The Way Of The Duck

Mount Fuji.

2007-07-11T11:50:00.001+09:00

We climbed it.

Yes, it took us a while, and we were passed by grannies. Bryn got some pretty bad altitude sickness and we had to stop at a hut and rest until he acclimatised. We got hella sunburned and the decent killed my knees. Two days later, it still hurts going down stairs.

It doesn't matter, because we just climbed the tallest mountain in Japan. All 3776 metres of it.

We began the ascent at the fifth station a little bit before 8pm, all rugged up and rocking the headlamp chic...

The climb itself wasn't that difficult, but by the 8th station (3/5ths of the way up) Bryn had a headache and was feeling really dizzy and out of it from the altitude, so we decided to bunk down in one of the huts.

We got up at 4.30 to watch the sunrise, which was incredibly beautiful, and then stumbled back to bed. Later in the morning, fortified with Vegemite sandwiches, we started climbing again. By now the greenery had petered out and all we could see was volcanic rock and a few late snow drifts in the distance...

We also spotted these tractors taking food and supplies to the shops on top of the mountain...

At this point the sun was roasting us alive. Everyone we passed on their way back down assured us it was worth it and told us to "Ganbatte!" (do our best). One group had a quick conference in Japanese on how to translate that into English, coming up with the somewhat situationally inappropriate "break a leg!"

We didn't, thankfully, and by lunchtime we'd made it to the top...

We were above the clouds...

... blue and white as far as the eye could see. On our other side was a very big (very dormant) volcanic crater...

The decent was hard on the joints and not the least bit exciting, but we made it back to the fifth station without much drama and stumbled back onto the bus for the long ride home. It was probably the most physically demanding 24 hours I've ever had but it was an amazing experience and a view I'll never forget. (I can't quite believe we did it!)

Pantsman!

2007-07-05T22:58:00.000+09:00

If you've got 5 minutes to kill you can't go wrong with this gem of a Japanese public service announcement - the potty training video. It's incredibly cute.

Did I mention..

2007-06-12T14:51:00.000+09:00

.. that the No 1 beer in Korea is called Cass? Of course, I had to drink a lot of it.

Engrish

2007-06-10T22:57:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I was at the travel agent, organising my flight home. While I was waiting for some forms to be printed, one of the other customers came up to me and asked for help with his business cards. What the hell? I thought.

Many Japanese business cards have an English translation on the reverse side, and he wanted to know why one of his cards said 'director' and one said 'directer'. I pointed him in the correctly spelled direction, he thanked me and got straight on his cell to let one of his underlings know: "Machigaimasu! D-I-R.....".

On the way home, one of the stores was advertising 'Used Crothing'. In an area full of used clothing stores I can't believe they haven't noticed that their sign stands alone, spelling wise. The sad truth is probably that they have noticed, and don't care.

I think my next third year class might be 'Dictionary Use 101 - don't wait until you meet a gaijin in a travel agency'.

Korea Day 1

2007-05-25T13:40:00.000+09:00

Ok, now that I finally have some time to breathe at work (no classes today! but returning to Aus obligations continue to plague me) I'm finally sorting out all my pics/notes about Korea.

After arriving late the night before and sleeping in a cheap airport hotel with some questionable decor,

I headed into Seoul, dumped my bag at the hostel and headed out to explore. I was soon captivated by the artsy neighbourhood of Insadong, where I bought cute earrings, ate some chicken and ginseng rice porridge and chatted to a lot of students who wanted to practise their English.

Some university students interviewed me on my perceptions of gay rights in Korea (Having arrived less than 24 hours ago, I don't think I was much help):

(Also notice that Koreans do the finger V too. I still wonder what's up with that)

On my way to check out the palace, three girls started chatting with me. They asked me to come for coffee with them, and then took me on the tour of the palace themselves. They were all incredibly sweet and this ended up being one of the best parts of the trip for me, just chatting with some locals and quizzing them about Korea.

We parted with me nearly collapsing from tiredness (weak!) and heading back to the hostel for a diet coke and a sit down. Later I rallied and went down to the night market for dinner and had a look at all the incredibly ugly designer knock off goods available. Where are all the copies of the cute designer goods? The ones that aren't quilted and encrusted with 3 tonnes of tacky ass gold and diamante? After some spicy rice cake stew and a beer, I headed home without buying anything.

PS - Also, despite recent government efforts to outlaw the consumption of dog meat, I'm pretty sure these feet ain't no chicken:

Korea

2007-05-23T09:54:00.000+09:00

I'm back, and I don't want to eat another bite of kimchi for a month. Korea was fantastic, I did lots of things, I took many photos and I will post more about it all later but for now,

The Highlights

* Getting hijacked by three Korean girls on my first day, taken out for coffee and on a personal tour of the palace and folk museum.
* Taking a cooking class, making my own kim chi and trying on the traditional costume - hanbok. I looked ridiculous.
* Climbing to the top of Mt Namsan and watching the sun set over a few drinks.
* The Lotus Lantern Festival for Buddha's Birthday. Two hours of the most elaborate lantern floats - including a fire breathing dragon!- and beautiful dancers.
* Delicious street and night market food and a little bargain shoppping.

The Lowlights

* Hostel did not supply toilet paper. WTF. You have free breakfast, but you can't even shell out $2 for TP. Do they consider TP a personal choice?
* Creepy guy taking my picture at the parade and telling me how 'cute and pretty' I was. I had to leave my good spot because of you. Ass.
* Getting sick on Sunday, not enjoying the one bibimbap I got a chance to eat and confirming my long held hatred of huge shopping centers.
* Buying cool omiyage for people and then leaving it on the train.

I had so so much fun, but I must confess it's great to be back in Japan and able to understand what's going on again. When I'm in Japan I only see the ways I'm still different but after a week in Korea fresh off the plane, Japan felt like home.

More to come....

Children's Day Supermarket Special

2007-05-09T14:15:00.000+09:00

Last week we had Kodomo no Hi (or Children's Day) in Japan, where young kids are dressed up, taken out and spoilt rotten by their parents. And what was this I spied next to the capsicums?

That's right, goldfish! Only 6 bucks.

I wonder if they were 'reduced to sell' the next day, or discreetly flushed down the toilet?

Blah Blah Blah

2007-04-25T09:52:00.000+09:00

I saw a dead cat on the way to school today. After our hostel mate's story in Taiwan about the dog who died in the square, where no one moved the body and dog dog slowly rotted down to bones over a few months, I am hoping that whoever owns the poor thing finds it soon and gives it a proper burial.

Also, the staffroom smells like delicious coffee and I want some so bad. It's raining again too, and I'm wondering if we're ever going to get some Spring before the rainy season. Bleh.

RSS feeds and search term hilarity.

2007-04-19T09:20:00.000+09:00

If you use an RSS reader, you can now subscribe to my blog's feed by clicking the little icon at the side of the page (if you don't know what I'm talking about (Mum) just ignore this).

While I was setting everything up for my little Japanese food project I thought I may as well set both blog feeds up through feedburner, so I'd have some idea how many people were checking in. Since I haven't mentioned this blog to anyone but my family and a few friends, it's just traffic from Melbourne, Sydney and Dover, with the occaisional wacky Google search thrown in.

The stats tracker shows you what search terms people typed in to reach your site, and these are a few of my favorites:

'picture porn sensei'
'don't think you are my tipe but you are'
'buy eyebrow templates'
'otaku room'
'hentai toilet'
'japanese skirt obstacle course'
'shaved polar bears'
'billy ray cyrus's children'
'is it possible to vomit out your nose'

Aside from that last one (yes, it is both possible and most unpleasant) I don't think this blog would have been much help to them :(

Back at School, Cannot Motivate Myself To Finish All My Half Typed Blog Entries.

2007-04-17T15:09:00.000+09:00

I'm sorry. I just haven't been able to sit myself down for an hour or two to organise all my thoughts, and the longer I leave it the harder it gets.

I went to Taiwan with Christina, then we had Spring Break and some of Bryn's friends were here and we showed them around and had all sorts of adventures around Tokyo, then it was Cherry Blossom season and we went to lots of Hanami and admired the blossoms, then it started raining again and classes started and Bryn turned 27, and we had a party and I cooked a lot and started jogging again on the days it's not pouring down and freezing.

I was so relaxed in Taiwan, full of energy and plans for this last semester. Two weeks in and where has it all gone? Where?

More to come soon, no, really.

Taiwan (in brief) Part One.

2007-03-26T14:51:00.000+09:00

I got back from Taiwan three weeks ago, but have been too busy catching up on sleep, hanging out with Bryn and his guests and writing about the food for my other little project to post anything useful here. Sorry.

In short, Taiwan was awesome in a very low key, relaxing way. When people ask what we did, my answer is something like 'Welll.... we ate some stuff and went to the beach.' It was much more than that, but those were my favorite parts.

We arrived late Tuesday night, and managed to find our way to the hostel without too many problems. Neither Christina and I spoke a word of Chinese but we managed to combine reading from the phrasebook, our kanji knowledge and lots and lots of pointing to get by. English signage on public transport and at ATMs was excellent too. Oh, I nearly forgot, our whole plane, from the boarding passses to the outside of the plane to the in-flight meals was covered in Hello Kitty.

Wednesday was our official Day One and we crammed in most of the sights around Taipei. In the morning we checked out the National Palace Museum, where a lot of Chinese art and artifacts ended up during the revolution. The most famous exhibit, with signs showing the way to it throughout the museum, was the Jade Cabbage, although in my opinion the carved pork was much better. We ate some noodles for lunch, saw a dead cat, and headed over to Longshan temple.

Taipei's main temple was still decked out from the lantern festival a few weeks prior, and it looked awesome. There must have been some special event that day, because the place was packed and the tables were overflowing with offerings. The most interesting was the table for students, filled with 3 vegetables (cabbage, negi and ... something) whose names sound like 'pass' ect in Chinese. This was a great place for people watching, with a TV crew filming a documentary, armies of volunteers cleaning, polishing and rearaanging the offerings, and the comical sight of a woman who had brought her own prayer stool to worship in her Playboy track pants.

Since we were only a few metro stops away, we decided to head to the Chang Kai Shek memorial, which hadn't been one of my must-sees. Once we were there though, I was awed by the majesty of the huge courtyard housing the National Theatre, (something) and the huge blue and white monument to the 'founder' of Chinese Taiwan. Not to mention amused that this dictator's shrine was adorned with three kanji: science, ethics and .... democracy!. We arrived too late to enter the attached museum and view his cadillac collection, but we did see the changing of the guard, a jerky, key jangling process that reminded me of puppets on strings.

After Christina got hastled by some pushy tout on the street full of wedding dresses (dude, I think a girl knows when she's in the market for a wedding gown or not) we made it to the Shinlin nightmarkets for dinner. We smelt the stink of stinky tofu, a nice old man bought us an oyster omlette and we chowed down on noodles, dumplings and oh my god delicious coconut bubble tea.

Cassie gets paid to do not much of anything.

2007-03-16T10:22:00.000+09:00

So. Classes finished 2 weeks ago now, and I spent a few hours grading the exams on Wednesday. Aside from giving a few advanced English classes to my co-workers I'm being paid to come into school and work on my own projects. For the most part that's meant reading the new-yorker, planning my vacation in Taiwan next week and messing around with a few personal writing projects.

In the last month I have:

Been to two theme parks, once with Bryn and once with some of my private students and another teacher (below). I continue to love scary stomach jerking rides (especially ones that involving being upside down) and greasy carnival food like a 10-year-old.
Thought a lot about my career. Panicked about not knowing what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Told myself to shut up and stop worrying because I'm only 24. Decided to try for a research, technical writing or copy editing position when I get home and see if I can use my degree for a while.
Made a lot of delicious Japanese food. Because I am a little bit of a food geek, I've also been writing about it at Eaten in Translation. Check it out if you're interested in recipes for Japanese food.

I'll have something exciting to tell you next weekend when I get back from Taiwan (if I'm not too busy enjoying the hanami season) but for now I leave you with the latest in Japanese beauty technology - The Eyebrow Stencil! For all those times when you've shaved off your eyebrows to be cool and can't draw them straight again.

Love Day Redux

2007-02-15T21:48:00.000+09:00

In which I shamelessly plagiarise from Christina to bring you this fantastic love letter one of her students wrote yesterday:

Dear Jan,

Hello, I love you. You are as big as a pig. Oh, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. You are like a loving pig. I miss you. Oh, I miss you.

Love, me.

and maybe also this one:

Dear Jack with horse.

Hi! I’m cherry. You are like a god so hairy. You are very my tipe. Would you be my boyfriend? I sleep very little every night. Because. I think of you. I love you!

Happy Love Day

2007-02-14T13:09:00.000+09:00

In Japan Valentine's Day is the day that women give their partners and male co-workers chocolates and gifts. They don't receive anything, as the men will reciprocate (with bigger and better gifts) in March on White Day.

The funniest thing about this system is girichoco, (fishing/obligation chocolates), large packs of individually wrapped, shitty quality chocolates that women buy to give to all the men they know in the hope of cleaning up on White Day.

Happily, we've bypassed the local customs this year with a fantastic Italian meal last Saturday and some home made cards. Tonight I'll probably buy a fancy pastry and chill out with some coffee and a video (or Top Chef, love my trashy reality TV) by myself. I hope that all of you get to spend today with those you love (friends, partners or family) doing something frivolous just for the sensual, romantic pleasure of it all. Don't buy in to the idea that you need a partner. My favorite Valentine's Day is still the 'date' Merrin and I took to the Nova and then Brunettis for Italian hot chocolate. Mmmmmm.

Reject the industry driven, commercialised cheap plastic crapfest, do something fun.(and to Rick: Happy Sheep Day!)

I'm going to Taiwan!

2007-02-13T10:53:00.000+09:00

Specifically to Taipei and the beaches nearby, for 5 days at the end of March, with my Tokorozawa co-conspiritor Christina.

I guess it will be the most culture-shocky trip I've been on yet. Everywhere in Europe is culturally close enough to Australia that I can get my head around what's going on even when I can't understand a word, and I came to Japan knowing quite a bit about the language and customs (and even then I'm confused a lot of the time). None the less, I'm sure it's going to be awesome. I will mangulate the tonal Chinese language like nobody's business, but I will smile, blush and look generally humble and people will take pity on me. I hope. At least we'll be able to get a few clues on the writing (Japan uses a modified version of the Chinese writing system as well as two other sylable alphabets).

So far I just want to wander around the city and people watch, go to the night markets and try the local food. There is a good chance snake or snake products will be consumed, although not in great quantity (see: squid icecream). Apparently there are some stunning beaches within an hour or two of the city by train, and I can't wait to see some decent sand and surf again. Other than that, I think I really should get a Lonely Planet or something, since the web is strangely empty on osusume. Anyway, if you've been or just have opinions on things I should do, hit me up in the comments.

Also, my coworker has been clipping his nails for the last 5 minutes and the sound is grossing me out. Can't you do that at home dude?

1-9 students actually say something. Cassie dies of shock.

2007-02-08T09:57:00.000+09:00

1-9 is my quietest class, but they totally rocked the drama performances this week, especially these three guys with their superhero skit. Usually they don't say a thing in English class, but put them on stage they're waving their hands in the air like they just don't care. I love it when English brings them out of their shells a little instead of being so boring they're nearly comatose.***.

It is Monday morning at Tokorozawa Kita. First period is math class, and it is really boring. Suddenly the door opens and a police officer comes into the room....

Teacher: What happened?
Satoshi (student): Oh, Superman!
Policeman: No! I'm policeman. But I'm also new homeroom teacher from today.
S: Oh! Superman is teacher!
P: No! I'm not superman!
S: Oh sorry. So, are you Spiderman?
T: No Satoshi, he is Batman.
S: Oh, I see.
T: By the way, why do you come here Batman?
P: Yes, yes, I will save the world.... NO! I'm teacher! How many times do I tell you to say I'm not hero.
S: So if you're not hero, get out of the room.
S&T: Get out, get out, get out!

Afterwards

P: Oh mom, I was teased by students and teacher.
Narrator: He disliked children after this event.

*** One of the things that makes me sad about the Japanese education system is the low priority given to original thinking. Initially I couldn't understand why students struggled with activities that required their input. I could help them put their ideas into English, but they just didn't have any ideas in Japanese. Anything that doesn't have one correct answer is extremely difficult for them. Talking to my co-workers,

'OMG STUDENTS!' and Let's Passing!

2007-02-08T09:42:00.000+09:00

There were around 500 junior high school students mobbing the front entrance when I came into work, waiting to find out which 90 have gained early acceptance for next year.

As the students are announced and go inside to get their information packets, a few girls from the cheer dance club stand by the door screeching 'Oooomeeeeedettooouuuu' (congratulations). Sure, it makes me brain hurt, but chou kawaiiii!

In other news, I got my JLPT results for 3kyuu back yesterday. 375/400, or 93.something percent! I am almost inspired to hit the books again today. Almost. I'm still not sure what I'm aiming for Japan-wise in the next six months, aside from a lot of travel. I need a project to keep me busy during the long stretches of free time at work, but nothing that I could do at my desk is really inspiring me at the moment.

Here's to 24

2007-02-05T11:47:00.000+09:00

Thanks so much to everyone who celebrated with me on Saturday, cooked me breakfast, sent me emails or cards, helped me cook and set up for our party, entertained me and made me drinks at the party, brought us cakes, called us a taxi, and took me out for breakfast the next day as I nursed a big hangover.

It was a great start to what looks set to be a year full of adventures and changes, hopefully for the better.

What my students have been doing lately..

2007-01-29T11:35:00.000+09:00

.. writing dramas.

The Good

It is Monday morning at Tokorozawa Kita. First period is math class, and it is really boring. Suddenly the door opens and a police officer comes into the room....

Police Officer: Hello, I am on patrol in this highschool.
Teacher: Thank you very much for your trouble.
Student: May I touch this gun in your pocket?
P: Mmmm... OK. Be careful.

BANG a gun is fired.
S: Oh sorry. I shot a gun by mistake.
T: You fool.
S: Don't worry, I shot a gun outside so no problems.
P: I am angry!
T: Look! Principal falls down outside.
S: Really? Oh my god!

The ambulance arrives. Someone is dead.

The Bad

It is Monday morning at Tokorozawa Kita. First period is math class, and it is really boring. Suddenly the door opens and a police officer comes into the room....

Police Officer: What a big crowd!
Teacher: Oh look! Your pants door is open.
Student: Hahaha You beast!
PO: Don't make fun at me. I will kill you!

BANG! a gun is fired.

S: Ouch! But I'm feeling good.
T: What did you do to him?
PO: I'm sorry I was rude.
T: I'll forgive you.
S: This story is fiction.

The ambulance arrives. Someone is dead.

What I've been up to lately...

2007-01-29T11:22:00.000+09:00

... nothing much really. Enjoying getting back into the swing of life in Japan for the most part. I miss everything about Australia, the people, the weather, the food and the ease of life, so I'm throwing myself at everything I love most about Japan and making the most of it until I get home in July.

This weekend (after a hilarious Australia Day party with rousing sing-a-longs at a friend's house on the Friday night) Bryn and I attacked his apartment Extreme Makeover style and made it look quite swish, filling up several huge trash bags and boxes for donation in the process. On the Sunday I headed into Tokyo for a little wandering, and spent most of my time wandering around Ebisu Garden Place, fending off the cold with a huge bowl of hokkaido style ramen in a spicy miso broth (so good!) and checking out the Ebisu Beer Museum, which was a wealth of cheesy old advertisments. While it will never rival the Heinekken Beer Experience in Amsterdam for wacky attractions, the Magic Vision Theatre where the king battles the devil for the good beer fairies heart was a bit of a laugh, and the tasting lounge was a most pleasant want to discover that I do indeed like Yebisu Black beer (and the other 3 in my tasting set, though I wasn't at all doubtfull about them).

Worst. Flight. Evers.

2007-01-07T15:21:00.000+09:00

I am home, clean, and drinking tea and can now begin the process of trying to forget the last 24 hours.

When your travel agent assures you that the flight she has booked does not require that you leave the airport during your layover and therefore not need to navigate immigration, passenger service taxes and visas, do not believe her. She is a dirty liar, and you will find yourself with 6 other panicked Australians being told TWO HOURS before your return flight leaves that you can't board without a Vietnamese visa.

Luckily, you will be able to shell out $200 each for an emergency visa, $14 US for the passenger taxes and several hours of delays. You will arrive back in Tokyo at 8.30am, roughly 24 hours since you woke up, and a Japanese woman will try and convert you to her light cult religion healing thing on the train back to Tokorozawa. Fun times.

Merry Christmas to all..

2006-12-24T19:38:00.000+09:00

.. and to all a good night.

Hope you're all heading to bed tonight with full bellies and high hopes for tomorrow.

Have a great day and take it easy.

Tutorial

2006-12-24T19:34:00.000+09:00

The day before yesterday, as I was killing time waiting for the holidays to start, I was taken aside by the school custodian and given a tutorial, in Japanese, on how to use the toilet paper dispenser in the women's bathrooms.

I have been working there for a year and a half.

How does she think I have been making do until I received this important knowledge?

Ideal College Life!

2006-12-14T15:34:00.000+09:00

One of my students wrote to me about her 'ideal college life' the other day, and I was somewhat charmed by her simple ambitions. She's a popular girl, member of the cheer dance club, very pretty and outgoing, and I was expecting a more luxurious image of her university lifestyle.

April 2007 I enter a college!
I make friends any other student. So I have lunch with my friends in a cafeteria everyday (smilie holding a fork). My favorite menu is special set lunch!!
When afternoon classes finish, I go to club activities. I belong to dance club. We enjoy dancing every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. So I can't work part time job then. My part time job is waitress in Starbucks-Coffee! (picture of coffee) in Hanno (<-- the nearest station). I usually work one to five on Sunday. At five o'clock, my boyfriend (<- Of course, imaginary (crying face)) pick me up at there and we go for a spin in his new car. We arrived at Italian restaurant (heart) We eat spaghetti with meat sauce and peace of pizza (smilie licking lips). We enjoy talking about college life for a little time. We go dutch. We always have a nice time together.

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas...

2006-12-08T14:37:00.000+09:00

My tree is up (heh. 2-minute tree!), I'm baking cookies and it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here in freezing Japan.

This weekend Christina and I are cooking a traditional Christmas dinner for our Japanese tutors, and there are three other Christmas and year-end parties to get dressed up for. Then all I have to do is pack and I'm on my way to Sydney for Christmas with Bryn's family and down to Melbourne to do it all again with mine. For the last few days I've had butterflies at the thought of being home, seeing everyone I love again, being warm, just everything.

The JLPT is over for another year and I am taking at least a month before I think about the passive causitive verb conjunction again. For now, I plan to practise the Japanese with plenty of beer fuelled nights at the izakaya. I've also started reading a kids book of fairy tales. It doesn't have any pictures, which is a serious step up from the Harapeko Aomushi (Hungry Catterpillar).

Looking back, in a lot of ways 2006 has been a fantastic year. I'm healthier than I have been in years, my Japanese and my relationship with Bryn continue to progress in wonderful and satisfying ways, I've tried so many new things, been so many new places, saved some money, learnt to cook a lot of great food and thought a bit about where I'm going and what kind of life I want for myself.

Of course, there have been many times when I was lonely, frustrated, depressed and angry at myself. I've been too shy, haven't talked to new people enough, haven't made the most of opportunities to speak Japanese, haven't kept in touch with friends as well as I should, and there have certainly been times I wanted to murder most of 1-1.

And yet, I'm finishing out 2006 feeling remarkly happy, content, and excited about what 2007 has to offer. In Japan families are starting Osouji, the ritual end-of-year housecleaning, so you can start fresh on New Years Day. This last week I've been doing a little too, physically and mentally. My space is clean, my plans are made, and I am more than ready for 2007.

So make sure you all have a fantastic holiday season, and take some time out to do relaxing things that make you happy.Yoi otoshi o!