*... 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)) ...*
Saturday, July 05, 2003
*... today is my birthday and i get one every year ...* i have spent the past 2 years away from my family on my birthday, off on not-everyday-adventures; last year in some shady hotel in the-middle-of-nowhere known to most as Salt Lake City, hanging out with karate peoples post-showing-off (err, right) at Nationals, and this year i have isolated myself on an island 5,000 miles and a-couple-o'-time-zones away where barely no one knows you... so what am i going to do now?
*... inquiring minds want to know ...* I'm going to see if the catcheism "as slow as Japanese beauracracy" can be integrated into everyday use. I finally got an answer to a question i asked my supervisor at the city office about, oh, 2 MONTHS AGO. Part of the lag had to do with the fact that my supervisor-man is new to the position, so he's still getting his bearings, part of it had to do with the dreaded Japanese Way, and the rest had to do with the fact that Mr. Supervisor-man moonlights as Mr. Ambiguous-Man, saying such phrases as "I'll email her tomorrow next week." Err, nani?
Anyway, the much-anticipated answer is a response to the much-anticipated (much-ASKED, that's for sure) question of "Buritto, when are you coming home??!" And although I won't be able to answer that right now (I know, I'm such a tease), I at least found out exactly how the whole money/flight exchange is going to work (my office pays for me to leave... nice) and now I can pick a date. Speaking of dates, I have one tomorrow with Shin, my most favoritist man in Japan... aka my travel agent! 4:09 PM *... they're on to us!! ...* i'm not destined to be an English teacher. It's just not fun... well not as fun as P.E. I'm presently in negotiations with Nishimura-sensei, the English-turned-P.E.-teacher, to swap classes with me for at least one period. (yeah, Mr. "Used to be an English teacher", but apparently doesn't understand most of what i say, yet will come out with phrases like "britt-sensei, be careful not to twist your knee..." like a native English speaker...??) The way I see it, he's always baking out there in the sun, i have some athletic ability (he pretty much just blows a whistle, anyway) and monotony will drive anyone batty after a while. He's considering. In the meantime, I sneak into his classes when I can and play volleyball or whatever with the kids. Gotta pass the time some way, right?
On a different note, I think i may have started the rumor that all gaijin speak Spanish. I told Marika and Era my secret manuever about speaking Spanish when Japanese people I don't want to talk to (strangers, creeps, police, etc) speak English to me. Most Japanese can't even place "spain-go", so they freak and run. Very convenient. So when the 3 of us went to the movies last night and I wanted to take in my own drinks, M & E freaked out and were worried that I would get in trouble. I calmed their fears by saying 1) the movie people would never say anything to me since I am foreign, and 2) if they did, I could just dish out the usual "No comprendo." They accepted this and we enjoyed the flick. On the way out of the theater, 2 non-Japanese men walked in the door, one looked me straight in the eye and said "Hola bonita, como estas?" ... ... ... and I draw a blank. Mostly from shock and also because I don't exactly have the Spanish button flipped on in my head. I managed to answer the guy while shuffling M & E out the door, since they seemed to think that all foreigners use Spanish as a sort of secret code and were shrieking the news to the entire movie lobby. I think I'll switch to Portugese... or Swahili, maybe? 3:55 PM
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
*... icky, on different levels ...* you ever been so hot and humid that the it is absolutely NECESSARY to lose your pants the second you walk in the door of your apartment? For some reasons bare feet and bare legs are the coolers to my soul... apparently we are in the peak of rainy season, so it looks like my neighbors will be gettin' a gander at these lovely stems for a little while longer...
today I had the rare opportunity to teach very important concepts not to be found in the kids' textbooks: that of the "Creepy Old Man." If you know me, you know about my creepy guy stories... i've had WAY more than my share. That experience means that I can recognize creepiness more than the average bear... One class that I teach is an extra English class the students can choose to take; we use a different workbook, etc. I have many issues with this book, mostly because of the mistakes (spelling, grammatical) I find in it and must take time to correct for the students, but also because it proposes some unlikely situations. Case in point: for the grammar point "because _______", introduced by having the students choose who they liked "because _____" from a (fake) list of personal ads done by 13-17 year old girls and 13-18 year old boys... except for one "lawyer" who listed himself as "big, rich, seeking young girlfriend". (((SHIVER))) Way gross, but at least it afforded the chance to teach the students vital things like "creepy old man", "illegal" and "jailbait". 4:49 PM
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
*... it's the second most wonderful time of the year ...* July is here, and to Japan that means time to celebrate... bust out the cards and gifts!! In addition to the fans and yukata (a simple kimono) and fireworks stocking the stores, so are greeting cards and boxed gifts for the giving. I'm not sure exactly where this tradition originated from, but they like to give gifts in what we in the Western world would consider quite a Christmas-y way. What makes me laugh is WHAT they consider to be ideal summer gifts. The gifts are usually something for the household, and always in bulk. So if I've been a reaaaaally good girl this year, someone may bless me with 10 pounds of dried squid or 6 gallons of frying oil or maybe even 24 bars of soap... YES!! I can't read the greeting cards, but I imagine they say something along the lines of "hope you make it through another 6 months and 35 boxes of carrot juice! Enjoy!" And so let the well-wishing commence...
and a big GANBATTE!! to my RyueiRyu crew heading off to North Carolina (whoopee) to show the rest of the nation how that whole karate thing is done... 5:17 PM
Monday, June 30, 2003
*... i'll be your best friend ...* she got the beauty and the brains, and i got bigger boobs and bigger feet (yeah, that's fair). she's usually the only one who knows what i am talking about, mostly because we think so much alike, but maybe simply because i'm quoting obscure movie lines. she likes to buy me things, and i can't complain about that. Well, i can, but she'll buy them anyway. she's the only one who will tell me exactly what i don't want to hear exactly when i need to hear it. Admittedly we weren't always the best o' friends; when I used to get really mad at her, I would do the worst possible thing i could think of that wouldn't get me in trouble (i.e. kicking in the shin was not a viable option): i would step on FiFi's (her favortist doll) face. Yeah, i'm ruthless...
to my bestest friend and my WAY better half (and, bonus! she's my seestah!):
*... music brings the people togezzaaa ...* Japanese cover songs greatly amuse me, mostly because the pronunciation is usually sooo off.
My apartment is once again covered in flour and beer (beer soup, mom?). Marika and Era wanted to learn how to make the Mexican food we had before. They were so cute, they were taking pictures of everything like all the ingredients so they would remember. I told them I would only teach them if they promised to open up a restaurant by the time I ever come back to Japan. Their tortillas need a little practice, but the prospects look good. 3:22 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!"
