Quick Reminder

Heya,
I'm in Korea until Jan 8! Extremely unlikely there will be and update in the meantime.
Happy New Year! Drink some of that delicious eggnog for your homie overseas.

"To die is nothing; but it is terrible not to live" -Victor Hugo
tnoy

Happy Holidays!

Well here I am Christmas Eve with my little kitty enjoying a day off. I don't really have a tree or anything but that's alright and tomorrow I will ambitiously try to cook a roast chicken for the first time outside of the 4 classes I am teaching. Yes on christmas day :'(

But anyways, I almost forgot an interesting story from last week's blog. One fella at the party Friday night and I were talking and he kinda drops a reference to how I'm from Saskatchewan. I thought that was weird as I usually remember when I mention where I'm from. When I ask more he asks me are you from moose jaw or something? I told him he was close and he said he could tell because of my accent. I was like whaaaa? I was rather shocked, I really must be tone deaf. I guess he was from Edmonton and said he could tell Saskatchewan people because they sounds nasally or whatever, the sound from having a plugged nose. I wonder if that's because our winters are so cold half the year when we talk the nose IS plugged. At any rate I was weirded out.

Back to more recent stories I guess, had alot more "free" time this week, as in I experimented more with cooked suppers and what not. Wednesday I had something of a christmas party with my English club. Everyone brought a snack from the convenience store and I brought some of my now world famous rice crispy squares :) We had snacks and chatted, even though sometimes they talked in Japanese so it was a little awkward for me not knowing how to contribute. Later on I got out the computer and showed more pictures from christmas last year and roast chicken.

A number of classes last week were cross word puzzles and find-a-words that I made for students to work on. I would write out the vocabulary on the board and draw pictures beside them for everyone and later explained what they were, what they had to do with christmas and how they were related. For example I would make an arrow connecting "stocking" with "fireplace". It was enjoyable for everyone and they liked my artistic ability even though I felt it is lacking. It was also a good chance to teach them what I thought were the basics of Christmas that surprisingly the students and teachers haven't heard of before. Things like leaving milk and cookies for Santa, or that he lives at the north pole (not Finland like one student said)

Thursday and Friday were good days in that the later parts of the day I had free. I found a chicken and other hard to find ingredients so I'm going to boldly partake in some cooking excursions. Friday night was another all you can drink and eat night which is always alot of fun. Jake and I got there rather early but the tables filled up quickly and we met new lots of new people. Jake translated for me at one point "she is saying she wants to talk to you more but doesn't know enough English". I told her to drink more and that would give her confidence! Many people were driving though so they couldn't drink. I find it kind of strange they would go to these kinds of parties then considering they're not that cheap if you're only eating and not drinking.

As the night wore on my own advice was taking effect and I was talking up a storm! Atleast I felt it was a storm and thinking back on it now I was assisted by Jake alot too. I found it really cool that I was using words I had learnt literally a day or two earlier and people were understanding me. I'm pretty good with the charades too I suppose. Later on in the night we started playing games for some reason for prizes. I was nominated more than once for drawing a picture or two. We won 3rd place of the 4 teams thanks to my wonderful drawing of a popular anime character ;) Even later yet the whole room played Janken (rock-paper-scissors) for the large door prizes. I had no idea what was going on as the whole room was doing Janken but somehow I ended up winning the last of the two big door prizes as seen in the picture. I was so confused it really was a gong-show. Jake was beside me telling me "you're still ok, keep playing" and I kept making different Janken signs with my fist until I was the last person. Next thing I know there is that big bag in my hands. "speech! speech!" they start chanting. Oh boy, time to give this Japanese a try that I've been using all night while I'm monstrously confused over what just happened.

"zen zen wakanai. arigato" (I don't understand at all. Thank you)

The room burst out laughing and I got many congratulations later on what a good speech I made. Inside the bag was a super fuzzy and soft blanket. Jake and I had long missed the last train home and luckily got a ride home from some people we met that night. Junko would have drove again but she had things to go and do unfortunately. Other funny events that night included showing off my mini dictionary Patty gave me... and the page that tells you how to say "touch me here" (koko o sawatte kudasai) Oh and my dream that night was all in Japanese, it was really cool, I feel like I'm make more progress all the time and words are sticking easier all the time because the vocabulary is getting bigger so you can relate words more and relation is how memory works really.

Saturday I played video games for maybe 9 hours straight. It was glorious.

That night having felt rested and like I satisfied my passion for a while, I agreed to a ski trip the next day :) Jake and I went over to John's place in Shiojiri so that we could all carpool the next day at 7 in the morning. We got a big snowfall that night, biggest one I've see here this year yet anyways. We gathered together a convoy of 3 cars and got ready for a 2 hour drive straight north (1 turn the whole time) to the "Happo" resort, site of the Nagano winter olympics (or one of them anyways)

So we get out on the road and drove 2 maybe 3 blocks before getting a phone call. We "lost" one of the cars and needed to meet up at the upcoming starbucks so we could regroup and try again.

Oh boy, this was going to be a long trip.

When we got to starbucks the "lost" car had caught up with us already by then which just further annoyed everyone; the trouble car was then on in the middle of the convoy, tightly sandwiched between 2 now slower moving cars. At one point our car (at the back of the convoy) didn't make a light that just turned red. Sure enough our phone started ringing soon after asking if we would be ok and if we knew where we were going (again, straight road) before the conversation was over we had caught up to the other 2 cars already. Anyways, long story short "let's meet at starbucks and try again" became the inside joke of that road trip.

We got to the mountain and it was really beautiful and covered in fresh show that was starting to melt as it was a warm day; I was sweating. Seems I dress way too warm for these trips. Anyways I tried snowboarding for the first time! It was really cool learning something new and getting over old fears. It was really shaky at the start, but soon enough I was making weird flexes and poses as I slowly skid down the hill. It is important to learn to land on your elbows when you fall though as broken wrists seem way too common, I had a couple close calls where my wrists were pretty sore after, and one wipe out buggered up my knee too for a bit.

Anyways it was a long run, seeing how there were 4 beginners. We wanted to go back up but they started closing the ski lifts because it was "windy". We weren't happy, those lift tickets were pricey and the weather was beautiful. We hiked for a bit to a moving chair lift and soon found out what they were talking about. There was a slow moving storm coming. The chair lift started to swing and freak me out, I was never good with heights to begin with but now I was alone on a chairlift with no safety brace in front of me swinging back and forth and dealing with the wind grabbing the big sail of a snowboard on my feet and trying to pull me out.

We got to the top and tried to get to the gondola which would get us back to the cars and what not. Problem was there was a STEEP mogul course between us and the gondola. Better yet, that snow that was melting all day now froze over into a nice sheet of ice. Getting down that hill was one of the more frightening things I have been through. I tried walking at first but it was too windy and I wasn't getting much traction. Later I tried to slide from mogul to mogul but there was a couple times where I almost never stopped as my body weight gave too much momentum. So ya, it was scary and took a long time but somehow we made it through ok. Amanda lost her snowboard early on and we watching it go super fast for like 100 meters before finally flipping and getting stuck in a bank.

We all went to an Onsen (spa/public bath/hot tub) after to heal the bodies and it was great. My muscles are still pretty sore, wondering if I got whip lash the one time I fell. We went out for sushi after and it was so tasty. I love those sushi train places, it's fresh and very buffet style. Monday today was a day off which was great again for the sore body. A friend knew someone who was looking for a big foreigner to play santa for their family so that was all I really had planned for the day.

He was extremely generous and doctors are my new best friends now. Let's just say for 10 minutes work I could buy a proper oven for my house which I hope to use tomorrow. So ya anyways there I was in a Santa suit in his house giving presents to his three kids. There was no tree and I didn't sit down. Pictures with me were a little strange for what I was expecting, like I shook the one kid's hand while they took pictures. Luckily Santa has the cop-out "ho ho ho" to say whenever he is feeling awkward or confused. I sang jingle bells and the kids where very quiet so I didn't give my deer in the headlights look too much I don't think should they ask me something. I told them to study hard and the mother of the house that she had beautiful children.

Well ya that was a crazy experience, oh and man those taxis are expensive! Luckily the guy paid for them, but it was $140 for him to get us and drive us back (he had been drinking so he couldn't drive himself) Now I know why everyone says don't take those things.

Well this will be my last update for a while, on Friday I leave for Korea so I won't be able to update until Jan 8th or 9th at the earliest when I get back. It's going to be a busy week and I need to get some sleep. I hope to make some roast chicken tomorrow, this having an oven had opened many doors for me :)

"you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself." -Alan Alda

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! Sorry I can't be there, maybe next year ;)
Anthony

There is a cute little girl living with me

If you want to listen to an amazing song, it’s called “still alive” and it is played at the end of the game “portal”. It’s so happy and upbeat even though it’s the end boss singing about the inhumane experiments it conducts. ☺ Anyways, busy as always. Monday ended with Matt, Jake, Junko and her friend and I going for Ramen and then playing some video games at my place after until late. I was lucky to have my blog ready as I only had 5 minutes to post it before I had to run off. I was up a little late considering I was teaching at the Ina Yogou (handicapped school) for the first time the next day.

I am and always was nervous around people of disabilities, maybe mainly because I don’t know what is politically correct. Before saying handicapped was ok, but now it seems you have to say ‘special’ instead. Even saying that now makes me all squirmy as the last thing I ever want to do is offend someone, I catch some flak for being too polite sometimes but maybe that’s the Canadian side of me coming out. The movie “Canadian Bacon” comes to mind where all the Canadians are apologizing profusely even though they are being rudely shoved to the ground. So yes, the day was an interesting and enjoyable one. I met many wonderful people and brought many smiles to teachers and students alike. Many of my classes were me talking about myself or Canada and showing photos on the projector of last year’s Christmas at uncle Arthur’s place and Mom’s birthday last March when we had a roast chicken.

It’s fun explaining how we don’t eat horse in North America or how Santa asks you if you’ve been naughty when you’re sitting on his knee or how my family loves to eat their roast chicken with cranberry sauce even though I don’t like it. One teacher was so interested in seeing pictures of gravy being made (and hearing how it was my favourite part) I need to get the recipe for her and email it. Other time was spend with the students at lunch where I felt like a surgeon; everyone had to wear a facemask, bandana and apron after profusely scrubbing their hands with an abundance of soap and water. We also played some “badminton” in the playroom. I used quotations around badminton as we basically just had racquets and birdies, but it was still enjoyable. One student drew and coloured a picture for me of Jack Skeleton, another student gave me some Dragon Ball Z manga. (manga = Japanese comic book) There was a music class too where I sang “O Canada” to everyone alone and then lead them in “if you’re happy and you know it” and “Jingle bells”. We sung a number of Christmas songs that day.

It was a great experience and one everyone should have I believe. I remember when Melissa (my imoto; younger sister) worked with some special children and how that positively affected her. I like to believe I am more humble now but at any rate I look forward to future visits, the next being in February. Coming home Tuesday I went straight from the train station to the Japanese lesson’s Christmas party. I helped make Gyoza (same as Chinese Jyoze; Chinese pirogies) I didn’t do very well, but that and teaching about our Ukrainian pirogies inspired me to make some of my own. At any rate we had an amazing meal (theme of the week) and I even won a prize from a game we all played later. One of my students is from the Philippines and her Japanese is so well she now volunteers in giving the Japanese lessons as well. Her mom was kind enough to give me a ride home, which was much appreciated; as I was so exhausted I was practically passing out.

Wednesday and I’m off to Ina again for the 3rd day in a row. The 3rd years here are now spending their last semester cramming hard for their university exams and the upcoming Nation wide exam that pits the students against each other, maybe similar to SATs in the US, but I don’t know much about either. That night we had a going away party for Neal as he leaves to go back home to South Africa for almost a month. We went to a Co-Cos restaurant and had another good meal. I’m not a big fan of how small many meal portions are in Japan; I had 3 courses, doughnuts, milkshake and a beer that night and then I was full, eating out adds up fast on the wallet.

Maybe the best part of the night was me getting a picture with a large stuffed Doraemon doll as Co-cos maybe owns the mascot, he was everywhere. Also we had good conversations and wished Neal well as he stressed out and goes broke getting Christmas presents for his “large Indian family” to make up for being gone a year and a half, I will most likely be in the same situation next Christmas if I stay another year.

Thursday I was bombarded with 4 classes (almost 5!) and a tutoring session after school again. The students surprise me all the time with their abilities as most of the time I don’t know what to expect. I’m just lucky they try so hard I suppose and hope these really will help them when they go to New Zealand. The most enjoyable part is just the conversation we have at the end of the lesson, this time however they hijacked my cell phone and send me emails. Not to mention they have my blog website now (hello Aya, Ikumi, and Emi if you’re reading this :P) And yes, I still bug them about building snowmen which isn’t much of a stretch anymore, the ground is cold enough for the snow to not melt right away even though the equinox is this week apparently so in theory things should start warming up.

That night I had my first night off in a week! Yay, time to do some grocery shopping and some of that laundry that has piled up on the floor after overflowing the washing machine! It finally dried on Sunday (it’s hard to dry clothes now that it’s so cold outside) I’m thinking I need to find a nearby Laundromat, maybe tonight, as the washing machine is full again already. I tried out the Bluetooth microphone that I got and made my first real long overdue call back home since coming here 4.5 months ago. It is hard to co-ordinate, as I need to stay up really late to call to not wake people up or wake up early which is something I don’t do.

So I was tired Friday again and made it out alive again somehow, just to go home and rush to a party that night about an hours drive away. There were many people and a lot of mingling done (good meal again), but maybe the most entertaining of the night was the fire show that happened outside. One of the guests, Edwards, brought his own apparatus that he used to practice with daily for a long time. The photos turned out amazingly. There was something about the exposure taking too long and you got really cool streaks of light for photos. It was really interesting to just watch him swirl them around (video on youtube) as the expression on his face was so relaxed and blissful. The humming noise they made as they moved around were something else as well, very hypnotic. I got to try for a little bit but not long as I was mostly taking photos. I guess how it works is you soak Kevlar as wicks and they don’t get damaged from fire. Pretty neat stuff, stops fire and bullets at the same time.

There was a meteor shower that night as well but it was kind of cloudy and I didn’t see much. The house was pretty full of people sleeping on the floor; I ended up under the kitchen table for the night ☺

I skipped out on the caroling as I wanted to go home and relax but alas I got a call from Erica’s co-worker about some kittens they were trying to give away. So I roughed out yet another hour of driving trying to find the place while fighting to stay awake and long story short I have a cute little girl living in my house now ☺ I am going to name her “otaku” (Japanese word for enthusiast/maniac. What my students call me as it usually pertains to people who play too many video games and watch too much anime). She is so cute. I had time to buy her some presents and toys, take some pictures and then I had to rush off to Ina again for Brett’s birthday party.

I got there and I realized I was still wearing the clothes I was teaching in Friday, slept in that night, and played with a cat that day with. I chose to drive though to make sure I didn’t drink (Japan has zero tolerance for drinking and driving). There was great food and people and lots of mingling was done at Hiroko’s (name of the owner, is fluent and very friendly)

I went home and slept in for once, it was much appreciated. My poor kitty was lonely all night though as she was crying and overly affectionate when I found her in the morning. I can tell she will need a lot of attention, at least until she grows up some more. We played for a little bit but I had to go back to Ina yet again, this time my co-works Ono Sensei invited me over for lunch with her family. Talk about amazing food. I had a wonderful time and we visited for hours. They had been to America for a year or so and were fluent so we had a great time. This was maybe the first time I was invited over to a Japanese house like that and it was another reason I didn’t want to drink much Saturday, although it was very generously refilled in my cup that Sunday.

We ate “nabe” I guess you could call it. You have a broth and a heater in the middle of the table and then you put your ingredients inside when you are ready to have it cooked. We cooked tofu, cabbage, chicken legs, soba and other goodies; it was amazing. Also, I need to buy some sesame seed dressing; that was pretty tasty. I went home and played video games while otaku slept on my lap instead of getting stuff done as I’m always complaining I have no time for that. It was a good evening; Mario Galaxy is a lot of fun.

My cell phone got hijacked again by students first thing this morning so again, hello Nanako and Saki if you’re reading this. ☺ We are going to have our English club Christmas part on Wednesday most likely which is good as I felt I never had much time to prepare anything, I would like to make some of that rice crispy cake again.

Well that was the week crammed into a very tight nutshell, way too much happened and I feel more than overwhelmed. They say I’ll only get busier but I don’t see how that is humanly possible, I have to be careful not to fall into “this needs to get done” mind frame. I sat down Sunday and thought “alright now I have time to quickly beat this game so I can play the next one!” and instantly saw my fault for that. Entertainment isn’t meant to be completed as fast as possible; for then it becomes work. I made sure to clear my head of worries like the carpet that needed vacuuming under my feet or the Japanese learning that has been horribly neglected and just enjoy myself. It has definitely has taken me out of my comfort zone being busy like this and I’m looking forward to the challenges that await me.

"The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want." - Ben Stein

Anthony

My body disagrees with my optimism

I find new meaning to “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” all the time; maybe I just need to get more sleep. Anyways, Wednesday was a good day; Neal’s tutoring group threw a cooking Christmas party. I stole some of the show by whipping up some super quick and easy rice crispy cake that I learnt from the thanksgiving event a couple weeks back. (butter, marshies, rice crispies) Although rice crispies are hard to find in Japan, I settled for crunched up chocolate corn flakes… which might have been better than rice crispy cake thinking about it now. We didn’t have an oven so traditional foods were out but we did have things like curry, salad, nan (tasty bread) and so on.

Thursday seems to be my busiest workday, usually I have 4 classes and a tutoring thing after school which I usually extend much longer than I have to or it should be largely due to me enjoying talking to the students so much. They are a lot of fun and I like to joke around. Mentioning that I usually stay longer than my contractually required 4:15 largely because I like just talking with people or vising the sports teams as they work hard. On that note, maybe one of the cutest things I’ve experienced is a gym full for girls warming up for volleyball practice. The soft chorus of “hai!” “hai!” going off like sweet melody as they pass the ball, it was so cool.

Friday I had classes again and one student asked me how old I was (standard question, I don’t mind) “ni ju yon sai” (24 years old I say) she seems surprised so I ask how old I look “san ju said” (30 years old)

Ouch. “kanashii” (I am sad) I reply and hang my head. Maybe I need botox? ☺ Ah well, Jake or Neal tried to cheer me up saying they were maybe complimenting me as girls like older men kind of deal here. Nah, damage was done I think.

Friday went to that cool restaurant where the owner translates song lyrics for people like Eric Clapton and Neal Diamond. We had some tasty food and watched some old DVDs that he had of Johnny Cash’s TV show from the 70’s I think it was. I never even knew Johnny Cash had his own show, nor that it was so groundbreaking. It was funny how people would walk out with the guitar in their hands like a weapon and immediately start playing it, or seeing somewhat older performers in their prime and with fashionably long hair that was pretty cool for the time. Jake and I drank and played video games until maybe 2 in the morning even though I had to be up at 6 ☺

So I woke up at 5:30 getting maybe 3 hours of sleep and walked a good half hour to catch my bus to Tokyo. I got more sleep while on it and when I got there I proceeded to explore after eating a Wendy’s bacon burger for breakfast (what can I say? Need a taste of home sometimes, anything but Crap-Donalds will do) I knew there was a Square Enix store somewhere around Shinjuku so I proceeded to… walk. This was the theme of my Saturday.

After asking around a couple game shops set up and getting a map, I finally found it! It was on the other side of the large highway kind of hidden. For those who don’t know, Square Enix is a rather large game company that makes mega sellers like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. I half ran up to the door with hungry anticipation…

It was closed.

Oh man, it felt like I just got punched in the gut. This was too much, seeing a store for one of my two favorite game makers (other is Insomniac based in the US) being right in front of me for the first time in my life and not being open. The store was well lit with big glass windows just taunting me with all the cool loot inside. I took a bunch of pictures and some other people came around. I got out my phrasebook that Patty gave me and tried to piece together how to ask when the store opened (kono mise wa nan ji ni hirakimasu ka…?) The book wasn’t very good about asking that stuff… but it sure tells you how to tell people if you do drugs, what kinds of drugs… maybe Patty was trying to tell me something ☺ Oh and there is a hilarious section all to itself on what to say when having sex and what not “I can do it myself” and “easy tiger” among others. But nothing on asking when something opens.

While this is going on I see movement inside. Could it be? Sure enough, at 11 a.m. the store finally opened. That is something I just don’t get about Tokyo mostly, but to some extent the rest of Japan. How can (one of?) the largest city in the world not be open until 10 a.m… and close down at midnight? Maybe I should visit New York sometime and see if it really sleeps. I easily spent an hour inside looking around. The store wasn’t that big but it was a certain level of cool that I had achieved for the first time, one of those childhood dreams sort of deals. They had a large TV showing videos of games I wish I had time to play and trailers for games to come that I will buy mostly out of principle if nothing else.

Sitting there, I couldn’t help but feel like I abandoned a part of who I am and what I love. My passion. There was a couple times I was ready to just go home and play video games for the rest of the day and enjoy the experience it provides. There is a lot of talk now how gamers are defined and it is largely 3 groups. One group tries for perfection and high scores, one is for casual, and the other one I am probably in is defined as “new art”. We don’t play to get tested or frustrated, we play to experience what is there; to see the next level. I never was much for paintings per say but when it comes to graphics and enriched worlds I explore and my eyes linger on all parts of this immersive world that I am allowed to live in and affect; my own little rich world. Thinking about it now, maybe being in Japan is my way of experiencing my love for exploration and new worlds. Except in a video game you don’t have to walk as much or spend as much money moving around… oh and saving and loading is always cool, not to mention gaming exploits!

Anyways so the store had a really cool life size Sephiroth character encased in the floor. He is one of gaming’s more famous villains, stared in Final Fantasy 7. I bought a couple things but the biggest thing I spent money on that weekend was a chocobo black mage doll (the one with the purple coat and hat, looks like a chicken). A chocobo is like a steed in the final fantasy games, you ride them around the fields. It’s so cute. ☺

I explored Shinjuku some more, saw cool arcades like stand up Mario kart racing games linked with each other or big pods you sat in to make you feel like you were piloting a mech. Walked around and took pictures (now uploaded in my photobucket under TokyoDec07) It was fun to just explore, being alone like that gave me such a rush as I’m achieving new levels of independence and confidence once unknown to me. When the rush started going down though I realized how tired I was so I decided to book into my hostel.

Atleast I thought it was a hostel, turns out I found a capsule hotel! I slept in a cube for the low low price of $30. It wasn’t the cool space aged ones you see on the Internet with the glass doors. No, this one had a curtain you could pull to keep the light out of your cube. I wanted to take a nap but check out/check in wasn’t done yet so I didn’t have a bed. Back to exploring for a while I guess!

So this time I decided to visit the oh-so-famous Tokyo Tower. It was a long walk from any train station (there is that walk word again) and I saw cool things along the way of course which made the traverse time take even longer. For instance there was a fish in an aquarium that was as large as my torso. It was freaky being so close to that thing. Japan seems to have a thing for aquariums, there sure seems to be a lot of them, or maybe Regina just had a thing against them.

So at Tokyo Tower there were some children playing taiko (Japanese drums) and it was a really good show, video is up on youtube. (the show is much longer than what I filmed) I wanted to go up the tower, as there was good weather that day, good for sightseeing. Unfortunately the line was so long it went half way around the damn tower, and the line didn’t seem to be moving. That at it cost way too much to go up it, you couldn’t go up that far. Ya you hear me downplaying it now as I had to, to make myself resist the temptation of standing in that horrible looking line, I’m sure it would have been cool being up there.

I went inside the building underneath and one of the first things I saw was crap-donalds. Ugh that place was everywhere; there were 3 starbucks around Shinjuku station alone. I’m glad I don’t feel the need to spend $6 dollars on a small coffee that will never taste good. Anyways in the tower they had a Guinness world records style museum. It wasn’t too expensive so I went in and half guessed at what some of the records were for. I saw a spot for Terry Fox and thought it was nice of them to put him on the wall. There was a mannequin of Michael Jackson too and he looked like a damn werewolf, pretty ugly.

I wanted to see that super big and super cool Playstation store that I didn’t have time to see on my last visit so I headed to Ginza to ask the other Sony store how to find it as finding directions online with my Japanese ability is difficult, google or not. I got directions and was getting excited, but then the nice lady told me they aren’t open on weekends.

I mean come on, I had completely the wrong impression of Tokyo; you’d think things would be open. Maybe it wouldn’t be the most expensive city in the world (maybe Moscow is now) if it were open longer than 10 hours. It was getting dark and I really needed that nap/sit down now. I had been walking the last 9 hours straight after being up at 5:30 a.m. I was hoping to sit down in the Playstation store and play games for a while. I went to the hostel and messaged some other JETs in the area on my phone and took a nap for a couple hours, allowing my leg joints time to swell and then slowly recede. One JET suggested seeing a illumination show. I figured why not and headed out, and saw some cool lights. That nap did wonders though, it took the look of death out of my eyes and put a small spring back in my step, maybe that’s why I look 30 ☹

I had supper at a cool “American” style restaurant for some much needed beer and burgers and went back and relaxed for a while as another JET was taking the last train to a club that I now wish I went to. Apparently it was a monstrous rave but I would have had to stay until 6a.m. when the subway started running again and I knew I was going to need energy for the concert and more exploring.

Turns out not much more exploring was done as the concert group showed up and organizing the trip was a little more complicated, I’ll spare you the details. For sure next time though I will have to see Yoyogi park, Sunday afternoon is suppose to be amazing for cos-, martial arts and stuff like that. Also need to see Shibuya, it’s kind of like the busiest area of Tokyo with 2 million people crossing one street everyday.

So we went to the concert that started at 3 but had something like 4-5 hours of opening bands playing. I saw Daft Punk come out and it was amazing. I brought glow sticks and got caught up in the wave of rushing people. I was about 10 meters from the stage and could see everything excellently. It was a little more crowded for my style of dance (read: crazy and all over the place) but I still had a good time. Unfortunately I had to leave early (8 p.m.) to catch the very last bus home (9:30 p.m.)

Maybe the theme of the weekend shouldn’t be “walking” but instead “everything closes too early or doesn’t open” oh and running to make these inane times :S I left just as they started playing one of my favorite songs too. Ah, sacrifices. So I jogged back to the station to catch my 40 minute ride or so back to Tokyo station so I could run around the station for 10 minutes because it’s so big and hard to navigate to catch another train that takes 25 minutes back to Shinjuku. I started with a light jog and before I knew it was sprinting to make the times work. I have missed too many trains in the past (Chris and I missed a big one leaving Beijing) and I wasn’t going to miss this ride home.

Heavy footsteps pounding on the ground, body getting heavy. What does that sign say? Leave it, I wouldn’t understand it anyways. The familiar taste of iron enters my mouth, coughing hard wondering if the asthma is really gone. What direction am I going? There is an exit over there, take it. Maybe I can see something familiar, I’ve been here before. Stairs are hard to run up, just one more flight. This place is familiar, I’m close! Over there, one bus left! No time to think it through, gun it. Ignore people staring, ignore the no running signs. Just keep pushing.

Somehow with some stroke of luck I made it to my bus. The bus left at 9:30 and I stepped on at 9:27 according to its onboard digital clock. Sure enough when that clock rolled over to 9:30 the door closed and the bus drove off. If you miss your ride in Japan there are no refunds and everything is very punctual. I was still trying to catch my breath and didn’t even take my coat off yet as we drove off.

The ride back was ok, couldn’t fall asleep though lest I risk missing my stop after 3 hours. Got to my house at one in the morning, at work today running on 5 hours or so of sleep. This are crazy go nuts busy with Christmas coming up, I’m glad I already bought presents and mailed them out, it made my Tokyo trip a little more affordable and the mad running less punishing. I suppose I don’t have to always write about upcoming events, as you’ll hear about them in the next post anyways.

"I have failed many times, and that is why I am a success" - Micheal Jordan

Anthony

How did conferences get such a bad rap?

Had a laid back weekend for once! But you’re here for stories so I’ll tell you about all that went on anyways. Most of the weekdays after work were spent stressed out feeling like I don’t have much free time, there was a mess to clean but the suffocation of feeling like there was too much to do kept anything real from happening.

So Thursday and Friday we had a big conference for JETs to gain more teaching skills and work out problems or whatever they were having. I had never been to a conference before per-say, at least nothing of this size or length. I didn’t know what to expect except for anything you learn from TV and whatnot, and those usually left negative impressions. I can say this one was amazing and I am glad I went.

Met up with lots of friends and new people, exchanged ideas and solutions to problems. One session we were talking about different forms of communication. (telephone, writing, etc) and one group suggested the use of “grunts”. The teacher gave them a “that’s a good answer!” while writing their suggestion off in the corner away from the relevant ideas. This kind of spurred a grunt movement as later group exercises heard many groups grunting to each other like cavemen for their brainstorming sessions. Other shenanigans ensued when asked questions like “how can you communicate romantically?” I’ll let you fill in the blanks on that one.

We were in a school of some sort although it was emptied out for us it seemed. There were classrooms, presentation rooms, a cafeteria and dorms to stay the night. I was kind of surprised how much some people complained about things from the food to the room sizes. For $20 a night (that is reimbursed even) I have no beef with it. Chris and I did a cheap overnight train ride in China once so we know the feeling of being a sardine or having a stranger sleeping 3 feet from you snoring loudly. Also I thought the food was pretty good, supper and breakfast was free.

I wore my pink tie from Korea on Thursday and got a bunch of compliments. It looks cool, what can I say. Although it may be the reason I got called on to answer a couple times, having the teacher even say “you with the pink tie! I love it by the way” in the middle of a class discussion. Thursday night had us high school JETs sitting around drinking and having a good time. The doors were locked at 10 though as we had a working day Friday. (Sorry the picture is sideways, I can't figure out how to rotate it.)

Friday was like more of Thursday but with even more useful information. I got paired up with a nice teacher, Shizue sensei, from northern Nagano prefecture and our lesson was picked as the best so we had to present to our small group. We started off with some warm-up activities as if they were the real deal and everyone got a little too into them, insisting to play some more. My favorite one is the “Boggle” warm up. Draw a 4x4 grid on the board and ask students for letters. Then give them 3 minutes to make as many words from that grid as possible, the biggest words being the winner. I like to go and ask the students what their biggest word is. It helps pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary.

After the conference most people just went home. Jake came over later and we relaxed watching some TV shows I had. Saturday was a great day as I had time to finally “catch up” on stuff I left building. Laundry, dishes, cleaning and Christmas packing mainly. I have a box to send home now with various presents but haven’t really wrapped it knowing it would get mangled in transit.

Saturday night Jake and I didn’t really want to go anywhere too far so we decided to walk around Tatsuno and see what there was to be found in terms of mingling with locals. It was a great opportunity to see more of the town I’ve lived in for the last 4 months. I was kind of surprised and disappointed with the lack of young people and the abundance of “snack bars”, not to mention most places were pretty empty. Snack bars in Japan are places where mainly old men go to spend money to flirt with pretty girls. You have to pay to even sit down and you pay for time to enjoy each other’s company. Pretty shady if you ask me, why not go out somewhere else where you can flirt for free. It was funny too as one snack bar had, in English no less, “we are not associated with Yakuza”. Yakuza is the Japanese mafia for those who don’t know, also the reason why tattoos are so looked down on here as only they wear them.

At the end of the night we were getting tired of all the walking around, maybe the first place was the best in my opinion as the waitress was one of the most gorgeous ladies I’ve seen. Ended up going home but now at least I know I gave the town a chance, might need to go to bigger towns to meet people more my age. Sunday was spent relaxing and playing games again. Jake and I went to a local restaurant that we haven’t tried yet and refilled our kerosene containers for the upcoming cold days. I have a new lid on it now so it shouldn’t slop on my car again.

Today at work was a busy but sad day. It is the last I get to see my 3rd years at Yayoi as they get ready to buckle down and study the rest of their high school career for university entrance exams. I gave them some words of encouragement after the test I gave them; much too long I found out (wish I had time to play one last game or two) and later on had some students visit me in the teacher’s room so they could get their picture with me. I made sure to invite anyone that wanted to visit me at anytime. At least this test after marking it had high marks on it.

It was great as the last part of the test was a writing section and one was “you are at your entrance interview for university, talk about English and Japanese, be creative” or something along those lines. One student wrote down the interview question “do you love Anthony?” and then answered “yes I do!”. I wrote in the comments “alright! I love me too!” haha. Another student wrote down how they would like to talk to more foreigners like “Mr. Tony”. Has a nice ring to it if I must say.

I drove to work today as it was raining pretty hard. Was disappointed to find out it still took an hour to get here largely due to the morning traffic, I should stick with the train then, at least I won’t have to worry about getting in an accident that way, the road and drivers some days leaves you wondering, just like back home I suppose. It is just less stressful not driving but at least I was kept mostly dry and have the flexibility to go home whenever instead of waiting an hour for the next train. It’s nice to have options I guess.

Well sorry there wasn’t much to write about this week, I needed the R&R. It is kind of nice having the blog, as it is a good kick for me to get out the door some days and make new adventures to report, like how I finally got out and walked around this Saturday. I also look at interesting situations differently now, as if I was narrating my own life for future stories here. I have the option of taking a bunch of holidays for upcoming Christmas/ new years but have yet to make solid plans, I should really get on that… maybe Thailand? Korea again? Also figure out how I’m getting to Tokyo next weekend for the Daft Punk concert, should be a blast ☺

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." - Neale Donald Walsch

Anthony