Whats New

Ok once again I am professing to being really busy as a reason that I haven’t been updating this site, in truth however I have just been exceptionally lazy. I have managed to read a few books lately that I picked up in NZ and have been attending a few social occasions and even been to Karaoke a number of times…my new favourite song is In the Ghetto by the King.

I also have finished my period of employment at the Junior high School as the school year has finished and is about to restart in a week or so.

On the job front I have had some fairly major (in my world) developments. Firstly I have requested a change my employment status with NOVA and I will now be working 30 hours per week there. My new hours are:-
Wednesday 5.50pm – 9.00pm,
Thursday and Friday 5.00pm - 9.00pm,
Saturday and Sunday 10.00am to 5.40pm.

As my hours have been reduced I have been able to get a second job. I am now working 4 days per week at two Junior High Schools, being Nishi Toyama and Nishi Shinjuku school. These are both fairly close to where I live and work so it is all very convenient. The obvious downside is that once you take into account both jobs I will be working about 60 hours per week. Which could have a possibility for burn out. However I am pretty sure that there will be many days which I am not needed at the school and there are school holidays etc.

This should all be pretty good for the bank balance but with a few projects on the go I wont be in a position of feeling like I have a lot of money. One of these projects is that I have decided to up the ante on my Japanese learning and study at a private school. I also have some small travel plans which I am trying to develop.

After putting my request for a reduction in hours I was offered a promotion by the area manager nice to have been asked but I have decided that my future doesn’t lie in NOVA.

Speaking of travel the entirety of my nuclear family will visit me over the next six months which I am very happy about..

School Lunch...Got Milk?

Etsuko in a Kimono....duh!

Home Again

Without getting into the specifics of it all I went to New Zealand and had a great time despite some adversity in the form of a rather nasty cold and subsequent chest infection.

I caught up with a number of people both in Tauranga and in Te Awamutu. I managed to get sunburn, chase some sheep, go for a walk (and almost kill Gavin at the same time), have a fantastic meal out, watch New Zealand get humiliated by Australia in the cricket and rediscover the joys of drinking cheap, quality beer and even have a swim.

Also below you will see the magic show that the kids at Oizumi Nishi Junior High School put on for me.

In my absence my family had dubbed this area the delightful name of 'birdshit alley'

A mighty old creaky vessel and a boat

Ah...the serenity

The mighty Douglas

Now thats a hat

No it's just a stereotype...there aren't really that many sheep in New Zealand....um...well...ahem..

The shirt is as painful to look at as the sunburn was for me!

Alex and Gav

Aint nothing like a good back yard BBQ to celebrate your birthday

Would you trust this man?

Celebrating my departure at Johns bar

Where has he gone?

Watch him vanish....

Back

G'day all

Am back in Japan now. I am sorry if I didnt manage to catch up with you in NZ but unfortunately I caught a rather nasty cold which devloped into a chest infection and so my pace and motivation were rather taxed.

Did mange to salvage a pretty good time in NZ nonetheless and I was able to do a fair bit of relaxing. Even manage to get sunburnt!

I will post a few pics of my journey soon. Thanks to all the poeple who came to my birthday party (which I survived with the help of my sponsors Panadol and Speights). It was good to see the old faces.

I just hope the weather here get a bit warmer soon as we had a pretty heavy snowfall a few days ago. Although I am already dreading the hot summer months!!