Pokemon Jet

I saw it today. It wins.



Update: The above picture is the 767-300 version. We actually saw the 747-400.


-Greg

fun with spam

Sometimes the random messages I get are just too funny. I just wish I didn't get multiple copies of the same story every day.

Dear Friend,

I am one of the Personal Assistance to the late
President Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo.
I will not like to waste your time.
I am looking for someone to be my friend that I can
trust to handle
some part of the money the President wanted to go and
deposit in Switzerland three weeks before he died.

I am Presently in Ivory coast Because i cannot go back
to my country for now .

The message goes on to contact the author by calling a Nigerian cell phone, presumably so he can tell me more about this business opportunity. By the way, this is an example of a 419 scam, named after the relevent section of the Nigerian penal code that outlaws this sort of thing. For further reading, here's a site detailing the exploits of a man who replys to these scammers for fun and strings them along.

I have found God.

It is chocolate covered potato chips. I know it sounds gross, but it's really good. The rich chocolate and salty chip just go so well together.

And just to make this post "useful", here is a recipe.

Turkey Day Photos

Our camera was set to some funny night time mode, resulting in blurry photos. Also, we were cooking for 8 hours and didn't have time to take pictures. Sam took what few pictures we have, so she's not in any of them. Hopefully our friends will give us some more in the days to come so you can see all of her hard work.


Me, chopping roasted bell peppers.



From left to right, Naoto, the 4th grade teacher at Sam's school, Naoto's little brother, and Adam, an NH native teaching in the area.



A surprisingly empty table. I was afraid small Japanese appetites would make for lots of leftovers.


Our hosts two daughters, Kanako and Nozomi. Kanako is in Sam's 5th grade.

Internets

We have internets again, kinda. It keeps going out. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Anyway, we're having our first Thanksgiving adventure this afternoon. Photos to follow.

Final whiny post about health (or Geek with Asthma)

After two more trips (one failed, they were closed) to the doctor this week at the insistance of the school principal, the doctor got it through his thick skull that me wheezing and coughing from a change in room temperature wasn't going to fly. More x-rays of my chest (yay radiation!) and some proddings later he concluded that I have bronchitised myself right into bronchial asthma. Now I'm an awesome nerd with a shiny new inhaler. Here's my awesome list of awesome new daily friends:

Montelukast (US generic is Singulair) once a day. This is to reduce asthma symptoms. Side-effects: COUGHING! Take for two weeks.
Eprazinone Hydrochloride (No US brand? JP generic Resplen)3x a day. This is to both reduce cough and make phlem come out easier. What? Take for two weeks.
Tulobuterol hydrochloride (No US brand? It's been banned in the UK) 1 sticker on my chest a day. If I take the 2mg sticker like the doctor perscribes instead of the 1mg sticker that the pharmasist gives me instead I shake so hard that I can't walk. Take for two weeks.
Budesonide. 2 puffs twice a day. It's an inhailed cordiosteriod. My episode the last time I took a steriod is an epic Thanksgiving tale that my family won't let me live down. Let's see how this goes. This is my new friend for the next two months.
Sultanol Inhailer. As necessary, no more than 3 times a day. Take when you think you're going to have an attack. How the hell am I supposed to know that? I think I'm going to be friends with this for a long time.

Additionally, after teaching me how to use all of my new expensive nerd meds they drained me of like half of the blood in my body. Seriously. Ten vials of blood for what I think has got to be the most expensive blood test on the planet ($200!!). It's a good thing the pharmasist gave me a cookie. Anyway, I go back next week for the results.

Haniwa Festival

Mommy and Daddy called while I was at the Haniwa Festival with Sam this afternoon. It's an annual event thrown by Shibayama, the town where we work.

Haniwa are clay statues dating from the Jomon and Kofu periods of Japanese history. This was around the 3rd-4th century AD, before the introduction of Chinese characters to Japan, so there was no writing system, and no written accounts of the time period exist. Information about the time period comes from apocryphal writings of later periods, and excavations of old tombs and other sites from the pre-historic era. Shibayama just so happens to have a couple Kofun-era tombs around (rare this far east in Japan), and the artifacts that have been found therein are in pretty good shape. So, every year on the second Sunday of November, a bunch of people from the area dress up in period costumes and occupy the city park. There's pretty much everything you'd expect from a town festival back home; a parade, a center stage for entertainment, a mini petting zoo for the little kids, a farmers market, plenty of food for sale, and fireworks after sunset. Sam and I were instantly recognized by our students and their parents, stared at by pretty much everyone else ("What the hell are white people doing here?"), and managed to have a little fun (we would have had more if Sam's ongoing bronchitis hadn't been giving her grief). Anyway, here are pictures.


Flyer for the Haniwa Festival.


More info about the Haniwa Festival, including pictures from last year. The two girls in the big picture in the middle are Akira and Sayaka, both in my 4th grade.


Akane and Miho, two of Sam's 5th graders, enjoying some cotton candy.


A group of older students during the parade.


The King (of the festival, at least), with Catharine (English teacher at Shibayama Junior High) to the left and Ben (English teacher at Shibayama Elementary) behind her. They were reviewing the crowd after completing the parade route and walking down the stairs.


Daiki, one of the two boys in Hishida's 4th grade.

Mieko (making the peace sign), another 4th grader at Hishida, and Yuki, a 4th grader from Higashi.

On the left, Hinano, one of my 4th graders. On the right, a friend of hers from another school.

Happy Birthday Kate

Did you know?

Did you know that you can get bronchitis from too much stress? I didn't until I saw my doctor. Oh, it all makes sense now! Sitting on my ass most of the day playing solitare is soooo stressful that I'm getting bronchitis from it!

I would think my doctor is just a retard if I hadn't just learn of another foreigner in Tokyo (friend of a friend) who went to a doctor to get an inhailer to treat asthma he's had since he was a child and was told that his problem is TOO MUCH STRESS.

email issues

Subtend, our email server, has been having issues for the last week or so. We can connect intermittently, but we're not reading everything being sent to us. If you've got something really important to say, CC it to my still-active UO account, gdiamond@gladstone.uoregon.edu. Don't know when this will clear up, we'll let you know.

P.S. Irving, this is probably affecting you as well. Don't worry, your computer is fine.

屁 [おなら] (onara) (n) wind; gas; fart

Every school day ends with a short meeting, where the students discuss their favorite activities of the day, sing a quick song, and listen to reminders from the teacher. Finally, everyone stands, bows, and says (loudly) "sayonara" (goodbye).

Today, one of the fifth graders enunciated a little differently (the word should be pronounced evenly throughout), announcing "say-ONARA!" as he broke wind and ran for the exit.

I love Japan.

6th grade scarecrows

Doing my best to make being 12 suck less.


Franken by Tenryu, Sho, Shohei and Akane

Gatchapin by Sho, Takuya, Mitsuki and Genki

Freddy by Yuuichi, Megumi, Shunichi and Yuuma

Skelt by Buntarou, Machiko, Takuya, and Yuuki

Halloween Party

Organizing parties is a lot of work. I understand why we didn't have them too often as children (well, at least not as often as we would have liked). But all the kids had fun. And at least here in Japan I can reassure myself that there's a cultural component to a Halloween party, so the kids are sort of learning. Sort of. Mostly we just played games. Below are photos of the Mummy Game, where kids paired up and wrapped each other in toilet paper, and then the scarecrow contest, which should be self explanatory. Enjoy.


Asami wrapping Shuuka like a mummy. 


Yoshihiro posing with Daiki (who is wrapped in toilet paper). 


My two fifth grade hellions, Shota and Yuuki. 


The white group displays their scarecrow. 


Red group's scarecrow.