. . : : Japan takes the QUEEN : : . .

I'm in Seoul preparing to wrap up my journey here and wrap up 2004. This past year has gone by so quickly and I have been blessed tremendously. The archives and my memories can retell the stories of 2004. On this day last year I was on a beach in Thailand getting ready to bring in the New Year. I was in Koh Lanta which, according to the news reports, has been damaged land and people wise. My access is limited but the death toll is over 100,000 people and counting. I am hoping that the names of the injured or dead will not be familiar to me. Like the people directly involved, I may not know for a while.

Once 2005 rings in, I am sure I will look at things differently here. I have to process things once I return to J, but I am not sure how that will go. Signing out from Seoul...

I am leaving one cold place and going to another AND calling it vacation. What has come over me? I'll be in Tokyo tomorrow where I will meet NT, then off we go (along with ES) to South Korea. Due to schoolwork, I didn't have a chance to get into full Ms. Preparation mode, but things have been looking good so far.

I still have the blister on my elbow and I hope that it goes down on it's own soon, b/c I do not want to be ooohing and owwwing the whole trip.

I left work early b/c yesterday they told me I didn't have to stay all day....just stamp and leave. I stayed for a few hours b/c I had some things that I wanted to get done and I had to fill out my Returner's Conference information to give to my supervisor. YUP! Returner's Conference....once the new year rolls around, it will be time for the kid to roll out! YATTA!

I stopped at the post office b/c I had to mail some nengajo and a couple of packages. I know when they see me coming, they must think oh no! here she comes ! I usually do not have my boxes taped or labeled, so I have to do it all there. They set everything up so nicely there anyway so I figured that's what all of that stuff is there for...packaging. I usually have so much to do with my packages and mail that I don't get into line until between 15-30 minutes after I reach the postoffice. The same thing happened today, but it was super busy b/c everyone wants to get their nengajo in before the deadline (which I believe may be tomorrow). I only sent about 13, but people came in with hundreds of them. I guess that is why a lot of people do them by computer.

...going back to packing...it is quite difficult trying to fit 2 weeks of winter clotehs into a medium-sized back pack, but I will make it happen (with re-runs of course)

I have managed to complete #1, #2, and #4 from my list so far and acquired a blister on my elbow...huh?!... a blister on my elbow. I am not even sure how that has happened. I woke up this morning feeling a little soreness, but thought that it would go away. I just took a good look and what do I see...the blister. Who knows what the deal is with that.

I started working on #7, but in the form of writing nengajou [New Year's Postcards]. It's really procrastination in the form of multi-tasking: writing cards, watching a movie, and playing on the net at the same time. I am not sending as much as would like b/c I don't really have many people's addresses. A while ago I asked my friends and family to send their addresses, but alas they didn't so...I am working from memory. The 2005th year is the year of the tori [chicken, hen or rooster].

Speaking of tori [chicken], I also took a shot of a torii [Shinto shrine gate] on the way back from the store. The snow has slowed down so things don't look so bad right now.






:: Leaving ema [wooden plates where you write your wishes and leave them at the shrine] back in April of this year. This was in Ueno Park(?) (Tokyo) the day before I was scheduled to visit the US. ::

Today is tenno no tanjoubi [the Emperor's Birthday]! Oh, you didn't know?! So it is a national holiday. The day changes when the new Emperor changes, unless of course the new and old one have the same birthday. YEAH! This works out nicely b/c I can get things together before I leave to meet NT at the airport tomorrow and head off to S. Korea the following day. So in honor of His Majesty, I will:

1. Buy toyu [kerosene]. My heater ran out last night, thus I am FREEZING!

2. Return videos to the store and try not to rent anymore.

3. REALLY clean my apato so that when I get back I will feel good about walking in.

4. Buy a lot of please-please-mold-don't-grown-while-I-am-gone stuff from the store and place them throughout my apt.

5. Sort through some more clothes that I should give a way or sell b/c I am really not wearing them (and figure out "HOW I managed to have so much stuff here?" that I think I need to get rid of some of it)

6. Prepare some packages for mailing b/c the items I bought in J and in HK have been sitting in my kitchen for months.

7. Pray that my kotatsu [heated table] blanket set did not get attacked by mold.

When I do things for my job(school), there is never a doubt about the quality. I do not half step nor do give a lackluster performance. So why is it that they cannot do teh same for me?! WHY?! NASE?! PORQUE?!

I will not even look in my archives to see if there has been a time where I have been more upset than I am at this very moment. I just took a cool-it-down walk back from the school's bonenkai. The bonenkai is an end of the year party where you forget the things that happened during the year and you look forward to the new year. Tonight, my school made that hard for me. I arrived at the party venue already 40 minutes late b/c the taxi company for some reason decided that I live down the street as opposed to place where I have been living for the past year and 5 months! I look for my seat, which is close to the door like usual. Before I can even sit down at my seat, my old supervisor is giving the apologetic-chuckle about the fact that the chef didn't know how to make vegetarian food. It has been ONE YEAR and FIVE MONTHS...I have given them a 5-page document in Japanese about vegetarianism, a 5-page document in Japanese about veganism, a 5-page document in English about vegetarianism, a 5-page document in English about veganism, AND a 3-page list of "Japanese Foods that I Can EAT". So why is it that TONIGHT, after I gave the list of "Japanese Foods that I Can EAT" to my supervisor (AGAIN!) earlier in the week, must I sit around and watch these folx laugh, chuckle, eat and be merry?! WHY?! NASE?! PORQUE?! WHY?!

Every month, they have no problem deducted funds from my paycheck to pay for their parties. So far I have contributed about $400 to the general school party/misc fund and about $340 to the English teachers' party/misc fund. And how many meals have I had out of this money?...ONE...ICHI...UNO...ONE. Only one meal was I able to eat in a year and 5 months. I had the serious stank face at the party and was not interested in eating the left-over cucumber rolls that they decided to collect from other people's plates when the party was 3/4 way over. No thank YOU! Is anyone else eating other people's leftovers? NO! So why should I...WHY?! NASE?! PORQUE?! WHY?!

So now, it is my mission to get back my money from these folx. I do not intend to pay for anyone else's parties. If they have an event that they would like me to attend, they will have to provide a menu and THEN I will pay. The first thing out of their mouths will be that all of the other Japanese teachers do not get their money back . Then they will give me no choice but to clarify to them how they make sure I am aware that I am not a Japanese teacher on a daily basis.

ijoudesu [finished!]

i glance through windows
parallel lines of white dust
the snow's building up

I like life in Japan. It allows me to really see how people's views of me (or people) vary based on their own assumptions or beliefs. So, common sense-wise and academically speaking, I do pretty well. Things have slowed down a bit since I have been here in J, but for the most part my mind is still swift. Today, the VP at works asks my supervisor to fill out my vacation form. I was sitting across the room, but I understood what he was asking her and actually was on my way to fill out my own forms. So when I get there, I don't look at what they are doing. So my supervisor asks me to hanko /stamp the vacation days that she wrote on the form. She explains that it is very complicated...different from Japanese teachers...she should do it... yada, yada, yada... I tell her that I can fill out my vacation forms by myself, I prefer to do so, and that is what I came over there to do. So I look down at my sheet and she has the incorrect number of vacation days on the sheet. Of course, more than it should be. WHY? Because they are looking at the wrong paperwork. So yes, it is a simple mistake that can happen anywhere (so it is not specific to J) however, this is why I like to do my own paperwork and read what they give me. The general thing that they attempt to do here is just Please, hanko/stamp here. But I usually try to read the info and ask them questions about things before signing....I would do that anywhere else, why not here?!

To some people, my presence just means a lot of [paper] work (that no one wants) and it is presented like I won't understand it b/c I am not Japanese and it's sooooo above my head. *eyes rolling* Please. The system is not THAT complicated. Somewhere along the line, some people forgot that I have the sense that is common. I have the skills, knowledge and ability to teach these children (and teachers) English, but today I don't have the ability to fill out the same paperwork that I have been filling out for myself for the past year and half.

Life is grand, isn't it?

I just checked my grade report and I got an A in my class. YATTA! I am sssssoooooooo happy about that. All my hard work paid off. Let's scholarly!

I taught my last classes of 2004 today. I was really tired b/c I was up late doing a combo of falling asleep and IMing. I woke up this morning to MAD snow outside. I wasn't ready for it, but I still made it to my tech school on time.

Although I think my supervisor there thought I was late. After the morning meeting (which I never attend), she came back into the office and asked if I made it to school okay in the snow *smiling*. I told her that it was slippery but I was fine. I felt like she wanted me to say osoku narimashita. gomen nasai [i was late. sorry] ...but I didn't b/c I wasn't late. She just hadn't seen me, b/c I went to the office of the teacher I was scheduled to work with today and we planned a lesson before the morning meeting...oh well...she'll be fine

My lessons were okay. I had one at 9am and my next lesson wasn't until 12:35pm, so I just sat in front of the computer trying to keep my eyes from shutting. [I can't stand not having anything to do...come to work, sit for 1 hour, teach for 50 minutes, sit for 2.5 hours, then teach for 1 hour and 40 minutes]. Since we had snow outside, I didn't go home for lunch like I had been doing. I just sat at the computer and printed out things that will be helpful for my S. Korea Trip.

Today was a good day...and I guess as secret gift to me, today was the first time that my technical high school students went through 3 entires lessons without saying "sex" or "sexy"...they're so sweet.

The "group paper verdict" : 86 YEAH!!! I was so happy to see that grade at the end of the paper the professor commented on. We actually received a 73, however the Professor (re)claculated our grade considering the fact one of the group members did not submit his section, which was worth 15% of the paper's grade. I feel very good about that. I also got a 92% on the team evaluation. I feel that I deserve it, however I was surprised that folx didn't get shiesty and give me a bad score in the name of "hatin'". Based on what I calculated, I should end up with a A-/B+ in the class...

one can learn a lot of things by attending an udon party. a few of my 3rd year students invited me to attend an udon noodle-making party that they were having for one of the sister city's students that came to visit. at the party, I learned quite a few things, like:

1. one of my favorite students' father sits in the next aisle over in the teacher's room...I had no idea that he was her father.
2. udon noodles taste pretty good by themselves (without dashi [broth])
3. it is possible to convince your students that you don't understand Japanese so you can teach them more effectively while in class (my students were completely surprised when I came into the shop and spoke to my student's mother in Japanese)
4. my students appreciate me, my teaching style and teaching policy (because they told me so)
5. my students respect me and what I think (because they told me so)

my students are great!

it just flew out from the clear blue sky! well, actually is fell out from the cordouroys that I had on last Friday. AAAHHH! LOL! I knew that I didn't loose it, I just couldn't find it. I finally had/took the time to clean up my apato and as I picked up those pants that I meant to take to the cleaners earlier this week, what should fall out...my red case with the hanko inside!



Oh well, it's all for a reason...even if I am not sure about what the reason is yet (aside from "get yourself together QT!")...LOL!

A few weeks ago, we braved the cold winds of western Aomori and were welcomed at Santa Land, Iwasaki (lovely dog-eating town), and the Ajigasawa Chapel.


:: Underneath a set of windmills where we could hear the wind howling and blades whipping overhead ::


:: We stopped to look at the rock formations (in addition to a special view of MS's big hair) and nice octopus tentacle..mmmm...tasty ::


:: Every place in Japan is known for something. Here we have the largest wooden water wheel in J. We ended up going back to the onsen at this place. The brown water had unknown minerals, said to be great for the body ::

The hanko situation turned out to be pretty easy. The cultural differences make a big difference here. Some things that I view as simple, are not (and vice versa). At lunch yesterday I ordered a new hanko , but I didn't have an imprint or stamp of what it looked like. So I just told the man how to spell it and hoped for the best. When I picked it up, it said my name, but the font style was a little bit different. I think if I weren't in Japan, I wouldn't have thought anything about the font difference b/c a name is a name. Since being in Japan, I pay more attention to and find myself doing certain things like writing my name exactly the same way everytime, doing things exactly the same over and over again, or saying things to people in the same way each time. So when I saw the different font, I tilted my head to the side and sucked in air through my teeth. That action can mean "no", or "no, but I am pretending I am not sure so I don't have to say no directly". In my case it meant "I don't know if this will work but we'll see." I took the hanko to work today and it was fine. I didn't have to re-register the hanko or go through any paperwork. I was truly surprised. A simple thing, turned out to be simple. Now all I have to do is wait for the next payday. That will be the ultimate test for my new "signature".

I lost or misplaced my hanko. In Japan, my signature doesn't mean much. All of my authority and power lies in a cylindrical piece a wood with ヤーング [ya-ngu] engraved on the end. So somewher between Friday and today, it decided to have a life of its own. It didn't want to be stuk in a striped plastic change purse with a whole bunch of yen. It didn't want to only be used 4 times a week only at 815am. The good thing is that my job told me that my signature is okay for the attendance book. The bad thing is that I cannot get my paycheck next Monday without it. So, my mission today is to get a new hanko. I foresee it as a relatively simple task, but who knows what will really happen.

pa·per·hol·ic
adj.
1. Related to or resulting from paper.
2. Containing paper.
3. Suffering from paperism.

n.
1. A person who uses paper substances habitually and to excess or who suffers from paperism.
2. a person who uses paper to excess habitually

I work with a bunch of paperholics. I am not sure why they use so much paper. I mean the teachers make copies of EVERYTHING for other teachers and students. When I am working with an activity or event, I try to do the copying so I can consolidate info into the least amount of paper needed. When they have to make copies, I feel like they say hmmm...how I can I use the most amount of paper possible? I am doing an English lesson with the regular course students over this next week. On Friday, before I left, I made an extra effort to create the master handout, so that the only thing that the teacher had to do was photocopy it. Today I get to school and she has managed to make all of the copies, but she has somehow separated my information so that instead of 1.5 sheets of paper, we have now have 4!

Now let's do the math. I will be teaching 5 classes with 40 students, so that is 200 students. I initially planned to only use 1.5 sheets of paper, so that would be 300 sheets. Now that we have 4 sheets, we will now be using 800 sheets of paper. Is it necessary? NO! Especially when the students throw away their papers right after class. My mini efforts to save trees here sometimes get foiled. It's funny, b/c they complain about not having money for things (ahem...like English Club), but then we waste 500 sheets of paper or a class that I am teaching one time this year. I can imagine the amount of paper that is wasted on a daily basis...okay, I won't imagine it b/c I might go into fits...

there IS hope for me in academia! I finally received a grade higher than 90% on one of my weekly submissions for my class! YEAH!

Within the same class though, I have one of my (thankfully) former group members making negative comments about my submissions. One of her comments:

I read all of the article, but I was lost as I was reading it. One has to read the article for few times to understand it. Overall, it had a good subject, but it can be improved by more examples to clarify your statements.

It is quite funny though. Aside from the fact that she has only started making them AFTER she showed her true lackluster performance in the group paper, she has also done the same thing with the other group member who was proactive about producing a good paper. I think she is upset because we found out that she was a plagiariser, amongst other things. LOL...people are so funny. I can imagine what she has said in her team evaluation of me...it will be interesting to see what I get.

this is more funny than anything else...no more this...

veggie people are so peace. i started a vegetarian special interest group with a fellow veggie JET. it has been great so far. when people respond, their messages are so lush, leafy and warm! :)

speaking of good feelings...I am so happy that today is Friday. it has been such a long week and I am looking forward to relaxing and getting (re)grounded.

you know you have been in J for a while when:

1. you don't even get upset at the fact that when you went to get your cell phone fixed (b/c all of a sudden you can't get service) the sales lady dials the English Customer Service number at least 30 times and refuses to tell you that she can't get through after a half hour
2. you see one of your former students, but you don't recognize her b/c she has on the bank worker uniform (green and blue plaid) and barely speaks a word of English anymore
3. people who should understand English don't understand you and instead of spending the time to explain your question, you just say "okay" and let it go
4. you are lokoing forward to going back to where you came from, even though it's months and months away... :)

THE PAPER has been submitted....I am SSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD! I stayed up til about 4AM wrapping things up with it. It has honestly been one of the most challenginng group and gradschool experiences thus far. My group has something for me...whew....I'll save the scary details for another time :)

I went out to dinner with a couple of teachers last night. I, of course, initiated the 'going out' part. It is funny, even after a year and (almost!) a half of being here, one would think that people would fulfill their desires to hang out w/ me. Not like I am famous or that I think people should 'really' want to hang w/ me like that. I just would feel better with people just hanging out with me if they want as opposed to taking many opportunities to discuss me and what I do at length through 3rd, 4th, or 5th party sources. In the end though, the shyness and fear takes over. A lot of people would rather talk to other people about me. Today provides a great example. A teacher asks me 'Did you have fun last night?' My response was 'doing what?' b/c I know I do not talk to this teacher 'like that' aside from the fact that we teach 'together'. He says 'so and so-sensei told me that you were going out to dinner.' I said 'oh okay'...not a big deal, but inquiries about what I do when I go out with people related to the school is a regular thing. I am like, if you are THAT interested, then let us hang out.

but i digress...

So over dinner we talked about a lot of things, but a teacher was decsribing things at my school. She said that people, in general, are very せっきょくてきない [sekkyokutekinai : not aggressive/passive]. She said that the Japanese teachers at my school don't have good communication and relationships, so she KNOWS that it woudl be even more difficult for me b/c if they don't talk amongst each other, it would be even more severe for a foreigner. I agreed w/ her and was glad to learn the word to describe me, せっきょくてき [sekkyokuteki : agressive, in a good way].

Another interesting question to add to my list of 'odd' questions: How many layers of clothes do I wear? what?! . . . exactly. teh waitress came, so thankfully we didn't have to get into that inquiry.

on top of the academic drama...WHY? do we have to have an earthquake at 447a?

hmm...what do you do when the person volunteering to help you edit other people's work has the least attractive grammar skills. do you let them edit when they say that other people have grammar issues. um...yeah...let them edit, but then you let them know that you have to go over their editted info....

i have been working on my "team" paper all day. a few people in the group have 4 more hours to submit their work. if they don't then i'll be forced to wrie their sections AND not give them credit for the paper. i have already e-mailed them. i don't have the time for lackluster performances... :(

Today is World AIDs Day!

The rate of HIV infection among young people worldwide is rapidly increasing. Of particular concern are the dramatic increases in HIV infection among young women, who now make up 60% of the 15- to 24- year olds living with HIV/AIDS. Globally, young women are 1.6 times more likely to be living with HIV/AIDS than young men.

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, girls and young women (15-24 years) are now three times more likely to be HIV infected as young men. This trend continues in the Caribbean where young women are up to 2.5 times more likely to be infected. Where prevalence rates are low young men usually have higher rates of infection than young women but in countries with higher HIV infection rates young women typically surpass young men of the same age. In East Asia 28% of the young people (15-24 years) living with the virus are women and in South and South East Asia this figure rises to 40%...
more info

Left: A health worker counsels an HIV-positive patient, Beijing, People's Republic of China. Credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

Right: Women wait for transport, near Toco, Trinidad. Credit: UNAIDS/Betty Press

take from here.

Have you heard me today?

flying over clouds
white peak of Mt. Fuji
just beyond the wing

As I was flying in from HK, I glanced over to the left and saw the peak of Fuji-yama. It was sssssssssoooooooooooo beautiful. I will probably not attempt the climb but I do what to go see it. Maybe I'll go when I go down south later on this month. Japan is so beautiful!