Natalie Goes to Japan: May 2005

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

31 Days to Liftoff

31 days until I set off for the big bad world. I'm using this month to practice my blogging before I get to Japan. It's a lousy day here in Georgia...atypical summer...atypical year for that matter. It's Memorial Day and I am stuck inside because of the rainy weather. It does give me time to start this whole blogging thing.

: Name: Natalie; Location: Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

40 year old very married vegetarian blonde woman having a midlife crisis. So I've taken a job in Hamamatsu, Japan teaching English, hoping this will be a career change and finding my destiny and maybe earning a little cash on the way there.

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Chotto mate - "Just a second", the most important phrase in the world when working with 3 year olds

Junba - "Wait your turn", also important with masses of toddlers

Dame - "Bad", "Stop it", sounds rude, but it is very common

Otsukare sama deshita - Sorta like "a good day's work", said to me repeatedly by the staff at the Community Center all day long

Shakai Hoken Centa - "Community Center" the place where I do most of my teaching

Muzukashii - "Difficult", you start realizing how difficult English is when you start teaching it

Yuubinkyoku - "Post Office", it's a good landmark in my neighborhood. Okay it's the only landmark

Shussekibo - The attendance book I have to ask for several times a day

Kekko des - No, Thank You. Useful for a meriad of situations...I don't want a bag, I don't need the CD player for this class or that food looks gross.

Oshikko - I need to pee.

Ki o tsukete - Be careful

Suwatte - Please sit down

The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Good use of setting and engaging story. Score: 8

Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
Could have been really confusing, but not. Really good. Score: 9

Wild Swans
by Jung Chang
History of 3 generations of Chinese women who lived through the changes to the ancient empire, through civil war and the Cultural Revolution into the Bureacrat Nation China has become today. Quite interesting and involving. Score: 8

Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold
Harsh situation in the beginning, but a sweet story of coming to grips with death for everyone involved...including the deceased. Score: 7

Marie Antoinette: The Journey
by Antonia Fraser
Read the first half in under a week, the second half is just as well written, but it was hard for me to read about. Score: 9

The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell
by Lillian Jackson Braun
Series has gotten so dragged down in it's own world, not worth reading
Score: 4

Sophie's World
by Jostein Gaarder
Thinly veiled philosophy textbook, parading as a novel. Took me over a year to complete.
Score: 4

Fire Sale
by Sara Paretsky
Usually good author phoned this one in with cardboard characters and dragging up too many old characters.
Score: 4

Eyewitness: Mexico
Read cover to cover, cuz I'm crazy that way.
Score 8.

Insight: Cancun & the Yucatan
Had good info, but the structure of the book was horrible.
Score 5.

Running with Scissors
by Augusten Burroughs
Supposed to be amusing and quirky, when really it was unsettling and pathetic.
Score 3.

S is for Silence
by Sue Grafton
Dependable author gives us the usual escapism that I so eagerly crave. Some memorable characters.
Score 7.

Guilty Pleasures
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Very uninispired vampire novel.
Score 2.

Miss Wyoming
by Douglas Coupland
Excellent, fun, quirky characters in an interesting plot. Score 9.

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
by Jane Wagner
Very dated Lily Tomlin play. Score 4

Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction
by Sue Townsend
A little too slapsticky for me. Score 6.

Kiss of Shadows
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Intriging setup, but author gets sidetracked by uninteresting descriptions. Score 6

Mermaid Chair
Sue Monk Kidd
Couldn't connect with the main character, such a pity. Score 6

In a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson
Fabulous. Educated me, interested me, and made me laugh out loud. Score 10.

The Between Boyfriends Book
Cindy Chupack
Couldn't relate. Score 5.

Laughing as They Chased Us
Sarah Jackman
Likable characters, all expats in Paris, in interesting situations. Score 9.

The Jane Austen Book Club
Karen Joy Fowler
Nice book, had trouble keeping the characters straight. Score 6.

Dead as a Doornail
by Charlaine Harris
Terrible crap, written with the sensibilities of a 14 year old
Score: 3

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
Intriguing, simple main character with an interesting story.
Score: 8

Shakespeare's Landlord
by Charlaine Harris
Dark, sparse mystery but very typical
Score: 5

Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby
Good characters, intriguing plot, lots of dark humor.
Score: 7

Brother and Sister
by Joanna Trollope
Not my favorite of her books, but I still read it in two days. She has a way of making me want to come back, again and again.
Score: 7

Million $$ Baby
by F.X. Toole
The more I learned about boxing in these short stories, the less I liked it.
Score: 4

Eyewitness: Thailand
I love these books, but I really need to learn to buy a city guide as well as a country guide. I have to say it let me down as far as Phuket, but makes me want to see more of Thailand.
Score: 7

Traveler's Tales: Thailand
Not as educational, or as entertaining as I hoped
Score: 5

Very Young Learners
Sheila M. Ward
Excellent book with lots of practical and fun ideas for ESL Preschool Classes like mine
Score: 10

Belle de Jour
Adventures of a London Call Girl
Very jarring to go from mundane life to vivid sex. Don't know if I got used to it, or there is just more in the beginning.
Score: 7

Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
Sad, amazing and fantastical. Very slow start and too many distractions.
Score: 6

Lucky Girls
by Nell Freudenberger
A collection of stories based all over the world, subtle and lovely.
Score: 9

The Tale of Murasaki
by Liza Dalby
Historical fiction on an interesting subject, time and place. Unfortunately the last third of the book drags.
Score: 6

The Other Side of the Story
by Marian Keyes
Enjoyable, light, quick and fun
Score: 8

Shanghai Baby
by Wei Hui
Didn't like any character, including the narrator
Score: 4

Nights of Rain and Stars
by Maeve Binchy
Beautiful Locale (Greece), great beginning, trite ending
Score: 8

Eleanor Rigby
by Douglas Coupland
He does a really good job of capturing lonliness, unfortunately the woman's voice never rings true.
Score: 6

Fingersmith
by Sarah Walters
A frustating book, because parts of it were excellent, to be followed by boring, hard-to-keep-reading parts.
Score: 5

A Village Affair
by Joanna Trollope
My favorite author takes on interesting, truly possible situations, and gives you characters you would be happy to know.

Equal Rites
by Terry Pratchett

Murder on a bad hair day
by Jeremy Harmer

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardner
by M.C. Beaton

Rosie Dunne
by Cecilia Ahern

A Spanish Lover
by Joanna Trollope

Bridget Jones' Diary
(billionth time I have read this)
by Helen Fielding

Harry Potter
and the Order of the Pheonix
by J.K. Rowling

Across the Nightengale Floor
by Lian Hearn

Big Stone Gap
by Adriana Trigiani

Parson Harding's Daughter
by Caroline Harvey
(aka Joanna Trollope)

Hellboy
One of the better superhero movies to come out in awhile. I hope there's a sequel.

A Good Woman
Rented this DVD without knowing anything about it (everything was written in Japanese). Turned out to be Oscar Wilde. Nice Surprise.

Must Love Dogs
Only slightly amusing piece of fluff.

Spanglish
I adored this movie!!!

Supersize Me
Made me hungry, then made me nauseous.

Walk the Line
Really good, unfortunately at times I just didn't believe it.

Harry Potter #4
The actors all look like adults and not 14 year olds.

Million Dollar Baby
Didn't think it really captured the brutality, or even the essence of the book.

Welcome to Collinwood
Didn't keep me involved. I kept wandering away.

The Pianist
Good, but almost unwatchable in the horrors seen. Makes you say "Humans suck!"

Elizabethtown
"Garden State" wannabe, but fails. Never believed any of it.

Bridget Jones' Diary
A Diary cannot be translated into a movie. This is proof positive.

The Corpse Bride
Entertaining, great visuals, a feast for the eyes.

Arsenic and Old Lace
Believe it or not it's too suspenseful for me.

Reign of Fire
Pretty good Sci-Fi, action movie.

The Englishman who...
A trite but sweet movie

Star Trek: First Contact
A fun Next Generation movie with lots of creepiness, explosions and laughs

Ae Fond Kiss
A predictable, yet sweet story of an second generation Indian man living in Scotland who falls in love with his sisters Irish Catholic teacher.

Charlie & Choc Fac
More true to the story, but I wasn't thrilled by it

Strictly Ballroom
Pre-curser to Moulin Rouge. Outrageous on a smaller scale, with a less fragmented plot.

I Heart Huckabees
Totally silly, disjointed and dumb. Yet I liked it.

Harry Potter #1
I enjoyed this film for the dozenth time. Hope I never grow up.

Philadelphia Story
Storyline is a bit off kilter somehow, but the cast makes the relationships come alive.

I'm With Lucy
Romantic comedy which was both romantic and comedic!

March of the Penguins
Incredible photography and really interesting

My Life Without Me
Great cast completely squandered

Head in the Clouds
Melodramatic clap-trap

Howl's Moving Castle
Miyazaki is probably Japan's greatest animation director, and this is just more proof of why.

Sideways
Reminded me alot of Napoleon Dynomite, except for adults

Young Adam
Very graphic sex and long boring story.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Not your same-old same-old, I loved it.

Kill Bill 2
More brilliant dance-like violence. Yet I didn't really like the end.

Life Aquatic
Amusing, strange, quirky, enjoyed it.

Napoleon Dynamite
Geeks are people, too. For good and bad. Liked it.

Wimbledon
Can't decide whether it's a romantic comedy or a sports movie and ends up doing both half-assed.

Dogma
Wickedly brilliant and hilarious.

Robin Williams Live on Broadway
Already pretty dated, and is a slow starting concert, but he ends with a bang.

Monsters, Inc.
Best Disney Movie since Aladin.

Three to Tango
Stupid plot, but Matthew Perry makes me smile.

While You Were Sleeping
Classic romantic comedey

Kill Bill Volume 1
A really good piece of cinema.

Motorcycle Diaries
A nice movie where the main characters pick up and go on a grand adventure.

Gone with the Wind
Still holds up beautifully. The relationship between Scarlet and Rhett is as complicated and sophisticated as anything being done today.

Before Sunset
A sequel that is as wonderful as the first movie. Touching, a wonderful moment in time captured on film.

About a Boy
A book I loved, turned into a movie I love. Didn't think Hugh could pull it off. I was wrong.

Moulin Rouge
Wierd, wired, something not quite right, but for some reason I really like this movie.

Four Weddings and a Funeral
My all time favorite movie. Makes me laugh, cry and fall in love every single time.

> Ocean's Eleven
George Clooney in an Armani Suit. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Sports Night - The Entire Series
The best show you never saw. Has awsome rewatchability.

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Natalie Goes to Japan

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

31 Days to Liftoff

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