update

So quick little status update.
The weather here is definitely getting cooler, I've already set up the kotastu. Not quite cold enough to turn on the heat, but we'll see how it goes. I've had a cold for the past week which has really cut into the after school sports and such I usually do. Prob. start again Wed. with volleyball, can't really go to kendo for 2 hours coughing up a storm :P

In other news, I bought a ticket home! Yippeeeeeee!!!! I'm leaving the 16th or December and returning Jan. 12th. So it's almost a full month. Grandpa was nice enough to help me with the ticket cost - thanks a bunch! <3 Mom was ecstatic when she heard that I changed my plans. Now just gotta make a list of what to bring back :-P

Halloween is coming up pretty soon, how are your plans going people? I have a fall-back costume from Prince of Tennis that I bought at a convention a while ago. Last Saturday I went to a friend's house and taught 4 kids and 3 adults how to carve a pumpkin. Interesting how something we grew up doing is completely new for them. It turned out quite well! We went upstairs for homemade cheesecake and tea afterwards, mmmmm.

I joined a site called couchsurfing. It connects people from around the world to meet, greet, chat and provide a free place to crash while traveling. There is some risk letting a stranger stay at your place, but there are a lot of built-in safety measures also. Looks like someone's interested in staying at my place sometime this fall to do some hiking.

And I leave you last with a cute wallpaper I found a while ago. A bit busy, but still cute <3 Japan is full of little notepads and stationary with these little characters on them.

Dangerous

Discount CD/DVD stores are dangerous... spent $130 on CDs and DVDs last night ^^; On the track list:
The Alfee
Metallica
Ayumi Hamasaki
T.M. Revolution
Arashi
High and Mighty Color
Gackt
X Japan
Janne De Arc

No more driving without music!!!

Summer Break!!!!!!

So the summer break in Japan just ended, and boy I need a break from this vacationing :P
Before break started however, there was a little issue with my visa expiring. Apparently everyone including myself forgot that it was a 1 year visa and it needed to get re-issued. but wait! It needed to be done RIGHT then or I wouldn't be able to enter the country again when I came back from Thailand. So we made many frantic phone calls, told a slight lie, and drove way too much to get everything straightened out.

While this was going on, I also had to take my road test. The international driving license expires in one year, so if I wanted to continue driving after that, I needed a real Japanese license. There was a LOT of paperwork involved. But after that, Katsuno from the Board of Education and I drove up to Shiojiri, the nearest testing center. Almost 2 hours away. We did paperwork there, and were told to come back next week to do the actual test. What?! So I did just that, and surprise surprise, failed. There were little circles in the road and I wasn't sure whether to go around them or in front of them Apparently it was in front because I failed. Re-scheduled for the end of break. Also, I've never heard of anyone I know passing the first time.
The day after I got back from Thailand, I went back to the center for a 3rd time. I was so nervous I forgot to put my seat belt on. Thankfully the tester is really nice and reminded me of it ^^; That, and at the end I pocketed the keys and walked away. A minute later the next person and the tester yelled out from the car "Can we have the keys back?!". I turned many shades of red. But I passed!!!! ^_^

Amy and I went to Tokyo in the beginning of vacation. It was her first time, so I was kinda showing her around. It was also the weekend of the biggest fireworks festival of the year. We met Amy's friend in the city and went to the festival - it was SO crowded. You literally couldn't move. We kinda camped out on a ledge and people-watched. During the trip, we also went to an awesome museum, went to the top of Tokyo Tower (NOT worth it), shopped, had hostel booking issues, shared a room with a bunch of guys, and went to 2 themed cafes: the new Gundam one and the Vampire one. The vampire cafe was AMAZING and we were waited on by a very good looking guy in full costume with a flirty attitude. Definitely going back.

At the end of vacation, I went to Thailand. Luckily, My uncle Brian and Aunt Kim have lived there for 11 years and knew the place really well. We met in Bangkok and spent a few days touring the city. We saw a bunch of temples (called Wats) and the imperial palace. The palace was really nice. We also took a bus tour and a boat tour along the canals! We went to the market on the last day and I got to see some real haggling.
Then we went to their house a few hours away. There, we relaxed and I pet my first cat in months. That was a big thing for me. >^_^< We also went to the beach town and picked up some foreign foods (taco mix!!!!!!), and ate at some nice restaurants.

Brian and Kim introduced me to a friend of theirs, Sandy, who was interested in a little vacation as well. So Their driver Yindi (I think) drove me to the airport and we met up. Then we hopped on a plane for Chiang Mai! A nice taxi driver took us to our hotel, whose nickname was "Joe."

Chiang Mai is in northern Thailand. We walked around the famous night market the first night and then crashed at the wonderful hotel. The next day, we got up at about 6 to catch a tour van. It had a good mix of people: Dutch, Spanish, South African and Indian, with the Thai driver and tour guide. Of course everything was in English. :P
We saw a lot of cool temples and such, and went to the are where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet. There, we boarded a boat which took us to Burma, no passports needed. I got sooooo soaked. We sampled some great whiskey with different animals and animal parts flavoring it - pretty good actually! Apparently this area was famous for the drug trade a while ago.
That afternoon, we visited the "long neck tribes," the tribes where the girls put rings along their necks to stretch them out. Apparently, it actually shoves their shoulders down, giving them the appearance of having longer necks. Then it was a loooong drive back >.< We had some noodles on the street for about $1 per person for dinner. They were pretty good!

The next day, Our favorite taxi driver Joe picked us up and brought us to see a few sights. We saw a famous temple on the top of the nearby mountain, with was kinda blah. Then we went to a tiger park!! There, I got to pet 3 tigers for about 5 minutes each. They were pretty sleepy, though the employees kept saying that they weren't drugged. Riiiight. Since Sandy didn't want to go in, I paid for a photographer to take pictures as I pet them. After the tiger park, Joe took us to many temples around the city. He pretty much acted like our personal chauffeur for the day, which was a bit awkward for me, but kinda fun.
That day, we returned to Bangkok and said our goodbyes, then I caught an overnight flight back to Japan.
Aaand started the long journey home - plane - train - bus - train - bus - walk. I slept for 14 hours that night.

So sorry for the delay in posting it, but that was (the abbreviated version of) my Thailand vacation! It was certainly a unique experience and something I will remember and cherish the rest of my life. Many thanks to Brian and Kim who helped me plan most of it, showed me around, provided shelter, and put up with me. :P Also thanks to a great travel partner, Sandy.
Sawatdee ka!

New season

As I sit in the teachers' room, I am currently sweating and dabbing my face with a wet cloth periodically. One thing about Japanese summers is HUMIDITY SUCKS. This is my first time in the rainy season, which means that the weather is crazy bipolar. One minute you'll be taking a walk on a sunny afternoon, and the next minute you'll be running for shelter because the heavens decided to open up and dump holy buckets of water on your head. Then once you finally get home, everything clears up. One good thing though, is there are some wonderful thunderstorms. ^_^

Yesterday when I got to school, I was asked if I was going to play volleyball. "Why would I?" There was a parents' day scheduled for after lunch (which I had learned about the previous day). Afterwords, some of the parents and teachers would play a volleyball tournament and have a party. Thank-you vice principal for telling me, otherwise I wouldn't have known (-.-;)

The observational class went well, the kids and parents looked like they had fun. In volleyball, the vice principal named himself my manager and kept telling everyone in a loud voice that I was the best player there because of my height. Aaand then we started playing. I was far from the team ace, but did decently.
Then we all sat down for a toast and "nomikai," a drinking party, with the parents. These occasions can be pretty awkward considering my lack of conversational skills in Japanese, but it turned out alright. I even learned some sign language from a parent!

After that I had to turn down requests to go to the after-party since there was the adult English class in 15 minutes. Ah well.
Japan was defeated by Paraguay I think last night in the soccer world cup. They were pretty excited about it here and a lot of people stayed up 'till 11:00 to watch the start. It was the headline in today's paper.

BIG NEWS!!
Tomorrow some people from the board of education and I will go to pick up Amy at Nagoya airport. She is the new ALT in town, and my new American buddy. Everyone's pretty excited.

Also, I mentioned in previous posts about a wonderful neighbor that likes to ruin my day. Well, I talked with Katsuno-san this morning, and it seems like he might be leaving. Yesterday the cleaning crews came to take care of Amy's new apartment (which is on the other side of the neighbor's wall), and he basically told them that they were being annoying and to shut up. I guess that was the last straw for the town, because on Saturday, he and the mayor will meet, and the mayor will ask him to move somewhere else. I'm a little relieved that he's leaving (I can watch TV anytime I want! Yay!) but looks like we probably won't be becoming friends anytime soon. Ah well ^^; Katsuno-san told me to tell Amy to watch out for him while he's still here. Kowai~

And now, in the spirit of soccer season, I give you: Kitty watching soccer!
Click here!

Golden Week!

It's the holiday Golden Week in Japan, which means it's time for people to take trips, visit people, or...just relax. This time around, it's also time for Nick to leave for the states.
Letsee, today's Wednesday, which means...Monday Nick and I went up to Iida for ramen. We picked up Cris on the way and hung out for a while, then came back to the apartments with Cris to chill while Nick packed. However, while Nick was walking over to my apartment at some point, our wonderful neighbor stopped him in the corridor. Dun-dun-duuuuuun. Our Mr. neighbor isn't Mr. Rogers by any means. He works a late schedule, then comes home and coughs his lungs out while getting wasted practically every day. He also has the good fortune to live between 2 foreigners, who cause so much racket with their talking, watching tv, and cleaning their apartments. What's wrong with those darn foreigners?! He obviously has the right to pond on the walls and walk over to yell at them any time they make a sound. Right?

Anyways, Neighbor-san was telling Nick that his food waste he keeps out on his balcony stinks. Alright fair enough, Nick will empty it out that day.
No. Do it now.
I'll do it later today.
I want to watch you do it, let me in.
After which the neighbor tried to physically force his way into Nick's apartment. Nick apparently shoved him out, causing him to fall down. Neighbor-san wedged himself into the doorframe to make it impossible to close it, while Nick told him repeatedly to leave.

I learned all of this through the phone from Nick who called the board of education, who talked him out of calling the police. They came over and listened to the story, then decided to come back the next day when (hopefully) neighbor-san wouldn't be drunk.

Before all this, the plan was to make dinner for the 3 of us, so Nick brought all the stuff over to my apartment, and we locked the door to get cooking. Neighbor-san was quiet the rest of the night, despite the talking and cooking that was going on next door. He probably realized that Nick's patience had worn out and we'd called his indirect employers (he's employed by the town in some way). We had a great dinner.

That night, I also inherited a couch and 2 goldfish which are currently swimming happily in their brandy-new tank.

The next morning, Nick left early for the states, and Cris and I headed into Iida. We has b-fast at a sushi place, then went shooopping! I stumbled across a few great things that day.
1. fresh basil plants. The ones I planted earlier aren't doing so well.....
2. A great shirt and a summer scarf with sailboats on it, cool~
3. Randomly in a cute gift shop, I found....STROOPWAFELS!!!!! I was sooooo excited and immediately bought 3 packs (2 wafers per pack).

Also, I couldn't believe how many of my students I met out and about in the city. We sat next to 4 girls that recently graduated, ran across some of my elem. school kids in a clothing store, and a PTA member, the parent of one of my kids in the electronics store. -Twas fun.

Today is another gorgeous day. On the agenda: walk, plant the basil, watch the fishes, make a nice dinner, and watch a movie or two. Thus ends the last day of vacation. Work starts again tomorrow. Goodie.

We interrupt your irregularly scheduled trip report...

Taking a break from the trip series for a bit.

Lately, things have been ridiculously busy. Somewhat last minute last week, we (area JETS and ALT teachers) started planning for a yakiniku party. Yakiniku is thinly sliced meat and occasionally veggies roasted on a hot flame in the middle of a special table. It’s like barbeque-ing, but still totally different.

Anyways, afterwards, we were planning to crash in Yasuoka, the next town over at Daniel and Emma’s house. However, them being even more in the boonies than us, they have their own personal toilet waste disposal system for their house. Which is supposed to get cleaned out once a year, if 1 person was staying at the house. But there’s 2. Crap overload!!! So their toilets weren’t working, and if anyone needed to answer nature’s call, they had to walk up to one of the schools….a bit of a pain. So we decided to move the after-party to Anan, Nick’s and my apartments!

A few hours after everyone came, I got a random phone call. Someone I met at the local grocery store wondering if he and his wife could come over in an hour. I said okaaaaay and hurriedly cleaned up. They came over with their one year old baby and I invited them in. We sat, sipped tea, and ate some snacks that they had made and brought over for about 1-2 hours. Then they got down to the purpose of the visit: to invite me to their place and eat a local treat: gohei mochi. Score! Mom and dad have pictures of them eating gohei mochi from their trip to Japan. Can’t wait.

Everyone came to Nick’s apartment and we went to the restaurant. It was already hopping when we got there, 2 other families were yaki-niku-ing, if that’s even a word (no it isn’t!). One table was headed by a smiley 60-something woman that eagerly waved me over. She and I had met at the local hot spring (onsen) after a bath and chatted it up. She introduced me to her family, which included a pretty Thai girl who I was told it was her last day in Japan before returning home. I finally returned to the English-speaking table, after a nod to some students and their family sitting at the other table.

The yakiniku was gooooood, and it had been a while since I had hung out with a large English-speaking crowd like that. We went back to the apartment (wonderful neighbor wasn’t there, thank god) and hung out. I swear, this crowd is more childish than most college parties.

Next morning, Emma cooked us a wonderful meal of French toast and we went to “ai park.” Ai means love in Japanese. The best part of the park was a huuuuuge metal slide/bobsled. You got on this cart and rode down it on the slide, with use of a handbrake so you didn’t go careening off the track. It was amazing. We went to a little cabin on a hill for a snack, and listened to some older lady rant about sorts dance and invited us all to go with her. Juuust when everyone’s patience had run out, we paid and left, only to go to a second-hand store in Iida. Those places are awesome. We then parted ways and met up again for Italian. I ordered a wonderful spaghetti vegetable dish….which I never got cause we got our orders mixed up and one of the other people was halfway done with it by the time we realized. Food in restaurants in Japan comes when it’s done, nt all at once. Ah well, it was more funny than anything else I think.

Nick and I finally got home about 10pm, in time for a quick shower and bed before work the next day. Wait, where’d my weekend go?! Give it baaaaack!!!!!!

This Wednesday, Nick and I went to Tomikusa elementary school. First we greeted the 5th graders (who we hadn’t had the privilege of teaching yet) and the now-6th graders. The 5th graders came prepared with business cards! It was so cute. We played color fruits basket. After school, we went on a bus tour! All the new (and some of the old) teachers got on a minibus and we drove around the area of Tomikusa. That driver had some crazy skills. On the way, we learned some history and where the students live. The (hot) new male teacher was busy reading the back of his eyelids most of the time.

After the tour, I dug in the gravel parking lot with some of the kids until the yakiniku was set up. Yes, another yakiniku party. We all sat around and drank and were merry. Notice a trend here? But his time, we had good kobe beef. One small Styrofoam tray of it was over $80. We ran out of meat and had to call up the butchers’ to get some delivered. We also ran out of beer, but luckily there was plenty wine and nihon-shu to go around! After all the meat was eaten, we made a festival food of noodles and veggies on the hot pans. Tomikusa’s Kyoto-sensei’s wife drove us home.

Tonight is a farewell party for Nick thrown by the adult English class. It will probably follow in the same vain as all the other ones, but we’ll see. After tonight, maybe my liver can take a rest. Almost golden week!

Update part 3: The Ryokan!

When we last left off, My parents and I had just gotten t our ryokan (Japanese style inn) in Kyoto. Well, the entrance was pretty great. It is an old establishment, part inn, part temple. We walked through a few ornate gates with beautiful gardens surrounding before even getting to the doorway. Where there was a bowing host to greet us by name (I think the foreigner look gave us away though :-P). He led us to a sitting area where we put down our bags and collapsed after the long stressful bus ride. We were greeted by a female hostess in a kimono, and served real frothy green tea and Japanese sweets.

We then followed a (I think different, can’t remember now) hostess down a maze of hallways and doorways. We passed a large banquet hall with low tables and padded cushions on the floor. At one point, we walked outside for about 20 feet, under an overhang, that had a beautiful view of the courtyard garden. Then we turned a few corners and passed by the public hot baths and toilets. The hallways were broken up every once in a while by adorable little sitting niches and paintings. All this time, our lovely guide was explaining the parts of the ryokan to me as well as a little history of the place. I did my best to translate for my parents, who were busy ducking every few meters.

Finally, we arrived at our room, which had my name hanging outside the door. It opened up to a beautiful room lined with tatami mats and decorated with a low table and pictures on the wall. Down went the bags again, and we sat at he table. But we barely had time to park our butts when our friend came back and offered to move us. Apparently they got an eyeful of our large American statures and decided a larger room would be a good idea. So we took about 10 steps down the hall and went into a considerably larger tatami room.

The hostess popped in about every hour or so to fix our chairs, give us sweets, ask us when we wanted dinner, etc. She was a very nice older lady, and I really got some practice as translator. My parents and I were pretty wiped out at this point, so we decided to just relax the first night in our wonderful accommodations. The dinner was an amazing feast with a few different courses brought straight to our room by our hostess and served on a special western style table and chairs brought in just for our benefit. It was a wonderful spread with lots of fish (of which my mom and I ate my dad’s share), pickles, and many other things. One of the Japanese ways of life is to finish all that’s on your plate, which my parents had a bit of trouble with. Everything was delicious though, I’ll post a pic or two of it.

After dinner, we went for a short walk outside to feel like we actually saw the city that day, though it was rainy and cold so we shortly returned. Then I soaked in the hot baths for a bit. Someone came to our room to take away the table and set out our bedding, futons. For those who don’t know, futons are basically thick mattresses that you sleep on the floor with. They’re extremely soft and comfortable. We fell right to sleep.

The next morning, we woke early for breakfast, for which they brought the table and chairs back. The hostess had a (fun?) time explaining some of the food to me, which I did my best to translate. Nothing like waking up to fish, rice, dried seaweed, soup, and some kind of egg pudding. I think it was in the morning that we took a walk around the gardens and took pictures of the beautiful flowering trees and walked cautiously on the carefully placed walking stones amidst the moss. After breakfast, we asked the hostess if she’d take a picture with us, to which she refused, but brought in another younger worker there who posed nervously but in good humor with us. As we headed out, we bought all-day train passes and received omiyage, souvenirs, from the greeter’s desk, and were bowed out. I’m so glad we went to that ryokan, it was certainly great experiencing the luxury of old Japan.


Our room, at least part of it.



The garden.



part 1 of dinner



breakfast.


futons!

Update Part 2: The Trip: airport and to Kyoto

Alright, so my parents and I have been planning a trip or them to come to Japan for quite a while now. We decided the best way to do it was to fit it into the small break between semesters in spring. I was really looking forward to it, showing them around my new home, showing them a different way of life, and showing off my language and adaptive abilities :-P Everything was planned out perfect. Right? Well....it wasn't exactly perfect, but it was still a whole lot of fun!

School ended on Thursday the 18th I believe. Which left Friday open! The plan was to drive down to Nagoya City (about 3+hrs by car) and pick them up from the airport, then bring them back home. Apparently they decided to tell me AFTER I made these plans that I'd be missing the farewell party for the teachers that were leaving. Ah well.

So I took my nice little manual yellow-plate car down the highway towards Nagoya. Highway tolls here are crazy expensive, one way to Nagoya was maybe about $45, just for the permission to drive, not including gas! I was doing great with my google map directions, got off the highways, and started towards the home stretch. Then the car started...feeling funny. I thought I could check it out when I got to the airport, so I kept going. Stopped for a red light, and stayed stopped. This was at about 6 or 7 at night, it was dark, strange city, I didn't know the language very well, and I was on a schedule. First thing, I turned on my blinkers and got out of the car. Then pulled out my handy-dandy cellphone and called the Japanese equivalent of 911, 119. No one spoke English, they said I really should call somewhere else, but where I didn't know. And I couldn't tell them where I was to top it off.

In comes my saviors. A car pulls over to the side of the road and a bunch of foreigners come out, asking if I want help. "YES. Ohmygoodnesthankyouthankyouidontknowwhattodo."

Turns out they were missionaries and dancers from the US. The driver, Ron, had been living in Japan with his wife for 20 years and spoke fluent Japanese. The others were visiting through the church, I think, for a few months. Ron used my cell phone to call my friend Katsuno-san at the Board of Education to explain what happened. Since it was a rental car and the Board is technically responsible for my well-being and safety, there was a lot of talking and red tape to get through very quickly. First we thought that I'd have to get a tow truck to bring the car to a lot for $180. No, that wasn't a typo. Then, coincidences and miracles abound, a
Japanese guy stops to ask what was up, and if he could help. Turns out his in-laws own a car rental/repair shop and can tow it for a whole lot less, if not for free. He gives them a call, and they come to the scene (but only after about 6 phone calls to and from Katsuno-san and the place I rent my car out from).

At first, the front wheels were completely locked up so we couldn't move the car anywhere out of the road. Then after quite a bit of pushing and rocking the boat (^^;) they were freed and we pushed it to a parking lot nearby. After we were sure that the car would get to the lot that night, Ron dropped off the others at his house and drove me to the airport. My parents by then were wondering why I wasn't there to greet them at arrivals. They had called earlier, finally got hold of me, only to have me tell them something like: the car broke down, we gotta improvise, see you in a bit.

It was great to see them again. I thought I'd see dad first because of his height, but instead I saw a white floof through the window and knew it was mom (or at least her hair. Or a gigantic dandelion.). After some quick hugs, there were some quick introductions and we were off to look at hotels. We had decided previously that my parents and I would stay the night in Nagoya in a hotel and get picked up the next morning by Katsuno-san. One of the hotels connected to the airport was pretty reasonable, about $135 for one single and two double rooms. Ron drove home for the night and mom, dad and I sat up a few hours talking and trying to unwind.

The next morning, we woke up to a breakfast buffet (complete with "American" corn salad!) and made a half dozen phone calls. (Thank god I charged the cell phone before I left, ne? I'm really lookin forward to last months' bill...) Katsuno-san and Sasaki-san from the Board of Education came and picked us up, but wait, I forgot my bag in Ron's car! So another trip to a nice park near the water was made, all the foreigners from the night before were thanked (which included giving them some of my Easter basket candy), and pictures were taken. We went to the car lot and checked up on the poor thing, said our farewells, and headed off for home!

Mom and Dad didn't say too much during the ride, since there was quite a large language barrier. We stopped at a very nice rest area for a late lunch, which proved very interesting. Dad got omurice I believe, which is ind of like an omelet on top of rice. Mon and I got a tonkatsu set, which is a piece of breaded and deep fried pork with a salad, rice, and soup. Katsuno-san and Sasaki-san got a really tasty looking eel set. Sasaki-san and a gentleman from the table next to us had a lot of fun watching my parents try to eat with chopsticks, especially mom. It certainly took us a while, and I tried to urge them to finish their plates (the Japanese way!), but it was a lot of food. Dad payed for the food, which seriously upset our two hosts (sorry!).

We got dropped off at my apartment, and sat down to finally relax. The apartment I lovingly cleaned and scrubbed on my hands and knees promptly became messy as a pigsty. Clothe exploded across the floor, papers splatted on the tables, computers booting up, and food wrappers drifting their way through the rubble, since the garbage system here is so intense that I wouldn't let them throw anything out. It was great to be home.

The next day, Sunday, Nick dropped us off at the bus stop in Iida where we would get on the wonderful Hana (flower!) bus for Kyoto. Mrs. Mizuno (an English teacher) and her husband (who maybe spoke better English than her) met us there to make sure we got on the right bus. We finally did, but unfortunately, the highway was closed for part of the way due to an accident. Which meant we took windy country roads that no bus should ever drive on and 1.5 hrs to go what should have taken us maybe 30 minutes. All the while, mom was having fun looking out the side of the bus straight down sheer cliffs. Notice the sarcasm? When we finally got near to Kyoto, the traffic was extremely bad due to congestion and everyone driving during the peak travel/vacation season.

We finally arrived in Kyoto, at the main station. There were taxis lined up near the station in 3 groups which I read to be small, medium, and large. I learned later that the sizes referred to the size of car and the price for the larger cars was larger than the other. The main way of transportation there is by city bus, so we found one bound for the general location of our hotel and boarded. Big mistake. There happened to be a parade through the city street, in which one land was blocked off. It made traffic a nightmare. We were smushed in with no breathing room on a crowded bus that didn't go anywhere. It took maybe half an hour for a 5 minute drive.

We (finally) got off the bus and headed for the general direction o the ryokan, a traditional Japanese-style inn. We asked a nice older lady on the street where it was, and she escorted us right up to the doorstep.

Some pictures:


Some pot-heads outside the hotel at Nagoya.


A rhino outside same hotel. Why? I have no idea.

This concludes part 2, next part: Kyoto!

Update part 1: Graduation

Hello and Happy Easter everyone!!!
Been a while since I've blogged, ne? Because this is a potentially large entry, I'm splitting it up into a few parts.
Spring has come (finally) to Japan. The way the school system works here is the school year goes from the beginning of April until mid March. Which means that the 3rd graders all graduated a few weeks ago. It was a big to-do, the Japanese really love their ceremonies. The children spent forever preparing, including having no classes at all a few days, just spending them doing preparations.

The ceremony itself was rather dull. In the beginning, the 1st and 2nd graders lined up along the middle of the gym and faced the middle. Then the 3rd graders all walked slowly and meaningfully through the lines in pairs. There were a lot of reeeeeally boring speeches, about half a dozen of them each lasting 10 minutes, during which nobody moved. Nobody even sneezed of breathed heavily. No clapping in between, just a solemn bow before and after each person. These kids are really disciplined!!!
There were a lot of songs during the ceremony, including the school son and a few farewell songs. We sang before and after the children got their diplomas. After each person got their diploma, they made a short speech. They started off okay, but by the end, there wasn't a dry eye in the house, and the boys that worked hard to keep their cool and tough looks during the year started bawling. Right afterwards, the 3rd years sang a farewell song, which must have been hard to do with them crying so much. I haven't shed so many tears in quite a while.

After the main ceremony, there was a break for lunch. Us teachers ate pre-made lunches, called bento, in the teachers' room. After lunch, there was a short ceremony for the 4 teachers who were leaving. The children did not know which teachers were leaving and which were staying until this moment, which is the last time they would be able to see them. I think it's kind of a cruel system, not really letting them say goodbye, but the Japanese claim it saves the kids from being too sad. Didn't work this time, as soon as they were announced, everyone started very loud tears in unison. The teachers gave speeches.
The children and teachers lined up in two lines outside and faced into the middle. While they clapped, the 3rd graders gathered up their school things, and walked casually down the middle, a very symbolic last walk home. Of course then everyone whipped out their cameras and took pictures with everyone they could find.

In elementary school and junior high, all the kids grow up together and keep their own friend circles. To get into high school, they have to take entrance exams to get into the school they want. Everyone ends up splitting up and going their own ways. Most of the schools are in Iida City, with about an average commute time of 1.5 hrs one way.

Probably the children with whom I had grown the closest with were the 3rd years. They knew the most English, to be sure, so it was easier to communicate with them. I also had the most classes with them. Also, by the 3rd year, the students really feel comfortable and open up, showing their real personalities instead of being shy and timid like the other grades. I'm going to miss them so much. They will always be "the" 3rd years.

Good luck in the future.

Another Monday

Goooood Monday morning (afternoon) to you all!

I'm almost glad to be back at work, it forces me to actually do stuff. Like answer emails. ^^;

I was searching around the internet, and stumbled across an Animorphs site. This site has Q+A with the authors of the series (apparently there were 2 of them, working under one penname. Huh.). A while ago I d/led the e-books to the series, maaaybe it's time to revisit them ^____^ It's been far too long, and it would be interesting what I got from the series now that I'm not in elementary school anymore. Who here read the series?

An interesting quote from the forum from the authors, on the subject of Animorphs possibly being too dark for its intended audience: "It's bizarre that a parent will blithely tell a four year old a story about children being abandoned in the woods by their parents, entrapped by a gingerbread house, threatened with cannibalism, and top it all off with the triumphant resolution where the children burn a witch alive . . . and be upset when a 12 year old reads ANIMORPHS."

And as a side note, I think I was influenced by Rachel more than I thought...

On a related note, I finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy yesterday. It was a pretty good ending, gives good closure. Too much closure I think though...time to re-watch the 3rd movie?

plants, chrono trigger, kanji

Stopped at the store yesterday, bought a large window planter and some potting soil, then planted some coriander! The plan is to let it grow up big and strong so I can make Mexican salsa, yummmmmmm. I only planted half though, and left the other half for whatever. I don't really use that much spices with my food. The cashier recommended lemon balm, but as I told her, I wouldn't know what to do with it! I'm currently looking for a nice flower perhaps that will grow well out on my deck but not overtake the cilantro, and still looks pretty. Any suggestions?

The parsley and basil plants are poking through! I planted waaay too many of each of them because I wasn't sure they would grow, but now I have about a thousand of each. I'm so incredibly happy that it worked though. They started growing right after we stopped getting frost during the night, makes sense. I soaked half the basil seeds in warm water before planting, and half I didn't, as an experiment. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference as of yet, but they're still pretty puny.

Started up the Chrono Trigger game the other night. Surprisingly, when I turned it on, everything was in English! Since I bought this game at a secondhand store, there were also saved games in each of the save slots, all done to the end. Chrono Trigger is the type of game that you have to play about 8 times through to see all the different endings of the game. I'll prob. keep one or two of the save slots at the end just to mess around :P In the menu, there is an option to toggle between Japanese and English, so if I wanted, I could talk to a person in Japanese (in-game, of course), try and translate, and then switch to English to see how close I got. This is an added bonus! The only problem is the amount of kanji, I still can't read that very well....

Benn focusing of studying kanji for the moment. I'm getting tired of knowing what something means, but not being able to read it. Very frustrating.

Time to clean the school!

Peanut Butter.

Okay, I said only yesterday that I would not listen to any vocaloid songs. I changed my mind 5 minutes ago. Apparently Jouji Nakata is doing the newest voice. He has possibly the most awesome Japanese voice I have ever heard, speaking wise. *heart* I'm actually looking forward to it!!

And as I just commented on Facebook (oh great and powerful Facebook), X Japan is now moving to California....as in relocating the whole band there. And they are playing a concert in Chicago. DAAAAARN YOOOOOOU fate!!!!

On another note, I'm at nichu today (the more lax school), so I spent maybe an hour looking up "rebus". They're word plays, like

stand
I

means "I understand."
After all that research, we decided that the ones I found were a bit difficult for the 1st graders, so we're going with some that I thought of. Glee.

Need to finish my curry tonight, maybe I'll buy some bread and call it a stew.

One class I actually have to show up for today, then a period of maybe studying, then playing with the chillins at basketball (I'll try not to run into people his time, honest!), then home a bit early! This school is too cool.

To end, peanut butter is wonderful.

Spring cleaning!

Another fine day in Japanland! I opened all my doors and windows to get some air, and cleaned the whole place top to bottom. This includes going through old papers, making an actually systematic way of organizing all these wonderful bills I've been collecting, recording my receipts and such, blah blah. Gawd I love being an independent adult *gag*

Yesterday I made some aaaaawesome curry. The ingredients were potatoes, carrots, an onion, peas and some chopped up fried chicken I had lying around. It turned into somewhat more of a stew by day 2, but was still delish.

Got out my new hot water steamer thingamabobber. Instant tea and boiling water for soup! A good investment I think. Also makes good instant hot cocoa ^_^ Heats water a whole lot faster than my woooonderful electric stove (sarcasm).

On a sidenote, last week in school Sobakasu was played over the loudspeaker as the lunchtime song. (Sobakasu was an opening song to the anime Kenshin, sung by Judy + Mary.) Only thing was, it was the vocaloid Hatsune Miku version?! The kids knew it was weird but also didnt know what vocaloid is. My guess is one of the kids in 2nd year spends too much time on the internet.... Here's the voclaoid version of the song. For the record, I an NOT a fan of robotic sounding music like this. The program gives you great artistic license, but I wouldn't want to really listen to the music itself. (dodges rotten tomatoes from vocaloid fans)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEIfM-sVOvU

Looking forward to trying out my new Japanese version of Chrono Trigger for the DS I found at 2nd street (a store) last week. Should prove interesting. If Adam could play Pokemon before he could read well, I can play Chrono Trigger now.....maybe ^^;

Long time no post

Okay, so it's been forever and a few days since I last posted something, ごめん　ね。So....I'll just ignore it and pretend this huge gap isn't here ^^;

Funky tidbit of the day (anime related)

Comic Imitation?

"The American company Radical Publishing has announced that it halted the production and distribution of Nick Simmons' Incarnate comic book series on Wednesday evening, amid allegations that the comic plagiarized Tite Kubo's Bleach manga."
(Taken from AnimeNewsNetwork)

Basically an American comic maker drew pretty much the same thing as was in the popular Japanese manga Bleach. The original author, Kubo Tite, didn't seem too concerned. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, ne? It seriously looks like just about the same thing. Of course that they had to pick Kenpachi to copy, which in itself is awesome :)

Ice skating related!

South Korea's Kim Yu-Na kicked ass, heads and tails over anyone else performance-wise. That is all.