Adventure on the (Over) Seas

So its definitely been a while since I last posted and that's mostly cause I was out of the city for two weeks on "holidays" and upon my return my co-worker was hit with a nasty stomach virus that kept her out of commission for a week. Meaning I had to work a bunch of extra shifts. Now things have returned to normal and I am looking forward to the next little while over here in Japan.
Biggest news first... I am engaged! Just kidding Mama, just wanted to see if you skim read or read every detail. I actually moved up another couple of levels in Karate. I had not heard anything since my test but my first day back at Karate in the new year I was awarded the blue "bar" belt. There are 12 levels in Karate with 12 being a white belt and 1 being a black belt. I am now at level 7. The first levels are the easiest so if I want to continue moving up I gotta dedicate myself to practice and training on my own time. Things are going slow in that regard. Its sooo difficult to get out of bed in the morning because no houses in Japan are equipped with central heating. So my house is freezing in the morning and that is enough to keep me burrowed under the covers until I absolutely have to get up otherwise I will be late(r) for work. There is a timer on the heater but I got no idea how to work it! In any event Karate is going really well for me and I am really glad that I picked it up when I came over here.
Next up, New Years was a gong show complete with the usual trouble that accompanies such shows. I was planning on just staying in Nagano and snowboarding but I got a mail from my buddy telling me he was headed to Osaka for a visa run. He was easily convinced to come up to Tokyo on the Shinkensen and I met up with him on the 30th after a long day of snowboarding and then a long trip back to Tokyo. Good times had by all. We went out with another bunch of friends and Alex brought along his camera that is about the size of my leg! We easily convinced people that he was a professional photographer and I was the model. Ladies were lining up! For some reason Ryan picked National Geographic as Alex's employer, the real reason is every bag Alex owns is NG. So we drank beers while roaming the streets posing for photos with girls. We met up with another friend of ours and decided to head into Roppongi. Sadly we were in the subway station when 12 rolled around but I have a new theory about that... If your year starts off horribly, AKA sitting in a subway station at midnight, but then immediately starts to get better you just gotta keep that momentum rolling all year. So the snowball is rolling down the hill now I just gotta keep the momentum and remove debris from in front of the ball. Next years New Years I am gonna be somewhere exotic surrounded by models that would like to massage my clothed body, at least if my theory holds true!
We ended up strolling into random bars and avoiding cover charges. At one place cover was about $50 but we strolled in and happily noticed the open bar! In Canada we would have been tossed so hard out the door we'd forget our evening, in Japan they served us with a smile! After we left that place we entered random establishments all night til my alarm went off at 5:30AM. It was time to get Ryan to the station so he could catch the Shinkensen back to Osaka for his flight to Korea. He never made it... I did my job, I got him to the station but he simply couldn't stay awake and he ended up missing his flight. Not that I am one to talk, after dropping him off it took me 4 hours to get back to Alex's place which is only a 15 - 20 minute subway ride away. Needless to say I slept a lot on the 1st!
On the second we went out to see the Emperor. Not really overly exciting but I had to do something cultural! The palace is only open twice a year, on December 23rd, the emperor's birthday, and January 2nd, the new year celebration. The guy is old and didn't really have much to say. I was disappointed that we waited about an hour to see the guy. It was cool to chill out with Alex though and a few of his buddies.
I just hung out in Tokyo for the rest of the week meeting with some buddies and girlfriends in the city. I think I could definitely enjoy living in Tokyo, there is always something to do even if its just strolling around and watching people. Plus there are lots of different areas that appeal to everyone. I spent a lot of time strolling around the "snow surf" sport area. Its a street that is just filled with sports shops. Everything was on sale as well so I took my time searching around. I didn't really need anything big but it is fun to look for me. I did need some gloves and wanted to pick up a new pair of snowboard pants. I found the gloves and snatched them up for a great price. I was feeling pleased with myself when I walking into the second great find of the day, bad ass snowboard pants! Sadly I talked myself out of buying them because they are something that I didn't really NEED. I sometimes wish I had not picked that skill up from my mom, talking myself out of things I want. Needless to say it worked out really well because the next day my bro called me and we had an awesome chat for about 30 minutes during which I mentioned the pants I wanted. He told me to pick them up and he would pay for them as a Christmas present. So I got the bad ass snowboard pants for Christmas. I will put up a photo of them with my next post.
So I made it back to Iwaki on Sunday night and made my way home. First I checked in on my turtles to make sure they were still alive. I put them in the closet so that they could hibernate. They were still looking good so I am happy about that. I didn't even get a chance to unpack my things because I was headed out snowboarding on Monday with Kae and some dude she is friends with. I had to wake up at about 5 for that. So I caught a couple of short hours sleep before I headed back out to the hills. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the mountains over here. I wasn't expecting anything exciting but the hills were alright. Not nearly as small as I thought that they would be. So I rode all day and loved it! I don't even stop for lunch I just pack a chocolate bar and snack on the hill to re-energize myself. Resort food seems to be too expensive for my blood.
It was back to work on Tuesday morning and I already mentioned how my first week back was. I survived and got out snowboarding again last Sunday. I plan to snowboard every Sunday while I am here. I have started riding only goofy in efforts to improve my snowboarding skills. Last weekend after my first day I was doing pretty well at it. I am impressed with myself and if I keep improving then I might actually be a decent rider by the end of the season. That's the goal at least. Time will tell if it all pans out. The hills are about 2 hours from me so it costs a little bit to get out there.
So here I am its been a couple of weeks since I updated and I am thinking about making an employment change. I am sort of bored of teaching English. It does not pose much of a challenge for me and I can feel my brain turning softer each day. So I am looking for new employment that starts in April. Otherwise I will keep teaching for another six months before making a move into something a little more exciting for me. I don't want to leave Iwaki because of Karate. I am improving quite a bit and I would be disappointed if I left before I was really good. I know its possible to train elsewhere but the team here is awesome. They are nice to me after beating me up. Speaking of which on Wednesday after practice I looked down and it appeared as though there was an orange growing out the side of my arm. The "rook" had managed to leave a bruise on my body. The bruise was about the size of an orange growing out of my forearm. Needless to say it was a nasty welcome back from vacation!
Alright that's enough out of me. I gotta get some things done around here. My apartment is filthy and I should probably start putting some things in the mail if I am gonna be possibly headed home or elsewhere in March.