Japan Itinerary 2009 Gaiden: Fortune for the Lunar New Year

Definition of "Gaiden" from Wikipedia

(One of the things we did while in Fukuoka was to travel to a temple and pay respects, and also pick out a paper fortune by reaching into a stone container/cabinet[?] for the New Year as well. Fortunately, there were English fortunes to pick from. Here's what it says.)

Fortune Slip

Number 15
Very Lucky
Like boats gathering at the port.

Fortune Everything will proceed as your heart desires, but you must not be negligent. This is a good time to gather your thoughts and narrow down your plans for the future.

Wish Will be as you wish.

Expected Person Will arrive if there is no news.

Lost Article Will be difficult to find.

Travel Good.

Conflict Be passive. There will be victory.

Position Vacant Earlier the better.

Relocation Do not make haste.

Construction Good.

Business Good, will gain popularity.

Trade There will be loss.

Competition There will be good odds, but stay on guard.

Illness Have faith, there is no doubt of a complete recovery.

Marriage A female will be obstructive and chances may be ruined. Will be hard to come about, even if help is sought.

Childbirth Easy birth, with the help from the gods.

Study Examination and admissions will be successful, go forth.

Employment Your desire will be fulfilled in the near future.

Hmm, that part about the marriage and childbirth appears to be contradictory . . ..

Japan Itinerary 2009: part 1

Friday, January 23^rd 2009

11:30PM – Attempt to get some rest before going to Fukuoka, Japan (Flight: Seoul, Korea 9:30AM to Fukuoka, Japan 11:50AM). Fail.

Saturday, January 2^4th 2009

4:30AM – Get up. Attempt to get up. Try to attempt to get up.

5:03AM – Get up and head out across Seoul to get to the Airport. Intended path; take 20 min. cab ride to bus station, take shuttle bus to airport.

5:05AM – God damn it's cold.

5:12AM – Flag down a cab. Get in.

5:46AM – Get off at the bus stop. Find out that bus passed less than 5 minutes prior and have to wait ~20 minutes to catch next bus. On the sidewalk. Freeze ass off.

5:48AM – Motherfucker; is that snow?

5:59AM – Bus arrives. Can barely feel finger.

~ – Note the powdery snow is increasing in intensity. Note with half amusement/absolute horror at the other drivers driving in zero visibility; driving in between lanes, stopping/starting for no reason, going at ridiculously slow speeds, briefly think of joke about Asians and driving before having a quick prayer.

7:12AM – Arrive at Incheon Airport.

7:14AM – Leah is feeling ill from the bus driver lurching the constantly due to the terrible traffic. Fuck.

7:20AM – Leah applies for a re-entry permit. Her ticket # is . . . 198. The waiting list is . . . 104. Fuck.

7:40AM – Let Leah wait in line for her permit, go exchange Korean Won for Japanese Yen. Fuuuuuuck.

8:40AM – Wait in queue for air ticket while Leah is still waiting. She catches up, we rush, arrive at plane just in time. Awesome.

9:30AM – Plane not in air yet.

9:45AM – Plane still not in air.

~ – Pass out, wake up to note that; a.) the plane is in the air, and b.) they're serving food. Can relate to this guy.

12:30PM – Arrive in Fukuoka. Estimated weekly temperature; ~50 degrees F.

12:47PM – Get to the domestic airport/subway station; note on shuttle bus ride that all the logos/icons for industrial factories/warehouses are adorable cartoons of some sort. Awesome.

12:48PM – Motherfucker; is that snow?

12:51PM – Decide to get some food in our stomach before moving on; ordered a chili dog, get a hot dog with some kind of ketchup/salsa mix on top. Better than airplane food, not quite human food.

1:12PM – Arrive at the intended subway station/Ryokan with relative ease. Get shocked at the subway prices in Japan (Subway ticket in Seoul[capital city, gargantuan metro] for 4 stops; $0.60. Subway ticket in Fukuoka[not a capital city, relatively big metro] for 4 stops; $3.15). Brace for the worst.

1:13PM – the Ryokan is b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.; unfortunately, check-in is 3PM

1:45PM – Wander around the area; look at outside of local temple, get lost for 30 seconds, note that 7-11 in Japan is 7-and-i-incorporated (and note that it doesn't quite have the same ring, but will do anyways) find area's shopping mall and find . . . Wendy's. Delicious, delicious Wendy's.

4:15PM – Come back from mall. Crash for the rest of the day. Watch Sumo wrestling. Note to self; remind self to get one of those nifty Japanese tables.

Tokyo, Packing, and Tattoos

So, I'm changing jobs.

Why?

Well, for several reasons;

• For another, the place I work at, while filled with great staff, SUCK because they only take two holidays off a year. And no, other places do NOT do that.
  
• And it's not Christmas, New Year's Eve, nor No Pants Day - and frankly, I don't want to be associated with an organization that doesn't celebrate No Pants Day. (Not, that the new place would observe the holy day, but they have more holidays, at least)
  
• Another complication was that a few months ago, Leah's school decided, without Leah's input, that she would work the morning shift.
• Let's think about this one:
• Lil' Daniel goes from work from 3PM to 10PM (which, coincidentally, kills his chances of him joining ANY clubs/activities)
  
• Lil' Leah goes from work from 9AM to 5PM
• Leah and Daniel live/work about an hour away from each other, which means that either Leah would have to leave Daniel's place at 7:30AM to go to work or that Daniel would arrive at Leah's place at 11PM, only to see his wife go to sleep at, oh, I don't know, midnight.

Like I said, with the exception of the holidays thing, I like my job - I like my coworkers, I like my boss (well, he is very absent-minded, but I think it may be a Korean "your-boss-is-a-god-so-suck-his-cock" kind of thing), and I like where I live(d)!

Having said that, this (08/18 to 08/22) is my last week with my current employer.

And,

• My current boss, William, tells me that I can move out whenever I'd like - so, since this is my last week AND the fact that I've paid rent for all of August, I thought I'd move out next week at the end of the month, when I'm NOT working all day and when I DON'T have to travel an hour to get to/from Leah's place.

Well, that's apparently not the case.
William conveniently tells me last Thursday, that I have to move my shit out by the end of the term - meaning, this Friday (I did, however, get to convince him that I should get the last week refunded to me). Did I mention that I have to work all afternoon?

You know what, I don't think I like my boss that much.

So, I start searching for new jobs - and I interview, after interview, after interview - and you know what? Every single place tries to either dick me around, saying that they would NOT give me housing (which they do for, "full-blooded Americans"; you know, honkys), or they just tell me outright, no Korean-Americans (actually, Leah's soon-to-be former employer stated that they don't want African Americans working there; yeah, anti-discrimination laws don't exactly exist here yet) - until I go to this new place.

My god. The place is new, and I go for an interview, at which point, I'm taken aback - the owners are w.o.n.d.e.r.f.u.l human beings. I mean, wow. So, I get the job (thankfully), and I actually convince Leah to interview with them - and she loves it too! I mean, her other job kinda sucked to begin with, so there's nothing much to compare it with, but I'm looking forward to it, I tell you what.

But, having said this, I get two weeks of vacation from my previous job to getting the new job - which means I have time . . . to TRAVEL! I am excited, I tell you what; for 4~5 days, I think I'm going to hit up Tokyo, as in Tokyo, Japan.

And when in Rome . . ..

Being less ambiguous, here's a lowdown of things I want to see/do while I'm in Tokyo;

• I want to stay at a capsule hotel; yes, because I'm a nerd.
  
• I'm pretty much planning on sticking around Akihabara; yes, because I'm a nerd.
• I'm definitely going to visit the Kyokyshinkai Honbu; yes, because I'm a nerd.
• And who could forget? The Kodokan . . . and yes, because I'm a nerd.
• (While I'm in Korea, I might visit the Kukkiwon. Maybe.)
  

And, of course . . . (and this one might surprise you guys a little)

• I might get a tattoo. I don't know about this one, as it will be pricy (it IS Tokyo) and I AM flighty, but I think I'll look into it and if it's possible, then why not? I'm looking into getting a half-sleeve if possible, but we'll see what I can swing . . .. I guess this is also because I'm a nerd(?).
  

(If I missed anything, or if you have criticisms/advice, dish it out!)

Anyhow, at this time, the plans are still tentative. What with moving and changing jobs, I'd hate to leave it all to Leah willie-nilly; I'm sure she'd do great, but it'd still not be fair.

So, to sum it all up; I'm busy as hell, but I can't wait.

Jeju Island (a little late, perhaps?)

Well, I'd like to give you a reason for not talking about Jeju Island . . .. Why? Well, no reason other than the ol' standby (because it's true) - I'm laaaazy.

Anyhow, Leah and I went to the isle for about a week. And it was, surprise surprise, awesome. For the most part, we just beached around, and hung out, nothing spectacular.

Jeju is a small island, and we rented a scooter (the cheapest ones go for about $10/day) and I tell you what, it was a blast. I mean, this being Korea and all, it's only 125cc and it did 50MPH max, but it was just great being able to ride again!

And as far as the rest pf the trip gpes, we also checked out some other tourist areas - we did the submarine tour (which sucked - there were no marine life to speak of, and the poor narrator guy was trying to excite us with what basically amounted to floating kelp in the sea) and we got this lil' nifty picture at a tourist spot called "Love Land" - for the neophyte, or just the person who is too lazy to click the link, it's a place to educate people about sex - well, Koreans nowadays are pretty educated (but from what I hear, they don't use protection, which is . . . well, let's just say I'm glad I'm married), but apparently even 20~30 years ago some newlyweds didn't know how to do the horizontal tango.

And Jeju being the honeymoon destination for Korean newlyweds, a new business market grew out from then on . . ..
(On the downside, I was expecting XXX when all I got was a Skinamax R)

Last but not least, the beaches. Oh, the beaches. There was this one particular spot that was nearby the hotel we were at and I have to say, it was beautiful there - the island is volcanic, so the sand had this beautiful mix of gold and black and the beach itself was (what was told to me by a friend of mine here) a "pancake" beach - which means that the beach water was flat and you could go out, pretty much, for about 200 yards and you'd still be waist deep.

All in all, I think it was a blast - as far as vacations go, I'd give it a solid 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
(I've taken down a star because we were stupid enough to go beaching at the sunniest hours of the day, on the first day, without sunscreen. We paid for it dearly)

North Koreans

First of all, sorry; I havent' kept up with this blog as much as I should.

Not, that there's like a blog-o-meter or something.

Anyhow, been back from Jeju Island and just finished peeling all my skin off. Pleasant to itch my back only to find a sliver of skin has decided to jump ship from my back . . . onto my hands.

(A full week of beaching on a volcanic island was kinda nice, though.)

Anyhow, now that that business is done and over with* I have another topic I want to (aimlessly) ramble on about;

North Koreans.

I mean, where to begin, right? Well, let me be a little more specific here - I've been to North Korea, the most totalitarian nation on the face of the Earth, before this whole fiasco - right before, and to the same damn place, actually, and let me give you an impression of the North Koreans I've seen there.

Stiff as a board.

You may ask yourself; what, are they bored stiff**? Are they dead? Are they the stereotypical-hard-nosed commie types we've all seen in 80's codl war movies? Are they scared stiff?

My answer, and of course I could be wrong here, is that it's a mix of all - and in retrospect, an uneasy fear, especially around caucasians.

Why do I being such a topic up, you may ask? First, I'd say get out of my head, and secondly, I'm currently volunteering to teach North Korean refugees English through a small church*** - essentially, they get a free college education but they have to qualify to enter - and admittedly, I've just started to help, but damn.

It's kind of weird to see them in person - what I mean is, they are, physically, just the same as South Koreans - but they do have a North Korean accent, and they seem just as friendly and outgoing as any of us - it still blows my mind that just two months ago I've seen others like them in North Korea, standing stiffly, monitoring our evey move and anxious to not be around any white people. And that they had to risk their lives to get here.

I'm not saing that we should be grateful to be here (where ever that "here" may be - America or S. Korea), but goddamn that outs some things into perspective.

I tell you - one the one hand, I feel for what they may have had to go through, but they have my utmost respect.

*I'll post pictures later. Maybe.
**Rimshot
***No, I've not suddenly turned fundie Christian - it's a coworker's church that I've decided to help out in.

Dog, or the eating thereof

Yes, I ate dog.

I know, now I'm never, ever going to hear the end of it from you guys.

But let's get down to the meat-and-potatoes of this (HA! Get it? Mean and potatoes? Ha . . ..) - how was it? Well -

Backstory - This is how it went down; Seoul still has a very, very small foreigner community for a city this size. And being one of a handful of people who are foreign, I get talking to a few other American/Canadian teachers about eating dog, and some are for it and some are not.

Anyhow, Leah's best friend in Korea, Jenna, is leaving soon - next weekend, in fact - and she's been wanting to eat dog since we got here.

So Leah, Jenna, and I go to a little dog place around the corner - we've been asking around if anyone knows if there's a good place for it, and no one knows - so Leah suggests going to a place around where Jenna lives, close to Leah's (I live about an hour away from where Leah lives, more on that later) - it's new, and it's big. I'm kinda weary of new places in Seoul(there are overnight operations everywhere here), but whatever - I agree and go with them.

We walk in, and this solid wall of . . . funk hits us. It's not quite wet dog as you'd expect, but it's a weird mesh of burning-rancid-something that just doesn't scream "hygienic and delicious". I mean, dog's supposedly nutritious, right(well, I suppose y'all prolly don't know - yes, it is; and as all things Asian, it's also supposedly an aphrodisiac/assist in virility)?

Well, whatever - we're on a mission, damnit; and I'd be damned if I don't complete said mission. We plop down, hoping against hope that we get used to the funk (we don't) and order dog and a coke.

The coke came first.

Anyhow, the dog (stew):

As you can see, it's just a stew of sorts with meat and assorted vegetables. Due to the aforementioned funk, however, Jenna and I just picked at the meat and had some, and promptly got out. Leah was going to try a piece, but the smell got to her, so it was a no-go. By the way, the stew smelled fine, so it wasn't that.

Honestly, it's nothing outstanding about dog meat that would scream, well, I dunno, "woof" maybe?

It's just meat, dammit!

Oddly enough, though, it wasn't the meat that bothered me - it was the fat; there were some fatty pieces there, but thinking that the fat came from a dog somewhat disturbed me. I can't wrap my head around why dog fat would do that, but well, it did.

Anyhow, overall - I would give dog meat a . . . well, I can't tell. Like I said before, the funk was so overpowering
that I don't think it'd be fair to give the meat a rating at this time. However, for the restaurant, I'd give it a 3/10.

To fairly assess dog, I think I will have to try again sometime, at a different place.

(On a sidenote, Leah wants to get a dog when we go back. To keep as a pet, not eat. I think I'm down with that. I wonder what it'd say if it knew that I ate one of its kind.

Probably "woof".)