Back in Osaka!

Well, sorry it`s been two weeks since the last post, and that "flood" of old posts is still gathering digital dust. BUT it has been rather a busy time! Ulala and traveled back to Osaka, where will be for the next year and a half or so until our wedding and then afterwards indefinitely (most likely at least three years but honestly, who can plan that far ahead?). So here we are back in good old Kansai. We arrived last wednesday evening and Ulala`s parents met us at the airport and took us to dinner at a nice little curry udon place in Tsuruhashi (right near where we live) and then dropped us and our bags off at our apartment. Well, almost all our bags. One of mine was MIA and the very nice ladies at the lost luggage counter in Kansai International Airport assured me it would be found within the week and NorthWest would pay to have it delivered to my house. I wasn`t at all stressed, though. Not like last time in June when China Air lost ALL our bags between Beijing and Vancouver. THAT was stressful. This time i was just happy to be back in Osaka and know that i had enough clean underwear to last me. My bag arrived via courier on Friday morning, not even two full days late. Turns out it had nothing to do with NorthWest either. US Customs had snagged it when we passed through Detroit for their "random inspection" and so it had missed the connection. And yet NorthWest had to pay for the courier to deliver it to my house from the airport. That hardly seems fair, does it?

Then on Friday evening we had dinner with Peter and some of the old Amagasaki Nova students. It was great to see all of them again! Peter will be opening his own English school in Amagasaki to try and pick up some of the customers left in the ruins of the whole Nova Crash last year. Hopefully when things get up and running i`ll be able to work their one or two days a week, so i won`t lose touch with those students. The Amagasaki students were among my favorites in my four years teaching here.

On Saturday Ulala and i joined the Osaka 101 Bar Tour to help reintroduce ourselves to the Osaka nightlife. We had fun but Ulala went home early and i stayed out with Tony and others until far too late. We also went to Oasis Lounge`s last party before they shut their doors. Glad i could be back in Japan just in time for one last dance there. Thank you to Dan for almost four years of great beats, drinks and parties! Always a good time with the best local DJ talent in Kansai. Hopefully his new location will be open before too long. Speaking of DJing, i have my first gig since returning this coming Friday (Feb. 1st). Soon! Setting up my decks again was one of the first things i did when i got back and i`ve been practicing everyday! I haven`t touched decks in six months so i`m more than a little nervous about playing in public again, but whatever. It`s all just for fun, otherwise why do it?

Also since returning i have been diligently job-hunting. I`ve applied to a few jobs on-line and received a couple of responses. I have two interviews on Friday. Fingers crossed. The one job i really want and think i would be really good at i haven`t heard back from yet. A lot of people applied for it so i think it might be a while before i hear anything, if i do. Scratch that - WHEN i do. Gotta stay positive. =)

And with that i need to stop hogging the internet. We still don`t have a connection in our house yet due to the slow hook up process and some miscommunication about paying our bill while we were out of the country for six months. SO it might be up to two weeks before we have our own line again. Meh. Until next time...

Oh how i missed Japanese food!