Talking to Chester

I get online occassionally when I stay the night at friends house. But Chester and Ryo have been the only people who've I've talked to, well mostly Chester. I'm talking to Chester now...and now Sheldon. Damn it where are you guys? I'm gonna be alone for X'mas guys...feel sorry for me. All the ALTs are going home, and I will be in Japan where there are no X'mas trees. Well hope ya'll had a nice Thanksgiving...it doesn't feel like the holidays here.... I need to be in the holiday spirit. Some of the teachers really can't speak English and it's beginning to annoy me. Because a lot of these kids are freakin' smart and I kNOW if they had a teacher that could speak English then they would be better at English and they might actually like it. It's sad I say something in class and some students understand me and they explain to the teacher who doesn't... These kids are awesome... well most of them. Japanese Soka students are not the only angelic one's, but I guess they're more extreme. More to come.

ps. if you want to read other ALTs blogs they're funnier cuz they have internet at their home and they blog about everything....everything meaning food. So here it is. cindyng.blogspot.com
and jeffsantilli.blogspot.com Damn it I can't put pics on here...

I'm here!!!!

Still alive and kicking... I hate not being able to blog... Omg. oh yea Jess I got you a hanten for your late birthday... early X'mas.... congratualtions on getting a kool job! ...... gift. I haven't sent it yet so....winter might be over by the time it gets there... You know had to wait until payday which was today... whatelse..... Going to be alone for Xmas.....sad....

How to make a Ann
Ingredients:3 parts pride1 part courage5 parts energy
Method:Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of wisdom

I like the dash of wisdom.... I MISSS you guuuuuuuyyyyyyssssssss!!!!!!

Longtime no see...

ha.... I'm a shitty person I haven't blogged.... I really want to get internet but phone line is so expensive. Not really liking my blogs lately... getting lazy and can't really make them interesting. Anyway... sameO sameO here. ...how many more months until you guys get here?? Did I say congrats to you all for getting jobs? and Sammy's opting for a career change in Iraq or a hostess in Japan. I got some hooks up for ya sammy if you ever need. I CANT wait to watch Elizabethtown! It just came out today but... I don't have enough money. I have about $200 to last me until the 21st. ok well don't have any interesting to say.

My apologies...

the onsen was really fun all the guys got drunk and we talked about pornos and politics.....oh yea and did you all know that Naomi has been with Yukio since senior year?? Went clubbing in Roppongi, there was a Japanese guy all G'd up wearing a shirt that said "I'm Black." Ok sorry I realize I've been blogging on and on I'm not concentrating on the content...haa...I need to get internet...so I can relax find my chi and type kick ass blogs... Anyway I'm glad you guys are starting to plan the trip to Japan!!

The Reunion Report

Well... I did it. I'm in Tokyo this weekend again... and we just finished our mini reunion. So let me give you the lowdown on the Soka peeps. Kimiko is currently applying for graduate school and apparently she has some kind of essay due on Wed. (it's currently Sunday) she was freakin' out. Kacchan and Yumi works at the HQ and when she talks to Kacchan she says "um... Mr. Kawahara?" Seiji is at SUJ studying Japanese linguistics and wants to be a teacher. He works part time at a bar/restaurant. Yukio teaches little kids how to swim (he's a little cuter now, ask Allie) and when the first Ikea opens in Japan he will be working there. Mayumi and Tsuneko just got accepted to SUJs law school. They'll start in April. Amitesh works for an IT company, and he's working really hard. Mika and Hiroshi work at the Toda Inst. where Mika looks after Americ and Oceana, and Hiroshi looks after Europe. Aya just had her opening ceremony at Waseda Univ. and was told they were there to compete with each other so watch your back. Naomi is of course working for Hitachi, still in training. Sara C. is working for a translation company and she plans to stay in Japan for 5 more freakin' years. Yuta is working at his step-fathers company...I didn't listen after that. Sunny is studying Japanese at SUJ. SuhJin of course is teaching English to little kids and waking up in the morning humming Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sankichi is working at SUJ...dirty old man. I think that's it. Naoko was the only one I think that couldn't make it. oh yea and I spent $1,000 today at the department stores...I spent it on clothes, bags, and jewlery.

Buff and Burly

ok ok Im sorry I haven't blogged in so long... so let's see what's going on.... did I say that I've been to Tokyo EVERY weekend so far..?? what else? ALTs are all hilarious. We laugh so much this guy said we look borderline retarded. me and Allie are going to be at the informal SUA reunion in Shinjuku...that means another weekend in Tokyo! See there's always one reason or another. I've been wearing dark nail polish but it starts to peel off in like two days so its really noticeable. this one girl in my class said, "fix your nails." (in Japanese) I bought a $400 trench coat from J.Crew in Odaiba. what else.

I recently read the Celestine Prophecy, it was good but it's a little scary too cuz I can see a lot of people getting into it deep and almost following it like a religion. and the author looks weird. Now I'm going to read the Da Vinci Code, yea I'm trying to catch up with you guys. what else...I decided I'm not going to get internet so I just have to wait until I can get my ass to the internet cafe which is really far. so ...it might be awhile before you see this. oh man...but I can't do anything in this town everywhere I go I see my students. That's another reason why I go all the way to Ota...its not that far but it adds up.

I'm going to a famous onsen with the second grade Japanese teachers. you know being on the other side I can see why the educational system fails. The only real education you can get is in College and up. I forgot, they found a body in the Kiryu river next to the bridge right next to school. Don't know the details. rumored spread among the ALTs and people started asking me how "I" found the body. I'm getting real lazy with my wordrobe again. I get paid today but I decided that I'm gonna put aside half of my paycheck and send it home never to return again. so I'm gonna try to save as much as possible. I've been biking or walking for all of my local traveling so my legs are extra buff..mmmm..mmm...

Youthful Harassment

I'm sooo freakin' busy every freakin' day!! And Sammie you are NOT uninteresting! Oh my goodness they should do studies on you. no I'm just kidding. I'm sooo mad I can't blog. I mean I'm so mad That I can't blog. Anyway every weekend (except the first) I've went to Tokyo, so far and looks like I'm going to continue the trend. Soka peeps in Tokyo area are going to have a reunion...I'm slowly inching my way back into the Japanese community...but apparently they really don't hang out with each other either. I went out to lunch with Mika and Hiroshi who work at the Toda Institute and with Yumi who works at the actual headquarters building, oh yea and Kimiko came later, she's applying for graduate school right now.... she wants to be a world heritage protector ...or something along those lines. ummm....let's see what else is going on.

I think we're all going to Egypt. There are other trips planned to Korea, New Zealand, and Austrailia, but not going to those. I want to go to Egypt!! So I think we're going. Have you guys seen the 40yr. old Virgin? Was it good? What the hell is Allison up to? Hell, what the hell are you guys up to? not very many cute guys here, but there is this one guy that everyone is like waiting for me to hook up with. Its this Japanese guy that hangs out with all the ALTs, he's not an English leech but I don't know... He's really nice though...I think I'm gonna end up hurting his feelings, that's my Talent!! Well we'll see how it goes. might as well everyone else is hooking up.

Haven't been clubbing yet but really want to but weekends are basically booked with shopping and karaoke parties, and I'm going on an onsen trip with all the second year Japanese teachers. oh yea and I shamlessly flirt with one of them (he's married and has like a 7 yr. old boy). Actually we shamlessly flirt with each other. I need to keep myself entertained somehow!! I promise I won't be a home wreckor (wait is that how you spell that???) Anyway I hardly do shit around here...I thought I was going into the real world... well maybe not... damn it when am I going to get to the real world....maybe this IS the real world. What's this alleged real world all the adults were talking about?

I went to Yokohama and Chinatown too... it's definitely a must see spot. Mom flying in on Oct. 5th. Oh yea and there's an ALT here that passed the Mensa test... I don't know thought that was pretty kool. I'm going to Hokkaido for the snow festival too with my aunt we're going to go see the Ice bergs too (something about huge ice bergs float down from Russia and the water molecules in the air freeze so it looks rainbowy, auora?). I still don't like Japanese society...but thinking maybe I want to work in a Japanese company... what'd ya'll think? I kinda wanna work in a broadcasting company or an electronics company... I need to keep myself interested. and if I work in Tokyo I can be close to all the malls. oh the roaches are officially gone. I plugged off all the pipes and haven't seen one since. Congrats to Alli on getting a car. oh yea and the kids are really cute. the girls at Kirijo are really good they make my job easy... they' re a little shy at times but mostly cooperative and funny. The kids at Kiriko the tech. school they're "bad" but not like nasty bad. I've only met like two kids that are kinda annoying. after my presentation I asked, any questions? of course, do you have a boyfriend?? no. will you go out with one of us? no. can I have your phone number? no. who's you're type in this class? nobody. Teacher I want to go out with Ann-sensei. it's funny cuz the teacher just completely ignores these comments.

The Four Leaf Clover

Whenever I read Ellie's blog I get all emotional. Damn it Ellie. So Bob Denver died (Gilligan guy) its soooooooooo sad to think that someone from the first class is going to someday die... even before that the professors....I guess we already lost one. But....awww that's so sweet to think that the professors felt so attached to us. Awwwww!!! I wanna go back to Soka!!! Ellie were you in Oregon or were you visiting WuLa in California?? Anyway...so sad. So many fond memories....haa..... it's funny cuz when everybody was at orientation they were so excited to meet all the other JETs and talked about the peole who pulled out at teh last minute...it reminded me of the Soka family...I think they feel the same way...except I already had the bestest of the best experience so it doesn't feel as great....the one thing that sucks about having the awesomest four years of your life is that nothing will feel as great from now on... But then you'll always have the memory to look back on and plus we still have each other and an ACCREDITED liberal arts degree. whoo hoo. awww... soka friends are so AWESOME!! God I feel damn lucky.

High on Roaches

I went to Tokyo spend like a hella of a lot of money...what else is new. I bought a bike finally I've been borrowing the schools ratty bicycle. But now I'm afraid to leave it anywhere since I think in Japan its considered very nice... It's basically a anarchistic playground. These past few days I've been losing the war against the roaches... Apparently they don't live in my house yet. They just come in from the sewage system when it starts raining outside. I just get soooo freaked out when I see....omg let me tell ya'll these roaches you have never seen before they're like the size of your fist man....well maybe not that big...but they're really really really big. so I've been on a killing rampage. Yesterday me my aunt, and my cousin sealed off a bunch of places and got like 4 kinds of Roach killing stuff.. we got a bomb, one of those sticky stuff, the one that has poisonous food, and of course I have 5 spray cans in the house right now. so far so good. When you're in Japan, don't ever stomp your feet near a big roach because they (instead of running away) will come charging toward you FULL speed. O M G. it was insane. They are the grossest things in the entire world. ew.. what else. as you can imagine in the JET world there's so much gossip if you're gone a day...you missed out on something. No...there's no gossip about me... I'm not a hoochie. but I wanna be. For some reason I can't type I'm becoming dislexic. so apparently everyone does pot.... I've starting to really understand that everyone really actually does smoke a lot of pot... it's as common as alcohol. Maybe even better for your health.... But it is illegal so ....that's that... My views have been scewed once again by the government. dude. they should just llegalize marijuana think of all the crime it would stop...well some anyway. But....I don't want everyone to be a pot head either.

It's Anne!

Hello my lovely friends, I am doing very well. I hope you are too, I am having a great time with the students here and I am absolutely not afraid of them. And guess what now I have a pimp ::shit:: I mean a boyfriend, he takes care of me very well. I have made many friends here as well, they're mostly from Brazil and the Philippines, but they're really nice people...they're very hard working. So Allison is blogging for me....and I'm a prostitute unable to communicate to the only person who feels suspicious... of my lack of contact.

The Darkside

Im here at the new Apple store in Ginza....they have like Djs here and everything its a little strange.... Im actually thinking about going to the dark side and getting a Mac and buying an ipod its like totally the new age. ....ok this conversation is like totally boring..... um..... I spent a lot of money at Tokyo today.....

La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha

Alright I haven't typed in English in a long time so....here I go. The Japapnese male teachers will not talk to me or even try to come near me with a ten feet pole!! What the hell is wrong with them? Examples: this one Physics teacher....or some odd reason he wanted to know my full name and the Kanji. so he asks the VP when he's like two feet away from me...and I hear my name so was like "what" then he comes talk to me. its like talking directly to me must be like a faux paux.... any way I don't get it. I'm closer in age to my students then the teachers so I almost want to just hang out with them....but I know that would be wrong... I still don't like the popular prissy girls no matter what age I am. its like they're so....I don't know how the hell do they get that way? I don't get it. Oh yea I saw the first raoch in the house......omg. while I was in the shower it was creepign up on me. I screamed; it was humongous. really people. I sprayed the whole bathroom.....it was steamy from the spray plus the steam from the water. it was huge...like a baby rat. ewww ok I'm getting chills just typing about it. I've made the decision to get internet in the house. oh yea I should fax the application. so on Monday I have to go to the ghetto school.....yea...it's a dangerous paradise...

I blogged: Times 10

ok since there's a block on the schools computer I couldn't blog forever!! I've been e-mailing myself my own blogs so that when I can get on, BAM! Anyway I went to English camp (top English students from Gunma Prefecture high schools gather). It was fun, but be warned that when I return to the country I ...will...speak....like....this... apparently when you teach English for awhile you speak slow slow slow. I'm going to Tokyo this weekend.....watch out.....ok a little sleepy.

Another Blog

for some reason I can't read Mitzis blog its the only blog thats blocked at the school. I do almost nothing at school.....well thats not true Im nerdy so I keep myself occupied by reading the JET hand book. Im going on camp with some of the Gunma English high school speakers. Lets see how well taht goes. I really have nothign to say.....Im just bored out of my mind. Oh yea and Congrats to Ellie on her new car....although I dont think she reads my blog, but thats ok... Im saying it anyway!!! grrrr....dude. Im bored. omg. eeeeeeeww. these are my feelings people. how come the typign test doesnt work anymore. ok... I should study japanese or something huh???....hey allie are you taking the national test thingy??? Its in december thats a little too soon for me. Everybody has somethign to do but me....the male English teachers wont even speak to me.....I wanna go do something...I wanna meet sexy japanese male friends from Gunma University so I have someone to flirt with. Well actually I flirt with the Maebashi Board of Education head, the History teacher here, and soon I will try to flirt with my aunts friends son who is about 30. mmmmmm yea old men why do I love them so much??? they're so unattractive when they're young.

To be Asian, or not to be Asian?

at Tokyo orientation my roommate was Elisa, incredibly annoying theatre girl, cannot stop talking about herself or her accomplishments, never ever once does she ask about you. But I kept my cool which I am very proud of I managed to still talk to her. THEN on the bus from Tokyo to Gunma she's chatting with others I pretend like I'm sleeping. Guys in the back says yea its kool to be gaijin in Japan there are perks, then annoying girl says (in a rather loud voice), "Yea, I'm so glad I don't look Asian!"----------------- that's, when I decided I don't need to think about her or talk to her. But I kinda got to put her in her place when we had the big reception with all the Gunma prefectural big wigs, we were all gathering and it was me with Mizumura (important man) introducing me to the big wig japanese men as the person who can speak the best Japanese (for some reason she insists that she can speak better....) I talked it up with them. Happy ending. ps...I thought I was being a bitch for hating her, but afterwords the word on the JET grapevine is that they ALL hate her. Vindicated. Yet sad.

This is a Pen.

So I'm suppose to correct something for the website and here's something the students wrote.... I quote "We are happily acting twice a week with tenn people. All memebers are working on teh practice hard so as not to waste the time of the valuable amount, though wtice a week are little We holds out aiming at winning a prize int eh rally thought we all are beginners." Go JAPAN!!!

XXXX University of America

Ok so continuing: what happened at the Nomikai...it was generally pretty fun. One thing though they asked me what university I went to and of course I had to say SOKA university and they were like oh....there's one in America too??? I was like yea......and then one teacher said....oh then Daisaku Ikeda must be kamisama I was like noooooo not really.....end of story....I told him in theory that the school and the religion were separate. Was that enough? I don't know no body brought it up after that......

Steam!

Man some people are annnnoooooyyyying...there's this one woman here that cannot address me even though without a doubt she knows that I speak Japanese. she would ask questions about me when I'm right there!!! a little annoying and the admin. basically human resources on the first floor this one particular lady there talks to me like I'm two....I know I look young but I ain't no toddler, talk to me like I'm conscious. sorry blowing off steam. We're going to a "nomikai" with the second year teachers....a little frightened....the motto "what happens at the enkai, stays at the enkai." I'm bored but I'm planning Septembers lessons...eeerrrr...Oh yea and everyone apparently saw and talked about my application therefore, they know that I went to Soka University.... ha.....now I always have to wonder when somebody snuffs me if it's because they don't like women or they don't like the Gakkai...........damn it. it's fuckin' scary here. I feel like a Nazi in downtown new york. Oh yea and I bought a $350 yukata...

Contact Me

hishi-machi 4-2357-15 gunma-ken, kiryu-shi (yuubin bango) 376-0001 Cell: 090-4179-2719 call me or like mail me or like something I need human contact that I'm familiar with. My mail address to the phone anntakayama@ezweb.ne.jp uhhh yea REMEMBER that guys!! ok signin' off better do some work.

"English Leeches"

I'm having fun going to Izakaya's and partys...but I've ran into several "English leeches" they only hang around you to practice English, they don't really want to hang out with you. Went to a picnic, then we went to the Cooks apartment and we basicallly fit like 40 people in this small ass apartment, THEN we all went Karaokeing....aren't these people crazy...I mean I'm all for going out one after the other but this is insane....I think I'm getting old....I'm the type of person that stays with the group until the very end but...I couldn't make it...they went to Denny's after the Karaoke, who knows where after...of course there were some hookups. Anyway...I'm still getting situated...I'm waiting out on a lot of things until I get my paycheck....like Soy Sauce. Also I found a thrift store for old school girl uniforms...if I find a cute one I'll get one for ya Jess. Any takers??? Actually for Halloween I was thinking of borrowing one and walk around school see if they notice (notice how I say this with anticipation that they actually might....). Anyway a lot of flirting going on...This one guy Nat is really cute...he's from the UK, I think I like accents.... a little superficial but hey that's what lifes about right girls!! Oh yea from time to time I'm like "should I shave my arms?" What'd ya'll think? Got my AU keitai. Living by yourself is pretty scary, like right now I'm still moving around the house like there's someoen living with me, but I bet in like 2months I'll be laying on the table watching tv........naked. Yoshi, ganbarimasu....should I go to the SGI.....meah.......