Today, the teachers at my base school also told me that the next time I see one of those kabutomushi bugs (see previous post) that I should definitely capture it and they'd buy it off me, and then I could make money on the side.
I told them it was impossible, and we laughed. Seriously though, doing that is impossible for me. Even if it were dead, I wouldn't pick up the thing. One of the teachers pointed out that it looks like a cockroach (which was why he didn't like them). They both have hard shells, it's true. They both make that sickening crunching noise and feeling if you step on them. Gross.
I had another interesting run in with some bugs today. Spiders, to be exact. So like, I've been seeing these little round cocoon things all around my house, outside the windows, etc etc, and I've just thought that they were cocoons that the spiders had spun around their dead victims to save for... a rainy day or something. I don't know why. It never occurred to me that there could be living things inside of them.
Well, it turns out there are. I got my full sized refrigerator back today, and when I went to open the door, I noticed this like... swarm of small bugs in this spider web. I knew about the spider web. I had seen the spider there before - black, round body with white spots. I was kind of like, okay spider, you can stay there so long as I can still walk out the door. But I bent down to look at the small things - I thought they were ants or small gnats that had gotten caught in the web - when I realized that these tiny things were actually moving. Along the spider web. And they weren't flying bugs. They were mini spiders. At least a hundred of them (it's so tempting to say hundreds, but that's probably exaggerating it a little bit). All crawling around.
Disgusting.
If they were on the outside of my house... maybe it would have been different. But inside my house. Ew. Do not want. Especially do not want to wake up and find them crawling around in other places, so I asked people what I should do.
One of my cool JTEs told me about this bug poison that you can get at drug stores. Apparently though, it's like... super strong poison. The strongest. Which is saying something, because Japanese poisons and bug sprays are really strong to begin with. Like, they generally won't sell you the bug poison just over the counter (he said). Actually, he advised me that if I wanted to buy them, to tell the person that I have cows and I need to keep the flies away or something. Me. Cows. I kind of giggled at that, and he was like "no I'm serious."
Yeah though, I found a much better, healthier solution that involved a little bit of grovelling and humiliating myself in front of the old lady who works at the dormitory cafeteria. I thought about asking one of the students, but she just came out and was like "are you okay?"
So I asked her what I should do about the tiny spiders, and she recommended getting a broom and just sweeping them away. I gave her, I guess, a look, and she asked me if I was afraid and I was like "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, ONEGAISHIMASU." So she came and I gave her one of the old brooms and she just briskly swept them all away. They didn't jump at her or anything, and she just kept sweeping until they were allgone.
yah, I need to buy her some nice present or something. She's always really nice. And by always really nice, I mean she's said hello and we've had a little bit of smalltalk conversation.
Thank goodness for that though. I mean, if there had been a way to remove them and place them far far away, I'd totally be down with that.
Oh! So for some good news, I tried my hand at planting zucchini the other weekend. THERE ARE GREEN THINGS GROWING IN MY BOX. O_O Like, actual plants and stuff. I was kind of shocked and astounded. I also planted them wrong though, too close together, and too many in one little hole so now I'm like "ahhhhhhhhhh what should I doooo?!"
I know absolutely nothing about gardening. The internet has only been minimally helpful. It told me that I should thin out my plants (thin! Earlier on I was trying to think of the word and all I could come up with was 'cull') buuuut it said "the weak looking ones". To me though, they all look the same.
Even if they don't actually end up growing zucchinis, I will be happy they sprouted in the first place. :) For so long I was like "nah I'm not going to do a garden because I'm afraid of bugs" (and I still am) but then I found out how much zucchini cost out here... and I do enjoy cooking zucchini. They also said zucchini was really really hard to kill. So I'm hopeful. It's my first time gardening though, so I'm like Ahhhhhhhhh! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO.
Also, I'm not sure if the old man who comes and keeps my lawn tidy (he's the school gardener) is watering them or if it was raining, but the soil was moist when I checked it today.
Yeah, I'm still super happy about the leaves. :3 My tiny basil plant also has leaves! Though it would take three or five of those to actually get enough basil to actually cook or do anything with other than use them as a garnish or something.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Birthday presents
On Tuesday, I was at my high school in Niimi. Tuesday also happened to be national parfait day in Japan (supposedly) as well as the day I was born (3 am, as my mother likes to point out). Niimi has an unfortunate lack of air conditioners.But anyways, I was in class and this one boy was gesturing back, and at first I thought he was gesturing towards the door since there was a cool breeze blowing through it. I thought he was telling me "oh stand in the cool breezy part." Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw what he was *really* gesturing at. This huge, giant, horned, beetle, on the floor, about a foot away from where I was standing.
My reaction was something I heard them talking about to other students on the train. I literally jumped a foot, up and back, and screamed quite loudly. Part of the class erupted in chaos. One of the students went over and picked it up with his fingers. Disgusting.
After I got over my initial surprise and shock - I don't like surprises - it actually wasn't so bad. It was really interesting, actually, and my first time seeing one of these out in the wild. I think it was one of these kabuto mushi, or Japanese rhinoceros beetles. That or it was a stag beetle. Either way, it was huge and it was on its back, flailing its legs around. The teacher told me (later) that they could actually fly. So glad I did not find that out until afterwards.
The kid who had picked it up was going to toss it out the window, but everyone was like "NOOOO DON'T DO THAT" so instead they put it on the ledge outside the window.
When we were back in the teacher's room and telling the other teachers about this, all of them were like "dude why didn't you catch it?!" or "omfg luckyyyyyyy I want one of those!" This put me at a loss for words. Apparently, according to one teacher those kind of bugs go for 5,000 yen in the stores. Five *thousand* yen. In dollars, it's over $50 - probably more like $60 with the exchange rate now. For a bug. Granted, said bug was the size of my palm about. That bugger was HUGE.
So while it looks really cool (I'll give it that) I think i'd rather it keep its distance so someone else can enjoy playing with it instead.
I understand now though, why the pokemon Heracross was in so many of the animes. These beetles are HUGE in Japanese culture (as seen by how much they cost in the store!) and they even have a show about them. They're nicknamed "the king of bugs" and kids use 'em to fight. Apparently, you can also find it in the mountainy areas.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Summer Hideout
In the winter, it was so cold in my house. I had no central heating, so I would bundle up and sit under my warm kotatsu and then sprint into bed with my heated blanket (when I didn't fall asleep under the kotatsu). Basically I lived in my living room under my kotatsu for all of winter.
But now that it's summer, I've found myself holing up in my bedroom, since that's where the AC is. Last summer I managed to go for decently long without running the AC too much (and then I caved) but I feel like I've turned on the AC really early this year. But my room is the one place that's really nice and cool in my house - though when I need to use the bathroom or cook, it's like running into a wall of disgustingly thick heat when I step out of my ice box of a room.
Not having wi-fi (since my time capsule broke) is making this experience much more annoying. Also, the fact that my softbank internet thingie has no signal in my house (but my phone has full bars! I don't understand! Augh!) makes it even more annoying.
Oh! So for something not heat related, I *finally* did what people have been telling me to do for AGES. I planted a small garden in a planter box. It looks really awkward and a little stupid (I have this giant long container thing that's this not-so-pleasing color of pastel-y green). There's also the chance that nothing will actually grow there, since I'm planting my seeds really really late. I mean, I know it's a little on the late side to be planting stuff, since generally that's done in the spring (thank you Harvest Moon) but I didn't find the proper seeds until just last week or so.
I'm trying to grow zucchini, since it's EXPENSIVE over here for zucchini! One zucchini at my grocery store today was about 180 yen - almost $2 (with the exchange rate, probably $2) for a single zucchini. Wat. The. Fak. So I found the seeds at the hardware store (and was like "omg where have these been?" since I've been looking for zucchini seeds for ages, and I swear those weren't there when I went to the store in the earlier months.
I also think I planted them wrong. ._. After I planted them, I was reading that you should plant one seed per hole thing about a couple inches or so apart... I kind of just dug holes in a -_-_- pattern and planted them there like that. Yeah. Probably shouldn't have done that. Sigh. And I dumped two to four seeds in each little hole.
I'm growing a little basil plant though, that's doing quite nicely. If I want like, a couple of leaves it's fine for that, but I'm like, for cooking purposes it's not really... yeah. I'd have to have like, a couple of basil plants. Maybe I'll do that sometime. But I think I'm supposed to thin the plants out, you know, like survival of the fittest style.
Last night I went over to Hannah's place with Caroline and we watched Up and Tangled. :) Good times. I love being able to just hang out like that sometimes and not like... do anything but watch movies and eat. We found a cockroach in her house partway through the movies though, and had a... an interesting time freaking out and standing on the couch and the bed haha. Regular bunch of girls we were. This was promptly followed by a trip to the supermarket she lived by (it was 24 hours! Had a nice bout of city envy right there) where we stocked up on things that can kill cockroaches. Sticky roach traps, roach dango, and this nice spray stuff that we used to also kill several flying bugs that had come in when we opened the door. I don't think I could do the traps, since it means I'll have to remove it too... and that's just kinda gross.
I'm pleased to report though, that I was not among the hysterically screaming. Nope. Freak out yeah, but like, there was very little screaming and swearing from me. Probably because it wasn't my apartment.
It's kind of weird though. The roach was about the length of my thumb - super huge! We were like GOOD GOD. But roaches don't actually bite or anything. They're just really annoying and move really fast. (Most of them) don't even fly or jump. You'd think that we'd react worse to mosquitos or something. But yeah, they're kind of disgusting. And by kind of, I mean, really are.
Someone also said they were never visiting me during the summer because of all the bugs haha. I don't quite blame them; there's a ridiculous amount of flying critters around light sources (like the train station) during the evening.
I think I'm getting a little bit better at bugs. The ones I can anticipate anyways. Maybe. Haha. I am still, by no means, "good" at being around bugs. I still freak out. But I like to think that I freak out a little less. Maybe. Probably not.
But now that it's summer, I've found myself holing up in my bedroom, since that's where the AC is. Last summer I managed to go for decently long without running the AC too much (and then I caved) but I feel like I've turned on the AC really early this year. But my room is the one place that's really nice and cool in my house - though when I need to use the bathroom or cook, it's like running into a wall of disgustingly thick heat when I step out of my ice box of a room.
Not having wi-fi (since my time capsule broke) is making this experience much more annoying. Also, the fact that my softbank internet thingie has no signal in my house (but my phone has full bars! I don't understand! Augh!) makes it even more annoying.
Oh! So for something not heat related, I *finally* did what people have been telling me to do for AGES. I planted a small garden in a planter box. It looks really awkward and a little stupid (I have this giant long container thing that's this not-so-pleasing color of pastel-y green). There's also the chance that nothing will actually grow there, since I'm planting my seeds really really late. I mean, I know it's a little on the late side to be planting stuff, since generally that's done in the spring (thank you Harvest Moon) but I didn't find the proper seeds until just last week or so.
I'm trying to grow zucchini, since it's EXPENSIVE over here for zucchini! One zucchini at my grocery store today was about 180 yen - almost $2 (with the exchange rate, probably $2) for a single zucchini. Wat. The. Fak. So I found the seeds at the hardware store (and was like "omg where have these been?" since I've been looking for zucchini seeds for ages, and I swear those weren't there when I went to the store in the earlier months.
I also think I planted them wrong. ._. After I planted them, I was reading that you should plant one seed per hole thing about a couple inches or so apart... I kind of just dug holes in a -_-_- pattern and planted them there like that. Yeah. Probably shouldn't have done that. Sigh. And I dumped two to four seeds in each little hole.
I'm growing a little basil plant though, that's doing quite nicely. If I want like, a couple of leaves it's fine for that, but I'm like, for cooking purposes it's not really... yeah. I'd have to have like, a couple of basil plants. Maybe I'll do that sometime. But I think I'm supposed to thin the plants out, you know, like survival of the fittest style.
Last night I went over to Hannah's place with Caroline and we watched Up and Tangled. :) Good times. I love being able to just hang out like that sometimes and not like... do anything but watch movies and eat. We found a cockroach in her house partway through the movies though, and had a... an interesting time freaking out and standing on the couch and the bed haha. Regular bunch of girls we were. This was promptly followed by a trip to the supermarket she lived by (it was 24 hours! Had a nice bout of city envy right there) where we stocked up on things that can kill cockroaches. Sticky roach traps, roach dango, and this nice spray stuff that we used to also kill several flying bugs that had come in when we opened the door. I don't think I could do the traps, since it means I'll have to remove it too... and that's just kinda gross.
I'm pleased to report though, that I was not among the hysterically screaming. Nope. Freak out yeah, but like, there was very little screaming and swearing from me. Probably because it wasn't my apartment.
It's kind of weird though. The roach was about the length of my thumb - super huge! We were like GOOD GOD. But roaches don't actually bite or anything. They're just really annoying and move really fast. (Most of them) don't even fly or jump. You'd think that we'd react worse to mosquitos or something. But yeah, they're kind of disgusting. And by kind of, I mean, really are.
Someone also said they were never visiting me during the summer because of all the bugs haha. I don't quite blame them; there's a ridiculous amount of flying critters around light sources (like the train station) during the evening.
I think I'm getting a little bit better at bugs. The ones I can anticipate anyways. Maybe. Haha. I am still, by no means, "good" at being around bugs. I still freak out. But I like to think that I freak out a little less. Maybe. Probably not.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Replacement Fridge!
Today, after much "Jessica must locate obscure piece of paper with the refrigerator contract on it" hunting, the electronic store people I'm leasing the fridge from finally came around 2:30 today.
But first I had to find the paper. I am so very glad that I did not throw that away. I was actually going through all my papers and didn't know that was it until my supervisor told me to "look for the B4 sized paper with lots of japanese on it" and then I was like "hm, I have no idea what this paper is and it has lots of Japanese on it" and he was like "aha! That's it."
Yeah. They were supposed to come today at lunch, so I quickly ate everything and went to wait at home. Yeaaaaaaaah. They didn't come. I suppose some things don't change? And then when they were supposed to come later, they were late. My supervisor actually commented on that, and how in Japan punctuality was really important (but no company).
I think it was something wrong with the power cord. Either way, they took my old fridge and gave me a temporary replacement.
It's about a third the size of my old fridge. I mean, this thing is TINY. I'll get pictures up sometime. The freezer... is meant to hold like, maybe a pint of ice cream, one ice cube tray, and maybe some frozen veggies. The fridge is also tiny. I kind of laughed when I saw it. But I mean, a tiny fridge is better than no fridge, right?
I'm sorry I ever had smug thoughts at having a big fridge.
Also, apparently, according to my teacher summer has not come yet. It's still the rainy season. But today was soooo friggin' hot and humid, so I don't know what she was talking about. Yarg. I'm not a summer person.
My goal is to try my best at reducing the amount that I complain about it being hot. Yep.
But first I had to find the paper. I am so very glad that I did not throw that away. I was actually going through all my papers and didn't know that was it until my supervisor told me to "look for the B4 sized paper with lots of japanese on it" and then I was like "hm, I have no idea what this paper is and it has lots of Japanese on it" and he was like "aha! That's it."
Yeah. They were supposed to come today at lunch, so I quickly ate everything and went to wait at home. Yeaaaaaaaah. They didn't come. I suppose some things don't change? And then when they were supposed to come later, they were late. My supervisor actually commented on that, and how in Japan punctuality was really important (but no company).
I think it was something wrong with the power cord. Either way, they took my old fridge and gave me a temporary replacement.
It's about a third the size of my old fridge. I mean, this thing is TINY. I'll get pictures up sometime. The freezer... is meant to hold like, maybe a pint of ice cream, one ice cube tray, and maybe some frozen veggies. The fridge is also tiny. I kind of laughed when I saw it. But I mean, a tiny fridge is better than no fridge, right?
I'm sorry I ever had smug thoughts at having a big fridge.
Also, apparently, according to my teacher summer has not come yet. It's still the rainy season. But today was soooo friggin' hot and humid, so I don't know what she was talking about. Yarg. I'm not a summer person.
My goal is to try my best at reducing the amount that I complain about it being hot. Yep.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Juiceboxes & Trash Schedules
Alright. Halfway through the day. Two and a half hours of sleep under my belt. Two coffees - have I mentioned how wonderful the vending machines here are? I feel much better now than when I was coming to work in the morning. Sometimes I'm a morning person. Today, I was not. There was a guy at the conbini at the station who, as I was grabbing my coffee, stood in front of me to grab his, thus forcing me into line behind him. I was kind of like, wtf dude. You make me late for my train, I will not be happy, since the train will not wait. And as he got up to the register, he wasn't just buying coffee, but he also bought a newspaper and a pack of cigarettes. Agonizingly slowly. I was starting to worry about whether or not I would make my train.
I did, for the record.
The weather is really starting to heat up, but then again, it IS June after all. June, the rainy season in Japan, where things start to get humid and not-so-great weatherwise (though mostly it's because I can't stand the humidity; it makes me irritable). Back home, sometimes it would start to get hot in May. Those were not so fun times. There was condensation on the floors though from all the humidity.
Carrying around a hand towel/sweat towel has never been so important. Or those face/freshener wipes. I carry around both, cause sometimes the towel isn't enough. Thank goodness you can get all this cheap at the 100 yen store.
I'm dreading going home a little though. Today was trash day, but because I was a train wreck this morning and totally not together, I completely forgot to take out the trash today.
Japan has a special trash system that varies from city to city and housing complex to housing complex. There are specific days you're supposed to put out your trash (so the wild critters don't get into them) and certain days for bottles and stuff. Not so different from the US. At first.
It's the degree you have to separate things here that makes it seem really crazy. Things that you can make into a merry fire go in one pile (burnables), while things that don't go into the un/non-burnable trash. This includes things like plastics and whatnot. Some cities make you separate even further: milk cartons from plastic from styrofoam from paper from wood from metal from glass. Bottles (pet bottles), cans, and glass bottles (bins) usually get separated as well. Some places make you remove the cap and the plastic wrapping from around the bottle (which usually comes pre-perforated).
I live next to the school dorms, so they told me it's okay to not separate as much, for which I'm super grateful. Especially since I just threw out a whole bunch of food. That is sitting in my house. Roasting. In the heat. Because my refrigerator is broken and last night it seemed like a good idea to clean out at least the rotten meat from my freezer.
Yeaaaah. Home is gonna reek when I go back. I'm praying very very hard that there aren't cockroaches. Sigh.
Guess I'm eating out for a bit though. That or having tuna pasta. No leftovers. Or rice. But yeah, pretty much everything had spoiled in the fridge when I checked it last night. REALLY EFFIN LAME.
But oh yeah! What I wanted to talk about. Juiceboxes. And Japan's LOVE for them. To me, juiceboxes are things for small children and elementary school. Once you graduate to middle school and especially high school, it's can or bottle. But here, there are actually vending machines that sell juiceboxes and more! For it's more than just juice that comes in these small boxy things. They also have milk. Instead of milk cartons (they have that too) they have milk boxes. Flavored 'au lait' milks. The strawberry one is fantastic. One of my teachers bought me one and I was like OMG, MY CHILDHOOD. I love(d) strawberry milk. :)
But. They aren't cheap like I thought they'd be! Sometimes they cost as much as the stuff in the cans! It boggles my mind every time I see it, since it seems like it's not as much liquid for the same price... and in a carton. Maybe the boxes are more expensive here? But my students seem to like them a lot! They're tasty, but I feel like I'm a child again when I drink them.
I did, for the record.
The weather is really starting to heat up, but then again, it IS June after all. June, the rainy season in Japan, where things start to get humid and not-so-great weatherwise (though mostly it's because I can't stand the humidity; it makes me irritable). Back home, sometimes it would start to get hot in May. Those were not so fun times. There was condensation on the floors though from all the humidity.
Carrying around a hand towel/sweat towel has never been so important. Or those face/freshener wipes. I carry around both, cause sometimes the towel isn't enough. Thank goodness you can get all this cheap at the 100 yen store.
I'm dreading going home a little though. Today was trash day, but because I was a train wreck this morning and totally not together, I completely forgot to take out the trash today.
Japan has a special trash system that varies from city to city and housing complex to housing complex. There are specific days you're supposed to put out your trash (so the wild critters don't get into them) and certain days for bottles and stuff. Not so different from the US. At first.
It's the degree you have to separate things here that makes it seem really crazy. Things that you can make into a merry fire go in one pile (burnables), while things that don't go into the un/non-burnable trash. This includes things like plastics and whatnot. Some cities make you separate even further: milk cartons from plastic from styrofoam from paper from wood from metal from glass. Bottles (pet bottles), cans, and glass bottles (bins) usually get separated as well. Some places make you remove the cap and the plastic wrapping from around the bottle (which usually comes pre-perforated).
I live next to the school dorms, so they told me it's okay to not separate as much, for which I'm super grateful. Especially since I just threw out a whole bunch of food. That is sitting in my house. Roasting. In the heat. Because my refrigerator is broken and last night it seemed like a good idea to clean out at least the rotten meat from my freezer.
Yeaaaah. Home is gonna reek when I go back. I'm praying very very hard that there aren't cockroaches. Sigh.
Guess I'm eating out for a bit though. That or having tuna pasta. No leftovers. Or rice. But yeah, pretty much everything had spoiled in the fridge when I checked it last night. REALLY EFFIN LAME.
But oh yeah! What I wanted to talk about. Juiceboxes. And Japan's LOVE for them. To me, juiceboxes are things for small children and elementary school. Once you graduate to middle school and especially high school, it's can or bottle. But here, there are actually vending machines that sell juiceboxes and more! For it's more than just juice that comes in these small boxy things. They also have milk. Instead of milk cartons (they have that too) they have milk boxes. Flavored 'au lait' milks. The strawberry one is fantastic. One of my teachers bought me one and I was like OMG, MY CHILDHOOD. I love(d) strawberry milk. :)
But. They aren't cheap like I thought they'd be! Sometimes they cost as much as the stuff in the cans! It boggles my mind every time I see it, since it seems like it's not as much liquid for the same price... and in a carton. Maybe the boxes are more expensive here? But my students seem to like them a lot! They're tasty, but I feel like I'm a child again when I drink them.
Monday fail
Apparently, monday has something against technology.
My friend's computer died just as she was sending her phone in to get repaired.
My time capsule is still dead.
And today, around midnight, I discovered that my refrigerator and freezer are broken and probably have been broken for a while. Out of all the meats that I had in the freezer (and I had a bit) there was maybe one bag that I wasn't skeptical about being bad. THe rest of them had defrosted and started to turn colors on the sides. Even if they were good... they wouldn't have been good for much longer since they had already melted in the freezer. So much waste.
But yeah, I managed to save some ground beef and had a really really really late dinner. At 2 am. Wee.
I'm mostly annoyed that all that meat had to be thrown away. Meat here is *expensive*. Augh. I think I threw away at least 20-30 dollars in meat today. ~_~ Not to mention the rest of the stuff.
I have a little nonsensical theory as to why it happened. It's because I had bought ice cream and hadn't eaten any yet. Clearly, a sign that I shouldn't buy ice cream (or, as someone on facebook pointed out, that I should eat it faster next time).
On the plus side, I finished reading American Gods today. Very good book.
My friend's computer died just as she was sending her phone in to get repaired.
My time capsule is still dead.
And today, around midnight, I discovered that my refrigerator and freezer are broken and probably have been broken for a while. Out of all the meats that I had in the freezer (and I had a bit) there was maybe one bag that I wasn't skeptical about being bad. THe rest of them had defrosted and started to turn colors on the sides. Even if they were good... they wouldn't have been good for much longer since they had already melted in the freezer. So much waste.
But yeah, I managed to save some ground beef and had a really really really late dinner. At 2 am. Wee.
I'm mostly annoyed that all that meat had to be thrown away. Meat here is *expensive*. Augh. I think I threw away at least 20-30 dollars in meat today. ~_~ Not to mention the rest of the stuff.
I have a little nonsensical theory as to why it happened. It's because I had bought ice cream and hadn't eaten any yet. Clearly, a sign that I shouldn't buy ice cream (or, as someone on facebook pointed out, that I should eat it faster next time).
On the plus side, I finished reading American Gods today. Very good book.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
I crave salad
It's pretty much official; I'm coming back to California for about two weeks at the end of July/beginning of August (until the 14th), and will be back in Japan before the last day of the obon festival here. Two obon festivals in four days. Yea-yuuuh.
I wanted to come back earlier, but I actually got chosen to be one of the orientation assistants for the Tokyo Orientation, and on top of that, I was picked to be one of the CLAIR (official) workshop presenters. The application for Tokyo Orientation Assistants (TOAs) are based on the outlines for two workshops you submit, as well as comments from your supervisor. In some places, getting a TOA spot is harder than getting into JET in the first place, so I'm super excited! It won't, however, be a free ticket into Tokyo; they're actually going to make us work by helping people get from place to place, from the airport to hotel, answer questions, give workshops, act like Role Models (ahaha...) but in exchange, we get our ticket to and from Tokyo paid for PLUS accommodations (and breakfast). So yeah. I'm excited for it. :) I've been working on the powerpoint with three other people, though one of them, I swear, it's like, did you even LISTEN to the "how to give good powerpoints" presentation? STOP WRITING SENTENCES ALL OVER THE POWERPOINT. It's distracting. And Y U NO LIKE PLAIN B&W BACKGROUND? Sigh. lol. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Immediately following orientation, I will be flying back to the US. It was too good of an opportunity (not having to pay for the shink or a hotel) to not come back during this time.
I also need a little sanity break, I think.
By sanity break, I mean visit my family. My grandma. My friends. Eat food. Oh god. The food. Mom asked me what I wanted to do when I got back and I could not think of anything else other than "see friends" and "eat ____________." Since I listed everything out individually, this was a long list.
Don't get me wrong. I love Japan. I love the food here too. I have not lost weight here because I love the food so much.
But I really miss the wide range of foods you can get in California. I miss easily prepared dinner salads. Cheddar cheese. To make a proper dinner salad here, first you have to buy a head of lettuce, wash the lettuce, cut the lettuce, buy the (expensive) vegetables to go on top of your salad (I like to put baby corn, 500 yen; onions, 158 yen/bag; red onions, 1 for 300 yen; bell peppers (red, yellow, green) - 198 each for reds and yellows, 300 yen/bag for greens; button mushrooms, 400 yen for 6; and cheese. I won't even get started on how much the cheese is. Tofu is super cheap to put on, but things like meat, especially beef or steak... yeah, that gets expensive. Occasionally they'll have it on sale, like today. I got a strip of steak (dunno the cut) for 500 yen! Woo hooo! But yeah. By the time you buy all the ingredients - and remember, this is a dinner salad so most of the ingredients will actually be used - it's one hell of an expensive salad. Of all iceburg. Romaine lettuce is really hard to find. Arugula is out. You can get spinich here, but not baby spinich. Have I mentioned I miss bagged salads?
There's this fantastic bakery under one of the department stores in my area that sells a ham on ciabatta sandwich. Oh god. It's amazing. Seriously, it's a good thing I don't live near these places, otherwise I'd be even fatter and more broke haha.
I wanted to come back earlier, but I actually got chosen to be one of the orientation assistants for the Tokyo Orientation, and on top of that, I was picked to be one of the CLAIR (official) workshop presenters. The application for Tokyo Orientation Assistants (TOAs) are based on the outlines for two workshops you submit, as well as comments from your supervisor. In some places, getting a TOA spot is harder than getting into JET in the first place, so I'm super excited! It won't, however, be a free ticket into Tokyo; they're actually going to make us work by helping people get from place to place, from the airport to hotel, answer questions, give workshops, act like Role Models (ahaha...) but in exchange, we get our ticket to and from Tokyo paid for PLUS accommodations (and breakfast). So yeah. I'm excited for it. :) I've been working on the powerpoint with three other people, though one of them, I swear, it's like, did you even LISTEN to the "how to give good powerpoints" presentation? STOP WRITING SENTENCES ALL OVER THE POWERPOINT. It's distracting. And Y U NO LIKE PLAIN B&W BACKGROUND? Sigh. lol. I'm sure it'll be fine.
Immediately following orientation, I will be flying back to the US. It was too good of an opportunity (not having to pay for the shink or a hotel) to not come back during this time.
I also need a little sanity break, I think.
By sanity break, I mean visit my family. My grandma. My friends. Eat food. Oh god. The food. Mom asked me what I wanted to do when I got back and I could not think of anything else other than "see friends" and "eat ____________." Since I listed everything out individually, this was a long list.
Don't get me wrong. I love Japan. I love the food here too. I have not lost weight here because I love the food so much.
But I really miss the wide range of foods you can get in California. I miss easily prepared dinner salads. Cheddar cheese. To make a proper dinner salad here, first you have to buy a head of lettuce, wash the lettuce, cut the lettuce, buy the (expensive) vegetables to go on top of your salad (I like to put baby corn, 500 yen; onions, 158 yen/bag; red onions, 1 for 300 yen; bell peppers (red, yellow, green) - 198 each for reds and yellows, 300 yen/bag for greens; button mushrooms, 400 yen for 6; and cheese. I won't even get started on how much the cheese is. Tofu is super cheap to put on, but things like meat, especially beef or steak... yeah, that gets expensive. Occasionally they'll have it on sale, like today. I got a strip of steak (dunno the cut) for 500 yen! Woo hooo! But yeah. By the time you buy all the ingredients - and remember, this is a dinner salad so most of the ingredients will actually be used - it's one hell of an expensive salad. Of all iceburg. Romaine lettuce is really hard to find. Arugula is out. You can get spinich here, but not baby spinich. Have I mentioned I miss bagged salads?
There's this fantastic bakery under one of the department stores in my area that sells a ham on ciabatta sandwich. Oh god. It's amazing. Seriously, it's a good thing I don't live near these places, otherwise I'd be even fatter and more broke haha.
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