Irasshai: January 2006

coffee is a miracle drug

i'm out of coffee. the moment i wake up in the morning the first thing that always goes through my head is, "how long till i get my coffee?". this morning, the usual pattern. but, then, apon realizing that i drank the last of it yesterday morning, i went into almost pure panic-mode. "ok. first i'll have tea. then as soon as i get to school i'll be able to have coffee. ok. i can do this."
pulling into the school parking lot i passed some kids walking in front of my car. my usual smiles and pleasantries (toyoura chu) were nowhere to be seen and i gripped the stearing wheel more tightly and pursed my lips "get the hell out of the way" i thought, finally pulling into a parking space flanked by 7 white cars on either side (all SUVs, minivans or station wagons).
last night was not the best of nights either, and the feeling-sorry-for-myself-i-hate-this-country mood wasn't lifted as usual by my first-thing-do-not-pass-go-morning coffee, inhaled within 2 minutes of waking. thank goodness i'm not at saruhashi chu today. and i'm now able to drive my car again after picking up the spare from gio...and also able to lock my apartment after having gotten a copy from the BOE yesterday. maybe i'll come home today to find the old drunk man who lives somewhere on my street (and who i sometimes pass late at night, lying in the snow at the side of the road, flask in hand and mumbling incoherant japanese) sleeping on my couch or playing with yosuke (or trying to eat him). good thing this is japan and not ...er...port moresby.
now, at my desk, two cups of coffee later, i have a brighter outlook on everything. amazing is this drug.

tamara's birthday night! (back in october)...i stole these from NATASHA!

ellen, me, lindsay, tomoks, kate

tamara's birthday night! (back in october)...i stole these from NATASHA!

kat, hiten and gio

performances, parties, and other such things

we had our first musical performance on saturday night in niigata city. it went surprisingly well despite the lack of preparation many of us felt we'd had. the party following that at immigrant's was the usual fun-though-too-hot-too-crowded.
shibata's show was the next day and i think that lots of people were a bit exhausted and hungover from the night before. it might have lacked the spark of the first performance.
i had to do a thank you speech at the end and whilst fumbling with the microphone i managed to drop the flowers that little merin and nina had handed to fumie and me...anyway.
the highlight of the day was standing outside after, thanking all of the people who came. i heard justine sensei! justine sensei! and glanced down and saw the two smiling faces of my favourite shogakkou students (first graders from tennou sho). they were giggling and grabbing at my legs and when i crouched down they both smothered me in hugs. their mothers took out their k-tais and took photos of us. every time i go to tennou sho i play with these two little sprites at lunch time. (i've posted their pic before too, below somewhere in the january archives). i hadn't expected them to show up and when i saw them it just made me so happy.

embarrassing

left work yesterday with my japanese study notes opened on my desk. what i was learning at japanese class last week: "~ koto ga arimasu ka?" ("have you ever ~?") and at the top, in bold, was written "sex o shita koto ga arimasu ka?" on full display for all my JTE's (not to mention students) to see...
crap.

me and debs

johanna

at immigrant's

all the wolves

me and lopaka

kat/me/debs

1000-seat bunka kaikan

fu

queen louise

tam and me

debs and me

guelph

...and, if you'd like to see some more beautiful photos of our splendid city, just pop over to tam's blog at: http://inbetweendays365.blogspot.com/

Guelph...the beautiful royal city.

canadian lunch

today at school i did a little mini presentation and quiz about my recent trip to holland. it was for the 2-nenseis (13ish year olds). a random question by the JTE was "which countries are near england (igirisu)?" some of the answers: london, africa, new york...to name a few.

they had planned a "canadian lunch" for kyushoku today. they had asked my advice last month but couldn't really think of that much...and they bastardized it anyway.
we got:
a whole wheat bun. yes. that's for real. they DO exist in this country. well done.
french fries. i had told them about poutine, and this was their answer.
"seafood chowder". funny. it tastes and looks exactly like the seafood cream soup we get about once a week here.
"caesar salad": you know those soggy pieces of chopped up lettuce we usually get as a salad? pretty much that, with some croutons and chopped pieces of ham.
oh, and i forgot we got one of those little butter + pouches. the other side had maple syrup which tasted NOTHING like maple.
oishikatta! they were all quizzing me, "how about canadian lunch?" i told them in canada we dip our bread into our soup, and proceded to do so. they pretended they didn't hear/see me and continued to eat their french fries with a spoon (the only utensil we were given). oooohhhh japan i love you.

today was monumental. i signed and dropped off my recontracting form to the board of education. so, as long as they'll have me (my predessessor was not recontracted for a third year), i will be staying in japan next year as well. (and also as long as i don't have a nervous I HATE JAPAN breakdown between now and then...)

on a side note, i'm very worried that by the time i get home to canada it will have become more like a 51st state. damn harper and his right-winged notions. tamara does a better job at putting her disapointment into words (http://inbetweendays365.blogspot.com/) ...frustration gets the better of mine.