Tuesday, 21 December 2004

Catch Up and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sorry for the wait everyone. My internet in Japan broke down for the last 2 days I was there and then I had to jump on my Qantas (spelt with no "u" I jus realised) flight to Sydney. Pam's house has no internet and neither does my Mum's so a small internet cafe in Orange was my first opportunity to get online!

In short, I had a great flight! I didn't get sick at all due to some amazing medication that only requires you to take two tablets a day that last for 24 hours! I took three just in case. ;) I got seated next to a really cool gal from Melbourne who also happened to be a Nova teacher in Chiba Prefecture. We got along well. Maybe too well as we didn't catch each other's names until we got to Sydney!

The view on the plane was amazing, from the nightime departure from Narita Airport to the sunrise off the coast of Australia we got to view ABOVE the clouds (I had a window seat this time!). A great flight.

Before I left Japan I finished almost all of my Christmas shopping.

I really enjoyed being in Sydney again for 2 days. I'm seriously thinking about making my stay in Japan shorter. Sydney is such a better place to live than Japan. The air's so much cleaner and I was having conversations with complete strangers! I'm so tempted to stay. Orange is even looking great now! It's really exploded both culturally and populationaly (I think that's a word. If it's not... it should be).

Saw the new movie The Motorcycle Diaries.... on of my favourite films EVER. Funny, dramatic, heartwrenchingly sad. I can't recommend it enough. The Scenery and the Music is a great enough reason to go.

My brother, Roger is patiently watching me type this and he's been waiting long enough, so I better go.

To everyone in Japan, Australia and my friends and visitors in the wired I wish you a Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Now to watch the Smurfs Christmas Special from the early 80's where they battle Satan! (I'm not kidding!)

Monday, 13 December 2004

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Well, I'm 24 today! I havn't really planned to do much, it just doesn't really feel like my birthday being in Japan and not around family. Normally I have a party, but I can't be bothered this year. Maybe next year. ;)

Sunday, 12 December 2004

Jazz!

I've been looking for a cool Jazz bar since I came here and last night a friend of mine showed me one of his favourites which so happens to be ..... a five minute walk from my house!!! Great bar too! They have "Jam Naight" (that's how they spell "night") every Saturday, and I was talked into playing "next time". (I knew it was a bad idea to mention I play piano... it was just plain stupid of me to mention "I like Karaoke").

The best thing about this place? NO DOOR CHARGE!!! I can buy a beer without paying for the seat I'm sitting in!

Friday, 10 December 2004

"No."

Well, last week Carmen showed me a picture of herself and one of her kids groups and I was inspired to grab some pictures of myself with some of my kids groups, whom have become the highlight of my workday. When I first started, some of the kids would scream, yell, act like monkeys, and physically abuse themselves, myself and each other. However now they're angels, calling me by name, respecting me and several, even hugging me on occassion. Cute as Hell.

Anyway, after my class in Sengendai today, I grabbed my mobile (which has a built in camera) and asked on of the parents "Photo?". A mother, who is normally full of laughs and who I had assumed up until this point respected me as a teacher and a human, went very serious and said "No". Her body language also told me that this was out of the question. I was shocked. Of course she was absolutely in her rights as a mother to say "No" but the only rational explanation for her saying now would be her not trusting me on some level. I mean, really. How many times have you said to someone "I don't want you to have a photo of one of my family members".

Maybe she doesn't think I'm a pervert. There is some sexual descrimination AND racial descrimination in this country that could account for her actions but then...

...minutes later she came in with 3 of the girls from my class with her own camera and asked me if she could have a photo of me, her daughter and her friends. I assumed she had had a change of heart so I smiled for her photos and then brought out my mobile phone to take my own and she said angrily "No."

What the fuck was that? She might as well have said "I can have a photo and you can't". I still love these kids, they're addorable, and I'm not holding anything against the mother, again she was completely in her legal rights... I just have no idea WTF was going on!

Tuesday, 7 December 2004

Sick as a dobbit!

Sorry for the lack of posting guys! I'll be going back and adding some pics and posts about what I've done this week this afternoon!

We had a farewell party for Sally at Doma Doma on Sunday and boy was I paying for it yesterday. To add insult to injury, while suffering from the hangover, I managed to poison myself! Our appartment building was cleaning it's pipes today (which I forgot about) and I took a glass of water from the tap (my bottled water had run out). Tim managed to stop me from having a shower as I was stepping into it which was great, but I still had that water in my stomache which basically made me sick all yesterday and I'm still not 100% today. I was almost incapacitated at work yesterday. I even had to run out of a classroom to throw up in the bathroom mid-class. My face had gone white and my stomache was constantly churning. It felt like my body was shutting down. I had to go home sick halfway through my shift. I just couldn't teach anymore. Luckily Jackson covered my first lesson, then I had a man to man lesson (previously mentioned) and then a Voice which noone showed up for. But then I had a kids class. I pretty much just sat still for the whole lesson throwing cards around the room for them to get and then got them to do a number puzzle for the last 10 minutes. I managed to complete the lesson plan though so they didn't suffer.

p.s. I got my reentry Visa. I'll write more on that this arvo.