Friday, October 23, 2009
goin to tokyo!
So this weekend I'm going to Tokyo for the v-rock festival. There will be about 50 bands playing over 2 days, saturday and sunday. You can watch the live stream if you google "v-rock festival 09", click on the "translate this page" of the first link, and download a special plugin. Leaving via highway bus today, woohoo!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
special class, big trip!
Yay busy weekend. Friday was the special English class at Tomikusa elementary school. Basically all the 14 teachers of the school came to watch, plus Mr. Kojima from ichu, plus an official person from who-knows-where. The kids had lots of fun, although they got a little too rowdy sometimes and I had to settle them down while the classroom teacher was teaching. We played a type of team card game similar to go fish, reviewing colors, numbers, and types of fish, as well as "I want". When we started the game, to make it more interesting, both us teachers wore aprons (because we were fish sellers) and crazy hats (he was a pirate, I was a clown). After the class, there was a one and a half hour meeting about how we did, all in Japanese. What I got out of it was 1. more greeting like how is the weather, how do you feel, etc. at the beginning of class (we usually do that every class but there was no time today); 2. my way of praising the students every time they got a right answer was good; 3. using hand motions and doing the Italian talking with your hands is good (I did it a bit, didn't even notice it until they praised me!); 4. The game looked really fun and the teachers wanted to join in. So all in all, it went very well.
After the class, all the teachers went to a place in Iida to celebrate, and Nick joined us there too. It was a sit-down fancy meal with as much food and booze you can eat, overall okay. The price tags on these things takes alot of the fun away from them, $50 per person. Afterwards, Nick and I went with the secretary (a young lady) to a bar that Nick recommended, and met up with 2 of our ALT friends Cris and John. Nick thought the pool was free, it wasn't, it was $6 per person, and then he got really really ticked off. We went to the foreigner-favorite bar "Blood" to chill, Nick steaming the rest of the night.
We actually ran into longtime ALT Wolf. Everyone talks about him, he's been here maybe 11 years, and started with the same program Nick and I are on, coming from Alfred to Anan. Nick, John, the secretary, and her friend that we ran into in Blood also went to karaoke (at this point it was around 1 in the morning) while Cris and I went to her apartment and crashed.
In the morning, Cris took me to an aaaawesome bakery nearby, and we filled up on pastry goodness. Then she had to go to work and I was left to kill close to 3 hours by myself before the next train back home, which I nearly fell asleep on. Then walked from Nukuta to home and passed out, completely wiped.
We started off at about 7 Sunday morning for Iida to meet Mrs. Watari for our big trip. It started off good, and she evn offered us homemade rice balls (onigiri) for breakfast. I had already eaten, but wanted to be polite, so I ate one but then she kept insisting I eat another, so I did, and also some of the grapes she gave me. After the GPS was figured out, we kept driving onwards. We stopped at an archaeological museum and learned about rocks, minerals, and the people of the area from long ago. It was sooooooo fun. The best part though, was the playground. There was this huuuuge slide that was maybe 50 meters long and wrapped around a small gorge where it ended at the bottom. Unfortunately, Watari seemed to be in a hurry so I didn't go on it, but I went on the mini one instead.
During all this, Watari kept forcing food on us every hour, a full meal every 2 hours. Delicious, but I was about to pop.
We finally reached the seaside, and I got my first glimpse of the Japan sea! It didn't smell like a sea at all, but looked really nice. we drove to the place we were staying for that night, a really nice refurbished 130yr old Japanese-style house with a thatched roof. The room was a tatami room, with a table in the middle, a tv, and futons in the closet. You could slide any of the walls to open it up to the next room, and we were right next to the main eating area.
We all went to the attached onsen (bath) and soaked for a bit before dinner, changing into the provided yukata, traditional Japanese wear you use at places like this. And then we ate a snack. And then it was dinner.
Dinner was great, including tempura and red snapper. After dinner, we took another bath and ate some more. We turned in a it early to get ready for breakfast at 7:30. The cook came in with a crash boom bang at 5:30. Then we ate a Japanese style breakfast of fish, rice, miso soup, pickles, and a raw egg that you break over the rice (which I didn't eat, last time I tried it didn't turn out too well.) Then we soaked in the bath again, ate some more, and started the journey back.
Nearby there was a fish market of sorts. Many types of fish were on display, including alot of king crab, which Watari-san bought for us. First time eating crab, it was okay, but I prob. won't eat it again unless given to me. We drove to this awesome gorge and took lots of pictures, etc. and ate. Then we went up this windy crazy road to a pond in the mountains and relaxed ab it and ate soba, the best soba I've had. We started back again for home, and near the end I was feeling a bit queasy from all the food so I said I was carsick. This prompted an immediate reaction from Watari-san and we switched places so i was in the front, and she offered me food but didn't force the issue when I turned it down this time. We made it back to her house, where our car and her husband were waiting. He wanted to take us to dinner. We went to a nice restaurant and I had a full meal of deep-fried pork, miso soup, rice, greens and pickles. Nick needed meat so we stopped at the grocery store for some, then went home.
Summary of the weekend: the sea is beautiful and I will never EVER eat again.
After the class, all the teachers went to a place in Iida to celebrate, and Nick joined us there too. It was a sit-down fancy meal with as much food and booze you can eat, overall okay. The price tags on these things takes alot of the fun away from them, $50 per person. Afterwards, Nick and I went with the secretary (a young lady) to a bar that Nick recommended, and met up with 2 of our ALT friends Cris and John. Nick thought the pool was free, it wasn't, it was $6 per person, and then he got really really ticked off. We went to the foreigner-favorite bar "Blood" to chill, Nick steaming the rest of the night.
We actually ran into longtime ALT Wolf. Everyone talks about him, he's been here maybe 11 years, and started with the same program Nick and I are on, coming from Alfred to Anan. Nick, John, the secretary, and her friend that we ran into in Blood also went to karaoke (at this point it was around 1 in the morning) while Cris and I went to her apartment and crashed.
In the morning, Cris took me to an aaaawesome bakery nearby, and we filled up on pastry goodness. Then she had to go to work and I was left to kill close to 3 hours by myself before the next train back home, which I nearly fell asleep on. Then walked from Nukuta to home and passed out, completely wiped.
We started off at about 7 Sunday morning for Iida to meet Mrs. Watari for our big trip. It started off good, and she evn offered us homemade rice balls (onigiri) for breakfast. I had already eaten, but wanted to be polite, so I ate one but then she kept insisting I eat another, so I did, and also some of the grapes she gave me. After the GPS was figured out, we kept driving onwards. We stopped at an archaeological museum and learned about rocks, minerals, and the people of the area from long ago. It was sooooooo fun. The best part though, was the playground. There was this huuuuge slide that was maybe 50 meters long and wrapped around a small gorge where it ended at the bottom. Unfortunately, Watari seemed to be in a hurry so I didn't go on it, but I went on the mini one instead.
During all this, Watari kept forcing food on us every hour, a full meal every 2 hours. Delicious, but I was about to pop.
We finally reached the seaside, and I got my first glimpse of the Japan sea! It didn't smell like a sea at all, but looked really nice. we drove to the place we were staying for that night, a really nice refurbished 130yr old Japanese-style house with a thatched roof. The room was a tatami room, with a table in the middle, a tv, and futons in the closet. You could slide any of the walls to open it up to the next room, and we were right next to the main eating area.
We all went to the attached onsen (bath) and soaked for a bit before dinner, changing into the provided yukata, traditional Japanese wear you use at places like this. And then we ate a snack. And then it was dinner.
Dinner was great, including tempura and red snapper. After dinner, we took another bath and ate some more. We turned in a it early to get ready for breakfast at 7:30. The cook came in with a crash boom bang at 5:30. Then we ate a Japanese style breakfast of fish, rice, miso soup, pickles, and a raw egg that you break over the rice (which I didn't eat, last time I tried it didn't turn out too well.) Then we soaked in the bath again, ate some more, and started the journey back.
Nearby there was a fish market of sorts. Many types of fish were on display, including alot of king crab, which Watari-san bought for us. First time eating crab, it was okay, but I prob. won't eat it again unless given to me. We drove to this awesome gorge and took lots of pictures, etc. and ate. Then we went up this windy crazy road to a pond in the mountains and relaxed ab it and ate soba, the best soba I've had. We started back again for home, and near the end I was feeling a bit queasy from all the food so I said I was carsick. This prompted an immediate reaction from Watari-san and we switched places so i was in the front, and she offered me food but didn't force the issue when I turned it down this time. We made it back to her house, where our car and her husband were waiting. He wanted to take us to dinner. We went to a nice restaurant and I had a full meal of deep-fried pork, miso soup, rice, greens and pickles. Nick needed meat so we stopped at the grocery store for some, then went home.
Summary of the weekend: the sea is beautiful and I will never EVER eat again.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Okay
Just post to say that I barely even noticed the typhoon, and am home safe in my apartment. Much more to tell, but that'll have to wait till tuesday or wednesday, as I'm dead beat and need to get up early tomorrow. Night!
And if you're curious, here's a google map of where I live - on the southern edge of that lake/pond thing. Let's hope that works.
http://maps.google.co.jp/maps/mm?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=35.32486,137.821341&spn=0.008561,0.01929&z=16&msa=0&msid=114636960454558692583.00047592844aa3983eabd
And if you're curious, here's a google map of where I live - on the southern edge of that lake/pond thing. Let's hope that works.
http://maps.google.co.jp/maps/mm?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=35.32486,137.821341&spn=0.008561,0.01929&z=16&msa=0&msid=114636960454558692583.00047592844aa3983eabd
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
There's a typhoon a'comin!
So apparently tomorrow a typhoon is gonna hit us really hard. There hasn't been one that has come this far inland that's this big in 50 years, and I guess that one was pretty bad. Right now its foggy and cloudy, with steady rain (I forgot my umbrella, darnit). Tomorrow the principal and vice-principal will meet before 6:00am to discuss whether or not to close school. But, even if they close school, I still have to come because it's a paid day. Poo.
I'm especially worried because this is a mountainous area and landslides are really bad. This is probably the first time I've lived in an area that I have to worry about things due to natural disasters and really bad weather (other than a good blizzard or ice storm). Thankfully I'm not living directly on a slope and there's a pond between me and the hill nearby, just in case.
In other news, I visited 2 elementary schools yesterday, finding a few minutes in between to wolf down some lunch at the jr high school. Today I'm beat. Because of a combination of that and my leg muscle randomly spasming (not painful, just wierd) I'm gonna take a break from kendo tonight. Rest is good.
My weekend schedule is already filled up, after the huuuge English demonstration class Friday (nervous!!!) there is a party in Iida with the Tomikusa elem. teachers. Sunday Nick and I meet a person from our conversation class in Iida and drive about 4 hours to a nearby city for the night, to sightsee and such. This is to thank us for helping out on her farm later in the month picking persimmons. Bzzzzz goes the busy bee. :P
Looking forward to some r+r tonight.
I'm especially worried because this is a mountainous area and landslides are really bad. This is probably the first time I've lived in an area that I have to worry about things due to natural disasters and really bad weather (other than a good blizzard or ice storm). Thankfully I'm not living directly on a slope and there's a pond between me and the hill nearby, just in case.
In other news, I visited 2 elementary schools yesterday, finding a few minutes in between to wolf down some lunch at the jr high school. Today I'm beat. Because of a combination of that and my leg muscle randomly spasming (not painful, just wierd) I'm gonna take a break from kendo tonight. Rest is good.
My weekend schedule is already filled up, after the huuuge English demonstration class Friday (nervous!!!) there is a party in Iida with the Tomikusa elem. teachers. Sunday Nick and I meet a person from our conversation class in Iida and drive about 4 hours to a nearby city for the night, to sightsee and such. This is to thank us for helping out on her farm later in the month picking persimmons. Bzzzzz goes the busy bee. :P
Looking forward to some r+r tonight.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Driving manual
Had my second lesson on how to drive a manual car today. It started with "alright, drive us to the parking lot."
@.@
After a rather jerky, slow, panicky ride, we got there. I drove in circles and practiced starting on a hill. Then we drove to the store and back home. By the way, first time driving on the left side of the road, with gutters on steroids, very veeery narrow, sharp curves, and lots of rain. ^_^
Total drive time, 1st and 2nd lessons put together? Maybe 45 minutes tops.
Ready to drive to kendo tonight? Oooh yeah :P
Aaaaah, freedom.
@.@
After a rather jerky, slow, panicky ride, we got there. I drove in circles and practiced starting on a hill. Then we drove to the store and back home. By the way, first time driving on the left side of the road, with gutters on steroids, very veeery narrow, sharp curves, and lots of rain. ^_^
Total drive time, 1st and 2nd lessons put together? Maybe 45 minutes tops.
Ready to drive to kendo tonight? Oooh yeah :P
Aaaaah, freedom.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Japanese TV
Oh, ho exciting Japanese TV is. Currently trying to find something to one out to, on the channels there are:
1. horse racing
2. horse racing (same thing)
3.a show i think about food, currently a food-eating contest in the middle of a field.
4.golf (womens)
5.more golf
6.more golf(the womens one again)
7.fuzz (never works)
8. sumo
9.one of those commentated talk-about-anything shows. This time it's on trains.
10.even more golf (same as #5)
11.pre-recorded video of ppl doing a slow repeating dance in the streets for hours on end (local channel)
12.live shougi atch with live commentary!!To make it more interesting. Think of a chess game at the pro level where each move takes about 5 minutes, with 2 people n the background discussing possible strategies.
And I pay $25 a month for this, since it's required.
1. horse racing
2. horse racing (same thing)
3.a show i think about food, currently a food-eating contest in the middle of a field.
4.golf (womens)
5.more golf
6.more golf(the womens one again)
7.fuzz (never works)
8. sumo
9.one of those commentated talk-about-anything shows. This time it's on trains.
10.even more golf (same as #5)
11.pre-recorded video of ppl doing a slow repeating dance in the streets for hours on end (local channel)
12.live shougi atch with live commentary!!To make it more interesting. Think of a chess game at the pro level where each move takes about 5 minutes, with 2 people n the background discussing possible strategies.
And I pay $25 a month for this, since it's required.
Kendo party
Last night just as I finished my blog, I got kidnapped by all the Kendo Sensei for a party at the onsen, lol. there were maybe 20 people in a sitting room in the onsen eating and drinking, then an after party at the nearby cottages where we stayed for the night. The guys got really drunk and hilarious, with the younger ones spontaneously wrestling, and an arm wrestling tournament. I did pretty well in that, though I have a feeling that they went easy on me....
Some of them knew enough English to converse with, and yes, I was the only girl. When we threw the futons out to sleep they gave me plenty of space, though. Everyone woke up with a huuge hangovr today, but not me cause I drank lotsa water and not as much alcohols (not for their lack of trying, as is in any Japanese social gathering). The best part about this: it was free (for me)!
Now to sleep, since I got maybe 1 hr of sleep tops last night and it's 10:00am right now. Night!
Some of them knew enough English to converse with, and yes, I was the only girl. When we threw the futons out to sleep they gave me plenty of space, though. Everyone woke up with a huuge hangovr today, but not me cause I drank lotsa water and not as much alcohols (not for their lack of trying, as is in any Japanese social gathering). The best part about this: it was free (for me)!
Now to sleep, since I got maybe 1 hr of sleep tops last night and it's 10:00am right now. Night!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
V-rock Festival '09
One more thing.
For my birthday present from my parents and to myself, I'm going to the visual kei concert in Tokyo in October. I'm sooooooooooooooo psyched. A lineup of the artists is here: http://v-rockfes.com/content2/ . Including some of my favs Abington Boys School, D'espairs Ray, the Gazette, and Moi Dix Mois (Mana on stage?!). Also Marilyn Manson. Once in a lifetime opportunity? YES. Worth the $200 ticket? YES. A whole weekend of being merry and listening to kick-ass music? YES. Bring it on.
The only thing better would be X Japan...ah well. Next time.
For my birthday present from my parents and to myself, I'm going to the visual kei concert in Tokyo in October. I'm sooooooooooooooo psyched. A lineup of the artists is here: http://v-rockfes.com/content2/ . Including some of my favs Abington Boys School, D'espairs Ray, the Gazette, and Moi Dix Mois (Mana on stage?!). Also Marilyn Manson. Once in a lifetime opportunity? YES. Worth the $200 ticket? YES. A whole weekend of being merry and listening to kick-ass music? YES. Bring it on.
The only thing better would be X Japan...ah well. Next time.
Silver Week
Alright, so it's the weekend after silver week. Many things have happened, I guess. One of them is that I've started teaching in elementary schools (shogakko). I'm lazy, so I'll copy and paste a paragraph from an email about it: "Recently, I have been going to an elementary school Tomikusa to teach 5th and 6th graders. It was quite a shock the first day when they brought me there, stuck me in front of a class, and said "teach." I had no idea where to start, what they knew, how elementary classes were run, etc. We ended up practicing numbers, colors, and doing the hokey pokey, which they seemed to enjoy saying more than acting (hokey pokey hokey pokey hokey pokey). After that initial time, I have the knowledge and time to prepare for classes so I really look forward to those classes, which I think of as "play time"."
Apparently the 5th grade teacher and I are going to be teaching an extremely important (the lesson was planned out a month ago) English lesson October 9th. It's the kind of thing where all the teachers in the school will be watching and taking notes (basically grading us). I'm not really nervous, just kind of want it to be over with. Also, I'm staying at my current jr. high (ichu0 until it's over so the kids can get used to me. When I go to nichu I will be doing more blogs, I promise!!!! More free time in the teachers' room.
This past week or so, in order to keep busy during break, I've taken up hiking as a hobby. I kinda walk around all the hills maybe twice a day for an hour, sometimes jogging if I feel like it, listening to music. It' keeping me in relatively decent shape to hopefully kendo won't kill me when I go >.
Although I really should have the whole set of armor so I can join in the whole lesson. Right now I'm stuck doing basic drills, but if I got the (expensive) armor set, I would look like:
Pretty scary, huh? These guys are lightning fast, too. Oh, and after the practice I hung the outfit on a door to dry out, and cause of how its arranged, it looks exactly like a captain's uniform from Bleach is hanging there lol (Anime fans would get that one). Tonight I have practice at Anan's kendo club at 6:30, looking forward to it!
Apparently, there will be an art show in a few days displaying teachers' artwork. No one thought it was important to tell me until yesterday. Now I gotta whip up something or other to display for the community (which will be HIGHLY scrutinized) in 2 days. -.-;;; Oh joy.
In other news, I've been trying to keep up with the popular culture that the kids are tellig me about in their diaries. Many of them mentioned "Buzzer Beat," a Japanese drama that just ended. I've gotta say, it's the best directed JDrama I've seen. Most of them are pretty cheezy and akward, but this one really shone in terms of quality. The story was another one about romance, cheating on boy/girlfriends, etc. though. There are way too many of those, and waaay too many about yakuza and gangs, surprisingly.
One I am watching now came highly reccomended, Ninkyo Hlper. Basicallya bunch of ppl in a certain yakuza gang were told to go work at a nursing home, and the person that does the best job will take over as leader in the future. ....What? It's pretty good actually. You can watch both of these and other Chinese, Chinese, and I think Korean dramas at http://www.dramacrazy.net/. God, I sound like a commercial.
Black Jack episodes keep getting released, and I keep getting right back into the fandom again and again, lol. I really need to find a new series to go ga-ga for -.-; I started a new small series Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, about what would happen if a huge earthquake would hit Tokyo. You would think it's another Grave of the Fireflies (if your eyes are dry at the end of that movie, YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!!), but it keeps a bit of light on. I reccomend it if you're looking for a short something to watch.
I stopped in the library for a bit today and ran into a student of mine studying math. That's one thing that's kind of a universal language, I could actually understand the textbook, gasp! And yes, it's jr. high math, so I knew how to do it -.-; While I was there I thuroughly scanned the library for what they had that would interest me...how the heck do they sort books here?! At least in the manga section, I think it might be by genre or something first, then author after that. The magazine section was kind of lacking (not interested in Japanese "Seventeen"), the VHS/DVD section has a few good things like Disney and Ghibli movies, and there's lotsa books with funny signs in them I'm guessing are kanji :P There is a decent manga section here, for when I'm up for a challenge.
The elementary schools had their field days last weekend, which was alot of fun. They have been preparing for it for months, and they're basically huuuge shows of sports and such, very theatrical. Again, I'm amazed at the control these kids have. You'd think they grew up in boot camps. I participated in the adult tug-of-war, which my team lost, and I got a pulled muscle as a result, but wow it was fun!! There was also a traditional Japanese dance with partners that everyone joined in for, and I got paired with an obviously special needs young kid. He was pretty cool though, not doing the dance but going forward and back with everyone, but having the habit of grabbing people and hanging on. At Tomikusa (one of the elem. schools) I was invited to sit with the guests of honor and enjoy the festivities, and talked to alot of cool people.
Walking home the other day, I passed the old lady that lives in the apartments next to the road that's very talkative. She's nice but doesn't really get that I only understand about 30%-50% of what she says.... anyways, yesterday there was also a very verbal little black kitty on the side of the road. It didn't really trust me so I had to be careful, but I got to pet a cat!!!!! YESS!!!!!!! It's been months, I really missed petting a real kitty *sniff* The lady told me its name, that it's a mother, and some other stuff all the meanwhile.
Another thing I really miss about home is singing out loud to my music. Living in an apartment building with walls literally made of paper you can hear exactly what your neighbors are doing. Right now I'm listening to some Disturbed (YEAH!) and wishing I could totally rock out, but oh well.
One more thing. Taiko Drum Master KICK BUTT. I played some with my friend Cris, that arcade one had lots of anime songs and popular Japanese songs, and I was sweating by the end of it. Also, on a sushi trip with nichu people, we stopped into a bowling lley with a DDR machine. So OF COURSE I had to play... with a few Japanese teachers looking on like :O and trying to distract me lol.
One more thing. The cure to homesickness = a familiar anime. Go figure.
One more thing. poached ish is soooo much better than broiled fish.
One more thing. This is the end.
Apparently the 5th grade teacher and I are going to be teaching an extremely important (the lesson was planned out a month ago) English lesson October 9th. It's the kind of thing where all the teachers in the school will be watching and taking notes (basically grading us). I'm not really nervous, just kind of want it to be over with. Also, I'm staying at my current jr. high (ichu0 until it's over so the kids can get used to me. When I go to nichu I will be doing more blogs, I promise!!!! More free time in the teachers' room.
This past week or so, in order to keep busy during break, I've taken up hiking as a hobby. I kinda walk around all the hills maybe twice a day for an hour, sometimes jogging if I feel like it, listening to music. It' keeping me in relatively decent shape to hopefully kendo won't kill me when I go >.
Although I really should have the whole set of armor so I can join in the whole lesson. Right now I'm stuck doing basic drills, but if I got the (expensive) armor set, I would look like:
Pretty scary, huh? These guys are lightning fast, too. Oh, and after the practice I hung the outfit on a door to dry out, and cause of how its arranged, it looks exactly like a captain's uniform from Bleach is hanging there lol (Anime fans would get that one). Tonight I have practice at Anan's kendo club at 6:30, looking forward to it!
Apparently, there will be an art show in a few days displaying teachers' artwork. No one thought it was important to tell me until yesterday. Now I gotta whip up something or other to display for the community (which will be HIGHLY scrutinized) in 2 days. -.-;;; Oh joy.
In other news, I've been trying to keep up with the popular culture that the kids are tellig me about in their diaries. Many of them mentioned "Buzzer Beat," a Japanese drama that just ended. I've gotta say, it's the best directed JDrama I've seen. Most of them are pretty cheezy and akward, but this one really shone in terms of quality. The story was another one about romance, cheating on boy/girlfriends, etc. though. There are way too many of those, and waaay too many about yakuza and gangs, surprisingly.
One I am watching now came highly reccomended, Ninkyo Hlper. Basicallya bunch of ppl in a certain yakuza gang were told to go work at a nursing home, and the person that does the best job will take over as leader in the future. ....What? It's pretty good actually. You can watch both of these and other Chinese, Chinese, and I think Korean dramas at http://www.dramacrazy.net/. God, I sound like a commercial.
Black Jack episodes keep getting released, and I keep getting right back into the fandom again and again, lol. I really need to find a new series to go ga-ga for -.-; I started a new small series Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, about what would happen if a huge earthquake would hit Tokyo. You would think it's another Grave of the Fireflies (if your eyes are dry at the end of that movie, YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!!), but it keeps a bit of light on. I reccomend it if you're looking for a short something to watch.
I stopped in the library for a bit today and ran into a student of mine studying math. That's one thing that's kind of a universal language, I could actually understand the textbook, gasp! And yes, it's jr. high math, so I knew how to do it -.-; While I was there I thuroughly scanned the library for what they had that would interest me...how the heck do they sort books here?! At least in the manga section, I think it might be by genre or something first, then author after that. The magazine section was kind of lacking (not interested in Japanese "Seventeen"), the VHS/DVD section has a few good things like Disney and Ghibli movies, and there's lotsa books with funny signs in them I'm guessing are kanji :P There is a decent manga section here, for when I'm up for a challenge.
The elementary schools had their field days last weekend, which was alot of fun. They have been preparing for it for months, and they're basically huuuge shows of sports and such, very theatrical. Again, I'm amazed at the control these kids have. You'd think they grew up in boot camps. I participated in the adult tug-of-war, which my team lost, and I got a pulled muscle as a result, but wow it was fun!! There was also a traditional Japanese dance with partners that everyone joined in for, and I got paired with an obviously special needs young kid. He was pretty cool though, not doing the dance but going forward and back with everyone, but having the habit of grabbing people and hanging on. At Tomikusa (one of the elem. schools) I was invited to sit with the guests of honor and enjoy the festivities, and talked to alot of cool people.
Walking home the other day, I passed the old lady that lives in the apartments next to the road that's very talkative. She's nice but doesn't really get that I only understand about 30%-50% of what she says.... anyways, yesterday there was also a very verbal little black kitty on the side of the road. It didn't really trust me so I had to be careful, but I got to pet a cat!!!!! YESS!!!!!!! It's been months, I really missed petting a real kitty *sniff* The lady told me its name, that it's a mother, and some other stuff all the meanwhile.
Another thing I really miss about home is singing out loud to my music. Living in an apartment building with walls literally made of paper you can hear exactly what your neighbors are doing. Right now I'm listening to some Disturbed (YEAH!) and wishing I could totally rock out, but oh well.
One more thing. Taiko Drum Master KICK BUTT. I played some with my friend Cris, that arcade one had lots of anime songs and popular Japanese songs, and I was sweating by the end of it. Also, on a sushi trip with nichu people, we stopped into a bowling lley with a DDR machine. So OF COURSE I had to play... with a few Japanese teachers looking on like :O and trying to distract me lol.
One more thing. The cure to homesickness = a familiar anime. Go figure.
One more thing. poached ish is soooo much better than broiled fish.
One more thing. This is the end.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Blarg computers, random funnies
So my computer has been having tantrums lately, and I've dealt with them best I can. To eat up some time I brought it into work today and had Nick take a look at it. Apparently the hard drive is almost gone and the battery is pretty much fried. So when I get home I'm gonna back everything up and pray for the best lol.
Just got our second paycheck yesterday,they take quite a it out for random stuffs, but that is the same everywhere. Hopefully now I can start saving up some money, pay back some that I have borrowed, and take a trip to Akihabara sometime soon ^_^ For those of you who don't know, Akiha is the main electronics district of Tokyo, and has many shiny objects.
Today Nick and I are meeting Katsuno-san from the board of education to see our new (old) car. We don't know if we will be able to use it or not right away, but both of us agree that a trip to Iida is in our immediate future. This is just too much in the boonies sometimes. Also, I would loove to get a cell phone to be connected.
It is so odd with the schedule I'm on now, I'm going to bed at 9:30-10 and waking up at 7-ish. Normal hours, not going to bed at 2am and waking up at 12pm :D System is trying to get used to that, and all of this Japanese food is still somewhat messing it up. We eat the school lunches everyday which are tasty, but not something I'd cook for myself (except for the daily rice). Yesterday I had my second "I ate what?!" moment, where I thought I was eating one thing and it turned out to be something completely different. There was a nice salad of tomatoes, herbs, and what looked like little stringy pieces of Parmesan cheese. Even tasted a bit like it, just a little tough. Turns out that was squid. ^^;
Monday and Tuesday are our run around and do alot without breaks days. The rest of the week is waay more laid back. Today we only helped in one class. The 3rd year students took a monthly English test yesterday, and they went over the results today, so there goes 4 classes right there. Yay for internets and laptops.
I spent the last period yesterday and the morning today mass-producing dragonballs. Yes, dragonballs. Hirota-sensei wants to use them to help the 1st year students learn counting in English, since each ball is numbered 1-7 by how many stars it has inside. Now THAT was fun ^_^
Speaking of dragonballs, there is a DBZ mmorpg being made in Korea o.O
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-24/dragon-ball-online-mmorpg-new-trailer-video-posted
Also, Vicky sent me an awesome link of people shaving poodles to look like other things, Some of these are AMAZING!!! I was looking at this during work and trying to keep a straight face....but failed miserably. Ah well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208913/The-poodles-transformed-pandas-horses-snails-creative-grooming-dog-shows.html#ixzz0PCNPXuSZ
Just got our second paycheck yesterday,they take quite a it out for random stuffs, but that is the same everywhere. Hopefully now I can start saving up some money, pay back some that I have borrowed, and take a trip to Akihabara sometime soon ^_^ For those of you who don't know, Akiha is the main electronics district of Tokyo, and has many shiny objects.
Today Nick and I are meeting Katsuno-san from the board of education to see our new (old) car. We don't know if we will be able to use it or not right away, but both of us agree that a trip to Iida is in our immediate future. This is just too much in the boonies sometimes. Also, I would loove to get a cell phone to be connected.
It is so odd with the schedule I'm on now, I'm going to bed at 9:30-10 and waking up at 7-ish. Normal hours, not going to bed at 2am and waking up at 12pm :D System is trying to get used to that, and all of this Japanese food is still somewhat messing it up. We eat the school lunches everyday which are tasty, but not something I'd cook for myself (except for the daily rice). Yesterday I had my second "I ate what?!" moment, where I thought I was eating one thing and it turned out to be something completely different. There was a nice salad of tomatoes, herbs, and what looked like little stringy pieces of Parmesan cheese. Even tasted a bit like it, just a little tough. Turns out that was squid. ^^;
Monday and Tuesday are our run around and do alot without breaks days. The rest of the week is waay more laid back. Today we only helped in one class. The 3rd year students took a monthly English test yesterday, and they went over the results today, so there goes 4 classes right there. Yay for internets and laptops.
I spent the last period yesterday and the morning today mass-producing dragonballs. Yes, dragonballs. Hirota-sensei wants to use them to help the 1st year students learn counting in English, since each ball is numbered 1-7 by how many stars it has inside. Now THAT was fun ^_^
Speaking of dragonballs, there is a DBZ mmorpg being made in Korea o.O
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-24/dragon-ball-online-mmorpg-new-trailer-video-posted
Also, Vicky sent me an awesome link of people shaving poodles to look like other things, Some of these are AMAZING!!! I was looking at this during work and trying to keep a straight face....but failed miserably. Ah well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208913/The-poodles-transformed-pandas-horses-snails-creative-grooming-dog-shows.html#ixzz0PCNPXuSZ
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