OH NO SHE DIDN'T DO IT AGAIN!

Ya'll, the laundry room bandit has been at it again, but THIS time I caught her!

So, I'm washing clothes on a not so busy Friday evening. No one else had anything going when I first started so I used both washing machines and dryers. Those two loads were done, and I had one more to go. When that third load finished washing and I came back I put them in the dryer I noticed that someone else had started washing and had left their pink laundry basket in the laundry room. I started the dryer and went back in my room. About 15 minutes later, I walked by the laundry room to go to the bathroom and I saw one of my socks and a shirt hanging out of the washing machine which was ODD because I had JUST put them in the dryer and turned it on 15 minutes prior. Low and behold, my things were in the washer and someone else's were now in their place drying away.

I. WAS. HOT.

So I took that person's things out, put my things back in the dryer turned it on. And wrote another note for the B&%#$ who took my wet things out of the dryer telling her we needed to talk and where to find me, went back to my room and left the door open, waiting. Now, it wasn't the middle of the night like the last time so I was pretty sure she would come back to the laundry room before I went to sleep. And she did.

She went in there and saw her things on the floor and of course she was upset but who cares? We had a nice little argument in which she tried to say that the dryer had stopped and she wanted to use the machine -blah,blah,blah- all lies. I told her to stop being such a liar, he mother would be disappointed and few other choice words as well. I don't really know how to argue or be a smart ass in Japanese so that sucks, but I doubt she will pull that stunt again. But if she does, she will have to spend twice as long washing clothes because her stuff is going back on the floor. I can understand wanting to use a machine and taking out dry clothes, but wet ones? Not cool.

Common courtesy is seriously lacking in the dormitories on this campus. I think Japanese mothers do so much for their kids when they live at home, that they are rendered helpless when they have to do things on their own in the real world. You should see the way the hallways, toilets, kitchens and laundry rooms around this campus look. Absolutely filthy. They must be expecting someone's mama or granma to come behind them and clean up, and while they are waiting, the rest of us who have some decency about us have to suffer.

Japan Fashion Note (JFN)

From time to time I will be including some random trend or fashion related news I stumble upon. Since Japan is the place were lots of trends begin I will try to help my folks stay ahead of the curve.

Browsing through the Japan Times today I found this wonderful article about a fusion of Japanese and African culture. WAFRICA is the brand name of the clothing line. This designer has taken the patterns and fabric of traditional African garb and combined it with the pattern/style of kimono. It's fabulous. I'm going to try to check out the store next time I'm in Tokyo to see if the pieces come together as nicely when they aren't on a professional model.

This type of blending of cultures is what I am really interested in. When something can be artistic and beautiful and still maintain pure elements of each culture and still have a classic and traditional feel the artist has done a very good job.

Have a look at the site and let me know what you think.

No Class Tomorrow!

Well, no formal class that is. Tomorrow, my Japanese class is taking a field trip one of the most famous mountains in Japan, Mount Tsukuba. It conveniently located on the outskirts of the city I live in so it makes for a great day trip. It is known for its "Twin Peaks" and a magical toad oil that is believed to cure all types of skin ailments. I'm not really sold on this magical oil stuff, but I'm going to buy some if it isn't too expensive just to see what the hype is all about. The mountain really has an interesting history (read: follow the link above to Wiki for more details) so I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

Yet another thing that intrigues me about my new home is that the contradictions are endless. I really can appreciate the emphasis that is put on nature and respect for nature...and at the same time, I can buy a box of 5 cookies where each cookie is individually wrapped. They have just recently picked up the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" phrase.

My PSA to the people of Japan: "Just Say No!" to disposable chopsticks and plastic shopping bags people.

After we ride up the mountain, we are scheduled to have a fancy lunch (that cost me nearly $20 so it better be good!) at a nearby Japanese style hotel (旅館) and then off to some museum that I think is going to be extra boring. Maybe they will prove me wrong...

More info and pictures to come after the trip. Now I have to lay out my school clothes and pack my bag to make sure I have everything I need (including hand sanitizer, tissues, and hand towel - most public bathrooms don't have towels!).

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!

So, after I finished my post yesterday, I studied for a little while longer and then went to the laundry room to check on my last batch of clothes. Just to set the scene (as Fun Richie would do), our laundry room is pretty small and is made up of two washers, two dryers and a sink. My room is directly across from the laundry room so I hear when both the washer and dryer stop. I had already washed and dried one load and was waiting for a dryer to open up to dry my second load that had just finished washing. To my surprise, in the 10 minutes between when my washer stopped and I went to go check on dryer availability some &^%$# moved my clothes out of the washing machine and put them on top of the other machine! Which, pissed me off for several reasons: #1. Don't touch my stuff. #2. The top washing machine is filthy. Housekeeping sucks here. #3. The washing machine hadn't been stopped more than 10 minutes. Have a little patience.

I went back to my room to craft the below note and went back to the laundry room to put my load in the open dryer and turned it on leaving the note on the face of the dryer.

I came back 45 minutes later to find that my wet clothes were BACK in the washing machine and someone had taken my things out of the dryer and put theirs in. I WAS SO HOT! I couldn't believe it. They had to have taken them out right after I left because they were still soaking wet.

I can't tell you what I did to that person's clothes but let me say that my grandmother would not be proud of it. And after I did it, I put my things back in the dryer, and left both my room door and the laundry room door open in case the fool had the guts to come back to try it again. What agitated me even more was, when I came in there to check on them I was ready for bed and had I test today so I was trying to be a good student and get to bed early. No such luck. Didn't end up getting in bed until almost 2am.

The good news is I DID WELL ON MY TEST. It was a Kanji Test (Japanese characters like this 漢字) for 5 chapters. It was pretty tough but I saw my teacher this afternoon and she told me that I made better than a 90% and she would give me my test back on Wednesday. うれしい！(Happy!) I will have two more of those in the next two weeks as this intensive program comes to a close and I'm confident I will do well on each of them.

I saw something last weekend that I just HAD to share. So I was walking past this park near my friend Keith's house when I saw this pile of stuff neatly stacked in one of the corners of the park. From afar it looked like old boxes and bags, like a homeless person would carry around with them but there was no one in sight except me and Keith. I got closer and low and behold, it was some homeless person's stuff! Apparently after they are done sleeping for the night, they stack up their belongings and go on about their day. There was a futon, shoes, clothes, and suit bag! I was in awe. You know in America, that poor person's stuff would be gone the moment he/she left it there. Either the police would have come to dump it or some other homeless person would be there to snatch it up. And it wasn't just one person either, these are two separate stacks.

Oh, and I'm sure you are wondering what kind of park is this? Yeah, its the best Tokyo can do with creating "Greenspace" (Jody would be cringing). Underneath the highway, they have fenced in and bricked an area with benches and a jungle gym. It's pretty sad, but at least they are trying.

The Wait Is Over

As you can probably imagine, many things have happened since my last post. After I returned to Tsukuba following Jody's death I just really wasn't in the mood to blog or do much of anything other than study (and watch my US TV shows!) to be quite honest, but I have slowly been coming around. I even went to Karaoke this past Friday! Very different from my days as a JET where we would go in large groups and easily spend a good $75 each on drinks, food and Karaoke just because we had the money...

I am a student now and believe me, I know my financial constraints but Karaoke absolutely sober is just not fun! So I indulged in a few glasses of Plum wine, which definitely helped loosen up my vocal chords, while my fellow broke student friends drank unlimited glasses of coke and ate ice cream. To each their own. I sang a few favs "Barbie Girl by Aqua", "Macarena", "You oughta know by Alanis Morissette", "Turn your lights down low" (that one was for JB), and my new all time favorite "My Life by Bon Jovi".
I still don't think I've really found my niche yet here in Tsukuba, but that will come with time.

As for what I've been up to since I got back...

Well first, a friend of a friend, Mr. Van Hunt was performing in Tokyo at the Cotton Club. My angel got me tickets so I took a friend to the show. It was excellent (as his shows always are) and my table was the rowdiest (which it usually is). Here are a few pics.















I went to Tokyo for Halloween and hung out with CJ, Cool Keith (not the rapper) and Samurai Diva Romy (and her cutie pie daugher Moon). Halloween in Roppongi was sick as I assumed it would be. I got to see a lot of old friends and met a few new. Saturday I went to watch a Tokyo Apache basketball game. Japan has a new pro league only 3 years old and the Tokyo team is coached by none other than the father of Mr. Kobe Bryant himself, Jellybean Bryant. The game was cool and Tokyo won!

Since then I've been in Tsukuba studying hard with 2.5 weeks left of the intensive Japanese language course. Each night I have between 3 and 5 hours of homework. Never any less than 3hours and I haven't even started the MBA course yet. YIKES! But Alas, that is what I am here for right? To study.

I finally looked at the school year schedule (for the first time yesterday) and realized I have a few breaks coming up. This school is on a trimester system and we have a one week break 11/22-30 and then Winter Holiday 12/26-1/5 and another 3/7-3/31. We have nearly the entire month of March off! We will see how it all shapes up, maybe I can find a 3 week long gig here that can help suppliment the coming months?

Well kanji test at 10am, so I must be going, but you won't have to wait that long again. I feel my voice coming back and boy do I have lots to say.