so i've been watching a lot tick. as a kid i always watched this with my big brother on fox. the slow witted genius of the big blue super hero, that is nigh invincible, holds a special place in the my heart. therefore, in this game of blame i'd like to find fox with fault. just cause. so in this episode, as the title eludes, da vinci and other famous inventors are transported to the present (1995). there is ben franklin, the inventor of peanut butter, gutenburg, and some other guys. what i'm interested in is the two women who are transported from the past. one is mona lisa. she is of course only credited with being the subject of her painting--the villain even apologizes for involving her in this mess. the other woman is the the inventor of the wheel. firstly, mind you, this is the only woman inventor in the bunch, clearly she is added just so they can feel more diverse (like with the inventor of peanut butter being black). secondly, 'wheel' (her given name in this ep) is the one that gives da vinci's location away, after he's escaped and gone for help. therefore she is the weakness of the bunch, the honest one. aww ain't that sweet, a honest gullible woman. later when she escapes (by climbing over the side of the glass cage) no one else uses her route. it's not good enough for them. they have to invent there own way out, asking her to retrieve supplies for them. finally, 'wheel' does not get sent back to the past but rather stays in the present and sues for royalties on her invention of the wheel. clever yes, but a reinforcement of the stereotype of the greedy woman. now you could say i'm just an over sensitive cranky female who likes to make up feminist causes just to make a scene. this would be misguided on your part. the fact that this little difference in roles slips by nearly unnoticed indicates the depth of the gender related discrimination in our society. this kids program is subtly displaying where society places women. we are in service of men, retrieving items so they can make their own invention instead of just using ours; we're supposed to be meek and follow their lead or we will be seen as destructive and greedy. this message is ingrained in our culture so well that we really don't notice it and must put in the effort to see and then change it. we can return to the '60s. we can change our ways from the dark days of the '80s. think about it.
cartoons are so depressing sometimes.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
packing...again.
it's seems to be a theme this summer. packing to move out of my apartment. packing to move into elena's. packing to move out of elena's. packing for japan. packing for saijo. packing for osaka. packing to move into my new apartment. packing for mt. fuji. okay wait. go back one. packing for my new apartment. yes i found a place. yes i'm really excited. yes i will actually have an address. yes i will have a 3 ton weight lifted from my shoulders. yes i will stop complaining to my new friends (at least about this). my old place (in pdx) was 4th floor, hardwood floors and on the corner. my new place is 3rd floor (top floor), hardwood (okay, it's linoleum but i can pretend) and tatami, and on the corner. the really exciting part is the location. it's a 2 minute walk from a JR station (that's the japan rail local train) and a great neighborhood for biking. i may--MAY--even be able to bike/walk to school. i was already planning out where to put things after i walked in so i knew it was the place for me, besides the fated apartment number of 303 (my first place was 613, second 103, last 403). friday my coworkers, yamaguchi-sensei and tsukahiro-sensei, will help me move in my fridge, chair, washer and stuff. i'm going to mt. fuji this weekend so i won't be able to organize till next week, but who cares? i can finally settle. i can finally put things on the wall. i can finally make some place scream 'LIZ!' (and yes there is room for a second futon, and i am buying one, so all you japan curious peeps you can come crash at my place).
hear my sigh of relief across the ocean.
hear my sigh of relief across the ocean.
my team-teachin' buddies.
so i can see why my predecessor stayed for three years, or was at least able to survive those years. i went to a work party tonight. it was with most of the english teachers at my school. so there are eleven total. they were all so great and i was actually able to joke around a little. i hope that i'll be able to pick up enough 日本語 (japanese) to understand some of the stories being told around me. but we went to a fancy/trendy izakaiya (japanese style bar/restaurant). it was nice, lots of mayo. i tried almost everything, and the salmon was definitely the best. i had beer, the only woman who did--although if my supervisor wasn't driving i bet she woulda done it right by the alcohol. i felt kinda bad for the head of the department. he is definitely on the outs of the gang. i need to remember to keep that in mind and still be kind to him. i wish yamagouchi-sensei had joined in the conversation more, but maybe that's his personality. but it was a good night. i think that teaching with these people will be a positive experience, challenging at times because of language barriers, but still good. tsukahiro-sensei reminds me a lot of my high school history teacher, mr. chasko, would just to kick our desks (or us) if we fell asleep during movies. tsukahiro-sensei seems very enthusiastic about team teaching. this week (week after the party) we has me in his classes even though i'm not scheduled until next week. and at the very lest i'll be very busy with correcting speech-papers for the end of year bilingual speech contest. i was handed 5 classes worth of papers to correct today. the bad grammar is giving me a headache, but i think i will be able to make a difference in the student's understanding of english if i am given the chance to communicate with them one-on-one. once i have time with each teacher i'll have a better gage on how that will work. also i met the two part time teachers today. surprise surprise they're both women and speak better english than many of the full time instructors. but both seem great and it seems i'll be able to shoot the breeze with them during my free time (or at least the younger of the two).
my weekend with mayumi-chan
august 26th and 27th
so i awoke early (5:45) saturday morning to catch to bus to hiroshima eki (station). once there i successfully navigated my way to track 7, car 11, seat 1A on the nozomi shinkansen. this is the fasted bullet train. it was absolutely amazing. 1 hour and 28 min later i was in osaka (this is a 5 hour bus ride mind you). now mayumi had been working till 1 in the morning, so i told her it would be just fine if she met me at 11am (instead of 9:30, when the train got in). i wandered. and wandered some more. debated about leaving the station to explore more, but opted to just wander. i purchased some omiyage (souvenirs) for people back home and then met mayumi at 11:30, after a brief phone conversation of ‘what can you see?’ ‘i see such and such a sign’ ‘which side of the sign are you on’ ‘i don’t know…’ and so on. coffee was had and then we were off on the JR train to kyoto (only 540yen and 30min). at the kyoto station mayumi had hired a taxi for the day. apparently this is the way to see kyoto, as the taxi drivers know all about the city and can basically double as a tour guide. uehata-san—spoke great english, so he was able to answer my questions and explain much of the historical significance of…well…stuff.
he introduced himself as uehata, but said his nickname was 'joe', so that's what stuck in my head. very cute. both of us being very hungry, mayumi asked him to take us to a good sushi place. we were shuttled off to a very classy restaurant, and we were the only patrons for much of our 2 hour late lunch. the sushi chef was amazing. all the fish was wild, except the eel—which was swimming in a tank at the end of the bar. first was a course of sashimi, then sushi, and then an amazing dessert of sweat green tea (basically concentrated) over ice with azuki beans (the beans in my favorite type of mochi, anmochi). we also had beer and shochu (which i couldn’t finish as it was just making me sleepy). the sushi chef and then owner had very involved conversations with mayumi. the owner used to date an american woman so there were many funny gaijin stories to tell. i was given his card and mayumi said that if i keep in contact with him i may be able to get into some exclusive parties and maybe get a meal from his restaurant. ii ne. next, joe took us to the golden pavilion. this is one of tHE sights in kyoto. apparently it was built by the first shogun of the tokugawa period. so it’s old (1397, originally). about 50 yrs ago they replaced all the gold leafing (it cost 700,000,000yen). All of this information was given by the amazing joe, he took photos for us, too--mayumi and i posed for the classic japanese photo—cheezu—about 20 times, he carried umbrellas for us and ran from my camera every time i tried to take his picture. it felt like the royal treatment. mayumi bought me a protection charm for my (soon to be found) new apartment and then we headed off to the next sight. on the way we passed a huge white kannon—for a moment i wish we were going there, then the place we ended at was worth missing the kannon. we went to the kiyomizu temple. it was incredibly beautiful. i kept thinking we had come to THE thing had come to see, but no, there was more. we prayed at three different, no four, shrines (?) and drank water from the mountain stream. there was an amazing view of kyoto (at sunset!) and the temple was surrounded by a huge forest. it was just so peaceful, i wish we could have stayed longer, but we made it just before closing. we then wondered down the street--chawan-zaka or teapot lane (more great pics taken of the sunset) and i stopped to buy some omiyage and we then decided to head back to osaka. joe dropped us off, gave us his card and mayumi paid the bill. at kyoto eki we stopped for more coffee and split some pasta at a kisaten (japanese style coffee shop, serving drinks and real food--mayumi really misses these back in the states). we went back to osaka, stopped off at an izakai (a japanese style bar with drinks and lots of small appetizer style dishes) off the main shopping district (near mayumi’s place), had some gin and tonics and dinner. we chatted and then wondered to mayumi’s to clean up and rest before heading out. on the way to her place i saw more of osaka. bright lights, good places to eat, the apple store, a nice kid who wanted to ask where i was from and a couple drag queens. after making circles around her trendy neighborhood, we arrived. her place was quaint, she’s paying for the location (and the fact that it’s fully furnished) rather than the size. after finding out where the good scene was tonight, we headed out to platinum—a club.
before that though, we stopped at an exclusive (secret) bar/gallery. mayumi is of course friends with the owner/designer. we were going to meet him at a bar, but he was heading out to nevada for a conference so his place was closed and he was packing for his trip. buut…he still let us come in, meet him and take some photos. his theme was red. everything was red, including him (clothing all red, sunglasses and berkies—dyed so even the cork was red), even his bike parked outside. so cool. he gave us postcards with a photo of an exhibition at burning man and gave me a card so i could check out his website and call him when i’m in osaka again. we said good-bye and went to the bar. well really it was a club. there were like six greeters at the door (mostly posh guys in suits, i felt underdressed in my plaid dress) and the place was packed. it was 3,000yen cover for women, 3,500yen for guys (about 30 and 35 bucks). we got more drinks, 3 gin and tonics for mayumi, 2 g'n'ts for me plus a greyhound (a new one to the bartender). we drank and watched the party below (there was a balcony around the dance floor for watchers). the music was eighties, then rap, then j-pop, and then techno. after finishing our drinks we headed down to dance. i quickly realized there was no room for my normal flailing style, so we just did the i’m-in-a-crowd-squirm. the guys dancing did not do the white man dance, but were much more enthusiastic. a nice change. the girls looked young, there seemed to be a number of night time workers (escorts, like mayumi’s job). we danced for a while. i got tired. we went home around 2:30, stopping to buy cigarettes for mayumi, tea and coffee for the morning and some ice cream. i took a shower and crashed in mayumi’s bed while she showered and then proceeded to crash. after waking up late the next morn (11:30) i checked my e-mail then we went to piano piano for lunch. this turned out to be a very swanky italian joint. i had a three course meal for lunch (only 750yen) that included salad with tako (octopus), a paninni with salmon, and a dessert of ice cream, fruit and whipped cream. mm mm good. mayumi then took me to americatown (the famous shopping district in osaka) and then to the ‘sanrio gallery’ (hello kitty land). i got my souvenir t-shirt and we then headed to osaka castle. mayumi had only been there one other time, even though she’s lived in osaka eight years, so i don’t think she was totally bored. the castle was rebuilt after the war (wwii?) so it looked old on the outside but was a very modern eight story museum on the inside. there was a great view of the city, we took pictures and then it was time for me to catch the shinkansen home. we trekked back to osaka eki, mayumi bought my ticket (spoiled me with first class, or ‘green car’) and my dinner to take with me on the train. we had coffee again and she walked me to my train. a tearful good-bye and an hour and a half later i was back in Hiroshima. my bus pulled up as i approached the stop and i was back at my apartment by 9:40. a glamorous amazing weekend. it’s weird to think that i won’t see mayumi till who knows when and that she will not be helping me with my japanese, or me with her english for this next year. things have changed so damn much.
so i awoke early (5:45) saturday morning to catch to bus to hiroshima eki (station). once there i successfully navigated my way to track 7, car 11, seat 1A on the nozomi shinkansen. this is the fasted bullet train. it was absolutely amazing. 1 hour and 28 min later i was in osaka (this is a 5 hour bus ride mind you). now mayumi had been working till 1 in the morning, so i told her it would be just fine if she met me at 11am (instead of 9:30, when the train got in). i wandered. and wandered some more. debated about leaving the station to explore more, but opted to just wander. i purchased some omiyage (souvenirs) for people back home and then met mayumi at 11:30, after a brief phone conversation of ‘what can you see?’ ‘i see such and such a sign’ ‘which side of the sign are you on’ ‘i don’t know…’ and so on. coffee was had and then we were off on the JR train to kyoto (only 540yen and 30min). at the kyoto station mayumi had hired a taxi for the day. apparently this is the way to see kyoto, as the taxi drivers know all about the city and can basically double as a tour guide. uehata-san—spoke great english, so he was able to answer my questions and explain much of the historical significance of…well…stuff.
he introduced himself as uehata, but said his nickname was 'joe', so that's what stuck in my head. very cute. both of us being very hungry, mayumi asked him to take us to a good sushi place. we were shuttled off to a very classy restaurant, and we were the only patrons for much of our 2 hour late lunch. the sushi chef was amazing. all the fish was wild, except the eel—which was swimming in a tank at the end of the bar. first was a course of sashimi, then sushi, and then an amazing dessert of sweat green tea (basically concentrated) over ice with azuki beans (the beans in my favorite type of mochi, anmochi). we also had beer and shochu (which i couldn’t finish as it was just making me sleepy). the sushi chef and then owner had very involved conversations with mayumi. the owner used to date an american woman so there were many funny gaijin stories to tell. i was given his card and mayumi said that if i keep in contact with him i may be able to get into some exclusive parties and maybe get a meal from his restaurant. ii ne. next, joe took us to the golden pavilion. this is one of tHE sights in kyoto. apparently it was built by the first shogun of the tokugawa period. so it’s old (1397, originally). about 50 yrs ago they replaced all the gold leafing (it cost 700,000,000yen). All of this information was given by the amazing joe, he took photos for us, too--mayumi and i posed for the classic japanese photo—cheezu—about 20 times, he carried umbrellas for us and ran from my camera every time i tried to take his picture. it felt like the royal treatment. mayumi bought me a protection charm for my (soon to be found) new apartment and then we headed off to the next sight. on the way we passed a huge white kannon—for a moment i wish we were going there, then the place we ended at was worth missing the kannon. we went to the kiyomizu temple. it was incredibly beautiful. i kept thinking we had come to THE thing had come to see, but no, there was more. we prayed at three different, no four, shrines (?) and drank water from the mountain stream. there was an amazing view of kyoto (at sunset!) and the temple was surrounded by a huge forest. it was just so peaceful, i wish we could have stayed longer, but we made it just before closing. we then wondered down the street--chawan-zaka or teapot lane (more great pics taken of the sunset) and i stopped to buy some omiyage and we then decided to head back to osaka. joe dropped us off, gave us his card and mayumi paid the bill. at kyoto eki we stopped for more coffee and split some pasta at a kisaten (japanese style coffee shop, serving drinks and real food--mayumi really misses these back in the states). we went back to osaka, stopped off at an izakai (a japanese style bar with drinks and lots of small appetizer style dishes) off the main shopping district (near mayumi’s place), had some gin and tonics and dinner. we chatted and then wondered to mayumi’s to clean up and rest before heading out. on the way to her place i saw more of osaka. bright lights, good places to eat, the apple store, a nice kid who wanted to ask where i was from and a couple drag queens. after making circles around her trendy neighborhood, we arrived. her place was quaint, she’s paying for the location (and the fact that it’s fully furnished) rather than the size. after finding out where the good scene was tonight, we headed out to platinum—a club.
before that though, we stopped at an exclusive (secret) bar/gallery. mayumi is of course friends with the owner/designer. we were going to meet him at a bar, but he was heading out to nevada for a conference so his place was closed and he was packing for his trip. buut…he still let us come in, meet him and take some photos. his theme was red. everything was red, including him (clothing all red, sunglasses and berkies—dyed so even the cork was red), even his bike parked outside. so cool. he gave us postcards with a photo of an exhibition at burning man and gave me a card so i could check out his website and call him when i’m in osaka again. we said good-bye and went to the bar. well really it was a club. there were like six greeters at the door (mostly posh guys in suits, i felt underdressed in my plaid dress) and the place was packed. it was 3,000yen cover for women, 3,500yen for guys (about 30 and 35 bucks). we got more drinks, 3 gin and tonics for mayumi, 2 g'n'ts for me plus a greyhound (a new one to the bartender). we drank and watched the party below (there was a balcony around the dance floor for watchers). the music was eighties, then rap, then j-pop, and then techno. after finishing our drinks we headed down to dance. i quickly realized there was no room for my normal flailing style, so we just did the i’m-in-a-crowd-squirm. the guys dancing did not do the white man dance, but were much more enthusiastic. a nice change. the girls looked young, there seemed to be a number of night time workers (escorts, like mayumi’s job). we danced for a while. i got tired. we went home around 2:30, stopping to buy cigarettes for mayumi, tea and coffee for the morning and some ice cream. i took a shower and crashed in mayumi’s bed while she showered and then proceeded to crash. after waking up late the next morn (11:30) i checked my e-mail then we went to piano piano for lunch. this turned out to be a very swanky italian joint. i had a three course meal for lunch (only 750yen) that included salad with tako (octopus), a paninni with salmon, and a dessert of ice cream, fruit and whipped cream. mm mm good. mayumi then took me to americatown (the famous shopping district in osaka) and then to the ‘sanrio gallery’ (hello kitty land). i got my souvenir t-shirt and we then headed to osaka castle. mayumi had only been there one other time, even though she’s lived in osaka eight years, so i don’t think she was totally bored. the castle was rebuilt after the war (wwii?) so it looked old on the outside but was a very modern eight story museum on the inside. there was a great view of the city, we took pictures and then it was time for me to catch the shinkansen home. we trekked back to osaka eki, mayumi bought my ticket (spoiled me with first class, or ‘green car’) and my dinner to take with me on the train. we had coffee again and she walked me to my train. a tearful good-bye and an hour and a half later i was back in Hiroshima. my bus pulled up as i approached the stop and i was back at my apartment by 9:40. a glamorous amazing weekend. it’s weird to think that i won’t see mayumi till who knows when and that she will not be helping me with my japanese, or me with her english for this next year. things have changed so damn much.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
qutie a little adventure.
mind you that's little. today we got out early. so very exciting. yesterday we went on a culture field trip (kate went to the elementary school, sandi, natalie and i went on a home visit). so...at the home visit we went to three different very fancy expensive houses. i took too many pictures, of course, that i'm still only hoping that i can get off my phone. perhaps they will appear on flickr later this evening. anywho, it was interesting and we were fed food (including mochi) so all was well. this led to the activity this afternoon which was making posters to present on friday morning (sound like high school to anyone else?). a mistake was made (perhaps consciously) and we were told that we were done for the day once our poster was done. so 40 min later i was rushing to my room, getting out about 2 hrs early. so kate and i felt the need to take advantage of the bicycles that the complex was offering us to borrow. we grabbed the smelly helmets (which we did not wear, bad us) and headed out. not thinking we were going to go very far we ended up downtown. before this though we ran into a mystery building that turned out to be a sake distillery. the staff said, yeah take a look around. and there we went. we got a pseudo tour and kate successfully asked what this strange hanging ball thing was (a bunch of evergreenery that indicated, when it was dry, that the sake was ready-don't think its the only indicator anymore but still cool). after this we came on to the 'you me town'. we had to see what it was. turned out to be a mall of sorts with a grocery store and clothing and a basken robins. clothing was purchased (there was a comme ca ism--same place i got a t-shirt in sapporo) and then octopus balls, an pan (red bean paste in pancakes) and then of course a crepe from basken robins (the one with chocolate ice cream, banana, whip cream, chocolate sauce and corn flakes). all was so yummy. we then peddled back up to the HIP, hoping we were going the right way. kate earned a battle scare, stubbing her toe on a quick rising driveway curb, and we did make it up the big hill. i was actually able to make it all the way up without walking it, so i guess i haven't lost all my biking skills. yay me. so perfect, though. i really missed biking. my second purchase, after a rice cooker, will be a bike.
post script: i am going to be sooo fat if i don't change my diet like i say i'm going to. ice cream everyday? crepes whenever i see them? store bought food always? yeah...fat and poor.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
really?
i looked at my countup timer today. i've only been here 16 days. i don't buy it. it feels like at least a month. well no more like two. tokyo was two weeks, hiroshima was a week, first hiroshima orientation downtown was a week and this last bit was like two. craziness that this is all in my head. this week i'm at a language intensive with a culture ad on. all the first year JETs are trapped in saijo (a suburb? or small city 30 min from hiroshima). we are staying at the hiroshima international plaza (or HIP for short) which is a good 15 min bus ride from the city. it's kinda isolating, yet communal. the girls and i (sandi, kate and natalie) are making daily trips downtown to fuji grand (a freddy's style supermarket) to get lunch and dinner cause HIP food is disgusting greasy shit. we had dinner at the jolly pasta tonight with some second years, including the ever wonderful dob, and just watched the post-graduate brat pack flick "st. elmo's fire". quite a deep film about losers who just can't find their way. last night we watched "when harry met sally". mind you these are amazing nights of drinking beer, eating chocolate and mochi, and watching these lovely 80s classics. not the most japanese experience, but right now we are all so stressed that trying to appreciate japan is a challenge (of course natalie and i both found our japanese addictions, green tea and mochi respectively). but it has been a good stay--if not for the language class that is a bit tirering. and my momentary breakdown monday passed with only one night of no sleep (the bus was sold out to osaka so i wasn't going to get to see mayumi, but she's going to help me pay for a shinkansen--bullet train--ticket, so all is well and we love mayumi). but i'm exhausted and need to sleep so i will do so now.
198 yen
today was a simple day. i decided not to go downtown, but rather to clean my apartment in an attempt to get rid of bugs (i woke up with a bite on my calf). this look about four hours to get to as 'the tick' was doing an excellent job of promoting my procrastination. i tried to burn a cd of photos, for my self intro, to print but the cd was too scratched. i bussed to the co-op. a new supaa (same name as the one i frequented in sapporo) that i hadn't been to. i bought an apple for 198 yen (that's one apple) and some other essentials. it took me forever to find the 'death to bugs' aisle, once i got there i couldn't do it. too many scary chemicals. i'll figure something out letter, maybe after i move. i found the magic moisture absorber, yay! this comes highly recommended from 2nd and 3rd year JETs. apparently you open this strange contraption and it sucks up the moisture in your apato so as to decrease mold growth. something that sounds good to me. i walked to the bus stop and decided i'd risk taking the koyo A danchi instead of the koyo C danchi bus. this was a wise move. A danchi comes way more often and it stops at the bottom of my hill. so i have to walk up instead of being dropped at my door step. yeah big deal. pah. (b-t-w, if i'd known this before i never would have had to take a cab, grr.) murata sensei met with me she's going to give me a ride to the train station tomorrow so i can get to saijo on time. i was planning on staying there the whole week, but i think i'll come back tomorrow so i can get my ticket to osaka then figure out a way to indicate to murata-sensei that i don't need a ride on the other days....(not really supposed to do that as i'm not supposed to stay in the hotel, they'll reimburse me for travel expenses but not for the hotel. mind you the reimbursement would cover the hotel, but that's bureaucracy for you).
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