Long time, no blog
Yeah, that was a lame title, I know.
Anyway, I will try to summarize what has been going on in the last few weeks. I had wanted to write many times in the last two weeks, but wasn't able because (1) I paid my internet bill late and they temporarily suspended my service and (2) I have been working a shitload and probably would have been too tired to write anyway.
The best recent news is that I had a reunion with my friend Hitomi, who I met when she was an au pair in Pittsburgh last year. I had written a post to a d-list for Japanese living in Pittsburgh called komachi, looking for a Japanese calligraphy teacher. She wrote me a nice letter saying saying that I seemed nice and suggested that we meet. We started off as language partners but became good friends before too long. On Thursday of last week, we met for the first time in Japan. Oddly, although 80-90% of what I say in an average day is in Japanese (at work), I got nervous about speaking Japanese with her, so we spoke pretty much in English the whole time. We went to see the famous Kaminarimon (雷門) in Asakusa (浅草), one of the older merchant neighborhoods of Tokyo. She wanted to get some fresh-made Japanese crackers called senbei (煎餅), so we wandered around for a little while and eventually found a place I had been to before where they bake them right in front of you. We were going to get them fresh, but then we saw something we had never seen before, wet crackers called nuresenbei so we opted for them instead. They were interesting but not very good, as you might expect buying wet crackers. We stopped in a café and talked for a while...mostly I complained about work and she listened diligently (sorry Hitomi!!!). When we were in Pittsburgh, we often used to get Vietnamese food from a place called Tram's Kitchen (spring rolls and pho), so in the spirit of our reunion we decided to look for our old favorite. She called her sister, who was able to locate a Vietnamese-Thai place nearby. Unfortunately, the pho had animal-based stock, and although they offered to try to make something special, I felt bad making them do that, so I just got Som Tam (green papaya salad), a dish of which I have fond memories because it was my reward for learning how to say "I'm a vegetarian" in Thai. We talked for a while longer and eventually left the restaurant to get closer to the station, and she told me about her badass apartment which she is getting for something like 24000 yen a month, which is ridiculously cheap given how big it is. She also seems to have gotten a compact car for 50000 yen including an inspection. Maybe Anna and I will have to move to Okinawa someday with prices like that! Anyway, Hitomi and I had a nice reunion, and she even brought me some Okinawan juice but we forgot that it was stored in a locker at a different station than the one I had to depart from, so I didn't get to taste it...too bad!
Other news: I pulled an all-nighter at work the night before our reunion, cramming away on an extremely difficult translation. I expected to be thanked and praised but I got yelled at instead, and they even insinuated that I wouldn't get any compensation time. What a load of crap.
I also bought a pack of very light cigarettes for the first time in my entire live and smoked my first three cigarettes. I will not get addicted, and am not sure why I did this exactly...I was really stressed from work, and many of my friends who smoke say it helps them deal with stress. I guess I was hoping for a release from the stress but it didn't do that for me at all. I did feel slightly delinquent and cool as I smoked it though. To horrified friends and family members, don't worry, I will not come back from Japan a smoker.
I have been really into footbagging recently (known in some American circles as "hackysacking"). I'm still not that good, but I have learned a few basic tricks like consecutive toe stalls, leg over, and mirage. That probably means nothing to everybody reading this, but I promise to make a video after I can afford to buy a video camera.
It's 1:18 am already, and I have a long, long day of translation tomorrow. Lots of other things to report on but it will have to wait for the next post.
Oh, if you readers have any comments, please feel free to leave one! I think I had comments turned off before, but they should be working now. Give it a try.
Ciao for now...
Anyway, I will try to summarize what has been going on in the last few weeks. I had wanted to write many times in the last two weeks, but wasn't able because (1) I paid my internet bill late and they temporarily suspended my service and (2) I have been working a shitload and probably would have been too tired to write anyway.
The best recent news is that I had a reunion with my friend Hitomi, who I met when she was an au pair in Pittsburgh last year. I had written a post to a d-list for Japanese living in Pittsburgh called komachi, looking for a Japanese calligraphy teacher. She wrote me a nice letter saying saying that I seemed nice and suggested that we meet. We started off as language partners but became good friends before too long. On Thursday of last week, we met for the first time in Japan. Oddly, although 80-90% of what I say in an average day is in Japanese (at work), I got nervous about speaking Japanese with her, so we spoke pretty much in English the whole time. We went to see the famous Kaminarimon (雷門) in Asakusa (浅草), one of the older merchant neighborhoods of Tokyo. She wanted to get some fresh-made Japanese crackers called senbei (煎餅), so we wandered around for a little while and eventually found a place I had been to before where they bake them right in front of you. We were going to get them fresh, but then we saw something we had never seen before, wet crackers called nuresenbei so we opted for them instead. They were interesting but not very good, as you might expect buying wet crackers. We stopped in a café and talked for a while...mostly I complained about work and she listened diligently (sorry Hitomi!!!). When we were in Pittsburgh, we often used to get Vietnamese food from a place called Tram's Kitchen (spring rolls and pho), so in the spirit of our reunion we decided to look for our old favorite. She called her sister, who was able to locate a Vietnamese-Thai place nearby. Unfortunately, the pho had animal-based stock, and although they offered to try to make something special, I felt bad making them do that, so I just got Som Tam (green papaya salad), a dish of which I have fond memories because it was my reward for learning how to say "I'm a vegetarian" in Thai. We talked for a while longer and eventually left the restaurant to get closer to the station, and she told me about her badass apartment which she is getting for something like 24000 yen a month, which is ridiculously cheap given how big it is. She also seems to have gotten a compact car for 50000 yen including an inspection. Maybe Anna and I will have to move to Okinawa someday with prices like that! Anyway, Hitomi and I had a nice reunion, and she even brought me some Okinawan juice but we forgot that it was stored in a locker at a different station than the one I had to depart from, so I didn't get to taste it...too bad!
Other news: I pulled an all-nighter at work the night before our reunion, cramming away on an extremely difficult translation. I expected to be thanked and praised but I got yelled at instead, and they even insinuated that I wouldn't get any compensation time. What a load of crap.
I also bought a pack of very light cigarettes for the first time in my entire live and smoked my first three cigarettes. I will not get addicted, and am not sure why I did this exactly...I was really stressed from work, and many of my friends who smoke say it helps them deal with stress. I guess I was hoping for a release from the stress but it didn't do that for me at all. I did feel slightly delinquent and cool as I smoked it though. To horrified friends and family members, don't worry, I will not come back from Japan a smoker.
I have been really into footbagging recently (known in some American circles as "hackysacking"). I'm still not that good, but I have learned a few basic tricks like consecutive toe stalls, leg over, and mirage. That probably means nothing to everybody reading this, but I promise to make a video after I can afford to buy a video camera.
It's 1:18 am already, and I have a long, long day of translation tomorrow. Lots of other things to report on but it will have to wait for the next post.
Oh, if you readers have any comments, please feel free to leave one! I think I had comments turned off before, but they should be working now. Give it a try.
Ciao for now...
posted by jeremy at 12:06 AM
1 comments
