Happy thanksgiving everyone! i hope you are having a good one, because over here its business as usual... but... the japoanese have a one up. They started playing christmas songs three weeks ago. and you thought that just after thanksgiving was bad. santa is everywhere, trees and lights are being put up, and songs are in the air. of course, come christmas day nobody really cares, and ill be working. the day after the japanese will try to find another american holiday to cash in on.
not much else to report... i am still looking at other housing options and even though i feel that i am getting screwed by nova for the price i pay, IT IS CONVENIENT. and also considering that i will have the apt to myself for several weeks in december... i might be able to live with it. i wonder though who else i could have met if i didnt live with computer (play gameboy on the toilet) roomie, and cheater.
on that front though, i am going to tokyo disney sea with the mistress and her friend next week. btw, they speak approximately as much english as a three year old. combined. should be fun. we will carry the eng/japanese dictionary in tow, and see how it goes.
the human body exhibit was amazing (IT WAS ALL REAL!!!!), but in the end, almost too much for me. I couldnt take pics, but here is one of the sites about the exhibit: http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/topics/040902/4.html
enjoy!
times up folks, enjoy the holiday, and eat an extra bite of turkey for me...
scott
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Monday, November 22, 2004
The things I forgot
as i have said before, i seem to forget many things that happen to me over the course of a week, which is disappointing, since many of the best things are the smaller occurrences that i fail to mention. i will now try my best to remember them...
Let me start by saying that I while i am not a violent person, I really wantto punch one of my coworkers in the face. Honestly i feel that the guy is threatened by me, since he NEVER says anything nice to me, yet always finds something about my personality to gripe about. i dont care, because i know how the rest of the office feels about him, so in lieu of a brawl, I will continue to use my sharp wit, and quick quips to prove that he is a tool. i'll keep you informed.
Caravan- Went to a huge party out of a mini winnebago the other night. my aussie friend(who is moving home because his best friend died suddenly today) decided to have a party at his current residence, a small three person motor home. the place could fit about 7 people standing, but thats it. well 30 people showed up. The caravan was parked literally on the MAIN ROAD, right next to the most respected shrine in tokyo. the best example i could give is to imagine parking a caravan (with a bunch of japanese people)in the middle of sundance squar on a VERY busy saturday night (tokyos pop is 14 million, so this is very difficult to compare to anything) with passersby all the time, and about 20 of the fopreigners drinking in the middle of the road.
good times.
the train ride home... well, it stopped two stations form mine, which ended up taking an hour and a half to walk back from. ugh. but hey, i found a nice umbrella on the road on the way back, so it wasnt that bad of a walk.
Hearse- i saw japanese hearse the other day. they literally look like the ark of the covenant welded to the top of a normal hearse. hmm.
Bungie Babies- serious ly, japanese people find the most interesting ways to attach their kids to themselves. they ride bikes with their kids on their fronts, backs, sitting in the grocery basket, and i honestly saw a man with a baby seat that attaches to his head the other day. like riding on a mans shoulders, but all the time, and with out fear of falling.
This week is thanksgiving... enjoy the time with your families, be thankful for what you have, and enjoy life. And eat LOADS OF TURKEY FOR ME! ill be eating eel. mmm eel.
Movin on up- YES!!! and no... the roommate of mine that i usually hang out with has decided to move, which means i finally get a closet, and a bigger room. on the down side, he is moving about a hour and a half away, which means i wont have him to go out with anymore. sooo.... i am going to speed up my search for a new place, as i cant stay in that apt with the other pig that lives there.
human body- mom, this one is for you. there is a VERY interesting exhibit in town right now that has several real bodies that have been preserved by numerous methods. Example: there is one body that was injected with red rubber in the blood system. they then took the rest of the body away leaving the red rubber behind to show the ENTIRE system of veins, arteries, etc... pretty cool, i think i might go this week.
thats it for now folks... i hope you are all well. have a good holiday week! and BE CAREFUL!!
scotto san
Let me start by saying that I while i am not a violent person, I really wantto punch one of my coworkers in the face. Honestly i feel that the guy is threatened by me, since he NEVER says anything nice to me, yet always finds something about my personality to gripe about. i dont care, because i know how the rest of the office feels about him, so in lieu of a brawl, I will continue to use my sharp wit, and quick quips to prove that he is a tool. i'll keep you informed.
Caravan- Went to a huge party out of a mini winnebago the other night. my aussie friend(who is moving home because his best friend died suddenly today) decided to have a party at his current residence, a small three person motor home. the place could fit about 7 people standing, but thats it. well 30 people showed up. The caravan was parked literally on the MAIN ROAD, right next to the most respected shrine in tokyo. the best example i could give is to imagine parking a caravan (with a bunch of japanese people)in the middle of sundance squar on a VERY busy saturday night (tokyos pop is 14 million, so this is very difficult to compare to anything) with passersby all the time, and about 20 of the fopreigners drinking in the middle of the road.
good times.
the train ride home... well, it stopped two stations form mine, which ended up taking an hour and a half to walk back from. ugh. but hey, i found a nice umbrella on the road on the way back, so it wasnt that bad of a walk.
Hearse- i saw japanese hearse the other day. they literally look like the ark of the covenant welded to the top of a normal hearse. hmm.
Bungie Babies- serious ly, japanese people find the most interesting ways to attach their kids to themselves. they ride bikes with their kids on their fronts, backs, sitting in the grocery basket, and i honestly saw a man with a baby seat that attaches to his head the other day. like riding on a mans shoulders, but all the time, and with out fear of falling.
This week is thanksgiving... enjoy the time with your families, be thankful for what you have, and enjoy life. And eat LOADS OF TURKEY FOR ME! ill be eating eel. mmm eel.
Movin on up- YES!!! and no... the roommate of mine that i usually hang out with has decided to move, which means i finally get a closet, and a bigger room. on the down side, he is moving about a hour and a half away, which means i wont have him to go out with anymore. sooo.... i am going to speed up my search for a new place, as i cant stay in that apt with the other pig that lives there.
human body- mom, this one is for you. there is a VERY interesting exhibit in town right now that has several real bodies that have been preserved by numerous methods. Example: there is one body that was injected with red rubber in the blood system. they then took the rest of the body away leaving the red rubber behind to show the ENTIRE system of veins, arteries, etc... pretty cool, i think i might go this week.
thats it for now folks... i hope you are all well. have a good holiday week! and BE CAREFUL!!
scotto san
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Little Time
I have been in the internet cafe for about an hour, and i have been sorting through the 696 emails i had, as well as searching for information on skiing. Now i have 15 minutes to spill my guts about the last week, and i have so much to say.
first off- no my teacher doesnt want me. its a motherly thing. she KNOWS that i have to run to work right after class, and have little time to eat, so she made me the sandwiches. you people are sick. you obviously have nothing exciting going on over there.
secondly... i looks as though my quest to get home has hit a roadblock. It costs WAY too much to get home. around 1200 dollars, at least! soooo... i believe that i will be sticking around nihon for the new years breeak. since i have a full week offf, i am currently planning on heading west to osaka, Kyoto (the one place to go if you EVER come to japan), and on a solemn note Hiroshima. I have contacts out there, and the trip wouldnt possibly cost more than 1200 dollars. i guess ill see everyone next year! unless dan makes up his mind and drops in for a bit.
speaking of visitors... start making plans, or if you know you are coming, start looking at dates towards the end of march, and april or may. i need visitors, and i would be glad to show anyone around. this place is so big and there is so much to see, plan for a week, and thats just to see highlights. BTW, im not one to give financial advice, but if you are coming, you might want to purchase yen now. when i arrived here the dollar was between 110-111 yen per dollar. now its 103.5 GO BUSH!!!! thanks you dumb fool for allowing MY pay to increase by over $1500 a year, in just two months!! yep, its good for me NOW, but anyvisitors in the future might find that their dollars dont go as far... so do what you want, but something to think about.
culture...
-japanese people dont say excuse me as they shove and push people onto the trains. they just push.
-japanese people, even though they DONT USE DEODORANT, actually dont smell.
-japanese people are so scared of mispronunciation that if you ask a question in your broken japanese, they wont answer for fear of looking stupid.
-japanese girls in their late teens early twenties enjoy dressing up as what seems to me to be 'little bopeep' i dont get it, i just dont get it.
-the word for 'NO' and 'house' are the same, creating a strange situation if you ask someone out on a date. think about it.
food-
had korean organic meat balls today. small and light, but good. i also bought some kind of bread pastrry thing yesterday in Asakusa, the oldest part of tokyo. they were filled with a purple substance that i think is bean... but im not sure. they are pretty good though.
weather- it is raining now.
friends- i have none.
earthquakes- they did a computer visual an earthquake of the same magnitude that hit 3 weeks ago to show how the same quake would have affected tokyo. once again, dont fear, but it was massive destruction. the quake three weeks ago had a greater speed and WAS STRONGER than the one in kobe back in 1995 that killed 3000. difference is that kobe is a city of 2 mill, niigata is mountains and some small villages. just food for thought.
they deleted the software that i previously used on this comp to post things, meaning that evrytime i post a pic i will have to download it again. ugh.
ok folks thats all for now... the other day was payday and im now on a budget, loose but at least its a budget, so i will budget money for email updtaes everyfew days, so you will probably see more stuff and more photos here. please remember to respond, and feel free to email my phone ANYTIME!
japanese of the day- kore wa nan desu ka?- what is this? important during meals
look mom no BOOZE comments!
scotto san
first off- no my teacher doesnt want me. its a motherly thing. she KNOWS that i have to run to work right after class, and have little time to eat, so she made me the sandwiches. you people are sick. you obviously have nothing exciting going on over there.
secondly... i looks as though my quest to get home has hit a roadblock. It costs WAY too much to get home. around 1200 dollars, at least! soooo... i believe that i will be sticking around nihon for the new years breeak. since i have a full week offf, i am currently planning on heading west to osaka, Kyoto (the one place to go if you EVER come to japan), and on a solemn note Hiroshima. I have contacts out there, and the trip wouldnt possibly cost more than 1200 dollars. i guess ill see everyone next year! unless dan makes up his mind and drops in for a bit.
speaking of visitors... start making plans, or if you know you are coming, start looking at dates towards the end of march, and april or may. i need visitors, and i would be glad to show anyone around. this place is so big and there is so much to see, plan for a week, and thats just to see highlights. BTW, im not one to give financial advice, but if you are coming, you might want to purchase yen now. when i arrived here the dollar was between 110-111 yen per dollar. now its 103.5 GO BUSH!!!! thanks you dumb fool for allowing MY pay to increase by over $1500 a year, in just two months!! yep, its good for me NOW, but anyvisitors in the future might find that their dollars dont go as far... so do what you want, but something to think about.
culture...
-japanese people dont say excuse me as they shove and push people onto the trains. they just push.
-japanese people, even though they DONT USE DEODORANT, actually dont smell.
-japanese people are so scared of mispronunciation that if you ask a question in your broken japanese, they wont answer for fear of looking stupid.
-japanese girls in their late teens early twenties enjoy dressing up as what seems to me to be 'little bopeep' i dont get it, i just dont get it.
-the word for 'NO' and 'house' are the same, creating a strange situation if you ask someone out on a date. think about it.
food-
had korean organic meat balls today. small and light, but good. i also bought some kind of bread pastrry thing yesterday in Asakusa, the oldest part of tokyo. they were filled with a purple substance that i think is bean... but im not sure. they are pretty good though.
weather- it is raining now.
friends- i have none.
earthquakes- they did a computer visual an earthquake of the same magnitude that hit 3 weeks ago to show how the same quake would have affected tokyo. once again, dont fear, but it was massive destruction. the quake three weeks ago had a greater speed and WAS STRONGER than the one in kobe back in 1995 that killed 3000. difference is that kobe is a city of 2 mill, niigata is mountains and some small villages. just food for thought.
they deleted the software that i previously used on this comp to post things, meaning that evrytime i post a pic i will have to download it again. ugh.
ok folks thats all for now... the other day was payday and im now on a budget, loose but at least its a budget, so i will budget money for email updtaes everyfew days, so you will probably see more stuff and more photos here. please remember to respond, and feel free to email my phone ANYTIME!
japanese of the day- kore wa nan desu ka?- what is this? important during meals
look mom no BOOZE comments!
scotto san
Monday, November 15, 2004
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Monday, November 08, 2004
Message from SkyMail
my japanese teacher kicks arse.she bought me a hanky to wipe my brow.im always sweating in class!
Message from SkyMail
yatta! today i only spent 120 yen! my cheapest to date! thatwill be tough to beat!
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
The Only thing we have to fear...
Is fear itself. and politicians use it well. Frightening really, how well fear worked in this campaign... and that scares me. actually, the false fear around our country is not what scares me, but the ignorance of some of its people.
A wise man once said, 'With great power comes great responsibility'. OK yes, it was in spiderman, but think about what it means... (here i was going to go on a long rant about this and that, but in truth, my words dont matter) lets do our part to make the world better, not turn the world against us.
in conclusion... (hum glory glory halleluia here) America, please think. Use your heads. Dont wait for handouts. INVEST YOUR MEASILY TAX BREAKS GIVEN BY BUSH, that money used to be called social security for generation x. Dont assume that we are the best, lets prove it by our goodwill to others, not bombings.
Hug a tree, hug the environment, hug a gay person, hug a liberal, hug alaska, and hang on... its going to be a long four years.
A wise man once said, 'With great power comes great responsibility'. OK yes, it was in spiderman, but think about what it means... (here i was going to go on a long rant about this and that, but in truth, my words dont matter) lets do our part to make the world better, not turn the world against us.
in conclusion... (hum glory glory halleluia here) America, please think. Use your heads. Dont wait for handouts. INVEST YOUR MEASILY TAX BREAKS GIVEN BY BUSH, that money used to be called social security for generation x. Dont assume that we are the best, lets prove it by our goodwill to others, not bombings.
Hug a tree, hug the environment, hug a gay person, hug a liberal, hug alaska, and hang on... its going to be a long four years.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Message from SkyMail
its a sad sad day folks. mcdonalds took away the 3 minute free phone. no more random quick calls.
bread and water part 2
soooo... Its Nikko, not nikko. if you pronounce this wrong, no one will have any idea what the hell you are talking about. its a city name, yet pronunciation is so important that a slight emphasis on a different vowel means two of 'something' no one knows what, but two of 'something'. why the heck cant the japanese just realize that i am trying to say the city and not two of something? o well...
thursday my ffriend chrissy and I travelled to nikko, apparently the setting of a famous novel called Shogun, which ive never heard of. Nikko is know around japan for its beautiful autumn leaves, and probably the most extravagant temples in the country. I will say they are amazing. bright reds blues and yellows that i havent seen in anyother temple or shrine. very intricate as well. The temple is actually the 'suppossed' site of the original monkeys in the position of see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. I saw the carvings which are over 400 yrs old, so its hard to dispute, but those monkeys are so popular around the world, that its hard to believe that i actually saw the originals.
chrissy and i had a great time, saw the fall foliage, got out of the city, and saw the japanese country side, it was a long day, but well worth it. in one of the temples the japanese were offering sake to one of the gods of the temple. the sake is also given to visitors who want to cleanse their souls. lets just say im now cleansed. heh. free sake.
for dinner/lunch we ate at an awesome yakitori place. for 800 yen we dined on skewered chicken and meatballs, rice, and yakisoba. yum yum yum. the woman also spoke broken english so that helped.
this week i am going to try and catch the autumnal festival at the meiji shrine. ive read that there is an archery tourney there n wednesday. and on thurday im going to try tsukiji again, maybe ill have better luck.
in the case of accommadation... i might have found anopther palce to live. its in tokyo, but the rent is 150 less a month and their are many people living there, meaning more contact with hopefully cleaner individuals.
o and i have finally broken the NOVA sacred rule of not hanging out with students. one of my students saw me at the station last nioght and we wnet for a few beers. nice guy, and i have a feeling we will hang out again.
time is running short so ill end here. take care all and PLEASE vote.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE! but not for bush.
scotto san
thursday my ffriend chrissy and I travelled to nikko, apparently the setting of a famous novel called Shogun, which ive never heard of. Nikko is know around japan for its beautiful autumn leaves, and probably the most extravagant temples in the country. I will say they are amazing. bright reds blues and yellows that i havent seen in anyother temple or shrine. very intricate as well. The temple is actually the 'suppossed' site of the original monkeys in the position of see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. I saw the carvings which are over 400 yrs old, so its hard to dispute, but those monkeys are so popular around the world, that its hard to believe that i actually saw the originals.
chrissy and i had a great time, saw the fall foliage, got out of the city, and saw the japanese country side, it was a long day, but well worth it. in one of the temples the japanese were offering sake to one of the gods of the temple. the sake is also given to visitors who want to cleanse their souls. lets just say im now cleansed. heh. free sake.
for dinner/lunch we ate at an awesome yakitori place. for 800 yen we dined on skewered chicken and meatballs, rice, and yakisoba. yum yum yum. the woman also spoke broken english so that helped.
this week i am going to try and catch the autumnal festival at the meiji shrine. ive read that there is an archery tourney there n wednesday. and on thurday im going to try tsukiji again, maybe ill have better luck.
in the case of accommadation... i might have found anopther palce to live. its in tokyo, but the rent is 150 less a month and their are many people living there, meaning more contact with hopefully cleaner individuals.
o and i have finally broken the NOVA sacred rule of not hanging out with students. one of my students saw me at the station last nioght and we wnet for a few beers. nice guy, and i have a feeling we will hang out again.
time is running short so ill end here. take care all and PLEASE vote.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE! but not for bush.
scotto san
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