THINGS TO DO

Got a whole list of things that need finishing up, finding a job, resume, printing pics, planning lessons, etc, but damn, think the lazy bug has struck again.....

ITS NOT CHRISTMAS

But who cares! I was gonna treat the kids for all their hard work. Today was a day of relaxing for the 11 or so English high school course wannabe students. Yesterday, for Valentine's day my kids wrapped up their english interviews and paper tests at Aioi and Taishi high school. What a bummer to take a test on V day. The past two weeks me and the English teachers were busy prepping them up to pass the test. Everyone had some basic interview questions asked them such as, "What's the name of your school? What's your favorite food? What time do you wake up? How do you come to school?" and so on. Talking to the kids after the test today the Aioi kids said the teachers interviewing them were rapid fire, just shooting out high speed questions, a bit difficult. This into contrast where the Taishi kids said that they got super easy questions. This could also be the space in the course, Taishi had 40/47 and Aioi had a whopping 40/61. For Aioi bout a 66% chance to get in, bummer. Then the 2nd part of the interview varied, for Aioi the kids had to read a story passage then answers questions. Before they had pictures, but not this year, so the kids said it was hard, geeez i hope they passed. The Taishi kids had a picture of a anime character such as "chibi maruko chan" and pop singers "SMAP" and had to make a one minute speech.




Damn its hard enough in your own language non less in another language. Worked really hard in prepping them in this one, as the other teachers didnt really know how to tackle this one. So made a series of hints, such as intro, description, color, clothes, where from, make a story, i want, i think, when i was young, what, when, where, who, ... etc. At first it was really tough because they were just reading stories but couldnt put anything together, but later got them to 30 seconds, then 40 seconds, and then finally over a minute. Yippee! Some were super awesome! Ayaka, Noriko, and sometimes the others had great speeches. Pretty cool to see them all do well, i hope they passed!!!!

Anyways so there was no snow and it wasn't Christmas, but it was time for the famous "White Elephant" game. The other day went and scooped up the kids favorites, elmo, cookie monster, sponge bob, bracelets, and other goodies. Overall it was a fun day with the kids! GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

from back row ... kinue (habatan), mao, aki, ayaka, chika, aki, misaki, noriko, misato, ?, kenshi, hisonori, ogawa sensei, me

NEW HAIR CUT?

The other day a bunch of kids were asking "new cuto?, wax? new hair?, etc", basically if i got a new hair cut. But nah i didnt, didnt have one for awhile, just put my hair down instead of spiking it up. Just kinda interesting how kids notice things.

SCHOOL MEETINGS

Once in awhile we have some special school meetings with all the students, some of the unique ones this year have been ... students riding their bikes recklessly, where one of the jr high students was riding their bike and playing on their cell phone and ran into a group 1st grade elementary students, boy did they all get a bitching ... then there was the other time when one of the students mother who was accused of murder and it was all over the local paper and maybe on tv i think, poor student, so it was nice of the principal to go out and tell the students to leave the student alone and dont talk about the incident ... dang that really sucks to have your mom on the front page for whacking someone to death with a golf club ... mmm

MAID SERVICE IN JAPAN?

Well its interesting how CNN and all the news picks up things about Japan, but its pretty much just stuff coming out of Tokyo. So the article went on about how the nerd world up in Tokyo has gotten new ideas, and shops such as coffee joints, hair salons, etc have been popping up where the workers dress up as maids to give the "i serve you master feel" to the nerds and other people who come in. So the maids go out of their way by bowing, grooming, and even spoon feeding among other things, geeezzz. I dont see any maid service around these neck of the woods, well not the boonies, but i mean in the bigger cities of Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto. Its one of those only in Tokyo. Anyways thought it was a interesting read, check it out, might even be funny to check out one of these places for reals.

SUPER BLOW

Dang, endured the whole day trying to not know the outcome. Even got the mini super bowl party going on with Shu san coming over to chomp down some tight Chicago pizza. If ordering the pizza wasnt hard enough, it was harder to watch the seahawks miss field goals, get shitty calls, and fuck up the clock. Damn better luck next year boys! It was a nice run. Guess i knew it was bad when i was at school and all of a sudden one of my teachers shouted out to me, "super bowl, finished! Steelers!" as i quickly closed my ears and told him i didnt want to hear it, because i had to watch it tonite. Oh well! In compensation of the loss though, i found this really cool football game, where no man cries, and everyone is a winner, check it out! the Lingerie Bowl

GO HAWKS!!

Soon SUPER BOWL XL will play, Seahawks vs Steelers. But damn! Once again the only time they make it is when i am in Japan, and to make things worse time zones!! Damn kickoff time is at 830am over here on a monday. Yeah and i start work at 830 and have full classes all day! Was thinking to call in sick, but nah, i be good and just go to work. Luckily there is replay of it at 730pm. So will not try to check any internet or talk to anyone, i dont want to know the score, just gonna watch it on the tube. So neighbor Shu is gonna come over and we gonna make a good ole boys Japan style Super Bowl style party. Pizza and beer is the treat of the day. GO HAWKS!!!

JOB HUNTING

Yup, looking for a new job, almost after 3 years its almost time to move on. How sad to leave such a cool job. How could you not like long vacations every 3 months or so. I dont know of any other job like that. Anyways at the Kobe conference they mentioned it was only about 6 months to go until July, and i never thought of it that way til now. Damn how time flies, time to get together that resume soon. Looked at jobs online but no go there yet, there are tons of jobs out there as the school year starts in april/march here. But damn on the JET program its July for us, so its kinda screwy cuz it doesnt really match up. MMmmm what to do. Hopefully later on some more jobs will pop up for a August start or something. Crossing those fingers, otherwise gonna chill and take it easy and enjoy my last couple months in Tatsuno. Its a nice little city with nice people, when i get the chance gonna take a walk around and do a nice photo shoot, nice and peaceful and relaxing.

IT WAS THE WEEKEND

The GOOD, got a bunch of errands done, picked up my BOA laces for my boots, changed the car oil which is always an adventure with nice work by neighbor Shu, then picked up the Minna No Nihongo II book which i should have had a long time ago, then ate some good ass yakiniku for dinner with Mike, Nikki, and Ayame and even had room to polish it off with some McDonalds, and called mom.
Then the BAD, the special yakiniku sauce i supposed was spiced up with mad MSG and it gave me a killer headache the next day, that lasted the whole day. It even got the peeps with some bladder problems. So stayed in couldnt go watch the kids play bball, didnt go to the gym. Ah skipped out on two snowboarding trips, damn. Promised myself to rest up this weekend otherwise i would have a nervous breakdown. Oh well just rested up, so no loss there.

4 SEASONS

Summer hate it too damn humid and hot, spring is perfect, fall is perfect, and there is old man winter. I dont mind it much as long as i got my heater going on in my apt. Then there is also the snowboard factor, love it, and this season is great! The difference with the cold is that when you go out places you are in the elements, either via bicycle, shopping, or waiting for the train. Ya are out and about, for a long time and it gets damn cold, so its not like home where u run into ur car turn it on and you are warm, or you just run from your car into your mall and its all good. Anyways that was a pretty pointless blog, but nonless it was just a thought on my mind. Go Seahawks! Don't let those bias sports writers put you down. Go kick Pitts ass!

OPEN WINDOWS?

Went to elementary today, forgot how cold it is, some classes have the window wide open, there is no heater, its about 45 degrees, kids are in shorts, and girls in skirts and the teacher is in a big jacket. And you wonder why all the kids are all sick. Its because its damn cold!! Get a heater or close those windows. Geezzz they love to make their kids tough in japan. I must remember to wear more clothes next time.

THE KIDS

The kids at school are always interesting, here is a summary of some of the things going on.

layers - The kids gotta wear their uniforms, no extra jackets or anything over their uniforms, i thought damn u guys gotta be freezing (classes have no heater) so i decided to ask how many layers u got under there? So i asked mr. yuya and ayaka. Yuya reported 5 layers and Ayaka with 6 , damn, thats alot of layers. Maybe they are alright.

speaking - I help teach a special education class, and in there is a girl named Saki. She is the quietest thing and somedays doesnt even say a word. But like a miracle over the new year she began smiling and talking with a big loud voice!! I was like wow!! Something must have happened over the new year, mmm, but i am happy for it.

1st grade kids - Fresh out of elementary school, i was doing a photo slide about my singapore trip last year and showed em my two cars, yeah my ferrari and lamborghini. Told the kids that it was mine, and they were like "oh really??", then they would ask questions like "where is it now?" .. still in singapore i would say .. "who is driving it?" .. my friend ... "how much is it?" ... its a secret ... "can i drive it?" ... sorry you cant drive, you arent old enough ... ha ha ha .. funny kids, so now i have a band of them following me around the halls saying "ferrari, ferrari"

SUN AND SNOW

A perfect mix for a great day on the slopes at hachi kogen.

LISTENING TO THE RADIO

Then i heard the "nutcracker" song, geez usually its a christmas song, and its not christmas, its january 30th, go figure. Well i guess thats not so suprising since they play the "ole new year" song at every store during closing time.

WAN WAN

That's bow wow in japanese, happy chinese new year everyone! Its the year of the dog, "wan wan". The japanese know about the year of the dog, but dont really do the new year thing on the lunar calendar, they pretty much just do their thing on the 1st of january. Don't even see a hint of it even at the stores or anywhere. Anyways happy new year to u all.

SUPER BOWL BABY!

Holy smokes, i never thought the hawks could make it, it took 30 years, and a 34-14 win over the Carolina Panthers, but they are going to Detroit to face Pitt for Super Bowl XL ... the xtra large of super bowls. Damn and now i am in japan, guess i can root for them from here too, GO HAWKS!

ONCE AGAIN...

Up late, trying to put together a damn lesson for "blue monday" the fuckin monday where i got 5 classes and no breaks, what a shit on. They gonna have to change that for next year. This shit stresses me out, i hate mondays, then i gotta skip the kids basketball to get a sanity check, then have my adult classes on monday night, and people say i dont do anything.

damn shopping impulse

I AM LOVIN IT

Well i love mc donalds, and i even love a great deal even more. I always miss those great xmas sales from back home, the gap, banana, jcrew, jeeezz ... always like 30-70% off! In japan, there arent that many great sales like that, well u gotta find em. So the great shopping memories came to reality where the GAP had a super sale and i couldnt resist and scooped up 2 jackets, one was even about 75% off .. then rolled down to Uniqlo and got another jacket there for 10 bucks, what a deal! Ahhh .. horrible consumerism, 2 days, 4 jackets ... mmm ... but damn its warm!

BACK FROM THE CONFERENCE

Thursday and Friday we had our mid year conference, usually we have it around november, but this year it was in january. Usually its pretty boring, but honestly it was a bit better this year, the guest speaker Nakai sensei from Nara Ten.. university was pretty amusing, he did a great job as first of all he had to speak all in english, he was good , then also he had to talk for 90 minutes, that is quite a task for anyone here in japan or even back home. But it was nice to hear him, brought back memories of college and my favorite prof and their lectures. Always interesting to hear funny lectures. Makes me want to go to university and teach there. Anyways at the conf. it was the usual round abouts of all the jets from hyogo ken, also partnered with the japanese english teacher. Got to get some ideas together from other teachers and let my teachers kinda know what ideas other Alts have to. Overall it was alright, nice break from just teaching at school.

a quick stop in the philippines

me and uncle oud in front of my grandpa's old dentist clinic

my grandpas old dental chair

uncle oud taking up the dental business

temple "wat" is just across the street

the workspace

here is my uncle oud and his daughter, i forgot her name, but i just call her "chubbs" she is a cutie

chilling in the patient waiting room

always riding the bike in the house

YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

Yeah thats why i like living in japan, its always new everyday. I was walking in the halls with my hands in my pockets, because i usually always do it, i am a hand pocket man and plus my hands were cold, but then my teacher went by me and said that its not good? I said "really? why?" Then he told me that it gives a bad impression to do that. Mmm .. i guess so, never heard of it before, but i can understand, maybe its like the young cool punks or the old geezers that do it. Guess i wont be doing that at school anymore, but i cant resist to do it out in public, i am a pocket person.

Then i was talking to my principal and vice principal at elementary school, they are funny guys, somehow the topic got onto gay guys, and vp used elton john as a example. He said in japanese they call it "homo tomodachi ホモ友達" or in other words, homo friend. Very interesting put, then i was like he i took pictures from my thailand trip, and i forgot that the she/man pics were on there. At first they were like oh baby, then i told them they are guys, and they were like whao! I was like homo tomodachi, but they said oh no, its like "new man" .. ha ha ha .. then they saw my pics with the dancers, and i think they thought i swung the other way .. ha ha ha .. how embarassing, even the girl teacher said they were very cute, oh my!

SEAHAWKS WIN!

Finally! Won a playoff game! beat those damn redskins, even after alexander got knocked out, one more then after that its the super bowl baby! pumped up now, go hawks!

HELLO 2006!

Well almost as soon as i get over this nasty japanese cold i got right when i got back to japan. Damn, got rid of the dizzness, headaches, backaches, sweating, and other shit, but always the damn nasty dry cough is last to go ... anyways the brain is clearing so i will be back to post up more details of the trip! In the meanwhile enjoy the drinks and the univ girls.

even thailand has caught japan fever much like many of the other asian countries, seems to be everywhere i go its all about japan, and even more so this year in thailand as i spotted tons of green tea drinks from where else but japan

for those kitty chan lovers, thailand's got your drink too

representing the homeland with some fresh brewery called Beer Lao, actually doesnt taste too bad either!

for my elements buddy, just representing!

ok for all you boys bothering me about not taking thai girl pics, and taking more of the more manly girl pics, here is one of the few, sorry and its not the best, but these are university students who looked like they were hungry for a little rotiboy bread, as you can see they gotta wear nice little tight black mini skirt uniforms and nice little white shirts, how boo hoo ...

YOU LIKE CALYPSO ?

Here are some pics from a Calypso show i went to in Bangkok, pretty cool! ( photos from calypso on flickr )

OH SHIT!

Just got back to japan, and i think i caught another cold, fuck. Coughing, headache, achy back, just great!

SOME THAILAND PICS

Here are some pics from thailand , i will post more directly on blogger later, but now, i am kinda lazy .. so check out these first .. ( photos from thailand on flickr )

BACK IN JAPAN!

Late plane, late train, oh well as long as i make it home. Welcome back to cold ass japan, going from 80 degrees to 30-40 degrees! But also going from smoggy ass polluted brown air, to nice fresh clean air in japan. I would say i prefer coming back to japan, i would like to breathe every now and then, plus snowboard! Much updating to do, but in the meanwhile you can check out some pics from Laos i have posted on my Flickr site. ( photos from Laos )

TODAY'S HO HO HO COUNT

Counted 15 couples. Nasty! All in different sizes, large, fat, ugly, nasty... make me wanna barf!

HO HO HO

And it aint santa claus who is doing the ho ... ing ... will write more soon ...

I AM THAI!

Well guess the japanese phase is over, or maybe i have changed my shopping areas to more of the thai areas than the tourist traps. People talking to me in Thai thinking that i am thai. They are doing it to Susanne too. Guess i like it because i feel like blending in is much better, and stealthy.

TUK TUK

What is a tuk tuk? Its a transportation special in countries like Thailand and Laos. Imagine half motorcycle and two wheels in the back with a seat. Heck, just like a big ass tricycle that can fit people in the back. Anyways these marvels of transport can easily wisp you in and out of traffic, and also as quickly wisp your nerves and ur money, here are the good and the bad ...

GOOD
- EXCITMENT it provides as you whizz in and out of traffic, as you tightly grasp the handles and pray, things get tight as you can pretty much touch the car or bus next to you
- FAST you get there really fast because they will sacrifice you by driving down the street in the opposite direction or even turning in front of big buses and cars
- NEED SOMETHING? one day i was walking by one by myself and usually they ask if u want a ride, but he said something different ... "hey, you want some happy? you know marijuana? or you want some "don" "don"? I thought to myself what is "don"? Then he started gesturing with his fingers going into a hole and said girls ... ewww .. no thank you i said .. so i guess you can get more than just a ride down the street

BAD
- EXPENSIVE they know you are a tourist, and heck even the locals, they love to rip you off, charge you up to 4x the price of a taxi
- WHERE AM I? ah yeah they can take you to the wrong place, waste your time, and even just ditch you
- ASSHOLE sometimes they are just jerks

RECOMMENDATION
Just take a taxi and tell em to turn on the meter, but then again thats not totally safe either, but then again thats another story from bangkok

HELLA COMMERCIALS, BOWING, THEN MOVIE

Decided to hit the theatre today, hell yeah i gonna watch a movie on vacation, sure beats paying almost $20 a person in Japan, heck in Thailand it was a whopping 240 baht for two people, or $6 usa, what a deal. Decided to watch "Narina" recommended by Ben. Asian style of course, got to pick the seats! Theatre was huge, very cool and seats were like airplane lounge chairs, very cool, u could almost sleep in em. Didnt even bother the people in the back. Then there was the begining, a long ass one it was, about 30 minutes! and i thought 10 minutes back home was long, in that time i could have watched another movie. Then the kicker, at the end of the long ass commercials the screen popped up with the Thai king on it, and a message read please stand up to pay respects to the king. So everyone in the theatre stood up for about a minute as beautiful thai music played and pics of the king from boy to manhood flashed across the screen. Quite interesting then quite again, bit monarchy, but anyways whatever floats your boat, i heard about this type of tribute, but guess i got to experience it first hand. Ah and for the movie, it was awesome! Probably one of the few movies i watch on the big screen, if u havent seen it , go and watch it. Plus yeah, it was cheap!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Alright, bit late, but just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year! in Thai ... "Sawade be mai" ... in Japanese ... "Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" have a good one everyone, miss ya all ...

AIRPORT TAX IN LAOS

Damn Laos has tons of airport tax, usually u pay for it with your ticket, but here in Laos you pay it when you get your boarding pass, damn $10 each time you enter or leave. Then also a $30 visa. Dang, adds up yo just to fly in and out.

THE 'TUDE

Yes, the attitude, even though in Laos most of the people are wonderful and nice, of course some are bit crazy and yeah some bitchy, thats anywhere u go. Went to the bakery the other day, and ordered my food, she didnt utter any words as if she was mute. I asked that in english, then in Lao i asked her to take it to go. She still didnt say anything, but took my order about 5-7 minutes early and kindly threw it into the bag, and gave me a nasty look. What a bitch!!! I know some of these people probably hate serving the nasty foreigners who will in one sitting spend up to half a persons monthly salary on some cookies and cake and coffee. So i understand that, but still, damn nasty girl, go home and take some people skills. You dont see me going around japan and bitching at everyone everyday. It was like the girl was from mainland china or something, the next thing would be that she would go out no the streets and huck a big lugee ... Geezzzz

IN BANGKOK!

Just got in from the plane from Vientiane, Laos. Now i am in the crazy backpacker area in Bangkok. Damn, its pretty sketchy, alot of hookers, alot of foreigners, where is the real Thailand? It looks like some ghetto Thai town in america , arghh ... take me back to Laos where its sooooo chill! think the pizza and foreign food was calling as me and Susanne stopped in for some pizza and pasta, of course the bill ran up to around $20!! double or even triple or bling bling compared to our meals in Laos, maybe thats the last of pizza for now .. back to cheap food .. and damn , the hotel is now not as cheap as our $12 guesthouse in Laos , dang $40 , at least its pretty cool looking hotel.... peace, new years is one day away!

ARE YOU FROM JAPAN?

Are you Japanese? That is what everyone asks of me and Susanne too. Everyone thinks we are Japanese and from Japan. Not a single, china, vietnam, korea, or anywhere else. I think its been like 20 out of 20 people asking that. Or even the more popular "konnichiwa". Even when meeting other japanese, they too would think hey are you guys japanese? Anyways, guess its the way we dress and the hair, or something like that, but i dont think our dress style is so much japanese, the stuff i wear is the stuff i would wear back home in Seattle. Mmmmm ... anyways its interesting and funny to see how people judge you by the way you look , he he he ... its all good, quite funny ..

TODAY IN LUANG PRABANG

Not much going on today except for eating, a little shopping, and a little walking around, then a little massage. First of all if the so-so steak from last night wasnt bad enough, wasted another stomach opportunity by eating a crappy ass sausage sandwich. I was hoping for something like a nice vietnamese kinda sandwich like from the Ave. But nah, got fuckin 3 hot dogs in a toasted bun. Hot damn, if i wanted that i would have eaten at Costco. Fuck. Damn, so i ordered it and had to eat it, i would rather have had some nice stir fry or some sticky rice with something else. Anyways, but so walked around a bit more, and stopped by and met a nice shop owner by the name of Noi. She explained how and where the different fabrics came from and what to look for, some were from different regions, north, south, depending on color and style, then even some of the cheap ones were from factories in Vietnam, very nice lady so bought a couple nice purses from her. Her name was Noi, same as about 10% of the lao names , ha ha ha ... if you have laotian friends you gotta know at least one or two noi's.
Later hunger of dinner was calling, so i was tired of trying these crappy ass tourist places, getting tricked for some nasty food, hell ya i am willing to pay more for some good food. That $3 breakfast did no justice. So we came along this restaurant that looked a little bling, but Susanne noticed that there were some Lao people there which is always a good thing. Sat down, Susanne still with the stomach bug ordered some pork noodle soup which was $2 but damn it was good as hell, just like how grandpa used to make it. I was looking at the set menu, but i was hungry and wanted to make my own set menu. So was craving sticky rice, garlic pork, lao sausage, and morning glory (chinese veggies). Hot damn, that was good, puts japanese food to shame, or maybe because i havent eaten this stuff for so long. Oh yum, it was like how me and ark used to go to the laos store to buy food to grub on or when we hit up all those thai restaurants around town, damn it was good. Definetly worth the extra bucks. I aint gonna be cheap, because hell its already cheap. Back home that would have been a $40 or $50 meal, but here, a nice $11.50. Sounded good, and damn i am comin back!
Lastly we finished the night with a nice lao style massage for a whopping $3 for 60 minutes. A bit more pricey, but the place was pretty nice and the ladies there were nice. When we got in i was translating some stuff to Susanne so i guessed they kinda knew that i understood Lao, even though i didnt say much to them. Funny how u can spy on in on people. So they were fighting over who could take us upstairs, then eventually the nice cute girl did. Kinda fun to talk to some locals in my crappy laotian, they sure got a kick out of it , they were very nice, their names were Duweh and shoot i forgot ... but anyways the girls nickname is chubby, and her friend was joking how heavy she was when she was twisting my poor back and legs like a pretzel. They were also amazed that i knew laotian, they and like everyone else thought me and susanne were japanese, not sure why, the other lady said the way we dressed and our hair, no ever says chinese or anything else but japanese. So these girls asked what i was, so i explained that my father is from here and that i am lao, viet, and chinese. And they are like wow! Then they always throw in that if i am French because i speak english, but i say nah , i just live in america. Funny to listen to what they talk about too, so the girls were talking and one asked what language she wanted to study, the other replied, japanese, maybe english, cute japanese boys i can talk to, then her friend asked how about french? Then she said, nah i dont like french ... funny ... anyways the girls were sweet and had a nice massage to end a nice day.

OFF TO LUANG PRABANG

Today bid goodbye to Vientiane and my uncle Oud and his nice family. Hopped on the infamous Lao Air. Checked that the weather was good to make it in one piece. The plane took off and got there in one piece, even made a nice little pit stop at an old communist airfield, nice to have the plane going on gravel. Picked up some passengers and even a really ill child, poor kid was in bad shape and looked like he was being transported from the village to a bigger city. Met up with the two lovely ladies we met the day before, Jen and Sandy, cool people from Canada.

Luang Prabang, damn its cool here, people are nice, streets are clean, its not so crazy, food is cheap, weather is nice. Its just really laid back and really cool. Kinda got in and tried to sort out some travel since we were trying to book a flight to Chiang Mai, but guess what its booked through the 9th of Jan. So fuck that , we not gonna stay that long. Might have to take the ghetto bus back to Vientiane and hop on our safety plane back to Bangkok. Lucky i got a round trip award ticket. Anyways back to LP. ... well shit i tired and really didnt do too much today, so will update more later on ... anyways ... merry xmas to u all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone! Another year, another country, last year i was in Singapore for xmas, that was quite interesting. Today i am in Laos, Luang Prabang. Very quiet and tame, but very cool here! Alright everyone enjoy your turkey and presents, miss ya all.

EATING SPICY FOOD

Well since we were in Laos, had to get the Laotian food of course. So took Susanne to get some REAL Lao food. Ordered the ever favorite papaya salad, grilled chicken, laap muu (pork), and sticky rice and some noodles. Felt like i was ordering at the restaurant back home, at Vientiane, yum, couldnt wait to eat some Lao food, especially the sticky rice. Checked with Susanne if she wanted the shit spicy. I was trying to convince her for the not spicy at all. But what she wanted we ordered. First came out the noodles, yum, awesome! Then everything else came out. Susanne tried the laap and then the papaya salad. Hot damn, that was the end of that. Too hot for the chinese blood. Usually i dont eat hot food, but i can, usually at home that is , i dont like to eat and sweat at the restaurant, but damn i wasnt about to order food and let it go to waste, that would look really weak and shameful, so i did my best to eat it up and sweat it out like i was in a suana. Damn, hot food! At the end, it was a nice mission accomplished, managed to kill most of the food. So yes i did back up my word of eating my food, yup. But in another case, i think the food won the war over Susanne .... poor thang probably wont look at lao food again ... he he he

CURRENTLY IN THE MOTHERLAND

Yup, finally in Laos!! Where my parents grew up, kinda strange, but then at the same time kinda cool. Got to the airport and saw them making a new runway, by hand that is! Then went to pick up my Laos Visa, but forgot my passport photos. But no worry, just went into some sketchy backroom, paid the lady 1 dollar usa and got my passport photocopied, which amazingly enough was good enough. Photocopy is just as good as the picture. So paid the $30 usa and got into the country. Was supposed to meet up with uncle Oud, which of course i never met before, so i wore my green adidas hat to signal, hey its me!!! Kinda sketchy as i never met him before, and i dont speak much lao, but it worked, met up with the right guy! Took me to the old dentist shop where my grandpa used to work. Pretty cool and nostalgic, met his wife and cute and chubby daughter, very nice people, alot of fun ... will report more later on .... ah yeah and its a bit hot, but not really (Ace) Japan is waaaay hotter in the summer .. heck its winter here and people are bundled up in jackets, hats, and i even saw a guy wear a scarf, and yeah i think it was around 77 degrees or so ... interesting ... well heck even i am wearing pants .. anyways its a bit different cuz when i left osaka, it was snowing cats and dogs. Aight will report more later with day two adventures ...

SOCCER GAME

My kids did a super job, they made it to the championship round to be crowned best junior high soccer team in hyogo ken (state). Coach Kusaka is really cool, so headed out early to support the kids. It was nice and cold as when i got to himeji it was snowing. The game had a nice snow shower, but they fought on. It was the country kids, my kids versus the city boys of Kobe. It was back and forth for a long time, we had super offense kids, but they had nice mid fielders, so the ball was going crazy in the middle. It was close til the end, it was 1-1 until a miscue in the box had my kids down 2-1 in the final minute. Then another utter collapse in the last seconds to finish 3-1. It was a loss, but the coach wasnt screaming or yelling like many other japanese coaches, but he was cool and calm and just chatted with the team. So it was really cool to see that. In the end the kids were a bit down, but nothing like some tangerines and bananas to make em happy again. Better luck in the spring kids! がんばて!

my soccer kids

runnin

YOU KNOW ITS COLD WHEN ...

You wake up and its SNOWING! Plus when you get back to your apt and the thermometer reads 6 degrees celsius which equates to 43 degrees F ... and yeah this is inside my apt!!! Where are the cozy 68 degree days in my old seattle apartment!! Time to turn on the heater.

let it snow, let it snow

TOP 5 GOOD THINGS ABOUT BEING NEAR SCHOOL

and drum roll please .....

5. of course, get to sleep in! you can wake up late and be at school in a instant
4. bad weather? snow, rain, sleet, typhoon, wind, no problem, you can be there in no time
3. if you forget something, you can easily snatch it up
2. you can take a power nap in the comfort of your own bed
1. you can go home and take a shit (priceless) (crappy squats at work dont do justice)

WHEN CARING IS NOT ENOUGH

when words are not enough ..... when actions are not enough ..... what else is there to do .....

XMAS TUNES

Great to listen to the ole Christmas tunes to get in the mood , gotta download em myself, dont quite got Kiss FM here .... jingle bells, santa baby, white christmas, winter wonderland, rockin around the christmas tree, and of course the japanese favorite of "last christmas" by Wham.

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS

This year is my last year working at the local Kamae community center. So they asked me to be Santa Claus, of course being nice i said "yes". Not sure if yes was a good answer, but guess i did it for the kids. Anyways the whole experience gave me once a more greater appreciation of the mall santa's back home. Holy shit dont do that job ever. Anyways got suited up, of course i wasnt fat enough so they tied a blanket around the tummy, put on the beard which was itchy as hell and sometimes i sucked in the fake hair, nasty. Then boots and other shit was ok. The jazz band was playing Xmas tunes, they are pretty cool and i liked em, then also this year they got this cool ass mime guy that studied back in France. I thought at first how lame, a mime, but i was wrong, he was pretty damn cool. Doing some cool ass stuff, i even wouldnt mind seeing a actual performance it be cool. I couldnt see the whole mime show because i had to go to the back and suit up. All the teachers wanted to have an english speaking santa this year, and of course who else speaks english, me. Then they were trying to be all secret, like the kids couldnt guess it was me. But of course that didnt work because when i stepped into the room all the kids were yelling my name, obviously i didnt fool anyone. Anyways moved on through the sea of kids, some got out of the way, then the others were bitches trying to get under my santa suit and tug at my stomach, aka blanket. Hot damn those little punks as they were slowly deflating me. Luckily made it to the front in one piece but a little battered. They gave me some sort of lines, but it was pretty sketchy and often times i always forget shit when i am talking. So i met this super nice lady who is also the dance teacher to help me out, Ms. Manami who also used to be an english teacher, super awesome timing. So we made questions together, she was the interviewer and i was the person getting interviewed, this way i wouldnt forget my lines! Worked like a champ, santa likes to eat cookies, milk, and sushi .... kaiten sushi that is! ... Well at the end handed out cookies and candies to all the little punks. 15 minutes of Santa fame, itchy, kids pulling, but it was worth it. It was a fun time and yeah i can say i was santa for a day ...

markane santa and matsumoto reindeer

the band, mime, and me

santa's little helpers

SHIT GOT SICK

Yeah, fucking getting sick, hope its not as bad as the killer influenza that knocked me out last year, damn getting sick overseas is like 10x worse. Please go away, please go away.

FREAK SNOW STORM

Yeah its getting that cold, damn it was sunny then it started snowing! I always wanted to take a picture of snow and the sun, but damn always at school. It looks cool when it snows then there is the sun in the back. Aight time to put on 3 layers.

INTERESTING BLOG ...

Funny blog about japan from japanese perspective ... www.masamania.com

GREASY ASS CHICKEN

It wasnt quite Popeye's, but hey KFC will do. Hot damn dont think i have had fried chicken in japan for forever. It was the brother inside of me and mike that was calling, and how did KFC deliver with some nice juicy, over greasy chicken that any fried chicken lover would be proud of. But damn of course you cant get everything cuz nope no mash potatoes and gravy here, damn, then the double damn when the cole slaw tasted more like mayonaise slaw ... ewww .. it wasnt quite the same. But overall glancing at how greased up my fingers were, it was a good meal. komapi to the KFC!

Then the bonus was that me and mike scored some pizza on the way back using our ghetto japanese, damn Chicago pizza rocks the house. It sure was a tasty american diet filled nite, yum. Nice and greasy, i mean healthy, lucky got soccer tomorrow to burn this shit off.

SAMUI !!!!

Samui means cold in japanese, and oh yeah today was fucking cold! Cold ass winds .. guess winter is finally here , but then again snowboard season is here too , yipee!!!

EEC VISIT

The crew of eva, elaine, and cheryl stopped over for a nice 5 day whirlwind trip around my area called kansai. Took em to school, my town, himeji, osaka, kobe, kyoto ... holy cows can they shop! never knew there was that much shopping in japan .. ha ha ha .. anyways it was good to see all you gals! Of course any other friends are more than welcomed to visit!

welcome to japan!

as the sushi scrolls by

what happens when 4 hungry people attack kaiten sushi

out in osaka

get on your slippers

noriko, elaine, eva, and cheryl at himeji castle

hot drinks from vending machines are good hand warmers

chu meets steak

lunch break on the steps

a very merry xmas concert

full house at the kyoto station

not a geisha but a maiko

mad crowds toward the temple

guess who bought alot of fans

eva brings her own bag fashion to japan

at night

through the fence

waiting to buy

kiyomizudera in darkness

cheryl's new shoes

osaka street corner I

osaka street corner II

a little giggle

kyoto

UPDATES ARE COMING

Been busy, or lazy, well heck one of the two, updates coming soon, as soon as i sort out these pics from culture festival at school, my trip to the fuk, eec visit, and the past electraglide concert.

GOING TO THE TOILET

Just wanted to talk about toilets, everyone gotta use em, just that everywhere you go everyone uses em differently. First of all, nothing against my fellow chinese people, but damn aim your shit into the toilet. Of all the countries, the biggest puddles of piss i find are in chinese countries or stores. Go figure, anyways.

Then of course living in japan i have had plenty to observe. You can run into any kind of toilet, a hole in ground, a squatter, or even a fine ass toilet that has a seat warmer, cleans your ass, plays music to cover your noises, and even has a sensor to flush or even lift up the toilet seat if your a man, how cool! Back in elem school i thought how about a heated toilet seat? Cuz my ass was always cold. But of course my teacher shot that down, but hell, if you ever tried a heated toilet seat you wouldnt go back. Guess thats why my friend elaine came all the way from cali to pick up her very own fine ass toilet seat.

One of my first unique experiences of a japanese restroom was that hell there was a cleaning chick in there, watching me pee! Mmmm ... back home the cleaning chick puts a sign on the door, but nope not here they just roll in. I think i saw a cleaning man just roll into the ladies room too. So if it wasnt bad enough having cleaning ladies roll in i was at elem school the other day and you guessed it the little 2nd grade girls were being peeping toms. Giggling while their english teacher was kindly depositing his fluids. Funny girls. Well if i thought that was wierd, i was in the bathroom today washing my hands, and talking with my teacher while he was taking a piss, and the 5th grade boys kindly came in and just started dancing around him while he went. I dunno, but that was a little invasion of privacy, but my teacher didnt mind and it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. Dunno, but back home kids dont really want to see their teachers taking a piss, or i wasnt that one.

Lastly its always great to see the salary man, the japanese business men hop into the bathroom, they are always in a rush and are always carrying a bunch of shit like newspaper, briefcase, bags, beer, cell phone, etc. But yeah with their hands full they can somehow whip it out while holding everything and even at the same time be talking on the phone! One of the most incredible feats, i would have surely misfired and peed on my pants juggling all that shit ... anyways thats todays toilet blog ... time for some sleep! おやすみなさい!