Below are the 3 most recent journal entries recorded in kimliv's LiveJournal:

Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
9:14 pm	Thank gods for Sean! This is how pathetic I am. I've been in Nagoya for 3 months now (to the day) and have written all of... two? postings. Sean has been here barely two weeks and already has a website with photos, descriptions and commentaries on Japan. All I can say is, hey - I'm working my butt off, man! I ain't got time to be a geek (as the man says)! So thank the goddess for dear Sean who has put up photos of my cute little home and neighbourhood and expressed all the excitement and wonder that I've been feeling but have been too overwhelmed (read overworked) to say, and saying it so much better too. HUGS!! Follow this link: http://www.users.tpg.com.au/geodesic/Nagoya.htm Sean has promised to teach me how to set up a website or photoalbum or something like so I can start putting up some of the photos I've collected during my sojourn here. Another Yay!! Another Good Thing: semester is finishing in two weeks! I keep reminding my students of this, and I am even more gleeful about it than they are. I suppose they have exams to get through first, while I only have to mark their crazy English. Then I might have a couple of days to get some stuff online before I come home (my other home?) so we can talk about it. YAAYY!! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 8th, 2005
11:31 pm	Sake So I've been in Japan 2 weeks and I've already discovered two of the most essential things: Japanese bureacracy and sake. The first we wont go into just yet, except to say that everything you've ever heard about it it probably true. The latter, however, deserves its own ode. Ode to sake, which I imbibed during this evenings repast, and which is truly a queen amongst drinks. I havent been so happy for so long with so few side effects for well, ever. Ok, ask me tomorrow whether I still feel this way. But presently, let me recommend to you, my dear friends, the delights of a cold *pint* of sake, called "little boys", served in an exquisite tiny pottery cup about the side of your thumb, and downed copiously in the company of half-mad English teachers. Ah, the gaijin expat experience! We celebrated the fact that all of us had made it through the first week of semester without quitting, but nobody told me that the real milestone is seeing through the first teacher's piss up. Sake O sake, see me through the day, O sweet Spring sake, soft like summer rain, light as a cloud of cherry blossom... I:ve had sake in Australia, and my god it tasted like vinegar dregs washed up in a bowl of rice porridge. You:ve got to try real Japanese sake - my preference is cold, though apparently there:s nothing like a warm sake to make your toes curl on a chill winters night. But a word of caution about Japanese beer. In this particular Inn (where you take off your shoes and put them in a locker at the door before entering the establishment), beer (Kirin of course), is served in Pints. Japanese Pints, which means they are perfect for Lilliputians. I wanted to steal a glass it was so cute, but the sake told me not to. Besides, I was laughing too hard as I staggered home to cope with a stolen Japanese pint glass. One of my friends is a giant Irishman with a voice straight out of Wallace and Gromit, and he was snorting these pints by the thimbleful, commenting that though the glasses were shaped exactly like pint glasses, they were only fit for serving seven year old kids, so tiny they were. I:ll have to post you a picture. Something to look forward to: sake and Japanese pints (thimbles) of beer. Trust an Aussie... cheers (or is that Kampai?!) (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 29th, 2005
5:39 pm	Fuck, I'm in Japan! My first livejournal entry, as promised, from the Land of the Rising Sun. I'm presently so brain dead that even finding my way around lJ is proving difficult, compounded with having to use a mac and a japanese keyboard! Aaarrgghh! Brain HURTS! So, I've been here about 5 days now, and I've got enough knowledge to hopefully get by the first few weeks without completely breaking down (here':s hoping, guys). 1. My flat is beautiful - a haven of Japanese tatami mat tranquility. Japanese apartments come completely unfurnished, and by that I mean TOTALLY empty, including no stove, no light fittings (or the bare minimum in bathroom), no blinds/curtains, no heating, nada. And be warned, moving to Japan is notoroiously expensive because all these things must be purchased. All wierder and wonderfuller than one might think. 2. the problems start when I leave the halycon quiet of my home. It is a strange experience being a complete illiterate - I highly recommend it to everyone. It is a humbling, soul-destroying experience, and kinda liberating. So far I can get by with "excuse me" (sumimasen), "thank you" (arigatoo), bowing and pointing. That works for most things, so I have bought bus tickets, train passes, phone cards, meals and so forth with this sophisticated technique. 3. The weather sucks. If you thought sydney unpredictable, try snow one day, 14C the next, bucketing down for a day following, then balmy and breezy so you're sweating in your tights and turtleneck. But I:m still eagerly awaiting cherry blossom season (any day now), which for the Japanese is an opportunity to get shit-faced under the gorgeous cherry trees. 4. the job is ... an experience. too early to tell - the first few weeks (perhaps the first semester) will be hellish. This is the primary reason for my brain shut-down. information overload, information overload... Very soon I:ll be going mad like Hal in 2001, singing *Daaaaisy, daisy, give me your answer dooooo... luckily the rest of the teachers seem great for the most part - really friendly, welcoming and understanding, since their brains exploded too when they first came here. this is very reassuring, though one is aware that only the fittest survive... 5. Have I mentioned i love my new flat? I will post pictures soon. sorry this is such a boring entry, no banter (no neurons firing in that dept), no witty remarks, hell, they may never appear. Perhaps i should have given myself a few more months post PhD before embarking on a move to a foreign country and a full-on, incredibly demanding full-time job that i have no experience in. Hmmmm. Talk about grabbing the lion by its tail (or is that the dog? or the donkey?) 6. I miss you all, and will do my best to keep posting here and by email, though since I have no phone or internet at home, and start work next week in earnest, don:t expect too much. HUGS from afar! Sayonara (12 Comments |Comment on this)