This Could Be Interesting

So... I just sent out 30-some applications to jobs in cities I actually want to be in. Already heard back from 2... might have an interview down in Kyoto this weekend (reallllly hope they opt for the Skype interview I suggested - itll cost roughly 400-600 USD to get down to Kyoto & back). The Kyoto company, Universal Campus, is not a E/JHS/HS position but rather en English school position. I also got another response, from a company called Altia Central, and this position is for JHS or E/JHS. Its in Osaka, and Osaka is awesome.

The link to Altia is here

http://recruiting.altmoot.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=63

And up front it looks like a pretty decent deal. About $100 extra a month, key money and all the other BS that goes into finding an apartment as a foreigner is supposedly covered, as are transportation fees. Can't say I know that much about Universal Campus' accomodations, but I figure thats what the interview is for... and if the pay is actually what they say it is (2-3.5 mil/month (with the experience I have I figure I can negotiate an initial salary of at least what I've got here at Interac)) it sounds pretty OK already.

Update: No dice on the Universal Campus gig. Scheduling conflicts don't allow, but that's well and good seeing as it begins August 1st and, aside from my 2nd day being my birthday, seriously disrupts my travel plans for around then. Altia, however, begins September 1, which seems like a mighty fine date to me - ample time to prepare.

I Found A Drummer

Practice starts saturday. Little Japanese girl, into Sabbath & Slayer. This should be good. And how about the practice space is fully furnished (kits, amps, etc.) and only runs 800 yen/2hrs/person? Awesome.

More sports festivals this week. Today begins 'Olympia' at Miyako HS, and I'll be playing on the teachers' Basketball team. This may or may not be a good thing, but I'm looking forward to it. Once again I don't know what my schedule is for Kita this week, so I'll have to contact Suisha or someone later on - I forgot my phone at home this morning so I'm temporarily cut off.

Stayed out last night to watch the Japan game at Rise, and boyyyy what a disappointment. I had 3 teams I was rooting for, and now I have none. Its not so much the World Cup anymore as it is the South American Cup... suffice to say I have no interest in any of the remaining teams, so looks like that'll be it for socccer for me this year.

Open Weekend

Don't really have plans this weekend, aside from going to this Rotary dinner thing tonight at Jodogahama to send off a few girls from Texas who've been visiting for the last few days. Though I'll probably watch the Brazil/Portugal game at Rise... awesome that no one else shows any kind of interest in sports. Who does that?

Anyway, this week was a breeze - Monday through Wednesday was a bunch of test correcting, and yesterday and today were/still are the Sports Festival at Kita. Volleyball today. Fun ,but lots of free time. So, per the usual, Ive been whiling the time away with a combination of reading various news sources and studying, but this time I also through into the mix some menu planning for the next dinner thing I'm going to have... maybe next weekend. Probably the weekend after. Real simple this time around, summer-y. Here's what I've got so far:

App: Prosciutto & cantaloupe, on arugula with strawberry vinagrette.

Soup/Salad: Gazpacho (chilled soup)

Main: Broiled Trout (or Bass) with Cucumber/dill/lemon tofu 'crema' sauce, topped with chili oil.

Id like to get a fourth item in there, but im still working on it.

Finally, Im in one of those uber-productive modes with guitar, so hopefully the fliers that Ive posted (and continue to post) around town'll start pulling in some potential members.

Pay Attention to Your Calender.

I should've - I totally wrote down on it that I'd be getting my internet hooked up on the 19th (so next Saturday), but somewhere along the way I started thinking it was last Saturday... which it was not. SOOOO I'm still without internet for another week. Bummer.

Had a bit of a party this weekend at my place, and it went pretty well - I think I might be doing it something like once a month... get the word out that I've still got wicked good skills in the kitchen. This weekend's menu was Eggplant rotellini stuffed with a tofu/walnut/sauteed mushroom paste, followed by a spinach, tomato, and buffalo mozz salad with a light olive oil/lemon juice/basil/cracked pepper dressing, and I cinched the evening with sushi-grade Tuna tataki topped with fresh guacamole & caramelized onions (and accompanied by my favorite garlic potatoes, asparagus, and mushrooms). Pretty tasty, though the plates I was serving on were absolute shit (next time I think I'll rely on myself to purchase plates and what-not), and I suppose I could do with a bit more furniture... Fun though, and I got mad props for both the food and the songs I played after on my guitar, and that's really all I was going for with this anyway.

Suisha should've taken some pictures, but I was too busy with, you know, cooking to bother myself with that. Plus, while I like photography, if I'm at a party I much more enjoy enjoying myself than removing myself from the moment.

Oh, and I finished my band flier and made a bunch of copies, so I'll be posting that around town, what, tonight? I'll probably watch some of the soccer game tonight at the Parisian Pub near my place 'La Tache,' so I'll at least put it up there.

I've got a really great secret too, but its confidential until completion, so you'll just have to imagine what kind of awesome thing/s I'm doing behind all of yr backs.

Culture-time

Played a bunch of volleyball in a park (and a bit of ultimate) for the majority of Saturday. Ultimate really is a fun game... I'm thinking about getting a group together - post some fliers, that kind of thing. Anyway, Saturday was a day full of sports and, ultimately, pizza.
Sunday was a day full of tabi, happi, obi, and gigantic shrines on my shoulders while walking down Oodori in Morioka - that's right, I participated in an Omikoshi which would be called, what, a shrine walk? IF you've ever seen those sterotypical parades in chinatown in one movie or another where a bunch of people in really asian-looking garb are carrying a big, but still mini, temple that may-or-may-not have women dancing on it on their shoulders while chanting, you know what I'm talking about. At the end of the day, I was very tired (still am, 2 days later - that thing was HEAVY), but the owner of a new pair of tabi, and a pair of boots.
This weekend's highlights will be my first party at my house (= me cooking lots of food), internet hook-up, hopefully more frisbee, and probably a long bike ride because I need to start training for a mountain race I plan to enter on the day before my birthday.

Great Weekend

Friday wasn't so eventful - just stayed in a read Great Expectations. Saturday, however, was a different story. I went into Morioka for the first time in a month or so (probably longer...) to see one of my favorite Japanese metal acts, Gotsu Totsu Kotsu. Met my friend Dan at a restaurant called Universal, had some pizza, habanero sausage, and a beer, and then headed over to the venue on the far end of Oodoori. Nice small place, could fit a max of maybe 300 people (and thatd be really packed), and admission was only 1500. Thats incredibly cheap compared with, say, Behemoth, who I saw in Tokyo for 8500.
Anyway, totally killer show. I was especially surprised with the openers (particularly JWA) as every time Ive seen Gotsu before there has been nary a good band playing with them (some exceptions, of course). Even more surprising still was that all of the other bands were local (Gotsu is from Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture), and Morioka really doesn't have much in the way of metal. Sure, a bit of punk, but theres a lot of Rockabilly up here... and gigantic pompadours. Anyway, I knew JWA was going to be good when they tuned to a Church of Misery song, and I knew Gotsu was going to be good because they're awesome.

Anyway, it was a great show (my neck still hurts) full of stage diving, pushing people around, beer being thrown, and sweating on each other. At first I was a bit concerned as our plans following the show had been to go to one of Morioka's clubs and I was literally soaked in sweat/beer, but instead we were invited to the aftershow party at a local Izakaya where all the bands showed up. Got some tacos before hand though. JWA were a bunch of nice guys, real funny, but of course I was most pleased with talking to the guys from Gotsu for a few hours whilst eating various Japanese bar foods and drinking mizuwaris (shochu and water). We talked a bit of shop (Im trying my hand at contacting labels for their sake as well as promoting them in whatever ways I can) but mostly had a good time just shooting the shit. Totally awesome night, though now back in Miyako I can only remenisce about the fun that can be had OUTside of the middle of knowhere while immersed in the cultural blackhole that is the town I live in.

I'll be asking my landlords for internet access today, and I think I'll be redoubling my efforts to find another job/apply to grad school. I'm only young once, and as Dennis Hopper's death just proved, even the most badass of us have to slow down and die sometime, so get done what you can when you will.

A Typical Day At Kita

So Fridays are the day I have the legendarily dreadful 3B class at Kita HS. This pretty much only applies to their conviction to study (of which they have none and have subsequently attained exactly nothing in the way of English language acquisition), and are fun enough kids to teach... or try to. They are, however, incredibly, often hilariously, rude, and I thought I'd throw some examples your way.

・During dialogue drilling, one student frequently only yells 'Fuck!' when asked to repeat.

・Most male students try to bring attention to their 'yellow hand.'

・One must actively avoid collisions with students' intended hands and one's junk.

・'Fuck you' is not an uncommon response to any posed question.

・Hand gestures of all kinds, specifically the 'gotcher nose!' type one, with the thumb placed between the index and middle finger, which is, in Japan, equated with 'let's fuck'

・Constant questions concerning genitalia.

・