Yalei Wang: " Vibin it "

So much food, so little guts to go ahead and eat first

Can't believe how cheap the stickers are here. Not only cheap but GOOD as well

My favorite place in Shibuya. Reasons being, i can smoke inside, all the drinks are $5 and there's loud, hot jazz playing non-stop

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates. I've begun training for my new job and it's been occupying all of my time and energy resulting in blog neglection. The photos here are the latest ones i've taken. I've done some shopping, ate out with friends, checked out some new areas in Tokyo, been back at my favorite bar and have just been continuing to settle in and boy, do I feel a lot more settled in now. I knew it'd come eventually since it was just a matter of having more time. Work has been intense. We've had three days of non stop training everyday beginning from 10AM-7PM. Everyone in my class seemed to really know what they were doing whereas i felt really lost and stupid. A lot of people had previous teaching qualifications whereas i was thrown into the deep end because i've never taught anyone anything in my life. I've found that teaching requires me to slip into a completely new way of being.

I have to reign myself in, not be so intense and to not assume so much. I've got to let the 'client' do the talking, let them be the boss and steer the lessons the way that they want to. I complained about my other call center job as being a brain frier and although this new job is challenging, i've got to remember that it's only challenging because i've had the same job for so many years and it's totally normal for me to feel weird at how foreign teaching is. It's all coming together in my brain finally and i feel way better about it now i've had some extra practice with my assessor today.
A couple of days ago, i went to a dinner party at Scarlett's Air BNB hosts apartment/studio. This apartment was incredible. Don't let size determine how you think a space will be because this place was tiny but absolutely gorgeous, cool, cute - any favorable adjective you can think of. The kitchen area was what impressed me the most. Above the sink was a long horizontal window that looked out into the area outside. That was my favorite part, you felt good just looking in that direction. There was a long table spread out with baked brie, red wine, grapes, olives and amazingly Cous Cous, the one food i was curious about being able to buy here. I had a great time that night and got to practice my Japanese which felt great despite how bad it might've been.

Yesterday, my friend Stella introduced me to a new department store called Parco in Shibuya. I was so impressed. Everything in that department store was something you'd find in my wardrobe. Every way i looked, there was a skirt i liked, a jumper i'd wear or an accessory that i could introduce into my current look. I bought a jumper there that says " Ojisan " ( Old man ) on the front and some cute hair clips as well as a choker. After that, we headed towards Yoyogi park where we ate Onigiri and drank a tall can of beer. I'm finding it a bit hard to organise my time right now. There's so much stuff i want to do including studying Japanese but it's apparent that I can only dedicate myself wholly to one activity at a time. I haven't even begun painting yet and my manuscript is due next month! Time really does creep up on you suddenly. Sorry about how scattered and unorganized this post is. I've been more busy than i've been in a very long time and it's affecting me. Coming up in the next few weeks include actually beginning my very first lesson, rent ( oh god ), more exploring and shopping ( woo hoo ) and making Tokyo mine!!