G'day folks! (or 'konichiwa' as people say over here). In between my World of Warcraft addiction and the busy work schedule these past few months, my free time on the computer is limited. If you are not satisfied with this excuse, I'm sure I could come up with one that involves ninjas, a telepathic cat and the Queen from 'Aliens.'**
I have spent the past few days on trains in between Nagoya, Tokyo and Nikko. I've managed to go through two books and oodles of podcasts while riding the rails. There's not much to say about my vacation that I haven't already written about in previous installments. This year was just another variation on the theme of 'Blake goes somewhere, drinks a lot and doesn't get hit by a truck.' New Years Eve in Roppongi was pretty crazy though- I haven't seen so many Westerners in one place since I went back to Fremantle in August.
I heard it got to 44 degrees back home during the Christmas break, which my students or American friends wouldn't believe. Right now in Aichi it's cold, but not cold enough to snow. I would have liked to have a had a White Christmas, but I'm glad I won't have to pay the heating bill that would entail.
Anyway, I'm currently at a hotel in Toyota City, waiting for my
girlfriend to finish her shift so we can go eat some Sukiyaki. The
hotel is partly owned by the Ministry of International Trade, and
Industry, so it doesn't cater to regular tourists. Instead, it is a
place for people who are in Japan on a mid-term basis to work and
learn Japanese. As Aichi is the manufacturing heart of the Japanese
Industrial Apparatus, the place can get busy at times with many people
from China, India and developing nations mixed together in one hotel.
The building is a concrete monolith, but the interior is actually
quite pleasant. The rooms are large and well furnished. There are many
conference rooms, a fully equipped gym, karaoke bar, and a small
library too (They had a big copy of the Koran in Japanese-Arabic. I
tried to read it, but unfortunately it was illegible to me in both
languages). Today was a slow day, as many of the residents went to
Nagoya on a sightseeing tour. As such, I only saw Tsuna and her
coworkers, the Umis (Ikumi and Mayumi). I hadn't met Mayumi before,
and hadn't seen Ikumi for many months, so it was good to talk to them
while I was waiting for Tsuna to finish her shift. Also, Ikumi makes
good coffee :-)
My New Years resolution is to write and blog more, so I will try and
keep notes about all the weird and crazy Japanese things that nowadays
seem normal to me. My family will be coming to visit me next week, so
I should have a lot to complain about :-)
Until next we meet!
-Blake
(**Note: Dear 20th Century Fox- Please email me for the details about
my script treatment)
