Sale item number 1

This is my first attempt to sell some of my photos!  I made this 2011 calendar of sites around Japan.  If you are interested, please visit the site above and buy one for your home or office!

I hope you enjoy looking and please give me your honest feedback.

Thank you.

Lana

No biggie

「行ける」か「行かれる」。。。どちらが正しいですか。丁寧になるってこと？ちょっと分かりません。

I read today that "game playing and intimacy are mutually exclusive."  What do you think about this comment?

-La

Hm, hm, hai, hai

When you're speaking to someone in Japanese either in person or on the phone, the person listening will make mild gestures and noises to show that they are listening.  These can be sounds like, "hm, hm" or "hai, hai," and they continue throughout the duration of the conversation.

Until today, when I was trying to relay some things to teachers in English OR in Japanese, I simply assumed they were really busy and were trying to hurry me to the point.  Sometimes it may have been this, but I realized that perhaps they are just using the Japanese "I'm listening" indication noises even when talking in English.  Maybe they aren't trying to hurry me along, but are simply showing me that they're listening.  It's funny how one thing so basic in Japanese can turn into something so different in English!  Try doing this with a friend who wouldn't be offended if you explained it to them afterward, and tell me what you think.

Lana

The Easter Bunny forgot to hop by Japan

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter is not really celebrated in Japan and is almost unheard of here, but I got to spend the day with some wonderful people and was able to have a blast anyway.  Two nights ago Elliott, Amelia and I made some Easter eggs with what materials we could find.  The dye wasn't great and we had a lack of colors, but it was still fun.  This morning we all shared some mini-m&ms, had a brief Easter egg hunt, and went out to Kofu for lunch.

I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend as well!  I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already.

At the end of this next week I'll be visiting my old host family in Shimane.  I waited too long to make the bus reservations and all of the buses filled up by the time I got around to it.  I was a little worried and had to think of a new route to get there, but at the last minute this morning I looked again, and it turned out someone had canceled their spot on the bus I wanted!  Getting to Shimane is not impossible, but it is far, inconvenient, and expensive.  The night bus is the easiest way to get there, and only one leaves from Tokyo every day.  Anyway, luck was on my side this time.  Lesson for next time, MAKE RESERVATIONS IN ADVANCE!

I will be away from 4/29 in the evening until 5/5.  I will not have internet access during that time, so I will not be able to answer any e-mails or update my blog.  Please do not worry about me if I don't respond to any messages during that time.

That's all for now!  Back to work tomorrow after the nice weekend.  After this trip to Shimane I hope I can avoid spending any large sum of money for a while.  I'm starting to feel a bit too open at the moment when it comes to spending.  I would like to travel around Japan though while I'm living here, and spending money is the only way to do that.  Anyone have any suggestions as to where I should travel next?  Also, I'm looking to travel a little more around Asia while I'm close.  Any suggestions?

Catch you later!

Lana

Really?

As I was making my coffee today, I discovered on the bag that you're not supposed to put coffee grounds in the freezer.  Is this always the case, or was it just the case for that specific type?

Efficiency

Hello everyone!

I just started reading Timothy Ferriss' The 4-hour Work Week.  At first I was a little skeptical, but so far -I'm about 20% through it- I think there is a lot of useful information that I can take from it and apply to my own life.  I would recommend it, especially to those who put hours and hours of time and effort into every day and don't get enough fulfillment out of what they do.  What I've learned so far is that a lot of the things I do that make me busy, really are just that: things to keep me busy.  By evaluating what gives you the most success and pleasure in your day and cutting out the busywork, ultimitely it will lead to a happier you.

I have gotten into the flow of the school year and will meet my last first-year class today.  I'm impressed by how differently the second years behave now, and am excited to work with the new English teachers.

Check out that book!

Lana

Storm

Relatives in Ohio-  are you all ok after that big storm??  No house damage?

SPCA

Amy L Rosato is walking for donations for the SPCA Westchester on April 30th in FDR park.  If anyone is interested, please contact her.  Good luck on your walk mom!  I hope it's not raining so that you don't have to carry Gracie.

-Lana

More information can be found here.

Cherry Blossom Letters

 

Hello all!

Please check out this website.  It is geared toward younger children, but is a great way to help eastern Japan get through this very difficult time.  If you know any school teachers, young children, or even adults who would be interested in participating, please pass along this link.

Thank you for all of your help in advance!

Lana

http://cherryblossomletters.com/

Summer Vacation

Well, it turns out that I have used up all of my allowed photo space on my blog!  For now I am using a website called Flickr to upload photos, but I may have to go through and delete photos in old posts before too long to make space for new ones.

So I'm back!  I've had a rather busy and eventful last two or three weeks.  Very early on Saturday morning, March 26th, I took a 7:30 AM bus from Kofu 甲府 to Kyoto 京都.  I left my house at about 6:30 and arrived in Kyoto at around 2:30.  There I met my friend B. who flew all the way from the US to see me and to explore Japan.  We went back and forth a few times trying to decide if it was wise that she come to Japan in the midst of all of the earthquakes and trouble, but in the end we decided that there may not be another chance as good as this one so she came.  We ended up cutting Tokyo and Mt. Fuji out of our trip to accommodate for strange train schedules and blackouts, and instead spent the entirety of our trip around southern Japan.  Today I will talk about our Kyoto portion of the trip.

Despite Kyoto station being massive, I was able to find B. with ease in front of Kyoto tower.  We made our way to the hostel, and decided to explore around Gion in Kyoto that evening.
(Please click photos to view them larger.)

Awesome shoes that we saw at the hostel.

A really cool hotel in Gion.  It reminded me of "Spirited Away," a Hayao Miyazaki film.

Sakura and a restaurant in the background.  This river and small road was once named the prettiest place in Asia.  I'm not sure if I agree with so bold a statement, but it was in fact very nice.

We were in Kyoto for about three days and did/saw a number of the following things:

Aqueduct.  This was the day we got turned around in the mountains for about an hour and I sprained my foot.  It caused problems for the rest of the trip but B. taped it up and we made due.  Allergies and a cold also tried to keep us down, but I think we still managed to get a lot in!

The Silver Pavilion. 銀閣寺

Pooh`s? ...  cafe!

A tea ceremony demonstration.

The model for our boat tour.

Our boat "drivers!"

The view.  If the water levels had been higher, the whole trip would have only taken about an hour.  With the lower water levels it took about two.

Our boats leaving.

Us in the ancient bamboo forest.

I'm pretty sure this tree wasn't forged and simply grew this way naturally.

A castle.  We were able to go inside and look around.  We got there as it was closing however and had to rush through.  This building has famous "nightingale floors" that creak/chirp as you walk on it.  This helped them know if there were intruders.　鶯張り

The famous Golden Pavilion; 金閣寺

I'd say we did the majority of our traditional sight-seeing in Kyoto.  We got to do other things not shown in pictures too.  We did some local gift or omiyage shopping, climbed some mountains, saw more temples, castles and shrines, and got to do lots of walking and viewing of nice scenery.  Sakura, which is Cherry Blossom in English, weren't out just yet.  Sakura bloom only in the spring for around two weeks and then all of the petals fall off of the tree for the rest of the year.  We weren't able to see any trees fully blooming on our trip, but I have since been able to take a few pictures of them in Yamanashi and I will post them in a few days.  It's too bad that they were a little late to bloom this year, otherwise B. would have been in Japan at the perfect time!  Also, due to the Earthquake there were many fewer foreigners in Japan.  Almost everywhere we went was less crowded than usual.  Also, many random people came up to us just to practice their English.  We had a group of English Circle University students tour us around The Silver Pavilion, and we had another park volunteer tour us around a park later in our trip for free.  One person even asked us our opinion about foreign tourism in light of everything that's happening now.  He is trying to start up his own business and is worried that no one will be coming to Japan for quite some time.

So far I still think that Kyoto is among my favorite places in Japan.

I will end here for today, and continue the next leg of the trip in my post tomorrow.
Happy reading!
-Lana

Back!

Hey all!
I'm back from break and went straight back to work.  The new school year in Japan starts in April, so this week has been a bit busy preparing the school for the new first years.  We had the entrance ceremony today and another beginning of school ceremony tomorrow.  I'll write a longer entry about my spring break and about this week at this weekend.

Until then,

Lana