These roundups are quickly approaching the 5 year mark (month 60!). I love keeping them up as a quick and easy journal of everything that's gone on each month that I've been on this expat adventure. I wonder if I should keep numbering them after the five year mark passes though? What am I going to do, keep numbering them into the hundreds? I feel like that's like those people who tell me their kid is 26 months old. (He's not. He's 2.) Maybe it's time to just use the month name + year ...
Creative Freelancing: Interview with Monika Kanokova
One of my goals during my time here in Japan is to start slowly transitioning to a creative freelancing lifestyle. When I leave here, I want to be able to work as a fully location independent freelancer! Over the last six years living abroad, I've discovered that I'm not happy having to go to work at the same place every day and doing the same thing. I don't enjoy the feeling of being "tied down" to a city or an apartment that I might not love in a year or two. I'm all about doing what makes you ...
Don’t Let Your Ears Ruin a Dive
Does this sound familiar to you, divers?You've dropped thousands of dollars on a dive vacation to a beautiful tropical island. You got your gear serviced, you did a refresher in the pool at the resort yesterday to make sure all your gear was working properly and you read your scuba tune-up manual. On your first dive, your ears clear perfectly and you have a fabulous dive with turtles, rays and all the reef fish.On the second dive, you begin happily descending down the line and then it ...
Month 57 Roundup – April 2017
I'm trying to stay in real-time with these roundups, so I better get this out before May is over!Let's see what was on the agenda in April 2017... What I've Been Doing Since the Last Roundup Since March 2017, I honestly haven't done very much!I came back from my Philippines trip (if I ever get done editing the photos, I'll tell ya about it) at the beginning of April and then luckily had a few more days off at home to recharge before school started again. I really enjoyed seeing my students ...
JET Programme: Don’t Panic About Your Placement
It's May, and that means one thing for the new JET Programme participants - your placement is (probably) coming!Here is my advice: don't panic when you get it.That's it. Have a nice day!Kidding aside, I know from experience that this is one of the most stressful parts of this program (after finding out whether or not you got in, of course!) And I also know that a literal shit-ton (technical term) of you WILL NOT GET YOUR PLACEMENT REQUESTS. I seriously have no idea why they even ask us. ...
A Tokushima Tour
When I tell people I live in Tokushima prefecture (prefecture is like the Japanese version of a province or state), most Japanese people laugh and give me the "poor you" face. My prefecture is not particularly famous for anything other than having a giant dance festival once a year (it's outrageously fun) and apparently the worst drivers in Japan (can confirm). Tokushima is a small, unassuming little prefecture on the northeast corner of Shikoku, which is the smallest of the four main islands ...
A Weekend in Okayama City
In February, we did a Vancouver JET meetup in Okayama City. Besides all the excitement of attending Hadaka Matsuri (the Naked Man Festival), I enjoyed visiting Okayama City a lot. I live in a town of 60,000 so getting to go to a "big city" of 800,000 is a huge deal for me!Getting to Okayama City From Tokushima (my prefecture), I had to take a train about from Naruto, change in Takamatsu, and then on to Okayama City. The trip is about 2ish hours each way. My blessed JTE (English teacher at ...
Month 56 Roundup – March 2017
I'm back on track with my roundup schedule now that my site has been moved! It seems like everything is working okay, but as always, if you find something wonky please let me know. So far the response to the redesign seems positive - let me know what you think in the comments below! What I've Been Doing Since the Last Roundup Finishing up the school year! The school year in Japan runs from April to March, not September to June like Western schools. We had graduation for my elementary schools and ...
Hadaka Matsuri: The Naked Man Festival in Okayama
When one of my fellow ALTs in a nearby prefecture invited me to watch the Hadaka Matsuri in Okayama prefecture in February, I said, "what's that?"Maybe you can imagine how quickly I said YES when he said it was a festival where 9,000 men wear fundoshi (basically a loincloth) and run around in a temple chasing sticks.Yo, sign me up!What It Is Hadaka Matsuri (translated into "Naked Man Festival") is a festival over 500 years old held at Saidaiji Temple in Okayama City. It's billed as "one ...
What I Wish I Had Known Before Coming to Japan
I tried to include this in my First Six Months in Japan recap post, but my "What I Wish I Had Known Before Coming to Japan" section was longer than the post itself. It clearly needed its own post, so here you go! Or, if you're an ALT: here you are! (Inside ALT joke - students learn "here you are" instead of "here you go", and after months of saying it constantly, it starts to replace "here you go" in your natural speech!)This list of things I wish I had known before coming to Japan is ...