Sunday, August 30, 2009
Yukata
I just wanted to share a picture of my yukata here because it is so beautiful. I also have an update as to why it is so long: It is supposed to be. (!!!) You fold it up to make it the correct length. This does not mean I know how to put it on, but at least I do not have to get it hemmed or anything. Here is a picture of it close up so you can see how pretty the colors are. The pink material is the obi (you wear it around your waist and tie it in a beautiful bow in the back.)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Some good old retail therapy
So, I survived a whole week of school and teaching! I even had a class that was actual teaching, rather than me reading my little shutterfly book for the 82nd time. However, it was a long week, and I decided to go to Nagano city today for some retail therapy. Actually, I was going to get a JLPT application, but somehow I spent a TON of money today! I did get my JLPT application, so if I can jump through all the hoops correctly, I will be taking the test in December. I also got a yukata, so that is exciting. It is beautiful royal blue (my blue) with flowers and I got a pinkish obi that matches the flowers on the yukata. I just took it out of the package, however, and I have no clue what sort of Japanese woman would EVER be able to wear it because it is like 8 inches too long for me! I am not tall, but I am taller than quite a few of the women here, so I am a little confused. Perhaps there is something I am supposed to do? (any advice, anyone?) It is nearing the end of summer anyway, so I will probably not wear it until next year, but all that means is that when I bought it, it was half price!! YAY
I ALSO went into an arcade of sorts. That is the wrong word, but I cannot remember, ANYway, it is just a whole room of the claw machines and they all have different things and I managed to win this HUGE hello kitty pillow. It is so cute. Do not ask how many times I had to play to win it, or if I could have bought it for cheaper. There is just a nice feeling that comes with winning it, so whatever.
The one productive thing I got today is an external hard drive. My computer has been acting up (blue screen of death at least 8 times in the past three days) so I decided to play it safe, and I will save all my music and pictures, just in case. Of course, now that I have come to this decision, the computer will play nice for 5 more years. Thats just how it works, isn't it?
Actually, I got a totally cute desk/chair set and another set of bookshelves today too, so those also fall under "productive." I was trying to put the shelves together and I killed the screwdriver. I just have one of those hand held ones that does not have, like, an actual handle, its just sort of the metal part with a triangley piece to grip, and I guess you could say I stripped it. Instead of having the little plus sign on the end, it just has a piece in the middle and all the ridges are gone completely. I think tomorrow I will use my hammer and just pound the screws into place. Stupid cheap screwdrivers!
So this post did not really have a point. I just thought I should share that retail therapy is very effective in Japan, too!
I ALSO went into an arcade of sorts. That is the wrong word, but I cannot remember, ANYway, it is just a whole room of the claw machines and they all have different things and I managed to win this HUGE hello kitty pillow. It is so cute. Do not ask how many times I had to play to win it, or if I could have bought it for cheaper. There is just a nice feeling that comes with winning it, so whatever.
The one productive thing I got today is an external hard drive. My computer has been acting up (blue screen of death at least 8 times in the past three days) so I decided to play it safe, and I will save all my music and pictures, just in case. Of course, now that I have come to this decision, the computer will play nice for 5 more years. Thats just how it works, isn't it?
Actually, I got a totally cute desk/chair set and another set of bookshelves today too, so those also fall under "productive." I was trying to put the shelves together and I killed the screwdriver. I just have one of those hand held ones that does not have, like, an actual handle, its just sort of the metal part with a triangley piece to grip, and I guess you could say I stripped it. Instead of having the little plus sign on the end, it just has a piece in the middle and all the ridges are gone completely. I think tomorrow I will use my hammer and just pound the screws into place. Stupid cheap screwdrivers!
So this post did not really have a point. I just thought I should share that retail therapy is very effective in Japan, too!
Monday, August 24, 2009
First day of school take 2!
FIRST: everyone gets to learn two words in Japanese! Principal is kocho-sensei and Vice Principal is kyoto-sensei. Everyone got those straight? Good, because I still mix them up. Why am I teaching you these words? Because in the interest of me NOT confusing the two, I will be typing them in Japanese in any posts from now on instead of in English. I wanted to make sure everyone would know who is who (hah!)
Aaaaanyway.....
Today was my first official day of school, like, at my school. I woke up extremely early, as in 2 whole hours before my alarm and I could not get back to sleep, so I ran through my self-introduction and ate breakfast. It was pouring when I got up, so it was actually cold in my apartment. Not just comfortable, but, like, needed a sweatshirt cold. Crazy, right! I did not need the fan at all, which I suppose is a good thing.
Anyway, my school is really chill (haha, no pun intended after the talk about the cold weather). All the teachers wear watches, and they have not said anything about my various piercings (when I was at ni-chuu, I was told to take care of them and "mind my appearance"). Also, the female teachers here who wear skirts do not have pantyhose on. I had heard that it was unacceptable, but, again, my school seems to be pretty chill, so no pantyhose here. I may brave up and wear a skirt tomorrow, just to see what happens! Alright, back to my day, I get there at 8:05 (I am supposed to arrive at 8:15) so I walk in early and say my "ohayo gozaimasu"s to everyone I pass, including some students who just look at me and then giggle. Oh well. At 8:20 the meeting started in the teachers' room, and I completely embarassed myself here. I was told that the kocho-sensei would introduce me, and he stood up and said something about Lynsay left and I am the new AET and this is Elissa. Then he looked at me, and I thought he was done, so I started my little intro, and then the kyoto-sensei who speaks English was like, "wait! He is not done!" So I turn beet red, everyone laughed (including the kocho-sensei, thank goodness) and I apologized like 17 times with a full 90-degree bow, and then he continues. He talked for like 3 more minutes about where I am from, and that I can speak English (duh) and French, and some random facts about Virginia. He did his research. So then he stops and looks at me again, and I waited a minute, just to be sure, and he nodded, so I did my short intro. I essentially said my name, where I am from, something like "I am looking forward to working with all of you as a teacher in your school." and "nice to meet you." and then all the teachers clapped.
Next part of my day: Introduction for the WHOLE SCHOOL! I had to get up to the podium with a microphone and introduce myself. I started in English and then I said the same things in Japanese. I had tons of help with my Japanese part (thanks, Sarah!) and as a result, I think the teachers have the impression that I speak Japanese better than I do. Oops. I told them at lunch that I am studying, and doing my best. They told me I use chopsticks very well. It was a high quality conversation.
I actually did not have any classes today, so I sort of sat in the teachers' room and played online. I made some worksheets for classes that I may or may not use, but I wanted to look like I was being productive. I also studied Japanese for a bit and then managed to give my omiyage (souvenir/present) to the vice principal. It is probably a faux pas to give omiyage to the kyoto-sense before the kocho-sensei, but the timing was right so I just did it. I will give the kocho-sensei his tomorrow or sometime this week and hope that it goes ok. He is more difficult to pin down, and his office is across the hall. The kyoto-sensei is in with the teachers. Also, my kyoto-sensei lives right next door to me. Or rather, he has the apartment next door to me, but his family lives in Nagano city, so he stays there most of the time. He did give me some cucumbers when I first moved in, becuase I happened to run into him outside.
So that was my first day. Only one major gaffe and everything else was fine. Tomorrow I have two classes, so I will post about them at some point in the future!
Aaaaanyway.....
Today was my first official day of school, like, at my school. I woke up extremely early, as in 2 whole hours before my alarm and I could not get back to sleep, so I ran through my self-introduction and ate breakfast. It was pouring when I got up, so it was actually cold in my apartment. Not just comfortable, but, like, needed a sweatshirt cold. Crazy, right! I did not need the fan at all, which I suppose is a good thing.
Anyway, my school is really chill (haha, no pun intended after the talk about the cold weather). All the teachers wear watches, and they have not said anything about my various piercings (when I was at ni-chuu, I was told to take care of them and "mind my appearance"). Also, the female teachers here who wear skirts do not have pantyhose on. I had heard that it was unacceptable, but, again, my school seems to be pretty chill, so no pantyhose here. I may brave up and wear a skirt tomorrow, just to see what happens! Alright, back to my day, I get there at 8:05 (I am supposed to arrive at 8:15) so I walk in early and say my "ohayo gozaimasu"s to everyone I pass, including some students who just look at me and then giggle. Oh well. At 8:20 the meeting started in the teachers' room, and I completely embarassed myself here. I was told that the kocho-sensei would introduce me, and he stood up and said something about Lynsay left and I am the new AET and this is Elissa. Then he looked at me, and I thought he was done, so I started my little intro, and then the kyoto-sensei who speaks English was like, "wait! He is not done!" So I turn beet red, everyone laughed (including the kocho-sensei, thank goodness) and I apologized like 17 times with a full 90-degree bow, and then he continues. He talked for like 3 more minutes about where I am from, and that I can speak English (duh) and French, and some random facts about Virginia. He did his research. So then he stops and looks at me again, and I waited a minute, just to be sure, and he nodded, so I did my short intro. I essentially said my name, where I am from, something like "I am looking forward to working with all of you as a teacher in your school." and "nice to meet you." and then all the teachers clapped.
Next part of my day: Introduction for the WHOLE SCHOOL! I had to get up to the podium with a microphone and introduce myself. I started in English and then I said the same things in Japanese. I had tons of help with my Japanese part (thanks, Sarah!) and as a result, I think the teachers have the impression that I speak Japanese better than I do. Oops. I told them at lunch that I am studying, and doing my best. They told me I use chopsticks very well. It was a high quality conversation.
I actually did not have any classes today, so I sort of sat in the teachers' room and played online. I made some worksheets for classes that I may or may not use, but I wanted to look like I was being productive. I also studied Japanese for a bit and then managed to give my omiyage (souvenir/present) to the vice principal. It is probably a faux pas to give omiyage to the kyoto-sense before the kocho-sensei, but the timing was right so I just did it. I will give the kocho-sensei his tomorrow or sometime this week and hope that it goes ok. He is more difficult to pin down, and his office is across the hall. The kyoto-sensei is in with the teachers. Also, my kyoto-sensei lives right next door to me. Or rather, he has the apartment next door to me, but his family lives in Nagano city, so he stays there most of the time. He did give me some cucumbers when I first moved in, becuase I happened to run into him outside.
So that was my first day. Only one major gaffe and everything else was fine. Tomorrow I have two classes, so I will post about them at some point in the future!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
First day of school and one more gaijin moment
Today was the first day of school at ni-chuu (not my school) but I am there until Friday. this morning there was some school cleaning because they just got back from the holidays, and that was very interesting. Yesterday Ishida-sensei told me to bring a towel for cleaning, and I assumed he meant that I needed a towel to clean with (dust, wipe, etc). As it turned out, I needed a towel to wrap around my head, while cleaning, like a bandana of sorts, but bigger. Its still cotton, but a rectangle instead of a square. Ishida-sensei called it a Japanese towel yesterday, and I figured, a towel bought in Japan is a Japanese towel, right? NOPE! I am not sure why they wear them on their heads, I guess to cover their hair? Men/boys do it too, so its not a girl thing. Anyway, I had brought just like a hand towel from my house, so there I was standing in the library holding this random green towel watching the kids clean. Then Kovayashi-sensei told one of the kids in Japanese to show me what to do. He was sweeping, so he just looked at me and continued sweeping as he looked at me, to make sure I understood how to sweep. Then he handed me the broom and watched to make sure I was sweeping correctly. I also missed the memo about how teachers change clothes before they clean, so I was there in my nicer pants and button down shirt, cleaning.
Kobayashi-sensei asked if I had ever cleaned the floor before, and I said at my house, yes, but not at school. I explained about custodians, and she told the students who were on their hands and knees cleaning the floor, and they just looked at me and were like "hontou?!" (really?) I just nodded, and they were in utter disbelief that kids do not clean schools in the US.
After cleaning, there was an assembly, and all the students and faculty were there and after listening to the principal talk and the school song (a student played the piano and the music teacher conducted!) I had the pleasure of being called on stage to introduce myself. To the whole school. Remember that this is not my school, but still, I got to go up there and say my name, etc. I did it in Japanese, too, so that was insane (I had help)
After the assembly I had about an hour to kill in the teachers' room and I spent most of that trying to figure out how to get the internet working on my computer. I had teh cable plugged in and it was just not working at all, and then I looked under the desk and figure out that the other end was not connected to anything! Duh. I never managed to figure out what to plug the other end into, so I just made some worksheets that I can use later and I typed in my journal of sorts. Hopefully I can make it the rest of the week without internet, but tomorrow, I think I will have a lot of time to kill between classes, and it would be nice to be able to go online.
The rest of the day was fine, but I should tell about lunch. Wow. I should mention that the students serve lunch. Each homeroom has a schedule, I think, and they put on doctorish white coats, hair nets, and masks, and they get the food, carry it to their classroom and serve it! Craziness! Anyway, I have been dreading the whole school lunch thing because I heard that the "protein" can be very random at times. Guess what we had today? You guessed it, SQUID!! Thankfully, it was not the dreaded whole grilled squid on a stick, because that would have been bad. It was rings and they were fried. They tasted OK, but I have some mental issues with certain sea creatures where I imagine them whole and swimming around, and it freaks me out. The worst are the tentacles, because they still have the little suckers on them, and I really cannot handle that yet. Normally the taste is fine, but my brain gets in the way. There was also salad, tofu, soup, rice and milk for lunch, so plenty of food. More than plenty, in fact. I could not finish all of mine! I also offered my milk to the students and like 6 of them got up and had a mini janken (rock, paper, scissors) tournament to decide who got to drink my milk. I guess they are growing kids, so more food is better. I almost drank my milk, because in my stupidity this morning, I forgot a bottle of water, so I was incredibly thirsty by lunch, but I decided that I would be better off thirsty than having some...issues if you catch my drift. The kids also think it is funny when foreigners do not like certain foods. I did not advertise my issues with squid, but someday the students at my school will see it, and it will be the day that they serve the whole squid on a stick. I am sure I will end up tasting nattō at some point, and that will be a hit, too. Nattō is like fermented soybeans, and it is very smelly, and very popular, and the kids love to ask foreigners if they like nattō. I got asked once today. If you say yes, they will be astounded, and want to watch you eat some, and if you say no, they will be like, "oh of course, cause you are a foreigner so you won't like nattō." Anyway that was a random tangent, but I am sure Nattō will get its own post at some point in the future.
Alrighty, so on Wednesdays I go to city hall at 3:30 for a meeting with Sakaguchi-san (my supervisor) so I left school at 3:15 today. Tonight I will buy a "Japanese towel"
Kobayashi-sensei asked if I had ever cleaned the floor before, and I said at my house, yes, but not at school. I explained about custodians, and she told the students who were on their hands and knees cleaning the floor, and they just looked at me and were like "hontou?!" (really?) I just nodded, and they were in utter disbelief that kids do not clean schools in the US.
After cleaning, there was an assembly, and all the students and faculty were there and after listening to the principal talk and the school song (a student played the piano and the music teacher conducted!) I had the pleasure of being called on stage to introduce myself. To the whole school. Remember that this is not my school, but still, I got to go up there and say my name, etc. I did it in Japanese, too, so that was insane (I had help)
After the assembly I had about an hour to kill in the teachers' room and I spent most of that trying to figure out how to get the internet working on my computer. I had teh cable plugged in and it was just not working at all, and then I looked under the desk and figure out that the other end was not connected to anything! Duh. I never managed to figure out what to plug the other end into, so I just made some worksheets that I can use later and I typed in my journal of sorts. Hopefully I can make it the rest of the week without internet, but tomorrow, I think I will have a lot of time to kill between classes, and it would be nice to be able to go online.
The rest of the day was fine, but I should tell about lunch. Wow. I should mention that the students serve lunch. Each homeroom has a schedule, I think, and they put on doctorish white coats, hair nets, and masks, and they get the food, carry it to their classroom and serve it! Craziness! Anyway, I have been dreading the whole school lunch thing because I heard that the "protein" can be very random at times. Guess what we had today? You guessed it, SQUID!! Thankfully, it was not the dreaded whole grilled squid on a stick, because that would have been bad. It was rings and they were fried. They tasted OK, but I have some mental issues with certain sea creatures where I imagine them whole and swimming around, and it freaks me out. The worst are the tentacles, because they still have the little suckers on them, and I really cannot handle that yet. Normally the taste is fine, but my brain gets in the way. There was also salad, tofu, soup, rice and milk for lunch, so plenty of food. More than plenty, in fact. I could not finish all of mine! I also offered my milk to the students and like 6 of them got up and had a mini janken (rock, paper, scissors) tournament to decide who got to drink my milk. I guess they are growing kids, so more food is better. I almost drank my milk, because in my stupidity this morning, I forgot a bottle of water, so I was incredibly thirsty by lunch, but I decided that I would be better off thirsty than having some...issues if you catch my drift. The kids also think it is funny when foreigners do not like certain foods. I did not advertise my issues with squid, but someday the students at my school will see it, and it will be the day that they serve the whole squid on a stick. I am sure I will end up tasting nattō at some point, and that will be a hit, too. Nattō is like fermented soybeans, and it is very smelly, and very popular, and the kids love to ask foreigners if they like nattō. I got asked once today. If you say yes, they will be astounded, and want to watch you eat some, and if you say no, they will be like, "oh of course, cause you are a foreigner so you won't like nattō." Anyway that was a random tangent, but I am sure Nattō will get its own post at some point in the future.
Alrighty, so on Wednesdays I go to city hall at 3:30 for a meeting with Sakaguchi-san (my supervisor) so I left school at 3:15 today. Tonight I will buy a "Japanese towel"
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Some Gaijin Moments...
Thought I should share some of my silly moments from today. Its not like I can embarass myself by sharing, seeing as the moments have already happened, and I have been laughed at. I have some orientation this week at ni-chuu, which is not my school, but a different junior highschool. I work at san-chuu. (by the way, ni-chuu just means like second Junior High School, and san chuu is third. creative, eh? There is first, too. the chuu is just short for chuu gakkou... junior high school.) Also, gaijin means foreigner, if I have not mentioned that before.
First, I decided it would be a BRILLIANT idea to bike to school today. I completely underestimated my biking abilities. I started out strong, and then I get maybe 1/3 of the way there and I just start hurting all over. So then I am the slow-moving gaijin on a bike on the sidewalk. THEN the sidewalk ended, so I had to move to the road, and as I have mentioned, I think, the roads are very narrow, and a lot of them have these foot and a half deep drains that are open on the edge. So I was riding on the line as much as possible, and the cars were just going around me. Great. THEN, I get to a hill. I thought to myself, "yeah, I can do this, pedal away!" Half way up, it starts to get harder... and then some students pass me and giggle to each other as they pedal effortlessly up the hill, and as they watch the wheezing, red-faced gaijin get off her bike and walk it up the hill. Alright, top of the hill, I pedal the rest of the way to school, park my bike and go in. To top it off, I walk into the school and they sort of look at me, and then the one JTE says "oh you're sunburned!" Haha, no, I said, I rode my bike here this morning. "Why did you do that?"
Alright, orientation was ok. It got frustrating because one of the JTEs was trying to help me write a self introduction in Japanese. I told him what I wanted to say, and then he would say it in Japanese, but when I asked him to slow down so I could write it, he just sort of kept repeating it to me. I am going to hopefully have someone check it! Otherwise, the intro could be interesting when I say something like "I am terrified of falling into a rice field" instead of "I am happy to be here at your school" Good news, they let me leave early, so one more miserable bike ride later and i was sitting in my apartment in front of my fan on full blast. Should I mention that I called my mom and sobbed over skype for 25 minutes? Sure, why not! I should share that I am not always genki (happy/good) here in Japan! Talk about a roller coaster of emotions.
Ok, gaijin moment #2: Another of the JTEs was so kind today as to take me to lunch and then to Nakano (yes, Nakano, not to be confused with Nagano) to get an electronic dictionary. SO NICE and her English is great too, now that I have really talked to her. She studied in the US for two years. Anyway, so we go to Beishe after Nakano to get me some groceries and I go to check out, and the girl asks me if I have a stamp card, which I do. Little did I know that the card is for saving the environment and you get a stamp by not using a plastic bag. Haha... I got it the last time I went to Beishe, and I had only bought like three things, so of course I did not need a bag at that time! This time, however, I needed two bags for all my random Japanesey foods! OOPS! Inthe stores here you fill one of the baskets with stuff, and then they give you bags and you bag your own stuff after paying, so after an awkward moment of me standing there trying to figure out where I went wrong, I started to load things in my purse and VOILA as it turned out, my brain is still working, and I had put two reusable bags in my purse this morning! So I loaded them up, and all was well, but only after I made a fool of myself for having no idea what the stamp card was for.
Alright, thanks for reading another non-coherent Elissa blog post!
First, I decided it would be a BRILLIANT idea to bike to school today. I completely underestimated my biking abilities. I started out strong, and then I get maybe 1/3 of the way there and I just start hurting all over. So then I am the slow-moving gaijin on a bike on the sidewalk. THEN the sidewalk ended, so I had to move to the road, and as I have mentioned, I think, the roads are very narrow, and a lot of them have these foot and a half deep drains that are open on the edge. So I was riding on the line as much as possible, and the cars were just going around me. Great. THEN, I get to a hill. I thought to myself, "yeah, I can do this, pedal away!" Half way up, it starts to get harder... and then some students pass me and giggle to each other as they pedal effortlessly up the hill, and as they watch the wheezing, red-faced gaijin get off her bike and walk it up the hill. Alright, top of the hill, I pedal the rest of the way to school, park my bike and go in. To top it off, I walk into the school and they sort of look at me, and then the one JTE says "oh you're sunburned!" Haha, no, I said, I rode my bike here this morning. "Why did you do that?"
Alright, orientation was ok. It got frustrating because one of the JTEs was trying to help me write a self introduction in Japanese. I told him what I wanted to say, and then he would say it in Japanese, but when I asked him to slow down so I could write it, he just sort of kept repeating it to me. I am going to hopefully have someone check it! Otherwise, the intro could be interesting when I say something like "I am terrified of falling into a rice field" instead of "I am happy to be here at your school" Good news, they let me leave early, so one more miserable bike ride later and i was sitting in my apartment in front of my fan on full blast. Should I mention that I called my mom and sobbed over skype for 25 minutes? Sure, why not! I should share that I am not always genki (happy/good) here in Japan! Talk about a roller coaster of emotions.
Ok, gaijin moment #2: Another of the JTEs was so kind today as to take me to lunch and then to Nakano (yes, Nakano, not to be confused with Nagano) to get an electronic dictionary. SO NICE and her English is great too, now that I have really talked to her. She studied in the US for two years. Anyway, so we go to Beishe after Nakano to get me some groceries and I go to check out, and the girl asks me if I have a stamp card, which I do. Little did I know that the card is for saving the environment and you get a stamp by not using a plastic bag. Haha... I got it the last time I went to Beishe, and I had only bought like three things, so of course I did not need a bag at that time! This time, however, I needed two bags for all my random Japanesey foods! OOPS! Inthe stores here you fill one of the baskets with stuff, and then they give you bags and you bag your own stuff after paying, so after an awkward moment of me standing there trying to figure out where I went wrong, I started to load things in my purse and VOILA as it turned out, my brain is still working, and I had put two reusable bags in my purse this morning! So I loaded them up, and all was well, but only after I made a fool of myself for having no idea what the stamp card was for.
Alright, thanks for reading another non-coherent Elissa blog post!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
My goals for Japan
In several of the sessions at Tokyo orientation and at Nagano orientation, we were told that it is a good idea to set some goals for while you are in Japan. I decided to try to do that, and I decided to post them for a few reasons: (1) you all will know that I did, in fact, make some goals! (2) Everyone who reads my goals will be able to ask if I have reached them, and that will help keep me on track. (3) I just like to post to my blog! :)
So, here are some of my goals:
So, here are some of my goals:
- Climb Mt. Fuji
- Pass level 4 (the easiest) of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) this December
- Go to Tokyo Disney
- Wear a kimono/yukata (summer verison of kimono, I think) at some point for a festival(perhaps purchase one!)
- Sub-goal: Actually learn how to put on a kimono/yukata
- See the snow monkeys
- Really make an effort to speak Japanese with people
- Get my students excited about English, but also about languages in general.
- Try karate and/or kendo.
- Try taiko (the traditional drumming)
- Karaoke- I want to sing a Japanese song, like, in Japanese. Also, Bohemian Rhapsody could be pretty fun, and Livin' on a Prayer
- Go to an onsen (if you are unaware, these are the hot springs, and you go in naked)
- Visit Okinawa
- Travel around Japan in general: Osaka, Kyoto, more in Tokyo, Hokkaido...
- Get to know Iiyama and Nagano prefecture
- Become a regular at some of the izakayas in Iiyama and actually talk to the owners. (izakaya= smallish drinking pub of sorts)
- Pass the Japanese driving test.
- Learn to ski, and try to enjoy skiing.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Fireworks
As you may or may not know, I do not like loud noises, and fireworks fall into this category. However, I came to Japan knowing that fireworks are big here, so I brought 3 kinds of ear plugs with me so I would be able to experience the amazing-ness. Iiyama had a HUGE festival tonight that included some fireworks. When I say HUGE, I mean it. They closed down the road that I take to get from my apt to the main part of Iiyama, so that is huge. There were lots of vendors and all kinds of delicious foods. I am happy to say I managed to sit through the entire hour without any issues. Of course, they did a few testers that caught me off guard, and Alaina had the pleasure of seeing me jump out of my skin, but I got the ear plugs in after that and it was all beauty and hardly any noise. Yay. I keep hoping I will grow out of this loud noise thing, but, based on the tester fireworks tonight, that will not happen anytime this year.
Anyway, the fireworks were pretty awesome. I tried to take pictures, but it is not very easy, so they are not good, even though I used the fireworks setting on my camera for most of them. I did take a few videos and those are much better. The best part is listening to the people in the background as they "ooh" and "ahh."
Anyway, the fireworks were pretty awesome. I tried to take pictures, but it is not very easy, so they are not good, even though I used the fireworks setting on my camera for most of them. I did take a few videos and those are much better. The best part is listening to the people in the background as they "ooh" and "ahh."
Nagano Orientation
One of the most important things I learned in the last two days is that being in a room full of drunk people if you are sober is not fun. The second most important thing I learned is how to use the train to get to Nagano City from Iiyama. Third most important: I need to learn Japanese.
Ok, so Nagano orientation. Fairly useful information, but more useful was meeting other people who live and work in Nagano prefecture. This prefecture is pretty damn big, so I met people who I will see very rarely, but I met my block leaders and they are closer to where I am. Just being not jetlagged made the orientation productive because I was actually able to stay awake and take in what I was being told. It is also starting to feel real now, the fact that I am in Japan and that I will be teaching. Also, I had an onigiri for lunch, and that makes any day fantastic. Onigiri are riceballs with some sort of filling and then wrapped in seaweed, and they are DELICIOUS. I will take pictures next time I get one.
Back to orientation: the most fun part was the scavenger hunt. They put us into groups and then added 3 Japanese high school students to each group and sent us out with some very random questions about Nagano/Japan. One of the Japanese girls in my group, when I told her I am from DC squealed with excitement. They really love Obama here, and she proceded to say in a deep voice "Yes we can!" She was very giggly and excited the whole time.
My group did not win the prize because we were 15 minutes late and therefore lost 30 points from our score. Bummer.
After orientation, most of the group went to the Smile Hotel in Nagano for a nomihodai, meaning all you can drink. You can imagine how that ended. It was also all you can eat, and there was good food, but it was so hot that day that I was just not hungry. I did have my first glass of sake, and it was ok, but not my favorite. They had coctails, but I was not in the mood to get drunk, let alone completely trashed. Almost everyone else in the room had no problem with getting wasted, however, and so they did. Apparently there is a mindset in Japan that you just let loose at parties and all is forgiven/forgotten the next day. Unless you are a foreigner, and then they remember what you do and how drunk you were. Fair, right? After this party and seeing everyone, I am VERY worried about my enkai (drinking party) which my school will have in my honor. That means I will sort of be expected to partake in the alcohol and I keep hearing mixed things of what I should say to explain my inability to stomach beer. Some people say I should just outright say, "I do not like beer" while others tell me to say "I am allergic to beer" or things along those lines that imply that I would love to join in but cannot for medical reasons. Another thing to worry about: I live pretty far from the main part of town, and if you drink at all, you may not drive. Zero tolerance over here in Japan, so often there are shuttles but they do not take people home, they just take people to a central location, like the school, and then people find their own way. I would rather not drink and be able to drive myself home, personally! For the first enkai, it looks like I will just have to grin and bear it (or, forgive the pun, grin and beer it!) and then work from there.
Aaaanyway, back to Nagano, the Smile Hotel staff finally kicked us out at closing, and then most people went to karaoke. Thankfully there was a small group of people who opted out, myself included, so we went back to one of the PAs apartments and slept. Tonya (the PA) has a decent sized apartment, so she was able to fit a LOT of people, all lined up on futons on the floor. It was SO warm in the room with that many people around. The rest of the group stumbled in around 2am and then all was quiet. I managed again to wake up at 5am, so I read while everyone else slept, and then one by one people woke up so we would all talk, and then another person would get up and join, etc, until everyone was up. We went to get some breakfast and then did re-entry permits at the Immigration office. Afterward, I went with a few people to Zenkoji Temple, but we were there during the Obon festival period so it was crowded. I will go back at some point and actually go in and pray, but there was a line, so we just looked around and then headed back out. Had some really good (really expensive) ice cream, too. Then I got extremely lucky and Jo drove me back to Iiyama instead of me taking the train. Fabulous! We tried to go see fireworks in Madarao last night, but it was so rainy/misty/foggy that they postponed fireworks to tonight. Iiyama is also doing fireworks/big street festival tonight, so it will be a very loud night. Good thing I have earplugs! The wonderful thing about the festivals is the food. They have lots of delicious things to eat. I am hiking today so I will not feel bad if I eat some yummy festival food for dinner. Yum.
That is all for now. I just woke up from an accidental nap, so that is why this post may or may not make sense. My brain is not quite up to speed yet.
Ok, so Nagano orientation. Fairly useful information, but more useful was meeting other people who live and work in Nagano prefecture. This prefecture is pretty damn big, so I met people who I will see very rarely, but I met my block leaders and they are closer to where I am. Just being not jetlagged made the orientation productive because I was actually able to stay awake and take in what I was being told. It is also starting to feel real now, the fact that I am in Japan and that I will be teaching. Also, I had an onigiri for lunch, and that makes any day fantastic. Onigiri are riceballs with some sort of filling and then wrapped in seaweed, and they are DELICIOUS. I will take pictures next time I get one.
Back to orientation: the most fun part was the scavenger hunt. They put us into groups and then added 3 Japanese high school students to each group and sent us out with some very random questions about Nagano/Japan. One of the Japanese girls in my group, when I told her I am from DC squealed with excitement. They really love Obama here, and she proceded to say in a deep voice "Yes we can!" She was very giggly and excited the whole time.
My group did not win the prize because we were 15 minutes late and therefore lost 30 points from our score. Bummer.
After orientation, most of the group went to the Smile Hotel in Nagano for a nomihodai, meaning all you can drink. You can imagine how that ended. It was also all you can eat, and there was good food, but it was so hot that day that I was just not hungry. I did have my first glass of sake, and it was ok, but not my favorite. They had coctails, but I was not in the mood to get drunk, let alone completely trashed. Almost everyone else in the room had no problem with getting wasted, however, and so they did. Apparently there is a mindset in Japan that you just let loose at parties and all is forgiven/forgotten the next day. Unless you are a foreigner, and then they remember what you do and how drunk you were. Fair, right? After this party and seeing everyone, I am VERY worried about my enkai (drinking party) which my school will have in my honor. That means I will sort of be expected to partake in the alcohol and I keep hearing mixed things of what I should say to explain my inability to stomach beer. Some people say I should just outright say, "I do not like beer" while others tell me to say "I am allergic to beer" or things along those lines that imply that I would love to join in but cannot for medical reasons. Another thing to worry about: I live pretty far from the main part of town, and if you drink at all, you may not drive. Zero tolerance over here in Japan, so often there are shuttles but they do not take people home, they just take people to a central location, like the school, and then people find their own way. I would rather not drink and be able to drive myself home, personally! For the first enkai, it looks like I will just have to grin and bear it (or, forgive the pun, grin and beer it!) and then work from there.
Aaaanyway, back to Nagano, the Smile Hotel staff finally kicked us out at closing, and then most people went to karaoke. Thankfully there was a small group of people who opted out, myself included, so we went back to one of the PAs apartments and slept. Tonya (the PA) has a decent sized apartment, so she was able to fit a LOT of people, all lined up on futons on the floor. It was SO warm in the room with that many people around. The rest of the group stumbled in around 2am and then all was quiet. I managed again to wake up at 5am, so I read while everyone else slept, and then one by one people woke up so we would all talk, and then another person would get up and join, etc, until everyone was up. We went to get some breakfast and then did re-entry permits at the Immigration office. Afterward, I went with a few people to Zenkoji Temple, but we were there during the Obon festival period so it was crowded. I will go back at some point and actually go in and pray, but there was a line, so we just looked around and then headed back out. Had some really good (really expensive) ice cream, too. Then I got extremely lucky and Jo drove me back to Iiyama instead of me taking the train. Fabulous! We tried to go see fireworks in Madarao last night, but it was so rainy/misty/foggy that they postponed fireworks to tonight. Iiyama is also doing fireworks/big street festival tonight, so it will be a very loud night. Good thing I have earplugs! The wonderful thing about the festivals is the food. They have lots of delicious things to eat. I am hiking today so I will not feel bad if I eat some yummy festival food for dinner. Yum.
That is all for now. I just woke up from an accidental nap, so that is why this post may or may not make sense. My brain is not quite up to speed yet.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Driving, getting gas, and other things
I finally decided to be brave enough and venture out in my car. Baby steps, of course: This morning, I drove around the block. Then about an hour later, I drove to my school and back. And finally, I went to get gas and to Beishe (the big wal-mart-y place). In all honesty, it is very bizarre. I thought it would be ju
st like regular driving, but on the other side of the road. Not so much the case. For one thing, I keep slamming my right hand into the window when I wanted to put the car in park/drive/reverse because I am used to the gear shift being on my right. It's on the left. If you are unaware, my left hand is nowhere near as functional as my right, so putting the car into reverse/drive is tricky! Also the A/C controls, radio volume, etc are done with the left hand. These things seem small, but I really had to think about which way to rotate the volume nob. Make fun, its ok. Good news: my car has working A/C. Yay!
Next, the roads. Very narrow (though my car is very small so its not a problem) but a lot of roads do not have lines. Also, the speed limits are very slow, the main road (117) is 50km/hr, which is about 30mph. For some sort of comparison, imagine if route 50 had a speed limit of 30mph. Its not the best comparison because the number of people and lanes, etc, but 117 is the "big" highway that goes pretty far around here. haha, its only 2 lanes actually, so by "big" I mean it goes a long distance. So cute. Anyway, the speeds are slow, and I have no desire to get a speeding ticket, so I am going at the limits exactly which results in Japanese people tailgating like crazy. As if I do not have enough things to worry about, let's add a driver in a hurry tailgating so close, that if I had to stop, they would hit me. Great plan.
Alright so 20 minutes of being tailgated later, I get to Beishe and I go in to try to find some food. I almost had a breakdown in the store, but I kept it together. All the signs are in Japanese (duh) and I have no idea what is where, or what is what. This place is pretty huge, as I ha
ve said, its like Wal-mart in inventory, but also in size. This was not the most successful trip, but I got some more bread, water, plastic wrap (I think thats what the package said), apple juice, a small bottle of tea, Coke (it was necessary) these pea snack things, and Teriyaki flavored Doritos. Yes, teriyaki. At the BBQ in Suzaka, I had coconut curry Doritos. What will they have next? They are pretty good, I should point out. I had them for dinner. It's the same as having Teriyaki chicken for dinner, isn't it?
Oh, let's rewind for a moment to me getting gas. I pull into the station and this little man comes out. THANKFULLY he spoke some English, so we were able to communicate, but here is a run down: I told him "mantan" meaning full tank, and that I would pay with cash. So he got things started and then brought two damp cloths. One for me to wipe the inside of my car, and one for him to clean the outside. He really did a great job, too, like scraped things off the windsheild with his thumb and just generally wiped it all clean. Wow. Again I say, the quality of service here is amazing, and these people do not get tips. He gave me a full 90-degree bow as I pulled out.
I should have tried to find the train station in Iiyama today, but I got overwhelmed by my shopping, so I just came back home. Tomorrow I am going to Nagano city for the prefecture orientation and I am supposed to meet Alaina at the station in Iiyama. I may just go to the platform by my house and then we will end up on the same train. One problem with that plan: the platform by my house is just a platform, and I have no idea how to buy a ticket. I also need to leave my car at the station because there is a tabehodai (all you can eat for one price) party and I plan to stay one night in Nagano so I can go on Thursday and get my re-entry permit taken care of so I will be able to travel outside of Japan as well as around Japan. Wow, run-on sentence there, did everyone catch all that? I do not really want to find myself outside Japan with an expired visa, and I do not want to use a holiday to do this, so Thursday should work out well, since I have nothing on my schedule in Iiyama. Part of me wishes I did have somewhere to be, but its ok. Next week I have things Tuesday through Friday, and then school starts on the following Monday (8/24) so I should try to take advantage of my free time. I have been reading through the books about teaching and teaching English, but I just need to get in there and do it. Easier said than done, but there is only so much you can get from a book.
I wish I could meet the teachers I will be working with before the first day of school. Everything I have read says they will be really busy, so finding time to plan lessons is not the easiest thing to do. I am a person who likes some sort of relatively-specific instructions. Thats not to say I am not creative or unwilling to work alone, but I do better with guidelines to follow, and then I can make projects my own without streching the guildelines too much. I think that describes me...
Alright, that is a nice long entry for reading, so enjoy. Also check the pictures, I posted a few new ones.
st like regular driving, but on the other side of the road. Not so much the case. For one thing, I keep slamming my right hand into the window when I wanted to put the car in park/drive/reverse because I am used to the gear shift being on my right. It's on the left. If you are unaware, my left hand is nowhere near as functional as my right, so putting the car into reverse/drive is tricky! Also the A/C controls, radio volume, etc are done with the left hand. These things seem small, but I really had to think about which way to rotate the volume nob. Make fun, its ok. Good news: my car has working A/C. Yay!Next, the roads. Very narrow (though my car is very small so its not a problem) but a lot of roads do not have lines. Also, the speed limits are very slow, the main road (117) is 50km/hr, which is about 30mph. For some sort of comparison, imagine if route 50 had a speed limit of 30mph. Its not the best comparison because the number of people and lanes, etc, but 117 is the "big" highway that goes pretty far around here. haha, its only 2 lanes actually, so by "big" I mean it goes a long distance. So cute. Anyway, the speeds are slow, and I have no desire to get a speeding ticket, so I am going at the limits exactly which results in Japanese people tailgating like crazy. As if I do not have enough things to worry about, let's add a driver in a hurry tailgating so close, that if I had to stop, they would hit me. Great plan.
Alright so 20 minutes of being tailgated later, I get to Beishe and I go in to try to find some food. I almost had a breakdown in the store, but I kept it together. All the signs are in Japanese (duh) and I have no idea what is where, or what is what. This place is pretty huge, as I ha
ve said, its like Wal-mart in inventory, but also in size. This was not the most successful trip, but I got some more bread, water, plastic wrap (I think thats what the package said), apple juice, a small bottle of tea, Coke (it was necessary) these pea snack things, and Teriyaki flavored Doritos. Yes, teriyaki. At the BBQ in Suzaka, I had coconut curry Doritos. What will they have next? They are pretty good, I should point out. I had them for dinner. It's the same as having Teriyaki chicken for dinner, isn't it?Oh, let's rewind for a moment to me getting gas. I pull into the station and this little man comes out. THANKFULLY he spoke some English, so we were able to communicate, but here is a run down: I told him "mantan" meaning full tank, and that I would pay with cash. So he got things started and then brought two damp cloths. One for me to wipe the inside of my car, and one for him to clean the outside. He really did a great job, too, like scraped things off the windsheild with his thumb and just generally wiped it all clean. Wow. Again I say, the quality of service here is amazing, and these people do not get tips. He gave me a full 90-degree bow as I pulled out.
I should have tried to find the train station in Iiyama today, but I got overwhelmed by my shopping, so I just came back home. Tomorrow I am going to Nagano city for the prefecture orientation and I am supposed to meet Alaina at the station in Iiyama. I may just go to the platform by my house and then we will end up on the same train. One problem with that plan: the platform by my house is just a platform, and I have no idea how to buy a ticket. I also need to leave my car at the station because there is a tabehodai (all you can eat for one price) party and I plan to stay one night in Nagano so I can go on Thursday and get my re-entry permit taken care of so I will be able to travel outside of Japan as well as around Japan. Wow, run-on sentence there, did everyone catch all that? I do not really want to find myself outside Japan with an expired visa, and I do not want to use a holiday to do this, so Thursday should work out well, since I have nothing on my schedule in Iiyama. Part of me wishes I did have somewhere to be, but its ok. Next week I have things Tuesday through Friday, and then school starts on the following Monday (8/24) so I should try to take advantage of my free time. I have been reading through the books about teaching and teaching English, but I just need to get in there and do it. Easier said than done, but there is only so much you can get from a book.
I wish I could meet the teachers I will be working with before the first day of school. Everything I have read says they will be really busy, so finding time to plan lessons is not the easiest thing to do. I am a person who likes some sort of relatively-specific instructions. Thats not to say I am not creative or unwilling to work alone, but I do better with guidelines to follow, and then I can make projects my own without streching the guildelines too much. I think that describes me...
Alright, that is a nice long entry for reading, so enjoy. Also check the pictures, I posted a few new ones.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Good morning....
Quick post here. I woke up this morning and went out to my car to get all the necessary insurance stuff to transfer the car to me and I saw the BIGGEST bug I have EVER seen. Ew. There are a lot of bugs here, and I have had to take care of a few in my apartment, and thankfully this one was outside, but still, I cannot even believe the size of it! I am so squeamish. I now realize that in the picture, the bug does not look big, but trust, me, it is. It is still sitting on the steps, as a matter of fact.
Oh yeah, in other news, I felt my first earthquake last night. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/japan.earthquake/index.html
I was just sitting in my apt and then it felt like it was shaking, almost like there were really high winds or something. I figured I was nuts, but I turned off the fan and the music and just sat there and watched the curtains rocking back and forth of their own volition. I did confirm this morning that I am not crazy. The earthquake hit off the coast, but apparently the tremors can really travel! And so they do. It was about 30 seconds, and a very bizarre sensation.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Finally set up in Iiyama
Hi again. Not as long of a gap as I thought. Apparently I am super lucky, and they got my internet set up very quickly. I have a cell phone now, too, so I am pretty much good. After a few rough days/nights, here I am, all set up. FYI, this will be a long-ish entry, so be ready.
Soooo, Iiyama is pretty Inaka (that's rural) and its really beautiful here. We left Tokyo at 8:30am on Wednesday and we stopped a few times in Nagano to let people off (the people way in the south of the prefecture) The bus made its last stop in Nagano City at 2:30, and I was met by Sakaguchi-san (my supervisor) and Krissy (starting her second year as a JET in Iiyama). It was nice to have both of them there, because Sakaguchi-san does not speak much English. Actually, it seems that my Japanese overlaps perfectly with her English (meaning, very basic, numbers, greetings, etc) so we are pretty much unable to communicate without someone to translate. I was able to tell her this morning that the mountains are beautiful, but that is the extent of our conversations. Oh, she asked me if I had enough groceries for dinner, and I said yes. haha, so I still have a LONG way to go with the whole Japanese thing.
Right after I got here, we went to City Hall where I met the mayor. That was great, I had been on a bus all day, my suit was wrinkled, I was sweating up a storm, and they took me to meet the mayor. He was nice, though, so it was fine. Apparently his Japanese is hard to understand, even for the native people here, and his English was pretty much non existent.
I also met most of the people from the Board of Education, and they all stood up and bowed to me, and then clapped after my very choppy self-intro in Japanese. I did the very most basic introduction, and they all applauded like I had just delivered a huge, important speech. Very funny, and then I felt sort of silly because I knew the intro was awful. Oh well. I guess there is this idea that if you are white, you cannot speak any Japanese, so if you say anything, you get these expressions "ah, sugoi!" "jouzu!" "Yoku dekimashita!" All of those essentially mean, "Wow, great job!"
After that, I applied for my "gaijin" card, aka foreigner card, and that was fine. I needed passport pictures, so we went to this little shop and the lady there had the biggest camera I have ever seen. Ever, in my life. Big flash, and then she pulls out a hairdryer and blows on the print to develop it.
We then went to my apartment (after switching to a bigger car to accommodate my HUGE bags) and Krissy and Sakaguchi-san helped me lug my bags up the steps into my apartment. I also made my first faux-pas when I walked into my apartment without taking my shoes off. Whoops, here I was, trying to get out of the way so we could get the suitcases into the apartment, and then I hear the gasp of surprise, and Krissy tells me to take my shoes off. Live and learn, I guess. She said not to worry about it, cause it's my apartment and I can sort of do what I want, but at the same time, I am in Japan, so a little change of habit is good too. I know now.
Pretty much the rest of Wednesday was taking me to the grocery store and applying to get my internet set up. I had to get internet with a local company, so I do not know if there were cheaper choices, and I really do not know what I signed up for. I have internet now, so whatever. If it gets too expensive, then I will go back and figure it out.
So next day, Krissy came and we ran some basic errands. I got a set of shelves which I built (yay, me!) The directions were in Japanese with pictures, so it was fun to figure out. And I got some other things for the apartment. I did not need much cause my pred left me a lot. Some people get to their apartments and have to buy everything. I do mean everything, as nothing is included with apartments in japan. You have to get light fixtures, appliances, everything. So I just needed one power strip, the shelves, and some command hooks. Krissy took me to Beishe, which is like walmart. They have food, clothes, and the electronics, toys, everything!! It was overwhelming and fun at the same time. I will go back and take some pictures when I am not so jetlagged. I will also need to go back to the 100 yen store, because they have SO much that you can get! 100 yen is about a dollar, by the way, but the quality is much higher. For lunch I had soba, which were fantastic. These were the cold ones that you dip in this other sauce and then eat. You are supposed to slurp, and you pretty much have to to get them all in your mouth. Silly gaijin that I am, I was trying to eat all politely, until the chef who makes the noodles came over and asked Krissy if she could slurp. Apparently the people here can eat the whole plate of noodles in like 5 very slurpy chopstick bites. It took me a half hour to eat it all. Practice makes perfect, so I will just have to keep trying.
Today, Sakaguchi-san came and got me at 9ish and took me to a junior high school to meet some teachers. I was not at my junior high school, so it was funny to meet people that I will not actually be working with. I have some training with them in a few weeks, but they are not the JTEs at my school. They did take me to my school, but there are hardly any teachers there! My school will be in session starting August 24th, and I will get to do an introduction for the whole school at that point. A little scared for that, but everyone is so nice, so it should be ok. I will just keep practicing it so I can be ready and not fumble over my words. They would like some of the introduction to be in Japanese. The teachers I met today spoke great English, so it was fine. They just talked to me a little and showed me around. The best part of the day was going to Kappa Sushi for lunch. It's a sushi chain in Japan, and it was so fun! Check my pictures, but they have these conveyor belts that take sushi from the kitchen around the whole restaurant, and you just reach up and grab what you want. OR, if you cannot find what you want, you order specifically on the little touch screen and then this cute little train comes by and stops right in front of you with a plate of what you ordered. It is also cheap, especially compared to sushi in the US. They also had these amazing desserts, so I had chocolate mousse. Pretty fantastic.
After lunch, I went with Alaina (the CIR) and Sakaguchi-san to get my bank account set up and get a keitai (cell phone). That took the rest of the day, because the bank took about an hour, and the keitai even longer. They brought out iced tea for us, which was SO nice. I cannot believe the service here, with no tips, I might add. They greet you when you come in the door and they are just nice and helpful all the time. Anyway, here I am, in my apartment, with a bank account, internet and a keitai.
I suppose I should point out that all is not fantastic, like this post seems. I have had some rough nights. It is SO hot here, and there is no way to cool down. Some stores have AC (aircon as it is called here) but not all, and not my apartment, the BOE or the schools. In honesty, I have woken up twice now and had to run to the bathroom to throw up a little from being overheated. TMI, I am sure, but I might as well share the negative as well as the positive. I am drinking a lot of water, but seeing as I am pretty much constantly sweating bullets, it is just not enough. I honestly have spent a good amount of time just sitting here in front of my fan. Last night it rained (Stormed, really) so that helped with temperature, but I could not open the windows because the rain was blowing sideways and came into the apartment. I have also had some of the classic homesickness, which was not helped by the fact that I was completely alone in an apartment in a foreign country with NO WAY to contact anyone. Probably two of the hardest nights of my life just sitting here alone, but it is a lot better now. THANK GOD I have internet and such now, because most JETs take longer to get any sort of connected-ness. I am very lucky, and I know it.
Tomorrow, I may be brave enough to venture out of my apartment on my own. I am so afraid of getting lost, and I know I will not be able to ask anyone how to get back to my apartment, so I just do not leave the apartment unless there is someone outside to pick me up. Yes, it is sad, but I have no idea how to get orientated here, so I am just afraid. I am not allowed to drive yet (no insurance) so I get to bike or walk for the next week or so. Good for the body, but, again, in the heat, perhaps not the most enjoyable. There is also a BBQ in Suzaka (I think an hour away) so Jo (the old CIR), Alaina (the new CIR) and I are going to go. Jo will drive, and I will ask her lots of my questions too, while she is around. She has been here for three years, so she will probably know a lot of the answers I need.
Still with me? I did warn that this would be a long post. Also, I have just typed this and I did not proofread or anything, so forgive any major typos or sentences that make zero sense. I will go back later and fix. Don't forget to check my pictures, cause I just posted some from Iiyama and from the bus ride. Captions will come later, too.
Soooo, Iiyama is pretty Inaka (that's rural) and its really beautiful here. We left Tokyo at 8:30am on Wednesday and we stopped a few times in Nagano to let people off (the people way in the south of the prefecture) The bus made its last stop in Nagano City at 2:30, and I was met by Sakaguchi-san (my supervisor) and Krissy (starting her second year as a JET in Iiyama). It was nice to have both of them there, because Sakaguchi-san does not speak much English. Actually, it seems that my Japanese overlaps perfectly with her English (meaning, very basic, numbers, greetings, etc) so we are pretty much unable to communicate without someone to translate. I was able to tell her this morning that the mountains are beautiful, but that is the extent of our conversations. Oh, she asked me if I had enough groceries for dinner, and I said yes. haha, so I still have a LONG way to go with the whole Japanese thing.
Right after I got here, we went to City Hall where I met the mayor. That was great, I had been on a bus all day, my suit was wrinkled, I was sweating up a storm, and they took me to meet the mayor. He was nice, though, so it was fine. Apparently his Japanese is hard to understand, even for the native people here, and his English was pretty much non existent.
I also met most of the people from the Board of Education, and they all stood up and bowed to me, and then clapped after my very choppy self-intro in Japanese. I did the very most basic introduction, and they all applauded like I had just delivered a huge, important speech. Very funny, and then I felt sort of silly because I knew the intro was awful. Oh well. I guess there is this idea that if you are white, you cannot speak any Japanese, so if you say anything, you get these expressions "ah, sugoi!" "jouzu!" "Yoku dekimashita!" All of those essentially mean, "Wow, great job!"
After that, I applied for my "gaijin" card, aka foreigner card, and that was fine. I needed passport pictures, so we went to this little shop and the lady there had the biggest camera I have ever seen. Ever, in my life. Big flash, and then she pulls out a hairdryer and blows on the print to develop it.
We then went to my apartment (after switching to a bigger car to accommodate my HUGE bags) and Krissy and Sakaguchi-san helped me lug my bags up the steps into my apartment. I also made my first faux-pas when I walked into my apartment without taking my shoes off. Whoops, here I was, trying to get out of the way so we could get the suitcases into the apartment, and then I hear the gasp of surprise, and Krissy tells me to take my shoes off. Live and learn, I guess. She said not to worry about it, cause it's my apartment and I can sort of do what I want, but at the same time, I am in Japan, so a little change of habit is good too. I know now.
Pretty much the rest of Wednesday was taking me to the grocery store and applying to get my internet set up. I had to get internet with a local company, so I do not know if there were cheaper choices, and I really do not know what I signed up for. I have internet now, so whatever. If it gets too expensive, then I will go back and figure it out.
So next day, Krissy came and we ran some basic errands. I got a set of shelves which I built (yay, me!) The directions were in Japanese with pictures, so it was fun to figure out. And I got some other things for the apartment. I did not need much cause my pred left me a lot. Some people get to their apartments and have to buy everything. I do mean everything, as nothing is included with apartments in japan. You have to get light fixtures, appliances, everything. So I just needed one power strip, the shelves, and some command hooks. Krissy took me to Beishe, which is like walmart. They have food, clothes, and the electronics, toys, everything!! It was overwhelming and fun at the same time. I will go back and take some pictures when I am not so jetlagged. I will also need to go back to the 100 yen store, because they have SO much that you can get! 100 yen is about a dollar, by the way, but the quality is much higher. For lunch I had soba, which were fantastic. These were the cold ones that you dip in this other sauce and then eat. You are supposed to slurp, and you pretty much have to to get them all in your mouth. Silly gaijin that I am, I was trying to eat all politely, until the chef who makes the noodles came over and asked Krissy if she could slurp. Apparently the people here can eat the whole plate of noodles in like 5 very slurpy chopstick bites. It took me a half hour to eat it all. Practice makes perfect, so I will just have to keep trying.
Today, Sakaguchi-san came and got me at 9ish and took me to a junior high school to meet some teachers. I was not at my junior high school, so it was funny to meet people that I will not actually be working with. I have some training with them in a few weeks, but they are not the JTEs at my school. They did take me to my school, but there are hardly any teachers there! My school will be in session starting August 24th, and I will get to do an introduction for the whole school at that point. A little scared for that, but everyone is so nice, so it should be ok. I will just keep practicing it so I can be ready and not fumble over my words. They would like some of the introduction to be in Japanese. The teachers I met today spoke great English, so it was fine. They just talked to me a little and showed me around. The best part of the day was going to Kappa Sushi for lunch. It's a sushi chain in Japan, and it was so fun! Check my pictures, but they have these conveyor belts that take sushi from the kitchen around the whole restaurant, and you just reach up and grab what you want. OR, if you cannot find what you want, you order specifically on the little touch screen and then this cute little train comes by and stops right in front of you with a plate of what you ordered. It is also cheap, especially compared to sushi in the US. They also had these amazing desserts, so I had chocolate mousse. Pretty fantastic.
After lunch, I went with Alaina (the CIR) and Sakaguchi-san to get my bank account set up and get a keitai (cell phone). That took the rest of the day, because the bank took about an hour, and the keitai even longer. They brought out iced tea for us, which was SO nice. I cannot believe the service here, with no tips, I might add. They greet you when you come in the door and they are just nice and helpful all the time. Anyway, here I am, in my apartment, with a bank account, internet and a keitai.
I suppose I should point out that all is not fantastic, like this post seems. I have had some rough nights. It is SO hot here, and there is no way to cool down. Some stores have AC (aircon as it is called here) but not all, and not my apartment, the BOE or the schools. In honesty, I have woken up twice now and had to run to the bathroom to throw up a little from being overheated. TMI, I am sure, but I might as well share the negative as well as the positive. I am drinking a lot of water, but seeing as I am pretty much constantly sweating bullets, it is just not enough. I honestly have spent a good amount of time just sitting here in front of my fan. Last night it rained (Stormed, really) so that helped with temperature, but I could not open the windows because the rain was blowing sideways and came into the apartment. I have also had some of the classic homesickness, which was not helped by the fact that I was completely alone in an apartment in a foreign country with NO WAY to contact anyone. Probably two of the hardest nights of my life just sitting here alone, but it is a lot better now. THANK GOD I have internet and such now, because most JETs take longer to get any sort of connected-ness. I am very lucky, and I know it.
Tomorrow, I may be brave enough to venture out of my apartment on my own. I am so afraid of getting lost, and I know I will not be able to ask anyone how to get back to my apartment, so I just do not leave the apartment unless there is someone outside to pick me up. Yes, it is sad, but I have no idea how to get orientated here, so I am just afraid. I am not allowed to drive yet (no insurance) so I get to bike or walk for the next week or so. Good for the body, but, again, in the heat, perhaps not the most enjoyable. There is also a BBQ in Suzaka (I think an hour away) so Jo (the old CIR), Alaina (the new CIR) and I are going to go. Jo will drive, and I will ask her lots of my questions too, while she is around. She has been here for three years, so she will probably know a lot of the answers I need.
Still with me? I did warn that this would be a long post. Also, I have just typed this and I did not proofread or anything, so forgive any major typos or sentences that make zero sense. I will go back later and fix. Don't forget to check my pictures, cause I just posted some from Iiyama and from the bus ride. Captions will come later, too.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tokyo
What an interesting city. I finally got to go out for a bit, and I think Tokyo is all the more overwhelming when you are completely exhausted.
I went out with some people who are from my prefecture, including the PAs (they are very nice, by the way) and we went to an Irish pub! Fish and chips for dinner in Japan? Yep! Quite tasty, actually. We had to ride the subway to get there, so that was an interesting experience, to say the least. It seems to be pretty logical, but the station is HUGE (2 million people go through there each day) and everything is in, you guessed it, Japanese! Luckily the PAs told us how much we needed to go the three stops, cause I am not sure I would have figured it out. They do have cards that are like a Smartrip in DC, but I will wait and see how much time I will actually be spending in Tokyo before I invest in one of those.
The place where we ate dinner, I cannot remember the name, but its that intersection that you always see in movies, where all the cars stop and then people cross the street from, like, 5 directions, and they go all over the place. Yeah, we were there, and we crossed that street. It is so lit up in that area, too, almost like daytime!
After dinner we went to this government building that lets you go to the 45th floor (for free!) and you can see all of Tokyo. A-mazing, to say the least. I would have liked to go during the day, too, because then you can see some of the mountains too, but the night view is pretty rocking too. My pictures are not the best, most have reflections of me, which actually kind of looks cool, but you have to look through it to see Tokyo.
Tomorrow I leave at 8:30 to go to Nagano. We are taking a bus and we essentially are going to drop people off in three places in the prefecture. Mine will be the last stop, so it will probably be 6-7 hours on a bus. Not too excited for that, but then I will be at my apartment in Iiyama tomorrow night, and that is pretty cool. Good news is that Krissy, the girl in Iiyama starting her second year, will be with my supervisor to meet me at the bus stop. My supervisor does not speak English, by the way. I can't remember if I have mentioned that, but there will be a 45 minute ride to Iiyama, and it would be just me and my supervisor, but now Krissy will be there too. Hopefully I will not have to go into my school tomorrow. Japan is all about first impressions, and I do not think my first impression would be so great if I had to go into school after 45 mins in a car, 7 hours on a bus, on top of the major jet lag. Fingers crossed that I can meet everyone at my school on Thursday. Then I get everything taken care of, but I may or may not have internet for a while. There is internet at the school, but sites like blogger, gmail, yahoo, facebook, pretty much the sites I need to use to get in contact with anyone, are all blocked on the school network. Perhaps I will luck out and be able to piggyback off of someone's wireless in my apartment building.
Check my shutterfly for pics! There are some not from Japan, but I posted them anyway!
I went out with some people who are from my prefecture, including the PAs (they are very nice, by the way) and we went to an Irish pub! Fish and chips for dinner in Japan? Yep! Quite tasty, actually. We had to ride the subway to get there, so that was an interesting experience, to say the least. It seems to be pretty logical, but the station is HUGE (2 million people go through there each day) and everything is in, you guessed it, Japanese! Luckily the PAs told us how much we needed to go the three stops, cause I am not sure I would have figured it out. They do have cards that are like a Smartrip in DC, but I will wait and see how much time I will actually be spending in Tokyo before I invest in one of those.
The place where we ate dinner, I cannot remember the name, but its that intersection that you always see in movies, where all the cars stop and then people cross the street from, like, 5 directions, and they go all over the place. Yeah, we were there, and we crossed that street. It is so lit up in that area, too, almost like daytime!
After dinner we went to this government building that lets you go to the 45th floor (for free!) and you can see all of Tokyo. A-mazing, to say the least. I would have liked to go during the day, too, because then you can see some of the mountains too, but the night view is pretty rocking too. My pictures are not the best, most have reflections of me, which actually kind of looks cool, but you have to look through it to see Tokyo.
Tomorrow I leave at 8:30 to go to Nagano. We are taking a bus and we essentially are going to drop people off in three places in the prefecture. Mine will be the last stop, so it will probably be 6-7 hours on a bus. Not too excited for that, but then I will be at my apartment in Iiyama tomorrow night, and that is pretty cool. Good news is that Krissy, the girl in Iiyama starting her second year, will be with my supervisor to meet me at the bus stop. My supervisor does not speak English, by the way. I can't remember if I have mentioned that, but there will be a 45 minute ride to Iiyama, and it would be just me and my supervisor, but now Krissy will be there too. Hopefully I will not have to go into my school tomorrow. Japan is all about first impressions, and I do not think my first impression would be so great if I had to go into school after 45 mins in a car, 7 hours on a bus, on top of the major jet lag. Fingers crossed that I can meet everyone at my school on Thursday. Then I get everything taken care of, but I may or may not have internet for a while. There is internet at the school, but sites like blogger, gmail, yahoo, facebook, pretty much the sites I need to use to get in contact with anyone, are all blocked on the school network. Perhaps I will luck out and be able to piggyback off of someone's wireless in my apartment building.
Check my shutterfly for pics! There are some not from Japan, but I posted them anyway!
Monday, August 3, 2009
I am here
I have successfully arrived in Japan.
The flight was about 12 hours from Chicago, so not too terrible. I think I slept for maybe 3 hours? I have never been good at sleeping on planes, but I tried anyway. I did watch a lot of movies, cause they had some newer ones that I like. I may have watched the new Star Trek 2 and a half times, along with 27 Dresses, X Men Origins, and Race to Witch Mountain. They also feed you A LOT on the long flights! It felt like they were just always coming by with more food. Airplane food, granted, but lots of it!
All of my bags got here and Immigration and Customs were not terrible. They did not search anything like I had expected, considering the major restrictions with meds here. I think there were just SO many of us all at once, and we all had a ton of stuff, so they may have just let it go.
We took a bus from the airport to the hotel, which took about 2 and a half hours, I think. They gave us a ton of stuff to go through and sent us to our rooms, at which point it was about 7pm. Sarah and I are in the same room in the hotel, which is nice. We went out and had some udon for dinner, those are the really super thick noodles. We attempted to get me some meds for my slight cold that I have had for a week, but then one of the JET orientation assistants told us that there are meds in the hotel for us. The drug store was funny, though, because everything had pictures, so I was looking for one with the person holding their throat or coughing. We found it too, but then we ran into the orientation assistant before I bought anything. All I ended up with from the hotel were lozenges, which were really no help. I didn't want to go too much into my symptons, because they are also scared of swine flu, and the last thing I want is to be quarantined until my random non-flu symptoms pass. I should mention that I went to the doctor in the US when I first got sick, and got a note that I do not have the flu, but I did not know how to explain that to them, so I just said I had a sore throat.
It is currently 5:51 am here (so that would be 4:51 pm yesterday in VA), and I was not so able to sleep in the hotel last night. I think we all went to bed around 9, and then I woke up at midnight and again at 3am. I have been up since 3am, at this point. I forgot how much a big time difference really affects everything. I sort of hoped that if I stayed awake until a normal time and then went to bed, I would just sleep through the night and wake up in the morning after 7 straight hours of sleep. Obviously I know better than that, but I hoped anyway. There are people who went out to bars and karaoke last night, so I am probably better off than they are. Or maybe not!
Orientation is today and tomorrow starting at 9. At least I have lots of time to get ready!
I guess that is enough for now. I will not have internet in Iiyama for at least two weeks, so this may be the last post for a while.
The flight was about 12 hours from Chicago, so not too terrible. I think I slept for maybe 3 hours? I have never been good at sleeping on planes, but I tried anyway. I did watch a lot of movies, cause they had some newer ones that I like. I may have watched the new Star Trek 2 and a half times, along with 27 Dresses, X Men Origins, and Race to Witch Mountain. They also feed you A LOT on the long flights! It felt like they were just always coming by with more food. Airplane food, granted, but lots of it!
All of my bags got here and Immigration and Customs were not terrible. They did not search anything like I had expected, considering the major restrictions with meds here. I think there were just SO many of us all at once, and we all had a ton of stuff, so they may have just let it go.
We took a bus from the airport to the hotel, which took about 2 and a half hours, I think. They gave us a ton of stuff to go through and sent us to our rooms, at which point it was about 7pm. Sarah and I are in the same room in the hotel, which is nice. We went out and had some udon for dinner, those are the really super thick noodles. We attempted to get me some meds for my slight cold that I have had for a week, but then one of the JET orientation assistants told us that there are meds in the hotel for us. The drug store was funny, though, because everything had pictures, so I was looking for one with the person holding their throat or coughing. We found it too, but then we ran into the orientation assistant before I bought anything. All I ended up with from the hotel were lozenges, which were really no help. I didn't want to go too much into my symptons, because they are also scared of swine flu, and the last thing I want is to be quarantined until my random non-flu symptoms pass. I should mention that I went to the doctor in the US when I first got sick, and got a note that I do not have the flu, but I did not know how to explain that to them, so I just said I had a sore throat.
It is currently 5:51 am here (so that would be 4:51 pm yesterday in VA), and I was not so able to sleep in the hotel last night. I think we all went to bed around 9, and then I woke up at midnight and again at 3am. I have been up since 3am, at this point. I forgot how much a big time difference really affects everything. I sort of hoped that if I stayed awake until a normal time and then went to bed, I would just sleep through the night and wake up in the morning after 7 straight hours of sleep. Obviously I know better than that, but I hoped anyway. There are people who went out to bars and karaoke last night, so I am probably better off than they are. Or maybe not!
Orientation is today and tomorrow starting at 9. At least I have lots of time to get ready!
I guess that is enough for now. I will not have internet in Iiyama for at least two weeks, so this may be the last post for a while.
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