A better day!

It's my weekend! YAY!!!! Well, today was also long, but it went a lot better than yesterday. Despite the fact that I have not been overjoyed by my trainer's criticism, I have tried to use at least some of the advice he's given me to improve my classes and apparently it's worked to an extent because I received far less negative feedback today. There was just one lesson that I completely bombed because I misjudged the student's English level. The lesson I planned was just way too difficult for him and I ended up having to improvise a lot of it which was not easy. My last lesson of the day is amazing though, well really it's not a lesson, it's an hour of conversation with 3 really sweet women. In my classroom I have a map of the world that his push pins marking all the places that I have been and one of the women asked about the Israel pin (she thought I'd been to Saudi Arabia). Obviously my Israel trip led to the fact that I'm a Jew so they spent a good portion of the time asking me questions about my being Jewish. There are very very few Jews in Japan so very little is known about Judaism here and it's nice being able to educate people who want to know more about my culture. One of the women, Kiko, is having her birthday soon, so after the Jew talk we had cake that my trainer bought and it was just a nice end of the day.

Kiko got a cake, but I actually also received a present today! The other NET (Native English Teacher) at the school bought me alcohol! No, I'm not joking. We had been talking about this drink called Chuhai yesterday, so he bought me 3 cans of it, each one a different flavor (I intend to try them once this blog is finished). It's a kind of fruity drink and there are a gazillion flavors, the ones he got me include Watermelon Pineapple Cranberry; Orange Passion Fruit, and.... purple... yeah, that one seems a little iffy. Well, I'll give it a try. I took a picture of the cans, so now if you come to Japan you'll have no trouble spotting the booze section of the convenience store. I have also posted a picture of the beer vending machine conveniently located in the lobby of my hotel (don't worry, I have not actually used the beer machine). I'm not kidding when I say the Japanese seriously love drinking. I've had multiple students list it when I've asked them about their hobbies/things they like to do. I have not yet gone out with any of the staff or students, but I think it will definitely be interesting. In training they told us that if we go out with our students we better be the last to puke!

This weekend I'm not sure what I'm doing, well besides sleeping that is! I think I may try and brave the trains to go to a more central area of Tokyo like Rippongi Hills (high end shopping district) or Ikebukuro (electronics district). It should be an adventure either way so I'll write soon to let you know how it goes!

P.S. Thank you again for all the comments they really helped to improve my mood and to Jen yours was especially uplifting, but I'm not actually sure which Jen you are because I know about 5 or 6, so if you could let me know I'd appreciate it. Thanks!