2006-09-30 - 10:39 p.m.
My wife is so AWESOME!! She bought me a baseball ticket about 10 days ago and didn:t tell me until today. She handed me a ticket at noon and told me to have fun at my first Japanese baseball game. She sent me with 3 of her coworkers to the game.
These folks are fun, about my age, and great to hang out with. So the idea of going with them to a baseball game was really exciting.
We got to the stadium about 20 minutes before the game started. A few notes to those who want to watch baseball in japan. Be short, and skinny.
The seats are like the seats on the buses in china. They are designed for people who are no more than 5'10", and have skinny butts. What makes this worse is there are moulded plastic arm rests between each seat. In no way am I under 5'10", nor do I have a skinny butt (as many of you can attest.) So it was a tight fit with 4 foreingers all of whom are over 6' tall. In fact I was hoping I could get some japanese person to take a picture of us all squished into the seats. It would be similar to how all those clowns fit in a VW beetle. But I digress. After a half inning of my ass gripping the seat for dear life, I decided I had enough of hurting my rear and my dignity. So I moved into the aisle and sat on the step. Now in china I never would have done that, but because everything is so clean I figured why not. This let one of the other three shift over into my seat, and then there was quasi leg room.
The game was between the Hiroshima Carp and the honomuri Giants. When the game started I was very underwhelmed. The Carp (damn that was hard to write, i wrote crap 3x) pitcher seemed unable to pitch his way out of a wet paper bag. he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits, and 3 walks in ONE inning. At the beginning of the 2nd inning he was facing the lead batter again. The Giants looked very tough, and I was wondering of there was a mercy rule in japanese baseball because I thought the Carp would need it. Well apparently the Carp pitcher just needed one inning more of prep. He went on to throw 3 hitless innings.
Meanwhile the Giants who looked so impressive gave up a 2 run homerun in the fifth inning leaving the game tied 2-2. The Giants got a long home in the bottom of the fifth inning leaving Giants ahead 3-2l. The score stayed stable as each team held the other hitless until the top of the 8th inning. The Carp had gottten a runner to first because he was hit by a pitch. The next batter was the same one who hit the 2 run homer in the fifth. He hit a line drive down the third baseline ino the corner. The runner from first accelerated all the way around third. At that point the left fielder managed to get to the ball. When the runner turned third I said there was no way the throw would be in time. The runner huffing and puffing towards home as the throw was on the way. It was like the Meatloaf song. Here's the throw, the play at the plate, It:s gonna be close! It's in the dirt at home, it's out.... NO safe, Safe at HOME! The runner beat the tag at the plate to tie the game. Awesome play. The crowd goes wild for the visiting team. The batter who hit it managed a triple, with no outs. He was stranded there. Going into the top of the 9th inning, the Carp get a man on first because he outran the throw. Next batter plays textbook baseball and bunts him to second. The coach decides to walk the next hitter (i would too .325 average) to put men on first and second. The next batter is the 2nd baseman who has a .217 average. 1 home run on the season that is almost over, and 5 RBI:s. What happens?
The second baseman hits a blooper over the outfielders who were playing very close. The runners on first and second manage to score, and viola the score is now 5-3 Carp. The game ended with that score.
Wow. It was fun (expensive fun 3700 yen, or about 35 dollars), like watching a college baseball game, and the atmosphere was electric. Some of the players are VERY good, but when the starting right fielder for the Hiroshima Carp has a .185 batting average for the season it tells you the variance in the caliber of players. There are very few Ichiro's playing in japan, but there are lots in the Domincan Republic. But I digress.
The game was awesome. I managed to make about a dozen japanese friends who speak very limited english. but I manage to make friends everywhere I go, it:s a gift and a curse. Lots of fun, lots of excitement, and booing at the umpire was fun, and watching the crowd was intreguing (and so is my spelling)
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
Voice of Will: Internet Bar
2006-09-29 - 10:58 p.m.
like always I find myself wandering when I should be focusing on homework. Here I sit with a 6 page paper due tomorrow and only limited interent access (about 2 more hours before I lose it) and instead of working, i:m busy listening to outkast via the myspace music section. and letting my eyes wander over the internet bar.
some of my more intersting observations, the sign should say NO SMOKING, not NOT SMORKING. It should also say please pay attention to your stuff so it is not stolen, not Your stuff needs attention to not be stoled.
what I have also noticed and wonderd about is the prices here at this internet bar. 30 minutes is 250 yen. If I want 3 hours it is 950 yen. but if I want to stay here from 10pm until 6 am it is only 1400 yen. So the price goes down the longer I stay here. Ok, I get that. but why overnight? And then it hit me, people are actually LIVING in the internet bars because it is cheaper than renting an apartment. (a month is 45000 yen, as opposed to 75000 for a cheap apartment.) that explains why there is a place to lock your cell phone, wallet, and to refresh your shoes and give you house slippers for 200 yen. I knew tokyo was expensive, but I didn:t realize how expensive.
we are doing fine. I am learning how to feed a family of 5 on 2,000 yen a day (think about $20.00). that is my daily budget, and we have been within that pretty well. Lots more veggies and fruits, less meat and cheese. But the kids eat it up, and criss says YUM most day without having to force it out. So I guess I:m doing well.
Other than that the mosquitos are horrible (on par with SIAS), but the repellant here works well. The weather has been great, (except for the 2 typhoons that have HIT japan. then it rains for 3 days. but aside from that it has been really nice. Not too humid, not too hot almost perfect.
Will
like always I find myself wandering when I should be focusing on homework. Here I sit with a 6 page paper due tomorrow and only limited interent access (about 2 more hours before I lose it) and instead of working, i:m busy listening to outkast via the myspace music section. and letting my eyes wander over the internet bar.
some of my more intersting observations, the sign should say NO SMOKING, not NOT SMORKING. It should also say please pay attention to your stuff so it is not stolen, not Your stuff needs attention to not be stoled.
what I have also noticed and wonderd about is the prices here at this internet bar. 30 minutes is 250 yen. If I want 3 hours it is 950 yen. but if I want to stay here from 10pm until 6 am it is only 1400 yen. So the price goes down the longer I stay here. Ok, I get that. but why overnight? And then it hit me, people are actually LIVING in the internet bars because it is cheaper than renting an apartment. (a month is 45000 yen, as opposed to 75000 for a cheap apartment.) that explains why there is a place to lock your cell phone, wallet, and to refresh your shoes and give you house slippers for 200 yen. I knew tokyo was expensive, but I didn:t realize how expensive.
we are doing fine. I am learning how to feed a family of 5 on 2,000 yen a day (think about $20.00). that is my daily budget, and we have been within that pretty well. Lots more veggies and fruits, less meat and cheese. But the kids eat it up, and criss says YUM most day without having to force it out. So I guess I:m doing well.
Other than that the mosquitos are horrible (on par with SIAS), but the repellant here works well. The weather has been great, (except for the 2 typhoons that have HIT japan. then it rains for 3 days. but aside from that it has been really nice. Not too humid, not too hot almost perfect.
Will
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Voice of Will: Wandering Tokyo & Intelligent Design
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
intelligent design and wandering tokyo
Current mood: bouncy
So for all of those out there with intelligent design theories, I have one for you.
Whenever you go to the bathroom in japan, you will notice there is a little pipe sticking up out of the top of the toilet. Now it is up on top of the toilet tank, so it is not a bedux (a pottie that squirts you back). So what is it? well when you have finished your business and you flush the toilet, water starts flowing out of this pipe, and down a hole in the top of the toilet tank. So they have designed a way to wash your hands using the water that fills the tank fresh from the pipes. That way you don't have to actually use the sink. Now that is intelligent design for you! Very efficient.
So we have been here about 2 weeks now, and are coming to grips with lots of things. Like traffic is on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. Why do the Japanese us the british system? I am so used to looking left, then right , then left when crossing the road, i have almost been hit like 3x. And all because I don't look right 2x. We conquered Japan. The US. We insisted that their emperor was a mortal man, and made him admit that to the japanese. We gave them baseball (and that is pretty awesome, more on that in a different post), baseketball, pro wrestling (not sumo, I mean like fake moves, bad soap opera drama, WWF hulk hogan stuff), and a love for hamburgers, but we couldn't get them to drive on the right side of the road? WTF?
Sticker shock is definately wearing off. I just have to get used to the idea that I'm buying american stuff in america. Not China. (too bad that would make this perfect). DVD:s from the states are like 3200 yen. (that is like 30 bucks). We have found the local DVD rental place, and we will be friends. (and when I go to china over winter break, i:m bringing back like a suitcase full of DVD:s and PS2 /xbox games)
japanese tv is hypnotic. More so than barney and the teletubbies. Their kids shows are interesting, full of bright colors, and easy to understand even in a foreign language. Why doesn:t china have that? The kids are dying to learn japanese. We have learned 25 or so of the hiragana (japanse alphabet) and know about 50 words by sight now. I can only count to 6, but the kids are rattling off japanese numbers fast. It took me about 4 months to learn 1 to 10 in chinese. But there is no haggling at stores, so I guess the numbers aren:t that important. Everyone is so helpful.
We have a tropical depression hitting the coast right now, so it is raining, and will be for the next 3 days. But that doesn't even slow anything down.
We were here for 4 days and then asked to participate in some sort of kids day parade. One of our neighbors walked over and told us in perfect english there was some sort of kids day festival. So we took the kids, and were asked to participate in the parade. It consisted of young kids towing a shinto drum around the block with a shinto priest banging the drum, and adults carrying some sort of parade float on their backs and it looked like some sort of wooden structure that was topped with a brass phoenix looking bird and a carp. I have no idea what they were, but we were in a parade!
One of the other interesting things about tokyo is that unlike china, we are not an exhibit in a zoo. We have some people look at us, but for the most part, they say "hello" and then wander off. I:m amazed. the people are so helpful.
intelligent design and wandering tokyo
Current mood: bouncy
So for all of those out there with intelligent design theories, I have one for you.
Whenever you go to the bathroom in japan, you will notice there is a little pipe sticking up out of the top of the toilet. Now it is up on top of the toilet tank, so it is not a bedux (a pottie that squirts you back). So what is it? well when you have finished your business and you flush the toilet, water starts flowing out of this pipe, and down a hole in the top of the toilet tank. So they have designed a way to wash your hands using the water that fills the tank fresh from the pipes. That way you don't have to actually use the sink. Now that is intelligent design for you! Very efficient.
So we have been here about 2 weeks now, and are coming to grips with lots of things. Like traffic is on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD. Why do the Japanese us the british system? I am so used to looking left, then right , then left when crossing the road, i have almost been hit like 3x. And all because I don't look right 2x. We conquered Japan. The US. We insisted that their emperor was a mortal man, and made him admit that to the japanese. We gave them baseball (and that is pretty awesome, more on that in a different post), baseketball, pro wrestling (not sumo, I mean like fake moves, bad soap opera drama, WWF hulk hogan stuff), and a love for hamburgers, but we couldn't get them to drive on the right side of the road? WTF?
Sticker shock is definately wearing off. I just have to get used to the idea that I'm buying american stuff in america. Not China. (too bad that would make this perfect). DVD:s from the states are like 3200 yen. (that is like 30 bucks). We have found the local DVD rental place, and we will be friends. (and when I go to china over winter break, i:m bringing back like a suitcase full of DVD:s and PS2 /xbox games)
japanese tv is hypnotic. More so than barney and the teletubbies. Their kids shows are interesting, full of bright colors, and easy to understand even in a foreign language. Why doesn:t china have that? The kids are dying to learn japanese. We have learned 25 or so of the hiragana (japanse alphabet) and know about 50 words by sight now. I can only count to 6, but the kids are rattling off japanese numbers fast. It took me about 4 months to learn 1 to 10 in chinese. But there is no haggling at stores, so I guess the numbers aren:t that important. Everyone is so helpful.
We have a tropical depression hitting the coast right now, so it is raining, and will be for the next 3 days. But that doesn't even slow anything down.
We were here for 4 days and then asked to participate in some sort of kids day parade. One of our neighbors walked over and told us in perfect english there was some sort of kids day festival. So we took the kids, and were asked to participate in the parade. It consisted of young kids towing a shinto drum around the block with a shinto priest banging the drum, and adults carrying some sort of parade float on their backs and it looked like some sort of wooden structure that was topped with a brass phoenix looking bird and a carp. I have no idea what they were, but we were in a parade!
One of the other interesting things about tokyo is that unlike china, we are not an exhibit in a zoo. We have some people look at us, but for the most part, they say "hello" and then wander off. I:m amazed. the people are so helpful.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Voice of Will: More Tokyo Stuff
2006-09-20 - 9:20 p.m.
More stuff from tokyo
The kids are starting to enjoy exploring tokyo. we found an awesome toystore yesterday, and have been looking there 2x. US prices and some higher, but an awesome selection of toys to look at, and play with in the store. WE have been homeschooling since we got here, and have finally hit the groove (we brought stuff with us, and good thing too, the people we order the our stuff from doubled their prices since last year, so we have to wait about a month before we can get their *official* stuff.) The kids are also enjoying having futons to sleep on. we have a foam rubber mattress that is about 2 inches thick, and then the futon, and then sleeping bags on them. Pretty comfortable (better than china), and loads of fun to fold and put away.
criss is extremely excited about this job. They will be teaching 8 90 minute classes a week. So the students will be getting 4 90 minute classes per week per student, that means the students will get 6 hours of extensive english preparation as opposed to the normal 2 to 3 one time a week hours. This is one of the first of its kind programs in japan, so if it works (and it should) then it could go on to be adapted for the whole country. they measure success by TOEFL scores (500 is passing, that would be someone who could have a normal conversation with you about typical things like the weather, fashion, food. But may have difficulty with more specific terms or ideas, and someone who can write an indepth paragraph on one topic, but not at the 5 paragraph essay (or close to there, but nothing more)) and all the students going into the program score about 250 (which means they have a bout a 1000 word vocabulary, very limited reading/writing skills, and limited conversational skills.) so they have their work cut out for them. But if they can improve them from 250 to 500 in one year, (that would be a definte success) they are thinking to make the about 400-500 level this year, and get them above 500 next year.
I think the job is awesome, she only works about 30 hours a week, so she isn:t gone all the time.
More stuff from tokyo
The kids are starting to enjoy exploring tokyo. we found an awesome toystore yesterday, and have been looking there 2x. US prices and some higher, but an awesome selection of toys to look at, and play with in the store. WE have been homeschooling since we got here, and have finally hit the groove (we brought stuff with us, and good thing too, the people we order the our stuff from doubled their prices since last year, so we have to wait about a month before we can get their *official* stuff.) The kids are also enjoying having futons to sleep on. we have a foam rubber mattress that is about 2 inches thick, and then the futon, and then sleeping bags on them. Pretty comfortable (better than china), and loads of fun to fold and put away.
criss is extremely excited about this job. They will be teaching 8 90 minute classes a week. So the students will be getting 4 90 minute classes per week per student, that means the students will get 6 hours of extensive english preparation as opposed to the normal 2 to 3 one time a week hours. This is one of the first of its kind programs in japan, so if it works (and it should) then it could go on to be adapted for the whole country. they measure success by TOEFL scores (500 is passing, that would be someone who could have a normal conversation with you about typical things like the weather, fashion, food. But may have difficulty with more specific terms or ideas, and someone who can write an indepth paragraph on one topic, but not at the 5 paragraph essay (or close to there, but nothing more)) and all the students going into the program score about 250 (which means they have a bout a 1000 word vocabulary, very limited reading/writing skills, and limited conversational skills.) so they have their work cut out for them. But if they can improve them from 250 to 500 in one year, (that would be a definte success) they are thinking to make the about 400-500 level this year, and get them above 500 next year.
I think the job is awesome, she only works about 30 hours a week, so she isn:t gone all the time.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Voice of Will: Loving Tokyo
2006-09-15 - 12:23 p.m.
Ah tokyo.
What can I say to describe the feelings and the place? It isn't china!!!! That is a good start.
This place is so different from China, and america, and yet it is so similar. I have been to some large cities in my time (chicago, LA, Shanghai, beijing) but I must say Tokyo is the BEST.
There isn't just one thing I can point at either. This city is so clean. There is NO garbage on the streets, and the people pickup the front of their houses every day. There is very little noticible pollution. The sky is clear and crisp (when it isn:t raining). The people are very polite and nice (especially if you try to speak japanese first. even if you can only say I don't understand, or I speak only a little japanes, the people then switch to english and try to help.) There are tons of people who speak at least some form of english.
The city is a maze of little roads winding through the houses, businesses, and subways. There are businesses in the middle of alleys who do brisk businesses.
My favorite place so far is the local fruit/veggie place. It is in a back alley, next to a cemetary (they are all over the place) with thislittle old man who is trying to teach me the names of the veggies in japanese. He is awesome. More later have to do homework.
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