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Monday, July 31, 2006
11:41 PM
- things are suddenly made to fit your size and height
- people are rude
- portions are huge
- the flight attendants say "uh-huh" and "ungh-huh" to you
- it looks like you are really disturbing the flight attendants when you ask for a cup of apple juice
- the shower head is about a foot above your head
- the shower pressure is so strong you think it may blow you right out of the bathroom
- you are freezing in 25 degree weather, and you wear socks, jeans, a sweater and a scarf to compensate
- people on airplanes think you have the plague because you are sporting a lavender-scented face mask (to protect you from other people and the gross environment that is an airplane cabin)
- flight attendants are old and fat
- people are rude (is this a repeat?)
- people are fat
- people have terrible fashion
- you could spend an hour just staring at the cheese and bread section of your local supermarket
- you go to a natural foods store and almost die of happiness
- your bed feels almost too soft and too big
- you sleep under a duvet, and its July
- you do the dishes without breaking your back nor appearing as though you have just wet your pants- because, the sink is at an appropriate level as opposed to down to your knees
- there is a dishwasher and a full-sized oven in the house!
- and a dryer- oh my!
- you can wear low-cut tops and still be conservative
- people all around you are smoking pot, having a couple beers and then driving home
- you walk the street and go unnoticed because you are no one
- you go to the park and see two well-endowed ladies almost nude, sunbathing
- you have an hour-long conversation with the guy next to you on the airplane (also from quebec) about his recent separation with his partner, the division of goods and care of the children, in great detail
- everyone speaks English, and French
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Thursday, July 27, 2006
9:49 AM
Till I go home to visit! Yahoooooo!!! Can't wait:
-to experience the anonymity of the big city once more. ah. goodbye, everyone that i know in Miyako.
-to wear some scandalous clothing. goodbye, everyone who sees me everyday in Miyako.
-to eat some good food: arabic,italian,indian,chinese,vietnamese,portuguese,french,ethiopian,bistro,cafe,patisserie française! goodbye, Miyako izakayas and wanna-be cafés.
-to shop for real sizes with real design. goodbye, shops in Miyako.
-to visit museums, parks, galleries, exhibits. goodbye, beaches of Miyako.
-to go to NYC and shop and enjoy. goodbye, money.
-to see everyone that i love and have great discussions with them. see you soon, friends in Miyako.
-to relax in vermont by the lake eating elaborate breakfasts, freshly made pies. goodbye, diet.
-....
so, goodbye. see you soon.
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Wednesday, July 26, 2006
9:34 PM
there is this little kid who lives in my building who for the second time today terrorized me with a humungous half-dead cockroach. when i went to put the recycling downstairs this morning, he was wimpering so i walked up to see what was the matter. apparently the roach bit him and drew blood. then the kid thought it would be amusing to chase me with it and touch my arm and back with it- little shit. i have to say it, i don't mind most bugs and spiders, but roaches, they just freak me right out. i was throwing away an old umbrella that got destroyed in the last typhoon and used it as defence, all the while telling him to stop. as i walked up the stairs back to my place he followed me, with his little brother and sister close behind, and i was actually kinf of running. but it felt ridiculous. finally i stopped and actually scolded him in english. an elderly woman popped her head out of an adjacent apartment and gave me a dirty look. then i sought refuge in my apartment and locked the door and put the chain on.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2006
10:47 AM
-check e-mail
-check bbc news
-check the NY times and wired
-read favorite political blogs
-listen to weezer's full albums on repeat
-listen to quebec radio, notably the show "Sexuellement Parlant" on 98.5 FM- "Le FM parlé de Montréal"
-make lists about things to do, pack and organize before leaving to go home
-drink echinacea tea
-play on flickr
-eat the banana chocolate cake i made on the week-end
-read the scholastic guide to 'building your vocabulary'
-burn a mp3 cd for my co-worker
-blog
-sigh
-be a bit bored, because its your job
-attempt to study some japanese.. cough cough**
its only 10:49 am.
at noon i will eat lunch, then hopefully retire for a nap in the tatami room.
and that will be my work day today.
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Monday, July 24, 2006
9:18 AM
de grandes félicitations pour votre union depuis maintenant une année complète. vous avez réussi à surmonter plusieurs défis ensemble, et pour ça, vous devriez être très fiers. meilleures des chances pour une seconde année. espérant qu'elle soit riche en bonnes expériences!
congradulations to julia and japan on their one-year anniversary of union. you have managed to overcome many hurdles over the past year, for which you must both be proud. here's to wishing you a strong and enjoyable second year together.
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Sunday, July 23, 2006
8:52 PM
j'ai appris aujourd'hui que le cinéma du parc de montréal fermera ses portes le 3 août, faute de public suffisant. du 28 juillet au 3 août le cinéma va faire rouler quelques de ses anciens succès, dont:
Run Lola run, de Tom Tykwer;
Amores perros, d'Alejandro González Iñárritu;
Trainspotting, de Danny Boyle;
Talk to her, de Pedro Almodovar;
Lost highway, de David Lynch;
Lost in translation, de Sofia Coppola.
je les ai tous déjà vus, mais je me pointerai quand même. de toute façon, j'arriverai juste à temps du japon, et ça me donnera quelque chose à faire pour ces premières journées de shock culturel réversé. et pour survivre la fatigue du décallage horaire de treize heures bien sûr.
je dois avouer que je trouve ça dommage de voir un petit cinéma qui a toujours favorisé les films indépendants devoir fermer ses écrans. le communiqué de presse du CDP explique la fermeture du cinéma comme étant dû à d'autres cinémas plus grands (voire AMC) rajoutant des films de répertoire dans leurs salles suite au succès du CDP (et donc en imitant le CDP). c'est à partir de ce moment-là que la clientèle du CDP à diminué. triste n'est ce pas? moi-même j'étais heureuse de pouvoir visioner de bons films au AMC, si proche de chez moi. mais je ne voyais pas les répercussions. apprenons donc une leçon de notre cher cinéma du parc. lorsqu'on peut, faisons un effort d'aller chez l'indépendant.
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Friday, July 21, 2006
10:08 AM
i stumbled accross this tiled image today. pretty powerful, and made me sad. about 1.7 million were killed as a result of the regime. but what have we learned from it?
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9:20 AM
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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
4:20 PM
is acting up, like an angry teen unwilling to OPEN UP. except for its slender, silver and oh-so-sexy and its my PowerBook G4 that i simply can't live without, and now, apparently can't TURN ON. so if i am not responding, this is why.
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3:18 PM
my friend zoe who escaped beirut in the news
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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
7:23 PM
From the Sydney Morning Herald: "A microphone picked up an unaware George W Bush saying [To Tony Blair, as in the picture on left] that Syria should press Hezbollah to "stop doing this shit" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon."
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4:59 PM
Selfish
Thick
Egomaniacal
Prejudiced
Hamburger of an
Evil
Nit-wit
Hoggy
Autocratic
Rabid
Penny-pinching
Esurient
Rigormortis
Inattentive
Shrimp
Conniving canker sore of an
Anal
Nincompoop
Another
Devious
Indifferent
Animal on earth. Is that what we
Need?
reasoning? take a look at what harper has done so far to aid the 40 000 canadian residents safely evacuate lebanon.
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4:45 PM
this is the way my dear friend yuriko introduced herself in a teacher interview last year. i thought it was sweet enough to post:
◎ Introduce of myself
I’m BEAUTY. I’m not saying I’m beautiful. This is an acronym.
I’m Brave because I like to go for challenging ways moreso than for easy ways.
I’m Energetic. I never show my tired face to my students. If you see it, I may be sick.
I’m Authentic. I’m honest to students and never tell lies to them except for white lies.
I’m Unique. I always try to think I am the only one. No one replaces me. I’d like students to think the same way as I do. They are only one. Nobody can be instead of them.
I’m Trustful.
I have a Yearning to be an English teacher. I do believe teaching is my true calling.
*apparently it wasn`t very well received. they didn`t get her originality. they obviously weren`t very Unique now, were they.
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1:21 PM
my friend managed to cross the syrian border into jordan in the middle of the night on saturday. she went in an ngo-sponsored SUV convoy. (i suppose SUVs can be ok sometimes). she has sought refuge in Amman, which is overflowing with other refugees at the moment. so, for now, she is ok. i am so happy to report this. though there are still lots of people in a lot of danger in Lebanon right now. we must keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
more later..
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Sunday, July 16, 2006
2:37 PM
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Saturday, July 15, 2006
10:10 AM
i just received an email from a friend of mine who is living and studying arabic in beirut. it appears, as she just figured out herself a few days ago, that she is living in the middle of a serious conflict between israel and lebanon that started when lebanese Hezbollah fighters based in southern Lebanon captured two Israeli soldiers on wednesday.
what ensued, however, from the israeli side, has been hugely disproportionate to the lebanese seize. the israelis have set air raids across southern Lebanon, and have destroyed the runways and terminals with bombs at Beirut's international airport, forcing the airport to close. it looks like there is no way out. there have been over 50 lebanese casualties. but Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has now promised an "open war" against Israel after his offices in Beirut were bombed yesterday. so its escalating, and creating an unstable and dangerous future in beirut.
it looks like the un security council has been meeting and opposing the israeli reaction, as well as expressing concern over the loss of civilian life. both france's Chirac and russia's putin have requested the bombardments END. and then there is mr. bush, who, with every single move he makes, infuriates the world. he urges israel to limit casualties, but says nothing about stopping the attack. go figure. the one good point of the us and israel's love relationship that is very clear to me right now is that my dear friend is living across from the American University of Beirut, which makes it a safe place. the israelis will not touch anything american.
i am worried about my friend, but she is a strong girl. her e-mail was really poignant in so many ways. here's an excerpt:
'I suppose one of the advantages of Lebanon's notoriously unreliable electricity is that everyone has generators. When I walked outside this morning you would hardly guess that nobody had land power, except for the loud hum of generators emanating from every building. Business as usual, I suppose. The Lebanese have lived through a lot of conflict and no one is too quick to give up. People are quietly going about their lives, buying candles, food supplies, charging up their phones with credit, and buying reserves of their favourite cosmetics in case of shortages. Everyone wants to be prepared, but no one is ready to give up their Gucci heels just yet. Some businesses are closed, but many are operating just like they always would. One problem is that tons of people are not showing up for work, even when their offices are open. Lots of people are talking about packing up their families and heading for mountains, and some have already headed out to bunker down. Most Beirutis are staying in town, but aren't going out too much. I am particularly amazed by the resilience of the 'fashionistas' and 'playas' of this town. Although most people are opting for quiet nights these days, you still can't hold back the Lebanese ladies from getting decked out in their finest or tell some of these dudes that it isn't the right time to show-off your new Hummer. To be fair, most of them have taken it down a notch, with the girls strutting within the confines of their neighbourhoods and the guys harassing me from cars parked street-side. You have to adapt, I guess.
Most of the tourists and ex-pats looked pretty lost this afternoon, wandering around Hamra with their luggage. People have been getting very mixed messages from their embassies, from the news, and from their loved ones. I think the best thing for most of us is to listen to our intuition, especially those of us who have been here a while, because we probably have fairly good instincts about this. We hear the bomb blasts happening in the suburbs (right at this moment, actually), we know the conflict is serious, we know the NGO and UN staff are talking about leaving, we see the journalists scrambling and squealing like little piglets fighting for teats, we know the beaches and clubs are quiet and we know that summer in Beirut is over before it really started. Liza Manelli and Sean Paul have cancelled their concerts, for god's sake.'
so here's to my friend. i send you love and strength and power right now. i hope that the un security council will make some waves, and fast. and i meditate for you and your safety.
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Friday, July 14, 2006
5:41 PM
i walked into mos burger, the japanese fast-food burger joint, with shin today because he was hungry. i had already eaten so was just accompanying. upon entering i spotted a colleague of mine sitting in the far corner- and actually i kind of knew he may be there because i saw his car parked outside, this red jeep-y kind of thing, but a yellow plate so not some terrible oil-gas-guzzler that we all hate. (americans, mind you, well-known for adoring these types of vehicles are slowly buying less of them, i read in the NY times last week. they appear to finally be reacting to the rising oil prices. hallefuckingluyah.)
so anyways. spot the teacher, and walk on over for a chat. he is a good guy, really sweet and nice and obviously diligent, seeing as he was marking papers and i was just standing there with a stack of freshly-rented dvds.(this is, by the way, in the middle of a normal working day for both of us. we were spared, however, due to a typhoon and not being able to take a ferry to our island school). we chatted a bit and shin came over, and then this is when the real shit happened. basically, i can't remember exactly how but we got onto talking about the environment. oh yeah, i was saying that at family mart, a japanese convenience store, they really OVERDO it with the plastic bags. like they will give you a separate one for every single thing that you buy, so they don't touch or some ridiculous shit like that. and then i added that another big one japan, environmentally speaking, is the overusage of 'waribashi', or disposable chopsticks. people use them all the time and its really maddening.
shin immediately piped in saying that vinyl really wasn't that bad for the environment, or at least not as bad as the disposable chopsticks. this is where i had one of those 'ok what-the-fuck-don't-forget-to-breathe-japanese-moments'. i try and explain to him nicely about things like biodegradability, waste disposal and renewable and non-renewable resources. but my japanese is shitty and his english isn't so great so we don't understand each other and the conversation gets heated. and meanwhile, of course, my poor innocent co-teacher is just sitting there, trying to not look freaked out by shin waving his tattooed arm at me. the best part was when shin tells me that i should really BE CAREFUL, and then started telling me about the japanese KKK and what they would do if they heard me saying shit about japan. i hate it when he pulls that bad-ass attitude with me. as if there is someone spying on my every move.
we managed to exit the building and get home without killing each other and then sat down with some dictionaries and somewhat got through to one another, but it wasn't easy let me tell you. shin mentioned that i would be offended if he said something bad about canada, but the fact is, as i told him (which surely fired him up even more), was that no, i wouldn't be pissed but rather open to the fact that no country is perfect, with canada certainly included. i am not proud of canada's water craze (we are one of the top fresh water users in the world) nor strict refugee policies, for instance.
so here's what: living in a country like canada i have been priviledged to get to know diversity first hand, which is obviously not the case in japan. as such, perhaps this makes me more open to not only world problems, but my very own. shin and i parted on a good note, and he even apologized. it may be a language thing, it may be a culture thing, but there is a deep separation that definitely exists in a clear way. maybe its just a question of how one chooses to approach it, or, as it may be the case for me and shin in the future, how one chooses not to.
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