yamaonna

firstly, sorry for the post early this morning.  I was in quite a state, and had to get it out of my system.

Todays blog is entitled “Kimochi”

now, Im not to sure it fits quite right, but it basically means feelings caused by an external source, i think…

NEway, my emotions whist i am in japan are quite curious.  Of course I have good times and bad, but it seems to me that when i have lows, they are very very low….  In the last few months I have have probably cried more in than i did last year.

I cant quite figure out what the causes of this are…  Sure, right now I am stressed, which isnt the most healthy state to be in, but its not all that bad, and last time i lived in japan i was hardly in what i would call a stressful situation.

my top theories are – lack of close friends, and less human interaction than i am used to.  – not doing enough exercise (but this is true most of the thme). – no hugs. 

yeah, thats all i can think of at the moment.

I really dont understand it, but I want to fix it.  Esp if i do end up living here for longer.  I dont want to go though this all the time.  I know that my lifestyle here is very different from that in australia, and i think that also might be a primary cause.  But i can also say that (in general) i also like my lifestyle here, quite possibily more than in australia.

ugh, this is all confused.  i think i will leave it for now.  things are comming out as i wanted them to.  I think I will go buy some icecream.

i hate this.  its 1240 at night.  I have been in bed over 2 hours and i cant get to sleep for no particular reason.  except maybe that the person next to me has decided to play video games and doesnt know how to turn down the volume.

I am so sick of this.  I want to go home.  for all i know, and its probably likely, she will play until 3 in the morning.

what did i do to deserve this?

my mother is trying to put words into my mouth… 

Sunday i went shopping with one of the girls i teach.  we had heaps of fun, and she even said that I pose well in print club photos, which really surprised her…  yes, us gaijin have no creativity.  heh

watched lost in translation…  i dont get what the big fuss is.  sure, its set in tokyo, but unless you are rich..  like really rich, life isnt like that here.  and the continuity of the ‘scenes of tokyo’ was totally off.  yes, Im being picky, but i have a right.  (to my opnion, that is!)  to me, that movie was a, well, not love story, maybe human drama(?)  primarily.  I didnt really like it.  too somber for my mood.

Yesterday i left my mobile at uni.  I nearly freaked out when I figured out that i had left it somewhere.  But, I got to uni this morning and it was right where i left it.  so that was good….

Tuesdays are my fave day.  My first lessons have been cancelled, so I can sleep in , and the the lesson i have next is history, so its pretty intresting.  and in english… wow.  today, after class i met some ppl for lunch, and then my english class for today was cancelled, so it was home an hour earlier than usual.  should do some homework…..

um, the ppl at my local post office know me by now, with all the packages ive been sending lately….

and tropicana have a really nice apple and mango juice out.

14 days to go.

well, kabuki is over and done with…  Actually ran much much shorter than i thought it would….  I thought i would be hard pressed to be home by curfew, when in fact i have been home almost 2 hours already.  But the plus about that is i can go to bed early!  yokatta!

so, the kabuki was good.  but different to what i expected.  When i went in tokyo (damn it, the girl next door is playing her stupid video game again….  ggrrrrrrrr) it was about 5 hours in total – 3 plays, 2 kabuki and one shorter skit…  Today was one play, an adress by the actors, and then 1 dance.  Apparently one of the guys acting tonite is a very famous kabuki actor.  I love the costumes, as always they were bright and elaborate.  But what i really love about kabuki is – the music, the movements and the speaking.  Music cause shamazen (mmm, sp?) is very funky!  Movements cause they portray so much emotion with so very little movement, and its so precise….  the main actor did a dance completly on his knees tonite..  wow, how difficult that would have been (cause he moved around quite a bit).  And the speaking, cause it sounds like cats screetching….  hehe, well it does, but i like it becuase its so varied and musical.

this is what i gathered the kabuki play was about – a kid returns home to his grandma and grandpa with an arm thats holding a scroll.  They try to get the scroll out but finally the kid does it.  Then a daughter of the older couple reads it, and they figure out who’s arm it is.  Then 2 samarai come and they hid it, but the samarai know its there.  After one leaves (and hids in the bushes) the other gets them to bring it out.  then ppl come bringing the rest of the body – its the boys mother and the other daughter of the couple.  they manage to bring the ghost of their daughter back for a little… after reattaching the arm while its holding the scroll…..  then theres heaps of talking after she goes again.  then some guy got shot by a poison dart.  And the other samarai comes back only to be stabbed by the boy (I think he killed the mother)(um, the samarai that is).  But it isnt a death blow, but the guy decides to commit sucide anyway, and gets the kid to help him chop off his head.  (serious, there was a head rolling about!)  then the other samarai goes to leave, and in comes a pantamin (sp?) horse, that he actually rides!!!!  but i think the kid wants a ride too, so he gets up on the horse too, but only for a while.  And then the kid is presented with the dagger that a samarai carries (you know, the short sword).  I think the moral of the story was – congratulations, you are a man now that you have killed a man, heres a sword so you can go out and do it again……

okay, well, that what i thought was happening….  even the japanese have difficutly understanding kabuki, and rent these little head sets that explain it as its going on…..

and intresting evening. pls excuse spelling, im really tired right now…..

Well, I’ve been roped into helping at another open day for the junior high school.  Should have more students this time….  just means that my trip the the Tohoku Uni botanical gardens will be put off another week…..  which is okay. 

Yesterday was a very very intresting day.  I took the high school english class I had been helping teach all by myself.  We talked about Australia for about 20 minutes (including a taste test of vegemite).  The girls were really excited about the vegemite, but no one liked it…  wusses….  Then we played Celebrity Heads, which they also loved, before some free time to work on their projects.  Overall, i think it went well.  They all enjoyed it, which is the main thing I think.  Next week will be the last time i help with their class….

Only 18 days left here, and 19 til i get home.  Things are going to be busy.  My plans are  – Tomorrow help at the school, followed by going to Kabuki in the evening, and Sunday go shopping with 2 of the girls I teach english to.  Then next weekend (which is a long weekend) on saturday go to the botanical gardens, followed by 2 days spent swimming on an island.  (pray for good weather pls!).  And then my final weekend, I have been asked to keep it free by the girls living here in the dorm.  not sure what we will be doing.  But either that weekend or the monday I will be going to Zao to look at the lake in the crater there…  its really pretty.

And then sendai and everything I wanted to see will be done!

wow. 

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you’re not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

oh how i wish…..

woops, forgot the website addy – http://www.kagakukan.sendai-c.ed.jp

alright, finally something worth saying!!!  wow

went to the science museum this afternoon, and it was pretty cool.  Its at Asahigaoka, which is the next subway station out, and is pretty easy to walk to.  Caught the bus directly there from uni and then walked back through Shinrin Park on the way home.  NEway, science museum.  3 main rooms – Natural History, Science and Technology, and Daily life.  Gotta love the slogans – feels like you’re inside an encyclopedia, feels like you’re inside a laboratory, and feels like you’re inside an amusement park….

but actually its very well designed and quite innovated and intresting.  Heaps of english, although some things had none…  Not that many explanations of the science behind things though.  In the Natural history sections theres this huge cube thing with dead animals, and plants set in plasitic and stuff.  not my type of thing, but the presentation was pretty amazing.  And there was an earthquake simulator…  goes up to magnitude 5 or so.

the science and technology room has a really intresting radial design, which is supposed to look like the original design for the periodic table or something.  You can see about 75 different elements and they have displays on the major scientific discoveries made in sendai…  something about soft laser bouncing, and optical fibers…  The fibers wernt invented here, but they did extensive testing or something.  And one of the researchers at Tohoku Daigaku has actually recieved a nobel prize!

the final room is like a big kids play room.  heaps of hands on activities.  And theres even a flight simulator and flight section.  In the robot section, you can have a robot draw a picture of your face.  I made a floating octopus (you know, the kind you put in the bottle and squeeze and it floats up and down).  The staff members there got a kick out of teaching a gaijin…..

overall one of the best science museums Ive been to.

um, other stuff…

was reminded yesterday how i could never live in japan long term becuase it really is messed up.  you will always be a forigener…  but thats not really what i am talking about. Sendai is a lovely city, but smaller than brisbane.  There is a subway, and since building the subway, its never been in the black. ever.  And they are proposing building a subway crossing the exsisting one.  stupid ppl.  stupid stupid ppl.  i have come to the conslusion that town planning doenst happen anywhere.  they just dont have the population to do it.  and the original subway was designed to help with traffic congestion… did it? no.  apparantly its too expensive and inconvient for everyday use.  this place is crazy.

And if have decided that my teacher and i dont think on the same level.  at all. normally this wouldnt be a problem, but, when you have to spend 6 hours a week with the person and cant make them understand you, it gets pretty damn tiring.  5 more days with that teacher left.  i can make it….

well, things are well, but not so well…  Im sort of starting to lose the plot a bit.  nothing too bad, but i could be far more effective in achiving what i have to and what i want to.  Leeder has this thing about the 3 month mark.  once you’ve been away from home, its usually around the 3 month mark that you get homesick.

for me, I suppose the biggest sign that something is wrong is that i procrastinate to a major degree.

so I’ve made some resolutions to help myself –

1) sleep enough (cause I’ve been soooo tired lately… which means I have a nap… and then i dont sleep…. and the cycle goes on)

2) eat enough (I am very very sick of not-normal food.  so much that I just cant make myself eat enough food to sustain myself.  not healthy)

3) exercise enough (exercise stopped.  see above two points)

4) stop using the internet excessivly.  (this causes me major health problems….  ie see above 3 points as well)

gambatte ne!

how do ppl eat vegemite?  god-awful stuff.  blah

OMG…  the latest megatokyo just blew me away.  like completly blew me away.  woah.  http://www.megatokyo.com  why – well, quick summary, Piro (one of the main characters) has a teenage girl who likes him.  He likes this aspiring voice actress.  The voice actress lives with a retired voice actress.  The retired voice actress used to be friends with the voice actress of a ‘magic girl’ (some made up show i think).  This ‘magic girl’ voice actress is sort of part of a sceret organization.  And today we found out she’s the mum of the teenage girl…..  it has big implications.  I know you probably dont really get it, or care, but it truely blew me away.  What amazing planning and writing!

MT is great!  start reading it!

today miyagi gakuin high school had an open campus, and I was asked to help with the english demo.  Unfortunately on 5 people turned up, but it was fun anyway.  and I got a free lunch and tea ceremony.  The tea was so stong it made my eyes water…..

then i went to the sendai wild plants garden.  Very pretty, could almost imagine you are walking around japan in some bygone era.  almost…  the mountain that its on also houses 2 big TV broadcasting stations. 

oh, and i finally bought my anna sui purse