I wonder if I feel homesick. Last night I had a hard time sleeping because I missed my dog. :/ Whenever I walk by animal stores or see people walking their pets, I feel a sense of longing for my own animals. It's strange because I certainly don't feel the same way about people. The people I know are rational, logical beings (for the most part) and have the ability to understand why I am away and how to communicate with me while I am gone. The same cannot be true of my pets though. While Princess seems fairly happy in her new surroundings (as I am sure Chibi is too), I feel really terrible that they are not here with me.
Last night while looking for a certain picture of my dad and I, I was looking through all the really beautiful pictures I have of my niece. She really is one gorgeous child. She's also incredibly smart. Whenever I speak to her on the computer, she reminds me that when she is 6, I have promised her a trip to Japan. She wants to see where Hello Kitty lives. Of course she has no real concept of how far away I am but the child does not forget anything, ever, so I am honestly planning away at a trip for her next year. Probably some time next year during Golden Week. I figure I can head home and on my return flight bring her here. Still a 12 hour flight is a long time for a little girl, but a promise is a promise, and as long as I keep reminding her how far away I actually am, it should be ok. She still reminds me that when shes a big girl, we are supposed to go to France. I made that promise when she was 2. -.-
Yesterday I went to the Tokugawa Art Museum with Mandy and Yoshiko. OMG! It was so much fun! I love history and yesterday they were having the Hina Matsuri display. Everything was so grand! Yoshiko wanted to practice her English, so she took us around the garden and museum and explained everything as we went along. We must've been there for about 6 hours. It's quite a big museum and with the garden, it takes a long while to soak it all in. There was also a Tale of Genji display *swoons*. Be still my heart! I will be posting pictures of my trip in a while. =)
Tomorrow I am going strawberry picking! I have a feeling its going to be freezing. -.- It's been slightly warmer, but only slightly. It's really cloudy outside and it always looks like rain. It warms up for like... 2 hours then goes back to really cold. I blame the fact that I was raised in Los Angeles for my lack of tolerance for the cold weather but I am learning to tough it out. lol. I wonder if I will ever be called hearty. Probably not. LA 4 life. :D Getting back to strawberry picking though, I have been looking forward to this since early January! I am so excited! Also, I took the nail polish off my fingers because I figured my hands would get messed up during the picking... so I am also excited to polish my nails again! eee! Yes, I am actually that LA.
Finally, I am super excited to see Jennifer. I feel terrible that things have been rough for her in Japan but hopefully once she arrives things will turn around. I am looking forward to a potential roommate and taking lots of pikura. :D Also, I think she will really enjoy this area. It's not super fun fantastically exciting (like Tokyo is for me) but its a very easy place to live and enjoy. Also, we will both be close to Ariel and Nicky, which always makes me soooo happy! Also, Miaka said she might be applying to work here! That means the 4 of us could likely have a reunion here in Japan after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes life just gets better and better. :D I am keeping my fingers crossed for this new life.
Conclusion: I miss my animals. I need more pictures of chibi and princess... but I am still really happy with things here.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
learning to breathe
Recently, I've really been enjoying life. My routine is becoming more regular (every blog is say this) and I am learning the city at a decent pace. I am starting to be a familiar face at some shops and restaurants. It makes the city feel like home.
I feel like I've neglected my blog over the last couple of weeks... Mainly it's due to the pretty bad flu I had and follow up migraine. I had the flu for about 5 solid days. I thought you weren't supposed to get the flu if you've gotten a flu shot! Sah... also, the migraine that followed was the worst I've had in almost a year. It was really really really bad... It started about 6pm and lasted until about 1pm the next day... T_T I was exhausted by the end of it all. Thankfully its done and over with and I am back to my normal self- though few would probably call me normal.
It's been warmer here the last few days!!!! It's been soooo nice outside. Quite lovely actually. I obsessively check the weather here. It changes so often! Today it was raining and tomorrow its supposed to pour but Monday and Tuesday were divine! I used to wonder why the Japanese always talked about the weather... now I know!
I've started making a list of all the things I actually miss about home. They are (in no particular order): slurpees, beautiful weather all the time, my sister, my niece, my grandpa, my grandma, my dog (probably chibi the most T_T), princess, cheez-it, flavour blasted goldfish, laws against smoking inside establishments, my fancy smancy shoe collection, sephora, jocelyn- the lady who does my hair. I am sure there's more, but thats all I can think of as of now.
The question then becomes, should I decide to stay here longer, can I survive without those things in my life?? Not without Chibi... he would have to come here. No questions asked. I've promised little miss Beka a trip to Japan sometime when she's about 6 (which she reminds me of every time we speak). I've found a way to talk to my grandparents fairly regularly... And really, it comes down to slurpees and cheez-its. It really is a hard life without them...
Speaking of which, have I mentioned that my grandma is the absolute BEST PENPAL!??! She sent me a care package (my first!) and almost every week we exchange letters. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy checking my mail now. I never used to check my mail... ever. But I check it every week now to see if I have a letter from her. It makes me soooo happy to read them! I've also gotten into the habit of writing letters every Sunday night when I do laundry. =) People nowadays are really into electronic everything, and I totally understand it, but there really is nothing like a nice, handwritten letter. It makes my heart melt with joy. =)
Spring starts here on March 1. March 3rd is the doll festival. If you don't know what it is, you should read the link. Its kind of an interesting festival. All the little girls in my life should be getting something soon. =)
I got to meet the new group of recruits the other week! *5* guys. UUUUGH. lol. They seem like nice guys. One of them quit half way through training though... I think he's already back in the states. He said he thought the job was going to be more lecturing... I think he missed the point that they're JAPANESE and don't speak english as their native tongue... @_@ So there are 4 left.
I also got to hang out with one of the japanese girls who works with me at a local school. She grew up close by. It was really fun. We had some pretty tasty pizza and then I took her to the local pub with the really good ice cream. I swear I eat soooo much ice cream... check that, I EAT SO MUCH FOOD!
I also met up with another teacher who was an English major like meeee! She's super sweet and friendly... and low key! I think she may be joining us for some Saturday night dinner and dessert outings. We ate at a cafe/restaurant in Osu, which seems to be the place to hang out around here. I had the BEST avocado sandwich! Easily the best I've had in Japan. It tasted like one I'd eat at home. Then we had some pretty cool parfaits for dessert. Mandy was there of course. I am so glad I have Mandy! I would be so bored without her here! She's great company.
Speaking of Mandy, yesterday we went to Inuyama Castle. It's the oldest castle in Japan because it hasn't been bombed, earthquaked, or otherwise rebuilt. It's really cool. I took a CRAPTON of pictures. I will probably upload those a bit later and if I remember, Ill add a link here. lol. After the castle we went to the Jo-an Teahouse and had tea and Japanese dessert. I am not a fan of green tea or red bean... but I did it for the sake of cultural knowledge. -.- It was really a lot of fun and VERY BEAUTIFUL!! Like I said, the weather has been sooooo nice the last couple of days, it was a really awesome day trip. Also, when we got there, they offered to send us with a volunteer guide who spoke to us in English! She was so sweet. She gave us little origami samurai hats as a keepsake. I wish I could remember her name... -.-
OOOO! One last thing, we ate at the neko (neko - cat) bistro and had the BEST LUNCH! It was your basic Italian restaurant with a cat theme. I said I was vegetarian and they made my pasta without meat but added a ton of veggies. For 1300 yen (about $13.00) we had salad, bread, pasta, dessert and drinks. It was soooo good! and again, I ATE SO MUCH! do you see a pattern here?? The dessert came with little tiny cat shaped cookies, ice cream, this really awesome-i-dont-know-what-it-was bread with cream on top, and fruit. I am using this blog as a mental note to remember this place. ^_^
Work has also been going well. Since my mishap, I am working harder to improve my tarnished reputation... I got to sub a senka class. Senka is an intensive class that we teach which lasts 2 hours. It's a lot of fun but requires a lot of prep. I also did a bunch of demo lessons for the new school that just opened and the school director sent compliments to personnel about them. ^_^ Today the school director joked that he hopes someone gets a disease so I can sub for him again... though I don't actually think he wishes a disease.. perhaps just minor illness. ^_^
2 students of note: I met this guy who is 60-? now. He works for Mitsubishi building ships, though mostly his job was engineering the inside electronic equipment. He's lived in 6 countries: Russia, USA, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. He's tried to learn the local dialect of each country, so he knows so many languages! I didn't teach him at all. Instead, I asked him about his job and he stood up and went to the white board and explained all about ship building! It was totally fascinating! I learned that liquid natural gas needs to be kept at -153 c. The other gas, needs to be kept at roughly -50c. and thats the same temperature that salmon needs to be kept at... so they'd transport gas one way, pick up salmon, and bring it back on the return trip. Totally randomly useless knowledge that I can store away and use for some trivia game later!
The other guy is 32 and hes a physics professor at a local university. Already!!! A professor! Physics!! I'm jealous. -.- His hobby is making pasta, which he has done now for about a year. He's made almost every type of pasta... when I told him that my sister and I have made the actual pasta from scratch, he said he was going to try it and let me know how it turns out. ^_^ He is also into heavy metal! He said in Japan there are the big 4: Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Pantera. They have a name for it but I forgot what it was... I think they are the big 4 in the USA too though. He was totally cool. But in the not-so-much-cool-as-geeky kinda way. ^_^
Finally, last week I went and saw my first movie (with Mandy)!!! We went on Valentines day. ^_^ We saw "shiawase no pan" or "bread of happiness." It was a totally cute movie about a woman in Okinawa who runs a bread shop. She's looking for true love. There weren't any subtitles!!!!! eeeeeee!!!! I think I understood about 80% of the movie... I think. It was really a great movie to have as my first movie here.
It's so strange to feel alive again. The last 5-6 years have been so tough. But like every winter, the clouds eventually dissipate and the sun begins to shine again... I am happy.
I feel like I've neglected my blog over the last couple of weeks... Mainly it's due to the pretty bad flu I had and follow up migraine. I had the flu for about 5 solid days. I thought you weren't supposed to get the flu if you've gotten a flu shot! Sah... also, the migraine that followed was the worst I've had in almost a year. It was really really really bad... It started about 6pm and lasted until about 1pm the next day... T_T I was exhausted by the end of it all. Thankfully its done and over with and I am back to my normal self- though few would probably call me normal.
It's been warmer here the last few days!!!! It's been soooo nice outside. Quite lovely actually. I obsessively check the weather here. It changes so often! Today it was raining and tomorrow its supposed to pour but Monday and Tuesday were divine! I used to wonder why the Japanese always talked about the weather... now I know!
I've started making a list of all the things I actually miss about home. They are (in no particular order): slurpees, beautiful weather all the time, my sister, my niece, my grandpa, my grandma, my dog (probably chibi the most T_T), princess, cheez-it, flavour blasted goldfish, laws against smoking inside establishments, my fancy smancy shoe collection, sephora, jocelyn- the lady who does my hair. I am sure there's more, but thats all I can think of as of now.
The question then becomes, should I decide to stay here longer, can I survive without those things in my life?? Not without Chibi... he would have to come here. No questions asked. I've promised little miss Beka a trip to Japan sometime when she's about 6 (which she reminds me of every time we speak). I've found a way to talk to my grandparents fairly regularly... And really, it comes down to slurpees and cheez-its. It really is a hard life without them...
Speaking of which, have I mentioned that my grandma is the absolute BEST PENPAL!??! She sent me a care package (my first!) and almost every week we exchange letters. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy checking my mail now. I never used to check my mail... ever. But I check it every week now to see if I have a letter from her. It makes me soooo happy to read them! I've also gotten into the habit of writing letters every Sunday night when I do laundry. =) People nowadays are really into electronic everything, and I totally understand it, but there really is nothing like a nice, handwritten letter. It makes my heart melt with joy. =)
Spring starts here on March 1. March 3rd is the doll festival. If you don't know what it is, you should read the link. Its kind of an interesting festival. All the little girls in my life should be getting something soon. =)
I got to meet the new group of recruits the other week! *5* guys. UUUUGH. lol. They seem like nice guys. One of them quit half way through training though... I think he's already back in the states. He said he thought the job was going to be more lecturing... I think he missed the point that they're JAPANESE and don't speak english as their native tongue... @_@ So there are 4 left.
I also got to hang out with one of the japanese girls who works with me at a local school. She grew up close by. It was really fun. We had some pretty tasty pizza and then I took her to the local pub with the really good ice cream. I swear I eat soooo much ice cream... check that, I EAT SO MUCH FOOD!
I also met up with another teacher who was an English major like meeee! She's super sweet and friendly... and low key! I think she may be joining us for some Saturday night dinner and dessert outings. We ate at a cafe/restaurant in Osu, which seems to be the place to hang out around here. I had the BEST avocado sandwich! Easily the best I've had in Japan. It tasted like one I'd eat at home. Then we had some pretty cool parfaits for dessert. Mandy was there of course. I am so glad I have Mandy! I would be so bored without her here! She's great company.
Speaking of Mandy, yesterday we went to Inuyama Castle. It's the oldest castle in Japan because it hasn't been bombed, earthquaked, or otherwise rebuilt. It's really cool. I took a CRAPTON of pictures. I will probably upload those a bit later and if I remember, Ill add a link here. lol. After the castle we went to the Jo-an Teahouse and had tea and Japanese dessert. I am not a fan of green tea or red bean... but I did it for the sake of cultural knowledge. -.- It was really a lot of fun and VERY BEAUTIFUL!! Like I said, the weather has been sooooo nice the last couple of days, it was a really awesome day trip. Also, when we got there, they offered to send us with a volunteer guide who spoke to us in English! She was so sweet. She gave us little origami samurai hats as a keepsake. I wish I could remember her name... -.-
OOOO! One last thing, we ate at the neko (neko - cat) bistro and had the BEST LUNCH! It was your basic Italian restaurant with a cat theme. I said I was vegetarian and they made my pasta without meat but added a ton of veggies. For 1300 yen (about $13.00) we had salad, bread, pasta, dessert and drinks. It was soooo good! and again, I ATE SO MUCH! do you see a pattern here?? The dessert came with little tiny cat shaped cookies, ice cream, this really awesome-i-dont-know-what-it-was bread with cream on top, and fruit. I am using this blog as a mental note to remember this place. ^_^
Work has also been going well. Since my mishap, I am working harder to improve my tarnished reputation... I got to sub a senka class. Senka is an intensive class that we teach which lasts 2 hours. It's a lot of fun but requires a lot of prep. I also did a bunch of demo lessons for the new school that just opened and the school director sent compliments to personnel about them. ^_^ Today the school director joked that he hopes someone gets a disease so I can sub for him again... though I don't actually think he wishes a disease.. perhaps just minor illness. ^_^
2 students of note: I met this guy who is 60-? now. He works for Mitsubishi building ships, though mostly his job was engineering the inside electronic equipment. He's lived in 6 countries: Russia, USA, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. He's tried to learn the local dialect of each country, so he knows so many languages! I didn't teach him at all. Instead, I asked him about his job and he stood up and went to the white board and explained all about ship building! It was totally fascinating! I learned that liquid natural gas needs to be kept at -153 c. The other gas, needs to be kept at roughly -50c. and thats the same temperature that salmon needs to be kept at... so they'd transport gas one way, pick up salmon, and bring it back on the return trip. Totally randomly useless knowledge that I can store away and use for some trivia game later!
The other guy is 32 and hes a physics professor at a local university. Already!!! A professor! Physics!! I'm jealous. -.- His hobby is making pasta, which he has done now for about a year. He's made almost every type of pasta... when I told him that my sister and I have made the actual pasta from scratch, he said he was going to try it and let me know how it turns out. ^_^ He is also into heavy metal! He said in Japan there are the big 4: Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Pantera. They have a name for it but I forgot what it was... I think they are the big 4 in the USA too though. He was totally cool. But in the not-so-much-cool-as-geeky kinda way. ^_^
Finally, last week I went and saw my first movie (with Mandy)!!! We went on Valentines day. ^_^ We saw "shiawase no pan" or "bread of happiness." It was a totally cute movie about a woman in Okinawa who runs a bread shop. She's looking for true love. There weren't any subtitles!!!!! eeeeeee!!!! I think I understood about 80% of the movie... I think. It was really a great movie to have as my first movie here.
It's so strange to feel alive again. The last 5-6 years have been so tough. But like every winter, the clouds eventually dissipate and the sun begins to shine again... I am happy.
Monday, February 6, 2012
snow flurries
Sooooo! its been an interesting couple of weeks here... i feel like i need to make a list so i dont forget to write about all the things on my mind!
last week i made a hugeeee error and got lost getting to work. even though i thought i could make it to work on time, i didnt and i ended up being late. uuugh. it was pretty awful. i am still kinda kicking myself for it, but i learned and i wont make the same errors again. :/
to that end, i feel like i finally got a taste of the ugly side of japan. its certainly not anything i am going to blog about here but its something for me to be more cautious of in the future. i am lucky things worked out though... and i can move forward.
anyway, it was a pretty big deal but on to good news!
i went to the food faire at nagoya dome this past weekend!!! omg. omg. o.m.g. the food was soooo good!!! just the smell... just walking towards the door! lol. it was food from all over japan and around the world! i had okonomiyaki which was soooooooo good!!!! i cant believe ive waited this long to have some.... ive been in japan like what? 3 months now?! anyway... soooooooo good!!! also, we had shaved snow for dessert! mandy and i are on the same wavelength when it comes to food, so we are having some excellent culinary adventures!!! i took plenty of pictures, on fb... unfortunately, you cant taste them though. -.-
also, major language breakthrough! i have been forcing myself to watch japanese television for 30 minutes every day so that i can improve my listening skills! its hard with my general dislike of television, but its working! a few days ago i saw an entire program and understood EVERYTHING! eeee!!!! ok, so the subject was easy; dieting, but i understood it nonetheless! lol. it was pretty amusing. =D now that i am watching it more, i am certainly upping my listening skills. this makes me really happy. ^_^
in 2 weeks i am going strawberry picking!!! i am so excited!!! i hope the weather is nice... the weather is soooo all over the place here. i actually have to look at the weather every day to know what to wear!
speaking of weather, we had snooooooow!!! eeeeeeeeeek! it was freaking coooold! well, once it snowed, it wasnt that cold but every day leading up to the snow was freezing! how do people live like this all the time?!?! lol. im such a california girl... or l.a. girl really. i shiver at anything below 70. thankfully it doesnt really snow much in nagoya and i think the 3 days of snow per year are over! yay! *does happy dance*
teaching-wise, ive have some really awesome students lately! i taught the word "convoluted," "t.g.i.f.," and what it means to keep your fingers crossed! today was really awesome. i subbed for the teacher i shadowed during training. i met his adult students and we had some pretty great conversations. we had a chapter on medicine/getting well and we all talked about times we've been to the emergency (ive never been). lol. but one guy broke his elbow and made the grossest popping sound during his recreation... one guy fell out of a tree (hehehehe) and one guy broke his arm snowboarding. still, kalchik has him beat with a broken back... but it was pretty amusing when the guy drew a picture of what his arm looked like. lol. after we talked about illness, we went around the table and i had everyone tell me some good news! especially after talking about all that illness! lol. so, one guy said he goes to the hospital every month. when i asked him how that was "good" news, he said that his doctor keeps telling him he doesnt need to be there, nor does he need medicine, so hes in good health. lol. that was good news. ^_^ then one guy told me that his daughter spoke for the first time and said "mama" which was really cute.... and one guy told me that he bought this cheap white shirt from a thrift store and tried to dye it with coffee beans but it failed so the shirt still looks like an off-white color but he likes it anyway. lol. also, the shirt wasnt that cheap... it was like $20... which isnt cheap IMO. lol. but he was soooo happy telling the story that i gave him a pass for good news. ^_^
some guy was asking me about the places ive been and so we got to talking... and when i told him my least favorite place on earth was china, i think he was slightly offended. lol. he wasnt chinese or anything but has big love for the place. i tried explaining that it wasnt a big deal... but he got kinda defensive and kept explaining why he thought it was wonderful.... uh... yea, i could do without going to china again... but different strokes!
cindy le arrived in korea on friday!!!! yay!!! i got my invite for steves wedding in thailand!!! AAAAAND JENNIFER IS GOING TO BE HERE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURSSSSSSS!!!!
so... in the end, working hard, working on establishing new relationships and meeting old/good friends. i also put my buddha necklace back on... after years and years of hiatus. good luck is on the way. so far, i love living in japan... even the bad parts are like little potholes that you learn to avoid. ^_^ happy!
last week i made a hugeeee error and got lost getting to work. even though i thought i could make it to work on time, i didnt and i ended up being late. uuugh. it was pretty awful. i am still kinda kicking myself for it, but i learned and i wont make the same errors again. :/
to that end, i feel like i finally got a taste of the ugly side of japan. its certainly not anything i am going to blog about here but its something for me to be more cautious of in the future. i am lucky things worked out though... and i can move forward.
anyway, it was a pretty big deal but on to good news!
i went to the food faire at nagoya dome this past weekend!!! omg. omg. o.m.g. the food was soooo good!!! just the smell... just walking towards the door! lol. it was food from all over japan and around the world! i had okonomiyaki which was soooooooo good!!!! i cant believe ive waited this long to have some.... ive been in japan like what? 3 months now?! anyway... soooooooo good!!! also, we had shaved snow for dessert! mandy and i are on the same wavelength when it comes to food, so we are having some excellent culinary adventures!!! i took plenty of pictures, on fb... unfortunately, you cant taste them though. -.-
also, major language breakthrough! i have been forcing myself to watch japanese television for 30 minutes every day so that i can improve my listening skills! its hard with my general dislike of television, but its working! a few days ago i saw an entire program and understood EVERYTHING! eeee!!!! ok, so the subject was easy; dieting, but i understood it nonetheless! lol. it was pretty amusing. =D now that i am watching it more, i am certainly upping my listening skills. this makes me really happy. ^_^
in 2 weeks i am going strawberry picking!!! i am so excited!!! i hope the weather is nice... the weather is soooo all over the place here. i actually have to look at the weather every day to know what to wear!
speaking of weather, we had snooooooow!!! eeeeeeeeeek! it was freaking coooold! well, once it snowed, it wasnt that cold but every day leading up to the snow was freezing! how do people live like this all the time?!?! lol. im such a california girl... or l.a. girl really. i shiver at anything below 70. thankfully it doesnt really snow much in nagoya and i think the 3 days of snow per year are over! yay! *does happy dance*
teaching-wise, ive have some really awesome students lately! i taught the word "convoluted," "t.g.i.f.," and what it means to keep your fingers crossed! today was really awesome. i subbed for the teacher i shadowed during training. i met his adult students and we had some pretty great conversations. we had a chapter on medicine/getting well and we all talked about times we've been to the emergency (ive never been). lol. but one guy broke his elbow and made the grossest popping sound during his recreation... one guy fell out of a tree (hehehehe) and one guy broke his arm snowboarding. still, kalchik has him beat with a broken back... but it was pretty amusing when the guy drew a picture of what his arm looked like. lol. after we talked about illness, we went around the table and i had everyone tell me some good news! especially after talking about all that illness! lol. so, one guy said he goes to the hospital every month. when i asked him how that was "good" news, he said that his doctor keeps telling him he doesnt need to be there, nor does he need medicine, so hes in good health. lol. that was good news. ^_^ then one guy told me that his daughter spoke for the first time and said "mama" which was really cute.... and one guy told me that he bought this cheap white shirt from a thrift store and tried to dye it with coffee beans but it failed so the shirt still looks like an off-white color but he likes it anyway. lol. also, the shirt wasnt that cheap... it was like $20... which isnt cheap IMO. lol. but he was soooo happy telling the story that i gave him a pass for good news. ^_^
some guy was asking me about the places ive been and so we got to talking... and when i told him my least favorite place on earth was china, i think he was slightly offended. lol. he wasnt chinese or anything but has big love for the place. i tried explaining that it wasnt a big deal... but he got kinda defensive and kept explaining why he thought it was wonderful.... uh... yea, i could do without going to china again... but different strokes!
cindy le arrived in korea on friday!!!! yay!!! i got my invite for steves wedding in thailand!!! AAAAAND JENNIFER IS GOING TO BE HERE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURSSSSSSS!!!!
so... in the end, working hard, working on establishing new relationships and meeting old/good friends. i also put my buddha necklace back on... after years and years of hiatus. good luck is on the way. so far, i love living in japan... even the bad parts are like little potholes that you learn to avoid. ^_^ happy!
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