10.31.06
RIP Mr. Frog
I had a pet frog. Every morning when I left my house, there he was waiting for me on my doorstep. “Good bye Mr. Frog!” “Ribbit, bye T-tor” he would croak. One day he wasn’t there. That’s ok. I later found him INSIDE my house. Should I leave him in or put him out? I decided to put him outside. It was better that way. Mr. Frog had other plans. When I went to scoop him up, he was nowhere to be found. No further thought….
Finally after a long weekend, I rolled out of bed on Monday to drag myself to school. As I was stepping out the front door, who should I see just inside the door frame? Yes, it was…Mr. Frog?? But he looked so skinny. and his skin was a slightly different color. Upon closer inspection I saw that Mr. Frog was covered in dust and hair. Mr. Frog was….dead. 
I scooped him up (with a piece of paper) and laid him gently in the flower bed (across the street) and said my last “Good bye Mr. Frog” before heading off on my bike.
Happy Harroween!
Saturday we went out for Halloween. Scott and his friends dressed up like Mormons. I dressed up as a Japanese person not celebrating Halloween…so my costume was pretty easy.
We went to Sam and Dave’s, a popular club (mostly with foreigners). It played bad hip hop music and was completely and utterly packed (I mean shoulder to shoulder firecode-violation-packed) …mostly with foreigners but plenty of Japanese to be found too. Why we went here I can only hypothesize: someone suggested it and I couldn’t think of a better alternative. We’ve yet to find a dance club with good music. Somehow we managed to party long enough to make the morning train without resorting to our Internet Cafe refuge.
Funny, Halloween is not really a big deal here and as uneventful as my night would seem, it was actually much more than I did last Halloween when I was in the states. Don’t know whatcha got til its gone I guess.
10.18.06
Sushi
I got really sick of sushi when I lived in California. It was never my favorite food in the first place but there is only so much Kabuki I can take. :-p
So I was hopeful but hesitant about trying the sushi here. I knew it would be fresher but also figured it would have a “Japanese” spin on it. (It is their creation so I suppose really, we have an “American” spin on it.) It turns out I was afraid for nothing. The sushi here is absolutely delicious! and contrary to what Scotty and some others may think, it HAS a taste! (Maybe has something to do with the mayonnaise that’s in so much of it–sorry Weenie, you would gross out.) I found that there was a delicious and creative mix of ingredients and that even the seafood on its own was rather delicious. (I couldn’t bring myself to try the raw horse meat sushi though *shudder*)
To top it all off, its cheap! The sushi is prepared two to a plate and the plates sit on a conveyor belt that runs around the bar area where you sit. If you see something you like, you take it…they tally how many empty plates you have to figure out your bill. Each plate is less than $1. 
10.17.06
Food Is Always a Good Topic
An ever-interesting topic for me is Japanese food. Especially kyushuku (school lunch). At my school EVERYONE gets school lunch (except for me cause I figured out it was shite).
Its always interesting to see the teachers at my table listlessly pushing around their food trying desperately to force it all down because its simply unheard of not to finish your food. Or even more interesting are the teachers who are wolfing down their food and actually seem to be ENJOYING it.
I think the people who prepare the lunch follow a list of required foods or food groups that they are required to serve at every meal. Everyday it seems they serve a random mix of foods that look like they were thrown together with no thought of how the ingredients or dishes will actually TASTE together. For example:
Yesterday’s menu was: Rice with ketchup and lima beans; a square blob of egg that they called an omelette; japanese style soup complete with mini fish…and milk.
Today’s menu was: a semi-palatable looking hot dish of potatoes, ham, corn, cheese and mayonnaise; two huge slices of bread with butter and strawberry jam; japanese style soup with tiny bird eggs (in place of tiny fish I suppose)…and milk.
Scott’s school served hot dogs. :-\
Sometimes…
I walk through the halls of school and feel like a visitor. A permanent visitor. I will be here a year at least but this will never be MY school or MY career. Its very weird but not an altogether unpleasant thought. In fact, sometimes its downright agreeable. I’m glad that I won’t be spending the rest of my life here and I’m also glad that since I am “afforded” visitor status, I don’t have to clean the school! and I don’t have a lot of other responsibilities either. When its 4:15 (sometimes before) I close my im windows, finish my solitaire game, shut down my computer and go home. Life is good.
10.13.06
Things I Like Here
To counter my last list, here is a list of things I find that I really like here:
- Bike riding (yes, I can do this in the states I know, but…I never did.)
- My pretty easy job (yes, I am writing this at work now…)
- Mochi!!! (no Lucy, not Mochi in the Forest 
) Who knew a chewy-gooey rice cake filled with bean paste would be so delicious? Oddly enough, considering the ingredients, my only complaint is that sometimes they are TOO sweet. (An odd enough complaint anyway coming from the queen of sweets eating.)
Things I Miss
Here is a list of things I miss so those of you in the states can appreciate what you have.
-Cheap fruit. A package of three apples costs about $5. A bag of grapes: $7. Peaches (when they were in season and you could find them at the store): $10 a pound.
- No bugs (or for Texans at least, no bugs in the house). I miss bug-free living in California, where I never saw a critter and never got a mosquito bite.
- TV that I can understand. and more than five channels. I guess you could say its my fault for not speaking Japanese…
So, other than friends and family, there are not a lot of things that I really really miss. Its only three things but I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss them!!
10.11.06
Update!!
Well, I`ve been having some email/internet hiccups but I think I`ve sort of solved it. I have a new email address now…ready?
Please use this email address for now and maybe next week you can use this one or gmail. Thanks!!
10.10.06
Most Frustrating thing in the world
This morning, I got to school, ready for a day of emailing and messin around online. But when I plugged my school-provided laptop in…lo and behold, for some reason I can`t access ANY web based email. No gmail, no hotmail, not even myspace. Any sort of contact with the outside world has been cut off.
This is not the most frustrating thing in the world. The most frustrating thing in the world is that I can`t even begin to try to fix it because everything on my computer is in JAPANESE! (Guess that`s what I get for living in Japan, huh?)
Adding to my frustration is the snorking sniffling old man who sits by me who is sick with a cold and has a kleenex stuffed up both nostrils. He`s not really doing anything…but the kleenex hanging from his nose is seriously grossing me out.
10.05.06
Something Delicious…
Yes! I found something very delicious in Japan. Not just “i guess this will do” or even “mmmm, this is good!” No no, I think I found THE most delicious candy ever made. Actually, Scott found it but then I ate them all.
It may not look like much more than a starburst but the flavor and texture don’t even compare. This candy is delicious. Ask me for it when I come back…I will definitely have a supply.
*comes in grape, lemon, cherry and some other flavors (but one flavor to a pack)
