Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?

Great Marketing

2009-10-18T09:41:00.003-04:00

...apparently not if you don't wear this underwear.

Aloha, oy.

2009-02-20T01:59:00.008-05:00

Surprise! (...to some) I'm in Hawaii!

As it works out, the cheapest route home meant a stop in Honolulu, so I decided to extend my stay to about 9 days.

I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone this, but Hawaii is amazing. America, we're lucky that this is one of our states. I'm staying in Honolulu with a friend of a friend, and it's worked out so well. He's super laid back and friendly, he's let me use his extra car for the week so I can check out the island - Oahu, by the way - and he and his roommate have taken me out, introduced me to their friends, had barbecues...it's been pretty great. Unfortunately, my camera decided to crap out literally 2 days after the warranty expired (which was in Japanese anyway, so that may have posed some problems), but I'm including some stock photos of things I'm seeing around here to give you some ideas of where I am - once I get my disposable cameras put on CD I'll provide some originals.

Diamond Head: hiked it, along with a million old (and some young) Japanese people. Beautiful view.

View of Honolulu and Waikiki Beach from Diamond Head.

I was able to go surfing on the North Shore - that's right, where *gasp* Jack Johnson lives. I took a lesson from a family run school where the owner had not only also lived in Japan but had just gotten back from a trip to New Hope, PA, my very own birthplace. Small world, huh. Surfing was incredible, I loved it and hopefully will get to go at least once more before I leave.

Hawaii has been a perfect last stop on my way home. Not only is it beautiful, it's got a ton to do but is also relaxed enough to give you time to enjoy everything. It's been a good place to relax and clear my head a bit. Also, having been a little homesick for a while, and also having missed Japan for the past two months, it is the PERFECT place to be. It literally has everything I missed from home and most things I miss from Japan (onigiri! green tea and every other drink ever imaginable in convenience stores! Japanese people being cute everywhere!). That said, I'm announcing my arrival home: *dum da da dum* Thursday! I can't wait to see everyone and pile on the sweaters and show everyone up with my sweet tan! Email me phone numbers, please, so I can get in touch asap!

Thanks, Band

2009-02-08T19:16:00.005-05:00

After a lot of job hunting, puzzle-doing and movie watching, come Thursday night Nat, Lindzy and I geared up for a night out in the big city of Brisbane. After a short while we ended up at a not-so-special bar in the Valley, where we happened to spot one of the members of Crystal Castles, a band from Lindzy's cold home country of Canada. We had known they'd be in Brisbane, but ticket prices were apparently much more than they'd be at home (much like everything else in this country) and we definitely couldn't afford it.

Me: "Lindz, that's the guy from Crystal Castles."
Lindzy: "Oh yeahhhh.....do you think if we ask they'd let us come to their show?"

...So we take a moment to gather our confidence and look as good/poor as possible, then stroll over. I believe our oh-so-subtle begging went something like this:

Lindzy: "Hey, so are you guys from Crystal Castles?"
Ethan: "Yeah."
Lindzy: "So we really want to come to your show but we're traveling and can't afford the $50...are you able to put people on the guest list?"
Ethan: "Yeah."

After that intro, we actually talked to them (being Ethan, the DJ/other instrument guy/producer and Chris, the drummer) for quite a while. They were really nice - and Ethan was wearing both a hoodie and a jacket, as though he was still in Toronto and not in a warm Australian summer - aaaand they actually did put us on the guest list! So the next night we got to go see a sweet show for free! If you're into glitchy nintendo electro, check them out.

Can't You Hear, Can't You Hear That Thunder?

2009-02-04T05:00:00.014-05:00

I have been in Australia for almost two months now, ah! I apologize for the lack of posting, it certainly doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it - Nat and I were staying in the Daintree Rainforest of the Far North for three weeks, and once you step inside, internet (along with electricity, dry clothing and time management) becomes an elusive beast. But more on that later.

INTERESTING FACT:
Australia has less than 10 cities.

That's right, almost the size of the continental U.S. and under 10 cities. Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra....the list really stops there as far as notable cities goes.
For help with these (and help with placing where I am in the world), a map for you!

Don't be fooled by certain places marked on here as cities - i.e. Townsville, Mackay, Freemantle, etc...they are marked to be the same size as Sydney and other famous places, but in reality they are the size of Allentown or smaller.

I started in Perth, which I heard from almost everyone I met there is the most isolated capital city in the world as well as the second windiest. It was definitely very windy. The first part of the statement, though, left me with the misconception that Perth is the capital of Australia. It is not, it is a mere state capital. And for the second half of our geography lesson, Canberra is the capital of Australia. The beaches in Perth are beautiful (warning: I'm about to say that about almost everywhere I've been so far). The people in Perth really like to dress up like they were going to a day at the races when they go out on a Saturday night, and they like to drink champagne like it isn't only for special occasions.

Sydney for New Year was phenomenal. We stayed with our friends Tom and Rich who we had met in Thailand. In the time we had been apart they'd moved to Sydney, found a house with three other cool people, and were working on getting jobs. They lived about a 5 minute walk from Bondi beach (one of Australia's most famous beaches & home of BONDI RESCUE (=Baywatch Australia)), which was incredible. On New Years Eve a big group of us went to the Botanical Gardens, which are right on Sydney harbor (views of the Opera House & Harbor Bridge). It's the main touristy firework viewing location in Sydney, so we waited 4.5 hours in line to get in - and we had gotten there late, half our group was there almost 2 hours before we met them. At first it seemed daunting, but time went pretty quickly. Once inside, the view of the fireworks was definitely worth it. They don't just do one firework display, they do about eight from all different locations throughout the city. There were some from the top of the bridge, some from the Opera House, several from various building tops...everywhere you looked there were fireworks to be seen. Pretty incredible. The only thing missing, however, was the countdown. We were all (by we I mean thousands of peoople) standing, ready, but things just started going off. No warning, no 5-4-3, just ... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Little strange, but all in all awesome.

After Sydney it was a flight to Cairns to meet Nat's dad and a two hour drive up to the Cape Tribulation area, where he lives. This and the three weeks following was one of the most incredible times I've yet had, so at nothing else, I'm going to save it's description for a separate post, soon to come.

Natalie and I are now in Brisbane where we are completed by Lindzy (yay!). Lindz and I are busy job hunting (boo!) and doing other really cool things like blogging and catching up on movies we've missed in the last year and a half.

Singawho? Singawhat?

2008-12-28T17:55:00.012-05:00

Singapore was, honestly, disappointing. The name conjures up images of an exotic, tropic place teeming with people and energy brought together by the seas to do business of all kinds, but what it actually looks like is one big shopping mall surrounded by government funded high rises. Like if Dave & Buster decided to plan a city.

Singapore does not look like this.

Nor does it look like this.

I think the highlight of our trip was the first family we couch surfed with. They had just moved there from the Philippines because of Jeff's (the dad's) job. They were young, really nice, and had the most amazing 2 year old daughter. She spoke Tagalog, a Filipino language, and two weeks before we got there had just started learning English. You would think she had been speaking it all her life - she could almost have a full conversation with us in English. She was constantly performing, singing, dancing, anything for attention. And that girl had moves. Her parent's would occasionally start singing "Low," and she would just start breaking it down. I think by the time she's 4 she will be able to rival Beyonce, no joke.

With no extra money for shopping or restaurants, we were basically excluded from Singapore's two main recommended activities (though we managed to scrounge funds for some excellent curry in Little India...twice). We did go to the Kranji War Memorial, an old prison that served as a POW camp during WWII, which was very interesting. We also went to the Singapore Zoo, the other recommended tourist activity (it was a very good zoo, as zoos go). And in our spare time, we took photos of the various fines strictly imposed by the Singapore government.
*Note: a durian (above) very smelly fruit...highly illegal.

Scientifically proven...to do what??

Thai Tattoos for Traveling Tourists

2008-12-27T23:28:00.015-05:00

After Bangkok (and a less-than-wonderful overnight stay on the island of Ko Phangan, which is very boring if it isn't a full moon) we headed to Khao Lak, a small area north of Phuket, where our friend Daniel, who used to teach in Toyama, is living and teaching English. The area was beautiful, right on the coast, and very relaxed and friendly. It was a very welcome change after the bustle of Bangkok. We basically spent 4 days relaxing, going to the beach, eating seafood, listening to live music, and getting Thai massages (rough life, I know).

Daniel, Nat & I

Woman at the restaurant next to Daniel's apartment who cooked us a delicious seafood dinner. Preparation cost? about $1.

Really cool Thai instrument I wish I could remember the name of.

On the second day we decided to rent motos. Daniel has one, but cramming three people onto it each time we wanted to go somewhere was getting a little old, so Nat and I decided to each get our own. I had driven my own before in Hungary, when Ethan and I went from Berlin. It had been an experience I might describe as...harrowing. I spent most of the time trying to keep up with him as he zigged and zagged through crazy Budapest traffic, and ended up falling off it twice, leading to a bruised and bloodied left side of my body and some very dirty clothes. (Note, Ethan is not a crazy driver, we just fall on opposite sides of the Conservative Moto Driver Line.)

I thought this time would be different. Wrong. We managed to drive about 20 minutes north on a super busy road, and the whole time I was well behind Nat and Daniel thinking "one weird bump and I'm dead, one hand slips and I'm dead, oh God there are so many cars around me." I tried to push those thoughts aside, and once we got onto smaller roads I started to feel more comfortable. We arrived at our destination, a beautiful beach, and hung out swimming and eating papaya salad (spicy! spicy! spicy!). On our way out, Nat and Daniel were once again way ahead of me within the first 3 minutes, and thus didn't notice when I turned a corner and totally wiped out in the middle of the road. A man stopped to help me, though he mostly seemed angry, maybe he felt obliged to stop but didn't actually want to. So when I finally caught up with the other two I looked much worse for wear - I was bleeding from my leg and forearm and my whole right side was covered in dust.
Oh well, what do we do when we fall off the horse?

We get back on.

("I'm not a gymnast, Maury.")

So I pulled myself together, hopped back on and headed back out towards the busy busy road, trying to silence the voices in my head which had now moved past reasonable worry to panicky terror. Slowly but surely, I made it back into town. We went past Daniel's house and further on to a tattoo parlor, as Natalie was thinking of getting a tattoo and wanted to do some research. I stopped, prepared to make the right turn across traffic into the parking lot (they drive on the left in Thailand, too, who knew), and then went....but managed to wipe out once more as soon as I entered the parking lot. Awesome.
This time it was actually worse, I think, because so many people were watching. All the store owners ran out of their shops to help me up, each one acting concerned for me while at the same time laughing at what a bad driver I am ("stupid foreigner can't ride a moto" - I swear I could read their minds and that's what they were saying). The owner of the tattoo parlor and his girlfriend rushed me into their bathroom, washed me up and covered my wounds in antiseptic.

So there I had it, my "Thai tattoo" (arm wound from moto). At that moment, as I was being attended to in the back of a tattoo shop in the middle of Thailand, I made a pact with myself which I plan to adhere to:

Never again will I attempt to drive a moto.
Ride on the back, okay. But drive, never.

Moto = No Go

We ended up going back to the tattoo parlor the next day so Nat could get her tattoo. She had been planning it for months, and essentially designed it herself - frangipani (or plumeria, as we call the flower) on her foot. It is a pretty big tattoo and thus took a few hours, and so I spent the day hanging out in the shop, buying things at the convenience store for Nat (like gummi bears for her to chew on when the pain was too bad), reading, and speaking with a German tourist who came in to hang out and talk about graffiti art with Top, the tattoo guy. After Nat was finished, Top's girlfriend Nim brought out a delicious salad and Top brought out some whiskey (and taught us how to tell if the bottles are faked - yes, they even fake alcohol in Thailand), Daniel showed up, and we all sat around talking, eating, drinking, and listening to Top and his friend play the guitar. They gave us homemade honey for Natalie's cough, and two kinds of leaves they had picked, one to make you sleepy, and one they called "amphetamine leaf" to wake you up (we left that one alone). It was probably the best tattoo experience Nat (and I, the bystander) could have asked for.

Art is Pain

Top Demonstrates Fun with Crickets

Post Tattoo Sing-a-Long
(my second favorite Thai song, after Wood's - miss you Wood!)

One Night (or two) In Bangkok

2008-12-17T21:43:00.011-05:00

Bangkok has some beautiful temples and lovely historic sights.

These are some of them.

Unfortunately, I did not see any of those things. My view of Bangkok looked more like this:

Welcome to Thailand - Now Into The Jungle!

2008-12-17T02:12:00.002-05:00

Internet hasn't been the cheapest or most reliable thing since leaving Japan, so I apologize for the delay in postings. I arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand after 22 hours of travel, with a stop in Seoul and Bangkok - and luckily I made it right through right before protesters closed the airport. Nat and Lindzy picked me up from the Airport in a Tuk Tuk and we went to the guesthouse where they were staying, repacked a smaller bag, and then headed right out again for a 3 day trek into the jungle!

After 3 hours in the bed of a truck up bumpy dirt roads, we started out on our journey. Our guide was Wood, an ex-Thai army Muay Thai boxer who grew up in the jungle and knew every plant and animal we came across. On one hand we knew he could kill any of us (or any dangerous animal) in a second, but he was also as goofy as a little kid.

The first day was an easy 2 hour hike, stopping every 50 feet so Wood could explain different plants to us and/or make us eat them. We reached our camp for the evening, which was a cluster of wooden huts and a fire pit. There were a few old Thai people hanging out, by the morning they were gone and new ones had come in - I think the place is used as a communal camp by anyone making their way through the jungle. We all set about cutting up vegetables, and Wood made us a huge dinner of vegetable curries and rice. Delicious. After dinner he played Thai songs on the guitar for us around the fire, under a sky with stars like I had never seen before in my life. It was pretty amazing.

Some of those mountains are Burma!

The next day was our long day, I think almost 7 hours in total. It was such a beautiful hike, really amazing. At one point we had to repel ourselves down two steep faces, using just a rope, no harnesses - badass! We stopped midday and Wood cooked us an amazing lunch (he can do incredible things with instant noodles) at the highest point of our trek. We used leaves as plates and bamboo as chopsticks, maybe the most biodegradable lunch I've had. Leaves make great hats, too!

As it got to be evening we arrived to our destination for that night, a tiny village of Burmese refugees. There were dogs, pigs and chicken running around everywhere (the chicken especially became pretty annoying as soon as we went to sleep). The villagers have one communal toilet (actually a glorified hole in the ground) and one shower (a raised pipe that emits freezing cold mountain water) in a little hut outside for everyone to use. Wood made us another delicious dinner and we ate outside next to one family's hut. After eating, Wood broke out the guitar and played for us again, and soon after was joined by the father of the family as well as his tiny son, maybe 2 or 3. The father and son (who, like everyone else we encountered on the trek, spoke no English) sang for us, all Christian songs translated into Thai. It was beautiful.

Village Huts

Village Kids

In the morning we woke up and brought out the candy we had bought before leaving to give to the children in the village. They were so freaking cute. After that we headed out on our way, just about 3 hours (and 9 mountains!) to where the driver would pick us up for a long, bumpy ride back to the guesthouse. After some showers, a few drinks, and a little rest, we were up the next day for one more outing with Wood - tiger park!

Goodbye, Japan

2008-12-16T03:17:00.000-05:00

I miss you!

Maybe I've Been In Asia Too Long...

2008-12-04T08:09:00.001-05:00

...or are fanny packs really back?

If anyone could help me out with this, please, I could really use some answers.

No Time To Write More, But...

2008-12-01T06:10:00.001-05:00

...I just want to let it be known that I'm safe, despite the political situation in Thailand at the moment. Luckily I made it out of Bangkok by plane just hours before the closed the airport, and I'm currently chilling at a quiet beach town in the south. And my next flight is from Phuket, so unless things really really escalate, it shouldn't be a problem. As Natalie would say, no worries!

I Meant To Post This A While Ago...

2008-11-19T10:57:00.002-05:00

...it proves that both the Japanese and my dad can sleep absolutely anywhere.

Itinerary

2008-11-18T18:39:00.004-05:00

So my time in Japan is winding down really, really quickly. I've moved out of my apartment and into a hotel for the last week, and I'm training my replacement teacher - very surreal, all of it. To answer the many questions I'm getting about where I'm going and when I'll be home, here it is, my schedule for the next few months:

November 24th - fly to Chaing Mai, Thailand
ride some elephants and hang out on the beach

December 6th - fly from Phuket, Thailand, to Singapore
do anything other than spit or litter

December 10th - Singapore to Perth, Australia
meet all of Natalie's friends from high school, perhaps throw another shrimp on the barbie?

December 23rd - Perth to Brisbane, Australia
meet Natalie's family, go to the beach for Christmas

January/February (undetermined end point) - Daintree Rainforest, Australia
stay with Natalie's dad, get a backpacker's job picking fruit or something
eat bananas all day and sit on the beach at night

At some point, yes, I will make my way home. Natalie will go back to school at the end of February, at which point I will most likely go see Sydney and fly home from there - more updates on that will come. At the moment, though, I have a hotel breakfast to eat and a lot of goodbye cards to write : (

Bouncy Parks Are For Kids...And Foreigners

2008-11-06T19:54:00.005-05:00

This might not look like much, but this park may be the happiest place in Japan. It's like a the combination of a Moon Bounce and a trampoline - smiles guaranteed all around.

Keeping It Professional

2008-10-22T08:47:00.008-04:00

Every once in a while I am asked to help my boss interview a prospective new teacher. This is mildly interesting and only takes about 20 minutes of my time, but can end up being incredibly stressful and, at times, aggravating.

First, I always feel a little awkward because the only reason I am qualified to do this is because I can speak English fluently. And the other person can't. I also feel awkward because my boss sits in the corner and watches....judging. No smiles.

Before each interview, my boss, Chuckles, likes to come into my classroom, close the door, and tell me in broken English her fist impressions of the interviewee. And her "first impressions" are actually just reasons why she doesn't like the person - and why I shouldn't like them either.
[To clarify, my boss is also the person who voices her disappointment each year when she receives information about the incoming foreign teacher and they aren't blonde. And straight up doesn't like non-Japanese Asians.]

So before the last interview Chuckles cornered me alone in the office and tells me, "He is a man."

Yes, this is her opening statement. I am supposed to infer that the "he" in question is the person I will later interview.

"...Oh really?"

"I have never hired a man."

"...Oh really?"

"Yes!" she says proudly. Short pause, then she adds, "I don't like him."

"Because he's a man?"

"Ahahahahaha. No!"

End of conversation. Like most with her, I am not sure what to take away from it, other than I think she doesn't want me to say his English is good. Later, my Japanese co-workers come into the office and we begin discussing the situation. The both tell me that Chuckles told them he smells funny, and so she doesn't want to hire him.

For a woman over 50 she has really mastered the art of sounding like a girl in junior high school.

So I go into the interview and talk for 20 minutes with a really nice man who did not smell funny at all and had perfect grammar, but was so nervous he constantly had to pause mid-sentence to stop shaking. He asked me great questions, and was obviously eager to be a teacher. At the end I shook his hand, said good job, and went back into the office.

Chuckles comes in with a disdainful look on her face. She starts speaking Japanese to my co-worker and in there I hear, "blah blah blah Leah-sensei 'Good Job' AHAHAHAHA!"

"What? I wasn't supposed to say good job? He was trying so hard!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She's laughing too hard to respond to me now.

Thanks boss.

She looks at me and manages to say between bouts of laughter, "Don't recommend."

So there it was, my decision was made for me, by the worst English speaker in the whole school and (I can't help but feel like) for all the wrong reasons. But then, such is business in Japan.

Part 3

2008-10-15T09:14:00.015-04:00

I was lucky enough last month to see Ethan, who I usually see once a year if we're lucky, not once but twice. He made Japan the first stop on his trans-Asiatic tour, and it was absolutely wonderful to see him. And as usual when we are traveling together, things never quite went as planned, we didn't see the conventional sights, but we had a GREAT time.

We started in Kyoto, where we bypassed the temples to check out the Astroboy Museum. We got a photo with him, and got to watch a sweet anime film that we didn't understand a word of.

Shortly after we hopped on the train to Osaka to meet Shohei, who we stayed with. The one thing we wanted to see in Osaka was the Cup Noodle Museum, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that Shohei not only "LOVES NOODLES!" and works at a ramen shop, but that he had never been to the museum and really wanted to go. So at the crack of noon the next day we made our way through the beautiful outskirts of Osaka to the place where it all began (or at least the place commemorating the place where it all began).

Tunnel of Ramen

I learned many things that day. One, Instant Ramen has been around since 1958, and Cup Noodle since 1971; two, astronauts eat Cup Noodle in space; and three:
Three reasons to eat Cup Noodle:
1. cheap
2. safe
3. delicious!!

Then, glory of glories, we made our own.

Designing

Anything (Dried) Our Hearts Desired

Shrink-wrapped for Freshness

After that excitement we hung out in Osaka, ate, drank, and sang karaoke.

We ran into this guy and his girlfriend at an arcade. The guy had spent months and over $500 on this one machine in order to win this stuffed animal. Talk about priorities.

Ethan almost missed his flight, but we managed to make time for Purikura.

Oh My GOD!

2008-10-04T10:24:00.007-04:00

I know this isn't the greatest video ever taken, but....these boys are are the best. Absolutely the best.

After this, they decided to draw a huge scene on the board:

...it's the three of us in "our house." Mine is the big head in the middle.

Part 2

2008-09-29T11:34:00.004-04:00

Miss you, little chans.

Las Ketchup, Part 1

2008-09-24T10:39:00.013-04:00

Unfortunately, I have not really been what you would call "on top of things" lately, blogging being one of those things. I apologize.

Since last writing, some pretty big things have happened, namely:

1. my family came to visit for 10 days
2. my two closest friends in Toyama left (for good)
3. my friend Ethan came to visit

I'm going to start in chronological order, so here goes.

It was absolutely wonderful having my family in Japan. We had so much fun together, and we got to see a lot of different and really cool sights, most of which were new to me as well. They first came to Toyama to see my life here, and from there we went on to Kyoto and Nara, where we got to see two beautiful festivals. Next we took a ferry to the beautiful island of Shikoku, "the Tibet of Japan." We rented a car and drove along tiny, winding roads on the sides of beautiful green mountains that lead down into steep, steep ravines. The riding got a little stressful at times, with the roads being one lane switchbacks and cars driving on the left (slight tension in the car, especially when lost), but the scenery was gorgeous.

After two nights in a cabin in a national park on the center of the island, we made our way across Shikoku and off to Miyajima, a small island famous for the large Torii gate in the water, and for deer wandering around everywhere. It was very peaceful (some might say too peaceful), and we had a nice hike up to the top of one of the mountains. We were hoping to see the monkeys that live there, but unfortunately they weren't around. We stopped in Hiroshima on the way back, which was incredibly moving. All in all we couldn't have asked for a better trip. We had so much fun together, and I'm so happy they were able to come and see my life here and that we could experience Japan together.

Torii Gate and Temple at Miyajima

The deer love eating paper. And this was in the women's bathroom.

We look so good in the morning.

Top of the Mountain on Miyajima

A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima

Tokyo Giants vs. Hiroshima Carp @ the Tokyo Dome

1 Girl, 1 Keg

Go Carp!

Think of the Children

2008-07-31T09:53:00.007-04:00

I never knew how easy American kids have it. I know that as a nation we are incredibly fortunate, we have more than we need, etc. etc. etc. But, honestly...our kids have it easy! I remember whining about swim team practice (well, 6:45 was way too early) and doing the occasional yard work, but for the most part life was pretty easy as a kid. To prove it, the following list:

Things I Never Had To Do That Almost Every Japanese Kid Does Every Day (of Summer Vacation):

1. wake up at 6:30 am, walk to the nearest park, and stretch with the other neighborhood kids, some parents, and many old people while listening to the radio

2. upon finishing, clean aforementioned park

3. after cleaning, study for tests (that will take place before summer vacation ends)

4. spend 3 or 4 hours at club sports practice in the middle of the day!! (it's seriously hot here)

5. go to extra classes for additional English practice, or help with other subjects

6. do enough homework that you need to work on it every single day of vacation

I never realized how easy I had it.

(Mom & Dad, if Gabe needs help realizing, feel free to let him read this.)

You Rock, Rock!

2008-07-30T09:17:00.001-04:00

This past weekend we went to Fuji Rock, Japan's biggest music festival. The name is actually a lie, it's about 3 hours away from Mount Fuji and on the side of an entirely different mountain, but the show was amazing.

After a two hour train ride, an hour wait in line in the heat for a 45 minute shuttle, and then about an hour of finding and securing a campsite (which was, as most were, on the side of a mountain, so we were at about a 35 degree angle while sleeping), we finally made it inside. And just in time for the Presidents of the USA. They even changed "Peaches" to "Momo," the Japanese word for peach. How cute. The lineup was great (though the past years, honestly, looked a little better), some highlights being:
Grandmaster Flash (amazing)
Bloc Party
the Go! Team
Kate Nash (that girl rocks on stage)
Jamie Lidell (so talented)
Rodrigo y Gabriella (amazing amazing amazing, please check them out - you will not be disappointed)
and Underworld (anthem techno and big bouncy balls, can't beat it)

What I really thought were some of the coolest parts, though, were the small details. First, the area was incredibly beautiful. It took place nestled in this little valley among beautiful green mountains, with a small river running through it that you could hang out at when it got too hot. You could see the fog roll in through the trees and everywhere you looked was just green green green (as well as people people people). The different stages were quite a ways apart, so you had to walk on these cute little trails through the woods (with a huge group of your closest friends), or else on this cool boardwalk they had that wove in and out of the forest. And everywhere you looked there was something interesting. Big beautiful lanterns lined all the pathways, and every now and then you would come across a little woodsy surprise, like a stream of disco balls cascading from the trees. Also, it was so clean. No one put their trash anywhere but the garbage areas, and those areas were manned by people sorting every single last piece of trash into different types of recyclables. The whole system was incredible, and even more so that every single person followed it.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and totally worth the looks of suppressed disdain given by my Manager (henceforth "Chuckles") when I asked to take off a Friday and Saturday, two of my busiest days at work. It was something that made me look around and think "Oh yeah, I'm in Japan!"...which sounds obvious, but can get lost during the day to day. But I am in Japan...and it rules!

Most of My Compliments Lately...

2008-07-18T11:07:00.001-04:00

...have come from those under 10. This little guy, one of my favorites (shh, don't tell anyone I have those) called me cute a few weeks ago, and today told me I am beautiful (in Japanese).

His classmate, another one of my favorites, showed his affection only moments later by pulling down his pants in front of me. No lawsuits, please.

Those Japanese Are Allll Right

2008-07-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

The Japanese typically have one reaction when they see someone going for a run: staring. Running is not at all common here; I have probably seen less than 10 other runners during my time in Toyama (not counting the foreigners). So usually, as I make my way through the city to the river, I attempt to tune out the fact that all eyes are on me. It's a nice, awkward feeling.
Today, I was stretching in a park after a run when a man walked up to me. He was middle aged, dressed nicely, probably out for a stroll before work. He was holding two Gatorades in his hand and was offering me one. What a nice guy! I happily drank it instead of the lukewarm bottle of tap water I had in my bag. And, one of the best parts of speaking minimal Japanese, a simple thank you is all that needs to be said. No conversation necessary. Thanks, guy.
At home there are at lot less stares while running, but no one ever offers you free refreshments.

Fashion Tips from an Eight Year Old

2008-06-12T21:26:00.000-04:00

After my beautiful blog-inspiring morning yesterday, I decided to take the last 20 minutes of my lunch break to read a little bit. Sounds nice, but I'm reading the last Harry Potter book. 20 minutes later I walked back to work sad and slightly angry and J.K. for putting Harry through so much. He's only 17!

Once at work the first thing I noticed was big, handwritten sheet that said "Let's clean the walls and carpets!!!" Underneath we were all assigned a room to clean, and I noticed that my name was misspelled. You would think that after 6 months of working in a place it would be known by all the faculty (all 6 of them) that my name is not Lear. It is also, though this is not related to yesterday, not Rear or Dia, which are common mistakes.

Anyway, my classes went by quickly enough, and at the end of the day I teach Soshi, an 8 year-old biligual student who recently moved back to Japan from San Francisco. He's wonderful; we spend the first five minutes of class playing baseball with flyswatters and bean bags and the rest of the time joking around in English. Halfway through the lesson he looks up and goes, "You have holes in your ears!" (Ear piercing is really uncommon in Japan) He continues looking at me and follows with "And you changed your hairstyle!" (I haven't had time to make it to the hairdresser recently!) "And why is your hair gold and brown and black?" (Once again....)

"You look bad."

Thank you, Soshi. Tonight's homework will be twelve pages.

Just Because

2008-06-12T02:09:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick post during my lunch break because today is perhaps the most beautiful I've seen in Toyama. It's not raining, it's not hazy, it's not even humid! Everything is green and people seem to be smiley. Even my kids have been really good so far today.

Also, I'm really behind on blogging, and I promise to catch up soon! I haven't had a free weekend in at least a month so I just haven't had a chance. I have a lot of things to share, so hopefully this weekend I can get something down.

Tropical Paradise, Anyone?

2008-05-13T01:10:00.000-04:00

So after fours straight months of dealing with wild children all day, no breaks, no pauses, no time-outs, I went on vacation. And it was worth the wait. Okinawa is probably the most beautiful place I've been. Thinking back on the places I've been...'probably' is swinging closer to 'definitely.'

I think in total 13 people ended up going, a rag-tag group of English teachers who either knew each other or had some connection to the others in the group. Luckily, all 13 of ended up being not only very nice but also incredibly laid back, which meant we almost completely avoided the normal stresses of group travel. And the bonus was that we had with us not one but TWO Japanese speakers! You have no idea how much easier this makes eating, shopping, or doing almost any activity at all in Japan.

We stayed in the main city, Naha. It was a nice place, similar to those in mainland Japan in the sense that it was seemingly endless - city blends with town, blends back into city again. It had a much more relaxed atmosphere, however, and there were definitely a lot more non-Japanese people walking around.

Two days were spent taking ferries to small, outlying islands, and then lying around on various beaches. The first, Zamami, was beautiful, though the day was a bit cloudy. The second, though, Tokashiki, blew it out of the water.

Not bad, huh?

It was absolutely incredible. We rented snorkels to check out the coral underneath the water, and - wow - no one was lying when they said coral is home to thousands of species. The sea life was incredible!...and scary. Being, in general, pretty afraid of stuff, it took me a while to get used to being close to fish and other things. Especially because some fish, particularly these little guys - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >
seemed to find people super interesting and wanted to be REALLY close to them. And if you swam away, they chased you. Ok, so these fish are harmless and I'm a pretty big baby. But, right before leaving, Ashleigh and I went out snorkeling, and before you knew it we were really far out there. She suddenly made a noise for me to look at something she thought was cool, and luckily she did, because it made me lift up my head just in time to notice a big, square, orange jellyfish about a foot from my face. That was enough to make us hightail it for the shore.

So, a few other things I learned about Okinawa:

1. American military base = American things. I found M&M's, and Andy and I even had a root beer float (which was amazing, except that they put ice in the root beer first....so then the ice cream was all crunchy. Come on, guys).

2. They really love pork. The have key chains and postcards and t-shirts with pictures of it, or slogans like "We love pork!"...so you know I'm not exaggerating. They even play dress up with pig heads. So there.

3. People in clubs can do synchronized dances to certain songs. That's right, just like a movie.

4. You can see mongeese on the streets and live penguins inside a bar. Unfortunately, the penguins do not serve you drinks, as I had hoped.

5. If Mexicans thought they were badass putting worms into their tequila, they were wrong. Try a whole poisonous snake. Or how about two? ...pussies.

6. They can do amazing things with sweet potatoes.

7. Mango KitKats.

On the whole, the trip was fabulous. At the moment I am back in Toyama, where it is, once again, raining. But at least the rain is warm.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-04-07T09:11:00.000-04:00

That's right, it's cherry blossom season. It's the time of year when all of Japan is awash in fluffy pink and white clouds. Everywhere you look, it's beautiful. And you don't even have to step outside to notice the change, you can just feel happiness everywhere - everyone in the entire city is happy. It's pretty incredible, actually.

This Sunday I woke up (late) and meandered outside for a picnic with some friends. First thought: Holy Shit. Before arriving in Japan I looked up the population of Toyama as being almost half a million people. Before Sunday I had not once seen evidence of even half that many people. But suddenly, without warning, everyone, literally everyone, decided to go outside. I had to basically fight my way into a convenience store to buy picnic supplies, and I just had to forget about biking altogether. Kids were running all over, friends were meeting, weird parades of people wearing crazy masks and costumes were going by; it was madness.

The cherry blossoms are definitely quite a sight, however, and definitely worth all the hype. Our picnic under them on Sunday was made even better by Japanese hospitality: we were welcomed in by a group of people having a barbecue, and they gave us cushions and kept feeding us delicious yakisoba (fried noodles) and okonomiyaki (pancake-like thing with veggies and squid), as well as filling our glasses with sake and making us campai (cheers) every few minutes. It was like hanging out on a big, fluffy, sunny cloud with smiling faces around you all day...and then well into the night. And like any dream day, it ended with karaoke.

My Hood, Pre-Cherry Blossoms

2008-04-02T08:17:00.000-04:00

This is around the corner from my house. All these are cherry trees and within a week they will transform into a magical pink wonderland. Stay tuned for photos.

This is the view from my friend's apartment. It's hard to get the mountains well on camera, but you get the idea. I can see these beauties everyday on my way to work (and by everyday i mean the times when they aren't covered by a thick haze, so...sometimes.).

Free to Good Home - One Nice American

2008-03-31T08:40:00.000-04:00

So I have a new family. A lovely new Japanese family. I have, essentially, in the past two weeks been adopted. They've claimed Lindzy and I as their new foreign friends, and I couldn't be happier about it. They like cooking us dinner, driving us around to cool places in their big van, and making us drink things. It's a perfect situation. This weekend they took us to an excellent art museum in the middle of nowhere, and then to eat onegiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed with different things inside, mainly fish - the best snack ever) at a "famous" onegiri shop (in Japan everything is famous; famous famous famous). On the way home we stopped off for some road sake, and they showed us these crazy sake cans that heat up the sake inside when you push the bottom of the can - instant hot sake! Genius! To finish off the day they made us a delicious dinner and then we all went to sing karaoke. Lovely. Here they are in action:

[Sorry, my camera has this weird filmy-ness to it lately - I'm looking into the cause of that.]

So cute. Hanging out with them is really helping me become more Japanese. I like it. Here's Lindzy and I turning Japanese and loving it:

I Really Like My Job

2008-03-18T11:48:00.001-04:00

Wii-shimashita

2008-03-03T07:26:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me today that blogging is like a tame form of exhibitionism. And, I must say that even though I woke up this morning excited to write things down for people to read, this thought made me feel apprehensive once again. Is that something I want to associate with myself? Oh well, too late I suppose.

That said, today was a mixture of high and low emotions for me, but, luckily, neither was too overwhelming (read: nothing exciting happened today).
-On the positive, Japanese class was excellent. I'm starting to see that if I keep up with this class I can really learn a lot while I'm here. I can now describe my day for you in Japanese, should you so wish, provided you are really only interested in what time I wake up, what hours I work, when I have lunch break, and when I go to sleep. I could maybe include some other interesting tidbits (like when I eat breakfast or read a book), but let's not get too crazy.
-Today's unfortunate event occurred this evening. I accidentally placed my big yellow stuffed tofu up against my space heater. Within only a few seconds I smelled burning. Now I have a big stuffed animal with a singed hole in it and a better understanding of why my boss warned me not to burn down my apartment when I first moved in.

The Jump Off

2008-03-02T10:31:00.000-05:00

So here it is, my brand new blog. This post is going to be short and sweet, I think I need to ease myself into the blogging experience. But I will put up some photos of the amazing lunch Lindzy and I had today at our co-worker Eri's house in celebration of Girls Day. It was delicious and so fun. We played cards, we made origami, and Eri's grandmother even juggled for us. Doesn't get much better than that.