Archive for category The Penpal
July 8, 2005 – Rainy day in Odaiba
Posted by Barniferous in Greater Tokyo Area, The Penpal, Tokyo on July 8, 2015
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In the continuing adventures of my week off, I met up with The Penpal today and we went to Odaiba in Tokyo. It was a rainy day, which is unusual because for the first year or so that we knew each other, it never EVER rained when we were together. We walked around some of the same places that I went with my crazy friends when they came to visit last summer.
In the evening we had dinner in Yokohama. It was fun to get to spend a whole day out of the city with my wonderful girlfriend.
June 24, 2005 – My weight in beef
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal on June 24, 2015
I had the day off today as part of working Monday on a shift swap. I didn’t do much in the daytime, but in the evening I went to Gyu-kaku with the Penpal where I ate my weight in beef.
Mmmmm meat sweats!
June 21, 2005 – Pizza and Super Mario Brothers
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal on June 21, 2015
I have two days off every week. Usually on one of them The Penpal comes over to visit after work. Typically we hang out for a bit, go out for dinner, and generally do typical boyfriend / girlfriend stuff.
Today when she showed up, she asked if we could stay in, order some pizza, and play Super Mario Brothers.
It’s official, I have the best girlfriend ever!
June 17, 2005 – Making out in the park
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on June 17, 2015
I work an early shift on Friday, so usually after work I meet up with The Penpal and we hang out at one of the parks near Mishima station. Her office is conveniently about half way between my workplace and her house, and only takes a few minutes by bicycle.
Our usual hangout spot was taken, so we went to a nearby park for the first time. Unlike a typical “park” in Tokyo, which usually consists of a tree and a bench, this one was a reasonable size. The park was laid out around a large pond filled with fish, with a tree lined path around the outside and several benches to sit and enjoy the view.
On one side of the path, just off to our left, we saw two high school kids sitting on another bench. They were far enough away that we couldn’t see exactly what they were doing, but they were close enough to get the general idea. I understand that there aren’t a lot of private places in Japan, especially ones accessible to high school kids, but a public park during is not the best place to get “friendly” when it’s still bright outside.
The fun stopped temporarily when an old lady walking her dog came across the students. She glared at them with what I assume was an evil look (her back was to us) until they stopped what they were doing and sat up. This brief pause lasted about as long as it took for the lady to angrily walk by, at which time they enthusiastically started up again.
Spending time with The Penpal after work is always fun. Today however, the students were enjoying the park much more than The Penpal and I were.
June 14, 2005 – Come and Knock on our Door…
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan, The Penpal on June 14, 2015
My roommate Palmer is away in Thailand for 3 weeks on vacation. My other roommate Azeroth was teaching, so The Penpal and I had the apartment to ourselves for a change, or so we thought.
The Penpal came over and we went to Super Kadoike, the small supermarket across the street from our apartment building. We bought ingredients to cook spaghetti with tomato, bacon, and eggplant sauce. We returned home and started cooking.
While cooking, we were very surprised to see Palmer’s girlfriend Mia walk into the apartment with a load of laundry. I had not idea that she had her own key! She introduced herself to The Penpal, started doing the laundry, and then took a shower. After her shower she came out to talk to us while wrapped in a towel and drying her hair with another towel.
Yes, it was as awkward as it sounded.
Mia did not live in our apartment, but did spend the night with Palmer on occasion. I have no idea why she thought it would be okay to just make herself at home while Palmer was away, or why on earth she thought it was a good idea to talk to The Penpal and I while she was wearing a towel. WTF indeed!
Later in the evening I did my best to assure The Penpal that Mia did not often just hang around in a towel. I think I will be discussing this with Palmer when he gets home!
(2015 Update) This was about the time I made the decision to start saving up for my own apartment.
March 19, 2005 – Mountain Climbing and Movies
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Movies, The Penpal on March 19, 2015
Today I had a day off due to a shift swap with another teacher. Since it was a Saturday, I got to spend some quality time with The Penpal. We went mountain climbing and watched a movie.
For those who have been reading a while and noticed that most of my leisure activities involve sitting, singing, drinking, or all of the above at the same time, you may think that mountain climbing is a bit out of character. You would be correct. The “mountain” we climbed has a peak about 400 meters above sea level, and has a hiking trail up the side.
Mt. Kanuki is famous for a large pagoda on the top. It is also famous as a home of wild boars. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any on our hike. I didn’t get a picture of the pagoda, but I did get a great picture of Mt. Fuji from the top of Mt. Kanuki.
Mt. Fuji as seen from Mt. Kanuki
We ate lunch at the top of Mt. Kanuki and spent some time enjoying the view and hanging out. After that, we started the walk back down to the bottom and returned to my apartment. We watched Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. It was my first time to see the movie, and it was fantastic. The movie is a story about a spoiled little girl who has her family taken away and her name stolen, and she has to fight to get them back. Highly recommended!
March 4, 2005 – Surprise English!
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on March 4, 2015
Another easy day at work with almost no students coming for class AGAIN. After work I went for coffee with The Penpal at the nearby Newton Cafe. The waitress is a student at NOVA, so I decided to give her some free English practice by ordering in English. I completely caught her off guard with this, but overall she seemed happy to have a chance to use English outside of the classroom. I told her that since I knew she worked at the cafe, I would come back and order in English again.
Instead of using the train to get home, I decided to try out the bus with The Penpal. Unlike the train system, Japanese buses are very confusing and not user friendly. I will write about it in more detail in the next week or so.
March 1, 2005 – Happy Birthday to The Penpal
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal on March 1, 2015
Today was The Penpal’s birthday. We spent the evening together when she was done work. For her present I wrote her a bunch of birthday haikus in English and simple Japanese.
Yes, it’s a bit of a cheesy present, but she seemed to like it so all is well.
February 14, 2005 – Valentine’s Day
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal on February 14, 2015
Happy Valentine’s day! I can’t believe that it was my second Valentine’s Day with The Penpal! As is the tradition in Japan, She got me some Valentine’s chocolate. Men in Japan don’t have to get anything for their girlfriends or wives, which is a pretty good deal for the guys. However, I am Canadian, not Japanese. I made a trip to the department store across from Numazu station and got a small box of fancy sweets for The Penpal. She was not expecting anything so she was surprised and appreciative.
February 1, 2005 – What makes a lady “foxy”?
Posted by Barniferous in Karaoke, Shizuoka, The Penpal on February 1, 2015
Everyone at work has colds. I felt like I was starting to get something, so I had a very relaxing day off. To be fair, I am pretty lazy on most of my days off.
In the evening I hung out with The Penpal and her friend Williams, who had just returned to Japan from a 3 month trip to England, with a run through Italy, Belguim, and France on the way home. His English definitely sounded different after a few months of speaking with native speakers.
When a Japanese person goes to another country to practice English, they usually come back with a bit of the local accent, and some more casual expressions. Nobody was going to mistake Williams for a Londoner, but he did sound more James Bond than he did previously. He was also using “like”, “you know”, and “know what I mean” liberally. These space filling expressions really help an ESL speaker sound more like a native speaker.
Despite my intentions to take care of my voice, the three of us ended up at karaoke. My new song of the evening was “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix, which thankfully doesn’t require a lot of singing ability. After the song finished, I had to try to explain what exactly makes a lady “foxy” to both The Penpal and Williams. English is hard!
Drinking in Japan 
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