I feel like crap!!

quotes from The Japan Times: "This year, the nation's 20 million kafunsho (pollen allergy) sufferers are about to embark on a spring season of particular discontent, with the Health Ministry warning that -- thanks to last year's long hot summer -- the trees look set to release record quantities of pollen."
"The hay fever season is in full swing, and experts predict that pollen levels this spring will be the highest on record."
Well that's just GREAT. I feel like I've had an on-and-off cold for the past 2 months. And we've got another 4 to go...
Meds help a little, but not enough.
When I was in China for 3 days, I barely had allergies at all.
Get me the hell out of here!!!

clay lanterns lit up at the Takeo pottery kiln

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Originally uploaded by clay1.

it looks like a fairy land!

Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine

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Originally uploaded by clay1.

on Saturday there was a flea market at this shrine near Fukuoka. So a group of us went there on a little road trip. (thanks to Sarah for driving!)

I bought lots of beautiful used kimono. Even though I never wear kimono. But I'll wear them as robes or something. I also got some pretty childrens' summer kimono sashes which are thin and would make cute belts or scarves. Fun!

Spring Break! or not....

All the students are on spring break. But the teachers still have to come into work. Does this make sense? No, of course not. But it's Japan; nothing makes sense. The teachers' room is almost empty because most of them took vacation days this week. But I can't spare anymore, since I'm going home for 2 weeks (yay!), so I'm stuck here, sitting at my desk all day, on an uncomfortable chair, watching DVDs on my computer and other such bullshit. I hate my job!!!!! (But I'm getting paid for doing nothing, so I guess I can't complain too much) I bet I could just leave now and no one would even notice. No one (except Sarah of course) has even said one word to me since I walked in 4 hours ago. But I'd be too paranoid about getting caught or something and made to take vacation days, which would mess up my NY trip. Grrrrr. On the plus side, I'm wearing sweatpants to work (since most of the teachers here are in track suits and are just milling around gossiping. This country is so bizarre....)

There's nothing I want to eat!

Not in my apt, or the supermarkets, or the handful of local restaurants. I'm tired of making pasta, mac and cheese, or rice, or buying ready-made food at the convience store. I've run out of my American cereals, cream of wheat and oatmeal. And there are only so many times a week that I can go to the $1 a piece sushi place before I feel fished-out. What did I used to eat in America? I must have eaten something. I don't really remember having this problem. I find myself just snacking at night so that I don't starve, but not actually enjoying eating. A little bit of yogurt or fruit or a piece of toast. And for lunch I usually have a tuna sandwich or something simple like that. Last night my dinner was a granola and Reeses Peanut Butter cups left over from my stash of American food. I miss real restaurants. Where you actually feel full at the end. And every night you can have something different - Thai, Mexican, Italian, French, etc. Or supermarkets full of normal familiar edible food. Sigh. Well, one month till I'm in NY and can eat whatever I want!

Shanghai, China

Monday was a national holiday here in Japan, so I went to Shanghai for the weekend.
(despite any minor complaints I may have about my location, the fact that I am an hour from Fukuoka and its international airport is amazing. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do things like go to China for 2 nights and not miss any work).

Shanghai was great. At the moment it's one of the most exciting and rapidly developing cities in the world. But it also has some really neat historic European architecture from its time as a major international city, with a large foreign population, in the early 20th century.

I had a nice time just walking around looking at the pretty buildings, visiting the fabulous Shanghai Museum of Chinese art, eating good Chinese food, and shopping for cheap DVDs, clothes, purses etc.

There was an earthquake in my town while I was gone. Everything seems fine around here. Though my cat was a bit flipped out when I got home. There've been some aftershocks last night and today. Craziness.

the Maglev (magnetic levitation) train

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

It goes from the airport to downtown Shanghai in 8 minutes at a top speed of 267 miles per hour. Oooooo.

old building on Nanjing street, near the Bund

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

an alley in the French Concession

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

more of French Concession area

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

this house is so cute!
I think it's a restaurant now.

French Concession area of Shanghai

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

It looks like a bunch of nice little European homes were dropped in the middle of big-city China.
A really neat area for walking.

view from the fancy hotel bar on the 87th floor of the Jinmao Tower

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

It's the tallest building in Shanghai right now, but there are plans for a new building that will be the tallest in the world when completed.

Nanjing shopping street

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

Pudong area in the afternoon

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

Ming period building in the Yuyuan garden

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

Yuyuan Garden

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

it's a beautiful traditional Chinese strolling garden with ponds, rocks, trees, bridges, and architecture from the Ming period (A.D 1368 - 1644)

I had great weather that day, so it was a really nice way to spend the afternoon.

vase from the reign of Emperor Qianlong (A.D. 1736 - 1795)

at the Shanghai museum

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Originally uploaded by clay1.

Chinese painting in the Shanghai Museum

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

Ceramic statue of horse and rider from the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618 - 907)

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

at the Shanghai Museum

6th century stone Buddhas at the Shanghai Museum

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

buildings on the Bund

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

my hotel is on the right

the 1920's lobby of my hotel - the Peace Hotel

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Originally uploaded by Emmy.

the Bund in the morning

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

morning sword exercises on the Bund

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

Oriental Pearl Tower

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

The modern section of Pudong

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

it's directly across the river from the Bund, so it's amazing to walk along the river, especially at night, and see both sides lit up

buildings along the Bund

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

more of the Bund in Shanghai

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

"the Bund" at night

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

It's a stretch, along the river, of grand European style buildings from the early 20th century

vent

I have to complain about this woman who works at one of my elementary schools. She's nice and tries really hard, but I just find her so irritating! She's always trying to engage me in lively conversation and have me help her with her English, but between classes I just need to decompress. Especially since I go to that school on Friday afternoons and I'm usually exhausted.

Then she comes to almost every class with me. I'm not sure why. I guess it's her job to help me, but it's totally counterproductive because her English is AWFUL but she insists on repeating every word after me, very loudly, which must be very confusing to the students.

Today I was trying to teach them to say the "th" sound, and it was practically impossible with her shouting "sursday" or "tursday" after everytime I said "thursday".
Oh, and she continues to tell the students (after I've corrected her before) to call me "Ashley teacher", which may be the literal translation of "Ashley sensei", but is not how we address teachers in America!

These kids are starting young, and they may have a shot at being good at English if she would just butt out!!

I need a vacation. But it's a long weekend and I leave for Shanghai tomorrow AM!

And since schools here are starting spring break soon, I don't go back to elementary schools till mid April. That'll be a nice break. They can be fun, but so draining and frustrating at times.

happy day

I had motivation today. Not sure where that came from. Maybe the warm weather (it felt like 70 degrees. sooo nice). Or the fact that since I only have 4 months left here, the time seems so managable and the end is in sight. And all the things that I kinda wanted to do in Japan, I have to do now.

While sitting at my desk at school, I studied Japanese (copying characters and writing down new vocab words) instead of just wasting time on the internet as usual. It made the day go so much faster!
And in the evening, instead of sitting in my apt watching TV (and maybe going grocery shopping. woohoo.) I took a walk with my ipod and checked out the tea ceremony club at the cultural center. (Something that's been on my to-do list since fall. But in the winter I just couldn't find the motivation)
It was just 3 people - an older lady who's the teacher and two younger ladies who have been studying it for a few years . They were really nice and welcoming. The little old lady is going to pick up some supplies for me and in April I can start to learn the tea ceremony myself, instead of just watching and drinking the tea like I did today. So that will probably be a regular weekly thing for me.

I've always wanted to learn some of the tea ceremony. My mom took me to the Urasenke tea house in New York when I was writing a report on Japan in 7th grade and that was one of the moments that started my fascination with Japan.

There are a few other clubs I want to check out - maybe taiko drumming and flower arranging. At any rate it was just nice to be out, meeting new people, and doing something somewhat worthwhile with my time.

Happy White Day

So here's the follow up to my Valentine's Day/White Day thread:
On V-day I gave boxes of chocolates to 3 Japanese fellows:
1) Takashi - the hot bartender at my local bar
2) cute math teacher at my school
3) hot guy who works with the special needs kids at my school (awww)
Bachelor #3 gave me a cute little cosmetic bag today, which I thought was a very thoughtful gift. He's a sweetheart. Perhaps I should get to know him better in these final months...
And Takashi actually stopped by my apt tonight to give me a few white cookies (possibly homemade, but not sure). I wasn't really expecting that since we actually had a very, very brief fling between V-day and White Day and I think we both just lost interest and we hadn't spoken in weeks. But the Japanese sense of obligation never falters!
However, cute math teacher did not follow through on his White Day duties, but I've heard he has a girlfriend, so I wasn't really expecting anything from him.
All in all, 2 out of 3 ain't bad and I was very happy with the little bit of male attention on an otherwise dull Monday.

musings on traveling

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

It used to really bother me that there are so many places in the world I want to see, and I probably won't get to all of them.
But now I've decided that an even scarier thought would be feeling like I've seen them all.
I think it would be so awful to look at a map of the world and think "there's nowhere else I really want to go".
I've almost reached that point within Japan and I don't like it.
But there's still a big world outside of Japan left to see.
And for the first time in my life, I find that a very comforting thought.

Above is the world map that's hanging on my wall. Japan is the red country in the middle. I've always found it interesting how every nation creates maps with their own country in the center of the world.

plum blossoms on my way to school

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Originally uploaded by abnihon.

On Monday I went to a green tea public bath in a nearby town. How Japanese is that?


The weather is warming up and my spring travel plans are coming together. yay! China's up first in 10 days. And in 6 weeks I'll be on an American Airlines flight bound for JFK. Mmmmm, so goooood.