An American Still in Tokyo-The Second Year

2004-02-27T18:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is my last entry...

Hey there. It's me again. I have a new blog now, so if you want to know what's been going on with me, hop on over to the new blog, called Reverse Culture Shock...or, you can stay here and read about my experiences in Japan. I know I'll be stopping by here once in a while to look back.

One more thing....I just want to say that I had a lot of fun writing this blog and I want to thank those people who took time to read it. You gave me a motive to continue writing it.

2004-02-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

This will probably be my last entry...

My day of departure is fast approaching and there is so much I have to do that I probably won`t be online until I return. Today I ran into a huge problem when I made bank transfer to my bank at home...little did I know that the bank was bought out by another one, hence I have a new bank account number...and my parents didn`t tell me that I had received notice of it in the mail. God I hope the transfer went ok...it was a lot of money I transferred. Now I really have to watch what I spend because I only have 40,000 yen left in the bank.

To think that one week from now I will be on a boat...

I hung out with KM and his friends one last time on Friday and on Saturday, yes, I saw The Return of the King. It was great! And can I say it again?....Faramir is hot. I was so worried about making the last train after the movie but I was ok because the movie ended at 11:30 exactly. I had set my alarm to vibrate at 11:30 so I could leave...right at the climax of the movie, the phone vibrated....I thought it was already 11:30 but it was only an email from K. Anywayz, on my way home....who should I see but KM! It was such a happy coincidence. He was on his way back home after seeing The Last Samurai. He said he liked it very much. I was so glad to see him one last time...Yesterday was K`s graduation exhibition...I got to see his paintings at the work of other Meisei students. I was interesting. Later that night we hung out in Gusto with his friend.

Anyway, I guess this is it....how can I sum up a year and a half that has changed my life forever? There is just no way. I guess I`ll have to time to reflect on it once I get back. I will be starting a new blog...so till then....Catch ya on the flip side.

2004-02-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

Arrrggghhh...

I was going to save writing a post about the trains here in Japan for some other time, but after what happened tonight, I have to write about it. Let me just begin by saying that riding crowded trains sucks. It`s like a freakin` bump n` grind. I usually take the Keio Line to travel to and from Shinjuku because it`s cheap and actually faster than the JR Line. However, it gets really crowded in the evenings. It`s no use waiting for the next train because it will be just as crowded. And I have found that the JR Line isn`t that much better. So you learn to suck it up and endure the trip because it`s fast and it`s cheap. And besides, Keio has, until this point, been very reliable. Less likely than JR to run into technical problems and delays. Anywayz, tonight was my last time tutoring AT...it was sad but I think things went well overall with her. So on my way back to Hachioji (via the Keio Line), the train ran into some technical problems. Actually, I have no idea what the problem was, but I know there must`ve been one because we were stuck in the train for what seemed like an eternity. Once, it started up again but then it stopped again and didn`t move again for what seemed like a long time. Once in a while, the conductor announced something or other that I couldn`t understand, so there was nothing I could do but just stand there. It started getting stuffy (well, it`s always stuffy in the train when it`s crowded) and I thought, "Well, at least it isn`t summer". Then, I heard someone say "Sumimasen" twice in a loud voice several feet away from me, but of course, since it was freakin` crowded, I couldn`t see who it was. I thought this pretty unusual because most people are pretty quiet on the train...and why would he say "sumimasen" when we couldn`t move? Then I heard what seemed like someone talking on the phone, and I heard the word "byouin", or "hospital", but of course, I couldn`t see anything and couldn`t understand anything so I figured it was someone talking loudly on the phone. Anywayz, we finally got to the nearest train station on the express route and when we got there, it was obvious that the people on the platform were irritated at the delay, but when the doors opened, two or three men in official station uniforms rushed into the train car with a stretcher, pushing people out of the way, and shouting "Sumimasen!". They ran straight to where I had heard someone talking....apparently, a girl had fainted! They took her limp body out on a stretcher and soon we were on our way to Hachioji. I think she was ok, but it was still scary to see her totally unconscious like that. I mean, as crowded as the train was and as long as we were stuck there, it`s no wonder she fainted...but what got to me is that when she fainted...there was nothing that anyone could do but call an ambulance and wait because the train was stuck.

2004-02-04T04:02:00.000-08:00

Time is running out...

Sorry if you haven`t heard from me...It`s just that I have been very busy trying to tie up loose ends before I leave...and spend time with K. Just to let you know, you may not even hear very much from me until I am home, so please bear with me. But I will try to be online and post on the blog as much as possible before I leave. Unfortunately, there won`t be a December Chronicles, but maybe a synopsis of December.

I also just want to say (because I haven`t really said it on the blog) how much I have enjoyed the past two months with K. We`ve had so many good times together and I`m really gonna miss him when I go back. I really, really hope that he will be able to visit me in March or April. Sunday will be his graduation exhibition, which I will defenitely go to. I won`t be here for his graduation so going to his exhibition is the very least I can do....

2004-02-04T03:57:00.000-08:00

I`m gonna get to see "The Return of the King" in Japan!

I spent the day with K, doing the laundry and going shopping. I ended up getting the Ping Pong DVD and he got three huge art books. I have learned that you cannot go into a used book store with him without him buying at least one art book. He is quickly amassing a huge art library.

Later, I went with him to Nishi-Hachioji, where we had dinner before he had to leave for his night shift. I realized that at last, I had the time to go to Minami Ozawa. The Return of the King is officially coming out on February 14th, the very day after I leave Japan...talk about bum timing, but a coworker mentioned that there was going to be a preview showing of it on February 7th in Minami Ozawa`s Virgin Cinemas, so I had wanted to go there and try to buy a ticket for it. And sure enough, I was able to buy one, so I`m really excited about it...woo hoo!...I`m just gonna have to coordinate so I can catch the last train to Kabe....

2004-01-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

Gadzooks!

My coworkers have discovered my blog! Yesterday, a farewell get-together given to me by my coworkers, my boss MH said, "You know, I had a dream that you and me were in Cuba and we were covered in cement" I began to think "Wait a minute, I had the exact same dream..." When he smirked at me and said, "We found your webpage". Apparently, BB ran a search on the web for info on our school and references to the school in my blog came up. It was quite a pleasant surprise...Good thing they didn`t read the July 14th entry where I trash all my coworkers...Oops, did I write that out? ;-)

2004-01-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

My Computer

Back in early November, I got a seven-year-old, Win 95 computer for free from an ad in the Metropolis magazine, figuring that I could use it for the Internet so I wouldn`t have to spend money on Internet cafes. So I went through the whole trouble of paying 8,000 yen to have it hauled over to my apartment. Well, I ended up using about 4 or five times because I never got around to getting an Internet connection and besides, I had started going to this nice, new Internet cafe. However, I must say that the computer desk that I also got for free proved to be pretty useful.

Well, now that it`s time for me to go, I had to find a way to get rid of it, so I put an ad in three different places (Metropolis, Tokyo Notice Board, and a classifieds website run by one of my coworkers called Edesho.) and I got an overwhelming response. I got in contact with one of the first people that replied, but then he never responded. So in the end, after all the trouble I went through with the ads, I ended up giving it to BB, one of my coworkers. She was going to pick it up after work but yesterday, she said that perhaps it would be better if I had one of the staff members at our school call a cab to take me and the computer, desk, etc. to the LC, where she could store everything until she finds a place to live. I agreed to it but was a bit apprehensive. First, I felt bad asking the staff to go out of their way to call a cab and then, I was deathly afraid that everything would take so much time that I would be late. But things went rather smoothly. I was just going to ask the staff members for the phone number of a local taxi company but without me even asking, they called a taxi for me. I was able to disassemble everything and haul it down with hardly any problem, and the taxi driver was punctual (gotta love Japanese punctuality), and everything proceeded in a timely and smooth manner. I was even able to store mostly everything into a storage closet in the hallway. After all the excercise from lifting stuff, I felt energized and genki at the start of my classes. So now, much to my relief, I have gotten rid of my computer. That`s one down....

2004-01-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

So much to write, so little time...!

I want to write about what I did in December, but it will be a long entry so it will have to wait. What`s been going on with me? A lot and not much at the same time. I`ve been teaching in Kanagawa Prefecture a lot...I was even sent out to K`s hometown in Fujisawa! I`m going to Atsugi for the second time this week to teach kids (ugh). Also, tonight I`m getting together with my coworkers for a kind of farewell get-together and tomorrow night, my Soka friends will be having a get-together for me at TK`s place, which is next-door to Y-san`s apartment...ah, I had some good times at Y-san`s get-togethers this past summer...they seem so long ago now.

I want to make an apology for one of my remarks implying that only non-Japanese people keep their word. I guess at the time, I was feeling bitter about some people not showing up to celebrate my birthday when they said they would...but in the long run, it doesn`t really matter. Also, it was wrong of me to generalize Japanese people`s behavior. I think in both Western and Japanese cultures, there is a degree of being polite in order to not offend the other person. In both Japanese and Western cultures, we say "We have to get together sometime" just for the sake of politeness. And during my time in Japan, I have had the experience of a Japanese person inviting me to get together and following through with it....and also the experience of a Westerner telling me "we defenitely need to get together sometime" and never hearing from them again. Also, I think it`s also my fault for not having the initiative to invite people (though that hasn`t been the case lately ;-)).

2004-01-22T22:02:00.000-08:00

I had heard about this movie called The Passion of the Christ that was directed by Mel Gibson (at first I thought Mel Gibson was playing the part of Christ in it...hehe) and is coming out sometime around late February. I didn`t really think much of it, but today, I saw the trailer on Yahoo! and it actually looked pretty good. Then I noticed that there were....subtitles? Not a bit of English to be heard anywhere, so I read up on the movie and apparently, it`s going to be entirely in Latin and Aramaic, the language spoken in Judea at that time. I think that`s really awesome. Pope John Paul II is said to have previewed it and said "It is as it was". Whether it`s exactly how it happened will never be known, but the linguist in me is pretty excited that they are using the authentic languages. I also think it`s a pretty daring move since many Americans are adverse to subtitles (whatever). However, I read that they were thinking about not putting in any subtitles at all...they probably figured that since "everyone" knows the story that they`ll figure out what`s happening. Now, as much as I am all for authenticity, I personally would like at least a little bit of subtitlage. Come on...bring on those subtitles...I can take `em on.... ;-)

So needless to say, I now would like to see this movie when I get back to the US...it`s even a movie that I can take my mother to and know that she will absolutely love it.

2004-01-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

About my bicycle...

Sometime around November, my bicycle was towed away by the police. I had parked it next to Daiei, where I had parked it for the last year without any problem. It had always been pretty safe to park next to Daiei as long as you didn`t leave it overnight, and even then you could get away with it. Then, around October, they set up these bike stands that require you to pay. I figured that no one was going to be as stupid as to fork over money for them because there was still plenty of space to put your bike elsewhere. But all of the sudden, when I finished work one day, *poof!*, it was gone. My bike, which had transported me through heat, wind, and rain, through good times and bad times. Fortunately, now I live near enough to the eki that I can easily walk to work, so it wasn`t urgent for me to get my bike back. A few weeks later, I received a postcard which I understood to say that my bike was being held at a certain address and that I had until January 31st to pick it up and had to pay a 3,000 yen (30 dollars approx.) fine. I thought about picking it up but now that I am leaving, it would be more trouble than it`s worth. It would be one more thing I would have to give away/get rid of...so I will just gently let it go....*sigh* I wish I could have given it a better fate, especially after all the use I got out of it...I`m gonna miss that bike of mine!

2004-01-20T22:46:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for the December Chronicles...

2004-01-20T22:44:00.000-08:00

The November Chronicles, Part IV

My birthday...Nov. 28th-29th

I want to write about my birthday before I let too much time pass by. It wasn`t as wild or as exciting as my 23rd birthday (my 23rd birthday, oh my...) but overall, I had a really good time. I started celebrating my birthday on the 28th of November, when I invited my coworkers to go out to an izakaya after work. I wanted to something with my coworkers for my birthday but didn`t think they would quite mix with a bunch of Japanese university students, so since we had been going out to drink after work a lot around that time, I figured that my birthday would be just another excuse. We went to Kitchen Bar Den, where I had gone twice before...the first time with KM and his friends and the second time for the Poplar party. Afterwards we were joined by KM, TH, and NY, who weren`t able to make it to my birthday celebration the next day, so invited them to come to my celebration on Friday. NY surprised me with a pretty bouquet of flowers, TH gave me a cute cell phone strap and KM gave me some chocolate wafers with some really wierd-looking stickers made by his future employer, Lotte. My coworkers had to go home because of work the next day but since I had asked for my birthday off, I joined KM, TH, and NY for karaoke. That evening, I felt that there was some sort of flirtation going on between TH...during karaoke, when TH and NY went to get some more drinks, KM was like, "You should hit on him..." I almost wondered if he noticed anything going on between us or even if TH had told him anything....

Anyway, by the time I got home, it was around 3 or 4 am. Thankfully I had the entire day to do whatever I wanted...this was a rare treat for a Saturday. But I mostly ended up running errands, cleaning my bathroom, and getting ready for my celebration at a shabu-shabu (traditional Japanese boiled meat) restaurant, where I had made reservations (all by myself!) several days before. I had invited a bunch of my friends from Soka, and one of them, T-san, had suggested the restaurant. She also had assured me that TK would be there, so I went through the trouble of getting him a belated-birthday present. I had made reservations for 7pm but when I got there, no one had arrived yet, and I thought that the Japanese were famous for their punctuality. Actually, no one arrived until almost 7:30. Looking back, I am slightly bitter because I had sent out invitations almost a month in advance and many people told me that they would "absolutely be there"...and many didn`t come even after I sent out another invitation closer to the day of my birthday. And it ended up that TK didn`t show up...absolutely no explanation, except for afterwards (Oh, sorry I couldn`t come, but happy birthday...). I am really grateful to those that did show up...IT, AT, T-san...I don`t mean to sound racist but the all the non-Japanese that said they would come kept their word. I know, I know, it`s just a fact of Japanese culture to be non-confrontational....but I still can`t help feeling slighted....

But anyways, once people did arrive, I had a nice time....and afterwards, some of us headed over to the Irish Pub, where were were joined later on by KY. I guzzled some pretty strong drinks...and received a call from my parents...I hope they didn`t notice that I was buzzed! After a while, there was only me, AT, and PN, the Brazilian exchange student. We started venting about our experiences as exchange students and PN even related a very scary experience she had with the Japanese police....basically she was discriminated against because she is Brazilian. Later on, they walked me back to my apartment. I had a really good time talking to them and had a good time on my birthday overall, inspite of my complaints ;-)

2004-01-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

Yep...that pretty much sums me up...

2004-01-08T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
I haven`t been posting like I said I would and I`m sorry about that...It`s just that the past few days have been really difficult for me because of things that I don`t feel like disscussing on this blog right now, but most of you know what I am referring to. But I will say this: My days in Japan are numbered. I will most likely be going back to the US February 13th (earlier than originally planned) and will be leaving for Puerto Rico the next day, where my mother and I will meet our relatives for a cruise to celebrate my grandparents` 60th wedding anniversary. The cruise will last about a week and I will be back in the States for good (or for bad, as my friend T would say...) on February 22nd. When I get back, I plan to start a new blog...

2003-12-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

Little did I know that my first day teaching at Meisei would be a turning point for me...

That evening of November 8th, after classes were over, I took a taxi back to the Kabe train station with Mr. S, a Meisei professor who is the coordinator of the outservices. It was at the station when a Meisei art student first laid his eyes on me. From now, I will refer to him as "K". He was "struck" by my appearance, I suppose. He stood across me on the train as I chatted away with Mr. S, unaware of his exsistence. It happened to be pure chance that K was on the train that evening because he hardly ever takes the train and it just happened that he was going to visit his home in Kanagawa Prefecture that evening, so he was able to see me all the way to Hachioji, where he had to change train lines. He told me later on that he wanted so much to talk to me on the train but didn`t have the courage to strike up a conversation. To be honest, I think it was a good thing he didn`t because 1) I was very very tired, and not in the mood for talking and 2) I would have thought him pretty creepy. Anywayz, apparently, he figured that I was an English teacher, so later on, he approached Mr. S, and told him that he wanted to draw me, so he got Mr. S to call up Berlitz and schedule a time for him to come in and draw me. So imagine my surprise when around mid-November, one of the secretaries went up to me and said, "By the way, someone from Meisei wants to draw you." "Draw me? Why?" I deduced that it had to be one of the students that I taught on Saturdays because no one else from that university had seen me before...unless one of my students had recommended me to an art student. I knew that Meisei, while not one of Japan`s top schools, actually has a pretty good art program. Anyway, to my surprise, on November 26th, I was introduced to an art student, who I had never seen before. I was told the drawing session would take 20 minutes, but it ended up taking over 2 hours...thankfully I didn`t have any classes. He defenitely seemed artsy...tall and lean...beard...he wore browns and blues and seemed rather serious-looking. As he drew me, I was afraid to look into his eyes at first...but then I felt totally comfortable looking into his eyes. I asked him, "So why are you drawing me?" He said it was for one of his classes that was looking at head composition. I asked, "But why me?" He stammered something about seeing me at the Kabe station. I couldn`t decide whether to be creeped out or flattered...but flattery won out in the end. After all, most people don`t get many chances in their lives to be drawn. He said he wanted to continue drawing me and wanted me to go to his studio at Meisei so he could draw me there. I was unsure of whether I should do it or not, but I decided to go. So around Dec. 1st, I went to his studio...basically his space in a huge room where the art students work on their paintings. He not only sketched me but started an oil painting of me. I was there several hours and afterwards, as he walked me to the bus stop, he asked me to go to the movies with him. I was so tickled! We ended up going to dinner in Hachioji instead the following week and well, it went really well.

Since then, things have been going pretty well for K and I...oh God, I don`t want to sound too mushy, but I feel so comfortable with him, even in spite of our language difficulties. He speaks very little English and my Japanese is not that great. On the weekends, I go to his art studio to pose for him. He has started another painting of me and a sculpture of my head.?@We finally did get to see a movie together, which was The Last Samurai. I wanted to write about him before I could continue with what`s been happening to me lately, because a lot of it includes him. I will write about my birthday, Christmas, and New Year`s, but it will have to wait until after New Year`s...

2003-12-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

The November Chronicles, Part III

Meisei University...Nov. 8th-Dec. 20th

The company I work for often sends teachers to universities to teach English lessons. I was chosen to go out to Meisei University for six Saturdays to teach, not university students, but university staff. I wasn`t particularly looking forward to it, because I didn`t know what to expect...and also, the classes ran from 4pm to 7pm on a Saturday evening, when I was used to working until 6:15pm at the latest on Saturdays. The university is also pretty far away...an hour away from Hachioji! So November 8th was when I started my outservice at Meisei. After a 45 minute train ride to the backwoods town of Kabe, I had to take a 15 minute bus ride to the university. Needless to say, it`s pretty isolated. I felt like I was a missionary or something. But to my surprise, I ended up truly enjoying teaching there. There were five students in all, but I taught three students at a time each week, except for the fifth week, in which I taught all five. The students, though not very proficient in English, were very eager and always did their best in class. I also liked the outservice because I felt as though I had a lot more freedom over what I taught. I also felt that it was so much easier to "see the bigger picture" as far as their progress and what they needed to learn, and it somehow made me care more about how they were progressing. And even though I taught them only five Saturdays,(TL substitued for me on my birthday, which I had asked off from work since September) I felt closer to them than I usually do with my regular students. Sometimes I felt that I didn`t not give them the best lesson I could...but they still were very nice to me and kept saying that they wanted me to continue teaching them in April. Whether that`s just their "Japanese-ness" talking or not, I was touched.

2003-12-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, check out my phlog...I`ve been posting on it like mad since I got my new cell phone...

2003-12-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

The ultimate Spapanese pun...

Hasta man~ana="See you tomorrow" in Spanish

Ashita="tomorrow" in Japanese

Name of a Japanese TV show=Ashita ma nya-nya

Ok...I guess it`s one of those things lost in translation...

Looking out the staff room window one evening...

PD(in a very sarcastic voice): Hachioji, city of dreams...

*both of us laugh*

PD: It`s more like the city of bad dreams...

It`s true...especially downtown. Actually, Hachioji is not a bad place, and it`s actually rather peaceful on the outskirts...it`s just that downtown Hachioji is full of sleazy bars and clubs that I hear are run by the yakuza. On weekend nights...even on weekday nights, you can see the pimps and the sleazy-looking sleazily dressed girls walking around, trying to get people to go into their clubs. I was discussing restaurants with a student and he was trying to explain about downtown Hachioji`s atmosphere, so I taught him the word "seedy" to describe it. Another thing I noticed about downtown Hachioji...it seems that as the temperatures go down, the hemlines go up...huh? Wait a minute...that doesn`t make sense...

2003-12-28T20:43:00.000-08:00

The November Chronicles, Part II

NL`s Party...Nov. 9th

I went to the party that NL, my coworker, had been planning for since the end of September. It was a welcome/ 21st birthday party for her daughter, TT, who had just arrived in Japan. On my way to NL`s apartment, I ended up meeting a group of people in Tachikawa, which included my boss. After getting lost, we managed to find her place, which is really nice and really spacious, for a Japanese apartment. The party ended up being a whole lot of fun. I got to meet some of NL`s and TT`s friends and acquaintances. Among one of their closer friends was SS, who seemed like a really funny and nice guy. He kept teasing TT about her smoking and drinking. At one point, as NL and TT were goofing around, he said, with a straight face, "What are you doing, lesbians?" It was so unexpected, especially coming from a Japanese man, that we couldn`t help but burst out laughing. Also, I took hand in almost setting NL`s apartment on fire! You see, NL invited one of the students (whom I`ll call H-san) that she teaches on Sundays to the party. It was great seeing him again because I would sometimes teach him when I used to work on Sundays. Anyway, for the party, NL decorated the house with candles. At one of the tables, there was a wooden tray with tea light votives on them. H-san, my coworker TL, and I were sitting at that table, talking, when H-san decided it would be fun to make a pyramid with the votives. I helped him make it and it was all well and good but then, the flame from the bottom votives heated the votives at the top, so the flames started getting bigger and bigger...to the point where blowing them out would do no good...in fact, when H-san tried to blow them out, they got worse! At this point, with me going "Oh my God!" and TL going "Don`t do `foo-foo` on them!", we were attracting attention. H-san tried to pick up the tray but because it was so hot, he ended up dropping it, leaving a scorched spot on the tatami mat, but he managed to move the flaming tray to the balcony. Someone said, "smother it with a pillow!" Instead, H-san decided to grab some nearby wine to try to put out the fire. I said, "Arukoru...abunai!" (Alcohol...dangerous!), but it was too late. When he poured the wine on the fire, the flames burst out even more...I`m surprised he wasn`t seriously burned...even though his hair slightly stank of sulphur afterwards. Finally, he managed to put out the fire...maybe NL got him some water. Looking back, it was so funny....but it was kinda scary at the time. Poor H-san kept apologizing profusely and NL kept saying, "It`s ok, it`s ok". Afterwards, NL put on some music and tried to get everyone to dance. Unfortunately, the neighbors knocked on the door and complained so we had to turn off the music. Later on, H-san was supposed to give TL, one of the Berlitz German teachers, and I a ride home but he took the German teacher home, forgetting to take TT and I in his car, so, in my frustration, I called a taxi all by myself, so TT and I were able to get to the Tachikawa train station before the last trains.

2003-12-28T20:39:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas...and may New Year`s also be great....party it up!!

2003-12-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

There is a bunch of stuff that I had started writing about back in November....but I never got around to finishing everything I had wanted to write about. So here is what happened during the month of November...in no particular order:

The November Chronicles, Part I

Clubbing with KM and friends...Nov. 22nd

I was feeling kinda down, when, out of the blue, KM sent me an email inviting me to go clubbing in Roppongi on Saturday! I hadn`t been out clubbing since going with him at the beginning of September. Apparently, M-san, the girl from Kobe who had briefly done a study abroad program at UD and whom I had met at the end of August, was coming too. Also, TH (the one I always say is "sexy") planned to come, so I figured it would be sort of like a double date thing, so I was looking forward to it. On Friday, I got an email from TH, suggesting we take the train together to Roppongi to meet up with KM and M-san. The next day, as I was getting ready, I got a phone call from TL, my coworker NL`s daughter, inviting me to get together with her the next day. I agreed to meet up with her in Kichijoji (which I had heard had a really nice park) at 12pm. Anywayz, I met up with TH and we had a nice, relaxing ride to Shinjuku and then to Roppongi, where we met not only KM and M-san, but M-san`s friend R-san. At first I didn`t like the fact that perhaps one of us might end up being the "fifth wheel" but R-san ended up being a really nice girl and I enjoyed her company. Since KM and I are big fans of hip hop, we went to Club99, which plays hip-hop music almost exclusively. Later on, we went to the famous, Gaspanic for a little while. Gaspanic has no entrance fee, but you must have a drink at all times, a policy that is notoriously enforced by staff members walking around with flashlights, making sure everyone has drinks, and pushing you to buy a drink if you don`t have one. However, we managed to stay for several minutes without being made to buy drinks (thanks to KM and TH telling the staff "We need a few minutes to decide")! Then, we went to 911, another well-known club in Roppongi, which was so crowded that you couldn`t really dance and it was inevitable that you were gonna really brush up against people, which I think many people didn`t mind...somehow we managed to find a spot to dance in. We also met up with a friend of KM and TH, who ended up being from Bolivia! Unfortunately, since it was so noisy, I couldn`t make much conversation with him....one never can in these places. Afterwards, we went back to Club99, where I ended up dancing with a guy...he just kinda came up behind me and started dancing. I never got his name or where he`s from, but I know he`s not Japanese. It`s something that I was not proud of at first, but now I realize that the club scene is about just letting go and letting your animal instincts rule. I mean, I`m glad I didn`t end up going home with this guy, but I had a good time. While I was dancing with the guy, KM and the rest of them dissapeared. The guy started to get "more intense" with me and I started to get worried, so I managed to extricate myself out of the situation and told him I had to meet my friends. He followed me to the club lockers, where I called KM, who happened to be across the street at a cafe with the rest of them. So I dashed off. Poor guy, he seemed so dissapointed. Anywayz, when I stepped oustide, KM was there waiting for me....I felt so relieved! He walked me back to the cafe, where everyone else was sitting down and drinking coffee or tea. Poor TH...apparently he had thrown up from the alcohol so he needed a place to sit down and just relax. So we spent the rest of the time there....just chillin`.

One of the advantages of being a gaijin woman is that the pimps don`t harrass you. I often see Japanese girls (usually the ones that are more scantily dressed) being harassed to no end by pimps or club promoters handing out club advertisements to take the flyers advertising that particular club. When I pass them by, it`s as if I`m not there...my gaijiness is like a cloak of protection around me when I pass them by. However, when I was in Roppongi, I realized that I am not immune...in fact the fact that I am a foreigner is all the more reason for the club promoters to harrass you to go to their clubs.

As I trudged back home in the early morning, tired and hungover, I figured that I would set my alarm for 10:30 to call TL and tell her that I couldn`t make it to Kichijoji at 12 because I was too tired. I set the time all right, but I forgot to turn on the alarm, so when I woke up, it was 12:30! I was absolutely mortified because as far as I knew, she had no cell phone so there was no way I could get in touch with her...and Kichijoji is a half-hour train ride from Hachioji. I had horrible visions of her waiting there for me for over an hour. I tried to get in touch with her mother by calling Berlitz since she works there on Sundays, but of course, nobody answered the phone. So I quickly got dressed and was hurrying towards the station, absolutely mortified when the idea occurred to me to stop by Berlitz to explain the situation to NL in case TL got in touch with her. When I got there, it just so happened that the last classes were just finishing so I was able to talk to her...to my great relief, NL told me that indeed, TL was borrowing someone`s cell phone and she gave me the number. So I was able to call her and explain everything. Thankfully, TL took it pretty well and it was ok because two other people were with her, so they were willing to wait for me in Kichijoji. I was so relieved! NL said jokingly, "How dare you do that to my daughter!" So I finally got to Kichijoji after having missed the station because I had taken the express train that didn`t stop in Kichijoji. I was told that Kichijoji is a really nice place and indeed...the road leading to its famous park was filled with quaint little shops that sold all kinds of interesting things. I met up with TL near Starbucks, where she introduced me to N-san and his girlfriend K-san. Then, we went to an udon restaurant, where we had delicious udon...which I hadn`t had in a long time! Both N-san and K-san had been to Australia to work/study abroad. N-san especially was pretty good at English so we had a really enjoyable conversation. After eating udon, we headed over to the famous Inokashira Park. It was rather cold, but it was very beautiful with the autumn leaves and big pond. We walked around for a bit, looking at people playing guitar or selling crafts. There was this foreign man with a long, blond scraggly beard and colorful, funky-looking hat. He was playing a strange-looking instrument...it was a combination of lute, harp, and violin. It was decorated in such a way that it looked like a bird was playing the lute...it`s hard to explain. Anyway, it was obvious that this man`s Japanese was not that great, but I could understand that the music he was playing was from Shakespearean times. The music sounded really beautiful. The atmoshphere of the park was just so relaxing and even romantic, which was a welcome and soothing contrast to the loud and wild atmosphere of Roppongi. We decided to stop by a cafe up on a small hill surrounded by trees. It was a really nice place with a really relaxing atmosphere...it was also heated by electric heaters, plus, you were provided with blankets. It felt so cozy after spending time outside in the cold. We ended up staying there for a while, getting to know each other. We asked each other when our birthays are and to my big surprise, N-san replied "next Saturday", which the exact day of my birthday! It`s not every day I meet people with the same birthday as me...Anywayz, afterwards, we strolled back to the station...passed by the nice shops and by a very nice looking izakaya that had a Japanese-style garden. I had a really good time and I`m glad that I ended up getting together with them.

2003-12-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

I saw The Last Samurai on Monday...

I finally got to see The Last Samurai, which I had really wanted to see. K and I tried going on Sunday evening, but it was sold out twenty minutes before the start of the movie, so we went to the 10am showing the next day.

What can I say about the movie (without giving it away)? Well, it was rather "Hollywood-esque"(but well, what can you expect?)...almost formulaic, and for the most part, it was rather predictable. But overall, it was interesting, I guess and I enjoyed watching it. It was very beautifully filmed and the main Japanese actor`s performace was very good. However, there were some parts in the movie where you would shake your head and say, "Oh come on, that couldn`t possibly have happened..." But don`t listen to me. I recommend that you go see and judge for yourself....and then we can talk about it!

2003-12-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

I told myself I`d never do this....!

But here I am, posting the result of a Quizilla quiz on my blog...

Congratulations! You're Merry!

Which Lord of the Rings character and personality problem are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

2003-12-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

The best chips E-VER!

A potato chip company in Japan recently came out with blue cheese-flavored chips (chips the flavor of blue cheese, not blue-colored cheese flavored chips!). They are sooooo good! I can even tell you just how good....;-)

2003-12-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

I`M BACK!!

I`m really, really, really sorry that I haven`t update my blog! It`s just that SO MUCH has been going on....and for once I am really busy. Wow! Who woulda thought? Anywayz, there`s so much I want to write about but haven`t had the time to. But don`t stop reading!! I will write about all that`s happened little by little....

So I`m not gonna try to dump all this info on you so I`ll just start from somewhere. I have decided just today to get a new cell phone. This cell phone is a never model of the phone I have now....but it`s old compared to the newest models so it`s going for only 1 yen. The problem is, I would have to get a new phone number. I know it`s a pain in the ass but I think I`m gonna go for it...after all, this new cell phone has a camera is newer than the one I have. Unfortunately, I doesn`t come in turquoise :-(

2003-11-02T03:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I haven`t posted much lately. It`s just that basically....nothing blog-worthy has been really going on. But I have some new stuff, so read on...

2003-11-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

This has been one of the best weekends I`ve had since coming back to Japan...

Friday was a very busy day at work....I had eight lessons, which is a lot considering how things have been. It was also the birthday of one of our students so I got her a small cake and we all sang her Happy Birthday (in English, of course!). Then, after work, I went out to an izakaya for a few drinks. It was very relaxing and I had a good time....so I ended up kind of "celebrating" Halloween after all....

Yesterday, on Saturday, were the two Halloween parties. I was going to go to the kid`s party to help out BB, but I was needed in Tachikawa to prepare for the adult`s party. For the adult`s party, one of the teachers provided the food...from the American air force base! So it was all genuine American junk food, like Doritos, potato chips....and real pizza! And there was more beer than you could shake a stick at!! I finally got to meet one of my coworker`s daughter, who is now working at Tachikawa. I also got to see JS for the first time in a while. All in all, it went really well, I think. I happened to bring along some CDs so I was able to create a more "part" atmosphere....and a few of us actually danced! It was fun!

And today...

Today was the first day of Sodaisai...once again we come full circle. To be honest, I was kind of strange being there, especially at first. I thought by being there, I would be able to relive last year...but that ended up not being the case. I saw so many people...but sometimes I wouldn`t know what to say...it was rather awkward sometimes. And being there, talking to some of the Japanese people I know...it became so obvious that my Japanese is deteriorating. At one point, I couldn`t take it anymore. I just sat down dejectedly somewhere....for some reason this depression came over me....some sort of cloud. I kept thinking that it was no use being there and that I might as well leave. But something made me stay. I think it was the fact that I had told someone that I`d be there pretty much all day that helped me decide to stay. Anyway, after that, things went MUCH better. I went to the International Student stand, where I had worked last year. The North American group made MUCH better food this year...even though our stand looked better, I think ;-) And they also had a really awesome Hawaiian dance that was A LOT better than our highly disorganized one. And I got to see some of the exchange students that came in March (and are therefore still here). It was really nice to see them

2003-11-02T02:42:00.000-08:00

If I hear "ikaga desu ka" one more time, I`m gonna scream!

2003-11-02T02:40:00.000-08:00

My brush with (political) fame...

Earlier this week, I had to go to Tachikawa to teach some classes. When I arrived at the station, I saw a huge crowd of people in front of the station entrance and I could hear someone talking over a loudspeaker. Now, I know that parlimentary elections are coming up, so I figured it was some candidate or other. But I noticed that the crowd was a little too big for just some candidate. Could it be...? I found a spot where I could look at what the crowd was looking at and sure enough....it was Prime Minister Koizumi! He looked just like he does on TV. Of course, I couldn`t understand a word he was saying so the only thing left for me to do was to act like some starstruck fan and take pictures. Unfortunately the pictures came out really blurry. Also, I had to get going to work so I really didn`t have much time to stand there and look at him, so I left...

2003-10-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

Interesting experience last night....

Last night I finally started tutoring my guarantor`s 11-year old daughter, AT. I rode the famous Yamanote Line to Meguro. Me gu ro. Sounds cool, doesn`t it? I means "black eye" in Japanese. Anywayz, her mother, Mrs. T, met me halfway to their house and when we got there, she was basically like, "Ok, AT will tell you what to do". Yeah, basically I just get to help her with her homework, which is in English. AT goes to a bilingual school, which is taught half in Japanese and half in English. How lucky is she? She is bilingual in English and in Japanese! But then again, I`m bilingual in English and Spanish....but Spanish is so....futsu (common). Still, I remember how impressed some of the girls at Sunflower Hall were when they found out I spoke Spanish...hehe. Anywayz, last night inspired me to try harder at improving my Japanese and my Kanji.....whether I`ll follow through is a whole other story ;-)

Anywayz, it seems that AT has a rather dry personality, but she seems like a really nice girl, and I think she took a liking to me. After two hours though, her mother seemed anxious to get me to leave, saying something about her husband getting back at around this time. So she wanted me to leave before her husband got back? Sounds a little fishy....does my guarantor no longer want to see me? But anywayz.

2003-10-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Aobadai....the town of "blue" leaves

On Tuesday, I was sent to a Berlitz school in a town called Aobadai, which is in Kanagawa prefecture, near Yokohama. The train ride to Aobadai was really nice....the day was sunny and the train was not crowded. When I get to the Berlitz school....I find out that I have to teach THREE kids classes in a row...after nearly having a nervous breakdown the last time I had kids classes! I was about ready to kill someone! Seriously, thoughts of quitting my job and returning home as soon as possible flashed through my head with a vengeance. But I bit my lip and went through it, not expecting any miracles. The first class was a class of SEVEN little girls, and considering that there were seven of them, they weren`t too badly behaved. The second class had three little boys and the third class had two slightly older boys. I managed to bumble through the classes, even the second class that was recorded on tape by the boys` parents. The boys just sort of started at me, giving me strange looks, obviously not knowing what was going on. Overall, while it wasn`t horrible, it wasn`t great either...but I got through it. Apparently, the Aobadai Berlitz school teaches a LOT of kids lessons, and I could tell that Aobadai is a rather "young" town...you can see a lot of children there.

After that, I had an hour break, then I taught two adult lessons to two ladies....who both have November birthdays. One of them has the same birthday as me! Yay!! I believe she is about 5 years older than me? Still, that was a cool coincidence, as I rarely meet people with the same birthday as me.

2003-10-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

I still can`t believe it....

The computer that I used to transfer the pics from my digi-cam was replaced by a computer with no CD RW drive, so I decided to head to the other Internet cafe, which has computers with CD RW drives. Unfortunately, the computers there run on Windows ME, not XP, so you have to use a CD burner program in order to record files on a CD. Last time I was there, I managed to do it....but for some reason, it wouldn`t let me do it. I messed around with the program and in desperation, I choose something that too late, I realized was formating my CD!! I was able to stop the formatting process about one minute into it by pressing Ctrl Alt Del.....but the damage was done. I have put the CD in several computers and it no longer reads my disk!! All the pictures I had taken....I`d easily say between 200 and 300....lost. Gone. It made me so mad! And it still frustrates me so much thinking about it. Those were memories you can`t take back. And some of the pictures I worked so hard on, like pics of Mt. Fuji at sunset. Arrrggghh! But I keep telling myself it`s better to lose a bunch of pictures than losing something much more important to me....and I haven`t lost hope yet. I mean, I stopped the formatting process.....there must be some way I can access those pictures! If you know of anyway to do so.....please let me know!! In the meanwhile....the only thing left to do is just take more pictures....try to make them better than before. And by the way, yes, I found another way of storing my photos....online....which I should have thought of doing BEFORE. But anyways, I guess what`s done is done. Unfortunately, for now, my phlog entries will be few and far between.

2003-10-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Um....ok....so now the blog editor looks totally different.....

I came to the Internet cafe today to find that the only computer with a CD R/W drive has been replaced with a computer that doesn`t have a CD R/W drive. Ugh!! I think I will still come here because of the atmosphere, but if I want to transfer my pics to my CD, I`m gonna head to the other Internet cafe that has CD R/W drives in all it`s computers...too bad that this Internet cafe is gonna loose a big part of my business with them.

Today is such a nice, sunny, October day. I feel that crispness in the air that makes me think of Halloween....it reminds me of home, even though it`s not quite like home. It makes me miss home even more....I don`t know what it is about fall that makes me so nostalgic....

2003-10-18T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hey there....

Just stopped by the Internet cafe....Ah yes, I remembered what I had wanted to say. Last Thursday I went back to the Shinjuku school to teach two lessons. Most of the same teachers were there, including this British guy who struck me as kind of prissy the first time I saw him, if you know what I mean. Well, last Thursday, I saw him and I thought to myself, "Yep, he`s defenitely is". But there`s nothing wrong with that, right? And then....it struck me. Did any of you watch "You Are Being Served" on TV (on the PBS channel for you Americans)? Oh my God....this guy reminded me so much (but I won`t tell you just how much, KG ;-)) of the gay guy with white hair on that show! He even looks like him!....except that he doesn`t have white hair. Damn, that show was the funniest show ever!

2003-10-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

I finally saw TK!

Last night, T-san again wanted to come to my apartment with her friend for "English practice". I don`t know what it was...but I decided to take matters into my own hands and invite TK, whom I hadn`t seen since coming back, over was well. Besides, it`s my apartment, I can invite whomever I want. However, since it was raining pretty badly last night, he needed a ride, which T-san (who is one of the few people who knows about my feelings for him) was kind enough to give him. However, T-san`s friend cancelled because she had to work late.....that sounds awfully suspicious....and I wonder if it had to do anything with the fact that I invited TK....I hope I am not seen as a wrongdoer in their eyes....because don`t I have the right to invite whomever I want, since T-san basically invites herself....which I don`t mind....but at the same time, I have to give up my time, often after work when I`m tired, to play hostess. Anyway, since Y-san lives next door to TK, I told T-san that Y-san was also invited. So after work, T-san, Y-san, and TK came over my house. The only thing was that when they got there, Y-san grabbed my "Gaijin" book, and started reading it, which is fine, but he read it practically the entire time they were there, hardly joining in the conversation! I mean....should I just let it go? Or was I doing something wrong as a hostess? Should I have included him in the conversation? Ugh....all these worries....

But don`t let me mislead you....I had a really good time. Time went by all too fast! I thought that maybe seeing TK again after almost three months would sort of bring me "back to reality" and make me realize that perhaps I`m just infatuated with the idea of him....but it didn`t.....I just made me so happy to see him again, it was as if we had last seen each other only yesterday. I don`t know....there was something I felt being with him, seeing his "smiling eyes"...it wasn`t sexual. Dare I say I felt something coming from him? T-san said that lately TK has been feeling kind of down....but he didn`t seem it when I saw him last night.

I know. I`m deluded. But at least this fantasy will keep me going at least for a little while.

2003-10-12T23:21:00.000-07:00

"Beautify Japan-Get a Tatoo!"

-on a sticker stuck on someone`s motorcycle helmet

2003-10-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

Listening to a self-playing piano in the lobby of a hotel

As I listen to the beautiful music playing, it comes to my mind that someone actually has to play the melody in order to "program" it into the computer program that makes the piano play by itself. I then realize that what I`m listening to is the memory of a performance from a time, place, and person I will never know...

2003-10-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I was sent to the Shinjuku Berlitz to teach two lessons. It was my first time teaching in another school besides Hachioji and Tachikawa. Besides, I was going to the "big city".....the Shinjuku school is the mother of all Berlitzes, I figured. It was probably going to be just like what you see in the advertisements....students and teachers in very business-like attire and behavior. "I`m gonna feel like such a country bumpkin", I kept thinking over and over again.

I got to Shinjuku with plenty of time before I had to teach, so I went to Kinokunia and bought a "You`ve Been In Japan Too Long When...", which I had been planning to buy. But while I was there, a Harry Potter parody called, Barry Trotter and the Unnecessary Sequel caught my eye, so I bought it. I`m telling you, that place is dangerous. You always end up buying more than you originally planned to! After Kinokunia, I had some coffee at Starbucks, which I hadn`t done in a while...(I miss the Starbucks "sessions" I would have with T and DT...).

When I got to the school. I was indeed impressed. Rooms upon rooms....at least twice as many classrooms as the Hachioji school! Their schedule was about 10 pages long (as opposed to our 2-3). The teachers, while not the friendliest, didn`t exactly ignore me either so I made small talk with them. All the teachers seemed to come from either England or Australia (and acted accordingly ;-)). However, I checked bulletin board with the pictures of all the teachers and there are teachers from the US and Canada. The lessons themselves went very well. I was under the impression that the "city folk" would be colder but my student ended up being a really friendly person and in fact, asked me more questions than my average student. Even though she was a beginner...her English was advanced for the level she was taking. Anyways, it went very well and by the time I got home, I was very tired but happy with how things went.

2003-10-12T01:11:00.000-07:00

My return to Soka...
After having left two months ago...on Wednesday, I finally paid a visit to where I spent ten months as an exchange student. The campus was in it`s early-autumn drabness...just like last year, when I had just gotten there. Of course, not being used to taking long bike rides up steep hills, I was tired when I got there. As I walked by the campus....I could feel the stares on me. It seemed strange to me....and it occured to me that I don`t get such stares even when I`m in town. I thought it very ironic since the school prides itself on having all these foreign students....you`d think they`d be used to them. One girl actually blurted out "Herro!" and started to giggle....as if she had dared herself to say something to me and was laughing at her "mischief." Of course, I said hello back and she and her group of friends just giggled.

However, even before I entered the Chit Chat Club, I heard my name being called by none other than ST...one of the staff members at the CCC. He had cut his hair and he looked really happy to see me. It was really nice seeing him again. And then, all the other staff members said hi to me. YT, one of the managers, was there....same old YT. And of course, KY, who was working as the manager that day....he had let his hair grow out. He is one of the rare Japanese who has curly hair, so it looked really nice. And also, sexy TH, who recently started working at CCC was there. His hair has grown out and it looks like a mop on his head, but he`s still sexy ;-) He`s the guy I mentioned at the end of July when I went to karaoke with him, KM, T, NY and some of their friends. Anyway, since TH is kinda quiet, I never heard him speak English whenever we hung out....but of course, he was speaking it at CCC....I didn`t know he was so good at English!

Anywayz, I was talking to KY and TN (another regular at CCC), when who should walk in but KM! I had never seen him before at the CCC. He said that it was his first time there but that he had stopped by to see TH. He told me that he and TH had applied for the CCC but that only TH had been accepted. Strangely enough, TK also had applied but he wasn`t accepted....and he had worked there before! But anywayz, I introduced KM and KY. KY, who hangs out with Y-san, TK, T-san, etc....the Chit Chat crew....the "goody two shoes" of sorts...And KM, the wild guy who likes to go to bars and clubs...who would have thought that they would meet someday? I showed them pictures from my digital camera. Afterwards, KM and TH left to catch up since they hadn`t seen each other in a long time. I also finally got to meet my other kohai, MS. She is a really nice girl and is very friendly to talk to. She`s half Japanese. She doesn`t look like she has Japanese blood, but she`s still very pretty. So MS, KY, and I had a nice conversation. After that, I just ended up talking to KY for a while, which was nice. I just wish I had been able to see TK...which KM had meet only moments before going to CCC. Oh well. Still, it was really nice to see all of the peeps at CCC again and meeting some new faces, including a Japanese Mexican girl, who comes from the same region of Mexico where my dad grew up!

2003-10-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

I met up with Y-san last Sunday...

After the festival, I decided to stop by the Interenet Cafe to check my email and while I was there, I received a call from Y-san. He wanted to know where I was. Immediately, I got suspicious....and wondered why he wanted to know. Yet, something told him to tell him the truth. And it ends up that he was also near the eki and wanted to meet up with him. I still had that feeling of suspicion, but I agreed to meet up with him.

We ended up going to Hidaya, a delicious ramen restaurant that T, DT, and I would refer to as "the cheap place." I ended up having a really nice conversation with Y-san. He seemed to be genuinely interested in what was going on with me....and he was really good about talking in Japanese really slowly so I could actually understand practically everything he said. I don`t want to let my guard down...but I will not blow them off. I sometimes feel bad for doubting Y-san...I don`t know....I`m just to lonely to be doubting people right now...

Y-san told me that TK is not living in the room next to him! Before I found my apartment, Y-san had offered to talk to his landlady about living in that building, but there was no way I was gonna live in a place where you had to go outside to take a shower. But wouldn`t it have been wierd if both TK and I were neighbors? Me in my God-awful morning hair, running into him. "Uh....ohayogozaimasu...." and then, fighting over who takes a shower first!? lol! No, I have no regrets about the apartment I live in now.

More of that Japanese sublety...

As Y-san and I parted ways, I told him I was thinking about stopping by the Chit-Chat Club on Wednesday. He said, "Wonderful! KY will be there..." I don`t know if there was something in his tone of voice or in the momentary look on his face that suggested a figurative wink. Does he know something about KY....does he think I like him?? But anywayz...

At the festival, KM, NY, and A were leaving the Russian dance performance. They had just finished a beautiful (Japanese-go figure) song about spreading one`s wings like a beautiful white bird, etc. KM asked me, "So, wasn`t that a beautiful song? Did you understand it?" I said, "Yes, of course, it was about spreading your wings..." "They were talking about TK," KM cut in, trying to be funny. Without thinking, I gave him a playful punch in the arm. Seconds later, it hit me...why would he joke around like that? Was this a way of letting me know that he knows about my feelings for TK? I hope this makes sense....because if I were to disclose the play on words that he used, I would have to reveal names, which I don`t want to do.

2003-10-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven`t been a good blogger lately...

Anywayz, on Friday night, there was a party for "Poplar", one of our more "legendary" groups at Berlitz (we name our groups after trees and flowers). That night had been the last lesson of MK, the last of the remaining "poplar-ites", so she invited a bunch of us teachers and the other two poplar-ites, K-san, and KS, to a really nice Japanese-style restaurant. I had actually been there before with KM and some of his friends, downing shots of sake...hehe. Anywayz, the food was simply delicious! I didn`t down as much alcohol this time, of course. I still had a good time though. I found out that K-san is so hilarious when drunk! Also, it ended up being a really good opportunity to practice my Japanese with the poplar-ites....they were surprised that their English teacher could get by in Japanese! And actually, I was pretty surprised at myself...considering that I hadn`t been speaking that much Japanese lately...

Saturday ended up being a horrible day...I had two kids classes that didn`t go well...the second one was practically a disaster. And I became very frustrated with my student in my one adult class of the day and almost lost my patience with him. I don`t know what it was, but something that brought me down...I think that it contributed to my classes going badly...which made me feel even worse. I felt that there was a very thin barrier that kept me from breaking down. It was just bad...

But the Soka Jr. High School Festival on Sunday was just what I needed...

On Sunday at 10am, I met up with A, one of the current UD students at Soka, and NY, who is one of KM`s friends (he is the "sexy" guy who sang "Scar Tissue" when I went to karaoke at the end of July). We took a train to Kodaira, the town where Soka Gakuen is in and met KM there. Actually, this was a festival, known as Jounetsu no hi (Day of Enthusiasm) for Soka elementary school, jr. high school, and high school. It was so wierd seeing KM in a suit and being referred to as sensei! So KM, NY, A, and I pretty much walked around Soka Jr. High and High School, looking at the booths or activity stands each classroom had set up. He took us to his classroom, where his students had organized a games activity stand. We played a concentration game and the loser had to wear a silly wig or hat. Needless to say I wore one more than once. We stopped by a high school classroom that was giving three-minute massages for 500 yen. That was nice. We also saw two murals made completely from small pieces of colored paper. One of them was as tall as the school!! We had lunch at the school`s cafeteria and saw part of a performance of a professional Russian dance troupe. While at the festival, I met four more exchange students. Two girls from Venezuela, a guy from Argentina...and a guy named JS....who happens to be the brother of my coworker, DS....they look so much alike! Over all I had a really good time. It was a really nice distraction after such a stressful week. I will soon be posting pictures on my phlog.

2003-10-04T01:09:00.000-07:00

"Lost In Translation" ‚ð?@Œ©‚½‚¢?B?B?B?B?I

"Lost in Translation" wo mitai...! (I want to see "Lost in Translation"!)

2003-09-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

I had the most eventful Saturday night I`ve had in a while...

And that`s not saying much since lately my weekends have been pretty dull. But anyway, at work, I was the last one teaching and when I was done, my boss, MH was still there, waiting for BB, another one of my coworkers, because one of our former students, HM, had invited them to dinner and they were planning on meeting at the school. MH invited me to come along as well, so while MH, BB, and I waited for HM outside the school, we sat by a bench and had a beer, which I felt wierd doing, but I thought it was really cool since in the US, it is illegal to be carrying an open alcohol container in public. Anyway, HM took us to a really nice French restaurant in Hino. It`s amazing how charming the restaurant was! I wish I had taken more pictures. MH said, "It looks more like somebody`s house than a restaurant." Indeed, I felt like I was no longer in Japan. The restaurant was wood-paneled and it was decorated in the American "country" style. Ironically though, at the entrance, there was a wooden chest with small cupboards. It looked very "country", but these cupboards are for storing your shoes when you remove them at the entrance....very Japanese, desu ne? For dinner, I ended up having the very delicious buy very expensive leg of some sort of bird....I assume it`s a quail and for the first time in five years....escargot! It was yummy! MH had a really expensive course meal that included a palate cleanser and some really delicious looking beef. Later on, CL, another Berlitz teacher who works at Tachikawa, joined us. We had a very good time, HM told us that she is going to New Zealand in October to teach Japanese, and CL told us about his recent trip to Okinawa....it made me want to go so bad! Apparently he has also been to Mexico before and he shared my enthusiasm about my recent trip there. And I showed off my new camera and everyone oohed and ahhed. :-D

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I got a totally unexpected phone call...from no other than KM! He was inviting me to meet him and the new UD exchange student, AT, by the station. I was really psyched...two invitations in one evening! So HM was nice enough to drive me to the Hachioji station, where I met up KM. So I finally got to meet AT, whom KM had talked so much about and I also got to meet M, the new South African exchange student who goes to the same university as TB. In other words, he is TB`s kohai. Anyway, the four of us went to and English pub called "Gulliver`s", where later, one of KM`s friends joined us. Looking back....I had a really good time, even though at the time I felt a little wierd since I was the only girl there and the guys of course, were being guys, talking about how hot this one Russian exchange student is. But it was so nice to talk with a fellow American....a fellow UDer. AT seems like a really nice guy. It was also nice getting to know M...he seems quieter (or maybe that`s because he didn`t have as much in common as KM, AT, and I). He`s blonder but defenitely not as good looking as TB. I up and told M that I used to like TB and was going on about how I don`t care now that he didn`t like me...According to M, TB is one of the most clueless guys ever...and when he asked me, "Do you want his email? Shall I put in a word for you next time I talk to him?" It kind of threw me off guard, and I hesitatingly told him no...it kinda made me realize that in some ways I still have feelings for TB....ugh! And I had been so proud of myself for forgetting his birthday....Hmmm.....as I write this...I realize that my feelings for him are not what the used to be....perhaps it`s just a feeling of nostalgia...after all, I did do many things with him and the rest of the other exchange students...

Anyway, after the English Pub, we all went home...I`m looking forward to this Sunday when AT, KM, and I will be going to the middle school`s festival.

2003-09-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

I got my digital camera on Friday. I love it! With the points I earned from making the purchase, I was able to get a Memory Stick almost for free, which was a good thing because the Memory Stick provided with the camera only has room for ten pictures! What I love about it is that it`s so compact. Yesterday, I got a cute little carry case for it. I`m still fiddling around with the camera, trying to figure out all the features... :-)

Introducing...my Phlog!

As I mentioned before, I wanted to start a phlog (photo log or {mobile}phone log). Now, it`s up and running! So to see my first pictures from my digital camera click here. I have also added a permanent link to the phlog on this page. It`s on your right. Let me warn you, since I had to reduce the size of these pictures, the quality is not as good. When you first see my phlog, the thumbnails of my pics is what you will see. Click on the picture to see the enlarged version. Also, feel free to add your comments!

2003-09-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know.....everything`s fine here. No, I didn`t feel the earthquake at all. I didn`t even know about the earthquake until my parents called me asking me if everything was ok. I wish I could say the same for the residents of Hokkaido, but I`m ok.

"Where is Venice?" -one of my students

I`ll be fair to him though and say that perhaps he didn`t know how to say "Venice" in English. I should have asked him to make sure. Darn.

2003-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

The problem with Japanese period TV dramas...

Is that the wigs look way too fake. The acting may be good (not always, hehe), the costumes may be gorgeous, but the huge black wigs (the Japanese had some crazy hairdos in those days--not much as changed) look so obviously fake that it makes the whole thing look cheesy.

I made my decision...

Tomorrow, I will be getting my new digital camera! I`ve decided to go for the Sony DSC P8...I don`t care if I have to use their special type of lithium battery. I know that if I buy the P72, I will be forever thinking, "I should have bought the other one", so I`m gonna go for it. I was going to buy it on Saturday, but I just happened to walk by Yodobashi this morning and I noticed that their sale on digital cameras ends tomorrow....and it just so happens that tomorrow is when I`ll get paid.

Anywayz, I`m really excited.....I was in Yodobashi looking at accessories for the camera. I have also set up my Phlog account! I had come across the phlog website a few months ago, but I figured I`d wait until that far-off day when I had a camera on my cell phone. But I recently, my friend DT recently sent me the link to her phlog. (I`ll put the link in later) When I visited it, I realized that the pictures don`t necessarily need to come from a cell phone camera. It`s perfect for me because I had been planning to display the pictures I took with my new camera...but displaying them on this blog would take up a lot of disk space on my Geocities account. Also, there have been times when I had to urge to write something on this blog, but it was late in the evening, so I would have to write it down and save it for later. Now, I can write a blog entry on my cell phone and send it by email if the urge hits me. Don`t worry....I will of course, continue with this blog, where I can take up as much space as I want (hehe). What I will do is that I will use this blog to notify people of any updates on the phlog. Anyway, once I have started to write in the phlog, I will post the link. Toodles.

2003-09-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

Autumn has made an early visit...

It rained for two days straight and with the rain came a preview of the cold weather to come. I had to wear my light jacket. Yesterdayday it didn`t rain, but the sky was cloudy, but it was one of those pleasantly cool and cloudy days that are so autumn-like, that makes you either want to stay inside and curl up in bed or go for a nice long walk. I decided to head over to the Internet cafe and noticed just how much the river had swollen due to the rain. The Asa (which means "shallow" in Japanese) River is not so shallow now...

Today however, it is a brilliantly sunny day, but there is still a strong, cool breeze. For some reason, it reminds me of autumn back in my freshman year of college, when my parents would come to visit me at school.

On my "favorite" radio station...

They were playing a lounge-jazzy version of "Manic Monday". What up with that?

I got a visit from a door-to-door salesman. I could hear him yelling out something to one of my neighbors and when I looked through my peep-hole, I could see him turning towards my door. I braced myself for the worst and sure enough, he rang my doorbell. I poked my head out the door and he said, "Do you read the newspaper?". I just shook my head, which I think he took to mean tha tI didn`t understand what he was saying. He got all flustered and was like, "Um, thank you. Good evening." and took off. That`s the cool thing about being a gaijin. Salespeople and people who handout those annoying advertisements avoid you like the plague.

After a long silence, KM finally emailed me again, that silly boy. Apparently, he is an assistant teacher at Soka Jr. High School. Hehe...He is one of the last people I pictured as a teacher! "M-sensei"! lol. Anyway, he invited me and the new exchange student from UD (which I haven`t met yet), to the school`s festival on Oct. 5th. Sochusai, yo! To be honest, I hesitated at first, but I will be all right. I just hope the guy from UD comes along too. We shall see what happens. I`m hoping that I`m making a bigger deal of things than I should. Besides, by then, I will hopefully have my new digital camera and I will be able to take pics of the festival.

2003-09-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

I am ambivalent...

There are some things I wrote down about the friends I made in Japan that I was going to write down on the blog, but I didn`t. And I`m glad I didn`t because I wrote those things when I was really upset and now I have defenitely calmed down about last Saturday`s phone call. For now, I will not swear them off, but I just need to be more careful from now on.

Last night, I had a good while before I had to be at Berlitz, so I decided to hang around Yodobashi, my favorite electronics store. I was walking past the cell phone section, on my way to look at some digital cameras, when this girl came up to me. She is S-san, a girl whom I met once before. She is Japanese but lived in the US for a few years, so she speaks really good English. She said she had brought along some of the new Soka exchange students to help them in buying their new cell phones. And sure enough, there was a group of them by one of the cash registers, the same place where I had been a year before when I bought my cell phone. It reminded me so much of last year, when I went through the same thing. As they say in Japan, natsukashii... Even though a few days before, I was ready to swear off Soka, I was so relieved to see people my age, people I could communicate with, that instead of going on my own way, I just stood there, desparate to make conversation. I was hoping that the two new UD exchange students would be there, but they weren`t. However, I did meet some people, including two Hawaiians, a guy from Cuba, and a girl from Austria who lives in Sunflower Hall. Anyway, I pretty much hung around them till it was time for me to be at work.

Speaking of Digital Cameras...

I`ve been reading about digital cameras on the Internet and I have come across two really good digital camera buying guides. I tired reading the customer reviews, since they provide the most candid and truthful opinions. It was a bit overwhelming because each camera I read about would have comments like, "This is the best camera ever!" so I tried to read the less positive comments but they would have commments like, "The picture quality is great" and "The picture quality sucks" about the same camera. This made me realize that P.D. was right, most mid-range digital cameras are the same and that it`s pretty much a matter of personal preference and what kind of features you want. It`s not that the comments weren`t helpful. In fact, after reading several comments, I could see which were the common complaints and praises about a certain camera. So after reading the comments and comparing specifications, I think I will settle for a Sony. Reading about these digital cameras got me really excited about buying one. I can`t wait!

2003-09-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

"How Do You Keep the Music Playing..."

As I was riding my bike down the path along the river, I saw a high-school couple (I could tell by their uniforms), sitting by the river with their arms around each other. As I passed them, the boy turned to kiss the girl tenderly on the shoulder. With a pang, I thought, "damn, I`m so jealous of them...."

2003-09-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

In no other place, besides Japan, is it possible to see men in hot pants. I`m serious. Ok, not totally. You see, on my way to the Internet Cafe, I came across two men who looked like they were wearing what looked like a combination of hot pants and cloth diapers. However, I figured that they were probably dressed as such for some sort of festival or portable-shrine-carrying, because they had bands tied around their heads and shirts with kanji on it. Still....it was just kinda wierd....another "only in Japan" moment.

2003-09-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

Dude....or should I say dudette....ya gotta check this site out!

I came across this website/blog that shows pictures of ugly wedding dresses. I think girls might appreciate this more, because, believe it or not, guys, we secretly like to look at wedding dresses in Bridal magazines and try to picture ourselves wearing them ;-) But guys might also get a good laugh and it can serve as a warning of what your fiancee shouldn`t wear to your wedding! ;-)

2003-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Presenting....the Language Awards!

The Wierdest Sounding Language E-VER Award (Western Category): German

The Wierdest Sounding Language E-VER Award (Eastern Category): Chinese (all dialects)

The Most Beautiful Sounding Language Award: French

The Most Beautifully Written Language Award: Japanese

The Mother-F****ing Hardest Language to Read and Write EVER Award: Chinese (Honorable Mention: Japanese)

The Most Amount of Useless Letters Award: French (Honorable Mention: English)

If you beg to differ and/or have other suggestions, please let me know!!

2003-09-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sh**, I was right...What I was afraid of is beginning to happen. I got a call from Y-san (for whom I no longer have feelings for, thank goodness) while at work, inviting me to a "meeting" tonight. I told him I was free after 6, but now I`m gonna have to somehow tell him I can`t go. This really frustrates me...and makes me question everything that happened these past few months. It makes me see things in a different light. All the stuff they did for me...There were motives behind them. It makes me so mad....how could I have been so stupid, so blind? He also invited me to Shinjuku next week, to some theater....but I don`t know if I want to go....I don`t think I should go because I don`t know what else will be going on there. I am beginning to consider "severing ties"....which will be hard, especially after all they did for me, but I refuse to be forced into something I don`t want to do. That person I talked to in Tachikawa was right....

2003-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

The danger in dipping your feet in the Asa River

First of all, let me begin with something unrelated: I did something I promised myself I would never do-I talked on the cell phone while driving my bike! It wasn`t too bad because the streets weren`t very crowded though. Anywayz...

Because it was so hot yesterday, and I had plenty of time before work, I decided to dip my feet in the Asa River again. It feel so nice, especially in such hot weather. The cool water and the beautiful day put me in high spirits. So after about a half an hour, I got up. I was all sweaty and had both the sleeves of my shirt and my capris rolled up, but I was in a good mood as I made a small detour to to get my lunchbox that I had forgotten in my bicycle`s basket. Since I have to park my bicycle by building 2 (I live in building 1), I had to pass (or should I say, I chose to pass) my apartment complex`s administrative office. As I was passing it, I heard a voice behind me say "Konnichiwa". I was Mr. K, who is the closest thing to a landlord (I don`t think he owns the apartments--I think he`s more of an administrative head). Now, my dealings with him have gone pretty smoothly and I found him to be a really nice man. Anywayz, he called out to me and of course, I say hi and he asks me where I am coming from. I answered him honestly (now I realize that I shouldn`t have) and said I was next to the Asa River. He looked a little confused so I clarified for him. And then he asks me, "So....been pretty busy at work?".....Now, I knew perfectly well what he was trying to insinuate so I answered, "Well, I don`t have work until the evening" and he said, "Ah, so every day you don`t work until the evening" Now, I have told him several times that my work schedule is different every day and I had to tell him once more. Also, he caught me one morning as I was on my way to work so he knows perfectly well I also work in the mornings. It`s just that I didn`t like that he was basically trying to ask me "Why aren`t you at work?" and that he seemed to be insinuating that I slack off. It`s like, "It`s none of your business what I`m doing with my time."

However, this roundabout insinuating is something that is part of the Japanese culture, as many expatriates in Japan will tell you, so I chalked it up to that....but it still frustrated me. And while I have had difficulties with the Japanese culture...very few truly exasperate me. But for some reason, I felt "mad" at Japanese society for the second time ever since coming to Japan. And then, I started thinking how I was going to go back to the US for good, without a doubt, which got me thinking about what I was going to do with my future. So my spirits took a nosedive and for the rest of the afternoon, I was in a state of depression. I was worried about my future, pissed at the Japanese, frustrated about not being able to sit by the river without scrutiny, frustrated at my lack of a love life, and worried about what was going to happen when T-san and her friend came over later that night. Anywayz, I was staring out the window as the sun was beginning to set...and this is what I had the urge to write:

Looking out my window...

Beyond the station, I see a tall building that is part of a university, which AW, DT, and I would pass by on our way to AW`s apartment or to wherever we were going. The view of southern Hachioji and Machida is blocked by the hills, but the sun is so bright I swear I can see out beyond the hills and I think of how we used to drive over them every weekend in AW`s car. I know now that I was in an unhealthy situation but God, I miss those days. It makes me so sad thinking about what happened...

I was so down that I started thinking about that situation that I referred to above. But anyway, I straightened myself up as best I could and headed off to work. I had to classes and fortunately, I taught two students that I got to know well before going back home, so I had a very good two classes and my spirits were lifted again. Now, how often do you hear of being in a good mood because of work? :-)

Anyway, later that night, T-san and her friend YS came over to my apartment because, according to T-san, YS wanted some English practice, but I was worried that perhaps they had some other intentions (which I won`t go into here). But things went pretty well. We talked about all sorts of things in both Japanese and English. I told them about my crush on TK and after the left, I had hopes up about him (lately I had lowered my hopes about him)...I figured that at least I have this fantasy to hold on to. Anyway, T-san mentioned that she would like to come again, and I told her I didn`t mind, which I don`t....I don`t mind company but now I wonder if indeed, she does have other intentions that she plans to carry out in a series of visits...I don`t know....it`s just that after talking to someone in Tachikawa about this, I have become pretty paranoid about it lately.

Anywayz, after I leave this Internet cafe, if it is hot enough, I plan to dip my feet into the Asa River again ;-)

2003-09-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

It`s been one year...

Yes, one year ago today...As I was writing this (12am Sept. 10th), it was one year to the very hour since I boarded that plane, feeling buzzed from the aspirin I took, not knowing what the hell the future held for me (not that I know any better now ;-)). And right now, as I am typing this, it was one year, almost to the hour since I arrived at Narita. Then came the long waiting at immigration, then DT and JF being the very first people I met. Little did we know...but that`s another story. Who would have known that I would still be here one year later? Where am I going to be one year from now??

On a related note, the new exchange students arrived last night. That`s all I know for now. But I am looking forward to meeting the UD students and hanging out with them and KM!

2003-09-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Anyway, I finally did it...I dipped my feet into the Asa River! I had meant to do it ever since moving into my apartment and I promised myself I would do it before it got cold. After all, I live right next to the river, so I have been tantalized by it every day, especially on hot days. It just begs for feet to be dipped into it. Anyway, I was on my way back from the Internet cafe when I decided to do it. I had to find the perfect spot to sit on, which wasn`t easy considering that the river is embanked by steeply inclining walls. The water was a bit cold at first, but afterwards, it felt oh so nice! I just sat there for a while, eating my German Bacon-flavored Pringles. The Owada bridge and the blue sky with thick white clouds were on my left and the astounding view of the mountains (that are within Hachioji city limits, I believe) on my right. Finally, I got the chance to test the waters of the river that greets me with a gurgle every day. I just hope I get a chance to do so again before it gets cold because once it gets cold, I may never get the opportunity again.

2003-09-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

For the second night in a row, they`ve played a cheesy, elevator-music version of "Mr. Lonely", along with some spoken narrative (you expect me to understand it!?) on the radio station I`ve been listening to. I guess it`s a regular part of their radio program. But must they torment me with sad, sappy songs like "Mr. Lonely"?? Well, at least now they`re playing a cheesy, elevator-music version of "Norweigan Wood" (how dare they butcher the Beatles like that!?). I swear, they play a LOT better music before midnight!

2003-09-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

Strange dream last night...

In this dream, I was in a large room, lined up with beds, and I was wearing a negligee. Apparently, I had just gotten married, but in the dream, I had forgotten to whom! Anyway, I was waiting for my new husband and apparently, this room was some sort of group honeymoon suite (haha!) because I wasn`t the only one waiting for her new husband. There were a bunch of other people from Soka, and from my high school and college days. Then, the men started coming in one by one. We were all waiting in anticipation...and I was really curious to know who my husband was. TB, one of the exchange students in Soka, was saying, "I feel sorry for you guys" and I agreed...and then I began to dread the coming of my new husband because that meant my single days were over. Some of the guys from my high school days that were coming in had really nasty-looking hair and the rest of us would jeer at them.

Also, a few days ago, I had a dream, which I vaguely remember, in which I went on some hiking trip with people from Soka, from high school, and from college....it was a reunion of sorts.

2003-09-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

"Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC..." or

My Trip "Back Home"

On July 31st, I moved out of Sunflower Hall. Having stayed up all night packing, I would have overslept that morning if I hadn`t received a phone call from, would you believe, but "J". He said that he would be at Hoyu Dormitory to see the guys off and wondered if I would be there. After being picked up in a really nice coach bus rented by the bekka staff, and leaving Sunflower Hall for the last time, we stopped by Hoyu Dorm to pick up the guys that were leaving and sure enough, J was there. How ironic that he would be one of the last people I saw before leaving Japan.

Anyway, we arrived at Narita and everything went smoothly for me. Unfortunately, one girls realized that she had either lost or accidentally forgotten or thrown out her plane ticket. Now, wouldn`t one of the very things you check for before leaving for the airport is your plane ticket? As I left for my gate, she was still trying to figure out that mess, but I`m sure she eventually did. I was scheduled to take a flight to Detroit at 4pm, but I got bumped up to an earlier flight, which was fine with me. I sat next to a middle-aged man who was flying back home after being in Japan on business, and a girl my age who had gone to Japan to visit a friend. Now, in the many flights I have taken, I usually don`t talk with fellow passengers, but they were really friendly, so I had a good time talking to them. And to be honest, it felt good to be talking to other Americans in my own language. I ended up talking with the girl until we cleared customs in Detroit. Needless to say, my return to the US was a LOT smoother than my previous experience.

But the flight to Mexico was a whole other story...

I had the surreal but pleasant experience of being back home for less than a day before heading to Newark, DE with my mom and my sister G, where my sister M was waiting for us in her apartment. We got there a lot later than expected (yappari...), so M was furious and to make things worse, my mother insisted we spend the night in M`s apartment instead of staying at a hotel near the airport in Newark, NJ. After a lot of arguing and grief, we left the stuff that didn`t fit in our suitcases in Mar`s apartment and headed for the other Newark. Well, we ended up missing the exit for the hotel so we got lost in the Newark ghetto. So of course, there was more yelling and laying blame. We ended up stopping by a very scary looking gas station where we dared only to roll down the car window to ask an unfriendly-looking man for directions. He mumbled something that I could hardly understand and I thought of how I had taught Berlitz students countless times to give and receive clear and precise directions, and I wondered how they would handle such a "real life" situation as this. Anyway, I`m really digressing. By the time we got to the hotel, it was nearly midnight, and we had to catch a 6am flight, which meant we had to get up at 3 AM!! Well, we got up, got to the airport, and rushed to the ticket counter, only to be told that our flight had been cancelled due to rain!! M burst into tears right then and there. You see, my cousin`s wedding was to take place the very same day in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the way we had planned it, we would barely get there on time...and now the woman at the counter was telling us that we couldn`t get a flight to Mexico until noon. Fortunately, we asked someone else at the counter and she told us that there was another flight at 8am on Continental. Our original flight was on Northwest--now I know why the man on my flight back to the US said that it`s known as Northworst. So after running around from counter to counter with our heavy luggage, we were put on standby for the flight, which was already overbooked! We were considering not going to Mexico after all if we didn`t make the flight. For a while, all we could do was wait...but after all the yelling at each other, and all the stress, we shared a really nice moment in which we were talking about our favorite Seinfeld episodes, (which my mom has recently become interested in!) and laughing about them. Fortunately for us, people volunteered to give up their seats on the flight so all the people that were on standby, including us, got a seat on the flight.

We arrived in Mexico City and caught a bus for Cuernavaca. A young, perhaps college-aged couple that M made friends with on the plane, tagged along with us until we arrived in Cuernavaca. From the Cuernavaca bus station, we caught a taxi to the hotel we were to stay in. It was a beautiful sunny day, with cool, spring-like weather that was unlike the oppressive heat of Japanese and American summers. The hotel we were in was an actual hacienda owned by either Hernan Cortez or one of his descendants and in recent years, it was converted into a hotel. Next to the hotel was a quaint colonial-style yellow and white church and inside, my cousin`s wedding was already in progress! We were bit dissapointed that we didn`t quite make it on time, but we were more excited than anything, really. Unnoticed, my sisters and I took a quick peak at the wedding ceremony before dashing over to our hotel room (which was very charming!) to put on our dresses. We figured we`d at least make it for the reception. Then, as if we hadn`t already gone through enough problems, G realized that she had forgotten the bag that had her and M`s dresses on the bus! Fortunately, it seemed that we had taken plenty of luck with us because M called the bus station and the bus was still in Cuernavaca! So they got a taxi to bring the dresses to the hotel! Can you believe it!?

So by the time we finally got ready, the reception was already under way. We saw relatives we hadn`t seen since I was last in Mexico, which was almost five years ago--some I hadn`t seen for over 10 years! Some of my cousins have gotten married since I last saw them. We got to know my cousin C`s (not the cousin who got married that day) new wife. She seemed really nice--I just can`t believe that C actually got married! I was really nice to see my relatives again and it was a really nice reception, but as the evening wore on, the stress, the jet lag, and the lack of sleep caught up with me and I felt that if I didn`t go back to the hotel room to lay down for at least a few minutes, I would literally collapse in exhaustion. So I caught a few winks in the hotel room and when I woke up, the reception was still going on. Later on, a traditional northwestern Mexican band (Banda Sinaloense), was brought in and people began to dance the quebradita ("broken step"), which is a traditional dance of northern Mexico. At this point, my mom, my sisters, and I decided to call it a night. Besides, I don`t know how to dance the quebradita, even though I wish I did...it`s a pretty wild dance.

The next day, most of my relatives left, but my aunt S stayed with us for the remainder of our stay in Mexico. We stayed in the hotel for one more day. I wish I could convey toyou just how beautiful, colorful, and charming the hotel was. I would actually consider having my honeymoon there. The spacious, high-ceilinged rooms were decorated in the Mexican colonial style. However, we didn`t appreciate the fact that our shower, which was visible right as you entered the room, had only a small wooden screen for cover. We got to experience the humble but history-filled city of Cuernavaca, which is known as "The City of Eternal Spring" because of it`s wonderful, year-round spring weather. There is a rainy season of course, but it only rains at night! How awesome is that? While taking a bus tour of the city, the tour guide asked people where they came from. My sisters and I begged my mom to tell the tour guide we came from northern Mexico so we wouldn`t draw attention to ourselves and surprisingly, my mom agreed! We had some yummy pozole at a restaurant called "El Barco" (The Boat). Mexican food is so delicious! I couldn`t get enough of it! Unfortunately, it resulted in me having sharp stomach pains--I guess that`s what you get when you go from bland Japanese food to spicy Mexican food in a short amount of time. After Cuernavaca, we spent the rest of the week in Mexico City, where we were very hospitably received by GR, my mom`s cousin from my grandfather`s side of the family. GR and her family, which we got to know very well, showed us around many places around Mexico City. Unfortunately, if I were to recount every experience we had in Mexico City, it would take forever. What I hdo want to say is that it was wonderful experiencing such a colorful and vibrant culture such as the Mexican culture. It made me proud to have such a culture as part of my heritage. I didn`t realize just how much history Mexico City has. Even though it`s such an old city, it`s still alive. The history of Mexico is evident in its many churches and old buildings. However, most of these buildings are in bad need of repair and/or renovation and/or restoration. If you want a career in restoration, go to Mexico City!

After a year of being ogled at and feeling slightly out of place, it was comforting to know I was finally in a place where physically, I blended in with the people. But while I blended in physically, I somehow felt like an outsider, which is what happens when the place that I consider my home and the place I grew up in is the US. As a result, there was a bit of "culture shock", especially in the fact that Mexican people are a lot more relaxed and laid back, and by that I mean that they are more willing to bend the rules, make an exception. One thing that my mother and I have always been at odds with is the relaxing of rules. I have grown up in a country that is pretty rigid with rules (not as rigid as Japan though!!). My mother always tried to convince authority figures to bend the rules "just this once", which exasperated or embarrassed me and my sisters. Coming to Mexico City...I came to understand where she was coming from culturally. I learned that it`s very common to ask authority figures to bend the rules. For example...in order to get a discount on a theather ticket, you had to be a student and a Mexican citizen, even though my sisters and I are not Mexican citizens, and I had no valid student ID, my mother and my aunt convinced the man at the ticket booth to give us the discount anyway. My mother was in her very element! And I realized that my aunt is a lot like my mother in aspects like that.

Having lived in Japan for almost a year, I was especially struck by the contrast of the Japanese and Mexican cultures. I thought of how in the short time span of less than a week, I had been in three different countries and how I have had the priviledge of having lived three different cultures! (Not to mention being briefly exposed to other ones!) During my stay in Mexico, I constantly tried to imagine how my Japanese friends would react to each of the aspects of Mexican culture I experienced, and I wished very much that they would be able to go to Mexico someday.

Some of the highlights of the trip were:

Dinner at a Yucatec restaurant with my cousin KV

Bus tour of Mexico City

Xochimilco! (flotillas a la Venice but more colorful. Can you say boat party!?)

Museum of Anthropology

Castle of Chapultepec

National Palace and Metropolitain Cathedral (where we ran into my cousin AR!)

Basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe

Dinner with GR`s family at an awesome restaurant where we were serenated by mariachis and I drank a coconut flavored margarita and a tequila/caramel concoction!!

I also learned that liquor is very, very cheap in Mexico!

On Saturday, August 9th, we flew from Mexico City to Detroit, where i had been a little over a week before--in the very same customs area! But this time it was a lot less crowded. I mean, Detroit, of all places. I have absolutely no business being in Detroit. That evening, we arrived in Newark, NJ and then we drove to Newark, DE, where we spent the night at M`s apartment before going home the next day. So finally, I was able to spend time at home. It was really nice and relaxing to be back. I wish I had been able to spend more time there. I finally got to see the video of my family during Christmas--it made me want to go back home for Christmas this year--but I don`t know if I will be able to. What I think I regret the most is not being able to see all of my friends. It was a result of not enough time and lack of planning. I should have made plans with people even before leaving Japan. And I just want to say to those I didn`t get to see that I`m really sorry and that I truly wish I could have seen you this time. I know that time will go surprisingly fast and the time will come soon when I will see you again. However, I did get to make a separate trip to Newark, where I met up with the same people, including CY and T, the two new exchange students from Soka. It was so strange seeing them there! I had lunch with them at Ali Baba, my favorite place to eat in Newark. And CY even got to meet MB and ET. For the most part, I had a really nice time while I was in Newark. Another thing that I was really glad I did was that I fulfilled my promise to G and we got to watch "The Birdcage" and eat Arby`s sandwiches!

2003-09-01T01:20:00.000-07:00

It`s about time I continue the second part of my blog...

I`m here writing this while sitting on my futon, eating fish egg-flavored chips (I`m not kidding), thinking that there`s no other place in the world besides Japan that makes wacked-out snacks like that.

Well, to update all of you on what`s been going on with me: A little over a week ago, I moved into my new apartment in Hachioji`s Owada-cho after having paid the equivalent of over 300 dollars for a taxi to drive me from Narita Airport to Hachioji. It`s something I will regret for the rest of my life. I`ll be like, 80 years old and I`ll still be kicking myself over having paid so much money for a goddamn taxi (haha). I mean, I could have used that money for a digital camera or for stuff for my new apartment...:-(

Anywayz, I`ve settled into my new apartment pretty nicely. Let me just say that it`s SOOOO AWESOME (just that awesome, K! ;-)) having your own apartment! (Can you tell I`m still in the honeymoon phase? ;-)) Yes, it`s small, but it`s my own! I get to make a fuss over what to buy for it, even though that does cost money. I actually got to go through the experience of buying curtains...how domestic! ;-) And now I finally have my futon (borrowed, of course) after several days of sleeping on a box-spring covered by two towels and my robe. Also, I discovered that I live near a super-market that`s even better than Daiei! (but Paku, even though it was crappy, will always have a place in my heart! ;-))

I`ve even gotten the opportunity to hang out with people. I met an American exchange student who is unfortunately going back to the United States this week. I got to go to the new 7-story karaoke building in Hachioji. It`s pretty cool, but it has a pretty crappy English song selection.

I`ve been back at work too, of course. The first two days went pretty well. I hadn`t lost my touch at teaching like I had feared. But on Saturday, I had a whopping 8 classes...needless to say I was worn out. And during one of my classes, I could hear a crackling noise, which meant I was being monitored. That freaked me out and it affected the way I taught that class...and it was all downhill from there. Well, I just hope I don`t get grief from it. And so begins the second chapter of my life in Japan...

2003-07-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

I will be leaving tomorrow, so this will be my last blog entry before I leave. The next time I write, I will probably be back home. On Monday, I signed, not the contract, but an application for my new apartment. I will sign the contract when I come back. In the meanwhile, my hoshounin, or guarantor will sign it. The apartment I will be living in is so beautiful! It overlooks the river and is triangle-shaped, unlike most 1 room apartments which are square-shaped. There was this other apartment from where Mt. Fuji can be seen in the winter...but I went with the other apartment because its triangle-shape gives you a sense of spaciousness. Well, I don`t know what else to say except that preparations for returning to the US are going pretty smoothly so far...I still need to pack and clean my room however. A lot of us at Sunflower Hall have been leaving one by one so people have been leaving stuff that they don`t want on one of the lounge tables...there`s so much stuff that it looks like a flea market! By the way, I didn`t get to write about last weekend, which was a lot of fun...I will try to remember to write about it or tell y`all about it when I see you. I can`t believe that my time at Soka is already over...but another stage in my life will begin. When I first came to Japan, who would have thought I would be staying here on my own? To be honest, I didn`t think I would continue writing on the blog when I first started...but thanks to all of you who read it...I`ve kept it up for 10 months (with a few holes here and there, I know...) and I hope to continue it in the coming year...

Catch ya on the flip side...

2003-07-28T01:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight I sign the contract for my new apartment...There`s no turning back now! And today I said goodbye to T...which makes me very sad...There was so much to say...but not enough time, no right words. But I think that not saying much was the best way...I remember that when we first came here, we talked about how a lot could happen in 10 months and how we didn`t know how things would turn out. I said to her jokingly, "Who knows, by the time we see each other again, my half-Japanese kids will be coming along with me". But then I said, "Well, who knows...I don`t know what`s going to happen anyway". And she said, "Just like 10 months before...we still don`t know"...

2003-07-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I might as well announce it: I have decided on an apartment. It's in an apartment complex made for college students. It's in a prime location next to the river...it's not that it's next to the river that is attractive (the river ain't much to look at to be honest) but the fact that it's fairly close to the station without being in the noisy midst of it and at the same time, it's not too far away from Nakano-cho, where a lot of people I know live. You'd think I'd be bursting with excitement, but I'm not. I guess it's because I feel like I can't quite relax about it. I still have to sign the contract and coordinate things with my hoshonin. And another thing: I won't be able to move in until the 26th....but I don't think I want to delay my return until then...so I will have to find a place to stay in the meanwhile....:-P

2003-07-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

View from the other side...

To think, that a week from now I will be in the US...and a week from tomorrow I will be on my way to Mexico.....

Since my blog is called "My Year In Japan"...I was thinking about starting another blog once I come back to Japan. After all, I think that the coming year will be a very distinct experience from my time in Soka. Of course, I could just change the name of my blog. Also, if I do start another blog, there will be another URL that other people would have to memorize. If one wanted to read about my experiences from a while back, one would have to type another URL. So, what do you think?

2003-07-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

I`m posting a link that I posted before, but last time I did not give credit to the people who made it possible for me to receive it. So thanks Arathi, for sending it to me. Thanks Mark for sending it to her and thanks Michelle for sending it to him! So go and visit it again if you are in need of a laugh!

2003-07-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

Since I will be leaving exactly one week from today, I figured that I should write on the blog these last few days I`m here...

I wish I was writing to tell you that I know exactly where I`m going to live once I come back to Japan, but I`m not....things are still up in the air. However, I think I`m pretty close to deciding and I pray that by tomorrow I will know. It`s a really nice apartment next to the Asa River and it`s near the station and not too far from Nakano-cho, where a lot of people I know live. The only thing is that I will have to buy a fridge and futon and table and shelves...which are not cheap...where`s the Salvation Army when you need it?? Well, at least I don`t have to buy a western-style bed which would be more expensive than a futon.

Two nights ago, KM invited me at the last minute to go karaokeing. He kept telling me to invite my friends and for this situation (I could infer that he wanted me to invite foreign, English-speaking female friends), the only person I could think of inviting was, of course, T. But I couldn`t reach her so I was about to leave by myself when I saw her on her way back from Paku and she was happy to come with me to karaoke. I was so much fun....KM is such a hilarious guy! He was singing Britney Spears song and swiveling his hips to the music. YN, his sexy friend, became even sexier when he sang RHCP`s "Scar Tissue" in this incredibly sexy voice....he even had good English pronunciation! I was like *sigh*. But the one who took the cake was TH, who had joined KM and I at the Irish Pub. This was my third time seeing him and...well, I don`t know, in spite of the fact that he looks dorky at first glace, he exudes some sort of confidence/charm that`s really sexy. He looks like he would be too shy to get up and dance but throughtout the whole night, he was dancing and jumping around. I had told T that he really wasn`t much to look at but she found him really cute. So both of us where "fighting" over him...of course, as a joke since T has a Japanese honey of her own! ;-) At the end of the night, I wanted all of us to take a puricura, or one of those picture booth pictures. Here`s the picture! It`s the best puricura ever...yes, K...EVER :-) Try to guess who`s who!

Something kinda wierd...that day, I had decided to wear a white polo shirt and it ended up that YT, TK, and KM also wore white polo shirts that day! Talk about freaky...

2003-07-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

The only certain thing...

Is that I am flying home July 31st. I have the plane ticket and everything. However, I will only be home for about a day or so and then August 2nd, my family and I will be leaving for Mexico for my cousin's wedding. I will be in Mexico for about a week and then I will be back in the US until around August 21st. Please let me know if you will be in the area so we can get together!

2003-07-21T00:14:00.000-07:00

It was too good to be true after all....

I won't be able to live in the really apartment that I went to see two weeks ago. I thought of all the things that could go wrong and, of course, I didn't think of this one. Apparently, the girl asked her landlady if it was ok for me to sublet the apartment and she said no. I don't want to jump into conclusions, but I have a feeling that a big part of the reason the landlady said no is because I am a foreigner. Unfortunately, that is the reality here...

Which means I had to start up the tedious task of finding an apartment again. Fortunately, someone at Soka's International Center was nice enough to go with me to Gakkusei Hall, where they have a real-estate section, and translate for me. Hopefully today we will go look at apartments. Also, RH, one of my RA's knows of an apartment that is for rent. And tomorrow TK will go with me to the real-estate office translate...that's so nice of him. I really appreciate it. So I pray that by this week, my housing situation will be solved....

2003-07-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

I`m not going to Korea after all....

As if it hasn`t been obvious these past two months or so...But last night, T and I hung out with N.N., who is from Sri Lanka. He took us to this sushi place that nowhere near as good as Kurazushi (Kurazushi rules!). Anywayz, while we were eating, N.N. was talking about all the people around Soka campus that he knows, so I asked him if he knew J, and sure enough, he does. And without any prompting from me, he went on to say that "he has many girls". He went on to say that "he may look like a little boy, but...." and then I didn`t quite get what else he wanted to say. But the kicker was that apparentely, J has been going out with a Korean girl for about a month now. N.N. claims he doesn`t know her name but I highly suspect that it could be one of the Korean girls that lives in my dorm....I have moved on....but it can`t help feeling....I don`t know...miffed...especially after what happened between us while in Yamagata. I feel somehow used....and as if he deemed me not good enough for him. I see him in a totally different light now...

2003-07-17T02:26:00.000-07:00

Do you know...?

That the Japanese word for arm-wrestling is udezumo, which means, "arm sumo"? We say tomato, they say tomahto...

2003-07-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end...

Today was my last day of classes. It`s so hard to believe that it has already been 10 months since we were first grouped together, when we would barely utter a sentence to our sensei. During our last class, we all talked about our stay in Soka, about what we liked about our stay, and we remenisced. As for me, these past ten months have been filled with some bittersweet memories...but it`s the good memories that stand out now. It really has been a great year.

At 3:30, we will have our completion ceremony and afterwards a party. And then perhaps another party at Y-san`s apartment....yokatta ne!! :-D

2003-07-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see the apartment where Y-san`s friend lives. I got to meet her and take a look around. Y-san`s friend and I got to know each other and "talk business"....I can`t believe my good luck....the apartment is wonderful, and his friend, F-chan, will be leaving almost everything for me to use! The only small problem is that the washing machine is kinda broken...but I can ask the landlord to fix it, hopefully. F-chan seems to be a really nice girl. So I really, really hope it works out.....I still can`t believe it....but I think it will.

2003-07-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

My last Chit Chat Club session...

Yesterday was my last Chit Chat Club session kara, chotto sabishi desu, so I`m a bit sad about that. But it was one of my best sessions ever. Both conversations were great. First, I asked the students if they wanted to get married and have children and all of them, without hesitation, said, "Of course". The people in the first session were all guys so I asked them if they thought a husband should help out his wife around the house, and most said yes. However, when I asked them if they would be ok with their wives having a career and the answers were mixed. Some would be totally ok with it and some said absolutely not (some said, "I would hope that she would stay at home to raise the children"). To those who said no, I asked them if they would let their wifes work if they weren`t earning enough money and most answered, "No...I would work harder." Fushigina... Can you believe it?

In the second session, which was all girls, I asked them if they would want their husbands to help them out around the house and without hesitation thye said yes. Then, I asked them if they would stop working after getting married and having kids. The answers were varied. Some said they would stop working after marriage, some said after having children, and some actually said they wanted to have a career and raise a family. Sadly enough, I asked both sessions what they wanted to do after graduation and the guys had set plans, like being a lawyer, working for a company. The girls, however, didn`t seem to have set plans (there were one or two who did, so I`m not saying that this is the case for all girls). They simply said they wanted to work and when I asked them what kind of work, they said, "I haven`t decided yet".

I also asked them if they wanted a girlfriend/boyfriend (none of them had significant others) and all the guys said yes, but some of the girls actually said no....but then I wonder if what they were trying to say is that they don`t have time for one. And when I asked them if they would be ok dating a foreigner/non-Japanese, I got mixed answers too.
These are the kinds of things I had wanted to talk about at Chit Chat Club, but when I first started working there, the questions seemed to far above their English speaking level...or they seemed hesitant to answer. It`s a shame that it was during my last session that it finally clicked, because I would have liked to ask a lot more students and get a better idea about the views of most Japanese college students.

Anywayz, after the second session, YT got everyone`s attention and announced that it was my last day working at Chit Chat. Everyone clapped and of course, I was embarrassed. They even made me do a "speech" which I did ok on, I think. Then, YT presented me with an album with the pictures of everyone at Chit Chat and a short message from each of them. It was sooo nice. I was really touched. Afterwards there was a meeting and afterwards, after almost everyone had left, KY, who used to be in the Taiko Club, did a special Taiko performance "in my honor", using a table as a drum. Everytime I see/hear a Taiko performance, I am always impressed and this time was no exception, especially from him because I know he did it from the heart. I will never forget it.

2003-07-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

More in the news...

When I read about the conjoined Iranian twins that died in surgery that would have separated them, it simply broke my heart. One would think that conjoined twins would be used to living attached to one another, considering that they have never known another way...but it must be a very tedious life if those Iranian twins were willing to risk their lives to become separated. Well, I believe their deaths were not in vain. Hopefully the doctors will have learned from whatever mistakes they made and in the future, this kind of surgery will be successful, so this last surgery will pave the way for similar surgeries...

I do not know if people in the US heard the news about the four-year-old Japanese boy who was found dead in Nagasaki. Well, apparently, he was out shopping with his family and he went to look at the video games section of the store they were in. It was there where he dissapeared. Apparently, a 12 year old lured him away from the store to a building 4km away and killed him there. They were able to catch the culprit because a security camera captured the both of them walking down the street. Even though this kind of thing is more common in the US, I still find it pretty disturbing. It`s a shame because one of the differences I noticed between Japan and the US is that Japanese parents are not afraid to let their kids out of their sight...they might even send their young children on errands, whereas American parents have become totally paranoid. I`m afraid that this incident will mark the "end of the innocence" for Japanese parents. They will become more like American parents in that they will be afraid to let their kids out of their sight.

2003-07-09T01:57:00.000-07:00

Another rant...!

So I click on to Yahoo.com and I in the news section, I see "Britney Spears says she`s not a virgin" as one of the headlines. What the hell!? I cannot believe that stupid stuff like that actually makes the news. Who gives a crap if Britney Spears is a virgin or not?

So how come when I admit I`m a virgin, it doesn`t make the news? Actually...I`d rather it not (lol) ;-)

2003-07-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is funny! Thanks to the person who sent this to me!

2003-07-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

Under orders from A!....

I just want to apologize for not writing on my blog in a while. The thing is, last week was really hectic. I had to study for a Kanji test that I had on Monday and on top of that, I had to start figuring out what I`m going to do about the immediate future. That is, what I need to do to prepare for my stay in Japan. On Wednesday, I went with JS and Jessica to look at apartments. It`s a good thing that JS is also looking for a place to live and that she had already started her apartment search or I would have never started...Anywayz, we saw a few apartments on Wednesday. We fell in love with this apartment in a nice neighborhood in Kitano. It is located on top of a hill, has a nice view of Hachioji, and had TWO windows (which is rare in Japanese apartments), and new tatami...and it had a traditional paper-screen sliding door. Unfortunately, it`s rather out of the way...and the up-front payment is pretty expensive....and the contract is for one year, and unfortunately, I don`t think I will be able to honor that. Afterwards, JS introduced me to this scary real-estate agent that she met before. I mean, he wasn`t a bad person, just really intimidating. He showed me an apartment which is a lot nearer to where I live (and near to where J lives!...but that doesn`t matter, really). The good thing about it is that he`s willing to rent it to me for less than a year. All in all, it was a pretty stressful experience because I had a very hard time communicating with the real estate agents....JS, who has only studied Japanese since September, had to translate for me sometimes! I was pretty ashamed.

So anyways, I was pretty stressed about this whole apartment thing. The next day, JS sent me this really nice email, saying not to worry about it and that things will turn out ok. I was at Chit Chat Club when I received it and a few minutes later, Y-san went up to me and gave me some really good news. Apparently, there is this girl who is going to Cambodia for study abroad at the end of August and she is looking for someone to sub-let her apartment. I will hopefully be looking at the apartment on Thursday and I hope it works out because I think it would be a lot easier than renting an apartment through a real-estate agent.

In other news, the last of the three Soka students that were at UD this past year finally came back. I was walking by Gakkusei Hall with T when I heard someone say "Salem-san?" I turned around and saw that it was a guy with a red shirt and spikey hair. Like TK before him, he said, "Do you remember me?" I started at him for a moment and thought, "Could it be? Is it KM?".
So I said, "Are you....KM?" and sure enough, it was! I couldn`t believe it.....the first time I met him, he had these thick, geeky-looking glasses, pale skin, and clothes and hairstyle that can only be described as well....Japanese ;-) He totally changed! His hairstyle and clothes are different, he has a tan, and no longer wears glasses! I almost want to say he looks cute? Unfortunately, we didn`t talk for long. There was this girl with him that seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. I talked to TK later and apparently, she is KM`s girlfriend, who traveled all the way to UD to visit KM for New Year`s!

I saw KM again yesterday after Chit Chat. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to get to work so I was kinda rushed. But we exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. He says he wants to get together with me and Brian to go to Hard Rock in Yokohama...how awesome would that be?? Unfortunately, Brian is leaving this Saturday so there may not be any time to do so...

4th of July

So how was everyone`s 4th of July back home? I started off in a very Japanese way when I went with T to the Takiyama Taiko debut. It was supposed to take place on Tuesday but it was cancelled because of the rain, but thankfully it was a really nice day (relatively speaking, considering that it`s tsuyu). The "debut" is when the newest members of a school club make their first appearance. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of the Taiko club (traditional Japanese percussion club) at practice and I often think that Taiko must be very theraputic, with all the banging on the drums and all that yelling that they do. However, it`s defenitely a precise art. I was very impressed with their performance...they`re awesome. I wish I could show you their performance because I cannot describe it in writing. Afterwards, there was a dance party held in honor of the Chit Chat Club and English Forumn staff since most of us will be leaving soon. I was sure that the Japanese would be too shy to dance....but when it came time for the dance, it ended up being the foreign exchange students that didn`t want to dance! Well, some of the Japanese Chit Chat Club members were a little hesitant but RN and I convinced them to go out and dance.

Afterwards, a bunch of us went to Y-san`s apartment for our "usual" Friday night get-together, except that this time, we were celebrating Y-san`s birthday, which was the previous Monday. It was a lot of fun for the most part. I spent most of my time talking to TK. RN made some very delicious gnocchi...damn, I missed it! Around 2:30, I was beginning to feel down, but I realized that it was probably because I was very tired so I realized that it was time for me to go home, since I had to get up 4 hours later to get ready to go to work...!!

Yeah, it was a bummer that I had to go to work so early...but I was able to leave at 1pm and therefore participate in a Soka foreign exchange student activity that I thought I wasn`t going to be able to participate in. And I`m so glad I was able to because it ended up being so much fun. Nine traditional Japanese art/craft/cultural clubs came to bekka and the foreign exchange students were able to pick a club to spend an afternoon with and afterwards, perform in front of everyone at bekka. I wanted to participate in the Koto Club but T convinced me to participate in Taiko with her, which I`m glad I did because it ended up being a lot of fun, even though I couldn`t drum worth a damn (ok, maybe not that bad....but the performance later was bad). We made friends with some of the guys in the club, one of them who had come to my table at Chit Chat Club. Another person I saw, that I had come two times to my table at Chit Chat was A-kun, who belongs to the "Mission Hands" club. I had thought that the "Mission Hands" club was some sort of charity club, but it ends ups that it is a Japanese sign language club!! When they performed, they had the participants get into pairs and have a basic conversation in sign language. Sign language is something that has caught my interest recently, especially after a deaf person came to talk to my Court Interpretation class last year. Do you know that Japanese sign language is not based on spoken Japanese, and is in fact a totally separate language, with it`s own grammar. Also, sign language used in Britain and in the US are different from each other! Ok, I am digressing....Anywayz, the Koto Club, the Tea Ceremony Club (a bit boring I must say), the Traditional Dance Club, the Okinawan Dance Club, the Judo Club, and the Kendo Club (I finally got to see the full kendo regalia...it looks like a fencing club, but more Japanese)....and last but not least, the Taiko Club. After our paltry performance, the actual members of Taiko performed for us....they were simply amazing....they put so much passion into it! After the performance, I saw that some of them had huge bleeding blisters on their hands...that`s devotion.

2003-06-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night that they had a "Parents` Day" at Soka, where the parents of the foreign exchange students could come and visit. My entire family came to visit me and we spent the entire day together. It was such a nice dream...

Today I received two emails from friends back home. Thanks so much! I was in a pretty crappy mood because of the rain (tsuyu), but receiving your emails and hearing from you really made my day :-D

2003-06-22T21:47:00.000-07:00

Do you know that there is a movie here in Japan that is called "The Movie"? I`m not joking. Can you believe it? I mean, come on, were the creators of the movie so hard pressed for a title that all they could come up with was "The Movie"?? Since it`s a movie about police detectives, they could have at least named it, "Keisatsu" (police). I mean, I know that the English skills of a lot of Japanese aren`t that great, but even "Refreshing Times Flow Gently" would have been a better title. From now on, no movie, in the history of cinema, will be able to name a movie, "The Movie"....E-VER. (shout-out to K!)

How about "The Movie 2"?, you might ask. Nope, sorry. The sequel to "The Movie", was, of course, shockingly named "The Movie 2". What`s next? "The Movie Returns"? "The Revenge of the Movie"?? "The Bride of the Movie"??? Sad, very sad.

2003-06-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

I had to work at Berlitz yesterday (Sunday). I actually had more classes yesterday than I did on Saturday, which is supposed to be my "busy day". And I was supposed to work on Sundays just "once in a while". But I guess I shouldn`t complain. Besides, I find two of the Sunday students pretty cute. Unfortunately, I happened to over hear one of them, "KT" talking with "DS", one of the teachers, and I found out that KT has a girlfriend. *makes a sad face* Oh well. I should have figured. He`s such a nice and charming guy that of course he would have a girlfriend. Oh well. I didn`t teach him but I taught the other cute guy, but I`m thinking I don`t like all that much, especially after yesterday when I found out he has the stupidest laugh ever. Talk about a turn off....

2003-06-20T23:54:00.000-07:00

The past two Fridays, I have been hanging out with the staff (and some of the students) from Chit Chat Club. We had been getting together at Y-san`s room but yesterday, he was sick, so YT, ST, RN (who is from Brazil), and I went to Kura Zushi for dinner last night. I really had a good time. We ended up staying at Kura Zushi talking for almost three hours. Afterwards, YT and ST walked me back to my dorm. On the way back, we stopped by Y-san`s house to see if he was still awake and sure enough, we happened to see him getting out of the (outdoor-ick!) shower, so we talked to him for a few minutes and he agreed that next Friday we are defenitely getting together at his place again. By the way, Y-san is one of my latest crushes (out of 4 hehe). (in an infatuated school-girl`s voice)He`s so dreamy...lol. But seriously though, I am attracted to him. Speaking of which, last Friday, I kinda divulged my love life to the people at the party (don`t worry, I didn`t get into details) and I hinted that I liked two guys at Chit Chat, so last night at Kura Zushi, they wanted me to tell them who those two guys were, so I told them the name of the guy that I liked, but don`t anymore after he told us on Friday night about the girl he is in love with. But anyways, I digress. On the rest of the way home, YT, ST, and I had a really good talk. We talked about things that Japanese are usually reluctant to talk about so I really learned a lot of about the Japanese dating mentality. As they would say, benkyou ni natta...

2003-06-20T23:42:00.000-07:00

Another Chit Chat Club anectode...

Yesterday at Chit Chat Club, one of the male students that I talked to went up to me and said, "My English teacher taught me some beautiful words. Are you ready to hear them?" I said, "Um, ok..." and this is what he said, "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life." I was caught off-guard. I was like, "Huh??" When I regained my composure, I asked him, "Who do you plan on saying these words to?" and he said, "Only you." I didn`t know how to respond to this, so I just said, "I`m blushing." I think he was joking, but 1) I`m not really good at going along with jokes, and 2) it was still wierd and unexpected that he would say this to me. As I look back, it was funny. For God`s sake, he`s only 18. :-P

2003-06-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

My Visit to Soka Junior High School

Something I`ve forgotten to write about and should write about before my impressions of that day fade away with time. On Saturday, June 14th, the foreign exchange students took a class trip to Soka Junior High School, which is about 45 minutes away in the town of Kodaira. Soka Jr. High School is actually part of the Soka Gakkuen, which is made up of Soka Elementary, Jr. High, and Sr. High schools.

Having only gotten about 3 hours of sleep (but man, was it worth it!), I barely made it on time to the JR train station where we were all supposed to meet. Once we got to Kodaira, we had to walk for several minutes in the hot, humid weather, down some streets and through a park before we got to Soka Gakkuen proper. When we got to the Jr. high school, what should we see but a driveway leading up to the school, entirely lined up with students who clapped and cheered as soon as they saw us. I felt like such a celebrity (and just a bit embarrassed) as we shook hands (some had really limp handshakes but a few had nice firm ones) and waved to the students. We were led to a library, where we grouped into twos and were assigned a classroom. T-san (from Nepal) and I were assigned to a class of first-year (seventh grade) students. I was assigned three seventh grade girls to be my "escorts" and T-san was assigned two boys.

The escorts took us to the classroom, where the rest of the class was waiting for us. T-san and I introduced ourselves, and since T-san is so much better at Japanese than me, and has a friendly and outgoing personality, the kids loved him right away. The kids asked us a few questions, such as, "What is your best memory of Japan so far?". I asked the kids if they had ever been to America and some kids actually had. And one boy, who was one of T-san`s escorts, had actually gone to New York City and Philadelphia two years ago!

We played two games, one which I`m sure most of us played as kids, is a game where one person stands in the middle of a circle and calls out a group of people, such as "People who ate toast for breakfast", and those people get up and scramble to find a seat. Of course, there is one less chair than there are people so one person will be left standing. The other game was basically Charades. After the games, T-san and I were each presented with a big card signed by all the kids in the class, and a bunch of smaller cards that were filled out with personal information and greetings written by an individual student in both English and Japanese. I was so touched! As we were leaving the classroom, I said, "Please come visit America sometime!" and the whole class said in unison, "We will!", which I thought was sooo sweet!

After visiting classrooms, we all sat in the library for a few minutes and chatted with our escorts. Then, we headed to the gym for a school assembly given in our honor. The koto club gave a stunning performance of a song that at first sounded out of tune to my Western ears, but soon came to appreciate the different tonality. Then, the choir sand the world-famous Japanese song, "Sakura". They were just middle-school kids but they sounded like opera singers! Then, there was a kendo demonstration. For the finale, we, the foreign exchange students sang the J-Pop song of the moment, "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana" or "A Flower That In the World, Is One of a Kind". Unfortunately, many of us hadn`t even looked at the lyrics (I not o nly read the lyrics but forked over cash for the CD single), so we sounded pretty bad. Afterwards we had lunch with the students in the cafeteria, which was divided into the girls side and the boys side (sigh). I, of course, sat with the girls. After that, the escorts and we headed back to the library, where we chatted some more and were treated with ice-cream and other freebies, including these chocolate crunch snacks that were hella good. Then, we finally left, again being cheered on by the students, but before heading back home, we took a group picture with our escorts.

It was a truly memorable trip and I was sad to leave the students. What impressed me was how these students seemed a lot more innocent than their American counterparts (or so it seems). One thing though, is that this particular middle school`s environment is a lot more structured than most American middle schools, so maybe Soka is not a typical Japanese middle school. However, when I asked the students at Chit Chat Club whether they liked middle school or high school the best, most said, without hesitation, that they liked high school better. Most said it is because they had more friends and better memories in high school. Some said that they had more freedom in high school. Looking back on my personal experience, I tend to agree with them, so maybe in some ways, American and Japanese schools aren`t so different after all.

2003-06-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

Sometime last week, I was leaving bekka (the building where I take classes), when I saw this guy wearing a UD cap. It caught my attention but I figured that perhaps he had either visited UD before or he had received it as a gift from someone. I don`t remember if I thought he looked just slightly familiar. Anywayz, later that day, I had work at Chit Chat Club and soon after I entered, the guy came up to me and stood in front of me and said, "Do you remember me?". At that moment, I recognized him. He is "TK", one of the Soka students who was a foreign exchange student at UD. Basically, one of my counterparts. I had met all three of them just before leaving for Japan, when we got together to answer questions about each other`s schools. Anywayz, right away, I said, "You`re TK". It`s funny how I saw them only once and I could recognize TK, but I remembered him as being the tall and thin one. The other exchange student, "TS" had come back a month ago and came to see me at Chit Chat, but I didn`t recognize him at first, even though after he told me who he was, he looked maybe just a slightly bit familiar. Anyways, TK had just returned from the US three days before. We were able to talk a little bit and while I was chatting with the students, he was talking to "CY", who is going to UD in July, and giving her advice and stuff. Later on, she said, "He told me the reality" so I`m wondering if he gave her an unfavorable view of UD. I would like to talk to him more and find out what he really thought of UD...I mean, whatever he thought I am interested in knowing. I have seen him two times since then. Unfortunately, I haven`t seen TS since seeing him at Chit Chat. He seemed like a nice guy.

2003-06-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

What it ended up being...

It ends up that there`s this Korean student who was studying in Taiwan but had to come back because of the SARS epidemic. She needs a place to stay while she looks for an apartment so the staff members asked us if it was ok that she lives with us in Sunflower Hall. Apparently, they asked the people at Kosumosu Dorm (the other dorm where foreign students live) if it was ok and they decided that they didn`t want her to live there. Talk about harsh. No one at Sunflower has any problem with her living with us. I mean, she`s been back in Japan since May and if she had SARS, she would have already come down with it. However, this one girl wondered why we were told at the last minute, but the truth was that the staff members also received the news at the last minute so there was nothing they could do about that....

2003-06-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

My dorm`s staff members have requested that all of us at Sunflower Hall meet in the lounge at 10pm tonight for some setsumei (explaination). All I know is that there`s going to be someone new moving into our dorm. But why would they need to talk to all of us about it? My only guesses are that this new person is either a) a celebrity or b) handicapped. :-P

2003-06-17T00:55:00.000-07:00

Feeling really restless for some reason...
Sorry that I haven`t been udating my blog. However, I DID update my webpage so go check it out...and please, please, please sign my guestbook if you haven`t already ;-)

I swear, "J" is a lady-killer...I was thinking about how fed up I was with him and then, when I saw a picture of him on my stored pictures folder, my heart just melted. I thought back to how one girl at Chit Chat said that her friend "once loved him". She`s probably talking about herself, heh-heh. As for me, there`s someone else that I`m developing feelings for....but I am so afraid that I`m gonna mess up my chances with him...
Plum rain: In the time of tsuyu (the rainy season), SADS abounds...

2003-06-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

"If you did it then, then you`d proabably f**** again..."

-Lauryn Hill

I`m so silly...

2003-06-06T00:43:00.000-07:00

At Chit-Chat Club...

Me: Besides Japanese and English, what other languages can you speak?
Student M: (pauses) Osaka-ben*

That was beautiful

*Osaka ben=Osaka dialect

2003-06-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

A few Saturdays ago, I had been teaching some of my students at Berlitz a certain lesson on resumes. I would point to a picture of a resume and ask them, "What is this?" and if they didn`t know, I would say, "This is a resume" and then I`d ask them "What is a resume?". Well, for one of my Japanese classes this past week, we saw in our textbooks, of course, a picture of a resume in Japanese. And of course, our teacher asked, "What is this?" and "What is a rirekisho (resume)?" I got a kick out of how my roles were reversed in such a short period of time. Rarely will I ever get to be both teacher and student at the same time...:-D

2003-06-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

"One month ago today, I was happy as a lark.

But now, I go for a walk, to the movies, maybe to the park.

I have a seat on the same old bench, and watch the children play.

They say tomorrow is their future, but for me, it`s just another day.

They all come gather around me. They seem to know my name.

We laugh, tell a few jokes, but it still doesn`t ease my pain.

I know I can`t hide from a memory, though day after day I try.

I tell myself, `She`ll be back`. But today, again I`ve lied..."

-The Temptations "Have You Seen Her?"

I usually don`t like to rub in people`s faces when I`m down, but I`ve always liked this quote (which I know by heart) and thought it would be appropriate to post...

2003-06-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

The following is from Gaijin Pot, a website for foreigners in Japan. It sums up relationships in Japan for gaijin (foreigners) in this way:

Heaven: For GAIJIN men.

Hell: For GAIJIN women.

Monkey park: For everyone.

Wonderful. I guess that explains everything... ;-) ;-)

2003-06-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

I would see these places called "snack". I would wonder what kind of places they were until I found out that "snacks" are hostess bars, basically, places for men. Anywayz, on Saturday, I was giving a lesson to Mr. F, practicing conditionals so I asked him: If you want to have a snack after class, where will you go? And he answered, "When I want to go to a snack..." I stopped him right there and corrected him. I think he realized what he had just said because he started laughing...so I laughed along with him. I guess you had to be there ;-)

2003-05-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

My Class Trip to Takayama

I wish I had written about my early May trip to Yamagata before my impressions of it were clouded over by the trip to Gifu Prefecture`s town of Hida Takayama. Considering some of the circumstances, I had a really good time. And I am happy to say that we were in no way hindered by funky-looking white vans driven by people in funny white clothing :-D

The bus ride took about three hours, during which we took a small detour to Nagano Prefecture, where we stopped at a roadside soba restaurant that had a fantastic view of the mountains and a river. Needless to say, the soba was simply delicious!

Afterwards, while we were still in Nagano Prefecture, we stopped by Kamikochi, which was one of the prettiest places we went to on the trip, in my opinion. It also helped that the weather was beautiful that day! Kamikochi is a sort-of park/nature trail with an amazing view of snow-capped mountains and a river with water that is clear, and amazingly blue. In fact, I asked my professor if it was ok to drink the water and he said, nomeru, yo (sure, you can drink it), so I decided to drink some. As I took a small mouthful of the river water, I thought to myself, "Knowing my luck, I`ll probably come down with dysentery or something." But luckily, I was ok ;-)

Spanning this river is Kappabashi, or Kappa Bridge, named after the Japanese mythological kappa creatures that look half human, half turtle. According to the legend, they lurk in the river and if you`re not careful, they`ll pull you in. Also, they absolutely love cucumbers (hmmm....that reminds me of someone ;-)). The souvenir store was fully of kappa memorabilia, including Hello Kitty`s dressed as kappas! (Let me tell you, each region of Japan has it`s own unique region-related Hello Kitty souvenirs...but that`s another story for another time ;-)) I didn`t get any kappa souvenirs, but I did buy a small turtle cell phone strap/keychain for my younger sister. She likes to collect turtles so it made me think of her as soon as I saw it.

After Kamikochi, we finally arrived in Hida Takayama. Our first stop was the Hida Folk Village, which is a re-created folk village from two hundred years ago. The houses in this village are actual 200 year-old houses made in the regional traditional sloping, thatched-roof style. They were transported from various places in Gifu Prefecture and brought together to make the Hida Folk Village. Each house had detailed explaination about the kind of work done in the house. One was a farmers`s house, one was a silk weaver`s house, etc. As I walked around the houses, I had to keep reminding myself that people actually lived in them. One item of interest was a circular rice field, which was dedicated to the gods. I have seen many rice fields here in Japan, but never a circular one...

That`s me in the picture above with T and A (who is from Russia) during dinner at the Green Hotel. The dinner was amazing. We had several courses, brought out to us by attendants...we were really pampered! We were given yukata, which we had the option of wearing during dinner. The dinner consisted of yakinikku, pot pie (yeah, a Western touch there), fish, and some other tasty items whose names I do not know.

There were not one, but two onsen in the hotel, which I had wanted to enter, but after dinner, I took a long walk around Hida Takayama with some girls. It was 9pm and the entire town had closed down. Luckily for us, we found a quaint coffee shop that was still open, so we went in and had something to drink. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was too tired to go into the onsen!

The next day, we had an early start. The bus took us to the center of Hida Takayama, where we spent the morning walking around, looking at all the quaint shops inside the traditional, dark wooden buildings. This place would give Kyoto a run for it`s money!! There was also a riverside market that sold all kinds of traditional foods and snacks. One girl bought some mochi that later on, I had the honor of tasting...the best mochi I`ve eaten so far! They were handing out so many samples of the food for sale that tasting them would have been a meal in itself! Afterwards, we all met at a puppet performance hall, where we saw a demonstration of mechanical Japanese puppets, which originated around the late 1700`s!! However, I wasn`t very impressed...except by maybe the puppet that could write kanji. Then, we went to the hall`s second floor, where we had lunch. I chose the shabu-shabu lunch (pictured above). Of course, it was delicious! By then, it had begun to rain really hard, so luckily we were inside. Thanfully, by the time we were ready to board the bus back to Hachioji, the rain had stopped.

On our ride back to Hachioji, we retraced our ride to Hida Takayama for the most part. We even got to ride past the soba restaurant by the roadside. Since it had just rained, we could see the fog lifting from the mountains, which made them look mysterious. We made two rest stops, one of them was by a city by a lake named Sawako (Sawa Lake). The view was defenitely senic, with the fog rising from the mountains in the background (too bad that it can`t be seen well in this picture). It was as we were leaving Sawako that I received an unexpected, but not unwelcome call from a friend back home! Also, during our ride back, they showed a movie called "Deep Blue Sea", (I would not have known the title if it weren`t for my friend who called) which, I`m sorry to say, was a pretty bad movie. No offense to those who like the movie! ;-) So before we knew it, we were back in Hachioji. I hadn`t realized that the outskirts of Hachioji are practically uninhabited until we rode by on the bus back from Takayama! Unfortunately, it had begun to rain really hard and we had to walk from Soka to our dorms. Needless to say, I was soaked when I got back. But anywayz, that was my trip. It was defenitely a lot better than I had thought....do I dare say it was better than my trip to Yamagata? It was yet another chance to experience yet another part of Japanese culture. I hope that with these pictures, I was better able to convey my impressions of the trip to you. I am thinking of making this a "permanent exhibition" by transferring this entry to my regular webpage. But I`ll need to find time, of course, so we`ll see!

2003-05-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ooh! Ooh! Look what I found!

I found this really kewl website were you can post phlogs, or cell phone blogs. You can send entries by email and even post pictures taken with a cell phone. Now it makes me wish I had a camera on my cell phone. I think I`ve been spoiled by Japanese cell phones...when I was home, most people`s cell phones looked so boring ;-) When I come home for good I`m gonna want nothing less than a color screen and camera! Hehe...takai ne...but those phones are so expensive in the US that I probably won`t be able to afford it :-P

komatteiru...dou suru?

In other news....I feel like I`m back on square one. I thought I had been pretty much decided about staying in Japan another year....but the possibility of coming home for good seems to be getting stronger. I thought I could do this alone...but now I`m not so sure...for the sake of the people at Berlitz....I need to decide soon....

Which reminds me...I have some not-so-good news: If I am indeed staying in Japan for another year, I most likely won`t be coming home to visit in July. I found out that my family will be out of town during the time I was planning to visit. Serves me right for not checking with my parents before making set plans. So...I will probably be coming home at either the end of August or the beginning of September. I think the former would be better because most people will be back in school by September and will be too busy. Also, I could move into a new apartment at the beginning of August and not have to worry about where to store my stuff while back home. I know that some of you will be starting school in August and I just want to say I`m really sorry for the change of plans...but I will try to work something out. Of course, if I do come home for good, I will be coming home in July (I think ;-))

2003-05-27T01:39:00.000-07:00

By the way...!

If I almost forgot to write about this, so it must mean that it wasn`t really a big deal...But anywayz, while I was at work last night, there was a magnitude 6 earthquake! Did any of you hear about it on the news? I wouldn`t be surprised if there wasn`t anything about it. But anywayz, I was in the middle of teaching when my student interrupted me and said, "Do you hear that? It`s an earthquake..." I could hear something rattling but didn`t feel anything at first, so I sat down and sure enough, I could feel it. There have been several small, unworthy-of-mention earthquakes since I`ve been here, so I know how one feels like. But this one was pretty strong...and it was long. The last time there was an earthquake, I was sitting in on my supervisor`s class and he refused to let it distract him so I tried to go on with the class, but the earthquake wasn`t stopping. Then, my supervisor knocked on the classroom door and said "Everybody, out!" So basically, we (my supervisor, "N", my student, and another student) ran down eight floors to the first floor of the building. Thinking about it, if it had been a really strong earthquake, we really should have stayed on the eighth floor to avoid being crushed by things such as the building. I remember seeing a picture of a house that had sunk during the San Fransisco earthquake of 1989. Anywayz, by the time we got to the first floor, the earthquake had stopped so we went back up to the eight floor. Mr. S, who is a student at Berlitz, had stayed behind and was talking on his cell phone when we got back. Also, the new teacher, "D", who has living in Japan for 30(!!) years, didn`t seem perturbed. However, my supervisor said it was the strongest earthquake he had felt since coming to Japan about 8 years ago. "N" and my student also seemed pretty shaken up. Later, I asked "T" whether she felt the earthquake, and she hadn`t felt anything at all! Also, I haven`t heard any mention of it from people in my dorm, so I guess it really wasn`t a big deal. I think that we at Berlitz can really feel earthquakes since the school is on the eight floor...

2003-05-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

American Holidays...

I saw something about today (well, yesterday for me) being Memorial Day while looking at Yahoo! news today and realized that I had totally forgotten about Memorial Day! It`s funny that since I`ve been away, I have forgetten about holidays that I had celebrated year after year....

2003-05-26T23:58:00.000-07:00

Chit-Chat Club!

I usually don`t write about my other job at Soka`s Chit-Chat Club, but yesterday I had an enjoyable two sessions yesterday with students who seem to be becoming...shall I dare say it....regulars?? In my first session, there was a senior named "T"(who had come to talk to me at Chit Chat before) and what seemed to be his girlfriend or maybe just a friend. Since most of the people coming to Chit Chat Club are freshmen, I don`t usually get seniors so two of them were a special treat because the seniors usually speak much better English and are not as afraid to ask their own questions and get the conversation going unlike many freshman who will only speak when asked a question. So we had a really good conversation about T`s experience in California. At the end, I gave my group some of the chocolate-flavored mochi I bought in Takayama.

The second session began with just girls and while I was talking to them, I noticed in the corner of my eye two guys, "H" and "D" hovering by the door, looking my way. H and D are freshmen who dress up in hip-hop clothes who had come to talk to me at Chit-Chat Club twice before. They crack me up! I always have the students tell me where they`re from and when I asked D, he said in a loud voice, "Chiba!" (Chiba Prefecture). The thing with them is that they`re always talking in Japanese, when at Chit Chat Club they`re supposed to speak in English, so I am always asking them, "Um, what are you saying?" and they tell me in English. Anywayz, they finally came into the room and sure enough, they headed to my table! Towards the end of the session, we were having a pretty loud conversation and laughing a lot when H all of the sudden stood up and turned his chair over. We were all puzzled and I said, "What`s going on?". I stood up to see what he was doing and saw that the straps on H`s bookbag had become completely entangled in his chair!! I couldn`t help it...I burst out laughing really loud. And poor H....his face had become bright, bright red! I can almost say that his face became as red as his jacket...and I usually don`t like to exaggerate like that. I said, "How did that happen!?" and he mumbled something about the straps becoming tangled because he kept moving around. I feel so bad about having laughed so loudly but it was so funny!

2003-05-18T01:42:00.000-07:00

Here I am at the Internet Cafe on a Sunday. I usually wouldn`t do this, but tomorrow morning I`m leaving for Takayama with my fellow exchange students so I won`t be able to check email/write on the blog until Wednesday.

I FINALLY got to see Lord of the Rings 2!!

Almost three months after it was released in Japan, I finally got around to watching it. It`s a good thing it`s still playing at the Tachikawa movie theatre. I had given up hope of being able to see it until I went to see "Chicago" with my friends. By the way, "Chicago" was an awesome movie and I highly recommend it. Anyways, I saw that Lord of the Rings was still showing. That was about two or three weeks ago. I was afraid that perhaps it was no longer playing, so even though I had a long day at work yesterday, I was determined to go to Tachikawa after work and watch the movie if it was still showing and much to my happiness, it was indeed still showing....and will be until May 23rd, so I was very lucky.

The movie itself was, of course, wonderful, with lots of action and breathtaking cinematography. However, I think I liked the first one just a teensy weensy bit better. Don`t get me wrong...both are wonderful movies, but, as one movie review put it, I wasn`t as "drawn" to the second one as I was to the first. Maybe it`s because since watching the first one I read the books and was nitpicking at the second one. For instance, I found it just a teensy weensy bit cheesy at the end when Sam sums everything up with his "there`s always some good in the world worth fighting for" speech towards the end of the movie. I kinda resented the adding of Aragorn`s "dream" and the elaboration of the "romance" between Eowyn and Aragorn, but in the long run, it was kinda kewl. Besides, with all the manly fighting, the movie defenitely needed the estrogen factor ;-) And I didn`t like how they portrayed the Ents as reluctant (even though I do admire they way they pulled the portrayal of the Ents off without making them look cheesy) to fight Saruman because in the book, they were a lot stronger than that. Oh my God! I sound like such a LOTR nerd! But that`s ok...besides....the book is always better than the movie, I always say ;-) By the way, in the movie, Faramir was HOT. ;-)

Strange dreams...

I had two really strange dreams this week. And both had to do with Berlitz. In one dream, my boss sent me to Cuba to teach classes at the Berltiz school over there. When I got there, some people had stormed the Berlitz school and had covered two of the teachers in cement. The people were angry and wanted to run Berlitz out of the country for some reason. Strangely enough, "O", who is a Cuban exchange student at Soka and is, incidentally, now teaching Spanish at Berlitz, was one of the people that had stormed and vandalized the Berlitz school. Anyways, my boss, who just happened to be there, and I managed to drive the protesters out and tried to save the teachers. Then I remembered having to go into hiding and I was taken care of by Madonna, who looked like a middle-aged matron....strange....

In my second dream, which I dreamt Friday night, it was Saturday morning and I was trying to get to work. However, the bus took a long time so by the time I got to the Berlitz building in downtown Hachioji, I was already five minutes late for my lesson. I began to freak out and tried to get on the elevator but it would only take me halfway up the buildling. I tried to take the stairs but they were being repaired so they were roped off, but I tried going over the ropes anyway. Basically, I was being prevented from reaching the school. At the same time, I was trying frantically to call my boss to tell him that I was on my way, but for some reason my phone refused to work. Throughout the entire dream I was freaking out feeling desparate. Strangely enough, I woke up at around 5:30 and was relieved to see that it was just a dream, but then I fell asleep and continued having the same dream and thought it was reality! I usually don`t have dreams in which I feel this anxious, but considering what my state of mind had been on Friday night, I think I know why I had such a dream.

By the way, earlier in the dream, I dreamt that my hamster, who died years ago, was still alive and could fend for itself....it could even swim!

So anywayz,toodle-doo! I hope I didn`t bore ya too much and I hope you all have a good rest of the weekend. I`ll "talk" to y`all later when I get back from the trip! ;-)

2003-05-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Trying to slowly rebuild my bridges...

Today I had culture class and unlike last week, it was actually interesting. Last week was basically a lecture on the history and background of the art of the tea ceremony (believe me, there`s actually an art to it), which I could barely understand. This week, however, we actually got to perform a pseudo-tea ceremony. We got to make the tea and even wear kimono (hopefully, I will be able to post a picture sometime soon). A tea ceremony, as many things Japanese, is not so much about drinking the tea as much as it is about the ceremony of preparing the tea. There`s a certain way of doing everything, from the way you clean the tea bowl to the way you place the hot water ladle on the water heater. Last week, I was thinking, "What`s the big deal?" but as I saw the culture class sensei perform part of the tea ceremony, I saw the beauty and grace in her every movement and the aesthetic value of all the objects she used and how she placed them in front of her. It`s almost like a dance, with each step planned and done in a certain way.

For the first time in a while, I received some good news: I received an award for being an "Outstanding Graduating Major in
Three-Languages/Japanese"! In case you do not know, as of May 31st, I will be an official graduate of the University of Delaware! Unfortunately, I won`t be there to receive the award so my professor offered to have one of my family members receive the award in my place. I hope that one of them will be able to be there on May 31st. Still, this piece of news makes me happy and has made my day.