Ethnically Challenging...

Tokyo with the Parents!!!

2008-01-01T23:45:00.018+09:00

When we got back to Tokyo, we buckled down and got ready for the parents to make their arrival. We took them all over the place. And what’s better is that they were really good sports considereing the jetlag and general fatigue that comes a long with travel.

Night 1
We took that two-something hour journey from the airport and just chilled in the house for the evening.

Day 1
They got a kick out of the Japanese train system…especially the heated seats…well the heat that comes from beneath the seats. We went to Yokohama to eat at Garlic Joes which isn’t Japanese but VERY tasty nonetheless. At Queens Square the plan was to go to the top of the tower so that they could get a panoramic view of Yokohoama but that didn’t happen because the line was from here to Egypt!!! While they walked around and took in all the Christmas decorations, I was sure to get my Cold Stone fix…line and all!
Christmas Eve
The day was spent on base at the BX and Commissary getting stuff for Christmas dinner, etc. This was um interesting to say the least. Let’s just say two mamas, one kitchen, enough said…we ended up shopping far longer than anticipated…all kids and fathers concerned just sat on the side and let them do their thing…I think we were more concerned with eating.
CHRISTMAS
Everything was fabulous!!! Food, gifts, everything. The parents really enjoyed being mostly on the receiving end of the gift giving…SPOILED…I do recall a comment from a certain mother of mine… “It’s so nice when your kids have jobs!” LOL
Day 4
We headed to the ship for Justin’s promotion ceremony…it’s kinda cute that his mother and I pinned him for his commissioning and for his first promotion. It was a bit weird how everyone was carrying on about “officer’s wife” this and “officer’s wife” that…I suppose it comes with the territory…still weird though. Justin gave us a thourough tour of the ship….ladders and boots don’t mix but the ladies did a good job getting around the ship…
Day 5
We hopped on the train and headed to the Great Buddha statue in Kamakura. And lucky for us, we ran into an old interracial couple (white and Japanese) who raved about the female Buddha that wasn’t far from where we were about to board the bus to head back to the station. So we trekked up the hill to see it. Pretty neat. Couldn’t take any pictures of the Buddha inside, but I did take a couple pictures of the much smaller statues outside.
After that, we headed to the Edo Museum. There was this psycho lady outside the museum screaming at the top of her lungs at a man who appeared to be her significant other. This was definitely one of those moments that I wish I was fluent in Japanese. He was just standing there staring at the ground while she let him have it. I swear it looked like something out of a movie. I asked young couple near us about what was going on. He very bashfully responded, “She’s a little crazy. As a Japanese person, I am very ashamed.” That was indeed a reminder of how Japanese people tend to take responsibility for others’ actions. He had no reason to be embarrassed, but I guess he thought she was making his people look bad. Inside the museum, the man went to buy their tickets while the woman walked to the bathroom like nothing had ever happend....STRANGE! We split up because it would be hard to enjoy the different parts of the museum if we traveled in a pack. I really like this museum…hope the folks liked it too. By the time everyone met up again, the place was closing and I was knocked out on a bench near the end of the exhibits.
Since it was dark, we headed to Akihabura…better known as Electric Town. The parents got a kick out of all the weird stuff that you can find in Akihabura as well as the electronics. We ate at Yoshinoya…which ended up being a less than novel idea. Had to get new waters because the cups were water stained and though we needed 4, there were only 2 forks in the restaurant. We did meet some ALTs there who know some people I know. On the way to the station we got to witness a couple street performances...Here's one buy some guys, one of whom is wearing a girl's school uniform...WEIRD…but normal to me now…clear indication that it’s time for me to go back to the US…hehehe…
Day 6
Was spent at home enjoying leftovers/on the base…that evening we took them to do a little karaoke…We thought they would be too tired and disinterested, but everyone had a great time…I’m thinking about having karaoke at the wedding reception when we open up the dancefloor…any thoughts???
Day 7
At home

Day 8
Justin and I got dressed in our new suits and took them to Roppongi…the high rent district. Ok so, somewhat matching suits and shoes seemed like a good idea at first. The second we stepped out of the house, we both felt really RIDICULOUS!!! The parents thought it was so cute, which made it worse. They enjoyed the Tokyo City View. Since it was Sunday afternoon, we went to Harajuku to show them all the people who get all dressed up in costumes to walk around the area. From there we went to Shinjuku so that they could see all the high end shops and Omotesando hills…6 floors of I-can’t-afford-that…yet!!! My mother really liked the Swarovski Crystal Christmas display in the middle of the mall. I later heard that is was shown on TV in the States so I guess it was kinda a big deal. That's her in the white in front of the tree looking display.

After Shinjuku, we headed to Shibuya so that they could experience the world’s busiest intersection. I guess is it kinda amazing that so many people cross at the same time from all different directions. Just another one of those things you take for granted living here. Everyone was knocked out on the train going home.
Day 9
We stayed in the house and prepared for New Year’s dinner, cleaning, etc. At midnight, we toasted, smootched, and finished watching movies. I watched more movies during their visit than I have seen in the past two years here. Everyone packed up and prepared for the long journey home.
Day 10
I rode the train with them to their transfer point to the airport. They managed to miss the train from there to the airport so when the next train came an hour later, they cut it pretty close at the airport. Thank goodness we added an extra hour to the estimated time to get to the airport, checked-in, and boarded…otherwise they would not have made that flight…lol

Overall, we had a great time. Everything went smoothly and it was nice to have everyone together for the holidays. It will be interesting to see who splitting the holidays will work out once we’re married and all that jazz…!

Let's Talk Thai...and Wedding Bells!!!!

2007-12-19T23:39:00.006+09:00

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo….as you all know by now yours truly is a Ford-to-be!!! And the story goes…

Last summer, Justin and I began planning out December trip to Thailand. Wanting to stay away from the sketchiness of major cities on mainland Thailand, we decided to be bougie/bougee/bujie/??? (bourgeoisie) and check out Koh Samui (à la Meet The Parents). All the arrangements were made and we were off to a vacation from cold gray Japan. We flew from different airports so he landed hours before I did. When I arrived at the airport, I scanned the arrival meeting point for his happy, shiny face, but he wasn’t there. Instead there was a man with a sign* who was waiting to drive me to the resort. We chit chatted on the way, and I picked his brain for information on places to shop, swim, and how much things cost on the island. When we pulled up to the hotel, Justin was standing on the stairs. I still don’t understand why he was still wearing winter clothes but he looked nice. The staff greeted me, gave me a wreath of flowers, and we sat down in the lobby/reception area. One of the staff was standing there recording with Justin’s camera** while we talked…weird. I ordered and orange juice and we sat down and talked about my flight, etc. I noticed that he kept putting his hand on the pocket opposite of me.

“So, how does it feel to be in Thailand?”

"Great"
“How does it feel to the in Thailand with your boyfriend?”
"Ummmm...great."

“…how about your fiancé?”

"Huh!"

“I didn’t want to do this like this, but I’m going to try this down on one knee thing…[assuming the ‘proposal position…and action]…Tiffany, will you marry me?”
“Yes, of course!” That’s when the waterworks began.

*See **for *the twist in the plot!

**Now there’s a back story to this tale of wedded bliss-to-be. The reason the woman was standing there with the camera is that Justin put together a movie to document the engagement. The film began in July of last year when he was in the States for school. As far as I knew, he was in Rhode Island. However, he took a trip to Atlanta where he spoke with my parents and bought the ring!!! A number of our friends and family were in on it since July!!! We have this joke about how he can never surprise me, but he got me this time. There were signs EVERYWHERE but I didn’t notice any of them…literally! *The sign that the man at the airport said Tiffany Ford, but I didn’t notice. I just saw the name of the resort and Justin’s name so I hopped in the car. I also received an accidental email which is also documented in the movie. I’m thinking DVDs will be given as favors to the wedding guests.

As for the rest of the days in Thailand, we had a GREAT TIME:

Tearing up the resort’s super expensive breakfast

Visiting Buddhas

Eating Thai food at real restauraunts (dogs under the table and all)

Walking on the beach…the water was CHILLY!

Riding elephants

Pretending to be models...as usual!

Snorkeling while being stung by microscopic thingies in the water...OUCH!

Hiking up mountains

Getting suits made

Eating at a dinner dance show...forgot to get a picture of how cute we were! SHOOT! Dodging tourist traps...getting pants altered for the low low...again no pictures for those...next time!
Checking out the Thai night life and talking to cabaret lady boys…yikes the deep voices threw me WAY OFF!
Haggling taxi fare
and generally living it up!!!

Black Girls About Town: Part Un...

2007-12-01T23:55:00.000+09:00

Tis the season to be jolly…and Black…hehehe. I contacted the Black women in the area so that we could have an outing in the city. There were only four of us be we had a good time. The plan was for us to go to this big mall on the outskirts of town but two of them (the tall two) had a meeting in the city so we went with them. Rewind: The week before I had been contacted my one of the teachers who lives in my building about being on the cover of the local foreigner magazine. A designer had been sitting next to her in a waiting room and asked her if she wanted to do it. She said yes, so the designer asked if she had a friend who contrasted her well. She thought of me…hehehe. Fast Forward: The meeting we went to was the planning meeting for the photo shoot. Apparently the design team had contacted the two who were with us about being on the cover. So it looks like there was a gap in communication between the designer and the magazine. I wasn’t upset though because it’s good to see some brown faces are gonna be on it anyway. At their shoot, the editor asked them for my information. They want me to do one of their covers…we’ll see. After the meeting we headed out to an amazing Italian restaurant per the recommendation of the editor. The food was sooooooooo good. This is the closest to Italian food that I’ve gotten since I’ve been here…o wait, with the exception of the restaurant in Hiroshima that Michelle and I went to last November. After dinner, we headed to a game center to take some purikura (silly photo booth pictures) before heading home. We’ll have to do it again soon.

November Recap...

2007-11-28T12:48:00.000+09:00

An update...Since Novemeber was spent here and not in some super chic vacation spot, here's is a little bit about what I did do this month.

On the 3rd I went to Saga for the International Balloon Festival. Despite the fact that I had a fever and probably the flu too, I decided to get out of the house and do something. Tangerines and a book of French fables have pretty much been my life so I took them to the festival too. I went alone but ended up with some other teachers from my area. Thanks to the wind they weren’t able to race the balloons and the few they were inflated we deflated soon thereafter. That night there was supposed to be a music/fire show involving the synchronized revving of the balloon burners but since it was windy they did the show with the fire only…no balloons….how lame. By then I had left with some other teachers from Saga to check out a street festival about an hour away that had already ended so we had some festival street stall food and I headed back home.

On the 5th, I went to the Sumo demonstration at the elementary school near my office. We din’t get to participate this year but it was cool that the wrestlers remembered me from last year. I guess that’s not to hard though. That night we went to the school's dinner party. On the 7th, I got a group together and we attended the big sumo dinner. I don’t know why I always get placed next to real drinkers. One of the wrestlers went around and poured everyone a drink. Tea for me thanx! While we were talking with him, something told me to turn around. When I did, there was a man seated on the floor behind me with his phone held up to where my butt was in an effort to take a picture. I wanted to throw him and his phone down the stairs. Men here are so disrespectful and when alcohol is added into the equation it magically becomes ok to be a pervert publically...great. So I looked at him in the eyes, put my finger in his face and said, “that’s absolutely unacceptable” in Japanese.

On the 25th, Maggie, her two guests, and I went to the final day of the Sumo Grand Tournament. We got box seats in an attempt to get the best view of the ring. The tickets go on said really early and get bought up really quickly so we ended up with a box in the B section which wasn’t too bad…small for 4 people…but not bad. The flags outside with each wrestler’s names on them were so colorful and some wrestlers were arriving when we walked in. The seats were pretty empty until closer to the end because that’s when the top guys fight. The guy who we ate with at the first dinner didn’t win, but it was still quite the experience. I think my ultimate favorite thing about sumo wrestlers is their hair...nice!!! Oh, and they smell good...hehehe

"Fixing" a PROBLEM!

2007-10-15T09:50:00.001+09:00

During the dinner at our office trip a couple of weeks ago, one of the men in the office had gotten intoxicated and was shouting, "I love you. I love you" while hitting me on my back. I told him "No, you don't love me. Love and and like are very different." I asked him not to touch me and he stopped but he kept shouting. He asked how the two were different so we had a quick English lesson. After that he kept asking me (still shouting) why I would't say it back. Then his crazy self stood, and demanded that I say it back because he's the "Boss." I looked him square in the face and said "No, he's the boss," and I pointed to the supervisor of the whole office. He he did like a "forget him/I'll hit him" gesture, so I pulled out my camera and said, "Go for it?" So, he walks over to the man, sits, and chats for a minute then comes back...still wanting to know why I wouldn't say it back. He finally sat down next to me and continued to shout so I moved my seat over some. When he put his arm over the back of my chair and I just knew that I was going to lose it very very soon. I realized that my supervisor was not going to do anything, so I got up and walked out of the dining room. That type of behavior is inappropriate and unacceptable. I tried to be very ummmm "culturally sensitive" by turning and ignoring him, when under normal circumstances that would have been a "IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF MY FACE" moment. Instead of stepping in and saying something, my supervisor just sat around and watched, giggling and translating...like a stupid puppet. I don't understand why they think it's ok to act like that. The office party culture is sick in that people feel that thanks to alcohol and being out of the office they can say whatever they want to you. I don't entertain personal questions or being "hit on" under normal circumstances, and I'm certainly not about to deal with nasty old married men who think that's ok. When we got back to the office, the man said bye to me and I just looked at him like he was crazy.

The following Monday, I told my supervisor how I felt about the situation. I didn't expect him to do anything about it but I felt that it was important for him to know that it was an inappropriate and uncomfortable situation and I didn't appreciate how he just sat there and watched. He said that he would talk to the guy...who by the way is my supervisor's boss. He spoke to him and called me to say that the man wanted to apologize to me the next time that I was in the office. Well today was my lucky day. My supervisor came to me and asked if I would go with him to one of the meeting rooms. With a super sad face the man was like "I'm sorry I acted like that. I did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I will never behave like that again. I hope we can continue to be friendly. Please forgive me. I'm really really sorry," all while bowing over and over. So, I just looked at him and nodded my head as my supervisor translated. I really wanted to tell him to get a life and never speak to me, but I suppose that would have been slighly (hehehe) inappropriate. Needless to say, I don't have any intention to really talk to him. Sadly, he's been put in the box with the other idiot in this office who I can't stand.

19-hour Intro to Thailand: Part One

2007-09-27T15:05:00.000+09:00

My flight landed in Bangkok at 5:00 am and my flight to Japan was at 12:30 am Wednesday…19-HOUR LAYOVER!!! So, I made my way up to the immigrations desk so that I could do whatever it was that I needed to do to be able to leave the airport as a transit passenger. It felt really good to be able to leave the airport without luggage. I went to the tourism desk to check out the transit tour packages they had. There I met a little Thai man named Nat who coordinated the tours. I looked through a book of like 50 tours, of which only like 7 were available. I chose the Bankok Temple Tour and that’s where the adventure began. He went through the map of the tour and told me about the English speaking tour guide, air-conditioned car, etc (both of which were necessary because I don’t know any Thai and it was HOT!) Then we started discussing the price and here is where things got interesting.
The original price he gave me was somewhere near $150 US, so I looked at him like he had lost his mind. Before my trip I had already researched the cost of that company’s tours so I knew what was up and I let him know that I knew what was up. So this fool leans in on the desk, lowers his voice and says, “OK, well let me tell you what I can do.” RED FLAG! Is it just me of or do those actions usually mean something shady/illegal or the hook-up (also usually shady and illegal) is about to ensue??? If your answer was YES then you guessed right. He says, “We can book you a hotel so that you can have a few hours to eat breakfast and rest. The tour guide will pick you up from the hotel. And this is the price.” He punches it into the calculator and turns it in my directions…$75. WHAT?! Now let me get this straight, by including a hotel room the price is cut by half…Um…does that make any sense? NO, didn’t think so. But I took it after interrogating him about the integrity and legitimacy of that company. He assured me that because it’s an office that is contracted by the airport that it’s safe. He also mentioned that I would have a female tour guide. So, I said sure. He wrote down all the information about the hotel, tour, and airport for me in Thai and English and took me down to the taxi stand so that he could negotiate the price for me.
On the way down, two other airport employees looked at him, said something, and they all giggled. So I looked at him like, “Would you mind letting me in on the joke,” because some things are universal and recognizing that you are the subject of someone’s conversation is definitely one of them. So he turns and says, “Oh, they were just asking if you were my girlfriend.” I looked at him like, “P-lease, “ trying my hardest to hold back a major neck/eye roll. It was really strange that the taxi area consisted of a row of cars, a neat line of drivers waiting for their next customers, all being conducted by a number of men in uniform. My driver stepped up and I automatically felt a sense of alarm because he bore a remarkable resemblance to my ex-boyfriend from college…creepy. Luckily, we bypassed all the raggedy taxis and stopped in front of a bright orange one that had the new car smell and black leather seats. I got in and we headed for the city. The driver drove like the cops were chasing him up the highway. As soon as we hit the toll road, his foot hit the floor. I was sitting in the back freezing because the air was blasting, staring at a mosquito that I didn’t want to bite me, while telling myself over and over that I will ok and he would not wreck the car killing us both. Just as I was starting to calm down and get used to swerving in and out of traffic at no less than 90 miles per hour, he pulled over on the side of the road and got out…WHAT!!! He went to the truck, got a white rag and a bottle of something. Trying to be cool about things, I sat there thinking, "Ok, maybe he's Muslim and about to pray." All the while, I was scanning the dashboard covered in Buddhist stuff. Then he opened the hood...WHAT!!! If that taxi was on the fritz it was all his fault for riding down the highway like a maniac! On his way back to the trunk after closing the hood, he peeked into the car and grinned...looking like a psycho! He gets in and we continue the journey...

To Be Continuted...hehehe

Hyderabad: Day 8

2007-09-27T13:40:00.000+09:00

My flight was at 11:55 pm on Monday so Jostna, Cate, Sohil and I spent the afternoon going back and forth to the tailor to pick up the clothes that I had gotten made…each time we went they weren’t ready…and I was cutting it pretty close because Cate had secured a ride with Taj to get to the city, and ultimately the airport. I made it back in time and Jostna even went to the grocery store to pick up some Chai for me since I was tied up and the tailor’s and hadn’t gotten it earlier. That was really sweet of her.

The Swedish group left today. So Cate and I hitched a ride in their bus to exchange money so that I could get in some more last minute shopping and to search some more for a black Kashmir shawl for my aunt. We didn’t find the Kashimiri shop that folks were claiming was in the area and I wondered if we were going to be able to get any funds because we showed up to the bank during the afternoon prayer and the man who exchanges currency was Muslim. So we waited until he came back. Since it is my last night here, Cate treated me to dinner in Banjara Hills where we ate more Biriyani, shrimp something, rice, naan, YUM! The soccer (uh football) game was on so the other guests and the servers were are all preoccupied, craning their necks toward the TV screen in the restaurant. The servers were so busy, in fact, that when Cate asked for something hot to drink they claimed they didn’t have any. She even asked for hot water, and even that took a while to make it to the table.

Taj met us in Banjara Hills and before going to the airport he took us to a couple stores so that I could try again to look for the shawl. I didn’t find it so I left the money with Cate and she said she would get it for me and send it to Japan…so sweet! I was really sad to leave and when I got to the aiport I just wanted to just get on the plane so that I wouldn’t have time to sit around and think about how much I didn’t want to go back to Japan. Too bad for me that there was over an hour of sit around time before my flight.

Hyderabad: Day 7

2007-09-23T22:45:00.000+09:00

Here's Raju, the caretaker's dog, looking sad to see me go. Luckily, for him and me, I still have one more day here. It's Sunday, and everyone went church this morning. Four of us hung around and slept in. With the institute empty we had to find something to do. Cate had a headband and everyone was feeling energetic...perhaps from the tea that I love so much.

So, we did some Richard Simmons style workouts in the courtyard. FUN! I really love the picture of Cate...she looks like an old school capoeirista with her head band and gold jewelry...hehehe

When everyone returned from church, we changed into some Indian clothes and headed out for some more sightseeing. Our first stop was the Qutub Shahi Kings' tombs in Secunderabad, on the other side of the city. The architecture is absolutely amazing. Oddly enough, one my favorite things there were the paths of sand that were littered with pieces of glass bracelets. Those things are dangerous...beautiful, but dangerous. So, of course I had to take a picture of the ground. We made a pit stop at a vendor's stand and bought chips and drinks. I bought the Masala Lays because I wasn't feeling quite adventurous enough to try the Mint Mischief Lays...doesn't sound too appetizing but they were probably good like everything else here!

After the tombs we headed over to Golconda Fort. That place must have been something back in the day because it's ruins are a sight to behold. I'm sure people don't think much of it, but how amazing would it be to live next door to such a beautiful piece of history. We walked up to the top and stopped every now and then to take advantage of the vista for photo ops. As the sun began to set we headed back down to the base to watch the light and sound show. As some of you may know about a month before my arrival, there had been a bombing at a light show in a park. So, everyone was a bit uneasy. After the light show, we all headed to one of the more upscale restaurants in the swanky party of the city called Banjara Hills. The Swedish social workers took care of the tab after dinner, which was really sweet of them.

As was the case every time we boarded a bus, there were dance parties throughout the day. On the way home we passed through a neighborhood where the men were doing their nightly celebrations of Ganesh. Our bus driver decided to take the back streets home in an effort to avoid the traffic and we ended up stuck in the middle of the street for about 15 minutes. Their statue was mounted on a big truck and our bus was pretty big so there was a nice little bottle neck. So the celebrants took the opportunity to try and get us to get off the bus and dance with them. They looked like they were having so much fun. I know that I'm going to miss the sound of singing, drums, and laughter when I get back to Japan.

Hyderabad: Day 6

2007-09-22T22:35:00.000+09:00

Today was another temple day. First, we visited a mosque where one of the professors was giving a lecture on Islam and the importance of reading the Quran. Outside, we took off our shoes, washed our hands and feet, and covered our heads. I know that women and men are separated inside the mosque, but I was a little surprised to see that there was white cloth over the carpet where the men were seated and the strip along the back wall where the woman (us, there were not other women there) were to sit was bare. After the lecture, we formed a circle, or two semicircles that divided the men and the women for a short question and answer session. It was interesting. Of course, all the questions that the women asked had to do with the separation of women and men in Islam. For example, someone asked why women aren’t allowed in some mosques. “Women aren’t called for, so they can pray in the home or wherever they are.” I'm not sure if the true meaning of that was lost in translation or not...but, oddly enough, I didn’t feel at all offended by any of his answers.

We also visited the only Buddhist temple in the city. It’s so odd that even though Buddhism was founded in India, there really aren’t that many Buddhists are a minority. The temple was really beautiful. One of the Monks came out to talk to us. He talked about how Buddhism is not so much about a religion as is about living a good life and never harming yourself or others. Don’t kill, lie, drink, steal…you know, the usual stuff. In Atlanta, I met a Baptist preacher who was also a Buddhist monk…blew me away…that’s some serious East meets West type stuff. After hearing what the monk had to say, it’s not so far fetched after all.

These elephant statues are to pay tribute to Ganesh, the god of success. During the Ananta Chaturdashi festival these statues are built and displayed all over the city. Every night the statues were uncovered and men danced to drums until all times of the night. On the final day they are all thrown into the lake. Prayers and chants are said and it's all to ask that Ganesh returns early the next year. The statues are really beautiful. They are made of plaster and the tallest this year was over 30 feet tall I think.

Hyderabad: Day 5

2007-09-21T23:10:00.000+09:00

Jyostna and I walked with Sohil to the hospital so that he could get his finger checked on. After the hospital, we had chai at a shop near the hospital. Sohil decided to get a haircut so we went with him to the barber.

I’m glad we did because the sky remembered that the monsoon season was not quite over just yet and it poured.

The barber gave us tea and by the time he was finished the rain had stopped.

So, we headed to the small shopping plaza across from the institute.

I had intended to go and buy snacks and tea to take back to Japan. However, I ended up with three scarves and a henna tattoo on my left hand. The woman only took like 10 minutes to do it freehand and it cost about a dollar!

I love how teatime and body art are a part of everyday life here...and I've gotta get the recipe for the tea here...IT'S SOOOOOOO GOOD! Hmmm...I hope that's not the caffeine coursing through my veins doing the talking.

Hyderabad: Day 4

2007-09-20T21:03:00.000+09:00

Vaneetha was so nice to let us wear her saris. A whole lot goes into wrapping 6 meters of fabric around you! I had no clue that there was an underskirt and three safety pins that went into keeping things in place.

We got dressed after breakfast and took a couple of pictures with Sohil in the courtyard. That afternoon, they all had class so Thelma took me out shopping for saris. I think it’s weird that nearly every store I went to during my trip only had males working there, including the sari (women’s clothing only) stores. I can’t wait to have a reason to get all dressed up in mine when I get back to the States. I wanted to get some of those flat sparkly leather shoes to go with them but Thelma looked a bit tired so we headed back after the sari shop.

Hyderabad: Day 3

2007-09-19T22:45:00.000+09:00

At devotion, I couldn’t help but notice how HUGE the ants are here. SHEESH! My timing for my trip to Hyderabad was perfect because they had scheduled trips to see different sites around town for all the people in the various programs…and I got to tag along. Today was a temple day. First, we went to a Hindu temple. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in/on the temple (it was more like a terrace with several shrines neatly arranged on top). So, I got this shot of the staircase that led to the top. As you can see, the colors are BEAUTIFUL!!! We took off our shoes downstairs and walked around to all the temples. Some chose to receive blessings by the monks seated in each. I kept thinking to myself, “Don’t drink that…your belly’s gonna be rumbling tonight!!!” Folks asked questions then we were off to the second temple. If ever you see a man walking around with a beard and a turban with a bump on the top (his hair in a bun under the turban), he is probably a Sikh. Their temple was being rebuilt across the street so they set up shop in an open room on the second floor of a building. To enter the temple we had to wash our feet and cover our heads. The basin can be best described as 3 inches of murky water in a cement trough built into the floor. Once again, my mind was racing with thoughts of how parasites live in water and can ever your body through your feet. Once I had thoroughly freaked myself out, I quickly stepped in, stepped out, and shuffled my feet to the door in an effort to leave any uninvited guests outside. They told us before we left the institute that we would need to cover our heads but apparently the men and one of the women forgot so there were given squares of material as we entered the temple. I’m still trying to figure out if this was coincidence or not, but the woman who forget hers was given a raggedy, dirty, smelly piece of cloth that she perched on her head while sitting there frowning and saying, “Oh my God, it smells so bad. Why does it smell so bad?” Meanwhile, the rest of us are on the floor cracking up. The guys looked like the cast of a cheesy Egyptian themed high school musical because their pieces of cloth were hot pink and orange with gold toile around the border. They pushed the corners behind their ear and the sides stuck out making it look like a pharaoh’s headdress. We got to take a picture with the head priest (in the middle). In front of him is their holy book under a cloth and in front of that is the weaponry that we never really got a clear explanation about….hmmmm. On the way home from the temple visits, we had a little dance party on the bus. We hit a bump and Sohil went to catch Jyostna and ended up cutting his finger open on something. I told him he was going to need stitches and he was like, “No, no. That’s what I’m afraid of.” Cate and I left and when we came back he was gone. I guess he had gotten enough of bleeding half to death and they took him to the hospital.
Not that everyone else doing something is justification to do it, but I hopped on the back of Cate’s scooter helmetless and we went out to have a lil bday dinner for me. On the way, we sang at the top of our voices, laughed, were rained on, and saw various wildlife…like this random camel! We had chicken, fish, shrimp (all in different amazing sauces) and naan. Then we walked down to Baskin and Robbins (3rd to McDonalds and Wal-Mart when it comes to global domination…we have all of them here in Japan too) for some ice cream. One of the guys who worked there had the most beautiful eyes and Cate pointed out to me that he was wearing eyeliner so we asked him about it. I forgot what it’s called but he’s Muslim and it’s holy powder. I don’t think that I mentioned that it’s currently Ramadan. Despite the fact that most of the Muslim folks we saw were fasting, a large number of the men didn’t see anything wrong with shaking hands and being extra friendly with the foreign ladies…tiss tiss tiss.

Hyderabad: Day 2

2007-09-18T20:54:00.000+09:00

The campus is beautiful. I expected the Telletubbies to pop up and roll down the hill at any moment. After a wonderfully spicy breakfast, everyone met at the prayer hall (that dome down there) for Devotion. Cate asked me to sing a song and help her lead the devotion. She chose some lines from the I Have a Dream speech and I sang We Shall Overcome with the help of the rest of the student’s and faculty. They do Devotion everyday and the students/visitors lead.
After Devotion, we met up with two other women who were there for a separate conference. Ester is from Holland and Jacinta is from Papua New Guinea. This was the first time that I’d met someone from Papua New Guinea and I’m still amazed that all those Black folks completely skipped South East Asia and Australia and are in full effect on the other side of Indonesia. It’s arguable that the Aborigines of Australia, the Maori of New Zealand, and some Indians are Black, but there’s a huge difference. Jacinta and I have the exact same hair type!!! Perhaps this is only exciting to me…hehehe.
Anyway, I had been told about he traffic and roads in Hyderabad but I guess I didn’t quite expect it to all be 100% true…but it was. WOW! We caught the bus and an auto rickshaw and putt-putt-honk-bump-honk-thump-honk-vroooom-hongk-sputter-honk-screeeeched into town. What an adventure! This picture does no justice when it comes to showing how much space we DIDN’T have in the auto rickshaw…let’s just say that they are designed for 2 small to medium people and they had stories about riding around town with 6 full sized folks...hehehehe. Our first stop was Charminar. From the top, we got a good panorama of the city. Then we walked around to do some shopping.
It’s amazing how cities in the same climate zone look so much alike. I’m sure the Arab influence in Senegal and India also contributes to how similar the cities look. There are also just as many beggars. I hadn’t exchanged money yet so I just browsed and tried to get a feel for the city. I felt bad telling people that I didn’t have any money…a foreigner, with a purse, in a shopping district, with no money…so I’m sure half of them didn’t believe me. This guy thought it was a good idea to follow us for 30 minutes... with Cate telling him off every 8.3 minutes or so! Every time we would stop to talk, he would stand there and nod as if he was part of the conversation. He finally left us alone after two separated sets of men yelled at him for following us. The area around Charminar is famous for its glass bracelets. Thank God that I didn’t have any money because I would have shopped up a storm, and then I would have been disappointed later because the bracelets break so easily!!! Two things amazed me while we were out…the brilliance of the colors this flower vendor was wearing/carrying and the fact that people actually eat these HOT deep fried peppers…brings jalapeño poppers to a whole new level…try eating an Indian chili popper!!! Looking at them, all I could think about were the words of my father…”HOT going in, HOT coming out!”

Hyderabad: Day 1

2007-09-18T08:30:00.000+09:00

GOOD MORNING HYDERABAD!!!

As some of you may know, I am now 24! In celebration of this glorious occasion (hehehe), treated myself to a week in India. During my senior year at Spelman, I became friends with Cate who is from Atlanta but was on exchange from Scripps College; another women’s college located in Los Angeles. Long story short, she’s currently in Hyderabad, India as a Rotary Scholar and she’d invited everyone to visit her a whole year before she was there herself! So I took her up on her offer and we had a WONDERFUL TIME!!!

My flight left at 11:45 am and I reached Bangkok, Thailand after 3 pm. The Japanese woman sitting next to me on the plane kept kinda glancing over a few like she wanted to talk but wasn’t sure if I spoke Japanese. So, finally I took out my headphones and closed my book to see what would happen…and I was glad I did. She’s a university Japanese teacher who taught in the Ivory Coast for 2 years and she was on her way to meet a friend in Madagascar…RANDOM! We had a really good conversation about West African culture, food, and music. And we hung out at a restaurant in the airport in Thailand while I waited for my connecting flight and she waited for her friend from Tokyo to land in Thailand. In Hyderabad, I exited the airport and saw a tall white lady walking towards the street and I automatically knew it was Cate. Taj, one of the administrators at the center where Cate is studying, had driven her to the airport to pick me up. So amidst the “thank you”s and the “you look great”s we loaded up my bags and headed to the Center. Thelma, the caretaker, met us at the door and they showed me to my room. One of the buildings where the students stay is also a hostel, I got my own room. Then we walked around so that she could introduce me to whoever was still awake. The first two students I met were Malathee and Vaneetha; two petite/hilarious women from India. Next, I met Jyostna and Rebecca. Jyostna is also an Indian woman and Rebecca is a pastor from Tanzania. One of the first things that Jyostna said was that I could talk to Rebecca about her hair because she wanted to straighten it. What’s a Black woman to do in a far away land with no relaxers…hehehe. Cate showed me where to get hot water and the dining hall and we called it a night from there.

Catching up...

2007-08-14T15:06:00.000+09:00

Let's see...What has happened since July 27th...

Farewell parties...
Well there have been so many, but the one to highlight is the one where I got to get all dressed up in traditional Japanese summer gear. My J-Mama took me and her son out for some DELICIOUS ginger shaved ice. Later that afternoon, she wanted to introduce me to her friend who speaks French. Long story short...we started talking about yukata and how I couldn't find a nice green one when something green flailing in the wind in the back of the house caught my eye. It was a nice green and white yukata. So they were like, "Hey try it on." We ran upstairs and got me all dressed up. I found out that it was hand-dyed and made by her late grandmother. Guess what...she told me to wear it to the dinner party. Knowing full well that I wanted to, I felt the need to decline because it was obviously and heirloom and they didn't know me from Adam. So, after about 15 minutes of Nooooo...I insist...But no...Go ahead...I can't...Sure you can...Ok fine, I walked out all dolled up in the yukata. Here's another picture after another farewell party...with my dog.

New ALTs
Two new teachers have moved into our apartment since two left. They are both from SoCal... Southern California for those who have no clue, like me. On their first day there Maggie and I tried to drag them out to the biggest fireworks display on this side of Japan but we were only successful at prying one of them away from her suitcases. It was pretty nice...as you can see Maggie and I got dressed for the occasion like the rest of the Japanese folks.

Bought car last minute...
So I decided at the start of the summer that I would either move to a new apartment or buy a car. Well, after researching just how expensive it would be to move I decided that the car would be better...especially considering my commutes to my schools. I was contacted on a Friday by a teacher who was leaving on that following Tuesday about buying his car. I bought the car for a decent price and I set out to get my license this summer since I was in the office until the start of the new term.

Tokyo Orientation...
I had a really good time as a presenter at the Orientation for this year's new teachers. They really put a lot of work into getting us here, informed, and sent out to our respective new "homes." I presented at the JETs of African Decent workshop and it went really well. My future jobs will have to involve communicating with people! I was also responsible for taking the teachers who are going to Fukuoka out on the town. I decided that an hour of all-you-can-drink/karaoke was good enough so they would be free to meet up with friends or go back to the hotel and sleep after. They all agreed and we had a good time.

Driver's License...
HAVE MERCI!!! I failed the test 5 TIMES!
#1 They drive on the left here and my silly self pulled on to the wrong side of the street! (ok, my fault!)
#2 Tire dipped of the course coming out of the Crank...a series of 90 tight turns one after another. (ok, my fault again)
#3 The instructor slams on the break on his side because I didn't yield to oncoming traffic!!! WHAT! The "oncoming traffic" was on the other side of the course...the car had not even made it to the same street I was on...Needless to say I WAS MAD!
#4 Tire bumped the curb on a turn. (Fine, I was thinking "STAY LEFT" a little too hard).
#5 This time I was too far from the curb that I had previously bumped and I didn't signal 30 meters before a turn...I signaled like 17 meters instead! (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!)
In the words of my mother, "What they have down there is a racket going on!" At $40 a pop, I'm not trying go go broke for the sake of driving. So, I've decided to sell the car. End of story!

Osaka...Capoeira...Universal Studios Japan
A teacher that I had met in Kobe then again at the beach party in Tottori decided to make a trip to Osaka after having such a good time with the Capoeira group at the beach party. Not thinking, we planned the trip on the weekend during Obon...that's the time that Japanese people return to their ancestral homes/hometowns to pay respect to their deceased family members. There was a positive and a negative to this.
-Lots of things were closed...including the capoeira studio...DOH! By the time I got there, I was able to say hey to 3 people and leave...BOO HOO!
+Lots of things were closed...Despite the fact that it was during summer vacation, thanks to the holiday the city wasn't crowded and we were able to ride pretty much everything we wanted to at Universal studios without having to wait!!! I didn't get to take all the pictures I wanted because my digital camera was in my pocket inside the E.T. ride and it fell out! Luckily it fell out just before the part where the ground drops from below us and we ride above the city/across the moon. So, it landed safely. However, I couldn't get it back until the park closed! GRRRRR! In my anger I tried to mail myself home in one of the RANDOM US Postal Service boxes.

And last but certainly not least...I explained the meaning of butt cheeks to my vice principal because he read and article about a group of Australians called Bums for Bush were planning a mass mooning of the Pres-O-Dent on his visit Down Under...hahahaha!

It's been a long time...I know.

2007-07-27T14:17:00.000+09:00

The last couple of weeks before the kids’ summer vacation were devoted to tests, assemblies, and various other activities. Since my junior high school students were busy with finals, I went to the elementary school a few times. They have a friendship with another elementary school in a city not to far from where I live. Every year, the parents and children of both schools get together and play in the mudflats in the inland sea area. It was really nice to see the kids enjoying themselves with their moms and dads. We all were given make shift mud sleds and we ploughed through the mud to a sandbar where the kids collected snails, crabs, and whatever else. It was HARD WORK to get all the way out there in waist-deep mud. That after noon I was supposed to fly to Okinawa, but those plans were canceled thanks to the typhoon that ripped through there in the evening. Instead, on of my neighbors had an Okinawa party and we sat around and ate...waiting for a typhoon that never came. Here's all the damage it did in our area.

Despite the fact that I've made it clear that I don't sports, no one cares. They teacher I work with at the junior high decided that I would play basketball with the students. My knees been bothering me lately but I acted like I was playing anyway. It's really odd...it only gives me trouble when I'm seated with my leg bent for an extended period and I can't straighten it out right away when I stand. Anyway, my team lost so I guess it doesn't matter. I don't see why the other teachers don't ever play. Hmmmm. I'm not even the youngest in the faculty. Whatever.

I also joined the elementary school for their "work experience" in the mountains. In the States, 4th grades would never be let loose on a steep mountainside with razor sharp sickles to clear the brush from around baby pine trees...NEVER! We almost made it the whole day without someone cutting their fingers off. Not even 10 minutes after we returned to school, I spotted a little crowd around someone trailing blood across the stairs. I told her to hold her towel on it and press. While waiting for my bus, I went out and played with the kids. We played a game where you form 2 teams, individuals start at opposite ends, each jumps from tire to tire until they meet, and then they play rock-paper-scissors to determine will pass. The point is to get your whole team across. After that the kids swam. The warm-up was too cute. After all the splashing they jumped in and did laps. Most schools in Japan have pools and the kids are required to take swimming. In the kiddie pool next to this one, the little kids were doing their own thing. One of the kids was trying not to put here face in the water so the coach dunked her face a few times while yelling. Had I been walking by in my own world I'm sure it would have looked like he was trying to drown her.

Earlier this week we got smoke detectors installed. You would expect that to be standard but I guess it's not since we're just getting them. Sad. In the evening, my Japanese mother and her best friend took me and a coworker (who's leaving next week) to the beach to see the sunset and to a fabulous Italian restaurant. The sunset was a bust because the horizon was lined with clouds, but the food was REALLY good. I drove her Lexus SUV home...fun! Before coming here, I thought that I would live closer to some water. So, it was really nice to be at the beach.

Joy...Fun...Seasons in he Sun!

2007-07-10T20:56:00.000+09:00

This past weekend was my friend Michelle’s birthday party on Shikoku. It was on Friday and I wouldn’t have been able to make it there in time for the party so I went to the Sanin Beach Party in Tottori instead. My friend in Saga drove and I was originally going to ride with them but her car was already full and she said it would take her like 8 hours to get there. It takes about 4 hours by high speed train. I left directly from school and my first train (which was to take me to the high speed train) never came. So about 45 minutes after my train was supposed to come, I hopped on anther rapid and they reissued my ticket for the high speed train. Long story short…It took me almost 7 hours to get there. Some other friends of mine already had tents so I crashed with them the first night. By the time I finished the second to last leg of the trip, the trains had already shut down. So, I scoped out 3 other foreigners at the station and we all split a cab.

I was a bit surprised when I got to the beach. For one, I thought the venue would be much bigger and that there would be more Japanese people there. It looked more like a foreign English teacher party. Secondly, they played techno the entire night…as in until I went to sleep at almost 5 am!!! So while a group of friends smoked hookahs at the hookah bar, I talked to the vendors who was French. Instead of dancing, most people were down on the beach where all the tents were. Jon (another really cool person I met at the beach who was also in the tent) lent me his flashlight services and we headed down to the beach too. The people whose tent I crashed in had fireworks so we set some off. The tent was HUGE so we started calling it “The Hotel.” It could fit like 9 my-sized people/6 adult-sized people comfortably. We all tried to get some picture of the sun rising over the beach but there were just enough clouds to make that a failed attempt.

At about 8 am, I was wide awake. When I stepped out of the tent, I noticed that everyone else (even the severely hung-over) was too. That whole circadian clock thing is amazing. There were food vendors there so for breakfast I had a tandoori chicken skewer, a rice ball, and miso soup. I wasn’t full so I also at two chicken kebab sandwiches being sold and another stand run by the French guys. Sounds like a lot right? Well everything was Japan sized and the kebob sandwiches weren’t really sandwhiches per se. Chicken was stacked and roasted on a spit like the lamb for gyros. The chicken, raw cabbage, tomatoes, and salad dressing were wrapped in a flour tortilla. It was a good variation on a theme I guess.

A group called Capoeira Aché Brasil gave workshops and a performance in the afternoon. So, after watching the first workshop and giggling and feeling like 5th grade groupies/stalkers with some of my new homies about how cute the instructor was, we decided to take the second workshop. It was so much fun, but knew I would be hurt in the morning. The weather didn’t get that hot so I only spent a few minutes in the water with one of the people from my cab ride from the station. My friend from Saga and her crew finally made it in. That evening the music finally changed so everyone headed to the dance floor. DJ Kaori, who was featured on the party’s flyer, came on at 8:30. She’s and ok DJ but it dawned on me that I knew what songs came next. Instead of displaying her mixing skills (if she had any), she played a lot of prefab mixes and just scratched to transition in between the songs. Everyone rushed the dance floor to see her so I moved to the back where I could breathe. There was an elevated log in the back where people had been sitting so I stood on top of it and had my own little party. All the drunk folks were walking by and asking, “How are you staying up there?!” every few minutes. A few even tried to climb up but eventually ended up back on the ground. ..HILARIOUS! By about 12:00 I was dog tired and the DJ was doing more singing than DJing. I think she may have been promoting her new cd or something. So, I went back down to the beach, collected my belongings out of Hotel Tent with the help of Jon’s flashlight, and went to sleep in the tent of one of my people from Saga.

Sunday morning I was back up at like 8, which never happens without an alarm clock when I’m at home!!! The inside of the tent was HOT! So, I threw on my bathing suit and ran into the water. After swimming a little, I ate breakfast (rice ball, banana, and green tea from a convenience store down the street) and talked to Sai (the guy with the sweet mother and sister who I met in Atlanta before coming here) and Rachel (another teacher from that area who I clicked well with) who speaks French. The capoeira group was back, and so was all our giggling. So, Rachel and I decided to take the workshop again and giggled some more. The group is from Osaka and we’ve already planned a trip there to take some classes next month, which I’m sure will result in MORE GIGGLING!!! I can’t wait! After playing on the beach (Bogus Yoga with Theresia and Counterfeit Capoeira with Yuki), the ladies from Saga and I went to lunch. Then, they dropped me off at the station and got on the road. My first train left at 6:15 and I got home at 10:45. They didn’t get home until almost 5 am!!! As you can imagine, I’m more than happy that I decided to dish out the funds and take the train! I did one load of laundry, did my hair, and took my poor tired self to bed!

As the saying goes…When it rains, it pours.

2007-07-05T20:08:00.000+09:00

I’ve been trying my hand at Caribbean food lately. Friday evening I made stewed fish and fungi, and believe it or not the fungi had NO LUMPS!!! Saturday I had a taste for saltfish pate, but I have yet to find salted cod. So, I decided to experiment and I mixed canned salmon and tuna instead. It was surprisingly good. That night, I went to a salsa event in the city to see one of my friends perform. I decided that I wasn’t going to stay out all night so another friend and I cut out early to hop on the last medium speed train, which costs the same as the slow train. He just recently broke off a yearlong engagement with someone who he’s been with for four years. So, we talked about that for much of the trip home. I got home after midnight and jumped on the phone with my folks. Sunday, I had planned to wake up in time to take my recyclables across the street because they pack up at 10:30. I did two loads of laundry and as I was bout to heat up some lunch, my neighbor called to invite me to eat soba at our friend’s restaurant. In spite of the bountiful Caribbean smorgasbord that I was about to reheat, I couldn’t deny the fun of eating good food with good people. So, I threw on some clothes and scurried downstairs. At the restaurant, he asked if I was free to work on our orientation film and go to a potluck later. WHAT? MORE FUN AND FOOD? Is there any question? There was only an hour between when we got home and the time we agreed to meet to leave home. So I kneaded some dough real quick and made some more pate for the potluck…YUMMY! (Yes, I’m tooting my own horn). The lady who hosted the potluck teaches Japanese calligraphy and a lot of English teachers take lessons at her house. She really enjoys entertaining, she’s a great cook, and she always prepares dinner before each lesson. Every time I go over there, she always tells me to come back soon and more often. This time she asked me for my email address.

Monday morning, it was raining cats, dogs, whales, porcupines, and a host of other animals that would spoil your day if you saw them falling from the sky. So, I put on my rain gear…rain jacket over my book bag that contained my laptop, rain pants, and galoshes…and rode to the train station. The river across the street from our apartment had reached street level and the rice paddies were flooded, so the street was covered by about 5 inches of nasty water. EEEEK! I usually go to the board of education every Monday, but I had two demonstration classes today.

Yesterday, I went to school in the morning and judged a speech contest in another city in the afternoon. So the teachers requested the I come in on Monday to plan the demonstration classes. As usual, I sat around for the first half of the day waiting for someone to come “discuss” something with me. It kills me that the teachers freak out and do all kinds of extra things for demonstration classes. It would have been a classic moment in educational history if one of the students had raised their hand and said, “We don’t do all this for our regular classes.” Alas, that didn’t happen but I was praying it would. The classes today went well as usual.

Tuesday afternoon, I returned to the board of education to meet my supervisor so that we could ride over to the speech contest. I hate that we’re never given details about things they ask us to do. When I asked about it, he didn’t know. So, when I got there it was kinda explained to me. The group of women how hosted the contest is called Soroptimist International. From what I gathered, they are a group of Christian woman who are into community involvement and environmental issues. They all also appeared to be quite wealthy. The contest was between two high school girls and they each had written a short speech about their lives and environmentalism. After the contest, the ladies gave us gifts. First was the white envelope that my supervisor vehemently refused. I’m not sure what he said, but I did hear, “but Tiffany can...” So, they put his envelope down and gave me the other one. Then, they presented us with big boxes of desserts. The lady in charge, who had fly purple hair, asked me like 3 times to come back and visit and come to her house.

Let’s just say my supervisor is a little…ummmm…different. When I got to his van, he opened the back seat and didn’t move the stuff he had in the passenger’s seat in the front. So, I rode in the back of his stank van. I later asked a fellow co-worker about this and she said that when she rode with him it was the same. WEIRD! I haven’t ridden in the backseat of an empty car in over 10 years. Anyway, on the way back to the office, I noticed that my supervisor was starting to swerve a bit and I didn’t think anything of it the first time because sometimes swervage happens. However, he did it again and this time I saw him rub his face and straighten his back…THIS FOOL WAS FALLING ASLEEP! He was only driving about 15 mph and I was in the back wishing he would crash into a rice paddy so that I could hop out and walk back to my city. It also became apparent that he was lost, which also happened with the other co-worker when she rode with him. I’ll be coming back with the new teachers in August from Tokyo and I think I’m supposed to ride back with them to the city with our supervisor…NOT HAPPENING! If he says that I will, then I’m just going to have to be honest and tell him that I’m going to ride the train because I don’t feel comfortable with his driving.

Still Wondering When I Work I Bet...

2007-06-27T20:32:00.000+09:00

Sunday, I got home after 11 a.m. and it was my intention to take a nap, get dressed, and be back in the city for a dinner date at 6 with Maggie and Yolaine (who’s leaving this year). Well, when I walked into my apartment, a STANK like no other nearly knocked me over!!! “What in the world??? If there is a dead animal in my apartment, I’m moving out today!” is what kept going through my mind as I search around for the source of the STANK. I checked the shower room because the window stays open to let out the moisture and it’s quite possible that something had come into the window and died under the tub. I know it’s gross but it’s possible. No dice. Poured bleach down the drain in the kitchen. No dice. I even checked in the toilet room…hey, you never know. No dice. Then, I saw a white for out of the corner of my eye that I didn’t remember being there before. It was a bag on the shelf next to the fridge. Remember that chicken and shrimp that I bought Saturday for kabobs…yep! Well, it was gray and you could see the wavy stink lines rising off the meat inside!!! I had to tie it up in 3 bags before I couldn’t smell it anymore. I would have put it in the freezer until trash day (today), but I have shoeboxes bigger than my freezer…which is how I left the meat out in the first place. I had planned to put it into small zip lock bags so that I could put them in the freezer, but somewhere in my grogginess, I had forgotten. That evening, we ate at a really good Indian restaurant in the city. I can honestly say that I have yet to have Indian food here that isn’t amazingly delicious! Italian is another story…as much as I love them both, seaweed and egg DOES NOT GO ON EVERYTHING!

Monday, I was right back in the city for a meeting. After the meeting, 8 of us headed to a great Sri Lankan restaurant. I can’t recall the last time that I ate anything that HOT…but it was SOOOOOO GOOD! They didn’t have lassi so we had to order milk to go in our tea and they brought out one lil coffee creamer! WHAT! Did they not realize that the point was to put out the fire?! Surprisingly enough, it did the trick. I took a Zantac and enjoyed. We did get yogurt sorbet (if that makes sense, it wasn’t really ice cream) and it made a world of difference. With the feeling returned back to our mouths, we headed back to work…for a whole 45 minutes. Yes, people abuse the system outside of the US…hehehe.

After "work", I was home long enough to drop off my computer, change shoes, and grab a bag that I had packed because the woman I’d hung out with in Tokyo and I were going to the ballet back in the city. I changed in the train station bathroom, put my stuff in a locker, and sachéd off to the concert hall with my tiny dress and big ol’ fro! I wore a little black dress that belonged to my late aunt who lived in NY and spared no expense on her wardrobe…and I felt like a star. All the stares and smiles didn’t help because by the time we got the place my head was bigger than my fro…hehehe. I was brought back down to the earth by the mosquitoes the decided that my calves were their dinner.

Have you heard of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo? Well, it’s a ballet company, all the dancers are men who (when dressed as females dancers) dance in pointe shoes! This may be hard to believe, but they were better than any female ballerinas that I’ve ever seen! Their technique was AMAZING! They did their own comical renditions of famous classical and modern ballets like Tchaikovsky's "Swan lake", Leonide Massine's "Gaité Parisenne", Balanchine's "Middle-Blue-Verging-On-Black-and-White Period", etc. It was so good. After the first curtain call, they did a Mexican inspired dance…Hilarious! Then, when we thought they were done, they came back out and did a traditional Japanese dance (that I had actually learned in Atlanta at the Japanese speech contest I did in college). It was too cute and a few of them were jazzing it up, adding a little extra booty and shoulders). I wonder what they do when they visit other countries. We were laughing at he thought of what they might do in Jamaica. No cameras were allowed inside, or during the autograph signing. Pictures of the signing magically appeared on my memory card though. That's the face of Chase Johnsey (from Florida) on the left and Or Sagi (from Israel) on the right. We were able to take pictures in front of the sign near the entrance though. We had planned to go out for Thai food after the show, but it finished later than we thought and I had to be on a bus at 6:30 this morning. So, we stopped to pick up a bubble tea and rushed to our respective trains.

Wondering When I Work, Huh?

2007-06-27T19:11:00.000+09:00

The past few weeks have been full of food, fun, and my favorite…TRAVEL! Saturday before last, 29 of us packed into vans and cars to head down to Kumamoto. Kumamoto is the prefecture south of Fukuoka. One of the guys who lives in my building organized the trip and rented 3 cabins near the beach. When we got there on Saturday afternoon, the cabins weren’t ready so we made a makeshift wall of people and towels, changed into our swimwear, and headed to the beach. It was by the grace of God that the weather held up because thunderstorms were in the forecast for whole week (it’s rainy season here now by the way). The sky was overcast but it was hot and the sun would break through every now and then. After a short game of touch football, most of us made our way to the murkier-than-I-deem-acceptable water. Things were cool until the creatures started popping up everywhere. The first thing we say was a…um…well, we couldn’t figure out if it was a plant or an animal. The second thing was definitely and animal, but once again unidentifiable. Then there was the tiny starfish, tiny octopus, the weird bugs, and the jellyfish. The jellyfish was the icing on the cake that solidified my decision to stay out of the water. I can’t say that I’m too fond of being stung by jellyfish. That evening, the grills were fired up and the fun began. The Hawaiians pulled out the ukuleles and guitars and sang the night away while the Japanese ladies were inside cooking their hearts out. They even had breakfast ready when we woke up…AMAZING!

Monday, I was off to Tokyo for meetings (see previous post). Friday, I went to the next city for a Model United Nations party...SUCH A CUTE IDEA. Everyone was supposed to dress up to represent a country. Of course France is the easiest...a striped shirt, scarf, and beret...and I figured someone else would be France. I couldn't think of what country to be so I decided to be the United Nations (building). The costume went a little something like this...

Blue hat...be cause UN folks wear blue hats/helmets

UN Flag...I printed it and made a flower to stick on my hat

Black shirt and pants...it's a plain dark building

Mirrors...the windows are reflective look like this...I wrote "THE UNITED NATIONS of Benetton" and "NO I'M NOT FRANCE" on the mirrors so that people would not be confused

Flags at my feet...there are flags at the base of the UN building...I chose flags that are meaningful to me (S. Korea, Nevis, St. Thomas, Japan, Senegal, Germany).

I felt terrible Saturday, so I stayed in bed until 4. I recently bought a grill, so I got up and went to the store for some chicken, shrimp, and charcoal. The plan was to make some kabobs, but I needed to get ready for the “Prom” that was to begin at 8ish. So, I settled for some bratwursts and corn instead, and invited one of m coworkers over to help me eat it. After late lunch/early dinner, we ladies donned our prom dresses, put our cute shoes in our baskets, and biked to the station in hopes that it would not rain! The prom was nice. The theme was Disco Royale (Studio 54 meets James Bond I guess) and I thought that people would show up half steppin’ but everyone looked really nice. Only a handful of people dressed for the theme, me being one of them. It ended at 10ish, so everyone headed to their respective after party destinations. Most folks went to a bar that is owned by a former teacher from my program, but bars aren’t my scene. So, 4 of us headed over to a salsa club…no I didn’t suggest it! We had a really good time and the other 3 were dancing which made for a good time. When the crown died down, we all headed to the salsa place that I had been to once when I first got here. Everybody from the first place had migrated there. I don’t know if any of you remember me mentioning being asked to dance as part of a group by an instructor. Well, she was there and soooo happy to see me again. That place closed at 4 so the remaining two of us headed over to the Internet café to take a nap and wait for the trains to start running again.

In Tokyo instead of at school...YAY!

2007-06-21T18:49:00.000+09:00

Monday and Tuesday, I was in Tokyo for a meeting because I’ll be doing a workshop for the new teachers coming in early August. I’ll be presenting on life in Japan as a person of African descent. There are a total of 6 of us giving the presentation at the two orientations. I showed up as instructed with my outline ready to discuss. How about the 5 other folks came empty handed and designated me at the note taker. The fact that we had to turn in an outline is the only thing that kept me from saying, “Are you crazy? Take your own notes losers!” So I begrudgingly took notes and looked at them all like they were crazy during the meeting. When asked if I was alright, I replied, “Yes, just waiting for y’all to get to the point.” After our meeting on Monday, a group of us met with the woman who has been over the African Descent special interest group for the program. My intention was to get a list of resources within the country from her but it turned into a casual dinner/regular night out…which I didn’t mind. We ate Mexican food at a restaurant not too far from out hotel…the luxurious KEIO Plaza hotel in Shinjuku…they really know how to put us up!!! Too bad that money doesn’t go into new teacher housing in my prefecture! Anyway, after dinner a woman from Jamaica and I headed out to Roppongi looking for loud music on a Monday night. We got loud music but that’s about it. After scouring the streets for a place where the music was consistently half-decent, we finally ended up in a near empty salsa club/restaurant called Copacabana. There was a kinda-old-looking-relatively-youngish white lady there dancing like it was Spring Break Miami with an OLD Japanese man who looked like he didn’t know what to do…so I danced one song with the cook who was obviously doing nothing because he was standing around bobbing his head and there was no one there anyway. We got back to the hotel a little after 12.

Tuesday, after the meeting that ended at 12, a group of us headed over to Sizzler for lunch. When you hear Sizzler, what do you think of? A greasy buffet line with out of control kids eating directly from the dessert bar or an almost upscale dining establishment with impeccable service and an amazing salad/soup/desert bar? Well, I’m glad to inform you that it was the later. The place was NICE and the food was GOOD! A couple weeks ago, I made an appointment and a spa that has a staff who are knowledgeable about Black people…it’s the only one that seems to exist in the whole country and they are booked solid for months from now. So, I was lucky to even get an appointment when I did. The woman I had gone out with Monday (see me trying to stop refereeing to people my age as “boys” and “girls”) needed her hair trimmed and one of the stylists there said she could fit her in real quick out of the kindness of her heart at the same time as my appointment, which was for 3 pm. Well, as we were leaving the restaurant at about 1:30, she got a phone call from one of her friends in town who she had made lunch plans with but forgot about. So she went to meet him in front of the hotel. She calls me at about 1:45 and says, “Come on, I’ve got someone to drive us to the spa.” So, I made my merry little way back over to the hotel. She asked him how long it would take to get there and he said about 40 minutes so we hop in the car thinking we’re going to the spa. 2:45 rolls around and we’re in Saitama, a suburb of Tokyo. So, I politely remind her that I have somewhere to be at 3. This fool was taking us to his house to eat!!! At that point, I was mad and ready to get out and take the subway back into town. At 3, I called the spa to tell them that we were in traffic and we would be about 15 minutes late. Well, we get about a block from the spa at like 3:35 so I called the spa back to tell them that we’re coming and they tell me, “I’m sorry but we can not take you today.” I WAS HEATED!!! But you know what? Lesson learned...You'd think that by now I would know not to accept rides from strangers...even if it's a friend of a friend when you have an agenda of your own...

2007-06-15T13:43:00.000+09:00

Have you ever seen the show Dirty Jobs? Well, students here have the opportunity to go to different companies around the city to experience working for a day. Now I thought they would be going to administrative type places. One of the teachers had to around to check on them, take pictures, and talk to the workers. He invited me to go so I tagged along. It was so interesting. First, we stopped at the shop that the teachers’ lunches come from. We all know that the best tasting food comes from the most questionable places and there was no exception here. The inspector in me (my mother) was like “Uh Uh!” looking around the overcrowded greasy little kitchen. Our next stop was a water sanitation company. When we got there, the students were already out with the workers to do a job. So, we drove to an apartment complex where they were learning about how the wastewater is treated before it goes into some river somewhere. All this made me wonder where the water in my apartment goes and comes from. Since turning on the faucet expecting clear water and getting otherwise, I’ve only been drinking bottled water and the water that I use to make other things with is always boiled first. I only shower, wash dishes, and do laundry in the tap water.

While leaving, the teacher said that we were going to a pet shop next. What do you think of when you hear “pet shop?” Animals in cages? Staff in khakis and polos? Well, I was mistaken. When we entered the “pet shop,” there were two dogs in kennels at the front. The smell of wet dog was almost unbearable until I switched on the shallow breathing. Beyond the two dogs, there was a bunch of students surrounding a table under what appeared to be big hand-held hair dryers on stands. There were two pairs of furry gray and white legs on either side of one of the students. I had never thought about it before, and perhaps I’m being a drama queen, but the sight of a sleeping dog on a table being worked on by 6 people kinda made me sad. Did anyone else know that dogs are sedated before they’re groomed? Then, they turned on the dryers. I wanted to run out of the tiny shop. Between the wafting of warm wet dog smell and the fur flying everywhere, I almost lost it thinking of fleas doing summersaults through the air, screaming, “WEEEEE!” Okay, so, at that point I was indeed being a drama queen…but still! So, I backed up to the door a bit to look at the two other dogs. THEY WERE ASLEEP! I felt like I was witnessing some evil ritual or something. Thinking about it now makes me itch!

Lastly, we went to a facility that packed trash to be recycled. There were massive piles of newspapers, boxes, wood scraps, furniture, bedding, etc. I can see why little boys want to drive Tonka trucks when they grow up. Watching the trucks picking up stuff, carrying it away, and dumping it was really fascinating because the equipment moved so gracefully. The two students there were opening batches of today’s newspapers. So, the newspapers are distributed at like 6 a.m. and by noon the unused ones are already on their way to being recycled.

On the way back to school, I talked about how awful our apartments are and the whole asbestos thing…by the way, using asbestos is not illegal in Japan. I asked about the teachers’ apartments in that city so the teacher drove past them so I could see. Upon seeing the building, I expected to be stopped at a checkpoint so that roaches and rats could inspect our vehicle. The outside looked as if the building was constructed a long time ago, never completed, and people moved in anyway. If it were painted, then their place would look like ours. The doors/windows looked nice and they all had screens on them though, which makes me wonder how the inside looks. Which brings me to my newest venture… I’m making screens to go in the windows of my toilet and shower rooms. Last night was the trial run. The wood that I bought for the frame was too thin so it bent and wouldn’t stay flush with the wall. So, I bought some more wood and tried again. Looks pretty good huh? I think I’ll start a Do It Yourself TV program for those of use who live in abject poverty like me…ok, so perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration…anyone willing to invest? Without central air, it’s impossible to keep the whole place cool with the windows closed, not to mention the possibility of mold being an issue…but if I open the place up without a screen, then every bug in the neighborhood will move in.

Tokyo Day 2 and 3...sigh

2007-06-03T23:17:00.000+09:00

Yesterday morning, I got bored sitting in the house while Justin was at work so I got up and went exploring in the neighborhood. I went to KFC for lunch then jumped on the first bus that I saw. Justin’s apartment is right next to the ocean but there’s no beach in the area…or so I thought. When we reached the beach area, I was surprised to see folks out walking, jogging, fishing, playing in the water, and at another part of the beach folks were digging for clams. Just as my contentment began to settle, I received a text message from my supervisor. It read:

Hello. How are you? I am a little good. I’m sorry that I said you were not chosen the new PA. Have a good weekend. See you.

What kind of notification is that??? I think it’s a bit on the unprofessional side to send a text message about a job position to someone’s phone. What happened to the days of notification letters…or emails even?! It’s funny how some things only bother you when you’re upset. All of a sudden, my adventure had turned into me on a bus in some strange area and no interest in the beach or the beautiful day. Then, Justin sent me a text to let me know he was home so I headed back to give him the not so great news. On the way back, I passed through a festival and bought some bread and chicken kabobs for us to snack on. Perhaps my penchant for bright colors is rubbing off on him but look what he was wearing when I got home…YAY…Why so handsome?!?!?! It was my intention to meet up with the AUC students who are in town for the summer program but that fell through. So, we headed into the city to hang out before it got too late. Now the question is WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!?!?!

Today, I had a taste for Subway so we headed on base for lunch. After grabbing a chai from Starbucks, we walked back to Justin’s neighborhood and I got a chance to begin to talk my way through my dilemma...to stay or to leave. I also started a list. Half of the paper are realistic/tangible reasons to stay in Japan and the other half lists reasons to be at home. Well, there are 5 things on the Japan side and none on the home side. Now had I listed negative things then going home would definitely look way more promising...i.e. I don't like my job...but who does? I know one thing...I WANT TO LOVE WHAT I DO...so until then, I'll just chalk up the 9-5, revel in the weekends, and enjoy my vacations.

At about 9:30, I left Justin's because my flight leaves at 6:30 am tomorrow and I needed to be close to the airport. The hotel I chose is a business hotel, which means that the rooms are small and practical. This one, however, is by far the nicest business hotel that I've seen. So, I was sure to get the brochure that lists all of its hotels across the country. It's amazing what you can get for a little over $50 here. You couldn't pay me to stay anywhere in the states for that price!!! Here's the view from the window/balcony.

Tokyo Day 1

2007-06-01T21:16:00.000+09:00

Am I the only one in the world who gets put next to crazies on public transportation? Halfway to Tokyo, the person sitting next to me got off the train and another person sat down. He was wearing a suit and had is lunch in a bag. This man fidgeted so much that I thought for sure that he was going to pee his pants at any moment. He was worse than a kid! Justin was still at work when I got to his apartment so I acted like I was digging in my purse for my key until someone walked up and opened the outside gate to the apartment. There was jelly, apple juice, water, milk, canned coffee, eggs, and bread in the house so I headed out to the store to find something to eat. When I got back to the gate, I went right back to pretending that my key must have been at the bottom of my bag until someone opened the gate. Justin found out that he has to go to work in the morning so we exchanged gifts and watched movies instead of going out. It wasn’t much of a gift exchange though, because I accidentally left his stuff from home and China in my living room. He brought back some really cool stuff from Mexico and Russia (which made me feel bad for leaving his stuff in Fukuoka)!

Kyoto Day 2ish...

2007-05-31T23:55:00.000+09:00

Today felt like one of those travel TV shows where the host miraculously covers an entire city in one day. I’m living proof that it’s possible. Kyoto is great. It still has that old school Japan feel, but it’s not raggedy and doesn’t feel like a dusty old museum of a city. I started the day with my 9 am appointment for a maiko makeover. A maiko is a geisha in training. Their kimonos and hairpieces are usually more floral and playful, their hairstyle is very different, and the same goes for their make up. They also wear really high shoes. It took them about 30 minutes from start to finish. Once dressed, a photographer and I hit the streets for a photo shoot. After the shoot, I walked around for half an hour in the outfit and makeup. Kyoto is a big school trip destination so at 10 am the streets were full of elementary and middle school kids form all over the country. It was so funny to hear little kids scream “Oh, maiko-san from a distance.” It was even funnier to hear, “EEEH!” when they got up close enough to realize that it was some Black lady dressed up.

From there I went to Kiyomizu Temple and took a couple of pictures. I wanted to find the Nintendo headquarters building but I could find any directions on the internet. However, I did see it from the train on my way to Inari Fushimi. For those of you who have seen memoirs of a geisha, you may remember the scene where the main character is running through row of Tori (orange/red shito gates). Well, I visited the shrine where that scene was shot. It’s called wanted to find the Nintendo headquarters building but I could find any directions on the internet. However, I did see it from the train on my way to Inari Fushimi. My neighbor let me borrow (soon to be “have”) his tripod so I was able to take some pictures with me in them. Since I was on a schedule I didn’t get to walk the entire length of the trail, but I’ll go back to Kyoto next year to do all that. Next, I was off the other end of the city to see Kinkakuji, another really famous temple that is covered in gold. All day long it looked like there was a storm on the way so I cut back a cross town to have dinner at Yojiya Café. This time I was in luck. I had a Margherita pizza and an iced café au lait. The café au lait is the whole reason I had been trying to get there in the first place. Look at how they serve it…COOL! For dessert, I tried my hardest to get to a soufflé place called Rokuseisatei. They stopped taking orders at 6 and I got there at 6:14!!! They open at 11:30 am and my train to Tokyo leaves at 11:26 so I guess I’ll just have to catch it next year too. Oh well. So, I just walked around until I was exhausted then headed back to the hotel.

Kobe Conference Day 3...Kyoto Day 1

2007-05-30T22:55:00.000+09:00

Today, we only had sessions in the morning so Michelle, one of her homies, and I went to lunch together afterwards. Then we all parted ways. I headed to Kyoto. On the train I received a text from on the guys who lives in the next city over. He and a girl in m building both have forms of pneumonia and they had been discussing the possibility of asbestos in our apartments. After sending emails up the food chain, he found out that the do have asbestos and the board of education isn’t going to do anything about it…WHAT!!! I made up my mind to focus on that after my vacation had ended. My goal is to see all the places on my list in a matter of 24 or so hours. Here’s the list of must-dos:

Get a Maiko (geisha in training) Make-over
See Kiyomizu-dera

See Fushimi Inari
See Kinkakuji
Eat at Yojiya Café, Tsujiri, and Rokusai Satei
Buy a purse from Ichizawa Hanpu

Here are the other things to do if I have time:
Take a picture in front of the sign in the lobby of the Nintendo Headquarters
Eat Kitsune Udon
Take a picture of Amanohashidate

This afternoon, I was able to get a few things done. For starters, I checked in and jumped on a bus to find my purse and I made time for foolish photos as usual. I walked around Gion…the Geisha district and I think I saw two real maiko. The first one entered the street from a narrow alleyway and I asked her if I could take her picture. She very politely excused herself and scurried up the street to a building that appeared to be having an event. From a few meters up the street, I saw another come from the same entrance and head to the same building like she too was on a mission. I feel so special. I may have seen two of the few remaining Geisha…or Geisha-to-be. I had the Grand Poobah of Japanese parfaits at Tsujiri, a maccha (green tea) dessert restaurant in Gion. It started to pour after I got on the bus to head to the station so that I could go to Yojiya Café, so I went back to the hotel ot get my umbrella. When I got back downstairs, there was not a drop of rain. Thanx to the incorrect listing for the hours of operation of Yojiya Café, it was already closed when I got there. So, I came back to the hotel and had some Starbucks instead.

Kobe Conference Day 2

2007-05-30T12:26:00.000+09:00

Waking up at 7-something is no fun…waking up at 7-something after going to bed at 4-something is even less fun…waking up at 7-something after going to bed at 4-something and going to a meeting is…ok you get the point. The sessions were…sessions…lunch was…lunch. The evening, however, was SPECTACULAR…Okay, so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a whole lotta fun. We ventured back to Harborland and Michelle, Dave, and I had Kobe beef. It was really good. They brought each of us the raw beef and veggies on a skillet/plate and you cooked it to your liking after they brought it to you. It was expensive, pretty fatty, but really good…until later when my stomach was paid me back.

After dinner a whole bunch of use ended up down in the recreation are a for a little over sized stuffed animal races and Ferris wheel fun! After playing we trekked off in search of music and people dancing to it. Let me just say that Japan really needs to stop with the perceptions of Black folks…and second of all, everybody knows that we were rocking Jheri curls in the 80s, not fros!!! Our first stop was Second Chance, and for a second there was a bit of movement…short lived, so we scuttled on down the street to a place that everyone kept calling PP and Sonic. When we got there, I realized that PP was short for Party Party and the name of the party was Sonic. I had seen a bunch of people who I met when I went to Miyazaki for Halloween and a guy I met in Atlanta (who is a dancer and whose mom and sister were so sweet to me in Atlanta before we left) at our meetings and lo’ and behold they were all at PP…so we all danced the night away…aside from the fun, there were some not-so-fun moments when people I didn’t want to talk to felt the need to hold conversations with me and continually forget my name…so let’s just say that as far as they know my name is Ashley and they have “my” number…which I hope is not really someone’s number because they will indeed be surprised to receive calls from random foreign men…ooops. Another post 4 am bedtime kinda night with an even earlier start in the morning this time…sigh.

Kobe Conference Day 1

2007-05-29T07:12:00.000+09:00

Yesterday morning, I got up, got dressed, and changed suitcases at the last minute. I took a taxi to the station so I was there like 15 minutes early. The train that came before the one I had planned to take was pulling off as I was coming out of the elevator. I should have moved a little more quickly to take that one because my train was stopped like 2 stations before my transfer to the high speed train…so I missed it. I’m so glad that the public transportation is so efficient here. I was able to catch another high speed train that departed 15 minutes later than my original train.
Our hotel was fabulous, as usual. They really spend a lot of money on our accommodations and I think it’s a little unnecessary. Beautiful island on a man-made island, great room, swanky bathroom, beautiful views of the harbor....YAY! However they should keep up the good work until I’m gone. I like to think of it as reparations for how horrible our apartments are!!! My roommate is someone from my prefecture whom I don’t know, but I guess I know her now. I don’t really anticipate spending much time with her because she talks entirely too much for me. Plus, I like so spend time a way from “home” with people who I don’t get to see…aka my roommate from Tokyo Orientation/Travel buddy!!! So after acting a fool during the ½ day of meetings, we carried it over into the night. We all went to Chinatown for dinner and Harborland to look at….ummmm….the water and stuff. Although I got a bunch of good pictures of scenery and stuff from Chinatown and Harborland, these two were my favorites. I thought they were neat. Then, we followed the sound of fellow foreigners in the street and ended up at a place called Soul Blood for a party called Hip Hop Juice…Sounds all bad right? ER! Wrong…WE HAD A BALL!!! So much so that we were the last people left on the dance floor…Hence our newest slogan…Tiffany and Michelle: Shutting down clubs since 2007!!! Any place that features a before and after portrait of Michael Jackson at the door is indeed the place for me...hehehe. We also went to a place called Second Chance, but there was more drinking than dancing so we didn’t stay there long. Did I mention that I went to bed after 4 am?

Why I Love Weekends

2007-05-27T21:10:00.000+09:00

Last weekend was pretty fun. Saturday three of us met with our friend and she took us to the city. She knows a woman who does traditional Japanese dance so she asked her if we could come in for a short lesson. The woman had recently broken her arm so she couldn’t make it, but her daughter (24) was there. It was really nice. They dressed us up in some FABULOUS kimono and we learned a dance to a song called Sakura. After strapping us into our kimono, it was hair time. Lucky for me, fros and flowers are a big hit or they were just intimidated by the prospect of the sheer magnitude of this beautiful mystical creature on my head. So, my hair was left alone. The dance was very easy, but there were some serious details. For example, you had to move with your toes turned in to keep from looking like a “man”, your head has to tilt at the right times, and you have to keep your center of gravity whenever you bend your knees because bending at the waist is impossible wearing a kimono. My friend told the instructor that I’m a salsa dancer so she wanted a demo class. So, there we were, dressed in kimonos, doing the basic step and turns and shimmying shoulders because the kimonos restricted all other movement below the arms. After the lesson, the instructor treated us to some tempura for lunch. The restaurants here are so cool. A U-shaped counter, folks frying the goods in the middle, and placing them on your plate as soon as they come out of the grease…mmmmmm, grease! After lunch, our friend had a hair appointment so we were left to our own devices for a few hours = unnecessary shopping! To justify my purchases, I bought things to wear to work…i.e. in order to keep from destroying my nice oxfords, I bought polos for the summer.

Sunday, I woke up early to run errands. Here was the checklist:
Get stupid bike tire fixed
Buy sweat catchers at the pharmacy cuz sweat ain’t cute at a business meeting
Go to the bank to support your habit (shopping, that is)
Get paint supplies from the dollar store to support your other habit (not being bored)
Buy desert for rendezvous later
Remember French

Once all this was finished and I was at home, I finished painting my bathroom (from blue to green)…a project that I started on last Monday. I cooked some summer rolls with peanut sauce, but I didn’t have time to eat any because I was supposed to meet some folks at 1. A friend of a friend has a friend who speaks French. So, we all met at the friend of a friend’s house. His friend’s French was really good and she was really nice. We all discussed our travel and language experiences over sweets…in French, Japanese, and English….talk about cross-cultural communication!!! The friend of a friend said that there’s a part in the [remake of the] movie The Parent Trap where the main character is speaking French and he wanted to know if what she was saying made sense. So, we watched it. I excused myself by saying that I had a meeting and had to leave at 4:30…a meeting with the paint roller and my bathroom. The friend of a friend’s mother came home. She added raw corn to the snacks on the table. My first thought was, “Ummm, I wonder what this is going to taste like.” Raw sweet corn tastes surprisingly a lot like a fruit or some kind. Then, she offered us some watermelon but I don’t like watermelon and I was about to leave so she gave me an ear of corn and welcomed me to come back whenever I liked. The funny thing is, I think I might actually have more fun with her than with her son…LOL! After painting, I finished packing for my conference/travelscapades, went over the itinerary I made for myself, and cleaned up. The conference is in Kobe and I’ll be going to Kyoto and Tokyo for the rest of the week.

Um...no...I don't think so.

2007-05-18T14:54:00.000+09:00

So obviously, kids are crazy. Did you all hear about the boy who decapitated his mom? C-R-A-Z-Y!!! Michelle and I had a brief IM conversation about it and she brought up a very valid point. Everyone around here goes on and on about how low the crime rate is, but every five seconds there’s a news report about a suicide or someone committing some heinous murder…heinous like stuff that we (referring to folks in the States) only see in movies.
Perhaps it’s Fidgety Friday, and maybe everyone is tired, ready to go, and had a long week but that’s no excuse for the students to be down right rude…ALL DAY! In my 5th period class, over 50% of the students were talking THE WHOLE TIME! It didn’t’ help that their teacher had them sitting in groups. So, I decided to walk around during the lesson…and what did I find? One of the boys in the back of the classroom was playing with a piece of metal, about 2 inches long, that had a sharp edge, and appeared to be some sort of attachment to a tool used to cut. Whatever it was, it was close enough to a knife so I put my hand out for him to give it to me. He closed it in his fist and held his closed fist over my palm. Then he pulled his hand away as if he wasn’t going to give it to me. Once he realized that I hadn’t and wasn’t going to move, he gave it to me and I put it in my pocket. Usually when I take stuff from students during class (toys, notes, etc), I give it back when the bell rings. Not this time…he ain’t about to shank me when I’m not looking. So, I carried it to the teachers room and handed it to the JTE. I wonder what will become of that situation. She had class with them again the next period but I didn’t have to go. I honestly don’t think they even punish kids at this school (my city school) and that’s a problem.

Beijing...Day 6...and back to Fukuoka!

2007-05-08T08:50:00.001+09:00

We were up at dawn because our flight left at 9 am. We checked our luggage and ate breakfast. I tried rose milk tea for the first time. There were roses in the bottom of the cup. There was some guy who was DRUNK at 8 am in the restaurant who kept giving the server US dollars. At first, there was another guy with him but I think that guy just left him there. It was sad. In the states, they would have called security on his behind. At customs in the Qingdao airport, the agent kept asking Maggie in Japanese and English if she was Korean after she gave him her U.S. passport and California driver’s license, telling him that she was born in America. The funny thing is that she’s Chinese American. Then he proceeded to ask both Michelle and I if Maggie was Korean with a look of disbelief on his face the whole time. CRAZINESS!!! We were all knocked out on the flight back.

We came back to my town and hung out for a bit. That, evening Michelle and I donned our weekend hair, took all her stuff to the city, put it in lockers and headed out for a night on the town…a whole night! I took her to the Jamaican restaurant then to Sam and Dave’s, a foreigner/Navy haven…we were there until like 5 am. Then some Kenyans spotted us taking pictures, jumped in and invited us to walk with them to the after party spot that doesn’t close until like 7 am. By 6, we were EXHAUSTED! So, we went to the Internet Café for a bit of silliness and a 6-hour nap before her train left. We grabbed some croissants and coffee and ate near the platform. I was sad to see my vacation end, but I am glad that we chose to return on a Friday so that we could have a couple of days to get some rest.

I’m glad that I got to experience the good and bad in China. I seriously doubt that Chinese society will be ready for the tidal wave of foreigners that will be there in a year for the Olympics. Not that other cultures are better, but as far as sanitation and formalities are concerned, I’m sure that folks (Chinese and foreign) will be in for a rude awakening when 2008 rolls around!!!

Beijing...Day 5

2007-05-03T23:47:00.000+09:00

Our final full day in Beijing was devoted to S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!!! In the morning, we went to the Temple of Heaven to complete our sightseeing. First, we had steamed buns, soup, and tea (that I didn’t drink because it looked to questionable for even me) for breakfast across from the Temple of Heaven. It’s another beautiful place that would have been much better had it not been for all the people/all the people trying their hardest to take a picture with you! I wish that I had asked Kisha how to say, “Did you come here to see me?” There’s a cool circular walled-in courtyard where you can yell at the wall way one side and the people on the other side can hear you clearly.

Next, we walked down the street to the Pearl Market. On the first floor, there were electronics (didn’t buy any b/c some things just should not be bootlegged), jewelry, material, and one wig booth that I spotted instantly. Michelle and I purchased some “weekend hair” for about $19 for both, after I told them that I’m a wig maker and I know how much they cost to produce and how much they buy them for from the manufacturer. The top two floors were all pearls. I got 5 pearl necklaces and 3 jade rings for about $48 altogether after I told them that I was a scuba instructor, I knew high quality pearls when I saw them and theirs were low quality, and showed them how round and nice the one that I wore around my neck was. I should be an actor! On the shoe/purse floor, I told one of the ladies that I was 29. I told a few more people that so that they would stop calling me “girl” when trying to get me to come look at their booths.

In the purse section, I found out that they don’t keep some brands in the market. After asking 3 ladies for a particular bag, and being told, “I don’t have it here but you can come to my warehouse that is 2 minutes away,” I decided to go with the third lady. I found Michelle and Maggie and we headed to the “warehouse” with “Lisa.” The hutongs are the narrow alleyways of old Beijing and they are MO’ SKETCHY THAN A LIL BIT!!! After winding and zigzagging through the back streets, all the while remembering exactly how we got there, we made it to the fifth floor of some nearly dilapidated looking building. We got to a door and just as “Lisa” turned the key, there was a voice from inside and the door opened. A girl inside turned on the light…WALL TO WALL knock off purses! The way they were all hidden away, you would have thought they were all the real thing. We were talking and she cut me off mid-sentence because she heard some voices in the hall. She put one finger to her mouth and said “Sssssh,” gently closed the door, and locked it. That’s when Michelle, Maggie, and I gave each other the “O UH UH” face!!! We left soon after. On the way back to the market, I asked “Lisa” why they couldn’t have certain things in the market and she said that if the real companies complained (a lot of whom have factories in China), the police would raid the market. She asked if we were going back to the market and I told her that we needed to eat lunch. She tried to invite herself on the sly but I made sure that she remembered how mean she said her boss was.

For lunch, we went to “The Largest McDonald’s in the World.” I looked it up and some sites say it’s in Vinita, Oklahoma on Route 66, while others say it’s in Beijing. I ended up moving because a girl was taking pictures of me and I wanted to eat in peace. Then we went back over to the same Olympic store where Kisha tripped the girl. After that, we went to Wangfujing’s night food street. In the evening, there’s a long stretch of food stalls that sell any and everything on a stick. I don’t know which is less appetizing…kids peeing on the sidewalk due to the convenience of the hole in the bottom of their pants or the various deep fried bugs. You be the judge. I will say though that you could find both of these things within a few feet of one another. We stopped at a hotel to find out about the times and rates for an acrobatics show, but we decided to go to the hotel then back to the Worker’s Stadium instead. I bought an earring/necklace set for myself, a pearl necklace for Kisha, a billfold for Justin, a purse for my mom, and a leather for my dad…and I’m sure I didn’t spend more than $100!!! For dinner, we went to a Japanese restaurant down the street from the hotel. I had Udon in a clay pot and it tasted pretty much like all the Udon that I’ve eaten in Japan. Maggie and Michelle had California rolls, which aren’t Japanese and for some reason there was banana in them…ummm?

Beijing...Day 4

2007-05-03T08:46:00.000+09:00

Maggie stayed in last night, but Michelle, Kisha, and I decided to go out. Mind you, it was already about 2:30 am when we left the hotel. We went to a club in the area of town where all the Korean students are. The club was called Propaganda and it really reminded me of MJQ. The music was pretty good so we tore up the dance floor. There were more foreigners there than Chinese people! We met a really nice South African guy who told us a short story in Zulu, Xhosa, or something. Whatever it was, it was AMAZING!!! There was a bunch of clicks that he made while making consonant sounds…IMPOSSIBLE! We left the club at like 5:30 am and the sun was already on its way up. When we got back to the hotel at about 6 am, Maggie was awake and standing near the door when we opened it. Why? The tour company had just called and they were going to be downstairs in 20 minutes!!! I took the quickest shower ever! What happened to the 8 am pickup? The guide was “nice enough” to stop at a shop so that we could get something to eat. However, he was really stopping to pick someone else up. We slept most of the way to the Great Wall. Before we got there, we made a 40-minute stop at a jade factory for a rushed 5-minute tour followed by encouragement to spend the remaining 35 minutes in the gift store, which was 3 times the size of the “museum.” I learned two things. The way to distinguish high quality jade is to knock two pieces together. The higher pitched the sound, the lower the quality, and all jade is cloudy. We passed what were the beginnings of a Disney Land. For some reason, the funding was stopped so they stopped building. It was in the middle of nowhere and looked pitiful.

Next, we went to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. We had 2 hours to loiter or walk around at our leisure. There was some issue with incoming traffic so we had to walk 1 kilometer to the entrance! Luckily, that was not included in the 2 hours. Then, we took this bootleg go-carty/train thingy up to the 4th guard post so that we could walk up to the 8th guard post. THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE and it was HOT!!! Mao Zedong made it to the 8th and he said that you aren’t a hero unless you do. Our tour guide “Tony” said, “If you come to Beijing without seeing the Great Wo-ooh (I like the way he pronounced wall), it will become a great pity in your life.” With lots of huffing, puffing, pausing, and potential for shin splints in the near future, we finally made it to the 8th post. Before getting back on the bootleg go-carty/train thingy, Michelle experienced a little cookie tossage. At the bottom, I bought an “I climbed the Great Wall” t-shirt. For “lunch”, we stopped at a traditional Chinese medicine center. I put lunch in quotations because it was already after 3 pm and folks were starving. Thanks to sleep deprivation, I didn’t have much of an appetite, which was probably a good thing because “Tony” informed us that they had put some “medicine” in the soup. UH UH! After lunch, we were given another 5-minute tour. Then we were led into a room where doctors put three fingers our wrists, asked our ages, looked at our tongues, diagnosed us with different things, wrote a prescription, and sent us out into the “pharmacy” (store) to buy the overpriced “medicine.” I did the “consultation” for the heck of it and the doctor said, “You’re healthy.” The whole time I was thinking, “HEY YOU! SMARTY PANTS. What about this heartburn and indigestion?! HUH?! WHAT ABOUT THAT?! HUH?!?!”

After that, we stopped at the Ming tombs. We were all exhausted and all I remember from the Ming tombs was that the emperor liked funky hats, he had 60 concubines and killed them all because none of them got pregnant, and a “fountain” (more like a whole in the ground) was built in their honor. Um, it is pretty obvious why none of them had babies. What in the world did he think was the reason…people are crazy! Everyone on the tour was so nice. “Tony” referred to us as the United Nations because there were people from the U.S., Poland, England, France, Taiwan, German, Indonesia, and perhaps some other places. There were about 20 of us, and everyone was so friendly. We made it back to the hotel an hour later than they said and in just enough time for Kisha to shower, pack up her stuff, and head to the train station. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her, but she said no so I walked her out and gave her cab fare. I’m so glad that I was able to see her. It’s been almost 2 years! She was a major reason why our time in China was sooooo EXCITING!!!

For dinner, Michelle, Maggie, and I ate at a Korean restaurant that we had pass a few times. It was pretty good. We had bibimbap and kimbap. The bibimbap was good, but instead of using beef in the kimbap, they used some stanky tasting sausage! YUCK! So, I picked it out. Then, we went back to the massage place. All three of us were asleep before they were even done! At the hotel, we all fell asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows.

Beijing...Day 3

2007-05-02T20:44:00.000+09:00

We woke up extra early to get a head start on finding the public transportation tour bus for the Great Wall. First, we had breakfast at the restaurant where were ate dinner the Monday night. We had rice/pumpkin porridge, steamed meat buns, and some fried bread. In the middle of the meal Kisha said, “You smell the ammonia smell in the bread? That’s a chemical that is said to cause Alzheimer’s when eaten over a long period of time.” ACK!!! Needless to say, that was my last bite of it. Then, we headed to the big bus depot. Unfortunately, the bus appeared to be nonexistent and or course the other tours that were out there refused to tell us/didn’t know about the bus we were looking for. In our haste to get out there, one of use forgot to put on deodorant so we headed across the street to a store to find some. While there, we bought some snacks to bring back to our respective offices as gifts. With her fabulous Chinese language skills, Kisha overheard some derogatory things being said about us by the clerks so she called one of them a “Stank *****” in Chinese…ironic because we were looking for deodorant!!! This was also the same store that she had been to about a year ago, where she ended up smacking the snot out of some guy who was all in her face. I love that girl…a New Yorker to the bone! It’s so unfortunate that people assume you don’t understand them because you’re a foreigner….especially in a place where there are so many foreigners who speak the language. This was only the beginning of the fun with Kisha and her impeccable Chinese ability!!! She told us the story of when she lost her passport because it had flown out of the window of a moving bus while she was beating up some Chinese guy who kept taking pictures of her after she changed seats and told him to stop several times. And there’s the time when she had to go to the police station and pay a fine for whacking some woman with an umbrella while waiting for the elevator in her apartment building.

Next, we went to a youth hostel to check their store for some deodorant. It was another place where we should have stayed! Our deo search was futile yet again, but we did find a tour to the Great Wall. Unfortunately, it made three other stops (Jade factory, some Chinese Medicine center, and the Ming tombs), but it was reasonably priced and the woman said the bus would pick us up at our hotel at 8 am. After booking our tour, we headed back over to Tiananmen Square so that we could see the Forbidden City. Despite the fact that much of it was under construction for preservation purposes, it was amazing. It would have been better had there not been a million bazillion people there. I had to give the evil eye to a couple of folks who thought it was a good idea to step in a little too close to get a better look at me. Someone grabbed Michelle’s hair and she thought it was one of us. So, needless to say she was upset about that. Kisha’s umbrella served as a shield from unwanted camera shots. And lest we not forget the forbidden bathroom...yes, that's it to the left!

We ate in the area called Wangfujing. The sign at the restaurant said something in Chinese and “Muslim Restaurant.” We had a Mongolian hot pot and ironically enough we had shrimp. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought shrimp were not Halal! After our early dinner, we headed across the street to the Olympic store. Once again, Kisha overheard some mean stuff being said about black folks by some of the clerks so she tripped one of them. When the girl asked her why she did it, she told them it was because they were talking about her. The clerk said something to the effect of, “Well, you’re a different kind of person here.” So, Kisha told her that she was “Still a person regardless.”

On the way to the train station, the cab driver almost hit a man who was crossing the street while trying to look at us in the cab...SCARY and kinda funny at the same time. We ate ramien (ramen) at the train station after Kisha bought her return ticket and almost got robbed by two guys who had apparently been scheming on her. Before dinner, she bought a chicken foot to snack on but had the nerve to change her order because she said that the beef looked two white for beef!!! HAHAHAHA! We went back to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and then we searched for places to get a massage. We stumbled upon a tea house so we stopped for some Jasmine tea. It was really good. However, the tea cost about $17 and the small bowl of peanuts cost about $25…WAIT A MINUTE…but we let it go and headed out to continue our massage search. At the first place we found, we were greeted by a man wearing a shirt and tie. He had a strange smirk and said that there weren’t any showers for woman but he could arrange a room for us to get a massage. After looking around while he was telling this to Kisha in Chinese, we realized that there were no women there…RED FLAG!!! Apparently, this was not just a spa…ehem! So, we scurried out. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped to take pictures outside of an Irish pub called Durty Nellie’s. The next place we found was fairly nice and the staff greeted us in English with wide welcoming smiles. We went to a room with four chairs and four ladies came in to give our weary muscles quite the work out. Massages and reflexology HURT! But boy did we feel much better/half-asleep after the 80 minutes…for about $11!!!

Beijing...Day 2

2007-04-30T23:42:00.000+09:00

Breakfast was included in our hotel costs, so we headed down to the Top Bar. OMG! The Top Bar should be renamed the Bottom Bar because it was RAGGEDY! The food was set out in chafing dishes and looked SKETCHY. We each put some of the questionable cuisine on our plates and picked over it…perhaps in an effort not to seem too bourgie…I quickly made up my mind that bourgie is the way to be when it comes to what you’re willing to eat. I had bean sprouts, bok choy cabbage, peanuts, some clear soup, rice, and something pickled.

After breakfast, we headed back to the room to decide on our plan of action for the day. Then there was a knock on the door. IT WAS KISHA!!! We had been in contact but I still didn’t know for sure that she would be able to come to Beijing. I was so happy to see her…shaved head and all! All she had was my name when she arrived at the hotel. So, I guess the people at the front desk figured she’s Black, the people she’s looking for are Black, and they told her our room number. I was glad they did, but what if some lunatic came looking for us? The ease with which they gave up our info bothered me a bit.

After she got cleaned up (after a 10-hour train ride), we hopped into a taxi and headed to Tiananmen Square. Chinese folks were losing it! Taking pictures of us, staring, it was pretty annoying. So, I took a picture of a guy who was taking a picture of me on his camera phone. In Japan, folks do it on the sly but in China, people get all up in your face with it. After walking around, our bellies got to rumblin’ so we looked for somewhere to get some Peking duck. We had braised tofu, pork something or another, soup, and Peking duck. It was sooooo good! All the duck that I’ve eaten in the past tasted like a big bit of outdoors. This one was DELICIOUS!!! We walked around and checked out some shops. I bought some jade bracelets…that I later found out (at a Jade factory) were low quality jade, but they’re pretty so whatever. The price tag said $62 (480 Yuan) each, but I got 3 for about $32 (250 Yuan)...so, about $10 apiece…that was probably still a rip off but whatever. At that point, it was about what I was willing to spend.

Our next stop was the Worker’s Stadium…A bootleg heaven. This place was like 5 floors of nothing but knock-offs! Unfortunately, the quality was pretty crappy so I stayed away from the “name brand” stuff. I bought two “silk” scarves. After telling the sales lady, “I’m not stupid and that they’re not real silk” I got them for about $4…forget the Willing to Spend Theory. It’s all about how much things are worth and the price to manufacture them…which is really next to nothing. I also got two pairs of the same shoes in different colors for about $12. The salespeople were…um…proactive. I had to give a couple of ladies the “Oh no you didn’t just grab my arm” look/neck roll…upon which they promptly let go.

After the stadium, we walked down the street and stopped for some pineapple. We also stopped at a spa to check the prices for massages…CHEAP!!! Like $20 for an hour and a half full body massage. Kisha said that there were cheaper places that were just as good that the local folks frequent so we left. It started to rain a little so we caught a taxi to the Great Wall Sheraton (where we should have stayed) to check on tour packages for the Great Wall of China. They stopped at several places and we wanted a tour of just the Wall so we decided to check somewhere else. For dinner that night, we headed over to a restaurant across the street from our hotel. Kisha ordered wonton soup, that yummy pork something-or-another, fried rice, and some noodle stuff. Michelle didn’t eat b/c her stomach was doing its own thing…perhaps from the pineapple. We were all pretty apprehensive when it came to water so we stuck to drinking bottled water, and the pineapple was sliced then put in a jug of water to keep it fresh…I guess we forgot. I was a little bit worried after that because we had been eating all the same stuff. The noodles had these little thingies in them (seasoning) that numb your mouth. The taste wasn’t that great, but initially the numbing was kinda neat…then the numbing was unpleasant and the spicy stuff got spicier so I decided to leave those things alone.

Beijing...Day 1

2007-04-29T23:07:00.000+09:00

We arrived in Beijing after 3 pm…dazed and confused. We though we had a direct flight but apparently you must stop at the Qingdao Liuting International Airport, disembark, take a bus from the runway to go through customs, take a bus back to the same plane, board, and then fly to Beijing Airport. It really would have been nice to know this beforehand. Then there’s the turbulence. I have been on quite a few bumpy flights and this one came in at a very close second to the scary night flight that I took to France during a storm. I thought I was calm until the turbulence stopped and I realized that my knees were nearly drawn up to my chest. Phew.

Two Black women and Chinese American woman traveling together makes for some pretty interesting stories to say the least. In Qingdao we were herded through the airport with no clue what was going on. Michelle and I were the only ones from our flight who were stopped to have our bags x-rayed…and Michelle’s got searched. Hmmmm…I wonder why. A man in the shuttle bus who spoke really good English and worked for a company out of San Francisco wanted to know why Japanese people don’t speak good English after we told him that we were English teachers in Japan. I told him that it was because the culture is different and people are just more reluctant/shy when it comes to speaking freely in general.

I don’t know if any of you have heard anything about the sand storms that China has, but THEY ARE REAL! Once off the plane for good, we got a clear view of the yellow sky…which lead to grit in our eyes and noses. We checked in at the hotel and headed to our room…which was in a completely different building than the check-in counter. It was apartment style and…ok. To describe it to my mom I said, “You wouldn’t stay there.” If you know my mom then you know what the means. It was just aight…clean enough and livable. However, next time I will be choosing a hotel and I will tell the agent (if I go through one) where to make the reservations. Then, we headed down to the restaurant in the hotel for our first meal in China…FABULOUS and CHEAP!!!

Good Day #2…maybe because vacation is around the corner???

2007-04-26T22:25:00.000+09:00

Last night, the board of education had an office dinner party in the next city at what appeared to be a pretty nice hotel. When you read guides on the Japanese office party culture, heed every word! Folks who seem meek and mild turn into English speaking Chatty McTalks2Much at office parties!!! What I found out last night:
· It took six men to get rid of all the stuff in our monstrosity of a junk pile last week! When we thanked them, they said no thank you for giving us a reason to leave the office…ha! Our supervisor volunteered to come back and get the stuff that I forgot to get rid of…and old bike and dried up paint cans.
· Our form supervisor hates his new job.
· One of the section bosses thinks that his subordinate’s wife is a “very pretty girl…eh lady”
· Another section boss is “Married but [I] have shita cocoro,” which was translated as “hidden sexual desires”. I very quickly taught them the word “crush” because the last thing we need is random Japanese men telling foreigners about “hidden sexual desires.”
· We introduced our former supervisory to who we think is his twin, who I sat next to at dinner thanks to the random seating. Twin made sure that I was good on food and juice the whole evening. He’s one of those “cool” guys with the trimmed eyebrows and I think he might have a little crush…the American sense of crush that is!
· Top-notch hotels feel that Neyo is a fitting musical selection at office parties…Image my surprise when I heard his voice over the P.A. WOW!
· The guy whose wife is a “very pretty girl…eh lady” majored in German philosophy…Who’da thunk that I would be at an office party in Japan discussing Emmanuel Kant and Sartre with a red-faced, drunk (off beer and sake), middle-aged Japanese public employee???
· The new section boss who appears to be fond of the “very pretty girl…eh lady” is taking use out for some yakitori soon…on him! Yeah for free food!!!

Today, I had another snooze-button-tapping -7-am-wake up morning. Left home at 7:30. When I got to the bakery this time, my favorite bread was missing!!! As I was turning to look for something else, an overenthusiastic woman runs over with a tray of piping hot rolls! YAY! Surprised that she was right behind me, I said, “Oh!” So, she said, “Hi!” At the register, she asked me if I spoke Japanese well, in Japanese. I said that I’m not that good but I’m currently studying, in Japanese. Then, she rang me up and said, “Thank you for coming!” in English!!! So nice.

I was supposed to teach 4 classes (2 regular classes and 2 self-introduction classes for the new students), but one of my self-intro classes was canceled because some students are absent an the teacher wants everyone to hear it. He asked if I would come on the Monday after next. Now, Mondays are my board of education internet surfing days. I said yes (all the while) thinking about requesting to only come for just that class so that I can go back to the BOE to “work.” Luckily, he came back and said we can do it tomorrow. I’m so glad that most, if not all, snacks in Japan are individually wrapped because every time one to the teachers I work with gets snacks, she gives them to me too. I don’t really care too much for sweets so as soon as the office empties I rush to the snack drawer to put things back. I’m sure that if there’s a camera in the office, someone is looking at a monitor somewhere laughing! I used to put them in my book bag and take them home but there’s no point in wasting food.

The beginnings of a good day…

2007-04-25T23:09:00.000+09:00

This morning, I pushed snooze at least 94.7 times. One of those times, I heard the faint buzz of a mosquito in my ear and it never bit me. I finally got up at 7 thinking, “Okay, you need to be out the door at 7:30.” Sounds easy, right? Well, it takes me 10 minutes to brush my teeth. Brushed my teeth, showered, dressed, made tea, and I was out the door at 7:31 without even rushing. A sleeveless cream turtleneck, blue wool cardigan, and a classic Adidas jacket were the perfect combination for the crisp morning air, warmed by the sun of the cloudless sky on my ride to the station. Leaving my street, I spotted the dingy dog at the junky house down the street. I should have taken a picture. Now he’s a pretty big dog but he managed to be standing on this little rectangle of cardboard in the middle of the yard. Just standing there like, “Uh uh, I’m too cute to put these paws on the dewy ground.” The bike lot at the station has been unbelievably full these days and my bike was the fourth to not fit in a space but the attendant said, “Bring it here,” and he made a space for me. At the station in the city where I teach, I stopped at the bakery for some bread. YESSS! It was still hot from the oven!!!

As we all know, I do nothing all day for the most part, so I sat and wrote all my tentative vacation plans in my calendar for the next year. Which has me considering staying around for another year so that I can go to Thailand, Singapore, India, and maybe Australia and France. What do y’all think? If you really miss me, put that aside and make an objective decision! I also started a “Things to Consider in the Very Near Future” list. There are two things on it so far:

1. Working holiday in France or somewhere cool where I can exercise my Mad Phat Language Skills (don’t want my French brain to shrink…my English brain has already shrunk! What, not familiar with the multiple brain concept? Well, it’s in that category of new Tif-science. For example, I have a food stomach that is full sometimes and a cake/ice cream stomach that never gets full!)

2. Master’s in International Education, I think I would make a good study abroad coordinator, or something of the like

Have you noticed the common thread? TRAVEL! Anyway, after jotting down the beginnings of my list, I listened to a French podcast for a little cerebral exercise. I learned that in ski terms “to wax/waxing” is “farter/fartage” in French. During my rigorous exercise (phew!), the principal walked up and asked if the flag on the back of my jacket is a national flag. I said that it’s the flag of my father’s country. He asked if it’s on the east coast or the west coast. I explained that it’s not on either because it’s not in the US, it’s in the Caribbean. Then, he asked if it’s one of the UN countries. I told him that it’s probably not and that it’s a pretty small country. He talked about how he read Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, saying that he’d always wanted to visit the countries in that book and he asked if it was a swordfish that the old man caught. I told him that I think it was either a swordfish or a marlin (is there a difference???). Then he asked me if they could be caught in the sea surrounding Japan. Ok, so here is an example of one of those moments when he’s making a joke that I don’t catch because I’m too busy wondering why he’s asking me a question to which he would be more likely to know the answer!!! It’s the pause after and the cracking of a smile that signal JOKE!!! I typically don’t laugh at things that I don’t think are funny, but for some reason I humor him. I guess I’m just being polite or something…ionno!

Michelle and I texted back and forth a bit. Then, the 2:30 pm sleepies set in…as did the clouds outside. I swear the final hour and 30 minutes is the HARDEST!!! I wish someone would say, “Hey, you’re not doing anything! Go do that at home, or at the mall, or something!”

A few colorful pictures from this weekend...

2007-04-24T23:23:00.000+09:00

Although only one day of my weekend was spent actually doing something, I was worn out. Friday night, I met with some of my coworkers because we're doing a movie the new folks who are coming this year. Saturday I got up super early (9 AM....hehehe) to head to the city. First my friend and I went to the Fukuoka museum of art to see the special exhibit: The Edimitsu Collection. On the walk there, we had to pass through a really nice park that surrounds a lake. I spotted some other foxy ladies so I just had to take a picture with them. Despite my love and respect for art, we managed to focus more on clowning and giggling. For example, this great big ol pumpkin/squash...who wouldn't have taken this opportunity to capture a conversation on film. Then there's the bronze sumo wrestler...teehee. After the museum, we met a friend at Starbucks. She brought a guidebook and some info for our trip to China since she had just gone a few weeks ago. So, we sat and chatted over lunch...I had a Jerk Chicken sandwich. Yes, from Starbucks! No, I don't recommend it. The green tea frappuccino was good as always though. After lunch, we headed over to the travel agency to pick up our visas and plane tickets. Guess what! The hotel that we had previously been shown and the one that was booked weren't the same. Luckily, they are the same number of stars and the new one is located near other familiar big name hotels. I’m so excited. Kisha plans to come out and spend some time with me in Beijing. On our way to walk around downtown, I spotted a certain piece of "workout" equipment. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this thing is a big waste of money! There's no workout! However, they are very popular among Japanese women...weird. Another favorite is that machine that Pee Wee Herman used to have on his show. You know the one that has a strap that you rest your butt in and it I guess is supposed to shake the fat and calories away...HA! Yeah right. HELLO, THEY DON'T WORK! Next, we went to Tower Records. I bought a really good bossa nova record...as some of you may know, I really want to learn Portuguese!!! So I’ll call all Portuguese music purchases “ear training.” That evening, we all went to a BBQ. Everyone brought something to go on the grill. I brought jerk chicken drumettes. I was starving so I made sure that I [wo]manned the grill so that I could slip the goodies of my choice into my plate...GENIUS! Greed under the guise of helpfulness...MUAAHAHAAHAAHAA! The girl I met at the community thing last weekend came and she brought her husband and some friends. I found out that she went to a few boarding schools in the states...and she claims that her best friend in Arizona and I look alike...we'll see. lol

As for today…I sat in the office of my close school contemplating the meaning of life and the existence of man…aka DID NOTHING! Luckily, I had left disc 4 of season two of In Living Color in my DVD drive. So, I minimized the movie screen so that it was a little smaller than a credit card, sat back, and enjoyed the show! It really is too bad that this show was canceled. Now that I’m older and I understand the jokes it’s more and more obvious that Keenan and the crew were way ahead of their time. I guess the content was a bit much for the time. It’s certainly mild compared to a lot of the things on TV these days.

This evening I whipped up some salmon croquettes and cheese grits and had the ladies over for dinner. I could say that I'm cooking dirt and they would still get excited. It makes me feel good though, plus I don't like to eat alone all the time at home. I would rather eat alone at a restaurant...weird right?

Mini Me...mornings...ay ay ay...

2007-04-18T20:06:00.000+09:00

I discovered that I can post blogs and pictures while using the internet at my far away school…YAY! So now I’m sure that it’s my connection at my apartment that’s holding me down…now the Man. The flip side to that is that I’m only at that school like every other week and I have to post pictures sporadically and in a hurry because the teacher I work with sits at the desk next to me and if I look idle (on the internet) she manages to find something to talk to me about! So, I’ll try to post pictures for previous post when I can…

The other day, while I was somewhere in between sleeping, waking, and alarm slapping, I had the strangest dream. In my dream, I was in my apartment here and my alarm went off. I got up and started looking around my apartment—for myself. I went to the shower room to turn on the hot water to heat up the room. Then, I went into every room calling my own name, as if I were hiding from myself…the shower room, kitchen, office, living room, then back to my bedroom. I found me on my second search of the office, and I was indeed me but an 8 year old me…flipped bangs and all for those of you who can remember back that far. Whew that’s a lot of the word “me”. Anyway, I walked mini-me to the shower and began getting mini-me’s things together for the day—they were my current clothes. Then I woke up for real, turned off my real alarm, and I decided to walk around each room in the same order as I did in the dream. I don’t know if dreams are psychic but I do believe that they tell you a lot about what you think and how you see the world. Is this a classic cliché case of “I need to find myself,” or “I need to grow up,” or do I just need to start going to bed earlier so that I can wake up the first time my alarm goes off?? Yesterday, the teacher that I work with at my far away school told me that I could go home early (2:30) all week because we only have class in the morning. At about 11:00, she says, “So, you’re going to your other school tomorrow.” I looked at her crazy and said, “Um, not that I know of.” Then, she says, “Don’t you have a demonstration class?” I said, “Uh, no. Do I?” I’m going to need these folks to do better. At about 2:15 the office phone rings and it’s for me. It was the teacher from my close school calling to discuss the plans for the demonstration class. I very quickly made it known that I was leaving in 10 minutes and I she could call me back at 4:15. There was no way that I was going to miss the bus that only comes every two hours to cater to the inconsideration of others…work or not. She finally called at 5:00. Some people! Needless to say, the class went well…I refuse to look crazy on account of other peoples’ need-to-get-it-togetherness! It was a lesson on airport dialogue (with the immigrations officers) for the 3rd graders, which is 9th grade according to our school system. She planned most of the lesson, so you would expect her to know what she was doing right. Can someone tell me why she was asking me questions about her own plan??? She needs to do some breathing exercises or something to learn how to calm down and think!

Almost in China!

2007-04-15T16:54:00.000+09:00

Earlier this week, our new supervisor came over to us to announce that one of the other people in the office was worried that we had a lot of clutter in our apartments. At the welcome party, a new guy (who I think told him that) used to be the supervisor of the English teacher and he told me that he remembered how junky their apartments were thanks to previous teachers accumulating stuff and he arranged for them to get rid of all their junk. So, I took that as an opportunity to tell him that nothing has changed in that respect and out place is old, raggedy, and disgusting in general and that he could come to our apartment whenever he liked. As soon as our supervisor made that announcent, all of our brains got to work. Now, there's a lovely pile of junk outside. I don't think he anticipated the largesse of it all so I hope he doesn't faint when he sees is...especially because he mentioned that if it wasn't too much then he would personally dispose of it all using his own car. Ha! I'll be sure to take a picture of his face when he rounds the corner of our building to see the monster we've created!!!

Yesterday, I went to a community get-to-know-you kind of event. When I walked in I was spotted out by a woman in a lime green shirt who was kinda dark, her hair was slicked back into a ponytail, and she was wearing gold jewelry...none of which are "typical Japanese"...She walked up and started chatting in near perfect/near accentless English! Well, she's 24 and from Tokyo. She got married about a year ago and moved down here with her husband to some boonie-town near my city. She had come to the event to meet people because she still hasn't really found friends her age in the area. After signing in and receiving some yummy looking chocolate covered cheesecake thingies as a gift, we played a number of games. Near noon an annoucement was made and we moved over to the kitchen class area of the center to make lunch together. A sweet little old lady showed us all (like 50+ people) what to do and we were to recreate lunch. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD! We made a miso based stew with pork, 2 kinds of potato, carrots, gobo, green onion, daiko radish, mushrooms, and dumplings. The children rolled onigiri. For desert there were strawberries and bean flavored jello. Sounds gross right?! It wasn't! I met some Phillipino ladies and a lady from Serbia who has been living here for 17 years.

After the event, I met my homie back at our apartment and we headed into the city to see the travel agent about our trip to China at the end of the month. Outside of the building where the agency is located, there were two guys and a girl (all about my age) double dutching!!! So, I rushed over to get my little mid afternoon jump on. You know how you don't know that you miss something until you've had it again? Well, jumping rope goes into that category. The travel agent is a really sweet Japanese woman who is married to a guy in my program from England. After paying for the trip and submitting out passports for visas, we walked around in search of dinner. Let me give a disclaimer for the rest of this story: Everyone is allowed one idiot moment per month!!! In most department stores here, the top floor is usually all restaurants. We chose a place and went in. The host told us that there would be a 20 minute wait and since we weren't starving we sat and chatted. About 10 later he walks over and apologizes before telling us that it will be a 30 minute wait. We said okay and continued waiting. After about 15 he comes over to take down our order so that they can start preparing it. Guess what, WE WERE AT THE WRONG RESTAURANT!!! The displays outside were side-by-side and only one of the restaurants' entrances looked like an entrance, so we though it was all one place. So, when we told him what we wanted he very politely looked at us crazy and said, "Oh, maybe you mean to be next door." HAHAHAHAHAH! After waiting all that time, we weren't even at the right place and the restaurant we wanted was nearly empty!

Aso...

2007-04-09T09:55:00.000+09:00

Yesterday one my friends came to pick me up for some plans that I had completely forgotten, which threw me off a little because I hadn't gone to the bank and I had only $40 on me. Well, I found out after leaving the house that we were taking a 2 hour drive down south to a city that's famous four it's volcano...dormant of course. Lucky me, my friends treated...perhaps it had something to do with the gifts I brought them back from home. It was four of us in the car so the folks in the front were having their conversation and we were in the back having a separate conversation for most of the ride. She asked me all kinds of question about my family and the things my parents told me as a child.

"You'll be an adult for much longer than you'll be a child, so have fun. You don't need to work."

In Aso, the restaurant we ate lunch at was an old house that was transplanted from another city. It's over 200 years old. The style of cooking is called Dengaku. There are coal pits in the floor and you cook your food in front of you on spits and a rack. We had fish, chicken, beef, vegetables, an tofu. The food was really good and sooooo fresh, as most food here is. After lunch we had coffee at the restaurant's coffee shop. Then we headed a little further down the mountain to the Shirokawa (White River) fountainhead. It was so beautiful! That had to be the clearest water I have ever seen! You could see it bubbling out of the ground. So I bought a bottle so that I could take some home. Let me tell you, bottled spring water from the store has nothing on this water. This is the first time that I've had water that had no taste. No taste at all! After bottling our liquid goodness, we went to a little shop and had tofu and dango...yum!

When we got back to town, all went to my Japanese mom's house for tea, dinner, dessert, coffee, and a Nora Jones DVD. For dinner we ate Oyakodon...named that because Oya means parents and Ko means child and you use chicken and egg in the dish. It was really good. I think she puts it best when she said we speak different languages but we understand each other's hearts (with the help of pictionary, gestures, and an electronic dictionary...hehehe). And despite the fact that I didn't spend a dime the whole day, she still was sure to give me a gift. Yay for gift-giving societies!!!

I'm a Force to Be Reackoned With!!!

2007-04-05T13:10:00.000+09:00

Last night I had taiko practice. The man we refer to as "The Godfather" was there to teach us a new song, which was great because he only comes once a month and the last few times he's been there it seemed like he had forgotten the new song he started to teach before. So anyway, he came with the music written down and we each got a copy. When I first started playing back in October, we were given the music for the songs we were playing and I remember looking at the paper like..."This may as well be ancient Japanese, because it makes no sense!!!" Well, in the middle of the song last night it clicked...just like that...and I could play the entire song by looking at the paper. It never ceases to amaze the that my brain works that way.

After practice, one of the men was like, "Wow, you remembered it so quickly!" So I said, "No, I didn't remember it. I just read it off the paper." So everyone started to ask me if I've ever studied music...No, I don't think middle school chorus or a near futile attempt to teach myself the guitar count. So they were like, "So what did you do?" Um...I wanted to say nothing, but that would have led to a whole 'nuther conversation about how amazing it is. No, I'm not tooting my own horn. It's happened several times since I've been here. Whenever I do something new effortlessly, everyone loses it and goes on and on about how great it all is. Flattering...yes. Annoying over time...YES!...because it's really not that serious. Anyhow, when they asked what I did back in the States, I just said "dance." They were all like, "Oh, yes. Dance takes a lot of rhythm...." And I made an exit so as to not have to discuss it any further.

I reached another milestone at practice last night. My sticks were already begining to splinter so "The Godfather" told me to tape it up. "Granddaddy" brought over some tape and scissors and I took care of it. Two seconds into the song, "CRACK!" I split the stick!!! Yay, I'm a taiko beast!

Was Anyone Gonna Tell Me???

2007-04-04T11:06:00.000+09:00

When I woke up yesterday, I thought to myself, "Hey, you need to make sure your application for the position you want was received." So, I sent our Prefectural Advisor an email to see they had gotten it. Thank God I did. She sent me a text today saying that they didn't have it. I also thank God that it isn't due until next Friday. She said that I could just bring it to Monday's meeting in the city. Phew! I'm also glad that I make and keep copies of EVERYTHING!!! The thing that is bugging me is that my former supervisor asked me for the application before I went to the states (early March) because he wanted to make sure that it was submitted. So much for that! I'm going to count it as an oversight on his part...perhaps he was busy wrapping up his own business in preparation to leave...whatever the reason, it's a lesson learned...moving on. Last night, 3 of us went to a get together held by one of our Japanese friend's friends. Our friend's friend teaches an English conversation class of mostly older students (seniors...no I'm not being funny). At the dinner we all discussed various topics around the table. My friend was telling the people at our end about me and mentioned that I am a good singer...she's never even heard me sing!!! Then she was like, "Gospel." I looked at her like, "WHAT!?" And thought to myself that I hope that has nothing to do with my being Black...sigh. She explained that the Japanese perception is that Blacks sing very well and have powerful voices. So, I said that Whites do too. Then she said, "But it's different. Why? Is there some historical reason or something?" I was so proud of my "off the cuff" response. As simply as I could, I explained that Black gospel incorporates African rhythms and traditions and White gospel is more eurocentric in orgin. Then she said, "I think White gospel tries to borrow from Black gospel, but it's different. Black gospel has more feeling." I suppose that was a nice way of saying it's not as good. HA!

Getting Back in the Swing of Things...sigh.

2007-04-03T11:10:00.000+09:00

Well I'm back in Japanland and I can't necessarily say that I'm happy about it. We found out about a month ago that we would be getting a new supervisor but we wouldn't find out who it is until we got back to the office after spring break. Every three years, teachers and board of education employees get rotated to different schools and BOEs. There are 17 new employees in our office. Monday morning, they lined up and were introduced to the office. It was then that I realized that I had met our new supervisor before at a meeting of area English teacher (there were only about 7 of us there...2 Americans) that the principal of my near school took me to. He's a very nice man...in his early 40. He's been to America once and his English is not that great. He kinda strikes me as the pushover type...which I find annoying but I suppose I'll just have to get over that. I gave him a mug and candy that I brought back from Gerogia as a welcome gift...apparently I'm the only thoughtful one out of the bunch of ALTs.

Sometimes change is bad...

As we were packing up to leave around 4:27 (the guys were already gone), one of the office ladies came over and said, "Today, new people come. Party at 5...quarter after." Pooey! I was starving, tired, and ready to go home. So, we called the guys to tell them to be back by 5:15. The welcome party was just like the one they gave us when we first got here except the new people didn't have to give speeches...maybe we were special, or perhaps there were just too many of them. There was pizza, sushi, various other lil goodies, soda, tea, and of course beer and sake. An old and a new guy admitted that they can speak English only after they've had some booze...I thank them for their honesty. The second people started to clean up, I jumped in to help, and then got out of dodge.

So far, we've given a few of the new people nicknames...for example,
TJ...the guy who looks like our old supervisor so I named him Tokumaru Jr.
Sam...because he looks like Sam the eagle...the blue eagle puppet from The Muppet Show

Some of the employees who left were...
Kim Jong Il...they had the same haircut
Lil Daddy Warbucks...the smaller of the two bald guys in the office (Daddy Warbucks is still here)

My surprise trip home...What a difference 13 hours makes!

2007-03-23T14:57:00.000+09:00

Friday, we went to our friend’s restaurant for a farewell dinner for my homie’s sisters who were visiting from California. Our friend really hooked it up. We had something between Nabe and Sukiyaki, Basashi (yes more raw horse), my fave cabbage wrapped pork dealies, fries…regular and sweet potato, tempura-ed veggies, a sashimi-ed flounder still moving when it got to the table, and some little live fishies that we were supposed to eat before they died in the sauce…sounds cruel huh…mine kept jumping out of my chopsticks. I don’t know if the fact that it was still living or it’s ability out muscle me that freaked me out, but it took me about 45 seconds to pump myself up and pop it into my mouth…ACK! I honestly only did it to be able to say that I ate a whole live fish! YAY!

For all of you who haven’t heard yet, I’m HOME!!! I decided about a month ago that I would fly into town to surprise my parents. So, I packed my stuff, only told the folks who live in my building and two people at home, and hopped on a plane and headed over. Can you believe that on a 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Atlanta my section’s screens were not working? So that means we couldn’t watch TV, play games, control our lights, request an attendant, NOTHING! I hung out in Atlanta for a bit before heading home, any my best friend was so very accommodating and I had a GREAT time!!! Monday, I jumped on the train to go to the airport. At the airport, I caught the limo home. Well, something told me that my mother would be home and looking out of the window….and sure enough a split second after I jumped out the front door flew open and my mother came flying down the yard in her PJs, “MY BABY’S HOME…MY BABY’S HOME!!!” So I ran up and gave her a big hug! The driver was cracking up. It was indeed a classic Color Purple moment! Once inside, my mom called my dad and said, “Come home I don’t feel well.” He asked what’s wrong and she told him to just come home. I sat in the living room with my camera and snapped a picture when he walked in. He stood there for like 5 minutes staring at me then asked, “What are you doing here?”

That day we…
· Shoe shopped: 3
· Dress shopped: 1
· Got manicures
· Got pedicures
· Ate at Red Robin…a grown up burger joint…My mother and I split a Mushroom Burger and fries…I had a mocha smoothie…I already see that I’m not going to be able to eat all my food on this trip! Yes, it was a very eventful day.

On Tuesday, I…
· Rummaged around Old Navy looking for some decent work pants…to no avail
· Crossed the street to TJMaxx…got another pair of shoes
· Went by the daycare to say hey
· Made a hair appointment
· Went by my play Grandma’s house to wish her a surprise Happy Birthday at midnight

On Wednesday, I…
· Went to the salon at 11:30 am…got some teeny lil comb twists…So now my head is covered with millions of lil corkscrews…cute
· Went with my dad and his friend to Atlanta…dropped them of at Philip’s Arena for the Hawks vs. Miami Heat game
· Swung by GSU to pick up my best friend in the Jag (yes another…there are two best friends in Atlanta right now) and we headed to the Cheesecake Factory where we were met by our mothers’ friend’s son…he made it as we were ending our meal and paid…WHAT A GENTLEMAN!!! I had the Jamaican Black Pepper Shrimp and a water because my orders for a Green Tea Latte and a Chai Latte were both DENIED…something about the black tea base being something or another, like not up to par or something ionno…lame manager’s excuse for something being out of stock I’m sure…I figured that because GREEN TEA Lattes should not require BLACK TEA base…DUH…then I ordered a Green Tea Smoothie…YUCK, DON’T EVER GET IT! WHO IN THE WORLD THOUGHT MIXING GREEN TEA AND YOGURT WAS A GOOD IDEA…HUH!?
· Picked up my dad and his friend and we headed back home

On Thursday, I…
· Woke up at 3 pm…What? Jet lag made me go to sleep at 5 am…I thought my mom was doing good until she made a comment about my hair…Can’t please everyone.
· Got dressed and went by my mom friend’s house (the one whose son is a gentleman)…my mom made another comment about my hair…sigh. I got caught up in a movie that I want to rent and watch…Something Like Heaven, I think…
· Talked to my Grandmum
· Went to the daycare…to say hey again I guess
· At dinner at The Market…a quaint seafood spot…DELICIOUS…fried green tomatoes and okra appetizers, I had the house salad, grilled shrimp and cheese grits as an entrée…with Sweet Tea of course!
· Went to Best Buy to figure out why I can’t post pictures on my blog!!!
· Went to Winn Dixie
· Came home to hope on my now [almost fully] functioning computer! YAY!

On Friday, I...
· Picked up my boyfriend's grandmother and her friend (they're in town for a church conference) and took them to the mall.
· BFA came to the house with her lil cousin to visit!
· Went to see one of my other mamas at her job...met my best friend up there (yes, one of the two aforementioned)
· We went to: Publix, her family friend's house, Red Robin, and Wal-Mart...for like 2 hours...WHEW what a wild Friday night!!!

On Saturday, I...
· I went shopping with my dad...bought a Nintendo DS ...he's black...his name is Densel (Justin's in Denise).
· I fixed up a slide show for my 3rd Grandmother's surprise birthday party.
· The birthday party was wonderful!
· Went out with my best friend...downtown, it's the last hope for our city's youth...so, the cops were OUT THERE!!! I forgot what it was like to be surrounded by police...weird.

On Sunday, I...
· ATE!!! Cheeses, fruit, veggies, green salad, potato salad, home smoked Boston butt, bbq ribs, bbq chicken, cabbage, rice, pinto beans seasoned with pork shanks, bbq baked beans, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, corn, rutabagas, pie, banana pudding...and I think I'm still forgetting some things...YUMMMMMMMY!!!
· One of my friends from elementary school came by just in time for my parents and their friends to start doing the Chinese Checkers (dance)...or should I say just in time for them to recruit me to teach them how to...again!

On Monday, I...
· Went to see 300 with my friend from elementary school (see Sunday)...Justin gave it a low grade and thought it was racist...but it was pretty much in line with the history of Sparta...or atleast what they put in the books...sigh

On Tuesday, I...
·Got dressed up and went to the Green Island Hills Country Club for reception for the new Mayor pro tempre, who is also a family friend.
·Did a little more shopping with my mom...Dillards and TJMaxx...SALES SALES SALES!!!

On Wednesday, I...
· Went to Atlanta...surprised my Aunt just as she was about to get in the shower to go to work!
· Ate lunch with one of my former students at Pricci in Buckhead...Yum
· Then headed to Duluth for dinner with my other former students, and had a great time playing on the trampoline with the kids...so now I want to see if I can fit one in my suitcase!
·Searched every Kroger and Wal-mart from Atlanta to my house in search of Arid clear powder scented deodorant...ummm, It no longer exists...WaAaAaAaAa!!!

On Thursday, I...
· Went to the dentist for a cleaning at 7:50 am...which by the way is quite a feat when you don't go to sleep until 5ish am!!!
·Did laundry
· My parents went to a UNFC function and I went to Georges Bizet's opera Carmen with my 3rd Grandma...most of the cast were kinda old (including Carmen...weird)...costumes weren't good...sets weren't either...the acting followed suit...Ate a Bruschetta Burger with garlic fries at Applebee's...surprisingly delish!

On Friday, I...
·Packed up and headed to Atlanta with my parents
·Swung by campus to deliver some gifts to 3 of my professors
·We checked into the hotel and headed to Atlantic Station
·Had dinner at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro...I couldn't even finish my salad...Japan has shrunken my appetite!!!
·Talked to my aunt who recently chopped of her hair...ah, one of my own heart!
·Went to Shout with my best friend...WHO KNEW IT WOULD BE SALSA NIGHT...YAY

On Saturday, I...
·Woke up at the crack of dawn to go to the airport with my parents. My aunt met us there. I checked in my luggage (one bag was 88 pounds...I don't know how that happened...especially because that's the suitcase that I had intended to bring back empty...hmmm perhaps shoe/grocery shopping had something to do with that???)
·My flights went well...I'm glad that I didn't try to adjust my sleeping to US time b/c I was able to sleep and eat at the appropriate times during the flight...I somehow managed to wake up every time the food made it's way down the aisles. I think I'll start booking my flights with airlines depending on the food they serve...Korean Air = Yummy!

I got to my apartment on Sunday night...drained and hungry...and ready for my next trip!!!

A Lesson on Hydration

2007-03-14T12:32:00.000+09:00

Last night, my Japanese mom invited me, one of my coworkers, and my friend who works at the teashop to come to her house for dinner and then to go to an onsen (hot spring bath) after dinner. My coworker had tutoring so she missed dinner. While waiting for my teashop friend to come, my Japanese mom and I had a really good conversation. I found out that she went to all girls Catholic schools from junior high school to college. She lost both her husband and sister years ago so she made keepsake teddy bears from their clothes. She gave me a book that she made to comfort her niece after her sister’s death. It’s really sweet. Her husband was a dentist so she made a little bear from his work jacket. I think that’s such a great idea.

For dinner, we had corn chowder, boiled canola (plant not oil…hehehe) with ham, potato salad, some fried sprouts of some sort, and cabbage stuffed with ground meat and veggies. FAB-U-LOUS! At dinner, I found out that she doesn’t work so I taught her the word “homemaker.” I had a feeling she didn’t work because she never talked about it, but I figured she did work because she takes trips and does many things that most people can’t do because they’re broke. She has two sons in their 20s. One is my age and in school. Aside from skateboarding, I don’t know what the other one does but I think he lives at home. I’ve only seen him once. I’m assuming her husband’s company still provides funds. She has a boyfriend who is somewhere around 10 years younger than her which I think is great because from the looks of the men her age around here wouldn’t be able to keep up.

After dinner, we picked up my coworker and took a 45-minute drive to the hot spring. All the baths were family style, meaning that groups have private rooms with a changing room, shower, and 1 or 2 tubs outside under an awning. The sky was really clear and since we were in the boonies you could see every star. When we got out, I was feeling a little woozy so I leaned against the counter. Then I realized that my heart was beating faster than normal so I sat down. Thank God that I did, because I woke up sitting on the floor with the others laying cold towels on me. My coworker said that she thought I was joking because she had just asked if she could get to her back that was next to me. She said that as soon as she asked I slumped and put my arm over her back. It took her a few seconds to realize that I wasn’t playing so she started snapping her fingers next to my ear and called the others over. I don’t know if I was overheated (I felt fine until I got out of the bath) or if I was dehydrated (which I’m sure had something to do with it), I’ve only blacked out once before. It was a few days after I got to Senegal, the day after I chopped all my hair off to be exact. For lunch, I had eaten mafe and I hadn’t had that much water. The bus was full so my friends and I were sitting on the side of a seat. I remember getting really hot all of a sudden, then my stomach started turning, and I began to feel like I was sinking. I woke up in the seat across from where I was sitting, being fanned with water being thrust at me from all directions. So much for thinking I was cute that day…hehehe. In my marching band days I experienced what was probably the beginnings of a black out, but I immediately got out of the sun and sprayed myself with some water. Gotta be more careful. The odd thing is that I felt so refreshed once the wooziness passed.

When I got to the junior high school today, the vice principal said, “You ran out of steam yesterday.” Ha, if only he knew. He was referring to the elementary school fiasco. Then he asked me what today is. I said Wednesday. He laughed and said, “No, it’s White day,” then handed me a bag. “Because you gave me wine before, this Is my present to you.” Wow. White Day is like Valentines Day in Japan, but usually woman give gifts on Valentines day and men give gifts on White Day. The gifts are usually white. So, I got lotion…which matched my white hands (you know what cold does to dark skin). Good timing!

A Lesson On Inconsiderate...

2007-03-13T16:48:00.000+09:00

When I reached over to turn off my first alarm this morning, I noticed that there was an envelope icon just above the clock that read 5:30 am. Text message. So, I checked it. It was a message from the English teacher that I work with at the far away school.

3/12 23:26
hi! what’s going? sorry to tell late. i missed to call u. it’s not good time to call u, so this mail
well, tomorrow pleas go to the elementary school directly. They asked u to have classes for them.
sorry again, i left the schedule that they sent us. 2 classes tomorrow…i wonder
tomorrow morning i’ll call you. thanks

So, I rummaged around the bin of old VHS tapes that have accumulated in my apartment from past teachers. Nothing. Nothing appropriate for elementary school kids anyway. The closest I could get was The Simpsons and we all know that’s not the answer. So I decided that when I got to the school I would just tell them that the teacher told me that I had classes at the elementary school this morning. It’s funny, and I’ve expressed this to others before, but I feel like she’s always trying to “sabotage my mission.” For example, I did a music lesson on jazz for Black History Month. I printed the song “Lullaby of Birdland” (sung by Ella Fitzgerald) to make into a song scramble. For this activity, you cut the lyrics into strips for the students to piece together while listening to the song. There were two sheets of paper and she offered to photocopy them for me. I explained that I needed 18 copies of each sheet so each student would have the whole song. I’m sure she could have put the 2 sheets in the slot on top of the copier, pressed 1-8, and hit print. However, she managed to make double copies of only one sheet. I know the song well so I caught the mistake while I was sorting the strips of paper to go in individual envelops. Luckily, the song is repetitive and the two pages were similar enough that I was able to make the whole song by taking out a couple of lines. So, it worked out fine. Another time, we were doing a lesson on “How do you say … in English?” One of the students said, “How do you say shitajiki in English?” I told the class that we don’t use those in America. A shitajiki is a plastic mat that you place under your paper so that the lead doesn’t transfer from the reverse side when you write. She responded, “In America, they don’t care about the lead getting on the other paper. They do not use keishigomu (a GREAT eraser) either so there is always black on the paper.” I wanted to say, “We don’t use either of those because our writing system is based more on fluidity than straight lines so we don’t bear down as hard with our pencils. So we don’t need shitajiki or keishigomu.” Instead, I said, “No, it doesn’t transfer when we write. Maybe our lead is a little different.” I mean really! Unless you’re a child, you know not to press down so hard that can’t erase it. Americans are stereotyped enough. The last thing I want the kids to think is that don’t have the ability to be neat.

Then there are the countless times that I’ve asked her to look over an activity to make sure it’s what she wants, and she says, “I’m so sorry but right now I am very busy.” So, when we get to class she stops the lesson because it’s not what she wanted. Or when there is literally nothing more in the way of work for me to do so I check my email or the news and she all of a sudden wants to discuss a lesson we’ve already talked about a million times. She had the nerve to get a little upset when I told her that I had a meeting in the city on the day of their graduation. First of all, no one told me when graduation was. By the time they asked if I was coming, I had already committed to my meeting. I had even considered missing my meeting and notified the facilitator about my possible absence, but I’m not a fan of inconsiderate people (that includes the elementary school because they always send the schedule at the last minute then expect me to teach different things to all six grades!) and I have no obligation to do anything for them except teach. So, that settles it. I’m not going…period. I’m not vengeful, but I am a firm believer in the saying, “I can show you better than I can tell you.”

Anyway, she didn’t call me. So, I stopped by the middle school to see if she had any movies that I could show the kids. Well, the movies she had weren’t what I had in mind but they worked out fine. I wanted to show them a movie for fun, but all she kept handing me were educational films so that’s what they watched.

Fire Walking, Teapot Shopping, Soba Chomping, Meat-Eater!

2007-03-12T13:20:00.000+09:00

I've decided to use links for stuff that folks may not know about. So, I don't have to interupt my stories to explain Japanese words, etc...So you can click on the red/underlined links for more information...

Unlike most weekends since it's been cold, this weekend was quite eventful. About two weeks ago, the temperature shot up to the upper 60s. Then it plummeted back down to the low 40s over night. So, needless to say I've been barricading myself in my bedroom directly in front of the heater! Friday was spent inside doing laundry, cooking, catching up on emails, and generally relaxing. Saturday, it was my intention to go to the dollar store to replace a bowl I broke, but it was cold and rainy outside so I stayed in all day. That evening was the taco party.

Although it was pretty chilly, the sun was out and the sky was clear on Sunday. One of my friends works at a teashop and I sent her a text message on Friday for directions there. Instead, she offered to take me there on Sunday because it was her day off. Wow, people usually want to stay away from work on their days off…hahahaha. She also mentioned something about Yamabushi monks and fire walking. A trip to the teashop turned into a whole day adventure in Hoshino (a village in the mountains).

When she arrived to pick me up, I thanked her and gave her a box of Castilla from Nagasaki because she went out of her way just for me. First, we headed up a mountain to the place where the monks were doing the ceremony. It went as follows:

1. Everyone wrote their names on pieces of wood with pre-printed wishes on them.
2. The monks prayed at the shrine them made their way up the hill where the ceremony took place.
3. Formalities…sutras….I don’t know exactly what that part was; it was all in Japanese of course.
4. A big pile of wood and branches was set on fire and the wishes on the pieces of wood were thrown in.
5. The smoldering embers were raked to make a walkway.
6. Monks blessed everyone
7. We stripped off our shoes and socks and fire walked.

Fire walking was never on my list of things that I wanted to eventually do, but now that I’ve done it I think I’m officially OFFICIAL! It’s interesting that the word religion is used loosely when referring to Buddhism here. Of course, some refer to it as a philosophy or a lifestyle, but it’s obvious that a lot of things people do in it’s practice are for fun…i.e. fire walking. My friends didn’t seem to be there for the religious experience at all.

For lunch, we went to another friend’s soba restaurant. I didn’t like soba until last weekend. They are usually served cold and they usually taste a little too wheaty. These noodles were so good though. I later found out that the powder they use in their restaurant is specially ordered from a place in Northern Japan. Her family likes the location of the restaurant because the water quality way out there is so good. After a great lunch and a little gossiping…ehem…sharing of personal opinions, we headed to the teashop. Japanese people don’t do the whole “hook-up” thing but they do buy gifts for people at the drop of a hat. So, my friend who works there treated us to some tea flavored ice cream and tea. After I made my purchases, she gave me some green tea flavored snacks.

Later that night, we all went to a yakiniku restaurant because my co-worker’s (the one I like the most here) sisters are in town to visit her. Our party was so large so we had to sit at two different tables. I sat at the table with all the Japanese women. At first I though it was strange that all out Japanese friends were women and between the ages of 28 and 50. Nevertheless, I like it because they want to do more than drink, drink, and drink. I also like how women here, whether they are married/in a relationship or single, always make time for their friends. They focus a lot on friendship. I wonder though if it is a result of how men here usually work all the time. Either way, it’s nice.

Question: Ever put your foot in your mouth?

2007-03-11T00:03:00.000+09:00

So...as we all know, I'm usually the only minority in the various programs that I've done and I've never encountered any issue until coming here. I have a co-worker who is a Filipino male from Hawaii who manages to put his foot in his mouth every now and then. For example, we were all sitting around doing much of nothing in the office one day. Another co-worker draws really well so they had been playing a game that involves describing a person to the artistic guy and he would make a funny sketch based on what you say. So my Filipino co-worker started describing a man...when it came time to describe the man's clothes he says, "Make his clothes like a Black guy." I was reading quietly, and stopped to look up with a bewildered face because I was seriously wondering where this was going. I guess he sensed/saw me look up (I don't know which because I was staring off into the distance like huh), because in an effort to clean it up he says, "Like with a big jacket." So I turn to look at him and say, "Hmm, that's interesting because I don't own a big jacket. Neither do most of the Black guys I know." Realizing where I was coming from, he immediately apologized and continued to apologize throughout the day.

Well, tonight we all attended a get together and the play list that looped in the background happened to be on a hip hop song. Everyone was making general conversation and he says, "There's this one episode of South Park when Stan's dad is on a TV show and the category was 'Things that annoy you.' And the answer said 'N-blank-G-G-E-R-S' and he had to fill in the blank. So he says the N-word, but the answer is 'Naggers.' I was like whoa." Now, I don't know what in the world possessed him to share this story but the room fell silent and in an attempt to save him another guys says, "Hmmm. Let me think of the most outrageous thing I've ever heard on South Park" and he goes into his own account about one of the Christmas episodes. I choose my battles, so I decided to save my response for later when there wasn't a room full of people who didn't deserve to be made uncomfortable by whatever was bound to come out of my mouth. When I got home, I checked my email. Earlier in the day he had sent an email out to everyone about a dinner tomorrow. It was in response to an email one of the female teachers had sent out. I'm going to leave the names out...A line of it went as follows:

"You forgot to mention *******'s name ******. Bitch!"

I took this as an opportunity to :
1. Speak up for the woman he was talking to because she's too shy to confront people about things that offend her and she's expressed that to me on several occasions. I know this kind of language wouldn't be taken well, joke or not.
2. Speak up as a preemptive move to let him know that I don't take kindly to it either.
3. Tell him about the comment he'd made during dinner.

So I wrote him an email then went as follows:

Hey *****
Just a tip...be careful with that B word there...that can be taken the wrong way. And, I didn't want to bring it up at the dinner as to not create a weird vibe, but the South Park comment was a little...mmm...off...not sure where you were coming from/going with it. I'm not upset or harping, but it's always good to consider your company and/or who you're talking to...
See Ya Tomorrow

He's the type of person who has no problem admitting he's wrong so I didn't see the need to blast him. Here's his response over IM soon after I sent the email (he's red, I'm purple)

hey
howdy
just got back. read your email. Sorry, i didn't realize it until the end.
wasn't trying to diss you or anything like that
it's cool...didn't want the night to end without letting you know
yeah. thanks though
yep
i'll have to watch it next time
yeah
hope I didn't offend you
it's cool
if you're bored, check this out
http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/89049/How_It_s_Made_Shoppin_Cart_Ep_212.html okie dokie
pretty cool eh?
o didn't check it yet....still checking backed up emails
well, i'm off to bed. Sorry about the comment tonight.
Good night
ok good night

When I checked my email, he had already sent me an email before he IMed. It read,
hey,
sorry about that. Didn't realize it until the end and by then it was too late. I wasn't trying to diss you or anything. I'm sorry.
*****

One of my Canadian co-workers has the tendency to use the phrase "You people." Let me tell you, the first time I heard it I was taken aback for like 2 seconds until I realized that she meant Americans...hahaha. On a not so funny note, her boyfriend's response to the fact that I didn't vote in the elections back in the fall was, "You need to vote. Especially you." I just looked at him like "What?" Another time, her boyfriend was making a joke online about how America is going to annex Canada. So I said, "Well if America does that then Mexico is next and I don't know that that will go over to well. Then there's the Caribbean." His response was, "Oh the Caribbean won't be a problem because 1. We're the backbone of their economy, 2. They don't have an army, and 3. They'd be late to their own insurgency." I looked at her and said, "WHAT! What is that supposed to mean?" She immediately replied, "Oh my God that was incredibly offensive," and I guess typed my reaction. I didn't need him to apologize and I'm assuming he didn't since she didn't say anything after that. From then I knew that I would not have anymore conversations with her concerning him. People need to do better.

There is another co-worker who says something racist everyday about several different ethnic groups (including whites) who considers himself a minority because he's homosexual. Sure, he may be a minority but I don't think that he realizes that people don't just automatically discriminate against him because they don't know he's a minority until he tells them about his sexual orientation. I've just resorted to looking at him crazy every time something ignorant comes out of his mouth. Just because you're a member of a marginalized group of people, it is certainly not okay to say derogatory things about others based on their race, sexuality, or whatever. I just hope that one day he get's a clue. Until then, I'll keep putting my foot down.

Another Friday!!!

2007-03-09T19:15:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was a less than interesting day. At school, I only taught 2 classes so I spent a lot of time playing chess on my laptop. After one of my classes, the teacher who barely speaks above a whisper that I teach with told me that she would be changing schools at the beginning of the new school year. Here the new school year begins in April. So I asked her if she knew what school she would be visiting. She said no, not yet. So I asked when she would find out. She said May 23. What!? Only 2 weeks between the new school year and when you find out where you’ll be working! Wow! During the last period of the day, I took a cd with some signs that I was asked to make to the principal. A few minutes after he comes into the office to tell me that the 3rd graders were practicing their songs for graduation and he asked if I wanted to watch them. Here’s what I wanted to say:

NO, ACTUALLY I DON’T. I’M REALLY ENJOYING THIS GAME OF CHESS AND YOU’RE INTERRUPTING. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER INVITING ME TO THE ASSEMBLIES AND NOT TO POINTLESS PRACTICES WHERE I WILL FREEZE MY BUT OFF BECAUSE YOU’RE ANTI-HEAT AND WHERE I WON’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ANYWAY? AND SINCE WE’RE CHATTING, CAN YOU TELL YOUR STAFF TO STOP ASKING ME IF I’M COMING TO GRADUATION NEXT FRIDAY. THE SAME PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME OVER AND OVER, AND ALL OF THEM SHOULD HAVE A COPY OF MY SCHEDULE. I’M NOT SCHEDULED TO EVEN BE AT THIS SCHOOL NEXT WEEK SO WHY WOULD I COME ON FRIDAY WHEN THE SCHOOL THAT I WILL BE AT IS HAVING A GRADUATION ON THE SAME DAY? HUH? AND DO BE SURE TO TELL THEM TO ALSO STOP ASKING ME IF THAT SCHOOL IS HAVING A PARTY AFTER THE GRADUATION…FOR THE FINAL TIME, YES THEY’RE HAVING A PARTY! AND IF THEY WEREN’T, DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD TRAVEL ALMOST 3 HOURS BACK HERE JUST FOR A PARTY? I DIDN’T THINK SO. YOU’RE DISMISSED.

As for what I actually said “Sure.”

On the silent walk to the gym, the principal was like, “Maybe you can teach an old dog some new tricks.” Had I not realized as quickly as I did that he was referring to transferring the signs from the cd to his computer to print, I’m sure he would have gotten a stern sideways glance, neck roll, and a rapid, “I BEG YOUR PARDON!” Thank God for my patience with people. When I got to the gym where the students were practicing, I stood next to the teacher who was leaving. I noticed that the Special Education teacher was over the music practice so I turned to the teacher I work with to ask if the Special Education teacher was also the music teacher. I don’t know if she was feeling talkative because she’s changing schools or what but she informed me that they have been through a number of music teachers since the music teacher is on 3 years leave….3 YEARS?!...because she is ill and had some troubles with the students. So I said, “She had a nervous breakdown?” And the teacher said yes. WHAT?! This school has ISSUES! They just got a counselor….how long has this school been here? Forever! I was under the impression that he would be here all the time but he will only be here every two weeks, for two weeks from the hospital.

When I made it back to my bike in my city, I was surprised to see that the tire that I had just changed about 2 weeks ago was flat. As I walked my bike away from the station, a bird decided to relieve itself above me. I was luck though because I reacted quickly enough to avoid getting pooped on. My computer case was not so lucky though because it was in the basket on the front of my bike….sigh.

Today, I taught about giving directions at the teacher’s request. She wanted me to tell the students how to explain taking different types of public transportation. On Wednesday, when I tried to review the worksheets she replied, “Everything is okay because I have no to time to talk about Friday’s team teaching. I have a meeting that started at 3:10.” I looked up at the clock and it was 3:13. So, I said, “Well you should hurry then,” as politely as I could with a smile. This morning, while I was playing chess (hehe) she walked over to ask about the lesson. So I showed her the two worksheets that I made and explained how I would teach it. She was like, “Ok, great.” Let’s just say that it’s a little difficult to teach something like directions when you have students who still don’t know the word “walk”…did I mention it’s the week before the end of the school year?…sigh.

Evaluation!!!

2007-03-07T23:30:00.000+09:00

I asked my supervisor last week about the evaluation that’s done by the schools for each of the English teachers in my program. He told me that he would go over the comments with me in a week. So, Monday I was escorted to the meeting room down the hall from the main office at the board of education. “Please have a seat,” spoken emotionlessly. I sat down and folded my hands on my lap while he arranged the documents on the table for me to read….Here is what they said (verbatim, yes errors/awkward English and all…with the exception of the things Spell Check caught…):

The Outline of the Outcome of the Work Performance Evaluation
March 1st 2007

The Work Performance Evaluation was made on basing your principals and teachers comments mainly

You never took unpaid leave of ay kind last year. And you were always punctual for your job.

You worked eagerly as a member of ALTs of the Minami Chikugo Branch Office.

You can behave responsibly for having been asked.

You are liked by a lot of students, because you are very friendly to them.

You can speak English at a speed that students understand easily.

Because you have experiences of living in some countries and experiences of having actually studied Japanese and French, you understand the difficulties and the importance of studying the foreign language.

You try to understand student’ feelings, and you can appropriately help them or speak to them.

You participate in the class of music or penmanship, and you try to have chances to make friends with students and other staffs.

You can provide a lot of good ideas about lessons for JTE, and you voluntarily try to check student’ work-sheet etc.

You are a wonderful ALT who has leadership and the sense of responsibility for her job.

We show you great honor as a member of the Minami Chikugo ALTs. Minami Chikugo Branch Office

Not that any of this was a shock, but while he was handing me the evaluation to read I was thinking in the back of my mind, “Hmmm…I wonder if those times that I happened to be dozing at my desk were documented…” HAHAHAHA! “No one could find any negative comments about you. We are glad to have you as a part of the Minami Chikugo Board of Education.” YAY!

Last night I went to a friend’s apartment near the city for a get together. He made some really good pasta, others brought bread and assorted stinky cheeses (camembert tastes like paint…the kind you paint cars with…yes that toxic!), sautéed spinach with bean sprouts, salad, strawberries, and I made candied Japanese yams. After dinner we all sat squished together under a comforter to watch Stranger Than Fiction on his Mac (pssshaaaa, only PCs for me thanx). At about 10:45, I asked him if he had a train schedule…he didn’t so we paused the movie to check it on the internet real quick. 11:26 and 11:28…as everyone thought to themselves “We should definitely be finished watching to movie by then…” It didn’t help that the part of the movie we were on was starting to get good. The movie ended at approximately 11:20 so we jump up to put on our coats. I was moving slowly so our host said, “Your train’s leaving in 6 minutes!” I said, “Yeah, but there’s another one at 11:36.” He looked at me crazy and said, “No, it leaves 2 minutes after the one that’s leaving in 6 minutes!” DOH! So we dash out of the door and down the street. Usually when you’re traveling back home from a new place it seems like the trip is much shorter, right? Well let me tell you something, when you’re running through 40 something degree air, with your shoes half on, toting a ceramic bowl…it’s seem like FOREVER…even if it was downhill all the way. Chest burning and clock taunting me, I stopped running. Think Quick! A CAB! Well we missed two and just when we thought all hope was lost because we could see the station but were still quite a ways away, another cab light appeared. So, I jumped in the middle of the street in hopes that he wasn’t crazy. Paid about $6 to go less than 75 yards but as we were jumping out of the cab, the train was pulling into the station! A rapid (the 11:26) at that! SAFE! So I got home and stayed up until like 2:30 doing a little work and a lot of catching up on the news. PEOPLE ARE CRAZY! What’s the deal with all these people cutting folks up in America these days. I thought it was understood that that’s just nasty after Geoffrey Dommer! Sure folks in Japan have been doing it quite a bit lately but that don’t make it right!!!

The school I work at this week has lunch delivered…Bento boxes, a box with several compartments all filled with assorted foods…usually cold. Well, I don’t know if it’s some ingredient that’s used in every dish but everything now tastes the same, and I’m not really a fan of cold cooked food. So, starting yesterday, I’ve been going to the bakery at the train station to pick up something to eat. Yesterday, I bought a Tropicana grape juice and a curry bread, baked or deep fried dough stuffed with curried vegetables and maybe chicken. Every time I walk into the bakery (usually to buy breakfast), there’s the yummy smell of something with garlic in it and I decided to try different things in an effort to find out what it is that has the place smelling so good. Today, on my garlic hunt my eyes landed upon what I read as Chili potato bread. Hey I like bread….I like baked potatoes with chili, it’s pretty much the only way I like them. So I decided to give it a try. At lunch time, I whipped out my chili potato bread and took a bite and man was it gooooooood! By bite number 4 or 5 I reached the center and was surprised/dismayed by what I found. I’m sure you’re all preparing yourself for some gut wrenching account of something creepy, once alive, formerly embedded in a follicle, or still blinking in my bread. What I found was not quite that extreme, but it was equally disappointing. I had reached the potatoes…and they were slathered with MAYONNAISE! Dogonit Japan! Why must mayonnaise appear in the most unnecessary places? Sandwiches…fine. French fries…ok. Pizza…NO! Chili…MOST CERTAILY NOT!!! Whose idea was that?!?!?! Today’s Words of Wisdom: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use old lip gloss!!! Monday, I looked like someone had hit me in my top lip a few times for fun…and I broke out in fine bumps! So I took a Benadryl and a nap. Now I can see my face again….and no, no pictures! Needless to say I threw that tube away.

Addendum...

2007-03-07T22:56:00.000+09:00

I forgot to add to the Festivals post that after the Plum Blossom Festival, my self-proclaimed [super silly] Japanese mother took us to a shrine called “Opai No Kami Sama”…it’s dedicated to The Girls…no I’m not talking about female children!!! I mean “The Girls!” People make…ehem…”Girls” and bring them here to be put on the board. There are shrines for everything here! If you don’t believe me look them up on the Internet…Go ahead Google any words that made you giggle as a kid and you’ll find a shrine for it in Japan! HAHAHAHA!

Festivals, Festivals, and Mo' Festivals! TaChIbAnA and NaGaSaKi!!!

2007-03-05T08:41:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday and Sunday I went to Tachibana, a town near mine, for the Plum Blossom Festival. It's amazing to me that folks here designate special days to look at pretty trees. I guess that's part of living in/near the country. Saturday, I went with some fellow English teachers. Sunday, I went with one other English teacher who lives in my building and some of our Japanese friends. All the vendors who remembered me from Saturday were like "Hey!" A photographer caught sight of us while I was in line to buy a roasted sweet potato. She asked if I could be in some of her photos for an amateur photo contest. I said sure as long as she sent me copies of all the pictures. While the potato man and I were standing together for the shot, this crazy woman (the photographer) says, "Ok, now give him a kiss on the cheek." You know the "Did I hear you correctly?" face...well that's what she got...followed by a long stare then a "NO" head shaking! And as if that's not bad enough she asked that my coworker and I stand by the flowers for a picture then she asked again...so this time she got the "This ain't that kind of party" neck role followed by a narrowing of the eyes and an eyebrow raise...So she said "Ok." After that I was through with it so while she was requesting a photo somewhere else I said, "Thank you" and "Goodbye" after I got her business card. I better get my pics...lol

This Saturday, I went to Nagasaki with a fellow teacher who is from Jamaica. There are Chinatowns in Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki. For the last two weeks they were celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year. I guess the Lantern Festival only takes place in Nagasaki. Nagasaki is the western most city in Japan and it is also where the US dropped another atomic bomb 3 days after Hiroshima back when the they were acting a fool with weapons whose power I don't think they fully understood. In the morining we went to the Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum. It was much less graphic than the museum in Hiroshima where I felt a certain uneasiness every time I looked an older Japanese person in the eye. I think that fact the the weather was really nice also made a difference in mood. Hiroshima was cold and rainy when we visited the A-Bomb sites. The afternoon and evening were spent browsing the stores and looking at the lanterns. I was originally under the impression that the laterns were made of paper, but they are made of material stretched over wire frames that are lit by small lights inside. It's was still pretty cool though. There were performances and the presentation of the Misses froom the different areas around Kyushu (the island I live on...Japan is made up of four main islands). I snacked on Goma Dango (deep fried mochi (rice cake) balls with sweet red bean paste in the middle and covered in sesamee seeds) and I bought Castellas (sponge cake made of sugar, flour, eggs, and starch syrup...thought to be originally from Spain, brought by way of Portuguese merchants in the 16th century) and Jasmine tea.

Sunday, I happened to run across an annoucement for a taiko performance in the city. Well, I couldn't find it so I ended up at an outlet mall...I don't know how my shopping radar just pinpoints malls like that. I didn't buy anything though (SURPRISE!)...lunch doesn't count. I always forget that I live near the ocean because my city is fairly industrial so it's pretty much all concrete with the exception of the mountains in the distance. Well the mall is right on the water so I took a couple of pictures to remind myself that I am indeed not landlocked! On the bus back to the station I spotted a grocery store that sells foreign food, so I hopped of the bus to take a look...a $40 "look"...and walked out with one bag! What was in this bag you ask...

fresh basil (which I can't find anywhere!)
sponge cake (cuz I don't have an oven to bake my own...)
baking brandy (to sprinkle on the cake)
heavy whipping cream (to layer in the cake with strawberry purée)
cinnamon apple chips (just because they are delicious)
a big bottle of olive oil (cuz buying small bottles is less cost efficient)
a mozzarella/tomato/pesto pizza (that I can cut in half to fit into my toaster oven)
$40!!! AAAH!

Then I came home and did my real grocery shopping...bought twice as much for less than half that price! Since I had extra pastries I decided to have a tea party. So I drizzled the brandy on the sponge cake, blended the strawberries with sugar, and whipped the cream to spoon over it....well, let's just say that there's a reason that the cooking brandy is sold in such small bottles...it was TOO STRONG TO DRINK! Luckily I had also made some Japanese sweets so there was plenty to snack on while we just stared at the cake in disbelief. Too bad...it would have been so good. Oh well, lesson learned.

TGIF!!!

2007-03-02T23:11:00.000+09:00

I apologize for the hold up on photos but they won't load for some reason...Anyway, life goes on...

As much as I love changing my hair and switching up my clothes, it seems like folks around here can’t handle it. I mean people around here rarely wear their hair differently and a lot of people wear pretty much the same things all the time. The funny thing is that when I do decide to switch it up it seems to distract the teachers more than the students. Tuesday I wore my hair in what I like to call a faux bob...hair pulled back and tucked under in a headband...One too many people were all up in my personal space too early in the morning (as in before I could get good and settled into my desk) over it so I decided to put it in a French braid and headband Wednesday. BACKFIRE! “Wow you changed your image today, “ and, “You look sporty today.” I guess there’s just no way around it as the foreigner.
Today, during sixth period, the office was silent and empty so I decided to listen to a French podcast. Halfway through the period, one of the teachers comes back into the teacher’s office to look for something. Then he walked over to me and said something that I couldn’t understand, but it was about the gym, students singing, and shall we go. So I closed the laptop and made my way to the gym. Boy was I surprised when I got there. The room was decorated with ribbons, banners, and designs made of crepe paper flowers. All the students were standing in rows and the 1st and 2nd graders were facing the third graders and singing a song. All the teachers were standing around…including the principal, vice principal, the other administrative guy, and both English teachers who all speak English well enough to have informed me that there was an assembly going on. When the principal finally spotted me, he came over and said, “This is the party for the 3rd graders who are graduating in two weeks.” Well DUH! I’d gathered that on my own by then. Nice timing! I want to know why it took one of the teachers who has no reason to talk to me to inform me that something big was happening in the gym when I work directly with two other teachers!!! What makes it worse is that the English teacher whose class I taught today appeared to be over the festivities!…Maybe it’s just me, but most people would consider that pretty inconsiderate. THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY!!!
After school, the boys and I (since the other female teacher who works with us is in Chicago on vacation) made plans to a buffet restaurant. One of my co-workers and I work in the same city, meaning that we get off at the same train stop. I was waiting for him to get to the bus stop so that we could meet the other two at the restaurant and this fool was already on a bus on his way to the place...so much for team work...Speaking of which...The other day we all jumped on a crammed train and I ended up standing. Three male English teachers, all from the States, and no one even thought about offering me a seat. In the words of my friend Michelle, "The G.R.I.T.S. would riot!" So I walked to another car and had a seat...sigh. MANNERS!? There are a lot of things that are indeed rude about folks back home, but we do the whole public transportation etiquette thing at least. While waiting for the restaurant to open for dinner, I bought a new kite...YAY! a girl approached me and asked my age. She was perhaps a little mentally disabled or had a severe social disorder (I'm not making fun). When I finally realized what she was asking I answered and she went into a question rapid fire mode...than reached out to touch my hair...WRONG ANSWER! I am gonna have some seriously cat-like reflexes when I get home! My natural reaction was to step back and stare at her. Anyone blame me? I've said it before and I'll say it again...JAPANESE FOLKS DON'T JUST WALK UP TO OTHER JAPANESE FOLKS THEY DON'T KNOW AND TOUCH THEM...WHY IS IT OK TO TOUCH ME?!?!?! Answer: It's not...period. After dinner, I headed over to the lil mall and bought myself some nice work shoes. While browsing, I look up and guess who's standing there...The girl same girl from outside! So she follows me around the store for a while then goes on about her business. Do her parents know where she is? Or maybe one of her parents works in the mall???

Current Events...(more pics to come!)

2007-02-26T19:24:00.000+09:00

More listing just for you!

JUST WEIRD!!!
I was in Tokyo for the New Year’s Sale and did not buy one thing! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?! Gotta go to the doctor to get that checked out!

The Vice Principle at my close [not so smart] school waited til all the teachers were in class to blast ABBA’s “Dancing Queen, ” and walks over to me and says, “Do you know?…ABBA!”

Same school…I happened to glance at the fish tank and to my surprise 2 of the 3 remaining goldfish were dead…I’m assuming they had been there for a while. I’ma need them to be more diligent about cleaning the tank!

Bus drivers who bite their nails…Or so I thought. I noticed that he was spending a lot of time on the nail on his left index finger…just to realize that this man was digging his nose then sticking his treasure in his mouth. AAAAAH!

Bus drivers who pull over to let cars pass. Why is this weird…HE WENT TO SLEEP FOR LIKE 10 MINUTES! Since when is it no longer public transportation operators’ priority to get passengers to their destinations on time?!?!?!

IN OTHER NEWS:
Learned a little bit of Chinese cooking at my far way school (aka Heaven/the Smart School) at the Happy Smile and Love Party that they have every year. Each year they invite a new guest to learn how to make dishes from different countries.

Mount Fuji is so beautiful…haven’t seen it up close but it’s amazing from the air and from the highway. Went to Tokyo for New Year’s and witness the beauty of bringing in the new year at a temple…then stood there dumbfounded by the silence. Where was the drunken debauchery that goes down in the streets of America on New Year’s at midnight??? Then I found it in Roppongi.

Went to Hokkaido for the 58th Annual Snow Festival where they create works of art out of snow and ice…AMAZING! Since Michelle and I didn’t end up in any clubs (Tiffany and Michelle: Getting Japanese folks loose since 2006), we’ve adopted a new slogan…Tiffany and Michelle: Adding a new hue to ski slopes since 2007. Snowboarding is SO MUCH FUN!!! Even if I did think I broke my neck twice and came home with a nice knot and cut on my forehead. I decided that they were collateral damage for all the fun I had. We ate the biggest snow crab legs I’ve ever seen…and you know we throw down on some big ol’ crab legs in the Tyson residence. The ones in Hokkaido are like something out of a Gojira (Godzilla) movie! Had/dodged a snow fight a bunch of drunk folks. You would think people would drink less when walking on ice is involved.

Went to Tokyo to hang out with Justin in mid February. Ate at Garlic Joes; a restaurant that specializes in dishes loaded with garlic. I don’t know how they managed to keep the flavor so mild when there were gobs of garlic everywhere! Took in the sights/sounds/tastes of Yokohama’s Chinatown. My plans to take him to Tokyo Disneyland fell through because there were no buses running in the middle of the day on the weekend…Does that make any sense to anyone? So, we hung out in Yokohama instead and rode “the world‘s largest Ferris wheel“ next to “Japan‘s tallest building.” I’m kinda skeptical about both of those facts…

February 1st marks the first time that the students managed to get on my last nerve!

Q wrote me a letter. I was so excited to find a real life letter in my mailbox!

I used to think electric toothbrushes were for lazy people…Now I love them! And no, not cuz I’m lazy.

I made egg drop soup…So now I think I’m a chef extraordinaire!!!

On January 14th my taiko drumming group performed in a town called Tachibana.

During my computerless existence, I began the plans for my entrepreneurial venture…walking in my parents’ got-my-own-business footsteps!

I changed my first bike tire inner tube the other day after riding around with a hole in it for like 2 months cuz I’m a bum. I’m pretty sure that now makes me THE [WO]MAN!

I presented a Black Inventors slideshow to my students for Black History Month. Their teacher was like, “ Oh my goodness. So many things we still use today were invented!” I said, “Yes. Black people did all the work during that time.” I thought that was a subtle enough hint…hehehe.

Japanese folks love them some Obama…still trying to figure out if it’s because he’s a man (as opposed to Hillary Clinton, a woman) or if it’s because he’s Black…hmmm?

Saturday and Sunday I went Tachibana towns Kanbaikan (Plum blossom festival). It's amazing how Japanese folks make a whole day of walking around looking at trees! I did get some great pictures of flowers and a display of hand crafted bamboo lanterns in a wine cellar that used to be a fallout shelter when the US was acting a fool in the Far East...It was beautiful. I was a local celebrity and even posed for some pictures with the sweet potato vendor. The photographer is entering an amateur photo contest and I told her that as long as she sends copies of all the pictures to me I had no problem with her entering them in the contest. It even scored me a free potato! One of the vendors had a bajillion types of citrus fruits. So I bought 3 haruka. They look like big lemons/small grapefruits but they are surprisingly sweet and mild...I got some good donuts and fried chicken too! What? I'm American...hahahaha!

QUESTIONS
Ever been on a bus alone and had gas?…teehee! (ok I know, TMI!)

Why was I bitten several time during the winter by mosquitoes??? Why won’t they just die?!

ALL OF THEM! I mean really, what purpose do they serve aside for annoying me and spreading disease? Huh?

Why were girls walking around Hokkaido with booty shorts and heels in the middle of winter?...Anyone?

TWAS THE SEASON!!! (pictures coming soon...)

2007-02-26T18:51:00.000+09:00

Well well long time now see right?! The answer is yes. The reason…let’s just say that it was my computer’s time…So I was computerless from December 25th to February 20th. In technology’s stead, I’ve become quite the bookworm as a trade off for keeping up with current events (i.e. we all knew that Brittany Spears wasn’t right before the head shaving/rehab thing…DUH!). Thanks to this new fangled contraption, I’m back in the loop. So much for literacy! Thank you all for the Christmas cards and gifts!!! Thank you momma and daddy for giving them folks at Best Buy the business for their slack customer service practices. There is so much to report since December so I’m going to update you all in list form for the next few posts to catch up. Enjoy!

Monday December 18
I was on the internet with Justin asking him to send me whatever Christmas music he had because my box with my cds had not arrived and guess what happened less than 10 minutes after I asked…The box came! Talk about uncanny! Inside were a number of smaller boxes with instructions written on them about when I was to open them. In the box labeled open now, my folks sent some candy cane striped converses and a super long santa hat that I wore to the elementary and junior high schools for my Christmas lessons. I made games…pin the hat on Santa…pin the nose on Rudolph…then they got to make their own respective Christmas art projects (1st grade = santa face with cotton ball hair and beard, 2nd grade = Christmas wreaths out of construction paper, 4th grade = A Christmas Wish Tree made of cutout of their traced hands) while listening to the reggae version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”

Monday December 25
Well folks I managed to have on ok Christmastime despite my computer being on the blink and being at my desk at the Board of Education thinking about how I was supposed to be ripping gift boxes to shreds…not staring blankly into the same page of a book that I’d already read over and over. The tip of my plug melted inside the socket on my computer. Luckily, I was able to put all 10 gazillion of my pictures on my desk nearly burning off my fingers in the process while holding the melting plug in place. When I got home from work, I went to work on my Christmas box...Thank you so much to everyone who sent me gifts and cards! I really enjoyed everything. I can't thank you enough for thinking about lil ol' me way over here!!!

Friday December 29
Off to Tokyo to hang out with Justin for about a week and a half. We exchanged gifts when I got there. Believe it or not, 75% of the gifts we bought each other were nearly identical!!! After that we headed out to eat Chinese food and do Purikura (Print Club photo booth pictures)!

Saturday December 30
Grocery shopping for New Year’s dinner. I brought black eye peas and seasonings that my parents sent with me from home. We walked around the mall near his house a bit and I caught up on movies! YAY!

Sunday December 31
New Year’s Eve…we met up with some of Justin’s friends for dinner near Tokyo Tower. Near midnight we made our way to (the Temple near Tokyo Tower) for the countdown. At midnight everyone released clear balloons with wishes tied to them. It was so beautiful…but anticlimactic! Where was all the hooping and hollering that I’m used to on New Year’s?!?!?! Answer: in Roppongi as we soon thereafter found out. We went to a multi-story club called Vanilla and hung out on the techno floor.

Monday January 1, 2007
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
New Year’s Day Menu:
Black Eye Peas
Rice
Collard Greens
Neck Bones
All prepared by whom??? None other than yours truly! DE-LI-CIOUS!!! ( I surprised myself…I done did good for my first New Year’s meal!!!)

Tuesday January 2
Went to Odaiba to shop…futile! So we headed over to Asakusa, where I managed to get seriously lost when I was over here in 2003. It’s pretty much a flea marketish tourist trap where you can actually find some good souvenirs and stuff if you look well enough. After meandering around Asakusa we made our way to Akihabura, Tokyo’s premier electronics district. Although we didn’t buy any laser beam battering ray armbands or anything we did get some really good crepes from a mobile street stand! I had a choco/ banana/almond/whipped cream crepe Justin had a choco/ strawberry/whipped cream crepe. We wandered around stopping here and there to look at the occasional action figure...and Purikura!!!

Wednesday January 3
We stayed in because I woke up feeling terrible. It’s so nice to wake up when you wanna, make good homemade breakfast at noon, and watch South Park in pjs all day!

Thursday January 4
Went to Kawasaki in search of good buys…futile! It's not that I don't love Japanese clothes...it's just that the cool looking stuff is terrible quality and the quality stuff is terribly expensive...soooo...

Friday January 5
Went to Kamakura to see Daibutsu, The Great Buddha statue. We got a lot of great pictures and Justin had the famous purple sweet potato ice cream and I had a purple sweet potato croquette.

Saturday January 6
Michelle ( my roommate from Tokyo Orientation) had an overnight layover so we scooped her up and headed to Bamiyan for dinner. Bamiyan is a Chinese chain restaurant that I frequented back in 03 because it was right down the street from where I lived. Then it was off to find some...PURIKURA!!! Once home, we stayed up all night discussing conspiracy theories over South African Shiraz.

Sunday January 7
After getting Michelle to the station so that she could head home, we went on base to the NEX so that I could stock up on toothpaste, deodorant, hair color (in case I get bored…er got bored, and dyed my hair already!), soap, etc. Ms. Bridget sent me a really great Christmas box to Justin’s ship…THANK YOU! I wanted to buy a Nintendo DS but didn’t…then regretted it because coming back to a computerless home was killer! Not to mention having to sit in an office for 8 hours doing NADA!

Monday January 8
I woke up to the smells of breakfast…Wait what? BREAKFAST?! Justin cooked! I hadn’t been truly sad in a long time, but boarding the bus in Yokohama gave me a stomachache. I was not at all enthused to turn the key in my apartment door. For 11 days I had forgotten what it was like to be able to see your breath inside the house…not chilly…COLD! So I turned on my nearly empty kerosene heater and sat in front of it with a cup of tea…sigh.

All Is Well

2007-01-16T18:50:00.001+09:00

Hello All,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! This is just a quick message to let you all know that I'm doing well. My computer decided to break down on me so I haven't been able to post blogs, send emails, or chat with any of you in a long time. Hopefully all that will be worked out by the beginning of February and I can resume my normal Internet activity. Just a quick update:

Spent Thanksgiving in Hiroshima
Spent Christmas at my desk at the Board of Education...yuck!
Had a blast New Years in Tokyo with Justin (made collard greens, black eyed peas, and neckbones for the first time by myself...SOOOOO GOOD!)
Drummed at a festival in the countryside
Dyed my hair...it's dark again ;)
Been freezing
Figured out how to work my electric heater though...no worries mama
Believe it or not, I haven't been shopping
I just planned a trip to the Snow Festival in Hokkaido early next month
Heard about Avian Flu near my area...staying on top of that
Been eating well and getting plenty of rest (because it's warm inside...)
My bike is holding up...no more accidents
I ordered my first pizza today
I'm wearing my hair in the old school donut style (from middle school) now

That's all I can think of right now...I'm at a friend's apartment using the computer so I'm going to wrap up here.
Take Care Y'all,
Tiffany

Our Hair!

2006-12-08T14:11:00.000+09:00

I only received responses from 3 people when I sent out the email about a documentary on the Black hair care market...so I hope this reaches more people this way...

Here are the links to the documentary. I appreciate even the smallest efforts to strengthen my community. This is only a start...

The links to the documentary are in 4 parts.

Pt 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p96aaTSdrAE

Pt 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWeLiXHcSyU

Pt 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azfEeDRvdlc

Pt 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m67P2kT7TzQ

EW! Everyone's Sneezing/Coughing All Over the Place!!!

2006-12-07T11:31:00.000+09:00

I'm in the office and folks are sneezing and coughing left and right, but never pausing to cover their spray! YUCK! How I plan to stay healthy this winter:

1. Continue drinking my pineapple/banana/orange/yogurt smoothies every morning.
2. Keep taking Vitamin C
3. Wash my hands...a lot (feeling a little OCD coming on...)
4. Cough and sneeze into my handkerchief or sleeve...not on my hands
5. Hold my breath when walking pass someone who's releasing their germs into my personal space!
6. And thanx to BFR, I now have a new way to pass the time while dodging germ spray in the office...AN INTERNET JIGSAW PUZZLE THAT GETS BIGGER EVERY TIME YOU FINISH ONE!!! AAAAH! IT'S LIKE CRACK...WHITE AND ADDICTIVE!!!

Everyday my place gets a little colder, but I'm faring well. You know it's cold in your apartment when:

1. Your creme hair products are solidifying
2. Steam comes off you after a shower
3. You can see your breath...in your bedroom...during the day!!!

I've been making good use of my kerosene heater, electric blanket, and warm PJs! I've weatherized the widow/balcony door in my room with shrink wrap and I keep the doors to the kitchen and living room closed to trap the heat in my bedroom. Lately it's been about 50 degrees. Doesn't sound bad does it? Now consider that there is no insulation and half of the place is windows that don't recede. The sad thing is that it's only going to get colder. So I'll just keep hooking up the gourmet meals in order to keep my place warm and smelling good...like last night...Udon (in broth made from scratch), shrimp and veggie tempura (with dipping sauce made from scratch), rice...DELICIOUS! So I had leftovers for lunch...see photo on the left. Today, I'll do it all again! I went to Trial (Wal-mart) on my lunch break in search of a toaster oven, since no one has a real oven. The one that I want has both a timer and specific temperature settings...and of course they didn't have any, except for the display that was missing a button...great. But I did pick up a battery operated kerosene pump to that I don't have to manually pump the kerosene into my heater's tank...outside...where it's cold! That blue thing is the kerosene tank and that's the old pump on the ground there...see that green part that's where you squeeze...and squeeze...and freeze until the tank of the heater is full. With my new one I just press the button on top and the black nozzle at the end of the tube has a sensor and the pump shuts off automatically when the heater's tank is near full...YAY! I tell ya...for a country that's so technologically advanced, you'd think everyone would at least have insulation and central air/heat!

One of Many Cold Weekends to Come...

2006-12-05T13:20:00.000+09:00

This weekend was both busy and uneventful at the same time...Friday night three of us went to the yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant around the corner. My neighbor who's been here for a while is friends with the owner and manager so we got the hook up...Well some free meat anyway. Saturday was spent under my electric blanket (THANKS MOM AND DAD!!!)...With the exception of about 45 minutes that it took me to throw on some clothes, bike to the store, buy a few things, bike back, put my PJs back on, and get back under the electric blanket! Sunday we had another taiko performance at an elementary school fall festival...At least that's what I think it was. This is our second performance so I decided to try out the harder part of the easier of our two pieces. SUCCESS! I'm assuming that's how they want us to learn since no one has separated we newcomers to show us how to play the songs. Up until the last practice, I had be playing the most basic rhythm while committing the other part to memory. Every now and again someone would come over and play something then look at me like "Repeat it"...Then they get all giggly when I do. After the performance they fed us udon (noodles) and onigiri (rice balls) YAY! We also got to pound mochi (glutinous rice dumplings of sorts)...What a work out! Thanks to taiko, I had a hard time buttoning my 3/4 length sleeves this morning. My arms really are going to look like Popeye's! That night the taiko group had a Bonenkai (end of the year party) at a restaurant. I had fried wings for the first time since I've been here. Wait, let me rephrase that. It's the first time a I had good fried wings since I've been here. I was doing to much when I made them at home and they turned out yucky...But I ate them anyway cuz I made them. You know how that goes. I like the idea of having an end of the year party and then a beginning of the year party after New Year's. Mo' partays!!!

Yesterday, my supervisor came over to tell us that the office's end of the year party was cancelled due to the fact that a lot of student's have committed suicide recently. WHAT! It makes sense to cancel the festivities out of respect now that I've had time to think about it, but when he first came over and told us I thought to myself, "And what do the two have to do with one another???" This place is bizarre. They blame it on bullying in schools. It's so sad that folks can't just admit that the society is too high strung, uptight (when not under the influence of course), kids have extraordinary amounts of pressure placed on them in school, and parents think it's the teachers' responsibility to raise their kids. It's hard to see any solutions to the problem being made anytime soon. What can ya' do when it's been this way for so long? Whatever it is, I hope it gets done fast.

The Long Overdue Thanksgiving Post

2006-11-30T09:12:00.000+09:00

I spent the holiday weekend (Thursday-Sunday) in Hiroshima. Michelle and I took the shinkansen (high speed train) from our respective cities. I am so in love with the shinkansen and Hiroshima!!! First of all it took me the same amount of time to get half way across the country as it usually does for me to get to the nearest major city from my house. As for Hiroshima, I love the feel of cities near water. Rivers run through the city and the ocean is nearby. We were unable to find a hotel for Saturday night because the entire city seemed to be booked. We searched for hostels on a website and ended up staying at what seemed more like a business hotel but it was just listed on the hostel website. Hotel Flex, appropriately named because the room was tiny and you indeed had to be quite flexible to stay there! It was nice though. The only thing that was bothersome the entire time we were there was the way that people rode their bikes so fast all over the sidewalks! So, you had too look around all corners in order to not get run over...Even then you risk losing your head.

Thursday was rainy and a bit chilly but we ventured out anyway. No point in wasting time because of a little cold air and water. The city was covered in some of the most beautiful trees ever. Gingko trees are some of my new favorites, right up there with Willows, Magnolias, and Bamboo which I guess is more a grass than a tree but whatever. We visited Carp Castle and the peace park on the first day. For lunch we stopped at a GREAT Italian restaurant across from the A-Bomb museum. Each course was De-Li-Cious!!! On the way back to the hotel, we ran into the Volleyball teams from Cuba and Brazil (and some other teams too but they weren't much to look at...hehehe). There's a major tournament going on here so the country is full of 6-7ft fine, brown, athletic men, roaming around cities in groups, causing Black women to stop, stare, and giggle...Or maybe that was just Michelle and I staring. Oh, and there are some female players somewhere around here somewhere too. Thanx to Michelle's impeccable Spanish skills we were able to get this photo.

On Friday, the sky magically cleared up which was perfect because we made plans to visit Miyajima, and island dedicated to the goddesses (us, hehe). It's a World Heritage site, a National Park, and it's famous for the floating Tori gate. We took a ferry to the island and walked around when we got there. There were deer EVERYWHERE! Vendors sold wafers to feed them but I refused to even touch the deer. That didn't stop the photo ops though! i.e. Michelle chasing me after she'd pet a deer...ew! HAHAHA! As it the case on any trip, It was imperative that we snack on every goody in sight so we had fresh grilled oysters, squid, and corn. The man making the oysters had hot shards of shell popping off the grill and flying everywhere but never even flinched. Gangasta! For lunch we chowed down on the famous Hiroshima okonomiyaki known as Hiroshimayaki...It was SOOOO GOOD! From bottom to top: a crepe, shredded cabbage, noodles, thin slices of pork, egg, okonomiyaki sauce (tastes a little like bbq sauce..yay), and some seaweed flakes. That night we met up with Bernard for dinner. He's a teacher too and the organizer of the Thanksgiving dinner that we came to Hiroshima for. We went to an American restaurant called Kemby's and I had RIBS (with really bbq sauce)!!!!

Saturday we met up with Monique, another teacher who had also come for the dinner. I was always under the impression that the A-Bomb Dome was on some remote, grassy cliff overlooking the ocean somewhere. Not at all! Since there aren't any zoning laws concerning building around historic sites, it's smack dab in the middle of the city. While we were roaming around the park again, we were approached by a man named Kosei Mito. He asked if we spoke English, where we came from, and explained that he was one of the youngest A-Bomb survivors and that he felt it was his duty to offer volunteer tours of the Peace Park. Now in any other country I would have promptly said no thank you and kept walking. The tour was amazing! He gave thorough explanations of just about all of the monuments in the park. After the tour we went to the museum. For all the human rights atrocities that the U.S. condemns others for, our country should be ashamed for the destruction caused in Hiroshima. And to think it was done twice.
That night, we all went back to Kemby's for Thanksgiving dinner. Bernard and another teacher showed the staff how to make the dishes about a month ago and they pulled it off. It was fun. I had turkey, mac & cheese, stuffing, baked potatoes/apples, salad, mashed potatoes, corn bread, pumpkin pie, and chocolate cake. Since we didn't have a room for Saturday night, Michelle and I crashed at Bernard's. Here's a photo of the ferry ride away from the island where he lives.
Oh no, I almost forgot the most important part of this post! On Thursday night, Michelle and I went to a salsa club. And just like in Shibuya during orientation, we turned it out. We seem to have the power to make Japanese people get up and dance!!! The whole dance in a circle tactic works wonders!!!TIFFANY AND MICHELLE, GETTING JAPANESE PEOPLE LOOSE SINCE 2006!!!

Hair, Bowling, and Festivals.

2006-11-18T14:54:00.000+09:00

On Friday, the home economics teacher asked me if I would come show the kids how to make French Toast because she had never made it before. The kids made a really good meal. Hambagu (hamburger with no bun), green beans, carrots, soup, and French Toast. It all went together surprisingly well! Of course we got to eat it when they were done, which is good because I am in now way opposed to free food and I was hungry. I wore my hair out and everyone lost their minds when they saw me! I don't think I'll be wearing it out anymore though because I don't like people touching me without asking and giving me the opportunity to say no. It's so rude. Even the English teacher walked up behind me with both arms outstretched with the intentions of touching my hair while I was sitting at my desk. She was talking to the other teachers about my hair and the second I felt her hands begin to touch my hair I ducked out of the way and looked at her crazy. She was running her mouth as usual but I know she got the hint because she paused then kept talking. The thing is that Japanese people don't touch each other so what makes her think she can touch me. Aside from that, I just don't like people in my personal space. It's kinda like the selfishness of some people comes out when I wear my hair out. They don't consider that it took time and effort. All they're thinking about is how much they want to touch it. The Vice principal was like, "Oh did you not have time to do your hair today?" So, I promptly put him in his place and said, "Yes, this takes time. I did not want to wear my hair up. This is the natural state of my hair. Like your hair is out now. This is what my hair looks like when it's out." Then I turned and got back to doing what I was doing in order to end the conversation.
5th and 6th period the kids practiced for the Yabe Festival. The sad thing is that they had to come to school on Sunday to make up the missed classed periods, then go to the festival. It's not even a school event. It's a community event...but whatever. I really like this picture of the sign. The natural lighting was perfect. It says Yabe Matsuri, or Yabe festival.

Saturday, I went to a surprise party for my friend's fiancee. It was a yakiniku (grilled meat) party so we all brought meat and vegetables to cook at the table. When she walked in and heard us scream SURPRISE, she took off running in the other direction. It was too funny. After the party we went bowling. I had the highest score of 9 people with a 121. The bowling shoes here look like Air force 1s so of course we had to take advantage of a photo op! (Don't try this at home. We're trained professionals!)

In a country where most people walk around expeditiously (thanx Spelman) like drones in muted colors, I'm glad that old ladies and nature are on my side. I thought this lady was wearing a purple turban when I saw her crossing the street. Nope, that's her hair. She was with a group of old ladies who were all carrying violin cases. Sunday was the Yabe Festival. I was awake on the bus ride up to the mountains so I finally got a chance to see the changing leaves. It's no New England highway vista, but there are a few beautiful trees scattered about. After lunch (spaghetti, another food for Japanese people to leave alone), we all got dressed for the performance. I kinda like being fussed over after having who ladies dress me in the kimono for the festival. On top of the 3 shirts, leggings, jeans, and knee socks that I was already wearing, the kimono had 4 tops and two bottoms.I think I'll be a model when I grow up so that other people can run around all day working hard to make me look good! The name of the dance and song the kids did is Furuyu. I represented wealth so I walked around and poured water into tiny cups and people put money on the tray, drink from a cup, and we gave them a fan. Mostly old folks drank the water. That's me wearing the woman's mask. The man with the big head represents Wisdom...hence, the big ol' head! Here are a few of the other outfits worn by the students.
Remember that fourth grade teacher who's job it is to tell everyone's business? That's him in sticking out his tongue. At the end I was warm but my feet were cold and wet because I was wearing straw boots. After collecting all theoutfits and props, all the teachers had a mini get together and we ate and they talked about how well the day went in spite of the rain.

Glad to be finished with that...and ready for bed!

Winter is rapidly approaching!

2006-11-16T20:50:00.000+09:00

Sometimes you just gotta remind yourself how fine you are (and take lots of pictures to remind everybody else!). So I decided to dress up Monday for the monthly meeting in the city. Everyone said I looked like a fly flight attendant. Ok, so maybe I added the "fly" part...HAHAHA! I went back into the city on Tuesday for another meeting. A bunch of people were going out to eat so I tagged along because I heard the word "RIBS!!!" Boy, oh boy. The name of the place was...I'll let the pictures do the talking:

I'm sure your next question is did I eat there...well the answer is yes. The reason? I wanted to know how Japan does ribs. The critique? It was cooked like steak...steaky marinade...tasted like steak...NO SPICE RUB...NO SAUCE! Leave the BBQing to the pros. So aside from the questionable sign outside, the confederate decor and country music inside, I won't be going back there because $12 for three ribs and $4 fried potatoes ain't gonna cut it if they don't taste good! The only good thing about the place was the tea, and not because the tea tasted any better than any other unsweet oolong tea...LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE CUP! This is the biggest cup that I've seen since I've been in Japan!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in downtown Fukuoka...long before Thanksgiving. I busted out the kerosene heater the day before yesterday and tested it out on the balcony…that thing is heaven sent just like everyone says it is. So I’m gonna use it. It’s either that or pay over 100 bucks a month on electricity for the next four months to heat one room in my place...enough said. It reminds me of living in Korea cuz they use kerosene heaters a lot there too and the smell took me back to my yesteryears. They actually make me think of a poor family…huddled around a fire…which is technically what I am minus the family part…living in what is essentially a cardboard (and concrete) box with a shower and a laptop…lol! I’ve been freezing. I covered my windows with shrink wrap plastic that’s made to keep the cold out. My feet are freezing all day (when I’m not at home) no matter what shoes I wear. Today I wore thick socks and sneakers and were still cold. Today I stocked up on all things warm. There are little self starting heat packets called kairo. You take them out of the pack, shake em, and put them in your pockets. They even have some for shoes and some that stick to the inside of your clothes. The latter come with a warning to put a layer of clothing between it and your skin as to not burn yourself. I sure am glad someone told me that beforehand because I probably would have done just that in my ongoing effort to stay warm! The one I shook up at about 10 this morning is still going strong at almost 10 pm!!! WOW! They are supposed to be kept in a kind closed place like your pockets because, thanks to platinum catalysis, iron powder, water, salt, activated charcoal, and vermiculite, they react when exposed to air. They are my new favorite things in Japan! Now if only I could find one in the shape of a person to live in...I also stocked up on thick men's socks (because of course the women's socks aren't big enough!), tights, and leggings to wear under my work pants. I'm sure I'll be using/wearing all of the above on Sunday while I'm freezing my butt of at the Yabe Festival. I'm going to be dressed like some lady...as you can see I don't really understand what's going on with that quite yet, but I'm participating because I have to.

While waiting for my bus from “Heaven” to home, I always see a brother and sister who go to the elementary school up the street from where I work. Yesterday (in the freezing cold) I waved and yelled hello and their faces lit up as they waved back and giggled as usual…except this time the little girl is running toward me saying “ageru” (I’m giving you something). So I put out my hand and she gives me a piece of green goo! You know the stuff that you get from the bubblegum machines that looks like neon snot in a plastic stocking egg…yeah that stuff! I fell out laughing and thanked her in very formal Japanese for the booger. They giggled and scampered away. Kids will be kids…everywhere!

The First Taiko Performance

2006-11-12T20:35:00.000+09:00

I love the irony of this t-shirt...so I bought it. A couple of weeks ago a newspaper reporter came to one of our taiko practices and I got interviewed. I got like one line in the paper and even though I spoke to her in Japanese (well tried anyway) they printed my words in Katakana, which are Japanese letters but they represent the phonetic pronunciation of foreign words. For example, they printed "Eh-ku-sy-tin-gu" (exciting) as my response to her questions about my impression of taiko drumming. That's better than nothing I suppose. Yes Mom, I've got copies...even though I can't even read them, hahaha! It's been less than two months and I'm already performing. Today was so fun! I met with my taiko group this morning for what I thought was going to be a competition, but it was a festival to showcase the talents of different taiko groups from around the prefecture. Although we didn't actually perform until after 5:30, it was nice to see the other teams. Amazing ain't the word. I even finally learned the name of our taiko group...Chigo Akasaka Daiko. If you mix Japanese people with Black college marching band and war you've got Taiko! These folks were getting down you hear me! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pics in the auditorium, but I did sneak some video on my phone at yesterday's practice but the quality isn't good because I was sitting far from the stage. My co-worker (who drums with me) and I split the cost of the DVD for the third section of the performances so you'll get to see it when I get home. Since we just started we didn't get to do any of the cool stuff so we played the basic rhythm the whole time...which is 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Sounds easy right? WRONG! The song is nearly 7 minutes long, has pauses, and requires us to beat the drum HARD! Plus, the lead drummer started it off SUPER FAST! My forearms are going to look like Popeye's when I get back. We were the last to perform so the curtains closed when we ended...So dramatic! Here are some photos from backstage:
Lunch...Dango(dumpling) soup with root veggies (I felt like a peasant...where's the MEAT???), Onigiri (rice balls) with pickled daikon radish, sweet seaweed...maybe pickled, never can really tell, and tea that was grown and bottled in this area. This region is known for its green tea.
Tabi are so cool! I need to find out where I can buy some...maybe at the hardware store...Construction workers wear these with genie pants (super baggy with tapered ankles). Come to think of it, I want the pants too! Can you blame me for walking around humming the theme song for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Turtles in a half shell...TURTLE POWER!)???
Did I mention that I'm the master? Ok, so maybe I'm not. If you want a real upper body workout (complete with calluses and blisters...minor detail), then you need to do some taiko...and for killer legs, do like me and ride your bike/walk EVERYWHERE! Thank God my city doesn't have any hills. Now to work on the RiCe BoOtY!
I really love how our group is like one big happy family. There are members of all ages. I think the youngest is 8 or so. This man is the oldest, 60 something. I refer to him as "Grandaddy" (not to his face though, hehe!). When he hits a drum, you can feel it in the depths of your being...literally. The first time he walked over to me and hit my drum I almost fell backwards. It was so LOUD and shook my entire body!
Yes, even the men wear these cute little bows on their heads that actually look pretty Tupac-ish from a distance while they're drumming...GANGSTA! That's Maggie (my co-worker) above me. She's from Hawaii.

Here's the guest performer. He plays the Shamisen (a guitarish type instument played with a plectrum). He's really good...and really tall. The tallest girl in this picture is a little taller than I am if that's any indication of his height. He was really nice and the girls were falling all over themselves to talk to him! They're so cute!

Sumo Size Me!

2006-11-07T22:27:00.000+09:00

Yesterday was an office (boring) day, but this time there were 4 of us there instead of the usual 2. We went to Kyoko’s restaurant for lunch and she offered to come pick us up at 2:45 to take us to see some sumo wrestlers present at an elementary school. So, she calls our supervisor and he said ok. Kyoko’s family owns a Chanko (sumo food) restaurant and they are well acquainted with a number of sumo wrestlers. The sumo tournament is going on now so their accommodating a few of them. The presentation was good. The kids got to ask questions then they got to wrestle. Then it was our turn. I put up a good fight but he picked me up and put me outside the rink! SO MUCH FUN! As you can see I’m whipping his tail in the ring. Then, he cheats (ok so it’s not really cheating) and picks me up to put me out of the ring. So, as far as I’m concerned, I WON! Tonight, we had dinner with them at Kyoko’s restaurant. When we neared the door of the banquet hall, there were two huge vats of Chanko Nabe (soup with veggies and meat that is a staple of the Sumo diet). The people at the door gave me a bag for my shoes and showed me to my table in front. I got to take pictures with two more wrestlers (one of whom is 2nd in the nation...or maybe in his bracket...I'm standing next to him) and the man who appears to be in charge of their particular sumo stable (wearing green).

I had a good time aside from one case of sexual harassment, which they seem to have no concept of here. By Western standards, it’s out of control. An old man came to our table and while talking to us, he pointed at me and made a comment about my chest and gestured. I’m so mad that I don’t know how to be rude in Japanese. So I stopped smiling and talking until he finally left the table.

Note to self: Learn to tell someone “where they can go/what they can do when they get there” in Japanese!!!

Everyone else was really nice and the food was good. Kyoko called me and another English teacher to the microphone to introduce ourselves. I messed up and did mine in Japanese and everyone wanted to stop me to talk on the way back to my table! We took pictures with a bunch of the guests and the sumo wrestlers. I bought a calendar so the guest of honor could sign the page he was on. There was a raffle so people won cases of fruit, fish, etc. And near the end of the night they came over and shared their stuff with us which was so nice of them. I came home with a persimmon, a huge apple, assorted mochi, and a bunch of bananas…As well as an unwanted business card from some old man who wanted me to email him. Ha! Yeah Right!!! Drunk and old are a combination that prove fatal for my interest in talking/listening to Japanese men. And I sure as heck won’t be emailing any.

Trick or Treat Part two...

2006-11-05T23:23:00.000+09:00

Last weekend, Lindsay and I dressed up as each other's evil twin for John's potluck party. This weekend I packed up and went to Miyazaki Prefecture (southeast of here, on the coast). After sending out an email on the JETs of African Decent site about being bored, I received a couple invitations. I couldn’t make most of the events because of my schedule here but Friday was a holiday so I headed on down. I took the highway bus from the most obscure place ever. The bus stop was literally on the highway. It took about 3 hours to get down there. Miyazaki is absolutely beautiful. I stayed with a girl from NY who lived in San Francisco before coming here. She’s biracial, has serious identity issues, insecure, and immature. Not exactly the things you want to be when you’re almost 30 (no the biracial part…lol). She is really nice and loves to have fun so we had a good time. All the English teachers down there live in the country which made me really appreciate my little boring city and the 6 others who live in my building a little more. The first party was in a city that was about an hour away. A lot of people wore really interesting costumes. Like this guy who was a "space man" or something. Yes, that's silver paint. No, he's not wearing any clothes. Unless you count the piece of tin foil covering his business. His helmet is attached to the tank on his back by a hose. The tank had U.S.A. written on it in marker. I must say he's the boldest Japanese man I've ever seen. I got to see two of the people who I’d met at orientation back in Atlanta. That's them in the next picture. The one dressed as a woman won the costume contest and the space man got second. After the party everyone headed over to yet another bar. O, joy... Here you have to pay a table charge just to be there and a little extra for all-you-can-drink, but they were nice enough to make an exception for me since I wasn’t drinking. I would have stood outside otherwise. That night we hung out at another JET’s super nice apartment. He was the best host ever. He had enough futons for everyone and he even fried bananas and made tea for us all in the morning. Now I know for sure that my prefecture cares the least about our living conditions. The next night we went to a party in some cabins and spent the night. Here are the two top winners of the costume party there. Optimus Prime (who knew a monologue from the show) got first place and Kim Jong Il was second. Too funny!!! It was really nice. Dinner was a potluck and there was toast, eggs, and tea for breakfast. The cabins were so nice. Everyone’s places were so nice (newer), especially in comparison to mine. Everyone I met was really nice and I plan to go back down in the spring to enjoy the beach, “Monkey Island,” Japan’s version of the Easter Island statues, and some of the other interesting sites down there. When I got back home (7:30 pm), I had a dessert party at my place (8:00 pm) to get rid of all the sweets I got from the reception after my demonstration class. We had cake, mochi, fried apples (with cinnamon and sugar because I had a taste for them…and three ripe apples to get rid of), edamame (to balance out the sweets), earl grey tea, Darjeeling tea, hot chocolate, coffee, and orange drink (no, not juice!)...I’m high society over here in the projects.

Class Acts!

2006-11-02T23:49:00.000+09:00

We had a demonstration class in "Heaven"...Basically the Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) and the Principals come to the school to observe an English class. I prayed that both of my teachers from “Purgatory” would be there but only one came with the Principal. The class went really well. The only thing I didn’t like was all the extra effort put into the class. The amount of preparation was way more than usual which means that the teacher got on my nerves way more than usual. She’s the touchy-feely type who thinks that everything she says is SO FUNNY! So when she finishes a sentence, she leans in with a super cheesy smile. I guess so that you can lean in and laugh too. She’s a great teacher but quite annoying as a person! Anyway, after the class and assembly, the vice principal and JTE invited me to go to the reception. Unbeknownst to me it cost $20…weird. At home guest would never pay for a reception to reward them for their hard work. It’s Japan though, so you never really know. The food was great and in true Japanese fashion there was beer and sake for days! I really don’t see how people can stand the taste of either…UGH! So I made sure that the Oolong tea was nearby at all times. It’s at these parties that you get to see people’s true colors. Everyone got TO’ UP!!! The vice principal asked me if I had a boyfriend three times. Here a thumb up means boyfriend and a pinky up means girlfriend. Well the principal looks at me and said in Japanese, “Do you have a” then he put up his thumb then his pinky…I said yes and held up my thumb. Too funny! The fourth grade teacher from the “Heaven” elementary school made it a point to tell me everyone’s business, for example:

~My student’s father cam over to meet the new English teacher and the 4th grade teacher says, “He’s a nice man. Very busy!” Then, he holds up his pinky several times, points to the man’s crotch, and says, “Used a lot!”
~The same teacher pointed to principal’s assistant (who is about 30) and says in Japanese that she has a son, but I didn’t understand. So he put is hands in the shape of “U”s in front of his chest, made squeezing gestures and squirting sounds, and said in English, “Mother!”…Out of control!
~He also talked about every balding man in the room and asked what we called the different types of male pattern balding in English. He got a kick out of “cul-de-sac” when I made a diagram on the table with chopstick wrappers (streets) and a bowl (the cul-de-sac) of the literal meaning. They call a stringy comb-over “barcode hair.”

The math teacher at my school was so drunk and tried to have a serious conversation with me about how “learning/teaching is a pleasure,” which he shouted at the top of his lungs over and over in between slurred Japanese while the drunk vice president said, “He’s drunk” every five minutes. When everyone was good and gone the men thought it was a good idea to throw each other up in the air. It’ was too funny when they got to my principal because he’s a little taller then me and he looked terrified as he went flailing through the air. It was really nice to get to talk to some of the parents and people from the village. Just when I thought the party was over after everyone handed me tons of sweets to take home and cleared out all the tables except those that the food on them, everyone pulls up chairs to the buffet table and they had out new sets of chopsticks…and they drank some more! When it was time to go I gave a quick speech in Japanese to thank everyone as they cheered and told me to make sure that I come to all the parties so that they can send me home with more gifts!

I got a ride home with my JTE and so did the math teacher and the vice principal. The math teacher called ahead to his house to ask his wife to have tea and snacks ready for us when we got there. When we got there, the teacher that I work with asked that they show us their daughters wedding photos. SMALL WORLD! The daughter (Aya) married a former jet named Akbar (a black guy, which is why I think my teacher wanted me to see the pictures so badly…hmm?) Akbar ad Aya met at John’s English school…the place where I went to the first Halloween Party. So the John, his brother, and the “Ko Krew” (one of which is my self-proclaimed Japanese mother) were all in the pictures. I guess that’s to be expected of the English speaking crowd in rural/small town/medium city Japan...and why don't I have any pictures of all this, you ask. I left my dog-on camera at home!

Laughs galore!!!

2006-10-25T22:36:00.000+09:00

Last night, three of us went to an onsen about 45 minutes away from our apartment. It was so nice. Inside, there were 6 baths of varied temperatures including one for doing exercise. I decided to be a big dog and get into the hottest one 42 degrees Celcius…like 108 Fahrenheit! Needless to say I didn’t stay in there very long. Then we went outside where there were 3 more baths and big stone buckets to sit it. On the way out I grabbed a Häagen-Dazs Green Tea ice cream from a vending machine in the lobby. Before going home we stopped at a really good restaurant for some yellow curry. D-E-Licious! I wish I could end every night like that!

Today I was at the nearby school where I sit at my desk for 8 hours and do nothing because they don’t have internet. AAAAH!!! Although my nearby school (which I will now refer to as Purgatory, since my far school is Heaven) is the school I don’t really like, it is where I get the most laughs. Here are a few examples:

A few weeks ago I went to a meeting of Japanese English teachers in the area. The principal at Purgatory is really nice and speaks really good English. On the way to the meeting he was explaining to me that the town we were entering was in the process of incorporating with two other towns because the individual towns lacked the facilities and resources that people really need, etc. So he says, “For example this city doesn’t have a Gynecologist.”
1. He pronounced it Jy-no-cologist
2. Wait…of all the facilities he could have used as an example, why on Earth was gynecologist the first thing that came to mind?!?!?! HAHAHA!

Yesterday, I was walking around during cleaning time and I was stopped by a chorus of “HELLO” from a group of my favorite girls and one of my favorite boys in the hall. The boy says, “Oh, it is berry cute!” (You are very cute.) I said, “Thank you. You are very kind.” Then they told me that so-and-so had a boyfriend and so-and-so had 5 and the boy says, “You. Boyfriend?” I said yes and one of the girls pointed to the girl next to her and said, “She is Rez.” So I was like oh okay because I thought she was telling me the girl’s nickname or something. Then I guess another girl didn’t think that my reaction was appropriate so she says, “No, no. She’s rez. Gahl lubu gahl eekohl rez!!!” The girl who she was pointed at started shouting, “No I’m not, no I’m not!” Then it dawned on me what she was saying…”No, No. She’s les. Girl loves girl equals les!” I almost fell over laughing! Where in the world do they get this stuff! If only they would make that much effort in their English classes!

Right before I went home yesterday, one of the teachers hands me a cd that has “Big Help in the Big Easy” written on it. He told me that an English teacher in Nagasaki gave it to him. I copied it onto my computer and listened to it this morning. Well the first songs are all really nice classic jazz by Louis Armstrong and other artists from that era. Then about halfway through the cd I hear the unedited versions of Bunny Hop, Slow Motion, and some Big Tymers song. Hahahaha! I wonder if he knows what he’s listening to.

It's amazing what an accidental phone call can get you. The leader of the group I call the "Ko Krew" (because all of their names end in -ko)has proclaimed herself my Japanese mother since she and my mom are the same age. Anyway, I was on my bike with my earpieace in and I accidentally somehow ended up calling her but I was on a busy street so I couldn't reach into the basket to end the call. Well she was so glad to hear from me and asked if I wanted to hang out. Long story short, she made dinner and the rest of the Ko Krew came too. It was so nice to just sit around, eat, drink coffee, talk and watch the news like I do with my mom and her friends at home. She even sent me home with eggs. Ikuko said that they were special eggs so I asked her how. She said, "The yolk is more orange. They eat healthy food...um cockroach..." We all burst out laughing because she didn't realize what she said. I hope it was a mistake! Then she was like, "Oh, no sorry. They eat honey and seaweed" and some other healthy stuff that I don't remember. I boiled one to see if it tasted different from other eggs and sure enough it did! I'm still trying to figure out why she said cockroach though. Scary!