Don't you become a hangover?

This is the picture taken of the night before we got the worst news possible. It was a lovely dinner at this cute Japanese place.

This is a sign i go by everyday on the bus. Don`t you try Vegetables!!! They might harm you. (it`s for a vegetable shop)

This is the large Buddha at the end of my street. I see it everyday as well.

This is the Halloween train! We are with some of our students. Kaori, and Noriaki. Amber was the hamburgler, and i was a cowgirl. I only lost one sheriff badge and one gun (that is an improvement from other halloweens)

Amber and i on the train.

All three of my roommates. Amber, me, Kellie

Halloween was a blast. It was a much needed outlet of fun for all the stress and crappiness that has been going on. We all got dressed up and headed to the local train. A group of people from the international center were putting on a halloween party on the train. The train does the three hour loop while the DJ plays music and the whole train dances. They had everything from a disco ball to scary lighting. I often felt like i was in the twilight zone. And of course it was BYOB. Amber aka the Hamburgerler was drinking straight liqure from her McDonalds bag.

After the train we headed into the train station where i proceeded to attept to break dance in front of kids breakdancing (aka. do a summer sault, and spin in a circle). Then we went to this club in the Katamache district called `Colour`. Definite good times had there.

The title of this post is a text message i got form one of my Japanese friends the next day. His english isn`t the best so by him asking me if i was hungover, came out like "Don`t you become a hangover?" hahahaha, there are many more where that came from..........

Next post i will explain why i have been MIA with my posts recently.

Home Sweet Home

This is my very first apartment in Japan. Isn`t it beautiful??? It won`t be my apartment for very much longer because Nova isn`t paying the rent, but for now we are squatters. Hopefully the electricity will stay on and we will have hot water. If not.....cold showers and candles!!! hahaha


This is our kitchen table! Notice the Bailey art on the wall. Bamboo anyone?

This is our T.V. and Amber`s room. Notice the Wii.

This is our wonderful Pleather couch that is highly highly uncomfortable.

Washing machine that i cannot read, but somehow my clothing comes out sort of clean. And there is no dryer, we hang everything outside.

This is part of my room. That is my wall of friends. I will be sad to take it down, but i will make a new home for it when i move into my new box apartment in a month.

This is my lovely bed on the floor. It is surprisingly comfortable. I have stacked about three futons under there. Since this photo i have decorated with more fans on the walls.

This concludes the tour of my home away from home. Fingers crossed we don`t get evicted.

Voitami, Birthdays

This is the night of five birthdays. We had an awsome dinner at a resturant called Viotami (i think i spelt it correct). I found my new favourite food called Nabe. It is a dish that is warmed up over a fire on your table, and it has many yummy things inside. It is kind of like soup with chunks of yumminess put in. Lesley also bought a balloon making kit for Nat, so we made many funny objects that night. Let`s just say that when a dog barks in Japan it sounds different to when a dog barks in english. So by the end of the night i was definitly saying `wong wong` alot (especially to the cab driver on the way home from the bar).

Amber, Lesley, and myself

Becs my love!
Some of our staff, Emi, and Tomomie, all with our Inu`s

Amber, because she`s Amber.....i think we scared everyone away from our table, but that`s just what we do.

We ended the night at a bar called Bears Bar singing some sad karaoke, and then went home.

Jeff Wall, Mona Hatoum, and Sofie Calle in Japan?

Life is good in Japan. Since I have last written I have been on a few more adventures, and sung a bit more karaoke.
I went to Tojinbo and the beach again, this time with Steve. We had a great day scaling rocks and eating squid on a stick. Ummmmm, and lets not forget the green tea vanilla swirl soft serve. Seriously can`t get enough of good old Tojinbo. We also had a fun night at Bears Bar again, sans wax pouring of course.

I also got my very first cell phone last week. All very exciting. It`s silver and black. Although it`s not like i have alot of people to talk to or text. Mainly my roomies, and a few people from work.
Work last week was okay. I taught some good lessons, and some bad ones. I was actually able to share my knowledge on gender politics with one of my students who is in a very high level. It was good actually talking about something important in a lesson for once, instead of what is your name and what do you do.
I had a follow up training in Takaoka on wednesday. I had to travel about two hours on the train to get there though. So i took my sleeping bag with me in the hopes that some kind soul would let me crash on their couch for the night so that i could do some sightseeing the next day. It ending up being a really fun night. It was one of the girls last night in Japan. So myself, and all the teachers from that city went out for Okinomiyaki. (it is a Japanese dish that you cook yourself at the table, it is comprised of cabbage, egg, seafood or meat, and other stuff.....it looks like a pancake). Then we went back to their apartment and went on the roof, lit some fireworks and drank some cheap wine under the stars. Then i crashed on Michael's and Zubaer`s couch. Not too comfortable, but much appreciated.
(picture)
The next day i went to a city called Kanazawa. Minus being a bit tired and hungover, the day was AMAZING! I went to a 15th century garden called Kenrokuen. Kenrokuen means `combined six`, referring to the six attributes for perfection: seclusion, spaciousness, artificiality, antiquity, abundant water, and broad views. I walked around and enjoyed the feel of being in old Japan. The waterfalls and fountains were very tranquil. I stopped to rest often.

I went from the garden right to the 21st Century art museum. Going to museums is always a surprise for me. Who knew that there would be this amazing museum so close to where i live in Japan. I went from 15th century Japan, straight to the 21st century all within minutes. The museum was extremely modern. It is a huge round building with geometric gallery spaces all throughout. The facade had a flower instillation on it. Something to do with seeds, it also connected to an instillation project within.

The permanent collection was surprisingly cool, it also had an instillation by Leandro Erlich maybe called pool?. It was a pool with only 10 cent. of water on the top and the rest hollow. You could enter the pool through the bottom and see out the top. You could also look in the top at the people on the bottom. It was in the 2004 Venice biennale, or some other year, can`t remember.

There was also a special exhibition from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in the States. It made me very happy to see some special artists who were featured. Jeff Wall from Vancouver, huge photograph of two guys cutting through a hedge. Also a crazy circular sand pit by Mona Hatoum. Rotating in the centre of it was a rake that would create a design on one side and then the other would clear the sand and make it smooth. I also saw photographs and a video piece by Laurie Simmons. There were also many other exciting artists, Sofie Calle just to name another..... Now that i have bored some of you with my passion for art, and the the museum, i will move on.

I then walked around the city. Went into the main shopping mall called Kroinbo. And to my great surprise found Tim Tams!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! At five dollars a box i could only buy two, but they are all mine and very yummy. I then bought sushi, went to another shrine to eat it in the garden. This garden felt much older than Kenrokuen, and the best part was that it was totally secluded, no one was around. I then walked to this crazy fish market that did not smell good, and people were yelling crazy things. I was dead tired by the time i made it to the train.

Today is my other day off. All i did was relax, go for a run, tan, learn some japanese, and come to the library to use the computer.

Talk soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

"It`s your dream, make it happen"