TV is not boring, but waiting for the Internet is

It's 1:40 on Friday and still no call from my landlady to let me know the internet's finally finished being installed...

The main reasons reasons for being annoyed at the amount of time it's taken are:

1. When I signed the contract to move in here back in mid-September, she said cable internet will take about a month to be installed. So that was about 2 and a half months ago.

2. While I was waiting the supposed one month for the installation, she actually had someone call me just after I moved in here to set up a temporary ADSL rig. I told the lady that I was getting cable internet in 2 weeks so there's no point signing into an ADSL contract (when it would take about 2 weeks to have the ADSL set up anyway).

3. I went down there around the time I guessed it should be near being installed and asked some stuff about which provider it was going to be through etc. From the reaction I got from them and the phone call I got later on that evening, I've guessed that they called someone about cable internet for the first time that day. It would be installed within 2 months.

4. I went down to my landlady's office a few weeks back asking about asking about something else and brought up the internet again. After a phone call to another staff guy who's in charge of the internet stuff, I found it will be done in 2 weeks. That was this week.

If they'd have just been blunt with me from the start I wouldn't mind. However, instead of giving me the worst case scenario each time, they've given me the impossibly perfect one. The worst case scenario would have been better... No, it's not withdrawal symptoms. I just hate being given the run around. Plus, I'll finally be able to fill the gaps in iTunes for the songs (and entire albums!) that just decided to disappear once they got to Japan. (And I'm getting sick of Spider Solitaire, I'm playing it in my dreams... no joke)

Let's just hope it's a decent service once I finally get it and nothing as bad as what I had back in Melbourne.

It's going to take ages to backdate my blog online... (Am still writing my Japanese one too, although definitely nothing like as much as I put into this one.)

Anyways...

I've done a decent amount of overtime this month, so next pay should be great. I've also go Follow Up training next month, which is supposed to have 'advanced' teaching techiniques etc.
I'm starting to wish I'd pack my ski jacket when I came over, even just to wander around my apartment in. I'm told that although it's quite cool lately, it's nothing like winter. I still get mixed opinions of the Kobe winter. Some people say it's 10 degrees during the day etc, others say it will settle around 0 degrees. I was told that it actually snowed in Kobe last year though...

In the last week I've begun to notice how much Japanese I've actually learnt since coming here. I've a heap of new Kanji as well as loads of new vocab. TV is tough, but I can still pick out the topic usuaully and the occasional joke. An unusual thing about Japanese TV is the incredible amount of subtitles (which are in Japanese). All chat shows and Manzai have them. So it's awesome for reading too. Manzai is awesome though, with or without being able to understand all of the joke.I find it interesting that most 'chat/comedy' shows use the same pool of 'sub-hosts' (who are usually Manzai comedians too).
There's a guy's internet radio show I used to listen to heaps so I'm not truly sure where he's a radio guy who makes TV appearances (very often) or whether he's a TV guy with his own radio show. Otherwise, as it seems like it is, these guys are simply 'entertainers' and have a load of different things they do.Seems to be much the same with the dramas too. There can be the same actor in 2 or more different weekly dramas.

Most of what I just wrote isn't exactly coherant but I can't be bothered rewriting it to make it sound either more interesting or literate. Plus it gives me two more sentences to write!
It's December 1st next week, so I'll be heading down to KICC early to try and get some lessons finally!

I Got Haircut (And Then Saw Some Transvestites)

Nothing overly spectacular has happened over the last week and a bit, hence the lack of updates.
I went on the prowl for a barber on Saturday. Turns out they're one of those things you see everywhere until you go looking for one. I found one in the end in nearby Motomachi (is right next to Sannomiya) that must have been having a quiet day as there were no other customers while I was there.
When asked how I wanted it done, I just told him 'a little short' (in Japanese, of course). That was basically all that was said for the duration, however, it was easily the most thorough haircut I've ever had. He used 3-4 different scissors, these little puffy things to pat this powder over my head, he pulled out the razor at the end for the edges etc and then had some funny bottle of stuff he massaged into my head when he was done. He was an old-ish guy and was very focused once he began with no small talk. He asked me how it looked when he was nearly done and then offered the comb to me to fix anything up (which I didn't).
When I paid he broke into a huge, friendly grin and guided me to the door. So, that was my first haircut in Japan (and my first since I left Aus...).


I went out that night to a Nomihoudai (all you can drink) at a little (like all places are) club/bar for which Duncan had been given a load of ticket a few weeks ago to sell off for. It was a nice place until these 4 transvestites decided to take over the (tiny) stage and then took over the whole event. Scary. If it hadn't been Nomihoudai, I can imagine it would have been much quieter in there from that point, but the 3000 yen entry kept us all there. Every hour or so the 4 of them would go back behind the bar into the staff area and change their costumes, so I guess the staff supported them to some extent.
Then impression I've got from the guys since then (as well as on the night) was that everyone was a bit uncomfortable at the start but once the all-you-can-drink aspect kicked in, everything just seemed 'normal'.I just wrote some details on happenings but decided to get rid of it and leave the imagery of everything up to you...

All that queerness aside, it was ok enough. There were enough of the usual happenings down the other end of the place that it was easy to turn your back on the stage.


On to other topics...

I'll be doing a 'Special Voice' on Christmas day, which is basically a themed Voice 'event' that happens once or so a month. So I'm slowly starting to brainstorm what I'll be doing for it. I was thinking of dressing up as Santa and asking everyone to bring me presents... maybe I'll take some food in. (One thing I wont be doing is singing carols.) I'll at least have to get a hold on a Santa hat.

Kobe is already decorating itself in all the commercial side of Christmas with huge trees in and carols playing throughout shopping centres.
I'm hoping for a phone call about my internet sometime this week. Been waiting way too long for this...

It's been quite wet over here recently. Haven't had a day above 19-20 degrees for a while and it seems to rain at least a little every second or third day.

Found some awesome blocks of chocolate in my 100 yen shop yesterday!

The Nova Japanese staff have a tough job. In the last month we've had 4 of them get transferred permanently to another branch with one day's notice. The thing is that it's just part of the job and they take it in their stride. Machiko, Hotomi and Yusuke were great people and gave a constant great vibe to our school. Yusuke was actually promoted to the manager of another branch (with the incredibly short notice). I never even got a chance to say bye to Machiko since I had my days off when she got moved and Hitomi would have been the same if I hadn't have seen her at an instructor's farewell party. It's just insane that within two days that can be transferred from a branch in Kobe to basically anywhere within a 2 or so hour train ride.In addition to this, you can still see the lights on in our branch at 11pm most nights. They work incredible amounts of overtime for which they get paid no extra for.
Tough job for them and most of them enjoy it only to an extent.

Birthday Recap

I've today off since I did a shift swap a while back for someone at work and this was the day off I got in return. Suited me fine, being the day after my birthday.News of it being my birthday spread too quickly yesterday, and I'd only actually told Duncan. Somehow, though, there ended up being about 6 people who came out from my work for a few drinks. The news spread around the bar (Midnight Express, the 'local') pretty quick and ended up with Jay, the bar owner, passing me a free shot of his own concoction later on. Wasn't a late night and I was home by about 12:30am after stopping by a different bar to meet up with some others before they headed home.

I went down to see my landlady today. I now have a watchable TV after learning that one of the things on the wall is actually an antenna socket, but is of some strange Japanese design. She sent two people over to my place to check out whether I actually didn't have a wall socket (like I said I didn't, since Duncan said he had to ask for his to be installed when he moved in). Masami is someone I've met every time I've seen Yoshiko, but the guy who came too ended up being their boss.
So anyway, he found this antenna socket and explained it's special cable that's needed. However, instead of actually needing to go buy this strange cable I gave him a pair of scissors and he reworked the cable I'd bought the other day. So now I have a perfectly working TV!I've 7 channels with a lot of drama shows on most of the channels at this time of the day. There seems to be something on at least one channel to always watch (including a Japanese language show I watched at 12pm that was basically a study show for foreigners, and all in Japanese. Was quite well done and easy to understand). I think they need to have a channel dedicated solely to ads, because the ads over here are fantastic.

I also asked about the net and found that it will be finished being installed in two weeks. At least I've now got my TV!

TV`s quite boring...

Got a cold. Throat is raw. Woke up at 8am today, had a shower, then fell asleep on my futon again for a few hours while studying. My voice is hoarse too, but I still managed to order something for lunch later on.

I went down to Sannomiya and got a cable for my TV to act as an aerial (couldn't find an actual aerial and I've no wall socket). Sadly, I now still only occasionally get a picture and it's snowed over anyway but the sound is clear on 3-4 channels. Will have to ask the other guys how they get good reception.

Today's felt really weird. Kind of like a dream and I can't remember too much of it's specifics. I blame my cold for that.Was really windy today too and you can feel winter steadily coming.
I wonder what's happening in Lost at the moment...

Birthday Cards Arrived! (and then I went to the Zoo)

Saturday had me find an envelope from home with three birthday cards in it from the family, my Aunt/Uncle and my Nannie. I'm guessing that was the post office 'package' to expect.
I headed down in the morning to the same internet cafe as last week. After being there for about 5 mins, I got a call from my boss asking (pleading) with me to come in for three lessons from 6:40pm as a teacher had gone home sick and they were able to cover all of her lessons except the last 3. So I said yes.

The rest of Saturday was uneventful (not that the the morning was so). I went to work, came home, ate, slept.

Yesterday, Sunday, I went for a walk in a direction I hadn't before and found Oji Stadium and Zoo. It was a long weekend and was something like a 'Culture Holiday', but the Zoo was really busy (I didn't go in, nor did I have the intention) and there were kids everywhere. I wandered around for a few hours on the way home and got to see a basically everything else there was to see in that direction.

I signed up with my local video shop in the arvo and had a look around at the new releases, which were nothing special. Just something to entertain me until I get the net back.I hired 'V for Vendetta', of which I've heard mixed opinions. I'd heard very little about this movie beforehand, only that it was based off of a 'graphic novel'. It wasn't actually bad."Remember, remember, the 5th of November" was the opening dialogue and the entire movie held this as it's focus. In addition to that, there was a running theme that there is no such thing as a coincidence.Why do I bother to blog this? Yesterday was the 5th of November.

I Have Mail

I was asked a few weeks back if I'd be able to do a 'shift slide' for today (the 3rd of Nov). Works really well for me. I started at 10am and finish at 2pm, so it's felt like another day off added onto my weekend.
Just nothing to do with my free time though... Study, eat, sleep, music or wander the streets aimlessly (which is actually quite fun).

I got a TV cheap off someone from work but I can't work out how to tune it. Having all the menus in Japanese doesn't help, but it's not the issue since I took the time (or had the time...) to painstakingly translate anything I didn't know. Either way, I still can't work out for the life of me what to do. It just looks back at me with it's white fuzz.

I had a little card in the mailbox when I checked it after work last night. It was an official something from the post office about a 'post office package' and whether Aaron lived here or not and the 9th of November as a due date. It also had the post office's (return) address on the other side.Having little idea what it truly was I found out from one of the Japanese staff at work that all I needed to do was circle that I did truly live at this address and then throw it in the mailbox. Then in a few days I'll be receiving some kind of parcel.I was hoping it would be a thing to take to the post office and claim something they'd tried to deliver when I wasn't home. Then I'd have this unexpected thing to open when I got home and entertain myself with doing that for a while...

I should go down to the video shop and get a membership since I can still use my laptop to watch DVDs.

Internet's taking too long to be connected...

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I went down to KICC today. The open at 10am so I headed down and was there by 12pm. ... and they had filled all the positions available for this month already. So, if I want to get in, I have to simply come back next month on the 1st (and earlier).So... my grand plan for finally getting into some real study (by myself doesn't exactly count) was pushed back until December.

I guess I'll just have to compensate by going out more this month and finding random people to talk to.At least I have something to complain about to the guys in Voice tonight. They're quite helpful.

In other news, I found some cheap, but good, Sony speakers for my laptop so everything doesn't sound so hollow anymore.