mcalex's abode

I have a gut feeling that one day I will just feel like doing it and I will do a lot of it. But right now I will start with the clothes.

I can't believe that in under 8 weeks' time, I'll be vacating this apartment and homeless! I might have to stay in Tokyo somewhere or maybe someone will offer me a place. I won't be back in Oz till August so I have a 2 weeks of traveling.

Today I was fortunate enough to hang out with some very lovely locals; an ex-colleague and his Russian-born wife who took me around. Here is Mount Shirane, an active volcano about 2000 metres above sea level (I'm on it) and the crater lake. The colour is blue-green due to excess sulphur in it (the lake is actually very acidic).



Fandom wise, I have now seen MIB3. I liked it even if it didn't get good reviews. I am not sure if Snow White and the Huntsman is worth it but I am interested in the new Spiderman, the Dark Knight sequel (which probably won't happen till I'm back) and Prometheus.

Shows-wise, Suits, Teen Wolf and The Glades are returning. I'm also enjoying Common Law (cute guys in the lead - not teenagers but guys around my age group).

My only regret about leaving for Taiwan today is that by the time I get back, the beautiful cherry blossoms would have all fallen.

I have a list of things to do and places to visit in Taiwan, but seriously, I can't deny that I'm happy to be able to watch Avengers in English! (It's not released in Japan till August this year).

Until next time...

Spring break has started... although it's still technically very cold and wintery - well, the temps are like Sydney winter.

I went to an end of term party for the school in Niigata. Niigata is surprising very near where I live and this town that we went to is a ski town. You'd think it was still winter because of the abundance of snow!


Here is a pic of the beautiful town Yuzawa, it is still covered in a lot of snow!

I will be in Tokyo later this week but otherwise am not doing much. I should start packing for my return but I am feeling rather lazy.

The party last night was lovely; I will miss some of my fellow teachers who are leaving and I hope that the new students are going to be better. Niigata is famous for good sake; which was great as I drank a lot of hot and cold sake. I don't think that I really got into drinking sake till I came to Japan; I am not really a beer person and I think that sake really compliments Japanese food!

( Some rambling about Japanese )


In other news, one of my favourite animes Gintama has ended. Well, ended sounds final. It's not a しまう situation - or it is since it's regretful (though I'm not sure if I could use shimau to express my regret at something that happened that I didn't do/control) but not final. I will miss it but I'm confident that it will be back when the manga produces more material. I just got depressed and annoyed because I read so many speculations in English forums and boards and I hated reading people's comments; which I thought were not based on facts but speculations. In Eli Ossan2's words　まだ始まってもいねえよ。

In my words, また帰えて来てね。

I'm back from Tokyo and funnily enough... off to Tokyo next week hopefully to do some volunteer work and network! I went to Tokyo for a conference and since then a lot has happened.

My laptop broke down so I had to buy a new one; and in a hurry, I got a Sony Vaio. I probably paid more than usual as I had to get one with an English OS and it was only available in Tokyo. It's been a mixed bag, weather-wise. We still get snow (last week and this week) so spring isn't quite here yet! I have been busy updating my link profile, résumé, and looking at job opportunities in Australia and Japan, although I doubt that I can find anything as an accountant in Japan because I'm not bilingual enough.

Here's a pic I took from the staffroom last week - on Graduation Day (for the 3rd graders) - yes that's snow in March!


click on the pic for a larger version

Incidentally, a JET (another English teacher whom I don't know) made a video in the series of "Shit, XX says". His is titled "Shit my Japanese students say." You may not quite get it if you don't know Japanese or Japanese schools but it amused me greatly because this is how my students actually behave. Most of them spend their time in class procrastinating and doing anything but study... I honestly don't know how they get through school or learn anything. It's so different from when I went to school in Australia.

Here's the link if anyone's interested; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty7RmPCP7OI I kid you not, I actually have students who behave like this, as silly as it is. He's got the accent, how they behave and what they say down to the pat!

For those interested, these bunch of people (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57hyGaRYNos) have attempted to explain the meaning for non-Japanese speakers.

I had a great tme hiking with my 1st year junior high kids last week. They are very delightful, energetic and oh-so well-behaved!

I also got to know one of the teachers, and we went to an onsen (outdoor resort hotbath) after the hike and we also hung out yesterday.

The good news is that I finally got my Japanese mobile phone. 6 weeks after I arrive! But I had help when I went to pick it up; I didn't realise until my friend/colleague/fellow teacher translated everything how much I'd not picked up with my limited Japanese.

I am now slightly sunburnt and slightly peeling.

We went to Mt Tanigawa. Here's a pic:


I noticed quite a number of posts on the flist about the recent "buttons" that LJ had added. I confess that it took me a while to figure out what they were referring to... suffice to say, there has been a lot of demands of not posting to twitter or FB. And some people have even totally abandoned LJ entirely.

For the record, my dreamwidth username is also mcalex22. And I do cross-post at times... though not always since I keep forgetting. It's easier to do so when I have access to semagic. And I'd like to emphasise that I have no intention of reposting anyone's comments/posts etc to Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else.

Hell, if you know me, you'd know that I'd ask your permission before even reposting in my LJ. I do have a FB and twitter but my FB is incredibly private and for networking. I keep in touch with people the bunch of people I work with and my family abroad. I have not set up a username and I have no intention of ever mixing LJ and Facebook.