Below are the most recent 3 friends' journal entries.

Saturday, November 7th, 2009
eikaiwa [ naktowers ]	3:20p	To Eikaiwa or not to Eikawa I have the chance to move to Japan on the back of a big Walmart style English school, but I'm hearing that the hours are long and often times people dislike these "corporate" teaching jobs. I also have the option to move to Taiwan and look for a job with the same pay but better hours. BUT it's Taiwan, and not Japan... Keep in mind that I am generally pretty lazy when it comes to work (hey I'm honest!), so anything above 35 hours is not cool at all. What would you guys do? I've always wanted to live in Japan, but Taiwan (Taipei) seems pretty sweet and it's only a 2 hour plane ride to Osaka. Thanks! (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
eikaiwa [ onmyownroad ]	6:05p	Eating on a budget Hey everyone! My cash is low recently, so I'm looking for ideas that will help me slash the cost of food. I also am not so experienced when it comes to cooking over here, so the cheap meals I'm used to making back home aren't so cheap in Japan. I also don't have a rice cooker, which is lame. Please give me your recipes, and websites or resources you've used, or your own advice. I'm sure I'm not alone in this situation. Thanks! (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
expats [ smittenbyu ]	3:30p	National identity A few days ago I skipped a headline that for the first time in a long time an American has won the NYC marathon! yay! It took me back to Honolulu where the marathon winners were always some former Olympic runners who happened to be African! So, I just thought, yay! for the change and moved on with life. I never looked into to see who the winner was or anything. I just admire people who run and finish marathons whether they come in first or last is least of importance to me. This morning a friend linked to the following article - - To Some, Winner Is Not American Enough that made for an interesting read. But I have seen this so much even in other countries. How Malaysia idolised the Australian Idol winner, because the Australian who won the show was of Malaysian origin. I don't think the Malaysian Idol winner got as much attention (although I am not sure if Malaysia Idol had started then!)! How the American astronaut was revelled in India because of her Indian roots. My in-laws do it too. Whenever we run into anyone who looks Indian, they are Indians, even if they have grown up in the US and even say they are Americans, that part is never acknowledged. They see Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN, or the Louisiana Governor, or the Indian doctor at the clinic, they are all Indians for them, even though the Doctor identifies himself as American and informs us that he never lived in India and was born and raised here by parents who are from India. And yet, when they read such articles they jump and say how can you say there is such a thing as "true-American" when it's a land of immigrants. ummmm.... Even with me, my FIL constantly emphasises that I am Indian, I should represent the country well. I can never tell him that I don't really feel 100% Indian. I hold an Indian passport, but that means little to me. I guess we relate with things we are familiar with in this crazy unknown world. I myself remember feeling thrown off being in Hawaii, when locals who looked Asian acted so very much American. I was surprised at myself even after living in a multicultural atmosphere for a lot of my life.  It took me a long while to reconcile those prejudices I had deep in me. Of course, by the time I got that adjusted, I moved to Malaysia, where I had to again readjust that they are Asian Asians!! (It was mostly the accents that used to throw me off!) What I also see missing in the article is what does the runner think? What does he identify himself as? Or is he one like some of us, who dread the question of, "where are you from?" (14 Comments |Comment on this)