Current Events

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Okay, this'll be kinda brief 'cause I'm really tired. Here's (some of) what's happened since I last wrote:

Christmas Eve: Earthquake. Almost died.

Hahaha, no, kiddin'. Not about the earthquake, we did have one of those - between 3.0 and 4.8 according to various second- and third-hand sources - and I did feel it. In fact, I was sitting in my second class of the day when it happened! At first I thought it was just a big truck driving by (we're located next to a busy street), but the shaking just got stronger and stronger. It lasted all of ten seconds - long enough for students' eyes to get to about dinner plate size - before fading away. The guy I was teaching, yeah, he's cool as a cucumber: the shaking stops, he looks around, says, "Not so bad. I think a level 3. What did you say before?" and we go on with the lesson.

That night, I went to Christmas Eve mass with Alwyn. It was in Japanese. I didn't get it and I didn't get it. Nice service though; we sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - me in English, everyone else in Japanese. At least, I think we were singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"... that's what I was singing...


Christmas Day: Worked 10 - 5:30, then went home and cooked Christmas dinner for ten people.

Me. Who can't cook for myself. Christmas dinner. Yeah.

It was a huge success, too; all but in the totally-forgetting-to-take-any-sort-of-pictures department. I am the amateur.

The menu included Brazilian chicken (my new favorite food), cranberry stuffing, mashed potatos and gravy, carrots, boiled cabbage (because Francis said so), and cream puffs and candy canes for dessert, provided by the lovely and talented ladies of Temma-cho. A fine time was had by all. Either that, or everyone faked it.


Today: Got up early and went to Kyoto! FINALLY! Kyoto was a total blast, and freakin' COLD, too. Visited 5 different temples/shrines, bought "delicious foods" (their words, not mine), and walked about 37.5 million miles. Roughly.

Kyoto is one of the cultural highlights of Japan; I'd highly recommend going if you get the chance, and your train doesn't get stuck in chest-high snow for 25 minutes. TRT: 18 hours. Now that's a day-trip!

And I finally got to see Kana and Andy too! We got to meet up for dinner in downtown Kyoto and catch up a bit. It's always nice to see friendly faces, and especially when you haven't seen them in quite a while; I think we're going to make this more than an annual event. And again with the being photographically-challenged: I forgot to take pictures with them, too. I guess the Bethel Focus (c) will just have to wait for a Japan "Alumni News" article.


Oh, and PS - I DID take lots of pictures; I'm just too lazy to down/up-load them tonight. So pbbt.

Love you,
thom

Aftermath

Well, today turned out to be a nice, pleasant March day; the temps were in the mid-30s, and the six inches of snow we got have melted into three inches of slush. I woke this morning to the machine-gun sound of snow chains on pavement and the frantic packing sounds of my roommate as he prepared to head back to the States for Christmas. (Devin, you lucky bum, I hope you have a good time. If you could bring me back some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I'll owe you big time.)

In addition to being an unofficial spring day, today was also a national holiday - Japanese Emperor Akihito's birthday. The Emperor, while no longer looked at as diety nor having any real governing power, is still considered "not like the rest of us, more special than us" by at least one of the students at Imaike. So today was slow - I had two empty classes out of the five I teach on Fridays. And because it was a holiday, my trip to Freebell to turn in the required documents for our move-in was entirely unsuccessful.

BUT, I got to take a little walk through Nagoya, eat a cinnamon roll, and take a nap this afternoon; so it wasn't a complete waste. It's amazing how a nap can improve a day.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve.
-t

Let It Snow 2, and etc.

Well, it's on again: it appears we might have a white Christmas in Nagoya after all!

Most of the snow that fell on Sunday, the most since 1947, had melted by midafternoon on Monday, much to my dismay. A student came into Nova that afternoon after calling his school, telling them that the roads were probably too dangerous for him to get there. We spent a good portion of the evening telling "bad weather" stories in the Voice Room (used for general English-language conversation). Good times.

At least it lasted long enough to let me see a mother and her daughter - probably about three - building a snowman in a parking lot. The snowman, complete with hat, scarf, and mittens on stick arms, stood about the same two-and-a-half feet as the little girl. Seriously one of the most beautiful things I've seen in Japan. Japanese kids are the cutest.

But, it's snowing again! And hard too. It started snowing earlier this afternoon and we've already gotten a good 2-3 inches; and it's not showing any signs of stopping soon. I'm probably the only person in Nagoya who is thrilled about this. =)
**Update: when it stopped falling around 10:30 tonight, we had around 6 inches. In Nagoya, where it doesn't snow.**

The beginning of this week has been pretty busy: I've put up the Christmas decoration my mother sent and decorated my little eight-inch Christmas tree. I've also been trying to find time to finish up the Italo Calvino book I'm reading; though the going has been slow, since Francis and I spent Tuesday evening in Inuyama with Iain. Inuyama is a bit colder than "the dirty Nag", and we spent the evening in Kei's bar. There is little more entertaining than spending an evening discussing Clintonian foreign policy over a pint with a Scot, an Englishman, and a Yugoslavian, in the Yugoslavian's bar, in Japan. I, as Iain so aptly put it, "Feel I have fully integrated into this society."

Not that I want to, really. I mean, seriously, check this "chick" out: this is reason enough to excercise temperence in any bar. That'd be a mistake you wouldn't want to live to regret! Misfits, my new local (but only in Japan. Mayslacks, I love you baby), tends to bring in some really interesting people; so far I've been propositioned by a 65-year-old woman and chatted up by a man in his seventies who told me that I should learn the "world's big three languages: English, Japanese, and Polish." Among others.
But Misfits also attracts a lot of truly interesting people as well: university professors (I'm holding out for a job offer come spring), other writers (including two editors of 'Nagoya Writes' magazine and a screenplay writer), musicians of various denominations, and even a beautiful German PhD student visiting from Tokyo. If you ever stop by, be sure to ask for Dave, he's the bartender/Jedi Master.

On the moving front, the apartment at Freebell is starting to look like a reality; Francis has already set up a move-in date, and our paperwork is going in sometime tomorrow. All I need to do now is get a copy of my vital papers, and get my butt down there. After work of course.


Well kids, I'm outta here; I need to haul it down to Temma-Cho for a takoyaki party at Jen, Sarah, and Christy's. Hopefully it won't be too cold/wet/snowy that the trains stop running - especially with work tomorrow. Hope everything's cool as ice for you all, and that the Christmas season finds you hale and hearty.

Happy Birthday to Eric, who turns the big 2-4 on Friday. Bro, your present is on the way. Have a Woodchuck for me, and say hello to all the kids.

I'm out.

Thom and the "Charlie Brown Christmas tree".

Let It Snow

The completely unthinkable has happened in Nagoya. That's right:

It's snowing.

As we speak (ahem), Nagoyans are out spending millions of yen on snow-related products: shovels, ice scrapers, more D&G scarves, rock salt, and Army- (excuse me, Self Defense Force-) issue parkas.

Snow, all 5 cm we've had, is completely unknown in Nagoya at this time of year, where it usually only gets white once or twice a season. Ski slopes have been forced to open early, people are beginning to rethink the lyrics to "White Christmas", and "big dump-cars with pushers on the front" have been seen roaming the streets. Apparently Old Man Winter has decided to pay central Honshu a little visit, and Nagoyans are a little confused with what to do with him; in typical Japanese fashion they're too polite to ask him to leave, but they're beginning to get worried about what to make for dinner. So far, I've seen about five times as much news coverage about our whitening as for the last three typhoons - combined.

As for me, I'm reveling in the new seasonal coloring; after months of green followed by the uber-gaudy Christmas decorations that only an uber-consumerist culture can provide, things are actually beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Yay! (Hopefully some certain people I could mention are rejoicing with me.)


Meanwhile...

When in the course of human events, some realizations about the prices of certain apartments that certain Nova instructors happen to be living in, and some some rather undesirable roommate situations (not mine) that certain instructors happen to be suffering through currently, and it becomes necessary for three Nova instructors to dissolve the housing bands which have connected them with a monstrous corporate entity, and so on and so forth, et cetera...well, we will.

This version of "Home" will hopefully be a wonderful little place called Freebell, and among other things, "the Gaijin Ghetto". It's not the homeliest place on earth, but it is a good $200 a month cheaper than the place I'm in now, and closer to other foreign teachers of various persuasions. Plus Alwyn is gone in three weeks, and Devin two months beyond that, so the getting is starting to get good. Hopefully the savings will be able to be put towards something good: a trip to Thailand, Australia, or Korea (the friendly one), or maybe even to that whole paying-down of debts thing. Oh, the possibilities!


Other than that, not a whole lot going on; spent the past couple of weekends apartment shopping, Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, etc.
Missed Mae in Nagoya and writers' group at Misfits tonight; starting to seriously reconsider this whole "teaching" thing. =)
Working on getting more sleep, blogging more consistantly, and trying to cook.
Considering grad schools and emailing my friends, to whom I apologize for being a horrible bastard who doesn't write - I think of you more than you know, and even that isn't as much as you deserve. Forgive me.
Reading "If On A Winter's Night A Traveler" by Italo Calvino - it's so deliciously post-modern that I have no idea what it's about! Next up is Murikami, Buechner, or Chesterton. We'll see.
Listening to "The End Of Heartache" by Killswitch Engage. Yes Eric, that's yours.


Yep, that's about it. I'll try to update soon. May all your Christmases be white.

Rumbles

There's a whole lot of shakin' in Shinguku. Tokyo is definitely the center of Japanese culture AND earthquake activity! We've had two good-sized earthquakes in the past day, 5.4 and 6.3 on the Richter Scale respectively, and even a few aftershocks.

But don't worry, I'm safe and sound; I found out about said quakes from the TV, which not only offers information about the quakes (in Japanese, of course), but will even display it over "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (which is what we were watching at the time).

In other, semi-related news:
I saw "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" on Tuesday. Now, I've still never read any of the books, claiming literary pretention, but I really did enjoy the movie. Maybe it's because I've now seen a whole TWO movies while in Japan, but I thought this one was really good! Up next: "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Any takers?

In other, completely non-related news:
I bought a Christmas tree today. It's approximately eight inches tall and of unknown type, though I'm thinking there's probably a family connection to the tree purchased by Charlie Brown in "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown". Now all I need to find is a foot-long string of lights and a wooden 'x' for the base.

Also:
I've started a little project yesterday: I'm helping a student edit a brochure for his business. He owns a guitar amplifier repair shop here in Nagoya and wants to be able to exchange information with international clients, so he needs a brochure in English. Enter the rusty copywriter.
This might just become my side job. Hopefully.

There has been lots of talk among students recently of Year-End parties, which, combined with the impending Christmas and New Year holidays, is of course is getting me into the contempletive/reflective mood, and some of you know that that usually involves some depression, but usually ends up with a deep realization and appreciation that, hey, it could be worse: I could be in Nebraska. This year has definitely been an interesting one, and the real trick will be trying to make fit into a "nutshell".
Keep an eye out for the e-version of "The Christmas/New Year's/Presidents Day Letter". It should be out by June.