I am clearly not Asian...

as I just did the CRAPPIEST job painting my toes.

I guess that was kind of a bad stereotype comment though, huh?

I was ranked #2 for the self study sales so far for all of Kyushu foreign teachers (like 30 something). In fact all 3 foreign teachers at my branch are 1-3. This is only so far...so we will see where I will finally end up...as we still have a bit longer than a month to go...but until then... =)

PS- Talk about creating controversy (last post)

Not to be morbid...

But I had to share my newfound awful information I learned last night around...2 am.

I already knew raw horse was a delicacy here. What I did NOT know until 2 am last night was that in some places, they actually cut off some of the horse while it is alive as you order it, and inject it with drugs and keep it alive and keep slicing off more and more. Apparently it is fresh and delicious that way. I think I almost cried. I know I am a total meat eater and cows and chickens, etc etc are slaughtered everyday for my stomach's enjoyment, but to keep an animal alive while doing that is just barbaric...and I just can't do what I consider "pets" (eg horses, dogs, etc) I am boycotting fresh raw horse from now on. (And no...I was not at a raw horse restaurant at 2 am, my coworker was sharing this information over drinks and a conversation regarding a dead octopus in the fish tank-don't ask).

Oh yes, why I have a newfound appreciation for American banks as awful as they are...at least THERE you can withdraw money from the bank! Here, the banks close at 3 pm, are closed on Saturdays, and no you cannot simply withdraw money from a teller. I mean why would you get money from a bank??? You are also charged when you withdraw cash from the atm....even if it is your bank's atm....(cue eyes rolling into the back of my head).

PS-I was just informed those oddly dressed people from my beach trip are actually a famous Japanese band famous for dressing odd? Who knew?

I love....

• Air conditioning
• Indian food
• Being paid in cash for payday
• American banks (new appreciation)
  

Why, you ask? Reasons to come later....

Over already?

Beach party
Sushi
Sleeping in
Beer
Casual clothes
Clean apt
Sopranos
Laze

Why is the weekend so short?

Beach Festival

Yesterday, I went with friends to the beach festival on Nokonoshima Island, which is a quick ferry ride away from Fukuoka. However, we missed the ferry both ways and had to pay for a private boat. Oh well =) The island kind of surprised me because it looked so tropical, and TOTALLY looked like a beach I went to in Puerto Vallarta several years ago. It was a great day away from the city, laying out in the sun, drinking, and dancing. I met a lot of other foreigners, but most were from Nigeria or Guam, etc. So it was definitely an interesting mix. I also met lots of cool Japanese girls. However, some of the Japanese people there bemused me in their high heels in at the beach, etc. These people won the prize though (you can't see it but they were also wearing red crocs):
Then, after a long day of this, I went home around 9pm, bought food, spilled terryaki all over my keyboard, and now it is sticky even though I have cleaned it about 10 trillion times. Might I also mention my camera randomly spazzed and stopped taking pictures for a while? Now it is fine though. That camera likes to trick me.

*Note-we got SOOO lucky. It was sunny and warm all day/night. Now it is 2pm Monday and raining buckets.

Nothing too special over here....

but I feel like writing something. Hmm...what is new? I just completed a 6 day work week. No overtime pay. I am definitely fully immersed into the Japanese business culture. Eh, what can you do? Besides the long hours/getting home around 1030pm exhausted stuff, work is actually pretty good. I am doing decently with balancing self study with regular classes, and as I get to know my students better and better teaching is more and more enjoyable. However, my extremely low level classes terrify me, but at least they are sweet and pretend they understand me. Ha.
I n e e d t o w o r k o n t a l k i n g s l o w e r a n d m o r e s i m p l y.

Oh uhhh did I mention IT'S THE WEEKEND???? I have been looking forward to the weekend since last Sunday night. I am going to a reggae festival on a small island off Fukuoka tomorrow with some friends. Apparently it is a big foreigner shin-dig, so I must say besides the appeal of being surrounded in English and people my height (Ok the 2nd was a bad stereotype on my behalf) I am kind of curious to see what sorts of people will be there. I have to be honest....many foreigners here are..uhhh.....well.....I'll just say they fit the stereotype of the people you would imagine come to Japan (pasty computer game nerd looking for a J girlfriend/boyfriend/whateverrr). I was told that people get kind of desperate here for friends as the proportion of foreigners to J people is obviously not even. The desperation increases when you realize 97% the J population only leaves their home for work/school. I was then given the advice to "not be friends with anyone I would not be friends with back home." True dat. Of course I am open minded and will give anyone a chance, but yeah I am seeing where this advice is coming from. But I am definitely curious to see what this festival will bring.

REGARDLESS it is good to get out and I at least get to go with cool, fun, normal people so no complaints there =)

Did I mention it is the weekend? Oh yeah and my toe is infected (yum) good thing I brought neosporin over as I would have no idea how to ask for it/read the katakana/kanji. And try to imagine doing charades for THAT ONE. Headache was bad enough (btw I just learned when I did "charades" for headache meds several weeks ago, I was actually sold the J equivalent to a midol/birth control kind of pill. Ha--it did relieve my headache though) That is all.

Me Rambling

Because apparently I don't understand that when I stay up until late hours of the night, I am tired the next day at work.

Random things I like about Japan so far in no particular order (there are more than these):
No tipping.
People are polite.
Baths. I know they exist in the states, but there is something about taking a bath in Japan that is cooler.
The economy doesn't suck here (well at least I think, as I am not an expert on Japanese economics). OK, just to be safe and prevent a debate, I'll rephrase: the economy doesn't suck here as much as in the states.
Almost anything, anywhere is amusing in some way.
There is brail on the corners of streets which I have discovered make a great foot massager when you rock back and forth on it while waiting to cross after a long day of standing in heels.
Speaking of massages, you can hang out in an electronic store for a long time in the massage chair.
Mistranslations.

Random things I don't like about Japan so far in no particular order (there are more than these):
People staring at me like I just landed in a space ship.
The fact everyone seems to think tissues are the same as napkins. Or that napkins are not necessary at all.
Everyone being shocked and amazed that I have eaten Japanese food before coming to Japan, and "can use chopsticks so well!!" -rolls eyes-
The no trash can thing is still really annoying. Unless you have a can or bottle, then you are fine.
The fact no one here apparently ever needs to hydrate themselves as everyone uses glasses the size of dixie cups, and sips their water or soda like it is sake.
Everything is a carb or covered in mayo. Or if it is decently healthy, expensive.
Oh don't even get me started with the mayo actually.
They put corn all over any decent looking pizza or pasta. WHY?
Sorting my trash. Maybe I am lazy. I don't care. And by the way I find it interesting that this is insanely important, yet no one cares that people let their dogs poop all over the freaking roads (probably because there are no trash cans to throw it away in though--last time I checked poop isn't recyclable).
Anything that is cute and purchasable in the states is 3x as expensive here...which is a problem since I prefer my stuff cute.

OK, I know this seems depressing as my "things I don't like" list is much longer than the positive things, but trust me there are lots of other things I DO like here (in fact focus in on the "everything is amusing" vague bit-that alone could net a list of 10 trillion things I like here) I am just a tad brain dead and in kind of a "I wish I could eat pizza that isn't covered in corn or maybe carnitas or maybe an Italian cold cut sub on bread that is not loaded with sugar" mood. At times, after work I find myself wandering the grocery store like a zombie in search of something that will satisfy these cravings. I usually wind up with ramen or rice or chicken covered in mayo. Sigh.

Oh and did I mention I am addicted to catching up with the Sopranos? I know I am a tad behind on that one, but I can't help it!!! (Although I blame it for me craving the Italian subs and pizza/pasta that isn't covered in corn).

Back the the grind.

Holiday is over. Back to work.

I'm on a roll with the updates

Today I didn't do anything too special, however, I was incredibly productive:

Slept in.
Began wandering around the neighborhood, SURE there had to be some home furnishing stores nearby.
Found a home furnishing store literally behind my apt.
Found a cheap clothing store literally behind my apt.
Found this nifty store that sells new and used things. Bought a new Forman Grill for only 2000 yen (20 bucks)!!--now cooking at home will be so much easier--and this little shelf unit that was used for only 988 yen!! Carried those home.
Decided I had found the street of cheap things so I went back down it, and just kind of wound up wandering around. I wandered through the nearby wards....and wound up meeting up with the Hakata parade for Golden Week so I knew I was somewhere nearby Hakata. Watched the parade for a bit and kind of followed it.
Until I saw a sculpture I recognized.
Me: I have seen this sculpture before...
Brain: That's because you have accidentally wandered over to Tenjin, duh!

So I take it back, Tenjin is actually not that far from me if I don't get lost =)

Anyway, then I wandered back to the home furnishing store and bought a shag green floor chair (!!!) because it was on sale for 2400 yen from 4000. And a coordinating pillow. So now I think I am going for the retro look. I like it though.

Then I bought some meat for my grill and made dinner. And now I am just sitting here lazy and watching The Sopranos.

(My feet still hurt)

My feet hurt

So, today was an AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME picture day!!!! Ummm too bad I was retarded and left my camera at home! Gah! I am seriously still kicking myself for it. I tried taking pictures on my phone but it was being stupid and the quality isn't as good and it was tedious and I got over it. BUT the good news is, a) my friend Andrew took pictures he promised to send me at some point and b) I plan to repeat this day trip quite soon it was that fabulous! Sooo what did I do, you ask?
I went to Dazaifu, which is about 20-30 min away by local train from me. It has a HUGE famous shrine that I learned all about in the museum. This guy was a pretty big deal (click link for more info). The coolest thing is that after he died, he was buried under the shrine I visited and became a god in the form of an ox (Um hello I am the year of the ox!!! Coincidence? I think not! Ha) and was called Tenjin in his god form. Ooooooh! I GET IT!!!! (Tenjin=downtown Fukuoka). So next time I am partying it up there I will think of him. Anywayyyy I almost cried not having my camera here because this place SCREAMS "Hi!! You are now in ancient Japan!!! Look at all this nature and traditional Japanese stuff!!!" It was so beautiful. We ate lunch at a place right on the water with a bunch of reeds and TURTLES (so cute watching them swim) with wisteria growing off the roof.

(In fact the whole area had this kind of feel to it):See why I am so mad I did not have my camera?????

We also kind of started to hike. But I plan on returning just for hiking it is so beautiful there. But what is REALLY random (and I still don't understand) is while we were hiking up the hill, we discovered.....................an amusement park?? We couldn't figure out how to reach it because it was at the bottom of the hill with no trail...but wtf? An amusement park in the middle of beautiful nature and shrines and traditional cultural stuff? An American must own it. Ha.

Then I went back to Futskaichi where my friend works and hung out. It is basically the suburbs of Fukuoka so there wasn't too much to do. We wound up going to an electronic store (like Best Buy but with an obnoxious Japanese music theme playing over and over and over...) and sat in massage chairs for like 30 min haha. This was the best massage chair I have ever sat in I must say. It felt like they paid a human to stand in it and knead my back. They probably did as it cost over $4,000 USD. I did have a quick fantasy of owning it in my apt and sitting in it every night. Haha. I wish.

Then I took the train back to TENJIN (that word seriously has a new meaning to me hahaha) and planned on going home but wound up walking over to Canal City (in case you care) to look at any home furnishing shops (And I am making a mental note right now-LUSH and Zara are on the 3rd floor so next time I want to do real girly shopping I can head straight there haha). Wound up buying a small outdoors backpack because I am SICK of lugging my purse around on day trips. There was also this neat circus group performing in the main plaza so I watched that for a bit. Then decided to just walk back to Hakata and take the train because I didn't feel like spending money on the subway. After many checks with a map I (thankfully) grabbed at Canal City and a few wrong turns and about 20 minutes I made it to the station. I have definitely satisfied my curiosity on whether or not it is possible to walk from Tenjin to my apt (I already knew I could walk from my apt to Hakata in about 30 min). But do I recommend it? NO. My feet HURT (well we must also factor in I was hiking all day, but STILL-no).

*Note- I just took that image off of google somewhere, no idea where that actually is.

Quick Day "Trip"

I decided to do some exploring today so I went to check out Momochi Seaside Park. Only a couple subway stops from my home and about a 15-20 minute walk. You can tell the whole area is very very new and modern. Fukuoka Tower is there, and it is kinda like the Seattle Space Needle. So I decided to be touristy and go up to the top. Apparently since I am a foreigner I get discounts at "major" tourist attractions to promote tourism! So I only paid 640 yen instead of 800. Ha. Anyway the view was pretty neat. Except looking in a pamphlet they had up there I kinda wish I had gone at night to see the city with the lights and everything. Ohh well. To be honest I was not sure where Momochi Seaside Park was I had just wandered off in that direction, so I got excited when I saw below me, this little European/resort looking beach area thing and decided I wanted to go there next. Turns out that is Momochi Seaside Park, haha. So I went there after and sat down at a cafe and had a beer and french fries because I was starving and that was all they were serving at the moment. The beach itself is man-made with imported sand, so there are no waves. It was kind of weird to be sitting there in almost silence right next to the water! I kind of felt like I was on a private island or something. I decided to go check out "Hawks Town" next- the Softbank Hawks dome, and huge mall area they have attached to it (Softbank Hawks are Fukuoka's baseball team FYI). So I wandered over there and got ice cream. So by now I was feeling a tad homesick. I was at the beach, and just consumed beer, fries, and ice cream so I felt like a fat American, and was nearby a baseball stadium...yet I was surrounded by Japanese people and kanjii. I kinda just started yearning for a Dodger game, and a restaurant that spoke English to me when I sat down. Oh well. At least in Japan people are much more polite/eager to please their customers. For example- at the crepe/ice cream place I went to in the mall, I left my jacket. I had already wandered half way across the entire mall when I realized I had. I spun around to head back and low and behold, the lady at the counter was standing there, slightly breathless, holding my jacket. She had clearly hunted me down. In the US if this had happened they would have shrugged, and put it on the ground behind the counter in case I ever returned. I guess it isn't half bad here...