Just Another JET Blog

I was throwing out my can drink when I heard a shout from down the hallway, “Thomas! Thomas!” I pretended not to hear it, until the student recalled my actual name. I turned and then noticed that it was one of the students that I never saw in class. At least it wasn’t one of my students that had forgotten my name… I have been here for 7 months now. Anyways, turns out the student just wanted to inform me that she saw me in Takayama this weekend with my girlfriend. How nice of her. I occasionally forget about the ripples I cause everywhere I go. Yesterday it happened too, now that I think about it. Will and I went into the convenience store together, and it was quiet while we were in there… but as we passed through the door on the way out there was resounding thunder of people whispering to each. Actually, I like going to places with Will for this reason. Suddenly, it’s not about how tall I am… it’s about how tall all westerners are. A stereotype that’s just plain fun for me.

Not very many events to report… Aiko’s farewell party was on Saturday. She leaves for Australia today. I guess she’s probably in Nagoya now as I type this, and on her plane by the time this thing gets posted. With her out of the country, I now need to find new ways to occupy my time. I need some DS recommendations (I’m talking to you Nathan)! And, a few good book recommendations would be appreciated too. I’m currently reading “Great Expectations”. It was Thomas’ old copy, and I found it in the back of a closet. I wonder, if I buy a Wii out here can I play North American games on it?

I do have a small piece of advice for any incoming JETs who are coming out here this July / August. In my first month here, I watched The Life Aquatic, and at the end of it there’s a line that has haunted me for my entire stay in Japan. “It’s an adventure.” Everytime that something good, or bad or unexpected happens, these words pop into my head. It dampens the harsh blows and accentuates the good times. I’m not sure why it works, or if it would work for anyone else, but I’m putting it out there for you to try.

Oh, and one last thing! I have to do a presentation for one class on Michael J. Fox on Thursday, and while researching it a little I discovered that the Back to the Future rides in Universal Studios Hollywood and Florida have been closed to create a “Simpsons Ride”. Universal Studios Osaka is the last place where you can ride it! I’m not sure entirely why, but I’m actually a little outraged that Back to the Future would be closed for a Simpsons ride. One, a classic trilogy, the other, a show that should have died a decade ago. Back to the Future was always one of my favorite rides at Universal Studios… and it’s sad to see that only us in Japan can enjoy it now.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Mike singing Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything For Love” while driving in the car to places.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Going to karaoke!

Feb. 14, 10:00 am.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Assuming this actually gets posted on today.

Last night, I washing my hands when the water came to a stop. That’s odd. Since the last few “incidents” of showers and toilets freezing, I had left some water running all the time to keep it from happening again. I checked on all my taps… nothing. Uh oh. I set my alarm for a little earlier in the morning and hoped that the same thing didn’t happen to the school.

Woke up early, checked on my water. Nothing. As I was clearing off the car I asked the school nurse (who was doing the same) if she had any water. None. Another morning of getting ready at school. At school I asked my Kyoto-sensei if he had any water. None. Yappari, (as they say here (it means, “as I thought!”)). The entire apartment had no water. I think the entire water pipe to our apartment froze this time. Fantastic. This wouldn’t be that big of a problem… except that it’s Valentine’s Day and Aiko is suppose to come to my apartment where we were going to cook together. We’re also in the middle of a 3-day snowfall (blizzard just isn’t the right word for it). Stay tuned… updates are coming…

10:45 am.

Talked to the office workers at my school. They said it was probably a larger problem and that I shouldn’t worry about it because that means somebody is doing something to fix it. I had to wonder if that’s true… I wonder… I wah wah wah wah wonder….

12:40 pm.

Went to the apartment and back with several of the teachers. No water. I turned off the water to my apartment, because I’m pretty sure that’s what the Kyoto-sensei told me to do. Kassai-sensei told me that somebody should be coming this afternoon to fix it. But, when I asked him about it again to make sure I understood (this was all in Japanese), he replied that it would happen this afternoon “or sometime”. Sometime. Can you guess what I miss most about Canada today? Yeah, you’re right. It’s root beer. I’m not even kidding you. A glass of Barq’s would taste so good right now. I’ll keep you informed about my Valentine’s Day Crisis story as it develops.

1:20 pm.

Told Aiko about the situation. She responded that she’ll bring a bottle of water. What a trooper! Also, in case you’re wondering why I’m at my desk all day today giving updates, it’s because I have no classes today. It’s high school entrance exam day! Or, leave Warren at his desk to study Japanese day!

2:45 pm.

Well, the office handyman went up to the apartment and decided that either the water pump is broken or frozen. Fan-didly-astic. I’m suppose to meet Aiko at 4:15 in Furukawa. That means we’ll be back at my apartment around 5 (after picking up a few supplies at the grocery store).

3:00 pm.

School handyman returned again. The water is fixed! The pump is still broken. Kinda. It just doesn’t automatically refill the water basin thing at the top of the apartment anymore. So, all we have to do is push a button when the water stops working now. At some point someone will fix this. Crisis adverted. You can relax now too. You know, I’m never really sure about what will happen to me next in this country. Most likely, it will be another problem that somehow concerns me being able to shower first thing in the morning.

Feb. 15, 9:11 am.

Well, I had forgotten about that last sentence I wrote. So, I went home after school and the water worked. I drove down to Furukawa, picked up Aiko, returned and found the water not working. We then drove down to Valor, picked up 4 liters of water, and made due. She was okay with the lack of water at my house. Which really, just makes her awesome. She brought me chocolates, which is traditional in Japanese culture on Valentine’s Day. I knew that she had never dated a westerner before so I had gone all out with the gifts. A box of chocolates, a dozen roses (which were shockingly cheap! They don’t raise the prices of roses on Valentine’s Day here because most guys don’t give any to the girls!!) and a simple necklace (white gold and three small blue topaz stones) (that’s right, my Mother raised me right). I think it floored her. She continued to bring up the flowers and necklace in the conversation all night. Nice. Supper, however, was her plan. She brought white Hokkaido wine (sweet, like German wine), cheese, pizza sauce and the crusts and we had gone to the grocery store together to pick out the toppings (bacon, sausage, tobasco sauce, corn, green vegetable who’s name I can’t remember, mushrooms and tomatoes). So we made pizzas in my little toaster oven and she also made a little salad with the leftover toppings. The apartment was cold (even with the heater going) but the pizzas were delicious and the company was of the highest grade. I’ve got one more weekend with her until she leaves (on Tuesday). Ganbarimasu.

Oh yeah. And I had to shower at school again today. It’s starting to get a little old.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Root beer.

Thing I love most about Japan today: How much slower gossip about me spreads than I thought! I thought everyone was always talking about me, but, I guess I’m less the center of attention than I suspected. I talked to a few teachers on Valentine’s Day about my plans and some still hadn’t heard about me dating Aiko. Sugei!

Busy weekend! On Friday, Aiko and I took a bus to Nagoya. Once there, we met up with her friend Emiko at Red Rock. Which is an Australian burger joint. The place had fantastic burgers and (more importantly) Australian beer. It tasted almost too good. From there we went to an English style pub which was so full that we had to stand at the bar for an hour before we got a table. Both places were full of interesting people, many of whom were foreigners.

On Saturday, Aiko and I pressed on to Osaka. Once there we went Doutonbori, which is the exciting street in Osaka. I finally tried Takoyaki, which I had heard about almost since the first day I came to Japan. It really was good. Essentially, it’s dumplings with octopus in the middle and covered in various sauces. We spent the afternoon and a part of the evening at Osaka castle, which was very cool. It was by far the biggest castle I’ve seen in Japan so far. The inside of the castle is a museum, and on a few of the floors you’re not allowed to take pictures. I made accidental use of my foreigner powers and took a picture where I wasn’t suppose to… of a samurai mask with a mustache already on it. (Pictures from the whole weekend will go up when I have time.) For supper we headed back to Doutonbori and had kushikatsu (various fried things on sticks, the cheese mochi was my favorite!) and sushi. It was rainy all day, and after supper we wandered around Doutonbori for a long time looking for a good place to relax in. We found a really atmospheric small bar with some great cheap sparkling white wine and a chatty bartender.

Sunday, we went up to Universal Studios Osaka. Aiko’s favorite ride was Jurassic Park, but I liked the “Live the Hollywood Dream Ride” that they have there. Essentially, it’s a roller coaster where you get to pick the music (you could choose either Bon Jovi, Eminem, The Beattles, or one of two J-Pop bands). I’ve been to Universal Studios twice before, but it was interesting to see it all in Japanese this time. The monster rock show was especially interesting, as Japanese Beetlejuice (using Kansai-ben) tried to get some crowd participation… with precious little result. At 4 we caught a bus back to Takayama. The bus was full of university students returning to Takayama because it’s semester break in Japan right now. We arrived back in Takayama at 9:30 and found it covered in ice, making it impossible for me to safely complete my trip back to Kamioka. So, instead we met up with Fiona and George at an izakaya for supper, before I finally crashed at George’s place for the night. …unfortunately this meant a 6 am wake up call this morning, after a long weekend. I won’t lie… it was pretty rough. And I was almost late for work because everyone was driving so slow… but, my apartment’s shower was NOT frozen, which was a pleasant surprise. Now, if only I didn’t have to leave water running all the time in my house in order to prevent things from freezing.

Thing I miss most about Canada today: Not leaving the water on all the time when I go out for a weekend.

Thing I love most about Japan today: Osaka and Nagoya! Osaka had a lot of interesting things to do, and Nagoya felt like the perfect size for a city. Both had enough neon lights to remind me of what I thought every city in Japan would look like before I came here.