UK October - Things are going smoothly

Hey guys here's a update on what's going on with me.

Things here are going really well in the UK. We got a place near the town center of Lancaster and it’s bigger than the one in Japan. Not as cheap though. But I couldn’t find a better deal since there are three universities in this town. The place is furnished and overall it’s great, except for the occasional slugs and the roof leaking. We had some guy come by and check it out, don’t know how far that got yet.

School started about three weeks ago. I’m taking four classes: Diplomacy, Conflict Transformation, International Relations Theory, and European Union. I'm overwhelmed with the reading and I’m worried about the final assignments. There is so much more reading than in Japan. All the papers for this term are due January 16th, so until then its work time.  Learning diplomacy is a lot like learning about the WWF. Everything is about show-boating and secret alliances and it’s all FAKE. But I’m meeting lots of people from all over. Mostly from Europe but there are some Canadians here too. Overall the students are really nice and always interested to tell and listen to stories. We just go down to a café or pub on campus (we have 8 pubs on campus) and chat. I even started a Facebook group for the postgraduates. The school unfortunately tries to rip you off every chance it gets: overcharging for late fees, paying for the gym, expensive cafeterias, expensive photocopies, etc.

Money is tight though which is a pain. Currently waiting to see if I’ll get any scholarships but something may be coming from Japan. Most of the grocery shopping we do online since it comes with free delivery and you can compare different stores.

People here are really nice. Everyone is open to tell you things if you don't understand them. Most forgive me if I don’t understand their strange accent or if they use a word that I’ve never heard before. They sometimes treat me as the ignorant Canadian since I don’t know many things that they take as normal.  The rain comes and goes though which is a pain and it’s starting to get cold.

The good news is that most of the packages I sent from Japan arrived recently. Helene’s parents drove them up last weekend. Mostly everything arrived all right. The clothes smell really bad and needed to be washed again. The one thing I didn’t think of when I shipped the electronics was that Japan is 100v and the UK is 220v. So I’m currently looking into converters.

I’m thinking of going to Canada for Christmas. Currently looking into tickets. It seems that if I buy a ticket to Dublin on a low cost airline, fly to Halifax and take another low cost airline from Halifax to Ottawa, I shave half the cost. That’s what I did this summer with Dubai and it totally worked, if you don’t mind waiting around in airports.

Overall, I’m a little stressed right now. Not knowing how to organise myself is causing me to worry a lot. I’m trying to remain focused but it’s hard to concentrate right now. I want to go out and meet people and do well in school but right now those don’t seem compatible. Do you know what I mean?  

I sometimes miss Japan; the food, the house and the lifestyle and of course Ritsumeikan. Teaching English wasn’t so bad either. I miss my students.

On a brighter note, I love exploring a new country. The UK has so many things to offer; new food, beer, ways of life and people. Later in the month we’ll be going to Helene’s grandparent’s house in Southampton. Should be a great trip. They are lovely people.

Here’s a fun link I found if you’re a lord of the rings fan. http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/276793

Hit me back with some updates. I would love to know more about what you’re doing.

Cheers

MIKE

Jobs in America

John Smith started the day early having set his alarmclock 

(MADE IN JAPAN ) 

for 6 am .. While his coffeepot 

(MADE IN CHINA) 

was perking, he shaved with his electric razor 

(MADE IN HONG KONG)
He put on a dress shirt 

(MADE IN SRI LANKA), 

 designer jeans 

(MADE IN SINGAPORE)
and tennis shoes 

(MADE IN KOREA)
After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet  

(MADE IN INDIA)
he sat down with his calculator
(MADE IN MEXICO)
to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch
(MADE IN TAIWAN )
to the radio
(MADE IN INDIA)
he got in his car
(MADE IN GERMANY)
filled it with GAS
(MADE IN SAUDI ARABIA)
and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.
At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer
(MADE IN MALAYSIA ),
John decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals
(MADE IN BRAZIL ),
poured himself a glass of wine
(MADE IN FRANCE ) and turned on his TV
(MADE IN INDONESIA ),  

and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA

Pyramid Hotel

Hey everyone. Yesterday I celebrated the gift of internet in the UK so it's time for some more updates. Above is a video from the Pyramid Hotel in Dubai. When I left Japan, I had a three day stopover in Dubai before I went to France. Helene's uncle and aunt live there and they took really good care of me. Dubai is small. You can drive through it in just a short time but there is so much to see. Besides "skyscrapers in the desert" the place can be described as "people who have too much money"

Unfortunately, I was there during Ramadan which meant no eating or drinking in public. That meant that in the daytime we had to stay indoors somewhere rather than enjoying the 50C heat. Once you're outside, you become thirsty in a matter of minutes. So not being able to drink made exploration difficult. The good news is that Dubai is very accommodating for foreigners, so certain restaurants and places will allow food. Just don't be flaunting it publicly. 

For the three days I was there, I saw a lot of malls. The above video is from the Pyramid mall/hotel. Very impressive. The mall had my eyes darting from one corner to the next. So many things you wouldn't see in normal circumstances. Just imagine a prestigious brand name like Prada and then you come across the Prada cafe. Strange no? This mall the Pyramid had an indoor aquarium that offers swimming with the fish/sharks.