2005-08-31

Comment Spam Must Burn in Hell

So I did all these updates on my blog and I finally got comments! I couldn't believe my luck! So I went to read them and much to my dismay, IT WAS SPAM! God I hate SPAM... spam is like the evil that lurks in the dark... you just never know when it'll hit. You get your hopes up only to have them crushed by the words "got problems? this can help! link"
JERKS...

2005-08-30

Summer Vacation Pictures

OK. I promised pictures ages ago. Here they are. Some of the best pictures from my 11-day culture leave/vacation. I have now visited 3 out of the 4 National Treasure castles in Japan, one of the 3 most famous gardens and climbed 1 of the 3 Sacred Japanese mountains. Not bad for just one trip.
Comments are encouraged. Also, if you want any more pics, drop me a line and I'll be happy to oblige.

Inuyama Castle


Castle #1. Inuyama-Jo. Night shot. The oldest of the National Treasure castles in Japan. Also the only one that is privately owned. Posted by Picasa

Thatched-roofed Cottages!


Art shot. Gassho-zukuri houses in the World Heritage site of Shirakawa-go in Gifu prefecture. Posted by Picasa

On Top of a Mountain


Crater lake on the way down. Posted by Picasa


The view from the top of the mountain. Posted by Picasa


My proudest moment during my vacation: making it up Mt. Hakusan. This is me at the true summit, 2702m up. Posted by Picasa

Kanazawa Castle


Castle #2 of the trip. The diamond-shaped watch towers of Kanazawa-jo. The only remaining original structure is the Ishikawa-Mon (the back door to the castle). These towers are modern reproductions from 2001 using traditional Japanese construction methods. One of the best castle museums I've been to. Posted by Picasa

Oyamajinja


I like this picture. A shinto priest looking at the GIANT mutant koi. Posted by Picasa


Oyamajinja. A shrine dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, the head of the governing clan in Kanazawa during the Edo period. Not too special but it does have a nice garden and a pond with GIANT mutant koi. Posted by Picasa

Kenrokuen


Kenrokuen. This is the most famous lantern in Japan... or almost. Kenrokuen is considered one of the 3 best gardens in Japan. We went at 7AM and had the place to ourselves. It was fantastic! Posted by Picasa

Eiheiji


Eiheiji. One of 2 main temples for the SOTO sect of Zen Buddhism. This temple was established sometime in the 13th centruy by some guy named Dogen. It's a beautiful place... unfortunately it's near Fukui which is probably the most BORING city in Japan. Posted by Picasa

Hikone Castle


Castle #3 on my visit... This is Hikone in the rain. Castles are always much smaller than I imagined but then again, Himeji has spoiled my for life. Posted by Picasa

Japan: a different dimension?

Hurricane Katrina left behind chaos and destruction. As you well know, one of the strongest hurricanes in American history has claimed the lives of many and caused billions of US$ in damage... But, here I am in Japan, and there are some people (yes, even Americans) who had no idea what was going back in North America...
It really makes you wonder, doesn't it? When there are big earthquakes in Japan, it's reported back home... right? I mean, I had no idea there was a GIANT earthquake in Niigata until my father called me and told me. I checked the news as the hurricane was hitting... not a word on Katrina.
And it's not just in the news that I feel disconnected... I mean, what songs are popular back home? I mean, Karaoke isn't really on the up and up with the most recent American songs... although granted when we only sing Duran Duran and Journey, that probably doesn't help my cause... However, I can tell you everything my students are listening to and even sing along to some of the stuff.
And on TV... What took over when Friends, Buffy and Angel ended? Has the Practice been cancelled yet? How many Law and Orders are there now? 20? And that's just the tip of the iceberg...
Can anyone help me out? Comments are encouraged ;)

Nara Overload

I have been in Nara City more times this past week than I have all year, I think. With Orientation last Thursday and Friday and then again Monday for the recording of the prefectural listening exams and then again today to be Guinea pigs in a volunteer tour guide group. But I suppose that will be it for me for a little while now.
Orientation was the same as last year. Same speeches and everything. It was nice to meet all the new ALTs though. They all seem really great... well at least most of them do... the jury is still out on a couple of people though...
Beer Garden was interesting. We got typhooned off the roof so the hotel moved us to their restaurant/cafeteria where we still got nomihodai and tabehodai sheltered frm the elements (although the typhoon never actually came... they still cancelled our roof reservations). We were loud and obnoxious. The hotel told us to behave like civilized human beings on several occasions though nobody really listened. In the end, a good time was had by all and I ate some bad fish (wink, wink, nudge, nudge...) and got quite ill... Lost my wallet too somewhere between Nara City and home. Luckily, I went to the train station the next day and spoke to the Station Master. He told me that someone had found it and it was returned to me, intact, with money and ID and everything. Man I love Japan... well at least when stuff like this happens.
The weekend was uneventful, I guess. I am officially addicted to Harry Potter... MUST FIND THE THIRD BOOK... I finshed book 1 and 2 over the weekend but I am now dying to read the next one (even though I saw the movie last week... but I digress...)
Back to school tomorrow though. Last day of summer vacation. I have to get cracking on those lesson plans... I need a self-intro lesson for my first day at Oji Technical High School next Monday. Maybe I'll be lazy and make something on PowerPoint...

2005-08-24

Back to Normal

Well, for the moment things are back to normal. My brother is back in Canada, I am back from my trip and school is starting up again soon. Yay. This year I might actually be busy though which is going to be a nice change.
I had a fantastic time on cultural leave and I did actually learn something. Lots of things, actually. So, although it was a pretty lame "Um, yeah, I'll be studying Japanese culture" when I gave my request... it turned out that I wasn't lying. What did I do, you ask? TONS. Thanks to the expert planner (ha ha... no not me... I can't plan anything...), the itinerary was packed full of cool things to see and we always had a place to stay. I saw a torture chamber, climbed a mountain, strolled around in a bunch of gardens, checked out 3 castles... and you know what else? I DROVE A CAR!!! Yes, I got my Japanese licence just before leaving and I drove around. It was weird at first but after awhile, I actually started to have fun... Imagine that?! ME! Enjoying driving! What a concept!

The summer has been great and I'm almost sad to see it go. This month of August, I've been in school 5 days... all the other days, I managed to get business trips and then there was my study leave... This job rocks!

In other news, I've started my term as AJET Prefectural Representative. I am working with a fantastic team of 4 other wonderfully motivated people. And although I accepted this position with quite a bit of apprehension, I'm feeling much better about my decision now. Tomorrow is the Beer Garden... The very first AJET event. It's taking place on the roof of a hotel... outdoors, under the evening sky, all you can eat and drink... sound perfect you say? It is... except for the fact that there is a STUPID TYPHOON on the way that is supposed to hit that evening. Greeeeeeeaaaaaaat.... stupid Japanese weather... grrrrrr.

Anyway, to finish up this thought of the day, and so that I can begin again with the regular entries on this page... My second year should be a very interesting one, I assure you. I'll be teaching at 2 high schools starting in September and the twice every term at the elementary school. Then I've got AJET to keep me busy in my spare time and hopefully I'll be a lot more dedicated to the Judo club once I get my lazy butt kicked at the black belt tournament on Sept. 4th...