Let's Golden Week it's best each other

Shiminnomori Park

Tomorrow is the beginning of Golden Week! It's that week long holiday (for no apparent reason), that we all love. I am not sure what is going to happen this Golden Week. First the things I sort of know about for sure. I know there is going to be a Cinco de Mayo party next Tuesday. And I might possibly go to the beach as well. And apparently me and my friends are going to camp on the beach when we go. I also I am pretty certain I am going to go to MET'S because who can pass up a $15 nomihodai!?!

Now what I don't know. I don't know if my friend Shinya is coming down from Yamagata to take me to a rave. He is always out of it when we talk, I will say it's partly because of the language barrier though. And I am not sure if I am going to be hanging out with Chisato a lot this Golden Week. I meet Chisato at a BBQ this past weekend, the first day I thought she was interesting but there wasn't much physical attraction. But I saw her again like Wednesday, and I think she looked better the 2nd time around since I saw her legs and I thought they were nice. So this time I got her number and e-mail address. So we will see if anything develops or not. She does live in a different city in Gunma though, so that kind of sucks. But the city she lives in is way bigger and there is a lot more to do there. So who knows maybe I can go there to see her on the weekends, and enjoy the big city life!

And I love the fact that since I am a foreigner people think I have Swine Flu. Like I sneezed today and the lady at work next to me screamed like my sneeze had started raping her or something. So she didn't over react at all, she completely handled that situation like a sane person would. Ohh and I can take pictures now on my new Japanese iPhone! So I will try to remember to take some interesting pics during Golden Week. Maybe a picture of someone's vomit and if your really lucky I may even take a picture of my Belly button! I know a lot of you are curious to know what it looks like up close.  Man I am hungry screw this I am leaving.

何！？！

I have no camera so I am just uploading old pictures. . .

There were a few things I wanted to right down on my blog but I think I have forgotten a lot of them. I hope that by writing anyway my memory will spontaneously return. I had a Geji in my apartment on Sunday! When there is a Geji in your room it tends to be the first thing you notice. As soon as I turned on my light in my bedroom my eyes were instantly drawn to the wall. And lo and behold there was a Geji just chilling on my wall taunting me with it's presence. Either this Geji was really cocky or really lazy. All the other Gejis I have seen were running and jumping all over the freaking place but this one just sat there like it was paying part of the rent or something. So in an act of bravery I smacked it with my shoe. That was very uncharacteristic of me. Anyone who has seen me around giant bugs knows that normally I freak out, and run out of the room, and close the door vowing never to return to what ever room such fowl creatures dwell in. But this year has been a year of a change in my character.

I keep telling myself to look forward and not to dwell to much on the past. Problem is now I am completely obsessed with the future, to the point that I will forget something that just had just happened 5 minutes in the past. I need to find a balance in my thoughts somehow. But deep in my subconscious I want to revisit things that occurred in my past. In particular I want to reach out to those people I have shared very intimate moments with. I have meet many people in my life, but I think the people we bare are all too in those fleeting moments of intimacy are people who's thoughts and feelings we tend to care most about. There are certain thoughts and feelings I can discuss with close friends but somethings are best shared with someone who has become more than a friend, a person who blurs the boundaries. They can cross into areas of ones psyche where a friend might not be able to navigate. I hope that this makes some kind of sense it seems clear as day in my mind but trying to transcribe what I am thinking seems very difficult right now. In summation though I want to send a girl from my past an e-mail out of the blue to tell her what our time together meant to me, but I stop myself every time I seriously contemplate doing this. It's not part of the grand scheme of this year. I guess the theme of this year is new beginnings, so I want to stick to that.

I have a beautiful friendship here in Gunma! One of the guys I hang out with on a regular basis is like the brother I never had. He isn't quite my mirror being like Chet was to me in college. But I think it's better this way hopefully we can avoid some of the sticker situations that me and Chet got into in college. . .or not, only time will tell what will happen. Actually this is a friendship triangle since one of the female ALTs is in this as well. This triangle is similar to this video I posted on another blog. I should have posted that video on this blog it seems way more appropriate. Ohh well that is what a post archive is for!

One thing that I am not so thrilled about is that I feel I am losing a bit of my randomness. But this is a double edged sword. On one hand I always have people I know I can hang out with on the weekends so that means I won't have to feel the despair of loneliness that sometimes takes over a lone wolf such as myself. But at the same time I am losing some of the joys of just going out on the weekends with no plans and just letting the night sweep me away. I meet a ton of people and did a lot of stuff last year with people I would meet during the course of a night. I would call those instant friendships. They are like cup noodles except you just add alcohol instead of water, and presto you have a group of friends you can hang out with for a weekend, you may or may not see these people ever again in your life but for those few days it's like you have known each other for your whole lives. Everyone is quite comfortable (mostly because of the alcohol) and there are no worries. I was pretty much a friend for hire, I would stand around somewhere having a few drinks trying to decide on a direction when, a group of established friends would approach me and invite me to tag along, because I looked "interesting". Some of those instant friendships lasted on others are now just people I occasionally see who remember my name and I can only reply "ohh hey" (I don't remember you name) "but it has been awhile!"

So I don't know what to expect this year but so far I am pleased with things. Hopefully this year will continue to be kind to me! Good bye for now.

P.S. I need a phoneeeeeeeeeeee

GUNMA!!

Hello everyone! Hisashiburine? I have been living in my new city, Isesaki-shi, for about a week now, and although it is a bit dirtier than my last city it is also a lot warmer. I don't mind the random garbage as long as it is hot. Nothing like the smell of hot garbage to start the day of on the right foot. It does seriously smell like a zoo here on somedays. I have officially been working at my school for 5 days (1 school week) and I was a bit concerned about if the other teachers would be more conservative than my last school or not. But I am relieved to say they are every bit as relaxed as my old teachers and a good number of them speak english! So I think it is possible my new school might be 10 times better than my old school which I thought was impossible. 

I went to see some of the after school clubs, and I got to practice with the pretty much every club I went too! At my old school I was relegated to just watching the students from the sideline even towards the end of the year I just watched so it wasn't very engaging, but here in Isesaki on day one I was out getting dirty with the kids. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared for any of this so I didn't have any athletic attire, so I was restricted in my movements by my business attire. I felt bad when I had to turn down a 1 on 1 challenge from the captain of the girl's basketball team, because she was so excited to try her skills out on me. Little does she know I am freaking horrible at basketball, I am sure she would run circles around me. I will find out tomorrow though, as I promised we would battle it out on the court tomorrow after school. The students at my new school are pretty enamored with me. While I was talking to a former gradate of my school one of the girls volleyball players hit me in the head with a volleyball and then scolded me, about loving any girls except the ones on the volleyball team. I guess I shouldn't tell her I am smitten by two young ladies who work for the same company as me (not any of the other teachers mind you). Actually I shouldn't say young ladies as they are both a bit older than I am.

One lives in the same city as me except on the other side of town and the other lives a few stops away on the train (perhaps a 20-30 minute train ride). At the same time I am drawn to a possible relationship I am repelled by my own laziness and nonchalance. Like I don't even really care if we are together or not. I have had some prime opportunities to let my feelings be heard but I was more interested in other things. At Hanami I had sometime to talk one on one but instead I decided to be a social butterfly and meet a few of the locals, because let's face it the people I was with at Hanami don't know shit about Isesaki they came to this town the same day I did. If I want to find what is exciting in this town I need to get out there and meet the locals. Knowing local people who have lived in the city for a long time made all the difference in my experience in Yamagata. No offense to any of the other ALTs I came down here with they are both cool people, but I think if I don't step up to the plate no one will. They might be fine hanging out with just our small group (just 3 people) but I am not. So when it comes down to either pursuing a relationship amongst a painfully small group of friends, or getting out there and meeting colorful (and very drunk) locals, I chose the drunks any day. A relationship will get monotonous pretty quickly but a drunk person is always full of surprises!

If my beau from Isesaki is reading this, don't think I am talking down to you at all it's quite the contrary. I am also partially being reserved to see if you are as spontaneous as me, I can't really tell right now. I am not sure what would happen if I was to call you friday afternoon to tell you I was going to a festival that night in another prefecture. These things are important to me at least, extreme flexibility leaves the days open for either the mundane or completely unexpected. Well if you are reading this somehow, don't let me know 0_<. You have the upper hand. This blog means I play this game with my hand exposed. Now should I play the Jack of Hearts or the Ace of Spades?