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.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
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.
+ 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.
Monday, December 12, 2011
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!
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!
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