I am almost 25 years old. That is about one third of my expected life span. I am no spring chicken. Yet, I look at my friends around me getting engaged, getting married, and I think – what? Marriage? That’s such a grown up thing! Why are you doing that?
It makes sense. After college we enter into adulthood. At least, that is the course many follow. I mean adulthood as a sociological function. Entering into the community of adults as a full-fledged member, with common goals and behaviors. Where else is there to go but to get a job and get married? Now I am not being cynical. I have never experienced the strong love that people do, so, assuming it is out there for me, I have been missing out. However, in the place of a warm love, I can take intellectual comfort in a life that is hard and jagged, a warm, fluffy life is antithetical to me. I don’t want to live an ascetic life, and from all the monetary assistance I receive from my parents I don’t, not materialistically. Yet, at a time when I am more comfortable and happy than ever, I find myself thrusting out into the great unknown, in search of some purpose. I am willing this great chapter in my life to end, knowing that it will be one of the regrets of my later days, along with not perfecting Japanese. If only I could be a person who could be content, I should likely stay in Japan. And, in the sense that I believe it is in my nature to never be satisfied, and to flee from happiness, I can take intellectual solace that to do such requires a certain strength of will, which I apparently have.
Around my age, people start to become adults. I have one friend a year or two younger than me, who is married already. Good for her. Me? I have not yet been ready to do such a thing. I remember one Wednesday night I got drunk in my room alone because I could, I had nothing better to do, and it was a national holiday the next day. I emailed my brother, bragging of my fortune. He put it succinctly, “ enjoy slackerdom for as long as you can. ”
I don’t know when this life gets old, but judging by my friends, it can last a long time. When I go to my local bar, on any given day I can expect to see some friends. Weekdays and weekends blur past distinction. You drink until one or two, walk home, wake up at seven, hit the snooze button until seven-thirty, go to work, and start the cycle all over again. GOCers have some concept of right and wrong, propriety, that doesn’t enable them to go out drinking on the weekdays like we do over here. Recently someone told me they dreaded Mondays, and I thought, suck it up, be prepared for five hours of sleep, and every day can me the same. The thought of dreading Mondays fills me with dread, actually. Would I stay in Japan, I could look forward to years more of easy living; I am still young. As it turns out, most of my friends are late twenties, early thirties.
Perhaps in your twenties, one starts to crave stability. You love someone, they make you happy, you decide, why not make this permanent? Why not stop running and, to use the wonderfully meaning-infused phrase “settle down ”? This logical progression crosses borders, as here in Japan people seem to get married after college in their twenties as well. College is such a gruel that who can blame someone for wanting to take a permanent break. Life is so much easier with stability, and especially with a partner. Now, I have generally always been a loner. In high school I had a group of friends called the Fantastic Five, but this was somewhat artificial. I sat with people at lunch, and was friends with most, but they were not all friends with each other. In college, I had a wide range of friends, but never really fell into any one group. In fact, I resisted it. It seemed too staid to limit oneself to one set of friends. However, now as I approach 25, I find myself in a social circle like never before, and I quite like it. It isn’t a group of friends, per-say. We don’t all go out and get dinner. But we all go to the same bar, we all go to the same rock shows, we are all friends or friendly, and if, after a rock show, you go to dinner, you can invite your friend, who invites her friend, who invites her friend, and miraculously, everyone already knows each other and is on friend-like terms. This sort of dynamic is new to me, but it is very appealing. Kobe is such a small city, this would be hard to replicate in other places. Physicists are generally such nerds, that I wouldn’t be seeking out something like this with my classmates next year. Similarly as other people find a satisfying comfort in a loved one around my age, I have found satisfying comfort being part of a community. Ahhhhhh… the rub is, as weeks go on, I become better and better friends with the people in this group, but I only have weeks left in Japan. Then, I leave.
There are many aspects of Japanese culture that resonate with me. I can name them better than when I first arrived. I hesitate to do so, at the risk of otherizing the place in which I live. But since this is a blog about my life in Japan, I may be able to get away with it. Or one, there is a lack of guilt in Japanese society. You don’t see someone feel bad for drinking on a Tuesday night, and for better or worse, cheating on your significant seems rampant. While I don’t support cheating, seeing almost everyone engage in it has made me realize just how many of our Western values we put on self-evident pedestals. (Hey, everyone does it, and if they don’t find out, who does it hurt?) You don’t have to explain yourself like you do in the GOC. You are an autonomous being and are presumed to have made the correct decision yourself, end of story. There is less ruffling of peacock feathers over here, fewer loud drunken males, fewer people hurling epithets at each other, and much more safety. There is a premium placed on kindness! When in groups, people act as members of a group, instead of an aggregate of individuals. Also, last but not least, I would say that if the average GOC girl rates in at a 6/10 on the looks scale, the Japanese rates in at a 7/10. I am sorry, but Japanese girls are in better shape, wear more womanly clothes, better make up, etc.
To contrast with the negative aspects of the GOC, well, gluttony – ordering for one and discovering the portions are big enough for two, loudness – shouting matches are the way to win conversations (why are conversations competitions anyways?,) directness – which is a trait that only GOCers find self-evidently good, a lack of safety, people in your face and assuming that they have a right to know your business, going somewhere in a group and each person deciding to do whatever it is they want to. This is a vague general list. I get depressed thinking about going back.
But I must. I have decided to pursue physics and will. Pursuing physics ascribes to my life something greater than teaching English. It is the triumph of the will over the heart. Will I come back? I kind of hope so. I realize there are negative things about life here that I did not touch upon (people’s indecisiveness, long work hours, a pressure to maintain appearances,) but the general refined subtlety of Japan appeals to me more than the blunt, hurtling train of the GOC. Perhaps it is Kobe, I don’t know. I don’t know if I have just found a magical city to live in. If I lived in Tokyo, perhaps my feelings would be different. I fear losing my Japanese abilities and friends. If I came back, I hope I can regain both. When I am older, if I have the opportunity to do physics in Japan, will I have the ability to resist the sirens’ call of stability and move once again?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
At UCR. Visiting UCSD and UH next week.
Hey, I'm at the computer lab of UC Riverside right now. Its a nice campus. Reminds me of UMass + 20 degrees. However, as far as I can tell, the town of Riverside is nowhere near as nice as Amherst. Anyways, interesting developments on the grad school front. I talked to some people yesterday. Didn't get a chance to talk to probably the most interesting professor of all, although his research is in a field I never thought I would go into. (talked to him a little bit.) anyways, the interesting thing i found out is how high energy experimental particle physics works. apparently, everyone who is involved in experimental HEP as it is known live near CERN in Geneva for either half the year or the whole year! I never expected this, I thought once you gained seniority as a grad student you might be lucky to be sent over there for a month or two. No, apparently, after my first year, depending on which professor I choose as my advisor, I shipped on out over there!
Now of course, being a part of history at the heart of the largest and one of the most important physics experiments ever would be very exciting. And some of you, especially Dad, would say living in Switzerland or France would be great. But I don't want to live in boring old Geneva! I want to live in sunny southern California, (or perhaps Hawaii.) 5 years in Geneva would be tough, as well as moving back and forth between Geneva and Cally ever six months.
(Nice aside, though, one professor whom I didn't request to speak to requested to speak with me, and seemed very eager to get me to be her graduate student. However, this probably is partially due to the fact that she will have no more grad students at cern and thus will lose continuity/funding unless she gets someone asap. ad the way this Prof does is, is you go to Geneva for the whole year, not 6 month stints)
So this adds another dimension to the graduate decision. Along with this comes the realization that if I am just gonna go work on a huge particle accelerator, a place where your research questions are limited to a set of about 6 or 7, why not do that under the brand name of the best school possible? After all CERN (well, the LHC more specifically,) is the LHC, and that will be on my resume no matter UCSD or UCR, so as for the degree, why not go for the best brand-name?
As far as Hawaii goes, they have connections to neutrino experiments in Japan. While the neutrino is the most fascinating particle to me, I am afraid that there are less research opportunities with it. It is so hard to see, and so much stuff that can be done on it has already been done before. I will have to scope out the sitch when I go to Hawaii and perhaps UCSD. However, if Hawaii like UCR ships off its experimental physics grad students to the actual experiments, then I could look forward to being shipped off to Japan; I am sure you know my preferences of living between Geneva and Japan. However, it is Tsukuba Japan, so I am not sure how boring that area is, would have to look that up. Kind of wished I had visited there, but really, I never expected grad students to just be shipped off to experiments. Heck, maybe that is just UCR.
As far as theory goes, well, ya, I do prefer theory, and I could do theory and stay in Cally or Hawaii, but a) the neutrino theorist at UCR named Ma seems like an Old Dog with not much bark left, plus he says there is no more theory left to do on the neutrino, and b) i heard a couple horror stories about grads going from theory postdoc to theory postdoc until they couldn't handle the ruthless treadmill and quit. experiment seems better job security. if i did theory at ucr, itd probably be with a guy named Wudka, he seems like he'd be a good advisor.
oh well, that is all for now. the thick has definitely plottened with the understanding that exp HEP grads go to the experiment they are working on. good or bad? both? gonna have to think about this.
Now of course, being a part of history at the heart of the largest and one of the most important physics experiments ever would be very exciting. And some of you, especially Dad, would say living in Switzerland or France would be great. But I don't want to live in boring old Geneva! I want to live in sunny southern California, (or perhaps Hawaii.) 5 years in Geneva would be tough, as well as moving back and forth between Geneva and Cally ever six months.
(Nice aside, though, one professor whom I didn't request to speak to requested to speak with me, and seemed very eager to get me to be her graduate student. However, this probably is partially due to the fact that she will have no more grad students at cern and thus will lose continuity/funding unless she gets someone asap. ad the way this Prof does is, is you go to Geneva for the whole year, not 6 month stints)
So this adds another dimension to the graduate decision. Along with this comes the realization that if I am just gonna go work on a huge particle accelerator, a place where your research questions are limited to a set of about 6 or 7, why not do that under the brand name of the best school possible? After all CERN (well, the LHC more specifically,) is the LHC, and that will be on my resume no matter UCSD or UCR, so as for the degree, why not go for the best brand-name?
As far as Hawaii goes, they have connections to neutrino experiments in Japan. While the neutrino is the most fascinating particle to me, I am afraid that there are less research opportunities with it. It is so hard to see, and so much stuff that can be done on it has already been done before. I will have to scope out the sitch when I go to Hawaii and perhaps UCSD. However, if Hawaii like UCR ships off its experimental physics grad students to the actual experiments, then I could look forward to being shipped off to Japan; I am sure you know my preferences of living between Geneva and Japan. However, it is Tsukuba Japan, so I am not sure how boring that area is, would have to look that up. Kind of wished I had visited there, but really, I never expected grad students to just be shipped off to experiments. Heck, maybe that is just UCR.
As far as theory goes, well, ya, I do prefer theory, and I could do theory and stay in Cally or Hawaii, but a) the neutrino theorist at UCR named Ma seems like an Old Dog with not much bark left, plus he says there is no more theory left to do on the neutrino, and b) i heard a couple horror stories about grads going from theory postdoc to theory postdoc until they couldn't handle the ruthless treadmill and quit. experiment seems better job security. if i did theory at ucr, itd probably be with a guy named Wudka, he seems like he'd be a good advisor.
oh well, that is all for now. the thick has definitely plottened with the understanding that exp HEP grads go to the experiment they are working on. good or bad? both? gonna have to think about this.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I Ain`t Got Time To Spell Check!
What’s up all my ばか外国人 (Baka gaikokujin) ? It’s been a long time. Got three hours of sleep last night. Boy am I tired. No pun intended.
Since we last met, some important things have happened. I went back to the G.O.C. for I believe what was my third time in 16 months. My last two times, stepping back into the land of freedom was like a breath of fresh air. This time, it was like inhaling from a gas mask rigged up to a plastic surgeons lipo suction tube. Choke Choke! Man, G.O.C.ers are ugly. You guys are really letting yourselves go since I’ve been gone! I guess it’s been happening ever since the era when women were undomesticated, the era when coterminaly men were forced to start fending for there own slovenly selves. All I got to say, is that there were a lot of ugly fat bozos in the airport, not the kind of thing you want to see after you have been traveling for 24 hours straight.
Also, while my its not good the employees of United Airlines that the airline is going under, it sure is for the passengers. Three quarters legroom of a traditional airline seat… means that you can not lean your legs on the seat in front of you, cannot slouch, and cannot stick your head on the seat in front of you. Even shorties had problems. Also, the food portions were half size, and if you wanted something to eat on the six hour flight from San Fran to Boston, you had to pay 9 bucks (or 6 bucks for bits of chocolate.)
I don’t want to spend to long discussing my vaca in The G.O.C.. It was good. Slept, slothed, saw fam and friends, and had a freaking amazing New Years Eve dressed to the deck on a boat cruise in Boston Harbor with some boyz.
I got back to Japan. Me and the girl who I had been dating before my departure became official 4bf/gf shortly after I got back. So that is one thing that is different. I have a (Japanese) girlfriend. She speaks OK English, not fluent, but she has a large vocabulary. So I speak to her in Japanese and she speaks to me in English or Japanese. She’s almost 3 years my senior, but its chill. Also, she’s a rockr girl, so we go out to live shows a lot. Its actually pretty fun. Heck, I might as well tell you where I first met her, its an interesting story.
After arriving in Kobe, fresh on the scene, looking for good haunts, I would go out on the weekends (when my slave labor North Korean Elementary wasn’t forcing me to work crack of dawn hours on Saturday mornings starting at 8:30, that puts a damper on going out Friday,) and peruse different interesting bars. Well, I found one that I frequented. That bar was called Flamenco, and I’m proud of finding it. The clientelle was the local Arab expat community, as the owner was from Morocco, so it was a fun mix. The first night I went I got into a long conversation defending to a certain degree (out of principal,) while also elucidating the American perspective on Big Oil, The Middle East, etc, which I think garnered their respect, because I was .always OK there after that. (However, other Americans were, apparently, not treated as well.) That bar sadly changed ownership on December 28 and I have no idea what happened to the ownership! Anyways, the other bar that I found out was called Tulip Hat. (I used to think it was called Tulip Heart, but was recently corrected.) It was 500 yen per drink, and promised rock and roll/ punk music atmosphere, so I was down. It was a little intimidating to walk up the narrow stairs, and open the wood door to the bar-side, having no idea what or who was there. Well, I opened that door one night, not my first time passing an eager eye by, and in there saw … a bar tender, three girls sitting at the counter, and a large Japanese guy passed out on the floor. It looked like a murder scene, except everyone was very relaxed and in a good mood. Seeing a body in a bar the width of the counter +1 body makes you wonder if you can come in, and so I asked, “Is it OK?” and the bartender said “of course, come in.” I started talking to them there – being a foreigner is definitely an icebreaker in this country – and they appreciated that I did not come into their bar speaking English at them. (Japanese-speaking Americans did do that last night at Tulip Hat.) I talked to her, let’s call her Fu, or better yet 史, and it was fun. That whole night was crazy. After a while about a dozen people walked in, including a man in a pink suit. 史 herself was wearing a nice dress. After getting sufficiently drunk with this raucous party, I find out that it was this guys’ wedding day, and this was the after party after the wedding reception. His stage name is Johnny, he is in many locally popular rock bands, and I have seen him live on more than one location. Actually, the family does not go to the wedding reception in this country, or at least, not amongst 史’s friends. That is just for friends. The serious family stuff is before at a church or a temple, what have you. Also, there is no dancing at Japanese receptions, although they do play games and give speeches. Busting a groove is not really a part of traditional Japanese culture.
Afterwards, I arranged to meet 史 a few more times at Tulip Hat. After a while we decided to hang out at a place other than that bar! And then things happened from there. Hey, if you think this blog is about to turn Full House Feelings Confessional, then you got another thing coming! Actually, in practice, I really don’t have any problem revealing personal details of my life in practice, especially on the blogosphere, it’s just it feel like it violates some sort of unwriteen protocol. And you can’t claim TMI, because by reading this blog, you hearby waive the right to TMI. Needless to say, I don’t think that is TMI.
So that is chill, and probably the biggest thing to change. We hang out a decent amount, and she lives about 2 miles away I would guess. Kobe is hecka small. Also, if you are wondering what the heck 2 people with a respectable language gap can fill their conversations with, let me give your curious mind and posterity an example. There is a guy called Johnny. And he is crap and makes Lou Pearlman (sentenced in May to a prison term of 25 years I just found out) look like a man with artistic integrity. In otherwords, he is a peddler of boy bands. One of the recent ones is called Heisei Jump (Sounds like Hey Say Jump!). Heisei is the current era we are in right now in Japan, with eras determined by the passing away of the old and succecion of the new emporer. It started in the nineties, I think, and so the band name means all the members were born in Heisei (and hence young dreamboats) Before Heisei it was Showa. In addition to traditional Japan, there is also fast food Japan, and if you want someone will through some fried fish on top of your bowl of rice, pour some SAUSU on top of it, and call you happy. That meal, if its tuna, is called maguro-don. So anyways, me and 史, both being of the rock persuasion are gonna start a band. It’s going to be called… since we were born in the eighties, Showa Jump! And our first hit single will be called maguro-don. Lolz. It goes down pretty well over here. If that just flew over your head, I apologize. Our second hit single is called ostracism. (“Ostracism” is a great random vocabulary word to know, learned that with my old roommate last year when we learned “Ostracism” (murahachibu) before we learned how to ask for a bowl of maguro-don.)
Let me discuss some chill parties that I’ve been to recently, because, why not? Actually, I have been going out with Fumi to her friends’ apartments, and it is really allowing me to see a completely different side of Japan. I don’t think I had been to a Japanese person’s apartment since I got here until we started dating, and it came as a mild shock to learn that Japanese enjoy entertaining as well! Not gonna discuss all them, just 1 really. We were going to go to 史’s friends house to play Mahjonng. Like bridge, a 4 player game. Like bridge, best played for money. Neither 史 nor her friend really like mahjonng, but her friend’s live in beau does, and 史 knows I got the money for skill games in my blood and that I want to learn mahjonng. We played it once before to fizzling results. Anyways, we open the door sharply at 6pm, and bang, pop, streamers, surprise! It was the day before 史s birthday. Turns out That her friends had decided to get together and throw her a bday party! Hecka nice I thought. Due to the layout of the relative spaciousness of the apartment, and the large group, (maybe 20?) of people there, there was necesarilly a lot of mingling, whereas previous nihonjin parties I attended were a lot of communal sitting. This did throw me for a loop a little bit, and 史 repeatedly asked me if I was OK. I was, I told her, I’m a man, I’m not a woman! My Japanese is alright, but lets face it, Im not gonna win any conversational prizes. My tactics include asking people questions and then nodding with a lot of “Oh I see, is that so, really” ‘s thrown in, whilst not generally understanding their response. Ah well, we try. I felt I was kind of awkward at that party, which was kind of embarrassing, but what u gonna do? For minor example, I was sitting at the counter while 史 was cutting sweet potatoes. They were cooked and 史 offered me one. I started eating it. The people sitting on the couch appeared horrified. Someone started saying something about the sweet potato and referencing to the sofa. Maybe I was supposed to eat at the table with them, or wait for them to start of something, but hey, I got the go ahead! After really not understanding what was going on, I just put my hands together, bowed slightly, and said, “I’m sorry.” That seemed to defuse the situation. Other more important examples, though, include trying to blab about something in poor Japanese, being unable to do so, and seeing my conversation partners look bored, disinterested, and then slightly angry that Im wasting their time with this conversational attempt. Hurry up and learn our language! I imagine they must be thinking. However, despite these negative feelings, it was an awesome party, and I had a real blast. I really like all of 史’s friends, they are a cool bunch.
One more thing, everyone cooked! Even a man cooked! Interesting and impressive: this week-day-drunk-fest managed to turn into Martha Stewart Living; more interesting: everytime someone would slave at the stove for an hour and emerge with some exquisite looking work of culinary love, they would always say “Oh this doesn’t look very good. Im sorry, but this looks pretty bad, and I don’t think it will taste very good, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Sorry?!! THANK YOU for at least trying (and because it does look good.) I saw Joy Luck Club where the Asian mother puts down her own food, but it was so weird to see it in real life and to hear it come out of the mouths of 20 and thirty somethings. Its part of the Japanese bunka to never complimenting yourself. G.O.C.ers are verry braggart, nothing wrong with that of course, and its just a shock of cold water to witness the exact opposite. I think that underlying principal is one of the reasons Iike this country. (It takes you 3 years to figure that out???!) I mean, if some old geezer was dissing her food that is one thing, but these were just young people! It sounded old-geezerly in a way, but they were young, darn it! Crazy. Also, no one really admited to being good at videogames, nor at mahjong. There is one guy, who didn’t come to the party, who I like, who has admited to being good at mahjong. However, he has also described himself using the word “genius”, so he may be a braggart. I said they were 20 and thirty somethings. 史 is of the younger range amongst her friends, having just turned 26. Her childhood friends, (her circle of good friends still includes people from elementary and middle school!) are also 26, and their boyfriends and husbands are thirties. Just thought it worth noting that there seemed about a +5 average age difference between each beau and belle, or husband (“master” in Japanese) and wife.
I apologize, to you foreigners and to the people of the LOTRs (Lord of The Rings / Land of The Rising sun,) which also includes in its issued parties elfs as well as ents, but not orcs or the inhabitants of Mordor, apologize for making every blog post a lesson in cutural anthropology, but the fact that I still find different things every day to wonder about says something. I run the risk of otherizing Japan. Whether one otherizes every foreign country one lives in is something I am not qualified to speak on, having only lived hear and in the Grand old G.O.C.. On yet another tangent, man Japanese love to otherize people. It is in their blood, and they don’t see a single thing wrong with it. It is as natural as breathing to them. Japanese are Japanese and love this or this hear frequently. Japanese love sushi is not a generalization, it is a truth, in many Japanese eyes. Similarly, foreigners are always viewed with a different set of lenses. There is no controversy at the racial profiling that the foreigners receive from police officers. I think police officers are taught foreigners commit more crimes and should be stopped more therefore, which is bad itself, but statistically foreigners commit proportionally and actually less crime than Japanese! Japanese are dangerous!!! And yesterday when we went to the rock club, where a bunch of my friends had independently decided to go as well, and hence all the foreigners in there knew each other, 史 commented, to me, multiple times, in a slightly negative tone, “There are a lot of foreigners here tonight, aye?” And to which I responded, “Foreigners also live in Japan, 史.” And 史 is liberal about these things!!! Things like that are frustrating. I got in to the real Japan a little bit at the birthday party, and it was very surprising!. The exluding exterior is kind of ugly.
BTW, it makes sense that Japan is different. It is the East. The East is fundamentally different from the West. We have our history, they have theirs. (I can’t name random ancient Chinese generals.) We have our philosophy and they have theirs. (My educated friends had never heard of Plato, or at least only slightly.) Plato!
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Alright, since last we met I have continued to exist, located temporally in the present or in 2009, and spacially in Japan, within a 100 square mile radius centered on the port city Kobe. I still have the same identity, along with its associated behavioral patterns. Thus it took me a long time to update, but I am finally doing it now.
Since we last met some important things have happened. The number one thing is that me and 史 broke up. Why? Well I know, but you don’t. I think the poets said it best when they said, “love truly is the greatest mystery.” And like I like to say, it never works out, except for once.
My local watering hole/ hang out spot will become tricky to visit now. The bar is real small and intimate, everyone knows each other, everyone is 史’s friend, and 史 frequently visits. I am friends with some people there too, including the bar master, but I think it might be best if I cool it a little bit. Not sure, gonna have to do some political maneuvering there. Also, I like to go to live rock shows, and so do some of my friends, but those live shows 史 also frequents, so we shall see. What is true is that I will be seeking out other places to go.
What I have complained about before, either on this blog or elsewhere, is that I don’t have any young coworkers to hang out with at my job. While it seems like most other foreigners rely on their job and coworkers as a launching point for their social life, I do not have that asset. Therefore I have to go out and hustle to make friends. Actually, I do have some people in the area who I would consider friends, but they live kind of far away. In Kobe, my friends are 史’s friends and hence there is a potential conlict of interest. Also, I don’t have any G.O.C. friends in Kobe, which I would like. However, I don’t want to turn into one of those people who only hangs out in English speaking bars and knows every Joe Schmoe from Idaho. That’s boring. (When I do hang out with foreigners in the foreigner scene in Kobe, I see how small and insectuos it is.) Basically, I’m gonna look for small bars with a theme that interests me. If its not famous, good.
I played poker last weekend. I lost 1500 yen. I am a little rusty, I can tell. I still had some skills, but I lost the ability to pull the trigger or bite the hard but necessary bullets. Gonna get better. In theory, I could make a killing at that poker game, because most of the players were quite soft. At Umass, at the softest, 2 players would be very skilled, 3 players would be good (including me,) 3 players would be average, 2 players would be easy money; at this game 3 players were good (including me,) 2 average, and 5 were easy money. I was playing with people who had no idea about fundamental concepts of poker, such as “fold when you are probably not going to win.”
I met a Lithuanian math professor teaching at Kobe University there. (He was good.) We hung out last weekend when he invited me to a foreigners party. The party was 15 people standing in a room with finger foods in the middle. A party with the atmosphere of a pta meeting, nonetheless, it was wholesome fun. Today he invited me (after I previously expressed interest,) to come attend some lectures and/or seminars of a visiting math professor in March. Definitely gonna do that. Wish I could make the seminars but prob cant, but think I can swing in one lecture.
One more very important thing happened, yesterday. I saw Jason Mraz live. He has been my favorite singer for about 6 years, I have all of his regular CDs and numerous bootleg recordings. I love his live bootleg stuff even more than his amazing studio work, so you can imagine how excited I was to see him in person. I had two tickets and invited a friend to come with me. We met at the subway station and walked to the venue, Nanba Hatch. Inside we had to wait while they called the ticket numbers, good thing I had a Japanese speaker there to tell me when we could go in. The venue wasn’t small, bigger than a small club, but definitely not an arena. We had floor tickets and were maybe 15-20 feet from Mr A-Z. The crowd packed in like sardines though. This put a damper on the show though, because no one was dancing! They were doing the “standing-still” – the brand new step that everybody isn’t moving to. I thought that they were bored, but it turns out they were having a ball! (Dismemberment Plan lyrics.) Anyways, ya, I was getting my dance on to the best of my ability in the little space, but I saw not 1 other person trying to groove. Oh well, it was crowded. Actually, one guy in back of me kept trying to invade my space, so I had to elbow him and warn him to step back.
Let’s face it. I love Jason Mraz so much there was no way I was not gonna love the concert. And love it I did. One hundred fifty dollars and zero regrets. At first he looked tired and appeared to be phoning it in. He seems to be on perpetual tour, so he has his concerts down to an art I’m sure. Spontanaeity I desired, and there was some amount of spontanaeity, but nonetheless, what Jason Mraz gave did not dissapoint. As the crowd warmed up (pretty much on fire from the beginning,) so did Jason, I think. Anyways, his set list was amazing. He played not very popular songs that I personally love. Hey Jason, we Are on the same wavelength! He skipped a lot of the filler on his newest album. Essentially, he played all gems. Highlights of the evening? For an encore (I think it was an encore,) he played Clockwatching. Clockwatching is my favorite song off his second album, its not very famous, and while I was going nuts, I enjoyed that the rest of the crowd seemed to be unfamiliar with this one. Another good moment was when he sang his song about high fives (he wanted to write a song about high fives!) and I had someone with whom to share high fives. Good times, good times. I saw the concert yesterday on Wednesday, but haven’t stopped beaming since Tuesday. Good times.
Death Cab for Cutie is coming to Osaka. I saw them 5 years ago, one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. There new album is good. However, I don’t have a strong desire to spend 6000-7000 yen to see them. I know now, though, that if I am ever within a reasonable distance of a Jason Mraz concert, no matter what time of the year it is, it is my categorical imperative to go. I probably won’t go see Death Cab. John Legend in March… well, that’s another story.
Finances: I make 2600 G.O.C. dollars a month, actually, with the yen strong, I make about 3000 dollars. (I want to be a trillionaire in Zimbabwe. That is my dream.) So that’s a lot of money, and I don’t notice a large accretion of money in my bank account. I want to start saving money, so that I have money for trips and rainy days and what not. I’m thinking about taking 500 dollars each month and depositing that in a separate account or some place where I won’t be using it. With my bank’s online services, I can trade in foreign currencies. With the strong yen, maybe it would be good to invest in other currencies. Frankly, I have no clue about that stuff though. 500 dollars is a lot of money, but after that, I would have 2100 dollars. Minus 500 for rent and 300 for bills, and you are looking at 1300 dollars a month. Seems livable. 40 dollars per day. If I didn’t eat out so much, it would make it easier. Correlary – if I have 1300 to live on per month, then I might be compelled to eat out less.
I went to a Valentines Day party. That was a lot of fun. It was all the way down in my old stomping grounds Himeji. My friend and his friends rented a large reception room that they decked out and turned it into a veritable prom space. The party was thus a prom, and I won best dressed for my outfit – flower blazer, tuxedo shirt, tight jean shorts, long white socks, brown dress shoes. I’m glad I beat out the man in the dress. Sure you are different, but you are not original. Your outfit may require courage, but you are safe in the domain of a well worn, well recognized joke. Thus, if you wear a dress, you are showing no effort in creativity, and, in falsely and loudly proclaiming individuality, are being disingenuous. I lost the best dressed award unjustly in high school to a boy in a dress, (my melon tuxedo was superior to this hobo outfit,) but like Martin Scorcese winning the Academy Award for The Departed and not for Goodfellas, I was due.
Afterwards there was an apartment party in the suburbs. Turns out about 5 JETs all live in the same building, kind of crazy. That was a lot of fun, we were all native English speakers except for one Japanese. The next morning at the train station surrounded by people who could not understand a word of English, I felt like I was in a different world. What unfamiliarity! I had a reality hangover from the night before. Hanging out with gaikokujin in such large doses can be like eating at McDonalds. It tastes good, but its not real.
Weather’s getting warm! Cherry blossoms soon! About this time last year I was in Thailand and Japan with my parents on vacation. Time goes by fast.
See you later, peace.
Since we last met, some important things have happened. I went back to the G.O.C. for I believe what was my third time in 16 months. My last two times, stepping back into the land of freedom was like a breath of fresh air. This time, it was like inhaling from a gas mask rigged up to a plastic surgeons lipo suction tube. Choke Choke! Man, G.O.C.ers are ugly. You guys are really letting yourselves go since I’ve been gone! I guess it’s been happening ever since the era when women were undomesticated, the era when coterminaly men were forced to start fending for there own slovenly selves. All I got to say, is that there were a lot of ugly fat bozos in the airport, not the kind of thing you want to see after you have been traveling for 24 hours straight.
Also, while my its not good the employees of United Airlines that the airline is going under, it sure is for the passengers. Three quarters legroom of a traditional airline seat… means that you can not lean your legs on the seat in front of you, cannot slouch, and cannot stick your head on the seat in front of you. Even shorties had problems. Also, the food portions were half size, and if you wanted something to eat on the six hour flight from San Fran to Boston, you had to pay 9 bucks (or 6 bucks for bits of chocolate.)
I don’t want to spend to long discussing my vaca in The G.O.C.. It was good. Slept, slothed, saw fam and friends, and had a freaking amazing New Years Eve dressed to the deck on a boat cruise in Boston Harbor with some boyz.
I got back to Japan. Me and the girl who I had been dating before my departure became official 4bf/gf shortly after I got back. So that is one thing that is different. I have a (Japanese) girlfriend. She speaks OK English, not fluent, but she has a large vocabulary. So I speak to her in Japanese and she speaks to me in English or Japanese. She’s almost 3 years my senior, but its chill. Also, she’s a rockr girl, so we go out to live shows a lot. Its actually pretty fun. Heck, I might as well tell you where I first met her, its an interesting story.
After arriving in Kobe, fresh on the scene, looking for good haunts, I would go out on the weekends (when my slave labor North Korean Elementary wasn’t forcing me to work crack of dawn hours on Saturday mornings starting at 8:30, that puts a damper on going out Friday,) and peruse different interesting bars. Well, I found one that I frequented. That bar was called Flamenco, and I’m proud of finding it. The clientelle was the local Arab expat community, as the owner was from Morocco, so it was a fun mix. The first night I went I got into a long conversation defending to a certain degree (out of principal,) while also elucidating the American perspective on Big Oil, The Middle East, etc, which I think garnered their respect, because I was .always OK there after that. (However, other Americans were, apparently, not treated as well.) That bar sadly changed ownership on December 28 and I have no idea what happened to the ownership! Anyways, the other bar that I found out was called Tulip Hat. (I used to think it was called Tulip Heart, but was recently corrected.) It was 500 yen per drink, and promised rock and roll/ punk music atmosphere, so I was down. It was a little intimidating to walk up the narrow stairs, and open the wood door to the bar-side, having no idea what or who was there. Well, I opened that door one night, not my first time passing an eager eye by, and in there saw … a bar tender, three girls sitting at the counter, and a large Japanese guy passed out on the floor. It looked like a murder scene, except everyone was very relaxed and in a good mood. Seeing a body in a bar the width of the counter +1 body makes you wonder if you can come in, and so I asked, “Is it OK?” and the bartender said “of course, come in.” I started talking to them there – being a foreigner is definitely an icebreaker in this country – and they appreciated that I did not come into their bar speaking English at them. (Japanese-speaking Americans did do that last night at Tulip Hat.) I talked to her, let’s call her Fu, or better yet 史, and it was fun. That whole night was crazy. After a while about a dozen people walked in, including a man in a pink suit. 史 herself was wearing a nice dress. After getting sufficiently drunk with this raucous party, I find out that it was this guys’ wedding day, and this was the after party after the wedding reception. His stage name is Johnny, he is in many locally popular rock bands, and I have seen him live on more than one location. Actually, the family does not go to the wedding reception in this country, or at least, not amongst 史’s friends. That is just for friends. The serious family stuff is before at a church or a temple, what have you. Also, there is no dancing at Japanese receptions, although they do play games and give speeches. Busting a groove is not really a part of traditional Japanese culture.
Afterwards, I arranged to meet 史 a few more times at Tulip Hat. After a while we decided to hang out at a place other than that bar! And then things happened from there. Hey, if you think this blog is about to turn Full House Feelings Confessional, then you got another thing coming! Actually, in practice, I really don’t have any problem revealing personal details of my life in practice, especially on the blogosphere, it’s just it feel like it violates some sort of unwriteen protocol. And you can’t claim TMI, because by reading this blog, you hearby waive the right to TMI. Needless to say, I don’t think that is TMI.
So that is chill, and probably the biggest thing to change. We hang out a decent amount, and she lives about 2 miles away I would guess. Kobe is hecka small. Also, if you are wondering what the heck 2 people with a respectable language gap can fill their conversations with, let me give your curious mind and posterity an example. There is a guy called Johnny. And he is crap and makes Lou Pearlman (sentenced in May to a prison term of 25 years I just found out) look like a man with artistic integrity. In otherwords, he is a peddler of boy bands. One of the recent ones is called Heisei Jump (Sounds like Hey Say Jump!). Heisei is the current era we are in right now in Japan, with eras determined by the passing away of the old and succecion of the new emporer. It started in the nineties, I think, and so the band name means all the members were born in Heisei (and hence young dreamboats) Before Heisei it was Showa. In addition to traditional Japan, there is also fast food Japan, and if you want someone will through some fried fish on top of your bowl of rice, pour some SAUSU on top of it, and call you happy. That meal, if its tuna, is called maguro-don. So anyways, me and 史, both being of the rock persuasion are gonna start a band. It’s going to be called… since we were born in the eighties, Showa Jump! And our first hit single will be called maguro-don. Lolz. It goes down pretty well over here. If that just flew over your head, I apologize. Our second hit single is called ostracism. (“Ostracism” is a great random vocabulary word to know, learned that with my old roommate last year when we learned “Ostracism” (murahachibu) before we learned how to ask for a bowl of maguro-don.)
Let me discuss some chill parties that I’ve been to recently, because, why not? Actually, I have been going out with Fumi to her friends’ apartments, and it is really allowing me to see a completely different side of Japan. I don’t think I had been to a Japanese person’s apartment since I got here until we started dating, and it came as a mild shock to learn that Japanese enjoy entertaining as well! Not gonna discuss all them, just 1 really. We were going to go to 史’s friends house to play Mahjonng. Like bridge, a 4 player game. Like bridge, best played for money. Neither 史 nor her friend really like mahjonng, but her friend’s live in beau does, and 史 knows I got the money for skill games in my blood and that I want to learn mahjonng. We played it once before to fizzling results. Anyways, we open the door sharply at 6pm, and bang, pop, streamers, surprise! It was the day before 史s birthday. Turns out That her friends had decided to get together and throw her a bday party! Hecka nice I thought. Due to the layout of the relative spaciousness of the apartment, and the large group, (maybe 20?) of people there, there was necesarilly a lot of mingling, whereas previous nihonjin parties I attended were a lot of communal sitting. This did throw me for a loop a little bit, and 史 repeatedly asked me if I was OK. I was, I told her, I’m a man, I’m not a woman! My Japanese is alright, but lets face it, Im not gonna win any conversational prizes. My tactics include asking people questions and then nodding with a lot of “Oh I see, is that so, really” ‘s thrown in, whilst not generally understanding their response. Ah well, we try. I felt I was kind of awkward at that party, which was kind of embarrassing, but what u gonna do? For minor example, I was sitting at the counter while 史 was cutting sweet potatoes. They were cooked and 史 offered me one. I started eating it. The people sitting on the couch appeared horrified. Someone started saying something about the sweet potato and referencing to the sofa. Maybe I was supposed to eat at the table with them, or wait for them to start of something, but hey, I got the go ahead! After really not understanding what was going on, I just put my hands together, bowed slightly, and said, “I’m sorry.” That seemed to defuse the situation. Other more important examples, though, include trying to blab about something in poor Japanese, being unable to do so, and seeing my conversation partners look bored, disinterested, and then slightly angry that Im wasting their time with this conversational attempt. Hurry up and learn our language! I imagine they must be thinking. However, despite these negative feelings, it was an awesome party, and I had a real blast. I really like all of 史’s friends, they are a cool bunch.
One more thing, everyone cooked! Even a man cooked! Interesting and impressive: this week-day-drunk-fest managed to turn into Martha Stewart Living; more interesting: everytime someone would slave at the stove for an hour and emerge with some exquisite looking work of culinary love, they would always say “Oh this doesn’t look very good. Im sorry, but this looks pretty bad, and I don’t think it will taste very good, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Sorry?!! THANK YOU for at least trying (and because it does look good.) I saw Joy Luck Club where the Asian mother puts down her own food, but it was so weird to see it in real life and to hear it come out of the mouths of 20 and thirty somethings. Its part of the Japanese bunka to never complimenting yourself. G.O.C.ers are verry braggart, nothing wrong with that of course, and its just a shock of cold water to witness the exact opposite. I think that underlying principal is one of the reasons Iike this country. (It takes you 3 years to figure that out???!) I mean, if some old geezer was dissing her food that is one thing, but these were just young people! It sounded old-geezerly in a way, but they were young, darn it! Crazy. Also, no one really admited to being good at videogames, nor at mahjong. There is one guy, who didn’t come to the party, who I like, who has admited to being good at mahjong. However, he has also described himself using the word “genius”, so he may be a braggart. I said they were 20 and thirty somethings. 史 is of the younger range amongst her friends, having just turned 26. Her childhood friends, (her circle of good friends still includes people from elementary and middle school!) are also 26, and their boyfriends and husbands are thirties. Just thought it worth noting that there seemed about a +5 average age difference between each beau and belle, or husband (“master” in Japanese) and wife.
I apologize, to you foreigners and to the people of the LOTRs (Lord of The Rings / Land of The Rising sun,) which also includes in its issued parties elfs as well as ents, but not orcs or the inhabitants of Mordor, apologize for making every blog post a lesson in cutural anthropology, but the fact that I still find different things every day to wonder about says something. I run the risk of otherizing Japan. Whether one otherizes every foreign country one lives in is something I am not qualified to speak on, having only lived hear and in the Grand old G.O.C.. On yet another tangent, man Japanese love to otherize people. It is in their blood, and they don’t see a single thing wrong with it. It is as natural as breathing to them. Japanese are Japanese and love this or this hear frequently. Japanese love sushi is not a generalization, it is a truth, in many Japanese eyes. Similarly, foreigners are always viewed with a different set of lenses. There is no controversy at the racial profiling that the foreigners receive from police officers. I think police officers are taught foreigners commit more crimes and should be stopped more therefore, which is bad itself, but statistically foreigners commit proportionally and actually less crime than Japanese! Japanese are dangerous!!! And yesterday when we went to the rock club, where a bunch of my friends had independently decided to go as well, and hence all the foreigners in there knew each other, 史 commented, to me, multiple times, in a slightly negative tone, “There are a lot of foreigners here tonight, aye?” And to which I responded, “Foreigners also live in Japan, 史.” And 史 is liberal about these things!!! Things like that are frustrating. I got in to the real Japan a little bit at the birthday party, and it was very surprising!. The exluding exterior is kind of ugly.
BTW, it makes sense that Japan is different. It is the East. The East is fundamentally different from the West. We have our history, they have theirs. (I can’t name random ancient Chinese generals.) We have our philosophy and they have theirs. (My educated friends had never heard of Plato, or at least only slightly.) Plato!
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Alright, since last we met I have continued to exist, located temporally in the present or in 2009, and spacially in Japan, within a 100 square mile radius centered on the port city Kobe. I still have the same identity, along with its associated behavioral patterns. Thus it took me a long time to update, but I am finally doing it now.
Since we last met some important things have happened. The number one thing is that me and 史 broke up. Why? Well I know, but you don’t. I think the poets said it best when they said, “love truly is the greatest mystery.” And like I like to say, it never works out, except for once.
My local watering hole/ hang out spot will become tricky to visit now. The bar is real small and intimate, everyone knows each other, everyone is 史’s friend, and 史 frequently visits. I am friends with some people there too, including the bar master, but I think it might be best if I cool it a little bit. Not sure, gonna have to do some political maneuvering there. Also, I like to go to live rock shows, and so do some of my friends, but those live shows 史 also frequents, so we shall see. What is true is that I will be seeking out other places to go.
What I have complained about before, either on this blog or elsewhere, is that I don’t have any young coworkers to hang out with at my job. While it seems like most other foreigners rely on their job and coworkers as a launching point for their social life, I do not have that asset. Therefore I have to go out and hustle to make friends. Actually, I do have some people in the area who I would consider friends, but they live kind of far away. In Kobe, my friends are 史’s friends and hence there is a potential conlict of interest. Also, I don’t have any G.O.C. friends in Kobe, which I would like. However, I don’t want to turn into one of those people who only hangs out in English speaking bars and knows every Joe Schmoe from Idaho. That’s boring. (When I do hang out with foreigners in the foreigner scene in Kobe, I see how small and insectuos it is.) Basically, I’m gonna look for small bars with a theme that interests me. If its not famous, good.
I played poker last weekend. I lost 1500 yen. I am a little rusty, I can tell. I still had some skills, but I lost the ability to pull the trigger or bite the hard but necessary bullets. Gonna get better. In theory, I could make a killing at that poker game, because most of the players were quite soft. At Umass, at the softest, 2 players would be very skilled, 3 players would be good (including me,) 3 players would be average, 2 players would be easy money; at this game 3 players were good (including me,) 2 average, and 5 were easy money. I was playing with people who had no idea about fundamental concepts of poker, such as “fold when you are probably not going to win.”
I met a Lithuanian math professor teaching at Kobe University there. (He was good.) We hung out last weekend when he invited me to a foreigners party. The party was 15 people standing in a room with finger foods in the middle. A party with the atmosphere of a pta meeting, nonetheless, it was wholesome fun. Today he invited me (after I previously expressed interest,) to come attend some lectures and/or seminars of a visiting math professor in March. Definitely gonna do that. Wish I could make the seminars but prob cant, but think I can swing in one lecture.
One more very important thing happened, yesterday. I saw Jason Mraz live. He has been my favorite singer for about 6 years, I have all of his regular CDs and numerous bootleg recordings. I love his live bootleg stuff even more than his amazing studio work, so you can imagine how excited I was to see him in person. I had two tickets and invited a friend to come with me. We met at the subway station and walked to the venue, Nanba Hatch. Inside we had to wait while they called the ticket numbers, good thing I had a Japanese speaker there to tell me when we could go in. The venue wasn’t small, bigger than a small club, but definitely not an arena. We had floor tickets and were maybe 15-20 feet from Mr A-Z. The crowd packed in like sardines though. This put a damper on the show though, because no one was dancing! They were doing the “standing-still” – the brand new step that everybody isn’t moving to. I thought that they were bored, but it turns out they were having a ball! (Dismemberment Plan lyrics.) Anyways, ya, I was getting my dance on to the best of my ability in the little space, but I saw not 1 other person trying to groove. Oh well, it was crowded. Actually, one guy in back of me kept trying to invade my space, so I had to elbow him and warn him to step back.
Let’s face it. I love Jason Mraz so much there was no way I was not gonna love the concert. And love it I did. One hundred fifty dollars and zero regrets. At first he looked tired and appeared to be phoning it in. He seems to be on perpetual tour, so he has his concerts down to an art I’m sure. Spontanaeity I desired, and there was some amount of spontanaeity, but nonetheless, what Jason Mraz gave did not dissapoint. As the crowd warmed up (pretty much on fire from the beginning,) so did Jason, I think. Anyways, his set list was amazing. He played not very popular songs that I personally love. Hey Jason, we Are on the same wavelength! He skipped a lot of the filler on his newest album. Essentially, he played all gems. Highlights of the evening? For an encore (I think it was an encore,) he played Clockwatching. Clockwatching is my favorite song off his second album, its not very famous, and while I was going nuts, I enjoyed that the rest of the crowd seemed to be unfamiliar with this one. Another good moment was when he sang his song about high fives (he wanted to write a song about high fives!) and I had someone with whom to share high fives. Good times, good times. I saw the concert yesterday on Wednesday, but haven’t stopped beaming since Tuesday. Good times.
Death Cab for Cutie is coming to Osaka. I saw them 5 years ago, one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. There new album is good. However, I don’t have a strong desire to spend 6000-7000 yen to see them. I know now, though, that if I am ever within a reasonable distance of a Jason Mraz concert, no matter what time of the year it is, it is my categorical imperative to go. I probably won’t go see Death Cab. John Legend in March… well, that’s another story.
Finances: I make 2600 G.O.C. dollars a month, actually, with the yen strong, I make about 3000 dollars. (I want to be a trillionaire in Zimbabwe. That is my dream.) So that’s a lot of money, and I don’t notice a large accretion of money in my bank account. I want to start saving money, so that I have money for trips and rainy days and what not. I’m thinking about taking 500 dollars each month and depositing that in a separate account or some place where I won’t be using it. With my bank’s online services, I can trade in foreign currencies. With the strong yen, maybe it would be good to invest in other currencies. Frankly, I have no clue about that stuff though. 500 dollars is a lot of money, but after that, I would have 2100 dollars. Minus 500 for rent and 300 for bills, and you are looking at 1300 dollars a month. Seems livable. 40 dollars per day. If I didn’t eat out so much, it would make it easier. Correlary – if I have 1300 to live on per month, then I might be compelled to eat out less.
I went to a Valentines Day party. That was a lot of fun. It was all the way down in my old stomping grounds Himeji. My friend and his friends rented a large reception room that they decked out and turned it into a veritable prom space. The party was thus a prom, and I won best dressed for my outfit – flower blazer, tuxedo shirt, tight jean shorts, long white socks, brown dress shoes. I’m glad I beat out the man in the dress. Sure you are different, but you are not original. Your outfit may require courage, but you are safe in the domain of a well worn, well recognized joke. Thus, if you wear a dress, you are showing no effort in creativity, and, in falsely and loudly proclaiming individuality, are being disingenuous. I lost the best dressed award unjustly in high school to a boy in a dress, (my melon tuxedo was superior to this hobo outfit,) but like Martin Scorcese winning the Academy Award for The Departed and not for Goodfellas, I was due.
Afterwards there was an apartment party in the suburbs. Turns out about 5 JETs all live in the same building, kind of crazy. That was a lot of fun, we were all native English speakers except for one Japanese. The next morning at the train station surrounded by people who could not understand a word of English, I felt like I was in a different world. What unfamiliarity! I had a reality hangover from the night before. Hanging out with gaikokujin in such large doses can be like eating at McDonalds. It tastes good, but its not real.
Weather’s getting warm! Cherry blossoms soon! About this time last year I was in Thailand and Japan with my parents on vacation. Time goes by fast.
See you later, peace.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Young GOCers
What did you do yesterday?
Yesterday I had the day off. I cleaned my dirty apartment and took a nap. I listened to music and read.
After my lazy Friday afternoon, I prepared to go out. I ate Korean food at a restaurant, about 30 seconds from my train station. I rode the train .6 km to the next train stop. There I met my Japanese English-teaching coworker, along with her friend. We went to go see her husband play jazz. They played good sets but short sets. Afterwards I was led to the piano, where I played one of my songs, which was actually unamenable to jamming with her bassist husband. Following this, I went to a Latin bar I know.
I met some GOCers there. Young GOCers. What better people can you meet? They were two college ladies and one male escort, all early twenties, dressed up in black formal wear. The girls were college students doing the Semester at Sea study abroad program, and he worked on their `cruise` ship.
Truthfully, their manners embarrassed me. The English speaking Moroccan bartender, with whom I am pretty friendly, was nice enough to pour these tourists shots. They took the first one, and after that they became immediately became very suspicious of some hidden cost. Their mood quickly soured. After they paid for their beers but not the free shots, he poured them each another shot, and despite the free first shot, they were not polite enough to drink.
Indeed the mood soured due to the male of the trio wishing to leave. It was too bad. We lingered on for 30 minutes or more, there and outside, but most of it was just negotiations on their departure. I offered to take them to Karaoke -- what is more Japanese than that? But they chose bedtime instead. It was alot of fun, though, talking to them, even though they really wanted to leave. We got in some brief, but charged and enjoyable `chit chat.` It was good to see GOCers. I don`t remember when I last saw a GOCer my age, let alone talk to one.
If some of you are wondering why I am in Japan for three years, one year short of the amount time I was at Umass, here is part of the answer. I want Japan to be a major story line in the narrative that is my life. Perhaps I watch too much TV, but for while I`ve thought of the individual venture of living as like a movie, or at least a book. It is filled with plot lines and sub-plots, characters appearing and disappearing, themes occuring, submerging, and reappearing way down the road. 1 year is nothing, that is tourism, not living in the country. 2 years is good, but it still straddles between a stretch of tourism and a major life occurrence. Obviously, I missed GOCers tonight, and that was no secret between me and the college students. (I miss college, too, and while we are at it, I miss young people.) However, in my forlornness, the GOC brohim sarcastically commented, `3 years? Good luck with that!` implying that, since I like GOCers, it is a dumb idea to be staying here.
Sometimes, I have the same sentiment. Well, more than sometimes. I wonder if spending my early twenties in a place where I have few good friends, and only slightly more who understand me is a good idea. Isn`t your early twenties supposed to be blur? And if not shouldn`t you at least be setting out on the path towards your thirties and beyond?
Well, definitely no on the latter. 21 is too young to start the real world, Im sorry. If all I did in life was school and then job, then too bad for me. That said, however, the jeopardy staying in Japan puts my supreme goal of becoming a physicist in does worry me. However, that is a long topic that I may venture into another time. In any case, I wanted to come to Japan since I saw Colin Thames`s Macross Plus VHS tapes, and am living out that desire.
Ultimately, I cannot take the hedonist or at least complacent viewpoint that it is better to live an easy life than a hard life. (Japan is the easy life, I hear you say. And yes, I do not lack any material necessities.) Such a view, as came from a man who spends his early twenties working on a college cruise ship, I will not personally value because it comes from a different value set. Perhaps he values skimming the surface of the world, tasting a little bit from each country`s pot, perhaps he values a long party. I value immersing myself in this one particular country because for some reason, I find strong affinity with it. Therefore, I give up pleasure now, in order to attain satisfaction and enjoyment from creating the 3 year narrative arc that of Japan.
Let me discuss more about these GOCers. I was mostly talking with one girl, because the other two people were fairly hostile until the very end. Nevertheless we had a good time. I enjoyed our GOC banter. GOCers are more subtle than one imagines. Funny they did not pick up my hints that they should drink those shots. Well, they probably did. Yes the GOCers were definitely rude. GOCers are rude to other cultures. We think we are kings of the world, largely because everyone acts like we are. If the rest of the world chose not to speak English to us while we were abroad, perhaps we from the GOC would be more humble. But GOCer to GOCer, things are different. We keep our emotions cool, and rarely get heated unless we mean it. We are welcoming to strangers, but always keep an shield of indifference. We are also direct, and the best dialogues usually involve at one side the communicating the impolite truth to the other while the other side eagerly recepts. And if the street is two ways, all the better. Perhaps it is the GOC mixture of frankness and politness that makes us unique. And, with regards to our friendliness, is it a surprise that a nation of imigrants would be welcoming to strangers?
Yes, living in Japan, it is a fact -- The GOC is more welcoming to strangers than other countries. I am making no claims more than this. Take Japan for existence. Japanese are very welcoming to friends, and strangers can become friends, but to strangers they are not as welcoming.
I saw some young GOCers and enjoyed myself, although regretted seeing them leave early. As long as I become a physicist, everything will have worked out for the best in the end. I miss The GOC, and am looking forward to a good New Years party, hopefully with a lot of young strangers at one of my good friend`s houses.
In the meantime, I have still to finish this plot line here in Japan. Among the remaining things I wish to do: visit the other main islands of Japan, and get a Japanese girlfriend. Hopefully the latter will be gotten shortly. Although, as I said before, I don`t hang out with a lot of young people. However, in the next two weeks, I should be going to one or two restaurant parties. I`m looking forward to this. The last one was the event of the season, and moreover, I met a girl with whom I went on about 4 dates. (She wasn`t my type.) So I`m hoping for good things at the next ones. Travelling to Kyushu, Hokkaido, and Okinawa is not too difficult.
Signing off, from an internet cafe.
Me
Yesterday I had the day off. I cleaned my dirty apartment and took a nap. I listened to music and read.
After my lazy Friday afternoon, I prepared to go out. I ate Korean food at a restaurant, about 30 seconds from my train station. I rode the train .6 km to the next train stop. There I met my Japanese English-teaching coworker, along with her friend. We went to go see her husband play jazz. They played good sets but short sets. Afterwards I was led to the piano, where I played one of my songs, which was actually unamenable to jamming with her bassist husband. Following this, I went to a Latin bar I know.
I met some GOCers there. Young GOCers. What better people can you meet? They were two college ladies and one male escort, all early twenties, dressed up in black formal wear. The girls were college students doing the Semester at Sea study abroad program, and he worked on their `cruise` ship.
Truthfully, their manners embarrassed me. The English speaking Moroccan bartender, with whom I am pretty friendly, was nice enough to pour these tourists shots. They took the first one, and after that they became immediately became very suspicious of some hidden cost. Their mood quickly soured. After they paid for their beers but not the free shots, he poured them each another shot, and despite the free first shot, they were not polite enough to drink.
Indeed the mood soured due to the male of the trio wishing to leave. It was too bad. We lingered on for 30 minutes or more, there and outside, but most of it was just negotiations on their departure. I offered to take them to Karaoke -- what is more Japanese than that? But they chose bedtime instead. It was alot of fun, though, talking to them, even though they really wanted to leave. We got in some brief, but charged and enjoyable `chit chat.` It was good to see GOCers. I don`t remember when I last saw a GOCer my age, let alone talk to one.
If some of you are wondering why I am in Japan for three years, one year short of the amount time I was at Umass, here is part of the answer. I want Japan to be a major story line in the narrative that is my life. Perhaps I watch too much TV, but for while I`ve thought of the individual venture of living as like a movie, or at least a book. It is filled with plot lines and sub-plots, characters appearing and disappearing, themes occuring, submerging, and reappearing way down the road. 1 year is nothing, that is tourism, not living in the country. 2 years is good, but it still straddles between a stretch of tourism and a major life occurrence. Obviously, I missed GOCers tonight, and that was no secret between me and the college students. (I miss college, too, and while we are at it, I miss young people.) However, in my forlornness, the GOC brohim sarcastically commented, `3 years? Good luck with that!` implying that, since I like GOCers, it is a dumb idea to be staying here.
Sometimes, I have the same sentiment. Well, more than sometimes. I wonder if spending my early twenties in a place where I have few good friends, and only slightly more who understand me is a good idea. Isn`t your early twenties supposed to be blur? And if not shouldn`t you at least be setting out on the path towards your thirties and beyond?
Well, definitely no on the latter. 21 is too young to start the real world, Im sorry. If all I did in life was school and then job, then too bad for me. That said, however, the jeopardy staying in Japan puts my supreme goal of becoming a physicist in does worry me. However, that is a long topic that I may venture into another time. In any case, I wanted to come to Japan since I saw Colin Thames`s Macross Plus VHS tapes, and am living out that desire.
Ultimately, I cannot take the hedonist or at least complacent viewpoint that it is better to live an easy life than a hard life. (Japan is the easy life, I hear you say. And yes, I do not lack any material necessities.) Such a view, as came from a man who spends his early twenties working on a college cruise ship, I will not personally value because it comes from a different value set. Perhaps he values skimming the surface of the world, tasting a little bit from each country`s pot, perhaps he values a long party. I value immersing myself in this one particular country because for some reason, I find strong affinity with it. Therefore, I give up pleasure now, in order to attain satisfaction and enjoyment from creating the 3 year narrative arc that of Japan.
Let me discuss more about these GOCers. I was mostly talking with one girl, because the other two people were fairly hostile until the very end. Nevertheless we had a good time. I enjoyed our GOC banter. GOCers are more subtle than one imagines. Funny they did not pick up my hints that they should drink those shots. Well, they probably did. Yes the GOCers were definitely rude. GOCers are rude to other cultures. We think we are kings of the world, largely because everyone acts like we are. If the rest of the world chose not to speak English to us while we were abroad, perhaps we from the GOC would be more humble. But GOCer to GOCer, things are different. We keep our emotions cool, and rarely get heated unless we mean it. We are welcoming to strangers, but always keep an shield of indifference. We are also direct, and the best dialogues usually involve at one side the communicating the impolite truth to the other while the other side eagerly recepts. And if the street is two ways, all the better. Perhaps it is the GOC mixture of frankness and politness that makes us unique. And, with regards to our friendliness, is it a surprise that a nation of imigrants would be welcoming to strangers?
Yes, living in Japan, it is a fact -- The GOC is more welcoming to strangers than other countries. I am making no claims more than this. Take Japan for existence. Japanese are very welcoming to friends, and strangers can become friends, but to strangers they are not as welcoming.
I saw some young GOCers and enjoyed myself, although regretted seeing them leave early. As long as I become a physicist, everything will have worked out for the best in the end. I miss The GOC, and am looking forward to a good New Years party, hopefully with a lot of young strangers at one of my good friend`s houses.
In the meantime, I have still to finish this plot line here in Japan. Among the remaining things I wish to do: visit the other main islands of Japan, and get a Japanese girlfriend. Hopefully the latter will be gotten shortly. Although, as I said before, I don`t hang out with a lot of young people. However, in the next two weeks, I should be going to one or two restaurant parties. I`m looking forward to this. The last one was the event of the season, and moreover, I met a girl with whom I went on about 4 dates. (She wasn`t my type.) So I`m hoping for good things at the next ones. Travelling to Kyushu, Hokkaido, and Okinawa is not too difficult.
Signing off, from an internet cafe.
Me
Monday, May 12, 2008
Predictions. Future Predictions.
It is said that Japan influences our Western culture, but we do not see this except through anime. Well, I will make the following prediction for women's fashion, based on what I see in Japan.
I predict that within 1-2 years, the current trend of wearing deep deep royal blue or almost purple, especially as pants and jeans, will spread to the lady consumers of The G.O.C.. It is a very striking fashion, probably a little bit too far ahead of where The G.O.C.. is at right now, but in line with the natural development of women's fashion as I saw it in December and September past.
You heard it hear first ladies and gentlemen. Feel free to hire me for trend consulting when my results prove accurate.
I predict that within 1-2 years, the current trend of wearing deep deep royal blue or almost purple, especially as pants and jeans, will spread to the lady consumers of The G.O.C.. It is a very striking fashion, probably a little bit too far ahead of where The G.O.C.. is at right now, but in line with the natural development of women's fashion as I saw it in December and September past.
You heard it hear first ladies and gentlemen. Feel free to hire me for trend consulting when my results prove accurate.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
"Been away long?" "Long Time."
Let it never be said that I don't love winter. It's snowing outside. The second snow in a week. Falling outsside is the kind of snow that would have children hoping in vain for a school cancelation the next day. Nothing beats a good snow.
Last Sunday it snowed. It was snowing in the morning, while I was at church. After the service there was an unusually packed Bible Study. This meant there were 7-8 people. The guy who runs it and who has taken me under his wing was of course there. So were 2 regulars. His wife was there, and so was his daughter, who apparently rarely comes to church, and I noticed didn't take communion. Not sure why she came on Sunday. But i spoke a little Japanese and explained the Moore Protestant Catholic divide in Japanese. After church everyone else went to coffee hour, but I wussied out and went home. Felt pretty bad about that, think its kind of rude.
I am not sure where I left off, and I don't feel like checking the archives. Sometime in January. Well, I started a Japanese class that meets five days a week for ~ 4 hours, for 200 minutes class time each day. I think it is a good price, considering how much it meets. It is cheap, relatively speaking, of course because there are 20 students in the classroom. I do think that getting more personal attention is a tangibly positive thing. We are going slower in this class then in my summer class, but that is not a bad thing. It gives time for the concepts to sink in. For example, I think I have adjectives down alot more solidly than before, as well as the groupings of verbs.
One nice thing about the class is everyone is so friendly. Everyone. I guess we all share a common interest -- learning the language. The youngest is 14 (!) and the oldest is either a French man or a Malaysian man, both of whom are married to a different Japanese woman. The 14 year old is from China and staying with her older sister who is doing the same thing, attending class, but for longer. Most people don't have jobs who attend the school. One Korean 25 year old works from around 8,9 -- 12.30, then class at 1.15 -- 5.00, then work from 6-9 ! crazy! As I said, everyone is so friendly. I have befriended a couple people in the class. Last week I went out to a club with two Taiwanese classmates. We spoke in English, Japanese, and translated Taiwanese. The club was ok. Then we went for fresh sushi at 6 am. I am no sushi conneisure. It was good, but i couldn't taste the freshness! I couldn't taste the life force that had just been sucked out of it. I thought about the circle of life. I thought about the Lion King. Then I went home.
Work is going good. By that I mean, my present job. Next week is my last week teaching these kidz, before their final exam the week after. So I am gonna have a little party during class and give out candy. For one class we still have a lesson to do, so gonna try to plow through that quick. For the other class... at some point during the semester I accidently skipped a day's lesson. I could never figure out what it was. So they will have a free day/ party for their last day, maybe play games or something.
Nothing beats class parties! These kids are graduating from college in about a week, so I'm sure they don't care anyways. They finished work for all their other classes, so they are on cruise control. I am reminded of my senior year Spanish class -- 3 guys, a crazy teacher, and 20 girls. We had a tortilla party at the end. By the end of the year, of course, Spanish class had devolved into anarchy. There was myself, Dan, and Kyle, 3 loud males. Kyle hated the teacher. He always disrespected her to her face, and refused to do her bidding. He was a funny guy, of course, so he pulled this off with some aplomb, but it was pure hatred. I played the polar opposite. I did whatever she asked me with good natured, but exagerated relish, made frequent attempts to befriend her and asked her to hang out, and was a teacher's pet to the extreme. And Dan was somewhere in the middle. That lady was crazy, now that I look back. How many nice middle aged lady teachers are handshaking chain smokers? She had a real nervouse smile, and was alway talking about the PhD she was pursuing in her free time. Guess you had to be there. Now it was well known amongst our grade that Latin class was free conversation time, and had been since sophomore year. They apparently used to discuss the teacher's dating life and all sorts of innapropriate stuff. We often heard them next door from our room making a ruckus. Well, actually, I believe that our low profile class beat their's in terms of slacker joy. It was a topsy turvey world where students ruled the classroom. Instead of a low energy, low priority chill time like their's, our class was an egalitarian society reaching towards the lofty goal of doing as little work as possible. After two years under the iron curtain of our previous Miss B, our chain smoking nice old lady was a dream. But for some reason Kyle still hated her.
Anyways, I'm gonna have a party for the students and am looking forward to that. I informed one set of classes last week, and will inform the other at the beggining of next.
In other news... the job situation is tight. I got an offer from the Assistant Language Teacher company I'm sort of hired for for 2 jobs. one 30 minutes past the middle of nowhere, and the other one not really anywhere either. I declined the first. I want to live in Kobe very badly. Barring this, I want to live in a city. I wont be in Japan forever, and want my time here being spent making friends and memories. I don't think I will make many friends in the countryside, becuase where would I meet anyone? The Japanese countryside's beauty still appeals to me, but it just wont work for me right now. I want to move away from Tokyo. Seen a lot of it, time to see the next spot. Besides, I hear Tokyo is the most unfriendly city in Japan. I was offered the second job, and this evening, emailed her back turning it down. I hope I am not shooting myself in the foot. Hiring season is now. I need to get on the ball asap. I applied to 5 jobs last week and 1 tonight, all in or near Kobe. One rejected me, and haven't heard back from the others. I just upped my resume today though (kinda stinks that I applied last week,) to put down that I have taught young kids English since January. (just between you and me, I've subbed for a friend 3 times.) the guy who works there is really cool, and I wanted to ask him if it was OK if i put the school down on my resume and references. He said sure. He has also given me career advice the past 2 times ive worked there. He's American, owns the school, been here for 10+ years. I think he understands the situation Im in, and I definately appreciate his help. I appreciate the help of all the people who have given me a hand along the way to getting these various jobs. When I get older, I think I'll try to do the same thing for young people who need it.
Weird thing happened to me today. I was browsing in the supermarket when I hear a soft voice say "Hi" behind me. The voice sounded like a dead child's. It also sounded like "Hi" as opposed to "Hai" and was clearly projected in my direction. I turned around and did a double take, although I am not sure if it was because I saw this ghostly voice came from a body that was staring at me, or if it was because she was so hideous. She looked at me and said in a very good accent "are you free?" My heart was thumping. She had butter-yellow bucked teeth, googly eyes, and just looked sad. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Are you free, tonight?" she replied. What the heck was this scary looking 30 year old asking a stranger in a supermarket if he was free for? I essentially was, but said "No." She said sorry, turned around, and immediately walked away very quickly away. I noticed she wore a helmet and a backpack. I had wondered if she was a prostitute, but then figured they usually don't approach people in supermarkets wearing a helmet and backpack.
I suppose it is human nature to abhor the untouchables. She was so ugly that I actually feared her, my heart was literally thumping. She was different, no doubt about that, else why would she approach me to begin with. But as I imagine it now, she was just a lonely woman on a Saturday night, who saw a lone gaijin who probably also had no friends (correct) and wanted to meet. I rejected her, and ultimately didn't feel good about that. If you say that it is not one's duty to befriend every lonely person, you are probably right. But as a Christian, I think it is probably my duty to connect with that person who so obviously and so sadly reaches out for companionship. After all, Jesus talks about going amongst the lepers and friendless. Moreover, I should not be kind to this woman out of duty, but out of empathy, (not sympathy.)
Thoughts like these were running through my head as she was speaking to me. That is why I asked her "What do you mean?" If she had clearly expressed her desire, say, to get a drink at a bar, I probably would have done that. But instead she didn't, and by propriety, I couldn't extend a provisional friendship, because then rejection would be even more painful. If I had to do it over again, I'm not sure how I would have done things different. Bear in mind, I also wanted to come home and apply to more jobs.
Anyways, that's all I wrote, apparently.
Last Sunday it snowed. It was snowing in the morning, while I was at church. After the service there was an unusually packed Bible Study. This meant there were 7-8 people. The guy who runs it and who has taken me under his wing was of course there. So were 2 regulars. His wife was there, and so was his daughter, who apparently rarely comes to church, and I noticed didn't take communion. Not sure why she came on Sunday. But i spoke a little Japanese and explained the Moore Protestant Catholic divide in Japanese. After church everyone else went to coffee hour, but I wussied out and went home. Felt pretty bad about that, think its kind of rude.
I am not sure where I left off, and I don't feel like checking the archives. Sometime in January. Well, I started a Japanese class that meets five days a week for ~ 4 hours, for 200 minutes class time each day. I think it is a good price, considering how much it meets. It is cheap, relatively speaking, of course because there are 20 students in the classroom. I do think that getting more personal attention is a tangibly positive thing. We are going slower in this class then in my summer class, but that is not a bad thing. It gives time for the concepts to sink in. For example, I think I have adjectives down alot more solidly than before, as well as the groupings of verbs.
One nice thing about the class is everyone is so friendly. Everyone. I guess we all share a common interest -- learning the language. The youngest is 14 (!) and the oldest is either a French man or a Malaysian man, both of whom are married to a different Japanese woman. The 14 year old is from China and staying with her older sister who is doing the same thing, attending class, but for longer. Most people don't have jobs who attend the school. One Korean 25 year old works from around 8,9 -- 12.30, then class at 1.15 -- 5.00, then work from 6-9 ! crazy! As I said, everyone is so friendly. I have befriended a couple people in the class. Last week I went out to a club with two Taiwanese classmates. We spoke in English, Japanese, and translated Taiwanese. The club was ok. Then we went for fresh sushi at 6 am. I am no sushi conneisure. It was good, but i couldn't taste the freshness! I couldn't taste the life force that had just been sucked out of it. I thought about the circle of life. I thought about the Lion King. Then I went home.
Work is going good. By that I mean, my present job. Next week is my last week teaching these kidz, before their final exam the week after. So I am gonna have a little party during class and give out candy. For one class we still have a lesson to do, so gonna try to plow through that quick. For the other class... at some point during the semester I accidently skipped a day's lesson. I could never figure out what it was. So they will have a free day/ party for their last day, maybe play games or something.
Nothing beats class parties! These kids are graduating from college in about a week, so I'm sure they don't care anyways. They finished work for all their other classes, so they are on cruise control. I am reminded of my senior year Spanish class -- 3 guys, a crazy teacher, and 20 girls. We had a tortilla party at the end. By the end of the year, of course, Spanish class had devolved into anarchy. There was myself, Dan, and Kyle, 3 loud males. Kyle hated the teacher. He always disrespected her to her face, and refused to do her bidding. He was a funny guy, of course, so he pulled this off with some aplomb, but it was pure hatred. I played the polar opposite. I did whatever she asked me with good natured, but exagerated relish, made frequent attempts to befriend her and asked her to hang out, and was a teacher's pet to the extreme. And Dan was somewhere in the middle. That lady was crazy, now that I look back. How many nice middle aged lady teachers are handshaking chain smokers? She had a real nervouse smile, and was alway talking about the PhD she was pursuing in her free time. Guess you had to be there. Now it was well known amongst our grade that Latin class was free conversation time, and had been since sophomore year. They apparently used to discuss the teacher's dating life and all sorts of innapropriate stuff. We often heard them next door from our room making a ruckus. Well, actually, I believe that our low profile class beat their's in terms of slacker joy. It was a topsy turvey world where students ruled the classroom. Instead of a low energy, low priority chill time like their's, our class was an egalitarian society reaching towards the lofty goal of doing as little work as possible. After two years under the iron curtain of our previous Miss B, our chain smoking nice old lady was a dream. But for some reason Kyle still hated her.
Anyways, I'm gonna have a party for the students and am looking forward to that. I informed one set of classes last week, and will inform the other at the beggining of next.
In other news... the job situation is tight. I got an offer from the Assistant Language Teacher company I'm sort of hired for for 2 jobs. one 30 minutes past the middle of nowhere, and the other one not really anywhere either. I declined the first. I want to live in Kobe very badly. Barring this, I want to live in a city. I wont be in Japan forever, and want my time here being spent making friends and memories. I don't think I will make many friends in the countryside, becuase where would I meet anyone? The Japanese countryside's beauty still appeals to me, but it just wont work for me right now. I want to move away from Tokyo. Seen a lot of it, time to see the next spot. Besides, I hear Tokyo is the most unfriendly city in Japan. I was offered the second job, and this evening, emailed her back turning it down. I hope I am not shooting myself in the foot. Hiring season is now. I need to get on the ball asap. I applied to 5 jobs last week and 1 tonight, all in or near Kobe. One rejected me, and haven't heard back from the others. I just upped my resume today though (kinda stinks that I applied last week,) to put down that I have taught young kids English since January. (just between you and me, I've subbed for a friend 3 times.) the guy who works there is really cool, and I wanted to ask him if it was OK if i put the school down on my resume and references. He said sure. He has also given me career advice the past 2 times ive worked there. He's American, owns the school, been here for 10+ years. I think he understands the situation Im in, and I definately appreciate his help. I appreciate the help of all the people who have given me a hand along the way to getting these various jobs. When I get older, I think I'll try to do the same thing for young people who need it.
Weird thing happened to me today. I was browsing in the supermarket when I hear a soft voice say "Hi" behind me. The voice sounded like a dead child's. It also sounded like "Hi" as opposed to "Hai" and was clearly projected in my direction. I turned around and did a double take, although I am not sure if it was because I saw this ghostly voice came from a body that was staring at me, or if it was because she was so hideous. She looked at me and said in a very good accent "are you free?" My heart was thumping. She had butter-yellow bucked teeth, googly eyes, and just looked sad. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Are you free, tonight?" she replied. What the heck was this scary looking 30 year old asking a stranger in a supermarket if he was free for? I essentially was, but said "No." She said sorry, turned around, and immediately walked away very quickly away. I noticed she wore a helmet and a backpack. I had wondered if she was a prostitute, but then figured they usually don't approach people in supermarkets wearing a helmet and backpack.
I suppose it is human nature to abhor the untouchables. She was so ugly that I actually feared her, my heart was literally thumping. She was different, no doubt about that, else why would she approach me to begin with. But as I imagine it now, she was just a lonely woman on a Saturday night, who saw a lone gaijin who probably also had no friends (correct) and wanted to meet. I rejected her, and ultimately didn't feel good about that. If you say that it is not one's duty to befriend every lonely person, you are probably right. But as a Christian, I think it is probably my duty to connect with that person who so obviously and so sadly reaches out for companionship. After all, Jesus talks about going amongst the lepers and friendless. Moreover, I should not be kind to this woman out of duty, but out of empathy, (not sympathy.)
Thoughts like these were running through my head as she was speaking to me. That is why I asked her "What do you mean?" If she had clearly expressed her desire, say, to get a drink at a bar, I probably would have done that. But instead she didn't, and by propriety, I couldn't extend a provisional friendship, because then rejection would be even more painful. If I had to do it over again, I'm not sure how I would have done things different. Bear in mind, I also wanted to come home and apply to more jobs.
Anyways, that's all I wrote, apparently.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
fijacion oral
Oh man! I just cooked some dank food!
I have been planning both of these meals for a couple days now. I am trying to stay on a tight budget, eat different things, and eat deliciously, so these meals fit perfectly within those constraints, although with a moderately high starter cost.
First, I had okonomiyaki -- Japanese pancake. You get these at restaurants, there is meat, sometimes fish, sometimes veggies, mixed in a pancake like batter with shredded cabbage throughout, topped with a rich brown sauce things and maybe seaweed.
I mixed together an egg, okonomiyaki flour, and water in a bowl. Once it was nice and thick, I stirred in a ton of diced cabbage. Next I fried some meat and mushrooms. Once they were almost cooked, I removed some, and poured over the rest my ton-o-pancake mix. Then I put on the top of the pancake the rest of the meat and mushrooms. I let the thing fry for about 5 minutes, and then flipped it over. I went heavy on the okonomiyaki sauce as I poured it over the top. I added shredded seaweed on top. After a couple minutes the thing was done and I plated it up.
It was pretty good. Def filling. I might have had too much flour and perhaps too much sauce. But, it was def a change of pace. My Japanese food abilities now include stir-fry, kimchee fried rice (technically Korean?), and okonomiyaki. Next up: shabu-shabu and tempura!
I have also had a hecka big sweet tooth recently. Now, I can't go out and buy a whole box of digestive biscuits every time I feel like having desert. So I decided to make crepes. First I did a test crepe. Because I've never done them before. I whisked (all with a fork) together an egg, quarter cup water, quarter cup milk. I had bought what said "something something BUTTER" on it, and it turned out to be spread. So I melted about a tablespoon of spread and added it to the bowl. Finally I added a tiny bit of salt. I mixed all these together. Next I added in a half cup of flour, a little at a time, and mixed it all till it was as smooth as I could get it. This was the test crepe. I had total 3/4ths cup batter.
I greased up a frying pan, heated it up, and dumped in 1/4 cup. I sworled the batter around in a circle. Now, the batter was not flat, little airy lumps popped up, like when making various Indian breads. I couldn't get any of the crepes flat. Is this a common problem with crepes?
In any case, I flipped it over when it looked set, and cooked it for about less than a minute more. Then I put it on a plate.
Next I halved a banana lengthwise and fried it up. I put one half on my first crepe. I wanted to add whipped cream, preferably fresh, else in a can, but they didnt have canned, and i dont have anywhere to whip. So i bought some plain yogurt. Unfortunately I left the yogurt out so it was a little melted. Also, it needed sugar. I stirred some sugar into some melty yogurt in a bowl and it melted even more, instantly. My guess is the sugar lowered the melting point of the yogurt. In any case, I added this sweet yogurt to my banana on the crepe, and of course, I had also bought some hersheys chocolate, and dumped some of that on there too.
It was delicious! But the crepe was cold. I thought it was more important the banana be hot than the crepe. I WAS WRONG! So the next two crepes I ate right after making each. Now you may be wondering -- "Eo-dog, you said you used 1/4 cup batter and yet you still had half a cup left. This means that there are two crepes left. You also said you cut a banana in half and used half for the first crepe. There is one half of a banana left. Assuming you put the whole banana-half in one of the last two crepes, what the heck did you put in the other??!!"
This is a good question, it raises an important issue that I thought of myself. And you are right, I did use the whole second half of the banana for actually my second crepe. I didn't feel like frying any more bananas for the third, but of course I couldn't have an empty crepe. So my second crepe was like a hot version of the first. And my third crepe I filled with rhubarb compote. It was good. I think some chunks of fresh rhubarb, for texture, would have been exquisite. Also, the plate was real messy and creamy chocolaty, so I got a little bit of that going on with the rhubarb.
Well, thanks for joining us today. Man, I feel like a rat... named Remy!
I have been planning both of these meals for a couple days now. I am trying to stay on a tight budget, eat different things, and eat deliciously, so these meals fit perfectly within those constraints, although with a moderately high starter cost.
First, I had okonomiyaki -- Japanese pancake. You get these at restaurants, there is meat, sometimes fish, sometimes veggies, mixed in a pancake like batter with shredded cabbage throughout, topped with a rich brown sauce things and maybe seaweed.
I mixed together an egg, okonomiyaki flour, and water in a bowl. Once it was nice and thick, I stirred in a ton of diced cabbage. Next I fried some meat and mushrooms. Once they were almost cooked, I removed some, and poured over the rest my ton-o-pancake mix. Then I put on the top of the pancake the rest of the meat and mushrooms. I let the thing fry for about 5 minutes, and then flipped it over. I went heavy on the okonomiyaki sauce as I poured it over the top. I added shredded seaweed on top. After a couple minutes the thing was done and I plated it up.
It was pretty good. Def filling. I might have had too much flour and perhaps too much sauce. But, it was def a change of pace. My Japanese food abilities now include stir-fry, kimchee fried rice (technically Korean?), and okonomiyaki. Next up: shabu-shabu and tempura!
I have also had a hecka big sweet tooth recently. Now, I can't go out and buy a whole box of digestive biscuits every time I feel like having desert. So I decided to make crepes. First I did a test crepe. Because I've never done them before. I whisked (all with a fork) together an egg, quarter cup water, quarter cup milk. I had bought what said "something something BUTTER" on it, and it turned out to be spread. So I melted about a tablespoon of spread and added it to the bowl. Finally I added a tiny bit of salt. I mixed all these together. Next I added in a half cup of flour, a little at a time, and mixed it all till it was as smooth as I could get it. This was the test crepe. I had total 3/4ths cup batter.
I greased up a frying pan, heated it up, and dumped in 1/4 cup. I sworled the batter around in a circle. Now, the batter was not flat, little airy lumps popped up, like when making various Indian breads. I couldn't get any of the crepes flat. Is this a common problem with crepes?
In any case, I flipped it over when it looked set, and cooked it for about less than a minute more. Then I put it on a plate.
Next I halved a banana lengthwise and fried it up. I put one half on my first crepe. I wanted to add whipped cream, preferably fresh, else in a can, but they didnt have canned, and i dont have anywhere to whip. So i bought some plain yogurt. Unfortunately I left the yogurt out so it was a little melted. Also, it needed sugar. I stirred some sugar into some melty yogurt in a bowl and it melted even more, instantly. My guess is the sugar lowered the melting point of the yogurt. In any case, I added this sweet yogurt to my banana on the crepe, and of course, I had also bought some hersheys chocolate, and dumped some of that on there too.
It was delicious! But the crepe was cold. I thought it was more important the banana be hot than the crepe. I WAS WRONG! So the next two crepes I ate right after making each. Now you may be wondering -- "Eo-dog, you said you used 1/4 cup batter and yet you still had half a cup left. This means that there are two crepes left. You also said you cut a banana in half and used half for the first crepe. There is one half of a banana left. Assuming you put the whole banana-half in one of the last two crepes, what the heck did you put in the other??!!"
This is a good question, it raises an important issue that I thought of myself. And you are right, I did use the whole second half of the banana for actually my second crepe. I didn't feel like frying any more bananas for the third, but of course I couldn't have an empty crepe. So my second crepe was like a hot version of the first. And my third crepe I filled with rhubarb compote. It was good. I think some chunks of fresh rhubarb, for texture, would have been exquisite. Also, the plate was real messy and creamy chocolaty, so I got a little bit of that going on with the rhubarb.
Well, thanks for joining us today. Man, I feel like a rat... named Remy!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Shizzle Bizzle
Hey there. Nice to see you again! Wow, you look great! You're getting in shape! It must be all that exercise! Did you get a hair cut? You look ugly. I preferred the old hair cut.
Well, now that we've broken the ice from our long sojourn, let us rekindle our relationship. I can tell you more longwinded stories, and you can nod your head, half paying attention while I ramble.
I went home for the holidays. It was nice. It was good to see the family and friends. Christmas was good. It was a relaxing, but rushed time. 10 days isn't much time. And I flew at least business class both ways, which was hecka nice. I should say that coming back to Japan was in some ways harder than leaving in the first place. I was moving into a new apartment. I had gotten back into a GOC rhythm. There was no new job or anything terribly new to look forward to. So I came back, and it was a little bit bittersweet.
I lug my heavy suitcase on a 2-3 hour train trek to my ew apartment. The girl who I'm living with -- M --was surprising short, ie no long winded intros. This is fine, and the communal space is spare so its not like there is anywhere to chat, but it was still weird to be like, "oh, you're moving in now. hi nice to see you. this is how much rent is. when do you want to practice english and japanese together? im having friends over tonight does that bother you? ok bye." whatevs. i dont care.
I won't go too deep into it this post, but she is extremely neat and demanding about neatness, I think to an unreasonable extent, and that causes me stress. I know I'm messy, but I think things such as leaving the sponge in the sink, and not leaving the proper bathroom doors open and closed is stupid to keep complaining about. Just close the door, put the sponge where it should be, and call it a day. Moreover, there is no table in the kitchen, though there used to be when I looked here in December, so that bothers me, gonna have to talk about that. She's out a lot, so I have privacy, which is nice.
I got back on the 30th and on the 31st was what we like to call "the new year." We had a whole gang celebrating. Me and old roomie J. J's Nova comrade and this comrade's visiting English friend. My friend N and her visiting English friend. Also, there was another English person there. We GOCers were greatly outnumbered. It felt like the war of 1812 all over again. (Which we won.) But I think everybody won on New Years.
We go over to J's apt. We shoot the breeze and play pass the computer so I can put on music I like. That's always a fun game. We started getting sloppy with canned G&T's, screwdrivers, and man-sodas (beer,) for this young crowd (i.e. no geezers.) Then we played drinking card games. This was a lot of fun. In Japan, you don't often get to go over to someone's apartment and just let loose. A lot of people go out to bars or clubs, (and often leave early to catch last train home.) But the whole, let's go over to so-and-so's apartment just isn't done too much in this country, so it was a refreshing change of pace. That is why I was marginally bummed when we decided to go to Yokohama, but that is what the people wanted.
On New Year's Eve the trains are open all night -- so that people can go to temples any time they want. We get on the train, are on it for midnight fireworks in Yokohama, and at midnight J's friend pops open a bottle of bubbly. We pass it around like the gaikokujin we are, (don't worry, drinking in public is allowed here.) I had a good time on that train, actually. Not sure about everyone else, it took over 90 minutes.
We get to Yokohama and go to the amusement park. We wait in line for about an hour. This wasn't hecka fun. There were two French dude-bro's in front of us who were not a fun time. We ride the rollercoaster and it was amazing
ly unspectacular. Next we go to a shopping mall for some reason and wander around wishing everyone a happy new year in Japanese, essentially saying, I think, "good morning and good luck" (trans. from Edward. R. Murrows). Then some people get tired, some people get club urgings, (but didn't go clubbing) and everyone pretty much splits up. I was bummed that they called it a night, but what are u gonna do. I went part of the way home with some people, (not everybody, N lives near Yokohama, for example.) And then took the very long train journey home.
I didn't get to sleep until daylight, which was probably good for my jet lag. I had messed up sleep cycle until about two days ago. I think what kicked it into normal gear was work yesterday. I have to leave here at 6.47, so I gotta get up at 5.30. Getting up this early, I actually went to bed at 10.30 last night and slept aight! I can't believe I got a good nights sleep going to bed that early. And then I woke up at 5.30 no problem. I think I am turning into an old man. I have also been strong and resisting the urge to nap. btw: work is the same, only add 1 hour to the commute each way. But i dont care too much bout that.
The town I'm in is cool. Higashi omiya. I want to go explore it more. It's a small town alright, but it's got a club! What the heck is there a club doing in this small town? (it's expensive to get in, so it's not on the list of my things to do, but it is nestled between a 24 hour fast japanese food joint and a mom and pop cheap foods store.) there is also a bar about two buildings away that seemed kind of lively on New year's day, but havent ventured there too yet. Too cheap/broke. I'm not an alcoholic, really, but there is limited public space in Japan, and as I said, people don't go over to each other's places.
One more interesting thing. On Sunday, I woke up at about 7 am, with my messed up skedul. So I decided to go to church. I can see the Church from my window, its lit across the street, but also across the tracks, so what would be a 30 second walk is more like a 3 min walk. I sneak in, cuz I'm a little bit late, and listen to the priest talk alot. No reciting prayers in the first part, just listening to the preist, I think reading from and talking about scripture. Some usher was nice enough to get me a hymnal and an order of worship. Eventually the priest's monologue ends and people sing a song or two, a couple prayers, and communion starts. I sang along to the hymns tho they were written in Japanese. Brrra! Brrra! The lady next to me encouraged and helped me to fill out a visitor's card. I wrote my name. And she handed it in. Communion came to us. First a peice of spongy bread was brought on trays to everyone. And then grape juice in small individual glass shooters was brought to everyone on a special tray. I ate and drank when everyone else did. I didn't recite the prayer though, because I wasn't exactly sure what I was praying. After this was the announcements, at the end now, before the final hymn. Some people stood up, said some things. Priest said some stuff, some lady stood up, bowed, people clapped. Then the priest read my card and I stood up, bowed, and they clapped! It was crazy.
After church the lady who was sitting next to me dropped me off with this nice man who spoke English. Turns out this church is basically the umbrella Protestant church of Japan founded after WWII. We talk for about 5 minutes in the pews, and then we go I think to leave. I bow to the minister and want to go right to leave the church, but the minister directs me left to coffee hour, saying "doozo" (please.) OK...
So I go to Coffee hour, and it probably lasted almost and hour for me. I small talked with that guy, very nice. Some other people spoke English. I talked to them a little. They were all very nice and directed me to sit down at this table, which I did. I had all the snacks and tea they offered me. It was very warm and hospitable. Apparently, after Church, since some people are interested in learning English, they have the day's translated scripture and go over it in English. I didn't do that this time, but maybe sometime I will help them. As I was indicating that I was going to leave soon, and also when certain people were leaving, people said, "yeah, so, see you next week." Note the period. So apparently I am in this church now, which is I think is essentially the Japanese version of the church I was in in the GOC. As someone told J, who told me -- "Once you're in a Japanese club, you're in it for life." But that's cool. It should be a good way to get involved in the community and maybe practice Japanese.
That's all he wrote for today. Gotta go! Bai Bai!
Well, now that we've broken the ice from our long sojourn, let us rekindle our relationship. I can tell you more longwinded stories, and you can nod your head, half paying attention while I ramble.
I went home for the holidays. It was nice. It was good to see the family and friends. Christmas was good. It was a relaxing, but rushed time. 10 days isn't much time. And I flew at least business class both ways, which was hecka nice. I should say that coming back to Japan was in some ways harder than leaving in the first place. I was moving into a new apartment. I had gotten back into a GOC rhythm. There was no new job or anything terribly new to look forward to. So I came back, and it was a little bit bittersweet.
I lug my heavy suitcase on a 2-3 hour train trek to my ew apartment. The girl who I'm living with -- M --was surprising short, ie no long winded intros. This is fine, and the communal space is spare so its not like there is anywhere to chat, but it was still weird to be like, "oh, you're moving in now. hi nice to see you. this is how much rent is. when do you want to practice english and japanese together? im having friends over tonight does that bother you? ok bye." whatevs. i dont care.
I won't go too deep into it this post, but she is extremely neat and demanding about neatness, I think to an unreasonable extent, and that causes me stress. I know I'm messy, but I think things such as leaving the sponge in the sink, and not leaving the proper bathroom doors open and closed is stupid to keep complaining about. Just close the door, put the sponge where it should be, and call it a day. Moreover, there is no table in the kitchen, though there used to be when I looked here in December, so that bothers me, gonna have to talk about that. She's out a lot, so I have privacy, which is nice.
I got back on the 30th and on the 31st was what we like to call "the new year." We had a whole gang celebrating. Me and old roomie J. J's Nova comrade and this comrade's visiting English friend. My friend N and her visiting English friend. Also, there was another English person there. We GOCers were greatly outnumbered. It felt like the war of 1812 all over again. (Which we won.) But I think everybody won on New Years.
We go over to J's apt. We shoot the breeze and play pass the computer so I can put on music I like. That's always a fun game. We started getting sloppy with canned G&T's, screwdrivers, and man-sodas (beer,) for this young crowd (i.e. no geezers.) Then we played drinking card games. This was a lot of fun. In Japan, you don't often get to go over to someone's apartment and just let loose. A lot of people go out to bars or clubs, (and often leave early to catch last train home.) But the whole, let's go over to so-and-so's apartment just isn't done too much in this country, so it was a refreshing change of pace. That is why I was marginally bummed when we decided to go to Yokohama, but that is what the people wanted.
On New Year's Eve the trains are open all night -- so that people can go to temples any time they want. We get on the train, are on it for midnight fireworks in Yokohama, and at midnight J's friend pops open a bottle of bubbly. We pass it around like the gaikokujin we are, (don't worry, drinking in public is allowed here.) I had a good time on that train, actually. Not sure about everyone else, it took over 90 minutes.
We get to Yokohama and go to the amusement park. We wait in line for about an hour. This wasn't hecka fun. There were two French dude-bro's in front of us who were not a fun time. We ride the rollercoaster and it was amazing
ly unspectacular. Next we go to a shopping mall for some reason and wander around wishing everyone a happy new year in Japanese, essentially saying, I think, "good morning and good luck" (trans. from Edward. R. Murrows). Then some people get tired, some people get club urgings, (but didn't go clubbing) and everyone pretty much splits up. I was bummed that they called it a night, but what are u gonna do. I went part of the way home with some people, (not everybody, N lives near Yokohama, for example.) And then took the very long train journey home.
I didn't get to sleep until daylight, which was probably good for my jet lag. I had messed up sleep cycle until about two days ago. I think what kicked it into normal gear was work yesterday. I have to leave here at 6.47, so I gotta get up at 5.30. Getting up this early, I actually went to bed at 10.30 last night and slept aight! I can't believe I got a good nights sleep going to bed that early. And then I woke up at 5.30 no problem. I think I am turning into an old man. I have also been strong and resisting the urge to nap. btw: work is the same, only add 1 hour to the commute each way. But i dont care too much bout that.
The town I'm in is cool. Higashi omiya. I want to go explore it more. It's a small town alright, but it's got a club! What the heck is there a club doing in this small town? (it's expensive to get in, so it's not on the list of my things to do, but it is nestled between a 24 hour fast japanese food joint and a mom and pop cheap foods store.) there is also a bar about two buildings away that seemed kind of lively on New year's day, but havent ventured there too yet. Too cheap/broke. I'm not an alcoholic, really, but there is limited public space in Japan, and as I said, people don't go over to each other's places.
One more interesting thing. On Sunday, I woke up at about 7 am, with my messed up skedul. So I decided to go to church. I can see the Church from my window, its lit across the street, but also across the tracks, so what would be a 30 second walk is more like a 3 min walk. I sneak in, cuz I'm a little bit late, and listen to the priest talk alot. No reciting prayers in the first part, just listening to the preist, I think reading from and talking about scripture. Some usher was nice enough to get me a hymnal and an order of worship. Eventually the priest's monologue ends and people sing a song or two, a couple prayers, and communion starts. I sang along to the hymns tho they were written in Japanese. Brrra! Brrra! The lady next to me encouraged and helped me to fill out a visitor's card. I wrote my name. And she handed it in. Communion came to us. First a peice of spongy bread was brought on trays to everyone. And then grape juice in small individual glass shooters was brought to everyone on a special tray. I ate and drank when everyone else did. I didn't recite the prayer though, because I wasn't exactly sure what I was praying. After this was the announcements, at the end now, before the final hymn. Some people stood up, said some things. Priest said some stuff, some lady stood up, bowed, people clapped. Then the priest read my card and I stood up, bowed, and they clapped! It was crazy.
After church the lady who was sitting next to me dropped me off with this nice man who spoke English. Turns out this church is basically the umbrella Protestant church of Japan founded after WWII. We talk for about 5 minutes in the pews, and then we go I think to leave. I bow to the minister and want to go right to leave the church, but the minister directs me left to coffee hour, saying "doozo" (please.) OK...
So I go to Coffee hour, and it probably lasted almost and hour for me. I small talked with that guy, very nice. Some other people spoke English. I talked to them a little. They were all very nice and directed me to sit down at this table, which I did. I had all the snacks and tea they offered me. It was very warm and hospitable. Apparently, after Church, since some people are interested in learning English, they have the day's translated scripture and go over it in English. I didn't do that this time, but maybe sometime I will help them. As I was indicating that I was going to leave soon, and also when certain people were leaving, people said, "yeah, so, see you next week." Note the period. So apparently I am in this church now, which is I think is essentially the Japanese version of the church I was in in the GOC. As someone told J, who told me -- "Once you're in a Japanese club, you're in it for life." But that's cool. It should be a good way to get involved in the community and maybe practice Japanese.
That's all he wrote for today. Gotta go! Bai Bai!
Just the Two of Us
From the first time the internet placed you in my sight
I knew that we should talk before we both said alright.
Although questions arose in my mind would I be man enough
Against dirt choose clean and be standin up?
From the bedroom that first night
Sleeping light wondering -- will we be alright?
People talking all loud didnt get me upset
But what did was when i didnt have internet.
The next day I don't think one bit I sent,
While you mailed me texts about the bathroom vent.
I try to live cleanly -- but I'm afraid of this --
Your impatience when I let the sponge lay in the sink.
Then to my knees and I begged the law please
Let me be a good tenant all she needs.
Deposit, utilities, and cleaning fees too
I pledge my rent to you.
Just the two of us, we can make if we try
Just the two of us.
Just the two of us, building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I.
I knew that we should talk before we both said alright.
Although questions arose in my mind would I be man enough
Against dirt choose clean and be standin up?
From the bedroom that first night
Sleeping light wondering -- will we be alright?
People talking all loud didnt get me upset
But what did was when i didnt have internet.
The next day I don't think one bit I sent,
While you mailed me texts about the bathroom vent.
I try to live cleanly -- but I'm afraid of this --
Your impatience when I let the sponge lay in the sink.
Then to my knees and I begged the law please
Let me be a good tenant all she needs.
Deposit, utilities, and cleaning fees too
I pledge my rent to you.
Just the two of us, we can make if we try
Just the two of us.
Just the two of us, building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
End of Part 1
I like to think our lives have plots. Each portion of your life -- divide it up along whatever lines you want -- segues into the next, like a beautiful piece of literature.
Anyways, as I told my roomate J, this is the end of part 1 of our Japanese adventure, which, if one considers Japan takin up a chapter or 2 in my life story, is a good few paragraphs gone in my autobiography. But in the smaller scale, going back to The GOC, moving into a new appartment, the dissolution of our previous roomate trio -- signifies a definate seachange.
I'm sitting in the Business Class waiting lounge for American Airlines -- we call it The Admirals Lounge. And bless their hearts they have internet, but their internet connection will not even allow me to visit www.urbandictionary.com to look up the meaning of "seachange." "Category: Tasteless." ... :(
Anyways, if The Admirals Lounge is any indication, business class is the Only way to travel. There is a buffet of sushi, cheese and crackers, and, to anyone English who used to live with me out there -- meat pies! There is also Benjamine Franklin's favorite drink on tap, along with whatever other alcohol you want. It's pretty rediculous. The chairs are hecka stylish and comfortable. It almost makes you wonder why they don't make the rest of the airport comfortable... almost.
Not just in the Admirals Lounge, but anywhere, Japan is truly a great country if you want to be catered to. To the finest detail service is of the utmost quality here. They will take your trash with a smile, go out of their way to help you locate a rival business, sneak you train tickets... the list continues.
So, I don't feel like waxing nostalgic or summarizing the events so far. Saying that there is a sea change is enough. One thing I will say, is that now I know I am definately here for more than one year. And as I think about my proposed time-line -- get a job teaching in a school in April, anywhere -- maybe the boondocks to learn the lanuage; work there for a year till the contract is up; moving out to Kobe to strike it rich for 6 months -- it all seems pretty rushed. We shall see what happens.
Stay tuned for Chapter 2, faithful readers!
Anyways, as I told my roomate J, this is the end of part 1 of our Japanese adventure, which, if one considers Japan takin up a chapter or 2 in my life story, is a good few paragraphs gone in my autobiography. But in the smaller scale, going back to The GOC, moving into a new appartment, the dissolution of our previous roomate trio -- signifies a definate seachange.
I'm sitting in the Business Class waiting lounge for American Airlines -- we call it The Admirals Lounge. And bless their hearts they have internet, but their internet connection will not even allow me to visit www.urbandictionary.com to look up the meaning of "seachange." "Category: Tasteless." ... :(
Anyways, if The Admirals Lounge is any indication, business class is the Only way to travel. There is a buffet of sushi, cheese and crackers, and, to anyone English who used to live with me out there -- meat pies! There is also Benjamine Franklin's favorite drink on tap, along with whatever other alcohol you want. It's pretty rediculous. The chairs are hecka stylish and comfortable. It almost makes you wonder why they don't make the rest of the airport comfortable... almost.
Not just in the Admirals Lounge, but anywhere, Japan is truly a great country if you want to be catered to. To the finest detail service is of the utmost quality here. They will take your trash with a smile, go out of their way to help you locate a rival business, sneak you train tickets... the list continues.
So, I don't feel like waxing nostalgic or summarizing the events so far. Saying that there is a sea change is enough. One thing I will say, is that now I know I am definately here for more than one year. And as I think about my proposed time-line -- get a job teaching in a school in April, anywhere -- maybe the boondocks to learn the lanuage; work there for a year till the contract is up; moving out to Kobe to strike it rich for 6 months -- it all seems pretty rushed. We shall see what happens.
Stay tuned for Chapter 2, faithful readers!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunset in Japan
So today is Tuesday, not Monday, but I am still posting, because yesterday I didn't. My tinnitus has gotten better. I am not entirely sure if it has subsided or if I don't notice it as much. I think its a combination of both. For starters, I don't really hear it too much, unless I pay attention to it, and then it is still marginal. I hear it when going to bed in the silence. The ringing in my left ear is much less there if at all. I think the pitch has gotten even higher in tone, almost so high as to be a whisper. But, when I pray and hope that it is gone, I go to bed or a quiet room and hear a wringing in my right ear. Its not too bad, probably could live with it, but would I want to with probably more than half a century left to go? I also think that I am becoming accustomed to it. They did a study, put people in a dead silent room and found most people heard a high pitched tone. But I do think that what I have is louder and more unnatural than that. The outlook is not as grim as last week, when the tinnitus was worse, but, I am still fearful that I have this condition. I am also very afraid that I may damage my ears again, hear too loud a noise or get an infection or whatever. With my ears already like this, if they got knocked back again, so that I got BAD tinnitus -- well, that would be beyond horrible. As such, I have been refraining from consuming alcohol and caffeine (except in chocolate form I'm so bad,) because I hear (no pun intended) that makes your condition temporarily worse. So that is the story with my ears. I'm sure most of you don't care, I'll move on.
I turned 22 on Saturday. I am officially over the hill. 21 is when you become an adult. 22 is when you become over the hill. You see, 20 is the age before you can become publicly intoxicated -- which, as we all know, is a sign of one's maturity. So when you are 20 you are a kid. And then 21 you are an adult because you can drink and buy minors rated R movie tickets. And then 22, when nothing special happens, you are over the hill. The only thing I have left to look forward to is when I turn 25, the age you at which you can rent a car from Thrifty ... without a daily surcharge. So I can even rent a car now, just with a daily surcharge! And that's old hat! By the way, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, which is probably why Japan is full of old people. Yes, turning 22 sure did make me wonder where the years went...
I went to the bowling alley with The Last Roomate J. We played epic ping pong matches. As everyone knows, I am a backhand looper. My forehand game is practically non-existant. I found a new grip that lets me hit pretty good forehands, with the correct timing, and was developing that. Then P stopped by. We bowled a couple games. Then P invited us back to his studio to play some videogames. He lives with his gf. We hang out in his apartment for a little bit. Then his gf turns off the lights, and she and P emerge from the kitchen with a home made birthday cake... with candles! It was incredibly nice of them, and I wasn't expecting it at all! We talked for an hour or so, and me and J left to our apartment. By the way. P has a Wii and he has Mario Galaxies. Very cool.
I have been continuing to work at the tax college. I have a job interview for a high school or junior high position on Thursday. Wish me luck. I am also moving out of the apartment.
Looking on various apartment boards, I found an apartment posted by this 20 year old Japanese girl who works at an office. She lives with a 45 year old man "who has good sense." I thought they shared the apartment, but he owns it. Last night I went to check out the place. I travel about 2 hours to this place. It's in The Middle of Nowhere, Suburbs, Japan. Its an hour from Tokyo. 90 minutes -- 2 hours from my part time tax college job. I get to this place, after a few confused txt messages on both our parts from me and the girl. She arrives on a motorcycle and asks if I can ride on it with her. I figure refusing is wussy, and people might generally not want wusses for their apt mates. So she gives me a helmut and I get on the back. First time I ever rode on a motorcycle, only 5 minutes, and I have to say it was fun. We get to her apartment, and before we walk in, she explain the old man living there is the owner and she's been there 3 months. And here I was hoping he was some sketchy old noob.
Wow, this guy kept this place so clean he would give Danny Tanner a run for his money. I bet he even dusted! It was a small little place, 3 bedroom, a kitchen attached to a dining room, attached to a computer room. The place was a little spare, the single thing in the computer room was the computer. The man seemed a little incredulous and laughed a little impolitely at my desire to live there. The girl was our translator. They questioned my working 90 - 120 minutes away, although I don't think my commute concerns them. The man also seemed suspicious of living with someone who doesn't really speak Japanese. I speak a little, but not nearly conversational. My mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure out what they were saying, though, so I think living in Danny Tanner Heck-zone would be very beneficial to my language skills. BuT CAn TheY HaNDle mE?!! So, they said they would take till the weekend to think about it. I also don't know if they know that there's a good chance I'd move in April. Think I should tell them? Everyone is hecka polite in Japan, so much so that you don't want to go around screwing everyone for your own benefit like you would in The G.O.C..
So, realizing the tentativeness of this new place, I have spent today applying to new apts. Applied to a bunch. Gonna go look at 2 on Thursday. I think these are shared apts, 5-6 people, no owner-dood living on site. This is sort of what I want, minus any English people. But there are def Japanese at both, so language potential does exist. There is also a Spanish guy at one, so it would be fun para hablar en espanol al ello. Not as much as at Danny Tanner's house, though. Danny Tanner's house also costs $250 dollars, and this other one costs about $560 I think. $250 is redic cheap tho, $560 is a fairly good deal here.
Given the option of living at Danny Tanner's house, a 2 hour commute from my 2-time a week, 9.00 am start job, what do you guys think I should do? Advice?
I am coming home for Christmas.
____________________________________
We are on the final pages of the first chapter of Japan. I should have blog posted about this in more detail, but forgot to -- my roommate M moved out last Thursday to England. It's too bad. I'll miss talking about anime and watching him play computer games. And today J came home with exciting news -- he got offered a job. He starts training tomorrow. The next day they will fly him to the opposite coast of Japan for his job. He is a super-sub, meaning he fills in for English high-school teachers on long term basis. If a teacher is needed for a week or a month anywhere in Japan, he is your man. They will pay for his accomadation, wherever. So he will be living as a vagabond for a year. Kind of a cool gig, not my cup of tea, because I want roots. But in any case, he'll probably be gone in 2 days, and then I am left here, alone, in the squalor. But only for a week, and then I am gone to The Good Ol' Country. When I return, I will be somewhere new.
Yes, this first part of Japan was easy. It was too easy, and I didn't try hard. The wheels of fate are turning in synchrony with the eternal clock. Things are moving; people are moving. I am moving; I hope I don't stop until I've learned Japanese.
--Eoin
I turned 22 on Saturday. I am officially over the hill. 21 is when you become an adult. 22 is when you become over the hill. You see, 20 is the age before you can become publicly intoxicated -- which, as we all know, is a sign of one's maturity. So when you are 20 you are a kid. And then 21 you are an adult because you can drink and buy minors rated R movie tickets. And then 22, when nothing special happens, you are over the hill. The only thing I have left to look forward to is when I turn 25, the age you at which you can rent a car from Thrifty ... without a daily surcharge. So I can even rent a car now, just with a daily surcharge! And that's old hat! By the way, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, which is probably why Japan is full of old people. Yes, turning 22 sure did make me wonder where the years went...
I went to the bowling alley with The Last Roomate J. We played epic ping pong matches. As everyone knows, I am a backhand looper. My forehand game is practically non-existant. I found a new grip that lets me hit pretty good forehands, with the correct timing, and was developing that. Then P stopped by. We bowled a couple games. Then P invited us back to his studio to play some videogames. He lives with his gf. We hang out in his apartment for a little bit. Then his gf turns off the lights, and she and P emerge from the kitchen with a home made birthday cake... with candles! It was incredibly nice of them, and I wasn't expecting it at all! We talked for an hour or so, and me and J left to our apartment. By the way. P has a Wii and he has Mario Galaxies. Very cool.
I have been continuing to work at the tax college. I have a job interview for a high school or junior high position on Thursday. Wish me luck. I am also moving out of the apartment.
Looking on various apartment boards, I found an apartment posted by this 20 year old Japanese girl who works at an office. She lives with a 45 year old man "who has good sense." I thought they shared the apartment, but he owns it. Last night I went to check out the place. I travel about 2 hours to this place. It's in The Middle of Nowhere, Suburbs, Japan. Its an hour from Tokyo. 90 minutes -- 2 hours from my part time tax college job. I get to this place, after a few confused txt messages on both our parts from me and the girl. She arrives on a motorcycle and asks if I can ride on it with her. I figure refusing is wussy, and people might generally not want wusses for their apt mates. So she gives me a helmut and I get on the back. First time I ever rode on a motorcycle, only 5 minutes, and I have to say it was fun. We get to her apartment, and before we walk in, she explain the old man living there is the owner and she's been there 3 months. And here I was hoping he was some sketchy old noob.
Wow, this guy kept this place so clean he would give Danny Tanner a run for his money. I bet he even dusted! It was a small little place, 3 bedroom, a kitchen attached to a dining room, attached to a computer room. The place was a little spare, the single thing in the computer room was the computer. The man seemed a little incredulous and laughed a little impolitely at my desire to live there. The girl was our translator. They questioned my working 90 - 120 minutes away, although I don't think my commute concerns them. The man also seemed suspicious of living with someone who doesn't really speak Japanese. I speak a little, but not nearly conversational. My mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure out what they were saying, though, so I think living in Danny Tanner Heck-zone would be very beneficial to my language skills. BuT CAn TheY HaNDle mE?!! So, they said they would take till the weekend to think about it. I also don't know if they know that there's a good chance I'd move in April. Think I should tell them? Everyone is hecka polite in Japan, so much so that you don't want to go around screwing everyone for your own benefit like you would in The G.O.C..
So, realizing the tentativeness of this new place, I have spent today applying to new apts. Applied to a bunch. Gonna go look at 2 on Thursday. I think these are shared apts, 5-6 people, no owner-dood living on site. This is sort of what I want, minus any English people. But there are def Japanese at both, so language potential does exist. There is also a Spanish guy at one, so it would be fun para hablar en espanol al ello. Not as much as at Danny Tanner's house, though. Danny Tanner's house also costs $250 dollars, and this other one costs about $560 I think. $250 is redic cheap tho, $560 is a fairly good deal here.
Given the option of living at Danny Tanner's house, a 2 hour commute from my 2-time a week, 9.00 am start job, what do you guys think I should do? Advice?
I am coming home for Christmas.
____________________________________
We are on the final pages of the first chapter of Japan. I should have blog posted about this in more detail, but forgot to -- my roommate M moved out last Thursday to England. It's too bad. I'll miss talking about anime and watching him play computer games. And today J came home with exciting news -- he got offered a job. He starts training tomorrow. The next day they will fly him to the opposite coast of Japan for his job. He is a super-sub, meaning he fills in for English high-school teachers on long term basis. If a teacher is needed for a week or a month anywhere in Japan, he is your man. They will pay for his accomadation, wherever. So he will be living as a vagabond for a year. Kind of a cool gig, not my cup of tea, because I want roots. But in any case, he'll probably be gone in 2 days, and then I am left here, alone, in the squalor. But only for a week, and then I am gone to The Good Ol' Country. When I return, I will be somewhere new.
Yes, this first part of Japan was easy. It was too easy, and I didn't try hard. The wheels of fate are turning in synchrony with the eternal clock. Things are moving; people are moving. I am moving; I hope I don't stop until I've learned Japanese.
--Eoin
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Silence is Golden
Crappy week.
Let me start with the minor things. I have no full time employment. I have no future apartment or job.
Let me tell you what is really bothering me. On Saturday I went with the girl from Miami -- N -- to a rock concert. She knew the headlining act, and was obliged to go. Heck, I didn't even really want to go, it just turned out to be the most convenient thing to do. And it was free. So we go, and I see this band whose music I have on my computer b4 hand and who were pretty enjoyable. Then we see a pretty rockin band, then a weird noise band, and finally -- the terrible terrible deathly terrible final act.
Suffice to say, they put on the gig, were pretensious and boring, boring, derivative, and LOUD. At certain points they turned their distortion, pitch, and volume on high. Now we were standing at the front near the speakers so she could be seen by her accquaintences. This noise peirced my eardrums like daggers. I dont remember ever feeling physical pain from sound, but this truly hurt. Then they would ease off and return to their normal wailing, then jam on the pain again in the name of Rock. I longed to be in a Munch painting with my hands over my ears, but couldnt since I was 2 feet away from the singer, and for some stupid reason didn't just leave the floor. In anycase, their set lasted 15-20 minutes and they were done. Afterwards, outside, I asked N if her ears were still ringing. She said no...
Cut forward 115 hours. My right ear has a persistent ring in it. It never goes away. Sometimes it fades from my conciousness, but is always there. It is usually at a constant volume, but sometimes it waxes and wanes ever so slightly. On the train or outside it is easy not to hear it. With music playing it is not too noticible. It isnt even THAT loud. It sounds like a computer monitor or a computer booting up. Its a high pitched, metallic, unnatural squeal. Well, more cold than squeal, lets say a pure tone. Its surprising how unorganic it sounds.
I hoped to give it a few days to clear, right now that is all I can do, but days keep passing and the noise remains. As I said, sometimes when I dont think about it, I dont notice it, but thats kind of like always having a thought in your mind that you know you can't think about. I am talking about this affliction as if its permanent. That is because I fear it is. My symptoms seem consistent with, pardon me while I knock on wood, tinnitus.
There is no cure for tinnitus, although there is treatment. (Some research, though, suggests that you may be able to heal the damage with hyperbaric oxygen treatment, or sessions in a 100% pressurized oxygen container, within a few months of the traumatic injury.) There are also mental training excersizes that you can do. Tinnitus is caused for various reasons, one of which is acoustic trauma. The inner ear hairs become damaged, and the associated nerves start firing off random signals to the brain that correspond to no physical sound.
The ringing is bothersome. But bothersome things are nothing to cry about. What is awful is knowing that for the rest of my life I may be fatigued by this constant, omnipresent irritation. I also presently have fears that it may get worse. Initially I just heard the ringing in my right ear, but going to bed 2 nights ago, I heard a faint ring in my left, and last night, I heard an additional noise (like metallic crickets) in my right... I don't want my ear condition to get any worse. And what is also sad, is that I may not ever hear silence again. I've been pretty depressed this week. It'd be bad enough if this happened at middle or old age. But I'm only 21, and am not looking forward to enduring 60 years of noise. I'm not going clubbing on Friday for my birthday for obvious reasons.
...
"All in all, at least you've got your health."
Eoin
Let me start with the minor things. I have no full time employment. I have no future apartment or job.
Let me tell you what is really bothering me. On Saturday I went with the girl from Miami -- N -- to a rock concert. She knew the headlining act, and was obliged to go. Heck, I didn't even really want to go, it just turned out to be the most convenient thing to do. And it was free. So we go, and I see this band whose music I have on my computer b4 hand and who were pretty enjoyable. Then we see a pretty rockin band, then a weird noise band, and finally -- the terrible terrible deathly terrible final act.
Suffice to say, they put on the gig, were pretensious and boring, boring, derivative, and LOUD. At certain points they turned their distortion, pitch, and volume on high. Now we were standing at the front near the speakers so she could be seen by her accquaintences. This noise peirced my eardrums like daggers. I dont remember ever feeling physical pain from sound, but this truly hurt. Then they would ease off and return to their normal wailing, then jam on the pain again in the name of Rock. I longed to be in a Munch painting with my hands over my ears, but couldnt since I was 2 feet away from the singer, and for some stupid reason didn't just leave the floor. In anycase, their set lasted 15-20 minutes and they were done. Afterwards, outside, I asked N if her ears were still ringing. She said no...
Cut forward 115 hours. My right ear has a persistent ring in it. It never goes away. Sometimes it fades from my conciousness, but is always there. It is usually at a constant volume, but sometimes it waxes and wanes ever so slightly. On the train or outside it is easy not to hear it. With music playing it is not too noticible. It isnt even THAT loud. It sounds like a computer monitor or a computer booting up. Its a high pitched, metallic, unnatural squeal. Well, more cold than squeal, lets say a pure tone. Its surprising how unorganic it sounds.
I hoped to give it a few days to clear, right now that is all I can do, but days keep passing and the noise remains. As I said, sometimes when I dont think about it, I dont notice it, but thats kind of like always having a thought in your mind that you know you can't think about. I am talking about this affliction as if its permanent. That is because I fear it is. My symptoms seem consistent with, pardon me while I knock on wood, tinnitus.
There is no cure for tinnitus, although there is treatment. (Some research, though, suggests that you may be able to heal the damage with hyperbaric oxygen treatment, or sessions in a 100% pressurized oxygen container, within a few months of the traumatic injury.) There are also mental training excersizes that you can do. Tinnitus is caused for various reasons, one of which is acoustic trauma. The inner ear hairs become damaged, and the associated nerves start firing off random signals to the brain that correspond to no physical sound.
The ringing is bothersome. But bothersome things are nothing to cry about. What is awful is knowing that for the rest of my life I may be fatigued by this constant, omnipresent irritation. I also presently have fears that it may get worse. Initially I just heard the ringing in my right ear, but going to bed 2 nights ago, I heard a faint ring in my left, and last night, I heard an additional noise (like metallic crickets) in my right... I don't want my ear condition to get any worse. And what is also sad, is that I may not ever hear silence again. I've been pretty depressed this week. It'd be bad enough if this happened at middle or old age. But I'm only 21, and am not looking forward to enduring 60 years of noise. I'm not going clubbing on Friday for my birthday for obvious reasons.
...
"All in all, at least you've got your health."
Eoin
Monday, November 26, 2007
Boring...
Let's see... this week was pretty boring. I didn't do much.
All I did was go to a modeling gig with J, get my picture taken, walk down the runway, get a t-shirt for payment along with Subway and free drinks, and see a band that I really because after I'm done modeling at this "rock-fashion" show it turns out that the awesome band playing is they, and who incidently I went up to afterward and said "Nirgilis no ongaku ga daisuki desu!"; meet some new people: 1 a 3rd generation Korean born and raised in Japan who has a gaijin/foreigners card like we Westeners do, 2 a Miami raised Japanese girl who half-runs that modeling thing, go out to dinner with her and J, go to the hipster-den Shimokitazawa with J and her, buy some good drinks, talk to some Frenchies, listen to this man DJ (real small lounge about 10 people in there including us) leave with Frenchies and J to Shibuya to go to a club the man is DJing at, have some fun, buy some expensive drinks, dance to techno; find out I didn't get the job I was hoping to get which was actually a sweet job prob, but at the same time find out they were impressed with my interview to consider me for this other job in the suburbs of Tokyo; show up to work 40 minutes late my first day of my part time job which only translated to 5 minutes late to class because until I rechecked my email at 8:00 AM I thought I was supposed to be at the train station at 9:15 AM but was really supposed to be there at 8:15 AM, taught 2 classes of 20-21 year olds, who were amazed at my young age and also my shoe size (it was a fun class, and I deftly stayed in Control as their Master/ Teacher >:) ); went out to lunch and bought what I hoped were dumplings but what turned out to be fist sized joints or at least lumps of slick thick white cartilidge; slept late too much in general, and made up for it today by studying a lot of Japanese, including going to the cafe with J as an excuse to study there and away from the laptop; started a transition from button to Maitake mushrooms, and today bought some already cheap beef at half price and cooked some.
So it was a pretty uneventful week, sorry I don't have more to write about.
Until next time, faithful reader
Excelsior!
All I did was go to a modeling gig with J, get my picture taken, walk down the runway, get a t-shirt for payment along with Subway and free drinks, and see a band that I really because after I'm done modeling at this "rock-fashion" show it turns out that the awesome band playing is they, and who incidently I went up to afterward and said "Nirgilis no ongaku ga daisuki desu!"; meet some new people: 1 a 3rd generation Korean born and raised in Japan who has a gaijin/foreigners card like we Westeners do, 2 a Miami raised Japanese girl who half-runs that modeling thing, go out to dinner with her and J, go to the hipster-den Shimokitazawa with J and her, buy some good drinks, talk to some Frenchies, listen to this man DJ (real small lounge about 10 people in there including us) leave with Frenchies and J to Shibuya to go to a club the man is DJing at, have some fun, buy some expensive drinks, dance to techno; find out I didn't get the job I was hoping to get which was actually a sweet job prob, but at the same time find out they were impressed with my interview to consider me for this other job in the suburbs of Tokyo; show up to work 40 minutes late my first day of my part time job which only translated to 5 minutes late to class because until I rechecked my email at 8:00 AM I thought I was supposed to be at the train station at 9:15 AM but was really supposed to be there at 8:15 AM, taught 2 classes of 20-21 year olds, who were amazed at my young age and also my shoe size (it was a fun class, and I deftly stayed in Control as their Master/ Teacher >:) ); went out to lunch and bought what I hoped were dumplings but what turned out to be fist sized joints or at least lumps of slick thick white cartilidge; slept late too much in general, and made up for it today by studying a lot of Japanese, including going to the cafe with J as an excuse to study there and away from the laptop; started a transition from button to Maitake mushrooms, and today bought some already cheap beef at half price and cooked some.
So it was a pretty uneventful week, sorry I don't have more to write about.
Until next time, faithful reader
Excelsior!
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Return
Kobe. Awesome. "It's a special town. A port town," a lady told me today during my travels. That it is. That it is. So my last full day there was, in some ways, the best one. I only walked between probably 1 square mile all day, but it was raining, and I walked a very circuitous route, so forgive me! But, although I didnt get down to the harbor again, or get around to climbing that rock wall in that gym I saw, I still had a blast.
Basically, all I did was wander around the 2 central areas all day, stopping in various cafes, reading, and drinking coffee. When in Kobe, as the expression goes. In addition, for lunch, I found a place that was reccomended in my guide book for "Japanese food like it was before Japan got rich." The process was simple, the food carefully prepared, and the atmospehere very Japanese. I sat at a picnic type table near some Japanese, picked my order out by pointing at dishes on display, and the whole room was filled with smoking regulars it appeared, busy place.
Eventually, night fell, and it started raining -- not drizzling, raining. It was nice, although I eventually succumbed and bought an umbrella. During the storm which lasted hours, I continued my meandering. I saw a cafe at the top of a central building and made it my mission to go there, but I had to drop some things off first. After that, I found my way back, went up, and had tiramasu and coffee ovelooking Sanomiya area in Kobe.
There really is just too much to describe about Kobe to do it justice. All the little things. The old people dressed like hippies, the clean air, the graffiti at the edge of town, the modern architecture, the American buildings, the cafes, the mountains, the ocean -- all of it add up to a city that I liked alot.
I took a noon train down to Kobe center, and got an 11.30 last train or so back. On the way back down I saw a young guy in his twenties with a shaved head and sunken in eyes. I figured he was sick, perhaps on chemo. And then I realized how easy I have it. I have never struggled for anything in my life. There is alot of suffering and unhappiness in the world. Part of that is intrinsic to who we are. Part of that is based on our circumstances. I am very glad and grateful I have the family and friends I do, (thank you), and the privelege of a certain amount of money and health. Its shocking to think that people my age get sick and die. It makes me feel guilty that if and when I fall on hard times I can count on my family (or hopefully my friends) to back me up. Why do I have it so easy, on all counts? I don't think I really deserve it; I feel that I can only "deserve" it after experiencing hardship, but I must knock on wood now, because no one should ever wish for that sort of hardship.
I got pretty bummed out after seeing the bald boy on the train, but I was in a pretty introspective and excited state to begin with, after the whole Kobe trip. It was also sad to leave a place that I really loved so much. The feeling I am conveying now, two weeks later, does not do justice to the feelings I had while down there. I tried writing them up while in my hostel the last night. But the annoying lady running it said "we are closing the living room now" so I had to leave that and everyone was asleep in my hostel room so I couldn't type in there. Especially because I think I had toast crumbs under important keys that kept crunching...
I woke up with my cell phone alarm at 10.00 and went back to sleep. Half an hour later I woke up with a mild, but slightly persisting earthquake. Remembering the thousands who died 10 or so years ago in a gigantic Kobe earthquake, I got out of bed, and left the hostel.
I didnt mess around. I got a ticket to go home, and left. That's that. Kobe was a good trip. I will be sure to visit again, and I figure if I can get a year long contract anywhere any time soon, I would be sure to consider moving to Kobe after the contract is up for my remaining time in Japan.
**********************************
What else have I been up to? Well, while in Kobe, eating lunch at that very Japanese place, I got a call for an interview at a company that basically distributes native English speakers to schools. The lady sounded enthusiastic and awkward, and before when I called she seemed very friendly and happy that I tried to speak Japanese to her. It was good news. I had an interview for 2 days time (partly why I didnt stick around in Kobe longer.)
I got to the interview an hour early (its about 90 minutes from my house.) And good thing I got early, cuz it took me 30 minutes to find the place, and in Japan u want to show up early (prob everywhere, idk.) So I fill out, or start to fill out, a massively 7 paged questionaire of teaching and job app questions, u can imagine. Then this lady come and interviews me for 20 minutes. Then she sends in another, older lady who interviews me for a while. Then the original lady interviews me for a little bit. Then she goes away. Mind you, during all these breaks, I am struggling to write my autobiography on these 7 sheets. Then she comes back and tells me I have to do a videotaped intro of myself 3-5 minutes long. So i take 2 minutes to look her talking points over, and then go. Of course, I make sure to knock my chair over on the way out. ;) . And we videotape 2 takes, cuz the first one wasnt all that. Then we come back, i finish up writing, and basically a couple more questions, and we're done. Followed by much bowing on all sides.
I thought the interview went pretty well. The job was for an all girls private highschool 90 minutes from Tokyo. Awesome area. Historical, tucked in the mountains, prefectural capital. The highschool is presitigous, and English is important since they have some ties to Canada somehow, (think missionaries founded it.) Out of however many applicants my company had, they gave 4 people's profile to the school. ouly 3 of us, (us), were chosen. (!) .
So today, I make the 3 hour commute to this place, and its far, but its in a very nice, pretty, rural Japanese enclave and is a pretty looking, nicely bustling city. V. nice. I wasnt that enthusiastic about the job before I saw the area, because judging from the interview it seemed like it would be a lot of work and responsibility. Well, luckily, one dood was sick, so it was only me and this Australian dood interviewing for the position. btw, the position is assistant language teacher. I would be teaching alongside a japanese homeroom teacher. dont think id ever be alone with the kids, maybe, but def have more resonsibility than at a public school, where I think I'd essentially be a dictaphone (aka my dream job.)
I think the interview went well. What it consisted of was them calling him in first. me 20 minutes later. about 30 minutes b4 i was given a sheet of paper saying "you are to give a lesson to 15 people, its your first day as their assistant language teacher. introduce yourself and do activites... 10 minutes." So i walk into this room of 12 people, 2 of which are my PEEPS from THE COMPANY! (holler.) I talk about The GOC and Boston for a little bit, and then do an introduction game where we say what we like and dont and all that jazz.
I think the interview went pretty well. We shall see. One negative thing is as we were leaving the school, some school lady went up to the other dood and said, "can I ask you a personal question..." bla bla bla, so that they were askin him about his gf (who lives in this city,) is prob a negative to me. But at the very least, I hope I impressed/ represented for MY PEEPS from THE COMPANY so that they will strongly consider me for the next teaching gig they got. Who knows.
I have a part time job. Easiest interview ever. I showed up. They didnt ask me why I want to work, what I can do, anything like that. It took 30 minutes. Basically instead of asking me if I was qualified they said, "you worked at Nova for a month, you are qualified to teach these tax-college kids English." The only tough question they asked me was if I was reliable as in not looking for full time work, to which I repsonded I was only looking for part time work. :( . I feel bad, they are good people, and the job would be cool, because Id be hanging out with 21-23 year olds and I would prob be able to hang out with them if the situation arose.
*******************
Dang so much to type, so little strength in my fingers. One last thing. On Sat I went to this design festival, which consisted of thousands of art (painting, postcard, mostly,) music, clothes, booths that were just the size I imagine booths are at science conferences, -- 3-5 feet long. It was huge. We spent all day walking around its 2 floors and could have spent much longer. I bought some nice things. I went with my roomate J and C, who, if you remember, and if I mentioned his initial in my previous post, was my comrade in Kobe. He told me about it, we met up, J came, and it was much better than I expected. ALOT of art. Most of it was pop, which in large doses of the banal variety is bad for the soul. But as J told me, pop art is not meant to last, its about now, it looks cool now, and who cares if its crap in 10 years. So that made me appreciate the pop art more. But what I really appreciated was anime-like art. Not neccesarily big glossy eyed caricatures, but ephemeral, colorful, fantastic creations. I noticed how alot of the art seemed anime-inspired to C, and he smartly responded "its not so much inspired, as they are drawing from a common pool of influences. Its all part of one thing, and anime is one part, and so is illustration." I want to know more about this thing that they arise from. That will have to wait till the next art expo prob (cuz this stuff is so obscure it can only be found when 3000 artists get together.) That will be in March I think.
OK, enough type, more talk
holleratchaboi!
Eoin
Basically, all I did was wander around the 2 central areas all day, stopping in various cafes, reading, and drinking coffee. When in Kobe, as the expression goes. In addition, for lunch, I found a place that was reccomended in my guide book for "Japanese food like it was before Japan got rich." The process was simple, the food carefully prepared, and the atmospehere very Japanese. I sat at a picnic type table near some Japanese, picked my order out by pointing at dishes on display, and the whole room was filled with smoking regulars it appeared, busy place.
Eventually, night fell, and it started raining -- not drizzling, raining. It was nice, although I eventually succumbed and bought an umbrella. During the storm which lasted hours, I continued my meandering. I saw a cafe at the top of a central building and made it my mission to go there, but I had to drop some things off first. After that, I found my way back, went up, and had tiramasu and coffee ovelooking Sanomiya area in Kobe.
There really is just too much to describe about Kobe to do it justice. All the little things. The old people dressed like hippies, the clean air, the graffiti at the edge of town, the modern architecture, the American buildings, the cafes, the mountains, the ocean -- all of it add up to a city that I liked alot.
I took a noon train down to Kobe center, and got an 11.30 last train or so back. On the way back down I saw a young guy in his twenties with a shaved head and sunken in eyes. I figured he was sick, perhaps on chemo. And then I realized how easy I have it. I have never struggled for anything in my life. There is alot of suffering and unhappiness in the world. Part of that is intrinsic to who we are. Part of that is based on our circumstances. I am very glad and grateful I have the family and friends I do, (thank you), and the privelege of a certain amount of money and health. Its shocking to think that people my age get sick and die. It makes me feel guilty that if and when I fall on hard times I can count on my family (or hopefully my friends) to back me up. Why do I have it so easy, on all counts? I don't think I really deserve it; I feel that I can only "deserve" it after experiencing hardship, but I must knock on wood now, because no one should ever wish for that sort of hardship.
I got pretty bummed out after seeing the bald boy on the train, but I was in a pretty introspective and excited state to begin with, after the whole Kobe trip. It was also sad to leave a place that I really loved so much. The feeling I am conveying now, two weeks later, does not do justice to the feelings I had while down there. I tried writing them up while in my hostel the last night. But the annoying lady running it said "we are closing the living room now" so I had to leave that and everyone was asleep in my hostel room so I couldn't type in there. Especially because I think I had toast crumbs under important keys that kept crunching...
I woke up with my cell phone alarm at 10.00 and went back to sleep. Half an hour later I woke up with a mild, but slightly persisting earthquake. Remembering the thousands who died 10 or so years ago in a gigantic Kobe earthquake, I got out of bed, and left the hostel.
I didnt mess around. I got a ticket to go home, and left. That's that. Kobe was a good trip. I will be sure to visit again, and I figure if I can get a year long contract anywhere any time soon, I would be sure to consider moving to Kobe after the contract is up for my remaining time in Japan.
**********************************
What else have I been up to? Well, while in Kobe, eating lunch at that very Japanese place, I got a call for an interview at a company that basically distributes native English speakers to schools. The lady sounded enthusiastic and awkward, and before when I called she seemed very friendly and happy that I tried to speak Japanese to her. It was good news. I had an interview for 2 days time (partly why I didnt stick around in Kobe longer.)
I got to the interview an hour early (its about 90 minutes from my house.) And good thing I got early, cuz it took me 30 minutes to find the place, and in Japan u want to show up early (prob everywhere, idk.) So I fill out, or start to fill out, a massively 7 paged questionaire of teaching and job app questions, u can imagine. Then this lady come and interviews me for 20 minutes. Then she sends in another, older lady who interviews me for a while. Then the original lady interviews me for a little bit. Then she goes away. Mind you, during all these breaks, I am struggling to write my autobiography on these 7 sheets. Then she comes back and tells me I have to do a videotaped intro of myself 3-5 minutes long. So i take 2 minutes to look her talking points over, and then go. Of course, I make sure to knock my chair over on the way out. ;) . And we videotape 2 takes, cuz the first one wasnt all that. Then we come back, i finish up writing, and basically a couple more questions, and we're done. Followed by much bowing on all sides.
I thought the interview went pretty well. The job was for an all girls private highschool 90 minutes from Tokyo. Awesome area. Historical, tucked in the mountains, prefectural capital. The highschool is presitigous, and English is important since they have some ties to Canada somehow, (think missionaries founded it.) Out of however many applicants my company had, they gave 4 people's profile to the school. ouly 3 of us, (us), were chosen. (!) .
So today, I make the 3 hour commute to this place, and its far, but its in a very nice, pretty, rural Japanese enclave and is a pretty looking, nicely bustling city. V. nice. I wasnt that enthusiastic about the job before I saw the area, because judging from the interview it seemed like it would be a lot of work and responsibility. Well, luckily, one dood was sick, so it was only me and this Australian dood interviewing for the position. btw, the position is assistant language teacher. I would be teaching alongside a japanese homeroom teacher. dont think id ever be alone with the kids, maybe, but def have more resonsibility than at a public school, where I think I'd essentially be a dictaphone (aka my dream job.)
I think the interview went well. What it consisted of was them calling him in first. me 20 minutes later. about 30 minutes b4 i was given a sheet of paper saying "you are to give a lesson to 15 people, its your first day as their assistant language teacher. introduce yourself and do activites... 10 minutes." So i walk into this room of 12 people, 2 of which are my PEEPS from THE COMPANY! (holler.) I talk about The GOC and Boston for a little bit, and then do an introduction game where we say what we like and dont and all that jazz.
I think the interview went pretty well. We shall see. One negative thing is as we were leaving the school, some school lady went up to the other dood and said, "can I ask you a personal question..." bla bla bla, so that they were askin him about his gf (who lives in this city,) is prob a negative to me. But at the very least, I hope I impressed/ represented for MY PEEPS from THE COMPANY so that they will strongly consider me for the next teaching gig they got. Who knows.
I have a part time job. Easiest interview ever. I showed up. They didnt ask me why I want to work, what I can do, anything like that. It took 30 minutes. Basically instead of asking me if I was qualified they said, "you worked at Nova for a month, you are qualified to teach these tax-college kids English." The only tough question they asked me was if I was reliable as in not looking for full time work, to which I repsonded I was only looking for part time work. :( . I feel bad, they are good people, and the job would be cool, because Id be hanging out with 21-23 year olds and I would prob be able to hang out with them if the situation arose.
*******************
Dang so much to type, so little strength in my fingers. One last thing. On Sat I went to this design festival, which consisted of thousands of art (painting, postcard, mostly,) music, clothes, booths that were just the size I imagine booths are at science conferences, -- 3-5 feet long. It was huge. We spent all day walking around its 2 floors and could have spent much longer. I bought some nice things. I went with my roomate J and C, who, if you remember, and if I mentioned his initial in my previous post, was my comrade in Kobe. He told me about it, we met up, J came, and it was much better than I expected. ALOT of art. Most of it was pop, which in large doses of the banal variety is bad for the soul. But as J told me, pop art is not meant to last, its about now, it looks cool now, and who cares if its crap in 10 years. So that made me appreciate the pop art more. But what I really appreciated was anime-like art. Not neccesarily big glossy eyed caricatures, but ephemeral, colorful, fantastic creations. I noticed how alot of the art seemed anime-inspired to C, and he smartly responded "its not so much inspired, as they are drawing from a common pool of influences. Its all part of one thing, and anime is one part, and so is illustration." I want to know more about this thing that they arise from. That will have to wait till the next art expo prob (cuz this stuff is so obscure it can only be found when 3000 artists get together.) That will be in March I think.
OK, enough type, more talk
holleratchaboi!
Eoin
Monday, November 5, 2007
Highly Refined Pirates
Wow! My trip to Kobe was incredible. I tend to leap before I look, but I might have to say that Kobe is one of my favorite world cities. Last time I felt like this was when I walked out of the movie theater from Lost In Translation. I thought "wow, that movie was different... I think it might be the best movie I've ever seen." Now, I won't go so far as to say Kobe is the greatest city ever, but I will go so far to say as I have that same feeling. Maybe its just a culmination of moments, but it was good, good and bittersweet, too.
Let me start describing my journey. I got a fairly easy shinkansen (bullet train) ride down to Kobe. It took 3 hours and was uncomfortable. That was easy, finding my hotel was hecka hard. I got off at the correct stop, but walked to Tokyo and back looking for the place. This was annoying, and sweaty, because I had a bag full of clothes and a laptop briefcase full of a computer and books.
Immediately I noticed Kobe was different from Tokyo. For starters, its not as rich -- as evidenced by the graffiti on the steel walls. It has a lot more old people dressed like hippies. And also, I got more stares and glares than average.
I eventually found my hotel. It was a nice little spot called Kobe Tower Hotel or something. A real hotel, not a hostel. From when I got in that Thursday evening until when I checked out Saturday morning, I think I only left once to get a meal. Well, I also went to 7-11 to get a meal and supplies and what not. Oh and I checked out the location of the test on Friday.
On Friday night I went to bed at 10:30 and by my estimate got 5 hours of sleep. I checked out at 7:00 am Saturday and went to my test. It was the most beautiful ride to a test ever. Now I forget when I rode in which cart, but the line to the test location is called the Rokko Liner. It is a small rail that only goes about 5 stops, the last of which was mine. It crosses the peninsula high in the sky on golden rusty tracks to get to this man made island-development I forget the name of. My test was at Canadian Academy high school, and it was the last stop. (Let me just stop saying everything was beautiful, because it pretty much was, including the area around the highschool. I'll only outline specific points.)
I went to the test, which started at 9:30. I had Miss Manners for my "tester." She followed all the rules to a t, and even made up some of her own, "can you put your bag on the other side of the aisle?" You are not supposed to open the test booklet, u do ur done, and she actually came around to each person to make sure they didnt break the seal. And yet she let people keep going to the bathroom and delay our test! (At my first GREs, the "tester" didnt know anything, and just let us do our own thing.)
I took the test. It was fairly difficult, Im not gonna lie. One of the problems said an electron has a reletavistic momentum of mc/2, and asked us what the energy was. I tried E= γmc, and E^2 = (pc)^2 +(mc^2)^2 but nothing worked! So I'm not sure... In any case, thats an example of the problems.
So after the test I went to my hostel. When I got in the hostel, look who was there! It was a guy from the GREs. We agreed to go out that night. He went out that day, and I stayed in and took a nap/ checked the internet. We went out that night and wandered all over Kobe. We didnt really do anything, just walked all over the place and talked and got one of the last trains back to the hostel.
The next day he left and I decided to go, on his urging, to Osaka. Its a major city in Japan, so I might as well see it. It was Sunday. I read in the guidebooks that Osaka teethes with bars, so I figured I didnt need to write down any's locations. Well, I got to Osaka, and couldnt find any. Osaka was alright, not the greatest city on a Sunday night. When I finally found the cool area of town with clubs and such, they were closing or playing bad raga music. I spent the night in an internet cafe.
I got back to the hostel the next day with blistery feet. I took a shower, applied for some jobs online, and went into Kobe with my laptop and some books. It was my last day in this lovely city.
End of Part I
Let me start describing my journey. I got a fairly easy shinkansen (bullet train) ride down to Kobe. It took 3 hours and was uncomfortable. That was easy, finding my hotel was hecka hard. I got off at the correct stop, but walked to Tokyo and back looking for the place. This was annoying, and sweaty, because I had a bag full of clothes and a laptop briefcase full of a computer and books.
Immediately I noticed Kobe was different from Tokyo. For starters, its not as rich -- as evidenced by the graffiti on the steel walls. It has a lot more old people dressed like hippies. And also, I got more stares and glares than average.
I eventually found my hotel. It was a nice little spot called Kobe Tower Hotel or something. A real hotel, not a hostel. From when I got in that Thursday evening until when I checked out Saturday morning, I think I only left once to get a meal. Well, I also went to 7-11 to get a meal and supplies and what not. Oh and I checked out the location of the test on Friday.
On Friday night I went to bed at 10:30 and by my estimate got 5 hours of sleep. I checked out at 7:00 am Saturday and went to my test. It was the most beautiful ride to a test ever. Now I forget when I rode in which cart, but the line to the test location is called the Rokko Liner. It is a small rail that only goes about 5 stops, the last of which was mine. It crosses the peninsula high in the sky on golden rusty tracks to get to this man made island-development I forget the name of. My test was at Canadian Academy high school, and it was the last stop. (Let me just stop saying everything was beautiful, because it pretty much was, including the area around the highschool. I'll only outline specific points.)
I went to the test, which started at 9:30. I had Miss Manners for my "tester." She followed all the rules to a t, and even made up some of her own, "can you put your bag on the other side of the aisle?" You are not supposed to open the test booklet, u do ur done, and she actually came around to each person to make sure they didnt break the seal. And yet she let people keep going to the bathroom and delay our test! (At my first GREs, the "tester" didnt know anything, and just let us do our own thing.)
I took the test. It was fairly difficult, Im not gonna lie. One of the problems said an electron has a reletavistic momentum of mc/2, and asked us what the energy was. I tried E= γmc, and E^2 = (pc)^2 +(mc^2)^2 but nothing worked! So I'm not sure... In any case, thats an example of the problems.
So after the test I went to my hostel. When I got in the hostel, look who was there! It was a guy from the GREs. We agreed to go out that night. He went out that day, and I stayed in and took a nap/ checked the internet. We went out that night and wandered all over Kobe. We didnt really do anything, just walked all over the place and talked and got one of the last trains back to the hostel.
The next day he left and I decided to go, on his urging, to Osaka. Its a major city in Japan, so I might as well see it. It was Sunday. I read in the guidebooks that Osaka teethes with bars, so I figured I didnt need to write down any's locations. Well, I got to Osaka, and couldnt find any. Osaka was alright, not the greatest city on a Sunday night. When I finally found the cool area of town with clubs and such, they were closing or playing bad raga music. I spent the night in an internet cafe.
I got back to the hostel the next day with blistery feet. I took a shower, applied for some jobs online, and went into Kobe with my laptop and some books. It was my last day in this lovely city.
End of Part I
Monday, October 29, 2007
R U Still Down
The monolithic Nova collapsed. Its bubble of corrpution could no longer hold itself together. Is it an axiom that companies which hire, as a rule, cheap foreign labor are shady?
Tomorrow we will go to Hello Work. That is the name of the unemployment office. I hope it has an exclamation point attached. Goodbye work! Hello work!
I got a cell phone. Its pretty nice. Idk, though... I chose form over function. I could have gotten the model that would have let me watch TV programs for free on it. (I think its free, but I just didnt quite believe it.) Buying the phone was a fairly painless forty minutes. The staff called up a translation service, and we spoke to each other through the translator, passing the phone back and forth. My phone was free, $20 a month for 2 years. Its a nice model. But I think one of my biggest regrets will be that I didnt get the TV model. How kool would that be? Besides, upon reading the fine print, if I upgrade cell phones, I cannot upgrade to a TV model. :( :( :( :'-(
Wat else. Been studyin. Of course. I cannot wait until this test is over. My life would be sooo easy if only Nova didnt go down. After the test in a week, I'd have an easy life of talking to students, shmoozing, working easy hours. I tell you, it would've been made, and I could have lived like a king. I've been downloading music, too, alot. Gotta expand my library. I don't have all the Japanese music I had on my old computer -- that stuff is hard to get a hold of. I had a ton too, I think 1/6 of my music was Japanese.
We had a party last night. It was a good time and I think it recharged my batteries. We cleaned up the place a ton for the party. Many of the people from The Bar were here. The Japanese staff M and Y came. Canadian A came. Australian P and his gf came. Also roomies M and J were in attendance. I got to practice Japanese, although M and Y have pretty good English. Ya, it was the usual party routine, and the booze was flowing like wine! Although, when I busted out the champaign (on sale) the Japanese accepted it, but then didnt drink it. Guess they just dont like that Western stuff. One point of note about Japanese pov that I like is they dont have qualms about sitting on the floor. Even outside, they can be caught crouching or kneeling on the ground. And inside, well, furniture is usually so low to the ground, its a simple extension to actually sit on the ground, and put food (on plates) on the ground. Wouldn't the world be so much more comfortable if more people sat on the floor?
Today, I woke up, studied some, ate some, and took it easy. I've practiced as much as I think Im gonna, although I make retake a practice one more time to hone my skillz. But over the next couple days I plan on just memorizing as many random equationz as I can.
Until next time.
Holler at a schollar
one1
Tomorrow we will go to Hello Work. That is the name of the unemployment office. I hope it has an exclamation point attached. Goodbye work! Hello work!
I got a cell phone. Its pretty nice. Idk, though... I chose form over function. I could have gotten the model that would have let me watch TV programs for free on it. (I think its free, but I just didnt quite believe it.) Buying the phone was a fairly painless forty minutes. The staff called up a translation service, and we spoke to each other through the translator, passing the phone back and forth. My phone was free, $20 a month for 2 years. Its a nice model. But I think one of my biggest regrets will be that I didnt get the TV model. How kool would that be? Besides, upon reading the fine print, if I upgrade cell phones, I cannot upgrade to a TV model. :( :( :( :'-(
Wat else. Been studyin. Of course. I cannot wait until this test is over. My life would be sooo easy if only Nova didnt go down. After the test in a week, I'd have an easy life of talking to students, shmoozing, working easy hours. I tell you, it would've been made, and I could have lived like a king. I've been downloading music, too, alot. Gotta expand my library. I don't have all the Japanese music I had on my old computer -- that stuff is hard to get a hold of. I had a ton too, I think 1/6 of my music was Japanese.
We had a party last night. It was a good time and I think it recharged my batteries. We cleaned up the place a ton for the party. Many of the people from The Bar were here. The Japanese staff M and Y came. Canadian A came. Australian P and his gf came. Also roomies M and J were in attendance. I got to practice Japanese, although M and Y have pretty good English. Ya, it was the usual party routine, and the booze was flowing like wine! Although, when I busted out the champaign (on sale) the Japanese accepted it, but then didnt drink it. Guess they just dont like that Western stuff. One point of note about Japanese pov that I like is they dont have qualms about sitting on the floor. Even outside, they can be caught crouching or kneeling on the ground. And inside, well, furniture is usually so low to the ground, its a simple extension to actually sit on the ground, and put food (on plates) on the ground. Wouldn't the world be so much more comfortable if more people sat on the floor?
Today, I woke up, studied some, ate some, and took it easy. I've practiced as much as I think Im gonna, although I make retake a practice one more time to hone my skillz. But over the next couple days I plan on just memorizing as many random equationz as I can.
Until next time.
Holler at a schollar
one1
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