First Days, Okonomiaki and Accident!

Well, my first two days are over and it's not been as bad as I feared. The students are polite (as are all Japanese), funny and modest, my fellow workers are pretty cool, and unlike my time in the hectic Hiroshima Honko branch, the Saijo Nova is rather laid back. My hours are quite nice too, although I hope I am going to be earning enough money. Yet I am on around 1,200 pounds a month (my rent is 220) and its is as expensive/cheap as the UK. I bought a bottle of Jack Daniels for 2,400 yen, which is about 12 quid, (and its about 16 in the UK).

I have also had my first "VOICE" lesson, in which students of all abilities can talk, listen and interact in a freer enviroment. This provided me with the chance to talk about Donkeys, draw Harry Potter and Robert Smith(singer with The Cure) on the whiteboard, and laugh at the differences between American English and "Proper" English.

Also, I have been picked for Kids training....Yay! (This is said with utmost irony and sarcasm).

I have eaten the best food ever created by man. Okonomiaki, a local delicacy, is truly one of the most magical things I've ever put in my mouth (no innuendo's please). It's made with a thin batter like base, that is cooked on a hotplate. Onto this goes a mountain of sliced lettuce, beansprouts and cooked soba (noodles). Spices etc are added, as well as small bits of tempura, and the filling (mine was tuna). This is topped with a fried egg, cut into pieces and served with Okonomiaki sauce. It truly is awesome. Tasting somewhere between bubble and squeak and a fry up. This would be the ultimate student food.

Also, I had an accident. Don't worry it was a minor scrape. I fell off my bike and into a ditch. Luckly the Sake I had drunk numbed the pain, my bike escaped with a buckled saddle, and my ego was bruised.

Bloody Sake!