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.