Homework for the Overactive Brain

Today's Quote--"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me..."

Sunday, October 19, 2003

 

Hee, hee, hee. Sorry everyone, forgot to explain the whole quote thing, which I promised I would do. Okay, so, here goes...why "Chotto" is the Japanese Excuse for Everything. Literaly, Chotto means little. However, there are verious situations where "chotto" ends up meaning, "Can't go, have other things to do". In Japan you don't have to give a reason why you are refusing an invitation to something, so simply saying "chotto" and drawing it out, sucking a little air through your teeth and putting on a "well...." kinda face gets you out of doing something you don't want to do. So, although "chotto" it self isn't an excuse, it takes the place of one...and is applicable nearly everywhere. Right, soo, that was the explination you missed out on last time. All righty, moving on.

Went to my district meeting on Friday, had a good time. Forgot Roomie was famous up here in Northern Japan. Definately fall now...cool, lots of red leaves, and lots of leaves off the trees. Ahh, loving it. Had a nice weekend, but as always never long enough. Went with E and K to most of the stops on the subway line that we use to get to school...some pretty nifty stuff! If you ever get the chance to ride a subway and get off and wander around every stop, with friends, I would recomend it...you get to see all kinds of nifty stuff you probably didn't even know existed...and there are lots of pretty parks around too! Went to a chocolate factory and several local parks. People are always interesting too!

Having a little bit of a hard streatch here in the middle...I'm nearly halfway between leaving and going...so home looks far away from both sides. Missing home and everyone, especially one very fuzzy kitty. Had a dream the other day about my SUA buds...met them on a random field trip to some school that looked like it belonged in England...E. was wearing a bright pink plastic trench-coat that somehow looked great on her. ;) And boy was I glad to give a round of hugs to everyone! Ahhh...yep, missing ya'll.

Okay, time for some fun Japan interesting facts. Food...yep, love talking about Japanese food. Most people want to talk about the raw fish and moving food you have to chase down, but today, I want to talk about the simple things. Two foods that I will miss intensely when I return to the US...Melon soda and Moss Burger. Melon soda is sooooooooo good...that tart beginning with the smooth, sweet finish...mmmm...and who can resist a green pop? Moss Burger is a chain store, kinda like McieD's, but their burgers actually have a good flavor, a little chili, and you get french fries and onion rings together! (plus you can eat your burger with a melon soda!) The service is superbe and the food tastes great...the only downfall, you eat one burger and fries (AKA Set), and you're still a little hungry. Solved that problem with some KFC wraps yesterday. ;) Okay...things I won't miss...Grapes. You ever eaten something that claimed to be 'grape' flavored and wondered why it tasted the way it did...nothing like actual grapes? Well, here in Japan they have the grapes where that taste came from. Now, I never liked that flavor anyway, but now to have one of my favorite fruits ruined by it? Oy. And you can't eat the skin. And you're supposed to eat the seeds. I've solved that problem, no skin, no seeds...then they're edible. But I try to avoid them as much as possible....but somehow I keep ending up with a bowl of them for breakfast...hmmmm.

Okay, off of food for a moment (are you hungry now? Betcha want some melon soda...wait, I want some melon soda...hmmm). Oh yes...you want to see pictures? Go to my friend K's site www.dipandbob.com/pics/morejapan lots of stuff there...;) Can't send you all copies, sorry, so you have to go check them out for yourself.

All right, one last I.P. for today. Radio and TV. 3 stations. Each. Well, 3 stations on FM...tons on AM but none play music. And the ones that play music are about half music half talk...oy. And they play a lot of R&B or Rap music which I really don't like. But I listen anyway...ahhh, missing my computer and the large music collection I've got there. But I do enjoy a lot of the J-Pop. (AKA Japan Popular Music). Ah yes, and TV. 3 channels...and that's the wide selection. Things are on at weird times, sometimes ending at 48 past the hour. They usually fill in such gaps with news and weather. I can get the weather, but the news is sometimes really hard...okay, usually really hard! I've listened to the 7pm bilingual news a few times, so I know a little of what's going on...Like Prime Minister Koizumi trying to rally support for America...Oy. A picture of him meeting Bush was on the front page of the newspaper the other day...oy. And Arnie is the Govoner of California? What is the world coming to? Who knows...Anyway, the TV is entertaining...especially when the same like 12 comedians are the hosts of every show...I like the American guy...He speaks Japanese all the time, but I've watched several showes he's on and he's really funny...of course most of his jokes are slapstick (Hey look at what the stupid Gaijin did/said/etc.). Still kinda funny.

Right...Okay, off to work out. Take care all, it's getting colder...don't catch any colds now, ya hear?!

GL 10:19 PM