(sorry, it's not funny unless you know japanese..)
i was laughing to myself like an idiot the ENTIRE day because of this, so i finally gave in and took a picture of it with my cellphone. isn't it hilarious??!!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
easily amused.... by the garbage
i'm sorry, but i just have to share this. the other day when i was at an elementary school, i glanced over at the garbage can that is between my desk and the Vice Principal's desk. there i made the following shocking discovery:
(sorry, it's not funny unless you know japanese..)
i was laughing to myself like an idiot the ENTIRE day because of this, so i finally gave in and took a picture of it with my cellphone. isn't it hilarious??!!
(sorry, it's not funny unless you know japanese..)
i was laughing to myself like an idiot the ENTIRE day because of this, so i finally gave in and took a picture of it with my cellphone. isn't it hilarious??!!
thoughts and updates
boy do i suck at life. i'm sorry i haven't updated this thing in so long, but i've been pretty busy lately. somehow every weekend has been jam-packed with gaijin gatherings, movie-watching, and generally being away from home. i'm still in the process of getting up pictures up from thailand and cambodia on imagestation and slapping some captions on them. if only my computer could get internet at school.... *sigh*
in other news, i had a very LAST MINUTE *ahem* guest come visit me from the States. none other than mr. chieze okoye, whose new nickname is Panda-chan. it's pretty funny how that came about. i originally started to call him Kuma-chan, kuma which means "bear" in japanese. what could be more fitting than the tallest black guy to ever step foot in tsushima, right? so i introduced chieze to mr. matsumura and his family, that family being my favorite here, and the one i'm most indebted to. that and the fact that they love meeting foreigners.... it's a no brainer that they all had to meet.
so, i tell mr. matsumura that chieze's nickname is Kuma-chan, and chieze immediately begins to deny it. my teacher's face started to scrunch up, and a few seconds later says, "wouldn't 'Panda-chan' be better? it's a softer name." and there you have it. history was made.
thanks for coming out, man. it was good to see a familiar face again.
in all the JET orientations and conferences, everyone keeps talking about how january-february are prime culture shock periods. everyone goes home in december, has a good time, comes back to japan, and boom -- you're freezing your butt off, you can't leave your home because it's so cold, you see less and less of your fellow english-speaking friends, you realize how backwards japan is.... recipe for homesickness and culture shock, right?
actually, i can honestly say that despite the reallllly cold weather, i'm happier in tsushima than i've ever been. our gaijin community is so small that everyone's gotten to know each other pretty quickly, and for the most part, we all get along super well. us southerners (me, jayne and aaron) are also super tight, and i can honestly say that they feel like family to me, to the point where i dont miss home at all. yes i get the occasional flashback of my bedroom, my mom cooking in the kitchen, my dad in his chair eating peanuts and channel surfing, my brother passed out on his bed from "studying".... then there are the times that i wish i could hop on my bike and head over to west campus and watch some dled tv shows... or just stroll down the hall and talk to my drawmates till 6am.... i sometimes forget that college life is behind me. but, with everything, i suppose there's a time for a beginning and a time for an end.
and speaking of endings, my time in tsushima has yet to end. just last week, i turned in my forms to recontract for a second year here. same job, same home, same community. one less school. unfortunately, my smallest school is closing at the end of march with the closing of the school year. for you people who have read my blog religiously, you'll recall that my smallest school is only 4 kids. they'll be merging into my second largest elementary school (Kuta Elementary) in april. actually, uchiyama is a "branch school" of Kuta Elementary, so there's no surprise there. but, some of you will also recall that mr. matsumura is a teacher at that small school. he still has no idea where he'll be teaching next year, but i really hope he stays in Izuhara. he's soooo gung-ho about team-teaching english with me, and it'd be a shame to stop when we just figured out a system that works for us.
since i haven't figured out what i'm doing with the rest of my life, and since i know i'll be in japan for another year, my new year's resolution is this: to pass Level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. it'll be in december, and i never intended on taking it before i got here. believe it or not, i feel like my japanese has gotten worse.... speaking-wise, i can bs a lot better now, but my reading and writing has gone downhill. telling myself i need to study for this test will be a good way of making surei dont squander my time in japan. again.
how've you people out there been? drop me a line somtime. i still care =)
--Evelyn
in other news, i had a very LAST MINUTE *ahem* guest come visit me from the States. none other than mr. chieze okoye, whose new nickname is Panda-chan. it's pretty funny how that came about. i originally started to call him Kuma-chan, kuma which means "bear" in japanese. what could be more fitting than the tallest black guy to ever step foot in tsushima, right? so i introduced chieze to mr. matsumura and his family, that family being my favorite here, and the one i'm most indebted to. that and the fact that they love meeting foreigners.... it's a no brainer that they all had to meet.
so, i tell mr. matsumura that chieze's nickname is Kuma-chan, and chieze immediately begins to deny it. my teacher's face started to scrunch up, and a few seconds later says, "wouldn't 'Panda-chan' be better? it's a softer name." and there you have it. history was made.
thanks for coming out, man. it was good to see a familiar face again.
in all the JET orientations and conferences, everyone keeps talking about how january-february are prime culture shock periods. everyone goes home in december, has a good time, comes back to japan, and boom -- you're freezing your butt off, you can't leave your home because it's so cold, you see less and less of your fellow english-speaking friends, you realize how backwards japan is.... recipe for homesickness and culture shock, right?
actually, i can honestly say that despite the reallllly cold weather, i'm happier in tsushima than i've ever been. our gaijin community is so small that everyone's gotten to know each other pretty quickly, and for the most part, we all get along super well. us southerners (me, jayne and aaron) are also super tight, and i can honestly say that they feel like family to me, to the point where i dont miss home at all. yes i get the occasional flashback of my bedroom, my mom cooking in the kitchen, my dad in his chair eating peanuts and channel surfing, my brother passed out on his bed from "studying".... then there are the times that i wish i could hop on my bike and head over to west campus and watch some dled tv shows... or just stroll down the hall and talk to my drawmates till 6am.... i sometimes forget that college life is behind me. but, with everything, i suppose there's a time for a beginning and a time for an end.
and speaking of endings, my time in tsushima has yet to end. just last week, i turned in my forms to recontract for a second year here. same job, same home, same community. one less school. unfortunately, my smallest school is closing at the end of march with the closing of the school year. for you people who have read my blog religiously, you'll recall that my smallest school is only 4 kids. they'll be merging into my second largest elementary school (Kuta Elementary) in april. actually, uchiyama is a "branch school" of Kuta Elementary, so there's no surprise there. but, some of you will also recall that mr. matsumura is a teacher at that small school. he still has no idea where he'll be teaching next year, but i really hope he stays in Izuhara. he's soooo gung-ho about team-teaching english with me, and it'd be a shame to stop when we just figured out a system that works for us.
since i haven't figured out what i'm doing with the rest of my life, and since i know i'll be in japan for another year, my new year's resolution is this: to pass Level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. it'll be in december, and i never intended on taking it before i got here. believe it or not, i feel like my japanese has gotten worse.... speaking-wise, i can bs a lot better now, but my reading and writing has gone downhill. telling myself i need to study for this test will be a good way of making surei dont squander my time in japan. again.
how've you people out there been? drop me a line somtime. i still care =)
--Evelyn
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
back in tsushima
it's my first day back at school already... where has time gone?!
rest assured, my travels were safe and tons of fun. luckily, over New Year's, my friends and I were in Krabi, Thailand, which is over an hour's flight from Bangkok. in other words, we were safe from the bombings in bangkok on new year's.
to sum up what we did....
- fly from Tsushima ->Fukuoka
- fly from Fukuoka -> Bangkok, Thailand
~~~spend a few days in Bangkok~~~
- taxi from Bangkok -> border btwn bangkok and cambodia
- taxi from the border to Siem Reap, Cambodia
~~~spend a few days in Siem Reap where Angkor Wat is~~~
- taxi back to the border and back to Bangkok
~~~spend a day in Bangkok~~~
- fly from Bangkok -> Krabi, Thailand (a resort town with many beaches and foreigners)
~~~spend a few days in Krabi~~~
- fly from Krabi -> Bangkok
~~~spend a few days in Bangkok~~~
- fly from Bangkok -> Fukuoka
- ferry back to Tsushima
my 2 week trip was a blast. warm weather, good company, lots of sightseeing, playing in the water and being out under the sun.... good times.
pictures and stories are coming soon! (^^)v
--ev
ps. i had the weirdest day yesterday. i found out 2 of my friends are engaged and that my cousin had a baby. i didn't even know was cousin was going to have a baby. you people rock my world.
rest assured, my travels were safe and tons of fun. luckily, over New Year's, my friends and I were in Krabi, Thailand, which is over an hour's flight from Bangkok. in other words, we were safe from the bombings in bangkok on new year's.
to sum up what we did....
- fly from Tsushima ->Fukuoka
- fly from Fukuoka -> Bangkok, Thailand
~~~spend a few days in Bangkok~~~
- taxi from Bangkok -> border btwn bangkok and cambodia
- taxi from the border to Siem Reap, Cambodia
~~~spend a few days in Siem Reap where Angkor Wat is~~~
- taxi back to the border and back to Bangkok
~~~spend a day in Bangkok~~~
- fly from Bangkok -> Krabi, Thailand (a resort town with many beaches and foreigners)
~~~spend a few days in Krabi~~~
- fly from Krabi -> Bangkok
~~~spend a few days in Bangkok~~~
- fly from Bangkok -> Fukuoka
- ferry back to Tsushima
my 2 week trip was a blast. warm weather, good company, lots of sightseeing, playing in the water and being out under the sun.... good times.
pictures and stories are coming soon! (^^)v
--ev
ps. i had the weirdest day yesterday. i found out 2 of my friends are engaged and that my cousin had a baby. i didn't even know was cousin was going to have a baby. you people rock my world.
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