Saturday, November 16, 2002

*... GNO! ...*
Last night I went to a fabulous restaurant with 8 ladies from Miyaura JHS. They were throwing me a little Ladies Night going away party. I was sort of nervous about the whole gig for the sheer fact that not one of them were English teachers. Luckily, that didn't turn out to matter, especially since Itoh-san came (the school counselor mentioned a couple of weeks ago, whose English is brilliant). They were all asking me all sorts of questions about my family and America, and coincidentally I had brought my photo album with me, which they promptly pounced on, asking all sorts of questions about the people and situations. They were surprised to see so much diversity in the pictures, which didn't even occur to me until I got here and realized they're not used to seeing anything but other Japanese. Also, quite amusing to me, they went through all the pictures of guys, and proceeded to tell me exactly who they thought my boyfriend should be, and why (after extracting a little bit of information from me about each candidate). I won't tell you who the ultimate decision came down to; I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But i will say that I didn't disagree with them.
On the way home, I was met by an over-eager young business man who just couldn't believe I was walking around with an umbrella and not using it (I had a hat and coat, and it wasn't raining that bad). I think he was just intrigued by me (come on, who isn't?), but I had to shake him off before I got home, didn't want too many over-eager young business men at my door, ya know?
Today I was supposed to go to a tai-chi workshop, but it is so dang cold that I didn't want to get off the bus at the designated spot, so I ended up riding around for a while, seeing the city (albeit after having to un-fog the glass every 2 minutes) and now I am headed back home to hibernate from the cold. I swear, never realized how right the bears had that idea before.
3:43 PM

Thursday, November 14, 2002

*... impending sense of doom ...*
one of my favorite moods, really. Lingers with an element of surprise. But, disappointingly, this impending sense of doom revealed its end in the form of SNOW falling while I was talking to my see-stah. And actual snow, not just frozen rain (I remember the difference between the 2 now: hail/sleet/rain freezes while it falls through the cold atmosphere (how far up it freezes gives you the different kinds... the closer to the ground, the more slushy) while snow freezes while still in the cloud, which is how the crystals are formed.) That knowledge sprang to mind while I was watching the flakes fall to the ground, and those thoughts were immediately followed by panic that I did NOT have appropriate shoes to be dealing with snow at the moment, unless the present the other English teachers gave me happens to be a nice pair of gumboots or DocMartens or something... but it looks too flat for that.
Other than that, things are boring, my hair is out of control lioness-like (rarr!) and tomorrow I have a GNO with the ladies here at school, that is, if I can find the restaurant we are supposed to meet at. Wish me luck on any or all of the above!
1:00 PM

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

*... winds of change ...*
One thing about the wind: it's a tricky beast. One moment it can be pushing you from behind until you are almost at a running pace, feeling as if your feet are not guaranteed to land in the spot you intended them to, but instead may be blown right in front of the other. Then in a split second it can come rushing straight at you, making it seem as if that patch of tile you are looking out (head down, trying to keep your hat on and your eyes from being blown down into your body) may in fact be the same patch of tile you have been treading on for the last 5 minutes, since it is blowing so hard you are not actually going anywhere. It's an interesting and scary thing when you can actually see the wind in everything that is around you. The ground becomes alive as the puddles of water shift and change and the trees bend this way or that. And the sound is not something I can even find the words for. One thing I can say that may be in the slightest way a compliment to nature is that the force leaves the streets paved in gold, a most brilliant sight to see the bright yellow leaves lining the roads.

As if my wish to be a celebrity is slowly becoming true, yesterday I was treated by several locals as yes, a novelty to be examined and entertained by, but more in a true interest in me, and not the gaijin with an abnormal body shape (insert rueful laugh here). Last night I was enthusiastically questioned to the 3rd degree by 2 six/seven year olds whose English skills were amazing considering they had no formal training. Somehow we all got ourselves understood, one quite pleased with showing off her romajii spelling skills in my notebook. They wanted my phone number so they could call me later too, which I thought was cute, but sorry girlies, I ain't giving that out. They got me hooked up with a group of adults (their parents? Friends? I don't know, they seemed to know everybody) and somehow I was talked into meeting them all next week, same time and place. Then I went to the store (97 yen Tuesdays! Hooray!), and another customer, though confused at first, celebrated in my victorious "haHA!" as I was able to get all my groceries into my backpack, and proceed to almost fall over it was so heavy. I was so happy with all that, that I went home and had a thoroughly unhealthy dinner, although I don't think Darius would be surprised at it at all (there was lots of ice cream involved...).
6:04 PM

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

*... changing colors...*
Tis the season to watch the colors go from green to yellow, with maybe a tinge of red (it's the dryness that does that). And soon it all goes clear... no, I am not talking about the fall leaves, but rather the evolution of color of the stuff I am sneezing and hacking up, much like everyone else around me. Kinda gross, but what can I say? It's the season for colds and flus, and EVERYONE around me has some form of the season they are doing their darndest to expel out of their body. Who are we to mess with nature?!
At least yesterday and today were warm (well, relatively) despite the fact that I had to walk to school with a thunderstorm throwing electricity about like it was confetti. I thought the sky was going to crack and fall down around my head, and I thought maybe Chicken Little wasn't so crazy after all... At the moment, it's cloudy but not rainy, and I even took off one layer I came to school with. Mark that up to a good way to start the day!
Yesterday I foolishly wandered into a Disney store, feeling slightly nostalgic for family days and easier times. Instead, I was greeted with Pooh in the face. And I am being very generous in saying that 85% of the store was Pooh, the remaining 15% being split up with some Xmas Mickey, princess stuff, Chip & Dale (??honto??) and Dumbo. And I think I saw one Monsters, Inc. thing next to one Toy Story thing. I walked around saying "You have GOT to be kidding me." outloud, of course, because oh well if they didn't understand me, and better even if they did, b/c maybe then someone would be able to explain it to me... No such luck.
Speaking of celebrities, I have decided that I want to be one in Japan, since they are the only people who ever get to do anything. Any kind of show that you turn on, except maybe the news, has the same people in it. Celebrities do the cooking shows, the game shows, the karaoke shows (everyone sings here), the variety shows, the makeover shows (there's actually one called "Wanna Be Beautiful", where the celebrities decide what improvements to make on people, then send them to a plastic surgeon). I have yet to figure out how these people became celebrities in the first place, I mean like what was their primary breakthrough job, before being pulled on to all these other gigs? One thing is for sure, they sure do keep these celebrities busy!
2:31 PM

Monday, November 11, 2002

*... yawn ...*
I got to school today to find this week's teaching schedule on my desk... out of a possible 30 classes in a week I could be teaching, I am teaching all of 4. Whee and yeeha. 2 of them today at the end of today, and 2 tomorrow in the morning. The rest of the time is nai. In fact, 3 days this week were completely crossed off the schedule. So that means I have to sit at my desk for 9 hours a day and do absolutely nothing. I have run out of books to read, my computer time is always pre-empted, so I am getting quite desperate. Rarr.
By the way, any thoughts as to why there are no female bus drivers or train conducters? Or even ticket takers? The closest I have seen are female ticket sellers, not quite the same thing. Hmmm...
11:32 AM

Sunday, November 10, 2002

*... trekkin' ...*
After I left you all yesterday, I hightailed it to the laundromat so I could dry some things (it's now impossible to dry anything in my apartment since I can't ever tell if things are still wet or just really really cold) and then it wasn't yet raining, so I decided to take a different route home. Much to my delight, I found a Baskin Robbins opening soon within walking distance. Actually, the term "walking distance" is difficult to say how far away that is since it could depend on time, weather, mood, etc. So at the moment, it was within walking distance... 5 minutes later, however, it was NOT, as it started to pour hail/frozen rain/snow on my head (I once took a meteorology class that would have taught me the difference between these 3 if I were not having more fun talking to the cute boy next to me... I still got an A in the class...and with my tutelage, so did he!! hahaha... sorry, I digress). I actually got ice in the eye, right into the ol' peeper. Luckily, my camel-like lashes caught it, and I decided that was just cause for me to go the video store and get some movies (I found "Clockwork Orange", Kris, but I like the book much better) and get a Supreme! Supreme! pizza from none other than my local Little Caesars (This is what I call roughin' it).

Even though it sounded like my house was going to come down over my ears last night b/c the wind was so bad (at one point I woke up wondering if it was an earthquake, I was shaken around so bad), i woke up this morning with my apartment in one piece and a gorgeous sun shining down. I trekked over to the local music and cultural hall to see some culture, where they were having (I think it was a contest?) traditional singing and dancing. I got there at contestant #9, and found out from my program that there were 116 contestants altogether. If you have never heard Japanese singing (not JPop!), then imagine a cat in heat, in stereo. (Katy, it was like the Chinese opera, but WAY more warbly). Luckily, a bunch of contestants weren't there, and I only had to sit through about 15 of them until the dancing started. After about the 3rd dance, I was done with that too, so I left. Oh yeah, did I mention that not one of the contestants seemed to be under the age of 80?
After that I walked around, came across a shrine with a bunch of little ones sportin' their finest kimonos. I saw one family bribing their kid with candy to stay still so they could take her picture. I thought it was funny, and I asked them if I could take a picture too. They asked her (she was 3) and she said "ii desu yo" in the cutest little voice ever. So I got her picture and wondered when the heck I became so soft. Then I headed downtown (on foot, left the bike at the cultural center) and started to notice how many temples and shrines were nestled between all the other buildings. I headed up to the top of the one skyscraper downtown, and from there, besides a breathtaking view of the Nihonkai (Sea of Japan) and the snowy mountains in the distance, I noticed just how many shrines there were. They were everywhere! I also realized that I was glad to be in a big city, b/c it's now 3 months into this adventure, and I still have so much to explore. I can't compain about being bored... unless i am trapped in my apartment (or somewhere else) because of wretched weather. Then it is my given right, as a warm-blooded SoCal girl to complain until someone does something about it (mostly the gods of weather, but if you all can pull some strings too, I'd be much obliged!)
2:27 PM