Perfil de DavidSilent but deadlyFotosBlogListasMais  |  Ferramentas Ajuda |
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29 de janeiro Gung hay fat choyMy eyes are burning from dryness. I love the lack of humidity here in Japan and I suppose I would learn to love the 100% humidity in the summer when it hits and I can no long sweat a drop off my body. I will become like a melting ice cream cone, except I will not be able to simply dribble off the cone onto some poor child`s already sticky hands, but instead cling incessantly to that cone as if it was the very thing that kept me alive.
It`s really sad when I have to walk into a beauty/make up store(It`s their pharmacy, but in Japan, all pharmacies are frequented by women - you still have to buy your drugs at the doctors office, in the hospital. This country`s society is more backwards than an Alabama Court Justice) and ask as politely as I can if there is anything over their counter that I could use to fix my eyes. I didn`t really speak in Japanese, I only pointed at the red, raccoon spheres of dried skin around my eyeballs for the woman over the counter to suggest a variety of implements to rip the skin out of my head and cleanse the dirt from it. Or something like that. I can`t really tell what she was talking about but I found some vaseline petroleum jelly and it`s almost working. I am now a greasy faced teenager so life is always good. Sarcasm doesn`t go well with japanese people. They do not understand it.
Japan will probably end up falling apart if they do not shape up the way they do things in their own country. As for the world stage, Japan is a bit ahead of other countries. Maybe not vancouver. The aussies and brits say that in Japan, their internet is better than anything they`ve ever seen. `Look! It`s going at 100kb/s!` one brit said to me. Well, a torrent file isn`t the best judge on downloading speed since it`s due to the amount of seeders. And 100kb/s is pretty average in Vancouver. He did not believe that Vancouver was this great. Actually, access to technology is 100x easier in Vancouver. They have better technology, but it`s hard to find. I have to go to Osaka or Tokyo if I want to find the `good` stuff. Even our company, one of the largest companies in Japan, has donated computer parts, without an IT department or even a proper database to keep all its employees in check. computers are too expensive. It`s cheaper to do a million pages of paperwork. The efficiency people see of Japan does not exist here. Efficient japan is an illusion and efficiency, in the japanese sense, requires 7 hosts/hostess at the local ATM just to greet you, a division of labour so specialized that a McDonald`s cashier will not know how to wipe the counter top clean if a spill occurred around the cashier. Effecient Japan requires people to work 12 to 18 hour days because no employees are qualified enough, or able to think or work independently enough to be on its own. They need 18 hours to do the task a normal, independent person would do in 6 hours (or 4 hours with 4 hours of internet surfing, email checking, and random solitaire playing while the boss isn`t looking). If you come to Japan seeking efficiency, the US is a better place to be. Canada is a better place to be for efficiency. The Canadian Government (hurray for Harper...groan...) and its beuacracy is more efficient than a simple Japanese company. This is how seriously backwards Japan is.
However, Japanese people are usually friendly. And hardcore. They have too much mercury in their system. 21 de janeiro I can smell your stink...If anyone thinks Japanese children are well behaved, they are mistaken. Japanese children are demons. Have you ever seen that `contest` on the internet about `How many 5 year olds can you beat up?`? Well, I thought before teaching that I could take on at least 20 but now I think I`ve found my limit: 1. One child can cause so much chaos that I would almost just sit there and give up. But sometimes I get upset and I yell. Today I did that and I made a little boy cry: not even the little boy who was causing trouble, but just because of my voice. Kids are just messed up. Also, they are like little germ bags running around. I`ve gotten sick so much I`ve given up on medication. I just let the disease live in my body permanently, affixed to my lungs, building up strength.
Btw, I watched the Matrix and the Sixth Sense this week in between lessons. It was very special because I looked like I wasn`t working hard at all. Actually, I wasn`t. Whoever said that 6 days of teaching straight is ever a good thing? It fricking sucks.
Right now I sit here in my little shell for the internet cafe, finally listening to some CBC to feel at home. I don`t want the tories to win, but I don`t have access to any sort of news except for the internet and then I might as well go to the library and read the globe and mail b/c I use the internet like once a week.
Other than that, life in Japan is okay. It`s getting better now that I know what`s going on. I don`t get much free time b/c I`m always sleeping and I can`t afford to go out. Besides, I don`t have any friends in Okayama so I`m pretty much by myself all the time. I sit at home and watch Japanese tv. I can almost understand it. I can read katakana now pretty well (it`s the easiest one to learn). I can order a lot of food in restaurants b/c of katakana.
I am putting up a string of random incoherent paragraphs b/c I`ve written emails to people and they contain valuable insights that I wish to share with everyone while I am here in Japan.
Eh, nothing new is happening with me...I`ll post pictures instead... 14 de janeiro Lost Wars...I was lost today and some Japanese helped me find my way to this international centre with free internet. They walked me here from very far away. An old Japanese man was talking to me about the War too today and he was very sad about having to fight, he said. He told me he is sorry for the war. It was very touching. Okayama cityThis place sucks only because English is so scarce to everyone here. I went to a bar last night that was supposed to have live music and they did have live music. It was pretty cool and a much better place than the seedy little `Aussie Bar` that was reccommended to me by my superiors and predecessors. I didn`t like it because I couldn`t get any free drinks. That`s very important in my line of work because teachers are quite poor.
However, the Wonderful World Live House had an old man, Harada-san who owned a Steel Factory in Higashi Okayama (a much nicer district) and he was happy to be with his Russian hostess so he offered drinks to me, the `handsome Canadian boy` who stepped into make his life more interesting. I guess I should call that old man up some time and see if I can score some more free drinks. I`m poor so hopefully he`ll understand.
Other than that, Okayama City is far more seedy than Nagoya was, but that`s probably because Nagoya was a big city and we just happened to miss all the seedy areas. Okayama is very small. I live in the downtown core, and it`s filled with seedy little hostess bars and hags asking you for sex. It`s really quite disgusting. Thankfully, I found this little internet cafe where it`s 300 yen for one hours use which is much cheaper than I expected. But due to the lack of time, I can`t really say too much more.
In terms of my classes, I think I did all right for my first week. The students were really good so it wasn`t difficult to get them to listen to me. I need to work on my time management skills. The only downfall this week was this kid who soiled himself. But to be honest, the kid looked like he was 2. He was one of the smartest in the class though - knew all the English that was taught to him and could almost express himself. He needs to learn how to say, `Can I go to the bathroom?`
Until then, I`ll go explore Okayama some more. I need a bike....this city is small enough and sunny enough that having a bike is like having oxygen.
03 de janeiro New years in JapanEveryone in Japan seems to be really friendly to me once they find out that I'm a foreigner. Strangers talk to me a lot and it seems that when they know I'm not Japanese, they are really cool. During New Years, I went to a Shinto Shrine by our place here in Nagoya with a bunch of foreigners and a Japanese man asked me how I say "New Years" in Chinese and it turns out that we almost say the same thing so he called me his brother and so I had to drink sake with him and then he gave me this huge hug (he was a really big guy) and then we drank some more. It was really fun at the shrine. Everyone was a local so it was a lot of fun to talk to a lot of the Japanese people. I pretty much speak Japlish now whenever I talk to Japanese and it's only been a month. I have a feeling I'll pick up the language quickly. After the shrine, I slept for 3 days. I didn't get a hangover, but we had barrels of sake everywhere.
The shrine party and what followed afterwards is pretty much the opposite of what Japan seems to be. It's really quiet here right now and it's been this way since New Years happened. The subways run less, there are almost no one on the streets.
I realized this year, I accomplished 3 of my life goals: graduate university, get a SCUBA certification, and go to Japan. Wow...life has its strange twists, I wish I could be that lucky....
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