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An Update

what? yes, an update. It's my first day as the new assistant for the Animation department at my school ;) As you can see, I am hard at work. I haven't been in much of a mood to update lately, as you may have noticed. I figured I at least owed it to those few who still bother to check up now and then to know what country I'm in and such other developments of consequence (check my flickr for more frequent life updates). First of all, I left Japan. After much research and deliberation I finally decided to bite the bullet and go back to school. This decision in itself took about a month. The winner: Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. The program: Master of Fine Arts in Animation and Visual Effects, with an intended focus in storyboarding. Some other options I was considering: * Hospitality Internships in Barcelona, Rome, London and Chile * Working Front of House for Cirque du Soleil * Cinematography Apprenticeship in LA * Going back to Catering *
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"NOT REPLACED"

Those were the words I saw printed in big bold letters by my name at Tuesday's meeting. What I thought was a poor translation note for ALTs not recontracting for another year turned out to be a quite accurate announcement that I, and my fellow ALTs of Nanto City, will "not be replaced." More and more BOEs in Japan are dropping the JET Program due to budget cuts and switching over to the popular Interac, a temp staff agency that employs private ALTs in Japan (Interac is more affordable for smaller Boards with less money, but not without good reason ). This is the third city in our region of Toyama that's made the switch-over to private ALTs and I assume it's happening elsewhere in Japan as well. It's put us in a tight spot, since now we're possibly left with a house full of 16 years worth of ALT junk to dispose of. Makes me wonder though...if this trend continues it might be the beginning of JET's demise. Which might not be a bad thing imo. We ALTs are
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JET countdown

I never thought it'd happen: spring has come to Toyama. According to the obsessive national cherry blossom forecast Toyama should be in full bloom in 2 weeks time. Has it really been a year since I got back from China to find all my colleagues changed over (I still see the current teachers as "new"), my desk changed, and all my little 6th graders turned into studious junior high students? It's happening again. Deja vu This time though spring brings with it a harsh reality I can no longer evade. I'm on a downward run to the end of my JET contract. Four months! and not a clue where I'll be. It's rather terrifying. Here are my options as I see it: 1. Stay in Japan. This would mean finding a job in the city unrelated to teaching. Not an easy task considering I've let my Japanese skills rot to nothing since graduating. Seriously, you'd be surprise what you lose when you're academically unmotivated. That and I think Japan and I need some time apart.
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1st year narrations

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ah unrequited love... "Romeo meets Juliet. He says 'hi' for Juliet." "They go to eat hamburger." "He's says "I love you!!" She is surprised." "He wants to marry with she. But she can't." genius! "Hi Fool."
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Kim Kam Kuru

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Kim Kam's coming! My old friend from high school announced that she'll coming to visit next month with DenB. (See post from 1 yr ago ) I visited Kim in Hong Kong last year just after New Years 2007 where I was able to meet Denlison for the first time. I also got to see them again en route to Indonesia in December- during a 4 hour layover in HK I was able to see the two of them for a hurried food court lunch. Unfortunately her visit is a short one and during my work week :( So I'll be spending the weekend in Osaka (perhaps catch a sumo match?) and perhaps Kyoto/Kobe before taking them back to Toyama with me. We'll have 3 days in the inaka where they'll be attending my school's graduation ceremonies and checking out the area before they have to catch their flight back to HK from Osaka, which happens to be the same day I catch my flight to India from Nagoya... and somewhere in there I'll perhaps pack. Tomorrow I'm taking off for Tokyo for the weekend. Next
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New Past Times

I have never liked winter. The only thing that made the long cold winters in Minnesota bearable was my love for snow activities (sledding, skating, snow forts) and central heating. Here in inaka Japan I have no indoor heat, no skates or ice rinks, and until this year no snow to play in. This makes for a very miserable time indeed. Last year I survived because of the el nino induced mild temperatures and by moving in under the kotatsu (electric coffee table) any time I wasn't spending loads of money trying to stay out of our subzero house. This year however winter has hit Toyama full force, bringing with it a generous portions of snow. I wake up now with frost on my blankets from my breath freezing on it all night. This is no way to live. On my second year with JET now, just surviving is not enough. And so to make this time of the year more endurable I have taken up snowboarding. I'm no good at it and it's probably the most painful activity I've ever partaken in, but hav
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Hotel shuffle

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1/28 Arrival in Ubud While still in Sanur we decided to change our itinerary a bit and made calls to the two other hotels we would be staying in Bali. Good thing we did, since one of the receptionist claimed we had already reserved nights for the days we wanted to move to, rather than what we initially thought we had reserved. Although the hotel we wanted in Ubud called Nick's Homestay was booked for the days we wanted, but they said they had a 2nd branch not far from the Homestay with rooms available- Nick's Pension . Guess it didn't make much of a difference anyway because when we arrived at Nick's Pension in Ubud the guy at the desk said they had no record that we ever called... no worries though, because they happened to have rooms available in yet another chain of theirs down the back road- Nick's Hidden . So I just had to ask... "So who is this Nick?" Guy at desk: "He's my boss." ah. stupid question. As we were both carrying all our l
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Je voudrais foie gras...

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12/25/07 Christmas Day ... Upon on our arrival in Bali we were greeted by a tropical downpour and a charming hotel-owner with gray-blue eyes and a Swedish accent. Ten minutes later we were pulling into a tropical Garden of Eden hidden away among the remote rice fields of Sanur. We jumped out in the pouring rain and ran barefoot to the "lobby-" a red-tiled open patio with two pieces of wicker furniture and a bookcase. Our Swedish host disappeared upstairs and returned with a tray of fresh papaya juice. Sitting there looking out at the lush garden, chatting with our new acquaintances and sipping my first taste of papaya, I was trying to digest all the improbabilities of the past three days... tropical Shangri-la Now we are eating our first meal in Bali at the little family establishment next door. Like everything else here it's open to the elements. It's getting darker outside and the rain hasn't let up a bit since our arrival. This place sells snacks, convenient
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