| Africa |
[Aug. 31st, 2006|12:05 pm] |
greetings all!
i hope everyone has had a good summer vacation. mine has been nice. i worked in july at a summer camp for international students in toronto. since that ended my mind has been busy in two ways - teacher's college applications for 2007 and getting ready for my trip to Africa.
in two weeks (TWO WEEKS!!!) i am leaving for namibia where i will spent 6 months coordinating an inter-continental student partnership between schools in namibia and canada. i am very excited about the job and feel very fortunate to have found something that fits so perfectly in my career plans to become a teacher. yay!!! i feel so focused on my career right now that i think about little else.
i spent the past few days in toronto at an intercultural effectiveness workshop - part of my prepartation for my trip to namibia. i feel thankful for having had the opportunity to go especially since i registered last minute and almost didn't get a spot. what was really interesting about the whole thing is that i felt right at home with everyone there. they were all educators, students, lawyers, journalists, civil engineers - we were actually quite a diverse group in terms of background - but in terms of personality everyone was very concerned about engagement and contribution and being modest yet commited to their life's work. we are all going on various trips to do development work but everyone seemed similar in motivation - they are really the kind of people i would like to work with and i guess that's why development work as a career seems like such a good option for me. it was in that sense very illuminating and i appreciate having had the opportunity to get to know such interesting people in such a short time. one person that sticks out is anne - an older woman with two children about my age who got her phd in social work after the age of 40. amazing to be able to talk to people from various generations about common goals. this has made me start to think about my educational goals. yes - teacher's college is next on my list but i think that a masters will be somewhere in my plans too - i just don't know where! i see the pieces of my career plan as individual right now and i don't quite know how everything will fit together... but i think i am on the right track and going in the right direction because it just feels right.
ahhh... work. to tell you the truth - after being unemployed for the past year it feels good to have found something that has purpose and feels exciting - even if the pay is small. |
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| on the brink of everything... |
[Apr. 26th, 2006|07:38 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
hello all...
it's been a hell of a long time, i know. last i wrote i was in brazil. that was september. since then, a lot has happened and a lot of nothing has happened too. re-adjusting to life post-japan has not been easy - especially since i've been focused on one of these "life-changing" career moves and it's really been a roller coaster of emotions. the good news is that after 3 solid interviews and another one pending things are starting to look promising and i may be off again soon.... to (fingers and toes crossed) AFRICA!!! that's all i'm going to say for now. stay tuned.... |
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| blame it on rio... |
[Sep. 20th, 2005|05:08 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  jubilant | ] |
hola all... hope you are well and enjoying the start of fall.
things in RIO have been nothing short of mad! the weather could have been better as we only had one day of good beach weather, but we`ve still managed to linger here for almost a week - squeezing the juice and sweat out of every day and night. notsurprisingly, the hightlights of our stay here have been the parties.
starting with last thursday we took to the streets of lapa (local neighborhoodfilled with cheap drinking stalls) and found a crazy concert. we have no idea who the artist was but at one point they sang `*it`s raining men* and well... it did! as glitter fell from the sky we danced the night away with random brazillians. mikki was good enough to keep lindsay and i in line and she put our drunk asses home in a taxi in the early morning hours.
saturday we set out at midnight to the rochina favela to watch carnival practice (brazillians start to practice 5 months before the real thing!). we had our own VIP box in this arena type place - as well as an undercover police escort. the practice was amazing - complete with barely dressed girls shaking to samba. we also danced our asses off - again with random brazilian men and fell into bed around 4am.
the following night (sunday) we hit up another favela party (also accompanied with security escorts) for funk music. the place was hoppin and everyone was grinding and getting dirty... sooo... when in rome... :)
so that was rio... we`ve been licked and bit and groped but we`re not complaining. the adventures continue as we head for ille grande which apparently has the best beaches in brazil... |
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| off again... |
[Sep. 12th, 2005|01:30 pm] |
where to begin? i am in vancouver enjoying some alone time and packing my bags again. off to rio tomorrow! here's whats been happening...
india was incredible. annie and i spent a month travelling through the castles of rajastan and the beaches goa with stops in delhi and mumbai. the trip was filled with drama, love and music. there was color and spice in every part of daily life. the highlights of the trip were many. the taj was beautiful - especially at sunset. but i suppose the biggest highlight was the indian romance i had early in my trip with j.p. he has since become somewhat of a long distance boyfriend. we try to communicate everyday but unfortuately we haven't had a good chat since i left india over a week ago. i don't know what will happen with j.p in the long term but i think i will have to go back to india to find out. so although i am on the road again tomorrow i feel like my heart is still in india somewhere. it's funny and strange because one month in india feels like it's had more of an effect on me than all those years in japan.
after india i came to vancouver for my friend tre's wedding. the wedding was beautiful but it was also my first real does of adulthood. things among my closest friends are slowly starting to change - people have partners and steady jobs and adult lives. vancouver is a gorgeous city and comming back here after living in asia certainly opened my eyes to how amazing canada is - and how lucky i am. but for me, vancouver is also a city filled with the potential to get into heaps of trouble and this trip reminded me there was a good reason i left when i did. droogs are everywhere and they have gotten harder over the years. lots of people i knew way back when have been in rehab. this week has been fun and i look forward to coming back again but i am glad to be moving on tomorrow...
so yes... off to rio tomorrow. we are hoping for a fabulous safe time.... adventures continue... |
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| delicous delhi desu! |
[Aug. 7th, 2005|03:27 am] |
i arrived in delhi three days ago. already so much has happened i don't know where to begin. here is a taste of what has been going on...
my flight arrived at about 12am. i gathered my bags etc and proceeded to find my driver. there were so many people at the airport even at such a late hour that i didn't see him at first. i began to feel a little nervous as other "drivers" began to prey on me immediately offering taxi services. from my experience in china i knew to avoid them. still i felt a little nervous but luckily i found my man.
we left the airport building and i was immediately exposed to the sights and sounds of delhi - heat, mosquitos, incessant honking, child poverty, and even hindi music blaring from some dudes car. i was in my first fender bender too... the car that was driving me was hit by another car trying to sqeeze an inch closer to the front of a cue.
i was greeted at the hotel by annie. the hotel was well located in the heart of the city but is the biggest dump i have ever stayed in. annie"s advice was to not look to closely and keep the lights down low. but seriously, it was the dirtiest pillow i had ever layed my head down on. disgusting!
we"ve done some touristy things so far... museums, art gallery and india gate. we"ve also ate some delicous curries - a dinner costs about $1 and is better than any other curry i have ever eaten. tonight we join the rest of our trip for our tour around rajastan. i am looking forward to getting out of delhi and experienceing more of india. i am interested in going to a disco but so far the men have been tooo intimidating. they stare relentlessly at you like they are taking your clothes off and i can"t imagine what they would be like with a little alcohol...
anyway, we"re off to the taj in a few days.... mata ne |
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| sayonara this and sayonara that... |
[Jul. 22nd, 2005|06:48 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
hello everyone...
i hope this finds you well and enjoying sunny summer daze.
things in japan and slowly coming to an end. i can't believe three years have gone by! THREE YEARS!!!! i taught my last class on tuesday - a special needs class. as my luck would have it i spent the final minutes of my teaching career in japan losing in GO FISH to two handicapped students. darn it! anyway, the rest of my days are filled with packing and sayonara parties and the sake is flowing freely. saying goodbye to japan is a little strange because i can't actually imagine living anywhere else. this feels like home. all these parties and presents just make me feel like it's my birthday (5 months early). i don't think it will actually all make sense till i get to canada.
but before canada i am off on a....SUPERTRIP!!! (the whole reason i came to japan in the first place) it goes a little something like this....from japan i am flying to india for curry and taj and yoga and beach. i will be in india for a solid month (august 4th to september 4th). from india i am off to vancouver for the wedding of the year. my good friend tre is getting hooked and is bringing everyone together for a big knees up. i am acutally part of the wedding party so the wedding can't be missed. after a week of vancouver reunions i"m off to south america (brazil, argentina and chile) for three months. finally i will be back in canada in december for a good polish christmas, some mom-love and a nice long rest. i am looking forward to the adventures ahead but i am also looking forward to home and spending time with my family.
access to internet will be limited but i will do my best to sent updates from the road.
have a great summer! |
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| doing time |
[Jul. 10th, 2005|07:25 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
it took my first teaching job for me to understand what i really wanted to do with my life. what i wanted, in fact, since ever i had dreamed of a future for myself, had i only been able to give it the legitimacy of words.... i wanted to travel.
over the years i have come to understand the freedom i enjoyed as a traveller was not much different from what i have now as a professor with a have a year off - it was an illusion. and that what i still seem to be longing for is a shape for the future that brings with it hope. but how much more future can one want for onself? and how long can one go on wanting it? most of my future i have already spent. here i am at the beginning of what is left....
lynn freed
harpers magazine july 2005 |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 19th, 2005|09:11 am] |
"I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyone my imagination."
jhumpa lahiri
interpreter of maladies |
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| shanghai bound |
[Apr. 24th, 2005|12:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
as usual i am updating this just before boarding a plane out of japan. 2005 has been busy and exciting so far. i spent most of the winter boarding in japan. it was excellent fun. the spring was filled with drinking yebisu under the cherry trees and now (just before golden week) i am off to roam around wild china. i will be arriving in shanghai later this afternoon. then it`s off to xian and finally beijing. in beijing i hope to meet up with a chinese woman i knew about a million years ago in vancouver. her name is huang yen (yellow bird!). i`ve been trying to read up on china before i go but i have a feeling everthing i imagine it will be will be the exact opposite. for some reason i expect it to be like japan in terms of standard of living - i know i am wrong about this but for some reason i just can`t imagine anything else. it`s a shame my chinese friend anthony isn`t coming with me but he couldn`t get the time off work. it would have been great to see mme huang with him. after this trip i will be back in japan for a final three months. i love living in japan. its such a beautiful place. unfortunately, i don`t love my job. i care so much about teaching and being a GOOD teacher but i see little results in my efforts. my students often have a bad attitude toward learning english because (i feel) some of the japanese english teachers demotivate them. for that reason i am looking forward to the end of my time at adogawa junior high. it`s definately time for me to move on professionally. it`s definately time for a vacation too!
happy golden week! |
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| hisashiburi ne... |
[Dec. 20th, 2004|09:36 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
well... the last time i wrote was about 4 months ago. how the time flies! at that time i was heading to canada for some much needed rest. without getting too much into it, my trip home was both wonderful and terrible. wonderful to be with family but a real challenge when it came back to my inevitable return to japan. in fact, the return was so difficult for so many reasons that i almost had a complete breakdown and took the first 3 weeks off school with sick leave. anyway.... as with everything, things got better over time and now that we are on the home stretch i am glad to be here.
soooo.... the fall was basically about getting well and getting some confidence back to do things i love doing - going out, partying, being with friends, travelling.
now the semester is almost over. christmas is just around the corner. in two more sleeps i am off to perth australia to visit my fabulous friends, jocelyn and alex. we haven`t seen each other for about 3 years. i am excited but also sooooo tired from another crazy weekend that it`s hard to think about getting on a plane in two days. so much packing and cleaning to do before i go. help!
after my return from perth i will have 7 months left to play in japan. my (very) sketchy plans for 2005 are...
- beijing/shanghai/hong kong in the spring with anthony
- india in august
- vancouver in september
- south america in october (maybe, maybe, maybe)
- mom and dad in december.... home for a good long rest.
i am looking forward to the new year and new beginnings...
merry christmas and happy new year! |
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| i know it`s been ages... |
[Aug. 10th, 2004|04:34 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
months... since my last post. gomennasai ne.
things here have been incredibly busy this spring and summer. my CELTA course was pretty full on - but in the end i rocked it and did waaaaay better than expected. i am happy that it is behind me now and looking forward to a much needed rest in CANADA!!! that`s right, i am writing this from the airport awaiting my flight to toronto. hurrah! i am really excited to see my mom, dad, bro and sis and to reconnect with old friends. i am also a little sad to leave japan behind for such a long time as this truely feels like my home now. weird, isn`t it?
i will be returning back to japan in early september for my third and final year of teaching junior high school english. i am excited about that as well as i am planning to raise hell in my last months here.
anyway, better go for another cavity search.... more news from canada later... |
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| i am a mean and horrible teacher... |
[Jun. 3rd, 2004|10:46 am] |
i just made one of my students cry!
in my 2-1 class we are talking about the future. one of my students was joking around during class and writing a note in japanese. when i walked by he said "love letter, love letter". i didn`t think twice about it. we started doing the worksheet where i am having the students draw pictures about their future life. after about a minute, the student says he`s finished. when i look at the paper i notice he`s drawn stick figures in each box. in the box with the big heart around it he drew two sick figures. i encouraged him to elaborate (b/c they are switching worksheets with other people). then i pointed to the box with the big heart and said (reading the love letter still on this desk)... "who is this? sachi?"
OOPS!!! as luck would have it, sachi is in the class and the boy burries his head in his art and starts crying for the entrire rest class. i outed his secret love. shame on me.... |
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| getting yelled at... |
[May. 25th, 2004|02:23 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
about an hour ago i decided to check the lesson plan with yokoi sensei and he full on yelled at me and how i went ahead and changed everything. the only thing i could do is remain calm and let him do it and let everyone watch how inappropriately he treats me. i admit i changed the plan a little, tiny bit (i made the worksheet an information gap game) but it`s not like he never does it...only the difference is he never tells me about it, he just does it in the middle of class. he give the students no credit and assumes things are too hard for them. like today, he said information gap games are too difficult for japanese people. this is bullshit. they can totally do it and guess the animals and everything. he really dumbs them down.
errrr............ at least the sun is shinning... |
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| gomen ne |
[May. 14th, 2004|09:05 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
sorry for the absolute lack of posts lately. i am afraid until celta is finished i just won`t have that much free time to write. here`s the run down of what has been happening lately...
1. went to koya-san for golden week. twas beautiful.
2. bought a super digital slr (canon digital rebel).
3. my japanese rocker boy came back from italia with a cheesy euro accent.
4. yokoi sensei has managed to kind new ways of pissing me off and irritating me.
sore dake! hope everything is well with you... |
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| still alive |
[Apr. 16th, 2004|09:25 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | sleepy | ] |
woooohoooo the weekend!!! exciting isn't it? well, with my current schedule it means i actually have to get up earlier than i do on normal weekdays (6am) so that i can be in kobe for 9 ish for CELTA. although it sounds like a complaint it really isn't. really the past few weeks have been uberhectic but also very very productive. CELTA is a ton of work but it's been sooo worth it because my classes have been going really well. and at least now i have a slight clue of what i should be doing as an ESL teacher. so there you have it... things are good, no complaints. will try to write again soon. |
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| sadness grows |
[Apr. 7th, 2004|07:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
i've been home for a few hours now. everything is unpacked and i am just sorting the pics for emailing. i had nothing short of a FANTASTIC time in taiwan. koahsiung was a bit dirty and yucky but seeing gordon, lynn, cindy and anthony was wonderful. anthony and i spent two days together and talked alot. lots of stuff was said that should have been said a while ago. i really really adore him for a thousand different reasons. he is just a beautiful person. that is all i am going to say for now. maybe i will fill you in later but right now i am just to tired. all i can say is that i am soooo thankful for having such wonderful friends from van. i feel very very lucky.... i also feel very very homesick. |
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| taiwan |
[Apr. 4th, 2004|07:57 am] |
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after a short flight of fear i finally made it to kaoshiung on thursday night. i've been spending every day with gordon and lynn and it feels great to be with my homegirls again. kaoshiung is a dirty hole so i can see how it is a little hard to live here. it's like saigon without the honking... busy and smelly. there are some great spots to hang tho and the best part has been cruising around on a scooter. our weekend was nothing short of debaucherous and i have slept a total of 6 hours in the last two days. tomorrow i am seeing anthony (love of my life) for lunch. will update again when i get back to nippon... |
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| fuckin drunk |
[Mar. 31st, 2004|11:06 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  drunk | ] |
a, amaazed i coulde log in and not fuck it up. am fullly out of mybtree and am loving the feeling, tis been tooo long youbknow? must shake my head., am off to taiwan tomorrow. ,oved the enkai tonight tho. siato sensei and i really hit if of on a drunk level . tis was a match of who coould get who the drunkest. ki think i won or ,ost.... yub decded....
i gotta geet to bed... cant fuckin bother who is right so good night. will tell you all about it tomoerrow. maybre. |
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| escape plan |
[Mar. 31st, 2004|08:38 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
sorry it's been i while since i posted last. just enjoying the time off school these past few days. the weekend was nice too. am off to taiwan tomorrow to see my crazy friends lynn, gordon and anthony. it should be a debaucherous weekende and i will have lots to report when i get back. more in a week or so... |
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| i wanna cry |
[Mar. 24th, 2004|10:05 am] |
so this morning i have no idea what`s going on at school. last year i was away at this time and as a result the end-of-school closing ceremony bit is new for me. well wouldn`t you know it... everyone gradually clears out of the staff room and when i look up everyone is gone. i don`t know where they are either because my supervisor has not told me a single thing about what is happening today except that she forgot to tell me we have no school lunch today so it looks like i will starve. then a student comes into the teachers room and the only other teacher here whispers to him that everyone is in the gym for closing ceremony (in japanese). now i feel paranoid and uninvited and like he was whispering so that i don`t feel bad about the fact that i was not asked to attend. i also feel like an idiot for missing the ceremony but i don`t want to go to the gym and interrupt. so i just sit and wait and start feeling homesick and wish i could be somewhere where there are people to talk to and with people who love me and want to actually work with me. it`s days like this that my culture shock creeps back and i get angry and i want to get on the first plane back to canada. |
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