It's cold, man

What's new? It snowed about 1-1/2 inches on Saturday. That's enough to make everything white and the roads like glass.

I almost have a job..maybe. Tomorrow I talk to a boss and another company is deciding on their candidate tomorrow (that interview didn't go so well but I'm keeping the hope alive).

And the most important thing...we had dim sum in China Town yesterday. I rekindled my love with chashu bau.

Umm, saw the Nutcracker and Mos Def. Those were both good. And I've been walking around Seattle taking pictures, but I'm too lazy to post it on the blog, so you can view them here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/genki_chashu/


I'll be home on Thursday!!!

And that's a wrap.

2 hours from being Canadian

As many of you know (especially Lucas), I'm up in Seattle still looking for a job. There have been a couple of opportunities I thought were going to transpire, but I'm still waiting on phone calls. I'm prolonging a return to my deep frying career as long as possible. However, for you aspiring jobless peeps (you know who you are), Seattle has the highest minimum wage in the country (Jan 1st it's $8.55). I hear the servers up here get paid the minimum wage + tips.



Today I drove around and looked at a few districts to move to. Here are some pictures from the coast of Ballard. People from Salt Lake, notice... NO snow!! YAY!

OK OK

I guess I'm not permitted to stop blogging once I returned. So here is an update of my exciting turn back to normal life. Once I returned, it felt like I had just been mugged. No phone, no car, no home. Just a suitcase with a week's worth of clothes.


Here's an update:

I got a cell phone!

I got a haircut!

I checked out a library book and cds

I went hiking a few times

I bought a car!

I have been continuously sorting through boxes and boxes of crap since I was 3 years old.

I have given away about 75% of my clothes that don't fit or have been sitting there for 7 years. (Here's a hint: If you didn't wear it last year, you probably won't wear it for 20 years at which point it comes back into style as 'vintage')

I finished my resume this week (but I keep changing things on it)

I'm going to apply for jobs this week.


As for picture requests from Malaysia, Paris, and London, I haven't had time to even look at them, but I'll post a few in the future.




If anyone is still reading this, HELLO!!!

Kind of late update

Sorry to anyone that still reads this 'seems like it was forgotten' blog. Things were so hectic in July getting ready to go home. Then I went to Malaysia and now I'm in Europe, BUT.................. I'll be home very late on Thursday, the 28th!!! See you all soon!!!!!

A Fresh Look

Being in Japan for so long, things that were once weird and crazy have become normal. Then came Niki. She was able to appreciate all the idiocrasies of Japan. She took a lot of pictures here and posted them on a site for all to see. I think you can enjoy her perspective of Japan and her great photos. As you can see, she hogged all the art genes from our parents. GREEDY! Share next time sis.

http://photochan.blogspot.com/

My Town

Sorry about no posts. Things have been really stressful lately so I'm getting back into the swing of things now. However, the Sayonara parties are already beginning a month in advance. I don't think my liver will last the punishment if this is a sign of the next month.


So let me show you some pictures of my town, Kamojima.

Here is the picture of the train station. I used my new Nikon SLR and the picture still looks like it was taken in the 60s. This town is the twilight zone.


Here's the (was) happening street in front of the station. It's decorated nicely but in the last 10 years has been put on life support.


Here's the pet shop on the street. The animals are doing about as well as the street.


This is Kamojima park. There's no grass but there's a nice pond with a stream through it and a big river bordering it. It's small but nice and peaceful and has statues of animals all over.


Here's the street in front of my house. It's pretty not interesting, but I'm just keeping the blogging real, homie.


A random cemetery in the middle of town. Ironically the snack clubs are around this area. Need to respect the dead and give them their fair share of fun as well.


What's a snack club you ask?(I hope) Well, here is an example of one. It's a sort of a bar that a lot of business men go to get their egos stroked (I think it's only their egos) ... They have a woman sit with them and she'll pour their drink, wipe the condensation off their glass, clap and praise their excellent singing, etc. etc. Last year when I was a young and naive English teacher, I went to one with some teachers after a party. It ends up the girls doing the stroking were former students of theirs. Talk about awkward.

How's the weather?

I often get asked how the weather currently is out here. I'll show you:



This clock is solar powered. The time this photo was taken was 4:30 p.m.

IT'S RAINY SEASON!!!!!! BOO!!

Mon cloudy, Tue rainy, Wed rainy, Thur rainy with humidity from 80-90%

Niki has left the building

Niki was here with her friend Sara. We took a few adventures to Tokyo, my town (they taught my 7th graders and adult conversation class), and Kyoto.

Tokyo Tsukiji fish market

This is one of the biggest (the biggest?) fish markets/auction in the world. The Tuna here are about as big as Large Marge. The auction we saw was quite anticlimactic...just some dudes going around checking frozen tuna on the ground.


Next they have to cut the fish. Time to whip out the powertools.


Last of all we get ninjas to cut up the fish into chunks as big as my head.


Don't want this one.


Harajuku
Then we went over to Yoyogi park. There are many type of people here as shown below.


I actually thought that was Elvis, but upon closer inspection, it was only Wayne Newton.

Kyoto



Unfortunately it rained all day one of the days in Kyoto.


We also went to the monkey shrine. It's a shrine with a mountain behind it that you can hike up (about 15 minutes) and see monkeys all over.


Cheer up little monkey. You can eat sushi everyday here!

Dedicated to Summer B.

This post is for my auntie Summer who brought to my attention that I have no pictures of the person I have done everything with in Japan... Keiko.

Lantau Island in Hong Kong

One of the thousands of Kyoto temples

Naruto Whirlpools. On the left is our friend Kam. Next to him is Ange. Then us.

Sumo in Osaka

Airport to go home on our Taiwan trip

The weeks with pa

Things were very busy at the end of April and first half of May because the Pa came for an extended visit. He was able to meet many of my Japanese co-conspirators. And we traveled all over the place like Kyoto and Hiroshima.

Kinkakuji in Kyoto

Okayama Korakuen Garden. I must've forgotten to say 'Cheese'



Miyajima - The floating Torii

Roads here

Where I live, there are a few roads that are considered major (no more than 2 lanes). These roads actually have painted lines and look like this.

The other roads have some lines painted on the outside but they're barely wide enough for two cars to pass. The truck below decided he wanted to take a shortcut on the small roads. Too bad for anybody driving the other way. That's what we call a jackass.

Bus

Of course if you don't have a bike, you could always take this bus

Transportation

I never mentioned my modes of transportation. The first few months I was here, I rode an awesome bike that would make Pee Wee Herman jealous. The rust gave it the vintage look and the squeaky brakes added additional character. The stylish front basket gave it the unique E.T. feel. Unfortunately it got a flat and the cost to fix the flat was more than the value of the bike. So teary eyed, I had to throw it away.

Riding to work is never dull when E.T. is tagging along.

Look Who's Back!!

Watch out for your food!

The Muthaland

Back from an amazing trip to China! The weather was gloomy all but 3 of the 13 days but it was still good times. The itinerary was Beijing -> Xian -> Chengdu -> Guilin -> Shanghai. What that means to everyone that hasn't visited China is The Great Wall and Forbidden City -> Terracotta Warriors -> Pandas -> Mountains and River -> Lots of Shopping.


Peiking Duck
This was gooooooooooooood!! If Daffy lived in Beijing, I'd eat him too.




The Great Wall
This was absolutely breath taking. We hiked 10 km on a section that isn't very touristy. It's a lot harder than one would think because it's on the ridge of mountains so it's very hilly.



The Forbidden City
This was huge. You could spend an entire day here because there's so much to see. Each building has exhibits, pictures, history, etc of the different Chinese royal families. There I traced my family lineage back to the royal family. We were next in line Mom! We were robbed!




Terracotta warriors
This was cool too. Thousands of unique warriors and thousands more waiting to be dug up.



Pandas
Chengdu has a big breeding center for Pandas. We saw many from little cubs to chubby adults. Hmm, here I was also somehow able to trace my family lineage.



Li River
We took a 5 hour cruise on this river on this really beautiful river with karsts everywhere. The scenery was amazing. Good thing we didn't pay for the $5 cruise like that guy in the picture.



Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou
We saw some famous gardens in Suzhou (about an hour from Shanghai). This was the most famous in the city.


Shanghai
It has a really good China artifacts museum, a lot of great street food, a lot of shopping, and even more shopping.


In conclusion

Chinese people are flemmy and aren't afraid to admit it. You must watch every step so you don't step in a loogie (outside AND inside).

China street food is super good, greasy, and very cheap (about 12 - 50 cents for each thing). Pepto-Bismol has probably made 90% of their profits in China.

English isn't a foreign language in China. It simply doesn't exist.

There are a lot of things to do and see and a lot of good food everywhere.

Boba. Boba. Boba. ($0.35 - $0.75)

Now I understand why my family bargains on everything. It's in the Chinese blood.

Outta Here

Today was the last day of school before spring break. What does that mean? I'm off to dirty China to chow down on chashu baus!! See ya in 2 weeks!

More Ads!

So I came to school and I had another ad on my desk. Can you guess what this one was for?

Children's Activities?
Animals?
A Zoo?
Depression?
Shyness?

If you guessed Metabolic Syndrome, treat yourself to a snack!