From Jungle to Jungle (Late Feb - Early March Post)

I haven't done much blogging lately thanks to my own laziness.  Here is a quick update with a few pictures. 

Before that however,.. I would like to just mention how lucky I am to have the friends that I get to hang out with, the job that I have, the place that I live and just the great place I am in in life right now.

Without sharing too much, (mainly because i keep forgetting my camera) here are a few pictures of what Ive been up to.

Riding the huge ferris wheel in Yokohama. My friend realized he had his guitar... so we got some live entertainment too.

At the church ive been going to since I came here, ive met lots and lots of interesting people. Every month we have international parties and a ton of people come out.  This is not a picture of that.. but the after party... eating.... again. :)

Hama-boys... and a girl.

This is my setup I get to play with every Sunday!  Im still learning how to use it all... and still a beginner at Electric Guitar.

I mentioned being blessed to have a great workplace. One of the fun things I get to do is build animals and toys out of papercraft >_<! Its educational I swear.

Uhm... I don't know the proper name for this but this is a huuuuuge sucker fish.

 

Japanese Elementary schools dont mess around. They got books on all sorts of things, trains, cars, bugs, AIDS, sexual harassment, history, food, and even death.  They don't try to hide these things from kids, but they frequently use cute animations to explain many things.

 I get to walk down this hall filled with things the kids make every week.

I am also super lucky to have this lady in my life.  She is almost as goofy as I am... so we spent a day in Akihabara... Japans nerd capital, you could say.

I dunno bout u, but I have never had a "Nostalgia Drink" before.

 I took this picture thinking it was the first time ive ever seen restaurants out in the open right underneath a railway. I probably have but just didnt notice it before. Good use of space!

We went to Nicholai Dome... a real Cathedral still in regular use by the Japanese Orthodox Church.  Founded my a Russian missionary named St. Nicholas... something something. I recommend a visit on a service day to any Christian regardless of denomination. An amazing place you should see even if you arent any religion. Too bad the choir wasnt playing that day. They are amazing.

My weekend involved a long awaited trip to finally go hiking!  Its been 3 years since my last hike in Japan. Last time I literally climbed Yufudake in Kyuushuu which nearly killed my knees.  But this time was Takaosan.  Challenging but doable.

On a clear day you can see Tokyo Skytree. Today wasn't that day.

Who made that beanie??

 

My first thought was "are there Dragonballs here too?"

 Ummm, i forgot what they call those red dudes with long noses.

 Badass statues.

Grape Vinegar Ice Cream! Yum!? (i dont know)

Yo NO drink water!

Reallly nice public bathrooms in the mountains. Damn you American public restrooms providing no privacy or cleanliness.

This sign was appalling to me.  It says "no ice-cream" !!!!   look at the picture.

I love inaka restaurants.

Trick Art Museum!!! What better location that to catch all the people coming back from hiking the mountain?

Where does reality end!? and imagination begin...

Its like science for the eyes. Artists just know how to mess with your vision.

Whooooo!

My reflection is a girls... boooo >_<!

Rather good day going from the Takao Mountain, to the Egyptian themed trick art museum.. to...

 Shibuya's concrete jungle.

I promise to take pictures more often.. I couldn't even get Friday's acoustic live or Sundays awesomeness on camera. 

Rice Cooker Magic

With the lack of ovens as something that normally comes with an apartment or the means to remake the best pizza i've ever had (Black Magic Pizza). I have been trying to come up with ways of making something delicious. Then it hit me... I have a fat rice cooker.  I make beer bread.... I should make a pizza!

Actually the idea started out with a calzone first....

 

The crust was a bit too buiscuity... dry... and i could have used more fillings.

 

The idea was great, but the recipe still needs work.  Then I got to thinking.... why not just make a deep dish pizza? So I tried it.  

I ate half of it....

Success!  

My first personal cheese and tomato pizza made in a rice cooker. Grilled onions and garlic too.

Still a work in progress. Ill probably go crazy with the toppings next time.

Chicago next.

Whoohooo!

First fulfilling day in a long while.

I got up at 9am (very rare on the weekends) to get some workout into my morning.  Got myself out the door to jog for about an hour, jumping over piles of snow and trying to keep my shoes on dry ground.  Realized I can still jog a good distance after such a long break from it. Speed however, is another story.

I got back home with just enough time to make a good after run meal and get some practice on guitar before heading to the studio. Being at the studio... yep, I knew I shouldve practiced alot more.  I realize that Im actually better off learning on my own before coming together with other people. We learned a new song for this month, but I still have lots of practice.

After the studio, a good group of us went out to karaoke.. good times ^_^.
Later, meeting up with everyone at the station for JLH Yokohama's international party.
Pretty good turn out, I just had Yakiniku a few days before so I was already craving it again.
Good dinner with great people.
Hopefully Ill get to see some new faces at church tomorrow.


I arrived back at my own station around almost 9 and decided to go to the grocery store and buy my first stock of icecream. So now I can look forward to having icecream at home anytime! 

Just spend 2 hours practice some songs I need to know by tomorrow.  (-_-)  im soo tired.  I need to get up again early tomorrow so i can practice more, then head out early to help with setup for Baysis Livehouse.  ssoooo, there goes all my sleep for the weekend T_T.


But, super fulfilling day!  Maaan, I would upload pictures but i need to sleep now!

January Pic Update!

Getting back into workmode after the holidays was a bit tough. Its like being a rusty piece of intelligent machinery when you go from nocturnal to a normal sleeping schedule again.

 One benefit of my birthday falling right behind Christmas and New Years is the time off.  Im glad I got to have my friends and family with me this year. Its also a great time to bring together different people who may otherwise not meet.

 Saw this movie online right after seeing this billboard. Man I miss Teddy. That was my best friend teddy bear back in the day.

Another weird picture. If you look closely at the pic on the bottom middle right.. it could be easy misread "For Burakku Men"  aka for black men. but i dont think they have a market for that here do they?  Oh i get it. Its a black towel for men.

 

Poster for a concept mall I found in the subway. Take a look at the poster inside the fastfood restaurant. "Do not think. Eat!"  Sound familiar?

 Food from the very touristy Gonpachi izakaya in Roppongi. Its supposedly the place that inspired one of the crazy fight scenes from kill bill.

 That bear in the suitcase would be Brown. My new roommate.

Mannn I do not like the cold. But the heavy snow did indeed create winter wonderland.

 

This is the road by my appt which I walk everyday. When I first stepped out I was like "efff.....".. then I was like "awesome."  This finally convinced me to get some waterproof boots. The plan was originally to go to the grocery store, but trekking in cross trainers and soaked feet wasnt what I had in mind. But it was super entertaining to see everything im used to looking so different.

 

Alot of the snow actually had turned to ice or melted by the time i took this picture. But when I crossed this path last night, it was halfway up to my knee.

Playing around with magic camera.

A park near my place that looks even more beautiful than I imagined with the snow.

Ahhh thats it.

I am actually hoping it snows heavily again sometime soon.. so i can take full advantage of my marine boots and play in the snow!

あけましておめでとうございます！Happy New Years!

While many people in Japan don't have the luxury of having a few days off for the holidays,
I am lucky to be blessed with a job that gives me a winter break. ^_^

The cool thing about working at a school is when the kids are off, so are the teachers.


Looking back on 2012, many things have happened. Lots of joy and lots of stress this year with some of the most important life decisions.  Despite almost having my hair fall out from stress, in the end it was a great year.  I am thankful for where I am now, what I had to do in order to get here and all the people I share my life with.

I had a great time with the Christmas production at JLH Yokohama!

Wearing Shuichi's hat and the santa beard makes me look like Abraham Lincoln?

I find cute stuff everyday.^_^

 

I got to fly to Fukuoka to spend Christmas with some friends there.

 Hakata Station: Beautiful

I got one of those facebook "free beer" coupons... was skeptical at first... but it really was free!

^_^  

 

 The santa beard makes her look like a cartoon character.. no?

 Rink of fake ice in FUK.

One of the best things about 2013 so far is being able to see my cousins!

Im glad I get to spend my birthday with them!

Walking around harajuku and meiji jingu

I got a new friend for Christmas.

 

 ありがとう！

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.  I hope everyone
will have a great 2013!


To kick the year off, i found something wierd.


Combining Heavy Metal and J-Pop genres can produce some catchy sounds. But damn, this band "Baby Metal" i just found out about... >_<  WTH?!  They make Maximum the Hormone look normal.

May 2013 be full of adventure and finding new weird things.

More from iphone adventures: Nov,2012 Yokohama

Okay, i haven't been blogging nearly as much as I intended to when i first started this. The number one reason? I'm a procrastinator. And I apologize.

Anyway, just a small update: I am liking my job. I still have it in the back of my mind that I never intended to work with kids, but ... whenever I think of how things were just 4-5 months ago, I once again am reminded of how thankful and blessed I am.

All crap aside from the last place, I did cringe having to write an email to my last workplace in order to figure out some tax stuff..which is another story ill spare you from. I went from a pretty stressful, small office environment with almost no real opportunities for working with my colleagues to a lively workspace with lots of energy, color and many many opportunities to make a fool of myself while being encouraged to do so.
 
There are annoying kids, but there are also very cute kids. Lots of kids make me laugh. You would be surprised with the kind of things they will do when acting. Just give them a setting. They will make it come alive.

Now.. on to some of the things ive been wasting my time on.

Cubeecraft toys!!! That website has been a gold mind of cool toys you can make out of paper.

Just make sure you have thick paper and lots of time.

This one is Totoro!

I found myself a good bomberman one too!

 

 

With some craftknife magic its done! I do actually use this in some of my lessons. 

 

Some of the other things I do at work consist of talking to teachers, messing around with materials that may be remotely educational and sometimes... goofing off with teachers.

Behold, the water powered rocket.  

I dont know what it is, but elementary school girls love riding unicycles. Every school has a ton of these.

 Kids are into lots of creative things these days. 

Pig with a mustache?

Found some drawings.. notice in the lower right picture there is a 

crayon drawing of a gun. -_-

One reason I find myself lucky to be in this setting is the education.  Im not just amused and amazed at the education that kids receive here, but im stoked that I also have access to a ton of resources for learning what I need to while im here.

I get to work with teachers, the ones in charge of the early stages of these kids' social and educational lives. I also have access to books and endless learning tools.

Check out this book.

Its a manga style story about an onigiri, his ninja upbringing and his friends.

Collecting umeboshi from some mysterious forest usually controlled by another school of ninja's his party has to pass tests in the form of quizzes about food in order to obtain the items he needs.

Cool thing reading this is that its not too difficult for where I am at in Japanese. Its pretty entertaining so far.. and I also learned that umeboshi related fruits are poisonus  until they are ripe. Well.. they can get you a bad stomach ache and severe diarrhea.

Here's another one im trying to find the time for.

 

Annnnd completely unrelated to work.

Here's a polar bear with a mustache.  Compliments of the lady friend. "The way to a man's heart is through is stomach.. or cute stuffed animals with mustaches."

 

 What I get to see and hear every Sunday.  Church in a livehouse. Nice..

My first attempt at cheesebread. 

Something i found on my two hour walking adventure from my station all the way to Yokohama.

The top 3 reasons why I walked all the way to Yokohama:

Excercise

Saving Money

...

To go to the music store... where I found this sweet axe.

Aaaaand its mine.  One of my friends said it looks like a "strat from the future,"

Well, actually, that is what it was designed to be.. the alternative to the strat.. and so much more.

More updates to come more frequently soon!

Halloween...

I did absolutely nothing for Halloween..  well, almost nothing.  It was Wednesday, i had work the next morning.... so i stayed home. At least i made my first beer bread of the year. 

 

Pretty good for unlevened bread. You really do need to get baking powder or yeast in order to make this stuff rise.  

 I suppose its time for a little update. At the moment, i am a bit buzzed from coming back from a nomikai with some of the senseis from one of my school. Indeed, it has been a long day.  You know what I did for work?  I went to a huge park all day with the kids.  The entire school went.

It was a pretty neat setup they did with the groups. 6th-1st grade mixed into smaller groups. Within those smaller groups were even smaller cohorts. 6th graders were in charge of keeping the younger kids in line with the 5th graders being somewhat co-leaders.  

We went to some park called Smile...s omething. Im not sure of the name but it was a huge park.  Lots of green everywhere complete withe a bunny and hamster petting zoo. With different stations set up throughout the park, senseis ran games for the groups of kids that went to the different stations. Everything from jump roping, to the bean bag toss.  It was really neat getting to see all the kids interact with eachother of different classes and age groups.

For those who dont know Japanese elementary schools, when the kids eat lunch its usually in their own classroom with the same group of kids all the time all year.  However, today was really neat as in that all of the kids of different groups interacted with eachother playing games, eating lunch together and cooperating to gain points in the various games.

When I was in elementary school, I definitley dont remember ever participating in something like this. My class was mostly separated from others. Interactions were sometimes even hostile.  But the younger kids here were really looking up to the older ones. And the older ones were really looking out for the younger ones. Specially in the long walk to the park from the school. I noticed the older kids pulling the younger ones to the side of the road whenever cars would come by. Even one little boy was looking up to his 6th grade sempai and holding her hand, even trying to fall asleep in her arms.

All in all, today was a good day. I would have loved to take pictures, however according to company rules,, pictures of my schools are a no no.   Maybe one day i can sneak some.

This job is unexpectedly rewarding. I like these kids more than I expected too.  Maybe cuz they dont actually speak English... Hahaha who knows.