HAPPY HOLIDAYS

so the month of december has been spent attending parties of various shapes and sizes. first up was a sayonara party for my now ex coworker hannah. she got tired of nova and has headed back home to london. she gave all of 0 days notice and left saying, "F*CK YOU, F*CK YOU, F*CK YOU, YOU'RE COOL, I'M OUT." GANGSTA!***the preceding was not a true story.

sayonara hannah. i spy a ponytail...

donna, hannah's flatmate who also wen't home to jolly old england. sayonara donna.

then there was a bonenkai (sp?) party [end of the year party] for nova branches along the nankai train line. a group of about 30 or so nova instructors and japanese staff descended upon an ususpecting yakitori establishment. we proceeded to eat and drink. a lot. here in japan it is customary to split the bill equally regardless of how much you ate/drank or didn't.

chris and i set trippin.

why is it fun to throw signs and be ghetto when you're drunk? the world may never know. chris is from philly and he's works as a graphic designer for nova.

at some point paige, desiree, alex and i also went to kobe to see a temporary exhibit of works from the musee d'orsay in paris. i'd seen many of the paintings before when i went to paris but some were new. looking at art is fun and educational. hooray art!
also in kobe was the 'illumination' a fancy word the japanese like to use for christmas lights.

ahh look at the pretty lights.

this was fun for about 10 minutes. they did however have a row of food vendors giving out free samples. we then ate jamaican food and it became quite the ordeal. our food came one by one over the course of two hours. i wish i had more hands so i could give the service four thumbs down.

along with the bonenkai (sp?) my branch along with another branch also had a christmas party. we did a white elephant gift exchange.

my man shu in the middle.

thats Risa spelled Lisa on the right. she's japanese staff where i used to teach.

so i've found something that is not better in japan: christmas. christmas is definitely not better in japan. not even close. not the same without family and friends. i still had a pretty good time though. on christmas eve i went to an izakaya with some coworkers for dinner and drinks, the large sake was probably a bad idea. i had karage (dank ass fried chicken). the japanese have perfected the art of deep fried foods. true story.

christmas eve dinner with an american, a filipino american, a scotsman, an australian, another american, and a half-japanese french canadian (not pictured).

on christmas day i worked. then i went to an irish pub (tangent- they have an irish pub in every single city in the world, i swear) with my roommates for a couple drinks. i ran into maribel mayo and also nick alvin's ex-roommate. after the pub i went to desiree's for a small christmas gathering. a good time was had by all. we even somehow managed to start doing the electric slide. no seriously.

fix ya face!

me reppin the crew. that's nicole with the other funny face, she's also from san diego. she's friends with desiree and teaches for nova a little outside of tokyo, she had a class with toeknee at state. small world.

in japan it is tradition to have a christmas cake on christmas. what is christmas cake exactly you ask? it is cake that you eat on christmas. obviously.

cake eaters.

i leave you with random pictures of art. pop art on a building and art on the bathroom door of a club that i went to for 'indie rock night'. i'm going snowboarding for two days in nagano and then tokyo for new year's. expect a big update.

you stay classy san diego.

RAMBLING

all right, so as a way to sort of update everyone as to what i have been up to for the past three months here in japan—without writing a novel length post—i'm going to do a stream of conscious blow by blow of my adventures thus far. it probably will not make sense to anyone. tough. cry about it. but if any part of it intrigues you feel free to email me for an explanation.

ready. set... GO.

da vinci code. basic instinct 2. guy teaching in okinawa. meet desiree also from sd. touchdown in kix. louise is my block trainer. orient happiness is the name of my apartment building. chimbo from canada roommate. jack from new york other room mate. i sleep on a futon. meet alvin and desiree at the silver ball. internet at the apple store. tons of walking. osaka castle. osaka castle at night. on the job training day one kicked my ass. missed giles peterson. ojt got easier. jessica from indiana. skate spot in namba. shin, hana, katsuya skate posse. hang out and drink chu hi often. dan, donny and crew. beer on the street. its like vegas. osaka daggers. chopper stomps on baby chickens. cheap cheap cheap.

mexican food is not mexican food. missed the last train. out til 5am. has become common place. kishiwada branch nova teacher. STOP! I'M SORRY!!! free internet at internet bench. eaten alive by ninja mosquitos. gary 18 year nova veteran. simon too fast too furious australian. god damnit maverick! nicole. muriel. hannah frumpy vietnamese english girl. jake runs marathons. malcom funny scotsman with the dirty jokes. dave space cadet/pirate. brian gregarious guy from sac. wes australian santa clause. risa japanese staff taker her home to mom. mai japanese staff i wanna smash so bad. yumi tanaka. my favorite highschool girl. yumi, yumi, yumi. going to palomar. man to man.

osaka drift racing with simon. wild speed. jakes matt. full moon party at osaka castle. ghetto matt. ragga/rave. naked guy climbs a pole. crash in tengachaya, the ghetto. kids training. hi i'm vince, hi i'm paige... where do you live? orient happiness. me too. no way. upstairs neighbor. charmed life. balabushka. gaijin bar. 5am. alex my boy from barbados. greg tall australian. big fuck off shiny ones. marija other upstairs neighbor. tuesday is travel day. alvin, desiree, paige and i team kyoto. kinkakuji golden temple. geisha. takashimaya basement food. onigiri is best. stick with pink.

el pancho carne asada is legit. nara. deer and big buddah. ninja boot. dropped two belt sizes. instant ramen diet. spaghetti dinner. 200yen bar. 280yen bar. mos burger. freshness burger. matsuya. yoshinoya. slept on their counter. used bike. mama chari. orient happiness bicycle club/sakai kitty crushers are formed. chibiko training, bye bye apples. you like apples? how you like dem apples? kobe minus alvin. chinatown. bay. mall. robot animal rides. shopping. m-65 black. sk8-high black checkered. abc mart. shin from fight club formerly of conveyer. talib kweli for half price. vip. drink. out til 5am. foo fighters. no drink. hit makers. minoh monkey attack. waterfall. there goes japan being peaceful.

ponytail pullers. not so many ponytails in japan. touch the charm game. shakeys pizza all you can eat. soft bank/vodaphone ahmed personal assistant. nova arcade game. out run 2 drifting. champ. chris nova graphic designer. blood. i hurt myself today to see if i still feel. halloween. crabs. star wars. saddam. guns and roses. octopus balls. work is cake. 5am. work 1050am. work 10am. late. absent one day. miss boat races.

maribel mayo is here. el pancho. uniqlo good store... dancehall is japan's reggaeton. danced with a jamaican girl at a dancehall club in japan. naja jamaican girl. louise/hannah birthday party. balabushka. ragga club. weird dudes come out of the woodwork. excuse me do you have moldy dick. yo shawty. ATL is good. kobe lights. jerk chicken isn't jerk chicken. do you want happy ending. sayonara hannah and donna hannah's roommate. hiroshima is sad. miyajima is breathtaking. absolutely breathtaking. seriously its good. i wanna be friends with it. i wanna be on you. izumisano. shu my man. sub culture pop warner dance. nomihodai all you can drink. tabehodai? all you can eat. i'll house you. poppin pirates. free rounds. 5am. dont take the advance. i'm poor. lulu tucked into socks. starbucks. action figure exhibition. japan discount store. supa tamade, supa tamade.... ok thats it i'm over it. no one is gonna read this anyway. one more lesson? FINISHED.

you stay classy san diego.

FIRST POST PHOTO FRENZY

so this is my first post on the blog... its photo heavy and i know some of them aren't right side up and they're not in any real order but oh well. deal with it. i'll do a proper update with copy soon. this is a small representation of my adventures thus far in Japan. photo credit goes to me, alvin and paige.