The Turtle Cheetah

What an awkwardly slow hectic week I've had. I know that that's a rather confusing sentence but I can't think of a better way to describe the week I've had. Between work and home, it's been an awkward mixture of having too much to do and not enough to do all at once.

Last Monday was my companies' Bounenkai. I think it was a pretty good time. All of the school's in the area met up for this huge company dinner (which we unfortunately had to fork 35 bucks over for) and generally had a good time. The dinner started off a bit awkwardly because one of half of the table was all Japanese and the other half was not. Guess which side was being loud and talkative and which one was being awkwardly silent. It's not too hard to guess, but after a few rounds of all you can drink goodness and a few rounds of mediocre food, the party was flowing quite well. Although the imaginary wall between our side of the table and their side of the table never dissipated.

The rest of the week went by painfully slowly. We have these things called working days in which all of our group lessons are cancelled and only our private lesson students showed up. Well, I usually have roughly 20 lessons between Thursday through Saturday but this time, I was given a whopping 6 classes. It's somewhat relieving in that I didn't have to teach those pesky childsquitos but bad in that now I was faced with the task of trying to find ways to kill about 7 hours of free time. It's like being told that you'll be able to walk again but that you're going to have your toes chopped off. The last time we had these working days, I was basically new and I needed all the time in the world to try to prepare for the upcoming weeks. This time, I was already a pro at planning AND I was already a week ahead. So yeah, it was an awkward three days of trying to find things to do. I colored flashcards like there was no tomorrow. I made a New Year's poster (even though we are closed during New Year's). I fought some massive dust bunnies armed only with an badly used rag. I stood (around), I saw (what other more productive teachers were doing), and I conquered (the art of looking like I was doing something). But hey, It's not like I was trying to be unproductive. There was simply not enough to do, even despite me asking my manager about 1.5 times per second if she needed any help. So yeah, that explains the slow part!

Besides dealing with that slow part of the week, outside of work, I've been really busy trying to prepare for the upcoming trip to Tokyo. That means running errands, packing, cleaning, and wishing I was doing nothing like I was doing at work. We also went to an awesome Christmas party on Saturday night with Gene and Yui, and the rest of the gang. Yui's restaurant, 9494, is really, really good and when we go, we do it right: All you can drink. That, Karaoke, and some great company makes for an awesome time. Yeah, so...it's been a mad rush to get things done before Tokyo. I'm just about ready to head to sleep. I've got one more day of awkwardness as work and then I'll be headed to meet Andy, Matt, Atit, and Anup on a very daunting 12 hour bus ride. Uh Oh..I'm hoping that sleeping pills and a day of work will get me through it.

The Holiday Season

The holiday season sure is a busy time. Between work, all of the Christmas events going on, December birthdays, and Christmas shopping itself, time has really been scarce lately. Me and Nat have been going to some really cool parties lately.

+ Last weekend, we went to John's Christmas party. There were a ton of people there so it was really fun just to go out and socialize. Unfortunately, we arrived a little bit too late and all of the wonderful Christmas food was gone so we were left with the Macaroni and Cheese that we made and basically table scraps and desserts. We managed to snag some Turkey along with some gravy so it made things a little better in the end. But still, it was a bit of a disappointment to miss out on all of the awesome food. Plus, being at a Christmas party where the beer is flowing freely and being on an empty stomach is certainly a recipe for disaster. Scratch that, a recipe for fun. Somehow the idea of shotgunning some beers came into the equation and that went down. Speaking of shotguns, 2011 has been the year of shotgun's for me. It's like college again! Why have I been shotgunning beers??  WHY? Either way, it was good fun. We met a lot of cool people and got pretty wasted. Our Mac and Cheese was a hit as well so that was a bit of a plus. I thought it was pretty good but considering that Japan has a rather limited cheese selection, I'd like to try again sometime.

+ Work has been pretty stress free for me ever since that wonderful and exciting parent observations week came and went. I don't know. I just feel so lax at work lately. Working hard but it's not stressful. Plus vacation is approaching fast.

+ Yesterday was my coworker's birthday party; Hisami and Rachel, respectively. It was a pretty good time. We hit up Round 1 again. That place is amazing on so many levels. Me and Nat decided that we're going to try to go during our vacation that is coming up. This time, I tried pitching, archery, and badminton (on a very windy day). I can honestly say I have a new appreciation for each of those sports, especially pitching. I mean, I played like 5 rounds of a pitching game where you have to hit different targets and I couldn't hit one. That's roughly 50 pitches and a 0% hit rate. That's a 100% fail rate, for those who like  numbers. I think I'm pretty accurate at throwing things, but I have a soft touch you know. Trying to use all of your strength and trying to hit a tiny target are two things I can't do well simultaneously. For that matter, I can't multi-task very well. That popular 21st century action that we call playing games, talking on the phone, and browsing the internet at the same time is something I suck at terribly. At Round 1, we also had a good go around on the skating rink. I'm sad that my favorite possibly (probably) gay roller skating superhero couldn't attend but that's okay. Our group took over the rink and it was good fun in the end. After Round 1, we headed to a delicious not so Mexican, Mexican restaurant called Moby's. Nice decor and very un-Mexican food, but hey, it was tasty. The place also had pretty good Fajitas. Always a hit with me. All around, I think it was a good time. I think Rachel and Hisami both had a good time, although I didn't get to socialize with them all that much. Happy Birthday to both of them.

+ Speaking of birthdays, why are there so many birthdays in December?? SO MANY. People must really like to have fun in the Springtime. But hey, I'm just saying. A lot of cool people have birthdays this month, including my brother, Theo! Yep, the 17th was his birthday. 14 freakin year's old! That's unreal. He's growing up real fast, but luckily, he's super smart and just a really funny cool kid. I love him a lot! Wish I could celebrate with him.

+ Crocodile clothing, Crocodile Dundee, Fried crocodile...what do all of these things have in common? They are the least popular type of Croc in Japan. Yeap, Croc shoes takes the cake. People love these freakin' things. Prom dresses and crocs. Bubble jackets and crocs. Track suits and crocs. Elegant dresses and crocs. Strawberry crocs. Fruity crocs. Neon Crocs. Crocodile Crocs. Each version is well represented here. The thing is that they are holey shoes! It's freezing outside! Also, Japanese people love to wear shorts in the winter. Why, you ask? I don't have a clue. Shorts are cheaper than pants and use less fabric than pants. Therefore, shorts > pants for the environment and they help to increase dry skin in the legs.

+ My school is having it's yearly Bounenkai party today. It's a party to celebrate a year of hard work. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, especially since a few big wigs that make life rather uncomfortable for us small fries will be attending. Also, we have assigned seating. I mean, what is this...a field trip for ants (I mean preschoolers)? Shouldn't I, a man of 25 years of life, be free to choose where and by whom he would like to sit? I mean, I'm a person. Natalie's a person. "That person over there is a person". I'm so offended. Although I'll be sitting next to Natalie, what if the other person I'm sitting next to is annoying, is a mute, or worse...has cooties. Yikes.

+ Winter vacation is coming in T minus one and a half weeks. I can't wait. It's gonna be a good time. I do have a few Christmas parties to attend do beforehand though. Should be a good ore vacation week. Oh, and forgot about work. I've gotta make that as quick and painless as possible, like cutting your own arm off.

Naoshima Art Island

Haven't posted a blog in a couple of weeks...I've been busy with work (as usual) and a bit under the weather. Writing a blog entry was probably something I would be able to do very well when feeling tired and sick. But I have done a few cool things in the past few weeks.

Last weekend, Natalie and I went to Naoshima Art Island with our good friends Gene and Yui. We had been hearing about this mysterious place ever since we arrived in Japan. We kept hearing how awesome it was and how we just had to go, so we finally cleared up a weekend, invited our friends, and made our way to one of the coolest places I've been to in Japan (in which I haven't been to that many places, but still).

So, what is Naoshima Island exactly? I don't really know the whole history behind it but it's basically an island in the Seto Inland Sea that was designated as an Art area some years ago. The whole island is really beautiful: trees galore and beautiful views of the surrounding sea, along with Onigiri Island (island shaped like a triangle rice ball) and the world's longest bridge nearby. There are tons of really cool museums that contain world class collections, art houses, and sculptures littered in a picturesque backdrop that includes some really nice old school Japanese architecture.

Part of the fun was getting there. Gene and Yui were nice enough to drive us way out to the port of Uno so that we could catch the huge ferry to the island. When you first approach Naoshima's tiny port, only a weird orange and black pumpkin statue shows any hint of it being an Arsy island. The rest of the waterfront is littered with quaint houses and it looks all residential. But when you get off and start walking to some of the sites, you start to notice just how filled up with stuff the whole island is.

Our first stop was the ChiChu art house. Besides the extravagant entry fee, it was a really worthwhile museum. It houses a collection of 5 permanent Claude Monet pieces among other works by famous artists. This wasn't your typical museum though, in that it was an architectural piece of art: More so than by far most museums I've ever been to. I really enjoyed this one. It's hard to describe wonderful architecture, but it was really modern (of course). There was one courtyard shaped in a sort of triangle that let in just enough sunlight so that at Noon, the shadows created by the walls around the courtyard would make a perfect triangle and point directly into a certain point. It was a really cool touch and you could tell that a lot of work went into making such a place. One of the more interesting exhibits was the Monet one, where you had to enter a dark room without your shoes to take away your sense before entering the exhibit, lit only by natural light. It really made the pieces come alive and I'm not a Monet fan by any means, but I really appreciated his work highlighted in this setting. There was also another room where you hard to walk up the stairs and step onto this weird field of blue. I can't describe it, but the initial step felt something like having to jump off a bridge. You don't know what will happen next and the blue room was created in order to take away your senses in every way. It left you floating. It was really cool. Overall, the museum was really awesome. I love places that are so intricately planned. However, I just kept thinking how much it would suck to have to work there. Museum people have to have the most boring jobs in the world. At  this particular museum, everyone had to wear white, stand there, and bow your head at anyone who happens to cross paths with you. Rough.

Our next stop was the Benesse House. This one was more of a traditional museum in the sense that it housed a lot more works than the ChiChu Art House in a less interesting place. The cool thing about this one was that it was sort of hanging off of a cliff and really offered some spectacular views of the sea. It housed a variety of modern art such as Andy Warhol. My favorite piece was a wall that had flags (from all over the world) that were made of a fine sand. Inside the sand were tunnels dug by an ant colony that was strategically placed there. The museum also had the biggest fucking glass doors ever. Fun to open..

Afterwards, we made our way (very slowly) towards the next area was the Art House Projects, a collection of different traditional Japanese houses that house works by many Japanese artists. These were pretty interesting and one of the happened to have my favorite exhibit on the whole island. It was called the Dark Room, and as you can imagine it was really dark. The rooms purpose was to really mess with your sense of vision, sound, and feel and then to take those senses and really throw take the opportunity to make you say "what the fuck". You had to enter through a truly pitch black tunnel and follow a guide for a minute or so until you had to sit on a bench. By this point, you couldn't see anything at all and you felt a bit unnerved and most of all curious. As your eyes adjusted to the light for about 5 minutes, you slowly see a rectangle forming on the wall across from you. At the 5 minute mark, you were made to stand up and walk to the rectangle and reach into it. That's when things get really weird...in that it was just a hole that goes for who knows how long. It was a total mind fuck and really hard to describe.

Although we only attended about 3 museums, it was a really worthwhile time. Every street was filled with something interesting, be it architecture or just nature itself. We took our time and really enjoyed ourselves. We also had some damn good fish burgers and spent some time at a pretty nice cafe. Afterwards, we went to a really good Italian restaurant down the Bikan, sipped some wine, and downed some delicious pizza. We topped off the night by trying a new bar. I don't remember what it was called but it was a definitely a really nice sophisticated place. The whole bar was decorated with business cards and was pretty old. The bartender was an older lady that knew how to whip up some awesome cocktails. So yeah, it ended up being a really great day with some really good company. Good times!

Jingle All The Way

This past weekend was a rather uneventful weekend, but productive, to say the least. I spent some quality time with Natalie (but when do I not?) and we did some really good Christmas shopping. Thanksgiving is barely over and we've all but killed our Christmas shopping list. That's probably a record for me because I usually wait till the very, very last minute. Yes, I'm one of those people. But considering that I live in Japan, I don't really have a choice...unless I want to be one of those people that gives his Christmas gifts two weeks late.

Christmas shopping is always one of those things I dread. I always feel like my Christmas gifts are a bit subpar and it's always a pain in the butt to try to decide what to get. There are so many cool things to choose from and then of course you have to set a budget for everything. I wish I didn't have to budget but that's reality right? Plus there are the crowds. Ah, the dreadful crowds! Japan is apparently no different in that department. For a country that is over 90% Buddhist or Shinto, Christmas sure is popular. I suppose it's because gift giving is one of the most intriguing cultural aspects of Japan and also one of the more popular things to do, Christmas or not. I don't really have any idea why Christmas is so popular here (it wasn't too popular in Korea, that's for sure). I can't complain though. It's always nice to feel some Christmas spirit. The only thing that is different (so far) is that I haven't seen any homes with any decorations, big or small. That's definitely one of the cool things about America; the Christmas decorations.

This weekend also happened to be the grand opening of a new mall in Kurashiki. It's the big event of the year so it seemed like all of Japan was stuffed into this tiny little big mall. Definitely like sardines in a can. But either way, it was fun exploring the new mall. There are a lot of cool stores in Japan. Everything is slightly more interesting. Fashion is nicer and every little thing a ma jig is cooler, in my opinion. What's really interesting though is how American the Japanese malls feel. For one, they are filled with American brands like Disney, Toys R us, Nike, etc. And then there's just the feel of the malls. They look like American malls, from the decor to the size of them. I can't put my finger on it actually. They just feel so damn American...except that they are filled with Japanese people and they're just classier in a Japanese sort of way.

So yeah, we explored this new mall, and we were really unproductive for a while. Maybe it's because we were stuck on walking around and exploring the new stores, but it ended up frustrating me because we were neither Christmas shopping nor winter clothing shopping (our second goal). By the end of the day though we had purchased a pretty decent amount of Christmas gifts.

Today was pretty much more of the same. We finished up our Christmas shopping and bought some much needed winter clothing. It's pathetic how badly equipped for winter Texans are. Usually, throwing a jacket over your T-shirt, running to your car, and waiting for your heater to turn on is enough to survive even the most grueling of Texas winters. Not so where we live. It's mostly because our main methods of transportation are our bikes and our feet. So yeah, we spent a small fortune on winter stuff. It was fun though.

I'm also really excited to hear that the NBA lockout has all but officially ended. As a huge Rockets fan, I was really bummed to hear that the season was a hair's length from being cancelled. I need my basketball. Although I probably won't be watching any games this year, I can still watch highlights and read about the games! I'm really excited to see where my team is headed this year. Championship, right?

But yeah, other wise, I've got a long week ahead of me. I'll be looking forward to finishing up the Wire (3 more episodes), taking some fucking names, and kicking some ASS at my school. By that, I mean that I'm going to be an awesome teacher...or am I?

Earmuffs

+ I need earmuffs. It's cold...brrr...

+ if it feels like late fall when you're walking around outside, it feels like the middle of February when you're on your bike. I'm worried about what the middle of February will actually feel like on a bike. Post-apocalyptic Antarctica?

+ Another breed of turd nugget has emerged during my parent ops: The student whose parents are absent but decides to act extra retarded for the day, hence ruining a good class for the rest of the students who are actually acting better than usual.

+ Pay day is tomorrow. I very exciiiite.

+ Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home!

NO vember

So, it's been a few days since I've written on here. I've sort of had my plate full, but with nothing really big going on. This is going to be one of those posts that is all over the place. So, when you have many things to say and  nothing major to say, you make a list. Here goes:

+ I had the day off today. It's a random day to have off considering that it breaks up my work schedule nicely. I'm not complaining though. I've asked a few Japanese people what this holiday is about and I could never seem to get a clear cut "BAM BAM" answer but apparently, today is Japanese labor day. It seems like every time I ask someone what a particular holiday or festival is about, I can never get a clear cut answer. Either way, I don't mind these random holidays. There is nothing better than a one day week.

+ Speaking of my one day week, this is the first time in a long long time that I've done almost nothing. Today, I woke up, called my family (for the first time in some time since I've been away quite frequently) and spent the rest of the day lounging about, eating, watching TV, and generally being lazy. Of course, I was a bit productive in other things, but for the most part, I was a lazy bum. It was a much needed day off.

+ Speaking of watching TV, Natalie and I just finished watching Season 4 of HBO's the Wire and we're about halfway through Season 5. And all, I have to say is WOW. What a ridiculously great show! It's so good. I'll try my hand at a full review when I finish with Season 5. Preparing my TV critic's hat...3..2..1...

+ And also speaking of family, it seems like everyone in Houston and Canada is doing quite well. The big news is that my family in Houston just moved to a new house. I'm not sure how I feel about that, to say the least. I'm sure the house is nice and all, and they sound happy about the move. I'm excited to see it. It's just that I feel like I had just started to feel comfortable with the house in Sugar Land, especially considering that I've been away from home for years. It will feel weird coming to a new house.

+ Me and Nat went to a pretty awesome Thanksgiving party with all of the trimmings this past weekend. It's something that was really unexpected since I had pretty much convinced myself that a proper Thanksgiving is something I'd never get to experience while living in Asia. Turkey's don't seem to be a hit with the native's after all. But yeah, the dinner was delicious: Turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams (kind of prepared by me and Nat), bread rolls, and pumpkin pie. The food coma afterwards was definitely well worth it. More importantly was the fact that the party was a lot of fun. One thing that Natalie mentioned recently was on the sense of community that we feel as English teacher's. After all, we are a minority group in a foreign country. Everyone is really friendly and it's nice to see that sense of community. Thanksgiving was fun in that respect.

+ Last week marked the beginning of the truly awkward Parent's observation week at my school. I was very unfortunate to experience such a disastrous event last year but this year, the school I work for has decided to kick up the ante. While I was only observed for a grand total of 40 minutes between 2 classes last year, this year I am being observed in each and every class that I teach for the full class. Yes, even the parent's that I teach are bringing their own 80 year old parents to observe me! Either way, it's no fun. It's just a nerve wrecking experience for the students (who want to do well in front of their parents), the parents (who want to make sure their kids are enjoying the course and that they are getting their money's worth), the company (who wants to make sure the parents are happy), and the teacher (for very obvious reasons). So far, Operation Parent has gone okay for me but since I've only been observed 6 times, I expect that the upcoming week where I get observed 20 times will be slightly more stressful.

+ Concerning Operation Parent, it's very interesting what having a parent in the classroom will do to a child's behavior. There are kids who decide that they suddenly can't say a word (in any language: Japanese, English, or Swahili...doesn't matter). Then, there are kids who can't say anything properly. My favorites are obviously the bad kids that decide that they want to behave really well for their parents. This serves the double purpose of slapping the teacher in the face (in that now we know that the little turd nugget just chooses to be a little turd nugget) and it also shows the parent's how awesome their child and teacher are (NOT). My least favorite of course are the good students that all of a sudden decide to dress up as little turd nuggets for the week. All of a sudden, they think that rolling all over the classroom as if there were an uncontrollable fire in the middle of the classroom is okay. It's not. Turd nuggets...

+ This brings me to my next point concerning Parent Ops. It gives nobody a real idea about what the classroom is all about. Everyone is either on their best (or worst) behavior. It all makes for a very interesting week in Japan. I'm sure I'll look back on this one fondly.

+ Winter is Coming. Yes, that was my attempt to reference one of my favorite books. But what I meant was that it's getting cold. We're scrambling to come up with winter gear before it kicks our ass. Speaking of winter gear, Japan has this awesome thing called Heat Tech clothing. Whatever it is, and whether it's even Japanese...I don't care. I just know that it's warm. Really warm.

+ That probably concludes my list of thoughts. I'm sure that there are more hanging around in what we call my brain but they don't seem to want to come out and play at this time. Our plate is all full for December already. We've got Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, birthday parties, trips out of town, and then Tokyo! It should be another eventful month. I can't wait. Oh also, look out for another photomic bomb on Natalie's Facebook in the next few days.

Photo Ops

So yesterday, my co-workers, manager, and I took a group picture together. I'm not sure what the photo is for. Could be for the website or it could be for some other purpose. Either way it's irrelevant. The thing is that we took a perfectly nice picture. Everyone looked rather presentable and the six of us were standing in rows of three: three kneeling in the front and three kneeling in the back. Each of our heads (within the row) were about a foot apart from each other. These details, however, are a little more noteworthy.

Today, I got to experience first hand what Japanese perfectionism is all about. I feel like Japan approaches perfectionism like the Taliban approaches extreme religious views. That it to say, it's extreme. My hunch is that most Japanese people aren't that perfectionist but that the people at the top of the corporate world really care about appearing perfect. When I arrived at work today, my manager notified myself and the rest of the Japanese staff that our picture had failed to meet the standards of Japanese perfection. Instead of having our heads be one foot apart from one another, we needed to be about an inch or two from each other. Basically, we needed to be able to smell one another's breaths. My manager even showed me our old picture with a little graph drawn on it to show just exactly how our heads should be placed.

So, yeah, no big deal right? Well, this new photo shoot took us about 20 minutes to complete. Here were some of the reasons why we had to retake the same picture a million time:

•  Our chins weren't in a straight line.
•  Our bodies weren't even with the company logo (on the wall)
• Our hair was hiding one another's faces.
• Our bodies were incorrectly rotated
• Our smiles weren't big enough
• Our eyes were closed
• The front row wasn't aligned properly with the back row

Honestly, I wouldn't have noticed any of these issues except for the having our eyes closed. Either way, it made for a fun experience. I'll never have the right to call my self a perfectionist about anything after having lived in Japan. The funny thing is that this isn't even the first time we've taken these exact same pictures. We've done these photo ops about 6 or 7 times since I've been here. Each time has been an unbelievably scrutinized exercise in perfectionism. It really doesn't bother me though. It's one of the things that makes living here all the more interesting.

And also, I don't want to pigeon hole every Japanese into being some kind of freakish robot. That couldn't be further from the truth. Their individuality often shines brightly but it just seems like Japan as a whole cares way more about these types of things than just about everywhere I've been (including Korea). But hey, I've hardly been anywhere, right?

Lost and Find It For You

So on the way home for Hattoji, Natalie and I were unlucky enough to leave a really nice item on our train. So usually, when you lose something on a train that is heading away from your town, you kind of just say forget about it. It's never coming back you know? Someone will take it. Being the realist that I am, I had given up. But luckily for us, Natalie didn't and she suggested that we inquire about our lost item at the lost and found.

I honestly thought that it was a bad idea because seriously, in any place in the world, the lost and found counter is as useless as bringing sword to a gun fight. They don't usually do anything except accept what people bring back (which is not often) or collect things they find in their respective building. Not so in Japan. Upon arrival at  the lost and found counter, we were cordially welcomed and asked to provide a description of our item, where it was left, when it was lost, and our contact information. We were told that we would receive a phhone call notifying us on whether they had it or not.

Withing an hour, we received a phone call saying that they had the item and that we could pick it up later that evening. So that means that they literally sent someone to retrieve it where it was left (implying that noone thought about taking it for their own personal use) and then put it on another train so to that it could come back to where we were. To me, that just blows my mind. Only in Japan...the land of if it's lost, they'll find it for you.

Hattoji

This weekend, Natalie and I (and 9 other people) made the trek all the way out to an international villa tucked away in a little place called Hattoji. An international villa is basically a place set out by the Japanese government specifically designated for foreigners to rent out and be able to experience Japanese culture. To be honest, before going to Hattoji, I had no idea where and what we were going to. I thought that it was just going to be a bunch of being drinking in a villa, but honestly it ended up being more than that.

Hattoji is a really nice area. The villa is way up in the mountains and nestled in a valley. There is not a store in sight. Every house is traditional, and it's all very rural. It's extremely quiet and free of pollution. The villa itself was a highlight. It was a like a house straight out of a Samurai movie set. The place had tatami mats, screen doors, and even a hearth in the middle of the house to cook food on. It was really special and as soon as we got there, everyone knew that we were going to be in a for a good weekend. Besides just staying in the place, we went out and explored a bit of the surroundings. There was a small festival going on and like all other Japanese festivals I've been to, I had no idea what it was for but that didn't stop me from enjoying what turned out to be one of the stranger things I've seen in Japan (and that's saying a lot). Having lived in Texas for a long time, it was a pleasure to see Japan representing Texas. At the festival, there was a group of about 20 elderly women (in their 60's I'd day) dressed in jeans, cowboy hats, red cowboy shirts, cowboy boots, and other awesome cowcessories doing their best country dance number to a techno version of John Denver's "Take me Home". It was quite a sight to see. They  were the least smiley group of Cowgirls I've ever seen, but seemed to love it anyways. Either way, it was strange to see especially considering that we were in the middle of nowhere and the festival was sparsely attended. And so, that was the festival in a nut shell. I also got to enjoy some roasted squid, sweet potato fries, and some very icey Ice cream. Japan sure is fun.

Throughout the day, we got to explore more of the surroundings such as a nearby Temple hidden in a quite forest. It was creepy but it is nice to enjoy those types of places as usually they are filled with tourists. We also observed a skilled wood carver at work, which was impressive. Otherwise, it was just nice to spend the day with a really fun, funny, and nice group of people. Everyone was super friendly and easy to get along with. It always makes for a memorable trip. We ate Nabe (Japanese stew) for the first time and played a lot of fun drinking games. I ended up playing one of the most fun games of King's Cup that I''ve had the pleasure of playing in a long time. Some of the rules that were added were things like no pronouns, no pointing, and prohibiting the use of the word drink. By the end of the game, we resorted to cave man English such as "English is the becoming hardness" and "man there imbibe now". We listened to some good music and even had an awesome guitar player to listen to at one point. It was all in the name of fun.

On the second day, things were a little more lax. We hiked up a small mountain and explored more of the considerably beautiful surroundings. We were all a little tired but it didn't stop us from enjoying the rest of our time there. In the end, Hattoji is a place I'd really like to go back to. It was really beautiful, peaceful, and even mysterious at times. Just being able to breath in some fresh air and to be free of noise pollution is a treat in and of itself. I'm hoping to find other hidden gems with Natalie so that we can escape the bustle and noise of the city.

Hiroshima Re-Dux

As previously mentioned in my last post, last weekend marked my second visit to wonderful Hiroshima city. I had been wanting to write about our trip there since I returned but there has just been no time. I've been going out of town very frequently the last few months. That has definitely been a big, positive change from life back home, and even life back in Korea. While living in Seoul, it was just so easy to just wing it because let's face it, we were in a big city. Living in a smaller, more rural city has forced us to make more plans on the weekends...hence why we've been away so often and it's been hard to find time to do much of anything. I'm really enjoying it however.

So, on to Hiroshima...the last time we visited Hiroshima, we were mainly there to experience the Sake festival but ended up being able to learn a bit about Hiroshima's very dark recent history. This time, armed with a three day weekend, we thought it would be cool to head to Hiroshima as a way to visit nearby Miyajima Island (supposedly one of the three most beautiful places in all of Japan). We got to explore quite a bit of Hiroshima, outside of it's nuclear history.

So once again, Hiroshima is a really nice place. I find it nice in that it's one of those cities that is not too large, but yet still big enough (in comparison to where we live) to not get bored. It's also easy to navigate, has some very nice scenic spots, and is in close proximity to some nice day trip worthy places.

On our first day, we did a lot of walking and wondering, and just essentially taking in the city one step at a time. We found a second hand store that was selling some really, really nice clothes for rock bottom prices and we got to take advantage of that. That was definitely a nice surprise. We ate Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki for the second time in a famous district of Hiroshima that specializes in making these very delicious pancakes. Hiroshima Okonomiyaki is different from it's more famous Osakan cousin in that the ingredients are cooked separately and expertly stacked upon one another, as opposed to being mixed together and cooked. I think overall, I like the Osaka style better but that may be because of first impressions. I was unbelievably drunk the first time I ate it, but I have to say that the second time around, it was much better. It's a very distinct Japanese dish.

Throughout our walk (we were searching for a place to have a brew), we saw all sorts of interesting places and people. We ran into the usual assortment of booking clubs. Those places never cease to amaze me. I just don't understand how Japan can support these places. You pay to be entertained by some very unattractive men or women dressed in the least tasteful outfits known to man (whom also happen to have by far the worst haircuts ever. Well, nothing is worse than the mullet). Either way, we checked out some arcades as well. Another interesting thing about arcades in Japan are the UFO catches. Usually, while playing UFO games, prizes include mostly an assortment of stuffed animals and maybe some toys. But because it's Japan, we can find bags of chocolate, ice cream, bikini clad anime characters, and animal suits. It's really strange but always entertaining. Just walking around in Japan (with a beer in hand) is always a lot of fun. After failing in our search for a suitable place to drink, we settled on an intense 2 man Karaoke session. Karaoke is so much fun when the two people involved love the exact same songs.

Our second day was a little bit more chill. Because of the rainy weather, we decided on a museum day. Along the way we stopped for some really delicious Mexi Cali food, which was a nice find considering Mexican food doesn't seem to be all that popular out here (it should be). Just getting to the museum was a bit of an adventure, we had to trek through a really long tunnel and then up to a really modern escalator-filled walkway. It was an interesting entrance, and fitting, considering that we were going to a modern art museum. The museum itself was quite nice: modern and really large windows. I don't know how to describe it. It was just really modern architecture. The art itself wasn't the best I've seen, but there were definitely some note worthy places. Many of them were related to the Atomic bomb. After the museum, we decided that it would be a good idea to check out Hiroshima's only indie theater. Movie theaters in Japan are really expensive ($20) and offer a subpar selection of films, in my opinion. We were surprised to find that the movie theater was only 10 bucks a pop and offered some quality flicks for us to enjoy. The day's English offering was The Ghost Writer, a film by Roman Polanski. It was a pretty good flick, but it was just really nice to enjoy a quality flick on a nice and comfy French styled movie theater.

On our final day, we visited nearby Miyajima Island (about 40 minutes away from Hiroshima by tram and ferry). Miyajima Island is famous for having the huge Japanese style Tori gate (the red ones that define Japan) in the middle of the sea. It's called the floating gate. It's one of the most famous tourist destinations in all of Japan. So we got up early to see the gate and the place was still filled with tourists. It was a bit annoying but it didn't detract too much from the beauty of the island. One of the highlights was being able to witness a Japanese wedding. There was a wedding going on at the island's very famous temple, complete with the bride and groom dressed in elaborate Kimonos. The couple were watching an Ancient Noh performance (Japan's oldest form of theater) being performed on Japan's oldest Noh stage. It was really surreal watching the wedding and the performance. We felt really lucky (but felt bad for the bride and groom who were being photographed by hundreds of curious tourists as if they were Brad and Angelina in the flesh). We also got to eat some really delicious oysters, which Hiroshima is famous for apparently, and took many pictures with the local deer that happen to roam the island. Natalie was even attacked (very slowly) by one.

Overall, it was another great vacation worth mentioning. Probably the only negative of the whole trip was that our hostel smelled like feet...really smelly feet. And nobody likes smelly feet...

Re Trained

I just got back from a really nice 3 day vacation in Hiroshima, but before going there, I went to follow up training on Thursday and Friday. The whole thing was supposed to be for new teachers to have the opportunity to learn and refresh on some of the things that they are supposed to do at their school.

So myself, Natalie, about 20 other foreign teachers, and about 50 Japanese teachers were herded onto a couple of buses and sent to a mountain retreat where we had the pleasure of staying. Needless to say, it was an  interesting two days. The actual work was pretty straightforward. The trainers were really nice, helpful, and knowledgeable. I think that I learned a lot and hopefully, I'll be able to apply some of what I learned into the office and into my classes. However, the whole thing kind of left me feeling like a bad teacher. It just seems like there are so many things that go into being a good teacher, and then there are extra things that we're supposed to do such as business related tasks and ways to fit into Japanese culture. I just kind of felt a bit underwhelmed with my abilities as an employee. I can't be that bad of a teacher or of an employee can I? Otherwise, there were definitely some positives. I did a model lesson, thought I did horrible, but my trainer told me it was really good. It's always nice to feel like you did well.

I also was able to meet a lot of my peers (within my company) and I kind of got a feel for what type of people get into this job. Almost everyone was really nice. Some were hilarious and some were not. Some were professional and some were not. Some were nice and some were not. You get the gist I hope? Overall, it was really nice to get to know everyone, share some ( alot of) laughs, and rant about certain aspects about our lives in Japan. Follow up training ended up being a very social experience, especially considering that after the first day, we had quite a bit of fun in our dorm rooms. I mean, who's idea was it to stick a bunch of young people (who are living in a foreign country and would jump at every chance to meet other English speakers)in a private dorm room with a beer vending machine down the hall? Whose ever it was, I thank thee because it was a lot of fun. Throughout the night, we played a variety of classroom friendly games such as flip cup and the ever so popular Tumbling Towers. While being shushed multiple times, we somehow all ended up wearing Yucatas, which is interesting in and of itself. The whole night culminated in all of the guys taking a really (hmmm...how should I put this?) BAD picture and having a higher up walk in on us and plead us to go to sleep, which we promptly did afterward.

So, overall, training was a good time. I'd like to do it again because sometimes, it's just nice to get away from the little pipsqueaks. And now, for some of the more interesting observations on training.

+ One of the other teachers is from Houston...from Sugarland...and went to the SAME elementary school...and the SAME middle school as me. What a trip! It's crazy to meet someone that is from almost the exact same part of the world as me halfway across the world. Although, I have to say that he is a much better Texan than me.
+ I never mentioned the Japanese teachers in my post. It's like they weren't even there. It was bizarre. While we were off having fun (and still learning and being very productive mind you), they seemed to be in some sort of 1984-esque propaganda prison camp. Whenever I asked one of them how things were going, words such as torture, not so good, and can't wait till it's over were frequently used. The whole Japanese business culture is something I'll never understand. It's rather fascinating. The amount of robotic (and feigned) professionalism that they have to produce is mind boggling. It seems soul crushing. Although I saw follow up training as an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and better myself as a teacher, it seems that for Japanese teachers, it's a test in showing off how inhumanely professional you can appear to be in front of others.
+ One of the higher ups in the company gave an interesting speech. Although he was nearly inaudible at some points, he came across as a rather nice guy. But yes, staying attentive was a challenge. The most interesting aspect of his speech was at the beginning of his speech where we had the opportunity to experience first hand what it's like to be a Japanese teacher. Before he entered the room, we had to practice standing up (simultaneously) and bowing. It seemed like a weird military drill but it definitely added to the notion that in Japan, there's a right way to do almost everything. It was just strange to juxtapose that experience with the rest of follow up training where we were just expected to be...Western I guess.
+ hats off to all of trainers for organizing an enjoyable follow-up training and my apologies on behalf of us for causing a ruckus at times

Follow Up Training

I'm off to follow-up training this morning. My school is taking me and Natalie (and a bunch of other foreign teachers) to the mountains for a 2 day training session. I'm a bit tired right now, so I'm not especially excited about the prospects of learning for two days. Either way, I'm hoping that it turns out to be an enjoyable weekend. The good thing about this training is that I get an extra day off on Saturday as a go reward for having to training and If you know my work schedule, you know that that equals a 3 day weekend for me. I'm really excited about my first day off in what seems like quite a long time. Gotta think of something fun to do while I'm off playing the role of mountain student..

Trick or Treat

So my favorite holiday, Halloween, has come and passed. I feel as beat down and defeated (in a good way) as I always do after a weekend of all-night fun.

This year, Nat and I celebrated Halloween in Okayama. We dressed up as The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood from the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly). For a cowboy costume, I thought that they were really good. In a country where costumes are hard to come by, I feel like we ended up having the best costume we've had in years. It didn't feel cheap nor did it look store bought. It almost looked like something a real cowboy would wear. It was a bit of an adventure trying to find all of the stuff needed but in the end it paid off. The cowboy hats were the hardest to find and also the most expensive, but they turned out well for us. We also scored two pretty sweet Panchos. Throw in some Daiso revolvers and we had ourselves a pretty good costume.

Besides our costumes, this year's Halloween was as fun as ever. We went out to Okayama on Saturday and had ourselves a pretty good time. We checked out the local foreigner bar, Pinball, and then we went dancing at one of Okayama's only dance clubs, Matador. It was actually kind of strange as not that many people were dressed up. Usually, in America, seeing a cowboy in October is nothing special but over here in Japan, we were dropping jaws left and right. I think our revolvers put some real fear into people, especially the clerk at McDonald's. She couldn't stop staring at our guns and seemed a bit nervous. Either way, McDonald's is no fit place for a Cowboy to rob. We usually aim for banks. However, I rather liked the fact that hardly anybody was dressed up. We got to interact with some regular Japanese people in a way that wouldn't have been possible if Halloween costumes were a more common occurrence in Japan.

The places that we went to were pretty cool. I mean, Okayama is a small place so beggars can't be choosers. Pinball was one of the only places filled costume clad party-ers. Costumes of note included Mrs. Potato Head, Captain Jack Sparrow, Boba Fett, Robin Hood, Afro Samurai and Justin Timberlake (with his dick in a box of course). Although the costumes were nice, this was one of the areas that Japan received a lower grade on as far as Halloween celebrations are concerned. The costumes are on another level back home. But that's okay, it was still a blast! After Pinball, we headed to Matador for some dancing. Nothing crazy there, just a good old fashioned Halloween dance party. On the way home (early in the morning), one of the best parts was being drunk on my bike and shooting at unassuming pedestrians. I have a new found respect for a Cowboy's ability to aim and ride a horse at the same time.

Sunday night's celebrations were even better. Although almost nobody was dressed up in Okayama, we ended up having an even better time. We were with a smaller group of friends (Gene; horse, Yui; peruvian, Tim; ash, and Melinda; pikachu), so we were able to do a lot more talking and just general building up of the Halloween madness. We went to a Spanish restaurant and had some delicious Tapas. Afterwards, it was hilarious to watch Gene (in his horse head costume) umm...horse around. We also went to a really nice reggae bar, played some drinking games, and topped off the night with a round of Karaoke.

So overall, it was a really good time. I can't wait to see what next year's Halloween will bring. In the meantime though, I've got follow up training to attend to and then a 3 day weekend. What should we do? too many things to choose from.

Le Cirque D'Osaka

Last weekend, Natalie and I treated ourselves with a trip to Osaka to go see Le Cirque Du Soleil's KOOZA show. Being half Quebecois, I'm really proud that such a production is from where I'm from. It was also Natalie's first time seeing them, so we had to jump on this opportunity.

I don't have much to say about the show except that it was amazing. It's just much more than a circus. It's more than the sum of it's parts: it's a work of art. The costumes and stage production (including lights) were top notch. You could tell that each performer was one of the best at what they do. The clowns were hilarious and the music was incredible. Every part of the production came together to form a true masterpiece. I love Cirque Du Soleil. So far I've seen two: The Beatles LOVE show and Kooza. Kooza was much more about the performance and the acrobatic acts while the Beatles LOVE was more about how the costumes and dancing fit with the incredible music of the Beatles. I'm not sure which one I liked more, but all I know is that I want to keep seeing more of these shows.

It was kind of strange seeing it in Japan. The audience is so tame. Everyone seemed to enjoy it tremendously, but their reactions are so respectful. Nobody gets up and yells "YEAH" or "WOO" to cheer them on. Everyone just respectfully claps. It also seemed like some of the Japanese didn't quite understand some of the humor incorporated by the clowns as it was a bit I don't know. I guess you could say it seemed like some of it could've offended a few people. Not us though, it was hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and I can't wait to see another one.

Although we went to see the show, we weren't going to skip out on Osaka itself. Being the 3rd biggest city in Japan, it was quite a contrast from where we live. It is modern Japan. It felt really nice to be somewhere full of life and youth. It was happening. We realized that we missed the big city. So much to do and so much to see. We really didn't explore too much but we did see the Shinsaibashi-Namba-Americakura area of Osaka. It's a huge nightlife slash restaurant slash shopping area full (and I mean full) of people. There is so much to do and see, and with so many lights. It's a visceral treat for the eyes.

We went shopping and bought some cool stuff and we also tried Osaka style Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki. Okonomiyaki (the Japanese pancake) is different than in Hiroshima. In Osaka, the ingredients are mixed together whereas in Hiroshima, the ingredients are expertly stacked upon each other. I prefer the Osaka one so far but I was really intoxicated for the other one. Osaka is also famous for Takoyaki, Japanese squid balls. These things are really delicious!

Overall, I had a great vacation with Natalie. I can't wait to go back to Osaka as it's also famous for it's nightlife.

The Atomic Bomb Memorial

Being in Hiroshima, Natalie and I decided that it would be a really good idea to check out Peace Park. Unfortunately (and tragically), Hiroshima has the unique distinction of being one of two cities to have had an atomic bomb dropped on it. The city itself is a unique reminder of the disastrous effects of such an immensely powerful weapon and also of the spirit of humanity.

Hiroshima itself is a city of the 21st century. It's modern and full of life. One would never know that 70 years ago, the city was completely leveled in an instantaneous act of destruction. The only reminder is thesomber Hiroshima Atomic Dome. The Hiroshima Atomic Dome is the shell of the former city hall. The only thing left of it is the shell, some twisted metal bars, and a few bricks. It's a unique reminder of what such a bomb is capable of.

Hiroshima is brimming with activists raising awareness and with memorials of some of the Atomic Bomb's victims. One such memorial is for a girl who folded 1,000 paper cranes because she thought it would heal her illness caused by radiation. When she died, her classmates erected a memorial in her honor and filled it with paper cranes. Each year, schools from around the world and Japan send paper cranes to the memorial.

Another unique place is the Atomic Bomb Museum. The museum was extremely eye opening. It gave clear cut facts and numbers, and even better, it didn't point any fingers. It seemed to be quite neutral. It didn't say America was bad for dropping the bomb or this and that, it just gave clear cut facts. It went through the history of Hiroshima and Hiroshima's part in WWII. It then went into why America decided to drop the bomb and then it showed the destructive power of the bomb itself. The museum also went into the effect of radiation and the every day lives of people who survived. It talked about nuclear bombs and what people around the world are trying to do to prevent the use of Nukes. It was all very stunning, and emotional.

The bomb caused unbelievable suffering, both short term and long term. There are still people suffering from the effects of the bomb. The museum also did a great job of showing how Hiroshima survived and built itself back up.

I'm certainly in no position to analyze such a catastrophic event but I recommend that everyone should go see Hiroshima. It's important that we become aware of such a weapon and that we realize just what we have in and to learn from our mistakes. We need to get rid of them, for sure.

The Sake Bomb

Having been in Japan for over 3 months, I surprisingly hadn't tried any Sake. There's just something about it that doesn't appeal to me that much. Maybe it reminds of Korea's firewater, Soju or maybe I'm simply a beer person..I'm not sure. I've just never really had any reason to seek out the best Sakes like I do for the best beers. When I heard that there was a Sake Festival near Hiroshima in October, I just had to check it out.

So Sake Festival was a ton of freaking fun! The Sake festival was actually part of a much bigger festival (and I have no idea what that is). I celebrate alcohol and nothing else, after all. More affectionately called Sake Fest, we had to pay all of 1,800 Yen (18 bucks) to drink all of the Sake we could stomach in a roughly 6 hour time frame. That's virtually unheard of in America. All you can drink for 18 bucks...to quote Ralph:: "That's unpossible." You're first given a small Sake cup and then they set you loose. The whole place is just a big enclosed park filled with drunken madness. All of the areas of Japan are represented: Hokkaido, Kibi, Chugoku, Kinki, Chubu, etc.

My goal at Sake fest was to find the best Sake, but after a few shots, I  lost track of what I had drank and what I had tried. I remember that number 51 was good and that the Kinki region was to be avoided. I also remember that I liked spicy Sake better than the sweet kind and also that Chairo Sake (brown Sake) was better than the clear type. After about 30 shots of Sake, how I was I supposed to keep track of anything? However, I think Sake is pretty good. It's a very clear sort of inebriation. I certainly don't feel hazy like when I drink wine and I don't feel angry like when I drink Four Loco. My head felt clear and joyful. I think Sake is quite good in honesty, but I'm most definitely not a lover. I'll stick with beer.

Overall, the whole day was quite nice. We met a lot of people there: foreigners and Japanese. When everyone is under the influence of alcohol, interactions tend to be more interesting. Either way, I don't remember much about leaving the festival. I remember that I ended up in an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is basically a Japanese pancake and it's a specialty of Hiroshima. I would like to say I loved the food but I was too drunk to really eat anything. After feeling better, we headed to Karaoke and some dancing. A good day, I'd say..

Sad story about Sake Fest: The drunken G-Pa.

At one point while a group of us were sitting down and chatting, An older Japanese man (extremely drunk) was trying to initiate conversation with us. A couple of hours later, we saw this same man with his grandchildren. His grand children were crying, and he was incredibly drunk and basically telling them to leave him alone. I just can't believe you would take your grand children to such an event, especially after you were entrusted with taking care of them. And then to be so irresponsible as to drink to the point of being unable to care for them. That's just sad.

Exhausted

So much has happened the past couple of weeks that I haven't really had any time to blog at all. Work is getting crazy with parent observations and follow up training slowly creeping towards me and the weekends have been busy with trips to Hiroshima and Osaka.

I'd really like to sit down and write down what happened and what I did but there just hasn't been any time,plus I'm really exhausted. Being so active on the weekends really takes it out of me. I'll try to recuperate tonight and have an update in the next couple of days

The Cable Guy

Imagine that you're at home, on a Saturday night, enjoying your free time after work and all of a sudden, someone is at the door. Guess who it is? It's a guy from NBC (or Radio Canada or any other single channel) and he's here to collect $26.50/month fee from you for the crime of simply having a TV. How would you feel?

So tonight, after work, I headed home to my apartment to get changed. There's a vending machine (common in Japan) outside of my apartment and I noticed that there was a guy in a suit kind of loitering about. I didn't think much of it, since this is Japan, and crime is almost non-existent. A few minutes after entering my apartment, this same guy rings my doorbell. So, out of curiosity, I opened the door to find a Japanese man (mid 40's) of middle height, dressed in a mismatched suit with a fanny pack containing one of those electronic reader things, speaking in Japanese to me. I don't really need to explain that, considering my limited Japanese, and his English of 3 spoken words, we were going to have a problem.

At first, I thought that this guy was trying to sell me something. I mean, why else does someone knock on your door at 8:00 o clock for? In our unsuccessful dialogue, I managed to make out the words TV, NHK (a popular channel here in Japan), and remote control. So, I figured he wanted me to buy cable or something, since he also kept pointing at the figure $26.50 (which is an outrageous price for one channel!). After trying to get him to leave and trying to explain that I didn't have any money, I realized that he probably didn't want me to buy something. At this point, we were both frustrated so I decided to call my manager, who promptly talked to guy to see what the heck I was getting heckled about.

After this quick conversation, my manager explained to me that he was here to collect a bill for that specific TV channel but had kindly explained to him that he should come back another time. After hanging up the phone, he STILL wouldn't leave. This guy was just heckling the shit out of me. Couldn't he get the point that I didn't speak Japanese? After a few minutes of trying to explain that I would pay him next time so he should come back, I gave up and called my manager again. This time, my manager got him to leave. He agreed to come back on Monday, at which time, I was instructed by my manager to ignore him.

So, after all this, I was really confused. Was I getting scammed or did I really owe money to some bill collector for some random channel I didn't even know I had? My manager explained to me that these guys from NHK try to bully people into paying for this channel. Apparently, these guys claim that we legally have to pay for this channel (it's one fucking channel!) but most people just ignore them. They try to catch you at odd hours of the day and get you to cough up some dough by being very direct and refusing to leave. It's also apparently a bad idea to answer the door unless you're expecting a delivery or friends because they aren't the only guys trying to collect money. Milk men and newspaper dudes are also in on it. So yeah, lesson learned: Don't open the door in Japan. Also, most people have illegal cable in Japan and they only pay for it if they get caught by creepers on Saturday nights. At least...I THINK that's right. Who knows? I'm still confused.

Bizarre Foods With Nikola Do: Episode 1

A couple of days ago, Natalie and I tried a very peculiar original Japanese culinary item called Natto. Needless to say, Natto is truly what I'd call bizarre. 

Technically, Natto is just fermented soybeans. It's supposedly healthy and is usually eaten at breakfast, along with some rice or even toast. It doesn't sound too crazy in it's description. Actually, to me, it just sounded like bean jam. Throw it on a piece of toast and you've got yourself a meal. So when my student recommended it to me, being in Japan and all, I had to try one of Japan's most curious items.

So, Natalie and I went to the store and purchased one of those bad boys. It cost us roughly 90 cents (not a good sign) and came in a three pack (also, not a good sign). It was too cheap and these was too much of it.

So, once again, what is Natto?

According to the internet, it's fermented soybeans and it comes in a package that looks like this:

Not too bad right? Just looks like a pack of beans with some soy sauce thrown in to spice things up. BUT (and there's always a but) it's when you open it up and eat it that things get interesting. So, what is Natto, according to me? It basically looks like beans but it's extremely slimy, like when you take a pizza right out of the oven, pick up a slice, and the cheese stretches endlessly combined with the nagging "I can't get it off" of a spider web. It's kind of like cheesy snot. It also emits a strong (and I do mean strong) chemical odor. It's kind of like if someone was trying to hide the smell of vomit with dollar store brand cleaning agents.

Fortunately, to me, Natto fared better in the taste department. It kind of just tastes like beans, but cold and with an odd chemical taste to it. After a generous application of salt, it was okay. I couldn't eat it much but combined with the right things like maybe rice or bread and cheese, I think I could do it. But yeah, many people, with good reason, hate Natto...especially Natalie. She defined it as the definition of disgusting.

A picture of Natto:

Doctor Doctor

Today was the first time that I've been to the doctor for an annual check-up in two years. It's usually not worth the effort to blog about (don't worry, I'm perfectly healthy), but hey, I went to the doctor in Japan. I'd just like to record some of the differences in the way my check-up was operated here as opposed to how they are usually done in America (from my experiences of course).

Usually, in America, we make an appointment to go to our specific doctor. When you get there, you sign in, fill in a few forms, and then you wait in the lobby. It's usually a lobby that has a particularly bad smell (smells like sick children and old magazines maybe?) and is filled with old magazines from two or three years prior. They call your name, and then you're taken to the back where the nurses take your weight and your blood pressure (basically, they do the dirty work). After this, you meet the doctor. He or She talks to you for a little bit, does a few checks, tells you what is good or bad, and then you're out of there. You get your shots or whatever, and settle your bill. That's it. The whole process takes an hour to an hour and a half and will involve maybe 2 or 3 people at the most.

Let's talk about Japanese medical check-ups. This year, my job scheduled an appointment for me, which was nice because going to the doctor is something I tend to forget, especially since I feel healthy. After scheduling your appointment, they send you a package (that you need to fill out with all of that information about your health that you usually do at the doctors office). It also contains the exact date and time in which you need to be at the hospital. If you don't arrive within the time frame, you don't go. Be punctual. This is Japan after all. So, I arrived to the hospital (which was immaculately clean and modern) and turned in my paper work.

After you do this, you're handed a paper cup and told to go pee in it (standard), but the nice thing is that you don't have to wait in the lobby until your name is called (like in America). You just go to the bathroom and pee in the cup. And get this, in the actual stall (for pissing), there is a little sliding window for your to deposit your cup into where the piss analysts (haha its rhymes) can conveniently get your cup from. No awkward spilling or tripping with a cup of pee in the doctor's office. Thank you Japan.

Afterwards, you sit down in another lobby where there are a handful of different stations filled with different functions. One station checks your hearing, another your eye sight, and another your blood pressure. You wait for your name to be called (which takes no more than 5 minutes or so. basically, whenever the next available station can have you). Once your name is called, you go to the station. The nurse explains what she will do and how to do it. You do it, and then she points you to the next station where  you repeat the process. You do this multiple times. You get your x-ray done at a station. The whole process culminates in another lobby (a nice one with no smell) where you wait to the doctor to call your name. There are a few doctors available at any one time, each with their own little offices. Once inside, you do the usually doctor things. Answer questions and check your breathing, It's all pretty painless. If there is nothing wrong (which thankfully, there wasn't), you are cleared to get your flu shot.

So basically, the whole thing was like an assembly line. Sure, it wasn't as personal an experience but it was really efficient. They were herding dozens of people through their stations. It just doesn't seem nearly as efficient in America. The facility was also ultra clean, and ultra modern. It just didn't feel like a sick house. I hate that feeling. In the end, the result is the same. You get your health checked. But I really enjoyed this experience for some reason. It just seemed like a smarter way to use the doctor's time. It took about 2 hours (a little longer than in America, but I think that's because they make you stay an extra 30 after the flu shot to make sure there are no complications) .Overall, I enjoyed this very different experience that to others may seem completely mundane.

p.s. Thanks to Ryusuke for translating everything and being really helpful. Couldn't have done anything without him.

Home Invasions

I'm under a lot of pressure to write this post as I'm now being assaulted by some truly dangerous beings. In an effort to contribute to mankind and the safety of mankind, I'm going to try to inform my fellow Scientists and Historians on a very particular matter concerning the Japanese Ninja and I will do so under extremely difficult circumstances as I have yet to figure out a way to fight these ninjas.

Although Ninjutsu (the art of the Ninja) is currently being taught in Japan and in many places all over the world, official histories have recorded the Ninja (and the Samurai) as being extinct for almost 200 years now. Unfortunately, and due to some rather vicious experiences last night, I now know that these specific Japanese Ninja's are anything but extinct. In fact, they may have been around for thousands and thousands of years before the advent of the ninja we consider to be matter of fact. Let me start by giving a direct comparison of the ancient and respected Japanese Ninja and this new (or ancient) Japanese Ninja followed by an account of my personal encounters with these most terrifying...Ninja's

A Direct Physical Comparison of the Ancient Ninja and the Mystery Ninja (2011)

	Ancient Ninja	Mystery Ninja
Age	15 – 40 years old	1 day old
Nationality	Japanese	Japanese
Sex	Male or Female	Male or Female
Weight	60 – 80 kilograms	.01 grams
Height	150 – 200 centimeters	.05 centimeters
Garment	Black clothing	Black skin
Weapons	Sharp and Pointy	Sharp and Pointy
Special Abilities	Can appear and disappear at will. Can jump really high.	Can appear and disappear at will. Can fly at will.
Methods	Can draw blood from victims in a variety of stealthy attacks.	Can draw blood from victims with one stealthy attack.
Purpose	Hired by lords to assassinate or steal	Hired by their own self to bother and aggravate humans
Mark	Covers his/her entire face with a mask	Has wings
Sound	Possibly footsteps	Possibly buzzing

It is clear (from this chart) that both the ancient Ninja and this mystery Ninja are rather similar in nature and style, except for one glaring difference; the former being of Homo-Sapien descent and the latter being of mosquito descent. This also legitimizes my hypothesis that this Mosquito Ninja has in fact been around for possibly millions of years while our beloved ancient Ninja has had the lifespan of an infant in comparison. Let us move on to my personal  experience (in chronological order) involving the Mosquito Ninja:

Around 1 AM and having just finished watching a couple of episodes of The Wire Season 3, Natalie and I were most notably exhausted and we had decided to head to that peaceful place where Ninjas don't usually disturb us. We were most definitely ready for a long rest, especially considering that Saturdays are our most exhausting day wok wise. After having fallen into a deep sleep, we were both gradually awakened to the realization that there was something in the bed room and that that something was not a friend, but a foe, intent on making our night as miserable as can be.

A few wounds on my legs, a couple on my elbows, and one on my face made me fly through a range of possible actions that I could undertake: 1. scan the room through my sleepy eyes in order to determine who or what was invading the bedroom 2. call the police (a perfectly logical reaction to a ninja attack in America, but rather illogical in Japan, where I would most likely be unable to communicate the word "help" and more likely the communicate the word "Green" "Ninja" Sushi" considering my limited Japanese vocabulary) 3. Grab the nearest spray bottle (most likely Febreeze) and hope that would ward off my enemy 4. Grab a baseball bat and go "ape shit" 5. hide in the closet 6. or retreat ever more deeply into my blanket and hope that such a thin layer of fabric and an attempt to sleep would set things right. Most gentlemen of my nature, having considered the aforementioned options, would gracefully choose option 6 and so that is what we undertook.

In my attempted sleep, I was reminded that a peaceful slumber is a goal that is almost unreachable in such extreme conditions as were presented before me. In addition to vicious attacks by this Ninja, my wounds were worsening by the minute. Although the Human being is capable of great fortitude and acts of courage under the most drastic conditions, I was unable to resist the urge to eventually "scratch my boo boo" (as I had so eloquently stated to myself inside my head). There was also a rather large sense of discomfort in the environment itself. It had seemed to me that this enemy had planted additional distractions in order to further aggravate me. Terrible Japanese music seemed to be coming from outside of the apartment (although logically, and under normal circumstances, I would have assumed that this was from the neighbor. I now believe that it was a ploy by the enemy to further distract me). It also seemed as if Natalie had been left alone after the initial attacks for the most part. Psychological warfare. Clever Indeed...

After months a few minutes of being bombarded by worsening bullet wounds, cannon shots (in the form bad Japanese music), psychological tricks, and continued attacks by a powerful enemy, I finally heard it. At the peak of my dilemma, I heard a buzzing sound go past my ear. The realization came to me in a flash. I was being attacked by a mosquito (freaking useless ugly pipsqueak!). How did I come to this most complicated realization you ask? Well, for one, I used my extensive knowledge of the Japanese Ninja to deduce that it couldn't have been a Japanese Ninja. For example, Ninjas, according to that most terrible Hollywood movie, Ninja Assassin, are usually charged with single handedly attacking armies of robot army tanks. Since, I am not a robot army tank, my observation was proved to be correct. According to other Ninja lore, Ninja's usually come in the form of either 4 mutant talking turtles or in the form of 3 highly privileged Caucasian suburban boys. In addition to those observations, I also know that Ninjas usually approach their foes on foot, without making a buzzing sound.

Realizing that I would probably be able to take my new foe in a fight (considering I outsized and outweighed him considerably), I turned on the lights and arose with the determination that I would slap the living shit (literally) out of this mosquito. Armed with a pair of chopsticks (like the mosquito killing master; Mister Miyagi (r.i.p.)), I waited patiently for my chance to snatch him out of the air while looking like a 70 year old Karate master teaching a lanky 14 year old privileged suburban Caucasian male how to fight some neighborhood bullies who have fierce mullets. I quickly caught my first glance of the mosquito through the silhouette of the ceiling light, and it gave me the confidence to go after him with all of the strength left in my dying and wounded (from mosquito bites) body. However, my chance never came again. Disappeared into thin air. Gone. Sayonara'd. Peaced Out. Made like a tree and leaved.

That's when I realized I had been defeated by not JUST a mosquito, but a Japanese Ninja Mosquito. Highly effective attacks combined with the ability to disappear at will. That's the new Japanese Ninja. Unbelievable. Another sleepless night handed to me by a worthless foe (or maybe it is I who is worthless?).

So you see my fellow historians, it's time to change history. Scientists, it's time to put aside those thoughts of saving the environment. We need to figure out a way to fight this new foe, together! We need to build mosquito shelters and we need to drill our children throughout the school day on how to defend themselves. We need to build nuclear repellant bombs! It's a sad future we face in the 21st century, but if we do not come together, we may be faced with the sad prospect of a few sleepless nights and some itchy arms. It pains me to think about it. We must band together!

Round 1

This past weekend, Natalie, myself, and a group of friends went to check out this huge entertainment complex near my school in Okayama. Round 1 is basically like a Celebration Station, on crack. It has almost everything you can imagine, that you wouldn't find at an amusement park. I'm not sure if that makes sense but at an amusement park, we can usually find roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and carnival games. Well, at Round 1, you can find anything that is not at an amusement park such as roller blading, Karaoke, batting cages, ping pong tables, arcades, pachinko machines, UFO games, kids play places, basketball, internet cafes, pool tables, golf, bowling, badminton, beer, and bad food. It's quite epic actually. Especially since the whole complex is indoors and it's in a 6 story building. The whole place was really nice, played 80's hits, and was endlessly entertaining.

Somehow, 3 hours felt like about an hour and the whole thing only cost us about 17 bucks (every attraction is unlimited). Throughout our time there, I probably had enjoyed the batting cages the most. There's nothing like swinging a bat as hard as  you can at a tiny little white ball. It just gets all of the frustration out (not that I had any to let out). I also played Tennis with Natalie and that was fun. I played a game of PIG with the group and although I did really bad, I did hit a behind the hoop shot. That's pretty impressive considering that I'm as big a fan of basketball as I am a crappy basketball player. Sometimes, I missed the hoop completely.

I also had a roller blade battle with a professional roller blader. Actually, I didn't do anything of the sorts but there was this one incredibly cool, dorky, effeminate, roller blade aficionado that was pulling off every roller blading ultimate special finishing technique known to the entire western (Well, Eastern) hemisphere, all while looking gracefully ridiculous. I mean, he was pulling off triple axle spins, one legged horizontal electric guitar moves, disco boogie back flips, and at one point, he was skating with his hands. I'm pretty sure he was listening to ABBA's Dancing Queen. He was quite entertaining. And then his dad joined in, then was like father and son (instead of Will Ferrell and Napoleon Dynamite) Blades of Glory. All that was missing was a polyester body suit with gold trimming and pink flames, a Mel Gibson mullet and you had the 1988 Roller Blading Olympics. Epic.  Plus, the dad complemented my roller blading skills at one point. That's when I realized I could leave Round 1 with my head held high.

Well, Round 1 was a blast. Afterwards, we went to an Izakaya and then to a bar. One the way home from those fun outings, there was a Japanese businessman, on the subway, that spilled his life's passions and studies onto us (in Japanese). Between the three of us (Natalie, myself, and another friend) and our almost non-existent Japanese, we deciphered from his speech and discombobulated sketches that Japan is bad because the highway system is not as well planned as the American system. Trains are great in Japan, but this man was passionate that Japan was doomed into oblivion because they don't have a good highway system like the US of A. It took all of this effort, passion, drawings, hand movements, and whatever else he could pull out of his bag of tricks to communicate this rather mundane observation on America vs. Japan. Oh well, the process was fun.

And so, that was the weekend. I just finished my first day at work in a suit. We had been wearing summer T-shirts since I started, but now we're back in suite. I'm ready to get this week over with. Nothing planned this weekend, but whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be fun.

Post Title Suckage

I just realized: I really suck at coming up with original and captivating blog post titles.
Examples of dumb and un-captivating blog titles:
- a nice day
- 3 day week
- more thoughts

This is quite a dilemma because I could be scaring away the .00000000000000001% of internet followers who might want to read my blog. (here's some advice to you: don't judge a blog by it's blog titles)

Should I  A) continue my suckage, B) strive to improve, or C) run back home to my mama and cry myself to sleep (in other words do away with blog post titles)?

It's a sad state of affairs in the history of this blog...

*sob*

+ Update!!! I've decided to just go ahead and change some of the more unoriginal post titles thanks to a suggestion by one of my blog followers (myself) (And yes, I'm having a conversation with myself on my own blog)

Sleeping into the O'Hara Museum

Today was a really nice day. As previously mentioned, I had the day off because of some kind of Japanese holiday and as a result, I took advantage.

Although the weather has been really nice (cool and breezy) and perfect for an outdoorsy day, I slept in until 11:30. Obviously, that's not TOO late. After all, I was known to sleep till 4 or 5 pm (and sometimes 9 pm) at times in college. But now that I'm older, I feel like I don't have the capacity or the time to sleep in. I usually just wake up at 9 am no matter how determined I am to sleep in! For some reason, I just kept going until 11:30 this morning. It felt really nice. There's nothing like a nice long sleep. You wake up feeling refreshed and in a new state of mind, ready to brave the day.

One of the cool things about Kurashiki (where Natalie lives), is that it's filled with tons of museums. For a small town, that's surprising (well, it's not that small actually). Today, we went checked out Kurashiki's famous O'Hara Museum. I'll spare you the long and detailed history so here is a brief history: some Japanese dude about a 100 years ago thought it would be cool to collect a bunch of art and put it in a museum. Haha, now that I think about it, that's how most private art museums probably get started. Either way, it's a pretty nice (and big) museum.

It really has a wide variety of art pieces. You can find anything from Japanese or European Impressionist paintings to ancient Buddhist art to Porcelain vases to modern abstract paintings. The collection is surprisingly filled with big hitters such as Picasso, Monet, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Gauguin. Obviously, those are classics but it's not necessarily the type of art that I tend to enjoy the most. I usually lean towards the more modern pieces. I like the cleaner, more defined style of modern art (although the meaning is usually way out there). For example, my favorite piece today was a mural by someone whose name I've already forgotten and that was built in 2007. The Mural was probably about 10 feet wide and I would describe it as a collage of painted images of different towns and people (in hues of neutrals, with splashes of color here and there). It was really detailed and filled with different scenes. I thought it was beautiful and powerful but my description of the piece does no justice to it. I guess being an Art critic is something I probably wouldn't be very good at. You have to be way descriptive and you have to analyze the meaning behind things (something I'm probably not too great it). In short, it was good piece. Art museums are great, but I think overall, I prefer photography (I love a good picture).

Although I really enjoyed the art (and the conversations on art with Natalie), I particularly enjoyed the museum itself. Being built over a century ago, the architecture was decidedly European (probably Gothic) but it was huge. There were other buildings on the premises. Some of the gallery was inside ancient Japanese merchant's homes and there was even a really quaint Japanese garden for us to enjoy. It was fun to walk through.

To top off the enjoyable stroll through this really nice museum, we discovered another Nepalese restaurant (this time even closer). It was delicious! So a good day. I feel good but I have to go back to work tomorrow! Good thing it's only one day.