Friday, June 26, 2009
♥ Godzilla Wants A Ride
The lone reason for this update is to show off the adorable shirt I saw today at Charlotte Russe and immediately grabbed. How can you not love this shirt? HOW?!
And that is all. Enjoy.
5:50 AM
Thursday, June 25, 2009
♥ NYC Seminar, Morimoto, and Lesbians
This past weekend I headed to New York City with my little sister to attend the pre-depature orientation/seminar for JET and have a little last hurrah with her before she goes into surgery.
Hijinks occured.
Morimoto
Masaharu Morimoto is one of the Iron Chefs of America and Japan... a ridiculously adorable cook with fucking amazing food. Briana and I have always liked him and after watching a gazillion Iron Chefs, we decided he was not only the best, but invincible (yes yes he has lost, but rarely, he's the shit, shut up). So, when told we should have the best possible time I decided the way to go was to try and get reservation at his NYC restraurant in Chelsea. I shockingly did and on Friday BriBri and I got dressed up in "casual chic" (really, what the hell does that even mean?!) and headed down to near the Chelsea Piers to go to the messiah's restaurant.Least to say, this was the best culinary experience of my life. The service was impeccable, the ambience perfect... oh it was fantastic. We were so excited that we fangirled quite a bit, and I am not ashamed to admit that. We were impressed down to the clear chopsticks (which we stole) and the unique plates. Morimoto, sadly, was not there, but in his place we have the ever darling Marcus who made sure there was no soy cooked or poured into any of our food so Briana would be completely fine. I had a $14 4oz glass of plum sake and it was the best damn thing ever, haha. I'm sure the entire experience added to my taste buds having a constant orgasm, but you get what you paid for, and well, we paid a fuckton. The food was delicious. I've never had real sushi rice I discovered, but I did at Morimoto's. You could subtly taste the vinegar and it added so much more to the maki rolls. They used fresh eel for our unagi and it was just so... aaaaahhhh. I feel like I need a private moment. So Briana gotthe Surf 'n Turf with Wagyu Beef (basically the Americna version of Kobe Beef) and I got the seafood toban yaki, a delightful seafood menagerie cooked in a wooden bowl of sorts. This was just amazing. Delicious. However, even if Morimoto makes them, I do not like scallops. But the meal was just... delicious, divine, perfect.
But that alone is not what made the night.
When we first arrived we were placed in a room sort of off to the side, the only other people in there was a part of around six middle-aged guys, very unattractive middle-aged guys. Briana left to go to the bathroom and I sat there very slowly sipping my sake, mainly because I wanted to get my worth of it, when one called over asking how I was... so I sadi good and went back to sipping. He asked what I was having, said sake, asked me if it was good, I said yes. Then he went away and we were left alone until we started fangirling again. Their "leader" asked where we were from and we said Maryland, he then asked what we were doing that night and I, without a moments thought, said we were on a date. His response; "Aw that's great... we would love to see you kiss." My sister's response; "We don't do shows."
XD.
Least to say they left us alone. However, later that night we ordered room service and our guy came in and upon noticing we had only one bed (booked through Hotwire) became very cordial and fancy, laying everything out for us. He handed me the check to sign and said "ALl you need to say is I Do eh?"
So all of New York City believes my sister and I are a lesbian couple.
And so we continue on tot he next day.
JET Pre-Departure Seminar
There is a lot that I could ramble on about this, so I'll try and make it short to save you all from endless text. It was actually a LOT of fun. I was very nervous going in, but as soon as I sat down and people started arriving and chatting, things got very casual and quite entertaining. Sarah (my fellow curly-haired Shizuoka gal) and I finally met in real life, so that was very exciting. Even though she's in Hamamatsu (other major city in Shiz at the other side of the prefecture) I foresee many adventures in the future. As well as with the rest of the Kansai/Chubu NYC JETs, we were a very interesting table, we Table 5.
It's always interesting when you meet a facebook friend in person for the first time. You're used to seeing this two dimensional picture and just a bunch of words, so when you see the actual being you sort of freak out. Maybe that's me. I dunno. You sort of semi-recognize a person, but you've only seen their pixels, so seeing them animated is a little off-putting. I've also noticed that everyone has the same expression when they are trying to figure out if they know a person, and they all say the person's name with the same inflection. Haha. It's like, I think I know you, I hope I know you, but if I don't I don't want ot be so ridiculously wrong in my assumption, so I won't go right out and call you by your name. Instead I will ask you if you exist by simply saying you name as a question. It typically works. I did it to. I want to test this in the future. Anywho, it was very cool to actually meet these people that I'll be living in Japan with, even if we don't live that close to one another. Least to say, the NYC JETs are an extremely entertaining bunch. Especially where batons are concerned.
Imagine a group of 100 21-to-30-year-olds waving batons around screaming out answers to some very silly and intelligent questions,a ll the while trying to one up one another by lifting their batons higher than the other teams. Hahaha, least to say there was some smack talk starting and I was quickly labeled as dangerous because I was quick, which prompted the mediators to make us all pass the batons. Then we failed. Figures. Our team (Yellow ftw) ended up tying for first, so that was exciting, though I had the reputation the rest of the day as the crazy baton girl that had a crazy interview thanks to the keynote speaker recognizing me haha. That was fun, I wish I had gotten a chance to talk to him later on, but I was never able to meet up with him after his speech.
A lot of information was thrown at us, some useful, others not at all. The lunch was quite delicious and I had no idea what I ate... apparently I had some lotus root, which, if i did, it was quite delicious and i highly recommend it. 'Twas crunchy. What I wasn't a huge fan of was a giant ball of miso on a toothpick. I'm a bit texture person so that bothered me. The flavor wasn't terrible, it was just... different. I really don't want to know what I'm eating in Japan. I hope they just tell me after, so if I like it I can rest easy knowing I like bizarre weird things. Oy. But yeah, poor Briana was left at the hotel all day (though she seemed very happy playing the Sims 3), so I opted not to go out drinking with everyone (I don't know if anyone from out table went out actually) and instead headed back for another fun filled night in NYC.
The Rest
We headed out to more asian food and Times Square that night, and the next morning met our father at Sarabeth's at Central Park South for Father's Day brunch. Step-mum and half brother joined and eventually we were back on the train to Union Station.
NYC is a fantastically amusing place. Japan creeps closer and I cannot wait to get there.
I loved the seminar all in all. I loved meeting people and now it's truly truly happening. Schwee.
Labels: JET, Morimoto, NYC, Pre-Departure
8:13 AM
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
♥ Yaizu-Shi and the Life Ahead
How do I keep getting so damn lucky?!
Here is all the information I know thus far, which is quite a great deal.
The Prefecture
Shizuoka-ken! Home of Mt. Fuji!
I'm actually quite excited! Chubu was my #3 choice, so I'm really happy that I actually got something I asked for! Shizuoka, aka "Izu" or "Shiz" (my personal favorite) seems to be a fantastic placement and everyone is saying fabulous things about it. XD apparently all the Izu JETs get together in August to climb Mt. Fuji... aaahhhh, I'm going to do it and try it, but there is a saying "You have to climb it once, but only a fool climbs it twice."
Also seems Shiz JETs are known for being partiers XD, haha, ah well, that could be fun.
Now let's just hope that earthquake doesn't hit.
Oh, you didn't know? The Tokai Earthquake happens every 100-150 years and compeltely decimates Shizuoka and the sorrounding area. The power of this earthquake can cause the otherwise sleepy mt. Fuji to erupt, which could cause a tsunami. Know the fun part? The last quake was in 1854... least it say it's overdue, haha. Yessss. I figure if it does happen, at least I'll go out in style.
The City
YAIZU-SHI!!!! It's right by the Suruga Bay and is a fishing city known for their super awesome sushi! It is only 15 minutes by train from the capital city of Shizuoka-shi as well. I got my wish to be in a city (even if it is small), and I'm on the water so that is also completely fantastic. Here's an English website I found... must learn Japanese...
http://www.city.yaizu.shizuoka.jp/english/
The School
I am teaching at Yaizu Chou High School which is the second best high school in Shizuoka, so I'm gonna get smart kids XD! My pred says I will have a lot of free time since oral lessons are only for the ichi-nensei (first year high school) classes, but that's okay. She says the English department is fantastic and that I will have opportunities to eat lunch with the kids and help with clubs and stuff, so exciting!
A few of the English teachers want to get in touch with me, so sometime this week or next week my pred will be emailing me their letters. I'm so excited that they're excited to talk to me and learn about me. I know that I am going to have a fabulous time there and I'm truly very thankful forthis oppurtunity I've been given.
I'm really excited since it seems the students there speak very good English, so I won't have to worry about communication that much since... I can only order drinks in Japanese thus far. O sake wo kudasai? Arigatou gozaimasu. Granted, very useful, but not with children.
I found their website!
http://www.shizuoka-c.ed.jp/yaizuchuo-h/
The Apartment
I've gotten some pictures of it and it is quite adorbale and quite Japanese, haha. I get a nice bright red bicycle from the school, complete with basket, so that is quite nice. The apartment is old, but not ridiculously old... I at least don't have to crank for my hot water, all that is electronic. I'm quickly learning the Japanese do everything possible electronically, I'm quite curious about this... I want to play.
Anywho, I live in a teacher's complex, though the other teachers there teach in Fujieda, the next city over. As my pred put it, this is good in case I'm a bit rowdy or whatnot, it won't get back to the office. Haha. Anyways, here is some more information for the curious...
Here is the adorable blurb my pred wrote about it; "Nestled in the heart of Nishi-Yaizu, this centrally located two-bedroom apartment sits only a two-minute walk to the nearest train station and is within close walking distance to work, supermarkets, and other stores-- you'll be the envy of every ALT in the area! With magnificent urban views (aka other apartment buildings), the apartment features two bedrooms upstairs and a practical kitchen, living area, bathroom, and toilet downstairs. The apartment comes fully-furnished with arrangements for the purchase of furnishings to be negotiated with the current tenant."
Fuck. yeah.
She's selling me the apartment for around ¥45,000 which is quite fair. It has a couch, and actual BED, four futons, tons of amaneities... she bought it from her pred for nearly double that, so she's giving me a great deal. This way I don't have to deal with buying stuff when I first get there. She's also made it nicer, since boys lived there before and well... sorry boys... you're smelly and messy. I'm pretty sure I'm going to take her up on it. Everything seems in great condition and we've talked a lot so I do trust her, which is always good, some people have terrible predecessors. Once again, I got truly lucky and I canot be thankful enough for that.
And to top this all off, my rent for the month? $183!!!! I live in the city and that is all I pay !!! I am only five minutes by bike from my school or an eight minute walk, and I'm two minutes from the train station, fifteen from the Shinkansen. Fucking awesome. There's another ALT in Yaizu, so that is pretty cool too, he's actually quite sweet and we shall hve fun together I imagine. There's two ALTs in Fujieda that are a couple as well as a few private company teachers around Yaizu and Fujieda (not to mention Shizuoka-shi is right there), so least to say I will have a great support group once I get there.
Least to say I am so stoke... I'm so stoked I'm using the word stoked.
4:13 AM
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