*... everyone around me is a total stranger...everyone avoids me like a psyched lone ranger...everyone... ((turning japanese, i think i'm turning japanese, i really think so)) ...*
Friday, January 10, 2003
*... awww, ka-waaaa-iii ...* these are so cute i just want to adopt one and take it home with me. like a bright shiny red one. yeah. 11:49 AM
Thursday, January 09, 2003
*... talk about backfire ...* Subject: Weather terms. More specifically, temperature. I drew a line on the blackboard and wrote "COLD" on one end and "HOT" on the other, with "cool" and "warm" in between... trying to explain them is another thing. I tried writing corresponding seasons and degrees with them, but the kids only perked up when I started using the terms in other ways... like describing people. "She's a warm person" or "He's pretty cold", etc. Needless to say (they're teenagers going through puberty, afterall) they were most interested in how someone could be both "hot" and "cool" at the same time (like me! hahaha). I told them that "hot" meant good looking, and "cool" meant good personality...
Okay, so it was a tangent, probably didn't describe weather so well, but apparently that doesn't matter, as now the TEACHER is absolutely obsessed with describing people this way, and she started with my family. AUGH! I have a picture of my family on my desk, and she walks over, points at my dad and says "He's HOT!". ...err, WHAT?!... ((no offense, Daddy-o, it's just the principle o' things)). She looked so proud of herself, so she said "Yeah, he's very hot.", to which I could only weakly (it was the shock) reply, "umm, that's my dad... you're not supposed to talk about my dad like that..." So they (there was a crowd by now... all ladies, of course) moved on to my brother, evolving from "HE'S HOT" to "IS HE SINGLE?". Hahaha, watch out, mikey.
ahh, the nuances of language... what an adventure. 2:41 PM
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
*... back to the grindstone ...* well, actually, not really. Most of the other ALTs that I know had to go back to school today, but I was told by my fool of a supervisor that I didn't have to be back until the 9th, ie tomorrow. However, right after I woke up this morning (at a glorious 9 am, with the sun shining) I received a phone call from said fool, who left a message saying "I hope you are on your way to school, you are supposed to be here today." Luckily, I was in the bathroom at the time, so I didn't have to talk to her, but when I called back, I talked to kyoto-sensei (vice principal) who has enough grasp of English to understand when I said Anazawa-sensei said I didn't have to be in till tomorrow. I told him I would be in as soon as I could.
Almost 2 1/2 hours later (one of the buses didn't show, so I had to wait an extra half hour), I roll into school to find out that there are actually no classes today. The good news is that Anazawa-sensei was very sorry, in fact she leaned out the window when I was walking up to school, and screamed how sorry she was for misinforming me. Kyoto-sensei kept apologizing too. Then they realized that the teaching staff just had a meeting for the rest of the day, and there was really no reason for me to be there. So they sent me home.
I was afraid that was going to happen... haul my patootie all the way out there, only to be sent right back home. So now I have the rest of the day to putz around, and there's not a cloud in the sky (unless you count that big looming black WALL on the horizon) so I might actually go for a run... Of course, despite the sunny facade, it is still only 4 degrees out, so I might just go back to plan A, before they called me to go in the first place, and crawl back into my futon. Mmmmm... 3:20 PM
Sunday, January 05, 2003
*... always a discovery ...* in the few days I have been back, what have I discovered? I have been lucky(?!) enough to find out that a typhoon is like a light spring dew compared to a winter in Niigata. The wind has been ripping everything apart for the past couple of days, and promises not to stop until March. Serious, window-breaking, throwing-cars-off-the-road kind of winds. Add to that some pretty nasty snow (big, icy, and sharp!) being tossed around in no discernible pattern, you've got a not-so-happy time. I think I will hide in my shoebox apartment until I absolutely have to leave... which makes it an excellent time for you all to call me (winkwink, nudgenudge, etc)
*... addendum ...* yeah, found out we're actually having little blizzards over here. Fabulous. 1:35 PM
*a bit o' *britt*
In Niigata City, Japan it is:
* vItAl StAtS: *
* eYeS/hAiR/wEiGhT. brown/reddish?/yes. * cUrRenT wHeReAbOuTs. back back to cali, cali * bEdTiMe. my body has decided to forgo sleep for now. * fOoD. it has also decided it's anti-food. * pHrAsE. ahh! too many people speaking English! * mOoD. i feel weird, yo. Like twilight zoney, in another world weird. * tUnEs. i get to listen to the radio in my car again! * qUoTe: "whereas i am trying to read in the succession of things presented to me every day the world's intentions towards me, and I grope my way, knowing that there can exist no dictionary that will translate into words the burden of obscure allusions that lurks in these things."
*"One, seven, three, five -- The truth you search for cannot be grasped. As night advances, a bright moon illuminates the whole ocean; the dragon's jewels are found in every wave. Looking for the moon, it is here, in this wave, and in the next." Zen Master Hsueh-tou
* tHiNgS i WiLl MiSs... *
* kaori (kojima) and mariko, kaori (honma), marika and etsuko, setsuko, nakano and sakai (aka "the boys"), kelly, alan
* most of my students
* some of my teachers
* the Shin Ken Kan crew
* my granny bike (a little)
* speaking Japanese
* traveling
* tHiNgS i WoN't MiSs... *
* the staring
* the bus
* being bored outta my gourd
* sleeping on the floor
* the Japanese Way
* secondhand smoke
* the fashion
* jApAn, AkA tHe LaNd oF... *
* "We Don't Believe in Cilantro"
* "We Don't Believe in Towels"
* "Obscurely-Sized Paper"
* "Flouride is Foreign"
* "It's Rude to Eat on the Streets, but it is Perfectly Acceptable to Blow Smoke in your Face"
* "9am is Too Early for Stores to Open"
* "We Just Make the Technology, We Don't Use It"
* "Central Air? Never Heard of It. Central Heating? Nuh-uh. Heated Toilet Seats? Well duh, of course!!"
* "Deodor-what?"
* "Open 24Hrs = 7am - 10pm"
* "Our Knees Don't Freeze"
* "We Want to Speak Like Americans and Look Like Americans and Act Like Americans, But We Don't Actually Like Americans"
* "Hey, Free Beer!"
