On My Bike

Well, my experience sure took off from yesterday. Day 1 I spent resting from the tiresome flight, and in the evening I met Stuart, the other guy staying in Yoko's house. He's an English teacher here, so he's pretty much my entire reference for my possible career here. And my career in teaching English started yesterday.

Basically, the way to get around Osaka (大阪) is by bike. I had forgotten entirely about riding a bike since I passed my driving test, but it is incredible. Riding around the city is enjoyable and scary in equal measures, greatly so in both cases. It is fast and hectis, weaving through people and traffic at high speed, barely escaping painful death at most corners. My bum indeed hurts today, but still, it was worth it. I went from North to South in long, sweeping journeys, and enjoyed every second. Stuart and Yoko led the way, but I'll be going independantly soon.

I changed some Travellers Cheques, I bought some Kanji learning books, and this extremely cheap second hand manga shop offered literally hundereds of thousands of mangas for 50p. I'll go back when I have more time and cash. I also got a plug converter, so I can use my telephone charger, and I am no longer incommunicado (a text from Emma killed off my phone). But after we'd eaten (teriyaki chicken fillet burgers at McDonald's), I witnessed a few of Stuart's classes, and I realised how fun it would be to teach. Being a native English speaker, I'm instantly qualified to teach, and I helped out in speaking and listening exercises, and met some lovely people doing it. The first girl I spoke to had been learning English one month, and still she was capable of talking to me (with expectedly limited vocabulary, but still amazing), and was very appeciative of all my help. It felt very rewarding.

And today, Stuart told me basically that he had to take a new class, and miss his old class, so I could take his old class if I wanted. Obviously I jumped at the chance, so today I taught my first English class, and I thoroughly loved it. All the women were older, about 60 or so, but they were friendly and enjoyed learning enough that I was invited back to teach again next week. I want this job.

Stuart is coming back soon, and will take me to another class tonight, and we'll probably eat some street food there as well. Due to the wonders of Skype, my family have been calling me at discount rate frequently, and I've had nothing but news for them. Yes, it's very hot, but all rooms have air conditioning, and the passing breeze while cycling is enough.

All the MP3 CDs I made before I left are invaluable. My CD player can handle about 50 hours of music without a recharge when it's in MP3 format, so even if I can't get to a converter, I'll have a ton of music in the meantime. The Sin City OST is very good.

The food here is also amazing. The McDonalds teriyaki burger (which admittedly was not as good as Kaori and Mizuki's) was tasty, but Yoko's family gave me temakizushi (roll your own sushi) on the first night, we may get sushi again tonight, and meals here are so cheap. For the lesson today, I was given ￥2000, which was far too kind. That'll buy 8 meals here.

I'm talking to Yoko's grandparents frequently, abut it's very testing on my Japanese. I need to study. The Kanjo learning books aren't in English, so I'm having enough trouble getting past the first few pages of straight line drawing. But this country still rules. The tiny space bar does not.

Anyway, Stuart's back soon, and I'm going to another lesson with him, so I will depart. I'll be back with more info soon. Hopefully you DWeb people reading this for the first time will enjoy my older entries, or as I should say, my older windows-into-my-personal-life/entries. Enjoy, speak to you all soon.