The Arrival...Time for heart and SOUL! (Seoul)

Haha....do you like my pun in the title?! Very creative...I know....well anyway, we arrived in Seoul yesterday at a little after noon after having departed on our trek from Chiba station at 6:30am. It was my first time riding JAL and it was a good experience I'd say. The highlight of the flight was the bento that was served! It was literally....THE BEST airplane meal I've ever had! It was a really nice bento and tasted delicious.

We landed in Seoul and soon realized...we actually don't speak Korean, can't read it, and can't understand it! But that didn't stop us from venturing out into this new world and see what lay ahead. We walked around the airport to try and look for a few transportation options, but then were told about a bus that could get us close to what we were hoping would be our hotel. So we trusted one of the people at the information desk about getting a bus ticket to a place where we didn't really know where we were going...except having heard the name Gangnam which we knew was within +-10-40 minutes from our hotel...we really had no idea! So we hopped on and rode for about an hour and approached what we knew was Seoul.

After having gotten dropped off from the bus, we were literally in the middle of a busy busy street with our luggage trying to figure out which way to go. We were able to finally get a taxi...only to be yelled at in Korean and have an extremely awkward first interaction! The taxi driver was not too keen on us at first! I don't know what ticked him off...the fact that we couldn't understand him or if he was just having a bad day. We got in the car and he started yelling at us but no one could respond because the best we know is "anyung ha seyo" or "kamsahamnida" which mean "hello" and "thank you," respectively. So we explained where we wanted to go and eventually made it there...after this event:

• We get in the taxi. Taxi driver is yelling at us in Korean....????



• We are showing him the hotel address and phone number...but he keeps demanding for a "telephone!!!! telephone!!!" so I hand him mine with the hotel's number in it



• He proceeds to continue in what seems to be an angry conversation with the person at the hotel....again, we had NO clue what he was saying!



• We are ripping through the streets of Seoul on the way to what we hope would be our hotel. Meanwhile...the taxi driver was apparently mad at us because we were "shoving" our luggage into the trunk? He made no effort to help us anyway...so I don't know why he was so mad. We didn't really shake it that much...I didn't think?



• We finally make it toward the hotel and the taxi driver apparently seems to have cooled down. He seemed nicer. He may have realized after a few minutes in the drive that we actually only speak either English or Japanese....and no Korean!



• We finally get to our hotel and for a 10-15 minute ride....it cost only 3 or 4 bucks! So cheap!

So in the end...it wasn't so bad. It was a cheap ride, we were able to find our hotel, and we made it all in one piece! Not a bad start for 3 guys who speak no Korean.

Later this day, we headed out to check out the nearest place which was Gangnam. We decided to walk around our area first and found some nice stores. We also had to try and find a place with internet connection and possibly some people who could speak some English...we needed some help with directions and what not. While walking around, we found an English school called "Pagoda"....hmmm...this could be promising! So we stepped right in and looked around. Just as luck would have it, we found some computers on which we could use the internet. This was a great first start to help us out. We didn't find many people who spoke in English there...I just don't think we were talking to the right people. There was someone who could speak Japanese, so that helped! They let us use their phone and allowed us to call our friend who would be able to meet up with us later this week and show us around! That was great!

This is a picture of the Samsung Headquarters. Check it out!

After some time, we also noticed that there was a cafe on the top floor so we decided to check it out. Just as more luck would have it, it was called International Cafe "Huh?!" Haha....it was nice BECAUSE there was one rule before entering the cafe....no speaking Korean! Which meant that most of the people in there spoke good English. And it was nice! They had free pool, internet, and lots of space. It was a nice chill area and this would become our safehaven for a part of the trip. Inside, we were also able to talk to many people who could give us good insight on what to do around the city. They are the locals and know best.

So after hanging out in there for a bit and shooting some pool, we headed toward a restaurant called "Punga" which some new friends of ours had recommended. We got directions to go there, but we somehow got lost...and were trying to search for this place for nearly an hour! It was supposedly a 5-10 minute walk away...but obviously this wasn't going to happen that quickly for us! Well, after searching and talking to strangers to try and get directions, we finally used body language and very vague map pointing to find our way and make it to the restaurant!!!!! It was definitely worth it! The food there was delicious and it was some of the best meat that I'd had in a long time....if not ever! Haha!!! After dinner, we went to a bar and hung out there. It was a good time and we also ate more food there...SPICY food! But I think I will get used to the spiciness of the food...hopefully! It's spicy and nothing comes with anything less than a spicy level! Well we hung out til pretty late and then finally made our way back to the hotel. We are relatively close to the heart of the city and taxis are really cheap here, so it's no problem to stay out late and we don't have to worry about last trains! Yay!!!

Packed and ready to go!

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Chiba to spend the night before we head to the airport early on Thursday morning for Korea! I will go up tomorrow night and spend the night at a friend's place and then we will all go to Narita where the adventures will begin! I have my stuff all packed and ready to go...now just time for me to get to the airport and wait for my work day to be over tomorrow!

Today was another day at the elementary schools around my area. In the morning, I visited one school where I taught the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. We are still in the first stages of the textbook at this school so it was just the introductory lesson for them today. For the 3rd and 4th grade, I taught them how to say, "How's the weather today?" and they learned how to answer with 9 different ways to answer. Those included the basics such as "It's Sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, stormy, snowy, hot, cold, and foggy!" It was a fun day. The 3rd graders are an energetic bunch and all love English class! It's fun, but takes a lot of energy as well! There are 24 of them so it's a lot of energy to keep control of. It's a fun time, though. They are all very funny and they all absolutely love the games and the fun times. At the end of class, they also wanted me to sign their cases for their recorders! They all lined up for me to sign it and they also had their notebooks open for me to sign. Haha! I felt like a celebrity! They're too funny!

Nothing too much else to report for today. In the afternoon I finished the afternoon off at a different school where I taught the 5th and 6th graders. They're a good bunch as well and all the students are smart and very nice. The teachers at that school are also extremely nice and always give me snacks or other goods to take home with me!

Tonight I just finished up some laundry before heading out and need to just finish doing the dishes. I will do those and get ready! Wooooo! Korea, only 1 one more day!

Counting down the days...

Today was another day at school...but that just means one more day closer until Korea!!! I am so excited to go to Korea for Golden Week! Ever since I got to Japan, I had been looking forward to traveling to nearby surrounding Asian countries...and South Korea is one of them! I have never been there, but have heard lots of good things! It's so close, that it's a shorter flight from Tokyo to Korea than to Okinawa! Haha!

The thing I am looking forward to most is eating excellent food. I think I already mentioned this before in another post...but I can't help it! That's what I am excited about! I also want to see what Seoul is like (probably similar to Tokyo) but it's always fun to experience, and then there are also other parts of the country that will be great to see (the historical aspects).

And as for my school day, today was not a bad day. My morning was pretty busy, as I had class for all 4 periods, but my afternoon was open. Later in the afternoon, there was a teacher's meeting which was going to start at 3:30pm. Normally, I would probably just sit through this and really not do anything...as the meeting usually has nothing to do with me or anything I do. And I think my Principal realized this, as he said to me at about 3:20pm..."Kent, we have the teacher's meeting and there's nothing for you to have to do, so you can go home! Have fun!"

Woohoo! So I left immediately and enjoyed my time! I went for a run, ran a few errands, and then ate dinner and settled down for the night. I have a few things to get ready for my trip to Korea (laundry!) so I got those done and will begin packing tomorrow. Well, nothing too much more to report except that I am excited! Korea...coming soon!

The Weekend is here!

Today is Friday! Thank goodnesss!!!!!!! I had been waiting all week for the weekend...as bad as that sounds. But I think it's partly a case of Spring Fever! The weather has been getting better recently and it always looks so nice outside. I don't want to have to worry about anything except enjoying time outside and being able to go out and explore. But I know that I obviously have some work to do...but right now I'd rather go out and play if I can!

Well I had all 6 classes today....so I am very tired! But since it's the weekend, I don't mind and am happy! Today wasn't too bad. It's still early in the lessons so it's all very basic stuff. Greetings, how to say "My name is, Hello, etc." and the alphabet. I guess I really only had 2 lesson plans today....one for the 5th graders and one for the 6th graders. It just gets tiring when I have to keep on doing the same lesson throughout the day. Doing it once isn't bad...but when I have to do one lesson 3 times it gets old and tiring. One advantage is that by the 2nd and 3rd time, I know it so well that I don't need any notes and I know how to time everything so that it fits in with the class schedule and time.

But my funny story for the day comes with my 2nd period class. The students in this class are all good and they are very interested in English. There is one pupil in particular who is kind of an oddball, but very funny. He asks me all these different types of questions that no 5th grader in the world should be asking me. Economic policy, dollar and Yen exchange rates, the number of nuclear power plants and factories in America....the list goes on. I don't know what kind of news he watches or where he gets information from, but he is always very interested in this kind of stuff and it surprises me how much he knows! Well, aside from asking all these questions all the time, he is very good at participating in class and is very involved. So normally at the beginning of class I will go around class and ask people, "How are you?" A very basic greeting and one that they are all used to. So most people will answer with "I'm fine, I'm hungry" or something of the like. But this one child in particular likes to be a part of the class and answered, "I'm GREAT hungry and GREAT happy!"

Of course I chuckled at this and found it very entertaining. This was his response 2 weeks ago when I was teaching the class. At that time, I had told him to replace the "GREAT" with "VERY" and that would be a much better and clearer answer to the question which would make sense. So he took note...but obviously forgot today. He shouted out the "I'm GREAT hungry and GREAT happy!" in front of the whole class. So again, myself as well as the students had corrected him to replace the "GREAT" with "VERY" as the others had remembered this. And so then he goes on to ask me how to say "hazukashii" in English, which would be "embarrassed." So he went on to answer my "How are you?" question with, "I'm GREAT embarrassed!"..............then he corrected himself and said "No! I'm VERY embarrassed!"


hahahahahha! I was laughing pretty hard at this point and I know the homeroom teacher and other students had a good kick out of the whole episode. Ahh..this kid is hilarious and made my day. It was really funny and as long as he doesn't keep putting the "GREAT" in front of everything, I'll be happy. Hopefully by the end of the year he will be using the adjectives correctly!

On another note, there was another aftershock last night. I can't count how many aftershocks there have been over the past several weeks since the large earthquake on March 11th. Last night's happened while I was in the best place possible to be during an earthquake.....the SHOWER! Haha, I was washing my hair at the time and I thought...."am I scrubbing my head so hard that the whole room is shaking or is this.....ohhh an earthquake!" I looked over at the shampoo bottles and they were shaking back and forth, so I knew it wasn't just my imagination playing with me. I immediately hopped out of the shower and turned on the tv to see the severity of this one. It wasn't too bad....but it was an earthquake right next to Chiba. Luckily, there was no tsunami warning and I was lucky that the power, water, and heater were all intact since I was in the shower. It would have been bad if it wasn't since I was still in the shower when it happened....I might have been stuck with shampoo residue in my hair if the water was cut for some reason during the earthquake!

Well, I'm going to go enjoy my weekend now!!!

Wish it was the weekend...

So it's hump day. I am more than halfway through with the week! I know it's early, but I can't wait for the weekend. Even though I don't even have plans, I am excited to be able to sleep in, relax, and go out and do whatever.

Today, I had 5 classes....so it was a pretty full day. The whole morning was booked with the 2nd graders and one 1st and 3rd grade class each. Then I finished the day with a little break in the afternoon following lunch and one final class with the other 3rd grade class. We are just starting in most of the textbooks for the classes so it is all pretty basic stuff at this point. The 1st grade book consisted only of the following dialogue for the 1st chapter:

Yuki: "Hello, I am Yuki. Nice to meet you."
Andy: "Hello, I'm Andy. Nice to meet you, too."

Haha! Very basic and easy! But I guess it's good. This will hopefully give some of those that aren't that good at English some more confidence since they should be able to recite this. I am reciting this stuff with the 5th graders in elementary school right now...so hopefully those that are 2 years older will be able to catch on to this as well!

Well, nothing too much else to report. Tonight, my eikaiwa class has started again for the first time since the earthquake. I will have tonight's class, and then the next one will not be until May 11th because of the Golden Week Holiday...during which I will be in Korea!!! Wooo!!

Weather forecast...warm and sunny!

So today it started off with some rain, clouds, and thunder/lightning. I thought that it would be like this all day. But, it actually cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful day! The sun is shining and the weather was really really warm! Too bad I couldn't have been outside more today to enjoy it!

Well, today I was at the elementary schools. In the morning, I only had 2 classes at one elementary school and then continued on in the afternoon with another elementary school with 2 classes in the afternoon. I started in the 1st chapter for all the classes in the textbook, Eigo Note. It's really basic stuff. For the 5th graders, it's getting them used to saying, "Hi, My name is____. Nice to meet you." For the 6th graders, it's learning the alphabet. So we played an assortment of games involving the alphabet...karuta, BINGO, finding the letter, etc...

All in all, not a bad day. The kids are all really well behaved at these schools as well, so that makes life easier! Today, there was an aftershock again after having not felt one in nearly a week. I guess these will be going on for nearly a year....jeez! Just no break for Japan! But hopefully things will continue to get better and Japan will be on the fast road to recovery!

Seoul!!!!!

So it's official....I have finally gotten my tickets and hotel booked for a vacation in Seoul, South Korea!!!! I had been wanting to go there for awhile! They have good food, good shopping, good sightseeing (world heritage sights and older temples), and relatively easy transportation. So...hopefully it will be a good time! Every person who I've talked to about South Korea has said that it's a great country. The people there are nice and the food is good. The thing I am most looking forward to is obviously Korean BBQ! The meat is to die for....and the lettuce wrap style barbeque is excellent...and I can't wait to eat their kimchi!!!

Well, basically all I've mentioned so far is food...but that's because Korean cuisine is soooo good! I'm also looking forward to just going around and exploring! Well, from April 28th-May 4th, you'll know where to find me!

3000 Letters to Japan

So I have decided to take part in the event going on to help out the people who are suffering or are stuck in the evacuation centers up in the Tohoku area. The idea of the event is to send 3000 letters and have them be delivered to those that are in the centers. The idea and hope is that it will put a smile on their faces and give them hope. These people have been in the centers since the earthquake and most are very lucky survivors of the horrible disaster and have probably lost most of their most precious possessions, their lives in their towns, and possibly loved ones. I feel so bad for them as I would love to help them out, but it's difficult for me to go up there now to physically help out. But I thought that it I could help out without having to go all the way up there. Today was the first day back at some of the elementary schools that I work at. I thought it would be a great idea for the students to partake as well and have them write letters to their own countrymen to show support. So for the first day back, I did a brief self introduction again. This took only the first 20 minutes of class. Then for the remainder, I introduced the project and the kids got started writing right away. While some kids had trouble thinking of things to write, I saw a good majority writing encouraging and inspiring things. I didn't ask them to write too much....just some things like "We will get through this together" and "We are thinking of you" and things of that nature. But there was one kid who I got goosebumps from after hearing about it. He does chores at home and of course many kids nowadays will get an allowance. But what this one child does in particular is he currently donates all the money he earns to disaster relief. For a 5th grader, that is incredible and extremely selfless. I feel so happy that there was someone like that and am glad to know that some of these kids are so involved even though they are young. Of course, a good handful probably don't follow the news as closely so there were many that didn't know the full extent of what is happening in Japan at this time. However, I think it's also a good time to spread awareness and have them think outside of their own shoes and situation and keep those in Tohoku in mind. Nihon Ganbare!!!

I'm Back!

I flew back from Minneapolis on Saturday, April 2nd and arrived back in Japan on April 3rd in the evening. It was about a 12 hour flight but wasn't too bad. I am able to sleep anytime, anywhere, so I slept a majority of the flight. I stayed up to watch 1 of the movies and part of another, but that was about it....the other movies were not too interesting or didn't seem like it. The flight was also extremely empty! I had a lot of space around me...I could count at least 15 open seats around my vicinity. I had the middle aisle seat and there were 2 seats empty right next to me. So that meant I could stretch out and enjoy my space! So I probably slept about 8-9 hours of the flight! I guess not too many people are bound for Tokyo, Japan at the moment given the current conditions. I was able to fly directly out of Minneapolis since my flight was going to go through there anyway, so it was nice since I spent the prior night in Minneapolis, and then my parents just dropped me off at the airport in Minneapolis the next day. I was bummed that I wasn't able to see my sister's performance in Minneapolis, but I guess I couldn't help it with the flight and everything. Well, when I got back the airport was completely empty. Going through customs was a breeze and I was able to get out of the airport fairly quickly. But I was glad to see that things in Japan were back to normal for the most part. The train lines were all running on almost full schedule again and things in the stores were replenished. I could buy bread, milk, and other things that were not available before I came back to America right after the earthquake. I'm so glad that things are back and that I was able to come back to Japan. Depending on the circumstances, I wasn't sure about my return to Japan right away. In my mind when I was packing, I was 100% sure that I would be returning to Japan, but just not completely sure when. I bought a round trip ticket set for coming back on April 3rd, but if things didn't get better or if something drastic happened that it wouldn't be safe, then I probably wouldn't have been able to come back right away. Well, let's hope that nothing more happens and that we are just having to deal with the road to recovery now! The highlight of coming back is that it's time for the new season....the new season of everything in Japan! The new school year, fiscal year, and pretty much all operational aspects in Japanese culture starts when the Cherry Blossom season starts. That is typically on or around April 1st, so that is when the new season starts for many things. Upon returning, I was able to experience my first ever Cherry Blossom season! During this time, it's extremely common for everyone to go out and look at the trees, flowers, and other things that are coming in to full bloom. On the news, they do reports about where the Cherry Blossoms have started blooming across the country. So since I had Monday off and it was a beautiful day out, my girlfriend and I decided to go out and experience the Cherry Blossoms. The flowers aren't in full bloom yet, but there are definitely some out. Check out the pics! A close up view of some flowers View of the bank where some people can get rowboats or paddleboats! Panoramic shot of a bank and the city with my girlfriend! A shot in front of the park in Tokyo My first Hanami Bento! Very delicious!! Some more shots walking around the city They look so nice :) One final closeup view