Below is a map made by a Taiwanese person and how they think most Taiwanese think of the world. I thought it was interesting, especially how they have highlighted some of my current/former places of residence.
If you are wondering, Chien Ming Wang is a Taiwanese baseball player for the Yankees (I think). Just a glipse of how one part of the world sees the rest.

(click on the map to see it full size)

100!!!!!!!

In coming to Japan, I had a few expectations for myself. I thought I would study the language some, which has consisted of a total of 4hour hours studying in the nearly 5 months I have been here. I thought I would workout more, I did join a gym and played lacrosse but an injury led me to quit playing and not motivated to go workout. I planned on reading more as well but have only finished one book so far.

I did have one inspired moment the other day though. It was 1am and I had been drinking Japanese whiskey and Coke Zero when I got a craving for Doritos. It was pouring down rain and in normal circumstances I wouldn't go out, but my bike was calling my name and my stomach was shouting for some artificial cheese flavored goodness. So I got dressed, hopped on my bike and rode like mad to get to the convenience store. I was a little nervous about hitting a drunk salaryman stumbling his way home in the middle of the street, or being hit by a drunk salaryman weaving along the dark roads with limited sight. But I was motivated, so plopped in my headphone, put on some Journey, and was off and back in no time.

Today I went to IKEA to see about buying a bed, found nothing so decided it was better just to spend some of that money on Krispy Kreme which was nearby. As I was walking through the downpour I saw a movie poster for "Indiana Jones" or "Indy Jone" as my students shouted this week (they all knew the theme song, so I was a happy man.) I decided to fork or my $18 for a ticket and be dazzled. Every time I have been to a theater outside of the US it has been quite pleasant. No talking, no phones going off or anything else to bother you. This time I was assigned a seat next to a white girl and her date. Let's just say she is of North American birth, and she made me feel like I was back home with all of her jibber jabber and letting everyone know she figured out the little clues. Thanks annoying idiot girl.

After the movie I stood in line outside with a bunch of other people to enjoy some donut goodness. It only took about 10 minutes, and since the rain was falling more or less vertical, I didn't get too wet.

A popular thing in Japan is the Crane Game. The one that has a big box with little stuffed animals inside that you rarely see people win and often read about small children getting stuck inside of. In Japan they have taken this to a whole new level. You can win nearly anything. Nintendos, naked figurines (little plastic doll like things), candy, chips, and of course stuffed animals. In the game pictured below you can win a live fish! I did see someone win one (winning happens quite a bit here) and was very glad to see that the crane didn't just drop the little guy down the hole.




This is a kimono one of my students made. It took her about 20 hours to complete it. It is about 2 inches tall.


My kids doing a warm-up.


A letter that was placed on my door at around 1am the other night. It says that there are strange chemical smells coming from my apartment...well, I think that is what it says, nobody would just tell me outright. Turns out the elephant living upstairs (the same one who called the police because of a "smell" a few weeks earlier wrote the letter. She and the realtor came to my door after we faxed the letter to the realtor/management office. There was a lot of me saying "I don't speak Japanese" in Japanese and them continuing to speak Japanese at me. Not sure anything was accomplished.


I got ADD from looking at this can.


I ride by this every day.


Finally, this is my 100th post!!!! YAY!!!!! Thanks to the few of you that have stuck by me thought the years. I wonder if I will make it to 200? Maybe I should not set my goals too high, lets aim for 101 first and play it by ear after that.

Sitting on the train at Tokyo Station. Waiting. Sitting next to me is an older woman wearing fake cream colored alligator skin shoes. She is trying to take up two seats but it is hard for her 95lbs frame to even take up one seat.

Across from me is a woman in a kimono. It is multiple shades of blue, like the Adriatic at dusk (hey, I am trying here ok?).

All the seats are filled but the one directly to my right. Nobody is talking. Of the seven people sitting across from me: four are reading, one is listening to music and one is playing with his phone. One woman is just sitting there doing nothing. What is she thinking?

Parents' Week

Throughout this month my schedule has been changing, and I am never sure until I arrive at school which classes I will be teaching. One class had half the students move to another day, but I got quite confused and just erased the entire class from my schedule at home. So I got a call 4 minutes before class was supposed to start asking where I was and that this was the first day of Parents' Week!! It is when the parents get to come and watch how their little snowflakes perform in class and criticize or praise me.

I hadn't even showered yet. So I quickly through on some clothes, mussed up my hair and hopped on my bike. It did pretty well and was able to start class only 6 minutes late. Halfway through class it was obvious (to me at least) that in my rush I forgot to put on deodorant. I was quite stinky the rest of the day.

As for the parents watching, my second class involved 2 usually well behaved kids smacking the hell out of each others' head. Nice. All the while the parents were telling the kids to keep their feet of the chairs and to sit up. These are things I don't bother with. I am just happy that they are participating and given the short amount of time I have with them, the less I spend on correcting their posture, the more time I have for actual English.

Every class that had more than one parent show up was chaos. The parents would be sitting in the back (maybe a few feet or so from the students) chatting with the other parents at full volume, their phones would be going off and they let their other kids (younger siblings) run all around the classroom while I was putting on my show. One mother had the nerve to write in her critique that I need to discipline more so the students will stay focused. But overall, most parents said good things (even the one that is notorious for never saying anything good!)



I did have one boy start crying in the middle of class because he didn't answer the question fast enough. He went on for about 20 minutes ruining my lesson. His mother just sat there. Another student cried after she lost at UNO. Both students are in 4th grade. What the hell?

All my adult classes loved me.

Last weekend I went to the mall to see the newly opened Krispy Kreme. I came home with a dozen glazed and finished them off for dinner.

Last night I went out with 2 friends for some booze and food. We ended up in an Italian style Denny's that sold beer and little pizzas. Good times.

On the way home I got on the train.It pulled up to the station and everyone got off but one guy. It is a terminal station, so it's the last stop and turns around to go back the way it had come. I tried to be a nice guy and wake up the drunk sleeping salaryman but had no luck. So instead I took his picture. You can see the drool coming out of his mouth. I wonder when he finally woke up?

I think they are prepping for the G8 Summit

Not much happening round these here parts other than smashing my face into incredibly low head of the door frame. Such a lump on the head in called kakoi nobu in Japanese. Mine was right on the bridge of my nose, though I didn't notice it broke the skin until the next morning.

Last week I went on a date with another tiny Japanese girl. The night started off well enough with her insisting she was too popular to meet me at the train station and that people would be talking if they saw her with a foreigner. This is in a city of almost 13,000,000 people. She was worried her picture would end up in a tabloid! While at dinner (were she had to slum it because I refused to go to a $200 a plate restaurant) she showed me her new Cartier watch that Daddy bought her. It cost $18,000. After dinner and some karaoke she called her driver to pick her up and that was that.

I live in a pretty remote area, nothing to do here except go to Denny's. I joined a web site where I can meet people and whatnot. I used the site in Korea to mixed results, but it got me out of the house and I had some good times. Since being in Japan I met a millionaire heiress (who was mentioned above), a girl who works in a bar, a psycho who is really nice and a trans-gender hostess who is currently dating an American baseball coach for one of the pro teams here. Interesting thing this Internet is.

I have a little journal that I am going to try to carry around and jot down whatever pops into my head at times. I will hope to transfer some of those jottings over here if they aren't to pathetic.

Maths

formula

(B)eer+(T)equila+(M) Assassination of Jesse James... sound track +(B)ike = LOST

LOST + small ass doors = OW!!! &$Y#Y@&$Y&*$Y!&*Y&@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do they build places fit for dwarfs???


If I was an inch taller (2cm for you Europeans) my nose would be broken now.








More posts to come... I promise!!!