Bogon Aussie Words 101

Came out of semi retirement this week which has been quite the shock to the system. I started On The Job training on Monday, and there really wasn't a lot of mucking around. After a few hours of orientation it was 'right, you're teaching half a lesson' and off we went. The actual teaching isn't that bad, the maximum number of students per class is four so you don't have to keep track of too many people at once. The training finished on Wednesday, so after going out for a few celebratory drinks that night, I had to drag myself out of bed to make it to my first real day at work yesterday. By drag myself out of bed I mean have a massive sleep in, as I don't start work till 17:00. Boo Yah. Yesterday was pretty full on because I taught five lessons back to back (we'd only ever done two in a row in training), but everyone's pretty helpful so it wasn't too much of a drama. I've decided to use this teaching job to australianise every student that walks in the door, you'll be happy to know that four of my students are now familiar with the term 'mullet'. Pretty proud of that one, did well to refrain from laughing after I explained it and then all the students started writing it down in their notebooks. If you can think of other essential australian words that I should be teaching please post 'em in a comment.
The humidity has taken a little bit of getting used to - at the moment it's 26 Degrees, Humidity 89%. On Tuesday night it was a lazy 29 Degrees, 100% Humidity. Nice.
The new house is working out well. I also got around one of the local delicacies Sunday night, basashi. Hhhhmmmmmm, raw horse meat......tasted a little slimy but was ok. Mum, you'll also be happy to know that I survived my first earthquake on Wednesday. Must've been pretty minor, but it was kinda cool - I was sitting on the couch when the floor shifted slightly to the left, then back again. Good times.
I've got a new mobile unit (don't want to cheapen it by calling it a phone, cos it's so much better than that...) which is a 3.2 MP camera, gps navigation system, ipod and phone (amongst other things) rolled into one, so I'll be able to take a few happy snaps and start posting them up soon.
Last day of the working week tonight so the plans are to head out after work to tabe hodi (all you can eat), have a few drinks then go and watch the Germany v Argentina match. Should be good. Keep the emails coming, Talk to you soon.

Heartbroken

Not sure if you could script a more disappointing way for a beautiful world cup campaign to end.
In the word's made immortal by Ned Kelly, Such is Life. Words by Max Danger: f*cking f*ck f*ck f*ck mother f*ck.

4 Pocari's Out of 5

The Mansion.
Am now fully settled into the new abode - and loving it. Place is a fcking palace compared to the initial lodgings. New roomate is a legend as well. This joint is awesome - Fernando has already setup wireless broadband - hence the blog! Typing this out from the comfort of the couch. So my overall rating of Japan has now been bumped from an initial rating of 1, to a massive 4 bottles of pocari, out of a possible 5.
Spent a bit of time today making our wireless connection a bit more secure. For the technically minded readers, you may not think that setting up a password for the router is a big deal, but try doing it when the config menu looks like this:
Bit of help from the google translation website and I was away.
It's funny how minor wins make you really happy. Like today I managed to track down some soap. Big win. Only took me four days, but a win none the less. Been cutting loose at the 100 Yen stores as well. They're basically shops with pretty much random stuff in them, all for $1 buck. People say Japan is super expensive, but some of the stuff is confusingly cheap. Today in the supermarket I noticed a 750 ml bottle of triple filtered smirnoff vodka for 13 hungy yen. That equals 15 Aussie dollars. Bargain.
Not heading out tonight, cos it seems that all the teachers were out pretty much every night last week and are having a night off. That said it's some girls going away party tomorrow night which Fernando is invited to, so I'm going to crash it. Sure, some of the more conservative thinkers might ask 'is it a good idea to go out to an all you can eat, all you can drink going away party the night before you start work?'. Well max danger says 'ppphhffffttt' to that.
That's enough for now, I haven't got a digi cam yet, but I'll get a phone next week (which is also going to have a camera and be able to play mp3's) and start posting up some pics. Feel free to post some comments, Max.

Worlds Best Coffee

Mister Donut Coffee Shop, Kumamoto Train Station.
Made it to the bar in the wee hours of this morning, fantastic performance by the Soccerros. Quite an experience being in a very small bar surrounded by 40 japanese fanatics all wearing the Samurai Blues shirts and one of them persistently beating a massive drum. The bar had two screens, one showing the Japan v Brazil match, the other showing Australia v Croatia. The japs went nuts when they scored against Brazil, they're good fans as they kept on chanting the whole match even though they got drubbed.
Pretty hungry this morning as I haven't really been eating that well. Walked by a Mister Donut shop which has a massive sign 'Worlds Best Coffee', big call but I thought I might give it a shot. After another successful order using atrocious japanese (note to self - 'atsui' means hot. use this if you don't want iced coffee), out comes the coffee. 5 sugars later it was drinkable. I am also now familiar with the concept of everyone else in the restaurant smoking, while I'm not, while we eat breakfast in a pretty confined space. The only strategy I can see to prevent an immenent death by passive smoking is to take up smoking myself. That'll show em.
Weather here is awesome. This is mainly to do with the fact that the new improved 'positive maxi' has decided his favourite weather is pouring summer rain combined with hot grey days. It's kinda cool because the rain is warm and it washes the humidity away.
Late Breaking News: Update that from 'Worlds Best Coffee That Only Needs 5 Sugars to Be Drinkable' to 'Worlds Best Coffee That Only Needs 5 Sugars to Be Drinkable AND Has Free Refills'. Love your work Mister Donut waitress.
Signing out for now, Maxi.

3 Friend Thursday

My Room, J Murchison's Skankpartment.
Over the last couple of days, I find myself having quite large mood swings, which isn't your friend. Tonight I was at my temporary home, trying to eat some dinner (re-fried tempura bought from the supi) but I really struggled. Didn't feel like eating, felt very unsettled. Snapped out of it though when I decided to go outside. Revelation of the day - if you go outside, as opposed to staying inside by yourself, you are more likely to meet people. Crazy, I know, but it works.
Today I met three friends. First there was Hiroshi, who I met while utilising the free internet at the Kumamoto international centre. I helped him out apply for an Australian Visa (of all things) so now he's my best mate.
Third was an undercover cop, also named Hiroshi. I'm cruising along on the treddly near the train station when this dude comes running up to me (in civies), whips out a badge and then starts asking me questions. I don't know if he just wanted to practice his english, cos he was really friendly about it, and I didn't seem to be doing anything wrong. He wanted to know if I had an Alien Registration Card, but I explained that I haven't got one yet cos I only arrived yesterday. Anyway we got chatting, he's a pretty young dude, and before I left I asked where should I park my bike. I think he misinterpreted this somewhat - I only wanted to park it where I wouldn't get a fine, but he ended up taking me to the police station (his english wasn't that great), I had to stop him short of parking the bike inside the actual station by saying outside would be fine. So now I'm in with the cops. Excellent.
Put the second friend I made was the money. After having written off my chances of catching the Australia v Croatia world cup match, I decided to make one last ditch effort and check out a few of the foreigner bars to see if they were showing it. I asked one of the japanese girls at the counter of the International Centre if she could mark out Jeff's World Bar on my map, so she went out the back and brings out this english chick (who was cute, too) to help me. We start chatting, and I mentioned that I wanted to watch the game, so she goes out the back and brings out this other guy that works there. Enter Yasseem. Turns out he's a moroccan world cup fanatic, who speaks fluent english as well. BOO YAH. He told me about this local bar called Casa, that's showing all the games, but explained how it's limited entry - you need a ticket to get in. He whips out his phone and leaves a voicemail message in japanese for the owner, mentioning that I want a ticket (if there's any left). He'd told me he'd be at the bar to watch the game and we parted ways. So I swing by the place which was tiny. This could be explained by the fact that's it's pretty much someone's basement. Using the words kippu (ticket), ostrayria (australia), Yaseem and a hand gesture of a phone scored myself a ticket. BOO YAH. Next step - manage to get up at 3:00am to make it to the bar.

You Guessed It - James Murchison is a F.ck.

Kumamoto International Centre.
Well I've landed in Kumamoto. Clocked up just over 29 hrs in transit, from the time I left 552A, caught two flights, three trains, and walked to my new flat. As feared the place was in a pretty miserable condition - 'bout five garbage bags were lined up against the wall (as they hadn't been taken out), toilet/bathroom were pretty dirty and my room had a few lovely spots of mould in the corners. My manager who met me at Kumamoto Station and walked me to the flat was pretty apolegetic, so much so that he called head office and it looks like I've been upgraded to another better apartment closer to the city - so things aren't all bad. James Murchison (my soon to be ex room mate) wasn't home on Wednesday night when I arrived, although I met him this morning. Turns out that he's not such a bad guy (albeit messy) - he gave me the low down on life in Kumamoto, told me a few good places to eat and even lent me his bike for the day which I've taken full advantage of. So the feelings last night of isolation which were compounded by massive jet lag have given way to a more chilled out/positive vibe today. I've checked out a few of the shops, found myself some free internet, had a couple of decent meals and have found myself cruising round the city being fascinated by pretty much everything so things are looking up.

I move to my new apartment tomorrow, I'll be joining this canadian dude called Fernando - hopefully this place will be better.

Start work (orientation) on Monday, so have still got the weekend free. Disappointingly I haven't found anywhere to watch the match tomorrow morning so you guys will have to cheer the boys on for me.

Alrighty kids that's enough from me, keep it real and keep in touch.

Maxi.

ps - In Joke #1 (Timmy, Foz and Kano):

Overseas Teachning Application Fee: $500

Flight to Japan: $2000

Cracking a Pocari Sweat ten minutes after landing in Osaka: F*CKING PRICELESS!