*... 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, February 28, 2003
*... like, EV-ER ...*
this February has been the longest month of my life.
*... and that ain't bad ...* There are definitely some concepts about Japan that I am just not able to wrap my head around. Their obsession with David Beckham is one (he got banged in the head and it was practically a national disaster over here). Another is the fact that they sell cigarettes at the gym (don't even get me started at the sheer ludicrousness of this). But they do have the right idea about some things, like giving out free samples of beer.In the bus station. And I'm not talkin' about no paper cup, I'm talkin' about a can of beer. Sweet deal! Normally when they hand stuff out, it's usually kleenex with some sort of advertisement stuffed in it. But I guess I lucked out. FREE BEER!
I think I could get used to that... but not if it requires me to hang around the bus station more than what is already necessary. 12:00 PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
*... a haiku ...* I thought I would get into that whole "Japanese culture" thing here. Really, my poetic skills have shriveled to nai, especially compared to my 2 personal limericists, Doc and Matt, but here goes...
normal genkiness
now nothing to do or think
in endless boredom
(def. o' genki: spunky, cheerful, energetic, lively, healthy, full-of-life. This word is almost always used for those bright, open, bounce-off-the-walls girls... Yeah, that's me in a nutshell!)
I was considering auditioning to be an Albirex Cheerleader. (more specifically, the "Niigata Albirex" soccer team, and the "Albirex Niigata" basketball team. An albirex is a type of swan, ie the bird logo; apparently Niigata is known to be a hot hangout spot for the swan community.) Sheer physics would prevent me from wearing that outfit, however. What, do they PAINT it on those girls? Sheesh! 12:13 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!"
