My apartment almost caught fire today

I suppose it's ok since Tina got a NYPD officer's phone number out of it.

The rest of the world is ignorant

"There have been over 9 million refugees and internally displaced people from conflicts in Africa. Hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered from a number of conflicts and civil wars. If this scale of destruction and fighting was in Europe, then people would be calling it World War III with the entire world rushing to report, provide aid, mediate and otherwise try to diffuse the situation. This article explores why Africa has been largely ignored and what some of the root causes of the problems are."

I think it's worth taking a look at.

Give My Regards to Broadway

Ya baby! Saw a Broadway play yesterday after orientation where I meet a bunch of awesome Friends Worlder peeps. The show was In the Heights, which apparently won best Broadway Show last year. It was an interesting story, and the set was really well done. And we get to go see it again since the website had the wrong times and about 40 people were late. So ya!

Times Square last night was really, really cool. It's so bright and flashy. I have to say that all the billboards and advertisements are more for asthetic. Seeing a 100foot Bud Lite does not make me want to drink a Bud Lite. And the 10foot Yahoo! sign does not want to make me use Yahoo! But it's all about flashy lights and the reputed atmosphere of Times Square. I wish I could have been there for the inauguration. We watched it in the student lounge. It's strange to think that most of my academic years have been reigned over by Bush. And now most of my post-academic years will be a completely new rule. A better one. Wooo Obama! Obamarama!

I really like Brooklyn so far. Our apartment is really great, it's a cute nook in the wall. The floors are creaky, everything is slightly slanted. The kitchen is tucked under the stairs. It's very bohemian. I can hear our neighbors either behind us or above us watching TV all the time, and their cig/pot smoke drifts through my vent. Our landlord Glenn is really nice, too. But it's weird that he wants rent in cash...

I really like the center staff, and I think my classes are going to be fun. My African Lit professor is smart, obviously, but I can't really tell if he's all that into teaching us, cause he rolls his eyes a lot. I like my advisor and senior thesis teacher. I have to pick a thesis topic still, and get my internship set up. I was really hoping I could get a part time job this semester just to have some pocket change, but I don't think that's going to be a reality. I have enough to get me through the semester, pay for rent and groceries and have some leeway with fun stuff, but I'd like to have a little bit coming in.

I was going to post video of my Japan dorm and center, but I can't find the cord to my camera... so those will be up soon, and also of NY!

What is a "butte" and how is it "crested"?

This is the view from Tina's friend Beth's place in Crested Butte. That mountain, which I fell down for about 4 hours last Monday on my first snowboarding trip, is apparently a "crested butte". I get what a crested butte is, but I still don't know how to describe it...

Well, my lovely friend tonsilitis has flared up again, as usual, at the most convenient time. We leave for New York tomorrow, and it dumped snow last night. It's really pretty here, but who's too afraid to do anything except drink orange juice in case her throat decides to really go haywire?

Colorado's been fun, though I feel bad I've been mostly a bum, due largely to not feeling very well. But all of Tina's friends are really cool. We had a good time in Crested Butte snowboarding and barhopping (one of the reasons I've been feeling sick- sore and sick. That and Tina refusing to let me roll the window up for about 45minutes despite me beating her ass at cold tolerance. Minnesota, bitch. Can't beat those winters).

I'm ready for New York though, I can't wait to get to the apartment. I'm still working on finding an internship. It's rough going, no one is getting back to be. I've found a few cool organizations, Freedom House and School for Human Rights, Tibet House, and the American Indian Youth Council. But no response yet. I haven't gotten anything done on my thesis yet either... ugh. But it's good to know that I'm not the only Friends Worlder who is behind... guaranteed, 90% of my class doesn't have anything yet either.

Here's dear Tina, showing off our new motto after cute snowboarder boy got in the way of us enjoying Batman. (The paper says Til Dicks Do Us Part. We're classy, we know)

The Internet is Impermanent!!! and other things

It turns out that journalspace, where my blog was hosted before, cannot recover their database after the crash. So, new blog space! Woo! Happy New Year!

I'm getting ready to leave Japan- tomorrow. Wow. I've got terrible butterflies already, everything is packed and waiting... I said goodbye to Dan and Barbara a few hours ago. I'm taking the shinkansen to Tokyo, and then have to switch trains at Tokyo station to the airport...

My time here has been... a learning experience. I wouldn't call it todemo tanoshi but it was certainly interesting. I learned that I don't understand Japanese culture or people, and that I don't fit in, and that I will probably never have the ability to be somewhat communicative in Japanese. It's all very ambiguous. That's what this semester has been, ambiguous.

The holidays here, though, I like. It's not a big deal, it's just another day with a moment of recognition. "Oh, it's Christmas. Oh, it's New Year." It was not nearly as stressful being in Japan for Christmas as it is in the States. Black Friday, people spending too much money to "prove" to people they love them. I don't know, I just don't get it.

Last night I went down to Heian Shrine and watched the crowds. They had it set up like a festival. Food vendors lined the main street. I stuffed myself with okonomiyaki. I almost missed midnight, and would have if people hadn't started to suddenly fidget and clap. The biggest ruckus were 3 boys who jumped off the railing behind me and shouted "Yah!"

New Years in Japan is all about family, and the first visit of the year to a temple or shrine is a big family affair. Everyone goes out (to 3 shrines, if you want to be really traditional) to pray and ring bells at midnight. At Yasaka Shrine, in Gion (an area of Kyoto) thousands of people line up to receive coils of rope that have a little ember on one end. They're supposed to go home and use this sacred fire, lit by a priest, to start the first cooking fire of the year. I saw a few people walking around Heian with coils o rope glowing on one end.

Other temples ring bells counting up to midnight, 108 times to represent the Buddhist notion of cleansing of sin and new beginnings. Heian shrine doesn't have a bell, apparently, so midnight was kind of a... anticlimax. I was standing at the back of the grounds (with a few other gaijin who were probably also perplexed about what was going on) and just watched to see what would happen. About 30 minutes to midnight, people started streaming in from the food stalls, gathering in front of the shrine. Within 15 minutes, the entire ground was jammed with people, waiting for midnight. I had no idea what would happen at midnight. Would bells ring joyously welcoming the new year? Would there be fireworks? Would the crowd collectively break into prayer? Would priests appear and do some sort of ritual? Or dance?

But, like I said, I hardly noticed that it was midnight until people started clapping. And then there was a mad press towards the shrine, when I thought the crowd couldn't get any more packed closer together, as people shuffled by the main hall, throwing coins and praying.

I thought of this crowd of Japanese people the ultimate test for any American mosh-pit or concert enthusiast. Anyone who thinks they are skilled at swimming their way through a tight crowd to front and center. I challenge anyone who thinks they are good at that to come to Japan and experience the tight press of people that is everyday life here! The ultimate test of course would be getting on a local train at Tokyo Station during rush hour, when white-gloved train attendants are PAID to push people into the trains like sardines and shut the doors without any lost fingers.

Anyway, so New Years was less excited than I had planned back when I got my tickets and had wanted to be in Tokyo. I probably could have gone to Tokyo and still have found stuff to do. The warnings of everything closing for a few days wasn't nearly as severe as I took it to be. Mostly just museums and touristy things were closed. There were still parties and bars open, like anywhere else in the world. I almost went to this Irish pub, but vetoed it. How often am I in Japan for New Years? I wanted to see what a real Japanese festivity felt like. It felt like a carnival without the rides and drunk people.

This semester has not been what I planned, but I'm still happy with coming here. And I realized the other day, after fighting all semester about whether or not I would, I knew that one day I will probably come back to Japan for a visit. I may not understand much of what's going on here, but the food's good.

One other sad realization though; I will be leaving without having made a single Japanese friend. Oh well.

Tomorrow I'm up bright and early (if I can sleep at all, that is) and off to Colorado for some fun in the snow with my friend and soon-to-be roomie. Happy Holidays, everyone!