EWAN!!

Let me start at the beginning...Many of you know that Ewan McGregor was a spokesperson for Aeon about 5-7 years ago. He did commericals and appeared in a print campaign. I occassionally find bits of Ewan on the back of lesson materials or used to make gameboards. When I teach my lessons I always try to find a way to work in either Ewan or Harry Potter and one day I noticed that one of my students, Tomoko got very excited when I mentioned Mr. McGregor. After class once, she told me how she went to London to see him in Guys and Dolls (me too!) and how she thinks he has the best voice (me too!).


Last Saturday she came up to me after class and showed me a flyer for something that at first glance appeared to be a motorcycle race. It took me a minute to read that it was a documentary narrated by Ewan. She asked me if I wanted to go and of course I said yes. Later that night I kind of made Mateo agree to come with me because I had never been out with students before.


We met at Nagoya station, grabbed some McDonalds (I have never seen two people eat chicken mcnuggets or a hamburger so slowly...it was painful) and then took the subway to the station located near the movie theatre. At this point we had about 15 minutes before it started and after about 5, it was obvious that we were lost. After wandering around back streets, passing some sketchy looking establishments and using maps on cellphones, Tomoko and her friend finally found the movie theatre. Now, when I say movie theatre, I mean 3rd floor, small room with uncomfortable seats and a small-ish screen. We got there just in time, got our numbers and then went into the theatre in order (I loved this - you got to enter the theatre in the order you got there...I was number 20...).


The documentary was called 'The Doctor, the Tornado and the Kentucky Kid' and it was about a motorcycle race in California last summer. I knew nothing about motorcycles (except what I had learned from reading and watching Long Way Round...) and thought I'd just be there to listen to Ewan's attractive, attractive voice. Turns out, the documentary was really interesting and by the end was actually cheering (well, cheering on the inside) for one of the racers.


We said goodbye to Tomoko and her friend (it was kind of awkward because Tomoko is very quiet and then with us she was even quieter and her friend didn't speak English) and headed to the Aeon mall to meet Elspeth and her friend Jeannine from Kyoto. We did a bit of shopping (I bought an electric kettle for $8) and then came back to my apartment to order pizza. Both Elspeth and Jeannine hate talking on the phone in Japanese and the internet order form was insisting that we pick deep dish pizza so we decided to walk and try to find the pizza hut. We brought the pizza back to my place and had a long conversation about everything from teaching in Japan to living in residence to Harry Potter and Lost.


All in all, some good times...

Hey, Big Spender...

[The ultra modern and wonderful building in which my favourite store, Loft is located]

Sorry about the blogging break. Work has been crazy busy and throw in some study meetings and hours standing in line for my working visa and I've been one tired little foreigner. Weekends have been used to sleep, grocery shop, get a cell phone, shop (for non grocery type neccessities, like a couch) and sleep.

Last weekend one of the Japanese teachers at my school, Miyuki took me to get a cell phone. Thank the lord for her, because there was no way I was understanding the confusing mess of cellphone plans without her. I ended up getting a cute, very girly, BRIGHT PINK phone with a camera and mp3 player. Now I can join the Japanese on the trains, playing games and writing text messages.


Last Sunday Elspeth and I went to the Aeon Mall (not related to the Aeon I work for) that is in my area. I met her at Kanayama station and we hopped on the free shuttle bus to the mall. Now, shopping in Japan is amazing and I feel that it is an important cultural experience (don't say anything, Fil...)(That comment reminded me of the 'sorry if that offends you, Fil' comments from the European Extravaganza blog - if you don't know what I'm talking about click the link on the side and enjoy) . There is nothing more interesting than wandering through the food floor of a department store, or checking out all the wonderful things you can get at the 100yen store. Elspeth and I looked at the many stores...tried to figure out some of the weird Japanese fashions (overalls, suspenders, the lumberjack look, the drab huge clothing look and the supershort shorts with a garter belt look???). We grabbed some delicious lunch at a trendy looking restaurant and chatted about how you can have tempura and udon for the same price as McDonalds. Why would anyone choose McDonalds??

In the mall there is a store that reminds me of Target - part grocery store, part home store, part cheap clothing store. We walked around and looked at some pseudo-couches...now I call them this because they look like couches but don't have legs or arms. I only have a computer/desk chair in my apartment and had been thinking about getting some seating (for when people come over or when I don't want to sit at the desk...). At first I thought I'd jut get individual seats but then I saw a pretty brown pseudo-couch that seats two. Elspeth and I tested them all out (and got many strange looks in the process) and decided that the cute brown one was the most comfortable (we actually sat on it for the length of the Rocky theme song they were playing in the store!). Here's a picture of it - It's kind of like a huge pillow that can fold and adjust to the angle you want. In otherwords it rocks.


We checked out other things (We're going back this Sunday - I'm going to pick up a fan and some groceries - CHEESE!!) and then I went back and bought the couch. The cashiers were confused about how I was going to take it home. They seemed horrified when Elspeth told them I was going to carry it. We crammed it onto the shuttle bus and then I carried it on the subway (talk about strange looks...way more than usual) and up the five flights of stairs at my station. It now sits on the 'unused' side of my room and after a day of lounging and watching Gilmore Girls, I can say it is super comfy.
[This is a Japanese lesson that 10 year old Kyouka taught me - we have a deal that at the end of each lesson, she gets 3 minutes to teach me]

This week is couseling week - most of my classes have been cancelled (so that we have times to cousel) so I've been using this time to plan ahead for next week and help with the cleaning and organizing of the office. Today, Honbucho (the Boss of Headquarters) is coming to look over the school so everyone has been slightly tense and on their best behaviour. Izumi, one of the emergency teachers says that, 'the air changes when he is in the room'. Should be interesting...

Hamamatsu - A weekend with Becky and thankfully no flying cockroaches!

[Elspeth's Deepresso coffee drink that made her VERY excited and yes, she kept the can!]

Last Sunday Elspeth and I caught the train from Kanayama station to Hamamatsu. It took about 2 hours and the train went through some really nice scenic areas. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Hamamatsu is a beautiful and big city (with great shopping, and FABULOUS food but more on that in a bit). Becky met us at the station and we decided that we'd have famous Hamamatsu eel for lunch.

Now Hamamatsu is known around Japan for its eel. When I told the Japanese teachers that I was going to Hamamtsu, they autmatically said - eat eel. Seriously folks, these skinny Japanese girls are experts on food! Elspeth is not really a fan of the eel and we had been joking about restaurant options on the train being eel, eel, rice, eel, eel and eggs, eel (Christopher - that was a Monty Python reference for you)(Spam, spam, eggs, spam, spam, spam...). Sure enough the restaurant served ONLY EEL. Luckily, it was SO good that even Elspeth liked it. I think that the freshness and the way it is prepared made a difference.

After lunch Becky showed us around Hamamatsu and we did a bit of window shopping. Then we hopped on a bus and went to her apartment. Now let me tell you a little story...During training we received a paper describing our apartments. Mine was slightly depressing - small, no closet space (a lie!) and no loft. Elspeth's was a little less depressing - small apartment, no closet space, sleeping loft. Becky's was unbelievable - 2 bedrooms, large closet, large kitchen! I was instantly jealous. When we left training I got an email from Becky describing an incident in her apartment. A large cockroach had been hiding out in the 'spare' bedroom (eeerr...her spare bedroom) and when she had tried to kill it with some bug spray it had flown up and into her face!! Instantly, I was glad I had my little box apartment. This weekend I got to stay at the 2-bedroom apartment and I must say it was really nice! She has two burners on her stove (cooking on one burner is ridiculous)(I am jealous) and I didn't see a single bug the entire time I was there! Her spare bedroom has a couch in it and we all decided that Becky's house is the party house.

We hung out for a bit and then walked to get some food/booze for the beach bbq that some of her co-workers and friends were having that night. We met Alana, the other foreign teacher at Hamamatsu and some of the Japanese co-workers. They drove us to the beach and it was so wonderful to feel the sand on my feet and hear the ocean. We ate lots of food, set off fireworks and talked. Great night.



Monday we slept in, ate suprisingly good pasta and then saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Oh, I must admit, I love Johnny Depp in those movies. He's so ridiculous and amazing. After the movie we all decided to get our hair cut, which was at first, kind of terrifying. The stylist was really nice though and spoke a little English. We were all happy with our cuts. We grabbed some wonderful sushi dinner at an izakaya and then Elspeth and I hopped on the train back to Nagoya.


The plan is to go back to Hamamatsu when the sea turtles hatch and you can help them get down the beach to the ocean. How cool is that?!?!?!

誕生日おめでとう(tanjobi omedeto) (HAPPY BIRTHDAY) MOM!!!!

I hope you had a wonderful day! I love you and miss you lots!

I need to learn SHUT UP in Japanese!

So it's 1am and I have a study meeting at AEON headquarters tomorrow morning. I am already stressed about study meetings because someone told me that they usually test your grammar (and everyone knows that grammar is not my strong point, especially you Steph) and now the dude next door is playing awful dance music that has Darth Vadar talking throughout it. That's right - Darth Vader is talking throughout the dance music. I just don't get it. I've tried banging on the wall but he's not getting the message. He is the same guy who plays his guitar early in the morning...and plays the same couple bars of a song OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!

Its driving me bloody mad! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Okay...on go the headphones - even though I can never sleep with them on, it's better than Darth talking.

I'll post about my awesome trip to Hamamatsu tomorrow.

g'night.

PS. Today I saw a girl wearing a shirt with the word GRAB written across her chest. And then on the subway I saw a guy who had a shirt that said "We love you thunder thighs" I only wish I could have seen the front of that shirt.

PS#2 - Important day in Japan - The princess gave birth to a boy. Now there is no need to change the law so that a girl could be emperess of Japan. I'm bitter.