three cars in one week

I went to Sanjo last night and Fujitasan gave me another car, though I have been downgraded to an old piece of crap yellow plate that doesn't even have fm radio. Do you think he is attempting to preserve his newer stock? Oh well I only have to drive it for a couple of days and then I will be in Canada!

This weekend wasn't a complete catastrophe though. Friday night Glen had a Christmas party at his swanky pad. It was a beautiful apartment with heated hardwood floors and a massive fridge... oh why did I not get an engineering degree? On Saturday after a long day of rehearsal we barged into James' spacious apartment and had a bit of party, made some pumpkin pie and had a decent sleep!

luck runs amok

I have had a couple months free of bad luck (aside from my general forgetfulness) but lady luck decided to toy with me this weekend…

I was in Sanjo for another musical rehearsal and Kristen and I went out to buy some supplies. We were driving by Jusco when a guy pulled out of the parking lot and drove straight into the side of my car. It was somewhat strange because I was looking at him as it was happening and he realized he was going to hit me...if he would have stepped on the brakes at that point I think he would have missed me but maybe he was in shock or something and proceeded to t-bone me. It was not a bad accident by any means but it was frustrating not being able to communicate. Kristen called a Japanese friend who was nice enough to interpret for us. I was somewhat annoyed that the police asked for my passport because we go through the trouble to get a gajiin card which is suppose to stand in place of the passport so we are not required to carry it. Luckily, I had gone to pick up my re-entry visa last Friday and I had my passport in the glove box. It was unfortunate that we were in an accident but if some higher deity preordained an accident to occur it was lucky it was in Sanjo because that is where my car dealer's shop is located so the dealer was able to give me a loaner car while my banged up car was getting fixed and off I went.

Driving home from Sanjo I was thinking back on the car accident and because the police asked for my passport it reminded me that I left it in my other car which was lucky because I would have probably forgotten it until the day I had to leave and would have been out of luck.

I reached Niitsu and my luck decided to turn again! I was driving in the straight through lane and going through an intersection when the guy who was in the turning lane decided to go straight. I didn't even really see him but he was livid that I did not let him in and was driving beside me on a one way street and yelling at me. I didn't care so I let him go ahead. He then proceeded to stop his vehicle in front of me and get out. At this point I really didn't know what to do and I was wondering if I should attempt to drive away. He stormed over to my car and was yelling at me to get out. I can't quite recall if he spoke in English at all or not but I understood what he wanted and I was not getting out of my car. He then began knocking on the window and I shook my head and said no. Straight from a movie or those shows you see on FOX about people with road rage he smashed his fist into my side mirror and shattered it onto the road. He then stomped off to his vehicle and peeled away. I sat for a couple minutes just looking at the broken mirror of my second car of the weekend and then though…I guess it is lucky I have to go back to Sanjo anyhow to get my passport.

Lovely winter fashion

For those of you who always thought gee winter jackets just are not warm enough. Numerous examples running around japan. I think it is the fashion of choice for pimps and club coaches.

Christmas songs at a Japanese school

About thirty years ago the Agano river (runs through my town) flooded and killed a bunch of people. A famous Japanese composer wrote a five part song about the flood and my school sings it every year at their culture festival. Since I have been here it has been the only song they have sung besides the school song... so today I nearly fell out of my chair when the strains of Joy to the World came to my ears. I was shocked at the musical variety and figured that I would be hearing "ande heban ande naturu singu" over and over for the next week but they continued to belt out the Christmas songs including Silent Night and Angels We Have Heard on High. The last song is difficult for English speakers to sing mainly because of the Latin but to hear it sung in Japanese English is crazy.

It sounds like
anegelese we habe heardo on high
suweetelyu singingu obere the prainese
ande the mountains in repulyu
eko ingu deir joyusu sutraines.
Grrrrrrooooooooria in esucersusu daio

No matter how bad they butcher them I will take them over listening to the Aganogawa for the five hundredth time. Besides gets me that little bit more into the Christmas mood.

PS: I see it is getting warm back home, if there is not snow when I get there I am going to hurt someone.

another rehearsal

This past weekend contained another musical rehearsal this time in Joetsu. Niigata is one of the largest prefectures and Joetsu is in the southern area. I live in the north east. Niigata may be big but it's still got nothing on SK. It was about a three hour drive but on the expressway so I was able to pass all the idiots where typically I would be stuck behind them. Decent drive through the mountains...many tunnels. Crashed at Patrick's place and he thoughtfully made burritos for our craving western tongues. His area had much more snow than mine but it was in the melting stages and did not resemble Christmas snow. We had rehearsal in a church the next day and it was strange seeing a fully garbed Franciscan speaking Japanese. Props were forgotten and some are still missing so it was difficult to finish what needed to be done. That night we went to an open mic night at a pub frequented by ALTs. It had a great cozy atmosphere and there were tons of gajin because the Joetsu area shells out. Niigata cut 50 ALT positions this year so there is only a few JET ALTs left in the city. Anyhow, it would be nice if there was a similar pub in our area.

Had karate last night, not as cold as last time but still semi-painful. Punched a kid pretty hard because he started getting rough when his dad was egging him on (don't feel bad he is a green belt which is at least four belts higher than my paltry white). Many new bruises.

9 days until I go home!

central heating...anyone?

Well buildings in Japan do not have central heat even though the temperature does get below zero. It is almost akin to medieval Europe but instead of fireplaces in each room we have kerosene heaters. It is not too bad when you are in a heated room though at school the temperature is at 20 when it would be at 25 if I had any say. The hallways and the gym, however, are NOT heated at all. It is almost a mad dash from the teacher's room through the frigid hallways to the welcome sanctuary of the classroom. I feel for the kids who take part in club activities because the gym is freezing. I went to karate on Monday and nearly froze my feet off on the icy floor. The gym was so cold that each breath was visible. The sensei figured running in circle on the freezing floor in our bare feet would cause them to warm up? Not sure if you have ever partially frozen an appendage but it becomes more painful to do anything with it until it becomes numb. If I have arthritic feet later in life I will know why. To compensate they had a heater that looked like an engine from a WWII plane. It was only effective if you stood directly in front of it with your feet in the air but then you were subjected to the cold feet in hot water type pain. It was better to let them go numb. The girls still have to wear skirts to school every day as well. Wouldn't want to be them! The one room of my house has been pretty cozy but if I have to go into the kitchen or bathroom I usually have to put a jacket and slippers on. Thank god for my heated toilet seat. I thought it was a stupid idea when I arrived here in the sweltering weather but when that is the only heat source in the room it is appreciated. I suppose that is enough complaining it is still pretty warm outside compared to back home.

Here is a picture from the third floor of my school when there was still snow.

What kind of winter is this?

So it finally snowed on Sunday and started feeling a bit more like December. Melissa has her apartment all decked out in Christmas paraphanalia but I really couldn't get into the Christmas mood without the snow. It brought to mind late night shopping, Christmas parties, mitten and toques(a Canada word meaning woolen hat), and hot chocolate. I think the lead up to Christmas is what I enjoy the most of the holiday. Working at the Country Club I was cursed with an overabundance of Christmas. This year the Christmas atmosphere is sorely lacking even though Japan has embraced Christmas and all its accoutrements...perhaps too much. They play Christmas songs as jingles in stores all year long and at the KFC in Niitsu they even dressed up Colonel Sanders as Santa. It is all very cartoonish and artifical. They have adopted the physical symbols of Christmas but the feeling (I don't solely mean religious) is absent. I am very glad I am going home.Well, the snow has melted and has left a slushy mucky mess. They have this strange road clearing system made up of a system of pipes that spray water when it snows. This sounded completely idiotic to me...adding more water to freeze on the road? Apparently it never really freezes here though. They had the water things on on Sunday and once you left the safety of your car you had to wade through vast puddles to get anywhere. Now I understand why they have massive aisles of assorted styles of rubber boots. Anyhow, I am sure the snow must stay after a while because my area has been known to accumulated around two metres of snow in the winter.

Celebrated Kristen's and Misael's birthdays last weekend. Here is Kristen with her crazy flip flop feet slippers.

Misael and Justine. Is she looking at him or the food?

I'm a gangsta stay away from my paella.

Birthday time of year

I seem to know many people who were birthed into the world around this time of year. We celebrated Justine's birthday this past weekend. Went to Northern Lights for a round or two and then to Immigrants cafe. I bailed out at that point but I know the party went on until late morning. Next day we went to Indus in Shibata for a delicious curry lunch. Before coming to Japan I think I had tried curry twice. Now I probably eat it at least two times a month. I do enjoy it though especially with nan.

The birthday girl!

A full table of food. Jon's curry was much more crimson in hue than the rest of ours and he had a difficult time getting it down. Justine and the Shibata crew frequent this place so often the owner gave her a bottle of wine. The tag on it said "to Kristy"! Oh well, it is the thought that counts.

This weekend will be celebrating Misael's and Kristen's birthdays. Happy Birthday to all those back home celebrating around now...Kerri, Christina, Alanna, Anna, Corinne, Jason, Sarah hope you have a good one! AND DOUG...are you happy now?