Coquelicot, because that was the first word that jumped into my head

Hello Friends,

Here is the quick update of my past week.

Last Friday night, I went to Erin and Crystal's karaoke birthday party! It was wicked fun. We ate dinner at Palki and then moved onto karaoke. Seth, Tina, and I got there late because we were shopping for snowboarding stuff at Xebio. The karaoke was cool, but I'm not a big fan of singing in front of other people, so that took awhile and some drinks.

Last Saturday I went to Okunakayama, a small mountain, where I tried to practice my snowboarding abilities. Unfortunately, the ground was pure ice, so I didn't really get to learn anything, I was more afraid of how much it hurt to fall down (a lot...even with pads). It was not fun, and I was more frustrated that I didn't get to learn anything. Ah well. After that, those of us who left early (most of us) went to an onsen on the way there.

This was perfect for after a day of snowboarding. Warm water, good food...you can almost pretend there aren't any naked old people. Almost.

Sunday I went to a wind ensemble concert with many of the Hachinohe JETs. Their Japanese coworker was playing. I ran into one of my teachers at Nosawa...he seems to be pretty big into the band scene in Hach (awhile back I went to his jazz concert). Afterwards, we went as a group to see the newest Bond movie. Some of us, including yours truly, dressed up. Unfortunately, we weren't told of this until the night before, which really wasn't ideal even though people knew we wanted to dress up. Regardless, it was still good. I didn't think this movie was one of the better Bonds though. I thought that the camera was too much like in the Bourne movies at times, you know, way too shaky and not revealing enough of the action during the action scenes. It didn't ruin the hand-to-hand scenes, but that car chase scene at the beginning was just watching a few blurs moving around objects we couldn't see. I understand the theory behind the camera-work, but I think it's a case of theory versus practicality.

So, that was my weekend. During the week, I just had the usual. Teaching et al. My shower was fixed though, which is awesome! I can now shower in my apartment, level up!

After my self-introduction in class, I usually answer student's questions about anything. As you can imagine, that can lead to a lot of interesting questions. Today was a brilliant example. The young 3rd grader- we'll call him Timmy, in the vein of his strong desire to learn English- asked "Why do Americans have big noses?" How do you answer that? How was I supposed to answer? "It's genetics, kid." I wish I could have explained. But, I was just left saying "wakaranai- i don't know."

Ah, that brings me to another point. For those of you who might not have realized this, Japan is a country where 98 percent of people DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. This includes the younger generation. It is not like some European countries where "everyone speaks english" even though it is not the main language. Old or young alike, in Japan, (almost) NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH. Hence, they are kind enough to offer me a job here. And, being the charitable soul that I am, I am kind enough to take it.

Another short one, again, mostly for my recollection. I hope you had a good week, and good luck next week. Hopefully the next post will be longer and more involved.

Also, still no godzilla, I must've scared him when I first landed in Tokyo.

Greg out.

I passed my coworker walking home from the office tonight at 10:17pm. Yeah.

Uninspired Post Written by a Tired Worker on Friday

Good evening,

So, another week has passed, and here you are, reading my blog, wondering, "what could Greg have possibly done this week?" Well, you came to the right place, 'cause I'm here to tell you.

Last weekend was fun. What did I do...uhhh

Ah yes, now I remember. Friday night I went to Wade's place to hang out with him, Paul, Tina, Natalie, and Erin. It took me about an hour to drive what should have been 30 minutes, but I'll get into my "Japanese-drivers" rant soon and spare you now. We played Left 4 Dead until the girls arrived, and then we watched Batman: The Dark Night. Wicked fun, and it was my first time seeing Wade's place. Afterwards, we hung out for awhile, talking and eating Wade's Starbursts.

Saturday we had lunch at the Viking (all-you-can-eat) Yakiniku place. I'm pretty sure I covered our table's tab, I had huge bowls of meat, and was still eating long after everyone else had finished. Afterwards, I did some errands- Yamada Denki (the electronics store) and so forth, the gym, and then went to Paul's house to hang out that night.

I got there and we played some more Left 4 Dead. Then, Paul, Nick, and I, met up with Tina downtown, and went to see......Paul's girlfriend! Yes, Paul (or Po-ru San, as he is called at school), has a Japanese girlfriend. He has been reluctant to introduce us to her, but we were finally able to convince him to take us to the ramen shop she works at. We went to the shop, ordered some ramen, and tried not to be stereotypical Gaijin fools. So, we were able to look at his girlfriend, but we were unable to actually speak with her until we paid for our meal. It was really only enough for a quick (my name is blank, I'm from blank), but still, it was good just to see what she looks like.

We headed back to Paul's, played some more vidja-games, hung out, and then went home our separate ways.

Sunday I cleaned my apartment and skyped. Seth came by that night and we cooked dinner (beef and broccoli) and played some RE4. We also moved my piano into my heat room, and, wow, suddenly I've been practicing again. I feel bad for my teacher, who had to endure my not-practicing for so long, because my piano was in one of my cold-rooms for awhile.

I suppose I should explain to you "heat room" and "cold room." They are pretty self-explanatory, but, my "heat room" is comprised of my kitchen, living room, and bedroom. These rooms are all within range of my heater, and I close the doors to the non-heated areas to keep the heat in. It works quite well. The "cold rooms," are those not heated by my heater, and therefore are useless to me except for the occasional run to the bathroom.

Wednesday night, Paul hosted a movie night at his house, and we watched the movie "Old Boy," which I highly recommend. It's a Korean movie. The only part I cringed at was when the main character eats a live octopus, and you can see the tentacles squirming and sucking all over his face. Even when the character falls face-down on his plate because he "passes out," the tentactles are still all squirming outside his mouth. Since I already hate that part of octopi, I was engrossed- I had to watch it, but it's something I could never do. It was so delightfully freaky that I had to watch. Unfortunately, the disc skipped about halfway through, so I still don't know what happened to the guy! NO!

We also played Mario 3, which is only the best game ever invented. I either scared or impressed people with my insane (read: encyclopedic) knowledge of the game and all of the secrets in all of it's levels. Either way, we almost beat the game that night.

Afterwards, I went to the onsen with Erin and Tina, since my shower is broken. Oh, funny thing about my shower...it's broken. Actually, not so funny. I've been going to onsens almost every night. So, we went to Gokuraku, an onsen close to their area, and the best one in Hachinohe. We got post-dinner dinner there, and then onsenned. It was good, and on the drive back, Erin turned 27!

Last night was boxing with Matt and Joe. It's always wicked fun, and I can't wait to box again. Matt bought some pads and gloves, so we practice at Body Park in Nanbu. It feels really good to hit something and practice martial arts. I just want to go again.

Here's one from the past. At one of my middle schools, I asked a student "What three foods do you like?" His answer:

"I like cheese. cheese- cheese- I like- umm...cheese, i like-chee-cheese, and...eto...cheese, cheese..." This literally went on for a good 4 minutes, until the teacher had to interrupt and say "how about ramen and tempura?"

"...ramen and tempura..." Ok. Well, it was much funnier when I was actually there.

Somehow I've gotten the newkid to smile at me, like we are sharing this inside joke. I don't know what the inside joke is though, and I'm not sure what he means when he briefly smiles at me. Best case scenario, he is observing me to make sure that I am worthy of receiving his 10 billion dollar check...now! Guess not yet. Worst case scenario, he is smiling sadistically, thinking about how I won't figure out he's an axe-murder until later tonight. I'm hoping for the former.

Regardless, I think this is a good move forward. It means that, perhaps, he is less afraid and more willing to...not be afraid(?).

Ah, this Monday I went to Shorenji Kempo, that karate class I've been taking, and I told them that I was quitting. It's sad, but true. I'm not learning much, and it's just not that fun or practical.

Hmm, what next? What else? This weekend is here. I'm going to Erin and Crystal's joint b-day party and karaoke. Should be good. Tomorrow I'll be snowboarding at Okunakayama. That's about all I've got planned for now.

I forgot to mention that I just came back from calligraphy. I was supposed to write a wish (in Kanji) on a piece of paper in Japanese calligraphy. The English teacher wrote out my wish (for happiness and health for my family), and I practiced a few times before getting on my knees (which hurts, fyi) and calligraphy-ing it. Unfortunately, on my official run-through (on the official paper and everything), I wrote in the wrong order. Ms. Kamiyama came to the rescue, my wish was changed from happiness and "health for my family" to "I wish to be a safety-driver." Not a bad rebound, I daresay. Now, this anzen unten hito is going to sign off. Work is done for the day and I'm going home.

Good luck, and please, be a safety driver.

First Post-Korea Pre-Next Week, After "Adult Day" and Snowboarding Post

Welcome back, everyone.

Sorry to have deprived you of my blog posts for so long, I had quite a great winter vacation. I’m back from South Korea! I forgot to mention that I was going to South Korea in my last blog post. So here is your late notification, I’m going to South Korea. And I’m back, safe and sound. It was an amazing trip, from December 16th to December 30th. On the 30th, I arrived back in Tokyo, and stayed there until the 1st. There’s so much to write about, and so much that I did. I'm going to avoid that for now, because knowing the way I write, it will take the rest of this week just to get it down in the blog.

Instead, I'll catalogue the interesting points of what has happened since I've been back in Japan, and try to do Korea later, in my free time.

So, there are two new office workers. There's an 18 year old male who I'm sure I've complained about before, and will continue to complain about now. And there's a 19 or 20 year old female who just recently joined us after the winter vacation. Let's explore their role in the office.

First, the female, because her job seems much more understandable that the male's job. She has a binder. From this binder, she reads and types things in the computer. Sometimes, she'll copy things at the copy machine. This is the extent of her job. Oh, I almost forgot, she also has the privilege of turning the lights on and off in the morning and at lunch time, lucky her! On account of her actually doing something, I'll let her off the hook of my criticism. Also she will actually speak more than 2 words to me, that also counts in her favor.

Ok, let's get started with the guy. I don't know where to begin. Actually, I know exactly where to begin. I'll begin with his favorite activity, sitting in his chair and doing nothing. Yep, in an office where sometimes a coworker will close their eyes for 10 minutes during the middle of the day and do nothing, he manages to make them look hardworking. He'll sit in one position, look around with those alien-shaped eyes (Note: I am not making fun of the asian almond-shaped eyes, which are totally cool and fine by me, I am solely criticizing his poor genetic make-up when it comes to facial features). Sometimes he'll stare at the clock. How do I know that he's staring at the clock? Because it's directly behind him, and he has to turn his body 180 degrees to stare at it. For extended periods of time. Every once in awhile, he'll staple something, which I'm sure is the highlight of his day. One time, he was in the lobby, and I spoke with him. Sorry, *to* him. Here was our conversation:

"Hello, how are you?"
silence
"Where did you eat lunch?"
"Upstairs"
"Oh cool, what did you have?"
alien-eyed look
"A bento-box (Japanese traditional lunch box thingey)?"
"Yes."
"Ok, well, I'll see you later."
Silence, possible UFO transmission back to the mother ship.

Am I being a little rough on him? Probably. Does it matter? Not particularly, he won't find out about this website and can't read English. I don't actually feel strongly negatively towards him, but I thought this might be entertaining for you, my precious reader.

So, anyways, onto this weekend. Saturday was Skype-athon day. I spoke with no less than 4 people, and even my old kiwi flatmate from when I was in NZed. It was really great to catch up, and that accent is pretty rockin'.

Sunday I went snowboarding for the 1st time at Moya Hills (or, for you Japanese speakers in the blogosphere, Moya Hiruzu). I drove down with Laura S, Karesa, and Eric, who never fails to crack us up, whether it's how he named his cat Apparatus Recreational Vehicle (I think he opened the dictionary to a random page) or some other story. We eventually made it through all of the snow to Moya, which was awesome. After we arrived, we got to our cabins and met up with everyone who stayed there last night.

Then it was time for night snowboarding! Tina taught me some of the basics on how to snowboard, and then I practiced on the beginner hill for the rest of the night. I got some of the basics down, and I was ready for the next day to go up the mountain.

That night we went to an onsen, cause that's what you do in Japan. I was in there with Wheldon, Seth, and Eric, when a random Chinese guy came up to us and started talking to us in English. That's the thing about Japan, and Korea I noticed as well, people randomly want to come up to you and talk to you because you are a) white or b) speak English. For some reason, a disproportionate number of them feel more confident when naked, and wait until then to talk to us.

After the onsen, there was a little mini-party in the cabin, they cooked spaghetti, salad, and other stuff for dinner. Everyone was tired from that day, though, so it didn't last too long. We went to bed around 1ish, and then got up the next day for more snowboarding, until 3 pm!

Snowboarding is a lot of fun. First of all, it's much easier to learn than skiing. People debate this, and some of the people who think incorrectly say skiing is easier, but it's not. I like feeling like my legs won't go in opposite directions and I'll end up doing an unwanted split. Also, being able to stop whenever, wherever, without going 10 yards of snow-plowing, is really nice. I went up the mountain a few times with Weldon, Crystal, and Eric. I had a really good time snowboarding, and I look forward to doing it again!

Afterwards, we drove home, and I threw some laundry in, hit an onsen because I think the pipes to my toilet might be frozen, and came back and crashed. I'll definitely be going to bed earlier this week.

Since there are no classes this week, I'm just sitting at the office all day, doing nothing. So, I have a lot of time reading, doing nothing, writing this, losing motivation to write and do constructive things, reading again, trying to do something constructive, and then leaving for home at 4:30. At times, I think I'd rather be in the Admissions Office, keying in new recruits, or indexing with music. Larry! Do you need help with anything?!

So, I've read two books since I've been back, and finished the first Japanese textbook. Woo!

Ok, Random Japan, random japan, random japan, what shall I write about? There's got to be something, anything I can think of. Hmm, things have become too normalized. Ahh! I don't think I've written about my shower yet. Let's do that.

Unlike you dirty Westerners, we here in Japan have 6 steps to turning on our showers. (Well, actually, to be fair, it's only my apartment, everyone else has a normal shower.) Anyways, here's how the elite do it.
Step 1: Turn on the water to the shower.
Step 2: Turn on the gas to the shower.
Step 3: Turn the handle around, while turning the other handle counterclockwise to about 10 o'clock while pressing down and holding, until you see a blue gas flame through the glass
Step 4: Wait a few seconds and slowly raise up the other handle. If the blue flame disappears, go back to step 3.
Step 5: Take the raised handle and twist it counterclockwise, further, until about 7 or 8 o'clock.
Step 6: Turn the topmost handle to the showerhead, and prepare for a nice warm shower!

So that is how I do it in Japan. You Westerners think you're so clever with your showers, but now I can see you realize how inferior you are. And I bet you have insulation in your houses and apartments too...such folly.

Till next time!