Entries this day: Phong Work tsunatomo ug

Phong

3:17pm JST Monday 24 November 2003

Yahoo, jack! Phong was willing to work my last three lessons today so I can go see Nami's tap recital!

I offered him 9000 yen on the spot to cover the three lessons, which is a bit more than I'll make for them, but I don't care.

The recital better be good. haha

Work

3:19pm JST Monday 24 November 2003

Only three lessons before lunch today, but then only TWO lessons after lunch. Whoohoo! I taught one student twice today. Her name is くみこ, which I decided I could remember cause I had her >M<.

I don't remember her face really, but she was wearing a red turtleneck sweater.

I figured out how to remember ゆたか's name; it ends with か like a question sentence. So I can be like, "ゆたかですか" and it rhymes and I'll be right.

(wtf, right? I guess I am learning this shit.)

tsunatomo

7:20pm JST Monday 24 November 2003

I understood my first verbal Japanese joke today!

I am "つなとも" with ひろ, one of なみ's tomodachis. Wow I spelled tomodachi out without noticing that it's not English.

The performance was not exactly amazing at first; I was like "meh" but then it got better and better, with my favorite tapdance move being tatatatata back and forth on toe tips. Sweet.

Okay, I've turned off my screen so I use less battery. I'm on the train going home now.

So I was in line 45 minutes before the show, and actually 15 minutes before the doors opened so I figured I could get some flowers for Nami, as suggested to me by Liz. I wandered about the area and found myself at a park. I wondered if I could just pick some flowers (not) but then on the way back along the same streets I had been previously, this time I saw a flowershop. Nice. And the flowers were only 1000 yen for a bundle. The woman was just putting it together and I was like, Um cause I didn't want to have to order flowers and then have it go through some bureaucracy of flower making; I need them now.. but then bang she sold me the bundle she had just put together.. Sweet.

Um, so oh, so then I realized I hadn't put Nami's name on the flowers, so if I wasn't able to see her then I had no idea how I'd be able to get them to her. But I suspected (correctly) that I'd be able to see her at least briefly after the show. I found her in the crowd and gave her the flowers and she found her friends and introduced me (after they gave her flowers (yay) ). My 日本語 froze at first, but then I was able to get a little bit out. Oh, and then Nami was like, "ひろは綱島ですんでます," and as Hiro was like, "where are you from," (in English) and at the same time I was like, 私も and they were like, ほんと, すごい, and all that. That's when Izu said "tsunatomo" which is shortened version of tsunashima tomodachis, or tsunashima friends. I got it and laughed. yay!

We got pictures and I assured Nami that I'm shy and then we left Nami and then they dropped me off at the train station and peace out; I'm alone again in Japan. But I have a tsunatomo, who I may or may not ever see again.

The performance? Well, it featured songs by Will Smith "Wild Wild West" and "Nod Ya Head" and there were some flamenco (?) songs with castinets (sp) and some R & B songs, some jazz tunes, and a spoof of NHK programming, and it featured a cat named Chance Taylor, who's apparently famous in the US (on the tap scene) and he closed out the show with a solo, including him falling off the fucking stage as he was tapping backwards with his eyes closed, (I imagine, cause he had his eyes closed for a lot of the forward facing tappage as well) and I'm like, "damn G open ya eyes" and I was nervous that he'd fall off the stage again. Anyway, he seemed fine and recovered as nicely as one can after falling off the stage backwards in tap shoes, (right at my feet, too; I was on the front row (open seating)) and well, yeah.

Um.. Nami appeared three times in the show, plus the finale with all the cast. It wasn't like a play at all, the parts were almost completely disparate, with only a few segues. From what I can tell, all the tappers had to buy their own outfits, as they were all just a bit different. . I wonder how much of a budget this show actually had; they did a lot with an apparently low budget. Specially seeing how I didn't pay for this ticket; I dunno how many free tix Nami got to give away.

The girls asked me if I have a girlfriend and I was like, def, in Texas.

ug

11:48pm JST Monday 24 November 2003

Having limited success with my homework tonight.

Problem 1: I'm starting the night before it's due.

Problem 2: I don't remember what was assigned.

Problem 3: I'm tired.

Problem 4: I'm not being graded on this, so I probably won't do it.

Unproblem 1: I see the value of doing homework.

Unproblem 2: I see that if I do homework, I'll probably do better in class.

Unproblem 3: I see that I have made progress.

Problem 5: There's not many days left in this class's semester during which I can execute the brilliance of my plan: do homework sooner.

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I'm going to bed.