Friday, November 10, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Mikan!
It is a glorious time of year, as mikan are in season! Yay! Perhaps one of the only good things about the dreadfully cold winter to come is that at least I can eat mikan all day long. For those who don't know, mikan are like small oranges. There is some random English word for them, but I don't know it and you probably don't, either. They aren't tangerines, though. Anyway, they are perfect, as they are yummy and vitamin C-y, but not too big to eat for one person like an orange! They are the perfect snack. AND they are the ONLY cheap fruit to be found in this country! To celebrate this momentous occasion, I bought a huge bag of them and have been having approximately four mikan a day. Woot!
One of my kids has personality AND can speak English?!
K, so Cindy and I have the same blog and we are both writing about what our students wrote in class, but get over it! Hehe. I was gonna say this anyway, dammit ;)
Anyway, in the 3nensei class we are doing this boring (I mean exciting! Yes, EXCITING!) handout with questions about the kids' favorite song. It is like what is your favorite song, who sings it, why do you like it, etc. The kids write the answers to the individual questions, then write a paragraph about their favorite song. Anyway, I go around and help the kids out while they write it, check their answers, etc. On Tuesday I got to this one boy who wrote "I don't know" to all of the questions, which caught my eye, so I read his paragraph, and it was the following:
I don't listen to music. I don't like music. But I know many singers. I don't have any money, so I can't buy CDs. Please give me money.
Hee hee! Maybe it isn't that funny in "real life," but it is nice to see someone thinking outside the box! And he only had one error on the whole sheet!
Anyway, in the 3nensei class we are doing this boring (I mean exciting! Yes, EXCITING!) handout with questions about the kids' favorite song. It is like what is your favorite song, who sings it, why do you like it, etc. The kids write the answers to the individual questions, then write a paragraph about their favorite song. Anyway, I go around and help the kids out while they write it, check their answers, etc. On Tuesday I got to this one boy who wrote "I don't know" to all of the questions, which caught my eye, so I read his paragraph, and it was the following:
I don't listen to music. I don't like music. But I know many singers. I don't have any money, so I can't buy CDs. Please give me money.
Hee hee! Maybe it isn't that funny in "real life," but it is nice to see someone thinking outside the box! And he only had one error on the whole sheet!
Maybe the world ISN'T ending?!
...or at least is ending in a better way than expected. Thank GOD for the results of the elections yesterday! Well, a lot of them, at least. Not that Democrats aren’t retarded, too, but at least they are far less retarded than Republicans. They had better ganbaru in Virginia so they can have the House AND the Senate. Hmmm. AND Rumseld is getting the fuck out now, yay yay yay!
Of course, now that the Democrats actually have power, the Republicans will just blame any problem on them since they are “in charge,” but it will be a good thing for the most park, kana? Hmm.
AND whatever-inbred-state-it-was didn't vote to make abortions illegal! Perhaps there is hope. Of course, not really, because I am totally ignoring the homophobic shit that went down, but we will pretend that didn’t happen. Fucking dumbasses.
Of course, now that the Democrats actually have power, the Republicans will just blame any problem on them since they are “in charge,” but it will be a good thing for the most park, kana? Hmm.
AND whatever-inbred-state-it-was didn't vote to make abortions illegal! Perhaps there is hope. Of course, not really, because I am totally ignoring the homophobic shit that went down, but we will pretend that didn’t happen. Fucking dumbasses.
Monday, November 06, 2006
It's time for.....more random photos!
Pics from the weekend in Tokyo!
The kick-ass Anpanman store in Shinbashi!
Me, Shokupanman and Anpanman
Displays outside
Japanese people know how to advertise! This display for the Rent DVD was at Tower Records...it had all kinds of shit popping up out of it, a TV screen playing highlights of the movie, and lots of DVDs.
A reflection-y picture of the TTB poster.
Jumpin' Jap Flash, indeed!
A picture of my desk....aren't I a serious and professional ALT? Hehehe. Apparently I work in Heaven, based on the strange lighting going on here.
Pics of Taiwan, Halloween and the Love Hotel during the weekend, kana?
The kick-ass Anpanman store in Shinbashi!
Me, Shokupanman and Anpanman
Displays outside
Japanese people know how to advertise! This display for the Rent DVD was at Tower Records...it had all kinds of shit popping up out of it, a TV screen playing highlights of the movie, and lots of DVDs.
A reflection-y picture of the TTB poster.
Jumpin' Jap Flash, indeed!
A picture of my desk....aren't I a serious and professional ALT? Hehehe. Apparently I work in Heaven, based on the strange lighting going on here.
Pics of Taiwan, Halloween and the Love Hotel during the weekend, kana?
The month of musicals has started!
On Saturday Ann and I saw Tick Tick Boom (by Jonathan Larson, who wrote Rent) and it was goooooooood! I wasn’t sure how it would be in Japanese, but I enjoyed it more than I expected! They added stuff to the script to explain things that wouldn’t translate (for example, the origins of Twinkies, hahaha) and expanded a few things, which I normally wouldn’t agree with, but it actually worked! The actor who played Jonathan was Mark in the Japanese cast of Rent, and has done TONS of other big shows, and it showed! He was good. We had some failed J-Pop star as Susan, and she was a total diva, but could actually sing (in a J-Pop sort of way) and was better than I expected. The guy who played Michael was an American, and it was weird, because they had him speak in half English and half Japanese? I am not sure why, exactly, but whatever, it worked for the most part. Anyway, I am glad that I finally saw the show live (I had only seen boots), and it was nice to see a musical for the first time in too long! Fortunately I am making up for it this month by seeing Rent twice! YAY, Jonathan Larson month!
I hate Japan for being advertising whores and giving you 300 ads for coming shows when you see one! They gave us a SHITLOAD at TTB and it made me spend money, just like it did at Movin’ Out (that is how I found out about TTB in the first place). Anyway, a big production of Sweeney Todd is being done in January! I normally would refuse to see translated Sondheim, but it has a bunch of famous people in it and is being directed by a famous director and looks fucking FREAKY AS SHIT, so Ann and I decided to splurge and get tickets to it. It is almost completely sold out, so we are gonna have to haul ass after school on a Friday to make it, but hopefully it is worth it. Sadly we are in the last row, sigh. Damn Japan for not letting you choose tickets! That doesn’t work for musical whores/snobs like me!
I hate Japan for being advertising whores and giving you 300 ads for coming shows when you see one! They gave us a SHITLOAD at TTB and it made me spend money, just like it did at Movin’ Out (that is how I found out about TTB in the first place). Anyway, a big production of Sweeney Todd is being done in January! I normally would refuse to see translated Sondheim, but it has a bunch of famous people in it and is being directed by a famous director and looks fucking FREAKY AS SHIT, so Ann and I decided to splurge and get tickets to it. It is almost completely sold out, so we are gonna have to haul ass after school on a Friday to make it, but hopefully it is worth it. Sadly we are in the last row, sigh. Damn Japan for not letting you choose tickets! That doesn’t work for musical whores/snobs like me!
3-Day Weekendo!
The fall is awesome because we have hella holidays going on up in hea, yo! Friday was Culture Day (HELLO, Culture Day is totally my favorite holiday!!!), so we got the day off, which was much-needed, as I am sick of worko! Cindy and I were going to be all nature-y and go to Oze, which is on the northern border of Gunma and is supposed to be all pretty and stuff. We were like, “We are sick of doing city stuff all the time, let’s go to something nature-y!” Then we found out it is cold up there and everything is probably dead already, so of course our next choice was to be SO nature-y and go to Tokyo instead. Hahaha. It was fun, though!
So I am sick of Tokyo because I always go to the same places and it isn’t exciting anymore. However, we decided to be spontaneous and try out new places and it was different and fun, woot! One of the most surprising finds was Shinbashi. We were only walking around there to switch train lines, but we found all kinds of cool places, mainly food, of course. They have a BAZILION yummy-looking restaurants there, abunaiiiiiii! They also have a fucking AWESOME Anpanman store there, yo! Anpanman fucking rocks! I got new toys for my desk and a Shokupanman hook-y thing for my keitai, too. Sweeto!
We randomly went to Subway, as they had these yummy-looking toasted wraps that were fucking GOOD! They were like fake burritos or something, they were awesome! I wish we had Subway in Gunma, hrm.
Anyway, after Shinbashi we went to Odaiba, which is one of the more famous places in Tokyo that I hadn’t been to. I am glad I went, but I don’t really see what the big deal is. We went to this shopping area that was a TOTAL fucking rip-off of the Parisian or whatever you call it in Vegas. It would be cool if they didn’t just copy the damn place! Oh, well.
After Odaiba we went to Naka-Meguro, which is a place that Cindy’s friend recommended. It is cool in that it has lots of little shops, but we were expecting something else and totally weren’t in the mood to shop, so it was kinda wasted on us. However, it TOTALLY redeemed itself when we found a motherfucking TACOS STAND there! Holy shit! They were cheap (well, for Japan) and were fucking good!!! The pork and guac taco tasted like the ones Eduardo and I would get at the Mexican store in Eugene! Holy shit, that shit was good. The guy like lives above it and stuff and I want to be his best friend, just because you know he is cool with shit like that! And they had Corona. I want to live there!
For dinner we made our way over to our favorite Indian restaurant in the world in Harajuku. It is seriously SO good and it is so reasonable! I fucking love that shit. We also made up for eating a lot by walking from Harajuku to Shibuya! Of course it isn’t that far, but it SOUNDS far! Haha.
I had to be in Tokyo the next day anyway, and Cindy didn’t want to worry about last trains back, so we checked another thing off our list by staying in a love hotel for the night!!! YAY! So for those who don’t know, love hotels are HUGE in Japan. We decided Japan is the only country that could have them and not be sketchy. They are hotel rooms that you can rent either for a few hours, or for the night. They are basically for having sex in. However, it isn’t TOO gross, I swear! One of the main reasons they exist is because people in Japan (for the most part) live with their parents until they get married, so they need somewhere else to have sex. A lot of husbands and wives also live in small apartments where they have no privacy, so it is also used for that reason. Of course, it is also used for affairs, too, but whatever.
Anyway, if these were in the States they would be dirty and disgusting. However, in Japan they are clean and a lot of them are cute! Some of them are themed rooms, and you know we had to shop around for the right one! It is awesome because in Shibuya they have TONS and TONS of love hotels, so you can literally shop for the perfect room. You just go in the lobby (where you don’t see the worker at the counter, you just see their hands, for privacy, haha) and there is a lit-up menu with pictures of each room that is available. If you like one of the rooms, you hit the button, then pay the lady (or her hands, rather) and get the key. If you don’t see one you like, you just go to the next hotel. Cindy and I went into at least 20-30 hotels before finding the right room! Yes, good ol’ Star Crescent had the room for us! It was a city-themed room and it fucking rocked! In normal light it looked like a normal room, but when you turn on the black lights all of the walls have like the city painted on it and shit! It was fucking awesome, yo. It was also nice, in that it came with a DVD player (we are probably the first guests to not watch porn, but to watch The American President, hahaha), a pretty big TV, satellite radio (I think, it had a million channels!), a huge shower area, etc! And it was cheaper than most hotels in Tokyo! Fuck, yeah, I am staying in love hotels from now on! We had to enjoy it to the fullest, so we left the music AND black lights on while we slept, hehe. Oh, by the way, we didn’t have sex ;) Haha.
Anyway, we totally have to go back to the Star Crescent at some point, as there were more vacancies when we checked out, and they had a damn beach-themed room with like the ocean on the wall! That is totally what we wanted in the first place! We are SO going back!
So I am sick of Tokyo because I always go to the same places and it isn’t exciting anymore. However, we decided to be spontaneous and try out new places and it was different and fun, woot! One of the most surprising finds was Shinbashi. We were only walking around there to switch train lines, but we found all kinds of cool places, mainly food, of course. They have a BAZILION yummy-looking restaurants there, abunaiiiiiii! They also have a fucking AWESOME Anpanman store there, yo! Anpanman fucking rocks! I got new toys for my desk and a Shokupanman hook-y thing for my keitai, too. Sweeto!
We randomly went to Subway, as they had these yummy-looking toasted wraps that were fucking GOOD! They were like fake burritos or something, they were awesome! I wish we had Subway in Gunma, hrm.
Anyway, after Shinbashi we went to Odaiba, which is one of the more famous places in Tokyo that I hadn’t been to. I am glad I went, but I don’t really see what the big deal is. We went to this shopping area that was a TOTAL fucking rip-off of the Parisian or whatever you call it in Vegas. It would be cool if they didn’t just copy the damn place! Oh, well.
After Odaiba we went to Naka-Meguro, which is a place that Cindy’s friend recommended. It is cool in that it has lots of little shops, but we were expecting something else and totally weren’t in the mood to shop, so it was kinda wasted on us. However, it TOTALLY redeemed itself when we found a motherfucking TACOS STAND there! Holy shit! They were cheap (well, for Japan) and were fucking good!!! The pork and guac taco tasted like the ones Eduardo and I would get at the Mexican store in Eugene! Holy shit, that shit was good. The guy like lives above it and stuff and I want to be his best friend, just because you know he is cool with shit like that! And they had Corona. I want to live there!
For dinner we made our way over to our favorite Indian restaurant in the world in Harajuku. It is seriously SO good and it is so reasonable! I fucking love that shit. We also made up for eating a lot by walking from Harajuku to Shibuya! Of course it isn’t that far, but it SOUNDS far! Haha.
I had to be in Tokyo the next day anyway, and Cindy didn’t want to worry about last trains back, so we checked another thing off our list by staying in a love hotel for the night!!! YAY! So for those who don’t know, love hotels are HUGE in Japan. We decided Japan is the only country that could have them and not be sketchy. They are hotel rooms that you can rent either for a few hours, or for the night. They are basically for having sex in. However, it isn’t TOO gross, I swear! One of the main reasons they exist is because people in Japan (for the most part) live with their parents until they get married, so they need somewhere else to have sex. A lot of husbands and wives also live in small apartments where they have no privacy, so it is also used for that reason. Of course, it is also used for affairs, too, but whatever.
Anyway, if these were in the States they would be dirty and disgusting. However, in Japan they are clean and a lot of them are cute! Some of them are themed rooms, and you know we had to shop around for the right one! It is awesome because in Shibuya they have TONS and TONS of love hotels, so you can literally shop for the perfect room. You just go in the lobby (where you don’t see the worker at the counter, you just see their hands, for privacy, haha) and there is a lit-up menu with pictures of each room that is available. If you like one of the rooms, you hit the button, then pay the lady (or her hands, rather) and get the key. If you don’t see one you like, you just go to the next hotel. Cindy and I went into at least 20-30 hotels before finding the right room! Yes, good ol’ Star Crescent had the room for us! It was a city-themed room and it fucking rocked! In normal light it looked like a normal room, but when you turn on the black lights all of the walls have like the city painted on it and shit! It was fucking awesome, yo. It was also nice, in that it came with a DVD player (we are probably the first guests to not watch porn, but to watch The American President, hahaha), a pretty big TV, satellite radio (I think, it had a million channels!), a huge shower area, etc! And it was cheaper than most hotels in Tokyo! Fuck, yeah, I am staying in love hotels from now on! We had to enjoy it to the fullest, so we left the music AND black lights on while we slept, hehe. Oh, by the way, we didn’t have sex ;) Haha.
Anyway, we totally have to go back to the Star Crescent at some point, as there were more vacancies when we checked out, and they had a damn beach-themed room with like the ocean on the wall! That is totally what we wanted in the first place! We are SO going back!
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