Last Day of Work! (Happy Holidays!)

Hey there!

I just got back from work this morning, and felt like I should write something.  Something. There, I did it. Now will you quit nagging me, Awkward Inner Voice? Sheesh.

Anyway, terrible jokes aside, I just got home from work today, realizing that tomorrow (or rather, later tonight) is my last day of work this year! Allow me to backtrack a little, since I'm not sure if I've mentioned anything about work before.

I finally scored a part-time job at the start of this month, at a Bento (boxed lunch) factory. My shift starts at 1.00 AM until 6.30 PM (that's right, graveyard shift) every weekday. The factory is in Takaida, about 8 stations away from where I live, and it takes about half an hour with the last train of the day.

Finishing work at 6.30, I eat my breakfast (one of the perks of working in a boxed lunch factory, though they cut a bit off my salary) and get out around 7.00, which means I ride back during the morning rush. School holidays just started yesterday, so it's just a straight shot home. During school days, my morning commute is a little bit more complicated.

School starts at 9.00, so I could take the subway straight there, but then I'd arrive a bit over an hour early, with nothing to do. I usually take the subway halfway, to Morinomiya, and walk the rest of the way to school (about 3.5 km). This method is much more enjoyable, but for obvious reasons I don't do it every day.

Even this method has me at school more than 40 minutes early sometimes, so to kill more time (and save up a little money), I like to take the JR train to Morinomiya instead. It requires me to change lines twice, so it takes a little more time, the trains are slightly less crowded, and to top it off, I get to save 60 Yen this way (subway to Morinomiya costs 230 Yen, JR is 170).

Anyway, after school finishes at 12.30, I either grab some lunch or go straight home (sometimes walking to save train money), after which I go to sleep. Wake up at 9, prepare dinner, then take the train to work, and it starts all over again.

As you can imagine, it's doing quite a number on my body clock, so I don't think I'll hang on to the job for the duration of my stay. Thinking of getting a new job around february, which should give me enough money to save up (graveyard shift pays well). That's the plan, anyway.

Like I said, tomorrow's my last day of work, and incidentally, my first payday. Looking forward to that one. I can only hope I have enough self-control to not spend it all in one day.

After that it's a short winter holiday. I have no plans yet, and nobody to have plans with anyway, so one can only hope that turns up well. Hey, the free time might mean that I could update you on things that happened these past few months since I arrived in Japan. We'll just have to wait and see, then.

Until next time,

--Zet

P.S

Not sure I wished everyone a merry christmas yet, so:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Hangover Updates

Greetings everyone!

It's been months since my last post, and life's been... colorful, to say the least. Living and adjusting to life in Japan has been taking up a lot of my time. A few times I wanted to write something but for whatever reason I didn't (or couldn't), and now here we are, a little over 5 months since my last post, with too much to tell and just barely enough time to tell it. Let's see how much I can get through in this one post.

As I write this, I'm listening to Scotty McCreery's (spell check please?) cover of Lonestar's "Amazed" on the internet while looking up the chords as well, since I've never really had a musically accurate ear.

Playing music on the guitar I borrowed from my friend really helps with this mild hangover-induced headache I have right now. I've never been a drinker, since my family isn't into drinking, and last night's bounenkai (忘年会; Year-End Party or something, it's a thing here in Japan) with my school friends was the first time I got drunk, and this morning's Samba number in my head (which has since receded to a slow waltz) is the result of my first aforementioned hangover. If you read that last sentence without doing a double-take, you're awesome.

I missed work last night because I couldn't catch the last train, and consequently had to walk home. Thankfully I had two of my friends with me, otherwise I dunno if I could've made it home (refer to "first time drunk" above). Oh yeah, I have work now. I work the graveyard shift at a bento factory half an hour by train, along with 3 of my friends. The hours are hell, but the pay's good. It keeps me busy as well, God knows I need that.

Speaking of God, I started going to Church again recently, after years and years. It's really nice, compared to what experiences I had back home. The people (from everywhere!) are all really nice and open, and have really let me be part of the group/team/family. I feel quite fortunate that there are some of my fellow countrymen as well.

On a less happy note, my girlfriend and I decided to end our relationship two months ago. It's been hard, but the main thing is that we still remain good friends (sounds like something you'd hear in celebrity gossip/news).

I think I should get some more sleep, my head's starting to hurt again. Hangovers really are a bitch, huh? The silver lining is that I still remember what happened last night, and that it was real, which is more than I can say about how I (sometimes) feel about the rest of this post.

Until we meet again,

-- Zet Valentine

At Long Last (#6, 2012)

Whoops, haven't blogged in a while. Been kinda busy with lots of stuff.

Anyway, let's just cut to it.

I'm going to Japan. Finally. Only for a year, but still, you never know, right?
Even now I still find it hard to believe that in twelve hours I'll be in another country, the one I've been dreaming of going to for so long.

Finished packing last night, but I still keep on worrying I forgot something. I woke up suddenly a couple of hours ago, thinking I forgot a housewarming gift. Still feeling a bit antsy, and still haven't managed to get back to sleep.

I'll be posting again when I get to Japan.
Until then,

- Zet

How Time Flies (a.k.a 日本語の手紙）

皆さん、こんばんは。


大学で勉強している専門は日本語なので、今日のポストは日本語で書いてみます。


Facebookで言ったとおり、日本人の千々岩先生は、先週の土曜に帰国なさいました。今までも、そんな感じがしないです。「また、あした会おう」、「先生が少しの時間だけ行ってきます」などの気がします。


さっき、Windows Live Messengerにロギンしました。そのメッセンジャーのプローフィール写真が、この一年ぐらい変えていないことは気づいたばかりでした。その写真は僕とJ.yoさんのしゃしんです。去年、千々岩先生と一緒に、初めての観光した時に、先生がその写真を撮ってくれました。
「ウワッ、もう一年か…ホントだ」と思いました。一年は、スッゴク早かった。千々岩先生と観光したばかりだと感じます。


考えると、この一年に、その写真を撮ったから、たくさんのことが起こりました。撮った時に、J.yoさんと付き合い始めたんです。あと10日だけ、一周年です。日本へ行けるのは全然思えませんでした。今年の7月に、大阪へ行くつもりです。
千々岩先生と一緒に観光したばかりと感じてますが、土曜日に代わりの甲田先生と観光する予定です。


ただ一年だけでも、こんなたくさんの事が起こった。


この一年前に撮った写真を見て、ちょっとなんか寂しくなります。なぜですか？ただ一年だけでも、千々岩先生はトッテモ良い教師だけでなく、みんなにとっても、大切な友人になれたからです。そんなに大切な友達が遠いところへ行ったら、確か寂しくなります。ですから、また大阪で会えるように、僕もみんなもガンバリマス！




ではまた。
ゼット・ヴァレンタイン


P.S
甲田先生も、友人になれること、お楽しみに！笑

Recap (aka Letter #1, 2012)

Greetings, and salutations,

whatever that means.

As always, it's been a long time since my last post, and obviously much has happened since then. That being the case, there are a few things which I would like to mention, or at least attempt to, in somewhat reverse-chronological order.

Back when I was still active here I used to have this thing where I numbered each post (or letter) in the title, as above. Obviously it's been ages since I did that, and frankly I'm too lazy to open my previous posts and do a headcount of which letter this is. Therefore I've decided to restart the numbering based on what year it is. As you can see this is my first letter of 2012, hence the above title. As before, not all posts will be explicitly given a number designation, but I will try and keep track of these things.

I may or may not have mentioned this, but I'm currently attending college (university, whatever you wish to call it. There isn't much distinction in my mind), majoring in Japanese language and culture. Last December, I took the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) along with my girlfriend and one of my best friends.

For those of you who are wondering, The JLPT is basically Japan's TOEFL test. Under the current system, it is divided into 5 different levels, N1-N5, with N5 being the lowest, and N1 the highest. We took the N3 test this time, which, aside from being a formal way of saying you might survive day-to-day life in Japan, is a requisite (am I using that word correctly?) for graduation. Fortunately I passed. Not with flying colors, but I passed. What that means to me as a job-seeker is that if I apply for work in Japan or at a Japanese-owned company, chances are I could get somewhere between entry- and lower mid-level positions, IF I'm deemed good enough. Something like that. I'm just drawing my own conclusions here, so people with more experience on the matter may wish to bash my skull in.

On the subject of Japan, our university has this exchange program (though as far as I know, it's not an 'exchange' per se as we don't really receive students) with a language institute in Japan. The headmaster (I think he was) was kind enough to come here to Indonesia and explain the program for those of us who were interested, which definitely included yours truly. The problem of course being financial in nature. As of this writing I'm still in negotiations with my mother and am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have the preview for this blog open in the next tab, and frankly I wish to do something about the design. However I've never been particularly good in either technology or aesthetics, so I'm not sure how to make that happen. Suggestions, anyone?

I suppose that's it for now; if I go any further I might as well start writing an autobiography. Don't forget to check my friend's blog (for those of you who missed the link it's http://jellyjyun04.blogspot.com/ ). It's in (somewhat broken) Japanese, which really has me thinking about doing a Japanese post as well, for practice.

Hope to see you again soon!

Sincerely,

- Zet Valentine

P.S

Experimenting with font sizes, tell me how it is in the Blahbox or comments section please.