in someways better equipped  than others the dark skin does make me stand out no matter how much Japanese I can deliver and it's a fact that I will always and forever be an outsider and you can feel that, funny  enough it is part of the charm.  I am an exotic creature in this land and I choose to enjoy the fact that I am being watched, pretend to not see the obvious photo takers the pointers and pretend to not understand the little kids who say "Look Daddy there is a Black man".

Baths full now so :D I'll be back soon