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The Journey Ends...
Aug. 15th, 2005 11:20 pmI arrived in Toronto 30 minutes before I left Tokyo at 19:00. Now I'm home, ready to play with my new toys.
Recalling My Alexis Denisof Moment
Aug. 11th, 2005 11:38 amI thought I'd tell an amusing anecdote from the Nosaka workcamp.
Like the Toyota workcamp, I ended up speaking in a pseudo-English accent for the majority of the time. I don't pretend to understand where the accent comes from, just know that it came naturally and wasn't deliberate. But I found out one way to get my natural speech back... Some drinks and some pressure.
Our group was supposed to go join an English conversation club at 7 o'clock. The problems started when we miscalculated the amount of time it would take to make and eat dinner. So we ended up only having 30 minutes to eat, before we had to quickly bike to the community centre 5 minutes away from our lodgings. That wouldn't have been such a problem if a local person had not given us an extremely expensive bottle of sake. A small but persistent group was able to convince the rest of us to open and drink the sake with dinner. The problem with good sake (or at least at that particular time) is that it goes down really easily. Before I had realized I had finished my own glass and those of the Europeans who discovered that sake was not for them. We quickly rushed out of our house to get to the community centre on time. Let's review the story thus far, our intrepid hero has drunk 3 glasses of Sake in about 30 minutes, and is about to converse with some local old people. The alcohol decided to kick in just after I had arrived. As my face reddened, I tried hard to hide my slight tipsiness. The other workcampers quickly caught on to my state of drunkenness, and helpfully reminded me to give a good speech as I was the only native English speaker in the group. The meeting started with everyone getting in a circle to introduce themselves in English. Unfortunately I had unwittingly positioned myself in such a way that I'd speak last. As I sat and listened to others introduce themselves, I was carefully crafting words so I wouldn't say something stupid and appear drunk. When I finally stood up to speak I was able to give a nice few words on the importance of not being too self conscience, and to just try to speak (appropriate, no?). What caught me completely offguard was the voice in which I gave my little speech. It was slightly higher than usual and came out without accent. As I was talking I couldn't help thinking that I sounded just like Alexis Denisof. No one else seemed to have noticed, but it was definitely different. So that's my (in hindsight) stupid little story from Nosaka workcamp.
For those of you wondering, there was a lot of non-alcoholic beverages to drink at the meeting so I was able to sober up quite quickly. All in all a fun time was had by all.
Like the Toyota workcamp, I ended up speaking in a pseudo-English accent for the majority of the time. I don't pretend to understand where the accent comes from, just know that it came naturally and wasn't deliberate. But I found out one way to get my natural speech back... Some drinks and some pressure.
Our group was supposed to go join an English conversation club at 7 o'clock. The problems started when we miscalculated the amount of time it would take to make and eat dinner. So we ended up only having 30 minutes to eat, before we had to quickly bike to the community centre 5 minutes away from our lodgings. That wouldn't have been such a problem if a local person had not given us an extremely expensive bottle of sake. A small but persistent group was able to convince the rest of us to open and drink the sake with dinner. The problem with good sake (or at least at that particular time) is that it goes down really easily. Before I had realized I had finished my own glass and those of the Europeans who discovered that sake was not for them. We quickly rushed out of our house to get to the community centre on time. Let's review the story thus far, our intrepid hero has drunk 3 glasses of Sake in about 30 minutes, and is about to converse with some local old people. The alcohol decided to kick in just after I had arrived. As my face reddened, I tried hard to hide my slight tipsiness. The other workcampers quickly caught on to my state of drunkenness, and helpfully reminded me to give a good speech as I was the only native English speaker in the group. The meeting started with everyone getting in a circle to introduce themselves in English. Unfortunately I had unwittingly positioned myself in such a way that I'd speak last. As I sat and listened to others introduce themselves, I was carefully crafting words so I wouldn't say something stupid and appear drunk. When I finally stood up to speak I was able to give a nice few words on the importance of not being too self conscience, and to just try to speak (appropriate, no?). What caught me completely offguard was the voice in which I gave my little speech. It was slightly higher than usual and came out without accent. As I was talking I couldn't help thinking that I sounded just like Alexis Denisof. No one else seemed to have noticed, but it was definitely different. So that's my (in hindsight) stupid little story from Nosaka workcamp.
For those of you wondering, there was a lot of non-alcoholic beverages to drink at the meeting so I was able to sober up quite quickly. All in all a fun time was had by all.
In Civilization 'til Tomorrow
Jul. 26th, 2005 01:47 pmI have returned alive and triumphant from Toyota!!! My new digital camera has been broken in, and I'll have plenty of pictures to share when I return. I'll give you the bullet points:
- At Tokyo station, my way to Osaka, a Canadian noticed the flag on my pack and we talked for a couple of minutes. He gave me his e-mail, and phone number and invited me to call him when I got back to Tokyo. I guess the flag-on-your-pack thing DOES work.
- I stayed in a extremely sketchy "business hotel" in Osaka. I guess that's what you get for 2000 yen a night.
- Got to see Tomoya from Iida workcamp. He's now a gym teacher at a junior high school. Photos will be sent to camp alumni.
- Arrived at camp without a hitch, and to my surprise, discovered that the camp was even bigger than advertised. NICE was collaborating with BTCV, a British conservation group, so we had 3 Brits join the Canadian, Dane, German, South Korean, French, Greek, Serbian and the numerous Japanese. At any given time our group numbered around 30.
- For some reason I spoke English with a (pseudo) British accent for the entire 10 days of camp. It wasn't deliberate, but it got to the point I could not speak in my "regular" accent.
- Work was hard and tiring but extremely satisfying. The early mornings and the nightly "exchange parties" didn't help with the fatigue.
- Quick, name an easy to make Canadian dish... After contemplating poutine, poutine rapee (Acadian), and shepard's pie I settled on Pancakes with Maple syrup. Can you think of anything better???
- Went to Expo 2005, and managed to make my way to the Canadian pavilion. It was certainly a very good pavilion, but as a Canadian taxpayer I had to question the need for such and extravagant display. On the plus side I got a special Expo pin given only to Canadians, while the rest of my group got Canadian flag pins leftover from Sheila Copps' Heritage Minister days. All in all fun times were had by all.
- Got back on Sunday night. Will be out thew door to the next camp tomorrow afternoon. There's a big hurricane passing through the area right now, but hopefully everything will be alright tomorrow.
I'll be back to civilization on Aug 7... See y'all soon!!!
- At Tokyo station, my way to Osaka, a Canadian noticed the flag on my pack and we talked for a couple of minutes. He gave me his e-mail, and phone number and invited me to call him when I got back to Tokyo. I guess the flag-on-your-pack thing DOES work.
- I stayed in a extremely sketchy "business hotel" in Osaka. I guess that's what you get for 2000 yen a night.
- Got to see Tomoya from Iida workcamp. He's now a gym teacher at a junior high school. Photos will be sent to camp alumni.
- Arrived at camp without a hitch, and to my surprise, discovered that the camp was even bigger than advertised. NICE was collaborating with BTCV, a British conservation group, so we had 3 Brits join the Canadian, Dane, German, South Korean, French, Greek, Serbian and the numerous Japanese. At any given time our group numbered around 30.
- For some reason I spoke English with a (pseudo) British accent for the entire 10 days of camp. It wasn't deliberate, but it got to the point I could not speak in my "regular" accent.
- Work was hard and tiring but extremely satisfying. The early mornings and the nightly "exchange parties" didn't help with the fatigue.
- Quick, name an easy to make Canadian dish... After contemplating poutine, poutine rapee (Acadian), and shepard's pie I settled on Pancakes with Maple syrup. Can you think of anything better???
- Went to Expo 2005, and managed to make my way to the Canadian pavilion. It was certainly a very good pavilion, but as a Canadian taxpayer I had to question the need for such and extravagant display. On the plus side I got a special Expo pin given only to Canadians, while the rest of my group got Canadian flag pins leftover from Sheila Copps' Heritage Minister days. All in all fun times were had by all.
- Got back on Sunday night. Will be out thew door to the next camp tomorrow afternoon. There's a big hurricane passing through the area right now, but hopefully everything will be alright tomorrow.
I'll be back to civilization on Aug 7... See y'all soon!!!
I'm off to see the wizard...
Jul. 11th, 2005 09:37 pmOne more sleep and I cut contact with the interweb for a while... If you need to contact me urgently go through my parents. I wish y'all a good next 2 weeks, and I hope you y'all'll do the same for me.
Kozo
Kozo
Totally Random Observation from Japan #1
Jul. 9th, 2005 08:04 pmToday in a supermarket I caught the name of a toilet paper brand. Care to wipe youself with Pity?
I Welcome Myself to the Digital Age
Jul. 7th, 2005 09:40 pmI am alive and well in the Land of the Rising Sun. I haven't done anything of much significance since I got here on American Independence Day. The plane ride over was rather uneventful. I forgot my summer reading books at home, (NTS: Don't go out Canada Day drinking with friends when you need to finish packing the next day) so I ended up reading The Economist cover to cover on the plane. I've finally reached a point in my life where I can read The Economist and make important connections with prior knowledge. As I made my way to my relative's place, I felt that the luster/mystique of Japan had worn off. The wave of nostalgia I usually feel on the train, was replaced with contemplation about the relative closedness of Japanese society. For the first time in my life explicitly realized and acknowledged the homogeneousness of Japan. I literally count the number of non-Asian faces I see each day. At the same time I realize that the Japanese faces I see on the streets are different than the Chinese/Korean faces I see in Hamilton. It feels weird looking Japanese and being able to speak Japanese, but feeling different...
I've basically gotten my shopping done over the last couple of days. My ER collection has grown by 2 more seasons (up to Season IX), and my Japanese CD collection also grew a bit. More significantly, as I alluded to in the title of this post, I bought my first digital camera. So for those of you waiting for me to develop pictures of two guys making out, can be comforted in knowing NEXT TIME those pictures will available more quickly. It's a super sweet camera, chockful of Japanese technological goodness. This little development also means I can post pictures of my travels as they happen. On a somewhat related note, I want to say I love Japanese electronics stores. They're just so BIG and well stocked. I never would've been able to do the kind of exhaustive comparison shopping at Future Shop. I leave for Osaka next Tuesday, and end up at my workcamp in Toyota on Friday. I won't have computer access during that time until I return on the 24th. I'll try to update this thing one more time before I leave next Tuesday.
( My First Picture On My New Camera )
I've basically gotten my shopping done over the last couple of days. My ER collection has grown by 2 more seasons (up to Season IX), and my Japanese CD collection also grew a bit. More significantly, as I alluded to in the title of this post, I bought my first digital camera. So for those of you waiting for me to develop pictures of two guys making out, can be comforted in knowing NEXT TIME those pictures will available more quickly. It's a super sweet camera, chockful of Japanese technological goodness. This little development also means I can post pictures of my travels as they happen. On a somewhat related note, I want to say I love Japanese electronics stores. They're just so BIG and well stocked. I never would've been able to do the kind of exhaustive comparison shopping at Future Shop. I leave for Osaka next Tuesday, and end up at my workcamp in Toyota on Friday. I won't have computer access during that time until I return on the 24th. I'll try to update this thing one more time before I leave next Tuesday.
( My First Picture On My New Camera )
