Hello Panic...
OK. Post number 3 for the day but this is worrisome. As I am turning off my computer to leave for the day, I accidentally click on the Mozilla button and launch the internet. I have the BBC World News as my homepage and what is the #1 headline:
"EMERGENCY DECLARED IN THE PHILIPPINES".
President Arroyo who has been having... let's say problems... now has to deal with rumours of a coup that was supposed to have taken place on the 20th anniversary of the Marcos coup. So she calls a "state of emergency" giving the military and police sweeping powers. Lovely.
So now I'm worried. I haven't written to my family in the Philippines in ages (because I'm a bad cousin/niece...) so I don't know what's going on. Please, please, please answer my emails...
And I just told Aaron that the Philippines would be a great place to spend spring vacation... (Which I still believe no matter what is happening in Manila... BTW)
Forgot something...
In my eternal search for celebrity gossip, I found a new page. Not as funny as
The Superficial but there are links to other sites and more pictures. I give you:
The Hollywood Rag.
PS: Check out the
Skeleton Prank post...
Hooray for shoes!
No I didn't get a new pair of shoes... almost... but I was thwarted. I went to Diamond City (aka "the Shitty") with Laura for a little bit of shopping. In my defence, my favorite boots are falling apart (>_<) and I would like a new pair... I finally found a pair that I liked, went to cash to pay for them, but then the salesperson notices that the shoes are 2 different sizes. To be honest, I hadn't even noticed the difference or maybe I had, I had just chalked it up to the fact that I have one foot bigger than the other... She then proceeded to apologize profusely... I was a little disappointed but she made it seem like it was the end of the world.
Shikataganai as they say here... It can't be helped. I suppose their mistake saved me 5,150 yen. I can always get shoes somewhere else. Besides, my sister just requested that I save a day for shoe shopping while she's in Japan. You certainly know how to make my day, Sister! d(^_^)b We'll go shoe shopping in Tokyo. Sources tell me it's the place to be.
It's Friday today... all the teachers have just gone to the meeting room to find out the results of the entrance exams... as usual, I am left to my own devices. There are no students today, so I have no classes (unless I want to teach English to the walls... though I think possibly the walls might do better...)
I have four days of elementary school next week! YAY!!!!! I love elementary school! I can't wait! I've been looking forward to it for a month now. Elementary school is actually work. When I go to the elementary school, I don't get the chance to sit down. I have meetings, I have classes... Not only is it actual work but I actually feel like I am teaching something. I leave the school feeling like I've actually accomplished something. AND AND AND... they actually listen to my suggestions. Thank you Uemura-Sensei for recommending me.
Winding down
Well it's Thursday... the week has gone by pretty quickly considering... Tokyo would have been better but I guess it's OK. I mean, I cleaned my apartment, went to the gym, caught up on my work at school, got presents (yes... I said presents... Fujioka-sensei--the school nurse--and Miwako--my Japanese teacher--gave me presents for passing my Japanese test! I never got stuff for doing well on my tests before... I wasn't one of those kids who got a new car because I graduated from high school... although I grew up next to them).
Another school year has finished at Kashiba. Had my last class with this group of first years this morning. We're still doing the presentations of "Stand by Me"... It was garbage... but after watching 16 classes present, I wasn't in the mood to be generous. They got what the deserved. They've had 3 weeks to learn 5 sentences or less... And most of them couldn't even do that. When I was a high school student, I had to learn poems in a week... Japan will never be the power it once was if it doesn't change it's English education system... 6 months left...
My sister is coming to visit next month. I'm excited. I love having guests... even though I live in a closet. At least it's easy to clean.
My inspiration has been dwindling lately... I haven't actually posted anything interesting in weeks... I wonder what's wrong with me...
I could have been in Tokyo
You know what sucks? Being told that you have 3 days off, making plans to go to Tokyo, and then having 2 of the 3 days taken away, that's what... GAH! Now instead of being in Tokyo, I am stuck at my desk with sore arms and nothing to do... The teacher's room is practically empty because most of the other teachers are correcting exams... Can I correct the exams? No, it's a mechnical score sheet... Can I help calculate the points? No, you can't speak Japanese... THEN WHAT IS THE POINT!?!?!?! Why tell me I have to come to work if I have nothing to do?! I helped some of the other teachers clean up the classrooms but seeing as that doesn't take all day... I was done in less than an hour. Oh, no.... I'm not bitter... Having days off taken away from you is certainly not cause for bitterness...
So now I have an entire day of killing time. I have a few papers to correct and an exam to make but all together, that should take a total of 3 hours... and if I do it all today, then I will have nothing to do the rest of the week...
I've finally started watching
Lost and it is the greatest show! Now I know what everyone is talking about. And TV on DVD rocks! Who needs cable?! No waiting, no commercials... I started watching Saturday night and I'm already on disk 5 of 6... But I need to be ready with Season 2 before I watch disk 6 (Angie, hint hint) or else I am told, there will be much frustration.
In other news... wait... there is no other news. Because nothing is happening. Because I was supposed to go to Tokyo. Yay me.
EARTHQUAKE!!!
The apartment shook... Earthquakes ROCK! Get it?! They rock!
It's cheese... cheese, cheese, CHEESE!
So I'm at dinner on Tuesday at
Kichiri, the new isakaya in Yagi. It's a really nice place... modern and classy... great party space... but anyway... The menu is not very foreigner friendly (as in no English/Engrish, no pictures... just super difficult kanji...) but the food was excellent. We ordered a set menu just to make our lives easier and we were not disappointed.
The waitress who was serving us was quite nice. She even tried to speak English (and sign language): "Don't like... food?" (Translation: is there any food that you don't like?)... but the best was when she came out with our main dish. The main course was risotto and it's served in a GIANT (not exagerrating) bowl of CHEESE. The bowl was actually part of a parmasan cheese wheel with the centre emptied out... So she points to it and says: "Delicious. Cheese... This is cheese..." Then she pauses... Thinking about the her next sentence... I think she wanted to tell us about the risotto but all that came out was "Cheese, cheese, cheese!..." Awesome! E for Effort! Seriously. Usually people would just run away but she was so intent on speaking to us in what little English she had. It was lovely.
Two thumbs up for this place if you're ever in the Yagi area.
And the winner is...
ME! Because I passed the JLPT! 81,5%!!! Yeah, baby, YEAH!
This one's for you, Angie!
So I've been receiving death threats recently because I haven't been updating... Not true but several people have indeed been hinting that I should update... I meant to do it last Wednesday after I got back from Hokkaido but I haven't had internet access at Kashiba recently for some reason... Must remedy that situation...
Anyway, Hokkaido was fun. Sapporo may be a big city in the middle of nowhere, but it is a great city to be in. The shopping is great, the food is AMAZING! I love Japanese food but I don't think I've ever eaten so well as I did the 4 days in Hokkaido. Ramen, seafood, mutton, chocolate... It was excellent! Now I love ramen. It is quite possibly my favorite food in Japan even though it is not traditionally Japanese. The Japanese adopted it from China and over the years, have made it their own. Sapporo ramen (called
Kani ramen in Sapporo) is quite possibly the best ramen I've ever had, and I know my ramen... Crab, asparagus, corn, bean sprouts, green onion... It was delicious. And the crab in Hokkaido is in season in the winter so it was even better.
Getting to Hokkaido was an interesting experience though. First of all, I almost missed my train to the airport... which in retrospect wouldn't have mattered... We show up at the counter to pick up the tickets and the woman behind the counter tells us that our flight is cancelled because there is a snowstorm in Hokkaido... GREAT! She then tells me that there will only be one plane flying out and it will be at 3PM... even better... 5 hours to kill at the lamest airport in the world... So I bought Bleach volume 7 and started practicing my Japanese reading....
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5 hours later... We check in and the ANA woman behind the counter says that the plane will fly but if it can't land in Sapporo, it will either land in Hakodate (in Hokkaido but far from Sapporo) or fly back to Osaka, Itami...
Here is a map to make things easier to understand... See Osaka? That's where we started. Our destination was Hokkaido, the giant island in the north, right under Russia...
Now let's zoom in on Hokkaido...
See Sapporo in the brown? That's where we were supposed to be. See Hakodate in the dark purple? That's where they planned to divert us... Very, very worrisome considering that if we did indeed land there, we'd have to take a 5+ hours train ride from Hakodate to Sapporo... not very comforting since we had hotels and stuff booked...
We board the plane. The captain announces again that there is still no change in the weather and that our flight could be diverted to Hakodate or return to Osaka. We take off. 2 hours later, we are circling above Sapporo. The captain comes on again and says that there is still no change in the weather. He says that he'll hold the position and hope for clearance... crossing fingers... 75 minutes later, the captain comes on again... says something in Japanese and the whole plane cheers and applauds... WE CAN LAND!!! Thank God! So we landed at around 6:00PM... 5.5 hours behind schedule.
Andy and Mamie were not so lucky. Their 9:30AM flight was cancelled but their travel agent never booked them on another flight. So JAL sent them to Tokyo saying that they'd have better luck there. In Tokyo, JAL says that there are no flights going in to Sapporo and that the next one would be Sunday at 2PM. Unacceptable since they also had hotel reservations. Meanwhile, I let A&M know that we are getting on a plane but that it might be diverted to Hakodate. They ask JAL if they can also do the same thing. JAL says that all the Hakodate flights are booked... so JAL suggests Kushiro. Now remember where Hakodate was (in the dark purple)? Kushiro (in lavender) is worse... But that's where they end up... in Kushiro... And then, after landing in BFE, they have to take a very long, very expensive overnight train to Sapporo. They make it to Sapporo... after 26 hours of traveling...
The Snow Festival was fun. The giant snow sculptures were really cool but I think my favorite part of it, besides the food, was the country competition. 14 countries from around the world were competing in a snow sculpting contest. We got to watch the progress because they started sculpting the day we got there. The finished products were phenomenal (well everyone's except for the US... which was quite nice seeing as I was the only non-American in a group of five...) And not only did the American sculpture look like it could have been made by elementary school children, the icing on the cake... TEAM CANADA WON!!!! The sculptors were really nice too. We were talking to them for quite awhile on Day 3. This is their take on Japan on
their website.
I'll post pics when I've chosen the good ones.... Until then, I've gotta sign off because my battery is dying...
Today is Friday, Tomorrow is Hokkaido
Well it's Friday afternoon. I have 2 classes left to teach and one student asked me to help him with his English conversation. He's stood me up 3 weeks in a row though so maybe he will do the same again today. I honestly hope he does because I leave for Hokkaido tomorrow and I haven't even packed yet...
Yesterday I went to Yoshino mountain for a festival. Yoshino is far. It took me almost 2 hours to get there. What's the occasion? It's
setsubun in Japan now (the "Demon Festival"). You are supposed to send out the demons and ask for good luck. Today is the last day. Tradition states that you are supposed to throw beans out of every door that opens to the outside and say
"Oni wa soto!" (DEMONS OUT!) And then you close the door and throw beans inside and say:
" Fuku ga uchi!" (GOOD LUCK IN!)
. The people in Yoshino are supposed to be descendants of the demons though so they throw the beans and say
"Oni wa uchi, fuku mo uchi". So they welcome the demons in instead of sending them away.
The festival was pretty cool in Yoshino. And since it was outside at the top of a mountain, it was also COLD... (Get it?! Cool and Cold! HAHAhaha... ha. OK, I'm tired. Leave me be.) 6 people dressed up as demons were dancing around to the conch shells and the beating of drums. It's actually pretty scary if you're a kid. Very ominous... After the Oni Odori (demon dance), there was a concert. Taiko and flute. I love taiko. I wish I could see it more often. It's so primal and powerful... And the drummers have to be really, really fit because they use their whole bodies to beat that drum. Last night, it was a husband and wife performing. For most of the performance, the man was
wearing nothing but a
fundoshi (that's the white thong that the sumo wrestlers wear). I'll bet they were cold... I put up a pic of the woman (I was very jealous of her back and arm muscles)... you can see the guy's fundoshi on the other side of the drum (bottom centre of the pic). They were both playing on the giant drum at the same time. Again, taiko is awesome... I wish I'd brought my camera... I only had my crappy phone camera with me so I apologize...
I'll try to do better in Hokkaido.
