the pee pole

I am writing this from Tokyo Japan.
Finally, the trip I have been preparing for SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long is happening. I have emailed a lot of people some of this text, but some is new. From now on I will post my updates on here.
So much has happened so this is going to be a long one.
I am staying at the Asakusa Central Hotel, which
is in the really great area of Asakusa. Right around the corner is a temple and lots
of shops and places to eat. AND PEOPLE......there is a Studio Ghilbi
shop, which means there is a shop full of My Neighbor Totoro and
Kiki stuff. I was freaking out!!

This morning I woke up at 5am which was good and had to be at the
training at 9am. I started my day off right by watching a children's morning
show complete with Hello Kitty cartoons!! It was the best EVER! So
cute and the commercials are so funny. Today I had training alllllll
day. It was really overwhelming and tiring. So much info to go over
and so much to prepare for. I signed my contract today which makes it
official. I am feeling really good though. It is going to be a hard
job, but I am going to love it and its going to be really good for me.
I am going to learn a lot, I can tell.
One of the things that is a little over whelming is all the procedure and etiquette we must follow. And there is just all this etiquette you are not aware of. Like we have to do all this stuff at the school to be polite, but it is going to be
hard to remember and some stuff that is just going to be hard to adjust to, like you cannot be sick in Japan. Well you can be sick, but you have got to come to
work anyway. They would prefer you to come in, vomit all over your
desk and then tell you to leave. You can take sick days, but you
better be sick because they want to see a receipt from the pharmacist
saying you bought a bottle of aspirin or they want to see a note from
the hospital. It is a little intense.
OH yeah like today me and this Canadian girl were crossing the street,
but we did not realize the pedestrian sign was on so we just
walked across. We looked up and an old man yelled at us. I felt so
bad, but that is part of living abroad. You have got to make a lot of
adjustments in the way you live and act. It can be hard.

OH I almost forgot! I did something really fun today. At the shrine around the corner you can do this really fun fortune thing for a $1. You shake up the tin can full of chop sticks, then you
pull one out and it has kanji written on it. You make your kanji to
the kanji to a drawer. Inside is your fortune, it’s kind of long and
written in English and Japanese. I kept it. I got the best fortune.
Literally that's what the title was "the best fortune"!! HAHAHA It basically said my life is going to be good. The Canadian girl got a really bad one though so she had to hang it up so it does not come
true.
Also, everything here is cute. Like everything, everything everywhere. Case in point: I have got to give a urine sample. The package of the stick you pee on is SO CUTE!!!!!!! It is called Pee Pole, it has two funny characters on it!!! HAHAHAHAHAH
The stuff in the 100yen sore by the way SO cute, and they have everything you could want or need. They even sell Hello Kitty stuff in there. And the commercials!!! Don’t get me started. There is this one with a girl that runs up to a gigantic lemon and jumps on it and squeezes it and the lemon sort of moans in pain and she just keeps squeezing it. It is so weird and cute at the same time.
The bath tub, when you sit in it comes up to my chin which is so great. In fact everything fits me! YIPPIE! When riding on the train, I reach up and can actually grab on the little handles dangling from the bars, to help you gain your balance. That was really great for me.
WOW I just realize that I am totally experiencing the first stages of culture shock! HAHAHAHAH Which is seeing everything as being great, or better than your home country. Whatever I am enjoying it.
OK got to get in the shower and start my day.

Ja mata to ne!

Good Bye peaches…hello kaki

It's time to go.

I am sitting at my laptop now, uploading some last minute CDs. I am so sad all of a sudden. I have spent the last few days saying good-bye to all my pals. It has just really hit me now that I am going. I don't know, I am just really going to miss all of you. I wish I could bring someone with me. Just one person would do. Anybody. OK…who wants to go…? I finally finished packing. I am taking SO much stuff with me!! I HATE IT! I hate having to lug my life around. It's the worst part about traveling. I feel like I am always having to do it too. I am only bringing the important stuff, but it's still SO MUCH!! Basically its clothes A LOT of work clothes. Then I am bringing a lot of toiletries and medicine that I like. Bringing my laptop and all the accessories that go along with that and my camera and accessories. I am bringing a small collection of classic movies and really that's it! WOW, that's IT! How can that be it! Man I have a lot of clothes.

Gosh, I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight. I am too excited and nervous.

OK well I am going to go get more CDs to upload (That is one thing you don't have to lug around anymore!! You can carry more media around with you in your pocket NOW then you could in a moving truck a few years back. I definitely love that!)

Talk to you all when I am in LA maybe,

Otherwise…see you in Tokyo!

Ladies of Retirement

OK I watched a really great oldie yesterday.
"The Ladies of Retirement". It was really scary. Well it probably was not that scary, but it scared me!!
Made in 1941 staring Ida Lupino, Edith Barrent (those bug eyes of hers really freak me out!!) and Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein)
Ida Lupino is REALLY GOOD! I want to see more of her films (and boy she made her share of movies!). You never hear about her, but she is really an amazing actress. There is this one scene with her, when she is about to kill her boss, she is going to strangle her and she creeps up behind her and brings the rope up to her face. She freezes there for a second and gets this crazy look in her eye and it is just brilliant.
Interestingly, Ida later became a writer producer and director. She directed her first film in 1949!! There were not many female directors around during that time and she is widely considered a pioneer for women in this field. She went on to direct many TV shows during the 50s and 60s. she was also the only women to direct episodes of "the Twilight Zone". One of my all time favorite shows! And she directed episodes of Bewitched and Gilligan's Island.

I freakin love old movies! What am i gonna do without TCM when I am in JAPAN! Someone help me! I am so dorky!

HEY LADIES!!

*the cheesy music kicks in*
I have been thinking lately about all the cool pals I have here in ATL. I have a lot of great friends. I am so lucky! *sniffle, sniffle*
(I am always friends with the girls who dont have girl friends! Whats with THAT! And I have so many gal pals.)
I am gonna miss all of you so much. But dont worry, no, no... dont cry. There is a really easy way to heal all the loneliness and pain.........COME VISIT ME!! You can stay with me in the closet I will be calling home.









*OH* I almost forgot to tell ya'll that I got the info on my apartment. It is a Leo Palace which means it will be furnished!! YIPPIE! That means I can spend more money on clothes and drinks! WHOOHOO! Its a tiny place but cute and close to the train station.

Nothing

OK so I will be in Japan in one week!!!!!
7 days!!!
I have a lot to do. Most importantly, I got to get an extra pair of glasses! But I have done most of my shopping so that’s good. I have got to thank J for taking me clothing shopping the other day. We went to half off day at Last Chance thrift store. I was great I got some cloths for work and the BEST 80’s pink flats. LOVE THEM! I still need to get more bras though. You know these 36C/Ds will be havin a hard time in Japan! HA!
I got a bunch of Easter candy that I am gonna deal out to all the teachers at my school (you’re supposed to bring presents).

I am excited about my going away party. Beer at Brew House and dancing and The Star Bar. Be there or be square.

I am just excited. I will be in Tokyo in a week. That is so cool.

Toride here I come!!

FINALLY I know where I will be living and teaching during the next year.

Toride City in Ibaraki Prefecture in the Northern Eastern part of the Greater Tokyo area.

Toride City is probably a pretty boring pace. It will most likely have everything I will need (I HOPE!!), but overall it’s probably kinda rural/suburban. But who knows, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.
Toride is a bedroom community of about 113,475. It is on both the Tokyo subway line (the Chiyoda Line ) and on the commuter train system line (the JR Joban Line).
By commuter train its about 40 min from Ueno station and all that eastern Tokyo has to offer such as the burrows of Royogoku (Sumo town) Akihabara (the electronics district) Asakusa (Old Tokyo) and Jimbacho (a district famous for its book shops).

Even though Toride is probably going to be industrial, suburban and blahhh, I am THRILLED to have received this post because of its close proximity to central Tokyo. I will have a quiet place to come home to and work in, but in the evenings and on weekends I will have tons of time to explore Tokyo. There is SO much to see, let me tell ya!!
I definitely did not expect to be placed anywhere near Tokyo. I really thought I would be posted to some place far FAR from civilization. And this would have been OK with me. What is most important to me is that I have the opportunity to see Japan and teach. But I feel really lucky to have been placed in Toride because I am a city mouse and really do love the hustle and bustle. I made a list of all the things I wanted to do while I was in Tokyo for my week long training session. This list was getting longer and longer and I was beginning to feel a little sad cause I felt like I would not have enough time to see and do everything. Now I don’t have to worry about that!!
There are 52 weekends in this year. I will be able to do a fair amount of exploring during that time. Though I have to say, I lived in London for 4 years and there is so much of London I never saw (I sure tried to see everything though). Anyway, a year is not enough to know Tokyo, but its better than the week I though I would have. I am really looking forward to it.

Here is part of my "to do" list for Tokyo:

1. Visit the Yushima Tenjin shrine for the Kami of Learning. This is a shrine that dates back to 458 BC. It is often visited by students who pray for success with there entrance exams. I figure I should pay my respects and start things of right by clapping my hands and ringing the bell for the god of learning.
2. Visit Ryogoku which is a suburb of east Tokyo that is ruled by all things Sumo. The major sumo stadium is here as well as many sumo stables and sumo restaurants.
3. Visit the suburb of Mitaka. This is going to be a VERY important excursion. It is where the Studio Ghibli Museum is located. I CAN NOT WAIT to see it.
4. I definitely want to see a baseball game, and a sumo match, AND I wanna check out Keirin. Keirin is a track cycling race. It’s kinda like horse racing but with guys on bikes, you still bet though. (there just so happens to be a stadium in Toride)

More adventures to come. I can not wait till I am writing you about what it is like to actually be in those places!!

Going into TOXIC SHOCK!

GO GREEN GO GREEN GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GREEN!!
So we did derby today. It was a good time, my throut still hurts from screaming. S and I decided to stop off and have dinner on the way (OK I made her stop even though she said we would be late, Sorry S!).
Anywayz we were late, but we got a good spot anyway. My team was not competing (the APOCALYPSTIX) It was the Toxic Shocks VS the Denim Demons. So of course we had to root for the Shocks. And you know they won. That 'Skate Outta Compton' was really pretty good.



S and I tried to get a lil buzz going but you cant drink inside the rink so everyone goes outside and tailgates. I had brought me some vodka in a flask and some cranberry juice (courtesy of my momma, so 'Thanx Momma!') There was not really enough time to run out to the car and slug a few down in between periods. So next time ladies (sniffle sniffle, I will not be here to enjoy it with you) make sure to get there early so you can get a prime spot in the parking lot. Dont forget to bring chairs and S, dont make everyone stop to get dinner next time!! GOSH! (heehee).