So I found this awesome website with many good films and documentaries about random things. I have been watching a lot of UFO ones, it’s interesting I don’t see why the US and UK government just doesn’t give the world the okay to tell the citizens about the other alien life. I wonder if an alien would ever want to visit me, I think it would be scary but very interesting and a wonderful experience. I hope they would be kind to me and respect my body/mind rights ha-ha; definitely not into vivisection or dissection of my body, although if I had to choose I would do with the dissection for obvious reasons. I wonder how the aliens fly across space from different star systems…or if they are future people. Well other then watching documentary’s today I cooked for a group of ladies.
I was picked up around 9:30am and taken to some sort of community center on the opposite side of the nakai train line (the train station I use to get into namba). I made my mothers favourite vegan dish, its name is ‘Kieran’s Favourite Rice” and it’s kind of like a goulash/stew. It’s very delicious and a complete protein because there is brown rice and beans (also tofu). They all seemed to enjoy it, I stressed that they can use whatever vegetables they want for the recipe which makes it quite easy to make. All of them said it was delicious so that is good. I also told them about Canada and a little big about me, some of the ladies spoke English so they could translate for me…no I’m still unable to speak Japanese. I mean I can tell them who I am and where I am from and what I like but I can not elaborate. I also gave them all little Canadian flag pins, I hope they are not like ‘oh great more junk’ and make the recipe again for their families. Around 1:30pm I was dropped back off at home. Before I left the center a lady handed me an envelope and thanked me. When I got home I opened it and there was 70,000 yen in it. I would have refused this if I knew what it was but I thought it was a thank you card. The Japanese rarely take charity for anything. I mean I never once was thinking ‘I hope I get money out of this’ it was just for fun. It’s nice to have extra cash though so I can’t complain there.
Speaking of extra cash I have taken up a tutoring job. Michelle has left Japan for a new job experience and I took over her tutors. They are 4 grown professors, so sometimes I feel a bit odd instructing people who are greatly my senior. The first lesson went okay I did not really teach anything only spoke and had conversation with one of the men. This last lesson was more successful as all 4 of the men showed up. I did a pronunciation exercise with them and also taught them homonyms that begin with A. I think every lesson I will teach a new homonym group. Homonyms for those of you who do not remember grade 5 English class are words that sound the same but have different meaning; such as Air and Heir. So that went well and they are all nice men, very interesting characters. They also pointed out that their university will be changing its name do to how it sounds to foreigners who speak English. I was confused on why they would do this until they directly told me why, you see the university’s name is Kinki University. They pointed out to me that if I ignore the knowledge I have of the Japanese language that Kinki sounds exactly like Kinky. I was oblivious to this fact until they pointed it out to me. Now I realize how funny it can be or annoying when introducing yourself to another professor in the USA. I think they want to change it to Kinda University. Oh yes and every class I get paid 10,000 yen. So that’s really good money that’s an extra 40,000 yen a month, I don’t think I will need to dip into my savings for a while. This is good so I will not have to worry about money with friends or helping friends out with expenses!
Well I am going to continue watching my UFO documentary and maybe make some hott cocoa with Soymilk! Love you all! Take Care!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Awaiji Island....I have great spelling....?
Stars shinning bright above you, night breezes whisper I love you…. Ha I had a dream that my family came to visit me in Japan last night in the hotel. They all ended up getting mad at me for some reason though and I was upset that they came to bash me. Apprehensive about company maybe or getting to comfortable with the Kubota family it’s hard to say. Really thought I am joking. This weekend or rather Friday around 11:30am until Saturday around 3:30pm I was with Yuki and Akio on the Island Awiji (I’m not sure if that’s the correct spelling or not). Oh and Yuki and Akio want me to call them Otosan and Okasan which is a formal way that you ask someone “how is your mother” you would say ‘Okasan and not Haha because haha you only use if its your mother). Anyways they want me to because it seems more comfortable and such and all the other exchange people they have helped out called them that. I don’t feel comfortable saying that because well my parents will only ever be the only parents I have and I don’t like the thought of imitation ones. I mean I do the same thing with my Grandfathers second Wife. Jade call’s her Grandma but I just call her by her name. I mean she is definitely that type of figure in my life but it feels wrong for me to call her that. Does any body understand what I mean? Ahh anyway back to my type adventure. Friday night we did not do too much me and Yuki went for a short walk into the resort’s golf course…although we like snuck through an opening in a gate by a bush/tree line. So we were being sneaky there will be some photos up on facebook soon of the trip. It was a good laugh the walk. Then that night Akio had a meeting and Yuki and I ate in a tiny little dingy restaurant but the cook was really nice and talkative so what can I say, too he had a friend who was vegan and completely understood my diet. Then later that night we picked her husband back up and we chilled in the hotel room until 11:30ish having some wine and junk food. We went to sleep then…took me a while to fall asleep though like normal. It was different since the room was actually warm I was too hot-ish rather then being to cold and trying to fall asleep.
The next morning we woke up at 6am so to sneak me into the bath house. I have to sneak in because Tattoos are a huge no no due to the fact that is highly associated with the Ikuzi (or something like that) gangsters. She discreetly gave us two definitely not big enough bandages for my “fashion tattoo”. Luckily the night before I bought a case of large band aids to cover my tattoo and we had two of the other band aids that the receptionist gave us the night before when we were inquiring. Unfortunately this was not enough to cover up all my tattoos. We were also told that if the two band-aids that she gave me did not cover up my tattoo (all the tattoos) I would not be aloud in. So we went up and I started changing and luckily, even though most of my dragon was covered in band aids I had a towel hung over my shoulder, she came in to check where my tattoo was! And she helped me place the band aid on my Hess tattoo…which hid it perfectly. So she was none the wiser and content. Or so I thought, about half an hour later when Yuki and I were chilling in the dry Sauna she peered in threw the door and like waved to us, another check up. Again though I was covering my left side with a towel flung over. I did not expect them to be so intense about it…I’m thinking it’s not worth all the effort. It was fun though me and Yuki being kind of dorky bad asses and breaking the resorts rules. Too this was the nicest resort I have ever been to. I was on top of one of the hill/mountains and had a beautiful view of the straight.
After we finished up with the bath house we packed all our things up and left. We dropped Akio off for his meetings and then Yuki and I went to view some WHIRL POOLS! So cool! Although we were not on a good day for when the tide changing into the Pacific Ocean from the straight makes really big ones but we saw a bunch of little ones. It was really crazy and weird you could also see that the water level was higher in the straight then the pacific so there was a little bit of a shelf...of water…so weird and cool! I have about a million (probably unrecognizable) photos of them. After that we went to an art museum, which was really neat but not the art pieces were not the originals but many many famous ones from different periods around the world. So that was fun to look at and see how big they really were. All of the reproductions were done on ceramic plates (not plates but like flat slabs and such ness). We wondered around there until about 12 when we had to go pick up Akio. It was a really beautiful trip once we were out of Osaka, and then out of Kobe and onto the more rural forested island. Definitely never want to live in the city when I’m older. Oh and on the way back Yuki took me to the largest tomb in the world for one of the 5th century Emperors of Japan; although the land is owned by the countries royalty so ‘normal’ people are not aloud to wonder around on the grounds. It’s surrounded by one moat and some land and then another moat. The inner most land has not been touched so there is a 1500 year old forest sitting on it. The forest must have some pretty amazing trees in it. Here is a little photo of it I quickly found on the net.
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/7/74/180px-NintokuTomb.jpg (copy and paste if it does not work)
There is a little tan slit among all of the green near the bottom middle (before the city) area of the photo and you can walk half way up that sandy patch before you get to a gate and the first moat, to see a little sliver of the forest. The trees looked like fluffy broccoli.
Yea and so now I am home and really tired but that’s a summery of how my day started so I am sleepy and my room is disgustingly messy. I hope nobody randomly shows up…hopefully tomorrow I will clean it. Anyways I love you guys and miss you all!
The next morning we woke up at 6am so to sneak me into the bath house. I have to sneak in because Tattoos are a huge no no due to the fact that is highly associated with the Ikuzi (or something like that) gangsters. She discreetly gave us two definitely not big enough bandages for my “fashion tattoo”. Luckily the night before I bought a case of large band aids to cover my tattoo and we had two of the other band aids that the receptionist gave us the night before when we were inquiring. Unfortunately this was not enough to cover up all my tattoos. We were also told that if the two band-aids that she gave me did not cover up my tattoo (all the tattoos) I would not be aloud in. So we went up and I started changing and luckily, even though most of my dragon was covered in band aids I had a towel hung over my shoulder, she came in to check where my tattoo was! And she helped me place the band aid on my Hess tattoo…which hid it perfectly. So she was none the wiser and content. Or so I thought, about half an hour later when Yuki and I were chilling in the dry Sauna she peered in threw the door and like waved to us, another check up. Again though I was covering my left side with a towel flung over. I did not expect them to be so intense about it…I’m thinking it’s not worth all the effort. It was fun though me and Yuki being kind of dorky bad asses and breaking the resorts rules. Too this was the nicest resort I have ever been to. I was on top of one of the hill/mountains and had a beautiful view of the straight.
After we finished up with the bath house we packed all our things up and left. We dropped Akio off for his meetings and then Yuki and I went to view some WHIRL POOLS! So cool! Although we were not on a good day for when the tide changing into the Pacific Ocean from the straight makes really big ones but we saw a bunch of little ones. It was really crazy and weird you could also see that the water level was higher in the straight then the pacific so there was a little bit of a shelf...of water…so weird and cool! I have about a million (probably unrecognizable) photos of them. After that we went to an art museum, which was really neat but not the art pieces were not the originals but many many famous ones from different periods around the world. So that was fun to look at and see how big they really were. All of the reproductions were done on ceramic plates (not plates but like flat slabs and such ness). We wondered around there until about 12 when we had to go pick up Akio. It was a really beautiful trip once we were out of Osaka, and then out of Kobe and onto the more rural forested island. Definitely never want to live in the city when I’m older. Oh and on the way back Yuki took me to the largest tomb in the world for one of the 5th century Emperors of Japan; although the land is owned by the countries royalty so ‘normal’ people are not aloud to wonder around on the grounds. It’s surrounded by one moat and some land and then another moat. The inner most land has not been touched so there is a 1500 year old forest sitting on it. The forest must have some pretty amazing trees in it. Here is a little photo of it I quickly found on the net.
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/7/74/180px-NintokuTomb.jpg (copy and paste if it does not work)
There is a little tan slit among all of the green near the bottom middle (before the city) area of the photo and you can walk half way up that sandy patch before you get to a gate and the first moat, to see a little sliver of the forest. The trees looked like fluffy broccoli.
Yea and so now I am home and really tired but that’s a summery of how my day started so I am sleepy and my room is disgustingly messy. I hope nobody randomly shows up…hopefully tomorrow I will clean it. Anyways I love you guys and miss you all!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Loners Rule
You know you’re cool when you hang out alone in your apartment on a Friday night, which I usually do. Although the last couple of Fridays I was hanging out with other people so now it seems somewhat boring and lonely. Anyways to continue where I left off from my last entry on Monday I went with Michelle to another university where she teaches 4 men, older professors English. I will be taking over for her starting on Valentines Day. I am a little nervous but she says they more just want someone to talk to, so I hope I will suffice and be useful. Too I never asked how much money they will pay me so I hope to find out with in the week. I hope I will be a good teacher (nervous / what have I gotten myself into face). During the spring break I have class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 9:20 in the morning until 11 O’clock. This is good because then I can still practice Japanese and have time to go do something in the day. Not that I actual venture about too much by myself. I think I will try too….its just scary. Wow I’m a baby.
Its kind of embarrassing when people ask me if I have any friends that I hang out with often and I have to honestly reply ‘No, but that’s okay’. I can totally sense their like awkward pity towards me. I kind of feel sad when I say it too which does make it pathetic. Oh well I’m just looking forward to when my Mummy and Eileen and Cara come to visit me. That will be fun. I mean I do have some acquaintances here and people that insist they are my friends but they would not be there for me if I actually needed them and I only see them like once ever 2 weeks at the very most (the exception for this is if we were friends before and either of us have moved very far away from each other)…so I would not really call that a friend. I could possible just have to high of a standard for what I consider a friend. Anyways I will try and keep things more updated, I was kind of slacking for the month of January I’m thinking but then again I really did not do too much. I love you all!
Its kind of embarrassing when people ask me if I have any friends that I hang out with often and I have to honestly reply ‘No, but that’s okay’. I can totally sense their like awkward pity towards me. I kind of feel sad when I say it too which does make it pathetic. Oh well I’m just looking forward to when my Mummy and Eileen and Cara come to visit me. That will be fun. I mean I do have some acquaintances here and people that insist they are my friends but they would not be there for me if I actually needed them and I only see them like once ever 2 weeks at the very most (the exception for this is if we were friends before and either of us have moved very far away from each other)…so I would not really call that a friend. I could possible just have to high of a standard for what I consider a friend. Anyways I will try and keep things more updated, I was kind of slacking for the month of January I’m thinking but then again I really did not do too much. I love you all!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
This is a long one....and I gave up...
This last week I have been rather busy compared to January. Last Wednesday I went to Kyoto with Kazu (the tutor I went with that told me to get on the wrong train with her thus making me lost) and her friend Ayumi. Ayumi also had a guest from Australia who spoke very good Japanese. It was nice to have another English speaker to talk to, although I admit so far in my life every single Australian I have met is quite the talker. Via me for instance would ask this particular girl a random question like do you have a pet? And she could talk on and on without interruption for the next 15 minutes straight. No she rarely asked me questions back. That was a long day and I did not get home until late. I did take some photos but my cameras batteries were on and off dieing so I stopped. I will post them once I venture out to buy new batteries.
On Thursday I then in the afternoon, after classes, went with them to Osaka Castle. We did not get to view the inside of the castle as we came so late in the day so when my Mummy comes I will take her there and we can look inside. Then we went down town to Umeda which is the city center I suppose with the most businesses or something. We went to a restaurant and I ordered some French fries but when they arrived after a small taste observation I realized they were coated in garlic butter (way to make French Fries even more unhealthy then they all ready are) so I sent them back and received plain ones. Too when we were walking around a man that try’s to usher people into his given restaurant (like carnies yelling at you to play their game) made some comment in Japanese that I would have never noticed in a billion years but the Australian girl did. She began laughing hysterically and said that the man pointed at me and said aloud “Is that a gay dude dressed like a girl?” or something like that towards me. Ha, it was pretty funny. Who ever comes to visit me will understand since 30% of the male population dresses insofar as metro-sexual as a “straight” male does and to be shocked that I look like a gay dude in my attire was comical. Being androgynous is wicked. So I got home late yet another night.
On Friday I had classes all day long and I had to take photos for the schools brochure. They wanted to take photos of me talking for some odd reason, I mean why? So that my mouth can be wide open in the photo and look silly ha-ha oh well. I also had to write up a little thing for the brochure. This is what I wrote and Yasuko was supposed to translate it as best as she could.
I think that everyone should be an exchange student at some point in their life. Studying abroad gives you the chance to immerse yourself into another culture. This type of opportunity assists me in becoming a globally rounded person. By learning the ways of another culture you can come to appreciate things that you may have more or less taken for granted. As well you may find some practices that one culture appreciates that you may then want to incorporate into your own life style.
One thing that I really appreciate about the Japanese culture is the extensive ancient history. I am lucky to have a scholarship to Osaka since it is situated near very beautiful historic cities such as Nara and Kyoto. I also very much enjoy all of the different types of pottery used for displaying a meal. This makes the meal more aesthetically pleasing and interesting as my family typically uses matching dishes to present food, which I now realize is somewhat boring. I am learning how to perform the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, and am excited to show my friends and family back home in Canada.
No matter how much I miss my friends and family I would never give up this opportunity to experience another culture, and suggest that if you ever get the chance to, take it!
So that’s my little simple essay thingy they will use. I had criteria I was supposed to talk about. Anyway that night it was Dong Yong’s going away party and I drank for the first time in 2 months and some. It was kind of fun but not super great. I ended up staying up until 4:30 in the morning. This was probably a bad idea because 2 weeks before Yuki had called and told me on the Second of February (that Saturday/Morning) Akio, her husband, would take me to climb Mt. Kongo. I had not heard from her since and she did not tell me what time so I was not sure if it was still on. She ended up waking me up with a phone call at 7:00am 2 and half hours after I got into bed. Ugh, so I agreed I would be ready for her to pick me up at 8 am and at some food and then lied in my bed until she came. Once I was in the vehicle and then on the bus up to the mountain I was seriously kicking myself and thinking “what the heck am I doing, you fool, you should have said you were sick”. I had popped 2 ibuprofen advil though so that I could hopefully over ride the headache which mostly worked. Other then that my stomach felt …well hung over. Once we started climbing it was really fun though and I got the hang of things, it took us 2 hours to get to the top. The higher we went the more snow there was so it was nice. I don’t really remember much because I was so tired it was kind of all a blur but I know it was really fun. I will take Eileen and Cara up the mountain hopefully. It was rather intense of a hike, more then I was expecting…like an A3 or 4. I definitely needed to use my hands at time and pull myself up and if I lost my balance and fell back I most likely would have mangled and or killed myself. We had to where spikes on the bottom of our feet once we got so high because of the ice. It was fun. The only think that sucked is it’s the 2end most climbed mountain in Japan other then Mt. Fuji so although we went up the most difficult way it was rather busy and especially when we got to the top since there are a lot easier ways to climb up. There were really elderly people climbing up the way we went too so that was inspiring makes me feel like I can always be active no matter what my age. So I hope to stay active.
Once I got home around 3pm I crashed into my bed and took a nap from 3-5pm, and took it easy that night. The next day I went to Clive another teacher’s house with Michelle for lunch, we ended up staying until 8pm and arrived around 1pm. It was fun with rather good conversation he was a very knowledgeable older man. He is from England originally. So my accent really sticks out between him and the Australian that is Michelle. Ha this is so long I’m even getting tired of typing. Okay well I will end it here and then talk more about what happened the next day… or well yesterday by this point for me. I love you all so much, sorry trying not to be too boring but I also want to keep you updated out of consideration for my loved ones. I love you all very much, never forget it!
On Thursday I then in the afternoon, after classes, went with them to Osaka Castle. We did not get to view the inside of the castle as we came so late in the day so when my Mummy comes I will take her there and we can look inside. Then we went down town to Umeda which is the city center I suppose with the most businesses or something. We went to a restaurant and I ordered some French fries but when they arrived after a small taste observation I realized they were coated in garlic butter (way to make French Fries even more unhealthy then they all ready are) so I sent them back and received plain ones. Too when we were walking around a man that try’s to usher people into his given restaurant (like carnies yelling at you to play their game) made some comment in Japanese that I would have never noticed in a billion years but the Australian girl did. She began laughing hysterically and said that the man pointed at me and said aloud “Is that a gay dude dressed like a girl?” or something like that towards me. Ha, it was pretty funny. Who ever comes to visit me will understand since 30% of the male population dresses insofar as metro-sexual as a “straight” male does and to be shocked that I look like a gay dude in my attire was comical. Being androgynous is wicked. So I got home late yet another night.
On Friday I had classes all day long and I had to take photos for the schools brochure. They wanted to take photos of me talking for some odd reason, I mean why? So that my mouth can be wide open in the photo and look silly ha-ha oh well. I also had to write up a little thing for the brochure. This is what I wrote and Yasuko was supposed to translate it as best as she could.
I think that everyone should be an exchange student at some point in their life. Studying abroad gives you the chance to immerse yourself into another culture. This type of opportunity assists me in becoming a globally rounded person. By learning the ways of another culture you can come to appreciate things that you may have more or less taken for granted. As well you may find some practices that one culture appreciates that you may then want to incorporate into your own life style.
One thing that I really appreciate about the Japanese culture is the extensive ancient history. I am lucky to have a scholarship to Osaka since it is situated near very beautiful historic cities such as Nara and Kyoto. I also very much enjoy all of the different types of pottery used for displaying a meal. This makes the meal more aesthetically pleasing and interesting as my family typically uses matching dishes to present food, which I now realize is somewhat boring. I am learning how to perform the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, and am excited to show my friends and family back home in Canada.
No matter how much I miss my friends and family I would never give up this opportunity to experience another culture, and suggest that if you ever get the chance to, take it!
So that’s my little simple essay thingy they will use. I had criteria I was supposed to talk about. Anyway that night it was Dong Yong’s going away party and I drank for the first time in 2 months and some. It was kind of fun but not super great. I ended up staying up until 4:30 in the morning. This was probably a bad idea because 2 weeks before Yuki had called and told me on the Second of February (that Saturday/Morning) Akio, her husband, would take me to climb Mt. Kongo. I had not heard from her since and she did not tell me what time so I was not sure if it was still on. She ended up waking me up with a phone call at 7:00am 2 and half hours after I got into bed. Ugh, so I agreed I would be ready for her to pick me up at 8 am and at some food and then lied in my bed until she came. Once I was in the vehicle and then on the bus up to the mountain I was seriously kicking myself and thinking “what the heck am I doing, you fool, you should have said you were sick”. I had popped 2 ibuprofen advil though so that I could hopefully over ride the headache which mostly worked. Other then that my stomach felt …well hung over. Once we started climbing it was really fun though and I got the hang of things, it took us 2 hours to get to the top. The higher we went the more snow there was so it was nice. I don’t really remember much because I was so tired it was kind of all a blur but I know it was really fun. I will take Eileen and Cara up the mountain hopefully. It was rather intense of a hike, more then I was expecting…like an A3 or 4. I definitely needed to use my hands at time and pull myself up and if I lost my balance and fell back I most likely would have mangled and or killed myself. We had to where spikes on the bottom of our feet once we got so high because of the ice. It was fun. The only think that sucked is it’s the 2end most climbed mountain in Japan other then Mt. Fuji so although we went up the most difficult way it was rather busy and especially when we got to the top since there are a lot easier ways to climb up. There were really elderly people climbing up the way we went too so that was inspiring makes me feel like I can always be active no matter what my age. So I hope to stay active.
Once I got home around 3pm I crashed into my bed and took a nap from 3-5pm, and took it easy that night. The next day I went to Clive another teacher’s house with Michelle for lunch, we ended up staying until 8pm and arrived around 1pm. It was fun with rather good conversation he was a very knowledgeable older man. He is from England originally. So my accent really sticks out between him and the Australian that is Michelle. Ha this is so long I’m even getting tired of typing. Okay well I will end it here and then talk more about what happened the next day… or well yesterday by this point for me. I love you all so much, sorry trying not to be too boring but I also want to keep you updated out of consideration for my loved ones. I love you all very much, never forget it!
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