wow.

i stole this from a friend's blog (thanks erik and justine).

this video brought fabulous tears to my eyes, and they sure weren't tears in awe of talent.

check it out:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6739710473912337648

luckily, these boys are chinese . . . . . phew! i thought the jap boys had reached a whole new level of greatness.

a night out on carrie's birthday

so, carrie and tiff are officially 26. i'm the baby at 25. yeah, that's right. you read right, the baby.

carrie wanted to hit all our usuals of joetsu, the usuals being: pta, nicks, hag, and nest; i think that's all the list was comprised of.

we first dashed into nest. slamming a couple of drinks, we chatted with friends who work there, oota san and jun kun. they found it amusing we looked more 'made up' than usual. a little surprised they noticed, we acknowledged the change.

notice nothing different, huh . . .

they began playing the happy birthday tune as carrie arrived last and fashionably late. we also sang and spanked carebear - even coercing the boys to spank her as well (it's not the first time), more than once seeing as how the first time was only a playful slap. carrie's first "cake/gift" of the evening.




after the discounted beers - for their happy hour - we walked to uo, the next pit-stop.

our friend, kanako - more dearly called ka-chan (a term to express child in japanese; you add it to the end of a person's name. comparable to mr, mrs, or san in japanese. it's sometimes added to an older person's name as a term of endearment and closeness.) - invited us to a nabe party at our friend's bar, uo. so feeling obliged, we hit up it up for a light dinner comprised of finger foods and the japanese hot stew of vegetables and seafood (nabe).

carrie's first cake of the evening




mmmmmmm, cigarettes and cake




the drunken eyes already starting to appear




i wish everyone had the pleasure to know IKEPON!!! he's fabulous. he and i had a walk-off, proper supermodel style as in the movie, zoolander, one of the first times we met. i won. a good fight he did put up . . .



third gift of the evening: the second of out of two bottles of champagne (the first one at uo, with the cake). carrie accidentally unceremoniously popppped! it, and we lined up, patiently waiting our turn.














and seconds




what a great group. can't we all just be lovers?



i'd thought my home-country readers would like to see a japanese bar (nicks). this one is abnormally large.


some dart action


carrie feeling flirty


then drunk


and back to flirty. good recovery, carebear, good recovery


fight-o fight-o, but alas, satoshi, the bigger of the two, won.


and carrie's fourth, final, and most delicious gift of the night: a chocolate cake from beloved master at pta.




starting to feel a little tired


he was just plumb tuckered out!


all in all, a successful evening. good thing the next day was friday . . .

the fabulous, caring people who call themselves the japanese

how wonderful. this is a water pitcher and dish for random passers-by walking their pet. everyone needs a little pit-stop sometimes . . .



it was placed outside on the sidewalk by the employees of our favorite coffee and internet cafe, nest. fabulous.

cheers! it's christmas

this is about the extent of our holiday cheer in japan. yes!! it sure does get me in the mood . . .



just kidding. there's a little more than that i suppose, but we're sure not inundated with repetitious make-me-vomit-after-weeks-and-weeks-of-listening-to-them christmas songs, obnoxious decorations, grumpy, hurried shoppers, and endless traffic. aaaaahhhhh . . . .

our first snowboarding trip of the season!

so tiff and i stuffed our snowboards, appropriate gear and articles, snacks for post-boarding power-up fuel, and ourselves into tiff’s mini-car and hit the road. the drive to the ski resort is about 40 minutes from my house, a hop, skip, and jump away. taking road trips is always pleasurable, especially with your best friend. chatting nonstop only to pause for eating our on-the-road breakfast and belting out our favorite tunes, the short drive seems to be nothing at all. previously, we had ordered and paid for our season passes, we only had to trade our confirmation form for an actual pass at the resort, ikenotaira. so, to the ski-jo we made it. starting a little late, we arrived at 1:00. we needed to get a strap adjusted on my board, rent boots, and make our passes before we started zooming down the moutain. first renting boots and getting my board fixed, we headed to the ski resort onsen (hot springs) building where we could make our passes. waiting for a short while, bouncing with excitement and anticipation with hitting the slopes, our passes were handed over from the cute employee.

finally! it had actually been almost two hours from the time we arrived to our first test run. unfortunately, feeling a little nervous and unconfident, we wanted to make it down the easy bunny slope first, but being early in the season, it wasn’t operating.

the ride up to the top seemed to last a lot longer than last year, i guess due to nervousness and it being the first time. i felt like i was going to my impending doom . . . . alright, now quite, but i was worried i wasn’t going to be able to perform well.

and the results are . . . . . . . it’s not as bad as i imagined!! i thought i was going to be a whole lot worse off than i was. only going about four times last year as a beginning snowboarder, i wasn’t exactly skilled. well, maybe that’s a little of an exaggeration. i wasn’t really good at all, but snowboarding is surprisingly difficult! yesterday, i feel like i leveled with last year’s skill and improved a little more. i already surpassed what i could do in last year’s season - this holds promise!! yesterday was a lot of technical practice for tiff and i: dig toe in, raise heel, twist body, feel the burn, go vertically down, lean forward, ease up to stop breakneck speed, turn backwards, turn frontward, etc. what a conscious, and methodological thing learning how to snowboard is! soon hopefully, it will become a mechanical, automatic process. we made it down three times before the slopes closed for the day, at about 4:45.

i feel like i need to go again soon so i can reinforce what i practiced and learned yesterday. i’m ready! i’m gonna be pro soon. just wait and see. first of all, however, i need to let my aching and screaming-with-pain body recover. i succeeded in falling so many times, my arms and ass are feeling the resulting strain. what a workout. good, because i can’t exactly do my running in the already two feet, soon-to-be-more snow.

ikenotaira, the resort


you can barely make out the little people flying down the slopes


waiting and waiting . . .


right after we received our passes.


on the ski lift. unbelievably, i forgot my hat . . . . my hair iced over. fast.


afterwards, back at the onsen building to buy christmas gifts in their gift store


the pain hadn't really set in yet


horribly, there was another reason we were back at the onsen. sometime during the day, unnoticed, my season pass had slipped off my arm and was lost. no one had returned it, and being that the japanese people are mostly trustworthy, it was thought to still be on the slope, likely covered by the snow fall last night. the cute employee gave me my second season pass of the day - for free!! but, there was only one problem, my name was spelled wrong. damn. oh well, it's funny.

bareboru taikai!!

every year, my school has a two-day volleyball tournament betwixt all of the students. each class plays ferociously against other classes. and during the final hours of the second day, the tournament comes down to two final matches between two classes – one match for the girls and one for the boys. usually, second and third year classes end up being in the final stages, but this year a first year class, girls, made it to the championship match! i was pretty proud of them, astonished at their organized, skillful moves. i had no idea they had that ability in them, unaware that any of them had any interest in volleyball.

since wednesday and thursday were free days, they were two good days to catch up on some work i had looming on my desk for several days. i slipped down to the gym as much as possible, and if there was ever a time i wished i was still in high school, it was then. i love to play sports – watching them doesn’t interest me so much – i’d rather be spending my free time with other activities – but playing them is fabulous. since i’m an adult now, the chance to play in organized, or even loosely knit pick-up games, doesn’t rise too often. but here in front of me, were games galore, and i couldn’t join in. but nonetheless, it was highly exciting to watch, with holding breath, the huge effort the students put into their matches and the sorrow and happiness with which the kids reacted after their games. some had to lose, and it broke my heart to watch their eyes shed tears afterwards. girls only of course, the boys were too manly to let such things show.

the event ended at four on thursday with two championship teams. there were hopes of organizing a quick match between the teachers, me included of course – i signed up to that opportunity real fast-like – and the champion boys team. alas there was no time, hence, no match. that’s too bad, but maybe next year.

i hope i get to!

the view is marvelous

you just can't beat it. on clear, sunny mornings on the way to work, it's unstoppable.

look at number 2

the answer is supposed to be: i need your help. how the hell did he come up with, 'can you please me? is he asking me specifically? hahaha. i don't know, can i explain to my student what this means? probably not.

nabe night

recently, i was invited to go to a dinner party at one of my friend’s student’s houses. my friend, carolyn, has lived here for five or six years now and is sadly moving back to the states in march of next year. her and her husband, alexi, another great friend, will be sorely missed.

carolyn is an english professor at joetsu university of education. she teaches all freshman and upper class english intensive classes. recently one of her freshman students had the idea to have a nabe dinner party. a good way to have some foreigners over (us whiteys from europe, america, and canada) and some good grassroots culture exchange.

i think about ten or so of us piled up in cars on one blustery, cold, rainy evening and headed over to our hostess’ house. we walked into the warmth of an old, big, family traditional japanese house. the heat was emanating from four big pots on a long table in the dining room. i should digress and take a moment to explain what nabe is. nabe is a traditional japanese winter-season meal. it’s made by throwing various foods in a big, ceramic bowl and boiling it over a fire stove at the dinner table. nabe is particularly great because a) it’s healthy and b) you can put whatever you fancy in it: meat, seafood, tofu, and various vegetables. this evening there were four different types: traditional japanese style, kimchi, a european consommé type, and a tomato based one. they were all great – what a feast!!! in true japanese fashion, there were also many side dishes and tons of alcohol. and in true japanese tradition, all the guests brought something to add to the feast. when going to a person’s home in japan, you always bring something – usually fruit, alcohol, or some type of food.

everyone listening to an introduction. when we first arrived, we arranged ourselves around the table, and then intoduced ourselves individually. then the kampai speech followed, and last we dug in! at big meals or parties in japan, someone must make an opening kampai speech (an opening toast) before eating or drinking anything. the hostess made our speech.


a look down the table


some of the food to be put into the nabe


how expensive it must have been to buy all this awesome food . . .







brooke: ooooh, oishii! (delicious)


in order to get the full effect, you have to try the many different types of nabe by going to all the pots


on the far left is kei, a senior in high school. he's the son of a good friend, midori, of carolyn and alexis. his english is fabulous; i'm always impressed when i talk with him. so is his best friend's english, kensuke, in the middle of the picture. kensuke is the younger brother of the hostess. and stacia, a first year alt from the states. culture exhange at its best!


these boys both came a little later, so i didn't get to talk to them as much. but they both want to be english teachers; i hope they fit in some good practice that night.

we feasted, snacked, chatted, and culture exchanged into the late hours of the evening. success!