Owner: Expatriate Games URL:http://expatriate-games.blogspot.com Join Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:53:05 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: After a wide range of travel experience, including a year in Kyoto, Japan, I'm now back in the motherland playing at teaching high school. Follow my adventures at home and on the road as I mold young minds and try to make up my own... Site statistics:Click here
And the Oscar for Psychic Powers Goes to... 2008-02-24 21:50:00 One of my odd flukes is that I don't own a TV. I have absolutely no place in my life for one, as I find most television shows utterly useless and my Macca is more than sufficient for watching an occasional film and keeping up with the news. This lack of TV typically ensures that I'm never so much as grazed by the avant garde of mainstream pop culture, and all the things I do watch, read, or listen to come from only two sources: the recommendations of trusted colleagues and the raw pull of my own splangkna.About a week and a half ago, I was wandering aimlessly through a video store balancing precariously on the edge of despair when I saw a cover that had a guy with a guitar on it. I generally like guys with guitars, so I picked it up, skimmed the back, and decided to rent it. I'd never Read more:Oscar
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How to Date American Guys: A User's Guide 2008-02-16 23:04:00 The footloose Citizen of the World faces many confounding conundrums when circumnavigating the globe and delving into other cultures. Among the most famous are the language barriers, the variances in decorum, and of course, the gender politics.Of the many grooves I had to get back into when I returned to the States, the groove of American
guys was one of the trickiest. They aren't like all the Australians I'd been bumming about with or the Brit I'd been dating, and they certainly weren't like the Japanese guys I was constantly surrounded by at work and at home.You see, Australian guys are incredibly easy to get along with. The secret is playing along with whatever harebrained schemes they concoct. They want to go drink and smoke pot down by the river like vagabonds? Great idea! They w Read more:Guide
El Tacuacin 2008-02-06 19:57:00 Inquiring minds often ask me if I was frightened by the prospect of moving to Japan by myself. I had never been there before and spoke the language about as well as your average house cat ties a shoelace. I admit I was overwhelmed -- and for the first few days, I suspected I'd made a pretty terrible mistake -- but I would never describe myself as "afraid" of any of it. Only somewhat jittery, and that was as much excitement as nerves.The reason for this uncommon boldness probably stems from the myriad of bizarre travel ordeals I had been through long before I went to Asia. Occasionally, when my high school students are being particularly well-behaved, I regale them with the tales of my exotic adventures. Yesterday, we got to talking about the summer I spent working at an orphanage in H
あ、い、う、え、お。。。 2008-01-19 13:31:00 I've been home from Japan for a year and a half now. I can count on one hand the foreigners I know who still live there. The company I taught for there has gone bankrupt. The guy I lived with there is engaged to somebody else. None of this should make me too fussed, since I'm still in touch with the people I like, the company was shite, and as for the ex... well, more power to him.Still, it's weird.For months after I got home, I was convinced things in Japan were just as I had left them. My friends would talk about people coming and going, but in my head every aspect of life there looked just the same. I often toyed with the idea of going back, imagining I would find my opal earrings on the corner of the coffee table, just where I had forgotten them on the day I flew home.Enough time
The 3rd Degree (Revisited) 2008-01-17 21:00:00 It has come to my attention that since I switched the host for my blog, I have gained vast numbers of new readers who have unfortunately missed out on all the charming content buried deep in the vaults of my archives. In order to remedy the situation, I've decided to take some old archived blogs and blow the dust off of them. If you've been with me since the beginning, don't fret -- there's still plenty of new content to come -- but this should help new readers catch up and give me a chance to organize the promised new content so it can be inflicted on *edit* released to the public in a timely fashion.The 3rd Degreeoriginally posted 6/12/07No matter who you are or where you come from, the Gaijin-in-Japan experience comes standard with a few essential pieces. This is so much the case th Read more:Revisited
New Photos! 2008-01-11 17:10:00 Since New Year's we've gotten dumped with snow and I've got the photos to prove it. I nearly missed my chance one morning when I woke up to find that everything standing still was covered in frost... and I couldn't stop to take pics because I had to drive Gramps & Gram to the airport. I did get a few quick shots before it melted though. Enjoy!
The One with the Crazy Cat Lady 2007-12-18 21:20:00 My dad has a cousin who's a crazy cat lady. She's almost sixty years old, but she hasn't left her house in over thirty years. Other than her caretaker, who buys her groceries and checks up on her, she has had very little contact with anybody in all that time. Except the cats. She has approximately thirty-five cats in her tiny, ramshackle house. She spends most of her time watching QVC and ordering things on the telephone. When the packages arrive, she doesn't open them -- she just stacks them in the garage where the cats claw at them, pee on them, and ruin them.None of this is funny. She's a sad lady, and I wish I knew what made her so unhappy in her own life.What is funny is that I've been accused of having some cat-lady tendencies as well, and if there's any sort of genetic predis Read more:Crazy
The Assident 2007-12-13 17:36:00 My friend Big'n'Tall likes to play with words. He likes to say "apposa" instead of "supposed to", and he calls pickles "piggles". Anything remotely resembling a bucket or a basket is a "busket". He also calls an accident an "assident". This seems like a pretty accurate interpretation to me.Today, I got in an assident.I hate getting into traffic collisions. I'm sure no one particularly enjoys them, but any time it happens, no matter what the circumstances, I get that feeling that I'm being sucked into another dimension via a black hole in the pit of my stomach. It's decidedly unpleasant.Whenever my students tell me a story in which they are ultimately guilty of something stupid or irresponsible, they always start it with the phrase, "See, what had happened was..."Between the copper, t
Home for the Holidays 2007-12-05 14:23:00 I spent only one Christmas in Japan. While my family was trimming trees, wrapping gifts, and diving into a double batch of my aunt's famous bourbon balls, I got up as I did every other Sunday morning and caught my subway train at the normal time. In general, the Japanese ignore Christmas, but my gaijin friends and I had taken a few measures to make sure the time-honored Western holiday didn't pass entirely without notice: we had organized a little gift exchange among the teachers in our office; we had begged and bribed the Japanese staff to arrange the day's schedule so that we all could eat lunch together; and Dom had made a dinner reservation for a large group of us at a pub in Kyoto.I met up with Dom on the subway and we made our ritual morning stop in Starbucks. The Bux in Yamashin Read more:Holidays
Lockdown 2007-11-29 20:05:00 Today is Thursday, the 29th of November, 2007. That means I've been home from Japan for exactly one year, six months, and twenty-six days.In that time, many strange and incredible events have transpired. Despite all odds against, I finally got a "grown-up" job; I had my first adventure with downhill skiing; I went white-water rafting; I drove down the West Coast; I turned a quarter-center old; and I nearly died from mono, which no one ever nearly dies from.Today for the first time I locked myself and my students in my classroom to ensure that none of us got shot by a crazy gunman the police (or the "po-po," as my kids call them) were chasing past our building. This is extra hilarious since "running from the po-po" was the first action in our game of charades yesterday.No, really. In th Read more:Lockdown
Two Bits 2007-11-07 22:20:00 first bit:every now and then i have moments in my job that just leave me without words. in a good way. right now is one of those moments. i just read a paper from one of my students -- a literary analysis on how poe establishes mood in "the fall of the house of usher" -- and it was so good, so insightful, so un-frickin'-believably off-the-hook eloquent that i had to put the rest of the pile down for the night. it simply would not be fair to grade another kid's paper with that one fresh in my brain.*sigh*i really do love the little triumphs of my job.* * * * * * * * * * * *second bit:on a completely unrelated note, i bought a carbon-monoxide detector for my apartment. my place is really nice, but only because of work that i've put into it. the building on the whole is pretty shabby an
Reentering Society 2007-10-18 17:09:00 finally, after months of being under the weather, am feeling like myself again.mono's a killer -- not in a life-threatening way, but in the headlines reading "beloved young teacher tragically erased from existence" way. indeed, i wondered many times as i lay on my couch watching old "office" episodes how long it would take someone to find me if i did suddenly kick the proverbial bucket. *knock on wood*fortunately, we'll have to conduct that experiment another time because i'm back up on my feet now. not exactly running my regular rat race of a lifestyle, but i'm at least out of the house every day. at my doctor's suggestion, i'm "easing" myself back into work by cutting my hours down to half-time for a bit. it's not ideal, but there are certainly some benefits, including the following Read more:Society
The Big P/T C 2007-10-06 21:35:00 so... let's talk about parent/teacher conferences.the first time i ever went to a parent/teacher conference was when i was student teaching. my mentor teacher, yvonne, thought it would be a good experience for me to come along and listen in, though i didn't really have much to contribute, since i was just a stupid college kid. (my words, not hers.) we sat in her classroom all evening as the parents filtered through and asked about how their little susie or billy or whoever was doing in english class.three years later, i don't remember much of that evening. i do remember one parent. she came in, quite flustered, sat down, pulled out her daughter's progress report, and burst into tears. TEARS.for a moment, i thought maybe it was because her child was failing the class.... o no. she
Down with the Sickness -- The Mono Chrons Cont. 2007-10-01 20:49:00 o yes, i'm still down with the sickness. i was very well-behaved and took three whole weeks off work, but i can't stand it anymore. one can only spend so much time cooped up, you know.this week, i'm attempting to be back at work half-time. this should actually be less stressful than staying home, where i'm constantly behind on paperwork and trying to chase down substitute teachers who don't return phone calls. sometimes i wish i was a substitute teacher -- then i could get paid $80 a day to show up late, lose things, and ignore all the work and energy the actual teacher has put into lesson plans a chimpanzee could carry out. if anyone had a problem with it, i could just say "well, i didn't know" and that would make everything all right.okay, enough bitter ranting.i'm back with my kids Read more:Sickness
In Search 2007-09-24 19:51:00 i'm not sure if it's something i miss about japan or just something to do with growing older, but i'm in search of more quietness in my life. Read more:Search
Justice is Served!! 2007-09-19 21:17:00 YES! i defy you, microsoft lackey!!as always, dear reader, thank you for your kind support.(ps, curly, you are a gentleman and a scholar.) Read more:Justice
Busted 2007-09-18 19:53:00 today, in an effort to entertain myself, i logged on to yahoo answers and starting buzzing around solving people's problems. this is a wonderful pastime for me, as i'm a bit of a wise ass and enjoy spreading my wit around.well, this girl had a question that went something like "AHHHHHHHH! PLEASE HELP ME! MY COMPUTER KEEPS FREEZING!!!" the situation, in brief, is that her pc is as rank with viruses as that meatloaf your roommate has had in the refrigerator since last february. she can't even turn the damn thing off. it freezes completely and to "resolve" the problem, she unplugs it and reboots. she also reported that it made loud noises. yeesh! she's clearly on the edge of a breakdown and had nowhere to turn.so i gave her the only bit of advice i knew would actually help her. i sa Read more:Busted
Pretending to Be Well 2007-09-17 20:41:00 Today I went in to work. This is one of the curses of teaching -- I actually care (a great deal) about my kids and what they're doing/thinking/learning. Therefore, even when my head is pounding and my lymph nodes are swollen, I can't spend too many days sitting at home not knowing what's happening at school.I just wanted to check in with them, make sure they had gotten everything they needed out of last week, make sure they were ready for what's coming next, etc.Well, we got into a discussion about Native American cultures. The basic idea I wanted them to get out of the reading was the image of time as a cycle -- everything repeats, everything decays and is renewed.In an attempt to juxtapose that with our Western Civ concept that time is linear -- a constant parade towards *insert your
A Revolution of Updates 2007-09-16 15:42:00 in my on-going quest to make my on-line presence as agreeable as possible, i've finally updated my flickr page with all my photos from my california road trip. click the pic below for a link or check out the sidebar where you can find all my flickr accounts!
O No, No, No -- The Mono Chronicles V 2007-09-15 18:30:00 last night i made the hideous mistake of having people over to my apartment.i was feeling a bit better and my best friend liz (who got married last spring and moved far, far away) was in town with her hubby and their brand new labrador puppy. i didn't feel up to going out, but i invited them to come over and bring the little fur ball.as they were on their way, not one, but two other friends from high school who never, ever call decided quite separately to give me a jingle and invite me out. i declined but -- feeling a bit guilty about never calling them either -- i told them liz was on her way to my place and they were welcome to drop by.foolish, foolish me.things i didn't account for:as none of these people had seen each other in ages, there were hours (literally hours) of current even
It's Not Just Me -- The Mono Chronicles IV 2007-09-13 10:36:00 i'm not the only one who hates when i'm sick. today i got this one-line email from a student in my first hour... "are you almost better? 'cuz we're not getting anything done and i hate the sub." unfortunately, the doctor thinks i need to take next week off too. yeah, brilliant.
Nabe, Stew of the Gods -- The Mono Chronicles III 2007-09-12 10:35:00 in the midst of my very boring week of sickdom, i've been trying to come up with things to write about and i've been getting a little inspiration. what you're about to read is my first official comissioned piece of writing. i'm expecting payment in full by the weekend, adam. --------------------------------------------------------- The Gaijin's Guide to Nabe as the winter season approaches, you're probably asking yourself: what am i going to cook that's warm and hearty and will fill my dinner guests' tummies with culinary glee? unless you live in japan. then you're asking yourself: how the hell do i make nabe? well, relax and settle in because you're about to be trained in the delicate art of this traditional japanese stew. you will need: a nabe pot (this is a heavy ceramic or
Rigor Bortis -- The Mono Chronicles II 2007-09-11 10:34:00 most people would consider two paid weeks off of work a real treat, but this is only my second day of being stranded at home with mono, and i'm already bored silly. i can't do anything but stay in bed and watch old episodes of "the office". about 11 o'clock this morning, i couldn't stand lying around anymore, so i got up and shaved my legs. immediately afterwards i had to lie back down because i felt light-headed and shakey. quite a removal from the daily six-hour long stand-up routine that is my job. at any rate, being sick at home reminded me of the time i got sick in japan. everybody gets sick in japan at some point. our gaijin blood just can't handle those ninja bacteria, and we all spend too much time drinking and working and not enough time sleeping or eating. most foreigners have
Getting Sick -- The Mono Chronicles 2007-09-09 10:32:00 o reader, i hate to make you worry, so i haven't been telling you everything that's been going on lately. it must be time to come clean. ever since i returned from my fantastic california vacation, i've been feeling wretchedly under the weather. constant fatigue. achey muscles. lots and lots of headaches. i nearly blacked out for no apparent reason one night a few weeks ago, so my mommy took me to the med station who sent me to the emergency room, where they stabbed me several times, gave me a cat scan, and told me nothing was wrong with me. my regular doctor wasn't so sure, so she sent me to the radiology people who stabbed me and did an mri. the mri said there was nothing wrong with me. but i haven't felt any better and the more tired i get, the harder it is to breathe, whic
... And They're Back! 2007-09-05 10:31:00 in the blink of an eye, my summer is over and i'm back in a 100 degree classroom with a bunch of sweaty teenagers trying to interest them in proper subject/verb agreement and explaining what words like "prosaic" and "phantasmagorical" mean. *sigh* the kids are completely insane, as always, so i'm sure i'll have plenty of good stories to tell you throughout the year. but who wants to talk about work? not me. not right now. i'd rather talk about the fact that i'm watching the transformers movie. not the new one; the old one. ya know, the cartoon that came out 20 years ago? it's totally hot. TRANSFORMERS! MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!*humming 80s rock theme* something about having two brothers who were only slightly older than me made me something of a tomboy as a child.
The Daily Grind 2008-03-06 16:26:00 Every job has its perks and its quirks. In college, I managed a little coffee bar and had the delightful privilege -- nay, the duty -- of starting my day with a free 20 oz. latte. Every day. This was important because as I sat at the register drinking my cup of joe, I demonstrated to the passing populous that I believed in the quality of our product. It also served as the "test run" to insure that the machine was working properly and that the grind was up to a Goldie Lockean standard of excellence.On the other hand, my coworkers insisted on watching Dawson's Creek from 10 to 12 every morning. The only thing about that show that I ever enjoyed was the time that Jen's dying wish was for Joey to make up her frickin' mind!!!*ahem*You don't often see those moments of raw honesty in teen dr Read more:Daily
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Spring Break! Phase I 2008-03-13 21:24:00 Dating a college student comes with a unique set of complications. While other women get hurt and huffy when their menfolk work 'til 5:30 or 6 (primarily because dinner's gotten cold), my Mr Right is in class until 10:30 in the evening at least twice a week. Other days, he's home before noon but barricaded into a corner by Statics & Structures, The Physics of Soil Composition, and fifteen volumes of Basic Real Estate Law. Leaving work at "the office" is a laughable impossibility. When he does make an honest attempt to get everything done at the library, he ends up in the library until midnight. If he brings it home, he spends all day Saturday hunched over the my Mac typing papers or doing the infamous CAPA problems. In short, it's not really the boozin' good time that I remember Read more:Spring
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Spring Break Phase II: Livin' the Rough Life 2008-03-30 17:47:00 After exhausting myself skiing, I need to go on an actual spring break to someplace with pools, palm trees, and lots of rum. The only logical solution is to go visit my aunt and uncle for a bit. They've recently finished constructing their dream home in Florida -- a lavish little number oriented around a graceful lanai. The front of the house opens up entirely to the lanai and faces a little canal, where the folks can conveniently pop down the dock for a little bout on their modest yacht. I'm sitting in the lanai at the moment, watching the sailboats passing, listening to the little frogs in the palm trees, sipping on a Rum Runner.And snickering to myself about the snow that's still piled high at home.I may live from paycheck to paycheck in the bitter North, but that doesn't mean I can Read more:Spring
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Spring Break Phase II: The Photo Recap 2008-04-07 21:46:00 Even on vacations, I still seek to expand my mind. This time, I learned the difference between herons and egrets: there is no difference between herons and egrets. Just as I suspected! Here's a great white heron (also called a great egret) perched near our boat at Burnt Store Marina.I will never get over sailboats. I love them. And true love lasts a lifetime.This osprey had to be my favorite of the thousands of birds I saw this week. He literally sat on this branch for over an hour making funny faces and letting me as close to him as the terrain would allow."The Little Fisherman" -- another shot to add to my "Strangers' Kids" collection.Heading to the beach at Boca Grande to play in the sun and people-watch.Click any pic for a link to my Flickr page. Read more:Spring
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A Recent Development 2008-04-07 18:01:00 So, as fate would have it, the bloke who S and I were going to crash with for two weeks in London a) doesn't (and won't) have a place of his own and is therefore unable to put us up, and b) won't even be in London for more than a couple days while we're there. That was a right good spot of planning, wasn't it?No need to panic, but as the plane tickets have already been purchased, we can't simply reschedule. Instead, we'll be hoboing it in hostels and on park benches and such. Not a total disaster, but it does mean that I'll be attempting to survive for two weeks with only the contents of a small backpack.Who knows? Maybe this will open doors to as yet unforeseen adventures. Wish me luck!(I'm glad I still have a couple months to sort out exactly what not to pack. If you happen to be Read more:Recent
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