The Eye of Patrick

I was planning to update my journal two day ago, but i never got about it.

On thursday I went to Oshou with my friend Kevin, this a resturant that serves Chinese food. It is a fairly popular chain in Japan. They have Ramen, gyoza (chinese dumplings) and other stuff. It is a great place to go and eat becuase it is so cheap. I think i have gone there atleast 10-20 times since coming to Japan. But because i have gone there so much with my friend the owner has started to recognize who we are and so a couple months ago we got a Gyoza card. This card is a reward card and I have forgotten it a few times on my trip there. So when we went Thursday I only had 5 stamps.

But i ordered two gyoza as i love that stuff and a bowl of rice. So me and kevin joked about whether i could eat two whole things. But i started and near the end i ate them all. I was amazed hehe…. but then becuase they are so amazingly good I was able to do that.

So we were checking out and paying our bills and I gave him my card and he said “chotto matte” or wait a second, so i was like sure. I thought may be i was just getting a discount as usually when i go there i pay the bill and some young worker does it and then the owner comes over and saids no no, and changes it and we end up with a lower bill. So i thought may be that was it, but nope, he was stamping my book. At first i thought i would only get two stamps as i had only ordered two orders of gyoza. But after he got to the second stamp and i thought he would quit. He kept on going and going and going, until i had the whole book filled! That was 15 stamps he gave me, so i was happy. That he went and got me the gyoza premimum club card hehe…. this means that whenever i go there i will get a discounthehe…. now that means I must keep going hehe…..

Today…. is tuesday?

Yes it is hehe…. so I woke up today and was thinking whether i should or should not go to class. For the most part i was thinking of not going as my Japanese teacher is not the most wonderful educator. But i decided I would feel too guilty if i skipped class so I went after all and it turned out we had a quizz that day so I was lucky. The next thing was I had not prepapred for my quiz as i was not sure it was today. But luckly I knew most of the vocab and one ??? which is magazine, but i did not know, but for some reason i was listening to a converstation with other people and they were talking about this word (before class) so i just guessed and on another one i also guessed. So that was very lucky of me. Then we were able to get an extension on our skit we had to do the next day.

Then I went to my Peace, conflict and Human Rights and somehow go suckered into giving a presentation on foreign Aid and what is it and how it effects developing countries in the SE asian region. I like this topic as it mixes my strong interest in more political side of development, plus it is in a topic that i am interested in and good thing it is a topic that could possibly lead to future employment. So i will see, i like the topic, it is just getting around the topic and getting a feel of it. But i remember I took a class with a prof last year at trent who’s speciality is this topic, so may be I will give it a look. I can’t wait to finally dig into an assignment.

Then i was walking out and i ran into a friend and was like lets go eat and he said sure. So we ended up eating and then his friend came and a japanese girl who i had not met before. I wish i spoke better japanese as they were gabbering away and I was left sitting there understanding a small part of the converstation. Like i could understand it and follow it pretty good, but I could not reply as my vocab was not good enough. But with due time, and i need to stop being shy.

Then… i had to leave to go to teach english class again, i love the train ride as usual as it gives me time to think and sometimes just to look around and see the real Japan. I enjoy it a lot. My class was as fun as usual, we usually just talk about pointless stuff and it is fun. We did an example today, where I was a customer who wanted to buy stuff from his company and he was trying to sell me it. It was a break from our usual english which is more causal to a form that is more formal. But it was a good mix.

Oh yesterday was V-day in Japan, and it is interesting experience, i was able to get Chocolates from other girls, just friends. As the custom in japan is to give chocolates to friends or bf on the 14th and you will get something back a month later on white day.

I must say I have the best gf in the world, she got me M&Ms that had custom sayings on them, i did not notice at first but then later on i looked at them and was shocked to realize that they said Meu Amor Patrick hehe, i loeve her hehe…. and she gave me salt and vingear chips, they are yummy. But i hid them or i would eat them all in one day.

Patrick

I think no matter how many times I visit Kyoto I will ever get tired of it, there is something about that town that is enchanting and draws me back again. The 2nd day of my girlfriends trip to Kinki was a trip to Kyoto. We were going to do the traditional stuff, like visit Kyozumi Temple. This was my second visit in a long time, as the first visit was at the beginning of the year and I was unable to visit it during the changing of the leaves. But I was lucky this year as the leafs changed not so quick this year so I was able to get the tail end of the change in colours.

We entered the temple in the afternoon, so I was worried we would not be able to get any good pictures. But we were able to get a lot of the golden afternoon light, so I was lucky. The reason that I like this temple so much is that it stands out their on top of a hill and you look out on Kyoto and you feel this is a old country. In Canada so many things that we call old would be considered new. But in Japan they have been able to perserve a long tradition of culture.

I feel lost for words so I will just cut to the chase and post my pictures.

Please leave comments

So I have not fully updated my journal in what has been a while, i do not know a lack of interest in updating it. But I saw a beautiful picture site and I realized I should update it.

My winter vacation started with me picking up my girlfriend at the airport as she was flying in from California, it was the first time I had seen her in 4 months so i was very excited and looking forward to it. It was scary to think of it, as we had spent the last four months chatting but from the moment she exited the gate we would spend every moment together.

But it was funny as I was waiting for her, I ran into two friends who had decided to go to the airport as they had just seen the movie “terminal” and wanted to visit the airport. That was good, as i was talking to them, my girlfriends mother called me, i was so nervous and I did not speak japanese. So they were able to speak for me.

As I was waiting for her to exit, I kept on imaging how it would be when she exit, i ran it through my head a million time, then i worried I would think someone else is her and run up to them and hug them hehee. But that was not the case and when i saw her my heart was filled with joy as I ran forward to hug her That is where my winter holidays begin.

I think the next day or the day after, my mind at the moment is jumbled, but we went to Osaka aqurium. This was my second time going there, as I had gone there when i arrived here, but my girlfriend wanted to go, so well I could not say no to her, could i?

So i am updating my journal and I feel a surreal mood of sorts, I am now working in Osaka and teaching English to a student. The reason that i consider a surreal moment is the beauty of being alone among the crazyness of the people around you. I swear one day I just want to stand in a crowd of people and twirl around with my hands open and feel so free. It is a crazy feeling. People say it is horrible for you to have to take the train to osaka as it is about a hour each way for only a two hour lesson. But i say no as i am a person who enjoys movement and the train is that beautiful thing, it is kind of like a metaphor to my life in some ways. Since i have left Calgary I have not turned back and have kept on moving forward towards the final resting place. But along this trip I have picked up people and let people off as the have entered and exited my life. Sometimes I am alone along the journey and other times i am crammed together on an a local train to Kyobashi, but every moment is a movement of progress.

I think i have found myself to a degree in Japan, I know it is cliche to say that and I do not want to follow in the steps of most gaijans that come to Japan and fall in love with it, i want my love for Japan to be an unique experience. I feel comfortable in Japan because it is an interesting culture that gels with my personality so well. It is hard to explain it, but in a country where I can’t read a thing hardly and only speak a few words of the language I feel comfortable, i feel like i belong. That is not the case at Gaidai where I feel it is a different reality from Japan, where I wish i could break free from. But I feel I belong in japan when i go somewhere and enjoy it, whether it is alone or with friends. The people i find are so kind to me, but at the same time, i can be alone. I think because I am so different that i feel so comfortable. In some ways I don’t want to return to Canada as I worry I will return to normality and to a life of blah. But at the same time I miss some aspects of Peterborough, mostly my friends, i miss Trent. Some how the most unique and wonderful people have ended up there.

The World is a place of imperfections of where things you want to make your perfect world can be found, bu they can’t be found in one place, so somehow you have to either accept the imperfections of your world or spend a entire life searching for it. I do not know what my road will be.