done and done

Ah. Done & done. Found a decent deal on the same camera I bought earlier this year. It's actually discontinued so I got one of the last few remaining in the stores around here. Then I spent the rest of the day looking around the shops, buying a few things here & there. And I ended the day with a nice 1/2 hour foot massage. Hurt a bit but was good.

Off to repack the bag & I'm off to Thailand tomorrow!

The shit has hit the fan

What was supposed to be a nice day of sightseeing in KL has turned into a SHIOT day as my digital camera got stolen this morning. So instead of taking pictures of the famous Petronas Towers & wandering around Chinatown, I'll be shopping for a new digi-cam & watch another $400 flush down the toilet. I swear, can I not have a single holiday without SOMETHING going wrong?

For what it's worth (I suppose it doesn't really matter since it's over & done with), here's the story: I'm staying in a girls dorm with 6 beds, I left to hit the shower...(the outer door locks and each girl has a locker with a key lock)... all of the girls in my room had left for sightseeing except 1 British girl who I'd already befriended, she was leaving for the airport...I locked the outer door when I left & STUPID me had left my camera under my pillow in its case, thinking it'd be ok as I'd only be 10 mins in the shower. I came back & the outer door had been left open by the British girl & my camera was gone, the case & charger left behind. All my Singapore & Borneo pictures: gone. My 1 GB memory card: gone. Only one word for this: AAAAAAAAARGH.

People suck.

At least prices should be slightly reduced since it's after Christmas. Ok, time to psych myself up to spend $400...

Gwen Stefani too?

What?! Gwen Stefani is pregnant now too?? I suppose it's the "in" thing right now for celebs...

Kristin, I'm just waitin' for your comment... ;o)

Minna-san, Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Ok, ok, so that's a tad late. Better late than never though hey. I realize I've been super crap at writin' updates of this trip, but the past 7 days I've been at my dive resort in Sabah in Malaysian Borneo & internet was mad expensive. Besides, I really didn't have a whole lot of time to hop on between all the diving, eating & sleeping I was doing!

Just into Kuala Lumpur (affectionately known as KL) at the moment in my $8/night guesthouse. Rock on! My taxi driver took it upon himself to act tour guide-ish & filled me in on a bunch of info on the ride over. I must admit I was too tired to really pay attention! I've gotten used to 9 & 10pm bedtimes. *yawn* & get this, standard taxi fare from the airport to the city center is 2-3 times the cost of my dorm room bed for the night!

Alrighty, well I better turn in so I can get some rest for my 1 day of walking around in KL. Wednesday I head back to the airport & on to Phuket to meet up with Harry. I'm definitely looking forward to more beach time!

Over & out...

Singapore

So I've finally arrived in Singapore, after what seemed like an eternity of traveling (for whatever reason). I already like this place for the following reasons:

a) it's hot
b) it's humid (I detest Japan's terribly dry winters)
c) there's such a diverse mix of people
d) everyone's wearing flip flops.

Hey, this is my kinda place! (^o^)

I've got almost 2 full days to do & see what I can before I head off to Borneo for lots of relaxin' & divin'!

More to follow...

My college (Rhodes) apparently ranks #5 in the Top 10 Colleges with the Happiest Students. Interesting. I wonder how they 'measure' happiness?

F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G

I know I always complain about it being freezing but today it actually is. Literally. I had a kindergarten visit today & for a few moments while we were outside playing in the bitter cold, bits of snow fell from the partly cloudy sky. Brrr...

It was my 3rd visit to Yumoto 1st Kindie so at least half the kids remember me. The playground was littered with the sounds of "Makashii-sensei, mite!" (McCarthy-sensei, watch!) "Shoon-sensei, ishoo ni asobou!" (Shawn-sensei, let's play together!)... I climbed a jungle gym, threw a rugby ball, rode scooters, built sandcastles, pushed kids in swings & tried to pretend like I understood what those cute little 3 year olds were talking about as they yabbered away a million miles a minute at me in Japanese. One overprotective 3 year old boy cried every time another kid tried to take me away. (^-^) Then they fought over who got to sit next to me...ah, sitting in micro-sized chairs with dwarf-sized tables between loud & snotty nosed kids who can't keep their germy fingers off me...well, let's just say I'm glad I'm not a kindergarten teacher.

2 more days of elementary school visits & 3 more days 'til I leave...

Christmas Itinerary

For all interested parties, here's the itinerary for my trip, which commences this Friday when I head down to Narita... I'm so excited to be leaving freezing Japan I can hardly stand it. (^-^)


12/17 - Fly Tokyo --> Singapore

12/19 - Fly Johor Bahru, Malaysia (just outside Singapore) --> Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

12/20 - Fly Kuala Lumpur --> Tawau (in Malaysian Borneo)

12/26 - Fly Tawau --> Kuala Lumpur

12/28 - Fly Kuala Lumpur --> Phuket, Thailand

1/3 - Boat to Ko Phi Phi

1/7 - Boat to Krabi

1/8 - Fly Krabi --> Bangkok

1/11 - Fly Bangkok --> Tokyo

I was unfortunate enough to witness, yet AGAIN, another case of blatant public urination. I was on my run when I glanced at the lower sidewalk that runs along the river, only to see an old Japanese man unzip his pants & start peeing in plain sight of the world. And did I mention it was freezing outside with a particularly icy & strong wind? What would possess anybody to want to have a pee in those conditions in the 1st place? He must've had to go really badly... maybe I should keep a running tally... who knows what it would already be up to by now...

Score!

I managed to hit Quintuple Point day at SC for the 2nd time in 2 weeks. Booyakasha!

I wore my cheapass light rain/wind jacket (if you can call it a jacket...) running tonight because it was sprinkling ever so lightly. Even though I was listening to my i-Pod Mini at a rather loud volume I kept hearing a weird noise... I kept thinking it was someone or something behind me so I kept glancing behind me. There never was anything there. After nearly 10 minutes of this, I realized it was the swish-swish of my jacket while I ran. Then I felt really dumb.

bouncing around

Lots of random bits... tomorrow is my last day at Izumi JHS. Sad times as it's such a great school, but yay as it means only 1 more week of school (elementaries & kindies) until I leave for my trip. I should probably start thinking about packing...ewww... backpack or rolley bag? backpack or rolley bag?

Got a new kerosene heater today as my old one stopped working (kind of my doing). I'm hoping that the BOE won't make me pay for it so shhhhh.

An old crazy-looking Japanese guy at the gym had on an Atlanta 1996 Olympics sweatshirt tonight. Hell yeah, ATL!

Another guy at the gym tonight walks into the weight room in his business suit & proceeds to change into his workout gear in the middle of the weight room. Umm, ok. There's a rather large & convenient men's locker room nearby.... are you seriously THAT lazy? & can't you spare me looking at you in just your undies while I'm working out? Come on, man! Maybe he thought the ladies would love it... ha!

I hit Quintuple point day last week & earned a whopping 90 points in one go. That's halfway to a 24 pack of TP. Sweetness.

Another birthday shoutout

The 2nd birthday shoutout for December goes to... Heather Best Anderson!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HEATHER!

Birthday shoutout

Birthday shoutout for today goes to... Lindie Pasma!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDIE!

The big piece of Iwaki gossip for the week, er, month

A Fu-JET sent this e-mail out the other day:

Hey guys,
Just found out that a 25 year old JTE from Iwaki (you can find his name in our MYC program: #91 Koichiro Nomura) was arrested for filming up HS girls' skirts at the bookstore in Fukushima Station. According to the newspaper, this happened during our Mid-year Conference! Of course, he's fired...Just a piece of gossip for you...

Yes, this has been the big gossip in Iwaki this week! This teacher taught 7th grade at one of the schools I go to, but I didn't ever teach with him. He seemed nice enough... but I guess it just goes to show ya never know... Weird. To add more gossip to the pile: he also has a wife & 6 month old baby.

Upcoming stuff

So Brad Pitt is adopting Angelina Jolie's kids ...? I think it's safe to assume they're actually a couple now, world.

Only 12 days 'til I leave for my big trip! 1 more week at Izumi JHS, then a week of elementary school visits, then that's it for 2005. It's pyscho how quickly the fall has gone. I'm kinda hoping that trend will continue through the rest of the winter since I loathe winter here. I'd like it to be over as quickly as possible.

7 1/2 months left in Japan & I've already got the rest of my time here mapped out...

Dec 16 - Jan 11: Trip to Singapore, Malaysia, & Thailand
Jan 21: See Sumo matches in Tokyo
mid-Feb: JET Returner's Conference in Yokohama
mid-Mar: Trip home to visit the fam
Golden Week (5 day weekend in May): Tokyo with Harry
beginning of July: Mom comes to visit for 2 weeks!
July 27: Contract ends, leave Japan

It's weird thinking about leaving, hmmm, I'd rather not think about it yet...

It's a pretty nice day out despite the chilliness. I think I'll have a jog then run some of my many errands that I need to run before my big trip.

as the days fly by...

Woah. It's the 4th of December already. Woah.