Saturday, January 14, 2006
Friday, January 13, 2006
What ever happened to “kodomo no anzen o mamorou?”
So, today is HELLA cold. The last few days have been cold but warm compared to Toyama, so I have been fine….however, the sun apparently doesn’t exist today and it is freaking SAMUIIIIIIIIYO! Always a bad sign when you can see your breath in the hallway.
Anyway, today in my 3nensei class we were doing a speaking activity and the kids were walking around with papers and interviewing their friends. One of the kids was standing by the kerosene heater talking to his friends. I wasn’t really paying attention, when all of a sudden there was a big reaction from him and his friends. I turned around and saw that his fucking paper CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!!! What the hell! He didn’t even stick it in the heater, either! I don’t really get how it happened, but that’s fucked up shit, yo.
I have to admit that I laughed along with his friends…not at the fact that he was in danger, but at how fucking ridiculous the “heating” system is in this country…Japanese people always trust that anything here is safe no matter how fucked up it is, and then when things catch on fire they quickly ignore the fact that kerosene heaters might not be the best idea in the world. Ito Sensei didn’t much enjoy my laughing, but she is annoying me lately, so I don’t care. I am such a bitch.
On an unrelated note, I had the fucking nastiest kyushoku ever today. Natto, oden, this shitty salad thing with no taste, and rice. Not very satisfying at all! Any meal that contains both natto and konnyaku is doomed from the beginning. Oh, well, I’ll just have to make up for my shitty lunch tonight at dinner :)
Anyway, today in my 3nensei class we were doing a speaking activity and the kids were walking around with papers and interviewing their friends. One of the kids was standing by the kerosene heater talking to his friends. I wasn’t really paying attention, when all of a sudden there was a big reaction from him and his friends. I turned around and saw that his fucking paper CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!!! What the hell! He didn’t even stick it in the heater, either! I don’t really get how it happened, but that’s fucked up shit, yo.
I have to admit that I laughed along with his friends…not at the fact that he was in danger, but at how fucking ridiculous the “heating” system is in this country…Japanese people always trust that anything here is safe no matter how fucked up it is, and then when things catch on fire they quickly ignore the fact that kerosene heaters might not be the best idea in the world. Ito Sensei didn’t much enjoy my laughing, but she is annoying me lately, so I don’t care. I am such a bitch.
On an unrelated note, I had the fucking nastiest kyushoku ever today. Natto, oden, this shitty salad thing with no taste, and rice. Not very satisfying at all! Any meal that contains both natto and konnyaku is doomed from the beginning. Oh, well, I’ll just have to make up for my shitty lunch tonight at dinner :)
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Real Blogging
Random comments from bored Jeff:
-Apparently my 3nensei JTE made it her New Year’s resolution to take our classes really seriously because today she sat down with me for like 45 minutes to talk about today’s lesson?! What the hell? We have never spent more than like five minutes discussing a lesson…this was like real team-teaching shit from JET videos! I don’t like this! It is also only going to be a small class, as half of the students are taking entrance exams. Even after we finished talking, she kept looking over at me, expecting me to say something about the apparently-really-important class? I don’t know. I chose to ignore her and blog instead, hehehe.
-I was once again a dumb American this morning, as the hot-as 3nensei kokugo (Japanese) teacher came up to me (always a joyous occasion) and was like, “I would like you to teach me the origin of the alphabet.” My response: “…………..huh?” He further explained, “You know, like an ‘A’ is an ox head, a ‘B’ is a house, and a ‘C’ is a somethingorsomething…but that’s all I know. Could you teach me the rest?” He then gave me the biggest shocked-while-thinking-I’m-an-idiot-while-trying-to-hide-it face when I informed him that this was all news to me. Thank God for the internet, yo! Um, just so I don’t feel too stupid, did any native speaker reading this actually know the origin of the alphabet?
-Last night we had the first Ota Wednesday potluck in a few weeks at Jenny’s house. Thanks for having us, Jennifer! She made OISHIIIIIIIIIIIIII Thai green curry, and my whole “I’m not eating much this week because I ate so much in Toyama!” diet went to hell. Oh, well, I rode my bike there and back, which is fucking hardcore, yo, so that burned off some of the food. Yes, must justify! I also fear I was way too loud and over-talkative, as I realized afterwards that it was the first time to talk to native speakers of English in a week and a half. Clazy.
-I am hibernating like nobody’s business. (I was gonna write “Just call me Jeff the bear,” but that has an entirely different meaning in gay circles). Anyway, it is truly sad how incredibly content I am with coming home, sitting under the kotatsu (or laying on my futon with the heater on, depending on the mood) and just watching hour after hour of TV. Let’s just say that I have finished a season and a half of Nip/Tuck in like no time. Also, if anyone tells me the Carver’s identity, I will torture you and all of your family! I want to know so bad, but also don’t want to know. Must finish season three PRONTO!
-As I have bitched to everyone in the world, the internet at school has been down for OVER A FUCKING WEEK. What the hell! If anyone wants to join me on the picket line, feel free. I’ll make enough signs for all of us to hold! Something along the lines of, “I’d rather be at home in my comfy bed/But if I have to be at work, I want the world wide web!” And maybe a “It would truly be sublime/If this ghetto school got its ass online.” Feel free to bring your own signs, if you feel so inclined.
-Apparently my 3nensei JTE made it her New Year’s resolution to take our classes really seriously because today she sat down with me for like 45 minutes to talk about today’s lesson?! What the hell? We have never spent more than like five minutes discussing a lesson…this was like real team-teaching shit from JET videos! I don’t like this! It is also only going to be a small class, as half of the students are taking entrance exams. Even after we finished talking, she kept looking over at me, expecting me to say something about the apparently-really-important class? I don’t know. I chose to ignore her and blog instead, hehehe.
-I was once again a dumb American this morning, as the hot-as 3nensei kokugo (Japanese) teacher came up to me (always a joyous occasion) and was like, “I would like you to teach me the origin of the alphabet.” My response: “…………..huh?” He further explained, “You know, like an ‘A’ is an ox head, a ‘B’ is a house, and a ‘C’ is a somethingorsomething…but that’s all I know. Could you teach me the rest?” He then gave me the biggest shocked-while-thinking-I’m-an-idiot-while-trying-to-hide-it face when I informed him that this was all news to me. Thank God for the internet, yo! Um, just so I don’t feel too stupid, did any native speaker reading this actually know the origin of the alphabet?
-Last night we had the first Ota Wednesday potluck in a few weeks at Jenny’s house. Thanks for having us, Jennifer! She made OISHIIIIIIIIIIIIII Thai green curry, and my whole “I’m not eating much this week because I ate so much in Toyama!” diet went to hell. Oh, well, I rode my bike there and back, which is fucking hardcore, yo, so that burned off some of the food. Yes, must justify! I also fear I was way too loud and over-talkative, as I realized afterwards that it was the first time to talk to native speakers of English in a week and a half. Clazy.
-I am hibernating like nobody’s business. (I was gonna write “Just call me Jeff the bear,” but that has an entirely different meaning in gay circles). Anyway, it is truly sad how incredibly content I am with coming home, sitting under the kotatsu (or laying on my futon with the heater on, depending on the mood) and just watching hour after hour of TV. Let’s just say that I have finished a season and a half of Nip/Tuck in like no time. Also, if anyone tells me the Carver’s identity, I will torture you and all of your family! I want to know so bad, but also don’t want to know. Must finish season three PRONTO!
-As I have bitched to everyone in the world, the internet at school has been down for OVER A FUCKING WEEK. What the hell! If anyone wants to join me on the picket line, feel free. I’ll make enough signs for all of us to hold! Something along the lines of, “I’d rather be at home in my comfy bed/But if I have to be at work, I want the world wide web!” And maybe a “It would truly be sublime/If this ghetto school got its ass online.” Feel free to bring your own signs, if you feel so inclined.
Snow snow snow
During the three-day weekend at the end of winter break, I ventured over to Toyama (west of Nagano) to visit my host family. It was soooooooooooo fun, I hadn’t seen them in a year, and I hadn’t been to Toyama in five years. It was great to catch up with them. Anyway, I wrote this on the first day back to real-ish school.
It is the first real-ish day back, and it is going fine so far. The first day is always easy as it is a half-day. We had a very quick opening ceremony (in which I wore my suit for a total of 20 minutes....good thing, as I have needed to get it cleaned for approximately five months. I will finally do that today!), and we only have two periods of classes today. I only have to teach one of those, and it's only going to be games, so it is an easy day! So, I am getting all kinds of stuff done. I have to plan my elementary school lessons for tomorrow, plan my lessons for this week, go through a ton of papers in my desk, etc. I also just had a rather big "moment," as I just signed my re-contracting papers and sent them off to the BOE! They are due in February, but I figured I might as well send them out now. It doesn't mean that I am for sure re-contracting, because the school could for some reason not agree to keep me, but I don't think that will happen. That would be sad if it did!!!! Hehehe. So, yes, that is my big news of the day ;)
Anyway, I will tell you about my weekend! I had a GREAT time....it was so fun! Very good, as it was complete HELL to get to freaking Toyama!!!!!! It was a 3-day weekend (I don't even know what holiday Monday was, but it was something!), so there were more people traveling anyway, and of course Jeff picks the snowiest day of the year to travel to snow country! I woke up at 4:40 with a whole plan of the six trains I needed to take and where I needed to transfer. It was literally so cold in the morning that every part of my body hurt. It was awful! Anyway, I get to Minakami (northern Gunma) where everything is COVERED in snow, and I ask a station worker where to transfer to the 8:19 train, when I am informed that due to snow that train isn't running today!!!! Ack!!! So, I have to take a GHETTO bus in the snow (based on the strange noises it was making and the occassional sliding on the snow, I regretted not bringing paper and pen to write out my will on board) to another station, take a bullet train to another station, take another bullet train from that station, and then run to the train that leads to Toyama. Actually, that makes it sound too easy. To give you an idea of how crazy it was, I caught the 7:50 bullet train at 9:40. This is in a country where trains are never even a minute late! The snow was CRAZY. Also, because a bunch of trains were cancelled, the trains were so crowded that you could barely even stand. Anyway, I finally got onto the train towards Toyama, and then FINALLY reached there...only two hours late, but it took eight hours in all!
Toyama was soooooooo pretty, as there was TONS of snow! 77 cm! That is...I dunno...about three feet-ish? A little less than 3 feet. Of course, when I told my host family that it was pretty, they quickly said "no, it is not, the snow sucks!" hehehe. I guess it is only cool to tourists ;) Anyway, because of the snow, we pretty much just relaxed all weekend, which was fine with me, as I was still tired from Thailand and everything and didn't have the energy to run all over Toyama! We did go bowling, which was completely awful as I am already horrible at bowling, let alone after a five-year break from playing it at all! It was fun, tho. We also had a nabe party (a style of cooking) and Mayo invited Mami, who stayed at Stephanie's house in Oregon/hosted Stephanie when we came in 2000, as well as her friend Manami. It was fun! We also went to a shrine, which was cool, as it was covered in snow, and I also hadn't been to a shrine for the New Year, which everyone does in Japan.
And I also gained about 300 freaking pounds in the course of two days! I feel so gross! I was force-fed like every minute I was there! hehehe. We had AMAZING sushi...Gunma sushi is good, but I didn't realize how much better it is when you're by the ocean! Anyway, yes, I ate so much during the weekend that I'm like not even hungry anymore. I think I can live off my fat for a few days!
Yesterday I ended up flying from Toyama to Tokyo, then training from Tokyo to Gunma, as it was easier, faster, and somehow just as much money (thanks to a discount coupon from my host sister, Mayo!). There was still tons of snow in Niigata (on the way home), and I didn't trust that the trains would be running. As much as I didn't want to work today, I didn't want to get stuck in god knows where!
Anyway, it was a ton of fun! Also very good Japanese practice, as I spoke it straight for two days (and watched more Japanese TV than I have since arriving here!).
It is the first real-ish day back, and it is going fine so far. The first day is always easy as it is a half-day. We had a very quick opening ceremony (in which I wore my suit for a total of 20 minutes....good thing, as I have needed to get it cleaned for approximately five months. I will finally do that today!), and we only have two periods of classes today. I only have to teach one of those, and it's only going to be games, so it is an easy day! So, I am getting all kinds of stuff done. I have to plan my elementary school lessons for tomorrow, plan my lessons for this week, go through a ton of papers in my desk, etc. I also just had a rather big "moment," as I just signed my re-contracting papers and sent them off to the BOE! They are due in February, but I figured I might as well send them out now. It doesn't mean that I am for sure re-contracting, because the school could for some reason not agree to keep me, but I don't think that will happen. That would be sad if it did!!!! Hehehe. So, yes, that is my big news of the day ;)
Anyway, I will tell you about my weekend! I had a GREAT time....it was so fun! Very good, as it was complete HELL to get to freaking Toyama!!!!!! It was a 3-day weekend (I don't even know what holiday Monday was, but it was something!), so there were more people traveling anyway, and of course Jeff picks the snowiest day of the year to travel to snow country! I woke up at 4:40 with a whole plan of the six trains I needed to take and where I needed to transfer. It was literally so cold in the morning that every part of my body hurt. It was awful! Anyway, I get to Minakami (northern Gunma) where everything is COVERED in snow, and I ask a station worker where to transfer to the 8:19 train, when I am informed that due to snow that train isn't running today!!!! Ack!!! So, I have to take a GHETTO bus in the snow (based on the strange noises it was making and the occassional sliding on the snow, I regretted not bringing paper and pen to write out my will on board) to another station, take a bullet train to another station, take another bullet train from that station, and then run to the train that leads to Toyama. Actually, that makes it sound too easy. To give you an idea of how crazy it was, I caught the 7:50 bullet train at 9:40. This is in a country where trains are never even a minute late! The snow was CRAZY. Also, because a bunch of trains were cancelled, the trains were so crowded that you could barely even stand. Anyway, I finally got onto the train towards Toyama, and then FINALLY reached there...only two hours late, but it took eight hours in all!
Toyama was soooooooo pretty, as there was TONS of snow! 77 cm! That is...I dunno...about three feet-ish? A little less than 3 feet. Of course, when I told my host family that it was pretty, they quickly said "no, it is not, the snow sucks!" hehehe. I guess it is only cool to tourists ;) Anyway, because of the snow, we pretty much just relaxed all weekend, which was fine with me, as I was still tired from Thailand and everything and didn't have the energy to run all over Toyama! We did go bowling, which was completely awful as I am already horrible at bowling, let alone after a five-year break from playing it at all! It was fun, tho. We also had a nabe party (a style of cooking) and Mayo invited Mami, who stayed at Stephanie's house in Oregon/hosted Stephanie when we came in 2000, as well as her friend Manami. It was fun! We also went to a shrine, which was cool, as it was covered in snow, and I also hadn't been to a shrine for the New Year, which everyone does in Japan.
And I also gained about 300 freaking pounds in the course of two days! I feel so gross! I was force-fed like every minute I was there! hehehe. We had AMAZING sushi...Gunma sushi is good, but I didn't realize how much better it is when you're by the ocean! Anyway, yes, I ate so much during the weekend that I'm like not even hungry anymore. I think I can live off my fat for a few days!
Yesterday I ended up flying from Toyama to Tokyo, then training from Tokyo to Gunma, as it was easier, faster, and somehow just as much money (thanks to a discount coupon from my host sister, Mayo!). There was still tons of snow in Niigata (on the way home), and I didn't trust that the trains would be running. As much as I didn't want to work today, I didn't want to get stuck in god knows where!
Anyway, it was a ton of fun! Also very good Japanese practice, as I spoke it straight for two days (and watched more Japanese TV than I have since arriving here!).
More Thailand
So after Bangkok I went to Ko Phanghan to a resort called Haad Son to meet up with Jenny, Anna, Chau, Hayley, Ben, Stacy and Teresa. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooo fun and soooooooooooooo relaxing!!!!!!! Every day consisted of eating, swimming, reading, relaxing, and eating some more. It was PERFECT.
We did have one incident in which we made the mistake of renting a Jeep and stuffing six fat gaijin in it….the Jeep was too shitty to handle six Thai people, let alone six gaijin! After getting stuck on a hill, lost for over an hour in the dark, and other adventures, we decided to relax for the rest of the vacation. Continuing in E-Mail form….
Well, after the very eventful Jeep day, we decided that we all needed some more relaxing on the beach, so not much was done by any of us after that, hehe. Lots of eating, reading, and swimming! I finished American Gods, finished Harry Potter 3 (for the 3rd or 4th time), and started a new book, too. It was so nice to be able to read (especially in my hammock!). I don't think I have told you about the RIDICULOUS amount of shopping that took place in Thailand, either! So, any store in Thailand has TONS of fake clothes....mainly Diesel and other brands. I bought TONS of shirts (my number of t-shirts has literally doubled since the trip! Too bad I can't wear them for like six months), as well as a HUGE Indian wall decoration, some comfy Thai pants, bootleg CDs, bootleg DVDs, and who knows what else. I had to buy a big (counterfeit) duffel bag to hold all of my new stuff, and it was literally completely full! Bad news! Hehe. Thank God everything was cheap!
Anyway, what else....I dunno! The last few days at the resort were great, and it was really fun to hang out with everyone. We all got along so well, I was amazed! Sometimes group travel can be hard, but we all had a great time together. On Friday I continued being the king of crappily-timed flights....my flight to Bangkok got there at 11:30 PM, my flight to Samui left at 7:30, and my flight on Friday required me to take the damn 7 AM ghetto ferry to Samui from Phanghan. I took a really really nice ferry to Phanghan, but at 7 AM there is only one option, and as I found out, it is a little piece of crap! It was a true Thai experience....just as I was sketched out by the size of it (like the size of my bloody apartment), a few cops come out of nowhere, which I didn't really think about....until I realized that they had CRIMINALS WITH THEM! Yes, apparently the ferry can act as an unofficial police boat when they need to transport criminals to the bigger islands! There were two foreigners handcuffed to one another, two Thai guys handcuffed together, and one Thai guys handcuffed by himself. The cops were watching them, but they were all left to walk around by themselves! Yes, classy. To make it even classier, some people apparently thought that the plank to the upper deck was unneccessary, and jumped through the lower-level door from the pier! Um, okay?! Fortunately I fell asleep for most of the ferry ride, and was then woken up to find a HORRIBLE '80's action movie translated into Thai....why they bother to translate some of these movies, I have no idea.
Anyway! Eventually on Friday afternoon I met up with Danny and Marta at their apartment in Bangkok. We were going to go to an island called Ko Samet, but weren't sure if we would be able to find a place to stay, so we decided to go to a beach town on the mainland called Cha-am. We took a mini-bus there, which was an adventure in itself. A mini-bus is pretty much a big van, which sounds ghetto, but it was actually pretty nice, except for the fact that they crammed too many people in there. Most Thai people were going somewhere for the holiday, so we had to wait 2 1/2 hours to get a stupid mini-bus! Once we got to Cha-am we found a cheap place to stay, had some dinner, and crashed for the night.
On Saturday morning we got up fairly early and went to the beach (just across the street from our hotel). Let's just say that Cha-am was the COMPLETE opposite of my private resort beach ;) Cha-am isn't much of a tourist place, so it was mainly Thai people there, and PLENTY of them! It was soooo busy and crowded! The three of us pretty much decided to be huge dorks for the entire weekend, and we started off by renting a 3-person bike. Yes, a 3-person bike. I don't think I had ever seen one before, but for 6 dollars we got to rent it for five hours! There were also 4-person bikes, but sadly there were only the three of us, hehe. Anyway, managed to bike down to the other end of the beach where it was a bit quieter (getting many stares along the way) and relax on the beach. After a bit of swimming, we got back on the bike and managed to race foreigners on motorbikes, as well as other Thais on 3-person bikes. It was fun! :)
For some reason Marta suggested that we find the ugliest clothes in Thailand and wear them to ring in the New Year, so we went from booth to booth finding ugly clothes to wear....man, were we in the right place to find them! We found the most awful, brightest clothes in the world and wore them for the night, and got SOOOOO many stares (and very loud laughs) from foreigners and Thai people alike. I know they were just jealous of our sexiness. Oh, might I mention that Marta made a wonderful purchase of an animal (perhaps a mouse?) made of seashells using about ten pounds of superglue and bright, colorful paint. She carried this with her for the evening. It cost a whole 1 baht (or 3 cents), and I really don’t know how that makes them a profit, as it got dropped at least five times and never fell apart. That’s some hardcore superglue! Anyway, we got some beers and rang in the New Year on the beach. It was a ton of fun!
Sunday we left Cha-am and took a bus back to Bangkok, where we had dinner at hung out at their apartment. We stayed up 'til 1 something, then I got two hours of sleep before I had to get up for my (yes, early) flight. I was NOT amused when the captain said that it was 2 degrees in Tokyo! Meh! I enjoyed my 25-30 degree Thai weather. Oh, that's Celsius, obviously.
Getting home from the damn airport was yet ANOTHER adventure, as I decided to take the train instead of the bus, as it is cheaper and faster. The only reason the train isn't fun is because you have to transfer, and hold your luggage. It would have been okay, but for some reason the trains were all messed up and slow, which never happens. I don't know if there was an accident, an earthquake, or what, but it made me get home an hour later than I was supposed to, which was not very amusing. I also ended up transferring about five freaking times with my three heavy bags. Once I got home, I was looking forward to taking a taxi, as I refused to walk home with my bags....only to find that all of the taxi drivers are apparently on New Year's vacation!!!! NOT AMUSING! I also didn't have a coat with me, as they take up too much space to pack. So, I walked 15-20 minutes home in the freezing cold, watching out for ice on the roads, with my heavy bags! Yes, a very nice welcome home ;)
Anyway, the vacation as a whole was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun. Definitely one of my favorite vacations ever, and I am DEFINITELY going back, as I would love to go back to Haad Son, as well as check out Phi Phi and Chiang Mai. Perhaps a family trip is needed ;) It was also SO much fun to see Danny and Marta again. I had forgotten how crazy us Eugene folk are, and it was nice to be dorky with them :) It was also fun to complain about teaching and life in Asia, as it is what ALTs are best at, hehehehe.
We did have one incident in which we made the mistake of renting a Jeep and stuffing six fat gaijin in it….the Jeep was too shitty to handle six Thai people, let alone six gaijin! After getting stuck on a hill, lost for over an hour in the dark, and other adventures, we decided to relax for the rest of the vacation. Continuing in E-Mail form….
Well, after the very eventful Jeep day, we decided that we all needed some more relaxing on the beach, so not much was done by any of us after that, hehe. Lots of eating, reading, and swimming! I finished American Gods, finished Harry Potter 3 (for the 3rd or 4th time), and started a new book, too. It was so nice to be able to read (especially in my hammock!). I don't think I have told you about the RIDICULOUS amount of shopping that took place in Thailand, either! So, any store in Thailand has TONS of fake clothes....mainly Diesel and other brands. I bought TONS of shirts (my number of t-shirts has literally doubled since the trip! Too bad I can't wear them for like six months), as well as a HUGE Indian wall decoration, some comfy Thai pants, bootleg CDs, bootleg DVDs, and who knows what else. I had to buy a big (counterfeit) duffel bag to hold all of my new stuff, and it was literally completely full! Bad news! Hehe. Thank God everything was cheap!
Anyway, what else....I dunno! The last few days at the resort were great, and it was really fun to hang out with everyone. We all got along so well, I was amazed! Sometimes group travel can be hard, but we all had a great time together. On Friday I continued being the king of crappily-timed flights....my flight to Bangkok got there at 11:30 PM, my flight to Samui left at 7:30, and my flight on Friday required me to take the damn 7 AM ghetto ferry to Samui from Phanghan. I took a really really nice ferry to Phanghan, but at 7 AM there is only one option, and as I found out, it is a little piece of crap! It was a true Thai experience....just as I was sketched out by the size of it (like the size of my bloody apartment), a few cops come out of nowhere, which I didn't really think about....until I realized that they had CRIMINALS WITH THEM! Yes, apparently the ferry can act as an unofficial police boat when they need to transport criminals to the bigger islands! There were two foreigners handcuffed to one another, two Thai guys handcuffed together, and one Thai guys handcuffed by himself. The cops were watching them, but they were all left to walk around by themselves! Yes, classy. To make it even classier, some people apparently thought that the plank to the upper deck was unneccessary, and jumped through the lower-level door from the pier! Um, okay?! Fortunately I fell asleep for most of the ferry ride, and was then woken up to find a HORRIBLE '80's action movie translated into Thai....why they bother to translate some of these movies, I have no idea.
Anyway! Eventually on Friday afternoon I met up with Danny and Marta at their apartment in Bangkok. We were going to go to an island called Ko Samet, but weren't sure if we would be able to find a place to stay, so we decided to go to a beach town on the mainland called Cha-am. We took a mini-bus there, which was an adventure in itself. A mini-bus is pretty much a big van, which sounds ghetto, but it was actually pretty nice, except for the fact that they crammed too many people in there. Most Thai people were going somewhere for the holiday, so we had to wait 2 1/2 hours to get a stupid mini-bus! Once we got to Cha-am we found a cheap place to stay, had some dinner, and crashed for the night.
On Saturday morning we got up fairly early and went to the beach (just across the street from our hotel). Let's just say that Cha-am was the COMPLETE opposite of my private resort beach ;) Cha-am isn't much of a tourist place, so it was mainly Thai people there, and PLENTY of them! It was soooo busy and crowded! The three of us pretty much decided to be huge dorks for the entire weekend, and we started off by renting a 3-person bike. Yes, a 3-person bike. I don't think I had ever seen one before, but for 6 dollars we got to rent it for five hours! There were also 4-person bikes, but sadly there were only the three of us, hehe. Anyway, managed to bike down to the other end of the beach where it was a bit quieter (getting many stares along the way) and relax on the beach. After a bit of swimming, we got back on the bike and managed to race foreigners on motorbikes, as well as other Thais on 3-person bikes. It was fun! :)
For some reason Marta suggested that we find the ugliest clothes in Thailand and wear them to ring in the New Year, so we went from booth to booth finding ugly clothes to wear....man, were we in the right place to find them! We found the most awful, brightest clothes in the world and wore them for the night, and got SOOOOO many stares (and very loud laughs) from foreigners and Thai people alike. I know they were just jealous of our sexiness. Oh, might I mention that Marta made a wonderful purchase of an animal (perhaps a mouse?) made of seashells using about ten pounds of superglue and bright, colorful paint. She carried this with her for the evening. It cost a whole 1 baht (or 3 cents), and I really don’t know how that makes them a profit, as it got dropped at least five times and never fell apart. That’s some hardcore superglue! Anyway, we got some beers and rang in the New Year on the beach. It was a ton of fun!
Sunday we left Cha-am and took a bus back to Bangkok, where we had dinner at hung out at their apartment. We stayed up 'til 1 something, then I got two hours of sleep before I had to get up for my (yes, early) flight. I was NOT amused when the captain said that it was 2 degrees in Tokyo! Meh! I enjoyed my 25-30 degree Thai weather. Oh, that's Celsius, obviously.
Getting home from the damn airport was yet ANOTHER adventure, as I decided to take the train instead of the bus, as it is cheaper and faster. The only reason the train isn't fun is because you have to transfer, and hold your luggage. It would have been okay, but for some reason the trains were all messed up and slow, which never happens. I don't know if there was an accident, an earthquake, or what, but it made me get home an hour later than I was supposed to, which was not very amusing. I also ended up transferring about five freaking times with my three heavy bags. Once I got home, I was looking forward to taking a taxi, as I refused to walk home with my bags....only to find that all of the taxi drivers are apparently on New Year's vacation!!!! NOT AMUSING! I also didn't have a coat with me, as they take up too much space to pack. So, I walked 15-20 minutes home in the freezing cold, watching out for ice on the roads, with my heavy bags! Yes, a very nice welcome home ;)
Anyway, the vacation as a whole was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun. Definitely one of my favorite vacations ever, and I am DEFINITELY going back, as I would love to go back to Haad Son, as well as check out Phi Phi and Chiang Mai. Perhaps a family trip is needed ;) It was also SO much fun to see Danny and Marta again. I had forgotten how crazy us Eugene folk are, and it was nice to be dorky with them :) It was also fun to complain about teaching and life in Asia, as it is what ALTs are best at, hehehehe.
Fuyu Yasumi
K, I have been the worst blogger ever since going on winter break….however, seeing as how I have E-Mailed like ten people about what I have done, I really can’t be bothered to re-type everything. Sooooo, here is my winter break, copied and pasted from other E-Mails. Yes, a very personal blog ;)
So, this entry will be about my first day in Bangkok. It is really long because I didn’t talk to anyone all day, so I took it out on my parents by writing them the longest E-Mail ever.
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.....blah blah blah blah! (hmm, I don't know if those are the real lyrics or not, but you can pretend)
Anyway, hello! I am currently writing you from my gigantic king-sized bed which I want to take back to Japan with me :) It is weird to be back on a bed, let alone a bed the size of my living room! Hehe. I've had a fun day! I'll tell you about yesterday first, tho.
Yesterday was one of those annoying travel days....Cindy and I agree that it's such a waste of an entire day, I wish we could all just teleport! I took the bus to Narita with Tim, Cindy, and Minako. Fortunately, Minako, Cindy and I were in the same terminal, so we all got to hang out before our flights left. We had lunch together, then I waited in the RIDICULOUSLY LONG AND SLOW United line. It was sooooooooooo annoying, I was about to murder someone! Stupid holidays! The line took a lot longer than expected, as did customs, so Cindy and I literally had to RUN to our gates in order to catch our flights. It felt like a movie or something, it was ridiculous! So, sweaty Jeff then got to sit on the plane for 6 1/2 hours. Unfortunately I had a damn window seat so I had to bug two people in order to get out, so I miraculously only went to the bathroom once? Very rare for Jeff, indeed! My body was about to kill me for not moving around, but oh well.
The flight was a lot longer than I was expecting; Thailand isn't THAT far from Japan! However, I do have to say I love United's "Economy Plus" (something I was unaware I was taking part in). It has a TON of leg room, somehow...I wasn't even uncomfortable! Very nice. We had a very strange mix of movies....Polar Express and KINDERGARTEN COP?! Um, okay! I watched Polar Express out of boredom, but made it more interesting by listening to the Japanese audio and reading the Chinese subtitles to see what kanji were the same as Japanese. Yes, I am a huge huge nerd. I could understand all of the Japanese, tho, so that's cool. I didn’t use the headphones for Kindergarten Cop….I let the early
90’s pastel colors speak for themselves. I really should have listened to the Japanese track to figure out the translation of, “It’s not a tumah!”
I got into Bangkok and randomly saw two Gunma JETs within ten minutes of landing....we are attacking the country this week! I then took a cab to my hotel (after some major language barriers)....the hotel is nice! My room is ENORMOUS, I am not exactly sure what I am supposed to do with all of the space. I am also enjoying the fact that they have American TV (CNN, HBO, MTV, etc.) far too much. I'm watching Harry Potter 3 as I type this!
Today I woke up at 9 and proceeded to walk about 700 million miles. Seriously, it was like NYC times 100! Craziness! I am a bad tourist and didn't really care about what sights may exist in Bangkok, as I was all for the shopping. I asked the concierge for some walkable shopping areas and he showed me a map.....I went exploring and found what I thought he directed me to, which was pretty much a Thai Wal-Mart! Um, not what I was expecting! Sadly, I did buy a couple cheap things while I was there. Anyway, later in the day I found out I needed to walk about four more blocks and would have found two HUGE malls....whoops!
K, this is going to be really long, I sense. Anyway, before I continue, I will tell you about my opinion of Bangkok, as I know you are on the edge of your seats for the moment of revelation. At first I was kind of sketched out by it because it is unlike any city I have been to and the EXACT opposite of super-sanitary and sterile Japan. However, over the course of the day I have decided that's what makes it endearing! On the walk to the shopping areas, I passed tons of carts and stands that served various Thai food....skewers of grilled meat, noodles, rice dishes, soups, fresh fruit, etc. There are little tables on the sidewalks for you to sit at while you eat the food. It is really cool (and incredibly cheap).
The city itself is not clean....it is like NYC, but dirtier. The air is pretty dirty, and everything is kind of dirty, but not too disgusting or anything. I dunno. It's what I expected, since I had heard about it.
It's weird, tho, beecause Bangkok is way more American than Japan. The stores have more American brands than we do, etc. I am also freaking out at the huge amount of foreigners here, it makes me uncomfortable! In Gunma the only foreigners I see are the ones I know and the millions of Brazilians in Ota. Here there are FAR too many Americans, I don't like it!
It is also really really modern in some parts, such as the huge malls I went shopping at today. They have lots of the same shopping as you would find in Tokyo, NYC, etc., plus cheaper places, too. There is also the new sky train system, which is VERY cool. Very new and very nice! It is funny, tho...tourists and Thai people must not like walking because you can literally see the next stop from the stop you start at....hello, just walk there! I guess not everyone is a Santilli ;)
Anyway, yeah, I went shopping pretty much all day long! I only got a few things, tho. I had lunch at the restaurant at the hotel, which was yummy....good noodles! As I got the bill, one of the waitresses told me, "I have something to tell you. See her? She thinks you are handsome. So, she is giving you your coffee for free! Don't tell anyone!" Hehehe. Very funny. Plus, of course this made me give her a huge tip ;) It was 100 Baht, or about 3 bucks, which is a lot here. The lady got really excited and had to go show the girl, who was also happy! So that was fun :)
I found a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge market walking distance from my hotel that is literally hundreds of booths of mainly food, but they also have some with clothes and other things. Everything looked SO good! I got a mid-afternoon snack of a plate of yummy noodles for 30 cents ! Can't complain about that! then for dinner I stopped at a booth and got a rice dish, which was also good. For dessert I walked way too far in order to find a banana crepe vendor (I was told by multiple people that I HAD to have one). It was SOOOO good, and horrible for me. It is a big greasy crepe with banana cooked in it with sugar and condensed milk on top. MMMMMMMM, I want another!
So, this entry will be about my first day in Bangkok. It is really long because I didn’t talk to anyone all day, so I took it out on my parents by writing them the longest E-Mail ever.
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.....blah blah blah blah! (hmm, I don't know if those are the real lyrics or not, but you can pretend)
Anyway, hello! I am currently writing you from my gigantic king-sized bed which I want to take back to Japan with me :) It is weird to be back on a bed, let alone a bed the size of my living room! Hehe. I've had a fun day! I'll tell you about yesterday first, tho.
Yesterday was one of those annoying travel days....Cindy and I agree that it's such a waste of an entire day, I wish we could all just teleport! I took the bus to Narita with Tim, Cindy, and Minako. Fortunately, Minako, Cindy and I were in the same terminal, so we all got to hang out before our flights left. We had lunch together, then I waited in the RIDICULOUSLY LONG AND SLOW United line. It was sooooooooooo annoying, I was about to murder someone! Stupid holidays! The line took a lot longer than expected, as did customs, so Cindy and I literally had to RUN to our gates in order to catch our flights. It felt like a movie or something, it was ridiculous! So, sweaty Jeff then got to sit on the plane for 6 1/2 hours. Unfortunately I had a damn window seat so I had to bug two people in order to get out, so I miraculously only went to the bathroom once? Very rare for Jeff, indeed! My body was about to kill me for not moving around, but oh well.
The flight was a lot longer than I was expecting; Thailand isn't THAT far from Japan! However, I do have to say I love United's "Economy Plus" (something I was unaware I was taking part in). It has a TON of leg room, somehow...I wasn't even uncomfortable! Very nice. We had a very strange mix of movies....Polar Express and KINDERGARTEN COP?! Um, okay! I watched Polar Express out of boredom, but made it more interesting by listening to the Japanese audio and reading the Chinese subtitles to see what kanji were the same as Japanese. Yes, I am a huge huge nerd. I could understand all of the Japanese, tho, so that's cool. I didn’t use the headphones for Kindergarten Cop….I let the early
90’s pastel colors speak for themselves. I really should have listened to the Japanese track to figure out the translation of, “It’s not a tumah!”
I got into Bangkok and randomly saw two Gunma JETs within ten minutes of landing....we are attacking the country this week! I then took a cab to my hotel (after some major language barriers)....the hotel is nice! My room is ENORMOUS, I am not exactly sure what I am supposed to do with all of the space. I am also enjoying the fact that they have American TV (CNN, HBO, MTV, etc.) far too much. I'm watching Harry Potter 3 as I type this!
Today I woke up at 9 and proceeded to walk about 700 million miles. Seriously, it was like NYC times 100! Craziness! I am a bad tourist and didn't really care about what sights may exist in Bangkok, as I was all for the shopping. I asked the concierge for some walkable shopping areas and he showed me a map.....I went exploring and found what I thought he directed me to, which was pretty much a Thai Wal-Mart! Um, not what I was expecting! Sadly, I did buy a couple cheap things while I was there. Anyway, later in the day I found out I needed to walk about four more blocks and would have found two HUGE malls....whoops!
K, this is going to be really long, I sense. Anyway, before I continue, I will tell you about my opinion of Bangkok, as I know you are on the edge of your seats for the moment of revelation. At first I was kind of sketched out by it because it is unlike any city I have been to and the EXACT opposite of super-sanitary and sterile Japan. However, over the course of the day I have decided that's what makes it endearing! On the walk to the shopping areas, I passed tons of carts and stands that served various Thai food....skewers of grilled meat, noodles, rice dishes, soups, fresh fruit, etc. There are little tables on the sidewalks for you to sit at while you eat the food. It is really cool (and incredibly cheap).
The city itself is not clean....it is like NYC, but dirtier. The air is pretty dirty, and everything is kind of dirty, but not too disgusting or anything. I dunno. It's what I expected, since I had heard about it.
It's weird, tho, beecause Bangkok is way more American than Japan. The stores have more American brands than we do, etc. I am also freaking out at the huge amount of foreigners here, it makes me uncomfortable! In Gunma the only foreigners I see are the ones I know and the millions of Brazilians in Ota. Here there are FAR too many Americans, I don't like it!
It is also really really modern in some parts, such as the huge malls I went shopping at today. They have lots of the same shopping as you would find in Tokyo, NYC, etc., plus cheaper places, too. There is also the new sky train system, which is VERY cool. Very new and very nice! It is funny, tho...tourists and Thai people must not like walking because you can literally see the next stop from the stop you start at....hello, just walk there! I guess not everyone is a Santilli ;)
Anyway, yeah, I went shopping pretty much all day long! I only got a few things, tho. I had lunch at the restaurant at the hotel, which was yummy....good noodles! As I got the bill, one of the waitresses told me, "I have something to tell you. See her? She thinks you are handsome. So, she is giving you your coffee for free! Don't tell anyone!" Hehehe. Very funny. Plus, of course this made me give her a huge tip ;) It was 100 Baht, or about 3 bucks, which is a lot here. The lady got really excited and had to go show the girl, who was also happy! So that was fun :)
I found a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge market walking distance from my hotel that is literally hundreds of booths of mainly food, but they also have some with clothes and other things. Everything looked SO good! I got a mid-afternoon snack of a plate of yummy noodles for 30 cents ! Can't complain about that! then for dinner I stopped at a booth and got a rice dish, which was also good. For dessert I walked way too far in order to find a banana crepe vendor (I was told by multiple people that I HAD to have one). It was SOOOO good, and horrible for me. It is a big greasy crepe with banana cooked in it with sugar and condensed milk on top. MMMMMMMM, I want another!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
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