Rememberance Day

I doesn't really matter where you are, I think it's important to pause and remember.

I dedicate this short blog entry to my Grandfather, and my Great Uncles.

Tokyo Motor Show

It was a whirl wind 4 hours - when I could have spent a whole weekend there. Here's what I got, it's not much....

My Thip

Well, after being sworn to secrecy for the last 6 weeks,
I'm finally allowed to let it out....

THIP'S PREGNANT!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

BIG HUGS TO YOU AND LAMBERT!

Japan's Addiction

Ok, I can't stand it any longer. It's time to rant about my number one pet peeve, frustration...hazard in this country.

SMOKING

This will be a multi-entry blog topic as there is just too much to put down here.

Let's start with some statistics, shall we...


These were taken from the World Health Organization:

• About a third of the male adult global population smokes.

• Smoking related-diseases kill one in 10 adults globally, or cause four million deaths. By 2030, if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people.

• Every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco use.

• Smoking is on the rise in the developing world but falling in developed nations. Among Americans, smoking rates shrunk by nearly half in three decades (from the mid-1960s to mid-1990s), falling to 23% of adults by 1997. In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.

• About 15 billion cigarettes are sold daily - or 10 million every minute.

• About 12 times more British people have died from smoking than from World War II.

• Cigarettes cause more than one in five American deaths.

• Among WHO Regions, the Western Pacific Region* - which covers East Asia and the Pacific - has the highest smoking rate, with nearly two-thirds of men smoking.

• About one in three cigarettes are consumed in the Western Pacific Region.

• The tobacco market is controlled by just a few corporations - namely American, British and Japanese multinational conglomerates.

Complaining

I've just gotten over a slight bout of food poisoning which I think came from some chicken that I ate last week. It started on Thursday with that all-over achy flu-like feeling. You know, the one where all your joints feel like they've rusted and your head could explode at any moment. That was my Thursday. By Friday I had graduated from 'achy' to 'flattened by a semi'. As I hovered over my toilet at 8:00 a.m. I debated the merits of using a sick day. Unfortunately, in this country the beauracracy tends to overwhelm me and I thought that it would be easier to prop myself up against a desk for 8 hours than deal with a sick day request. Besides, I wanted to go to Tokyo the next day and I thought it would look a little suspicious if I took a day off the day before -even though I was TRULY ill.

I made it through the work day - barely - in the last class of the day my JTE finally commented that I looked quite pale... - at least she noticed, right? I went home, went to bed and dreaded the 4:00 a.m. alarm I had set. Now some of you are thinking - 4:00 alarm? What the? -Here's where Tokyo fits in.

My friend Kaz and I had planned a trip to Tokyo to see the Tokyo Motor Show together. I was to get up bright and early (usually not a big deal for me) and drive to his place, then hop in his beetle and drive to the event - yahoo! Well, everything happened as planned, minus the yahoo.
I thought I was feeling better when I woke up. In fact, I did feel better, but I had only gone from 0% to 50% -not even close to where one should be when embarking on such an adventure.
Food poisioning is not fun! Sheesh!

After getting home at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning (I had spent a few hours huddled in my sleeping bag, in my car, in an expressway parking lot that night), I got in the door, shut off every electrical device in my apartment, covered every inch of window and literaly crawled into bed and SLEPT. I woke up at 5:00 p.m. - attempted a few menial tasks, ate a bit of food, slipped back under the covers and had another full night's sleep. By Monday I was at about 75%, Tuesday, 85% and yesterday was as close to 100% as I ever feel.

I am fully aware that I put this wretched weekend upon myself - it could have been avoided by a simple phone call to Kaz, threaded with explanations and apologies. I could have slept all day Saturday, rested Sunday and avoided the miserable day I had simultaneously fighting crowds and my urge to run to a toilet...

But then what would I have had to complain about this week?

More Tsurugi Pics From Josh's Camera

Behind again....

I can honestly say I've been busy....busy having fun. Ok, work's been pretty jamb packed too. In fact, I'm at work on my day off today (yes, writing on my blog, but also catching up on marking, planning and prepping....ahem, real work).

So here's a summary of the last couple of weeks:

Two weeks ago Kathleen came to visit me. She just happened to be in the neighborhood so she stopped in Tokyo for a few days. I caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) and we met in Ikebukuro (a district of Tokyo) for a couple of days of girl time.

I took her to some of my favorite places: the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Harajuku and the Oriental Bazzar, the Starbucks across from Shibuya station, 7th floor bookstore in Tower Records, just down the street...we were ONLY in there for 3 hours....that could be a record.

We intended to hop over to Shinjuku to see the lights and catch some night action but instead we sat on the balcony of a bar overlooking a Shibuya street, watching people go by - enjoying wine, sake and the unreality of Kathy being in Tokyo with me. We were both reminded of the time we spent in Havana, doing much the same thing (only it was rum, not sake). We philosophised, as usual, ranted, raved, laughed, flirted and missed our third partner in crime...Dacia.

How much things have changed in a year... Who would have thought it would be me sitting back, watching my friends create homes, families...(stability??), while I spontaneously get in my car and drive 2 hours for a starbucks fix, plan my next trip abroad, or sit in my apartment and read a whole book uninterupted. I'm not envious of them anymore.

I returned to Toyama Saturday night, in time to meet up with some ex-Nova students that I hadn't seen for about 2 years. I was treated to a very nice Japanese style dinner and great conversation. I wish I had more time to spend with everyone I've become friends with here. Sometimes I only have a chance to get together with people once or twice a year!

That Sunday I headed to Kanazawa with Kaz and Ai - more friends I've made through Nova. We went and watched an exhibition Sumo tournament much like the one I went to a few years ago in Uozu. We were seven rows back from the doyho (sumo ring) and got to see the big guys in a much more relaxed atmosphere than is usual for a 'grand' sumo tournament. They had demos with some elementary school boys, put on a couple of performances of what NOT to do in a sumo ring, they explained and demonstrated how the hair is tied, and then went to work throwing each other out of the ring. This was my 4th time to watch Sumo live, and I've learned quite a bit watching it on TV because I get English comentary....so my friends were more than a little surprised by my knowledge of the sport. I just kept telling them it was because I'm a PE teacher...

This past weekend was the anual JET Halloween party...I almost didn't go, but was pursuaded at the last minute to get my costume on and join the craziness. I didn't think last year's shinanigans could be topped, but, in a nutshell - they were. I spent Saturday in my apartment with a book before heading to the gym in the evening, and Sunday was another day in Kamiichi teaching elementary school kids - of course we had a Halloween theme and they enjoyed making witches hats out of chocolate cookies and Hershey's Kisses.

This weekend I'm heading back to Tokyo for the motor show -just a one day road trip in a '67 Beetle...giddy-up!

On my way home from work there was a brilliant sunset -unfortunately it was behind me. Then, I spotted this shiney tanker and decided to catch up to him and enjoy the veiw in his reflection. I tail-gated him all the way home...

Sumo In Kanazawa

photos from the past

Words of advice...

Never try to wax your legs, text message and use an electronic dictionary at the same time....

things get sticky.

A Random Monday Post

I keep thinking that I have something to write about, but when I finally have the time to sit and type.....

Things that are going on in my world this week:

1. It's mid-term week, no classes
2. Wednesday I start my -bloody expensive- cram school sessions in Toyama with two other ALTs -we are all studying for a test in Dec.
3. Thursday is packed -a meeting in the morning at a school I've never heard of...they wanted an ALT to come to their school for a festival of some kind and asked around and my name came up so they called my school and made arrangements...and now I'm going to a festival of some kind at a school I've never heard of....then I have a planning meeting for the mid-year seminar (my 3rd now) and then I'm off to Tokyo to see Kathy for 2 days!!
4. Saturday is dinner with some ex-Nova students whom I haven't seen in years....I can't believe I can actually say that....
5. Sunday is SUMO in Kanazawa -ring side seats, I can hardly stand the anticipation!!

Great Canadian Cruz Photos -finally

Places I've Been

create your own visited countries map


Hopefully this will change a bit with a trip to Thailand and maybe Vietnam in December.

Toyama ReRay Marathon

On Sunday, 4 brave souls and I set out in the pouring rain to represent the JET community in the 5th annual Toyama Relay Marathon. With a name like the Toyama Superstars we felt like we could take on the world. So, we aimed for the top 110....and came in 148th!!
The course was just over 42km. We each had to run 4 laps to complete it, and we averaged about 10 minutes per lap. Some of the teams were very serious about it and others...well, they had a different approach.

I will definitely be competing in more of these relays in the future!!