What I’m getting up to

As I told my parents over skype the other day, Aperture and I have created what I refer to as a “detente”.  It chooses to still not allow me to view my pictures from Hiroshima.  I choose to not reinstall it, as I can view all my other photos.  At some point I’ll have to figure something out, as I will want to view those pictures… but we’ll see how it goes.

In any case, it’s been awhile since my last post.  Not too much has happened in my life.  Same old, same old, or as much as a “same old, same old” can occur in Japan.  We’ve been on “vacation” for the last couple of days, and since most of my Japanese friends are busy, I’ve had this weird feeling.  It’s like I’m in America.  English movies.  English books (I’ve read three books in the last five days).  Surfing the web in English.  Only speaking to my American friend, Christine.  

Yeah, I feel like I’m in America.  Minus when I drive around and everything’s in Japanese.

But in any case.  It’ll go back to normal once I start school again tomorrow.  Which reminds me that I should prepare the lessons…

I’m attaching some random photos that I haven’t shared with you fine folks yet.  Hopefully they’ll keep you entertained until I can come up with something more interesting to talk about.  How I’m going to fail my driving test to get my Japanese license?  Hahaha…. Oh god.

 

An example of the baked goods I make. Chocolate cupcakes with Mexican Hot Chocolate frosting.

One of my students had a mishap during our Easter lesson.

 

But all of them turned out pretty okay in the end.

A little blurry, but the one on the left was my favorite from the whole day.

The next few are from Oita, where Christine and I went over a weekend to visit our friend Yoko’s sister and brother-in-law.  They live really close to an onsen town called Beppu, which is very famous throughout Japan.  I had a wonderful time there, though while we were there, Yoko’s family got into a car accident!  Luckily, no one was hurt because, compared to the flimsy yellow-plate cars, their white-plate was like a hummer to a smart car.

Anywho.

 

Hiro and his adorable son Takumi.

We got to meet Hello! Kitty! WIN!

 

They raise crocodiles in the Beppu hells because, apparently, they like the heat. I guess having cold blood would do that to a reptile.

So I hope everything is going great in your lives.  Mother’s day is just around the corner, and I know exactly what you want to get that special lady in your life…

The gift of water.  (Sorry mom, I’ve spoiled the surprise.)

 

The Perfect Day! :)

1.  ::dances::

Even when Obama was 202 points up, I still told all the teachers around me that McCain could take it.  I didn’t accept it until I read this speech.  McCain, you regained my respect with this one speech.  After your poorly run, negative campaign (granted, Obama ran many negative ads as well), I was happy to see that you could resign with honor.  My hat’s off to you.

McCain supporters, you seriously ganbatte’d.    Thanks for contributing to America!

Nervous, however, as the real test of our belief is coming in January.  Remember guys, Obama is just one man!  If we want his promises to come true, we’ll have to work, too!

2.  After reading McCain’s concession speech, I went to a brief assembly for the students going to participate in Ekiden in Nagasaki City.  When the team ran in, the band played the theme song from Rocky.  It made me so happy!  I was already a bit teary-eyed, I nearly lost it.  Glad I didn’t. 

3.  Despite being behind on my lesson plans this morning, I pulled together three plans that worked great.  A Mad Lib that was actually pretty hilarious, more spelling good times, Pronoun Power Bingo, and teaching a really difficult slang (“Why don’t we/How about we” versus “Do you want to~”). 

4.  Making more cookies!  Will eat Pizza later!

5.  And I should still have time to catch up to NaNoWriMo.  Maybe.  Or maybe I’ll just do it the whole day tomorrow.  Now’s the time for me to celebrate.

 

Updating you on my silly life

Before I begin, please note that the two entries below this one are the promised entries on Ekiden and Sports Day.  View for fun culture notes, pictures, and occasional sarcastic bits.  I try my best.  Don’t always succeed. 

So, what’s going on with me?

Well, I’ve succeeded in making several batches of cookies so far.  Though my “oven” (Microwave/Oven combo) is small, I can cook about six drop/ball cookies at a time.  Takes about two or three hours to do a batch of cookies.  Breads, like zucchini and pumpkin, work very well.  Just made Oatmeal Carmelitas and it went… okay.  The center collapsed, but they taste pretty good.  Didn’t have enough caramel, so next time I want to make them I’ll have to buy THREE packages instead of just two.  That’s ok.  The other ALTs think I’m crazy for buying so much baking supplies, but it’s seriously keeping me sane.

Related to this first point, I went shopping in Fukuoka.  Freaking awesome.  The dream where I can spend as much as I want in a day actually came true!  I bought shortening (yay!), poppyseeds (yay!  will be getting Hershey Kisses soon), a nicely sized bag of pecans, cream of tartar, cayenne pepper… it was very good.  Then I found a good pair of crocs with some fuzzy lining in them I will use for indoor shoes.  Overall, a very productive day–if by productive I mean I spent about three-hundred dollars in one day.  (Friggin’ AWESOME.)

I taught my third-year students at muchuu the Cha-cha slide.  These are the kids that are giving me the most trouble.  Raging hormones, stress over entrance exams for high school, preparing for the myriad of school activities that occur in the fall, and a disinterest in English (for maybe a fourth of them) all combine to make disruptive students who don’t want anything to do with my plans.  So, I decided to make things very active and give ‘em a bit of American culture.  I think they had a good time (I hope they had a good time), and it was great to dance instead of teach.

I started learning shodo!  Shodo is Japanese calligraphy, and really ridiculously hard.  Like all things Japanese, it is very methodical, deliberate, and refined.  My hand shook like a bitch, I didn’t know how to measure how long to make a line, and my brush kept going crazy on me.  I’m practicing with the first years at Naka, so it’s nice to see that they’re not eons ahead of me in terms of their brushstrokes.  I look forward to trying again next week.

I also began Taiko Club!  This just happened this evening, actually.  Taiko is Japanese drumming; very stylistic, intense, and clever.  It’s also a surprisingly good workout.  The teacher moves a little quickly, but we don’t have any sort of performance until June or July or something, and I’m not that worried about making a fool of myself in front of the other ALTs. 

I have to say, its great to be getting into some cultural activities.  Taiko is fun and active, while in shodo I get to interact with my students more and study my Japanese kanji.  It’s also great to not waste away in the staff room doing nothing.  (I usually finish planning my lessons for the next day long before I have to leave.) 

Lets see…

As for writing, got a few more rejections (as expected).  Wrote a new query letter, but I haven’t decided which one I like more, and also expanded my original synopsis from one-page double-spaced, to two.  Don’t ask me how I condensed 95,000 words to one-double-spaced page, because I honestly have no idea.  Will probably enter RWA’s Golden Heart contest, but not expecting anything big from it.  I’ll just keep plugging along.

Untitled Regency is at nearly 20,000 words (a fifth done!).  Only took me two months to get there.  NaNoRiMo is in my future, though.  I’m doing it unofficially since, technically, you’re supposed to start with a brand new project.  But I’m still going to do it.  Fifty-thousand words or the end of the book, whichever comes first. 

I think that’s about it.  Any specific questions you might have?  My life isn’t all that interesting, but it has its moments.  I’m really, really enjoying myself.

Still have some PotW to do, but really, I just barraged you with photos below, so maybe I’ll hold off for another week.  Wait for some more leaves to change–it’s still just the beginning of fall here.  Though it gets a bit chilly at night, I’m moderately comfortable in a tank top for most of the day.  Pretty awesome.  Of course, winter will be difficult.  And yet, I’m still hoping for at least an inch of snow one day (preferably a weekend) for the picture opportunities. 

  Yes, I am a photo geek.

 

Ekiden

Similar to Sports Day in that there’s plenty of running (a whole day’s worth, in fact) sandwiched by speeches galor, Ekiden is the island-wide marathon competition held annually.  Students have to do circuits of 1km 3 or 4 times depending on their gender, and pass off between schools as a relay.  The first half of the day is devoted to the boys, and the second to the girls. 

I was very proud of one of my schools, as they took first in the girls competition!  The number one boys was one of Nathan’s schools–those boys were so fast!  They even lapped Naka and Hatsuyama near the end (but they totally ganbatte’d, I was very impressed and proud of them).  That’s a lesson from Japanese Culture: keep going until you finish, even if it’s obvious that you’re going to come out last.  Finishing is more important than doing the best of everyone.

I also really liked Ekiden because I finished the day at 2pm, two-and-a-half hours earlier than usual.  Meant more time to veg in front of my TV after getting mildly dehydrated.  Getting into the middle of October and it can still get quite warm during the day, especially in the second/third-floor classrooms. 

We had Ekiden on October 2–so about two weeks ago.  One of the last times it’ll go like this, as it’s confirmed that two years from now there will only be four middle schools on Iki, instead of the current eight or nine.  Geez, that means that Muchuu will be more like 500 students… maybe even more.  Craaaazy.

In any case, enjoy the pictures.  There’s one of me and another ALT, Christine, in there as well, if you miss my b-e-a-utiful shining face. 

Listening to the obligatory speeches. Could not get everyone in the frame--small town, but many students.

One of Nathans ridiculously fast boys already in first place.

Two of my boys, ready to rumble.

YAY! Practicing their English by spelling out Fight.

Huzzah for relays!

So, as a final note, during this extravaganza I kept getting two very different responses to my personage in broken English.  The first, when they saw my camera, was “Oh, Camera Man!” because apparently, despite the ten other people with SLRs wandering around, I’m totally pro.  (Even versus the actual professional photographer with his shiny L-series lenses.)  The other, by some of Nathan’s non-participating boys, was to try and hit on me.

Slightly awkward, but you know it’s going to happen.  I’m not that much older than them, and I’m foreign.  And besides, they like to look cool to their friends.

So it went like this, “Do you love Nathan?” 

Me, deadpan: “No.  He’s ok, but no.”

Then, lots of giggles and nudges and, “Do you love me.”

Me, deadpan, taking a few pictures of the running: “No.”

Whooping this time, and more nudges.  “You prettiest in world.”

I raise an eyebrow.  “The prettiest in the world.”   Hey, any time to fix their English is a good time.  Even if they’re trying to seduce me.  Then a pause, “I think Angelina Jolie is prettier.”

Much headshaking.  “Oh no.  You.“ 

I eventually said “Thank-you” and waved them away.

So that was the fun story for the day.  I also thought it was a little strange that my students were completely SHOCKED when I bit straight into my apple without cutting it into pieces first.  So I ate my lunch with relish that day, just to see ‘em smile.

Ok, and here’s me and Christine, I guess.  Still looking healthy?  I’m gaining weight because of all the cookies I’m making.

As taken by Guy who was about 15 feet away. Its an ok picture. I guess.

 

Stacatto thoughts on Iki

Today I spoke with a Japanese woman who’d lived in China (Tianjin) for a year.  She also spoke English.  So when I didn’t know how to say something in Chinese, I said it in Japanese.  When I couldn’t say it in either, I said it in English.  My brain got very confused between the three languages.

The traffic lights in Iki turn to yield/stop signs at nine pm.  Rather frightening as Iki drivers are pretty terrible.

There’s a baby mukade (poisonous centipede) living somewhere in my house, about two inches long.  I saw it on my pot rack and couldn’t attack it with the Mukade Freeze! Killer because, well, I would have sprayed my pots, too, and then I’d be sick for the next month every time I used them to cook with. 

I guess I could have bought all new pots.

That’s pretty expensive.

Nagasaki city was more humid than Iki.  A little odd, as Iki’s an island, so you’d think it’d be more.  I guess the mountains surrounding Nagasaki keeps the air from moving, though.

Tried gardening more today.  The bugs and the heat were really bad, though, so I only got through about a third of what I have remaining.  Hope the temperature decreases again, and the mosquitoes stop biting.  And I stop killing the potato (roly-poly) bugs every time I go after a root.

Wearing my hair “down” for the first time in weeks and weeks.  That is, instead of throwing it into a messy bun, I pig-tail-braided it this morning.  Yuka commented that she hadn’t realized how long my hair is.

I’d forgotten, too.

Bought three new books in Nagasaki (I can’t help it; there’s no way I’m getting my foreign digs in Iki.)  Persuasion by Jane Austen, Atonement by Ian McEwan (Amanda said it’s really good), and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (collection of short stories).  Excited to read them.  Currently critiquing another person’s book, though, so cannot.  Also dangerously close to falling asleep.  Would be bad as it’s nearly 5:30pm and I have to sleep well enough to be comprehensible at my first day of actual work tomorrow.

Really want to bake some cookies.  Mom, when Christmas rolls around, can you do the mass-cookie-send thing again?  Don’t spend too much money, but holy bejebus, do I want some baked sugar.

Saw Obama’s acceptance speech.  Nearly cried (definitely teared up).  Hooted with joy at the end.  Saddened, though, that about half of America probably would not get as pumped up as me.  Don’t see why… his overall assumption really resounds well: you cannot go to either extremes in taking care of people today, we must BOTH take individual responsibility AND use the government to make up for the differences of (in)equality of opportunity.

Still do not have internet. (09/01: As of about 5:00 today, have the internet.  HUZZAH!  DANCING! SQUEE!)

Trying to decide whether to work on my YA epic, the sequel to the book I just started querying, or this new and fun idea for a regency romance.  (Will definitely finish outlining the series for All I Need, though, so if it does get picked up, I’m ready to write the next two without freaking out.)  Nervous about doing #2 because you can’t really query a sequel.  However, as my crit-partner Ashley very rightly pointed out, it would be good to shore up my fan base in one area before branching out to other subgenres.

Though YA and sci-fi romance might be considered similar… maybe. 

Watched the latter half of a “Sports Day.”  The tradition of Sports Day is a long and entrenched one in Japan, used to encourage competition, group dynamics, creativity, hard work, and endurance.  Students prepare for it all summer (and, in the case of my kids, throughout the first term as I don’t think our Sports Day happens until at least late September).  It is also an opportunity for the boys to crossdress (often as brides…).  No, I have no idea why.  It’s considered hilarious, however.

Start classes tomorrow!  YIKES!  (08/01: Have started classes.  Will add thoughts when it’s not nearly 11:00 at night and I need to wake up early enough to put out the recycling.)