Experiences lead to experience

A post is a post is a post

2009-07-30T00:18:00.002+09:00

My time is winding down. I have s lot of pictures to post but most involve students. As I am prohibited from posting photos of students I am going to have to wait until I am back in Canada to regale you all with them. We recently had a big festival in town and everyone was there. I was mauled all day long and dragged around by students to various places! Here is one of those students disguised as some character from Anpanman.The hawks in town have also been using my railing as a lookout. This is fine because they keep the damn noisy ravens away. I got this picture before it flew away. This bastard woke me up with its loud cries. Sorry it was taken through a dirty window, which has since been cleaned.... slightly.

I got CRAZY informed

2009-07-15T17:19:00.003+09:00

So my flights and hotel are all booked. Sorry for the tease Jordan, but we will still get together and I promise to spend money on you. I get to stay in a swanky hotel as a bonus, the brand new Shinigawa Prince Hotel . I don`t know what to do first. Enjoy the pool and sauna, or the aquarium. The upside is, I should get to the hotel by 5pm, so I have all night to have fun. My flight doesn`t leave until 5pm the next day. For those who need to know, I will be landing in Toronto at 3:30 pm on Sunday, August 9th.

Here are some recent pics. This is how I reward some of the more awesome kids at school.... I give them pictures of ME!!! I would upload pictures I took today with said awesome kids, but its illegal.

Happiness is coming to Monbetsu

2009-07-13T21:08:00.003+09:00

Oh, I almost forgot. My favourite place to eat in Japan is almost open. This will double the livability of this city at least. I am going to have a good week or Teriyaki burgers before I come home. I hope my heart can take it.

I went to Sapporo

2009-07-13T20:57:00.003+09:00

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Sapporo. I was attending my coworker Steve`s koto concert. Lots of neat places. Cats, Swanky hotels, and my fashion stylings of the day.

Cooking class

2009-07-09T22:51:00.003+09:00

Here are some pictures from my cooking class. Lots of good food and I never leave with an empty belly.

2009-07-04T15:04:00.003+09:00

I have been meaning to do this for a while. It`s not all the sticker pictures I`ve taken, but these are the ones that I sent to my phone. I am trying to get as many as possible before I leave Japan. Man, do I love purikura!

2009-03-27T19:55:00.001+09:00

"Toad Day Out organisers are offering prizes for people with the biggest toad and the highest total weight of toads. Goodies range from cane toad trophies – made of stuffed cane toads – to a gift certificate for a local resort.
Aware that an annual event may not be enough to satisfy local population control demands, the council offers advice on how to freeze the animals to death at home.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has applauded the effort – with one caveat. "We're only supportive of the plan if the toads are killed humanely – in other words, they're not hit with baseball bats or cricket bats and golf clubs,"
-Michael Beatty.

I thought this quote warranted a blog post. Full story here

No updates

2009-03-27T16:37:00.002+09:00

Colour me boring, but I have become lazy by nature. I don`t have classes because of spring break and the transition from one school year to the next so my days are filled with solitary study at my desk in the Board of Education and Harry Potter books. I am starting a new band soon though and my girlfriend will be here in just over a month, so I will probably have something to write about soon. Sorry for not entertaining ;)

Blizzards and danger around every corner

2009-02-18T19:15:00.004+09:00

So it took me the better part of an afternoon and 3 different low quality movie editing programs, but I finally put together the videos from the Sea-ice festival which was held in my city, Monbetsu last weekend. It was a lot of fun while it lasted. There were lots of different food stalls set up, which is my favourite part of any festival and there were tons and tons of amazing ice sculptures. There was a huge snow maze which was built by the army and had 13 foot walls. We got lost in it for the better part of 15 minutes the other day. I am pretty sure there was only one entrance though, which in my opinion defeats the purpose. But for all I know there could have been someone waiting at the real goal with a big sack of money. We ended up just retracing out steps to get out. My friend Shunta and his dad are part of the snowmobile club so we got some free snowmobile rides! It was one of the scariest things I have ever done. Let me tell you that the difference between 120km/h on a motorcycle and 120km/h on a snowmobile is enormous. Anyway. I will let the video speak for itself. Its me and Steve on the tube and banana boat and then a quick tour of the festival. If it looks empty its because we were hit with two, 15 minute blizzards right before and everyone had run for their lives.

Hold on a minute... or two.

2009-02-15T21:42:00.006+09:00

So as usual, I am here to dissapoint. I was going to put up a video and pictures from the Sea-ice festival, but editing is turning into a pain. I desperately need new editing software. The program that came with my camcorder is just not cutting it. Who would have thought? Anyway. I do have a cell phone video which I hope you appreciate. I hope you aren`t korean though because you might not agree with the fact that I find Shunta`s singing hilarious. For those who don`t speak basic Korean, Shunta is just repeating "spicy-cabbage", "thank-you" and "hello" over and over again..... It never gets old. And can you believe he can do it to ANY SONG??? total jokes.

**** Video has been fixed ****

The sea-ice is here, the sea-ice is here!

2009-02-10T16:01:00.002+09:00

I have been pretty hard on the sea-ice this year. All I heard about Monbetsu was how much sea-ice we get during the winter and then I get here and its friggin February and there is still nothing! But all that changed yesterday, because we now officially have sea-ice in the harbour. It quite literally appeared overnight, which seems to be some sort of February miracle. I say this because our Sea-ice Festival starts tomorrow. It must have been some wierd act of a god to cut it this close. I guess all those virgins and babies we burned in ritual sacrifice are finally starting to pay off. I`m sure there will be pictures to follow soon :)

Pancakes!

2009-02-08T12:27:00.004+09:00

Here`s my breakfast. It was the last of the consumables in my apartment and I scrounged them together to get this. Luckily I had sold one of my kidneys for a quarter pound of blueberries the month before.....

Post Holiday Photo Edition

2009-02-02T20:31:00.006+09:00

Here are some pictures which I completely forgot I took. This might have been due to the fact that travelling from Canada back to Japan was even more stressful than the last. I had to worry about getting to a strange hotel and getting my bags and everything. What I did was land in Narita, take the shuttle to Haneda(1 hour), find a locker to keep my non-essential luggage, take another train to Shinjuku(1 hour) and get to a hotel. I was worried about missing my "reservation" time which would mean I was charged on my credit card and would then have to book again. I landed at 3 and had to be there by 6..... I got to the hotel at 7:30 which had to have been some kind of record and it turned out that they didn`t have my reservation anyway. Sorta annoying. They wanted to know which website I had reserved on, which is not something I thought I had to remember. I know which HOTEL I had reserved since that seemed pertinent to me. I did not remember which travel site I had used. Anyway. Booking wasn`t a problem. It ended up being a decent capsule hotel in the heart of Shinjuku. If you don`t know what a capsule hotel is then click here. Note of interest. Those pictures are not from the hotel I stayed at but were the EXACT same capsules I slept in. Circa 1970. Still, for $40 not too shabby. The hot baths and facilities were still top notch. The one I stayed in in Sapporo was WAY more modern for the record.I didn`t take a ton of pics because I was in a huge rush to get there, and I ended up sleeping right after I bathed. I was going to go out again and picture the night-life I swear.... heh heh. Sleep won. Then in the morning, I was so sleepy so only snapped a few. Its pretty quiet at 6am.

I am a fan of train stations in Japan. So many wires!

Really early morning train commuters. I saw lots of young adults in groups just coming home after all-night karaoke sessions.... Ah, to be in Fukuoka again.

More of the train station jungle.

This was at around 7:15. I got to the airport 15 mintues after it opened and 4 hours before my flight. I had a bit of walking around time... I found a big blue cow statue, which I didnt understand. It might be like that moose thing that we have in Canada. This one had a bunch of constelations on it. I wanted to touch it but I couldn`t. There was a metal tube around it and an invisible electric field which I found the hard way.

I almost stopped here for breakfast. Anyone who knows me know I love a hardy pimento-loaf breakfast spread. Actually I ended up just getting some delicious 7/11 riceballs! They are seriously the only food I need when I travel. Tuna, rice, seaweed. Nuff said. Plus I am addicted to the smell of early morning convenience stores in Japan. Anyone who has been here will agree I think.

And finally, here is the long-awaited(mostly this is an imagined long-awaited status that only exists in my mind) list of strange Japan-only special Edition! And I am going to do the cast rundown like its a highschool volleyball yearbook photo.

Front row, Left to right: Limited Time Bacon Sour Creme, Limited Time European Selection Italian Pizza, Stimulatingly DELICIOUS(I shit you not) EXTREME Mushroom.

Back row, Left to right: Limited Time Honey Roast Chicken, Summer Selection Keema Curry, Autumn Selection Smoky Salami.

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. The advertisers really know how to sell a chip here.

This is just a picture of my dinner. Tonkatsu and steamed rice. Don`t get much better than this. Probably my best homemade tonkatsu yet. I just wish I had some pickles to go with it.... *le sigh*

Christmas break edition

2009-02-02T19:50:00.004+09:00

It occurred to me that the last entry may have been lacking in anything entertaining to the viewer, so I am going to try to improve (hard not to) on my last attempt.
Coming home for Christmas was pretty the most anticipated thing to me in recent history. I was counting down the days religiously, and was so looking forward to being home with friends and family and significant others. The concept itself of travelling from Hokkaido to Canada for the holidays seems straight-forward and if my life were a movie it might have been so. For whatever reasons, the gods have conspired to create a place in the world where leaving can be both long-winded and very expensive. Because of Monbestu`s location, getting anywhere is a bit of a pain. We have an airport…. Sadly there is only one flight a day, and that one flight only comes and goes on certain days. So I got home by:
-->Taking a 4 hour bus ride (the distance is only about the distance from Hamilton to Toronto, but there are billions of mountains in the way)
-->Staying in a hotel overnight (the bus didn`t arrive early enough to allow me to leave the same day)
-->Taking a 2 hour plane ride to Tokyo and finally getting on a plane to N. America
-->Connecting in Los Angeles for my flight to Toronto
Total travel time took roughly 40 hours and involved me almost having my flights cancelled due to a big snow storm, and I had to sit next to the two most obnoxious people from Los Angeles and listen to them chit-chat with the two worst Air Canada employees alive. Their inane prattle had me seriously hoping our plane would crash just to end it all. (They were complaining how badly people dress in New York amongst other things and he was wearing cords and construction boots… I rest my case). They could have powered the plane with the hot air these a-holes were producing. When he wasn`t on the phone talking about how much money he spends, he was on the phone picking new ringtones at full volume. The level of douche-baggery on this flight was blinding. I`m not bitter, I swear.
Anyhoo, Christine and I did lots of fantastic things over the break, like sleeping in and going to Niagara , shopping related things and general tomfoolery, We even got to go see some movies which was nice coming from a town with no movie theatre within 50 miles. I also got to spend Christmas with the family, which was really nice and ate so much I put on almost 10 pounds in just under 3 weeks (that’s just under 1 stone for any U.K. readers, har har). So there are probably pictures now showing stuff that happened.

The reason I returned to Japan a fat tub of goo. My mom`s sweet, sweet homecooking!

SEEE? We`re getting up to some pretty insane tomfoolery
We even visited my mom at her job. Warplane Heritage glory!!!

Mmmmm, pure man-made glory. Yeah, I said it. It was built by man. Crack a dictionary Poindexter.

Everything was as frozen as frozen could be. Everything that could be frozen was frozen, even Asian tourists.

Bill couldn`t take the cold so he thought the 300 foot drop would end the suffering. I had to quickly forge his Last Will and Testament signing all his things over to me before my hands froze.

The best part of the Falls was all the random shit they have everywhere. Like a poor/homless man`s Vegas. More wax museums per square km. than anywhere else in the world.

Time for Tim Hortons. A Canadian staple.

Best part about going to Niagara Falls to see the big coloured spotlights? NO FRIGGIN LIGHTS. We apparently went on the only day they don`t light up any of the falls. They didn`t even have the christmas lights on. Still fun.

2009-02-01T21:20:00.003+09:00

Hmmm, I have some pictures and some updates I need to post and seeing as it has been an entire century(in eunuch years) since my last blog I will break it into two parts. The first will be some things from before the Winter break, and the second will be any pictures and comments from during the break. Spoiler: Darth Vader built C-3PO.

To start off, I purchased a new pair of glasses while in Sapporo during one of our many business related meeting dates. I liked my old pair but at $50 a pop and a 30 minute waiting period, I had to hit that. It was a good thing I did because Steven bought a berry similar pair to the spectacles I was sporting. What resulted was an epic battle of myopic might, ferocious far-sighted fury, and a suprisingly squinty struggle. In the end my bitterness was but a mere shadow to the happiness and coolness the new peepers.

Two days before Winter break, my Board of Ed. held some sort of New Year party. I had skipped the last one, so I went to this one(in hindsight, not a good idea). Firstly, it was the most expensive party I have attended with a $60 fee. This was because it was held at a fancy hotel in town. Now let me begin by saying that I thought this was a fun, work get-together type of party, so I was excited to get to relax and just eat and drink with my coworkers. What it turned out to be was a dinner with 30 people I didn`t know from high in the BOE hierarchy and most of the supervisors/high-up staff at my BOE. Basically all the people I feel uncomfortable around. The worst part was, I was told the clothes I was wearing that day were ok to wear(jeans and a collared shirt). When I got home I changed anyway and came wearing business casual and a nice blazer. This was the best decision EVER(because japanese people will lie to you ANY chance they get, but seriously, I jest) Everyone was really formal and wearing full-on suits and ties. I spent the night inwardly cursing my supervisor for giving my hillbilly ensemble the A-OK. Long story medium-short, the food was fancy and in small amounts(NOT COOL for the all you can eat fare) and the beer was refilled not nearly fast enough by the servers. On the upside there was a crab pool in the lobby.... REDEMPTION GET!!!!

Oh and on a side not, the evening wasn`t a total loss. I got to practice Japanese, which led to a manager making it his personal quest to get a water filter for my shower. NO MORE RUSTY SHOWERS!!!! coming soon! Plus we played bingo and I won $50 in gift cards, on top of $10 the afore-mentioned manager gave me from his win. I could have used them at any store, but I bought a butt-load of groceries instead. I bought more than I could carry and it only cost me 700 yen.

Best phone bill ever

2008-12-14T18:22:00.003+09:00

So I got my first phone bill for my new phone and I have never been happier to see a bill. I think this is the first time I have not felt ripped off by a phone bill in my entire life. I love AU. I just wanted to say that. If you ever come to Japan and need a phone contract, use AU. That`s what this post is for. Its a tribute to a great phone company, something that is accutely rare in today`s world. For those wondering, my phone bill was $31. The lowest phone bill I have recieved in the almost 4 years I have used cell phones.

Free Foodz

2008-12-10T17:17:00.003+09:00

I have gotten so much free food recently! I did some babysitting gig on the weekend and came home with two strawberry cakes, 4 oranges, 2 juice boxes, 2 litres of curry and about 10 cups of rice. Yesterday, my friend Shunta brought me fresh octopus which up to an hour before hand had been swimming in the ocean! I just cooked it and it is soooo good. Nothing beats really fresh seafood. I am saddened that most people are put off by how most seafood looks or smells, since it tastes so different when its really fresh. Oh well. More for me!

JEDI INVASION!!!

2008-12-10T00:00:00.002+09:00

I have been playing around with Adobe After Effects. One of the cool things is you can give anyone anywhere in any video a LIGHTSABER!!! Enjoy

The little things

2008-12-07T19:35:00.002+09:00

I just had a cup of instant coffee and tiny cake. I have never felt this content.

Cold Beans

2008-12-07T16:33:00.005+09:00

Hey! Been a while since pictures graced this sleek, sexy blogspot, so here are some. Let us begin with some from my last JET sponsored trip to the big city SAPPORO! John and I stumbed onto the famous Ramen Alley in downtown Sapporo. The worst part was that we only found it after we had eaten HUGE bowls of noodles up the road. As we walked down the tiny, clausterphobic space which houses the dozens of shops we were yelled at by a Japanese lady who wanted business. She was just yelling "HEY.... HEY... HEY... HEY" for like 2 minutes while John and I were walking and looking at shop menus before I realized she was talking to us. :O

This is the view from my hotel room. The room was nice enough, although I thought it was pretty cheap that they were charging for ethernet connections by the minute. First time thats happened to me in a hotel. OH, and the beds were terrible. The sheets felt like they were made from recycled table cloths.

I went for a walk the other day and saw this car. Nothing special here but you would probably never see this in Canada. Unless we decide to let 8 years old girls start owning and driving cars.

I came to the realization halfway through my walk that taking normal pictures is for lame-os. I also just found the negative function on my digi-cam. Welcome to bizarro world.

Gas prices have fallen at least 50c in the last month. It was 156 last time I filled up.... and thats before the exchange. It was equalling about $2.10 /litre!!!

And finally, ending on a topic which comes up way, way, way too often. Japan is one of the strictest countries in the world when it comes to narcotics. Marijuana has become a recent issue since its appearing more in Universities and more recently, a very famous Russian sumo fighter was found to be possessing. Basically the Japanese Government is freaking out, thinking society is going down the shitter. Well, this is a grade 6 girl wearing the latest fashion. I also know a junior high school teacher who wears a track suit that has this design up and down the arm/leg pinstripes. And don`t get me started on shirts with rude English. Hold on and let me look up one I saw the other day.................................................... Ok, research complete. I wrote myself notes of what the shirts said, but they were on my shit old phone. Ok, one girls shirt said EAT ME across the front, and the other girls shirt said "CUM AGAIN SECRET SOCIETY" on the back.... I was going to take pics but my camera was broken (hence the new phone)

You know, driving slower IS an option

2008-11-24T18:37:00.002+09:00

Well, we had some snow. And since Japan refuses to use either road salt or sand, the few inches of snow has been driven and re frozen into a solid sheet of black ice. If you`re lucky, some of the ice is still white and you can see it, but I walked about 100 feet to the post office and the entire stretch of road was solid black ice. Within 2 minutes, I saw 3 different cars completely lock up their tires as they approached the corner they wanted. You see, here in Japan defensive driving is a thing of the past. Yes folks, that`s right. Japan has long been using a far more sophisticated form of driving. Robots? Nano-technology? Both are good guesses but you are WAY off. No. Japan uses the far more advanced technique of driving on a wish and a prayer. Its WAY better. You can drive like you would under the best of road conditions but in far worse and dangerous ones and your wishes and prayers will keep you safe.
This may seem like a story but all my observations have led me to believe that Japanese people drive as though they think they won`t lose control. Everyone just zips around like normal and then slides out of control when they need to stop. Does this affect them? Nope. They just spin the tires away from their stop and speed away.
I wasn`t worried about my driving, since I understand the concept of slowing down and being careful when conditions are like this, but now I suddenly have to deal with a city of 25,000 who have no single driving care in the world. Pray for me Canada.... pray

He`s a phoney

2008-11-23T14:54:00.004+09:00

So I had an interesting time trying to get a new phone the other day. Before we get to that tale, allow me to fill in some back-story.

I came to Japan carrying an old Softbank model which I had bought when I did my exchange program. It wasn`t the coolest phone out there, but it worked and it was cheap to reactivate. Sadly, after about a month the screen started to die. It wouldnt turn on all the way and there were black and grey lines of dead pixels all the was across the face. Shortly following this, the camera and other such functions stopped working. More recently, the screen took to completely dying after about 10 seconds of use and when it would come back on the contents of the screen would be completely mirrored and unreadable. I don`t actually know how such changes occured, but I assumed the worst and called an exorcist. Even that guy said there was nothing I could do. I made the choice to just suck it up and get a new phone. I am making a lot of extra cash on the exchange rates when I transfer money home so I figured no biggie......

I went to the phone company softbank and explained my situation and they showed me a price list. Bottom line was $600 with the nicer models topping out just around $1200. After I collected my jaw from the floor I went next door to the AU shoppe. Different company and a COMPLETLY different price list. Now, don`t get me wrong. I knew a new phone was going to cost me and also knew that it would be a few hundred dollars. I had no idea that Softbank had the ability to bring back technology from the 29th century and create cellphones with it. So unless their cellphones allowed me to leave the confines of my medical bay while maintaining myability to interact with non-holographic objects there was no way I was going down that road.

AU was full of wonderful phones though. I ended up paying about $100 for a new phone and the monthly fee is less than it was with the last company. Long story short. Don`t trust a company who puts Hillary Duff on their posters. I should have known from the start.

My new phone. The white one BTW

LLOLS Wintorz

2008-11-06T23:08:00.004+09:00

We got our first snow on Tuesday! It wasn`t staying on the ground because it was a bit above freezing. It was covering the ski hill outside my window pretty well though. I walked to the dollar store and it was really nice. It was really puffy and wasn`t very heavy. Then it was 15C for the next two days. I did notice that snow brooms are out on display now. I am looking forward to a winter of dry snow as opposed to the wet slop we get in Hamilton. My vacation was nice, and there is a nice DVD of the whole trip available now to those who want one. Just let me know. I will also put together a small clip video for my here I think. Nothin fancy, just highlights. I figured out how to use Nero movie maker a little better so its no longer a chore just getting a video produced.
I`m off to the hospital tomorrow morning since my body is rejecting Japanese air and turning against me again. It is getting worse everytime, so I hope they can cure me this time! Oh, I actually have a clip from the DVD from one of my first failed movie creation attempts. Enjoy.

On a nice positive note. I used to hate uploading video to blogger because it would take ages. With my new internets, its super fast. I just did a 100mb upload in 1 minute. It used to take me over an hour!

Lost is in my head

2008-10-27T22:26:00.002+09:00

I am at the part of Lost where Jack and others have been captured and we find out that "the others" are just being dick bags because the leader needs spinal surgery..... I don`t know if it is just another twist but it seems to me that all this hostility could have been avoided if "the Others" just asked for help from the start instead of trying the ol` kidnap and terrify as many people as possible approach, Or the KTMPPA as they say in the industry. Anyway. Its just an observation anyway. I`m not telling strange island dwellers how to live their lives.

I hate women

2008-10-22T21:06:00.002+09:00

I`m watching LOST finally, and its really good. Only two problems. The first is that Claire`s head has not been ripped from her body yet. Honestly. That has become my main wish for this show. I want that Aussie bitch to die already. I have never seen a character in a show whine or feel sorry for themself more. I don`t know if it is the writers fault or just how she decided to play the character, but GODDAMN. That couldn`t have been intentional. She just doesnt shut up! And its not just complaining, its HYSTERICAL complaining complete with irrational screaming and over-acting. My second problem is Shannon. I know her character is supposed to be spoiled, but again.... GODDAMN. WE GET IT... YOU WANT SOMEONE TO BELIEVE IN YOU! Jesus. I have a feeling the writing staff is mostly men, because they seem to have written most of the women as blubbering vagina`s. And the ones that aren`t are somehow more aggressive and macho than all the men on the show who clearly spend at least 2 hours at the gym all day. Unless Sawyer just has a glass jaw, he shouldn`t get beat down by any 120 lb. woman.

Another Band Video

2008-10-11T16:42:00.003+09:00

here is another video of band practice. I forget what songs are on it, but I think its different music this time!

I missed my Centennial!

2008-10-09T18:18:00.003+09:00

Hey, last post was my 100th post! And I didn`t realize it until now. In celebration, here is a clip of my practicing with the band I recently joined. Please keep in mind that it was only our second practice and that my only singing experience is some part-time shower work and occasional drunk karaoke ;) I hope you enjoy it. I am trying to actually learn how to use a good video editing software, so hopefully I can evolve past the Windows Movie Maker set up I`m rolling with now.
An aside.... I am going to work on getting my cohorts some sheet music from the internets, since its really hard to sing in key when everyone else is in the wrong pitch.

Internets!

2008-10-04T20:34:00.002+09:00

Ok, so I am currently sharing internet with the JET next door. Apparently there is like a one month waiting list in my town for interent, so I am still waiting for my own. On the upside, we are using plain ASDL and it is still lightning fast. I am downloading entire movies in under 2 hours. I'm getting 270 kb/s down speed right now. On the other upside, when I eventually do get internet its going to be the new and improved fiber optic internet, which is going to be even faster. I am really looking forward to getting some torrents going. Oh, and I was told that its actually ok to download here, but uploading programs and music is what the Japanese government really frowns upon. So I am in the green as long as I dont decide to start uploading copyrighted shit.

P.S. - I am watching a lot of Mega64 podcasts recently. If you haven't seen this website before, check it out. If you are an old school NES fan or even just a lover of funny things, you will probably like this stuff. http://mega64.com/

P.P.S. Dan and Tyler, update your shit. I want more webcasts.

The ignorance in the woodpile

2008-10-04T17:53:00.004+09:00

I had a very interesting night yesterday.... It is literally going to blow your mind. But before that, I want to show you my new computer chair!!! It was only $30 and its perfect for using my pc, which is on the stupid, low, Japanese table. And the back is like a ratchet and is adjustable to 15 levels, so I can lay flat, recline, or use it like a chair! So happy.

So the title of my blog leads into my story. Last year when we bought electronic dictionaries for studying in Japan, everyone was looking through them looking for funny phrases. One memorable line was for the word F**k. "Where the ~~ is the hammer?" I thought it was really funny, but you might now. Anyway, for the word nigger, they have this line....

How does this lead into my main story? I will tell you........now. I was talking to a gentleman last night, who holds a position pretty high in the Board of Education. He was telling me that all the JETs who have come to Mombetsu have been Canadian. Why? Because they request Canadians. Why? Mombetsu`s sister city is Porland, Oregon so it would make sense that they might want Americans, NOPE and I quote "In Canada, no Negroes." This was followed by about 10 seconds of silence and then a "Im sorry, what did you just say?" moment. I didn`t hear him wrong. Thats what he said. Anyway, I went on to explain that there is just as good a chance to get a black person that to get a white person. It was really hard to convice him of Canada`s multi-culturalism. Shocking stuff about the pure ignorance that exists in many parts of Japan. Poor Japan.

A few reasons to like Japan

2008-09-30T20:50:00.003+09:00

I found two reasons to like Japan today. Reason number one is, if it can be made cute, then I it is. I was grocery shopping today and decided to buy some pork buns. I never buy them but today was special. These ones were Japanicized! Now I get to eat my two favourite animals, but without the mess!

I am also a big fan of the healthy yogurt drinks here. Yakult is not only great for digestion but I feel like a giant when I drink from its miniscule portions. There is nothing like being demasculinized by cute meat buns and having your ego inflated by tiny bottles. Perhaps skydiving or being shot out of a cannon is roughly on par, if I had to compare the feeling to something.

A major victory followed my a slight blow to my manhood

2008-09-27T22:48:00.002+09:00

I don`t know how I did it but I got both my downloads working AND my printer to print!!! And I only had to sacrifice my wireless capabilities. This is only really bad because I will not have internet at my schools, but thats acceptable. Plus, I think it will be easier to find someone who can find my wireless card, than to find someone who can finx both my internet and my printer woes. So now I can stop tying this stupid rope into a noose and I can cease filling all these envelopes addressed to Epson and Gateway with anthrax. Another potentially prison filled/me hanging from a noose future averted. Good job Marc..... Thanks Marc!!! *sounds of a man high-fiving himself* Thanks also goes out to Bill and Ben for their apparent infinite patience for dumb, dumb me.

Gmail - pc - marc.allen.davis@gmail.com

2008-09-27T21:52:00.001+09:00

I got my printer to work!!!!

Snap! It`s cold.

2008-09-25T16:40:00.002+09:00

We just got hit with a double dose of Fall! Comin` straight at you from a ridge of low pressure and sub-arctic air, slammin you so far back in your seat you can see the moment of your own birth. Don`t like it? Too bad, because this weather pattern is taking no prisoners and wants to make you its bitch!!! For the past 3 days, the winds have been howling and the skies have clouded over. It`s actually really nice Autumn weather, but for some reason, I am just not feeling it. I think it is because I am not seeing all the leaves change colour like in Canada. It just feels different. I managed to seal up a vent in my apartment which was directly leading to the siberian tundra outside,and for some reason, had no "closed" position.... Its your typical grill vent, about 15x15 inches. I just covered it with cardboard and packing foam and then shoved a literal butt-load of towels into it. It was making a terrible moan when the wind hit it(roughly 23.9 hours a day) and it gave my apartment that quaint haunted house feel. That had its downsides because the sound scared away little kids and I had to go without stewing meat the last few days :P .... hmmm. that sounded a little darker on paper than it did in my head... And I should probably have erased it instead of just adding these last lines of internal monologue. Oh well.

WTF???

2008-09-20T17:52:00.002+09:00

I am beginning to think I am cursed by god(s). This really steams me because I don`t even believe in the existence of any. I do not think I have been this frustrated in my entire life. I don`t win lotteries, I never win draws, I don`t even think I have one a rock scissors paper game when something nice was on the line, and most recently I have no success dealing with almost $1000 worth of new computer equipment!!! I bought a new laptop because my old one broke. I bought a new printer so I could make nice things for my girlfriend. Will either of these things work??? NO F**KING WAY!!! I hate to quote Will Ferrell but I feel like I`m taking crazy pills. My printer works with everyone elses computer but mine. It won`t talk to it, so basically, I might as well have plugged the one USB cable into a melon. Now, I am trying to download an English version of Vista, in the most legitimate way posible(through Mocrosoft) and my computer refuses to speak to the servers.... I can`t do anything except LOOK at the downloads I want. If anyone has heard of this happening before, please help me, because I am about to throw several hundred dollars worth of new computer off the 5th floor. My main problem is this:
-I can not access any server for updates(itunes, internet security) they just tell me there is an error.
-I cannot get Outlook Express to access my mail accounts.
-And I can`t sign into the itunes store(not important but it is another example of how I`m blocked.
-Torrent files can be downloaded but once they open to start downloading in a torrent client (utorrent, bittorent), they fail. Completely red across the board.
Now I just need to find someone who knows how these are related and what is preventing me from having a normal life.

2008-09-13T10:17:00.002+09:00

These are the crazy kids I worked with during the summer! Who knew field archaeology could be so much fun! Just another reason to miss Canada ;)

P.S. if you go to youtube to watch it, click the high quality link, its faster!!!

Taste the Summer!!! TASTE IT!

2008-09-10T21:00:00.002+09:00

I thought this was funky. I saw it in the local 7/11 and could not resist. Its the summer selection! When I think of summer, I think of keema curry. Yum.

I also bought some chocolate milk in what turned out to be WAY too much milk. I don`t drink a lot of milk here in this country so I have lost my penchant for da dairy. The thing I like about chocolate milk here is its everyman`s chocolate milk. Allow me to explain. When you buy a carton o choco moo juice back home, you drink it with gusto and feel both safe and disapointed by the fact that no matter how hard you try at home.... you will never come close to recreating the texture or taste of that store bought milk. Not by trying all the milk/syrup ratios under the sun. When you drink chocolate milk here, its just like the crap that I can make in my kitchen!!! Fantastic ;) Makes me feel like I`ve made it.

Japan, Land of the Rising PROCRASTINATION STATISTIC

2008-09-09T22:38:00.002+09:00

So! I went to a total of 1 school yesterday! Not 8.......1. Colour me disappointed. Ok...... well, it can only get better said I, to myself whilst no one was around. Motegi-san said that today would be different. Today I was going to actually knock off the rest of my meetings.... Today was supposed to be another fun filled day of formal introductions, bowing, and business card exchange as I met with all of the officials and teachers at all 8 of my schools. Instead it became a day of shattered dreams and broken hopes. Motegi-san was sick, so a full day turned into a painful attempt to keep myself entertained in the BOE. This is how the events of the morning unfolded.

I arrived a little late and thought it weird that my supervisor(Motegi-san) was not at his desk. 5 minutes passes and I hear Fukui-san making a phone call. He sits next to Motegi. I hear ``hey... are you ok? What? You have a fever? Ok, don`t worry, I can do that`` and then he hangs up the phone. Then for the next 20 minutes 5 or 6 Japanese people swarm over the phones like a pack of wild hamsters at an all you can eat toothpaste buffet, trying to arrange alternate plans for everything Motegi had planned. Including plans related to ME!

So, that was that. I had 7 hours to sit in the BOE doodling and memorizing Japanese. I did do some pretty sweet doodles today though! I did end up going to one school today too though. Really good school with an excellent English teacher. She seems to be in control, so basically I just have to assist and follow her lead. I am not too worried because I am very aware that I am most importantly here to persuade the kids to think that ENGLISH IS FUN and that they should OBEY ALL ENGLISH.

In the end, Fukui and I drove around, he got a milkshake, I beat up some junior high school kids I saw at the milkshake shop(Thats the last time they`ll mispronounce the word Hello.... Herro my foot!), and I even found out where they practice Judo here. Fukui said he is gonna take me. I am excited because I can stop warming my closet shelf with my judo uniform soon!

I think its important to underline what I learned today though. Japan is one lazy mother-father. Do not let the media pull the mustard over your eyes. Japanese people are rarely punctual(unless you are a train/bus driver), they always eat while they walk and most importantly, if Marc wants something, it can wait until tomorrow. Still no progress on the printer embargo. MARC OUT!!!

Weekend!!!

2008-09-07T12:39:00.003+09:00

Hey!!! Its the weekend and I am treating it like a right, proper one this week! I didn`t have a single thing planned this weekend and it was a GREAT feeling! Yesterday I did walk to K`s electronic store though. Its probably a 45 minute walk which is fine empty-handed, but significantly more difficile when you are carrying a printer/scanner combo and 3, 2-litre bottles of drinks.... Not well thought out from the getgo but it was a really good workout walking home, and if there is a particular thing I am lacking in lately its good exercise.

So now I have a japanese laptop and a japanese printer and no idea how to get either to work optimally. I have no idea how this printer works. I followed the setup guidelines and it still refuses to even make a peep! Well, that`s a lie. I can get the ink cartridges to shoot back and forth, like some sort of random-firing finger guillotine, eager to permanently remove any chance of me ever becoming a concert pianist.... or any kind of pianist for that matter. Seriously though. The computer tells me there is no ink, even though the cartridge is new so when I open it up and try to open them up, the damn shuttlecock they are located in shoots randomly, and atdamn-near the speed light back and forth. I cannot do a test sheet either to see if my heads and nozzles are lined up. I did manage to print of something though. I know how to scan and save and how to scan and print(not really what I want it for at this point) and I can put my camera memory in and print that way. I did, but it didn`t print the one picture I chose. It printed all the pictures off on one sheet to which I have to fill in like a scantron sheet which pics I want. I then put that back in the printer and it will print the pictures I want I think. I didn`t want to waste any more paper or ink, so I am going to wait for a Japanese person to help me out.... I hate technology. I just want to print pictures of home for my apartment!!!

Anyway, I also made some guacamole last night and it was like I was living in freaking Taco Bell, not Japan. TOTAL TASTEBUD OVERLOAD. The only down side was the Japanese affront to nature that is the soda cracker. Imagine if you left an open package of normal soda crackers out in the fridge for a week, but you don`t have to wait a week here! OH NO. FRESH FROM THE PACK STALENESS!!! WOOT!!! still good though.

Today I am going to go buy eggs and milk, read my book, and prepare for my first day of elementary schools tomorrow! Should be fun, but I have to go to all 8 so its probably going to be frantic. At least I will FINALLY learn where I will be teaching. It only took a month ;)

Picture time!!

2008-09-02T21:38:00.005+09:00

Just Click on the Pictures and they get bigger!!!

It was cloudy on the drive into Shosanbetsu but there was some amazing sun poking through near the islands off the coast!

Here is a picture of the HUGE volcano in the distance. The low clouds make it look so much bigger and prehistoric.

We had the most amazing view driving towards the ocean on the way home. My town is nice, but I would give anything to be working closer to here.

I found a friend at the beach.... I named him Wilbur. He has kept me company these last few weeks here.

There are a lot of low lying clouds which is really weird but they do look wicked when combined with all the Japanese mountains here.

We drove through Shimokawa on the way to the campsite so I called John. He lives really close to the store we stopped at so he came by for a visit. Look at that happy little chappy. He has a cool little town under his belt.

And there were hundreds of wind turbines along the coast. They were a little smaller that what I am used to seeing, but they made up for it by cramming a lot into the region.

Movies galore!! Lucky you

2008-09-02T20:12:00.005+09:00

So it looks like I'm treating you pretty nicely eh? Two videos and pictures. Sometimes I spoil you. But its worth it. So this is a video of two beaches. One is near my house and everyone dumps into it and is kind of dirty and dangerous, but the second is really really nice.

We also had a really nice JET organized party this last weekend. It was a 4 hour drive to get there but the other JET who drove me ignored all posted speed limits through the windy mountain roads and we made it there in record time. We started out with a BBQ and followed that with some well deserved merry making. After we all had become quite merry we all went to down the cliffs to the beach and made a huge bonfire. That took a long time and in that time I managed to walk into a boulder in the dark and now I have big gashes on my leg. Sleeping in a tent was very.... nostalgic. I went to bed around 2:30 and woke up at around 7 because of STUPID NATURE. It sure can be bright and noisy. Everybody was up too and we all eventually made it down to the beach for a swim and then to the public spa near the campsite.

After all this fun it was time for another 4 hour drive, which I happily slept through.

This week has been filled with introductory lessons at some junior high schools. Basically, I have a power point show with pictures of family and friends and things from home that I lead the kids through. They like it pretty well, and they are really excited to get to see me so aside from being sleepy all the time its really fun. I am putting pictures in a separate post, since its hard to write and then sort pictures around. Peace out A-town.

Still waiting

2008-08-25T20:51:00.001+09:00

This is my impression of me still waiting for a permanent source of internet...... pretty good eh? I promise more posts when I get internet, I swear. :)

Day Third

2008-08-12T18:39:00.000+09:00

Today brings a shorter blog. I am once again at my desk only this time

I am surrounded by sweet, sweet melon bread!!! Apparently today was

Bread-Day, so the bread-man came by. He had a truly awe-inspiring

selection of breads ranging from your fancy pizza and wiener breads to

your more simple egg and melon breads. The Education Supervisor was

kind enough to treat me today, so now I have melon bread. It is a

round bun that has a texture similar to cake and has a crispy sugar

layer on top. I don't actually know if there is melon in it, but it

kind of looks like a half melon lying on its face.

Tonight I am going to try to find a microphone/webcam to communicate

with people from home. I have to be back at 7 o'clock because one of

the nice ladies from work is bringing me a home-cooked meal tonight. I

am pretty excited about it. Since I arrived I have only been to the

grocery store once and I only spent about $30 on food. Every other

meal has either been payed for by someone in a restaurant, or I have

gone to someone's house/been given food. I felt bad about letting

people pay at first, but then I realized I am all alone, jet-lagged,

and culture shocked and I stopped worrying so much. As long as you

give the proper respect (a hearty thank you, and a follow-up thank you

at work the next day) people seem more than happy to shell out meny for

food!

I have done three things today and they are as follows:

8:30am - 10:00am -- practiced some Japanese vocab and kanji using my

electronic dictionary. There is a function which gives you an English

word, it's Japanese equivalent, and an example sentence. Japanese

people use it to study for some big English exam, but it works equally

well for me. The only thing I need to do is look up the Kanji for the

pronounciation.

10:00am - 12:00pm -- read a book. Its a science fiction novel about

aliens and God.

12:00pm - Now -- ate lunch and did this blog.

Yep. Pretty full day I've had.

Another Day another Yen

2008-08-11T20:11:00.005+09:00

Yesterday was a fun filled day of adventure and excitement. I started the day off right, with a nice long sleep in till around 10 a.m. Then I went for a walk. I was tired of not knowing where anything was in the town so I just picked a direction, which was down if you were to look on a map and started walking. I didn't see a heck of a lot. There is a shopping area close-by, which is as close to a mall as you get, but I was going in the opposite direction. I really need to get a bike, since all the good stores, like electronics, music and DVD rental places are at least 40 minutes walk away. I finished my walk by going to a stationary store for a new pen and a work book to practice my chinese characters in. Then I went to the beach again :) I spent about 30 minutes just walking up and down, skipping stones and looking for cool beach-related things. I found a few pieces of sea-glass, a kitchen knife, and a weird robot head but that was about it. Then I had to go home to meet some people which were taking me out.

There were three people, but I can't remember all their names. First, they took me out for lunch at a nice soba restaurant. Soba is a thin buckwheat noodle that is cooked and then run through cold water. It is then served with a sauce which you dip the noodles in. The sauce is like a really thin, weak soy sauce which you add onions and radish and wasabi to. It is ok, but not really a favourite of mine. There was lots of tempura with the set though so I was happy. I think maybe I'll start taking pictures of the stuff I eat, since most of you haven't seen it before. After lunch, we went to a "recycle shop" where you can buy used and new things. Pretty much anything from $1 Power Ranger toys to $900 Louis Vuitton purses. I really like them, because you can get cheap stuff and there is always something fun to look at. I was there because it is the only place where they sell musical instruments. Apparently the people of the Mombetsu area don't have a need for music stores. I didn't get my hopes up, but they actually had a decent selection! They even had some Gibson and Fender beauties. I didn't want to spend a lot, so I went with the tried and true Photo-genic! It's a small company which produces all the bigger company guitar styles but WAY cheaper. And they sound great. I already own a Telecaster which is still in Canada and it is amazing. I saw a really sweet Les Paul copy which is now mine! I really love the colour. Sorta a metallic yellow-gold flake. I also bought a tiny little 10 watt amp.

After that, we went to see some seals by the beach. Its a little aquarium where you can feed and pet the seals. They were really neat, and they even had baby seals too!!! After that, I was taken to a "The Daiso". This store makes our dollar stores look like penny stores people!!! I bought neckties and dress socks for $1! We then went to a big bookstore/DVD/music store. On the shelf, and I am not kidding you, were 3 copies of the Paris Hilton sex tape.....And this was out in the open, between Action and Drama sections! God-Bless Japan.

I then returned home, only to be dropped into the hands of another tour-guide, who was taking me to dinner and a show. Dinner was Soba again (god these people love cold noodles) and two live bands on a boat. It was pretty nice for the first little while. I took some nice sunset shots but then got cold and bored. After the bands finally finished, we got to go down into the Okotsk tower, a tower designed to let you see under the sea ice in the winter. At night they put huge spotlights in the water which attracts fish to the underwater windows. You are 7.5 metres underwater and the fish are disoriented from the lights, so they swim upside down. There was also a touch pool with starfish and crabs, and eels and flounders. I totally molested the hell out of them fish :) After, we went to a coffee shop and had sandwiches and hot milk. Then I finally got to go home, play my new guitar (i forgot to buy guitar picks) and went to bed.

Now I'm at work. I have brought my laptop because I figure I might as well write about my days so I don't have to use my sweet, sweet, precious free time typing. I think this post is too long.

On a negative note, I just found out my favourite coffee beverage, the White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks contains 93g of sugar..... I am never drinking specialty coffee again. I will leave you with a video of me abhoring nature.

Video and pictures!

2008-08-09T21:26:00.005+09:00

I finally made it to the beach today!!! I was really nice aside from the cloudy weather. I found a lot of really neat shells though! The water is actually really warm, contrary to what every Japanese person I have met says. They all think 20C water is cold..... :S Anyway, I can't swim near here though because the beach is really steep and the undertow nearly pulled in after only taking two steps in. I saw a really nice looking spot from the top of the mountain that I am going to try my best to get to. It looks to be about a 30 or 40 minute bike ride.... which means I need to buy a bike.

I saw this dog. He saw me. That was as far as our relationship went. He didn't seem especially excited by my presence so I didn't go up to him. He did pose for me though :P The cat ran away as soon as it realized I didn't think it was a flower pot LOL.

There are so many fisherman here its not even funny.

Here is one of many typical Japanese mountains. It a crazy transition to perfectly flat ground and then sudden eruptions of mountains.
The crops suprised me in Hokkaido. It was the first time I ever saw hay, corn, and bean fields. It reminded me so much of home.
This was my Welcome Party. We all took part in some heavy "nomunication" as it were. A healthy combination of drinking alcohol "Nomu" and speaking each others language.
Then I met the Mayor! He's the guy on the left. Next is Stephen, then me, then some guy, and on the far right is Mr. Nishida. He is super nice and is the Top Dog at the Board of Education.
Our first Japanese meal in Tokyo. Room 2104 boys representing. Its Antonio, John, and me!
That's a pokemon plane..... DUH.
John took some high altitude shots for me. I didn't have a window seat!
Sapporo TV tower. The Japanese really have a thing for eiffel shaped towers :P

I am in Japan

2008-08-08T17:28:00.003+09:00

I have been in Japan for almost one week now and I am very, very tired. Orientation occurred in Tokyo and that was fine. I didn't get to see everything because of the scheduling but I didn't mind. What I have a problem with is that I haven't been given a second alone since I arrived in my new town. I have either been in the Board of Education, or at a party, or have been accompanied to the grocery store. I don't really understand the mentality behind this. I think it goes a little something... a like this ......

Japan: "Hey! You know what would make the new guy feel really happy and comfortable? Let's get him when he's most jet-lagged, and exhausted from traveling, and while he's the most nervous about his new life/job in Japan and bombard him with non-stop action and protocol!"
Common Sense: "Maybe he would like a chance to chill for a bit?"
Japan: "What do you mean? Like, he might want some time to unpack, and maybe relax for one day, explore the town, actually see some sights before we start him on our 24hr. a day Foreigner Parade? That's nonsense, ABSOLUTE POPPY COCK!!!"

And that is how it has been. I haven't had time to see anything except my apartment, and the Board of Education.... I promise. I finally am alone tomorrow morning and half of the afternoon (before the coddling begins again) so I will video tape my apartment, and I am actually going to post some pics. Then I have to go to my supervisor's house for a birthday party and curry (not actually a bad thing, but I still haven't seen the city yet!!! And they wonder why its hard for me to answer when they ask "how do you like Monbetsu City so far?"

JET 2

2008-05-31T07:24:00.002+09:00

Hey, I got into JET. Now I need to wait to find out where I get placed. I am working a crazy summer job where I do 5 day long road trips, so I don't really have any time to post between travelling for work and seeing my lovely lady on weekends. Sorry, but that's the truth. Guess it will have to wait till I have more time on my hands.

JET

2007-11-27T05:40:00.000+09:00

I got my postcard back from the Japanese Embassy today. That means that they have received and opened my Jet application. Now I just have to wait to hear if I have an interview.

The semester is almost over. I have two more assignments due. One for french class, which is a 200 word autobiography. The other one is a little more daunting. I am required to do a 15-20 page research paper for my Second Language acquisition class. We don't have a final exam though. But to be honest, I would prefer an exam. So our mark in that class is based on 2 tests, a presentation, and a paper based on that presentation. I don't know when I'm going to do them. Some time soon probably.

I have a new lease on life recently. I have been thinking a lot lately how I am going to continue after I graduate. JET is one option, but it is one of many. I need to start making some decisions. Or just wait until the last minute and see what works out!

2007-10-13T15:05:00.000+09:00

Hey everyone. Well, I got some videos for you to watch, but they can't all fit on this page, so this little ditty will have to suffice. Its a little something that Chris and I improved. It may be spur of the moment, but its still Pure Gold. It wont be long before Kanye is mixing this into his latest chart topping hit.

Not much new is happening. I'm trying to get a band together. But that might not come to fruition for quite a while, since school is crazy for everyone. I don't know if I will be doing any more work with my St. Catharines band. The show we did went pretty well, considering that we had very little practice time together. I am looking forward to seeing the DVD. If you want a copy, let me know! I also went and saw an AWESOME beatboxer from my university. I think his name is Hashi. Anyway, you can find a very dark video here, but the sound quality is good Anyway. If I think of anything else interesting, i'll post. OH and the Halloween Haunt is going on tomorrow, so there will be pictures ;)

Chris is Alone in Japan

2007-10-06T12:34:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I haven't blogged for a while, but my friend Chris is in Japan working now, and he's all alone. This will hopefully give you something to read Chris.

SO. I have a show tomorrow. It's in a new band, and we are playing in St.Catharines at Brock University, on Thanksgiving day..... at 1pm. It may or may not be the worst party planning in the history of mankind. So none of my friends are coming, since A: It's at the worst time, on the least convenient day of the month, and B: It's an hour away from where they all live. I don't expect them to come either. I do want them to see the show, but the cost, both time and money is to high, so I don't care. Anyway, I hope it goes well. I just gotta rock my balls off the best I can. I'm also going to try to get some video!

Speaking of videos! I just put some funny videos I took of Japanese TV shows on youtube. Check them out! I am trying to get some video of a great beat-boxer from Hamilton, but he's hard to track down:(

Wanna see some Japanese people humiliate themselves? In THIS ONE, they get shot with ICE!!!
In THIS ONE, they have to eat cookies while running or they get scalded in hot water!

I hope this is sufficient. I'll do something else later.

End of Summer Days

2007-08-22T10:52:00.000+09:00

When I returned from Japan, I honestly did not think the days could go by any slower. The only thing I wanted was to start school. Now, I am having some twinges of regret for having these thoughts. I really don't want school to start. If school starts, it will just put more things on my plate which will stress me out. Right now, I am stressed. For the most part, I think my problems are related to money. But recently, I have been in a funk that may go beyond that. I just can't help feeling blue and I hate it. I'm hoping that school will fix this, even though I can't possibly see how.
In the meantime. here is a picture of me looking terrified on a very wobbly suspension bridge in Oita ;)

Oh, one redeeming point of this week. I worked out the insurance, and registration problems with my motorcycle, so I can finally get back on it. I cleaned her up last weekend and made sure everything still worked, but sadly the last few days have been either shitty weather or work-filled. I am hopefull that I can ride very soon though. I might even fight the power (Mcmaster parking patrol) and part illegally at school, just so I can ride it a bit more.

Today at work

2007-07-26T05:26:00.000+09:00

Today at work, my coworker Robert did the funniest/worst thing. I can't remember what it was or why it happened, but I felt moved to the point of mentioning it in my blog. Seriously, it was the craziest/meanest thing that Robert had ever done. I just wish more people could have seen it, so they could grasp the sheer awsomeness/tragedy that occured.

Weekends

2007-07-23T04:40:00.000+09:00

Not much going one as of recent. My dad has begun to renovate the basement. It was actually renovated a few years ago, but it was mostly superficial stuff. This time, some serious work is getting done. Walls, ceiling, everything is coming out. I am pretty happy, since my parents are ordering a dumpster for the refuse, and I can finally get rid of a lot of clutter that the family has accumulated over the years. Hopefully, I can get rid of enough stuff that I can use my closet, which is full to the brim and unable to be used for its original purpose, that of holding clothes. I am trying to speed the process along, but there isnt really much I can do. My job today was to remove nails and staples from the old wood, so we could use it again.

I am also getting tired of these ho-hum weekends. Its sad that I actually look forward to getting back to work on Monday. I don't really like the job, but the people I work with make it worth while.

I went out with some coworkers the other night, and it was ok. I think I am going to try to control my drinking though. It was fine to get wasted in Japan, as I dont have any reason not to. I would get drunk, hang out in the bar for a few hours, and then drunkenly walk the 5 minutes home with people and hang out some more. But it just feels wierd to do it here. Plus, I really hate how I feel the next morning. I think my liver is getting weaker. I never used to feel it the next day. Thats about it. At least I wrote something.

Japan Closure

2007-07-12T05:55:00.000+09:00

Hey y'all. I found the mini-sd card from my good phone from Japan! I took some amazing photos on this baby and now I am going to show them to you as a way to bring closure to my experiences in Japan.
You know what I miss the most about Japan. A package of ten cherries for $13

Its my room. I had so many memories in here. Mostly of the sleeping variety, but you can use your imagination as to what else went on.... ALL NIGHT LONG. OH YEAH.... im a loser.

Giant sandwiches kept all the boys and me sane while in Japan amongst a sea of rice, fish, and Mcdonalds

Who the hell is that good looking chap? Thank god I was able to snap this shot before he left the elevator. THERES MY ASWOME PHONE.... I miss you phoney.

A subway sign! The over use of giant needle drugs will result in swelling of your lower extremities!

A huge selection of collectible porno cards. Actually, most of these are filled with "tasteful" pictures of popular Adult Models. Fuck Yu-Gi-Oh! These rock!

Not feeling quite as ill as you would like? Why the fuck aren't you shopping here? If its in the name, it must be Ill....as... SHIT!

The last sunset I saw on Momochi beach!

Its my KITTY!!!!!!!!

I... What.... I don't even know if I can make this better with a clever comment.

One of many extremely feminine pictures that were taken of me when I was in Japan.

Need a cheap pet for your little one? Why not a common rodent? Its a chipmunk.

Is your food hole feeling a little empty? Head down to Food Holes and fill up!

Another subway warning. Loose translation, "Rocking your balls off on the train is rude."

Are you in Tokyo with $100 to blow. Why not a baby sized chinese dumpling! Gyouza for the whole family!

I hope you liked my pictures. Maybe soon, Ill stop being lazy and write about my life.

This posts for Chris

2007-06-29T12:34:00.001+09:00

So, I'm back in Canada. I got a job at my university making cardboard boxes. Its the most fun I've ever had. And as soon as I get enough money, I'm going straight back to Japan. Ha Ha, second-home sickness. I left behind a lot of great friends, but I have to live my life.... my canadian life.

Anyway. I have no real problem being back in Canada, except for the intense boredom I am feeling. I miss the closeness of a great beach, I miss the amazing shopping centres in Fukuoka city, I miss the Japanese people treating me like a celebrity. I need to get some more hobbies. OH, and why the hell can I not hold on to change in this country!!! When I was in Japan, I constantly had at least $15 in change on my person at all times. I haven't had more than 22cents in my pocket since I got back. Its not so bad, but its so annoying. Anyway Chris, I don't know when you are leaving or where you are posted, although, I assume its near Fukuoka. You should hook up with Big Mike. He's going to Saga. Anyway. If you're there for long enough, we can probably party when I go next year. Oh, and I'm going to visit Fukuoka soon. Let's go clubbing, find some whores, and have copious amounts of sex with them in public restrooms. Was this good enough? Answer my goddamn facebook question.

Last Days

2007-05-20T14:55:00.001+09:00

I only have 11 days in Fukuoka left. I am not going anywhere, or doing anything special. I am only trying to relax and spend time with my friends here and get the most out of my last days. The canadians and I are going to be one of the last groups leaving I-house, and as people leave, it becomes clearer and clearer that I had a really great time this year, and that it is going to be really hard not seeing some of my friends here anymore.

Having to return to university for an extremely busy 4th year is going to be really depressing. I hate my major already without having to overload my schedule with MORE of it. At least there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. I may be able to return to Japan after I am done.

Living in Japan has left me with mixed emotions though. I want to come back because it is a beautiful place to live and I love the language and studying it, but then I look at the negative aspects and there is hesitation. I cannot stand so many things about Japan, such as the borderline racist, xenophobic attitude of most of the population, and the fact that there the Japanese government plays a very small part in protecting people living here. I have lost track of the times that I have gone to the hospital and was either misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed. I think that over time, as my Japanese develops, I will have a much easier time and at this point, most of the staring or speaking about me like I wasn't 5 feet away has lost its shock value. I am just going to finish my degree and then see how I feel. I think thats reasonable.

I went to round one last night, which is a rather large arcade/sports complex where you can stay all night and enjoy sports, video games, massage chairs, internet cafe, and karaoke, all for the price of a North American movie ticket. I have been 4 times so far, and I want to go again before I leave. Its a good chance to spend time with friends, and stay up late. These are the things that I will miss most about Japan I think. Mostly the childish stuff, but I think that's what attracts me to Japan the most. No matter how old you are here, you still have so many ways to act like a kid and enoy yourself.

Tokyo Judo Tour

2007-05-02T09:58:00.000+09:00

I have finished my free tour of Tokyo and I am nearly done all "learning" at university here. I only have 2 more make up classes and then some weak exams and I'm done. Oh, and 3 extremely papers which I would be hard pressed to call essays. My plans for the last month in Japan are as follows: Go to the beach, maybe travel within Fukuoka. That's about it.

Anyway, I am posting all the Tokyo pictures on my MSN page, but here, I am going to post some funny ones I found. The first are from the airline emergency procedure manual..... ahem.In Case of Water Landing, inflate your vest, jump in the water, and vigourously masturbate, since you are probably going to drown very soon anyway.

In Case of Accidental landing in the flaming pits of Hell, follow the attendants orders
In an Emergency, babies should be spared a painful death by shooting their ass with deadly neurotoxin filled blow darts.
In Case of an emergency, performing self -fellatio is A-OK. Everyone else will be doing it any way. Also, making out with babies is acceptable.
In Japan, birds are the stupidest creatures and are for some reason used to represent the general public at train stations. Direct translation from Japanese: "Don't be a stupid fucking bird or serious harm will come to you."

On a more travel related note, Tokyo was pretty good. We got to take a plane there and that made travel a lot faster. We arrived Saturday afternoon and got to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and touring Tokyo. The judo club payed for everything that was not souvenir and amusement related. We went to a nice restaurant at the airport for lunch, and I had a super delicious and probably unhealthy fried chicken sandwich. I am definitly going to make katsu for everyone when I get back. In my opinion, it is the finest honour you can give to a dead animals meat. On Sunday we had the tournament in the morning. I was scheduled for out schools 3rd match up, but our boys cleaned up in the 1st round and tied in the 2nd, so were were actually in contention for First place. At this point, I was pulled from the last round and replaced with a "black belt" because apparently, my months of training weren't good enough. I actually was not very upset, since I got to take pictures and was integral in loudly cheering and shouting "FIGHT!" at the top of my lungs. I did Karaoke Sunday night with some of the girls It was fun, and my view that all Japanese girls can sing relaly well was further reenforced.

On Monday, I set out on my own. I went to Tokyo tower and then to a place called Odaiba. Odaiba was supposed to be a great and magic-filled place, but apparently, the entire man-made island closes on Mondays. The super high-tech Panasonic centre was closed and every other attraction. Plus the weather was overcast and windy, so the trip out there really tired me out and made me feel crappy. On the way back, I stopped in Ginza, which was really really nice. I also found a Subway! That was perhaps the only thing that made me happy that day. A real turkey club sandwich on a toasted basil and garlic bun. All in all, I really like Tokyo, but being there with other people makes the experience way better, otherwise its kind of lonely.

Tokyo ho!

2007-04-18T18:10:00.000+09:00

For some unknown reason, my blog has changed nationalities. I don't know if it got tired of being Canadian, but it is now officially Japanese. When you see my blog you see a lot of English right?
Well, I don't. All of my menus and editing options are in Japanese. Now, you might be thinking, "but marc, you are studying Japanese, it shouldn't be a problem." Well, it is. I don't know a bunch of the kanji that is showing and I don't feel like spending time deciphering it. I want a quick and easy blog, which I can spend 5 minutes on writing and posting. Now 20 minutes, trying to figure out a kanji, or what the hell the katakana is trying to say to me.

ANYHOOO. I am going to Tokyo, compliments of Seinan's Judo club, or as Bill referred to it as, the "travel club". I am really excited and we even get to fly in a plane!! I pretty much only have to pay for food. So from Saturday to Monday night, I will not be in Fukuoka. I will be getting my ass kicked in Tokyo. I brought back the faux-hawk in a feeble attempt to look tougher and shake my competition. The judo club told me that the enemy will be smaller and easier to fight than last time, so I'm happy, since smaller means I might be a ble to throw them.

In celebrity news, I just filled out a survey for a magazine in Fukuoka who want me to be in the next issue. I am going for a photo shoot on the 26th. I am going to try to insist that it be a nude shot. Anyway, here are some more pictures to tide you over. I'm gonna try to figure out how to post in Japanese.

Kittens!!!

2007-04-10T10:45:00.000+09:00

The cat outside my room had 3 kittens. They are noisy but they are cute!!

They look like little lions :)

Raibu

2007-03-22T17:50:00.000+09:00

I am finally over the worst of yet another bout with broncitis. I don't know why I keep getting it, but I don't like it. I spent most of last week sleeping and missed all my classes, but managed to get well enough to play our live.

We finished our live on Monday. Almost 3 weeks of practice and a lot of hard work amount to us doing pretty good. There were six bands total and we had to play last, which means we waited around a lot and all got really nervous. We had to be at the club at 3:15pm for our sound check and then we didn't play until 9pm. The show itself went really well considering that we were up against bands that had been practicing together for months and months. The first band to sound check was really intimidating because they were all really good. If all the bands had been as good as them, we would have been horrible but luckily there were 4 other bands at our level. We had 5 original songs and one Rage Against the Machine cover. We all had a lot of fun and almost everyone from I-house came to see us play. These are pictures from the evening's events. Go here for all the pics, below is the summary

Life Update

2007-03-06T02:02:00.000+09:00

Haven't been on for a while, but only because nothing is happening. Very recently however I have been practicing with Calen and Kiminori for a music/band thing. We have officially been signed up for our first Live show. It is on the 19th of March, and it is apporaching really fast. This is considering that we have only rehearsed for 4 hours, and only have like 2.5 songs written. Sorta bad, since we have 30 mintues to do our set. We are probably going to put in some covers so it shouldn't be a problem, but this will be slightly more pressure than the school festival band thing. Also, it cost us $150 to enter, so we need to sell at least 15 tickets to break even. And that doesn't cover the cost for practice in the studio. I currently have 10 tickets to sell, and only 1 which has been bought, but I am confident that I can pull together all my resources and sell all 10 plus some more. My goal is to cover studio charges too!!! Other than that, I am sitting around studying, or as of this week, avoiding I-house cleaning duties *heh heh* Now I need sleep. I'll write sooner than later.

Japanese Change Machine

2007-02-20T01:40:00.000+09:00

Japan has changed the was I view myself. I look back on pictures of myself from only last school year and realize two things. I didn't dress very well and my hair sucked. Since I have gotten to
Japan I have bought a lot of new clothes , which for the most part are better. Now, they aren't designer clothes which cost me an arm and a leg, they are actually cheaper than home(signifucantly cheaper) and they look a lot better. As for my hair. I have cut it short since I got here and I don't really want to go back to my old style. I am currently sporting a faux-hawk look which was originally a joke, but I kinda like so will probably wear for a while. My hair is growing out withing weeks of cutting, so I am not that concerned. If I need to, I can shave my head and have an inch of hair in two weeks. But I would seriously like others inputs as well. About the hair anyways.

Yay, its the weekend

2007-02-18T00:48:00.000+09:00

I have yet to put any work into this weeks kanji, but I just don't care. I woke up late today, went to the gym, where I got a 30 lb. plate dropped on my foot by Cato, and then just hung out the rest of the day. I also got a bunch of CD's from GEO and then forgot to return them, so I have to pay late fees tomorrow. It's late but I am going to study tonight. I will continue to practice guitar while icing my foot and maybe study before I go to bed. I can't wait to relax all day tomorrow. We need more weekends dammit.

My busy February

2007-02-15T20:11:00.000+09:00

I had a heck of a lot going on in the first 2 weeks of February. We had a week off of school because the highschool kids of Japan need to take their entrance exams. I took this opportunity to go lots of places and do lots of great things. I don't know how these pictures are going to format on the screen but they are as followed:

That mountain is located somewhere in Hiroshima prefecture. I went with Miyakos family for a great weekend of snowboarding! That run goes from the ground to the top of the mountain, 2.6kms up. There is only one way up the mountain to get to the other slopes, that being the chairlift. And there are only two ways down. The chairlift and actually taking the 2.6km long advanced slope. The first day was really crowded and there was at least a 20 minute wait to use the lift. Plus, for the first 3 hours, there was almost 0 visibility on the mountain from fog. The second day was a monday and man, it was warm. This meant no people, and no lines for the ski lift. We ended up using the beginner slopes until noon, and then got to do the huge slope 4 times before we left.

That hotel was REALLY nice. I've put up more pics on my pic site. We got an amazing dinner buffet and a great breakfast buffet the following day. Plus, our hotel room had an amazing view of the harbour.

There are also some pics from our trip to Yanagawa and the boat ride we took there through the historic something or another. It was relaxing and I had a delicious dish of fried eel. The downside was that I got a bone stuck in my throat for like 4 days. Man did that suck.

The last two are totally random pics from around town.

Stupid Will Smith

2007-02-13T15:24:00.000+09:00

I had a dream last night that I was Will Smith and that I was a cop and my lifelong friend and partner died. I was crying in my dream, and when I woke up I was actually crying. Who knew I hated the idea of ever being the fresh prince of bel-air so much that it would bring me to tears.

huzzah, promise kept

2007-02-02T13:33:00.000+09:00

So I have kept my promise and I have uploaded all the pictures I have taken on my new Camera. The rest of the pictures are here.

New Camera!

2007-02-02T02:07:00.000+09:00

So I was wandering around Tenjin, as I often do, and while in a little electronics paradise called Bic Camera, I saw a beautiful sight. It was a digital SLR camera which had been drastically reduced in price. I thought how nice it would be to buy it, but nothing came of it at the time. That was over 2 weeks ago, and recently, I decided that I wanted to but a new camera. I wanted something other than one of the small, point-and -shoot models that Japan has in abundance, so the SLR I saw was perfect. I went today to look for it and it was still there. Now keep in mind, if I had bought one in Canada, or for the non-sale price it would have cost over $1000 for the lens, camera and memory. With the sale, and some smart shopping at a second-hand store, I got the camera, a lens, and memory for $55o CAN. I have been playing around with it and man is it great. Im going to go out tomorrow and take some pictures with is, since I should get my money's worth out of it. There was defintely something else I wanted to write about, but the camera has momentarily wiped my short term memory clear. I will probably think of it in time for my post tomorrow when I put up some pics.

Pics that were long time comin'

2007-01-15T18:20:00.000+09:00

I finally plugged in my memory card into my computer. Here are some really interesting pics from around the world... that is the town I live in. First, they have been a long time coming, but here are pictures of the horrible room which these people call a gym... *shiver*

Plus I took pictures of my new shoes. I am pretty sure they are the only pair being worn in the entire world. Yeah, and thats not even an over exageration. I don't know why shoes are so expensive in Canada, but name brands are really cheap here. I got these Adidas for $39 and I got a pair of Nike Shox for only $60. I am quite proud of my finds personally. I want to thank ABC mart, the Japanese equivalent of Payless shoes for giving me tacky shoes.

Heh heh heh, tacky.

Nagasaki

2007-01-09T01:26:00.000+09:00

So... guess its been a while eh? So many memories. Hey I'll pretend I haven't been neglecting this blog if you do to! So I went to Nagasaki! It was really great. I took some pictures, but you have to go to my other blog to see them. They're all there in the photo section. Trust me. I had a little illness epedimic during December so I really didnt feel like writing. I got a cold, and then got better, then got another cold, then got better for Christmas, then got the flu for a week and a half. I hate being exposed to an entire continent of new virus strains. Anyway life is better so I will probably write more. Go see my pictures.

In Japanese Ippon means "Marc needs to practice more"

2006-11-28T00:27:00.000+09:00

Ok, so the trip to kumamoto was fun. We got to sightsee the entire first day(saturday) and got a really great dinner and breakfast for only $10. We went to the castle, which you can see below. We even got to climb up, which required the use of really dangerous and steep staircases. I'm pretty sure there is no Japanese word for HUGE LIABILITY* Anyway, It good as castles went and the view at the top was good.

*Totally not true about Japanese

This is the damn hell bitchin ass castle. Very big and very fortified as Japanese castles go. It was never succesfully seiged, but it was destroyed by fire. Nothing can stop fire.... especially wooden castles.

One of 3 original suits of armour worn by the lords of the castle
This is the castle and its walls, which are special, since they are curved and apparently that makes them better as walls go (^3^)The whole gang..... well, we were the only ones who wanted to go see the castle. Everyone else apparently had "cooler" things to do.

A big shopping arcade I found after we took the wrong trolley and decided to walk home.

This is a totally rigged picture. I was slowly lowering him to the ground for the shot. I am also doing this move completely wrong (^0^)/
Masahiro is good, and this was a good match but these guys were SO STRONG!!
Kojima is holding his own against a guy way bigger and experienced than he is. They grappled forever.Lots of 2nd and 3rd degree blackbelts. Luckily my clearly white belt showed them they could go easy on me.

Check out my photo link if you want to see all the photos from the weekend!!

Kumamoto

2006-11-25T08:55:00.000+09:00

I'm about to leave for Kumamoto. I am going with the judo club to a tournament. I have a sore neck, and I didn't get any sleep last night, so I have very high hopes that I am going to return in much greater pain and much grumpier. Calen and I went to a movie last night, here called Tomorrow World, in Canada called Children of Men. Its the one where the human race can no longer breed, starring Clive Owen. It was funny, because we forgot to check what the name of the movie was called in Japanese, so we got to the theatre and had to search for a movie poster to figure out the name. We went to the really late viewing at 12:15 am since we were both really bored and wanted to do something on a Friday night. Our original intent was to see another movie, but this one was playing at Hawkstown, so it won out. PLUS, it only cost us 1000 en to see it, since it was late and we are students, or maybe just because it was late. Anyway, I have to go pack a lunch. PEACE

2006-11-22T23:15:00.000+09:00

YEAH. That does look like the best goddamn stupid awsome concert anyone has ever seen. And yes, I did have the time of my life. There were two encores even. After they finished their main set, The lead singer threw a pick into the crowd, but it dissapeared and I didn't see anyone pick it up. Then after the first encore, they threw another one. I am pretty sure that that one dissapeared too. Any way, me and two other japanese guys we met crawled around on our hands and knees for about 10 minutes in vain, without finding anything. Then, after the show, we are searching again, and I find it 30 feet from the stage!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP.

Anyway, the great thing was, it was a really empty house. We had ticket numbers 153 and apparently there were only like 150 ish tickets, because the place was not packed. It was in Fukuoka Beat Station, which is directly under a train bridge and I mean directly( We think it use d to be the old station). It also had a capacity of 347 and it was no where near that packed. Anyway. I got yelled at in Japanese by the lead singer which was awsome and I also got a pick and a t-shirt. I'll take a picture of the tshirt lates yo.

I am not in the process of chilling the shit out. So look at my pictures and marvel at the fact that I went to an awsome concert :)

Band stuff

2006-11-20T16:23:00.000+09:00

THIS IS MY BAND, I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

I was really worried about being the worst member that didn't seem to be a problem. We had trouble finding a lead singer, and I wish to god I had gotten an english speaker from I-house, but I got lazy and we got Hiroki. He is a really good singer in Japanese, but He couldn't quite get the english singing right. Anyway, I am planning to start something with Calen who plays the guitar, and If we do aything else, we'll make sure to record it for your viewing pleasure.

Since the festival was this last weekend, I had 4 days to "relax". Of those 4 days, I actually only got 3 since preparing for the stupid show got in the way. It was still nice, aside from all the fucking rain we got. The festival was ok, but my expectations were WAY higher than the reality, and I was dissapointed. I actually went to Kyushu Universities festival yesterday as well, and It was way better. They had more booths set up, way better bands, and tons of beer. Because we are a Christian University, we weren't allowed to drink, which didn't stop hundreds of students from the school from getting wasted at bars and stumbling around the city after the festival was over. Really lame, since everyone was drunk anyway.

I didn't take any pictures, and I apologize, but I was really busy with the band preparations. I hope you like the video, and if you have any questions for my, don't hesitate to ask.

marc

2006-11-14T15:21:00.000+09:00

I went to the 100 yen store the other day with Miyako and we bought a lot of christmas. Basically we turned my room into a cheap christmas whore, but I dont really mind, since it looks so damn festive :)
I bought lights for cheap and got a ton of garland and even a little tree.

Ok, I didn't even realize I hadn't done this, but here are some photos from the concert I went to in October. They are really fuzzy since it was dark and my hands are always shaking now, but some of the pictures came out ok. I also took a video of an entire song the Pillows performed before they confiscated my camera V(^@^ )
Basically, the opening band was some local, non-famous group which had a few fans in the crowd and knew how to rock. The second band was a lot more famous... The Back Horn? I have never seen or heard of them. Anyway. They were way too loud, but good and I was really deaf by the time the Pillows came on. IT was everything I dreamed of and more. Anyway, I will post the hell out of the video when I make it 7mb smaller.

Thats about it. I have been practicing a lot, since I have to perform with a band in the school festival on Saturday. I am really nervous, but in the end, I will be happy even if I screw up.

Aww MA!

2006-11-05T23:18:00.000+09:00

I think my mom commented on my blog but I'm not sure, since the name is anonymous. It does seem like the kind of message she would leave though. Anyway, in response I would just like to point out that even if someone saw me using the handgun(which couldn't happen since I only use it indoors, the chance of them thinking its real is slim to none. No one in Japan owns real guns, except the police.... well, the police and the mafia. Plus, I can count at lest 3 separate incidents where a group of teenagers ran by me ON THE STREET carrying air gun pistols and machine guns, heading to the beach to shoot at each other.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post was to talk about my busy busy weekend. Basically, the end of this last week and weekend were really relaxing and great. To start it off, on Thursday I went drinking with Professor Olson and his other Japanese class at a Jamaican bar in town. The owner is a really nice guy who can cook really great Jamaican food. His cooking actually made me homesick, since the spices reminded me of my moms cooking a lot.

That was a really great night of just relaxing and drinking. I basically drank a bunch of shitty cocktails, until I found Kahlua and milk. Its the girliest one there, but it goes down so easily and I can't even taste alcohol.

Now you may think, 'Hey marc, you were drinking on a school night?' And to that I would reply. "Hells no, I'm in Japan, where every other weekend is a long weekend for some silly inane reason!" I don't know why all countries don't apply the 2 long weekends a month rule. It's nice. I really relaxed the hell out of Friday in case you were wondering. Then Friday night rolled around and Calen, James and I went to Tenjin, met with Lee and John and went to Mcdonalds for dinner. I know I'm in Japan and shouldn't go, but shut the hell up. It's cheap and I'm poor. I ended up making a cheeseburger sandwich, and for those in the audience with sick and twisted minds like mine, you can already picture this monstrosity in your minds without my explaination. Basically you have to order 3 of the 100 yen cheeseburgers, then place one of said burgers between two others. It's also nice.
Round 1 was amazing. We left Lee and John, since John was sick and didn't want to pull an all nighter. We did the usual awsomeness, arcade, sports, guns, billiards and then Miyako met us there. We did karaoke with her and then spent a lot of time trying to find available massage chairs. At around 6am, Calen and James left leaving me to wait with Miyako until she could return home under the cover of sunlight. We ended up getting a private room with a couch and promply fell asleep until around 10am. Then it was up to me to make my way home alone.

Saturday is a blur. I basically spent it sleeping the hell in and hanging out with people in Ihouse. and today is Sunday. I went shopping with Miyako for groceries, and we watched a movie, and after she went to work, I sat around/made several trips to Hardoff for music equipment. I ended up picking up a pedal for my $10 drum machine I recently bought, so now I can actually drum without having to hit the bass kick with one of my sticks. It's a little touchy, but Im going to jury rig something outa it. Today was also the first active practice of I-house Counterstrike. Basically, we used the first two floors as our battle ground and made teams. Terrorists had to try to shoot Airforce One(played by Hansen wearing a winter coat) and counter-terrorists had to shoot them before Hansen got shot. It was a lot of fun, and I ended up getting shot in the legs a bit. Later, I was ambused in my room and had to defend myself against 3 fully automatic airguns.

Yeah, that is my weekend, and I KNOW you are jealous. Now all I need to do is get some study habits and study for the japanese midterm coming up..... :(

Porno and guns

2006-10-30T00:59:00.000+09:00

So, Calen, Joel and I went to Tenjin today. We had one important goal in mind. Guns and porno. Actually, we only really wanted guns. I found a large Mandarake the other day in Tenjin and from previous experiences, I knew they have a large selection of models and airsoft. Well this one didn't but we did find lots of porno. Calen bought a cool little desk thingy and I bought Lemmings for my gameboy, so now I can practice some Japanese while playing a really sweet game. As we left I suddenly remembered that I had seen a store that specialized in airsoft guns on my last walk to Tenjin, so we went in search of it. We found it rather easily and were really suprized at what we found. The place was packed to the brim with replica guns, model kits of guns and tons of airsoft guns. Joel and I both got one, since they were only $15. Yeah, I know I'm a big nerd, but its so much fun to shoot and I am in Japan so I have such easy access to this crap. SO SCREW YOU!!!!

Not really important

2006-10-28T13:47:00.000+09:00

I was walking to the store and noticed two motorcycle cops. It's not really important, but kinda cool that the standard police motorcycle in Japan is the Honda VFR800. I would definitly become a cop, just to use one of those bikes. Definitly beats the cruisers that North American cops get to use, in my opinion.

Concerts, a cat, and A new home fore ma PHISH!

2006-10-22T23:51:00.000+09:00

Huzzah. I conquered the hell out of Lawson's convinience store today. I went to buy my tickets and successfully communicated in Japanese with the store clerk who helped me use the machine which gives out tickets. Its kinda neat, since all you have to do is go on the internet, find out where your concert is, and get the concert number, then go to Lawson's and use the machine. You get a reciept and then the cashier prints out your ticket. Since there are millions of Lawsons(sometimes one on either side of the road, directly across from each other) getting tickets is SO easy!Thank god for Japanese convienience stores actually being as convienient as the name promises.

In other news, That's a cat that keeps coming and eating my food. I bought it some cat food, but it is really mean and keeps scratching people when they try to pet it. It has a sneaky trick. It lets you come up to it and reach out, then it scratches the hell outa you. Luckily, I am smart enough not to try to love a stray cat, so I am unaltered. It sure likes french baguettes, tuna and milk though.

I went for a really long bike ride today, and ended up at a really far away beach. I basically followed the coast until the roads ended, and then walked a few kilometers up the beach. I found a ton of cool new stones to decorate my new bigger fish tank, and also got a little rained on. I found a lot of tide pools, which had a lot of small hermit crabs and sea urchins.

On the way back, I stupidly forgot my towel after I put it down to take a picture of the crab, and didn't realize it until I got all the way back to my bike. The blue thing in the middle, way off is my towel.

On the way back, I rode my bike really fast, and I think I made record time, except when I hit a bump and my shit flew out of my basket. I really hate Japanese sidewalks! I don't know why a country where so many people ride bikes has such extremely steep transitions from street to sidewalk. If you don't slow to a crawl, you get tossed like a bi-sexual beef salad. Anyway, I stopped halfway home to take pictures of the ferris wheels at Marinoa city, since I think its the law that gaijin do this.

I got home and finished pimping the SHIT out of my new fish tank.

Yeah, that's right!!! My fish tank has a bubble machine, AND lilly pads!!! Oh, and that Sweet ass wave backdrop. That's just some junk mail that I used..... cuz I'm thrifty. Yeah, that IS the best fish tank you've ever seen.

Man, look at all these photos. I am a really generous guy. Send me money to show your thanks.

Weekend

2006-10-22T02:48:00.000+09:00

God. Weekends blow here. I need to get out more, you know, greet and meet the locals. I did actually do that today, so I shouldn't complain though. Calen and I rode out bikes into Tenjin today and found a bunch of music stores to browse in. The first one is in a huge, tall, mall-like think called IMS building. It is a fancy music store which only has really expensive stuff. Calen brought me to another store, where I proceeded to play the hell out of some really expensive electonic drum sets. I played one that was worth $3000 which was really fun, and another which was $5000 and was actually less fun, although I preferred the drum pads a little more.

I also found out that my favourite band is going to be playing in Tenjin in a month!!!! I am overwhelmed with a sense of joy, as I will get to go to another Japanese live and it will be my favourite band AND its only 3000 yen!!!!!
so far I have convinced Calen to come, but I think it will be better with more ladies. Since everything is better when there are ladies. LADIES AM I RIGHT????

I have nothing lined up for tomorrow, so I think I will summon all of my will power and study my ass off. I am working on studying kanji from the 3rd year textbook, since our other classes refuse to admit we need to know them and already don't :P

NO MSN!!!

2006-10-20T00:10:00.000+09:00

My MSN is broken, and I can't fix it, so if you want to speak to me, you have to Skype me!!! Sorry for the inconvienience.

Sports Day and A New Pad

2006-10-16T01:46:00.000+09:00

Hey, was Sports Day today! A bunch of us went to the Elementary school with Nogami san from the CIE office and got to participate in a bunch of fun races and stuff. I was reluctant to lose a whole Sunday to this but it ended up being a lot of fun. We got a breakfast box when we got there, and a bottle of tea, followed by two bags of candy and Japanese souvenirs(paper balloons) and half way through the day, we got melon bread!! Nogami brought his kids (all 4 of them. He is the most energetic Japanese guy I have met) which entertained me the whole day.

This is his daughter Waka. She is really cute and loves to get carried around almost as much as her brother. That's Hansen carrying her at the moment.
This was one of many cheerleading groups that performed a song and dance. I think it was entire schools on each team, since each group had about 100 kids. This group had cross-dressers and sang an annoying song which is always heard in Supermarkets.
I saw this shirt and I though "now there is a down to earth guy".
From left to right. Natsuki, Nogami's son, Waka, and Kari one of the Japanese students living in I-house with us this year. She's so nice!!!
Those are the bento we got. The had a lot of delicious stuff, some wierd stuff, and a bunch of horrible Japanese delicacies which I hate to death.
That's Miwa, my favourite Japanese girl. If I had the means or the money, I would make t-shirts with her face on them and wear them in the afternoons. Waka is performing shrimp surgery
This is one of Nogami's twin girls. This is Sae and she cried every time I looked or talked to her. This was the very first time she had ever seen foreign people, so we scared her. She cried like 100 times today. Her twin sister Miwa is a lot cooler and didn't cry at all.
That's just some of the free swag we got. Candy and party favours!!!
Seinan's top-notch cheerleading squad. Here is a link to a video of the cheerleading guy kicking a ton of ass. I think that Japanese cheeleading is tops and Seinan's team is definitly the best I've ever seen.
Oh, on a completely unrelated note, this is my weekly grocery pile. This pile cost me 5030 en, which is about $50 canadian. It usually lasts me the whole week, with a few new purchases to boost my supply.

Thats all for now. I think that video is really crappy, so I will try to make a higher resolution one and switch it.

Praise the lord

2006-10-13T13:01:00.000+09:00

Hey, Im finally healing. I was even able to go to the gym. Then I followed that with a healthy dose of Judo practice. Now my body don't work so good. And my abs hurt, and my muscles hurt. And it hurts when I cough. Oh well. At least I'm healthier. I have not been doing anything. I am really quite bored as of late. I am probably just going to start studying Japanese more. Since I am supposed to be here to study. Nothing new yet, but I'll be sure to write about anything exciting that happens.

Video #1

2006-10-08T20:17:00.000+09:00

Ok, here is a video of my flight from Osaka to Fukuoka. The video screws up in the middle and theres something wrong with the sound, but I don't feel like struggling with Premiere Pro anymore. VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO

Phone Pictures FINALLY

2006-10-07T20:02:00.000+09:00

Ok, there are now pictures up off my phone. Sadly, I still can't get my videos to play in anything but QT, so I can't edit them and put them on the internet yet. Go to my photo page now.

I'm a bricklayer, not a Doctor, Jim

2006-10-07T15:23:00.000+09:00

So I am still sick, but I hope not to be sick soon. I went to a Tuberculosis clinic and got an x-ray and some really good antibiotics, apparently. I have made this assumption upon the basis that since the pills are $5 each and there are only 6 of them, they must me really good. I am almost done taking the medication for my food allergy as well. I hope mixing the two doesn't make me more dead than usual.

The gang and I went to Round 1 last night in Tenjin. I don't know if you've ever heard of it Meaghan, or if you went but basically, you pay $5 to get a member card, then $11 everytime you go, and you can play all night long, starting at 11pm. They have an arcade, batting cages, soccer, manga libraries, showers, karaoke (With The Pillows and Sparta Locals songs). There's also massage chairs!!! We didn't end up staying all night. Siggi and I walked home at around 4am, and everyone else waited until 6 for the trains to start running again. The evening actually started with curry at an indian place near I-house. I may have mentioned it before, but we met some rugby players at a nightclub about 3 weeks ago, and we occasionally hang out with one of them. His name is Mark Ransby and he is probably the most famous person I know.
He's the guy on the left.... He's currently centre on the Coca-cola corporate rugby team in Fukuoka, but he used to play for All Blacks, which is a huge team in New Zealand. If you have satellite, you can even watch him play Rugby. He's also really great at karaoke, LOL. Anyway, We ended up going to Round 1 because some others from I-house were going and we needed something to do. We sang karaoke for about 1.5 hours, then went and played arcade games. I went up to the batting cages after that, but the 2 right hand cages were dead, so I had to bat lefty. This was probably one of the most embarassing things ever. I ended up hitting some balls though. Then I played more arcade and had an overcooked microwaved cheese burger. super fun start to the weekend, and the walk home was really peaceful. Today, I went and watched the Kendo club practice. One of the guys from the CIE office is a coach and we always go out with him to drink and stuff. He's really cool. I'll put up the video as soon as I get it off my phone. Which I'm actually going to do right now dammit. No more procrastination. Here's another picture of my fish. Oh and a picture of a Strongbad cartoon.

Kyoto Trip and Hirakata YO!!! Part 2

2006-10-03T22:51:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I know it sounds bad, but I spent a lot of Sunday sleeping. It really wasn't my fault though. I was really sick, and so tired. I think tomoko's parents understood and besides, I helped out as much as I could. Sunday was mostly cleaning their old house and watching the movers do their thing. Then we went to the new apartment and we unpacked everything. It was nice though. we finished unpacking most of the kitchen and living room, I got several hours of naps in, and to top it off, we went out for a steak dinner!!! It was honestly the best meal I have had in..... forever. It couldn't have been more perfect. Medium rare steak, sesame dipping sauce, and a great big bowl of rice. Once again though, the sickness and food got the better of me and I was out like a light when we got home. Their new appartment is really cool and modern. It was just built and is almost as big as their old house. Their kitchen is WAY bigger and the bathroom is really neat, with a large japanese bath. The wall even tells you how much water you are using. I considered this a challenge and only used 11 litres for my shower! I should probably put some photos in to spice up this blog eh? OK DESU!!! RANDOM PHOTO TIME!Ok, its me and I look so excited to be outside of the building with 1001 buddha statues. I went inside afterwards and was actually excited.

Anyway, on Monday, my last day in Osaka, we had to go back to the old house and put out the garbage and extra furniture so the waste removal people could take it away. It turns out that Japanese furniture is really light. I singlehandedly moved two armoires and some kind of computer desk. Then we went out for some Osaka ramen. I love ramen, because its cheap and comes in a huge punch bowl. After eating, Tomoko and I set out in search of the elusive "ambasa" drink, which we have only been able to find in vending machines. We went to a bunch of big stores, but ended up with nothing. We walked home in the rain, and then napped before making out way back to Kyoto station. The best thing about visiting Tomoko is how relaxing it is. Even with all the excitment of the move it seemed like a really restfull weekend, and my cold actually got a lot better near the end. Tomoko rode with me back to Kyoto station which takes about an hour from her house. We walked around, got some McFlurries, and took this really awkward looking picture..... We're good friends, I SWEAR!!!So I got on the shinkansen to continue my trip and was suprised at how easy it is to get around a Japanese train station. I remember it was a hell of a lot more difficult last year. It turned out that I got to ride one of the brand spanking new Shinkansen that goes like a bajillion miles an hour, or as the metric system would want you to believe, 300 km/h. It was new, but that didn't stop me from getting the seat that 1000 asses has sweat in. It honestly smelled like a pet shop in the middle of july, in the rainforest, next to a poop vendor. SOO bad. And a HUGE british guy sat next to me and pinned me to the window. Anyway. I got back, and guess what??? I broke out in horrible, horrible hives, courtesy of some Grapefruit water I drank. I would have taken a picture if it weren't for the searing pain and itchiness clouding my judgement and shrouding my thoughts. They got worse as the night went on, and by 4am, I had gotten 10 minutes of sleep and was going into scratching frenzies everytime my brain allowed my body to slip into the near nether-world of sleep. It happened in the half-sleep, half-awake, feverish state you get in before you actually lose consciousness. I would scratch for 10 or 20 minutes before I realized what I was doing and then would wake up and moan and whine. At around 5am, I took a cold shower which did nothing, and then woke Joel up for some strong anti-histamines. They worked well enough, and I finally slept for 4 hours before class, which I slept through....... When I went to the CIE office to make an appointment at the hospital, my whole body had bruises from the sleep-scratching I did. I got some drugs from the doctor though and a shot, so now I feel much less itchy. I am a little sad though, since I lapsed back into sickness due to the sudden lack of sleep. I also had a VERY antisocial day today. I didn't want to talk to anyone or do anything. I did have lunch with Kazu though, and it was really good curry.

I also tried again in vain to install the drivers for my phone on my pc, but it won't have any of that. I can't believe it doesnt work. This lack of working also contributed to my antisocial mood. I really don' want to bug a Japanese girl to get my photos, but I think I have to. That's it for now. I took a kanji test today without studying, due to the fact I was in Honshuu all weekend, but I think I still got a high mark. I have noticed a pattern though. There's always one question I can't answer... I said it was a pattern... not a good pattern. PEACE IM OUT

Kyoto Trip and Hirakata YO!!! Part 1

2006-10-02T20:46:00.000+09:00

Hey, I just got back... kinda. I had a shower and then sat around for a bit... Anyway. I hate sitting in smelly shinkansen seats. There, I said it. My seat smelled like spoiled cabbage. In hindsight though, it was worth it. This was one of the best weekend/vacations of my life. It started out quite crapee. I had a cold all weekend whose main attrribute was an overwhelming chest infection. I had trouble walking up one flight of stairs, so try to imagine how I looked trying to climb all the stairs to shrines and temples... Yeah and for those of you who are knowledged in Japanese religion, this is no easy feat. The Japanese are obsessed with putting shit at the top of mountains. Anyway, the chest thing was bad enough, but I went the the gym on Thursday, before we left and stupidly did a leg workout, so the entire day Saturday, my butt and leg muscles, or glutes and quads for all you Kin majors out there were in a state of dying attrophy. Up was painful. controlling my speed of descent was a whole other level of torture. I want to send a shout out to Tito, who acted as a fantastic human brake during that dark day. Anyway. the whole first day, Friday, was devoted to touring Kyoto on foot. This was great, since I can look back on it now and see that it really did me good. It did work out all the pains in my body and it exhausted me and let me get a solid sleep and recouperate properly. Anyway, the tamples were nice, but the best part of the day was the end when we all went to dinner for all you can eat/drink. I sat ar the veggie table with Calen and Siggi, and constantly ran back and forth, fetching meat from other tables for myself. Calen and I also indulged in more than a few Peach Fizzes. Both he and I pretty much never touch booze, but it was all you can drink and the Peach Fizzes tasted SUPER!!! Anyway, the restaurant was followed by an English pub that Professor Olsen led us too. It was pretty much exactly like The Winchester Arms from back home and there wasn't a cover charge, which was great. Everyone played drunken darts, and we found out that we all play better sober.... Anyway. The night was great and we got to spend a lot of quality time drinking and having fun with Prof. Olsen, Nogami-san from the CIE office and Kojima-san from the CIE office.

Luckily, the following day, we got an exclusive bus tour around the city. It was much easier on me bod. At the end, I went to meet Tomoko at the station. We went and had dinner with Calen and Joel, and then took a tour up the Kyoto tower. The actual train ride to her house was about 1.5 hours, and I went to bed as soon as I got in and had a shower. I got to sleep on an authentic Japanese futon, since all their stuff was packed, but it turned out to be REALLY comfy and I was pretty much dead when I het the pillow.... I have trillions of kanji to study last minute now and a huge japanese journal entry to write so I have to bid you adieu for tonight. I promise I'll write more tonight. BYE

dying or possibly dead

2006-09-28T20:51:00.000+09:00

I caught something foul. I think it's Japanese encephalitis, but that could be the result of my overactive imagination or my grossly inadequate medical training. I just feel bad. The worst part is that my lungs are all congested up ins, so I can;t even walk up a flight of stairs without taking a rest-stop. I really hope I am better by tomorrow, since everyone is going to KYOTO!!!! This will be fun, since everyone is going and there is tons of stuff to like.... look at and take pictures of. I'm probably gonna take like an finity of them. I'll even post them here so you can be jealous of how many pictures I'm capable of taking, not of what I'm taking the pictures of, since I will probably be taking picturs of boring things like statues and scriptures and Buddha. I don't know if I'll have internet while there, so It may be tuesday afore you see anything. Oh, and I'm also gonna visit the hell out of Tomoo's family in Osaka!!! I can't wait to help them move their furniture.

Nokonoshima!

2006-09-25T16:01:00.000+09:00

I can't remember how to say that word. I get the "o" and the "ko" mixed up everytime. I went there yesterday with Miho, the lady I taught for the other week and her friends. It was great but I didnt have any money, since I figured we were just going somewhere to hike. Sadly, this is Japan, and Japan charges you for everything short of the air you are breathing. It turns out that there is no bridge to the island, like I though, just a ferry. And you have to pay to go and look at their flowers and kisch shops. I don't know why they don't just make admission free and charge more for souvenirs like everywhere else in the world. Anyway. I felt really bad about Miho having to may for my ferry ride, so when they asked whether we should take the bus, I suggested we walk(to save money). I ended up carrying her 4 year old son Haru, who isn't used to walking by himself apparently. It took us about an hour and a half to walk to the top of the mountain and on the way saw a TON of creepy huge spiders. Still not the biggest I've seen in Japan though.
Anyway, The park was really nice, although very flowerless. Apparently the typhoon had blown away all the summer blooms, so we have to wait till the autumn flowers bloom to get the full effect. We had lunch at the top and then we went and saw the sites. Basically, the entire park was like any Botanical Gardens in Canada I have ever seen, except there was a petting zoo here and I got to feed rabbits and goats.
That's clearly not me, but Momo, who also helps teach with Miho, but more often. Anyway, we went and walked to the very end of the park and then sat on a really sunny hill for about an hour and a half. I ended up falling asleep and got a sunburn, which was worse on the left side of my body thanks to the angle of the sun. The only reason I woke up was because Haru was poking me in the face to get me come on an adventure.

We ended up taking the bus down the mountain, because everyone was really tired. The park is freaking huge. This is the island for your viewing pleasure. Its really big. Oh and also a picture of the view from the top. Really fun day, and I got lots of exercise. I think I am starting to get a cold. I attribute it to stress, since I am eating really well and I get lots of exercise here. Its just a little sore throat right now and I am battling it with bananas and tofu, so hopefully it doesn't get any worse. Today was another 10 minute karate class, where we got our uniform and then were dismissed after learning some bows. Next week we actually get to do stuff. Apparently the teacher has cancer so this year will be his last to teach. Kinda gives you a good reason not to disappoint him though, so hopefully everyone tries really hard. I just wanna punch some stuff, LOLOL. I went to the gym to try to meet with the judo club but the doors to the practice room were locked, so I assumed that everyone had decided not to go. Maybe tomorrow, eh? Light music club on Wednesday. I'm super jazzed.

Oh, and the only picture that I got of me on the island. Well, the one guy took about a million of me, but I don't know him, so those pictures are a write off.

Oh, and I mailed two chocolate bars today to see if they actually make it to Canada. Kaori kept saying how the bars would get crushed, but I couldnt explain it to her that I didn't care, its just chocolate which is going to be eaten anyway. Oh well. It is a good test to see if I can mail home chocolate. I will send bigger packages next time for sure. As it stands, I am feeling really, really lazy and I can't be asked to pay attention to anything Canada related. I know its sort of an assholey thing to do, but its just a phase I think. I just need to get all my shit together here and then I can resume normalcy. I didn't even put a not in with the chocolate. Totally absent-minded. Okays, that's all. I'm going to some festival tonight, so I'll have more pictures. soon. Check my other site for all the pictures I took.

Japan... LIVE

2006-09-23T20:12:00.000+09:00

So, I got a fish from a girl in I-house and bought it some stuff, including a small tank and lots of entertainment inside. The only problem is, it died and now I have a really fancy home for a lot of nothing. Luckily Marc is getting rid of some fish so I am going to try to pick them up from them. School has proved to me that it can in fact become more boring than it already was. Japanese class is still fine, since we are learning stuff and you are always participating, but everyother class does nothing but suck balls. Japanese phychology has yet to present material that prevents me from slumbering, and don't get me started on the others. Luckily, Intercultural communications class is better. We have two Japanese teachers this year that are fluent in English and they are very entertaining. I have yet to go to Japanese Sports class and Traditional cultures though..... maybe I should.

I got into contact with the judo club and I am going to go to the first meeting on Monday, which I am really looking forward to! I also got into contact with the Light music club. It was kind of funny the way it happened. I was sitting in the university common room during our break between classes on Friday and we saw 3 guys sitting at a table playing with drum sticks. It was the first day of classes for the japanese students so there were like, a billion of them around school. I ended up walking over after Jordan forced me to. They were really nice and one of them spoke pretty good English. I have been using Japanese pretty often here, but I'm not comfortable enough to switch completely over yet. Anyway, I found out they were in the Light music club, which will now be referred to as the LMC. I had to go back to class, so I got the one guys email. He ended up calling me later that day and invited me to go see his friend perform at a live house in Nishijin. I had other plans for the night, but I ended up cancelling them at the last minute. Jordan wanted me to go to his ex-girlfriends birthday, but Siggi ended up backing out at the end, so I knew the party would suck. It would have ended with me taking care of all the really drunk people and I hate that!!!! Anyway, Siggi and I went to Ohori koen after class and on the way home we decided not to go to the party, so I called Nozomu, who was the English speaking guy. It was around 7:00 and the show was starting at 8 and it turns out that he was pre-drinking at an Izakaya before the show. He was trying to give me directions to the place, but he kept using the Japanese names and I had to go back to I-house to procure the use of a Japanese student. I ended up knowing where the Izakaya was afterall, since it was right near a store I grocery shop at, Daiei. I ended up having one beer with them there and then we went to the live event. His friends band was really great. They had a 70's Japanese rock sound to them and the lead singer was really talented on the guitar and vocals. I also stayed for a second band which was some sort of Japanese/cuban/latin/rock band which was really entertaining. I have cellphone pics, which I will upload later, as soon as I get a Japanese person to let me use their Japanese pc.....

After the show, I went upstairs to the live house and met Nozomu who was recording some stuff with his punk band. We rented a studio for 500 yen and I got to play the drums for an hour. I had so much fun and it only cost me $15.

Today, I slept in until 12:45, had pancakes and then went to the beach. We were supposed to talk with the students from Seinan about the HUGE festival in November. We ended up just sitting around, and I went swimming for a while. After a while, we went to a less windy place, since it was REALLY windy and had some snacks and talked. This got boring, so Calen, James, Jon and I went to Toys R Us. It was really cool and I bought a really cheap, but really lame action figure. Its SUPER POSABLE. Then we ate at McDonalds, and I ate 100 yen cheese burgers. Now I am sitting and typing this..... OOOOOO. its an OPTICAL ILLUSION!!!!

Pictures soon, I swear

New Shoes and a Lot of Homework to Boot

2006-09-15T21:20:00.000+09:00

So, I taught some Japanese kids to use English the other day. I got to work for 2 days, which was a pain in that it was during the only free time I had this week, and good, because I got money practiced Japanese. I have even been invited to a picnidc in Ohori Park this coming Monday with the women who runs the English school. We get Monday off, since it is a national holiday for old people. I am also probably going to go to a festival on Sunday with my sister's boyfriend.

I bought some new running shoes today. They were really cheap but look great. They were $37 and look pretty stylish. I don't actually know if this post will show, since my blogger page is really messed up, but I will try anyway.

I have been slacking on my sleeping and studying duties as of late. I need to start studying vocabulary again for Japanese class. Each time the teacher asks us to read some kanji, I draw a blank since I only have reviewed the grammar. I have a feeling my mind doesn't want summer vacation to be over, but I'm slowly coming around and studying more and more. We are actually getting a good amount of homework in our Japanese classes. I need to go shopping for food tomorrow. I have decided to spend slightly more each week, so that I may consume a higher amount of protein and iron in the form of meat.

Oh, and I finally figured out how to use my new cellphone. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to change syllables from voiceless to voiced. Now I can write Japanese text messages YATTA!!!

infam-ass

2006-09-11T17:15:00.000+09:00

So I finally got a copy of the newspaper with my ass in it. I think you will be pleasently suprised to see it. I went into the CIE office and asked to see a copy of the paper, and told them it was my ass, and I looked over on the bulletin board and saw a copy of the article and someone had written "Whose butt?". Then they wouldn't believe it was mine when I told them. Anyway, here it is.

I don't know who the shrill whore is beside me, but she wouldn't stop screaming. On and on she went, like and undying wind across the harsh desolate lanscape that was the earthquake simulator.

Go to my msn page for firework pictures.
We went to fireworks by the way, rofl.

totemo kawaii

2006-09-10T12:51:00.000+09:00

I bought a skin for my ipod yesterday. I am running my budget really tightly, but when I saw it, I had to have it!!!We all went out last night for Lee's birthday. I stupidly forgot to put memory into my camera, so I don't have any pictures. We went to an all you can eat, all you can drink restarant that was really good, and then went to a club to dance. I learned that I can't dance, but it was tons of fun anyway. I even dance with two, 40+ year old women that were there trying to get guys. Today we are beaching it up and maybe shopping it up.

Japan's most famous ass

2006-09-09T03:21:00.000+09:00

HEY!!!, I'm in the paper. We went to the disaster prevention center the other day and some reporter made a story about it. It turns out that the photographer took the photo for the article at just the right time so that my ass was facing the lens. Yeah, it looks pretty good. You can't see anything but my ass...... fucking media. Anyway, I'm going to try to get a picture, or a copy of that article, so that you all can see the mockery that Japan has made of my ass.
Karaoke was good today. We went for Betty's birthday. We had dinner, then had karaoke, then did purikura. It was a lot of funz. We also went to the beach and played volleyball, and went into the water. It was really warm, so I threw some people in. I will get some pictures and put them up as well.

Current Events: Karaoke, I-house, Izakaya

2006-09-07T14:50:00.000+09:00

Ok, I have decided to skip all the little stuff and focus on what's happening recently.
My room in I-house is pretty nice, but when I arrived there were some problems. First, the airconditioner decided to start poring condensed water onto my desk and computer, but that was fixed withing 15 minutes of me reporting it. Next, my bathroom and sink were a little scummy, but I cleaned the hell out of them and how they look nice. My room is looking really bare, but its filling up slowly. It really sucked at first because we didnt have internet for a whole week. Luckily, the other Marc is a nice guy and he liet us use his whenever.

I went to my first ramen shop and aside from the smell(which is like dying sour ass) it was really cheap and delicious. There was one ramen with kanji we couldnt read and after about 15 minutes of searching the kanji ended up meaning "large portion". We felt pretty dumb.

I found my bike, but apparently whoever was riding it during the summer, had not done anything about a flat tire in the back. It ended up costing me $19 to get it fixed, but now I have a bike. Now I just need to pay $20 for a helmet!

I ended up grocery shopping and it turns out that I can buy a weeks worth of food for under $50. I ascutally only spend $32 but that was because there was a big sale and stuff was only $1. This means that I will be under budget on groceries by about $100 each month, YAY.

We went to Karaoke and it was a lot of fun. There were only a few people singing though but it was still the best time ever. I sang a lot of songs, and I think I have gotten better at singing over the last year. I even got an offer to join the choir, but they practice during my classes so I can't go :( During the hot weather, we went and played some whiffle bal, but the teams were really uneven, so it ended up that my team had like 15 runs before the other team even scored. It was Marc(plays baseball), Peter( who plays sports), and me, so we kept getting 3 runs at a time. I guess the balls werent whiffley enough. It was good and I got a little sunburned which turned into a nice tan the next day.

Since Monday, we have been attending orientation which is pretty much just them telling us not to stay in our rooms and make our culture shock worse. Yesterday was fun since it was the reception. There were some boring speeches and then we had to introduce ourselves to a whole room of people. I was nervous, but everyone like my intro. Then we got to mingle for about an hour and a half and eat tons of food. I met a lot of students and had tons of fun talking to everyone. At the end we even got to take home all the left over food!!!

Last night was our best night yet. Everyone went to Canal City, but a few of us stayed in and had some food. Then at around 10pm, we went for a walk to Nishijin, which is just up the road. We were going to find a bar, but I spyed some International Office employees. It was Kojima who is head of the Int. Division, one of the receptionists Masako, and one of the guys who takes us on trips, Onogi I think. They were unwinding after just getting off of work. I didnt want to go in, but Julian and Peter did, so we decided to stay there. We went in and everyone was so suprised. The best part was, they bought us our first round of beers. I drank mine out of respect, and it was very... beery. I downed it fast so I didnt taste it much. A little later, we bought them a round, and then Onogi went out for some reason. He returned with a piece of Birthday cake, since it was Peter's birthday. We all sang happy birthday and then took a group photo, which I will post after. It was the most fun I have ever had in a bar. Then after everone had finished, Kojima told us that he was paying for our bill. I couldn't believe it!!! Then the Taisho(bar owner/server) came out and gave us all little magnets from one of the festivals in August.

Basically, Peter and Julian talked to the two guys all night and me and Siggi talked to Masako all night. We went back to I-house after curfew, but the guy who doesnt talk to anyone was on duty, so it was ok. We get away with a lot when he is there. Last week we had a water gun fight inside the i-house.

This morning I had Japanese class, and Japanese psychology, which was boring. Japanese class was hard, since the teacher only spoke Japanese and we have to make a 3 minute speech by tomorrow and memorize it.

After class, Calen and I went to eat at the really cheap cafeteria near i-house and them went to HardOff with John. HardOff is a store where you can get housewear and secondhand/new electronics and instruments. I bought a Squire amp and Squire guitar, with a stand and patch cable for under $130 dollars!!!!! Both are Fender products and pretty damn good considering the same equipment in Canada would have cost me....
Guitar:$165 = tax/shipping
Amp: $150
Anyway, thats all for now. I will try to get some disaster prevention pics up soon!!!

Osaka Day 2/3, Fukuoka

2006-09-07T14:43:00.000+09:00

The next day, me and Tomoko walked around her town. We found a cool carnival/festival just up the road from her house that apparently was put on by a housing development company for potential customers and neighbours. It was aimed at kids, but I didn’t care, since they had photo opportunities with POWER RANGERS, or some similar super fighter guys. So I got my picture taken with them and we proceeded on. We walked around and came to a model home that had been built, but it was HUGE inside. It was big even by north American standards, with 3 floors and a huge living room, kitchen and dining room. We walked around inside for a while then went to find some grocery stores. I needed to buy floss, so we checked everystore we saw, including a 100 yen store. I began to think that Japan didn’t have floss, when we decided to go into a pharmacy and found that drug stores are the only ones to carry floss. We basically walked around until the evening, until Tomoko’s father got home. Then we went to a really nice restaurant. I couldn’t believe how nice it was. I can honestly say that it was the nicest restaurant I have ever been to or eaten at. The food was really good, and I got to try many new things. I went to bed as soon as I got home though, since I am such a HUGE party animal ; )

On the following day, Tomoko’s aunt came over, and Tomoko, her mom, aunt and me went to Osaka castle. I was really hot that day, and I kept seeing gaijin who were sweating their asses off. I considered myself lucky that I wasn’t to hot. We got to go up to the top of the castle, which gave us a pretty decent view of most of Osaka. It was also breezy and cool, which was nice. We took the long walk back, and then went to the aquarium in Osaka, which was my favourite part of the whole trip.

The Aquarium is famous because it holds one of the only whale sharks in captivity. We ended up getting lunch before we actually went though. It was at an Italian style restaurant, and I had REALLY good sausage pizza. I couldn’t believe how much is tasted like western style pizza. I also accompanied it with a melon soda.

The aquarium itself was probably 5 or 6 levels and you started by going up a HUGE escalator. Then, you made your way down a slowly descending spiral. It was probably the best aquarium I have ever seen, especially the giant manta ray and whale shark. The only thing was that the whale shark looked sad, since it was so large and had to swim in circles. It took us around 2 hours to walk throught the whole thing. I took a lot of videos but I need to find a video converter, so I can change my movies from .mov into something I can edit. So, We came home and then had dinner. I even learned some new recipes from Tomoko’s mom. I can make fried rice now, miso soup, and some kind of Japanese egg. The next day, Tomoko and I took a taxi to the train station, then a train to the bus station, then a bus to the airport to pick up Joel.

After Joel arrived, Tomoko walked us to the subway station and me and Joel got tickets and went to find our train. The train ride to our hotel was REALLY long, and when we got there it was already dark. This was compounded by the fact that we were trying to find the hotel using a crappy internet map and Joel’s PSP, which was useless at first, since we couldn’t find north. We ended up going in the wrong direction, and when we turned around, our new course took us down two streets that were filled to the brim with dirty homeless. There was an entire society of them living in that part of town. We ended up walking and I ended up carrying Joel’s luggage, since I didn’t want to walk slowly through that part of town. After about 15 minutes of looking, we found the hotel. It looked a little like what the internet showed, except that it was dirtier and surrounded by slums. I even got to see a guy beating the shit out of a drunk guy. SO EXCITING! So we checked in and it turned out our rooms were actually really clean. It was really small, but really clean and cheap, to boot. I got ready and went to take a bath. With the night’s event behind me and a warm bath, I was able to get a really nice night’s sleep.

The next morning, we woke up early and headed for the airport. The train ride was shorter, since we took an express, so we got there in plenty of time. OH, I forgot to say, when we picked up Joel, Calen was also on the plane, but he went straight to Fukuoka. So we found some lockers and I unloaded all my luggage, but Joel had old man luggage, so his wouldn’t fit. He ended up taking his smaller suitcase, which was heavier, for some reason. Anyway, we got on our flight, and since there were only like 30 people flying, I got to move from my aisle seat and sit next to a window. The flight was a little over an hour. We landed and got off and went to get our luggage, and Kaori, Nicole and Natsumi were there to pick us up. We ended up taking the subway with all out luggage which drew more than a few stares and then walked from the subway to the I-house which took a lot of doing. I just wish everyone had packed smartly like me. Damn I’m so smart. Anyway. I was so happy to finally get to the I-house and unload all my crap. I started to unpack as soon as I got in, since I wanted to get in out of the way. Afterwards, I went out and met all the students that had already arrived.

Ok, that’s all you get for now. I can tell you, that it only gets more exciting from there. But it will take me a little while to put the last 7 days up!!!

Osaka Day 1

2006-09-07T01:50:00.000+09:00

Well, I am all settled in so I will now recant all the wonderful things that happened since I arrived in Osaka on the 26th.

The plane ride to Chicago was pretty good. I sat next to a kid on his way to Kentuky with the Tim Hortons camp. We talked pretty much the whole way, and the conversation was as amusing as you can imagine a conversation with a 10 year old can be. I'd ask him things like, "do you know what state we are over?", and he'd say stuff like, "england?". All in all, pretty good. When I landed in Chicago, I really didn't know where I was going so I asked a random employee who pointed me in the right direction. I got to the right counter and picked up my boarding pass. I didn't have a choice in where I sat and I ended up getting the very last row in the plane, between two people :( After I got my pass, I went and exchanged $20 CAN into $13 US and bought a roast beef sandwich and a water. After I finished it I felt a little queasy, but I think it was more from nervousness than food poisoning. I made a collect call to my family which was ignored and then repeated and got through. Then I took a horrible 13 hour flight.

I sat beside a girl who was on a renewed contract with JET and we talked a little about it. She gave me some good pointers and our conversations grew sparse. We ended up doing our own things and only really talked when her or myself got up to stretch or use the washroom. Luckily, she was not upset about me getting up so much. I couldn't really fall asleep on the plane, since I couldn't recline my seat. It was practically up against the kitchen wall. I watched "Over the Hedge" which was pretty lame, "16 Blocks" with Bruce Willis and Mos Def, which was tolerable, and "She's the Man", which was in my opinion, a very entertaining romp through adolescence. I actually watched it twice. Aside from that, I listened to my ipod and read my really long book, which I still haven't finished. It's paper back, but the font is miniscule and I can't seem to get it done.

When I stepped off the plane, I almost fell over. The transition from the air condioned plane to the humidity of Kansai airport was really intense. I instantly became damp with condensation and sweat and I lumbered through the terminals with my luggage. I was the last off the plane, but because of my leet walking skills, I made it past more than half the plane before immigration. It still took me 35 minutes to make it through, and when I saw Tomoko, I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.

We took the bus for about an hour to a station where her parents picked us up. They were SO nice and even could speak a little English, which was good, since my Japanese was completely forgotten at that point. We got to Tomoko's house, where we talked for a little and then I went to bed early.

And so ended my first day in Japan. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode. The rest of Osaka and what happened when I got to Fukuoka.

Photos, not blog

2006-09-06T13:31:00.000+09:00

Ok, I know I said that there would be blog, but im busy, so heres photos so far. more photos this evening and a blog. I already wrote a little in Wordpad. PHOTOS/PICTURES

online

2006-09-04T20:29:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I just got my internet, and I know I said I would update more, but I still have to wait to get a cable to hook my camera to my laptop. That means that I wont have pictures ready until tomorrow, so I am just going to write the big blog then. I definitly have a big undertaking ahead of me. see ya then.

marc

I am overwhelmed

2006-08-27T06:49:00.000+09:00

Hey. I finally arrived. I can`t believe that I`m here in Japan. And I can`t seem to remember where the apostrophe is on Japanese keyboards. Its pretty early here, almost 7am, and since I couldn`t sleep on the plane, I only got to sleep after about 30 hours when I got to Tomoko`s house, I think I may have avoided any severe jet lag. This is about the time I have been waking up all summer to go to work, so it seems ok.

The flight from Chicago really sucked. The food was terrible and I was only able to get down the first meal, which was probably a mistake. It was some sort of ginger/curry chicken, which was abou 15 times over-seasoned. It made me feel really queasy, when combined with the turbulence. I ate the instant bowl of ramen they gave us for the snack along with the cookie, and then skipped the second lunch for fear of having to throw up on my fellow passengers. The smell alone was sickening enough. Other than that, the flight went by pretty smooth. I listened to my music and read for about 4 hours of the flight, and watched the crappy movies the rest. I watched `Over the hedge` which was not very good, `16 Blocks` which was ok, and `She`s the man` which was sadly the most exciting out of all of them.

The plane was really really airconditioned, so that when I stepped off of it, I was hit with the heat and humidity of Osaka really badly. It was like getting bitch slapped in the face by a 300 pound, sweaty otaku, who jsut realized I had bought the last shoujo manga from the discount bin. I was instantly sweating, and I am going to try to wear more comfortable clothes for today. It took me at least 35 minutes to clear all the quarantine and departure crap, since my seat was at the very last row in the airplane, leaving me to rush past everybody on the plane who was ahead of me. But, everything worked out. Tomoko was waiting for me outside of baggage, although I didnt recognize her at first since she was dressed so differently and her hair was longer. We took the bus for about an hour to where her parents met up with us. They are really nice people and luckily Tomoko has been practicing english with them, so our first meeting was not too awkward. I haven`t been studying Japanese, so a lot of my vocab has disappeared. This makes sentence composition really hard, so their English helped a lot. We got to their home, had a delicious supper, I took a shower, and then promptly went to bed. It was a nice evening spent with everyone though, and they liked the gifts I had brought.

On a side note, one thing I had forgotten about Japan is, motorcycles do not use traffic lanes like cars. EVERY motoricyclist either rides up between cars, or between the curb and the cars. This would be fine if it was just a few, but they ALL do it. And they are always going at least 20 km/h faster than traffic. It`s unbelievable, but it makes sense. In Canada, it is illegal, and if you get hurt or hit, or cause an accident bacause you are lane-splitting, YOU are at fault and get in trouble. But here, the smaller vehicle is in the right-of-way, which means no matter what, the bigger car pays, and usually just cash on the spot. That means there is no punishment for sriving like a bat out of hell on a bike. NUTS!

I`ll have pictures up soon as I get to I-house and set up my laptop. I will also try to make a video which I will upload to youtube for y`all.

PEACE out!

AAH, 10 hours left

2006-08-25T10:57:00.000+09:00

AHH, 10 hours left!!!