Spring Break & the New 7 Wonders!
Hey all,
A lot's happened since my last post, but I'm just not that motivated to type it all out at the moment. But I do owe an update if I intend not to get so behind as I was last time...again. ^_^;
MY SPRING BREAK TRIP:
So I went down to Osaka for 5 days (Thursday-Monday) and just got back the day before yesterday. There's not much to be said about the trip, really, since I lived there 2 years ago, as most of you know, which means I wasn't there so much to explore as to visit some of my old favorite spots. Also, I was only there for 3 full days, the other two being travel days (it's about a 7 hour trip one way). I went there and back via the awesome mode of transport that is the Shinkansen (bullet train).
It was kind of funny being back down there. Living up here in the middle of NO WHERE had me (before the trip) longing for Osaka, thinking of all the things I could be doing if I were living there, etc, but now that I've been there and back...well, we'll see if the longing returns. For starters, I've gotten entirely accustomed to Aomori weather. It was in the 60's down there in Osaka and I was SO HOT. The moment I stepped off the train back up north here, I felt completely back in my element. (So you can guess how I feel about Florida now ;) What I did enjoy about being back down south was the accessibility of everything, and I think that's what I missed in the first place up here. I always knew weather was a problem, but to be able to hop on a train and be in another part of town in a matter of minutes is a miraculous thing that one never really appreciates until they try living an hour-long car ride away from ANYTHING. So a lot of what I did in Osaka was shopping...the sort of "shopping" where you just wander between stores, stopping occasionally to look at something just long enough to decide you don't really need it, and then continuing on your way. ;)
I did do 3 worthwhile things while in the city:
1) I saw Takarazuka, the Japanese theater where all the actors are actresses (that is, an all-female cast). It was my 3rd time to a performance, and it was definitely the best show yet. Takarazuka is really unique (colorful costumes, brilliant orchestra, and great dancing--whether traditional Japanese forms or tap dancing--on a uniquely designed stage). It's VERY popular among women in Japan--I got the last seat for any of the performances while I was down there, and there were maybe...3 men in the audience? lol The main theater is in Osaka (there is one other in Tokyo, too), and the whole area around the place is very quaint and pretty--a great atmosphere for theater.
2) I got a haircut! May sound trivial to most of you, but realize I've cut my hair maybe 3 times in the last 5ish years. One of those times was at a salon called NYNY (that's right New York New York...in Osaka ;) when I was studying at Kansai Gaidai. I really liked the way they did it last time, so I headed back on Friday. Nothing extreme. Just got it re-layered and cut to just below the shoulder. If nothing else, the wash was heaven. A haircut in Japan is a fine affair--they massage your head and everything. --_--
3) I made a friend! lol I was in Kinokuniya book store at about 9:30 on Sunday, the night before I headed back here, and as I surveyed the meager English selection for some randomly good book I knew I would never find in that damn store, I hear a quiet voice ask, "Excuse me, are you a native English speaker?" So I turn around, and there's this university-aged Japanese woman standing there, looking entirely like she was using every ounce of courage she'd stored up since she was 2 just to ask me if I was what I looked like. So I told her I was, and she asked if I had time to help her with a speech she was writing for her English club speech contest. So we headed to Starbucks and looked it over. :)
It amazes me every time I talk to an Osaka college student, regardless of their school, 'cause their English is always excellent--not to the level of a native speaker, but good enough that you can talk to them at a normal speed and not have to repeat yourself 3 or 4 times to convey half of what you're trying to say. I tend to think that people living in bigger cities have a better chance at good English (my students way up here in the Aomori boonies aren't going to have the same English as a Tokyo student, I tend to think). It seems to me that there's more accessibility to media that will help students learn, more signs and such in English, more foreigners walking around, even better teachers...but most ALTs that I've spoken to don't agree with me. Now, I do understand that a student with no motivation in Tokyo vs an enthusiastic student in Aomori will make a different case. And I don't mean my JH kids here aren't as fluent as this university girl because they live in Aomori--clearly the girl I met had a couple more years under her belt...but you know what I mean. Do I sound crazy? Does that expectation only exist in my head?
Whatever. The point is, it was wonderful that, on the last day of my trip, I could actually hold a decent conversation with someone (a thing each and every one of you take for granted on a daily basis, I might add ;).
Apart from working my way around Osaka, I also spent a day in Kyoto, which is about...maybe 45 minutes or an hour by train from Osaka. I set off on Sunday late morning, trying desperately as I sat on the train to remember whether it was Sanjo, Shijo, or Shichijo station I had to get off at for Yasaka jinja (Yasaka shrine). You see, if you can find your way to Yasaka jinja, you can find your way to a half dozen other great temples and shrines in Kyoto. But the tough thing about the Kyoto station system is that there are a ton of stations all named after old roads, which were, as a show of Japan's fabulous creatively, named nijo, sanjo, shijo, etc (translation: "line 2," "line 3," "line 4" etc--no, I don't know what happened to ichijo (1), but they go all the way up to...at least 8, and probably beyond). Two years ago, I frequented Sanjo and Shijo, and occasionally Shichijo. So basically, I knew it was one of the "s" ones that I was looking for. Taking a chance, I stopped at Shijo and found myself, by some miracle, where I wanted to be.
Winter this year was unusually warm in Japan, and I think most places around the world...enough that the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom down south, when they should be just now starting to show the signs of waking up. Normally, the sakura bloom during what is called Golden Week in late April, when a string of made-up holidays (we're talking "Constitution Memorial Day," which is no where near related to the Constitution's actual creation, and "Green Day") gives everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) a week off of work to go out and have hanami (a party under the cherry blossoms). Two of the most famous spots for sakura viewing are Kyoto and Hirosaki (which is, incidentally, up here in Aomori Prefecture). Why am I giving you this sudden culture lesson, you wonder? Because due to the warm winter, the sakura are already blooming from Tokyo southward (Osaka and Kyoto), and not yet from Tokyo northward (Aomori). So that means all the people that love hanami will not be torn between the hot spots of Hirosaki and Kyoto this year--they can go to both. And when I was in Kyoto, so were they.
Yasaka jinja happens to have a spectacular weeping sakura in the back part of the grounds, so I found myself caught in herd of Japanese flooding the streets to that great shrine on the hill. Luckily, the day itself was quite cloudy, so it was perhaps not so crowded as it might've been on a sunnier day. And one of the greatest things about sakura season is that it tends to transform temples and shrines into a festival atmosphere lined with booths selling yummy foods, crafts, and games. So although it's super crowded EVERYWHERE you go, it's still worth going.
So I went up through the shrine gate, around the weeping sakura and surrounding garden filled with normal sakura, working my way to the far back side of the shrine, then took the north gate (what I think is the north gate ;) out, and there I got smacked in the face by one of the best things about Kyoto: it is almost impossible to walk around that city without hitting a temple or shrine, even when you aren't looking for one. SOMEHOW, in all the times I've visited Yasaka jinja, I never made my way out that particular gate. And I know I haven't, because right there next door was a GINORMOUS wooden gate to a Buddhist shrine that I had never seen before (Chosonji...I think...it was called... ^^; ). I climbed the *hellish* knee-high steps to the grounds, looked around, then made my way along the back gate to walk along the highest route I could find, because this particular area of Kyoto is actually on the base/side of a mountain, and I don't care who you are--that hill will sap your strength in seconds. Once you get to the top, you do NOT go back down unless you're done for the day, or you've seen all there is to see at that level, and it seems that no matter how high you climb, there's always something higher. And there's some truly great stuff to see: a WWII memorial with a great big white Buddha, the temple housing Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ashes (a famous military leader), and Kiyomizu temple among them.
Which gracefully (sort of) brings me to a digression. All around Kiyomizu Temple were signs encouraging visitors to vote for Kiyomizu Temple as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World....they're choosing a new 7 Wonders! I think that's so cool. So I'm gonna jump on the propaganda wagon and bug you all to vote! Here's the website: www.n7w.com
The 21 final candidates are:
Angkor Temple - Cambodia
The Pyramids of Giza - Egypt
The Easter Island Statues - Easter Island, Chile
The Great Wall of China - China (obviously ;)
The Kremlin/St Basil - Moscow, Russia
Stonehenge - Amesbury, the UK
Taj Mahal - Agra, India
(those are the 7 I voted for, but there's also:)
The Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Alhambra - Grenada, Spain
The Pyramid at Chichén Itzá - Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Christ Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Colosseum - Rome, Italy
The Eifel Tower - Paris, France
The Hagia Sophia - Istanbul, Turkey
Kiyomizu Temple - Kyoto, Japan
Machu Picchu - Peru
Neuschwanstein Castle - Schwangau, Germany
Petra - Jordan
The Statue of Liberty - New York City, USA
Sydney Opera House - Sydney, Australia
Timbuktu - Mali
There are descriptions and pictures for each of them on the site. I think some choices are more obvious than others (who WOULDN'T vote for Stonehenge??) So go vote! The winners will be decided on 7/7/07, and voting is free (unless you want a useless piece of paper saying you voted--then it's $2 ;). You just put in your e-mail address and choose the 7 you think should win. ^^
Ummmm...I think that's all I've got. Not much more to say about the trip. I'm back in Aomori now and will try try try to drop an update on all of my new teachers once I've met them all. 'Till then I'm busy with welcome parties for all the new people I'm working with (I get to eat dinner at home only one day this week :/ )
**********
Mel's Book Rec. for April: "TRANSFORMATION," by Carol Berg. My favorite book by my favorite author. Best book ever written by anyone for any reason. I actually read it back in...um...wow, around this time last year. Picked it up in Portland only a matter of days before I left. If you like fantasy novels, you MUST read this one. Like I said, I've already long-since read it, but I thought that, this being my BIRTHDAY MONTH *winkwink* I'd go with my favorite book. ^^ Also, I've not read anything really outstanding for several months now. I picked up Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World" in Kinokuniya, and so far so good...but I'm not ready to give the final word on that one yet. ;) ...now that I think about it, I don't know if I've ever read a fantasy novel by a male author...unless you count "the Elder Gods" by Eddings...which I read about halfway through before deciding my time would be better spent doing just about ANYTHING else. (seriously, NEVER read that book. In fact, if you ever find a copy, do the world a favor and set it aflame. Consider that my anti-rec)
...and now I'm entirely rambling. lol Last word on books, though, is that I expect there will be more recs (or anti-recs) to come from maybe the end of this month or so--I've got a list of some 13 novels waiting to be purchased when I get around to it. ;) "Firmin" by Sam Savage looks good. So if this rambling is annoying you as much as I suspect, go ahead and pretend the blog ends at the asterisk line. ;)
Comedy Clip Recommendation: Axis of Evil. Accessible in short bits via YouTube.com, or on DVD. Totally hilarious. I read an article about these guys in the Daily Yomiuri English edition on the way back from Osaka. They're 3 Arab-American comedians fighting racism through comedy. Quite hilarious. I love people that can throw themselves at the wall of stereotyping bigotry without making you feel uncomfortable about watching it. ;) (quote: "I always know which guy on the plane is the air marshall...he's the guy holding the People's magazine upside down and looking right at me.")
That is all. ^_^
A lot's happened since my last post, but I'm just not that motivated to type it all out at the moment. But I do owe an update if I intend not to get so behind as I was last time...again. ^_^;
MY SPRING BREAK TRIP:
So I went down to Osaka for 5 days (Thursday-Monday) and just got back the day before yesterday. There's not much to be said about the trip, really, since I lived there 2 years ago, as most of you know, which means I wasn't there so much to explore as to visit some of my old favorite spots. Also, I was only there for 3 full days, the other two being travel days (it's about a 7 hour trip one way). I went there and back via the awesome mode of transport that is the Shinkansen (bullet train).
It was kind of funny being back down there. Living up here in the middle of NO WHERE had me (before the trip) longing for Osaka, thinking of all the things I could be doing if I were living there, etc, but now that I've been there and back...well, we'll see if the longing returns. For starters, I've gotten entirely accustomed to Aomori weather. It was in the 60's down there in Osaka and I was SO HOT. The moment I stepped off the train back up north here, I felt completely back in my element. (So you can guess how I feel about Florida now ;) What I did enjoy about being back down south was the accessibility of everything, and I think that's what I missed in the first place up here. I always knew weather was a problem, but to be able to hop on a train and be in another part of town in a matter of minutes is a miraculous thing that one never really appreciates until they try living an hour-long car ride away from ANYTHING. So a lot of what I did in Osaka was shopping...the sort of "shopping" where you just wander between stores, stopping occasionally to look at something just long enough to decide you don't really need it, and then continuing on your way. ;)
I did do 3 worthwhile things while in the city:
1) I saw Takarazuka, the Japanese theater where all the actors are actresses (that is, an all-female cast). It was my 3rd time to a performance, and it was definitely the best show yet. Takarazuka is really unique (colorful costumes, brilliant orchestra, and great dancing--whether traditional Japanese forms or tap dancing--on a uniquely designed stage). It's VERY popular among women in Japan--I got the last seat for any of the performances while I was down there, and there were maybe...3 men in the audience? lol The main theater is in Osaka (there is one other in Tokyo, too), and the whole area around the place is very quaint and pretty--a great atmosphere for theater.
2) I got a haircut! May sound trivial to most of you, but realize I've cut my hair maybe 3 times in the last 5ish years. One of those times was at a salon called NYNY (that's right New York New York...in Osaka ;) when I was studying at Kansai Gaidai. I really liked the way they did it last time, so I headed back on Friday. Nothing extreme. Just got it re-layered and cut to just below the shoulder. If nothing else, the wash was heaven. A haircut in Japan is a fine affair--they massage your head and everything. --_--
3) I made a friend! lol I was in Kinokuniya book store at about 9:30 on Sunday, the night before I headed back here, and as I surveyed the meager English selection for some randomly good book I knew I would never find in that damn store, I hear a quiet voice ask, "Excuse me, are you a native English speaker?" So I turn around, and there's this university-aged Japanese woman standing there, looking entirely like she was using every ounce of courage she'd stored up since she was 2 just to ask me if I was what I looked like. So I told her I was, and she asked if I had time to help her with a speech she was writing for her English club speech contest. So we headed to Starbucks and looked it over. :)
It amazes me every time I talk to an Osaka college student, regardless of their school, 'cause their English is always excellent--not to the level of a native speaker, but good enough that you can talk to them at a normal speed and not have to repeat yourself 3 or 4 times to convey half of what you're trying to say. I tend to think that people living in bigger cities have a better chance at good English (my students way up here in the Aomori boonies aren't going to have the same English as a Tokyo student, I tend to think). It seems to me that there's more accessibility to media that will help students learn, more signs and such in English, more foreigners walking around, even better teachers...but most ALTs that I've spoken to don't agree with me. Now, I do understand that a student with no motivation in Tokyo vs an enthusiastic student in Aomori will make a different case. And I don't mean my JH kids here aren't as fluent as this university girl because they live in Aomori--clearly the girl I met had a couple more years under her belt...but you know what I mean. Do I sound crazy? Does that expectation only exist in my head?
Whatever. The point is, it was wonderful that, on the last day of my trip, I could actually hold a decent conversation with someone (a thing each and every one of you take for granted on a daily basis, I might add ;).
Apart from working my way around Osaka, I also spent a day in Kyoto, which is about...maybe 45 minutes or an hour by train from Osaka. I set off on Sunday late morning, trying desperately as I sat on the train to remember whether it was Sanjo, Shijo, or Shichijo station I had to get off at for Yasaka jinja (Yasaka shrine). You see, if you can find your way to Yasaka jinja, you can find your way to a half dozen other great temples and shrines in Kyoto. But the tough thing about the Kyoto station system is that there are a ton of stations all named after old roads, which were, as a show of Japan's fabulous creatively, named nijo, sanjo, shijo, etc (translation: "line 2," "line 3," "line 4" etc--no, I don't know what happened to ichijo (1), but they go all the way up to...at least 8, and probably beyond). Two years ago, I frequented Sanjo and Shijo, and occasionally Shichijo. So basically, I knew it was one of the "s" ones that I was looking for. Taking a chance, I stopped at Shijo and found myself, by some miracle, where I wanted to be.
Winter this year was unusually warm in Japan, and I think most places around the world...enough that the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom down south, when they should be just now starting to show the signs of waking up. Normally, the sakura bloom during what is called Golden Week in late April, when a string of made-up holidays (we're talking "Constitution Memorial Day," which is no where near related to the Constitution's actual creation, and "Green Day") gives everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) a week off of work to go out and have hanami (a party under the cherry blossoms). Two of the most famous spots for sakura viewing are Kyoto and Hirosaki (which is, incidentally, up here in Aomori Prefecture). Why am I giving you this sudden culture lesson, you wonder? Because due to the warm winter, the sakura are already blooming from Tokyo southward (Osaka and Kyoto), and not yet from Tokyo northward (Aomori). So that means all the people that love hanami will not be torn between the hot spots of Hirosaki and Kyoto this year--they can go to both. And when I was in Kyoto, so were they.
Yasaka jinja happens to have a spectacular weeping sakura in the back part of the grounds, so I found myself caught in herd of Japanese flooding the streets to that great shrine on the hill. Luckily, the day itself was quite cloudy, so it was perhaps not so crowded as it might've been on a sunnier day. And one of the greatest things about sakura season is that it tends to transform temples and shrines into a festival atmosphere lined with booths selling yummy foods, crafts, and games. So although it's super crowded EVERYWHERE you go, it's still worth going.
So I went up through the shrine gate, around the weeping sakura and surrounding garden filled with normal sakura, working my way to the far back side of the shrine, then took the north gate (what I think is the north gate ;) out, and there I got smacked in the face by one of the best things about Kyoto: it is almost impossible to walk around that city without hitting a temple or shrine, even when you aren't looking for one. SOMEHOW, in all the times I've visited Yasaka jinja, I never made my way out that particular gate. And I know I haven't, because right there next door was a GINORMOUS wooden gate to a Buddhist shrine that I had never seen before (Chosonji...I think...it was called... ^^; ). I climbed the *hellish* knee-high steps to the grounds, looked around, then made my way along the back gate to walk along the highest route I could find, because this particular area of Kyoto is actually on the base/side of a mountain, and I don't care who you are--that hill will sap your strength in seconds. Once you get to the top, you do NOT go back down unless you're done for the day, or you've seen all there is to see at that level, and it seems that no matter how high you climb, there's always something higher. And there's some truly great stuff to see: a WWII memorial with a great big white Buddha, the temple housing Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ashes (a famous military leader), and Kiyomizu temple among them.
Which gracefully (sort of) brings me to a digression. All around Kiyomizu Temple were signs encouraging visitors to vote for Kiyomizu Temple as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World....they're choosing a new 7 Wonders! I think that's so cool. So I'm gonna jump on the propaganda wagon and bug you all to vote! Here's the website: www.n7w.com
The 21 final candidates are:
Angkor Temple - Cambodia
The Pyramids of Giza - Egypt
The Easter Island Statues - Easter Island, Chile
The Great Wall of China - China (obviously ;)
The Kremlin/St Basil - Moscow, Russia
Stonehenge - Amesbury, the UK
Taj Mahal - Agra, India
(those are the 7 I voted for, but there's also:)
The Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Alhambra - Grenada, Spain
The Pyramid at Chichén Itzá - Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Christ Redeemer - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Colosseum - Rome, Italy
The Eifel Tower - Paris, France
The Hagia Sophia - Istanbul, Turkey
Kiyomizu Temple - Kyoto, Japan
Machu Picchu - Peru
Neuschwanstein Castle - Schwangau, Germany
Petra - Jordan
The Statue of Liberty - New York City, USA
Sydney Opera House - Sydney, Australia
Timbuktu - Mali
There are descriptions and pictures for each of them on the site. I think some choices are more obvious than others (who WOULDN'T vote for Stonehenge??) So go vote! The winners will be decided on 7/7/07, and voting is free (unless you want a useless piece of paper saying you voted--then it's $2 ;). You just put in your e-mail address and choose the 7 you think should win. ^^
Ummmm...I think that's all I've got. Not much more to say about the trip. I'm back in Aomori now and will try try try to drop an update on all of my new teachers once I've met them all. 'Till then I'm busy with welcome parties for all the new people I'm working with (I get to eat dinner at home only one day this week :/ )
**********
Mel's Book Rec. for April: "TRANSFORMATION," by Carol Berg. My favorite book by my favorite author. Best book ever written by anyone for any reason. I actually read it back in...um...wow, around this time last year. Picked it up in Portland only a matter of days before I left. If you like fantasy novels, you MUST read this one. Like I said, I've already long-since read it, but I thought that, this being my BIRTHDAY MONTH *winkwink* I'd go with my favorite book. ^^ Also, I've not read anything really outstanding for several months now. I picked up Robert Jordan's "The Eye of the World" in Kinokuniya, and so far so good...but I'm not ready to give the final word on that one yet. ;) ...now that I think about it, I don't know if I've ever read a fantasy novel by a male author...unless you count "the Elder Gods" by Eddings...which I read about halfway through before deciding my time would be better spent doing just about ANYTHING else. (seriously, NEVER read that book. In fact, if you ever find a copy, do the world a favor and set it aflame. Consider that my anti-rec)
...and now I'm entirely rambling. lol Last word on books, though, is that I expect there will be more recs (or anti-recs) to come from maybe the end of this month or so--I've got a list of some 13 novels waiting to be purchased when I get around to it. ;) "Firmin" by Sam Savage looks good. So if this rambling is annoying you as much as I suspect, go ahead and pretend the blog ends at the asterisk line. ;)
Comedy Clip Recommendation: Axis of Evil. Accessible in short bits via YouTube.com, or on DVD. Totally hilarious. I read an article about these guys in the Daily Yomiuri English edition on the way back from Osaka. They're 3 Arab-American comedians fighting racism through comedy. Quite hilarious. I love people that can throw themselves at the wall of stereotyping bigotry without making you feel uncomfortable about watching it. ;) (quote: "I always know which guy on the plane is the air marshall...he's the guy holding the People's magazine upside down and looking right at me.")
That is all. ^_^