Day 160,161 and 162: Delis food, more tutor-work, and pacakge from Norway!!!

Monday 13th of July
Breakfast!!! It looks like it's smiling <3

I took my bike to Uni today, but it was a little warmer than I thought it would be... I rode with Manon, but it didn't look like the heat was of any problems for her. Let's just say my whole face was pink when I got to class. Penny somehow thought this was hilarious as I'm not used to having very wam summers. After this Penny has been legit worried about me and the heat xD So I don't go anywhere without my fan and a bottle of water! You know who is NOT going to die from a heatstroke? ME! Haha! Uni went as usual, and so did work. I had forgotten about July's pay so I was happy to see that I got 60.000 yen~ Yay! Money! I'm going to work at the cram school until the 5th of August. I'm rather going to base my income on my private tutoring instead. At this point I have 4 students. Taking the bike home from work was very nice! The bugs in my face, on the other hand, is pretty annoying...
Tuesday 14th of July
Breakfast!!! So goooood~~

After class I did some preperation for my new student. He wanted to practise listening and conversation today. We met in Shibuya, and as always it was fucking hot! 2 hour of intense English was very tiring for him, I could see xD Haha, poor guy! But it was alot of fun! Since I was in Shibuya I decided to go to Jimmy because he lives close by. I stayed there working on my report that's due Friday! So before going home we ate out on a Italian restaurant 

Wednesday 15th of July
More Uni and more work! Wednesdays are usually more stressing than Mondays, but it went fairly well today ^_^ Some of my friends were planning to go to the Summerland tomorrow, but as it's going to be rainy I don't know if it's going to happen or not. But I really wanna go to a pool or a beach soon, because the rainy season will be over soon now, and I need water xD 

After work I met Jimmy in Chofu for dinner! But I managed to order something I didn't like, so I was sooo sad! Luckly they have a all-you-can-eat deal on bread so it eased the pain. Jimmy is so sweet to trade the food I don't like with what he got. It can't be any better than that! I was actually gonna go home after the dinner, but decided to stay over and do my report at his place in stead. During the night there were a big storm going on! Luckly not for long, but damn! 

Thursday 16th of July
Report, report, report, report and a little more report. I had to be done today so I actually managed to do so! I'm going to look it over tomorrow before handing it in~ I also did some exercising and napped in the bed under the aircon! When Jimmy was done at Uni we went to eat at Gasto~

My えびサラダ

 And my lovely Jimmy! I didn't know a soon to be 26 year old man could look so innocent and cute! Look at the fluffiness! LOOK AT IT!!! :D Just want to punch his face because he's so darn cute!

After meeting a new student in Meidaimae for a 1 hour lesson I went home~ And do you know what was waiting for me? A PACKAGE FROM MOM!! :D Do you know why? Because my mom is better than your mom! (I'm just kidding, but let's be honest, my mom is awesome!) Only bad part was that my flour had exploded, that being said; I saved 99%

I do  believe that this package has fought it's way to Japan! Look at it! WHO PUNCHED IT!?

 Looking good!

 Oh shit...

 Nailed it! (second from the right)

My mom also sent cheese, but I don't know if they survided... I'm going to check tomorrow!

Day 145,146,147 and 148: New job? Dinner and exams

Monday 29th of June
Normal as alway; bike to Uni, classes, did my Japanese homework, went to work and took my bike home. There are always a ton of insects outside after sunset, and I don't know how many insects I get in my eyes, mouth etc... I don't even remember what I did when I got home...Probably cleaned my room, took a shower and went to bed.
Tuesday 30th of June
So today I had my "trial lesson" at Infinity, a private tutor place. I had two 3 year old kids that I taught ABC's, numbers and colors. It it's too bad I live 1 hour and 15 minutes away. But it was fun! I hope I can work more there. Jimmy met me after work and we ate dinner together

 Then we walked for a while before heading home.
Wednesday 1st of July
Work on Wednesday usually is a little stressing, because there are many students, but because 3 students where absent, it was a little easier. One of the students kept falling alseep, and actually had the nerves to be angry at me for waking him up... Like, excuse me? Go home if you're gonna sleep?
When work was over I went to Shinjuku to meet Jimmy. We also had dinner before going to Jimmys place

Thursday 2nd of July
Today I have been doing one thing..And that it my sustainability Studies' exam about fish farming in Norway. And I'm still not finished. I'm going to be pretty busy with exams from now in so I think my blog is going to be extremly boring (more than normal, haha!). For lunch, Jimmy made a delicate fruit salad:

Then it was more exam...Then we went out to eat sushi~

Day 142,143 and 144: Another job!? And Party!

Friday 26th of June
Yooo! Getting pretty tired of writing my blog xD It takes such a long time, and doing the blog while on vacation vs daily life is very different! But I'm going to stick with it till I'm done with my exchange program~ 

So today I actually had to skip Social change in Japan-class because I had to go to Shibuya to replace my lost keycard. Shen was soooo kind to follow me all the way and helping me with the Japanese. I don't know how I would survive alone! So many meetings and paperwork-stuff! Blaa! But it went pretty smooth and while I was in Shibuya I thought I would surprise Jimmy by coming over ^_^ I don't have internet on my phone so I just had to hope he was home. Luckly he was (lol, where else would he be!? haha!), and we went out to eat dinner :) I didn't stay over because I work 08:00-15:00 tomorrow, so I had to get back home. 

As you might know, I have my "ordinary" job at the cram school (picture of my "classroom")

but recently I teach English privately (for now, only for onestudent), but I'm actually going to a "trial lesson" at a new school. There I'll teach English to students (if they like me as a teacher there). So my trial lesson is on tuesday 30th of June and I'll teach English to 3 year olds. How cute is that? Awwww <3 And the best part is...The pay is 3000 yen per hour (190 kroner per time). That is 3 times as much as at the cram school I work at now. So I'm really hoping to get many hours at the new place. And of course they pay for transportation (it's 1 hour, 15 min by train). For the trial lesson they'll pay me right away, and if I stay there it's pay the last day of the month every month. So let's hope I'll get a lot of work! :D 

Saturday 27th of June
Wooooork. Today I really didn't bother with Japanese xD I just spoke English. I mean, they're taking an English-test so.. One of my co-workers were so sick, but he still came to work...Poor guy... 
Ramen lunch picture:

But everything went smooth~ But of course they just expected me to work for all the TOEFL-tests, even though I never said anything about that... So annoying... After a long shift I went to Steffi ^_^ Steffi is my friend from my former Share House in Omori. I still remember the code to get in, haha! I was there around 16:00 and later we, together with 4-5 other, were going to go out to drink. But that was not until 21:00, so Steffi and I went singing karaoke for 2,5 hours! So much fun! So then suddenly, EVERYONE ditched the plans to go out. Even the douchbag that made Steffi make a reservation suddenly went "I don't have money, so I'm not going"... Then the other douchbags were like "oh, is it not going to be a big thing, then I'm not going". Such backstabbers, only thinking about themselves. So Steffi and I were all, fuck you all, and went drinking just the two of us! And we had an AWESOME time :D We were at the restaurant for about 3 hours before relaxing at the park nearby. Then we went back to the house and drank some more with some of the others. I think maybe we went to bed around 02:30 or something xD But before that I managed to hurt my arm on the sofa >_< I was kind of picking on one of the guys sleeping at the sofa and he kind of almost kicked me over the sofa and I hurt my arm...YEah...Haha! 

Sunday 28th of June
I work about around 10:00, ate breakfast, drank water and was ready to go. I went to Jimmy's place and bought flowers on the way because I'm a sweet girlfriend xD

After doing some Japanese we went out to eat:

Then we went to Ikebukuro to buy me a data-sim so I can have internet on my phone, and buy a prepaid card for my Japanese phone so I can make phone calls! The we went back, and while Jimmy was Skyping with his dad I fell asleep on the bed xD Then I had to get back home at 20:00 because I need to go to the police to tell them I found my bike. So Kazuki went with me, and once again I had to fill in my adress twice... So much kanji! So much paperwork...WHY!? Why the fuck do I need to fill out shit just to tell them I found my own bike!? Instead of signing with my signature, I used my fingerprint to sign. And my fingerprint went like 6 different places...Wow...But yeah, 30 minutes later, it was done! Then I had to do some random shit at home before I finally can go to bed...

Day 138 and 139: Mad Max and Japanese yukata

Monday 22th of June

Ok, I'm going to tell you a little about my experience with the English-logic at my job. I work at a cram school, which is a "school after school"-system. And there are different subjects being taught. I'm, as you properly know, work with English. And today my boss came to talk while I was preparing for class. He said that one of the students didn't understand the "chant along"-part in his textbook. It's a little melody where you sing along English sentences. And this was apparently so difficult that he had cried over it. My boss showed me in the book, and I was thinking about different solutions to solve the problem. My first thought was to go through the words together, and slowly build up the the meaning of the sentence. While I was thinking, my boss took out a new book for me to give the student. I got a little confused, and asked if the student was to SKIP the parts he didn't understand, and that was exactly what he was thinking. So...If something is difficult, we just skip it!?

Japan got this "perfectionism" going on, where it's more important for a child to get a perfect score than to understand what he/she is doing. It's such a shame because I have the resources to help the students. But that is apperantly not how it's done at my workplace. So the student got a new book and all worries were left behind. 

Tuesday 23rd of June

Jimmys got 2 weeks of from Uni! It's always nice to have a little vacation ;)  After my Global Mindset class I bought tickets for the Mad Max movie at 15:30. Jimmy has never been to a Japanese cinema so, since I'm a pro at this, I'm taking him~ Then I rode my bike home and soon after Jimmy took the train to my place ^_^ We hang out a little before heading to Minamiosawa to eat lunch 

We had some time before the movie started to we went to the mall nearby. They sell yukata

A yukata (浴衣^?) is a Japanese garment, a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton or synthetic fabric, and unlined. Yukata are worn by men and women.

and I found one that I really liked so I bought it! Pretty random, but it's something I have wanted for a long time. Now I just need an occasion to use it, hehe. This is my first time trying to wear it, so be kind! I think I'll have to ask someone with experience when I'm wearing it outside. Don't want to make any "gaijin"-mistakes :P 

Either way, back to the cinema! There were only 5-6 people in the entire hall so it was very nice. The movie Mad Max it self was weird because of the storyline. But the action and style was cool! 

 After the movie we hung out at my place and didn't really do anything special xD Our favourite hobby is to snuggle and nap, true story! 

Day 130, 131, 132 and 134: I FOUND MY BIKE! Chaos at work and finally a day off!

Monday 15th of June

You have no idea how much I wanted to skip Uni today! xD My weekend work really got to me... I'm used to sleep in on my weekends to recharge and be ready for a new week. But getting up a little before 6:00 in the morning when I'm used to have the day off was horrible! Haha. The thing is that my work is not physical work, but in a big degree mental work. Dealing with customers (in Japanese) is very exhausting. So waking up 06:15 today was not fun... But I did get up! And I went to Uni!
When my Japanese Language and Society and Japanese class were over I ate my delicious lunch that I actually made yesterday

I usually eat at the common space at the International House, because it's close and spacious. Sometime I eat alone and sometimes some of my friends are eating there too :) So today I was eating with company and as I as about to dig into my lunch I heard a "pling" from a microwave! And I was like: "was that a microwave!?" and it turned out that, in the corner behind some covers, there is a microwave. So random! But that means that I can have my lunches heated up, and that really makes a difference! So yay for hot food! :D 

Before work I checked out the mall and I came across some cheap kimono/yukata. If there is a festival going on soon, Jimmy and I are going to buy one each ^_^

Then it was once again time for work. It went fine as usual and I went almost straight to bed when I got home! On Mondays I usually go for a 30 minute jog, but today I just didn't have the energy... So 20:30 I went to bed! And that was a good decision. I fell asleep right away, haha.
Tuesday 16th of June

After sleeping for 9,5 hours, you would think I was fully energized, but NO! I felt like a zombie... But once again, I crawled out of bed and dragged my ass to Uni. Luckly, when I got home I felt a lot better and did my workout for yesterday + my normal workout for today. So I did my usual leg and butt-workout + 10 minute abs, and then went jogging. I must say I felt it pretty good in my legs today! The rest of the day went to prep for tomorrow Japanese class. we're going through a lot and it's pretty difficult. So I had to search up words and do the exercises beforehand so I actually know what we're doing xD

A little later I prepped my lunch for tomorrow ^_^

And time flew by as always, and I once again went to bed "early" I think around 21:30.

Wednesday 17 of June

If you didn't already know my bike got stolen last month. Pretty sad ( but that's what I get for forgetting to lock it...) And since then I have been looking for it when I'm around my house, going to the store/station etc. And today I was on my way to the busstation as always when I spotted a black bike. And I thought "that looks like my bike", when I passed it (it was behind a tree) I saw it had a pink seat-lock! And I just stopped, staring at it and thought "oh my God, that's my fucking bike". It was literally 20 meters away from the police office where I reported my bike stolen. GOOD JOB POLICEMEN! It even had a red note on it, that the policemen probably put on it.... It was is a good shape, even with the keys in it (so yeah, not only did I forget to lock, but also left the key in it..Smart!) so right away I took it home and LOCKED it. Of course I lost my bus, but I managed to only be 10 minuts late for class. I would be on time, if it wasn't for the train being delayed for 12 minutes. 

After 3 hours of Japanese it was finally time for lunch

Then it was time for work again. Today was a little chaos because there were many kids and my boss took one of my desks xD  My paid was a little off to, so I had to check that. It turned out that they forgot to give me money for the transportation which adds up to 2280 yen. But it only took them about 5 minutes to fix and I got the money right away.I also (just now) got to know that prep-time is 900 yen per hour and lesson-time is 1000 yen per hour. So after recalculation, I'm still 1000 yen short, but didn't want to bother them again for that little. If the pay is off again next month I have to tell them, but I'm hoping it's correct.

Somehow the person working before me forgot to reserve the Skype call so two of my students didn't get to do their Skype conversation. My boss was NOT happy about that... I should have double checked they were reserved, but I took it for granted as it was written in the book. So next time, I'm going to make sure it's in order! 

After work I went to Shinjuku to meet Jimmy. We ate a Freshness Burger and went for a little shopping. I bought a new dress which I think I'm going to use for our date on Saturday. After that we went to Jimmys place.

Thursday 18th of June
Finally a day off! It was amazing! Jimmy and I didn't have the best sleep today for some reason. We kept waking up during the night. But in the end it was ok ^_^ We watched Supernatural while eating breakfast then Jimmy went to Uni. I already brought Japanese books with me so I stayed at Jimmys place to study while he was at Uni. When it was time for lunch I went to a cafe nearby to eat and study

 After staying at the Cafe some time I went back and messed around on Tumblr, doing ab-exercises and listening to music. Then I met up with Jimmy to eat dinner. I went to meet him at the station, but he arrived earlier so he got halfway and scared me D: haha! We then ate at Gasto and went home again :)

Day 128 and 129: TOEFL-test = polite Japanese!? And Vietnam festival

Saturday 13th of June
I usually only work Mondays and Saturdays with the LEPTON-program. Thats is the English teaching materials the students use. And (as you may already know) I give and check homework, set up the PC and reserve Skype calls, check their progress in the books and generally help them if they need something or don't understand the English. But this time I did something a little different!

Here is a random picture of my working place, it's on the second floor

Between one and two weekends my workplace is organazing the TOEFL-test:

Test of English as a Foreign Language or TOEFL (/ˈtoʊfəl/, toh-fəl) is a standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers wishing to enroll in U.S. universities. The test is accepted by many English-speakingacademic and professional institutions. TOEFL is one of the two major English-language tests in the world, the other being theIELTS.

So I said I could work this weekend + Saturday 27th for the TOEFL-test. I didn't have much clue what to do other than I was going to "chech" the participents. You know, make sure that they don't cheat or whatever, help them with the PC if there are any problems etc. But it turned out to be a little bit different. 

Right away I was set to greet the participents, tell them where to sit (to fill out some papers), then guide them to the correct check-in. Doesn't sound to difficult, but you're supposed to use the polite Japanese, called keigo:

Honorifics in Japanese are broadly referred to as keigo (敬語, literally "respectful language"), and fall under three main categories: sonkeigo (尊敬語), respectful language;kenjōgo (謙譲語),^{[note 1]} humble language (or "modest language"); and teineigo (丁寧語), polite language. Linguistically, the former two are referent honorifics, used for someone being talked about, and the last is an addressee honorific, used for someone being talked to. Sometimes two more categories are also used, for five categories total: teichōgo(丁重語) "courteous language" and bikago (美化語), "word beautification", but more often these are included in the above three: teichōgo as a kind of kenjōgo (humble), bikago as a kind of teineigo (polite)—these two other categories use the same forms as the general categories, but are used in different contexts, hence differentiated by some linguists. Each type of speech has its own vocabulary and verb endings.
For example, the standard form of the verb "to do" is suru (する). This form is appropriate with family members and close friends. The polite form of suru, the addressee honorific, is shimasu. This form is appropriate in most daily interactions. When showing respect, such as when talking about a customer or a superior, however, the respectful word nasaruand its polite form nasaimasu are used, and when referring to one's own actions or the actions of a group member, the humble word itasu and its polite form itashimasu are used. These respectful and humble words are referent honorifics, and thus can coexist with addressee honorific -masu. 

Easy to say; I don't know how to speak "respectful" over the "normal" -masu form. So it must have been a little weird for the participents to first (in the hallway, for identification) be greeted by two japanese girl speaking in a very formal way, then be "directed" by me with my half-assed Japanese, trying to be polite. But as I have the Scandinavian appereance, I hope they didn't think too much about it. You know; I'm not Japanese so I'm somewhat excused for being "rude" in my language. Haha! But all in all, it went fine and everyone got to the rigt place.

Then I got sent to "watch" over the participents taking the test. That was pretty boring, haha! I made sure they followed the rules and took their break etc. During my lunch I went out to buy some food and the cashier called me beautiful, which made me very happy ^_^ The break was 30 min and after about an hour I got to put sticker, with adresses written om them, on flyers that's going to be sent out. Pretty random! But I didn't mind, but it got a little borin too~

One of my coworkes where so kind to print out some "respectful sentences" that I can use tomorrow. The only problem was that it was way to complex for me to remember, so I had to make some adjustments to it. 

When I was done at work I went home and didn't do too much because I was feeling a little under the weather. To cheer me up, Jimmy came over to visit me ^_^ We then went out to eat some delish food because it's Saturday!

Later I talked with my mom, sister and nephew <3 It was so good to see them and for once Skype didn't fuck it up, haha!

Sunday 14th of June

I guessed I would be given the same job as yesterday, and I did. So I practices my three "respectful sentences" that was:  

1) Good morning, please take a seat over here
2) Please use the bathroom before checking in
3) Please sit in this order over here. 
(Of course in Japanese, but I'm too lazy to write it..)

And the easiest when they were done with the check-in; "good luck with your test" in plain English :P It is an ENGLISH test after all~

Today was nosticker job, but I helped with cleaning instead :) Then we had a quick review before we were done!

After working I took the train to Shinjuku to meet Jimmy. Today is the last day of the Vietnam Festival in Yoyogi so we wanted to try out some good food ^_^

VIET NAM FESTIVAL 2015