Week One and Shitennoji Temple

I finished my first week of work at my new job.  When Friday came it was nice.  I had worked seven days in a row again as a result of going from my old job to this one and the days of the week I work.  I'm getting the hang of my new job pretty quickly.  I didn't really have a proper week of training so I am still forgetting small things like moving around desks and chairs at certain times so when my class goes into another room and someone else uses my room it is set up for them.  Every day I feedback from someone on how to improve my lessons and to make sure I include everything needed.  All of the feedback has been constructive and everyone has been really nice since I started so it's been easy to adjust, but I still hope that I figure everything out as soon as possible.  Other than working out lessons I am responsible for reviews of the students each month.  The only problem is that I've only had one complete week with them so how can you really base someone's strength's and weaknesses off of such a short time?  Not every class is taught each day either so some I have even less of an idea of.  Again, though, I have been given help with this task so it's less of a burden.  The kids all seems to like me and so far I've done a good job of keeping them entertained while ensuring that they are safe and learn.  Sometimes it seems like what worked one day to keep their attention doesn't work the next day.

Yesterday I ended up waking up early enough to go out to a temple.  I made my way down to Shitennoji Temple in Tennoji, a place where I've wanted to go for a while.  Right when I got out of the subway I noticed that it seemed to be a lot more open.  Most of the buildings aren't as high although every once in a while there are tall buildings.  One intersection seemed to be very wide and it seemed like I could see for miles.  After walking south a bit I looked to my left and it really opened up!  I could see a cemetery and a large temple.  I was not expecting to see that.  Most of the pictures of the area only show the pagoda and the temple and nothing else around it.  There weren't very many people but there were people working cleaning the courtyard area so it wasn't very peaceful.  In a way it ruined the visit.  I spent maybe an hour and a half walking around going everywhere I could.  I didn't get to see everything, though, so I was disappointed.  Most of it closes at 4:30, but the internet made it sound like the only part that closed was where the pagoda and temple are.  I was planning on going to Tennoji Park and walking around but as I was leaving the temple the sky started to get dark and it started to rain.  At least the rain brought cooler temperatures.

Obon Week

So this past week I surprisingly had off.  The only reason that I did have it off is because I wont be working for this company for much longer so I didn't care to work at another location for three days.  I ended up doing less than I would have liked, but then again, if I really wanted to do more I wouldn't have been so lazy.  Even though I didn't do much, I still managed to complete a few important tasks.  Since I got paid I paid off my bills (something that has been bothering me since I got here), and I still have money left over!  I even bought myself some pillows (finally), and better "sheets" (I found out after I bought them that it is meant for a futon, I made it work).  I still need pillows cases, though.  Most of my confusion stems from my lack of Japanese.  However, now that I'm not poor, I can afford weekend Japanese lessons so I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing!  I also bought more hangers so now all of my clothes are hung up and I managed to make my apartment look presentable and not like I just moved in. I also made my way to the grocery store so now I have food to last me for a while and I even managed to pick up things like a hand towel and a pink pot (it was all that they had and I wanted pasta).  For dinner I made myself rice and salmon with garlic powder, salt, and pepper sprinkled on and I decided to cook the salmon in Dijon mustard.  The mustard gave the meal a little kick which is what I wanted (I tend to like unconventional food pairings).

I did say that laziness cost me the opportunity to see what I wanted to see (still no Sakai City Museum), but I completely forgot about the heat.  I decided to go to my nearest Seiyu to see what they had (where I got my groceries, fancy new pot, etc.).  when I was checking out the cashier asked if I wanted a bag, I shook my head yes but was only given one and that was because of my pot.  I tried to put everything into the one bag but only half would fit so I had to go back and pay two or three yen for another bag (that was filled and overflowing).  I guess that's another case where my lack of Japanese has come back to bite me.  That wasn't a problem in itself, though.  When I started walking to my train station a few blocks away the bags started to rip from the weight.  A screwdriver that I had bought had poked through the bag and ended up stabbing me once in a while on my way back.  The worst part about it all, though, was the heat.  It was about 96 degrees Fahrenheit, or 35.6 degrees Celsius with the humidity way up!  By the time I had reached the train station, an mix of the heat/humidity, and carrying my two heavy bags that were falling apart on me caused me to be drenched in sweat.  When I finally got back to my apartment I felt horrible and not since I had to lug my suitcases from the airport to my apartment had I felt this physically tired.  While that was the most physically draining day, it wasn't the hottest.  A quick stop to my nearest combini early in the week made me feel like I was melting and so that discouraged me from wanting to do much even though I had set my sights high.  If only a minute in the sun made me feel like lying on my bed with the AC down to 23, I didn't want to be out for over an hour.

A few nights I did walk around, but they ended up turning into excuses to go buy some food I didn't need.   My most successful night brought me to Dōtonbori.  I knew that it was going to have a decent amount of people, but I didn't expect it to be the tourist trap that it was.  Osaka Castle has nothing on it.  I wont lie, though, I went there pretty much just to be a tourist myself.  It was definitely worth seeing once, but not some place I care to go again.  It is the smokiest and dirtiest place I have seen yet in Japan (which is cleaner than a lot of places, but still).  It was difficult to enjoy everything that was going on when you had to watch out for other people walking into  the whole time.  I did manage to get myself a picture of the two most touristy signs in all of Dōtonbori.    

                                                                             Glico Man:

I also took the time to see Hozen-ji Temple since it is right in the area.  Again, there were too many people there to appreciate as I could.  After walking around aimlessly for a few minutes I found Namba Parks.  Every set of stairs I climbed I thought it was the top.  I was wrong about five times.  The view was really nice, but my camera is horrible in low light situations so most of my pictures were either black or blurry.  As I was leaving I did happen to see Tsutenkaku and I got a few bad pictures of it.

Now I just have to make sure I'm ready for my new job!

Job, Break, Thoughts

I worked my last day at one of my locations recently and soon I will be starting a new job full time.  Recently I have been very tired because I have been working both my current job and training/working for my new job before going to work.  No rest for the wicked.  Luckily Obon is next week so I will have a few days to relax.  My plans aren't ambitious at all.  I hope to catch up on sleep, pay some bills, review some notes for work, and maybe visit a few places.  The last weekend I had off I got really lazy so I didn't do much.  However, this time I hope to at least go to the Sakai City Museum and maybe put stuff "away" since I still haven't really settled in (A tiny "apartment" leaves no room for anything).

As far as working is concerned, I am excited for my new job although I know it comes with a lot of responsibility.  On the other hand, my current job has such a nice, relaxing atmosphere that I wont have at my new job (working with more people and having more responsibility).  I really think that I will learn a lot in my new job and I think that it will be beneficial to me.  It's definitely a good "career" move.

I have noticed some things about Japan so far (and it's not like they are a secret, far from it in fact).  There is the stereotype about Asian drivers being bad drivers, but so far the large majority of drivers are seemingly responsible (although I have not drove and don't plan on driving any time soon and I don't pay all that much attention to cars).  However, when it comes to walking and bicycling, it's like they are actively trying to get in your way.  Since my knowledge of Japan is limited, and limited to Kansai/Osaka I don't know if it is representative of all of Japan or just my area.  So, in Japan people supposedly are supposed to walk/bike on the left hand side.  But no, it's wherever they feel like being is where they are.  I've been in situations where I have been walking on the left hand side of the sidewalk when multiple bikes are coming towards me.  The one on the left stays to the left, the on in the middle moves left a bit and the one on the right moves more to the right.  This might be okay if I wasn't so far to the left that I couldn't go to the left anymore.  I had to scurry to the center to avoid being hit.  This scenario happens far too often and it is the bikers fault most of the time.  Another example would be people walking.  I have been going down the stairs (this happens to the worst degree when a big group of people just got off the train) on the far left when a group of people start walking up covering the whole width of the stairs.  People are so oblivious either because they don't take their nose out of their phone or because they just choose not to pay attention and I come so close to getting clobbered because some man doesn't look up while walking in the wrong spot.  This sort of thing has to be my biggest pet peeve because it's bothering to wait to get around someone when they are doing something that they shouldn't be.  It also slows me down and I usually have a schedule to keep to but there's always the surprise slow person/group that you get stuck behind.  Now I have heard that Kansai and Osaka are more Western so one of the things they do is walk on the right hand side, but I don't know how true this is and, if so, how many people actually do so for "Western" reasons and how many do so because of ignorance.  This isn't to say that people in Western cities that I have been to don't get in your way, but this seems to be more of a constant.

Experiences at Work

I have been fairly busy lately.  Trying to figure out how to get to my locations with enough time to pick a lesson and quickly review it.  Depending on if I have taught the lesson before or not determines how long I need to prepare.  I also have had trouble with Google Maps saying that it takes a certain amount of time to get to one of my work locations only for it to take five to ten minutes longer.  Being nearly late is never a good thing but especially not when you've never been to the place before.  Not surprisingly I have found that those with a higher level of English are easier to teach than those with a lower level.  Even though those in the lowest level have the most difficulty with English and therefor don't need as much to cover as those in higher levels, there isn't usually enough to not have to repeat to the point of boredom.  On the other hand I don't know how much learning is going on in the top levels because most seem to have a firm grasp on the English language.  I also would say that I'm happy that it's the weekend but I work on Saturday and Sunday.