Seb's blog - golf update!

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd definitely recommend checking out my friend Seb's blog. His latest entry is about golfing with his colleagues, and it's great stuff. Snip...

I don’t know how prestigious this course was but it was one of the plushest I’ve ever been to. You arrive and pull up in front of the club house. A valet takes your car and an army of middle aged women in day-glow attire take your clubs and disappear while you go and sign in. It’s at this point I’m informed I’m playing in a match day, so no pressure there! We sign in, I’m taken to the rentals dept for shoe fitting, quick toilet stop (where the ineffable charm of the club is somewhat diluted but the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine music playing in the toilets) and then out the back where a day-glow girl is waiting with our clubs on an electric cart and off we go.

Unsnip! Great stuff Seb! You can find more at http://englishgaijin.wordpress.com/

Clare's blog

Laura’s friend Clare is a JET in Hokkaido. She’s on the scheme with her husband Andy, and they’re based near to Iwazizama. It was a conversation with Clare and Andy that led Laura to ask me if I’d be up for participating in the JET scheme. And, as avid readers might recall, Clare and Andy know Seb, who just happened to go to my school. Small world, eh? It turns out that Clare has a blog too. It’s in the blogroll, and it’s available here.

As you can see from this post, their flat is really spacious. It looks very nice!

Seb's Blog

Do you remember my post A Strange Coincidence? From a few weeks ago? Well, Seb got in touch earlier this week and has given me lots of information about his JET experience so far. I'll post some of what he's said once I've asked his permission to blog about it, but rest assured, it's very interesting stuff! He's written about his application process, about his interview, and about his first experiences of the scheme. Keep your eyes peeled for more of what he's said.

He has also been writing a blog about his JET experiences. It's really well written, and would make for a very enjoyable read, even if you're not interested in the JET Programme yourself. I'd heartily recommend taking a look - you can read it here, and it's also available in the blogroll too. Check it out!

A strange coincidence

We were very surprised! Why? Well, it turns out that Laura’s friends who are JETs, Clare and Andy, have become friends with my old schoolmate Sebastian, who is also a JET. Laura was showing me the photos that Clare and Andy had uploaded, and I happened to spot that Seb was included in Clare’s list of friends. That’s right, Laura’s JET friends are friends with my JET friend! What a shock! It turns out that they all went on their orientation together, and they’re staying in touch with each other during their year. Wow!

The photos that we looked at were very exciting. Clare and Andy are based in Hokkaido in the far north of Japan. One set of photos took us through the fun and games that went on during their initial ice-breaking activities, camping on the shore of a lake with lots of other JETs. Sock war! Chubby bunnies! It looks like a right hoot. We also saw some photos around their home in Asahikawa Their accommodation looks great. I expect we’ll get plenty more updates from them as we continue our preparations.