not knowing how to read is one thing, taking your first japnese lesson is another. UGH!
Monday, September 27, 2004
Q&A
since i am finally getting settled, i am opening up the floor to questions and answers about japan or my experiences. please feel free to post your questions under the Q&A post, and i will answer as soon as i can. this should be fun.
It was bound to happen...
I find myself reluctantly sitting ast the gera gera, not because i dont want to write, but because i am so tired. its ten at night and i just got off of work and im hungry, but my fans await! (please keep posting responses, even though i write less frequently, i still read them ALL, and its good to know that you guys are still out there)
and now, the week in review...
when i last posted i believe i was on the train to kamakura. beautiful. just beautiful. i took many pics and sent a pic of myself and the budha to many of you, enjoy. the city was really amazing, temples EVERYWHERE, so many in fact that i only saw about six of them. see, there were so many amazing temples that i ddint want to waste my time on many of the smaller ones, since i walked everywhere that day. the ones i went into were amazing though. huge structures that were bulit before our country was even imagined, large budhas that have stood exposed to the elements for over 500 yerars, trees that were planted so long ago that Bush might not even want to cut them down. ooops sorry, ive honestly ejoyed being away from the political garbage in the states, so i'll hold my tongue. i really cant put it all into words, except that it was beautiful and very peaceful. even though im not buddist, i could understand how in such places like these anyone could feel at peace. throughout the day i met several americans on vacation, and had them take my picture a couple of times. i also learned a new term... Gochisosama deshita! this is said at the end of a meal to signify that the meal was good and much appreciated. at the end of the day i was exhausted, but happy with my day trip. anyone that comes to visit me will see kamakura, its very close, and a nice way to see ancient japan.
before i came to japan many people used their stereotypical views of the country to tell me things that would happen to me. one, which i heard CONSTANTLY, was, "You know you are going to come home with a little japanese girl don't you?" and the always popular, "You are going to eat dog!" well, neither has happened yet, sort of...
four days ago my roommate matt and i went to a Yakiniku place, Korean BBQ, where you cook and eat the food right at the table on a mini charcoal grill. very resonable price, only 2600 yen for the two of us, but it wasnt the price trhat concerned me... matt can read SOME japanese kanji (the symbols). but not many. i wanted beef and chicken and a few veggies. what i got was... drum roll jeff... beef AND a BULB of garlic AND mushrooms AND more beef (they gave us more beef by mistake) AND beef tongue. what the hell? beef tongue? beleieve it of not, i was skeptical, but it tasted pretty good. much like beef but a little tougher. BUT that wasnt the kicker. matt looked at the menu and said, "oh, this is chicken, at least it says chicken" Yeah. it said chicken. CHICKEN CARTILEDGE!!!!! ughh. i am very happy to try new and exciting things, but if i evr, EVER have that crap again, it will be too soon. "here, cook this, and then eat it." how long do you cook chicken cartledge for? how do you know its done? how do you know its cartladge anyway (notice i dont know how to spell cartlegde?) beleieve me... you know. its that stuff we humans throw away while prepping a chicken breast, and wild animals dont even touch. ugh. gross. BUT... i ate it. and since that was five days ago and there have been no advese effects, i guess thats good.
not much else to report. i am almost done with my first FULL week at work. my coworkers seem very nice and willing to help, and i actually found out that one of the 3 girls at my branch lives in the same building as me. other than that im just trying to conserve my pesos until payday, while still going out and meeting new people.
keep reading and ill keep writing.
take care and beware of the chicken cartiledge.
scott san
and now, the week in review...
when i last posted i believe i was on the train to kamakura. beautiful. just beautiful. i took many pics and sent a pic of myself and the budha to many of you, enjoy. the city was really amazing, temples EVERYWHERE, so many in fact that i only saw about six of them. see, there were so many amazing temples that i ddint want to waste my time on many of the smaller ones, since i walked everywhere that day. the ones i went into were amazing though. huge structures that were bulit before our country was even imagined, large budhas that have stood exposed to the elements for over 500 yerars, trees that were planted so long ago that Bush might not even want to cut them down. ooops sorry, ive honestly ejoyed being away from the political garbage in the states, so i'll hold my tongue. i really cant put it all into words, except that it was beautiful and very peaceful. even though im not buddist, i could understand how in such places like these anyone could feel at peace. throughout the day i met several americans on vacation, and had them take my picture a couple of times. i also learned a new term... Gochisosama deshita! this is said at the end of a meal to signify that the meal was good and much appreciated. at the end of the day i was exhausted, but happy with my day trip. anyone that comes to visit me will see kamakura, its very close, and a nice way to see ancient japan.
before i came to japan many people used their stereotypical views of the country to tell me things that would happen to me. one, which i heard CONSTANTLY, was, "You know you are going to come home with a little japanese girl don't you?" and the always popular, "You are going to eat dog!" well, neither has happened yet, sort of...
four days ago my roommate matt and i went to a Yakiniku place, Korean BBQ, where you cook and eat the food right at the table on a mini charcoal grill. very resonable price, only 2600 yen for the two of us, but it wasnt the price trhat concerned me... matt can read SOME japanese kanji (the symbols). but not many. i wanted beef and chicken and a few veggies. what i got was... drum roll jeff... beef AND a BULB of garlic AND mushrooms AND more beef (they gave us more beef by mistake) AND beef tongue. what the hell? beef tongue? beleieve it of not, i was skeptical, but it tasted pretty good. much like beef but a little tougher. BUT that wasnt the kicker. matt looked at the menu and said, "oh, this is chicken, at least it says chicken" Yeah. it said chicken. CHICKEN CARTILEDGE!!!!! ughh. i am very happy to try new and exciting things, but if i evr, EVER have that crap again, it will be too soon. "here, cook this, and then eat it." how long do you cook chicken cartledge for? how do you know its done? how do you know its cartladge anyway (notice i dont know how to spell cartlegde?) beleieve me... you know. its that stuff we humans throw away while prepping a chicken breast, and wild animals dont even touch. ugh. gross. BUT... i ate it. and since that was five days ago and there have been no advese effects, i guess thats good.
not much else to report. i am almost done with my first FULL week at work. my coworkers seem very nice and willing to help, and i actually found out that one of the 3 girls at my branch lives in the same building as me. other than that im just trying to conserve my pesos until payday, while still going out and meeting new people.
keep reading and ill keep writing.
take care and beware of the chicken cartiledge.
scott san
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Culture
On my way to Kamakura, the ancient capital of japan. it is written that if you take one trip outside of tokyo, go there. it is the home of the second largest Budha in the country, full report later! sayonara for now! colonel san
Monday, September 20, 2004
people people everywhere but not a one can speak
its been about a week since last hi tthe gera gera internet cafe, and i figured that even though i am very busy you guys deserve a long post.
where to start... quick rundown of last week, tues,wed and thursday i was in ojt training. it went well but i nearly freaked out worrying about my first ever lesson, especially since we were being watched at all times. the lesson went amazingly well, the students here are VERY eager to learn, and they shell out crap loads of money to do so. ive never gotten a straight answer along those lines, but i believe that each 40 minute lesson is between 15 and 20 bones. in contrast, my japanese lessons will be about a dollar for two hours. (i was going to start japanese lessons today, since i dont work until 1 p.m. but today is a national holiday and tomorrow the lessons are canceled as well, so i SHOULD start next week) since training i have been assigned a branch, in western tokyo, called Meguro. The view from my branch is AMAZING! i will take a pic sometime and try to get it to everyone, but just imagine a view of the largest collection of skyscrapers in tokyo, with the tokyo tower in the center. the tokyo tower was designed after the eiffel tower, so it looks very similar, but the tokyo tower is actually a few meters taller. the people in my branch seem very nice, only two girls and they work part time, so the teacher prep area is much like a locker room at halftime.
on the drinking front... thursday night many of the new teachers that went to karaoke earlier in the week got together to go drinking in shibuya (all locations are in Tokyo or Yokohama unless otherwise noted). The party continued on into the night and included a stop at the 1000 yen all-you-can-drink place. here is a question... if you are a business owner and no one is at your club, and you want future business,what do you do when some customers come in? the answer? make their drinks incredibly strong. i mean 80% wild turkey 10% ice, 10% coke. all thisd equals mass craziness. dont worry mom, i wasnt that bad. as a matter of fact, i was out until 9:30 the next morning, not because i was partying, but because i helped another (VERY VERY VERY sick) guy home, he lived an hour north of tokyo and i live 40 south, so you do the math.
heres an observation though that I noticed during that excursion, and it also tells alot about the people of japan. on the train ride home from the guys house (which is much nicer than mine by the way, and cheaper) my other friend blair (Kiwi) and I hit rush hour train traffic. note that we travel right through the BUSIEST TRAIN STATION ON EARTH, shinjuku. even though we were mobbed and crammed into the train like sardines... no one spoke. not one japanese person was speaking. not a peep. the only talking came from blair who was still a little tipsy and kept complaing about the proximity of a mans rear to his privates. i just laughed. the observation, while written in books but must be experienced to believe, is that japanese people avoid confrontation at all costs. the people on the train were going to work, it is not a social time, it's prepare your mind for work time. these people are amazing, Im going to enjoy these daily observations of the japanese people.
friday i slept it off... saturday, sunday and today i worked.
on the food front... i tried what i now believe to be seasoned rubber bands this morning. one of my coworkers takes the same train to work, and this morning he offered me a common japanese convenience store finger food... seasoned dried squid tentacles.... hmmm.... hmmmm.... i think im still chewing some right now. gross. last night however i ate something that seemed just weird but probably very common: seasoned fried mini crab. i have a great picture. imagine a crab, about the size of a silver dollar that you just pop into your mouth and eat whole, shell and all. strange but surprisingly good. (also a convenience store finger foood)
to answer your questions... i dont know about the fiber in sushi... believe it or not i havent had it yet, waiting for a bigger meal, since it is so pricey. as for japanese milk, they have milk here, but it tastes slight ly different, since i had been drinking soy milk at home, i really cant tell how differnt this is from US milk. and the only cheese that i have seen here is in my frig... and it smells like wasabi, gross.
well folks, my time is about up. on my day s off this week i am going to go venture around tokyo and yokohama, seeing the sights on my own, and getting cultured. enjoy the reading, and keep sending short message to my phone, it makes my day more enjoyable.
scott sensei
where to start... quick rundown of last week, tues,wed and thursday i was in ojt training. it went well but i nearly freaked out worrying about my first ever lesson, especially since we were being watched at all times. the lesson went amazingly well, the students here are VERY eager to learn, and they shell out crap loads of money to do so. ive never gotten a straight answer along those lines, but i believe that each 40 minute lesson is between 15 and 20 bones. in contrast, my japanese lessons will be about a dollar for two hours. (i was going to start japanese lessons today, since i dont work until 1 p.m. but today is a national holiday and tomorrow the lessons are canceled as well, so i SHOULD start next week) since training i have been assigned a branch, in western tokyo, called Meguro. The view from my branch is AMAZING! i will take a pic sometime and try to get it to everyone, but just imagine a view of the largest collection of skyscrapers in tokyo, with the tokyo tower in the center. the tokyo tower was designed after the eiffel tower, so it looks very similar, but the tokyo tower is actually a few meters taller. the people in my branch seem very nice, only two girls and they work part time, so the teacher prep area is much like a locker room at halftime.
on the drinking front... thursday night many of the new teachers that went to karaoke earlier in the week got together to go drinking in shibuya (all locations are in Tokyo or Yokohama unless otherwise noted). The party continued on into the night and included a stop at the 1000 yen all-you-can-drink place. here is a question... if you are a business owner and no one is at your club, and you want future business,what do you do when some customers come in? the answer? make their drinks incredibly strong. i mean 80% wild turkey 10% ice, 10% coke. all thisd equals mass craziness. dont worry mom, i wasnt that bad. as a matter of fact, i was out until 9:30 the next morning, not because i was partying, but because i helped another (VERY VERY VERY sick) guy home, he lived an hour north of tokyo and i live 40 south, so you do the math.
heres an observation though that I noticed during that excursion, and it also tells alot about the people of japan. on the train ride home from the guys house (which is much nicer than mine by the way, and cheaper) my other friend blair (Kiwi) and I hit rush hour train traffic. note that we travel right through the BUSIEST TRAIN STATION ON EARTH, shinjuku. even though we were mobbed and crammed into the train like sardines... no one spoke. not one japanese person was speaking. not a peep. the only talking came from blair who was still a little tipsy and kept complaing about the proximity of a mans rear to his privates. i just laughed. the observation, while written in books but must be experienced to believe, is that japanese people avoid confrontation at all costs. the people on the train were going to work, it is not a social time, it's prepare your mind for work time. these people are amazing, Im going to enjoy these daily observations of the japanese people.
friday i slept it off... saturday, sunday and today i worked.
on the food front... i tried what i now believe to be seasoned rubber bands this morning. one of my coworkers takes the same train to work, and this morning he offered me a common japanese convenience store finger food... seasoned dried squid tentacles.... hmmm.... hmmmm.... i think im still chewing some right now. gross. last night however i ate something that seemed just weird but probably very common: seasoned fried mini crab. i have a great picture. imagine a crab, about the size of a silver dollar that you just pop into your mouth and eat whole, shell and all. strange but surprisingly good. (also a convenience store finger foood)
to answer your questions... i dont know about the fiber in sushi... believe it or not i havent had it yet, waiting for a bigger meal, since it is so pricey. as for japanese milk, they have milk here, but it tastes slight ly different, since i had been drinking soy milk at home, i really cant tell how differnt this is from US milk. and the only cheese that i have seen here is in my frig... and it smells like wasabi, gross.
well folks, my time is about up. on my day s off this week i am going to go venture around tokyo and yokohama, seeing the sights on my own, and getting cultured. enjoy the reading, and keep sending short message to my phone, it makes my day more enjoyable.
scott sensei
Saturday, September 18, 2004
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
I FOUND IT!!!!!!
I found out what my phones address is!!!! you should be able to email my phone whenevr!!!!
WRITE THIS DOWN!!! but please, go easy, i think it costs me even to receive some emails, but i will check and make sure. here it is:
e7deae976bzzr@t.vodafone.ne.jp
i expect all to email me at least once, so then ican store your emails in my phone and send photos dirctly to you.
please email me, i miss you guys!
scott
WRITE THIS DOWN!!! but please, go easy, i think it costs me even to receive some emails, but i will check and make sure. here it is:
e7deae976bzzr@t.vodafone.ne.jp
i expect all to email me at least once, so then ican store your emails in my phone and send photos dirctly to you.
please email me, i miss you guys!
scott
back at the gera gera
ok, im back at the internet cafe. unfortunetley i cannot post my photos online to this blog by phone, but one of my roommates seems pretty nice and might allow me to download the necessary program to post there, so stay tuned. work today was scary as anything. i didnt even teach a class, but the way classes are taught are so regimented that one mistake and you get a talking to. most of the people there seem nice though.
my days off are going to be wed and thurs, when i get out of ojt. for the most part i get out of work early, around 5 or so, but on monday and tuesday i work til 9. i have a feeling that after my probationary period this will allow me to work some overtime and make more money, which i know i'll need. not that things are TOO expensive, but i see ample opportunity to go out after work. heck, yesterday just after orientation we went out to a karaoke place that looked EXACTLY like the one in lost in translation. i naot saying that it was the onwe, but more so that they all really look like that. GEORGE... this is for you... i sang, drum roll... Debaser by the Pixies. i didnt even need the teleprompter becasue of the wonderful times in high school, screaming that some at the top of our lungs. george, thank you. o and i finally saw the huge building with the elephants walking on it which were on a video screen that were actually the windows of the building. it was enormous.
BTW, my branch is the Meguro branch. Just two stops from Shibuya (like the second busiest subway station in the world next to shinjuku) whichs means... i am in Tokyo. before the time i come home for christmas i hope to know my way around backwards and forwards, so folks coming out here, be ready for a wild ride.
on the food front... i ate some curry last night for dinner with what appeared to be fried oysters or clams. definitely a little gross, since the oysters looked like they were just shucked, but ok on taste. today my fellow trainees and i ate at what i call japanese fast food. it is relatively simple, usually a bowl of rice with something on top and some soup. so tonight i ate a bowl of rice with some fried meat product on top that was then covered in egg. Note, the egg was literally poured raw into the bowl right on top of the fried thing, cooking it instantly and giving the rice more flavor. this also came with a bowl of miso soup and bottomless green tea. all for 490 yen (a little more than 4 dollars) AND i couldnt even finish, it really is a lot of food.
ok guys i will talk to you later.
colonel san
phrase of the day: irasshimase! translation: welcome (to our restaurant, store, etc.)! (you hear this everytime you enter a restaurant or store)
my days off are going to be wed and thurs, when i get out of ojt. for the most part i get out of work early, around 5 or so, but on monday and tuesday i work til 9. i have a feeling that after my probationary period this will allow me to work some overtime and make more money, which i know i'll need. not that things are TOO expensive, but i see ample opportunity to go out after work. heck, yesterday just after orientation we went out to a karaoke place that looked EXACTLY like the one in lost in translation. i naot saying that it was the onwe, but more so that they all really look like that. GEORGE... this is for you... i sang, drum roll... Debaser by the Pixies. i didnt even need the teleprompter becasue of the wonderful times in high school, screaming that some at the top of our lungs. george, thank you. o and i finally saw the huge building with the elephants walking on it which were on a video screen that were actually the windows of the building. it was enormous.
BTW, my branch is the Meguro branch. Just two stops from Shibuya (like the second busiest subway station in the world next to shinjuku) whichs means... i am in Tokyo. before the time i come home for christmas i hope to know my way around backwards and forwards, so folks coming out here, be ready for a wild ride.
on the food front... i ate some curry last night for dinner with what appeared to be fried oysters or clams. definitely a little gross, since the oysters looked like they were just shucked, but ok on taste. today my fellow trainees and i ate at what i call japanese fast food. it is relatively simple, usually a bowl of rice with something on top and some soup. so tonight i ate a bowl of rice with some fried meat product on top that was then covered in egg. Note, the egg was literally poured raw into the bowl right on top of the fried thing, cooking it instantly and giving the rice more flavor. this also came with a bowl of miso soup and bottomless green tea. all for 490 yen (a little more than 4 dollars) AND i couldnt even finish, it really is a lot of food.
ok guys i will talk to you later.
colonel san
phrase of the day: irasshimase! translation: welcome (to our restaurant, store, etc.)! (you hear this everytime you enter a restaurant or store)
Monday, September 13, 2004
karaoke and a phone
i am typing this message from my new phone.the number is country code 081 8030949739. get that? dang this technology is great! colonel.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Test Test
If this works, it opens up a whole new can of octopus.
colonel
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colonel
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Shop for Back-to-School deals on Yahoo! Shopping.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/backtoschool
Saturday, September 11, 2004
McBreakdown
Many things, not enough money. To start, after i begin work tomorrow you will be hearing less of me. i cant afford to spend 3 bucks a day everyday to write email, but i will get here as much as possible.
i traveled to the shinjuku section of tokyo today. the subway station is insane, and it was only a sunday. huge place. saw the hotel that bill murray stayed in in lost in translation, walked around a 14 story department store called... crap what was it called, takashiyama times square. carzy place as well.
i now have approximately 27 packets of tissue. the preferred means of promotiojn here in japan. i also have a smaller stomach. i broke down and had mcdonalds today. dont worry i will try many more kinds of food, but i need to ease into it. see, here in japan the restaurants have plastic displays outside to show their foods, well when i became really really hungry i walked up to one ready to order, unbtil i noticed that one of the meals looked like worms with sauce, and my appetite for japaneze was gone.
i start work tomoorow, and hopefully get my train pass. while the trains here are nice, they get expensive when you dont have your company paid travel pass yet. my trip to and from shinjuku today cost 780 yen all together, which in time adds up.
thats it for now. no earthquakes yet, and no japanese girlfriends... yet. HA!!! gotcha! but they do seem to really really like foreign men. (both of my roommates have japanese girlfriends.)
sayonara!
colonel
p.s.- phrase of the day- toirre wa doko desu ka? where is the bathroom?
i traveled to the shinjuku section of tokyo today. the subway station is insane, and it was only a sunday. huge place. saw the hotel that bill murray stayed in in lost in translation, walked around a 14 story department store called... crap what was it called, takashiyama times square. carzy place as well.
i now have approximately 27 packets of tissue. the preferred means of promotiojn here in japan. i also have a smaller stomach. i broke down and had mcdonalds today. dont worry i will try many more kinds of food, but i need to ease into it. see, here in japan the restaurants have plastic displays outside to show their foods, well when i became really really hungry i walked up to one ready to order, unbtil i noticed that one of the meals looked like worms with sauce, and my appetite for japaneze was gone.
i start work tomoorow, and hopefully get my train pass. while the trains here are nice, they get expensive when you dont have your company paid travel pass yet. my trip to and from shinjuku today cost 780 yen all together, which in time adds up.
thats it for now. no earthquakes yet, and no japanese girlfriends... yet. HA!!! gotcha! but they do seem to really really like foreign men. (both of my roommates have japanese girlfriends.)
sayonara!
colonel
p.s.- phrase of the day- toirre wa doko desu ka? where is the bathroom?
KUSOTTARE!!
I have learne dmy first japanese curse word and it is the title of this post. since no japanese peole are reading this, no one should be offended. (dont worry, it basically just means poop).
I have so much to say and so little time, i eithe rneed to learn to type faster(and with a better grasp of key location) or just sit here all night describing it all, i think that i will need to find the middle ground.
last night i went out tto meet up with my roommate matt and some of his coworker friends, one of which was `spinning`at a club that night. i boarded the train by myself and traveled about six stops to the yokohama main station (i was meeting matt at a station on another line not far from there). once there i realized i was screwed. see nova provided me with about 5 maps of the area but since i saw where the meeting station wasbefore i left, i left them at home (im cool like that). to my horror, unlike in other stations, no roman symbols were used to tell you which line to get on to reach Kannai (the meeeting station). I walked around yokohama station for no less than twenty minutes looking for a map in english, but to no avail. i finally just said kannai to a security guard, and he pointed me in the right direction, but sheesh, i fraked out for a minute there.
i met up with matt and we went to the bar\club the `green bowl'. (HA! Just found the apostrophy button!!!) we had many many many drinks, and i conversed with many a japanese person. one guy, Ruji,the DJ at another club which i will be going to tonight, kept trying to dance with everyone, including me, which was interesting to say the least. How do you say 'Get your butt away from my leg' in japanese?
at the end of the night, or morning, since it was 4:45 a.m. and we had missed the last train home by about 4 hours, we crashed at matts friend Michelle's house. nice, clean and very japanese, i loved it. In the morning michelles japanese roommate made the two remaing houseguests (myself and the DJ from the 'green bowl') omlettes. good stuff and free.
the rest of today was a hangover blur. i think i slept for about three hours, and then wandered my section of town for another two until i had dinner (very inexpensive place where i had cooked pork on a bed of rice, miso soup, and a salad all for 380 yen (currently 1 us dollar is 110 yen)) and then came here. phew!
thanks to everyone who responds to my posts, it's nice to know that people are reading along and hopefully getting a laugh or two.
now... onto tonights bar, 'The Happy Man', where Ruji is DJ,
colonel san
I have so much to say and so little time, i eithe rneed to learn to type faster(and with a better grasp of key location) or just sit here all night describing it all, i think that i will need to find the middle ground.
last night i went out tto meet up with my roommate matt and some of his coworker friends, one of which was `spinning`at a club that night. i boarded the train by myself and traveled about six stops to the yokohama main station (i was meeting matt at a station on another line not far from there). once there i realized i was screwed. see nova provided me with about 5 maps of the area but since i saw where the meeting station wasbefore i left, i left them at home (im cool like that). to my horror, unlike in other stations, no roman symbols were used to tell you which line to get on to reach Kannai (the meeeting station). I walked around yokohama station for no less than twenty minutes looking for a map in english, but to no avail. i finally just said kannai to a security guard, and he pointed me in the right direction, but sheesh, i fraked out for a minute there.
i met up with matt and we went to the bar\club the `green bowl'. (HA! Just found the apostrophy button!!!) we had many many many drinks, and i conversed with many a japanese person. one guy, Ruji,the DJ at another club which i will be going to tonight, kept trying to dance with everyone, including me, which was interesting to say the least. How do you say 'Get your butt away from my leg' in japanese?
at the end of the night, or morning, since it was 4:45 a.m. and we had missed the last train home by about 4 hours, we crashed at matts friend Michelle's house. nice, clean and very japanese, i loved it. In the morning michelles japanese roommate made the two remaing houseguests (myself and the DJ from the 'green bowl') omlettes. good stuff and free.
the rest of today was a hangover blur. i think i slept for about three hours, and then wandered my section of town for another two until i had dinner (very inexpensive place where i had cooked pork on a bed of rice, miso soup, and a salad all for 380 yen (currently 1 us dollar is 110 yen)) and then came here. phew!
thanks to everyone who responds to my posts, it's nice to know that people are reading along and hopefully getting a laugh or two.
now... onto tonights bar, 'The Happy Man', where Ruji is DJ,
colonel san
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Konnichiwa! and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I am here. It’s Crap... i just pushed the japanese button and i cant figure out how to change it back. ok i think i have it now. Well, I have dozens of stories, mostly about my first ten minutes here, so i cant get to them all, but ill give a quick rundown when I can.
First and foremost I have found the internet cafe, it costs about 380 yen an hour which is about 3.40 american, and they suppossedly serve drinks, which i have yet to see. This all means that I can write fairly often, but I dont know about photos yet so we ill see.
My friends Tina, Megan, Jeff, and Lindsay have all lived abroad. Tina In Germany, Megan in the netherlands, and jeff and lins in Italy. Let me tell you, and this really isnt a fair comparison since i never moved to those countries or tried to live there, but if we american sget a culrute shock from moving to a foreign land, then moving to Japan is like a culture KICK IN THE CROTCH!! I have never felt more helpless in my entire life, and it makes it easy to realize why so many people fail and move home before too long. I cannot lie and say that when I walked to my apartment late last night i felt hunky dory, honestly I was scared to death. So many people, so many signs, even the guy who walked to my place with me got lost. heh. But I will not leave. I can tell that this will be an amazing experience for me, and something that i will look back on fondly. In addition, while registering for my alien card, i found out about 2 hour japanese lessons for only 100 yen! thats less than a dollar! and they are open evry day, so i can pick and choose my time.
By the way, for anyone interested, my time is 14 hours ahead of central standard, making it 11:40 am for me and 9:40 pm the night before for you.
o, and another disclaimer. the japanese must have the tiniest fingers on earth because just about every other word i am bumping another key, so please bear with me on the spelling.
I have met my roommates, matt and steven, nice guys, but they make my old apartment look like the ritz in cleanliness terms.
On monday i have orientation at the tokyo coorperate office in the shinjuku area. the shinjuku station is considered to be the busiest subwy station on the planet, literally a million people use that station alone each day, so that should be fun.
i will be getting a cell phone. not so much to call home, but the phones here are OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! the current free phone offered by my company takes videos, and has a 2 megapixel camera. my usual camera is 3.2 so you get the idea. The other reason is EMAIL! for 3 yen (3 cents) i can send and receive emails (not long ones or mass emailings, just up to 180 charactgers, but enough to say hi). i can handle 3 cents, so those of you that commhjunicate frequently with me, look forward to it.
That s it for now, i will wirte more later, as for now im going to find out where my beverage is and see about IM. take care all!
Colonel San
First and foremost I have found the internet cafe, it costs about 380 yen an hour which is about 3.40 american, and they suppossedly serve drinks, which i have yet to see. This all means that I can write fairly often, but I dont know about photos yet so we ill see.
My friends Tina, Megan, Jeff, and Lindsay have all lived abroad. Tina In Germany, Megan in the netherlands, and jeff and lins in Italy. Let me tell you, and this really isnt a fair comparison since i never moved to those countries or tried to live there, but if we american sget a culrute shock from moving to a foreign land, then moving to Japan is like a culture KICK IN THE CROTCH!! I have never felt more helpless in my entire life, and it makes it easy to realize why so many people fail and move home before too long. I cannot lie and say that when I walked to my apartment late last night i felt hunky dory, honestly I was scared to death. So many people, so many signs, even the guy who walked to my place with me got lost. heh. But I will not leave. I can tell that this will be an amazing experience for me, and something that i will look back on fondly. In addition, while registering for my alien card, i found out about 2 hour japanese lessons for only 100 yen! thats less than a dollar! and they are open evry day, so i can pick and choose my time.
By the way, for anyone interested, my time is 14 hours ahead of central standard, making it 11:40 am for me and 9:40 pm the night before for you.
o, and another disclaimer. the japanese must have the tiniest fingers on earth because just about every other word i am bumping another key, so please bear with me on the spelling.
I have met my roommates, matt and steven, nice guys, but they make my old apartment look like the ritz in cleanliness terms.
On monday i have orientation at the tokyo coorperate office in the shinjuku area. the shinjuku station is considered to be the busiest subwy station on the planet, literally a million people use that station alone each day, so that should be fun.
i will be getting a cell phone. not so much to call home, but the phones here are OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! the current free phone offered by my company takes videos, and has a 2 megapixel camera. my usual camera is 3.2 so you get the idea. The other reason is EMAIL! for 3 yen (3 cents) i can send and receive emails (not long ones or mass emailings, just up to 180 charactgers, but enough to say hi). i can handle 3 cents, so those of you that commhjunicate frequently with me, look forward to it.
That s it for now, i will wirte more later, as for now im going to find out where my beverage is and see about IM. take care all!
Colonel San
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
In 16 hours...
I will be on a jet plane, headed for Detroit, but then onto Tokyo. I miss everyone already, and if I didnt get a hold of you, then take care. I am going way too crazy right now to post anything more monumental. But i do have a neat story about how my friend Bev fell into a goose poop filled pond over the weekend! Let's just say that she was going to walk along the edge of a stinky pond, when her brain told her no but her feet kept on going. The balancing act, holding of the nose, and the british accent saying expletives all at once was classic.
sorry bev, it was funny. ;)
I'll post again when I arrive. Sayonara!
sorry bev, it was funny. ;)
I'll post again when I arrive. Sayonara!
Sunday, September 05, 2004
o carolina!
I'm here. having fun. comp keeps freezing up, so i'm not writing much. Three more days. crazy.
Friday, September 03, 2004
Just like George W
I make no apologies fors mys not better grammar. Me is writin' this her posts so dang nabbin faast i doesnt care what is capitalized and what aint! That be fer spelling two.
So Mom, and her coworkers reading this Blog, believe me when I say that I do know that some of my posts have grammar and punctuation errors. Just consider that when I reach Japan my keyboard probably won't even have Roman lettering on it, so I'm getting you acclimated to what's to come.
So Mom, and her coworkers reading this Blog, believe me when I say that I do know that some of my posts have grammar and punctuation errors. Just consider that when I reach Japan my keyboard probably won't even have Roman lettering on it, so I'm getting you acclimated to what's to come.
I'm goin to Carolina in my mind
No shanks in my shoes, belt off, no change. I shouldn't get stopped by security. Today's flight should be a warmup for next week, where I almost reach the point of muscle atrophy before they tell me to bring my seat to the full upright position. I hear acupuncture works well in these cases, BUT, I really don't have room to talk, I'm pretty short, and I'm sitting in an exit row.
I think it's fun to use words when you think you know the meaning, but find out later that you were wrong, but continue to use them. Take atrophy up there. I think that I used it correctly, but I studied Geology and not the medical field, so I'll use these terms in the future: grusification, erosion, solidification, deterioration and corrosion. There that's better.
I think it's fun to use words when you think you know the meaning, but find out later that you were wrong, but continue to use them. Take atrophy up there. I think that I used it correctly, but I studied Geology and not the medical field, so I'll use these terms in the future: grusification, erosion, solidification, deterioration and corrosion. There that's better.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
New Model? Eh?
the days just tic by... and i still can't find my dress socks. Do you have to wear brown dress socks with khaki slacks? who wrote this rule? I found my best pair of brown dress shoes the other day and realized that i had no idea when or where i bought them, which means i had to buy another pair. I ended up getting a pair for 30 bones, a deal really, since they are usually sixty. When I asked why they were on sale the woman replied that they were last years model. Last Year's Model? What the? do people walk around and say, 'Hey, I wish I had a pair of mint condition '87 British Knights, the ones with the black trim and the spoiler.'? Odd, maybe I just havent bought 'Cool' shoes in awhile. Either way, I don't think the Japanese will look at them and think that i'm cheap because i have last year's design, no, they'll think i'm cheap because of the mickey mouse on my tie. I'm Stalling, i need to go back and pack. and since it doesnt look like frances is going to hit NC til next week, i think im safe in going.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
T-minus seven days and counting
As of this time next week, I will be on a plane to japan. My stress levels are currently high as I know i have already forgotten something. Still need to pack, contact many people to say goodbye, and make a huge decision concerning a trip to NC. See, Frances is already planning a trip there, and while the possiblility of meeting up with one of earths most destructive forces seems like fun... I can't afford to have a flight delay on my return trip Monday night. That would mean driving from NC to DFW in one day, then getting to the airport before 7 am. to catch my flight. Hmmm. what to do, what to do. OK, must continue on my quest to be completely ready to go by tomorrow night.
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