Weather forecast says,

"Snow Flurries today". I guess that’s when the snow comes down in light snowflakes that float to the ground. What the weather forecast doesn’t say is that if the wind is blowing hard (which it is) one could call it a blizzard. But it’s kind of like Hawaii rain showers. The snow comes down hard for about 10 minutes and then it just stops. But 15 minutes later the snow starts to “flurry” again.

I seem to be left with the rest of the day to do nothing. There is an open house for only the second graders so the rest of the school gets to go home. But not me. I guess I can request to go to the GEC but by the time I get there it’ll probably be about 3-ish. That means I need to occupy myself for about 1 and 1/2 hours. I guess I can stay on the computer here (at school) and get a ride to the station. There’s a teacher here that always offers to give me a ride to the station. The walk takes a good 20 minutes but the car ride is less than 5. I guess I can take my time and cruise it in school.

Before I forget. I just wanted to express that I fully understand why Japanese people are always running in the train station. SECONDS DO MATTER. Prime experience this morning, so I was a few minutes late getting out of the house today, but it shouldn’t have changed me getting to school on time. Anyway I get to the first train station and realize I just missed a train. No biggy cause the next one I about 5 minutes away. But the train is about 2 minutes late and there seems to be a lot more people than usual. I get on the train and notice that my pre-paid pass is running out of space. Anyway I got to get a new one at the transfer point when I see tons of people booking it. I get a weird sense of urgency so I try to hurry. I get to the steps and can hear all the people getting off and on. I’m making my mad dash down the stairs when a couple realizes that they’re going the wrong way and totally stop and try to go back up the stairs. It’s like going the opposite direction on the freeway. I’m unfortunately one that gets hit by on coming traffic and stalled. I get pass them only to see the door holder guys pull away from the doors to let the train go. I was right there!! I was so pissed. And it just so happened to be the last train I needed to get to school. I had to wait 15 minutes for the next one to come and that was even more crowded than the first one.

I had to wait 15 minutes extra, totally speed walk to school, its about 29 degrees this morning, cancel my morning convenient store run, and get to school super tired.
And only if I had two more seconds from the beginning. I would have been fine…

Stupid assholes on the stairs, door guys slacking at work, dumb card running out of space, weather being too cold, and the school being a 20 leisure walk from the train station. All these factors made my day start off pretty bad but now I’m ok…

Break It down

What're we playing? THUMPER!

And why are we playing it? TO GET FUCKED UP! That was the way our Saturday went for us at the Dan-Dan residence. The KEG party was a total success! We had kegs, ice loges, university pride, power hour, funnels, flip cup, and thumper. If I recall correctly the only thing wrong with the party was that there no fat chicks to make out with. Supposedly this is one of the main things you do at a frat party. I don’t know what kind of parties I went to at UH because Saturday’s party was awesome!

Well first of all Krystal and I found a really cool Chinese place to eat that feels the most like home. We stopped off there first to get some starch into our stomachs. Our prefectural advisor said this place has the best fired rice in the world. Obviously he hasn’t been to Hawaii but for Japan standards it was pretty awesome.

And then the party! I did my first ice loges with grand marinier. Basically it’s a slab of ice made to look like a slide. Then the person at the bottom opens his/her mouth and the liquor is poured down. The perks for the ice loges is that the liquor gets really cool on the way down the loges making it of so tasty…mmm

We also played a few drinking games. I got to play my first game of power hour. What you do is drink a shot of beer every minute. If you miss a minute you have to drink a shot out of a straw. Which is totally wrong in the rulebook of drinking beer. I feel the same way when drinking water out of a straw… feels wrong. Anyway we only played 20 minutes because I noticed that no one else was playing but William and me. So then I moved on to play Thumper.

Just a simple gesture game where everyone has a specific gesture and at random you choose to do other people’s gestures. If someone does your gesture than you have to do yours and another player’s. If you make a mistake you need to drink a serious amount of beer. I think this is where I got pretty tipsy. I only made a few mistakes but it was a good four plastic cupfuls of beer.

Actually we were afraid that the noise was getting out of hand and the police might have come so we left. A few of us headed down to another part of town where the party goes on until morning. We decided to get some kebabs (which were freakin’ awesome) and more beer. We also did two rounds of hooka(?). Giant water bong thing that you smoke flavored incense stuff. It was actually really good tasted like cotton candy. I believe the two flavors we had were apple and melon.

After we stumbled home it was about 3:30. For a party that started at 7:30 I thought we did pretty good. Then hibernation started. I think we woke up at 12 the next day. We did a few errands and even treated ourselves to a massage at Latone. That place totally rocks and they make you feel like a celebrity with their service. For example they walk you all the way to the elevator and push the buttons for you. And they bow and stay bowed until the door closes.

What an alcoholic weekend… paleeze ser I wont sam’or…

Break it down!

Holla Holla its FRIDAY!

Yay! It's Friday! Finally made it through another week. It wasn't really a tough one but it was a longer week than usual. At three of my 4 schools, I asked the teachers if I can go over the last few months I have left in the school year. I think I was staying until 5:30 or so. But I did get a break yesterday since I had my recontracting interview. That was a breeze since the interviewees were no other than Yano and Takemoto Sensei. It was just as if we were chatting in a cafe or bar or wherever you go to drink and talk story. After the interview I had nothing to do all day so it was GEC day. Actually I did a lot of work at the GEC. All the meetings I had called for in depth lessons and reinforcement activities.

This weekend? Hmmm, what to do this weekend? Well Krystal said she was gonna go shopping with Elisa... which means that I get to go home and maybe play some video games? Yeah that's sounds like a plan. Actually we might go to the movies tonight. I've been wanting to see Ocean's 12 even though my buddy Kevin said it was a major bomb. A little reluctant to go see but we need something to do tonight. We've stayed home more often to save money but we end up eating dinner and watching TV until we fall asleep. Movie would be nice or maybe Karaoke?

This Saturday, there's gonna be a Keg party at my friend Danny's house. Keg party I've only been to about 2 but the party was way too big for anyone to notice me. I heard about some of the crazy things that go on during the Keg party and I'm a little intimidated by it. It sounds like everyone has the ability to do Keg stands, beer bongs, and etc. I dunno if I can handle...

Sunday is probably gonna be stay home day since Krystal and I might be hungover. Actually its a good day to stay in since the weather forecast calls for showers all day. A perfect "get out of a hangover day." Weekends are so appreciated nowadays...

and Joel~ I believe I reminded Krystal, she just beat me to the blog... ungrateful bastard...

Breaking it down...

To our friend back in Hawaii

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL!!

From all of your friends in Japan, Happy Birthday. I wish we were there to get you drunk because you know how that gets... molesting waitresses and the uncontrollable laughter.

Anyways sing some songs, eat cake, and be merry!!

One of these things are doing its one thing...

So anyway I was trying to boycott Blogger yesterday. I started writing a post when in the middle of the blog it totally erased on me. So I actually attempted to start all over again and finshed. But when I went to push publish the bastard thing said "An Error has Occured" and I lost it... so I thought. When I checked it today it was in the editing section. WHAT THE HELL!? Blogger is so unreliable. Anyway it saved the blog so I guess the boycott is over.

Ok back to the original story, I was on my way home yesterday and something happened. I waited at the station for my usual Tuesday train, when it came I got on, and I thought everything was ok. When I first get in the train is not really packed but all seats are taken. Especially if you want to sit by yourself. This train is a little different that all the seats face one direction, like a real train. Other trains and subways have seats along the sides and the passengers face each other. So I get on the train at my usual Tuesday station and get in just like every other Tuesday. I get on and get a weird feeling, as if I got on the wrong train. So anyway I decided to just mind my own business when a lady gets off and vacates her seat. I quickly grab it and continue with my own business. As we're going along, I still get a weird feeling and that's when I look up and see a big pink sign that says, "This cart is for WOMEN only." I got on the womens' cart! Some trains have a women only cart so women can feel safe when taking a train and not being approached by men or molestors, or whoever. I didn't know what to do. I was on the cart and looked around and only women were in here. I didn't want to look stupid and switched carts inbetween stops. So when the next stop came up I dug out even if it wasn't the my stop so I can go into a different cart. Just so happens that I rode the train all the way to my own stop in the womens' cart. Hasukashiiiiiii (embarrasing)

Other than that nothing out of the ordinary.

Break it DOWN!!

Being lethargic...

OK that was really weird. Most post just deleted just now and I have to write it all over again. Anyway is that how you spell lathargic? You know what I mean. Anyway sorry for the long delay in posts. The computers at school have been very inaccessible. I was thinking that there wasn't anything new to post about but we did do a lot of stuff this weekend.

For one we had our much needed trip to Costco. I think we spent about 200 dollars this time. I was also lucky to find a 512 Mg USB jump drive for about 60 dollars. I figure I might need it soon. Also our new British friend Jamie came with us. It was his absolute first time and it was hilarious. He made weird comments such as "we should all get a house together and live 5 minutes away. That way we can live a fantasy everyday." He was most giddy when he got to the meat section and he saw real beef. Nice, juciy steaks are a very rare sight in Japan.

That nigth we were supposed to have a movie night but it got canceled so we just had a few beers and hung out with Kevin and Val.

SHIT!! Just found out that the Eagles won and they're going to the Superbowl!!

Anyway nothing much going on other than that. We did have the last day of the sumo pool and I came in smack in the middle. Too high to get the last place prize and too low to get any of the pot. Oh wells there's always next time.

Newest news: I have just re-contracted to do JET one more year. I feel like I haven't seen all the things I want to see and basically saved nothing as far as money goes. I really miss home but I think when I go back in the summer I should get over it fast and since this year went by so fast I should be ok for another year. The harder question is whether I want to stay a third year.

Also Lisa: If you're reading this or anyone that is interested. I found a new anime to download and watch. It's called MY HiME. I think you'll like it. HiME stands for Highly-advanced Materilizing Equipment. Its a part Rayearth (magical powers and weapons) part School Rumble, (teenage love-hate relationships in schoolgirl outfits) part Love Hina (some exaggerted slapstick comedy). I think they'reon episode 14 so not too bad. You'll have plenty of time to download between Naruto and Bleach. And I'll try to look for others. There's a new one called AIR but its more of a drama and the story is really weird. Havem't decided if I like it our not. Good news about My HiME, its coming out on DVD the smae time as school rumble. Migh have english subtitles too. Enjoy...

Running on E...

"E" as is in empty. Yesterday I had three lessons of Fishy-Fishy. A tag game that I basically made into a cultural lesson about Hawaii. So anyway I got really tired, and i think I'm still tired from yesterday. I just feel a little more slugish. But the fifth period lesson is a new lesson where the students play a giant board game so I think that it'll be funny to watch.

My right hip is also acting werid. Last night Krystal and I fell alseep under the kotatsu and when I woke up this morning, I was a little sore. I guess the full comfortable sleep was needed to recooperate from yesterday's total active-ness. Maybe I can convince Krystal that we not be too lazy today.

Good news, I got a care package from yesterday. It was some new shoes, toothpaste, and some Tylenol. I know that sounds kind of lame but the drug products here seem weird. And I know that Tylenol works so I'm gonna stick with it until something better comes along. Actually ever since I got sick a couple of months ago, my mom is paranoid that I'm always unhealty. So after that one time she keeps sending American drup remedies.

I also got some new shoes. No matter how hard I looked I can't find 11 1/2 sizes anywhere. Well let me take that back I could find some... and there's a reason why those are available, They have really nice looking VANS and Adidas, they even have Pony's but nothing is larger than 10. Maybe you might get lucky and find a 10 1/2. So anyway I called home about a week ago and told my mom I needed shoes. But I talked to my sister, Denyse what I was looking for. She actually found the same shoes that I have now but in Navy blue with Orange trim. I asked for black shoes but I kind of like the navy blues. Goes with my orange theme in Japan.

Just one more day until payday. I really need this paycheck too. The bills are piling and we really need some food. Break down for the new paycheck...

500- Rent
500-Savings
500-Mom & Dad
100- Elisa for DVDs
200- For Internet & Cell phone
40- Haircut
100- For laptop to TV connector thingy
??? - Costco trip

I think thats it for now... hopefully I can make the rest last.


Broke it down.... :(

Weekend update with Chris Lee...

January 17th 2005, just another Monday. The weather has been pretty crappy with the rain coming and stopping all weekend. Not to mention that the temperature is usually around the 40-35 mark. This kind of made the bike ride to school today very wet and cold. So what did we do this weekend? Hmm....

Well Friday night was a stay home night. Actually we're trying to save money so staying home was the best thing to do. My friend Elisa brought back a couple of DVDs for me this past winter break and one of them was Party of Five season 1. Yeah I know, kinda girly but I think it was my first real prime time drama I got into. Plus PoF is responsible for my infatuation with Jennifer Love Hewitt. While most people with disagree that she is only a pretty face with big boobs, I feel that every teenage needed a dream girl. Like Joel aka LUSCIOUS and his song Liquid Dreams. Anyway PoF has become our dinner show.

I also got to watch this movie called Shaun of the Dead, A spoof of all the zombie flicks that have been coming out in recent years. Its about a guy fed up with everyday life and compares his life to a zombie, when coincidentally a plague turning people into zombies is taking effect in his home town. Its a British comedy and usually I don't get British humor but it was mainstream enough for me to understand what was going on. I recommend it if you like crude humor and harmless horror.

Saturday was a lazy day where we slept until 1 and had breakfast at 2. It was a special breakfast indeed. We had eggs easy over, sausages, SPAM, and toast. It was very very very very very very very very good. Why? 'Cause yours truly made it. Krystal makes about 98% of all the meals we eat and the other 2% is me buying food for dinner so I thought it would be nice to make her a meal for once. Honestly I thought my eggs came out better, not saying her eggs are bad...

That night we went to our PA's (Prefectural Advisor) birthday party. His wife set up a small get together with a few people to have dinner/drinks and bowling. The restaurant we went to was pretty nice. I think it was an izukaiya, place where you can order tons of pupus and drinks. Weird part was that they ran out of glasses so we needed to keep whichever glass they gave us originally. For a restaurant to run out of glasses or any dishes is kind of weird. But the food was good and the drinks were bottomless. Afterwards we headed to the bowling alley for some good wholesome fun. We played about three games each but on one lane it was Krystal, Helen and me. But on the other lanes there were like 6-7 people. So our games ended really fast while the other guys took a long time. The guys in the middle with the most people actually took about 3 hours. Have the people there had already left before they even finished game 2. Nevertheless it was fun.

Sunday was another lazy day. We stayed indoors all day and did some chores. The weather was so bad that it was a perfect day to watch TV. 　Watched a few more episodes of PoF and even watched The Jackal on TV. The one with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere. Not one of their best films but Jack Black is in it and Richard Gere's horrible Irish accent was worth it.

And another week starts... at least its pay week...

Break it down

Good to be back but not...

Hey everyone, It's Friday and that means that I'm at the school that I have the most trouble in. Actually its only one grade that really gets me messed up. Anyway I came in today expecting to cruise since I was not given a new schedule. They can't possible want me to teach today right? WRONG! As i walked in the door the teacher is already telling me that I have fifth graders and one fourth grade class. So, ok I guess I'm willing to teach them... what?..... You have no plans? What do I have in planned? HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE PLANS!?!? So where does this put me? Rushing around for 45 minutes trying to scrape something up to teach. I did warn them that if I couldn't find anything then I was gonna do foods.

Anyway I decided to scramble for some occupation pictures and that's what I did. I couldn't believe that no one knew what was gonna happen when I came. I hate when the schools do that. Oh here you go, an extra lesson, becuase we know you'll do it. That mentality is really starting to piss me off. But all in all the kids are there to make it all better.

What do you do as an elementary foreign language teacher when you have no idea to do? Make them play a game. And the game I decided to play was the ever popular gesture game. It's always fun to laugh at the kids when they try to do anything dealing with gestures. But what really made me laugh was when I looked over to see one of the teachers trying to warm up his feet above the classroom heater. What a funny sight!! I starting lauging really hard because I didn't know what to do. And to takle the attention off me, I decided to point at a kid doing a gesture to make the game seem that much more fun. But yeah what a hilarious sight...

Actaully more good news, I have my BOE health check thing next Friday and it just so happens to be the day that I'm scheduled to teach all of the sixth grade classes. So the planned worked I guess. But at the same time I was a little disaapointed because that same Friday is an open house kind of day, where the students' parents are allowed to watch their child in any of their classes. I thought that might be a good day to actually get something through to the sixth graders but oh wells...

That was pretty cool...

Ok so a couple of posts back I talked about my resolutions. And I think I just conquered resolution 1. Well if I haven't told you how cold it was in Japan, then look on my Kyoto Tenki link and find out. But yeah, its fricken freezing! How freezing you might ask? I might reply, "didn't I just tell you the title of the link to Yahoo Weather?" Then you might say," no seriously what happened?" Then I would/will reply, "well, I was just in the bathroom (to take a piss) when I realized something I have never seen before. (ok ok ok I set myself up for that one) during the perfectly normal human function of PISSING I noticed some steam. Yup that's right. It's so cold here especially in the schools that when I went take a piss it was steaming. Who would of thought that I would meet my resloutions already? 1 down, 2 more to go...

Break it Down

Zombie action...

Anyone else feeling a little sluggish today? I feel like a zombie looking around for some brain to munch on. Getting back to school and the rountine of things is a lot harder as a teacher than a student. In college I remember going out the last day of the breaks to wake up early and sit in 5 classes worth of syllabi. But here, getting back into the classroom is draining and I'm running on empty.

Speaking of zombies I was watching Van Helsing yesterday and there was a trailor for a movie called Shawn of the Dead. I'm assuming its spoofing zombie flicks and Dawn of the Dead. Anyway at first it looked like a movie about everyday boredom. The stereotypical guy having trouble waking up and then going to work in traffic. Gets to work late to sit in his cubicle and zones out for the rest of the day. It was very Office Space-ish. Then it starts to get into this zombie thing and then the trailor turns into a horror trailor. The scary music, shadows and sillouettes of "zombies" walking around. Then "Shawn" is made into a hero by taking out a zombie which turns it into a comedy trailer where Shawn and his sidekick, (some non-attractive coach potatoe looking guy) start fighting zombies. The most memorable part I still laugh to myself about is the a part where they're at the end of a street and beat box to each other. And they pause to put a zombie moan into their new rhythm. They do this a few times to get the comedic atmosphere just right to intorduce the title "Shawn of the Dead". You guys think Krystal would watch it? At least the trailor... I hope.

So I'm at my Wednesday school, its been a while since I've been here. I feel like this is one of my better schools but I probably come here the least. All the sick days, mid-week holidays, and meetings are always occurinig on Wednesday or Tuesday. But it was good to see the kids and the teachers here. This is also the infamous enkai school. I usually go to all the enkais this school invites me to. Its pretty funny when I look around because all these teachers at one point were talking about perverted topics such as who is the most "ero" or perverted, who likes whom, and who their gay partners are. Now when I look around, they're all working pretty intensely. Its cool because sometimes when I pass a teacher in the hall they give me a shy-sheepish smile that says, "I hope he doesn't remember me saying all that stuff at the enkai." And its not just the teachers, its the principal and the vice principal too.

Today is also the day I have to catch the bus home. After the first couple of weeks here, I don't feel like I ride the bus that often. It brings me back to "small kid time" when I caught the bus to school everyday. Rain or shine. I remember the day that hurricane Iniki was close by and waiting at the bus stop. But anyway to catch the bus I need to leave her about 15 minutes earlier than usual. If not I have to wait about 30 minutes for the next one. I wonder if they'll let me go early? Ok, 'til tomorrow.

Break it Down

Is it too late to make New Year's resolutions?

Well if it is then too bad... I didn't have time to sit and think about this. If you're gonna break resolutions ones should really put in the time to think about it. Anyway here they are:

1- Do Something I haven't done before. Living in Hawaii you come to realize that there is so much of the world that you haven't seen. I do have the advantage of being in Japan so I should see the world, or at least something close by.

2- Learn Japanese. To the point where I can have a general understanding of the language and converse in everyday situations. For example: ordering food, giving directions, asking/answering questions, and etc. If I plan to live here for at least two years then I should be able to show it, or shall I say speak it?

3- Have a 95% accuracy rating in my blogs. This is a recent resolution. Last night I got some critisicm that my blogs are hard to read and most of the time don't make sense. I was gonna brush it off but after being accused of eating babies because of my horrific spelling, I think its time to change.

Anyway first day back to teaching. We just had a morning assembly and the students look pretty calm. But maybe because its fricken freezng here. I believe its in the 30's at the moment. I feel kind of bad for the students. The schools don't have central heating so majority of the classrooms don't have heat. Which means its pretty cold in there. The staff room has a couple of heaters in certain areas that make the room pretty comfortable. Actually as I'm typing, the computer is right next to one of the heaters making my stay here very warm. Gotta get going soon, work calls.

BREAk it Down

First day back...

Well I'm at my base school, doing absouletly NOTHING! Well today is the opening ceremony and there are no classes today. The students are only here til about 12:00 and the teachers go to a big meeting at 2. SO where does that leave me? I'm debating whether or not to ask to go to the GEC. AT least there I can listen to music or not be obligated to be doing soemthing. And I'm sure I'll find someting to do there. As for now just twiddling thumbs and sitting in an empty staff room.

A new year has begun and I think that it'll be just as great as it was last year. As for work for those of you who don't know, the Kyoto Board of Education is doing some major reconstruction. As well the rest of Japan, but in Kyoto the JET people are affected greatly. So to break it down....

Kyoto has 41 school districts. That's elementary feeding into intermidiate schools. As of now there are 24 JET that teach in elementary and intermidiate. That means that about 27 school districts either have a private English lanugage teacher or none at all. So what the BOE is gonna do is higher 27 new English language teachers and as well as anymore JETs they can get for next year and divide us all among the 41 districts. After ou do the math that means each JET/English Laugage teacher gets about 7 Elementarys schools and 2 Intermidiate schools. Spreading us a little thin? I htink so...

So within the JETs theres a panic struggle to keep the system the way it is or have picks of which schools you want to say in. But as you the hierarchy system says that we have absolutely no say in this decision. BOE's perspective, "you can and will be replaced". So what to do? Cross your fingers and hope for the best I guess. Ok I think this guy is waiting for the computer. I'll finish later...

Break it down...

Just another Manic Tuesday

Yeah yeah yeah, I know that today isn't Monday like the song but it feels like a Monday. It was our first day back to work after the not quite too long winter vacation. We don't have to go to the school but we had to do something, so here I am at the GEC fooling around as usual.

This morning was very productive. We came in about 15 minutes late. Which wasn''t too bad because everyone else came in about 15 minutes after us. Then we did some elementary trump game called "Asshole". I believe we call it "Rich man, Poor man". Anyway after about 2 hours of playing we decided to stop since the GEC people, well person came over the cubicle walls and gave our group a "dirty look". Then my buddy Kevin started to get all paranoid and wanted to stop the game. I actually felt the same but the new game was really interesting. But I guess we were really pushing it, with what we can get away with. But at the same time no one is really working here, or at least the ALTs are not working.

But anyway with all that done we felt that we needed to get away so we went on a early lunch break. We actaully had lunch donwstairs in the lobby type area but had a nice walk through Teramachi and Sanjo. We then had a nice dessert sitting at McDonald's where we discovered that Omlette Rice was not as healthy as we all thought it was. But other than that I have my laptop at the center for two reaons: 1- Do something with the minimal wiresless network available through the window and 2-Watching DVDs secretly without the bosses finding out. So what am I doing now? Doing #1, not peeing but trying to occupy my time with something semi-productive than drooling on the table.

Zzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzzz....Break it down