Ok, so you have not seen any pictures for ages right? My bad. I'm going through some photos now. It's going to take a while, cause I have not actually looked at any of my own pictures for the past 6 months.
But I'm now going to try to catch you up all at once. I will be trying to update my blog every day with a new set of pictures. I will post a teaser pic or two on the blog post, with a link to my photo album so you can check out the rest of the photos.
So to start off the party, here is a picture I took today of the main road (notice all the cars and the old lady making a dash to the other side!) from where I work, City Hall, when I am not teaching at school. 
Next up, my new(used) Car!! It's a Van! It has a GPS system, which is so awesome. I can now drive out of my city and not have to worry about getting lost trying to find my way back. Seriously, roads here are not laid out in the grid system like back home. It's got a decent stereo system also, the interior is like new, and it can hold 7 people.
To check out the rest of the pics follow this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianwasik/sets/72157617031364679/
Click on a picture, then click on the button above the picture that says "all sizes" to see a larger image.
So about 20 minutes ago, I was sitting in front of my computer when I got to experience something new for the first time since being in Japan.
I suddenly heard my apartment make creaking noises, much like a house settling. I thought "That's odd, since when does my apartment make creaking noises..hold on now... I'm movi..n..g...EARTHQUAKKEEEEEEEEEE"
I'm in a 13 story apartment, with my apartment on the 2nd floor. I'm glad my neighbors didn't come crashing on down.
Also, in other news. I bought a car. Another one anyway, and sold my current car. Got me a 2002 Mazda MPV. Check out this link to see what it looks like: http://stb1.blog64.fc2.com/blog-entry-130.html
It's got a GPS system, decent stereo system. Should be taking a lot of road trips soon. Gonna be fun fun fun.
Sorry for the long period of silence. I got a little homesick/depressed. It was nothing major, I was just missing home a little bit. And the easiest way to deal with that, is to pretend home does not exist. Thus I didn't want to talk to anybody from home, send emails to people back home. Out of sight out of mind.
The reason I became like that is because of the weather. Winter sucks here. Hard. Don't get me wrong, I like winter as long as there is snow. But there is no snow anywhere remotely close to this area. But we are in a valley, and cold winds come down from this one specific mountain. They warned me and I thought they were lying to me, but sure enough it gets freeeeeaking cold but yet no snow. Fast forward a few months, and it still stays really cold. For the past month its been about as cold as Tucson in the coldest part of winter. Spring time my ass. But the cold isn't my biggest downer, its the overcast rainy days. I. Miss. Sunshine. It rains here for 6 days in a row, gets cloudy on the 7th day, and then rains again another 6 days. I didn't even know that was friggin possible.
Next winter, I'm not staying in Japan. I will be coming home and traveling to warm countries.
Good news is that its going to warm up a little bit from here on out. The last few days have been warm and sunny. Im coming out of my stupor. I will try to get my computer fixed so I can start processing photos and upload them. My kinda kicked my computer in the balls a few months ago accidentally, and it does not seem to do a lot of what its supposed to do. Among other things, it doesn't recognize files from my camera. I'm also thinking of getting rid of my camera, and getting a video camera. Maybe videos of Japan will be more interesting than photos. What do ya think?
Currently I am looking for a car. Its a long story so I wont bore you. But even though there is nothing wrong with my current car, its old and thus expensive. Newer cars are cheaper. I'm probably going to spend a decent amount on a stereo and a GPS unit, so I can take some decent road trips.
SAKURA and HANAMI (Cherry trees and flower viewing)
Right now the cherry tree blossoms are coming to an end. They are super pretty, but super short lived. It would have been nice, if perhaps it wasn't cold and rainy the entire time. It would have been awesome if it wasn't for the craptastic weather in Japan. I did manage to go out to a park one afternoon for my lunch break. The one day it was semi-sunny(but not warm). There was a group of old ladies having a picnic, singing old traditional Japanese songs and dancing. It was totally awesome. After I was done eating I went over to say hi, and they quickly made me sit down and kept offering me food. Old ladies in Japan are Awesome. Normal Japanese adults are boooring. In public everybody has to behave, not stick out, not have fun. They always are worried about what other people think about them. Except old ladies. These old birds were the most care free people I had met in a while. For example, typical Japanese adult who greets me for the first time says something like "Its a pleasure to meet you Mr. Brian. I hope we can have favorable relations in the future". Seriously, its always that polite. These ladies said something like this "Sup dawg. Where u come from? America? Damnnnn dats tight". Totally. Awesome. But then I had to go back to work. LAME. But it was cold anyway.
I kept waiting for nice weather to go cherry blossom viewing, but it never came. I did end up going out at night for a BBQ. It was overcast, and rained for a small bit. Everybody was freezing. I a shirt, two sweaters, and my warmest winter jacket on.
So cherry trees really are beautiful, but highly overrated because of the freaking weather.
I finally ordered a memory card for my camera online. I've been doing a lot of shopping online tonight. Looking for Christmas stuff to purchase also. I missed last Christmas cause I was in Japan on vacation, now I'm gonna miss it this year also. I feel the need to surround myself with shiny lights and familiar Christmas thingys.
Tomorrow I teach 1st graders at an elementary school. I am normally relegated to 3rd though 6th grade, as they have a tendency to actually learn. Whereas 1st and 2nd graders are like ... I'm at a loss to describe children here....
I wish I had videos to send back home, cause I'm sure all of my family members will have a hard time picturing my typical day with 1st and 2nd graders. Outside of their classroom, I am protected by the older students. There is a ranking system here in Japan, and they start them way young. The younger kids are not allowed to play with the bigger kids, which works to my advantage outside on the playground. However once I enter their classroom, their domain if you will, I am left to defend for myself. I'm fine for the first few minutes as all the kids are thinking "HELP A HUGE MONSTER JUST ENTERED THE CLASS ROOM" I try to work it to my advantage for as long as I can, I hold up my hand to theirs, casually stretch up and touch the ever so short door frame, and generally just go along with their idea of me being a Tall Monster.
It never lasts long. There are always a few kids who can tell I am one of those so called "gentle giants". Those few kids run up to me and clasp on like a leech that has not fed for a whole year. This is when things go sour. Being the cute devils that they are I can't help but give them attention. And as soon as I toss one in the air, or play with one, all the other kids realize that I am suddenly not a "giant monster" but instead "the coolest guy ever to set foot in their class room". There's a calm before the storm. A split second of absolute silence before the gates of hell are torn down in a deafening roar. That's when every other kid in the class decides they want to play with me also. And a split instant after that, I LITERALLY have half of the class hanging off of me. Kids will go to the other side of the room, line me up, and then run at full speed and try to jump as high as they can and cling to me. They will use their classmates as stepping ladders if they are there. They will climb their desks if they are near it, and then jump for my head. In a matter of moments I am unable to move an inch. The teachers... they do nothing. They think its all fun and games. Eventually I try to move. I then pretty much fall to the ground, luckily there a dozen kids to cushion my descent. But I always have to push kids out of the way with my hands and then catch myself so I don't kill children. This puts me at even easier climbing height. Eventually you can no longer see me, just a gaggle of children where my general location should be.
This is what my entire day will be like tomorrow. I'm freaking pumped. Its so fun. (never ever did I think I would say that)
Except for when they attempt to stick their fingers up my but, or grab....places. But thats for another conversation.
Tomorrow there is a hang gliding event on a mountain pretty close to my place. I got special permission from the organizer to show up and crash the pre-party tonight. I found out about this a few months ago, and because I pretty much feel like I am on vacation here, I want to try to do everything at least once. The deal was that I was originally allowed to invite a few other friends with me, but then a few days before I found out that wasn't gonna fly. But because of my extreme interest, the organizer was going to allow just me to show up. I didn't have to pay the dinner fee either, yay. So the plan was to crash the party, and then quickly make friends with everybody who was going hang gliding the next morning. Then being the super awesome cool guy that I am, people would be begging me to jump on their backs while they jumped off a mountain.
Slight problem. In Japan, I am a fat ass. I am about 22lbs over the limit of being able to tandem with somebody. The drunk Japanese men at the party seemed to think they had the answer to this problem though. They swore if I cut off my private parts, it would alleviate the extra 22 pounds. I want these dudes as my wingmen if I'm ever trying to pick up a chick...
So I won't be able to go hang gliding tomorrow, but I will still go and watch them. I won't be able to take pictures, cause I still have not bought a new memory card for my camera... sorry. I'll buy one this week.
But thats not the end of this story. I was debating whether or not to get a motorcycle next year sometime. But now I am thinking I might pick up hang gliding as a hobby instead. I still need to figure out the costs involved, and where and how often I will be able to go. Normally it takes 3-6 months before you can fly solo, but these dudes know of a place where I can do a week long intensive (crash?) course and get my solo license in one week! I can't start until spring cause winter has winds that are too strong I've been told. But that gives me time to get the logistics worked out.
Sorry it`s been a whole month since my last post. Just been busy. Just about every weekend I end up going on a trip, or I end up vegging and catch up on some US tv shows.
The memory card on my camera bit the dust a few nights ago. So I lost a bit of photos. I`ll have to go through my photos on my PC to find out how many I lost. I`ll try to post a few photos soon, but no promises. I`m going out of town again for the next two weekends.
A few weekends ago I went to hike a mountain. They call it the Mt. Fuji of Kyushu. I laughed as we got close, cause it looked tiny. My mistake was comparing it with the real Mt. Fuji. It had to have been taller than the Catalina`s back home though. It was a little tough. Actually, whoever told me it was a "hike" is a #$&!$ liar. It was a climb. The first half you are hiking up very loose pebbles, and its very steep. About 1/4th of the way up I was ready to call it quits. Seriously, it was way too much work. My clothes were already dripping wet from my sweat. There was literally not a single spot of dry clothes on me. But I figured, "meh, it can`t get much harder". Stupid mountain. Oh its actually an active volcano, but has not erupted for about 1200 years. Yeah, it got harder. Much harder. Climbing over boulders, having to get on hands and knees to climb a path of small boulders that are about 2 feet wide and to the left is a sheer drop off from the mountain. Yay.
They say a healthy adult can climb it in 2.5 hours. We did it in 2. There were 21 of us. By the time we got down, I had drank about 1.5 gallons of water and was still massively dehydrated. Seriously, if your not in shape you can`t climb this thing. But the most humbling part was all the other people. About 2/3rds up my pace slowed a little because of a group of people in front of me. The "path" is about a foot or two wide so passing is not an option unless you wanna fall off the mountain trying. But we were still moving at a fairly aggressive pace. I found out later it was being led by a 70yo couple. They were not even sweating as much as I was. They also looked fine, whereas I looked like I had just clawed my way out of a grave. I`m pretty sure when I`m 70 the last place you will find me is climbing this mountain.
Seriously, this was the most strenuous thing I can recall doing. Ever. I hate exercise. Not to mention seeing all the bees and giant hornets up there. There is absolutely no way a rescue squad can get to anybody up there anytime soon. Would take a full day to extract you. Airlift would be pretty difficult or impossible depending on what area of the path you were on.
The next day we ended up going to a hot sand bath. I was thinking being buried in hot wet sand did not sound like fun at all. When I left Arizona, I was pretty happy to leave the sand behind. However this was the most pleasant experience ever. I would try to explain it, but I could not do it justice at all. I gotta say I would climb that mountain all over again if it meant I could take another sand bath. But I think next time I`ll just drive past the mountain strait to the sand baths.
In other news, I made a big purchase yesterday. I could wait no longer. I bought a super duper electronic ass cleaning, ass massaging, heated seat, laser guided toilet seat. It senses when I walk into the bathroom, and it instantly heats up the toilet seat before I can sit down. I`ve tried to surprise it, I even bum rushed it in the middle of the night in pure blackness. It was waiting for me. No more need for toilet paper, this thing has like a gazillion ways to clean your bum. Not only can you set the type of spray, it`s even heated. Another cool function is the green "x marks the spot" laser guided system. During the night when you lift up both toilet seats and take a pisser standing up, it tells you where to aim your stream via an eerie green glow. It also does this startup routine when you sit down that sounds like a mini jet airplane taking off. I think it cycles the water for some unknown reason and turns on an odor fan to keep unwanted smells from... smelling. I paid about $400 for mine. It`s far from the best model, but its well above the entry level. It even comes with a remote control!! Which as far as I can tell is useless for most people. I mean... your sitting down and you can`t move from the toilet what use is a remote you can use from the next room. There is only one possible use, which I will exploit to its fullest. I simply take said remote control out of the room, and find a sucker to test out my toilet. I then turn on the cold water, turn on the painful needle spray, turn it to full power, and hit start. Hilarity ensues.
If your anything like me before I tried one of these, you are fearing for my sanity right now. The first time I tried one, I only did so because I was not sure if I would get the opportunity to try one again. The first thing that goes through your mind is a mixture of "Holy crap what crazy dude thought of something this awkward" and "How have I been living without one of these for so long". I can`t believe it took me 2 months to finally buy one of these things.
I don't belong to a gym here yet. I need to do some scouting. I know there is a good one in the city, but pretty far away and very expensive. There is supposed to be one close by, but not so great. I have not checked either out yet.
I may not need one however. I got more comfortable with being around children, so started playing with them more aggressively. Side story: I don't understand Japanese people. As adults, they don't show public displays of affection. No touching.. no hugging.. no verbal expressions of emotions even. But then you look at their children, and you can't pry them apart with crowbars. Back to topic: This had positive and negative outcomes. I found that they like to cling to me. And Japanese kids are light. So I now use them as free weights. I can do curls and stuff with one on each arm. I get a workout, and the kids think I'm the strongest guy in the world, so it's a huge ego workout at the same time! But now you can't pry them off of me for anything. At any given time I can have 5 children hanging off me. Yeah.. I bet my family can't even picture that. It's fun swinging them around, launching them into the air, it's just a blast. Some are shy at first, but once they see 1 student having fun, they ALL want to have fun. I have not got poked in the ass yet. I do however get my crotch grabbed. By 8yo boys. I don't even know how to react to that. I don't do much about it though(other then pry them off at lightning speed), I do NOT want to draw attention to that, lest every child decides its funny and tries to cop a feel. *shudder*
Also I'm a celebrity at every school. Because I only see these kids once a month, I'm a cool special treat. I'm exotic to them. I can do ANYTHING, and they will pretty much say "OH WOW THATS SOOOO COOL" For example, climbing stairs 3 steps at a time, reaching up and touching the ceiling, waving to them, showing them my shoe size. Pretty much if I do anything, I'm cool. Soon I won't be able to function in society if I return to the States. I won't understand why everybody doesn't treat me like I am the next best thing since sliced bread.
People in general here are very nice. I recently took my car in to have it looked at. The previous girl left it in pretty bad shape, but wasn't really aware of the issues when she sold it to me. She didn't deceive me on purpose, she just assumed because it got her from point A to point B fine, it had no problems. But the car's not a complete loss, and everything will turn out fine. At the dealership though, I got treated better than anybody ever has at any car repair shop in America. I was given a discount, just because they liked me. It was a small one, but they didn't even tell me, I just happened to read it on the receipt. And get this, instead of trying to repair stuff that wasn't broken they told me the exact condition of everything I asked. I was debating on what to do with the breaks, because I am trying to put as little money into the car as possible until I scrap it in April and buy a different car. They thought that the breaks would last until then, but were not positive and it might be pushing it. It would cost a few hundred dollars, a little too much for me. So what does the mechanic do? He goes into his own parts supply that he paid money for and brought out some brand new brake pads and offered to give them to me for free. Not only that, but he did the labor for free also. They are also going to keep an eye out for a good reliable car for me when I eventually scrap this one. Used cars here are not too expensive, at least cheaper than in the states.
Bye for now.
Yesterday was my first day teaching. It went well. Ish.
I taught at an elementary school yesterday. The first class I taught, a combined class of 3rd & 4th graders, the teachers knew no English. Which is not uncommon for Elementary schools. English is not a required curriculum for elementary school students yet. The Japanese government will be implementing that in.. 2 years I think. It was a little nerve racking though being up in front of a class for the first time ever, and having the 2 teachers stare at me with more confusion than the 8yo kids. The vice principle there is AWESOME though. The next class, she came up with me and did team teaching with me. So we took turns and introduced some English and games and what not. She saved me. The teacher from the last class of the day, spoke good English and was Super Genki(uhm..type in "define:genki" into google without the quotes. There is no good translation into English.) so the class was really fun, and the kids were motivated.
The kids thought I was a Giant. No ass poking happened, but I did turn into a jungle gym for a small amount of time. My neck/shoulders are killing me. Played with them at lunch also, kick-baseball and dodge ball. I behaved myself and restrained from kicking the ball into next month(It'll reappear next week...), and did not really throw the ball during dodge ball... The kids were super cute. They got into like an argument over which team I should be on and what not.
I have pictures that the Vice principle snapped of me while teaching. I'll upload them tomorrow maybe. I said that about the monkey pics too didn't I....
Today I went to teach at Jr. High. The kids there are a little more shy, and don't want to stick out as much. In class. Outside of class they were really happy when I even walked by and made eye contact with them. heh.
I was told to get there early today so I could give a little self introduction to the office and staff in Japanese. No problem, I didn't bother to prepare a speech like they asked, as I have given this to everybody 90000 times now. Self introductions are big here. Evidently I miss understood something, because after I did that they said "ok, now lets go to the auditorium so you can give a speech to the students". I thought that was odd, since I would be giving my introduction in class to them as my lesson. I walked in and there were 250 students waiting for me to give them a prepared speech in Japanese. I'm not one to panic or get stressed.. but pretty much I thought "oh @*&!#, this is gonna be interesting". Then the principle gave a simple intro of my name, and where I came from. He did that from the side of the auditorium, and not from the gigantic stage set up in front. I felt relieved, as I thought I wouldn't have to stand up high having everybody stare up at me. I was handed the mic, and then shoved up the huge ass stage. Great. I believe the first thing I said in Japanese probably translates to this "holy crap there are a ton of you, I'm freaking out a little" Then from there I attempted to make a speech in Japanese. I learned something. I can not BS a speech in Japanese yet. I'm not ever sure I said anything comprehensible. After half a minute I gave up and gave a speech in English. One of the teachers translated for me. Afterwords some of the teachers came up and said "great speech". I think I just taught Japanese how to use Sarcasm.
The rest of the day went smooth.
I gotta go assemble a bicycle now. Catch you all later.
Ps. Oh. I was just about to post a photo of me in the class room. I just remembered that I can't do that. I am not allowed to post photos of students in class. Illegal or something like that. Because they are minors. I'm not really clear on the details, but I was specifically warned about posting photos of students on blogs and stuff. Sorrrrrrrry.
