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| Every morning I wake up to the shrill of one thousand cicadas and that's when I realize I'm not in Kansas (Vancouver/Prince Rupert/Canada) anymore.
But there have been times during my wanderlusting days that I have woken up only to be temporarily petrified and paralyzed because my brain can't process my current location. Images of my apartment in Van and even my old bedroom in Prince Rupert would flicker like the initial flashes of a fluorescent bulb, before coalescing into the reality of a dank hotel room in Cambodia or a beach hut in Thailand. It's definitely a strange feeling.
So those cicadas seem to keep my mind in check here in Japan. Amazingly that small insect can bind my scatterbrain mind on the rails of reality just by its incessant summer mating call.
Brain fart ended.
I recently feel uninspired about certain things in life. The 36 degree, 65% humidity heat keeps me in a lethargic daze, imprisoning me to just the mundane routine. I wake up, do the shitshaveshowershampoo, eat (today I will eat cold somen noodles), and then proceed to catch the train to Yakuin station where I go to work and putter around for 5 hours. I suppose not having regular students just multiplies my boredom, but I'm still hopeful the work will pick up.
Yesterday I had my first trial lesson with a 60 year old restauranteur who kept telling me in her broken English that she has a "complex" about mixing up words when she speaks. I found her abilities to be quite the contrary as she had no problem telling me about her trip to Ottawa and how she got to take a close up picture of our Prime Minister Steven Harper. That and she could understand all my instructions on how to mix the batter for the chocolate chip cookies (yes, for the trial lessons we bake my mother's chocolate chip cookies at school). It was fun, and today I will do the same type of deal with a 15 or 16 year old high school girl.
Tomorrow night I will attend the hanabi (fireworks festival) at ohori koen. I'm excited because I get to wear my newly purchased jinbei (comfy, pajama-like Japanese robe+shorts) for the first time. I promise to take pictures for you all to enjoy.
On a short and unrelated sidenote some of you may notice my facebook status as "Climb through the heavens on feathers and dreams...". That is a lyric from the song "The Melting Point of Wax" by Thrice. For some reason I am attracted to this song about the failed flight of Icarus and also the sequel "Daedalus", which looks at the Icarus story from the father's perspective. I guess I can relate to Icarus' passion to fly as high as he could, regardless of what his father warned him about. Sometimes we just need to break free and stoke the fires of our dreams. Anyways here are the lyrics to both songs:
Thrice
"The Melting Point of Wax"
The Artist in the Ambulance
I've waited for this moment
All my life and more
And now I see so clearly
What I could not see before.
The time is now or never
This chance won't come again
Throw caution and myself into the wind.
There's no promise of safety with these secondhand wings
But I'm willing to find out what impossible means.
A leap of faith.
Parody of an angel
Miles above the sea
I hear the voice of reason
Screaming after me
"You've flown far too high boy now you're too close to the sun,
Soon your makeshift wings will come undone"
But how will I know limits from lies if I never try?
There's no promise of safety with these secondhand wings
But I'm willing to find out what impossible means.
I'll climb through the heavens on feathers and dreams
'Cause the melting point of wax means nothing to me.
Nothing to me
Nothing to me
I will touch the sun or I will die trying.
Die Trying.
Fly on these secondhand wings
Willing to find out what impossible means
I'll climb through the heavens on feathers and dreams
'Cause the melting point of wax means nothing to me
Nothing to me
Means nothing to me
Miles above the sea.
Thrice
"Daedalus"
The Alchemy Index Vols. III And IV Air And Earth
I stand on the cliffs with my son next to me
This island our prison, our home
And everyday we look out at the sea
This place is all he's ever known
But I've got a plan with some
Wax and some string, some feathers I stole from a bird
We leap from the cliff and we hear the wind sing a song thats too perfect for words
But son, please keep a steady wing
And know your the only one that means anything to me
Steer clear of the sun, or you'll find yourself in the sea
Now safely away, I let out a cry
"We'll make the mainland by noon"
But Icarus climbs higher still in the sky
Maybe I've spoken too soon
But son, please keep a steady wing
And know your the only one that means anything to me
Steer clear of the sun, or you'll find yourself in the sea
Wont you look at your wings
They're coming undone
They're splitting at the seams
Steer clear of the sun, for once wont you listen to me?
Oh God!
Why is this happening to me?
All I wanted was new life for my son to grow up free
And now you took the only thing that meant anything to me
I'll never fly again, I'll hang up my wings
Oh God!
Why is this happening to me?
All I wanted was new life for my son to grow up free
And now you took the only thing that meant anything to me
I'll never fly again, I'll hang up my wings
Oh God!
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| The other day I was discussing the state of Japan with my Japanese friends and the word that came to mind was "random". Japan is random. Full stop.
And on that note I shall begin a post containing random happenings in the world of Aaron.
We still do not have students at our school so I'm getting paid 1000 yen an hour to help with administration and advertising. I work around 5 hours a day from Tuesday to Saturday. This month I will probably only clear 60,000 yen or so.
One weekend I made a trip over to Kumamoto and Aso with my friend Noriko. The area is stunningly green and lush, picturesque, and home to several active and dormant volcanoes. Because the of geothermal activity in the vicinity there are also plenty of onsen (Japanese hot springs), which of course I partook in. Nothing like soaking in 40 degree water with some random, naked Japanese salarymen.
Recently I woke up at the crack of dawn to see the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival in Fukuoka. It's the biggest matsuri in Western Japan and consists of half naked men in loincloths carrying 1 tonne floats through the city, allthewhile shouting encouraging "OISA, OISA!"s to their teammates.
My Japanese hasn't been improving much but that's probably because I'm a big lazy fat ass who can hardly get out of bed because it's always 30 degrees and humid in my apartment and outside. I really should look into taking some J-classes soon.
And on a completely random tangent, OXFAM international, the giant charity organization who aims to end world injustice and poverty, contacted me to ask for permission to use one of my pictures of Shanghai in a presentation. They offered to pay me some money, but being the nice guy I am, I let them have full use rights for free. The video of the presentation is here http://www.oxfam.org/en/content/video-and-audio-1 and the powerpoint presentation is here http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/downloads/FP2P/FP2PEnglish.ppt. The image in question is here www.flickr.com/photos/farang_noi/328015170/sizes/o/.
Oh and I probably have ticks living in my tatami floor as I wake up with mosquito-like bites all the time. I guess I will have to break out some pesticides soon.
I've updated my flickr site and facebook with pictures and videos so do check them out.
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/farang_noi.
Hot and bothered,
Aaron | | |
| Hello All,
Yes it is I, Aaron Senji Mallett, your long lost friend who is once again in Japan.
I apologize for the huge lack of communication from my end but it was because my Internet access was so sporadic during the last month of traveling around Japan. I now have Internet in my apartment so it will be much easier to keep in touch.
Now with that out of the way, where do I begin to start?
For those of you who don't know I'm currently living in Fukuoka, which is a medium-sized port city located in the northern part of Kyushu, Japan. I have a tiny Japanese style apartment, replete with tatami (reed) floors and combined, shower/bathroom. Luckily the rent is cheap -- around $350 a month and it is conveniently located close to a train station.
I recently got hired at a new english conversation school called Cotton English (www.cottonenglish.com) but I have yet to start teaching. For the next week or so I will be helping my boss recruit new students by standing in the hot sun like a tool and handing out pamphlets to parents around Kindergartens across Fukuoka proper. Hopefully the work will pick up quickly and I can make enough money to support myself here. As a side job I am probably going to teach a bunch of seniors English conversation on Tuesday nights. They are great.
The weather here is brutally humid and quite hot in the day. Yesterday it crept up to 32 degrees with around 65% to 70% humidity (I'm guessing). As soon as you step out its like you are almost chewing on the air since its so thick. If it's not hot and humid its rainy and humid as it is Tsuyu or the rainy season, but that will soon end and the plain-old hot and humid season will begin. Joy.
Before I arrived in Fukuoka I traveled to a few cities and met up with a few of my Japanese friends. I won't go into to much detail about each location but you can check out some photos on my flickr site -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/farang_noi. Thanks to Shogo, Wakana, Shigemi, Yosuke, Yuko, Mihoko, Junshi, Noriko, Mio, and Ayako for their hospitality and kindness.
Some highlights of my travels are:
- Sushi in Shibuya, Tokyo with Shigemi and Wakana
- Izakayas with Shogo and Wakana, and Mihoko and Junshi.
- Chilling in the tropical-esque Enoshima/Kamakura beachside area
- Drinking and schmoozing with random Japanese businessmen at Yuko's bar in Kobe
- Feeling like I was back in time in the streets of the Gion district of Kyoto
- Partying with Mio, Noriko and their friends in downtown Fukuoka
I still haven't decided whether or not I will have a blog while I'm here but if I do start one up I will let you know. For now I may just make short notes in Facebook.
PS. Victor -- I found a climbing gym here in Fukuoka and went climbing the other day. I will definitely try to keep it up once I get a regular schedule going. It's tiny but the people seem really cool. The routes are pretty easy though and they use a color-coding scheme for difficulty. Some routes you can use any footholds and only limited by handholds, while the harder routes are restricted for both. The people there are super cool like Van, although there aren't enough girls unfortunately ;)
For now I bid you all adieu and I hope some of you will take the initiative to send me an email back. It's always good to hear from you all.
Jaa matane,
Aaron | | |
| I'm not sure why I haven't continued writing this story. I guess it could be summed up in a bout of depression, sickness, rejection and apathy. I'm up in Prince Rupert for the holidays. The warmth of my family surrounds me and the shimmering snow dusts the rooftops and hills of the landscape visible through the large picture window of the living room. A picturesque scene, yet I feel empty inside. New Years resolutions are fickle. Images that form and dissapate in the clouds floating against the indigo sea of nature's rooftop. But for me these resolutions must be adhered to. As they say, a change is as good as a holiday. Cryptic posts aside, here is a little extension of the last post. ---- I could only count my lucky stars that my body remained intact and only sustained minor scratches and bruises from the explosion and subsequent train derailment. Luggage lay strewn around me like toys in a child's sand box. One large bag of dried garlic lay on top of my left leg, pinning me against the wall of the train, which was now the floor. Luck also favored me in the fact that the pint-sized murderer had been facing away from me the whole time. She didn't even notice that the old man had given me the strange package, and that I was laying just 20 metres away. I weighed the options in my head. Either I try my best to remain absolutely still and quiet and hope that the girl would flee the scene without further incident, or I jump up from the mayhem of the train and try to dart into the thick jungle lining the sides of the tracks. With that thought a bead of sweat dripped in my eyes, stinging me back into a crystal conciousness. My arms automatically responded by constricting around the package. ---- I hope everyone is having a great holiday wherever they are in this world. Enjoy the time you have with friends and family and take the time to reconnect with the ones you have forgotten or neglected. Don't worry about me. It's only a matter of time before my mom's sweet baking overloads the pent up bitterness I have accumulated over the past little while. | | |
| Not many people are commenting on my story posts but luckily the venerable Jordana has decided to contribute her own piece of the action. For those not in the know, Jordana is the cutest, most stylish and most multi-talented software engineer this side of the Rockies. You can check out her blog at http://highmaintenancewoman.blogspot.com.
Now on to her addition to the ongoing story:
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Suddenly,
my world turned upside-down. There was a loud exploding sound from
elsewhere on the train and I was thrown off my seat as the train swayed
off the tracks. My vision became a blur of falling luggage and tumbling
people before something sharp hit my head and I was conscious no more.
I
do not know how long I was out, but the first thing I saw when I came
to, was the old man leaning over me. I could not understand what he was
saying for he was speaking Thai, but I did understand one word: he
spoke my name. As I shook the grogginess out of
my head, I realized that the old man was thrusting the bundle he’d been
holding urgently into my arms. Bewildered and dazed, I took it. Without another word, the old man turned and fled, scrambling out a broken window. He had only ran a few meters, when a single shot rang out. Tearing my eyes from his falling, lifeless body, I looked to where the shot came. There I saw the young girl standing there - she had a murderous look and a cooling pistol in her hand.
--- If anyone else wants to write up their own section feel free! I love reading other people's ideas :)
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