4 posts from September 2009

Today I'm at Tokoyshiki, and my morning is packed but at least I don't have to "teach" the first years. Three lessons with Imai-sensei and one with Jun. Should be fun.

Monday, Anna bailed on our picnic/park date and she didn't even tell me. Dan showed up suddenly as he is won't to do and she met up with him instead. I'm not sore about it, I know that's just Anna and they've been friends since they were two.  The weather could have been better but it's been a while since I've had some Andrew-time.

Tuesday, Andrew and I went to meet our old prof Christina Laffin (aka Claffin) for lunch. I was a little dubious when he said it was in Ginza but it was all students and she knows we aren't rich. We went to this restaurant near the Donki there that specializes in yuba and we had beer and sake and this huge six course lunch that took three hours, but it was so wonderful. I don't think I've ever had such nice food, except for maybe at that ryokan in Nikko with Yvonne or in Nagano with the teachers last year. And in the end, she paid for everyone! All six of us. What a sweet woman. It was easily ¥5000 a person. I got to meet some other UBC folks and we're planning to invade this ellusive bar at the embassy and meet up in Hachioji for yakitori or something next time. I just hope it's after payday!

I've found a new television addiction. I have been mainlining Gossip Girl since yesterday. I'm already at episode 9 from season 1. I read Molly talking about it and Blake has a crush on Blake Lively and I didn't have anything else to do so I thought I'd get the pilot and it all spiraled downhill from there. It's going to be the only show I will be up to date on when I get back to Canada.

I'm starting my university applications.  There goes 360 bucks.

Kaneko-sensei was off today. One of the first year students was diagnosed with Type A flu and will be off school for a week. She's in the brass band (one of the biggest clubs at school) and so teachers are wondering if anyone else is going to get sick. I wonder if Kaneko's got it (he seems like he's got a pretty weak constitution) or if it's his depression again. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

I did my vacation lesson for the 3rd time today and marked 1.5 classes worth of compositions today (in addition to 4 classes worth of tests for Imai-sensei x___x). I'm really impressed by some of these kids and other times I facepalm so hard because they make such simple mistakes that they really shouldn't be. A lot of them still have problems conjugating verbs. They learned simple past in first year for christ's sake. It's very apparent to me the damage that Kaneko has done runs deep. And it's happening all over again... the first year kids are only starting Program 3. Maybe 4. They should be starting 5. The saddest part of it all is, I'm not one bit surprised.

Cuz I'm proud of my kids, here are some of their compositions about their summer holidays. Complete with spelling and grammatical errors.

I just realized that a lot of people reading this from home probably don't know about suffixes.  And I use them all the time.  "Sensei" means teacher, but it's a suffix used for teachers, doctors, masters of something.  -san is a polite suffix that can be used for both men and women and approximately equates to Mr. or Ms.  In English I call all the kids Mr. or Miss Whatever because they don't use their first names here but it sounds weird when I talk about them... but I really don't know most of their first names.  -kun is a suffix for boys who are generally younger than you and -chan is for girls but they don't use that in school, they use -san. 

I watched Check It Out, Yo!! again on Sunday.  It's a good movie.  I rented it because Inoue Mao was in it and it had English subtitles and it turned out to be a good choice so I copied it for myself.  After watching Yamapi on the 24 Hour Television charity telethon last weekend and now this... I really want to go to Okinawa.  I want to go before I leave Japan because I probably won't get another chance.  I didn't think I'd be able to with saving up for China.

But I was doing some research.  Flights are normally ¥36,900.  However, ANA has a special deal where if you book at a certain time, you can get air fare for super cheap.  The last travel window is Dec 18-24 which would be perfect since I finish work on the 18th and booking is Oct 16-25.  Each way is only ¥14,000!  Round trip ¥24,000.  Totally do-able.  And there are a couple hostels for $30 a night that I found through Hostel Bookers.  

If I don't hit for Arashi tickets, maybe I'll go to Okinawa instead.  I wonder if I could find anyone who wants to go with me.

Fuck, I'm going to be living off soba for the next 6 weeks and here I am thinking about dropping a couple hundred bucks on another trip.

I didn't want to go to work on Sunday for their Sports Festival, but I ended up enjoying myself (and working on my tan) in the end.  There were so many injuries this year!  A couple kids got heat exhaustion, at least ten took a tumble during their relays--one landing on his head, another injuring his hip (!!)--one boy from first year got trampled during the kibasen and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance.  Even Miyakawa-sensei injuried his leg (pulled muscle?) by giving it too much during the last relay.  At times like that I wish I was certified in first aid so I could have helped out.  I'll probably have to when I get into the teacher's union.

I know this is tragically overdue.  I have made a habit of this.

So I went to Singapore for a holiday in August.  Back to Singapore, I should say.  It's been 7 ½ years since my family left.  One the one hand, it feels like I never left but on the other, there are so many things that have changed.  It's been a month since my trip and the details aren't fresh anymore, but I'll try and remember as best I can.

I flew out of Narita airport on Monday morning and had a 2 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur.  KL International Airport isn't even really near KL at all; when we were flying in at 4pm, I was hoping to be able to see the Patronas Towers from the plane, but not such luck.  It was bring and sunny at least, so I got some really cool aerial shots. The satellite terminal is still under construction/renovations and the layout is a pain in the ass... it's shaped like a star with all the shops/amenities all in the centre in a circle and then the gates are out in the arms.  I went in a big circle and roundabout way trying to find my freaking gate when I got there.  But I had 2 hours to kill and wasn't in any rush.  Got some ringgit changed and got something to eat and read my book.

The flight from KL to Singapore was only an hour--if that.  We got up in the air, they served some juice and then it was time to land.  I was flying Malaysian airlines and I had a fairly good impression of them on the way over from Japan but from KL the stewardess were so bitchy!  This group of Bangladeshi guys came on, one sitting next to me, and she opened the overhead compartment for one of them.  He held his bag out to her and damn, you should have seen the look she gave him.  She said, "I'm not doing it for you.  If your hands are full, I will help but you can do it yourself."  He clicked his tongue and muttered something but she wasn't having it.  Malaysian Hospitality, my ass.

I arrived in Singapore at 8:30pm and breezed through immigration and I didn't have to wait long for my bag either.  My friend Lydia met me at the airport which was so nice of her!  We took the MRT from the airport which I was really excited about because it was still under construction when we left.  We took it to Commonwealth where my host was supposed to meet me.  My friend (and former private student) from here in Japan was over there for job training and she kindly offered to let me stay with her.  She met me at the MRT station and we took a cab back to her place. 

She was staying in a serviced apartment near 6th Avenue so on the ride back, I was looking out the window and saw all the giant schools and some of the shopping centres and restaurants we used to go to all the time!  It was pretty late by the time we arrived back so we got ready for bed.  I was exhausted from being up early (I went to the airport extra early because another friend was transfering through Narita at the same time so we met up and got coffee before my flight) but it's been so long since I slept in a bed and I was just thinking about all the things I wanted to do... it was hard to get to sleep every night until the last night!

Tuesday I met Lydia on Orchard Road.  I took the bus from Tomoko's place, down Dunearn Road, Newton Circus and Scotts road to Lucky Plaza.  It looks exactly the same from the outside, and all the restaurants on the first floor are different, except for KFC.  It's still there.  The big Metro department store is gone and so are a lot of the trendy little accessory stores.  Sunshine Books is still there, the yarn/quilting shop is still there, and all the millions of tailors.  Across the street, the Holiday Inn has been replaced by a giant Duty Free Shop Galleria and the American Club took over the dinky little club across the street... I want to say it was the Dutch Club, but I don't remember.  They've built a walkway over the street to connect the two and now there's a tall iron fence around the front.  Of course.

Since we were so close, I asked if we could go see my old school.  I have been looking at the website and seeing what's been added on and built over the last few years so I kind of knew what it would look like.  The gaurds were so nice and didn't give me any hassle like I thought I might have based on another friend's experience.  They just let Lydia and I in after signing us in the guest book and gave us a visitors pass.  They've painted and added a few more basketball courts, installed a big tent over the main court and added buildings all over.  The biggest change is that the middle school has moved to the other side of the auditorium, where the Subordinate Courts used to be.  The old middle school buildings are now elementary; the library is now the school shop.  I saw Mr Reid, my math teacher from grade 7 and 8 and Miss Amy, the school counsellor from high school--the one that got me into doing school orientations.

Tangs is still there, Isetan is still there (though I think the Lido Theatre is gone... I didn't go in but it looked pretty dead up there from outside), Wheelock Place and Borders (though the sushi place upstairs is now a big Japanese pasta chain).  There used to be a park on the corner of Scotts and Orchard over the MRT station that I would walk through everyday after school and where all the maids and amahs would congregate on Sundays.  It's gone and in it's place is brand-spankin' new shopping centre/office building called Ion Orchard.  I was lucky because it just opened the week prior so Lydia and I went to check it out.  It's all slick and shiny, designer stores and boutiques except for the food floor in the basement which is 90% Japanese.  Wisma Artia got a facelift and there's no more fish tank around the elevators.  Paragon has an new exterior and there are several new shopping centres all up Orchard Road.  We walked from Orchard MRT and the further away we went, the less I recognized. 

We walked all the way to Dhoby Ghaut station and then Lydia had to go to school so I walked around a bit more before heading back to Tomoko's.  The Cathay used to be this shitty little theatre at the corner there but it's been all redone and looks impressive. That area used to be just big open space around the museums and galleries... that's gone too.  In it's place is a university campus.  And they moved the National Library to a new location and bulldozed that entire area and rerouted the road!  I didn't recognize anything!  I loved going to that library and there was a tiny little cafe near it but I suppose that is gone now as well.

That night, Tomoko and a couple of her workmates (about 40 of them all live in the serviced apartment complex) went out for dinner to Pasta Fresca de Salvatore at 6th Avenue.  It's exactly the same.  I hoped we would get to see the owner but he wasn't around and I didn't ask.  It was strange going back because I never really realized how expensive eating out was.  I just ordered whatever I wanted and didn't care about the price when I was little.  It wasn't outrageous but it's more than I've paid for a meal in a long time.  Well, in the end, I didn't pay; Tomoko and her friends treated me because I was a guest which was so nice of them.  Tomoko had been there for 3 months, and another guy for 9 and no one had ever been there before!  So I felt good about introducing them to a great restaurant. :)

The next day, Lydia and I went to the Esplanade and Harbourfront areas.  We went to see the Merlion and take the obligatory tourist pictures.  I saw the new Esplanade building that looks like a durian and the Singapore Flyer.  The weather was kind of overcast so my pictures didn't come out that well, but at least it wasn't raining.  We walked around the river, went to see the Raffles statue and hotel (though I never did get my Singapore Sling) and Clarke Quay.  I was really looking forward to going to the Satay Club and having some satay (even though I think it was only a night thing) and checking out all the shops in the Cannery but it's completely different.  It doesn't even look like Clarke Quay anymore.  They've redone everything -- they might as well have just bulldozed everything for all the shit they've got covering up the charm of the old shop houses.  Boat Quay is still the same but we only looked at it from across the river -- no real reason to go to Boat Quay in the day time.

After the disappointment of Qlarke Quay, we went to Bugis for souvenir shopping.  That was one area we never went to much, except for Bugis Junction shopping centre and the movie theatre there.  But the market was great for souvenirs and so cheap!  We almost made it to Chinatown.  I got most of my shopping done there.  Lydia had made dinner reservations for crab bee hoon that night in this famous place in Ang Mo Kio and it was originally supposed to be 7 of us going but it ended up being just the 2 of us.  One crab between us and it was almost too much... we gave it a good effort for sure. 

Thursday I took the bus down and switched to the 190 to go down Stevens Road to see my neighbourhood.  5 Balmoral Park is gone!!  A swanky new condo complex is being built on that spot.  I got off on Orchard Blvd and walked to my old house on One Tree Hill and it's still there.  Chinese people live there now.  I walked down Grange Road to Tanglin Mall to see if Spageddies is still there; it's not.  That side of Orchard Rd is pretty much all the same.  Most of the shops and restaruants haven't changed at all.  I took the train to Little India and walked to Kampong Glam and Chinatown to shop for more gifts for my family and friends.  I saw the Sultan Mosque for the first time.  Lydia came and met me in Chinatown for lunch and we walked past the Sri Mariamman Temple countless times on school trips but it was all under renovations!  Not nearly so impressive without the giant carving over the gate.  Too bad I didn't take a picture.  Cheap hawker food for lunch and then we parted ways... I was so tired and had plans to go out with Tomoko and a bunch of her colleagues and their girlfriends/wives for dinner.  We went to Holland Village and went to one of the bars there.  Great food and the servers (the manager?) were being so courteous and trying out their limited Japanese.  Again, I didn't have to pay which was so nice of them.  I think the bill came to about 40$ per person!

The last day, Friday, I went to school again because Amy asked me to come and do some guest training for all the peer helpers.  I taught them some ice breakers and fun games that I did during Imagine at UBC.  I didn't have anything else to do, so I said why not.  Afterwards, I went to Holland Village again to do some final shopping.  There were a few other things I wanted to buy (hand sanitizer!!) and some art.  The shopping centres are still the same, but the old POSB has moved down the street and they have the road all ripped up because they're building an MRT stop there.  The Cold Storage is now 24 hours!  After getting my last few things, I went back to Tomoko's by taxi and packed my bags.  I went to the airport and Lydia met me there and we had dinner and spent our final time together before my flight at 930. 

I arrived back in Japan at 8am Saturday morning after a restless and bumpy flight with really unfriendly Malaysian Airlines staff.  The best part of the whole flight was the food--I've never had steak on a flight and they've gotten over the whole knife-as-a-weapon obsession and had real cultery for once. 

All in all, a fantastic trip!