"If you're not making a total fool of yourself, you're not doing it right."

... said my teaching instructor the first day of kid's training.

So the past couple since my last post have been pretty busy, but not very picture-worthy. I've been in training for over a week now, where I've basically had to find my inner meth-addict in order to keep up with the teachers. Holy crap do they mean business when it comes to being energetic ALL THE TIME. These poor kids must think all white people are drugged out of their mind on uppers. They're in for a bit of a surprise later, I suppose.

But aside from learning how to teach English like a crack head who is REALLY into high-fives, these is some stuff I've seen;

And here's some more;

 The last one is a restaurant that specializes in crab, in case you were wondering. I did not go in, since they're price range was a little out of my league.

These are the guys that are in my training group;

These are from last night when we went to find a recommended rock concert. We got totally lost and just ended up bar hopping for the night. This bar was called the Mexigan. Note the obvious type-o. This place sold Corona (which is technically an American beer) and nachos the size of your pinky (plate of 8 nachos= about 500 yen). I opted to stick with my bourbon/whiskey staple, since it's so cheap here. A shot of premium whiskey is 350 yen, but a pint of crappy beer is usually around 700. Why go for volume? Quality is definitely winning over quantity so far.
The Mexigan also had some funky lighting that I felt the need to capture;

Nothing says Mexico like red crystal chandeliers. I love this country and their perception of the rest of the world. Everything here is either kinda kooky or just plain adorable;

Look! It's mini beer! For when you need to get just a tiny bit drunk! And a mini Red Bull! To snap you out of that tiny hangover you'll get from your tiny night of drinking tiny beer!Say it with me now;
D'AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

And I found another girl wearing a costume to promote some bar;

She gave me a coupon for half price food, or something. But upon further inspection, it was a Maid's Cafe type of place, so we didn't go in. For those of you who do not know what a Maid's Cafe is, it's where girls dress up in skanky outfits and wait on you hand and foot... and will do pretty much anything for a dollar bill. It's like a good ol' fashioned strip joint, but without the poles... or so I've heard :)
Side note; her dress ends where the picture is cut off. I almost feel bad for her, since it was cold outside. Almost.

I took more pictures of this building, since it's some kind of landmark and it was really pretty;

Here's some more things;

When I grow up and have a giant house with a nice garden, I'm going to trim all my hedges into dinosaur shapes. I have been inspired. Great, now I'll just HAVE to become successful.

Oh yeah, and I got a new phone;

It's just like my old phone, but with the number 4 after it. It's also shinier, cheaper, shinier, and has a lot of Kanji. Still working out the kinks... but I have a phone! I tried desperately to hook up my iPhone 3 here, but the sim card slots are different sizes (those sneaky wieners), so my phone could never be recognized on any Japanese networks. I "reluctantly" upgraded to a faster, prettier, significantly cheaper phone. About 40 bucks a month, as long as I don't make any long distance calls on it. But I got Skype, so that's irrelevant. It comes with unlimited everything else, and the phone's free with the plan. Should I opt out of the plan, the phone will be around 50 bucks. Apparently the iPhone 4's been here for like 10 years already, so no one pays for it like we do back in Canadaland.
So I better get to bed, since I have to be super cheerful in the morning for work. Force it until it feels like real happiness, right guys?

P.S. today I washed 2 of my white dress shirts by hand and then threw them in the dryer with some other clothes. The laundry gnomes must hate me or something, because shirts absorbed the blue dye from my jeans and are now ruined forever. I tried to bleach them out, but apparently the shirts like being an inconsistent blue, since the bleach didn't take. My brand new hand made tailored dress shirts are completely f*cked. I sulked for about 6 hours, and I still don't know what to do about them. I do have other clothes, but these were brand new! And they fit over my boobs! Do you know how hard it is to find shirts that fit over my boobs?!?! What the hell!?!?!
goodnight.