It's only 9:30!

Monday, April 30, 2007

A few emails from Thursday of last week. I don't have time to write the whole thing out but I gotta post this before I go off to Osaka and forget everything!

~~~~~~~~~

To mom:

So..... This day has gotten to an interesting start and it's only 9:30.

Today, Tegan, from high school is coming to visit me. She was studying in Tokyo and wanted to see Yamada now that her classes are done. She'll be here until Sunday. My Apartment is a mess. I've gotten into the habit of saying "I don't want to do it" so I don't. It's really easy to continue to be lazy once you start. So not cool.

I got into school today late.

English club will be early today because school will end early today because the X-ray bus is coming into town.

SAY WHAT?!

Yeah, every year the teachers have to get X-rayed to see if they have TB or something. I had to do this when I was in America, remember? Welp, I'm doin it again. This is total bs. I told them I didn't want to because taking too many x-rays is bad for you. Especially if it's needless like this is! They said, well everyones doing it.... peer pressure is a way of life here.

Then...at 9:02, I was talking to the thief about today's lesson when suddenly the ground started shaking and there was this rumbling sound all around. And then it got worse and the walls started shaking and the desks were swaying!

Mom, it was a category 4 or 5 (whatever that means) and I swear I thought I was going to die. My heart totally jumped into my throat and it hasn't moved! The thief said it was really rare. Something like that hadn't happened for 6 years now. But still!!!!

Tegan's coming later this afternoon and I'm going to leave school to get her things and then return here for the club.

Thank god for that break! (when it comes) Lord knows if I'll survive this day!

-Nina


~~~~~~~~~
Later that day, I emailed my PA to see if there was any way I could get out of doing the X-ray and not piss anyone off.


Hey Nina,

This has been a topic of conversation on the PA mailing list recently, so I am actually up to speed on this one! It seems that all public employees, including JETS, must have a yearly check up to ensure you don't have TB. Why the hell they are worried about TB I have no idea, but there you have it. So in effect, the X-Ray is compulsory. The only way out of it is to write a formal letter, and have another test that involving sputum and blood testing, but this does not necessarily yield a conclusive diagnosis, so your school may not accept it and force you to have one anyway - maybe at your expense that time.

So, you could always just try and whine your way out of it, but the official line is that it is compulsory for JETs along with all other employees. Sux. Plus I agree with you. I think that the risk of TB is minuscule compared to the increased risk of cancer from radiating EVERY public employee in the country. It is completely irrational. But since when does rationality win arguments here? This is how it is done, so that is how it will continue to be done.

Sorry to be so unhelpful

-Your Friendly PA


~~~~~~~~~~

I took the x-ray and bitched the entire way through. Curse that stupid machine!!

Genki: Pictures

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Pictures are up on my gallery

They are from our practices, tour weekends and after party. I'm kind of annoyed with my camera at the moment so I never brought it with me. All the pictures you see were taken by other people....about 5 to be exact ;)

Also, this is a band that was introduced to me on the tour weekend and I thought that it really represented our time together.

It was fun and now it's over!!!




Ok, so maybe the video doesn't really fit. But the inside jokes that none of you know fit completely!!! Regardless, the song is awesome (^u^)v

Genki: Kappa and Purple Panties

In the Genki play, there were quite a number of interesting characters. I was one of the sexy ones as I mentioned before. There were also towns people (whom I also played a part of) who just wore yakatta. There were the Henro who are pilgrims of Kochi and they wore all white with straw hats (you know the rice picker hats). The Neo, aka cyclops, who had the most elaborate masks! And finally, there was the Kappa.

A kappa is a Japanese mythical creature which is a cross between a frog and a turtle. He is a water spirit that, if you get on his good side by giving him a cucumber, will be very kind and help your crops grow. He was said to have taught the Japanese how to irrigate their fields. However, if you get on his bad side which seems easy to do, he'll steal your life essence through your ass.

I don't make this crap up folks!

So one of my favorite characters was the Kappa. Instead of stealing the life force of Hercules however, he decided to use the Kancho as his favorite attack.

Kancho is an old prank still used by elementary and middle school children to this day. Pretty much, they stick their fingers up their victims ass when he's not suspecting it.

ANYWAY to make a long story short, the dance and dialog were quite on the perverted side but since the game is actually played strictly by children (seeing as adults would have some serious legal problems if they chose to join in) it wasn't a major problem for children to watch!

The guy who played the Kappa, Nick, also decided that he wanted to the Kappa to have a little flare as well. He almost stole the show every time! (until I came out that is) It started with him just acting a bit on the flamboyant side but slowly he added more and more quirks to his character. First, got more and more into character making the Kappa seem a bit perverted himself. Then, Michelle taught him how to snap his fingers in a "talk to the hand" sort of way and on the last performance, he added purple panties to the costume!!!

The Kappa's costume was very elaborate like most of the other characters. But for some reason, he wore a really short green skirt. You could always see his underwear! So finally, he just borrowed a fellow cast members frilly purple panties. The costume was complete, and I almost pissed myself laughing!

Kitsune and the Shameless Flirt

Thursday, April 26, 2007

I have very little time before work to write this out but I won't have much time after this and well.....I lose all motivation to do anything when I go into work. Bleh

So, Kitsune is Japanese for fox. I played the part of a fox/muse that seduced Hercules so that we could take him back to our lair, have our way with him and never let him see the light of day again. Muahahahahahaha! In the story, we had already done this with the mayors daughter. Poor girl ;)

So yeah the costumes were kind of crap but in the end, with the lighting and our dance, we managed to make them pretty sexy! I was impressed every time I saw the pictures of us. I have yet to see our actual dance though. I'll post it if I get the option.

Anyway, the kitsune lure Hercules into their mitts and he ends up being surrounded by about 8 women hanging all over him. At his feet, arms, chest, back, side, everywhere! And somehow I managed to get the prime spot of his chest. Chest and face, that was my area!

As we kept doing the productions, I got more and more confident with my pawing and....well, as suggested by one of my students* I started rubbing his cheek and face and by the last one, I actually gave him a huge kiss with the reddest lipstick I could find! And that sucker didn't come off easily! Either that or Herc didn't want to wash it off ;) Whatever, his face smelled like sweat and makeup. Yummm

*My student didn't actually suggest anything. Almost none of my students came out cept for one awesome girl in the English club. The truth is that I was watching this one dude in my class. He's a Senior this year and I had him last year in my advanced English class. I don't know if he's dating this one girl in the class but he always pairs up with her and sleeps while she does the work. I've never seen him be anything more than quiet, shy and sleepy.

On the first day of class last week, since all the same students from last years Advanced English were in this years Advanced English, I went straight to work! No need for more introductions. I split them into groups and got them started on a project for the Largo students that will be here in a few weeks.

This one student sat around with his girl friend (just friends? I'll never know) and when I told him he needed to be in a bigger group they split up and she went into the all girl group and he went to the all boy group. Hey, I let them choose themselves, that's just the way Japanese teens are.

As the class continued I spotted something odd in the corner of my eye. Is that shy sleepy boy?
Is he playing with the hair of another male classmate? Is he toying with the guys side burns? HE IS!!!!

The guy was totally all over his teammate in the most flirtatious way I have ever seen a straight man flirt!!!! I have no doubt that these boys are straight and strictly friends! But...then again I've been in Japan way too long if I can tell that and he's still being more flirtatious than I have ever been with even my boyfriends!

I was telling Hercules (David) about this and he told me I should try it on him in the play. Ahhhh Dave you lucky duck you (^^)

And that's how I won the award for Shameless Flirt.

The Final Performance

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Genki Sei Nen Kai Tosa-ben musical

It's over now. It's nice to have time again to actually do things like clean and relax.* But I think I'm more sad that it's come to a close. I had a lot of fun getting to know all of the genki-ites.

See, normally, when a group of people get together every weekend for three months and then go touring for the last two weekends, there's usually a lot of drama that ensues. But with out group, we worked so well together that every time we got together we just grew closer and closer as friends. It was an amazing feeling!

And I know I'm not the only who's sad to see it end. Sure it's nice to have time again, but that also means we don't get to see each other as often. Some people came from all the way out in BFE like Nick and David who I got to know but live at least an hour away! I guess I'll just have to get a car soon! (>.<)

* So this whole idea of having more time is a total load of crap. Sure, I don't have genki anymore but....my next free weekend will be in about three weeks. And by that time, who knows what else I'll have planned. Perhaps the great charity race!

But back to genki, at first, we were a bit shaky with our lines but by the final performance we had it down! And we kept adding more and more to each one! Body language, tone of voice and purple panties all helped to built the experience. Maybe I'll tell more specific stories later but for now, I'm concentrating my efforts into getting everyones pictures and posting them on my gallery so you all can check it out.

Enjoy!

From one passionate person to the next

Monday, April 16, 2007

A Shaken Bottle of Coke

Friday, April 13, 2007

Coke as in Soda. We Floridians refer to all Soda Pop as Coke. Just fyi.

So, this is how I'm feeling at the moment and I'm writing this post because I need to vent. I have no other outlets.

I am so excited and so frustrated all at the same time! I'm excited because I have all of this energy to get things done and I can't accomplish anything is no one's around to help me!!

1. I just got the dates of the Largo students that are planning to come to Yamada. It's only a month and a half away! I need to plan lessons, trips, and events! But I can't do this is no one tells me if
a. the dates are ok
b. we have a budget to work with
c. What I am allowed to do and what is forbidden
d. other peoples ideas of how they except things to go and what exactly they expect from me

2. I am looking to take a Japanese language class. I first went to the technical college here in the area and it turns out they don't have any Japanese classes that are at night. Lucky for me I have a 8-4 job and that means, no day classes. The woman talked to me and said that the class might be too easy as well and I might want a harder course or just talk to friends. Yeah well firstly she's highly over estimating my ability and second, friends don't give me tests on vocabulary and kanji. I need tests, essays, speeches. I need a class!

So I was told that the international society in Kochi city gives lessons and they aren't just conversation classes but actually follow a book and are like real classes. Weather they have tests and such is still unknown but at least it's not just a conversation class. After teacher a number of those myself, I have to say, they've got to be the most useless thing unless they are accompanied by a grammar class using the same topics and vocabulary (incidentally, none of the classes that I have taught do this. Am I bitter?)

I emailed KIA (the international society of Kochi) and inquired about my class. When they heard how much schooling I had been through and that I ultimately wanted to pass the Level 2 JLPT they came back and said that they were flattered that I wanted to join the class but it might be too easy for me. *sigh* I fail again and proving just how poorly I speak and read and write Japanese.

Whatever the deal is, their classes start next month and are every Wednesday. Wednesday happens to be the same day as my official English conversation class. I am now hoping to get into the Japanese class not only to improve my Japanese but it also gives me the added bonus of having a legitimate reason for quitting my conversation class! I don't want to reschedule it for another day in the week either. I like the small private lessons that I give on Tuesday because I like those women and they don't force me to write lessons for a mixed level class.

See, the Wednesday conversation class has about 6 people at any given time. All of them are mixed levels. Some are really good, others are not so hot. The problem is, that they don't want to study outside of class, they don't remember what they learned the week before even though I review, they don't want to play games, they don't want to watch movies, and they usually don't like my lessons! They say they want conversation but if I pick a topic on something they understand, they get bored. If I pick something they don't understand, it all goes over their heads and they get irritated. They've been doing this for more than 15 years now. I can't teach them about anything they don't already know! And if they don't already know it, they don't want to learn it!!!

So whatever, I'm so over it. I don't want to teach that class anymore!

I just got an email saying that I got the last seat in the highest level class. I looked at the book and it really is the class I need. But because it's not the second level, the class how now moved from Wednesday night to Thursday. I don't care, I'm still canceling the class.

3. I have a new supervisor. He's....well.... ok, so the new year has begun and things are quite hectic around here. But it's already the 13th and I was promised my schedule last week! I don't have a schedule. Classes fully begin next week and I have no idea if I'm teaching any of them. My supervisor came up to me on Tuesday and asked if I was going to Odochi on Wednesday. I just stared at him and said, I don't know, you're the one who's supposed to tell me this!!! He said he would call. It took him all day to get back to me. How hard is it to call and tell me what they said?! I could have called myself in that amount of time!!!

I then asked him if he could find classes for me at Kokadai (this was before #2 happened) and he said he would. This was Tuesday. I finally got around to doing it myself on Thursday. Thanks buddy!

So now, I'm sitting at my desk doing nothing like I've been doing for the past three weeks and I still have yet to write a single lesson because I don't know who I'll be teaching and with which JTE!!!!

GAH! I need my PLANS!!!!


4. I just got my international drivers license in the mail. WHOO HOOO!!!! Originally, when I applied for it, I figured that I would try driving someone else's car and just kind of have the license for peace of mind. But after applying, my mind started working and between the time of sending in my application and getting it 2 weeks later, I am so buying a car!

The frustration comes in that I want to buy the car now, start driving now, figure out the rules of the road now, enjoy myself NOW! But I can't do that if no one replies to my emails about questions and cars. Taking the test is going to be really difficult and I'm really not looking forward to it. I've also decided that I'll take the test right before I leave to go to America. This is a problem because
1. every time I take the test I have to take one vacation day off of work. People are known to take the test more than 8 times, it's so difficult. If I take the test before I go to America, I might not have enough days left to actually go!
2. If I make plans to take the test before I go to America and fail and then leave for America, by the time I get back, my license won't be valid and then I'll really be screwed because I won't be able to drive to the DMV and I'll either have to get a ride with someone else or....walk....a really long way.

So with that said, I'm inwardly freaking out that I need to care of this ASAP but...in all honesty I have about three months and I need to just relax. It's just that everything is accumulating and I think I'm going to explode!!!

~~~~

And those are my issues right now. I want to accomplish everything and I can do absolutely nothing. I might just start running laps here in the teachers room just to let off this unused energy! That'll get peoples attention!

Birthday #23

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

So, I knew that people wouldn''t RSVP for our (three ppl total) birthday party but I didn't want to say that they had to because if I did,then the people who didn't RSVP would think they couldn't come. So in the end, about 23 people told us that they could come and so I was expecting about 30 people.

The party started at 7 and when I got there, there were only about 6 or 7 people. We all sat down and started to enjoy ourselves. As I have mentioned before, everyone here runs on gaijin time so I didn't do a head count until 7:45ish. They set aside about 50 seats for everyone and I was a little afraid that we wouldn't fill them but hey, better too many than too few. But in the end about 60ish people showed up all together. At the very least 10 people had to find seats away from our section. It was crazy!!!!

And though many of you may know this already, I myself am only learning it now. I get such a huge buzz off of large groups of friends. In fact, I could have had only juice and water and I would still have been acting more drunk from the atmosphere alone! Who needs alcohol when you have friends? 60 of them no less!!!

Afterwards, about 30 or so of us went out to Karaoke. And that was a site to see. Not everyone got there at the same time despite leaving at the same time but as gaijin go, we like to meander and talk while we walk so lots of dawdling took place. Once everyone did finally show up, we ended up with the biggest room in the place!

The gaijin looked like oil and the Japanese were our water. All the gaijin stuck to the center of the room where we pushed the seats out of the way and proceeded to dance and sing to every song that came up. The Japanese on the other hand stuck to the sides of the room and sang solos or made pleasant conversation about hobbies. We got a few Japanese friends into the center but for the most part, it was them watching us make fools of ourselves. It was the best time EVER! I almost lost my voice too. Good times!

However, when the karaoke came to an end, we had a nice little dilemma with the payment. Ultimately, with everyone paying $14 each for 2 hours plus their drinks...the whole thing came out to about $800. After collecting from everyone we were still $300 short. To make a long story short, there were some cheap skates, miscommunications, anger, indifference and finally we came to $800 and left never to return again.

The thing is though that this happens every time a big group of people get together to do karaoke. My Japanese friends were like, why didn't you just collect the money before you went in......duh

Well, knowing is half the battle.

Cherry Blossoms

Sunday, April 8, 2007

It is absolutely amazing how much dust I find in my snot on a regular basis. It's good to know that my nose is working properly but damn!!!

Maybe it's because this country is a giant concrete jungle....


Anyway, the cherry blossoms are in bloom!!! And that means that the trees on my street that look dead every day of the year except for three weeks are now covered in tufts of pink petals!! It's absolutely beautiful. I'll post more of my pics on my gallery...assuming I can get the link up and running.

The Genki Musical Production will finally commence next week. Today was out last rehearsal day and I've got to say, not only am I horrible at my lines but the costumes are the ugliest things ever!!!

See, I play two roles in the play. I am a towns person which puts me in my own yukatta which is gorgeous but a bit difficult to dance in, as I'm sure any yukatta is. And the second role is a kitsune. Aka muse, aka fox. We are supposed to be the sexiest things to walk the earth and our dance is quite hot as well! But how sexy can you really be in salmon pink long johns!?!?!?!?

I'll post pics when I get 'em.

Mixi and Hot Kisses

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Before I begin, I have to mention a few things I forgot about Tokyo. I bought a pink Nintendo DS and I don't know what I was thinking!! I have no time to play it! Also, we saw some para para dancers on the street in Shinjuku. Hate to say it, but it was right out of an ANIME!!!

(In case you don't know what Para Para is, it's a dance style where "cool" looking people stand in a formation, keep their feet on the ground, bounce a bit, and and move their hands all over the place....it's actually a really crappy style of dancing but the dancers take it really seriously)

OK

So, I've started reading a book called 電車男 aka Train man. I didn't realize it but a few years ago a couple of my otaku friends were talking about a forum online called 4chan and it turns out that 4chan is the English version of 2chan which is/was the most popular chatting forum in Japan. Well, there was a budding love story posted on it and someone decided to take the entire conversation, spanning over the course of a few months, and turn it into a book. I am now currently reading that book. It became so popular in Japan that not only did they translate it into an Australian/American ghetto slang style English, but they also made a tv series, movie, three manga, and companion guides to the book! I plan to see the movie or series when I finish the book. It's actually really cute.

So anyway, after going to Tokyo and after starting reading Train man, I decided that I too could chat online with the many interesting geeks of Japan! So I got on Mixi which is the Japanese equivalent of MySpace and decided that I would try and write a journal entry in Japanese at least once a day no matter how small. Three days later and I'm still going strong!!! But my Japanese is really crap. I know this will definitely help!

Which brings us to today's Mixi post. I had to get Erinn's help to translate this one but I wrote it nonetheless!

Hot Kiss

今日やさし男の先生が私の机の前にきました。彼はいつもわたしと英語ではなします。でもかれの英語はちょっとへんです。

先生:ニーナ先生,Hot kiss...can you...give me?
私: んん?
先生:Hot kiss, give me?
私:何?!
先生:Hot kiss, hot kiss ちょうだい?
私:???!?!
先生:この前!覚えてる?ニーナのHot kiss!
私:... ... ... あっ!ほちきす!はい、どぞ!


とってもびっくりしました!
ほんとのしつもんしていましたか?ハハハ!

Translation:

Hot Kiss

Today, a very nice male teacher came up to my desk. He always speaks to me in English. But, his English is a little strange.

teacher: Nina-sensei, Hot kiss...can you...give me?
me: huh?
teacher: Hot kiss, give me?
me: Say what?!
teacher: Hot kiss, hot kiss, give me please!
me: ????!?!
teacher: From before! Don't you remember? Your hot kiss!
me:... ... ... OH! My stapler! Sure, here!

I was so surprised!
Was that really his questions? hahaha!

End

So yeah, in Japanese, stapler is hachikisu which sounds like hot kiss. I almost died laughing! I certainly won't forget that word either!

As a side note though, surprisingly, it comes off very rude when you directly translate the Japanese "give me" into English.

See, in Japanese, it's ok to use the word "give me" instead of lend me. Even when I hear it in Japanese I feel like the person is being a bit bold to be like, Nina give me your pencil, instead of Nina, please lend me your pencil. The meaning is the same in Japanese but they always say it really rudely in English. I've learned that their not being bossy or pushy or anything, it's just what they were taught. Just thought I would mention that tid bit :)

Tokyo is full of perverts

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

So, I went to Tokyo this past week.....hmmmm what to say, what to say....

This time around, as I have mentioned before, I didn't have someone showing me everything. This time, I chose what where I wanted to go. And this time, I chose to find the Tokyo that everyone always talks about. The Tokyo that never sleeps, that is full of every pleasure you could imagine of massage parlors, maid cafes, goth lollies and cosplay.

Welp, I found it.

In fact, I found it so easily, I wonder how I ever missed it before!!!

I went to Akihabara where there were more electronics than I could ever use in a lifetime plus more Otakus than I could count and the real deal maid parlors!! I went to Harajuku where I found fantastically cheap clothes. Ginza where the ritzy people go to spend their money. Shinjuku where I found all of the goths and cosplayers and finally Shibuya where all the massage parlors and strip clubs are.

For the last one though, we didn't make it there until 10am on the last day we were in town so....needless to say, there were no pimps wandering the streets ;)

I met up with my mother's friend's friend's son who is working on the Navy base just outside of Tokyo. What? Our families have so much drama between them we're practically siblings!!! I then took him out with a few of my Tokyo friends and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much my Japanese has improved :)

But as for the title....well, if you're squeamish...just slightly, don't read the next part. It's not so bad but...just be warned.

So I found a couple of things that I found quiiiiiite interesting.

1. Vibrators with the cutest prints on them such as hearts, penises and even the American flag!!!
2. Lots and LOTS of bondage porn.
3. Little girl blow up dolls (as in the sexual kind)
4. Porn on the train. You just have to be able to read it a little bit.
5. Porn in the news paper, don't need to read it to know those are scantly clad girls.
6. Ya know those duck lips at the OBGYN? Yeah, I found those as a sex toy.
7. I found the panties vending machine.

Maybe some of you don't understand that last bit completely. Urban myths are usually just that, a myth. Well, a well known urban myth in Japan is that they have vending machines for absolutely everything you could imagine and that includes girls panties. Welp, after much debate over the truth of the myth or not, I happened to find it. I rule!

In the end, my feet were killing me and I wanted to go home! But it was a little depressing to go from the epicenter of the world to my little hole in the wall in the countryside.

One thing though, in Tokyo, I don't stand out. I'm not special anymore. I'm just another person. I mean, Tokyo is just like New York and Chicago just with a Japanese flair to it. I was a little sad to know my status as cool gaijin was gone but as soon as I got home, without more than 24 hours under my belt, I was already being ogled and smiled at for no other reason than the way that I look.

Yup, it's good to be home :)

I'm so tired, I might as well have jet lag!

Sunday, April 1, 2007

This says "don't sit" and my face says "fu"

 
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