水曜日, 1月 27, 2010

How much was a picture worth again?

==> CLICK HERE <==
...if you wanna see a few recent pics. I will keep adding to this batch every couple weeks too so you can come back here, hit it again, and see if you get more! Just like an old vending machine >:)

木曜日, 1月 21, 2010

What my weekend looks like:

**UPDATE**
Everything I wrote here came to pass and it was all fun, and all glorious! The only part I failed to mention was Monday. Monday I had three hours of interpreting for an American woman who was very nice. Other than that I finished book 5 of my interpretation studies and cleaned my house and TWO, count 'em two loads of laundry!


Friday I will go to work at the Ken-cho where I may or may not have anything important to do. Then I will go to the Hiroshima International Center, hop in a car and go to Kure to teach children at an elementary school about American culture (in Japanese). Then I will Have dinner with Sachi and take a bus back to Hiroshima to play darts with Steve and Tim.

Saturday I wake up at 9 to meet everyone at Hiroshima Eki (train station) for snowboarding at 10. We'll get there, eat the lunch we buy at 7-11 on the way, and troll the parking lot until we score lift tickets off people going home early. After that we will shred the mountain for 4 or 5 hours and drive back to Hiroshima for Chika's birthday party with two hours of food and open bar. This will be my last trip snowboarding for the month. I think it's trip number 11 this season.

Sunday I will wake up early, get on a train to Onomichi and meet up with other JETs to go to an orphanage and spend time with the kids. Hopefully this will become a monthly tradition. After that I will come home and watch Babylon 5, season 2. :P

I know this all very dry and straightforward. I just wanted to add a little something about what I'm doing.

日曜日, 1月 17, 2010

My Trip To America!

Don't say you weren't warned! Get out your calendars! Here's my itinerary:

I will be in Seoul for the day of April 28th and on the way home the 24th of May.

I will be in Honolulu April 28th to May 3rd.

I will be in San Diego May 3rd to the 10th (give or take a couple days).

I will be in Tucson from about May 10th to the evening of the 22nd.

Because I am taking such a big long vacation, with the exception of my flight back to work May 22nd, I will accepting any and all bribes/opportunities for free shit the airlines offer me! Adventure awaits!

Hope I can see you all! Here are my flight details for anyone who wants to surprise me with 1st class upgrades ;P

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Asiana Airlines # 161
Hiroshima International (HIJ) to Seoul Incheon International (ICN)
Departure (HIJ): April 28, 9:40 AM JST (morning)
Arrival (ICN): April 28, 11:20 AM KST (morning)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Seoul Incheon International (ICN) to Honolulu/Oahu International (HNL)
Departure (ICN): April 28, 8:50 PM KST (evening)
Arrival (HNL): April 28, 10:05 AM HST (morning)
--------------------------------

Monday, May 3, 2010
Delta Air Lines # 4014 Operated by: NORTHWEST AIRLINES -- NW 2116
Honolulu/Oahu International (HNL) to Los Angeles International (LAX)
Departure (HNL): May 3, 8:40 PM HST (evening)
Arrival (LAX): May 4, 5:21 AM PDT (morning)
LAX
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Delta Air Lines # 4690 Operated by: SKYWEST DBA DELTA CONNECTION
Los Angeles International (LAX) to San Diego Lindberg Fld S.Diego (SAN)
Departure (LAX): May 4, 6:15 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (SAN): May 4, 7:10 AM PDT (morning)
--------------------------------

Saturday, May 22, 2010
United Airlines # 6391 Operated by: /UNITED EXPRESS/SKYWEST AIRLINES
Tucson International (TUS) to Los Angeles International (LAX)
Departure (TUS): May 22, 5:20 PM MST (evening)
Arrival (LAX): May 22, 6:49 PM PDT (evening)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Delta Air Lines # 7860 Operated by: KOREAN AIRLINES -- KE 12
Los Angeles International (LAX) to Seoul Incheon International (ICN)
Departure (LAX): May 23, 12:10 AM PDT (morning)
Arrival (ICN): May 24, 5:10 AM KST (morning)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Asiana Airlines # 162
Seoul Incheon International (ICN) to Hiroshima International (HIJ)
Departure (ICN): May 24, 6:40 PM KST (evening)
Arrival (HIJ): May 24, 8:05 PM JST (evening)

木曜日, 1月 14, 2010

Happy New Yearin' It

Hey all! Just so you know, I'm still alive, despite my reckless snowboarding habits, and enjoying life as always!

The last week of 2009 was great! I spent Christmas day with Sachi, we exchanged gifts, ate lunch, and watched Avatar (2D).
The next day I was in charge of my International Center staff's year-end party. I had planned for it for a couple weeks, so it was just making sure things went off without a hitch, and herding everyone around (good little sheeple). Of course, one thing went wrong - best laid plans and all: after bowling we moved to the Chinese restaurant where they squeezed us into 2/3rds the space the promised us. But they gave us more food than anyone could finish and it was all delicious and authentic and a good time.

I spent the rest of the year snowboarding everyday. I went with my supervisor at the ken-cho one day to Geihoku Kokusai, my first time snowboarding in Hiroshima as opposed to crossing the border to Shimane where i normally go for Mizuho. It was fun and we hit every run they had several times each! I took great pictures on my new cell phone too.

Oh YEAH! I got a new cell phone! The number is the same. The new email is cirbeck@ezweb.ne.jp if you want to email my phone. My old phone broke about three weeks before the 2 year contract on it ended, and they told me that unless I shelled out almost 100 bones for a replacement on my phone insurance, I'd have to pay for a rental until the new year when I would be eligible for discounted rates on a new 2 year plan. WTF?!?
So I went down the block (Hon-Dori) to the AU shop, where they offered to give a new phone, FREE, with all the functions of my old phone, plus it's water-proof, plus it's got a 5 megapixel camera, plus a pedometer (what am I 50?), PLUS a solar panel charger!!! I can't make this stuff up people. On top of all of that, they are giving me a 200 dollar (more after the exchange rate) stored value debit card for keeping my old number, so even after the charges of canceling my contract with them I come out waaaaay ahead! In short. I love my new AU phone. Screw you SoftBank, a.k.a. Vodafone.

Back to the slopes, I hit up Mizuho every day after that and enjoyed countdown at the usual bar with some friends, but went straight home after the non-existant ball-drop to get some sleep and be ready for New Year's day with Sachi's family.
As usual they were great. They poured me copious beer, fed me til bursting and shared a wonderful day with me that had, really, the exact same atmosphere as Christmas day back home. This all took place at Sachi's grandmother's house, so we also swung by her husband's grave topay our respects, light him some incence and make sure his plot was clean and had fresh flowers. one of Sachi's cousins wandered off and came back to report that some of the other graves had artificial flowers and everyone seemed to thing that was poor form. Interesting.

Since then I've been snowboarding a few more times, came back to work, and things are settling in to a familiar pattern again.

Hope you are enjoying 2010 too.