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12.24.06/17:57 christmas eve in roppongi
Seeing that, compounded by the horrible condition of my mental faculties, I had a realization: I gave up my beautiful girlfriend, my easy job, and my family, to sit here drunk in a chicken restaurant paying 500 yen for a bottle of coke in a place with the worst service anywhere in Japan.
Does that mean I hate it here and want to go home? Absolutely not. It just gives me some perspective, some idea of what's really going on. If you're wondering, the picture is of Shibuya. It looks blurry, but by that point I'd say that picture was an accurate reflection of what it looked like to me.
It was also my first time in any dance club in a very long time. It should be noted here that I can't dance, but that's never stopped me before. The thing about dance clubs is, every time I go, I fall in love on the dance floor. Last night I fell in love a couple of times.
However, I still came home alone and with no phone numbers. 12.23.06/03:05 keitai denwa
I finally got a freaking keitai. The flash from my camera reveals a fingerprint.
This phone is compatible with SD small memory cards and has a video line out. It also receives AM/FM radio stations. And the best part? It gets television stations, both digital and analog. It's got a 3-inch screen that rotates to a side view and has excellent picture quality.
12.18.06/22:02 takoyaki party!!!
You see, the adults congregate in one area, and the kids have free rein to do whatever they want. Not a bad system, if you're a kid...
But the girl in this picture is not one of the convicts listed above. She's only 3 and ADORABLE. It took some prying, but I finally got her to speak a little Japanese to me. She is shy. So cute! Kawaii! 12.16.06/23:24 yopparai, na? So, I make it a rule never to post when I'm drunk, but I guess this has to be an exception. It's my first night off after my first full week of teaching and I need to vent and relax, plus, there's a part of me that says if I don't do it this way you'll never know how I'm really feeling.
Am I actually happy here? Absolutely. I like the convenience of the stores and the vending machines and the ability to have free internet in my apartment. The downsides? I'm scared to download normal porn because it's illegal here and the prospect of being taken to jail for something like that frightens me to no end.
It's really a mixed bag, desu ne? The thing that pisses me off the most is that I speak JAPANESE and I haven't had a real conversation in the native language of this country since I arrived here. It's been all company people and co-workers who know enough English that we have to default to it. Frustrating.
My apartment? It's full of stuff I inherited from the teacher I replaced. Over the course of this week, she and her husband have brought me so much stuff I don't know what to do with it. However, it's been undeniably helpful. Some highlights:
A pants presser Small television Extra futons Lots of beers Frozen food Storage containers A vacuum cleaner A large trash-sorter bin Small table Some lamps
And other stuff. So, don't get me wrong, I am GRATEFUL beyond belief, compounded by the fact that they sold me a bike, something I've been wanting since I got here, however, it's going to take me a while to reconfigure my place in the wake of the influx of new items.
Coke in a bottle? F*ing love it. It's my new love, a real soul-saver after the let-down at the horribility of Japanese mountain dew. Other things I love? Karaage and poterongu and MAGNUM DRY BEER and the goodness of this 24-hour diner next to my apartment complex.
Overall? I give it a 3.5 out of 4. 12.12.06/23:23 teaching: day one
Basically, you have to spell your name or describe yourself in a few kanji to make a stamp for signing papers, so that's what I did. It did take a while to convince the guy at the shop, though... 12.11.06/20:00 getting settled
So, the Brits were every bit as rambunctious as I anticipated they would be, and it was ripping good times traipsing around Tokyo with them and storming in at two in the morning. Training was a lot better than I thought it would be, and everything was pretty straightforward.
Overall, it's been a pretty positive experience. With this post, you can see some pictures of my apartment. On that front, I'm in fairly decent shape. There's a supermarket, a convenience store, and an AWESOME twenty-four hour diner all within less than 2 minutes' walking distance.
And, I can walk to work. Other people are not so lucky with the commute, so I'm very happy about that. Add to that the fact that the apartment comes with basic free internet, and I'm super lucky.
It's not all fun and games, though. I have a LOT of classes to teach, and a lot of work to do for each class. I'm going to have a hard time remembering seventy new names and being consistently fun and engaging using a severely limited vocabulary, but that's the essence of the job, isn't it? 12.11.06/19:25 japan scavenger hunt [x] kansento (3 to 2 prong adapter) [x] internet user ID and password from apartment office [x] LAN cable to connect to modem [x] closest Postal Savings ATM [x] mountain dew [x] functioning alarm clock [x] passport photos for gaijin card [x] city hall for gaijin card [x] poterongu [x] lucky strike lights (!) [x] spray disinfectant/ toilet paper [ ] TV so i can play 12 [x] hanko shop for signature stamp [ ] bank to set up bank account [ ] cell phone store for keitai denwa [ ] anywhere with magnum dry beer [ ] guitar store for cheap guitar 11.31.06/19:37 last stateside transmission
Look at this dashing garment bag with its very very not-tacky turquoise tag. The bag was a present from Dad.
I completely missed rabbit rabbit day this time around, but in all the bustle and hum of packing, I've missed a lot. Like sleep. My hands are black from the newsprint of roughly 200 quarterpages of newspaper used to wrap shot glasses. While I didn't pack everything, I packed a lot.
In my absence, you may have some questions for me, like 'can I borrow one of your guitars?' or 'why won't this rash go away?' The answer to both is a resounding 'no!' However, you may have other questions, ones I might answer. Send them to jbaugher@rocketmail.com. I'm also not proofing this post, so if there are typos or misspellings, that's just too bad.
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At 6:21am, local time, I
was in a shithole of a chicken restaurant in roppongi, which I will not
capitalize because it is literally the anus of Tokyo and, I suspect, all
of Japan. Muted, there was a travel video for Australia showcasing
the Kuranda railway and Cairns Zoo and pretty much all the places I went
in Australia.
It's
been a week of accomplishment. I taught some really good classes
this week, a few mediocre ones, and a few that nobody had any idea were
even going to happen and I had to improvise. All in all, it wasn't
bad. It was a week of fighting with the people at the post office to
actually set up my bank account, a week of getting paid, and, oh yes, the
most important thing...
So
this cell phone, man, I don't know. It's the atarashii atsusa as far
as cell phones go, and it's nicer than yours. That sounds arrogant,
but it's true. Japanese cell phone technology is 2 years ahead of
the US, and this is the phone the locals want. But why? It
does texting and takes pictures, of course. It makes movies and does
regular e-mail and internet...not too hard to imagine. It even has
infrared technology, and even that's pretty standard. But wait,
that's not all. Of course that's not all. Here's where it
starts to get weird.
For me, none of that matters.
All I wanted was texting and something that could be switched into English
so I could actually use the damn thing. However, it came free* with
my plan, so...hey, why not. The * is because if I cancel before the
end of my 2-year contract I end up buying the phone at full price,
something like 500 dollars. I don't actually know any of the details
of the contract I signed, but I assume I will find out when they start
billing me. Maybe it will be okay...
And
you say, yes, that's great, what's takoyaki? Takoyaki is octopus
balls. Not the balls of an octopus, but balls of a doughy substance
fried with bits of octopus inside. Mmm...good times! I
discovered today that I'm really not very good at making takoyaki.
My technique needs a little work, or, rather, a lot.
It was a small
gathering, maybe only 10 or 11 guests, and when they showed up with a
bunch of stuff it occurred to my co-foreigner to run to the supermarket to
get beer. The guests brought wine and champagne, as well. And
the kids in the photo above? This is the BEFORE picture, before they
gave up cards to play volleyball in my classroom and break the clock.
And really, it's not so bad.
I really like my students, and I think they're going to be the best part
of this job. Other than that, today was kind of a low-key day.
My manager took me to the hanko shop to get a signature stamp, and now I'm
official.
People keep crying at me like
I'm dying. I'm not! I'm just going on a trip...a long trip.
I will be back before you know it, borrowing money from you and urinating
in the hedges in front of your house. So cheer up. In the
meantime, you may want to check out the November posts or visit the
archives.
You
may be wondering when the peachycomics will resume its peachycomicsness
with posts and pictures and stories of wild adventures. I've been
wondering the same thing. It may be two weeks, it may be a month, it
may even be never. But I highly doubt it will be never. It all
depends on when I can get internet in my apaato. And look at those
sad, sad empty glass shelves, bereft of shot glass goodness.