Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Getting ready for Santa.


Here in Tucson it is cold in the morning, and nice and sunny in the afternoon. Also it might be the desert but we still have to have the traditional Christmas tree.
So here is ours. I hope Santa comes with lots of stuff, because I have been good this year.

Ici a Tucson il fait bien froid le matin et chaud et ensoleille l'apres midi. On est peut etre dans le desert mais il faut quand meme installer le sapin de Noel traditionel. Alors voici le notre. J'espere que le pere Noel va venir avec plein de cadeaux car j'ai ete bien sage cette annee.

New work, New routine

So I am finally out of training. I Started my normal shifts and believe it or not, I don't work on Christmas eve nor Christmas day and I don't work either on new year's eve and that means I can eat, drink and party...
So in the mean time, my friend Meredith had a boy named "Sam"(a picture will come soon). And for the ones who didn't notice, I lost one Sam (Goldfein) last month and another one comes around (let's not start talking about reincarnation or things like that), plus Meredith knows the Goldfeins...
Also, I started my regular shift at work, and it is pretty cool. I mostly work 48 hours a week: 2 shifts of 24 hours, I work on Sundays and Thursdays. Which means I have 5 days off per week, isn't it cool?! So that leaves me some time to pick up an extra 12 hour shift to make my hours up to 60 hours a week. I won't do it all the time but if I need extra money, at least I have the option.
Thank you to my friends who are leaving me comments.

Nelly (in France): I miss you too and I will call you very soon to know what Santa is bringing you this year.

Nora (In France): How do you like the country life? And how is everything doing with that little boy in your tummy?

Madoka (in Japan): Don't worry about my sleep, I take naps and I have so many days off now, life is good. How did your thesis go? And how is Christmas going to be in Japan for you?

Jay (in Tucson): I haven't been to the coffee shop very often lately (but I am going tomorrow morning). And I am sorry I missed the white elephant party (I actually worked until 1am that night)

Lyn (in Tucson): Good talking to you today, I have to see you soon to give you the gift I brought you from Japan.

Daphne (in the Reunion Island): Well Daphne, you are the only one from over there who actually look at my blog. I haven't been to the Reunion in a few years but should I ask you to watch after my brother? If my brother wasn't doing so well, I don't think he would tell me, so I put you in charge of watching after him please.

________________________________
Alors ca y est j'ai fini ma formation au boulot. Et j'ai commence mon emploi du temps normal. Je ne travaille pas la veille ni le jour de Noel, et je ne travaille pas non plus la veille et le 1er de l'an. Ce qui veut dire que je vais pouvoir boire, manger et m'amuser...
Pour les nouvelles: ma super copine Meredith a eu un petit garcon qu'elle a appele "Sam" (je vous montrerai une photo bientot). Alors un Sam (Goldfein) s'en va et un nouveau pointe son nez. Reincarnation ? (De plus, Meredith connais les Goldfeins).
J'ai aussi demarre mon emploi du temps normal de 48 heures. Je travaille 2 services de 24 heures (le dimanche et le jeudi) et le reste de la semaine je suis libre. C'est plutot cool hein!? J'ai 5 jours de conge par semaine. (c'est comme l'inverse de tout le monde).
Mais alors du coup comme j'ai tout ce temps de libre et bien la plupart du temps je me rajoute un service de 12 heures et comme ca ca m'ammene a 60 heures de travail par semaine.

Merci a tous mes potes qui me laissent des commentaires.
Nelly (en France): Tu me manques aussi et je vais te telephoner tres bientot pour savoir ce que le pere Noel t'amene cette annee.

Nora (en France): Alors c'est comment la vie a la campagne? Et comment tu vas avec ce petit garcon dans le ventre? Il arrive quand deja?

Madoka (au Japon): Ne t'inquiete pas pour mon sommeil, je fais des siestes de temps en temps, et puis j'ai tellement de jours de conge, la vie est belle. Comment se passe ta these? Et comment celebrez vous Noel chez toi au Japon?

Jay (a Tucson): Je ne suis pas allee au Coffee Shop ces temps ci mais j'y vais demain matin. Desolee de ne pas etre allee a la soiree des elephants blancs (echange des cadeaux de noel), mais j'ai travaille jusqu'a 1 heure du matin ce soir la.

Lyn (a Tucson): J'ai ete contente de te parler au telephone aujourd'hui. Il faut que l'on se voit tres bientot pour que je puisse te donner le cadeau que je t'ai ramene du Japon.

Daphne (a l'ile de la Reunion): Et bien Daphne, tu es la seule de l'ile qui regarde mon blog. Et je ne suis pas allee rendre visite a mon frere depuis quelques annees. Alors devrais-je te mettre en charge de veiller sur lui? Profite bien de tes litchis, ca me manque bien. (ps. J'ai fais un rougail saucisse il y a deux jours, super bon avec du gingembre)

Monday, December 3, 2007

Slacking

Yes I am slacking on the whole blogging thing, but I have been so busy with work. Last week I worked 53.5 hours and made 3 pennies, but oh well. I wake up at the crack of dawn to go to work and finish when it is time to go to bed. I also had my first 24 hours shift Saturday at a fire station. Only one more week at this pace (because I am still in training), and I will have a more regular schedule with 3 days off per week. I can't wait. ( but I will still make 3 pennies). Leave me comment messages to let me know how you are doing if you'd like. Big hugs to all.

Oui je sais je me traine un peu ces temps ci, je n'ai pas trop le temps de mettre le blog a jour car j'ai un emploi du temps de la mort. La semaine derniere j'ai travaille 53.5 heures et je me suis fais 3 centimes, mais c'est pas grave. Je me reveille aux aurores et je termine le boulot a 21h la plupart du temps. J'ai travaille 24 heures de suite dans une station de pompier (mais j'ai dormi quand meme, on a des chambres et des lits bien sur, mais on est appele en plein milieu de la nuit pour aller sauver les petites vieilles qui ont soudain un infarctus ou autre chose).
Bref je suis quand meme toujours "in training" (je ne sais plus comment on dit ca en francais), et j'aurai un emploi du temps normal des la semaine prochaine, avec un week-end de 3 jours chaque semaine. Laissez moi un petit message commentaire si ca vous chante, pour me donner des nouvelles. Bises a tous.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Silvia and Robin's wedding


I was thinking Silvia would be the perfect wife for my big brother Lionel (and they are the same age too) but Lionel was too busy doing his research in his lab and never got here on time. Robin on the other hand had nothing else to do and jumped on the occasion. Oh well... Maybe an other time Lionel.
So Saturday was Silvia and Robin's wedding. It was such a nice day, the atmosphere was absolutely great. The ceremony was at the botanical garden, then lunch at a seafood restaurant and the party at night was at the fabulous house of Maebel. It was so much fun.

Je pensais que ma copine Silvia aurait ete une epouse parfaite pour mon frere Lionel, mais Lionel a ete bien trop occupe a travaille dans son lab. il n'est pas venu a temps. Robin par contre n'avait rien d'autre a faire que de draguer la belle Americaine. Donc samedi c'etait le mariage de Silvia et Robin. C'etait vraiment super et l'ambiance est extra chouette. La ceremonie etait au Jardin botanique, le dejeuner dans un resto sympa et la soiree dans la grande maison de Maebel. C'est vraiment cool.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

In Loving Memory of Sam


A wedding and a funeral, is the name of my weekend. One of my best friend, Silvia, is getting married and it should be fun. But Thursday one of my favorite people, Sam Goldfein died. I got to know Ann and Sam after I started to train Ann 2 years ago. Lately the training happened at her house, since I quit the club a few months ago, but it was also convenient because Sam was getting weaker and Ann wanted to stay around him. It was nice to see Sam's smile every day when I would go to their house.
Sam and Ann also asked Chris and I to care for their home every summer while they would be on vacation. And let me tell you, staying at their house is like being on vacation itself. For the passed 2 years we then lived in their house for the 2 months summer and enjoyed the large swimming pool, the barbecue, the view on the city on one side, on the mountains on the other, and the quietness.
Yesterday was his funeral, and you know how at funerals people say how great and nice the person was. Well yesterday, some people talked and reminded us how wonderful and how generous and nice and passionate Sam was, but this time everybody felt that it couldn't be more true. All the nice things that were said described Sam perfectly. Sam was a cardiologist and his passion and talk of interest was to tell us how everyone should have social security and universal medical care, that everyone deserves to be treated and be healthy. Not that many people think that way in America, or else we would have universal medical care (but we don't). For my part, the one thing I will remember and miss the most is the smile he had on his face when he opened the door for me. I could see it thru the little glass square in the door when he would turn the lock on the other side.
Sam was a good man and we are going to miss him.

Un marriage et un enterrement, c'est le nom de mon weekend. Une de mes meilleure copine, Silvia, se marie aujourd'hui avec Robin. Mais Jeudi une de mes personnes preferees, Sam Goldfein est decede. J'ai rencontre Ann et Sam quand Ann a decide d'avoir un coach personnel il y a 2 ans. Ces derniers temps je l'entrainais a domicile puisque j'ai demissione de mon club il y a quelques mois. De plus, c'etait plus pratique car Sam etait de plus en plus faible et Ann voulais rester pres de lui. Le sourire de sam va me manquer. Sam et Ann nous demandais a Chris et moi de rester dans leur maison tous les etes lorqsqu'ils partaient 2 mois en vacances. Et je vous assure que rester dans leur maison c'est comme des grandes vacances. Et Chris et moi avons bien profite de la grande piscine, du barbeque, de la vue sur toute la ville d'un cote et sur la montagne de l'autre, mais aussi de la tranquillite du quartier. L'enterrement etait hier. Vous savez aux enterrements comme il y a des gens qui parlent pour rapeler a tout le monde que la personne decedee etait une chouette personne blablabla et tout le monde a une larme a l'oeil. Oui mais hier quand les anciens amis ou membres de la familles ont parle de Sam pour nous rappeler sa bonte, sa generosite, sa gentillesse, sa passion pour l'autre, et sa determination de ne pas mourrir a 37 ans apres sa premiere crise cardiaque ni plus tard apres une deuxieme, ni apres son bipass il y a quelque temps mais plutot a 81 ans apres avoir complete une longue belle vie pleine de bonheur. Toutes les choses qui ont ete dites ne pouvaient pas etre plus vraies. Sam etait un cardiologue et il aimait nous rappeler que tout le monde devrait avoir droit a la securite sociale et aux soins medicaux universels. Pour ma part, chaque jour que je venais entrainer Ann chez eux, je sonnais a la porte et Sam venais ouvrir. Je pouvais voir son sourire sympa de l'autre cote de la petite vitre carree de la grande porte. Sam was a good man. Il va nous manquer.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

50 heures de boulot par semaine!



Picture from other site


Well lately, I have been recovering from my trip, and enjoying all the free time. I sleep in in the morning and slowly take care of my stuff around. I kinda like being at home. But the day after I got back from Japan, I got a phone call from a company I had applied for before I left. They said they had taken note of my traveling date and they liked me, so that is why they wanted to call me right away before I applied elsewhere. Anyway I was hired by "Southwest Ambulance" to be an EMT, 50 hours a week. Well that is full time! 50 hours! I've never worked that much! I hope I can do that. I start Monday at 9am.


Et bien ces derniers temps je me remet de mon voyage, et je profite de mon temps libre. Je dors tard le matin et je m'occuppe de mes trucs a la maison. J'aime bien etre a la maison.
Cepedant, le jour apres mon retour du Japon, j'ai eu un coup de fil d'une boite ou j'avais postule pour un boulot. Ils ont dit qu'ils avaient pris note des mes dates de voyage mais qu'ils m'avaient vraiment bien aime et c'est pour ca qu'ils m'appellent le jour de mon retour, afin que je ne postule pas ailleurs. Bref j'ai ete embauchee par "Southwest Ambulance" en tant que Emergency Medical Technician (je ne pense pas qu'il y ait un equivalent en France). En fait ce boulot d'EMT c'est quand par exemple il y a des accidents sur la route, ou bien une crise cardiaque ou bien une nana qui est en train d'accoucher dans le bus, ou bien un mec qui s'est pris une balle dans le ventre; je fais partie de l'equipe d'urgence qui va soigner cette personne sur les lieux et la transporter en vitesse a l'hopital. (J'avais ete a la fac l'an dernier et passe les diplomes d'EMT avant de faire ma formation de pompier. Pompier et EMT vont ensemble et on ne peut pas devenir pompier sans avoir les diplomes d'EMT).
Alors je vais bosser 50 heures par semaine, c'est du plein temps, c'est pour dire. J'ai jamais travaille autant d'heures, merde, j'ai pas l'habitude de ca. (Quand je pense que vous en etes aux 35 heures bande de faineants...).
Je commence lundi a 9 heures.

Friday, October 26, 2007

After math / L'apres coup


JET LAG!
Oh, I have been back home for 6 days now but I am just good for nothing, I feel so sluggish and tired all the time. I can't wake up in the morning and I lie on the couch most of the day. And also my brain works a little slowly. Yesterday I was doing nothing on the couch lying there with a magazine and the bell rang; I went to answer; it was just someone trying to sell calendars or something but to my big surprise and to his too, I answered "No thank you" in Japanese. I didn't even know I could do that! Then I said I was sorry, (in French!). And then he left because he probably had pity for my lost soul... I don't even know what language to use anymore, I'm gonna have to take classes.

DECALLAGE HORAIRE!
Oh, je suis arrivee ici a la maison il y a 6 jours mais je suis une vraie bonne a rien. Je me sens toute molassone, je suis tout le temps fatiguee. Je n'arrive pas a me reveiller le matin et toute la journee je suis vautree sur le canape. Et mon cerveau marche au ralenti. Hier, je faisais rien vautree sur le canape avec un magazine et soudain quelqu'un sonne a la porte. Je vais repondre et c'est juste un mec qui veut vendre des calendriers ou un truc comme ca. Mais soudain a ma grande surprise et a la sienne aussi, je lui dit "non merci" en Japonais. Je ne savais pas que je pouvais faire ca! Et puis j'ai dit "oh desolee" (en Francais!). Et la il est parti car il avait surement pitie de mon ame perdue... Je ne sais meme plus quelle langue parler, il va falloir que je prenne des cours.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Happy Birthday Robin and Jessica!


Robin! You british devil! Your Rugby team beat the French at the world cup but I won't keep it against you, I guess. So I wanted to say Happy Birthday
!! I hope you are celebrating.

Robin! Espece de diable anglais! Ton equipe de rugby a battu les francais a la coupe du monde mais je ne t'en veux pas. Alors je voulais te souhaiter un Joyeux Anniversaire!! J'espere que tu fais la fete.


Jessica! Happy birthday! You sweet half French half American (at least in the heart)! I hope you are also celebrating your birthday. I wish I was there, maybe we could have gone eat sushi and dance disco again.

Jessica! Joyeux Anniversaire! Douce mi-francaise, mi-americaine (dans le coeur)! J'espere que tu fais aussi la feter pour ton anniversaire. J'aurai bien aime etre la, on aurait pu aller manger des sushi et aller danser disco.

Welcome to the Job fair! / Bienvenue au forun des metiers!

This are all the jobs I got to do here in Japan during those past 5 weeks
Voici tous les metiers que j'ai eu la chance de faire pendant ces 5 semaines.

Brushing the buddha for all of you (read story)

Only 2 more days here in Japan. I have been here for 5 weeks, going from one host family to another and doing tons of different amazing stuffs. So let's see, I got to be:
A geisha; a firefighter; a paramedic; a Karaoke singer; a sushi chef, a farmer at the farm, a farmer in the rice field, a high school baseball coach, a lacquer painter, a professional sake tester, a tea maker, a pottery maker, a soba noodle maker (that was a mess with the flour), a Manju maker (extra sweet Japanese cookie), I got sweat on me from a buddhist Monk who was so close doing his amazing prayer, a Koto player (that was super cool).
But most, I got to wash off all of my friends and family's pain by brushing the little statue of a buddha. I tried to brush every little corner of the buddha thinking of everybody's pain. Like for exemple I brushed the buddha's elbow to fix Bill's and I brushed the buddha's knees for my friends Ann, Abi and all the others that don't talk about it. And I got to brush the buddha's breast to try to prevent all of my girlfriends from breast cancer. I would have taken care of my friend's little prostate problem but I didn't feel like brushing the Buddha's private in front of everyone there watching me (so I hope that the spitting monk took care of that one in his prayer).
I am sure I am forgetting a lot because I feel I did so much, it was amazing. (check out the pictures of some of the jobs I got to do)

Plus que 2 jours au Japon. Ca fait 5 semaines que je suis ici, allant de famille d'accueil en famille d'accueil, faisant des tonnes de trucs differents. Alors voyons... J'ai ete: Une Geisha; un chef Sushi; une fermiere; une coupeuse de riz; un entraineur de Baseball; Pompier; Paramedic; chanteuse de Karaoke; peintre sur objets laques; maitre de ceremonie de the; pottier; faiseur de nouilles au sarasin; faiseur de Manju (gateau Japonais trop sucre); je me suis fait postillione dessus par un buddhiste qui faisait une priere pour moi a deux centimetres de moi, j'ai ete joueuse de Koto (instrument japonais a corde) etc...
J'ai eu aussi la chance de brosser la statue d'un buddha pour enlever les bobos de tout le monde, alors j'ai brosse le coude du buddha pour que le coude de mon pote Bill aille mieux, et puis j'ai brosse les genoux pour mes copines Abi, Ann et pour tous les autres qui ont mal aux genoux et ne disent rien. Puis j'ai brosse la poitrine pour que toutes mes copines n'ai jamais le cancer du sein. J'aurai bien soigne le petit probleme de prostate qu'un de mes potes a mais je ne me voyais pas en train de brosser les couilles du buddha alors j'espere que le postilloneur buddhiste, dans sa priere a rajouter une note a ce sujet. Je suis sure que j'en oublie mais j'ai fait tellement de choses. C'etait vraiment trop cool.














































Not a Geisha yet but almost



Check this out.

Pas Geisha, mais presque. La classe non?

Monday, October 15, 2007

Kyoto

No more host families, no more meetings, no more visits, we are now on our own and can be real tourists. I am now in Kyoto. Took the bullet train this morning, and 4 hours later arrived in Kyoto. I am staying in those traditional little place where you sleep on the floor and have a nice lady bring you tea after opening the paper sliding door and taking shoes off.
The city seems great. I have to say that I am a little tired but walked all over the corner of Gion where I saw Geishas walking with little steps going somewhere secret probably.
I am now very used to Japanese food and don't even crave French or American food so much.
The city of Kyoto is very much of a faster pace from the last village we stayed in, where there was no internet connection (no blog for a week).
________________
Plus de familles d'accueil, plus de reunions, plus de visites guidees, nous sommes maintenant libres de faire les vrais touristes.
Je suis maintenant a Kyoto, j'ai pris le TGV ce matin est suis arrivee 4 heures plus tard a Kyoto. Je suis avec Sarah dans un Ryokan (ces chambres d'hotes traditionelles ou tu dors par terre sur un futon et une dame gentille ouvre ta porte coulissante en papier pour t'apporter du the, apres avoir enleve ses chaussures). La ville a l'air super. Je dois avouer que je suis un peu fatiguee car j'ai marche partout dans le quartier de Gion ou j'ai vu des Geishas marcher a petits pas allant surement a des endroit bien secrets.
Je suis maintenant bien accomodee a la nourriture Japonaise et la bouffe Francaise ou Anericaine ne me manque pas de trop.

Village life


No internet connection last week, since we stayed in a real old country village. Our host family's home were different and it was really cool to see all that. We got to be in big cities and small villages, and I think that is such an enriching experience to see it all.
They put us to work again and made us cut some rice in the field, we liked it a lot.
____________________
Pas de connection internet la semaine derniere, car nous sommes restes dans un village de la campagne. Les maisons de nos familles d'accueil etaient differentes et c'etait plutot cool d'etre la. On a eu la chance d'etre dans des grandes villes et dans des petits villages, et je crois que tout cela est bien enrichissant comme experience.
Ils nous encore mis au travail et cette fois, on a coupe le riz, ca nous a bien plu quand meme.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

More photos, more infos





Don't forget to go check our "team in Japan" blog, if you want to see more pictures and know more about what we do here
http://gse5500tofukushima.blogspot.com/

N'oubliez pas d'aller voir le blog de notre equipe au Japon, si vous voulez voir plus de photos et en savoir un peu plus sur nos activites ici au Japon.
http://gse5500tofukushima.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 4, 2007

They put me to work; they finally did it!

Yep, they tried already at the farm with the chickens last week, but here in Koriyama they finally put me to work for good. I thought I was kind of on vacation here in Japan, but nope, I was put to work.
When my family heard not only that I was American, but also that I was a fitness personal trainer, they thought it would be a good idea to have me teach a strengthening training session for the entire Baseball high school team of their 16-year-old son. Mmmmm, let me think again… Oh yeah, that’s right!... I know nothing about baseball!!... Ha!
Last September when I took the American citizenship test, they asked me questions about the government and also about the history but nothing about baseball. So why would the Japanese think that I would just be able to teach a baseball strengthening class just because I am American?


And let me think again one more time…. 1- I know nothing about baseball. 2- I know nothing about teaching to a high school. 3- and most important. I DON’T SPEAK JAPANESE!
So now all day I am totally freaking out because I am going to make a fool out of myself in front of not only the baseball coach of the high school but in front of 50 Japanese teenagers who are going to repeat it to their parents and their children later, who are going to tell their neighbors and their brother and sister in laws and also their friends, and soon enough my own children and grand children will know that I was the fool who came to Japan to teach a baseball strengthening session. Oh crap!
My host dad probably promised them that I should be good because I am from the USA and in the USA we know baseball. Humm, Sir? Are you sure you want to do this? Because you see, I am still very French and in France we like rugby and soccer, and in my case
it’s gymnastics, but Baseball, mmm… not so much. So? A little change of mind here? Let’s just go home all right?
But to all of that, there was something lost in translation and he understood that I would be super happy to teach to the team and that I was super good and I know exactly what I am doing. Oh great!!!
So here I am at the high school, on the field and those kids are already there practicing and they are totally kicking butts. I mean I see balls flying on the other side of the field and they are super super organized and everything is flowing very well.
But suddenly the coach comes and stops everything and all the boys come to line up in front of him and that is when I hear the coach say “blablablabla…. America… blablablabla… Seshiru Buraun san (that is my name in Japanese)… blablablabla….blablablablabla…..”. And I am standing there next to him and all the boys suddenly bow and say in unison “Konnichiwa!”.

So with a sure and confident voice I respond “Konnichiwa”, caus’ I want to sound and look professional here.
I turn and the coach is now gone aside and it is my time to do my job. Oh shit, I feel like being somewhere else right now (like at my daily starbucks time in the morning, what time is it in Arizona right now? Oh, 3am, perfect, I should be in bed right now).
Big silence and all the boys are waiting for me. So I say: “If I speak English, are you guys able to understand me?”… Big silence… And 2 or 3 boys say “Yes”. Out of that whole group, that is good enough for me, I am ready to start now.
So I start and make them work a little bit on warming up the hip joint (in Base ball, I saw them lifting their leg high up front when they throw), that should be good. Then I decide that those boys are not strong enough in the lower body and make them do some super cool exercises for the quads and for the core and for the shoulders and I tell them that this exercise is good for the pitcher to prevent injuries on the rotator cuff and that exercise is good for the batter because it is always good to have a strong core when you are a batter. And all I am thinking is that to them I sound like this: “Blablabla….. Pitcher… blablablablablablabla… batter… blablablablabla…let’s go!”.


The best part is that those kids are so disciplined and polite, they are doing everything I ask. Not one stops, even when they are struggling after 100 abdominal exercises. And they all are counting in unison with me, in English, very seriously. This is so cool.
Well, after a whole hour of workout, I see all those boys are very sweaty and dirty; that probably means I am done with my work here.
They suddenly all line up in front of me again and one of them steps forward and says in English “Thank you very much for the great workout”, and they all clap.
Aww… that is so nice! I wonder what they think now. (Do they know I know nothing about baseball, not even a rule, not even the terms, Nothing!?)

I decided it didn’t matter that I knew nothing about baseball for tonight. I feel good about my session. I am so happy I got to do this, this was a great experience; and 2 parents that were on the side came to me and said in English: “It was very beautiful”.
Well I just feel I had the privilege to teach to a Japanese High School Baseball team tonight and that was great.


(traduction francaise viendra peut etre plus tard, un autre jour si il y a de la demande. Desolee, mais l'histoire est un peu longue)

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Free labor in Japan


I am staying this week in a traditional Japanese farm in the country side (at my new host family). It's pretty cool and I like this experience a lot. But this morning 5 am the rooster came knocking on my Japanese paper door to give me a nice loud wake up call. "Cockadoodledoo!!" "Ahhhhhh what the hell was that?" You can imagine the jump I did on my super thin futon on the floor "Ouch! my back!" No springs in those mattresses that's for sure.
Then I hear my hosts parents Yoko and Jiro moving around in the courtyard. It looks like they have a lot of work to do in this farm, maybe I could check if they want my help (I am used to chasing the chickens at my grand mother's farm back in France). And they say:
- "of course we need help! What do you think lazy city girl? Here, take this bucket and go feed the 80 chickens and then go broom the courtyard because since you have been here it's pretty dirty around here! Go! and move faster Cinderella! (I think that is what Yoko said in her fast countryside Japanese but I am still working on the language translation if you know what I mean).
So I am enjoying my time, throwing those little grains to the chickens dancing around me (like I saw doing when I was little at my grandma's and also in movies) and Yoko sees me and comes towards me looking angry.
-"You are not doing it right, You give too much! In Japan people or chickens don't eat so much!" she says.
-"Oh I'm sorry" I say, "they just look so happy those chickens with all the food I give them". Well I am now done with that. Maybe I can do the brooming now, but here comes Jiro who says:
- What!? you are not ready? We have to go; today we visit Sake factory with the rest of the group (who instead of feeding chickens, got to stay in normal homes where they got to shower and be served breakfast by the host mom). Pfew, saved by the bell, I won't be put to Japanese farm labor today.

__________________________________________
En ce moment je suis dans la campagne Japonaise et ma famillle d'accueil a une ferme, c'est plutot cool. Ce matin a 5 heures le coq a decide de venir frapper a ma porte en papier Japonais pour me reveiller d'un bon fort "Cocorico". "AHHHHH! qu'est ce que c'est que ca?". Vous pouvez imaginer le saut que j'ai fait sur mon petit futon tout plat par terre. "Aie! mon dos!". Ya pas de ressorts dans ces matelas c'est certain.
Puis j'entend mes parents d'accueil Yoko et Jiro faire du bruit dans la cour. On dirait qu'ils ont du boulot, peut-etre que je peux leur demander si ils veulent un coup de main (j'ai l'habitude de courrir apres les poules de ma chez ma grand mere en Bretagne).
- "Ben sur qu'on a besoin d'aide! Qu'est ce que tu crois petite paresseuse de la ville!? Tiens prend ce saut et va nourrir les poules et puis apres ca tu iras balayer la cour parce que depuis que tu es la, c'est bien degueulasse par ici" Allez, depeches-toi Cendrillon!" (Je crois bien que c'est ce que Yoko a dit dans son Japonais des campagnes, mais j'ai encore du boulot pour les traductions...).
Je commence a jeter des poignees de grains aux poules comme j'ai vu faire plein de fois en Bretagne quand j'etais petite (et aussi dans les films), et soudain Yoko arrive a grands pas avec son air pas content, et elle dit:
- Cest pas comme ca qu'on fait!... tu en donnes bien de trop! Au Japon les gens et les poules ne mangent pas tant...! (Je suis sure que c'est ce qu'elle a dit)
- Oh, pardon! Je luis repond. Les poules ont l'air contentes pourtant.
Alors maintenant que j'ai fini de nourrir les poules il faut que je me mette a balayer la cour mais c'est a ce moment que Jiro arrive et me dit :
- Quoi? T'es pas encore prete? Grouilles-toi, vas t'habiller il faut aller retrouver les autres pour aller visiter l'usine de Sake aujourd'hui. (Les autres: qui sont dans des familles sans ferme, sans poules, et qui ont passe leurs premieres heures du matin a dejeuner et a se doucher). Sauve par le gong, je ne travaillerai pas plus a la ferme aujourd'hui.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

To my people at Starbucks.

This is a special note for my people at the coffee shop.
For the ones who don't know, I have a little routine; I usually go to work for an hour and then take a break and go hang out at Starbucks (even though I am not so crazy about large companies like that that killed all the little cute coffee shops). I go there because I like my group of people, and I try not to order anything because I don't drink coffee anyway.

Petit message pour mes potes au cafe du coin.
Pour ceux qui ne le savent pas, j'ai une petite routine; je vais au boulot le matin pendant une heure et apres je prend une pause et vais au Starbucks d'a cote. Comme j'y vais tous les jours a la meme heure, je retrouve les habitues du matin et nous avons notre petit groupe super sympa; on parle, on rigole et on essaye de refaire le monde et c'est mon moment favori de la journee.

First there is Bill : "The Mayor of Starbucks" (He is very important like every mayor in every town, he gets to chose who is part of the group or not)

Tout d'abord, il y a Bill : "le Maire de Starbucks" (Il est tres important, comme tout maire.)

Then there is Arnavaz, the smartest of all of us (and the most politically involved and opiniated), she definitely brings spices into our mix of people there.

There is Craig "the Doc". We are happy he is there because a medical advice is always needed (even though he recommended chocolate on my burned butt from the Hot spring, I am not so sure he got that out of medical book, we will still go to him for med. advice)


And Mike "the Firefighter", he is kinda useless (like most firefighters are 80% of the day) but we like him anyway.
There is also Pat. She is so sweet.

And there are others who were not there the day I brought my camera but deserve to be recognized like the handsome Jay who I hope will bring his laptop there to show this post to the others. Jay seems to be the busy one, he works a lot or at least fakes he is working a lot, but I suspect he just stays late in bed when he doesn't show up in the morning at Starbucks. Let's not forget Leslie (ah crazy Leslie), And Tom (Pat's husband), also Heidi and Suzy who come once in a while but are definitely part of the gang, and finally Hue who got back by surprise from the monks in LA right before I left to Japan.

"I MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH, AND AM ALWAYS THINKING OF YOU HERE IN JAPAN. I WILL BE DRINKING SOME JAPANESE TEA TO YOUR HEALTH". "KAMPAI!!"

Japanese food


Okonomyaki (japanese pizza)

Sukiyaki

Gelly fish - Meduse






Soba (buckwheat noodle) tray - Soba (pates aux sarasin)
terryaki Grasshopers for snack anyone?

Tempura vegetable - Legumes tempura

Hamburger with packed rice buns