Elections are as heart warming as a poisoned glass of stale egg nog. Especially if they are held during the holiday season. But what happens to those suckers that are stuck in another country during an election period and wish to contribute to the continuation of the democratic process? Do we get a say in what happens in our country? Why, you bet we do!
All you have to do is apply for special ballot status and you’ll receive this amazing “voting kit.” Be sure to send it in before the election day and you’ll receive the satisfaction of knowing that you participated in democracy. Now isn’t that special.
The one thing that is not provided is a list of the candidates that I can choose from. I need to call Election Canada about that one. Or visit their website.
I had my last bounenkai with the Senmaya Education office this week. A bounenkai is a party that offices hold in order to celebrate and forget the previous year. Like everything else in Japan, it all comes down to drinking until you puke. Seriously, other than the speeches and the games(and the Chinese dancers), it was all about the bottles of whiskey. Not that there is anything wrong with that, if puking three times the following day was an indication of my level of participation. Oh, and if you are wondering why I added the picture, it’s because I took that from my hotel room. Yes, the Hotel is right on the ocean.
I’m going to miss working with my education office. They close down in March thanks to the merger between my town and Ichinoseki, and I will probably have to drive out to Ichinoseki on Monday mornings for my office time. I have a beer in my hand raised to them right now. I will never forget my time with the people there. They were really great to work with. I hope the future treats you all well. Cheers!
I’ve got a number of Christmas parties coming up and it is almost too much to handle. I had the first tonight with my Eikaiwa students. A good time was had, though I was rushing to get a Christmas mix cd burned before I went. It’s always a good idea to review the songs before you mix them up. I’m not sure if the lyrics here are entirely appropriate for all ages:
“I’ve been thinking about my chimney
When you coming down it
When you coming down it
When you coming down it?”
“Jason-san, what does this mean?” Uhh, yeah.
Santa fetishes aside, I have my third and last bonenkai(???) tomorrow. This involves paying 150$ to get incredibly drunk and spend the night at a hotel. How can I lose?
Finally, I’m heading to a X-mas/gaming night on Friday at my friend Rick’s house, and I cap off the weekend at my friend Greg’s house for a nice Christmas dinner with his family. If I survive this, I’ll be prime for my trip to Osaka next week to celebrate New Year’s with Shiho. So if you don’t here from me until after then, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And stop thinking about your chimney.
What does the future bring? In just six short months, my time on the JET programme with be over. What will I do after that? I’m currently looking at staying in Japan and working here for another two years. However, I will eventually be back in Canada. At that point I will have to determine two things; Where I will live, and what I will do. Questions, quesions.
I have many skills, but ther is nothing I can say I really excel at. Perhaps my ability not to lose it during stressful times, but that is something many people can do. The only things that wouldn’t bore me to tears would be performing music, translating Japanese and photography. I guess I’m going to have to choose one fairly soon. I’m also looking at education, but that will require yet more school. I’m not against more school, but it is time consuming and costs a ton of cash. I like cash. I want to keep it.
I think eight years of University was quite enough. I’m not excluding a Master’s Degree, but it’s not something I want to consider at this time. I’d actually like to start doing something productive with my time.
For those of you who think the Xbox 360 is sold out here in Japan, I am sad to say that is not the case. In fact, here in Senmaya our game store has around 6-8 systems remaining. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure they’ve sold a single system yet. It looks like microsoft botched up another Japanese release. I suppose they could just send them to desperate gamers in Canada and the US, but I have a feeling that just isn’t going to happen. I’ve already heard that they are starting to slash prices in order to move them out.
I was in Morioka this past weekend for a Christmas party, some Scottish dancing and a hockey practice. I’m sure it seems like an odd combination of activities to the outside observer, but I’m glad I was able to squeeze them all into two days, as the drive to Morioka is two hours long, and the roads this time of year are in the condition for neither man nor beast.
While driving around it was hard not to notice the majesty of Iwate-san(岩手山） with a fresh layer of snow on her peak. I have yet to scale this beast, but rest assured that before my time here is through, she will be properly mounted and tamed.
I warn you now. You may need to wear googles into order to handle what is coming. You may wish to bring a glass of milk to wash down the sweeet taste.
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There is nothing better after a hard exam than spending a ton of money. So, after we wrote the Japanese exam, we went out to Yodobashi camera and bought some toys. Now, I have a nice shiny PSP. The white one looks so much like an apple product. I also picked up a copy of Lumines. It rocks my world.
I have not come across any of these whacky inventions in the wild yet, but I’m sure I will at some point. Leave it to the Japanese to impress and shock with their nutty contraptions.
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I thought I was fluent in Japanese, I really did; but then this past Sunday I took the level two Japanese proficiency exam(日本能力試験２級) and have concluded that I know nothing at all. This was my second time taking this test and I thought I was ready for it, much in the same way the people who built the titanic thought it was ready for those icebergs. Yes, I feel like I crashed and sank, taking my Japanese dreams with me to a watery grave. I won’t actually know what I got on the test until February, but I suppose I don’t really care much anymore. Japan’s love of making impossible tests has left me a carved out husk of a man.
Don’t get me wrong here. I still enjoy studying Japanese and I still love living here, but I have no idea what I will need to do in order to pass this exam. It is divided into three souless and equally mind draining parts. It starts at 9:45am and doesn’t finish until you sceam “uncle”. Well actually it lasts until about 3pm. The first section is composed of Kanji and word questions. It wasn’t so bad. It actually left me feeling like I might have had a chance. The second section however, left me in a Jello like state on the exam floor. It was the listening comprehension section and it showed me no mercy. Then came the third section, I’d rather not discuss this section. I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemies. Yes, it was that traumatic.
What advise would I have to those who are thinking of taking this monstrosity? I would suggest they they start reading Japanese Newspapers now. In my opinion, that is the only way they are going to get through that reading section without feeling like a 20 year held back in preschool for 15 years…>.
