....um, yeah I wish! Just busy studying for the JLPT which is approaching way too quickly. Wish me luck! Not too much new here. Went to an anniversary party for Okuno and his wife on Saturday. On Sunday I helped a couple of French artists who were visiting Mikame for the day. Every year we have a few people come to visit and teach the students various techniques. I spent most of the day interpreting (or some approximation of) for Armelle and Claude as they gave advice to the students. Afterwards, all the paintings were collected and prizes were awarded. Too bad I got the science/math gene from my dad, rather than the artsy one from mom. :) The weather was beautiful and there were some really great submissions. It was difficult to choose a winner!

Taiko continues to be a complete rush and school is busy as ever. This weekend is the school cultural festival. This year's theme is volunteer work, charity and recycling. The kids are busy at work every day after school with preparations. The class that I'm helping is busy making candles to sell to raise money for the Nigata earthquake victims. They are really excited! One of the kids was making an 'onigiri' candle - I asked her to hold it for me! Kawaii!

Pottery class is almost over with tomorrow being the second to last class. I'll post a pic of my less than stellar works soon. So far, the first thing I ever made was my favourite - a funky dish. Beginners luck.

Here's a cheesy quote that I really like that I got in an email from Megan. Enjoy:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO what a ride!

emma found her way @ 10:49 p.m. | 0 comments

Ok, so after 4 years at McGill I have perfected the art of procrastination! It is apparently just like riding a bike, you never forget. I should be studying for the upcoming Japanese proficiency Test, instead I shall ramble on about the events of the last few days. :)

Monday - Adult conversation class. We did Tarot card to practice the future tense - a huge hit! After class I was speaking to Yorito about his work. He started mentioning lasers and mikans (oranges) and I assumed that something was lost in the translation.....But, after a few clariflying questions it was determined that he was indeed talking about 'Mikan Lasers'!!! Haahaaa how funny does that sound. I couldn't get images of the Austin Powers Laser out of my head! Apparently, it is common for towns to purchase a laser that reads the mikan's glucose level. Mikans that are sweeter are more poplar and are sold for more cash! I can just see this laser zapping the poor little mikans as they zip by on the conveyer belt! It turns out that Mikame doesn't have one of these handy little machines and Yorito was busy writing a grant, requesting money from the government. Currently, the mikans are assessed based on their colour and texture. But in the land of technology, that's just not going to cut it anymore!

Tuesday - Dinner with Clare and Phil. Phil shared some funny retail stories from his days at Jeans West. I liked the story of the person who tried to return the shirt with the melted front on it - complete with iron mark. Customer 'This happened in the washing machine. I'd like a refund' Phil:'I'm sorry, I cannot accept this merchandise.' Customer:'Are you calling me a liar!??' LOL

Wednesday - Taiko! Woohooo I finally got all the way through the song without a mistake! It was soo much fun! Wow, what a high you get from pounding away on those drums, it's great! Also, successfully avoided doing any house cleaning whatsoever!

Thursday - Tentative Japanese study. Though, it's currently 10.27pm and I've only managed about 2 pages of vocabulary...hummm. Oh, and let's not forget this completely necessary blog post. Oh, and as to further avoid studying, I did dishes and laundry. And spent too much time on the internet...

Oh, I have a question for everyone. Does anyone else agree with me? Sometimes when I'm alone and I accidentally hurt myself I think it's a sign from the universe telling me to stop doing what I'm doing. Or to punish me for something bad that I've done. For example: Maybe I start day dreaming about throwing a cream pie in the face of someone who annoys me. And then, I stub my toe. Just today, I pushed the cat out of the way when I was cleaning. 2 seconds later I bumped my head really really hard on the wall!! Karma at it's best!

emma found her way @ 10:36 p.m. | 1 comments

Woohooo! Ok, so In case you haven't heard already...my best bud Kathy from Canada is coming to visit! Tickets are bought, travel clinics are being visited and plans are being made! She's missing a wedding and Christmas with her family to travel all the way here to spend the holidays with Victoria and I. I am wayyyy too excited. In fact, I'm having trouble concentrating on anything....and my miniscule attention span has just gotten shorter.

かわいいぃぃぃぃ！

When Kathy and I get together crazy things happen, this is a documented fact. Her mother even warned us from getting arrested! We might go a bit nuts but come on, nothing illegal! Everyone knows that I'm not a quiet person, and I won't even try to deny that I'm loud...but Kathy is the same. And with the two of us in the same room you'd be well advised to bring your ear plugs! Hahaaa

Kath will arrive in Japan on the 20th and after a night in Kansai she'll meet up with Victoria and I in KL. We'll have Christmas in KL and travel around Malaysia seeing as much a possible :) Then on New Years Day at 9pm we'll fly back to Osaka for a whirlwind trip of Japan! Kath and Emma do Japan in 5 days! It's going to be nuts rushed but there are soooo many things that I have to show her! We'll have a couple of days in Kyoto and then head down to Mikame for a short visit. I wish she could stay longer and just hang out but alas, she must return to school. She'll be in Japan from the 2nd to the 6th only :( Maybe I'll *forget* to book her a trip back to Kansai so she'll *accidentally* miss her flight....

Ok, so there's no real point to this post other than for me to vent my excitement about having Kath come to visit!

In other news I had a relatively uneventful weekend. In fact, it was down right lazy, which is just what I needed. Been too busy recently and the next few weeks are going to be hectic! Lotsa love to everyone out there, especially if you bothered to read this! :)

emma found her way @ 4:30 p.m. | 0 comments

青りんごかな。。。。
Ok, so let's take a quick survey!

What colour is this drink? a) Blue b) Green c) Don't remind me that I'm colour blind.

So, if you answered B.....you're WRONG! The correct answer is A!!! At least that's according to the entire population of Japan! Apparently there is a different distinction between the two colours here. In fact, the drink above is called ao ringo - or Blue Apple! And though it might be a wonderful delight to the tastebuds, that drink is SO not blue! Also, the traffic lights in Japan are also called blue....though you and I know that really, they are GREEN!

emma found her way @ 6:02 p.m. | 1 comments

A sign that you've been in Japan for too long: When eating a breakfast of bacon and eggs, you grab chopsticks from the drawer without even a second thought...
emma found her way @ 5:34 p.m. | 0 comments

Fumiko, Mari and I!

Yesterday we headed to Kuimonya for Mari's birthday. Yummy food, good friends and a Friday night! What more does a person need? Happy Birthday Mari! Oh, and I made a mistake writing Mari's birthday card, much to the amusement of everyone!

emma found her way @ 5:29 p.m. | 0 comments

Wooohooo! What an awesome weekend! On Saturday morning I headed over to Kyushu on a short road trip with Fred, Viv and Morgan. Aside from being a bit chilly at night (nothing a few chuhai and hand warmers wouldn't fix), the weather was picture perfect! Here's proof:

What a group of stunners!

After taking the ferry over to Kyushu we made our way to Aso-san, the largest crater in the world! (unless I'm mistaken) The crater is 128km in circumfrence and has 5 smaller volcanoes and the town of Aso within it! I bet the mother of the JET who is placed there almost flipped with she found out that her child would be living in an active volcano for the next year! :P We stopped to see a waterfall enroute and sampled the local flavour of soft serve ice cream - kabotsu (really sour oranges). We could have done without....it was less than oshii...:) The Ehime mikan ice cream still takes the prize, closely followed by Tottori's nashi (Asian pear) variety!

A funny sign warning of the dangers of too much SO2!

Yours truely at the top! Whew, it was a hard climb....in the Car!

Our campsite was as Japanese as ever. Forget hiking or canoeing into your site as one often does in Canada. You can drive right up to your site! Oh, and lets not leave out all the amenities - running water, electricity, coin showers - oh and get this, washers and dryers! We paid out 1000 yen each to a very charming old man who kept mistaking his calculator for the ink pad. I still don't know if it was senile decay or the shock of seeing 4 foreigners. Nevertheless, he seemed to really appreciate the Ehime mikans that I gave him. Internationalization at its besuto, ne! We dined on a gourmet feast of yaki soba, beef, corn and smores before calling it a night.

Try to hold back your enthusiasm, Viv! A oishii yakisoba feast!

On Sunday morning we headed up the volcano to see what all the fuss was about. I went to Aso 2 years ago but I was unlucky because the wind was blowing the wrong direction so we weren't allowed near the mouth of the crater (sulfur dioxide). The winds weren't a problem and we could see the crater (or cratter - pronounced like matter - according to Fred LOL) up close. It was soo cool to see all the different layers of rocks and the pool of SO2 rich water that was bright green!! Summit is not as rugged as one might expect, atleast by NA standards - it's completely done up for tourists, paved trails and all! Wouldn't want to ruin those prada shoes - seriously, I saw people wearing them - at the top of a volcano for goodness sake!!! I knew what to expect but I think Viv was a bit shocked!

We headed back to Beppu mid day to sample it's famous mud onsen! What a riot! This onsen is mixed and loads of fun! We wanted to go so that we could enjoy it with Fred, as he was the only guy in the group. No worries though, all important parts are hidden below the thick mud. Unless you're a middle aged Japanese man who thinks he has something to show off....ahh, if cameras were only allowed. As one doesn't feel 100% clean after sitting in mud for an hour, we headed down the street to another onsen. Hyotan Onsen in quite famous in Beppu (I've been there about 8 times now! How nuts is that considering it's on the next island!) and is known for its variety of baths! A relaxing way to finish the weekend.....if we had only made our ferry on time. Oh well, not a big deal as there was one an hour later.

I burnt my feet while I was covering these guys in hot sand! Just another Sempai duty :)

A big otsukaresamadeshita to Fred for totting us around all weekend. It was a blast! Let's do it again soon!

emma found her way @ 8:11 p.m. | 0 comments

L to R: Genji, Machiko, Karen, Mariko, An-tam and Sachiko

Some of my eikaiwa students at a dinner that I arranged last Monday. It was a huge success! Check out Karen's best porn star face in the background! :P

emma found her way @ 8:00 p.m. | 0 comments

Will and Noriko, priceless!

A proposed sport for the 2005 Extreme Games - Hard Core Internationization! I'm sure Will will win hands down!

emma found her way @ 7:58 p.m. | 2 comments

Taiko!

Birthday Boy Tom looking wayyy too happy with his ramen-setto!

We spent the afternoon at a Halloween party for elementary students at a local orphanage. A BIG otsukaresama deshita to Nathalie, for all of her hard work organizing the party. I think that the kids really had a fun time! It’s always fun to go to the orphanage and the kids are always great!

Adoption is not nearly as popular here in Japan as it is back home. There’s quite a big social stigma against adopted children. As a result many families are reluctant to adopt children, especially in the rural areas. Adults are too concerned for the child’s’ welfare and ability to fit into Japanese society, and thus don’t see adoption as an option. It all relates to ‘in groups’ and ‘out groups’, a crucial part of Japanese culture. Older children or children of mixed race are particularly ‘undesirable.’ It’s not that people think these children are bad, but more an overwhelming belief that life would be more difficult for them if there were adopted. Though from a few conversations I’ve had, if a family adopts a child at a very young age and moves towns, adoption is an option. It’s difficult to see so many great kids knowing that many of them will grow up without a family. Still, that aside, it’s always fun to visit the orphanage and I think that the ALTs get a lot out of it too!

After catching the train back from Matsuyama and picking up Okuno, I had my welcome party at taiko. It turned into an informal English lesson with everyone practicing and asking me questions. I also learnt some silly Japanese in exchange! But, by far the best line of the night was as follows…..

There is a father/son pair in the taiko group. The son had had his fair share of beer and was dozing off in the corner when the conversation topic changed. We were talking about which countries everyone had visited and the father mentioned that his honeymoon was in Australia. That prompted the following comment:
Father: “There’s my son! Made in Australia. Born in Japan.”
Son: Wishing that he’d stayed home to play video games with his friends……

If people could die of embarrassment I would have called an ambulance!

emma found her way @ 7:15 p.m. | 0 comments