Happy Birthday Johnny P

There are two Johnny Ps in my life -lucky me.

To my brother John - happy 31st birthday!!

Part I, the good stuff.

Last Thursday was American Thanksgiving (and also a Labor/Thanksgiving holiday in Japan -go figure). So, as usual John did up the turkeys (what is it with Johns and turkeys??? -family joke), Josh sent out the invites, ordered the pies and brought the stickers, everyone cooked and/or bought something to share and we all met at Tanayama Familyland once again for a great feast.








Friday was the international Colare cooking night and I was in charge once again. I made Cuban spicy black bean soup -and it was SPICY!! Most of the ALTs liked it, but I think I scared off a lot of the Japanese people! They'll never order Cuban food now...

Saturday I went golfing with 3 of my teachers. A strange combination, me and 3 married guys...The whole golf thing started the day that I went on the 'safety neighborhood' walk with my Mikkaichi students and Hirata sensei. We walked past a house with golf clubs outside and he started making comments. I told him that I enjoy golf too and before I knew it, I had been invited to play a round sometime in the future. Well, the future caught up with me on Saturday and there I was, on a $120/round, tucked up in the mountains, 18 hole golf course. It was pretty deluxe, valet service, lounge, cart service and of course a bath for after the game! I was nervous, and had only been to the driving range 2 times before playing. But I wasn't the only beginner, and played a better game than one of the other teachers! It was a brilliant cloudless fall day. The conditions couldn't have been better. I really had a great time -sports is a great way to communicate when you don't speak each other's language.

Here are some photos from the day:












Sunday I went to Toyama to shop for snowboard gear with Omi -my snowboarding and golf sensei. We made a few decisions about what I should buy and then went for dinner at a cute little Indian restaurant.

I drove home, watched a movie and then the fun began...

Tanayama Family Land-o Thanksgiving 2006

I've been trying to post this for a week!! It's late, but enjoy. Thanks to Sista K for the link. The 3rd annual thanksgiving was in Tanayama again for the 2nd time. Before the meal got started, the Nyuzen crew got together to wish people back home a "Happy Thanksgiving!"

The Big Update

...is on it's way. I promise.

And it's a DOOZY!!

Lost in Translation

To all my Japanese and Japanese-studying friends please translate this into English:

目
愛
歯
ぴゅー
？

Budding Artists

I love elementary school for many reasons - here's one:

An ever-changing art gallery!

The Official Countdown Commences

OK, as of tomorrow I will be exactly one month away from my first Christmas vacation at home in 5 years. I've added a countdown indicator to my blog so you can count down the days with me. Perhaps when December hits I'll deck it with boughs of holly or something, but for now it's just simply red and green.

And just in case you think that I get to avoid the 2 month long commercial Christmas season because I'm in a country that doesn't 'celebrate' it...think again. The trees and lights and music have been in the stores since November 1. Ugh.

A Random Wednesday

My alarm didn't go off for the second day in a row.

I ate mashed banana on toast for breakfast.

Today was my little school day. Maezawa Elementary School has 98 students and I taught all of them except the 15 first graders.

2nd Grade: Vegetables.
I did a vegetable chant. One would think that eggplant and perhaps green pepper would be toughies, but no, carrot and radish were the enemy today.

3rd Grade: Restaurant.
"May I help you?" "Yes, orange juice and steak please." "Here you are." "Thank you."
Students made up their own menus and then took turns waiting on each other.

4th Grade: Let's go shopping!
"May I help you?" "Pencil please. How much is it?" "It's $1." "Here you are." "Thank you." "Here you are." "Thank you."
Students set up a stationary shop and we used Maezawa Money that I made using a bunch of clip art and that I must say, looks pretty darn cool.

5th Grade: Telephone
"Ring" "Hello." "Hello. May I speak to ---?" "Speaking. Who's calling please?" "This is ---."
We used cell phones that I got from my friend Aiko who works at a cell phone shop. They were old demo phones that were outdated. Kids loved'm. We threw in "When's your birthday?" at the end of the conversation just to make the phone call legit.

6th Grade: Where do you want to go?
"Where do you want to go?" "I want to go to [insert Japanese prefecture here]"
Original and best answer of the day: "I want to go to bed!" Gotta love it.

During the day I was given fresh, homemade whole wheat bread, an apple flavored Kit-Kat, a lemon drop, homemade walnut ice-cream, 4 cups of coffee and a persimmon. Oh, and while we watched a recording of the latest school choral concert on a pull down screen in the lunch room, we ate fried chicken, black sesame seed bread, cauliflower salad and 'candy' cheese (small candy sized and shaped, individually wrapped discs of white processed cheese) for lunch.

After all of this I stayed for 2 more hours and planned next week's classes while it thundered and lighteninged outside.

Home by six, I made a concoction of rice, corn, refried beans and taco mix for dinner and sat down at my computer to play solitaire in order to flush my mind of the days events. In a move that is rare these days, I turned on the TV and the programme that was on was about 2 Canadian unicyclists who rode their bikes through Bhutan in the Himalayas. I can't make this stuff up...

And if that wasn't enough randomness for one day, I got a phone call from some teachers from Nyuzen High School who were out drinking tonight, asking me to come and join them. So, I did. 2 hours of drinking hot calpis and singing karaoke...the highlight was 'Let it Be' a debut song for me with help from a senior teacher.

Oh, Oh, Oh, just wait. One more thing. I got a text message as I was leaving for home from Sista K telling me a huge earthquake hit somewhere in Russia and there was a tsunami warning in efffect for Western Japan -I was shocked and a bit panicked -but she really meant Eastern Japan -which doesn't lessen the shock, but I don't have to panic quite yet...

I'm going to bed now in hopes of a normal Thursday (whatever that is....)

Thar's snow in them thar mount'ns

It's coming, creeping slowly down one peak at a time, spreading it's pure white goodness...

Soon it will be on our doorsteps. OK, it'll be another month, but I can see it coming!!!

I went for dinner with my friends Kaz and Ai last night -we were discussing their upcoming wedding and my role in it. I get to do the KAMPAI (toast)! Yay. I'm not sure what I'm going to say yet, but what ever it is, it'll be mostly in Japanese.

But I digress -the point is that Ai-chan (being the great friend that she is) was kind enough to tell me that she and another friend are going snowboarding THIS WEEK!!!!!!!

GAH! Nice friend, ne? She had to rub it in by telling me that Kaz bought her all new boarding gear for her b-day. GAH!

Nice friend indeed, she told me she model the new duds from ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN.

I told her this wasn't something she should be rubbing in - I haven't written the speech yet....


Have fun Ai-chan, but be careful. You have to walk down the aisle in 4 weeks time!

Life Is Good

I've found Bernard Callebaut Choclate in Toyama!!!














Bernard Callebaut
I met Mr. Callebaut a few years ago when I was doing swim camps in Calgary. He gave us personal tours of his shop on McLeod Trail. Yay, a new store of omiyage!!


Temiyage and Omiyage:
In order to thank somebody, e.g. for an invitation, one often presents a gift (temiyage) such as a cake, Japanese sweets or sake. Similarly, when a Japanese person returns from a trip, he or she bring home souvenirs (omiyage) to friends, co-workers and relatives.
the source for Japanese gift giving (click)

Rememberance Day

I went to Colare with Johnny P and Sista K last night and watched a movie about a POW camp in Tokushima, Japan called Camp Bando, where German POWs were kept during WWI. The movie, called "Baruto no Gakuen", was in Japanese (and German, with Japanese subtitles) and it had a lot of famous Japanese actors in it. It portrayed the lives of the German prisoners, the Japanese soldiers, and the local people who interacted in and around this camp. I haven't found a lot of information on the movie, so I don't know if the stories are actually true or just based on the events that happended there. At any rate, it was a good movie and opened my eyes to yet another piece of Japanese history.

It seemed fitting that we watched it last night on the eve of Rememberance Day. However, this timing only had significace to me, not my American friends. I hadn't realized that they didn't share the same date as we Canadians for remembering those who have served their country in times of war.

I recall Rememberance Day as always being a day to be regarded in my family. Both my parents have family members who were injured or lost during the second world war. My grandfather enlisted as a young man, but fortunately was not ever sent overseas -he is now a long standing member of the Royal Canadian Legion. And belonging to Girl Guides and Boy Scouts and Air Cadets meant that for years my family, in rain, sleet or snow, made the annual march to the cenotaph in Jubilee Park in GP to pay our respects to those who lost their lives for our country's freedom.

Our schools always held Rememberance Day poster contests -which I never won. We could also write poems and essays at this time of year, the best of which would be chosen to be published in the local newspaper. I think I have always respected this day- even as a child not fully understanding it's significance. Symbols such as the Poppy still conjure sentiment when I see people wearing them. I certainly feel a twinge of patriotism and longing for Canada on this day.

Click to read more about the Poppy



















My Grandfather is the handsome one on the right.

Lest We Forget

IN FLANDERS FIELDS
-John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Envy.

I've always had a romantic image (and wanting) of old books. I think there is something magical in a early edition, authentically bound book. Whose hands have touched it's pages, what countries, homes and libraries has is rested in, why has it remained intact after all these years?

I have a meagre collection of old books -nothing rare or expensive (yet). I like to buy books of stories I like and authors I admire, but what's more, I particularly enjoy books with interesting personal inscriptions inside the covers, or notes and messages within the pages.

Not long before coming to Japan I read a book called "The Island of Lost Maps: a True Story of Cartographic Crime" by Miles Harvey. click here for a description

A good read for nerds like me.

What prompted this post?

The following article which left me envious of the new owner.



World's first printed atlas - 1477 edition - sells for record US$3.9 million

19:16:35 EDT Oct 10, 2006
Canadian Press

LONDON (AP) - The first atlas ever printed sold for a record US$3.9 million at auction Tuesday.
The sale at Sotheby's of the 1477 edition of Claudius Ptolemy's landmark atlas established a new record for any atlas ever sold at auction.
The atlas was part of a collection sold by the family of Lord Wardington, a prolific British map and atlas collector who died last year. It is one of only two copies still in private hands.
The price paid by a private collector, who was not present at the auction, eclipsed the previous record of $2.7 million, paid for the "Doria Atlas" sold at Sotheby's in October 2005.
Ptolemy was a Greek-speaking geographer, astronomer and astrologer who lived in Roman Egypt. He authored several scientific treatises that were influential on both Islamic and European science and devised maps and atlases of the Roman Empire.
"The price for the 1477 Ptolemy atlas was extraordinary - a fitting testimony to the rarity and importance of the work - but the excitement it generated was echoed throughout the sale," said Catherine Slowther, Head of Maps and Atlases at Sotheby's.


Money well spent if you ask me. What do you think?

Am I back in Lethbridge??

I'm sitting in my apartment at the moment and the wind is HOWLING!!! And even more shocking, there was HAIL on my way home from work today.

I feel like I'm back in Lethbridge...the whole building is swaying back and forth, the windows are rattling, the water in the toilet bowl is sloshing, and I could lose the laundry rods off my balcony at any moment.

I remember the long walks to the UofL...well, long if I were going against the wind - I could cut the time in half if I when I was walking with the incessant gales that used to come howling out of the foothills.

Where did this come from? We've had perfect weather here for months now. Is it time to finally admit winter is coming?

I've thought about turning on the heater (I usually use my air conditioner's 'heat' function)...but I haven't done it yet. It's a common game among ALTs - who will be the first to pull out the kerosene heater? Who can withstand the chilly autumn mornings and frigid nights the longest? I wonder who will it be this year -I think I've already beaten Sista K. Those of us with smaller apartments have an advantage since we basically only have to worry about heating up one room. Pity the JET who has a large apartment or, heaven forbid, a house to live in during the winter months.

typical kerosene heater

I got this photo from a website which provides a great explanation of Japanese heating meathods.

click here to view the site

No More Mr. Grumpypants

I teach an adult eikaiwa (ei=english, kaiwa=conversation) class on Monday nights. I've been doing it for 3 years now. We meet in a meeting room in one of the municipal buildings downtown.

For the past 3 years there has been a man at the front desk who is THE grumpiest old man I've ever met. He rarely looks up from his TV program when I come through the door, and if he does, he doesn't say anything. I thought at first that maybe it was just my gaijin-ness (being a foreigner), but no he treats everyone the same way. He's always harsh when he speaks to the students in the class -for example if we try to turn the air conditioner or the heater on without asking permission he'll come banging on the classroom door telling us it's not time yet (there are often predetermined and somewhat arbitrary dates for when things like heaters and fans are to be used in this country, as is the idea that you don't go in the ocean before or after a certain date -regardless of the actual conditions). We also have to pay a monthly rental fee for the room and he will not allow us to start class until it's paid on the first Monday of the month...seriously. I hate to be disrespectful of my elders, but this guy is a jerk.

Well, I don't know what happened to him- maybe he retired, maybe enough people complained and he got turfed, or maybe my students' curses finally worked and the guy fell down a flight of stairs...regardless, he's gone and I couldn't be happier with his replacement. A warm and friendly old guy whom I'd gladly adopt as my grandfather. He says hello to everyone as they come in, he makes sure the room is comfortable when we begin and he's even offered to see me out to me car with an umbrella when he saw I didn't have one (my car was 10 feet away...).

Goodbye Mr. Grumpypants, and WELCOME Mr. Sunshine!!

Bedside Book: Finished

I have to say I was disappointed with the end of "Larry's Party".

I don't know what I was expecting. Actually, I think I was expecting what actually happened, but I didn't want it to happen, and then it did happen, so I was disappointed.

Now I have to wait for my next Amazon order to arrive (hopefully this week) so I can finish the RING trilogy ("LOOP" finally came out in paperback). And I also ordered Richard Kearney's "The God Who May Be". Couldn't resist after listening to him on CBC's Ideas. Dad, I hope you got a chance to listen to this particular series - would love discuss it with you. And Mom, if you caught the Idea's series on Sleeping and Dreams, I'd like to know what you think.

In the mean time I've scavenged through my bookshelves and have settled on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I've read the complete works, most of them twice and some of them many many more times. Always great bedtime reading.

21 Grams

I've had an infatuation with Sean Penn lately. I won't go into the reasons why...but I've been renting a lot of his movies. The latest is called
'21 Grams'.

Wow.

Like most of his films, it's intense, a bit raw and fabulously written, cut and cast.

Bedside Book

I'm currently reading "Larry's Party" by Carol Shields, a Canadian author from Chicago.

I'm thouroghly enjoying it and am looking foward to reading more of her books when I'm finished with this one.

I started reading Jack Kerouac's "On the Road", but put it down after two attempts. I just can't get into it. Disappointing.

my head space at the moment

A few weeks ago I had the privlege of attending the debut reading of my friend's first soon to be published novel. A wonderful experience in itself, but also the impetus for the following ramble.

After listening to Matt read from the final pages of his book, the 3 Canadians in the room- me, Matt and Owen- merged in a corner and started talking about our future plans. It started with the whole idea of what it takes to write a full novel from beginning to end. It was during this conversation that I came upon the stark realization that for the first time in probably my whole life, I don't have any long term goals.

There is not a single thing that I am striving towards at the moment (again, I'm talking long term). I'm not sure how or why this has happened. I know that in coming to Japan I have learned to live more in the present. No, let me rephrase that. I have learned to live in the present. I had never done that before. But now I feel like maybe I've swung to the opposite end of the spectrum and I live too much in the short term, immediacy of my existance.

I haven't decided yet if this is cause for concern. I'm leaning towards 'no'. I seem to be doing fine, causing no harm to myself or others this way. I don't feel like I'm spinning my wheels by staying here in Japan year after year like many people do. I find it funny when individuals come here and stay one one or two years and then insist they have to get back to "the real world".

Why can't the real world be where ever you happen to be at the time. Why does Canada have to be the real world; why does teaching here under the title of "ALT" have to be less legitimate than being in a classroom at home?

I used to make most of my decisions based on what I thought others wanted me to do, or thought I should do. I've learned to make decisions now according to what 'feels' right to me. I still stumble and make mistakes, but for the most part I'm much happier with my life now than I was in the past.

Ok, I'm straying from the topic...

Why don't I have any long term goals?

While talking to Matt and Owen one of them asked, "Well, don't you want to be in a relationship and have a family?"

I answered honestly and openly that yes, I do want those things. But I can't make that a 'goal'. I used to think that way. It used to be a 'goal' - until I realized that I have no control over who will fall in love with me and want to have children with me -and whether it will be mutual. It's a want or a desire, or even a dream, but it's not something I can take aim at.

Sure, I have lots of wants. I want to travel more, I want to be better at Japanese, I want to teach, I want to get my Masters degree, I want to have children, I want a vintage VW collection, I want to be thin...

But unlike in times past, I don't have anything marked on my life calendar. There's no "Save X amount of dollars to fix up my Thing." or "Start my Masters by 2008." I haven't a clue if I'll ever own my own house, have a 'career' - or even when my next trip abroad will be.

Part of me thinks that it's just a temporary inability to commit. Another part of me thinks that I'm just being lazy, for lack of a better word...

Yet I don't feel guilty. I don't feel bad. Rather I'm feeling a slight sense of awe about the whole thing. Where once there was a perception of linear progress to my future, I find the current view to be vacantly chaotic -or chaotically vacant, take your pick.

Wants, desires and dreams sitting just ahead of today, but nothing in any particular order or place.

Wants, desires and dreams waiting for me to cement them down to a time - to a latitude and longitude - to a single point which one day will be 'now'.

Where once this activity of choosing and putting things into their appropriate slots along my life's continuum -getting my driver's licence, graduating from high school, graduating from university - was effortless, fun, and if not somewhat predetermined, I find that at the moment I have neither the desire nor the energy needed to seek out and persue new badges to sew on my sash.

And what baffles me even further about my present state of mind is that I'm not concerned about what other people may think about this! Ha! There seems to be low levels of stress involved in this state of being. Perhaps that's just it. Without goals, there is no stress or worry of acheiving.

-Or more pointedly: failing.

Can you handle more pumpkin?

When I brought my internet-ordered pumpkin to my little school (Maezawa) last Wednesday everyone went crazy over it. I had carved a simple face on it (see previous posts), but I guess when you've never seen a Jack-o-lantern before it's a pretty cool thing. Much more effective than showing a picture or flashcard.

Well, my principal was also interested. And when he found out I got it from the internet and had paid around $20CDN for it, he looked at me and said, "You know that Nyuzen is becoming famous for pumpkins, right?"

I did know that, but when there's a language barrier (and a cultural one), it's not so easy to go knocking on people's doors asking for pumpkins. Besides, the pumpkins grown here are NOT the same as the pumpkins we use at home for Jack-o-lanterns. Their skin is much paler and the rind (rind?) is much thicker. They kind of remind me of the little gourds or 'fancy' pumpkins you can see at home, just on a bigger scale. They don't have that vibrant orange color, nor do they seem all that pumkin-like to me.

Back to the principal...he told me he knew a guy who knew a guy - and before I knew it, he was one the phone with 'the guy'. Half way through the conversation, he cups his hand over the receiver, and in perfect English leans towards me and asks, "How many?" I paused, made a quick calculation: 3 schools = 3 pumpkins. "Three," I answered, hesitantly, not really knowing what the right answer was.

He took his hand away from the receiver and told the guy, "Five."

Within the hour, a little white truck rolled up to Maezawa Elementary School and 2 guys jumped out and unloaded 5 pumpkins. They told us, somewhat apologetically, that these were the smallest they had:
















So now I had two extra pumpkins...and I couldn't even lift the first 3 myself!! This is where my two favoritest neighbors came into play!! It helped that they both work at elementary and jr. high schools too, so I knew they were also teaching halloween lessons. Whew. I would have looked pretty ungrateful had I not been able to take all 5 of them. I'm not sure what Johnny did with his, but I know Sista K managed to carve one up for her school festival last weekend.

Yay for pumkins!!

p.s. I lit the little guy and put him on my balcony all night. When I got up this morning he was still burning bright!