Minimalism - Online Income - ESL - Japan
Mami has been back to the clinic and had another scan. Peanut (working title!) is currently in his or her seventh week, and is starting to look more and more like….erm… Casper the friendly ghost? If you missed the last photo, “Peanut at 6 weeks”, here it is: Peanut at 7 weeks: So apparently Peanut is the right-hand blur in the big black bubble. The circle on the left of […]
A few months ago, I posted about buying a house and getting a mortgage in Japan. There were times when I didn’t think it would be possible without a permanent residency visa, but eventually we managed it… and we move next week! If you’re thinking of buying a house in Japan, you might want to consider getting a mortgage through Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ bank. They were the only bank that […]
This last week has been pretty hectic. The weekend was dominated by Christmas parties with my school’s children’s party on Saturday, another school’s party on Sunday morning, and a party for my adult students on Sunday night. The first party was a bit crazy. There were about 45 kids and we played all kinds of games including pass the parcel, cake walk, Christmas fruit basket and bingo, and managed to […]
Before I came to Japan, I had never really seen a cockroach. Those first three months in Japan quickly changed that though as rainy season set in and the humid summer brought them out in droves. I was staying with my homestay family at the time, and while the whole family slept together in the air conditioned living room, I had my own room right above them. With just a […]
This is the question I was pondering over while driving home from work tonight. With a population of 128 million, more than double that of the U.K, I find it surprising that you can go for days on end without seeing a disabled person. There’s no doubt that Japan is equipped for disabled people; there’s wheelchair access all over the place, tactile paving for the visually impaired, and designated parking […]
I don’t ever expect to be rich, but I do intend to be financially free, and by that I mean having enough money not to worry about it. It’s not a pipe dream, but something I expect to happen in the not too distant future. I’ve been reading up on ‘intention manifestation’, and I intend to manifest enough wealth to do the things I really want to. I’m not talking […]
When I first came to Japan, I was told that Kentucky Fried Chicken, or simply ‘Kentucky’ as it’s known in Japan, is a Christmas tradition. I was told that people flock to KFC for their annual Christmas Eve dinner. I didn’t really take it seriously until I saw people lining up for three blocks one Christmas Eve, just to get their dose of chicken! Although it exists, turkey isn’t common […]
I was just looking around at the Japanese videos on youtube.com, and came across the following ‘English lesson’. I know we talk about using role-play to teach English, and how chants are a good way to remember phrases, but come on! This is just silly! I must confess that I’ve never seen anything quite like this on Japanese TV, but I guess it must exist. Maybe I’m not up early […]