July 26, 2005

So we've gone from a major 6.0 earthquake in Chiba, to a full warning tropical storm that has hit Chiba tonight. It's been coming all day and the wind and rain has been phenomenal. I actually went out today. It was pretty stormy last night and this morning I decided not to leave the house, but I was supposed to meet my friend for lunch and it had cleared up a bit (read: non-torrential rains) so I decided to head out. We had a nice relax day of chilling and cooking lunch and sitting around and chatting and laughing. Quite lovely, but by the time I was leaving the storm was back in full force. I was sopping wet by the time I reached my flat. Good times, good times.

July 25, 2005

I had a very humourous day in my "The Week's Worst Class". First, I must say that I have discovered one of the reasons why I hate "The Week's Worst Class". The dynamic among the students that are in that class is interesting. I had only the two girls in the class tonight. And then one of the boys was in the next class (he was just terribly late and joined the next class in his same level), and his presence completely KILLED that class, just the way it does to the previous class when he attends it.

My time with the girls was terribly humourous. We're in a unit about families so we were talking about percentages of divorce and marriage in America. So I asked them if they ever wanted to be married. This actually sparked a real conversation (such as it was in an Intro level) for the first time in this class. It was hilarious, and exhilarating, to listen to one of the girls try her hardest to put English words together in anyway that she could possibly could to get her point across. Real communication! Amazing. They think I'm too old and that I should be married. They are convinced I should have a boyfriend. They then decided that I should hook up with the new teacher who was observing my class (yes folks, they have the new teachers watching my classes as training...management is obviously insane). He's married and his wife has been working at our school for a few weeks now. The girls' response to this was "Are you deeply in love with each other?" What's up with that! I can't get her to say "Would you like to go to a movie?" but she can come up with "Are you deeply in love with each other?"

Oooo, tremor, after-shock. We've been having them since the big earthquake on Saturday.

Never mind. His, very appropriate, answer was "Yes, VERY much". Their answer to that was "No matter, no matter". Too funny. If they had their way in my life I would evidently be hooking up with other teachers left right and centre. (Do you hear that Brooklyn!! Tee hee, I'm funny.) Then we went into a time of discussion of one of the girl's love life as she just "separate from him", at which point I got the chance to teach them, "Yesterday, I broke up with my boyfriend". Yeah! A teaching point that they actually may remember.

Wow, more after-shocks. Wild that they're so close to each other. How distracting. Back to my story. Actually, I think that was pretty much it. They came up with some awesome sentences, often inspired by the dictionary, but heck, I'll take anything right now. So that was the best part of my really usually awful "The Week's Worst Class" this week. Maybe next week I'll teach them "Sparkle" in honour of all Main Street Girls every where.

July 23, 2005

Today at work we had a nice big earthquake. It lasted a really long time. A friend checked the news when we finally got back home and it was evidently a 6. That's pretty good. It closed down the train lines for a really long time. I was off at 6 o'clock, I got home at 9. We had to just sit there in the school watching the station from the window to see when they were going to open the lines. More than just a little frustrating. At least we could sit in the, as my co-worker put it, "air-conditioned haven" and see the station from the window. It meant we didn't have to go out in the muggy-ness.

Good fun.

July 19, 2005

What does "Summertime" mean to you? What images come to mind? Quintessential summer. Symbolized in beach balls, flip flops and swimsuits, BBQ's in the back yard with a plethora of homemade salads and burgers with all the fixings and beer on ice, sneaking out late at night to go skinny dipping either in the neighbours' pool or the local reservoir (or just Shawnigan in front of our house!), sitting by the camp fire with friends roasting marshmallows and telling stories, fresh strawberries and snap peas from the local farm, afternoon naps on a sleeping bag on the lush, green backyard lawn, sitting by the lake waiting for you turn behind the boat to jump off the dock and take off across the clear calm water at a speed a little faster than what you're comfortable with that excites and exhilarates you, and drinking crisp homemade lemonade on the porch from a giant glass pitcher full of ice and lemons with a big sun hat and oversized glasses on. These are the images that come to my mind, and coincidentally make me miss home more.

Japan in the summer. Early summer is known as the Rainy Season. It is the time of the year for colds and sniffles. Now is the time to get everything packed up and protected against the coming humidity. Just as in the early winter time it is the time to take care of yourself, the same advice and homemade remedies for keeping the flu at bay are shared everyday here.

Fireworks displays begin the end of July. There is no reason other than to enjoy the fireworks. It's like going to the beach for the day. Everyone packs up a lunch and takes a tarp to the local viewing place in the morning and sits and waits for the main show. Many dress up in Yukata (a summer garment that looks much like a kimono only much less binding, cooler, more comfortable and less expensive) for men and women or in a Jimbe which are like long shorts and a wrap top for guys, pretty cool. The event is all about just going and having a good time and then watching a fireworks display just for the sake of fireworks. It is not just a few minutes of fireworks either. These displays put all Canada Day, Independence Day and Guy Fawlkes Day celebrations to shame. They usually last well over an hour and a half, the smallest display of which included 700 fireworks this year in Yokohama. The one in Chiba city is rumoured to have close to 1500.

Watermelon is a staple summer food just the same as back home only it comes in the familiar pinky red, and yellow. Kiwis also come in a familiar colour of green, and in the unexpected yellow.

Street fairs and fairs surrounding the temples and shrines celebrating Matsuri are very common. Some of the booths are familiar with games of knocking down blocks with a cap gun to win a prize, hot dogs and cold pop. Games for the kids include fishing for gold fish and finding prizes in colourful floating balls. There are masks of cartoon characters and heroes, and of course, Kitty Chan (Hello Kitty). There are snow cones and candied apples. Deep fried mochi (rice paste) and takoyaki (Octopus balls, tee hee, I said balls!!)

Umbrellas are an all year necessity. In the summer time they take on a bit of a different form in that they're prettier, but they are still useful for rain in case one gets caught in an unexpected torrential down pour. Fans are also a summer time fashion necessity to keep the temperature down. And yet despite the heat most people continue to wear full business attire. Le gouvernement has been trying to establish more casual attire in businesses through the summer months to get people to turn the business buildings' air conditioner up a few degrees to conserve energy. It doesn't seem to be taking hold yet in a culture that is so concerned with outward appearances, far above environmental concerns.

The Tanabata "Star" Festival kicks off the summer feeling in my area. It is celebrated all through July until the beginning of August, depending on the area. People write their wishes on slips of paper and attach them to bamboo branches along with other colourful decorations that line the streets.

A familiar sight in all the drug stores and corner stores are bug displays. The old-school green mosquito coil that I remember as a child while camping at the Provincial Camp Ground have never been old-school and continue to be indispensable household item. More importantly are the Roach displays with every possible roach killing technology ever known to man, new and old, right out front to remind all that if they find a roach in their house it is their own fault for not taking the necessary precautions to ride their beloved abode of the nuclear winter surviving horridities. Just watch all those pesky little critters die. Die, die, die a quick and hopefully painful death.

This is summer in Japan. Next year, I will miss it.

July 18, 2005

I think that I should give up completely on journaling anything of my thoughts and experiences. I mean, the point is to remember what I've done, to get thoughts out of my head so that they're clear and to process what I'm going through. I've gotten to the point now where every Monday is the same as every other Monday with slight variations. The greatest variation lately is how hot it is. That's really all that is taking all of my thoughts and energy (or at least mostly the heat). So instead I am going to do nothing but report on the weather each day because although it may be the same as every other day as well, it's what I am experiencing the most. It's much more exciting to say that it's hotter here than it is in Mozambique. At 1 am as I'm writing this it is currently 26 degrees with 84% humidity, it's supposed to feel about 35 degrees or so according to one site but another site says it feels more like 30 degrees, than to say that I just spent 1900 yen on two things of eggs (that's 20 eggs in all, they come in packs of 10), 2 apples, an orange, a bag of kiwis, about a dozen strawberries and two things of tofu. At home that'd run me probably just over 10 bucks or so, no? It's over 20 bucks with the exchange, and that isn't organic or anything fun, it's straight on sale crappy stuff from the big box store on the corner. Or maybe I should write about how the most exciting thing today is that I'm in the process of making a huge batch of potato salad (I'm cooking the eggs right now, hence the trip to the store, I needed eggs). It will be done tomorrow. I also made Rice Krispies, but I only have some corner pieces for myself as I gave most of it all as a Peace Offering to the minor god of "the keeper of current tv shows and a half bottle of Jack".

The other crazy thing about the environment is that the sun comes up at like 4:30 in the morning but you don't actually get a sunrise, it just sort of gets light really fast. Really fast. Normally it's like, oh yeah, the sun is coming up and then it gets light out a little later you feel like the day is starting closer to 6 or 7. Here, the sun comes up at 4:30 at it's light out by about 4:45, enough so that it feel like the day is starting immediately. And then the sun sets at like 7 pm. Forget this "light out until 10" stuff of back home. The party shuts down early around here.

I don't acutally mean the thing above about giving up on journaling, just in case you're either a weather fanatic and looking forward to the change, or thinking you'll stop visiting because that would be boring, don't read too much into my sarcasm.

July 17, 2005

It's coming, I went to Yokohama to see fireworks with Chris and Yasuko. I have pictures and everything...this too is coming...it's coming...be patient.

July 16, 2005

Went into Tokyo to go to Matsuri with Yoko and friends. It was hot.

July 15, 2005

The chips I ate last night, and then couldn't resist again tonight, are evidently Ranch. I should have stopped eating them right away, but I just couldn't not eat them. I wanted crunchy. I then proceeded to spend most of the rest of the night near my toilet. I didn’t actually throw up, although I kind of wish I had. Then maybe I would be turned off tortilla chips for a time. Why am I telling this story? Because it reminded me of why I have been so frustrated by Japanese washrooms before. There is a room with a door and nothing but a toilet inside. No sink, no anything, but the toilet. Seems like a good idea, keep the 'business' by itself, right, so that you aren't having to deal with the boy's business' lingering joys while you're brushing your teeth. Sounds good in theory. But then there are the times when you really want nothing more than to cower in the corner next to your new best friend, the toilet. And quite frankly it is at this point that the tiny little room becomes a problem. There is not enough room between the toilet and the wall to really prop yourself up so that you can kind of half sleep and still be ready for action. There is no where to get some water to drink, but from the toilet and although I've heard dogs mouths are cleaner than humans I don't believe that this study was done in the presence of a bathroom, so I'm not going to follow suit. But the real problem is that the door is not like a regular door. I mean, it is, in that it looks like a regular Western door. The Japanese haven't really perfected the adoption of Western doors. I kind of go with the thinking of, either get it right, or stick to what you had, it was working for you so well, so why change. But whatever, that's not my call. What happens with Western doors is that they are hung on a ledge. In most places if there is a Western door then the floor is not continuous. It goes, floor, floor, floor, oh! great big three inch high and four inch wide sill, floor, floor, floor. How I am supposed to lie down across this as I am asking my stomach to be merciful on me and praying that it all comes out my mouth as opposed to re-routing out my nose. That's really awful. I mean, when these are the cares that are greatest in your mind, why must you contend with a great big ledge poking you in the hips or ribs? The environment in which you may be contemplating whether it is physically possible for you throw up your spleen should be as hassle free as possible. You shouldn't have greater barriers, like 3 X 4 barriers, to overcome. At least this is my take. Maybe I'm asking too much. I do have to admit that I am eternally grateful that they have so widely adopted Western toilets in residences. Otherwise I might be having more of an issue than just a ledge. I would be more concerned with being too close to the porcelain as there is only one other choice from the Western toilet.

July 11, 2005

I get three days off in a row next week. I don't have any classes on next Monday. Hallelujah. I've settled into my usual schedule and it's sucking my will to live. I just don't like working the whole year through. And it's not like I'm lazy. I pulled down 5 months of 12 to 18 hour days for 4 years. But then I took time off. I wonder why I'm against consistency. I don't like each day being the same. It's nice that each day of the week is different from the rest, but now I'm familiar enough with my schedule that I see the redundancy of the weeks to each other. It feels like a heck of a lot longer, but I've only been here like 3 and a half months. Not even 4 yet. It feels like it should be 5 months gone already. Hopefully September will come quickly.

I have been subjected to a new kind of musak. I was on hold (long story, people are stupid all over the planet) on the phone and I vaguely recognized the tune. This is the key with muzak, it takes you a second to realize what it is you're listening to. I couldn't figure out what it was that I recognized. "Oh my goodness, that's ABBA". The difference this time is that it sounded like it was being played on one of those old music boxes. Odd. Very odd.

July 4, 2005

Happy Fourth of July to all my American friends.

I was video taped at work today. I had asked for the High School class not to be taped, thankfully they didn't. The kids just wear me down and I have been defeated. It's not that I don't care, it's that I just don't care! The other classes are going to be just fine. It's funny what I am concerned about when I'm taped. Another teacher was taped a couple of weeks ago and she was all concerned that she didn't make the kids put the crayons away so she even wrote a note about it. I was more concerned about the fact that I changed shirts for the High School kids class (so that they don't notice my boobs as much, sad that I have to change my clothes, but true) and then left on the shirt for my adult class. So the shirt change is what I'm most concerned about, what will Jason think about me? Will they think I'm vain? They would be right. I have never been more vain in my life as I am here in Japan. Maybe it's because everyone else (all the Japanese anyway) are completely obsessed with their looks, but I think it's mostly because I am acutely aware that at every moment that I'm out in public I'm being looked at. At my home I'm a slob still. And around some teachers that I'm close with I really don't care what I look like (as long as I look sexy!! Do you hear the irony??) Maybe this is why so many celebrities seem so self-absorbed and vain, because they are aware that they are constantly being watched and monitored for behaviour.

July 1, 2005

There's a fun little fair going on down the road. Summer is a big deal in Japan. There's summer festivals and fireworks displays all throughout July and August. This past week has been Tanabata. Officially it's on July 7th, but it's drawn out (like Christmas). It's a beautiful story behind the festival. As told to me by Nomura-san, my Japanese teacher. The Emperor's daughter, Shokjo, was a weaver and would weave for god (God, the gods, however you want to interpret it). She wanted to be married. There was a herdsman, Kengyu, who also prayed to god to be married. So god brought them together. But then they only had love and they each stopped doing their work for god. This displeased god so he separated them and made them stars. He allows them to be together for one day in the year. So people write their wishes to the stars on strips of paper and hang them with decoration from "bamboo trees", which are really strips of bamboo tied to regular trees. I may have it off a bit. I've had it explained to me a couple of times and it's always a little bit different so I think that it's a real mixture of a few myths coming together into one celebration that no one really knows the reason behind. Sort of like Hallowe'en. The easiest way to explain Hallowe'en is to say that kids get all dressed up and go house to house asking for candy. Why? Who really knows, there's all sorts of possible stories. So the easiest explanation of Tanabata is that people decorate trees with colourful paper and wishes, and then dress up in Yukata (used to be a traditional bathrobe and is now considered traditional summer wear) and go wander the street fairs.

The main road just down from me has been decked out for the local festivities. The trees are full and there's all these little booths with games for the kids and food like hot dogs (not what you're picturing though, it's on a stick, no bun, perfect for me!), snow cones and all sorts of other goodies like octopus balls. It's nice to just walk down the street to see all the families coming out and having fun, the groups of teenage girls all giggling and laughing at the groups of teenage boys, the groups of teenage boys being absorbed by the comics and games, and the little kids running around in cute yukata outfits.

I'm convinced that it's all been done for me to celebrate Canada.