bad me.

so, i guess you'll have noticed that its been a while since i last posted. basically i' ve been trying to set up my apartment and get into the swing of things. i've been writing a lot of emails though, so i'm going to cheat a bit and fill in a few blanks with selectedexcerpts...

to >melissa, august 16th:

> The sushi review was quite good, but we are looking for
> the lowdown on the joys of sake. We once had a good bit
> of it out of these chilled bamboo drinking vessels with
> little bamboo shot glasses! VERY marvelous! VERY
> wonderful! Yay the Japanese!

i haven't had sake yet- funnily enough it's not thatpopular... i've been
drinking lots of beer and ikedawine... also very popular here is
nomihodai(all-you-can-drink) but i've yet to experience that...
> All I know about Japan at the moment is that its Princess
> is officially depressed.

uh... okay. the radio here is in japanese and i have no TVso all i know is
the names of bands (bump of chicken. i'mserious) and that it's "ateni
olimpiku".

> And that you are there. Are you
> teaching classes yet?

nope, only from september, after i've been to myorientation in Sapporo (the
Big City, 2 1/2 hours bylimited-express train) which ends 28th aug and then i
haveto prepare an introductory lesson intro'ing meself and mecountry...

>Or is this an acclimatization
> process until that hilarity is hoisted upon you.

i just said so... ha. ha.

>And then
> will you be teaching children, the curious but shrouded
> teenagers, or adults?

teenagers mostly (the girls enthusiastic and giggly, theboys somewhat
poseur-y... they try harder to be tough and cool and therefore are a bit
twittish. but all with very trendy hair and clothes. the boys pluck their
eyebrows .

>Did you get a formatted program for
> teaching or do you get to just walk in and chat? How does
> this all work!

there is a syllabus for each class (ie there are threeyears in senior high
school, and various english classes iereading, translation, conversation, and
interculturalcommunication) and we have to follow that (for universityentrance
exam purposes) but otherwise we can be prettycreative... by we i mean myself and
the JTE (japaneseteacher of english) as we team-teach the class, mostly
funexercises like roleplay, listening to songs or watchingmovies and answering
questions, pairwork etc... english isgenerally the only class where they get to
have fun anddon't just rote-memorise or copy stuff off the board...

> Enquiring minds want to know.

i would not expect any less.

> Had NO idea you could bicycle, by the way.

now that is shameful. i have been able to cycle since i was13. just because
i can't drive does not mean i have noskills. FYI, i can also knit, sew,
embroider, (yes they aretwo different things) paint, argue, dissemble,
rollerblade,ice skate, hand-trace fonts, programme HTML, take goodphotos and
retouch them, and come up with witticisms when ineed them, and not the next
night in bed (that last one hasproved the most useful).

> Knew you weren?t fit though, if that?s any conciliation

!ha. ha.

to carla, september 16th:

I was thinking the other day that although thepeople I am meeting here are
nice, they are not southAfrican. Its funny how that makes a difference: I
neverappreciated this fact until I came to Japan. South Africansare? different.
Also, all my friendships here are very much in the shallowbeginning stages, more
fun than substance. I haven't beenable to have a heart-to-heart talk with
anyone. So at timesit can be a bit lonely. Also, add to that the fact that
I'mquite a bit older than most of the other ALT's --- and alsogenerally more
mature. I think that also has a lot to dowith being south African? most of the
south Africans, nomatter how silly we may act, have a steely core ofseriousness
and? I don't know, adultness. Not that I'msaying all south Africans are mature
(god no, otherwiseneither of us would be single? or have ex-boyfs).No, I think
its more that the people who would apply tosomething like this from south Africa
are perhaps the typeto take it more seriously? this is a golden opportunity,
alearning experience, while most of my American and Englishcompatriots seem to
view it as a way to party, get drunkand get laid. Especially the men who often
seem to havecome here specifically to meet "hot Asian chicks". You maythink I'm
being rather uncharitable, and I wouldn't havebelieved it was so before I came?
But I've see it formyself. I've heard such words come out of their
mouths.Unfortunately even the lamest, wimpiest, dorkiest guysbecome instant
studmuffins the minute they arrive, simplyby virtue of being western. And in
turn they begin? tochange... Of course we girls would probably not mind so much
ifJapanese men didn't insist on doing vaguely nauseatingthings to their
appearances, such as shaving their eyebrows(actually worse than it sounds?.
There are some men here Iactually find it hard to hold conversations with
becausetheir eyebrows are so disconcerting), growing their nails(does not work
if you are neither a Goth nor a vampire) andhome-peroxiding their hair, which
usually renders itstraw-like and one of two colours: canary yellow or
clownorange. Neither of which looks good. Surprisingly.Anyway. I know I promised
you pictures of my place but itsin the middle of a stage at the moment (I'm
painting someplain wooden cubey-boxes) so it looks too messy. So onceI've got my
couch and carpet I'll mail you some pictures.I've been very creative though. For
instance my lounge areawas walled with horrible 1970's dark brown
fake-woodpanelling, so I covered it in handmade paper sheets fromthe hyaku-en
(100 yen) store using double-sided tape. Itlooks very girly now--- the paper has
petals and leavesembedded in it. Also, my lounge was open onto my bathroomand
washing machine , so I have hung a white sheet (okay,it was actually a duvet but
I couldn't actually read thepackaging. A few snips of my scissors remedied
thesituation) upon which I have spread some iron-on thingys ofpandas and devilly
things (cute ones obviously, this isJapan) and bunnies? I got them at Loft, a
rather snazzydepato (department store), where they were in the"interesting
thingys section" (it's not actually calledthat, but lacking a better title, this
will do) with anentire collection of similarly themed goods (i.e.
stickers,stamps, swathes of material, carpets, shower caps etc---all in the same
design). I rather debated getting them, asI hadn't been paid yet and my shopping
partner was in ahurry and said we should come back after payday, but Ithought
that they were rather good value and looked cool(like designer hello kitty) so
my impulse-buying instinctstook over. Well, the very next day I went back to
loft(because I had managed to miss three floors--- I worryabout myself
sometimes--- and all the designercute stuffwas GONE!!!! As if it had never been
there. Replaced by asimilar selection of Madeline goodies. I'm not overly fondof
Madeline, so I was hugely relieved not to have missedout on my iron-on
thingys.Oh I also bought a really cool lava lamp at loft for onlyR80. It is now
on my desk.My desk, incidentally, used to be a cupboard. However Ineeded a desk
more. Japanese cupboards are, well, basicallycrap. One big shelf about 1/3 of
the way up, one little oneall the way in the top where you actually have to get
in tothe cupboard to put anything away- and I mean thisliterally- and that?s it.
No hanger rail. And its deep sofolded piles get all mushy. So eventually I'm
going to haveto find myself a decent cupboard organization system,before I go
barmy. No luck yet though. However, they areconvertible: I took the sliding
doors off (they are nowunder my bed, lurking), and am using the shelf as a desk.
Iwill send photos. As they speak a thousand words, and Idon't wish to about my
desk.My dining room was, at first, a problem as what I had wasrather hideous and
70's and kitsch. So I went with it, andadopted a retro kitsch feel. Its not
quite done (I needsome green, leafy plants by the wall and perhaps a shagrug)
but for now I am satisfied. My office (where my deskis) and my bedroom need the
most intensive work. Of course,decorating is complicated when your only
transport is abicycle.

well, that's all you're getting till tomorrow.