So last night, I went salsa dancing. I met some JETs and this adorable Japanese gal named Mai outside Sannomiya, and we went to this place where this hispanic guy who speaks Spanglanese was giving lessons. Apparently they do a different kind of dance every month? This month is Salsa. It was very fun and made me very happy. Afterwards, we went to dinner at this sushi place that was really good and actually pretty cheap. I had ebi (shrimp), salmon, tuna, and cucumber. I wanted yellowtail, but they were out. I'm fairly certain my favorite quote from anyone ever was from dinner, when Mai said the guy she was interested in 'Looks kind of like Ewan McGregor, but also Stitch.'
This week the students come back to school. They had summer break, but actually now they're in the middle of a school year, because their year actually starts in April I think. It's kind of funny coming in the middle of everything. It's also been a bit complicated as far as lesson planning, because I've been trying to find out what the students have done so far this year, and none of the teachers can give me a concrete list of vocabulary or grammar, so I'm a bit lost for now... at least until I meet the kids and can talk to them and get an idea of what they know. For this week, though, the lesson is just going to be my self introduction. I get to introduce myself 14 times. BAH. I made a cool powerpoint and a crossword puzzle to go with it. I'm probably going to ask the students questions too... hopefully they will speak haha. I've heard horror stories about silent Japanese students. ::cross fingers:: If they don't say anything, I suppose I can just pretend they are my customers at the Cheesecake Factory who like to pretend the waitress isn't speaking to them only with my class I can't say 'yes? no? mmmmmmmmalright!' and walk away. We'll see how it goes..........
So yesterday all the teachers came back. Technically teachers still work over summer break, but a lot of them do take their vacations, or they are coaching sports or something so you don't see all of them until school starts. I had to introduce myself in front of all of them. Yamashiro sensei had helped me translate an intro into Japanese. I don't think I've ever been so nervous to speak in front of anyone. Normally I don't have any problem speaking to large groups, but this was SCARY. I think I was just very intimidated by all the teachers I didn't know, and I was going to be speaking in Japanese which, when you're nervous, has a tendency just to look like a bunch of syllables that don't mean ANYTHING. And then I had to sit up front, which made it even worse. ugh. I was actually shaking during my speech which was sooooo dumb. Stupid nerves. It made it even more scary for today... I had to introduce myself in front of all the students. It was cool seeing them all come to school this morning. I've seen them around, but in small numbers for their clubs and whatnot. Today, they all came in, and everybody went to the gym for the opening ceremony... which is a loose term to describe basically just an assembly. I was already nervous before we got to the gym. Luckily the other ALT Andrew was there to talk to and I didn't feel as horrified as I did the day before. The teachers spent about a half hour going through the students and checking their uniforms. If anything was wrong with their uniform they were sent home, and there were a few students that were kicked out. (I was neither sent home, nor written up... which is a new thing for me :) ) After all the students were situated, the principal did an opening speech, which was apparently a really metaphorical speech about dreams. Then I was introduced, and I had to get up on the stage and as soon as I did, my heart started pounding and I swear I felt like I wanted to run away haha. The principal said a couple more things and it was all muddled together cuz of the echo in the gym which made me freak out just a bit more. I was quite the internal mess. I gave the same speech I had given the day before... only this time I started out with a little bit of English which helped me calm down a bit. I read the thing straight out of my notebook-my public speaking professor would have been mortified- but I was able to look up a couple times. Overall, it went better than Monday so whatever. I do feel kind of dumb but I think once I start having class and the students start to know me better it will be okay.
**side note to Greco: Remember how you were always mad at me during public speaking because I never had to practice and just made everything up on the spot? Well, this is your karmic retribution**
Even though the students are back today, class doesn't officially start until tomorrow. For today, the students are cleaning the school (no janitors in Jay-pan), and I am Facebooking/trying to think of better lesson plans/blogging/reading/studying Japanese/whatever passes the time and makes me look busy. yay.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
cup of bacon... hold the pickles.
This past weekend, I took off work Thursday and Friday and went to Tokyo. Why not:)
I went with my friend Tyler, and we took the night bus there, which was alright. We watched Gran Torino on the ride up there, and were completely exhausted and grumpy when we finally got there so we went to an internet cafe for a nap. Undoubtedly one of Japan's better ideas, those internet cafes. They have slushies and vending machines with french fries and rice and other random things. They also have bathrooms where when you open the door and walk in the toilet lid comes up automatically. And the seat is heated. Amazing. But yeah internet cafes. They're pretty cool. A lot of people go in there to nap, they have couches and bean bag chairs and whatnot. Very nice. That night, I don't remember doing too much. I think we went to Shibuya and more or less wandered around. We had Indian food that was pretty good. I bought some really cool fake glasses that I wore around and they made me look artsy. We tried to go have some wine at this place, but it turned out to be one of those places where a bottle is at least $100 so we had a fun little gaijin walk of shame out the door to a cheaper bar. We went first to a Gaijin bar and then ended up at a Mexican restaurant, that actually wasn't really Mexican it just said it was.
The next day was my shopping day. Tyler had some things to take care of before leaving Japan, so while he dealt with paperwork, I went back to Shibuya. There's a big 8-story (10 counting the basement) mall thing called Shibuya 109 that is awesome. I am now broke. I hadn't bought anything exciting since coming to Japan, so I allowed myself a bit of a binge. It's actually really awesome that I have ginormous clown feet and can't buy shoes in Japan, otherwise I REEALLY would have been in trouble. The main point of my shopping was to buy clothes for the 'White Party' we were going to later that night. To all my friends at the Cheesecake Factory- believe me, I thought it was hilarious that I was going to attend a white party. I almost called Cassie to ask her to super-fast deliver my fabulous Cheesecake Factory Standard Issue Apron for the occasion... with customary center crease :) I did find an awesome pair of Japanese tights, they're white with all kinds of emo, pseudo political writing on them. They're so dramatic and I love them.
So yeah... shopping for 3 hours, then I ran to meet Tyler... he knew about this boat ride around Tokyo Bay... a booze cruise type thing, but kind of a family thing as well... and it was only about $25. Pretty sweet. We got to ride around on a boat at night (yes, I was ON A BOAT) and see all of Tokyo and have free beer and it was fun. Afterwards, we met up with one of Tyler's friends from Oshima, and got changed in our White outfits and went to a club for the party. It was pretty fun... lots of people including a random Japanese guy in a velvet jacket that was awesome. There was no last call (which is good, as trains stop running around midnight) so everybody stayed at the bar til 5ish, when the first trains start running. We did take a quick break and run to Macudo (McDonalds) to enjoy double cheeseburgers and ebi burgers (shrimp burger). We got back to Ikebukuro around 6:30am, fell asleep and slept for a long time. Then went somewhere and bought an iPod touch (that's right, I now have officially joined the 21st century) with sweet dalmation print headphones, and headed out to Kamakura. We wanted to go see the Daibutsu buddha thing, but after falling asleep at 6:30, there was no waking up before 3pm so we got to Kamakura too late. We did go to the beach... yay! It was the first time I've ever been to a beach in Japan, and it was pretty cool. The water was super warm. I forgot my bathing suit though :( so I couldn't go swimming, but it was nice just to hang out and people watch. Some Japanese kids sitting near us were playing this game that was kinda like trying to break a pinata, only it was a watermelon instead and they had this really scary looking sharp stick. They would get blindfolded, then spin around the stick and try to smash the watermelon that was sitting on the ground. It was crazy watching them stumble around with a pointy stick in the sand. Prolly not the smartest thing for them to do but its whatevs. We stayed there for the rest of the evening. I saw the sunset, moonrise, and moon set. There were a bunch of restaurants and vendors and whatnot on the beach, and my favorite was this place that sold 'American style bacon' where you basically just ordered a cup of bacon. I'm really glad that's what American Style is. A cup of bacon. That sometimes comes with pickles. Haha aaaah Japan.
I went with my friend Tyler, and we took the night bus there, which was alright. We watched Gran Torino on the ride up there, and were completely exhausted and grumpy when we finally got there so we went to an internet cafe for a nap. Undoubtedly one of Japan's better ideas, those internet cafes. They have slushies and vending machines with french fries and rice and other random things. They also have bathrooms where when you open the door and walk in the toilet lid comes up automatically. And the seat is heated. Amazing. But yeah internet cafes. They're pretty cool. A lot of people go in there to nap, they have couches and bean bag chairs and whatnot. Very nice. That night, I don't remember doing too much. I think we went to Shibuya and more or less wandered around. We had Indian food that was pretty good. I bought some really cool fake glasses that I wore around and they made me look artsy. We tried to go have some wine at this place, but it turned out to be one of those places where a bottle is at least $100 so we had a fun little gaijin walk of shame out the door to a cheaper bar. We went first to a Gaijin bar and then ended up at a Mexican restaurant, that actually wasn't really Mexican it just said it was.
The next day was my shopping day. Tyler had some things to take care of before leaving Japan, so while he dealt with paperwork, I went back to Shibuya. There's a big 8-story (10 counting the basement) mall thing called Shibuya 109 that is awesome. I am now broke. I hadn't bought anything exciting since coming to Japan, so I allowed myself a bit of a binge. It's actually really awesome that I have ginormous clown feet and can't buy shoes in Japan, otherwise I REEALLY would have been in trouble. The main point of my shopping was to buy clothes for the 'White Party' we were going to later that night. To all my friends at the Cheesecake Factory- believe me, I thought it was hilarious that I was going to attend a white party. I almost called Cassie to ask her to super-fast deliver my fabulous Cheesecake Factory Standard Issue Apron for the occasion... with customary center crease :) I did find an awesome pair of Japanese tights, they're white with all kinds of emo, pseudo political writing on them. They're so dramatic and I love them.
So yeah... shopping for 3 hours, then I ran to meet Tyler... he knew about this boat ride around Tokyo Bay... a booze cruise type thing, but kind of a family thing as well... and it was only about $25. Pretty sweet. We got to ride around on a boat at night (yes, I was ON A BOAT) and see all of Tokyo and have free beer and it was fun. Afterwards, we met up with one of Tyler's friends from Oshima, and got changed in our White outfits and went to a club for the party. It was pretty fun... lots of people including a random Japanese guy in a velvet jacket that was awesome. There was no last call (which is good, as trains stop running around midnight) so everybody stayed at the bar til 5ish, when the first trains start running. We did take a quick break and run to Macudo (McDonalds) to enjoy double cheeseburgers and ebi burgers (shrimp burger). We got back to Ikebukuro around 6:30am, fell asleep and slept for a long time. Then went somewhere and bought an iPod touch (that's right, I now have officially joined the 21st century) with sweet dalmation print headphones, and headed out to Kamakura. We wanted to go see the Daibutsu buddha thing, but after falling asleep at 6:30, there was no waking up before 3pm so we got to Kamakura too late. We did go to the beach... yay! It was the first time I've ever been to a beach in Japan, and it was pretty cool. The water was super warm. I forgot my bathing suit though :( so I couldn't go swimming, but it was nice just to hang out and people watch. Some Japanese kids sitting near us were playing this game that was kinda like trying to break a pinata, only it was a watermelon instead and they had this really scary looking sharp stick. They would get blindfolded, then spin around the stick and try to smash the watermelon that was sitting on the ground. It was crazy watching them stumble around with a pointy stick in the sand. Prolly not the smartest thing for them to do but its whatevs. We stayed there for the rest of the evening. I saw the sunset, moonrise, and moon set. There were a bunch of restaurants and vendors and whatnot on the beach, and my favorite was this place that sold 'American style bacon' where you basically just ordered a cup of bacon. I'm really glad that's what American Style is. A cup of bacon. That sometimes comes with pickles. Haha aaaah Japan.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
holy guacamole!
OMG I also saw fireworks!!!!!!
I've been soo resentful of all of my friends because they've all been to fireworks festivals and seen all these beautiful displays of light while I was probably at home cleaning up after my slob of a predecessor.
But during dinner on Sunday, someone was shooting them off near the river and they were really dumb and little but I saw them and they were Japanese fireworks so they count and my life is complete :)
Happy day.
I've been soo resentful of all of my friends because they've all been to fireworks festivals and seen all these beautiful displays of light while I was probably at home cleaning up after my slob of a predecessor.
But during dinner on Sunday, someone was shooting them off near the river and they were really dumb and little but I saw them and they were Japanese fireworks so they count and my life is complete :)
Happy day.
WhataWeekend
Weekends are so short here in Japan. I'm so used to working at a place where weekends don't really exist... you just kind of make your own weekend whenever you feel like having one. I don't like this real people work schedule haha.
So Friday night I went to Himeji again. We went to this cute bar where the bartender makes the biggest Long Island Ice Tea you've ever seen in your entire life. Don't drink too many cuz you'll waste all the next day recovering, and miss playing frisbee and going to a lantern festival. Unhappy times.
Sunday was a bit more happy. I went to Kyoto for the day to go to something something Inari something shrine. haha I'm so ridiculously bad with Japanese names. I'll look it up. If you've seen Memoirs of a Geisha there's this part where she's running through this tunnel of orangeness... that's what this place is. A bzillion tori (I think that's right) gates that go on forever through woods. It's more or less mosquito capital of the world. I have 20 bites on my left lower leg. That doesn't count my right lower leg and the rest of me. However, the mosquitos seemed content to chow down on my shins and leave most of the rest of me alone. *thinking positive*
Despite being eaten alive, it was beautiful. Very peaceful. It was a bit of a trek through the woods though...about a billion stairs that ALL went UP. But worth it. Afterwards there was wandering around Kyoto. We ended up in Gion, geisha district, but I didn't see any geisha. Only a random Japanese Irish band. They were pretty good actually. I may have bought their CD had it not cost 2000 yen ($20ish). We had dinner at this fantastic Thai restaurant right on the river. You have to pay like $5/person to sit outside, but it was soooooooooooo worth it. The weather was absolutely amazing and we were literally on a deck that hung out over the river. The food was incredible as well. We were fat gaijin and ate way too much but it was amazing and I don't care anymore. That is probably officially my favorite restaurant EVER. I will never find it again lol. I don't even know the name of it. Yay for me and my directionally, locationally challenged self.
We ended up missing the last train back to Kobe (::shakes fist at Japan and non-24-hour transportation system::) and spent the evening sitting by the river waiting for first train. Had trouble finding a cab to the station, had to stand most of the way back while being miserable from lack of sleep, and was late for work. My b.
Overall, worth it. Probably my favorite weekend so far :)
So Friday night I went to Himeji again. We went to this cute bar where the bartender makes the biggest Long Island Ice Tea you've ever seen in your entire life. Don't drink too many cuz you'll waste all the next day recovering, and miss playing frisbee and going to a lantern festival. Unhappy times.
Sunday was a bit more happy. I went to Kyoto for the day to go to something something Inari something shrine. haha I'm so ridiculously bad with Japanese names. I'll look it up. If you've seen Memoirs of a Geisha there's this part where she's running through this tunnel of orangeness... that's what this place is. A bzillion tori (I think that's right) gates that go on forever through woods. It's more or less mosquito capital of the world. I have 20 bites on my left lower leg. That doesn't count my right lower leg and the rest of me. However, the mosquitos seemed content to chow down on my shins and leave most of the rest of me alone. *thinking positive*
Despite being eaten alive, it was beautiful. Very peaceful. It was a bit of a trek through the woods though...about a billion stairs that ALL went UP. But worth it. Afterwards there was wandering around Kyoto. We ended up in Gion, geisha district, but I didn't see any geisha. Only a random Japanese Irish band. They were pretty good actually. I may have bought their CD had it not cost 2000 yen ($20ish). We had dinner at this fantastic Thai restaurant right on the river. You have to pay like $5/person to sit outside, but it was soooooooooooo worth it. The weather was absolutely amazing and we were literally on a deck that hung out over the river. The food was incredible as well. We were fat gaijin and ate way too much but it was amazing and I don't care anymore. That is probably officially my favorite restaurant EVER. I will never find it again lol. I don't even know the name of it. Yay for me and my directionally, locationally challenged self.
We ended up missing the last train back to Kobe (::shakes fist at Japan and non-24-hour transportation system::) and spent the evening sitting by the river waiting for first train. Had trouble finding a cab to the station, had to stand most of the way back while being miserable from lack of sleep, and was late for work. My b.
Overall, worth it. Probably my favorite weekend so far :)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Ichigo Ichie!
I am now sitting at my desk at Suma Tomogaoka High School. It has been awhile... I will do my best to recap the last several weeks which are, in fact, more or less a whirlwind of craziness.
Tokyo was awesome.. I met lots of good people, sang some karaoke.. good times. We loaded onto buses headed back to our respective Jay-pan locations. The Hyogoians got to ride the shinkansen (bullet train), which I've been on before, but it's always cool to ride the shinkansen. I had an awesome bento meant for children but it had EVERYTHING. French fries, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, sandwich, chicken, mini hotdogs with cute little designs cut in them. Japanese people make good bentos:) I was exhausted for most of the trip and more or less struggled to stay awake. We read some fun articles about scary Japanese bugs that thourougly freaked most of us out... especially the more rural JETs.
So we got to Kobe station.... I was about to die of heat stroke from the fricken humidity and carrying hundreds of pounds of STUFF. Not really hundreds of pounds, but all the stuff I did carry was awkward and a pain in the butt so it made it feel like more than it was I suppose. We took a bus from Kobe station to Yashiro in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of a roundabout way for me to get home, as I live about 30 min from Kobe station, and about an hour and a half from Yashiro. But whatever. So they took us to Yashiro and we went in this room with a whole bunch of teachers. They introduced us ceremonially (in Jay-pan everything's a ceremony :) ) and then the teacher from our school came up to us and took us back. I had about an hour drive ish and spent most of it looking things up in the dictionary and trying to remember my Japanese. It worked out. I heard of many people who suffered through silent car rides so luckily my JTE was patient haha. I got back to school, and some of the female teachers met me to take me back to my apartment. It's a nice apartment, actually. It is on the first floor of a high rise... I was hoping for higher up, but its convenient I suppose. There's, of course, the customary entryway (genkan I think it's called) to leave shoes and whatnot. Then a little hallway with a bathroom area on the right, including a sink that comes up to my knees, a small toilet room that I could barely turn around in, and an ofuro room, or a room for showering and bathing. The hallway runs into a decent sized kitchen, and then there are some sliding doors, with my bedroom on the other side. I have a tiny balcony outside as well which is nice. My bedroom is the only room that will have heat and airconditioning... that will be fun in winter :) But I've done it before and survived it... so maybe I'll do okay this time??????? Everyone send blankets!!!
K so here's when my life gets fun. After looking around the apartment and taking everything in, I begin to notice that my predecessor apparently had no concept of CLEAN. The floor wasn't swept, the bathroom tiles had NEVER been scrubbed... most surfaces were COVERED in DIRT and DISGUSTINGNESS. And OMG CLUTTER. I am admittedly not the neatest person but I mean holy cow. I eventually spent an entire afternoon going through closets and cabinets and drawers and everywhere else things could be stored and combining things and throwing out things and cleaning and organizing and tearing my hair out. I spent an entire night cleaning black mold... yes the deadly stuff... out of the shower room. Actually only half because I was so overwhelmed and overheated I just gave up. The fridge was moldy, all the molding on the walls was BLACK (supposed to be off white).. the place was just gross. It made me so mad because I knew if the previous renter (my predecessor that biatch) had even remotely tried to clean it wouldn't have been as bad. She was just fricken lazy and that's it. She sent me all these emails asking me to pay her for things she left in the apartment, which at first I was going to pay her, but after spending $$money$$ and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours.... and hours and hours cleaning up after her I told her I wouldn't pay. She originally said it was cool but then sent me a nasty email questioning my integrity, and trying to say I spent so much time because I was trying to put everything in my definition of clean which she said was clearly different from hers. Yes, Carla. I'm sorry that I don't like to live my life rolling in filth and inhaling black mold. I apologize for questioning you. I could go on, but I think she doesn't deserve any more space on my blog. She's not worth the time it takes to type her name. MOVING ON.....
So thankfully I had friends who are 2nd year JETs and know about this MIRACLE that is Kabi Killer. Anyone reading this who is in Japan and has a dirty bathroom needs to use this stuff. I'm sure it gives you cancer on contact, but it kills mold without any scrubbing or effort whatsoever and its amazing and I love it. My bathroom now sparkles. Very happily:)
So yay...a week after I get to my apartment it is finally clean. I get to go about the business of figuring out how to throw away trash in Japan. Again, thank God for older JETs. I had read about Japan being all complicated with their rubbish and recycle bins, but didn't really understand until I got here and realized that not all plastic is the same, everything needs to be washed before being thrown out, burnables, non-burnables, recycle, pet-bottles, batteries, electronics, .... every category you could think of!!!.... all go out on different days of the week and different times of the month, and some things you have to take them to the store to be thrown away, and some things you have to pay for people to come get them and omg headache. I have the majority of things figured out... the big things anyway. It's not as intimidating as it used to be I guess, but it's still kinda crazy. I miss America where you throw everything in one bin and no one cares haha.
Around the 12th, I had another orientation to go to... back in Yashiro aka prison. Haha actually it wasn't that bad... but there is absolutely NOTHING in Yashiro, and we're stuck in a building that feels like a hospital all day trying desperately to stay awake while we're lectured (i.e. Japanese people read lengthy powerpoints word for word) about Japan and education and yadda yadda. There were some interesting JETs who helped out and helped mix things up a bit. One Austrailian guy told us `just don't be muppets' which made me laugh a lot. I pretty much just doodled the whole time. Oh and I got massively lost on my way there. I was running a bit late to begin with (story of my life), but nothing major. But I got to Sannomiya train station aka the LABRYNTH and spent about an hour trying to find the correct bus station, then another 20 min trying to figure out how to buy a ticket. Thank God there was a very nice Japanese woman behind me in line that was also going to Yashiro, otherwise I think I would still be looking for the bus itself. Luckily I got there just in time for lunch :)We definitely had really good food there.. and there was a bakery down the street we all ventured out to and I got ice cream and it was awesome. We were finished our meetings in the evening around 6ish and during and after dinner we'd all hang out and talk and stuff (all Hyogo JETs) and these Japanese guys in the kitchen apparently have a band that performs at a local bar so after dinner they'd start playing music in the kitchen. They were pretty awesome... they only played older music like the Beatles (their specialty haha) and Twist and Shout and Country Road and stuff like that. It was soooo cooool. Everybody was drinking gigantic beers and singing along and it was so happy. We had a curfew though, which was pretty lame. We were supposed to be in our rooms and asleep by 11. Supposed to be muahaha. The first night a bunch of people went to the Irish guys room and the next night the party was moved around as we got caught, but we still managed to sneak back out and find other rooms. Apparently the only reason they were so strict is because some stupid JETs in the past did dumb things like attack some guy who was in charge so they had to lock down a bit. But whatevs it was fun:)
We got back on Friday night, I spent the evening wandering around Kobe. Saturday night we had our welcome party in a beer garden in Kobe that was on the roof of a building so it was pretty cool. There were beer machines that poured your beer for you. It was pretty sweet. It was cool to see even more people I hadn't met yet... I got a bunch of numbers of JETs. lol I only remember who some of them are... but if I can remember they're all cool people:) That was over around 9:30ish? and afterwards we went to Karaoke... where else haha.
So most of my days run together... today is apparently Friday? I just found that out. I know at some point I went to Himeji castle, which was really pretty. Its cool cuz you take your shoes off to walk around and its really big and you can see all of Himeji from the top. Apparently the walls used to go all around the city... it was super gigantic. The grounds are really nice as well, but it was so hot and humid and we were hungry so there wasn't much walking around. During spring they have a nice cherry blossom display, and I imagine fall is really nice as well. That night we ate dinner at a restaurant near a friends house... they make this stuff that I cant for the life of me remember what its called but its awesome. Its like a stew kinda thing and first you eat all the stuff out of it, then you put noodles in it and eat that, then you put rice in it, and by that time you're so full you can't stand upright. We then went to our friends house...'Pablo' haha... who is super cool and also a JET. He has a bathroom with shiny round stone floor tiles and sparkly walls that made me happy. We all hung out there for awhile and played guitar and watched Youtube, and basically did all the things I do with my friends at home, and I had a lame Stage 2 moment where I started to cry because I missed home which was really dumb. But everything was cool. When I went home I listened to happy music and everything was good. Until two days later when I started crying as I was putting on my shoes lol. Yeah they warn you about this stuff at orientation but you don't think about it til it happens lol. Don't anybody worry though. There are just certain things that frustrate me, and I suppose everything's been kind of building up since I got here little by little. Like how I can't get ready in the morning without being drenched in sweat by the time I leave the house (no central air with ridiculous heat and humidity), and when I do leave the house, my hair is sticking out in all directions, regardless of hairspray and bobby pins. And Japanese people don't tend to show their shoulders, but it's really hard to convince yourself to layer up or wear anything other than a tank top when its a billion degrees out. Happy day. That kind of thing would wear on any spoiled rotten American who's used to constant AC, being able to jump in the air conditioned car and drive somewhere when its hot, and wear anything they want without worries of a social backfire. Compound random little things like that with a horrible predecessor who made you spend your first week drenched in sweat, cleaning like a fricken Japanese Cinderella and I believe you may hit your phase 2 a bit early lol.
I say phase 2, but really I'm still enjoying myself here. My main problem as of yet is trying to find my routine, but I haven't been here long enough for that yet. But I have my cell phone, I ordered internet, I'm going to work everyday, going out on weekends and whatnot... I think a routine will be coming any week now :) Work has been really nice. Such a HUGE contrast to the fast-paced, suck-your-soul-out-of-you, stress Factory where I used to work (though strangely, I miss it :( ). I get to work around 8:30 am and sometimes I have to write an introduction, or work on some other small assignment, but usually I just kinda chill out and wait for lunch and then chill some more til it's time to go home. I spend a lot of time studying (yay Facebook Kanji Box!) and some time Facebooking and checking email. For lunch, there's a grocery store across the street that most teachers go to get bento (very cheap... lunch for about $4), but sometimes I go to restaurants to have lunch. Since school isn't technically in session yet, there really isn't too much for me to do. It's quite relaxing, and doesn't feel like work at all. Yesterday, I got a tour of the school and it's big and I will get lost. But it's all good.
The teachers are all very nice too. Yamashiro sensei is the main JTE that has been helping me out and taking me everywhere. She is super awesome. Tonight she invited me to her house for dinner. I get to meet her two daughters and her dog lol. Her husband is also a teacher, but he won't be home. He is apparently an American football coach. I use the term American to describe the football, not her husband. The team went to Northern Hyogo to practice, where I suppose it is cooler. The funny thing is, she said her husband can't play football at all. I've found that many teachers that coach sports don't actually know how to play them. They just coach them. But being a coach of a team is very important to Japanese teachers. I've heard of instances where some become teachers just because they want to coach a sports team. Quite interesting. I met the teacher that is part of the kendo club. She's very cool and actually lived in Belize for awhile. She said I can come try kendo sometime, which might be fun.
The other day, I went to Kyoto. We basically just went for dinner. We went to this place where they have yakiniku and it was tabe/nomihodai (all you can eat and all you can drink) which is always a dangerous thing. We ate soooo much food it was ridiculous but it was so good. Since I've been here I've had cow tongue, chicken heart, and cow cheek, which I hadn't had (or didn't think I had haha) the last time I was here. The cheek freaked me out just a little cuz I couldn't help thinking about reading Hannibal Rising and anyone who's read that book knows what I'm talking about lol.
So.... so far Jay-pan is definitely the happy place I remember it being. I got paid recently so I'm quite excited to go shopping again... which will make it even happier:)
Yay Jay-pan! Come visit!
Tokyo was awesome.. I met lots of good people, sang some karaoke.. good times. We loaded onto buses headed back to our respective Jay-pan locations. The Hyogoians got to ride the shinkansen (bullet train), which I've been on before, but it's always cool to ride the shinkansen. I had an awesome bento meant for children but it had EVERYTHING. French fries, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, sandwich, chicken, mini hotdogs with cute little designs cut in them. Japanese people make good bentos:) I was exhausted for most of the trip and more or less struggled to stay awake. We read some fun articles about scary Japanese bugs that thourougly freaked most of us out... especially the more rural JETs.
So we got to Kobe station.... I was about to die of heat stroke from the fricken humidity and carrying hundreds of pounds of STUFF. Not really hundreds of pounds, but all the stuff I did carry was awkward and a pain in the butt so it made it feel like more than it was I suppose. We took a bus from Kobe station to Yashiro in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of a roundabout way for me to get home, as I live about 30 min from Kobe station, and about an hour and a half from Yashiro. But whatever. So they took us to Yashiro and we went in this room with a whole bunch of teachers. They introduced us ceremonially (in Jay-pan everything's a ceremony :) ) and then the teacher from our school came up to us and took us back. I had about an hour drive ish and spent most of it looking things up in the dictionary and trying to remember my Japanese. It worked out. I heard of many people who suffered through silent car rides so luckily my JTE was patient haha. I got back to school, and some of the female teachers met me to take me back to my apartment. It's a nice apartment, actually. It is on the first floor of a high rise... I was hoping for higher up, but its convenient I suppose. There's, of course, the customary entryway (genkan I think it's called) to leave shoes and whatnot. Then a little hallway with a bathroom area on the right, including a sink that comes up to my knees, a small toilet room that I could barely turn around in, and an ofuro room, or a room for showering and bathing. The hallway runs into a decent sized kitchen, and then there are some sliding doors, with my bedroom on the other side. I have a tiny balcony outside as well which is nice. My bedroom is the only room that will have heat and airconditioning... that will be fun in winter :) But I've done it before and survived it... so maybe I'll do okay this time??????? Everyone send blankets!!!
K so here's when my life gets fun. After looking around the apartment and taking everything in, I begin to notice that my predecessor apparently had no concept of CLEAN. The floor wasn't swept, the bathroom tiles had NEVER been scrubbed... most surfaces were COVERED in DIRT and DISGUSTINGNESS. And OMG CLUTTER. I am admittedly not the neatest person but I mean holy cow. I eventually spent an entire afternoon going through closets and cabinets and drawers and everywhere else things could be stored and combining things and throwing out things and cleaning and organizing and tearing my hair out. I spent an entire night cleaning black mold... yes the deadly stuff... out of the shower room. Actually only half because I was so overwhelmed and overheated I just gave up. The fridge was moldy, all the molding on the walls was BLACK (supposed to be off white).. the place was just gross. It made me so mad because I knew if the previous renter (my predecessor that biatch) had even remotely tried to clean it wouldn't have been as bad. She was just fricken lazy and that's it. She sent me all these emails asking me to pay her for things she left in the apartment, which at first I was going to pay her, but after spending $$money$$ and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours.... and hours and hours cleaning up after her I told her I wouldn't pay. She originally said it was cool but then sent me a nasty email questioning my integrity, and trying to say I spent so much time because I was trying to put everything in my definition of clean which she said was clearly different from hers. Yes, Carla. I'm sorry that I don't like to live my life rolling in filth and inhaling black mold. I apologize for questioning you. I could go on, but I think she doesn't deserve any more space on my blog. She's not worth the time it takes to type her name. MOVING ON.....
So thankfully I had friends who are 2nd year JETs and know about this MIRACLE that is Kabi Killer. Anyone reading this who is in Japan and has a dirty bathroom needs to use this stuff. I'm sure it gives you cancer on contact, but it kills mold without any scrubbing or effort whatsoever and its amazing and I love it. My bathroom now sparkles. Very happily:)
So yay...a week after I get to my apartment it is finally clean. I get to go about the business of figuring out how to throw away trash in Japan. Again, thank God for older JETs. I had read about Japan being all complicated with their rubbish and recycle bins, but didn't really understand until I got here and realized that not all plastic is the same, everything needs to be washed before being thrown out, burnables, non-burnables, recycle, pet-bottles, batteries, electronics, .... every category you could think of!!!.... all go out on different days of the week and different times of the month, and some things you have to take them to the store to be thrown away, and some things you have to pay for people to come get them and omg headache. I have the majority of things figured out... the big things anyway. It's not as intimidating as it used to be I guess, but it's still kinda crazy. I miss America where you throw everything in one bin and no one cares haha.
Around the 12th, I had another orientation to go to... back in Yashiro aka prison. Haha actually it wasn't that bad... but there is absolutely NOTHING in Yashiro, and we're stuck in a building that feels like a hospital all day trying desperately to stay awake while we're lectured (i.e. Japanese people read lengthy powerpoints word for word) about Japan and education and yadda yadda. There were some interesting JETs who helped out and helped mix things up a bit. One Austrailian guy told us `just don't be muppets' which made me laugh a lot. I pretty much just doodled the whole time. Oh and I got massively lost on my way there. I was running a bit late to begin with (story of my life), but nothing major. But I got to Sannomiya train station aka the LABRYNTH and spent about an hour trying to find the correct bus station, then another 20 min trying to figure out how to buy a ticket. Thank God there was a very nice Japanese woman behind me in line that was also going to Yashiro, otherwise I think I would still be looking for the bus itself. Luckily I got there just in time for lunch :)We definitely had really good food there.. and there was a bakery down the street we all ventured out to and I got ice cream and it was awesome. We were finished our meetings in the evening around 6ish and during and after dinner we'd all hang out and talk and stuff (all Hyogo JETs) and these Japanese guys in the kitchen apparently have a band that performs at a local bar so after dinner they'd start playing music in the kitchen. They were pretty awesome... they only played older music like the Beatles (their specialty haha) and Twist and Shout and Country Road and stuff like that. It was soooo cooool. Everybody was drinking gigantic beers and singing along and it was so happy. We had a curfew though, which was pretty lame. We were supposed to be in our rooms and asleep by 11. Supposed to be muahaha. The first night a bunch of people went to the Irish guys room and the next night the party was moved around as we got caught, but we still managed to sneak back out and find other rooms. Apparently the only reason they were so strict is because some stupid JETs in the past did dumb things like attack some guy who was in charge so they had to lock down a bit. But whatevs it was fun:)
We got back on Friday night, I spent the evening wandering around Kobe. Saturday night we had our welcome party in a beer garden in Kobe that was on the roof of a building so it was pretty cool. There were beer machines that poured your beer for you. It was pretty sweet. It was cool to see even more people I hadn't met yet... I got a bunch of numbers of JETs. lol I only remember who some of them are... but if I can remember they're all cool people:) That was over around 9:30ish? and afterwards we went to Karaoke... where else haha.
So most of my days run together... today is apparently Friday? I just found that out. I know at some point I went to Himeji castle, which was really pretty. Its cool cuz you take your shoes off to walk around and its really big and you can see all of Himeji from the top. Apparently the walls used to go all around the city... it was super gigantic. The grounds are really nice as well, but it was so hot and humid and we were hungry so there wasn't much walking around. During spring they have a nice cherry blossom display, and I imagine fall is really nice as well. That night we ate dinner at a restaurant near a friends house... they make this stuff that I cant for the life of me remember what its called but its awesome. Its like a stew kinda thing and first you eat all the stuff out of it, then you put noodles in it and eat that, then you put rice in it, and by that time you're so full you can't stand upright. We then went to our friends house...'Pablo' haha... who is super cool and also a JET. He has a bathroom with shiny round stone floor tiles and sparkly walls that made me happy. We all hung out there for awhile and played guitar and watched Youtube, and basically did all the things I do with my friends at home, and I had a lame Stage 2 moment where I started to cry because I missed home which was really dumb. But everything was cool. When I went home I listened to happy music and everything was good. Until two days later when I started crying as I was putting on my shoes lol. Yeah they warn you about this stuff at orientation but you don't think about it til it happens lol. Don't anybody worry though. There are just certain things that frustrate me, and I suppose everything's been kind of building up since I got here little by little. Like how I can't get ready in the morning without being drenched in sweat by the time I leave the house (no central air with ridiculous heat and humidity), and when I do leave the house, my hair is sticking out in all directions, regardless of hairspray and bobby pins. And Japanese people don't tend to show their shoulders, but it's really hard to convince yourself to layer up or wear anything other than a tank top when its a billion degrees out. Happy day. That kind of thing would wear on any spoiled rotten American who's used to constant AC, being able to jump in the air conditioned car and drive somewhere when its hot, and wear anything they want without worries of a social backfire. Compound random little things like that with a horrible predecessor who made you spend your first week drenched in sweat, cleaning like a fricken Japanese Cinderella and I believe you may hit your phase 2 a bit early lol.
I say phase 2, but really I'm still enjoying myself here. My main problem as of yet is trying to find my routine, but I haven't been here long enough for that yet. But I have my cell phone, I ordered internet, I'm going to work everyday, going out on weekends and whatnot... I think a routine will be coming any week now :) Work has been really nice. Such a HUGE contrast to the fast-paced, suck-your-soul-out-of-you, stress Factory where I used to work (though strangely, I miss it :( ). I get to work around 8:30 am and sometimes I have to write an introduction, or work on some other small assignment, but usually I just kinda chill out and wait for lunch and then chill some more til it's time to go home. I spend a lot of time studying (yay Facebook Kanji Box!) and some time Facebooking and checking email. For lunch, there's a grocery store across the street that most teachers go to get bento (very cheap... lunch for about $4), but sometimes I go to restaurants to have lunch. Since school isn't technically in session yet, there really isn't too much for me to do. It's quite relaxing, and doesn't feel like work at all. Yesterday, I got a tour of the school and it's big and I will get lost. But it's all good.
The teachers are all very nice too. Yamashiro sensei is the main JTE that has been helping me out and taking me everywhere. She is super awesome. Tonight she invited me to her house for dinner. I get to meet her two daughters and her dog lol. Her husband is also a teacher, but he won't be home. He is apparently an American football coach. I use the term American to describe the football, not her husband. The team went to Northern Hyogo to practice, where I suppose it is cooler. The funny thing is, she said her husband can't play football at all. I've found that many teachers that coach sports don't actually know how to play them. They just coach them. But being a coach of a team is very important to Japanese teachers. I've heard of instances where some become teachers just because they want to coach a sports team. Quite interesting. I met the teacher that is part of the kendo club. She's very cool and actually lived in Belize for awhile. She said I can come try kendo sometime, which might be fun.
The other day, I went to Kyoto. We basically just went for dinner. We went to this place where they have yakiniku and it was tabe/nomihodai (all you can eat and all you can drink) which is always a dangerous thing. We ate soooo much food it was ridiculous but it was so good. Since I've been here I've had cow tongue, chicken heart, and cow cheek, which I hadn't had (or didn't think I had haha) the last time I was here. The cheek freaked me out just a little cuz I couldn't help thinking about reading Hannibal Rising and anyone who's read that book knows what I'm talking about lol.
So.... so far Jay-pan is definitely the happy place I remember it being. I got paid recently so I'm quite excited to go shopping again... which will make it even happier:)
Yay Jay-pan! Come visit!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Tokyo Orientation- 8/2/09-8/5/09
Apparently, I've been in Japan since the 2nd. Although I'm kinda feeling like I'm missing a day, since we left on the 1st, spent forever and a half on planes and in airports and buses-no boats though:(- and somehow ended up here on the 2nd. It felt like FOREVER. The plane was pretty cool though. All the seats had their own touch screens where we could choose whatever we wanted to watch. I played tetris, then watched Monk, The Office, 30 Rock, Simpsons, My Life in Ruins (suprisingly good movie btw), and probably about a thousand other things. Overall, okay flight despite the fact that it was pretty much the longest flight ever. Random JETs were wandering around the plane saying hey to everybody which was pretty cool. MM did some yoga in the airport. And we ate Fuddruckers. mmmm.
All the DC JETs I met at orientation I feel like I've known them for weeks when actually it's only been a few days. It's been fun hanging out with everybody. I'm gonna miss my non-Hyogo peeps. My wifey included. We've spent some time exploring local Tokyo at night...getting lost and following pretty lights:) Mostly, it's been exhausting, as the days consist of endless meetings on top of sleep deprivedness on top of jet lag. Good times.
It's odd as well that it doesn't really feel yet like I'm in Japan. When I studied abroad, the second I got off the plane I had this feeling of being somewhere different. The look and feel of everything was somehow out of the ordinary, and it was a very "out of body experience?". I'm not sure that's the best term to describe the feeling, but it was more or less like I was conscious of every detail of everything and just very aware of my surroundings and myself in them. This time has been different. I think it may be partially because I've been here before, so things feel familiar, and also because I've been traveling with a large group of people that has remained constant throughout the past several days. I almost feel like I might still be in DC, or at any moment I'll be heading home to Charlotte. Very odd feeling.
Tomorrow we will be heading to our home prefectures. It's kind of funny that everyone has already developed a pride in their prefecture. By the way... HYOGO ROCKS. I have to get my bags ready tonight which is dumb. Sooooooo tired of packing. It'll all be over soon though... I get to move into my new place tomorrow and will no longer be living out of a suitcase. yay! We get to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) which is quite exciting. Then a bus. Then my people come pick me up and take me to my apartment. I assume it's an apartment ::shrugs:: I'll find out tomorrow.
Another very cool thing. The window in my hotel room overlooks the government building that I went to the top of the last time I was in Tokyo to get a view of the city. On a clear day you can see Fujisan. Kinda weird that I was pretty much in this exact location 3 years ago.
All the DC JETs I met at orientation I feel like I've known them for weeks when actually it's only been a few days. It's been fun hanging out with everybody. I'm gonna miss my non-Hyogo peeps. My wifey included. We've spent some time exploring local Tokyo at night...getting lost and following pretty lights:) Mostly, it's been exhausting, as the days consist of endless meetings on top of sleep deprivedness on top of jet lag. Good times.
It's odd as well that it doesn't really feel yet like I'm in Japan. When I studied abroad, the second I got off the plane I had this feeling of being somewhere different. The look and feel of everything was somehow out of the ordinary, and it was a very "out of body experience?". I'm not sure that's the best term to describe the feeling, but it was more or less like I was conscious of every detail of everything and just very aware of my surroundings and myself in them. This time has been different. I think it may be partially because I've been here before, so things feel familiar, and also because I've been traveling with a large group of people that has remained constant throughout the past several days. I almost feel like I might still be in DC, or at any moment I'll be heading home to Charlotte. Very odd feeling.
Tomorrow we will be heading to our home prefectures. It's kind of funny that everyone has already developed a pride in their prefecture. By the way... HYOGO ROCKS. I have to get my bags ready tonight which is dumb. Sooooooo tired of packing. It'll all be over soon though... I get to move into my new place tomorrow and will no longer be living out of a suitcase. yay! We get to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) which is quite exciting. Then a bus. Then my people come pick me up and take me to my apartment. I assume it's an apartment ::shrugs:: I'll find out tomorrow.
Another very cool thing. The window in my hotel room overlooks the government building that I went to the top of the last time I was in Tokyo to get a view of the city. On a clear day you can see Fujisan. Kinda weird that I was pretty much in this exact location 3 years ago.
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