Monday, December 18, 2006

Last year this time...



I remember feeling really down, lonely and super cold. I remember wanting to go home so badly. I remember staying in my kotatsu the entire day other than when I was at school. I remember I slept a lot. I especially remember not wanting to go out and see anyone. If this is you this year, it may be a problem. I think I was super depressed last winter and although it didn't feel like it at the time, I do see it now in retrospect.

This year, I'm feeling pretty darn good. I don't need to force myself out of bed or be afraid of the cold. I actually tell people how warm I think it is still, even if it's 5 degrees. I hardly use my kotatsu or stay home. I think the major differences between last year and this year is really that I've found a sense of belonging. And to be fair, last winter was much colder. I was told last night that last winter was the coldest winter in Yamaguchi since 40 years ago.

Don't even know where the week had gone. The JET Mid-year seminar was held Tuesday and Wednesday so that's always a nice change to the repetitive schedule. I remember thinking it was boring and long last year but I guess as a presenter this year, it was much more interesting to be a part of the doing rather than the listening. The weekend that followed was a relaxing one. Hannah had organized a small, but wonderful dinner at her place. otsukare-chan ne! Made me realize how $%'# I am at cooking. We were forced to leave her place and out in the cold though because Hannah was too respectful of her neighbors. Keith, Brett, Junko, Danny and I ended up going to Nells and later Keith, Danny and I went to Noise bar to visit my young J-friend, Haruki. There I met a Japanese man who tried to recruit me to his Juku school to teach English. As I'm not a fan of the Japanese style of beating around the bush, I just said "okane wa?" He told me 1800 en for 90 min... I couldn't help but looked unimpressed. I explained that I get paid a lot more in my English conversation classes and he didn't even bother trying anymore.

FYI
I quit smoking... YAY!!! Well, it's only been 10 days and I did cheat a little bit but it's still good considering I've smoked since I was 17, so you have to give me that much. Although I've tried quitting a few times and have been unsuccessful, I feel pretty good about this time. I figured I'd better quit now because there's no way I can quit back home when my best friend and mom both smoke. I even got my sister to send over a book on quitting smoking just for a foolproof method. Pray for me.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Christmas in Hagi/Sumo in Fukuoka/Cos Play

X-Mas Party in Hagi 2006 (Above: Women who love shoes: ABUNAIYO!!! Here you'll find foot fettish Dan uncontrolably mauling Becky's boot. I was 2 seconds too late to catch him go buck wild before Becky had to forfeit her boot to him. I was told he gets an attack like this every time he sees new shoes) (Above: Is the present I received from the draw... flashcards... I wouldn't have wanted anything else)
(Above from left to right: Chilling with the sexy mamas; Becky H., Becky I., Moi, Laura, Pauline and Rosie)
(Above: A little speech for the Yamaguchi girls soccer team who came second at Awaji... YAY!!!)
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Sumo Wrestling - Fukuoka
Even though we didn't arrive till the last hour and half, we didn't miss the VIPs who wrestle at the end. But ask me their names? I couldn't tell you. I was really in it for the sake and beer. I still don't really understand what all the fuss is about. They take so long in between each round that part way through waiting, I lose my concentration of watching them stretch and bow and stare at each other. Then I'd hear the signal... oh people are cheering, they are finally fighting. I look and it's already over. EVERY FREAKING TIME.

Obsession for Costume Playing

As I went shopping in Hiroshima one day, I decided to stop in Sun mall for some intriguing finds.

That's the thing about Japan isn't it? People are just obsessed with costumes. It can be anything you can think of. The weirder, the cooler. Some of it looks great, but some of it looks pretty stupid and disgusting. I don't think the beauty of it is honoured though for some. For some of the cos players, they're just in it for the attention... ANY attention. "Cos play" is much more prevalent in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka but it's still fairlypopular in smaller cities like Hiroshima. You'll definitely never see this stuff in a small town like my own though. It's too country for that. .
Not sure if these are Barbies but they're for sure dominatrix style. But we shouldn't be so surprised about this. After all, that is how the "Barbie" doll started out in the war times of Germany. A sexualized figurine, whose name I fail to remember, that was created for lonely soldiers at war before the idea was borrowed by the maker of the Barbie doll









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