well just the first little while of work at the company and good. I don't have too much of an idea of what i will exactly be doing, seeing as how we will get into the training for that later in the next 2-5 weeks. But looks like it will be good. Nothing else is going on, just a little tired and feeling different with the big switch from nothing to do barely to working 9-5:30.

i got a job working for customer service for a medical company and start next week thankfully. Better pay than the other customer service jobs that i was looking at too. I am doing okay, but still trying to avoid all this bad food at home. The birthday cake was just evil, despite me being the one that bought it. The meat cake that i made worked out very well the first time, but i am guessing if i tried to make it again, it would be worse because i always tend to have beginner's luck when i make a new recipe. Then i fail the next times. other than that nothing else is happening to me.

Still not much progress on the job searching. I had an interview this week and that went okay. i am going to go in for some other jobs in Lexington and do the application process there. Thankfully thanks to the Kohl's sale i get $30 for free thanks to my sister's spending this week that i will humbly be partaking of. The weather has turned a little cold with more rain expected throughout the week. Then there is Rocky Horror this weekend at the Kentucky theatre. I saw Potiche this weekend with the parentals and i liked it. Pretty wit and funny for a french film with Catherine Deneuve, based on her very dramatic performance in Dancer in The Dark as a comparison. I think that i will just have to start making all the foods that i want instead of going out for them because american food is such crap and laden with all these hidden dangers like trans fat in pretty much all the ice creams, even in a wide selection of the ones in the grocery stores. I would like to go to the world's largest grocery store near Cincinatti sometime soon and get some good flours, cheeses, and maybe some hot sauce and roasted cocoa beans, and whatever else i can find up there. Doctor Who was a lot better this week than the stupid pirate episode.

Had to do traffic school online today for four and a half hours, then i went to the vein doctor for an ultrasound. It looks like they will be able to do something about it. I just have to wear compression socks for 6 weeks to see if that does anything before the insurance company will allow me to have the surgery for it. Then i made dinner, and then i worked on my translation sample i had to do for a job offer somewhere i applied to-but at the moment i forget where i applied for it. Did some job searching today, but still no luck with anything. I really want a job, and if i don't have one by the end of the month, i will have to start thinking about doing more drastic things and looking for something outside the US even. I feel like i am not accomplishing that much. It feels like the summer before i left for Japan. I stay home and make dinner and look for jobs, though nothing really happens, and then i have no real friends here that will actually talk to me on a regular basis. My family is off doing their things, and i just feel a little depressed. I left Japan for this. I just have too much time on my hands now to reflect on how wrong that decision could have been and how unemployable i am and imperfect in my mind i am about everything. The only plus so far to coming home is the healthcare in English. My mom has awesome insurance that i was allowed to be on till i am 26, so that is the only positive that i have been seeing here. It is a good one and it is nice to be getting all this stuff done that i needed to get done, But then again, i have a lot of things that need to be taken care of that in itself is probably not a good thing.

I do like my nephews and nieces, and they are dears to be around. I just wish i could be allowed to teach them something, or get them in some sort of language school while they are young. They will thank me and their parents later.

well still looking for a job. got my deferral, so i guess i am set for the next year besides not having any money. I feel really bad because i do not have a job and the expenses are still going to be there. I want to have a good job so i can learn and get the experience in order to have a better job and live in London. got my computer reformatted because of the virus i got. not much else is going on in my life.

I need a JOB!!!!

Job searching has been going slow and stuff. I went to the JASK thing last night and made some contacts, but nothign has come out of my job hunting yet. I think i should just take that job down in Hopkinsville. It looks like i will probably need to move or commute a long way for a good job that will help pay for school. I keep feeling like i made the wrong decision to leave Japan, and wish i hadn't. All the important people in my life for the past few years are all thousands of miles away, and i miss them. 

not much going on for easter weekend. With everything closed, i had nothing to really do in terms of job searching. Today will be a little busier. i am going to call toyota and the fayette county school system to see if it would be possible for me to teach Japanese somewhere without having certification and getting it while i teach. Chiropractors appointment was changed to the afternoon, and then there is a Japanese speaking thing going down at the library this evening.

change of plans most likely

Well, if i am able to defer my schooling for one more year, i think that i will have to do that in order to get the funds to support my educational costs and those of living in London. I know that may break the hearts of some of those who were waiting for my in London, but i just can't go there on my earnings at the moment. If someone has an extra 25000 dollars lying around that would be great to get as a present.

I had a pretty good interview today with a Japanese Travel agency in town, so all pluses. I really want this job because it is close and i could use my Japanese and get paid sort of decently well. Went to the chiropractor and they said my spine is a little twisted to the right, so i guess that explains my back pain since august.

I think being here for another year might be the answer to most of my financial woes, and then i will try and get my JLPT certification so i can actual have some sort of piece of paper that says i can speak Japanese. but i guess i don't that much else to write about since i am living in the USA, i don't seem to have the much going on with me like i did when i was in Japan.

Well i have been home for about a week, and it has been okay. I have been offered a job after an interview, but it was 3 and half hours away, and i can't trust my car that i have to go that distance. It was 20 bucks an hour but oh well. I have to still look for other jobs. I have an interview for another just call job on Monday.
I have updated my pics from my London trip. It was very nice. Still America seems a little less exciting than traveling around the world, but at least i think my skin has improved a little with the weather. 

it has been a whole, but i am finally back home in Kentucky. The weather from last night is still going on and i couldn't really sleep because of it. I had my dogs sleeping with me for a little bit because they were scared from all the wind and rain. Japan will be missed, but London even more. I had a great week with a friend there and we did some good things together. There was the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, Kew Gardens, Kenwood House, Borough and Leadenhall Markets, and picnics and such. Very fun. The chocolate tour was amazing, but a little sickening at the end with all the sampling, and the Doctor Who experience was very interesting, though i was a little disappointed in the merchandise sold at the end. Not many practical things to buy. No to call people, get a phone sim card, and then get a job, and gt this school papers underway.

Ode to Japan

Well, the time has finally come for my departure from the land of the rising sun. The past year and a half have brought many changes and challenges to my life and i have grown for the better from them. I have gained some good friends, and met one person that i have been the closest as a friend more than anyone else in my life. I have had some physical struggles and physical changes came because of those. I have lost much of the weight that i always wanted to lose, but i guess it took being in Japan to finally get rid of it and see just what kind of crap i was putting into my body. My Japanese has improved somewhat i think. Not much more complex in speech patterns i think but fluency and general knowledge of daily life and how people speak and interact with each other. I wonder what i am going to do in both London and Kentucky in order to keep up with my Japanese and get a language fix. In a weird turn of events, before i came to Japan i used to watch animes and dramas and not much American TV. Well the later is still sort of true, i didn't watch any Japanese TV or animes while i was here save for one, but that one i kind of stopped after it just seemed to be another anime trying to be commercialized and selling products. That seems to be the case for many of the new anime that i see, so i will just have to deal. I do miss watching those deep emotional anime that i watched when i was in high-school.

     I have matured emotionally and mentally to a point where i believe that i am ready to take on the things that i want to accomplish in this life. I have a clearer perspective on my life and what i want out of it. No longer am i the sad child pondering on the desolation of this life and the next, but rather trying to make the most out of the singular and impossible life that i have. Tried dating a little, and still in the process. But best not to talk about my personal life, some people are still flinchy about it and i like to be a private person.

There are a few things that i will miss about Japan and my town in particular:
1. kyuushoku- school lunch
2. convenience stores- they truly are convenient with being able to pay bills, buy more food than just chips and soda, and buy tickets for museums and concerts and movies.
3. Japanese rice- it is so much better when you have the good stuff. my favorite condiment for it is Tabasco, but that's just me.
4. the many varieties of canned fish available for purchase- mackerel and saury are my favorites.
5. There is always a taste sensation some where be it a rice burger, octopus beaks, or whale.
6. the people are always very kind and willing to answer questions but it helps to speak the language.
7. The school band and the teacher for it- they were my girls and i really respect the teacher so much. One of the few teachers i would talk to on a regular basis.
8. Tofu- so many varieties and ways to cook it. fried tofu, silken, firm, inari-zushi, atsuage are all delicious varieties.
9. tax being included in the displayed price- if only there was a national VAT in America instead of each state deciding it and making it different. But even still, why do we not display the price with tax included? a marketing ploy to make it seem cheaper, no thank you.
10. Kibaco

Though there are some things that i miss
1.salads made with lettuce and not cabbage, though corn makes any salad better.
2.being able to understand everything said around me, i get 70% but still to understand all the documents i read would be nice again.
3. central heating and air
4. dryers that dry
5. cheaper music and dvd's and movie tickets. i will never pay 50-70 bucks for a dvd, and never 30-40 for a CD.

Sitting in a hotel in Sapporo now and woke up from a not so restful night. i seriously need a pillow between my arms or it is just ever so hard fro me to fall asleep. We all went out to Round One last night for our last hurrah together- though i think our lunch today will be the final finale. I am putting pics on my phone to keep it clear for London, and i am updating it as well. I hope that i will be able to use it somewhere else in the world, i guess i will have to go to Chinatown and see if i can get an "upgrade."

I can't believe that i have left the little town that i spent almost two years in. I had a great time and i learned a lot. I met some great people, but now i think that i will have an awesome time in London this next year.

I closed out all my accounts and even got 100 bucks from the mayor. Very formal even on the last day, though i was wearing just what i had because i only have one pair of nice clothes since all the others don't fit me anymore- yeah!!!!- and so i had to apologize for that. Now to spend the day here until i can go to the airport. I like traveling sometimes, but only if the airports are really interesting.

today is the day that the new alt moves in to her apartment. I cleaned and did most of the stuff yesterday that i needed to do. Tomorrow i have to send off my sim card and modem back to the people. Then close my accounts and finalize my bills for most of the utilities. My suitcase is underpacked and i even had room to put in my backpack and external hardrive. Not much else has been going on. I got accepted to another university that i applied to, but it is the one an hour out of London, so it was just the final back up school. Now to start living off of convenience store food for the next while. I love and appreciate the going away gifts of money that i have been receiving. It will be nice to pay for some things like food and souvenirs with it. Well, got a busy day but hopefully it won't be too bad.

Had my going away party for all the teachers that are going away this year. I was nice and the food wasn't as bad as it had tasted when it first came here. Heck the only thing that was a little unpalatable was the squid sushi. I liked the uni and ukura, I guess the sushi was just really good this time, because i thought uni tasted like mushy butter the first time i had it. I basically have just come up with the idea to not really be affected by what i am putting in my mouth in Japan. "Oh, i'm eating pig intestines, okay. A little chewy but still okay. Oh, whale... tastes like fishy pork." You know stuff like that.

The party was nice, and the karaoke party after it was good as well. The nicest teacher that i had the opportunity to work for was trying to apologize to me with saying "yeah i know you have been a little troubled by the students[ with their poking and such of all regions of my posterior and front] and i was just wondering if it might have been different if you had gone to another town." I was like, "they are just kids, don't worry about it." She reminded me of my first grade teacher, she was extremely nice and she had pretty good english as well. The one thing that a couple of teachers did keep saying throughout the night was "i wish i had learned a little more English [from you was sort of implied]" But i guess it worked both ways with us teaching you Japanese and you answering our English questions. I still think i got closer to them by speaking Japanese though, but then the kids just got used to me being able to understand them.

I sent two boxes home for about 100 bucks with souvenirs and stuff i wanted to keep from here. Not really that much for the my family, but i tried to get a bunch of stuff for the new in-laws. I bet my new niece would probably like cute things like precure and sugar bunnies here. But i don't know. My sister-in-law likes Hello Kitty so i tried to get some things for her. Then i tried to get some boyish things for my nephews, so paper balls and head bands, and fang keychains.

sugar bunnies


precure

Well, i got accepted to one of the schools that I applied for. It is not my first choice, but it is still a  good one i think. Birkbeck University of London is a night school and my classes would be two to three times a week is what the site said, so that would maybe give me a lot of free time, or i will have a lot of homework and studying to do. I guess that means i will be okay with trying to get a job seeing as how i will need money in order to survive there. I do have some saved and i will work this summer to save up some more, but i need to get a student loan secured and all the other things as well along with it. London will be a nice adventure, i just hope that i will be able to find employment after my degree to pay for my student loans.

Today was my last day of classes teaching the first years, and i think the class went well. I did Jeopardy and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Tomorrow is the closing ceremonies and greetings from me and other teachers who are leaving, i need to write some greetings and words to say to them beforehand because i do not think that i could come up with something eloquent off the cuff in Japanese.

The snow keeps on falling here, i am just like "Shkleesh, will you stop already! It's gonna be June before the snow melts."

I will miss it here, but i think Japan has helped me change for the better and given me some good friends and great experiences. I will miss being away from my best friend Amber for a while, but she will have a reason to visit London now.

Well this weekend was the last hurrah for all us folks up in Sapporo. We had lunch with the kids and family that Amber teaches English to on Saturday and then we had a dinner party that night with her other friends. All the Japanese people amber knows are super beautiful and awesome. Dinner was good and a good time was had by all, then we went dancing at the clubs afterwards.

On Sunday, Amber and I went to the movies and had dinner. We saw Agora, which was awesome. Just look at the trailer below. I personally loved Rachel Weisz, and for some odd reason she does good with movies that are in Egypt.




Very thought provoking, and some people thought it put some people in a bad light, but hey the historical events did happen, the people's dialogue and story were fictionalized, but the events did happen and they were all real people.

Pics have been updated.


Wow today was an eventful day. First i had to write my Japanese going away greeting all in Japanese. I hope there aren't that many problems with it. I will send it to the English teacher to look at it before i give it to the Vice-principal. Then i had my last elementary school for the year, and they are by far my favorite school. We had play practice and then all the grades got together for this English class assembly where each of the three grade groups got together and showed each other what they had learned in English class from the year. Then at the end the 5th and 6th graders did a play, "The big turnip." It's a Russian story that never heard of before, but it is well-known in Japan. Then i said my goodbyes and thank yous and the kids gave me three bottles of Tabasco sauce and about 35 pounds of rice. I don't know what i will do with all that rice, i think i will give the bulk of it to the new ALT when she comes, but i want to send some of it home so i can give it to friends and have some for when i get back. Man, think about what you need, and the Japanese will instinctively give it to you. I was gonna buy some more tabasco, and i wanted some rice to take home and now i have it.

Then i have to write a thing for my application to one of the schools i am applying for. I have to write about if there is such thing as "bad grammar." I think i came up with a good 500 word essay about it.

Then finally, the weirdest thing happened, i didn't see it but from what i gathered and the huge amount of key-chains, one stranger apparently gave the kids as they were leaving school right out in front of plain view of the teacher's room, a big amount of key-chains, look at the pic. I don't know if he handed them or just threw them, but there was like 7 or 8 bags of really old looking key-chains- at least 5 or more years old- and they looked a little moldy. So the kids came and gave them to the teachers and they called the cops. i will have to see how this unfolds, but i think that there was about $1000 worth of key-chains in the entire lot. So many of them, there would be enough for more than one per kid, but still it is just so strange. some of the teachers looked around town and drove to find the guy since he was in a car and the kids go a description and a plate number.

An interesting day, but i am still worried about the radiation, i just hope that i can leave here without any injury. I think the best comment i heard in regards to the poor response from the Japanese government-but not the response from the crews and workers, they have given their all and the Japanese people are awesome at a time like this- was that Japan could do without politicians for ten years or something along those lines. Good idea maybe since the public seems to have lost an confidence that they have had in the revolving-door line of prime minsters since Koizumi left power.

Well the earthquake and the tsunami aftereffects seem almost unreal. It seems like where i live is not even part of Japan. We haven't been affected at all and even for where i am especially i do not feel any earthquakes compared to people in Sapporo. The devastation is immense and this is worse than the one in Kobe 15 years ago. It is horrible and then all the nuclear reactor worries are the biggest worries on my mind at the moment. You don't know how much the government is actually saying and how much of it is actually true. I just hope that Japan can recover from this. The Nikkei fell 7 percent in 20 minutes after it reopened since the earthquake happened on Friday. So many people are without home and water and food and electricity. Tokyo is having planned blackouts in order to deal with the power reactors being offline. It just seems so distant, but so close in actuality.

I just hope i can get to London when April comes around.

Wow, totally nothing going on with me this week. I finished the sixth Harry Potter book, and not much else to say about my week. There have been practically no classes for me, or in general at the middle school. All the time is spent on preparing for the assembly to send off the third years and the graduation ceremony next Tuesday. I think i might have already had my last lesson at the middle school, but maybe there will be one my last week of school. None next week, save ONE elementary school class.

The weather is still snowy, with a couple of inches everyday. I guess that makes for good rice, but it could not if the snow doesn't melt in time for the planting season. So much snow, and i am so through with it. Oh well, one last weekend at home before i can go to Sapporo for my last weekend there with friends. At least we get the spring equinox off that Monday so a long weekend next weekend.

Slow weekend and not much to show for it but saving money. The tub guys came today and put in a new tub, i just hope the bill isn't exorbitant. It looks nice, though when they disconnected the pipe for the water to flow to the water heater, they didn't reconnect it tightly and i found a rubber washer on the heater. So i had to have them come back and refit it.

I have updated pics with one pic of me, the band, and some pics from the ski trip. Sorry for the bad quality, i didn't realize that there would be so many double images, and then the kids don't like to have their pics taken sometimes.

The time for me to leave is getting closer, and i don't really know how to feel yet. I am sort of getting sad that i won't be able to see the students i like again, and happy to get out of this weather. I am not getting really sentimental because i know they will be in good hands hopefully with my replacement.

I can't wait to go to London though for my job end vacation. Should be fun since i have some things planned with the people i met there last time. I ask myself if i should try to get a British accent down, or if i should just stay the same, but for some odd reason anytime i hear a new accent or peculiarity in someone's speech i sort of want to try it out. I like accents, and my french one is pretty good from some of the french natives that i have spoken to. Japanese is better than most white people's. Spanish is passable. When i try to speak Hebrew it starts to sound like a little Slavic. Oh well, accents are fun so... gotta enjoy them while you can.

There has been a blizzard going on for the past two days. Lots of white, and not too much snow. I just wonder when the snow is going to melt all the way. I believe it wasn't until June last year that it was all completely gone except for in the mountain tops.

Yesterday was the Hinamatsuri, or "girl's festival." It was called "Momo no sekku" beforehand in the Heian period when Onmyodo and Shintoism were more popular. Today it is represented by eating diamond shaped mochi, sweetened puffed rice, and setting up a doll display reminiscent of the ancient Heian court setup.  This display below contains hina dolls (雛人形）.



Here is the diamond shaped mochi(菱餅) and some hina-arare(ヒナあられ）. The traditional colors of this even are Green, which represents young grass; pink, which represents the peach blossom petals; and white, which represents the snow. The is also probably some Heian tricolor combination with a certain special name, but i am unable to find it.
Hina arare

Hishimochi

Sorry for the big break, the truth is not much has been happening with me. I have decided to only go to Sapporo one more time before i leave in order to save money. Man, these moving out expenses are really annoying. The kids have been okay, but the second years are very touchy-feely in a very non-pleasant way. I just do not get the thing that they all have to touch my stomach or pull on my tie. They do not do this with the other teachers, but hey, just a little bit longer and i am done. If i ever teach again, i would rather it be with elementary school students or college students.

Still lightly snowing, but it is wet snow so it is good for snowmen.

Three day weekend. Did a bunch of chores today and got some more organizing done. I have the one box that i will be sending home with all the stuff that i will be keeping from Japan. Most of it is just stuff that i am going to be giving to the family i think. I still need to go Hello Kitty shopping for someone before i leave.

It started to snow again, so a big change from all the warmth we have been having lately. The snow was all melted on the roads and sidewalks, then the snow comes again and makes it all moot. Boo, i think i will be happy to never stay in a place with this much snow ever again.

I have to make steamed banana bread this weekend with the old banana i have been keeping. Not much else is going on this weekend since i am trying to save money because moving is going to drain me of most my paycheck for next month. I am getting more excited about my trip to London again, and it should be even better and more relaxing than the past one i took during New Years.

I have finished my applications for the three primary schools i am applying for in London, and i will apply to another in Essex this weekend-it's on my to do list. Only four classes in total next week, so i am going to be very bored at work. Oh well, just a couple of slow days to sleep in this weekend will be nice.

This past weekend was sort of fun. The concert was excellent, though it was just a mini-concert since there were three other artists performing. I loved Kibaco, and the music is different live. You can feel the rest of the instrumentation, though sometimes it drowns out her voice. I only stayed for one of the other performers, and she was okay, but seemed like another manufactured artist. She even sang part of a song that she didn't even plan on doing, so i was like "what the? who is in charge of the music? shouldn't this have been planned?" She also sounded like she was a little auto-tuned, or at least she had a non-live back up track with her.

Sunday was slow and spent at home, cleaning and getting rid of food and spices in my cabinets. I sold my games and books for about 20 bucks this weekend and bought the sixth Harry Potter book and an Ayn Rand book about Capitalism for a dollar each. Man, i love Japanese recycle and used good stores.

The kids at the school are getting a little restless/ansty. The two third year kids are usually causing trouble, and this week isn't any different. Another fight about words or something and a second year doing some judo moves maybe-i could be mishearing or something- and the English teacher was in the middle stopping it and was absent from the next class, so i was there with the special helper teacher just checking the papers because all the classes are doing review sheets now.

The weather isn't too bad, and i took friday off to just do things. I guess i might try to sleep in but i guess i will have to clean and start throwing out clothes and other stuff. It looks like i am going to be spending a lot of money in order to just leave here. By the time i am done, i will definitely be in need of the vacation in London.

Yesterday, the computer club made some snowmen and snow candles. I didn't take any pictures of the snow candles, but i did of the snow men. I joined them and made my own snow man. I tried to be a little more artistic and made a snow sculpture instead. I have pics, and he turned into a Milo de Venus looking thing. Pics will be uploaded later. For some odd reason it is just so hard for me to get the will to upload the pictures from my phone.

On a sad note, i recently found out that my Great-Aunt Colleen as just passed away this past week. I really admired her, and i was sort of fond of her. She was a real trooper and always nice to her sister(my grandmother). When i spoke to my grandmother, she just said how much a of a help and support that Colleen had been when she just recently lost her husband(my grandfather). She was a dancer well into the final weeks of her life and always had a sort of vigor and life to her that no one would expect from someone of her age. She was always teaching at her dance school, and i admire her for it. She will be missed.

Tomorrow is my Kibaco concert. I hope that the other three performers are good like them. I bet she will just play a couple songs and not like the entire album for their first concert that i went to of theirs. The weekend is looking fun with a costco trip and i need to start selling things to recycle shops. The chair will be the most problematic one. still debating whether i should sell the ps2, but i guess i should. i will keep the games two games because i love FFX and FFX-2. I hope to get 50 bucks out of it.
I at least get to keep the iphone so i have my ipod and stuff for the trip to London. All these moving out costs and such seem to be a big pain and i just hope i don't have to pay a whole bunch and deplete the savings i have here. I am still waiting on my stupid transcripts, and if i don't get them this weekend, i will call BYU on monday. They be slow. The charge appeared on the 31st on my credit card and it has taken this long. SLOW!

The picture is of Final Fantasy X. My favorite. It was a different battle system that broke from the ATB that the games before have had and after as well, but i liked the turn based one. I loved the Aeons, and the story is just so riveting. The script was made for the game and is very reminiscent of Siddham in my opinion. Oh well, i was just trying to include pictures in this post.






The weather has gotten warmer, and the snow melts now when it snows. There was even some dripping sounds i heard last night and the snow was very wet this morning when i scraped it off the car.

Valentines for me came yesterday, just a day late, but what are you going to do about the post. I got some good chocolates and a card from a special someone. I ate half of the chocolates and sort of felt bad about it. I have this weird craving for sweet things like chocolate after meals since i usually have a burning sensation in my mouth from all the hot stuff that i put on my food. Tabasco is awesome and the sweet seems to draw me to it after i eat something hot. I made a chinese style sort of napa cabbage, bok choi, and chicken thing last night with fried tofu. I might have put too much cloves on it, but then i ended up caving in an putting cumin on top of it. I was trying to stay away from it for two meals, but i caved. I love cumin and spiciness. I need to go to Costco for the last time and get breakfast supplies like oatmeal to get my fiber for the day and nuts and dried fruits. I caved in and bought this really delicious breakfast granola that is like crack to me. I want to make my own breakfast blend when i get home with seeds nuts, oatmeal, and coconut. Love coconut. But i guess i digress and i have made this into another food post.


The kids are good, not much going on since all the classes are now in review mode, and basically the third years are a lost cause by now since some have already finished their exams. I just wish we could watch an English movie for class instead of review sheets that the kids don't do and just talk.

Snow Festival pics have been added.

Well the snow festival was actually sadly ruined by the snow. The weather was good and all the day we went, but it had been snowing the day before, so the statues had some snow on them that made them hard to discern. Luckily, those were only the ones on the sides. The big platform ones and stage size ones were still very sharp, and the international ones were always my favorite. I really liked the life size Chinese temple there. The food was good, though i only had strawberry and chocolate cream oyaki.  Then we walked around and went to look for more people. Then Nayomi, Jenny, and i went to dinner at Modish, and the food was great. Then i went drove home after because i just wanted to stay the day and was still a little sick. Other than that i have stayed at home and recovered from my sickness.

Next week, the last time i will probably be able to see Kibaco live in my life. Yeah!!!

I added the setsubun video to the pics area.

Valentines day will soon be upon us, and as such i decided to include the above picture which stands for "I love you." in Axkong. Don't ask, just look, because i am just a weird linguistics guy that creates his own language in his free time.

Sickness

Well i got sick yesterday or so- i am thinking from the onsen that i go to-and i was sick and missed work today. I felt woozy this morning when i stood up and i had a fever last night. The fever is gone, but i would prefer not to go to the doctors because i think they gave me something that i am allergic to last time i went, or at least a derivative. I just feel bad because i missed out on an elementary school that i love today. Boo hoo, oh well i should be good enough for the snow festival.

Defective

     Oh, how I hate the cold and home repair. I have always felt that whenever I touch things, I am instantly going to break them or mishandle them somehow. This just keeps getting reinforced in my mind with how things just keep on happening or breaking on me. My tub gets a large crack just from standing in it. My gas runs out in my heater and is an ordeal to fix the first time, and again I let it run out because it thought I would be good for one more day and didn't want to fill it up the tank outside in a storm. Then this morning in order to help get it ready, the rubber stop fell in when I used a knife to try and get it out. I just feel so clumsy. My car gets stuck in a ditch, my car gets stuck in a snow ditch in the driveway, and I suck the Q key off my computer with a vacuum accidentally. 

     Just small things when you think about it but it just happens so much and I can't help but feel stupid and be hard on myself. It's from a lack of self-esteem sometimes, but I generally feel like I am defective in so many ways. Health issues are never fun to talk about, and even more so, ever since I was little I have had many problems or misconstrued problems. I feel sometimes that I might have been misdiagnosed as having ADHD; I had plenty of ear infections that led to the need for speech therapy as a kid. Though in turn it is weird that I was unable to say sounds and such when I was a kids, no th's and rolling R's, but in my free time now I have a little glossolalia-or better phonolalia- and I just like to say weird sounds like rolling my R's and ejectives and clicks for fun. If anything, I guess I just sometimes have a lack of a filter on my mouth, so I know that when I am angry I shut up and think stuff that is best not said sometimes, and I know that so it is hard for me to express my anger sometimes. I feel better about writing things, but then again I think I come off as mean, but I am trying. I have added uncertainties to my speech and writing style, the use of "just, about, maybe, probably, I think, many, sometimes, and like" have become my coping words to deal with not being direct or certain about things because I am usually wrong or just not up to date with all the facts. I never try to be very certain in things, except a few like cooking and some other stuff. I accept others opinions though I have my own and keep them to myself. I feel like I got the worst and best from my parents genetically. I was the fat one, the socially inept one, the one that always had speech therapists to go to, special camps, getting in trouble with the things I said, and the gay one. The only saving grace is that I feel like I got the best parts of my parents' brains. My parents are both intelligent and smart people and I admire them for that. My father can build anything that can be made from a hardware store and more. I might be smart and able to learn things quickly, but even then I can lack common sense and I used to do things without thinking. I think I have improved with that a little, but still like with this rubber stopper thing, I tried to motion the knife in and then at an angle, but that was useless. I am trying, but sometimes I still feel defective.

Pics have been updated so enjoy. Next weekend, snow festival.

Yesterday was setsubun and i spent the class time with the special education kids. I took a video and hopefully i will be able to post it here on the blog soon. I took pictures and will update them after the weekend. This weekend is company training in Sapporo, so it is always nice to see all the people that work for our company and hang out with them. I have been practicing with the band for the past couple of days in order to fill in for the tuba player again for the thing to send off the graduating class at the end of March. Next week there is a national holiday and the snow festival so i am looking forward to next weekend, i will have to take a lot of pictures.

The sun has been out for the past couple of days and has helped clean up and melt the roads. I think i will be okay to drive to Sapporo and stay in the company paid hotel for the weekend, then i will be able to go and get cheaper groceries for the week which is nice.

I forgot, i guess i should explain what setsubun is exactly. It literally means the separation of seasons. So in meaning there are four setsubun during the year- the equinoxes and solstices. But in practice there is only one, this is the one with the set day depicting the transition from winter to spring. The set date is February 3rd, sort of like a groundhog's day, but not really. I guess on the old style lunisolar calendar- the Chinese one- it would have corresponded to near the spring equinox.  and the Chinese New Year. But i don't know the exact logistics or history of the date. It was brought into Japan from China in the 8th century.  Oh well what it means isn't important, the important thing is what do you do on Setsubun. The phrase that is eponymous with Setsubun is "福は内、鬼は外″ which means "good fortune inside, ogres outside." Or " in with the good luck, out with the bad luck." While saying the phrase one will throw roasted soybeans(this action is called mamemaki 豆まき), or more modernly peanuts, either outside or at an Oni figure or an Oni impersonator with a mask or full costume. The practice is a purification ritual and is similar to Halloween in a sense that they believe that the spirit world became closer to the human world on this day and would have to scare and cleanse the spirits away. Further enforcing the Halloween similarity is the historical practice of some cross-dressing and costume wearing that some Geisha practice now sometimes. It seems to me to be in essence a purification ritual using beans for their powers, or even going to the shrine and praying with the beans and then throwing them; as well as a transference ritual in some aspects- i.e. a scapegoat ritual to put all the sickness and bad fortune on the beans or the Oni figure and get them out of the house. After the beans are thrown, they are eaten. The lucky practice is to eat one bean per every year of age and sometimes one extra "to grow on." Besides beans there is the Ehomaki (恵方巻き- lucky direction roll) that people eat and point them selves in the lucky direction based on the zodiac animal of that year and the direction that each of the twelve animals corresponds to- the rabbit of this year is South-South-East. It is a long uncut roll that is eaten as such compared to the slice rolls that they normally make.

A weird and not too important holiday, but it was nice to spend it with the kids and eat some peanuts (which are actually beans by definition).

Ehomaki

check the Wikipedia Link on it for more information
Setsubun 

Hope you all like the pics, i had to use some HTML in order for me to bypass not being able to upload pictures onto here.

I got my car out of the snow and boy did i need help getting out. It was in a snow ditch that the weight of the tires had made and it was almost 4 inches of the tires in the snow so there was no way i was going to back up out of it with front wheel drive. It cost 125 bucks for the service, and i tried to get it half price by buying the Japanese AAA membership earlier in the day, but since they had already been called, i was unable to get it done for free. So that was 67 bucks more for that. At least now in the next two months if i have any problems it is free now.

The sun was out today and it has been nice. I am looking forward to training, and i have a list of stuff to do but i have to wait on things for it. I am trying to apply for FAFSA but need to get my 2010 tax returns done, and before i was waiting on my Japanese tax return to get started on my American ones. Then i am waiting on my transcripts so i can finish applying to schools in London. Then i have to do London trip planning, which i went to the bank to transfer money-at a pretty good rate of 40,000 yen and get $4,800- so i can pay for my plane ticket to London and then to the US afterwards. At least it will be like 500 dollars cheaper to fly into Cincinnati instead of home, but the savings are worth the trip, even if i would have to take a taxi home. I have started looking and sending resumes for summer jobs and all that stuff. My life in Japan is coming to a close soon, and i hope that the next chapter in a place with more English speakers will be just as good as it was here.

Adulthood is so different from childhood. Childhood is about "want want want" and getting it. Adulthood is about "need, need, need" and "how am i going to pay for that?". It sucks to be getting older and being an adult. But hey i love being able to go to casinos, not being age restricted to places, and driving and renting cars. I love being able to travel and know how to be safe when doing so and having the peace of mind to take care of myself. Despite how neotonous(unlike our other primate cousins- look up neotony to find out what i am talking about) we humans are, there is still a big different between the minds of children and adults even if in comparison to other species we physically are children and don't change that much.

I am updating my blog and i changed the address, its erikumonogatari.blogspot.com now. Update if you have bookmarked it.

pics have been updated. I am still stuck in the driveway even after two pots of boiling salt water and spending an hour scooping and trying to get the car out. i will have to call someone tomorrow. I spent some of the after school time with the computer club and they were doing typing practice. I was level one on all the tests they were doing(the lower the level, the better the score) Then i did english typing practice to find words per minute and the best i got was 65 wpm. So better than college i think. Oh well, the snow just won't stop and i am getting really annoyed with my car trapped.At least the snow is acting like an insulator on the home because it is so high so my place stays warm.

the birthday was good. We had dinner all you can eat pizza and pasta at a place in Sapporo. Then i got some great gifts. But the drive home was horrible. A blizzard, and then i survived that and now my car is stuck in the driveway. oh well, i will post pics tomorrow, i am just a little tired now.

Well today was good, yesterday was weird. Let's start of with yesterday.

For some odd reason, yesterday seemed to be a bad day for the kids. Four things and only one involved me:one, some kids were found to have shoplifted from the local writing supply store and i just don't know why they would do that; two, one kid broke her collar bone at the elementary school before i got there so she was absent; three, i think from what i heard that the kid with Ausperger's punched another kid in the face; last, the boys in the first years were being really weird with me and started to gather around me when i was in the hall after lunch just showing my face as i do and they are some of the most vulgar ones and group hugged me and started to hump me, overall it was very weird. Oh well, two more months and i will only be touched like that by only one other person in my life. they are weird.

Today was awesome. It was my last day for the year at the largest elementary so all the kids were a little sad and made me a going away present. I have included pics of it so just check the pics link. So that was all touching. Then they had the orientation at the middle school for the elementary 6th graders for the next year, so i helped with the preview english lesson and went over the alphabet with them. It was very good and all. I also had lunch with the first graders and they were all happy to see me in the classroom. I will miss them and i will have to come back here once again when i can in the future sometime.

Had the day off to go to the doctors to get the varicose veins and such on my left leg sorted out. Nothing to worry about, just something that has been on there since before i started college, and i want to get rid of it. the day was pretty good. Sunny all day so the snow melted. Then i did some cleaning after i got the scans done at the doctors.
This weekend was very slow and relaxed. I didn't even leave the house yesterday, but thankfully with good reason. It was snowing all day yesterday, so i felt staying home was worth it. What i mainly did however was watch Modern Family online. It is actually very interesting and funny. Sofia Vergara is the heart of the show, much like Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch are the soul of Glee. I watched the first season of it this weekend, so that is 24 episodes. Maybe much, but i like it. Now to begin the week and do more school planning and grad school stuff.

Today i was able to play and move around with the preschooler/toddler class that i teach at the local library. It was fun enough. I did animals and 1-10 with them. Moving around like a camel on the ground or a cat, then beating my chest like a gorilla to coincide with the book by Eric Carle that i read to them was basically what that entailed. I usually i don't know what a better term would be but "make a fool of myself" regularly in that class. I guess act like a clown and entertain the kids with actions that i would never want to do in an adult public is a good description. It was fun.

I have been applying to grad schools and have nearly completed two and have two more i will apply to in the next week or so. I am waiting on transcripts, informing references and requesting them, and then i got a copy of my diploma today. So just transcripts and support statements are the big things to deal with. It isn't looking too bad, and since it is faster than it would in America. On top of that, the requirements are not as bad as America's, meaning in short i do not have to take the GRE. I only need references and transcripts and since most of the entry requirements state a minimum 2.2 or 2.1 degree from UK or the equivalent, i am good since my GPA equates to a grade 1 degree in the UK. But as an international student i would be limited to working only 20 hours max(or face deportation should any tiny overage occur in any week) a week; as such, i will have to looking to funding, grants, and scholarships. I should have 7 or 8K saved after the move and such home. I hope, but i guess maybe i should just take the Japanese yen out and wait till i get to the UK to exchange it to avoid exchange rates and weak currency issues since the yen exchange to pounds than the dollar to pounds currently.

I worry about my financials a lot, but i do have to consider some things. One, i am in a much better place than most other people-i do not have any current debts thanks in large part to the help i received from scholarships and working during college, but even more so from my parents, thank you so much- and i should just consider this to be like an average person's loan and stuff for college, except mine will be for grad school and i will have a lot more employability compared to a college grad when i finish. The only downside to going to the UK is the job market for an American. They hire from the UK and then the EU first. Thus, the company has to search all the other places and only if there is no one can somebody outside of that area be considered for employment. Man i wish i was married to a Briton so i could be a dual citizen and enjoy all the benefits of both. Well, that and being married to a person i love, but i digress.


The snow continues, but hasn't been as heavy lately- meaning that there is some blue skies and sun during the middle of the day now. I am ready for a weekend of sleeping in. 

Now is the winter of my discontent

Well, let's start with the weather. The snow has been coming down more and more and I just want it to stop already. My water heater for my shower has been on the fritz and I have asked for the gas company to come by and look at it. I did all I needed to do before I left and there was no water problem. My pipes froze only in my shower room and all the other ones were okay. I turned off the main valve and emptied the pipes before I left. Then when I come back the shower is frozen in the small pipe that leads from the semi-main water pipe in the shower room. There is a tap on that one and water would come out so I knew it was a problem with the small one or the ones in the water heater itself. It froze and then I put the pilot light thinking that would help, and it did, it unfroze it and it came out and all this steam and such as well and then I don't know but then there was some other sounds coming from it and I think I might have broken again. I am seriously done with this cold and do not ever want to live in a place this cold again. I miss central heating which would have lessened the ill-effects of the water pipes. So this morning I tried it and the pilot light would keep going off after like 30 seconds of hot water, I would reignite it and there seemed to be a buildup of gas so the ignition would light it up with a small boom. At least I am 5 minutes from an onsen; I will have to take the evening bath there instead of a morning shower. 

Weather and water aside, my weekend was okay. I took the train up to be safe with all the snow, but it was a little long. The way home I got delayed and the 3 hour journey turned into 6. The travel aside the weekend was great. Amber and I had a movie night on Friday when I got there. Then on Saturday, there was a radio station holding a public Glee viewing of the first two episodes, and that was nice to see how the Japanese reacted to it- frankly there was not much reaction at all especially to the humor. Then we had a wine and cheese party with a French guy and there was a bunch of his international friends there, so the night was filled with Spanish and French and lots of other people. Then we went to a reggae club where the music was adequate.

I have spent the day looking at UK schools and such and information on Linguistic Master's programs there. Frankly, I wish I was from the EU because it is the same price for them as any UK student. Then it is double or more for students outside of it. However it is still cheaper relatively than I think I would be if I went to school in the USA. I can get the degree in two years part-time, or one full time for like $15K in fees and then more for living expenses. Though I guess I will still have to debate whether or not full-time or part-time would be more financially sound and doable. In all my searching, the school of Oriental and African Studies still looks the best for the courses and general study area that I want to do. It's my number one, but I am looking at the University of Essex, Cardiff, and Birkbeck as well. 

School should be relatively non-stressful this week since I have only a handful of classes. Most of my time will be spent on doing other things outside of school. I am getting ready to move and all the shower room upkeep that I have to do. I need to repair a crack in my tub that I got a year ago but have put off because it isn't a problem since I can't even sit in the tub because I am too tall and stocky. Then I need to start throwing things away and seeing what I need to get rid of before I go home. I think I will go home after Japan to set up things and wait until I get accepted. It will also make visas and stuff easier since I can't handle that stuff easily here. I am thinking however that I will just leave Japan and take another week trip to London to scout out things and maybe go with Amber to see the sights and people. Then I will come home just so I don't have to fly a bunch and save. Life is going to be busy when I get back, at least I will be able to go to my brother's wedding and spend some time with my family before I go on to the next step of my life. 

I have updated my pics from this week on my album, link follows, but i have also inserted the link into the Title of the blog. Just click the "for pics" hyperlink. http://s1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa398/AerykkSvard1987/

Scratch what i may have been telling people previously about the weather here. It is worse than it was last year; a little later but worse than last year's. The snow fall has been ongoing for the past week or so i believe- or at  least it has been going on everyday a couple inches minimum each day since i have gotten back. This weather really makes me miss London, and i get why old people go to Florida and retire(because it is the only one of the 50 states currently without any snowfall).

Weather aside i am having an okay week. I don't have to go to school tomorrow since there is just the opening ceremonies and the school said they didn't need me so i start on Monday. I will take the train and go up to Sapporo this weekend for some fun. There is apparently a Glee thing going on there this weekend, but i am not expecting much in Sapporo. I am almost done with my re-reading of the last Harry Potter book, and it has only been like 5 days or so of reading it. I am just amazed at how easy to read they are and enthralling- as Amber put it, it is like reading crack or any other highly addictive substance. I guess i seem to like all things "Harry" lately-wink wink. The books and movies are so good, but very different from each other. well actually no, they aren't different from each other, they are a different experience from one another, but the books just have so much more information in them than the movies can because the movies would be like 5 hours long if they had everything in them. Though i think i would not be the only person who would want to see those movies if they were that long.

Warmth and Hugs to those out there who need it and have it because i have neither right now. :(
Though as a side note i am not the kind of person to ever use an emoji(the punctuation marks shaped like emotions) because it is becoming to where writing and texting are overriding actual conversation. Yes they add some of the emotional and prosody clues that speech delivers and text doesn't, but for some odd reason i just don't want those things and internet speech to ever become part of real conversations. Though i do catch myself reading "LOL" as "lull" and not as "laugh out loud." So like "Lull" hahahaha!!!!

Furthermore i hope my blog doesn't become too lackluster since i am unable to put pictures on here anymore. 

Spent a couple days in Sapporo with friends, and it was nice. The snow is horrible, and i want to scratch what i have been saying that this year isn't as bad as it was last year. It is worse than last year i think, maybe it came later, but i never had my pipes freeze or have the windshield become frozen after spraying it. I think i will just plan on staying inside a little until i have to start school. I have been talking to someone i met in London, and it has been nice to get to know them more. I will have to see what the future holds.

I think i will try to for the school of Oriental and African studies in London as my Masters school. The tuition seemed a lot less than it was for America, and then the program is two year part time, or one year full time. So even if i took out a loan, it would be for less than £10K, if that. From the looks of it, it seems that i am in a good position and the fact that i graduated Cum Laude from college was a great confidence booster. I just wish that i knew i graduated with that when i graduated. Why did it take a year or so and for me to check it myself to find out? In the British system that means that i graduated with a First Degree, and that is a very good thing i believe. I will just have to see how things work out and do my own research on life in the UK.

So i have reached the limit on the pictures that i can put up here so now i will have to host the photos on photobucket. The link is as follows http://s1195.photobucket.com/albums/aa398/AerykkSvard1987/ i hope you all enjoy it. there are a lot of pictures, and i had a lot of fun. went to a lot of places, saw Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera. Both were exquisite. Now to settle back down into the every day things until i go home.

Well London was amazing to say the least. I took so many pictures that i will have to find some way to host them off this site since i have used all the space allotted for the blog. I had a wonderful time. I saw three movies, and the musicals i saw were awesome. I just loved Wicked as usual. New Years was a mess of drunken people, but i didn't stay out the entire night. The food was awesome and exquisite. It was awesome to be in a country where English is spoken and it made me realize that i need to be someplace else in this world. I have decided that i will not go on another year in Japan and i will try to seek employment or further education in the UK.