Friday, August 01, 2003

*... onaka ga ippai ...*
one of the first phrases I taught Nadina: I'm full! I've been havin' some goooooood eats lately. Other than the incident a week ago where Kaori-sensei tried to stuff me full of junk food, I've been going out a lot and getting some yummy food to grub. I introduced Nadina to the wonder that is okonomiyaki, I had a sushi/sashimi fest with Setsuko last night, I have a coffee date with Kelly in a few moments, i'll be hitting ramen with sakai-san and marika tonight, I have an enkai on Saturday.... and the list goes on. If this keeps up, I just might need to buy an additional plane ticket.
2:36 PM

Thursday, July 31, 2003

*... what IS this i'm feeling? ...*
yesterday i picked up Nadina the Canadian, the new "me" for the city office. She looked just a bit dazed (understandably) and I had to squelch the total tour guide instincts in me to show her and tell her EVERYTHING. She has to discover some things on her own. Her being here is a sort of big step in terms of I have to actually pack now, even if I do have more time ahead of me. I packed a bag today (and good lord it was WAY heavier than I was expecting) and now a certain sort of funk has settled over me. Like homesickness, but not. Like dreading the next coupla weeks, but not. Like isolation but not. Yeah, I know I'm being Captain Descriptive here... sorry 'bout that. If I find the right adjective, I'll let you all know.

And now I'm off to sushi with Setty. That's just fun to say.
3:35 PM

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

*... seized ...*
Boil it down to a cultural difference, i suppose, but dang if you shouldn't clear your calendar if someone asks you over to their house on this side of the Pacific! Since becoming so popularpopularpopular, I've had a number of invitations from the locals that go something along the lines of "Please come to my house, my (parents/sister/family/dog) wants to meet you." The most common meeting time? 11 am... Now you would think if you are going over to someone's house about 11, you would go, have some lunch, sit around and chat for awhile, then take your leave around 3 maybe. But oh no, not in Japan. The last 2 home visits have had me escaping no sooner than 8 hours later. Yesterday I went to the home of Nishiwaki-sensei's sister on the guise of she is studying English and wants to practice. Not that I didn't have a fabulous time (the first 3 hours) but things started getting a little sticky since 1) the sister didn't speak a word of English, nor address a word (English or other) to me, and 2) Maho. Maho is the 3-year-old daughter of the sister, and became obsessed with me. She started putting on all this jewelry so she could look like me, she liked to lick my arm (?!), she cried maniacally when I wouldn't open my mouth to show her the tongue-ring (I didn't want her to try and duplicate THAT) and anyone who knows me knows I can take about 15 minutes of such behavior from small children. NOT 5 hours with no escape possible! AAAAH!

Next time I get an invite, I'm packing a bag and a return ticket, yo.
11:48 AM

Monday, July 28, 2003

*... sneaky papparazzi ...*
Just because i'm out of classes doesn't mean I'm out of the public's (well, students') eyes. Considering I've taught about 1000 chuu-gakusei (JHS kids) in Niigata, it would make sense that I would run into them occassionally. However, it DOESN'T make sense when I have random children's voices yell "sensei!", I turn around, and someone shoves their cell phone in my face to take a picture, and then they run off. I'm usually left in a bit of a confusion in the middle of the train station or department store or wherever.

These days are better than weekends as I've once again reached "popular" status. I should have thought of this trick sooner: if you're lonely, tell people you're leaving soon and then EVERYONE wants to spend time with you. Today is one of the few days that I don't have something going on... unless you consider packing, which, as we all know, is not exactly my forte.
3:59 PM