Drunken English Practice

English Conversation Requests: they don't happen often, but they certainly do occur. Usually an elderly person who doesn't get an opportunity to practice very often, will sidle up next to me on the train and ask me, "Can we speak in English?" So i was like, whatevs. Tonight it was an old man who smelled quite strongly of whiskey and shochu. He told me that he had lived in the city of Shikokuchuo (where I work on Fridays and Saturdays) for 68 years. He didn't specify how old he was, but there is a ballpark right there. He spoke at a near deafening volume, and all the highschoolers thought it was pretty funny. They probably spoke similar levels of English. Its pretty remarkable how many people in Japan speak a second language. He told me about climbing Mt. Ishizuchi, one of Japan's sacred peaks and the guardian (typhoon-wise) of our town Saijo, and asked me about my home. It was pretty cool, but he had to get off after not too long. I think the seat next to me smelt like whiskey for about two stops after that =)

Coming Back to Visit the Seattle Area...

May take longer than previously estimated. To the people who were informed we'd be coming back for a week in the summer, I'm sorry. It'd only be 3-4 days when you subtract travel time and Bret and I would be really jet lagged and generally unhappy. We're now coming over next Christmas, since winter break is the longest one we have. This makes me a little sad, I was already making lists of food I wanted to have and places I wanted to go and people I wanted to see...but alas. My long awaited reunion with Jamba Juice will have to wait a little longer, and I'm sorry family and friends. But it would be annoying to spend so much money on a 3 day trip. America is not worth 800 dollars a day (plane tickets at their absolute cheapest roundtrip would be 1200 each x 2=not happening for a four day trip). :::SIGH:::

Anime Mannequins

They all have better hair than me.

Stackable Cars!

"In Japan, we just stack our cars on top of each other for transport and rely on them to stay together. Occassionally a couple of shoddy cables are employed for additional support. What do Americans do?"

New Cell Phone

The left picture is of the new phone, the middle is of the old, the right is the new

It's not that big of an upgrade, looking at the pictures side by side. The real reason we got new phones is because they had a 15 minute talktime on the battery. Terrible. Sometimes Bret's would top out at 5 minutes. While this was sometimes nice, we could dodge phone calls and have a legitimate excuse for dropped calls/not answering the phone, I like the new phones. They are pink, and everyone on the staff has the same one. Not the best news for the boys but hey, all the girls had to deal with the grey-blue paint-peeled brick cell phones for long enough. I can't wait to get a cool cell phone accessory strap (you rarely see cell phones without what they call "strapu" on them here. Even the guys) Japan loves strapu.

Please Do it at the Gym

They have signs like this because the handles on the train look like this:

Scented TP

Been saving this pic for a rainy day post but now i've grown tired of seeing it on my desktop so I'm ridding myself of it, and putting it here for your amusement

WE'VE BEEN HAD

Exhibit A:


Notice there is a notch taken out of the top of the milk carton

Exhibit B:


Notice there is no notch taken out of the top of the milk carton.

Exhibit A & B:


Why is this significant? Well we've recently been informed that a lot of milk they sell in Japan isn't 100% milk, it's a combination of regular and reconstituted powdered milk. Not that big of a deal, but we never really liked the milk here, and now we know why. We're cheap, and usually just get whatever's the lowest price, but I am completely willing to pay 20-60 yen (20-60 cents) more to get normal milk. If there's a notch on the top, it means it's 100% milk. If there's no notch, it contains milk, milk powder, and water. Ick. We like milk again, yaaaay! Thanks Pat, for contributing to our Japanedumacation!

Eating Anything Other Than Sushi is Just Not Smart, That is the Lesson to Be Learned Here...I think

If You're Happy and You Know It....No, This is Just Wrong....

C. C. Lemon Man

Remember when I said we drink a lot of C. C. Lemon and see ads for it everywhere? Like here? Well look what I found! Weird commercials for it!

Pictures of Us That Students Have Drawn

this is christmas bret. he's the best one :D

My Accidental Rilakkuma Collection

Rilakkuma means relax bear in Japanese. They were all gifts :D

It started with the medium sized one that is actually a coin purse. It was given to me by Miyuki when I first met her in Tokyo. It gets a lot of attention from my students, when they spot it they're all, "KAWAAIIII!!!!"

So then my adult student got me a keychain one, and lastly Bret saw the big one super marked down so he grabbed it for me. They're cute and help me blend in here :D


There's lots of Rilakkuma stuff though, look at this:

potholders, piggy banks, lunchboxes, tupperware, it is endless


there's even a rilakkuma spatula!

Strawberries!

I love Japan's produce

Fanta

Fanta. I didn't really pay attention to it until my friend Megan asked me to send her some white peach flavor, but now, I can't pass a vending machine or the beverage isle without inspecting the selection of Fanta flavors. Like the Kit Kats of blog posts past, they come in seasonal flavors that know no bounds. They do not really follow any particular release schedule pattern, they just show up and are random and occassionally delicious.

Although my source of knowledge on the subject (thank you Heath) has told me that white peach will not be around until next summer (it's a seasonal mainstay) I can't help looking for it, hoping there's some overstock lying around somewhere. Then I saw this one, pictured above. It had a peach on it! Wait, it's not white, it's....red...what is this? U.S.A. HIPHOP? HIPHOP is one word here? I don't know what kind of crazed fruit medley lies within this beverage but if you want in on the Fanta madness, let me know and you may find it in your next "random from Japan package"


Other fun flavors I've seen:
The all year rounds: orange and grape
Cassis, pictured below
Cider (it was white and said zero calorie. I hate diet anything so I passed)
white peach
New York Apple (also part of the "Fanta 'round the world" campaign they are half-heartedly peddling over here. I think the idea was to release a flavor for different areas, but they don't seem to be releasing them with any dedication. Now and then regular old whacky flavors come up without the world theme)

Three Coats and a Blanket

Hibernation. It isn't pretty.


I'm back, though. We were on the 12-hours of sleep nights for a while there due to a particularly bad bout of food poisoning last Wednesday. Food poisoning is an ugly, ugly thing. It claimed Bret as it's first victim and then I fell prey two nights later, on Friday afternoon. Ugh, what a nightmare.

The funny part about it was that I still had to go to work that Saturday. Not so hilarious at the time, but I can laugh at it now. Here is the conversation I had attempting to stay home from work:

"Hello, sorry to bother you, but I got food poisoning last night and am still vomiting, etc."

"Oh, so sorry to hear that"

"It's alright, I was just calling to see if classes could be cancelled because I'm in pain, vomiting, etc. and...I fear I will be neither enthusiastic nor effective at teaching today"

"Can someone cover for you?"

"I've called around--no."

"Well, I'm sorry you're sick and may not be energetic, but to cancel classes...that is the worst thing. I don't want to force you to come, but, uhhhh you should come in today"

"Okay I'll come, but I may need vomit breaks every 30 minutes. Sorry"

"It's okay, I will let the students and parents know"


Again, hilarious (to me at least) in retrospect, not so hilarious at the time. It wasn't THAT bad. I mean, the children did exploit the fact that I was not going to put up a fight in the event of rule breaking (they sensed my weakness within the first 5 minutes) but it was sort of fun watching them run amuck, tearing things off the walls. I wasn't going to stop them. I was on the in-class couch willing my stomach to stop poisoning me. One of the little girls who didn't care for the mayhem sidled up next to me with her book opened to the page we were working on last before I stopped caring that the kids were climbing on the table. The good student and I did all the review lessons as well as the new lesson.

Anyways, after I got home, I put on three coats and a blanket, turned the heater on high and passed out. I didn't eat much for the next couple of days but am happy to report Bret and I are 100%. Also, I am never eating spaghetti again.

Love Crepe

Let's go to Love Crepe!

matcha ice cream, read bean paste, and whipped creme. what he usually gets :)



Tiramisu gelato. This place also makes delicious gelato flavors. yummmm

Found This Little Gem at the Kannonji School Last Week

I don't know why I capitalize the first letter in every word of the title. Maybe to make it more title-ey?




Cool cover, but the article wasn't exactly...on the money. It said that Asia (written in 1999) is in the midst of a love affair with cute Japanese culture despite Japan's former negative image around Asia as imperialistic and ruthless. It also made a lot of remarks about how Asia is anxious to put the past in the past and clings to cutesy things as a means of escapism. Bret, our on-call international studies specialist took issue with these comments, saying that people are not trying to turn to their childhoods where everything was innocent and cute, but rather, the Japanese culture of "kawaii" (cute) is pervasive in it's own right and people like it for what it is, end of story.

Sake Bottles, A Work In Progress...

Totoro

I wish this happened more often