Adventure on the (Over) Seas

I have finally arrived as a shining star on the blogging scene and my arrival was capped off with an unprecedented link on the king of blogs (at least in his head), none other than Sensei Tran. I was informed via e-mail early this morning of the news and promptly called in sick to work to celebrate. After tearing through two whole chocolate bars in celebratory mode I changed my mind and went into work. Weren't they surprised to see that my leg was not actually in a cast at all!

Last week I got a mail from David inviting me up to his girlfriends "sports mansion" for a weekend of snow and sun. Not being one to turn down an opportunity like that I invited another buddy to keep me company on the road. Her place is awesome but there will be more on that later. I spent the week gearing up for this event and it didn't disappoint...
The weekend got off to a roaring start. I met up with a couple of friends for a quick bite before Ultan and I decided to get a move on. We were unsure just how long it was going to take us to get there. I stopped by and saw Kae for a second and she attempted to make a map for us off the Internet. It was gonna take far too long so we decided to just go "blind". We checked googlemaps and got an idea of where we were headed and ran for the door. We are IDIOTS! We left with no map or directions. Just a good general sense of where we wanted to end up. At least we thought it was a good general sense. We sparked a fine cigar in the car to start our journey (thanks Rory!). IF only we knew... we probably would have sparked it to celebrate the end of our journey. We decided to stick to the country roads to save ourselves some money. The high ways over here are all toll roads so it can be quite pricey getting around. We were making good time stopping at 7-11's whenever we felt a little lost. At one fine establishment the man behind the counter colour photocopied few pages out of a map book for us. We thanked this fine gentleman profusely... again if only we had known we might have sucker punched him in the gut! We followed our map making great time and enjoying the fact that our adrenaline was still pumping at 1:30 in the morning.
One last obstacle stood between us and our destination, a mountain. No problem, we have climbed bigger mountains than that! Plus we had a car this time, good old Logo La Chic, she's never let me down and she didn't fail me this time either. After reaching the top of the mountain, it started snowing! It was really quite beautiful, however the scene was quickly ruined by the massive piles of snow behind the road closed signs!!! We had to turn back down the mountain and back track for about an hour and drive around the thing. We were less than pleased but still quite confident we would make out alright.
We were wrong we were lost, without a map because we had driven off the map we had a copy of. I swore right then and there I was not gonna be cheap again. Then I promptly snipped a coupon out of the magazine I found on the bathroom floor.
We were passing through small town after small town and nothing was open because it was not about 4 AM. The adrenaline had ceased pumping hours ago. Finally I looked up and saw a sign that had never in my entire life failed me. It was a sign from the heavens, the next town we were cruising into was O-mama. My ma has lead me on the straight and narrow and never put me astray so I knew I would find directions in this town or we would pull over and nap there. I was right, even across the sea MAMA came through for me. Saved yet again by the 7-11...
I should note that we stopped and asked for directions a whole bunch of times but Japanese people do not like to say no. Which means if you ask someone if they know how to get somewhere, they will say YES, this usually means that have NO CLUE!!! One dude even drew us a map that got us NOWHERE!!!
The best quote of the weekend though was on the way home when we stopped for directions at one of the toll booths for the high way. Ultan ran in and asked the guy which way to go. He came back and relayed the directions which were slightly different than what we had.

"Ultan are you sure we just stay on this road and it will get us to the next interchange?"

"Well, if he's wrong at least we know where he's gonna be for the next couple hours..."

Endless laughter.

So we after getting the wrong directions again, we got it all sorted out and went on our merry way to meet up with the crew. It still took us until 6:45 to arrive at the condo. A mere 7 hours and 45 minutes after we sparked our cigar! We traveled a total of 431 KM in that time.

We got a couple of hours shut eye and then headed out to the hill which was conveniently located right beside the apartment. The conditions were pretty shabby but the hill was alright because it was a little flatter than usual so I was able to practice a jumping around from goofy and back. I also did something that I have never done before in my life but I think I might start doing it a little more often... I boarded without a ticket! Everyone was looking at my like I was crazy but I knew what I was doing. I have never been asked for a ticket the entire time I have been in Japan snowboarding. I always have had one but I keep it in the clear pocket under my coat so if I have to show it I can easily flip my coat up from the bottom and show the ticket. No one has ever asked me.
I rode for free all day and had a blast. The only thing better than snowboarding is free snowboarding! We met for lunch and I forgot the cheap lesson from the night before and decided to save myself 100 Yen on my lunch. I was sorely disappointed... Everyone else had a badass meal of U-dong noodles and curry which smelt delicious. I was stuck with ramen which is great when everyone is eating it but I was reminded of my cheapness with every bite!!! Ramen never tasted so bitter...
The last run of the day we decided to race. Ultan sissied out but James, Blessy and myself took the lift back up and bet a beer on the outcome. I should mention that James is a "two-plankered-wanker" meaning he skis. So its much easier for him to keep his balance while racing downhill. Blessy didn't make a single turn the entire way down, he won. James made one turn, he finished second. I got cut off by a kid and was forced to turn a few times. I finished a distant third. The beer still tasted great, even if I did have to buy it. T'was the least I could do. I rode for free all day!
That night we went out to the grocery store and picked up loads of food to make Nabe. Its a delicious meal (soup) with veggies, meat, and some idiots like to put Kimchi in it... I really enjoy it and its really easy to make. Of course we also picked up a case of beer. Once we returned we relaxed for a minute before getting seriously loose. It was such an awesome evening with everyone just hanging out and laughing. Later on we headed down to the onsen (bath) and rejuvenated our bodies. Its such a relaxing experience. I think we finally hit the sack about 3:30. There were plenty of great quotables however none are really blogworthy, mostly cause my mom reads this...
The most random thing I saw all weekend was a package that would be comparable to "peroni" pepperoni sticks back home. However, the brand on the package was "Homo Sausage". James couldn't eat enough of them... Some things are becoming clear...
We (I) slept in a little on Sunday and we didn't get off to the hill until about 1. The most disappointing thing of the weekend was that we didn't get there til 1 and I bought a ticket cause we had to take a gondola. I am a sucker! I definitely didn't need one cause yet again, no one asked to see any type of ticket from me all day! The hill was much better than the previous days bunny hill. We rode all day and I was having such a great time I didn't want to head home. I can feel myself improving each time I get out on the mountain. Our last run of the day though Ultan managed to smash his face up pretty good and I managed to put my foot in my mouth by yelling at him to get out of the way of the jump...
After seeing his face with blood dripping down off his chin my only concern was he missed the jump clinic I just put on for him. I promised to repeat the clinic next week.
So after riding we rocked over to McD's for a hard earned Big Mac. They have a promotion going on in Japan its called the Mega Mac. Its essentially a double Big Mac. My mouth was watering instantly upon hearing such a thing exists. They only sell 70 of them a day! We missed the cut by several strokes. I was so disappointed but its such a Japanese thing to do. Sell only 70 Mega Macs... Does it really matter if they sell 300? Are they gonna run out of something... I LOVE JAPAN!!!

We had a swim back at the apartment before heading out. The pool is amazing, upstairs there are three whirlpools, a steam room, and a lie down body massage thing. Sooo relaxing... After heading down the slide several times Blessy kindly pointed out the sign listing the age restrictions... Over 6 under 15... Oooops!

The ride back home was uneventful. We took the toll road cause we didn't want to bother with closed roads and 50 Km/H speed limits. We pretty much flew home and arrived in about 3 hours. Perhaps the toll roads are worth it...

In any event I love weekends over here. Snowboarding just makes them sooo much better. Its something to look forward to every Monday morning. I also really enjoyed just hanging out with some people that are closer to my age. Most people around town are older than me but Dave and the crew are all younger. I pass on the learned life's lessons...
Like, "Watch out for the fish cheese..."

So this is what a $3000 camera combined with a $1000 lens will do... make a scruffy character look like a million bucks... I mean doesn't Ryan look great in the background? This is one of my favorite photos that Alex has taken. This was New Years Eve and we were headed out to entertain ourselves.

That chick wants me... look at her face!!!
I think the cute one was the only one serious about the photo. She's got perfect pearly whites. The start of a long night!


These two ladies were really cute but sadly the only photo I have of them shows their perfectly contoured cheeks, Alex might have to be fired as the official National Geographic photographer. This was about the middle of the night, maybe 1:30 or so. We were standing the the street corner drinking convenience store beers. We reeked of class...


Happy New Year!!! First New Years I have spent in a subway station... I was with three buddies though so it was well worth it. Another story for the ages... Like the time I was in Montreal and... well, some stories are better left for Bachelor parties!


I was sooo happy to eat a real burger at T.G.I Friday that's why I am smiling. The two ladies, well they're smiling cause I may or may not have grabbed their bum!


Our ticket to the promised land... The message on these hands opened plenty of doors for us. They say "Happy New Year" which sounds much different in Japanese, and "May we take your photo please". At least that's what Alex said they meant, it doesn't explain the strange looks we got from ladies though. After seeing a pretty girl I would grab the hand and run, Ryan was not too impressed with this move and I now realize just how pathetic I must have looked, but it worked!


This was the crew we started the night with. Mama you might recognize two of them from Kyoto. They are the two guys that stopped us and asked for directions at the bus stop. What a group we were. We ended up separating before too long but it was a great way to kick off the night. A crew of guys causing a scene the way only a group of foreigners can.


I got a photo with this young lady because I liked her hat...


We saw this dude on the train at 1 PM December 31st. Poetic foreshadowing perhaps...


Another subway shot of Ryan and I. I think Alex finally figured out how to work the focus on his camera that is bigger than my lap top!


I have no idea why I am smiling. This sake was disgusting! I like sake but this stuff was vile. It didn't stop me from drinking it though cause some on who am I to let alcohol go to waste?


I forgot a story in my previous post. I have been sick for the past little while and so I have been going to the doctor almost weekly for medicine that doesn't seem to want to work. Well it seems I had a build up of liquid in my ear that was not going away despite two weeks of pills. I had been going to see the doctor by myself which make communication quite difficult seeing as he is Japanese. Well I brought along my co-worker this time to translate. It seems whatever problem I have the doctor just wants to perform surgery. When my nose was bothering me he said it was going to require surgery. Now with my ear he started with the surgery business again. I think he just wants to cut a white guy to see if my blood is red! Something to talk about with his fellow doctors on the golf course...

"Well Takakumichikomitsu-San, I finally did it, I cut whitey! You were right their blood IS red but I wanted to see for myself..."

Well I avoided the knife this time around but got something equally unpleasant. The man pulled up a metal tube about 6 inches long. I knew it was going to hurt even before Nao translated for me. He was proposing that he stick the tube up my nose and proceed to blow air out of my ear. I thought I was hearing wrong, at least I wished I was hearing wrong. Sadly I heard perfectly! I was freaked out and Nao was trying to tell me it was not serious as they do this to children and babies all the time. There was nothing comforting about that because the child in the office before he was screaming sooo loudly I wanted to cry for him.
I the end I got the tube and I gotta say, it blew! Literally... I could feel the air moving from deep inside my nasal cavity out of my ear. The strangest sensation I have ever felt in my life. It was really uncomfortable and my eyes watered like I was a big baby, which I am but this time I was trying to look a little tough, cause Nao was there and she is really cute. However the first thing she said to me after the tube was out was,

"You CRIED like a baby!" with a look of pure disgust.

My arguments that it was natural for one's eyes to water when your nose is invaded by metal tubes fell on deaf ears! I then hit her in the nose lightly to prove my point and accidentally broke it. Nope, that part is made up, again checking to ensure I have not lost any readers!
Sadly all this transpired and the doc was still waiting with the tube to clean out the other ear... T'was a long day at the office after that!

So its definitely been a while since I last posted and that's mostly cause I was out of the city for two weeks on "holidays" and upon my return my co-worker was hit with a nasty stomach virus that kept her out of commission for a week. Meaning I had to work a bunch of extra shifts. Now things have returned to normal and I am looking forward to the next little while over here in Japan.
Biggest news first... I am engaged! Just kidding Mama, just wanted to see if you skim read or read every detail. I actually moved up another couple of levels in Karate. I had not heard anything since my test but my first day back at Karate in the new year I was awarded the blue "bar" belt. There are 12 levels in Karate with 12 being a white belt and 1 being a black belt. I am now at level 7. The first levels are the easiest so if I want to continue moving up I gotta dedicate myself to practice and training on my own time. Things are going slow in that regard. Its sooo difficult to get out of bed in the morning because no houses in Japan are equipped with central heating. So my house is freezing in the morning and that is enough to keep me burrowed under the covers until I absolutely have to get up otherwise I will be late(r) for work. There is a timer on the heater but I got no idea how to work it! In any event Karate is going really well for me and I am really glad that I picked it up when I came over here.
Next up, New Years was a gong show complete with the usual trouble that accompanies such shows. I was planning on just staying in Nagano and snowboarding but I got a mail from my buddy telling me he was headed to Osaka for a visa run. He was easily convinced to come up to Tokyo on the Shinkensen and I met up with him on the 30th after a long day of snowboarding and then a long trip back to Tokyo. Good times had by all. We went out with another bunch of friends and Alex brought along his camera that is about the size of my leg! We easily convinced people that he was a professional photographer and I was the model. Ladies were lining up! For some reason Ryan picked National Geographic as Alex's employer, the real reason is every bag Alex owns is NG. So we drank beers while roaming the streets posing for photos with girls. We met up with another friend of ours and decided to head into Roppongi. Sadly we were in the subway station when 12 rolled around but I have a new theory about that... If your year starts off horribly, AKA sitting in a subway station at midnight, but then immediately starts to get better you just gotta keep that momentum rolling all year. So the snowball is rolling down the hill now I just gotta keep the momentum and remove debris from in front of the ball. Next years New Years I am gonna be somewhere exotic surrounded by models that would like to massage my clothed body, at least if my theory holds true!
We ended up strolling into random bars and avoiding cover charges. At one place cover was about $50 but we strolled in and happily noticed the open bar! In Canada we would have been tossed so hard out the door we'd forget our evening, in Japan they served us with a smile! After we left that place we entered random establishments all night til my alarm went off at 5:30AM. It was time to get Ryan to the station so he could catch the Shinkensen back to Osaka for his flight to Korea. He never made it... I did my job, I got him to the station but he simply couldn't stay awake and he ended up missing his flight. Not that I am one to talk, after dropping him off it took me 4 hours to get back to Alex's place which is only a 15 - 20 minute subway ride away. Needless to say I slept a lot on the 1st!
On the second we went out to see the Emperor. Not really overly exciting but I had to do something cultural! The palace is only open twice a year, on December 23rd, the emperor's birthday, and January 2nd, the new year celebration. The guy is old and didn't really have much to say. I was disappointed that we waited about an hour to see the guy. It was cool to chill out with Alex though and a few of his buddies.
I just hung out in Tokyo for the rest of the week meeting with some buddies and girlfriends in the city. I think I could definitely enjoy living in Tokyo, there is always something to do even if its just strolling around and watching people. Plus there are lots of different areas that appeal to everyone. I spent a lot of time strolling around the "snow surf" sport area. Its a street that is just filled with sports shops. Everything was on sale as well so I took my time searching around. I didn't really need anything big but it is fun to look for me. I did need some gloves and wanted to pick up a new pair of snowboard pants. I found the gloves and snatched them up for a great price. I was feeling pleased with myself when I walking into the second great find of the day, bad ass snowboard pants! Sadly I talked myself out of buying them because they are something that I didn't really NEED. I sometimes wish I had not picked that skill up from my mom, talking myself out of things I want. Needless to say it worked out really well because the next day my bro called me and we had an awesome chat for about 30 minutes during which I mentioned the pants I wanted. He told me to pick them up and he would pay for them as a Christmas present. So I got the bad ass snowboard pants for Christmas. I will put up a photo of them with my next post.
So I made it back to Iwaki on Sunday night and made my way home. First I checked in on my turtles to make sure they were still alive. I put them in the closet so that they could hibernate. They were still looking good so I am happy about that. I didn't even get a chance to unpack my things because I was headed out snowboarding on Monday with Kae and some dude she is friends with. I had to wake up at about 5 for that. So I caught a couple of short hours sleep before I headed back out to the hills. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the mountains over here. I wasn't expecting anything exciting but the hills were alright. Not nearly as small as I thought that they would be. So I rode all day and loved it! I don't even stop for lunch I just pack a chocolate bar and snack on the hill to re-energize myself. Resort food seems to be too expensive for my blood.
It was back to work on Tuesday morning and I already mentioned how my first week back was. I survived and got out snowboarding again last Sunday. I plan to snowboard every Sunday while I am here. I have started riding only goofy in efforts to improve my snowboarding skills. Last weekend after my first day I was doing pretty well at it. I am impressed with myself and if I keep improving then I might actually be a decent rider by the end of the season. That's the goal at least. Time will tell if it all pans out. The hills are about 2 hours from me so it costs a little bit to get out there.
So here I am its been a couple of weeks since I updated and I am thinking about making an employment change. I am sort of bored of teaching English. It does not pose much of a challenge for me and I can feel my brain turning softer each day. So I am looking for new employment that starts in April. Otherwise I will keep teaching for another six months before making a move into something a little more exciting for me. I don't want to leave Iwaki because of Karate. I am improving quite a bit and I would be disappointed if I left before I was really good. I know its possible to train elsewhere but the team here is awesome. They are nice to me after beating me up. Speaking of which on Wednesday after practice I looked down and it appeared as though there was an orange growing out the side of my arm. The "rook" had managed to leave a bruise on my body. The bruise was about the size of an orange growing out of my forearm. Needless to say it was a nasty welcome back from vacation!
Alright that's enough out of me. I gotta get some things done around here. My apartment is filthy and I should probably start putting some things in the mail if I am gonna be possibly headed home or elsewhere in March.