Hello everyone! I'm now officially very, very behind in posting pictures. It's because it tends to be a royal pain in the butt. Sure, there are some "easy" ways to do it but then again, not really. It doesn't help when you are a photographer and have a perfectionist streak... It's hard to choose, Photoshop and post up just the right set of pictures. In the mean time, I'll keep chanting the same mantra I've been keeping up since the inception of this blog: soon... soon... soon...
While you wait, why don't you come and visit us? No, really. The time is now! Bonnie and I will likely be in Japan for a while yet and our overseas trips (like to Canada) are hindered both by our ability to get time off work and travel expenses. The two are unfortunately inextricably intertwined, for our vacation time falls on school holidays, which happen to be THE most expensive times of the year to go anywhere. If you want an idea of how expensive, here's a sample. Standard airfare to Thailand can be had for about $300 CDN. If you go during Golden Week (a week off in May) the price jumps to $900. If you go even one day later, the price drops down to about $400. It's really quite insane, but being in the teaching biz, there's not much that can be done. But seriously, now that we live in a house rather than an apartment, we have a guest room to offer anyone wishing to spend some time visiting us, and if you're coming from the U.S. or Canada, the exchange rate is in your favour! The Canadian dollar broke the 100 yen barrier last year, and currently hovers around that mark. This is awful for us to remit money back to Canada, but for anyone coming here, it's great! In any event, it makes calculations a lot quicker and simpler... From dollars to yen, multiply by 100: eg. $100 = Y10,000. To do the inverse, from yen to dollars, just divide by 100: eg. a Y350 cup of coffee is $3.50.
While we wait for your visit, this is just a short catch-up entry from Christmas. Winter was really cold this year -- especially in the large, new house that we moved into last July. As you may know, Japanese houses have neither insulation, double-paned windows, nor central heating. It is standard practice to heat only room at a time with a kerosene heater, leaving the rest of the house cold. Imagine -- you are sitting in your nice, comfy 22-degree living room, and you run out to use the bathroom which is 3 degrees above freezing. I doubt I'll get any sympathy from the older folks who still remember outhouses, but this is basically the same thing. Without the blowing wind and snow between the living room and the toilet.
To make up for the extra cold, Spring is about a week early this year. Bonnie has been into her flowers and gardening for weeks now. I must say, it's looking better and better. I still say that the garden needs more "masculine" flowers... Carnivorous plants: Venus Flytraps, Pitcher Plants, Butterworts, Sundews, etc. More habanero hot pepper plants, Citronella and assorted herbs. A Blue Agave and some cacti would work too. That's what a MAN'S garden should contain!
Other than that, what else can I talk about? Well, for starters, for the first time in years Bonnie and I have been able to go skiing! It was fantastic! Equipped with a medley of new and used equipment, we hit the slopes a number of times this year, including the holidays around the New Year. We spent New Year's eve in a quaint little ski lodge in Niigata Prefecture, surrounded by about three metres of snow! No, I'm not joking! three metres of snow! And that was just in the town. Up on the ski hill they had closer to five! In fact, driving was interesting because I had snow tires and chains on at all times, and even driving to 7-11 was a challenge because you couldn't see ANYTHING! On both sides of the road there were snowdrifts twice as tall as your car, only interrupted by gaps where the side streets and roads were plowed. So, to drive to 7-11 you had to know (or guess) which "gap" in the snowdrift to pull into. On our other ski trips this season we went to Nagano, which is closer to our home, and where the last Winter Olympics (prior to Italy) were held. Certainly, coming from Canada, and having been raised skiing at Big Mountain, Montana, the Japanese hills just cannot compare. All the same, they are still enjoyable and I'm a bit sad to see the snow melt.
On another note, last month, I made my theatrical debut on a Kofu stage. Well, it sounds more impressive than it really is. But I did put on a Purim play for our church. For those of you who don't know Purim, it is a Jewish celebration, also called the Feast of Esther. It celebrates how God, using Esther's courage saved the Jews living in Persia from annihilation during the time of exile, about 400 B.C. It was a one-man play, so I took on the role (and memorized the lines) of seven different characters. I also used masks to switch between roles. Everyone tells me they really enjoyed it -- something I'm very happy about. It's not easy memorizing eight pages of script and having (essentially) a half-hour-long monologue, even though I, myself penned the script for the play. The whole production was subtitled into Japanese -- while I spoke, the translation of my lines appeared on a screen above my head -- similar to what you see when you go to a modern-day opera when it's sung in Italian. This month we celebrate Pesach (Passover) which is the commemoration of God saving the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We traditionally celebrate at least one Seder service at home and invite friends to experience it with us. Last year we did it for our church in Kofu and they enjoyed it very much. Consequently we are doing it again this year!
Last Sunday, Bonnie and I went to Tokyo. It was an extremely busy day, but probably one of the most productive as well. We had no less than four goals to accomplish, and somehow, through some miracle we managed everything to a 'T' and it al went like clockwork! First was our stop at Costco. We are so happy to live within commuting distance of a Costco. I loved it in Canada and I love it in Japan. If you are wondering what on earth a Japanese Costco must look like, rest assured it looks virtually identical to the ones back home. The only differences are mainly functional -- bilingual signage (English and Japanese), many more Japanese local products (in addition to the usual Kirkland brand and other products you would expect to see) and the noticeable absence of any kind of American or Canadian beef products, resulting from the BSE (mad cow) scare and subsequent beef ban. Membership fees are 3,000 yen a year (so $30 CDN) and everything else is pretty much the same. It's great to load up the van with products we can't usually buy in Kofu (or in Japan as a whole). We try to make a trip every few months, finances permitting. This time, I brought an entire shopping list for at least four more people who wanted Costco stuff but couldn't come with us. There's even a company who specializes in doing just that -- they shop Costco for you, then mail you your goods at a premium.
After we finished at Costco, the next stop was Shinjuju -- the heart of Tokyo. I've always enjoyed driving in Tokyo, and despite the traffic jams and big-city frustrations, it's usually a pretty cool experience for me. That alone could be a long Blog entry all by itself but for now, I'll refrain from getting into too much detail regarding that. The abridged version of this story is, that for the past two years I've been using Bonnie's laptop computer at work... Unfortunately it's been broken for about the past three years! The frustrations were increasing to the point where I had to upgrade the OS from Windows ME to Windows 2000, as virtually none of the software that I want/need to use is available for WinME anymore. That, combined with the fact that about half the keyboard's keys don't work for some reason, despite my various efforts to fix it over the past years. It got to the point last week that I had to reboot no less than six times in a row just to get things up and running and the rest of the morning trying to troubleshoot the mess. So, I went through some Tokyo classified ads and found some guy selling used laptops. His prices were pretty amazing so I gave him a call. We decided to meet in Shinjuku, by a large bookstore -- probably the best landmark for a meeting place. So, at the appointed time, I met him, looked over his products which he brought in his backpack and since everything looked O.K., walked away with a really nice-looking HP Compaq nx9010: 2.6Ghz, 512MB RAM, 60G HD, DVD-RW, all for 68,000 yen. So far, so good. No major problems with my purchase yet, but only time will tell. But at least I can tell people when they ask where I got my laptop, I can reply, "From some African Muslim fellow named 'Johnny' on a street corner in Shinjuku, Tokyo."
After we got my laptop, we drove to Omotesando, where our next goal was to open bank accounts at a new bank I found doing some research on the net. Our old bank has NONE of the features we have grown used to and love so much in more modern institutions. Without getting into it, our bank was expensive to use and do transactions, ATMs and direct debit transactions could only be done until 9pm each day, and the bank closes at 3. Not to mention the fact that even at the bank's main branch there wasn't a single soul who spoke a lick of English to save their lives and things like telephone banking or Internet banking are but a dream. The new bank, Shinsei Bank, is the polar opposite of everything I just said. The best thing of all is that they offer 100% English service for Internet banking, telephone banking, at ATM machines, 24//7/365. We were so impressed, we decided to switch immediately.
Wading through the ridiculous traffic in this part of the city, we found a parking spot and made our way to the Omotesando Hills Shinsei Bank Cafe -- a revolutionary new concept, combining an Italian-style cafe with a bank. Go figure! Sip on an espresso and munch on some biscotti while you open an account at the bank. Hey! I'm for all that. The bank's CEO is actually a foreigner for the first time since the bank's inception. I would call that quite innovative for the Japanese business world. It should not come as a surprise then that our accounts were opened instantly, our bank cards (available in your choice of 32 colours) and PIN numbers set-up on the spot, and we can use our cards in any country in the world, whose bank machines display Visa's PLUS symbol. Our new bank wouldn't even use our old bank for a footrest! This will make our financial management a LOT easier from now on.
The final thing on our agenda was a FARK party. If you don't know about the FARK website, I cannot do it justice by describing it here. For the sake of comprehension, we could call it a news website, with headlines from all around the world, many of them bizarre. The online Fark community then has a chance to comment on the headlines in discussion threads set up for just that purpose. With several hundred thousand users worldwide, it was only a matter of time before people started arranging "Fark parties" to meet with and have fun with other fellow Farkers who they've probably met online but never in person. The second Fark party to hit Japan was held last weekend at a Canadian bar in Shibuya. We planned well in advance to be able to make it, as previous attempts at attending Fark parties (one in Tokyo three years ago and one in Edmonton last year) had failed. Even though we had never met these people in our lives until the very moment we walked in the door, the instant camaraderie was evident. In minutes, both Bonnie and I were chatting and laughing with people as if we had known them for years. Farkers tend to be a very open and friendly bunch... Just don't get them started on religion or politics -- that's how flamewars start. Bonnie herself was surprised what a good time she had (there were several women at the party too) and agreed that we would try to attend any future FARK parties there may be. As a souvenir for the trip back to Kofu, a drunk, Canadian rocket scientist (no joke -- a real rocket scientist) spilled the majority of a pint of beer on my jeans, but it was all OK. He bought the next round, (even though I was drinking Coke because I was driving) and the next day he says he doesn't even remember meeting anyone from the night before! Yeesh!
That's all I got for now, and as usual, I left out a lot of details, and as usual this Blog entry is much longer than I originally had hoped. I think that in the near future the format of this thing is going to change somewhat, but it shouldn't be anything big. I think I'm going to remove the Blog mirror site completely and replace it with a pointer to where it's being hosted. It's just too much trouble copying and pasting all the source code from one place to another. Whoever is reading this on www.zayith.com/blog can still use that address, as I will just put up a pointer to the blogger.com address. That's all.
