OMG It's been forever. I'M SORRY!!!
Well, to briefly summarize what's been going on:
I made sushi for two of my schools (my two larger ones, because apparently I'm a masochist and felt the need to make nearly 70 pieces of sushi both times) and they loved it!
I made a new bunch of friends who hold charity concerts. I've gone to one each week for the past month. Going to another one this weekend.
New bunch of friends invited me to Arakawa River (that's actually kind of redundant, but oh well) in Akabane (which is really far away!) this past Monday (because it was a random holiday) to play games, eat Yakiniku and dance. IT WAS MARVELOUS! My legs are still paying for it today. Mind you, it's already Thursday night. D: I also got a mean farmer tan that I either really need to even out or really need to lose. Ahahaha. I also learned how to dance to a really cute and super optimistic song that's SERIOUSLY stuck in my head now.
I went to the Japanese Scottish Games last weekend and had a blast. There was a really good looking Japanese guy in a kilt. That totally made my day! Not to mention all the awesome piping that went on. I really need to buy new batteries for my camera. At least I bought a cute little teddy that plays "Scotland the Brave"! :D He's super cute and is holding a little bagpipe too. I can't help but press the button and listen to it now. Ahahaha.
I'm becoming a better teacher! I feel AWESOME!
Oh! And I also got Pokemon Black, the new Pokemon game. It's completely in Japanese, but I'm persevering! I told my fifth graders that I'd gotten the game and one of them, who doesn't have the best family situation so I try to pay more attention to him outside of class and always remember his name, said "But isn't it hard for you because it's in Japanese?!". Awww~ he cares!
Another fifth grader in another class said that he has a sticker of the evolved form of the pokemon I chose and that he'd give me the sticker. It's probably so I can put it on my name tag along with other Pokemon stickers kids have given me. :D He's SUPER cute, and he has a brother in first year who is, I'm not exaggerating, a mini me version of him. Like, there's NO WAY to NOT know they're brothers. My goodness.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Rice, rice, baby
I bought a rice cooker! It's lime green and the buttons have English on it even though the cooker only has instructions in Japanese. lol. Time to pull out my dictionary. D:
I know what you're all thinking: How have you been making rice the six months you've been in Japan?! I've heard of at least two of my Chinese friends saying that their family makes rice in a pot, so I thought: Hey, why not? There was a little recipe on how to make rice in a pot in the manga cookbook I bought while I was still in America. I used those instruction in Japan.
But you know what's really awesome about my first time using this rice cooker? I'm going to make sushi for my largest school! And guess what?! That's sushi for 50 PEOPLE!!! *dies* But talk about really working up some brownie points with them, as well as showing how much I appreciate all the help they give me when I'm teaching. The plan is to make sushi for all my schools, but I might do this as a one week, one week sort of deal. I mean, that's a lot of sushi. That's a lot of rice. And that's also a lot of "crap! what am I going to put in it?!".
And just now, a little festival float went right by my house drawn by a bunch of young kids. And another float came up, and they're both stopping right in fronto f my apartment. Damn, I love Japan. XD
ANYWAY. I'm still looking for some good cheap stuff for me to put in my sushi. I've been using http://justbento.com/ and http://www.justhungry.com/ - They're both really helpful. So far, I've got the idea to finely chop carrots, cucumbers and make tamagoyaki (for the first time, I might add). I'm going to the market to get some tupperware, those opaque sheets mommy never liked using because it was more expensive (the name of which eludes me), and maybe some meat to go into the sushi. I'm thinking ham: something that can be cooked and thinly sliced that isn't too expensive.
The playlist for this operation? Doctor Who. I'm going to rewatch/listen to Doctor Who episodes while working on all the sushi. Hopefully I won't die from the heat because my air conditioner hates me.
Wish me luck!
I know what you're all thinking: How have you been making rice the six months you've been in Japan?! I've heard of at least two of my Chinese friends saying that their family makes rice in a pot, so I thought: Hey, why not? There was a little recipe on how to make rice in a pot in the manga cookbook I bought while I was still in America. I used those instruction in Japan.
But you know what's really awesome about my first time using this rice cooker? I'm going to make sushi for my largest school! And guess what?! That's sushi for 50 PEOPLE!!! *dies* But talk about really working up some brownie points with them, as well as showing how much I appreciate all the help they give me when I'm teaching. The plan is to make sushi for all my schools, but I might do this as a one week, one week sort of deal. I mean, that's a lot of sushi. That's a lot of rice. And that's also a lot of "crap! what am I going to put in it?!".
And just now, a little festival float went right by my house drawn by a bunch of young kids. And another float came up, and they're both stopping right in fronto f my apartment. Damn, I love Japan. XD
ANYWAY. I'm still looking for some good cheap stuff for me to put in my sushi. I've been using http://justbento.com/ and http://www.justhungry.com/ - They're both really helpful. So far, I've got the idea to finely chop carrots, cucumbers and make tamagoyaki (for the first time, I might add). I'm going to the market to get some tupperware, those opaque sheets mommy never liked using because it was more expensive (the name of which eludes me), and maybe some meat to go into the sushi. I'm thinking ham: something that can be cooked and thinly sliced that isn't too expensive.
The playlist for this operation? Doctor Who. I'm going to rewatch/listen to Doctor Who episodes while working on all the sushi. Hopefully I won't die from the heat because my air conditioner hates me.
Wish me luck!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Staring Match
Honestly, when will these Japanese ever learn that staring at a foreigner, especially this one, will earn them a stare right back?
So I've dealt with this for quite a while, and it's one of my little pet peeves about living in Japan because I'm paranoid by nature. ANYWAY. So I had to go to the bank today, which meant walking to someplace other than my apartment right after getting off the train. I'm relatively used to this, but I think the people along that road aren't used to seeing foreigners. Well, all of them except the meat vendors who remember me because how many foreigners move to Seya anyway? I bought karaage from them my first day staying in my apartment. Really nice folk. I really should go back there.
I'm walking and getting stared at and trying my darnedest to just listen to my music and ignore it, but at some point this attractive guy smoking a cigarette and wearing a fedora (I've come to realize I have a soft spot for fedoras) eyeballs me as we pass each other on opposite sides of the street. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't get eyeballed much. So here I am, grinning like I'm mad, and walking to the bank.
Fastforward to after I've picked up some sushi for dinner from the local sushi place as well as some toilet paper from my favorite little drug store. I turn the corner to my street and lo and behold, there's this really attractive (stress on the really!) crouching outside the building next to mine smoking a cigarette. What is with the attractive Japanese guys smoking cigarettes?! I HATE cigarettes!
ANYWAY. So this guy turns his head, sees me coming, and STARES. Now, I've actually got my glasses on so I can SEE that he's looking at me. Of course, having lived in Japan for half a year now I've learned to just put my head down and act like I didn't see him. The road is SO interesting, don't you think? Well, temptation is really hard to fight and within a second or two I'm looking up at him again and GEEZ. He's STILL staring at me.
I looked away as I went up the stairs, but between the stairs there's open air and he was still watching me. At the top of the stairs? STILL WATCHING. Now, all these thoughts tear through my head like a tornado, but I somehow managed to keep my face straight and simply stare back. After awkwardly pulling out my keys and nervously glancing back to see if he was still staring (thankfully, he'd stopped), I got inside. I made SUPER sure to say "Tadaima", which essentially means "I'm home!", when I entered the house. To any observant Japanese person, this would show that although I'm a foreigner, I speak Japanese. BWUAHAHAHA.
Sadly, once I closed my door I freaked out thinking "Well, why did he stare at me the whole way up?!" My friend summed it up for me nicely. It's one of three things. He either 1) doesn't like foreigners, 2) found me attractive, or 3) is very curious about foreigners. Now I know what you're all thinking: It could totally be MORE than just one of those three!
Sorry to break it to all you who root for me getting a boyfriend, but I'm pretty sure this is the same hot guy I had a staring match with shortly after I moved into my apartment. If it's the same guy, then he has a wife and a three or four year old daughter. He looks WAAAYYYYYY too young. I'd say he's only in his early twenties. Like, only around my age! GEEZ.
Oh, and not to mention I saw a mother who had three young boys following her (all obviously brothers) and had another one on the way. She looked like it might be twins. Well, that or one of those watermelons we get in America. Not those small Japanese ones here. lol. Oh, and the mother? She looked only to be in her later twenties. I don't think she was in her thirties. O_o
So I've dealt with this for quite a while, and it's one of my little pet peeves about living in Japan because I'm paranoid by nature. ANYWAY. So I had to go to the bank today, which meant walking to someplace other than my apartment right after getting off the train. I'm relatively used to this, but I think the people along that road aren't used to seeing foreigners. Well, all of them except the meat vendors who remember me because how many foreigners move to Seya anyway? I bought karaage from them my first day staying in my apartment. Really nice folk. I really should go back there.
I'm walking and getting stared at and trying my darnedest to just listen to my music and ignore it, but at some point this attractive guy smoking a cigarette and wearing a fedora (I've come to realize I have a soft spot for fedoras) eyeballs me as we pass each other on opposite sides of the street. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't get eyeballed much. So here I am, grinning like I'm mad, and walking to the bank.
Fastforward to after I've picked up some sushi for dinner from the local sushi place as well as some toilet paper from my favorite little drug store. I turn the corner to my street and lo and behold, there's this really attractive (stress on the really!) crouching outside the building next to mine smoking a cigarette. What is with the attractive Japanese guys smoking cigarettes?! I HATE cigarettes!
ANYWAY. So this guy turns his head, sees me coming, and STARES. Now, I've actually got my glasses on so I can SEE that he's looking at me. Of course, having lived in Japan for half a year now I've learned to just put my head down and act like I didn't see him. The road is SO interesting, don't you think? Well, temptation is really hard to fight and within a second or two I'm looking up at him again and GEEZ. He's STILL staring at me.
I looked away as I went up the stairs, but between the stairs there's open air and he was still watching me. At the top of the stairs? STILL WATCHING. Now, all these thoughts tear through my head like a tornado, but I somehow managed to keep my face straight and simply stare back. After awkwardly pulling out my keys and nervously glancing back to see if he was still staring (thankfully, he'd stopped), I got inside. I made SUPER sure to say "Tadaima", which essentially means "I'm home!", when I entered the house. To any observant Japanese person, this would show that although I'm a foreigner, I speak Japanese. BWUAHAHAHA.
Sadly, once I closed my door I freaked out thinking "Well, why did he stare at me the whole way up?!" My friend summed it up for me nicely. It's one of three things. He either 1) doesn't like foreigners, 2) found me attractive, or 3) is very curious about foreigners. Now I know what you're all thinking: It could totally be MORE than just one of those three!
Sorry to break it to all you who root for me getting a boyfriend, but I'm pretty sure this is the same hot guy I had a staring match with shortly after I moved into my apartment. If it's the same guy, then he has a wife and a three or four year old daughter. He looks WAAAYYYYYY too young. I'd say he's only in his early twenties. Like, only around my age! GEEZ.
Oh, and not to mention I saw a mother who had three young boys following her (all obviously brothers) and had another one on the way. She looked like it might be twins. Well, that or one of those watermelons we get in America. Not those small Japanese ones here. lol. Oh, and the mother? She looked only to be in her later twenties. I don't think she was in her thirties. O_o
Friday, August 27, 2010
First Day Back
So I realized today when I got four emails that my friend's Livejournal had updated that I really need to update more. Since I have time and I'm not doing anything pressing, I figured I'd sit down and type something up.
Yesterday was my first day back! Summer vacation was great because I got all nice and rested and got a lot of creative things done, though not so much travel/adventure-wise. I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't like going on adventures unless if someone else is going with me of I have an intense desire to go. That, and if I happen to know about it... This still doesn't make up for the fact that I haven't gone to the Studio Ghibli Museum yet, though I believe the conscientious fear that I will blow my entire paycheck at the gift shop is prevalent.
SO! First day back. It was great, because I got to see my fifth graders at my largest school again and damn were they cute. Anri, this SUPER tall fifth grade girl who is almost my height (hence the emphasis on SUPER!!!) was super cute as always. She's one of those kids that really likes me. Maybe she likes the fact that I'm taller than her even though I'm a girly? That, or maybe it's just my totally charming personality. :3
Atsushi was being rowdy again, which got me a little upset but I let it blow over because hey, it's the first day back having English class. Who ISN'T going to try to be a buttface, right? Yoh had really red eyes, but he participated in class and was really good. What a sweetie. Oh, and there was yet again a boy who repeated in a weird voice. When they say Hello to me really weird when I first start up class, I look and stare quietly for a long second before saying Hello again. Boy does that put them back in line. It's like, honestly? Do you want me to say Konnichiwa and butcher it like any American who hasn't heard the word properly pronounced before? O_o Then again, the kids probably don't care. The adults do. D:
OMG. And Gota, who lived in Laguna Beach for 1st through 2nd grade and speaks a LOT of English (and apparently goes to an American school every Saturday) was super excited when we were playing the weather game! He's so adorable! I mean, he's not as cute as some of the other kids (because I have some child-model cute kids, though I may be biased. haha.), but the fact that Gota is just THAT excited about English really fills up my heart.
Ah, yes. And we were doing weather yesterday. Hahaha.
Well, aside from all the happy thoughts, when I got home and sat down (because boy did I need to), I realized that a muscle in my left foot had been overworked. It's probably from all the walking I did, and in shoes I hadn't worn in a month and a half and was happy not to. I worked on the muscle while watching The Princess and the Frog, which is a really cute movie (though the songs didn't move me as much as older Disney films). I kept off my foot mostly for the rest of the night and now that it's morning (about 11am JST) it feels loads better, though it still hurts a bit. I'm going to keep off it for the rest of today as well. Good thing I don't have to go anywhere. :D
Yesterday was my first day back! Summer vacation was great because I got all nice and rested and got a lot of creative things done, though not so much travel/adventure-wise. I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't like going on adventures unless if someone else is going with me of I have an intense desire to go. That, and if I happen to know about it... This still doesn't make up for the fact that I haven't gone to the Studio Ghibli Museum yet, though I believe the conscientious fear that I will blow my entire paycheck at the gift shop is prevalent.
SO! First day back. It was great, because I got to see my fifth graders at my largest school again and damn were they cute. Anri, this SUPER tall fifth grade girl who is almost my height (hence the emphasis on SUPER!!!) was super cute as always. She's one of those kids that really likes me. Maybe she likes the fact that I'm taller than her even though I'm a girly? That, or maybe it's just my totally charming personality. :3
Atsushi was being rowdy again, which got me a little upset but I let it blow over because hey, it's the first day back having English class. Who ISN'T going to try to be a buttface, right? Yoh had really red eyes, but he participated in class and was really good. What a sweetie. Oh, and there was yet again a boy who repeated in a weird voice. When they say Hello to me really weird when I first start up class, I look and stare quietly for a long second before saying Hello again. Boy does that put them back in line. It's like, honestly? Do you want me to say Konnichiwa and butcher it like any American who hasn't heard the word properly pronounced before? O_o Then again, the kids probably don't care. The adults do. D:
OMG. And Gota, who lived in Laguna Beach for 1st through 2nd grade and speaks a LOT of English (and apparently goes to an American school every Saturday) was super excited when we were playing the weather game! He's so adorable! I mean, he's not as cute as some of the other kids (because I have some child-model cute kids, though I may be biased. haha.), but the fact that Gota is just THAT excited about English really fills up my heart.
Ah, yes. And we were doing weather yesterday. Hahaha.
Well, aside from all the happy thoughts, when I got home and sat down (because boy did I need to), I realized that a muscle in my left foot had been overworked. It's probably from all the walking I did, and in shoes I hadn't worn in a month and a half and was happy not to. I worked on the muscle while watching The Princess and the Frog, which is a really cute movie (though the songs didn't move me as much as older Disney films). I kept off my foot mostly for the rest of the night and now that it's morning (about 11am JST) it feels loads better, though it still hurts a bit. I'm going to keep off it for the rest of today as well. Good thing I don't have to go anywhere. :D
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Thunder Dolphin!
Ok. Let me summarize my summer vacation for you: My friend Michelle came to Japan to work with JET! We hung out for one day with one of her friends, Mio, before she shipped off to Fukuoka. I went to my favorite school's summer festival, which was awesome. I wore my Yukata, got lots of compliments on that, and danced the Obon Odori, which also earned me compliments FROM MY PRINCIPAL. That was epic! Oh! And my old roommate Clarissa, one of my best friends ever, came to visit me for a whole week! We porked out on good food, ate lots of desserts, and went to 2 onsen (hot springs) together! We also went shrine hunting (she needed omamori (a good luck charm) for her co-workers and as souvenirs). Suffice to say: Lots of fun, spent a lot of money. I also went to what I later found out was the largest anime/manga convention in Japan, and 500,000 people go to it within the 3 day span it's open. It was at Tokyo Big Site and it was crowded and hot and stuffy. It was worth going to, because I found some really cute keychains and a super cute pair of earrings.
Through Clarissa I met her friend Veronica, who later invited me to Tokyo Dome City, which has an amusement park. Pay 4000 yen and you get an all day wrist pass that lets you onto all the rides. There was one ride called "Thunder Dolphin". I just HAD to laugh when I read that. I mean, c'mon. Thunder Dolphin?
Anyway, we went on all the rides that looked worth while. Thunder Dolphin was one of them. I think we would've ridden it all day if 1) it weren't so hot that we wanted to go on a water ride and 2) if the line weren't so long and there were other rides to experiment. It's one of those roller coasters that, if you've taken physics, makes you really happy to know that centripetal force is going to keep you on those tracks. The first drop is really steep, and when you're in the car you sincerely feel like you're making a beeline for the ground, it's so steep. It's about as steep as the drop on Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but much shorter so the G-force at the bottom doesn't affect you as drastically. All in all, a great roller coaster ride! We went on it twice. It was even better the second time. It's a real shame that it's so short.
We had lunch at a burger joint that had a black guy working on cutting up the burger patties and shaping them. I thought that was really random and really interesting, and also wondering just how much Japanese the guy spoke. I got the Salsa Burger, which was surprisingly delicious. The patties weren't huge, but they were juicy and SO much better than having a McDonald's burger. I really wish a good burger joint. I think that's the main food item I miss while here in Japan, aside from Freebirds Burritos. Hahaha.
Veronica brought her friend Nick with her. He's a short haole boy with hay colored hair and pretty dark blue eyes. He commented that I was very observant, to which I had to ask if he found that weird or disturbing in any way. I think being as observant as I am (and this is mostly for random things that aren't really important) could possibly freak someone out. They don't make the same connections I do, though really it's kind of like looking at a math problem or figuring your way around a map. I don't know, but either way it was refreshing to have him compliment me. :D
We all went our separate ways after the park, but I was really glad I'd gone. It was a really hot day, and normally I would've just stayed inside with the air conditioner going and read books or talked to friends on the internet. It's amazing what going out and being social can do. :D
Two days later, my friend Florence from UCSB came down to Yokohama to hang out before she shipped off to Osaka. She's working for the same company as me! We went around Vivre, this really big mall near Yokohama station, and ate Okonomiyaki for dinner. For dessert, we went to this really awesome tart shop Clarissa and I found while she was here. It's called La Maison (www.la-maison.jp). We were helped by a really cute Japanese guy, and since there was a really long line waiting to get in we ordered our tarts to go (in some seriously cute to-go boxes) and sat at some benches in the basement food court. It's funny. With our powers combined, the both of us can figure out what we're being asked by the clerks at shops and restaurants. hahaha.
Through Clarissa I met her friend Veronica, who later invited me to Tokyo Dome City, which has an amusement park. Pay 4000 yen and you get an all day wrist pass that lets you onto all the rides. There was one ride called "Thunder Dolphin". I just HAD to laugh when I read that. I mean, c'mon. Thunder Dolphin?
Anyway, we went on all the rides that looked worth while. Thunder Dolphin was one of them. I think we would've ridden it all day if 1) it weren't so hot that we wanted to go on a water ride and 2) if the line weren't so long and there were other rides to experiment. It's one of those roller coasters that, if you've taken physics, makes you really happy to know that centripetal force is going to keep you on those tracks. The first drop is really steep, and when you're in the car you sincerely feel like you're making a beeline for the ground, it's so steep. It's about as steep as the drop on Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but much shorter so the G-force at the bottom doesn't affect you as drastically. All in all, a great roller coaster ride! We went on it twice. It was even better the second time. It's a real shame that it's so short.
We had lunch at a burger joint that had a black guy working on cutting up the burger patties and shaping them. I thought that was really random and really interesting, and also wondering just how much Japanese the guy spoke. I got the Salsa Burger, which was surprisingly delicious. The patties weren't huge, but they were juicy and SO much better than having a McDonald's burger. I really wish a good burger joint. I think that's the main food item I miss while here in Japan, aside from Freebirds Burritos. Hahaha.
Veronica brought her friend Nick with her. He's a short haole boy with hay colored hair and pretty dark blue eyes. He commented that I was very observant, to which I had to ask if he found that weird or disturbing in any way. I think being as observant as I am (and this is mostly for random things that aren't really important) could possibly freak someone out. They don't make the same connections I do, though really it's kind of like looking at a math problem or figuring your way around a map. I don't know, but either way it was refreshing to have him compliment me. :D
We all went our separate ways after the park, but I was really glad I'd gone. It was a really hot day, and normally I would've just stayed inside with the air conditioner going and read books or talked to friends on the internet. It's amazing what going out and being social can do. :D
Two days later, my friend Florence from UCSB came down to Yokohama to hang out before she shipped off to Osaka. She's working for the same company as me! We went around Vivre, this really big mall near Yokohama station, and ate Okonomiyaki for dinner. For dessert, we went to this really awesome tart shop Clarissa and I found while she was here. It's called La Maison (www.la-maison.jp). We were helped by a really cute Japanese guy, and since there was a really long line waiting to get in we ordered our tarts to go (in some seriously cute to-go boxes) and sat at some benches in the basement food court. It's funny. With our powers combined, the both of us can figure out what we're being asked by the clerks at shops and restaurants. hahaha.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Prince of Persia and Japanese Movie Theaters
Sorry this is a little out of order. This happened the week before the Ramen Museum.
I went to go see Prince of Persia! It was really fun being the only person in the theater that didn't have to read the subtitles, which were totally stylized to have a slight persian/arabic curly script look. I looked down from time to time to try reading it because I noticed some things that couldn't really be translated into Japanese. haha.
So, Japanese movie theaters in comparison to American movie theaters. They're slightly smaller, and this one didn't have ridiculous sound like most American ones. You know the ones that vibrate the ground? Yeah, none of those. At least at this one.
Anywho, went with my friend Mariko, who works at my favorite school. The theater we went to was about a ten minute walk from the Yokohama train station, which was a really nice walk. The theater was above an arcade, where we wasted money trying to win stuff from the UFO Catchers while we waited for the show. I really wanted to win a doll, but those damn claws are SO WEAK! >_<
Oh, and another thing about the movie? Almost the entire theater stayed for the full credits. I knew there wasn't going to be anything after the credits (Prince of Persia isn't the type to have the set up at the end of the credits, not like the comic inspired movies), so I was all for leaving right then. Well, my friend wasn't moving. Honestly? I highly doubted any of the Japanese in that theater could read all the credits, especially as quickly as a native speaker could. So... why were they waiting? I figured I shouldn't be rude, so I just sat tight and twiddled my thumbs while I waited.
After the movie, we caught a boat, aptly named the Sea Bass, though when you write it in katakana it could quite as easily be read "Sea Bus", which is essentially what it is. lol. It was great seeing Yokohama from the water. Not only that, but the breeze felt great. We got off at Sakuragicho to find an African Festival of some kind. There were a bunch of black people walking around and it was totally not what I was expecting. It was really cool! Especially when you see these really cute black kids (it was really hard to tell if they were full or perhaps half) who were speaking 100% fluent Japanese. I mean, better Japanese than I can speak because it's got to be one of their first languages. Goodness.
Afterward, it was off to the Pokemon Center again. haha.
+++
Also, saw Iron Man 2 this past Friday with Tanyisha. It was a great movie and it was totally worth seeing in the theater because this theater, which was in Ebina (completely opposite direction from Yokohama), had GREAT sound. Like, really loud. Not to the point where I worry about my ear drums being damaged, but still totally awesome and totally appropriate for the movie. Tanyisha owed me money, so she bought me the Pokemon Set for Popcorn. I got a little container as well as a Zoroa/Zoroark screen wipey thingy for your cell phone. I haven't put it on yet. XD
Also went to Uni Qlo while we waited for the movie to start. I got a cute dress and five tops. I totally got compliments on one of the tops today at school too, which was awesome. :3
I went to go see Prince of Persia! It was really fun being the only person in the theater that didn't have to read the subtitles, which were totally stylized to have a slight persian/arabic curly script look. I looked down from time to time to try reading it because I noticed some things that couldn't really be translated into Japanese. haha.
So, Japanese movie theaters in comparison to American movie theaters. They're slightly smaller, and this one didn't have ridiculous sound like most American ones. You know the ones that vibrate the ground? Yeah, none of those. At least at this one.
Anywho, went with my friend Mariko, who works at my favorite school. The theater we went to was about a ten minute walk from the Yokohama train station, which was a really nice walk. The theater was above an arcade, where we wasted money trying to win stuff from the UFO Catchers while we waited for the show. I really wanted to win a doll, but those damn claws are SO WEAK! >_<
Oh, and another thing about the movie? Almost the entire theater stayed for the full credits. I knew there wasn't going to be anything after the credits (Prince of Persia isn't the type to have the set up at the end of the credits, not like the comic inspired movies), so I was all for leaving right then. Well, my friend wasn't moving. Honestly? I highly doubted any of the Japanese in that theater could read all the credits, especially as quickly as a native speaker could. So... why were they waiting? I figured I shouldn't be rude, so I just sat tight and twiddled my thumbs while I waited.
After the movie, we caught a boat, aptly named the Sea Bass, though when you write it in katakana it could quite as easily be read "Sea Bus", which is essentially what it is. lol. It was great seeing Yokohama from the water. Not only that, but the breeze felt great. We got off at Sakuragicho to find an African Festival of some kind. There were a bunch of black people walking around and it was totally not what I was expecting. It was really cool! Especially when you see these really cute black kids (it was really hard to tell if they were full or perhaps half) who were speaking 100% fluent Japanese. I mean, better Japanese than I can speak because it's got to be one of their first languages. Goodness.
Afterward, it was off to the Pokemon Center again. haha.
+++
Also, saw Iron Man 2 this past Friday with Tanyisha. It was a great movie and it was totally worth seeing in the theater because this theater, which was in Ebina (completely opposite direction from Yokohama), had GREAT sound. Like, really loud. Not to the point where I worry about my ear drums being damaged, but still totally awesome and totally appropriate for the movie. Tanyisha owed me money, so she bought me the Pokemon Set for Popcorn. I got a little container as well as a Zoroa/Zoroark screen wipey thingy for your cell phone. I haven't put it on yet. XD
Also went to Uni Qlo while we waited for the movie to start. I got a cute dress and five tops. I totally got compliments on one of the tops today at school too, which was awesome. :3
For the Love of Ramen
SO! It was brought to my attention that I hadn't actually updated my blog in a while. Since it's been over a month, I decided to update. Auntie Elaine? Please fax this to grandma. I got her letter, but I haven't had the chance to drop by the post office. @_@
Well, my friend Flo came to Japan with her friend Shawn (I'm not sure if that's how he spells his name) and happened to be in Tokyo for a week. Tokyo isn't that far away from Yokohama, so we decided to hang out. Our plan? Meet up at the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum and then go see the huge Ferris Wheel over by Queen's Square in Yokohama.
Flo and Shawn were an hour late because they had to come from Kamakura (they went to go see the huge Buddha there). I thought ahead and came early because I was using the Blue Subway Line for the first time. It wasn't a complete loss, because wandering around Shin Yokohama made me walk into Uni Qlo for the first time. Uni Qlo is the BEST store in Japan, aside from the Pokemon Center, of course. Pokemon Center is by far the best. Anyway, bought a pair of really cute Alice in Wonderland themed ankle-length leggings there as well as a comfy top to wear either at home or out. Eventually, Flo and Shawn got there and we went to the museum.
I cannot convey in words just how AWESOME the Ramen Museum is. I am DEFINITELY going back, as well as dragging my parents there when they eventually come to see me. :3 I highly recommend it, especially if you like ramen. And as my family and friends know, I LOVE ramen. We each had three ramen. Flo had all the minis while Shawn and I were awesome and had one normal sized ramen and two minis. We tried one of each flavor: shoyu, miso and tonkotsu. Each was delicious and I still can't figure out which one I liked the best. The three of us were painfully full after we'd finished our ramen. One of the places (the Sapporo one with the Miso ramen) was a 45 minute wait, which totally let us digest. And you know what? It was WORTH the wait. And being uncomfortable for the rest of the day because my stomach was fighting with all the delicious noodles and broth in my stomach? It was WORTH it. It was all for the love of Ramen. <3
I took a bunch of pictures. I'll have to post them... but I have to shrink the darn files because they're all 3 MB each and... I'm lazy. XD
ANYWAY. OMG. Uploading pictures (had to be selective) on my flickr, so YOU'LL SEE PICTURES ON MY SLIDESHOW. OMG.
MOVING ON.
The gift shop is insanely awesome in the museum as well. I bought two cell phone straps, but their kind of large. I'm still debating about where to put the more sensitive one, but I might put the other on my camera. :3 I also bought a notebook set that came with a kamoboko automatic pencil as well as a kamoboko eraser. Once again, my family knows how much I love kamoboko. I really couldn't resist. :3
After the museum, we caught the subway to Sakuragicho and I dragged my friends to the Pokemon Center. There was an event there, so there were TONS of kids and their parents. I really wanted to participate in the event, but they were closing it up when we got there. And besides, I'm twice as big as these kids. Heck, maybe even three times as big. I didn't want to embarrass myself and my friends. lol.
After purchasing a super cute wallet (which was really great since the clasp on my wallet broke off and I wasn't comfortable with the wallet being loose.), we walked across the way to go to the Shounen Jump store. I bought two pins for my bag and a surprisingly cheap D.Gray-man glass that looks SO awesome. I still haven't used it yet because I'm super scared about breaking it. It's SO pretty.
Then it was off to Cosmo World, which is this small amusement park like Santa Monica Peer. It has a TON of those UFO Catcher games, which are really dangerous and I've decided that I'm not going to go near them ever again. Those claws are WEAK SAUCE. Well, the reason we went to Cosmo World was to go see the MASSIVE ferris wheel there, which is the second largest ferris wheel in Japan. Apparently, the largest ferris wheel in Japan is in Tokyo and is only taller by a few feet. As far as I'm concerned, the one in Yokohama is just as good. Probably just as expensive. We went with the intention of riding it, but it's 700 yen (a little over $7) PER PERSON. I can understand if it was for a single car, but per person?! We sat on a bench beneath it and stared up at it while we tried to digest. Even if we WERE willing to spend that much to ride it, Flo wasn't feeling all that well because she was just THAT full.
We came, we saw, and we conquered the bench. We had a bunch of laughs while we sat on that bench. I did a lot of people watching, which included commentary. We saw a bunch of Japanese girls with their (obviously) white boyfriends. Flo and I were really shocked to see so many. Then again, Yokohama seems to attract quite a few foreigners.
We split at Yokohama station when I had to transfer to my line. It was a lot of fun, and all of us were exhausted from 1) the heat, 2) being super full and 3) all the walking we did to get to the dumb ferris wheel only to find out how expensive it was.
Well, my friend Flo came to Japan with her friend Shawn (I'm not sure if that's how he spells his name) and happened to be in Tokyo for a week. Tokyo isn't that far away from Yokohama, so we decided to hang out. Our plan? Meet up at the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum and then go see the huge Ferris Wheel over by Queen's Square in Yokohama.
Flo and Shawn were an hour late because they had to come from Kamakura (they went to go see the huge Buddha there). I thought ahead and came early because I was using the Blue Subway Line for the first time. It wasn't a complete loss, because wandering around Shin Yokohama made me walk into Uni Qlo for the first time. Uni Qlo is the BEST store in Japan, aside from the Pokemon Center, of course. Pokemon Center is by far the best. Anyway, bought a pair of really cute Alice in Wonderland themed ankle-length leggings there as well as a comfy top to wear either at home or out. Eventually, Flo and Shawn got there and we went to the museum.
I cannot convey in words just how AWESOME the Ramen Museum is. I am DEFINITELY going back, as well as dragging my parents there when they eventually come to see me. :3 I highly recommend it, especially if you like ramen. And as my family and friends know, I LOVE ramen. We each had three ramen. Flo had all the minis while Shawn and I were awesome and had one normal sized ramen and two minis. We tried one of each flavor: shoyu, miso and tonkotsu. Each was delicious and I still can't figure out which one I liked the best. The three of us were painfully full after we'd finished our ramen. One of the places (the Sapporo one with the Miso ramen) was a 45 minute wait, which totally let us digest. And you know what? It was WORTH the wait. And being uncomfortable for the rest of the day because my stomach was fighting with all the delicious noodles and broth in my stomach? It was WORTH it. It was all for the love of Ramen. <3
I took a bunch of pictures. I'll have to post them... but I have to shrink the darn files because they're all 3 MB each and... I'm lazy. XD
ANYWAY. OMG. Uploading pictures (had to be selective) on my flickr, so YOU'LL SEE PICTURES ON MY SLIDESHOW. OMG.
MOVING ON.
The gift shop is insanely awesome in the museum as well. I bought two cell phone straps, but their kind of large. I'm still debating about where to put the more sensitive one, but I might put the other on my camera. :3 I also bought a notebook set that came with a kamoboko automatic pencil as well as a kamoboko eraser. Once again, my family knows how much I love kamoboko. I really couldn't resist. :3
After the museum, we caught the subway to Sakuragicho and I dragged my friends to the Pokemon Center. There was an event there, so there were TONS of kids and their parents. I really wanted to participate in the event, but they were closing it up when we got there. And besides, I'm twice as big as these kids. Heck, maybe even three times as big. I didn't want to embarrass myself and my friends. lol.
After purchasing a super cute wallet (which was really great since the clasp on my wallet broke off and I wasn't comfortable with the wallet being loose.), we walked across the way to go to the Shounen Jump store. I bought two pins for my bag and a surprisingly cheap D.Gray-man glass that looks SO awesome. I still haven't used it yet because I'm super scared about breaking it. It's SO pretty.
Then it was off to Cosmo World, which is this small amusement park like Santa Monica Peer. It has a TON of those UFO Catcher games, which are really dangerous and I've decided that I'm not going to go near them ever again. Those claws are WEAK SAUCE. Well, the reason we went to Cosmo World was to go see the MASSIVE ferris wheel there, which is the second largest ferris wheel in Japan. Apparently, the largest ferris wheel in Japan is in Tokyo and is only taller by a few feet. As far as I'm concerned, the one in Yokohama is just as good. Probably just as expensive. We went with the intention of riding it, but it's 700 yen (a little over $7) PER PERSON. I can understand if it was for a single car, but per person?! We sat on a bench beneath it and stared up at it while we tried to digest. Even if we WERE willing to spend that much to ride it, Flo wasn't feeling all that well because she was just THAT full.
We came, we saw, and we conquered the bench. We had a bunch of laughs while we sat on that bench. I did a lot of people watching, which included commentary. We saw a bunch of Japanese girls with their (obviously) white boyfriends. Flo and I were really shocked to see so many. Then again, Yokohama seems to attract quite a few foreigners.
We split at Yokohama station when I had to transfer to my line. It was a lot of fun, and all of us were exhausted from 1) the heat, 2) being super full and 3) all the walking we did to get to the dumb ferris wheel only to find out how expensive it was.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Yopparatta
So I bet you're wondering where I've been. Well, I'm obviously alive and well because I'm so busy I haven't gotten around to posting on here.
In all actuality I spent a lot of time with Tan-chan. Her boyfriend came for Golden Week, which is a series of holidays at the beginning of May, and since my birthday is the second of May I ended up spending some time with both her and her boyfriend. lol. We went to see this AWESOME festival they have in Odawara where there's this really huge parade and everyone is wearing samurai armor or classic clothing. It was gorgeous. My batteries died in my camera shortly after we got there, so Tanyisha let me have free reign with her camera instead. I'll have to get the pictures off Facebook and put them in my album. That'll take a while, so I probably won't do it anytime soon. I bought a hair pin at the swap meet they had at Odawara Castle, which I haven't used since then. I've been wearing my hair in pigtails a lot lately, and I'll tell you why.
So at school, I wore pigtails one day and a little boy at lunch told me that they were flattering on me. I talked to my friend Shinbo later that day and we talked about braided pigtails and such and she wanted to see me with braided pigtails so I did them the next day. I got complimented again. So now, if the weather's warm and I had enough time to blow dry my hair, I do pigtails. :3
I also went to Akihabara and Harajuku with Tanyisha, her boyfriend, Arvin, and his friend Sherwin. Yeah, you heard me. Sherwin. Just like that paint company in America. XD That was a fun day trip. I took a bunch of pictures with my phone, so hopefully I'll get around to uploading those someday too. lol. We walked all the way to this really big temple in Harajuku that's really close to the train station. It was gorgeous, and because it was Golden Week it just so happened that events were going on at the temple. We got to listen to some women playing the koto and a few other classical instruments. It was very nice to listen to, but it was hot and we didn't have seats. We left early.
I've fallen in love with kabobs. They're delicious. There needs to be a kabob stand by my apartment, but there isn't. D: Had the kabob at the Odawara festival. Delicious~.
Anywho, big update time. Met this really cute volunteer at my favorite school. I've got a serious crush on him. It's hard not to. He's cute and really wants to learn English, so we're always talking when we get a chance. You should hear him try to say the "th" sound. Gawd. Like he could get any cuter. He's teaching on a probationary period at the school until next week Thursday and then he goes back to being a plain old volunteer on Fridays only. I think I'm making it pretty obvious I like him, and I think he might like me because 1) he remembered my home train station even though I didn't say it all that loud and 2) he remembered my Japanese name. He, like, remembers almost everything I talk to him about. And he has a fiercely cute smile. And I was sneaky and got his phone number because we both got invited to the Principal's birthday party and I didn't know where it was so I casually asked for someone's number to call in case I got lost since I have to come from another school. Ohohoho~
And here's the reason I dragged myself off to write this blog because I was so excited and happy: I went to my schools Undoukai! An Undoukai is a big Sports Festival where the school splits into teams (mine had three: red, blue and yellow) and compete in various sports activities. A lot of it was running, but there was also throwing balls into this dinky basket and then seeing who got the most. It was amazing to see how fast those kids could run for those relays though. My goodness. I rooted for the blue team since I was wearing jeans and my blue jacket. I actually brought other colors shirts in case I felt like rooting for the other teams, but I liked blue. We got second place. Red was first and Yellow was third.
It was great watching the kids and I got a free bento for lunch along with, I kid you not, the BEST miso soup I have EVER had. It was SO GOOD. I had seconds twice, that's how good it was.
It started drizzling shortly before the Undoukai was finished. It was freezing! I felt really bad for the kids because they were out there in shorts and a shirt, but I guess they were wearing more than one shirt. Smart kids. Or rather, smart parents for making sure the kids wore layers. I wish I'd done the same. Anyway, by the time the entire thing was over and we had started the cleaning up process, the rain had stopped. I think the rain was a replacement for the kids crying because I didn't see any of the kids crying for losing, which was great. Everyone at the school seems to have a real camaraderie. :3
After cleaning up I had a bunch of free time before almost all the teachers went out to dinner. I ended up making a couple phone calls which got interrupted by two of the special needs kids, Kaho and Tomomi, who ran up crying "Diana-sensei!". They were really curious as to who I was talking to on the phone. I don't think Kaho believed me when I said it was a girl. I think she thought it was my boyfriend. How could I tell her that I seriously needed to rant to someone in ENGLISH instead of stumbling over Japanese? XD I ended up playing with the girls at the Jungle Gym and had to save the cute guy from being dragged off by them. They went running out while he and some boys were playing Soccer and he kept saying it was dangerous for them. I had to pick one of them up and drag her away before the other one came with me.
We played Onigokko, which is the Japanese version of tag. Kaho kept changing the rules and saying that she was safe whenever it suited her. She had the fracking balls to call me stupid TO MY FACE to which I had to force myself to ignore and just play stupid with the "Oh, I don't understand Japanese" act. D: Time eventually ran out (I was SO grateful for that) and I ran back to the office to get my stuff and tag along for dinner and drinks.
So we get to the place for dinner and it's seriously only a three minute walk from the school. How convenient, right? Well, I had to use the restroom and I've been seriously avoiding using a Japanese style toilet my entire two months in Japan. That restaurant? Only had Japanese style toilets. Perhaps all Asians are inherently able to do the Asian squat. I don't know, but it was a lot easier than it seemed. Huzzah!
Now, when I entered the restaurant I forked over 3000 yen (a bit over $30) as my share for the bill. After I'd sat down, one of the fourth grade teachers (the one whose male students keep asking me if I find him attractive, who I did find sort of attractive when I first saw him, but his body is really boxy) came up and gave me back my money because I had volunteered for the day. I tried to tell him no, but he handed me the money and smiled and I felt like I could've cried because it was just SO NICE. I mean, I loved that the rest of the teachers were paying for me and that I didn't have to fork over the 3000 yen because 3000 yen isn't just some chump change, but I really felt grateful. I mean, I hadn't even done much at the festival except for cheer for the blue team and help clean up. Sure it was completely voluntary and I wasn't getting paid for it, but it was fun to experience something new! And it wasn't like I was going to actually DO anything if I didn't go, y'know?
Dinner was DELICIOUS. Have I said I love Japanese cooking? Because I seriously love Japanese cooking. My goodness. We had squid served with its internal organs (yeah, I wouldn't have eaten it either if I'd known that before I'd tasted it) that was served as a dip for the squid. It was super delicious. There was also Mackerel, which I was super happy to see because not only did I get to have the Mackerel bento, but I got Mackerel with my dinner! HEAVEN! (Mackerel is my favorite fish to eat, in case you're wondering.) There was also sashimi, which was delicious, roasted potatoes, this tempura'd thing that was delicious but I forgot what it was called. There was also potato salad, which really made me have an "I MISS HAWAII" moment.
We drank beer and the teachers encouraged me to try some of the more alcoholic drinks. I stayed away from Shochu because I wasn't sure how I'd handle it and I didn't want to make a complete ass of myself in front of everyone. Instead, I had a Lemon Sour and later a Green Apple Sour (which was given to me by the boxy fourth grade teacher). Delicious. Not too powerful in the flavor department, but the alcoholic taste was very well hidden.
I talked to the school nurse and one of the fifth grade teachers for most of the night. We talked about Johnny's and Idols and such. On the topic of men, I said I liked tall skinny guys with cute hair and who're always smiling. They were both like: There aren't any guys like that. lol. It was fun. It was really cute too because I'm a year younger than the fifth grade teacher and she's a year younger than the nurse! It's like: yay! We're so close in age! :D I also taught them about the Asian Glow stereotype. It was hard because I had to explain (in Japanese) that it's specifically for Asians because their skin is so pale that it's really obvious. I'm SO glad I brought my dictionary with me because I was then able to point out that it was just a stereotype.
Speaking of Asian Glow, the cute guy? Yeah, two small cups of beer in and he was RED. His ears get red too. HOW CUTE. I'm glad I didn't drink too much of else I might've lost my head and confessed that I had a thing for him, though it's so obvious already as it is. lol.
Aside from getting a free meal with free drinks, I was really happy to go because I talked a lot with one of the fourth grade teachers who I've always felt awkward around. We talked about a bunch of mostly random stuff and she was smiling! Before we closed up for the meal, boxy teacher comes around given people tea and he was trying to tell me that it was green tea and I felt like telling him: Y'know, I DO speak SOME Japanese!. I mean, c'mon. Who DOESN'T know about green tea?!
After a short so-long-and-thanks-for-the-fish speech from boxy teacher and one of the second grade teachers (the hosts for the night), the Vice Principal came and thanked me for volunteering with the sports festival. She's so adorable! Why do these people keep thanking me when I'M the one who was thanking them for inviting me in the first place?!
After dinner, half the teachers left while the cooler half went off to karaoke and I got to tag along. Now I'd felt really awkward around the cute guy the whole day because during lunch when we HAD time to talk to each other he was not really all there and I thought that perhaps it was something I'd done. That was part of the reason why I had to rant to someone who spoke English. haha. I was simply being paranoid because when we were walking to the karaoke place he came along side me and we were talking about how to say drunk and tipsy and stuff in Japanese and in English and he confessed that he'd only had two small cups of beer and I called him weak sauce. XD I learned how to say Yopparatta, which is "I'm drunk". Chotto Yopparatta is "I'm tipsy". Tipsy is actually IN my dictionary. I was totally psyched by that realization.
Karaoke was a blast. Everyone chose really peppy songs for the most part, so I stayed away from singing in English. The only songs I could think up in English that I could sing were Starlight by Muse or The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars. They actually had I'm So Sick by Flyleaf too, which one of the fifth grade teachers was really close to putting on the playlist for me to sing, but I told him no. I'm really glad I did, because instead we played a lot of really good Japanese songs that were fun to sing drunkenly to. One of them was Cruel Angels' Thesis. I don't know who picked it, but me and the second grade teacher who'd tagged along sang it. I got complimented every time I sang a song because it was all in Japanese. Sometimes I didn't know the lyrics, but they had the lyrics on the screen in Japanese with (thankfully) the reading for the kanji. It was still really hard.
I'm totally embarrassed by it, but I got up and sang Pop Star by Hirai Ken and I actually did the dancing for it too because everyone encouraged everyone else to do the dancing for songs that had dance sequences. I couldn't do all the dancing because I couldn't remember all of it and had to follow the music video on the screen. It was fun! I really hope boxy teacher didn't take video of me though because I saw him taking video of others with his camera during an earlier song. I sang along to Sorairo Days by Nakagawa Shouko with the fifth grade teacher that speaks a lot of English because he lived in England for, like, four years. THAT was great.
During all the singing I had two melon sodas and two draft beers. XD I drank quite a bit and I was sober enough not to say anything remarkably stupid, to which I am eternally grateful.
Ooo! The cute guy was really good at rapping, and I kept saying Suteki (cute/gorgeous) and once I said Subarashii (wonderful). The fifth grade teacher with the English skills kept repeating that I'd said Suteki and Subarashii to, like, report it to the other teachers. Yes, PLEASE draw attention to the fact that I'm complimenting only one person in the room of 10 people.
We sang Soranbushi, which is this song about Fishermen that they did in Kinpachi Sensei and that the school did at the Undoukai. It was fun to see half the teachers stand up and try doing the dance while the rest of us tried singing the song. It's surprisingly long. I'm really glad I didn't try dancing because it's a really tiring dance. XD
The station was really close and I was seriously tipsy because although I could walk in a straight line (not being able to is called Chidori, or 1000 Birds) I couldn't stand still very well. haha. Six of us made it to the station. I don't know why, but four of us ended up not going to the station. What's awesome is that all of us use the Sotetsu line, but everyone lives farther up the line while the speaks-lots-of-English teacher and I live in the opposite direction. I found out which station the cute guy lives off of because I was sly and asked everyone which station they got off at. Ufufufufu.
Here's a funny little tidbit. So when I was asking everyone for their station, the cute guy tells everyone that I live off of Seya and he called me by my Japanese name and he was telling the other teachers my Japanese name that they didn't know and I totally saw the girl teachers sharing a glance and I swear if my face weren't already red from all the booze it was red THEN. Yes, it was one of those knowing glances. YES, the cute guy that I've only known for the past three weeks knows more about me than the teachers I've been around for the last month and a half.
On the train home with speaks-lots-of-English, he confessed that he's an Otaku (which I was shocked to see him confess though it's probably only because he was speaking to a fellow Otaku as well as speaking in English so the rest of the train didn't know what we were talking about). Anywho, we talked about anime and Miyazaki (because who doesn't talk about Miyazaki with his great works whenever they share what anime they like with someone they're only recently bonding with?). So yeah. He got off at Kibougaoka (two stops from mine) and I got off at my little Seya. It was dark and I couldn't help smiling because 1) I was tipsy and 2) I'd had a wonderful night. I talked to Tanyisha on the way home to let her know I was safe.
I sent the cute guy a text to tell him to go to bed early and teased him about being a weak drinker. He texted back that he'd hurry on to bed and wrote the entire text in short form. B'awww. I sent him a text today to see if he was hung over, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.
In all actuality I spent a lot of time with Tan-chan. Her boyfriend came for Golden Week, which is a series of holidays at the beginning of May, and since my birthday is the second of May I ended up spending some time with both her and her boyfriend. lol. We went to see this AWESOME festival they have in Odawara where there's this really huge parade and everyone is wearing samurai armor or classic clothing. It was gorgeous. My batteries died in my camera shortly after we got there, so Tanyisha let me have free reign with her camera instead. I'll have to get the pictures off Facebook and put them in my album. That'll take a while, so I probably won't do it anytime soon. I bought a hair pin at the swap meet they had at Odawara Castle, which I haven't used since then. I've been wearing my hair in pigtails a lot lately, and I'll tell you why.
So at school, I wore pigtails one day and a little boy at lunch told me that they were flattering on me. I talked to my friend Shinbo later that day and we talked about braided pigtails and such and she wanted to see me with braided pigtails so I did them the next day. I got complimented again. So now, if the weather's warm and I had enough time to blow dry my hair, I do pigtails. :3
I also went to Akihabara and Harajuku with Tanyisha, her boyfriend, Arvin, and his friend Sherwin. Yeah, you heard me. Sherwin. Just like that paint company in America. XD That was a fun day trip. I took a bunch of pictures with my phone, so hopefully I'll get around to uploading those someday too. lol. We walked all the way to this really big temple in Harajuku that's really close to the train station. It was gorgeous, and because it was Golden Week it just so happened that events were going on at the temple. We got to listen to some women playing the koto and a few other classical instruments. It was very nice to listen to, but it was hot and we didn't have seats. We left early.
I've fallen in love with kabobs. They're delicious. There needs to be a kabob stand by my apartment, but there isn't. D: Had the kabob at the Odawara festival. Delicious~.
Anywho, big update time. Met this really cute volunteer at my favorite school. I've got a serious crush on him. It's hard not to. He's cute and really wants to learn English, so we're always talking when we get a chance. You should hear him try to say the "th" sound. Gawd. Like he could get any cuter. He's teaching on a probationary period at the school until next week Thursday and then he goes back to being a plain old volunteer on Fridays only. I think I'm making it pretty obvious I like him, and I think he might like me because 1) he remembered my home train station even though I didn't say it all that loud and 2) he remembered my Japanese name. He, like, remembers almost everything I talk to him about. And he has a fiercely cute smile. And I was sneaky and got his phone number because we both got invited to the Principal's birthday party and I didn't know where it was so I casually asked for someone's number to call in case I got lost since I have to come from another school. Ohohoho~
And here's the reason I dragged myself off to write this blog because I was so excited and happy: I went to my schools Undoukai! An Undoukai is a big Sports Festival where the school splits into teams (mine had three: red, blue and yellow) and compete in various sports activities. A lot of it was running, but there was also throwing balls into this dinky basket and then seeing who got the most. It was amazing to see how fast those kids could run for those relays though. My goodness. I rooted for the blue team since I was wearing jeans and my blue jacket. I actually brought other colors shirts in case I felt like rooting for the other teams, but I liked blue. We got second place. Red was first and Yellow was third.
It was great watching the kids and I got a free bento for lunch along with, I kid you not, the BEST miso soup I have EVER had. It was SO GOOD. I had seconds twice, that's how good it was.
It started drizzling shortly before the Undoukai was finished. It was freezing! I felt really bad for the kids because they were out there in shorts and a shirt, but I guess they were wearing more than one shirt. Smart kids. Or rather, smart parents for making sure the kids wore layers. I wish I'd done the same. Anyway, by the time the entire thing was over and we had started the cleaning up process, the rain had stopped. I think the rain was a replacement for the kids crying because I didn't see any of the kids crying for losing, which was great. Everyone at the school seems to have a real camaraderie. :3
After cleaning up I had a bunch of free time before almost all the teachers went out to dinner. I ended up making a couple phone calls which got interrupted by two of the special needs kids, Kaho and Tomomi, who ran up crying "Diana-sensei!". They were really curious as to who I was talking to on the phone. I don't think Kaho believed me when I said it was a girl. I think she thought it was my boyfriend. How could I tell her that I seriously needed to rant to someone in ENGLISH instead of stumbling over Japanese? XD I ended up playing with the girls at the Jungle Gym and had to save the cute guy from being dragged off by them. They went running out while he and some boys were playing Soccer and he kept saying it was dangerous for them. I had to pick one of them up and drag her away before the other one came with me.
We played Onigokko, which is the Japanese version of tag. Kaho kept changing the rules and saying that she was safe whenever it suited her. She had the fracking balls to call me stupid TO MY FACE to which I had to force myself to ignore and just play stupid with the "Oh, I don't understand Japanese" act. D: Time eventually ran out (I was SO grateful for that) and I ran back to the office to get my stuff and tag along for dinner and drinks.
So we get to the place for dinner and it's seriously only a three minute walk from the school. How convenient, right? Well, I had to use the restroom and I've been seriously avoiding using a Japanese style toilet my entire two months in Japan. That restaurant? Only had Japanese style toilets. Perhaps all Asians are inherently able to do the Asian squat. I don't know, but it was a lot easier than it seemed. Huzzah!
Now, when I entered the restaurant I forked over 3000 yen (a bit over $30) as my share for the bill. After I'd sat down, one of the fourth grade teachers (the one whose male students keep asking me if I find him attractive, who I did find sort of attractive when I first saw him, but his body is really boxy) came up and gave me back my money because I had volunteered for the day. I tried to tell him no, but he handed me the money and smiled and I felt like I could've cried because it was just SO NICE. I mean, I loved that the rest of the teachers were paying for me and that I didn't have to fork over the 3000 yen because 3000 yen isn't just some chump change, but I really felt grateful. I mean, I hadn't even done much at the festival except for cheer for the blue team and help clean up. Sure it was completely voluntary and I wasn't getting paid for it, but it was fun to experience something new! And it wasn't like I was going to actually DO anything if I didn't go, y'know?
Dinner was DELICIOUS. Have I said I love Japanese cooking? Because I seriously love Japanese cooking. My goodness. We had squid served with its internal organs (yeah, I wouldn't have eaten it either if I'd known that before I'd tasted it) that was served as a dip for the squid. It was super delicious. There was also Mackerel, which I was super happy to see because not only did I get to have the Mackerel bento, but I got Mackerel with my dinner! HEAVEN! (Mackerel is my favorite fish to eat, in case you're wondering.) There was also sashimi, which was delicious, roasted potatoes, this tempura'd thing that was delicious but I forgot what it was called. There was also potato salad, which really made me have an "I MISS HAWAII" moment.
We drank beer and the teachers encouraged me to try some of the more alcoholic drinks. I stayed away from Shochu because I wasn't sure how I'd handle it and I didn't want to make a complete ass of myself in front of everyone. Instead, I had a Lemon Sour and later a Green Apple Sour (which was given to me by the boxy fourth grade teacher). Delicious. Not too powerful in the flavor department, but the alcoholic taste was very well hidden.
I talked to the school nurse and one of the fifth grade teachers for most of the night. We talked about Johnny's and Idols and such. On the topic of men, I said I liked tall skinny guys with cute hair and who're always smiling. They were both like: There aren't any guys like that. lol. It was fun. It was really cute too because I'm a year younger than the fifth grade teacher and she's a year younger than the nurse! It's like: yay! We're so close in age! :D I also taught them about the Asian Glow stereotype. It was hard because I had to explain (in Japanese) that it's specifically for Asians because their skin is so pale that it's really obvious. I'm SO glad I brought my dictionary with me because I was then able to point out that it was just a stereotype.
Speaking of Asian Glow, the cute guy? Yeah, two small cups of beer in and he was RED. His ears get red too. HOW CUTE. I'm glad I didn't drink too much of else I might've lost my head and confessed that I had a thing for him, though it's so obvious already as it is. lol.
Aside from getting a free meal with free drinks, I was really happy to go because I talked a lot with one of the fourth grade teachers who I've always felt awkward around. We talked about a bunch of mostly random stuff and she was smiling! Before we closed up for the meal, boxy teacher comes around given people tea and he was trying to tell me that it was green tea and I felt like telling him: Y'know, I DO speak SOME Japanese!. I mean, c'mon. Who DOESN'T know about green tea?!
After a short so-long-and-thanks-for-the-fish speech from boxy teacher and one of the second grade teachers (the hosts for the night), the Vice Principal came and thanked me for volunteering with the sports festival. She's so adorable! Why do these people keep thanking me when I'M the one who was thanking them for inviting me in the first place?!
After dinner, half the teachers left while the cooler half went off to karaoke and I got to tag along. Now I'd felt really awkward around the cute guy the whole day because during lunch when we HAD time to talk to each other he was not really all there and I thought that perhaps it was something I'd done. That was part of the reason why I had to rant to someone who spoke English. haha. I was simply being paranoid because when we were walking to the karaoke place he came along side me and we were talking about how to say drunk and tipsy and stuff in Japanese and in English and he confessed that he'd only had two small cups of beer and I called him weak sauce. XD I learned how to say Yopparatta, which is "I'm drunk". Chotto Yopparatta is "I'm tipsy". Tipsy is actually IN my dictionary. I was totally psyched by that realization.
Karaoke was a blast. Everyone chose really peppy songs for the most part, so I stayed away from singing in English. The only songs I could think up in English that I could sing were Starlight by Muse or The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars. They actually had I'm So Sick by Flyleaf too, which one of the fifth grade teachers was really close to putting on the playlist for me to sing, but I told him no. I'm really glad I did, because instead we played a lot of really good Japanese songs that were fun to sing drunkenly to. One of them was Cruel Angels' Thesis. I don't know who picked it, but me and the second grade teacher who'd tagged along sang it. I got complimented every time I sang a song because it was all in Japanese. Sometimes I didn't know the lyrics, but they had the lyrics on the screen in Japanese with (thankfully) the reading for the kanji. It was still really hard.
I'm totally embarrassed by it, but I got up and sang Pop Star by Hirai Ken and I actually did the dancing for it too because everyone encouraged everyone else to do the dancing for songs that had dance sequences. I couldn't do all the dancing because I couldn't remember all of it and had to follow the music video on the screen. It was fun! I really hope boxy teacher didn't take video of me though because I saw him taking video of others with his camera during an earlier song. I sang along to Sorairo Days by Nakagawa Shouko with the fifth grade teacher that speaks a lot of English because he lived in England for, like, four years. THAT was great.
During all the singing I had two melon sodas and two draft beers. XD I drank quite a bit and I was sober enough not to say anything remarkably stupid, to which I am eternally grateful.
Ooo! The cute guy was really good at rapping, and I kept saying Suteki (cute/gorgeous) and once I said Subarashii (wonderful). The fifth grade teacher with the English skills kept repeating that I'd said Suteki and Subarashii to, like, report it to the other teachers. Yes, PLEASE draw attention to the fact that I'm complimenting only one person in the room of 10 people.
We sang Soranbushi, which is this song about Fishermen that they did in Kinpachi Sensei and that the school did at the Undoukai. It was fun to see half the teachers stand up and try doing the dance while the rest of us tried singing the song. It's surprisingly long. I'm really glad I didn't try dancing because it's a really tiring dance. XD
The station was really close and I was seriously tipsy because although I could walk in a straight line (not being able to is called Chidori, or 1000 Birds) I couldn't stand still very well. haha. Six of us made it to the station. I don't know why, but four of us ended up not going to the station. What's awesome is that all of us use the Sotetsu line, but everyone lives farther up the line while the speaks-lots-of-English teacher and I live in the opposite direction. I found out which station the cute guy lives off of because I was sly and asked everyone which station they got off at. Ufufufufu.
Here's a funny little tidbit. So when I was asking everyone for their station, the cute guy tells everyone that I live off of Seya and he called me by my Japanese name and he was telling the other teachers my Japanese name that they didn't know and I totally saw the girl teachers sharing a glance and I swear if my face weren't already red from all the booze it was red THEN. Yes, it was one of those knowing glances. YES, the cute guy that I've only known for the past three weeks knows more about me than the teachers I've been around for the last month and a half.
On the train home with speaks-lots-of-English, he confessed that he's an Otaku (which I was shocked to see him confess though it's probably only because he was speaking to a fellow Otaku as well as speaking in English so the rest of the train didn't know what we were talking about). Anywho, we talked about anime and Miyazaki (because who doesn't talk about Miyazaki with his great works whenever they share what anime they like with someone they're only recently bonding with?). So yeah. He got off at Kibougaoka (two stops from mine) and I got off at my little Seya. It was dark and I couldn't help smiling because 1) I was tipsy and 2) I'd had a wonderful night. I talked to Tanyisha on the way home to let her know I was safe.
I sent the cute guy a text to tell him to go to bed early and teased him about being a weak drinker. He texted back that he'd hurry on to bed and wrote the entire text in short form. B'awww. I sent him a text today to see if he was hung over, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Doctor Touches My Leg
This past week was awesome! I went to all three of my schools and I must say that I have a bit of a soft spot for Tsurugamine because when the Vice Principal heard that I liked Ramen and I mentioned how there were a lot of Ramen shops around my house but that I hadn't tried them all, she asked if we could go get Ramen together! W00t~
I must say that I'm growing really fond of the second graders because 1) they're ridiculously adorable and 2) almost all of them (boys AND girls) like Pokemon and therefore love me because I drew Chikorita (my favorite pokemon) on the board. lol.
One of the teachers at Tsurugamine looks exactly like my friend Andrew, which is hilarious because Andrew is Chinese and this teacher is obviously Japanese. Just goes to show that all Asians look alike, right? XD
Sadly, Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat. The weather went from really warm to suddenly really cold, and the fact that it was raining probably didn't help. Well, I went to school and got through my classes, though it proved difficult because singing the Hello Song with all the kids and then singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes really made my throat turn to sand paper. Nagashima-Sensei asked the Vice Principal if I could leave early because I was sick, so they let me leave an hour early. I dropped by the Shiseido drug store on my way home and got Stona (I love that name) cold medicine. I had already promised to go to Tanyisha's house for the weekend, and I didn't think my cold would get much worse.
Well, it got worse. I had a slight fever by the time I got to Tanyisha's place. It really doesn't help that it was still raining, the temperature had dropped drastically, and that I had to transfer to a lot more trains that normal because I didn't take another train. Tanyisha and I had pizza that night while talking to her boyfriend via Skype. I have deemed her my surrogate mother for when my mommy's not around because she took really good care of me and ended up babying me. She made me a hot tea that consisted of whiskey, lemon juice, honey, and tea. I drank a lot of it and probably got a little tipsy because drinking it not only helped clear my sinuses, but also made my throat hurt less.
I woke up the next morning at about 8. We had gone to bed past midnight, but I just didn't seem able to continue sleeping. The original idea was that we were going to call up Arvin to swing by Akihabara because I'd never been there. After looking up the weather, and seeing that it was raining in Akihabara and that my condition had worsened, we decided to try Harajuku instead. But first, breakfast.
We had breakfast at Denny's, which was really interesting because they offered not only American breakfast, but also Japanese breakfast. I can't begin to tell you how weird it is to walk into Denny's, look at the menu, and see miso soup, rice, and other stuff offered for breakfast. Anyway, we ordered the 2 eggs, bacon, one pathetic piece of sausage and salad set along with a side order of mini pancakes because they don't make full-sized pancakes. I had come to Denny's with the intention of ordering pancakes, so it was really disappointing not to be able to have full ones. We split an order of french toast as well to satiate our cravings for an American breakfast.
After swinging by a drug store to pick up some Vitamin C lemon drink, face masks, and some various other things Tanyisha needed, we made our way back to her place. I took a nap that only lasted about an hour. Tanyisha played Oblivion IV while I checked emails on my laptop. Soon, I started getting chills. Tanyisha had me check my temperature, which led me to look up how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit.
I had a fever of 38 Celsius, which translates to 100.4 Fahrenheit. We called Hikki-san, who was a representative from Interac who helped Tanyisha get settled in Odawara, to ask him if I should go to the hospital. He said I should, so we called Arvin who speaks more Japanese than I do. He said he could come along as a translator, but he'd need an hour before he could make it. I volunteered to take a nap to buy him enough time before we went off to the hospital.
An hour later, I had a fever of 38.7 Celsius, which is 101.6 Fahrenheit. We went to the hospital, where I was told to wait and fill out some paperwork. Arvin arrived shortly after I finished filling out my paperwork. After that, the nurses secluded me off in an area that was closed and being cleaned. Arvin, Tanyisha and I waited there for about five minutes before a nurse stuck a q-tip up my nose (it was really weird and slightly painful) to get a sample and test for Influenza. I knew when I came in that I didn't have the flu, but they had to make sure. Half an hour later, she confirmed that I didn't have Influenza and took me and my friends off to go see a doctor. He was busy, so we had to wait out in the hall.
And now to explain the title of this entry. I bet you're all wondering about that perverted doctor that touched my leg. Where on my leg, you ask? It's actually quite innocent, but still kind of odd.
So I finally get to see the doctor and he checks with me again about my symptoms and does like all doctors do and checked where my jaw meets my neck to see if my lymph nodes were swollen and then checked my throat and made me say ahhh. It was quite hilarious because I hadn't brushed my teeth, so I felt really bad saying ahh in his face and worried about having really stinky breath. It didn't help that he was a cute doctor. Then it came time for him to listen to my breathing with a stethoscope. Here's the interesting bit. So I'm wearing my camisole and Lennox Brigade shirt (because that's what I fell asleep in) as well as two sweaters. No bra. It's quite embarrassing, and I said as much, as he reached up my shirt to listen to me take deep breaths. I don't know about you, but all the doctors I've had have only ever needed me to take two deep breaths for the chest and two more for the back. I was sitting there taking at least six deep breaths while the cute doctor has his hand up my shirt!
So after not finding anything wrong with me, he has me get a chest x-ray. He asks if I'm pregnant, because it's bad for the baby to get a chest x-ray, and I very adamantly say that I'm NOT. I was sitting there thinking: Come on! I'm only 22! Anyway, I go, get the chest x-ray, and then come back and sit out in the hall with Arvin and Tanyisha cracking jokes about how the doctor is totally going to ask me to come back into his office to ask me out on a date because he had his hand on my leg while he was listening to my breathing with a stethoscope. I swear, I cracked some really good jokes last night while we were sitting out there in the hall. It really didn't help that when I laughed really hard I also started coughing. @_@
Anyway, so he eventually calls me back into the office and there's this big monitor with my chest x-ray on it (and I must say that my lungs are magnificently clean) and he once again checks my lymph nodes and has me say ahh and puts his hand up my shirt AGAIN to listen to my breathing before asking me to give a blood sample and a urine sample to check if there's really anything wrong with me.
2 1/2 test tubes of blood and one flush later, I'm sitting out in the hall again waiting for test results while my friends and I crack more jokes. We're called into the office again and he tells me that the blood and urine tests show nothing, so essentially there's nothing wrong with me other than that I have a cold and a high fever than I really should. But there's nothing wrong with me. So he prescribes me some medicine and has me sit out in the hall again while he gets some paperwork put together for me to bring to a hospital or clinic near me should my condition worsen.
Finally, we get the paperwork and go to the window to pay. Now, because it's a Saturday and the office isn't open on the weekends, the man at the window says that he's not sure if I owe more money than I'm being charged (5000 yen, or a little over $50) because we need to check with the national health insurance to see if they're going to cover everything or not. I might get my 5000 yen back, or I might receive an extra charge. I really couldn't care at the moment because my friends and I had been sitting in that hospital for three hours just to have the doctor tell me that there's nothing out of the ordinary wrong with me.
So we leave and manage to finally get some food at a place called Sukiya that has cheese burger curry that was positively delicious and I ended up bringing leftovers home. After that, we went browsing at the Odakyu OX shop before leaving Arvin at the train station so he could catch the train home while Tanyisha and I took the bus home. I'm glad we took the bus because I totally fell asleep in the minutes we were on it. Once we got home, it was tea, a little bit of ice cream, and another temperature check (I was 36.6 Celsius/97.8 Fahrenheit) before off to bed.
Now, I bet you're wondering about that medicine the doctor prescribed me. Well, to tell you the truth I didn't realize that the doctor had prescribed me anything and the guy at the window didn't tell me that the 5000 yen I had paid had actually been for some medicine that I hadn't received. While relaxing at home with some hot tea, I got a phone call from the hospital telling me that I hadn't picked up my medicine, to which I explained that the man at the window hadn't even told me that I had medicine to pick up. The nurse said I could pick it up the next day.
Now it's Sunday. I woke up at 9 am, took a gloriously hot shower and totally blew my nose so much that it's raw, but at least i'm getting rid of all the phlegm. I dropped by the hospital to pick up my medicine from the cute pharmacist (why does Odawara have all the cute guys?!) and came back to Tanyisha's to write this blog entry. It's a beautiful day outside. I have the window open and can hear the river alongside Tanyisha's house flowing happily by.
You know, it's really ironic. Tanyisha has a fiancee and yet she lives in an area with a lot of really attractive Japanese men. While I am totally single and live in an area without a lot of attractive Japanese men. It's just not fair. Though Tanyisha says that it's partially a way for her to bribe me to come visit her more often. haha. She said that I can't come over every time I get sick to come see the cute doctors, which is a shame. Oh well~
But the plan for the rest of the day is to relax, possibly take a nap, and drink more tea before heading back to my house. Hopefully by the time I get back home, it'll be a decent time in America and I can talk to mom and dad via Skype and wish mommy a Happy Birthday. :3
I must say that I'm growing really fond of the second graders because 1) they're ridiculously adorable and 2) almost all of them (boys AND girls) like Pokemon and therefore love me because I drew Chikorita (my favorite pokemon) on the board. lol.
One of the teachers at Tsurugamine looks exactly like my friend Andrew, which is hilarious because Andrew is Chinese and this teacher is obviously Japanese. Just goes to show that all Asians look alike, right? XD
Sadly, Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat. The weather went from really warm to suddenly really cold, and the fact that it was raining probably didn't help. Well, I went to school and got through my classes, though it proved difficult because singing the Hello Song with all the kids and then singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes really made my throat turn to sand paper. Nagashima-Sensei asked the Vice Principal if I could leave early because I was sick, so they let me leave an hour early. I dropped by the Shiseido drug store on my way home and got Stona (I love that name) cold medicine. I had already promised to go to Tanyisha's house for the weekend, and I didn't think my cold would get much worse.
Well, it got worse. I had a slight fever by the time I got to Tanyisha's place. It really doesn't help that it was still raining, the temperature had dropped drastically, and that I had to transfer to a lot more trains that normal because I didn't take another train. Tanyisha and I had pizza that night while talking to her boyfriend via Skype. I have deemed her my surrogate mother for when my mommy's not around because she took really good care of me and ended up babying me. She made me a hot tea that consisted of whiskey, lemon juice, honey, and tea. I drank a lot of it and probably got a little tipsy because drinking it not only helped clear my sinuses, but also made my throat hurt less.
I woke up the next morning at about 8. We had gone to bed past midnight, but I just didn't seem able to continue sleeping. The original idea was that we were going to call up Arvin to swing by Akihabara because I'd never been there. After looking up the weather, and seeing that it was raining in Akihabara and that my condition had worsened, we decided to try Harajuku instead. But first, breakfast.
We had breakfast at Denny's, which was really interesting because they offered not only American breakfast, but also Japanese breakfast. I can't begin to tell you how weird it is to walk into Denny's, look at the menu, and see miso soup, rice, and other stuff offered for breakfast. Anyway, we ordered the 2 eggs, bacon, one pathetic piece of sausage and salad set along with a side order of mini pancakes because they don't make full-sized pancakes. I had come to Denny's with the intention of ordering pancakes, so it was really disappointing not to be able to have full ones. We split an order of french toast as well to satiate our cravings for an American breakfast.
After swinging by a drug store to pick up some Vitamin C lemon drink, face masks, and some various other things Tanyisha needed, we made our way back to her place. I took a nap that only lasted about an hour. Tanyisha played Oblivion IV while I checked emails on my laptop. Soon, I started getting chills. Tanyisha had me check my temperature, which led me to look up how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit.
I had a fever of 38 Celsius, which translates to 100.4 Fahrenheit. We called Hikki-san, who was a representative from Interac who helped Tanyisha get settled in Odawara, to ask him if I should go to the hospital. He said I should, so we called Arvin who speaks more Japanese than I do. He said he could come along as a translator, but he'd need an hour before he could make it. I volunteered to take a nap to buy him enough time before we went off to the hospital.
An hour later, I had a fever of 38.7 Celsius, which is 101.6 Fahrenheit. We went to the hospital, where I was told to wait and fill out some paperwork. Arvin arrived shortly after I finished filling out my paperwork. After that, the nurses secluded me off in an area that was closed and being cleaned. Arvin, Tanyisha and I waited there for about five minutes before a nurse stuck a q-tip up my nose (it was really weird and slightly painful) to get a sample and test for Influenza. I knew when I came in that I didn't have the flu, but they had to make sure. Half an hour later, she confirmed that I didn't have Influenza and took me and my friends off to go see a doctor. He was busy, so we had to wait out in the hall.
And now to explain the title of this entry. I bet you're all wondering about that perverted doctor that touched my leg. Where on my leg, you ask? It's actually quite innocent, but still kind of odd.
So I finally get to see the doctor and he checks with me again about my symptoms and does like all doctors do and checked where my jaw meets my neck to see if my lymph nodes were swollen and then checked my throat and made me say ahhh. It was quite hilarious because I hadn't brushed my teeth, so I felt really bad saying ahh in his face and worried about having really stinky breath. It didn't help that he was a cute doctor. Then it came time for him to listen to my breathing with a stethoscope. Here's the interesting bit. So I'm wearing my camisole and Lennox Brigade shirt (because that's what I fell asleep in) as well as two sweaters. No bra. It's quite embarrassing, and I said as much, as he reached up my shirt to listen to me take deep breaths. I don't know about you, but all the doctors I've had have only ever needed me to take two deep breaths for the chest and two more for the back. I was sitting there taking at least six deep breaths while the cute doctor has his hand up my shirt!
So after not finding anything wrong with me, he has me get a chest x-ray. He asks if I'm pregnant, because it's bad for the baby to get a chest x-ray, and I very adamantly say that I'm NOT. I was sitting there thinking: Come on! I'm only 22! Anyway, I go, get the chest x-ray, and then come back and sit out in the hall with Arvin and Tanyisha cracking jokes about how the doctor is totally going to ask me to come back into his office to ask me out on a date because he had his hand on my leg while he was listening to my breathing with a stethoscope. I swear, I cracked some really good jokes last night while we were sitting out there in the hall. It really didn't help that when I laughed really hard I also started coughing. @_@
Anyway, so he eventually calls me back into the office and there's this big monitor with my chest x-ray on it (and I must say that my lungs are magnificently clean) and he once again checks my lymph nodes and has me say ahh and puts his hand up my shirt AGAIN to listen to my breathing before asking me to give a blood sample and a urine sample to check if there's really anything wrong with me.
2 1/2 test tubes of blood and one flush later, I'm sitting out in the hall again waiting for test results while my friends and I crack more jokes. We're called into the office again and he tells me that the blood and urine tests show nothing, so essentially there's nothing wrong with me other than that I have a cold and a high fever than I really should. But there's nothing wrong with me. So he prescribes me some medicine and has me sit out in the hall again while he gets some paperwork put together for me to bring to a hospital or clinic near me should my condition worsen.
Finally, we get the paperwork and go to the window to pay. Now, because it's a Saturday and the office isn't open on the weekends, the man at the window says that he's not sure if I owe more money than I'm being charged (5000 yen, or a little over $50) because we need to check with the national health insurance to see if they're going to cover everything or not. I might get my 5000 yen back, or I might receive an extra charge. I really couldn't care at the moment because my friends and I had been sitting in that hospital for three hours just to have the doctor tell me that there's nothing out of the ordinary wrong with me.
So we leave and manage to finally get some food at a place called Sukiya that has cheese burger curry that was positively delicious and I ended up bringing leftovers home. After that, we went browsing at the Odakyu OX shop before leaving Arvin at the train station so he could catch the train home while Tanyisha and I took the bus home. I'm glad we took the bus because I totally fell asleep in the minutes we were on it. Once we got home, it was tea, a little bit of ice cream, and another temperature check (I was 36.6 Celsius/97.8 Fahrenheit) before off to bed.
Now, I bet you're wondering about that medicine the doctor prescribed me. Well, to tell you the truth I didn't realize that the doctor had prescribed me anything and the guy at the window didn't tell me that the 5000 yen I had paid had actually been for some medicine that I hadn't received. While relaxing at home with some hot tea, I got a phone call from the hospital telling me that I hadn't picked up my medicine, to which I explained that the man at the window hadn't even told me that I had medicine to pick up. The nurse said I could pick it up the next day.
Now it's Sunday. I woke up at 9 am, took a gloriously hot shower and totally blew my nose so much that it's raw, but at least i'm getting rid of all the phlegm. I dropped by the hospital to pick up my medicine from the cute pharmacist (why does Odawara have all the cute guys?!) and came back to Tanyisha's to write this blog entry. It's a beautiful day outside. I have the window open and can hear the river alongside Tanyisha's house flowing happily by.
You know, it's really ironic. Tanyisha has a fiancee and yet she lives in an area with a lot of really attractive Japanese men. While I am totally single and live in an area without a lot of attractive Japanese men. It's just not fair. Though Tanyisha says that it's partially a way for her to bribe me to come visit her more often. haha. She said that I can't come over every time I get sick to come see the cute doctors, which is a shame. Oh well~
But the plan for the rest of the day is to relax, possibly take a nap, and drink more tea before heading back to my house. Hopefully by the time I get back home, it'll be a decent time in America and I can talk to mom and dad via Skype and wish mommy a Happy Birthday. :3
Odawara Castle Part Deux
Whew, I really should've written this last weekend when it was still fresh. Well, here's a (hopefully) brief summary of what happened.
So last weekend I went back to Odawara to visit Tanyisha and do Hanami, or flower viewing, at Odawara Castle. Since it wasn't raining, it was the best time to go. We met up with Arvin, one of our fellow teachers (he works for the Odawara BOE just like Tanyisha) and went to Odawara Castle. Along the way though we happened to bump into Williams, who is the third and final other teacher for the Odawara BOE. It was actually really funny because he's this tall skinny black guy from Uganda and he stuck out like a sore thumb among all the Japanese people walking around the city. It was hilarious.
So all four of us walked around the castle. Tanyisha and I took a bunch of pictures and we had soft-served ice cream. Arvin and I got Sakura flavored while Tanyisha got Matcha (green tea) and Vanilla swirl. Both were really tasty. :3
After the castle we decided to go to the beach. Along the way we saw a street that was framed on both sides with Sakura trees. It was so beautiful that not only me and Tanyisha, but other Japanese people were taking pictures of it. We ended up standing in the middle of the road to get a good shot. After that, we got a little unsure as to where the beach was, so we asked some women for directions. After getting some directions, they gave us these books (completely in Japanese, by the way) that tell the true history of Japan, because for years the Japanese have been neglecting to include certain important events in their history. Events like, oh, I don't know... Pearl Harbor.
Yeah...
Anyway, we each got a copy of the book. I haven't had the chance to try reading it yet, but hopefully I'll work up the courage to practice my translation skills on it.
So! The beach. We found a big tiled version of The Big Wave (that famous Ukiyo-e painting by Hokusai) on a jutting piece of cement that went out into the ocean. There, we took video of waves crashing on rocks as well as picked sea shells and pretty stones. Arvin was really good at finding the pretty rocks. The beach in Odawara consists mostly of rocks, with a little bit of a grayish-brown sand, which was really interesting to walk around on. I was constantly worried about falling down or losing my footing. Sure was fun though. Especially after I found a denture on the beach. WEIRD.
After spending at least an hour of sea shell and pretty rock hunting, we left the beach and went back toward the Odawara train station where we ate tempura at this one tempura restaurant we'd found the other day. It was delicious!
Last, but not least, we dropped by Don Quixote, which is the store to go to for American products. If you want some Downy, you go here. It's a huge store, and unlike the one in Hawaii I don't believe this one sold food.
We went home with bags that were heavy with pretty beach rocks and sea shells. I also bought this really pretty umbrella that when it gets wet goes from being an ordinary pink umbrella to having sakura designs all along it. It's awesome, because when you look up at it, it looks like it's raining sakura instead of actually raining. Tanyisha has a purple one from when she went to Kawagoe. I really like my pink one though. :D
So last weekend I went back to Odawara to visit Tanyisha and do Hanami, or flower viewing, at Odawara Castle. Since it wasn't raining, it was the best time to go. We met up with Arvin, one of our fellow teachers (he works for the Odawara BOE just like Tanyisha) and went to Odawara Castle. Along the way though we happened to bump into Williams, who is the third and final other teacher for the Odawara BOE. It was actually really funny because he's this tall skinny black guy from Uganda and he stuck out like a sore thumb among all the Japanese people walking around the city. It was hilarious.
So all four of us walked around the castle. Tanyisha and I took a bunch of pictures and we had soft-served ice cream. Arvin and I got Sakura flavored while Tanyisha got Matcha (green tea) and Vanilla swirl. Both were really tasty. :3
After the castle we decided to go to the beach. Along the way we saw a street that was framed on both sides with Sakura trees. It was so beautiful that not only me and Tanyisha, but other Japanese people were taking pictures of it. We ended up standing in the middle of the road to get a good shot. After that, we got a little unsure as to where the beach was, so we asked some women for directions. After getting some directions, they gave us these books (completely in Japanese, by the way) that tell the true history of Japan, because for years the Japanese have been neglecting to include certain important events in their history. Events like, oh, I don't know... Pearl Harbor.
Yeah...
Anyway, we each got a copy of the book. I haven't had the chance to try reading it yet, but hopefully I'll work up the courage to practice my translation skills on it.
So! The beach. We found a big tiled version of The Big Wave (that famous Ukiyo-e painting by Hokusai) on a jutting piece of cement that went out into the ocean. There, we took video of waves crashing on rocks as well as picked sea shells and pretty stones. Arvin was really good at finding the pretty rocks. The beach in Odawara consists mostly of rocks, with a little bit of a grayish-brown sand, which was really interesting to walk around on. I was constantly worried about falling down or losing my footing. Sure was fun though. Especially after I found a denture on the beach. WEIRD.
After spending at least an hour of sea shell and pretty rock hunting, we left the beach and went back toward the Odawara train station where we ate tempura at this one tempura restaurant we'd found the other day. It was delicious!
Last, but not least, we dropped by Don Quixote, which is the store to go to for American products. If you want some Downy, you go here. It's a huge store, and unlike the one in Hawaii I don't believe this one sold food.
We went home with bags that were heavy with pretty beach rocks and sea shells. I also bought this really pretty umbrella that when it gets wet goes from being an ordinary pink umbrella to having sakura designs all along it. It's awesome, because when you look up at it, it looks like it's raining sakura instead of actually raining. Tanyisha has a purple one from when she went to Kawagoe. I really like my pink one though. :D
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Iron Penis Festival and Odawara Castle
It's Adventure Time!!!
So I bet you're all wondering what I mean by the Iron Penis Festival. Well, once a year on the first Sunday of April in Kawasaki there's this fertility festival at the Kanamara Shrine. There you eat penis shaped foods (like banana-chocolate flavored crepes) as well as buy depictions of different sexual positions on small towels or charms. I heard about this festival at the end of my senior year in Santa Barbara and when I heard that it was on Sunday, I HAD to go. It was an imperative. I mean, who doesn't want to celebrate fertility and eat corn dogs and, omg, penis or vulva shaped lollipops?
It was incredibly embarrassing looking at all the giant wooden cocks.
I went with my new friend Tanyisha. Getting there was an adventure in itself. We were going to meet up with some of our fellow teachers, but we ended up walking from the Kawasaki train station to the Kawasaki-Daishi station where the actual festival is held. It took about half an hour, but we bumped into some fellow tourists (one was from Brazil and the rest were from various South-East Asian countries) and eventually found our way there. Sadly, Tan-chan and I got there after the lollipop man had sold out of all his hand-made penis and vulva lollipops. I really wanted one, though it would've been ridiculously embarrassing to actually eat one. We did succeed in getting a banana-chocolate crepe each, as well as take some (need I say) incredible pictures with giant renditions of phalluses. After wandering around the festival and spying a priest and priestess (I loved their outfits!), we went to the closer train station and got corn dogs (because they're phallus-shaped, and caught the train back to Odawara, where Tan-chan lives.
Odawara is actually quite the touristy area because it has a gorgeous castle that is simply littered with Sakura trees. I must say that Odawara, or at least the part she lives in, is not very well lit and seriously looked like a ghost town when we got off the train at night. I really wouldn't want to make that walk at night by myself. We dropped by Denny's for dinner and had the Japanese version of Denny's, which was really really good. Sadly, I had the tomato lasagna and found an inch by inch piece of plastic in it. The waitress apologized profusely. Tan-chan and I joked that they were trying to kill us after she had a coughing fit while eating her matcha green tea sundae. I got caramel. Since we were obviously the only ones who spoke English in the whole restaurant, we joked back and forth that the restaurant was going to sick "The Denny" on us, who would stalk us back to her place and kill us with a glowing red sword with a D for a handle like the little skewers that kept her sandwiches together. He'd also sing corny pop songs while he hacked us to pieces. We have a wonderful sense of humor. :3
After Denny's we got a six pack of beer and split it between the two of us while watching a movie at her place before sleeping. I slept in her loft, which is much smaller than mine. It was actually really nice and comfortable! I'm really tempted to drag my futon up to my own loft and sleep there instead, but my table and my laptop are down here, so that's obviously out of the question. Haha!
The next day it was raining. We went to Odawara Castle anyway and walked around looking at all the sakura trees. I can't begin to express how gorgeous they were. Walking beneath them and watching the petals fall with the slightest breeze was heart stopping. I'm thinking of going back to her place on Friday or Saturday to go back to the castle and see it when it's not raining. It was so beautiful. I used up my battery life just taking pictures there.
After admiring nature's beauty at its best, we found this cute little Italian restaurant called Piazza and had lunch there. It was delicious! And cheap. Tan-chan had the pasta lunch special and I had the fish lunch special. We're definitely going back there when we get a chance. I would love to eat there everyday. The owner and his assistant were really nice too. :D
After lunch we wandered around Odawara near its train station, which is a stop down from Tan-chan's station. I found out that my Japanese shoe size is 25, which is the largest size they make for women. Shoes only fit, it seems, if they're sneakers. lol. Not that I need more shoes, but my flats were totally drenched halfway through walking around the castle, which was why we looked. We totally walked into a kimono store called Sagami because I really wanted to look at the kimono. They had really cheap kimono there, and they looked really nice. I bought one because 1) it was cheap and 2) it came with an obi of your choice. My very first kimono! It's not made of silk, but it's still really nice. I figured out that most of the pinks they use for kimono doesn't look good on me because my cheeks flush too much and I blend in with the kimono. My kimono is black with wide pale yellow vertical stripes with flowers on it. I got it over another because it has flowers from all four seasons depicted on it, so it can be worn any time of the year. I don't have a hadagi, or under kimono, yet because Tan-chan said I could buy it elsewhere for cheaper. When I go back to her place this weekend, she's going to lend me her hadagi and her obi ties so I can wear my kimono to the castle again. :D
The woman who helped me try on my kimono, Keiko, liked me and Tanyisha so much that she asked for our addresses so she could mail us a letter! Tanyisha asked her to have tea with us, which is supposed to be a really big compliment in Japan. Hanging out with her is really teaching me a lot because she's been here for almost 3 whole years!
That night we cleaned up her place a bit (since she just moved in) and we watched Lilo and Stitch, which you should totally watch if you haven't already. It's a fun movie, not to mention they got real local kine actors to do the voices. It made me a little homesick.
The next day, today actually, I caught the train home. I was so overcome with emotion watching the sakura while flying by on the train that I almost cried. They are so beautiful. I could sit outside and watch them all day. I can see why hanami, or flower viewing, is so popular here. I'm really looking forward to the weekend so I can go see them again at the castle. :3
I came home to find a letter from grandma! I was so surprised and happy all at once. Reading her letter really made me homesick and I'm totally not ashamed to admit that I cried. I really miss my family and I really need to find out how much it costs to mail letters to America. haha. I'm going to try doing that tomorrow morning before I go to meet my Board of Education. I'm kind of nervous, but since over 100 other people are going I'm feeling a bit more confident. I finished writing my speech, which includes my name, age, where I was born, hobbies, and even the fact that I like Pokemon. I timed it and it won't even last a minute, even with slip ups. I hope they like me!
So I bet you're all wondering what I mean by the Iron Penis Festival. Well, once a year on the first Sunday of April in Kawasaki there's this fertility festival at the Kanamara Shrine. There you eat penis shaped foods (like banana-chocolate flavored crepes) as well as buy depictions of different sexual positions on small towels or charms. I heard about this festival at the end of my senior year in Santa Barbara and when I heard that it was on Sunday, I HAD to go. It was an imperative. I mean, who doesn't want to celebrate fertility and eat corn dogs and, omg, penis or vulva shaped lollipops?
It was incredibly embarrassing looking at all the giant wooden cocks.
I went with my new friend Tanyisha. Getting there was an adventure in itself. We were going to meet up with some of our fellow teachers, but we ended up walking from the Kawasaki train station to the Kawasaki-Daishi station where the actual festival is held. It took about half an hour, but we bumped into some fellow tourists (one was from Brazil and the rest were from various South-East Asian countries) and eventually found our way there. Sadly, Tan-chan and I got there after the lollipop man had sold out of all his hand-made penis and vulva lollipops. I really wanted one, though it would've been ridiculously embarrassing to actually eat one. We did succeed in getting a banana-chocolate crepe each, as well as take some (need I say) incredible pictures with giant renditions of phalluses. After wandering around the festival and spying a priest and priestess (I loved their outfits!), we went to the closer train station and got corn dogs (because they're phallus-shaped, and caught the train back to Odawara, where Tan-chan lives.
Odawara is actually quite the touristy area because it has a gorgeous castle that is simply littered with Sakura trees. I must say that Odawara, or at least the part she lives in, is not very well lit and seriously looked like a ghost town when we got off the train at night. I really wouldn't want to make that walk at night by myself. We dropped by Denny's for dinner and had the Japanese version of Denny's, which was really really good. Sadly, I had the tomato lasagna and found an inch by inch piece of plastic in it. The waitress apologized profusely. Tan-chan and I joked that they were trying to kill us after she had a coughing fit while eating her matcha green tea sundae. I got caramel. Since we were obviously the only ones who spoke English in the whole restaurant, we joked back and forth that the restaurant was going to sick "The Denny" on us, who would stalk us back to her place and kill us with a glowing red sword with a D for a handle like the little skewers that kept her sandwiches together. He'd also sing corny pop songs while he hacked us to pieces. We have a wonderful sense of humor. :3
After Denny's we got a six pack of beer and split it between the two of us while watching a movie at her place before sleeping. I slept in her loft, which is much smaller than mine. It was actually really nice and comfortable! I'm really tempted to drag my futon up to my own loft and sleep there instead, but my table and my laptop are down here, so that's obviously out of the question. Haha!
The next day it was raining. We went to Odawara Castle anyway and walked around looking at all the sakura trees. I can't begin to express how gorgeous they were. Walking beneath them and watching the petals fall with the slightest breeze was heart stopping. I'm thinking of going back to her place on Friday or Saturday to go back to the castle and see it when it's not raining. It was so beautiful. I used up my battery life just taking pictures there.
After admiring nature's beauty at its best, we found this cute little Italian restaurant called Piazza and had lunch there. It was delicious! And cheap. Tan-chan had the pasta lunch special and I had the fish lunch special. We're definitely going back there when we get a chance. I would love to eat there everyday. The owner and his assistant were really nice too. :D
After lunch we wandered around Odawara near its train station, which is a stop down from Tan-chan's station. I found out that my Japanese shoe size is 25, which is the largest size they make for women. Shoes only fit, it seems, if they're sneakers. lol. Not that I need more shoes, but my flats were totally drenched halfway through walking around the castle, which was why we looked. We totally walked into a kimono store called Sagami because I really wanted to look at the kimono. They had really cheap kimono there, and they looked really nice. I bought one because 1) it was cheap and 2) it came with an obi of your choice. My very first kimono! It's not made of silk, but it's still really nice. I figured out that most of the pinks they use for kimono doesn't look good on me because my cheeks flush too much and I blend in with the kimono. My kimono is black with wide pale yellow vertical stripes with flowers on it. I got it over another because it has flowers from all four seasons depicted on it, so it can be worn any time of the year. I don't have a hadagi, or under kimono, yet because Tan-chan said I could buy it elsewhere for cheaper. When I go back to her place this weekend, she's going to lend me her hadagi and her obi ties so I can wear my kimono to the castle again. :D
The woman who helped me try on my kimono, Keiko, liked me and Tanyisha so much that she asked for our addresses so she could mail us a letter! Tanyisha asked her to have tea with us, which is supposed to be a really big compliment in Japan. Hanging out with her is really teaching me a lot because she's been here for almost 3 whole years!
That night we cleaned up her place a bit (since she just moved in) and we watched Lilo and Stitch, which you should totally watch if you haven't already. It's a fun movie, not to mention they got real local kine actors to do the voices. It made me a little homesick.
The next day, today actually, I caught the train home. I was so overcome with emotion watching the sakura while flying by on the train that I almost cried. They are so beautiful. I could sit outside and watch them all day. I can see why hanami, or flower viewing, is so popular here. I'm really looking forward to the weekend so I can go see them again at the castle. :3
I came home to find a letter from grandma! I was so surprised and happy all at once. Reading her letter really made me homesick and I'm totally not ashamed to admit that I cried. I really miss my family and I really need to find out how much it costs to mail letters to America. haha. I'm going to try doing that tomorrow morning before I go to meet my Board of Education. I'm kind of nervous, but since over 100 other people are going I'm feeling a bit more confident. I finished writing my speech, which includes my name, age, where I was born, hobbies, and even the fact that I like Pokemon. I timed it and it won't even last a minute, even with slip ups. I hope they like me!
Friday, April 2, 2010
A Week Full of Training
Just a quick update before I totally crash:
I just finished my entire week of training! Yay! 29.5 hours of sitting in a classroom with my peers doing activities to learn the do's and don't's of being a teacher with the company. Made some nice friends as well, one of whom I'll be helping unpack tomorrow when she moves into her new apartment. :D
Training was fun, though the last two days were exhausting. It really doesn't help that we had to not only demonstrate different parts of a lesson, but there was a point where we were going through each group one right after another until we were all done. My brain felt like mush today.
We also had our physical. Apparently I'm really healthy, because the doctor took a look at my stats (my blood pressure was 127) and immediately said "Ooh! This is good!" (But in Japanese, of course). It made me feel a lot better about my ability to take care of myself. Now it's just a matter of time before they finish up their report to tell me that I'm overweight (I already know this and I'm working on getting to 25 bmi). But anyway.
Oh! I made my own flashcards of fruit last night for a demo lesson I did today with a partner. I'm really proud of the flashcards because I did happy-faced fruit and they turned out ridiculously adorable. I got a lot of compliments on them too. :3
I was going to go out drinking with a bunch of my fellow teachers tonight, but after having to starve ourselves before the physical, and after finally being able to eat, I really wasn't in the mood for staying out late drinking. At least all of us can keep in touch, so hopefully everyone will be able to meet up to go drinking again in the near future. Some of my friends couldn't go because they couldn't afford to go. I'm really looking forward to a chance to go drinking with everyone. It sounds like a lot of fun.
I just finished my entire week of training! Yay! 29.5 hours of sitting in a classroom with my peers doing activities to learn the do's and don't's of being a teacher with the company. Made some nice friends as well, one of whom I'll be helping unpack tomorrow when she moves into her new apartment. :D
Training was fun, though the last two days were exhausting. It really doesn't help that we had to not only demonstrate different parts of a lesson, but there was a point where we were going through each group one right after another until we were all done. My brain felt like mush today.
We also had our physical. Apparently I'm really healthy, because the doctor took a look at my stats (my blood pressure was 127) and immediately said "Ooh! This is good!" (But in Japanese, of course). It made me feel a lot better about my ability to take care of myself. Now it's just a matter of time before they finish up their report to tell me that I'm overweight (I already know this and I'm working on getting to 25 bmi). But anyway.
Oh! I made my own flashcards of fruit last night for a demo lesson I did today with a partner. I'm really proud of the flashcards because I did happy-faced fruit and they turned out ridiculously adorable. I got a lot of compliments on them too. :3
I was going to go out drinking with a bunch of my fellow teachers tonight, but after having to starve ourselves before the physical, and after finally being able to eat, I really wasn't in the mood for staying out late drinking. At least all of us can keep in touch, so hopefully everyone will be able to meet up to go drinking again in the near future. Some of my friends couldn't go because they couldn't afford to go. I'm really looking forward to a chance to go drinking with everyone. It sounds like a lot of fun.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
OMG iTunes! FAIL!!!
Did you know that they don't permit iTunes sales outside of the US?! AGH! And I wanted the Music & Lyrics soundtrack so I could have Pop! Goes My Heart! GRRRR!
Video Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WUUgaW6krQ
Here's a video of my apartment. I made this video after I bought my futon and sheets today, so what you don't see is that I've replaced the plastic baggies with two trashcans (bought at Homepic) for combustible and non-combustible materials. I wasn't sure if I needed two or three, so to be on the safe side I bought two. Turns out I should get one for recyclables, but I might just do a plain old bag for that, still not sure.
I also got cookware! :3
I found out about Homepic at the Shisheido Chain store, which apparently isn't only for makeup. It was like walking into longs. They actually had Downy there, which I found really interesting. Well, I got all the soapy stuff I'll need, including those really awesome dish sponges mom uses. :D Apparently in Japan, you refill your bottles. With this knowledge in mind, I chose the cheaper ones that had refills available. I ended up with pomegranate scented (I could choose from a selection of smells, but I've come to realize that pomegranate smells gorgeous) body wash and rose scented shampoo and conditioner. I also got the largest and cheapest detergent I could find. XD It seems large enough to last me a year, but you never know. We'll see how long it lasts.
For getting so much done today I treated myself out to ramen at a nearby ramen place. I'll upload it to my flickr, so you'll shots of the delicious miso ramen I had on my slideshow. :3
Oh, and apparently 100 yen tip is super generous. O_o
Here's a video of my apartment. I made this video after I bought my futon and sheets today, so what you don't see is that I've replaced the plastic baggies with two trashcans (bought at Homepic) for combustible and non-combustible materials. I wasn't sure if I needed two or three, so to be on the safe side I bought two. Turns out I should get one for recyclables, but I might just do a plain old bag for that, still not sure.
I also got cookware! :3
I found out about Homepic at the Shisheido Chain store, which apparently isn't only for makeup. It was like walking into longs. They actually had Downy there, which I found really interesting. Well, I got all the soapy stuff I'll need, including those really awesome dish sponges mom uses. :D Apparently in Japan, you refill your bottles. With this knowledge in mind, I chose the cheaper ones that had refills available. I ended up with pomegranate scented (I could choose from a selection of smells, but I've come to realize that pomegranate smells gorgeous) body wash and rose scented shampoo and conditioner. I also got the largest and cheapest detergent I could find. XD It seems large enough to last me a year, but you never know. We'll see how long it lasts.
For getting so much done today I treated myself out to ramen at a nearby ramen place. I'll upload it to my flickr, so you'll shots of the delicious miso ramen I had on my slideshow. :3
Oh, and apparently 100 yen tip is super generous. O_o
Friday, March 26, 2010
Internets GET!
Listening to the Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver OST (Original Soundtrack)
Hokay, now for good news. Apparently heat runs on electricity here instead of gas like in America, so when I was shivering the other night I really could've turned on the heater to warm myself. The gas guy came the next morning. I asked him about the air conditioner and he taught me how to use it. Thank the forces that be!
After my gas was installed, and I had hot water (finally!), I washed my face and went off to the post office, which is also a bank. I must say that I love Japanese service because there was always someone out by the form filling area to help you, which was great since I'm such a newb to the area. Anywho, the woman was really kind and helped me with the form I needed to get my account started as well as to get a Visa. However, when I got to the consultation corner about my account, I found out that Mr. Koshiro and I had forgotten to get a 300 yen certificate at the ward office. I needed that in order to get my account. So, after having Mr. Ueno and Ms. Abe, who also works at HQ, talk to the woman, I hurried on back to the ward office, which is a lot closer than I remember, and got the certificate.
Lemme tell you something. The woman who helped me was totally different from the woman yesterday, so I had absolutely no problem! She wasn't suspicious of me at all. Huzzah! I had to buy a 300 yen stamp from a vending machine, and of course I don't know what to do, so I'm standing at the vending machine staring at the two buttons with kanji written all over it pondering about which one to press when the mother beside me presses the one I need for me. OMG. I thanked her profusely.
Certificate in hand (they gave me a small bag/envelope thing to put it in too!), I hurried on back to the post office/bank. It took a couple of hours, but I have I finally have an account. Whew.
I decided to walk home so that I wouldn't have a portfolio of important documents that could possibly be blown away. On the way I stopped off at the deli near my house. I asked the woman behind the counter if any of them spoke English. She didn't and neither did the man cutting stuff in the back, who looked to be her husband. While I was browsing the various meats at their disposal, one of them must've called a younger employee, possibly their daughter, out to the front. I explained in Japanese that I recently moved in and that I was from America. She essentially said that she didn't think I needed to talk to someone who spoke English because my Japanese was just fine. She also said that I don't speak with an American accent, which makes me puff out my chest even now. When I told her that I thought I wasn't good at Japanese, she looked at me like I was crazy for thinking so. XD I bought five pieces of kara-age, a type of fried chicken. I'm definitely going back to that shop. :3
But now I need a futon. Towels were, of course, more important. I wasn't going to go another night without showering. So, I walked on over to the market by my house and on the way I, what do you know, found a really cute shop called "At First" that had, OMG, towels for sale! They were super cute, super soft, and I managed to get a bath towel, dish towel, and hand towel all with sakura on it. LOL. I checked with the market, which is called Maruetsu, first to see if they had towels for cheaper, but they didn't. So my sakura towels weren't cheap, but they're super cute and felt good enough to last me a year with no problems. Please note that Japanese bath towels are much smaller than American bath towels. XD
Now, about this market. Mr. Ueno said that this is supposed to be a smaller market. He did not tell me that Maruetsu is the Japanese version of a Ralphs/Albertsons/Kroger. Sadly, like these American stores, Maruetsu does not carry towels. At least I found At First. haha.
I really should've taken a picture, but since I need to buy food again today anyway, I'll probably take a picture today. They have a make-your-own-bento section. I kid you not. They had pre-made tempura! I had to resist the urge to wade through the masses to get some for myself. I didn't know when it was going to get dark, or when At First was going to close, so I chose not to get anything that wasn't already packaged. Damn. I'm going to have fun raiding that section.
So, with a 2L bottle of cold tea, a bento, sandwich, onigiri, and a small plate of sushi in hand, along with some cherry flavored Hi-Chew I found by the check out counter, I snagged my towels, a cute coin purse with an owl on it, and an umbrella with pink hearts on it at At First. Then I went home and unpacked. Food went in the fridge, and since I'd neglected to buy a cup while I was at the market, I poured some of the tea in an empty bottle of Aquarius, a type of sports drink, I'd gotten earlier while I was walking between the ward office and the post office.
My closet is quite a good size, though I noticed that Japanese hangers must be narrower than American ones because my hangers touch the back of the closet. I hung all the important clothes on hangers and put the rest on top of the shelf or put them in my carry on, which is now doubling as my dresser. haha. I haven't decided if I want to buy a bookshelf or just leave my other stuff strewn about the floor, but pretty much everything is either in my closet or on the floor. My luggage went up on the loft and I've still got a bunch of space. I don't know what to do with it just yet. I hope to decorate. :3
I definitely want to get this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/cbe7/
It's a plant that only needs sunlight. When it gets enough sunlight, the leaves wiggle. I wouldn't have to take care of it and I'd have a plant. That's a recipe for win if there ever was.
Well, since I woke up at 6:30 to install my internet and it's now 10, I should probably get ready. All the shops should be open by now, so I'm off to the futon place I found on the web at the suggestion of my beloved Terrpi (it's actually really close to the train station, so I scope that out at the same time and figure out the best route to take to get there, and then the big mall, e-Mall, which is on the way to the ward office. With any luck, I'll have a futon be the end of the day as well as dishes, cookware, trash bins, trash bags, more toilet paper, detergent, and a stocked fridge. Wish me luck, guys!
Hokay, now for good news. Apparently heat runs on electricity here instead of gas like in America, so when I was shivering the other night I really could've turned on the heater to warm myself. The gas guy came the next morning. I asked him about the air conditioner and he taught me how to use it. Thank the forces that be!
After my gas was installed, and I had hot water (finally!), I washed my face and went off to the post office, which is also a bank. I must say that I love Japanese service because there was always someone out by the form filling area to help you, which was great since I'm such a newb to the area. Anywho, the woman was really kind and helped me with the form I needed to get my account started as well as to get a Visa. However, when I got to the consultation corner about my account, I found out that Mr. Koshiro and I had forgotten to get a 300 yen certificate at the ward office. I needed that in order to get my account. So, after having Mr. Ueno and Ms. Abe, who also works at HQ, talk to the woman, I hurried on back to the ward office, which is a lot closer than I remember, and got the certificate.
Lemme tell you something. The woman who helped me was totally different from the woman yesterday, so I had absolutely no problem! She wasn't suspicious of me at all. Huzzah! I had to buy a 300 yen stamp from a vending machine, and of course I don't know what to do, so I'm standing at the vending machine staring at the two buttons with kanji written all over it pondering about which one to press when the mother beside me presses the one I need for me. OMG. I thanked her profusely.
Certificate in hand (they gave me a small bag/envelope thing to put it in too!), I hurried on back to the post office/bank. It took a couple of hours, but I have I finally have an account. Whew.
I decided to walk home so that I wouldn't have a portfolio of important documents that could possibly be blown away. On the way I stopped off at the deli near my house. I asked the woman behind the counter if any of them spoke English. She didn't and neither did the man cutting stuff in the back, who looked to be her husband. While I was browsing the various meats at their disposal, one of them must've called a younger employee, possibly their daughter, out to the front. I explained in Japanese that I recently moved in and that I was from America. She essentially said that she didn't think I needed to talk to someone who spoke English because my Japanese was just fine. She also said that I don't speak with an American accent, which makes me puff out my chest even now. When I told her that I thought I wasn't good at Japanese, she looked at me like I was crazy for thinking so. XD I bought five pieces of kara-age, a type of fried chicken. I'm definitely going back to that shop. :3
But now I need a futon. Towels were, of course, more important. I wasn't going to go another night without showering. So, I walked on over to the market by my house and on the way I, what do you know, found a really cute shop called "At First" that had, OMG, towels for sale! They were super cute, super soft, and I managed to get a bath towel, dish towel, and hand towel all with sakura on it. LOL. I checked with the market, which is called Maruetsu, first to see if they had towels for cheaper, but they didn't. So my sakura towels weren't cheap, but they're super cute and felt good enough to last me a year with no problems. Please note that Japanese bath towels are much smaller than American bath towels. XD
Now, about this market. Mr. Ueno said that this is supposed to be a smaller market. He did not tell me that Maruetsu is the Japanese version of a Ralphs/Albertsons/Kroger. Sadly, like these American stores, Maruetsu does not carry towels. At least I found At First. haha.
I really should've taken a picture, but since I need to buy food again today anyway, I'll probably take a picture today. They have a make-your-own-bento section. I kid you not. They had pre-made tempura! I had to resist the urge to wade through the masses to get some for myself. I didn't know when it was going to get dark, or when At First was going to close, so I chose not to get anything that wasn't already packaged. Damn. I'm going to have fun raiding that section.
So, with a 2L bottle of cold tea, a bento, sandwich, onigiri, and a small plate of sushi in hand, along with some cherry flavored Hi-Chew I found by the check out counter, I snagged my towels, a cute coin purse with an owl on it, and an umbrella with pink hearts on it at At First. Then I went home and unpacked. Food went in the fridge, and since I'd neglected to buy a cup while I was at the market, I poured some of the tea in an empty bottle of Aquarius, a type of sports drink, I'd gotten earlier while I was walking between the ward office and the post office.
My closet is quite a good size, though I noticed that Japanese hangers must be narrower than American ones because my hangers touch the back of the closet. I hung all the important clothes on hangers and put the rest on top of the shelf or put them in my carry on, which is now doubling as my dresser. haha. I haven't decided if I want to buy a bookshelf or just leave my other stuff strewn about the floor, but pretty much everything is either in my closet or on the floor. My luggage went up on the loft and I've still got a bunch of space. I don't know what to do with it just yet. I hope to decorate. :3
I definitely want to get this: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/cbe7/
It's a plant that only needs sunlight. When it gets enough sunlight, the leaves wiggle. I wouldn't have to take care of it and I'd have a plant. That's a recipe for win if there ever was.
Well, since I woke up at 6:30 to install my internet and it's now 10, I should probably get ready. All the shops should be open by now, so I'm off to the futon place I found on the web at the suggestion of my beloved Terrpi (it's actually really close to the train station, so I scope that out at the same time and figure out the best route to take to get there, and then the big mall, e-Mall, which is on the way to the ward office. With any luck, I'll have a futon be the end of the day as well as dishes, cookware, trash bins, trash bags, more toilet paper, detergent, and a stocked fridge. Wish me luck, guys!
Bed? What Bed?
3-25-2010 (Evening)
So everything was fine when I got picked up by Mr. Koshiro. He had a car, which made transporting my humongous luggage much easier and put a lot less weight on my conscience. Then, we checked in with the office and then off to Leo Palace 21 to get my key. After I got my key, we went to sign up for Alien Registration Card, because, well, I’m an alien.
Here’s where it all starts going downhill. Apparently this process is only supposed to take about twenty minutes, but mine took at least forty. This does not include the amount of time it took Mr. Koshiro to convince the woman behind the desk that if she just called the company, they could tell her that I was employed with them. She was acting awfully suspicious, which made me wonder if it was because of the way I looked.
After I got my certificate that they had accepted my application for my omg-I’m-a-foreigner card, we hurried on to the post office so that I could set up my account for not only mail, but apparently also for my monies. This didn’t happen because we’d spent far too long twiddling our thumbs while waiting for the damn woman to type faster, because apparently “she was still typing” when we checked back upon noticing the time that had passed. So since the post office was now closed, we decided to find my apartment so we could let the gas guy in to set up my gas.
This also did not happen. We called to have him come back later, because he was originally supposed to come between two and four and instead we didn’t get out of the post office until 4:15. He said he would come back at five, and when we finally found my apartment because the GPS wouldn’t show that we needed to go down the little streets, we found out that the gas guy couldn’t come today and that I would therefore go home to a cold house as well as not be able to take a hot shower. Yay.
So with that not done, we went to AU to get my cell phone. This, luckily, was accomplished… after spending three hours waiting. Apparently, you have to present your Alien Registration Card in order to get a cell phone. This is ridiculous, as it take three weeks for the damn card to be completely processed and created for you to pick up. So, Mr. Koshiro yelled and screamed at the poor men behind the counter, and then proceeded to yell at the president of the company because one of his employees at that branch had told Mr. Koshiro the day before that having my certification of acceptance of my application would suffice. After that, we were told to wait ten minutes for the big boss to figure out if he should allow me to have a cell phone prior to receiving my card. He didn’t call back in ten minutes.
Finally, after calling him back, he agreed to two terms. First, I need to go the first day my card is available, pick it up, and let the cell phone company make a copy of it for their records. Second, Mr. Koshiro had to guarantee that I was going to do it. Then we had to wait for twenty minutes while the guy set up the phone. We went to eat. It was Mr. Koshiro’s treat, and having not eaten since nine that morning, and it was twenty minutes to eight, I was ravenous. The food tasted great.
After dinner, we went down to the cell phone place. It wasn’t ready yet, so we sat down. I read children’s books in Japanese with a little help from Mr. Koshiro because I didn’t know some of the vocabulary. Finally, nine o’clock rolled by and the man fiddling around with my phone finished. It’s pink, takes great pictures, and is bilingual. I’m in love with it, but I haven’t bothered to read the manual. I’m too tired.
So Mr. Koshiro drives me back to my apartment and he leaves. When I walked in, I realized just how cold the apartment was. Then, I realized that the futon, which is supposed to come with the apartment, actually isn’t even in the apartment. The frame for it is, but there’s no actual mattress. I’m sleeping on the floor tonight with the two blankets I had the foresight to pack along with, thank the gods, my electric blanket, which is currently keeping my legs warm while I type this. Luckily, the floor of the main room is carpeted, so at least I have some cushion.
Oh, and since there’s no hot water, there’s no hot shower to help warm me up before bed. So I washed my face with super cold water, dried my face with the face towel I also happened to have the foresight to bring, and then slipped into my pajamas and huddled under one blanket and my electric blanket while sleeping on my big yellow blankie from my childhood.
To reward myself for not deciding to go back to America now, I’m going to watch an episode of MacGyver before going to sleep.
As for tomorrow, I have to hele on over to the post office right after the damn gas man arrives so that I can finally have a nice hot shower. Then I need to see about whether or not Leo Palace screwed up and I’m supposed to have a futon, or if I have to go buy one. Along with sheets for it. Oh, and then I have to set up my internet. And buy some towels. And some dishes and cookware. And an umbrella, since it’s probably going to be raining tomorrow too. I’ll post this after I’ve set up my internet.
So everything was fine when I got picked up by Mr. Koshiro. He had a car, which made transporting my humongous luggage much easier and put a lot less weight on my conscience. Then, we checked in with the office and then off to Leo Palace 21 to get my key. After I got my key, we went to sign up for Alien Registration Card, because, well, I’m an alien.
Here’s where it all starts going downhill. Apparently this process is only supposed to take about twenty minutes, but mine took at least forty. This does not include the amount of time it took Mr. Koshiro to convince the woman behind the desk that if she just called the company, they could tell her that I was employed with them. She was acting awfully suspicious, which made me wonder if it was because of the way I looked.
After I got my certificate that they had accepted my application for my omg-I’m-a-foreigner card, we hurried on to the post office so that I could set up my account for not only mail, but apparently also for my monies. This didn’t happen because we’d spent far too long twiddling our thumbs while waiting for the damn woman to type faster, because apparently “she was still typing” when we checked back upon noticing the time that had passed. So since the post office was now closed, we decided to find my apartment so we could let the gas guy in to set up my gas.
This also did not happen. We called to have him come back later, because he was originally supposed to come between two and four and instead we didn’t get out of the post office until 4:15. He said he would come back at five, and when we finally found my apartment because the GPS wouldn’t show that we needed to go down the little streets, we found out that the gas guy couldn’t come today and that I would therefore go home to a cold house as well as not be able to take a hot shower. Yay.
So with that not done, we went to AU to get my cell phone. This, luckily, was accomplished… after spending three hours waiting. Apparently, you have to present your Alien Registration Card in order to get a cell phone. This is ridiculous, as it take three weeks for the damn card to be completely processed and created for you to pick up. So, Mr. Koshiro yelled and screamed at the poor men behind the counter, and then proceeded to yell at the president of the company because one of his employees at that branch had told Mr. Koshiro the day before that having my certification of acceptance of my application would suffice. After that, we were told to wait ten minutes for the big boss to figure out if he should allow me to have a cell phone prior to receiving my card. He didn’t call back in ten minutes.
Finally, after calling him back, he agreed to two terms. First, I need to go the first day my card is available, pick it up, and let the cell phone company make a copy of it for their records. Second, Mr. Koshiro had to guarantee that I was going to do it. Then we had to wait for twenty minutes while the guy set up the phone. We went to eat. It was Mr. Koshiro’s treat, and having not eaten since nine that morning, and it was twenty minutes to eight, I was ravenous. The food tasted great.
After dinner, we went down to the cell phone place. It wasn’t ready yet, so we sat down. I read children’s books in Japanese with a little help from Mr. Koshiro because I didn’t know some of the vocabulary. Finally, nine o’clock rolled by and the man fiddling around with my phone finished. It’s pink, takes great pictures, and is bilingual. I’m in love with it, but I haven’t bothered to read the manual. I’m too tired.
So Mr. Koshiro drives me back to my apartment and he leaves. When I walked in, I realized just how cold the apartment was. Then, I realized that the futon, which is supposed to come with the apartment, actually isn’t even in the apartment. The frame for it is, but there’s no actual mattress. I’m sleeping on the floor tonight with the two blankets I had the foresight to pack along with, thank the gods, my electric blanket, which is currently keeping my legs warm while I type this. Luckily, the floor of the main room is carpeted, so at least I have some cushion.
Oh, and since there’s no hot water, there’s no hot shower to help warm me up before bed. So I washed my face with super cold water, dried my face with the face towel I also happened to have the foresight to bring, and then slipped into my pajamas and huddled under one blanket and my electric blanket while sleeping on my big yellow blankie from my childhood.
To reward myself for not deciding to go back to America now, I’m going to watch an episode of MacGyver before going to sleep.
As for tomorrow, I have to hele on over to the post office right after the damn gas man arrives so that I can finally have a nice hot shower. Then I need to see about whether or not Leo Palace screwed up and I’m supposed to have a futon, or if I have to go buy one. Along with sheets for it. Oh, and then I have to set up my internet. And buy some towels. And some dishes and cookware. And an umbrella, since it’s probably going to be raining tomorrow too. I’ll post this after I’ve set up my internet.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Conbini Is My Friend
Safe and sound in Yokohama! The JR train was fun to ride, though the last hour was spent fighting off the urge to sleep. It takes about 2 hours to go from Narita Airport to the Yokohama station, where I was lucky enough to ask a woman how to get to my transfer. She ended up asking the middle schooler beside her, probably her own daughter. I can't be sure. You know these asians, they all look alike. lol.
Anywho, got off at the correct stop, but I went through the North Exit instead of the South Exit. That's ok though, because I had enough change (I exchanged a 20 so I could get smaller bills and found out that 1000 yen is the smallest bill they have. It's all coins from there. lol. I need a coin purse.). I made a phone call and Mr. Ueno, who helped me find my apartment, picked me up and walked with me to HQ.
I really regret not bringing my bright pink umbrella, as it was raining, but I get really warm whenever I get anxious, so I wasn't cold at all. I met two teachers, like me, at the office. Both had been teaching for two years, a boy and a girl. The girl had these really cute pins on her sweater that was by this Japanese artist she liked. I walked over to comment on how cute her pins were and we started talking. She's teaching middle school. I really should've asked for her name.
After signing my contract and handing in some paperwork I walked over to the hotel with Mr. Ueno. It's just a scant two blocks away from the office building, so I didn't care that I was only partially covered by Mr. Ueno's umbrella. Besides, I like the rain. And when you're as nervous/anxious/excited as I was, you couldn't give a damn about a little bit of water getting on your clothes.
After getting checked in, I went up to my room and dropped off my bags. Then, it was off to the Conbini (Convenience Store) conveniently located on the first floor. It is my friend. For dinner I got bottled cold green tea fried udon, which the lady behind the counter warmed up for me, and for breakfast I got soba, which I knew could be eaten cold, and orange juice. Might I say that after spending three hours with a rumbling tumbly, I had quite forgotten my hunger until I smelled my fried udon. Goodness, I couldn't get up to my room fast enough. XD I inhaled it while watching a Doctor Who episode.
After using one of those spiffy spray-your-bum-when-finished toilets (It's so weird, but actually feels kinda' nice), I took a wonderful shower and learned very quickly that hot water in Japan, at least in this hotel, comes out hot very quickly. There's a little sign that says Caution: Hot Water. They sincerely mean HOT water. It was damn near scalding. It's amazing! I wonder if my apartment will be like that. Probably not, but who knows?
The room also has a mini fridge, which you're free to use and I used freely, as well as a bag of green tea and a bag of houji-chan (roasted tea) along with a little tea cup. Not to mention a water heater, which you can fill with water from the sink in the bathroom because, omg there's a little sign too, the water from the sink is good enough to drink.
Oh, and who needs written instructions when every instruction has pictures? They seriously make everything idiot proof enough so that people who don't speak the language, or don't speak enough, really don't have much of a problem. Did I mention that the trains have English? At least in Tokyo and Yokohama. Seriously idiot proof. I love it.
And did I mention that the food from Conbinis is really good? Because it is.
Anywho, got off at the correct stop, but I went through the North Exit instead of the South Exit. That's ok though, because I had enough change (I exchanged a 20 so I could get smaller bills and found out that 1000 yen is the smallest bill they have. It's all coins from there. lol. I need a coin purse.). I made a phone call and Mr. Ueno, who helped me find my apartment, picked me up and walked with me to HQ.
I really regret not bringing my bright pink umbrella, as it was raining, but I get really warm whenever I get anxious, so I wasn't cold at all. I met two teachers, like me, at the office. Both had been teaching for two years, a boy and a girl. The girl had these really cute pins on her sweater that was by this Japanese artist she liked. I walked over to comment on how cute her pins were and we started talking. She's teaching middle school. I really should've asked for her name.
After signing my contract and handing in some paperwork I walked over to the hotel with Mr. Ueno. It's just a scant two blocks away from the office building, so I didn't care that I was only partially covered by Mr. Ueno's umbrella. Besides, I like the rain. And when you're as nervous/anxious/excited as I was, you couldn't give a damn about a little bit of water getting on your clothes.
After getting checked in, I went up to my room and dropped off my bags. Then, it was off to the Conbini (Convenience Store) conveniently located on the first floor. It is my friend. For dinner I got bottled cold green tea fried udon, which the lady behind the counter warmed up for me, and for breakfast I got soba, which I knew could be eaten cold, and orange juice. Might I say that after spending three hours with a rumbling tumbly, I had quite forgotten my hunger until I smelled my fried udon. Goodness, I couldn't get up to my room fast enough. XD I inhaled it while watching a Doctor Who episode.
After using one of those spiffy spray-your-bum-when-finished toilets (It's so weird, but actually feels kinda' nice), I took a wonderful shower and learned very quickly that hot water in Japan, at least in this hotel, comes out hot very quickly. There's a little sign that says Caution: Hot Water. They sincerely mean HOT water. It was damn near scalding. It's amazing! I wonder if my apartment will be like that. Probably not, but who knows?
The room also has a mini fridge, which you're free to use and I used freely, as well as a bag of green tea and a bag of houji-chan (roasted tea) along with a little tea cup. Not to mention a water heater, which you can fill with water from the sink in the bathroom because, omg there's a little sign too, the water from the sink is good enough to drink.
Oh, and who needs written instructions when every instruction has pictures? They seriously make everything idiot proof enough so that people who don't speak the language, or don't speak enough, really don't have much of a problem. Did I mention that the trains have English? At least in Tokyo and Yokohama. Seriously idiot proof. I love it.
And did I mention that the food from Conbinis is really good? Because it is.
Pre-flight Anxiety Sucks
3-22-2010
Location: Honolulu Airport - the Starbucks by my gate.
Weather: slightly overcast.
Feeling: like the weather.
Inhaling: a Venti Caramel Frappucino
If there’s one thing about catching a flight, I’m always nervous while I’m waiting. The drive to the airport is always the worst. Sitting here at the Starbucks has really helped calm my nerves, but my fingers are still shaking a little while I type. Honestly? This is scary. I’m going to, OMG, Japan. JAPAN. This has been my dream since high school. And to think, I’m going there to live for an entire year. Who knows? Maybe even longer?
This is intense. I’m totally afraid of soiling my pants in anticipation. This is ridiculous. Oh, and that Venti Caramel Frap I got? I’m down to the whipped cream and whatever is left of the skimpily added caramel sauce. I feel like I could run a mile. I probably should after all that sugar. Not to mention all the food I ate while I was here. I think I put on ten pounds. Daaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmnnnn.
Well, there’s one thing for sure. Watching the people walking by has calmed my nerves a bit. I mean, who can resist awwww-ing the little kids that have toddled by. Not to mention that ever single stewardess that has walked by is ridiculously pretty. The Japanese stewardesses all have these really colorful kerchiefs around their necks.
And I need to stop checking my watch every five minutes. I wonder if anyone sitting beside me or walking past and tell just how much I’m quivering. Maybe it’s the caffeine. PLEASE tell me I’ll be ok on this flight. I’m really regretting not putting those Stargate Atlantis episodes on here. Nothing makes me feel better than watching a Stargate episode. Atlantis helps the most because, well, Jason Momoa has got to be one of the hottest men alive. Not to mention, John Sheppard is really hot too. His eyes are, like, grey. How sexy is that?! Yup, just thinking about them is lifting my spirits. *swoons*
Damn, I just checked my watch again. If I’d thought of it sooner, I would’ve watched a Doctor Who episode instead of rambling on and on about how I felt. Who cares about feelings anyway? Lol.
Ok, let me go over what I need to do when I get to Japan. First, go through customs and all that jazz, and pick up my baggage. Find a courier and tell them I need my huge pieces of luggage sent to the hotel. Find the train I need to catch and buy the tickets. Call the company and tell them which train it is, then get on the train and go. Two whole hours of sitting and reading while anxiously checking my watch and straining to hear the right station I need to get off on. Meet the person who’s going to walk with me to the hotel. Walk to the hotel, check in, and try to relax. I should probably get some yen smaller than a thousand yen. I need some coins. Hopefully I can exchange my ten dollar bill for smaller bills and coins so I can make the phone call.
Hokay. 8:30. Time to use the bathroom one last time, walk the hundred feet to my gate, and hope that my carry on will fit in the overhead bin. If it doesn’t, I’m totally screwed. Not really, but that’s still how I feel. Lol.
Location: Honolulu Airport - the Starbucks by my gate.
Weather: slightly overcast.
Feeling: like the weather.
Inhaling: a Venti Caramel Frappucino
If there’s one thing about catching a flight, I’m always nervous while I’m waiting. The drive to the airport is always the worst. Sitting here at the Starbucks has really helped calm my nerves, but my fingers are still shaking a little while I type. Honestly? This is scary. I’m going to, OMG, Japan. JAPAN. This has been my dream since high school. And to think, I’m going there to live for an entire year. Who knows? Maybe even longer?
This is intense. I’m totally afraid of soiling my pants in anticipation. This is ridiculous. Oh, and that Venti Caramel Frap I got? I’m down to the whipped cream and whatever is left of the skimpily added caramel sauce. I feel like I could run a mile. I probably should after all that sugar. Not to mention all the food I ate while I was here. I think I put on ten pounds. Daaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmnnnn.
Well, there’s one thing for sure. Watching the people walking by has calmed my nerves a bit. I mean, who can resist awwww-ing the little kids that have toddled by. Not to mention that ever single stewardess that has walked by is ridiculously pretty. The Japanese stewardesses all have these really colorful kerchiefs around their necks.
And I need to stop checking my watch every five minutes. I wonder if anyone sitting beside me or walking past and tell just how much I’m quivering. Maybe it’s the caffeine. PLEASE tell me I’ll be ok on this flight. I’m really regretting not putting those Stargate Atlantis episodes on here. Nothing makes me feel better than watching a Stargate episode. Atlantis helps the most because, well, Jason Momoa has got to be one of the hottest men alive. Not to mention, John Sheppard is really hot too. His eyes are, like, grey. How sexy is that?! Yup, just thinking about them is lifting my spirits. *swoons*
Damn, I just checked my watch again. If I’d thought of it sooner, I would’ve watched a Doctor Who episode instead of rambling on and on about how I felt. Who cares about feelings anyway? Lol.
Ok, let me go over what I need to do when I get to Japan. First, go through customs and all that jazz, and pick up my baggage. Find a courier and tell them I need my huge pieces of luggage sent to the hotel. Find the train I need to catch and buy the tickets. Call the company and tell them which train it is, then get on the train and go. Two whole hours of sitting and reading while anxiously checking my watch and straining to hear the right station I need to get off on. Meet the person who’s going to walk with me to the hotel. Walk to the hotel, check in, and try to relax. I should probably get some yen smaller than a thousand yen. I need some coins. Hopefully I can exchange my ten dollar bill for smaller bills and coins so I can make the phone call.
Hokay. 8:30. Time to use the bathroom one last time, walk the hundred feet to my gate, and hope that my carry on will fit in the overhead bin. If it doesn’t, I’m totally screwed. Not really, but that’s still how I feel. Lol.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Counting Down
Ok, guys. Between packing and pacing anxiously around my room whilst pondering whether or not to bring the yellow shirt of the green shirt, I'm counting down the days until I go. One problem is that I keep staying up late so I keep trying to fix my sleeping schedule. I'm hoping that tonight I go to bed at midnight by the latest. Pch. Like that's really going to happen, right?
One totally awesome thing I found out over the past two days is that Interac goes to my future apartment and gets my keys for me. Then, they're going to kidnap me from the hotel and ditch me at my apartment. XD The guy who helped me find my apartment has a great sense of humor and I hope to meet him when I get to Yokohama because he's so hilarious. And he uses Kaomoji, which is what the Japanese call Emoticons. lol. I always think it's really cute when an adult uses them, but the older I get, the more I become an adult and therefore defeats the purpose of me getting giddy over something as simple as a facial representation in text format.
But I digress.
My parents and I are going out to eat tonight so I'm bringing my camera to take pictures. Ack. I'm starting to get homesick already, and I haven't even left. It was one thing when I was in college, because I was only a train ride away from my parents. Now? Man... I'll be a whole ocean away. And it just had to be the Pacific Ocean. Don't know if you've looked at a globe lately, but it's a BIG ocean.
OH! I just realized I should write this down. Wii Fit Plus has an option to "Weight Your Pet". I'm going to use it to weigh my luggage. It's a lot easier than trying to look down at my feet on a scale. It's also a lot easier to do on my own, because I'm going to have EVERYTHING packed by Friday night. Anything I use after that... well, it'll stay behind. Yikes. That means I have to pack my laptop. TT^TT
One totally awesome thing I found out over the past two days is that Interac goes to my future apartment and gets my keys for me. Then, they're going to kidnap me from the hotel and ditch me at my apartment. XD The guy who helped me find my apartment has a great sense of humor and I hope to meet him when I get to Yokohama because he's so hilarious. And he uses Kaomoji, which is what the Japanese call Emoticons. lol. I always think it's really cute when an adult uses them, but the older I get, the more I become an adult and therefore defeats the purpose of me getting giddy over something as simple as a facial representation in text format.
But I digress.
My parents and I are going out to eat tonight so I'm bringing my camera to take pictures. Ack. I'm starting to get homesick already, and I haven't even left. It was one thing when I was in college, because I was only a train ride away from my parents. Now? Man... I'll be a whole ocean away. And it just had to be the Pacific Ocean. Don't know if you've looked at a globe lately, but it's a BIG ocean.
OH! I just realized I should write this down. Wii Fit Plus has an option to "Weight Your Pet". I'm going to use it to weigh my luggage. It's a lot easier than trying to look down at my feet on a scale. It's also a lot easier to do on my own, because I'm going to have EVERYTHING packed by Friday night. Anything I use after that... well, it'll stay behind. Yikes. That means I have to pack my laptop. TT^TT
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
I Have an Address!
YAY! I got the apartment I want, which should be bigger than the one on the Youtube video. Not to worry, I'll be posting a video (hopefully) to show all of you all the wonderful tidbits about my apartment. Hopefully I'll have enough room for everything. I started looking through my clothes today to figure out what to and what not to bring. Wish me luck!
As for my address, I'd totally post it on here but I'd be scared of someone stalking me. I will tell you this: I'll be living in Seya. It's a family neighborhood and my apartment will be really close to a train station. I'm really looking forward to seeing it and making it mine! :D
As for my address, I'd totally post it on here but I'd be scared of someone stalking me. I will tell you this: I'll be living in Seya. It's a family neighborhood and my apartment will be really close to a train station. I'm really looking forward to seeing it and making it mine! :D
Monday, February 15, 2010
Possible Apartment?
Right. So I've been apartment shopping with some help from a Mr. Ueno who works with Interac. He's been super helpful and if I ever get to meet him I know I'll have to restrain from hugging him. I don't know how he stands the emails I send him. XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5e4UB-gOHg&feature=related
Here's a smaller version of what I might possibly live in when I get to Japan. Dinky? Yes. Do I mind? Not really. I just need enough room for a bed, my laptop, and my gear. Thus, this should work. Where would I sleep? Possibly up top on the loft, which is SO like when I had a bunk bed that I think I'll smother it with love. Alas, the model I'm looking at probably doesn't have a drier built into the shower, so I'd probably be hanging my clothes from those silvery bars that double as a side board that prevents me from plummeting to my death should I roll whilst sleeping. Yay!
Is the deal sealed? Nope! But I'm hoping all goes well and I get a similar apartment. I might post a video on YouTube once I move into my apartment to show all of you. My camera has that option. :3 Sadly, no sound. :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5e4UB-gOHg&feature=related
Here's a smaller version of what I might possibly live in when I get to Japan. Dinky? Yes. Do I mind? Not really. I just need enough room for a bed, my laptop, and my gear. Thus, this should work. Where would I sleep? Possibly up top on the loft, which is SO like when I had a bunk bed that I think I'll smother it with love. Alas, the model I'm looking at probably doesn't have a drier built into the shower, so I'd probably be hanging my clothes from those silvery bars that double as a side board that prevents me from plummeting to my death should I roll whilst sleeping. Yay!
Is the deal sealed? Nope! But I'm hoping all goes well and I get a similar apartment. I might post a video on YouTube once I move into my apartment to show all of you. My camera has that option. :3 Sadly, no sound. :(
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Placement!
Great news, all! Got a call last night about my placement and I'll be living in, drum roll please!
badda badda badda ~~~!!!
YOKOHAMA!
I'll be teaching Elementary school kids and I will probably have to jump around between more than one school. The man I spoke to said that the area I'll be living in has five different elementary schools and that I could very well be working at all five of them. Don't worry. There's one place where they have 21 schools. I'm glad I'm not that person.
badda badda badda ~~~!!!
YOKOHAMA!
I'll be teaching Elementary school kids and I will probably have to jump around between more than one school. The man I spoke to said that the area I'll be living in has five different elementary schools and that I could very well be working at all five of them. Don't worry. There's one place where they have 21 schools. I'm glad I'm not that person.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
All That Jazz
So, it's been a while. Christmas and New Years has rolled by and it's not 2010. Two more years until complete devastation and destruction! WOOHOO!
Just kidding.
Anyway, the Interac interview inter-whatever process:
How to sign up:
Go to the Interac website (https://www.interacnetwork.com/recruit/) and fill out the Application. It takes a while, but it saves and you can go back to it.
Submit it and wait. After a while they'll tell you if you made it to the Interview stage.
Your first interview is done over the phone. It's only about 15 to 30 minutes long and can be really fun so long as you're not nervous. Best advice? Just be yourself. Nobody likes hiring one person they met on the phone and lands up with someone completely different in the workspace. That is lame. And honor's a big thing to me.
Then, if they like you enough, they tell you about a second interview. Right there, on the phone. I mean it. If they don't tell you, they probably didn't like you enough. I hope you're all quite charming. Anyway! So you have another interview. After your first interview, they'll email you some information about your second interview.
Then you pick an Interview location. I lucked out and landed Nashville, TN, which is only about a 2 hour drive away. One of the guys had to drive, like, a whole day to get there. I was the only shmuck who doesn't drive already, so I had to bum a ride from my parents and leave early. Sorry, mom and dad. I love you lots, but I really need to learn how to drive. (And at least they enjoyed their little visit to Nashville! It wasn't a complete loss! AND WE HAD JACK IN A BOX. Why don't they have any Jack in a Boxes here in Alabama?!)
What's the interview like? Well, you get to learn more about the Interac program and what you'll be dealing with in Japan. You should've read through the website before going to the interview because that'll make you look smarter and a better worker. Me? Well, I didn't... but I absorb pretty well and tend not to ask questions because somebody among your peers is going to ask really good questions already. Oops. I'm such a mooch.
After the intro to Interac, you have to teach a 5 minute lesson. They time you and record you. You're emailed with a guideline as to what to teach. It's a three part recording: 1) self introduction in Japanese or in English; 2) short lesson teaching about new material that's simple; 3) short lesson teaching one of a selected type of lesson. These are all really simple, and if you procrastinate a lot like me and don't start planning until the week before, you won't take it too bad. The main thing is that they want to see if you're someone that they can teach and mold into a good teacher. Luckily, they looked beyond my nervousness. The last part is an interview with your recruiter. You just answer some questions and ask questions you may have.
You have to wear business attire. If you're a chick, you wear suit jacket, slacks or pants, and a nice blouse. Conservative is fine because hey, they're pretty conservative in the business world that is Japan. Guys? Well, guys are pretty easy: suit jacket, slacks, collared button down shirt with long sleeves. Big thing in Japan is that if you have a tattoo, you can't let anyone know about it. At all. If you have a tattoo on your hand? Well, you're screwed. Me? No tattoos, so w00t!
And then you wait again until they email you to say you got the position.
And email, which I read in the morning before going to work, totally made my day. <3
Just kidding.
Anyway, the Interac interview inter-whatever process:
How to sign up:
Go to the Interac website (https://www.interacnetwork.com/recruit/) and fill out the Application. It takes a while, but it saves and you can go back to it.
Submit it and wait. After a while they'll tell you if you made it to the Interview stage.
Your first interview is done over the phone. It's only about 15 to 30 minutes long and can be really fun so long as you're not nervous. Best advice? Just be yourself. Nobody likes hiring one person they met on the phone and lands up with someone completely different in the workspace. That is lame. And honor's a big thing to me.
Then, if they like you enough, they tell you about a second interview. Right there, on the phone. I mean it. If they don't tell you, they probably didn't like you enough. I hope you're all quite charming. Anyway! So you have another interview. After your first interview, they'll email you some information about your second interview.
Then you pick an Interview location. I lucked out and landed Nashville, TN, which is only about a 2 hour drive away. One of the guys had to drive, like, a whole day to get there. I was the only shmuck who doesn't drive already, so I had to bum a ride from my parents and leave early. Sorry, mom and dad. I love you lots, but I really need to learn how to drive. (And at least they enjoyed their little visit to Nashville! It wasn't a complete loss! AND WE HAD JACK IN A BOX. Why don't they have any Jack in a Boxes here in Alabama?!)
What's the interview like? Well, you get to learn more about the Interac program and what you'll be dealing with in Japan. You should've read through the website before going to the interview because that'll make you look smarter and a better worker. Me? Well, I didn't... but I absorb pretty well and tend not to ask questions because somebody among your peers is going to ask really good questions already. Oops. I'm such a mooch.
After the intro to Interac, you have to teach a 5 minute lesson. They time you and record you. You're emailed with a guideline as to what to teach. It's a three part recording: 1) self introduction in Japanese or in English; 2) short lesson teaching about new material that's simple; 3) short lesson teaching one of a selected type of lesson. These are all really simple, and if you procrastinate a lot like me and don't start planning until the week before, you won't take it too bad. The main thing is that they want to see if you're someone that they can teach and mold into a good teacher. Luckily, they looked beyond my nervousness. The last part is an interview with your recruiter. You just answer some questions and ask questions you may have.
You have to wear business attire. If you're a chick, you wear suit jacket, slacks or pants, and a nice blouse. Conservative is fine because hey, they're pretty conservative in the business world that is Japan. Guys? Well, guys are pretty easy: suit jacket, slacks, collared button down shirt with long sleeves. Big thing in Japan is that if you have a tattoo, you can't let anyone know about it. At all. If you have a tattoo on your hand? Well, you're screwed. Me? No tattoos, so w00t!
And then you wait again until they email you to say you got the position.
And email, which I read in the morning before going to work, totally made my day. <3
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