Wandering Soule

Mt. Si in the Morning

2011-09-04T14:05:00.002+09:00

A little more for the blog. Today I woke up at 2:00, took a brief shower and drove to WalMart to pick up some granola bars and jam. At 3:30 I left the house and went to pick up my friend from her house sitting job to take her up Mt. Si in hopes of seeing sunrise from the top. Didn't quite make it in time, but the sunlight was gorgeous coming through the trees. Here's a few photos. I'll be adding more to this later. I hope.

Working on Living up to the Name

2011-07-30T07:59:00.006+09:00

Okay, so I subtitled this blog Adventures in the Great Northwest and haven't really put any of my adventures up here. That's not to say that I haven't had any. Just this past week, my friend Victoria and I felt it was time to put our National Parks pass to good use and go up to Mount Rainier. Our original destination was Dewey Lake, but due to some unusual amounts of snow, we were unable to access the trail.
We goofed around checking out unmarked waterfalls and semi-frozen lakes for a while to make sure we hadn't missed the trail head, but eventually went down to the Sunrise Park Entrance and took an adventure to Summerland which follows Frying Pan Creek.

The hike is fairly flat and then gradually increases in altitude. We enjoyed hanging out by some of the 'falls' on the river, but eventually hit a point in the trail which was all very compacted snow. It took quite a bit of scrambling around. We had agreed that at 6:00pm we would turn around, but at when the minutes finally rolled over, we saw dirt. We were so happy to be able to walk normally again, that we had to keep going until we could see the mountain. I couldn't get a good picture of the mountain because of the evening lighting, but we were able to goof a round a bit and get back to the car before dusk.

Working (kind of)

2009-10-14T16:16:00.002+09:00

Well, I do have a job now... It's not exactly what I hoped to be doing, but for now it's okay. I'm a tutor at Green River Community College for their intensive English program, but I hope to find an actual instructing position sometime soon. The good news is that I'm working towards my goals and staying near the field. I'm really trying to stay in Auburn for various reasons. Mostly, I like being in my hometown, and I just don't feel like I'm ready to leave any time soon. I imagine I'll leave again someday. Just not this year.

In other news, I've been busy at church. I'm now the high school Sunday school teacher, and I've joined the church choir. The Bible says to make a joyful noise not beautiful music, so I figure it'll be fine with God. I've also started attending a Bible study. It's so refreshing to discuss scripture again with other people. I'm really hopeful that this will make me feel more connected with the church.

Random note

Hunter (the long term house guest) is sad because Alexis doesn't want him to have raw hide bones. He reminds me of Hana (my beagle) because he gets into trouble all the time and gives a look saying he's done something wrong, but wags his tail in hopes that it will all be okay.

No job yet

2009-08-12T09:42:00.002+09:00

Okay, for those of you wondering, no, I still don't have a job. However, I'm not stressed out yet. Maybe I should be. Instead I've been busy with taiko and working on houses. I've been doing a lot of packing, sorting through things, a little painting, and so on.

I just got back from the North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles. there were so many good groups there and I feel so inspired to practice more and do more conditioning. I've even started running again. I'm only on day two, but I think I'll be able to stick with it this time.

Jai Ho!

2009-06-03T03:43:00.004+09:00

A video that a few of us MATESOL people made.
In case you're curious, one of our classmates and her husband did all the filming and editing. If you're looking for a good videographer, their business is called Zinchuk Studios.

Jai Ho! from Zinchuk Studios on Vimeo.

Ack!!! 10 months

2009-04-29T13:56:00.004+09:00

Well, I don't know if anyone checks this anymore, but I'll try to get back to blogging, since it seems to be my one journal that's all in one place (and reader friendly).

Well, first I'd like to say... It's time for me to find a job! I certainly haven't been as good as I should be about looking for one. I want to stay in Washington State, but most job advertisements are for overseas jobs. In the end, I'll probably be calling schools in the area and submitting my resume to see what turns up. Be praying for me!

In other news, I'm really excited about some books right now. I've decided that I want to get better at my Spanish, so I bought a book called El Alquimista. I'm sure many of you have read it in English, but it seemed like a good level of Spanish for me. Please don't ruin the story for me. I'm really into it, but it's taking me a while because I can't seem to handle more than thirty pages of Spanish at a time.

I also just ordered two piano books of of Amazon. I can't wait until they arrive. One is a bunch of broadway hits, and I'm sure I'll be missing all the good ol' days at school when people used to sing along with me. If anyone wants a sing along night, (but I actually do have to know you) let me know and we'll have a little party. The second book is the sheet music for the album Much Afraid by Jars of Clay. I've recently started listening to this album again, and the song Hymn really struck me. Part of me just wanted to learn how to play it because I think it's so beautiful.

Okay, and for the last book, I got a sewing book on how to make sock and glove animals. I have all these old socks, that I can't seem to throw away (it just seems like a waste) so I wanted to find something else to do with them. If I ever make good use of the book, I'll post photos of them on the blog.

A Long Time Away

2008-08-05T13:51:00.003+09:00

Well, clearly it's been a long time since I've put anything on the blog. For those of you who are still checking in on this every once in a while, here is a brief update since May.

I finished up my spring quarter at school as of mid-June by the seat of my pants. It wasn't that I really had so much to do, as it was that I had a schedule that was really inconvenient considering bus schedules and such. In the end, half of my days were spent on buses, and I think that just about killed me.

My teaching practicum finished off well, and I am excited to be a TA at the University of Washington this fall. I still don't know what class I will be teaching, but it will be quite the learning experience no matter what. I'm also taking phonetics at the same time, and I can't wait for that class. Introductory linguistics was a lot of fun and I hope the linguistic courses that I will be taking will be just as much fun.

In the meantime, I am working for Rosetta Stone this summer and possibly will continue working for them throughout the school year, provided it works with the school schedule. I get to learn languages while on the sales floor and talk to lots of interesting people. I like talking to people who are passionate about exploring languages and cultures, however, there are always a few odd people who find their way to the kiosk.

In other news, I need to brush up my Spanish because in the past few days I have found myself talking extensively in Spanish and finding fault in my ability to speak coherently. Fortuantely, the people I've been talking to have had patience with me and we've been able to communicate quite well. I might even have a language exchange partner in Auburn! (or I might be giving small English lessons). Riding the bus has been good for meeting different people, and I love to play tour guide to my hometown.

The dog slips the fence

2008-05-10T14:56:00.002+09:00

I made a new video in the states. The peonies are from Japan though.

Still Cleaning

2008-04-09T14:16:00.002+09:00

Well, I've been home for over seven months now, and I am still cleaning. Today, I was cleaning the "back" room. It's the room in the back of the house that was supposed to be the sewing room and computer room, but has become the "dump everything here" room. Some parts of the room haven't been touched in years.

Today I decided to clean out the cupboard in the back of the closet, and I had the most amazing find! I found my mother's travel journal from her trip to Europe in high school. Her handwriting back then was impeccable and apparently she found really good bakeries. She always said that was her favorite part about traveling in Europe. Apparently, she even knew a little French back then.

I've also found quite a few photos from childhood, and it's so funny to see what my family looked like then. We were all so skinny! I even found a photo of me in my favorite tennis shoes. They were red canvas shoes with a dark blue baseball stitching at the toes. I thought I was so cool in them. I think I was in sixth grade at the time.

In addition to all of these things, I've uncovered many unfinished sewing projects of my mothers. Once I get some decent sewing skills I'm going to attempt finishing one of the many quilts that are started in this room. I think I'd like to finish up the wall hanging that my mom was making for the elementary school at which she was working before she got sick. It's got a little train with a bunch of steam puffs that say "I know I can."

So much to do!

Cherry Blossoms in the Quad

2008-04-05T17:54:00.002+09:00

The University of Washington campus is really nice. In the quad there are 50+year old blossoming cherry trees (sakura!) in the shape of a W (supposedly). Some of them even have blossoms coming from their trunks!

Post 150: The Flu

2008-04-05T17:41:00.004+09:00

At about 2:03 Wednesday evening that evil visitor called Influenza payed a visit. At first I thought the two hours locked up in the toilet were due to food poisoning from a smoothie I had made at 8:00pm earlier Tuesday evening. However, after walking to the bus stop at 7:30 am and making it halfway to Seattle, I realized that those two hours were only the beginning. As the bus got caught in traffic, I began to think, "Gee, I wonder if I can get a seat next to the door in class," and ,"Gosh, my back really is throbbing." I called my dad to ask him to the check the house for anything I might have left plugged in during my semi-conscious morning. Lucky for me, he offered me a ride back home.

15 minutes after my dad made his offer, I called him back and accepted. Waiting at the Bellevue transfer center, I thought to myself, "Is there a bathroom nearby?" and, "This would be a nice place to take a nap." After making a few phone calls to school and my master teacher, I awaited my father's arrival. After a few minutes he drove up, I got in the car, and babbled about who knows what until we got home. I fell asleep on the couch at about 10:00 am; I woke up at about 6:00 pm.

This is how I felt.

I hope you get the picture. I spent Thursday trying to regain my salts and liquids, and by Friday morning (today), I had moved onto toast. I hate the flu. I hate being sick. But at least Americans don't expect you to come to school or work sick. They'd rather you stay home. And that's why I got better in two days. I like beginning sentences with conjunctions.

2008-03-30T04:19:00.000+09:00

Spring Quarter

2008-03-30T04:03:00.002+09:00

Well, spring quarter starts on Monday, and then I'll be back in classes. I guess that was a given. Spring break has been nice, but I didn't really do anything besides stay at home. I remember when spring break was to go home do laundry, travel, go camping, and then rush to do you laundry again before classes start. My life is not quite so exciting anymore. Instead, I spent the week cleaning house and watching the snow fall.

I got the chance to talk to Amanda before she went to pick up her parents from the airport and IM Jessica a little bit this week. It's so good to hear from friends living half a world away. I get to live vicariously through their adventures. I'm currently enjoying being a homebody, but I do miss traveling on the weekends, finding new restaurants, and checking out museums, trails, and whatnots.

Lately, I've been playing with photoshop, and reliving some of my travels from this summer with my family. I'lll see if I can't get the images up on teh web.

Random pics from home (some stolen from Dad)

2008-03-26T05:41:00.006+09:00

Pruning the apple tree

it's a marmot

My buddies from school

Snoqualmie Falls in winter (this is a low water level)

My doggy (she always looks possessed in pictures)

Embracing the GNW

2008-03-26T05:35:00.002+09:00

Well, it's been a long time since I wrote anything in this blog. Maybe it's because my life doesn't seem quite as exotic and exciting anymore. However, maybe that's just a matter of perception. I've decided to turn a new leaf and embrace the Great Northwest (GNW) and even though I'm no longer writing to keep in touch with the family and friends living here, I thought it might be nice to record what's going on.

I just got back from going to the coast this weekend at Ocean Shores with some family friends. The weather was alright on Saturday, but pretty gross on Sunday, which was fine because we were leaving anyways. Originally we had planned on going to a sunrise service, but since the church wasn't having a service until 10:30, we had our own little worship time and Easter brunch at the cabin before checking out.

I'm currently on spring break and I suppose my job is to get this house into shape before classes start up again. It's always hard to know what to say after I haven't been typing up my stories for a while, but I'll try more to get them up on the web. My town is a pretty strange one, and odd things happen all the time, I just forget to write them down. I'll have to get better at psuedo-names too.

I've got a job!

2007-11-29T13:44:00.000+09:00

Well, it's been a while, but it's time for an update. For those of you who read Amanda's comments, the story about by cellphone is this:

One day Leslie was a little slow about leaving her house. She hurried through town in order to reach her train on time. However, at one of the final crosswalks, Leslie tripped over her own feet spilling onto the pavement and ripping her favorite pair of black slacks. Pulling herself up in great embarassment, she hurried out of the intersection and continued towards the train. Wondering how much time remained, Leslie shoved her hand into the pocket of her raincoat to look at the clock on her rose pink keitai. To her disbelief, all she found was the lining. Leslie whipped around and darted back to the intersection only to see the remnants of her cellphone strewn through out the street. She figured there was nothing left to do but to catch the train so she turned around yet again and ran to the station. She saw the train and thought, "I'm just in time," but as fortune would have it, the train was on the opposite set of tracks with a cyclone fence keeping her from the next platform. Realizing she couldn't climb the three stories of stairs to the skybridge and climb down again before the train left, Leslie surrendered to her fate and caught the bus eventually arriving five minutes late for class and a test.

Okay, so that's my sad story that happened almost two months ago. My dad decided to upgrade his phone, and I got his old phone hooked up to my number. It's not as cool as the pink phone, and it doesn't have all the nifty stickers, however I do have Hello Kitty dressed up as maple leaf and surfing on a rice paddle attached to it. It has a bell too.

The title of this entry is "I've got a job!" so I best get to the point. I started working for a local boat tours company called Argosy Cruises in Seattle. It's a great part-time job and relatively close the the university I'm going to. The only problem is that both my university and job are far away from home. Anyways, I part deckhand and part bartender with an emphasis on the bartending. Those of you who know me are laughing at this point. At least the company doesn't have to worry about me sneaking drinks on the job. It's a lot of fun and one of the captains even let me steer the boat for a little bit. I'm learning a lot about boats and about Seattle. I need to study up on the history of the city so I can get into the narrating job, but I don't think they're going to let me get into training for that until next spring.

In other news, school has been going well except for the *&%@ paper that I turned in yesterday (I feel like I'm writing a comic strip). Quarter ends pretty much next week and then I'll be on the boats with Christmas music blasting.

I'm thinking about getting a snowboard... will let you know more news with more frequency I hope.

Afternoon Tea

2007-10-21T17:19:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm not sure whether to blame the tea or the nap I had this afternoon for being awake at one in the morning. My dad and I spent a long time cleaning out the house, but it's still quite a mess. My family is a bunch of packrats (myself included). It's so hard to get rid of things. Everything seems to have a potential use some day. As I was going through my old room, which is slowly becoming my room again, I found so many "little treasures." Many things were presents people had given to me and I could remember when and from whom I had received most of them, but there were almost just as many small little knick-knacks that I hadn't a clue of what they were or why I had saved them.

Among some of the things I found were:

Two of the ugliest purple hairclips I had ever seen. They remind me of the earrings that the bridesmaids wear in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

An old Japanese mask that is really pretty cool. It's called Hyokoso I think.

My old wooden train set that is only missing one link in the track.

Christmas cards that I bought in Ecuador

AND

My kitchen set from college!

It was a very exciting day (kinda sorta).

In addition to all of this, I would just like to mention for all of you in Japan that I have a pink cell phone. The color is kind of growing on me and I put on some sakura stickers to jazz it up a little.

Back to School

2007-10-11T11:55:00.000+09:00

Alright, I've been back for sometime now, and I think it's interesting that my need to blog hasn't been quite what it used to be. However, I want to continue with this (even if no one reads it) because I can.

Well, I've started going back to school and the process has been more than a little intimidating. Not only am I student again, but I am a student in a field that is completely alien to me. I am no longer with the science geeks who get a kick about atoms losing their electrons, but rather with the strange breed who like discussing whether a phrase acts as an adjective or an adverb. At first, I was really excited about all of this, but now I'm wondering if I should be more frightened. I just never pictured myself drawing sentence diagrams. Maybe I'll get really into it, I think I need to give it more than four classes to know for sure.

I am discovering I am a better student this time (so far) and actually read the texts before class. (hooray for Leslie!) Maybe some of the Japanese study ethic has rubbed off on me. Since I commute to school and only am on campus Tuesday and Thursday, I don't really socialize much with my classmates. I hope to get to know them better, but I don't really see how that's going to happen. I have the longest commute, but it doesn't seem like much after waiting around for trains all the time in Japan. In fact, I take a commuter train to school and I find myself running out of the house in the morning much the same way I did in Tsuru. At least there's a sizeable sidewalk now.

My dad suggested that I put an observation I made on the change of my perception of the world. Coming back to America, I have really noticed the difference in diversity. Before, it never occurred to me that someone might not speak English unless they couldn't communicate with me, but after living in Japan I took on the belief that most people couldn't speak English. Even with other foreigners, I had to try and guess if they spoke English if I didn't meet them through mutual friends. I met so many people who weren't from English speaking countries that unconsciously I developed stereotypes of how people should speak English depending on their appearance. In a way, I took that back with me to America. I've been momentarily shocked when a white woman behind the counter speaks with a thick accent or an Arabic woman speaks perfect English. Somehow my mind has been rewired to think that white people are native English speakers, and everyone else isn't (at least for initial encounters).

This is really difficult for me to comprehend or even accept about myself right now, especially since I'm biracial. I guess it shows that there was a lot of influence from my surroundings in Japan. Occasionally I see Japanese-Americans and am surprised when they speak English. Weird! I hope I get over it soon, because it's really disconcerting. In fact, I think I'm mostly over it, now that I'm getting into a routine where I'm getting out of the house.

In other news, I've started practicing with my brother's taiko group. My brother has been really cool about everything, and I hope it will be a good bonding experience for the both of us. :)

Well, that's all for now. I will continue my adjustment to the States. I think it's going rather well.

The Honeymoon Stage

2007-09-08T16:16:00.000+09:00

Okay, I've been preparing for counter-culture shock (or reverser culture shock or whatever it's called), and I'd just like to say I am in the honeymoon stage. Everything is "wonderful" or relatively. I looked down a road by our house and thought, "Did they widen the road?" It hit me, that the road hadn't change at all, but rather I had become accustomed to the narrow roads. There's all these great things about being home: People don't stare at me on the streets, I can easily talk to the wait staff without them looking for my translator, I don't get anxious about making phone calls, I know how to use the library catalog, and I can drive. I'm not really sure the driving thing is a big plus, but in a pinch I can legally get around in an automobile. Oh,there's so many things, so I'll continue with that list.

* There's no humidity
* Mexican food
* Food labels in English
* Strangers say hello to me (no weird dirty looks)
* I have dogs!
* I don't have to worry about making too much noise
* Sidewalks!
* I'm not constantly thinking about how to exit a room properly
* Restaurants and stores stay open past 8!
* Cookie dough icecream

Okay, but not everything has been cake (mmm... cake... )
* Public transportation stinks! Seattle Metro has a long way to go before being moderately understandable. I don't know how people figure out the bus system.
* I went to Bumbershoot and the people were crazy! It was too crowded and whoever planned it should have had some of the micromanaging teachers that were at my former school to help them. Maybe the rest of us could have worn jingle-bells to ward off the crazies (it works for the bears in Yamanashi).
* Strangely enough, some of the food seems a little salty. I think that's just the prepared freezer food though. I became accustomed to going to the grocery store everyday or going out to eat at good (and affordable) restaurants.

I'll keep you up to date on my adjustment back to home. Living with my dad is certainly going to be a big change, but so far it's going well. I can't wait till get my own key! (Hint hint if you're reading this dad).

Now it's time to say goodbye...

2007-07-15T00:28:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm closing in on my last week at Katsura High School. This will most likely be the last post that I make from my apartment in Japan. I doubt I'll be spending the money to update my blog from internet cafes, but we'll see.

Before I came to Japan, my good friend Tracy suggested that I make some goals for my time here. In no specific order they were:

Learn Japanese
Take Japanese cooking lessons
Find a church
Invest myself in the community
Find a taiko group

I may have left some out, but I honestly don't remember my goals too well since I didn't write them down. These are just the ones I remember.

I didn't quite learn Japanese, but I at least can communicate effectively enough that I surprise at least one of my co-workers with my mad language skills. I guess this comes from using English in my workplace and at home. The only times I really got some good speaking practice in were with my students at the train station. They couldn't necessarily speak to me in English, but they were happy to teach me Japanese!

I never took Japanese cooking lessons, but I think I've picked up a thing or two just from visiting people's homes.

Find a church: Check

Find a taiko group: Check (Thanks to Marissa!)

Invest myself in the community
To be honest, I felt like I was failing on this one for a long time. However, now that it's time to pack up and say goodbye to everyone who has been part of my daily life, I realize how much a lot of people mean to me. I didn't think leaving would be so hard, especially when I was constantly day-dreaming of home. I didn't think I'd miss my school too much, but after talking to some of my students this week, I realized I was wrong. As I go around saying goodbyes to the school, the taiko school, church friends, and just people I've gotten to know in town, I know that I had let myself become part of Tsuru, Yamanashi, and Japan. It's strange saying goodbye knowing that I may never see most of these people again, but there's still the possibility of coming back for a visit, or better, receiving a visit from someone here.

Yukata night at church.

Me being artsy fartsy. The hydrangeas are at their peak right now, and the best ones just happened to be by the cemetery. We had exchange students from Tennessee this week, so the school took them to the local temple and we walked around the grounds.

We found a crawdad in the little drainage gutter in front of the temple entrance.

Last weekend, Amanda's friend came to visit, so we took him to Tokyo and found this sign when we got off the bus. I think we all felt a little special.

Mmmm, sembe... I love getting it hot off the griddle!

Depressed

2007-07-03T21:14:00.001+09:00

Well, the school came to check out my apartment today. I had totally forgotten about the appointment, so my room was scattered with boxes and paper. It was really quite embarrassing. I spent the whole day at school running around like a mad-woman because we were getting prepared for the Tennessee students. Towards the end, I had to get the handouts for the mass English broadcast into all the class mail boxes only to be yanked out to go to my apartment.

At first going through stuff in the apartment was no big deal, but as the two office ladies came through and made notes on all my belongings and where they were going, it started to get stressful. I still have three and a half weeks in my apartment, but it really seemed like I was moving out today. Everyone was really nice, but talking about all the preparations to leave made everything seem way too close.

I can hardly believe it's almost time to leave. It was all I could do to keep from crying while my supervisor and the office ladies went through my disaster-like apartment. As is my usual reaction to depression, I ate half a box of lemon cookies and fell asleep for three hours. It hasn't gone away, so now I'll actually try cleaning.

Scripture

2007-07-01T00:39:00.000+09:00

At church tonight we read from the book of Romans. It really hit me hard, because it was the same scripture I read to my university fellowship before graduating. It's a beautiful passage, and I just wanted to share it with anyone out there. The scripture really stands on it's own and clearly illustrates what it means to live a Christian lifestyle. We only read the first four verses, but I love going all the way to the end of the chapter.

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who wee;. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Danny spoke about letting love be sincere (in my translation "genuine"). It was a reminder to me not to just fall into the habits of saying "I'll pray" or just being nice. In university we once listened to a speaker talk about the difference between love and being "nice." Anyone can be nice, but it does not mean they always have your best interest in mind. As I was eating dinner last night with one of my teachers and her husband, the issue of "niceness" came up. Her husband is a Buddhist priest (so I guess this wisdom follows pretty well in most religions) and he said, "People who say they are nice, usually aren't." I think this can be pretty true. It's often the people who really make a big deal about being super nice that have ulterior motives. Okay, to get back on the subject, I don't just want to be nice, but rather someone who truly loves people for who they are. Do I really care about people's lives? Or am I just trying to keep a good image?

God wants so much more than for us to be nice to each other, He wants us to teach each other and strengthen each other. Love is ten times more difficult (and then some) than being polite or kind to a person. I always think of my parents when I think of love. They didn't always do what was "nice" or what would make me happy, but rather give correction and guidance even though it made them hugely unpopular for a week. Their love for me was genuine and out of concern for my character. God's love is a lot like that; He wants us to be righteous and loving. He also wants us to to love each other in the same way He loves us, and Paul's words reflect that.

Wow, I think I just kind of rambled on, but it's only because I love this scripture and it gets me thinking about how my actions reflect my faith.

With all that said, I love you all! I look forward to seeing my family and friends in the States soon.

Overwhelmed

2007-06-28T20:54:00.000+09:00

Wow, so at this point I'm just really overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I need to do in the three weeks. On top of that list is moving out, but I'm also helping my school host 14 Tennessee students the week before I leave, and I'm trying to plan out my whole month of travel. Then of course, there's the whole money thing. I wish, I wish, I wish, I could have gotten a JR pass, because train travel is so expensive. Instead I'm trying to figure out bus deals and how to use local train passes for maximum travel distance without spending all day on the train. This of course is only for when my family is not with me, because they have that oh so handy JR pass. The scheming is starting to get to me. Besides travel expenses, I'm looking at all my moving expenses too. Finally, it's hit me. Welcome to being an adult, Leslie. Oh well. I guess it would be a lot worse if I hadn't saved my money, and it's not like I was expecting this. However, it's all coming out in one six week time slot, so it seems like a lot.

In other news, my ALT buddy, Steve, tried to help me fix my bike. He partially succeeded. Somehow, my cable attached to the back derailleur or, however that's spelled, became too tight. Now instead of being stuck in first and second gear, it switches between only third, fourth, and fifth. We lost daylight, so it was time to stop. Steve would have kept trying to fix it all night if I hadn't told him that I needed to go home and eat some dinner. Now all I need to do is keep trying to adjust things until all the gears switch. At least the handshift is moving out of six and fifth. Yep, my bike was really messed up.

Pictures!

2007-06-27T22:16:00.000+09:00

Alright, this post is mainly pictures. Every evening is so crammed with things to do now, that I'm not blogging very often. As of July 15th or so, I will be on a blogging vacation until I get back home in the states. I might be able to find a place with an internet connection for me, but I wouldn't count on it too much. I'm continuing to pack and sort and throw out stuff. It was so easy moving here, but that was because I just left most of my stuff in my dad's house. Now I've accumulated quite a bit in the past two years, and it's time to clean!

I'm still going to taiko, Japanese lessons, and teaching one of my friends English after school. Saturday and Sunday are pretty much dedicated to hanging with the church folk, which leaves me with very little time to just breathe. You don't really value "alone time" until it's all gone. Oh well, that's why I'm staying up a little later tonight to make this blog.

Here's Alex and Jack visiting Kachi-Kachi mountain and looking at Mt. Fuji.

I went to the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. It's Totoro!

Near Ginza Station

This is the Tokyo International Forum. It's really ecologically friendly too.

getting ready to go home

2007-06-22T22:39:00.000+09:00

It's unbelievable, but I'll moving out in about a month. This apartment has really become my home during the past two years as has Tsuru City. One of my favorite recreational things to do is just to ride my bicycle around town. The back streets are narrow and charming. It always seems as if there is a new place to explore, and I'm sorry that I didn't get a bicycle to explore on earlier.

I just got back from a little dinner party with the English department. It was a kind of farewell party for the people who left in April and May (a little late if you ask me). One of my teachers assured me that there'd be a farewell party for me too. I asked him if it would happen in August, and he replied, "Of course it will be before you leave!" We'll see. We'll see.

One of the teachers that had left is due to have a baby really soon, so most of the conversation surrounded good baby names. All the teachers who had kids took turns saying their children's names and writing the kanji in the air, while everyone replied with comments like, 'oh... that's nice.' I still don't have a clue of what all the kanji are or what the names mean, but it was really fun to observe a conversation that used hands in a very practical manner. In English, most names have a meaning attached, but in Japan, the meaning is found in the kanji used to write the name, which explains all the waving of fingers.

The rest of the conversation at dinner ran the usual course of dinner conversations (wow, look how much I accomplished in that sentence!). However, for dessert, we had a gelatin with preserved tomatoes in it. I'm still not quite sure to think about the sweet, salty, and sour dessert. I don't think I liked it, but I'll have to wait until the next time to truly decide. That is, if there is a next time.

It's a small world after all...

2007-06-04T00:40:00.000+09:00

Okay, let's not get into Disney, but it is a small world.

I just came back from a day spent in Tokyo. I went with Marissa, Rick, Jessica, Amanda, and Olivia (all English teachers) to the Ghibli Museum. We had were so excited for the past month about going to this place. For those of you who are wondering what Ghibli is about, it's an animation company that is comparable to Disney, but of course with its own style. The museum is so popular that you have to buy reserved entrance tickets almost a month in advance! The museum was absolutely packed, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like without the reserved tickets. There was even a special theater for a film short about a baby cat bus that has not been released outside the museum. Even grown men were squealing and laughing at how cute the cat and the little girl were in the film. Anyone who has seen Totoro would have been tickled.

Afterwards, we went to the Sony Museum and had some kaiten-zushi. Then we checked out the Tokyo International Forum at night, and took the train to Shinjuku to get some purikura (sticker pictures) taken. The rest of the girls had a re-contracting conference in Tokyo, but since I'm going home in August and Rick is not a JET we took the train back to Yamanashi. While we were on the train, I noticed a familiar looking foreigner. I squinted a little, and then shrieked/gasped, "Hey! I know you" on the train. It turns out that the man who had walked on the train was also one of the people we had met on Hachijo a month earlier and sang karaoke with. It's so funny when you find someone you know in the biggest city in the world.

Then when I was taking the last train home from Otsuki to Tsuru, I saw another familiar looking face. This time it was Kush my neighbor who was just coming back from Kobe. We chatted on the way back, and it was nice to have a buddy to walk back with from the train station late at night (even the country can be a little creepy). All in all, it was a pretty good day.

I'll be adding more stuff (and pics) soon I hope.

Eek... it's been a month

2007-05-24T22:43:00.000+09:00

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month. What can I say, I've been busy. Mostly busy having fun. Some of you heard about my trip to Hachijojima. Well, here are the pictures! It was a great trip. We started off by riding out of Tokyo on an overnight ferry. I woke up every two hours or so because we were just sleeping on the outer deck. At first, it was like being back in college. There were a bunch of college students on holiday, so of course they were amusing themselves with playing drinking games. People just spread out their stuff everywhere and tried to stake out a spot. Luckily Amanda, Jessica, and Rick found the blankets that were out for rent.

Some people set up tents on the boat! It was really funny, the back deck on the boat was like a little tent village. These people opted for a free spot on the side.

At about 5:00 am, we stopped at this little island. There must have been some interesting diving, because a bunch of people got off. However, Amanda and I were really happy it wasn't our island because all the trees were dead and looked like toothpicks. Not to mention the ominous sulfuric smell and interesting steam cloud that constantly rolled out of the side of the mountain.

We arrived on Hachijojima at about 9:00 am, checked into our hotel and rented some bikes. We thought we were going to take a little trip to some waterfalls, but ended up taking some old bikes with rather questionable brakes up a really steep hill and through a tunnel. We didn't find the waterfalls that day, but we did have a lot of fun just biking over a beautiful island.

On our search for the waterfall, I saw this lone windmill, so I took a picture. That's all.

When we got back to our lodging for dinner, we had the pleasure of eating some delicious fish and ashitaba soba (it's the green noodle stuff). Sorry this picture isn't very clear, but it's a fairly good example of a nice restaurant dinner.

All five of us were in the same room, and there wasn't any place to walk when all the futons were out.

Jessica thought she could take over all the futons at once, but it just didn't quite work.

Later that night, we went out and tried our hand at hachijo taiko, I'll be putting up those videos at unspecified far away time. They'll probably hit my youtube account when I have a computer that moves faster than a prehistoric slug.

The next day we went snorkeling! Marissa was super happy because it was the one thing that she specifically had hoped to do. Amanda had been getting help by e-mail from a cool guy who owns The Anchor Pub , and he helped us find a dive instructor to take us around the bay. The outfitter didn't have wet suits for all of us, so we braved the chilly waters.

We stayed out for an hour and saw lots of beautiful coral, fish, and sea slugs. We even saw a puffer fish (fugu), octopus (taco), and cowfish. We saw the cowfish at the very end, and it reminded me of one of the dentist's offices I went to as a child.

After snorkeling, we decided it was time to eat lunch, so we got in a taxi and tried to get to the udon place that the dive instructor (I forget her name) had told us about. The taxi driver called ahead and informed us that it was too late to enter, so he drove us out to an omiyage shop that apparently had a restaurant. We bought some omiyage, but then decided to check out the local festival nearby that the Hachijo JET had told us about. We knew there would be music and food, so we weren't too worried about the lunch options. On our little walk over from the omiyage shop to the festival we found these cool lava beds on the ocean!

When we arrived at the festival, were quickly approached by a young woman who introduced herself as the director of a movie and asked us to be extras in the festival scene. We told her we were looking for food, so someone came over and showed us the festival food stand (yes we had to pay). We soon discovered that the town was basically having the festival for the movie, so it was a really festival, but a movie set at the same time (just a little confusing).

Here's the movie poster. I need to figure out what the title is, and if it will come out to the states. We're not sure what it's about, but we were in the big climax scene so we think it's about these two friends who play taiko. One girl is scared about playing the big solo, but the other girl helps her through... or something like that. Time will only tell if it makes it to the big screen (or to daytime TV).

I've got more photos, but that may come later as a random photo post.

PeAcE! Sorry it took so long!

Tokyo Spring

2007-04-29T11:42:00.000+09:00

Well, here's another thing that I didn't get to in my last post. Last weekend, I went to Tokyo with Jessica, Rick, Marissa, and Amanda. We stayed over and Marissa and Rick's so we could easily head off to Tokyo in the morning. I was the first one up, but I could see that everyone was going to sleep for a little longer, so I decided to go for a walk. I ended up making the half hour climb to the top of the mountain behind their apartment and taking about the same time to walk down all before 6:20 am. I didn't know how early it was until I got back to the apartment and everyone was still sleeping. I finally checked a clock and decided to go back to bed. The house didn't start stirring until 9:30ish. Rick and Marissa made some awesome breakfast burritos, and at 12:00 we finally headed out to Tokyo.

Rather than telling you all the mundane details, I'll just give you a quick overview. We went to Hamarikyu gardens and had tea, went for a little shopping, and had dinner at Kua'aina.

Here's the garden pics!

Okay, the first two are from my morning walk. Isn't this just the most Japanese house ever?

Peonies!

Marissa called it, "The most perfect flower ever." I'm not sure about that, but after seeing her picture on her camera, I had to take one too. It was definitely a beautiful flower.

Mmm... Peppermint!

There's all these cool special effects, and I just had to try them out on one of the flower pics.

The Rants

2007-04-29T11:30:00.000+09:00

Well, after being accused of being a tease, here are the rants. Keep in mind that these were written in frustration and may be, well, a little ethnocentric.

Do you speak English?

Perhaps it’s merely a survival technique, but I always try to guess who might be a potential English speaker or at least another foreigner. Somehow being surrounded by Japanese people all the time makes me seek out people who are, well, not Japanese. While most of the time you can pick out the foreigner in the crowd, there are of course Asian-Americans, Asian-Australians, Asian-Europeans, and, well, you get the idea. Now how do you pick out someone who is say, Asian-American, from the rest of the Japanese faces you see? Well, fashion is the biggest give away, but if they’re reading an English book (or other language) without a pencil or highlighter in hand, the chances are also good. Telling by fashion is easier with the men, because few foreigners are ready to give into the pink hairclips and sparkly accessories that the Japanese youth so readily wear.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, today I thought I saw a young man whom I thought to possibly be Asian-American (or at least an English speaker). He was looking around the train curiously and dressed in some old jeans, floppy sneakers, a T-shirt, and a big chain (like the rappers). This is rather different from most young Japanese men, who will wear designer jeans, pointy boots, and some kind of crazy designer top with bad English on it. He also had a buzz cut, but then I noticed the bleached hair on top. That was my first hint that he was not what he seemed to be. My second hint was when he grabbed the black Route 66 tote bag with the Route 66 sign all in silver glitter. Yep, this youth almost had the hip-hop look down, but unfortunately mis-stepped when he decided to bring along the glitter tote bag.

With the women it’s a little harder because many people consider Japan to be fashion forward, and some of the young Asian-foreigners readily adopt the layers, super-high-heels, and razor haircuts to fit right in. Really, the biggest give away is when they open their mouths and speak English. Although, sometimes a non-razor haircut can be a good clue.

Okay, well that’s all I have to say on this topic. TTFN.

Slowest walkers in the world

I think that some of my students may seriously be some of the slowest walkers in the world. Every morning, I take the train to school along with about half of the students in the school. We all get off at the same time and there’s a mad rush to get out of the station first. However, that’s the only part that is a mad rush. I normally end up walking in a herd of students that moves at a pace only slightly faster than a slug’s. I don’t know how they manage to do it, but they still get to school on time.

This is a large contrast to what one might experience in Tokyo, where you literally get swept off your feet. I’m sorry if I’ve written about this before, but I was having some difficulty this morning believing that the three girls in front of me were capable of moving at a rate just short of not going anywhere. Not only that, but the students like to walk three abreast, just so that they can make sure all other people need to venture into traffic to get around them. They are completely oblivious to all other people, including the junior high school students on bikes coming from the opposite direction. Because of the intimidation factor, the junior high school students usually ride in the traffic just to get to their school. It’s absolutely ridiculous!

Alright, that’s my rant on that.

Thank heavens elections are over!

It’s local election time, and there’s no way to miss it. Candidates and their crew drive up and down the street in cars with loudspeakers screaming, “Arigato-gozaimasu! Ganbarimasu! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!” I really don’t know what they are accomplishing by blaring out their Thank You!s, I’ll do my best!s, or general niceties. Please excuse the creative punctuation. Not only that, but apparently they get subsidized for annoying the public in general. You’d really think that this would violate some sort of noise ordinance. Apparently, the noise ordinance against this doesn’t come into effect until after 8:00pm.

And finally, peeing quietly....

One topic that I’m sure I haven’t written about is learning to pee quietly. You see, in Japan, there’s this ridiculous idea that it is shameful if someone in the bathroom hears you peeing. Talk about completely silly! Once you walk behind that stall door you should only being doing one of two things, and everyone knows that. It’s not like that by flushing the toilet that everyone suddenly doesn’t know you are peeing. I know what that woman is doing in there regardless if she flushes the toilet while peeing or not! Well, anyways, I felt compelled to save Japanese women from having to listen to me pee, but at the same time my conscience just couldn’t justify wasting a gallon of water so that I wouldn’t be heard. Instead, I’ve learned to pee quietly, or if I’m lucky someone will be flushing the toilet or washing their hands at the same time I need to do number 1.

Samurai, rants, and Tokyo in Spring

2007-04-26T22:31:00.000+09:00

Me trying to get the flag into the frame

Yours truly

Steve and Marshall

Marissa helping Amanda with the fussy costume

Two cool samurai

The clan

Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything at all. I had typed up a few rants on my computer, but strangely enough, I decided not to post them. Basically, all you need to know is that the super noisy elections have ended, my students drag their feet to school, and that I'm tired of trying to pee quietly because I feel that it's rude to do so without flushing the toilet at the same time (it's a long story). I also mentioned something about Japanese men and their attraction to sparkly hair clips and handbags (for themselves).

However, this blog entry is about none of those things. Instead it is about the much overdo samurai festival! On April 15th, a bunch of us English teachers got dressed up as samurai. We were part of the Hara clan, which apparently was a really strong clan. In fact, our clan was almost completely foreigners if it had not been for the help of two Japanese teachers who had been roped in by my neighbor Kush. Steve, who organized our participation, got to wear one of the cool suits of armor. The rest of us were little mountain people so we wore the simpler brown armor and carried around plastic swords (Steve's were real).

We got to parade through town, and some people in the crowd were really excited to see so many foreigners participating. We were probably the most photographed group. My job was to carry the big banner. When it got windy, it was a bit of work, but other than that, it was lighter than I expected.

Putting on the armor was quite the experience. All the men had to change from their street clothes into the costumes in the gym in front of everyone. The women were handled a little more gently. We all changed behind a curtain on the side of the gym's stage. I take that back, someone changed us behind the curtain. The costumes were a little difficult to understand for everyone, and because there were so many women and such a little bit of space on the wing of the stage, there were two women dressing everyone. I scarcely had shed my street clothes, before a woman had wound the shirt around me, commanded that I put on the tabi socks, and then started tying my trousers on for me. I think there were eight ties total on the trousers. Once we were all dressed in the basic underclothes, we rejoined the men and tried to figure out how to put on the armor. Mine was so funny fitting on me, and I broke one of the laces, so I'm sure I would have been dead back in the day.

There's not much else to say other than we had a mock battle that was narrated, and I just followed everyone else. I should be putting up some clips soon.

Here's the pics!

Pictures (long overdue)

2007-04-13T00:06:00.000+09:00

Here are my pictures in no particular order at all!!!

This is a cherry tree near the sports field. I really like it. I took this picture from the second floor while wandering around the school (yes, I wander around my school).

This is my staffroom with nobody in it but me! This happens several times a month (or even in a week). Usually, someone just tells me to guard the staffroom, and I smile and say, "Okay."

My girls and I on Easter Sunday. We went to the local church (and didn't understand a word), but we did get to talk with some people afterwards. Some of the women had come to our church's "Girls' Day" so it was nice to see them all again.

We went to a park with the church to look at sakura. There were so many people. Lanterns were hung along the cherry tree lined path that everyone strolled down.

During winter all the plants had a little help for winter protection. I think it's mostly for keeping the plants from buried rather than for insulation.

On our way to church we detoured to look at a peach orchard in Isawa.

Thomas! Actually, I don't know who these kids are, but you get the idea.

There's the conductor. Too bad I didn't get one of his hat! It's awesome.

Level Up!

2007-04-06T22:36:00.000+09:00

Tonight was an exciting night at taiko. There wasn't particularly anything special about the practice, but afterwards one of the teachers called me over and invited us to the Wednesday night practice. The Wednesday group is the good group, and the teacher said we could come anytime so that we could "Level Up." I'm excited to go to taiko twice in a week, and I hope it will help me improve before I get back to the States.

I'm a little bummed also though because too many good things are going on the weekend I am dressing up like a samurai. Why can't these things space themselves out? On April 15th, the taiko group is having an all member get together from the schools in the region (or at least I think that's what was said) and playing together in the park. Then they are going to play at the making of the world's largest sembe, rice cracker, and then they get to eat it! Arghh... I guess you can't do it all.

Well, my camera stuff is up and running, so I guess I'll be posting more pictures! Toot Toot! That's for the train picture that's coming.

Can drunks ever be amusing?

2007-04-06T22:28:00.000+09:00

After having worked as an RA on the "party floor," I would probably have answered the question in the title with a big fat "NO." However, as I was on the train home tonight, I saw a funny sight that reminded me of a comic strip (I can't remember the name, but it's the one with the small guy who's always in the bar with his over-sized cap and is married to that grumpy big lady).

Anyways, the man on the train was stretched out over the seats with his legs tipping over the edge. From my angle I could see the sole of his shoe and his arm flailing. I almost cracked up. Then when the conductor announced our stop, the guy stood up and went to the wrong side of the train (they tell you which door to go to). As the train pulled to a stop, he stayed there until he heard the doors open on the other side. Turned around slightly confused and bumbled off the train. As I went down the road, I saw a little ol' lady chuckling, but trying to look angry. She was gazing up at the man (whom I presume to be her husband) with a mixture of annoyance and amusement at his Friday night state. I'm guessing that he had to go to an enkai, a business party. I kind of wonder if he lives close to the train stop or if his wife had come to drive him home. Either way, I'm glad someone was there to take him home.

Back in Business

2007-04-04T21:48:00.000+09:00

Hey Hey! After a four month hiatus of no photos, I have finally figured out a way to get my photos on the web. It's kind of a temporary fix. Basically, I take my memory card from my camera and put it into the video camera and then transfer the photos. Why didn't I think of this earlier? As for the power issue, I can use regular (or rechargeable) AA batteries. It'll last until August and sure beats my dad re-ordering a new camera dock and having it sent to Japan. This means you'll get photos of the samurai festival!

Guess what, it snowed today! Okay, it snow quite as much as you seen in the photo, but it still snowed. This photo is actually from way back in January, and you are just now getting to see it. Well, I'll be blogging more when it's not so close to my bedtime, but I just wanted to share this momentous occasion with you!

My Japanese Apartment

2007-04-03T14:59:00.001+09:00

It's a tour of my apartment. It might be a little boring, but if you want to see where I've been living, you should take a look.

Nishizawa Keikoku

2007-04-02T22:16:00.001+09:00

Nishizawa Keikoku

2007-04-02T21:38:00.000+09:00

Hi Everyone,

I went out for a hike, and since I'm having some camera troubles, I decided to take video. I've been putting off buying a new cord for my camera, but it may just come to that. There is more video footage of my hike, but I haven't put it into a movie yet. If you really want to see it, I'll make a video and post in on YouTube for family and friends only. I didn't do it this time because it's kind of a hassle to e-mail everyone with a goofy home video.

This place is called Nishizawa Keikoku. Amanda and I spent several hours getting there because we went forty minutes up the wrong road (and there was no choice but to backtrack). I'll be putting some more fun up soon!

Leslie

Sakura in Tokyo

2007-03-31T15:47:00.000+09:00

This week has been spring break, so I've done pretty much nothing. Rather than travel around, I decided to regain my sanity. On Wednesday, Amanda and I went out for a little excursion to Tokyo to view some gardens. It was peak Sakura timing, and here are some photos thanks to Miss Amanda.

The first photos is of cherry blossoms of course! The second is Miss Amanda amongst the cheerful yellow flowers. I have no idea what they were, but they were certainly full of pollen. I was a silly girl and forgot to take some allergy medicine, and I think it was these yellow flowers that really got to me and caused a huge headache by the end of the day. They are pretty though, are they not? The third picture is one the Amanda managed to sneak by. I am perusing my JET day planner looking at the Tokyo subway system. Amanda said that someone at orientation had referred to it as the "spaghetti," which I would say is fairly accurate.

These photos were taken in Hamarikyu garden (I think that's the name). My dad and I had visited it when he was here in August, but it was all green. I am determined to see it again in late April for the irises and wisteria. The flowers were lovely, but the tidewater ponds were being dredged up at the time, so it didn't quite leave the impression that I had hoped for. From the garden, we went and found a quick bite in the Ginza area. After lunch we went to the imperial palace and checked out the gardens there. Although I've been to the palace twice, I had always assumed that the gardens were just all the pine trees in front. Turns out, there's an actual garden if you just walk a little further that's open to the public all the time.

Here are three men painting by the pond. I think that's something I can imagine myself doing if I ever learn to paint. There were tons of people in the garden, some were sketching, some painting, some taking photographs, and plenty of people were like Amanda and I, just wandering around.

After mucking around in the gardens, we went and got some coffee, and went to a foreign food store. The store really wasn't a "foreign food" store, but it had plenty of little things that I couldn't find elsewhere such and a Lindt chocolate bar. The store was almost inside of Shinjuku station. We met up with another Assistant Language Teacher (ALT), Steve, for dinner. He had to go greet the new ALTs for the Interac program in Narita, which is about four hours away from where we live for a half-hour presentation. Anyways, I think he was happy to gain some company halfway through the journey. We went to an Indian restaurant and ate some yummy food and nann. It was a fairly busy day, but the fun didn't end after dinner. We still had to catch a train back to Yamanashi. We ended up on a commuter train that was packed pretty tight. We were standing in the middle of the train by the doors, squashed on all sides, and laughing at our situation. It didn't clear up until we got to Hachioji, a branch of Tokyo about a half-hour away from Shinjuku. Once we changed trains at Takao, we started playing hangman. Steve decided to "observe" and not play, but he was a pretty involved observer. Amanda stumped us pretty well with "Oxford," and as revenge I pulled out "coxswain," which I guess was a word they didn't know so it was a little unfair.

Oh the people are making announcements again, and there's this massive echo! The two speakers on either side of my apartment are not synchronized and the sound is bouncing off the mountains. I have no idea what it's about. One thing I won't miss in the States are these weird Tsuru City announcements.

Thomas the Train

2007-03-27T19:02:00.000+09:00

Well, I live on the most expensive (or second most expensive) train line in Japan. What are the perks? Trains that are painted more nicely than the regular Japan Rail trains. There's a luxury one (it costs extra) with crazy Mt. Fujis all over it. There's the one that's painted to look like the Matterhorn, and then there's the Thomas train. Originally, this train had the whole train yard gang painted on the outside and was supposed to be a special train for taking the kiddies to the nearby amusement park, Fujikyu Highlands. There's a whole area called Thomasland.

Well, on with the story. As I was at the train station today and watching my train pull up, I thought I noticed something slightly unusual. The Thomas train seemed somehow brighter. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was, until I stepped inside and saw that the whole interior of the train had been painted. If there had been any 3-5 year-olds on the train I'm sure they would have been running up and down in glee. Not only were there bright red, orange, yellow, green, and blue trains all over the place, but also the station master, balloons, clouds, and they even made the conductor where a special Thomas hat. As it was, there were no young children on the train, but rather a bunch of high school students and somber looking businessmen going back home. It seemed kind of a waste to use the train on such dreary rush-hour traffic. I'll have to get some photos of it, so you can see what I mean!

2007-03-25T11:41:00.000+09:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Habanera (Otsuki Concert)

2007-03-13T21:27:00.001+09:00

Marissa singing!

My computer is being a stinker, so I had to cut and paste short videos together. This is why there are some choppy bits, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!

What a week!

2007-03-13T20:56:00.000+09:00

Hi Everyone!

A lot has happened in a week. I am now 24. That seems rather odd to me, but I guess things will even out. I had a wonderful birthday. Actually, my birthday in Japan on March 9th was a little shaky as I corrected tests all day, but things definitely improved once I went to taiko with Amanda, Marissa and Rick.

Amanda had bought cupcakes to have with all the kiddies at the taiko school, and then Marissa and Rick provided some apple pie at their apartment. I feel so loved by my friends! Then on Saturday I got up early (which is a whole other story in itself) and went to the grocery store to buy stuff for a picnic. I ended up making 20 sandwiches for eight people. I may be more like grandma than I thought.

We went out to a nearby park at the base of Mt. Fuji and had a lovely picnic. I don't really recall doing that in quite a while. We even played a few rounds of ultimate frisbee. After that, we went back to Jessica's apartment for more cake!

I went to church on Saturday night as usual. We had a baby shower for Aiko and Steve, who are two very active and wonderful people in the church. It was really fun to sit and relax with the whole church in one room together. Amanda's been bringing a woman from Tsuru to church with us, and Hiroe-san is so much fun to talk to. She's able to talk with almost anyone, and she quickly welcomed a young lady who had come to church for the first time. Hiroe-san and Yuko-san seemed to get along really well together and decided to go to the Sunday Bible study the next day. That's saying a lot because the church is about an hour from Hiroe-san lives.

Jessica, Amanda, and I didn't go to Bible study on Sunday, but rather we got going relatively early, had lunch, and went and saw Marissa and Rick perform in a concert! Marissa was the main special guest, but Rick played on the piano front and center stage with her.

Afterwards we, and several other ALTs, went backstage and hung out with them after the performance. We went back to their apartment for cheese and crackers (and others had some wine), which seemed perfect for a concert after party. Rick and Marissa had to go to a party with the rest of the ensemble, but allowed us to stay behind in their apartment. Just when we were leaving, they came back, and Rick, Marissa, Jessica, Amanda, and I went out to dinner at Pizzeria B (a fancy schmancy place).

But the weekend didn't end there! On Monday, I was commanded to save my evening to be with the ladies, and I celebrated my birthday yet again! We went to an onsen in Fujiyoshida that is sublime. I could have soaked in the hot mineral baths all day. There was also a little relaxation area where you could just rest in silence. What made it absolutely peaceful was the air that carried the fresh cedar smell from the building and the lavender scents that wafted through the "ladies resting area."

After making ourselves all clean and relaxed, we went out and took purikura, which are goofy little sticker photos. Then we went out to kaitenzushi (rotating sushi bar) and then to Jessica's for more cake!

I am incredibly spoiled is all I have to say. I will be posting some videos from the weekend!

The Weather

2007-03-07T20:21:00.000+09:00

I can't say that there's been much going on, so I'll tell you about the weather. As I said previously, I went snowboarding on Sunday. What I didn't say was that some strong winds came in at the end of the runs. It's been like that for the past few days. There was stormy weather on Monday, lots of rain, and at night, a noisy wind. Tuesday and today were perfectly beautiful, but the wind always comes back at night and is rather loud.

Yesterday there were some rather good cumulus clouds. I like big fluffy clouds because they always remind me of drop biscuits. Okay, so the clouds are a little whiter and a littler brighter than the golden brown baked goodness, but every time I see them, I can't help but think how nice a drop biscuit with some butter and jam would be. In the late afternoon yesterday, I even saw a cool cloud that looked like a rhinoceros and a smaller one that looked like a frisbee about to land on its nose.

Because of the wind, the nights have been very clear and cold, and the days have had a nice spring warmth to them. My teachers are all allergic to the cedar trees which are now starting to throw their pollen all over the place, and I haven't sniffled a bit. When the rice starts to get pollinated, it will be my turn.

Am I going crazy? Maybe.

It's March!

2007-03-05T21:18:00.000+09:00

Who would of thought that time could pass so fast? I have only five more months in my job, and about five and a half in Japan! It's really quite frightening. Tomorrow is entrance testing for Katsura High School, so I will be locked in the building. The good side to it all is I get a free lunch.

I'm a little frustrated at school, because I have no classes, all my grading finished, and pretty much nothing to do. Today I basically made a whole English Bulletin board for nobody. I hope the teachers read my bulletin board. At least I got to review some of the Roman gods today. I basically rattled off how March is the month named after Mars and how it used to be the first month in the Roman calendar. I then put up little busts of Mars, Juno, and Jupiter. I didn't really look for any of Romulus (the founder of Rome and supposed son of Mars).

Basically, I study Japanese all day, while other teachers who have nothing to do look over my shoulder and make me slightly nervous.

In other news, I went snowboarding last night. It was another moment, where I wished I had had my camera ready. We went to Fujiten snow park and it was on the more western side of Mt. Fuji, so the sun hit it and made it look slightly pinkish. I have never seen the mountain so looming before. The weather was unusually warm, so the snow wasn't really snow, but it served for dinking around. It was Amanda's 2nd time and my 3rd time, so we kinda stuck it out together. We also went with Jessica, my neighbor Kush, Andy, Kim, and Kim's boyfriend George. Andy and Kim live in Fujiyoshida. Andy works for the city and Kim is also an ALT. I think I've posted pictures of Kim in the past. Everyone else pretty much knew what they were doing, but still came and helped out on some of the runs. I guess lift tickets are pretty cheap compared to the States. It's about 2000 yen or roughly 19 USD for a lift ticket. I had to rent gear, so the evening was rather expensive, but worth it to go snowboarding for one last time in Japan.

Well, there's my rambling post for now. I must clean my apartment, because people are checking on my water and gas.

PB&J

2007-02-27T18:40:00.000+09:00

Peeeeeeeeanuuuuuut, Peanut butter and jelly

Hehee... guess what I made my students sing today. Yes, I made them sing the peanut butter and jelly song, and they did it too! I can't believe I got twenty 17-year-olds to sing the peanut butter and jelly song. Oh the bliss of teaching a foreign language. Today was my last class with this group of students, so I decided to do a little cultural comparison. It was entitled "What's in Your Lunch?" I brought a sack lunch to school and showed them a "typical" lunch that children might bring to school. Thge contents of my lunch were a peanut butter sandwich, carrot sticks, an apple, some crackers, oreo cookies and a juice box. I hadn't gone running yet, so I didn't eat the oreo cookies.

To my surprise, the students were really shocked about the carrot sticks. I asked my co-teacher, "Don't you cut your carrots up?" She smilingly answered, "No. We can see carrots like this when we go to places that have animals though." Yay, Leslie, way to go. After we finished comparing lunches, we did the peanut butter and jelly song, and then I pulled out my special surprise, the students got to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It was the first time for everyone (but me) to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I would have a better photo, but I went to the electronics store and they said there were no cords for my camera in Japan. I'm not sure if that's true, but it'll be a big pain to go to another store. I think I'll see if I can order one online. Until then, you will see more happy stick people.

Tonight's dinner is curry and steamed spinach (just in case you were interested).

No camera

2007-02-21T22:13:00.000+09:00

Alright, I still haven't got any cords for my digital camera, and I really have no idea what I did with them. I have the docking port, but no cords... ARghh... So as part of a suggestion, I am going to start drawing things for you to illustrate my little stories. Now, I am not an artist in any way, shape, or form, so please forgive me. Fortunately, the illustrations are not starting with this post.

I just finished reading the Chronicles of Narnia. If you haven't read them yet, or haven't read them in a while, re-read them. I don't believe I had ever gotten past the first two books when I was young, but I just read the whole set and absolutely fell in love with it. They're short books and fly right by.

On a completely different note (this is where I would have an illustration, if I had bothered to draw one), Japanese cars are so weird! I could have sworn that I saw two hearse-like station wagons this week. The first one was black, but it appeared to be parked in a rather obscure spot (by a rice field). The second one is parked out back behind my apartment building and is a glistening white. It kind of looks like a cross between one of those SUV limos and a white hearse. The K-cars are rather funny here too. It's a miracle that some of them make it up the big hill.

I really didn't realize that Ash Wednesday was upon me, so I'm starting Lent off on kind of the wrong foot. My church in Japan doesn't practice Lent because... well, I'm not exactly sure of the reason. Most churches in Japan don't practice traditional Christian holidays or seasons because either they are totally misinterpreted (like Christmas) or some other mysterious reason that I don't know. I guess it's 46 days until Easter now.

Dummdiddy... guess I'll stop babbling now. Peace!

My Running

2007-02-21T15:15:00.000+09:00

Well, so far this sweets thing seems to be working. I've managed to go running (except for taiko on Friday) everyday since last Thursday. That also means I've been eating good sweets. I just have to remember to keep my head up and pay attention. Last night, I almost ran into a bus stop sign. Okay, so I did run into a bus stop sign, but it only hurt a little because I realized what was happening about one foot before I hit it. I felt really stupid.

On Sunday I went and celebrated Chinese New Years with Jessica. The food was awesome, and I got to try tea eggs! I also got to take home a yummy coconut cake, which has been extra motivation for running.

I'm going to finish this up so the computer doesn't boot me off.

Yikes!

2007-02-17T14:52:00.000+09:00

Okay, it's been twelve days. What has happened to Leslie in that time? Well, a week ago I went to the post office on my bike, and a bird pooped on my helmet on the way back. I think the bird knew that I had just showered an hour ago. He must have thought that I needed to try again. I went to a girls' day for our church. Jessica and I helped Amanda set up her apartment and get things going for the day. We went ice skating in the afternoon and I managed to fall and then slide for three feet. On Wednesday, Jessica, Amanda, and I went to the new onsen (A Japanese bath house/spa). On Friday, I went to taiko and had a blast, and today I went with one of the teachers from my school to hear her daughter sing with her nursery school. All that said, I'm going to tell you about my new work out plan.

One of the things I struggle with is self-discipline. Some of you may not think so, but I do. In fact, the only thing that really seems to motivate me is obligation and sweets (cake, pie, gummy-bears, etc...). I haven't been working out much, and every time I say I'm going to stick with it, I don't. That's why I have developed this new work out plan which can't fail. As of February 15th, I have a rule that I can eat no sweets until I've gone running for half an hour except on Fridays, where taiko practice can substitute the running. The problem in the past was that there was no consequence for me not running, now I have a reasonable way to punish myself. Seeing that I really love the treats here (especially the cake), I think this method might just work.

I'll keep you up to date. Of course, when I get into better shape, the bar will be raised, but for now we'll see how it goes.

Book Review Time

2007-02-05T21:46:00.000+09:00

Wow! I know it's been a while again. Here's a Happy Birthday shout out to my dad!

For those of you who read my last book review (Kokoro), I assure those dissatisfied readers that these next two books are completely different items altogether.

A while back I read a book called Life is So Good by George Dawson. As I'm writing this, I'm beginning to wonder if I did write a blog about this... well, anyways, I'm going to write about it again.

What struck me so much about this book was the life of the man who wrote it. It's a biography of George Dawson, a man whose life spanned the whole twentieth century. I first went looking for this book after one of my classes did a reading about him. In the four pages from the textbook, I learned about a man who had learned to read at age 98! His diligence and determination to read, even after he had managed his whole life without reading, astounded me.

The book is simply about his life, which by no means is ordinary. It starts off with him recalling the stories of his grandmother, a former slave, and his family's struggles to make a living on their farm in Texas. His telling is so straightforward that it makes the reader feel as if they are sitting across from him in a living room listening to his tales over milk and cookies. Although he lives a hard life, there is no sense of bitterness about racial tensions between Blacks and Whites in the South. In fact, Mr. Dawson is very accepting of what life brings him and takes the scrapes he gets himself into as life lessons. His candid, no nonsense, retelling of life and America's history from his point of view is fresh and enchanting.

The second book, which I just finished, is written by Bruce Feiler. When I first arrived in Japan, I read his book Learning to Bow. I wasn't quite as enchanted with it as other people were, mostly because I'm not really into reading about foreigners living in Japan (By the end of my first 6 months, I had read about 4 book by people who had had the same job as me). However, when I stumbled across Walking the Bible I felt the need to pick it up and take it home with me.

The book itself is an account of the author's journey through the lands that appear in the Books of Moses (the first five in the Bible). Rather than a simple account of his journey, however, Mr. Feiler includes scholarship and personal reflection in his telling. If the book had merely been about archaeology and riding on camels, I might not have been so interested. However, Mr. Feiler also tells his own spiritual journey that draws the reader in. The true plot is not about the high adventure in crossing borders and sleeping in strange places in the desert, but how the land, the Bible, and the people he meets on the way start to change his image of God.

I don't usually get into books that steer far from fiction, but this one had me willingly taking notes, snapping up my own Bible, looking up things at the internet, and if I had been in the States, I would have been buried in some Theology school's library. It's that good. By the way, for those of you in Seattle, Mr. Feiler is making a visit to Seattle United Methodist Church for a "spiritual" talk and a book signing. Apparently, it's also been made into a PBS series. It's really rich, and it took me a while to finish, but I'd read it again just to dig up some more notes. By the way, this book is written from an American Jewish perspective (I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking it's something that it isn't).

Nihongo ga tanoshii desu yo!

2007-01-23T22:53:00.000+09:00

I had a blast at Japanese class tonight. There were only three of us: Tom (from Englnad), Bianca (from Brazil), and yours truly. Sadly, I found out that one of the women who had been coming moved to Chiga prefecture because she wasn't getting enough hours at work. Mari was a lot of fun and made class lively, so she'll be missed. It was kind of a surprise since no one knew about it until Sugimoto Sensei called and was told that Mari was moving the very next day.

Anyways, I've been poor at practicing my Japanese and it showed at Japanese class, but only having three people in the class allowed for a lot more practice and focused studied, and of course correction from the teacher. I made a lot of mistakes, but I also asked a lot of questions. Sugimoto Sensei gave me a ride back, and I asked her even more questions and was able to keep a rolling conversation in broken Japanese.

Tomorrow I have no classes, because the JHS students have their entrance exams and all the high school students get the day off. That means I'll be stuck in the office doing nothing until they call me in to help correct the English portions (I hope they ask me for help!) There'll be plent of time to review the stuff I learned at class tonight and cement some of it in my head (and I can do some proactive studying too). I guess I'm on my second wind of studying Japanese. We'll see how my ability is by the time I leave.

This weekend I'm going on a snowboarding trip to Hakuba! I'm nervous because last year (I haven't gone since then) I obtained tons of bruises trying to learn how to do the S curves. I'm not sure my body is ready for the abuse it's going to get in my determination to get down the hill at a reasonable speed. Someone came up with the idea of extreme snowshoeing, but as I have no snowshoes and snowshoes aren't that popular here, that'll have to wait until I get to the states!

Peace Out!

Up and posting again!

2007-01-22T19:37:00.000+09:00

Hey everyone,

It's been a long time. I hit the ground running when I got back to Japan busy with social engagements and just adjusting to the time difference! I've finally managed to get the interview video set for my students. It's worked out well. My apathetic classes get nap time, but my mid-level and upper-level students find it really interesting. I added lots of subtitles and little pictures to help the students understand a little more.

Yesterday, I went to our taiko group's New Year's barbeque. We played some volleyball, basketball, and then went on to pounding mochi and grilling wild boar. It was really a blast.

I had decided that I was going to bring apple pie, so Amanda and I set off to baking at her apartment. I hadn't brought my own salt, so I asked to borrow Amanda's and put it in the pie crust. I tasted the pie dough (I love to eat the pie dough), and it was at that point that I should have realized something was horribly wrong. It was late, so I thought I might just be crazy. We put the apple pie filling in and started baking the first pie. After I made the second pie crust, it hit me that the pie crust was truly disgusting tasting and not just 'funny'. I put some of the salt on my tongue, and sure enough that funny taste was there. I made Amanda try it just to make sure that I wasn't going crazy. When the first pie came out of the oven, I half hoped that the apple and cinnamon would override the funky taste. However, when we sampled the crust, a bitter taste quickly hit my tongue and it felt like I was eating bread soaked in seawater. I'm guessing it was MSG. We performed surgery on the pie and made it into apple crisp. The taiko people loved the apple crisp, so it all turned out well.

I hope to be adding some videos of my adventures in Japan! We'll see how much time I get to do that. At least, I should be getting more posts up.

Much Love,
Leslie

I'm back!

2007-01-22T19:34:00.001+09:00

Hi Everyone!

Well, I'm back in Japan now. The trip home was great and I really enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces again. I know I didn't get to meet up with everyone, but there's only so much that can be done in a ten day period over the holidays when everyone else is traveling. Such is life.

It was a rude awakening to find out that life had continued in Auburn while I've been in Japan. I always knew that things were changing in my head, but part of me expected everything to be the same when I got back. I felt like the Japanese folk character Urashima Taro. He's a young man who travels to a kingdom in the sea and when he returns to Japan everything is different. When he opens a magic box given to him by the princess in the sea kingdom, he changes from a young man to an old man. He discovers that time has passed differently in the sea kingdom than on land. I'm much the same way. My year and a half in Japan doesn't really seem like it's been that long. At times, it feels like I just arrive here three weeks ago. It was strange to see buildings missing, roads finished (who thought that would happen?), children grown, and changes in old friends. It was this big wake up call, that the world has kept turning for everyone and that I'm actually getting older. Weird!

When I got back, I went to work the next day. There was hardly anyone here, so when my jet lag kicked and I started to fall asleep, there were no witnesses! After my one day at work, we had a three day holiday. How sweet is that?! I went out to Lake Yamanaka for the church retreat. Everyone met at the church (an hour and a half away from me), so I decided to take public transportation to the retreat site rather than to the church. The retreat place is actually only about half an hour away from me, so it was kind of funny. Things turned out a little trickier than I expected though because a lot of snow had just fallen the day before. The roads were clear, but the sidewalks were covered in ice. I got off the bus a little too early, and apparently people from the church passed by me in their cars 　(without knowing it was me) while I was shuffling my way to the camp.

The retreat went well, and I was surprised to hear that one of my friends is getting baptized this month, and another is in the process of studying the basics of Christianity before getting baptized. I've known something was up since we all went to Tokyo for a Hillsong United concert in November, but it's exciting to hear that plans are being made for their baptisms. Usually, people from our church get baptized in Lake Yamanaka, but since we're nearing the coldest part of the year, it's a really bad idea. I don't know how the baptisms will be done this time.

This isn't a new post

2006-12-19T19:12:00.000+09:00

Hey Dad! Check your e-mail.

With Love,
Leslie

Christmas Gifts

2006-12-11T19:11:00.000+09:00

It's that time of year again. The time when everyone starts asking, "What do you want for Christmas?" This is always a rather difficult question for me to answer, because I normally don't have that much on my list (that I'm not intending to buy anyways). So this year, I have decided to make a little list of things Leslie would find interesting. I hope you find this helpful.

1) Eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner with me. I know you don't believe it, but really the best thing about Christmas is seeing all of my family and friends. After a year and a half, I'm chompin' at the bit.

2) Now if you want to go a little more on the material side, a meatloaf is a nice gift. "Why a meatloaf?" you might be asking. Well, for starters, I have no oven in Japan. Then there's the issue of there being no true oven nor a good sized bread pan in which to make said meatloaf. In addition, I don't eat beef that often here because chicken, fish, and tofu are so much easier to get and lots cheaper. To top it off, nothing says, "Merry Christmas" like, "I cared enough to use two hours of my cookie baking time to make you this meatloaf"

3) In order to prevent receiving twenty meatloaves this Christmas, I will continue. Generally speaking, baked goods will be well received. I'm particularly partial to sourdough bread and apple turnovers. I'm also more than happy to get a good fudge brownie sundae.

4) If food isn't your thing (but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be), I will always adore a nice pair of wool socks. Wool socks with reindeer are wonderful, as are purple wool socks, and argyle wool socks. I'm not very particular about my socks, as long as they are warm and suitably tacky.

5) Hmm... so you don't want to give me wool socks or delicious baked goods? Well, I simply don't know what to say. Some of you at this point are screaming, "No, SERIOUSLY Leslie!" For those of you who think I can hear you in Japan, I'm planning to buy sweaters with long sleeves, making a trip to BestBuy or Circuit City, and will be in search of good books. Oh yeah, I've also missed all the movies that have come out in the past year and a half with the exception of Narnia. If you want to come to a movie with me, that would be a totally acceptable gift too (I'm not catching up on the year's movies by myself).

A Break in the Posts

2006-12-10T00:40:00.000+09:00

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a while. I've had plenty of good stories, but it didn't seem quite right to post them. It's been a difficult week for my entire extended family due to the loss of a very beloved uncle. My stories seem so trivial and unnecessary. However, I've decided to keep posting so as to not lose a total rhythm of things.

I've only got two more weeks before I get on a plane to the good ol' U.S. of A. I'm extremely excited to see my family, but it also means that I have got to get things wrapped up over here (but not the presents). Time has flown so quickly and I'm still trying to take care of gifts for people both within Japan and back home. I only have one taiko lesson between now and my trip to the States. I want to make cookies for all the elementary school kids in my taiko class. Last week, I was the only American (there was one other foreigner from Nepal) and the only adult willing to play "Onigokko" with the little ones. Onigokko is what we call tag. I'm constantly the 'Oni' which translates to 'demon' in Japanese. Lovely huh? Anyways, I'm developing quite a fan base with the kids, and I want to earn my place as the "fun foreigner."

Yuck! I'm currently trying to make chocolate crinkles, but I must not have added enough butter because the cookies are really dry. We don't have the same sized sticks of butter, so I kind of guessed at it. I guess I guessed wrong.

Last Sunday, I went Christmas caroling with my church to some nursing homes, and tonight at church, the pastor's wife shared a Thank You card and COOKIES with us. We had made them cookies, so it was kind of funny that we received cookies in return. I guess that's the reciprocity factor of Japan.

I'll try to keep updating so that you all know what I'm up to by the time I get back.

Life's a Never Ending Lesson in Kindness and Humility

2006-11-30T21:28:00.000+09:00

Today I don't really have a story for you, but rather some reflections that wandered across my mind today. This morning, I was ready to write a blurb about some of the complaints that I have with being young and how society treats young people. It was kind of funny and witty and incredibly sarcastic. However, after I had written it down in my journal and left it alone for a while, it became clear that the entry would never make it to the World Wide Web.

Why?

Well, to start off with, it was incredibly ungrateful, unfair, and assumed that I knew more than the people whom I was complaining about. In general, it was a rant about all the unsolicited advice that I receive from people who are three or four years older than me. I get quite a bit of it here, as I am one of the youngest foreigners in the area, and people are just ippai (really full) with advice. Oftentimes, I receive whole life stories filled with all the mistakes that they've made and what I should learn from them. I doubt I'd be able to make all those mistakes in the next three or four years, so most often I begrudgingly let them babble on and lecture.

However, it occurred to me that I should be grateful that they think I'm someone worthy of receiving advice. I guess it means that they care about me in some fashion (I do consider them my friends afterall) and perhaps they just need someone to hear their story.

When such situations come up, I want to scream, "You don't know me at all! Why do you think I need this story? Why don't you listen for a change?" But then I was reminded by God today, that it is not my job to be understood, but rather love and care for the people around me. I really like the prayer by St. Francis of Assisi as it often makes me take on a more balanced perspective on the world.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

My favorite part is the middle, where it asks God to help us seek understanding and how to love. These are the parts that I need help with the most. I always want people to hear my story, but what God really wants me to be is a good listener and a comforter to others. I have been blessed with a wonderfully supportive family both in blood and in Christ. I have people who understand me well enough, I don't need more to do so.

By accepting other people's advice (usually stuff I consider entirely irrelevant to my life), I am also giving them the opportunity to open up their stories and their concerns. Perhaps when we give advice, we are also processing what we need to change in our own lives. I hope so.

I am praying to God that he will change my heart so that it will be molded closer to his. I hope this means I will abate my habit of giving unsolicited advice and receive others with more kindness.

Put on your dancing shoes... or at least your blue polka-dotted boots

2006-11-29T22:26:00.000+09:00

That's right! I have blue polka dot boots! And they're SUPER! Why? Because they keep my feet dry!

Okay, sorry that was bursting with excitement. I've had these boots for about a month, but they've really come in use on the walks to school. I no longer need to bring along an extra pair of socks to school and put wet shoes on again at the end of the day. Nothing is yuckier than getting your feet dry and then having to go home in wet shoes. Now I can muck around in all the puddles I want and not worry about the irrigation ditches overflowing on my way to school.

In other news, I almost busted out dancing today at the train station for no particular reason other than my body had been sitting at a desk all day grading tests. Yuck, I don't know how teachers grade so many tests. I've got about 360 to correct... and I spent all day doing just that. Still not finished. Anyways, I didn't quite dance at the train station, but rather just bopped up and down and paced alongside the tracks. I managed to contain myself until I got off the train where I part walked, part ran, and part danced my way home to the apartment. As soon as I got in, I turned on some Ella and Louis and started dancing in my kitchen while doing dishes. It was so much fun! God definitely did not create our bodies for correcting tests. I wonder why we force ourselves through such horrendous things such as even making English tests. Yeah, yeah... we should know how the students are progressing. Yet, the ones who do the best are the ones who communicate the least in English... Sometimes I wonder...

Oh, and here's a picture from the Kawaguchiko Marathon. I didn't run, but rather discovered it when I took Saori to the lake. There was a crazy amount of bananas. I don't know if I ever want to run a marathon. Just watching all the runners hobble to their vehicles and trains made me hurt.

Yuck, all the mosquitoes are coming in my apartment to die. As long as they don't suck my blood, I'm okay with it.

Thanksgiving update

2006-11-27T22:58:00.000+09:00

Well, I celebrated my Thanksgiving over here on Saturday. It didn't go at all like I said it would in my previous post. On Wednesday night, some of the ALTs and I decided to go bowling. It was during this time that Kush and I agreed to a game of janken to see who would be hosting the 20 some people in his or her apartment. All those years of practice piad off and Kush became the host, while I just had people watching a turkey cook for about five hours in mine. I didn't make the overnight salad either. Truth to be told, I feel a little luke warm about overnight salads. Lots of people decided at the last minute to bring greens, so I decided I would just pick up whatever was missing.

I ended up providing the little snacks like tangerines and nuts for everyone, which somehow all disappeared even though there were tons of food. I also ended up making the stuffing, even though I didn't have a clue of what I was doing (no stovetop stuffing here). All in all, it turned out pretty well and we even played a game of catchphrase. The game helped everyone stall on the rest of the food for about an hour so that the turkey could make an appearance. M y favorite line was from Steve who was making the turkey, which went something like this, "I'm so grateful that my mother and grandma do this every year!" as he was attacking a still slightly frozen turkey with a butter knife in order to remove the giblets.

I missed all of you back home, but I want you to know that Thanksgiving was still very pleasant and with a good crew of people. I am starting to break out the Christmas music now. I started a little early this year, but now I can go full out Christmas with turkey day out of the way.

Hmm.. I've run out of things to say. How unusual....

2006-11-23T21:57:00.000+09:00

Everyone loves pictures, so I thought I'd put some pictures up from a hike I did two weeks ago. I went up a nearby mountain (This was only one station away) called Mt. Mitsutoge. I suppose if I had been willing to walk an extra hour each way, I could have walked from my apartment building, but I had a slight schedule that day. Basically, my goal was to get up and down the mountain, go grocery shopping, and be back at my apartment in time for Bible study.

Anyways, the view of Fuji was incredible as you can see from the first photo. At the top of Mt. Mitsutoge I saw the coolest frost (haha) I had ever seen. I was gushing on about how peculiar it was to one of my classes, and the students just looked at me like I was crazy. Even the teacher asked, "Isn't it kind of common?" Oh well, I made myself look like a fool. What else is new?

The last photo is of my town and even my apartment building is in there. The hiking weather was really perfect for being able to see everything. I'm so happy I went in the morning, because the clouds came in during the afternoon. It's definitely a hike that I'd like to repeat in the spring.

Well, I don't have anything particularily exciting from today, other than I meant to clean. It's kind of hard to tell that I did anything. Such is life.

With Love,
Leslie

I need to write more!

2006-11-21T23:33:00.000+09:00

I was looking at my archives, and realized how few posts I'm putting up nowadays. Maybe you wonder what I'm up to, besides teaching and traveling Japan. Well, trust me there's not much more than that, but here it goes...

Tonight, I went to Japanese class. I stayed unusually late after work, so I had to run home, gulp down dinner, and run to catch the train. When I got there I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend Xavier and his wife Rosie. Rosie is from Peru, and soon I will start giving her some English lessons so she can speak with Xavier in English rather than Japanese. Neither language is their native language, but they manage to make things work. Xavier is from Bangladesh, so he studied a considerable amount of English in school and is pretty much fluent. Rosie was testing out the Japanese class to see if it would meet her needs.

Class seemed to be going alright, but when it came to the part of class where we answered questions, I couldn't seem to get any of my answers right! I kept trying to answer aloud in front of the class, but after being corrected several times (and with many giggles following), I began to feel like the shy student that I was in highschool and university. I definitely got to the point where I didn't want to talk anymore at all, but since it went against my usual character in class I toughed it out. I can definitely understand how my students feel when they are continually corrected in front of their peers, although it's something I try not to make a big deal of in class. I'm sure my cheeks were red tonight. I felt that I understood the material, but it just came out of my mouth all wrong.

One of the other students, Mari from Brazil, noted that my mind seemed to be 'up with the moon.' I think it was an interesting comparison. Oh well, guess that means I'll have to convince someone to help me practice Japanese more.

In other news, I am currently applying for a Master's program at the University of Washington for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and a Master's program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Crosscultural studies. Writing my Statement of Purpose has been ridiculously hard, and I am no where near having a presentable paper. I told one of my teacher's at school about this, and she told me, "But it's so easy to write about yourself!"

To that I say, "HAH!" and "Maybe it's easy to write about yourself, if you came in an organized compact two page essay." Anyways, I hope to be finished with this application mess by December and focus on more important things like packing to go home! Yaya!!!

For Thanksgiving, I will be cleaning my apartment. Turns out that the Japanese Thanksgiving Labor Day holiday is also on the 23rd this year. However, I have to work Friday, so the other ALTs and I will be having Thanksgiving on the 25th. We're getting truly innovative this year, by cooking in my neighbor's apartment, and feasting over in mine. None of us have a true oven, so the turkey will be cooked in the biggest microwave/convection oven we have. Last year, we ended up with only about one inch between the walls and the turkey. This year, I don't have an oven to borrow, so I'll be making some overnight salad and chopping up some fruit. One of the other ALTs gave me some canned pumpkin to make pie with, but so far, I have no idea what I'm going to do with it (since I have no oven).

Alright, that's my update for now!

With Love,
Leslie

DIE!!!

2006-11-15T20:19:00.000+09:00

Yes, you read that correctly. "DIE!!!" is what I was told to do in one of my English classes today. It was meant as a joke by the student. He was asking the English teacher to "Come on!" and I corrected him by saying "Come here." I didn't even tell him to say please. Anyways, the kid tells me to "DIE!!!" and my jaw just dropped. I walked away to check on the other students as they wrote their compositions, while the homeroom teacher talked to the kid for about five minutes about how rude his comment was. He apologized, and I accepted and that was the end of that. However, I'm still not going to forgive him for guessing that I was twenty-eight years old. Haha....

I'm already teaching Christmas lessons here. At first, I was really opposed to it. It's not even Thanksgiving and they're wanting me to shove Santa down the kids' throats. Well, my first Christmas lesson title was "It's Only November!!!" I proceeded to talk about how strange it was to see Christmas trees and lights all around, when it was still two months before the holiday. I really hammed it up, and all the students eyes were completely fixed on me. This almost never happens, but I guess they really enjoyed the story and even managed to do fairly well on the pop listening quiz I gave them.

I still haven't finished with my Nagano trip. So here it goes.... We got to Nagano, my reservation was lost. The hotel puts Amanda and I in a smoking room, which is pretty much sterile and super cheap about sixty eight American dollars. They also give us nice little packets for facials and manicures. We got to park Amanda's car in a vertical parking garage (car elevators!) and when we got the car out of the garage, it was even turned around so we didn't have to back out. We saw Matsumoto Castle and were given a private tour by a volunteer English guide and then proceeded to eat our way through town. Oh yeah, there was a Chrysanthemum bonsai show too. There's that trip in a nutshell.

Weekend Trip (but not to Nikko)

2006-11-10T23:22:00.000+09:00

Okay, earlier I thought I was going to go to Nikko, but it turns out that all the hotels were booked to the max because it was a three day weekend. Instead, Amanda and I went off on an adventure to Matsumoto.

We decided to take the scenic route, and were persuaded by a little monkey sign to follow the arrow. We wound up at a nice little park with good fall foliage and an awesome slide. It was time to let the inner child loose. One of the things that really helps me relax in this country is to act like I'm five. Thus I am throwing my shoe at the camera. Amanda bought in to the whole deal and cut loose also.

Later on our little road trip we ended up at Lake Suwa. It wasn't all that much to look at. It was a huge lake surrounded by lots of industrial land. Yay... However, they did have random apple trees planted on the side of the road. I saw some people getting out of a tour bus to pick them, but I decided I wasn't willing to take apples when I didn't know who they belonged too. Okay, it's late... so I'll continue this later.

Photos

2006-10-26T22:27:00.000+09:00

Hey Hey! It's Leslie and Stitch. Amanda, Jessica, and I went out to the Gotenba Outlet Mall and saw Stitch just wandering around. I couldn't resist and just had to get my photo with him. Stitch's buddies were just bustin' up laughing about it all, but fortunately Stitch was a good sport about it all (aliens can be dangerous, especially the blue ones that mutate).

Usually the word "Outlet" means discounted shopping, but who knew that Armani, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Coach had outlets? Even at outlet prices, they were probably about 10 times more (at least) than what I was used to paying for non-name items.

We had a lot of fun window shopping, but some places just screamed "don't touch" to me. Most of the stores were clothing shops, with the best deals to be had at the Nike Outlet. The Nike Outlet probably had lower prices than the ones in the states. I had fun pointing out all the shirts that said Beaverton, Oregon. I actually knew where it was (and probably was the only one in the store).

Next photo is of me and my new gal pal Miss Amanda! She's my new partner in crime (or adventure) and we've just about been doing everything together such as going to church, hiking Mt. Fuji, and eating yummy food. Sorry, this photo is a little backlit, but we certainly weren't going to the other side of Fuji for just a picture.
The lake in the photo is Lake Yamanaka. It's one of the five sacred lakes of Fuji and is linked to the other ones through deep volcanic tubes. Pretty cool eh? They are also really cold even in summer.

The next expidition is probably out to Nikko next weekend. I'll let you know how that goes. I hope the autumn leaves will be pretty good by then. They've already started to turn and the mountains around me are starting to look like a patchwork quilt.

On Sunday, I'm hoping to go up a nearby mountain that has a good view of Mt. Fuji. I hope the weather is nice, or I'll have to put it off until another day.

Life continues to be good in Tsuru. I'm loving it here more all the time. The taiko kids are really adorable, but I'll have to add some more stories about that later. Today I want to focus on the ingenuity of random kids on the street.

Every morning, I pass a group of elementary students, who take it upon themselves to give me a hard time. At first, as you may remember, the started with pinching their noses and saying "Good Monnning!" or "Ohaayooooogozaimaaassuuuu!" I, of course, responded in kind. Then we moved onto the ever more sophisticated making faces at each other. I impressed them with pulling down on my eyelids and flipping up my lip. They thought it was hysterical. However, then things started to cross the line. They have now decided to test out the durability of a gaijin with a few well placed punches to the guts. I've had to shake my head at them and make them undedrstand that it wasn't okay (especially when I was running late for the train).

Then they got cute again and stuck chopstick up their noses. I'm really not sure how to explain this one. They had rubberbanded two chopsticks together in a criss cross pattern so that when they let go, the chopsticks would form one long stick with the rubberband holding them together. They were showing me, and just as I was leaving, I heard a lot of giggling. I turned around and saw "Keia" with the chopsticks crisscrossed between his nose. I call him "Keia" because I think he's the one that says every morning "Hello, my name is Keia!" from a bunch of little first graders.

I also met some new little kids today who were walking with their grandparents. I was trying to go around them so as not to scare the grandparents, but the kids ran straight towards me yelling, "Hallo, Hallo, Hallo." I don't know why the little ones are getting so bold with me all of a sudden, but it's making me feel more like a part of the community here (and the parents are warming up to me too).

Yay!

Garbage and Bears

2006-10-19T23:19:00.000+09:00

There are few things better than seeing your work get rescued from the garbage can. About a month ago, I was cleaning out my desk and found a stack of flash cards that I had made last year for a lesson. They took a ridiculous amount of time, and we only used them specifically for that one lesson. This year they changed textbooks on me, and I never used them because the vocabulary was completely different. Needless to say, when I found them this year, I tossed them out in an effort to minimize the nonsense at my desk (I use a lot of props in my class). However, this morning I noticed a stack of flashcards on another teacher's desk that looked eerily familiar. Sure enough, they had been saved from a fiery fate in the incinerator. I hope he can put them to good use.

As for the bears... well, I'm not too sure that they're going through garbage, but there have been quite a few sightings near my school. About two days ago, someone saw the bear directly behind the high school. There isn't a lot of fruit this year on the mountains, so the bears are coming into town looking for food before their hibernations. Everyone's really excited about them, and my students even had to wear little jingle bells on marathon day to ward them off. It was really funny. Please imagine 500 high school students running for 27-38 kilometers with jingle bells. I don't think it bothered anyone, since it's pretty common to carry bells around here. Anyone whose hiked Mt. Fuji once, knows about the jingle bells.

Really, I ought to post some pictures.

It's been way too long

2006-10-10T21:04:00.000+09:00

Okay! I'm sorry, haven't written in a while. Life has just been rolling along. As some of you know, I joined a taiko group about a week and a half ago, and had my first concert with them yesterday. It was a mess, as Amanda, Marissa, and I joined and were then informed that we were going to play in the concert with a group from Nepal. We weren't even taught the songs. We were just told to watch and to try to follow. We all had to do our best from cracking up on stage because we were almost always off from the rest of the group. It was like trying to dance with a ballet company in a performance without ever having taken a dance lesson in your life.

Today I went to Tokyo to take the GRE. I woke up late, and so I had to run in the cold pre-dawn air to catch my train. My lungs were burning by the time I got on the train. All my connections were one right on top of another so I didn't have time for breakfast before the GRE. I basically got into the test center and just went for it. My scores were okay and better than what I thought they would be given my zombie like state. After I took the test, it was time for lunch. Actually, all I had was the granola bar in my bag and an orange juice. I enjoyed my "breakfast" along the banks of the Sumida River. It was quite nice for being a river that runs through a huge city, although I probably wouldn't take to swimming in it. I managed to spend a good deal of money at Kinokuniya (bookstore) before going back to my town.

Well... this is my update for now. I've got to go to bed. Now that I'm not studying for the GRE (a lot of good that did me), I'll have more time to update stuff and make my stories more entertaining. I think you'll be hearing a good more about taiko with five year-olds.

Saturday Blues

2006-09-24T21:29:00.000+09:00

There's something unusually cruel about making students stay in a classroom all day on a beautiful crisp Saturday. For the first time in a long time, it's not hot and muggy nor cold and rainy. It's such great weather, that I would be tempted to go out and fly a kite in the gentle autumn breeze except for the fact that I'm part of the institution keeping these students here (and I don't have a kite).

We had a three day weekend last weekend, so by all natural logic, that day has to come from somewhere, and they are taking the Saturday! Wrong, wrong, wrong... Three-day weekends are supposed to be a bonus not an inconvenience that the national government put in the education system's way.

Of course, a lot of students and teachers are missing school today anyways because they have sports events to go to. The supposed reason we are here is so that the parents can visit the school and they are too busy during the week. Of course, the same parents that visit during the week are the same parents who visit on the weekends. Go figure busy parents are always busy, and the ones who are concerned about their children's classes always find time to come. There is of course the chance that the children just didn't tell their parents. However, that's not even a good reason since almost every child has a parent in the PTA and the homeroom teachers make house calls.

I'll be going to church later this evening straight from school. My weekend starts at 5:00 when Amanda comes and picks me up. I'm so glad my friends have cars! This week we'll be joined by another ALT from Fujiyoshida and make the long trek to Kofu together. Tomorrow, one of the women from the church is getting baptized, so we'll all go out to the lake. I hope the weather is just as nice tomorrow.

Between the end of school and when I'm getting picked up by Amanda I'll be figuring out how to do cable stitches. My knitting sampler is going to be quite interesting. Already it has little squares and randomly placed rows. Grammy will have to teach me some of her technique over Christmas. Yes, I'm already thinking ahead to Christmas. Just so you all know, I plan on being in Washington from December 22^nd for a ten day visit! Still have to tell my supervisor though.

Okay, that's it for now. I hope to get some pictures up soon.

I'm SICK!

2006-09-20T19:37:00.000+09:00

Yuck, I've just caught a nasty cold, and everything hurts. My throat is sore and I'm pouring honey down it to make it feel better. Go figure that my job requires me to talk. Oh well, I only had three classes today, and I'm getting better at making the students do most of the talking.

I discovered how much my emotions affect how I'm feeling healthwise. While I was sitting in the staffroom, tired and bored from prolonged studying, my body was screaming at me. However, when I went to the last class of the day and had a good class (the students actually got excited), I didn't notice my sore throat and aching body so much. Aftewards, I went and talked to some of the second year students, because they had decided to go home early before English Club. They still had to practice English, but seemed to enjoy just a short fifteen minute chat. Since English Club was few in numbers today, we went outside and played double dutch. I managed to forget completely that I was sick for forty minutes, and didn't really notice my cold until I got home.

It's only 7:30 now, but I'll probably be going to sleep soon. In the meantime, I'm trying to make my curtains and learning how to knit from the internet. I've already got a good start on what will probably be the first scarf I've made.

Ikea trip

2006-09-17T22:05:00.000+09:00

This weekend has just been going by so fast! It's a three day weekend here because Japan has a cool holiday called "Respect for the Aged Day." I don't really know what to do with this other than enjoy a three day weekend and not be particularily rude tomorrow to anyone who is older than me.

On Friday night, I had some friends over for TACO NIGHT! It was really fun because we just sat around eating tacos and being rather silly. I love the mixture of people within the ALT community. Amanda (see her link) is the new gal in Tsuru and is turning out to be a really great buddy to do things with. There's a young couple in the next town over, Marissa and Rick, who are both just really spunky and off the wall. There is also a new guy who lives out in Doshi, which is no where near anyone, but we are his closest neighbors. His name is David and is a pretty unique individual also. Kush and Steve also came over, so there were seven of us in my little apartment, and half of the conversations made no sense at all.

I finally got to bed at about 1:00 am in the morning, and slept in all the way until noon! I had a great chat with my dad on the phone, and managed to clean up the apartment from the night before. Amanda and I went to church in Kofu together in her new car! We managed to get there alright, but had some issues getting back. Church went really well and I got to see Naoko-san! She looks to be doing very well and invited Amanda and me to go apple picking in Nagano. I really hope it happens and that I can finally teach her how to make apple crisp. We didn't get back from church until 12:30 am, but that was because we took a half hour detour.

It's so funny, it seems like all the newlyweds in the church are having babies. Already, there is one baby girl in the congregation and there are two twins, a baby boy, and a mystery baby on the way. I hope they all are good friends. In other church news, we just began a period of twenty days of consecration. Our church didn't really do lent, but Pastor Danny is asking us to set aside a period of twenty days to really focus on God. I'm very excited about it, as it means that the whole church is doing this together and supporting each other. We all gave up a food or pleasure for twenty days and have also made prayer and fasting goals. Amanda and I have already talked about ours even thought they were supposed to be secrets! Whoops! I guess it only matters if you feel that it's really personal.

Sooooooooo..... that leaves Sunday! Amanda had spent the night, so we could wake up early and go to Ikea. (You were waiting for that weren't you?) I made pancakes for breakfast, and then we hopped on the train at seven and met Rick and Marissa in Otsuki. After two and a half hours on the train, we finally made it to Ikea (we even passed Tokyo Disney). We were pretty crazy the whole way, and pretty crazy in the store two. We ate some Swedish meatballs, and couldn't get over the fact at how crowded it was (it was opening weekend as it turns out). The women were all on a mission, window treatments. Rick bought some construction paper.

We all got some pretty good ideas, but I wasn't really into anything that was on the shelves, so I bought some fabric. Now I'll be spending Respect for the Aged Day helping Kush paint and sewing my curtains. Marissa and Amanda managed to load up on plenty of stuff to make their apartments their home, and we lugged it all back on the trains for another two and a half hours. Phew! I'm not planning to go back to Ikea until I have a place in the states that I need to make homey.

Hmm.. well there's more useless details about my life. Hope you enjoyed it. Sounds a bit like Eeyore don't you think? Thanks for noticing me....

Weather report: Rainy with partial sunbreaks (Seattle anyone?)

Did I say that?

2006-09-14T18:40:00.000+09:00

Oh my goodness! I had the weirdest Chemistry nerd attack today at school. My supervisor asked me about what the entrances to freeways in America were called and I told her that they were on-ramps and off-ramps. She said that the entrances to expressways in Japan were called interchanges, and asked me if that was normal. I reassured her that it was. Then she asked me why they were called interchanges. To this I replied that it was change between two different road systems. Then I went further... I explained that of course the change part was the "change", but then I went into this for "inter."

"'Inter' explains the relationship between two different bodies like in intermolecular forces versus intramolecular forces." She had a big blank look on her face. I tried to go on further, "You know when two different molecules are...."

She interupted me and said, "I think I know, like international."

I said, "Exactly."

Japanese lessons are out

2006-09-12T22:35:00.000+09:00

Well, I just talked to my Japanese teacher again tonight before class, and it turns out that she's booked until December. I guess that means I'll just keep plugging away at the same old self study. She said she's surprised that Tsuru doesn't have it's own Japanese class for foreigners. I guess a lot of people from my town go to her town for lessons. She's amazed that I show up every week and take the train back and forth just to do so. What can I say? It keeps me busy and at least improving a little bit each week.

Two of my students just came back from a month long exchange in Tennessee, and they brought me omiyage! Right now, I am savoring the delicious chocolate covered cherries from Harry and David. Yum Yum. I also am helping a former Katsura graduate apply for graduate school in Australia. She brought me some French candies to sweeten things as we plunged into her research proposal concerning a comparison between French and Japanese Imperialism. I'm learning a little about some politics, but thank goodness she just wants me to help with the grammar and not the content.

As my stomach is being lined with sugar at this very moment, I've realized that I have not written anything remotely different from my daily hum drum life. Just goes to show you that you shouldn't make promises. Remember that.

In "other people's news", I read in the English version of the newspaper that an archbishop of the Anglican church in Zimbabwe closed down most of the cathedrals on a Sunday so that everyone could attend his 33rd wedding anniversary. As you can imagine, that ticked off a few people. In Southern Thailand they are giving teachers weapons training so they have a better chance of defending themselves aggainst religious extremists in the area. I guess several teachers were killed because they were Buddhist and not Muslim. Prime Minister Koizumi has basically said that Japan's relations with China and Korea are nothing to worry about as long as the next Prime Minister cleans up after him. In the US President Bush was criticized for politicizing the 9-11 attacks during a speech he made that was supposed to be dedicated to the lost lives. Well, that's my "other people's news" segment, and I hope you enjoyed it.

The weather has taken a pleasant turn in Japan and cooled down. Along with the low temperatures, has come the rain, which makes it feel like good ol' Washington. I've started a count down until when I arrive in the states on my desk at school. I'm so excited, I can barely go to sleep at night without Christmas tunes running through my head.

Sunday Afternoon

2006-09-10T11:41:00.000+09:00

It's another Sunday afternoon and my apartment is a mess. However, I'm putting it off for just a little more so I can write to all of you. Life continues to roll along, and I'm not quite positive to write about since I don't want to way you down with all the trivial details about my life. With that said, all I have to tell you are all the trivial details of my life. Read if you must.

Yesterday was our school's English Workshop. Fifty-two high school students were forced to participate in a day of English fun. I had asked eight other ALTs to come and help out and told them what their activities would be. It was really quite strange to make eight lesson plans and then have other people carry them out, but it was fun to see what people did with them. The students seemed to have a really good time, and I don't think it really felt like studying to them (even though that was the purpose of the even that the teachers gave). I'm so thankful it's done because all the details were a pain to nail down, and now all blunders are complete and finished and a part of the past. Yes!

On Thursday night, I went to go see the school play. There were only twenty people in the audience, which was too bad. The students did the Japanese version of Romeo and Juliet in the style of the movie that Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio. Even thought I didn't understand a word of it, the students were fairly decent actors so I at least knew what part of the play I was watching and could guess at which lines were being said. Romeo was a little over dramatic when he poisoned himself and was twitching and gasping for air for a good minute. I thought the poison was supposed to be less painful that and a little quicker too.

Today, I'm going to attempt to clean my apartment up just a little and then watch the sports festival at the local JHS. These crazy games that they play! It's really hot outside, so I know that the students are just roasting without their sunscreen. Apparently Japanese who live in Japan don't get sun burnt, just the ones that live in other countries. I have no idea why the little kids turn red, but maybe it's just because they're still learning how to be Japanese and don't know that they aren't supposed to get sun burnt. Ahh, Oh well...

That's it for now. I'll try to write something more interesting another day.

My Skin is Falling Off

2006-09-06T21:05:00.000+09:00

Now that I've caught your attention. I'd just like to share with you that I managed to get severely sunburned while climbing Mt. Fuji again. It was just on my face as the rest of me was bundled up nicely, but even with sunscreen, I managed to get burned. Yes, that's right, I went up Mt. Fuji again. It was my fourth time, but still a unique experience. This time I saw things that weren't readily caught on film, so I'll just have to tell you that Mt. Fuji's shadow cast by the moonlight is really quite haunting and that watching a thunderstorm happen from above is incredible. Don't worry, the thunderstorm was way far away, but I was able to see it all the way up until sunrise.

So many things have happened since my Sado trip, that it's really hard to talk about all of it. I managed to get through the church service just fine. It was my first time, in a long time, playing piano with someone other than myself. Trying to match a guitarist and drummer who don't know the songs any better than I do an hour before church is just not a good idea. The day after I went to a gospel workshop and added my sorry voice to the alto section. It was a lot of fun, and thank goodness there were plenty of powerful voices around me to drown me out.

School has started up again. It's the second week after summer vacation now, and the students are starting to come back to life. The teachers are busy again, and somehow I am busy for the first time. It's great. Tomorrow, I'm going to watch the student production of Romeo and Juliet. I've never seen it in Japanese so it should be a real treat.

Today, we had a school assembly about drug abuse. It was the cutest anti-drug assembly I had ever seen. We watched a video with cartoon characters that were in the shape of a globe. Some dramatic music came on as the camera panned various pills and household products while something that looked like a shadow of Godzilla lurked in the background. Most of the students were asleep through the whole thing, but most of my students are still pretty innocent and seem to think that dying their hair brown is a signifcant form of rebellion. I realized that I had heard of almost all of the drugs on the video before, but some of the teachers didn't even know what they were. My vice-principal didn't even know what cocaine was (it's pretty much pronounced the same in Japanese too).

Japanese class has been on again off again for the past couple of months because of summer schedules. My class will be changing, as half of the class will restart at the beginning and the other half will move on. I'm kind of in the middle of my class, so that means that the lessons have been right at my level. I'm a little worried now that when October comes, I'll be in the lower half and completely lost, so I've decided to take private lessons. The teacher will be the same teacher as my Japanese class, so she's trying to squeeze me into her already tight schedule (another factor is that she knows I study). Last week we were interviewed by a local TV crew in class, and I managed to squeak by through a series of mixed up questions. There was a script, but I gave an answer that caused the interviewer to improvise and change the order. Whoops! That'll teach me to give an orginal answer.

Okay, that's my random collection of stuff for now! Peace.

Apple Battery Recall

2006-08-31T22:12:00.000+09:00

Hi I thought I'd just put this information up to get the word out to those of you with Apple computers. You might want to check the website at apple for more information

Battery Exchange Program iBook G4 and PowerBook G4

Apple has determined that certain lithium-ion batteries containing cells manufactured by Sony Corporation of Japan pose a safety risk that may result in overheating under rare circumstances.

The affected batteries were sold worldwide from October 2003 through August 2006 for use with the following notebook computers: 12-inch iBook G4, 12-inch PowerBook G4 and 15-inch PowerBook G4.

Apple is voluntarily recalling the affected batteries and has initiated a worldwide exchange program to provide eligible customers with a new replacement battery, free of charge. This program is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and other international safety authorities.

Check out Apple's information

https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/

2006-08-27T20:59:00.000+09:00

Earth Celebration!

2006-08-27T20:27:00.000+09:00

It is extraordinarily hot in the staffroom right now. Today is under 30 degrees so we can't have the air conditioners on. Miserable energy rules. This is why one should live in a temperate climate. These seasons require too much heating and cooling to be comfortable. Everyone should just take a siesta. There is no reason to be working in a stuffy building when it is hot and humid. No one is productive and more energy could be saved by just turning off the lights. Uggh… well that's enough of my complaining.

Last weekend I went to Earth Celebration on Sado Island. It was spectacular. I was only able to make it for one day because it is so far away and I had to return to my English conference on time on Monday.

Anyways, here it goes from the beginning.

After the English conference wrapped up for the day on Friday, I got on the train to go to Sado. Everyone at the conference was surprised to see me with my backpack and wanted to know where on earth I was going. It was nice to have other ALTs jealous of me for just a little bit. I arrived in Naoetsu in Niigata at about 11:37 at night. From there, I looked at the little maps and figured out how to get the ferry port. Tons of people were just lying around the train station waiting for late night trains. It sounds pretty convenient to travel by train at night time. Too bad we don't have those running through Yamanashi. I have yet to figure out the night buses.

I arrived at the port at 12:00 or so, and tried to figure out what I'd do until the ferry left at 7:00 in the morning. There were some benches in front of the ticket stand so I just put down my backpack and lied down there. There was some other guy on one of the other benches. My guess was that he couldn't go home that night. I was really relieved when I saw some other wayward travelers trying to kill time at the port. I kind of dozed in and out, more afraid that the police would ask me to move than anything else. In Japan, it's considered perfectly normal to camp out in front of train stations and ferry ports without fear for your safety, and apparently the cops are on your side if you're stranded for a few hours late at night.

At 5:00 the sun started to come up, and I noticed that there were tons of people trying to rest on the benches also. I heard a young couple asking each other if the other one knew English. At about 5:30 , I went in and bought my ticket and then just kinda sat with my bag in a dazed state. From across the way on the circular bench I was on, I heard some English directed at me. It was then that I met Rieko and Yuuhei, the two I had presumed to be a couple. It turns out that both of them had excellent English and both had just met by chance at the ferry port.

Rieko was a young chemist from Gunma, and Yuuhei was a cook from Yamanashi who had just finished traveling for three months in India. We ended up talking until boarding time and we decided to stick together on the ferry boat. It was the second time for Rieko to Earth Celebration, but the fourth for Yuuhei. It turns out that Yuuhei was on staff for Earth Celebration and he proclaimed it the best festival in Japan and said that Sado was Japan's Bali (the jury's still out on that one). Yuuhei had told me that he was so excited that he couldn't sleep, but once he got in the passenger area on the ferry boat, he was out cold for the two and half hour trip. Rieko seemed to be able to read a little. I was in and out because I kept ending up with the stinky feet of one of the other passengers in my face.

As we got off the boat, all of us were a little sleepy, but we quickly came alive when we saw the tents set up in the harbor market and the bustle of activity on shore. Yuuhei bid us goodbye as he went to go help out with events, and then Rieko and I went to get our seating tickets for the concert. Rieko was so concerned about me when we first arrived, I don't think she knew that I knew some survival Japanese, but I really appreciated her helpfulness as it got things done at twice the speed of what I expected. We sat down for a while and watched a Eurasian group perform on some small instruments and make some extraordinary sounds using only their mouths. I'm sure Bobby McFarren would have had a ball with them.

After we watched the group, we went to Sobama beach to set up our tents. We had both traveled with small one man tents, so we were able to set up in the small spaces in the otherwise full campgrounds. Rieko offered to sign us in at the campsite so I could catch a bus back to the main performing area.

When I got off the bus, I checked out the harbor market and found a yummy blend between Thai curry and ramen. It was so good! I sat down and waited for Kodo to do a performance with a jazz dance team. As I was waiting, I overheard some women speaking about taiko in Seattle. Driven by curiosity, I went over. A woman with dark hair turned around, and low and behold it was Donna, my brother's taiko teacher. I chatted with her a little bit and then enjoyed the show. There was also a girl called Kristina whom I had met last year at a Hillsong United concert. Talk about weird.

After all this, I went to the dance workshop I had signed up for. We practiced the local traditional dance for two hours. At first they taught us the simplified version, and then in the last half hour stepped it up to the more difficult version. Because it took me a while to catch onto the Japanese instructions, I didn't figure out that only two of the steps were different until the last ten minutes. Turns out two steps, can make a dance look entirely different.

I wandered on out and was watching some weird Japanese guy sing off key, when I saw Lopaka, who just so happens to be an alum of WU. I've said hello to him a couple of times, but I don't think he really remembers me from WU because he always seems confused in that general vague, I should know your name kind of way. Oh well, it just added another unexpected person to the list of unexpected people I met on this trip. I was just getting ready to sit down and watch whatever the next performance was when Rieko and Yuuhei stumbled upon me. Yuuhei and his friends were grilling fish and they invited us to come over and look. Their choice of food was certainly colorful, but I had already had some dinner at this point.

Rieko dragged me away from the fish grill to a man who was sitting by the water playing a shamisen, tuned to an Okinawan chord. She bobbed her head back and forth and clapped her hands along. It was great to watch her just enjoy the music. He was really good at playing, and later Rieko got a hold of his shamisen and gave it a try. He seemed more than happy to give her an impromptu lesson. He introduced himself as Ken and talked (in English and Japanese) with us. Ken is currently living in Arizona not only as a local artist, but also as a peace activist. Schools that can get the grants ask him to come in and teach about the Hiroshima bombing and the Japanese-American intern camps. He was really knowledgeable about the Japanese-American culture in the states.

After talking to Ken, Rieko and I went to get our seats for the concert. The guest this year was Tamango's Urban Tap. Don't worry, it was an entirely drug free event. Families got out their blankets and pulled out their packed dinners. The venue was a nice grassy area surrounded by trees that was hidden on a steep path behind a shrine. Since this concert was mainly for the guest artist, the first hour was just this group who did everything! It started out with tap, went into some funky jazz and tap, then a jazz and modern African dance mix, followed by some vocalized beats and break dancing, and the list goes on and on. One artist even went out dancing on stilts and did some spectacular moves. After intermission, Kodo came out and joined them and did a couple collaborative pieces. Rieko at one point dragged me to the dancing area where we just stomped and clamped to the beat of the drums and cheered on the performers.

Following the performance, we exited the ampitheatre to the street where Oki Okesa was going on (the traditional dance I had learned before). I danced for a while, but soon realized I was being followed by a drunk man, so I went and grabbed Rieko and taught her how to dance too. We got in line behind Donna, and managed to make it halfway through the circle, but we were both too tired for a full circle of the dance. I swear the circle got bigger and bigger.

Rieko and I walked wearily towards the bus stop, but we still had an hour to use up, so we went down to one of the performance areas and watched some capoeira. We walked a little more, and saw some people trying to fire knife dance, but they needed a little more practice. Preston would have loved teaching them some new moves. When Rieko and I went back to the bus stop, there was huge line. Not everyone could get on the bus, so the bus had to go to the beach and then come back for the rest of us. Everyone was sprawled along the sidewalk exhausted but still cheery.
Rieko went straight to her tent after we got off the bus, but as I was getting ready to go to sleep, I heard some drums so I wandered down to the beach. There were huge bonfires. Some people were doing the African drum circle thing, but one group had their taiko out and were having a little jam session. Two people would get up and play on opposite sides of the drum, and everyone would cheer on. Then the next two would go and people would cheer again. The last pair were two little eight year olds who had all the adults trying to help them with the rhythm by calling it out or tapping the side of the drum to help keep a steady beat. I loved it!

I finally went to sleep, only to wake up at 5:00 the next morning because I was already roasting in my tent. I went down and played on the beach for a while and tried to rinse off the Friday and Saturday's grime in the cold showers (hot water cost more money than I was willing to pay). After I felt refreshed, I just lazed about a little more. I said happy birthday and goodbye to Rieko, and then was off on the bus at 9:30 to get back to the ferry Port.

As I left on the ferry, the festival was still going on. I watched form the back of the ferry as the colorful tents drifted off into the distance and the blue ocean began to dominate the landscaped. A couple of seagulls followed for a while tailing off the boat's winds and scooping up the shrimp chips that the children were throwing out to them. Even though I didn't get to go for the full three days of Earth Celebration, my time was well spent and even the heat didn't kill my enjoyment. However, I'll be going back for the full three days next year.

I think I just volunteered to be on the Worship team.

2006-08-13T22:30:00.000+09:00

Hmm, so the church has been looking for musicians because two guitarists just left the worship team. I thought they were looking for just guitarists, but as I was talking to Suzy, the worship leader at church, I found out that in two weeks there won't be any musicians. She sounded really worried about no musicians, so I told her I could play a little piano (our pianist is going to a bluegrass festival that weekend). So now I'm going to try to learn all these songs in two weeks, some of which I've never heard, and all I have to go with is chords!

I'm not that great of a pianist, and I've certainly never worked from just chords. Even fakebooks have a melody line to help you out. I live an hour and a half away so practicing with Suzy before the 26th is not going to happen because I'll be gone next weekend on Sado Island and there's probably no way to fit the practice in. I'm scared silly! We're going to have practice before church on the 26th and that's it, and I'm the only musician. I think I'm going to cry. This is totally different from playing out of a hymnal, so please pray for me that I'll somehow pull it together and won't be distracting people from their worship with sour notes on the keys.

Boom! Crash! Uh... is my apartment moving?

2006-08-12T15:30:00.000+09:00

Well, for the past two hours a huge thunderstorm has been raging overhead. For a long time it seemed as if the storm would never leave. There were lightning strikes coming from all sides with occasional simultaneous thunder. I don't think I've ever been in a storm quite like it. The power even went out for a little bit, but because of that, I found that my rice cooker has it's own little built in battery or something. I thought for sure the clock on it would go out, but it kept time like usual.

I didn't even think about trying to get a picture of some of the lightning strikes until it was too late. Probably was a good thing though because the storm seemed to be raging on all sides along with a pretty big downpour. I'm going to church in half an hour so I'm glad to see that things have subsided and that I may be able to get to the train station without getting wet.

I started out this morning with a nice little run at 6:00 am and found out that I really do live in the country, just going five minutes away from the main road results in entering rice fields, game "preserve" areas, and other types of little farms. I even found where Tsuru gets all its gravel from (remind anyone of another place?). There was a little trail head, and I thought I might explore it, but I barely got 200 yards on the trail before it was entirely overgrown (not to mention the trailhead is in a cemetary). This road seems to go on forever in between the mountains, and when I have a better bike and someone to come with me, I'll have to explore it more.

A ramble

2006-08-10T20:44:00.000+09:00

Well, I went and looked through my other blog posts. Since I really haven't been keeping a personal journal in Japan, I had to relive my memories on the internet. I realize that my most recent posts haven't been so introspective lately.

In February, I was still in that stage of convincing myself that I could live another year in Japan. Now it's August, and I know I can live another year in Japan and even have a few thoughts entertaining a third (don't worry it won't happen that way). After a full year, I've come up with so many goals for the next year and it just doesn't seem like there's enough time. It's got a lot to do with how long it takes for me to get adjusted to a place. Back at Willamette our Intervarsity group was always talking about "investing" in the community around you. For me, that takes a lot of time. It wasn't until my second year at Willamette that I opened up to people, and it's kind of the same here in Japan.

After losing some of my favorite teachers in spring and my closer friends from church this summer, I'm forced to really take a look at the people in my immediate area and ask, "what kinds of friendships are waiting out there?" As much as I love travelling and meeting new people, I also love having those precious deep relationships that last for years. It's just really hard to imagine that my current friendships will expand past a few months of when I leave Japan.

However, I've noticed that now I've got a firm grasp of my situation in society here, I'm starting to relax and have more of a vision of what I can do here. Perhpas that will help me to establish deeper relationships with the people whom I know only on the surface. Trust me, there's plenty of nice people out here, but our conversations rarely extend past the normal humdrum. The problem isn't with the Japanese standoff-ishness, but also my shyness (yes, some people perceive me as shy) that creates a rift. My main goal in the next twelve months is to close that rift!

Wow... this was a weird ramble... a scary insight into my mind

In other news, I've finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and am extremely disappointed that book seven is not out yet. I simply cannot wait. In the meantime I am reading a book by John Grisham called the King of Torts. I think it's a pretty ridiculous title for book, but that doesn't keep me from reading it. Thank you dad for leaving it behind. I was also left with the July issue of Scientific American and that is occupying desk space at school right now.

There is now another woman in Tsuru! I'm so excited. Her name is Amanda and seems like a fun person. During her first night in Yamanashi Steve, Marshall, Marshall's brother, Amanda, and I went out for some yakiniku (what most people might call Korean barbeque). She currently has practically nothing in her apartment because her position is new and so there wasn'ta predecessor to leave her stuff. I'm trying to unload some hangers, mugs, and other stuff on her (and she might take it).

Hmm... well that's it for now. I'll try to read something interesting tomorrow and have a wild and overly dramatic reaction to it.

The World is going to END!!!

2006-08-09T18:17:00.000+09:00

Okay, if you're Nellie, we've already discussed this.

I was reading National Geographic today and after I read four or five articles, I was convinced that the world was going to end in the next ten years. Seriously people, we are using way to much energy (and by energy I mean fossil fuels), overfishing our waters, and making dumps of our coastlands. This is simply outrageous, and I see no end in sight. As we all know, the average American does not read National Geographic (or other semi-intelligent magazines) and everyone is always focusing on "development." We've been focused on "economy" for so long, but have forgotten that while creating a demand is important, you are limited by your supply.

Ecologists are predicting that if we don't change our energy economy soon, we could potentially reach an irreversible point in climate change on our planet. Do I truly believe this? Well, there are some serious indicators out there such as huge ice sheet meltings, large mammmals (polar bears) struggling to survive in the arctic, huge hurricanes, and gee... doesn't it feel a bit hotter? Okay, so I'm in a country where the climate is different anyways.

Our oceans are probably the biggest indicators of our problems. The oceans absorb about two thirds of the CO2 that we emit and as a result there is a larger presence of algal blooms, which is not necessarily a good thing (think red tide my friends). Our salmon are in trouble and some are coming back up the Columbia with mysterious tumors (I wouldn't eat those ones), and let's not forget that a dead zone in Oregon coastal waters just recently developed.

Okay, so I'm being an alarmist, but for pities sake help the little guys out there (like the frogs that are starting to mutate). Quit driving everywhere, especially if it is just you and you are able bodied. That way we won't have to destroy Alaska or the South American rainforests to drill for oil. We won't be emitting as much CO2 into our atmosphere, and runoff into our waterways will be reduced. On top of all that, your wallet won't feel as light and it'll be easier to be physically fit (you might not even have to drive yourself to the gym anymore. Buy what's in season if you can (it takes energy to transport out of season food) and hug a tree. Consider public transportation (GASP!).

Alright, that's enough of my ranting, and now I'm going to turn my computer off!

Lots of Love to you ALL!