the end.

July 31, 2007

this is it...

thank you. first and foremost, a big thank you to angela for hosting it for two years, and letting me keep my 11mb nook in her 2gig cranny. to japan/clair/everyoneinjapan for making it all possible. and to all of you for reading my ramblings. clearly i was doing something right if i could hold your attentions to either subscribe to my rss feed or simply bookmark this page. it's always brought me great joy to discover that someone new whom i didn't expect was reading this blog and it only motivated me moreso to try and keep it up to date as often as possible. though at times i know it was slow, i'm glad to say though that i've kept it drama free and only about the fun instances that i've had in japan that i will always remember and keep close to me always.

but this is the last entry for my blog.

becuase by this time tomorrow, or even more likely, by the time you read this i'll actually be home.

not my apartment in fuji japan home, i mean home home.

in my own home, in my own bed, with family, with friends, with oscar, with trash cans.

i've more or less spent the last few weeks saying my goodbyes to everyone whom i wanted to say goodbye to, and yet even so it feels like i'm forgetting some people. even so, it never really is `goodbye` is it. it's more of a `see you later` kind of feeling to it.

it's hard to actually imagine how many lives you can be a part of and how many of theirs can be a part of yours, and that it never really boils down to it until you see what happens when you have to part ways for a potentially infinite amount of time.

but to everyone i've met, and to every place i've been, and to every thing i've done while here in japan, it's almost surreal that this day has finally come; my last day in japan.

at this time two years ago, i arrived in japan starry eyed and filled with a sense of motivation i have not felt in a long while. a sense of excitement that begged me to run around to look behind every corner to see if there was something new to discover. though the starryness has faded from my eyes quite some time ago, i still find myself with that sense of curiosity and adventure. almost a kind of wanderlust that has been instilled into my very being just by being here.

but more importantly, to me anyways.

as eager as i was to start anew and see what life here had in store for me, there was a slight twang of doubt, a small nagging quesetion of whether or not i could do it, if i could survive. if the very things that i had hoped to accomplish before i came to japan and even then the things i hoped to have accomplished while in japan always worried me in the sense of that i might find myself on this day with a sense of, well, regretting japan.

and as ominous, for lack of a better word really, as that may seem, i find myself here at work on my very last full day with my bags overstuffed and possibly breaking and no real clue how i'm going to get everything home, i can sit here with one of the largest grins on my face knowing that,

i did it.

p.s. i won every one of those bets.

p.p.s. i'm just sad no one actually put any money on them :[.

p.p.p.s. with a heavy heart, and a big hug.

-jeff

Posted by Jeff at 12:48 PM | Comments (2)

July 30, 2007

not quite over yet

at the end of my iaido enkai last night, my sensei offered to take me fishing in the bay near fuji. he told me that he'd pick me up at 3:00am to go and that we'd be back in time by 6:00am or so.

i couldn't fall asleep till about 1:30am last night, and woke up an hour later to go fishing...

we only caught one fish.

and it was a baby.

and at first i was thinking of highly suggesting that we throw it back from whence it came as to, you know, not overfish and what not. then i also remembered that my teacher got 4 hrs of sleep, took his boat, bought ice, and stayed up for two to three hours with me trying to catch fish...

i kept my mouth shut haha.

anyways after that i got back, passed out for an hour again as i was headed up to tokyo to meet up with masaya for the last time.

to my joy and surprise he brought his senpai, hirayama san (or yasu) and his wife (orie). and let me tell you, i haven't seen masaya in a year since he left for germany a year ago around this time. he invited me to nagano to go snow boarding and always opened his door if we needed a place to crash in tokyo. for just that alone, i am grateful. but more importantly he's been an amazing friend and genuine about his effort and want to speak english and be my friend as well.

we had lunch, went shopping, played mario kart with the four of us (awesome btw!) and went to shoot pool.

which i think was the highlight.

we played 2v2 and it was me and hirayama san and masaya and hirayama san's wife. yasu and i were the underdogs, going 0-2 (no thanks to me, the f-up count is me 3 and him 1 lol), but with a turn of events (his wife sunk the 8 ball on the second shot), and quite possibly a miracle shot from yasu san, we tied it up 2-2 and could leave it happy knowing that we (yasu and i) were not completely creamed.

some of the most fun i've had in a long time, honest.

then we made our way up to nerima, where for 4 straight times, the elusive katsu shop has, well, eluded me. literally.

i also learned about this place from yasu a year and some change ago.

the story behind it is that melissa and i came up here after recontracting orientation and we... ended up not ordering the katsu (even though we thought we did)... and then the next time mel and i and chris found it was closed, and then mel, chris, annabelle, and i found it was closed, and then (though i can't remember) but i have this feeling that a fourth time it was closed as well, but i FINALLY got my katsu!!!

huzzah!

and it was absolutely delicious.

but one thing really got to me that i didn't even realize.

for you see i thought that masaya was in tokyo just to look for a job and that he's been here for a long time... and then he told me that he came out here, all the way from nagano, just to come see me.

and you know what else he did? even though it was completely out of the way, he stayed on the train with me to shinagawa and even waited for my train.

that's the kind of amazing guy he is and i only hope that all of you guys reading this will only get a chance to someday meet him.

he's an amazing friend who i'll never be able to forget, and the night that i got to share with them as my final night in tokyo was some of the best fun that i've been able to have in japan and i'm glad it was with them.

though i do admit that my biggest regret was that i didn't take any pictures while we were shooting pool

you know those moments where you and some good friends have a long good laugh that goes on for a long time, only to find all of you with teary eyes, difficulty breathing, a pain in your sides and just the greatest feeling of contentment afterwards?

that's what the whole night was like.

Posted by Jeff at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2007

forever indebted

tonight was my iaido farewell enkai.

as i said before, my only real regret is that i could not stay another year with these wonderful people.

however.

i also realize that coming back home is what's best for me at my current time in life. i need to come home, i need to touch base, i want to continue moving forward in my life, and as much as i love jet, it does not help me accomplish that aspect of my life.

but there's something you all really need to understand.

that before i found this group, almost a year ago, my friend ryan recommended that i join a cultural aspect of japan, that i could not leave without having do so. but nothing seemed right. i tried taiko for a few weeks, however their pace didn't seem to allow new comers to find their place amongst the experienced. desparately i tried finding other medians that not only focused on japanese culture, but also my own interest.

and that's when i was introduced to iaido. that's when i met these absolutely amazing people for the last 7 months. people such as usasmi sensei, watanabe san, iketani san who took me under their influence to start from the very beginning and teach me everything i would need to know. who told me when i was in error (truly the sign of great teachers), and more so caring that i succed at what i did. if any of you ever get the chance to meet these people, i implore you to spend time with them and talk to them, for i can guarantee you'll learn something.

i am forever grateful to this opportunity that was presented to me, and as i said before, my only regret is that another year could not have passed with these people.

thank you. for everything. for giving me a chance. for teaching me. for letting me experience a part of your culture to the fullest and for caring that i understood it and did well in it.

i'll always remember you guys for you will probably never fully understand what you all have meant to me.

Posted by Jeff at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2007

one of the most amazing things about language is...

that if what you want to say comes from the heart, everyone can understand it, regardless of the language it's spoken.

tonight i had my farewell enkai from my teachers at yoshi shou. though only 5 teachers showed up, they were 5 teachers that i was incredibly close to; fukushima sensei, tajima sensei, tomono sensei, oya sensei, and goto sensei.

now most of you may know them from a lot of my stories, but tonight was different. they all said thank you for the last two years, but that wasn't the thing that got to me the most, and i can't quite place my finger on it.

after awhile, and a few pints, i said that i wanted to say something. i told each one of them why they were special to me, why they meant a lot to me, and more importantly that because of amazing people like you, i could have come this far. i don't really know how to describe in words how i felt, but i had to pause many times to stop myself from crying. i once thought of how happy i would be to leave this stinky little town of mine, but tonight i found it so impossible to tell them that i'm leaving even though everyone knew.

even though i knew.

i'm really am glad to have stayed a second year. i'm really am glad to have had the opportunity to meet these wonderful people. and i'm really thankful that these people were the group of japanese people that i was able to meet during my tenure here. it may not have been perfect or ideal, but what situation is you know?

so, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. i know that i've been saying it a lot, but i've meant it everytime i say it.

thank you. i wish you all the best in your futures, and thank you all for the wonderful experience that i will forever remember as my time in japan.

i never liked 'goodbyes.' i never will to be honest. but i guess way to put is this:

this is not 'goodbye,' this is 'see you later.'

Posted by Jeff at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2007

感謝しています。。。

i had my last iaido lesson tonight, and i was honestly touched...

it's been a great 7 months, and i've had a fantastic (said with a british accent) time! a big thank you to usami sensei for taking me under his wing, for showing me a part of japanese culture that i was so desparately seeking, for taking time out of his day to help me get my uniform and talking with me, a big thanks to watanabe san and iketani san for teaching me one on one, and a thank you to john for inviting me to participate.

my greatest regret in leaving japan, is that i only had 7 months with this wonderful group, but i am forever grateful for those 7 months at the same time.

お世話になりました。

Posted by Jeff at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2007

what to say?

what to say indeed.

last night was ryan's last night in japan. though he isn't leaving till the 26th, he's heading to tokyo as i'm writing this.

now the thing is, i know it's not the last time i'm going to see him cause, well, i'm flying to wisconsin 8/4 to drive down to tuscon with him arriving 8/10, but, well...

if you know me fairly well, then you know this will shock you a bit (in a good way of course), that the two people that i've met on jet that i've bonded the closest with were not asian at all. i mean don't get me wrong, i have a fair share of asian friends here, but ryan was (cause he left) the kind of guy who almost felt like family. i mean we've traveled all over south east asia together, we've done trips to tokyo, kamakura, nikko, we've chatted on end, karaoked for 4 hrs, eaten till we felt like dying, and more or less done it all.

i don't think words i can say here will describe just how amazing and how important our friendship is to me, and i know this all sounds cheesey, but i really do mean every word of it.

even though i know i'll see him in 10 days, i want to wish him the best in his life as a grad student at ua, and hope nothing but good things for him. he's been an amazing friend whom i've had the great privelage of getting to know him far beyond the shallow layers of acquaintances.

and i look forward to our road trip across the country.

oh yeah, i know what to say now.

thank you.

Posted by Jeff at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2007

today is just absolutely gorgeous!

just got back from climbing mt. fuji with aga.

we started out at 10pm taking a total of about 6.5 hrs to reach the top, stopping 1.5-2 hrs at the rest stops inbetween mostly because we didn't want to wait at the top; which is freezing if you didn't know.

oh yeah, and it was pouring rain and windy as hell ;P BUT there was one really nice moment when the clouds parted and you could see the stars, twas nice.

not much to say except that i've been up for about 26 hrs, and still running on a bit of an o2 high.

all in all, glad neither of us had altitude sickness, and glad we both got to finally do it.

we're both alive, in one piece, well minus the times i 'died' about 11.5 times and her 5.5 times (slipping on the rocks, and falling on our arses), i swear my ankles and knees are completely shot..., and the time when we completely went off trail with a group of japanese tourists and a veteran climber (3 times she said), but eventually forged our way back!

but despite the rain and wind, we got to see a sunrise and a feeling of accomplishment... and finding that there is a post office at the TOP of mt. fuji.

you've got to be kidding me.

but as we made our way down, and an interesting sense of comradery overcame most everyone on that mountain. that we were all bound into this one crazy idea that `hey, we can scale mount fuji!` whether it be coming to the top together with the veterans, the hardcore groups who are dressed from head to toe with rain gear and head lamps and full rucksacks, or greeting each other on the way down from the youngest of children to the oldest of grandparents, to the other foreigners and the japanese self-defense force (who are prime examples of politeness and respect for those older than you), or from returning from your all night trek and seeing all the eager faces tackle the monumental task that you just finished not so long ago.

there was this genuine-ness of everyone's personalities and demeaner that put nothing but the largest grin on my face as i realize that i truly am going to miss all of this as the days roll down.

and finally after the long journey back, i parted ways with my white k-swisses, the shoes that have been with me for the last two years, who have seen just as much as i have, who have climbed the great wall, scaled the temples of angkor, walked along the streets of thailand, and back again, have been retired into a bin outside of fujinoimya station labeled `burnable.` perhaps the only real fitting end.

Posted by Jeff at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2007

a few points of good news!

quite possibly the best one i've heard so far: my brother is going to be there when i get home! that really made my day.

the runner up, but still good: after a year abroad in germany, the masaya is BACK! hopefully will get to see him before i leave.

the shocker: dad sold the bright gold 1985 dodge caravan le. it's gone!!!!! ZOMG!!! /disbelief!
...it only took 22 years! damn thing just wouldn't die.
update!:
bluebook value was at $322. in case any of you were wondering...

11 days. see you all soon!

Posted by Jeff at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2007

元気で

today was the last day of school for the first quarter.

in addition to every beginning and ending of each term, the school likes to do opening and closing ceremonies respectively, but this time there was an extra little slot for me.

it was for my farewell speech.

i told them all that the only reason why i didn't want to go back was because of them. that english is within their reach and that all they have to do is try. that i hope that they have found a place in their hearts for me because they all have a place in mine...

and then i spent the last three hours or so talking with my students, as many as i could find, taking 13809752908520937520935782035 pictures in the process... everyone telling me to write, thank you, to take care, to try my best, to come back, to not go back to america...

it's hard to believe that two years is finally coming to a close neh.

it was a good day today.

one that i'll never forget.

Posted by Jeff at 12:33 PM | Comments (1)

July 19, 2007

i don't want to leave :[

though one of my kids (aoi) just came up to me and asked if she could take a picture with me before i left, and she was really shy and nervous about asking me... :[

Posted by Jeff at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

the last day, and 500yen... epilogue.

i passed out at 3:50am, and woke up at 5:25am. i grabbed my stuff, said `thanks` to ryan, and headed home. i don't remember a lot of the train ride. when i got back, i showered, and headed to work.

final train ticket home: 500yen.

total spent: 500yen.

man i am tired.

Posted by Jeff at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

1 day and 11k earlier... part 5/5

last day, here we go!

like i did last year around this time, i met my japanese teacher from ucsd, itou sensei, in nagoya. this year, she is in japan again, and again, i made my way out to visit her.

i think the best i could say was that it was really really good to see her again. kind of, another year come full circle. we were able to talk a lot, and mninus her dismay at my japanese getting worse (serious, i've completely forgotten things i should have remembered first year), we had a really good time; i introduced her to the joys of unagi pie!

though, i do apologize that i spent a lot of the time talking...

but a big thank you to her for helping me figuring stuff out and a big thank you for lending me an ear. i was, and am really happy that i got a chance to meet up with her again, especially to be able to in japan nonetheless! we had a really late lunch, and i bought some omiyage for my teachers as i said goodbye with a hug and boarded the last shink that i would ride this time in japan.

subway fare back: 150yen.
late late lunch: 1000yen.
omiyage: 1050yen.
shink ticket: 7560yen.

but for me, it's not quite over yet...

upon arriving at mishima, i transferred to the izuhakone to finish the final leg of my trip. a dinner and karaoke session with ryan at our favorite restaurant owned by our friend teru, tony's to da max.

izuhakone ticket: 210yen.

now i was completely unprepared for what happened next.

when we walked in, we were greeted by souichiro and teru, but for once it was a serious kind of greeting, almost a finality to it all. he lead us to our usual seats and we found two packages, three items in each written out towards ryan and me.

teru and souichiro told us to open them, and we found a good luck charm that teru said would protect us so long as we kept it with us. a t-shirt that none of us knew how to read, but we agreed that the meaning of it all was that it's `too all the good friends that we've met and all the great memories we've shared, and that it never is `goodbye,` only `see you later`` and the last bit, that almost moved me to tears. almost. teru gave each of us two cards and wrote a personal message on both.

we chatted the night away, almost 5 hours there until we had to say goodbye.

he told us this meal was on the house.

but ryan and i weren't finished yet. what insued was a really good reason why concerts are usually no more than 2 hours long.

we karaoked for four hours finishing at 3am!

and it was good.

though it wasn't free, but it was relatively cheap: 1700yen.

it's the first time i missed the last train home, the first time i voluntarily took the first train home, and the closest i've pulled an all nighter in japan.

we made it back to ryan's place, and i promptly passed out.

total spent: 10670yen.

Posted by Jeff at 10:47 AM | Comments (1)

2 days and 25k earlier... part 4/5

almost there! bear with me on this one!

annabelle and i got up early again, as chris opted to sleep in again. we made our way to inari shrine in hopes that the day would be good enough to visit the fushimi inari shrine and it's famous 1000 tori gates or so. if any of you have seen memoirs of a geisha, this that scene when she's a child and running around, well, 1000 tori gates.

breakfast at a small french bread shop: 140yen.
train ticket to inari station: 140yen.

upon arriving at the station we exited to find only that we are greeted by a HUGE tori gate.

1

we continued up the path only to find another tori gate.

2

beginning our hike, we soon ran into the scene from memoirs of a geisha: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15... i got bored around of counting around here. :P

in summary: the maps there of the local area are absolutely useless. you will not find where the heck you are at any given point in time, let alone the correct path to follow in hopes of finding your destination. there are no signs, just, a lot and i do stress `a lot` of tori gates... and every path more or less looks the same with a stone walkway and, well, a lot of gates.

oh yeah, and the punks sell 500 ml bottles of everything for 250 yen.

i bought one btw: 250yen.

annabelle and i walked around and were practically lost (i.e. maps useless) until we finally found ourselves back where we started, 2 hours later and unanimously agreed:

if anyone ever asked `oh, did you see the [insertwhateverisfamousthere]?`

we'd say `yes.`

making our way back to kyoto station we had lunch at an italian place before meeting up with chris. we walked the nishki market (packed and free samples galore!) and chilled in a book store (i read my favorite book, the things they carried by tim o'brien) while having danta! twas a happy way to end this trip by just relaxing and not feeling in a rush to get anywhere.

train ride back: 140yen.
lunch: 2000yen. <--- we were STARVING!
subway fares: 590yen.

and finally back to kyoto station, with bags in hand, and for chris to accomplish is ultimate goal.

now a little background information: chris LOVES ramen. he fell in love with it (as far as i'm aware) when he arrived in japan, and it is his meal of choice. that being said, we told him in the isetan nearby, there's a floor of ramen shops.

his ultimate goal: eat 3 bowls.

which he did might i add.

annabelle and i joined him for the first bowl, but afterwards we went to have green tea parfait...

chris joined us an hour later, quite possibly the happiest i've seen him, ever.

dinner that night: 450yen.

we headed back to the station where we bid each other farewell; for them, they were heading back to work and i was off to local it to nagoya in preparation for my continuing trip, like i said, quite possibly the busiest weekend for me, ever.

oh yeah, and because of japan, omiyage: 2600yen.

with that, i jumped the train to nagoya, local, and found myself there at 10:40pm: 2520yen.

running through my memory, i found my capsule hotel, grabbed a quick dinner at some random katsu place, and promptly passed out, giving into the exhaustion that i had been fending off for the last three and a half days.

capsule: 3900yen.
cheap dinner: 1200yen.

total spent: 13930yen.

Posted by Jeff at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

3 days and 33k earlier... part 3/5

we all agreed upon sleeping in today as the day before was just a bit much.

though chris continued to sleep in heh.

annabelle and i headed back up to nazenji to get some pictures (we took a shot in front of nazenji, and, i kid you not, 3 groups took the exact same shot after us!) as well as walk the path of philosophy to ginkakuji. and guess what! BLUE SKY!!! we have a picture of said triumphant moment!

breakfast at conbini: 140yen.
subway fare: 250yen.

the walk was pretty cool. i mean it was along this old canal that had both this paved walkway and a kind of cobblestone walkway
with the japanese maples and cherry blossom trees canopying the surrounding areas created quite the effect. the small shops and cafes that lined the walk way before ginkakuji left you with a very mom and pop homey feeling that gave you a warm, almost nurturing embrace that made the humidity not as awful as it was.bottom line, it was nice.

there was one cafe, that if you're walking north from nazenji, that it smelled of baked apples and cinnamon, and it had a red canopy with the words `coffe & cake` written above with alabaster walls. cakes were 150yen, but we never had time, it's about halfway up the walk on your left. i hope someone (or myself one day) gets a chance to go there.

and finally we arrived at ginkakuji: 500yen.

walking around it, there was a nice rustic pavillion near a pond that i thought made a good shot. we walked around the garden a bit after that, and personally i thought it was gorgeous. i really really really love japanese maples and how they canopy over everything, almost more efficiently than american maples (if there is such a thing lol). but i think the conversation we have sums it up:

me: wow this is really nice!
annabelle: yeah, you ready to head out?
me: wait what? we haven't even seen the silver pavillion yet!
annabelle: uh... yeah we have.
me: when?
annabelle: remember that rustic old pavillion near the pond?
me: ...
annabelle: ...uh, yeah.
me: can we go back so i can get a picture in front of it? :D

next up was lunch. and i have to say, it was all kind of awesome! an udon shop called `omen` that is located behind the bus parking lot. they serve udon sets where everything is given separately: soup, noodles, veggies, sesame seeds, all that good stuff! i think pictures speak a lot better than i can...

lunch at omen: 1250yen.

btw, annabelle REALLY likes gobou.

i mean i do too... but she ate it all :[

(i'm just giving her a hard time, i had my share heh)

next on the list was kinkakuji, the golden pavillion, almost, the symbol of kyoto (in my eyes anyways). we jumped the bus to meet chris there; kyoto has quite possibly one of the poorest metro systems in japan that i've seen... BUT to compensate they have by far one of the best bus systems i've seen!

bus ride: 220yen. <---- good call on that btw annabelle!
souvenirs: 3000yen.

we met up with chris at kinkakuji and made our way to the gold (painted, seriously) pavillion to take the picture that everyone and their mother takes when they're there. serious. i mean everyone AND their mother was there!

i will say this much though, i liked ginkakuji a lot more than kinkakuji. i mean not only is the surrounding garden nicer to look at, but the fact that it's not silver, a much more rustic, authentic kind of look fit in a lot more with the surrounding areas than kinkaku which stuck out a bit like a sore thumb. i mean it was nice, but silver wins this one.

kinkakuji: 300yen.

heading south, we followed another one of the kyoto walks towards ryoanji temple, which apparently has another famous rock garden.

ryoanji temple: 500yen.

to be honest, it was nice, i still preferred nazenji a lot more because it was smaller, but i mean let's be honest, the real reason people come here is to, well, sleep.

now off to arashiyama for annabelle's adventure! last time she was here she got a taste of tofu ice cream, and was really looking forward to coming back here for that. so we boarded this little private train (i have a picture of me on the tracks, that's how little this train line is) and made our way over. the big plus about this train is that no matter how far you go, it's a set price.

/co-jrlearnsomethingfromthis!-ugh: 200yen.

upon arrival we headed south towards the bridge only to find that it wasn't there. we were losing daylight and all was looking in despair until we headed back across the bridge towards the station we arrived at and annabelle had a moment of, er what's that word... you know, when you all of a sudden are able to remember something?

i really need to get out of this country...

anyhoo, we made our way across and suddenly she sprinted ahead exclaiming, `HERE IT IS!!!!`

tofu ice cream: 250yen.

now i know what you're thinking... tofu ice cream? and i know what else you're thinking... yes, it very much so tastes like tofu.

it's not bad, really.

we made our way back to shi-jo for the gion festival in hopes to find a tonkatsu place (ahhh comfort food). the gion festival was absolutely nuts though, i don't think i've ever seen so many people packed along the streets before, but after a long and tiring search, we found what we were looking for! mmm katsu <3.

train ride back: 200yen.
katsu: 1300yen.

finally we wrapped up the night along the river side. it was a gorgeous night with performers all along the banks, but especially this one trepe that performed a kind of jazz that i must say, really really fit the atmosphere; almost like it was speaking to me.

p.s. thanks for the beer chris. twas good.

total spent: 8120yen.

Posted by Jeff at 09:50 AM | Comments (1)

July 18, 2007

4 days and 62k earlier... part 2/5

awoken by a 4:05am wakeup call, but it's all ok, you want to know why (not like you have a choice^^)?

cause i got to ride the NOZOMOI for the first time AND aboard the brand spanking new N700 shink BABY!

/dies! and it has that new shink smell!
/diesagain!

just ask chris or annabelle, i was giddier than a japanese high school student who just found out that new disney merchandise dropped!

but twas all for naught! as we pulled into kyoto station and tackled the great beast which has eluded me for two years in a never ending chase across the isles of JAPAN (ok not really, but bear with me)!!!

cost of shink ticket: 13000yen.

after grabbing an early breakfast, we set off!

breakfast: 380yen.

first on the list, a temple north of kyoto station. h...something or another... (yes this is actually how cultured i am), but followed by 1001 and buddhas! 1001 was cool, it was a singular large buddha surrounded by 500 similar buddhas on each side, each more or less the same, as well as deities in front of the army of said buddhas! too bad we couldn't take any pictures though.

1001 buddhas: 600yen.

making our way northward, we found ourselves up at kiyomizudera temple, the only temple from japan nominated to be one of the new 7 wonders of world; my bet is because it has that ultraviolet purifier where the 3 fountains are... i could be wrong though.

chris drank from the far right fountain, i the middle, and the little 5 year old girl after me spit it all out haha.

kiyomizudera temple: 300yen.
lunch: 1000yen.
souvenir at a really really nice pottery shop: 4200yen.

we grabbed a quick lunch and headed up through gion, the yasaka shrine, and through maruyama park where chris proceeded to make friends with the ducks by sheltering them from the typhoon rains that were hitting us.

he then proceeded to tip the umbrella onto said sheltered duck, drenching him (didn't check to be honest) thorougly... this lead to the question:

do ducks get annoyed by the rain?

making our way north, we found ourselves at chion-in temple, which though i went, soon learned afterwards that it was a lot larger than we had anticipated (but i think most of it was under construction). in the pouring rain, most everything starts to lose a bit of appeal seeing as how it means standing longer in the rain (i love rain though).

our final stop of the day was nazenji temple, where, i must say, this was probably my faovrite of all of them. nazenji is noted for their zen rock gardens and with the ambiance (love that word) of the rain it was just so tranquil and calming that, quite literally, chris fell asleep.

nazenji temple: 500yen.

with that, we headed back to our hostel and checked in.

subwayfares: 1000yen.
hostel checkin: 6300yen.

where we proceeded to find a place to have dinner. everyone seemed to be up for homestyle cooking so i made some phone calls that went like this:

guy: hello, thanks for calling, this is waraji-te.
me: yes, good evening, i was wondering if we could make a reseravtion please (inet said to have a jp speaker to make reservations, i was nominated in a purely democratic election).
guy: sorry, we're full.
me: ok thanks. /hangsup.

me: yeah, so they're full.
chris: well what about tomorrow?
me: ... <--- why didn't i think of that?

guy: hello thanks for calling, this is waraji-te.
me: yes, um, good evening... you've never heard me before and i you, but i was wondering if i could make a reservation for a party of 3 tomorrow night?
guy: ...sorry, we're closed tomorrow night.
me: ok... thanks. /hangsup.

me: yeah... they're closed lol.
annabelle: well what about monday night?
me: ... <--- why didn't i think of that... again!?

guy: hello thanks for calling, this is waraji-te.
me (faking an accent): hello, yes, good evening to you sir, would you happen to be able to take a reservation for 3 on the evening of the day that is known as monday?
guy: mmm... sorry, we're closed for the national holiday.
me: i see... thank you again. /hangsup.

we eneded up on indian food, ajanta, A+++ btw!

dinner: 1700yen.

total spent today: 29000yen.

Posted by Jeff at 03:54 PM | Comments (1)

5 days and 72k earlier... part 1/5

quite a long weekend, and quite a lot to report upon which i'll try to divy up into a per-day kind of entries! and just for fun, let's see where my money went...

day 1, 7/13:

yes it's friday the 13th, but as my mom said `13 is a lucky number for us chinese.`

whether or not that's true or not, i think i've just settled over accepting that as fact, and thus it has never really bothered me since.

today was the day of the leaver's ceremony for alts (my job) from shizuoka prefecture. naturally we are divided into municipal/private and kencho, well i guess not naturally, but you get the idea.

and in case you were ever wondering, wearing a suit and tie in july, in japan can get really really hot.

so getting back from work, i changed, and headed out the door again to a simple ceremony of the municipal/private jets who are leaving. we were also asked to give a speech in japanese.

bus fare to and back from the station: 600yen.
train fare back and fourth: 710yen.

now i can teach 21 kids, i can teach 41 kids, and i can talk to 50+ of my peers without a hitch, but for some reason, i could not stop shaking as i gave my little 3 minute speech (memorized!) in keigo!

afterwards i headed home, and then up to tokyo where i met annabelle and chris for this really really nifty soba/izakaya spot in ebisu, nakamura gen, that's apparently run out of a normal looking apartment building with no signs or anything. you just walk up to the door and push.

originally we all thought it was a soba specialty shop, but they really only have one soba item on the menu... and a LOT of alcohol.

minus the 3000yen price tag, it was a pretty cool experience.

train ticket to tokyo: 2520yen.
2x unagi pies (for itou sensei, my jp teacher who's visiting family in nagoya now) and some random onigiris and waters for my trip up: 2500yen.
random train fares: 600yen.

oh yeah, and the waitress was cute.

:o

total spent: 9930yen.

Posted by Jeff at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2007

happy 2 year birthday BLOG!

two years ago on this day, i started rambling on about anything that i found interesting or amusing during my time in japan that i thought only i could understand.

little did i realize i actually have quite a few people who enjoy reading my ramblings.

to all of you, thank you for your patience and your (sort of) stalking (just kidding).

big heart for the blog!

Posted by Jeff at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2007

oh happy 365!

the 365th entry of my blog!

a few mondays ago ross got this excellent picture from tokyo, a good scandalous picture... and, like any good chap, we passed it around and all put it on our cell phones.

now that isn't the problem, the problem has occured three times, but i think the best of it has to have been tonight during iaido practice, but first, the other two times!

1. during the interview test, i used my cell as a timer, and as such, when i opened my cell in front of my students... there's that picture.

2. i got a jp message from my iaido sensei and asked my jte to translate it. after awhile i said, 'nm' and pressed 'exit' to which it cheerfully displayed said picture to my jte.

3. and this is the best. at iaido practice tonight, i sat down and my sensei comments on how i'm earlier than usual today and that he sent me a txt. likewise, i reach for my phone and open it to the txt message and as i'm exiting it i notice he's looking over my shoulder.

usami sensei: so... i see you're taking pictures with your phone now!
me: ... yes...
sensei: can i see it?
me: ...
sensei: ...
me: ...no?
sensei: ...
me: ...
sensei: ...
me: ...
sensei: ...
me: ...
sensei: ...
me: ...
sensei: ...
me: ...

...

Posted by Jeff at 11:13 PM | Comments (1)

!!!

i got my shodan!!!!

received it from a 91 year old master of iaido...

and on another note as of 11:43am japan time, i am FINISHED of ALL obligations / responsibilities of my job. all finals are done, all grades are done, all i have to do is sit back, write two speeches and some thank you letters, and finish up my english room project, and i am OUTTA HERE!

and more and more kids are coming up to me and thanking me for all the fun times... and giving me letters...

even though it's only 3 of my kids total who gave me letters :[

/sniff...

Posted by Jeff at 11:06 PM | Comments (1)

July 11, 2007

a real update part 2

books:
i finished `travels` by crichton and i have to say, it was a great book, probably one of the best i've ever had a chance to read, and i (seebs more so) HIGHLY recommend that you all take a look when you have the time (or you can just borrow it from me!)

currently i'm reading `the adventures of sherlock holmes` volume 1 of 2, and i must say, it is a fast read, minus the english bits (you know, lift instead of elevator, hoover instead of vacuum), finished up the first story, a study in scarlett, and am almost done with the sign of four.

something amusing:
me: man fuji kind of... you know... smells...
tomono sensei: well, it's kind of like miso.
me: ...
both of us: hahahahaha!

cause you know what it doesn't smell like?

and as ryan asked for, something good:
i gave my final exam to my business english kids today, a small elective class of only 5 kids, all whom i've taught with the year before in oc, and all really good kids.

as the last bell rang, i asked them all to stand up, and gave my last few words of advice to them:

i told them that that they shouldn't listen to english teachers (or any teachers for that fact) who say `you can't do it` or `your level is just low,` that 1. if they believe that they can do it, that they can, and 2. that if their pronunciation and syllables are good, they will have 0 problems and definitely impress everyone they speak english to. and finally that i was happy to have them and how proud of them i was and that i wished them the best in life.

they clapped

and two of them wrote me letters :[

i'm not going to cry...

Posted by Jeff at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

a real update.

on monday night, as i made my usual round towards mnr (monday night ramen), i came down to the platform at fuji station and turned right and saw a kid with headphones on who looked up and we both looked away. and then i thought, wait a minute and we both looked up at each other.

it was manabu!

for those of you who don't know (and i think that's all of you), manabu was a 3rd year student who graduated in march of this year. little side twist, during graduation, i was taking pictures with all the 3rd year students that i got along with or that wanted to take a picture with me, but i could never find manabu.

i mean come on, our daily greeting at school was a handshake, a one handed hug, and a slap on the back (well ass really, but that would sound kind of, you know, three letter word, rhymes with `hey`) heh. i really respect this kid cause he's polite, friendly, and tries really hard at even speaking english to me.

i learned that he's studying ecology at a university in fuji, that his twin brother (didn't know!) is studying the same thing and that his older brother is in gifu studying as well. he's apparently doing really well, though not practicing kendo anymore, and learning french and basketball.

and apparently he's taking 20 classes.

anyways, with a quick picture from my cell (didn't have my digi) i wished him the best of luck on his studies and told him to enjoy the time he has now. he wished me well as well and we parted ways.

though i'm not sure that we'll get a chance to meet again, i am genuinely glad to have been able to see him one last time before i left japan.

i wish him the best, and know he'll go far in life :)

Posted by Jeff at 10:29 AM | Comments (1)

July 06, 2007

wow

ok i think last night had to be the testament to `lost in translation` so to speak.

so as most of you know i've been studying iaido and i'm hoping to get shodan for it before i leave for japan. i txt'd my teacher before i dressed asking if it was alright to take the exam next week as i didn't think i'm ready for it this week. anyways, i've been practicing for about half a year and last night my teacher finally says `do you want to try for it tonight?`

keep in mind i said earlier that i asked for permission for next week.

so i thought `sure, why not.`

but first a little back story: about a month ago, my teacher gave me:

1. a katana diagram labeling all parts of the katana to which i had to memorize
2. a smaller sheet of the names of the six forms i had to do
3. an official request to attempt shodan

so i practiced the form once in front of the two other students (watanabe san, and i honestly can't remember her name, but she drives a 318i... and that's just minus points). and then i finally got down to doing it. upon finishing though, he asked me to take the written exam, i.e. the parts of the katana... or so i thought.

i left about 2 spaces blank and then i noticed another section which i thought was necessary for nidan, or the second level.

nope... i was wrong.

he sat down and told me what i had to write down the form names, and i admitted that, well, i didn't really study the names of the forms at all. so we sat there in a bit of an awkward silence, and at that moment, i realized:

he wasn't showing me the name of the forms just to show me what i had to remember. he was showing me the names of the forms because i was going to be tested on them!

good. job. me.

Posted by Jeff at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

July 05, 2007

ok, really really over this time

it's official.

i have taught my last class (the last time i said this, i meant more as in official ciriculum) but this was it.

it was 15 home room and as i tried to find words to say how i felt, one of my loudest students, hideto, started to clap, and everyone else got to clapping... i was touched. i won't lie... this is only the second time it's happened and i'm glad to know that my time here wasn't in vane...

that you get this sense of closure, from that first day i stepped into the classroom to this final day two years later, it's almost all come full circle, and all that remains is 26 little days...

Posted by Jeff at 04:20 PM | Comments (1)

if only it were so simple

me: so asked my vp for a letter of rec
me: and he said `write it yourself, then we'll look at it and sign`
me: any ideas where to start?
ryan: To Whom It May Concern: Jeffrey C. Chu kicks ass at life. That is all. Sincerely, Akira Suzuki, Vice-Principal of Yoshiwara Commercial High School.
me: lol
ryan: seriously though
me: what do you write about since i don't really work with them?
ryan: Do you know how fucking sweet that would be if you got him to sign that and you actually submitted it to a company?
ryan: Do you have access to your successor's app? In it are his letter's of recommendation. Use them as a template.
me: i have access to my own letters of rec
ryan: Most rec letters don't stray too much from the same old form of: he's really cooperative, a team-player, yadda yadda.
ryan: Then use those
ryan: and change them to include how you nailed your current job requirements
me: lol
me: DID I?
me: XD
ryan: according to the vice=principal (which is you), you sure did lol
me: LOL

he's so happy when i put him in the blog :).

Posted by Jeff at 09:24 AM | Comments (1)

happy fourth everyone

the date posted says the `5th` but that's japan time, it's the fourth back home.

trust me.

so i know for any of you who've come to read this blog that most of my entries are kind of random bantor of things i've done, little musings of my own, and conversations that got me to laugh, and links that more or less put a smile on my face.

but this time i'm thinking i'll give you guys something a little more serious in tone.

please bear in mind that i'm not really articulate.

last night i had planned to have dinner with brian and albert, but due to brian's test marking and the pouring rain, we all agreed upon a later date to catch up and chew the fat so to speak. that said, i found myself lying on my spongy blue couch (which i still argue is the best couch in the world) with itunes on random and the rain just falling in buckets outside (i love the rain btw).

and then it hit me.

i'm going home.

now you have to understand that last night as i was staring up at my roof, it's never been `you're going home in x months and x days` everytime i look up, but for the first time it was. it was the thought that, as weird as this sounds (to me anyways), two years have passed and now i'll be going home in 27 days.

i was talking to ryan about this and he said, `you think that's nuts, i have 20 days left!` that's just shy of three weeks, but it really put things into perspective.

i'm really leaving, and i know that sounds redundant, but it's not like when i left home for uni, and it's not like when i left uni to come home. this little stinky town has been my home, i've spent the last two years of my life here and now it's all going to come to an end as i pack up the last of my belongings and tie up every lose end here. i've never really just thought about everything in the sense that this is just a page in my life. this has been my home, and despite all the quirks that come with it (damn you shower), i still feel the most at ease here and now i'm on the verge of just letting it go, passing it on to the next guy after me.

all in all, it leaves me with a kind of emptiness, a thought that unlike when i was running through undergrad and everyone tells me that these are going to be the best years of your life, i'm actually aware of it now.

and that makes me sad that it's all coming to a close.

but the thing is, i know this is the time that i should close this chapter in my life, i know what i'm doing is what's best for me, i just can't help but feel a kind of pain that weighs down at the bottom of my heart.

maybe this doesn't make sense to you guys, maybe it does, heck i don't even know if i can really say i even understand my own ramblings.

it's amazing to me how everyday we are imparted with the wisdom and advice of our peers, our seniors, and yet we never really understand them, fully understand them, until you find yourself in a situation that demonstrates that you really don't understand them.

and even words.

i can finally tell each and everyone of you that this truly is the textbook definition of bittersweet.

Posted by Jeff at 09:08 AM | Comments (1)

June 27, 2007

interview fun

currently i'm giving interview tests to all my kids. mainly it consists of a 1 minute introduction section where i ask them as many of 9 questions as i can and then a 1 min free response section following one of three topics.

keep in mind, low level school where they answer my `how are you?` with `how are you?`

there were two kids in particular who i asked the same question:

what is your favorite food?

best answer so far: meat.

i'm starting to think i should be more specific...

Posted by Jeff at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

i actually don't know what to think of this one...

i'll leave my friend anon for this one, but here's the skinny:

last night i had a dream where two of my friends were with me karaoke-ing (yes it's a verb) with a few other people and there was a girl who was giggling in a group of japanese people just off to our left. one of them came out and asked one of my best mates to come to their group really quickly for a bit. upon his return, he came back with a really large grin on his ear and said, and i quote (serious), `man, i couldn't be happier.` upon which i ask `what happened?` and his response?

`i got a gf now.`

and me, being the ever curious fool that i am, dart into the other group of japanese people and finally stumble upon my friend's said gf.

it was one of my students. she's 17. and in my dream i have the same expression as you probably do right now: jaw dropped, shocked expression, slightly pale.

so the first thing i did when i woke up today and got into work, i im'd the whole story to him.

anonymous: haha no, and why wasn't it [insert name of other mutual friend], why'd it have to be me?
me: well, cause we're single
me: lol
anon: HAHAHA
anon: fair enough......fair.........enough........
me: and thank GOODNESS it wasn't me
me: then there'd be something wrong...
anon: rite rite
anon: but me.....
anon: i mean.......thats okay
anon: 17 yr old
anon: [anon's real name]
anon: nothing ODD about that
anon: YEA THANKS MAN
anon: thats it......im going home
me: lol
me: big <3

can't wait to go home...

Posted by Jeff at 10:27 AM | Comments (1)

June 26, 2007

oh yeah

and i was having dinner with chris and annabelle sunday night on my way back from sado, and we ate some pretty hot peppers (why would they do this to us?).

anyways, we got around to discussing the best remedies to it, and we all agreed that milk was the best, but `why?`

just thought i'd share this with all of you.

milk or other dairy products to soothe your mouth because they contain a casein, a protein that breaks the bond capsaicin forms with pain receptors.

this is what i do while at work...

Posted by Jeff at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)

how big of a heel am i?

so last month, may 07, i learned an old friend annabelle was living in japan.

then in asked `how long have you been here?`

`october 05,` she replied.

to answer my own question, a big one.

Posted by Jeff at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)

tired doesn't even begin to describe it

it really really doesn't.

so last friday i headed up to sado island to visit my cousin aeon who's also on the jet program. last year he came down to shiz and the fuj to visit me and i always said i'd repay the favor. so here it is: how to get to sado island!

1. take 1hr 13 min shink to tokyo.
2. take 2 hr 7 min shink to niigata.
3. take 15 min bus ride to ferry terminal.
4. take 2 hr 30 min ferry ride to niigata. <---- i bought the cheapest ticket and hid in the `special class` (one up of first class) lounge hehe.

i left home at 3:10pm, i arrived at 10:00pm.

fun times!

anyways, really really good to see what life is like for my cous, and let alone another side of japan. i think i got the tingles when he said the only real thing to do there was drive along the northern coast for 3 hrs...

oh and i really lost it when he offered that we traverse said adventure on his motorcycle, and me following on a scooter.

first time on a scooter, and a 3 hr coastal ride?

best!

seriously it's easily one of the best moments of my life, to push that little scooter to 60 km/h (~38 mph) with the sea on your left and this gorgeous greenery on your right and pretending i'm not on some pansy scooter, but a nice bike...

regardless it was a great weekend, we went firefly catching, ate curry out of a bus, went to a concert (that was... no comment...) but at the end aeon got up and did a piano solo of `desperado` and THAT was gold! made a restaurant regret the words `all you can eat,` and painfully learned how out of shape i am when we played a game of 1 on 1, and visited the only 5 story pagoda in all of niigata.

big thanks to my cous again for hosting, and hope to be able to do that drive again except on a real bike next time.

see ryan, i am cultured...

even though we walked in and out in under 6 minutes...

still... cultured!

Posted by Jeff at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2007

as of 9:50AM JST

i have officially taught my last lesson in japan.

Posted by Jeff at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2007

and... the day before yesterday

i let my 2nd year business english class watch `independnce day` last week. goto sensei asked them all to write a summary of the sorts and turn it into me, well, the day before yesterday.

one of the students is actually very good at english (had her in my oc1 class last year), and i just loved the summary she wrote for the movie:

Because a meaning of this title was "Independence Day". Why is it this title. I thought so... This movie importance to a beloved person and Human thought. Human stupidity. And I was able to watch splendid. Before the president fights against a spaceship. That he said to pilots was very splendid. Racial discrimination stop. Always I want the peace world to become it. The alien was grotesque...

hehe that last line is seriously the best.

Posted by Jeff at 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

yesterday...

lately i haven't been able to eat breakfast - mostly cause i oversleep a bit (actually a lot) and find myself running out the door to get to class.

so lunch came around yesterday, and lately, i've been bringing it to my desk and chatting with tomono sensei and tajima sensei (who sits to my immediateleft and two sports over on my left respectively).

me: YAY FOOD!
tomono sensei: what?
me: yay... food?
tajima sensei: what do you mean?
me: it just means i'm simple :D
tj: i don't understand... please explain
me: well ok, you know how some people are really happy if you buy them jewelery, cars, expensive items?
tj: yes.
me: well i just (yes this is the actually translation of the word, though a scosh literal... just a scosh) achieve the most supreme happiness in the universe when i get food. thus simple to make happy.
tj: oh i get it...
tomono: yeah, means he's cheap.

...

5 letter word... rhymes with stitch...

(jk i really do like tomono sensei)

Posted by Jeff at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

at lunch 15 minutes ago...

in japanese:

saito sensei: omg, i need to stop drinking.
goto sensei: i know, it's so bad, need to stop.
me: yes that's a good idea! (yes i'm limited to really lame corny catchphrases in jp)
g: but can't stop...
s: agreed.
me: ???
g: if i did, i'd die.

me: /thinkingaboutthat

me: wait a minute... isn't it the other way around? if you stopped, you'd live?
g: but the stress.

...

that... can't be right...

Posted by Jeff at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2007

by request!

so, as requested by my brother, here's an update.

which for the record i apologize for due to nothing really happening in my life besides work and getting ready to head back.

seriously, it's so slow here, paint dries faster.

so on sunday ryan, me, nakamura sensei, and nakamura sensei's friend (who didn't show) headed back to ushihama (remember my attempt at a 21km half marathon?) but this time it's to do a simple 4 man relay, 5km each.

now me, being my usual stuff, had managed to get myself out of shape... again.. (i swear it gets harder each time... really), find myself really psyched up. so psyched up that as we were watching the previous race finish up, i just had to say this:

me: ok this is going to sound really gay, but you know what's hot?
ryan: what?
me: guys with shaped calves.
ryan: yeah... that is...

[insert pause for comedic timing]

ryan: ...pretty gay.

...

i can hear my brother now...

Posted by Jeff at 06:57 PM | Comments (1)

June 09, 2007

so...

it's june.

as i was getting off work today, i saw a bunch of my kids in kyudo waiting around together in the parking lot. they all turned around and started waving at me and yelling 'JEFFU BYE BYE!!!' ...

and me without my camera...

...i'm seriously gonna miss all of this...

Posted by Jeff at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2007

this is why you never ever...

...throw away your receipts.

in preparation to going home i've been talking about getting everything ready so as the clock rolls around to august 1st, i get to get the hell out of here and not look back.

but in discussing bills, i brought up one thorn that has been in my side since the beginning:

i had to pay for my predecessor's internet bill cause the guy didn't cancel it before he left... so i ended up paying for it.

true it was only 24 bucks, but hey, principle.

then akiyama san tells me something interesting:

`if you can bring the receipts, i can reinburse you.`

reheeeheeeheeeheaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllly.

so, chalk one up to keeping your bills and keeping them organized, cause i just received 2754 yen.

:D

in addition, i got reinbursed for an older business trip worth a whopping 440 yen.

so i just got back 3194 yen today :D

which i'm going to spend on karaoke...

life is good...

Posted by Jeff at 04:44 PM | Comments (1)

May 18, 2007

to go or not to go

that is the question.

everytime i have a bit of the sniffles, my teachers get concerned.

`oh you have a cold...` they say.
`have you been to the hospital?` they ask.
`are you alright? maybe you should take paid time off.` <--- yeah right.

now one thing you guys have to know about me and japanese `hospitals.` i hate them. i really really hate them. why you ask?

1. they look like they're housed out of shack.
2. there is no lab.
3. it does not look sterile.
4. the x-ray machine must be cerca 1940's.
5. every japanese doctor is a hypochondriact in that whatever minor symptom you have, he'll assume it to be a form of cancer, terminal disease, or the rarest thing in the book. honest.

so lately my eyes have been irritated due to the pollen in the air and every friday 4th period, fe sensei (from the philippines), and goto sensei (whom we all should know by now), are in this empty room so we can talk without getting in any trouble by the man.

fe: jeff, go to a doctor. they will help you.
me: no, i don't want to because [reasons above].
fe: ok even so, your eyes are all red!
me: they'll go away! besides, all the hospitals in japan are ghetto.
fe: well how about if i recommend some for you?
me: go for it.
fe: how about ishida?
goto: ah, ishida is good! you can go tomorrow.
me: but does he speak english?
goto: that's good question. one second. [opens door to adjacent room] miss yamaguchi, can you [leaves the room]

30 seconds pass.

goto: [comes back]ok, miss yamaguchi says go to kato.
me: where is it?
goto: 2 minutes from school.
me: is it any good fe?
fe: it's good, isn't that right mr. goto?
goto: yes! very pretty nurses!
fe and me: ...
goto: what?
me: i want an answer though, not something to look at.
fe: come on mr. goto, what about their doctors?
goto: yes, pretty nurses...

...

i still can't tell if i should chalk that up to `pro` or `con` :P

Posted by Jeff at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2007

i <3 ryan too

ryan: oh man, if you're ever in the mood to do something stupid, do this:

1) move to a foreign country and stop eating cheese for 2 years so your body is no longer used to processing it.
2) eat a small block of cheese for lunch.
3) Teach for 3 consecutive hours after lunch in agony as your digestive system gives you the equivalent of the finger and a "I hope you're happy now, you jackass."

i'm gonna miss these days :[

Posted by Jeff at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2007

update

for the record, i am apologizing in advance for the lack of updates in addition to the quotidian (thank you seebruck) entry that you're all about to receive.

that being said.

golden week has come and gone, and it always seems like no matter what holiday comes up, the moment i blink i find myself getting ready to go to work again. sad isn't it? my dad brought the farm to japan for golden week; mom, brother, brother's wife, grandma, aunt, and dad himself, as i found myself on a train bound for narita (except i'm not going anywhere... kind of like south korea part 1 see 10/11 entry) but with a positive twist; i get to see my family again.

as justin would say: that's love.

another surprise: i'm not sure if i've mentioned this... knowing me i probably have, but it seems that a good number of people actually read this blog. and not just the handful that i shamelessly name dropped before i left for japan, but some people i would never have expected!

i swear i will buy you all steak dinners or something.

it's a pleasant unexpected surprise that brings me much happiness knowing that there are people who enjoy my writing, writing style (yes travis and ryan, i know you two probably read it the most <3 <--- a heart).

other news...

i'm halfway through travels, and i must say, it is quite the enjoyable read, hopefully will be done by next week (been reading much more sporadically than usual), hope to be on sherlock holmes volume 1 in the meantime.

after showing my parents around for the last four days, it's all finally come full circle, more or less, in the sense that both my worlds have finally collided as the people closest to me have seen my reclusive life in japan. on the bright side it's left me eager to return home to get my life back on track and finally get a chance to sign off on this long mortal coil that has wound up to be two years of my 24 on this blue pearl we call home.

with only three or so more weeks of teaching left, my closet now 80% empty from my parents taking two suitcases full home, and the days warming up, my time left in japan seems to be shorter and shorter, and as ryan said to me earlier today; i just realized how little time we have here and how much shit we have to do.

indeed.

Posted by Jeff at 02:27 PM | Comments (1)

May 01, 2007

what day is today?

so i click this link. and then turn to the jte next to me:

me: OMG do you know what day is today?
tomono sensei: what?
m: do you know what day is today?
t: ...i don't follow...
m: why is today special?
t: becausem: ... it's the first of may?
m: ...not quite.
t: because... of... the... morning... meeting?
m: ...no.
t: OH I KNOW! birthday!
m: not quite...
t: i'm not sure...
m: i'll give you a hint: kumo
t: club?.. spider?
m: spider!
t: OHHH it's SPIDERMAN'S birthday!
m: ...

close... but no cigar.

btw, in case you missed it, read the second entry again.

best!

Posted by Jeff at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

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 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 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)

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)

March 23, 2007

i'm nuts

ok, 10 days of china, and 4 days of going out everynight, and now, ANOTHER trip to malaysia and cambodia for 9 days.

i are nuts.

but as i leave tonight for tokyo, and then tomorrow afternoon, the really really really cool thing about this all is that...

drum roll please.

i'm going to meet susie in kuala lumpur!

:D

行ってきます～

Posted by Jeff at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2007

highlights

like goofs and gallant.

except not.

anyways, back from china and fully recovered (slept till 3:30 yesterday), been getting a few questions like `how was your mandarin?` and...

well ok, just that question. let's just say this is more or less how them 10 days went:

mike: haha ok
mike: so shanghai #1
mike: did you get a table
mike: or stand in line
me: table
mike: to be honest, i didn't think the buns there were better than at ding tai fong
mike: but still
me: i wasn't impressed
mike: gotta go
mike: it's famous
me: they were good
me: let me tell you
me: that hostess did NOT appreciate me being illiterate ahahaha
mike: lol
me: `so um... yes... i'd like some xlb... and... could you tell me what number 2 is?.... and number 3....`
me: `....4?`
me: 5 items on the menu
mike: `....5?`
mike: `...and what was 4 again?`
me: lol
me: exactly....
me: `...could you explain them all as if i was 5?`
mike: hahaha

in the end i took a few orders of everything...

on the flight to shanghai though, i met a pastor named hugo who gave me a pretty interesting conversation. he's probably given me one of the better talks of my life in addition to the greatest comeback of my life:

me: you know, i've just grown so cynical of it all.
hugo: well jeff... maybe things will get better for you when you are cynical of your own cynicism.

lol oh yeah, and one more thing.

i'm no big history buff, so when i went into china i saw all these things about `mao is great` not quite exact but more or less to that extent. and so when i got back to japan i had to do one thing:

wiki up mao.

and let me tell you something i discovered in my researching.

he wasn't a nice guy.

in fact he was downright mean...

... what's wrong with this picture?

Posted by Jeff at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

ただいま!

holy crap, it's been 10 days!

finally back from china and let me say, it was... /chuckle... pretty amazing.

3/9 - 3/10 -> shanghai
3/10 -> took the sleeper train to xian. think titanic... but on a train.
3/11 -> xian
3/11 -> took the sleeper train to beijing
3/12 - 3/16 -> beijing
3/16 -> took the sleeper train to shanghai
3/17 -> shanghai
3/18 -> back in tokyo

highlights of the things we saw:

1. the great wall - walked 10km of it or 1/630th of it
2. the forbidden city - even after you pay it's kind of forbidden...
3. tian'anmen square - opened on the LAST day we were in beijing
4. terracotta warriors - really really cool to see in person

and of course [mike wu] i ate at nanxiang steamed buns, and peking duck @ quanjude and @ da dong roast duck. btw: duck fat and sugar is ridiculously good... though i will say i think that taiwanese food is better... mmmm taiwanese food... :)

...and the hostel staff in beijing said that they think i'm cute :D

Posted by Jeff at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2007

if you knew my dad

this would make you laugh.

a little background. tomorrow i'm off to china and i asked my mom to write me some good foods i might like in chinese (in case there are 1. no english menus 2. no pictures.

for number 3 it could have just been:

hot pot with lamb meat.

oh no.

it actually was this:

hot pot with lamb meat, dad said you will NOT like it.

hahahahaha.

Posted by Jeff at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2007

bata dori?

so because of heavy rainfall monday night, my ramen night was postponed to tuesday night. thankfully ryan was willing to come keep me company as it was a slow night with the yamadas. keep in mind that last sentence was a bit sarcastic, think of it as someone offering to take you to eat with the nicest people on the face of the planet earth (well japan at least). would you honestly say `no` ?

didn't think so.

anyways! we finish our meal and yumiko hands us these little individually wrapped packages that read `bata dori.`

me: so what do you make of this?
ryan: i dunno. looks like mini pancakes with azuki (aka red bean) wedged in the middle.
m: well they gave it to us... can't be that bad...

/weopenandtakeonebite

r: what the hell is that in the middle of the azuki?
m: wouldn't that be awesome if it was actually a slab of butter?
r: haha yeah seriously. wouldn't that be hilarious, i mean we know it's normally in the dessert, but who actually puts a visible slice of butter there.

both: nervous laughter.

m: serious, i mean it's not as if butter rolls come with a fat slab of butter, that shit's baked in so you can at least pretend it's not there...

/ibiteintoit

m: omg that's...
r: no, it's not.

/ryanbitesintoit

r: see. it's not eve... omg yes. ...it's a slab of butter.
m: man they're really not even trying anymore are they?
r: well, it is bata dori...

both: ...

you can just hear yourself getting fatter...

Posted by Jeff at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2007

survey says... (updated)

1. where is jeff from?

they... are actually getting it right. i don't believe!

though i have seen the rogue `china` and `canada` pop up >:o

...new zealand o.Oa

...and boston????

2. how cool is jeff?

a. he is tallest in my school <--- i think that's a good thing...
b. i call him jeff. <---- i do too.
c. yes. it is. <---- yes what is?
d. yes. jeff is cool. <------- A+++++++++
e. no. <---------------------- F---------
f. jeff is enjoy! <---- ...in bed?
g. jeff is very cool. <------- A++++++++++++++++++++++
h. of course. <------- <3
i. he is very high. <-------- hahahahahaha
j. that's right!
k. no. jeff is very hot! <---- 100%
l. his hair is cool!

one more section:

jp kids keep saying `hello` and ` bye bye.` so i taught them: hey, heya, yo, sup, hi, and, see ya, see you later/tomorrow/soon, peace, later, take care, and gotta go.

one of the sections i asked them to write down as many as they could for each...

one student wrote `yar` for `hello.`

i gave her a point haha.

Posted by Jeff at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2007

it's the little truths...

in life that we treasure when we truly understand their meanings:

me: and i'm goin to go drown my sorrows in chocolate cake
m: brb
m: (going to the local bakery)
horace: oh man that sounds good
m: lol
m: it's just chocolate cake
m: nothing special
m: but man it's tasty
h: better than no cake :P

touche sir. touche indeed.

Posted by Jeff at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2007

well it's that time of the term again

final exams!

and with final exams, we have my beloved bonus section.

but first, a few updates. currently i'm still reading catch 22, i know it's been 3 months since i started but to be honest, i've been ridiculously exhausted as i ride trains these days and i just find myself passing out. up next on this list is hopefully another murakami, and then sherlock holmes vol. 1.

we just finished a 3 day conference in yokohama that was mainly to help us get back on our feet for when we all go back to our home countries (respectively of course). good to meet some old friends and find some new. as always aeon (my second cousin who started jet the same time i did) seemed to always find me there (and i him), and as always, ryan and i never really hang out during such events.

another note, chris from back home is in tokyo now for a transfer program from his job. he's only here for six months, but it blows my mind when he's just beginning his six months, and i have about six months to go on my own contract. in addition, it feels like the home stretch where as it's just the beginning for him.

and the final update, the third years just had their graduation ceremony yesterday... though i did spend most of the time fixing my bike and eating a snickers...

now, onto the final exam answers!

this term brings back an old question (mainly cause i couldn't think of a new one, so sue me :P): `where is jeff from? and `how cool is jeff?`

will post it in the next entry.

Posted by Jeff at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2007

thank you

you never really fully understand how powerful those words can be since we all use it so much.

i just finished teaching my last class of the school year, 16 home room. and to be perfectly honest, they have been my favorite class to have taught in the last two years. in addition i'm glad to have stayed that second year to be able to teach 16 home room.

and as i closed up the final minutes of class today, i told them how i felt. and even before the jte (japanese teacher of english) translated what i said into japanese, they gave me an ovation and started to yell out `thank you.`

i don't think i've ever been this choked up before...

to my favorite class from the last two years...

thank you.

Posted by Jeff at 03:17 PM | Comments (1)

February 21, 2007

you ever see

that episode of bugs bunny and the scottish golfer, and he tries to talk him down of his score from 65 to 1?

well that didn't happen.

but this did:

akimoto sensei (my vice principal): so jeff, we have a meeting today.
me: /nod ok.
a: so, you're going at 4:10?
m: yeah i'll contact the office downstairs before i leave.
a: yeah someone will come for you at 4:15.
m: su... wait wh...
a: 4:20.
m: i...
a: 4:30, atta boy jeff hard worker!

...i did what now?

Posted by Jeff at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2007

face wash? yes please!

get your minds out of the gutter...

so last friday (2/9) ryan, mel, tammy, and i headed up to sapporo (their first time, my second) for, once again, the yukimatsuri(or snow festival).

see my feb 13th 2006 entry.

anyways, the trip was great fun as usual. even got travis to come out of oma in aomori prefecture to join us in the festivities (unfortunately he was sick). but hey still good fun eh.

i'm really glad for a few things this trip:

1. buckets of snow
2. baileys in an ice bar
3. good friends
4. 3 hrs of karaoke with kitty chan
5. a sports bar with an owner named chuo (who flexes when you meet him) and his bartender alpha.
6. the world's greatest ramen
7. catching up with good friends
8. ridiculously long snowball fight at 5 am (absolutely the best, thanks aga, amy, and ryan for all the facefulls of snowballs and sprinting through the streets of sapporo)
9. the city of otaru (again).
10. onsening in the snow.

shoot me if i miss anything. as usual, sapporo remains my favorite place in japan. i will truly miss it.

thanks again guys, it was a blast!

oh hey and look, 300th entry. grats jetblog!

Posted by Jeff at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

this is why i teach

(slightly edited for content):

On that day, at that time, in that place if I had not seen him, my school trip would have been boring. I had no friends with me. When I walked alone, I was spoken to by some bold foreigner. I guessed he was French. He spoke some Japanese to me. I was happy to talk with him because I was lonely. When we parted I was sad. I took this picture of him. This picture is my memory of my trip.

this is an anonymous student's show and tell script.

a+ in my book.

Posted by Jeff at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2007

words of wisdom

ryan: if it snows, I will be happy. if it rains I will be...what's the opposite of happy?...ah yes, not happy.

btw, did i mention he got into university of wisconsin's graduate program in sociology? and that it's number one in the nation?

(grats again sir).

we would have also accepted `show.`

Posted by Jeff at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

what do you get

when you combine:

my kids + their english abilities + japanese hobbies + a show and tell presentation + my (and i know YOUR) dirty dirty minds?

well i don't know either but it involves chocolate and balls and collecting them haha.

different flavor balls that is...

peanut,

chocolate,

strawberry...

gotta catch'em all...

Posted by Jeff at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2007

my crappy shower

ok so not sure if many of you are aware of this fact, but my shower is quite possibly one of the poorest designed piece of shotty manufacturing that has ever graced this green earth of ours. quite literally:

it sucks.

now what exactly is it that is so horrible you ask (or not...)? well it's simple. it goes hot, to cold, to hot, to cold, to hot... in, give or take 5-7 min intervals. now first of all, i can shower pretty fast. i mean 5-7 minutes fast. but it doesn't help when the water startes turning to ice water right as i'm about to finish, thus extending my shower time almost 3 fold.

and you may think to yourself `well what's wrong with that?`

to which i will respond: ever live in a house/apt w/ 0 insulation?

to which i'll add: in winter and wet from head to toe?

exactly.

so where is this all going? well since my jp is fairly survivable, i go straight to the people in my school who are responsible for my apartment in hopes of getting a fix. this man, whom from now on will be known as akiyama san, is the person in charge of all jet/alt things both contract related and non-contract related.

needless to say he's a wiseguy to boot (don't get me wrong, he's funny as hell).

it's just always at my expense...

for example:

me: ugh, my shower, it goes hot, to cold, to hot, can i do anything about that?
akiyama san: wow... that sucks eh?
m: yes, yes it does.

/about5minutespasswithnothingsaid.

a: you're still here?

then the next time i went:

me: my shower is still going hot to cold and winter is coming. it'd be a bit hard to live through the winter, you know, without insulation, dripping cold, and waiting 5 minutes for the heater to kick in...
akiyama san: ah... well do you have a girlfriend?
m: no, but what does that have to do with anything?
a: you could go shower at her place!
m: ...oh
a: good luck!

and then there was the time after that:

me: ok so still going hot to cold, and i have friends coming over in a few weeks!
akiyama san: did you get a girlfriend yet?
m: ...no
a: well... why's that?
m: cause japanese girls don't like me?
a: what about the students? they seem to like you well enough.
m: but... they're 16...
a: all the better no?
m: i'm 24!
a: ah... well, what about the 3rd years?
m: NO!!!
a: have you tried asking them when they graduate? then it's only kind of illegal.
m: . . .
m: . . .
m: . . .

and then there's the time after that (which would be last week):

me: nope, still hot to cold hot to cold... this is really difficult cause, well, i like staying warm in the winter time, you know, dripping wet cold is not my idea of `enjoyable` :P.
akiyama san: well that's tough eh? i'll give them a call.
m: thank you! in the mean time what should i do?
a: have you tried [japanese i've never heard of]?
m: i don't understand...
a: ah, you know those zen monks who sit under icy waterfalls in winter time and pray /putshandstogetherandmumbles
m: ...

btw, this is when the ENTIRE office errupts in laughter.

and yes, at my expense...

m: ok, well if i can't?
a: well the 3rd years are about to graduate...
m: . . .
m: . . .
a: good luck!

why did i stay a second year again???!!!

Posted by Jeff at 11:17 AM | Comments (2)

January 22, 2007

ow

ok first and foremost. i read this from pg2 on espn, and it made me laugh pretty hard:

• I can't believe how many readers predicted the following ending of the Pats-Colts game: Vinatieri shanks the game-winning field goal, rips off his jersey to reveal a Pats jersey, then runs across to the Pats sideline and jumps into Belichick's arms as Jim Nantz screams "Noooooooooo! Noooooooooo!" and Peyton Manning breaks out the greatest Manning Face of all-time. Would I sacrifice three months of my life for this to happen? Yeah, probably.

hahahaha, just re-reading it now made me laugh haha.

anyways, as i said in the title. ow. what happened? well ryan, me, and nakamura sensei (one of the teachers at my school) went to run a half marathon yesterday (21km), or about 12-13 miles give or take.

and me formally starting my training about 3 days earlier.

good job me!

anyways, the race starts and i kept telling myself that `i am not going to walk, i am not going to walk, i am not going to walk.` and that my only other goal being `i will finish, i will finish, i will finish.` was shortly lived right around the time i saw the 8 km mark.

please keep in mind that the farthest i've ever gone, is 4.8 km.

so around 8 i started noticing this pain in my left foot, right under the ball of my big toe. i hobbled along, slowing my pace down a bit, and i round the halfway point of 10.5 and finally as i'm getting to 12, i just needed to walk it off.

or so i told myself.

i walked for a good few hundred meters when i decided to start picking it up again.

and that's when it was hurting quite a bit.

so i found the patrolling first aid guys and asked for a little help with what i believed to be a blister.

upon taking off my sock, it was revealed to be a blister about the size of a half dollar, thus capping my run at 14 km, but...

i have pictures!

Posted by Jeff at 03:54 PM | Comments (1)

January 12, 2007

june...july...

classes started wednesday as i got used to shaking of the ol teaching cobwebs and tried to find my groove again after three weeks of surfing the web.

and getting paid for it.

:D

but in addition to me feeling a little oog, i found that my students did as well:

me: what is the date today? <----- i see one student talking a lot
m: /pause
m: yoshimasa! <---- said talkative student
y: hai!
m: the date please?
y: um...
y: what's it called... that month with a j... j...
m: /waits
y: june!
m: ...try again.
y: JULY!
m: ...getting there... only one left...
y: AH! I GOT IT! JUCEMBER!
m: ...

we would have also accepted your never speaking english again...

Posted by Jeff at 09:50 AM | Comments (2)

January 03, 2007

so... new year

that means new antics right?

right right.

so mike x 2 and i were sitting at sushi dai in tsukiji where we just finished our 'chef's recommendation' set and we finally get the chance to pick one of our choosing (part of the set).

mike t chooses the classis otoro (fattiest of tuna cuts).

mike w chooses blue shrimp.

me, i thought i'd be clever. i asked for what ara / fujida / satoshi (the three chefs) recommendation was.

needless to say some bantering goes on (i miss big chunks of this haha) and finally they prepare something and set it on my table. the best i can describe this is that it looks like the yellow buds of bean sprouts, except they're white, slightly larger, and there's a good number of them. all over rice, wrapped in seaweed with a slight garnish of green onion and some sweet mustard (just a dab). in the words of our three chefs: eat it in one bite! it's only in season now!

well alrighty.

one bite later, i'im pleasantly surprised. it was pretty good. if you know your sushi, it goes in with a texture of ikura, then dissolves into a kind of bbq'd eel texture, and finally slides down the back of your throat, warm, with the consistency of chutoro (second fattiest tuna).

not bad.

mike x 2 felt somewhat obligated to check the menu for something else they might want to try, and asked what i just had. they point to one entry that stands alone.

sperm sacks of cod.

fantastic.

Posted by Jeff at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2007

happy new years!

i won't lie, december went by really really really slowly.

not that that's a bad thing.

mike and mike plus a wendy and i'll raise you a jenny with an albert on the side have come and gone, and once again i find myself on my own again.

not that that's a bad thing either.

but it was honestly a clash of two worlds that never ceased to blow my mind away. for the most part, i tried to show them around to what i've come to know and come to call home for the last 18 months, in addition they showed me a few things i never even dreamed of existed in the places i felt i knew like the back of my hand.

it was good to take them to the yamadas for christmas... and see teru the next night... as well as show them around my school. the small bakeries, the endless bowls of ramen, the shink... all left me with a fuzzy feeling that reminded me of what it was like to be back home, almost as if i never left in the first place.

my personal highlight of the trip was getting to get up to nagano again. unlike last year where brad, ryan, masaya and i went to ueda, we went to where they ran parts of the olympic games in 98.

and oh yeah, they'll never let you forget the olympics were held there... 8 YEARS AGO.

i mean seriously, it's around every freaking corner!

all in all, it was great to see them all again. tsukiji sushi twice, tokyo way too many times, and even some proper onsen-ing aka sausage fest.

great way to finish out 06.

Posted by Jeff at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2006

merry christmas!

merry christmas everyone!

remember: it's not what you get for christmas... it's what you can exchange it for. : )

much heart from japan,
jeff

Posted by Jeff at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2006

exciting times ahead

indeed.

well of coursre it's easy for me to say eh?

so what's new? reading wise:

i've finished 'way of the peaceful warrior' and to be honest, it wasn't fantastic. it felt like i read the abridged version, and that the full length version would have been indeed more promising. moving on to book two of my birthday presents, i'm reading 'conversations with God' and i'm actually finding this incredibly interesting. even if it's not the actual man himself that the author is talking with, i find it an incredibly fresh perspective on the whole take on faith and God.

an open mind is a must.

and finally, off the shelves of my highschool days, i'm reading 'catch 22' again... er, well for the first time haha.

some fun quotes:

ryan: you know what'd be nice? silk boxers... but don't you ever think about getting me any. ever.
me: but...
r: NO!

ryan: so... what kind of food will be there krist? armenian? ah, don't worry, we'll eat on the way home..

tammy: hey
t: will you bring my money to ramen tonight?
m: yes
m: but will you bring mine ;D
t: yeah
t: 47000 is a lot
m: lol yeah it is
m: well i have 13137 of your money
m: i paid 60ooo last year
t: hm
m: you can drop it to 47ooo - 13ooo
t: yeah
m: so you only need to bring 34ooo
m: it's worth it though heh
t: then you still owe me like, 170 yen right?
m: lol
m: yes
m: if you'd like
m: 137
m: i have your receipt too
t: yeah man. that'll buy me a bottle of tea
t: or a yogurt cup
m: hahahahha
m: atta girl ;D

so proud...

and as i said in the title, mikes tai and wu, as well as jenny and wendy, and alberto will be coming from the 19th to the 31st. exciting times indeed!

Posted by Jeff at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2006

ah yes, it's that time of the quarter again

where my kids are taking final exams.

where we have brought you such classics as:

q: where is jeff from?
a: jeff's house.

today's installment:

q: what is the date today?
(please keep in mind i ask every class this question everytime)
a: it's a secret.

q: what do kids say on halloween to get candy?
a: give me candies!

...

/sigh.

Posted by Jeff at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

December 05, 2006

the set.

my set.

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist December 04, 2006 Tokyo, Japan

City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Out of Control
I Still Haven’t Found What I'm Looking For
Beautiful Day
Angel of Harlem
The First Time
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Bad
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (in the Name of Love)
Where the Streets have no Name
One

The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With or Without You
The Saints are Coming
Window in the Skies
Vertigo

Posted by Jeff at 09:08 PM | Comments (0)

and to all of you waiting...

that was unfuckingbelievable!!!!

my throat was sore, i was dripping with sweat, my body aching like no other, half my muscles cramping, and i wanted MORE! that's how much fun it was, that's how awesome it was, and that's the freaking best climax to waiting 11 years and trying four times to get tickets!!!!

here's how it opened. fashionably late, and pitch black.

then right as the edge strikes the first chord for `city of blinding lights` one spot light in the middle of the room with bono holding japan's flag and the crowd going absolutely nuts. and it never stopped. another highlight was that for `one` he asked the entire audience to whip out their cells and light up the room. it was amazing. or during `sometimes you can't make it on your own` they had a simplified bono on screen to shadow the real bono. and don't forget all the little goodies that he's known for: changing his lyrics to fit as much of the venue's local and famous locations, playing to his audiences, and inserting quips from other songs into popular songs - i go to hear him do `in a little while` : ) - or how crazy the crowd went when he did pride, `in the name of love` or how amazingly silent it was when he did his acoustic duet with the edge with 'the first time' or the amazing note he held for miss sarajevo.

the only semi-not-cool things were 1. the floor was blocked off so you can't move. 2. it is not first come first serve.

so i waited 4 hrs for nothing hahaha.

but it was still awesome. you never realize how fun a concert is when you, and the entire crowd of 80ooo plus can sing along to every song. there are just no words to describe that.

as for my partner in crime, miss jane o'toole, who we met on the intern... er.. the concert.. yes... a tremendous thanks for accompanying me to one of the highlights of my life. had a blast and it was even better cause i could share it with her (she flew in from matsue japan for it!!!).

as for the one song i wished they had played, i just sang it outloud at the top of my lungs after the concert...

and in the end you're left with a near broken body, gasping for water and air, an incredibly fond memory, and the pleasant thought that you'd do it all over again.

Posted by Jeff at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2006

it's TODAY!!!

today today today!!!

after 11 years, 4 failed attempts, IT'S TODAY!!!!

u2. live. 12/4.

and i'm going.

Posted by Jeff at 07:32 AM