Hey everyone. I am a horrible person. I’m sorry. I havent updated my blog in much too long. I dont actually plan to write much in this entry, but hopefully it will break the ice and force me to write more soon. Quite a bit has happened since the last time I wrote and I would love to share it all with you.
First and foremost, I joined a band about 3 months ago. For those who don’t know, I play the drums. The name is Igrushka (russian for Toy) and the other three members are all Japanese. We play a slightly heavier style of rock, and have performed at two shows so far. Its all good fun. You can expect a more detailed post on this later.
My friends Dave and Raheel have visited me in this corner of the world in August. After showing them around Tokyo, we climbed to the top of Mt.Fuji and took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto. Alot of really good pictures came out of that trip, but i have been too lazy and busy to put them up. In theory, this should be its own blog entry as well - check back later.
Ivan and I signed up for a Japanese profficiency test. There are 4 levels of difficulty, but instead of doing the easiest “beginner” level we went ahead and signed up for “low-intermediate“. This has really pushed me to study Japanese every day: to write, read, and speak. It has been a challenge so far, but I’m enjoying it and i have noticed alot of self-improvement. Hopefully by mid-December i will have attained a low-intermediate skill level in Japanese!! It even comes with a certificate and my picture on it. How nice. Wish me luck!
How is work? Pretty good. Emissary, the IT company, has expanded into Thailand in the last month, so we were a bit understaffed for the time. Very hectic for everyone. The good news is that, from the beginning of this month we’ve got a new guy on the team! Ivan and i get to show him around - this way we feel more important. I’m back to doing some design & development work, so maybe i will share some of it around here in the near future. All in all, work is going well.
At Gaba I have to wear a suit again, it is a bit annoying at times.. but i guess i look snazzier. I’m enjoying teaching a bit more now, and I would really like to think that my lessons have been improving.. I will let the clients and their ratings be the judge of that though. A different HUGE English-teaching company, Nova, has been crashing and burning in the past few months, and Gaba has been there to pick up the remaining pieces. Works out pretty well for us. Read more about Nova here.
It is getting late around here, so i plan to call it a night. I did have a hearty plate of self-made potato pancakes today so i feel a tad productive. Hopefully I won’t be too lazy to update you on other stuff soon!
End.