GETTING GAS ON THE WAY TO MY DRIVING LESSON. STALLED 2X MOVING UP FOR THEM & THEN POPPED MY TRUNK 2X TOO. IT IS ONE OF THOSE DAYS.

No Matter Where I Am In the World.....

When I lived in London, it was during the Mad Cow era was infecting the beef, now here I am in Japan and the bird flu is attacking the chickens.
Signs of bird flu again detected in Japanese poultry, report says
Authorities have detected signs of bird flu at seven additional poultry farms near a previously affected ranch outside Tokyo, a news report said Tuesday.
Antibody tests showed the chickens may be infected with a virus from the H5 family, and officials have restricted movement of fowl and eggs in the affected area, in Ibaraki Prefecture just northeast of Tokyo, Kyodo News Agency said.
Signs of the antibodies means the chickens were infected in the past but had survived.
Local authorities are still deciding whether to cull the birds.
Japan's Agriculture Ministry identified a previous outbreak of bird flu in Ibaraki last week amid reports that 260,000 chickens would be culled. The strain involved is less virulent that the H5N1 variety that has ravaged poultry in Southeast Asia since 2003 and killed more than 60 people in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.
Bird flu hit Japan last year for the first time in decades, killing or prompting the extermination of more than 300,000 chickens. Japan also confirmed a human case of bird flu in December, but no deaths have been reported.
An outbreak in June forced the culling of about 94,000 birds at another farm outside Tokyo. It was caused by the H5N2 bird flu strain, a variety not known to infect humans. (AP)
August 30, 2005

A Bizarre Way To Tell People Not To Smoke

smoking sign

part one

part 2

part 3

PRIS RIST

more Engrish....This lovely sign appears out in front of a salon in takada...it is a high service salon, with straight perms, and even a discount for the style conscience high school student... instead of 40 bucks a cut it is $35...bargain... once again the L and R are confused- ending up with Pris Rist, that C sound and silent E are kickers too, by the way obviously Pris Rist = Price List ..... maybe I will try it out and get my hair cut here (still have only had the one given to me by Dave and Dave and I have been here a year!) I only hope that their stylist techniques are better than their English.

Sayonara Sara

I am crying. Sara just left. I want to spend more time with her. It feels like she just got here and we have been going and going. I fell asleep the last hour she was here watching a tape she had made me of Law and Order. We wer both exhausted and I so wanted one last chat, but she let me fall asleep. It sucked being woken by the cab driver and having to say goodbye. I fell like I didn't take advantage of the time she was here enough, and there is still so much I want to show her and tell her about my life here. She had a mild case of culture shock, so it took a while for her to get comfortable with everything. I think for her the culture shock goes two ways, one being exposed to something so totally different, and two seeing me in that environment living day to day and being honest (for example there are lots of times I just say "yes" even though I have no idea what was said- she laughs everytime...) I miss her, i loved showing her what life here is like, and I hope December comes quickly.

いま新井かえる。月曜日京都いた。本当に楽しかったよ！あした長野いく。o(^-^)o楽しみ！

富士山 Mount Fuji

ON TOP OF 富士山 RIGHT NOW. よし！ つかれたよ！でも本当によかった！

Ninja Village

私はにんじゃ！
＼(=。=)/∞
【 】
／　 ＼ きょう私たちはにんじゃむらいく！

Jan and I went to Nagano today, after reassuring her it would never be a big deal the day before while we were on a mountain road, I popped a tire while we were away from home. Frustrated (mainly due to the rusted lug nuts and the fact we were on the side of a road on not a shoulder) we changed the tire- me working the jack, Jan working the wheel, I noticed we had a small crowd of spectators of old ladies standing in various places for the whole duration of the tire change...afterwards we went to the gas station and got it plugged, worried since the puncture was on the side that the plug wouldn't work, we drove home anyways, it worked, but that reminds me I got something to deal with...got to find a used tire- I am not replacing all four right now....

yukata

ALMOST DAMED!

IN にいがたし JUST ALMOST GOT DAMED ON A あたらし DRIVERS LISCENCE. SOME ISSUE WITH MY PASSPORT BEING TOO NEW. WTF? 日本はいつもむずかしいよ！

Goodbye Mama Melly!

Mamma Melly, here I go again

My my, how can I resist you?

Mamma Melly, does it show again?

My my, just how much I've missed you

Yes, I've been brokenhearted

Blue since the day we parted

Why, why did I ever let you go?

Mamma Melly, now I really know,

My my, I could never let you go......

Last night I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends here. It was very sad, Melanie left for England. I will truly miss her. Mel is one of the sweetest, loveliest, quirkiest, sexiest, funniest, smartest, on-the-ball, most sensible, most organized, most on-top-of-it gals around. I don't know who will organize my time for me, or do the research when I don't feel like it, work out the train schedules, track down what we need, or remind me of the name of some person who I have asked the name of at least 1000 times before. She was nicknamed "Mama Melly" for a reason- she gets everything done for us! I will miss her calling me up just for a "chat", or filling me in on where Esmie is in the world, or talking to me about Rob, or listening and sharing stories about the random people we meet or the random boys we all have been working on. I will miss the intercultural sharing; the fact that she gets corrected all the time for saying American words, such as ketchup, while my friends at home think I talk with a British accent. Who will finish off all the leftover sauces? No one is more talented and has the ability to stick so many things in her mouth- lookout men of England! I am worried I may accidentally order a lemon chu-hi in the midsts of our nama birus and moscow murus. The goodbye was sad. Mel is the first of three of my closest friends that I will have to say goodbye to. Beth leaves next week and Dave leaves the following week. I threw Mel a small sayonara party here in Arai.. We never go out in Arai so that was good fun. Tif, Beth, and Dave were the guests, so we had a pleasant group of five. After a beer at my house we headed out into the streets with the skies flashing lightning and a low grumble of thunder- we are all obviously gaijin since none of us had an umbrella and we all discussed carrying one before we left. Our intended izakaya was closed so I thought we could try this place I had seen up in front of the train station. So, we did. It was a nice little place, after being ushered to the corner table we asked if we could sit up amidst everyone, who were asking us to sit near them. So we did, and we all immediately started practicing English and Japanese- striking up conversation. To be honest, it truly was a night as regular as any of our classic nights. We were out in full force, all of us chatting with various strangers. Dave, being the lucky solo-man was really a good sport, putting up with everything. The conversation was great, and the highlight moment comes during the discussion of Star Wars- one of the four boys we were chatting with showed off his Darth Vadar keychain, upon which I saw I started in; dun dun dun dudundun dudundun (the Dark side theme) and the next thing I knew the whole place broke into singing. (I am talking whole place- everyone in the restaurant) . After the surreal Star Wars moment, we all left. (Dave had left earlier so as to let us be I guess) We took the four boys we had been chatting with back to my apartment for the remainder of the Sayonara party for Mel. Back at my place we played a few games- one being Osama wa dare? and Mel gathered the remainder of her things together. IM taxi came early, with the precisioness that is Japanese, and we had to say our goodbyes. It was hard, I was close to tears, but did not cry, big hugs all around, but it is weird, it will never feel like that hug was tight enough or that kiss wet enough for this girl. We got a "Urusai!" (your loud!) from a neighbor as we gave Mel a farewell "Banzai, Banzai, Banzai!" kisses on the glass of the taxi, turned to sloppy smudges as they pulled away. When we went back in my apartment there was a lot of silence among the crowd of now 7. No more games. We explained to the boys how special a girl Mel is, how much we have all been through together, and how important the moments in our life we shared are. They understood. They also agreed with us that the saddest part about the whole Sayonara was that none of us know when we will see each other again. All I know is that we will see each other. So Mel, if you are out there reading this somewhere....

Until we meet again... Take Care and Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu! よろしくおねがいします! I love you!

Jan Arrives in Three Days!!

Just got off the phone with Jan. She will be here on Friday. I was prepping her. I am having her come from Narita airport to my little town of Arai all by herself. Not becaue I don't love her to death, orbecause I want her to hate Japan. But because my town Matsuri is on Friday and I would have to take a whole day off work to get her, and I would rather spend that day off work with her since they are so priceless. our conversation was over an hour (and I was on the phone at work). There were lots of long silences, "you sure you are ok?"s, and even a "so you really can't come to Tokyo and get me?" moment. And of course a "ganbare! and I love you!" at the end of the conversation, of which my first year student heard and asked me about... so I told them my good friend is coming to Japan for the first time on Friday. They were excited too! Then left the room having learned the words ii tomadachi = good friend. good friend = i love you. So I got a My friend Carrie, I love you! screamed across the teachers room upon their exit. So cute. Well about Jan...That girl has some balls! I am so excited about her coming. This will be her first time to travel so far alone. I think other than our trip together to Mexico it will also be her first time abroad. And she is going at it like a wild woman, she has done lots of research and appears to be just as excited as me. Our plans are to hang out, go camping and hiking. It is going to rock! I can't wait for her to be here!

the aftermath

So I am sitting here at work- 12:16 p.m.

I am barefoot under my desk.

I am barefoot because my indoor shoes don't fit right now. no shoes fit. my feet are covered in blisters and would be blisters...they are swollen too big for my indoor shoes.they are swollen and blisters and so sensitive i screamed as my pants touched them when i got dressed earlier..too much running around, and dancing my ass off for three days straight i guess....but as always it was so worth it.

I just returned from Fuji Rock Festival. It is Monday morning, well actually afternoon, I have yet to spoken to anyone at work today. Due to the inconvient train schedule between Nouetsu and Arai, I rolled into work about 45 minutes ago. So that would be around 11:30, my work hours start at 8:10...so yes, I was late, but am trying to get by without having to take nenkyu. So far so good, just got an Oh! Carrie, hello bow thing. I saw KyotoSensei look at his watch a few minutes after I got in,but I honestly don't think he truly cares. I really have no reason to be here. I am trying to keep on the DL, see if anyone has the balls to call me out on my late arrival. I doubt they will. So far so good= only three hours to go.

My eyes are fading. Upon writing this I realized I still have my contacts in. I don't have my glasses, a contact case, or rewetting drops. All those essentials are still in the pack which is thrown on my apartments floor right now. I want to walk down the hall to the English room for a short nap, but that requires shoes, oh the choices and trials one goes through...and every bit of my pain right now was worth it. I had a blast! It's not like this is the first time I pull a day like today working on just a few hours sleep from a couple days before.