April 26, 2004 – Friends Marathon
Posted by Barniferous in Hello House, Life in Japan on April 26, 2014
Tonight in the Hello House common room people were watching Ally McBeal. I hate Ally McBeal. To fix the situation, I busted out my homemade VCD copies of Friends Season 9 that I brought to Japan. I was very proud of my VCDs – I took a lot of effort to make a menu title screen with graphics and everything.
The good news was that I watched 9 back to back episodes before calling it a night. This was much, MUCH better than Ally McBeal. The bad news was that I lost 500 yen in a bet with TimTam that she couldn’t stay awake for the entire 9 episode marathon.
The wild times never stop in Hello House!
April 25, 2004 – Don’t machine wash a tie
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 25, 2014
I learned something very valuable – don`t machine wash ties. It seems like everyone else on the planet already knew this, but I must have missed the memo.
After work I went to a big staff party which was a combination going away / welcome party. I sat in the ordering spot most of the night so it was good Japanese practice. Fun was had by all, and I managed to sprint to the last train just in time. Jem is my new drinking buddy!
April 24, 2004 – Maria’s first day
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Life in Japan, Teaching English on April 24, 2014
Today was the first day for a new teacher who I will call Maria. Unlike most teachers who are in their early to mid 20’s, Maria was somewhere between mid 30’s to 40’s, but was one of those people who always appears youthful and vibrant. Like most new teachers, she was feeling stressed and overwhelmed on her first day of work, mainly due to NOVA’s minimal teacher training. One of my supervisors asked me to help, since I was only a few months removed from being a stressed out new teacher myself. I worked with Maria to help her get her files ready and plan lessons. This made my day quite a bit busier, but I was happy to help.
After work we went out for a drink at a nearby izakaya. As we talked I learned that Maria considered teaching in Japan to be the next in a series of life adventures. She was one of those rare free souls who spends time travelling from place to place and really living life. After another drink or two, she admitted that at one point in her life she was the travelling mistress for a famous Grammy award winning musician (who will remain nameless here). Usually if someone makes a claim like that after a few drinks you take it with a grain of salt and smile politely. With Maria – I completely took her at her word.
After I went home, I was still pumped up from a busy day at work and the alcohol, so I tried to relax by borrowing a a bootleg DVD copy of Kill Bill from one of the other Hello House residents. The picture quality was crap, the subtitles were hilariously wrong, and the disc was damaged so the last 20 minutes were completely unwatchable. Come on bootleggers – take pride in your work!
(2014 Update) My original post lacked a lot of detail about Maria. I usually tried to avoid writing about my coworkers experience in the office while I was still working with them.
April 23, 2004 – Whatever it takes to get English
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on April 23, 2014
In my NOVA kids class today I caught a rubber ball directly in the face and accidentally drew on my own tie with a market. However, the kids all used English for most of the class, so I am happy. Whatever it takes to get them to speak more English in class.
April 22, 2004 – Beef vs. Fish
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on April 22, 2014
Everything screwy that could happen to a person’s schedule happened to mine today. I managed to survive, having to stay about 20 minutes after classes ended to finish all of my paperwork.
The one redeeming feature of my day was an excellent voice class. Inspired by a recent stupid argument with Phoala (I never have anything but stupid arguments with Phoala), I got the students to do a bunch of quick debates between trivial topics. First I gave the students a topic (baseball vs. soccer for example) then found out which side they supported. I then divided the students into teams based on their choice, adjusting the teams to make sure the numbers were fairly even.
The best debate of the day was “beef vs. fish”. Pro beef arguments included:
- Beef is yummy. If beef was yucky we wouldn’t eat it so much. Nobody likes to eat yucky foods.
- Everybody likes a big steak!
- Cows also make milk, and that’s great!
The fish side countered with:
- There are many types of fish, so fish has more variety.
- Beef doesn’t have a long history in Japan. It’s only popular because of a conspiracy from America (seriously)
NOVA does not allow us to discuss any potentially controversial topics (religion, politics, etc), and even if we were allowed, I assume many of the students would refrain from taking strong stands one way or the other in order to preserve the harmony of the classroom. Having quick debates about topics of little consequence was a great opportunity for the students to practice stating their opinions in English without worry. It was also a lot of fun for me, which is a big help in getting through a busy workday with most of my sanity intact.
April 21, 2004 – My alarm clock is a screaming man
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 21, 2014
Today I woke up to the sounds of a screaming Japanese man directly outside my window. He was very distressed, screaming and crying very loudly. I could also hear another voice speaking softly and trying to calm him down. I have no idea what was going on, but it is one of the stranger ways to start my day.
At work, my classes went well and my new group kids class was fantastic. Maybe I will invite the screaming man back again tomorrow.
April 20, 2004 – 420 and Koala tennis
Posted by Barniferous in Hello House, Life in Japan, Marshall on April 20, 2014
Marshall and one or two of the other Hello House residents managed to get their hands on some weed and celebrated 4/20. This was a terrible idea because:
- Japanese drug laws are incredibly strict. Marijuana possession can get you penalties ranging from up to 5 years in jail to being deported for life.
- Stoned Marshall was not exactly good at being stealthy about being stoned. “Hey guys! It’s 420 in my room! Don’t tell anyone!”
- Apparently the weed was not very good.
The rest of us ended up hanging out in the common room watching 30 Seconds to Fame. Contestants get to show off some sort of talent, usually useless or ridiculous, for up to 30 seconds. If the audience hates it, they can vote the person off stage before the 30 seconds are up. Tonight’s performers included a contortionist, salsa dancers, singers, a human beat box, and an old lady playing songs with coke bottles.
At about 12:30am, 4 of us invented a new game that can best be described as Koala Tennis. Basically we had teams batting around a small koala toy with oven mitts and cutting boards in a common hallway. We had a lot of fun, but the game was not very well received by people trying to sleep.
(2014 Update) The entire 4/20 part of this blog entry was omitted in the original 2004 post.
April 19, 2004 – DU invasion confirmed
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 19, 2014
My day off was incredibly lazy. Other than that, the highlight was the DU Manitoba invasion of Japan is now confirmed! Four of my friends from University will be coming to visit in May. Japan beware!
April 18, 2004 – Izu vacation day 2
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Shizuoka, The Penpal on April 18, 2014
Today was the second day of my two day Izu vacation with The Penpal. The main activity of the day was a pottery school. It was well hidden in a residential area built on the side of a hill. The school taught the traditional Japanese way to make pottery. It was really out of the way, and everything was in Japanese which didn’t make it a very common tourist spot for foreigners. Based on the reaction of the staff, I was likely the first non Japanese person they had ever taught.
The Penpal and I decided we would make simple cups. We paid for 1kg of clay and sat down in a room full of other students to await instructions. The pottery instructor came out and started the explanation. He started slowly and then stopped to wait for The Penpal to translate for me. I told her in English that she should just translate everything at the end to avoid holding up the lesson. She passed along the message and then the instructor went full speed ahead for the next 15 minutes. I could only understand about every 5th or 6th word, so I tried my best to remember what he was doing with the clay.
By the end I had a general idea of what I needed to do, so I decided to have a little fun with the instructor. Until this point I had not said a single word of Japanese to anyone. I put up my hand and said:
Me: Sumimasen (Excuse me)
Instructor: Hai (Yes)
Me: Moo ichido itte kudasai. (Please repeat it one more time)
Instructor: (which part)
Me: Zenbu kudasai. (Everything please)
Thinking I was serious, he looked shocked that he would have to give the entire presentation again. At this point I started laughing and told him that I was just joking. This got a good reaction from the rest of the students, and they all took turns coming over to say hi and to lie about how good my pottery wasn’t. I was especially popular with the middle aged ladies. A little of a foreign language and a smile goes a long way to make friends.
When we left I got a lot of bows and sayonaras from the students and staff. The Penpal was largely ignored by everyone else, which was a little sad. We drove back to Mishima station and said goodbye and I was on my way home.
One the train ride home, a little old man started talking to me in excellent English. He asked me for my business card (I didn’t have one) and said that next time I came to Izu, would I please stay at his hotel and help him practice English. In exchange he would serve me traditional Japanese food. The other people around us on the train all seemed to be interested and or amused by this conversation. I love Izu!
April 17, 2004 – Izu vacation day 1
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Shizuoka, The Penpal on April 17, 2014
Today I woke up extra early to start a 2 day vacation to Izu with The Penpal. I took the Odakyu line to Odawara, switched to the Tokaido line, and met The Penpal at Mishima station. We got into her tiny car and headed off to the curvy mountainous roads of Izu peninsula. Small cars and mountain roads are not friends.
Our first stop was the Cycle Sports Centre in central Izu, which is a bicycle theme park located in the middle of the mountains. There were a number of attractions and activities, but we came for the 5km bicycle circuit. We picked out bicycles and helmets, and then the nice attendant gave instructions on the brake handles. In Japan, the right brake handle operates the front wheel brake. This important piece of knowledge saved me flying over the handlebars.
The course started out with a really fun curvy downhill section. Unfortunately what followed was a miserable steep uphill section that just about killed us both. After about 3km I realized that I was terribly out of shape. We survived the rest of the course and spent a good amount of time recovering in the resting area inside.
Later we went to Ito, which is a city built on the side of the hills next to the ocean. We actually saw palm trees! There was a beautiful beach with people surfing. I couldn’t believe how different Izu was from the greater Tokyo area. It was like I had entered a different country. We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant near the beach, and then went to our hotel for the evening.
We stayed at a small hotel owned and operated by one of The Penpal’s friends. The main attraction of the hotel was a beautiful private outdoor bath. Guests could reserve the outdoor bath for 30 minute blocks. The Penpal and I enjoyed sitting in neck deep hot water looking at the Izu scenery. It was a fantastic day!
Drinking in Japan 
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