And So It Begins

Overall I have to say I've enjoyed my stay in Vancouver, especially the 25 cent peep shows a block away from the hotel. (Note: Peep shows actually costed $5 and because I am a man of principles and a fierce opponent of false advertising I refused to pay. In retrospect I really should have just coughed up the money, how often to get to see a peep shows at 8:30 am on your way to job training.

(NEXT TIME I WILL NOT HESITATE!)

Well, I just finished training today. It's hard to believe I'll be landing in Japan within 24 hours. Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing. This whole "concept" of going to Japan is starting to feel very real. It's one of those things that looks good on paper but there is really no telling how it's going to turn out.

Today I was exhausted at training. Even though I got a lot of sleep last night I could barely keep my eyes open. That was until one of our trainers gave us a Japanese kid's lesson as a demo. I honestly enjoyed it. We played various kids games running around the class room and acting completely ridiculous. I won all of them!!! The best part, after each game, my defeated adversaries would have to praise and complement me for my victory and I would thank them for their kind words. During the lesson I learned the words dog, shrimp, and seal as well as how to count to 5. With my newly acquired Japanese vocabulary and counting ability nothing can hold me back!


Training at times was boring but also enjoyable and helpful. Despite this I still feel rather ill-prepared to move half way around the world to a country whose language I don't speak and customs I don't know, while simultaneously starting a new job and moving into a new apartment. We'll see what happens!

After we finished training today, the other teachers and I headed over to the Japanese consulate to pick up our visas. When we arrived at 3:15 pm I suddenly realized that I had forgot the receipt for my visa. The consulate was going to close at 3:30. Luckily they gave me my visa when I presented them with my driver's license. Catastrophe averted.

Next we went to the Vancouver Currency Exchange to trade in our Canadian dollars for Japanese yen. I had no clue what the conversion rate was and could have easily been ripped off. Any time you had someone a thousand dollars you feel uneasy.

By this point we were starving because we hadn't eaten lunch so we stopped and got some Mexican food. The place was called Taco Time. It was just like Taco Bell except their food wasn't as good and they had guacamole and beer. Hard to say which is better. I've always believed that the further away you get from Mexico, the worse the Mexican food gets. This restaurant held true to the principles of that theory.


Later on we walked around the bay. Vancouver is a very beautiful city. All of its buildings seem so new and chic. There are trees everywhere, and the nearby mountains give the city and picturesque backdrop. Its well designed parks epitomize the words urban utopia. If only the weather were a bit more sunny.


To finish the night we grabbed some burgers and beers at a sports bar across from our hotel called the G Spot. Our food came with yam fries which are amazing and much better than regular french fries. While eating we talked about Japan and how insane it is to think we are going to be there the tomorrow.


So much has been happening the past couple of weeks that I've been too busy to really process how I feel about the whole situation. I'm excited and anxious. I can't wait to get settled in my new closet-sized apartment and meet my students. I am very glad that I decided to take this opportunity and I am going to make the most of it. Goodbye North America, catch you on the flip side.

It still doesn't seem real.