Pulled from our lovely Ishikawa JETs forum.....

Things you can only say in Japan (I find these particularly close to my heart).....

"Here, these apples have been reduced to ¥300 each."

"Is cat poo burnable or non-burnable rubbish?”

"Yes. Very kawaii.”

[half-way up a mountain] "There’s must be a drinks machine round here somewhere.”

"He’s got a cold so he went to the hospital.”

"The machine only has cold beverages. What a waste. We’ll look for another one.”

"The train is 21 seconds late this morning. Wow, something must have happened!”

"Whelp, the road sprinklers are on."

"Did I remember to put my bed away?"

"The ATM closes in 15 minutes(5pm)."

"Classes are cancelled this afternoon? Because of cheering practice?? Sure, why not."


I LOVE IT!! :-)

Omiyage

The Japanese have an important custom of giving omiyage (souvenirs) to friends and colleagues after taking a trip. There are whole stores devoted to these small gifts and almost all train stations and airports carry sections of it for last minute shopping. The small treats (usually regional candies, cookies or cakes) are individually wrapped and come a variety of package sizes, but usually about 10 or 12 to a box. They are usually reasonably priced so it is easy to pick up a few boxes of cookies when coming back from a trip. I find the practice of giving omiyage quite nice. I picked up a few boxes of cookies in the Sapporo airport to give to the teachers in my area of the staffroom and then I put the rest on the coffee table in the middle of the office. Teachers thanked me and people who were eating them seemed quite pleased. I was happy- I got pleasure out of giving. They were happy- they, I suppose, received some pleasure from receiving- and that is the part that I don't really understand. Random cookies, cakes and candies show up on my desk or in my mailbox at least weekly. I rarely know who the treat is from, where it came from or what it is. Sometimes it is delicious but often it is some red bean concoction that I try to force down without tasting. I don't mean to be ungrateful. I really do enjoy it when I happen to be at my desk when someone is passing them out and they tell me about their trip or why this particular cookie is special to that area. But the randos that show up on my desk- I just can't figure it out. Hasn't it lost some meaning when I cannot even properly thank the person? Right now there is a half eatten miso flavored sweet bun sitting on my desk. I ate the first half of the bun while the giver was watching and pretended that it was delicious. When she left, I folded up the rest as if I was saving it for later (it was a big bun). But truthfully, I think miso is best left in soup.

Test week

This is the test week at school so I have no classes to teach. And since my OC test is not being given until Thursday, I have no tests to grade until Thursday. This makes for a rather boring Monday through Wednesday. Right now all of the other teachers are in a meeting so I am in the staffroom all by myself. Literally, there is no one else here. They were nice enough to leave the light directly above my desk on- the rest of the room is dark. It is the most beautiful day outside. I cannot wait til 4:15!

Anyway I thought I would post because I have not done so in a while. Truthfully there is not much to say. I had a nice weekend- went to some good restaurants (Indian and Mexican!), hung out with some friends, slept in- overall a happy weekend.

That's all for now. Have a good week :)

They like me, they really like me!

Just thought I would update that I am four for four on being accepted to law schools. Yes from Catholic University in DC, Suffolk in Boston, Stetson in Florida and Franklin Pierce in NH. Still waiting to hear from a bunch of other schools but I am excited so far!

Gold Leaf Chopsticks

Me and the sticks!
You must masking tape on the parts that you do not want to have gold leaf on it.
Then you cover the whole chopstick with gold leaf.
And then you take off the masking tape and are left with a lovely design.

Today I made golf leaf chopsticks in the Geisha District of Kanazawa! Very cool!

I love Japanese

Some languages make sense. Some do not. I will let you be the judge of whether Japanese fits into the first or second category.

"Kono ryoori ha oishisou desu." means "This food looks delicious."

"Kono ryoori ha oishiisou desu." means "I heard that this food is delicious."

What is the difference between these sentences, you ask? The difference is the one "i" in oishisou that completely changes the meaning of the sentences. I suppose you have to understand the sentence based on context in these cases. And that would imply that I understand the meaning of the sentences that would surround this sentence. Haarumf!

It is official, I am a jerk

I had a policy to never open my door to anyone in Japan unless I knew them. I am a single woman living alone and I just feel like anyone who needs someone can either leave the bill in my mailbox or ask the question through the door. This policy started my first week in Japan when the cable man came to my door at 9 PM on a Friday night demanding 3000 yen for cable that I didn't even know that I had (and certainly never used). Apparently this is common and I was right not to open my door since the cable men here can become rather persistent.

Tonight at about 10 PM my doorbell rings. I don't answer it and continue about my business. A minute later it rings again. I peer through the peephole and see a man and a woman standing there. Must be jehovahs witnesses, I think. I have had them by before and when I pretend not to speak a word of Japanese they usually go away. But I am in my PJs and I just don't feel like chatting to anyone so I don't answer. A minute later it rings again. I yell out HELLO? (hoping if it is indeed a JV they will be scared off by the English) and the couple yells back, "Umm are you speak Japanese?" "A little," I say, "Can I help you?" "Is this your phone?" they answer. At this I open the door and see them standing there hold my cell phone. They explained that they live across the way and found the cell phone on the street. I am really embarassed at this point that I left them out there in the cold, windy night and thank them profusely for returning my cell phone to me. It is all cracked up but otherwise fine. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went to the grocery store.

And that is Japanese hospitality for you. Amazing, I say. I am shocked that anyone in my apartment building or on my street even notices my presence. And here there is this couple who braved the cold, rain and wind to guess that the phone with all of the English sounding names in it might belong to the foreigner who lives in the apartment near their house. Wow. Just wow.

Hartford?

Why is the Hartford sponsoring an ice sculpture in Sapporo, Japan? So strange!

More Yuki Matsuri

Marie, Me, Jess and Phill at an ice bar
At the Kirin Beer Garden we had all you can eat lamb that you cooked right at the table. And they gave you these amazing bibs to wear! This is Marie, Jess and me.
Schmirnoff in an ice bar in Sapporo! How cool!
Me and an ice sculpture
My roomie for the weekend, Marie, and me.

Yuki Matsuri

Me in front of a huge lit-up castle snow sculpture
Hello Kitty (Kitty-chan) and Me
The view of Odori Park from the TV Tower
The snowman is crying because it is too warm and all of the ice sculptures are melting!
An ice sculpture with fish in it!
This weekend I went to the Snow Festival in Sapporo with my friends, Jess, Phill and Marie. There were tons of other JETs there so we saw Alex, Pam and Heath and some others along the way. We arrived on Friday midday and came back to Kanazawa this afternoon. It was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun. On Friday we ate Sapporo's famous ramen, walked around the snow sculptures in Odori Park at night and went up in the TV Tower which overlooks the city of Sapporo. On Saturday, we wandered around the snow sculptures some more and saw the ice sculptures in Susukino. We also had dinner at the Kirin Beer Garden and took in some of the nightlife of Sapporo (including a brief karaoke experience and some visits to the ice bars). On Sunday, Alex, Marie, Jess, Phill and I met up to go to Satoland. Satoland is in an area just outside of Sapporo and there are lots of snow tubing runs, a snow maze and a lot of kiddie things. On Monday, we went skiing and today we returned to Kanazawa. Great trip but, boy, am I tired.

Potatoes, the neverending story

There were potatoes on my pizza at lunch today. And I liked it.

(I am turning Japanese!)

My Japanese notebook that I write down grammar and vocabulary in is a nondescript white notebook with a clear cover. It is not like those crazy notebooks that you can get that have clouds and strange writing and pictures of Barbie making friends with Winnie the Pooh. No, mine is normal. Or so I thought.

I just took a closer look at the clear cover and in the cover (it is frosted clear so there are fully clear parts with writing that I had never noticed) there are some fun phrases:

"B5 size daily notebook
For senuous people

This notebook is made of safe materials for the environment and be able to recycle burn. They are useful to your ecological contribution."

Huh? I just don't understand why no one has a native speaker of English take a look at something before it is printed on millions of notebooks. What does "for senuous people" mean? So weird!

Kenrokuen Light Up

Dan and Me
A very old tree
Off in the distance
This is the oldest fountain in Japan.
The lantern that is a symbol of Kanazawa.

This weekend there was a "Light up" at Kenrokuen garden. The garden is open at night and free to the public. They shine all of these really cool lights in the trees and it is really beautiful. My camera doesn't really do it justice.

Izakaya

I am sorry to say that I have no pictures to go along with this story. Really, it was a Japan great one. Last night I went out with my friend, Dan, to a few izakaya bars to practice Japanese and, of course, have a few beers. We went to an izakaya next to Dan's apartment where he often goes and as soon as he openned the door everyone in the very small place (it was pretty full with 8 people in it) yells out "DAN!!!!!". It was a happy welcome. Though it was only about 9 pm, everyone in the place was drunk. It was so so funny to see all of these Japanese couples my father's age sucking back beer and shouting out every few minutes, "I am drunk! We are drunk!" (in Japanese, of course). They were so funny and one of the men (the drunkest of the bunch) was having a jolly old time and even knocked over his wife's drink in a particularly wild flailing of his arms. His wife kept on asking me my name and trying to pronounce it correctly (which for Japanese people is nearly impossible with all the L and X in Alexis). Anyway, the evening was highly entertaining, perhaps a top 5 funniest moments in Japan.

Grossness

I think that Kanazawa needs to invent a new type of precipitation. Something that is half snow, half water, 100 percent horrible. This precipitation is somehow WETTER than water and what were formerly waterproof boots are not soggy slouchy piles of leather in my locker. I would like to propose that this new precipitation be called Grossness. The Grossness started today. Apparently, I cannot complain. It grossed all winter last year with no stopping. And here I am on February 1 experiencing my first Kanazawa Grossness.