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

In other news...The "confrontation" that I mentioned, thankfully, didn't end up bad. My school library drew an announcement poster with Chibikuro Sambo on it. Instead of talking to someone about it, I asked my wonderful JTE friend to help me translate a letter. I knew that if I said something orally, they wouldn't get my message. So after I went to submit my letter to the library staff, I saw that in the "new featured books" section, there was "Chibikuro Sambo". So I went back to my desk to process things. Within an hour and a half, the vice principal came to get me. He walked with me down to the principals office. They apologized and said that they had no intention of offending me. They will remove the poster and the books from the library immediately.

I am not going to even get into my belief that my supervisor was the one who drew the poster. The one who I did a lesson for about discrimination and racism last year. The one who I have spoken to about things like this in the past, when she was we were friendlier.

My girls got a good lesson in politics today. Basically it goes like this...

Distribution of student activities funds/academic year:
English club, PC Club, Flower Arranging Club, etc.: under $100 (most times under $50)
Soccer Club, Baseball Club, Rowing Club, etc: $15,000 - 20,000

When we get money, they tell us what we can and cannot do with our pennies (or yen!). When the English club wants to do an activity, most times we can't b/c...um, we have no money to do it. We are not allowed to generate funds of any sort. Perhaps there is a deep meaning somewhere, but I have been told "Japanese people don't like to have to deal with money....But you can raise money during the school festival".

COOL! It's now school festival time. My girls were really excited about doing some great stuff during the festival so we can raise money for our club. Like the school activities funds distribution, we only get less than $100 in funds to do a booth for a 2-day festival. Today, they were told that we cannot do most of the things on our list. The reason: b/c we are a circle not a "club". No real explanation but (as far as I know) it basically comes down to this....

The sports clubs get a lot of funds
The academic and cultural clubs do not

The sports clubs get a lot of money and space for the festival
The academic and cultural clubs do not

The sports clubs are allowed to make a lot of money, which they have to return to the student activities committee
The academic and cultural clubs do not give money back

Basically, I think they want to limit what the academic and cultural clubs can do (hmmm...is it so they can give all the money to sports clubs?!) They told my girls that they couldn't do the activities they wanted to do for the festival. I think it's b/c they know that we would make money, then have the funds to do uh...enriching academic activities...my girls are such trouble makers! *sarcastic* How dare they try to improve their scope on life and cultural understanding by taking trips and learning about others?!

Anyway, I didn't start out with sarcastic intent. I was kind of bummed to see my girls afterschool today sulking around. After they spent all that time working out plans for the school festival, it was basically implied that their big city ideas are not wanted here...stay in your place! It's not that serious for me (I think we'll still make some money), but I think this is good for my students b/c they are looking at and responding to these types of situations differently than when I first got here...I see growth!

I asked my supervisor today about my ticket home (again!) and she finally got the quotations, but didn't give it to the appropriate person (XX-san) yet. That was cool. I asked her if when she gave the info to XX-san, can she find out how long it will take. After a couple I'm-going-to-cut-you-offs-before-you-ask-me-any-more-questions, she gave me the usual attitude. I asked if she had a problem with me or being my supervisor. To which she responded, No I don't have any problems, I'm just very busy with trying to get things ready for you to leave. I have a lot of things that I need to do. Yeah...sure...way to avoid any kind of confrontation. Pretend that you have not given me attitude or some version of it, since day 1 (of supervisorship...does that even exist).

While I'm on the topic of confrontation. I feel like I was in a fight or something somewhere between when I went to sleep and when I woke up. My nose feels like someone hit me in the face on the right-hand side. I'm not sure what is going on there...was I fighting in my sleep.

i'll have to post tomorrow about another something* that I noticed at my school. I am sure, a confrontation-related story will be involved...like always

*cell pic on lower sidebar

I ate 3 bowls of red lentil soup today. I made it from scratch and got the same flavor that I got the first* time. I added my favorite vegetable to it making it juuussst right! YUM!




:: Obi, gifted to me yesterday ::

*I made a BANGIN' red lentil soup a while ago for a potluck dinner. Everyone was all "i want to taste some...ooh, vegetarian food...ooh, it smelss great". While aI agreed with all of that, people didn't eat my soup. I thin it was a bit too spicy for them, even though I toned it down. I wasn't offended by it at all. I had about 3 or 4 bowls of it right before the dinner. When I saw that people didn't eat my soup (after they dished it ALL out), I just thought to myself, now I could have had some left over to take back home with me! I tried to make the soup a 2nd time and it came out "okay", but this 3rd time...BANGIN'! Oh, did I say that already?!

One thing about finishing my class is...I can be crafty again. It is tough b/c I have to pack and give away *sob* a LOT of crafty stuff that I have accumulated. I wanted to do some sewing since I have been here, but haven't managed to get much done. Right now, I am working on the back-tack. This is what I received so far. Now all I have to do is make something with it! Let's back-tacking!

:: Shinkansen ::

Riiiggght....

CONVO #1
Teacher: did anyone tell you, there's an enkai next Tuesday?

Me: no

Teacher: It's for eto ne , ah...we have a sports... [I deciphered that it's a "do-your-best-in-the-sports-match party]

Teacher: will you go?

Me: I am not sure. Will there be food provided for me?

Teacher: Well, since the party costs so little we will not provide (special) food for you. Will you go?

Me: I am not sure. When do I have to let you know.

Teacher: Um...today*. Will you go?

Me: I will let you know later. How much is the enkai?

Teacher: 3,000 YEN.

*As typical, everyone else is told in advance and is given time to decided. They come to me on the day of asking me to tell them immediately.

CONVO #2
Me: So I need to get my return ticket soon, so I can make plans

Teacher: So I went to a meeting and I have to get price quotations from a travel agent.

Me: I looked up the information already and showed them to you. I gave them to XX-sensei.

Teacher: I want to look them up. Then I will give the amount to XX-sensei.

Me: It needs to be refundable/transferrable.

Teacher: Really? What does that mean?
...

Me: When will I get the money for my ticket?

Teacher: I am not sure. I will look up the information and give it to XX-sensei.

Sometimes, the conversations I have cause me to just look at folx. When I look at them, I just wonder, how people can be so set on making sure there is only one scenario or box to fit in. If someone is out of that box, it's not examined, thought about, or taken seriously.

Delicious VEGAN tastyness and a fast-moving RM in the background. I drove down* to the next prefecture to meet up with my friend (also known as my trusty Herbaceous friend and co-organizer in Veg) just to hang out. Good Excellent food also made the trip good too!

I made the salad and RM did the rest of the food. It makes sense since he is the vegan chef and I am not(thing other than wonderful)!




At the beach I made friends with a giant piece of konbu [seaweed], which we decided should go home with RM and dry to see what it looks like later. This seaweed was really tough. It took a lot of my strength to pull a piece off. The photo only shows a part of it with the balance dragging in the back.




:: Konbu and I; RM using Konbu as a telescope ::



*Ended up only being 3 hours away. I am not sure what I was doing on the way down. It took me over 4.5 hours to get there, but only 3 to get back. I have down for the next time.

I don't (think I) know anyone on Orlu...but either way, this is an interesting story. I am sure know they do not sell the actual magazine here in good old Mutsu, so I have to feed my blog appetite and read the blog about a man named Marty who discovered that he is a Nigerian Prince. It may be old news to some folx, but it's news to me!

I might have actually driven through Orlu when I was in Nigeria a few years ago. But hey, Nigeria is HUMONGOUS so most likely I did or didn't...I don't know. I think I was among some of the few tourists in Nigeria at the time. Not because I am a super special traveller and I have connections. I am special though. Anyway, some political stuff was going on and it was well known that we were there.

Anyway, back to Marty. I am so happy to have found out about his blog b/c I can read about it online. YAY discovery! for Marty and for me!

EDIT: Ok...I can't get with this line of the article though

"In the days that followed, Marty sent inquiries about his father to Nigerian Web sites. But all he got back were those fraud e-mails—“I have $10 million in an account and only need a $10,000 deposit from you”—that Nigerians are notorious for."

eeehhh...nani?!?

I never really got along with ewoks so much. I had the Wicket the Ewok borad game and managed to (maybe) partially play it one time. I just couldn't get with it. I am not sure why. I had that game but it never appealed to me. I think, like our Atari, Wicket ended up going to some other children who had an interest in that sort of stuff. To this day, I don't even think I've seen the first Star Wars.

I am not sure what brought Wicket the Ewok to mind (aside from procrastination). It may be related to a lesson I did today that asked students to think about childhood memories. I have a lot them. They were asked to recall a memory where they cried a lot. I told them about one. This is how the story goes...

I was jumping rope on our gallery (porch) and my older sister put her foot in the rope. So as things naturally progress, I fell down. On my face. On my chin. So I cried a lot. Had to get stitches in my chin. I cried. Had a big bandage on my chin. I cried and cried and cri...

Some of the students cringed when I showed them my scar. It was funny.

I am sure my sister will disagree with the story, like she has time and time again.

I'm early, but it's safe to say the packing was a bit overwhelming for me tonight. I have acquired a lot of stuff over the past couple of years. A yard sale (for my old stuff) will have to be in order when I return.





A windy day indeed!

haiku #051905


the clouds move so fast

signs that spring is here to stay

petals on pavement


- me

still pretty cold-ish here. i haven't been using my heater though. still two thick blankets at night and thermals plus clothes in the daytime. is it May? doesn't feel like it (weather-wise). I am really happy that it's not January though. I think everyone (even some of the snow bunnies who like to board and ski each and every weekend) seemed to be getting a bit tired of the amount of snow that we had.

it was cool in tokyo last weekend too. i shouldn't have been surprised b/c i went to tokyo that same weekend last year. i stayed indoors all weekend b/c the weather was so 'blah'. for the most part, this time, the weather didn't bother me so much. a lot of it was due to my sleep deprivation.

i took the trusty overnight bus down. ended up meeting up with a friend (and the friend of a friend) the next morning at the station. their bus ride was about 3 hours longer than mine AND they didn't get any sleep. i got some, but not as much as i usually do on the overnight bus. we went to tsukiji fish market and huing around there for a while. i had sushi, but nit sashimi of course! it was cool seeing all of the different types of sashimi available, especially considering that I do not eat fish and other things with mothers.

random : Mutsu is getting bigger now that surrounding villages/towns have merged with us. i'm really in the 'big city' now!

after the fish market (where they will soon bar tourists from the auctions) we split up and I went to Design Festa for a few hours. I bought a 2-day pass and spent half of my time at the hobby fair, then headed over to DF for the balance of the time. i met up with my friends for some socializing at a birthday party. after hanging out until 5AM...my friend an i had a to find a place to stay. as mentioned, there was some sleep deprivation action going on. this is where most of it was acquired.

very loooooonnng story short...after walking around for a few hours, we couldn't find a place to stay. the funny thing, then and now, is that when we finally sat down somewhere, the name of the place was called 'Wasted Time' Cafe. Amazing...just amazing. We then did some more walking around to find food, which of course was more wasted time. the place where we finally rested our weary bones for a couple hours was a cafe that served bad apple pastries...but hey...after all that time and hunger I opted for 2 of them and saved one for later*.

so...still with no sleep (or other necessary activities) we made our way to the Thai Food Festival, DF, and sumo. On the way back from sumo we saw a festival happening through the window on the train. so, like anyone else would do, we hopped of the train and found the festival. this was my first and only time in Akihabara. we were only there for about 10 or 15 minutes. we parted ways and I headed to tokyo station to buy my ticket for the shinkanasen home.

the shinkansen...ahh...the shinkansen. the place where I can manage to never get through a ride w/o smelling dried squid or rice crackers (there's nothing wrong with them...for me, the smell is not a good one for a train with poor ventilation**). i usually take the 456p train b/c it's the last one that will get me back up my way. but, i drove to noheji on Friday, so i could take a later train, the last one. i have to remind myself, not to try that if i am not well rested. another long story short...i fell asleep (proving once again that I am not like the other folx here b/c they manage to always wake up in time) and missed he noheji stop.

i had to spend the night at MS' house b/c hey, why would a city need a train that runs after 1100p!?! i even almost got locked in the ATM which closed at 1220a, not 1217a or 1223a, but 1220a. once i heard the locks moving and such, i pushed the door open before i was locked in. that would have been too crazy if MS showed up and I was locked in the ATM booth.

* good thing i had that bad tasting apple pie in my purse for breakfast!

I didn't even feel well anymore, so in the morning, I didn't bother rushing b/c 1) who needs a train that will get you to where I live by 8am?! 2) ** the homegirl sitting next to me was spewing mad germs, so I came down with a cold by the time I got back to Aomori.

At the end of it all, I had a great! Weekend. I had great company and laughed SO much!

art. buses. big men. crafts. walking. food. trains. they all go together with so much more from this weekend.



:: Walking up to the Kokugikan, the
sumo stadium in Tokyo Ryogoku ::




:: Afterwards in front of the dohyo ::




:: Let the games begin! ::




:: Not as big as they appeared. These are small guys.

I gave the camera to a man with a fancy camera. His camera

must be just for show...I didn't really want the blurry effect ::




On the way from the Thai Food Festival* at Yoyogi Park, we came across the Harajuku Rockabilly guys. They are there every weekend dancing away their little two-step. I have seen them before but I "just" saw some video of them the other day. Now I can't find it. Oh well, a picture will have to do...



:: Exciting Rockabilly Two-Step ::


* Um, no vegan food available. Okay..ok, one booth had some spicy veggies that were bangin'. Other than that, nothing else. Surprising, considering that when I went to Thailand, I ate vegan food everyday...great festival but disappointed that the embassy played out the veg folx (read: ME!) that's another story though.

I'm MINISHED*!!!!!! I turned in my Final exam and my last paper today. My teacher has been really understanding with my migraines, compuetr issues, log-in difficulties, and most recently my "tumor" (which had me at the doctor instead of in my apato doing work). Before the final I had an A, so I hope that it stays that way.

I finally made it back to yoga tonight. I honestly was not in the mood to go. It was rainy....it was a long day. I went and had a great time! I cancelled going to a yoga retreat-esque activity so I can go to sumo this weekend. So minna zan'nen ... basically everyone was disappointed. Class was hilarious! I usually do not laught at people in yoga but the type of interactions in yoga class here is like we are all at the supermarket. Just chatting away and stopping to look at magazines and such. Anyway, this lady was trying to so a balance pose and was flying and hopping all over the place trying to maintain her balance. At one point, I fell out of my pose b/c I was laughing so hard at her! Good fun!

To treat myself today, I rented a movie and bought a yukata book and the Stylish Yoga Bible! The later was, in fact, very stylish...my teacher recommended it. She is always stylish and well dressed for yoga class. I think she likes pink b/c she wears it a lot.

it is truly a blessing to have endured this far!

*[copyright, 2000, my nephew]

Women-only cars introduced on 9 Tokyo lines to prevent groping

sure...that will fix the problem. This oji-san touched me last year. No one around me, Japanese or foreign said or did anything about it. I said 'something' to him and he walked away. He got the picture, I am sure. It was at an outdoor event and I don't even think that a police officer was anywhere in the area. I am not sure if it would have done much anyway.

I was actually really surprised that he felt like it was okay to do that....　ちかん　['chikan'/pervert]. It's a shame they have to have women-only cars. How about spending the time to enfore (any existing) laws and make people responsible for their actions.

it's not every day you wake up thinking you might have a tumor. today, i did that.

taking it back: we have to get these annual health checks, b/c the J eachers do it. as with most things, the details weren't explained to me. last year, they just told me that i didn't have to get the exam and chest x-ray (checking out that TB). this year though, the new school nurse felt that i "really" should get the test done. so I did...she was new (to our school) so maybe she was trying to flex her nursing muscles.

anyway, i meant to ask someone if we actually get any feedback from the exams or do it just do it for GP [general purposes] and go on with our business. i never asked about it. on monday though, with haste in his voice, my VP said that the principal wanted to speak with me. i went down stais and the principal said that the doctors said that something came up in my x-rays and i need to get some more testing. he sounded serious and concerned, but he didn't explain what the report specifically said.

i asked my JTE friend what the report said. it basically said, we saw a mass in your x-ray. it may be a tumor so please get checked....hhmmmm...a tumor. that sounds kind of serious. i didn't panic or anything. i called DM and said, "girl, you wouldn't believe what i just found out..."

I took today off to find a specialist* since a lot of the places that claim to speak English actually don't *surprie, surprise*. I ended up stay at the doctor's office for about 3 hours. not much testing happened, except for one x-ray.

in the end though, as expected, I didn't have a tumor. more specifically, the doctor said, "i don't see what they are talking about. do you?"**

* I have seen more specialists in Japan, than ever before
** He spoke English...that was enexpected and good to know

So in honor of not having a tumor, I will share a photo of one of my students pretending to eat fake soba [buckwheat] noodles and sakura mochi [cherry blossom rice cake] that she made from tissue papers.



:: check out her crayons chopsticks ::

This post is dedicated to the mothers in my life. Specifically my mother, Mommy and my 2 sisters, one who is a mommy and one who is soon-to-be*. Although I don't need a day like this tell me to recognize Mommy's greatness, I will say "Happy Mother's Day" today. Know that every day I know that she is wonderful, dynamic, giving, loving, beautiful, and of course, very sharp!



:: Me, Daughter #1, and Star #2 in Trinidad, circa 1984 ::


* This is the younger one, known as Star#2. She has been harassing me about baby names. Almost everyday. I want her to stop. She even e-d me right before this post. She is open to suggestions for names with meanings. I told her that her life would be easier if she named her after me! After all, that is the best choice.

my 1st year students were on another planet this morning. today i had one of those notorious lessons that go like this:

me: good morning! *genki for the kids* so what did you do during Golden week?

students: *blink* *blink blink*

me: what. did. YOU. do. for. Gol. den. Week?

students: *blink, blink*

JTE: did you understand what Takeyah-sensei asked?

students: *blink, blink, blink*

one student: yes

[as we hear the crickets making their cricket noises and more eyelids blinking, 4 minutes pass by with me trying to get them to utter a single word]

JTE: shall we give an example. during golden week, i went to Oma to visit....

Give me a break! There is no reason why after 2 months these kids cannot answer simple questions. They are in an Intensive English course. They understand what I am saying, they are just choosing not to speak. The unfortunate and sad thing is that in our oral communications class we get stuck with trying to get them to even use English b/c in their 4 other English classes, they don't use English...argghhhh....this is really nothing new for folx that teach English, but it is somethig new for me. I have NEVER had a class like that since I have been here.

In the end, I postponed our planned activity and threw in a more active warm-up...so they eventually started responding, but goodness. That is NOT what I needed today. The good thing is IT'S FRIDAY and the weekend is here already!

Every week should have a 3-day holiday in the middle :)

Can't live in J without posting about the sakura, so here we go...



:: Not-really-sakura at a park in Goshogowara ::



:: Red bridge, Hirosaki castle Park ::



:: Clouds of sakura covering the castle ::

I have a LOT* of shots of the beautiful flowers and such. I am glad I went to the Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri at night time this year. It was sooooo beautiful! I can see why people have such good feelings come sakura season. They are really nice. Aaahhh...spring!

*A good number of them look best on the small screen of the camera. With all of the lights and lack of a tripod, some of the photos came out kind of blurry

:: Torii on hilltop, Natsudomari Peninsula ::

Headed out to Natsudomari with TM on Sunday. I had to catch my train, so we didn't get a chance to see much. I have driven by the road leading tp that part of Aomori a good number of times, but never passed by. After TM talked about it, we decide dto go there. I will definitely have to check it out b/c apparatenly it's great for scuba, golfing, and fishing. None of which I am interested in, but I am sure it would be interesting to people watch during these lovely outdoor activities.

:: Combination of laterns from Kyoto, sushi, me!,

and the Itsukushima/Miyajima torii ::

For a postcard swap I joined.