Dude, wtf?

Um, yeah.

Back in the States.....photos!

Long time no blog! Well, I am back in the States, and have been for about two weeks, clazy. I had a great last couple weeks in Japan and I miss it, mehhhhhh!

Anyway, I finally updated my photos page. I added eight albums (from "Disneyland and Tokyo" on). Check it out here.

Probably won't really be blogging until October, when I head to Mexico. Hmm, Jeff's Mexicanication just doesn't have the same ring to it!

Taking a break from the busiest week EVER...

...to post the CUTEST picture EVER! Seriously, how can a kid be that cute?!!!

Scary last class today!

So this week I have had a lot of last classes, which have ranged to sad with the good classes, to a “see ya later!” with the bad classes. Hehe. Actually I was sad for all of them, but it hasn’t really hit me for the most part, which is for the best at the moment!

Anyway, today I had my last class with 3-4, which is my best class, so I expected to be sad. However, instead it was a bit violent and weird in the end! So after the typhoon game I asked them which game they wanted to play, and they said a version of hot potato we do where we pass balls and if they have tennis balls I ask them a question and if they have these two other types of balls, they ask me a question. Well, it was ghetto and I hadn’t prepared for that request, so we passed textbooks while we played the English dialogue CD in the background, hahahaha. Nice.

Anyway, the kids were mean and kept purposely putting all of the books on Seki-kun’s desk. I am not sure if he is special needs, but he at least has some sort of learning disorder, as he can’t speak, read or write English at all. He is a nice kid, but he understandably is really uncomfortable during English classes because he cant do anything and is afraid of being called on. Anyway, the kids were being bastards and kept giving him the books, trying to get him to have to answer. I tried to stop them, but it didn’t work out so well.

Anyway, him and Yuto, who is like the nicest, genki-est kid in the world, kept exchanging the books, trying not to get stuck with it, and it led to DRAMARAMA! Seki got mad that the book ended up on his desk, so he like threw it at Yuto. Even nice Yuto can apparently get angry, as he got a scary look on his face and started almost punching him! THEN Seki busted out his SCISSORS and started stabbing at Yuto!!!!!! Um, SCARY! Fortunately he was too far away but it was still pretty close, it was fucked up! Then Seki cried for the last ten minutes of the class, the ten minutes of break, and into the next class! AND started crying when I tried to comfort him during lunch! ACK! That is not how I expected that class to end! Also, it was awkward, as I am taking pics with the whole class at the end of every last class, so while Seki was crying and shit, it was like, “Come on, guys, CHEESE!” Hahaha. Sad, only at Yabuchu!

I am a bastard!

K, I am forced to correct 200 2nensei kids’ papers about their summer vacations, and I just have to post some of their interesting English! Hehe.

“Tokyo is also famous for delicious food. For example, I like ramen very much. A lot of tall buildings and young human.”

“This summer, at curry rice and hiyaci cyuna (cold Chinese noodle salad) is very very delicious a dish. But my a family is very poor people. So this year we can’t fravel only two or three times.” SAD!

“Changing the subject, there is the thing that I have already taken nothing pleasure. It is a festival. I think that even a festival is past a lot of stands.” Hmm???

Kylie Minogue, biatch!

Dude, I realize I am a huge stereotype for saying this, but I am currently addicted to Kylie Minogue’s “Showgirl” concert DVD. Oh my god, it is so fucking good! It is like nearly as entertaining as the Rain DVD, and I thought that was impossible to reach, especially for a white person! It is fucking awesome. I had no idea she was that entertaining, and that her songs were that catchy! It’s good shit, yo!!!

Oh my god, I can NOT speak English anymore!

Okay, so I haven’t been able to speak real English in like two years, BUT it is getting even worse, as it is happening in my lessons now! Like, I cant explain games in English anymore! I was trying to explain battleship to 1nensei today. For some reason Japanese kids have no sense of strategy, and when they hit a ship once, it doesn’t occur to them that they should hit the other two spots on the ship somewhere around the first hit. So I was trying to tell them this in English and was like, “So, Ms. Tagawa hit my ship here. That means that (in my head I am currently thinking, “Oh, fuck, I don’t know where I am going with this in English!”)...there...are...places around here...that...are...hit-able?” Ahahahahahaha. I am SURE my 1nensei understood that perfect English! To make matters worse, my JTE started laughing at my horrible English! SAD! I also said it with the most unsure voice and look on my face, so I am sure my kids think I am retarded, even if they have no idea what I am saying. SAD!

Japanese housewives have too much free time!!!

Okay, Japanese housewives actually don’t have much free time because they are like slaves, BUT they are at least clazy. So it started sprinkling today, which no one was really expecting. Anyway, this mom of a student just drove to school, ran to the staffroom and gave a teacher an umbrella to give to her son or daughter so that they wouldn’t get wet on the way home from school. Um, that is hardcore! Dude, they wear helmets, it’s not like they get that wet, and it isn’t pouring or anything! Crazy clazy crazy.

Ahahahahaha

Dude, only in Japan could students feel my “muscles” and say I am strong and macho and not be joking!!!! I need to stay here!!!

Boring week!

Mehhhhh, so this Thursday and Friday are finals, which means I only have one class in two days, AND today is BOE observation day, which means I only have one class. So between Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, I only have TWO classes! Um, BORING. Also, it sucks, since I only have a few weeks left with my kids, and I don’t want to spend it bored in the shokuinshitsu! Mehhhhhhhhh!

Shuugaku Ryokou! Day Three (Last)

On Thursday, the last day of the school trip, everyone was EXHAUSTED! But it was fun anyway. We had to wake up and head out early, as we were checking out of the ryokan in Kyoto, then training to Nara, which is an old city with lots of temples, etc., about an hour away from Kyoto. First the teachers got a bunch of omiyage (food souvenir things) from the ryokan people, the photography company, and the travel company! It pays to be a teacher! Hehe.

We had to walk to the train station which was far away, and unfortunately it was pouring! Thankfully I bought an umbrella at the 99 (memories!) the day before in preparation, so it was okay, although it was too small and my shoulders got all wet, sad! For the Nara day I joined another group to mix things up, plus because I couldn’t decide between two good groups for Kyoto, so I hung out with the runner-ups in Nara, hehe.

On the train ride there we all ASSED OUT and slept hardcore. Um, it was very lucky everyone was asleep, as I was the most disgusting human being ever while sleeping! I had a dream that I was like spitting or something, and when I woke up there was like ten gallons of drool coming out of my mouth! It was SO NASTY! I am sure you wanted to hear that.

When we got to Nara we all headed to Todaiji, which is a HUGE wooden temple, and is the largest wooden structure in the world. However, it was rebuilt about 400-500 years ago, and before it was 1/3 larger than it is now! Damn, I cant even imagine, it was BIG!

On the way to Todaiji we went through Nara Park, where there are tons of deer that Nara is famous for. I dunno how they aren’t 7,000 pounds, as people feed them senbei (rice crackers, but made for deer in this case) all day long. They are selfish deer! They also devoured a poor students’ bag of stuff, poor girl!

We eventually went into Todaiji, where there are big Buddhas and stuff inside. It is pretty cool, plus is like one of the few places I hadn’t been in Nara (I went there when I studied abroad), so that was nice. My kids and I all got omikuji, which are fortunes, I guess you would say. You pay like 100 yen, then pick a stick that has a number on it. You tell the monk your number, and he gives you the corresponding piece of paper with your fortune. I got kichi, the second-highest amount of luck, so that was pretty good, yay.

After that we headed back to the train station, after having been in Nara for a whopping two hours. There are actually tons of places to go there, but we didn’t have time, which I don’t mind, since it is all the same! Hehe. Before getting on the train, however, like ALL of my boys bought McDonald’s. It was a McDonald’s party! I think they learned not to trust the quality of the bentos on the shinkansen! However, they weren’t allowed to eat on the train back to Kyoto, so they had to wait an hour and a half to eat their McDonald’s on the shinkansen. Gross, I will never understand how Japanese people are okay with lukewarm/cold food (the effect of kyushoku!). Nasty!

While we were transferring at Kyoto station, we passed two other 3rd grade school trip groups. Um, it was HILARIOUS to see the difference between my school and those two! They were ALL quiet and sitting in one place and peaceful, while my kids were running around with their McDonald’s, being loud, and giving the teachers a hard time. Aww, I love my ghetto school! Hehehehe. The other schools looked pretty boring, so maybe it is good that I am at least at the interesting one!

On the shinkansen back I quickly switched seats away from my Kouchou Sensei (principal), as there is only so much to talk with him about, and definitely NOT enough to talk about for 2 1/2 hours! Hehe. I gave it to a kid who wanted to sleep, and I joined my Uno group again. We played Uno for another two hours. Hardcore, yo! I would say I probably played Uno for at least six hours in the three days! It was fun, though, it definitely made the time pass faster. I also scored cool points with my kids by buying them soda from the vending machines (they aren’t allowed to, but my Kouchou did on the way there for them, so I figured it was okay. Well, sorta, hehe).

Oh, between Uno games, my kids entertained themselves by plucking Shugo’s armhairs! Sad! I had noticed his arms were hairy (well, for a Japanese guy), and apparently they were fascinated by them, as it was a very fun game for the boys. One of them was like, “Jeff always says it hurts when I pull his, but you aren’t complaining!” Hahahaha.

We took the shinkansen to Tokyo, and from there we took a bus all the way to Yabuzuka. It was for like 2 hours or so, but fortunately they turned on a movie on the bus, so we got to watch Spider-Man 2. I was excited, as I had been wanting to watch it lately, but then I fell asleep like 20 minutes into it, whoops. Fortunately no drooling issues ensued!

That night we finally got back to school at 7, but I had to be a real teacher and have a debrief/party until 8:30 at night! Eek! The two good things that came out of it was that we were served cake, and I got lots of gossip of what went down that I didn’t know about! Man, there was some DRAMA! Some of it was really sad, my kids are too young to be doing some of these things, eek!!!!

Anyway, yeah, I then went home and ASSED THE FUCK OUT, as I was beyond exhausted. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun, though, I totally want to go again! But the bad thing is that it is making it harder to think about leaving my kids after getting to bond with them more! Bah!

Stop this madness!

It is currently 28.7 degrees in the staffroom. It is currently 27 degrees outside. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS! There is like NO fresh air in here, AND the motherfucking server is like 15 feet away from me, THIS IS HORRIBLE! It is so fucking hot! Turn on the motherfucking A/C NOW, bitches!

Shuugaku Ryokou! Day Two

Day two was our full day in Kyoto, where (thanks to the help of technology), we all broke into small groups. There were 30 groups of six students each, and each group had a different route of places to visit during the day. Each group got a cell phone-like thing that could reach the teachers (only), and a GPS thing that would tell the teachers where we were. Hardcore! Anyway, it was a LONG day, as we left at 8 am and couldn’t come back until 5 (not to mention that I went to bed at 1something and got up at 5:30), but it was fun!

I chose my own group, which was a good group. Well, I had two bad girls in it, but it was okay, especially since the boys have NOTHING to do with the girls, it is really quite amusing. I had Yuto, a good kid who speaks good English and is fun, Seki, a kid who REALLY doesn’t speak English, but is a good kid, and Takuya and Takuya, both “cool” kids, but good cool kids, not evil ones. So yeah, a good group! Throughout the day we went to a bazillion temples, as you do in Kyoto. I didn’t know which ones I had been to a few years ago, as I went with gaijin then and didn’t know the names of them. But it turns out I had been to most of the famous ones, as I only went to one new one with my group. First we went to Kiyomizudera, which is beautiful, but at the top of a hill, and it was TOO FREAKING HOT to walk up a damn hill! Ugh, we were disgusting! After that we secretly broke off into smaller groups for an hour, which was breaking the rules, but it all turned out okay in the end. I am SUCH a good teacher ;) I did score cool points with my kids on that one, tho, hehe.

We were supposed to go to Kyoto Tower next, but THANKFULLY we skipped it, as even students were saying it was boring. Um, I could have told them that the night before, it is not tall and not impressive! Silly Japanese people and their crappy towers. Instead we went to 33 Gendo, a place with 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, inside. It was VERY cool, I am glad I went. Each statue has a different face, so it is said that everyone can find their face in 33 Gendo. I do question this, however, as all of them are Asian and didn’t look like me ;) Racist Buddhists!!!

After that we had some bus drama and lost a bit of time, but oh well. Oh, we went all around Kyoto by bus. They have an AMAZING bus system, and you can get anywhere really easily! It is nice! However, I must mention that despite my kids having studied the schedule, bus schedule, and everything for a million years before the trip, they really knew NOTHING! I swear I knew more than them! But it was good, as it forced them to ask directions and stuff. Anyway, we totally went the wrong way for a bit, but then ended up at Kinkakuji, the golden temple that is the most famous temple in Kyoto. I have never been very impressed with it, as it just looks tacky and small, but it is famous for whatever reason. My kids seemed to agree with me, as we went through it at Jeff and Cindy speed! We were like, okay take a picture, BYE! Hahaha.

Next up was lunch, and we all wanted ramen, but couldn’t find it anywhere! I realized I was with the right group, however, as a teacher earlier had given me a ramen recommendation, but I didn’t know exactly where he was talking about. My kids were like, “Call him and ask him!” I told them that that was a lot of work and lunch wasn’t that important, and they all stopped walking and said seriously, “It IS that important! Lunch is that important, Jeff!” Hahahahahaha! Man, that is my kinda group!

Anyway, we ended up having udon instead, but it was good. Once again the boys had nothing to do with the girls and we got separate tables, haha. Silly chuugakusei.

Our last place to go was some sort of Kyoto castle, which took a while to get to. When we got there I immediately recognized it as the place that my friends and I went to a few years ago, but then didn’t go into, as it was too freaking expensive and we didn’t care enough. Well, my students thought the same thing, as they were like, “This is expensive! Let’s leave!” Hahaha. So we took a picture in front of the entrance, hehe.

Oh, yeah, it was freaking awesome, btw, as my kouchou sensei made me a laminated letter thing that said I was a teacher on a school trip, and I got free into all of the temples and stuff! That was nice, as I hate paying for that crap!

Oh, one more thing. Um, so I got SO MANY freaking stares for being with my kids throughout the day, I am sure I looked like a total molester pervert or something! No one could figure out our relationship to each other, which is understandable, as ALTs never go on school trips! Anyway, yeah, everyone was like, um, wtf are you doing with these kids. Hahahaha, it was funny. Hopefully the Kyoto police aren’t looking for me ;)

After the castle we were done for the day, but had an hour before we could go back, so we broke up and wandered around a shopping area, completely EXHAUSTED. It was SO hot plus no sleep was not a good thing. Some of the students got NO sleep the night before, and most only got a couple hours. Anyway, me, Yuto and Seki wanted to sit somewhere, so I was like, well, lets go to Starbucks. I got an AMAZING azuki (red bean) frappuccino, which are the best things EVER. They are new. Anyway, I quickly realized that Starbucks is not exactly a typical junior high school student hangout, BUT I was very impressed when Yuto got in line to order something! He came back and I was like, what did you get? He got COCOA! Awwwwww! SO CUTE!

We were finally allowed back in the ryokan at 5, and we were all DEAD! We had dinner, then everyone went shopping at a local shopping area. So in Japan when you go somewhere, you get omiyage (souvenirs) for your friends and family. It is just a big excuse to help the economy, but Japanese people love doing it. It is almost always in the form of individually-wrapped cookies, crackers, or something like that. Anyway, my kids went freaking balls to the wall crazy with omiyage purchases! It was ridiculous! A lot of them had to ship them back, they bought so many! However, I think it was probably exciting for them to do it, as they felt like adults! So yeah, I was the cheap gaijin barely buying any omiyage, while my kids had like 30 boxes, haha.

That night I played MORE Uno and other card games (and had the night before, too) with my kids, then drank with my kouchou and teachers again, then got another LONG four hours of sleep!

Shuugaku Ryokou! Day One

So on Tuesday I was lucky enough to go on the shuugaku ryokou, woot! Every grade in junior high schools go on trips once a year to learn, bond, etc. The first year they go to an outdoor school-type thing in the mountains, second year they go to Tokyo, and third year they go to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara, which is far away (in Japanese terms). It is a way to learn Japanese history and have fun and everything before they graduate. Anyway, yeah, I was lucky, as my kouchou sensei (principal) invited me to go this year! I later learned that he had to pull strings and keep it a secret from some BOE people (ooo, sneaky!), so I was very lucky to be allowed to go! Yay!

We left on Tuesday, and good LORD, I had to get up early! We had to be at school at 5:30 in the morning, eek! Not amusing. I couldn’t sleep the night before, so that was not a good start, but I was excited, so it was okay, I wasn’t grumpy, surprisingly! I was amazed at how all of the students were at school way early and way before me! They were all ready by 5:30, clazy! The poor kids had to wear their nice uniforms the whole time, even tho Osaka, Kyoto and Nara are freaking HOT, and teachers had to wear work outfits, so that wasn’t very amusing, but oh well. Anyway, they were all genki and in their uniforms at a ridiculous hour in the morning, I was impressed!

Anyway, from Yabuchu we took buses to an eki (train station) about 45 minutes away, then took the train to Tokyo to take the shinkansen (bullet train). I was very amused, as one student asked me at the eki, “Jeff, why did you ride your bike here?” I was like, um, no, I came on the bus, and he replied, “Oh, I thought I saw you riding your bike over there!” Um, hello, I would NOT ride my freaking bike to an eki that takes 45 minutes by bus to get to?! Clazy kids.

Oh, the trains on the way to Tokyo were typical Tokyo-type trains (i.e. packed), and my inaka kids were NOT okay with them whatsoever! They were complaining like the whole time! Hehe. In Gunma trains are like never standing room-only, so that was a bit of a shock for them. Also, Yuto, the boy sitting next to me, had like a heart attack every time a train passed loudly by us on the track next to us. Once again, Gunma is ghetto and only has one train track, so that isn’t possible here! Haha, sad, poor inaka kids!

Anyway, we eventually got on the shinkansen, where the kids were allowed to bust out their snacks they brought. Um, the snacks are seriously the highlights of the trip for the kids, it is scary! They brought SO MANY! They aren’t allowed to bring food with them to school ever, so this was like their free time, and they took advantage of it! It was like a conbini in there, damn! I cant believe the kind of crap kids can eat, btw, it is scary! Anyway, the boys sitting near me played Uno with me for like 2 hours, which was the official start of the most Uno I have ever played in my life in a three-day span! I am now an Uno Master! It was fun to hang out with the boys, though, yay. Oh, I should mention that they aren’t allowed to bring video games, music players, etc., they can pretty much only bring books and cards. This was a good idea, I think, as it forced the kids to be social and talk to each other and stuff. So yes, hence, lots of Uno!!!

Once we got to Osaka, we took another train to Universal Studios Japan. Might I add that Yabuchu rocks, as most schools don’t get to go to USJ! Woot for us! It was the only place I hadn’t been on the trip, so I was looking forward to that. While it was TEENY, it was a lot of fun! I rode on Spider-Man 3-D twice, and that is the freaking best ride ever! I thought it was gonna be like Star Tours and Back to the Future, in that you think you are moving, but you aren’t. However, you are actually on a track moving, but there are screens and motions that make you feel like you are moving more. It is hard to explain, but it is REALLY well-made, and is freaking awesome! The 3-D part was really cool, too. They need to make a Batman ride like it, it would kick ass! I also went to Terminator 2 3-D, which was pretty good, but dated. I also got to see a 30-minute version of Wicked for free! They do about three shows a day, and it is good for being a free USJ show! It is like 2/3 Japanese and 1/3 English (the Elphaba is a gaijin), and it was enjoyable. I couldn’t get tickets to Wicked in Tokyo, so I will count this as my Japanese Wicked experience! After that I walked around with some boys and stuff. Might I add that it was FREAKING HOT there, holy crap! It is SO much more humid in that area, and USJ has no shade! Also, I should be hot and sleep-deprived more often, as I didn’t eat between 10:30 and 5 and was completely fine? It was very scary!

Oh, during USJ, I was harassed about two things! First, they kept asking why I didn’t bring Cindy, who they think is my girlfriend. Um, even if she was, WHY would I bring her on the school trip?! It isn’t like the teachers brought their wives and husbands! Anyway, they were all like, “Why didn’t you bring her? You should have brought her? What omiyage are you buying for her???” Hahaha. Then all of the guys were trying to convince me to shower with them at the ryokan (Japanese-style inn, meaning they have public showers/bath). I would actually do it if they weren’t OBSESSED WITH MY PENIS! Like, it would be fun, as guys talk about amusing things when showering in Japan (hehe), but er, yeah, not gonna happen since I am a gaijin and they talk about my bits enough as it is! The most amusing quote was from Kenta, who said, “Don’t worry, Jeff, we all have them! No touch!” Hahahahaha.

After USJ we took the bus to Kyoto. In Japan tour buses always have guides who talk for a million hours about random shit, and I felt VERY sorry for our guides, as the kids totally didn’t pay attention to them! Poor girls (they are ALWAYS girls). Anyway, we took the bus to Kyoto, got to our ryoukan (Japanese-style inn), had some dinner (um, the teacher’s dinner was SO MUCH better than the students’!!!), and that was about it. That night we had a teacher’s meeting and then I was forced into drinking with my kouchou sensei (principal) and a couple other teachers, hehe. It was fun, tho! And a good way to get gossip ;) Anyway, this is hella long, end of day one!

School Trip Photos

I added photos from the school trip to my site. Check 'em out! I will blog about it later in the week....it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun!!!!!!

Finally adding photos

I added six new pages of pictures to my photos page, with hanami, my parents' visit, and Singapore. Check 'em out, yo.

DRAMA, part two!

Okay, this is getting ridiculous! This morning we had no water again! The only good thing that came out of it was that we didn’t have to do school cleaning, woot. It was also hilarious, as during break we all had to walk to the elementary school, fire station, or town hall to use their bathrooms! Ahahahaha. WTF, how ghetto is this shit?! Only Japan would NOT cancel school when there is NO fucking water in the building!

Anyway, the water came back like two hours ago, BUT it totally affected kyushoku (school lunch) and because of that, our lunch is fucking rice and a small piece of hamburg with NO sauce on it. Um, this is disgusting, wtf. And like Japanese kids aren’t allowed to bring snacks to school AND stay until 7 for bukatsu, meaning that the only thing they will eat for two hours is a little bit of rice and a shitty piece of hamburg. Um, that is fucking ridiculous, yo!

Anyway, this was very amusing before, but now that it has fucked with my kyushoku, I am officially pissed!!!

DRAMA at Yabuchu

Dude, there is major water drama going on at Yabuchu, yo! So I wasn’t here yesterday, but apparently the water just randomly TURNED OFF in the middle of the school day for no reason?! That caused big drama and bukatsu (club practice) cancellation, since they couldn’t drink water during practice. Also the toilets couldn’t flush, no one could wash their hands, etc. Um, gross. Good thing I wasn’t here!

Anyway, this morning there was MORE drama! I arrived and there was NO ONE in the staffroom, which never happens. I was like, wtf is going on? Eventually I found out that yesterday someone left a tap turned on but didn’t realize it, since the water wasn’t running. Well, when the water started running again last night, the tap flowed ALL night long and flooded the third floor and the music room!!!! So this morning all of the teachers had to take an hour to dry up the third floor with towels!!! ACK! Fortunately I didn’t know it at first, and when I DID find out, I pretended I had no idea what was going on so that I wouldn’t have to help and get wet. Hahahaha, I love being a gaijin, I can get away with anything!

Anyway, the water was fine today until lunchtime when it stopped flowing again! So no one could wash their hands again, eww! And they had to cancel bukatsu again today because of it. I was in the 3nensei hall when they announced it, and the kids were SO freaking happy, they were screaming and jumping around! It is hilarious how they hate bukatsu practice, poor kids, it like consumes their lives! Hmm, maybe they are the ones turning off the water supply so that they actually have free time for once ;)

I am both poor and retarded

Um, I just got back from Singapore yesterday, today Cindy and I booked our Kyushu and San Francisco trips, and on Thursday I have to pay for my 3nensei trip to Kyoto, etc. Um, yeah, I have problems and NO FUCKING MONEY! SAD.

Oh my god

ACK, I just realized my contract ends exactly two months from today. That is SCARY!!!!

Shou Stories

Yesterday I had shougakkou (elem. school), which I both love and hate at the same time, hehe. It is really fun and the kids are great, but it is SO freaking tiring, and by the end of the day I want to tell them to get their dirty hands off me! Hee hee, I am such a great teacher! I do like it, though. It is a love/hate relationship!

Anyway, yesterday I had the 4th graders and we were reviewing colors. For colors I always play a game where I say a color, then the kids have to run around the room and touch something that is the color I say. It is the simplest game ever, but they always have fun with it. I am always amused that when I say “black,” they all touch their own hair and are like, “BLACK!” However, there is one Brazilian kid, Tainan (spelling in Japanese, I dunno the Portuguese spelling), who has brown hair, so I was like, “Ooo, I will touch his hair when I say brown!” Apparently EVERYONE thought of this, as when I said brown there was seriously a GANG of shougakkou kids chasing after him! Poor Tainan was a bit scared of this, and they literally ran circles around the classroom trying to touch his brown hair! Hahaha, the price of being a gaijin in Japan.

So 6th period (last period) I had the other 4th grade class, and I was not exactly in the mood to teach. By 6th period it is too hot and I am too tired to try to be genki about it. I felt bad about this, though, as when I got there, the kids were SO excited. I don’t know what I did to deserve such attention from the 4th graders, but they seriously are OBSESSED with me, and I think secretly have shrines to me in their bedrooms. Like, it is crazy. Anyway, I got there and they were all excited and climbing all over me, and then the teacher was like, “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know, but we have to clean the school pool this class!” The kids were SOOOOOO sad, it was SAD! They were like, “NOOO, we want to do English instead!!!” When she said there wasn’t a choice, they were like, “Okay, well, let’s do English SEVENTH period (there isn’t a seventh period), or tomorrow!!!!” Then four of the kids grabbed onto my legs so I couldn’t leave the room! AWWWW! So cute! Now I feel bad that I didn’t want to teach them in the first place. Hehe. But yeah, shougakkou kids are so cute!

Ahahahaha

So today is midterms, and on testing days, the kids wear their nice school uniforms that they only use for testing, ceremonies, and...hmmm....that is about it. Anyway, because they barely use them in junior high school, and because they are expensive, parents usually buy them too big for them and hope that they grow into them. This always produces amusing results, but this little 1nensei boy just walked by the shokuinshitsu with the MOST RIDICULOUSLY HUGE seifuku ever! The jacket’s sleeves were almost two times too long for him! His hands were completely buried in the sleeves, and it looked like he had Jeff-sized monkey arms! And the shoulders were way too big, too, so it pretty much looks like he is wearing his dad’s school uniform. Ahahaha, so cute.

Rain is coming down from the rooftops...

Yeeeeeeeeeeea, beeotch, Cindy and I saw Rain on Friday, yo! It was good times, but, er, interesting! Hehe. We headed down to Tokyo after school, and arrived at Tokyo Dome to find…40,000 old ladies!!!! ACK! I hadn’t thought about it, but Rain’s main audience in Japan is the old ladies who watch Korean dramas! SAD!

Perhaps I should explain a bit more! So Korean dramas have been huge in Japan in the last few years, as the men are hotter to Japanese women than Japanese men are (because they are “more manly,” haha), and because Korean culture reminds them of “old Japan.” Anyway, yeah, so even tho Korean guys are hot, it is pretty much only housewives and grandmas that like them! However, I hadn’t thought that they would be the most hardcore Japanese fans of Rain? It was disturbing! Hello, 70 year-olds cant listen to Korean R&B, that is disturbing!

Anyway, we got to Tokyo Dome and there was a line like the size of Japan for the women’s restrooms…thankfully for me there were NO guys at the concert, so it wasn’t a problem for me! Hehe. Cindy has an amusing story regarding bathroom drama, so check out her blog when she posts it!

So I am a huge loser and joined a Rain keitai club so that I could get pre-sale tickets and they were fucking GOOD SEATS!!!!! Tokyo Dome is really big, but we got fucking FIRST row on the side. They were the best seats we could have without being on the arena/floor seating! WOOT! So that was exciting.

I must admit we were VERY concerned when before the concert there were announcements that screaming was not allowed, and could not only get you kicked out of the concert, but could temporarily STOP the concert?!!!! UM!!!!!!!!! Thankfully that wasn’t enforced, what the fuck!

Anyway, the concert was hot! ROWR! RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN! It was a really good concert, despite a few parts that would only work in Asian, as they were random and weird. But still, hot! The only bad thing about the concert was that Japanese audiences suck ass. Like, they suck ass at movies, at musicals, at concerts, at everything! They were sort of genki, but hello, it is Rain, you are supposed to be loud and dancing and shit!!! Cindy and I were good and sat for most of it, but the last third we were dancing, beeotch! I also screamed for him to take his shirt off half the time, hee hee. But yeah, it was a good concert, but something was missing. It would have been fun in Vegas with all of the FOB-y screaming peeps, yo! Stupid Japanese boring people!

Oh, and Rain spoke in a lot of Japanese between songs! I was so impressed! Granted, I couldn’t always understand wtf he was trying to say, BUT he memorized a LOT of Japanese, damn! It was rather sugoi.

So yeah, the concert was fun and it ended and then IT WAS THE MOST JAPANESE THING EVER. So RIGHT when it ended the lights came up and this announcer was like, “Thank you for coming to the concert. Please stay seated until we call your row number to exit Tokyo Dome. Thank you very much.” Um, wtf! It was ridiculous! Talk about killing a concert buzz! So like we were forced to sit down until they called us! Cindy and I were gonna say fuck it and pretend we didn’t understand Japanese, but there was a guy with like a gate thing blocking all rows not called! SAD, welcome to Nazi Germany! Also, as Cindy said, it isn’t like people are gonna like trample each other in Japan while trying to exit an arena, seriously. Ugh, that was dumb.

Anyway, I enjoyed the concert, but for some reason it feels like we didn’t see him really? I don’t know why! I guess I will just have to see him again :) :) :)

Also, we were total losers and went around Tokyo on Saturday to nice shopping areas trying to secretly stalk Rain, but we never found him! SAD!!!!!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

I booked two very exciting trips today...NYC and Mexico City!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!! I am gonna be in NYC from 8/28 until 9/10, catching all of the shows I have missed in the last two years, bitching about the heat, and annoying Myra! Hee hee, WOOT!

I also booked my flight to Mexico, which is VERY EXCITING! I will be heading there on 10/19 and seeing my boyooooooo, wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot! I am gonna fly back on 12/19 in order to be in Oregon for Holly’s birthday, then Christmas! WOOT! I am excited! I was able to use my miles for the flight, so it only cost sixty bucks, AND I am flying first-class on the way home! Hello, I have never ridden first class before, I cant wait! Yeeeeeeea, motherfuckers!

Yabuchu is SO ghetto fabulous!

In Japan, it is only compulsory (WHOA, big word!!!!) to go to school until the end of junior high school. After that you can skip high school and get a job at the Subaru factory or construction or something, which is what the bad kids do. Because of this, bad kids who graduated come back once in a while to visit their junior high school since they have way too much free time. They are always BEYOND ghetto, as they have blonde hair, 300 piercings, and look like they are members of the yakuza (then again, in Yabuzuka, you never know!). They come to the staffroom and talk to their old teachers, then usually are told to go away. Haha.

Anyway, today two bad girls who graduated a year ago came back and were apparently so bored that they wanted to pretend they were students! They fucking came in their old school uniforms hoping that people wouldn’t realize that they weren’t real students!!!! The only way you could tell they weren’t was because they had lots of piercings and big long colored hair (against the rules in junior high). All of a sudden in the middle of first period one of the teachers had to escort them out of the building!!!! Ahahahaha, that is SO sad. Like, how bored must you be to want to go back to junior high school and pretend to be a student? Just freaking go to high school!!!

Bonding with my kids, yay!

Okay, so over a month ago at the enkai (drinking party with teachers), my kouchou sensei (principal) was like, “Jeff, do you want to go on the shuugaku ryokou (school trip with 3nensei to Kyoto, Osaka, etc.)? It would be a fun last memory for you and the kids!” I was like, “Hell, yeah!” So he was like, okay, cool.

Then the next week, he asked me if I remembered Friday night and what he said (okay, I am drunk off my ass at ONE enkai and now everyone thinks I cant remember anything, SAD), and I said yes, then he mumbled something and I pretended to understand. Might I add that chuugakkou principals and vice principals have their own language that consists of manly mumbling that I don’t understand half the time! I hang out with too many girls!

Anyway, for the last month, I have wondered if I am going or not, as NOTHING has been said about the trip. I was hoping I could go, but it is a week after Singapore, so if I didn’t go I wouldn’t be like crying in the corner or anything. So I finally asked kouchou sensei about it today and he was like, yeah, duh. Hahahaha. YAY! Japanese people are SO weird. Like, if you mention one thing for 30 seconds, it is like decided and never brought up again. I don’t get it! But anyway, I am excited, it will be fun! I am gonna be such a loser hanging out with my kids, they are totally gonna be sick of me by the end!

Um, yeah

K, a sign that I am NEVER home anymore....want to know what food is currently in my fridge? Jalapenos and butter! Mmmmm, what a nutritious meal! Sad, I am NEVER at home to eat anymore.....that is fine, but looking at my fridge is just depressing! I might as well unplug the damn thing!

Last big trip!

So the other day Cindy and I booked our last international trip before leaving Japan...we are going to Singapore on June 1st, woot! I literally have NO idea what there is to do in Singapore, but it is the only chance I will probably ever have to go there, as I would have NO desire to fly there from the States (um, it takes seven hours from here, let alone from the States!). So yeah, I am excited!

Unfortunately because it is FAR away and because flight times are really weird to go there, we literally only have two days there, but it is really small, so that should be enough time, I think. We shall see. Ugh, it is going to be SO RIDICULOUSLY HOT THERE, I dont think I can take any pictures because I am going to be the sweatiest, nastiest person on the planet! Hahahaha. I am excited for it anyway, tho. :)

Movie Madness!

Dude, it is like attack of the movies lately and I am loving it! So a few weeks ago Spider-Man came out, so I went to AEON and saw that. Then the next week I saw Tokyo Tower before it went out of theaters (I had to go by myself to both movies and felt like the biggest loser ever! Especially since I was crying by myself at the end of Tokyo Tower, SAD! At least everyone in the theater was crying, tho!). This week Stranger Than Fiction comes out, then June 9th is The Prestige, then June 16th is Zodiac! June 30th is Shrek 3, but Cindy and I might see it in Singapore in a couple weeks if we are bored. Then July is Harry Potter, then I am going home and catching up on Hairspray, Simpsons Movie, etc etc! Clazy!

BTW, if you comment on how these movies are like ten years old I will kick your ass!

Anyway, yay movies, but it is a big pain in the ass that I have to bike, train and bus to get to AEON to see the damn movies like every week. Meh! Oh, well.

Yay!

So almost all of my bad 3nensei boys who graduated in March ended up not getting into high school, which I wasn’t very surprised by (tho it is still depressing). Oh, btw, high school isn’t mandatory in Japan. Anyway, there was one bad boy, Ryohei, who is technically a “bad boy,” but is actually sweet and not bad at all, he is just kinda cool and hangs out with the bad kids and doesn’t exactly love studying.

Anyway, I heard last March that Ryohei only got into one high school, a private school in Ashikaga. However, I wasn’t sure if he could actually go, due to money/lack of interest, etc. One of my teachers was like, “It’s okay, he will be able to play volleyball with his friends!” Um, I was like, NO, that is not okay! Haha.

So yeah, I was hoping that he was going to high school, but I wasn’t sure until last night when I saw him on the train and he was wearing a high school uniform! Yay! I was so excited to see that…I am proud of him! Ganbatte, Ryohei!

Ugh, it’s starting....

This is the first official hot week of the year and I am not amused! It isn’t truly “hot” yet, but it reached 30 degrees yesterday! It is slowly getting more and more humid, and it is totally fucking up my body! I remember last year for like two weeks I just couldn’t move, as the heat was draining my body of all of its energy…and that is happening now! I am like tired from the moment I wake up until I go to bed! It needs to stop, I am lazy enough as it is!

To further prove my point, a few things that officially make it summer:

-on Tuesday I made the big move from sleeping on the futon in my warm living room to sleeping on my bed in my spacious/cool bedroom. It is weird (and also dark as hell, I thought I had lost my eyesight at one point in the night!)!

-It is the start of the never-open-your-mouth-while-riding-your-bike season, as I am in the inaka and flies go in my fucking mouth! It is really nasty!!! I literally have to ride with my mouth closed, and I can feel them crashing into my mouth area! Damn you, Yabuzuka!

-To add to the nastiness of flies in mouths, it is OFFICIALLY summer, as I got my first fly in my eye while riding my bike this week! Yes, apparently Japanese flies are attracted to my big round gaijin eyes, as I ALWAYS get them in my fucking eye! Then I have to ride my bike while getting it out of my eye, and it is just bad news bears in every sense of the word! Fucking Yabuzuka!

And it is officially summer, as I am complaining about the heat on my blog. Expect many more entries of this nature to come!

Hisashiburi

Yes, I hadn’t blogged for a long time until today, but that was because my parents came here for Golden Week! I wasn’t sure how it would go (I was fully prepared to want to kill them within like three hours of them landing), but it was actually a lot of fun! They were only here for seven days, but we did SO much in one week that it seriously felt like at least two weeks, it was crazy! Anyway, I don’t feel like writing about it, so I will just post pics from it eventually instead!

Depressing Story Time!

Dude, it is really depressing to hear all of the drama involved with Brazilians and other minorities in Japan! Anyway, I have a depressing story to share! Sad. So Chiago is the only Brazilian 1nensei (and only Brazilian in chuu, I think? There are a couple random gaijin-y types but they may have been born here, I am not sure). Anyway, he was at Minami Shou (elementary school) so I knew him fairly well (well, as much as you can know shou kids). He was able to speak Japanese with his friends and stuff, but studying was really hard for him in Japanese.

Anyway, he came to chuu and he didnt seem very happy, but I didnt really know much until yesterday when Kameyasu (my hot shou sensei who teaches Japanese to Brazilian kids) was all worried about him and talking to me. It turns out that Chiago hated chuu and wanted to quit because he didnt understand anything, it was too hard, etc. He wanted to quit and go to Braziljin gakkou (a stupid-ass school in Ota for Brazilians that only uses Portuguese and is not in anyway helpful for real life in Japan) instead. His Mom, Kameyasu and I all agreed that that was stupid and not useful at all, and that if he could survive through a Japanese school he would have a much better chance at a future. However, he went there for a day to try it out. I think Kameyasu said he went there in shou 1-4 nen, then went to Minami Shou for two years.

Anyway Kameyasu and I were talking about it, and we both agreed (and Kameyasu had tried to tell him) that not only gaijin are hating chuugakkou/scared of chuugakkou right now, but also nihonjin. Like, it gets MUCH harder all of a sudden for the kids, and everyone is nervous and stuff, not only him! But I dont think he really listened to that.

Anyway, there was tons of drama today and now it turns out that Chiago quit school today, is transferring to Braziljin gakkou, and then is going back to Brazil next year. SAD. Like, he is going to leave his family here and go live with his grandma because he wants to go back all of a sudden? SAD SAD SAD.

Anyway, yeah, that is depressing!!!! I understand that he doesnt have any friends here to really talk about his troubles to, but I wish he could have ganbaru-ed. Like, making decisions for yourself as an 1nensei is not the best thing in the world. Haha. I know I felt I could make big decisions in 7th grade, but I am sure they probably werent good ones! Hehe. So yeah, that is really depressing. Hrm. But at least he is happy, I guess....hrm. It just sucks the situation gaijin students are put in here, they are kinda fucked either way.

It is interesting to see how much drama is put on the school by this, too, my kyoto sensei (vice principal) has had to call like 700 people about him quitting! Usually if people "quit" chuugakkou they dont ever make it official because you can graduate even if you NEVER go to school for some reason.

Anyway, had to share my sad story with someone!

Oh my god, to be selfish for a second, my hot sensei wont be coming to chuu anymore! DAMN YOU CHIAGO! ;)

Dekitazo!!!!

So I hadn’t said before, but Rain is coming to Tokyo on May 25th. Tickets go on sale on the 13th (um, Asians like last-minute travel and concert plans, I don’t understand), but I didn’t want to go through the drama of trying to buy tickets while they sell out in like 30 seconds like last time. So I put my name in for a drawing to get tickets in advance....and I won, motherfucker! Cindy and I are going to Rain, yo!!!!!!!!!!!! We will probably be 7 million miles away, since it is in the evil HUGE Tokyo Dome, but we are going, yo! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Hot-ass Rain is MUCH more important than most-likely-shitty Japanese Wicked! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You HAVE to be kidding me....

Dude, this is fucking hilarious.

Giving into Peer Pressure

SAD, the day has finally come that I gave in and joined Facebook! I stayed away from it for three years, but I figured what the hell (plus stupid Eduardo told me to join and I cant say no to him! Hehe). However, I still REFUSE to join stupid MySpace, so I still have standards! Yes :)

Anyway, if you are on Facebook and aren’t my “friend” yet, add me, bitches!

Weather Changes

Okay, I realize I am never happy with the weather in Japan, but this week was really quite ridiculous. Wednesday was pouring rain and FREEZING. It was 10 degrees and I had to wear my big puffy jacket and carry a huge umbrella when going out. Today, THREE DAYS LATER, it was 26 degrees and humid as shit! Somehow in the span of three days I went from being poured on while biking to the station to sweating my ass off on the way to the train station. Um, yeah. What the fuck?

Fasting!

So on Sunday, Cindy and I did the unthinkable, and DIDN’T EAT FOOD! We decided that we had poisoned our bodies enough, so it was time to give it a break from constantly digesting. So, we went on a fast! Starting at 7:30 PM on Saturday night, we wouldn’t eat food until breakfast on Monday morning. While I didn’t last QUITE that long for various reasons (I wasn’t feeling that well before it started), it was still hopefully somewhat good for me, and I was amazed I actually (sorta) pulled it off! Hehe. Here are the details:

9:00 am: I wake up from a dream that I accidentally made tea withoutthinking about it and ruined my fast! I wake up, realize it was a dream, and go back to bed…only to dream about eating food for two hours! Oy, this is not off to a good start.

12:00: Just got back from grocery shopping. Hmm, I should fast more often, it saves me money on groceries!

12:09: Dammit, I’m hungry, this sucks! Time to drink water and pretend it’s food!

12:20: While putting dried cranberries in a bag for tomorrow’s worksnack, some fall out and I must make VERY conscious decision not toeat them. Sad, it is depressing how much I eat without even thinkingabout it!

12:57: Hrm, my stomach is getting a little rumbly! Must watch moreTV and distract myself!

1:24: Dude, not eating makes me SLEEPY! I want to clean my dirty-ass house but have no energy. This sucks!

3:18: Oh my god, I am so hungry! I am like light-headed! This sucks. I had better be toxin-free after this bullshit!

3:25: Totally unrelated, but I just found 1man ($100) in my drawer! THIS ROCKS, especially since I am broke as fuck at the moment! WOOT!

3:27: Holy crap, I just found 2700 yen more! This drawer is amazing!

3:29: 1000 yen more! It’s like I’m getting paid not to eat!

4:15: So hungry! I should clean to distract myself, but don’t have much energy. Will ignore that and do so anyway! Sigh.

4:34: I have just realized how much more free time I have when Idon’t have to eat…like, I don’t need to spend any time cooking or eating, so I have WAY too much time on my hands! As a result, I have already watched like 300 hours of TV today.

5:40: Ooo, I’m not as hungy or light-headed anymore! Yay. K, timefor more TV!

6:30: Hrm, I don’t feel well, and not in a “yay, I am getting rid of toxins way!” Sad, I might have to break this fast. Must pretend I am toxin-free already!

7:30: Sad, I had to have a glass of juice and a carrot! Oh, well, better than a huge meal, I suppose!

So yeah, I didn’t last as long as I had hoped, but 24 hours is a good start ;) Congrats to Cindy, who made it the whole way! Next time I am doing 36 hours, god dammit!

Photos, yo!

I updated my photos site with graduation pics and LOTS of photos from Eduardo's visit. Check it out, yo.

Senioritis!

So the new school year just officially started, and I am officially TOTALLY OVER school! Ugh! I have such a case of senioritis, and I still have 3 1/2 months of teaching left! Shit. I so don’t care about pretending to be interested in the new teachers or anything else. Bad news bears fo sho.

I also will NOT miss Japanese “ceremonies.” We just had our opening ceremony and it was SO FUCKING BORING. I don’t know why they call it a ceremony, as they don’t celebrate (er, ceremone? Hehe) anything. They just sit there, stand up, bow, and listen to BORING speeches. If I am 24 and bored to death, I don’t know how 12 year-olds survive it (let’s ignore the fact that they might be more mature than me!).

At one point our Kyoto Sensei (vice principal) was introducing all of the guests that came from the PTA and other schools and stuff, when a new 1nensei girl puked ALL over. She was sitting like right in front of where the visitors were being introduced, but everyone totally ignored it and continued the introductions and bowing while a few teachers helped her clean up! Um, sad! How can Japanese people pretend to ignore things so easily? It’s like, dude, a girl just vomited all over the place, RIGHT in front of the people you are talking about, I think we ALL noticed it!

Anyway, yeah, senioritis is bad news bears. I had it horrible in middle school, high school and college, and now I have it again in middle school part two! Sigh.

Eduardo came to Japan, FINALLY!

K, so Eduardo finally came here and we had suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch a fun two weeks. Meh, I want him to come baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Sad. Anyway, it was a very BUSY two weeks (despite my purposely planning to have time to relax, since we didn’t get to in Mexico, all of the relaxing time got booked by other things! Sad). So yeah, we did a lot of stuff, and I don’t feel like writing a novel, and you don’t feel like reading one, so I will do a short-ish (Jeff cant do short!) highlights version.

Saturday, the 17th

Eduardo came in EARLY in the morning, we trained into Tokyo and jetlagged Eduardo got to see a lot of the city. We went to Asakusa to see the temple, then went to Shibuya for some shopping and big-city-feel. We then went back to our teeny hotel room (clazy Tokyo!) so he could nap (poor boyo!) before going to Ikebukuro to meet up with Natsumi and Adam. We had a drink with them, then they had to leave, so we went to 2chome (the gay area in Tokyo) to get a drink. It was interesting, hehe. Then went back to the hotel and ASSED OUT.

Sunday, the 18th

Went to Harajuku, walked around, then went to my favorite Indian place for lunch. We then trained back to Gunma, and I gave him a small tour of Yabuzuka, where he learned that he hates biking and hates Gunma wind! That night we relaxed and had dinner at my house.

Monday, the 19th

I had to work, so Eduardo got to sleep off his jetlag. I got off early, and we did a few errands, then made Mexican rice (MMM!) for Atsuko’s party that night. The Gunma wind was especially bad that night, and Eduardo nearly got blown into a rice paddy! Sad! We FINALLY got to Atsuko’s and ate a TON of food with Atsuko, some of her and my former students, and Nacchan. It was fun! That night we went to karaoke with Atsuko, her daughter Aki and Aki’s husband, and Atsuko’s son Kosuke. Got back late and Jeff barely slept before work the next day!

Tuesday, the 20th

I survived work, and Eduardo came to visit after lunch, woot. That night we went to Nacchan’s restaurant for a HUGE meal (including Nacchan’s AMAZING yakisoba) with Megu, two students and their mom. It was fun!

Wednesday, the 21st

My first day of vacation, yay! We flew to Hiroshima in the late morning, ferried to Miyajima (my favorite place in Japan!), checked into our place, and wandered a bit around Miyajima before our HUGE ryokan dinner. That night we assed out at like 9:30, we are such senior citizens!

Thursday, the 22nd

We ferried into Hiroshima to depress ourselves with the A-Bomb Dome and museum. After that we cheered ourselves up by the wonders of the 100 yen store (Eduardo fell in love) and other shopping. We then went to Okomiyaki Mura (Okonomiyaki Village), which is four floors of okonomiyaki vendors. SO GOOD. MMMMMMMM. Then we went back to Miyajima, had dinner, and assed out early again!

Friday, the 23rd

Woke up early so that we could hike around Miyajima and see the temples and nature. I LOVE MIYAJIMA. I was so happy to have my boyo there with me! After that we flew back to Tokyo and trained our way home to Gunma.

Saturday, the 24th

We had a relaxing morning, then went to the 100 yen store in Korona so that Eduardo could get all of his presents for friends, hehe. The 100 yen store really does rock. We then met up with 11 of our friends (yay, we have friends!) for a dinner at Cha Cha, followed by drinks and karaoke at Verinha, the Brazilian bar. Um, there were too many Brazilians singing DEPRESSING SONGS. WTF! It was fucking sad! Eduardo got to bike drunk for the first time in his life on the way home, hehe.

Sunday, the 25th

Nacchan took us to Megu’s house for a yummy Japanese lunch with her and her husband, then the five of us drove all around Yabuzuka to various pretty nature places. It was fun, but a bit tiring, since we just wanted to sleep! Hehe. That night we went to sushi with Mami, Emily, Glenn and Cindy at Hiyoshi Maru, my favorite sushi place, mmmmm.

Monday, the 26th

After a relaxing morning, Eduardo got to visit the wonder known as AEON! Yay! Good shopping was had by all, and I MAY have bought five shirts, despite not planning to buy anything, eek! We had a tempura dinner, then saw Dreamgirls, woot! Followed by brick toast for dessert, it was an amazing day ;)

Tuesday, the 27th

We trained to Takasaki to catch the shuttle bus to Lake Haruna, where we stayed the night. The bus there was FULL of people, and we were literally the ONLY people under 70 years old. I wanted a picture!!! The afternoon we walked around the WHOLE lake, which I still cant believe, then had a huge dinner with nomihoudai (all you can drink). We are such losers! To be even bigger losers, Drunk Jeff and Drunk Eduardo rented the karaoke room and sang two hours of karaoke by themselves! We sang the GAYEST SONGS EVER, it was sooooooooooooooo fun! We then promptly assed out.

Wednesday, the 28th

Woke up hungover, bused back to Takasaki and shopped a bit, but we were too tired and hungover to feel like shopping, so we went back to Yabuzuka and watched movies! Eduardo lost his Mean Girls virginity, which was a very special moment in our relationship!!!

Thursday, the 29th

A VERY BUSY DAY, as we went on a huge Gunma tour with Nacchan, Megu, Cindy, Atsuko and Kosuke. We seriously went ALL over. We went to a cool museum/weird ranch place, went to Ikaho and hiked around, went to a park in Maebashi, went to the kenchou (prefectural building), and went to a COOL COOL COOL park in Isesaki with the funnest slide IN THE WORLD! We got home EXHAUSTED and poor Eduardo still had to pack all of his shit! Sad!

Friday, the 30th

We trained to Tokyo for our last full day. :( Went to Shibuya, then Shimokitazawa, which was one of my favorite shopping places when I studied abroad. I bought MORE shirts that I didn’t plan to buy, and Eduardo finally found a cheap gay man bag, yay! Hehe. After that we went to Harajuku for Indian again, then walked around the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Asakusa along the river, which were MUY pretty! It was a good last night, tho sad!

Saturday, the 31st

I don’t want to talk about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sniff!

Anyway, it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun, I am so glad he finally got to come! I realized while he was here that we only spent TEN days together in 2006. Um, that is fucking ridiculous! So at least we have already had two weeks together this year and it isn’t even close to over :)

Eduardoooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Eduardo FINALLY came and it was an amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing two weeks! More pics and stuff later, but here are some in the meantime...

Um, SCARY!

Dude, wtf!

Graduation

So, today was graduation. I was excited for it, as I wanted to say goodbye to my good 3nensei class, but I forgot how INCREDIBLY BORING Japanese graduations are! Good lord! Here is how a Japanese graduation goes: bow, bow, bow, long boring speech with no emotion, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, call 200 names while each kid bows literally at least 7 times each, bow, bow, long boring speech, long boring speech, long boring speech, bow bow bow, long boring speech, bow, bow, bow, sing a song, clap, bow. Man, was it EXCITING! Jesus Christ! I like being in a big school until it comes to things like this where they have to call EVERY kid’s name!

It is really sad for the kids, because graduations should obviously be somewhat formal, but it should be enjoyable for them and not put them to freaking sleep! The kids came in to the gym crying, but didn’t cry for the ceremony just because it had no EMOTION to cause them to cry! They cried plenty before and after, though.

Speaking of sleeping, one kid was so bored HE LITERALLY FELL ASLEEP STANDING UP. Now usually Japanese people are really good at sleeping while standing, but apparently the boredom was too much for him, and he fell asleep standing while listening to a speech, FELL OVER BACKWARDS, crashed on a chair and landed flat on his back on the ground!!!! It was hilarious in a scary way. It was also very amusing, as everyone pretended it didn’t happen (except for a few teachers who checked on him). It caused a huge crash and no one “noticed.” I don’t know how Japanese people can ignore things so well (flashbacks of Cindy breaking a chair in a café!).

Anyway, despite the ceremony being horribly tedious, it was still a fun day because of the send-off at the end. The parents and teachers line up on the street or walkway or whatever in front of the school and clap while the kids make one last walk in front of the school. Then the kids get to take pictures with everyone and I got a bunch of pics, yay! It was fun. Awwww, I am gonna miss my kids!

Phoooooooootoooooooooooooos

I've uploaded a buncha pics...Shanghai, Sapporo, Hong Kong, etc. Check it out here, yo.

SEVEN DAYS!

Eduardo will be here in ONE WEEK. SEVEN DAYS SEVEN DAYS SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hong Kong, Part Three

The last part of my babbling!

Sunday was our last full day in Hong Kong, and we pretty much did the same stuff as we did on Saturday! We got up and went to dim sum at The Garden Restaurant, a place that Sean and Jenny highly recommended. It was good!!! The egg rolls were the best egg rolls I have ever had! Thankfully Winsome made a cheat sheet for us to order things with, so we had some kanji hints. Mmm, it was yummy. Thanks, Sean and Jenny!

After that we did some shopping. Because of CNY, a lot of places were closed or opened really late. However, Hong Kong people are totally night people, and most places open really late anyway! They close and open really late, it is way different than Japan! We hadn’t had much luck shopping until we found Tough Jeans, the most Japanese store we could find in Hong Kong, haha. Calvin, Cindy and I all bought things there! Yay new clothes!

We then wandered around some more until we wanted to die and were all very grumpy and tired! Thankfully we found a Starbucks where we had a small afternoon nap. After that Cindy had to go visit her family, so Ann, Calvin and I hit the town on our own. We wanted to make sure we went to this dessert place that Winsome recommended before it closed, so we had dessert before dinner that night! Haha. It was also REALLY embarrassing, as we ordered SEVEN DESSERTS for the three of us! Um, families of six only ordered like two! Hee hee, oh well. Some of the desserts were really good and some were only okay. I FINALLY tried durian, a fruit I have heard a lot about from Cindy. It is popular in Southeast Asia, but is a you-love-it-or-really-hate it fruit. I had heard that it smells like cat poop and was very intrigued for some reason. Anyway, we tried the durian pancakes, which were actually pretty good. Then we got this one dessert with ice cream on top of jelly. Inside the jelly we found some mysterious food and were like, “Oooo, there is something in here!” We instantly devoured it, but instantly regretted it, as it was durian and was NASTY!!!!! IT DOES smell like crap and tastes like it, too! It was freaking gross!!!! It took us a second to realize how nasty it was, but it was BAD. I don’t know how people can eat it?! For the next half hour the table smelled like crap! Um, EWW!

After that we headed to the Chinese New Years Parade. Despite purposely going there for CNY, there really wasn’t that much CNY-related stuff to do. They made a huge deal of the parade, though, so we wanted to make sure we saw it. Um, we SORT OF saw it, hehe. First of all, there were like seven bazillion people there. Also, they had two barricades? Like, the early people got to stand by the first barrier, right on the parade route. Then there was a big empty space behind them, with another barricade, where the late-comers (i.e. us) got to cram into with no room to breathe! Fortunately I am freakishly tall and could BARELY see things, but poor Calvin and Ann couldn’t see anything! I was also happy to be tall, as I had fresh air at my height, while everyone who is not-so-tall was sweaty and couldn’t breathe! Sad! We didn’t stay at the parade for too long, then went to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner before sleeping again. Once again we walked about 700 miles in one day!

The next day we didn’t have that much time before our flight, but we DID have time for dim sum! Mmmmm! We ordered a lot, but not as much as the EIGHTEEN dishes we ordered the day before! HAHAHA. The sad thing is we barely left ANYTHING on the table after we finished, either. We devoured it all! Anyway, it was good. However, I would not be very amused to live in HK, as the service is SO bad! The complete opposite of Japan. Waitresses are NOT afraid to show you how much they hate you and their job! The only time they ever smiled was when they got CNY red envelopes from their regular customers. Dude, I want to be a waiter just during CNY, as they were getting red envelopes like every five minutes!

Anyway, after that we headed to the airport, flew home and missed our stupid last train back to Ota. I figured we would, but it still pissed me off. Fortunately Calvin was nice and housed me and Cindy for the night. We got a WHOPPING 3 hours of sleep before we had to get up at 5 in the morning to head back home and get ready for work. In a NORMAL country, one could call a cab at that hour. However, only ONE cab company runs at that hour and they were too busy to pick us up (I think they only have one car running so early). Um, WTF!!!!!! So Cindy and I had to walk 45 minutes to the train station with all of our bags in the cold at 5 in the morning. AWESOME! Hmm, perhaps our lives are strange in this country. Hehe. It wasn’t that bad, though.

Fortunately I didn’t have any classes, as I may have killed kids that day, with 3 hours of sleep and getting up at 5 in the morning!

Anyway, that was our Hong Kong trip! It was fun! But now I must diet and not spend any money until Eduardo comes!!!

Hong Kong, Part Two

On our first full day in Hong Kong, we woke up a bit early to have DIM SUM, mmmmmmm! Fortunately Cindy’s cousin, Winsome, volunteered to be our dim sum guide, as we don’t know the kanji for dim sum words! It was my first time having REAL Hong Kong dim sum, as I had only had it in Taiwan before. Oh my god, it was so good! Um, Winsome MAY have been scared by how much we could eat! Hong Kong people just go there for the tea and to relax while they eat a bit. Us hungry gaijin, on the other hand, came for the food and ate EVERYTHING! She kept suggesting things and we were like, “Sure!” She soon learned to just order anything she could think of, as she knew we would eat it! One time she called the waiter by saying, “Come here, the table with the biggest eaters…” Haha, sad. MMMM, it was good! I finally had fresh chicken feet, as the ones I had in Taiwan were like a day old. They sound nasty but they are yummy! We also had this YUMMY dessert that looked like some sort of pineapple thing, but was made of horse feet. Holy crap, it was good. EVERYTHING was good. We ate so much!

After that we walked off our calories by shopping. Well, more like walking around and window shopping. Hong Kong was a waste on us in that way, as we didn’t really have anything we needed to buy, and pretty much all you can do there is shop! Hehe. I did get some DVDs, though (um, Aaron Kwok up in here!!!!!). We walked around enough until we could get desserts from the street vendors, mmm!

After that we walked ALL OVER Hong Kong. We went to the Avenue of the Stars, which is kind of like a boardwalk on the bay dedicated to Hong Kong stars. Aaron didn’t have a star there and it was sad! Sniff. Fortunately it was a lot clearer than the day before, so we could finally take pictures of the Hong Kong skyline!

Oh, I forgot to mention three things! One, it was damn warm in Hong Kong! It got up to about 25 degrees or so during the day! That is much different from Gunma, which is about 10 degrees during the day, and MUCH different than Hokkaido the week before, which was 0 degrees!
Second, Hong Kong totally feels like NYC at times! I think it is a mix of humidity, heat, the big city feel, and the sorta-dirty-ness without being really dirty. I dunno, it is hard to describe, but it felt like I was in NYC a lot of the time!

Three, I am secretly fluent in Cantonese! Well, I cant speak it, but I can somehow understand it! Like, I totally knew what people were saying most of the time before Cindy would translate it! It was weird! But like, people are pretty much the same in any language, so I just imagined what the person would say in whatever situation, I guess. Still, it was weird, I am so secretly Chinese! Hehe.

Oh, also, HK is TOTALLY like in movies. I always thought they exaggerated the streets with tons of bright signs advertising everything, but it really is that way! I felt like I was in the second season finale of Alias! Yes, I am a nerd.

Anyway, yeah. After walking we were EXHAUSTED and needed a place to sit, so we MAY have gone to McDonald’s! Hehehe. Oh my god, their McD’s rocks! First of all, they have breakfast ALL DAY LONG! It is like heaven! They also have jo-jos! Might I add that apparently jo-jos (I don’t know how to spell it) are only an Oregonian word, as no one had any idea what I was talking about. They are like the big potato fry-like things with seasoning on them. And they have chocolate-dipped cones, etc. Mmmm!

After that we wandered some more, then went to see the Hong Kong light show. Every night at 8 PM they have a light show using the buildings on Hong Kong Island. You can see it from the Kowloon side, and it is a big deal and is one of the top 10 something something. In other words, they make a big deal of it, so we expected a lot. Um, it was FREAKING BORING! It was the crappiest show ever! The lights barely matched with the music and it was just random and BORING! It was only ten minutes but we were waiting for it to finish! Haha. Sad.

After that we met up with Winsome for dinner at a Macau restaurant. Because of our HUGE breakfast we barely ate there (for us) and it was a little worrisome!

We then made our way to Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is THE place to go to if you go to Hong Kong. Like, it is the only thing on list of things to do there, hehe. It is a 552-meter tall mountain on Hong Kong Island, and it has an amazing view! You are like RIGHT above the skyscrapers, and can see the water and Kowloon from it. It is really beautiful. We went up there at night so we could see the skyscrapers all lit up, and I am really glad we went. Unfortunately we didn’t go again during the daytime, as you can hike around there and get really close to the buildings, but that will be next time, if I ever go back!

After taking about 7 million pictures, none of which turned out because digital cameras suck at night time, we went back to the hotel and slept!

One more part coming tomorrow and then I am caught up on travel-related blogs! Oh, except for Shanghai, but I dont want to finish that, haha.

Hong Kong

(this is literally only for my own Alzheimer's-y memory so that I can remember my Hong Kong trip in the future....but I figured since I wrote it, I should at least post it for the like half a person that would be at all interested! Hehe. So sorry, it is long! But you can skip it :)

A few Fridays ago, Cindy, Ann, Calvin and I took a long weekend and went to Hong Kong! However, the trip sort-of started on Thursday night, as Narita is the WORST airport in the world and is TOO far away. Our flight was at ten, meaning we had to check in at 8. However, the first train from the Ota area wouldn’t get us to Narita in time, so we had to stay at Calvin’s in Tatebayashi and take the freaking 5 AM train (not amusing) to get there in time. Ugh. However, it was fun, as Calvin made us a YUMMY Filipino dinner, and then Mami and Tatebayashi JETs came over, so it was nice to see everyone.

For some reason I couldn’t sleep, so what already should have been a crappy night’s sleep turned into a REALLY crappy night’s sleep of about 2-3 hours. FUN! Anyway, all went fine getting to Narita and everything, and fortunately we got to skip the HUUUUUUUGE check-in line for JAL, since we didn’t have check-in baggage.

The plane ride to Hong Kong is way longer than it should be, yo! Almost five hours?! Hello, it is Hong Kong, it is not exciting enough to have a five-hour flight! Hehe. I watched a Korean movie, but it wasn’t any good, sadly. Plus they are all the same…one of two lovers gets sick, and everyone cries. Usually it is good in a formulaic (whoa, big word!) way, but this one wasn’t, hrm.

Anyway, we got to Hong Kong and our tour company picked us up to drive us to our hotel (it was a “free” tour, so it isn’t what Americans think of as an actual tour). Our “guide” on the bus has the easiest job ever, as he didn’t tell us anything about Hong Kong! Haha. Unfortunately Friday was HELLA cloudy or smoggy or both, as you could barely see anything in the city! So our view of the city (country? Hehe) was limited on the drive. We got to the hotel, which was nice, then decided to wander around the city. The good thing about having to get up hella early to fly out is that it felt like we had a whole day in Hong Kong! That was awesome, as I hate travel days where you cant do anything.

Our hotel was right next to Nathan Road, which is a major road in Hong Kong with lots of eating and shopping (which is good, since that is all there is to do in Hong Kong! Hehe). So we wandered around Nathan Road for a while. This was kind of the story of our entire trip, as I swear we walked around the same area about 300 times! Hehe. Anyway, we kinda wandered around the shops and food vendors and of course had to snack on Chinese beef jerky, waffles with butter, peanut butter and condensed milk (mmm!), fresh fruit juice, etc. This was also the story of our trip, as we spent ALL of our time either eating, or waiting to be hungry so we could eat again! I am not joking!

Oh, for those who don’t know, Hong Kong is split into a few different areas/islands. The two main ones are Kowloon and Hong Kong. Kowloon is where our hotel was, and is where most of the shopping and stuff is. Hong Kong is mostly financial, but also has Victoria Peak and stuff. Hong Kong has the Manhattan-ish skyline, which you can see from Kowloon. Anyway, we went to the bay to look at the Hong Kong skyline, but it was SO cloudy that we could barely see ANYTHING! It was sad! Since that was a bust, we decided to take the ferry to Hong Kong to visit a flower market.

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was Chinese New Year! We scheduled it that way on purpose, as we figured it would be cool to be there for CNY. Anyway, flower markets are a big part of CNY, as EVERYONE goes there to buy flowers and stuff for the new year. However, they not only buy flowers, they also buy the MOST POINTLESS things in the ENTIRE world. Like, I have no idea why they would ever need any of it! There were obviously necessary items such as blow-up “slippery when wet” signs, blow-up hammers, blow-up pig hats (and ANYTHING pig-related, as it is the year of the pig), blow-up “no smoking” signs, toys of all varieties, etc. Pretty much anything that is inflatable was there! It was seriously weird, but not THAT surprising, considering the crap people would buy in China for Christmas Eve and New Year’s. So really the flower market was about 30% flowers and 70% pointless crap! People apparently love it, though, as it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo packed. Holy crap, there were so many people! And it isn’t like it is the only flower market in Hong Kong, either! It was crazy. It was interesting to experience it, but very overwhelming! The flower part was pretty, though, and smelled really good!

After walking through it and being exhausted by people all over, we left (well, not before eating a snack!) and went out for dinner. We ended up at a place on the street that was YUMMY! It was an izakaya-type place (drinking and eating place), and was kinda like places we ate in both Korea and China. All Asian countries have cool street places except for stupid Japan that thinks they are better than everyone! Sad. Anyway, it was really good, and I got to try pigeon for the first time. I don’t even remember what all we ate, but fortunately Ann greatly enjoyed her new digital camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING! So I am excited to see the pics :)

After that we wandered around a market, where I got some illegal DVDs (woot!) and Ann got her palm read. Then we decided we had burned off enough calories to go for dessert! Hong Kong has awesome desserts, as they are all fruity and yummy! Most of them include mango, which is VERY good in my book! I got a mango dessert with black glutinous rice and it was goooood. Mmm.

After that we walked back to the hotel and slept like mofos, as we were TIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be continued!

I LOVE YABUCHU!

So I realize that I am the most bi-polar blogger ever, but I LOVE MY SCHOOL! So I had been thinking since last year that I should buy a yearbook this year, since a) I am technically a 3nensei teacher, so it is my class, b) the 3nensei this year rock, and c) it is a good souvenir to bring back home. Anyway, I had been thinking it a year ago, but then totally forgot until it was too late to order it. They came in today and I was all jealous and looking at another teacher’s copy, when the teachers GAVE me a copy as a present!!!!!! Dude, I was totally willing to pay for it, but didn’t think I could get one this late. I fucking love them! It is awesome. It is not that many pages (especially for how much they charge the kids for them, damn!) but they are good pics and a very cool thing to have when I go back home. Plus it has every 3nensei student’s photos, so it is a good way to remember all of them. I can’t believe they even thought to offer me one, let alone as a present! I love my 3nensei teachers! I am gonna be the biggest bitch to my co-workers in April because there is no way they will be as cool!

Influenza is the Word

Dude, Japanese people are OUT OF CONTROL with talking about the flu. Like, seriously. They talk about “infuruenza” every other word! I am barely even exaggerating! Like EVERYONE is wearing masks (in Japan you wear masks that cover your mouth when you are sick, but some people also wear them to prevent getting sick) and talking about it ALL DAY LONG.

It is a usual practice that when you walk by the nurse’s room during winter, they will have a daily count of how many people are sick with the flu, but now it is getting even more hardcore! On the board in the shokuinshitsu (staff room), every day each class writes who is absent. Lately the nurse has been circling the student’s names who are sick with the flu in bright pink. Um, why? What does it matter?! They aren’t at school!

And TODAY the nurse busted out a GRAPH (Japanese people loooooooooooooooooooooove graphs! I think it is math porn for them) showing the last week and a half of influenza cases in school so one can see the ebb and flow of influenza! Jesus!

However, I guess since Japanese co-workers never talk about personal stuff, and can’t bitch about the cold this year (their favorite topic EVER) due to global warming, it just leaves them extra time to talk about the flu. Sad.

Having said all of this, my kids better not give me the flu! Bitches!

Abe is a fucking retard

Dude, Abe is so fucking stupid. CNN article about Abe and a more interesting Japan Times article about the truth.

Dude, Abe fucking blows. Even though Koizumi was Bush's bitch, at least he was somewhat cool. Abe is taking Japan 50 years into the past, making it even more sexist, nationalist and xenophobic. It is just going to fuck them over in the end. Grrrrrrrrr!

Music Recommendation

K, I am officially addicted to Mika’s first album, Life in Cartoon Motion. It is soooooooooooo freaking good! It is fun genki music and great for waking up to, but it is also more than just mindless pop. It is kind of Scissor Sisters-y, but more accessible to straight people, I think! :) You should check it out. I love it!!!

Random Thoughts

As the title says, random thoughts.

-Today was class 3-4’s request day for kyushoku (school lunch). Every 3nensei class gets a request for their favorite meal before they graduate, and they are always HELLA good! It is the only time of the year that kyushoku actually is as fatty as nasty American lunches. Today’s was curry udon (like it sounds, udon in curry, YUMMY), salad, kinako agepan (everyone gets a small loaf of bread fried and covered in kinako (soy flour, it is WAY better than it sounds)), AND chocolate cake! And not even crappy school lunch-type chocolate cake, but GOOD fresh and FATTY chocolate cake! Dude, talk about carb overload! It was hella good, though! Students should be in charge of kyushoku every day!

-Today I ate lunch with class 3-1 and while it was mostly eating in silence as usual, one kid worked on translating a question into English for about five minutes with this result: “Why do black woman no hair?” Um!!!! Hahahahaha. He was trying to ask why black women look like they have no hair. Um. I think he was trying to ask why their hair is different, but in his opinion it looks like they don’t have real hair or something. Anyway, that was an interesting conversation ;)

-For being a pretty organized society, Japanese people are laidback about the WEIRDEST things. Even procrastinating Americans book their flights in advance, but Japanese airline tickets don’t even go on sale until two months before departure. When you book through a travel agent (which everyone does), you don’t even know your flight times or hotel name until a week before you leave!

On this subject, I don’t know if it is just my school, but our student council and teachers are TOTALLY unorganized when it comes to assemblies (I am not calling them “pep assemblies,” as there is NO “pep” to be found in the assemblies here!). Like, you would think they would run over the logistics of who does what before big events like the 3nensei okurukai (send-off) and other things, but they are always running around fixing things DURING the assembly while everyone sits and waits. It is weird!

Even moreso, some of my 3nensei still don’t know where they are going for high school! Most of my kids JUST found out if they got into the schools they wanted. However, one of my kids I talked to finds out on March 15th if he can go to the high school that he wants to go to. Um, school starts on April 9th!!!! Hello, doesn’t one need to know such things a little more in advance?! I don’t get how that works. I would be freaking out with anticipation if I were him! Likewise, the teachers who get switched to other schools (tons get moved every year for reasons I cant comprehend) don’t even know until like the end of March. It is so weird!!!!

Okay yeah, end of random-ness.