American Revolution as Read on the BBC and in the NYer
I had all these things I wanted to write about, and then I kept putting it off till I forgot what exactly I was going to write about. So I'm going to ramble a bit and see if anything comes up.
First of all, there was the Obama win from afar. What strange mix of excitement and homesickness. (Much like Thanksgiving this year, though not so much excitement for the turkey and fixins without the fam.) I found out about the win as soon as it was certain, about 11pm EST, but 10am for me out here. So I had a great day of work and then me and a few friends hit the streets of Namba with convenience store beer and a cheap bottle of bubbly. And what did we find? a bunch of empty bars. Apparently there was a big party in another part of town. But the old haunts have been cleared out since Nova went bust. I'm surprised alot of these bars haven't gone out of business. I mean, a year ago, these places had a big crowd every night. (Imagine, about 1000 foreigners in a city that all work at the same company, most of who are in their 20s, and they all go to the same handful of bars where the staff speaks English and they know they won't be the only non-Japanese person in the place, which can feel really, really weird.) Places that used to be packed every night, where I was sure to see at least someone I knew even if I just turned up alone, now have the occasional busy night where there's more than 10 people hanging around.
Anyway, that's probably not all that exciting to read about. Oh, I've finally bought up a bunch of stuff for my apartment, doing my part to save the world economy while warping my AmEx. You should have seen how excited the salesman was. No lie. He gave me several gifts, including chopsticks, a leg warmer that folds up into a pillow and some collectable (?) pins for the Osaka baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. This is actually common practice in Japan: the giving of a strange assortment of gifts following a big purchase. Some of you may remember my gift of dish soap and a plastic coffee mug when I signed up for my cellphone. But the place is looking pretty sweet huh?
Here's the kitchen, finally stocked. And usually clean.
The living space mid-laundry. Usually that stuffs on the balcony, but it's really windy today.
Where I plug into the matrix.
The shower, sink and tub section of the bathroom. Not so different, but I had add this caption as a reminder of the separation of toilet and tub that is pretty strictly enforced out here. Some apartments have the whole thing in one place, and they're cheaper to rent too. But I guess I've grown used to the old setup. I'm turnin, folks!
That said, there's nothing wrong with a toilet in the laundry room. Or is it a laundry machine in the toilet room? It's these little things that get confusing still.
Speaking of all this buying of stuff, how's things economically back home? I don't know what to believe. I read that shit is hitting the fan everywhere. But I see people shopping like mad out here. And all my friends back home say they're busy, but employeed. As for me, I'm working the same as ever, though I am teaching some students on the side to help out with rent. But some of my students who work in offices say things are grinding to a hault. Any word from the States or the few of you who still read from the EU zone?
Anyway, not much going on right now. Just working and hanging out. Pretty lame. Buuuut, in three short weeks my 2 week winter break begins. :) Ahhh, I can't wait.
And some bonus pics for all of you that scrolled down through all that crap I just wrote.
Me and Ken waiting for an elevator in a department store that suddenly seemed like a Contemporary Art Museum
Nothing like going to a party in whiteface. The big purple and red writing to the left of the aryan reads, Hellooooo, Mr. Foreigner!
This was as Christmas as I could find it in Namba: The subway station mall. Notice the large, polished wale jumping from the brilliant tile on his way to the tree. Just like the first Christmas!
Thanksgiving gone terribly American.
First of all, there was the Obama win from afar. What strange mix of excitement and homesickness. (Much like Thanksgiving this year, though not so much excitement for the turkey and fixins without the fam.) I found out about the win as soon as it was certain, about 11pm EST, but 10am for me out here. So I had a great day of work and then me and a few friends hit the streets of Namba with convenience store beer and a cheap bottle of bubbly. And what did we find? a bunch of empty bars. Apparently there was a big party in another part of town. But the old haunts have been cleared out since Nova went bust. I'm surprised alot of these bars haven't gone out of business. I mean, a year ago, these places had a big crowd every night. (Imagine, about 1000 foreigners in a city that all work at the same company, most of who are in their 20s, and they all go to the same handful of bars where the staff speaks English and they know they won't be the only non-Japanese person in the place, which can feel really, really weird.) Places that used to be packed every night, where I was sure to see at least someone I knew even if I just turned up alone, now have the occasional busy night where there's more than 10 people hanging around.
Anyway, that's probably not all that exciting to read about. Oh, I've finally bought up a bunch of stuff for my apartment, doing my part to save the world economy while warping my AmEx. You should have seen how excited the salesman was. No lie. He gave me several gifts, including chopsticks, a leg warmer that folds up into a pillow and some collectable (?) pins for the Osaka baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. This is actually common practice in Japan: the giving of a strange assortment of gifts following a big purchase. Some of you may remember my gift of dish soap and a plastic coffee mug when I signed up for my cellphone. But the place is looking pretty sweet huh?
Here's the kitchen, finally stocked. And usually clean.
The living space mid-laundry. Usually that stuffs on the balcony, but it's really windy today.
Where I plug into the matrix.
The shower, sink and tub section of the bathroom. Not so different, but I had add this caption as a reminder of the separation of toilet and tub that is pretty strictly enforced out here. Some apartments have the whole thing in one place, and they're cheaper to rent too. But I guess I've grown used to the old setup. I'm turnin, folks!
That said, there's nothing wrong with a toilet in the laundry room. Or is it a laundry machine in the toilet room? It's these little things that get confusing still.Speaking of all this buying of stuff, how's things economically back home? I don't know what to believe. I read that shit is hitting the fan everywhere. But I see people shopping like mad out here. And all my friends back home say they're busy, but employeed. As for me, I'm working the same as ever, though I am teaching some students on the side to help out with rent. But some of my students who work in offices say things are grinding to a hault. Any word from the States or the few of you who still read from the EU zone?
Anyway, not much going on right now. Just working and hanging out. Pretty lame. Buuuut, in three short weeks my 2 week winter break begins. :) Ahhh, I can't wait.
And some bonus pics for all of you that scrolled down through all that crap I just wrote.
Me and Ken waiting for an elevator in a department store that suddenly seemed like a Contemporary Art Museum
Nothing like going to a party in whiteface. The big purple and red writing to the left of the aryan reads, Hellooooo, Mr. Foreigner!
This was as Christmas as I could find it in Namba: The subway station mall. Notice the large, polished wale jumping from the brilliant tile on his way to the tree. Just like the first Christmas!
Thanksgiving gone terribly American.posted by Steven at
4:08 AM
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