I'll be home for Christmas

I got home late last night and panicked about packing, and only slept for two hours. Then I hauled my two suitcases down the hill to the station to catch a cab to Sannomiya station. I flew from Kansai International Airport to Narita in Tokyo, and passed Mt. Fuji on the way. Beautiful!

Curry Festival!

Sunday night, we had a staff Christmas party at Saori's mom's Indian restaurant in Osaka. I'm allergic to curry, but she made me extra food without curry spices, and it was AMAZING. I love Indian food!!!

L to R: Yoshimi (Manager), Chika (Head Teacher), Yuchika (Kid's Head Teacher), Me, Vince (Canadian co-worker), Risako (Assistant Manager), Saori (Teacher) and Mika (Teacher).

Chika sensei likes Indian food too.

Kanpai!

Kanako joined us. Yoshimi is taking a photo of the pumpkin filled with curry, and Saori's mom is behind her.

Playing an old Japanese game, "Can you hold a toothpick on your eyelashes?". I learned in a magazine that Westerner's eyelashes are almost double the length of Japanese. Crazy.

Apparently, I win at this game.

Today Jen and I played photographer and model on the subway, in the park, and all around Kobe. She is a great friend who has helped me overcome a fear of shooting in public and drawing attention to myself.

Later, she won me a stuffed rabbit just to prove she could, and we took print club stickers! I really wish I had a scanner so I could show you how funny these sticker things are.

The shots with the black background were shot in my apartment with homemade ringlights and softboxes. Super ghetto.

Outside on the sidewalk in Minatogawakoen.

We found an awesome set up illuminated stairs in Minatogawakoen.

Then we shot some photos on the platform.

We also shot on the train while it was moving. I really love having wireless triggers. PW's were a good investment.

Please notice how no one is reacting to this flash or me with a camera.

Can or bottle, that is the question...

Chillin in Piyama.

Jen & Mere sing Garth Brooks

Saturday after work, Vince, his friend Ken and I met up with some adult students in Itayado and ate at a nice izakaya. Then we went to karaoke. I can't sing well at all. They all think I can. They are my friends :)

We sang many songs, for example "We are the world" at Kyosuke's request, and then Jen and I ended the night singing Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places". It was super American. Then Jen and I went back to Minatogawakoen, and ate at Denny's. It's nothing like in America.

Fumiko and Junko! Super sweet ladies!

Vince, Ken, Kyosuke, and Masahiro.

Kyosuke singing his heart out and Jen dancing her ass off.

Me, Junko, and Fumiko.

I think we were singing, "We are the world". I was definitely singing the Cindy Lauper part.

Denny's! / 7-11

Trash Ninja

1. I am super excited to come home and visit everyone during Christmas!!!! Two more weeks!

2. Trash in Japan is extremely complicated. You must sort recyclables, burnables, non-burnables, burnable recyclables, non-burnable fabrics and metals, recyclable burnable metal non-burnable recyclable plastic containers.... You get my drift. Anyways, I've never really figured out when nor where to take my non-burnable garbage, so I tend to just put it all in burnable bags and put those out in the designated spot at the designated time on the designated day. However, on my bike ride home tonight, I spotted a large pile of non-burnable garbage a block away from my house. I highly doubt this is my designated spot etc. for non-burnable garbage. Did this stop me from putting two huge bags on my bike handlebars and sneaking over there, stealthily dropping off the bags, and then pedaling really fast back home?

Nope.

Christmas music

Even in the states, I only really can stand a select few Christmas songs, most notably from The Peanut's Christmas album. However, the Patio (shopping complex where I work) likes to play various Christmas songs through the stores, all day. Oh, they also have a Christmas tree. How pretty.

If I thought it was difficult to listen to songs in America while shopping, I think it's just weird to listen to them in Japanese. Especially religious songs, such as "Oh Holy Night" and my personal favorite in Japanese, "O Come All Ye Faithful".

The other day, one of the Japanese teachers tried to use some slang, and crashed and burned. She said, "Wow, you looks wasted!" and then look confused when I burst into laughter. I had to explain that "wasted" did not mean "tired", but instead "incredibly drunk". Ahhh lost in translation...

wow.

I want to walk on that someday.

Goodbye, November

Sunday I went to Osaka, and went to the top of the Umeda Sky Building, 173 meters high. It was really.... whelming. Meh. Kinda crappy weather, but I ate some udon and took a photo.

Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, Japan.

Sunday night, I went to Jen's house and she made TACOS!!!! I also picked up some Kirin from the Sunkus that looks like American beer. A lager and pilsener. They tasted pretty good.


Monday I went to Kyoto with Lamika to see a photo exhibit of a friend of a friend. It was difficult to find, and pretty small, but I did get to see Extreme Japanese Hedge Pruning! Lamika and I also saw an event being set up for the Japan Pro Wrestling Federation. We would have gone too, if tickets weren't 10,000¥.

After Kyoto, Lamika came back to Kobe with me, and we met up with Jennifer in the MINT Kobe building to eat at a buffet. HOLY COW the next person that visits me is totally going there. I ate 6 plates of Japanese and Western foods, and then about 4 plates of AWESOME desserts. I was about to explode. It was sooooooo worth it! We took Lamika to Daiso, our "Dollar General". It says 100¥ shop, but some things cost more. So it's like everything is 'generally' 100¥. Take a look at the site, let me know what you must have because I can definitely bring it home since it probably won't break the bank ;)

Daiso

Also, if you haven't seen my school's homepage, that's here. My photo will cycle through on the main page if you wait.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving in Japan like Pizza Hut and wine.