J T's journey

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Fight to the end

Hey,

Im currently at the internet cafe, with the other teachers playing pool, but Im being a snob and trying to put up my photos, but because I don't know Japanese, I don't know why it isn't working.

Since the last entry - I haven't managed to have a night at home - or at least free. The bedroom is still in a state of mess.

Sunday I had to work for Lee, as he worked for me the other day when I went to Hiroshima. Sunday night I looked into the huge electronics shop nearish to my house (lots of stuff, but nothing that I needed) then I went to a farewell for one of the teachers, and then we watched the England game at Aggis. Monday I spent cleaning the room, and doing stuff that needed doing, ie washing, paperwork etc. I finally sorted out vodafone to take the money out of my bank rather than my credit card, and then I went to the travel agency, because I thought I might utilise some shift-swaps and go to Okinawa or Korea.

After some tooing and froing, it looks like I will just go to Fuji instead.

Tuesday, had Starbucks (iced cocoa of course) with Michelle after work (rather than the traditional beer) and then Anandia came and we watched a DVD.

Looks like I'm shift-swapping this weekend, so another one day weekend again.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Subways and Subway(TM)s

Hey.

The peace park and peace museum was an experience. Quite sad and moving. I can't really do it justice. It was hard going, thinking of the different perspectives of what happened - the innocent lives lost, yet it ended the war, sparing other lives. However at the same time it began the arms race, yet the threat of nuclear war has possibly prevented further wars.
I must say I'm glad that Japan has the intelligence not to join the flow, having learnt the hard way, and is an advocate for peace and no nuclear weapons in the world. I am also proud that New Zealand has its staunch no nukes policy.

As you can see I have finally managed to put some photos up. These aren`t the photos I would like to be the focus of the display, however they are some of the few that worked. I have tried to put some others up, but they are still not working. These photos are from the Yamoto museum in Kure.

The title above relates to the fact that I made the most of the Subway restaurants in Osaka and Hiroshima.

After going to the peace park, I went back to Kure, but first had to get some money, and get to the station. Of course UFJ, the bank was closed including its ATMs - because it defies logic. So I had to go to a convenience store, and in broken Japanese, English, and hand signals, ask and get a assistant to help me get some money out.

The next day I went to the ship museum at Kure, and took lots of photos. I then headed into Hiroshima, and decided to kick off and leave on the Shinkansen back to Nagoya.

The trip back was good. This time I made sure I didn't get stuck in the smokers carriage - which has a permanent cloud of smoke in it. I got back to Y town at about 7. Had a shower, and went and got some tea and hung out with Anandia.

Tuesday was work - but unlike most 1st day backs, it was OK, I was rather refreshed and didn't struggle to "get in the zone". After work, Kevin, and I had tea at Coco Ichiban, and then we and Anandia came and played pool here (at the internet cafe).

Today work, and afterwards I went to a sushi restaurant with some friends.

Right now, Im feeling kind of frustrated/bewildered/hopeless with the world. It seems there is so much work to be done in my life. After a deep and meaningful conversation the other night I realise my potental is limited if I can't communicate properly. Which frustrating in itself, my lack of communication is a result of choices not to communicate because the less you expose, the less things you have to fight against. Unfortunately I can't just get through life on the premise of being a good guy. Heros often fail.

Anyway, thats my reality at the moment. I've left that last bit in there, because I have found I have started to censor this website too much as well - because I am concious of who reads it, it has become a candy-coated version of my reality. I believe in transparency, so here it is.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Kure and Rice

Hey from Kure,

Kure is in Hiroshima prefecture, about 40 minutes from Hiroshima city.

Since the last entry, on the Monday, I went and worked at Tsushima, via going to Nagoya, to investigate about the Shinkansen, pick up a Japanzine (english magazine for foreigners,) and to buy an english magazine, as I'm really craving some light english reading. I seemed to forget that the magazines available at the place I knew in Nagoya were very light reading (ie lots of pictures if you know what I mean) and were $16-$30. I don't think so.

Anyway, that night I worked, and made it back to Yokkaichi in time to catch the second half of the Japan vs Australia soccer match, which was being shown in the local park. I decided I would back the Australians, as they were losing (1-0 most of the game - I like backing the underdog and rebelling against the majority). Anyhow, Australia came back at the end of the game to win 3-1 (typical Australian style). My students weren't too impressed that I went against Japan.

Tuesday was uneventful. Wednesday I jumped on the train after work and headed to Osaka. I decided it was best to be there rather than going the next morning.

Thursday I went to Universal Studios Japan. It was quite good, some of the rides made me feel a little sick, but it wasn't too bad.

Friday I went to Himeji. That was cool. The castle is at the end of the main street, so it is the background of the city. Before walking to the castle I decided to invest in an ice cream from Baskin Robbins - a popular American ice cream chain (the American book I had read, which was set in the 80's even talked about it, yet it still hasn't made its way to New Zealand). Anyway I have waited 7 months for it to warm up - the good thing was I got 3 flavours for the price of 2, because of a promotion thats on, sweet. It was nice. I didn't expect to be getting a good deal considering its summer (ie Summer is their peak period, why bother with a promotion) anyway it was great not being exploited for a change.

The castle was cool - genuine old style, unlike the Nagoya and Osaka castles. Following that I caught the bullet train to Hiroshima, and then a normal train to Kure. Mel and Jase cooked me a good feed of yakiniku.

Yesterday I went to Miyajima - a shrine on an island near Hiroshima. It was pretty cool. Wait for the photos. That night we went to Kareoke.

This morning Mel and I biked around Kure, checked out some nature, and a huge model of the battleship Yamoto. Soon Im heading to Hiroshima to see the Atomic dome, peace park and museum, maybe also the castle if I have time.

Laters
J

Friday, June 09, 2006

Back by popular demand

Well, since the last entry, you could say I have been very busy, but then at the same time, if you are busy, there often isn't a lot of time to do stuff worth writing about.

In otherwords, this month is a case of one-day weekends, until next weekend, when it is payback time. I have been swapping shifts, and therefore have five days off in a row, in order to go to Hiroshima.

My last entry was just before Krysta's (final) leaving party. The party was quite fun, heaps of people came to say good-bye to her, so it was a good time to catch up with people and hang out.

The next day was Sunday. I had my Japanese lesson, although lucky for me, my teacher asked to defer it until the afternoon so he could observe his shed being constructed. After my lesson, I guess I wasted the rest of the afternoon reading and writing emails. When I ventured home, I went via the supermarket in the arcade, and worked out that it is a bit cheaper than the one in the mall. Anyhow I stocked up on some food, and went home and cooked a batch of teas for the week.

That Monday night I had to work, in return for the Friday I had had off a few weeks ago. It wasn't so bad, as it was only the evening, not the whole day. Still it screws with your mental clock.

Sometime that week I went for a bit of an explore, on my bike after work, as I was tired of not having a proper perspective of the nearby environs. Anyhow I found the big park I had been told about, and worked out how to find the nearby stations (suburbs).

The following night, I went with Lee on a bike ride to the flat where he was moving to. It wasn't so far, and also good to get that into perspective too. The place where he was moving was quite nice, it is in a huge apartment building (as in long), and is out of the CBD, so it is a lot quieter. The view from the top floor (of course I had to check it out!) was cool, especially as a night view. The apartment itself was cool too, the kitchen was separated from the lounge by a breakfast bar (or counter, if you are North American LOL) and slightly bigger. The best thing of course is the fact that it would also be significantly cheaper.
The following Friday, Lee moved out. Our apartment is back to optimal capacity I think. It is too crowded when there is 3 people, especially kitchen-wise.

On the Saturday a whole group of us teachers went to Nagoya for a Beer Garden. It was held on top of a building, across from the Nagoya station - if you look at the photos of Nagoya at night, from December, it's the building with the Vodafone sign on it. It was pretty good - it was all you can eat and drink, and you just filled up your own glass from the vending machine things (like at BK), and there was cooked food, as well as food that you could cook on your own BBQ thing on your table. The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that the gang was there in Nagoya, instead of the same old haunts of Yokkaichi. When I came home, I got a text from a friend, asking me to have some drinks with them, so me and Kevin went and had a couple with them.

The next day was Sunday. Japanese lesson at 10. Then I did things that needed doing, such as dishes, washing, ironing, and shopping. I decided I may as well get out some videos to watch while I was ironing, so I got out Mr & Mrs Smith, and Into the Blue. That night Anandia and I went and visited the people who we had met at the Chinese restaurant that time, and gave them some souvenirs. Straight after that, I went to the station, to meet some other teachers, so we could go and play Futsal (basically indoor soccer, on a half field, on rubber grass). That was pretty cool. I only remembered once I got there, that I hadn't really played soccer since I was at primary school (or elementary school LOL).

Monday I had to work, as a shift swap. The hardest thing was it was a 10am start. Anyway, I made it OK, and the day was reasonably easy. I cooked some more dinners, and later on, when Kevin came home, we decided to have a beer somewhere, walked around town looking for somewhere that was open, and finally settled for an Italian place with a big screen.

Tuesday, after work, the gang went out to celebrate one of the teachers birthday's. That was quite good too, as we had 500yen drinks, and no silly sitting fees.

Wednesday Michelle and Raj (the Australians who came not long after me, just before Mark left) came back from Australia. So Michelle (who I work with - although usually once a week at this rate, as we are scheduled all over the place) and I had station beer and caught up. Following that, we decided to see how to get to their place from my place, based on what I had discovered the other night (of where the other stations were). Anyway, I hung at their place for a while, and Raj gave me a copy of a programme he has written to learn Japanese. It is awesome, and really useful. Recently I have tried to learn Hiragana, as I had somehow neglected to. Anyhow, on top of the bit of study I had done, I've now pretty much mastered hirgana. Next is katakana - which will be useful, maybe more than hiragana, as all the foreign words are written in katakana.

Anyway, this week has been a slow case of getting my washing, ironing, and dishes up-to-date. Plans for this weekend include a party on Saturday night, listening to a speech by a Canadian guy on Sunday, and maybe lunch somewhere. Monday I have to work in the evening at Tsushima for a shift-swap. Unfortunately it will waste a lot of my day just getting there. Anyway, come Wednesday next week, I'll be enjoying Universal Studios, Himeiji castle, and Hiroshima.