Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Lucky Duck

On the other side of the world, still. No change there. Might buy a camera. Might take pictures. Still waiting on new job. Patience is a tough one. Seeing yo la tengo on thursday, thanks Tara and Ian. Came all this way to watch an American band. Ha! For my birthday went to a Brazilian steakhouse. It was fantastic. All you can eat (a relative rarity, 'japan' actually means 'land of thin rice peoples' (that's totally a lie)) buffet coupled with a man armed with spits of meat who revisits your table every five minutes- that is a winning combo. Chicken hearts, turkey, steak, lamb, fried plantains, more meat that i cant remember...

oh baby.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Hilarious students, part 1

So here's something...

As it turns out, talking to Japanese people all day can yield some pretty funny statements. Most of the time the humor comes from obvious engrishness or funny misconceptions, but occasionally you'll get either a genuinely funny student, or an oddball circumstance. A little info: salaryman is Japanglish for businessman... it's actually derived from the English words salary and man, though I have never heard of anyone actually saying that in English (has anyone?) It's a blanket term- almost everybody with an office job will refer to themselves as such and only under pressure try to explain what they actually do with their time. Despite my best efforts, some of my students' day to day going ons are still pretty mysterious. Anyway, here's a funny dialogue from the other day's lesson about managing your finances.

me: what do you do with the money you earn at work?
salaryman: I don't know.
me: ???
salaryman: I just give it to my wife.
me: oh I see.
me:...
me: do you have any credit cards?
salaryman: yes, I have 14, plus one secret.
me: secret card?
salaryman: yes, for things I don't want to explain to my wife.
me: (brushing the obvious creepiness off) ahhh, I see... hahahaha, like golf clubs!
me:...
me: So what would you do if you won a million dollars right now?
salaryman: I would give it to my family... and then leave!
me: ...[wow]

Thursday, February 1, 2007

60 bpm.

There is nothing on God's green earth that I hate more than a ticking clock.


My parents have one in the kitchen at home and the very fist thing I do when I visit is take the battery out. Mom hated that at first but I think she's accepted it now. Can't sleep in the same house as it. It's ashame, too, because grandfather clocks look really great- and I'd love to have one someday- but I think my aversion to their sound will always prevent it.

All of this is true, but of course its allegorical.

And here, finally, after five months... is the first picture I took in Japan at my hotel in Osaka. Set the tone, this... and boy sometimes I do feel like a monster tall Gaijin around here. I'm lucky though... my head just barely grazes the doorframes! Ian cracks his skull on stuff all the time.