Capitalism is Alive and Well in China

Throughout the night my phone kept ringing, and soon as I answered it, the person (or persons) hung up. I suspect, because I was in a single room, it was prostitutes calling. I eventually disconnected the damn thing. Cal and I had arranged to meet for 9 when the Port Office opened. It actually opened around 6, but the English speakers would be there at 9.

We wandered in and got the information. There is only one boat leaving tomorrow, and it is a Chinese cruise ship. There are no foreign cruise ships. Darn, there goes my dream of 4-star luxury, including internet as we sailed. Ok, I’m addicted to technology. The price was Y1022 per berth in first class (a room with two beds). Cal and I wanted to take separate rooms (mainly because it seemed a bit odd sharing with someone not my husband, but also for the additional privacy). The only way to ensure that we didn’t get stuck with someone else was to pay for both beds in the cabin. I bargained for a 20% discount on the total cost though, so it ended up being around Y1600 all up. I guess we’ll find out if it is worth it tomorrow. None of the sights or meals are included in this price, so all that will be added on, on top.

As we left the Port Authority, suddenly one of the women who helped us came running after us – one of us had given them a counterfeit bill. Cal mentioned that must be why everyone was always checking them so carefully. I had just changed money at the hotel, so we asked the woman to come with us and talk to the exchange desk. Of course they said they didn’t give me the bill. Who knows. Cal, said it was probably his, but it might have been from the hotel.

After that fiasco, I checked out of the hotel. Cal’s room was much nicer than mine and cheaper too. I figured I’d save a few bucks and get a nicer room to boot. So we walked up the hill (Chongqing is very hilly) and wove around the holes in the ground. For some reason every few meters there was a bit of torn up pavement. So walking is a nightmare because you have all these people coming and going, and need to weave around them and not twist your ankle falling several inches into one of these ‘construction projects’. Although, what they are constructing I couldn’t tell you.



At the hotel I asked for a single room, but apparently there were none available. I was offered a double room for Y188 (Y10 less than the posted single price) but bargained the guy down to Y175. Never hurts to ask for a discount. Cal says I’m lucky and doesn’t understand. He then asked to change rooms because he had no water pressure, and they gave him another single! So don’t know why there weren’t any available for me 10 seconds before. So I ended up with this huge room for cheaper than Cal’s single… which kinda made me feel bad, but not for too long ;)

After getting settled we met up again to wander around Chongqing. We started to walk up the hill again. Apparently Chongqing has exploded in the past 5 years. Supposedly it was this little backwater, until the Chinese government separated it from Sichuan province and made it a special municipality like Shanghai or Tianjin. We couldn’t really tell if they were building or tearing down though. There were tons of buildings possibly under construction, but most of them looked a bit condemned.

We came upon a temple called Arhat Temple. We later found out that it was actually the temple mentioned in all the guidebooks called Luohan Si. Walking into the temple we were accosted by beggars – not too badly luckily. I just ignored them. Cal gave them some money, but I was really worried about them following us and begging all day (after what my aunt, Jan, had said in her blog about living in Changsha, Hunan).

The entrance to the temple was lined with stone carvings. They were quite weathered, but interesting none-the-less. They are apparently from the Song dynasty (960~). I went up and to the left, while Cal took a right. To the left was a temple with sweet floral-smelling burning incense and candles. There was also a large Buddha statue, but there were no pictures allowed in the temple. People were praying as well, so I didn’t want to take a picture of the inside from outside the building (good way to cheat otherwise).



I hadn’t realized that the place to the right had all the cool things. After looking around for Cal for a while, I finally found him and he told me to go over there. Inside was a series of like 500 statues, all from the Qing dynasty (1644~). They were amazing. Every single one of them had totally different characteristics. Most had rather large earlobes, but the facial features looked African, Middle Eastern, or Asian depending on the statue. Some were dark brown, others beige, one was even mauve! Most of them had that glass eye thing that freaks me out. It seems like they are looking at me!

Many of the statues had money at their feet, and some of them had money in their hands – I assume from a time prior to them being put behind a glass barrier. The barrier didn’t go all the way up though, so it was easy to see the facial features. Each statue was also doing a different pose – some sitting and laughing, one with a child on his lap, one with a really long arm reaching up to the sky. In addition to the glass barrier, the hall was all roped off so you went through in a specific pattern. Kind of like a maze to ensure you saw all of the statues – and I’m sure also a bit of crowd control. In between some of the aisles, women were sitting in chairs knitting. One thing I have noticed is lots of women knit while sitting around.



After the temple we ran across the street to Carrefour! Figured it was a good place to stock up on snacks and groceries for the cruise. Carrefour was a nightmare. Saturday shopping I guess. It was just like going to the supermarket back home the day before Christmas. Carrefour is like a giant department store and a grocery store together. We went over to the grocery store part and it was interesting. There were all kinds of chicken (including blue ones) and other meat hanging up, fish tanks, tables of dried fish, big bins of rice in bulk food style, and tiny fruit. Actually, it was probably normal sized fruit, but having lived in Japan so long, where everything comes monster sized, it seemed tiny.

All up I spent Y80 (about US$10) on fruit, cups of noodles, some small buns, jasmine tea, 2 500mL bottles of Sprite, and a thermos cup to use on the boat, and a tea ball to put in my loose leaf tea. Gotta keep my tea warm! Well, need a cup to drink the tea in the first place, and keeping it warm is a good bonus. The store had bagged Jasmine tea, but it was made by Lipton, and well, come on, I’m in China. Of course you are probably wondering why we didn’t go to a Chinese grocery store or convenience store – well, there weren’t any. The street was lined with tons of little shops, but they had a really small selection (of mostly the same thing). Essentially, the local shops only sold drinks, mystery Chinese snacks, smoked duck in bags (Beijing duck jerky?) and pistachios. I did buy my pistachios from the local store though.



We walked our loot home so we didn’t have to carry it and then grabbed a taxi to go up to the Liberation Monument area. The guidebook says the taxis are extortionate, but at Y5 (about US 60 cents) split between the two of us, it seemed more than reasonable. The taxi ride from the airport was another story, but seeing as I was kinda stranded without money, even that was good value in my opinion.

The Liberation monument is a rather European looking clock tower that celebrates the liberation of the Chinese people from the Kuomintang (i.e. into communism). What is extremely interesting about the whole area, is that capitalism appears to be thriving more so than in Ginza in Tokyo! The square is totally surrounded by high-ticket-price shopping centers and brand name stores: Rolex, Swatch, Burberry, Armani, Swarovski (? the crystal shop), etc. There were also tons of banks. Everywhere you looked was either a bank or a department store. Is this really communist China??!!

The square itself seemed to be having a festival of some sort. I thought crowds in Japan in Shibuya on a Saturday night were horrible – well, I had never been to Chongqing before. Talk about a mass of humanity. The crowds were unbelievable. Underneath the monument there was a stage set up and there was a woman and two men dancing. Obviously it was a local themed thing, because the woman had a long garland of chili peppers that she was swinging around.



After walking around for a bit we decided to find dinner. We were trying to find a restaurant called Bayi duck but didn’t have much luck. Of course it may have gone out of business. We finally settled on a restaurant in that area because we were tired of looking. Of course no one spoke English so we went thru ordering hell again. It seemed like everything we pointed to in the guidebook was not made at that restaurant. We eventually ordered spinach (which was delicious – I love the smoky stir-fried spinach), a spicy chicken dish, a pork dish and a soup. The soup had cucumber in it which was quite good surprisingly. We also got a bucket of rice – really, it came in a wooden bucket! The food was excellent, but way too much. Next time we have to limit ourselves to two dishes!

After dinner we walked around some more. We found a game center where there were tons of kids and families playing games. The kids kept running up saying hello. One even came up and said “Nice to meet you too” as the greeting. Pretty funny. We wandered around a bit more watching people and being subjected to spit balls. Chinese spit everywhere, and instead of just spitting on the street, which probably wouldn’t be too bad, they hawk and snork and try to be as loud as possible, which is just disgusting. Although based on the amount of pollution, I half wish I could hork out some snot at times too. To be gross and give too much information, basically I’m blowing out black snot whenever I blow my nose. Yuck.



Before wandering home I had to use the rest room, so we went into one of the several department stores around the square. It took a while to find one, but eventually after walking past US$700 coats and US$500 suits, I found the public restroom. I was a bit worried about the state of the washroom because everyone always says the toilets in China are horrid. It wasn’t half bad actually. Walking in I was confronted with half stalls. They don’t use full doors here. I went down to the end (hoping to find a western toilet, but no luck) but they were being used. I pulled open the door of the first available one, only it wasn’t free! There was a little old lady squatting there, and I couldn’t see her because she was so far down below the partition! Ooops! The toilet itself was fine though – no worse than some of the squat toilets in Tokyo. The only strange part was the basket for toilet paper, which was gross. You aren’t supposed to flush the toilet paper here, because the sewer systems are not equipped to handle it.

We decided to wander back to the hotel and just relax – and watch the latest episode of Amazing Race which I hadn’t gotten to see before I left. We checked out a tour to Dazu, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There was a day tour for Y260 (about US$30) which seemed a bit pricey, but it would have been awful trying to figure out the public bus system to do it ourselves. So we signed up for it for tomorrow after assurances that we would be back in time to catch our boat.

Before bed we went to the business center to check e-mail but the connection was horrendously slow. Cal saw a WiFi symbol on the door on the way out though, and after bringing my laptop down to the lobby, we had a fast free connection. Doh! We’d been paying for it all this time! Guess it pays to look around a bit!

Overall, today was really interesting. Downtown Chongqing is totally opposite my view of a communist country. All of the little shops lining the streets, that look like rows of garages, seem more "authentic". It was really interesting to see the difference between downtown and other areas. So far China is a lot different than I expected! I knew it wasn't all temples and pagodas, but I didn't expect the cities to be so modernized in that capitalist way.


To see all my photos from this day, visit my photoblog!

Welcome to China

Woke up this morning after hitting the snooze button several times. I would have liked to have slept in, but I had shopping to do… because I was in shoppers’ paradise you know. Instead of going and paying for breakfast, I just ate my fruit in my complimentary fruit bowl. It took me a bit to get going because I didn’t sleep well. I never do the first night in a bed (I usually sleep in a futon on the floor) and the bed was quite soft. So I drank a couple cups of coffee, watched Discovery channel and got myself organized for the day.

The view across the river was nice in the morning as well. It was quite foggy when I first woke up, but the sun burned that away fairly quickly. I would have liked to have walked along the waterfront, but had too many things to do before getting a plane to Chongqing in China. The first of which was to buy the actual ticket.

I went to the travel agent the hotel recommended. I was hoping to get a discount because it was the same day, but no such luck. Probably because it was the Friday before x-mas and everyone was leaving the country. High season = no discounts. So the ticket cost way, way more than I expected (hoped?), but I didn’t have much choice. The train takes two days, which I don’t really have if I’m going to get to Jan’s for the 30th.



After getting my ticket I ran around doing some other shopping. I picked up Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss for Jan. I also got a protective lens and a polarizer for my camera. They were significantly cheaper than in Tokyo. I’m paranoid about scratching my lens (cuz then the camera would be ruined) so I’m glad I got the protective lens now. And the polarizer will make my river pics look better.

After all that tiring shopping, I went out for Dim Sum. I had egg rolls, pork dumplings and this spicy thing – talk about hot! Wow! Of course I dripped red chili oil all over my white shirt, but what else is new. This is not a good sign, because I brought mostly white shirts, and I’m going into spicy red oil territory in China for most of my stay. Doh! After eating I went to get up to pay at the front like you do in Japan and had some woman come running out to tell me to sit down. I had the bill in my hand, so I’m sure they realized I wasn’t trying to skip out on them. The bill came to HK$79 (about US$10) and the waiter gave me 2 ten dollar bills and a 1 dollar coin. I took the bills to put them in my wallet, and before they were even halfway inside, the waiter had whisked away the coin tray with the dollar in it! Well, ok, I guess you can have that tip LOL. Apparently it is normal to leave the small change as a tip in HK, but I think that just taking the change was a bit bold.

After getting my fill of dim sum, I went back to the hotel to pick up my bag, which I had left there while I was out, and went off to find the airport bus. It was pretty easy to find and for my HK$33 I got another 45 minute ride, but this time in daylight. I made it to the airport 2 hours before, rather than a bit earlier than that because I had all the other running around to do in the morning.



I asked for an emergency exit seat again at check in. Later I would find out, there wasn’t that much difference because it was a tiny plane – so no bulkhead. Just emergency window type things rather than doors. It worked out ok though, because I had the whole row to myself!!!! When was the last time that happened to you on an international flight?

The woman at the check in counter told me to give myself lots of time to get to the gate because they were very busy due to the holidays. I don’t know what her definition of busy is, but she should come to Narita! The baggage screening area had like 6 lines open with only three people in each one. Then immigration had tons of people and hardly any line either. I couldn’t believe it! The day before x-mas in a major transit hub, and I just walked right through.

So, after getting into the airport, I had a fair bit of time to get to my gate. I should mention that the airport is also a shopping mecca. It is just shops after shops after shops. Not that I can afford those shops. I looked around at the exchange rates for Chinese currency, and they were all a big rip off – a good 10% higher than the rates I saw in the city. I decided to just change the money in Chongqing. I also went to a café though and had some fresh fruit and a diet Coke while I was waiting, and read my guidebook on how to get into central Chongqing when I arrived.

The flight was uneventful and 2.5 hours later we landed. For the last hour of the flight, we were flying over a sea of white billowing clouds. You could also see the moon on my side of the plane (the sun was on the other). Then when we started to land, I got my first inkling of pollution in China – the clouds were black underneath. Black like street slush in winter. I don’t think I have ever seen clouds that colour when flying. Pretty gross. But as we were landing, you could see all these terraced rice paddies! It was amazing. It was the first time flying into a country that it actually looked like my imagination. I would have taken pictures, but the smog was too bad to see anything.

After landing, we taxied up to the terminal and had to walk down stairs onto the tarmac. There were actually empty gates (with the walkway ramp), that were essentially directly beside us, but they were all closed down. Weird – welcome to China I guess. So we all traipsed across the tarmac, and up these red carpeted stairs (with the carpet decidedly worse for wear). Then we walked into the immigration area and there were official looking people standing around in green uniforms. I’m in China!

The immigration officer scrutinized my passport for a while. Then asked me if I lived in Japan – I think he was confused about that. Finally he stamped my passport and I was off. I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the airport… mainly because there were guards blocking the entrance. At first they didn’t want to let me through, but I finally got it across to them that I didn’t have any baggage (it hadn’t come off the plane yet).

So, I walk out into this little tiny lobby area, and I look around and see toilets, and a small counter selling things (but that was closed) and nothing else. As in, no foreign exchange desk!! Oh my god! I’m in China and I have no money. At this point I started to freak out a bit. Then a taxi tout came up to me and tried to get me to take his taxi. I’m like do you take HK dollars? I should mention that no one spoke English at all. My phrasebook was useless in this situation as well. Luckily someone at dispatch was able to speak English, so I spoke to her on the taxi driver’s mobile phone. Eventually it all got straightened out and she talked to the driver who agreed to wait until I got to my hotel to be paid. Phew!

Then he tried to rip me off even more than he already was. He originally said Y115 (about $15) to get into central Chongqing. But after everything with the person on the phone he wanted Y200. Ha! We eventually settled for Y150, which was still a total scam, but there wasn’t much I could do. To give you a comparison, the bus cost Y15. Now, we passed some busses on the way into the city and they were overcrowded and crazy, so it is probably just as well that I took a taxi, but I wish I had had a better bargaining position.



The drive into Chongqing was uneventful. Traffic moved well and my driver only honked a little bit (apparently the city has a law against honking). Alongside the highway, people were walking or standing around waiting for buses. That was just bizarre for me because in Canada, you aren’t allowed to walk along the highway. I even saw a motorcycle driving the wrong way down the shoulder of the road! When we finally made it into town, my first glimpse of the Yangtze was kind of exciting. It was dark and I couldn’t see much, but I was beside one of the world’s greatest rivers.

We eventually made it to my hotel (which was the most expensive one in the guidebook, but I figured most likely to have an exchange desk). Luckily they were able to change money. What a relief that was! I was so worried about that. I got a single room at the hotel for Y250 a night, down from the posted Y298. Always good to bargain! My room had a nice view of the river, but I don’t think it is a three star hotel as the guidebook claims. At least according to international standards. The bathroom was the combined toilet and shower – as in just a shower hose on the wall. The carpet was also a ratted and torn. But the view was nice and it was clean, despite being decidedly worse for wear.

After dropping my stuff off in my room, I decided to go out and explore. I first walked down to the river front where I was accosted by touts for river cruises. There were all kinds of people walking with a bamboo pole across their shoulders with goods hanging off either side. It was so neat to see the contrast of that old-fashioned style with young children running around with blinking and glow-in-the-dark toys. The people with poles were carrying fruit and nuts down to the river front area to sell. There were lots of people walking around and I saw some of the cruise ships docked. There were Christmas decorations, which were festive, and music to which a large group of women were dancing to.

I decided to then try and find Cal. I walked up a random street and walked past all these little stores. No 7-11 here! The little stores sold a few types of drinks and some snacks, or medicine (there were a lot of medicine shops actually), or trinkets. Chongqing is quite hilly, so I got a bit of a workout too – it was all uphill! It was a bit of an adventure because I couldn’t see any street signs, not to mention the fact that my guidebook didn’t have the Chinese characters for the street names either. So I was going on faith that I was on the right street and just went were instinct took me, jogging over a couple of blocks at one point.

I eventually found one hotel that I thought Cal might be staying at… and just as I was walking into the hotel lobby, he was walking out! How’s that for finding a needle in a haystack! Chongqing has something like 32 million people. Pretty amazing. So we went out to grab some dinner together.

Just across the road and down a side street, there were some food stalls. One of them was set up with hotpot. So we decided to eat there. After much laughing, and pointing at guidebooks, and the like, we were able to get some food. It was ok, but boy was it hot! We had all kinds of stuff, and the whole bill came to Y35 (just over US$4) for the two of us – including 2 beers! My lips were still burning two hours later though! Spicy, spicy, spicy!

After dinner we made arrangements to meet tomorrow morning to book our cruise, and then I wandered back to my hotel (much easier going downhill). For someone on vacation, today sure was a long day!

To see all my photos for this day, check out my photoblog!

I'm gonna stay at the YMCA..

So, today, I was finally off on my holiday. I managed to just get my Narita Express train (I was running a bit late) for the hour ride out to the airport. It was surprisingly fast actually. I was supposed to pick up my ticket at 1:30 at the airport, but arrived at 1:00 because I know how crazy the lines are at Christmas. Well, I’m glad I did – after receiving my tickets, the line at the check-in counter was horrible. I haven’t been a line like that in ages... mainly because I arrive as early as possible so I don’t have to.

The last few times I have flown, I’ve been in business class, so going back to cattle class was going to be a shock. Luckily I got an emergency exit seat (ahh, leg room!) – usually they save them for frequent flyers. As I was flying on Dragon Air, which I’ve never flown before, I didn’t think I’d get one.

For some reason I thought the flight to Hong Kong was only 3.5 hours, but it is really 5.5 hours. It goes so much faster in business class, let me tell you. At the 4 hour mark I was getting antsy. The weird thing was, is that Dragon Air doesn’t have movies! There were no movie screens. That would have at least whiled away a couple hours. I just listened to my iPod and had a bit of a nap. I was also sitting beside a man from Brazil. Roger studies engineering in Yokohama, so we chatted for a bit and decided to team up when making our way into downtown HK.

After arriving at the airport, I made it thru immigration fine. There was a bit of a line, but it moved quickly. With no checked baggage, I could just waltz right to the front of the line at customs too. After making a quick trip to the washroom, to take off my sweatshirt and pack my coat into the straps under my backpack (it was a fabulous 23C!) Roger and I made our way to the airport bus, which would drop us off right downtown.

The bus is unbelievably cheap! HK$33, which is like US$4, for a 45 minute ride downtown. And even cooler, it was a double decker! My first ride in a double decker as far as I know. In the bus I had to put my sweatshirt back on, because the a/c was on super power. Once we arrived in the city, we went straight down Nathan Rd., which is the major shopping district in HK. The neon is amazing. I thought Tokyo had lots of neon. HK has signs across the streets! Not just on the buildings, but hanging out over the street like highway direction boards.



It took me a bit to find my hotel… the YMCA! The YMCA Salisbury is right on the waterfront looking over Victoria Harbour. I booked the deluxe room with the full harbour view. I figured I should do it for at least one night. My room had fresh fruit, and HBO and BBC. This is not the YMCA of my imagination (not having stayed at one before). Thewas also really nice. The buildings light up in different colours and do a bit of a light show. Some of them also have Christmas decorations. Quite nice to sit at the window and surf the net (they have wireless – you have to pay for it, but it is very cheap).

To see all my pictures from this day, check out my photoblog!

See you next year...

Well, today was my last day of work for the year. Yippee! I still have to pack for my trip, but I think my backpack is big enough... just. I'll have to be vigilant about not taking things I don't need. It will be interesting just bringing a backpack for 2 weeks!
So this may be my last entry until January (when I can backdate them all to tell you about my trip) so have a fabulous holiday season everyone and happy 2005!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I downloaded Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and watched it tonight. What a hoot! Hard to believe that this was produced in 1964 - well, ok, not that hard... but hard to believe that it is still so enjoyable. I love all the little sexist remarks too. "This is man's work" says Donner on his way to find Rudolph. And, after killing the snow monster and Yukon Cornelius had fallen over the side of the cliff, they realized "the best thing to do was get the women home". How funny.

Starting to Get Excited

Well, it is finally starting to dawn on me that Christmas is just around the corner, and that I am leaving for China on Thursday!! Wow! I made x-mas calls to my parents last night, and had nice long conversations with them. I even got to talk to my dad, whom I haven't talked to in ages. I finally caught him at home!

Today I had three of my favourite students and we did the seasonal greetings and well-wishing bit. That and the fact that it actually dipped below 10C on Sunday is starting to make it seem more winter-like at least. I'm still not into xmas though. This year I won't even put my tree up. Oh well.

So, guess I should pre-pack my bag to make sure everything fits inside. I'm going to try to just take a backpack. Those of you who have seen me travel will know just how much of a feat this is going to be. I mean, my electronics practically need a pack by themselves. I decided to just bring my winter coat though since I'll be spending most of the time in colder climes. I had thought of doing the layer thing, but then realized just how much clothing that would mean. So forget it.

Looks like there are no luxury cruises running down the Yangtze / Three Gorges (according to the internet) by the time I get to China, so will have to take a ferry. I had wanted to live it up for a few days, but the ferry will be an experience as well - that is how the Chinese travel, so it will be more cultural. I was secretly hoping for a cruise ship with private balcony and interent though - I could've e-mailed you all as I was sailing through the night. Ok, I'm a geek. I'm still going to try and find one though even though the internet suggests they stopped running around the 9th of Dec.

Get Firefox!

My friend Cal recommended that I switch to the new Firefox browser. It is amazing. When I switched to my Mac I couldn't believe how much faster the Mac browser (Safari) was compared to Internet Explorer. Well, Firefox is like lightning compared to Safari. Everything loads up in microseconds. It's awesome! Looks like it is easy to change over from IE too (Mac requires a bit of online searching on how to import your bookmarks).

What is this world coming to?

Today's headlines were really disturbing - someone slashing a baby out of another woman's womb to steal it???!!! I mean, that is beyond words. The woman who did this is clearly a psychopath. And I really don't know what else to say about this, other than it is upsetting that this kind of crap actually happens in the world.

Star Wars Plastic

Back in October I went to the Tokyo Game Show with Cal and Erik (blog links at right). While there I applied for the Star Wars Visa card in hopes of getting a cool Star Wars action character (I only won a magnet though). Well, today I got the card LOL I am now the proud owner of a Darth Vader Visa card. Oh what fun slapping that baby down on the sales counter is going to be. Wonder how many weird looks I'll get.

On a completely unrelated note, I finally sent my xmas cards out tonight. If anyone gets them on time, it will be a miracle. I swear, it totally does not seem like xmas this year!

Crap Amazon Service

I'm not thrilled with Amazon right now. I ordered a guidebook and a phrase book 3 weeks ago and they were supposed to be shipped to me sometime between the 7th and the 12th. Well, they aren't here. And contrary to what their web page says, they did not send me a notice indicating that my books would be delayed. That bites. Now I have to run around trying to find them in Tokyo. It would have been nice to have known this a week ago so I could have actually planned out my trip somewhat.

Hiroshi and I went out to Shibuya tonight to try and find them. Of course now I'm even more bummed - on Amazon the book cost 2500 yen... in the book stores in Japan, 4000 yen. What a total rip off. (I ordered from the Amazon Japan site so it isn't a country pricing difference). The phrase book I wanted was also not in stock at any of the book stores I went to, so I got a kind of crap replacement. I figured it is better than nothing. I could have got it when I got into HK, but I don't know how much time I'll have to look around, and if there weren't any in HK, then I'd be in a mess.

So needless to say, Amazon is on the bad service list right now. So surprising too, because usually they are awesome. Also surprising, because they haven't responded to my e-mail asking them what is happening either.

I have no willpower

I finally broke down and did it - I have bought an iPod. I displayed some constraint and didn't go with the iPod Photo. While it has a colour screen, the picture view is way to small to actually see anything, so why bother? Now I've got my tunes all loaded up and I'm ready to roll. I can play solitaire on it... and everyone's favourite Atari paddle game - Brick! I'm just as hopeless at it as I was in the 80s - I can't figure out which way to turn the wheel to make the bar move across the screen in the direction I want - I have paddle dyslexia.

So I've transferred all my songs over and I'm ready to take it around Tokyo with me tomorrow. Figure I can zone out on the train. I am using my ear clip headphones with the retractable cord (by Panasonic) instead of the ear buds that come with it. THey don't fit in my ear right and end up hurting and bruising me. Probably just as well - I won't have the tell-tale white cord. Good when traveling, as the white cord may attract thieves.

So now I am part of the new music revolution. It's just like getting one of the first Walkman's! I was reading an article where you can even get an iPod case in the shape (and colour) of one of those old yellow Sony Walkman's. I am now supposedly "hip and trendy". Wow, a whole new image just from buying a music player!

Side note - I uploaded a bunch of pics to my photoblog (link in sidebar).

I'm gonna stay at the YMCA...

I realized last night that booking a hotel for when I arrive in HK on the 23rd might be a good idea - especially considering that is next week! Oops. One of my coworkers recommended the Y! Yes, I'm going to stay at the YMCA LOL It is right downtown in the main shopping area (that might be bad!) so I'll be in the heart of things, and I'll have a view of Victoria Harbour - you know, that classic HK view at night of all the skyscrapers. I paid extra for the view, because I figured I should do it for one night. Let's just hope it isn't overcast and rainy (knock on wood)! And I know this is not backpacking it! I decided to treat myself on my first night. I'll be hosteling it when I get back to HK in early January. Unless I win big at the casino in Macau!

Flashback to the 80s

Ok, I watched the Pilot episode (Part 1) for 21 Jump Street, and what a hoot! Big hair, tatted clothes, bangle earrings... the bad black guy with his Michael Jackson jacket. Bad die highlights in the women's hair (remember Sun In?) and gel for the men. The high school scenes even reminded me of high school! Oh, I loved the 80s!
Johnny Depp looks so young... well, didn't we all 15 years ago... he's much more attractive now that his face has matured. Or maybe, my tastes don't turn to cradle robbing LOL. So speaking of teen heart throbs of the 80s, remember Ralph Machio? And does anyone remember Tom Cruise post-dental work in Legend?
Care to share you favourite 80s people, movies and fashion? Add in a comment!

21 Jump Street

Talk about a walk down memory lane.... someone uploaded the pilot episode of 21 Jump Street on the BitTorrent sites today. I used to love that show! Johnny Depp as a sweet young thing ;) Richard Grieco was also hot to my teenage eyes. That was one great 80s show.

Top 100 of 1978

Moving right along with my music extravaganza... I'm almost at the 80s! I've finished 1978 now, so your top five are:
1. Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
2. Night Fever - Bee Gees
3. You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone
4. Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees
5. Kiss You All Over - Exile

Ah, the Bee Gees and John Travolta in leisure suits.

Christmas Party Gluttony

Tonight was my office Christmas party. We went to a little Italian place down the street and it was awesome. The food was incredible! Usually we go to izakaya (bar) like places and the food is only so-so. There is also the problem of people not getting enough food. Well, there was sooo much food this time! Everyone was stuffed.

So getting back to the awesome food... I'm going to have to go to this place for lunch because it is delic! Our food was buffet style and there was: caesar salad, tomato and mozzarella (tons - love this!), smoked fish, raw fish salad, pizza, cream gnocchi, seafood pasta, squid ink pasta, tomato pasta, lasagna-like pasta, 3 different kinds of risotto, chicken, fish, goose... etc. The goose was divine. The chicken scrumptious. The gnocchi was perfectly balanced. Ah, I was in food heaven.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a door prize winner. I was keening after the iPod. Oh well. Hmm... guess my luck has run out - I think I have won something at every other party I have been to.

Sample pics on my photoblog

I put up some sample pics from my camera on my photo blog. I'm quite pleased with the macros.

A Fabulous Fall Day

I had some time this morning between classes so I hung out at Segafredo with a latte. They had some tables and chairs outside, so I got to sit in the sun, and it was so nice. I love that feeling of sunshine soaking into your skin. Not to mention, Segafredo makes awesome coffee. I think they are the best chain in Tokyo.

Oh, and to continue on with the shopping trend, I bought a humidifier last night. It works great. I woke up this morning without a dry nose and throat. It also has minus ion technology. That's the latest rage in Japan. Apparently it makes you feel better and gets rid of bad energy and blah, blah, blah. MInus ions are basically what happens when you are at the base of a waterfall. They are supposed to make you feel good. Personally I think it might just be a bunch of bunk, but if it is true, I now have minus ions pumping into my home LOL In case you were wondering, I actually bought this model because it had a time, not because of the ions

Love my new camera

My new camera kicks ass. This thing is awesome. I took a picture of some guy way across a rotary (you know circular area that you turn around in) and in the picture you can see signs inside the store behind him! I'm so excited. I also took some great macro pictures - close ups of leaves, flowers and pine needles! And I can zoom in on the zoom another 4X (digitally) before the pics start to get pixilated.

Anyway, I am having tons of fun! I'm very, very happy with my new baby. I even went and forked over the cash for a proper case for it. Figure I should take care of it, since this is the best camera I've ever owned!

Willpower Schmillpower

I have a new camera! I'm so excited. I can take pictures on the sly. I can zoom into things way far away. Life is good :) So I'm the proud owner of a Panasonic Lumix FZ20. What fun I will have over the next few days playing!

Trying to Exercise Willpower

I met up with Cal today for coffee to discuss meeting up in China (he'll be there over the holidays as well, but lucky him - he has 3 weeks off). Afterwards we ran around together while I picked up door prizes for my office's Christmas party. At the book store I picked up my Japanese text book, so that was good. And then we hit the electronic store...

Well, I made it away from the iPods ok. Still want one, but now "only" want the 40GB one rather than the 60GB iPodPhoto. And then we went to look at cameras. And there was one heck of a deal on a SLR camera. As in 80% off of it's normal 120,000 yen price! My inner shopping bargain self is still screaming, you should have bought it!!! I could have sold it on Yahoo action and made a profit LOL. I wisely phoned Hiroshi though and he reminded me that I am trying to get rid of all of my print pictures by scanning them onto my harddrive, so why would I get an SLR camera? Good point. But it was such a good deal!

Of course, now I want to get a better digital camera. One with a 10X optical zoom. Decisions, decisions. I'll probably go shopping this week. Of course, how I am justifying a camera, which would cost about the same as an iPod, I don't know. Heh, maybe I'll be irresponsible and buy both. ;) Alas we are back to willpower again...

Top 100 of 1977

Today I didn't do much of anything, because for the first time in a long time, my Saturday was completely free! Whehoo! I got to laze around in my pajamas all day long. So all I really did was watch some movies, and surf while listening to the rest of the Top 100 Hits from 1977. In keeping with my updates, the top 5 songs for that year were:
1. Tonight's The Night - Rod Stewart
2. I Want To Be Your Everything - Andy Gibb
3. Best of My Love - Emotions
4. Theme From A Star Is Born - Barbara Streisand
5. Angel in Your Arms - Hot

Maybe you should ask your waitron...

Ok, I think politically correct words have gone a bit too far. A
waitron? Get real.

My First Japanese Movie and Outback Redeemed Itself

Today I finished work mid-afternoon, so Hiroshi came and met me and we walked around and did some window shopping. Ah, the electronics store. That iPod keeps calling my name. Willpower, willpower!

My student had given me free passes to the new Miyazaki film Howls Moving Castle (he works for Buena Vista). So we decided to go and see it. This of course was a new experience for me, because I have yet to go to a movie all in Japanese. Despite a limited understanding of the plot, it was an enjoyable film.

After the movie we headed off to Outback Steakhouse. We haven't been there in a really long time. Tonight the service was really good. The waiter was super genki (happy and energetic) and friendly, and when we asked him to wrap up the leftovers, he gave us another baked potato for free. Heh, knows how to make me happy. I'm always raving about their potatoes. So all in all, a nice evening out.

I Love the Chinese Embassy

My morning class cancelled so I was able to go and pick up my passport from the Chinese embassy. I had another lovely, pleasant experience. I'm telling you, Tokyo Immigration, really, really needs to go down there to get a clue about how to treat people.

I walked in to the embassy and went to the counter indicated on my passport receipt. They gave me a plastic, blue tag and a piece of paper telling me to go and pay for the visa at a vending machines. Not only did it tell me how much, but it was in English so it was easy to understand. Then I went to the vending machine (also in several languages) and got a little ticket receipt. This took all of about 30 seconds. I then went to the next window with my receipt and blue tag, and... my passport was already there waiting for me! The whole process took about two minutes! I'm still amazed. The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo is awesome.

Gimme Your Bag

I was being nice today on the train and offered my seat to an elderly woman. Japanese people tend to feign sleeping or ignore them. She was so appreciative she tried to grab my bag to hold on her lap... no matter how many times I politely refused. (It was quite heavy, so I didn't want to pass it off.)

This is one of those weird phenomena in Japan. I have been in a jam-packed commuter train and had someone, who was seated, offer to hold my bag on their lap (it is hard to maintain balance as it is, let alone have a bag smashing into people). To me this is another one of those great quirky things about Japan. I mean, this would never happen in North America - you'd think the person was robbing you. I can understand if you're with a group of people, and one of your group members offers to take your bag, but a complete stranger is pretty amazing.

Back to the gym

After a very long absence, I finally made it to the gym yesterday... and of course I'm feeling it today! But it is that wonderful pulled muscle feeling. Hopefully I'll go a bit more consistently than, um, er, never.

Trip to the Chinese embassy

This morning I went to get my visa to enter China. I headed off to Roppongi with my 5x5 photo and a bunch of other things. It was surprisingly easy! Basically the form just asks you for your name and address, and what places you are going to see. I didn't even need the copy of my plane ticket that I had made. Of course the photo should have been 3X4 or something, but they had a fandangled cutting machine there that would cut the picture down to the perfect size. (Hopefully this picture won't go anywhere, because it is actually worse than the one already in my passport.) The whole thing took all of ten minutes - that included filling out the form, copying my foreign resident card (had to wait in line at the copier for that) and standing in line at the counter.

And get this, the woman at the counter was not only polite, she was actually nice! Of course the woman who decided that lines don't mean anything and just butted in and started to talk to the woman at the window was a bit irritating, but I guess that is the Chinese thing (lines don't matter). So the embassy staff lady gave me a receipt for my passport, and smiled and even politely answered a few questions I had. Can someone please send the Tokyo Immigration staff here for training in basic politeness?!?!

The additional good news - despite the website saying it takes 4 days to process, it will be ready in 3. How's that for service?

Glorious weather

The last week it has been about 14C and sunny every day. What fantastic weather! Of course as soon as the sun goes down, it's as cold as, but in the day time it is great. If it stayed like this all winter I'd be more than happy!

Japanese lesson #2

Today we reviewed demonstrative pronouns and spacial relationship words. I know these, but continually say the wrong one, so this is good. I didn't do my homework this week (bad student!) so I'll have double for my next lesson. Need to practice my phonetic sounds (not characters). I write sooooo slowly. Hopefully it will speed up soon. I am seeing that studying by yourself (where I have learned most of my grammar) is completely different from doing it in a classroom. I understand, but can't produce. So while the classes are still simple, I think they're good for me. I'm also getting a lot of questions answered about different levels of politeness. This is very good, because I will sound like a woman speaking (rather than using men's Japanese as I sometimes do now) and will be able to address people properly. So all is well on the Japanese front... I just need to get my butt in gear about homework. Not having studied anything seriously in six years, it is hard to get back into the groove!

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. I didn't even remember about Canadian Thanksgiving until a week after the fact when I was talking to someone back home and couldn't figure out why there were all these family get-togethers. Nothing much is celebrated in Japan. Some restaurants have a special Thanksgiving meal. I've given up on my quest to have turkey and stuff - it would mean I'd have to fork over too much money for a giant toaster oven (which is the size of ovens here). Hmmm. I do miss pumpkin pie though. If I make them though, then I'll eat them - so I'm trying to avoid that.

Hey, it is only one month to Christmas now. Where did the time go this year? It seems like this year just sped by.

Shopping, shopping, shopping

Hmm... I think the shopping for my trip to China may end up being more than the trip to China itself LOL. I picked up a waist pack today - one that can carry my guidebook, etc. Also got a money belt for those overnight train rides. Don't want to be robbed in my sleep - and who knows who will be in the car with me (don't worry mom). I didn't want one of the neck ones, because people can see it and if they try to take it from you, can strangle you, give you whiplash etc.

Then I did my order at Land's End - hey! Shipping is free to Japan now! That is fantastic... well, bad because I'll want to shop more now. I picked up some more of the awesome bras, and a windproof / waterproof coat. In bright pink. Hey, everyone will see me now. I could have gotten yellow. Actually the ones that were super-discounted were either pink or white. I figure the pink was better.

And finally I ordered another guidebook online. The Let's Go guide that I have is the most up-to-date (it was just published this month) but it doesn't have information that the Rough Guide has. So got that one from Amazon too. I do not want to be standing confused at a train station trying to get somewhere with no clue and no one who speaks English to help me. So I picked up a Mandarin phrase book. Try to make situations as unstressful as possible!

AR6 - Episode 2

I'm soooo glad the ditzy girls are gone. They just seemed so stupid and out of it. Can't believe the old couple took the wrong car. At least they brought it back. I wonder how much time they lost with that one. Still lots of bickering and fighting. The constant "honey", "dear" etc is starting to bug me now (I didn't notice it the first episode). And if that one couple took two clues, how come there were enough left for all the teams?

This season doesn't seem to be as good as previous seasons. Why am I watching a show that is mainly people screaming at each other? I think I enjoyed the other seasons more. They should have shown footage of how the teams chose who would go in each of the two boats. That would have been interesting and given a better insight into team dynamics, and future alliances and enemies.

Yokohama Chinatown

Today was a national holiday, so Hiroshi and I went down to Yokohama today to have lunch in Chinatown - and to buy jasmine tea. We went to an all-you-can-eat dim sum restaurant. It was ok, but we got full really quickly. I'm not sure if it was worth it. Basically it was 3000 yen a person - Chinese food is expensive here! A bit much for lunch. Surprisingly we haven't eaten anything else today because we are still stuffed - you know how Chinese food usually leaves you starving an hour later.

What got me as we were eating, was that there were tons of kids running around the restaurant, and as far as I could tell, there was no special children's price. Who pays 3000 yen for their kids to eat lunch? Well they running around being obnoxious more than eating. Of course, this was an excellent counter measure to the old biological clock. Gosh kids make a lot of noise - is there any way to breed silent ones? I think we would have enjoyed lunch a lot more if there were no kids present.

After lunch we went walking thru Chinatown and had to push thru tons of people. It was pretty busy. I wasn't too into pushing and shoving, so we moved on to Yamashita park which is a big park on the bay. It was beautiful out today so it was really nice walking around enjoying the sunshine. There were lots of gulls circling, and magic shows and families with (quiet) kids. We then continued on towards Minato Mirai, which is a futuristic development area a couple kilometers north of Yamashita park. There is a big walkway and some other buildings to drop in and shop at along the way. So we had a nice long walk. We went into the old storage house (a huge red brick complex called Aka-Renga in Japanese) that has been turned into an upscale shopping center. We soon left because it too was crowded. So much nicer outside.

We were going to go to Landmark Tower (which has the world's fastest elevator) to the viewing platform to see if we could see Mt. Fuji at sunset, but we were too tired. So we just hopped on the train back home. And despite being perfect weather in terms of temperature and sunshine today, tonight is absolutely freezing... and, oh no, the heater has been turned on! My fingers were icicles! So much for fall!

Japanese Lessons

I totally forgot to mention that I started Japanese lessons on Saturday. My first lesson was pretty good. It was a bit simple, but seeing as I can't say the simple things perfectly all the time, it is good review / practice. My teacher, Asada-san, answered a lot of questions I had about polite Japanese. Finally, I can get rid of my casual male Japanese phrases (which sound very bad coming from a woman). Now I just have to make time to study!

Top 100 of 1976

Finished the latest batch in my 1970s music extravaganza. 1976 was not such a great year. 1977 which I have just started listening to is so much better. But for those of you wanting the trip down memory lane, the top 5 of 1976 were:
1. Silly Love Songs - Paul McCartney
2. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John
3. Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor
4. December 1963 (Oh What A Night) - Four Seasons
5. Play that Funky Music - Wild Cherry

Decisions decisions...

Ok, I don't know what to do. A cruise up the Three Gorges will take 3 days out of my limited time in China. A lot of reviews have said that it was really boring after the first day. However, if I don't go now, I will never see the gorges because they are in the process of being submersed by the rising water levels from the dam. So, do I take three days to read and relax, or do I go an find adventure elsewhere? What do you think?

Is there no WiFi in Tokyo at all??!!

I spent hours today trying to find a WiFi spot to no avail. How frustrating! For future reference, Bic Camera in Yurakucho has WiFi but will not let anyone use it. Selfish weinies. If only Tokyo would do
this.
I finally found a connection in Ebisu but it was just teasing me. After it connected for a whole 30 seconds, it wouldn't let me back on the network. Grumble. Basically I lugged my computer around today (with my fifty million pounds of other crap) for no reason. Come on Tokyo, get with the WiFi trend!

China trip

So after I go and visit Jan for xmas, I have some sightseeing to do! So here is the definitely want to do list:
- Three Gorges
- Anshun caves
- Chengdu Panda Reserve

On the maybe list is; Kunming, Lijiang and Yangshuo.

I'll also hit Macao for a night (casino here I come!) and wander around Hong Kong. Man, I have from the 24th until the 8th which is exactly 2 weeks (not including flying days) but that is like no time at all! I guess the big question is whether the pandas are worth two days (but check out those cute pics above!)... or if I should sacrifice the cute, cuddly bears in lieu of Yangshuo which is the camel hump hill landscape area. Where I can lay back and relax... but be with a lot of foreigners... but close to markets selling lots of cheap things. Decisions, decisions!

Got my ticket

I booked my ticket to Hong Kong today. Why is it always so much more expensive than what is advertised? Ignoring the 7000 yen in airport fees even. Geesh. Glad I booked early this morning because I got the last ticket on the plane apparently. I'm going to fly Dragon Air. Is that a cool name or what?

I'll be leaving on the 23rd and coming back on the 9th. That's two weeks to run around and explore China! What fun!

Wow - Conrad Black is being charged with fraud!

I just read on google news that the SEC filed fraud charges against Conrad Black. I haven't been surprised by news in a long time, but for some reason that one threw me. Maybe because he's Canadian. Is it big news in Canada?

In other news, it is getting very cold in Tokyo. I actually had to wear my winter coat last night. This does not make me happy. Bring back that 19C weather!

Bowling flat on my face

I went bowling with my colleagues yesterday afternoon. I haven't been bowling in years! It was great fun except for my first bowl (shot? not sure what to call it). The shoes I got were too small and as I was walking up to the bowl the ball, the velcro strap popped open and I stumbled and feel forward in an extremely ungraceful manner. I thought my pride was hurt more than anything until I tried to walk this morning. In addition to the massive pulled butt muscle pain, my knee is all bruised up. So now I walk funny LOL Oh well, it was a fun day and I enjoyed myself. I hope another one is organized in the future. (I bowled 86 the first game which I think is pretty darn good seeing as I've only bowled like twice in the last ten years. We won't talk about my score on the second game which totally sucked).

After bowling we all went out to karaoke and sang and drank. My poor body. It isn't used to this. I don't drink that often, and when I do, it is usually just one beer. I never used to get hangovers! What happened? Ah, it's another one of those depressing signs that I'm getting older ;)

Socializing on a Saturday Night

Hey, I actually went out last night! Sometimes I go out for dinner with a colleague after work, but usually I just come home and veg out... which was starting to make me feel old! Last night a few of us went out after work. I suggested my local yaki-tori (grilled chicken restaurant) so we all went there. Everyone liked the food, so that was good. We also had a few beers - which of course put everyone into a singing mood. So off we went to karaoke and sang for a bit. It was fun. I haven't drunk that much in a long time though (darn "all you can drink" option at karaoke). There were yuzu-honey (yuzu is a citrus fruit) sours (made with a Japanese liquor called shouchu) which went down a bit too easily. They were nice. And now I am paying for it by being fairly hung over this morning. Oh well, we had fun. Now I just have to get myself in working order for round 2 - I'm going out with colleagues later this afternoon too.

I love shopping

I went into Ecco shoes last night to pic up a catalogue for one of my students. I couldn't resist. I now have new shoes! They're cute, but I hope they stretch out soon - they're pinching my feet a bit. (They're leather so I know they'll expand a bit). I was also thinking of one other pair, but I am waiting until next week. Ecco shoes are great. So comfy. A bit boring on the style side, but with all the walking I do, as long as they are comfortable and look decent I'm happy.

I also got my package from Land's End. I found this very cute pink jacket. My blue jacket doesn't match my blue pants, and I think it looks stupid, so rather than trying to find a match in navy (and as all women know there are about 100 shades of navy out there) I just got a coordinate. I'm really pleased with the jacket. Nice and soft and has a good woven texture. And I think the colour looks good on me too. Nice and bright for winter. Not to mention, only US$69. I also found the most comfortable bra in the world. I was going to order two and said "No, it may not fit right, only get one". Well, now they aren't on sale any more. Geesh. It feels non-existent though. Love it. Hopefully it will go back on sale again soon.

So that was my shopping extravaganza. Of course this means I have to go and throw away an equal amount of clothing that I am not using (or more). I'm still trying to decrease the volume of my possessions!

Ebooks

So, I've discovered there are a ton of free ebooks on line. Who knew??? So I spent most of this evening downloading a whole bunch of them. When I bring my laptop with me to work, I don't bring my book because it is too bulky. Well, now I don't have to worry because I've got about 30 books on my Mac.

I never though I'd read an ebook to be honest. I like flipping pages. Same with photos - I prefer albums. However, now that I have a digital camera, I like having the option of choosing which photos to print out for the albums. Having read half of The DaVinci Code (great book by the way!) as an ebook tough, it isn't too bad. I just might get around to reading all those classics that I've always meant to read.

Top 100 1975

Moving right along with the top hits of the 70's, I've finished 1975. I think the later 70's is like a big dark disco hole. I may have to jump ahead to the 80's. But for those of you keeping track, the top 5 songs of 1975 were:
1. Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain & Tennille
2. Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell
3. Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John
4. Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender
5. My Eyes Adored You - Frankie Valli

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Christmas trees are going up everywhere. Isn't it a bit early? The decorations are going up on store fronts - there are lights and wreaths and other Christmassy things. I'm all for Christmas decorations (as my family will attest to - I hope you are all enjoying the decorations your robbed from me LOL), but it is just too early for that. It's still 20C here (about 70F). That is not winter weather. So while it may be starting to look like Christmas, it definitely doesn't feel like it.

The 200 yen tomato

I was in the supermarket today in the produce section and just about had a heart attack. Since when did veggies get so expensive??!! It costs 200 yen for one tomato! That's ridiculous. Sure, I understand that with all the typhoons this year, the crops in Japan suck... but Japan imports most of its produce from China. There was no big agricultural calamity there as far as I know. I feel ripped off.

Movie Review - Collateral

Went to the show last night to see Collateral. I had heard good things about it, and well, Tom Cruise is in it. I must say the gray hair doesn't work for him. I mean, I can see changing into a "mature" actor, but not when you are only in your mid-40s (I think that's how old he is). Anyway, the Tom is always a big draw in Japan. The nearly empty theatre should have been a big hint though. This movie sucked. If I hadn't slept in, I would've fallen asleep.
Basically the movie is a dialogue between Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Now, there is nothing wrong with a movie based on dialogue - Twelve Angry Men comes to mind as a masterpiece of this genre (including the television remake). Collateral didn't cut it. The characters didn't grab me. Jamie Foxx was almost there, but I didn't get feeling and passion from him. Tom Cruise was a non-entity (sorry Tom, this role did not work for you).
Anyway, don't even rent this one on video.

All I Want for Christmas...

is a new iPod Photo! I've been waiting for these to come out! I want one soooooo bad. Basically, it is the regular iPod with a colour screen and an even bigger hard drive to store photos on as well. What more could a girl want (other than diamonds that is). I like the iPod mini's too in terms of design, but the hard drive is too small. Phft on 4GB - I'm sitting on 21 GB of music right now and I haven't even started loading in my CDs yet. If they came out with an iPod mini-photo I'd probably buy it in a second. But for now, there is just the normal sized iPod style. So, that 60GB iPod Photo is the one and only thing on my xmas list! Pretty please Santa!

Top 100 of 1974

So I'm still working my way through the 70s. I'm still importing the hits from the 60s actually. Although, once I'm done with the 70s I'm going to back to the 60s because a lot of that music is really good. I'm making myself wait for the 80s LOL. Anyway, the top 100 hits of 1974 were:
1. The Way We Were - Barbara Streisand
2. Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
3. Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra
4. Come and Get Your Love - Red Bone
5. Dancing Machine - Jackson 5

Human body

I went to see an exhibit today called Jintai Plastomic: Mysteries of the Human Body , that I had wanted to see for a while. Basically it is models of the human body and all of the systems. The super cool one was of blood - all of the veins and arteries and stuff. Amazing. Only, I thought the models were made of plastic. Turns out they are real people! Or were real people! That was a bit freaky. Yuck. Interesting exhibit anyway.

True to Japanese form, there were fifty million people in the exhibit room. Museums really need to learn crowd control here. I hate fighting off people when I'm trying to look at things. Oh well - at least it wasn't the weekend crowd!

There were two bizarre behaviour instances. Near the end of the exhibit there was one model that you could touch. (It felt kinda waxy) While we were waiting our turn, Hiroshi and I were joking about grabbing on to its penis... but then a young girl (like 7) went up and started playing with it (as in stroking and tickling). For some reason, that just seemed wrong. The other strange thing we saw was the women around the one female model in the exhibition. Basically they were bending over and looking up at the woman's genital area. Lord only knows what they were trying to see.

Overall the exhibit was a bit freaky - especially the babies. They had the babies at different periods of gestation. I don't want to think about where they came from. How sad. The other stuff was a bit repetitive - it showed different things but basically each body just had certain parts cut out - the rest of the body was the same as all the other ones. Except of course the blood model. Still love that one.

Say it isn't so

I can't believe Bush won. Geesh. What a close race though. Maybe a miracle will happen. *sigh*

Beauty Day

Today I went for beauty day with my coworker Shirin. We first went for waxing, aka torture. Not having had it done in like three years, it was painful. I'm happy now. I think waxing could be an addictive thing... I could go for waxing my legs, etc; however, wax will never be touching my bikini line. That is pain I just don't want to experience. My eye brows are bad enough. I love that smooth feeling though. I'm happy to have a good esthetician in Tokyo now. Of course it costs a heck of a lot more here than in Canada - I'm trying not to remember that it only costs like 8 bucks (700 yen) in Canada to get it done.

After the waxing, we went to get our hair done. We had to wait forever despite having appointments - as in, an hour and a half. Neither of us were too impressed about that. I got a really good cut though, and I got highlights! I decided I wanted a total change, but I wanted to keep it a little long rather than chopping it all off though. So I thought shoulder length would be good. Well, I cried when I saw my hair on the floor. My hair was long! There were pieces over a foot long. I'm trying to not grab it very much because I can't even pull it back any more. I like the cut, but it is so short, and I really liked putting it up in clips and things :( That was like 18 months of growing it out! So I'm mourning my hair loss right now. I'll get over it though. It'll be easier to take care of and won't get knotted and tangled and stuck in my food and stuff any more. And it has shape and style now, and it makes cute little curls with minimal product. Gotta love that. Just wait until I freak myself out in the mirror tomorrow morning LOL I have blonde highlights in it - I've always gone with red tones, so this is a big change for me! I think it brightens up my face a lot.

All in all, it was a nice beauty day. I'll have to do it more often. I get lazy and well, cheap is probably the better reason. Forking out 6000 yen (US$60) to just cut your hair is insane in my opinion. (It was worth it though - especially since I got 50% off for being a new customer). Anyway, I figure it was a nice reward for myself because... I fit into a pair of pants that have been too tight for the last six months! That made me very happy this morning! Beauty days sound like an excellent weight loss reward to me!

Random Things in my Neighbourhood

Lots of little tidbits today about things that are new and "exciting".
- First, the leaves turned red all of a sudden and there are some nicely coloured trees near Osaki station right now.
- The weather can't decide if it want to be warm or cold and oscillates between 13 and 19 degrees... that being the difference between a sweater and a coat or just a blouse.
- There is a brand new theater just down the street - called "Cats Theater" because, well... Cats is going to play there. Does this mean I'll be hearing Magical Mister Mistoffelees every night for the rest of my life? Lord, I sure hope not.
- Hiroshi says I am not allowed to play Sim City anymore because I get frustrated and turn bitchy and mean. Who me?
- Our apartment building will be torn down eventually, and the plans for the new building recently went up on the bulletin board. Should we be looking for a new apartment? Cross your fingers that it will be at least another year - I do not want to fork over 10 grand US to relocate again. (Yes, that is how much it costs).
- I've decided to go to Hong Kong and China (to visit my aunt) this Christmas. There's no jet lag, it is somewhere I've always wanted to go, I will be able to visit Jan, and I can have a real vacation... where there is sunshine and warm weather.
- I'm going to start taking Japanese lessons. Yeah, I know, it is about time. I've only lived her for 5 1/2 years now. Geesh. Hopefully I'll be able to carry on a conversation eventually!

Feeling SAD?

Well, I can't believe it is November already. How did that happen??!! This means winter will soon be here (bah humbug) and the winter blues, which of course is now a disorder called SAD. And, guess what, now there is even a formula to determine how likely you are to get it.

Happy Halloween

Didn't do anything Halloweenish today. Well, I slept until 2 (perhaps something to do with Sim City). Not that there is anything exciting happening in Tokyo for Halloween anyway. No cute kids going door to door. What I really miss this year though is making a jack-o-lantern. I am having a wicked craving for toasted pumpkin seeds. One of my students says you can do it with squash seeds too. Wonder if it would taste the same or not.

Evilly Addictive

So I have Sim City 4. After a lot of pain in the butt searching, I finally got it working too. It doesn't like iBook graphic cards, so I had to download a patch and update my drivers. Now I'm wasting all kinds of time playing. Evil simulation games. Time always seems to go by at lightening speed when you play them!
The game is fun. The graphics are cool now. Now if only I can get people to move into my town! It doesn't seem to grow fast enough - too many services demanded by residents, not a large enough tax base to pay for them. Geesh.

No Kidding

I read an article today (from where I forget) that says stress causes short term memory loss. No kidding. That's probably why I'm always making lists and running around trying to catch up on things I forgot.

Top 100 1973 down

Finally finished my 1973 songs. That's about all I did today. Most of my classes cancelled, so I got to laze around and sleep and do nothing. Ah heaven!
So the top 5 of 1973 are:
1. Tie A Yellow Ribbon - Tony Orlando
2. Bad Bad Leroy Brown - Jim Croce
3. Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack
4. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye
5. My Love - Paul McCartney

Trapped in Roppongi Hills!

There was another earthquake today at about 10:30 this morning. I've decided that earthquakes are not fun when you are on the 47th floor. I was in Roppongi Hills teaching and when the earthquake hit, the building started swaying. Granted it was built to do that, but the creaking windows and girders were not a pleasant experience. Then when I went to leave after my class I couldn't! All the elevators had shut down so I was trapped inside!

They said it would take another hour to get them up and running, which didn't help me because I had another class. Luckily there was an elevator running from like the 30th floor - so I had to wait for security to come and get me and escort me down 17 flights of stairs so I could get to the elevator. At least I was lucky - the poor security guard had to walk back up all of those 17 flights to go and get the next group that wanted to come down!

The Sopranos

I've been watching The Sopranos the last few days. I downloaded Seasons 1 thru 4 off the net and am working my way though them. What a good show. I like it! I've already watched all of Season 1. Ah, why is tv so distracting! :)
Anyway, good show. If you haven't seen it, get on the net and download the episodes.

Earthquake Kit

So, after all the earthquake excitement over the weekend, Hiroshi and I figured we'd better get our earthquake kit put together. You know, the one everyone is supposed to have, but most people don't. We hit the grocery store and picked up some bottled water, some emergency biscuits (like fat, square digestive cookies) and some canned food. We've got tuna, asparagus, peaches and tangerine pieces. I'll pick up some more cans of stuff as it goes on sale. Supposedly, you need food for three days. That's a lot of food and bottled water.

We already had the flashlight and bought an extra can opener to keep with the cans. I'll pick up some workers gloves this week to add to the pile (to pick your way through debris) and pen and pad of paper. The problem of course is that this is a lot of stuff, and there isn't one place to put it all. So it is a bit scattered. Ah, at least that way if the roof caves in, we'll have at least part of it available. Not sure what else we need to add - if you have any good ideas, ramble back.

I wonder how many other people had the same idea as us - at the grocery store, there were hardly any emergency biscuits left and the water shelf was a bit under-stocked.

My hot water heater / Great Japanese products

About a year and a half ago, my friend Jo moved back to Canada and she gave me her hot water heater. Until now it has sat collecting dust on a shelf because I had been to lazy to pull it out. Today I finally reorganized things and got it going. The heater basically heats up 2.2L of water to boiling temperature... so with the press of a button you have a cup of tea ready to go. No kettle to wait for. Well, I've been drinking tea all day. This thing is great. Why I didn't get it out before, I have no idea.

Anyway, I've decided that these are now part of the "things they should sell in North America". Of course, upon googling it, I found that, hey! They do sell these in Canada. I have this hot water heater. They also have one of the other great Japanese products available in Canada and the US - Washlets, which are heated toilet seats with a bidet function. The other great Japanese product, that is also now available in North America, is the Japanese rice cooker which makes totally awesome rice. Way better than the standard North American steamer. These things even have a warming function, so you can cook rice one day, and keep it until the next. How great is that?

Earthquake, earthquake, earthquake... and more earthquakes

There was some serious earthquake activity here tonight. Luckily they were about 200km away from Tokyo so there was only shaking here, and no damage.

It was pretty freaky. I was sitting having dinner with Cal and suddenly it was earthquake, earthquake, earthquake... and then another earthquake. Four in rapid succession! The first (M6.9) hit at 5:56 pm, the next (M6.1) at 6:03, then 6:11 (M5.9) and 6:34 (M6.1). To give you an idea of how strong these are, the quake that leveled Bam, Iran was M6.3, and the one that killed all those people in Morocco early this year was M6.4. (M=magnitude). Now it is quite normal to have one earthquake of this magnitude in Japan. That happens all the time. But four in a row!?

And then, there were more - 7:36 (M5.5) and 7:45 (M5.8). I didn't feel those ones but see there are posted on the Earthquake Hazards Program website. So that is six quakes that show on that site so far... it is a few hours behind. Oh, and just before I started writing this, there was another one (M5.5), which makes 7 quakes in the last 6 hours - three of which have been more than M6.

I didn't like these quakes because they were the circling kind. Up and down or side to side is ok, but when it is circular it is a very bad feeling. I'm really sensitive to them (Cal didn't even know there were quakes until I mentioned them) and these ones made me feel quite dizzy.

Anyway, that was the excitement here today. Hopefully there won't be any more. Despite my theory that lots of little quakes release pressure, lots of little quakes all at once are kind of like foreboding. There is quite a lot of damage near the epicenter of the quakes. Near the over 6 (Richter) magnitude quakes, it was a 6 on the Shindo scale. Roads have buckled, mains have burst, lamp posts have fallen over, etc. The quakes were so strong that even one of the shinkansen (bullet trains) derailed. Luckily in Tokyo there were only Shindo 3 or 4 (Link takes you to an explanation of the scale - basically Richter measures energy output and Shindo measures shaking felt at a location).

Hopefully that was the last of them.

Something for quiz lovers

Know what your Meyers-Briggs type is? If not, you can take the online test. I'm an ISFJ - what are you? Post me a comment with your type.

Oh, and for those of you following the Billboard Top 100 extravaganza, I've finished with 1972 and have moved onto 1973 - which was an excellent year, if I do say so. The top 5 songs of 1972 were:
1. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
2. Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O'Sullivan
3. American Pie - Don McLean
4. Can't Live if Living is Without You - Harry Nilsson
5. The Candy Man - Sammy Davis Jr.

another typhoon let-down

Ok, after all the hoopla and warnings yesterday, Tokyo was spared major typhoon excitement and just had a fair bit of rain and wind. So that's good I suppose. I still want to go outside and have to grab a tree to prevent being blown away. The people in southern Japan have all the fun ;) On the news last night it was showing people 'surfing' down the street on their feet. The wind was so strong, they were just standing there but were pushed down the sidewalk. How fun would that be?
Anyway, I have another opportunity because typhoon 24 is now on its way! More rain! Hiroshi says we've gotten 4X the normal amount of rain this year, and have set a 63 year record. Guess that will be broken this weekend...

Typhoon 23

Typhoon 23 has landed in Japan and is causing horrible amounts of damage. It is now making its way to Tokyo. My evening classes were all cancelled this morning because of the typhoon. It was supposed to hit at about 7 pm tonight, with the majority of the rain, and then be super windy until 5am. However, now the typhoon is moving right thru central Japan (rather than along the coast) and won't hit in full force until tomorrow morning.

The damage from this typhoon is unbelievable. The news is showing people holding on to trees to prevent themselves being blown away, Mature trees have been blown over, landslides have taken out homes and killed several people, rivers are raging, and flooding is as high as people's necks in some places the typhoon has passed through. Right now Shibuya has water ankle-deep in the streets... and the rain just started here!

So this is the first typhoon that I'm actually worried about. Houses have been decimated by the typhoon. Kinda scary. The river near my house just overflowed (according to the community channel). The news is saying stay inside, stay out of your basement (flooding), stay away from the coast (waves), and expect possible flooding of the subways. Should be interesting tomorrow when we'll get hit the hardest right during peak commuter hours.

Coulda been a SARS suspect!

So at the doctor today I got the standard questions about when I started feeling bad, and do I have a fever and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, just give me the medicine. Then I got the "Have you been overseas recently?" question. And I couldn't remember! How's that for sad?? I had to look back through my day planner to find out when we went to Thailand (it was July). She even pointedly asked if I had been to China. So I guess everyone is taking SARS rather seriously here. I assume it is SARS they are worried about, because she didn't ask if I had been to South America or India for instance. I thought it was interesting that they are asking that question now.

Sick in Bed :(

So much for surfing in bed - I'm sick in bed. Lots of sick people walking around spreading germs *scowl* Not doing much surfing because I'm sleeping and feeling sorry for myself. I'm allowed. I think tomorrow I'm off to the clinic for a dose of antibiotics. Oh well.

I'm almost finished downloading the top 100 songs for the years 1960 thru 1999. Forty years of top 100 songs (yes that is 4000 songs). I figure this way I'll never have to download music again LOL. I noticed that at 1999 (when I came to Japan) I stopped recognizing the songs, so I didn't bother downloading anything after that. Man, I'm so out of touch. Maybe I'll get J-Pop music... although most of it is pretty bad.

Anyway, tonight's listening pleasure is the rest of 1971, and for your trivia fun, the top 5 songs of 1971 were:
1. Joy to the World - Three Dog Night (good karaoke song by the way)
2. Maggie May - Rod Steward
3. It's Too Late - Carole King
4. One Bad Apple - Osmonds
5. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - Bee Gees

Surfin' In Bed!

Whehoo!! I bought a wireless hub tonight, so now I can connect to the internet wirelessly at home now... which means I can surf in bed! How excellent is that??!! This also means I can sit at the kitchen table at a proper chair and do work now too. Hopefully that will save some sore shoulders and back aches. But, I'm super excited about being able to laze around in bed all day and watch movies, download things and surf the web, without ever having to get up except to go to the bathroom. Ah, life is good.

1970 on to 1971

Today's listening extravaganza was Billboard Top 100 Hits of 1970... and on to 1971. It takes a long time to listen to 100 songs! For your trivia amusement the top 5 songs for 1970 were:
1. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
2. Close to You - Carpenters
3. American Woman - Guess Who
4. Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head - BJ Thomas
5. War - Edwin Starr

Geography Olympics

Hurry up and join the Geography Olympics! America is beating Canada - so all you Canadians, get your butts over to this site and take the quiz!

I'm in 80s heaven!

At one of the download sites I go to, some wonderful soul uploaded Billboard Top 100 for all of the 80s (and 70s). All I can say is, I'm in absolute 80s heaven! These are awesome! I forgot so many of these songs, but when you play them, a couple notes into it you're already humming the melody to yourself. So at this point, I'm almost up to 2000 songs (100 for each year) so I'll be in retro heaven for about the next month. And... I just saw the first one for the 90s. Oh what fun! Perfect thing to add to my music collection!

Please stop raining!

It is raining yet again today. What's up with the weather? Oh, and anoher typhoon is coming. Geesh. That's number 23 this year. I want sunshine! This weather is depressing. I might have to waggle a vacation to some sunny beach somewhere if this continues much longer. ;) Guam, Saipan or Hawaii would be nice...

Poor bears

They are shooting bears in Japan. It is so sad :( Apparently they have come out of the forests because of the typhoon last week... and they are eating people's persimmons. I don't blame the bears, persimmons taste good! I don't know why they have to shoot them though. Poor things. Just tranquilize them and drive them back to the forest. I don't want to watch the news and see more bloody bear corpses. It's depressing.

My hero died :(

How sad - Christopher Reeve died today. It is especially sad because he was a truly inspiring man, and someone I greatly admired. Good bye Superman.

Dinner and a movie

Tonight I cooked! Heh, how often does that happen? And I even cooked fish that I have never cooked before. That is always an adventure. Hiroshi says fish consumption in Japan is decreasing because young Japanese women don't know how to cook fish... like me. I never try to cook new kinds of fish because I suck at using my fish broiler (it is always burnt and dry) and I don't know if it is a light fish (like cod) or strong fish (like mackerel).

Anyway, tonight I cooked saury. I only bought it because it had been beheaded and it looked like they were gutted as well. I'm sure those are not the actual terms, but they sound good to me, because if I were actually doing it, it would be a beheading - close your eyes, turn your head and try to whack it with a knife. (See my previous entry this week on my paranoia about fish parts). Well, the fish turned out pretty good! Of course the guts were not a nice surprise, but I was able to cut them off and scoop them onto a plate. I'm sure there was just as much flesh there as guts, but I wasn't taking any chances! All in all, I did a good job cooking my first saury and it looks like I have a new menu item.

After dinner we went to the show to see I, Robot. It was only so-so. Some good computer animation and stunts. Story not all that exciting. But, you do get to see Will Smith's butt. Whehoo! And hey, when did Will Smith get so buff??!! He is looking pretty fine! I was nicely surprised, cuz I still think of him as that scrawny guy in the "Parents Just Don't Understand" video.

Typhoon 22

Wow! Now that was a typhoon! I left work today around 4 and got thoroughly drenched on my way to the station. My pant legs were wet up to mid-thigh from all the rain. When I arrived at the station the water was pouring in through the roof - the eaves couldn't deal with it fast enough, so great sheets of water were coming down onto the platform itself. When I got to Osaki station 10 minutes later, the wind had picked up. I quickly grabbed some groceries and then had to be let out by an employee who was holding the door closed! Or opening it - I'm not sure if the wind was preventing it from opening, or whipping into the store when it opened and therefore he was keeping it closed. It was like walking into a wind tunnel when I left.

On the walk home I got more drenched and had to fight to keep my umbrella. It even turned my umbrella inside out a couple times! Now this is a typhoon! I arrived home wet but safe and jumped into my futon to warm up and watch the news. The main typhoon hit around 6, and between 5 when I got home and 6 when it hit in force the rain was just pounding down. This combined with the really low pressure served to make me sleepy. On the tv, they were monitoring the water levels in the rivers in my area. At 5:30 they started to rise and an advisory was issued. At 5:40 that went to caution and the flood sirens started (when the river rises by a certain amount in a set time period, warning sirens go off). At 5:45 it flooded. How's that for fast??!!

Around that time the wind picked up and rain was being pelted against the windows on the balcony - which was good because now I don't have to clean them LOL. Rain never touches those windows. I remember thinking about 5:50 that it would be cool to go outside and run around in the street (weird thing I want to do - run around in pelting rain and high winds for fun). Only, I fell asleep!

Yes, instead of going downstairs to look at the rain and wind of my first real typhoon in Japan (let alone play in it), I was out cold in bed! In fact, I slept straight thru until 10 pm. Geesh! So I missed all the street flooding, land slides, flying branches and the like. It looks like there wasn't much wind damage. Just lots and lots of water. I can't believe I slept thru it!

Good-bye Erik, Hello typhoon

Erik left today to continue his adventures in Nepal. He just made it out of Japan before the typhoon came. Typhoon 22 is coming in quickly and the rain started today. This one is scheduled to make a direct hit on Tokyo, which is very rare. It is also supposed to be the biggest typhoon in 10 years. The last one that hit southern Japan and caused a ton of damage is significantly tamer than the one that is coming. We'll see. Everyone always freaks out about typhoons here and it only ends up being a little bit of rain and some wind. Disappointing to say the least.

More yummy food!

Erik came back to Tokyo last night and is heading off tomorrow, so tonight Hiroshi and I took him out to dinner. I was working all day until late so we couldn't get to the restaurant until almost ten. We had wanted to go to Grand Central Oyster Bar in Shinagawa Atre (modelled after the real one in Grand Central Station NY) but they are booked solid for almost two months! I was shocked. Obviously it is a happening place. So we decided to go to a nabe restaurant in Gotanda instead that a student had recommended to me (another place I've wanted to go to for a long time but had never made it to).

We walked in just before last order. I don't think the staff were too happy about that. Oh well. The restaurant specializes in Akita (a prefecture in northern Japan) nabe. Nabe is hot pot - basically a broth that you put fish or chicken in with veggies and tofu. We ordered the fish one and some horse and whale sashimi as well. The sashimi was really nice! Sometimes horse is really chewy and tough which makes it hard to eat (at least for me). This was nice and tender. The whale was also nice and didn't cause the trauma that I had last time I had whale.

After our appetizers, the main dish came - a huge dish of things for the nabe including 6 whole fish! It was amazing. Apparently the fish are mating right now, so if you are lucky you will find a fish with eggs. I think all of ours had eggs in them (which I didn't eat). I still have issues with eating fish that looks like a fish (from being a former vegetarian) so usually I need to have fish that doesn't have a head, bones nor skin. I was ok with the fish in the nabe though. The restaurant has scaled the fish so the skin was almost non-existent. I ignored the head as much as possible and the flesh was so tender it easily separated from the bones. I basically did fish surgery on a small plate and dumped the offending fish-like parts into the scrap bowl - and then put the yummy fish flesh back into the nabe. Hiroshi just shakes his head at me.

We also had some nice sake. I haven't had sake in years. The last time I had it, students took me out, and to make a long story short, I ended up hugging the porcelain god. I'm glad I finally tried it again. It went perfectly with the nabe.

All in all, an excellent restaurant - and healthy! I'll definitely be going back again. This is a great place to go out and have a nice meal but eat something that isn't laced in fat and carbs. Yum!

Whirlwind tours

One of my students just came back from a whirlwind trip to Canada. I don't understand the whole Japanese tour thing. There is so much crammed into the tour, I don't know how you could possibly see anything - you whiz by everything so quickly I don't see how it is possible. My student went on a 9 day trip - 2 days of which would be flying to and from Canada. So in 7 days, she saw: Toronto, Niagara Falls, Niagara on the Lake, Montreal, Quebec, Banff, Columbia Ice Field, Lake Victoria, and Vancouver. That schedule is just nuts!

She brought in all her pictures today to share which was nice. The pictures from Quebec reminded me of my Grade 8 trip there! I'll have to go back again one day. I remembered all of the old houses and beautiful churches. I'll probably appreciate it more now than I did then. The pics of Banff, Lake Victoria and the Rockies reminded me of when I used to live out west. I can still picture the beautiful blue of Lake Victoria (probably augmented memory - there are millions of pictures of it) and seeing a glacier. I was six at the time, so obviously it is impressive!

Anyway, my student absolutely loved Canada. Funny how I never really realized how lucky Canadians are to have such beautiful nature. Growing up with it, I never realized it was special.

It's freezing here!

Ok, I don't know who turned the weather switch, but fall fell - with a thud. We went from nice balmy summer temperatures to freezing your butt off temperatures. It is pouring rain again today as it was yesterday. Where did it come from? Noah, get the arks ready. It is supposed to rain for the next two days as well. *sigh* I'll have to dig out my fall coat I guess... and my sweaters. One can only hope that it will rain so much that there will be flooding over the train tracks which means I won't be able to go to work and can stay home lounging in bed all day. Now that would be good!

Yuck!

Tonight I had a bit of an upset stomach so I was in search for medicine like Tums. Hiroshi pulls out this bottle of "very good medicine for [me]". I don't know what this stuff was, but it smelled like a combination of rotten Vics and smoking wet tree branches. It was foul! Not to mention that each "pill" looked like a little mouse turd - round and browny-black. I took them anyway. I think the side effects are worse than the upset stomach I started with. Maybe it was the tree resins - the ingredient list on the medicine looked like a run-down of resins from about five different trees. Give me Tums anyday!

Suzuki set record hits

The big news in Japan today is that Ichiro broke the baseball record. Apparently there is mass celebrations in Japan. I of course haven't seen any of them because I've been lazing around in my pyjamas all day. Ahhh heaven! I was supposed to go into work today, but just couldn't be bothered getting dressed. Not to mention I got distracted by watching Amazing Race Season 4.

Erik's off

Erik headed off for Kyoto today. I'm envious because I still haven't been there. There never seems to be enough time, and it usually works out about the same cost wise to go to Thailand. So I've never made it down. I will have to go eventually though. Guess I should make it a priority and just go!

Missed my 2 year quit anniversary

Wow, I missed my two year no smoking anniversary, which was on Monday. Hard to believe I haven't smoked for two years. On the one hand, it seems like a long time ago, on the other hand, it feels like yesterday.

In the last few months Tokyo is really starting to become non-smoker friendly. When I first came here, it was a smoker's paradise. Now you can find restaurants with a real non-smoking section, rather than being just a table that is surrounded by smokers. Not that I'm a nasty ex-smoker. I don't care if others smoke. It is just nice to finally be able to go places and have choice!