2 posts within SUCH close proximity...can you handle it?!
i don't really think anyone reads this. prove me wrong, please.
a belated merry christmas to you all! yes, i know it's not PC, but it's just what you say during this time of year. "season's greetings" is too hallmark-manufactured-fake for me. regardless of what you did or didn't celebrate, i hope it was perfect.
not many people celebrate christmas over here. at least not in the traditional sense that we know it. generally speaking, christmas is purely a commercial holiday over here. oh wait, it's like that in the west too. but at least we have more Christians to use as leverage! ok! i'll stop. but we have more people celebrating christmas as the religious holiday it is in the west than here in japan. here, it's more about the way things look: they decorate like fiends. there are decorations EVERYWHERE. in the street, in convenience stores, at the subway station...they go all out. i think they generally decorate like fiends for every holiday. [i just cannot wait until valentine's day. it'll be a challenge keeping my lunch down. i can feel the anticipation already.] halloween was over the top, and decorations were up until october 31st. the next morning all you could see was red, green, and sparkles. they're really on it over here.
anyhow, christmas shopping isn't the deathwish it is back home, but it's still quite busy. and as inescapable as i thought mariah's voice was during the holidays at home, she might as well be wearing a slutty santa costume and dancing alongside you ALL DAY here. they have speakers in the STREETS. they play christmas music on those speakers, all day. no joke. not that it's a bad thing, i really enjoy christmas music, and haven't heard nearly enough of it this year. but...in the streets! literally impossible to get away from! it's kinda funny.
23/12/07: began my holidays as of today! didn't sleep in completely though, kelsey and i had been invited to our manager/co-worker simon's place for a christmas meal. it was awesome! he made 3 different kinds of curry, and chapattis! which i rolled! can you believe it? neither can i. met simon's adorable son noah, and beautiful wife manami, as well as some other cool guests. had great food, with great people...all in all, a great time. =)
24/12/07: joined some friends at karaoke in yokohama for a couple of hours. awesome, as always! had just enough time to sing some bon jovi, ace of base, backstreet boys, and oasis, before booking it for our train bound for shibuya to go clubbing! went to a club called atom, which had 3 floors, 2 of which were some awesome hardcore trance, and the last one was a hot, sweaty room of hip hop and r&b [would we ever have it any other way?]. it was a good night. the djs were dressed in santa costumes! and the club girls dancing on the podiums were wearing slutty santa costumes. [*note: slutty santa costumes are as prevalent in stores as decorations are! they LOVE their festive costumes here.] they even made it "snow" just after midnight with little soap suds. how festive! they also played some crazy trance remixes to christmas songs...i'll let you guess one. did you say MARIAH? bingo. they love that song here. i think they love that song everywhere. i read somewhere it is the best selling christmas single every year. and for good reason! "all i want for ku-ri-su-ma-su, is youuuuu!"
25/12/07: went over to friends teresa, lauren and christal's place for an amazing christmas dinner. we totally weren't expecting it! they had chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and the cutest little christmas cakes to top it all off. had a great time with some more great people. =) then went bowling where i lost BADLY. but it's all good, cuz it's christmas.
japan is really great. i [still] love it. love the people, love the atmosphere, love the culture [even as i find out more and more about it!]. and i'm not homesick! i've kind of learned that it's the people you meet that will either make or break your time over here. i'm grateful to have met a lot of awesome people, through work, friends, or just randomly. i do miss you all back in toronto, though. i wish you the best for this holiday season and for the year to come.
ja ne!
--
soph
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
some december for you.
the holiday season is a bit different over here. it just doesn't feel like christmas. there's no snow. the temperature is still on the positive side. it's just too warm.
bet you feel like shiiite don't you?!
no, it's really not that warm. i think the lowest it's gotten is about +5 or so. not warm, but not toronto. how WAS that snowstorm, anyhow?
ok, i'll stop.
so...haven't written for a while. let's see...just been working, pretty much! getting into the swing of things. but as of today, i'm off for just under two weeks. which is nice. i can sleep.
my sorry state was prolonged, as we had our school's christmas party that evening. it was for teachers, staff and students to come and get drunk under the clever guise of being a legitimate festive get-together. the students had to pay 2500yen [=$25] to speak english with us for a few hours. but they had lots of alcohol and food so i suppose it was worth it!
here is what i've learned: in japan, alcohol is commonplace, and by commonplace i mean absolutely everywhere. they sell it in convenience stores, vending machines, grocery stores, and oh yeah, bars too! being intoxicated more or less gives one the freedom to do and say as one pleases. ANYTHING. you can tell your boss exactly what you think of him forcing you to work 12 hours a day and treating you like old gum on the bottom of his shoe, and it's completely ok. saying, "oh, shit, sorry about that last night, i was drunk" is a perfectly acceptable excuse to nearly everything. drunkenness is blatant on the street, especially during this holiday season. to see grown men stumbling over themselves, holding each other up, bringing each other down, and vomiting in the street, is apparently not unusual. i don't mean to say everyone is like this, but i've seen a few. it's just interesting to me, coming from canada where behaviour of this sort is in NO way tolerated by the police. and in japan, there are "police boxes/koban" everywhere. [like within 500 meters of each other, seriously.] they'd whisk you away for such behaviour in canada, but here in japan they seem to turn a blind eye, simply because this society doesn't look down upon it. i have spoken to some students who say they don't like to see public drunkenness, so perhaps it's changing. or maybe, that's always been the general consensus, especially among women, because they wouldn't be able to act like that, no way. men can be loud, and lewd, and drunk and rude, and it's a-ok. but that's a different post! not that it changes my opinion of japan at all, if anything it adds to it! it's a different society that's for sure, but my eyes are opening slowly to their everyday culture, and it's incredibly interesting.
anyway.
so back to the party. yeah, it was kind of a shitshow. students were drunk, teachers were drunk, and the boss was the drunkest! i was tired. having the same conversation with students over, and over, and over, was taking its toll on me. they mostly went something like this:
student 1: sophia! how long...have you been...in japah? [YES it's japah for a reason!]
me: exactly 3 months!
student 2: sophia! why did...you come to...japah?
me: to teach english for nova, but--
students: heeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh!!!!!! *laughing while covering their mouths* [lol, they really do it. so cute.]
me: since nova is finished, i had to find a new job. i really wanted to stay in japan! i feel i'm lucky to find this job, in yokohama, because i love it here!
students: eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...sugoi! sugoi! *nodding heads*
YES, i have to break my english down, especially for drunk students, lol. they do this awesome "eeeeehhhhhhhh!" thing when they hear something new, or surprising, or they can't believe something. it's amazing. whether i hear it on the street, in class, or when i'm talking to a student, i can't help but laugh! sugoi is a common word, it means something like "very good!".
anyway, yeah. party went on, uncomfortable moments came and went, wine was spilled all over the place [including into the coffee machine], and some people got a little too intimate...but those are the requirements for a good christmas party, aren't they? it was good though, i had a good time, and the students seemed to really enjoy it! i left around 10something, and ran into the loving arms of my futon. [if it had arms, they would be loving.]
16/12/07: work bright and early again this morning at 9am. so didn't manage to get enough sleep in to compensate for none the night before. so worked, and then went over to co-worker clinton's place for a potluck...to which i contributed popcorn [it was his favourite!]. we had a lovely time.
i reckon this post is getting QUITE long, so i'll stop. and write another. ja ne!
--
soph
bet you feel like shiiite don't you?!
no, it's really not that warm. i think the lowest it's gotten is about +5 or so. not warm, but not toronto. how WAS that snowstorm, anyhow?
ok, i'll stop.
so...haven't written for a while. let's see...just been working, pretty much! getting into the swing of things. but as of today, i'm off for just under two weeks. which is nice. i can sleep.
i'm *slightly* behind on my posts, so this one is going to be a monster. uhh.
12/12/07: went to my first ever soccer/football game today! it was the fifa club world cup in japan. we went to see the boca juniors of argentina vs. etoile sportive du sahel of tunisia. there was a section of fans from argentina and they didn't stop singing throughout the entire game. it was awesome. boca juniors won 1-0. really wanted to go see the urawa reds [japanese national team] play but that game sold out quick. ac milan ended up winning the cup [defeating the boca juniors in the final], OF course!
14/12/07 - 15/12/07: finally went clubbing at AGEHA aka "the biggest club in asia". it was an awesome night! the thing about the train system here though is they stop anywhere between 12 and 1am and restart around 5am. so if you go out, you either have to take the last train home, or the first train home; there's no in between [yes,imissdriving.]. we got to the club between 1-2am and stayed until about 5something. the music was amazing, really good hiphop in one room, where we stayed for the most part. they had a wicked patio with a pool and were playing japanese music which is actually pretty good! they know their music over here. anyway, incredible night, got home at 6.45am, slept for 30 mins, then had to get ready for work at 9.15am. i surprisingly stayed awake and alert all day, save for a few weak moments during lessons when i nearly passed out while reading out loud. still, totally worth it.my sorry state was prolonged, as we had our school's christmas party that evening. it was for teachers, staff and students to come and get drunk under the clever guise of being a legitimate festive get-together. the students had to pay 2500yen [=$25] to speak english with us for a few hours. but they had lots of alcohol and food so i suppose it was worth it!
here is what i've learned: in japan, alcohol is commonplace, and by commonplace i mean absolutely everywhere. they sell it in convenience stores, vending machines, grocery stores, and oh yeah, bars too! being intoxicated more or less gives one the freedom to do and say as one pleases. ANYTHING. you can tell your boss exactly what you think of him forcing you to work 12 hours a day and treating you like old gum on the bottom of his shoe, and it's completely ok. saying, "oh, shit, sorry about that last night, i was drunk" is a perfectly acceptable excuse to nearly everything. drunkenness is blatant on the street, especially during this holiday season. to see grown men stumbling over themselves, holding each other up, bringing each other down, and vomiting in the street, is apparently not unusual. i don't mean to say everyone is like this, but i've seen a few. it's just interesting to me, coming from canada where behaviour of this sort is in NO way tolerated by the police. and in japan, there are "police boxes/koban" everywhere. [like within 500 meters of each other, seriously.] they'd whisk you away for such behaviour in canada, but here in japan they seem to turn a blind eye, simply because this society doesn't look down upon it. i have spoken to some students who say they don't like to see public drunkenness, so perhaps it's changing. or maybe, that's always been the general consensus, especially among women, because they wouldn't be able to act like that, no way. men can be loud, and lewd, and drunk and rude, and it's a-ok. but that's a different post! not that it changes my opinion of japan at all, if anything it adds to it! it's a different society that's for sure, but my eyes are opening slowly to their everyday culture, and it's incredibly interesting.
anyway.
so back to the party. yeah, it was kind of a shitshow. students were drunk, teachers were drunk, and the boss was the drunkest! i was tired. having the same conversation with students over, and over, and over, was taking its toll on me. they mostly went something like this:
student 1: sophia! how long...have you been...in japah? [YES it's japah for a reason!]
me: exactly 3 months!
student 2: sophia! why did...you come to...japah?
me: to teach english for nova, but--
students: heeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh!!!!!! *laughing while covering their mouths* [lol, they really do it. so cute.]
me: since nova is finished, i had to find a new job. i really wanted to stay in japan! i feel i'm lucky to find this job, in yokohama, because i love it here!
students: eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...sugoi! sugoi! *nodding heads*
YES, i have to break my english down, especially for drunk students, lol. they do this awesome "eeeeehhhhhhhh!" thing when they hear something new, or surprising, or they can't believe something. it's amazing. whether i hear it on the street, in class, or when i'm talking to a student, i can't help but laugh! sugoi is a common word, it means something like "very good!".
anyway, yeah. party went on, uncomfortable moments came and went, wine was spilled all over the place [including into the coffee machine], and some people got a little too intimate...but those are the requirements for a good christmas party, aren't they? it was good though, i had a good time, and the students seemed to really enjoy it! i left around 10something, and ran into the loving arms of my futon. [if it had arms, they would be loving.]
16/12/07: work bright and early again this morning at 9am. so didn't manage to get enough sleep in to compensate for none the night before. so worked, and then went over to co-worker clinton's place for a potluck...to which i contributed popcorn [it was his favourite!]. we had a lovely time.
i reckon this post is getting QUITE long, so i'll stop. and write another. ja ne!
--
soph
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