Uploaded at flickr. There were more taken, but their all on my phone. When I get them off, I'll post them. As was, those were taken by Curi's phone. Mine's still not acting right . . .
Oh, and I stopped by Miyako Terebi on the way home and upped my internet speed for just another 1000yen a month. I want to cry my pics are uploading so quickly. Why didn't I do this sooner!?!? And I'm hoping this will fix my problems with Skype . . .
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Down with the Man
From raoin and mech_angel
"In March 2007, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the body that regulates postal policy in the United States, voted to drastically hike postal rates on small and independent periodicals.
"In March 2007, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the body that regulates postal policy in the United States, voted to drastically hike postal rates on small and independent periodicals.
"As a result, these smaller publications — a vital source of political opinion and ideas — are facing crippling rate increases that may force many of them to make significant cutbacks or even go out of business."
Doesn't seem like such a good Idea to me. I like the Idea of doing something about it.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Niigata and Back
I realized a little while ago, I'm taking a trip by myself, for myself, for the first time EVER. This is not a great feeling. But everything WILL be OKAY.
(written while scared on the plane leaving Miyako)
but that was then, this is now.
[Thursday]
I actually had enough time after work to do everything that I NEEDED to do before leaving. I didn't have time to finish cleaning. Or start cleaning, for that matter. At least the dishes got done. And the laundry.
So I ate (Mr. Doughnuts is having a Massive sale, so I ate pastries for dinner), got the airbed and pump and headed to the airport. I got there early, but better to be. Even if the entirety of check in and security took all of 10 minutes. And that’s cuz I took my time.
While waiting I dig into my new book, Terry Brooks’ Running with the Demon. Remember, I bought a Terry Brooks book on my first Amazon order, because it was on the best sellers list, and the review was “If you’ve never read a Terry Brooks book, The Genesis of Shannara is a great place to start.” So I thought, why not? And it was right. It was a highly enjoyable post apocalyptic magical read. Unfortunately it was 1) the first of a trilogy, and 2) newly published.
So I looked online during my last (2nd and most recent) Amazon order, and he has this trilogy, The Word and the Void that comes right before the Genesis trilogy and the characters in the Word trilogy are mentioned Heavily in the Gen tril. So I figured, why not? And yeah. So I started eating.
Also, while I’m waiting, there is this crackheaded gameshow on the TV where these two teams compete in a game of shiritori for REALLY good food. Shiritori, or head and tales, is a really good game for beginners as well as higher level learners of (just about) any language (although Japanese is easier to play then say, English). You start with a word (the game show was using 3 syllabul words while dancing and singing. And the Afro. Oh the Afro on the Japanese host . . . ) so, KitsuNE (fox) NEzuMI (mouse) MIruKU (milk), you get the idea? So, ya, very fun. And one of the contestants was so hot! Good to watch.
So I get on the plane, and my seat is next to this nice couple, the lady of which is pregnant. Not a lot, but enough for me to worry about her getting sick and the plane going down. It was not a very good flight. Mostly because of my brain and it’s irrational thoughts. But I ate more than half of my book (totally teared up when the main character talked about her childhood dog dying of cancer, remembering BJ, too clearly) and got to Tokyo without incident.
On the train I met this REALLY nice Korean lady who married a Japanese man and has houses in Soeul, Tokyo, and San Fransicso. We talked about my new life, and her kids in college (her son is at a Japanese school and struggling, mostly because of all of the kanji he hadn’t learned since he was 9 and how it was still a good experience and her daughter working in Fukuoka). She was even nice enough to wait fro me and transfer trains with me until we got to the Yamanote line and I had to go to Ueno and she had to go to Shinjuku.
I got to Ueno (and was feeling really tired by this point) but found the Oak Hotel easily. Checked in. Took my first bath In Japan (since I got here). And crashed.
[Friday]
The next morning I was woken up by Tiffany asking when and how we’re gonna meet up at 8:20 in an email. I email her that I’m sleeping til 9 and will contact her later after going to the Tourist Center. And she’s lucky she got that much.
By 9:20 I’m out the door, eating my cinnamon roll, taking pictures of the temple I passed on the way to the hotel the night before. I also prayed, rang the bell and everything. I wish I could find a temple in Miyako, they’re so peaceful. I like the idea of not praying to any One in particular, just the Universe in General. That’s when Tiffany emails me saying I’m a lazy a… The nerve.
So I get to the Tokyo Tourist Center (on the 10th floor of the Tokyo Kotsukaikan building, right in front of the JR Yamanote line’s Yarakucho station (just south of Tokyo station), phone number 0332013331) and they gave me a highway map and were very helpful. Then I took about an hour on the subway to get to Tiffany’s school (after enlisting the help of 2 station workers and a random nice lady who speaks English to help me figure out where I was going) and I eat lunch with her and together (attempt) to direct Chris, who was driving down from Murakami, Niigata-ken, to come pick me up. Theory was that yes, I could spend the 10,000en to take the shinkansen up to meet Chris at her city’s train station. Or she could drive down (she likes driving, and her rental car doesn’t count mileage) and we’d have 5 hours of talking to spend together. Theory worked. We met up and I said bye to Tiffany and found Chris, just with enough time for me to realize that Tiffany kept the map, but Chris remembered where to go and we got back, no problem, for (one way) cheaper than the shinkansen and we talked the whole 5 hours. It. Was. Awesome.
In Murakami we met up with Joel (their RA, like our Block Heads, just not as interesting an name) and ate really good Ramen (I had Sapporo style) then we played darts (I don’t stick, I’m not good, but I don’t stick enough to win or place 2nd each game), and had drinks with Joel, Shan (or Sean, I don’t know), Katrina, and Katrina’s friend Becca who was also up for the weekend. Good evening. Then we went home and crashed.
[Saturday]
The next day, we got up, made pancakes, watched all of the new episodes of Avatar (except the one the Just aired, like 4 hours ago, Friday night), did some sight seeing in the rain, so we didn’t see much, but I met 2 of the 20 (?) buddhas that protect Murakami. We had lunch at the Sukiya, cuz Miyako doesn’t have them, and I missed it, where I ate nikudon covered in 3 cheeses. Heavenly.
Then we drove to Shibata (45 min or so) and went shopping at the mall. Because they have one. I bought a Wonka bar, some Christmas presents, some tosey socks, a new hematite necklace, among other stuff. Then we stopped at the Book Off (because we SERIOUSLY don’t have one) and I got some art books. Two by Yoshitaka Amano, my favorite artist, and some anime/manga art books. They make me happy. And an xmas present for Leo.
Then back home in time to go to the famous Senagawa (?) Onsen, which had 1 indoor bath, and 4 outdoor ones. Kinda cool (temperature wise), but fun and relaxing. Then we finish just in time to MISS kaitenzushi (sushi on a conveyer belt) and eat pizza and French fries at a diner. Then home to make a cheese cake and watch the NEW Avatar and the first ep of Hana Kimi. We were so full, so no cheese cake that night, but the next morning . . .
[Sunday]
We got up and had cheese cake for breakfast followed by kaitenzushi for lunch (one right after the other) (Oh! The salmon was awesome! Just like I imagined!!) then popped over to Jusco to buy some happy toys and some Final Fantasy Potions. And here’s where I really get to see how much Leo reads my journal. Cuz he’s getting one for Christmas, and we’ll see how much of a surprise it is. Then to bank and Curi’s main school, Higachuu for a bit of their something or another festival. The kids had decorated their classrooms and then each of the 3 grades competed in a chorus contest. They were soooo good. So much better than my shogakkusei. And the 3rd years were the best of all. I guess by 9th grade your voice kinda balances out.
Then we (im)politely excused ourselves and went for a drive around the (now sunny) Murakami and surrounding area. Will post pictures in a bit. It’s just gorgeous.
We even found a “park” that had trials. And yes, those stairs were practically vertical, but I Climbed A Mountain! (or part of it anyway) and I Felt Good.
Then we made it back to Higabhuu for the Otsukare party, which was a nomihodai (all you can drink) but there was an awesome selection of Japanese style food too, and we had some good converstions with Curi’s supervisor (who seemed a lot more comfortable when I started talking Japanese to her, Chris has been told not to talk Japanese to her English teachers, but I’d forgotten that in the all you can drinking), Curi’s principal, and the Math teacher, Maruyama-sensei, who had the misfortune to be sat next to me, but warmed up nicely after (drinking a lot) and some polite Japanese conversation. He was adorable!
Then we politely (for real this time) excused ourselves to go to a different onsen, which was more expensive, smaller, but the outdoor bath was on the 3rd floor, which had a really nice view of the night lights that neither of us could see without our glasses. But we could imagine. And the massage chairs were free at this onsen. Very nice time.
We left, because we were getting tired, and on our way out I bought my omiyage (“souveniers” but more like obligatory gifts to coworkers), because Niigata is famous for it’s rice, I got some mochi snacks, which are made from rice, and easy to distribute around the office. Then we got home, shared some files (pictures, shows, etc) and got to bed waaaay too late to . . .
[Monday]
Wake up at 5 in the morning. Chris drove me to the station, I caught my train. Slept a bit, transferred to the shinkansen, slept some more. Got some good pictures on my phone (that I can’t get off without a micro SD card), transferred at Tokyo Station, transferred again at Hamamatsucho and got off at Haneda airport.
I finally had breakfast, which was a toasted ham and brie sandwich on a baguette. Envy me that sandwich. It was very, very tasty.
After I checked in I tried to find an English magazine and failed. So I went through security in less than 3 minutes and actually got to my gate in time for the earlier flight. But was told I’d bough such a cheap ticket that I couldn’t transfer it, even earlier. So ya, ate more of my book. Wrote a few emails from my keitai. Finnaly got on the plane to Naha, which took almost as long as flying to Miyao directly, where I had a row of seats all to myself, where I saw a perfect view of Mt. Fuji that just kept going as we went around it, no camera though :( During the flight we passed over another island I hadn’t previously known existed. It was gorgeous. Mountains straight up to the sea, but not cliffs. Really beautiful.
I killed the first Word and the Void book and began the second. Then another layover in Naha (which was so warm I changed out of my jeans into my pajama capris and I’m still hot).
I ate a nikumon that wasn’t called that. Aguichi (kanji) mon. Or something. But I asked and yeah, pork inside. Tastey, but not enough.
And then I wrote this accounting by hand. I just finished and we just got high enough on my Naha-Miyako flight for me to take a picture out of the window. I hope it comes out, the clouds are gorgeous.
So yeah. 14 one sided, handwritten pages. And I’m going back to my book :D
(written while scared on the plane leaving Miyako)
but that was then, this is now.
[Thursday]
I actually had enough time after work to do everything that I NEEDED to do before leaving. I didn't have time to finish cleaning. Or start cleaning, for that matter. At least the dishes got done. And the laundry.
So I ate (Mr. Doughnuts is having a Massive sale, so I ate pastries for dinner), got the airbed and pump and headed to the airport. I got there early, but better to be. Even if the entirety of check in and security took all of 10 minutes. And that’s cuz I took my time.
While waiting I dig into my new book, Terry Brooks’ Running with the Demon. Remember, I bought a Terry Brooks book on my first Amazon order, because it was on the best sellers list, and the review was “If you’ve never read a Terry Brooks book, The Genesis of Shannara is a great place to start.” So I thought, why not? And it was right. It was a highly enjoyable post apocalyptic magical read. Unfortunately it was 1) the first of a trilogy, and 2) newly published.
So I looked online during my last (2nd and most recent) Amazon order, and he has this trilogy, The Word and the Void that comes right before the Genesis trilogy and the characters in the Word trilogy are mentioned Heavily in the Gen tril. So I figured, why not? And yeah. So I started eating.
Also, while I’m waiting, there is this crackheaded gameshow on the TV where these two teams compete in a game of shiritori for REALLY good food. Shiritori, or head and tales, is a really good game for beginners as well as higher level learners of (just about) any language (although Japanese is easier to play then say, English). You start with a word (the game show was using 3 syllabul words while dancing and singing. And the Afro. Oh the Afro on the Japanese host . . . ) so, KitsuNE (fox) NEzuMI (mouse) MIruKU (milk), you get the idea? So, ya, very fun. And one of the contestants was so hot! Good to watch.
So I get on the plane, and my seat is next to this nice couple, the lady of which is pregnant. Not a lot, but enough for me to worry about her getting sick and the plane going down. It was not a very good flight. Mostly because of my brain and it’s irrational thoughts. But I ate more than half of my book (totally teared up when the main character talked about her childhood dog dying of cancer, remembering BJ, too clearly) and got to Tokyo without incident.
On the train I met this REALLY nice Korean lady who married a Japanese man and has houses in Soeul, Tokyo, and San Fransicso. We talked about my new life, and her kids in college (her son is at a Japanese school and struggling, mostly because of all of the kanji he hadn’t learned since he was 9 and how it was still a good experience and her daughter working in Fukuoka). She was even nice enough to wait fro me and transfer trains with me until we got to the Yamanote line and I had to go to Ueno and she had to go to Shinjuku.
I got to Ueno (and was feeling really tired by this point) but found the Oak Hotel easily. Checked in. Took my first bath In Japan (since I got here). And crashed.
[Friday]
The next morning I was woken up by Tiffany asking when and how we’re gonna meet up at 8:20 in an email. I email her that I’m sleeping til 9 and will contact her later after going to the Tourist Center. And she’s lucky she got that much.
By 9:20 I’m out the door, eating my cinnamon roll, taking pictures of the temple I passed on the way to the hotel the night before. I also prayed, rang the bell and everything. I wish I could find a temple in Miyako, they’re so peaceful. I like the idea of not praying to any One in particular, just the Universe in General. That’s when Tiffany emails me saying I’m a lazy a… The nerve.
So I get to the Tokyo Tourist Center (on the 10th floor of the Tokyo Kotsukaikan building, right in front of the JR Yamanote line’s Yarakucho station (just south of Tokyo station), phone number 0332013331) and they gave me a highway map and were very helpful. Then I took about an hour on the subway to get to Tiffany’s school (after enlisting the help of 2 station workers and a random nice lady who speaks English to help me figure out where I was going) and I eat lunch with her and together (attempt) to direct Chris, who was driving down from Murakami, Niigata-ken, to come pick me up. Theory was that yes, I could spend the 10,000en to take the shinkansen up to meet Chris at her city’s train station. Or she could drive down (she likes driving, and her rental car doesn’t count mileage) and we’d have 5 hours of talking to spend together. Theory worked. We met up and I said bye to Tiffany and found Chris, just with enough time for me to realize that Tiffany kept the map, but Chris remembered where to go and we got back, no problem, for (one way) cheaper than the shinkansen and we talked the whole 5 hours. It. Was. Awesome.
In Murakami we met up with Joel (their RA, like our Block Heads, just not as interesting an name) and ate really good Ramen (I had Sapporo style) then we played darts (I don’t stick, I’m not good, but I don’t stick enough to win or place 2nd each game), and had drinks with Joel, Shan (or Sean, I don’t know), Katrina, and Katrina’s friend Becca who was also up for the weekend. Good evening. Then we went home and crashed.
[Saturday]
The next day, we got up, made pancakes, watched all of the new episodes of Avatar (except the one the Just aired, like 4 hours ago, Friday night), did some sight seeing in the rain, so we didn’t see much, but I met 2 of the 20 (?) buddhas that protect Murakami. We had lunch at the Sukiya, cuz Miyako doesn’t have them, and I missed it, where I ate nikudon covered in 3 cheeses. Heavenly.
Then we drove to Shibata (45 min or so) and went shopping at the mall. Because they have one. I bought a Wonka bar, some Christmas presents, some tosey socks, a new hematite necklace, among other stuff. Then we stopped at the Book Off (because we SERIOUSLY don’t have one) and I got some art books. Two by Yoshitaka Amano, my favorite artist, and some anime/manga art books. They make me happy. And an xmas present for Leo.
Then back home in time to go to the famous Senagawa (?) Onsen, which had 1 indoor bath, and 4 outdoor ones. Kinda cool (temperature wise), but fun and relaxing. Then we finish just in time to MISS kaitenzushi (sushi on a conveyer belt) and eat pizza and French fries at a diner. Then home to make a cheese cake and watch the NEW Avatar and the first ep of Hana Kimi. We were so full, so no cheese cake that night, but the next morning . . .
[Sunday]
We got up and had cheese cake for breakfast followed by kaitenzushi for lunch (one right after the other) (Oh! The salmon was awesome! Just like I imagined!!) then popped over to Jusco to buy some happy toys and some Final Fantasy Potions. And here’s where I really get to see how much Leo reads my journal. Cuz he’s getting one for Christmas, and we’ll see how much of a surprise it is. Then to bank and Curi’s main school, Higachuu for a bit of their something or another festival. The kids had decorated their classrooms and then each of the 3 grades competed in a chorus contest. They were soooo good. So much better than my shogakkusei. And the 3rd years were the best of all. I guess by 9th grade your voice kinda balances out.
Then we (im)politely excused ourselves and went for a drive around the (now sunny) Murakami and surrounding area. Will post pictures in a bit. It’s just gorgeous.
We even found a “park” that had trials. And yes, those stairs were practically vertical, but I Climbed A Mountain! (or part of it anyway) and I Felt Good.
Then we made it back to Higabhuu for the Otsukare party, which was a nomihodai (all you can drink) but there was an awesome selection of Japanese style food too, and we had some good converstions with Curi’s supervisor (who seemed a lot more comfortable when I started talking Japanese to her, Chris has been told not to talk Japanese to her English teachers, but I’d forgotten that in the all you can drinking), Curi’s principal, and the Math teacher, Maruyama-sensei, who had the misfortune to be sat next to me, but warmed up nicely after (drinking a lot) and some polite Japanese conversation. He was adorable!
Then we politely (for real this time) excused ourselves to go to a different onsen, which was more expensive, smaller, but the outdoor bath was on the 3rd floor, which had a really nice view of the night lights that neither of us could see without our glasses. But we could imagine. And the massage chairs were free at this onsen. Very nice time.
We left, because we were getting tired, and on our way out I bought my omiyage (“souveniers” but more like obligatory gifts to coworkers), because Niigata is famous for it’s rice, I got some mochi snacks, which are made from rice, and easy to distribute around the office. Then we got home, shared some files (pictures, shows, etc) and got to bed waaaay too late to . . .
[Monday]
Wake up at 5 in the morning. Chris drove me to the station, I caught my train. Slept a bit, transferred to the shinkansen, slept some more. Got some good pictures on my phone (that I can’t get off without a micro SD card), transferred at Tokyo Station, transferred again at Hamamatsucho and got off at Haneda airport.
I finally had breakfast, which was a toasted ham and brie sandwich on a baguette. Envy me that sandwich. It was very, very tasty.
After I checked in I tried to find an English magazine and failed. So I went through security in less than 3 minutes and actually got to my gate in time for the earlier flight. But was told I’d bough such a cheap ticket that I couldn’t transfer it, even earlier. So ya, ate more of my book. Wrote a few emails from my keitai. Finnaly got on the plane to Naha, which took almost as long as flying to Miyao directly, where I had a row of seats all to myself, where I saw a perfect view of Mt. Fuji that just kept going as we went around it, no camera though :( During the flight we passed over another island I hadn’t previously known existed. It was gorgeous. Mountains straight up to the sea, but not cliffs. Really beautiful.
I killed the first Word and the Void book and began the second. Then another layover in Naha (which was so warm I changed out of my jeans into my pajama capris and I’m still hot).
I ate a nikumon that wasn’t called that. Aguichi (kanji) mon. Or something. But I asked and yeah, pork inside. Tastey, but not enough.
And then I wrote this accounting by hand. I just finished and we just got high enough on my Naha-Miyako flight for me to take a picture out of the window. I hope it comes out, the clouds are gorgeous.
So yeah. 14 one sided, handwritten pages. And I’m going back to my book :D
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Okay
Not bringing puter. Might be on this weekend, will definitely post when I get back, or shortly thereafter, as I'm not bringing my computer, I can't really work on Wednesday's lesson . . .
Anyway, let's escape from this heat a bit! *she says as sweat literally drips down her face*
Anyway, let's escape from this heat a bit! *she says as sweat literally drips down her face*
Let's learn new Japanese!
I learned a new Okinawan saying today. Jyuugatsu natsu. Yes, that is in standard Japanese. Yes, it means October summer. It:s 31 degrees right now. And yes, I mean degrees C. So yeah, about 88 degrees F. No wonder sweat was dripping down the back of my Green Acres teeshirt. And no, no one:s commented that I:m not allowed to wear a big teeshirt with a giant green alligator on it. The kids have actually smiled, pointed, and said the Japanese word for it. Which I can:t remember right now.
Another little snapshot of how the Japanese language works so simply (I love Japanese spoken, it:s really easy to learn once you wrap your head around the backwardsness of it). The kids in 5-1 were talking about Kita Chuu (Kita Chuugakko, or middle school), and they were saying how there are a lot of gang-like people there. I know these kids aren:t actually in a gang, but they act that way and talk that way because they want to appear tough. I think it:s just kinda cute and am glad I don:t work with those kids. (On Tuesday I had to teach the 6th years, and they Just Weren:t Listening and I said in my broken Japanese, Look, if we don:t practice the vocabulary, we won:t play the game, we can do boring practice the whole class, and they were quiet, did exactly as I said, and had fun. I don:t think the ganguro kids would react so easily.) But they were talking about how scary the kids were, and after I clarified what they were talking about, I said *un, chotto kowai* *yeah, a little scary,* and the boy next to me said *chotto jya nai yo* *not a little, I assure you* or as I translated it in my head, because it seems to me that spoken English is generally more complex than spoken Japanese *nothin' little about it* which I found just so cute. I mean, yeah, it stinks that this kid is scared of the other kids, and I feel kinda helpless because I don:t know how to say to the kid, don:t worry, they:re all just bluff. But I liked the exchange.
It was a good lunch.
Not that the food was all that tasty, but the conversation was good.
Another little snapshot of how the Japanese language works so simply (I love Japanese spoken, it:s really easy to learn once you wrap your head around the backwardsness of it). The kids in 5-1 were talking about Kita Chuu (Kita Chuugakko, or middle school), and they were saying how there are a lot of gang-like people there. I know these kids aren:t actually in a gang, but they act that way and talk that way because they want to appear tough. I think it:s just kinda cute and am glad I don:t work with those kids. (On Tuesday I had to teach the 6th years, and they Just Weren:t Listening and I said in my broken Japanese, Look, if we don:t practice the vocabulary, we won:t play the game, we can do boring practice the whole class, and they were quiet, did exactly as I said, and had fun. I don:t think the ganguro kids would react so easily.) But they were talking about how scary the kids were, and after I clarified what they were talking about, I said *un, chotto kowai* *yeah, a little scary,* and the boy next to me said *chotto jya nai yo* *not a little, I assure you* or as I translated it in my head, because it seems to me that spoken English is generally more complex than spoken Japanese *nothin' little about it* which I found just so cute. I mean, yeah, it stinks that this kid is scared of the other kids, and I feel kinda helpless because I don:t know how to say to the kid, don:t worry, they:re all just bluff. But I liked the exchange.
It was a good lunch.
Not that the food was all that tasty, but the conversation was good.
A snapshot for you
I gave out a crossword puzzle to the 6th years as they finished the word search (together they were alotted 10 minutes, not a bad low key way to end a lesson), and I was asking them if they could do it, and if they looked nervous, I actually explained it. Specifically, when I asked one of my boys, he said *dekiru hazu.* SEEEE!?!?!?!? You can use it like that!!!! :P (dekiru = to be able to do, hazu = it is expected that, so *it:s expected that I can do it* for example kuru hazu = it is expected that I can come, (but something may come up))
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
An update before I run away
This weekend I:m running away to Niigata. This trip was planned a little before I figured out the best ways of getting around in Japan, so it:s not planned so thouroughly as I would like, and I:m spending more money than I inteded, but I:ll get to see curi, and hopefully eat some sushi that:s not grown in warm water. Some salmon would be nice. They don:t have that here. And it:s kinda a specialty in Niigata, so I hear.
My plan is to fly out tomorrow evening and get to my hotel in Tokyo before they close the doors. I *shouldn:t* have to run. Then the next day I will maybe meet up with Tiffany for a little bit before curi drives down from Niigata to meet me and we both drive back.
Then I run around Yuki-kuni for two days and head back on the shinkansen on Monday to Tokyo to catch my plane back to the island life. I hope it:s WARM here when I get back. My kids are all still wearing shorts and I had that sweat is dripping down my back sensation today. It:s nice. Weird, but for the latitude, normal, which is nice.
I still don:t have my costume done, my house is a mess, and I have to take the trash out on my way to the airport tomorrow (hopefully noone will mind it being out there from 5:00pm the night before, hopefully the dogs won:t get into it). I don:t even know yet if I:m bringing my computer or leaving it at home. I:ll probably end up bringing it, but that:s just because i want to write, which is silly, I should be able to write by hand, and probably will on the plane. (Oh God, I just realized I:m going to be flying in a plane. I:d forgotten that part of this plan. Gods, I hate flying) But the computer allows me to think so much quicker, and allows me to go back and edit works, something that I hate doing by hand. And my voice is different. It:s funny how I can tell if I:ve written something by hand or by computer just by the tone of voice. And that I repeat words and make shorter sentences by hand. Because they look longer on the notebook page than on the computer screen, so I cut them off sooner. And I repeat words more often because there are fewer words on each page, so I can:t see how often I:ve used a particular word. And having a thesaurus at your fingertips is amazing.
So yeah, I:ll probably bring it. That doesn:t mean I:ll be happy about it. It:s heavy. Hopefully I won:t have to run. I don:t like the idea of my computer bouncy on my back as I run down an unfamiliar tokyo street. But I have the number of the hotel. If I:m running late I will call them.
In other news, I:ve finished the book I started 2 days ago. I ate it yesterday. Mostly because I really needed to. I was HUNGRY for good reading, my last book, as you well know, was really hard for me, and the fact that this one slid down my throat so easily was not just pleasurable, it was tasty. Moon Called, Patricia Briggs. Werewolves in Washington (state). Modern day, but the fae have *come out of the closet,* as it were. Main character is not a werewolf, but was raised by them. Really good reading. So good I:m looking into her other books for my next order. But it seems like the other books are high fantasy, and not modern fantasy, which I like a whole lot better. But I liked her characters and writing style enough that I might read them anyway. And the fact that she:s one of those who makes me really like a character before killing him/her off. That makes me respect her.
Oh, and my Grandmotts is in the hospital again. You know, she:s my poster child for anti-smoking, she:s been dying of emphazema for, what, 5 years now? Which is pretty good, she:s a tough one. She was a high school principal for a very long time before she retired. She:s where the phrase, By the Book Bundschu comes from (and yes, you know how much I fit that bill). So yeah, in the hospital again, and not looking really bad, but bad enough to be in the hospital again. I called her a bit last night. She was tired from talking after 2 minutes. Literally, skype times the calls. She:s actually one of the reasons I was worried about coming to Japan in the first place. I:m worried that she:ll die while I:m over here and won:t be able to go to the funeral. I mean, I:m worried that she:ll die anyway, but this just makes it worse that I won:t be there for/with my family.
So yeah, that was me expressing. Don:t smoke, kids. It:ll kill you. And hurt everyone you love while it does it.
So tonight I plan to clean, pack, cook the last of my tofu, collect my garbage (so I just have to come home, grab my suitcase and chuck the garbage at the curb), and run away to see my best friend on this side of the planet for the weekend. I:m soooo looking forward to this weekend, you would not believe.
My plan is to fly out tomorrow evening and get to my hotel in Tokyo before they close the doors. I *shouldn:t* have to run. Then the next day I will maybe meet up with Tiffany for a little bit before curi drives down from Niigata to meet me and we both drive back.
Then I run around Yuki-kuni for two days and head back on the shinkansen on Monday to Tokyo to catch my plane back to the island life. I hope it:s WARM here when I get back. My kids are all still wearing shorts and I had that sweat is dripping down my back sensation today. It:s nice. Weird, but for the latitude, normal, which is nice.
I still don:t have my costume done, my house is a mess, and I have to take the trash out on my way to the airport tomorrow (hopefully noone will mind it being out there from 5:00pm the night before, hopefully the dogs won:t get into it). I don:t even know yet if I:m bringing my computer or leaving it at home. I:ll probably end up bringing it, but that:s just because i want to write, which is silly, I should be able to write by hand, and probably will on the plane. (Oh God, I just realized I:m going to be flying in a plane. I:d forgotten that part of this plan. Gods, I hate flying) But the computer allows me to think so much quicker, and allows me to go back and edit works, something that I hate doing by hand. And my voice is different. It:s funny how I can tell if I:ve written something by hand or by computer just by the tone of voice. And that I repeat words and make shorter sentences by hand. Because they look longer on the notebook page than on the computer screen, so I cut them off sooner. And I repeat words more often because there are fewer words on each page, so I can:t see how often I:ve used a particular word. And having a thesaurus at your fingertips is amazing.
So yeah, I:ll probably bring it. That doesn:t mean I:ll be happy about it. It:s heavy. Hopefully I won:t have to run. I don:t like the idea of my computer bouncy on my back as I run down an unfamiliar tokyo street. But I have the number of the hotel. If I:m running late I will call them.
In other news, I:ve finished the book I started 2 days ago. I ate it yesterday. Mostly because I really needed to. I was HUNGRY for good reading, my last book, as you well know, was really hard for me, and the fact that this one slid down my throat so easily was not just pleasurable, it was tasty. Moon Called, Patricia Briggs. Werewolves in Washington (state). Modern day, but the fae have *come out of the closet,* as it were. Main character is not a werewolf, but was raised by them. Really good reading. So good I:m looking into her other books for my next order. But it seems like the other books are high fantasy, and not modern fantasy, which I like a whole lot better. But I liked her characters and writing style enough that I might read them anyway. And the fact that she:s one of those who makes me really like a character before killing him/her off. That makes me respect her.
Oh, and my Grandmotts is in the hospital again. You know, she:s my poster child for anti-smoking, she:s been dying of emphazema for, what, 5 years now? Which is pretty good, she:s a tough one. She was a high school principal for a very long time before she retired. She:s where the phrase, By the Book Bundschu comes from (and yes, you know how much I fit that bill). So yeah, in the hospital again, and not looking really bad, but bad enough to be in the hospital again. I called her a bit last night. She was tired from talking after 2 minutes. Literally, skype times the calls. She:s actually one of the reasons I was worried about coming to Japan in the first place. I:m worried that she:ll die while I:m over here and won:t be able to go to the funeral. I mean, I:m worried that she:ll die anyway, but this just makes it worse that I won:t be there for/with my family.
So yeah, that was me expressing. Don:t smoke, kids. It:ll kill you. And hurt everyone you love while it does it.
So tonight I plan to clean, pack, cook the last of my tofu, collect my garbage (so I just have to come home, grab my suitcase and chuck the garbage at the curb), and run away to see my best friend on this side of the planet for the weekend. I:m soooo looking forward to this weekend, you would not believe.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Beach clean up and Halloween craziness
So today I Woke Up to the sound of my alarm clock telling me to get out of bed. I'd like to remind you all that this was a Sunday Morning. But I got up, got out of the house in 30 minutes, and arrived at Yoshino beach only 15 minutes late because I got lost (I followed one sign to Yoshino, and it passed Aragusuku, which is just north of Yoshino, but then all of a sudden I was at the road to go to the cape. Grrrr), but then I met up with David (DAH-vid, the Germen CIR), Teresa, Kirsty, Jonathan, and a bunch of Japanese people I didn't know to clean up the beach. They provided us with gloves and bags and we got to. I didn't fill up a single bag, but I did 3 half bags. The first one was half filled with little bits of broken glass and it was getting heavy and I was worried that the bag would tear. The second one was half filled with Styrofoam, but I also found a beach blanket type thing under the trees (right after I found the spider inside the small flotation ball, that was fun), and it was heavy, so I headed back. And the third one was truthfully 3/4 of the way full of debree, Styrofoam, glass, and all kinds of plastic bits, and I found a large sheet of plastic in (I think it was) a natrual spring that flowed down from the cliffs into the beach, and that was REALLY heavy so I dragged it back and then they told me it was okay to stop. I was out there for about 3 hours. Then we sat down under the canopy of the trees in this kinda tent and one of the ladies made us Dango (dumplings) in a "sweet soup" that had red beans in it. It was So Good. I was really surprised when they said that there was sea water in it, but that was because the recipe calls for salt (to bring out the sweet flavor, don't ask me how), and they didn't have enough, so they added some salt water. It was perfect.
After, I Could have just gone home, but I decided why not and went to Maehama. There was a volleyball tourny going on, but I don't want to play in those until I get better (with how little I'm playing, I don't think I'll actually get to the point of wanting to play in the tournys) because I don't want to be the reason my team loses. So I watched Teresa, Jeff, Justin, and Jason play and then went for a 500m swim. Yes, I went to the beach and had a swim on October 21st. This is awesome. It was really cold, the water, I mean, because as soon as I decided to swim the sun ran away. But as soon as I was moving I was fine. And then I was cold again when I got out because the sun was still away and the wind was blowing, but I was fine after I dried off a bit. I love my island.
After my kester was dry enough to not soak my car seat, I drove over to Sazan to try to find some face paint, which I did, but it's the clown type, and was kinda expensive for only wanting to use white. So I'm still thinking if I wanna go back an buy it. I'm gonna ask Chris and Tiffany if they can find some at a better price for what I want to do. Then I went over to San-e and bought the fabric to make the darn thing, which was much more expensive than I thought (48yen apparently means 480yen per meter), but I'm commited to doing it now. Even if noone seems to have a sewing mashine and I have to do it all by hand. Wooo!
By the way, I've decided to be a yurei. So, information here. Pictures here, here, here, here, here, and here.
So yeah, I have about 4 days to make a kimono by hand. Yep, this week's gonna be interesting.
After, I Could have just gone home, but I decided why not and went to Maehama. There was a volleyball tourny going on, but I don't want to play in those until I get better (with how little I'm playing, I don't think I'll actually get to the point of wanting to play in the tournys) because I don't want to be the reason my team loses. So I watched Teresa, Jeff, Justin, and Jason play and then went for a 500m swim. Yes, I went to the beach and had a swim on October 21st. This is awesome. It was really cold, the water, I mean, because as soon as I decided to swim the sun ran away. But as soon as I was moving I was fine. And then I was cold again when I got out because the sun was still away and the wind was blowing, but I was fine after I dried off a bit. I love my island.
After my kester was dry enough to not soak my car seat, I drove over to Sazan to try to find some face paint, which I did, but it's the clown type, and was kinda expensive for only wanting to use white. So I'm still thinking if I wanna go back an buy it. I'm gonna ask Chris and Tiffany if they can find some at a better price for what I want to do. Then I went over to San-e and bought the fabric to make the darn thing, which was much more expensive than I thought (48yen apparently means 480yen per meter), but I'm commited to doing it now. Even if noone seems to have a sewing mashine and I have to do it all by hand. Wooo!
By the way, I've decided to be a yurei. So, information here. Pictures here, here, here, here, here, and here.
So yeah, I have about 4 days to make a kimono by hand. Yep, this week's gonna be interesting.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Halloween
I've figured out what I'm doing for my Halloween costume. Now I just need find a fabric store to make it.
Friday, October 19, 2007
I feel so accomplished
This is me, feeling accomplished.
Nenkyuu, asked for and gotten.
Plane for Naha to meet Natalie in December, reserved and paid for. (had to pay cash, machine wouldn't take card).
Plane to Osaka, reserved and paid for.
Amazon.co.jp order paid for (at Family Mart. It was hard. 3 people had to help me).
Hotel in Oki City, reserved.
Now I just need to reserve my hotel in Naha for Friday of the mid year conference (myc, if I refer to it later), in Osaka, and in Naha for Natalie and me.
But still, I feel like I got a lot done in the last 2 hours. And I feel so po' now. No more spending. I'm gonna have to get these trips' expenses all out today's pay check, and man, is that gonna have to stretch.
Now for the big glass of OJ that loves me.
Nenkyuu, asked for and gotten.
Plane for Naha to meet Natalie in December, reserved and paid for. (had to pay cash, machine wouldn't take card).
Plane to Osaka, reserved and paid for.
Amazon.co.jp order paid for (at Family Mart. It was hard. 3 people had to help me).
Hotel in Oki City, reserved.
Now I just need to reserve my hotel in Naha for Friday of the mid year conference (myc, if I refer to it later), in Osaka, and in Naha for Natalie and me.
But still, I feel like I got a lot done in the last 2 hours. And I feel so po' now. No more spending. I'm gonna have to get these trips' expenses all out today's pay check, and man, is that gonna have to stretch.
Now for the big glass of OJ that loves me.
So, about those free plane tickets I won
I:ve decided to use them to go to Osaka. Not that this will make my Osaka trip with my parents boring, just different, because when the family goes we:ll be spacing it out between Osaka, Nara, Kyoto and the like. This trip is with friends (Curi, Maru-ne, and Tiffany (I feel weird calling her Tiffy-chan, she might just turn into Chifu, but I haven:t decided yet) and will be for that weird Friday holiday that we in November. I:m taking (an ungodly amount) 3 days of nenkyuu for this trip, just so that I can use the free tickets (which black out during holidays, of course) because when you break it down, which costs more, an extra night at a hotel or a full plane flight? This:ll mean that I:ll have taken 6 days of my 20 for one semester of work. Which I guess is less than 1/3, and (knock on wood) so long as nothing bad happens, I should be working out okay.
So yeah, decided this last night. So today I:ve gotten approved for 2.5 days of nenkyuu, and will go book my plane tonight after school if I get that last bit approved (I asked my supervisor, which is 1\2 of what I need for each day, and I:ve asked Heiichi, cuz I:m taking two of their days, but I have to drive to Sunagawa after I get off work to ask for their permission too, that last 1/2 of one day). I:ve also looked up a bunch of possible hotels and sent them off to the other 3 girls for final review. I feel all kinds of accomplished.
I guess if other people want to come on the trip too, I won:t say no, but I:m really looking forward to the close friend time, you know? Honestly I think I would be happy if we didn:t go anywhere and just stayed in the hotel talking. But if we:re in a great city, then we do need to go around, you know? I guess what I:m saying is if people ask to come too, great, although while I:m there I might not hang out with you as much, and if not, that:s good too.
Stupid free ticket making me all kinds of stressed out. But I:m still happy that I won it. I should save me about 25000yen. I hope, anyway.
I:ve been feeling a bit depressed/stressed this week. Not figuring out what I was doing with my lesson til Tuesday didn:t help, and then getting everything ready for the Mid Year Conference didn:t help (although why I got it in my head that I Had to do that this week, I don:t know, but it:s almost done, I just have to call the hotels I want to stay at and reserve my room). And I:ve just been feeling lonely. No really reason behind it, I don:t think, just one of those "I:m on the other side of the planet from most of my friends and family and not feeling the love that I know everyone is sending me" moments. Which is why I:m really glad I get to go see Curi next weekend, and I get to see her again in November along with Maru-ne and Tiffany, and I get to see Veronica in early Nov too. And I get to see Natalie for week and a half just the two of us (although I might kill her or she me, for that long, but eh), and I get to see my Marmy and Daddy shortly after. And in March I get to see Leo, who when I was talking to him earlier this week (go me for actually taking that hour long nap so I was awake enough to talk to him), I asked where he wanted to go, besides my island, because I didn:t want him to get bored, and he said "I don:t really care, we can just stay on your island. I just want to see you." And yes, I cried. Just a little bit, but yeah.
Oh, and I asked some of my teachers about the weather the past few days. Apparently it:s been freakishly cold here for October. And it:s only been in the mid 70:s. I:m hoping to get several more visits to the beach in this season. I hope it warms back up.
Oh, and if everyone could (while I:m thinking about weather) take a moment and pray, send good thoughts to, ask the universe nicely (whatever you believe in) for there to be rain in Georgia, I:d really appreciate it. It needs to happen, now lets use that power of positive thinking and think/pray rainclouds. Big thick rainclouds that hang in the bottom they are so full of torrentual downpoars. Big, think, black omnious rain clouds that cover the horizon from east to west, north to south, that won:t go away until the earth has drunk it:s fill and can:t take any more. Let:s all think something like that.
Hmmm. In other news. Other than school work, I:ve caught up to the Japanese release in Bleach, started reading Moon Called (Patricia Briggs, another random I:m trying), started reading Zombie Powder (only 4 volumes, and I:ve read the first . . . 2? already), watched the first 2 episodes of Reaper (not bad, reminds me of Psych, in writing style and direction), watched the first 4 episodes of Heroes (I:ve caught up with the American release), watched Smallville as it came out, and yeah. Cleaned my apartment a bit at a time (the mess just moves around as I clean one section and the other sections get messy, then I clean the next and the last section becomes no longer prestine). Which I was hoping to have completely clean by Saturday, when I:m hosting a dinner party, but seeing how I:ve only gotten one resounding maybe, if I don:t hear from anyone by tonight, I:m just gonna send the email out saying never mind, maybe in December. Because next week I:m out of town, the week after I:m here, but I:ll be recovering, then Ishigaki, then Naha, then Osaka, then break. Then on the 14th (of December we:re talking) Naha again for Natalie, then family until January. I wonder if people will wonder where I:ve gone to . . .
Oh, I just remembered, it:s Pizza tonight. I haven:t been the last two weeks because of other Fuctions, but now I can finally go. But I think I:m gonna go home when I:m done eating (or slightly after), I usually eat really slowly and wait for other people to show up, but I:ve been really tired this week (stress, and depression, never a good Go Get Em combination) so I think I:ll try to go home early-ish.
Oh, and I:m planning to dye my hair this weekend. I love the henna stuff I use, it doesn:t really grow out and leave awful roots (or at least I don:t notice if it does), it just "fades gracefully," which is nice. But this:ll be the last box of it that I brough with me, so I:ll either need to order some more, or have Natalie bring me some when she comes in December. (I figure once every two months is not too much of a budget expendature, and it makes me feel all pretty). And it did seem to fade a little quicker this time, so I think I:ll actually use the stupid cap (I didn:t last time cuz it was Just Too Hot) when I keep it on for those 7 hours. Because it works, and I don:t feel like sleeping in the stupid cap.
Hmmm, I:m running out of things, but school still has time. And I:m caught up on my lesson plans (for the next 2 weeks, actually ^_^) so I could be doing this, reading, or web surfing, (or studying Japanese, but my heads not in the right headspace for that), and I feel like this is being slightly more productive. As I am doing the thing that they:ve told us to do when we:re feeling down. Write a letter to someone back home. And looky, I:m writing to how many people? All at once! Because I:m talented (or kinda lazy, if you wanna look at it that way, but I prefer to think about talented).
Hmmm, but yeah, really don:t feel like talking about the shapes the clouds make (because they make really interesting ones here, I:ve actually seen one of those "eviloution of man" things), or about how the teachers seem to want me to become fat (I honestly don:t know how they stay thin with all of the snacking), or how the road work on the iinkai street is really annoying and causing lots of traffic (a back up of more than 5 cars, I:m telling you, it:s crazy). So yeah, I:ll think I:ll just sign off. Ah well.
Take care!
So yeah, decided this last night. So today I:ve gotten approved for 2.5 days of nenkyuu, and will go book my plane tonight after school if I get that last bit approved (I asked my supervisor, which is 1\2 of what I need for each day, and I:ve asked Heiichi, cuz I:m taking two of their days, but I have to drive to Sunagawa after I get off work to ask for their permission too, that last 1/2 of one day). I:ve also looked up a bunch of possible hotels and sent them off to the other 3 girls for final review. I feel all kinds of accomplished.
I guess if other people want to come on the trip too, I won:t say no, but I:m really looking forward to the close friend time, you know? Honestly I think I would be happy if we didn:t go anywhere and just stayed in the hotel talking. But if we:re in a great city, then we do need to go around, you know? I guess what I:m saying is if people ask to come too, great, although while I:m there I might not hang out with you as much, and if not, that:s good too.
Stupid free ticket making me all kinds of stressed out. But I:m still happy that I won it. I should save me about 25000yen. I hope, anyway.
I:ve been feeling a bit depressed/stressed this week. Not figuring out what I was doing with my lesson til Tuesday didn:t help, and then getting everything ready for the Mid Year Conference didn:t help (although why I got it in my head that I Had to do that this week, I don:t know, but it:s almost done, I just have to call the hotels I want to stay at and reserve my room). And I:ve just been feeling lonely. No really reason behind it, I don:t think, just one of those "I:m on the other side of the planet from most of my friends and family and not feeling the love that I know everyone is sending me" moments. Which is why I:m really glad I get to go see Curi next weekend, and I get to see her again in November along with Maru-ne and Tiffany, and I get to see Veronica in early Nov too. And I get to see Natalie for week and a half just the two of us (although I might kill her or she me, for that long, but eh), and I get to see my Marmy and Daddy shortly after. And in March I get to see Leo, who when I was talking to him earlier this week (go me for actually taking that hour long nap so I was awake enough to talk to him), I asked where he wanted to go, besides my island, because I didn:t want him to get bored, and he said "I don:t really care, we can just stay on your island. I just want to see you." And yes, I cried. Just a little bit, but yeah.
Oh, and I asked some of my teachers about the weather the past few days. Apparently it:s been freakishly cold here for October. And it:s only been in the mid 70:s. I:m hoping to get several more visits to the beach in this season. I hope it warms back up.
Oh, and if everyone could (while I:m thinking about weather) take a moment and pray, send good thoughts to, ask the universe nicely (whatever you believe in) for there to be rain in Georgia, I:d really appreciate it. It needs to happen, now lets use that power of positive thinking and think/pray rainclouds. Big thick rainclouds that hang in the bottom they are so full of torrentual downpoars. Big, think, black omnious rain clouds that cover the horizon from east to west, north to south, that won:t go away until the earth has drunk it:s fill and can:t take any more. Let:s all think something like that.
Hmmm. In other news. Other than school work, I:ve caught up to the Japanese release in Bleach, started reading Moon Called (Patricia Briggs, another random I:m trying), started reading Zombie Powder (only 4 volumes, and I:ve read the first . . . 2? already), watched the first 2 episodes of Reaper (not bad, reminds me of Psych, in writing style and direction), watched the first 4 episodes of Heroes (I:ve caught up with the American release), watched Smallville as it came out, and yeah. Cleaned my apartment a bit at a time (the mess just moves around as I clean one section and the other sections get messy, then I clean the next and the last section becomes no longer prestine). Which I was hoping to have completely clean by Saturday, when I:m hosting a dinner party, but seeing how I:ve only gotten one resounding maybe, if I don:t hear from anyone by tonight, I:m just gonna send the email out saying never mind, maybe in December. Because next week I:m out of town, the week after I:m here, but I:ll be recovering, then Ishigaki, then Naha, then Osaka, then break. Then on the 14th (of December we:re talking) Naha again for Natalie, then family until January. I wonder if people will wonder where I:ve gone to . . .
Oh, I just remembered, it:s Pizza tonight. I haven:t been the last two weeks because of other Fuctions, but now I can finally go. But I think I:m gonna go home when I:m done eating (or slightly after), I usually eat really slowly and wait for other people to show up, but I:ve been really tired this week (stress, and depression, never a good Go Get Em combination) so I think I:ll try to go home early-ish.
Oh, and I:m planning to dye my hair this weekend. I love the henna stuff I use, it doesn:t really grow out and leave awful roots (or at least I don:t notice if it does), it just "fades gracefully," which is nice. But this:ll be the last box of it that I brough with me, so I:ll either need to order some more, or have Natalie bring me some when she comes in December. (I figure once every two months is not too much of a budget expendature, and it makes me feel all pretty). And it did seem to fade a little quicker this time, so I think I:ll actually use the stupid cap (I didn:t last time cuz it was Just Too Hot) when I keep it on for those 7 hours. Because it works, and I don:t feel like sleeping in the stupid cap.
Hmmm, I:m running out of things, but school still has time. And I:m caught up on my lesson plans (for the next 2 weeks, actually ^_^) so I could be doing this, reading, or web surfing, (or studying Japanese, but my heads not in the right headspace for that), and I feel like this is being slightly more productive. As I am doing the thing that they:ve told us to do when we:re feeling down. Write a letter to someone back home. And looky, I:m writing to how many people? All at once! Because I:m talented (or kinda lazy, if you wanna look at it that way, but I prefer to think about talented).
Hmmm, but yeah, really don:t feel like talking about the shapes the clouds make (because they make really interesting ones here, I:ve actually seen one of those "eviloution of man" things), or about how the teachers seem to want me to become fat (I honestly don:t know how they stay thin with all of the snacking), or how the road work on the iinkai street is really annoying and causing lots of traffic (a back up of more than 5 cars, I:m telling you, it:s crazy). So yeah, I:ll think I:ll just sign off. Ah well.
Take care!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Muzu muzu
Today's lesson went great; thank you for everyone who sent me ideas. Excellent.
Today was also the second day in a row that I had curry for lunch. Because Shimoji (Tues) is on a separate lunch schedule than my other schools. And I was planning to have curry for dinner last night, which was circumvented, and then tonight, which is again circumvented, so now I don't know what I'll eat. Hmmm, I don't wanna go to the store again.
It's finally getting cool here. Like, I could have worn jeans today and have been fine. The teachers were saying that it got down to 23 degrees this morning. Maybe 73 degrees would feel nice and warm back home, but compared to all of the beautiful weather we've been having up til now, it just feels kinda cold. I'm living in fear of the temperatures in Niigata next weekend (not this, next). But that should be fun.
Speaking of next weekend, I need a Halloween costume for our Halloween party. As many of you know, I'm not very creative on a tight budget. Suggestions would be nice. Japanese themed would be preferable. I'm fine after I decide, I just need to decide before this weekend so that I can make it this weekend because next weekend I'll be in Niigata. Weeee.
And I guess that's it. Fun fun.
Today was also the second day in a row that I had curry for lunch. Because Shimoji (Tues) is on a separate lunch schedule than my other schools. And I was planning to have curry for dinner last night, which was circumvented, and then tonight, which is again circumvented, so now I don't know what I'll eat. Hmmm, I don't wanna go to the store again.
It's finally getting cool here. Like, I could have worn jeans today and have been fine. The teachers were saying that it got down to 23 degrees this morning. Maybe 73 degrees would feel nice and warm back home, but compared to all of the beautiful weather we've been having up til now, it just feels kinda cold. I'm living in fear of the temperatures in Niigata next weekend (not this, next). But that should be fun.
Speaking of next weekend, I need a Halloween costume for our Halloween party. As many of you know, I'm not very creative on a tight budget. Suggestions would be nice. Japanese themed would be preferable. I'm fine after I decide, I just need to decide before this weekend so that I can make it this weekend because next weekend I'll be in Niigata. Weeee.
And I guess that's it. Fun fun.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Did I mention yet
That they have raw milk here? And that the teachers sometimes use left overs from the school lunches to make their own yogurt? And that it's so creamy and delicious? If only raw milk wasn't illegal in Georgia . . .
. . . back to cutting out laminated cards for my dates lessons (whistles and dances off) . . .
. . . back to cutting out laminated cards for my dates lessons (whistles and dances off) . . .
Monday, October 15, 2007
This weekend and a cry for help.
I desperately need an interesting way to teach 5th graders the Days of the Week in English. I need this by tomorrow morning because my class is on Wednesday, and I have to have a lesson planned and prepared by then. If you have any ideas. I:d also take game ideas that are good for the upper grades. Bingo is hard when you:re not necessarily using numbers . . . And veggies are hard to draw . . . but those are the 4th graders . . .
In better news, this weekend was awesome. Friday you:ve heard about. Saturday I got up and was suppose to go straight to the beach so that I could come home early and clean up my apt (school supplies everywhere and the like), but then Rosie called and I didn:t leave the house until after 2, at which point I tried to go find some fins for snorkling, but the two places I tried didn:t have any (it:s kinda the end of the season, I guess), so I gave up and went to the beach. I got there all by my lonesome, although I ran into Scott with Nick shortly thereafter, and went for a swim. I swam about 620 meters, which is from volleyball to the port and back, and then half way there again, but my foot was hurting (for some unknown reason), so I laid back and floated the way back to volley ball. I could have easily fallen asleep just floating in the water. There is so much salt that it really makes one as . . . padded . . . as me very bouent. But falling asleep in the water is a bit dangerous, so I didn:t. I might have ended up on Irabu and had to take the ferry back. Not to mention sharks.
So I finished my swim and laid on the beach for about 15 minutes (and this time I really did fall asleep) before Suzy (visiting from Ishigaki), Sam, and Amy showed up, followed by Xia, Tien Chen, and Xia:s cousin from China whose name I didn:t quite catch. I stayed with them for a bit, and then went back into town to Sea Dancer (where I bought my surf shorts) and paid a little too much for fins, which was good because on Saturday . . .
I woke up early and Suzy, Sam, Kirsty, and I went for a drive around the island (along the south coast and to the cape) before going to Aragusuku to go diving. We got there a little late and the tide was going out, which made it kinda scary (all of the fish were literally Right There, because the coral was about 1 foot to 6 inches under you, in the places where coral wasn:t, we could easily stand up and be up to our shoulders or less), but it was really cool. We saw Nemo (actually nemo, with the 2 white stripes) and sea urchins, and anemememe, and tons of fish (at one point Kirsty and I had a moment with this fat brown fish, who stopped. Looked at Kirsty. Looked at me. And looked at Kirsty. We both laughed about it later). Sam and Kirsty saw a sea snake, but it swam away before I could come over to see. All kinds of neat stuff. (Suzy thought the water looked too cold, so she took a nap on the beach instead.) The way back was a little scary, because the tide had gone out so much you couldn:t really kick to move yourself forward, just little kicks from your hips and put your hand out in front of you. Sam even showed us how to use our fingers to move ourselves over the really shallow coral (two fingers down and push yourself over, because your much less likely to hurt yourself with 2 fingers than with your, say, stomach), even so, it was so close that I accedentaly bashed my hand on a piece of coral. I:ve got a bandaid on it with Polysporin, so don:t worry. I:ll let people know if my thumb rots off.
After Aragusuku, we went to the German Cultural Village, which Suzy found very surreal (which it totally is) and we did some omiyage shopping (souveneir). I bought a very nice mango soft serve icecream for only 100yen. It rocked. We met up with David, who was doing a reading of The Never Ending Story in Japanese (I didn:t listen, because I was pretty sure the vocab was above me), but when he was done I sat and chatted with one of the nice ladies he works with, and we (us Gaijin) went over to David:s apartment for tea and coffee. It was largely decided that David:s apartment is the nicest in Miyako. He has tatami only in the bedroom, and hardwood throughout the rest of the apt. He has an actual kitchen with a bar, a living room, a dining area, and a study. Very, very shwank. And he:s on the 3rd floor, so he has a wonderful view of the south coast and a great breaze. I would be jealous, if they didn:t play the same German music cd every day over and over and over.
After we convinced him to come with us to Maehama for a little bit, where we swam and I played volleyball with Mitchan a bit. Mitchan is so good. Oh, I forgot to say, on Saturday night we went to Mitchan:s resturant, which is soooo tastey and surves Egyptian food. So, very very good. I must go back. So back to Sunday, he helped me with a bit of my technique (which before lets just say that I don:t really have much of a volley ball technique, so that he helped me make one is good). We got creamed, but it was still fun. And I seriously noticed a definate change in how much I was Not out of breath by the end of the game. Much improved. Must be all of that excersise that I:m not really doing. It:s more like I:m just upping the about of activity I try to do in a day. Like walking to school today. Because I:d be lame if I didn:t. And after work I:m gonna walk to the post office and mail off Curi:s present and the first of my stationary. Because it:s only like 2 blocks away from here, and walking home from there is no big deal. I should also go to the iinkai and talk to Noriko-san about that Nenkyuu I want to take in January, but I don:t know if I:ll make it by the time she leaves. Not that I know when she leaves . . . I should just send her an email I think. Or I don:t know. Seems like that would be rude or less formal or something.
Ah well. Today will be filled with cleaning and panic about my new lessons on Wednesday. It seems weird that I:ve been here two months and I only have 4 lessons to show for it. But that:s the way it goes. And if it goes that way, who am I to not go with the flow.
Peace.
In better news, this weekend was awesome. Friday you:ve heard about. Saturday I got up and was suppose to go straight to the beach so that I could come home early and clean up my apt (school supplies everywhere and the like), but then Rosie called and I didn:t leave the house until after 2, at which point I tried to go find some fins for snorkling, but the two places I tried didn:t have any (it:s kinda the end of the season, I guess), so I gave up and went to the beach. I got there all by my lonesome, although I ran into Scott with Nick shortly thereafter, and went for a swim. I swam about 620 meters, which is from volleyball to the port and back, and then half way there again, but my foot was hurting (for some unknown reason), so I laid back and floated the way back to volley ball. I could have easily fallen asleep just floating in the water. There is so much salt that it really makes one as . . . padded . . . as me very bouent. But falling asleep in the water is a bit dangerous, so I didn:t. I might have ended up on Irabu and had to take the ferry back. Not to mention sharks.
So I finished my swim and laid on the beach for about 15 minutes (and this time I really did fall asleep) before Suzy (visiting from Ishigaki), Sam, and Amy showed up, followed by Xia, Tien Chen, and Xia:s cousin from China whose name I didn:t quite catch. I stayed with them for a bit, and then went back into town to Sea Dancer (where I bought my surf shorts) and paid a little too much for fins, which was good because on Saturday . . .
I woke up early and Suzy, Sam, Kirsty, and I went for a drive around the island (along the south coast and to the cape) before going to Aragusuku to go diving. We got there a little late and the tide was going out, which made it kinda scary (all of the fish were literally Right There, because the coral was about 1 foot to 6 inches under you, in the places where coral wasn:t, we could easily stand up and be up to our shoulders or less), but it was really cool. We saw Nemo (actually nemo, with the 2 white stripes) and sea urchins, and anemememe, and tons of fish (at one point Kirsty and I had a moment with this fat brown fish, who stopped. Looked at Kirsty. Looked at me. And looked at Kirsty. We both laughed about it later). Sam and Kirsty saw a sea snake, but it swam away before I could come over to see. All kinds of neat stuff. (Suzy thought the water looked too cold, so she took a nap on the beach instead.) The way back was a little scary, because the tide had gone out so much you couldn:t really kick to move yourself forward, just little kicks from your hips and put your hand out in front of you. Sam even showed us how to use our fingers to move ourselves over the really shallow coral (two fingers down and push yourself over, because your much less likely to hurt yourself with 2 fingers than with your, say, stomach), even so, it was so close that I accedentaly bashed my hand on a piece of coral. I:ve got a bandaid on it with Polysporin, so don:t worry. I:ll let people know if my thumb rots off.
After Aragusuku, we went to the German Cultural Village, which Suzy found very surreal (which it totally is) and we did some omiyage shopping (souveneir). I bought a very nice mango soft serve icecream for only 100yen. It rocked. We met up with David, who was doing a reading of The Never Ending Story in Japanese (I didn:t listen, because I was pretty sure the vocab was above me), but when he was done I sat and chatted with one of the nice ladies he works with, and we (us Gaijin) went over to David:s apartment for tea and coffee. It was largely decided that David:s apartment is the nicest in Miyako. He has tatami only in the bedroom, and hardwood throughout the rest of the apt. He has an actual kitchen with a bar, a living room, a dining area, and a study. Very, very shwank. And he:s on the 3rd floor, so he has a wonderful view of the south coast and a great breaze. I would be jealous, if they didn:t play the same German music cd every day over and over and over.
After we convinced him to come with us to Maehama for a little bit, where we swam and I played volleyball with Mitchan a bit. Mitchan is so good. Oh, I forgot to say, on Saturday night we went to Mitchan:s resturant, which is soooo tastey and surves Egyptian food. So, very very good. I must go back. So back to Sunday, he helped me with a bit of my technique (which before lets just say that I don:t really have much of a volley ball technique, so that he helped me make one is good). We got creamed, but it was still fun. And I seriously noticed a definate change in how much I was Not out of breath by the end of the game. Much improved. Must be all of that excersise that I:m not really doing. It:s more like I:m just upping the about of activity I try to do in a day. Like walking to school today. Because I:d be lame if I didn:t. And after work I:m gonna walk to the post office and mail off Curi:s present and the first of my stationary. Because it:s only like 2 blocks away from here, and walking home from there is no big deal. I should also go to the iinkai and talk to Noriko-san about that Nenkyuu I want to take in January, but I don:t know if I:ll make it by the time she leaves. Not that I know when she leaves . . . I should just send her an email I think. Or I don:t know. Seems like that would be rude or less formal or something.
Ah well. Today will be filled with cleaning and panic about my new lessons on Wednesday. It seems weird that I:ve been here two months and I only have 4 lessons to show for it. But that:s the way it goes. And if it goes that way, who am I to not go with the flow.
Peace.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
That more of an update.
Thursday I was bad. Because when you bring your computer to work it's because you expect to work on it, right? Not just sit there for hours and read on it. And I did get a little bit of work done too, but I still don't like (know) what I'm gonna do with the 5th graders next week (Wed is my new class). It needs to be a good lesson because the last one wasn't so good.
So yeah. Thursday. On Friday I was at my smallest school, Miyahara. I get there and forget that I don't teach first period, so I get all ready to teach at 9, and they don't come until 10. Great. But in the mean-time, I did the first part of a three step process to make Curi a present.
Then I taught my kids. The 3 5th years, the 5 6th years, and the 5 3rd years. The only genki ones were the 3rd years. The first two classes, it was like pulling teach to get them to participate. Not so bad, but when your entire class is dead, it's really hard to keep the upbeat mood. But then we played go fish (with each class) which was easy with 4 people (the 5th years), but harder with 6th people (the other classes), and I only dealt out 3 cards in the beginning. But they had the practice with numbers and new grammar (Is it 3 o'clock? No.) It's hard to make the appropriate grammar into yes/no questions, but I think that's where my kids are, level wise. Sometimes they can do a fill in the blank, but that's harder. I do that with my kids I see more often. And my 1st and 2nd years, I'm just happy if they can smack the card of the word I'm saying.
Oh, did I mention that I didn't have the 5th years on Thursday? Because there was a speech contest that I didn't know about. They spoke about it around me, but not to me, so. But that's groovy too.
And, and wow, you can tell I only got 7 hours of sleep last night with how disjointed this entry is (not bad, 7 hours of good hard sleep, which is good), but here's a snapshot for you.
I'm sitting in my classroom on Friday. The kids come in, say hi, and start playing with my stuff, my big dice and my ball (I love my ball!) and they eventually break down to a monkey in the middle game. And at one point, it's a low ball on the rebound, and the guy in the middle dives down and catches the ball, and while he's laying there, the girl he stole the ball from pulls down his pants. And everyone is laughing, including the kid who just, hastily, yanked his pant back up. So I didn't say anything as they continued to play happily. Craziness.
But yeah. After class we had lunch, which was good, and they offered me some of the leftovers, but I forgot them (like a stupid head). Then I retreated back upstairs to finish Curi's present (you'll get it in the mail in a little bit), and read Nueromancer. Because when I started this morning (after 3 bloodly weeks of reading this one book!) I was still about not even a half of the way through. And now I'm comfortably 2/3rds. I will finish this book. I will!
Then I tried to find the temple that is supposedly right by the elementary school after work, and found cows instead. I gave up and drove back towards Hirara, but because I was on my bike, if I saw a pretty picture, I took it. In Hirara I stopped by the travel agent (who actually studied in England for a year and who's English isn't terrible, but you could tell she was much more comfortable in Japanese as she only switched when I didn't understand, which wasn't too often, yay knowing enough Japanese to get by!) and paid for my trip to Ishigaki. I'm gonna go back to her about the Midyear Conference Ticket too. She just was so nice and comfortable. And I've also decided that I'm GOING TO WAKAYAMA in January. I just need to talk to my supervisor about nenkyuu, then talk to my schools about nenkyuu, then get the ticket on November 1st when the January schedules come out. There is no direct flight from Osaka to Miyako. I could get there in one go, but to get back you have to stop by Ishigaki or Naha, which is crazy, so it'll be cheaper for me to go to see Marnie then. So I will. And personal alone time? Who needs that!?!? I just going to do Something about every single weekend between now and February. It'll be fun!
Afterwards I drove to the stationary store and (spent too much money on stationary, I was foolish, but it's just so cute!) bought a good black pen, because for some reason all of my pens are blue, and I needed a black one to finish that single line I forgot to do on Curi's present. (I borrowed a calligraphy pen to do it, and didn't want to go back downstairs and just borrow it for a second time for a second, oh, and it's really hard to use a calligraphy pen to do anything else but calligraphy, but I'm still pleased with the result).
When I finally got home I had enough time to sit down, upload my pictures, talk to Dad (all at the same time!) for about an hour before going out to the JTE/ALTs night out, where I met some really nice English Teachers, who I never interact with at Elementary school, but it was really nice to be able to talk in Japanese, and be able to switch back to English if I just didn't know how to stay something, and not just say it in a messed up way. (and when I mean messed up I mean: "this food tastes like home" = "when I eat this food, I think of my family because I used to eat food of a similar taste" I get my point across, but still)
And yeah, I was out until 3am? And I only slept 7 hours? Weird, but I'm not complaining. But now to shower and beach. I need to actually swim today. All that all you can eat and drink leads to the need for exercise. Yay!
So yeah. Thursday. On Friday I was at my smallest school, Miyahara. I get there and forget that I don't teach first period, so I get all ready to teach at 9, and they don't come until 10. Great. But in the mean-time, I did the first part of a three step process to make Curi a present.
Then I taught my kids. The 3 5th years, the 5 6th years, and the 5 3rd years. The only genki ones were the 3rd years. The first two classes, it was like pulling teach to get them to participate. Not so bad, but when your entire class is dead, it's really hard to keep the upbeat mood. But then we played go fish (with each class) which was easy with 4 people (the 5th years), but harder with 6th people (the other classes), and I only dealt out 3 cards in the beginning. But they had the practice with numbers and new grammar (Is it 3 o'clock? No.) It's hard to make the appropriate grammar into yes/no questions, but I think that's where my kids are, level wise. Sometimes they can do a fill in the blank, but that's harder. I do that with my kids I see more often. And my 1st and 2nd years, I'm just happy if they can smack the card of the word I'm saying.
Oh, did I mention that I didn't have the 5th years on Thursday? Because there was a speech contest that I didn't know about. They spoke about it around me, but not to me, so. But that's groovy too.
And, and wow, you can tell I only got 7 hours of sleep last night with how disjointed this entry is (not bad, 7 hours of good hard sleep, which is good), but here's a snapshot for you.
I'm sitting in my classroom on Friday. The kids come in, say hi, and start playing with my stuff, my big dice and my ball (I love my ball!) and they eventually break down to a monkey in the middle game. And at one point, it's a low ball on the rebound, and the guy in the middle dives down and catches the ball, and while he's laying there, the girl he stole the ball from pulls down his pants. And everyone is laughing, including the kid who just, hastily, yanked his pant back up. So I didn't say anything as they continued to play happily. Craziness.
But yeah. After class we had lunch, which was good, and they offered me some of the leftovers, but I forgot them (like a stupid head). Then I retreated back upstairs to finish Curi's present (you'll get it in the mail in a little bit), and read Nueromancer. Because when I started this morning (after 3 bloodly weeks of reading this one book!) I was still about not even a half of the way through. And now I'm comfortably 2/3rds. I will finish this book. I will!
Then I tried to find the temple that is supposedly right by the elementary school after work, and found cows instead. I gave up and drove back towards Hirara, but because I was on my bike, if I saw a pretty picture, I took it. In Hirara I stopped by the travel agent (who actually studied in England for a year and who's English isn't terrible, but you could tell she was much more comfortable in Japanese as she only switched when I didn't understand, which wasn't too often, yay knowing enough Japanese to get by!) and paid for my trip to Ishigaki. I'm gonna go back to her about the Midyear Conference Ticket too. She just was so nice and comfortable. And I've also decided that I'm GOING TO WAKAYAMA in January. I just need to talk to my supervisor about nenkyuu, then talk to my schools about nenkyuu, then get the ticket on November 1st when the January schedules come out. There is no direct flight from Osaka to Miyako. I could get there in one go, but to get back you have to stop by Ishigaki or Naha, which is crazy, so it'll be cheaper for me to go to see Marnie then. So I will. And personal alone time? Who needs that!?!? I just going to do Something about every single weekend between now and February. It'll be fun!
Afterwards I drove to the stationary store and (spent too much money on stationary, I was foolish, but it's just so cute!) bought a good black pen, because for some reason all of my pens are blue, and I needed a black one to finish that single line I forgot to do on Curi's present. (I borrowed a calligraphy pen to do it, and didn't want to go back downstairs and just borrow it for a second time for a second, oh, and it's really hard to use a calligraphy pen to do anything else but calligraphy, but I'm still pleased with the result).
When I finally got home I had enough time to sit down, upload my pictures, talk to Dad (all at the same time!) for about an hour before going out to the JTE/ALTs night out, where I met some really nice English Teachers, who I never interact with at Elementary school, but it was really nice to be able to talk in Japanese, and be able to switch back to English if I just didn't know how to stay something, and not just say it in a messed up way. (and when I mean messed up I mean: "this food tastes like home" = "when I eat this food, I think of my family because I used to eat food of a similar taste" I get my point across, but still)
And yeah, I was out until 3am? And I only slept 7 hours? Weird, but I'm not complaining. But now to shower and beach. I need to actually swim today. All that all you can eat and drink leads to the need for exercise. Yay!
Friday, October 12, 2007
More Pictures
Better post later, I actually have something to talk about :D, but for now, enjoy. And yes, there's more than just cows, that's just where the pics start.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
It seems like I:ve been boring
After having a fun filled weekend, I:ve spent a lot of time sitting on my tush in front of my computer.
On Monday after Veronica left, I spent the day (litterally, from about 11-4) finding tarot cards that I liked, and then suplementing the amazon.com order with books so I don:t feel quite so bad about making the order (20 bucks for tarot cards is really expensive, but if you add 3 books onto that for only 30 bucks more, it feels a little more worth it. And I got the deluxe set that comes with (at least it looked like) a book and a bag, although I don:t like the bag. Me and scarabs never really got along. It:s the whole bug thing. But that:s why with the so expensive. I mostly wanted the book). Then I proceeded to read Eyeshield 21 manga until (my eyes bled) time for bed, so I dreamed of football all night and didn:t sleep very well (after only sleeping 6 hours the night before. Strange for me. I should have zonked).
The next day I had work. Weee work. First, second, and third grades. And 3 of my classes were the first time I:d seen them. Fun fun. Then I went home and sat on my tush some more. But at least I can pretend I was more productive. I wrote. Three whole pages (in times new roman, 12 pt.). And you will never read that story. It:s absolutly horrible, but I felt it and it felt good to write again. I think I:m gonna try to write some more later, but it:s hard to write here. All of my *idea* writtings are on my computer at home. So I either have to try to remember what the heck I wanted to write about, or come up with new ideas. Either way hurts. Technically I could make that story into a workable full story. But that would be a novel. And I:m not commited enough to sit down and try to write something that big yet.
Then I talked to people, and watched the 2nd ep of Smallville next door with Justin. It was fun, and I totally could geek out. I:ve read the comics, or at the very least know what was going on in them, he:s totally not that hardcore of a geek, so I can explain why they did some things in Smallville the way they did. And yeah. Plot holes you can drive a truck through. But it wouldn:t be Smallville without the swiss cheese. I wish Kera looked younger. But I could say that about half the cast. Or I wish they just said they all were older.
Then bed. Where I slept badly, again.
I really need to clean up my place and do some laundry tonight. Maybe I can do that while I watch the second ep of Heroes. And I need to pay a bill that I can only pay at the bank which closes at 4 when I get off at four, so I don:t know how that:s gonna work. But yeah.
On Monday after Veronica left, I spent the day (litterally, from about 11-4) finding tarot cards that I liked, and then suplementing the amazon.com order with books so I don:t feel quite so bad about making the order (20 bucks for tarot cards is really expensive, but if you add 3 books onto that for only 30 bucks more, it feels a little more worth it. And I got the deluxe set that comes with (at least it looked like) a book and a bag, although I don:t like the bag. Me and scarabs never really got along. It:s the whole bug thing. But that:s why with the so expensive. I mostly wanted the book). Then I proceeded to read Eyeshield 21 manga until (my eyes bled) time for bed, so I dreamed of football all night and didn:t sleep very well (after only sleeping 6 hours the night before. Strange for me. I should have zonked).
The next day I had work. Weee work. First, second, and third grades. And 3 of my classes were the first time I:d seen them. Fun fun. Then I went home and sat on my tush some more. But at least I can pretend I was more productive. I wrote. Three whole pages (in times new roman, 12 pt.). And you will never read that story. It:s absolutly horrible, but I felt it and it felt good to write again. I think I:m gonna try to write some more later, but it:s hard to write here. All of my *idea* writtings are on my computer at home. So I either have to try to remember what the heck I wanted to write about, or come up with new ideas. Either way hurts. Technically I could make that story into a workable full story. But that would be a novel. And I:m not commited enough to sit down and try to write something that big yet.
Then I talked to people, and watched the 2nd ep of Smallville next door with Justin. It was fun, and I totally could geek out. I:ve read the comics, or at the very least know what was going on in them, he:s totally not that hardcore of a geek, so I can explain why they did some things in Smallville the way they did. And yeah. Plot holes you can drive a truck through. But it wouldn:t be Smallville without the swiss cheese. I wish Kera looked younger. But I could say that about half the cast. Or I wish they just said they all were older.
Then bed. Where I slept badly, again.
I really need to clean up my place and do some laundry tonight. Maybe I can do that while I watch the second ep of Heroes. And I need to pay a bill that I can only pay at the bank which closes at 4 when I get off at four, so I don:t know how that:s gonna work. But yeah.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Typhoon, take 2
SO. There was a typhoon coming. It was suppose to hit Friday night, which is when Veronica was suppose to come in from Ishigaki, and all I could think was that I really wanted her plane to be canceled, just so that I could chill on my butt all weekend and not worry about little things having to see people. But I’ve been preparing for the possibility that she would in fact come all week. My apt was mostly clean, and I’d gone out and bought an air bed for her to sleep on. Weee. So I get off work, and run to the store for some sheets and some other last minute things (candles, just in case) and get home in time for her to call and say that she got to the airport early and was getting on the last flight of the day (her original flight, the latter one, had been canceled, due to typhoon). So, fine, she’s coming and I like her so let’s have a good time. I go and pick her up from the airport and we stop by the video store on the way back. During the course of the weekend we watched Sunshine 2057, VERY good, 300, my first time watching, OMG The Abs!! and Crow vs. Crow, which turned out to be a 2 part-er from the Crow TV show (eps 17-18), not too bad, but with the rest of the show would have made much more sense. That night we eat dinner, talk, and generally have a nice evening, like I knew we would.
The next morning, the typhoon was really in full effects. We watched Sunshine and Crows. When the weather let up a bit we went next door and had our asses handed to us by Justin in Monopoly. We went for dinner at a pizza place, which turned out to be closed, so we had ramen (my first Miyakan ramen, it was tasty :) ) and went out to bowling (where I barely won each game, and only made over 120 once). Other people went out after bowling, but we went home and had the happy sleep (which lasted until 12 the next day, glorious).
The next “morning” we bough Veronica a toilet (she, like me, only has the Japanese style, so we bought her a converter, like mine), an airbed for her to take home, an airpump for me, some manga for her, and we watched 300 before having to take it back to the vid store.
We went out to dinner with people again, and had a nice evening. Then we went home, again because of the tired, and proceeded to talk until after 3 am. Yay, I love connecting with people :D
The next morning, the typhoon was really in full effects. We watched Sunshine and Crows. When the weather let up a bit we went next door and had our asses handed to us by Justin in Monopoly. We went for dinner at a pizza place, which turned out to be closed, so we had ramen (my first Miyakan ramen, it was tasty :) ) and went out to bowling (where I barely won each game, and only made over 120 once). Other people went out after bowling, but we went home and had the happy sleep (which lasted until 12 the next day, glorious).
The next “morning” we bough Veronica a toilet (she, like me, only has the Japanese style, so we bought her a converter, like mine), an airbed for her to take home, an airpump for me, some manga for her, and we watched 300 before having to take it back to the vid store.
We went out to dinner with people again, and had a nice evening. Then we went home, again because of the tired, and proceeded to talk until after 3 am. Yay, I love connecting with people :D
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
I Meant to go to the beach today . . .
but I never got there. I was working at Sunagawa today, which is the school that I only teach 3-6th grades, so I actually see them every week, which is awesome, but they are my test school for all of my lesson plans, as I will teach them first no matter what. So yeah, today's lesson didn't go extremely well. Not that it went badly, just that it could have gone better. And tomorrow, when I teach last weeks lesson at Seijo it will go better. Not that the kids noticed, I don't think.
But yeah, frustrating day, followed by not being about to do the things I needed to do in the post office because I went to the one in Sunagawa when apparently I needed to go to the one in Hirara, which might not happen until Friday (due to the time it takes me to get back from school and when they close and whatnot. Grrr.
So yeah, I'm on the way to the beach, the back roads that I found last weekend after the Undoukai, and I get a feeling. The feeling, which I've used in Atlanta a bunch, was this: "I wonder where that road goes? Let's find out." And I did.
It apparently goes to the ocean, the ocean on the south part of the island where they get the Big Waves. It was beautiful.
After following that road for a bit, and coming back, I headed once again for the beautiful white sandy beaches of Maehama, and got distracted by the sign to the German Cultural Village, because I've been here a month and haven't been yet. So there you go.
While walking around, listening to German music, I found a path that goes all the way to the water around the big German-type castle thingy. There, I found more of the huge spiders. And I found a perfect picture. I'm really proud of this one. I mean, just look at it. It's beautiful. You can even see the babies. I also found a really interesting sign.
But yeah. Finished my walk, and decided to come home. The sun was getting kinda low, and I didn't want to go all the way out to Maehama after walking around for a few hours. And I'd have to change into my "bathers" and put on sunscreen, and I didn't have a towel. Just a bunch of grump, really. So home and the food (left over stew, was very tasty) it was.
I feel much better. I'm glad.
Robert Frost (1874–1963)
But yeah, frustrating day, followed by not being about to do the things I needed to do in the post office because I went to the one in Sunagawa when apparently I needed to go to the one in Hirara, which might not happen until Friday (due to the time it takes me to get back from school and when they close and whatnot. Grrr.
So yeah, I'm on the way to the beach, the back roads that I found last weekend after the Undoukai, and I get a feeling. The feeling, which I've used in Atlanta a bunch, was this: "I wonder where that road goes? Let's find out." And I did.
It apparently goes to the ocean, the ocean on the south part of the island where they get the Big Waves. It was beautiful.
After following that road for a bit, and coming back, I headed once again for the beautiful white sandy beaches of Maehama, and got distracted by the sign to the German Cultural Village, because I've been here a month and haven't been yet. So there you go.
While walking around, listening to German music, I found a path that goes all the way to the water around the big German-type castle thingy. There, I found more of the huge spiders. And I found a perfect picture. I'm really proud of this one. I mean, just look at it. It's beautiful. You can even see the babies. I also found a really interesting sign.
But yeah. Finished my walk, and decided to come home. The sun was getting kinda low, and I didn't want to go all the way out to Maehama after walking around for a few hours. And I'd have to change into my "bathers" and put on sunscreen, and I didn't have a towel. Just a bunch of grump, really. So home and the food (left over stew, was very tasty) it was.
I feel much better. I'm glad.
| 1. The Road Not Taken |
| TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, | |
| And sorry I could not travel both | |
| And be one traveler, long I stood | |
| And looked down one as far as I could | |
| To where it bent in the undergrowth; | 5 |
| Then took the other, as just as fair, | |
| And having perhaps the better claim, | |
| Because it was grassy and wanted wear; | |
| Though as for that the passing there | |
| Had worn them really about the same, | 10 |
| And both that morning equally lay | |
| In leaves no step had trodden black. | |
| Oh, I kept the first for another day! | |
| Yet knowing how way leads on to way, | |
| I doubted if I should ever come back. | 15 |
| I shall be telling this with a sigh | |
| Somewhere ages and ages hence: | |
| Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— | |
| I took the one less traveled by, | |
| And that has made all the difference. | 20 |
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Have you ever eaten a chocolate covered potato chip? Because I have.
Have you ever eaten a chocolate covered potato chip? Because I have. I’m writing this at work, because I could be (should be) working on what the hey I’m gonna do with my 5th and 6th years tomorrow, but I really don’t know and I’ve already devoted 2 hours of my down time to it so I’m just gonna let myself digest and think of it when I’m at home. Because I’m gonna have to. I mean really, how do you make teaching time interesting? Especially since 5th year is only doing hours. I might just take Nick’s plan and throw it out the window with this one. I think it’s kind of silly that the first years only learn 1-10, and then 2nd 1-20, while 3rd grade is responsible for 1-100 and hasn’t even done the date yet. I might just make a survey sheet. Where you ask your classmates how old they are, how tall they are, what time they wake up in the morning, and how many people they have living in their house or something stupid like that. It’s all numbers, and why not have a variety. I just don’t know though.
So instead of working on that problem some more, because my brain hurts already, I’m gonna post. Or write now for a post later. Because I brought my laptop with me today. Forgetting that I have magnets in my bag. But whatever, on they way home I’ll put them in a different bag. I brought my laptop with me so that I could work on worksheets, and I’ve made three already. So I’m done.
I Hate my schedule. I really don’t like that I see the classes at all different sequences. Sometimes I’ll see kids every week, once a week, and sometimes I’ll see them for once a month, or twice in two weeks and not again for more than three. It makes my lesson planning really difficult, and makes teaching the same lesson subject on the same day kind of impossible. Because I think that the lessons should be spread out over about 2 lessons (because otherwise I don’t think the kids will actually retain anything if every lesson is a one shot. But as it is, I don’t know how much they’ll be retaining, especially if it’s a class I don’t see every week), so sometimes I’ll get days like today, where I saw the 4th years (class 1 and 2) for the 3rd time (numbers 1-100, we counted together, and then one by one throwing a ball around, the class laughed when I hit the kids not paying attention. The ball is really soft, and then we played bingo), but the 5th and 6th years I saw for only the 2nd time (family part two, we played survey bingo (you have to go around the room and ask people questions to get bingo) and the fifth graders would have done a writing exercise if they weren’t totally late, then the 6th years did a really hard/easy word search (only up to down and left to right, but the word search is upper case and the hints are lower case)), so two sets of flashcards and materials are needed. Later in the school year I have classes that I’ve seen for the 7th time on the same day I’m doing introductions. It’s crazy. So, unless I have a lesson planned for every grade different every week, I can’t see a way that it’s gonna work. That and Nick’s lesson plans call for different lessons for each grade. But although he’s been great with leaving me so much stuff, there are certain things that he’s left out completely. Like he has exhaustive lessons that say things like “warm up d, r, s, and t, New vocabulary, Countries, Typhoon game,” but have I found the directions for this Typhoon game anywhere? And I’m not really upset, he’s left me so much and helped me out so much I really shouldn’t be upset. It’s just frustrating that I can’t necessarily use everything that he’s left me.
I’m in a foul mood today, aren’t I? I didn’t really sleep well last night, maybe that’s why. I pulled a I was laying there and my mind was really wandering all over the place, but I wasn’t really sleeping for several of those hours I was laying there.
Meh. I had a good weekend. Let’s talk about that.
On Friday, I think I’ve talked about already, with the medicine. Yeah, I think I did. So on to Saturday. I had my two week house party. As I’m realizing exactly how few people actually show up for such things, I’ve been inviting more and more people. This time Janine, Stu, Makiko, Scott, (their son) Nick, Teresa, Sam, and Kirsty showed up, with Amy and Keiko later. Then we met up with some of the boys and went out to a dance club (the only one in Miyako, so far as I know) called Musica, and that was fun, but I had to go home because the following day was:
Sunagawa’s Undoukai. My last one. Finally. Four weeks of not having Sundays is finally over. So I was late to the undoukai, and left a little early, but I feel justified because I ran in one of the races, spoke on the microphone in English, and didn’t have Monday as a holiday like the rest of the school. So there. Beach.
I found a new route to the beach directly from Sunagawa (which is a lot more south than I thought it was) and lounged on the beach for about 4 hours. And didn’t get burned :D We ran into everybody in waves, which was fun, and we even ran into a South African girl (Amy) who was spending her holiday biking down Japan. She started on the mainland and just took ferries between the islands. Really cool.
Then I went home and made myself diner, because I forgot to put the mushrooms in the stew I made for the party, and if I didn’t cook them they’d go bad, so I sautéed the mushrooms with some sausage, onions, and potatoes. Happiness. I still have the stew in the freezer (I forgot to pull it out to defrost this morning). I have no idea what dinner is for tonight, but I’m really not allowed to eat out anymore. I’m so broke. Or I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of money recently, so I feel broke.
On my way home from the beach I got gas. And while I was there, I had them add air to my tires. And the knob that holds the air in broke. This was on my scooter mind. So yeah, he super glued it back so that I could get home, and yesterday I found a motorcycle shop (with Jeff’s help) near my house and I bought a new inner tube and had the guy put it on for 1500. Not too bad, and I feel a lot better about riding my scooter around. I also found a helmet that I want, but it was 23000, which is very shabby indeed.
But now, it’s just about time to get off work, and I have to go to the doctor, because hopefully my medication is in and I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Just about tomorrow’s lesson. Weeee.
Oh and by the way, http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/0715.html
So instead of working on that problem some more, because my brain hurts already, I’m gonna post. Or write now for a post later. Because I brought my laptop with me today. Forgetting that I have magnets in my bag. But whatever, on they way home I’ll put them in a different bag. I brought my laptop with me so that I could work on worksheets, and I’ve made three already. So I’m done.
I Hate my schedule. I really don’t like that I see the classes at all different sequences. Sometimes I’ll see kids every week, once a week, and sometimes I’ll see them for once a month, or twice in two weeks and not again for more than three. It makes my lesson planning really difficult, and makes teaching the same lesson subject on the same day kind of impossible. Because I think that the lessons should be spread out over about 2 lessons (because otherwise I don’t think the kids will actually retain anything if every lesson is a one shot. But as it is, I don’t know how much they’ll be retaining, especially if it’s a class I don’t see every week), so sometimes I’ll get days like today, where I saw the 4th years (class 1 and 2) for the 3rd time (numbers 1-100, we counted together, and then one by one throwing a ball around, the class laughed when I hit the kids not paying attention. The ball is really soft, and then we played bingo), but the 5th and 6th years I saw for only the 2nd time (family part two, we played survey bingo (you have to go around the room and ask people questions to get bingo) and the fifth graders would have done a writing exercise if they weren’t totally late, then the 6th years did a really hard/easy word search (only up to down and left to right, but the word search is upper case and the hints are lower case)), so two sets of flashcards and materials are needed. Later in the school year I have classes that I’ve seen for the 7th time on the same day I’m doing introductions. It’s crazy. So, unless I have a lesson planned for every grade different every week, I can’t see a way that it’s gonna work. That and Nick’s lesson plans call for different lessons for each grade. But although he’s been great with leaving me so much stuff, there are certain things that he’s left out completely. Like he has exhaustive lessons that say things like “warm up d, r, s, and t, New vocabulary, Countries, Typhoon game,” but have I found the directions for this Typhoon game anywhere? And I’m not really upset, he’s left me so much and helped me out so much I really shouldn’t be upset. It’s just frustrating that I can’t necessarily use everything that he’s left me.
I’m in a foul mood today, aren’t I? I didn’t really sleep well last night, maybe that’s why. I pulled a I was laying there and my mind was really wandering all over the place, but I wasn’t really sleeping for several of those hours I was laying there.
Meh. I had a good weekend. Let’s talk about that.
On Friday, I think I’ve talked about already, with the medicine. Yeah, I think I did. So on to Saturday. I had my two week house party. As I’m realizing exactly how few people actually show up for such things, I’ve been inviting more and more people. This time Janine, Stu, Makiko, Scott, (their son) Nick, Teresa, Sam, and Kirsty showed up, with Amy and Keiko later. Then we met up with some of the boys and went out to a dance club (the only one in Miyako, so far as I know) called Musica, and that was fun, but I had to go home because the following day was:
Sunagawa’s Undoukai. My last one. Finally. Four weeks of not having Sundays is finally over. So I was late to the undoukai, and left a little early, but I feel justified because I ran in one of the races, spoke on the microphone in English, and didn’t have Monday as a holiday like the rest of the school. So there. Beach.
I found a new route to the beach directly from Sunagawa (which is a lot more south than I thought it was) and lounged on the beach for about 4 hours. And didn’t get burned :D We ran into everybody in waves, which was fun, and we even ran into a South African girl (Amy) who was spending her holiday biking down Japan. She started on the mainland and just took ferries between the islands. Really cool.
Then I went home and made myself diner, because I forgot to put the mushrooms in the stew I made for the party, and if I didn’t cook them they’d go bad, so I sautéed the mushrooms with some sausage, onions, and potatoes. Happiness. I still have the stew in the freezer (I forgot to pull it out to defrost this morning). I have no idea what dinner is for tonight, but I’m really not allowed to eat out anymore. I’m so broke. Or I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of money recently, so I feel broke.
On my way home from the beach I got gas. And while I was there, I had them add air to my tires. And the knob that holds the air in broke. This was on my scooter mind. So yeah, he super glued it back so that I could get home, and yesterday I found a motorcycle shop (with Jeff’s help) near my house and I bought a new inner tube and had the guy put it on for 1500. Not too bad, and I feel a lot better about riding my scooter around. I also found a helmet that I want, but it was 23000, which is very shabby indeed.
But now, it’s just about time to get off work, and I have to go to the doctor, because hopefully my medication is in and I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Just about tomorrow’s lesson. Weeee.
Oh and by the way, http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/0715.html
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