Yoko and Tiger- the happy couple who've just been to the chapel and gone and got married (sing please)
Friday, April 07, 2006
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Rock'n'Roll wedding...
When I was a child I hated weddings. They were boring. We would travel for miles to see people I didn't know that well only to have to sit down quietly for hours and be frequently told off whenever you stood up or asked a question. As I grew up I started to change my mind. Weddings were OK. People got drunk, wore some very age-inappropriate clothes and generally became fodder for bitchy comments. And then friends started to get married which is when weddings really became fun. The wedding itself meant more and at the reception I was the one getting drunk. And then I came to Japan. And like every foriegner who's been to see the sights, I inevitably wandered into a temple or two and saw a traditional wedding in progress, and enjoyed looking at the costumes, marvelling at the sober ceremony. So I was very excited to be invited to Tiger and Yoko's wedding in Hiroshima city- what would the day hold? And this is what I thought about during the drive to Chad's new place in Onomichi on Friday night. Whatever happens, it was bound to be a good day.
Except that it wasn't just a good day, it was a great one. Possibly the most rock and roll wedding I will ever go to. Here's a simple guide on how to make your wedding rock'n'roll:
1) Open the free bar BEFORE the wedding begins (2:30pm)
2) Have 3 costume changes for the bride and groom at the reception.
3) Have the groom's really good rock band play at the reception.
4) Have an all-you-can-eat-and-drink after party in an Irish bar after the reception.
5) Spend four hours in karaoke with all the guests still drinking.
Basically the key items are free bar, music and costume changes. Chad was doing a speech and Jamie was also singing at the reception, so both had vowed to not drink until after their bits were done, but the sight of mixed cocktails tore through their resolution and the rest of us really had to support them in this, so at 2pm we were drinking. The civil ceremony started at 2:30 in the hotel chapel (sans religious fixtures). After the registrar made his grand entrance to music as if he were a reigning sports champion, Tiger and Yoko were walking the aisle, he in a morning suit and she in a white wedding dress whose train was more shinkansen in the glamour stakes. The ceremony was short but featured the usual moments, rings, signing the register and vows, and soon the couple were making their way back down the aisle. And a short while later they were stood by a golden screen in traditional Japanese costume- Yoko in a splendid red and gold kimono- while we made our way into the reception hall. Which was bonkers. Presents for the guests on every chair!
The 6 of us foriegners were sat together which was some relief as the food was ultra gourmet (caviar anyone?) and we spent lots of time trying to figure out what the various components were, but then we realised lots more interesting things were going on. First, Tiger and Yoko had to break the lid of a sake drum together (perhaps a variation on cutting the cake) and all the guests drank the sake, then there were the speeches (well done Chad!) and then they sauntered off for a quick costume change back into the western style weding outfits. Coming back in they allowed time for photos before making their way to the front table (seating only the two of them- the families sat in the far corners) and then hosting a mass game of janken-po (or rock, paper, scissors as it is know to us). And throughout the food kept on coming- after the gourmet fish plate there was sashimi (slices of raw fish), onigiri (raw fish on rice with wasabi paste), vegetable tempura, lobster, noodle soup, beef and salad, and finally melon and cake. Then Jamie got up and sang, to be followed by Tiger and his band after which it was time for another costume change- different clothes again- and on making their entrance Toger and Yoko walked around the room lighting candles on each table as they went.
This was the final stage of the reception where Tiger and Yoko made speeches to their parents and gave them flowers and the tears began to flow. And thanks to the booze continuing to flow everyone else was at least slightly tipsy. So it ended with bride, groom and their families all in tears looking more miserable than happy but cheer up-we're heading out for the after party! Which is in an Irish bar called Molly Malones. For a minimal cost (5000 yen- around 25pounds) we had an all you can eat extravaganza for two hours. And believe me we all got our money's worth. The food was delicious, the conversation even better and the atmosphere was sloshed. The newlyweds turned up after everyone else with yet another change of clothes, and with an MC dressed as a cherry tree making introductions Jamie was singing again and Tiger's band was soon playing, and Sally and I were lurching around the room with me taking pictures of her mimicking the stars on the wall- "now Farrah Fawcett! Now Linda Ronstandt! Now Shelly Winters!...!" and then at Yoko's request starting the dancing when the band had finished.
Then it was karaoke. 35 people in 2 rooms in Big Echo (not cheap) karaoke for 4 hours of drink, singing and alcohol, with much more dancing and shouting and lashings of beer. The whole day was hugely social and this was a gerat ending place. Big Echo were pleased too as the bill came to 150,000yen! More than I paid for my flight home at Christmas... On our way back to the hotel we stopped in a fast food place and I am struggling to recall what I ate. I almost wouldn't have eaten anything if Hiroshi and Tomoko hadn't helped to find a non-meat option-I was looking but I wasn't seeing.
And Sunday was quite a tiring day as with only five hours' sleep we all headed out, the others going home and me hanging about in Hiroshima to complete trainer quest. And stupidly to leave my bag on the train on the way back to Onomichi, so I had to drive to Okayama to collect it, but managed to catch up with Amy and Herb albeit briefly.
So weddings are still great. And Japanese weddings are not the formal etiquette-laden horrors I secretly suspected them to be. Although I have a strong feeling that this was not a typical Japanese wedding...
Except that it wasn't just a good day, it was a great one. Possibly the most rock and roll wedding I will ever go to. Here's a simple guide on how to make your wedding rock'n'roll:
1) Open the free bar BEFORE the wedding begins (2:30pm)
2) Have 3 costume changes for the bride and groom at the reception.
3) Have the groom's really good rock band play at the reception.
4) Have an all-you-can-eat-and-drink after party in an Irish bar after the reception.
5) Spend four hours in karaoke with all the guests still drinking.
Basically the key items are free bar, music and costume changes. Chad was doing a speech and Jamie was also singing at the reception, so both had vowed to not drink until after their bits were done, but the sight of mixed cocktails tore through their resolution and the rest of us really had to support them in this, so at 2pm we were drinking. The civil ceremony started at 2:30 in the hotel chapel (sans religious fixtures). After the registrar made his grand entrance to music as if he were a reigning sports champion, Tiger and Yoko were walking the aisle, he in a morning suit and she in a white wedding dress whose train was more shinkansen in the glamour stakes. The ceremony was short but featured the usual moments, rings, signing the register and vows, and soon the couple were making their way back down the aisle. And a short while later they were stood by a golden screen in traditional Japanese costume- Yoko in a splendid red and gold kimono- while we made our way into the reception hall. Which was bonkers. Presents for the guests on every chair!
The 6 of us foriegners were sat together which was some relief as the food was ultra gourmet (caviar anyone?) and we spent lots of time trying to figure out what the various components were, but then we realised lots more interesting things were going on. First, Tiger and Yoko had to break the lid of a sake drum together (perhaps a variation on cutting the cake) and all the guests drank the sake, then there were the speeches (well done Chad!) and then they sauntered off for a quick costume change back into the western style weding outfits. Coming back in they allowed time for photos before making their way to the front table (seating only the two of them- the families sat in the far corners) and then hosting a mass game of janken-po (or rock, paper, scissors as it is know to us). And throughout the food kept on coming- after the gourmet fish plate there was sashimi (slices of raw fish), onigiri (raw fish on rice with wasabi paste), vegetable tempura, lobster, noodle soup, beef and salad, and finally melon and cake. Then Jamie got up and sang, to be followed by Tiger and his band after which it was time for another costume change- different clothes again- and on making their entrance Toger and Yoko walked around the room lighting candles on each table as they went.
This was the final stage of the reception where Tiger and Yoko made speeches to their parents and gave them flowers and the tears began to flow. And thanks to the booze continuing to flow everyone else was at least slightly tipsy. So it ended with bride, groom and their families all in tears looking more miserable than happy but cheer up-we're heading out for the after party! Which is in an Irish bar called Molly Malones. For a minimal cost (5000 yen- around 25pounds) we had an all you can eat extravaganza for two hours. And believe me we all got our money's worth. The food was delicious, the conversation even better and the atmosphere was sloshed. The newlyweds turned up after everyone else with yet another change of clothes, and with an MC dressed as a cherry tree making introductions Jamie was singing again and Tiger's band was soon playing, and Sally and I were lurching around the room with me taking pictures of her mimicking the stars on the wall- "now Farrah Fawcett! Now Linda Ronstandt! Now Shelly Winters!...!" and then at Yoko's request starting the dancing when the band had finished.
Then it was karaoke. 35 people in 2 rooms in Big Echo (not cheap) karaoke for 4 hours of drink, singing and alcohol, with much more dancing and shouting and lashings of beer. The whole day was hugely social and this was a gerat ending place. Big Echo were pleased too as the bill came to 150,000yen! More than I paid for my flight home at Christmas... On our way back to the hotel we stopped in a fast food place and I am struggling to recall what I ate. I almost wouldn't have eaten anything if Hiroshi and Tomoko hadn't helped to find a non-meat option-I was looking but I wasn't seeing.
And Sunday was quite a tiring day as with only five hours' sleep we all headed out, the others going home and me hanging about in Hiroshima to complete trainer quest. And stupidly to leave my bag on the train on the way back to Onomichi, so I had to drive to Okayama to collect it, but managed to catch up with Amy and Herb albeit briefly.
So weddings are still great. And Japanese weddings are not the formal etiquette-laden horrors I secretly suspected them to be. Although I have a strong feeling that this was not a typical Japanese wedding...
Friday, March 31, 2006
Urgh.
Apologies for not updating this sooner, but I've been waiting for something exciting to happen. And I've decided I should just give up waiting and fill this in anyway. This is the low point of the school year- the change of the year, and spring break- the point where everything can change but nothing is actually happening. For example at my Junior High school 5 teachers are leaving. Officially I am unaware, but due to in-depth questioning/ interrogating of the part-time English teacher I found out who they all are. Cue this week which starts with Monday off in bed (no sleep on Sunday night due to very bad probably mochi and toast induced indigestion) only to return to school to find that random people are constantly walking around the staff room. Couple this with the fact that no-else is doing anything other than idly chatting and it all looks weird. For my part I have brought in my laptop and am watching episodes of "the History of Britain" and "Desperate Housewives" flinching and reducing the picture size whenever a) a key individual is killed in a tragic accident, or b) someone is poisoned or betrayed by a trusted other (in many ways it is difficult to tell these two shows apart) . I do not like watching TV at school, but I feel it necessary to ram home the point that I presently have NOTHING TO DO! And without Nickname Pending it's not even like I have a date for JoyFull either.
In reality this week has been a lot easier than the build up to it. The equivalent 7 days last year ended up with me getting rather melodramatic and feeling useless and unneeded (as opposed to the 51 other weeks of the year here), so I was dreading it coming again. But last week was quite a bit more social than I imagined it would be- JoyFull and (!!) bowling on Monday where I demonstrated that I wasn't really crap (I also demonstrated that I wasn't really good at bowling either, but you can't have it all eh? NP was wicked in the 80's sense of the word) and then on Tuesday (national holiday) tidying the apartment got put off in favour of lunch with Nao chan at a sushi restaurant in Kuse. The evening was spent in Takebe with Bob, his parents, Adam and NP, going to an onsen and having dinner. I think I'm starting to get used to onsens, although I don't think I'll get used to old men talking to me in them. Wednesday night saw a trip to Kibichuo to get a final fix of NP before she left for China and then things started to slow down. Saturday was a quiet one although Nao chan and I ended up in cheapy JoyFull where I demonstrated my complete knowledge of the menu "this is new, this is new, you get the set with this, this set comes with bread or rice..." Clearly I am a committed cheapskate.
Sunday was another big day as I swanned down to the city to meet Amy and do a spot of shopping before meeting everyone for dinner. It was big meet the parents day, with Bob and his parents, D-ran and his Ma and sister and Danielle and her parents all in attendance, so all shopped out and with both of us smelling of Paris Hilton (parfum and pour homme respectively) Amy and I headed to meet the others for a dining sensation in the izakaya above Hong Kong pachinko opposite the station. Sounds auspicious does it not? Well, the food is always good and everyone was adventurous and willing to try things and it was with this attitude that we ended up in karaoke- a mildly bizarre experience, singing stupidly in front of parents and only 4 other people you've been to karaoke with before and with no-one really drinking, but with classics like Total Eclipse of the Heart how can you fail to have a good time?
So that's been it. Apart from a phone call last night where I found out that half (yes, HALF) of the staff are leaving one of the schools I work at there's been no real event. This weekend I am off to a Japanese wedding, the first one I've been to, so hopefully I'll have something more to talk about come Monday. Au revoir and all that business.
P.S. I forgot. It is still snowing. Not right now, but last night, all yesterday, the night before and the night before. Fingers crossed that horrible humid hot summer doesn't come. I said FINGERS CROSSED!
In reality this week has been a lot easier than the build up to it. The equivalent 7 days last year ended up with me getting rather melodramatic and feeling useless and unneeded (as opposed to the 51 other weeks of the year here), so I was dreading it coming again. But last week was quite a bit more social than I imagined it would be- JoyFull and (!!) bowling on Monday where I demonstrated that I wasn't really crap (I also demonstrated that I wasn't really good at bowling either, but you can't have it all eh? NP was wicked in the 80's sense of the word) and then on Tuesday (national holiday) tidying the apartment got put off in favour of lunch with Nao chan at a sushi restaurant in Kuse. The evening was spent in Takebe with Bob, his parents, Adam and NP, going to an onsen and having dinner. I think I'm starting to get used to onsens, although I don't think I'll get used to old men talking to me in them. Wednesday night saw a trip to Kibichuo to get a final fix of NP before she left for China and then things started to slow down. Saturday was a quiet one although Nao chan and I ended up in cheapy JoyFull where I demonstrated my complete knowledge of the menu "this is new, this is new, you get the set with this, this set comes with bread or rice..." Clearly I am a committed cheapskate.
Sunday was another big day as I swanned down to the city to meet Amy and do a spot of shopping before meeting everyone for dinner. It was big meet the parents day, with Bob and his parents, D-ran and his Ma and sister and Danielle and her parents all in attendance, so all shopped out and with both of us smelling of Paris Hilton (parfum and pour homme respectively) Amy and I headed to meet the others for a dining sensation in the izakaya above Hong Kong pachinko opposite the station. Sounds auspicious does it not? Well, the food is always good and everyone was adventurous and willing to try things and it was with this attitude that we ended up in karaoke- a mildly bizarre experience, singing stupidly in front of parents and only 4 other people you've been to karaoke with before and with no-one really drinking, but with classics like Total Eclipse of the Heart how can you fail to have a good time?
So that's been it. Apart from a phone call last night where I found out that half (yes, HALF) of the staff are leaving one of the schools I work at there's been no real event. This weekend I am off to a Japanese wedding, the first one I've been to, so hopefully I'll have something more to talk about come Monday. Au revoir and all that business.
P.S. I forgot. It is still snowing. Not right now, but last night, all yesterday, the night before and the night before. Fingers crossed that horrible humid hot summer doesn't come. I said FINGERS CROSSED!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Ooh, it hurts...
The non-drinking stance of the beginning of the year seems to have fallen out of favour to be replaced by a making-up-for-lost-time stance. This began last wednesday with dinner at Nao chan's after teaching at the neighbouring school during the day. The school day was great, the kids were lovely as usual and the 6th graders threw a thank you party for all the teachers. Plus a certain foriegner-starring TV show was shown throughout the school at lunchtime. Mildly embarrassing? Mildly...
So Nao chan demonstrated the art of flour-free okonomiyaki (which also means a more vegetarian style- until, that is, you throw in the squid and prawns and fish cake), Oji-san bought a trawler's worth of delicious sashimi and Papa-san brought on the beers, so after another evening of conversation where all but Nao chan ended up trolleyed it was home time.
As if to give the liver a chance to reaccustom itself, Thursday was a civilised evening, an evening of good company (the lady from the flower shop), good food (tasty pizza) and Audrey Hepburn. "Sabrina Fair" is an hilarious film, I had forgotten how much so. It must also have a remarkably simple dialogue as I was able to read and understand most of the kanji in the subtitles (must practice at home) . And to end Thursday there was only one way- stay on the phone until close to midnight (thanks to Nickname Pending for her support and assistance in this matter) and indulge in a St Patrick's day-break lenten-fast-breaking chocolate feast. Spending an hour eating chocolate probably isn't the best thing to eat before bedtime, but I am more than accustomed to it.
And then came Friday night. Breeda was having a St Patrick's day party, and being part Irish attendance was essential, so I headed to Kishimoto (in Tottori) as per her instructions and parked by the pensioner's bus). Breeda met me and led me to her rather stunning 70's house (with an open staircase, lots of wood and lots of geometrical panels- it's almost perfect) and pretty soon the party was in full swing. Most of the crowd from the ski trip was present- Katherine, Alex, Steve, Virginie, Jess and Caroline as well as more, but with the help of Bombay Sapphire and Breeda's baby guiness' it seemed like there were hundreds. By 11:30 we were bumping and grinding in the lounge, dancing with Virginie, me swinging Katherine around, Steve trying to swing me around and Alex and I got to know each other a little better.
Saturday was a thankfully slower day as none of us had gotten too much sleep and after a late lunch at Giardino's we headed off to start the evening. Plans had changed and we were all heading to Caroline's to relax and watch American Idol which is the thing to do when you're in Tottori. We got pizza, drank, and settled in, some Japanese friends of the group joined us and we were having a good time. And then Steve said the magic word- karaoke. So at 12 o'clock we all headed off to karaoke, and having made print-club stickers we must have started singing at around 1o'clock. Thanks (again) to the remainder of the Bombay Sapphire (two thirds of a litre- shared may I state) I don't remember many of the songs that were sung, more just lots of jumping up and down, falling down and rearranging pictures. But I do remember doing Baby Love with Jess and it was lovely. And hurting my jaw as I opened my mouth ridiculously wide to hit the high notes in Independent Women. Although it could have hurt from the time we spent in karaoke- we left at 5! FIVE! AM!
On Sunday things were beginning to hurt. Not so much a hangover as a shaking and a strange pinching inside. The fortunate thing was that the drive home was only 50 minutes, although a stop was made for oden which was difficult to eat given the shaking and pinching. But on arrival at home I remembered a prior arrangement- to meet with the deputy of the group for whom I did the English seminar last weekend and his brother to practice English. And jolly kind and friendly they were too. Except with only a small voice and not much energy at all I wasn't able to be as entertaining (or indeed human) as I would have liked. And soon we were sitting down to dinner at which point a beer can was thrust in front of me and I could feel my liver pushing against my skin to try and escape...
So Nao chan demonstrated the art of flour-free okonomiyaki (which also means a more vegetarian style- until, that is, you throw in the squid and prawns and fish cake), Oji-san bought a trawler's worth of delicious sashimi and Papa-san brought on the beers, so after another evening of conversation where all but Nao chan ended up trolleyed it was home time.
As if to give the liver a chance to reaccustom itself, Thursday was a civilised evening, an evening of good company (the lady from the flower shop), good food (tasty pizza) and Audrey Hepburn. "Sabrina Fair" is an hilarious film, I had forgotten how much so. It must also have a remarkably simple dialogue as I was able to read and understand most of the kanji in the subtitles (must practice at home) . And to end Thursday there was only one way- stay on the phone until close to midnight (thanks to Nickname Pending for her support and assistance in this matter) and indulge in a St Patrick's day-break lenten-fast-breaking chocolate feast. Spending an hour eating chocolate probably isn't the best thing to eat before bedtime, but I am more than accustomed to it.
And then came Friday night. Breeda was having a St Patrick's day party, and being part Irish attendance was essential, so I headed to Kishimoto (in Tottori) as per her instructions and parked by the pensioner's bus). Breeda met me and led me to her rather stunning 70's house (with an open staircase, lots of wood and lots of geometrical panels- it's almost perfect) and pretty soon the party was in full swing. Most of the crowd from the ski trip was present- Katherine, Alex, Steve, Virginie, Jess and Caroline as well as more, but with the help of Bombay Sapphire and Breeda's baby guiness' it seemed like there were hundreds. By 11:30 we were bumping and grinding in the lounge, dancing with Virginie, me swinging Katherine around, Steve trying to swing me around and Alex and I got to know each other a little better.
Saturday was a thankfully slower day as none of us had gotten too much sleep and after a late lunch at Giardino's we headed off to start the evening. Plans had changed and we were all heading to Caroline's to relax and watch American Idol which is the thing to do when you're in Tottori. We got pizza, drank, and settled in, some Japanese friends of the group joined us and we were having a good time. And then Steve said the magic word- karaoke. So at 12 o'clock we all headed off to karaoke, and having made print-club stickers we must have started singing at around 1o'clock. Thanks (again) to the remainder of the Bombay Sapphire (two thirds of a litre- shared may I state) I don't remember many of the songs that were sung, more just lots of jumping up and down, falling down and rearranging pictures. But I do remember doing Baby Love with Jess and it was lovely. And hurting my jaw as I opened my mouth ridiculously wide to hit the high notes in Independent Women. Although it could have hurt from the time we spent in karaoke- we left at 5! FIVE! AM!
On Sunday things were beginning to hurt. Not so much a hangover as a shaking and a strange pinching inside. The fortunate thing was that the drive home was only 50 minutes, although a stop was made for oden which was difficult to eat given the shaking and pinching. But on arrival at home I remembered a prior arrangement- to meet with the deputy of the group for whom I did the English seminar last weekend and his brother to practice English. And jolly kind and friendly they were too. Except with only a small voice and not much energy at all I wasn't able to be as entertaining (or indeed human) as I would have liked. And soon we were sitting down to dinner at which point a beer can was thrust in front of me and I could feel my liver pushing against my skin to try and escape...
Friday, March 17, 2006
Handsome, stylish, sophisticated...
is what I was aiming for on Tuesday morning at the student's graduation.
6:50 Wake up early to make sure I have enough time to get ready. I wash and shave, but oops, I have a tiny shaving cut. Not to worry, the hot shower will stop the bleeding (it always does). I shower and blow-dry my hair. I put on my best suit and check I have all I needed for the day. I eat breakfast and at 8am leave home to cycle to school.
8:15am Arrive at school on time, looking good. Say "ohayou gozaimasu" to everyone I see. They respond in kind. I wonder if the cycle ride messed up my hair. Will check. Must look good for the photos after the ceremony. Check my hair in the mirror. Huh? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
Chin still bleeding. Am bleeding like a pig. Have blood trailing down chin. Must dab with tissue. No, that's not working. Must apply pressure.
8:30am S%$t! Still bleeding. Ten minutes to graduation and have an inch of blood on my chin. More tissues.
8:40am GAH! Will surreptitiously hide tissue in palm and hold my finger to chin so that I appear pensive and thoughtful when actually am trying to stop bleeding.
9:00am Am in graduation ceremony. Still looking pensive.
9:15am Am actually feeling pensive now. And bloody cold. The gym is never the best place to have a ceremony when it's snowing. Still bleeding.
9:30am Singing the school song now. Is it possible to look thoughtful while you sing?
9:40am Perhaps have developed leukaemia.
9:50am Am on last tissue. Perhaps was not shaving cut but instead have developed facial stigmata to celebrate lent. Didn't realise I was this deeply religious.
10:00am Alleluia. 2 hours and 40 minutes later the red river appears to have dried up. Perhaps am now anaemic. Shall wait four weeks and see if it restarts before deciding if it was hormonal rather than accidental...
6:50 Wake up early to make sure I have enough time to get ready. I wash and shave, but oops, I have a tiny shaving cut. Not to worry, the hot shower will stop the bleeding (it always does). I shower and blow-dry my hair. I put on my best suit and check I have all I needed for the day. I eat breakfast and at 8am leave home to cycle to school.
8:15am Arrive at school on time, looking good. Say "ohayou gozaimasu" to everyone I see. They respond in kind. I wonder if the cycle ride messed up my hair. Will check. Must look good for the photos after the ceremony. Check my hair in the mirror. Huh? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
Chin still bleeding. Am bleeding like a pig. Have blood trailing down chin. Must dab with tissue. No, that's not working. Must apply pressure.
8:30am S%$t! Still bleeding. Ten minutes to graduation and have an inch of blood on my chin. More tissues.
8:40am GAH! Will surreptitiously hide tissue in palm and hold my finger to chin so that I appear pensive and thoughtful when actually am trying to stop bleeding.
9:00am Am in graduation ceremony. Still looking pensive.
9:15am Am actually feeling pensive now. And bloody cold. The gym is never the best place to have a ceremony when it's snowing. Still bleeding.
9:30am Singing the school song now. Is it possible to look thoughtful while you sing?
9:40am Perhaps have developed leukaemia.
9:50am Am on last tissue. Perhaps was not shaving cut but instead have developed facial stigmata to celebrate lent. Didn't realise I was this deeply religious.
10:00am Alleluia. 2 hours and 40 minutes later the red river appears to have dried up. Perhaps am now anaemic. Shall wait four weeks and see if it restarts before deciding if it was hormonal rather than accidental...
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Oden on sale in Lawsons. Clockwise from top left: tofu, wiener (non non-meat variety), chikuwa (fish cake roll), noodles, roll cabbage (filled with non non-meat mincemeat), daikon (Japanese radish), tofu gift bag (I have no idea what this is). Often you find konnyaku (ground vegetable root made into a big jelly lump which tastes surprisingly good after you've been here a year and a half), eggs and sometimes potatoes. All left boiling for hours and hours on the counter. Delicious.
"Everyone says you've changed...
tonight you are like a gentleman." This sentence would be a scene-setter for romantic moment in a badly-written novel (hitting your book stores in 2007- "love in the paddy field", the story of how a wild and enigmatic English wooed the locals in a small Japanese town before finding true love with a midget with a hair lip) but no, it was followed with, "you are drinking slowly and look different". I thought blow-drying my hair would be a nice touch seeing as I was wearing a suit, and I did make an impression when I arrived, but I think they preferred the "strong heavy drunker" look. They soon got their wish...
Saturday night was the teaching session- the seminar I agreed to in January for which we've had lots of discussion and preparation, the seminar for which I had to choose a theme song, and the seminar which I was beginning to worry about. I was collected from my apartment by a taxi at 7pm and driven to the Riverside hotel where we briefly went over the details again and at 8pm it began. With my theme tune. Now, I had the perfect idea for a theme tune. Remember the sitcom "Hangin' With Mr Cooper?", well that's what I wanted. But I couldn't find a decent quality version, so I made do with GoldFrapp instead. And it was appropriate as I really DO want to ride on a white horse. So I walked into the room to the sounds of Goldfrapp feeling like a slightly bewildered game show host. The session was fun- we practiced self-introductions, practiced the group's creed and then went on to a question and answer session, where they asked me questions in English and I replied in Japanese. Except I tried to. The most memorable question was "do you like Japanese hot springs?", to which I replied, "no I am too embarrassed, but how about you?" The man replied, "no. I have a small body". He was almost my height and not skinny, so I can only assume he meant something else...
The session ended and as is the way here we went into an after party where food (tuna sandwiches- heaven!) and lots of drink was served, although this is where my gentlemanly behaviour was commented on. So I supped up quick smart and was soon trolleyed with the rest of them, chatting away in incorrect Japanese and then, hey! We're off to Karaoke!
Well, Katsuyama's karaoke salon has pulled a blinder (done something amazing). Despite the fact that the booths are close to falling down and are held together with gaffer tape, they have managed to install a new karaoke system whereby the lights dim as the song starts and come back on when it finishes. So with this lovely technology in place we set about singing songs we all knew. The group came up with the fabulous idea of singing Japanese cover versions of western songs and then having me sing the original version after. Although with a few more pints in us we just started singing random songs again, and the only woman there was made to sing duets with me. "A whole new world" is definitely the duet of choice in Japan. Stopping for oden on the way home I prepared mentally to watch the DVD they'd given me of the Kuse television documentary on me and Tara. Except I hadn't actually prepared mentally, I was just trolleyed, so I watched it twice laughing all the way through and then went to bed. I can't bring myself to watch it again...
Sunday was a quiet day of recovery, the only point of note was going to see the film "Yamato" in Kuse. In Japanese. One of my elementary teachers kindly bought me a ticket after we talked about the film at school a few weeks ago. It was about the crew of the Japanese warship Yamato and was probably very heart rending and emotional if you could actually understand any of what was going on. The end didn't need much explanation though as the warship got blown up and almost everyone died in the most graphic of fashions.
Yesterday I woke to what I thought was bright sun through the curtains, and I was almost right. It was moderate sun reflecting off the bright snow which brought temperatures down again. At school they prepared for graduation and I sat at my desk drawing all day and arranging for a JoyFull evening with Nickname Pending.
Today it was the students' graduation and the third grade have most definitely left the building. Under cover of more snow. I wonder if it ever will stop. Still, I can't say I'm too bothered. It's very nice.
Saturday night was the teaching session- the seminar I agreed to in January for which we've had lots of discussion and preparation, the seminar for which I had to choose a theme song, and the seminar which I was beginning to worry about. I was collected from my apartment by a taxi at 7pm and driven to the Riverside hotel where we briefly went over the details again and at 8pm it began. With my theme tune. Now, I had the perfect idea for a theme tune. Remember the sitcom "Hangin' With Mr Cooper?", well that's what I wanted. But I couldn't find a decent quality version, so I made do with GoldFrapp instead. And it was appropriate as I really DO want to ride on a white horse. So I walked into the room to the sounds of Goldfrapp feeling like a slightly bewildered game show host. The session was fun- we practiced self-introductions, practiced the group's creed and then went on to a question and answer session, where they asked me questions in English and I replied in Japanese. Except I tried to. The most memorable question was "do you like Japanese hot springs?", to which I replied, "no I am too embarrassed, but how about you?" The man replied, "no. I have a small body". He was almost my height and not skinny, so I can only assume he meant something else...
The session ended and as is the way here we went into an after party where food (tuna sandwiches- heaven!) and lots of drink was served, although this is where my gentlemanly behaviour was commented on. So I supped up quick smart and was soon trolleyed with the rest of them, chatting away in incorrect Japanese and then, hey! We're off to Karaoke!
Well, Katsuyama's karaoke salon has pulled a blinder (done something amazing). Despite the fact that the booths are close to falling down and are held together with gaffer tape, they have managed to install a new karaoke system whereby the lights dim as the song starts and come back on when it finishes. So with this lovely technology in place we set about singing songs we all knew. The group came up with the fabulous idea of singing Japanese cover versions of western songs and then having me sing the original version after. Although with a few more pints in us we just started singing random songs again, and the only woman there was made to sing duets with me. "A whole new world" is definitely the duet of choice in Japan. Stopping for oden on the way home I prepared mentally to watch the DVD they'd given me of the Kuse television documentary on me and Tara. Except I hadn't actually prepared mentally, I was just trolleyed, so I watched it twice laughing all the way through and then went to bed. I can't bring myself to watch it again...
Sunday was a quiet day of recovery, the only point of note was going to see the film "Yamato" in Kuse. In Japanese. One of my elementary teachers kindly bought me a ticket after we talked about the film at school a few weeks ago. It was about the crew of the Japanese warship Yamato and was probably very heart rending and emotional if you could actually understand any of what was going on. The end didn't need much explanation though as the warship got blown up and almost everyone died in the most graphic of fashions.
Yesterday I woke to what I thought was bright sun through the curtains, and I was almost right. It was moderate sun reflecting off the bright snow which brought temperatures down again. At school they prepared for graduation and I sat at my desk drawing all day and arranging for a JoyFull evening with Nickname Pending.
Today it was the students' graduation and the third grade have most definitely left the building. Under cover of more snow. I wonder if it ever will stop. Still, I can't say I'm too bothered. It's very nice.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Make it stop, make it stoooooop...
Yes the rollercoaster etched itself up another notch this week with what felt like a constant stream of activity at work and in the evenings. This is not something I would normally be even slightly bothered by, but my cold has come back and it's made it a bit of a drag at times.
The week started with the regular Monday JoyFull evening, where Nickname Pending, Adam and I met in Takahashi to enjoy our regular choices (our dietary requirements mean we always eat the same meals, but hey, it's cheap and it tastes good) and already I was feeling a bit low-energy from the weekend's exertions, but hey-ho, it's elementary school for the next three days, so I'll have to power-up somehow...
At elementary school on Tuesday I did the lesson I hate most (the make a face game- fukuwarai- where blindfolded students place face parts on a head with their friends guiding them in English) but thanks to the teachers at a different school I managed to organise it differently and it finally worked well. And after school I had plans: I was to go to the Riverside hotel in Ochiai to prepare for Saturday's upcoming teacing session. Only I was supposed to go dinner with Take-chan first, but I couldn't remember where or what time. But in a stroke of luck I bumped into Papa-san's sister in the supermarket and she regaled me with the details. And then apparently told everyone that I'd forgotten which led to Nao-chan and Take-chan telling everyone that I always forget everything. I forgot once! D'oh! But dinner was tasty and I didn't have to pay for it, so hey, it all works out...
The rehearsal worked well although they kept asking me to "energy-up" as I was rather quiet (read: tired and slightly unwell) and I assured them that I would "energy-up", while at the same time wondering how I could manage 30 different responses to the members reading out one line of writing. Hmm...
Wednesday was another "exciting" day at elementary school where I agreed to take on another conversation class, and afterwards Nao-chan came to my house for important conversations but lightened the mood by bringing copious amounts of non-chocolate based snacks. Yay for Nao-chan.
Thursday was just awkward in every way. I did my favourite lesson with fifth and sixth grade, a lesson that has never failed yet, and the only class in which it worked properly was the one where the teacher wandered out and left me alone. D'oh. And whilst walking to that class I had a six year old boy try and sexually assault me repeatedly with a broom handle. And while he was doing it another was taking flying kicks at my thighs. Fortunately a teacher saw the incident and made the flying kick boy apologise. Clearly sexually asaulting the Assistant Language Teacher is OK.
And if things had been difficult at school I had the evening to look forward to. A short while ago the warden of my apartment block (nice woman, my age, 2 cute kids, friendly husband) told me her friend wanted to meet me. Bear in mind I was having a dumb day. I said, "OK". She said her friend wanted to be my friend and is that ok? "Sure, ok", I replied. So she invited me to hers so that we could all dine together. Yay. And three hours after this conversation (and possibly as a result of the emails from GWEHF) I realised that "she wants to be your friend often means a bit more here. So at 7 I headed off to dinner, and fortunately this girl doesn't eat her feelings but did look like she ate enough. And the food was great, but the conversation tended towards the usual lines- "what do you think of Japanese girls?", "what is your type?", "are you single (because I am)?" to which I gave the standard responses, "Japanese girls are friendly and stylish", "I don't know" and "I'm always single because I am selfish and like to do what I want to do". The latter response, with the use of a dictionary, got expanded to "stubborn and obstinate" to which I readily agreed as it seemed to make me less dateable. She on the other hand seemed like a very nice, considerate and caring girl, who was quite good looking and had an unfortunate obsession with Korea and Bae-Yon Joon, my Korean look-alike. The night ended with us agreeing to go out for drinks with mutual friends (not alone- I'm not sooo stupid).
Friday came with a sigh of relief- I was at Junior high and could do nothing all day. Except I ended up in two classes and then managed to gatecrash a cookery class for the first graders (I think I was only supposed to observe but somehow managed to muscle in and join one of the groups). And the evening was spent doing a blissful nothing. Except for having hot baths and relaxing to try and feel better for the excitment that was to come on Saturday.
All I'll say for now about Saturday is that it was 17 degrees in the daytime. Lovely t-shirt weather. And today? Today it's snowing again. Blizzards. Even the weather's like a rollercoaster...
The week started with the regular Monday JoyFull evening, where Nickname Pending, Adam and I met in Takahashi to enjoy our regular choices (our dietary requirements mean we always eat the same meals, but hey, it's cheap and it tastes good) and already I was feeling a bit low-energy from the weekend's exertions, but hey-ho, it's elementary school for the next three days, so I'll have to power-up somehow...
At elementary school on Tuesday I did the lesson I hate most (the make a face game- fukuwarai- where blindfolded students place face parts on a head with their friends guiding them in English) but thanks to the teachers at a different school I managed to organise it differently and it finally worked well. And after school I had plans: I was to go to the Riverside hotel in Ochiai to prepare for Saturday's upcoming teacing session. Only I was supposed to go dinner with Take-chan first, but I couldn't remember where or what time. But in a stroke of luck I bumped into Papa-san's sister in the supermarket and she regaled me with the details. And then apparently told everyone that I'd forgotten which led to Nao-chan and Take-chan telling everyone that I always forget everything. I forgot once! D'oh! But dinner was tasty and I didn't have to pay for it, so hey, it all works out...
The rehearsal worked well although they kept asking me to "energy-up" as I was rather quiet (read: tired and slightly unwell) and I assured them that I would "energy-up", while at the same time wondering how I could manage 30 different responses to the members reading out one line of writing. Hmm...
Wednesday was another "exciting" day at elementary school where I agreed to take on another conversation class, and afterwards Nao-chan came to my house for important conversations but lightened the mood by bringing copious amounts of non-chocolate based snacks. Yay for Nao-chan.
Thursday was just awkward in every way. I did my favourite lesson with fifth and sixth grade, a lesson that has never failed yet, and the only class in which it worked properly was the one where the teacher wandered out and left me alone. D'oh. And whilst walking to that class I had a six year old boy try and sexually assault me repeatedly with a broom handle. And while he was doing it another was taking flying kicks at my thighs. Fortunately a teacher saw the incident and made the flying kick boy apologise. Clearly sexually asaulting the Assistant Language Teacher is OK.
And if things had been difficult at school I had the evening to look forward to. A short while ago the warden of my apartment block (nice woman, my age, 2 cute kids, friendly husband) told me her friend wanted to meet me. Bear in mind I was having a dumb day. I said, "OK". She said her friend wanted to be my friend and is that ok? "Sure, ok", I replied. So she invited me to hers so that we could all dine together. Yay. And three hours after this conversation (and possibly as a result of the emails from GWEHF) I realised that "she wants to be your friend often means a bit more here. So at 7 I headed off to dinner, and fortunately this girl doesn't eat her feelings but did look like she ate enough. And the food was great, but the conversation tended towards the usual lines- "what do you think of Japanese girls?", "what is your type?", "are you single (because I am)?" to which I gave the standard responses, "Japanese girls are friendly and stylish", "I don't know" and "I'm always single because I am selfish and like to do what I want to do". The latter response, with the use of a dictionary, got expanded to "stubborn and obstinate" to which I readily agreed as it seemed to make me less dateable. She on the other hand seemed like a very nice, considerate and caring girl, who was quite good looking and had an unfortunate obsession with Korea and Bae-Yon Joon, my Korean look-alike. The night ended with us agreeing to go out for drinks with mutual friends (not alone- I'm not sooo stupid).
Friday came with a sigh of relief- I was at Junior high and could do nothing all day. Except I ended up in two classes and then managed to gatecrash a cookery class for the first graders (I think I was only supposed to observe but somehow managed to muscle in and join one of the groups). And the evening was spent doing a blissful nothing. Except for having hot baths and relaxing to try and feel better for the excitment that was to come on Saturday.
All I'll say for now about Saturday is that it was 17 degrees in the daytime. Lovely t-shirt weather. And today? Today it's snowing again. Blizzards. Even the weather's like a rollercoaster...
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Monday, March 06, 2006
Sorry Jesus.
Lent this year has gotten off to a bad start. As per every other year I can remember I have given up chocolate for lent. Unlike every other year I can remember I have defaulted on this pledge. And if you're going to default, you may as well really default. So I've eaten chocolate in some shape or form everyday of lent so far. Until today. Yesterday's portion was a white chocolate cheesecake, but as we all know there's really no chocolate in white chocolate. In fact it's only called "white chocolate" because "vanilla flavoured cock-a-doo-doo" wouldn't sell so well. So I don't think it really counts. In which case I started properly yesterday.
Yesterday was also the day the stalker emails began to stop. Largely I think because I continually "forgot" to reply. On Friday night I went to dinner with Nao chan to have the Gay talk and to get to the bottom of the whole giving-out-of-emails scandal and as usual nothing was as it seemed. First my being gay was barely worth batting an eyelid, indeed she has other gay friends (big sigh of relief- no having to explain that one at every party then; I had suspected it would be more of an enigma than vegetarianism). But then she asked me if the Girl-Who-Eats-Her-Feelings (tm) had emailed me. "Yeah, like, a thooouuusand times", I said in my best Californian-high-school bitch voice. The following conversation revealed that last Wednesday while I was visiting Nao chan in her office, GWEHF joined us and while Nao chan made tea, GWEHF swiped Nao chan's phone and copied out my email address, no doubt wondering which food she would text me about first. Thank God we never got onto desserts...
Well, the rest of the weekend was spent pondering what shift is happening in the stars as things seem to be quite strange all round right now. After a brief spell of shopping in which I actually bought nothing (thus making it a brief spell looking) I bumped into Rachel and Kathryn and we eventually headed off to meet Amy, Bob, D-ran, Claire, Ilana and her Dad and a whole host of other for dinner in Asian Kitchen before heading to karaoke where Adam and Julia joined us straight from the cinema. They couldn't stay long as they had to be up early to film an English video in a zoo (!?) and showed us a hugely innuendo laden script which had me chortling for a long while.
Despite Amy's hobbling (she'd been injured in a rugby game), she, Herb, Bob and I headed off to the Aussie bar for conversations about burning-out, school, teaching and gossip before heading back to theirs via 7-11 where I indulged in an Oden feast (picture to follow. Oden is my new fetish).
Sunday was another day of easy socialising and career advice as Amy shared her expert knowledge on writing (thank you!) and we then met Claire for lunch in a lovely cafe in town. After more shopping Julia took me to a flower arrangement show where we sneered in perfect English at some of the more outlandish designs and had coffee before I headed back to Katsuyama.
It's now Monday after and GWEHF hasn't emailed me for close to two days. Fingers crossed I shake her off before my date on Thursday. I don't want to be accused of two-timing vulnerable ladies. That would be TOO bizarre...
Yesterday was also the day the stalker emails began to stop. Largely I think because I continually "forgot" to reply. On Friday night I went to dinner with Nao chan to have the Gay talk and to get to the bottom of the whole giving-out-of-emails scandal and as usual nothing was as it seemed. First my being gay was barely worth batting an eyelid, indeed she has other gay friends (big sigh of relief- no having to explain that one at every party then; I had suspected it would be more of an enigma than vegetarianism). But then she asked me if the Girl-Who-Eats-Her-Feelings (tm) had emailed me. "Yeah, like, a thooouuusand times", I said in my best Californian-high-school bitch voice. The following conversation revealed that last Wednesday while I was visiting Nao chan in her office, GWEHF joined us and while Nao chan made tea, GWEHF swiped Nao chan's phone and copied out my email address, no doubt wondering which food she would text me about first. Thank God we never got onto desserts...
Well, the rest of the weekend was spent pondering what shift is happening in the stars as things seem to be quite strange all round right now. After a brief spell of shopping in which I actually bought nothing (thus making it a brief spell looking) I bumped into Rachel and Kathryn and we eventually headed off to meet Amy, Bob, D-ran, Claire, Ilana and her Dad and a whole host of other for dinner in Asian Kitchen before heading to karaoke where Adam and Julia joined us straight from the cinema. They couldn't stay long as they had to be up early to film an English video in a zoo (!?) and showed us a hugely innuendo laden script which had me chortling for a long while.
Despite Amy's hobbling (she'd been injured in a rugby game), she, Herb, Bob and I headed off to the Aussie bar for conversations about burning-out, school, teaching and gossip before heading back to theirs via 7-11 where I indulged in an Oden feast (picture to follow. Oden is my new fetish).
Sunday was another day of easy socialising and career advice as Amy shared her expert knowledge on writing (thank you!) and we then met Claire for lunch in a lovely cafe in town. After more shopping Julia took me to a flower arrangement show where we sneered in perfect English at some of the more outlandish designs and had coffee before I headed back to Katsuyama.
It's now Monday after and GWEHF hasn't emailed me for close to two days. Fingers crossed I shake her off before my date on Thursday. I don't want to be accused of two-timing vulnerable ladies. That would be TOO bizarre...
Friday, March 03, 2006
No sex please I'm British.
This week has been an odd one. Monday's JoyFull trip turned into a big panicky Clash-style "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" type moment, and really much of the week has led me towards the latter (sorry Nickname Pending!) Junior High has been fairly mind-numbing, one of my elementary schools seemed to think I was leaving this week (and didn't seem too bothered- GAH!) and to increase the oddness of what's going on I am being set up with women left right and centre. Nao-chan recently asked LeeJay if I was gay, and LeeJay followed the correct etiquette on the matter and told her she should ask me. So bizarrely Nao chan has started giving my keitai email address to lonely women who eat their feelings and seem to want to spend their evenings bombarding my mobile phone with messages about food. Which is mildly alarming but good Japanese practice. Wednesday night, which was possibly the getting-to-know-you stage of the email relationship, had involved 7- SEVEN!- emails about food and a wake up email on Thursday morning (at 7:30 am, which fortunately didn't mention breakfast). Nickname Pending is now performing the role of temporary beard while I deal with Nao chan and the Gay issue, and she was very useful in fending off emails last night as we watched a very odd Japanese film at hers. Thursday night's follow up went as follows:
Email 1: "What have you eaten today? It is croquettes at my house."
Response: "Today I ate chocolate for dinner. Now I am at my friends house. She lives in Kibichuo"
Email 2: "Your dinner was chocolate?! You're in Kibichuo?! Do you have a car? Take care driving home. It's snowing heavily again."
Response: "..."
It is very difficult as I don't want to be rude per se, but given my Japanese is limited to statements and excludes any type of comment that involves subtlety, I have very little choice other than to not reply. I think. If you have any pointers please assist as my "burn in hell" points are on the rise again...
And as if one emotion-eating non-girlfriend wasn't enough, next Thursday I am going to dinner with my apartment building's caretaker and her friend who wants to "be my friend". I find it all a little strange. And I think I have good reason given the staff parties I went to in the first year of being here where questions revolved around girlfriends and marriage (and buresuto fesuchivaru) and where available women were sat next to me or across from me with everyone watching and listening...
And this has all been strange enough, but it's not been all. Together with the final day of filming for mine and Tara's TV special on local TV, and the fact that I have yet to select the theme tune that is supposed to play as I walk through the doors to teach a group of business men next Saturday, I will probably be glad to escape to the relative sanity of the city and get away from a life that is increasingly becoming like a sitcom for the socially inept.
And it's snowing. Again.
Email 1: "What have you eaten today? It is croquettes at my house."
Response: "Today I ate chocolate for dinner. Now I am at my friends house. She lives in Kibichuo"
Email 2: "Your dinner was chocolate?! You're in Kibichuo?! Do you have a car? Take care driving home. It's snowing heavily again."
Response: "..."
It is very difficult as I don't want to be rude per se, but given my Japanese is limited to statements and excludes any type of comment that involves subtlety, I have very little choice other than to not reply. I think. If you have any pointers please assist as my "burn in hell" points are on the rise again...
And as if one emotion-eating non-girlfriend wasn't enough, next Thursday I am going to dinner with my apartment building's caretaker and her friend who wants to "be my friend". I find it all a little strange. And I think I have good reason given the staff parties I went to in the first year of being here where questions revolved around girlfriends and marriage (and buresuto fesuchivaru) and where available women were sat next to me or across from me with everyone watching and listening...
And this has all been strange enough, but it's not been all. Together with the final day of filming for mine and Tara's TV special on local TV, and the fact that I have yet to select the theme tune that is supposed to play as I walk through the doors to teach a group of business men next Saturday, I will probably be glad to escape to the relative sanity of the city and get away from a life that is increasingly becoming like a sitcom for the socially inept.
And it's snowing. Again.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Falling face-first...
Lst week was another relentless week with more than the usual going on. After my TV fame moment I set to work preparing the current edition of the Fuzzy Peach, our prefecture's JET magazine, using Word and copies of Photoshop that had only Japanese and Brazilian language abilities. So now I know how to say "merge images" in Brazilian Portugese which I'm sure will never, ever come in useful. Oh well. The stress of struggling with three languages clearly contributed to my worsening cold and resulted in my staying at home on Wednesday and sleeping until 11 (it seems to have knocked my appetite on the head too, which is never a bad thing when lent is coming up). Anyway, I finally finished the Fuzzy at 10pm on Thursday before realising that I had yet to reinstall the printer (after the big computer breakdown) and this almost become a major trauma as nothing was working and about 14 other languages kept popping up. Suddenly all I could think was, "je ne suis pas un famille polyglotte" which, along with "une salle de bains" and "ou est le bibliotheque", is about the only French I can remember. And it didn't help. But by 2am I had finished printing it out and stuffing it in envelopes and had prepared the address labels ready to send in on the rush that was to become Friday.
Friday was one of those days where everyone wants a piece of you, only at the wrong time. It sometimes seems like people only have work for me to do outside of work hours, and as four o'clock came it seemed to become "test the students" time. And then when I finally got away Nao chan wanted to talk to me, and then her friend wanted to talk to me, but I simply didn't have the time! So I made my excuses and rushed off home to pack for the weekend and the doorbell rings. It's 2 of my elementary school girls who live in a building next to mine and are often to be found running around my apartment block. So I let them in, thinking they'll run around the hallways, but no! They want to come in to my apartment and given that I won't let them, they want to stand at my doorway and talk to me for a seemingly endless amount of time. So after I close the door on them for the third time and get ready to jump in the shower they ring the bell. Again. So I get in the showeranyway and start singing loudly, knowing they'll hear it outside...
I finally got away at 5:35, speeding on the highway to mount Daisen. It was a nice drive where I found out what happens once you go over the top limit on the car's speedometer- the car just gets faster. This would actually be alarming if the speedometer went above 140 kms an hour (approximately 90 miles an hour). But then the speed limit on the -ahem- "express"way is half that.
I was heading to Daisen for a ski weekend with some people I'd met at the Naked Man festival and it was great fun. Steve booked rooms for the 12 of us in a hotel on the mountain and we spent the night eating, drinking, watching American Idol and doing a spot of karaoke before passing out.
Saturday came, and with only a couple of hour's sleep (due to nasty alcohol and the heat in the bedroom) we headed out to the slopes, myself and a very funny girl called Breeda being the only beginners. And thanks to the very patient teaching of Steve and Alex we were soon (well after about an hour and a half) getting down the slopes by ourselves. And falling. And being jolted on the ski-lift. And falling again. Breeda and I spent half our time laughing at the contorted shapes I kept ending up in, some of them feeling rather painful, but both decided we love skiing and are going to do it again.
So after skiing, Steve, Alex, Virginie and I headed out to an onsen and then to dinner at a very stylish restaurant which felt more like something you'd find in London or New York than Yonago, Tottori and served some of the richest, tastiest waffles I think I've ever eaten.
From there we headed to Katherine's apartment (where everyone was staying) to get ready before heading out for a big Tottori ALT party which seemed quite crazy. The bar was like something from a seventies disaster movie (all beige velvet couches, glass walls and black paintwork) and the music was a very bizarre mix, with live bands, and DJs who were playing very, very muddled sets. But the drink helped, and the people were hilarious, (thanks to Jess, who was my beautiful dancing partner for part of the night) so we managed to stay till the end, although we were flagging by the next bar and returned home, Alex and I making a trip to Lawson via an ill-advised detour. Through a sopping paddy-field. D'oh.
Sunday was almost like coma day. I perhaps slept for an half an hour on Saturday night and Sunday morning seems rather disjointed. We all rose and eventually Katherine, Jess, Virginie and her friend (whose name I can't spell), Steve and I were in a very nice restaurant having paninis and enjoying the french bossa-nova lounge soundtrack that was playing. Actually i was enjoying it the most, but i may have been delirious. And we spent the afternoon in the cinema waiting patiently for Jodie Foster to shout, "where's maaaah baaaabyyy?" in the rather ludicrous but entertaining "Flight Plan".
It seemed a shame to have to head home to an empty apartment, but the lure of sleep was too much and by 9:30 I was out cold. And this week? It's back to the usual school routine with what could have been a dreary Monday night transformed into a JoyFull night of conversation, gossip and laughter with the marvellous Nickname Pending. Thank you miss!
Friday was one of those days where everyone wants a piece of you, only at the wrong time. It sometimes seems like people only have work for me to do outside of work hours, and as four o'clock came it seemed to become "test the students" time. And then when I finally got away Nao chan wanted to talk to me, and then her friend wanted to talk to me, but I simply didn't have the time! So I made my excuses and rushed off home to pack for the weekend and the doorbell rings. It's 2 of my elementary school girls who live in a building next to mine and are often to be found running around my apartment block. So I let them in, thinking they'll run around the hallways, but no! They want to come in to my apartment and given that I won't let them, they want to stand at my doorway and talk to me for a seemingly endless amount of time. So after I close the door on them for the third time and get ready to jump in the shower they ring the bell. Again. So I get in the showeranyway and start singing loudly, knowing they'll hear it outside...
I finally got away at 5:35, speeding on the highway to mount Daisen. It was a nice drive where I found out what happens once you go over the top limit on the car's speedometer- the car just gets faster. This would actually be alarming if the speedometer went above 140 kms an hour (approximately 90 miles an hour). But then the speed limit on the -ahem- "express"way is half that.
I was heading to Daisen for a ski weekend with some people I'd met at the Naked Man festival and it was great fun. Steve booked rooms for the 12 of us in a hotel on the mountain and we spent the night eating, drinking, watching American Idol and doing a spot of karaoke before passing out.
Saturday came, and with only a couple of hour's sleep (due to nasty alcohol and the heat in the bedroom) we headed out to the slopes, myself and a very funny girl called Breeda being the only beginners. And thanks to the very patient teaching of Steve and Alex we were soon (well after about an hour and a half) getting down the slopes by ourselves. And falling. And being jolted on the ski-lift. And falling again. Breeda and I spent half our time laughing at the contorted shapes I kept ending up in, some of them feeling rather painful, but both decided we love skiing and are going to do it again.
So after skiing, Steve, Alex, Virginie and I headed out to an onsen and then to dinner at a very stylish restaurant which felt more like something you'd find in London or New York than Yonago, Tottori and served some of the richest, tastiest waffles I think I've ever eaten.
From there we headed to Katherine's apartment (where everyone was staying) to get ready before heading out for a big Tottori ALT party which seemed quite crazy. The bar was like something from a seventies disaster movie (all beige velvet couches, glass walls and black paintwork) and the music was a very bizarre mix, with live bands, and DJs who were playing very, very muddled sets. But the drink helped, and the people were hilarious, (thanks to Jess, who was my beautiful dancing partner for part of the night) so we managed to stay till the end, although we were flagging by the next bar and returned home, Alex and I making a trip to Lawson via an ill-advised detour. Through a sopping paddy-field. D'oh.
Sunday was almost like coma day. I perhaps slept for an half an hour on Saturday night and Sunday morning seems rather disjointed. We all rose and eventually Katherine, Jess, Virginie and her friend (whose name I can't spell), Steve and I were in a very nice restaurant having paninis and enjoying the french bossa-nova lounge soundtrack that was playing. Actually i was enjoying it the most, but i may have been delirious. And we spent the afternoon in the cinema waiting patiently for Jodie Foster to shout, "where's maaaah baaaabyyy?" in the rather ludicrous but entertaining "Flight Plan".
It seemed a shame to have to head home to an empty apartment, but the lure of sleep was too much and by 9:30 I was out cold. And this week? It's back to the usual school routine with what could have been a dreary Monday night transformed into a JoyFull night of conversation, gossip and laughter with the marvellous Nickname Pending. Thank you miss!
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
I'm ready for my close-up...
I was at school on Friday when I heard the secretary talking to one of my Japanese English Teachers and mentioning my name frequently. As I got up to investigate, my JTE came up to me and asked if anyone from KHK, Kuse's local TV station had spoken to me. "No", came my answer, with me wandering what she would say next. "They want to interview you for TV" was what she said next. And at 3pm a woman from KHK TV turned up at school to ask me in person if they could interview me. And more. They didn't just want an interview, they wanted to make a film about me and the ALT in Kuse. I only got in on the action because I took over one of LeeJay's schools when she left in August. And as they told me what they wanted me to do I started laughing inside. And secretly laughed all weekend...
Monday came and I was ready for my close-up. And action shots. And demonstration moment.
They came to school and filmed me walking home. They took me to the supermarket and filmed me buying cauliflower, potatoes and spinach. They took me home and filmed me cooking curry. And they filmed my CDs, my photos and numerous other things. And then came the moment when I almost burst out laughing. Anyone who's seen a few Japanese TV food shows will no doubt have been rendered speechless by the constant stream of glazed-eye bimbos that tilt their heads, slightly dribbling to declare every concoction that enters their mouths "Oishiii!!!" (i.e. Japanese for "deeelicious!!!"). And as I was filmed eating my curry I had to utilise every bit of self-control I could muster as my soon-to-be-interviewer asked in Japanese, "so, how is it?" There is only one possible answer to this and I had to try and not spit curry everywhere while I laughed out a garbled "oishiii!!!"
The interview that followed was rendered atrocious by the fact that my vocabulary has been possessed by the spirit of an 18th Century schoolboy who likes to say, "Gosh!" and "Crikey" at every opportunity. And because I kept trying not to laugh.
They have yet to film me teaching (Lord, oh Lord!) but the finished product will be aired on TV on March 8th. It may rank up there with my close-ups on Ricki Lake...
Monday came and I was ready for my close-up. And action shots. And demonstration moment.
They came to school and filmed me walking home. They took me to the supermarket and filmed me buying cauliflower, potatoes and spinach. They took me home and filmed me cooking curry. And they filmed my CDs, my photos and numerous other things. And then came the moment when I almost burst out laughing. Anyone who's seen a few Japanese TV food shows will no doubt have been rendered speechless by the constant stream of glazed-eye bimbos that tilt their heads, slightly dribbling to declare every concoction that enters their mouths "Oishiii!!!" (i.e. Japanese for "deeelicious!!!"). And as I was filmed eating my curry I had to utilise every bit of self-control I could muster as my soon-to-be-interviewer asked in Japanese, "so, how is it?" There is only one possible answer to this and I had to try and not spit curry everywhere while I laughed out a garbled "oishiii!!!"
The interview that followed was rendered atrocious by the fact that my vocabulary has been possessed by the spirit of an 18th Century schoolboy who likes to say, "Gosh!" and "Crikey" at every opportunity. And because I kept trying not to laugh.
They have yet to film me teaching (Lord, oh Lord!) but the finished product will be aired on TV on March 8th. It may rank up there with my close-ups on Ricki Lake...
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The devil's in the details. Are the chocolate companies getting brave or just desperate? Chocolate "Milk and Salt"? Milk? And salt? SALT? Do they really think that "Rich milk chocolate featuring a blend of caramel flavor and French SALT" sounds enticing? Do they think making the salty bit BLUE makes it exotic? Hah, no one'll be fooled. Only an idiot will buy this rubbish.
Oh. Hang on...
Booze, bums and karaoke...
It could be suggested that I fell off the other wagon as well last week and if I did it was truly by accident and indeed I feel like I am in some way clinging to bumper of this one. There was the previously reported "strong heavy drunker" meeting last wednesday and then on Thursday Jaco came to Katsuyama for a farewell dinner with me, Christine and Jeremy. Only I turned up at the restaurant first to see possibly the most unfriendly (but rather handsome) man from my apartment block sat rather sloshed at the counter with a colleague. And for the first time he was friendly (booze can be a wonderful thing) so I started with a couple of glasses of sake and practiced some Japanese, and when the rest of the group arrived we sat down and Jaco ordered drinks for a big kanpai. Except he then kept ordering drinks. And as Jeremy was driving and Christine doesn't drink too much, I unwittingly stepped in. D'oh! Move ahead two hours and Jaco and I are in karaoke in rather a state drinking more and forgetting that we both have work in the morning... Well I managed about 3 hours sleep and fortunately was sober when I woke up. Not sure about Jaco though, but he made it to school on time.
Friday was largely unremarkable but for the fact that my voice seemed to disappeared somewhere. It had been protesting before we arrived at karoake, and by Friday it was on strike. Wondering when the industrial action would end I croaked my way through classes and through to Saturday morning when despite feeling slightly manky I decided I would make it to the Naked Man festival (Hadaka Matsuri). I attended last year but having gotten horrendously trolleyed I wandered out of the compound and spend an hour staggering around the streets and listening to a man talk about Japanese martial arts. In Japanese. Thank God for gestures... So I drove to the city, and fortunately a blend of high speeds, Rachel Stevens and M&Ms brought my voice back in time for me and Amy to scream instructions at about 140 gathered ALTs. Our AJET committee (or more specifically, Claire on our committee) had organised the event and we had 180 ALTs coming from around Japan to attend. And it was great fun. I have never been in charge of a bus load of people before, and have certainly never had to entertain 48 others in such a situation but I had a great crowd.
The festival itself was bizarre and funny. We wandered round for ages trying to find the standing area for which we had tickets and then when we got in it was just like being at an outdoor party. We looked at all the men in nappies (fundoshi) running through the pool of icy water wandering if we would see any of our friends, taking lots of pictures and catching up with people we hadn't seen since last year. The main event kicked off at midnight: all the nappy wearing men gather in the temple (or try to, there are so many of them). The lights go out and 6 sticks get thrown into the heaving mass of bodies. Only one of the six sticks will get the winner the big cash dollar bling bling prize while the other 5 bring disappointment and possibly despair given the battering the individual will have taken to get them out of the temple. Well, Bob and Adam and Jaco and Neil were among the people in the morass and they seemed to escape with minor cuts and bruises and unfortunately no stick. Gah!
So it was back on the bus and back into the city, passing time with possibly inappropriate jokes about pregnancy, ladies' clinics and knitting needles. And once in town I headed off with the LGB group to an hilarious bar called CoverBoyz. Our first choice had been full, but Coverboyz turned out to be rather, er, special with very welcoming customers and a more-drunk-and-beyond-friendly bar owner who spent much of the evening apparently groping two of our group. And then we all did karaoke and I finally met someone who appreciates Girls Aloud, Vanessa Paradis and Rachel Stevens.
With just over 2 hours sleep (thanks to Julia for the accommodation) Sunday was a bit of an asleep-at-the-wheels mess, and the kotatsu and a hot bath were about all that could help. Especially given the bizarre events Monday was to bring. But that's a story for another day...
Friday was largely unremarkable but for the fact that my voice seemed to disappeared somewhere. It had been protesting before we arrived at karoake, and by Friday it was on strike. Wondering when the industrial action would end I croaked my way through classes and through to Saturday morning when despite feeling slightly manky I decided I would make it to the Naked Man festival (Hadaka Matsuri). I attended last year but having gotten horrendously trolleyed I wandered out of the compound and spend an hour staggering around the streets and listening to a man talk about Japanese martial arts. In Japanese. Thank God for gestures... So I drove to the city, and fortunately a blend of high speeds, Rachel Stevens and M&Ms brought my voice back in time for me and Amy to scream instructions at about 140 gathered ALTs. Our AJET committee (or more specifically, Claire on our committee) had organised the event and we had 180 ALTs coming from around Japan to attend. And it was great fun. I have never been in charge of a bus load of people before, and have certainly never had to entertain 48 others in such a situation but I had a great crowd.
The festival itself was bizarre and funny. We wandered round for ages trying to find the standing area for which we had tickets and then when we got in it was just like being at an outdoor party. We looked at all the men in nappies (fundoshi) running through the pool of icy water wandering if we would see any of our friends, taking lots of pictures and catching up with people we hadn't seen since last year. The main event kicked off at midnight: all the nappy wearing men gather in the temple (or try to, there are so many of them). The lights go out and 6 sticks get thrown into the heaving mass of bodies. Only one of the six sticks will get the winner the big cash dollar bling bling prize while the other 5 bring disappointment and possibly despair given the battering the individual will have taken to get them out of the temple. Well, Bob and Adam and Jaco and Neil were among the people in the morass and they seemed to escape with minor cuts and bruises and unfortunately no stick. Gah!
So it was back on the bus and back into the city, passing time with possibly inappropriate jokes about pregnancy, ladies' clinics and knitting needles. And once in town I headed off with the LGB group to an hilarious bar called CoverBoyz. Our first choice had been full, but Coverboyz turned out to be rather, er, special with very welcoming customers and a more-drunk-and-beyond-friendly bar owner who spent much of the evening apparently groping two of our group. And then we all did karaoke and I finally met someone who appreciates Girls Aloud, Vanessa Paradis and Rachel Stevens.
With just over 2 hours sleep (thanks to Julia for the accommodation) Sunday was a bit of an asleep-at-the-wheels mess, and the kotatsu and a hot bath were about all that could help. Especially given the bizarre events Monday was to bring. But that's a story for another day...
Thursday, February 16, 2006
"Strong heavy drunker"
Is what you become in Japan when you drink lots of beer and don't get drunk so quickly. I found this out last night at a pre-preparation party for a teaching session I'll be doing in a few weeks. The party with a group of local young businessmen and was fantastic fun, fortunately not reducing itself to the levels of "buresuto fesuchivaru" (say it very quickly) like previous parties with young officeworkers (where I would usually put on my most sour face and declare sexism bad). Despite everyone in the room being labelled "sukebe" (lewd person in Japanese), including myself (which made it an International Sukebe party), there was actually no sukebe-type behaviour displayed at all- my Victorian values remain unoffended and intact. And fortunately my head remained intact last night and this morning as I prepared for elementary school and kindergarten, and I didn't need the chainsaw we joked about last night to keep the kids in check...
Really, yesterday was a blip in a recent alcohol-free life. It seems like ages since the last lot of drinks, and hopefully it will be until the next. Wendy's birthday bash was hilarious last week thanks to everyone else's drinking and this weekend is the Naked Man festival which for me will be a sober event (I hope- last year I missed all the action having wandered off in a drunken daze).
Wendy lives in Ibara, which is rather far from Katsuyama, but Efi makes short work of such distances (provided the land is flat otherwise Efi refuses to do any work and just gargles away at the bottom of the hill) and pretty soon we were all gathering at Wendy's, organising the sleeping arrangements at Dave's place and heading to Fukuyama for a dinner in a very nice restaurant where we had to ask the waiter what to do with certain bits of food and at some point I seemed to have been put in/ taken charge (it must be the newly-straightened hair confusing people). So as Adam, Nickname Pending and I sat sober, them drinking fruit juice and water and me getting rather buzzed on approximately 15 cokes, Wendy made up for us all by having rather a lot of booze. Indeed, she ordered 4 drinks when the man came to take last orders. I salute her resolution. Or something. Perhaps I mean resolve? Hmm...
Anyway, after that we went on to a bar called Zappa which appeared to be really cool. And it was cool even though it became clear fairly early on that bar service was not their strong point (Adam and I ended up heading to 7-11 across the road for drinks instead- numerous times) and at some point a screaming Japanese harpie appeared with a suicidal girlfriend. Each time we returned from the combini something had changed and the harpie was by far the worst change. Although she was highly entertaining what with pushing people out of her way, screeching in your ear and then talking to you in what she claimed was Italian but which might actually have resembled Italian if it was spoken by Helen Keller. Or a duck.
The final change in the bar came with the music (and the fact that the Harpie took her miserable friend somewhere else) and for the last part of the evening a few of us danced a bit and it was, like, a bit good, right? Except it was actually the last part of the evening as when we all got back to Dave's, Nickname Pending and I continued talking until around 4:30 am by which time Nickname Pending had become Mother TeRachel and I was the poor and destitute in need of cheerios. It was almost bizarre enough to make me want a drink...
Valentine's day brightened up my off the wagon life and in fact may have pushed me under the wheels. In Japan it is done very differently. Women give chocolates to men- to male colleagues, to loved ones, to their bosses etc. And men do nothing. There is a special day in March called White Day where men are obliged to give women a dry cracker and a tissue or something similarly unspectacular, so I'm saving up all my kleenex to say thank you. I got lots of choclit from my conversation class, lots from Nao chan (including boozy chocolate- choc with brandy, with rum, with VODKA!) and I'd already bought myself a load when I was planning yet another loveless Valentine's Day (or VD as it's become known for being such an irritant).
And today was elementary school with the cutest kindergarten kids you've seen and the funniest students and the most witty teachers. And as promised in our conversation class after the last visit, I'd promised to show them how to make curry. They bought lots of gorgeous locally produced organic vegetables, and I contributed garlic and spices. It was the least I could do after making ichigo daifuku on the last visit. I still dream of those daifuku- not long now until they disappear from the shops...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!
Really, yesterday was a blip in a recent alcohol-free life. It seems like ages since the last lot of drinks, and hopefully it will be until the next. Wendy's birthday bash was hilarious last week thanks to everyone else's drinking and this weekend is the Naked Man festival which for me will be a sober event (I hope- last year I missed all the action having wandered off in a drunken daze).
Wendy lives in Ibara, which is rather far from Katsuyama, but Efi makes short work of such distances (provided the land is flat otherwise Efi refuses to do any work and just gargles away at the bottom of the hill) and pretty soon we were all gathering at Wendy's, organising the sleeping arrangements at Dave's place and heading to Fukuyama for a dinner in a very nice restaurant where we had to ask the waiter what to do with certain bits of food and at some point I seemed to have been put in/ taken charge (it must be the newly-straightened hair confusing people). So as Adam, Nickname Pending and I sat sober, them drinking fruit juice and water and me getting rather buzzed on approximately 15 cokes, Wendy made up for us all by having rather a lot of booze. Indeed, she ordered 4 drinks when the man came to take last orders. I salute her resolution. Or something. Perhaps I mean resolve? Hmm...
Anyway, after that we went on to a bar called Zappa which appeared to be really cool. And it was cool even though it became clear fairly early on that bar service was not their strong point (Adam and I ended up heading to 7-11 across the road for drinks instead- numerous times) and at some point a screaming Japanese harpie appeared with a suicidal girlfriend. Each time we returned from the combini something had changed and the harpie was by far the worst change. Although she was highly entertaining what with pushing people out of her way, screeching in your ear and then talking to you in what she claimed was Italian but which might actually have resembled Italian if it was spoken by Helen Keller. Or a duck.
The final change in the bar came with the music (and the fact that the Harpie took her miserable friend somewhere else) and for the last part of the evening a few of us danced a bit and it was, like, a bit good, right? Except it was actually the last part of the evening as when we all got back to Dave's, Nickname Pending and I continued talking until around 4:30 am by which time Nickname Pending had become Mother TeRachel and I was the poor and destitute in need of cheerios. It was almost bizarre enough to make me want a drink...
Valentine's day brightened up my off the wagon life and in fact may have pushed me under the wheels. In Japan it is done very differently. Women give chocolates to men- to male colleagues, to loved ones, to their bosses etc. And men do nothing. There is a special day in March called White Day where men are obliged to give women a dry cracker and a tissue or something similarly unspectacular, so I'm saving up all my kleenex to say thank you. I got lots of choclit from my conversation class, lots from Nao chan (including boozy chocolate- choc with brandy, with rum, with VODKA!) and I'd already bought myself a load when I was planning yet another loveless Valentine's Day (or VD as it's become known for being such an irritant).
And today was elementary school with the cutest kindergarten kids you've seen and the funniest students and the most witty teachers. And as promised in our conversation class after the last visit, I'd promised to show them how to make curry. They bought lots of gorgeous locally produced organic vegetables, and I contributed garlic and spices. It was the least I could do after making ichigo daifuku on the last visit. I still dream of those daifuku- not long now until they disappear from the shops...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Chocoholics Unanimous...
Oops... off the wagon again. Well, it's not my fault. It may be akin to the oh-I-can't-do-swimming-at-school-today-because-I-have-a-headache excuse, but since I stopped eating chocolate I've started itching again. And I value sleep too much. So the emergency called for only one thing... Parfait A La Mode. And I am unanimous in that.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Alleluia! I have beaten the German-Japanese uprising!
In this case the uprising was electronic and came in the form of a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop. Hostilities are over and a new hard-drive has been brought in to restore normal relations. Given that no repair shops here would touch the thing demanding that I sent it back to Europe, I had to tamper with the thing myself and as is only to be expected I have 4 screws left over. Oh well, I shall keep them to hand in case I ever decide to build my own robot army...
There really is very little to say about last week other than, "brrr, cold" as it was rather chilly, and I spent every night sat indoors feely toasty and warm with maybe fifteen layers on sitting under the heated table. School provided the only excitement, or should I say shock as I ACTUALLY HAD TO DO TEACHING at Junior High. It appears that my teachers forgot that this is in fact my role for over a year, and despite my requests I spent almost every Junior High day sat at my desk looking like I'd been hit over the head with a saucepan (boredom has turned my brain to sponge). But it's been great being in class and laughing with the kids. Today bore a special treat when the school Principal entered the back of the class with three other teachers to observe the class. The benefit to this is that it seems to make the feral kids locate those missing genes and behave with a level of civility towards the teachers. As usual, no-one told me that the Principal would be in class, so it was a minor surprise, but he's really nice so I wasn't worried. Plus I can never understand a word he says, so even if he told me I was rubbish I'd be none the wiser...
The weekend was another bizarre effort. A group of us headed to Niimi on Saturday to celebrate Jarek's birthday but the details of what was actually happening seemed to elude all involved. Nickname Pending, Adam and I met first, going for a cheapy dinner at JoyFull and wondering round the generic shopping complex (hardware store, supermarket, 100 yen store and ugly clothes store), remarkable only for the fact that they have stainless steel potato mashers for 100 yen (how do I tell Ma that she didn't need to buy me 2 at £6 each from Marks'!?). After having a big rendezvous at Vicki's ginormous apartment (I climb the stairs saying, "which one's Vicki's". Nickname Pending points to the one that has an A3 sheet of paper with the words "Vicki lives here" in big letters across it... D'oh.) Vicki declared we should head out, so, collecting Julia and Dylan we headed to Fresta, supermarket and meeting place, where we waited until Jarek rolled up in a car that appeared to be full of people with glazed eyes. And when we reached the karaoke-above-a-combini (or combinioke as N.P. christened it) I went head on into another moment of wrongness. N.P. pulled out again in an attempt to find parking. Except I didn't quite see where she went, mistaking her car for an identical car which was whizzing down the road at high speed. So I take off with a full car wondering why she's a) driving so fast and b) driving so fast into the middle of nowhere... After asking Adam to phone her and verify her whereabouts we return and eventually start karaoke. Only to finish a short while later as it turns out we've gatecrashed an engagement party, so at the request of Vicki's supervisor we leave and head to a quiet snack bar where we dominate the karaoke machine singing 5 songs for every one the Japanese patrons sang. Dylan rocked singing proper songs while Julia and I lowered the tone with Britney's "Lucky" and a rather hoarse rendition of Pink's "Just Like A Pill". And eventually I gave into my inner show-off and singing the only Japanese song I know, and soon we were off to Vicki's to chat and watch bizarre internet videos until 5am.
Three hours later we were awake and facing the new day with squinty-eyes, lots of yawning, and a breakfast of comini-cakes, a good preparation for the rest of the day at home under the kotatsu...
The only other thing of note is that on wednesday I decided to start lent a month early and stop eating chocolate in an attempt to save money. God was obviously pleased as he made a new variation of my favourite chocolates appear in the supermarket the night before I started stopping. LOOK Parfait a la mode is truly the jewel in the crown of the LOOK family, with it's cream and sauce filling, but I have to stop thinking about it before desperation makes me eat the BodyShop cocoa butter moisturiser that's sat in my fridge...
There really is very little to say about last week other than, "brrr, cold" as it was rather chilly, and I spent every night sat indoors feely toasty and warm with maybe fifteen layers on sitting under the heated table. School provided the only excitement, or should I say shock as I ACTUALLY HAD TO DO TEACHING at Junior High. It appears that my teachers forgot that this is in fact my role for over a year, and despite my requests I spent almost every Junior High day sat at my desk looking like I'd been hit over the head with a saucepan (boredom has turned my brain to sponge). But it's been great being in class and laughing with the kids. Today bore a special treat when the school Principal entered the back of the class with three other teachers to observe the class. The benefit to this is that it seems to make the feral kids locate those missing genes and behave with a level of civility towards the teachers. As usual, no-one told me that the Principal would be in class, so it was a minor surprise, but he's really nice so I wasn't worried. Plus I can never understand a word he says, so even if he told me I was rubbish I'd be none the wiser...
The weekend was another bizarre effort. A group of us headed to Niimi on Saturday to celebrate Jarek's birthday but the details of what was actually happening seemed to elude all involved. Nickname Pending, Adam and I met first, going for a cheapy dinner at JoyFull and wondering round the generic shopping complex (hardware store, supermarket, 100 yen store and ugly clothes store), remarkable only for the fact that they have stainless steel potato mashers for 100 yen (how do I tell Ma that she didn't need to buy me 2 at £6 each from Marks'!?). After having a big rendezvous at Vicki's ginormous apartment (I climb the stairs saying, "which one's Vicki's". Nickname Pending points to the one that has an A3 sheet of paper with the words "Vicki lives here" in big letters across it... D'oh.) Vicki declared we should head out, so, collecting Julia and Dylan we headed to Fresta, supermarket and meeting place, where we waited until Jarek rolled up in a car that appeared to be full of people with glazed eyes. And when we reached the karaoke-above-a-combini (or combinioke as N.P. christened it) I went head on into another moment of wrongness. N.P. pulled out again in an attempt to find parking. Except I didn't quite see where she went, mistaking her car for an identical car which was whizzing down the road at high speed. So I take off with a full car wondering why she's a) driving so fast and b) driving so fast into the middle of nowhere... After asking Adam to phone her and verify her whereabouts we return and eventually start karaoke. Only to finish a short while later as it turns out we've gatecrashed an engagement party, so at the request of Vicki's supervisor we leave and head to a quiet snack bar where we dominate the karaoke machine singing 5 songs for every one the Japanese patrons sang. Dylan rocked singing proper songs while Julia and I lowered the tone with Britney's "Lucky" and a rather hoarse rendition of Pink's "Just Like A Pill". And eventually I gave into my inner show-off and singing the only Japanese song I know, and soon we were off to Vicki's to chat and watch bizarre internet videos until 5am.
Three hours later we were awake and facing the new day with squinty-eyes, lots of yawning, and a breakfast of comini-cakes, a good preparation for the rest of the day at home under the kotatsu...
The only other thing of note is that on wednesday I decided to start lent a month early and stop eating chocolate in an attempt to save money. God was obviously pleased as he made a new variation of my favourite chocolates appear in the supermarket the night before I started stopping. LOOK Parfait a la mode is truly the jewel in the crown of the LOOK family, with it's cream and sauce filling, but I have to stop thinking about it before desperation makes me eat the BodyShop cocoa butter moisturiser that's sat in my fridge...
Monday, January 30, 2006
I've been driving in my car.
I love driving. I never thought I'd say that. I used to enjoy driving when I lived in Manchester, but I endured driving when I lived in London. Now I love it. Why? Because where I live no long road comes without a tight bend but most of the roads come without traffic. That's not to say there aren't occassionally unexpected surprises. For example this Saturday on the way to Okayama when roadworks-traffic lights malfunctioned sending traffic from 2 directions into a one lane path. Oops. Or like those occassions when you drive home at night and forget to put on your full-beam headlights. This is particularly dangerous here because a) there is usually a cliff face rising up at one side of the road, b) there is usually a cliff face dropping down at the other, c) the road lighting is rather less than adequate and d) those really tight bends do creep up on you. So you see, every moment behind the wheel is an adventure. Of course I could take the expressway and avoid the bad lighting and bends, but then I'd have to drive at at least 120kmph and Efi's speedometer only goes up to 140. What happens after that?
It's been a surprisingly sociable few days largely due to the convenience of motoring. I met Christine in Wakaba on Thursday riding my newly repaired bike and we ate some gorgeous food (as usual at Wakaba). On Friday I went to dinner at Nao-chan's where she, Ojii-san and I discussed the important issues such as Islam, America and what colour non-Japanese pensioner's hair is.
Saturday came with a breath of spring and temperatures that verged on spring (10 degrees plus in the sun) and led me to walk around town in a short sleeved polo shirt all afternoon. I'd driven to the city to catch up with Fiona, and having met and headed to Starbucks, HMV and finally GAP we felt like we'd done Okayama and headed back to hers to chill. Except this meant I started to doze off, so I headed back out and met Julia, Nancy, Jayme and Liza for dinner in a rather lovely izakaya in the city. Nabe, sashimi, and a 10 flavour salad entertained our tastebuds while we caught up and gossiped about the lack of gossip there is from this year's Okayama JETs (I mean! We had 3 weddings and a baby from last year's lot, and there's not even been a quick fumble at a disco from any of the current crew. Most disappointing).
Well, if it was a fumble I wanted knowledge of I soon got my wish. I headed back to Katsuyama on Sunday night and decided to spend the day in town. It was another lovely one- 13 degrees in the sun, so I went out on my bike looking at temples in Kuse and Katsuyama and was definitely surprised by what I found. Not only did I find the pathway into the mountains that I'd been looking for for a while I also found an empty bag by a temple. And then another one. And as I carried on walking I heard someone spring up. As I looked a pair of trousers rose up and the owner started frantically doing up his fly and his belt. Busted! I did my very best to look the other way and pretended to be looking at birds for what seemed to be a long enough time, but when I carried on wandering he was still doing himself up. And his lady-friend was looking slightly sheepish.
Anyway, I carried on climbing up to the top of the mountain and over the road bridge that joins it to another mountain. And then cycled round town for a couple of hours until I decided that I was actually freezing and went home to doze under the kotatsu. This led to thoughts of laundry and I ended up drying laundry at the launderette and heading to Nickname Pending's for the evening to watch "my Beautiful Launderette" on DVD. After we watched the film we watched the trailers. Apparently "my Beautiful Launderette" is rambunctious. I shall check that word in the dictionary and let you know...
It's been a surprisingly sociable few days largely due to the convenience of motoring. I met Christine in Wakaba on Thursday riding my newly repaired bike and we ate some gorgeous food (as usual at Wakaba). On Friday I went to dinner at Nao-chan's where she, Ojii-san and I discussed the important issues such as Islam, America and what colour non-Japanese pensioner's hair is.
Saturday came with a breath of spring and temperatures that verged on spring (10 degrees plus in the sun) and led me to walk around town in a short sleeved polo shirt all afternoon. I'd driven to the city to catch up with Fiona, and having met and headed to Starbucks, HMV and finally GAP we felt like we'd done Okayama and headed back to hers to chill. Except this meant I started to doze off, so I headed back out and met Julia, Nancy, Jayme and Liza for dinner in a rather lovely izakaya in the city. Nabe, sashimi, and a 10 flavour salad entertained our tastebuds while we caught up and gossiped about the lack of gossip there is from this year's Okayama JETs (I mean! We had 3 weddings and a baby from last year's lot, and there's not even been a quick fumble at a disco from any of the current crew. Most disappointing).
Well, if it was a fumble I wanted knowledge of I soon got my wish. I headed back to Katsuyama on Sunday night and decided to spend the day in town. It was another lovely one- 13 degrees in the sun, so I went out on my bike looking at temples in Kuse and Katsuyama and was definitely surprised by what I found. Not only did I find the pathway into the mountains that I'd been looking for for a while I also found an empty bag by a temple. And then another one. And as I carried on walking I heard someone spring up. As I looked a pair of trousers rose up and the owner started frantically doing up his fly and his belt. Busted! I did my very best to look the other way and pretended to be looking at birds for what seemed to be a long enough time, but when I carried on wandering he was still doing himself up. And his lady-friend was looking slightly sheepish.
Anyway, I carried on climbing up to the top of the mountain and over the road bridge that joins it to another mountain. And then cycled round town for a couple of hours until I decided that I was actually freezing and went home to doze under the kotatsu. This led to thoughts of laundry and I ended up drying laundry at the launderette and heading to Nickname Pending's for the evening to watch "my Beautiful Launderette" on DVD. After we watched the film we watched the trailers. Apparently "my Beautiful Launderette" is rambunctious. I shall check that word in the dictionary and let you know...
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Backwards and forwards...
Well, it's coming to that time of year where thoughts turn to the future. Our current work contract finishes in July and I won't be resigning, so I'm thinking of what to do next- run back to London, pimp myself in Tokyo or something completely different. And of course my thoughts take me back to mental health nursing and I wonder if I should go back. Actually, it's my laptop that makes me think of mental health nursing as it demonstrates that even things made of metal can have personality disorders. For some reason it's started working again despite my having done nothing different to before (It clearly "found" its' hard drive- why did I have to the sarcastic p.c.?) Perhaps perserverance has beaten it down, or maybe the fact that I showed it I didn't need it. Maybe it didn't like my having visitors at the weekend, or it envied my trips to JoyFull with Cheryl (formerly Nickname Pending), or perhaps it wanted to see more monkey pictures, but whatever it is, it's back (until tonight, when it'll no doubt conk out again).
Anyway, the weekend was a gem. Most likely an emerald with a bit of tipp-ex on it. After a second trip to Joyfull with Cheryl on Thursday, I decided that Friday should be a stay-in-and-clean night. Except that I got distracted and ended up in an Izakaya with Nao chan, Papa san and Oji san and ended up going to bed at around 10pm. Yay for early nights! So Saturday morning became frenzied cleaning morning as I rushed to hoover, wash and polish, cleaning the windows for the second time in 18 months and slamming my fingers in them for good measure. Ooh. Slice of finger-skin anyone? And it was all done just in time for the visitors. Cheryl (whose nickname may change again as Cheryl sounds a bit crap) rolled up to my ritzy mansion with Betsy, Bob and Adam in tow, and after dropping their luggage at mine we all set off to Yubara onsen, Okayama's famous outdoor onsen. Betsy and I were not wanting to take part in the outdoor nude frollicking, so we left the others in the company of 6 highly immodest male Japanese pensioners and their dried fruits and climbed a nearby mountain. We had to stop half way up as the snow was a bit too deep for our non-walking shoes and we were never quite sure how far underneath us the ground was...
Vicki was waiting for us when we got back to Katsuyama, and after dropping some personnel at my luxury apartment (tm) we headed out to the supermarket for food only to be accosted by Nao chan who was bearing gifts of vegetables, chocolate and ichigo daifuku. She knows me well. So we stuffed our faces with nabe then headed out to Uenodan, the newest cafe in town, and enjoyed non-alcoholic beverages before being turned away from karaoke "because it was full". I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have confused them when I unintentionally asked for "karaoke, 60 people 1 year please!" as opposed to "6 people one hour please". It's a simple mistake to make. If you are stupid. One hundred d'ohs to me! Curses! So we returned to mine and ate and drank tea and wine and eventually passed out with plans set for the morning.
Sunday was monkey day as the group visited Kanba waterfalls and saw well over 100 monkeys- apparently they are macaques. Whatever brand they were they were looking desperate as they foraged for food in the snow. So we took the customary photos, viewed the waterfall and set off on our way. We rendezvoused (spelling?) in Takebe, some leaving and some staying for more Nabe, and then Vicki andI headed back to Katsuyama for her train via Rachel's and a chance to watch Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Always a pleasure, never a chore.
Anyway, this week's been fine. Eikaiwa on Tuesday coupled with the reincarnation of my laptop made for a special day, and a trip to JoyFull (this time in Ochiai) last night with Cheryl helped me to stay up past my bedtime again. So tonight I will get to bed early. After dinner with Christine in Wakaba that is...
Anyway, the weekend was a gem. Most likely an emerald with a bit of tipp-ex on it. After a second trip to Joyfull with Cheryl on Thursday, I decided that Friday should be a stay-in-and-clean night. Except that I got distracted and ended up in an Izakaya with Nao chan, Papa san and Oji san and ended up going to bed at around 10pm. Yay for early nights! So Saturday morning became frenzied cleaning morning as I rushed to hoover, wash and polish, cleaning the windows for the second time in 18 months and slamming my fingers in them for good measure. Ooh. Slice of finger-skin anyone? And it was all done just in time for the visitors. Cheryl (whose nickname may change again as Cheryl sounds a bit crap) rolled up to my ritzy mansion with Betsy, Bob and Adam in tow, and after dropping their luggage at mine we all set off to Yubara onsen, Okayama's famous outdoor onsen. Betsy and I were not wanting to take part in the outdoor nude frollicking, so we left the others in the company of 6 highly immodest male Japanese pensioners and their dried fruits and climbed a nearby mountain. We had to stop half way up as the snow was a bit too deep for our non-walking shoes and we were never quite sure how far underneath us the ground was...
Vicki was waiting for us when we got back to Katsuyama, and after dropping some personnel at my luxury apartment (tm) we headed out to the supermarket for food only to be accosted by Nao chan who was bearing gifts of vegetables, chocolate and ichigo daifuku. She knows me well. So we stuffed our faces with nabe then headed out to Uenodan, the newest cafe in town, and enjoyed non-alcoholic beverages before being turned away from karaoke "because it was full". I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have confused them when I unintentionally asked for "karaoke, 60 people 1 year please!" as opposed to "6 people one hour please". It's a simple mistake to make. If you are stupid. One hundred d'ohs to me! Curses! So we returned to mine and ate and drank tea and wine and eventually passed out with plans set for the morning.
Sunday was monkey day as the group visited Kanba waterfalls and saw well over 100 monkeys- apparently they are macaques. Whatever brand they were they were looking desperate as they foraged for food in the snow. So we took the customary photos, viewed the waterfall and set off on our way. We rendezvoused (spelling?) in Takebe, some leaving and some staying for more Nabe, and then Vicki andI headed back to Katsuyama for her train via Rachel's and a chance to watch Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Always a pleasure, never a chore.
Anyway, this week's been fine. Eikaiwa on Tuesday coupled with the reincarnation of my laptop made for a special day, and a trip to JoyFull (this time in Ochiai) last night with Cheryl helped me to stay up past my bedtime again. So tonight I will get to bed early. After dinner with Christine in Wakaba that is...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
