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Sunday, August 31, 2003
multiply
it is so hot. and i am wearing a suit. thank goodness for air conditioning... i shall subject myself to the sweltering heat in 12 minutes... but not a minute less. i started work today! and i left at 10:30 am! because there was nothing for me to do! and i asked around! during the opening ceremonies, i had to stand on this metal podium and say my introductions... ahhahhhhhhh... i don`t really know what the students think, but they had jeremy for 2 years before. sigh. but 2 cool things:
a) the area that nakanominami jhs is in looks like a hybrid between north york and scarborough... lots of apartment buildings but tons and tons of trees... me so happyeeeeeeeeeeeeee
b) when i was leaving, a bunch of girls said bye to me... i had a stupid grin on my face i think.
should i bike to namba? hmmm... might as well... but it`s so hot... ugh. okay, transportation it is... mom sent me another email last night... she makes me laugh =) it`s so funny to read her exclamations about everything... sigh. apparently, remy is `talking` to them every morning??!! how fun!
i`m having trouble sleeping i think... i don`t think it`s insomnia. but it`s like there`s all of this stuff in my head that won`t leave and it keeps me up at night. and some of it is really dumb, like, i wonder what i am going to eat for breakfast... ??!! i`m a freak! but i`ll have this urge to pass out in the middle of the day... bizarro. well, maybe not so bizarro... i can fall asleep just about anywhere, like OAC music class (!!).. but not sleeping enough at night is bothering me.
like, what the heck eh? (how`s that for canadian-valley-girl-speak?)
nooooooo... time to go.... ick.
and oh yeah, pocari sweat? TASTES like sweat. so gross.
it is so hot. and i am wearing a suit. thank goodness for air conditioning... i shall subject myself to the sweltering heat in 12 minutes... but not a minute less. i started work today! and i left at 10:30 am! because there was nothing for me to do! and i asked around! during the opening ceremonies, i had to stand on this metal podium and say my introductions... ahhahhhhhhh... i don`t really know what the students think, but they had jeremy for 2 years before. sigh. but 2 cool things:
a) the area that nakanominami jhs is in looks like a hybrid between north york and scarborough... lots of apartment buildings but tons and tons of trees... me so happyeeeeeeeeeeeeee
b) when i was leaving, a bunch of girls said bye to me... i had a stupid grin on my face i think.
should i bike to namba? hmmm... might as well... but it`s so hot... ugh. okay, transportation it is... mom sent me another email last night... she makes me laugh =) it`s so funny to read her exclamations about everything... sigh. apparently, remy is `talking` to them every morning??!! how fun!
i`m having trouble sleeping i think... i don`t think it`s insomnia. but it`s like there`s all of this stuff in my head that won`t leave and it keeps me up at night. and some of it is really dumb, like, i wonder what i am going to eat for breakfast... ??!! i`m a freak! but i`ll have this urge to pass out in the middle of the day... bizarro. well, maybe not so bizarro... i can fall asleep just about anywhere, like OAC music class (!!).. but not sleeping enough at night is bothering me.
like, what the heck eh? (how`s that for canadian-valley-girl-speak?)
nooooooo... time to go.... ick.
and oh yeah, pocari sweat? TASTES like sweat. so gross.
Saturday, August 30, 2003
argh
i`m feeling really frustrated right now... as evident by my patronage at the net cafe, at 1am on a saturday/sunday morning. so i didn`t go to the chishima party last night... i text msged sarah, but no answer. anyways i dont really feel bad for not going, because it just seemed like a big ol debauchery (sp?) fest, in a two-room chishima party. it would have been cool to have just stopped in for a tiny bit, and candice and mario seem really nice... but no real regrets. anyways, on my way out to the international house, i was intercepted by mario and i went with him to a dinner thing and to see the JET band perform at the blarney stones. they were pretty good, and i was having fun, and then afterwards i went with some people to cinquecento, for 500 yen martinis. i got a cosmopolitan (which was pretty good), and then i jetted, no pun intended. i made it safely from shinsaibashi to home (rather the net cafe... but close enough haha). i am just bothered by the fact that bonding and `good times` is always centred around getting drunk or pissed, to borrow some JET vernacular. i just don`t get it... and i am really frustrated. why does life work like this? i remember being acutely conscious while i was biking home down sakuragawa that i wish i was part of a couple because it seems a voucher for being, well normal, by my standards. you have an automatic partner to do stuff, and basically an automatic excuse to not partake in drunken stupidness. i can only see my reflection from afar in the cafe window, but i think i look flushed, and my head is pounding a bit.
i guess i`m just not social.
but i took a picture of my cosmo just to send kathy to let her know i wasn`t being loser 24/7 =)
i can`t wait to get settled down in a church, ultimate frisbee and do some volunteering along with my japanese classes and of course work. ugh. i am such a loner. i miss my friends. i`d even go clubbing with mary if it meant she`d come over. sigh.... i guess my honeymoon period with japan is officially over. i miss my friends x infinity.
i don`t have a church to go to tomorrow... but hopefully hope chapel people will email early. that looks like a really cool church... based from hawaii i think.
can i see myself being here for another year?? i think it`s too early to tell... my head hurts. and my heart kind of hurts too.
i need to sleep.
oh i just finished reading banana yoshimoto`s Asleep... it was pretty good... i read it pretty fast, so i need to go back and read it over... ugh, the people across from me sure like their menthols. GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS... aaaaggggggghhhhhhhhhhh so frustrated.
i`m feeling really frustrated right now... as evident by my patronage at the net cafe, at 1am on a saturday/sunday morning. so i didn`t go to the chishima party last night... i text msged sarah, but no answer. anyways i dont really feel bad for not going, because it just seemed like a big ol debauchery (sp?) fest, in a two-room chishima party. it would have been cool to have just stopped in for a tiny bit, and candice and mario seem really nice... but no real regrets. anyways, on my way out to the international house, i was intercepted by mario and i went with him to a dinner thing and to see the JET band perform at the blarney stones. they were pretty good, and i was having fun, and then afterwards i went with some people to cinquecento, for 500 yen martinis. i got a cosmopolitan (which was pretty good), and then i jetted, no pun intended. i made it safely from shinsaibashi to home (rather the net cafe... but close enough haha). i am just bothered by the fact that bonding and `good times` is always centred around getting drunk or pissed, to borrow some JET vernacular. i just don`t get it... and i am really frustrated. why does life work like this? i remember being acutely conscious while i was biking home down sakuragawa that i wish i was part of a couple because it seems a voucher for being, well normal, by my standards. you have an automatic partner to do stuff, and basically an automatic excuse to not partake in drunken stupidness. i can only see my reflection from afar in the cafe window, but i think i look flushed, and my head is pounding a bit.
i guess i`m just not social.
but i took a picture of my cosmo just to send kathy to let her know i wasn`t being loser 24/7 =)
i can`t wait to get settled down in a church, ultimate frisbee and do some volunteering along with my japanese classes and of course work. ugh. i am such a loner. i miss my friends. i`d even go clubbing with mary if it meant she`d come over. sigh.... i guess my honeymoon period with japan is officially over. i miss my friends x infinity.
i don`t have a church to go to tomorrow... but hopefully hope chapel people will email early. that looks like a really cool church... based from hawaii i think.
can i see myself being here for another year?? i think it`s too early to tell... my head hurts. and my heart kind of hurts too.
i need to sleep.
oh i just finished reading banana yoshimoto`s Asleep... it was pretty good... i read it pretty fast, so i need to go back and read it over... ugh, the people across from me sure like their menthols. GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS... aaaaggggggghhhhhhhhhhh so frustrated.
Friday, August 29, 2003
finally!
so admittedly, i recognize the fact that it takes me a while to do certain things... i.e. usually the important stuff. so in the week before work starts, i have finally gotten my cell phone, and have basically finished painting my bathroom (99% done). as a result of my current home renovation project, my apartment is in complete disarray. it is quite annoying... but since cleanliness is important, it will take me a while to clean it up again. sigh. having a lethargic nature is really inconvenient. my sleeping patterns aren`t helping either... after a week of staying up till about 3am watching episodes of ally mcbeal in my frenzied attempt to indulge in as much english-speak as possible, as a means to combat the constant assault of japanese that i face every day, my energy was pretty low. after a three hour ally-fest, which included the series finale (how CHEESE by the way... david kelly sucks...but jon bon jovi was pretty decent... but still, i have much complaining to do), i thought, maybe, just maybe the balances would be righted. alas, the painting project has rendered me a zombie yet again. and all of this before work starts. yipppeee hippy.
oh right, and japan itself? still smoggy smoky and humid... but it is getting better. i have decided though, that i definitely need to shop by myself, especially when in the downtown core. i can`t handle having to trudge along to somebody else`s flaky whims (V). shopping will from now on be an independent venture. i need to see some green space... something, even if it is the driving range dome across the way. i need to be in a field of some sort. preferably with some dogs. oh, how is it that i have the most heinous chihuahua living across the way from me? that dog has major size issues, i.e. overcompensating with mindless barking and posturing.
ugh, this blog is getting to be too negative... alleviation?
hmmmm.
uhhh...
my ketai is quite pretty, and i love the food here. i have stocked up on oranges... and i bought cool half pants today =) i like my bathroom lots... and i will go running tomorrow. and golfing. and ride around on my bike. in my new half pants. and i will have dinner with my family and maybe friends on sunday?
okay, that`s pretty good... but yes, i do recognize and acknowledge the blessings i have been given... it is all good. no complaints at all... except for some dumb plotlines on ally mcbeal, and cheesy american movies like atomic train with rob lowe that i subjected myself to (need english... ugggh...)
so admittedly, i recognize the fact that it takes me a while to do certain things... i.e. usually the important stuff. so in the week before work starts, i have finally gotten my cell phone, and have basically finished painting my bathroom (99% done). as a result of my current home renovation project, my apartment is in complete disarray. it is quite annoying... but since cleanliness is important, it will take me a while to clean it up again. sigh. having a lethargic nature is really inconvenient. my sleeping patterns aren`t helping either... after a week of staying up till about 3am watching episodes of ally mcbeal in my frenzied attempt to indulge in as much english-speak as possible, as a means to combat the constant assault of japanese that i face every day, my energy was pretty low. after a three hour ally-fest, which included the series finale (how CHEESE by the way... david kelly sucks...but jon bon jovi was pretty decent... but still, i have much complaining to do), i thought, maybe, just maybe the balances would be righted. alas, the painting project has rendered me a zombie yet again. and all of this before work starts. yipppeee hippy.
oh right, and japan itself? still smoggy smoky and humid... but it is getting better. i have decided though, that i definitely need to shop by myself, especially when in the downtown core. i can`t handle having to trudge along to somebody else`s flaky whims (V). shopping will from now on be an independent venture. i need to see some green space... something, even if it is the driving range dome across the way. i need to be in a field of some sort. preferably with some dogs. oh, how is it that i have the most heinous chihuahua living across the way from me? that dog has major size issues, i.e. overcompensating with mindless barking and posturing.
ugh, this blog is getting to be too negative... alleviation?
hmmmm.
uhhh...
my ketai is quite pretty, and i love the food here. i have stocked up on oranges... and i bought cool half pants today =) i like my bathroom lots... and i will go running tomorrow. and golfing. and ride around on my bike. in my new half pants. and i will have dinner with my family and maybe friends on sunday?
okay, that`s pretty good... but yes, i do recognize and acknowledge the blessings i have been given... it is all good. no complaints at all... except for some dumb plotlines on ally mcbeal, and cheesy american movies like atomic train with rob lowe that i subjected myself to (need english... ugggh...)
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
i think i am starting to miss home...
Naomi, this is mom writing to you I am so worry that each day you only eat noodle. Why do not you go out buy
some ching chai (vegetable) or tomatoes and frest fruits some juice for drinks and milk to or if you want to
try to drink some Japanese tea you can buy some tea buy the good one it taste better. you have to eat fish if you
do not like to cooke the fish you can buy already cook one or tako bring it home but it eat with wasabi and soy yasoice
buy some chicken or some beef or pork cook with ching chai (vegetable) you should look after youself properly be healthy
and always save and sound , especialy next month when you strat to work you should take care yourself more bring lunch
or buy lunch when you get home cook healthy food eat alot of fruits each day . especially in hot weather you should at least
minimum of five to seven glasses of juice or water, each time you cook make sure you turn off the stove and turn off the iron if you do ironing do not forget each clothes should read the lable if it is make from wool do not wash it in the machine bring it to the dry cleaner ask them to wash it for you. when you go out if you drive the bike always becareful watch the street both side make sure you drive carefully watch the traffic in coming and going .
At night please stay at home do not go out . sleep early get up early always keep the place clean and tidy . when you want to
sent some okane( money) make sure you used two envelope to avoid being check by post office. I have so many would like to
said to Ieave it until next time you E-mail us also do not forget to let us know your new phone cell numbers. try to save
money as much as you can. Seiji now at home, Remy is fine Otosan take her to walk twice a day she love always follow Otosan
she sleep downstairs by herself I think she miss you but she could not tell us but we can feel it . O.K. bye for now
talk you you again take care eat Nutrious food cooke the rice ask Katzuko obachian to teach you to cook the rice she
will glad to show you .all right good night 11:pm Love Mom
Naomi, this is mom writing to you I am so worry that each day you only eat noodle. Why do not you go out buy
some ching chai (vegetable) or tomatoes and frest fruits some juice for drinks and milk to or if you want to
try to drink some Japanese tea you can buy some tea buy the good one it taste better. you have to eat fish if you
do not like to cooke the fish you can buy already cook one or tako bring it home but it eat with wasabi and soy yasoice
buy some chicken or some beef or pork cook with ching chai (vegetable) you should look after youself properly be healthy
and always save and sound , especialy next month when you strat to work you should take care yourself more bring lunch
or buy lunch when you get home cook healthy food eat alot of fruits each day . especially in hot weather you should at least
minimum of five to seven glasses of juice or water, each time you cook make sure you turn off the stove and turn off the iron if you do ironing do not forget each clothes should read the lable if it is make from wool do not wash it in the machine bring it to the dry cleaner ask them to wash it for you. when you go out if you drive the bike always becareful watch the street both side make sure you drive carefully watch the traffic in coming and going .
At night please stay at home do not go out . sleep early get up early always keep the place clean and tidy . when you want to
sent some okane( money) make sure you used two envelope to avoid being check by post office. I have so many would like to
said to Ieave it until next time you E-mail us also do not forget to let us know your new phone cell numbers. try to save
money as much as you can. Seiji now at home, Remy is fine Otosan take her to walk twice a day she love always follow Otosan
she sleep downstairs by herself I think she miss you but she could not tell us but we can feel it . O.K. bye for now
talk you you again take care eat Nutrious food cooke the rice ask Katzuko obachian to teach you to cook the rice she
will glad to show you .all right good night 11:pm Love Mom
Sunday, August 17, 2003
banish!!
oh pigeons, thou art the bane of my existence. thou art foul foul winged creatures, polluting innocent people`s terraces and balconies with thou`s unsightly droppings, forcing them to clean up after you, and placing said innocents under virtual house arrest, making them dry their laundry indoors, instead of outside, which disrupts the natural order. you horrible cretins.
i need to go grocery shopping today, and then figure out how to use my rice cooker... will that be the highlight of my day??? i will go sofa shopping tomorrow... after i get my paaaaay hehehhehee... uniqlo was kind of disappointing. and i tried on one of those velour tracksuits... eeeeeeeeeeeeya. oh and guess what??!! i think i found a church to go to... and it is a gospel church!!! with like a full-on gospel choir and everything! cute little japanese obasans in choir robes.. heeeh... it is somewhere in dtown osaka, so it should be fairly easy to get to. the only drawback i guess is that the service is only in japanese. oh wells... i hope this church is a good fit.
ugh... soooo hungry... do i risk eating onigiri at the net cafe??!! ai ya...
oh pigeons, thou art the bane of my existence. thou art foul foul winged creatures, polluting innocent people`s terraces and balconies with thou`s unsightly droppings, forcing them to clean up after you, and placing said innocents under virtual house arrest, making them dry their laundry indoors, instead of outside, which disrupts the natural order. you horrible cretins.
i need to go grocery shopping today, and then figure out how to use my rice cooker... will that be the highlight of my day??? i will go sofa shopping tomorrow... after i get my paaaaay hehehhehee... uniqlo was kind of disappointing. and i tried on one of those velour tracksuits... eeeeeeeeeeeeya. oh and guess what??!! i think i found a church to go to... and it is a gospel church!!! with like a full-on gospel choir and everything! cute little japanese obasans in choir robes.. heeeh... it is somewhere in dtown osaka, so it should be fairly easy to get to. the only drawback i guess is that the service is only in japanese. oh wells... i hope this church is a good fit.
ugh... soooo hungry... do i risk eating onigiri at the net cafe??!! ai ya...
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Osaka in a few words
1. chishima-danchi
2. sweat
3. homestay
4. my apartment
5. air conditioning
6. fruitless
7. namba & shinsaibashi
8. i am Canadian, EH
9. vacationing
10. ready for visitors
Homesickness has not gotten the best of me... yet... but we will see. I still have not gotten around to finding a church, so major prayer action is needed. Spending money going out, or rather, saying no to going out has not been a problem. if last night`s heel-wearing-daikiri-fiasco is any indication of future JET outings, i will pass, most enthusiastically! i bought my rice cooker yesterday, yippppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... demo, keitai ga kaitai!!! is that shallow? am i too good at this conformity thing? or am i just being cost-effective for wanting one? wakarahen. aiya, time is up =(
1. chishima-danchi
2. sweat
3. homestay
4. my apartment
5. air conditioning
6. fruitless
7. namba & shinsaibashi
8. i am Canadian, EH
9. vacationing
10. ready for visitors
Homesickness has not gotten the best of me... yet... but we will see. I still have not gotten around to finding a church, so major prayer action is needed. Spending money going out, or rather, saying no to going out has not been a problem. if last night`s heel-wearing-daikiri-fiasco is any indication of future JET outings, i will pass, most enthusiastically! i bought my rice cooker yesterday, yippppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... demo, keitai ga kaitai!!! is that shallow? am i too good at this conformity thing? or am i just being cost-effective for wanting one? wakarahen. aiya, time is up =(
