I feel so sneaky. I’ve decided to write the occasional post on my computer so I can pop it onto my blog when I use the internet-enabled everyone computer at work for printing. This means I don’t have to cramp my poor thumbs typing on my cell phone to e-mail people. The poor thing will recognize and suggest Japanese words after the first character or two but doesn’t know any English words.
Anyways, work is going well. I went and watched my kendo club two mornings this week and they’re awesome. I adore my children more than I can say! I actually think I’m happier working at a ‘rough’ school than I would be at a ‘good’ school. These kids are really good kids (on the inside, outward appearances and behaviour can be deceiving) they just don’t like to study. I can’t blame them, I didn’t like French much when I had to learn it myself either. But, they’ve got lots of energy outside of class so I hope I can harness that in class. If not, oh well. I’ll hang out with them at clubs and lunch and the like. Next week is opening ceremony and self-intro week so I’m excited. We have our annual Sports Day next Saturday, too, and I’m on Blue Team so I get to practice with them all week!
My teachers don’t come and ask me for anything. So I’ve started hunting them down and harassing them. I’ve come up with some ideas for each level of class based on the textbook so I ask them if that’s the kind of thing they had in mind, if they think it would be okay, all that stuff. I think they’re lying sometimes when they say it looks good but hopefully that will pass when they realize I don’t get bothered by that sort of thing. So far I think we’re set to go for the first week or two though. Now I just have to get all my materials printed off and practice my introduction. I spend a lot of time making clip-art since I don’t have access to the internet on my computer yet, too.
Speaking of printing I decided to invest in a printer and lo and behold the printer I wanted anyway was on sale for 13,000 yen down from 22,000! When I first got here I’d just take two zeros off each number to approximate the amount in dollars, so it’s a difference of about $100. I was so happy! It’s a lovely Canon scanner/printer/everything machine and I’ve been told that replacement Canon ink is cheap here.
When I’m out and about I occasionally get recognized by a kid and they yell my name and run over to say hi and then stand awkwardly near me because neither of us have the ability to converse well in the other’s language yet. I bug them a little in English anyway before saying, ‘See you’ which means they can go. It’s so nice! I’m feeling like I’m becoming more a part of the community.
Last week Elissa came to visit for two days and we had a lovely time wandering around when I was off work and shopping. Then this last weekend I went to visit Midori in her home town (her family is lovely!) and we went to Nara on Sunday. I was mobbed by the ‘friendly’ deer who wanted the deer cookies we’d bought and got to see the biggest Buddha statue in Japan and some gorgeous temples. I can’t wait until I can upload pictures again!
My only trouble on my trip was when I took the last bus from the train station home and picked the wrong one. Apparently there is another town with exactly the same kanji that’s south of Ogaki instead of north. But after a very stilted conversation with the poor bus driver and a few minutes of frustrated crying at a dark bus stop I called Ryan on my cell phone and we managed to figure out where I was using a road sign. I cannot be thankful enough for this because road signs are few and far between in Japan and I’d just gotten my cell phone on Friday. Anyway, he and Alice came and rescued me in her car so everything worked out okay. And now I know which bus I should not take again.
Actually I went to pick L up in Ogaki last night because she’d just gotten into Japan around lunch and was really jet-lagged. The way to Ogaki station is actually ridiculously easy! I was so pleased! No trouble getting there and back even in the dark! The map books they’ve got in Japan really are awesome. So she’s going to stay for the weekend before she goes on her pilgrimage in Shikoku which is exciting.
My other exciting news is that not only did I survive my first real adventure in Japan but I’ve got a drivable car now, too! Dan and Ryan helped my get my insurance over the past few days and then took me out to practice driving on the wrong side of the road. I’ve done a couple of shorter trips by myself and I think I’m going to be okay. I just keep turning my windshield wipers on when I want to hit the left turn-signal.
Anyway, I see another teacher I need to bug so I’ll sign off for now. I hope all of you are doing well!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
August 22nd
The rest of my weekend consisted of hibernating in my house and getting some alone time. Ryan was a sweetie and changed the tires and grips on my bike with the ones from his broken bike. So I think I’ll stick with it for a while, although it’s tempting to get one of the ones with the gear cover so I can wear skirts and bike.
Monday was pretty fun. My first real day at school and I did my self-intro and then learned CPR (luckily I was drilled to death during multiple years of swim lessons and my occupational first-aid a few years back) and how to use an AED (defibrillator thing to help restart hearts) in Japanese. I didn’t understand the majority of the talking but I took my turn with the Little Anne doll and the practice AED machine. I can tell someone to call the Japanese 911 (119) now.
After lunch I went to Ogaki for a meeting about the Seino summer workshop for ALTs and we got the rundown on judging the regional speech contest and the various activities for elementary and junior high students. Afterwards we picked Elissa up at the train station and we all had dinner at Cocos then she came home with me.
Tuesday was awesome, too. I spent the morning alternately puttering away at my self-intro class and introducing myself to the huge number of students who were there for a homework check. (Remember, in Japan summer is the space between 1st and 2nd semester. Third semester runs from January to the beginning of March) I got to watch the basketball and volleyball teams practice, too. At one my Kyoto-sensei (Vice-principal) said it was okay to leave when I told him Elissa was here. After I got home Elissa and I spent the afternoon shopping downtown and exploring some. We would have taken an evening walk, too, if it hadn’t suddenly poured rain fifteen minutes after we got home. It was fun, though! I hadn’t been to a lot of the stores yet, either.
Today we dropped Elissa back in Ogaki on our way to the Seino workshop. I’m sad she couldn’t stay for longer but she wants to come back next summer so that’d be awesome! It was so good to have her here and to be able to talk with her and explore with her!
Today was fun but tiring. I was assigned to the elementary group in the morning so we played a few games with 120 children in the main hall and then we broke into groups to learn veggie names and play karuta (a slap card game) for an hour. We ate lunch with the students and in the afternoon I was with the elementary students again. I ‘read’ The Rainbow Fish to four different groups of children, by which I mean I summarized it loosely for them and two other ALTs acted it out with a few paper fish cut-outs. Then we endlessly repeated ‘which color would you like’ while all the children made their own rainbow fish from paper and glue. It was actually not too bad but I’ve learned that I most definitely prefer to make my own lessons to using a lesson plan someone else has handed me. It’s really tiring working with so many students over and over again, too. I definitely need to work on stamina for my Monday schools.
Tomorrow I’ll be helping a group of junior high students draft a play on the situation ‘samurai in the airport’. I’m interested to see how things go!
Monday was pretty fun. My first real day at school and I did my self-intro and then learned CPR (luckily I was drilled to death during multiple years of swim lessons and my occupational first-aid a few years back) and how to use an AED (defibrillator thing to help restart hearts) in Japanese. I didn’t understand the majority of the talking but I took my turn with the Little Anne doll and the practice AED machine. I can tell someone to call the Japanese 911 (119) now.
After lunch I went to Ogaki for a meeting about the Seino summer workshop for ALTs and we got the rundown on judging the regional speech contest and the various activities for elementary and junior high students. Afterwards we picked Elissa up at the train station and we all had dinner at Cocos then she came home with me.
Tuesday was awesome, too. I spent the morning alternately puttering away at my self-intro class and introducing myself to the huge number of students who were there for a homework check. (Remember, in Japan summer is the space between 1st and 2nd semester. Third semester runs from January to the beginning of March) I got to watch the basketball and volleyball teams practice, too. At one my Kyoto-sensei (Vice-principal) said it was okay to leave when I told him Elissa was here. After I got home Elissa and I spent the afternoon shopping downtown and exploring some. We would have taken an evening walk, too, if it hadn’t suddenly poured rain fifteen minutes after we got home. It was fun, though! I hadn’t been to a lot of the stores yet, either.
Today we dropped Elissa back in Ogaki on our way to the Seino workshop. I’m sad she couldn’t stay for longer but she wants to come back next summer so that’d be awesome! It was so good to have her here and to be able to talk with her and explore with her!
Today was fun but tiring. I was assigned to the elementary group in the morning so we played a few games with 120 children in the main hall and then we broke into groups to learn veggie names and play karuta (a slap card game) for an hour. We ate lunch with the students and in the afternoon I was with the elementary students again. I ‘read’ The Rainbow Fish to four different groups of children, by which I mean I summarized it loosely for them and two other ALTs acted it out with a few paper fish cut-outs. Then we endlessly repeated ‘which color would you like’ while all the children made their own rainbow fish from paper and glue. It was actually not too bad but I’ve learned that I most definitely prefer to make my own lessons to using a lesson plan someone else has handed me. It’s really tiring working with so many students over and over again, too. I definitely need to work on stamina for my Monday schools.
Tomorrow I’ll be helping a group of junior high students draft a play on the situation ‘samurai in the airport’. I’m interested to see how things go!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
August 18th
I finally got to cook my first dinner this evening. It was a really tasty Italian donburi recipe that I pulled from some Japanese cooking show I watched. I love how many kinds of mushrooms the grocery stores have here. No white button ones though.
I am sad to say that I have reached a new level of horror/ amusement at the state of my house. I went to use the microwave to reheat some frozen rice and I just... couldn’t. I don’t even want to clean it I just want to trash it straight away. The inside is covered in baked-on black crud and there are bits of mummified and scorched food lying around in there. It’s a biohazard in an extreme sense. I made new rice and saved the other stuff for later.
After deciding to make ice cubes today I discovered that one of the trays (which had both been sitting in the freezer since before I arrived) had brown stuff and mold in it. It must have grown when the electricity was off, but really now. *sighs* Almost half of the pots hanging in the kitchen are too rusted to use. The unusable ones were just put up or tucked behind the good ones so they weren’t visible at first sight.
Today turned into deep-clean-my-apartment day as soon as things cooled down enough for me to move around. There are still a few places that need a good scrub or dusting but my list is getting much shorter. I hearby resolve to make enough time to properly clean before I leave so my successor doesn’t need to deal with icky things right away.
I am sad to say that I have reached a new level of horror/ amusement at the state of my house. I went to use the microwave to reheat some frozen rice and I just... couldn’t. I don’t even want to clean it I just want to trash it straight away. The inside is covered in baked-on black crud and there are bits of mummified and scorched food lying around in there. It’s a biohazard in an extreme sense. I made new rice and saved the other stuff for later.
After deciding to make ice cubes today I discovered that one of the trays (which had both been sitting in the freezer since before I arrived) had brown stuff and mold in it. It must have grown when the electricity was off, but really now. *sighs* Almost half of the pots hanging in the kitchen are too rusted to use. The unusable ones were just put up or tucked behind the good ones so they weren’t visible at first sight.
Today turned into deep-clean-my-apartment day as soon as things cooled down enough for me to move around. There are still a few places that need a good scrub or dusting but my list is getting much shorter. I hearby resolve to make enough time to properly clean before I leave so my successor doesn’t need to deal with icky things right away.
Friday, August 17, 2007
August 17th
The Gifu orientation was pretty fun. We finally got a few good lectures where I learned some techniques really applicable to teaching. I’m getting really inspired to do the best for my students that I can! I tried an Onsen (public bath) for the first time, too. Luckily not a mixed one. It was the only option at the Sports Centre where the orientation was held and another first-year girl and I acted as moral support for each other. It’s really more like a hot tub that requires you to bathe first and has no gross chemicals.
I just got home from Gujo dancing! It’s this amazing evening town festival (matsuri) held over most of the summer. The big event is the folk dancing which happens around a lovely tower in the centre of a town square. The people in the tower have instruments and drums and sing five different songs for two hours and everyone rotates slowly around the tower doing one of five different traditional dances. I was totally awful but just went ahead and tried to learn the steps anyway. Luckily it was fairly simple and all of the dances had some sort of sequence that I decided started at the clap(s) and then ran for five to ten moves past that before repeating. It was really fun!
Ashley and Brandon’s supervisor (such a nice guy) drove us and two other ex-JETs and their lovely girlfriend and wife respectively out to Gujo. I haven’t managed to find a yukata (summer kimono) to fit me yet but I plan to look consistently for the next month and then check into custom-ordering one if I have no luck.
The drive was almost two hours each way so we had some great conversations in the van as we traveled. When we arrived we had enough time to visit the Food Replica Workshop before the festival started and I bought a Hershey chocolate square dangly with an H on it for my keitai (cell-phone) when I get it next week! It looks so real I’m almost afraid it will melt on my fingers! I also tried fish chips of some sort that are a full, gutted fish that’s been sliced into cross-sections then breaded and deep-fried. It was... interesting. Eating the fins and bones kind of freaked me out although the taste was okay. Seeing heads left attached to things I might eat still makes me squeamish. I had partially mashed and grilled rice on a stick with sweet miso sauce after that.
Before I left home I was really uncertain about where I was being called to go and if I was making the right choices but now I’m certain that I’ve found exactly the right place to be at the moment. After eating and dancing and talking with everyone this evening I just felt that comfortable sort of rightness that makes me almost drowsy and lethargic. I’m just so in love with my town and the nature around me and I like all of my new friends so much that I couldn’t imagine leaving.
I haven’t even been in Japan for two weeks and already my new house feels like home. Being so far away from family and friends is difficult and makes me sad and I’m not sure if I could be much more nervous about teaching and working with my new teachers but just existing here really feels right, something I haven’t felt in a really long time. I don’t even have the time or desire to think about the things I couldn’t get out of my head before.
I just got home from Gujo dancing! It’s this amazing evening town festival (matsuri) held over most of the summer. The big event is the folk dancing which happens around a lovely tower in the centre of a town square. The people in the tower have instruments and drums and sing five different songs for two hours and everyone rotates slowly around the tower doing one of five different traditional dances. I was totally awful but just went ahead and tried to learn the steps anyway. Luckily it was fairly simple and all of the dances had some sort of sequence that I decided started at the clap(s) and then ran for five to ten moves past that before repeating. It was really fun!
Ashley and Brandon’s supervisor (such a nice guy) drove us and two other ex-JETs and their lovely girlfriend and wife respectively out to Gujo. I haven’t managed to find a yukata (summer kimono) to fit me yet but I plan to look consistently for the next month and then check into custom-ordering one if I have no luck.
The drive was almost two hours each way so we had some great conversations in the van as we traveled. When we arrived we had enough time to visit the Food Replica Workshop before the festival started and I bought a Hershey chocolate square dangly with an H on it for my keitai (cell-phone) when I get it next week! It looks so real I’m almost afraid it will melt on my fingers! I also tried fish chips of some sort that are a full, gutted fish that’s been sliced into cross-sections then breaded and deep-fried. It was... interesting. Eating the fins and bones kind of freaked me out although the taste was okay. Seeing heads left attached to things I might eat still makes me squeamish. I had partially mashed and grilled rice on a stick with sweet miso sauce after that.
Before I left home I was really uncertain about where I was being called to go and if I was making the right choices but now I’m certain that I’ve found exactly the right place to be at the moment. After eating and dancing and talking with everyone this evening I just felt that comfortable sort of rightness that makes me almost drowsy and lethargic. I’m just so in love with my town and the nature around me and I like all of my new friends so much that I couldn’t imagine leaving.
I haven’t even been in Japan for two weeks and already my new house feels like home. Being so far away from family and friends is difficult and makes me sad and I’m not sure if I could be much more nervous about teaching and working with my new teachers but just existing here really feels right, something I haven’t felt in a really long time. I don’t even have the time or desire to think about the things I couldn’t get out of my head before.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
August 15th
Yesterday morning I got my bank account set up. Ryan was nice enough to get me set up at one that’s got branches all over Japan so that I can take out money when I travel if I need to. I tried to get a cellphone, too, but I don’t think that’s going to happen until I get my gaijin (foreigner’s) card. They have some pretty neat waterproof ones that I’ve got my eye on.
I tried to go to work but the door was locked so I gave up and went home. I got a bit of cleaning and laundry done (it is so nice to have my washer right in my house) and then Alex called me and she took me to an awesome housewares store where I was able to get some proper summer bedding instead of the heavy quilts in my closet and a few more towels and the like. I spent the evening hanging out with her little girls and then Alex and her husband took Sandra, one of the new JETs in their area and me out to dinner at one of those sushi places where the food travels around on a little conveyor belt.
I tried to go to work but the door was locked so I gave up and went home. I got a bit of cleaning and laundry done (it is so nice to have my washer right in my house) and then Alex called me and she took me to an awesome housewares store where I was able to get some proper summer bedding instead of the heavy quilts in my closet and a few more towels and the like. I spent the evening hanging out with her little girls and then Alex and her husband took Sandra, one of the new JETs in their area and me out to dinner at one of those sushi places where the food travels around on a little conveyor belt.
Monday, August 13, 2007
August 13th
This last weekend was pretty busy. Visiting with Alex and her family was great! She came to pick me up with her two daughters, who are lovely, and we went to the local big mall. I’m debating whether to get a color printer so I can print things like photos at home. Since I can get paper at some of the hyakuen stores it’s probably cheaper overall. They showed me around the mall and we picked up the replacement that the store gave for the youngest daughter’s new bike that wasn’t working right. After that we went back to their apartment and I met her husband and had lunch with them. She was so nice, she even let me use her internet! When she drove me home she had a look at my place and taught me how to clean out the sink and my air conditioner and how to hang my futon out to dry! Her daughters play animal crossing so I’ve promised to come over and play sometime so they can get the next level of store in their town. Cute little things :)
They stayed until Alice, Simon and his girlfriend came to pick me up for the Seino welcome dinner. We picked up Ashley, too and drove to Ogaki where the dinner was being held. After meeting all the other ALTs we went to this restaurant where we had nomihoudai (all you can drink) and a sort of tabihoudai (all you can eat) where they brought out about five different courses over the evening. The food was okay but about half the courses were meat-only so those of us who were vegetarian had to wait a little for the sashimi, salad, and bread courses. The nomihoudai is nice because you can try new drinks without worrying about prices. I only had two but they were pretty tasty. There was a little kid (maybe 4 or 5) with another group who came over and beckoned me down to his level so he could give me a kiss on the cheek and then insisted on taking pictures of some of us! He was such a cutie!
After dinner those of us who didn’t have to worry about taking the train or bus home went 10-pin bowling. I got three strikes my first game, which I think is a first for me. One of the other guys (extremely drunk) got eight strikes in one game! I made friends with a Chinese CIR who’s trying to improve his English, a really cool girl from Scotland, and got to talk with at least half a dozen other new people over the evening.
On Sunday I went back to Ogaki with Alice, Ryan, and Brandon and met Dan and one of his Japanese friends. We went out for lunch and then after a bit of wandering the mall and playing in the Arcade we went for karaoke. It was my first time ever so I had to really work myself up to it. I don’t actually like my own voice much when I have to hear it and singing into speakers is pretty intimidating. Everyone was really encouraging though so I got into it after a little bit, too. I need to see what songs on my computer are in the karaoke catalog so I have a better idea of what to pick next time.
Last night was my town’s Obon festival. I couldn’t find a yukata yet (but I’m going to try again this week since I’m going to learn some traditional dancing on Friday evening with some of the others. It was a really cute festival though! They had a main tower where they were leading dancing and a lot of little food and game booths for the children. I met a whole ton of kids and teens and one of the little ones even came by and very seriously gave both Ryan and I each a milk candy. They’re all so sweet when they’re out of class! A bunch of my Junior high students-to-be were nearly jumping over each other to introduce themselves to me and a mother from Tokyo nearly cried she was so delighted that Ryan and I stopped to speak English with her. From the stories I hear I need to stay prepared for anything in the classroom though. Right at 9 the festival ended and everyone headed home.
Japan is so interesting. Town bells go off at 7 with announcements and then the bells go at noon and 6, too. Or those are the ones I’ve head, anyway. By 9 everyone is at home and going to bed. It’s so very civil.
Today was a little more normal going in to work and looking through all the activity books and the like for a few hours. My predecessor’s predecessor left a lot of stuff to work with. I hope I can make some decent games from it all! I’m still nervous about teaching and activity planning and all of that stuff.
Tomorrow morning I get my bank account set up and I might get my keitai in the evening, we’ll see. I’m asking Shiloh what went on when she tried to get high-speed internet and I’m hoping things might be different for me. If not then I might be able to get a phone I can use as a modem since my computer has Bluetooth. Hopefully there will be some way that I can set up internet so I can use Skype!
They stayed until Alice, Simon and his girlfriend came to pick me up for the Seino welcome dinner. We picked up Ashley, too and drove to Ogaki where the dinner was being held. After meeting all the other ALTs we went to this restaurant where we had nomihoudai (all you can drink) and a sort of tabihoudai (all you can eat) where they brought out about five different courses over the evening. The food was okay but about half the courses were meat-only so those of us who were vegetarian had to wait a little for the sashimi, salad, and bread courses. The nomihoudai is nice because you can try new drinks without worrying about prices. I only had two but they were pretty tasty. There was a little kid (maybe 4 or 5) with another group who came over and beckoned me down to his level so he could give me a kiss on the cheek and then insisted on taking pictures of some of us! He was such a cutie!
After dinner those of us who didn’t have to worry about taking the train or bus home went 10-pin bowling. I got three strikes my first game, which I think is a first for me. One of the other guys (extremely drunk) got eight strikes in one game! I made friends with a Chinese CIR who’s trying to improve his English, a really cool girl from Scotland, and got to talk with at least half a dozen other new people over the evening.
On Sunday I went back to Ogaki with Alice, Ryan, and Brandon and met Dan and one of his Japanese friends. We went out for lunch and then after a bit of wandering the mall and playing in the Arcade we went for karaoke. It was my first time ever so I had to really work myself up to it. I don’t actually like my own voice much when I have to hear it and singing into speakers is pretty intimidating. Everyone was really encouraging though so I got into it after a little bit, too. I need to see what songs on my computer are in the karaoke catalog so I have a better idea of what to pick next time.
Last night was my town’s Obon festival. I couldn’t find a yukata yet (but I’m going to try again this week since I’m going to learn some traditional dancing on Friday evening with some of the others. It was a really cute festival though! They had a main tower where they were leading dancing and a lot of little food and game booths for the children. I met a whole ton of kids and teens and one of the little ones even came by and very seriously gave both Ryan and I each a milk candy. They’re all so sweet when they’re out of class! A bunch of my Junior high students-to-be were nearly jumping over each other to introduce themselves to me and a mother from Tokyo nearly cried she was so delighted that Ryan and I stopped to speak English with her. From the stories I hear I need to stay prepared for anything in the classroom though. Right at 9 the festival ended and everyone headed home.
Japan is so interesting. Town bells go off at 7 with announcements and then the bells go at noon and 6, too. Or those are the ones I’ve head, anyway. By 9 everyone is at home and going to bed. It’s so very civil.
Today was a little more normal going in to work and looking through all the activity books and the like for a few hours. My predecessor’s predecessor left a lot of stuff to work with. I hope I can make some decent games from it all! I’m still nervous about teaching and activity planning and all of that stuff.
Tomorrow morning I get my bank account set up and I might get my keitai in the evening, we’ll see. I’m asking Shiloh what went on when she tried to get high-speed internet and I’m hoping things might be different for me. If not then I might be able to get a phone I can use as a modem since my computer has Bluetooth. Hopefully there will be some way that I can set up internet so I can use Skype!
Friday, August 10, 2007
August 10th
After waking up later I went into the office today for the first time. I met another one of my JTEs who is also near-fluent and he seems really nice, too! Shiho-san took me on a little tour of the school and my desk and prop cupboard. The schools here are organized by year so there are three floors for second year, third year, and first year bottom to top. We all eat in a central lunchroom with the children. We’ve decided that I’m going to bring a lunch every day while I try out the Kyushoku lunches we pay for so that if it’s got a lot of meat then I still have food. This means I need to make things that won’t go bad if there’s no fridge space for me. I also don’t have to go into work over Obon next week since almost no one is going to be at school, so I’ve got three more days off before the Gifu orientation and when I really start to work.
It sounds like my predecessor didn’t take her job very seriously so I’m hoping that I’ll get the chance to actually teach eventually and that the JTEs will want to let me really work with them. I don’t want to just be the stereotypically lazy ALT who plans a few activities, says a few words, slacks off at her desk and goes home as soon as she’s allowed.
I rode a bike for the first time in more than six years today. It was actually pretty easy, I only messed up one time and there was a metal fence I could catch myself on. Here’s hoping that I get better and less wiggly over time. If I can walk to and from school every day and do some biking I should be in great shape in no time! Haha, if that doesn’t do it the constant sweating buckets should! Don’t worry, it’s only 3 now and I’ve had way more than 8 glasses of liquid already.
I got my first call today, too! It was from my Seino PA just checking in on me and seeing how things are going for me. He also wanted to know if I’m going to the Seino welcome dinner tomorrow. My town festival is on Sunday night, too! This weekend is going to be really, really fun! Ryan said I should be able to find a nice men’s Yukata that will fit. Tomorrow Alex, a lovely older JET with a family who I talked to a lot on the Shinkansen, is going to pick me up and take me to visit her town and family! Everyone is so nice~!
Hm, hm... Tonight I’m going out with Alice and some of the other local JETs for sushi. She came over with Brandon and Ashley last night to say high and I’m so brain-dead that when she said she was one of my students (accent and everything) I actually believed her. XD And I thought I was becoming less gullible, haha! I haven’t met Dan, the English teacher who’s been here for 13 years now (or our crime boss, as Brandon says) but the more I hear about him, and everyone really, the more excited I get to meet them!
P.S. So this evening I met Simon who actually lives like right by where we parked to go to the temple yesterday. His students gave him two little Rhinoceros beetles to raise recently. *envy* Sushi was good and we hit up some more stores I hadn’t been to yet. I saw a huge toad on the drive home. I thought he was a fist-sized rock at first.
My new futon is actually absurdly comfortable and easy on my back and man, the only time I stop dripping sweat here is when I’ve been lying down immobile for at least 20 minutes with the fan on me. I even sweat when I sleep. I don’t want to be an inch higher than I have to be. I’m going to sweat off a few pounds if nothing else, I think! I actually have a mild rash on my throat from sweating so I’ve been trying to rinse it whenever I can and keep it as dry as is possible in this disgustingly hot country. Gifu is the hottest prefecture in Japan and more humid than Tokyo, hey? I’ll appreciate it in the winter but for now it sucks.
It sounds like my predecessor didn’t take her job very seriously so I’m hoping that I’ll get the chance to actually teach eventually and that the JTEs will want to let me really work with them. I don’t want to just be the stereotypically lazy ALT who plans a few activities, says a few words, slacks off at her desk and goes home as soon as she’s allowed.
I rode a bike for the first time in more than six years today. It was actually pretty easy, I only messed up one time and there was a metal fence I could catch myself on. Here’s hoping that I get better and less wiggly over time. If I can walk to and from school every day and do some biking I should be in great shape in no time! Haha, if that doesn’t do it the constant sweating buckets should! Don’t worry, it’s only 3 now and I’ve had way more than 8 glasses of liquid already.
I got my first call today, too! It was from my Seino PA just checking in on me and seeing how things are going for me. He also wanted to know if I’m going to the Seino welcome dinner tomorrow. My town festival is on Sunday night, too! This weekend is going to be really, really fun! Ryan said I should be able to find a nice men’s Yukata that will fit. Tomorrow Alex, a lovely older JET with a family who I talked to a lot on the Shinkansen, is going to pick me up and take me to visit her town and family! Everyone is so nice~!
Hm, hm... Tonight I’m going out with Alice and some of the other local JETs for sushi. She came over with Brandon and Ashley last night to say high and I’m so brain-dead that when she said she was one of my students (accent and everything) I actually believed her. XD And I thought I was becoming less gullible, haha! I haven’t met Dan, the English teacher who’s been here for 13 years now (or our crime boss, as Brandon says) but the more I hear about him, and everyone really, the more excited I get to meet them!
P.S. So this evening I met Simon who actually lives like right by where we parked to go to the temple yesterday. His students gave him two little Rhinoceros beetles to raise recently. *envy* Sushi was good and we hit up some more stores I hadn’t been to yet. I saw a huge toad on the drive home. I thought he was a fist-sized rock at first.
My new futon is actually absurdly comfortable and easy on my back and man, the only time I stop dripping sweat here is when I’ve been lying down immobile for at least 20 minutes with the fan on me. I even sweat when I sleep. I don’t want to be an inch higher than I have to be. I’m going to sweat off a few pounds if nothing else, I think! I actually have a mild rash on my throat from sweating so I’ve been trying to rinse it whenever I can and keep it as dry as is possible in this disgustingly hot country. Gifu is the hottest prefecture in Japan and more humid than Tokyo, hey? I’ll appreciate it in the winter but for now it sucks.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
August 9th
I have to start out by taking a moment to remember all of the lives lost in the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings. I would have never thoughts of it, spoiled little westerner that I am, except that while Chantelle and I were watching the news in our room at the Keio and then I was watching this evening I saw coverage of both memorial services. I’m taking it as a reminder to me to open my eyes once again because at the Keio it was mere chance and then today is the first day that my TV here has been fixed.
Since I arrived in Japan I’ve been just overwhelmed. It’s quiet, and subtle, and it creeps up on me a little at a time but the whole experience is just like a dream. An extremely vivid dream that I’m aware is my reality. All at once it’s so far from anything I’ve ever experienced in my life and just like every other day I’ve lived. And it’s the most brilliant dream my brain could ever have cooked up.
Omg, I just found Japanese pokemon on TV.
Anyway, my neighbor Ryan = bestest person in the world. He has been beyond helpful and gone massively out of his way to make me feel at home since I arrived. He seems like a pretty cool guy and takes his teaching very seriously. I’ve been learning just how much I have to learn about my new job :D I’ve also been learning that I am in the most wonderful position any AET (assistant English teacher) could ever want. I can do as much or as little actual teaching as I want. I’m hoping that I can actually learn enough to be teaching my own classes. How awesome would that be?
Apparently my school is ‘rough’ so I’m going to have to learn commands and really lay down the law in my classroom. That’s cool though, I think I’d actually rather have a room where there energy than an academic school where I’m a human tape-recorder for kids who are just there to ace their entrance exams. We’ll see how things go. I’m really excited to become as involved a teacher as I can. Ryan is so amazing even when we meet some of his or my students in the town.
Now Naruto is on, how funny! I didn’t even think I’d be seeing the same shows that are on at home on Friday nights.
Today I met the mayor (!!!) who seems really nice. Mind you, I only saw him for 5 minutes so who really knows. After that I met the real boss in my office. Now I just have to meet our ‘handler’, or my supervisor, and I think I’ve met all the higher-ups.
We went to Ryan’s office and I got to check out the textbooks and watch him help a student with her speech for the Seino (my district in Gifu) English Speech Contest. It was really neat. One of his cowokers offered us ‘Bees baby’ which turned out to be, duh, inch-long bee larvae. I ate one and strangely the worst parts were the initial ooze into my finger which I had to lick off and the afterthought that its head might have gotten caught in my teeth, which it didn’t thank goodness. I ate a LARVAE. In Japan. One of the last places I thought I’d have my first on-purpose insect-eating experience. Aside from the mental ‘eeeeew’ it actually wasn’t bad, not something I’d want to eat again but not disgusting. Strangely I am actually as bothered by this as I thought I’d be.
After that we went to the different malls in town and I experienced a hyaku-en store, the equivalent of a 99 cents store, which are absolutely amazing in Japan, visited the foreign-foods store (where I found root beer, Mexican food supplies, and my new plastic Pingu who came with little jelly snacks), this crazy store with everything from stuffies to manga to lighters and martini sets, and a music store.
He also took me to a beautiful temple just out of town which is the last one on a 38 temple (I think) pilgrimage he’s doing again in the area. It was pretty amazing. I washed my hands to purify myself on the way in, donated and prayed, and then bought a little charm for healing and prayed again. It’s such an intriguing religion and just like an old church you can really feel the sanctity of the place itself.
It’s so refreshing to have my jadedness peeled away so I can see a little more clearly. I didn’t realize how negative and selfish I’d become again over the past I don’t know how long. I’ve been realizing I’ve got emotions that can reach a lot deeper again and my empathy for life is coming back. It’s good to feel like I really care about little things like the welfare of the spiders in my kitchen window and the giant moth-critter that was stuck upside-down yesterday again.
Anyway, I’m going to go into my base school on my own tomorrow morning to use the internet and to get accustomed to my teachers and desk. I might have to wait a while for my internet to get hooked up. It’s going to be dial-up only so unfortunately Skype is out of the question. Phone cards here I come!
Also: My Japanese SUCKS. I need to kick my butt into gear learning new words around the office and studying. Without Ryan and Shiho-san I’d be totally lost in a world of gestures and confusion.
Since I arrived in Japan I’ve been just overwhelmed. It’s quiet, and subtle, and it creeps up on me a little at a time but the whole experience is just like a dream. An extremely vivid dream that I’m aware is my reality. All at once it’s so far from anything I’ve ever experienced in my life and just like every other day I’ve lived. And it’s the most brilliant dream my brain could ever have cooked up.
Omg, I just found Japanese pokemon on TV.
Anyway, my neighbor Ryan = bestest person in the world. He has been beyond helpful and gone massively out of his way to make me feel at home since I arrived. He seems like a pretty cool guy and takes his teaching very seriously. I’ve been learning just how much I have to learn about my new job :D I’ve also been learning that I am in the most wonderful position any AET (assistant English teacher) could ever want. I can do as much or as little actual teaching as I want. I’m hoping that I can actually learn enough to be teaching my own classes. How awesome would that be?
Apparently my school is ‘rough’ so I’m going to have to learn commands and really lay down the law in my classroom. That’s cool though, I think I’d actually rather have a room where there energy than an academic school where I’m a human tape-recorder for kids who are just there to ace their entrance exams. We’ll see how things go. I’m really excited to become as involved a teacher as I can. Ryan is so amazing even when we meet some of his or my students in the town.
Now Naruto is on, how funny! I didn’t even think I’d be seeing the same shows that are on at home on Friday nights.
Today I met the mayor (!!!) who seems really nice. Mind you, I only saw him for 5 minutes so who really knows. After that I met the real boss in my office. Now I just have to meet our ‘handler’, or my supervisor, and I think I’ve met all the higher-ups.
We went to Ryan’s office and I got to check out the textbooks and watch him help a student with her speech for the Seino (my district in Gifu) English Speech Contest. It was really neat. One of his cowokers offered us ‘Bees baby’ which turned out to be, duh, inch-long bee larvae. I ate one and strangely the worst parts were the initial ooze into my finger which I had to lick off and the afterthought that its head might have gotten caught in my teeth, which it didn’t thank goodness. I ate a LARVAE. In Japan. One of the last places I thought I’d have my first on-purpose insect-eating experience. Aside from the mental ‘eeeeew’ it actually wasn’t bad, not something I’d want to eat again but not disgusting. Strangely I am actually as bothered by this as I thought I’d be.
After that we went to the different malls in town and I experienced a hyaku-en store, the equivalent of a 99 cents store, which are absolutely amazing in Japan, visited the foreign-foods store (where I found root beer, Mexican food supplies, and my new plastic Pingu who came with little jelly snacks), this crazy store with everything from stuffies to manga to lighters and martini sets, and a music store.
He also took me to a beautiful temple just out of town which is the last one on a 38 temple (I think) pilgrimage he’s doing again in the area. It was pretty amazing. I washed my hands to purify myself on the way in, donated and prayed, and then bought a little charm for healing and prayed again. It’s such an intriguing religion and just like an old church you can really feel the sanctity of the place itself.
It’s so refreshing to have my jadedness peeled away so I can see a little more clearly. I didn’t realize how negative and selfish I’d become again over the past I don’t know how long. I’ve been realizing I’ve got emotions that can reach a lot deeper again and my empathy for life is coming back. It’s good to feel like I really care about little things like the welfare of the spiders in my kitchen window and the giant moth-critter that was stuck upside-down yesterday again.
Anyway, I’m going to go into my base school on my own tomorrow morning to use the internet and to get accustomed to my teachers and desk. I might have to wait a while for my internet to get hooked up. It’s going to be dial-up only so unfortunately Skype is out of the question. Phone cards here I come!
Also: My Japanese SUCKS. I need to kick my butt into gear learning new words around the office and studying. Without Ryan and Shiho-san I’d be totally lost in a world of gestures and confusion.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Arriving in Ono
We took the shinkansen from Tokyo to Gifu Mt. Fuji
Ryan came with one of my new officemates from the BOE office to pick me up. This is good since very, very few of my coworkers can speak more English than, ‘Hello, how are you’ and the like. We had pizza for lunch after the drive into town and then puttered around town and to my school for paperwork/meet-in-greets. I met my base school Principal and Vice-Principal and the awesome, fluent English teacher who I hope can give me a major hand this year, and the second-highest boss in my BOE office.
I got all tucked into my apartment and Ryan took my grocery shopping and then we went out to dinner with one of his friends who is also totally awesome. She’s a teacher at an unregistered English immersion kindergarten. We had the sushi that comes around on a little conveyor belt and I tried many new things including cuttlefish, salmon sashimi, and a new type of inari-zushi. Actually, really delicious! The cuttlefish was a little too chewy for me though.
I love my apartment. It’s bigger than I expected and as soon as I get my stuff settled in I’m going to take photos. The bathroom is super-tiny and made of all one molded piece of plastic but I really have no complaints to speak of. And my fridge is a full size instead of the beer-fridge I was warned almost everyone gets! I even have a freezer (two actually, since the fridge has a freezer drawer), which kicks some major butt. Tatami mats rock, btw. Super-nice to the feet.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Tokyo
Lets see, what all did I do during the rest of Tokyo orientation... Well, there were a lot of speeches (my favorite was the one talking about how we need to teach our students to speak English like we’d teach them to swim, you can’t swim until you’ve been pushed into the water. Just don’t make it too deep or they might drown *laughs* So I will be trying not to asphyxiate my students with a new language) and workshops. I learned some things and my common sense was reaffirmed in others.
Monday night I tried out the JR rail with some of the other Vancouverites and we hit Akiba (Akihabara, or geek central). A lot of the stores were closed but we found a 6-story shop with only up escalators for the top levels and a stairway down from the top outside the building. We also saw a maid handing out pamphlets for her café, so I have officially experienced real-life Moe.
Tuesday after workshops my roommates (awesome girls, I really like my fellow 1st-year Vancouver JETs), several of the boys, and I trotted off to the Vancouver Embassy welcome event via a guided subway trip. It was less than expected. They couldn’t do anything for us right there since it’s all online so they just speeched at us for a while and then gave us nibblies. After that was the awesome part: one of Chantelle’s friends from Uni works at the embassy now and he walked Chantelle, Silvia, Kalen and I over to Mori tower in the Roppongi hills. It’s an art gallery but there is a magnificent view of the Tokyo skyline (and Tokyo tower) from the 52nd floor. We had a drink in the Sky Aquarium bar which was pretty cool and watched all the lovely lights. It was beyond breath-taking. It was just... the highlight of my Tokyo trip, really. My heart gets sort-of fluttery thinking of how beautiful it was. I got a postcard to go with my photos in case they aren’t as awesome.
Monday night I tried out the JR rail with some of the other Vancouverites and we hit Akiba (Akihabara, or geek central). A lot of the stores were closed but we found a 6-story shop with only up escalators for the top levels and a stairway down from the top outside the building. We also saw a maid handing out pamphlets for her café, so I have officially experienced real-life Moe.
Tuesday after workshops my roommates (awesome girls, I really like my fellow 1st-year Vancouver JETs), several of the boys, and I trotted off to the Vancouver Embassy welcome event via a guided subway trip. It was less than expected. They couldn’t do anything for us right there since it’s all online so they just speeched at us for a while and then gave us nibblies. After that was the awesome part: one of Chantelle’s friends from Uni works at the embassy now and he walked Chantelle, Silvia, Kalen and I over to Mori tower in the Roppongi hills. It’s an art gallery but there is a magnificent view of the Tokyo skyline (and Tokyo tower) from the 52nd floor. We had a drink in the Sky Aquarium bar which was pretty cool and watched all the lovely lights. It was beyond breath-taking. It was just... the highlight of my Tokyo trip, really. My heart gets sort-of fluttery thinking of how beautiful it was. I got a postcard to go with my photos in case they aren’t as awesome.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Tokyo - Day 1!
Wow... suddenly my whole life including this site is in Japanese...
Anyway! I have arrived safely in Tokyo after a 10 hour flight. Saying goodbye to Mom and Luke was hard, even though I'd had a few days to recover from saying goodbye to Dad and the other boys but I know this is going to be worth it. And I'm still healthy and smiling, if a bit tired.
The flight was lovely even with 3-5-3 people across. They gave us warmed, damp towels before meals and everything! Both baggage pickup and customs went smoothly and quickly which was a lovely surprise, and we were divested of our third piece of baggage (to be sent to our contracting organizations separately) and ushered onto buses to the hotel with no problems. All in all I can say that I am truly amazed by the efficiency of the Japanese systems we used today.
On the hour long ride into Tokyo to the hotel we passed right by several landmarks I recognized including Tokyo Disneyland and that giant ferris wheel that's featured in so many movies and anime. I saw everything from homeless shelters and tents under bridges to a blue heron hunting in the edge of one of the cemented in rivers underneath a bridge we were on. This city, more than any other I've ever visited, seems to be able to flip from stunningly gorgeous to slum and then back again in almost no distance at all. Tokyo bridges seem to exist on large cement posts following various rivers and canals a lot, must be to conserve building space.
When we got checked in we got little totes full of stuff and had the chance to take our suitcases up to our rooms. I was pleased to find out that I already know one of my roommates. Once we were settled we headed downstairs to join a bunch of the other Canadian JET for a wander through the Shinjuku district to find dinner. (The formal reception isn't until tomorrow night so we were on our own.) We ended up finding a lovely little Udon shop were we ate and then we spent some time wandering before heading back to the hotel to collapse in one of the guy's rooms for a bit. When I finally got too tired I came back to my room and now I'm trying to last a little longer before I head to bed 'cause it's not quite 9pm here.
So, to take a little more time, here are some pictures!
The view from my hotel room. I've got two roommates, one from the Vancouver consulate and one from somewhere else.
My hotel room from my bed. Those are my hotel slippers on my feet. They actually say Keio Plaza Hotel :D We've all got a yukata in the room, too.
Shinjuku station, busiest train station in the world!
Looking down the road from the station. So many noises and lights!
The Udon resturant we ate at and my dinner! It was so cool, they have plastic copies of all the food displayed in the front window so once you know what number you want you go inside and put your money in a machine and press the corresponding button, then you take the little ticket to the front and pick your noodle type and they make up your order! All of us were so pleased. I think it really brought home the whole 'we're really in Japan now' feeling.
Anyway! I have arrived safely in Tokyo after a 10 hour flight. Saying goodbye to Mom and Luke was hard, even though I'd had a few days to recover from saying goodbye to Dad and the other boys but I know this is going to be worth it. And I'm still healthy and smiling, if a bit tired.
The flight was lovely even with 3-5-3 people across. They gave us warmed, damp towels before meals and everything! Both baggage pickup and customs went smoothly and quickly which was a lovely surprise, and we were divested of our third piece of baggage (to be sent to our contracting organizations separately) and ushered onto buses to the hotel with no problems. All in all I can say that I am truly amazed by the efficiency of the Japanese systems we used today.
On the hour long ride into Tokyo to the hotel we passed right by several landmarks I recognized including Tokyo Disneyland and that giant ferris wheel that's featured in so many movies and anime. I saw everything from homeless shelters and tents under bridges to a blue heron hunting in the edge of one of the cemented in rivers underneath a bridge we were on. This city, more than any other I've ever visited, seems to be able to flip from stunningly gorgeous to slum and then back again in almost no distance at all. Tokyo bridges seem to exist on large cement posts following various rivers and canals a lot, must be to conserve building space.
When we got checked in we got little totes full of stuff and had the chance to take our suitcases up to our rooms. I was pleased to find out that I already know one of my roommates. Once we were settled we headed downstairs to join a bunch of the other Canadian JET for a wander through the Shinjuku district to find dinner. (The formal reception isn't until tomorrow night so we were on our own.) We ended up finding a lovely little Udon shop were we ate and then we spent some time wandering before heading back to the hotel to collapse in one of the guy's rooms for a bit. When I finally got too tired I came back to my room and now I'm trying to last a little longer before I head to bed 'cause it's not quite 9pm here.
So, to take a little more time, here are some pictures!
The view from my hotel room. I've got two roommates, one from the Vancouver consulate and one from somewhere else.
My hotel room from my bed. Those are my hotel slippers on my feet. They actually say Keio Plaza Hotel :D We've all got a yukata in the room, too.
Shinjuku station, busiest train station in the world!
Looking down the road from the station. So many noises and lights!
The Udon resturant we ate at and my dinner! It was so cool, they have plastic copies of all the food displayed in the front window so once you know what number you want you go inside and put your money in a machine and press the corresponding button, then you take the little ticket to the front and pick your noodle type and they make up your order! All of us were so pleased. I think it really brought home the whole 'we're really in Japan now' feeling.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Image test
A family (sans pets) photo taken today. I'm so happy we managed to get everyone together!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Second to last night in Rossland...
And my bags aren't even packed yet. Tomorrow is going to be hectic! Luckily dad is staying home to help out and spend some more time with me before mom, Luke and I head for the coast.
I still don't think it's set in my brain that I'm going to be leaving the country (for at least a year!) yet at all. I'm not sure it will really click in that I'm not just going back to PG and UNBC until I spend a few nights in my new apartment. I talked with Hollie (PG roommate) on the phone tonight and it's really weird thinking I'm only going to be seeing her and Amera (our cat) and everyone through pictures this year.
I still don't think it's set in my brain that I'm going to be leaving the country (for at least a year!) yet at all. I'm not sure it will really click in that I'm not just going back to PG and UNBC until I spend a few nights in my new apartment. I talked with Hollie (PG roommate) on the phone tonight and it's really weird thinking I'm only going to be seeing her and Amera (our cat) and everyone through pictures this year.
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