There are many things I love in life. I love my family. I love running. I love Canada, the country I am from. I love living abroad and the adventures I have in doing so. I also love pizza.
Pizza is food from the Gods in my opinion. It is the perfect mix of all major food groups. I get Grains, Dairy, Veggies and Meat all in one wonderful package.
I have been a fan of pizza my entire life. A great take out pizza is something to cherish, but even more is a great homemade pizza. Luckily, my parents are amazing cooks and growing up I have th fondest memories of my father's "from scratch" pizzas. They were delicious beyond description and now, as I live in Asia, I appreciate them even more.
I have lived in Asia for almost 10 years now. I lived in Korea for more than 5 years and there, pizza is everywhere. Pizza is common, it is cheap and to be honest, doesn't taste very good. Most places that sell pizza basically serve ketchup, a few slices of pepperoni and very little cheese on a slab of cardboard.
In Japan, pizza is really expensive and doesn't taste very good. ALSO, the sizes are really small.
Solution.....make your own from scracth. That's what I do. here is a quick vid of a pizza I made last weekend. An actual recipe/tutorial video will come soon.
Just a few days ago, Mother Nature was showing us her kind affection by taking the temperatures here in Japan down a few notches. After a nasty and humid summer, things were becoming tolerable. Daily temperatures were in the mid to low 20's (Celsius) and there was no humidty. It was bliss. Last week all of that changed. we were slammed with summer all over again. "Ugh" is what I have to say about that.
I have been trying to spend more time with my family recently and also have ben dealing with a little running frustration. After Saturday night's sprint training session I developed some tenderness in my right achilles tendon. I wasn't able to go for my long run Sunday morning. It's now Tuesday morning and I still haven't run yet. I am hoping that my tendon will feel alright tomorrow morning. I will try a short 5k run slowly around the neighborhood and I will of course keep you guys informed.
On a more positive note, I have dusted off my eBook project and am writing up a storm. I have lived and worked as a teacher in both South Korea and Japan for many years. Many of my most popular blog posts and video blogs are about the topic. Also, my story videos about my time in Asia often attract a large audience.
Once I learned more about self publishing on e-platforms such as the Amazon Kindle I was sold. If I could publish my own book, why not do it? I'm still working on a title, something I'm going to use crowd sourcing to help me (probably on my Facebook page....link is on the side of this blog) make a decision on.
Since I started blogging about teaching in Asia more than 6 years ago, I have fielded literally hundreds of questions about the topic. Why not put a lot of this information in book form and add several personal stories about my experiences in both countries?
I am hoping to have my first draft completed sometime in early October and then proofreading, editing, having someone else edit it and then off to eBook land, most likely the Kindle store.
There will be lots of updates on what I am doing here on this blog, but the best place to follow would be my BusanKevin Facebook page. I added a new widget this morning on the side of this blog to make that easier for you!
It's been a crazy week so far. A typhoon almost hit us and then crawled away in a wimpy fashion. Also, I had a birthday. Today was actually my birthday.
I suppose I can (this being a special day to let my hair down) let you know what I am working on. I have from time to time eluded on my Twitter account that I am in the midst of a "big" writing project. Well, I am. I am writing a book. more specifically, an eBook that I will be self publishing. This book will be about teaching in both Korea and Japan. I have a lot of experience working in both countries as well as Canada. I have been writing for some time now and have been asking amazing members of the teaching community for information and help on the project. You can expect the finished product this Fall sometime.
My new "Teaching in Asia" series is something that I going to compliment this book. I plan to make dozens of videos in this series. I think it will be a great resource for anyone out there interested in becoming a language teacher in Asia.
Here is the latest installment.
Teaching in Asia: Private Language Schools
Teaching in Asia! I plan to have a new and interesting thumbnail for each video.
How to Keep Upbeat and Happy During the Rainy Season in Japan: A Survival Guide
The rainy season has begun here in Japan and anyone who lives here or is thinking of moving here should know that every year, for a few weeks, we are locked in a world of constant rain and general wet misery. This bleak and dreary weather can often lead some to become depressed. If you follow my quick and easy tips though, you’ll never feel gloomy again during Japan’s rainy season!
1. Wear Hawaiian shirts everyday. It may be gloomy outside, but it will be a party everywhere you go!
2. Have loads of electric fans stationed throughout your apartment to dry the clothes you have to hang inside (no dryers here).
3. Install a large inflatable palm tree in the corner of your living room. It will give you that tropical feeling you so long for. My wife doesn’t know I plan to do this and she probably won’t like it too much, but I know my son sure will!
4. Booze! Lots of booze may help you forget this dreary period of the year. Go on a bender until rainy season is over. You’ll be just like a beautiful butterfly emerging from your drunken cocoon in the summer!
5. Quite your job and move to a desert region. Once the rainy season is over, move back to Japan and beg for your job back (it might just work).
6. If you are a runner like me, don’t let the rain discourage you. People in Japan may not run in the rain, but you sure did back home in Canada, America, U.K etc. Don’t forget your soaking wet running past!
7. Wear sunglasses everywhere you go and complain about how bright it always is! Convince yourself that it isn’t cloudy! Young women all around Japan wear large sunglasses inside, outside, during the daytime and nighttime....you'll blend right in!
8. Always keep the lights on in your apartment and buy several extra lamps. Make your apartment as bright as possible. Sure, it won’t be good for your power bill, but you’ll feel more cheery!
9. Drink heavily….ah wait…I already mentioned that one.
10. Only eat food from India, Jamaica, Korea and Mexico. Spicy food will warm you up. With that increased body temperature you might be fooled into believing it isn’t so damp and crappy outside.
Follow these tips and you’re sure to have a far more enjoyable rainy season here in Japan.
Also, don’t forget to take them with a grain of salt ;)
I am sick. It’s official. It came out of nowhere. Some coworkers couldn’t make it into work today because of illness, but I felt great. I suppose I did have some minor “blahs” to the heavy rain all day, but aside from that, was ready to teach and excited about hitting the road early in the morning for my first training run in several days (looks doubtful that run will happen).
I am feeling worse with every passing minute and will crawl into my cocoon (aka…bed) soon. I was however able to construct one piece of (out of 2) IKEA furniture that was delivered to our place this evening.
I decided to come up with a list of things to do when you suddenly become sick, but definitely have to go to the work in the morning:
1. Drink boat loads of water, herb tea and other hydrating fluids.
2. Take some over the counter cold medicine (not sick enough to necessitate a trip to the emergency room). Unfortuantely, cold medecine in Japan is pretty weak compared to what I am used to in Canada and really doesn’t help much. I suppose the placebo affect might be worth something.
3. Build IKEA furniture (but then realize you are too weak to finish the second book shelf).
4. Feel sorry for yourself (I’m really good at this one)!
5. Go to bed….night folks….
DOWN with being sick....especially on cold rainy nights!
You can follow me and my sick self on Twiter:@jlandkev
This morning when I woke up and sat down in front of my computer with my breakfast and coffee. I logged into You Tube and was pleasantly surprised to see that the Tsunami podcast did a profile of me on their weekly podcast about Japan-based content creators. It was quite cool.
In watching the video where Hiroki talked about my online presence and showcased some of my videos, past and present, I got to thinking about how I got to where I am today online.
I am by no means “famous” or even remotely “quasi-famous”, but I do have a wonderful and loyal following on both of my You Tube channels and a small, yet growing readership on this blog. My “success” on You Tube was achieved in a variety of ways:
1. Consistently make content. If you want to get noticed online you have to be constantly putting out a product. The more of “you” out there, the better chance there is that people will notice you. Also, once you begin to build an audience, they want to see you on a regular basis! If you are on You Tube, make videos frequently. If you blog, write several times a week.
2. Make a quality product. I of course mentioned that you must produce content consistently, but remember; no one wants to watch crap! Also, people don’t want to read crap. Make it fun, interesting and well done.
3. Write about or vlog about something you really love. If you love or really like what you are vlogging/blogging about, the passion shows and people will notice.
4. Find a niche. I’m still trying to do this! I know that if I did, I would find more success online. An example of this would be my friend Sara. She has been in Japan for quite some time and LOVES Starbucks. She is a fan of their products and their culture. She recently did a very cool thing. She began a blog about Starbucks in Japan. That is a great topic. There are many Starbucks/coffee fans out there and of course there are many Japan fans out there. She is killing two birds with one stone.
5. Network like nuts. I still haven’t done much of this with my blog, but have done loads over the years on You Tube. Get out there and meet people. Find other vloggers within your community or who make similar videos. Comment on their videos and blogs. Send them emails and messages. Form a relationship. This can take time, but that’s how you build your network. Once you have online allies, they will look out for you and also promote you!
6. Pay it forward. Karma is a real thing online. Do good for other vloggers and bloggers and you will build a solid reputation. In time, others will do good for you. Shout people out! Make videos or write blogs about other content creators you admire or like. Add them to your blogroll or liked vloggers box on You Tube. Shout people out in videos. When you begin to do this frequently, people will notice that you are a kind web citizen and eventually people will do the same for you.
These are some basic things you can do to help you channel or blog grow. Now, this doesn’t normally happen over night. For most successful vloggers and bloggers out there, it took a lot of time and work to achieve success. It takes time to build a network and build a body of content. If you want it enough and do it wisely though, success can definitely happen!
Now of course, I’d love it if all of you would check out Tsunami Ep. 9 - Busan Kevin, the video made about me, as a content creator:
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