Thursday, December 15, 2005
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Picshores
So, I am still too lazy to post pics on my blog, but I updated my (more parent-friendly) pictures site, so you can check it out if you want.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Sayuri
So, last night I went to AEON with Cindy, Ann and Minako for sushi and to see Sayuri (Japanese title for Memoirs of a Geisha). It is cool that all of Japan has a movie that is only on eight screens in the U.S., considering we have to wait ‘til fucking MARCH for Narnia, and other assorted delayed releases.
I was way excited to see the movie before, but got a bit sketched out after I read a few surprisingly-not-amazing reviews and heard from a few people who only said it was “okay.” So, I went in wanting to like it, but scared that I wouldn’t. Overall, it was very disappointing.
Let me say that I did have high expectations, as I loved the book, and figured Rob Marshall would do an amazing job, as I loved Chicago. However, it was SO obviously made by a big group of white people. And this is coming from a white person! First of all, I think the decision to have it be in English was a mistake. It sounded awkward to have it in a million different accents and it would have been more natural in Japanese. It also is weird and annoying (to me) to listen to keigo and stuff translated into English. Like, “You do the me the distinct honor of blah blah blah suck up blah” makes sense in Japanese, but in English is just drawn-out and irritating. No longer it’s such a long movie!
I am also disappointed in Rob Marshall’s directing. I think it should have been made by a Japanese director, as it would have been more of a subtle “ya know, this is Japan” kind of feel rather than Rob Marshall’s (and probably any gaijin director’s) feel of “ooooo, this is Jaaaaaaapaaaaaaaaaan!” Like, it was TOO Japanese, if that makes any sense? I realize the novel is, too, but it works better in the book than on screen. Actually, everything about the book works better on page than screen.
However, having bitched about all of this, it wasn’t an awful movie or anything, it just wasn’t nearly as good as I was expecting it to be. The actress who played Sayuri was impressive, though. Her English was a lot better than I was expecting, and you could tell she was a good actress, as her facial expressions were very powerful.
I would talk about more, but most people haven’t seen it, so I won’t spoil too much. I’m curious to see how it does in America…
I was way excited to see the movie before, but got a bit sketched out after I read a few surprisingly-not-amazing reviews and heard from a few people who only said it was “okay.” So, I went in wanting to like it, but scared that I wouldn’t. Overall, it was very disappointing.
Let me say that I did have high expectations, as I loved the book, and figured Rob Marshall would do an amazing job, as I loved Chicago. However, it was SO obviously made by a big group of white people. And this is coming from a white person! First of all, I think the decision to have it be in English was a mistake. It sounded awkward to have it in a million different accents and it would have been more natural in Japanese. It also is weird and annoying (to me) to listen to keigo and stuff translated into English. Like, “You do the me the distinct honor of blah blah blah suck up blah” makes sense in Japanese, but in English is just drawn-out and irritating. No longer it’s such a long movie!
I am also disappointed in Rob Marshall’s directing. I think it should have been made by a Japanese director, as it would have been more of a subtle “ya know, this is Japan” kind of feel rather than Rob Marshall’s (and probably any gaijin director’s) feel of “ooooo, this is Jaaaaaaapaaaaaaaaaan!” Like, it was TOO Japanese, if that makes any sense? I realize the novel is, too, but it works better in the book than on screen. Actually, everything about the book works better on page than screen.
However, having bitched about all of this, it wasn’t an awful movie or anything, it just wasn’t nearly as good as I was expecting it to be. The actress who played Sayuri was impressive, though. Her English was a lot better than I was expecting, and you could tell she was a good actress, as her facial expressions were very powerful.
I would talk about more, but most people haven’t seen it, so I won’t spoil too much. I’m curious to see how it does in America…
Monday, December 12, 2005
Hello, Work!
Semi-recently in Japan, they have changed the name of the unemployment office to “Haroo waaku” (Hello Work), because it has a more positive connotation than unemployment. I find this amusing in itself.
So, today I found a “Hello Work for 13 year-olds” book in one of my classrooms. Out of curiosity I picked it up and flipped through it, and it is possible careers for kids based on their interests. For example, for those who like movies, you can be a ____, ____, or _____. For those who like math, you can be a blah blah blah. You get the point. While I am not sure if 13 year-olds should really be too worried about their career path, I guess it is sort of helpful.
Anyway, at the end of the book they have a special section for “kids who don’t like anything.” Seeing the title page just promised blog-worthy bits, and it did not disappoint. In this section they had advice for those who “like knives” (knife salesman!), those who like war (the army, etc. (um, WHO likes war?!)), and “those who like to fight.” I shit you not. The page for this section had a drawing of two people fighting. It had a long introduction along the lines of “For strange reasons, there are kids who seem to only be interested in fighting. This isn’t a good thing, but we’ll give them career advice based on fighting anyway!” Those who only like to fight (I sense this is the most-used section at my school) can follow the successful career paths of pro wrestler, stuntman, etc. I definitely need to find a copy of this book and read through it some more….clazy Japanese.
So, today I found a “Hello Work for 13 year-olds” book in one of my classrooms. Out of curiosity I picked it up and flipped through it, and it is possible careers for kids based on their interests. For example, for those who like movies, you can be a ____, ____, or _____. For those who like math, you can be a blah blah blah. You get the point. While I am not sure if 13 year-olds should really be too worried about their career path, I guess it is sort of helpful.
Anyway, at the end of the book they have a special section for “kids who don’t like anything.” Seeing the title page just promised blog-worthy bits, and it did not disappoint. In this section they had advice for those who “like knives” (knife salesman!), those who like war (the army, etc. (um, WHO likes war?!)), and “those who like to fight.” I shit you not. The page for this section had a drawing of two people fighting. It had a long introduction along the lines of “For strange reasons, there are kids who seem to only be interested in fighting. This isn’t a good thing, but we’ll give them career advice based on fighting anyway!” Those who only like to fight (I sense this is the most-used section at my school) can follow the successful career paths of pro wrestler, stuntman, etc. I definitely need to find a copy of this book and read through it some more….clazy Japanese.
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart….
So, I wasn’t previously aware of the huge hard-on Japanese people have for Wham. I mean, I love George Michael as much as the next mo, but I literally heard it in nearly EVERY store I was in yesterday. There is only so much Last Christmas I can take, people! At least put a few more Christmas songs on your CD, people!
Anyway! So the weekend was fun-as but WAY too short, yo. On Saturday I met up with peeps at Takasaki eki and we took what looked kind of like a special ed bus to our ryokan at Lake Haruna. Well, I’m calling it a ryokan ‘cause it isn’t a hotel, but it is big-ass to be a ryokan. Anyway! So, I don’t know if I had said earlier, but me and 12 JETs went to Lake Haruna for a Christmas enkai. An enkai is a Japanese custom of drinking, eating and bonding with your co-workers. Haruna is in northern Gunma, which means it’s prettier and colder than Ota. It is a BEAUTIFUL area with snow, mountains, trees, water….yes, very different than Ota ;) Hehe. It was really great to be out in nature; it was definitely very Oregon-y.
K, my thoughts are all bara bara, I apologize. K, focus. So! Being the cheap-ass bastard that I am, I must say that the place we stayed was the most amazing deal ever. For $85 we got a shuttle to and from Takasaki eki (one hour each way), a night at the ryokan, a huge Japanese dinner, breakfast, two hours of nomihodai (all you can drink), karaoke, and onsen. What the hell?! I think it would be cheaper to live there than in my damn apartment! The first thing I did when I got there was get naked and go in the onsen. It was sooooo nice and relaxing. I mainly stayed in the rotenburo (outside bathtub), which was awesome, as it was snowing outside so there were snowflakes falling on your head while you were hot in the water. Mmmmm, nice.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t had enough water during the day and also stayed in there too long (and got out too fast) and felt like I was going to have a bloody heart attack after I got out. I was so light-headed for like 30 minutes! Bad news! After drinking about 2 gallons of water, I joined everyone downstairs for an enormous Japanese dinner. It was soooo good, yo. I do, however, have to question the Japanese custom of having every little thing on different dishes. While I enjoy the separation, can you imagine doing dishes for a meal like that?! There were literally like ten different kinds of food (and, hence, at least ten dishes) per person! I made a what-I-believe-to-be-funny joke about Eduardo being able to find a job easily in this country, but based on the silence it received, everything thinks I am the biggest racist bitch in Gunma! Come on, people, it was funny ;) Eduardo would have laughed! Hee hee.
During the course of the nomihodai we literally ordered probably 40-50 huge bottles of beer, at least, and I definitely got way drunker than I expected. Bad news! I hope I didn’t talk about embarrassing things. I fear I may have. Hmm. Well, at least most people were equally as drunk. Cindy and Ann are the ones to fear; I am sure they have blackmail-worthy gossip on all of us now!
According to pictures we sang lots of karaoke, but I don’t really recall all of that. Um, yeah. SO! The next morning ;) I got up at 8something and was disturbingly genki and awake for being up that early on a Sunday after drinking. After having some breakfast and taking pictures of Haruna we all got on the special ed bus with a big group of old Japanese people and went back to Takasaki. Bahia, Ann and Shinders and I shopped around Takasaki for a while, and spent what felt like about six hours in the cold looking for a restaurant. Apparently people in Takasaki don’t need to eat? Once we found an Italian restaurant and sat down, we got a dirty look from a Mom, who promptly took her child and moved to a different table. Fucking xenophobic ho needs to fucking get over her issues, that shit pisses me off. But I digress…
K, I refuse to end my post on that bitter comment, so I will talk about Monday at work! I am so proud of my 3nensei, I had my favorite 3nensei class today and I played Jeopardy with them, and their listening has improved SOOOOOOOO much since September, it is awesome. I love my 3nensei, I don’t want them to graduate!
I also am apparently a real teacher, as my 1nensei JTE was gone today (sick kana?) and they either forgot to or didn’t want to send a substitute my way, so I taught two classes by myself. I really didn’t mind, and they went fine, but technically that is illegal, since I don’t have a teacher’s certificate. Oooo, I can blackmail my school now! But yeah, it was actually good.
K, I promise my long-delayed pics will be posted this week some time….this blog is looking very color-less these days…
Anyway! So the weekend was fun-as but WAY too short, yo. On Saturday I met up with peeps at Takasaki eki and we took what looked kind of like a special ed bus to our ryokan at Lake Haruna. Well, I’m calling it a ryokan ‘cause it isn’t a hotel, but it is big-ass to be a ryokan. Anyway! So, I don’t know if I had said earlier, but me and 12 JETs went to Lake Haruna for a Christmas enkai. An enkai is a Japanese custom of drinking, eating and bonding with your co-workers. Haruna is in northern Gunma, which means it’s prettier and colder than Ota. It is a BEAUTIFUL area with snow, mountains, trees, water….yes, very different than Ota ;) Hehe. It was really great to be out in nature; it was definitely very Oregon-y.
K, my thoughts are all bara bara, I apologize. K, focus. So! Being the cheap-ass bastard that I am, I must say that the place we stayed was the most amazing deal ever. For $85 we got a shuttle to and from Takasaki eki (one hour each way), a night at the ryokan, a huge Japanese dinner, breakfast, two hours of nomihodai (all you can drink), karaoke, and onsen. What the hell?! I think it would be cheaper to live there than in my damn apartment! The first thing I did when I got there was get naked and go in the onsen. It was sooooo nice and relaxing. I mainly stayed in the rotenburo (outside bathtub), which was awesome, as it was snowing outside so there were snowflakes falling on your head while you were hot in the water. Mmmmm, nice.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t had enough water during the day and also stayed in there too long (and got out too fast) and felt like I was going to have a bloody heart attack after I got out. I was so light-headed for like 30 minutes! Bad news! After drinking about 2 gallons of water, I joined everyone downstairs for an enormous Japanese dinner. It was soooo good, yo. I do, however, have to question the Japanese custom of having every little thing on different dishes. While I enjoy the separation, can you imagine doing dishes for a meal like that?! There were literally like ten different kinds of food (and, hence, at least ten dishes) per person! I made a what-I-believe-to-be-funny joke about Eduardo being able to find a job easily in this country, but based on the silence it received, everything thinks I am the biggest racist bitch in Gunma! Come on, people, it was funny ;) Eduardo would have laughed! Hee hee.
During the course of the nomihodai we literally ordered probably 40-50 huge bottles of beer, at least, and I definitely got way drunker than I expected. Bad news! I hope I didn’t talk about embarrassing things. I fear I may have. Hmm. Well, at least most people were equally as drunk. Cindy and Ann are the ones to fear; I am sure they have blackmail-worthy gossip on all of us now!
According to pictures we sang lots of karaoke, but I don’t really recall all of that. Um, yeah. SO! The next morning ;) I got up at 8something and was disturbingly genki and awake for being up that early on a Sunday after drinking. After having some breakfast and taking pictures of Haruna we all got on the special ed bus with a big group of old Japanese people and went back to Takasaki. Bahia, Ann and Shinders and I shopped around Takasaki for a while, and spent what felt like about six hours in the cold looking for a restaurant. Apparently people in Takasaki don’t need to eat? Once we found an Italian restaurant and sat down, we got a dirty look from a Mom, who promptly took her child and moved to a different table. Fucking xenophobic ho needs to fucking get over her issues, that shit pisses me off. But I digress…
K, I refuse to end my post on that bitter comment, so I will talk about Monday at work! I am so proud of my 3nensei, I had my favorite 3nensei class today and I played Jeopardy with them, and their listening has improved SOOOOOOOO much since September, it is awesome. I love my 3nensei, I don’t want them to graduate!
I also am apparently a real teacher, as my 1nensei JTE was gone today (sick kana?) and they either forgot to or didn’t want to send a substitute my way, so I taught two classes by myself. I really didn’t mind, and they went fine, but technically that is illegal, since I don’t have a teacher’s certificate. Oooo, I can blackmail my school now! But yeah, it was actually good.
K, I promise my long-delayed pics will be posted this week some time….this blog is looking very color-less these days…
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