| (no subject) |
[Jun. 21st, 2006|10:25 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
Oh man, I'm so glad I don't teach English anymore. I ran into some of my old students today and saw the fruits of my labour last year. The following is the translated transcript of what came to pass when I asked one show she was doing....
IAN: Yumi, Hi! How are you?
YUMI: (to friends) what did he just say?
FRIEND A: i think he said "how are you?"
FRIEND B: yeah, me too. what do you think?
FRIEND C: yeah, i think it's "how are you?"
YUMI: okay. so what should i answer?
FRIEND C: i don't know, english is hard!
FRIEND A: ah, your sweat towel is cute!!
YUMI: thanks, i bought it at loft!
FRIEND B: i'm tired...
FRIEND A: what was the question?
FRIEND C: i think it was "how are you?"
YUMI: oh, i think i know the answer.
FRIEND B: what is it?
YUMI: "yes!"
FRIEND C: no, it's "i'mfinethankyou."
FRIEND A: oh that's right. that's what shinoda-kun said before, right?
YUMI: i don't remember.
FRIEND B: well, let's try it.
YUMI: what was it again?
FRIEND A: "i'mfinethankyou."
YUMI: okay... (to me, in a very tiny voice) "i'mfinethankyou."
So, the problem isn't so much with their inability to retain what I taught, it's moreso just the defeatist attitude towards english that is just so pervasive in this country. That and students' inability to think for themselves. Everything is a fucking meeting in this country. Oh, and the fact they're distracted by blinking and sweat towels. |
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| CABINS |
[Jun. 5th, 2006|08:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | JPAN | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Rell, "Last Ride" | ] |
Went camping this past weekend...
here's some shots of me (Ian) and Greer (my fellow "Prefectural Advisor" in Fukuoka). Her and I are super busy preparing a few hundreds of JETs to leave (including ourselves) and prepping a few hundred new JETs for their incomming. Meanwhile though, we're doing our best to get our grooves on.
This past weekend was an awesome mix of beer, rum, mosquito bites, salt water, jellyfish, cranberry juice, concrete louges, filliar units and solar radiation...
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| (no subject) |
[May. 25th, 2006|09:52 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | The FUK | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nervous | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "She's a Bitch" Missy & Timbaland | ] |
Dear Diary,
I'm so sorry. It's been so long since I last wrote you. The past month has been a suprisingly busy affair. I know, I know, you've heard this excuse before, so, lemme just apologize and get on with filling you in on my life.
First, a sad farewell to the one they call AMX! Her time on this island was short as it was intense. The FUK has since been a lot less rad. Send off in proper form though, it was an improper one at the ol' Fubar.
"C'Mawn you FECKERS!"
Oh, and then I had this crazy weekend where my office informed me I'd be doing interviews for kids who wanted to go to amerika to rearn engrish and do that ever ambigious, "culture exchange". This would of been fine, except it was 2 days long. On a Saturday and Sunday. All day. Oh and I also had to DJ Friday night in Kokura. Oh and then the obligatory saturday night pisser. ...suffice to say, it was a long weekend. Luckily though the party was on like donkey kong.
And then there was China.
Japanese Golden week is kinda like christmas cause it only comes once a year and you get all this days of nenkyu to play around with like toys. Throwing in some leftover paid vacation days, I was off to the land of rising fun for 2 whole weeks. After arriving on a wednesday and seeing some sights, the usual cast of characters began to appear alongside...
Hannah
Elena
Maria
Lisa
Andrea, my fillial unit! (on the left)
Dean (on the right fondelling Ronny)
And Kanapu/Kannas/Lightning/Kaminari/Special K/Le K Speciaux...
Trip started off in Shanghai. That city ca-razy. Serious. There's like...a lot of Chinese people there....
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e67/saddleclap/TEAM%20CHINA%20SHOTS/?action=view¤t=3567a973.jpg
It's a real interesting mix between the rich west...
...and the poor east
The one sad benefit of China being so poor, is that when us rich folk on vacation and out for a laugh show up, the locals can find us offensivly exclaiming "Wow, everything here is SO cheap". For example, beer in China in like 33cents for a litre. While it's a lil' watered down, so were the prices and kept us up to some good shennanigans...
This is me and dean pretending what it's like to be poor...
Taxi Cab jail
Drinkin in Xian, the land of warm beer...
 \
And then the terracotta warriors. There was a crapload of these boys.
Big up the Great Wall. With a name like that, it's got alot to live up to. It's hard to tell from photos, but, expectation exceeded...
And of course, it wouldn't be a blog update without an obligatory Kanapu bucket shot... Atta' bwoy.
Some more shots.
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 19th, 2006|02:48 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Cyantific, "Ghetto Blaster" | ] |
Just a minor entry here.
Now that spring is doing its thing, it has finally become warm enough for me to get back on cold showers. Hallelujah.
It's only been a week and I already feel so much better. I'm no longer lethargic, requiring a lot less sleep, not getting hungover anymore, that long drawn out cold I had is gone, my attitude is up, feeling much more impenitrable when it does dip down in temperature. Generally just feeling much more Game On.
Get Involved!
In other news,
China happens next week. This is sorta a shock as I sorta thought I had another weekend before takeoff, but, apparently not. It's a good thing though. I really need to get out of this country...
I know I said I'm feeling more patient, and I am, but damn this country is taxing me these days.
I had a meeting with these people who are getting me to do the english component of an interview for high school kids who want to go to the USA to study. Anyways, in true Japanese fashion, they just look at me and just assume "Oh, look at how white you are. You can't POSSIBLY understand a word of Japanese. I guess we'll just run with that and get your supervisor to translate even the most simple of information for you." And then when they asked me if there was anything I couldn't eat, and i replied, "octapus", they just looked at eachother and laughed. It was ridiculous. I was just so fuckin frustrated and just wanted to tell them, "Uh, 500 yen says there is something here YOU don't like to eat, bitch". But, this was a business meeting and so i bit my tongue and endured the unintentional racism and remained professional. Someone had to... Honestly, it would of been more fitting for them to be wearing those baby jumpsuit unitard things with the trap door on the ass with the way they were behaving towards me. I often feel like I live in a nation of infants. |
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| Hanami disasters |
[Apr. 5th, 2006|09:08 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Quirks & Quarks Podcast | ] |
Spring is a season worthy of its many cliches. After a long, draining winter,
it truly does posses the ability to revive your spirits and give you something great to wake up to. However, in Japan, spring brings something unique and beautiful
I can't quite get back home; sakura・
I don't consider myself to have any serious affinity for flowers, but,
for sakura I make an exception. Perhaps it's not so much the blatant,
face-value beauty of the stuff, but more so the way in which its petals
temporarily shroud this dirty, ugly and concrete based country.
Like many things in Japan, it also provides an excellent excuse to get proper taco'd.
This year saw the second installment of the Fukuoka JET Hanami picnic.
While the weather was less than perfect, the Mexican theme of the party
compensated nicely. Let's take a lil' look-see...
Big Daikon Pinata Fun Super Times Competition!!!
Bad English (or, Engrish for those in the know) T-shirt competition! ...Billabong didn't do so hot
My favorite event of the afternoon was Mexican Karaoke. Mexican Karaoke is much like normal,
Japanese Karaoke, but, instead of a state-of-the-art sound system and
extensive library of songs to choose from, you use a boom-box, megaphone
and a single cd of tracks.
Some of the titles to choose from included
-Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
-Dan Hill, "Sometimes when we touch"
-Blondie, "Touch myself"
-B4-4, "Get down on me"
-Baha Men, "Who let the Dogs Out?!"
-Marky Mark, & The Funky Bunch, "Good Vibrations"
-Ginuwine, "Pony"
That last one actually turned out to be George's favorite song! He'd never heard the song before,
but, with some printed out lyrics and a megaphone, I'd manage to convince him
it was by the end. Dude did quite aight.
BUCKET SHOT!
Scroll down to the Thailand Trip if you forget about Kanapu's restless desire forFecked Up Buckets. Sadly, the night never led to him feeling up a tranny this time, but, his track pants are almost as embarrassing.
The night did progress to a lil' dance-off in the streets.
Much to the shagrin to the sober natives who just watched in
horror of the fun that was being had. Here's rachel cuttin some concrete...
A short subway ride whisked us away to another session at Fuji-ya,
one of the best all you can eat and drink joints in town.
Whoops, George gets a wee bit tempered when you cut him outta a picture...
Here's Putter & Nathan making good use of the 1 buck beer bong I got at the dollar store.
Poor Japanese guy below looked like Putter had filled it with someone else's puke, and he shortly after made a trip to the can.
But, what can I say... internationalization is our trade,
and proving Japanese people they can't drink is our game
Following dinner we ended up in some of the local discotheques.
The rest of the night is a Russian blur.
Fast forward to Sunday and it's feckin' beautiful out!
Just in time for Sakura Picnic Part 2
Me & Anne-Marie, who is leaving shortly. But we Plan to meet up in Beijing
Here's Russlee in my monster sized shoes...
Group Shot!
Please notice Neal at the bottom falling over from being so drunk...
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| Checking in |
[Mar. 24th, 2006|01:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | indescribable | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Jay-Z, "Lucifer" | ] |
Hey Gang,
This is really just a post to let you all know I'm alive and Kickin' it. Japan has been hummin' along with this unseasonally long winter. While my life isn't very exciting right now, there's alotta stuff goin up and down between my ears. Let's take a look see...
1. China!
Looks like I'll be in China, not Japan, from late April until May. While I know so little about the country, I'm getting very excited about the trip. There's gonna be a big group of us going, along with some of the unusual suspects from Thailand. PLUS, one very special addition to the crew, my sister. Uh huh. Gonna be a good trip.
Unlike my time In Cambodia, I'm gonna try and make a bigger effort to learn about the country before I go. While Cambodia was amazing, I found myself standing in front of these truly amazing architectual feats feeling rather ho hum. Maybe I'm too young to appreciate it and I should leave temples, mouments, gardens, etc for when I'm 60+ and actually wise enough to appreciate them. But, regardless, I'm going, so will do my best to educate myself.
2. Hanami!
Hanami is when the cherry blossoms come out of their branches and momentarily shroud Japan's ugly, industrial and concrete body, with beautiful white and pink petals. It also serves as an excuse to sit beneath the trees and get loaded. I'm currently planning a party in the park for JETs to do just that. This year involving Pinatas, Limbo sticks, and maybe even lip-syncing.
3. Graduation, blahs.
It's the end of the academic year here in Japan and graduation ceremonies are all that's on the boring news (well, that and stories about a random radish that grows in the middle of the road and thus exemplifies Japanese spirit). What's funny though is how kids will graduate, but KEEP going to school anyways. Oh sure, they got club activities, or studying, or whatever. That's what they say. But if you ask me, it's a result of them not know what the fuck to do with their lives. Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer goes into space and breaks the ant colony free and the ants are all like, "Freedom! HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE Freedom!". So lame.
4. People.
People here become harder and harder for me to take seirously. Day by day, they just get more and more ridiculous. Sometimes, when I'm on the train, plugged into my podcasts, I'll take a break, look up and look, reeeeeeally look at the people surrounding me. And everytime, I just can't help thinking, "Wow, What a sad, sorry bunch of people". It's depressing, but true. People here look so inherently sad and soul-less. Granted, they're on their way to work in the morning, but still. It's obvious they hate their scripted lives. The men are the worst too cause they don't have make-up as an ally, unlike the women who birthday cake it on. So many of the guys' skin is LITERALLY grey, a product of heavy smoking, drinking, stress, work, coupled with a lack of exercise, exposure to sunlight, love and happiness.
I'm happy to say though, despite my online venting, I really like my life here. Great job, great friends, fun times... I really do appreciate all the great stuff that I got going for me here. I'm pretty chipper on the train in the morning and sometimes even hum, much to the discomft of the natives. Sometimes I toy with the idea of staying a 3rd year. But that's just not gonna happen. |
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| Uhhhhhh...are you serious? |
[Mar. 3rd, 2006|02:20 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | "Maneater" Nelly Furtado & Timbaland | ] |
Supposedly i should be a lawyer. So many people I know go into law almost by default. Never thought I would. But, I'll just chalk it up with all the other crazy paths I'm currently pondering about.
| You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor) | 
You're logical, driven, and ruthless.
You'd make a mighty fine lawyer. |
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| HAHAHAHAHAHA. ha! |
[Feb. 28th, 2006|09:11 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | music |
| | "Promiscious Girl", Timbaland & Nelly Furtado | ] |
Ok people, get ready for the MOST ridiculous japanese news story ever....
http://www.crisscross.com/jp/news/365504
Police erroneously arrest 'Asian-looking' Japanese woman on immigration law breach
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 07:01 EST
SAITAMA — The Saitama prefectural police on Monday arrested a Japanese woman on suspicion of violating the immigration law but later released her after discovering that she was a Japanese national, police officials said.
The police had judged that the unemployed woman, 28, was not Japanese because she looked like a foreigner of Asian descent and that she carried an envelope written in Portuguese, the officials said. The woman was questioned by a policeman around 7:40 p.m. on Saturday in Kawaguchi. She told the officer that she was Japanese, but stopped answering further questions, the officials said. The woman's family said she is not good at speaking with strangers.
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I've read alot of ridiculous stuff in Japan, but this quite possibly takes the cake. The reason being, it illustrates so many fucked up aspects of this fucked up country.
1. Police are so useless and bored. Last year there was this awesome footage of a thief chasing away two police men who were running in fear.
2. "Asian Looking Japanese Woman". I always amazes me how Japanese people like to identify themselves as something other than asian. People here love to think they can tell a Japanese person from, say, a Chinese person, but in practice they really can't. When I go out in a group of JET friends, there is typically one person who is of asian decent. Whether they be Chinese, Cambodian, Korean etc, the staff always look to them for instruction and Japanese etiquitte, even if some of the more typically foreign looking people around them speak much better Japanese. I also hear from my friends here who are of asian decent how the locals here think they are mentally challengedbeforethey ever think they aren't japanese.
3. The Portugese Letter. ONLY in Japan would carrying a letter written in a foreign language be grounds for arrest. In part to the assumptions that crime is a foreign product, but also because police here are so fucking bored they have nothing else to do but fester in their Police Boxes and work up ridiculous theories to justify the false belief that Japan is a dangerous country. On a related note, the government in considering finger-printing all foreigners entering the country over the age of 16. The reason being to avoid terrorism. However, the only terrorism that has occured within Japan has been conducted by Japanese terrorists.
4. "She is not good at speaking with strangers"... Sadly, this is all too commonin Japan. There are so many socially inept people in this country that it is actually a valid excuse for almost anything. I remember when I'd teach in Junior High classes, and we'd be going around the class, asking students some easy as fuck question, and we'd always come to the token shy kid. At this point, the Japanese teacher would just instintively skip those kids. Whenever I asked them why, the answer would always be just, "Oh, he/she is shy". As though that is a perfectly acceptable excuse. When I'd press and be like, "Well, do you think they should maybe sometimes try? Even if they just repeat some other students answer..." The reply would always be, "Oh...no no. He/she is shy." This article illustrates what happens to these kids. They don't change. They don't have to. Here, it's perfectly acceptable to grow up being so shy you can't interact with others...even to the point you can't get a job or explain yourself when being falsely accused of a crime. |
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| Sayonara bai-bai |
[Feb. 24th, 2006|11:16 am] |
Hey Gang, let's give a big ol' "O-Tsukaresama Deshita!" to Francie.
The time has come for her to leave Japan, in search of something more...fun. Don't get me wrong, Japan is a barell of monkey's parading around with dynamite strapped to their poor, ill fated chests, but, there comes a time when every foreigner needs to realize they'll always be a foreigner here and get on with it.
BUT, no one leaves without a good ol' "Sobetsukai" or Goodbye party, which is exactly what we did.
I'm just gonna let the pictures do the talkin...
In a porgression of destruction...
"Oh boy! A party! Let's go and have a good time, comprised of good opertunities to interact with other people on a social, yet still productive level!"
"Hmmm, maybe a beer....or 20"
"Yum, those oranges soaked in vodka really made that guy dressed up like hes blind seem appropriate"
"Uh oh..."
"things are gettin.....blurry"
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