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April 29, 2007
wish me luck!
no, i don't except any of you to know what or why i'm saying this.
Posted by Jeff at 01:43 PM | Comments (1)
April 25, 2007
the spider is awesome
c/o daniel.
Posted by Jeff at 12:17 PM | Comments (1)
April 24, 2007
done!
catch-22 is finished!
of 453 pages, only the first 300 were painful :P
next book: travels by michael crichton.
btw, awesome house moment:
House: You bastard! You invited my parents to dinner.
Wilson: Geez Cameron's got a big mouth!
House: Hah! Not as big as yours!
Wilson: Hey! You used me to avoid seeing your parents.
House: Well what do you care?
Wilson: I don't, I just thought it might be interesting to find out why.
House: You could have just asked.
Wilson: You would have lied!
House: And you would have believed me! Which would have kept us both happy. You want your money back? Is this what this is about?
Wilson: No! ...Wait, what... have you got the money?
Wilson: If you have the money then why did you need the loan?
House: I didn't. Just wanted to see if you could give it to me. I've been borrowing increasing amounts ever since you lent me 40 dollars a year ago. A little experiment to see where you draw the line.
Wilson: ...You ...you're trying to... objectively measure how much I value our friendship?!
House: Hey, it's 5 grand. You've got nothing to be ashamed of. So what do you say? One little phone call and one big cheque?
Wilson: Fine. Thanks. Now, be a grown-up and either tell mommy and daddy you don't want to see them, or I'm picking you up at 7 for dinner.
House: What do you mean?!!! You just said that..
Wilson: I lied. I've been lying to you in increasing amounts ever since I told you you looked good unshaved, a year ago. ...It's a little experiment, you know, see where you draw the line.
best!
Posted by Jeff at 07:33 PM | Comments (1)
April 17, 2007
one word
amazing.
last weekend ryan and i were invited by nakamura sensei (ran the marathon with us, commercial teacher at my school) invited us to his home for lunch.
little did we know what was in store of us.
his mom presented us with a six course HAND MADE lunch.
first course: hand squeezed grapefruit mixed with cider topped with flower pedals with a glass cup filled with, what appears to be noodles, made of melon garnished with a mint leaf, apple slices, and ikura (fish eggs) followed with a folded sweet egg wrapped around bbq'd eel, garnished with two lima beans, and a (i think it was) a boiled chest nut covered in gold flakes.
second course: a hand made, no steamer used, rice laced with red beans and black sesame seeds accompanying a steamed egg filled with bamboo, mushrooms, bits of meat and garnished with a single cherry blossom.
third course: a hand made (starting to sense a theme in this eh?) spring roll, filled with egg, chicken, pork, nuts, some veggies, and garnished with a lemon.
fourth course: freshly caught fish, presented with the fins standing up (if you have any idea how hard this is) on a bed of thin noodles garnished with leafy greens accompanying a vinegaresque dipping sauce with green onions and sesame seeds.
fifth course: fresh bamboo (only in season now) with pork and hand steamed (or hand made, not sure how you steam rice without a rice cooker) as well as a ginger soup with baby clams. vinegared cucumbers carrots radishes topped with fish flakes and asparagus.
sixth course: an original, hand made, mt. fuji with yam as the snowy cap and a macha mountain base, it's layered to look as natural as possible. it is served with two strings of macha noodles and a sour plum jelly.
MAN that woman can cook.
oh yeah, she's NOT a chef, she's a housewife.
and oh yeah, IT WAS AMAZING.
someone needs to start her own restaurant.
oh yeah and she also makes hand made ornaments out of hand selected kimonos.
Posted by Jeff at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
to any of you who are interested...
i am still reading catch 22. 4 months and counting.
Posted by Jeff at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2007
i won't lie
i opened the box of applejacks that i smuggled back in decemeber. and i must say:
nothing has made me want to go home more than eating real cereal.
oh, and just then i had a student confess that she's falling for me...
if only i can remember her name...
Posted by Jeff at 04:46 PM | Comments (1)
April 09, 2007
worthwhile
a good read c/o horace.
Posted by Jeff at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2007
fun cambodian story (part 4)
oh right, i forgot to explain WHY i'm a dick to these little kids trying to sell me things.
and why i always speak a foreign language to them (becuase i REFUSE).
last year when susie was here, there was this really big hulking guy named brian, looked tough as a sack of bricks and then some.
and he rejected these kids all the time.
that is until ONE kid said this after he said `no.` imagine it went like this:
brian: hey that was fun guys right? haha.
littlekid3: please buy my bracelets? one dollar!
brian: sorry kid, no thanks.
lk3: but only one dollar, you get 10, so pretty! (yes they're like this).
brian: i'm good kid, thanks.
lk3: but you can give to your girl friend!
brian: no really i'm good, thanks.
lk3: but i made them for you...
brian: i'm sorry no...
lk3: you make my soul cry.
needless to say he was devastated for a few days.
Posted by Jeff at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
fun cambodian story (part 3)
last one i swear.
least for now anyways :D
kids in cambodia try to get you to buy anything, and in trying to get you to buy anything they try to get to know you, impress you with their english (which is quite good i might add), and likewise i must be a dick about it.
one clever thing they do is tell you the capital of where you're from.
littlekid2: hey, where you from? america? england? singapore? hongkong?
me: timbuktu.
lk2: ... i don't know where that is...
haha it's ok, i know i'm going to hell.
Posted by Jeff at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)
fun cambodian story (part 2)
now here's what i don't get.
cambodia is HOT. and i mean HOT. susie and i were running about 4-5 liters of water EACH per day. so we're climbing down from a temple in the hot midday sun, and this is what happens as we walk by:
cambodian: want to buy lonely planet?
...you... got to be kidding me. i mean let's be honest, if you're going to peddle to tourists, you can at least peddle something useful. i mean that's like the time we were climbing the great wall and they tried selling us pictures and books...
a tip from me to you: it's hot, people are sweating, and you want to sell something? TRY WATER.
serious.
Posted by Jeff at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
fun cambodian story (part 1)
when you, if you, ever find yourself in cambodia, or from my experience, siem reap, you'll have little kids come at you with many a things including:
water
tshirts
bracelets
books
food
more bracelets
and most of these run for about a dollar or so.
now that doesn't sound like much, but me personally: 1. don't believe in supporting this industry (if it can be called that), and 2. i'm a cheap bastard.
and of course i'm an ass as well. why?
here were my responses to the kids asking me to buy things:
1. answer in mandarin
2. answer in japanese
3. answer in broken spanish pretending that it's fluent spanish
4. answer in a mix of all three
5. run away (i really did this... susie ended up buying something though haha)
but of course let me give you a few examples of what i did:
little kid 1: hey, you buy my bracelet?
me: no thanks (in mandarin).
lk1: please buy? (in korean)
lk1: no...
lk1: please buy? (in japanese)
lk1: no... that's not it
me: if you can aske me in mandarin, i'll buy one (in mandarin).
lk1: speak english i don't understand :[
it's also quite fun to just yell out random gibberish...
Posted by Jeff at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2007
you shot who with the what now?
school's in that slow period again as classes for my first year students don't start till 4/16. i have the first lesson plan done as well (self intro) and the next lesson plan after that not required till 4/9 later... thus i am in no rush to really get it done...
so.
nakamura sensei comes up to me, intriqued by the salt and vinegar chips i have on my desk. we get to talking and (i assure you this was the actual conversation):
me: i'm bored. are you busy?
nakamura sensei: yes very.
me: what do you have to do?
ns: i am new 16 home room teacher.
me: congratulations!
ns: after lunch, have to clean home room.
me: oh...
ns: very happy!
me: haha, why?
ns: ...it's joke :P.
...
Posted by Jeff at 03:43 PM | Comments (2)
April 04, 2007
holy...
originally i had about 7 teachers i taught with for 12 classes of oc1.
i just learned recently that it's now been reduced to 4 teachers for those classes and one of them is a new jte (japanese teacher of english)!
things be stirring in the ole pot of yoshi shou (my school) eh?
Posted by Jeff at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2007
to my big brother
happy birthday~
don't get too crazy now...
love,
jeff
Posted by Jeff at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
April 02, 2007
in response to the post below...
ames: i hate u
:[
Posted by Jeff at 03:10 PM | Comments (1)
i miss these heh
me: need to write my cv
me: and stop watching the daily show on my laptop at work XD
ames: haha
ames: terrible
me: no one's here
me: cause they had orientation last year
me: er
me: last year = yesterday
me: and i wasn't told
me: so my vp said if i came to work today
me: i could not use my paid time off
ames: lol
me: but even now i'm tempted to leave...
ames: then leaaaaaaaaveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
me: lol
me: ames (13:21:32): terrible
me: AHA!
ames: its okay
ames: whats wrong with having me call u terrible?
me: lol
me: no no i was using your own advice against you!
me: or something....
me: and why am i terrible :[
me: i'm so nice!
ames: i forgot what u were saying
ames: but yeh
ames: TERRIBLE
me: :[
ames: (for what, i dont recall)
me: <3!!!!
me: ...scroll up?
ames: short term memory
me: yay
me: then you won't remember that time i streaked in front of your parents in hong kong last september...
ames: um...
me: mmmm
me: *flip flap flip flap flip flap*
me: >..>
me: <..<
ames: dont...want....to know.....
me: my hair... :o
ames: dont...want...to know...
me: <#
ames: oh...
me: <3
me: haha
me: >..>
ames: .............
ames: < /3
me: <3
ames: < /3 <--- biggest font and bolded and underlined...
ames: :-D
me: ...
me: underlined...
ames: and bloded
ames: *bolded
ames: almost italiced too
ames: hahaha
me: ....
ames: damnit i cant spell
me: indeed
me: LOL
ames: STUPID KIRIN!!!
me: <3!!!!
ames: >:o
ames: < /3 <--- biggest font and bolded and underlined AND italisized.
you wonder if i should start asking for consent before i put these up here...
Posted by Jeff at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)
and i'm back (part 2)
i think i really did fall for cambodia though. through the ghettoness and the veil of a developing country, you can see the geniune-ness of the people there...
well of course minus the people who say `lady, you want ice water?` or `lady, you want to buy my books?` or `lady you want to buy [seriously random things]`
we'd be coming down a temple or hill, dripping with sweat, dehydrated and starving and we get:
`hey lady, you want to buy our lonely planet books?`
seriously...
kl is an interesting middle step though. you have gems in the skyline like the petronas towers (btw, the video they make you see on the tour is the biggest pr attempt i've ever seen) but it was really cool to chill in the park below at night with a beer and just admire them.
and then the cops come with whistles a blowing to kick you out at 10 on the dot.
indian food is really good here too, and i've seen some pretty strange stuff (link to come soon).
all in all, it's good to be back, and dry, and where the bikes (the siem reap bikes were built for an american teenager i swear) that fit me... relatively.
funny thing is is that it's april now, and only four more months to go before i come back for good.
it feels all too close and all too far away at the same time.
Posted by Jeff at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
and i'm back
...again.
back from kl and siem reap, back from the petronas towers and angkor wat, and not likely to leave the country again till it's time to go home...
that, and i have no more pto and no more blank pages in my passport haha.
it was really good to see susie again, it was not so great to fly for 12 hrs + 4 hrs to get to the airport. it was a blast though, the awesome people at the red palm, more specifically one of the owners, sofie, makes you feel at home right away. i swear i woke up thinking that i was back home for a bit. twas a good feeling.
cambodia is pretty amazing. susie and i arrived on the 26th and checked into our hostel where we met the guy who picked us up, and later became our driver for the trip, bhunta (at least i think that's how you spell it). had really amazing cambodian food; khmer kitchen (ask for pise) and the red piano, as well as the blue pumpkin for a trendy place to cool off (and believe me you'll need it). we saw angkor wat for 3.5 days, and in that span i saw 2 sunrises and 3 sunsets.
i even biked their at 3:30 am once thinking it'd take me an hour to get there.
it took me about 20 minutes.
i got chased by a dog too...
susie even took me to the landmine museum which was quite possibly both the dodgiest and the most profound museum i've ever been to; it's literally strewn together with wooden boards and there are live chickens running around hollowed out and difused ammunition.
thursday was particuarily special because i got to visit the pepy school that susie worked for last year. we helped paint three of the class rooms and got to play with the kids for a few hours; this was by far the highlight of my trip.
that and getting talced by little elementry school kids (i have a photo) and letting them ride on my shoulders.
to be continued...
Posted by Jeff at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2007
the list (updated)
was asked this question, and i'm kind of curious of the answer myself. the question was:
in this world, where have you been?
let's see:
pre-jet:
america (california, oregon, washington, nevada, idaho, wyoming, utah, new york, new jersey)
canada (vc, toronto, montreal, quebec, ottowa)
mexico (oaxaca)
england (london)
france (paris)
and jet:
japan (sapporo, nikko, nagano, tokyo, kamakura, chiba, yokohama, shizuoka, nagoya, kyoto, osaka)
south korea (seoul)
china (shanghai, xian, beijing)
hong kong (also pre-jet)
macau
taiwan (also pre-jet)(taipei, gaoshong)
thailand (bangkok, phuket, pipi)
singapore (also pre-jet)
indonesia (batam)
malaysia (kuala lumpur, kuala sengor) <---- updated
cambodia (siem reap) <---- updated
Posted by Jeff at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)