Saturday, November 23, 2002

*... giving thanks ...*
In case you are curious, the pumpkin pie in the toaster oven was quite successful. The problem is now I have 12 miniature pumpkin pies sitting on my table, and they have no where to go (I will NOT eat them all myself. I refuse). The problem is that there are few Americans around to share the Thanksgiving love. Ironically enough, today is a national holiday in Japan (not surprising that it's a holiday, but it is surprising that it's on a saturday) and it is Labor Thanksgiving Day. Apparently you are supposed to be thankful to have a job. But, as I found out on the news last night, this is also time to be thankful your job hasn't killed you yet, as apparently the suicide death toll has risen something like 56% this year from job stress. Uhhh, what the?! Yikes.
12:19 PM

Friday, November 22, 2002

*... by the way ...*
in a very bah-humbug gesture (which is par for course when it comes to this time of year) this is just a friendly note to let y'all know that no one is getting Christmas presents from me this year. And you might not even get a card, email or other. I can make no promises at this point. It's not that I don't love you... well, maybe that's why for some of you. But really i can't afford it and the thought of pure logistics overwhelms my little noggin'. So with that, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentines Day, April Fools!, Happy Easter, Happy 4th of July, and for those special 2, Happy Mother's/Father's Day. And oh yeah, Happy Birthday.
11:10 AM

Thursday, November 21, 2002

*... goodbye and hello ...*
Tomorrow is my last day at Miyaura JHS and on Monday I start at Koshin JHS. And because of this fact, this week has been such a fog. I am not really all that jazzed to be starting anew at Koshin, which is an hour travel time away from the comforts of home (as opposed to 20 minutes at the most for Miyaura) and is a really old, small school in the countryside. My supervisor there seems to only understand every 3rd word I say, and they have switched my hours back to the 8-4 everyday instead of the 8-5 and get out early on Fridays gig I have now. Plus I will be teaching 14 classes a week, a stark change from the maybe 4 or 6 I do now. I hope that's a good thing (just say no to boredom! Tho this current schedule has allowed me to catch up on reading quite a few books). On the upside, I will be working with 3 teachers, all female, so that has potential for more understanding than some of the fools I currently work with, or at least will cut down on the students asking "Do you like Mr. So-and-So?" with that knowing smile. My Koshin supervisor, however, insisted on telling everyone how old I was, as if it was part of my name... "Britt-san desu ga, ni-ju-san-sai desu." ("This is Britt-san, she is 23.") The kids at Koshin are rumored to be some of the best in the city, so that's promising. And they are going to try to rearrange the schedule for the new year so I may switch to the Fridays off early routine again. We'll see. The transportation thing is actually really stressing me out. I have a half hour walk to the bus stop, then a half hour bus ride to do every morning and every evening. The other teachers at Koshin were trying to figure out alternative methods of me getting there, most of which resulted in me walking even farther (which they reasoned "well, some of the students have to walk farther than that." ... umm, think you're missin' the point here, folks.) or getting really intricate (take the train from Niigata station to Kobari, then ride a bike from Kobari to Koshin... of course I have to figure out how to get the bike to Kobari station, and try to find my way through the maze of streets to Koshin). Right about now I am really wishing I had a car, and the impracticality of having one here is what I have to keep reminding myself about. I am sure the 2 hours of commute every day will build great character. Yipee.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to see if I can attempt to make pumpkin pie in my toaster oven.
2:01 PM

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

*... thump thump thump thud ...*
That's the sound of me falling down stairs. Twice. And even joking about it once. Causing me to dolefully come to the conclusion that the shoes I have are IN FACT not appropriate for this little adventure of mine. And it's not like I am wearing ridiculously tall or impractical pairs. But yesterday as I was rushing to get down some stairs so i could cross the street while the little pedestrian light was still flashing, I slipped on one of the steps and fell down half a flight, umbrella flying wildly. AND i missed the light. Grr. I don't think I improved the situation much later when I was running to catch a bus and slipped again, twisting my already twisted ankle. At least I got this target, and I got to ride around most of the city in the comfort of a crowded bus (I wasn't really sure if I had gotten on the right bus in the first place, and couldn't really check since i couldn't see out the windows and even though I knew where I was, wasn't at all convinced that I would end up anywhere near I wanted to. But i did, so daijobu.) Then last night, Sara from Sado called b/c she was in town and wanted to go grab a drink. So I grabbed my jacket and rushed down the stairs, where I almost fell again, but didn't. We went to this tiny little bar, called "Dime" (which we did not get a satisfactory explanation on why it was called that, and insisted to the bartender that it was actually pronounced "dee-may" like in Spanish, b/c at least that made more sense... he didn't buy it) which was of course on the second floor of a building. We asked our new friend, Keisuke, if maybe that wasn't a little dangerous? and he agreed that they usually found a couple of people a week, in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs.
Sara and I had a great time with Keisuke and later Masaki joined him, which we thought was really funny since we were the only 2 people in the bar, and we had 2 bartenders. 2 VERY ATTENTIVE bartenders. I had to convince her not to go back upstairs afterwards and leave her email address, insisting that the gesture just wouldn't translate, culture-wise. Needless to say, Sara and I are going back, b/c they were cute and just our ages, too (25 Keisuke for Sara, and 23 Masaki for me). Score.
The second stairs fall came this morning, surprisingly when I WASN'T in a rush, but on my way to school. This time I took a dive coming out of the train station, giving the people waiting for buses and some of my students a little show. But, surprisingly, not a SINGLE person stopped to ask if I was okay. Bastards.
11:43 AM

Monday, November 18, 2002

*... feelin' the love ...*
Boy, this weekend was like care-package-o-rama time in Japan. I received 3 different packages from 3 different very confused postal clerks because the packages were essentially addressed to 3 different people. But, i assured them that they were indeed all intended for me. The first was a bunch o' antibacterial goodies from Miss Holly after I desperately pleaded to her that i feared becoming a walking germ-fest as this country does not believe in sanitation so much. The second, marked conspicuously with large "Unsolicited Gift" stamps on it was a bunch o' handwarmers from the oh-so-thoughtful-for-the-safety-and-comfort-of-my-little-piddies, Mister Matthew Steven Powell. The third (and most shocking) was a box full of good ol' American food (hello, Macaroni and Cheese!!) from Jeff Johnson, sent first week of October and just now getting to me (yikes!). He also sent a book about San Diego that is written in Japanese, so my teachers and students can actually understand why I am so in love with where I come from.
Yesterday was a gorgeous, sunny day, timed just right to hinder me from going COMPLETELY stir crazy from all this rain and slush. I walked around my city, bought some candy at a store that the girl was just SO excited to speak English at (endearing, really) and bought a jump rope, cuz let's face it, I have become quite the lazy blob. I can attribute a little of that to Karin, who sends me videos of the latest Friends episodes and the tapes also contain shows from the Food Network, like how to make peanut brittle (I always get excited when I can find recipes and foods that don't require an oven or microwave... hello, Macaroni and Cheese!!). Yeah, so maybe in the grand scheme of things, I am becoming a lazy blob on my own accord, and getting dangerously close to outgrowing my pants (I am still a blooming woman, okay?), but it's still nice to blame it on someone, like Jaques Torres and his "Passion for Desserts".
2:49 PM